First Blog

The greatest contribution of the USA.   The USA has produced remarkably to the world over the past century or two.   Include construction, metals production, electronics, machinery, nuclear energy sources, aviation, medicine, and more.   Which is the greatest?   And the answer is …  Agriculture.   American scientists have developed the disease resistant crops, fertilizers, and farming methods currently feeding the world.   Without all this chow there would be no now – as we know it.   ---------------- Today’s math problem .   Let’s say the prime interest rate is 5%, and it goes up to 5.5%. Clearly the interest rate is up by 0.5%.   But, in going from 5% to 5.5% the increase is really 10%.   So which is it? Up by 0.5% or up by 10%?   And the answer is… Both.   It depends on what and how you’re counting.   In the 0.5% increase we are discussing the net increase in the borrowing percentage.   But in the 10% increase we are discussing the percentage increase of the percen

Atheists are curious types.  Let's take the strong view of athiests,  those asserting that no deity exists. (The link also discusses the weak form - more-or-less agnosticism.)   How do these folks come to this conclusion?  There are a couple of reasons: (1) Having no deity anywhere is rather convenient to one's life style.  It gives an excuse or ability to do whatever one wants without regard to primal causes or consequences.  (2) There appears to be a wide body of scientific evidence that the traditional views of creation have no credible place in their thinking and beliefs. Note, we are well beyond any religion, another topic completely, and are moving toward the existence of all that is.  Various views of the universe range widely, though mostly these days the "big-bang" theory is the lingua franca of  views. This means the universe has been created through a terrific explosion of all matter.  It created galaxies and everything else we regard as the material un