Author Archives: William Hooke

The previous LOTRW post, Presidential power – not all it’s cracked up to be, argued that the President’s recent decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement, while comforting to elements of his base, was really of small consequence. … Continue reading →

(Yesterday’s furor over the President’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement may have been overblown. Here’s why.) _________________________ Richard Neustadt, the famous presidential historian, tells us what some of Mr. Trumps’ predecessors had to say about the … Continue reading →

“We learn geology the morning after the earthquake.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson President Trump’s speech announcing U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate agreement appears to be triggering the predicted response. Both domestically and globally, people everywhere, from diverse publics – … Continue reading →

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet – William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet) What’s past is prologue – William Shakespeare (The Tempest) Saturday’s print edition of the Washington Post … Continue reading →

Stephen Hawking has been asking a proper question: How much time do we (humans) have here on Earth? His answer is uncertain, and in fact has been a moving target, but can be summed up like this: not much! (and … Continue reading →

1When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will … Continue reading →

(With apologies to – and continuing admiration for – The New Yorker, which for decades had a column by this name.) While our backs have been turned, social scientists have been working on cool stuff. A sample, in no particular … Continue reading →

The other day an alert LOTRW reader (thank you!) passed along this link to an April 26 post by Brad Plumer on Vox. In this article, entitled A Cold War theory for why scientists and the government have become so … Continue reading →

“Scientists are a community of scholars engaged in a common search for knowledge.” – line (as I recall it) from my ninth-grade science textbook[1] Yesterday had a lot of moving parts around our household, but a time window between noon … Continue reading →

… one last, brief set of thoughts for scientists on the eve of tomorrow’s March for Science and Earth Day. This post is triggered by an article by Tim Requarth in Slate (a tip of the hat to Fred Carr, … Continue reading →