Wise Words

"The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it." -American writer H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)

All your books are belonging to us

The following column exposes a terrifying possibility with that trendy innovation, the ebook, as typified by Amazon's Kindle. Such books have "digital strings" that can yank them away from you.

http://www.slate.com/id/2223214/

Four Questions for a Monday Morning

1. What exactly is it about the combination of a tongue and larynx, that enables the wonder of human speech?

A bird, without benefit of larynx, can mimic basic human vocalizations.

But neither a bird nor a man can do it without the aid of that soppy thing we call a tongue -- a simplistic-looking strip of flesh that obviously is anything but simplistic. How does the bending and twisting and curling of a tongue alter air patterns to form a, b, c, etc.?

2. What is it within a substance that causes the different reflective waves that we register as varying colors? Why is it that coal reflects a different wave length than a cup of milk?

3. Is it possible to set forth a better pattern for society -- one not motivated by materialism and the plundering of our planet -- yet one that also respects liberty and doesn't crush the human spirit? Or are we doomed to a combined human hell of more pavement, more pollution and more Orwellian tyrannies anchored more firmly by technology?

4. What exactly happens in the brain of someone who commits a heinous crime? Could it be scientifically analyzed, pinpointed, even predicted? What then?