CELEBRATING EN HEDU’ANA
THE EARLIEST KNOWN poet, variously, En hedu’ana, Enheduanna, Sumerian 𒂗𒃶𒌌𒀭𒈾, flourished in the 23rd century B.C. I think of her as a Mesopotamian William Shakespeare, Johannes Kepler, and Emily Dickinson. … Continue reading
BEHIND THE CURVE
SECOND GUESSING IS valuable only if it affects future actions. We can hope this occurs following an assessment in Science, May 8, 2020, published by the American Association for the … Continue reading
ZEPPE VS TRIPPE—YOU READ IT HERE FIRST, SORT OF
I’M LOOKING forward to reading Alexander Rose’s Empires of the Sky—Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men’s Epic Duel to Rule the World. This is, at least in part, to confirm things … Continue reading
SCIENCE AND THE BALLOT
HOW SECURE IS our balloting? Last year, the American Association for the Advancement of Science established the AAAS Center for Scientific Evidence in Public Issues. One focus, as described by … Continue reading
COVID EXIT STRATEGY—THE NUMBERS TO WATCH
“MOST RESEARCHERS AGREE,” Kai Kupferschmidt writes in Science, April 17, 2020, “that reopening society will be a long haul, marked by trial and error.” His article “The Lockdowns Worked—But What … Continue reading
CULTURE—WE’RE ALL ANIMALS OF ONE SORT OR ANOTHER
A NEW BOOK reviewed in Science, April 10, 2020, proposes an expanded view of culture: Rather than Merriam-Webster‘s first definition, “the customary beliefs, social form, and material traits of a … Continue reading
ROYAL HISTORIES RECORDED IN THE ELEMENT LEAD PART 2
YESTERDAY, GRAPHS FROM Science, April 3, 2020, displayed trends of medieval English taxes on silver and lead with those of lead traces found in a Swiss ice core. Today in … Continue reading
ROYAL HISTORIES RECORDED IN THE ELEMENT LEAD PART 1
WHAT A PROVOCATIVE caption for a graph; “The fortunes of kings, written in ice.” The graph, shown later here, accompanied “Lead Pollution Traces the Rise and Fall of Medieval Kings,” … Continue reading
OLD STEAM ENGINES
EARLY ENGINES had their mechanicals exposed for all to admire. An excellent example of this is a beautiful steam engine offered at the Bonham & Butterfields 2010 Quail Lodge automobile … Continue reading
COUNTERING COVID-19—WORLDWIDE TACTICS
COUNTERING COVID-19 HAS become a worldwide challenge. In Science, March 20, 2020, Jon Cohen and Kai Kupferschmidt discussed responses in “Countries Test Tactics in ‘War’ Against COVID-19.” They quote World … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 