12 Days in 1968

06 Saturday Jan 2018

Posted by Paul Kiser in 1968, Aging, Arts, Crime, Crisis Management, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Health, Higher Education, History, Honor, Panama, Photography, Politics, Pride, Print Media, Public Image, Public Relations, racism, Relationships, Religion, Respect, Science, Space, Technology, The Tipping Point, Traditional Media, Universities, US History, Women

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1968, Apollo 7, Apollo 8, Apollo missions, assassination, Black Panthers, Catholic Church, Civil Rights, Elections, Feminism, Florida Education Association, George Wallace, Humanae vitae, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Moon, Moon landing, North Korea, police, Pope Paul VI, President Richard Nixon, Protests, Richard M. Nixon, Riots, Robert Kennedy, sit-ins, teacher's strike, USS Pueblo, Vietnam War, Women's Rights

May 1968 – Student injured in France in clash with police

1968. Fifty years ago our country was in chaos. Only five years had passed since President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. The man who became President, Lyndon B. Johnson, had accomplished amazing milestones in civil rights, protections for the elderly (Medicare and Medicaid) and had expanded programs in public broadcasting and the arts, but the country was torn apart by the war in Vietnam, and he had increased the number of U.S. troops in the war to over half a million.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was still recovering from the fire in January of the previous year that killed three astronauts as they sat helplessly in the command module on the launch pad, and the Apollo program had yet to launch a manned mission with only two years left to honor President Kennedy’s goal.

At the start of the year, everything in the world seemed to be collapsing. The year would test our society’s threshold of endurance. These are twelve days that defined 1968. (Source: Wikipedia – 1968)

Captured crew of the USS Pueblo giving the finger to North Korea

January 23
- North Korea seized the USS Pueblo, creating an international incident that remained in the news for most of 1968. North Korea claimed the ship was spying on their country and violated its territorial waters. Its mission was to observe and gather intelligence and at the time of capture, the crew attempted to destroy classified information on the Pueblo, but only succeeded in destroying a small amount of the documents and equipment. One crewmember was killed by North Korean fire in the attempt to capture the boat. The crew was tortured and starved during the eleven months of imprisonment. They were released just before Christmas 1968. The USS Pueblo is still held in North Korea and is still a commissioned ship of the United States Navy.
February 13
- Civil rights disturbances occur at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This would be one of many protests, sit-ins, and riots, in the United States, England, France, Germany, and other countries over civil rights, the Vietnam war, and other social issues. Many of those involved in the year of civil disobedience would be injured or killed in clashes with law enforcement.
- The Florida Education Association (FEA) initiates a mass resignation of teachers to protest state funding of education. This is, in effect, the first statewide teachers’ strike in the United States.
- NET televises the very first episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
March 16
- Vietnam War – My Lai Massacre: American troops kill scores of civilians. The story will first become public in November 1969 and will help undermine public support for the U.S. efforts in Vietnam.
- President Lyndon B. Johnson, the incumbent, narrowly won the first Democratic primary to a minor candidate on March 11, and U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy entered the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. President Johnson would end his campaign two weeks after Kennedy makes his announcement.
April 4
- Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots erupt in major American cities, lasting for several days afterward.
- A shootout between Black Panthers and Oakland police results in several arrests and deaths, including 16-year-old Panther Bobby Hutton.
- A double explosion in downtown Richmond, Indiana kills 41 and injures 150.
May 17
- The Catonsville Nine enter the Selective Service offices in Catonsville, Maryland, take dozens of selective service draft records, and burn them with napalm as a protest against the Vietnam War.
June 5
- U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Sirhan Sirhan is arrested. Kennedy dies from his injuries the next day.

Pope Paul VI: The man who brought the Church into couple’s beds

July 25
- Pope Paul VI publishes the encyclical entitled Humanae vitae, on birth control. This voided a church commissioned study (Pontifical Commission on Birth Control) that determined birth control to NOT be inherently evil, and that couples should decide for themselves about the use of birth control. The Pope’s decision inserted the church into a conflict that continues to this day.
August 20
- The Prague Spring of political liberalization ends, as 750,000 Warsaw Pact troops, 6,500 tanks, and 800 planes invade Czechoslovakia. It is dated as the biggest operation in Europe since WWII ended.
September 6
- 150 women (members of New York Radical Women) arrive in Atlantic City, NJ to protest against the Miss America Pageant, as exploitative of women. Led by activist and author Robin Morgan, it is one of the first large demonstrations of Second Wave Feminism as Women’s Liberation begins to gather much media attention.
October 11
- Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission (Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham). Mission goals include the first live television broadcast from orbit and testing the lunar module docking maneuver. The United States is back in space for the first time since the Apollo 1 disaster.
- In Panama, a military coup d’état, led by Col. Boris Martinez and Col. Omar Torrijos, overthrows the democratically elected (but highly controversial) government of President Arnulfo Arias. Within a year, Torrijos ousts Martinez and takes charge as de facto Head of Government in Panama.
November 5
- U.S. presidential election, 1968: Republican challenger Richard Nixon defeats the Democratic candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and American Independent Party candidate George C. Wallace. President Nixon would throw the country into a Constitutional crisis six years later and be forced to resign from office.
View of Earth from Apollo 8 as it orbited the Moon
December 24
- Apollo program: U.S. spacecraft Apollo 8 enters orbit around the Moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William A. Anders become the first humans to see the far side of the Moon and planet Earth as a whole. Anders photographs Earthrise.

Nevada’s Pot Business About to be Smoked

03 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Aging, Branding, Business, Education, Employee Retention, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Green, Health, Higher Education, History, Honor, Management Practices, Politics, Pride, Public Image, Public Relations, Recreation, Respect, solar, Space, Taxes, Technology, Travel, Universities, US History

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California, Carson City, corporate tax cut, corporations, divorce, economies, economy, educational ranking, Elko, Ely, gambling, gaming, gold mining, Henderson, Indian gaming, Las Vegas, mining, Nevada, Reno, Unemployment, Violent Crime, Winnemucca

Welcome to Nevada, where citizens watch other people get rich

Nevada has relied on being the rebel for decades, and it always fails to provide a reliable economy.

When gambling was taboo in the nation, Nevada became one of the few places people could gamble. People flocked to Nevada to gamble. Nevada had a ‘gaming’ industry.

In 1988, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act opened the door to legalize gambling on Indian Reservations, and over the next three decades California built up an Indian Gaming industry that didn’t require taking chances with a trip to Nevada. Nevada’s gaming industry stagnated.

When a quick marriage and/or a quick divorce was taboo in the nation, Nevada made divorce easy. People flocked to Nevada to officially end or begin a relationship. Nevada had a marriage industry.

Then divorce became a fact of life and most of the rest of the country decided that government should be trying to inhibit the desires of a couple, so they made marriage and divorce easier. Couples no longer had to travel to Nevada to say their vows, or go their separate ways and Nevada’s marriage and divorce industry collapsed.

Gambling, divorce, prostitution have all been part of Nevada’s economic plan, and they all have created more problems than money for its citizens. It’s a consistent trait of Nevada’s leadership in pursuing big money that comes with little or no foundation in what is best for the average citizen.

For the last six months, Nevada boosted its economy with legalized recreational marijuana sales. Again, people from California flocked to the state to get what they couldn’t get at home. Pot. And again, Nevada’s economic boost will be short-lived as California recreational pot business gets underway in 2018.

Nevada is a state where a few people become filthy rich and pay very little in taxes. Nevada compounds the problem by prostituting themselves for marginal industries that are not stable and corporations that seek to avoid paying their share of taxes while reaping big profits.

The result has been that Nevada has no money to improve schools that are ranked near the bottom in the United States. Nevada’s poor education record has resulted in businesses needing a highly educated workforce to go elsewhere despite the seductive tax environment.

Nevada has to stop lusting after short-term economies and start building a real economy…or watch the hopes and dreams of its citizens go up in smoke.

Why a Bigger Government is Being Fiscally Responsible

01 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Aging, Business, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, History, Management Practices, Panama, Politics, Space, Taxes, Technology, US History

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benefits, Donald Trump, economy, fiscal responsibility, fiscally responsible, growing money, Heath Benefits, investing, job creation, jobs, lower taxes, President Reagan, retirement benefits, Ronald Reagan, smaller government, Trump, Trumpsters, U.S. economy

Where the investor takes our money to spend

Ask a Republican about his core beliefs and he will say, “I believe in being fiscally responsible.” That is conservative-speak for, “smaller government, lower taxes, more money for me, me, me, me!” The words ‘fiscally responsible’ make he or she sound like they are doing the mature thing in attempting to destroy the government so they can have more money.

They are not.

To be fiscally responsible should mean that she or he supports growing the economy, growing wages, growing jobs, and creating a better world for future generations. That is not accomplished by a smaller government and lower taxes.

Investor As Thief
A dollar sitting in a pocket does nothing. A dollar sitting in an investors bank account accomplishes the same thing as a dollar in a pocket. Nothing. The word, ‘investor’ used to mean a person that puts money into a company or business to make it expand so that it will make more money. It actually works when it is done, but today that is not what investors and companies do with money.

Today, an investor puts money into a stock option of a company with the expectation that the company will give more money back. He doesn’t care whether the company expands or not, he just wants his money back. If the company is able to give more money back by shrinking the company, paying employees less, reducing benefits, decreasing the quality of service to the customer then the investor is happy.

Investment today does not grow money, it just takes existing money and moves it back to the investor.

When is a Dollar a Million Dollars?
For many years our country knew how to grow money. They took a percentage of every dollar exchanged and gave it to the government to spend again. That created new businesses, new jobs, higher wages, more benefits, and more money for everyone to spend again, be taxed again and create more money for the government to spend again. The money didn’t die in someone’s pocket because we kept it working.

Fiscal responsibility is NOT done by destroying government and lowering taxes. That is what we have been doing for the last 37 years and it is not working. Yes, it makes the stock market go up, but that is done by sacrificing business growth, jobs, and the rest of the economy.

Every time the stock market hits a new high it is telling us how much money is being sucked out of our economy to make a few people with bulging bank accounts. We can’t go on this way.

The government doesn’t waste money, it spends money. Every dollar that the government receives is accounted for, and paid back out to the citizens. Every dollar that an investor receives is money taken away from growing the economy.

We have to start taxing the wealthy as we did before President Reagan started destroying our government. We have to make our government grow again so that our economy can grow again.

Can Venus Be Made Habitable?

25 Monday Dec 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in Green, Science, solar, Space, Technology, Travel

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atmosphere, carbon dioxide, CO₂, CO², Earth, extreme makeover, Global warming, greenhouse effect, hydrogen, nitrogen, O², oxygen, solar system, terraforming, Venus, Weather

Venus: Too hot, too much atmosphere

Venus may be the future of Earth and may also hold the answers to global warming.

Earth’s atmosphere is 78 percent nitrogen, 21% oxygen, (O₂,) and 1% other gases including carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water vapor. Even though CO₂ is considered a trace gas in our atmosphere it is a major player in the absorption of energy from the Sun. Nitrogen and oxygen are ‘invisible’ to the Sun’s radiation, so the energy from the Sun passes through the two gases without being absorbed.

The atmosphere of Venus 96% CO₂ and 3.5% nitrogen, with 0.5% other gases, including water vapor. Venus’ atmosphere is also extremely dense. The pressure at the surface of Venus is the same as the pressure at 1,000 meters (3,000 ft.) under the surface of Earth’s ocean.

Venus is also hot. The CO₂ absorbing the Sun’s energy retains the heat in a runaway greenhouse effect that keeps the temperature at 462 °C (864 °F,) both day and night.

The interesting, and terrifying fact is that the carbon found on Earth is roughly equal to the carbon found on Venus. The difference is that Earth stores its carbon in the ocean, and in calcite deposits that consists of dead marine life that settled in the bottom of an ocean and became a sedimentary rock formation.

There is also a nitrogen problem. Even though nitrogen makes up 3.5% of Venus’ atmosphere, it is four times the amount of nitrogen in Earth’s atmosphere.

Venus could be Earth Like if:

Almost all of the atmospheric carbon and three-quarters of the nitrogen could be transformed into solid carbon and solid nitrogen.
Some of the oxygen from the CO₂ could be liberated for the atmosphere.
The rest of the oxygen could be liberated to combine with hydrogen in the upper atmosphere to create water.
The Sun’s energy could be reduced (blocked) to allow Venus to cool.
Venus’ rotation could be sped up and a slight tilt in the axis to match Earth’s rotation and axis.

Numbers 4 and 5 are beyond our current technology, however, solving the 1 through 3 issues are a matter of finding or creating an organism that could float in venus’ upper atmosphere and convert CO₂ to O₂. This could help scientists find a way to remove the excess carbon from Earth’s atmosphere and prevent global warming from becoming a runaway greenhouse effect on our planet.

It should be noted that Earth’s temperature is a delicate balance between incoming and outgoing energy. We don’t know at what point a runaway greenhouse effect kicks in and destroys the energy balance that maintains a near constant temperature on Earth; however, there is a point of no return where evaporating water vapor and CO₂ will absorb more energy from the Sun than what is radiated back into space. If we reach that point, Earth will become another Venus and the human race will cease to exist.

SpaceX and Mars: The Illogical Strategy

23 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in Business, Government, Health, History, Management Practices, Public Image, Public Relations, Science, Space, Technology, Travel, US History

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booster landing system, engineering, habitats in space, Mars, NASA, propulsion, reusable booster, rockets, space exploration, space flight, Space Transportation System, SpaceX, weight

: Parlor Trick: Relanding a piece of junk and wasting payload fuel to do it

Fallacy: It takes eight to nine months to get to Mars when the planets are in the correct position.

Fact: Mars can be reached in a matter of weeks if the ship has the propulsion and fuel to increase speed beyond what is required for the Hohmann Transfer, and to reduce speed to insert into orbit around Mars. Also, a more powerful propulsion and fuel method can allow for trips to Mars even when the two planets are not in the ideal position.

Fallacy: We don’t have the technology to protect humans from cosmic radiation for extended space journeys beyond Earth orbit.

Fact: Again, we do have methods to protect astronauts from cosmic radiation, but the concepts add weight to the ship, and that means a better propulsion system is needed.

Getting to Mars is about ship and propulsion design. Period. Speed and weight will have to be increased to get astronauts safely there and back again. It costs money to achieve the goal.

This is the problem with SpaceX plan to go to Mars. Their approach has been to ‘save money’ by developing a reusable booster system. That sounds great. That’s what the space shuttle was designed to provide, and now, thirty years later, SpaceX is trying to re-do what we’ve already done. Not only are they reinventing technology we already have, they are doing it wrong.

Returning a booster as a landing craft defeats the mission objective of going to Mars. It requires wasting time, money, and fuel to:

design a booster landing system
building and testing a booster landing system
committing fuel that should be dedicated to the payload, to the booster landing system
using personnel and resources to monitor and land the booster
using personnel and resources to recover and rebuild the booster that is basically a piece of junk.

In addition, their approach to a reusable booster is contradictory to the goal of getting to Mars. It is absurd to think that one vehicle will liftoff from Earth, orbit Earth, go to Mars, orbit Mars, and land on Mars. Mars is not a pack-your-overnight-bag trip. To get to Mars will require boosting several payloads to be assembled in Earth orbit. Wasting fuel to put a payload into orbit in order to land the booster makes no sense.

Landing the booster stage on Earth is a parlor trick. It lets SpaceX look cool, and lets them claim they are saving money by reusing the booster. It makes people excited and cheer, but it is a waste of valuable resources. Landing on Mars will not be achieved by expending resources to re-land the booster on Earth.

Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi

22 Friday Dec 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Arts, Film, Generational, Religion, review, Science Fiction, Space

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Ben Solo, C-3PO, Carrie Fisher, Chewbacca, D2, Finn, Kylo Ren, Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill, Millennium Falcon, movie review, Poe, Porgs, Princess Leia, R2, Rebels, redacted, Rey, Snoke, Star Wars, Supreme Commander, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi

The late Carrie Fisher (1956-2016)
The Last Jedi honors the memory of our Star Wars Princess

Star Wars: The Last Jedi doesn’t disappoint, nor does it shock hardcore Star Wars fans. The big question of this episode is “Who are Rey’s parents?” The film answers the question; however, the answer is anticlimactic when we discover that her parents are nobodies that sold Rey for drinking money. This does not mean that this is the final answer to the question, but Rey does seem to accept that as fact when Kylo Ren tells her.

As one may expect, the film is packed with action scenes, and the Rebels are in constant peril. By the end, Luke Skywalker is dead, no one in the galaxy responds to the Rebel’s call for help, the Rebels are decimated, and the remains of the entire Rebel army can fit on the Millennium Falcon.

On the plus side, everyone has hope. Run credits.

The biggest surprise was the significant role the late Carrie Fisher character plays in the film. Despite the actor’s unexpected death one year ago, her character is still alive when the credits roll. It was reported that she had finished all her scenes before her death, but that could have been a few cameo scenes, as was the case in The Force Awakens. In this episode, Fisher’s character does have a near death experience, but she recovers and remains central to the plot.

Mark Hamill’s character was only teased in the last episode, (Star Wars: The Force Awakens,) but in The Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker’s hermit lifestyle is explained. Skywalker’s failure to train Kylo Ren has caused him to reject the Jedi religion, and he makes it clear he is just waiting for his death.

However, Skywalker is convinced to play a significant role in saving the few remaining Rebels, and he does so by deceiving Kylo Ren into a fight with a projected image of himself, that buys enough time for the to escape the First Order.

In the end, Skywalker gets his wish to die a Jedi death like Obi Wan Kenobi as his body mystically disappears as he sits on a rock far away from the battle.

Rey and Kylo Ren develop a relationship based on each trying to pull the other to their side of the Force. Rey has a temporary victory when Kylo Ren saves her by killing the Supreme Leader, Snoke, but then Kylo Ren claims himself to be the Supreme Leader and tries to convince Rey to join him. She declines in a forceful way.

The newer characters, Finn and Poe Dameron continue their solid performances from the The Force Awakens and spend much of this film failing to save the Rebels from being destroyed. In retrospect, one might wonder that with friends like Finn and Poe, who needs an evil enemy with massive firepower?

Chewbacca, Yoda, C-3PO, and R2-D2 all have supporting roles in this episode, but the constant reappearing presence is the BB-8 robot that saves Finn and Poe’s butts on a regular basis. All five of these characters (Chewbacca, Yoda, C-3PO, R2-D2, and BB-8,) along with the Porgs (a new cute and cuddly Star Wars species that has merchandising written all over them,) provide the comic relief throughout the film.

In the end, this was a worthy addition to the Star Wars series, and should satisfy even the most hardcore fan. Nothing in the film would be a galaxy-quaking revelation, but The Last Jedi effectively continues the saga of a galaxy far, far away.

A New Year’s Earthquake?

21 Thursday Dec 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Education, Science, solar, Space

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astronomy, crustal plates, Earth Science, earthquakes, geology, Holiday earthquake 2018, orbit, perigee, perihelion, plate tectonics, USGS

Earth Science is one of my life’s passions. It was my first choice of study in college, but I gave up it when I discovered that calculus was required for any science degree.

However, I am a creature that is more fascinated by the world around me, than the details of societal norms. I don’t have a degree in science, but I do a lot of research on what real scientists have learned. That is why I’m interested in the orbits of the Sun and the Moon and the potential of an increase in earthquake activity starting near Christmas and continuing through the first week in January.

The gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon do not cause earthquakes. Earthquakes are caused by the movement of crustal plates at and near the surface of our planet. Anyone who claims that the Sun and Moon cause earthquakes is dancing on fringe science.

However, as the plates grind against each other they create stress and at times lock up. It is when a region of locked plates break free that an earthquake occurs. The bigger the movement after the release, the bigger the earthquake.

The gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon affects the Earth. This pull may have trigger effect on some earthquakes under certain conditions. It would be a situation where a region is near the release point, and the tug of the Sun and/or Moon gives the needed boost to start the movement of the stressed area.

Currently, the Earth is approaching its annual perihelion (closest approach) to the Sun. Perihelion will officially occur at 9:34 pm PST on 2 January 2018. At the same time the Moon is approaching its closest approach to Earth (perigee) for all of 2018 at 1:48 pm on 1 January.

The Sun and the Moon will be on opposite sides of the Earth around New Year’s Day, so the gravitational pull will be most intense at that time, potentially stretching areas of the Earth’s crust that are ready to break free. Will this cause and increase in earthquakes? I can’t answer that. No one can. But it will be interesting to track.

As always, preparation for an earthquake in those areas prone to have earthquakes, and in coastal areas is always wise, regardless of the orbits of the Sun and the Moon.

Happy Winter Solstice!

What Happens In Sixty Years

19 Tuesday Dec 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Aging, Education, Generational, History, Internet, Lessons of Life, Politics, Science, Space, US History

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automobiles, cars, Change, development, lifetime, NASA, Pope, population, Presidents, space exploration, Technology, U.S. history

I was born sixty years ago today. We often talk about how life has changed since the Internet age, as if life before the Internet was static. It’s good to be reminded that change is relentless, and it is not confined to any particular time period.

In my lifetime:

Sputnik 1 and 2 were still in orbit (both launched shortly before my birth)
The word, ‘Aerospace’ was created
The average U.S. lifespan increased by almost ten years.
NASA was created
Nikita Khrushchev became Premier of the Soviet Union
Eisenhower was the first President to be broadcast in color on television
Almost all of the Interstate highways were built
Ford, GM, and Chrysler went from producing almost 90% of all U.S. cars to half that today, with Chrysler owned by foreign investors
We went to the Moon
There have been seven Popes, eleven Presidents, (and Donald Trump)
General Charles de Gaulle was elected President of France
Alaska and Hawai’i became the 49th and 50th States
Just over a third of all U.S. adults had a high school degree, now almost ninety percent have graduated from high school
Humans saw first image of the far side of the Moon (USSR’s Luna 3)
Fidel Castro became Premier of Cuba
We’ve had people in space, almost continually, for decades
Kmart and Wal-Mart didn’t exist when I was born
Sears went from dominating the retail market to almost complete failure
Leaded gasoline was determined to be poisoning humans and was banned
The World Trade Center was built and destroyed
Average gas mileage has more than doubled
We have advanced from rotary-dialed phones, to tone-based keypad phones, to cell phones, to smartphones
The world population has grown from 2.9 billion to 7.6 billion

This is just a small sampling of the changes that have happened in my lifetime. What will happen in the next sixty years?

Redacted Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi

18 Monday Dec 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in Arts, Film, Recreation, review, Science Fiction, Space

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BB-8, Ben Solo, C-3PO, Carrie Fisher, Chewbacca, D2, Finn, Kylo Ren, Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill, Millennium Falcon, movie review, Poe, Porgs, Princess Leia, R2, Rebels, redacted, Rey, Snoke, Star Wars, Supreme Commander, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi

As many people are intelligent and avoid the opening weekend of a major motion picture release, they may not want to read a review filled with spoilers. To that end, here is a redacted review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I will offer the unredacted version on 22 December.

The late Carrie Fisher (1956-2016)
The Last Jedi honors the memory of our Star Wars Princess

Star Wars is Back!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi doesn’t disappoint, nor does it shock hardcore Star Wars fans. The big question of this episode is “▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪?” The film ▪▪▪▪ the question; however, the ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ when we discover that ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ that ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ for ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪. This does not mean that ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ to the question, but ▪▪▪▪ does seem to accept that as fact when ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ ▪▪▪▪.

As one may expect, the film is packed ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪, and the Rebels are ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪. By the end, ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ is dead, no one in the galaxy responds to the ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪, the Rebels ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪, and the remains of the ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ can fit on the ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪.

On the plus side, everyone has ▪▪▪▪. Run credits.

The biggest surprise was the significant role ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ character plays in the film. Despite the ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪, ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ is still alive when the credits roll. It was reported that ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ scenes ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ death, but that could have been a few ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪, as was the case in ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪. In this episode, ▪▪▪▪ does have a near death experience, but ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪and remains central to the plot.

▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ character was only teased ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ but in The Last Jedi, ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ lifestyle is explained. ▪▪▪▪ to train ▪▪▪▪ has caused him to reject the ▪▪▪▪, and he makes it clear he is just waiting for his ▪▪▪▪.

However, ▪▪▪▪ is convinced to play a significant role in saving the few remaining ▪▪▪▪, and he does so by deceiving ▪▪▪▪ into a fight with ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪, that buys enough time for the ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ to ▪▪▪▪ the ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪.

In the end, ▪▪▪▪ gets his wish to die a ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ like ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ as his body mystically ▪▪▪▪ as he sits on a rock far away from the battle.

▪▪▪▪ and ▪▪▪▪ develop a relationship based on each trying to ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ to their ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪. ▪▪▪▪ has a temporary victory when ▪▪▪▪ saves ▪▪▪▪ by killing the ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪, ▪▪▪▪, but then ▪▪▪▪ claims himself to be the ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ and tries to convince ▪▪▪▪ to join him. ▪▪▪▪ in a forceful way.

The newer characters, ▪▪▪▪ and ▪▪▪▪ continue their solid performances from the ▪▪▪▪ and spend much of this film ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ the ▪▪▪▪ from being destroyed. In retrospect, one might wonder that with friends like ▪▪▪▪ and ▪▪▪▪, who needs an evil enemy with massive firepower?

▪▪▪▪, ▪▪▪▪, ▪▪▪▪, and ▪▪▪▪ all have supporting roles in this episode, but the constant reappearing presence is the ▪▪▪▪ that saves ▪▪▪▪ and ▪▪▪▪ butts on a regular basis. All five of these characters (▪▪▪▪, ▪▪▪▪, ▪▪▪▪, ▪▪▪▪, and ▪▪▪▪,) along with the ▪▪▪▪ (a new cute and cuddly Star Wars species that has merchandising written all over them,) provide the ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪throughout the film.

Send Our Trash Into Space

13 Wednesday Dec 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in Government, Green, Health, Science, Space, Technology, Travel

≈ 1 Comment

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cosmic rays, habitats in space, hydrogen, Mars, Moon, plastic, shielding, space travel

A. Plastic grocery bags and water bottles are a BIG problem on Earth.

B. Cosmic rays are a BIG problem in human space travel.

The solution to both problems is simple. Send our recycled plastic trash into space and use it to shield ships from cosmic rays.

This is not a joke.

Cosmic rays are highly energetic particles that pass through most atoms until they hit a nucleus dead on. They are a form of radiation that is the single largest health threat to astronauts traveling beyond Earth’s natural magnetic shield.

Plastic: China doesn’t want it, and we need it in space

A Problem With A Solution

Hydrogen, which can be found in polyethylene structure of plastic grocery bags and water bottles, is effective against cosmic rays because the hydrogen atom has less space for a cosmic ray to pass through without hitting the nucleus. If spaceships were built incorporating polyethylene shielding, astronauts would be better protected from cosmic rays without adding tons of dense metal-based shielding to the spacecraft.

Recycling polymer materials and sending it into space would relatively expensive; however, if we had a major Moon and Mars exploration program the cost could be justified. Ships could use the materials once they had an inventory in space. By starting an inventory recycled plastic in orbit around Earth, the future cost of space exploration could be reduced. In addition, the amount of wasted plastic in our environment would be reduced.

At a time when China is now refusing to accept our raw recycled materials, we need to become creative on new uses for the stuff that won’t ever go away.

A Holiday Letter to the Aliens Observing Us

08 Friday Dec 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in Communication, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Honor, Politics, racism, Religion, Respect, Space, Taxes, Travel, US History

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abduction, Alien, aliens, Donald Trump, egocentric, Greed, holidays, racism, visitors to Earth, Vladimir Putin, winter solstice

Dear Alien Race:

Happy holidays! Welcome to our planet! If you are here, and if you have been observing us, please let me apologize for our behavior, especially the behavior of the wealthiest, most privileged country.

The fact that humans are broken up into factionalized groups is an inherent issue with our society. The idea that we are all equal, and that we should respect and reach out to one another is mostly rhetoric. Despite consistent historical examples of the success for all when we all work together and treat each other with respect, there are elements of our society that hold an egocentric opinion of life. They seek to destroy the philosophies of harmony and mutual benefit because those concepts don’t put them ahead of everyone else.

This brings me to my request.

We could bring our country and our world into balance if we didn’t have those who oppose a world based on fairness and equality. We know that through violence we could remove those humans that refuse to behave as decent members of our species; however, that type of conflict is against our core beliefs. Also, those types of conflicts also harm innocent people.

I am assuming that since you have the technology to visit our planet, you have other advanced technologies that could be useful in addressing our problem. What I am proposing is that you remove the elements of our society that don’t play well with others. I’m not asking that you destroy them…although I know accidents can happen, what I’m asking is that you just take them away for a few years.

I see this as a win-win situation. You can perform a thorough analysis of dysfunctional humans, and we can get our world back. You would not be held liable for any damage caused to the humans that you study.

I understand that you may have a ‘non-interference’ type of prime directive; however, please accept this note as an exemption of your policy.

It would be a great start if you could remove all humans associated with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. That would send a positive message to the rest of the world. If you need a list, please contact me.

We are currently celebrating our shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere, which means it is our darkest, longest night. I cannot imagine a greater gift during this holiday season to know that we have been through our darkest time.

Warm regards,

Paul Kiser

P.S., If you get this note at some point in the future and have the ability to come back in time, this would be the time in which to come back. Again, Happy Holidays!

Confronting Truth: The Difference Between Science and Religion

27 Monday Nov 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in Education, Ethics, History, Passionate People, Religion, Respect, Science, Space, Technology, Universities

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astronomy, belief, Catholic, Catholic Church, center of the universe, Christian, Earth, Faith, Galileo, Galileo Galilei, geocentric, heliocentric, Islam, religious doctrine, scientific method, scientific process, Sun

There is a primary difference between science and religion. Religion discourages the confrontation of the ‘truth’ as it is presented by the leaders of the church. When I say discourage, I mean up to and including the murder of those who challenge the church’s version of the truth.

Science, not only accepts a challenge to the current truth, it is the fundamental architecture of all scientific endeavors to challenge the truth. Scientists accept that our current knowledge is incomplete, and that research, observation, and experimentation will replace the current truth of the universe around us.

A good example of this is our understanding of Earth and its relationship to other bodies in space. The religious doctrine stated that Earth was the center of the universe. Religious sources have claimed that holy text have told them the Earth is the center of the universe, and that was a truth which could not be challenged.

However, the concept of an Earth-centered (geocentric) universe had been challenged in the third century BCE by Greek astronomer and mathematician, Aristarchus of Samos, who theorized a Sun-centered (heliocentric) universe. Unfortunately, his idea lacked supportive evidence and was largely ignored.

Galileo was a victim of the Church, not of science

Over 1,700 years later, others began using observations that indicated that the geocentric model didn’t work as well as the heliocentric model. In January of 1610, Galileo Galilei used a telescope to discover three of Jupiter’s four largest moons, and observed that they orbited Jupiter. He then theorized that the Earth may also orbit the Sun, rather than the Sun orbiting the Earth.

This challenged the belief that dated back to Aristotle that all objects orbited the Earth, a concept that was adopted by both Islam and Christian churches. Galileo’s findings contradicted a fundamental truth of the church. For that crime, Galileo was subject to a Roman Inquisition, and ultimately, arrested and imprisoned.

While it is true that Galileo’s theories were not readily accepted, even by other astronomers of his time, he began a process of challenging truth, and using observation to determine truth. For this, Galileo is known as the father of the scientific method.

Some might think that their religion has outgrown this absolute interpretation of doctrine, and accepts scientific proof. To some degree, most Christian churches, when faced with overwhelming proof will either reluctantly accept the science, or become mute on the subject.

However, in the case of Galileo, the Catholic Church has attempted to use revisionism to explain its position on the geocentric/heliocentric debate. In 2004, the Catholic Church published a revised history of its role in the matter of Galileo. In a blog article on Catholic.com, the Church implies:

that it was his fellow scientists, not the Church that disputed Galileo’s findings,
that it was Galileo’s fault for promoting his theories that challenged Church doctrine,
that Galileo failed to prove his position,
that Galileo’s findings were not 100% correct, and
that Galileo did not suffer any real consequence for his research and findings.

All five of these points are twisted interpretations of what we know to be fact.

Galileo was persecuted by the Church, not his fellow scientists. Arrested by the Church, not this fellow scientists, and sentenced by the Church, not his fellow scientists. Yes, his findings were not widely accepted by other astronomers, but as Galileo was the first to observe Jupiter’s moons and their orbits, he would have been alone in promoting the observations.
Galileo had his observations, and while there would need to be more observations and the development of better technology to confirm his observations and conclusions, he had every right to promote the concept, even if it disputed the truth of the Church.
Galileo observed and hypothesized, but he wasn’t 100% correct. The Catholic Church suggests that because he wasn’t 100% correct that they were right in persecuting him for his theories. They were not, and the idea that the church was waiting for better evidence is a lie.
Galileo faced an Inquisition, and was sentenced. Whether he was tortured is not relevant to the Church’s role in trying to silence those who challenge the teachings of their doctrine.

Science seeks truth, but scientists know that all truth is subject to the gathering of more data, which may disprove the known truth and replace it with a new concept. The church believes that all truth comes from God, and it is not subject to revision, even if the truth of the Church is wrong.

Conversations With Conservatives: The 37 Year Lie

13 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Business, Communication, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Health, Higher Education, History, Honor, Human Resources, Management Practices, Politics, Pride, Public Image, Public Relations, racism, Religion, Respect, Space, Taxes, Technology, US History, Women

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conservatism, Conservatives, economic growth, economy, Employment, GDP, Gross domestic product, high paying jobs, Iran Contra Affair, Iran Hostage Crisis, job growth, jobs, President Richard Nixon, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Watergate

(NOTE: This is Part II of this article. Read Part I, here.)

The social and economic issues that people are concerned about in the United States of America don’t necessarily fall along party lines. Some issues, like immigration and applying religion to public policy, have a distinct political division; however, many other issues cross the lines of the ideologies.

In conversations with conservatives I learned that the deep division between conservatives and liberals can be traced back 37 years, to when Republicans managed to break the hold of Democratic leadership of our country in 1980. For 37 years, conservatives have been able to maintain control of our country by singing one anthem, ‘Everything is the government’s fault, and business is the solution.’

Ronald Reagan: Founder of the Cult of Conservatism

Ronald Reagan was elected on the idea that Democrats had failed the country. It was an easy story to sell for one reason. The Iran Hostage Crisis. Every night the news reminded our country of how many days our citizens had been held and humiliated by a group of Iranian students. Most in the United States did not understand the complexities of the situation, and were angry that we didn’t go to war with Iran.

The result was to give Republicans an early opportunity to erase the shame caused by Richard Nixon’s illegal involvement in fixing the 1972 presidential elections during the Watergate affair. The Hostage Crisis ended at the exact hour that Reagan was sworn in as President, a coincidence that causes questions of Republican collusion with the Iranian government during the crisis. Suspicions of collusion were raised again when Reagan’s administration worked a bizarre deal to sell arms to Iran several years later during the Iran/Contra Affair.

The Big Lie
Reagan is famously quoted in his first Inaugural speech when he said:

….government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem…”

Ronald Reagan, January 1981

The demonization of government was necessary for conservatives to achieve their goals. Government is the ethical referee that prevents business from underpaying employees, polluting for profit, abusing and endangering the customer, engaging in banking practices that protect the account holder, etc. Government oversight and regulation keeps business from devouring itself in greed.

Additionally, government collects business taxes for the privilege of having access to our country’s rich consumer markets. By eliminating these taxes, business could keep more of the spoils of capitalism and drain revenues from the entity that kept business fair and ethical.

The other shoe dropped by conservatives was to preach that the solution to our problems was business. In the holy corporate world, business was the shining light on the hill for all to worship.

37 Years Later: The Cult of Conservatism
In my conversation with average conservatives I have discovered that conservatism has now become a cult. The code word for a conservative is ‘fiscal conservatism.’ Ask anyone who votes for a Republican candidate why they vote for the party they will automatically answer, “I believe in fiscal conservatism.” They don’t even pause.

For conservatives, issues are caused by government and solved by business. Among the issues discussed with conservatives I learned the following:

Finance regulation: Conservatives believe that the government is at fault and less regulation will solve the problem, even though a lack of regulation and business greed caused the 2007-8 financial/bank crisis.

Housing Inflation/Bubbles: Conservatives that government is the problem because…I didn’t get an answer on this, but the free market will solve the problem, even though the bubbles that occur with rapid housing price increases are caused by capitalisticitic factors, not government involvement.

Economy: Conservatives believe that business is the creator of jobs and growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and government inhibits both. The evidence contradicts this as job and GDP growth have been anemic under almost 35 years of Republican economic policies, and the pre-conservative period of government initiated infrastructure projects and the space program generated massive job and GDP growth.

Healthcare: Conservatives believe that government has been the cause of uncontrolled price increases in healthcare and drug prices, even though it’s the lack of government regulation that has allowed the price increases, especially in the prescription drug market, where Republicans pushed for, and passed an end to competitive market that would help to restrict price increases.

Trump and Republicans have succeeded in creating a cult-like status around the concept that government is the problem and business is the solution…and like any cult, the believers surrender themselves to ‘faith.’ Truth and facts are fiction to a conservative.

The Republican party has no need to be logical, compromising, or reasonable. Their believers have no choice but to hate government, and worship business.

We Don’t Need More Service Jobs

14 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Business, College, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Higher Education, History, Management Practices, Politics, Pride, Public Image, Public Relations, Respect, Science, Space, Taxes, Technology, Travel, Universities, US History

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economy, government programs, government spending, high paying jobs, job creation, job growth, livable wages, Moon landing, NASA, presidential terms, Presidents, private business, service jobs, Space Program, technical jobs

Putting people on the Moon meant jobs on Earth

During President Lyndon Johnson’s second term (1965-1969,) the space program was booming. At almost four percent job growth, his administration exceeded any other presidential term since World War II, including President Jimmy Carter’s impressive 3.2% growth. These were high paying, skilled jobs that created a demand for workers that enticed many young people to choose engineering and scientific careers.

PRESIDENT	PARTY	TERM YR	JOB GROWTH
Herbert Hoover	R	1929–1933	-5.41%
Franklin Roosevelt	D	1933–1937	4.97%
Franklin Roosevelt	D	1937–1941	2.53%
Franklin Roosevelt	D	1941–1945	5.00%
Roosevelt/Truman	D	1945–1949	1.61%
Harry Truman	D	1949–1953	2.93%
Dwight Eisenhower	R	1953–1957	1.34%
Dwight Eisenhower	R	1957–1961	0.87%
Kennedy/Johnson	D	1961–1965	2.64%
Lyndon Johnson	D	1965–1969	3.90%
Richard Nixon	R	1969–1973	2.23%
Nixon/Ford	R	1973–1977	1.68%
Jimmy Carter	D	1977–1981	3.21%
Ronald Reagan	R	1981–1985	1.47%
Ronald Reagan	R	1985–1989	2.80%
George H. W. Bush	R	1989–1993	0.45%
Bill Clinton	D	1993–1997	2.85%
Bill Clinton	D	1997–2001	2.33%
George W. Bush	R	2001–2005	0.02%
George W. Bush	R	2005–2009	0.24%
Barack Obama	D	2009–2013	0.23%
Barack Obama	D	2013–2017	1.85%

CHART 1.0 – Job growth during Presidential Terms (1929-2017) Growth over 2.5% is in green. (DATA credit: Wikipedia)

Service jobs were a byproduct of the main engine driving the boom in the rapid expansion of the space program. Service jobs did not offer the wages or the excitement of the space program, but they did provide employment for those who lacked motivation to qualify and/or seek out better paying, higher skilled jobs.

And then we landed on the Moon.

After we had achieved the primary objective, people who didn’t understand what a large government project means to employment, began questioning the space program. Over time the naysayers effectively killed the program, leaving private business to reinvent what NASA had accomplished in the 1960’s (landing on the Moon) and the 1980’s (a reusable rocket system.)

Today, we are trying to sustain and expand a service industry that lacks the main component of job growth, namely, a major public project that creates high paying and highly skilled jobs. Since NASA wound down its Space Shuttle program, job growth has flat-lined.

Private business does not exist to create jobs. It exists to put money in the pockets of the executives and owners of the business. Creating jobs cuts into profit. Paying higher wages cuts into profit. Private business is never going to create significant job growth, nor improve wages and benefits for the worker.

If we want job growth and livable wages, it is the government that will do it, not private business.

Earthbound Astronauts

03 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Communication, Government, Internet, Science, Space, Technology, Travel

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ESA, International Space Station, ISS, NASA, NASA ISS Live Experiment, Tracking Map

Everyday I have the pleasure of joining the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting 250 miles (400 km) above Earth. This is possible because NASA has high-definition (HD) cameras that stream live video of Earth from the International Space Station. The public may connect to this video stream from the comfort of their home with a DSL or higher Internet service. This makes it possible for millions of people to have the view of Earth from space without having to experience liftoff, special toilets, re-entry, and landing.

Streaming image below is a live video feed from the International Space Station.

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

Courtesy of NASA TV
Click on the ‘Play’ button to begin live streaming from ISS. (If screen is all black, ISS is on night side of Earth)

This “experiment” began in April 2014, and is meant to test the equipment needed for continuous video streaming from a space environment. It is one ISS experiment that makes us part of the ISS crew and allows us to enjoy their view of Earth almost anytime we desire.

You can watch this video feed:

Above on this page.
On NASA TV (click on the text to go there now.)
Through an application (app) on your phone or tablet.

Some things to note:

Each orbit takes approximately 90 minutes and about 30 minutes of each orbit is on the night side of Earth, therefore the screen may be all black.
ISS loses streaming signal several times during each orbit when it is out of range of equipped Earth-based communication centers.
Cameras and/or angles can change.

If you want to know where ISS is over Earth go to the following link: ISS Tracking Map

Screen shot images from the ISS HD cameras:

View from ISS as it flies over the Bering Strait area

Looking southeast as ISS flies over the Northern Pacific

Looking straight down at the Pacific Ocean

View to the northwest as ISS slides into night over Chile (two Soyuz spacecraft docked)

Living in the Imminent

27 Tuesday Oct 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Government, Honor, Passionate People, Pride, Random, Science, Space, Technology, Travel

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astronauts, cosmonauts, death, ESA, International Space Station, ISS, Japan, NASA, orbit, Russia, scientists, Space, USA

Six people near death

Don’t they know?

They show no fear

They have to know.

They live surrounded by a monster that kills without effort

Yes, in this millisecond they live in peace

In the next they could die in horror

We have no reason to fear walking outside

But these six

They should have reason

Death awaits outside with the tools of the universe

Radiation, heat, cold, or even nothing can kill

These six live where no one should

Yet, these six rob Death

These six live flawlessly where perfection matters

These six know Death and know his tools

Yes, these six know and know the risk

Just before sunrise or just after sunset

We watch them go by

We walk outside and watch them go by

For them, sunrise comes, sunset goes many times a day

But rarely do they go outside to watch

They know what is waiting outside

They know the risk

And three by three they will come and go

Three to rob death, three to come home

Three to look up to, and three to celebrate

Six people near death

But alive and well

Rebirth of the Liberal

25 Friday Sep 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Education, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, Green, Health, Higher Education, History, Honor, Passionate People, Politics, Pride, Religion, Respect, Space, Taxes, Technology, Universities, US History

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anti-American, Bernie Sanders, conservatism, Conservatives, Elizabeth Warren, Liberal, liberalism, liberals, Pledge of Allegiance, President Barack Obama

Liberals, Inc.

The values and traditions of liberalism in the United States of America is experiencing a Renaissance. This is a not a time for a cautious return to a government by and for the people. It is a time to boldly stand up for intelligence in political office.

The disastrous policies of George W. Bush, coupled with decades of conservative efforts to put our country in retreat have met with consistent failure. Those failures have forced conservatives to put up artificial issues that appeal to a distinctly anti-American segment of the population, but that has only driven them into a corner.

Conservative politicians strain to win applause from the stupid and the ignorant, but the United States needs and deserves smart, not stupid. Liberals must now step up and engage our citizens and remind them that politics in our country is not to be entertainment for small minds. We have to expose the absurdity of 2015 “conservative values:”

When everyone has guns in public, innocent people die. Gun ownership without rules is anarchy. Laws protect people from those who are too stupid to know better. It’s not about taking guns away; it’s about protecting the innocent from the stupid.

Our government is a blessing, not a curse, and we pay for the privilege of living in this great country by paying our taxes and doing so without complaint.

Unregulated business is the playground of the unethical and immoral. Business is motivated by greed and destruction of competitors. Without government, ethical businesses can’t survive.

If a group of people on an island were running out of fresh water, the liberal mind would determine how to obtain more water, and the conservative mind would begin planning on who they can kill.

The confederate flag is the symbol of racists and traitors who tried to steal part of America away from then attempted to overthrow our country. The confederate flag is a heritage of losers and has no place among a nation of winners.

Government is not a place for religion, nor a country where a majority religion is to dictate the beliefs and morals for all citizens. America is a country that offers freedom FROM religion, not slavery to a religion.

War is the opium for the 2015 conservative. When in doubt the conservative wants to wage war, but war never results in a quick and easy peace. War devastates all involved and it is rarely the leaders who started the war who pay the heaviest price.

The time to coddle the wealthy is past. Money is not the measure of a human, nor does it give special privilege to a person in a country where all citizens are created equal.

For 35 years conservatives have been shouting down common sense and intelligence with false accusations, deceptions, and biased fear mongering. It’s time that loyal Americans regained their voice.

To be liberal is to be an American that loves our country and our government. We believe that all humans are created equal. We believe that our country becomes stronger, not weaker through diplomacy and respect for other countries. We believe that education is the foundation to a better life and schools should be more than a cheap training ground for dead-end service jobs. We believe that when government spends money it provides jobs and needed infrastructure that helps grow our economy.

The call of liberalism is not for everyone, nor is it restricted to one party. Our country’s founders were liberals who broke away from conservatives who wanted to stay loyal to the English King. Republicans were liberal when Abraham Lincoln stood up against domestic enemies that sought to defile our Constitution. Franklin D. Roosevelt was liberal when he made our citizens believe in the greatness of our country. Dwight D. Eisenhower was liberal when he made the Interstate Highway System a reality. John F. Kennedy was a liberal when he said we could go to the Moon and back.

Elementary school children can grasp the values of conservatives. The egocentric concept that everyone else exists to serve their needs is a common attitude of children and conservatives.

However, it takes significant maturity and intelligence to understand liberal values. It requires the person to see themselves as part of a greater society. A liberal knows that respect, cooperation, humility, and honor cannot be compromised for a free society to function. Our original 1942 Pledge of Allegiance reinforced these values:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the UNITED States of America, and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands, ONE NATION, INDIVISIBLE, with liberty and justice FOR ALL.

We are a republic, not an oligarchy. We are one nation that shall not be divided. We shall have liberty and justice for all, not just for those with the most money, nor the most guns.

We are a nation founded by liberals, built by those who believed in “Yes We Can.” Liberal ideals have been a part of every great achievement in our country. Conversely, conservative leadership has maligned and crippled this nation. It’s time we took our country back.

Epilogue : The 2010’s

20 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Business, College, Communication, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Health, Higher Education, History, Honor, Information Technology, Internet, Politics, Pride, Public Image, Public Relations, Religion, Respect, Science, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Space, Taxes, Technology, Traditional Media, Universities, US History

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Caucasian, college graduates, Conservatives, Equality, GDP, high school graduates, poor, racism, racists, Reagan agenda, Republicans, Ronald Reagan, The 1%, un-wealthy, wealthy, White politicians

The 2010’s – End of Civility

White Conservatives: “Go F**k Yourselves America”

Population: 308.7 million
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita: $47,805
Median Annual Income: $47,793
Life Expectancy: 78.7
Average Age at Marriage: Men 28.2, Women 26.1
% of pop. w/high school degree or higher: 87.0%
% of pop. w/college degree or higher: 30.0%

REAGAN: The Killer of America’s Prosperity
From 1950 to 2010 the population of the United States of America doubled (+104.0%.) The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) tripled (+218.1%.) The median annual income is eleven times more than 1950 (+1028%.) Life expectancy has increased by over 15% (15.4%.) Men AND women are marrying an average of over five years older in 2010 than they did in 1950 (men +23.7%, women +28.6%.) The percentage of people with at least a high school degree is now almost 90% versus 34% in 1950 (+153.6%.) Today, 30% of our citizens have at least a college degree versus 6% in 1950 (+383.9%.)

Something went right for America in the last 60 years. But that is changing.

Prior to the Great Depression, Republicans controlled the House and Senate for the majority of the previous 70 years. After the Great Depression both the House and Senate was under Democratic control until 1980. In 1980, America began folowing the conservatives agenda (Reagan 1980-1988, Bush 41 1989-1992, Republican control of Congress 1994-2008) of dismantling the government at all levels, start more wars, give more money to the wealthy, and give less help for the un-wealthy. Since 1979, the wealthiest 1% after-tax income has increased by 200%.

U.S._Income_-_Changes_by_Income_Group_1979-2011

The 1% are 200% wealthier since conservatives took control of the government

Since 1980, annual increases in U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has stalled and fallen.

ANNUAL GDP GROWTH: Post World War II, U.S. annual GDP began a steady growth until shortly after Ronald Reagan became President.

GROWTH SACRIFICED FOR GREED
Post-war prosperity was spurred by significant federal government projects and programs. Conservatives derailed that by blaming government for economic issues that were caused by corporate and business greed.

Despite the obvious failure of the Reagan agenda, conservatives have taken a position of complete denial and fantastical thinking. They no longer believe they have any obligation to acknowledge or respect the rest of America. Conservatives are behaving as a child would behave when they are not getting their way, even though their request is completely inappropriate. Rather than accepting that President Obama was elected twice by a majority of Americans, Republicans have blocked all efforts to move forward on measures proven to generate American prosperity because it would make those that have more, give more.

Reagan conservatives have failed and they are backed in a corner of failure. They will not accept reason, nor facts. Civility would force them to accept their failure, so they must be uncivil. They are willing to destroy America, rather than acknowledge failure.

WHY ARE WE HERE?
America has experience massive change in the past 65 years. Most of that change has been good, but the one aspect of the American concept, the idea that we are all created equal, is the one issue in our country that has cast a shadow over us for centuries. White males believe that they are superior to all others and as our demographics have changed Caucasians have worked to obstruct equality rather than accept it.

Segregation was not considered racist until it became obvious it was motivated by whites who were racist. Dismantling government programs that benefit the poor and those in need may not be considered racist, until we realize that these ideas have been pushed forward almost exclusively by white politicians. Telling America that the rich are too burdened to pay a fair share of their taxes is not considered racist until you examine the loop of rich white people giving money to white politicians to pass laws that will reduce taxes on the wealthiest who are almost all white.

America is a country that has yet to commit to everyone being equal. In the 1950’s, white people took their money and ran away to the suburbs. In the 1960’s, the federal government finally stepped in and paid attention to the unequal treatment of African-Americans. In the 1970’s, we became distracted by unethical leaders, war, oil shortages, and inflation. In the 1980’s, we were conned into the idea that our government was to blame for all our problems in the 1970’s, while the Reagan spent money that America didn’t have to spend. In the 1990’s, the conservatives regained control of Congress and began dismantling the federal government and ending ethical business oversight. In the 2000’s, Republicans led America down a path of war and destruction that almost wiped out our economic system.

Why we are here is because we have become weak. We have listened to fools and we know they are fools. They are willing to tear America apart for greed and their own racist ideals. To a racist, compromise is unthinkable, and that is why conservatives will never work towards a unified nation.

THE SERIES: The 1950’s The 1960’s The 1970’s The 1980’s The 1990’s The 2000’s

This is Why (2015 vs the 2000’s)

19 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Business, College, Communication, Crisis Management, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Health, Higher Education, History, Honor, Information Technology, Internet, Politics, Pride, Print Media, Privacy, Public Image, Public Relations, Religion, Respect, Science, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Space, Taxes, Technology, Traditional Media, Universities, US History

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2004 Tsunami, 9/11, Afghani, Amazon.com, Anthrax, Assault weapons ban, Conservatives, Election 2000, Facebook, Florida vote counting, George W. Bush, Global Financial Disaster, Global warming, Hurricane Katrina, Iraq, Mars, NASA, Opportunity, Pope John Paul II, President, President Barack Obama, Republicans, Rovers, Saddam Hussein, Smartphone, Space Shuttle Columbia, Spirit, Supreme Court, Texting, Twenty-ohs, Twitter, Virginia Tech Massacre, Wikipedia, YouTube

The 2000’s – The Defeat of America

Decade of Fear: Y2K, 9/11, WMD’s, Katrina, Banking Collapse, Unemployment, Global Warming

Population: 281.4 million
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita: $44,492
Median Annual Income: $40,703
Life Expectancy: 76.8
Average Age at Marriage: Men 26.1, Women 23.9
% of pop. w/high school degree or higher: 80.4%
% of pop. w/college degree or higher: 24.4%

TWENTY OH’s
If the 1990’s were a seismic event of technological and social change, the twenty-oh’s is when the tsunami of change hit. Had nothing else happened but the advancement of the Internet, the changes by that alone would have drastically remade the world as we knew it; however, the twenty-oh’s were not content in merely redefining society and the way we communicate, the first decade of the new millennium was going to do an extreme makeover of all our expectations in life. Here are twenty things that made us say Oh!

Y2K, the disaster that never came (Jan. 2000)
Elections of 2000
1. Florida election fiasco (Nov./Dec. 2000)
2. Supreme Court appoints George W. Bush as President (Dec. 2000)
Attacks of September 11, 2001
Anthrax letters
Wars of Just Because
1. Afghanistan (2001-2014)
2. Iraq (2003-2011)
Rise of Smaller and Smarter Technology (Entire Decade)
1. Smartphone
2. Texting
Space Shuttle Columbia destroyed on reentry (Feb. 2003)
Mars Rovers bounce to successful landings and missions
1. Spirit (June 2003)
2. Opportunity (July 2003)
Saddam Hussein captured (Dec. 2003)
Assault weapon ban expires (Sept. 2004)
Online Wonders
1. Amazon.com
2. Facebook
3. Twitter
4. Google
5. YouTube
6. Wikipedia
Indian Ocean Earthquake/Tsunami (Dec. 2004)
Pope John Paul dies (Apr. 2005)
Global Warming
Hurricane Katrina (Aug. 2005)
Virginia Tech Massacre (Apr. 2007)
Global Economic Disaster (2007-08)
1. Financial giants collapse
2. Housing market collapses
3. Auto industry collapses
4. Massive unemployment
Price of gas soars, and falls….as a function of conservative politics
Barack Obama elected as President (Nov. 2008)
Nuclear weapons
1. Iraq
2. North Korea

The Twenty-oh’s began with the most bizarre Presidential election in American history, followed by the most shocking attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, followed by two United States initiated wars that would be fought simultaneously, followed by the loss of the Space Shuttle and its crew on reentry to Earth, followed by an earthquake/tsunami that would kill almost a quarter of a million people in 14 countries in one day, followed by a massacre at Virginia Tech, followed by a near meltdown of our global financial system, followed by an African-American being elected as President.

THE GREAT CONSERVATIVE FAILURE
Despite all that happened, it was politics that defined the 2000’s. Keeping with the two-faced Reagan policy of “America Can’t” and money must be taken from the poor and given to the rich, President George Bush took the cost of running two wars off the books so that he could look like he was cutting government spending when he was, in fact, putting the government deeper in debt and running massive deficits.

Behind the scenes, a decade of conservative-driven deregulation in the financial industry created a bad debt bomb that exploded in 2007-08. Almost overnight, America’s economy was devastated by greed and a lack of common sense. People who saw the disaster coming took the attitude that everyone else was unethical, so why should I be the only good person? When the curtain fell on Wall Street, Republicans, who created the environment for the disaster, quietly stepped away and whistling as if they were unaware there was a problem.

Bush 43, was completely out of his league in dealing with the problem. To repair the damage to our economy would require taking actions that was would essentially prove that the Reagan doctrine was the cause of the disaster, and President Bush was not willing to take the necessary actions. Fortunately, Barack Obama had just been elected and, with Bush impotent in action, the 44th President stepped up and began to manage the crisis and establishing a plan of recovery.

The Republican caused disaster did not cause conservatives to humbly acknowledge their failure, but rather pushed them to further deny the facts. As the economy began recovering, conservatives began blaming Democrats for not making the recovery happen faster. As conservative predictions of Democratic policy failure began to be proven wrong, conservatives began raising absurd and meaningless issues to redirect people’s attention (e.g.; Obama was not an American, Obama was a Muslim, Obama had a secret plan to take everyone’s guns away, etc.)

Because the Reagan doctrine was based on white, 1950’s suburban thinking, the hate for President Obama came naturally to the white, male voter. Instead of a political correction for the failed Reagan agenda, conservatives became even more rabid and illogical. By the end of the decade America was heading for defeat at the hands of conservatives who had taken away American prosperity and were unwilling to accept any idea that didn’t match their failed version of the world.

NEXT: Epilogue

THE SERIES: The 1950’s The 1960’s The 1970’s The 1980’s The 1990’s

This is Why (2015 vs the 1990’s)

18 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, College, Communication, Crisis Management, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Health, Higher Education, Honor, Information Technology, Internet, Politics, Religion, Respect, Science, Space, Taxes, Traditional Media, Universities, US History

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1990's, Americans with disabilities act, Bill Clinton, Congress, Contract With America, George H. W. Bush, healthcare reform, Immigration, immigration laws, Manuel Noriega, NAFTA, World Wide Web

The 1990’s – A World Turned Upside Down

An Explosion of Change

Population: 248.7 million
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita: $35,145
Median Annual Income: $28,149
Life Expectancy: 75.4
Average Age at Marriage: Men 26.1, Women 23.9
% of pop. w/high school degree or higher: 77.6%
% of pop. w/college degree or higher: 21.3%

POLITICS: The Clean Up Man
George H. W. Bush was sworn in as President on January 20, 1989, as the 41st President of the United States. Having served as Vice President under Ronald Reagan, he was loyal and didn’t interfere with President Reagan’s destructive agenda. As President he then was left to clean up the messes created by Reagan and deal with new problems. Despite all that he had to deal with, President Bush managed to restore some of what Reagan had destroyed. This angered extreme conservatives who then refused to support him in his second term election.

Bush dealt with 1) an inflated deficit left by Reagan, 2) a revenue shortfall that required higher taxes, 3) restoring democracy in Panama and capturing Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, and, 4) liberated Kuwait and drove Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi army back in a humiliating defeat. In addition, President Bush pushed through Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the Immigration Act of 1990, that opened the borders for a 40% increase in legal immigrants. He maintained a conservative stance on most issues; however, President Bush did not hesitate to act against Wacko conservatives. When the National Rifle Association (NRA) sent out material slandering Federal Agents as “Thugs,” he ended his lifetime membership to the organization.

POLITICS: Clinton’s Capitulation
From a political standpoint, the Presidency of Bill Clinton was a study in contrasts. His election was considered a victory for Democrats and liberals, yet he constantly compromised his positions to pacify aggressive conservatives. Almost all efforts for additional programs to help Americans in need, including healthcare reform, failed to move forward during the Clinton administration. Conservatives, who were disappointed at Bush 41’s rollback of Reagan’s efforts to dismantle the federal government, were determined to win Congress and reignite the agenda that favored white and wealthy Americans.

In 1994, conservative Republican Newt Gingrich was elected on the basis of his Contract With America. This document (co-authored with Republican Representative Dick Armey) outlined several reasonable goals to bring more accountability to Congress and the government, but was laced with several goals that followed Ronald Reagan’s vision to cut funding and eliminate the government’s role of overseeing fairness in business. President Clinton was faced with vetoing all legislation, or caving in to conservatives. In his 1996 State of the Union address Clinton delighted conservatives when he announced that “the era of big government is over.”

As a result of Clinton’s capitulation, many laws were passed in his second term that continued Reagan’s destruction of good government. The financial disaster in 2007-08 can be directly traced to legislation passed and/or repealed in the 1990’s during the Clinton administration. Congress removed federal government eyes off of key areas of financial interactions. The laws and rules that had set standards on key banking and investor interactions were eviscerated allowing a ‘no questions asked’ environment. The natural evolution of this environment was for greed to take priority over common sense, which is exactly what happened.

THE SEISMIC EVENT IN PERSONAL COMMUNICATION
Outside of the political landscape, the rest of America was becoming comfortable with the concept of owning ‘personal’ computers, and the new World Wide Web offered to interconnect computers creating a digital network of communication. It’s hard to overstate the impact of the marriage of computers and the Internet. It turned everything we knew upside down. Consider the following:

While personal computers increased the efficiency of certain tasks, it was the computer hooked into the Internet that made world-wide instant communication and sharing of information commonplace.
Television, radio, and newspapers shaped the public perception of world events until the Internet gave access to massive numbers of people who often had more timely information than traditional news media sources.
Younger generations adapted quickly to the possible uses of the Internet while older generations scoffed at its impact. As young generations rode the tide of the Internet, Older generations were left aground, looking foolish and ignorant.
Unethical governments and corporations would discover too late that their version of events would be exposed as lies and distortions by citizens who had access to the truth and shared it through the Internet. It literally brought down some governments.

The tsunami of change caused by the Internet wouldn’t hit the world until the next decade, but the earthquake of the Internet was felt in the 1990’s.

NEXT: The 2000’s

THE SERIES: The 1950’s The 1960’s The 1970’s The 1980’s Epilogue

This is Why (2015 vs the 1980’s)

15 Sunday Mar 2015

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1980, 1980's, Afghanistan, American Hostage Crisis, civil war, Cold War, Communism, FBI informant, George Bush, Grenada, Iran, Iran-Contra, Lebanon, Libya, Middle East, patriotism, Ronald Reagan, Russia, Soviets, USSR

The 1980’s – Political Con Game

President Ronald Reagan: Actor, Cowboy, FBI Informant

Population: 226.5 million
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita: $28,957
Median Annual Income: $16,354
Life Expectancy: 73.7
Average Age at Marriage: Men 24.7, Women 22.0
% of pop. w/high school degree or higher: 66.5%
% of pop. w/college degree or higher: 16.2%

THE COWBOY PRESIDENT
The Republican leadership had been tainted by President Nixon’s Watergate scandal. In order to move back into power they needed a fresh face, and Ronald Reagan, an experienced actor, became that face. Reagan mostly had played nice guys and cowboys in the movies which formed the basis of his political persona. He was twice elected as Governor of California but twice (1968 and 1976) failed to gain the Republican party nomination in his quest to be President.

Ronald Reagan, who, in 1976, had fallen just short of winning the Republican nomination from incumbent President Gerald Ford, had finally won the party’s nomination and found himself as the beneficiary of the perfect storm of political crisis in 1979, that sunk President Jimmy Carter. As if to emphasize his luck, the American hostages in Iran were released on January 20, 1981, the same day that Ronald Reagan was sworn into office as President.

THE ERA OF WE CAN’T
President Reagan believed that government was to blame for America’s woes. Despite the role of the American corporation in damaging the our public image in the Middle East and their greed in price gouging that spurred inflation, Reagan proposed that it was the government that was at issue, not American business. He sold the idea to the public that America Can’t, meaning that government can’t and shouldn’t help its citizens to a better life. Reagan convinced the public that the wealthy are to be worshiped and the poor are guilty of laziness, so the government shouldn’t interfere with the natural order.

In his first year as President he pushed through tax cuts for those in the upper tax brackets (70% down to 50%) and in the lowest tax bracket (14% down to 11%,) buying him goodwill with all citizens; however, in 1986 he pushed through additional tax reform that cut the upper tax bracket down to 28% and increased the lower tax bracket to 15%, making the lowest wage earners pay more in taxes than they did when he took office. The irony of his tax increase on the lowest tax bracket was that his “Supply Side Economics” depended on people having more money to spend, which they didn’t by the end of his second term.

FALSE PATRIOTISM
Like many conservatives, Reagan’s patriotism was limited to only those who were of the same mindset. He was staunchly against communism and during the late 1940’s, he and his wife served as FBI informants, ratting out anyone in Hollywood they thought to be sympathetic to communists. This hate for communism manifested during his presidency in massive funding of weapon systems that forced the Soviet Union into military spending that they could not afford while they were also in an active war in Afghanistan.

Reagan, like most post-Vietnam war conservatives learned that showy patriotism for the American soldier as a warrior was vital in keeping the younger generation at bay when they were sacrificed to protect American business interests around the world. Reagan involved America in the invasion of Grenada (1983,) Lebanon Civil War (1983, ) and the bombing of Libya (1986.)

Reagan’s administration also defied Congress by secretly selling weapons to Iran, the country that held Americans hostage for over a year, and gave the money to an anti-communist group in Nicaragua. Later investigations could not prove Reagan’s direct involvement in the scandal; however, the reasoning behind the incident matched Reagan’s staunch anti-communist sentiments.

REAGAN’S TOPPLING OF THE CARDBOARD SOVIET UNION
President Reagan biggest con with the American people was his two-faced position on spending. He wailed loudly about the government spending too much and took money out of the hands that needed it the most, but in reality he was the Big Spender when it came to the military. He tripled the deficit during his eight years as President leaving his successor, George Bush, to try to find ways to pay for Reagan’s uncontrolled military spending.

Fortunately, for President Reagan, America was able to survive his addiction for spending, which was not true for the Soviet Union’s effort to keep pace with the United States. After spending too much on the Soviet space program, (that failed to advance technology for the common Russian citizen,) Soviet involvement in a 10-year war in Afghanistan, (that sent the mighty Russian army home without any significant achievement,) and building up the military might to match Reagan’s excessive spending, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic went bankrupt.

The internal economic meltdown in Russia had a chain reaction with all of the Soviet aligned countries. Desperate East Germans sought to flee the economic disaster in their country and rejoin their cousins in West Germany. This eventually forced the East German government to either kill millions of their citizens, or open the borders completely. The fall of the Berlin Wall within a year after Reagan left office was quickly credited to him by conservatives who lauded his prowess in defeating a cardboard empire. The fact that it was self-inflicted wounds that caused the collapse of USSR and the other communist countries was ignored by those who wanted to glorify a cardboard President.

A LEGACY OF DEFEAT
As Reagan passed the conservative baton to George Bush at the end of the decade, America was fading as the world’s economic and technological leader. Government had been the catalyst in bringing America out of the Great Depression, beating the odds in World War II, improving our roads, building dams and power lines, and in countless other projects that no private business would dare attempt. The money spent by our government went directly into the hands of the private contractor, who then used it to pay employees and buy services and equipment from other private businesses.

But President Ronald Reagan ended that by using the government as the scapegoat for the misdeeds of the corporation. Without any proof the public accepted his premise that government was the problem and then he began to dismantle government and give the money to the wealthy. It was a master deception by the actor/cowboy who pulled off one of the greatest political cons since Hitler.

NEXT: The 1990’s

THE SERIES: The 1950’s The 1960’s The 1970’s The 2000’s Epilogue

This is Why (2015 vs the 1960’s)

15 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Business, College, Communication, Crisis Management, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Health, Higher Education, History, Lessons of Life, Politics, Public Image, Public Relations, Religion, Respect, Space, Taxes, Technology, Traditional Media, Universities, US History

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African American, Blacks, Civil Rights, Cold War, Communism, Inner City, JFK, John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, Riots, Russia, Selma, Soviet Union, space race, Suburban Life, Suburbs, USA, USSR, Vietnam, WIN

Note: This series premise is that we tend to see today’s world based upon what we experienced in the past. Different generations have different experiences, which can lead to different perceptions of what is happening in today’s world.

In this article we look at the 1960’s.

The 1960’s – The Three Americas

The Decade of the Roar

Population: 180.0 million
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita: $16,986
Median Annual Income: $5,600
Life Expectancy: 69.7
Average Age at Marriage: Men 22.8, Women 20.3
% of pop. w/high school degree or higher: 41.1%
% of pop. w/college degree or higher: 7.7%

AMERICA AS THE TECH AND COMMERCE GORILLA
The space race continued technological advancement for both the Soviet Union and the United States; however, USSR kept even the most simple advancements secret from everyone, including their own citizens. The space-related advancements for the United States were often generated by private contractors. The advancements that were not ‘Top Secret’ could be applied in open commerce and available to the private citizen. USSR didn’t lose the Space Race when an American stepped on the Moon, they lost it when millions of Americans were able to buy consumer goods that incorporated technology generated by sending a human to the Moon.

This thrust America into the center of technological advancement in commerce. In addition to space technology, new super highways, power grids, and phone lines increased commerce. The capitalist system of “build only what we know will sell” was replaced with a new space age economy of “solve problems that no one ever thought of before.”

The downside of a growing economy is that when people have more money to spend, then greed steps up to take their money. It’s one thing for a business to raise their prices to cover additional costs, or to pay for improvements to their products or services, but when prices increased for the sake of greed, then worker wages must increase to help them pay for a higher cost of living. That was the root cause for the upward spiral of inflation in the 1960’s.

AMERICA AS THE WORLD’s POLICE
Communist aggression and American pride clashed as China and Russia sought to halt the threat of bottom up government (self determinism) to their model of top down (power to the few.) The space race was fueled by Russian moves to claim the ultimate higher ground. Russia, China, and the United States began winning over developing countries in a blatant attempt to win control of strategic regions around the world. Military might became a primary resource in diplomacy. Those who stood to make money through weapon development and sales were strong proponents of meeting aggression with aggression. Governments found that the concept of small wars as a means to prevent larger wars were more palatable to the public.

With the onset of smaller wars came the utilization of forcing young men into fighting wars, while those who made the decisions to fight went home to their families every night. The gap between those who sacrifice and those who benefit from war became crystal clear. Civil unrest across the nation against the Vietnam war created a split that was widely visible through national television news. America was no longer in a post-war honeymoon.

AMERICA FACING ITS OWN FAILINGS
The Civil War purchased an end to institutionalized slavery, but it didn’t end white domination of African-Americans. Societal tools to humiliate and dominate black people created a divided America based on skin color.

Determined to no longer be oppressed, African-Americans began to challenge white society. This caught many white Americans living in communities outside of the South by surprise. Meanwhile in the South, some white groups committed heinous crimes in an effort to derail any African-American challenge to the dual-class society that protected white supremacy.

Few people fully understood how the United States of America could become so divided in the two decades following the World War II. Small town people sought simplistic solutions to issues for which they had very little understanding. The complexities leading to the chaos of the 1960’s were two much for a ‘Mayberry RFD’ mind.

With the boom in suburban living, the segregation of the races led to a flash point in many major cities. Whites choose to run away from inner city issues to live a sanitized life that sucked taxpayer money out of the neighborhoods that needed it the most. From the comfort of their new recliner in their new subdivision, white people embraced small-town thinking. Nuke Russia, nuke Vietnam, nuke Cuba, war protesters were just drugged out hippies, Blacks were responsible for their own failings, etc. were typical of positions of the 1960’s Caucasian.

NEXT: The 1970’s

THE SERIES: The 1950’s The 1980’s The 1990’s The 2000’s Epilogue

This is Why (2015 vs the 1950’s)

15 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Communication, Crisis Management, Education, Generational, Government, Higher Education, History, Lessons of Life, Politics, Pride, Science, Space, Technology, Traditional Media, US History

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1950, 1950's, post depression, post war, Space, space race, television

Why is the world like it is?

It is an interesting question. Unfortunately it is the wrong question. The world is what we perceive it to be and our perceptions are based largely on our experiences…or at least the experiences we tend to remember. This is why attitudes about the world are vastly different between generations. This doesn’t mean that age determines attitude, just that age contributes to attitude.

So why do different generations tend to see the world differently?

The 1950’s – The Calm After the Storms

Mass Production of New Technology

Population: 151.3 million
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita: $15,029
Median Annual Income: $4,237
Life Expectancy: 68.2
Average Age at Marriage: Men 22.8, Women 20.3
% of pop. w/high school degree or higher: 34.3%
% of pop. w/college degree or higher: 6.2%

POST DEPRESSION, POST WAR

If you were an adult, you just survived through the most massive conflict in history. Millions died directly or indirectly because of the war. The United States of America was expected to fold after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Instead, Americans pulled off a miracle by sacrificing normal daily life for a united country at war.

With victory in World War II came a fierce pride, but nobody was ready to rush into another war anytime soon. Despite that, a growing fear of Russia’s aggression put everyone on edge that they might be plunged into even a more horrible war than the one they survived.

Children of the 1950’s were witnesses to a traumatized adult population. Their grandparents lived through the Great Depression where the unthinkable financial disaster became everyone’s reality. Both grandparents and parents survived World War II. An event that stopped normal living and put everyone under the shadow of death and fear. Children also became a victim of the Cold War where fear of a global extinction event was a real possibility.

NEW ECONOMY
The massive industrialization for World War II created new jobs, more money, and a sudden burst of growth in the economy. Companies grabbed up anyone with advanced training or knowledge to incorporate advancements in technology created during the crisis of the war. People suddenly could afford luxuries like televisions, phones, cars and new homes. This prosperity was juxtaposed against the horrors that the world had experienced in the previous 20 years. It was truly the best of times and the worst of times.

NEXT: The 1960’s

THE SERIES: The 1970’s The 1980’s The 1990’s The 2000’s Epilogue

Earth’s Close Call of 2012

21 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by Paul Kiser in Crisis Management, Information Technology, Science, Space, Technology

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1859, 2012, Carrington Event, CME, Coronal Mass Ejections, Solar storm, Sun

The Blast of 2012: Doomsday that missed

Remember it was all going to end in 2012? Remember the movie? It didn’t happen; however, we almost were hit with a worldwide disaster that scientists are just now confirming.

On July 23, 2012, the a massive explosion took place on the Sun. It sent two coronal mass ejections (CME’s) at Earth’s orbit that were 10 to 15 minutes apart. After almost two years of analysis, scientists have determined that those events were near the magnitude of two CME’s in the Fall of 1859. During the 1859 solar storm auroras were seen as far south as Hawai’i and electrified telegraph wires that sparked fires.

Like the 1859 CME’s, the event of 2012, raced out from the Sun faster than a typical solar storm reaching Earth’s orbit the next day. Fortunately, Earth didn’t pass through that region of space for another nine days.

The CME’s did hit the STEREO-A platform in advanced Earth orbit. This satellite and it’s twin, STEREO-B monitors the far side of the Sun. Data from its encounter with the major storm suggests that had the CME’s hit Earth, anything with wiring would have been in danger of an overload from the magnetic energy of the storm. Transformers would have blown and virtually everything plugged into the grid would have experienced a massive power surge.

Fortunately, people have been planning for this possibility, which is why we now have multiple satellites monitoring the Sun’s every snap, crackle, and pop. Power and telephone systems based on wire transmission would be shutdown at the onset of a major solar storm. Unfortunately, that offers minimal protection for the consumer who would lose power, then be hit with a massive surge as wires became a conduit for the energy of the solar storm.

A miss is a miss, and nothing significant happened from the solar event. Still, it was a shot across our bow, and we should keep in mind that awareness of space activity is critical. It’s not paranoia if the universe is out to get us.

Epilogue of Planet Epsilon (science fiction)

24 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by Paul Kiser in Fiction, Science, Science Fiction, Space

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Alien, alien ship, asteroid belt, Delta, Disaster, Earth, Epsilon, Gamma, Japan, Jupiter, Mar, Mars, Mercury, Nippon, planet, Saturn, scifi, sol, solar system, Sun, Venus

24 December 2038 – Chōfu, Tokyo, Nippon Unified Aerospace Agency (NUAA)

Orbits of 6 worlds nearest Sol and debris from the Epsilon explosion (Data recovered from alien ship)

At today’s 9:00 AM press conference we announced the discovery of an alien craft found in orbit around our Sun. The orbital path of the craft was almost thirty degrees off the orbital plane of the solar system and was between Venus and Mercury at perihelion and extended out to near Jupiter’s orbit at aphelion. The long-deceased occupants of the ship were apparently from within our solar system on a planet they called Epsilon.

As mentioned this morning, we are releasing the text of the most significant alien messages or logs that we recovered on a hand device inside the craft. From what we can determine from the ship’s records so far is that Epsilon, located between Mars and Jupiter, exploded about 66 million years ago. The Epsilonian language is apparently the root language of English as the symbols and sounds are almost identical to English.

The aliens were human in body type. Several of the occupants of the ship were found in a compartment that preserved their bodies. We believed these aliens died after their craft was damaged and the crew put them in an area of the ship without heat or air to keep them from decomposing. DNA testing has proven that we are related these aliens, although probably not directly to the occupants of the ship.

According to what we have learned from their records so far, this ship was one of seven that attempted to reach Earth (named Gamma in Epsilonian) from Mars (named Delta in Epsilonian) after Epsilon exploded. Remnants of the planet still exist in what we have come to know as the Asteroid Belt; however, most of the planet was scattered throughout our solar system and some larger fragments impacted on the other planets including Earth. The descendants of the aliens that landed on Earth must have survived for millions of years in small pockets until humans began to become dominant in the past 100,000 years. This ship was apparently the only one that did not make it to Earth.

Image of Epsilon before it exploded. Recovered from the alien database.

Below is the original text from the most significant messages we have recovered so far.

Message 10884.11.75.06.41.12.52 From Epsilon Crew Member
Wee faild. Wee tride, wee tride agane, wee tride more, and wee still faild.

Tu ue hoo reed this, I noe ue kant understand ar sarow. Pleese, here me. Fore ar brothers and sisters mae bee, likelee ar, yore fathers and mothers. If ue kan reed this then it is sertan ue ra, fore yore words kame from ar words.

Wee wer from Epsilon, tha 5th world from Sol, but wee livd in ae kalonee on Delta, tha 4th world. Now bothe worlds ar lost and all hope lies on Gamma, tha 3rd world.

Let mee restart. Epsilon was tha sorse of life in tha Sol sistim. Ar world was bigger than Gamma and Baeta (tha 2nd world,) and much bigger than Dellta. All 4 worlds had firm ground and ae laer of gas, but Baeta, like Alpha (the 1st world) had noe likguid. Gamma, Dellta, and Epsilon had likguid, but Epsilon producd life and evold 1st.

Epsilon was home but wee wantd tu xplore, soe wee lernd tu sore beetwene worlds. Dellta and Gamma had life, but not wise life. Ar peepel desided to kalonee on Dellta 1st.

Wee had livd on Dellta fore almoest 50 orbits and preeparing tu kalonee on Gamma when disaster struk Epsilon. Ae flash that lit up ar erly morning skie on Dellta then faded. Epsilon was gon. Wee beeleve it was natural. Epsilon had plenteeful unstabil ellamints in tha krust. If those ellamints xtended into tha likguid rok beeloe, thae it koud hav gatherd tu ae kritikal mass and xploded with such forse tu destroy ar home world.

Ae grupe of sieintists had warnd that Epsilon mite….. (text was not recoverable)

Message 10884.11.75.06.41.15.04
Delltas orbit put it in tha Epsilon deebree flung toward Sol. Wee had onelee weeks tu evevakuate Dellta. With Dellta in sertan dume, ar hope was tu sore tu Gamma, but wee had noe kalonee ther. Wee had 7 ships availabel. 6 had peepel and 3 months of supplies eech. 1 ship kaireed ar teknolojee. That ship held ar soring masheens, ar komemunikashun eekwipmint, shelters, and everee thing needed tu restart ar sivilliesaeshun. 6 ships made it tu Gamma. 1 ship, ar ship, did not.

Wee due not noe if thae kan sirvive without….(text was not recoverable)

Volcanoes in the lower left caused by fragments from the break up of Epsilon

Ar ship was tha last tu leve Dellta. Deebree from r home world hit ar ship. It disstroyd ar injin kontrol. Ar injins flamed until wee had noe fuel. Ar orbit touk us abav tha planit orbits, around Sol, then in an eeliptikal orbit out past Epsilon and back tu Sol. Of ar 16 crew, 7 hav survived 2 orbits, but ther is noe hope. Wee noe longer can reepair our eekwipmint and ar air sistim will fail sune.

Message 10884.11.75.06.04.44.03
Wee hav watchd as ar broekin world has reekd havoke. Tha rimnants of Epsilon tore thru tha Sol sistim and miny larg fragmints inkluding 2 of Epsilons moons ar still in unstaebel orbits that will evinchuelee hit another world or Sol. 4 massiv fragmints hit Dellta kreeating majore fire mountans spewing out likwid rok. It is terning tha world inside out. Tha impakts of tha fragmints pushd Delltas gas in tu spase and chaengd its axis by 25 dagrees. Oever 1000 peepel wer left on Dellta and thae ar all ded.

Far side of the Moon peppered by fragments of Planet Epsilon

Far side of Earth’s Moon peppered by fragments of Planet Epsilon

Gamma survived thanks tu its Mone. A storem of deebree hit tha bak side of the Mone, but 1 larj fragment did hit tha Gamma. It filld tha air with fire and ash and tilt the axis almoset as much as Dellta. Kondishuns fore our peepel mae not bee sirviveabel.

Zeta was forjunate. It was on tha opposeit of Sol when Epsilon xploded and it has not bin hit by maejor fragmints yet, however, ……(text was not recoverable)

Saturn’s rings from the oceans of Epsilon

….differint fore Eta. Ae larj fragmint and sum fine deebree, posieblee likwid from 1 of Epsilons oeshuns was sent towards Eta. The fragmint tilted Etas axis and tha fine deebree went in tu orbit around Eta. It seems tu bee forming ae ring strukchure around Eta.

Sum of Epsilon was eejektd far out frum Sol kreeating ae cloud of deebree in tha outer sistim. Deebree nere Zeta was absorbed, but sum setteld in orbit ahed and beehind Zeta. What littel is left of Epsilon is spreding out whair ar world usd tu orbit. Fragmints will kontinue tu raen don on tha worlds fore senjurees…..(text was not recoverable)

Message 10884.11.75.08.18.32.29
…..(text was not recoverable) Wee had kontakt with tha moset of tha ather ships until their power faild. Thae must restart ar race without all tha teknalogee wee karee on r ship. It mae bee hundreds of orbits, mae bee longer beefore thae kan sore aegaen. This message will not bee red until long after wee ar gon.

3rd From Sol

~ Learn from before. Live now. Look ahead.

Category Archives: Space

12 Days in 1968

Nevada’s Pot Business About to be Smoked

Why a Bigger Government is Being Fiscally Responsible

Can Venus Be Made Habitable?

SpaceX and Mars: The Illogical Strategy

Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi

A New Year’s Earthquake?

What Happens In Sixty Years

Redacted Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Star Wars is Back!

Send Our Trash Into Space

A Problem With A Solution

A Holiday Letter to the Aliens Observing Us

Confronting Truth: The Difference Between Science and Religion

Conversations With Conservatives: The 37 Year Lie

We Don’t Need More Service Jobs

Earthbound Astronauts

Living in the Imminent

Rebirth of the Liberal

This is Why (2015 vs the 1990’s)

The 1990’s – A World Turned Upside Down

This is Why (2015 vs the 1980’s)

The 1980’s – Political Con Game

This is Why (2015 vs the 1960’s)

The 1960’s – The Three Americas

This is Why (2015 vs the 1950’s)

Why is the world like it is?

The 1950’s – The Calm After the Storms

Earth’s Close Call of 2012

Epilogue of Planet Epsilon (science fiction)