Two Republicans
in Virginia filed a lawsuit to prevent Barnes and Noble bookstores from selling
two books they consider not age-appropriate for children.
Fahrenheit
451 should be taught
in high school and again in college. Written in 1951, the story supposedly takes place in 2022. Though the author missed with his technology
prognostications about the future; his prediction about burning (banning) books,
now seventy-one years later, is still relevant.
the Ol'Buzzard
Many fiction
writers start from present conditions and extrapolate into the future. Some of these forward-seeing narratives fall
into the science fiction genre, some into spy novels, and some, like 1984 and
Fahrenheit 451, a warnings of a dystopian future. The book 2034 is such a book.
James
Stavridis is a retired Navy four-star admiral.
He was Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, and the commander of the U.S.
Southern Command, he commanded a Navy destroyer squadron and an aircraft
carrier battle group in combat. He holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of
Law and Diplomacy.
2034 is a
book about brinksmanship between the Chinese and U.S. Navys that escalates to a
military confrontation; and the hawkish attitudes of a few men in power that
lead to a nuclear exchange.
Stavridis
brings in the geo-political involvement of Russia, Iran, and India.
There are
numerous references to weapons systems that may only be familiar to men and
women with knowledge of Naval warfare, but the story is riveting, realistic,
and a real page-turner.
2034 is a
Cassandra warning of the near future and the danger of nuclear weapons controlled
by a few unstable men.
2034 is a
must read
the Ol’Buzzard
There have
been five extinction events in the history of the earth. Three of them took
place over hundreds of thousands of years and were the result of changing
climate, one resulted from a volcanic eruption, and one from an asteroid strike.
Elizabeth
Kolbert’s book The Sixth Extinction documents the loss of birds, animals,
and sea life taking place at an extreme rate.
Kolbert
argues that we are in the midst of an extinction event caused by climate change. She only deals peripherally with the human
causation resulting in climate change, instead documenting the extinction of life
taking place across the globe.
Undoubtedly
we are past the point of arresting climate change. There was a time we could have prevented this,
but we did not have the resolve. We are now seeing only the earliest extreme
weather events that are a roadmap of things to come.
We are at a
point where the climates change is self-sustaining. As the Greenland ice cap and the arctic ice
melt, tundra buried for millions of years is emerging and emitting carbon diode
which adds to the greenhouse effect increasing global temperature, increasing
the melting rate. It is not beyond credulity
that within the next one hundred years the human race could be a nocturnal
species.
I am not
worried about climate change, because creative scientists on the upper end of
the IQ scale will drag the rest of us into a sustainable environment. Though we may have a massive extinction
event of plants and animals in our familiar environment, the human race will be
ok.
The elephant in the room is not climate. Russia has 5,977 nuclear warheads; the US 5,428; France 290; China 350; UK 225; Israel 90; Pakistan 165; India 160; North Kores 20.
A total of 12,705 nuclear warheads, each one capable of mass destruction, exist in the hands, and at the whim of a few men.
Think Donald
Trump!
 |
| The sixth extinction |
The human
race is not responsible enough to control this kind of apocalyptic power. The term Mutually Assured Destruction
is a prediction, not a deterrent.
I have a
cousin that is quite proud of her membership with the DAR (Daughters of the
American Revolution.) She traced her lineage
back through an obscure family name that is unfamiliar to this generation of our family.
A single
generation of a family is considered to be twenty years or five generations in
a century. From the American Revolution in 1776 to 1876
to 1976 to 2022 would calculate as twelve generations.
One
generation back you have two parents. Two generations back you have four
grandparents. Three generations back you have eight great grandparents – 16-32-64-128…
The numbers double with each preceding
generation
Twelve
generations back you have 4096 hereditary grandparents; 2048 heredity grandmothers
and 2048 heredity grandfathers.
As a DAR
member, your claim to fame is that twelve generations back one of your 2048
hereditary grandmothers was present in America in 1776.
Most black and white Americans with more than three generations in this country can probably trace their lineage back to 1776.
We are all sons
and daughters of the American Revolution.
From the ridiculous
to the absurd, people claiming a hereditary line to the Mayflower counting back twenty generations are picking one from a line of one million 1,000,000) heredity
grandparents.
 |
| WE ALL TRACE BACK TO A COMMON ANCESTRY WE ARE THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF AFRICAN EVE |
the Ol’Buzzard
We marvel at
the blatant ignorance of the Tea Party crowd, which later transformed into the
MAGA cult. These are the extremes, but all
humans are ready to believe in anything that sparks their fancy.
The God
delusion is the perfect example. From Homo
heidelbergensis who buried their dead with implements for the afterworld, to Hale-Bopp
comet worshipers committing mass suicide, the human race has been extremely gullible
in the search for something to worship.
Each culture has had its superfluity of gods. Egyptians,
Greeks, Romans, Israelites, Vikings, Christians, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists and indigenous cultures in combination have invented and worshiped thousands of gods. In reality, who you worship and how you
worship is determined by the culture you are born into. Gods are an invention
of mankind to deny the finality of death. No religion holds up to logical scrutiny.
We are an
intelligent species only because we declare ourselves such. Yet, large portions of our population have
believed in Yeti, Big Foot, fairies, angles, demons, the devil, vampires, shape-shifters,
witches, gods, alien abductions, zombies, and a plethora of scary monsters;
without a modicum of proof.
MONSTRUM on YouTube
Gullible people: No wonder a charismatic
conman like Donald Trump can build a cult following.
the Ol’Buzzard
I don’t believe I have ever been satisfied with any toaster I have ever owned. Usually, the bread is toasted darker on one side than the other, or the bread is toasted unevenly, or one slot toasts differently than the other. The settings are never quite right and sometimes you have to retoast a piece of toast.
For the last
few years, I have owned a Cuisinart toaster.
It sells for about $60. The Cuisinart
has a stainless steel body and accepts two pieces of bread. However, I am pretty sure the heating
elements are made in China and are the same as any $20 toaster you can buy at
Walmart. Especially with homemade bread
I never get even consistent toasting.
After watching America’s Test Kitchen on YouTube I decided to order the Dash toaster. It cost about the same as the Cuisinart. I ordered it through the Walmart website and received it yesterday. I am impressed by the different technology. The heating element rods are at the bottom and top of the toast slot and the bread is toasted evenly. You can see the browning of each piece through the glass window and can adjust your timing accordingly. The toast I have made with this Dash toaster has come out evenly toasted, and the slot is wide enough to accept homemade bread.
This Dash may be the answer to my toasting discontent.
(Through most of my younger adult days I fried my bread. The best taste, but super unhealthy.)
the Ol'Buzzard
bin-Laden
 |
| SEAL TEAM 6 TOOK CARE OF THIS GUY |
 |
| A HELLFIRE MISSLE KISSED HIS ASS |
Donald Trump
 |
| THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT? |
These terrorist planned and executed an assault on the United States.
The one still at large is the most dangerous.
bin-Laden and al-Zawahiri killed Americans.
Donald Trump stands to bring an end to 250 years of American democracy.
the Ol'Buzzard
You are damn
right.
If there is
evidence that a crime is being committed in your home, or that evidence of a
crime is being destroyed, the FBI can go to a federal judge, present their evidence, and request a search warrant.
Only if the
evidence is compelling enough will the federal judge approve a search warrant
stating exactly what areas the FBI is allowed to search and exactly what
evidence the FBI is allowed to collect.
It can
happen to you. A lawful search of your
residence by the FBI can occur if there is compelling evidence of a crime.
If it can
happen to you, why should a twice impeached, disgraced ex-president be beyond
the law?
We are
experiencing unprecedented heat waves throughout most of the northern
hemisphere. The ten hottest years ever
recorded in Maine have occurred over the past twelve years. Heat waves in Europe have caused massive
deaths and infrastructure failures.
Since the
beginning of the industrial revolution, the world climate temperature has
increased by two degrees.
It is hard
to understand how a two-degree increase in temperature can cause such climate
extremes. Even knowing that that two-degree
increase is an average of temperatures across the globe, it is not until we
realize that during the Ice Age when most of the northern hemisphere was covered
by glaciers, the global temperature average was just eight degrees cooler than
at the advent of the industrial revolution.
Small
changes in global average temperature can cause massive changes in the
climate.
Adding to
the problem, arctic ice is melting at an unprecedented rate, uncovering tundra
that has been buried for thousands of years.
This tundra is releasing carbon dioxide which further adds to global warming.
Even decreasing
carbon emissions now can only slow down the slide into a future climate that is
unknowable in its relation to human habitability.
I often defer to Neil de Grasse Tyson when trying to understand difficult science concepts.
Stay cool
the Ol'Buzzard
