A speculative mind

If your religion does not permit you to “believe in science” then read no further. You won’t like this. I am not of the opinion that scientists know everything there is to know. Quite the opposite. We will always have more questions than answers. That is the nature of science. Being a devotee of science I get a little tired of seeing “aliens” in science fiction shows that look an awful lot like humans. Those of you who follow my blog know that I am a fan of Star Trek. But Star Trek, both the original series and its successors, is probably more guilty of this than anyone. Consider the following: We have Vulcans who look like humans but with pointed ears; Romulans, who look like humans with pointed ears; Klingons, who have changed in the various incarnations but even at their most outlandish, just look like humans with plates on their forehead; Kardashians, who look like humans but with big boobs and butts (sorry I couldn’t help myself); I mean Cardassians, who look like humans wit...

First, let me say that I am a white man. You could say that I am the very epitome of a WASP. This has led to a somewhat sheltered view of the world, when it comes to racism. As a child growing up in the 1960’s. I couldn’t help but notice what was happening in our country, the marches, the Civil Rights Act etc. I was not paying that much attention to the news at my age, but still, you couldn’t help but notice that change was happening. My family, being the family that it was, celebrated that change. My father was actually an active participant, helping to get sundown laws struck off the books in our community. Change was happening, there was no mistaking it. There is an episode of Star Trek (the original series) called “Plato’s Stepchildren.” Kirk and company beam down to a planet where the inhabitants have developed psychic powers. Except one of the inhabitants is a dwarf named Alexander who has no such powers. Alexander has been pushed around and is tantamount to a slave...

Time to dredge out some of my pet peeves. These are words that I hear people say (usually on television or the radio) that are used incorrectly. Enormity: This is one that grates on my nerves every time I hear it used incorrectly. It does not mean Huge, or super big, or ginormous. Enormity means evil, usually a great evil. While it is understandable that an average person might confuse enormity with something that is enormous, I have heard people who should know better (writers, reporters) who misuse this word. It would be appropriate to say “. . . the enormity of the 9/11 attacks . . .” or “. . . the enormity of Hitler’s Holocaust . . .” It would not be appropriate to say “ . . . the enormity of the Sahara Desert . . .” Iregardless: This is not a word. You meant to say regardless. Laid: I will confess that this one tripped me up in my younger days. If you are talking about reclining, the past tense of lie is lay. For the verb lay, meaning to set something down, the ...

Being a cartographer, I have an interest in the history of how places got their names. People take names for granted. Someone might live in Oklahoma all their life without any clue as to why it is called Oklahoma. Sometimes place names have fascinating origins. Here are a few: I live in the United States of America. This name is a rather unwieldy mouthful of words. Where did that come from? There was a minor effort to call our country Columbia. Most people have heard of Christopher Columbus (however you feel about him), fewer have heard of Amerigo Vespucci. But it was Vespucci who led expeditions that first demonstrated that the islands Columbus had found and the larger land mass behind them was not Asia, but was in fact a whole new land. A cartographer of the time decided to call the new continent “America,” after the explorer’s first name (perhaps he thought it sounded better than “Vespuccia”). In any event, the rest of the name just sort of grew with usage. To foster the s...