Abraham Lincoln – a tribute on his birthday
An evening pause: On Lincoln’s birthday, a tribute.
Tag: history
The HOAs of Israel
What is a West Bank settlement? If you read the press, it is a place where Israeli Jews have moved in and stolen the land of Arabs in order to occupy their land unfairly. It is a place where Arabs are forbidden, where apartheid has been established against the indigenous population.
Not only are these statements false, they actually turn reality on its head.
In my two visits to Israel I have stayed or visited four different West Bank settlements, and in each place my first impression was that I was visiting a typical American gated community, a suburban community run by a home-owner-association (HOA). You enter by driving through a gate where an attendant waves at you as you go by. He doesn’t stop you, because he either knows you or he has profiled you and sees no reason to ask you any questions. Once inside the roads wind about, passing individual homes or apartments. At the center of the community is a recreation center, often with a pool and library, where events are held and people go for entertainment.
The gated community of Alon Shvut, south of Jerusalem in the West Bank.
Kodak’s test footage of some of its earliest full color Kodachrome film, shot in 1922.
A glimpse into the past: Kodak’s early test footage for full color Kodachrome film, shot in 1922.
Some beautiful color images from World War II America.
Some beautiful color images from World War II America.
Many of these images were staged, but some were not. All give a good feel for what life was like during the war.
The House passed legislation Monday proposing to rename the Dryden Flight Research Center in California after Neil Armstrong.
Don’t they have better things to do? The House passed legislation Monday proposing to rename the Dryden Flight Research Center in California after Neil Armstrong.
As much as I think Armstrong should be honored in as many ways as possible, it seems cheap and inappropriate to take the honor away from Hugh Dryden, whose work helped make Armstrong’s lunar mission possible. Moreover, Armstrong, being a very modest man himself, would likely be quite appalled by any action that would rob someone else of a memorial in order to give it to him.
What the future was supposed to be like
What the future was supposed to be like.
The nine most important archeological and paleontological discoveries in 2012.
The nine most important archeological and paleontological discoveries in 2012.
I especially like #8, since it involves an actual person.
Vi Hart – What was up with Pythagoras?
An evening pause: “And he was afraid of beans.”
Katherine Jenkins – Requiem for a Soldier
An evening pause: On this anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, I give thanks to the past generation that gave me freedom.
I wish you’d lived to see
All you gave to me
Your shining dream of hope and love
Life and libertyWe are all one great band of brothers
And one day you’ll see – we can live together
When all the world is free.
William Butler Yeats – The Second Coming
An evening pause: In memory to the 20,000 or so violent attacks committed by Islamic radical since September 11, 2001, I think this poem by William Butler Yeats is appropriate. Written it 1920, it somehow sensed the the coming conflict.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
On the road
I am off to Ames, Iowa, today where I will be giving a lecture tomorrow at Iowa State University to the Iowa section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The subject: Predicting the future of space travel based on the past.
Why state regulation is better than federal regulation
In response to my condemnation of the insane requirement by Obamacare that restaurants and take-out pizza delivery services publicly post on their menus the calorie count for every item, including a calorie count for each of the literally thousands of topping variations for pizzas, regular reader Patrick Ritchie asked me, “What level of super market labeling would you support?”
I replied, “I think the federal government has no business requiring any labeling at all. This is a state matter, pure and simple, both for practical and Constitutional reasons.”
He responded, “Which practical reasons? I’m genuinely curious. What makes a state regulation inherently better than a federal one?”
My response to this last question was quite long, and after reading it Patrick suggested I elevate the comment into a full headlined post. I have decided to do so. Here is what I wrote, edited slightly for clarity:
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