It happens quite frequently. You are in a social situation and someone makes a comment in passing that displays a level of, if not outright bigotry, at least some insensitivity to issues of race or gender or sexuality. The remark is usually thrown out casually as if the speaker thinks that this view is the norm or correct. What should one do in such a situation?
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The killing by police of a 12-year old boy Tamir Rice who had been reported on a 911 call as waving around a toy gun has caused a major controversy in Cleveland, coming so soon after the events in Ferguson. You can see the video of the events leading up to the shooting here.
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The cricket world was stunned by the news that a top Australian cricketer Phil Hughes was killed after being hit at the base of the skull by a ball. Serious head injuries had been more common in the past but were greatly reduced ever since batsmen started wearing protective gear like hard helmets with face masks and extensive padding over the body, though they do still happen.
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For people who arrived in the US as adults, as I did, Thanksgiving does not carry with it the childhood associations that it has for those who are native-born and initially it left me rather cold. But over time, it has become of my favorite holiday for many reasons.
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Reports are emerging of new computer malware that is attacking systems across the world. Morgan Marquis-Boire, Claudio Guarnieri, and Ryan Gallagher report in The Intercept that security analysts say that it has all the hallmarks of being the product of the US and UK governments.
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Myths are tenacious. Many of us get frustrated in our attempts to try and set things straight because it seems like people will believe them against all the evidence. Trying to convince them they are wrong does not seem to work. But maybe we are going about it the wrong way, two authors argue, with the result that we end up actually strengthening the belief rather than weakening it.
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Theodore Parker (1810-1860) was an abolitionist who once said:
“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.”
This was abbreviated by Martin Luther King, Jr. in his famous “Where Do We Go From Here?” speech of August 1967 where he said that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”
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Science research can be tricky. There are many important questions that for various reasons cannot be investigated directly and so imaginative scientists try to find some proxy method that can shed light on the question. That proxy method can seem outlandish to people who are unable or unwilling to look below the surface to see what the connection is between the visible research activity and the underlying research question. Grandstanding politicians who are anti-science often seize on these things as examples of dilettante behavior by scientists and frivolous use of taxpayer money.
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The grand jury has decided against bringing in a criminal indictment against police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of Michael Brown on August 9.
The question of who should get to decide whether a case should go to trial for a criminal offense is an important one. We do not want to clog up the courts with cases that should never have been brought but at the same time we need to ensure that people do not escape prosecution because officials in the legal system and law enforcement were protecting them. Grand juries (called such because they consist of a much larger group of people than regular juries) are one of the means that prosecutors use to decide if there is enough evidence to bring a case.
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