Tag Archives: alexander

A History of Trees – Simon Wills

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A History of Trees

Simon Wills

Genre: Nature

Price: $11.99

Publish Date: October 30, 2018

Publisher: Pen & Sword Books

Seller: OpenRoad Integrated Media, LLC


Make Arbor Day every day with little known and intriguing facts about the plants that populate our forests, give us shade, and clean our air.   Have you ever wondered how trees got their names? What did our ancestors think about trees, and how were they used in the past? This fascinating book will answer many of your questions, but also reveal interesting stories that are not widely known. For example, the nut from which tree was predicted to pay off the UK’s national debt? Or why is Europe’s most popular pear called the “conference”? Simon Wills tells the history of twenty-eight common trees in an engaging and entertaining way, and every chapter is illustrated with his photographs.   Find out why the London plane tree is so frequently planted in our cities, and how our forebears were in awe of the magical properties of hawthorn. Where is Britain’s largest conker tree? Which tree was believed to protect you against both lightning and witchcraft?   The use of bay tree leaves as a sign of victory by athletes in ancient Greece led to them being subsequently adopted by many others—from Roman emperors to the Royal Marines. But why were willow trees associated with Alexander Pope, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Samuel Johnson? Why did Queen Anne pay a large sum for a cutting from a walnut tree in Somerset? Discover the answers to these and many other intriguing tales within the pages of this highly engrossing book.  

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A History of Trees – Simon Wills

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Physics – Aristotle, R. P. Hardie & R. K. Gaye

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Physics

Aristotle, R. P. Hardie & R. K. Gaye

Genre: Science & Nature

Price: $1.99

Publish Date: August 15, 2012

Publisher: Linkko Publishing

Seller: Lulu Enterprises, Inc.


“The first of those who studied science were misled in their search for truth and the nature of things by their inexperience, which as it were thrust them into another path. So they say that none of the things that are either comes to be or passes out of existence, because what comes to be must do so either from what is or from what is not, both of which are impossible.”…. Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Aristotle's Physics is one of the early foundational of physics that offered a coherent, logical, and natural explanation of motion and change within the physical world. It is a collection of treatises that deal with the most general philosophical principles of natural or moving things, both living and non-living. It discusses the principles and causes of change, movement and motion.

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Physics – Aristotle, R. P. Hardie & R. K. Gaye

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The EPA is rolling back gas mileage rules for cars.

In 11th grade, I had an inane habit of staying up very late IMing my stoner boyfriend and/or stalking boys who were cuter than him on Myspace. As a result, I essentially never woke up on time for school — which, in my defense, started at 7:45 a.m. — but I REFUSED to acknowledge my role in that in any way.

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY THIS KEEPS HAPPENING,” I would moan at every tardiness slip. I understood extremely well why this kept happening.

According to a Huffington Post report by Alexander Kaufman, the EPA is taking a very similar approach to its communications on climate change. On Tuesday evening, the agency’s Office of Public Affairs sent around an internal set of talking points.

To sum up: The EPA is dealin’ with climate change! But it sure doesn’t know why it’s happenin’!

Consider some of the OPA-provided points:

Human activity impacts our changing climate in some manner. The ability to measure with precision the degree and extent of that impact, and what to do about it, are subject to continuing debate and dialogue.
While there has been extensive research and a host of published reports on climate change, clear gaps remain including our understanding of the role of human activity and what we can do about it.

Replace “human activity” with “staying up until 1 a.m. on the internet” and “changing climate” or “climate change” with “always being late to school,” and my point stands.

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The EPA is rolling back gas mileage rules for cars.

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Lawmakers are trying to criminalize pipeline protesters for “conspiracy.”

In 11th grade, I had an inane habit of staying up very late IMing my stoner boyfriend and/or stalking boys who were cuter than him on Myspace. As a result, I essentially never woke up on time for school — which, in my defense, started at 7:45 a.m. — but I REFUSED to acknowledge my role in that in any way.

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY THIS KEEPS HAPPENING,” I would moan at every tardiness slip. I understood extremely well why this kept happening.

According to a Huffington Post report by Alexander Kaufman, the EPA is taking a very similar approach to its communications on climate change. On Tuesday evening, the agency’s Office of Public Affairs sent around an internal set of talking points.

To sum up: The EPA is dealin’ with climate change! But it sure doesn’t know why it’s happenin’!

Consider some of the OPA-provided points:

Human activity impacts our changing climate in some manner. The ability to measure with precision the degree and extent of that impact, and what to do about it, are subject to continuing debate and dialogue.
While there has been extensive research and a host of published reports on climate change, clear gaps remain including our understanding of the role of human activity and what we can do about it.

Replace “human activity” with “staying up until 1 a.m. on the internet” and “changing climate” or “climate change” with “always being late to school,” and my point stands.

View this article:

Lawmakers are trying to criminalize pipeline protesters for “conspiracy.”

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California banned some super potent greenhouse gases.

In 11th grade, I had an inane habit of staying up very late IMing my stoner boyfriend and/or stalking boys who were cuter than him on Myspace. As a result, I essentially never woke up on time for school — which, in my defense, started at 7:45 a.m. — but I REFUSED to acknowledge my role in that in any way.

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY THIS KEEPS HAPPENING,” I would moan at every tardiness slip. I understood extremely well why this kept happening.

According to a Huffington Post report by Alexander Kaufman, the EPA is taking a very similar approach to its communications on climate change. On Tuesday evening, the agency’s Office of Public Affairs sent around an internal set of talking points.

To sum up: The EPA is dealin’ with climate change! But it sure doesn’t know why it’s happenin’!

Consider some of the OPA-provided points:

Human activity impacts our changing climate in some manner. The ability to measure with precision the degree and extent of that impact, and what to do about it, are subject to continuing debate and dialogue.
While there has been extensive research and a host of published reports on climate change, clear gaps remain including our understanding of the role of human activity and what we can do about it.

Replace “human activity” with “staying up until 1 a.m. on the internet” and “changing climate” or “climate change” with “always being late to school,” and my point stands.

Link: 

California banned some super potent greenhouse gases.

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Kwame Alexander’s Resistance Reading

Mother Jones

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Courtesy of Kwame Alexander

We asked a range of authors, artists, and poets to suggest the books that bring them solace or understanding in this age of political rancor. Two dozen or so responded. Here are the thoughts of Kwame Alexander, whose novel-in-verse The Crossover won the 2015 Newbery Medal, the highest honor in young people’s literature.

Latest book: Solo (with Mary Rand Hess; out August 1)
Also known for: The Crossover
Recommended reading: Literature is instant access to humanity. It’s the one art form that allows us to walk in someone else’s shoes for a while and experience lives we might not otherwise understand. It also allows us to find mirrors of ourselves, of our best selves, in times when we feel alone and unsure of the world. And right now the world feels a little crazy. Books are these worlds within a world—safe places to tramp in anxious times and return gently to our own living world, more aware, more fulfilled and hopefully more inspired and courageous. And that is why Mary Rand Hess and I set out to write books like Solo, taking readers on a character’s life-changing journey for the sake of the experience, for the sake of humanity. This is rock and roll and redemption, baby! These are the journeys that run deep, and the ships we take come early and often. We can take as many ships as we like, as often as we like. We only need to choose the right ones.

There are so many incredible books that speak to our times, stories that take place in the past, present, and future. Stories that connect us to our ancestors or people who lived like our ancestors, or to the people who paved the way for our world today—stories like The Underground Railroad, All The Light We Cannot See, Freedom Over Me, March. Stories for adults, teens, and children. Stories that grab hold of us and show us all the pain and beauty that races through and weaves between covers—books like Speak, Pax, Brown Girl Dreaming, Radiant Child, Bridge to Terabithia, As Brave as You, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Tale of Despereaux. Selected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni (and Langston Hughes and Pablo Neruda). The Crossover and The Playbook (you know I had to mention those, right?) and so many more. Books that will stick with us, comfort us, and strengthen us, long after we’ve read them. Books that will connect us to each other.

P.S. Read Rumi!
_______

So far in this series: Kwame Alexander, Margaret Atwood, W. Kamau Bell, and T Cooper. (New posts daily.)

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Kwame Alexander’s Resistance Reading

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Trump Unfamiliar With Both New START and 2013 Immigration Bill

Mother Jones

The latest tidbit of Trump idiocy making the rounds is this disclosure about his call last week with Vladimir Putin:

When Putin raised the possibility of extending the 2010 treaty, known as New START, Trump paused to ask his aides in an aside what the treaty was, these sources said. Trump then told Putin the treaty was one of several bad deals negotiated by the Obama administration, saying that New START favored Russia. Trump also talked about his own popularity, the sources said.

There are, as usual, several things we can say about this:

Trump’s ignorance is almost boundless.
He nonetheless refuses to be briefed before calls with foreign leaders.
The willingness of his staff to leak unflattering anecdotes about him is both epic and unprecedented.

But the bit that caught my attention was this: “Trump also talked about his own popularity, the sources said.” This is far from the first time we’ve heard this. Trump is apparently nearly incapable of talking with a foreign leader without blathering about how terrific he is, how well loved he is, how epic his victory was, and how gigantic the crowds at his inauguration were.

And as long as we’re on the subject, here’s Trump idiocy #2 for the day. Sen. Joe Manchin passes along the following anecdote about immigration legislation from a White House lunch today:

According to the West Virginia Democrat, when Trump noted that there is no current immigration legislation under consideration on Capitol Hill, another senator in attendance, Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), mentioned the 2013 bill. Alexander also noted that the 2013 bill had passed with 68 votes, Manchin recalled.

“Well, that sounds like something good and you all agreed, 68? What happened to it?” Trump said, according to Manchin.

“I’ll tell you exactly what happened, Mr. President,” Manchin said he told Trump. “It went to the House and Majority Leader Eric Cantor gets defeated. They’re crying ‘Amnesty, amnesty, amnesty’ and House Speaker John Boehner could not bring it back up on the floor and get a vote — that’s exactly what happened.”

At that point, Trump said, “I want to see it,” Manchin said. “So he was very anxious to see it. He says, ‘I know what amnesty is.’ And I said, ‘Sir, I don’t think you’re going to find this is amnesty at all.’”

Sean Spicer later “clarified” that Trump opposes the 2013 bill and considers it to be amnesty. And I suppose he does, now that someone has told him what his opinion is supposed to be.

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Trump Unfamiliar With Both New START and 2013 Immigration Bill

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Steven Mnuchin Just Doesn’t Understand

Mother Jones

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This is adorable:

When Steven Mnuchin, Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of the Treasury, was asked about tax reform in his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, he took things in a surprising direction: He suggested that the IRS needed a larger staff.

“I was particularly surprised, looking at the IRS numbers, that the IRS headcount has gone down quite dramatically, almost 30 percent over the last number of years,” Mnuchin said in response to a question from Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican….“Now perhaps the IRS just started with way too many people,” Mnuchin added. But he suggested that “staffing of the IRS is an important part of fixing the tax gap.”

That’s, um, surprising, all right. Yessir, Mr. Mnuchin. Very surprising indeed.

For those of you who don’t get the joke, this is sort of like Mnuchin testifying in front of a bunch of mafia dons and expressing surprise that they charge such high interest rates in their lending operation. Maybe with lower rates you gentlemen could expand into the suburban market and gain a share of the home equity business? Lotta kitchen remodels out there.

Basically, Mnuchin looked at the IRS numbers like a normal person and was surprised to see that they weren’t trying to maximize tax collections. He apparently didn’t realize that the Republicans he was testifying in front of have been very deliberately slashing the IRS budget for years precisely so they can’t maximize tax collections. The last thing Republicans want is an IRS that audits rich people more closely.

Mnuchin will learn. After all, Donald Trump did. Remember when Trump suggested that women who get abortions should be punished? He had no idea what he was talking about, and just assumed that since Republicans consider abortion bad, the maximal anti-abortion position must be good. He didn’t realize that jailing middle-class teenagers is a position unpopular enough to jeopardize GOP reelection prospects, and as a result Republicans have long insisted that even if they manage to make abortion illegal, they will always consider women who get abortions to be “victims” of unscrupulous butchers, not lawbreakers. That’s the party line, anyway, and everyone is expected to know it.

Before long, I’m sure Mnuchin will learn to listen respectfully to harangues about the gold standard and fiat money and ending the Fed. It’s a small price to pay for the opportunity to occupy the position once held by Alexander Hamilton.

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Steven Mnuchin Just Doesn’t Understand

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The Invention of Nature – Andrea Wulf

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The Invention of Nature

Alexander von Humboldt’s New World

Andrea Wulf

Genre: Nature

Price: $12.99

Publish Date: September 15, 2015

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Seller: Penguin Random House LLC


The acclaimed author of Founding Gardeners reveals the forgotten life of Alexander von Humboldt, the visionary German naturalist whose ideas changed the way we see the natural world—and in the process created modern environmentalism. NATIONAL BEST SELLER One of the&#xa0; New York Times 10&#xa0;Best Books of the Year Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The&#xa0;James Wright Award for Nature Writing, the&#xa0; Costa Biography Award, the Royal Geographic Society's Ness Award, the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the &#xa0;Kirkus &#xa0;Prize Prize for Nonfiction, the&#xa0;Independent Bookshop Week Book Award A &#xa0; Best Book of the Year: The New York Times,&#xa0;The Atlantic,&#xa0;The Economist ,&#xa0; Nature ,&#xa0; Jezebel ,&#xa0; Kirkus Reviews ,&#xa0; Publishers Weekly ,&#xa0; New Scientist ,&#xa0; The Independent ,&#xa0; The Telegraph ,&#xa0; The Sunday Times,&#xa0;The Evening Standard, The Spectator Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. In North America, his name still graces four counties, thirteen towns, a river, parks, bays, lakes, and mountains. His restless life was packed with adventure and discovery, whether he was climbing the highest volcanoes in the world or racing through anthrax-infected Siberia or translating his research into bestselling publications that changed science and thinking. Among Humboldt’s most revolutionary ideas was a radical vision of nature, that it is a complex and interconnected global force that does not exist for the use of humankind alone. Now Andrea Wulf brings the man and his achievements back into focus: his daring expeditions and investigation of wild environments around the world and his discoveries of similarities between climate and vegetation zones on different continents. She also discusses his prediction of human-induced climate change, his remarkable ability to fashion poetic narrative out of scientific observation, and his relationships with iconic figures such as Simón Bolívar and Thomas Jefferson. Wulf examines how Humboldt’s writings inspired other naturalists and poets such as Darwin, Wordsworth, and Goethe, and she makes the compelling case that it was Humboldt’s influence that led John Muir to his ideas of natural preservation and that shaped Thoreau’s Walden . With this brilliantly researched and compellingly written book, Andrea Wulf shows the myriad fundamental ways in which Humboldt created our understanding of the natural world, and she champions a renewed interest in this vital and lost player in environmental history and science. From the Hardcover edition.

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The Invention of Nature – Andrea Wulf

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How a DNC Staffer’s Murder Unleashed a Perfect Storm of Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories

Mother Jones

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The July 12 shooting of Seth Rich, a 27-year-old staffer at the Democratic National Committee, was likely a robbery gone wrong, according to Washington, DC, police. But to the dismay of Rich’s family, his death has become fodder for dark anti-Hillary Clinton conspiracy theories that have been circulated widely on social media and amplified by longtime Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone.

The main theory speculates that Rich was murdered because he was a source for WikiLeaks, which published nearly 20,000 of the DNC’s hacked emails and other files last month. That theory has brewed on the internet, including in a popular pro-Trump subreddit, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange lent it credence on Tuesday when he hinted during an interview on Dutch television that Rich might have been a WikiLeaks source. Yet he refused to confirm whether Rich had any links to WikiLeaks, saying only, “I am suggesting that our sources take risks and they become concerned to see things occurring like that.” The site offered a $20,000 reward on Tuesday for any information that would help solve Rich’s murder.

Assange said during the interview that the shooting was a “concerning situation” and stressed that the motive was still unknown, but police say there is no evidence that Rich’s death was politically motivated. “At this time, there is no indication that Seth Rich’s death is connected to his employment at the DNC,” the DC Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement on Wednesday to Mother Jones.

The statement also said the police “are pleased when any outside contributors help us generate new leads.” But Rich’s family has criticized Assange for his comments. Brad Bauman, a spokesman for the family, told Business Insider on Wednesday that the family wanted talk of conspiracy theories to stop. “For the sake of finding Seth’s killer, and for the sake of giving the family the space they need at this terrible time, they are asking for the public to refrain from pushing unproven and harmful theories about Seth’s murder,” Bauman said.

Assange is not the only person to float wild theories about Rich’s killing. Stone, a longtime Republican strategist and close ally of Trump, has used the death to promote the right-wing “Clinton body count” theory that claims the Clintons have been responsible for numerous political murders dating back to the 1980s.

Stone, who has admitted to communicating with Assange, spent much of Tuesday and Wednesday tweeting links to Assange’s “confirmation” that Rich was a WikiLeaks source, as well as other messages in support of the body count theory. Others on the right have been pushing the conspiracy talk in recent weeks, claiming that recent deaths—including those of Rich, a Tim Kaine aide named Joe Montano, and even anti-Clinton and Holocaust-denial author Victor Thorn—were orchestrated by Clinton.

Rachel Alexander, a columnist at the right-wing website Townhall, wrote a piece on Tuesday laying out the theory. “What is comes down to is this: how many other politicians have you heard of who have had so many mysterious deaths associated with them?” Alexander wrote. “You don’t hear of a Bush body count—not even an Obama body count.” Jared Wyand, who runs a popular pro-Trump Twitter account called Watch Clinton Cash, tweeted a video roundup of alleged Clinton murder plots. Even Curt Schilling, the former Red Sox pitcher turned right-wing internet celebrity, got in on the act.

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How a DNC Staffer’s Murder Unleashed a Perfect Storm of Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories

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