A Round-up of News That Happened While I Was Gone

I've just returned home from Provo, UT, where this year's American Association of Physics Teachers summer conference was held. It was followed by the Physics Teacher Resource Agents (PTRA) yearly Institute training in Capital Reef National Park, in a Dark Skies training facility. The facility works very hard to eliminate/reduce light pollution in the area, to improve astronomical observation - not just for the professional scientists, but also for the many amateurs that take advantage of the amazing night sky.

It was hard - NOT primitive by any means - we had indoor sinks/showers/flush toilets - it was challenging. Rough terrain, high altitude (I did NOT suffer from altitude sickness this time), and very long days, followed by staying up/getting up for night sky observations.

But, it was great. One of the better parts is that, although there was some limited internet access, most of the time, our cell phones were inoperable.

What a terrific event! We all had time to spend talking to each other - catch up on personal life (many of us have known each other for years, if not decades), discuss the workshops, and ask questions about how we might pass on this experience of astronomy and quantum physics.

Most of us slept the best we have in years. Sheer exhaustion will do that to you.

This morning, I got up, made the coffee, and have been catching up on the news.

Claremont Institute has some important observations about multiculturalism - you'll want to read it, just for talking points at your next barbecue.

Red-Baiting is back, with a new target - Republicans. Uh-huh, that's right - those that reject the Leftist program are being accused of being their puppet.

I must have journeyed into Bizarro-land while traveling. It's totally a thing, this interdimensional travel.

The French Revolution lives! We're heading swiftly to the Jacobin Reign of Terror! We already have revolutionaries arguing about who is not revolutionary enough; next stop, Le Guillotine!

I'm torn about this - my hometown, Lakewood, OH (my family moved there when I was 4 months old, and I only left when I married), had several murals of the WPA era at the main post office. They were removed sometime in the last 25 years, don't know whether they tried to preserve them. But, the deliciousness of Leftists arguing to get rid of Leftist murals, because they are not sufficiently 'woke', fills me with a guilty pleasure. The protestors didn't care that the art was anti-American, just that it could be opposed on racial grounds.

I could write more - I probably will, eventually, but I'm hungry.