To Open The Sky
Dilemmas & Digressions
John Lennon said "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans." I prefer coherent thoughts, coherent actions, coherent structures. Unfortunately for my preferences, life is not very coherent. This section of my Web site is where I'll put the stuff that doesn't fit with my plans for it, yet is worth including.
The first of these that happened to me spawned a story that should delight any geek — or at least those who don't look askance at three-generations-removed hardware. It's about how I managed to acquire a computer workstation for minimal money and upgrade it with more memory and a second CPU.
Later, I got involved in an on-line discussion about the merits of nuclear power. (I believe it has some.) I decided that I should learn more about what I already knew was its checkered history. The section on nuclear accidents is the result.
When Wikipedia came along, I did some editing on certain of its articles. I probably should not have been surprised when those articles became controversial. It is an age when a large segment of the American population regards facts themselves as bogus assertions made by some nefarious opposition. Which perception, of course, demands that they assert their own "facts" in order to restore "balance." It's unfortunate, but Wikipedia has become a battleground in this struggle.
Which brings me to global warming. As I dug into this, I became amazed at the prevalence and persistence of "facts" which had long been debunked. The warming itself is enough of a dilemma. We don't need another dilemma piled on top — with or without hand-picked "cherries."
| Topic | Description | Date added |
|---|---|---|
| Aboriginal Peoples Today | We palefaces are treating them better than in the past, but not well enough. | 17 Oct 2015 |
| Abortion in America | Long a controversial wedge issue, access to lgeal abortion has fallen under threat with the release of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito and a conservative SCOTUS likely to nullify Roe v. Wade by the end of this term. | 03 Jun 2022 |
| Accidents involving Nuclear Energy |
As global warming looks ever more real, nuclear fission is an energy option that looks ever more vital. The dilemma is the need to confine and shield the fission process, especially the virulent, long-lived waste it produces. Here's some ongoing research into how well we're doing with that. | 05 Jun 2005 |
| Global Pandemics |
Discussion and resources about pandemics, to get you started on the topic — and espcially the complex dilemma involving medical and political ramifications of COVID-19. | 17 May 2020 |
| Global Warming |
So many scientists cannot be wrong, after so many years. Not about the basics. Here's why. | 12 Apr 2009 |
| Israel & Palestine | What do Israel's actions in the conflict started by Hamas on 7 October 2023 say about the nature of "the only democracy in the Middle East" — and about its future? Here are some background references and some facts about the current conflict. | 26 Jan 2024 |
| Judge Brett Kavanaugh | .Hearings on Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court will soon begin. I think he should not be confirmed. Here's why. | 27 Aug 2018 |
| Preserving American Democracy | Republicans have mounted a full-court press against American democracy, the rule of law and the tradition of "one person, one vote." Voter restriction through gerrymandering and state election-law changes lie at the heart of their effort. | 20 Aug 2024 |
| Today's Tardy Web | When the World Wide Web was new, pages loaded in mere seconds. Today? Not hardly. | 21 Jan 2019 |
| Trump | The new occupant of the Oval Office has a long way to go to prove his worth.1 | 23 Jan 2017 |
| Upgrading the HP Kayak |
Read about how I accessed my inner geek2 and figured out how to add a second CPU to a Kayak. | 04 Aug 2005 |
| Ukraine Invaded |
Abandoning the Minsk Agreement — and his own pledges — Dictator Putin yesterday began his invasion of Ukraine. | 24 Feb 2022 |
| What's Wrong with Wikipedia? |
As a sometime editor of articles on Wikipedia, "The Online Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit," I investigate its quality issues. | 10 Oct 2006 |
