Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Guns, Guts, And Glory . . .



Gosh, so many people are really upset about that young man shooting people in Tucson. As they should be, of course. But merely emotionally sermonizing on TV about the need for more government control over gun ownership is one thing, but it is quite another thing to actually do something about it.

Just look at this year's schedule of upcoming gun shows in Arizona.


The president gives a rousing speech, as do the various members of congress. And these are the people who can do something about it.

But they won't.

They won't.

Do you know why?

Because the manufacturing, wholesaling, and retailing of firearms is a BIG BUSINESS. It is a high profit business, it provides jobs, and it is a huge source of tax revenue for the government. And besides, every canny politicians knows that actions are never necessary... it's the well-chosen emotion wringing words that mollify the ignorant masses.

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I had a brainstorm. Why not form a new political party comprising atheists, agnostics, and radical haters of organized-religion? Why not? Perhaps its time has arrived.

This would be a political party made up of people who can think. What a novelty that would be. A party of genuine thinkers who are not ruled by an irrational fear of the wrath of some mythical god... or any other such superstitious nonsense. A party of scientists and intellectuals along with people of uncommon sense would be a logic-based and certainly a much more efficient government.

Why not?

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Have you ever heard the phrase: As rich as Crassus? Who was Crassus? And exactly how rich was he? Well, research tells me that:

Marcus Licinius Crassus (ca. 115 BC - 53 BC) was a Roman general and politician who commanded the left wing of Sulla's army at the Battle of the Colline Gate, suppressed the slave revolt led by Spartacus, and entered into the political alliance known as the First Triumvirate with Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar. At the height of his fortune he was allegedly worth more than 200,000,000 sestertii (more than 1.79 trillion dollars.) Considered the wealthiest man in Roman history, and perhaps the richest man in all history, he is ranked in the top 10 wealthiest historical figures.

Why do people want to be rich?
I have never understood that.

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Thunderstorms on Earth emit antimatter

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected beams of antimatter launched by thunderstorms. Acting like enormous particle accelerators, the storms can emit gamma-ray flashes, called TGFs, and high-energy electrons and positrons. See photos and read about it here

If you click the above link, you can see a fantastic video and great photos, and you can read many other space related articles, such as Kepler discovers rocky planet orbiting another star.

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Words Of The Day

(1)
In medias res or medias in res ("into the middle of affairs") is a Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, not at the beginning.

(2)
cognize means know: be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information;


__________

I look up at the night sky. Is anything more certain than that in all those vast times and spaces, if I were allowed to search them, I should nowhere find her face, her voice, her touch? She died. She is dead. Is the word so difficult to learn?
--C.S. Lewis

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