Thought of the Day – April 30, 2017

Prince Charles once said the worst thing about climate change deniers was that they wouldn’t be around to see what happened when they were proved wrong.  Now the NY Times has gone and given one of them (Bret Stephens) a platform.  The Guardian has done a takedown.

Best quote: “Stephens’ piece is akin to criticizing doctors and anti-smoking groups for being too mean to the tobacco industry, and for not focusing on the uncertainty about exactly when the chain-smoking patient will develop cancer.”

Main takeaway: “since 2012 we’ve seen the three hottest years on record (2014, 2015, and 2016).”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/apr/29/ny-times-hired-a-hippe-puncher-to-give-climate-obstructionists-cover

Thought of the Day – April 28, 2017

Interesting story in today’s Guardian about people abandoning ebooks and returning to regular print.  “There is hope for us yet,” I thought.  Reading a little further, though, I discovered that a major reason for the decline in Kindle sales is the growth of popularity of smartphones and tablets.  Turns out people do not like reading entire books on those devices.   They also dislike carrying around both phones and Kindles.  But they don’t mind carrying around their phone and a paperback, which they often view as disposable.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/27/screen-fatigue-sees-uk-ebook-sales-plunge-17-as-readers-return-to-print

Which do you prefer?

Thoughts on Last Words – April 25, 2017

“A person’s last words are always in the mother tongue, as is the last gasp.” – Hippel, 1778

This, by the way, explains why Einstein’s last words are not recorded – on his deathbed in New Jersey (April 18, 1955), he spoke in German, a language his nurse did not know.  (Great planning by whoever was responsible!)

He did, however, leave this written fragment, where he expresses a view that still seems relevant:  “In essence, the conflict that exists today is no more than an old-style struggle for power, once again presented to mankind in semireligious trappings. The difference is that, this time, the development of atomic power has imbued the struggle with a ghostly character; for both parties know and admit that, should the quarrel deteriorate into actual war, mankind is doomed. Despite this knowledge, statesmen in responsible positions on both sides continue to employ the well-known technique of seeking to intimidate and demoralize the opponent by marshaling superior military strength. They do so even though such a policy entails the risk of war and doom. Not one statesman in a position of responsibility has dared to pursue the only course that holds out any promise of peace, the course of supranational security, since for a statesman to follow such a course would be tantamount to political suicide. Political passions, once they have been fanned into flame, exact their victims…”

Quotation of the Day – April 23, 2017

“Shedding tears [at a tragedy] is evidence of our limited understanding of the world.  Where youth sees fate, with age we begin to see our own responsibility.” – Hippel

By the way, today I have started a new blog devoted to Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel: hippelstudies.wordpress.com

 

Thought of the Day – April 21, 2017 (Updated)

Does anyone else think all that glittering gold in the Trump White House looks tacky?  Like the wrapping on a chocolate bar.  Alas, we’re already getting used to it.

Now I understand why his hair is that color.

Update: Matt Taibbi also noticed that “they really changed the color of the Oval Office drapes.”  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/taibbi-the-war-in-the-white-house-w480238

 

Quotation of the Day – April 20, 2017

“The Russian people’s greatest advantage is their ability to endure today despite the deep-seated, often prescient suspicion that tomorrow life will be worse.” – Lev Golinkin, “A Flashback to My Soviet Childhood,” NY Times, Dec. 29, 2016

Quotation of the Day – April 18, 2017

Films like Ernst Lubitsch’s “Ninotchka” (1939) and “To Be or Not to Be” (1942) “fight tyranny with irony, frivolity and unshakable charm. It goes without saying that those are inadequate and perhaps inappropriate weapons against tanks and secret policemen. But even now, with full, bloody hindsight, we can appreciate the lesson that lightheartedness and laughter can oppose the heavy hand of political oppression.”  – A. O. Scott, in his review of “Grand Budapest Hotel”, NY Times, March 6, 2014

Quotation of the Day – April 15, 2017

Today being Holy Saturday (Sabbatum Sanctum), I would like to quote the passage from the Bible I heard my father recite more often than any other: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.  Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Matthew 6, 34)

He also said many times, “If God exists, He has a lot of explaining to do.”

Quotation of the Day – April 13, 2017

“Some people are uncomfortable with the idea that humans belong to the same class of animals as cats and cows and raccoons. They’re like the people who become successful and then don’t want to be reminded of the old neighborhood.” – Phil Donahue

This brings to mind Mark Twain’s observation that if man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve the man but deteriorate the cat.

Quotation of the Day – April 12, 2017

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” – Robert J. Hanlon; this aphorism has become known as “Hanlon’s razor”.

This comes to mind à propos of Sean Spicer’s history lesson, when he said, “[Hitler] brought them into the Holocaust center, I understand that.”  Best commentary on this I have seen is by Josh Marshall. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/thinking-about-spicer-s-chemical-weapons-gaffe  But when he sets forth the various reasons Hitler refrained from using chemical weapons on the battlefields of the Second World War, Marshall leaves out arguably the most important one: Hitler himself had been a victim of their use during the First World War.