What interests me is educated, expansive conceptual understanding, not getting bogged down in endless details only as necessary. This is how I think, aware of both its strengths and weaknesses.

White Nationalism

 So to be clear, white supremacists believe that "white people" are a "superior race" and that black and brown people, Jews, Muslims and other nonwhites are inferior be it because of biology or "culture." White nationalism is the political project through which the goal of white dominance and total control over society is obtained and maintained. In such a society, nonwhites are to be subordinated and eventually removed. In the most "extreme" versions of the white supremacist project non-whites are to be enslaved or eliminated. The more "generous" versions of the white supremacist political project allows a role for a small number of "honorary whites" who believe in those values and idolize Whiteness and "Western culture." 

-Chauncey Devega in Salon.com

Stephen Hawking - My Brief History - Notes

 This is a brief autobiography of the most famous physicist of the late 20th Century (1942 - 2018).  He was highly visible mainly due to his ALS disease.  I wanted to see the humanity behind the man.

He was married and divorced twice and living with another woman when he died.  He contracted ALS in his 20's  He was well educated in British graduate school.s   He claimed to not be so good in mathematics.  He held the academic chair once held by Isaac Newton. 

He is most famous for his book A Brief History of Time, which he wanted to be sold in airport bookstores.  His editor wisely said no.  I have never totally understood scientists like this who desire to educate the general public.  If I were at this level I would not care about the general populace.

He mentions not winning the Nobel.  It must have rankled him.

Is time travel possible? Can we travel back in time? No one knows for sure. I am simply shocked that this is a serious question in theoretical physics.

He liked to play with and was fascinated with toy trains. Somehow that makes the great physicist seem so human.

Hawking did not learn to read until he was 8. I find that comforting.

He was born on January 8, 1942, exactly 300 years after the death of Galileo, a spooky coincidence, except that approximately 200,000 other children were also born on that date.

If you understand how the universe operates, you can control it in a way.

Like most boys, he was embarrassed by his parents, but it did not worry his parents.

He learned the beauty of the English language by reading the King James Bible.

His theoretical inquires trumped his practical abilities.

He says that the brightest science students do math and physics and maybe chemistry; the less bright do biology.

Hawking luckily avoided becoming a civil servant.

Missed a chance to work with Fred Hoyle, the most famous astronomy of the time.

Whe began his research the two hottest areas were cosmology and elementary particles, but particle physics was too much like botany. :) Had he gone into particles none of his work from that time would have held up. Luck counts in physics research.

Hawking was highly affected by dreams. We have that in common. :)

The big question in cosmology in the 60's was whether the universe had a beginning. Along came the Big Bang.

Hawking is highly known for his work on Black Holes, which I cannot wrap my head around.

His time at legendary CalTech was seminal.

Hawking ways he thinks in pictorial terms. Was he a visual learner? I ask this both seriously and tongue in cheek. If I were to talk to Hawking, this is something I should ask him to explain further.

Hawking seems to give some probability to the possibility of worm holes. I am astounded. I assumed this was the stuff of science fiction.

"Worm holes, if they exist, would be ideal for space travel," No joke, Stephen!

The original scenario was singularity, Big Bang, and inflation (thanks Alan Guth). The problem is that everything breaks down at a singularity so this is not good enough for Hawking, which leads to a universe with no beginning an no end, a universe, which leads to a foolish question like what happened before the Big Gan, which leads to Hawking's No Boundary scenario. At this point my history major mind cooks out. Sorry. If everything breaks down at singularities, then we must dispense with singularities.

 I believe in expertise. Dr. Van Lede at My Eye Doctor in Pelham is the best. I like to talk to knowledgeable people who know what they are talking about. Otherwise I can take small talk only for so long. I like to learn new things. Intellectual curiosity keeps me going.

 

July 10, 2013  · 

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We superficially serious people have to struggle to find connection and meaning in today's world. Shirking work in favor of the afternoon movie matinee or treating ourselves at 5 Guys no longer carries the excitement it used to. It's difficult to tell the difference between reality and filaments of our imagination. Thriving on cheap thrills is harder and harder because it seems that just about everything is cheap these days. We wouldn't know how to get seriously serious if our lives depended on it.

 . . . . if young people have no understanding of the vast bloodletting that was the Civil War, fought because of the country’s original sin of slavery, how can they navigate the current debates on race and reparations?

-Hugh Hewitt in the WaPost

Michael Tomasky

 Pay Attention to What You See: Donald Trump Is Losing His Marbles

If he keeps this up, he’ll drag the entire Republican Party down with him in 2024.

MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO/GETTY IMAGES

Trump “dances” at the Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia on June 30.

This is the kind of topic about which liberals generally don’t want good news. They want to worry. They assign to their right-wing foes a strength and formidability that they never see on their own side (I’m often as guilty of this as anybody, I confess). They lack faith in the common sense and decency of the average voter. They want, on some level, to think, or at least to fear, that disaster is around the corner.

I rise today to fight that tendency. Yes, it’s early. Yeah, it’s premature. But I’m going to say: The signs I see so far? They suggest to me that Donald Trump (a) is going to win the GOP nomination and (b) stands a very good chance of leading his party to an epic wipeout next November.