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Let me start by saying, I'm a frugal dude with my finances but this project is something I think we should stand behind (if you can afford it). This is our history in film , our POV in visual narrative at a time when  mainstream cinema presented Blacks as the help, some type of coon-ish joke or some other form degradation. I'm a collector of sorts and this is definitely one for the film collection. check it out... I hope you enjoy and support (donations can be as low as $5).

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kinolorber/pioneers-of-african-american-cinema?ref=nav_search

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Through a Mirror Darkly...

Zoomed-in image from the Dark Energy Camera of the center of the globular star cluster 47 Tucanae, which lies about 17,000 light years from Earth. Credit: Dark Energy Survey Collaboration.

Topics: Astrophysics, Chile Observatory, Dark Energy, Dark Matter

A post at Argonne from 2012 I unintentionally missed - my apologies. I'll check up on current status of the project, and likely do a follow-on post.

Eight billion years ago, rays of light from distant galaxies began their long journey to Earth. On Sept. 12, that ancient starlight found its way to a mountaintop in Chile, where the newly-constructed Dark Energy Camera – the most powerful sky-mapping machine ever created – captured and recorded it for the first time.

That light may hold within it the answer to one of the biggest mysteries in physics: why the expansion of the universe is speeding up.

Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey collaboration, including representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, announced this week that the Dark Energy Camera has achieved “first light.” The first pictures of the southern sky were taken by the 570-megapixel camera, the product of eight years of planning and construction, on Sept. 12.

“The achievement of first light through the Dark Energy Camera begins a significant new era in our exploration of the cosmic frontier,” said James Siegrist, DOE Associate Director of Science for High Energy Physics. “The results of this survey will bring us closer to understanding the mystery of dark energy, and what it means for the universe.”

The Dark Energy Camera was constructed at DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, and mounted on the Victor M. Blanco telescope at the National Science Foundation’s Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile.

With this device, roughly the size of a phone booth, astronomers and physicists will probe the mystery of dark energy, which gives rise to the force they believe is causing the universe to expand faster and faster.

“With all of our amazing scientific progress in the last century, we still only understand the four percent of the universe that is made of normal matter. The Dark Energy Survey will help us understand the other 96 percent, which we believe is made of dark matter and dark energy,” said Steve Kuhlmann, leader of the Dark Energy Survey group at Argonne.

Argonne National Laboratories:
Dark energy camera to probe universe’s biggest mysteries

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Dr. Charles Drew...

Image Source: Biography.com

Topics: Biology, Blood Banks, Diversity, Diversity in Science, History

Synopsis

Charles Richard Drew was born on June 3, 1904, in Washington, D.C. He was an African-American physician who developed ways to process and store blood plasma in "blood banks." He directed the blood plasma programs of the United States and Great Britain in World War II, but resigned after a ruling that the blood of African-Americans would be segregated. He died on April 1, 1950.

Early Life

Drew grew up in Washington, D.C. as the oldest son of a carpet layer. In his youth, Drew showed great athletic talent. He won several medals for swimming in his elementary years, and later branched out to football, basketball and other sports. After graduating from Dunbar High School in 1922, Drew went to Amherst College on a sports scholarship. There, he distinguished himself on the track and football teams.

Drew completed his bachelor's degree at Amherst in 1926, but didn't have enough money to pursue his dream of attending medical school. He worked as a biology instructor and a coach for Morgan College, now Morgan State University, in Baltimore for two years. In 1928, he applied to medical schools and enrolled at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

At McGill University, Drew quickly proved to be a top student. He won a prize in neuroanatomy and was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha, a medical honor society. Graduating in 1933, Drew was second in his class and earned both Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degrees. He did his internship and residency at the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Montreal General Hospital. During this time, Drew studied with Dr. John Beattie, and they examined problems and issues regarding blood transfusions.

Father of Blood Banks

In 1938, Drew received a Rockefeller Fellowship to study at Columbia University and train at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. There, he continued his exploration of blood-related matters with John Scudder. Drew developed a method for processing and preserving blood plasma, or blood without cells. Plasma lasts much longer than whole blood, making it possible to be stored or "banked" for longer periods of time. He discovered that the plasma could be dried and then reconstituted when needed. His research served as the basis of his doctorate thesis, "Banked Blood," and he received his doctorate degree in 1940. Drew became the first African-American to earn this degree from Columbia.

As World War II raged in Europe, Drew was asked to head up a special medical effort known as "Blood for Britain." He organized the collection and processing of blood plasma from several New York hospitals, and the shipments of these life-saving materials overseas to treat causalities in the war. According to one report, Drew helped collect roughly 14,500 pints of plasma.

In 1941, Drew worked on another blood bank effort, this time for the American Red Cross. He worked on developing a blood bank to be used for U.S. military personnel. But not long into his tenure there, Drew became frustrated with the military's request for segregating the blood donated by African Americans. At first, the military did not want to use blood from African Americans, but they later said it could only be used for African-American soldiers. Drew was outraged by this racist policy, and resigned his post after only a few months.

Charles Drew. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 01:49, Jan 26, 2015, from http://www.biography.com/people/charles-drew-9279094.

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Twisted Bessel Beams...

An artist's impression of a Bessel beam emerging from the acousto-optic device built by researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of Dundee. (Courtesy: Universities of Bristol and Dundee)

Topics: Acoustic Physics, Brownian Motion, Laser, Optical Tweezers

A new way to create and guide beams of "twisted light" has been created by researchers in the UK. The team used a cylindrical array of ultrasound loudspeakers to create a pattern of density waves in a fluid through which a laser beam is shone. The system creates twisted "Bessel beams" that can be reconfigured at a rate of about 150 kHz and shows promise for use in a wide range of applications including optical tweezers, high-speed data transmission and aberration correction for microscopes.

Twisted light refers to a beam with a wavefront that rotates around its direction of propagation with a corkscrew-like motion – and therefore carries orbital angular momentum. Bessel beams are a type of twisted light that have been created in the lab using special lenses and have been used in optical tweezers. An important feature of Bessel beams is that they do not diverge as they propagate, which makes them well-suited for optical tweezers.

Physics World: Ultrasound puts a new twist on light, Hamish Johnston

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The Grand Dame...

Source: JenebaSpeaks.com

Topics: Octavia Butler, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction

I came to Octavia Butler in "Mind of My Mind" midway in the Patternist series; followed by "Parable of the Sower" and "Parable of the Talents." It was a respite from often, science fiction clearly written without other cultures in mind. Literary whitewashing tends to translate in realities where diversity cannot be tolerated. She sadly left us in 2006 due to poor health. It is a wonder some of her books haven't made it into the theaters, especially the Parable series. I can only hope they will be one day.


Octavia Estelle Butler, often referred to as the “grand dame of science fiction,” was born in Pasadena, California on June 22, 1947. She received an Associate of Arts degree in 1968 from Pasadena Community College, and also attended California State University in Los Angeles and the University of California, Los Angeles. During 1969 and 1970, she studied at the Screenwriter’s Guild Open Door Program and the Clarion Science Fiction Writers’ Workshop, where she took a class with science fiction master Harlan Ellison (who later became her mentor), and which led to Butler selling her first science fiction stories.

Butler’s first story, “Crossover,” was published in the 1971 Clarion anthology. Patternmaster, her first novel and the first title of her five-volume Patternist series, was published in 1976, followed by Mind of My Mind in 1977. Others in the series include Survivor (1978), Wild Seed (1980), which won the James Tiptree Award, and Clay’s Ark (1984).

With the publication of Kindred in 1979, Butler was able to support herself writing full time. She won the Hugo Award in 1984 for her short story, “Speech Sounds,” and in 1985, Butler’s novelette “Bloodchild” won a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and an award for best novelette from Science Fiction Chronicle.

Other books by Octavia E. Butler include the Xenogenesis trilogy: Dawn (1987), Adulthood Rites (1988) and Imago (1989), and a short story collection, Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995). Parable of the Sower (1993), the first of her Earthseed series, was a finalist for the Nebula Award as well as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. The book’s sequel, Parable of the Talents (1998), won a Nebula Award.

In 1995 Butler was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Foundation fellowship.

Awards

1980, Creative Arts Award, L.A. YWCA

1984, Hugo Award for Best Short Story – Speech Sounds

1984, Nebula Award for Best Novelette – Bloodchild

1985, Science Fiction Chronicle Award for Best Novelette – Bloodchild

1985, Locus Award for Best Novelette – Bloodchild

1985, Hugo Award for Best Novelette – Bloodchild

1995, MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant

1999, Nebula Award for Best Novel – Parable of the Talents

2000, PEN American Center lifetime achievement award in writing

2010, Inductee Science Fiction Hall of Fame

2012, Solstice Award, Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America

Site: OctaviaButler.org
Amazon.com: Octavia Butler
Barnes and Noble: Octavia Butler

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Indie publishers need transparency and support from online companies that sell their books. Amazon fails such publishers on both counts. Ostensibly, it offers two ways of selling, but only one – the costly Amazon Advantage – does the job. So, in effect, Amazon offers no choice at all, since the successful sales method is financially prohibitive. The cheaper, more confusing marketing option disadvantages small publishers by making them less visible on Amazon and landing them with hidden problems and costs.

Click here for the full story

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Prime Numbers

Online Learns: Find Prime Numbers in Linked List Using C


Topics: Diversity, Diversity in Science, Women in Science

By Lynnette Holloway, March 7, 2014:

The Root: 17 Black Women in Science and Tech You Should Know


In honor of Women’s History Month, The Root pays tribute to African-American women working in the fastest growing field around the globe. While their numbers may be relatively few (pdf), they are making great strides, using their science, math and engineering degrees to amass impressive digital portfolios. Jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are projected to expand at more than double the rate of the entire U.S. labor force through 2018, according to a recent STEMconnector report


.


Christina Lewis Halpern (Courtesy Christina Lewis Halper); Laura Weidman Powers (Courtesy of Stanford University); Angela Benton (Courtesy of Angela Benton)
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Yurts and the romance of place

Didn't matter where I was, I kept rubbing my eyes. I thought a space capsule had landed. Simple and intriguing form, round, squat, cone for a roof and a dome or chimney vent. A fabric weather wrap secured by bands around it's waist and a single door. Like an African mud hut but portable, durable and movable. I thought of Indian Tee-pees, Bedouin tents and the tin shacks of South Africa or any other place where the nomad life was a necessity.

Nah, this is romance, you walk thru the door of the space capsule into a world of carpeted floors, wall hangings, incense, a small stove fire, coffee, a stew, sitting on pillows, heads and bodies wrapped in colors, words of gracious hospitality and a respect of boundaries inferred yet seduced by the mystery of desires' expectation.

A house is like entering a mind, world as it is on the outside, inside a place of limitless measure contained in it's confines. In Central Asia the 'Yurt' is like that and it doesn't matter if made from sticks and animal hides or the most high tech materials from NASA, it evokes an air of transportable roots yet a solid stay.  I consider the humble yurt the tent of tents, the hut of huts. I've seen them on desert plains, snow tundras, wood clearings, lake decks and on the flat roofs of buildings that scrape the sky...............!

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Dimming of a Light...

Image Source: Link below

Topics: History, Laser, Modern Physics, Nobel Prize, Quantum Mechanics

Forgive me: His passing was announced on Friday, but I was on a blogging break then.

How soon we forget this was once all theoretical, now it's how we play our CDs and DVDs, programming our electronic devices...those were lofty days, when we looked forward to the future and the hope in science. Dr. Townes' light has dimmed, but not his lasting impact, a kind of immortality that is worth striving for. As a nation, we cow in fear of the light science brings to our previous ignorance; we're always longing for the past; looking ever backwards to a utopia that never was, simultaneously ignoring a future that we could create.

The US physicist Charles Townes, who shared the 1964 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work that led to the development of the laser, has died at the age of 99. Townes played an integral part in the race to make the first laser by developing its forerunner – the "maser" – which could produce and amplify electromagnetic radiation in the microwave region of the spectrum.

Townes' key work began while he was at Columbia University in the early 1950s, when he proposed a device that could produce coherent electromagnetic waves through amplification by stimulated emission. He coined the term "microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation" – or maser – although Townes was not the only person to have the idea. Independently, and at a similar time, Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov of the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Joseph Weber of the Catholic University of America, had also been working on the theoretical framework behind the maser.

Physics World: Laser pioneer Charles Townes dies aged 99

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A Freedom Within Ourselves...



Topics: Diversity, Langston Hughes, Martin Luther King, Speculative Fiction

Of late, I have been thinking of stories and diverted eyes. This is an encore as I've used a form of the title before in a similar post.

We've told stories for our own entertainment and for the dispensation of knowledge of our culture. We've told stories in poetry, prose and fiction: classical and science fiction. We've told stories as many people - the sea of humanity that we all belong to - have told stories in the past: to preserve histories; to teach lessons; to make people love us as us; more importantly, to uplift and love ourselves.

The physics and science posts will occur at their usual time: 7:00 AM EST; 4:00 AM PST. I actually have enough STEM material for February 2016! It will be hard and tempting to not publish it before then.

The posts for the month will be on the Diaspora's contributions to STEM as well as speculative fiction, A.K.A. science fiction. I will start with someone you may or may not know and intersperse that person with persons you also may or may not know. The Internet has freed many to not seek the approval of mainstream publishers, though many who started their literary journey as independent have; some stayed entrepreneurs and prefer it. As I said, I've been thinking about stories, self-images and stereotype threat.

Carter G. Woodson had a whole other purpose for what was then known as Negro History Week, then Negro History Month, now African American/Black History Month:

"If you can control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one."

Dr. Carter G. Woodson, The MIS-Education of the Negro

I prepared this post 20 January and scheduled it to appear on 1 February. All the other posts regarding the month were so pre-planned in a similar fashion. It allows me to then read physics/STEM posts; keep up with my own studies and speak on hopefully up-to-date topics as I celebrate the month. It is also frankly, a pacing that keeps me from getting too exhausted.

For those that must believe in Bigfoot, fairies, pixie dust, racism, unicorns and xenophobia, please feel free to carry on personal delusions. You are free to divert your eyes elsewhere this month: I won't be talking to you, straightening your backs or changing your minds. I will be telling of triumphs and stories in science and modern myth for the interested, the intelligent, and those that want to stretch their knowledge of their fellow humanity, but more particularly as a group: the young, our collective futures in this country and world.

Just as (Dr. King and Langston both say below), we are free...within ourselves to straighten our own.

"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent."

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr - and, a seldom-quoted riff (embed) below...

Let the blare of Negro jazz bands and the bellowing voice of Bessie Smith singing the Blues penetrate the closed ears of the colored near intellectuals until they listen and perhaps understand. Let Paul Robeson singing "Water Boy," and Rudolph Fisher writing about the streets of Harlem, and Jean Toomer holding the heart of Georgia in his hands, and Aaron Douglas's drawing strange black fantasies cause the smug Negro middle class to turn from their white, respectable, ordinary books and papers to catch a glimmer of their own beauty. We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too. The tom-tom cries and the tom-tom laughs. If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn't matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves.

"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," Langston Hughes, The Nation, 1926
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400 Years Headstart and Advantages

The fact that this is a Sci Fi site means that I limit my very strong and very radical African-centered ideologies to within the scope of Sci Fi and Fantasy, which is rightly so.

This video is an exception to that.

I see a lot of Black folks supporting a narrative that we are all the same as humans and that hard work and quality will trump discrimination and a host of other false opinions. Today is one of those days where it supremely annoys me to hear it, hence this video.

Ironically, I see far too many posts on Facebook that strays away from Sci Fi and I, on occasion, support those who ask the question, "What does this have to do with SciFi?"

Also, of great irony is the person in the video. But, I put this up here because these same "we are the world" folks will write it off if it does not come from a White person. Many will STILL write it off, but, oh well.

I guess I'm just complex and weird like that.

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The Politics of Character

While reading a work, be it short or long form, one character attribute that should become immediately apparent is the political stance of that character. 

Whoa, you say, politics? I am not writing some political work, I am just telling the tale of a simple space marine who battles hyper-intelligent alien bees trying to invade our dimensions (Ed: Yes, please, tell me more...). 

 

Authors, especially the new or under-read, have a tendency to argue the studious un-political nature of their work. The reasons may vary. Perhaps they do not want to upset potential readers and customers. And why not, Orson Scott Card went from beloved author to homophobic bigot in a lot of minds based on religious beliefs that informed his political position. (even this criticism pales in comparison to the amount of real and digital ink spent on the fascist nature of Ender's Game itself.) 

Alternativelyperhaps an author has a general uncomfortableness about speaking on political issues or a genuine desire to write tales having an apolitical affect. 

However, it is impossible to write good, character driven, para-fiction without having those same characters take a political position. It is impossible to build a successful world for your characters to inhabit without having a political position.

Situating a character into the world you have built requires more than just placing motivation in her head and obstacles at his feet. You have to ground your characters within the philosophical framework of the world they live and the options they have available.  In the same way that it is impossible to ignore the economic standing of your character (try reading Jane Austen and not come away with a useful understanding of the rentier economy of Georgian England), it is impossible to untangle the politics of a character from their motivation.  

Politics includes more than where one (the author or the character stand) stands on the hot button social issue of they day. Politics means a political outlook. A particular view of the world as it is seen through the character's eyes (if it is a first person narrative) or multiple character's experiences. The political view of the character does not need to be endorsed by the author, but the author does need to explain the political position of the characters. 

Is your hero battling a dystopian government? Why is the government horrible? Is it the fault of the government, or some outside agent that is causing grey skies and sad people. If it is the government, why is it doing this? Sometimes in the rush to have people battle on post-apocalyptic roof-tops, authors forget to do the hard work of building the foundations of conflict. If only America has fallen into ruin, Why? What was it about the politics of America that caused this downfall? What policies does the government implement that make it evil, or good? Unelected dictator? So your hero is a pro-democracy advocate? Elected counsel of evil Corporations?  Complete Anarchy and Individualism and ultra-property rights? Collective action, Forced Community? It is impossible to have your characters stand against something without also standing for something else. 

To build great characters, you need to build a political dossier along with a physical and economic dossier. Once you character has a stance on the issues, not of your day, but of her day, then the conflict from those stances becomes easier to envision and capture. 

Reprinted from: www.moorsgatemedia.blogspot.com

Twitter: Moorsgate

Moorsgate ((c)2015)

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        Its been a while since I last posted but here's something interesting...

              Coming next month is The Return of Little Miss Strange in Curse

               of The Chameleon God.

               Take a peak at the cover...

                

                  February 1st the official release date for Curse of the Chameleon God.

                 

                  

                     

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MEET THE NEW CAST OF XMEN:AOP STORM MAY SURPRISE YOU

http://www.superherohype.com/news/327599-alexandra-shipp-sophie-turner-and-tye-sheridan-join-x-men-apocalypse

I find it crazy that in 2015 there still seems to be a problem with casting dark skinned woman in major roles.what's even crazier is that we're having this problem when it comes to casting Africans, especially with all the emerging talent of African descent.  I mean isn't Storm an African? I get it, social engineering and  euro-standard of beauty being the default, but aren't Black People sick of this ish yet? it's like we just get happy they didn't cast a white woman. I'm going to stop here before Jarvis bans me. One thing I know is I'll catch this one on bootleg. Let me know how yall feel about it.

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS… DEADLINE! FEBRUARY 1st, 2015 (for FEBRUARY 20, 2015 publication date)

“O.T.H.E.R.” SCI FI WINTER 2015

Over The Horizon Empires Rise OTHER Sci Fi is a Magazine/Journal is dedicated to the creation and promotion of SciFi, Speculative Fiction, Horror and Fantasy works of Epic proportion focusing on and featuring diverse characters, civilizations, subcultures, worlds and universes in alternate and crafted realities.

SUBMISSIONS We are looking for works to be included in the 2015 Winter magazine with publication scheduled for February 20th, 2015. There is no "specific" theme but Valentine and Winter themes are not discouraged. Please hit the link to view the particulars.

http://otherscifi.ning.com/forum/topics/call-for-submissions-winter-ii

Thank you and contact me here or at penelope@penelopeflynn.com if you have any questions.

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The Price...



Topics: Civil Rights, Day of Service, Four Little Girls, Martin Luther King, The Price

President Obama has signed a bill that awards the Congressional Medal of Honor to the four little girls killed in the 1963 KKK bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL.


The girls – Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Denise McNair – were killed on Sunday morning when members of the Klan planted dynamite in the Church’s basement.

Their deaths shocked the nation and the world, and stands as one of the most violent, horrific events of the Civil Rights Movement. Info and Image Source: Black Youth Project

By 1963, homemade bombs set off in Birmingham's black homes and churches were such common occurrences that the city had earned the nickname "Bombingham."

In the spirit of a "Day of Service," I served meals to the homeless at Beulah Baptist Church in Poughkeepsie, NY with my brothers of Kappa Alpha Psi this past Saturday. We fed over 200 persons (estimated) in assembly line fashion: chicken, rice, green beans, bread and a dessert. It was a multi-ethnic group, and included many families. For the most part, they went for the meals only. It was personally rewarding (though tiring), as I will be working through the morning and evening on the official holiday today.

This occurred September 16, 1963, a day after my mother's 38th birthday. I would have been a year and a month old; a month from the missiles of October's anniversary (we had teetered on the precipice of Armageddon - that was almost 10 months shy of my ONLY year); President Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas the very next month. The times probably worried her, I'm sure.

We tend to forget the price paid by those who in an instance found themselves on the front lines of a battle for fairness over supremacy; freedom over de facto slavery via Jim Crow.

We tend to forget that soldiers aren't muscled, mighty men. Sometimes, they can be four beautiful little girls in the safest place they could possibly think to be - in their house of worship.

We also tend to forget that icons like Dr. Martin Luther King we admire now was vilified by some of his own - culture and clergy - and the extreme right of the time wore white sheets instead of (now) Armani, pin stripes and Prada.

We also forget in living rooms of complacency, flat screens, MMORPGs and comfortable backsides, only interrupted by the occasional level of violence that used to be so...commonplace, that sadly perhaps is becoming so again. It need not be someone you know to act on the behalf of others. Being human, compassionate and common decency should be more than enough.

May today be a Day of Service for you as you see fit to express it.

I will resume posting 1 Feb 2015.
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Justifying...

[Original] Image Source: Rain dance - famous actors who've never won Oscars

Topics: Apathy, Diversity, History, Oscars 2015, Selma, Voting Rights

I spent Friday watching "Selma" in tears from the haunting images, graphic displays of violence that was (is?) a part of our country on quite a regular basis in the 1960's. During the time of the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965), I was 2 and 3-years-old respectively, too young to be of any good to the movement and merely a worry for my activist big sister.


I think a lot about my big sister in movies like this. She would have been one of the young people that got on "freedom ride" buses and put her life on the line for equality, or as she says now, everyone's equality, women, immigrants, LGBT. I remember her arguments with our parents about her safety. I remember praying I'd see her again. I remember crying a lot.

As I said (without giving away spoilers), my wife and I spent most of the movie in tears. I doubt if either my sister, mother-in-law or a lot of seniors in my family will want to see this movie. For them, it brings back painful memories.

If "demographics is destiny" - the mantra for the year 2042 - then, at 6,028 voters of which 94% are so-called "white"; 76% male and the average age 63 years, it's a pretty forgone conclusion that our stories were not going to get a mention above "best picture" and song; our actors were not going to get an Oscar nod. Also of note in that demographic, their sentiments of the time would have been shaped by their environments. Since we don't know where they lived before residing in "liberal" Hollywood, their view of Selma's value in lieu of #BlackLivesMatter and the recent, gut-wrenching atrocities of Boko Haram is an interesting contrast compared to how they all jumped on the #JeSuisCharlie bandwagon so quickly...and easily. A group of 5,666 and male gender of 4,581 pushing into senior citizenry don't likely have heroic memories of the 1960's since there was clearly two sides of the debate - depending on their families' politics at the time - they could have found themselves on. That makes for an academy clearly lacking diversity, either ashamed or indifferent.

What exactly is an "Oscar," and why does it matter? This is a self-contrived public pat-on-the-back by the industry itself. Whether you look at it or not, it is a vast infomercial on the movies you could have seen and didn't. You'll pay the $11.50 per person (New York prices) and the equally outrageous price for popcorn; you'll order it on pay-per-view; download it on bootleg: win-win-win-kinda-sorta (not).

These are OUR stories, and all of humanity's stories: it is not for us to make some privileged, self-mythologized group of "others love us" - it is for us to love ourselves, they are validated in the telling of them; everyone else is along for the ride and welcome. Our campfires required no feedback from the tribe other than applause; they are now clearly in the electromagnetic spectrum. We can read; we can write; we can act and direct; we can upload videos and audio; we can distribute on DVD and via Netflix. If Selma is anything more than an ironic juxtaposition regarding Civil Rights and Voting Rights fought for by young people and fifty years later, their millennial grandchildren being too apathetic to decide their own hard-fought destinies in the voting booth (but, up front in line on Black Friday), they deserve whatever bizarre legislation that is likely to come of this 114th congress. Opinions are fine, but action is far better, and revolutions have never been won in living rooms on backsides, nor freedoms for "consent of the governed" maintained without constant vigilance and participation. Voting, as Selma did, and the midterms' aftermath will show: matters.

Offical Site: Selma Movie

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Avoid Tidal Locking...

An artist's impression of Kepler-62f, a planet that is in the habitable zone of a star smaller and cooler than the Sun, located about 1200 light-years from Earth. (Courtesy: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech)

Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Exoplanets, Space Exploration

Even a thin atmosphere can keep a planet spinning freely, giving it a day-and-night cycle like Earth's, say astronomers in Canada and France. The result implies that many of the planets lying within the habitable zones of "dim suns" – the most common type of star – could have terrestrial-type climates.


"It was a surprise," says Jérémy Leconte, an astronomer at the University of Toronto. "We didn't expect that there would be such a strong effect."

Astronomers have so far discovered more than 1000 exoplanets – planets orbiting stars other than the Sun – and it is becoming clear that our tiny portion of the universe could contain vast numbers of such planets. What is not yet clear is how many of these planets could actually harbour life.

Most stars, known as orange and red dwarfs, are cooler, fainter and smaller than the Sun; so to stay warm, a habitable planet must huddle close to the star. But the closer a planet is to its sun, the stronger are the tidal forces that the star exerts on the planet. These tides can affect how fast the planet spins. In extreme cases, these tides are so strong that they produce "tidal locking", forcing the planet to spin as slowly as it revolves. This means that one side of the planet forever faces the star, while the other side forever faces away, creating a world with a permanent day side and a permanent night side. The night side may get so cold that air freezes there, robbing the planet of an atmosphere.

Physics World: Exoplanets could avoid 'tidal locking' if they have atmospheres
Ken Croswell

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Star Stuff...

Image Source: Brain Pickings

Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Carl Sagan, Sociology, Urban Planning

"We are made by the atoms and the stars… our matter and our form are determined by the cosmos of which we are a part."


"We are made of star stuff." Carl Sagan

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Urban sociologists have long known that a set of remarkable laws govern the large-scale interaction between individuals such as the probability that one person will befriend another and the size of the cities they live in.

The latter is an example of the Zipf’s law. If cities are listed according to size, then the rank of a city is inversely proportional to the number of people who live in it. For example, if the biggest city in the US has a population of 8 million people, the second-biggest city will have a population of 8 million divided by 2, the third biggest will have a population of 8 million divided by 3 and so on.

This simple relationship is known as a scaling law and turns out to fit the observed distribution of city sizes extremely well.

Another interesting example is the probability that one person will be friends with another. This turns out to be inversely proportional to the number of people who live closer to the first person than the second.

What’s curious about these laws is that although they are widely accepted, nobody knows why they are true. There is no deeper theoretical model from which these laws emerge. Instead, they come simply from the measured properties of cities and friendships.

Today, all that changes thanks to the work of Henry Lin and Abraham Loeb at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Cambridge. These guys have discovered a single unifying principle that explains the origin of these laws.

And here’s the thing: their approach is mathematically equivalent to the way that cosmologists describe the growth of galaxies in space. In other words, cities form out of variations in population density in exactly the same way that galaxies formed from variations in matter density in the early universe.

Physics arXiv: A Unifying Theory for Scaling Laws of Human Populations
Henry W. Lin, Abraham Loeb

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