As I perused a series of blogs, I was intrigued by the information provided by Angie Vallejo. She was telling her readers that today would be a “sort-of” special day.
Continue reading Inspire Your Heart with Art Day
Why today? Because the world experiences International Holocaust Day today. that was the first day that the "allies" (In this case the Army of the USSR) took control over the concentration camps. Recoiling at the carnage and conditions- (they never believed what we Jews were telling them all along), this became a day of remembrance. Note that "NEVER AGAIN" starts with 'NEVER FORGET". And, anti-Semitism is just the start-; it extends to anti-Others, if and when no one takes umbrage and reacts to the tropes espoused.
Continue reading Anti-Semitism in 2020s
Greenwashing. Unfortunately, we are forced to learn yet another new term. Conceived by companies and politicians hoping to gaslight (there’s another vocabulary word) us into thinking all is well- and they are helping to improve the world the way they claim.
I have written about this problem often. The most recent time was about four years ago.
I was discussing how the Director of an honor society (Sigma Xi) to which I belong had taken on the sacred mission of correcting the politics of misinformation. Since this was a technical society, their goals were aimed at vaccinations, health care, and scientific facts. Poltiicians have helped degrade the faith in science, given their to pronounce simple, yet incorrect, solutions to health and safety issues. (As an aside, I will soon be discussing Governor Mike Dewine’s greenwashing attempt [aided and abetted by the WrongWing alternative fact promoter, ALEC] in Ohio. But, that is not the topic for today.)
Continue reading News Literacy Week
I’m sure y’all remember this tidbit. We must have learned it in second grade. That Ben Franklin, on a June afternoon in 1752, thought it would be the perfect time to go fly a kite. While everyone else was scurrying to their homes.
Continue reading A change in a ca. 270 y old protection device
There was no moon last night, which means today is the first day of Rosh Chodesh. In particular, last night and today are the Rosh Chodesh of Sh’vat.
Continue reading It’s Rosh Chodesh
As the pandemic wave continued, more and more articles (both popular and scientific) were expounding that our lives need to experience awe; it helps us improve our well-being. Experiencing awe (something extraordinary) renders our worries much smaller.
Becoming less attuned to ourselves and paying more attention to the world around us, helps us “reframe” our existence. It allows us to become more curious, more creative, maybe even more compassionate. (That last attribute is something that most of us have lost during the pandemic era.)
I am exceptionally lucky. I have learned how to develop goals- but more importantly- how to achieve them.
Continue reading Not a dream, but a future reality
Bet most of you never really thought about this. But since Portland cement (i.e., concrete) is responsible for about 8% of our CO2 emissions- and often needs repair, it’s been on my horizon, even if it’s not one of my primary interests. Especially since we produce about 12 billion tons of concrete (which yields 12 metric tons of carbon dioxide) a year. And, while we consider concrete to be a solid mass, it’s really pretty porous (consider a bunch of small balls packed together, with voids between the balls, akin to a dry sponge. And, when rain or snow slips among the voids0 and then freezes- kerplow, the concrete splits apart.
Continue reading Self-Healing Concrete