Thursday, August 31, 2017

Bye August!


11 comments:

  1. Cat--that was a good catch about bending crystals! I am reminded of a part that goes into a type of instrument we use--very thin glass tubes, inside diameter maybe like a coarse hair--maybe a hog bristle or a cat whisker--30m (100 ft) long, in about a six or wight-inch coil. But one can actually tie them in a tight knot without breaking them! The trick is a polymer coating on the outside--use a file to cut through that and nick the glass, and it will break easily at that point. (They need to be trimmed from time.)

    --Alan

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    1. I agree, Alan. I liked it so well I reposted it to my FB page.

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  2. Take the CodePink pledge to divest from the war economy.

    The Pledge - Click

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  3. From today's CodePink e-mail:

    Camp taught us how to be accomplices, not allies, and build sanctuary cities. Upon returning from camp, we received the good news that a federal judge has blocked the implementation of SB4 in Texas. SB4 would ban sanctuary cities and transform local police departments into deportation machines. Thanks to a relentless and soulful campaign by organizers and immigrant accomplices, the draconian bill is being staved off for now.

    That's one good thing this week, anyway.

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    1. That is a VERY good thing! Thanks for posting it, Cat!

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  4. The Strange Future Hurricane Harvey Portends[Click]

    Why a Republican Pollster Is Losing Faith in Her Party[Click] She seems to think the GOP’s racism and xenophobia is something new, as do many others. Why can they not see it is the logical outcome of Nixon’s Southern Strategy? Or are they all too young to know about that? And I remember Ronnie Ray-gun (not alone among GOP presidential candidates) announcing his candidacy, just by coincidence, at the county fair in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Simple coincidence. Sure.

    Kushner Faces Cash Crunch[Click] Looks interesting. And from another commentator:
    An Update from The Kushner Swamp[Click]

    —Alan

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    1. Southern strategy? Please. Don't burden the poor darlings with ancient history. They can't even remember Howard Dean's fifty state strategy.

      Don't trust anyone under fifty! How one's perspective changes. But it's always us against them, and we're always smarter. *wry grin*

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    2. I am reminded of my father's advice: "Don't believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see." I am also reminded of some advice passed along by Harry Truman: "When someone starts telling you how honest he is, it's time to lock the smokehouse door." And it's a pity Calvin Coolidge had to give up making jokes in public--Will Rogers said he was the most humorous man he knew, and I won't disagree; but his humor was too droll for a lot of folks, who didn't even recognize it as humor. Among the things one must truly admire Coolidge for was knowing when his time was past. There were folks who tried to get him to run for President again, in hopes of bringing back the "Coolidge Prosperity." But he told them he wouldn't know how to be President any more--things had changed too much. (It was Hoover who built the modern Presidential administration, not FDR. Coolidge has, with some justice, been described as the last 19th-Century President.) I should have liked to know Coolidge in person; a thoroughly decent man and an astute politician (he never spoke ill of his political rivals), he probably knew more about the stock market than any other President before or since. He saw the increasing danger of unbridled speculation and did what he could to control it, but in those days there was precious little a President could do along those lines. Ah, well.

      Alan

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  5. This evening I finished Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku and started a reread of a Star Trek novel I read while in grad school, The Three-Minute Universe by Barbara Paul. What can I say? From the sublime to the ridiculous? Anyway, there it is. A discussion in the Kaku book reminded me of it. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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    1. Because of book discussion schedules, I am currently reading two books simultaneously. CompuServe's Science Fiction and Fantasy forum does its online discussions chapter by chapter, and I have just finished chapter 2 of Blood Enemies (vol 7 of Under Juristiction) by Susan R. Matthews. Who, I might mention, is joining our discussion. For my face-to-face discussion group, I am currently near the end of Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone. Very much enjoying both.

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