What we have here is failure to communicate

Back in high school, it was physics in which I was most interested.  It was that common interest, especially in all things quantum, that brought this guy and me together.

But, as I grew older, the humanity around me interested me even more than physics did.  It became more and more a puzzle to me that it was possible for humans to send a few humans to the moon and bring them back, but were were/are unable to solve basic problems here on earth.  I started traveling a different road.

Turns out that the problems of humanity are not at all easy to solve.  In fact, we are hell bent on making things worse.

It does not mean that my interest in physics has died out either.  Which is why when Brian Greene came to campus, I was not going to miss that opportunity.  Which is why when Scientific American has an essay about quantum communication, well, I had to read it.

I am not going to comment on the physics there.  Because, well, I have no expertise to say anything meaningful.  I am not even sure if I understood the nuances being discussed there.

But, there is something else that I want to comment about.

Consider the following names mentioned in that essay:
Hatim Salih
Jian-Wei Pan
Yuan Cao
Yu-Huai Li
Tae-Gon Noh

Consider this excerpt from that Scientific American essay:

While living in England in 2009, a young man named Hatim Salih read Noh’s paper and asked himself, “Why didn’t I think of that?” He had a degree in electronics but had taught himself quantum physics after reading a few popular books by Roger Penrose and attending seminars in York . A year later Salih returned to his native Sudan, where he marketed solar panels, and a friend invited him to be a visiting researcher at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. He did not have a PhD, but with a colleague there and two other theorists at Texas A&M University, he took “the logic of counterfactual communication to its natural conclusion.”
...
Salih then founded a company, called Qubet Research, to monetize the idea.

Take a look at this photograph from that same piece:

Now, consider this photograph:

Photo at the Fifth Solvay Conference, in 1927
Source

If only this current president and his minions understood that 2017 is not 1927.

Cassandra's Curse!

I am terribly shocked, disgusted, and depressed with this president, beyond my wildest imagination.

I am also shocked, disgusted, and depressed that his party--the GOP--and the 63 million who voted for this horrible human being continue to tolerate his behavior.

I looked up an old post of mine, from February 2, 2016.  Yes, well before he wrapped up the nomination.

That post is titled, "He must be stopped." But, how? By whom?"

In the comments/discussion there, in response to a GOP loyalist, who no longer comments here, I wrote:

Hey, your party's people--the base as well as the leaders--created this Trump monster ... unfortunately, it is not merely the GOP's problem now :(

My longtime commenter joined in with:

He's winning big in the primaries. Which essentially means that he has support from more than nutcases. And you can't say the GOP created this "monster".

I disagreed.

Oh yes, the GOP created this monster.Throughout the Obama years, Trump was the lead "birther" who loudly and repeatedly went after that issue and even boasted spending his own money to hire investigators in Hawaii, remember? The GOP leaders made sure they encouraged it by merely being silent, because--as McConnell openly stated--the GOP's only agenda was to defeat Obama and his policies. Fast forward to a year ago when all the election posturing began. Trump started mouthing one ugly thing after another and most GOP "leaders" stayed quiet because they thought this will be a nice little attack dog to have.
The GOP is fucked up, which is what now people like Lindsay Graham are worried about. But, those worries are too late after all their fucking up for short term political gains.
Yes, this GOP primary has revealed all the ugliness of America. In a way, I am happy that the ugliness, which many of us have been talking about, has been exposed instead of it being hidden away in the dark corners.

I added:

And more ... Chris Christie endorses the Donald.It is significant not because Christie is wildly influential but because "His endorsement signifies that Donald Trump is becoming an acceptable risk to the GOP establishment."(http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/02/chris_christie_endorses_donald_trump_will_others_follow.html)
A few days ago, before the SC/NV events I think, I told the friend that the Donald becoming the prez is a high probability if he gets the GOP nod. My logic is this way:if it becomes Trump v. Sanders, I can easily imagine Americans spooked by "socialism" and voting for Trumpif it becomes Trump v. Clinton, I can easily imagine Americans hating Clinton enough to vote for Trump

The 63 million voters, and the Republican Party are not only the accused, and history will condemn them to the worst possible hell.

How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

Back in high school, my friend and classmate, Chandru, had a record player, in which he played for a couple of us who had gone over to his home an LP of a music group called ABBA.  And soon after that, I came to know the music of another group, Boney M.

Those were the days when nobody was ashamed of disco music and were actually joyously singing along.  Among the many Boney M songs was one that began with "By the rivers of Babylon ..."



What I did not know until yesterday--yes, literally yesterday--was that this Boney M song, the opening lines that I was so familiar with, is from "a biblical Psalm – Psalm 137."

It is amazing how ignorant and ill-informed I am.  Every single day, this blog serves me well as a confession booth!

That tidbit is merely the starting point for my ignorance.  The essay begins thus:

On the anniversary of America’s independence, the abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass made a biblical Psalm – Psalm 137 – best known for its opening line, “By the Rivers of Babylon,” a centerpiece of his most famous speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”.
Douglass told the audience at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852, that for a free black like himself, being expected to celebrate American independence was akin to the Judean captives being mockingly coerced to perform songs in praise of Jerusalem.
Not only did it inspire the famous abolitionist; this 2,500-year-old Hebrew psalm has long served as an uplifting historical analogy for a variety of oppressed and subjugated groups, including African Americans.

Wait, what?

After that essay, I read the New Yorker and David Remnick also refers to Frederick Douglass, this Psalm, and Douglass' speech.  Seriously, am I the only one who is always stumped by own ignorance?

I decided to read Douglass' speech. Or, at least most of it.

It is powerful. It is moving. It is a must-read.  I imagine that if a James Earl Jones delivered this text, tears will flow down our cheeks listening to the words.

It will be a gross injustice to excerpt even a single sentence from that speech.  With all the apologies, and my ignorance as an excuse, I will wrap up this post with the following lines from Frederick Douglass:

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.