a novel, and a website about science, progress and culture
How did we get here? It’s not what our civilization is about. On January 7, 2015, Three black-clad gunmen shouting “Allahu Akbar” stormed the Paris offices of a satirical publication known for lampooning Islam, killing 12, including its editor, three political cartoonists and a police officer whose cold-blooded murder at close range was captured on […]
Read More I’m Not Gonna Argue HistoryOne of the most astonishing things about the allegations of sexual assault currently being aired against Bill Cosby is that so many went unreported for decades. If a crime is committed, the best time to gather evidence is while it is fresh. In Canada the cool and popular radio host Jian Ghomeshi is alleged to […]
Read More Making It Safe to Rape WomenMany Americans, including President Obama, are righteously concerned about North Korea’s seemingly blatant attack on freedom in its hacking of Sony Pictures, and the threats of violence against any theater that dares screen the movie ‘The Interview.’ The film’s depiction of the assassination of Kim Jong-Il goes beyond acceptable standards for the North Korean dictatorship. […]
Read More Attacking Films, Attacking FreedomEighteen hundred years ago Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi taught: What is the proper path a person should choose for himself… Know what is above you: an eye that sees and an ear that hears, and all your deeds are recorded in the Book. (Ethics of the Fathers 2:1) While this is stating the obvious for believing […]
Read More All Your Deeds Are Recorded In The BookTwenty five years ago a lone gunman walked into the École Polytechnique engineering school in Montreal, ordered the men to leave, and shot fourteen women. It was a traumatic experience, not just for the victims and their families, but for all of Canadian society. Two and a half decades later, we still look back in […]
Read More Bad Lessons: Learning With Closed EyesHijacking Planes In 1968, Palestinian terrorists hijacked an El-Al plane, and got away with it. They used the tactic repeatedly after that, with varying degrees of success. The most infamous incident was the forcing of Air France plane to Entebbe, Uganda, and Israel’s successful rescue of the hostages. Hijacking Feminism More such rescue operations are required […]
Read More Aboriginal Americans & the Jewish StateThere are many diseases afflicting the world today. Some have immediate and horrifying consequences while others may seem benign until it’s too late to do anything about them. Health authorities stumble around, looking for ways to protect the populations, but run into barriers of cost, politics, human and constitutional rights. We don’t know what deadly […]
Read More A Deadly Epidemic, More Dangerous Than EbolaWho would you rather be: God or the devil? We have job descriptions for each, in case you’re having trouble deciding. Glen Beck says that America has already made its choice between God or the Devil. Is it too late for the country to change its mind? We’ll know more on November 4th. (please click images to follow […]
Read More God or the Devil?Dangerous Classification Classification can help you sort things out, make informed decisions. If someone was to threaten you with a gun, it would be helpful to know whether it was an assault rifle or a Nerf gun (soft foam bullets). Sometimes classification can be used to obscure, to prevent the making of informed decisions. The […]
Read More Dangerous Religionto Avoid More Funerals Michael Zehaf Bibeau and Martin (Ahmad) Couture-Rouleau tried to give meaning to their lives, tried to achieve martyrdom when they killed the soldiers in Saint Jean and Ottawa respectively. They should be denied that meaning. They should be denied martyrdom. Islam believes that the body and soul remain connected after death. […]
Read More A Funeral ProposalThe Dark Ages Have Arrived It’s been peaceful here in North America. There hasn’t been a war in the United States since the end of the Civil War a hundred and fifty years ago. There hasn’t been a war in Canada since we kicked America’s ass in the War of 1812. We’re not used to; […]
Read More Peaceful Times Are OverTonight is the 11th anniversary of the death of my father, Yehuda Elberg. He was a renowned author and essayist in the Yiddish-speaking world. This is one of his English essays, a discussion of the importance of the word “oy” to the Jewish soul. Oy: The Music of a Sigh- by Yehuda Elberg, © 1993 All […]
Read More Oy: The Music of a SighAn annotated conversation about war, adapted from Facebook: (click on links for annotations) Alice: We are bombing over Syria! Right now. We are bombing. Oh, my heart hurts. Russ: Hate Alice: The thing is this … there are children. Women. Men who want only to provide for their little families. There are doggies and kitties, goats maybe. […]
Read More A Conversation About WarOur four-billion year old world came into being 5,781 years ago, with the creation of man. So… Happy New Year. A Scientific Explanation This Friday evening, September 18 , 2020, marks the five thousand, seven hundred and eighty first year since the creation of the earth. This celebration may be a little problematic for many people, […]
Read More Happy Quantum New YearA More Human Mouse Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently spliced the human gene associated with language into the brains of a mouse. While the rodents didn’t say anything about the experiment, they were better able to find chocolate in a maze then regular mice. This is perhaps another example of science mimicking […]
Read More Are You A Man or a Mouse?