Universe in a Yard

Looking at the fallen leaves in my back yard and on the South Common this weekend, I noticed a visual correlation. Maybe I’ve been looking at too many pictures of the cosmos, but it occurred to me that the leaf-strewn ground, if turned downside up, could look a little like…

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Presidential Preference Poll

Even though the Caller ID said “Unknown Caller” the other night, I still picked up the phone and was greeted by an automated survey, purportedly conducted by “the College Republicans.” It began simply: who would you vote for if the 2012 presidential election were held today? Mitt Romney Mike Huckabee…

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Letters from France, December 1917

Today’s installment of our World War One remembrance (thanks to the efforts of Eileen Loucraft) is a summary of a letter from Edward Nelson to his parents that he wrote while in France in December 1917 which is before the American forces were fully engaged in combat. Corporal Edward Nelson…

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The Great White City

This past summer during a vacation in Chicago I visited the Museum of Science of Industry which was fascinating in its own right but it was also on my things-to-see list because it is the one surviving building from the 1893 World Columbian Exposition (shown above). That world’s fair brought…

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Fear Factor? Seniors Go GOP

There’s much analysis out there on why the GOP took so many seats in the House and a few in the Senate. Over at POLITIO,   reporter Byron Tau comments on the “senior factor” in some these races. In an election marked by dramatic defections from the Democratic Party, older voters…

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Carl Sagan Day

For some reason, November 6th has been declared Carl Sagan Day, to honor the great communicator of science. I can’t find an explanation for why today was picked; perhaps it was the date of some major achievement in his career. Last year I believe I posted a passage from his…

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