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Category Archives: Personal
Parallels Between the Sputnik and 9/11 Crises
Is there a relationship between the so-called “Sputnik moment” in October 1957 and the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks? Yes, at several levels there are intriguing parallels between the Sputnik crisis of 1957-1958 that Eisenhower faced and the aftermath of the … Continue reading
Posted in aeronautics, aviation, History, Personal, Politics, Space
Tagged 1960s, 9/11, Afghanistan, American exceptionalism, Apollo, ARPA, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George W. Bush, History, Homeland Security Act of 2002, international relations, Iraq, JFK, Moon, Moon race, NASA, National Defense Education Act, Patriot Act of 2002, Presidential Science Advisor, public perceptions, public policy, Soviet Union, Sputnik, Terrorist Screening Center, Terrorist Threat Integration Center, U.S. Civil Space, World Trade Center
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Pretty Blue Planet
This is a stunning collection of images from space: PrettyBluePlanet. Enjoy.
Posted in Earth Science, International Space Station, Personal, Space
Tagged aesthetics, environmental movement
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Perceptions of Belief in a Flat Earth
It’s a wonderful thing, the imagination of humankind. It has brought us the wonders of science and technology, the ideals of freedom and democracy, the inspiration to question, and the desire to help others, to name only a few positive … Continue reading
Posted in History, Lunar Exploration, Personal, Religion, Science
Tagged 1960s, Apollo, Earth science, History, public perceptions, space science
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The George Brett “Pine Tar” Incident
It seems like it took place yesterday, but on July 25, 1983, one of the most bizarre incidents in the history of Major League Baseball. It involved future Hall of Famer George Brett, to this day one of my all … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Personal, Sports
Tagged Billy Martin, Goose Gossage, History, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, Pine Tar Incident, Tim McClelland
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Stimulating Aerospace Capabilities in America
Historians five hundred years hence may well characterize successful human flight, and all that followed in both air and space, as the most significant single technology of the twentieth century. Has it fundamentally reshaped our world, at once awesome and … Continue reading
Posted in aeronautics, aviation, History, Personal, Politics, Space
Tagged air mail, Department of Defense, FAA, History, NACA, NASA, public perceptions, R&D, Samuel Pierpont Langley, Smithsonian Institution, technology development, TWA, Wright brothers
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Good Charlie/Bad Charlie: What Made Charlie Finley Tick?
Charles O. Finley, the owner of the Kansas City/Oakland A’s between 1960 and 1980, had a public persona as one of the dark princes of Major League Baseball. He engaged in manipulation, connivance, and cajolery for what he wanted, and … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Charles O. Finley, History, Oakland A's, Personal
Tagged Charlie Finley, Kansas City A's, MLB, Oakland A's
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Embracing the All-American Automobile
No doubt, the railroads of the nineteenth century enabled Americans to move about with a speed and ease never possible before. Even so, they did not provide the freedom to which Americans have long believed they have a special right. … Continue reading
Posted in History, Personal
Tagged automobiles, Flivver, Henry Ford, John Steinbeck, Middletown, Model T, Progressivism, Robert and Helen Lynd, Russell Olds, The Grapes of Wrath, U.S. Highway 66
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Space as Battlefield or Sanctuary?
For more than fifty years since the first space satellites were orbited the world engaged in activity in outer space for military scientific, and commercial purposes, but without placing weapons there or engaging in serious efforts to target objects in space. … Continue reading
Posted in Personal, Politics, Space
Tagged Al Gore, cold war, Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization, Department of Defense, Gen. Lance Lord, George W. Bush, History, international relations, Malcolm Mowthorp, military space policy, national security, politics, presidential power, public perceptions, public policy, Robert F. Turner, Soviet Union, space policy, space weoponization
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The Conspiracy Motif and the Nineteenth Century RLDS Church
While the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) emerged from elements in the early Mormon movement that accepted more mainstream American religious and social ideals its membership also spun its own formidable conspiracy theory. An early and … Continue reading
Posted in History, Mormonism, Personal, Religion, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Tagged Alexander McCord, apostles, Brigham Young, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, David H. Smith, Edmund C. Briggs, John Taylor, Joseph Smith, Joseph Smith III, Mormons, religion, RLDS, Willard Richards, William B. Smith
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Toward a Theory of Conspiracy Theories
The recent conspiracy theories surrounding the military exercise, Jade Helm 15, being planned by the U.S. Department of Defense in the summer of 2015 has led me to consider the place of conspiracies in American history. There are a lot of conspiracy … Continue reading
Posted in History, Personal
Tagged conspiracy, conspiracy theory, David Brion Davis, FDR, Pearl Harbor
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