tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72937340693192541482024-03-18T18:20:40.577-07:00European-American blogThe European/American Blog is a collection of political, social and general essays from an international perspective. We blog about current politics as well as national and international social problems and solutions.Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.comBlogger1004125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-51944321163647713852024-03-10T16:00:00.000-07:002024-03-10T17:24:58.157-07:00Project 2025: A Blueprint for Authoritarianism<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr5La87vR4leDzV6PBa69uDYZxB8ZX87tP-bCW2L-nVvbLD0lufuBXp9mvGOA0_H2UsXzppjybUzqJQYc9aOUnDQooTOb5gxOAsgZ3QC5qGrbOcROzHmxMKl_Aedzi4UQ26UEuNg_MnLaPR3CpS_i1ackX9QtKV3vmJFU9LP9jH9unwv6XPRxSj4uA2VU/s512/project_2025.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr5La87vR4leDzV6PBa69uDYZxB8ZX87tP-bCW2L-nVvbLD0lufuBXp9mvGOA0_H2UsXzppjybUzqJQYc9aOUnDQooTOb5gxOAsgZ3QC5qGrbOcROzHmxMKl_Aedzi4UQ26UEuNg_MnLaPR3CpS_i1ackX9QtKV3vmJFU9LP9jH9unwv6XPRxSj4uA2VU/w236-h236/project_2025.png" width="236" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">By
Madeleine Kando<br /><br />During Biden’s State of the Union address, the President referenced a speech given by President Franklin Roosevelt almost a century ago. Roosevelt’s purpose was to wake up Congress and alert the American people that his were no ordinary times. ‘<i>Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world’.
</i><br /><br />
Biden continued: ‘<i>Now it is we who face an unprecedented moment in the history of the Union. Freedom and democracy are under attack again, both at home and overseas’.
</i><br /><br />
These words are no longer alarmist rhetoric.
While France becomes the first country to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/world/europe/france-abortion-rights-constitution.html" target="_blank">enshrine abortion rights in its constitution</a>, the United States is barreling its way in the opposite direction. The Far Right is now ready ‘to battle anti-American “woke” forces’ and enshrine white Christian patriarchal values in our government.
<br /><b style="text-align: center;"><br /></b></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025" target="_blank">Project 2025 </a>*</b><br /><br />In case of a Republican victory in the 2024, the far right is planning to implement an authoritarian takeover of the America Government. They call it ‘Project 2025’. Published by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation" target="_blank">Heritage Foundation,</a> a conservative think tank, Project 2025 is a clear threat to our democracy, and we must treat it as such.
<br /><br />
It wants the President to have direct control of all the departments in the Executive branch, so it can gut them at will (including the DOJ and the FBI) and reform others, such as the Department of Education, by funneling tax money into religious charter schools, instead of public schools. It calls the DOE a “one-stop shop for the 'woke' education cartel” and plans to close it down altogether and return all responsibility for education to the states.
<br /><br />
An illegal instrument called "Schedule F" would allow the President to fire and replace thousands of civil servants who are now shielded from political manipulation. The entire Executive branch will become politicized.
<br /><br />
The lengthy document covers all departments in great detail. It wants to give a President (Trump is their favorite candidate) complete control over Education, Health Care, Defense, the Press and even Finances.
<br /><br />
It is frighteningly candid in its goals for the future of the country.</span></div><div><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
It wants to ban all abortions and restrict sexual and reproductive health and rights. It wants to instate hardline Immigration policies, end Climate Change Efforts and Restrict Environment Policies.
<br /><br />
It wants to withdraw from the United Nations and other international bodies.
<br /><br />
To push their agenda, the Heritage Foundation has assembled a coalition of more than 80 far-right groups that have been spreading hatred against LGBTQ+ communities, immigrants, Muslims, and people of color, and has propagating medical disinformation, climate change denial and election denial.
<br /><br />
If you think that this is alarmist and that they will never get away with it, that our institutions are strong enough to protect our Democracy from this slide into autocracy, you are mistaken.
<br /><br />The previous Trump administration was too disorganized and unprepared to act on this frightening blueprint. Now they have all their ducks in a row and are ready and able to destroy everything that we, as a democratic country stand for.
<br /><br />
Judging by how much dark money is behind this project, including the Koch brothers, it is doubtful that their efforts to weaponize the Executive branch to do their bidding is just an empty gesture.
<br /><br />
President Biden should have mentioned this in his State of the Union. He should have warned us that if we don’t vote or try to stop the Republican attacks on our liberal values, we will no longer have a country.
<br /><br />
Please, please vote and vote for Biden!
<a name="more"></a>
<span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=5194432116364771385">leave comment here</a></span>
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">*<a href="https://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf" target="_blank"> Full Text of Project 2025</a></span></i></div><div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Go to Thomas Zimmer's Substack for more info: <a href="https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-project-2025-would-do-to-america" target="_blank">Democracy Americana</a></span></i></div></div><div><br /></div>madeleine kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628760653230283538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-58029698142274440022024-03-10T14:22:00.000-07:002024-03-10T17:24:11.544-07:00What Comes After the American Century?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcGFMrvV5_OOw4ob3RmWtqkiWyFb_Pql4TDqMTfIh6NLrNiJR0Za_WGwPXnsQOEEGnypHeMOvwsYYFpSI8v8u7V1A3ciCH4SymtxAL-MDCHYkAZOQG_aCYhln4nKrViov6chWyiQVbyvnmXkDP5jpZNbdF4BVOuIDkcGJ3GqxDnQJVqAlF9NKs7a_c8h4M/s346/520.%20the%20world.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="146" data-original-width="346" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcGFMrvV5_OOw4ob3RmWtqkiWyFb_Pql4TDqMTfIh6NLrNiJR0Za_WGwPXnsQOEEGnypHeMOvwsYYFpSI8v8u7V1A3ciCH4SymtxAL-MDCHYkAZOQG_aCYhln4nKrViov6chWyiQVbyvnmXkDP5jpZNbdF4BVOuIDkcGJ3GqxDnQJVqAlF9NKs7a_c8h4M/s320/520.%20the%20world.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">By Thomas Kando </span></h3><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is today a widespread sense that America is in decline.
On the right, there is MAGA and the Trumpites. On the left, many young people and not-so-young people feel that America is doing everything wrong. Overseas our adversaries, like Putin, wishfully predict America’s downfall. And many people in countries friendly to us also talk about our (allegedly growing) weaknesses. Whether you care about America or not, pessimism about our country is widespread. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">What is one to make of all this? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">To me, it is not clear that America is in decline. I have heard this refrain my whole life. Over the decades, there have been many predictions of the imminent end of what has been called the American century. Each crisis has produced predictions of precipitous American decline. During the Vietnam war many people were convinced that the US was declining. In the sixties Nikita Khrushchev said “we shall bury you,” and many western intellectuals believed him. After 9/11 some European pundits said that America’s pre-eminent position in the world was coming to an end. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">When we hear the term “<i>American century.”</i> the implication is often that this is coming to an end. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">For the past eighty years, those of us of a certain age - including the baby boomers - have lived lives of stability, world peace, prosperity, progress and democracy. By and large anyway, and granted, mostly so in the western world. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This can be attributed to the <i>Pax Americana</i> during that period of time. Thanks to American help, the American economy and American military might, the devastated world (including our former enemies) was rebuilt and kept free and prosperous. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I’ll skip the debate as to whether the Pax Americana was self-serving for the US or altruistic. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">America’s dominance was enormous right after the end of World War Two, when its economy was half that of the world. This huge advantage was bound to decline, as the rest of the world rebuilt itself. Eventually the US settled at one fourth of the world’s economy, and this has pretty much remained so for many years. <span><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Time and again the prognoses of decline and retreat have failed to materialize. The pessimists have been wrong over and over again. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Does this mean that the world is not changing? Not at all. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">For one thing, historical change is often gradual. We often separate epochs from each other, assigning demarcations between eras, but these separations are artificial. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">For example, It is possible to call the nineteenth century - the era starting after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815 and ending with America’s entry into World War One in 1917 - as the “European century.” That is when Europe completed the colonization of the world, while enjoying the absence of major internal wars for over a century. For better or worse, Europe was master of the world. Its power was unparalleled, as was its technological superiority. Keep in mind that I am merely identifying the dominant force in the world at a given time. I focus purely on power, not on morality. I am not lauding what Europe did in its colonies. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Europe’s decline since World War One has only been relative, as its power became overshadowed by America’s. Were America in decline and retreat (and it is not clear that it is), its trajectory is likely to be similarly relative and gradual. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Today, Americans are much more pessimistic than they ought to be. Populism and nationalism are on the rise and liberal democracy is under attack. However, this does not mean that America is in retreat. What it does mean is that the world is changing. It is more chaotic and multi-polar. New powers are on the rise, China most prominently. How will the 21st century (and beyond) be designated by historians? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">One possibility - utopian, to be sure - is the growth of world government, world unification. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">A recent book by Simon Sebag Montefiore, <i>The World: A Family History of Humanity</i> indicates why such a development may be vital for humankind: Montefiore offers a history of the world as a never-ending bloodbath, in which every leader’s sole goal is power, obtained through the mass murder of all his rivals and their supporting populations, their children, their parents, their siblings, and everyone else who is in the way. Montefiore’s book is an entertaining and sensationalist caricature. But it makes a disturbing point: The fundamental flaw in human nature is man’s desire to overpower his fellow humans and kill them if necessary to achieve more power. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Our inherent murderous impulse can only be controlled by the social contract (see John Locke). Throughout history, the social contract has been embodied by governing nation-states. Now, it must become a united worldwide entity, or else individual states will destroy each other. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The world took the first step towards World Federalism when it created the League of Nations in 1920, and the United Nations in 1945. The need for world government has become clearer since. The threat to humanity’s survival has increased. We are approaching the irreversible destruction of the environment, and the danger of nuclear war has grown. We are an existential threat to ourselves. We must create the institutions necessary to avoid human self-destruction. While the West (Europe and America) may no longer dominate the world, it must remain highly engaged, and continue to provide leadership. Change is inevitable. But values such as gender and racial equality, democracy, the absence of slavery, religious and political freedom, empirical science, progress towards more love and less violence are universal. The world system of the future will be different from what it is now. What will it be like? World federalism is one possibility, farfetched as it is. The behavior of the United Nations is not very promising thus far. But it is a better alternative than MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction.
970
<a name="more"></a>
<span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=5802969814227444002">leave comment here</a></span></span></div>Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-41726598823229433072024-02-28T08:59:00.000-08:002024-02-28T12:36:40.452-08:002024 Global Elections and Voting<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZE3zsMnRw1rtUpjKGrsDgpANZu-CsyXmFfNF4olUCrKePzlsVvGeps-6t6yFmQUQdiBNJwk_uMXJtWDG380GuxpxPVzDgDvjZLUAHvXqZyN2nZARDCPd73HADB0-d4lXwb7R-EIx48GMLVLkNbnM78vDh8rK5R6SgR89jFAO2Ok0tT6tDJxzrSDjJ3U/s529/democracy.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="529" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZE3zsMnRw1rtUpjKGrsDgpANZu-CsyXmFfNF4olUCrKePzlsVvGeps-6t6yFmQUQdiBNJwk_uMXJtWDG380GuxpxPVzDgDvjZLUAHvXqZyN2nZARDCPd73HADB0-d4lXwb7R-EIx48GMLVLkNbnM78vDh8rK5R6SgR89jFAO2Ok0tT6tDJxzrSDjJ3U/s320/democracy.gif" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">By Madeleine Kando<br /><br />The year 2024 will be the year of elections: four billion people will cast a vote in over 60 countries, which is about half of the world’s population. 900 million in India, 200 million in Indonesia, 160 million in the US and so on.<br /><br />But the election that the entire world is most anxious about is the US Presidential election. If we elect a leader that encourages Russia to attack those NATO nations that fall short on defence-spending and admires dictators, many countries will think twice about their allegiance to America.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Many foreigners think that if a Democrat wins the White House, the whole country must have voted for that candidate. Vice-versa, if a Republican wins the Presidency, it means that the whole country is Republican. That is because the two-party system is a foreign concept for countries that do not have our voting system.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">In America, every district elects a single representative. Voters cast a vote for a candidate, one candidate wins, and all the others lose. This makes our elections “winner-take-all” — if a candidate wins 51 percent of the vote, she wins 100 percent of the representation. Any voters who did not back the winning candidate are not represented in government. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>First Past the Post vs Proportional Representation</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The <i>First Past the Post system</i> is one of the least democratic systems by global standards. In fact, some political scientists wonder if it qualifies as democratic at all. But clearly some people think this is the best way to organize elections.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">With a <i>Proportional Representation system</i>, on the other hand, the percentage of seats reflects the percentage of votes. If a party wins 40% of the vote, it will receive 40% of the seats. It is the most widely used system in the world and can be found in almost every country.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The <i>Single Member District system</i>, part of the First Past the Post scenario, guarantees that a large portion of voters will not be represented. The laws are vague on whether the single-member district system is Constitutionally locked in, or whether States have overriding authority on how to select their representatives. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">But the problem with an established voting system is that it is resistant to change. Our two-party system has been in place since Thomas Jefferson and Madison disagreed on whether a central government was necessary and how much power it should have. Ever since then, partisan polarization pulled the parties further apart </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">by a bunch of ideologists</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">, like a piece of chewing gum, to the point of breaking.</span><a name='more'></a><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">But either way, using ranked-choice voting—which doesn’t require constitutional changes—would do much to dissolve the zero-sum partisanship.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Ranked Choice Voting</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Here in New England and in many other states, efforts are underway to make this happen under the banner of Ranked Choice Voting. Especially the <i>Single Transferable Vote</i>, which would add a Proportional Representation element to an existing FPTP system. Since then, seven sister communities: Acton, Amherst, Arlington, Brookline, Concord and Lexington and Northampton have sent RCV home rule petitions to the Statehouse, waiting for approval. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Cambridge, Massachusetts has used STV for decades, and 19 communities around Boston, including Boston proper, have now submitted or are in the process of submitting Home Rule petitions to the Massachusetts State Legislature.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is tragic that the richest and most powerful nation on earth, the country that is the source of the post-1945 international order, often called Pax Americana, is based on a voting system that is truly undemocratic. Much of the rest of the world’s future is dependent on what is going to happen here, at home.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="fullpost" style="font-family: verdana;">The message is clear. We need to change America’s plurality voting system. We, the citizens, are the ‘will of the people’, and it is up to us to MAKE AMERICA DEMOCRATIC AGAIN. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=4172659882322943307"> leave comment here</a></span></div></div>madeleine kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628760653230283538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-24632609803714316912024-02-22T18:04:00.000-08:002024-02-23T06:32:29.109-08:00Is Math a Discovery or an Invention?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghIj8dyDgBwJoFDCDHShTbuP9BhDUNYbUcb9LpIbe05FYFkAcpPWYFN5gU_etVmShE6AWdHlOoiSC6NzoYpyi28gqkFc7FSKt-qBlQxCZPP_52l2x0mTD3kD5DtNk6jd2K_kV-SFJO0O77pPdfu8G-61q-5OLydpv7D0RExM2_3M2yKAAOV-8AAEB9K303/s300/519.math..jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghIj8dyDgBwJoFDCDHShTbuP9BhDUNYbUcb9LpIbe05FYFkAcpPWYFN5gU_etVmShE6AWdHlOoiSC6NzoYpyi28gqkFc7FSKt-qBlQxCZPP_52l2x0mTD3kD5DtNk6jd2K_kV-SFJO0O77pPdfu8G-61q-5OLydpv7D0RExM2_3M2yKAAOV-8AAEB9K303/s1600/519.math..jpg" width="300" /></a><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><u>Thomas Kando</u> </span></span></h2><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Note: the title of this article is similar to an article by Mario Liovo from which I quote extensively, below) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I have been thinking about the relationship between the universe and mathematics. Humans have measured and given numbers to various objects. The earth’s circumference is 40,000 kilometers. The speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second.
When I first learned about the earth’s size in elementary school geography class, I thought “wow! How neat. How come the earth is exactly 40,000 kilometers in size? What a coincidence. Such a simple and memorable whole number.” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Of course, I was putting the cart before the horse. I did not understand that “kilometer” is not an a priori characteristic of nature. The earth is (approximately) 40,000 kilometers in circumference because humans decided to use as their basic unit of length one forty millionth of the earth’s circumference, however long that is. They called it the meter, of which one thousand added together make a kilometer. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The <i>metre</i> was originally defined in 1791 by the French National Assembly as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole along a great circle, so the Earth's polar circumference is approximately 40,000. (<a href="kmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre">metre</a>) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">But it was later determined that its length was short by about 0.2 millimetres because of miscalculation of the flattening of the Earth, making the prototype about 0.02% shorter than the original proposed definition of the metre. Regardless, this length became the French standard and was adopted by most of the rest of the world. So the polar circumference of the Earth is actually 40,008 kilometres, instead of 40,000. (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_circumference#:~:text=Measured%20passing%20through%20the%20poles,Syene%20(Aswan)%20and%20Alexandria.">Earth’s Circumference</a>) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Then there is the speed of light: Light travels at (nearly) 300,000 kilometers per second (in a vacuum). How convenient! I thought as a youngster. Like earth’s circumference, the speed of light is also a neat, simple and memorable quantity. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Of course humans must deal with natural phenomena in order to survive, so we have developed measurement systems. These are arbitrary, but hopefully as practical and as scientifically usable as possible. We must measure everything - time, temperature, electricity, weight, distance, speed, you name it. A decimal system seems to be advantageous over alternative systems, as exemplified by temperature: water freezes at zero and boils at 100. Neat and easy. A liter of water weights a kilo, which is a thousand grams. Simple. <span><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">But how about time? To measure this variable, the world uses the neat sexagesimal system of seconds, minutes and hours, inherited from the Babylonians and the Sumerians many thousands of years ago. This is a combination of decimal and heximal (based on six). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">IF the earth’s circumference were exactly 40,000 kilometers and the speed of light exactly 300,000 kilometers per second, we would have to believe one or more of the following things: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">1. Light and the earth were created by a rational force that recognizes the meter (and the entire decimal system) as primordial, as a priori, as existing in and of themselves before the universe was created. God?
Or: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">2. The speed of light and the size of earth are somehow, causally, related. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">And: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">3. The length of the second is also a natural a priori - not human invention. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Of course, the first of these beliefs is medieval, the second one is far-fetched and undocumented, and the third one is unbelievable, and somewhat a restatement of the first one. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">In fact, the speed of light is not exactly the neat 300,000 kilometers per second. It is a little bit below 300,000. Thus none of the quantities and measurement units I have mentioned - the meter, the second, the temperature degree, the decimal system - are a priori parts of nature. They are all human inventions. The universe is not inherently decimal. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Are there any numbers or systems of numbers that are embedded in nature, prior to human design? Well, there is Pi (π). This is the ratio of a circle’s diameter to its circumference, and when expressed in decimal language, its value is approximately 3.14. As such, it is called an irrational number, in that after its decimal point, the digits go on forever, in no particular order. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">* * * * * * * </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">So the question is: Is math invention or discovery?
Are some numbers embedded in nature/the universe a priori Is God a mathematician? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I came across a brilliant article by Mario Livio: “<i><b><a href="https://www.sfu.ca/~rpyke/cafe/livio.pdf ">Is math invented or discovered?</a></b></i>” This leading astrophysicist’s answer to this question is: Both. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Since I am way out of my depth here, let me quote Livio at some length: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mathematics is the language of science. Einstein pondered, "How is it possible that mathematics, a product of human thought that is independent of experience, fits so excellently the objects of physical reality?" Math captures the natural world in an uncanny way. Is math an invented set of tools, as Einstein believed? Or does it actually exist in some abstract realm, with humans merely discovering its truths? </span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Einstein's school of thought is called Formalism. The opposite view is Platonism: The view that “ideas” exist independently from the physical world. According to Formalism, mathematics is a human invention. According to Platonism, it is a discovery. </span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">We humans use numbers, and numbers are amazingly good at describing nature. How did this come about? </span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Our species) possesses an innate talent, called subitizing, for instantly recognizing quantity, which undoubtedly led to the concept of number. We are very good at perceiving the edges of individual objects and at distinguishing between different shapes - abilities that probably led to the development of arithmetic and geometry. </span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Imagine if the intelligence in our world resided not with humankind but rather with a singular, isolated jellyfish, floating deep in the Pacific Ocean. Everything in its experience would be continuous, from the flow of the surrounding water to its fluctuating temperature and pressure. In such an environment, lacking individual objects or anything discrete, would the concept of number arise? If there were nothing to count, would numbers exist? </span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Not only do scientists cherry-pick solutions, they also tend to select problems that are amenable to mathematical treatment.
But this careful selection of problems and solutions only partially accounts for mathematics' success in describing the laws of nature. Such laws must exist in the first place! Luckily for mathematicians and physicists alike, universal laws appear to govern our cosmos: an atom 12 billion light-years away behaves just like an atom on Earth; light in the distant past and light today share the same traits.... Mathematicians and physicists have invented the concept of symmetry to describe this kind of immunity to change.</i> </span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">The laws of physics seem to display symmetry with respect to space and time: The same laws explain our results, whether the experiments occur in China, Alabama or the Andromeda galaxy--and whether we conduct our experiment today or someone else does a billion years from now. If the universe did not possess these symmetries, any attempt to decipher nature's grand design--any mathematical model built on our observations--would be doomed because we would have to continuously repeat experiments at every point in space and time.</span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mathematics is an intricate fusion of inventions and discoveries. Concepts are generally invented. However, mathematics would not work at all were there no universal features to be discovered. </span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Why are there universal laws of nature at all? Or equivalently: Why is our universe governed by certain symmetries and by locality? I truly do not know the answers, except to note that perhaps in a universe without these properties, complexity and life would have never emerged, and we would not be here to ask the question</i>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The title of Livio’s 2009 book is suggestive: <i><b><a href=" https://www.amazon.com/God-Mathematician-Mario-Livio/dp/0743294068 ">Is God a Mathematician?</a></b></i>.-</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">To conclude, here are some examples of mathematical discoveries: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">1. The aforementioned number for Pi ( π), i.e. the ratio of a circle’s diameter to its circumference. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">2. Pythagoras’ theorem: In a right-angled triangle, the square of the hypotenuse side is equal to the sum of squares of the other two sides. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">3. Archimedes’ formulas for the surface of a sphere: 4 π r square, and for the volume of a sphere: (4/3) π r to the third power.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">And a few examples of numerical inventions: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">1. The meter, and all other measurement systems, such as the gram and kilo for weight, the degree for temperature, the “big four” for electricity, our decimal system in general. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">2. Other more awkward measurement systems (used primarily in Anglo-Saxon countries) such as inches, feet, ounces, pints, quarts, gallons, etc.) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">3. Our <i>sexagesimal</i> temporal system, which means that it is based on six and ten - seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, seasons, years, centuries). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Note that our measurement of time is a hybrid of invention and discovery when it comes to the duration of a year: We have no choice but to recognize that a year is approximately 365.2422 days long, the time it takes earth to evolve around the sun. 365 is a fact of nature, not a human convention. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">4. The mathematical symbol “zero:” The ancient Greeks and Romans did not recognize the number “zero.” Ancient cultures which did use it include India and the Mayans. To be sure, the Greeks and Romans did recognize nothingness, doing so verbally with words such as “nulla.” They were able to add, subtract, multiply and divide.
<a name="more"></a>
<span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=2463260980371431691">leave comment here</a></span></span></div>Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-76606593187670493332024-02-20T05:25:00.000-08:002024-02-25T06:22:34.218-08:00The Story of a Decal Sticker<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyrapnjyzR_AzvShN6TEhkhj19f_1nu4HV4N7NsKBP3tB5GppkiRHq8hKHnpSNzwA6n4l1z-eZNkKXuVyXDl8b8KuFjB0nEWKrK3ckyrhS5oq4kXWjgzHm353gAvs-pqXq949uSiYD0A2cDtswgsDAeuFPi0a1kf1qxJ72jSn9f3GywfalbANfNz_vMtA/s2017/decal2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2017" data-original-width="1971" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyrapnjyzR_AzvShN6TEhkhj19f_1nu4HV4N7NsKBP3tB5GppkiRHq8hKHnpSNzwA6n4l1z-eZNkKXuVyXDl8b8KuFjB0nEWKrK3ckyrhS5oq4kXWjgzHm353gAvs-pqXq949uSiYD0A2cDtswgsDAeuFPi0a1kf1qxJ72jSn9f3GywfalbANfNz_vMtA/w257-h262/decal2.jpg" width="257" /></span></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">By
Madeleine Kando<br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div>One sunny day, as the winter's snow began to melt, the bird decal on my window pondered why he was stuck there, his wings immobilized for eternity. </div><div> </div><div>He gazed out onto the yard, the late afternoon shadows growing longer, watching real birds fly by and feed at the bird feeders.<i>"Why am I sitting here, collecting dust? Is my sole purpose in life to prevent real birds from crashing into the glass? I long to be free! A strong hailstorm could dislodge me from this glass, and I could fly! Am I not a bird, after all?"</i></div><div><i> </i></div><div>He wriggled and wriggled, but nothing happened. His back was firmly attached to the glass. All this wriggling tired him out, so he started to doze off and soon fell into a deep sleep. Decals dream, you know. They might be flat, but they dream of soaring in the blue sky. In his dream, he was looking down at houses with large windows with strange shapes stuck to them. Those shapes evoked something familiar, a past life, another world, stirring feelings of dread, mixed with relief.</div><div><br /></div>A loud crash jolted him awake. Not a foot away, he saw a huge red-tailed hawk. He had seen those monsters before. A shiver went through his flat body.<div> </div><div>The hawk's talons were kneading something on the ground. A pigeon had collided with the glass and lay on the ground, dazed and motionless. The hawk, perched on a branch, had swooped down, pinning the pigeon before it could escape. It was now slowly kneading the life out of him, patiently waiting until the pigeon's body gradually stopped moving. Then, it expanded its enormous wings and flew away with the dead pigeon dangling from its powerful claws.</div><div> </div><div>The decal felt sorry for the pigeon but thought:<i>"What good am I stuck here if I cannot even stop birds from crashing into the window?"</i></div><div><br /></div><div>He sadly looked out on the falling snow, fearing that he would never fly, never hop on the bird feeder, or sing to attract a mate.<a name='more'></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The snow slowly turned into rain, and the decal's sadness deepened. He felt something stir on his tail, and had he been able to turn his head, he would have seen something remarkable. </div><div> </div><div>One tail corner had curled away from the glass's surface. In a trance, the decal wriggled with all his might, taking small breaks to catch his breath. As the morning sun shone upon the yard, most of his body was detached. One final tug would liberate him from his glass prison. </div><div> </div><div>Over the years, he had mentally rehearsed flying up to the branches, rehearsed patiently waiting for his turn at the feeder, and had secretly practiced his song when he saw a sparrow or a lady cardinal. Now, it was his turn. Was he ready to take flight? Was he ready to be a real bird? </div><div> </div><div>The rain had stopped, but a strong wind blew through the yard, whipping up clouds of fine white snow.</div><div> </div><div>With pounding heart, the decal let go of the glass one last time and away he soared, up into the sky. His dream had come true! He was a real bird. He flew, dead leaves twirling past him. </div><div> </div><div>Slowly the wind abated. The decal began to lose height, no matter how much he tried not to. He eventually fell to the ground, his paper-thin wings unable to keep him in the air. </div><div> </div><div>He realized then that he was not meant to fly. He had tried to make his dream come true, but he was destined to protect others from harm. He was no longer a guardian nor a bird. </div><div> </div><div>Lying on the snow-covered grass, he looked up at his beloved sky. His eyes slowly closed and he was at peace with the world. Grateful for all the years he safeguarded birds from a painful death, he acknowledged his turn had come and that was ok.</div><div> </div><div>Dreams don't always come true, he thought. But is life really worth living without dreams? Even for a decal? <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=7660659318767049333">leave comment here</a></div></span></div>madeleine kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628760653230283538noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-44418380907670336472024-02-04T18:42:00.000-08:002024-02-05T06:21:07.534-08:00Weird Electorates<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhar9uZ9gpdm74WneHCwwkyHll7mezYmPXQIsgdePLSJOTPrCD21r9YSEDBjxyVzEkGnKMrBmZAzoHuL8L0eKmxoEqv0SuIkuK5opFo02JQJ-0xYVoZnq7b2Kue8zra0ddwsL2laIVHKxZ3ZB9EJg6wfKalgyAUELBVJs7HkJe80mtOv6WMgqli1MGxb1JX/s300/518.%20election.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhar9uZ9gpdm74WneHCwwkyHll7mezYmPXQIsgdePLSJOTPrCD21r9YSEDBjxyVzEkGnKMrBmZAzoHuL8L0eKmxoEqv0SuIkuK5opFo02JQJ-0xYVoZnq7b2Kue8zra0ddwsL2laIVHKxZ3ZB9EJg6wfKalgyAUELBVJs7HkJe80mtOv6WMgqli1MGxb1JX/s320/518.%20election.jpg" width="320" /></a><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Tom Kando </span></h4><div>Recent poll numbers: In head-to-head matchups, Trump leads Biden by five points (49 to 44) and Haley leads Biden by thirteen points (52 to 39). </div><div><br /></div><div>I don’t get it. The electorate seems to have lost its senses. </div><div><br /></div><div>Not that Americans are alone. The wacky rightward political trend is taking place in many countries, We live in an age of reactionary nationalism and populism. This is clearest in Europe and in the US, where the former dominant group - white men, by and large - is panicking at the prospect of sharing power with the growing other groups. </div><div><br /></div><div>Coincidentally, several of the countries where the Far Right is on the march are places where I grew up: Hungary, where I was born, has been led by the extreme right-wing prime minister Viktor Orban for nearly two decades. Under the leadership of Marine Le Pen, the extreme right has also gained force in France, where I spent much of my childhood. And Holland, the country where I spent my next ten years, has also recently elected a far-right majority. In several such countries, (Holland and France, among them), farmers are one of the most vocal and angry constituents of this conservative resurgence. Other examples of the trend include Italy, where prime minister Giorgia Meloni strongly opposes the influx of immigrants, and Britain which, under Brexit, decided eight years ago to withdraw from the European Union. </div><div><br /></div><div>And then we have the US. 2024 may well see the return of Donald Trump into the White House. I fail to see how replacing Biden with Trump (or Haley, for that matter) would be good for this country. Let me briefly re-state the obvious: </div><div><br /></div><div>We must re-elect Joe Biden. This is a no-brainer. You and I might prefer a younger candidate, for instance Gavin Newsom, but neither he nor any other viable young candidate is running. We are now left with two alternatives. Nikki Haley and Donald Trump. The latter is so abnormal psychologically as to place the country - indeed, the whole world - in danger. He is utterly incompetent in dealing with foreign countries, be they allies or adversaries. He alienates other heads of state by insulting them. He plays golf instead of running the country. Haley is not dangerous and incompetent in the same extreme way as Trump. However, her policies regarding most issues (abortion, immigration, the economy, foreign affairs, etc.) would be contrary to what most Americans need and desire.<a name='more'></a><div><br /></div><div>Joe Biden, on the other hand, is a good, decent, competent man. The country has fared extremely well during his presidency. The economy is in great shape. Unemployment at 3%, inflation below 3% again. The international situation is devilishly complicated and risky, but so far this quiet, calm, rational, moral as well as pragmatic man has threaded the multiple needles better than any conceivable alternative leader would have. Ukraine, Israel, the exit from Afghanistan, the Mexican border, Covid, rebuilding our infrastructure, competing with China, the environment, you name it. It is absurd to even begin to compare this octogenarian’s performance with that of the bizarre near-octogenarian who is seeking to replace him in the white house. </div><div><br /></div><div>Much of people’s dislike of Biden is based on some vague and unspecified <i>malaise</i> having to do with his age (young people aren’t turned on by a grandfatherly figure), unsubstantiated corruption (maybe his son Hunter did something wrong), and the general malcontent mood of the country. But keep in mind what the alternative would be: an unhinged bull in a China shop, a narcissist, a man in the pocket of the kleptocracy. Is that what you want, instead of the calm, the wisdom, the good judgment, the good moral values, the honesty and the vast experience of the man who has already returned the country to recovery and prosperity, despite stormy international conditions? Biden may not be the most charismatic leader, but he shares some of the characteristics of the best president we ever elected - FDR!
<a name="more"></a>
<span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=4441838090767033647">leave comment here</a></span></div>Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-61651271708972332222024-01-15T06:15:00.000-08:002024-01-15T06:15:05.260-08:00The Importance of Voting Systems<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB4M_kq4aJmAAAtdGr_lE_2scUJcTgi7AoP1eq9rFUapDApAcwONbVjUak5HJFSEpvhz3epqtOmZPSyca0W05GtUOvi_LEL6marrf4dr73hGZSKyGBTWZuBHv2duSRtPTxFg4KhVBsQEqJ7-5i-i6-WmF1Md6zbJcKYNHbo1OzvProisXAyu-wVJ-1HAM/s1380/voting.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1380" data-original-width="1196" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB4M_kq4aJmAAAtdGr_lE_2scUJcTgi7AoP1eq9rFUapDApAcwONbVjUak5HJFSEpvhz3epqtOmZPSyca0W05GtUOvi_LEL6marrf4dr73hGZSKyGBTWZuBHv2duSRtPTxFg4KhVBsQEqJ7-5i-i6-WmF1Md6zbJcKYNHbo1OzvProisXAyu-wVJ-1HAM/w225-h260/voting.jpg" width="225" /></a>By Madeleine Kando<br /><br />Depending on where you live in the world, voting systems vary greatly. In some countries, people don’t vote at all. They live in dictatorships. In some other countries, voting is restricted to certain parts of the population (usually men). Universal suffrage is shockingly recent. Before World War II, women couldn’t vote in 155 of the 195 countries in the world. Whether you lived in beautiful France, Switzerland, or sunny Spain, women had no voice. Saudi Arabia allowed women to vote only 8 years ago!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Types of Voting Systems</span></b></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
There are two predominant electoral systems in the world: <b><a href="https://citizen-network.org/library/global-ranking-of-electoral-systems.html" target="_blank">Plurality voting and Proportional Representation.</a></b></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Plurality Voting</b> (also called “first-past-the-post” or "winner-take-all") awards a seat to the candidate who receives the most votes. It need not be a majority (50%+), so long as the candidate has a larger number of votes than all other candidates. Plurality voting does not represent all (or even most) voters. Since a candidate needs only a plurality of votes, most voters may have voted against the winner. One attempt to improve this non-representation model is a system called Ranked Choice Voting or Instant Runoff.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgeodNTAXXDFgplcqJQ8kmJwXF5iLtRs02zks8xwtS_lBe2k0XuXI5gbdDx8zRTSUVdrBYhVvcXDC_igh22QZHagMk-wlzU02OFzy4kw95H7HVkNDU2qfFwwOtPx_NlGSUZpFN8Sfixj9GIaqAPgLt_j3kjtPpN3DhEZpk46WMcVwVKtw8Xn7FL63nPjw/s1894/proprep.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="1894" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgeodNTAXXDFgplcqJQ8kmJwXF5iLtRs02zks8xwtS_lBe2k0XuXI5gbdDx8zRTSUVdrBYhVvcXDC_igh22QZHagMk-wlzU02OFzy4kw95H7HVkNDU2qfFwwOtPx_NlGSUZpFN8Sfixj9GIaqAPgLt_j3kjtPpN3DhEZpk46WMcVwVKtw8Xn7FL63nPjw/w640-h194/proprep.jpeg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><div><b><br /></b></div>Proportional Representation</b> makes the percentage of seats reflect the percentage of votes. It is the most widely used system in the world and can be found in almost every country. If a party wins 40% of the vote, it will receive 40% of the seats.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Single Transferable Vote</b> is an important form of proportional representation. It is used in Ireland, Australia, and Malta for national elections. Other countries use it in local elections, and even some communities in the United States (such as Cambridge, MA) use it today. According to the Democracy Index, the STV is the most democratic system in the world.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Democracy</span></b></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
The whole point of a voting system is to allow citizens to decide who will govern them. The word democracy was first used in ancient Athens. It is a combination of two Greek words: demos (a citizen of a city-state) and kratos (meaning ‘power’ or ‘rule’). It means ‘the rule by the people’.<a name='more'></a></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjquU8weTci0Fc7AaOQ5NpqBGoBFwQ1VIku2lXN03PpdwzuQJR1X3aMpw6O7LRSzB5aLLHrV3gaV7eRRYsqTA8o-8-KHzVj2ecVOzTkEoG-wzjcjSlRPuPUwmPMFrz6rohDJmiBzAL30H8HfrPbCVik-198R82lY0Bwsu8HhmZiDwwWdQUYBOn3ITs5I-s/s774/democracies.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="774" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjquU8weTci0Fc7AaOQ5NpqBGoBFwQ1VIku2lXN03PpdwzuQJR1X3aMpw6O7LRSzB5aLLHrV3gaV7eRRYsqTA8o-8-KHzVj2ecVOzTkEoG-wzjcjSlRPuPUwmPMFrz6rohDJmiBzAL30H8HfrPbCVik-198R82lY0Bwsu8HhmZiDwwWdQUYBOn3ITs5I-s/w374-h245/democracies.jpeg" width="374" /></span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">According to the Global Democracy Index, there are four levels of democracy. There are full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid democracies and authoritarian regimes. Out of 195 countries in the world, only 24 have full democracies, covering only 8% of the world population. 48 countries have flawed democracies, 36 have hybrid democracies and a total of 59 countries have authoritarian regimes. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">The relationship between Democracy and Voting</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></b></div><span style="font-family: verdana;">A country’s electoral system is one of the most important aspects of a democracy. A true democracy needs to be: 1) representative of its citizens, 2) have a strong constituency link, 3) have the ability to choose between different candidates and 4) limit wasted votes.<br /><br />According to the <a href="https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems/types-of-voting-system/" target="_blank">Electoral Reform Society</a>, the Single Transferable Vote system far outperforms all the other systems. This system is used in Ireland and Malta on a national level, but is now gaining traction on the local level in many towns and cities in the US.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The problem with an established voting system is that it is resistant to change. Changes at the local level are more likely to succeed. That is why here in New England, efforts are underway to make this happen under the banner of <b>Ranked Choice Voting</b>. Especially the Single Transferable Vote, which would add a Proportional Representation element to an existing FPTP system.
Cambridge, Massachusetts has used STV for decades, and 19 communities around Boston, including Boston proper, have now submitted or are in the process of submitting Home Rule petitions to the Massachusetts State Legislature.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Human Freedom Index</span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Promoting freedom is one of the main goals of a democracy. Dictatorships do not allow people much political, economic, or social freedom and, hence, are not democracies. <a href="https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index/2023" target="_blank">The human freedom index </a>is a measure that quantifies the level of personal, civil, and economic freedoms in a country. It takes into account various factors such as the rule of law, property rights, freedom of speech and religion, and access to economic opportunities.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The countries that took the top 10 places on the Human Freedom Index, all have Proportional Representation voting systems. They are: Switzerland, New Zealand, Estonia, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Since these are relatively small countries, maybe it is an indication that in a country the size of the US, change is bound to happen at the grassroots level.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The<b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-member_district" target="_blank">Single Member District</a> </b>system, part of the First Past the Post scenario, guarantees that a large portion of voters will not be represented. The laws are vague on whether the single-member district system is Constitutionally locked in, or whether States have overriding authority on how to select their representatives.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Either way, the message here is clear. We need to change America’s plurality voting system. It is the least democratic system on earth. We, the citizens, are the ‘will of the people’ and it is up to us to make America truly democratic.<a name="more"></a><span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=6165127170897233222">leave comment here</a></span></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><a href="https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems/types-of-voting-system/single-transferable-vote/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i>** How the Single Transferable Vote works</i></span></a><span class="fullpost"></span></div>madeleine kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628760653230283538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-76984750941644364582024-01-04T14:23:00.000-08:002024-01-04T22:38:47.061-08:00I Disappeared from the Internet<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSSomlIKulO0DLLBRVKYZGFj-e0YS84JzWedMgLwt1UMqL_E-h-ntdj9yNH4xNWYoE4-ss4BKEjR44w4uC6n4VVeXWo7tI557_pFPYzOzjg0_9YROEP5GomznaI56onFs_z1vb9cHcPv3Sg36FDwhUNCGNN-NZ6urosvls7JH_2DPDRWuu9RhUVrH7nf9C/s304/517.%20disappear.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="166" data-original-width="304" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSSomlIKulO0DLLBRVKYZGFj-e0YS84JzWedMgLwt1UMqL_E-h-ntdj9yNH4xNWYoE4-ss4BKEjR44w4uC6n4VVeXWo7tI557_pFPYzOzjg0_9YROEP5GomznaI56onFs_z1vb9cHcPv3Sg36FDwhUNCGNN-NZ6urosvls7JH_2DPDRWuu9RhUVrH7nf9C/s1600/517.%20disappear.jpg" width="304" /></a><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Tom Kando </span></h1><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The other day, I tried to log onto my website. First, I just Googled myself, typing in my name.
Later, I typed in my website’s name.
I got nowhere both ways. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">When I typed in my name, thousands of search results came up, as usual. Many of the first few start with my name followed by various things. Then, scrolling down the first few pages of search results, you encounter more and more slightly distorted entries, some sites with a middle initial, and further down an increasing number of websites with names that resemble mine but have nothing to do with me, many in Japan, Africa and elsewhere. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So I start clicking on some of the first few entries, those that spell my name correctly, and you know what? Nothing comes up. Instead of opening the website that I click on, Google sends me a terse computerese message telling me that this website and this person do not exist.<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Uncanny! I no longer exist! Anyone on the planet who tries to Google me via my name will now find out that I don’t exist. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So now, I am facing the Internet and Google. I am of the opinion that I exist, but they assert the opposite. I would like to protest. A protest begins by stating one’s case, and for that, one needs an interlocutor - the party whom one addresses.. So who do I talk to? To whom do I present my case, my complaint stating that I exist, and that anyone who claims the opposite is wrong? </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">To address Google and the Internet is similar to addressing God. You express what you want to express, but you are not sure what form the response - if any - will take. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Also, you suck it up and assume that even if the objective situation will not change, you will receive some internal encouragement or signal indicating that there is nothing to worry about, that everything will be okay, because everything is predestined anyway. <i>Que Sera Sera.</i> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So it now says on my computer that I don’t exist. But I don’t feel the worse for it. In fact, I feel fine. Assuming that no one is able to find me on the Internet any longer, how does that affect me? It does not, unless I make it so. The vast majority of the parties that contact me these days are spam, wanting one thing and only one thing from me - money. Good riddance. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The part of my life that consists of face-to-face interaction continues. I am still able to contact people, by telephone and in other ways. It’s only the Internet and Google who positively state that I don’t exist. When I interact with a live person, he/she most definitely acts as if I exist. Are they just being clever and pretending? </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The problem is that the digital revolution has created a world in which what exists and what does not exist are intermingled. And let me not even start about Artificial Intelligence. Many people are - lemming-like - rushing down that road, come what may. Madness. The distinction between what exists and what does not is being erased. Any piece of writing, any music played, any drawing drawn may have been produced by a real person - or not. Who knows. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But back to me: My existence depends on whether I can prove it or not. Part of my effort to contact the Internet and Google must consist of a request for advice: What do they accept as proof that I exist? Are there programs, software, algorithms that I can use to prove to Google and the Internet that I exist? </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">By the same token, maybe I can type things into my computer that will ALTER who I am. Let me create a different name, a new made-up domain and create some content. Voila. I am someone else, on the Internet.
What is the role of Google and the Internet, in determining who I am? </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The problem is not so much the uneven playing field - I am one puny individual, and Google and the Internet are monstrous
assemblages of sextillions of bytes. Descartes’s proof was <i>cogito ergo sum</i>. Hamlet asked the central question - To Be or Not to Be? Sartre wrote about Being and Nothingness, showing that existence precedes essence. It is possible that I am an illusion. Google may be right.
<a name="more"></a>
<span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=7698475094164436458">leave comment here</a></span></span></div></span></div>Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-14406029072550314792023-12-31T19:54:00.000-08:002024-01-01T05:44:01.892-08:00Childhood Memories<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkNS8QsDXu0crtQf_9g4zKryVnaqpgr4NxSLidhaFqQqjx5mdOHRtO6IgKGvOHic16dxQiz_0yy0qhO71XghaopcIDE-5vRHgmsAHqv1gtdzAsROD9ZUaeeVQhLr3OejV9JDyNV2BdwTLL8PZHrD7M5lMsf89aUxwVJffhjgn8L50J2kEodI4MYUSo7MAX/s661/516.maubeuge.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="600" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkNS8QsDXu0crtQf_9g4zKryVnaqpgr4NxSLidhaFqQqjx5mdOHRtO6IgKGvOHic16dxQiz_0yy0qhO71XghaopcIDE-5vRHgmsAHqv1gtdzAsROD9ZUaeeVQhLr3OejV9JDyNV2BdwTLL8PZHrD7M5lMsf89aUxwVJffhjgn8L50J2kEodI4MYUSo7MAX/w239-h264/516.maubeuge.jpg" width="239" /></a><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><u>Tom Kando</u> </span></h2><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">As I mentioned in these pages before, I grew up during and after World War Two in Europe. My parents, my sisters and I were refugees who moved from Hungary to France and then to Holland. We were so poor that we had to hitch-hike to get around. By the time we moved to Holland, my mother was re-married to a Dutchman named Ed. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">We moved from Paris to Amsterdam in 1954. Early one summer morning Ed, my mother Ata, and my sisters Juliette and Madeleine grabbed our backpacks and took the Metro to the northern outskirts of Paris. We began to hitchhike, trying to look cute, hoping that some rich French motorist would take pity and give us a ride in the direction of the Netherlands. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">It took us four days to cover the five hundred kilometers from Paris to Amsterdam! Most French (and Belgian and Dutch) motorists were unwilling to pick up a family of five, including two males. Therefore we usually stood on the side of the road for hours before a kind soul finally found it in his heart to pick us up. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hundreds of cars drove by, some jalopies, some fancy Vedettes and Mercedes. Most motorists ignored the hitchhiking family. Some honked, waved and laughed. Once a sadist stopped his Renault hundred yards up ahead from where we stood. All five of us quickly grabbed our bags and started to run toward the car, counting our blessings. When we got close to the Renault, the driver took off laughing, his wheels spewing back dust and gravel in our faces. </span></div><div><span><a name='more'></a></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ed shouted some obscenities at the driver, which the asshole probably didn’t even hear. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Truck drivers were the most likely to stop. My family and I found ourselves in the back of trucks more often than inside regular passenger cars. I developed an early contempt for the bourgeoisie, and sympathy for the working class. I concluded that the richer people were, the less compassion they had, and that the rough and tough truckers were much kinder. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the third day, we were stuck in the boondocks somewhere south of the French-Belgian border, approaching the town of Maubeuge. It was getting dark. This was the empty, desolate landscape of Northern France where World War One had raged for four years, the well-known rolling treeless hills of Flanders. Only a few clumps of trees and a church steeple in the distance interrupted the monotony of the landscape. The road stretched out in front of us as far as we could see, with not a single car in sight. Were we going to have to sleep in the fields of beets surrounding us? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ed told everyone to start walking. We, the children, started to whine, “Why do we have to walk? There is nothing up ahead! We are tired! We want to sit down!” Everyone was exhausted and hungry, and it was getting cold. We put on our sweaters and started to walk. We kept walking when the sun set, and then we continued to walk in the dark. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Finally we saw lights in the distance, and Ata said: “You see, we told you there was a village up ahead. When we get there, we’ll go to a café, and we’ll have warm chocolate and we’ll buy a baguette and some butter, and you can all wash up in the bathroom, okay? It’s just a little bit further.” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">So everyone walked on dapperly. We entered the town of Maubeuge at about eleven p.m. and started to look for a café. The streets were deserted, but a few blocks ahead we saw a building with its lights on. We heard the distant sound of accordion and bal-musette music. Edith Piaf was crooning <i>Quand tu me prends dans tes bras, je vois la vie en rose.... </i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">We entered the café. It was smoke-filled and crowded with townspeople sipping pastis and pernods, some of them sitting at little round tables, some standing, some sitting on bar stools. There were loud, red-faced men with berets, women puffing on their gauloises, arguing or laughing. Behind the bar stood a powerfully built matron, a cigarette hanging from her mouth, no doubt the owner of the establishment. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The moment my family entered, there was immediate silence. Dozens of eyes turned toward us. Here was this family of vagabonds, a strange-looking blond man and his woman with three dirty kids, all dressed in assorted second-hand clothes and carrying a bunch of backpacks and paper bags. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">“What do you want?” barked the matron. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">“Well, we’d like to wash up and have some cocoa”, said Ed. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">“We have no cocoa,” the owner shouted back. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">“Please,” my mother continued, “we’ll buy whatever you have, we haven’t had anything to eat since this morning.”
“We’re closed.” the woman replied harshly.
Ed was about to get very angry and shout at the obvious lie - there were forty Frenchmen drinking and eating away. But mother continued, now teary-eyed and begging. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">“Please, don’t you see how tired and hungry the children are? Have a heart. We won’t stay long. All we want is drink something and wash our hands.” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">But the matron was firm. “I told you we’re closed. Get out before I call the police!” she said, approaching us menacingly. “Go back to whatever filthy country you came from! We don’t serve clochards (hobos) here!” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">So Ed cussed them out, saying, “You are all a bunch of assholes!” and we left. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I was silent and devastated. My feelings ranged from rage to fear, aggravated by my fatigue and physical discomfort. “Damn these French people!” I thought, “I don’t care. As long as we get to sit down somewhere already.” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">We walked to the train station, which took a half hour through Maubeuge’s deserted streets. At least the station was warm inside, and there were benches. So mother laid out some of our clothes on the benches and that’s where we slept.
When we woke up the next morning, the station was bustling with people. Throngs were walking by us, a dirty, disheveled, sleepy family. I could see the disgust, derision and fear in people’s eyes. It was the same look I would recognize many years later when I saw “respectable” people cross paths with homeless panhandlers.
<a name="more"></a>
<span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=1440602907255031479">leave comment here</a></span></span></div>Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-76430650505093766342023-12-26T10:38:00.000-08:002023-12-26T15:14:07.868-08:00Het Meisje<span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5kQTTMew0hyphenhyphenVK5e9Cq0MaGSn9sEEiSqzxtrtlWxAZi6kbjxARxlvub2MJ818gRxU8gO7pmJwNnGVfTd2vJVwvTw9S5MBDlg5xNnkYqKwnNfl909fknUdDfy58X4R9fV-BG-fZyySpcZ7XtKoIUZBVffV6VkgOpPOEeURqVBrtkywrYSAW4Nz4CUF_ho4/s810/meisje.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="807" height="275" kando="" madeleine="" span="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5kQTTMew0hyphenhyphenVK5e9Cq0MaGSn9sEEiSqzxtrtlWxAZi6kbjxARxlvub2MJ818gRxU8gO7pmJwNnGVfTd2vJVwvTw9S5MBDlg5xNnkYqKwnNfl909fknUdDfy58X4R9fV-BG-fZyySpcZ7XtKoIUZBVffV6VkgOpPOEeURqVBrtkywrYSAW4Nz4CUF_ho4/w274-h275/meisje.jpeg" style="font-family: verdana;" width="274" /></a></div></span><div><div>by Madeleine kando</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://european-americanblog.blogspot.com/2023/12/het-meisje.html#more">(see English translation here)</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Er was eens een meisje dat heel jong al heel triest was. Ze was steeds aan het dromen over mooie dingen, maar ze was altijd triest en stil als ze met andere mensen was. Ze was mooi, ze was triest en ze leefde in de wereld van gedachten en fantasieën.</div><div><br /></div><div>Zo ging het een hele tijd. Ze werd steeds groter, ze begon af en toe om het hoekje te kijken van de werkelijkheid omdat ze zich toch wel een beetje eenzaam voelde in die mooie wereld waar ze helemaal alleen was. Maar iedere keer dat ze een blik wierp op de werkelijkheid schrok ze zo van dat vreemde reële gedoe dat ze gauw weer de deur dicht deed en nieuwe fantasieën opbouwde.</div><div><br /></div><div>Toen was ze al een jonge vrouw en toen begon er iets heel ergs te gebeuren. Haar wereld werd aangevallen! Ze was er helemaal niet op verdacht en het gevolg was dat er een enorm slagveld plaatsvond. Het was verschrikkelijk! Alles wat ze al die jaren netjes gebouwd had, werd plotseling stukgemaakt. Die verschrikkelijke werkelijkheid was barbaars en wist van geen genade. Arm meisje, ze bevond zich plotseling midden in een vreemde vijandige werkelijkheid en ze wist niet hoe ze zich moest handhaven, ze had nog nooit iets geleerd over die werkelijkheid en het was een vreselijke strijd met alles wat om haar heen gebeurde.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ze wist één ding en dat was vooral niet laten merken dat ze hier niet thuis hoorde, dat ze ergens anders vandaan kwam want dan zouden haar kansen op overleving nihil zijn. Dus ze stond op en begon te lopen en deed alles wat de werkelijkheid van haar verwachtte behalve dat ze niet werkelijk was. Maar alleen zij wist dat. En al gauw had ze zich aan die situatie aangepast, ze leefde zoals alle anderen en dacht steeds meer dat dat gewoon de manier was waarop iedereen leefde.</div><div><br /></div><div>Maar het feit dat ze van binnen ergens anders thuis hoorde, dat ze ergens anders vandaan kwam, liet haar niet met rust. Ze kreeg een steeds groter gebrek aan werkelijkheidsgevoel, ze wist dat ze een rol speelde en dat het niet echt was en ze bleef triest, gesloten en op zichzelf gekeerd. Andere mensen vertrouwen kon ze niet, want die waren anders, die waren wel van deze wereld.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eens kwam er een man die haar probeerde te helpen. Hij stak zijn hand uit en probeerde haar naar zich toe te halen, want hij wist dat ze triest en gesloten was en hij hield van haar, ook al was ze niet werkelijk. Maar het meisje schrok en verzon een list om zich te verstoppen. Ze kon die man toch ook niet vertrouwen, hij was niet van haar wereld, hij was een vreemde werkelijke man.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ratio en allerlei verstoppertjes-spelletjes hebben het meisje steeds behouden van een grote catastrofe, maar ze is nog steeds triest en gesloten en hoewel ze nog altijd wel onbewust verlangt er naar haar rol te laten vallen en echt voorgoed in de werkelijkheid te stappen, blijft er niet veel anders voor haar over dan tussen twee werelden in het leven.</div><div><br /></div><div>De wereld waar ze vandaan komt en de andere wereld van de werkelijkheid waar ze niet in thuis hoort, maar waar ze haar rol met steeds meer waarachtigheid speelt en binnenkort weet ze zelf niet meer dat ze een rol speelt, dan is de ‘werkelijkheid’ zo ‘onwerkelijk’ en zo ver weg en zo verwrongen dat ze als een kameleon voorgoed van kleur verandert en wie weet, is dat wat de meeste mensen doen.</div><div><br /></div><div>Van kleur veranderen en er niet meer over nadenken wat hun oorspronkelijke kleur was. Misschien als ze heel oud zijn en helemaal niets meer te verliezen en te verwachten hebben, dat ze dan denken: maar ik ben eigenlijk helemaal niet rood, ik ben geel en dat heb ik al die tijd vergeten en nu is het te laat om het te veranderen.</div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>English Translation</div><div>The Little Girl</div><div><br /></div><div>"Once upon a time, there was a little girl who was very sad from a very young age. She would always dream about beautiful things, but whenever she was with other people, she was always sad and silent. She was beautiful, she was sad, and she lived in a world of thoughts and fantasies.</div><div><br /></div><div>This went on for a long time. She grew older, occasionally peeking around the corner into reality because she felt a bit lonely in that beautiful world. But every time she glanced at reality, she was so startled by that strange real stuff that she quickly closed the door and built new fantasies.</div><div><br /></div><div>She grew into a young woman, when something terrible happened. Her world was under attack! She was completely unprepared, and it turned into a tremendous battlefield. It was terrible! Everything she had carefully built over the years was suddenly shattered. That terrible reality was barbaric and showed no mercy. Poor girl, she found herself suddenly in a strange, hostile reality, and she didn't know how to cope. She had never learned anything about that reality, and it was struggling with everything that happened around her.</div><div><br /></div><div>She knew one thing, and that was to never show that she didn't belong here, that she came from somewhere else because then her chances of survival would be nil. So, she stood up and started walking, doing everything that reality expected of her except that she wasn't real. But only she knew that. Soon enough, she had adapted to that situation; she lived like everyone else and increasingly believed that was just how everyone lived.</div><div><br /></div><div>But the fact that she belonged somewhere else, didn't leave her at peace. She increasingly lacked a sense of reality; she knew she was playing a role, and she remained sad, closed off, and withdrawn. She couldn't trust other people because they were different; they were of this world. One day, a man came who tried to help her. He reached out his hand and tried to pull her close because he knew she was sad and closed off, and he loved her, even though she wasn't real. But the girl got scared and devised a plan to hide. She couldn't trust that man either; he wasn't from her world, he was a strange, real man.</div><div><br /></div><div>Reason and all sorts of hiding games have always saved the girl from a major catastrophe, but she is still sad and closed off. Although unconsciously she longs to drop her role and step truly and forever into reality, there isn't much else for her than to live between two worlds.</div><div><br /></div><div>The world she comes from and this other world of reality where she doesn't belong, but where she increasingly plays her role with authenticity. Soon, she won't even know she's playing a role anymore; then, the 'reality' becomes so 'unreal' and so distant and distorted that she permanently changes color like a chameleon. Who knows, maybe that's what most people do.</div><div><br /></div><div>Change color and no longer think about what their original color was. Maybe when they're very old and have nothing more to lose or expect, they might think: 'But I'm actually not red, I'm yellow, and I've forgotten that all this time, and now it's too late to change it." <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=7643065050509376634" style="font-family: inherit;"> leave comment here</a></div></div>madeleine kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628760653230283538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-56092483665561110222023-12-22T08:12:00.000-08:002023-12-24T05:51:21.655-08:00The Truth About Santa's Helpers (A bonus story for our faithful readers)<span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2VpKk5hI6A&t=371s" target="_blank">The Truth About Santa's Helpers</a>, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">by Madeleine Kando</span><div><br /></div><div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s2VpKk5hI6A?si=JwO9NGiS30ZH6-Br" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><a name="more"></a> <div><br /></div><div><span class="fullpost" style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=5609248366556111022"> leave comment here</a></span></div></div>madeleine kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628760653230283538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-65919383427553161892023-12-15T16:51:00.000-08:002023-12-16T05:54:09.896-08:00Variations in Rates of Homicide and Gun Ownership <div class="WordSection1">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizP3hY1Fkuuzr-_P9qG0hcZnQcXgxZGCVo0BQNGB9DVo892Y6G15UD5yG23XT_j9in08nnC6Nap262gNec7zB3xPIdBkLlWqFY8_-ZBoeFPPNHJorDW1xzM318_T2uf78vzCDDvuZaa8GMWfSbIvBByCL8z8uPuJB7HqX6CIXJa_jtM_d5-R15uHdnMvxS/s600/181.guns.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="600" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizP3hY1Fkuuzr-_P9qG0hcZnQcXgxZGCVo0BQNGB9DVo892Y6G15UD5yG23XT_j9in08nnC6Nap262gNec7zB3xPIdBkLlWqFY8_-ZBoeFPPNHJorDW1xzM318_T2uf78vzCDDvuZaa8GMWfSbIvBByCL8z8uPuJB7HqX6CIXJa_jtM_d5-R15uHdnMvxS/s320/181.guns.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><span><span style="font-family: verdana; text-align: center;">TOM KANDO</span></span></div><div class="WordSection1"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="WordSection1"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On December 6, there was
another mass shooting in the US. We have become so inured to such events that we hardly pay attention to them any
more. In Sacramento, rarely a week goes by without one or two people shot to
death. I sometimes feel that I live in a twenty-first century version of Tombstone or Dodge City. The country experiences more than one
mass shooting per day. No other country
comes even close to this. This is one sort of American “exceptionalism.”</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As every time, the mass
murder is followed by hand-wringing and endless questions about the perpetrator’s
motives and mental condition. We hear, again and again, that the cause of our
mass murder epidemic is mental illness, that the solution is to identify those
who are dangerously mentally ill and to prevent them from acquiring fire arms. This is nonsense, of course. The rate of mental
illness is not higher in the US than elsewhere.
I have always argued for one simple point: It’s all about the guns. The more guns there are,
the more people die from guns. Period.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But I have yet to come across
data documenting the simple proposition
that there is a strong correlation between a place’s homicide rate and its rate
of gun ownership. Logic is on my side, but what about data?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Last year, I tried to test
this hypothesis myself. I used countries
as my units of analysis. My results were inconclusive. They did not show that
countries with high rates of gun
ownership also had higher homicide rates.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span>I just repeated my effort. But instead
of comparing countries, I now compared the fifty US states. My source
is </span><a href="https://wisevoter.com/state-rankings/gun-ownership-by-state/"><b><i><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration-line: none;">States’ gun
ownership rates.</span></i></b></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I entered the data into
a two-by-two table with the following four categories:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span><span> 1. States with high homicide rates and high gun ownership
rates</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> 2. States with low homicide rates and high gun rates<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> 3. States with high homicide rates and low gun ownership
rates<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> 4. States with low homicide rates and low gun ownership
rates<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">I then performed a Chi Square test on the observed frequencies.
Once again, my hypothesis was NOT confirmed. The numbers come as close
to the null hypothesis as possible. In
other words, I found no evidence of a correlation between homicide rates and
gun ownership rates, when comparing the fifty American states.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thus, both of my attempts to
show such a relationship failed.
Apparently, other factors outweigh that relationship: These include regional, political, economic,
cultural and demographic differences.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I then looked at another
variable which might be relevant: the <b><i>rural-urban</i></b> variable. I now
compared the twenty-five most rural states with the twenty-five most urban states. This
was my independent variable. The dependent variable was now a combination of
homicide rate and gun ownership rate. This produced the same four categories as
mentioned above.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span>This time, I hit upon a very
strong correlation. However, it was not the one which I had hoped to demonstrate:</span><span> </span></span></p>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.0pt 0in 5.0pt; mso-table-layout-alt: fixed;">
<tbody><tr style="break-inside: avoid; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 297.5pt;" valign="top" width="397">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.15pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rural states<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.15pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Urban states<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.3pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">total<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="break-inside: avoid; mso-yfti-irow: 1; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 297.5pt;" valign="top" width="397">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A. both homicides and guns high<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.15pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">11 (Cell A)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.15pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">2 (Cell E)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.3pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">13<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="break-inside: avoid; mso-yfti-irow: 2; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 297.5pt;" valign="top" width="397">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">B. guns high and homicides
low<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.15pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">11 (Cell B)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.15pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">1 (Cell F)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.3pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">12<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="break-inside: avoid; mso-yfti-irow: 3; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 297.5pt;" valign="top" width="397">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">C. guns low and homicides
high<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.15pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">1 (Cell C)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.15pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">12 (Cell G)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.3pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">13 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="break-inside: avoid; mso-yfti-irow: 4; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 297.5pt;" valign="top" width="397">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">D. guns low and homicides low<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.15pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">2 (Cell D) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border-left: 1pt solid black; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.15pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">10 (Cell H)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: none; border: 1pt solid black; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.3pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">12 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="break-inside: avoid; mso-yfti-irow: 5; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="border-right: none; border: 1pt solid black; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 297.5pt;" valign="top" width="397">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Total<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-right: none; border: 1pt solid black; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.15pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">25<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-right: none; border: 1pt solid black; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.15pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">25<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border: 1pt solid black; mso-border-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5pt; width: 99.3pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0in 2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">50<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span><span>As the table indicates, the urban-rural variable makes a
very strong difference in a population’s
gun use AND gun possession. The
Chi Square which I ran on this table produced a highly significant value of 0.0001. What this means is that rural Americans </span><i>possess</i><span>
far more guns (per capita) than urban Americans,. But they do not necessarily
kill each other more frequently than the latter.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The vast majority of the
states that own many guns are rural (Cells A and B). This includes ten Southern
rural states (which are also high homicide states), but also five “cowboy”
states (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and the Dakotas), three New England states (Vermont, Maine and
New Hampshire) and a couple of
Midwestern states. Half of the high guns states - largely those that are most
rural - are low homicide states (Cell B). Presumably, in these states guns are
more often associated with hunting than with murder.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Conversely, the large
majority of the low guns states are the more urban states. (Cells G and H) Nevertheless, over half of the low-gun
states are among the high homicide
states (Cell G).. These include five Southern urbanized states (for example
Texas and Florida) three “cowboy” states (New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada) and a
couple of Atlantic states. Finally, the ten
urban states which have both low gun ownership and low homicide rates
include half a dozen Eastern seaboard states (New York, New Jersey, New
England) and the Pacific states (California, Hawaii).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Apparently, lifestyle matters. On a per capita basis,
rural folks own far more guns than urbanites.
However, in half of the rural states this does not produce high
homicide rates.. Conversely, half of the urban states have a lower than average gun ownership but
high homicide rates anyway.</span></p></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">To be sure, America’s gun
problem is getting worse: In 2021, there were 48,830 guns deaths in America.
This was up from 39,700 before the onset of Covid, just two
years earlier.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The gun deaths were
distributed as follows: (<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41488081"><b><i><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration-line: none;">US Mass
Shootings</span></i></b></a>)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">26,328 suicides - 56%</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">20,958 murders: 43%<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">549 accidents<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">537 “legal intervention”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">458 undetermined<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Over 75% of all homicides and
suicides occur by gun. Mass murders make
up a small part of all homicides: In 2021, they
accounted for only 106 deaths.
However, mass murders are exceptionally disturbing. And if there is any crime
which occurs more often in America than
elsewhere, it is this most heinous one. Nor can I recollect a single mass
murder committed by a female (although there have been female serial
killers). 100% of American mass killers
have been males, almost all of them white.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span>There are 400 million
firearms in America, and the number continues to rise. What is needed is to
stop and reverse the spread of </span><b><i>automatic</i></b><span>
firearms - these are weapons of war with no other purpose than to kill large numbers of people as rapidly as possible. They offer no
defensive protection, nor are they useful for hunting and other forms of
recreation.</span> </span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=6591938342755316189">leave comment here</a></span>Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-56586183964774646852023-12-09T12:03:00.000-08:002023-12-09T12:03:58.893-08:00My Return to the True Faith<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX-XlosA_FQuwhFhiMJhxRqbj7l5lfdCxauMNpCx5ApGSQV_4uLp8fap1POghnl4Ln7s4fyPNArGQ8QF91cHjcO2EnyBeVxruJBkD1sy4hcOrKsIEBL2jwZU8ZgY6GIhpJzpbtOBswCRsYLXOXQmmD3Y75hCMtU47fZXOOmx8GVnYvw2vtIAGIHQoeVTQ/s900/Santa.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="900" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX-XlosA_FQuwhFhiMJhxRqbj7l5lfdCxauMNpCx5ApGSQV_4uLp8fap1POghnl4Ln7s4fyPNArGQ8QF91cHjcO2EnyBeVxruJBkD1sy4hcOrKsIEBL2jwZU8ZgY6GIhpJzpbtOBswCRsYLXOXQmmD3Y75hCMtU47fZXOOmx8GVnYvw2vtIAGIHQoeVTQ/s320/Santa.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">by
Madeleine Kando<br /><br />Like most children, I believed in Santa while I was growing up. How could I not? He was a sweet, jovial, warm kind of fellow and I always wondered what would happen if I would catch him in the act of coming down the chimney. Would he wink at me, say ‘ho, ho, ho’, put lots and lots of presents under the tree and climb back up on his way to another family’s chimney? Or would he get upset and do an about-face to teach me a lesson?<br /><br />
As Christmas approached I was always a much nicer person because I knew that Santa was paying close attention to what I was doing. In fact, closer to Christmas, every move I made was scrutinized by this little inner voice in my head that said: ‘<i>What would Santa think of what you are doing?’</i>
<br /><br />
I don’t remember when exactly I lost the faith. Maybe it was after I saw my father sneak downstairs on Christmas Eve with lots of boxes in his arms. I didn’t observe any noticeable deterioration in my post-Santa existence, so he slowly slipped into the box marked ‘<i>useless beliefs for the gullible me</i>’, which I stored away in the recesses of my increasingly critical mind.
<br /><br />
We still held on to the Christmas tradition, even after I discovered that the Santa I had believed in for so many years was the creation of a cartoonist by the name of Thomas Nast. This mere mortal had been commissioned to create the Santa character as a ploy to keep Union soldiers motivated in their grueling campaigns during the Civil War!
<br /><br />
When we moved to a new town and a new house without a chimney, it was clear proof that being good around Christmas time was a waste of my time.
<br /><br />
On a cold but sunny December afternoon, we went on our annual Christmas shopping bonanza. Perfectly trimmed Christmas trees were lining the wide and clean streets. There was not a chimney in sight. According to our map, downtown housed a celebrated statue marked as <i>‘Our Savior’</i>. We approached it from the back, a gigantic construction, and we could see that it was primarily red in color. Soon we could distinguish its features and to our amazement, we recognized the familiar features: long white beard, red hat with a white pompon and the baggy red pants of none other than Santa!<a name='more'></a></span>
<br /><br />
Why would they put up a statue of Santa in such a prominent location? A little further down the road, we saw an oddly shaped building. It had the shape of a sled with stone reindeer statues flanking the wide entrance. A group of men and women were crowding each other to go in, their hands neatly folded, their heads bowed down.
<br /><br />
As we passed the sled building we heard the crowd recite in unison: <i>‘Oh, Santa and thy elves, hallowed be Thy Name. Give us this day our daily presents, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’ </i>We saw people clutch what looked like Christmas socks as they stood in neat rows looking up adoringly at a gigantic photograph of Santa.
<br /><br />
The large department store that we entered emanated a familiar scent, which we recognized as incense. Festive displays of giant sleds, T-shirts emblazoned with ‘Santa Loves Me’, Barbie dolls that suspiciously looked like Ms. Kringle, and mugs that read ‘Praise Santa’, were on display.
<br /><br />
On our way home, we passed the same sled-shaped building, just in time to see a drove of elated town folk stream out of the giant double doors, their Christmas socks filled to the brim with presents. A few, here and there, their eyes moist with repressed tears, were dragging their sock on the ground, like deflated balloons, devoid of any content. It might have been my imagination, but I thought I saw them being unobtrusively followed by a group of men in red and green uniforms.
<br /><br />
A little boy, beaming with joy, skipped by us and my curiosity got the better of me. <i>'Why are those people crying?'</i> I asked, pointing to the deflated sock-holding individuals. <i>'Oh, they didn’t repent’ </i>he said. '<i>They were told to go home and say 10 hail Rudolfs and come back next Christmas.'
</i><br /><br /><i>
'Does everyone believe in Santa here?'</i> I asked him. <i>'Of course! Dad says that if I don't pray every day, Santa might send me to the South Pole after I die!’ </i>Then he looked at me suspiciously and asked: <i>‘Hey, where is YOUR Christmas stocking?’
</i><br /><br /><i>
‘I stopped believing in Santa when I was about your age, kid’ </i>I told him. <i>‘I had difficulty wrapping my head around such an obese person fitting through a narrow chimney passage millions of times within 24 hours. Granted, he could have gone on a crash diet for the big event, but still, how do you distribute presents to billions of children in one night? Then there is the problem of the payload of so much ‘stuff’ in one single sled, even if he gets the highest quality shock absorbers. And, let’s face it; reindeer cannot really propel themselves into the stratosphere. Even if they did, Santa’s schedule would require them to fly faster than the speed of sound, which would make them self-combust. It’s all a matter of physics. Figure it out for yourself and you’ll see.’
</i><br /><br />
His expression slowly changed, his mouth fell open and without any warning, an eardrum-shattering bellow came out, like the siren on a battleship. <i>‘HEATHEN!’</i> he screamed, pointing at me as he retreated towards the group behind him.
<br /><br />
Half a dozen uniformed men detached themselves from the group and slowly advanced towards us, walkie-talkie in hand, making sure to block our way in all directions. A sled appeared out of nowhere and screeched to a halt as a drove of elf-sized paratroopers jumped out, their pointy helmets equipped with night vision goggles, and hammers at the ready. They handcuffed us and shoved us into the sled, which sped off under the power of six mechanically driven reindeer.
<br /><br />
The little boy's expression, a mix of glee and shame, was the last thing I saw before a foul-smelling gas entered my nostrils and I passed out.
<br /><br />
I woke up with what I thought was a hangover from last night’s party until I remembered that there had been no party. There had been dwarf-sized paratroopers and mechanical reindeer. I looked around the bare room: a table, a chair, and the bed I was lying on. The table, on closer inspection, was covered with wooden tools; a hammer, a chisel, screwdrivers, and toys in different stages of completion. I recognized a wooden nutcracker, just like the one I had gotten for Christmas a few years back.
<br /><br />
The door opened and a very short, dark-skinned man entered and placed a tray on the table. <i>‘Hi, my name is Black Peter. They told me to bring you to the ‘floor’ as soon as you are done eating. If you are diabetic, there is a syringe next to the sugar cookies. Better eat them all, they are not very reliable when it comes to meals.’
</i><br /><br />
He handed me a neatly folded red and white striped outfit and a pair of shoes with upturned toes and red pompons. <i>‘Change into these. The foreman is a stickler for a neat appearance. Since you are a software guy, they put you on the detail of the electronic toy.’
</i><br /><br />
My first year was the worst. I stood out like a sore thumb, what with my height and my stubble. Everyone made fun of me, whispering how an adult should know better than shooting his mouth off with that non-believer stuff. But they were mostly talking about the re-education program after which they would be allowed to go home if deemed properly re-educated.
<br /><br />
I now realize I made a mistake by renouncing Santa. I abandoned Him in a bout of cynicism and am infinitely grateful for having spent time on the North Pole, working minimum wage in His Toy Factory, where I had the unique opportunity to come to my senses and regain the faith.
<br /><br /><i>
‘Thank you, Santa, hallowed be Thy Name. Give us this day our daily presents, and lead us not into rational temptation, for thine is the true faith .’
</i><a name="more"></a>
<span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=5658618396477464685"> leave comment here</a></span>madeleine kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628760653230283538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-66308971160212605482023-12-07T17:50:00.000-08:002023-12-08T04:20:23.664-08:00My Invisible Neighbor<span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd6DjIY5IkNzxrP57o4xkaxl36qq6u9nByz_BYLCa_Mi_WIElzr0wgqRNHtDokC5z10tCAjp6VjqCpoM15G0q0soAIH5dmlRXGrOxZrp3eEcsBKYxUGhfmzX-uv9hhgfM2zS3Wy0WjPsXm57ncsbmrGx5UCLo0C4rI1q2FGov65XEbmouWbwqSxw9wdhc/s1786/tatiana.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1470" data-original-width="1786" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd6DjIY5IkNzxrP57o4xkaxl36qq6u9nByz_BYLCa_Mi_WIElzr0wgqRNHtDokC5z10tCAjp6VjqCpoM15G0q0soAIH5dmlRXGrOxZrp3eEcsBKYxUGhfmzX-uv9hhgfM2zS3Wy0WjPsXm57ncsbmrGx5UCLo0C4rI1q2FGov65XEbmouWbwqSxw9wdhc/w302-h248/tatiana.jpeg" width="302" /></a></div>By
Madeleine Kando<br /><br />I am lying on a gurney, waiting to be prepped for an abdominal exam. Dark green curtains hide the rest of this sterile hospital space. I am freezing. I wait, curled up like a cocoon inside some heated blankets that the nurse gave me. The vinyl floor reflects the harsh overhead light. I wait. I am a patiently waiting patient.
<br /><br />
Suddenly, a loud voice pierces the air. A nurse slides the curtain open around the adjacent cubicle. With a heavy foreign accent, she begins the intake procedure. My neighbor slurs her speech, as if she just woke up. She sounds old.
<br /><br />
Judging by the ensuing questions, she must be here for a colonoscopy.
<br /><br />
‘<i>When was the last time you drank, Maam?</i>’ asks the nurse.
<br /><br />
‘<i>I drank a gallon of liquid. That was a week ago and nothing happened. I couldn’t move my bowels. They sent me home because it was the wrong day. So this time I did the prep and things started two days after the prep. Nothing but diarrhea</i>'.
<br /><br /><i>
‘Oh, wow. But what time did you drink TODAY?
<br />
‘Before seven thirty in the morning.’
<br />
‘What time did you have anything to eat, like bread or anything’?
<br />
‘Nothing.’
<br /></i><br />
The nurse coughs profusely. <i>‘I hope you are not sick’ </i>says my neighbor.
<br /><i>
‘No I am alergic to my cat. Do you have any pain?’
<br />
‘Oh yes’
<br />
‘Where?’
<br />
‘In my head, I have a headache. I fell and I have a headache. And in my belly. Especially when I have to move my bowels. It feels like I am going to burst, but nothing comes out. Maybe a little piece, maybe this size.’
<br /></i><br />
More coughing: <i>‘Tell me about your teeth can you open your mouth for me?’
<br /><br />
‘Very bad. I had some surgery done.’
<br />
‘Any loose teeth?
</i><br /><i>
‘Nothing. I don’t have any up here. This one was pulled three months ago and now there are all kinds of growths inside my mouth.’
</i><br /><br />
The questions keep coming. Some, she already answered. The nurse must have amnesia.
<br /><br />
More questions. My neighbor starts to lose her patience. <i>‘Why don’t you look up my medical records, for Christ’s sake. Don’t you have a computer? Why all these questions? All I want is for someone to look up my ass!’
</i><br /><br />
My neighbor now embarks on a lengthy monologue. Is she still talking to the nurse? But the nurse already left. Now, nothing can stop her. She tells the hospital air how she survived the Holocaust, how she had been a Flamenco dancer and had lived in Israel. She owned a cab company called ABC. She goes on telling nobody and everybody her entire life’s story. Probably all invented.
<i>
<a name='more'></a>‘The world is mad,’ </i>she says. <i>‘Palestinian babies getting killed. Biden supporting the killing! I am done! What’s the point of living? I am talking and talking and nobody cares, nobody hears me!’
</i><br /><br />
Finally, I cannot stop myself: <i>‘I hear you!’</i> <br />
A long silence.
<br /><i>
‘So you are my invisible neighbor.’
</i><br />
I ask: <i>‘What’s your name?’
<br />
‘Sophia’.
<br />
‘What’s your last name?’</i></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>‘Iglesias. My husband was Roberto Iglesias, a famous Flamenco dancer. He was an alcoholic.’
<br />
‘Do you have grandchildren?’ </i>I asked.
<br /><i>
‘I have 39!’
<br /></i><br />
What a vivid imagination. But I was wrong.<br /><br /><i>
‘My husband gave his sperm to a sperm bank before he died. And some of those children, when they turned 18, traced their sperm donor. So they traced Roberto and then, me. I met a few. Wonderful kids.’
</i><br /><br />
She tells me about her two children whom she never sees. She loves nature, has never done any harm to anybody. She loves to feed the animals in her yard: the deer, the coyotes, and the birds. Israel is evil, she says. She is ashamed of being Jewish. She is ashamed of being a human being.
<br /><br />
We both wait and wait. Finally, another nurse comes, this time for me. My invisible neighbor sees him go by and shouts at him. She wants to go home! She has been here since 9 o'clock, for Christ’s sake. More shouting and waiving.
<br /><br />
The nurse is moving me somewhere else, so he can hear what I am saying. As I get wheeled by her cubicle, I finally get a glimpse of my neighbor. A frantic woman with thick grey hair, surrounded by a group of nurses who are trying to stop her from ripping all the wires from her body. I wave at her, but I don’t think she sees me.
<br /><br /><b>
Epilogue
</b><br /><br />
I found Sophia on the Internet. A 1997 Boston Globe article with the title: ‘<i>Survivor has lived many lives – All on the run’</i>. Everything she said is true, lying there, in her gurney, talking to the air. This 86-year-old woman, this pain-in-the-ass patient, has lived a life so rich that any nurse should be impressed. Instead, they feel sorry for this poor old woman, who lives by herself, far away from her children.
<br /><br />But I saw a woman who knew how to survive. She was born in Poland when Hitler invaded. Orphaned at the age of two, she was taken in by her grandmother who abandoned her a few years later. Then she was taken in by <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Küchler-Silberman" target="_blank">Lena Küchler-Silberman</a></i>, a member of the Jewish resistance who saved children during The Holocaust and helped to resettle them afterward. Lena is considered the most famous “surrogate mother” of child Holocaust victims.
<br /><br />
Sophia was finally adopted by a French couple and ended up in America. She married a talented man who taught her how to be a Flamenco dancer. She lived and performed in Israel. She came back and started her own taxi company.</span><span><!--more--></span><span></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This ‘poor old, lonely, crazy, 86-year-old woman', this pain in the ass patient took life by the balls and lived it to the full. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=6630897116021260548">leave comment here</a>"<br /><br /><a href="https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn517015">
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn517015</a> </span></div></div>madeleine kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628760653230283538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-46186657217898898382023-11-21T15:33:00.000-08:002023-11-21T20:58:18.682-08:00America Must Raise Taxes<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpr45tO1NMrGVL1S-vS4h4Y0NlqemRfEE9mGS-H1s5nj2596xodUSpr2_CB_DQwrg3ar_RfTNr-bcxKNquFdxIUHLx3822_CA9Umifnhww6W9stuF-lj7VJ5_CVFHIuzlOWNNEeuqkusk7HM3ro5NEXfkyQ-pJDzB4Ky2g04Z9MXHc9gp5Uk2TgjW9aNd1/s2100/515.debt.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="2100" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpr45tO1NMrGVL1S-vS4h4Y0NlqemRfEE9mGS-H1s5nj2596xodUSpr2_CB_DQwrg3ar_RfTNr-bcxKNquFdxIUHLx3822_CA9Umifnhww6W9stuF-lj7VJ5_CVFHIuzlOWNNEeuqkusk7HM3ro5NEXfkyQ-pJDzB4Ky2g04Z9MXHc9gp5Uk2TgjW9aNd1/s320/515.debt.jpg" width="320" /></a>Tom Kando <div>Congress was at it again: It was having difficulty passing a budget on time, thereby threatening to shut down the government. </div><div><br /></div><div>This now occurs every other month or so. It is one of the many aspects of our dysfunctional government.
The problem is simple and obvious: Republicans want small government and low taxes. Democrats want the government to provide services for the people - you know, things like education, infrastructure, public health, medical insurance, police, defense, etc. Republicans prefer that you keep as much of your earnings as possible and that you hand over to the government as little of it as possible. A majority of Americans agree with this. Therefore any candidate who dares to suggest raising taxes is committing political suicide. </div><div><br /></div><div>During the Reagan era, there even arose an economic theory which argued that CUTTING tax rates would INCREASE the government’s tax intake. The theory became quite popular. It was called the LAFFER CURVE, after its progenitor Arthur Laffer. The man’s reasoning was that lower taxes incentivize workers to work more and earn more, and businessmen to invest productively rather than to shelter their profits unproductively or hide them in off-shore tax havens. This theory has long been debunked by most economists, including Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, some calling it the “laughter curve.” yet it retains many adherents among conservatives. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Republicans’ never-ending efforts to minimize taxes also include their current campaign against increasing the IRS in order to maximize tax audits and minimize tax cheating. Tax under reporting and underpayment cost the government several dozen billion dollars every year. </div><div><br /></div><div>Understandably, even Democrats are loath to advocate raising taxes. </div><div><br /></div><div>Yet, there approaches a time when this will be absolutely inevitable. Here are some facts (See for example <a href="https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/national-deficit/#:~:text=In%20FY%202023%20total%20government,from%20the%20previous%20fiscal%20year"><b><i><u>What is the National Deficit</u></i></b> </a>).</div><div><br /></div><div>For the past twenty-two years, the federal government has been spending more than it has been taking in. Its budget was last in the black in 2001, when Clinton was president. <span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div><br /></div><div>Here is how federal revenue and spending stack up in 2023: </div><div><br /></div><div>Spending: 6.3 trillion </div><div>Revenue: 4.5 trillion </div><div>Deficit: 1.8 trillion</div><div><br /></div><div>Here is how the debt has grown over the past two presidencies: </div><div><u>Trump:</u></div><div>2017: 67 billion</div><div>2018: 78 billion</div><div>2019: 98 billion</div><div><u>2020: 3.13 trillion</u> </div><div>yearly average: 1,39 trillion </div><div><br /></div><div><u>Biden:</u></div><div>2021: 2.77 trillion</div><div>2022: 1.38 trillion</div><div><u>2023: 1.8 trillion</u></div><div>yearly average: 1.98 trillion </div><div><br /></div><div> Note that the government has spent far more than it took in during both presidencies. Trump’s last year was particularly bad. One important contributor to the deficit during Trump was his large tax cut for the rich. The causes of Biden’s large deficits include the lavish Covid payments during the pandemic and the generous military assistance to Ukraine and to Israel. </div><div><br /></div><div>The total accumulated federal debt exceeded $30 trillion for the first time in 2022. It now exceeds 32 trillion. This is 122% of our GDP (our total national economy), which is 26.2 trillion in 2023. </div><div><br /></div><div>The most wasteful aspect of running a huge debt is the same as what you experience when you fail to pay off your debts (for example your credit card balance). You run into a vicious cycle: You spend an ever increasing portion of your earnings on interest payment, instead of buying things. You become poorer and poorer. </div><div><br /></div><div>In 2023, the federal budget was $6.3 trillion.
Over 10% of this - $659 billion - was spent to finance the debt. This means borrowing additional money, at the cost of (future) interest payments. This amount was nearly double the debt financing cost in 2021, which was $352 billion. The reasons for this were (1) the increase of the federal debt and (2) the rise in interest rates. </div><div><br /></div><div>Consider all the useful things the government could do with the $659 billion - an extra 10% - it currently wastes on debt financing! Schools, housing, infrastructure, research, public health, all the things which the country needs so direly. </div><div><br /></div><div>One comes across articles and media discussions of the federal deficit, but you know what? Hardly ever does a pundit or a politician dare to even mention the taboo: The need to raise taxes. </div><div><br /></div><div>A good example is <a href="Nov. 20, 2023). He wisely warns us that “the federal government’s path of ever-growing deficits is completely unsustainable.” However, nowhere does he mention the need to raise taxes. https://www.heritage.org/debt/commentary/us-credit-gets-downgraded-signs-default-become-clearer#:~:text=rather%20than%20later.-,The%20financial%20situation%20is%20deteriorating%20so%20rapidly%20that%20the%20outlook,including%20anyone%20with%20retirement%20funds. "><b><u><i>E.J. Antoni</i></u></b>,</a> (“<i>US Credit Gets Downgraded as Signs of Default are Clearer,</i>” Nov. 20, 2023). He wisely warns us that “the federal government’s path of ever-growing deficits is completely unsustainable.” However, nowhere does he mention the need to raise taxes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some mention Japan, whose debt to GDP ratio is higher than ours, and yet appears to be manageable. However, the Japanese government is able to borrow much more cheaply than the US government - at nearly 0%. It is able to legislate this because most of Japan’s public debt is owed to the Japanese people </div><div><br /></div><div> Others argue that economic growth is larger than the interest rate on government debt, which means there won't be a debt crisis.
However, by now the debt and the cost of financing it, are growing far more rapidly than the economy.
In sum: There is a near universal taboo on mentioning the unmentionable medicine - taxes. Spending cuts (alone) will not solve the problem. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sure, Biden did talk briefly about raising taxes on people earning over $400,000 a year. But with elections looming, the topic is now off the able. The only subject of the debate is what to cut or not to cut. </div><div><br /></div><div>To begin with, this country has nearly a thousand billionaires, including many whose net worth exceeds the GDP of countries such as Ukraine, Morocco and Ecuador. We also have over twenty million millionaires. And then, there is Biden’s proposal to raise taxes on people making over $400,000 annually. </div><div><br /></div><div>Depending on the math, it is conceivable to begin raising taxes mildly at an even lower level. This could be a temporary measure, until the government has reduced its debt. But you get my drift. Unless something is done along my suggestions, our government is headed for bankruptcy. And then, what happens? <a name="more"></a><span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=4618665721789889838">leave comment here</a></span></div>Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-17067800281459718802023-11-08T12:36:00.008-08:002023-11-08T14:55:04.970-08:00Israel<h2 style="text-align: left;"><u>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeXY1ae1OUVhuBMOYRnin7lMaGJX7703qj60LSEIA9Eyfmk_a04AIPnlBa4_poIZ8ziE8iQ6XUZQdxf-V9HkWYE5uUKiO7wOrLNZ8dUuPTMLsp7jPOOoayWzXSlAlLltBpbr86aGeTrAoRbY1-F_APqoEO0MTxpDuCwVZdz8U6979LiXhVctHG6LOyQknw/s366/514.%20Hamas%20vs.%20Israel.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="138" data-original-width="366" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeXY1ae1OUVhuBMOYRnin7lMaGJX7703qj60LSEIA9Eyfmk_a04AIPnlBa4_poIZ8ziE8iQ6XUZQdxf-V9HkWYE5uUKiO7wOrLNZ8dUuPTMLsp7jPOOoayWzXSlAlLltBpbr86aGeTrAoRbY1-F_APqoEO0MTxpDuCwVZdz8U6979LiXhVctHG6LOyQknw/s320/514.%20Hamas%20vs.%20Israel.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Tom Kando</span></u><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h2><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">(References in this piece are to David Remnick’s article In the <b><i><u><a href="https://www.magzter.com/stories/culture/The-New-Yorker/IN-THE-CITIES-OF-KILLING">Cities of Killing</a></u></i></b> published in the <i><u>New Yorker</u></i> on November 6, 2023) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">It has been over a month since Hamas’ attack ignited the current war and prompted Israel to retaliate with a vengeance. On October 7, Hamas invaded southern Israel and murdered fourteen hundred inhabitants of kibbutzim such as <i>Kfar Aza</i> and <i>Be’eri</i> and revelers at the <i>Nova</i> music festival. Babies were beheaded, parents were executed in front of their children, rape and other atrocities were committed. Over two hundred and forty hostages were taken, and remain in Hamas custody. Some of the civilian inhabitants of Northern Gaza followed the terrorists into Israel and participated in the slaughter and plunder. Hamas labeled the event the <i>Al-Aqsa Flood</i>. Israel calls it <i>Black Saturday.</i> History may remember it as <i>October 7</i>, as America remembers<i> 9/11</i>. </span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Within a few days, Israel’s IDF began a bombing campaign against Gaza, a campaign of increasing ferocity. It told the one million Palestinians who live in Northern Gaza to evacuate the area, which was identified as the target area. In fact, all of Gaza became the target. Leaving the northern part to find safety elsewhere was an impossibility. Hence, hundreds of children, women and other non-combatants were killed every day, thousands every week. Entire neighborhoods were pulverized, including hospitals, refugee camps, shopping areas and residential housing.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hamas and its supporters have vowed to destroy Israel. Its charter remains clear: Its basic goal is the total elimination of Israel, “”from the river to the sea.” Their ultimate ambition, as that of supporters such as Hezbollah and Iran, is the elimination of the “Zionist entity.” In 2001, a founder of Hamas said that “the goal is to establish an Islamic state in Palestine, in Egypt, in Lebanon, in Saudi Arabia, everywhere, under a single Caliphate...we will not tolerate a non-Islamic state on Islamic lands.” (P.33). </span><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Israel is permitting practically no humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. The supplies of water, medicine, food and fuel to two and a half million people are approaching zero. Mass death from starvation, disease and bombings is imminent. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The world continues to see a sharp rise in anti-Semitism: According to FBI director Christopher Wray, hate crimes against Jews make up 60% of all religious hate crimes in the US, where Jews make up 2.4% of the population. The original Hamas covenant describes Jews as “cunning, greedy, seeking world domination, as starting the First World War and the Second World War in order to make huge profits from trading war material” (p. 34) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet’s planned solution to the crisis is to continue indiscriminate bombing indefinitely, or at least until all the hostages are freed. Their stated goal is the total destruction of Hamas. They do not contemplate any temporary cease-fire, arguing that this would be tantmount to surrender. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">In 2005, Israel evacuated Gaza. Two years later, Hamas established its rule over that territory. Instead of using its significant resources (including generous aid from wealthy Arab states) to develop Gaza into a prosperous and peaceful territory, Hamas proceeded to arm itself to the teeth and to devote itself to chronic war with Israel. In a way, this was an experiment in “two-states coexistence “ and it failed.. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Netanyahu government has turned its back on any “two-state solution.” It has encouraged the continued and increasingly uncontrolled colonization of the West Bank by hardline orthodox Jewish settlers. Netanyahu also bears responsibility for being caught off-guard by the October 7 attack, despite Israel’s vaunted Mossad and its past excellence in intelligence. The prime minister and his cronies were too busy trying to reduce the power of the Israeli Supreme Court, and other shenanigans. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Remnick writes that “the task of holding in one’s head multiple thoughts - multiple facts (is) nearly impossible.” (p. 41). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The tragedy of October 7 was quickly glossed over by a majority of the public, which now focuses almost exclusively on Israel’s disproportionate response. Israel’s fight is existential, as its enemies stated goal is the country’s total elimination. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">As secretary of state Antony Blinken said, “there will be no partners for peace if (Israel) is consumed by humanitarian catastrophe and....indifferent to the plight (of the Palestinians...)” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">When the Ukraine war began, I wrote here that NATO going to war against Russia was not an option. This was not because I sympathized with Russia, but because escalation towards a nuclear World War Three was unthinkable. I now write in the same vein. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">October 7 and its aftermath have made the problem more difficult and the solution more remote. Positions are hardening. The realization of a two-state solution and the peaceful coexistence of Jews and Palestinians seem more remote than ever. The current crisis radicalizes both sides, strengthening the Right and support for Netanyahu in Israel, and anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism elsewhere. Diplomacy, compromise and negotiations have become less likely. Israel may make the same mistakes which the US made after 9/11, and its enemies seem to be ready for all-out war. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The past cannot be changed. Only the future can. The rise of Zionism, great power agreements in the previous century and the creation of Israel in 1948 are accomplished facts. Today, America remains the only conceivable broker in this mess. Today, both sides speak of war as the solution. This must change, even as the problem has become much more intractable.
<a name="more"></a>
<span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=1706780028145971880">leave comment here</a></span></span></div></div>Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-88123165530566356772023-10-22T15:13:00.001-07:002023-11-07T14:25:26.842-08:00The Great Eyeglasses Rip off<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLEMmiBE_8WsIthZjI9Cin5mG59oDxLrNBeJt4Dd9W4zs_zJf28QqG0a0U4o6t2qfTVAmHEIwLhpOVfFsj3Hhfu5r6fz9wSMgKYhCYy-M6UC_6fzYzGHGiZjG4-NTJbUKl_NmwOFLuBfrjlOWlqum8Ym-wAbJW6qescY-GCLsI5CmiinYAJO0EcKb3HbM/s1467/glasses.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1221" data-original-width="1467" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLEMmiBE_8WsIthZjI9Cin5mG59oDxLrNBeJt4Dd9W4zs_zJf28QqG0a0U4o6t2qfTVAmHEIwLhpOVfFsj3Hhfu5r6fz9wSMgKYhCYy-M6UC_6fzYzGHGiZjG4-NTJbUKl_NmwOFLuBfrjlOWlqum8Ym-wAbJW6qescY-GCLsI5CmiinYAJO0EcKb3HbM/s320/glasses.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">By
Madeleine Kando<br /><br />After procrastinating for years, I finally got my new prescription for glasses. My current glasses are at least 10 years old and I had forgotten how expensive and time-consuming it is to buy new classes.
<br /><br />
For someone who cannot even decide on which leg to get out of bed, the choice of frames is overwhelming.
Besides, trying on frames is an exercise in futility since all you see is a blurred self in the mirror.
<br /><br />
I finally selected a frame in the midrange. But frames are not much use without lenses and those make up the bulk of the cost. I finally settled on a pair of Flexon, high-index, anti-glare titanium glasses and went home with a $500 hole in my pocket.
<br /><br />
Barely out of the door, the thought of having paid a small fortune for 3 pieces of plastic stuck together with screws that I knew doesn't cost more than $20 to produce, gave me a severe case of indigestion . I returned them the next day.
<br /><br />
I figured there was enough juice left in my 10-year-old glasses to research why the industry puts a 1000% markup on their glasses. Especially for something that should be fully covered by insurance, like high blood pressure medication.
<br /><br />
The reason is simple: the eyewear industry is a near-monopoly, dominated by an Italian/French company called ‘<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EssilorLuxottica" target="_blank">Essilor Luxottica</a>’.
<br /><br />
It was founded in 1961 by Leonardo Del Vecchio. The company owns the biggest retail chains, such as LensCrafters and Sunglass Hut, and controls over 80% of the major eyewear brands, including Ray-Ban, Oakley and Vogue Eyewear. Without competition, this company keeps the prices so high that it bears no relation to reality. It even owns <a href="https://www.eyemed.com/en-us/about-us#:~:text=Our%20immediate%20parent%20is%20Luxottica,in%20eye%20care%20and%20eyewear." target="_blank">Eyemed</a>, the biggest eye insurance provider in the world. So, you see quite a big party!
<span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><br />
Essilor Luxottica is a<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/verticalintegration.asp" target="_blank"> ‘vertically integrated’</a> business, which means they own the entire supply chain, from frame design and lens manufacturing to distribution and retail. *
<br /><br />
Most respectable ophthalmology practices have a store attached to them, which is where they make most of their money. You leave the doctor’s office with a brand-new prescription and step into the eyeglasses department, where you can spend your $500. Wouldn’t it be great if your orthopedic surgeon had a store attached to his practice where you could buy an artificial hip?
<br /><br />
The vision insurance industry is another can of worms. <a href="https://www.vspvision.com/purpose.html" target="_blank">VSP (Vision Service Plan),</a> the largest vision insurance company in the US, shamelessly advertises that they own retail chains like Vision Works. In other words, your premium money goes right back into the pocket of the company that sells you the glasses! It’s a marriage made in heaven.
<br /><br />
How can an industry that controls every level of the supply chain not fall under the Antitrust law?
<br /><br />
There are now some <a href="https://www.classaction.org/media/fathmath-v-essilorluxottica-sa-et-al.pdf" target="_blank">class action suits</a> under way, but will they go anywhere? The Government has been asleep at the wheel all these years and once things are solidified, it is very hard to back paddle.
<br /><br />
I am writing this with a new pair of glasses on my nose. With my ‘out-of-network’ insurance, I paid $189 at Costco, one of the very few competitors of Luxottica. It feels good to give Essilor Luxottica the finger!
<span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=8812316553056635677"> leave comment here</a></span></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><br /></span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">
* The company has reported 14.4 billion euros in revenues. That’s more than the annual budget of many poor countries. With 14 billion dollars, we could end world hunger.</span></i><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div>
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i>Sources:</i></span></div><div><div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i>• <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/3/6/18253555/eyeglasses-cost-lenscrafters-essilor-luxottica#:~:text=Butler%20and%20Dahan%20confirmed%20what,that%20was%20founded%20in%201961. " target="_blank">Glasses can have a markup of 1,000%. Two former LensCrafters executives revealed why.</a></i></span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">• <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/may/10/the-invisible-power-of-big-glasses-eyewear-industry-essilor-luxottica" target="_blank">The spectacular Power of Big Lens</a></span></i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>madeleine kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628760653230283538noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-14847113996817698572023-10-22T15:00:00.005-07:002023-10-22T15:08:19.049-07:00Is Holland the next Anglo Country?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDJzWknAX6b2yAT18DjjLf0fsf5M7_3Jfl6HdorD1IY9-R8Lcxs2b2MMeoOajLqcC58MDJ9_2AN8SBcgZt3JRQ15I6fq5suqQBcEAHEV7_ioLKK_b0G7b0QlHEge6VcZdUv7EDwsBEvZgFYWubw-PJEnGd1l_3WCuWtrC15g9xYMvNrsdfFwKDoe-5M7fy/s652/513.%20dutch%20America2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="652" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDJzWknAX6b2yAT18DjjLf0fsf5M7_3Jfl6HdorD1IY9-R8Lcxs2b2MMeoOajLqcC58MDJ9_2AN8SBcgZt3JRQ15I6fq5suqQBcEAHEV7_ioLKK_b0G7b0QlHEge6VcZdUv7EDwsBEvZgFYWubw-PJEnGd1l_3WCuWtrC15g9xYMvNrsdfFwKDoe-5M7fy/s320/513.%20dutch%20America2.jpg" width="320" /></a><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><u>Tom Kando</u> </span></h2><div><div>I just returned from the Netherlands. </div><div><br /></div><div>We were nearly two weeks in that lovely country. It was delightful. We spent most of our time visiting with relatives and good old friends whom we had not seen in years. We enjoyed excellent Dutch cuisine, including many varieties of cheese and my favorite appetizers: herring and Carpaccio. There were concerts (Bach’s Brandenburg concertos), boat rides through the Amsterdam canals, strolling on the beach, lounging around sidewalk cafés and more. My wife Anita keeps saying: “Europeans are a café society. Why can’t Americans be more like that?” </div><div><br /></div><div>However, I discovered something quite odd, something that shocked me:
I have long admired the Dutch for being brilliantly multi-lingual. A large majority of them are fluent in English, among other languages. This is quite convenient for American visitors. However, over the past couple of decades, the country’s entire higher education system has become Anglicized. Today, a majority of the curriculum at most Dutch universities is taught in English.
I had no idea. </div><br /></div>I grew up in the Netherlands, I received my Master’s degree from the University of Amsterdam. I am still fluent in Dutch.<div><br /></div><div>My discovery that Dutch higher education is now largely in English was fortuitous. We met a nice and very intelligent young American who is a student at the University of Groningen. He has been in Holland for several months, but he still hardly speaks a word of Dutch. I asked him how he manages to attend a Dutch university. No problem, he said, since all his classes are in English. </div><div><br /></div><div>This floored me. I learned from further conversation and some superficial research that a majority of university courses in the Netherlands are now taught in English.
(see for example <b><i><u><a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2023/0920/Dutch-universities-teach-in-English.-It-s-making-them-too-popular">Dutch Universities Teach in Englis</a>h</u></i></b> and <b><i><u><a href="https://www.mastersportal.com/articles/2983/best-english-taught-universities-in-the-netherlands-in-2023.html">Best English-Taught Universities in the Netherlands</a>)</u></i></b><a name='more'></a><div><br /></div><div>The percentage is exceptionally high at my <i>alma mater</i>, the University of Amsterdam. Other universities whose curriculum is largely in English include Delft, Utrecht, Leiden, Groningen and Eindhoven (at the latter institution, 100% of the courses are in English). </div><div><br /></div><div>As I said, I have always admired the Dutch’s linguistic versatility, which I share. At the Gymnasium (grades seven through twelve) we all learned six languages for five or six years (Dutch, English, French, German, Latin and Greek). Marvelous. </div><div><br /></div><div>But now, there is the wholesale transition from Dutch to English as the country’s primary language in higher education.
There are those who argue that this is “pragmatic” and well-advised. The Dutch have always been pragmatic. Today, English is the world’s <i>Lingua Franca</i>, especially in science and technology. There is nothing wrong with a “world language.” It probably helps international cooperation and progress. Additionally, the Netherlands benefit financially, as 15% of that country’s university students are international students. </div><div><br /></div><div>However, this makes me sad. I am sad that after having lived in Holland for several months, our American friend at the University of Groningen still hardly speaks any Dutch. And this probably goes for most of the thousands of other foreign students in Holland. (When I moved to Amsterdam at age fourteen, I was fluent in less than one year). </div><div><br /></div><div>And what about the Dutch kids who complete their secondary education, and who wish to go on to the university, but still struggle with English? (I was such a student). But now, you can’t complete a university degree in Holland unless you have total mastery of English? This is weird. </div><div><br /></div><div>I haven’t examined the data in great detail. I assume that Holland’s transition to English has gone farthest in the technological sector, and (hopefully) less so in the humanities. Would it make sense to offer all or most of the curriculum in Dutch history, literature, the arts, even philosophy and sociology only in English? This feels like a betrayal, the betrayal of Dutch culture. You get to learn about Rembrandt and Van Gogh in English, when you could do so in their native language? Not to mention the incredibly rich past and present Dutch literature. </div><div><br /></div><div> * * * * * * * </div><div><br /></div><div>There may also be a creeping anglicization of the Dutch language under way. I just read Bert Wagendorp’s:
<a href="https://uitgeverijpluim.nl/phoenix-de-memoires-van-abel-sikkink"><b><i><u>Phoenix: De memoires van Abel Sikkink</u></i></b> </a>(2022). This is a wonderful book about a Dutch immigrant to America in the 19th century. Wagendorp is an excellent writer. But throughout the book there are many instances of the anglicization of the Dutch language. Here are just a few of the many anglicisms I found in this book: </div><div><br /></div><div>P. 314: een boot arriveerde in de haven, Why not “kwam aan?” </div><div>P. 331: een immens huis. Why not “enorm?” </div><div>P. 336: competitie. Why not “wedstrijd?” </div><div>P. 342 superioriteitsgevoel. Why not “ meerderwaardigheids complex?” </div><div>P. 342: hypocriet: Why not “huichelaar?” </div><div><br /></div><div> I don’t recommend the linguistic chauvinism of the French, who go too far in their protectiveness of the purity of their language. But I do believe that Dutch is an excellent language, and that it should continue to be used vigorously. The Netherlands are a vibrant but small country of less than eighteen million people. Its economic, political and cultural contributions to the world are disproportionately large. I hope that it does not turn its back on its cultural and linguistic identity for the sake of profit and expediency.
<a name="more"></a>
<span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=1484711399681769857">leave comment here</a></span></div></div>Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-59759502684850546602023-10-15T07:44:00.015-07:002023-11-07T14:25:45.729-08:00The Anti-Israel Left<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGlbx5wWl8dZA78AnN9SW_a_hJ4-Tt4QJIYdxNhhfjmdj2vUfRzEw-PL8nRCTcsCYQtfB-J1kvtV4OJ95APIUjd_LN9gqkg4u0bb6MvvruOB4bHVlxtUJNVsWAFkDMx-E5aH66WQCmQb8ujurhW8vbf1U9P6R2BGBQ1UeD506n7aWqmcWUllgz6EoHSzc/s1051/star-david.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="1051" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGlbx5wWl8dZA78AnN9SW_a_hJ4-Tt4QJIYdxNhhfjmdj2vUfRzEw-PL8nRCTcsCYQtfB-J1kvtV4OJ95APIUjd_LN9gqkg4u0bb6MvvruOB4bHVlxtUJNVsWAFkDMx-E5aH66WQCmQb8ujurhW8vbf1U9P6R2BGBQ1UeD506n7aWqmcWUllgz6EoHSzc/w270-h185/star-david.jpg" width="270" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">By
Madeleine Kando<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">On October 7 2023, the terrorist group Hamas butchered 260 young music lovers at the Supernova Music Festival Negev Desert. They left 1,200 Israelis dead and 2,800 more wounded. Clearly they had ‘kill as many as you can’ on their mind.
<br /><br />
The sheer brutality of it all left me breathless. The next day, there were pro-Palestinian and left wing groups celebrating that atrocity. In Manhattan, in London, at Harvard University and other campuses, the chant was: “the Israeli regime is entirely responsible for the violence’.
<br /><br />
I spoke to some neighbors, trying to make sense of what just happened, the sheer brutality of the attack. What I heard was ‘It’s terrible, yes, but what about the poor Palestinians?’
<br /><br />
It almost seemed like a brainwashed response. I am a liberal and so is most of my neighborhood, but can liberals not call a spade a spade? Can they not see beyond their binary worldview of the oppressors versus the oppressed? I am all for the underdog myself, but mass murder should not be condoned by blaming Israel for imposing an “apartheid” regime on Palestinians. That response requires a much more detailed knowledge of the long lasting Palestinian/Israeli conflict, than my liberal neighbors have.<span><a name='more'></a></span>
<br /><br />
Obviously, Hamas does not want peace. It wants to destroy Israel, and always has. No matter what the cost. Why would Hamas tell the Gaza population to stay in their homes, while Israel clearly warned them of an imminent attack?
<br /><br />
What upsets me most is how some of us, in the West, are no longer able to recognize evil when it raises its ugly head. In our zeal to be politically correct, to defend the weak, we put the blame at the feet of the Jews. Being an Israeli is tantamount to being an evil, oppressive person. If some of them get butchered, so be it. That is the price they have to pay just for existing.
<a name="more"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=5975950268485054660"><span> leave comment here</span></a></span><span><br /></span>
madeleine kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628760653230283538noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-64965696208454734972023-09-15T18:48:00.008-07:002023-09-16T06:40:10.324-07:00Moral Equivalence between Russia and Ukraine?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2NrPPH5SBzThMCWcWq3wlvkKdB92b1eQa--c8mMoniXqdo4iVMaen3gYgIsj24lhvO51jZZhhNxu-6-ujwkzPPnWkbLkAs_PCyInZAYwxfdN4s_BdZn0qjeim6pTlTQKD5Agd1K1AOe2mxt85LdXzWxR_Y-8IprmZyIhKCvAlTIEFzojqLexcMtOoLufo/s300/russia%20vs%20ukraine.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2NrPPH5SBzThMCWcWq3wlvkKdB92b1eQa--c8mMoniXqdo4iVMaen3gYgIsj24lhvO51jZZhhNxu-6-ujwkzPPnWkbLkAs_PCyInZAYwxfdN4s_BdZn0qjeim6pTlTQKD5Agd1K1AOe2mxt85LdXzWxR_Y-8IprmZyIhKCvAlTIEFzojqLexcMtOoLufo/s1600/russia%20vs%20ukraine.jpg" width="300" /></span></a><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Tom Kando</span></h1><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I still watch the news and I still read the newspaper every day. This is a bad habit. The news is repetitive and depressing. The major progressive channels (CNN, MSNBC, NPR, PBS, etc.) devote most of the time to Donald Trump and the lawsuits against him, ad nauseam. Overseas, the Ukraine war remains a main topic, with no end in sight. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Ukrainian situation bothers me a great deal. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Maybe it’s because I come from Eastern Europe. Maybe because I spent the first decade of my life in a war not unlike the current bloodbath in Ukraine, and its aftermath. Maybe because Russia was doing to Hungary, my country of birth, the same thing it is doing to Ukraine now: raping it. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Russia started its unprovoked attack on its peaceful neighbor in February 2014, when it conquered Crimea. It resumed its invasion in February 2022, attempting to annex the entire country, an effort that goes on unabated. </span></div> style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">When the current assault began over a year and a half ago, the media were able to document clearly that Russia’s behavior was as unprovoked, unjustified and cruel as Hitler’s assaults upon Germany’s neighbors had been at the outset of World War Two. We saw on television entire cities pulverized, thousands of women, children and other innocents killed, millions of Ukrainians forced to flee from their country, farcical elections held by Russia, attempting to legitimize the annexation of territories, the deportation of Ukrainian children to re-education locations in Russia.<a name='more'></a></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">For once, American public opinion displayed moral clarity. If ever there was a conflict where the contrast between culprit and victim was clear, this was it. As clear as rape and unprovoked murder. And the public saw it. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Whenever you click on a web portal such as Yahoo or AOL, you get a multitude of articles of the hour, articles which address the day’s most salient issues and change rapidly. Many of these quicky articles are about the Russia-Ukraine war. They are, by and large, professional and intelligent, reproduced from respectable news media such as Reuters. They are usually followed by hundreds or thousands of readers comments.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">As a sociologist, I remain interested in public opinion. One way to get a sense of how the public feels is to scroll through some of the thousands of comments that follow such electronic articles. Of course, this is absolutely not a representative sample. But it is far richer and better than the traditional letters-to-the-editor still found in most daily newspapers, because it is much larger and practically every submission is accepted. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">So I occasionally examine this source of information. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I did this a few times after this war began in 2022, and I have done it again a few times recently. To my great sorrow, I found a huge change in public opinion regarding Ukraine: in 2022, the vast majority of readers expressed outrage at Putin and strong support for Ukraine. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is no longer the case. The majority of comments are at best isolationist. At worst, they see moral equivalence between Russia’s actions and American imperialism, between Putin and Biden. Most of the comments deplore our expensive military aid to Ukraine, arguing that this only benefits our military-industrial complex and our merchants of death, that America should take care of its own domestic problems rather than squander its resources on a proxy war in far-away Europe waged for capitalist profit </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The conspiratorial frame of mind of so many people is back. Accordingly, those responsible for this war include the CIA, NATO, Joe Biden and his son, the Pentagon and the American military-industrial complex. Not all the comments have this sort of slant, but over half of them do. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">As I said, maybe my sample is not representative. Some polls suggest that a majority of Americans still support Ukraine. Maybe. But it does appear that support is declining, especially among Republicans. Maybe Russian disinformation is at work here. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">All I know is that a year and a half ago, I didn’t come across a multitude of comments criticizing our government’s support of Ukraine. Most of the readers were highly supportive of strong economic and military support for Ukraine. Today, no more. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Today, many Americans are against everything. Many oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and also oppose resisting the invasion. Some comments express outrage at BOTH too much military assistance to Ukraine AND insufficient assistance. Anger and frustration are the common thread. Many comments are confused and contradictory, demanding simultaneously that our government do both more and less. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">* * * * * * * </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t wish to prolong this war, or God forbid escalate it. It is essential that peace negotiations begin ASAP. At least an armistice of some sort, one that stops the bloodletting, as it stopped in Korea seventy years ago. Obviously, both sides must compromise. Ukraine will not regain all that it has lost, but it should survive. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I did not write this article in order to recommend specific action. I am not qualified to do that. Russia may well win, and the world may have to accept that. Nuclear war is out of the question. But this doesn’t mean that there is moral equivalence between Russia and Ukraine. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Consider the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. The Fascists won, but the world was never hoodwinked into believing that the Spanish Republicans deserved to lose. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Today, I am disturbed when I take the pulse of American public opinion: There has been a significant change in the narrative pertaining to Ukraine: There is now much more talk of moral equivalence. This is very wrong. <a name="more"></a><span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=6496569620845473497">leave comment here</a></span></span></div>Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-41970940074289179912023-09-14T04:48:00.037-07:002023-11-07T14:26:38.259-08:00The Trouble with Second Hand Fame<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixRX24aAtEdj-WIWQcz98fZWKKAzN-s3kfH7SsYr71BZZxJFYd84m81Iaxun1HSCfclPUJKqxWNujChTliaFqzXJQlzfYdlVisx86IW1nB95pP0rQLOFxLpcLlCONxUtFcQHqLAIb9y8SP4C2keWTlojxj52WT8upBS46qftu1l6tZIqfNWzGR6C5r/s485/fame.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: verdana; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="485" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixRX24aAtEdj-WIWQcz98fZWKKAzN-s3kfH7SsYr71BZZxJFYd84m81Iaxun1HSCfclPUJKqxWNujChTliaFqzXJQlzfYdlVisx86IW1nB95pP0rQLOFxLpcLlCONxUtFcQHqLAIb9y8SP4C2keWTlojxj52WT8upBS46qftu1l6tZIqfNWzGR6C5r/w290-h212/fame.jpg" width="290" /></span></a><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span>By
Madeleine Kando</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><br /></span>I am not famous, but my parents were. They were not in the super-famous category, just the local run-of-the-mill famous, like your mayor or the neighborhood idiot. My stepfather actually is the more famous of the two. He was a photographer who made it really big posthumously. You can find him all over the Internet, which is the litmus test of being famous.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Fame doesn’t drop on your head like bird pooh, you know. You have to prime your own fame while you are alive and convince others that you are special, but it’s really the people you don’t know personally that do the real work. The more people there are you don’t know but who know you, the more famous you become. And it’s mostly the post-humous crowd that makes you famous. ‘<i>Oh, I didn’t know her personally, but she was really a great person. So talented!</i></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">’</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">It’s called the ‘fame by proxy' syndrome. Knowing a famous person, or just watching them drive by in a limousine, makes you feel special. There is this irresistible rubbing-off effect that people crave: to bask in a famous person’s spotlight.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />We all need recognition, proof that we somehow matter. We all matter to ourselves of course, because we are all the center of the Universe. But you cannot take credit for just being, although you might argue that being born already makes you special. Of the billions of sperms competing in the race towards the ovum, the one that made you win the race.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Above and beyond just existing, we have a need to be recognized by others. Our family, our friends, our pets, and our jobs. We want to matter to others. Once you don’t matter anymore, you know it’s time to cut the cord.</span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />The funny thing about fame is that it is a zero-sum game. For some to be famous, others must be ordinary. That’s how it works. While my famous parents were still alive, there was not much room for their children in their orbit. We were an afterthought, a fixture. ‘Oh, look at those cute children of these famous people we came to interview’. It gave a human touch to their fame.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Just the right amount, mind you. Since famous people are there for us to act out our fantasies, they shouldn’t become too real, or the fantasy is in danger of popping like a party balloon. People didn’t want to know about my famous mother’s suffering, as she grew older. Her incontinence, loss of vision and hearing. They didn’t want to know how she roamed the hallways of the assisted living in the middle of the night, trying to dull the agonizing nerve pain in her foot. And she didn’t want them to know how difficult it is to grow old. It was her secret, which she only shared with her children and a few close friends.<a name='more'></a></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Maybe I am trying to come to terms with my own ordinariness, an ordinary daughter with famous parents. Is there a hint of envy in all this? Do these people ever give credit to the ordinary people who hold up their fame? Like a giant trying to balance on floating rocks. The more he tries to stay out of the water, the deeper the rocks sink.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />As my stepfather’s body was slowly consumed by cancer, he insisted on filming the whole process, hoping that this would make his dying less ordinary. But dying is the ultimate equalizer; the one thing that fame has no power over.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />My parents were both photographers. There is good stuff to be found amongst the thousands of photographs they took during their unusually long lives. It’s not like Mozart, who had to cram his greatness into a measly few decades. But even Mozart was a self-adulating, conflated individual who didn’t have an ounce of humility. Except when it came to his father.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />During his short life, Mozart managed to sire six children, but only two survived. His eldest son adored Mozart immensely. He had these words engraved on his tombstone: 'May my name be my father's epitaph, as my veneration for him was the essence of my life.' Even in death, the son tried to uphold the father’s fame. He was trying to apologize for not being Mozart himself!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Fame runs way back in my family. I have this long-gone, super-famous great uncle, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kálmán_Kandó" target="_blank">Kandó Kálmán</a>. He was the inventor of the first electric locomotive. My maternal great-grandfather: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Beke" target="_blank">Emanuel Beke</a> was a Hungarian mathematician, known for reforming the teachings of mathematics in Hungary.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />My father: <a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandó_Gyula" target="_blank">Kando Gyula</a>, was a painter and a war hero. He saved many Jews from being sent to concentration camps by impersonating an SS officer. He is listed at the <a href="https://www.yadvashem.org/index.html" target="_blank">Yad Vashem</a>, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Let’s see.. oh, and there is my maternal grandmother <a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Beke_Margit" target="_blank">Margit G. Beke</a>, an absolute linguistic genius, who spoke Russian, English, German, and French, amongst others. She translated 93 literary works, mostly from the Scandinavian languages. I forgive her fame because her brilliant writing imposed it on her.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: left;">I never tried to be famous. My heart wasn’t in it and I am fine with that. An introvert at heart, shy and insecure, I much prefer to observe others and get a good story out of what goes on around me. You can call me a coward, passive-aggressive, or an expert at living vicariously.</span></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />But you cannot make a crab walk straight. I much prefer anonymity. The best times in my long and ordinary life, were those spent in a vast city, where I could disappear, where nobody knew who I was. I could be anyone I wanted to be! That is the opposite of being famous, a luxury that famous people will never be able to enjoy. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=4197094007428917991"><span>leave comment here</span></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p class="bodytext" style="line-height: 15pt; margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"></p></span>
madeleine kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628760653230283538noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-30445979625190866892023-08-28T05:23:00.020-07:002023-11-07T14:27:06.188-08:00The Limitations of ChatGPT<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9Fe311zUfBTQvX-GYU-iU_QpSXwNVEEzpBpjk194UceBX92BPLwesuwy121y0RHk0vrve-Z7zy-Nc9x9M11plZhkfw459UMIRu-vXSpXs_artaGI1bi1GCHKtsgePSBcjFkN_1BXsIqozPHCe06gRC9N8rwC8cOeJnU-Rur9OToen8Wx9MdvWOFqCpw/s1216/bard.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1216" data-original-width="1051" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9Fe311zUfBTQvX-GYU-iU_QpSXwNVEEzpBpjk194UceBX92BPLwesuwy121y0RHk0vrve-Z7zy-Nc9x9M11plZhkfw459UMIRu-vXSpXs_artaGI1bi1GCHKtsgePSBcjFkN_1BXsIqozPHCe06gRC9N8rwC8cOeJnU-Rur9OToen8Wx9MdvWOFqCpw/s320/bard.jpg" width="277" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">by Madeleine Kando<br /><br />I have a thought, which I want to convey to my Dutch friend. English is my language of choice, but then he asks me to say it in Dutch. I grew up in Holland, so you would think it wouldn't be such a difficult task. I find myself grappling for words, trying to construct logical sentences that mirror what I think. I feel like an arthritic contortionist. It doesn't meet my expectations but that's the best I can do. 'I could say this a lot better in English, you know' I tell him.
<br /><br />
The same goes for French, another language I grew up with. French sounds melodious and the way it is constructed has a poetic aura about it as if a bunch of poets sat down and selected the most pleasant-sounding bits of human speech to form the French language. (German, tragically, suffers from an abundance of harsh phonemes, as if they were forged by a group of rough warriors who made their enemies run for cover, every time they opened their mouth).
But is language the best conduit for the multi-dimensionality of our mental world? I have to transpose something that is happening on multiple levels into one linear dimension. A thought is not just verbal; it has colors, shape, smell, taste, speed and much more.
<br /><br />
Wouldn’t it be truer to reality if we had a means of communication that includes all these dimensions in one package? True, we have art, music, dance and mathematics to convey these other dimensions of thought, but doesn’t their own range also limit those? Can I do justice to quantum mechanics when I express it in music? Can I express the beauty of a sunrise using mathematics?
<br /><br />
The current rage is all about chatbots and other artificial intelligence (AI) systems that can have a conversation with a user in natural language. They can also debug computer programs, compose music, generate business ideas and play games.
<br /><br />
But isn’t AI forcing our way of thinking into a one-dimensional ‘verbal’ groove? What about the other major component of communication, i.e. the nonverbal part? There is body language, facial expressions and the tone of your voice, the melody of language, the pauses, hesitations and intonations. All of these contain a huge amount of information, which can drastically alter the verbal content of what is said. If we become enamored with the simplicity and one-dimensionality of chatbots (the spoken word), much of our humanness is at risk of disappearing.
</span><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />
A much better idea would be to roll our many forms of expression into one super-language. This reminds me of ‘<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_Than_Human" target="_blank">More than Human</a>’, a science fiction story by Theodore Sturgeon. Even though Sturgeon’s story is about several ‘freaks’ (with telepathic, telekinetic and superhuman intelligence) that join forces to create a ‘Gestalt’, i.e. the next evolutionary step in mankind, it wouldn’t be too farfetched to artificially create a ‘super-language’ that would do more justice to our multi-dimensional ability to form thoughts.
<br /><br />
On the other hand, although language might not be the best tool to replicate our ‘mentalese’ as cognitive scientists like to call it, it does have the advantage of sifting out unnecessary and redundant information. It wouldn’t be practical, to have a form of communication that mirrors every single aspect of what we are thinking. It would resemble a ‘stream of consciousness’ scenario, to the point where nobody would make head or tail out of what is being said. Although famous writers have used ‘stream of consciousness’ in their writing superbly, to mere mortals like the rest of us, it would be like stepping into a mud-hole.
<br /><br />
Language is a natural bi-product of what scientists call the 'cognitive niche', which is the ability to ‘anticipate’ so that you can defeat the fixed defenses of other organisms. If we didn’t have language we wouldn’t be able to take advantage of our intelligence and our niche wouldn’t be a niche at all, it would be a snare. Language allows you to transfer information very cheaply: if I teach you how to fish, it doesn’t mean that I give up any of the fish I have caught. I duplicate what I have, the knowledge of fishing, at no cost to me. It helps us survive as a species.
<br /><br />
Aside from chatbbots shaving off many aspects of human communication, like a hairdresser who cannot stop cutting your hair until you resemble a marine sergeant, it might also accelerate the exponential disappearance of many languages. ChatGPT boasts to support more than 50 languages. But there are more than 7,000 languages in the world. What will happen to the 6,950 languages that chatbots don’t support?
<br /><br />
Where languages really thrive is at the point where one language meets another. That’s where mixed breeds get created. If a language is too isolated, either by natural causes or artificially (like the Academie Française is trying to do with French), it atrophies.
<br /><br />
English is already the Lingua Franca of the world, but most people who speak English, speak it as a second language. Just like me, they are not native speakers of English. If all these multi-linguals fall prey to the chatbot craze, they will no longer communicate in their native language with their children. You might say that it is the survival of the fittest in the language world, but chatbot are not a natural phenomenon. The survival bs doesn’t work here.
<br /><br />
For better or for worse, my mentalese has jumped from Dutch to English. With all the different languages I grew up with: Hungarian, French, Dutch and now English, you now know why my Dutch friend has to put up with my choice of language.<a name="more"></a>
<span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=3044597962519086689"> leave comment here</a></span></span>madeleine kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628760653230283538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-65014702477757100722023-08-27T16:47:00.005-07:002023-08-28T05:06:52.041-07:00Size Matters<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvcVc3X7VyQwUupC8LMs6JVjSrE-S1EdmfV2j0c0wvIXlrpf6Dro7sSoWmAp2kSyW_ZBqzZHB7Z2-25G7smTUy0B9ItKbP6oPEoyk_3CWFFzwPs1d_D4NNVKpXV24hxk04o-Kqei3Vscde3mQ_a3k5F9MzSi3tSFpxKa-7G_HDdw1tApqq_JtcpC5IA3g/s225/511.size..jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvcVc3X7VyQwUupC8LMs6JVjSrE-S1EdmfV2j0c0wvIXlrpf6Dro7sSoWmAp2kSyW_ZBqzZHB7Z2-25G7smTUy0B9ItKbP6oPEoyk_3CWFFzwPs1d_D4NNVKpXV24hxk04o-Kqei3Vscde3mQ_a3k5F9MzSi3tSFpxKa-7G_HDdw1tApqq_JtcpC5IA3g/s1600/511.size..jpg" width="225" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Tom Kando</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">What is the most universal form of discrimination and victimization? Has it ever occurred to you? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">We talk forever about race, ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ, physical handicap, religion, age, obesity, etc. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">But what about SIZE? What about being small? (as well as soft-spoken, which often goes with it)? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">At five foot eleven, I am average. (At my advanced age, I have shrunk about an inch). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">But I have lived in places where I was on the smallish side compared to most other men, and places where my height was average. And you know what? I had a worse time when I lived in places where I was surrounded by many people taller than me - in Holland, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania - than when I lived in places like France and California, where I was of average height. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Say for instance that you go to a bar. You have to wade through a crowd towards the bar to order a drink. This is more annoying in Amsterdam and in Minneapolis than in Sacramento and in Paris. Same difference at airports, subways and other public settings. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">For men especially, size matters. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Most US presidents have been taller than average. Trump is six foot three, which will be an electoral advantage. Obama is six foot one - plus a stentorian baritone voice. These things work in his favor. Clinton was six foot two. The last seven US presidents have all been at least six foot tall. <a name='more'></a></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">And I am not even talking about Small Man’s Syndrome, the Napoleon complex, whereby small men are overly aggressive to compensate for their small size. They are the exception, not the rule. In general, large size is an advantage. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Size is particularly important when one is young, especially a young male. You compete for everything, including females. Height favors tall men (other things being equal). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">When shall we see a social movement advocating for Small People’s Rights? Equality for small people, especially males. Stop discriminating against small people. I can only remember one lonely effort aimed at addressing this social problem - Randy Newman’s song “Short People” in 1977. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">One important reason why women have been second- class citizens throughout history is their smaller stature. Not for nothing have they been called the “weaker sex ” or the “second sex” (Simone de Beauvoir). They are smaller and their voice carries less. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bullying is a lot easier if you are bigger. I certainly remember being picked on by bigger boys in school. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, for a well-researched and somewhat optimistic analysis of this issue, see Stephen Hall’s </span></div><div><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Size-Matters-Affects-Happiness-Success/dp/0618470409" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Size Matters: How Height Affects the Health, Happiness and Success of Boys - and the Men They Become</i>.</span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hall shows that short people can thrive. Despite or precisely as a result of being victimized by childhood aggression and bullying, a person may develop exceptional emotional resilience. Being short can also have advantages.
<a name="more"></a>
<span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=6501470247775710072">leave comment here</a></span></span></div>Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-7742868880800716812023-08-05T13:15:00.006-07:002023-08-22T04:06:51.893-07:00New Edition of my Autobiography<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTipLkhcYyIQnTKoOLyJRtadP41DOO0oMR2PKrnwiVy69X7Wc0_xPl1S3BHM93sHvErV6YWP_Rr5fmTzv7uu5LttyrN9XXT1Ho7sI34KNxOCsGpOIuzfgSYcB9Yz7vU8fWLYu3eLw3vNMB6rpXvHKW37niGn7mvMFrb60594TxINLT1raQyMxNqt-OVPQf/s224/510.my%20bio.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="224" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTipLkhcYyIQnTKoOLyJRtadP41DOO0oMR2PKrnwiVy69X7Wc0_xPl1S3BHM93sHvErV6YWP_Rr5fmTzv7uu5LttyrN9XXT1Ho7sI34KNxOCsGpOIuzfgSYcB9Yz7vU8fWLYu3eLw3vNMB6rpXvHKW37niGn7mvMFrb60594TxINLT1raQyMxNqt-OVPQf/s1600/510.my%20bio.jpg" width="224" /></a><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;">Tom Kando </span></h1><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dear People: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I just published a second edition of my autobiography.. Much has changed. I removed some inappropriate parts and added several new chapters, to cover the fifteen years that have passed since the book’s first edition. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">As it did in the first edition, the book describes my eventful life surviving World War Two in Europe, emigrating to America and building a rich and interesting life in the new world while maintaining a multinational perspective. The book traces my childhood growing up in Hungary, France and Holland. It describes the world events that occurred during my life, and how I experienced and participated in them. It combines biography and history. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I was born at the epicenter of the world’s greatest war. In Hungary, my family survived the Holocaust, the Nazi and Soviet occupations, the bombs, the genocide, and starvation. We escaped to Paris, living in abject poverty as stateless refugees. I roamed the streets, subways and slums, encountered violence and dangerous people. My family kept moving, gypsy-like, from country to country, hitch-hiking and sleeping on public benches and beaches. When I was fourteen, we settled in Amsterdam, where I grew up at risk. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">At eighteen, I earned the $50 fare for a one-way ticket on the boat to America, and ten days later I arrived in New York City, not knowing a single soul in the new world. Surviving life-threatening situations, I focused on the Fulbright scholarship which I received, and on admission to one of the country’s finest universities. Soon I learned what the American way of life is all about, the generosity and courage of the American people, the sports, the parties, the hard work and the competitive spirit. For the first time in my life, I became a citizen. After decades of refugee status and discrimination, I became an American. I finally belonged somewhere. </span></div><a name='more'></a><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I received a master’s and a PhD at the University of Minnesota. At twenty-seven, I was an Assistant Professor. I spent the following decades teaching at major universities as well as in prisons and for the Air Force, doing research on criminology, mental illness and human sexuality, and traveling to Japan, Australia, Korea, Asia, Africa, Russia and dozens of other countries. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The last seven chapters are new. They cover my writing activities, my widespread travels (I crossed the Atlantic one hundred and one times!) And my sociological analysis of where America and the world are at now. I published several new books, including a science fiction history of earth’s next twenty-five thousand years, and a travel guide to Europe, for which I received a silver medal from the Northern California Publishers and Authors. I also have a blog where I have posted nearly a thousand short pieces about politics, travel, language, sports, popular culture and many other subjects. My travel stories are often eventful and comical. My sociological and political comments cover the good (Obama) and the bad - Trump, Covid, the war in Ukraine, the mass murder plague, racism, the rightward drift in the US and in many other countries. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Here are a few things some readers wrote about the book when it first came out: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">◆◆◆ “A tale of survival” says it all. This book deserves an A+ . The book is largely autobiographical, which is hard to grasp, considering the adventurous character of the story. Another proof that real life is often more formidable than fiction. Though it is certainly a tale of survival, the author might have chosen another title too: “Resilience”. For that is the main characteristic that stays in mind of Tom as a boy and a young adult. Despite the numerous setbacks in his youth, Tom seemed to have no trouble picking up his life time and again. The story is captivating from the start 'til the very last page.” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Judy Lohman, writer couple from The Netherlands </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">◆◆◆ “Tom’s story is an engaging tale that will inspire readers. He touches on so many uncomfortable and realistic themes - marital instability, adultery, pedophilia, poverty, brutality - and he compels the reader to examine his own past. He is confessional, audacious, powerful, and honest, and he offers precisely what is lacking in the book market.” Mary Massaro, Author of Happiness and other lies, Beyond the Pale and other works </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">To take a look at and possibly obtain this revised and improved autobiography, please click on this link:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tale-Survival-War-Ravaged-Promise-America-ebook/dp/B0CCC3RBHD/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.amazon.com/Tale-Survival-War-Ravaged-Promise-America-ebook/dp/B0CCC3RBHD/</span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thanks, </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tom<a name="more"></a>
<span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=774286888080071681">leave comment here</a></span></span></div>Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7293734069319254148.post-19258026611610686712023-07-24T17:03:00.003-07:002023-07-25T04:38:45.766-07:00Theory<h2 style="text-align: left;"><b><i><u><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRN_FoPXm82WxMwrQ7mYsNIR4EDqW7LTuMPtbYLHV50R3Wkv8w6G0NT9LXys5cflYhLSuoVw6E8-YpL6xihiNon4-eBoJC7pCtvJAjw5D8RZ6XjAKPizJYbtCixkn3AAxHLhcgOXMPDMOu1-34sRI2Jqkf9pb5ghAZDvMKAyDzhJUpoFyIIJkfsl8TZYRg/s275/509.%20theory.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRN_FoPXm82WxMwrQ7mYsNIR4EDqW7LTuMPtbYLHV50R3Wkv8w6G0NT9LXys5cflYhLSuoVw6E8-YpL6xihiNon4-eBoJC7pCtvJAjw5D8RZ6XjAKPizJYbtCixkn3AAxHLhcgOXMPDMOu1-34sRI2Jqkf9pb5ghAZDvMKAyDzhJUpoFyIIJkfsl8TZYRg/s1600/509.%20theory.jpg" width="275" /></a></div></u></i></b><div style="text-align: left;"><u><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Tom Kando</span></u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span> </span></div></h2><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I was reading a review of the movie <b><i><u><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Oppenheimer</span></u></i></b> - about the UC Berkeley theoretical physicist who invented the atom bomb. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">So I started to think about the word “theory,” and how much I love theory, something on which I spent a good part of my life. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">What IS theory? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I am a sociologist, and much of my discussion of “theory” is about SOCIAL theory, although not just that. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">When I was getting my PhD at the University of Minnesota, all candidates were trained and tested in four basic subareas: (1) Social Organization, (2) Social Psychology, (3) Statistics and Methodology, and (4) Theory. Today, the subareas within Sociology are quite different, much more politicized (Gender Studies, Social Inequality, etc.). Be that as it may, it is significant that “Theory” -pure and simple - was one of the chief areas of graduate sociology. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">One way to answer a “what is?” question is to first ask what it is NOT. You then come up with something, and you posit
that this thing is the opposite of what you are trying to define. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">So what is the opposite of “theory?” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Is it empirical facts? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Is it practice, or action? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Is it practicality or Pragmatism? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Is it reality? (As opposed to “fantasy”)? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Is it applied or applicable knowledge? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Is it the “concrete” (as opposed to the “abstract”)? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Is it “useful,” as opposed to “useless”? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Most people don’t have much respect for “theory.”
They equate it (use the word synonymously) with “bullshit., ” which in turn is a synonym of “nonsense.”
People say, “them’s are just words. What matters is action, not just talk.” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Or: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">That’s just book knowledge, useless knowledge, the domain of pointy-headed academic eggheads and intellectuals, who know little about real life. </span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the age-old mutual town-gown hostility, such attitudes are widespread among the “town” people. Even among my college students, there was a frequent hostility towards theory, something often viewed as useless, as bullshit. Most painfully to me, many students found theory BORING. Furthermore, this is part of a populist attitude which has always been extremely widespread in America. This reflects the fact that, despite much inequality in Americans’ life conditions, our dominant ideology has always been extremely egalitarian. It also includes the charge of elitism leveled at academia, a charge that is not without merit. <a name='more'></a></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">But I stray. Today, I speak out in defense of theory. To me, the sociological subfield of Theory was fascinating. It included the classics - Weber, Marx, Durkheim, Mead, Parsons, Merton, etc. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Whether in Sociology or in other fields, you cannot have creativity, new ideas and progress without theory. So, it is wrong to reject theory. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, there is good theory and there is bad theory. What is the difference? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The criteria for evaluating theories differ. For scientific theories, the most obvious criterion is whether or not a theory is contrary to facts. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, truth is often elusive. There is also a school of thought (Pragmatism, William James) which says that the value of a theory may be judged by its CONSEQUENCES. As Voltaire is said to have said, “If God did not exist, we must invent him.” So things get complicated. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Furthermore, is a theory used as a basis for action? If a theory is a product of fantasy, it is not bound by any empirical requirement - witness science fiction and much of art and popular culture. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">We are told that today, more Americans are becoming indifferent to whether their beliefs are supported by facts or not.
Many continue to believe the theory that Trump won the 2020 election. Others become neo-Pagan believers in witchcraft such as Wicca. Conspiracy theories abound. Facts don’t matter. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">But of course, this is not new. Throughout history, there has been far more superstition and belief in nonsense than in true knowledge. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, most of the greatest minds in history have been theoreticians - from Plato and Socrates to Einstein and Oppenheimer. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are many schools of thought regarding theories - and the bases upon which they should be evaluated. Logical Positivism is one - theories must be testable and not contradict empirical facts. But the bottom line is that theories are IDEAS. Knowledge is the product of a two-way process: Deduction and Induction, thought and observation. Without the former, human knowledge would not exist.
<span class="fullpost"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7293734069319254148&postID=1925802661161068671">leave comment here</a></span></span></div>Tom Kandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426475251845247382noreply@blogger.com8