Here’s some more evidence the Republican Party has drifted far to the right from its traditional conservative positions in the 1950s. All these positions are found in the Republican Party platform of 1956: We are proud of and shall continue … Continue reading
For Labor Day in 1956 the Young Republicans produced this poster celebrating American workers: This seems so remote from the ideas espoused by many of today’s radicalized Tea Party Republicans that you might think it’s a joke, but in fact … Continue reading
This is a quite interesting half-hour panel discussion hosted by the Institute of Art and Ideas in Britain on Steven Pinker’s 2011 book The Better Angels of Our Nature (which I reviewed in this earlier post). Participants include Pinker himself, … Continue reading
Apologies for the déjà vu, but I made a big enough error in a previous post that I think it merits a second try. The following graphic, created by Steve Haroz, shows relative spending on scientific research and the military … Continue reading
This is an actual an educational video, based on the song “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani, that teaches some interesting history about the Black Plague, the horrifically deadly pandemic that wiped out about a third of Europe’s population in the … Continue reading
Here’s a striking graphic comparing 2011 U.S. spending on national defense versus scientific and medical research. As a bonus, the combined total budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration over the entirety of its existence — from its creation … Continue reading
I’ve long been a fan of ElectoralVote.com and the usually intelligent commentary from the quasi-anonymous “Votemaster” behind it. But an item in the November 15 edition contained the following assertion: (Actually, the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free any slaves because there … Continue reading
One of the sites I always check is NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. Here’s the entry for November 14 (today): As usual, you can click the YouTube link for more information and related videos. by … Continue reading
An 80-page report from the Pew Forum (PDF) published October 9 contains some interesting statistics about the current state of declining religious belief in the United States. In the latest survey, 2.4 percent describe themselves as atheists, 3.3 as agnostics, … Continue reading
The popular web comic XKCD has a nice graphic illustrating the changing makeup of Congress, by party and ideology, over U.S. history. Click on the image below (or this link) for a larger, more readable version, or click on one … Continue reading