heresy

     People were once tried for heresy, and usually, once they were accused, they were executed. Heresy means failing to believe the accepted religious doctrine that everyone else believes. Once people were accused of heresy, there was really very little defense--how can you prove what you believe or don't believe? Most heretics were convicted, and many were burned at the stake--that means tied to a post over a large bonfire. Religious people no longer burn heretics at the stake, but many  still think that there is only one "right" thing to believe--and that everyone else should believe it as they do.

passports and visas

     If you live in the United States and want to leave it, even to go on vacation, you may need a passport and a visa. You don't need these to travel to Canada, Mexico, or some parts of the Caribbean. For travel to any other country, you will have to get a passport. A passport identifies you--it's a kind of international I.D., that you can use in other countries to show who you are and where you are from. Your passport will be an American or U.S. passport. The passport is not optional--foreign countries will not permit you to enter unless you have one. You may also need a visa--not the credit or debit card, but the original item for which these were named. A visa is granted by the foreign country you wish to visit. It gives you official permission to enter the country, and specifies how long you may stay, and perhaps where you may stay and what you may do while you are there. Our country ( the United States of America ) issues visas to foreigners who come here to visit. They may have to leave when the visa expires. If they come here as visitors, there are things they aren't supposed to do--for example, get a job.

epistemology

     How do you know things? Did you learn them from someone you consider a reputable authority or trustworthy witness? That's one way to know things. You have to know who is a reliable source of information and who is unreliable to know things through authority.  As soon as you have conflicting reports, which one do you believe?
    You can learn things through your own experience--through what you see, hear, smell, feel, and taste--through your senses. Your senses can't actually be wrong, but you may still draw false conclusions based on what your senses tell you.You may see a flashing light and assume it's a police car, but when you pull over it turns out the flashing light was a sign. You may think you hear your phone ring--and then realize that it was a phone somewhere else in the building.
     You may hear people say that they "just know things", but this really doesn't happen. Either they don't know anything, but insist that they do ( like being wrong twice on the same question ), or they don't understand how they know what they know. They may not remember everything they saw, heard, or felt, but may still have drawn correct conclusions from it. The only way to know if they actually "know" something, or just think they do, would be to remember what led them to the conclusion. Otherwise the thing they know remains a "maybe", and doesn't really do them any good.

what is a test case?

     What is a test case? In a way, there's no such thing. All of the cases in United States courts are real. Many people assume that a "test case" means a pretend case, invented just to see how a new law will work out in court, or for the sake of argument, as in a "moot" court. A test case is an actual case. The person being tried may have broken a law on purpose, because he or she disagreed with it, but the case is real. The most famous example of a test case is still the Scopes trial from 1925. Scopes was a teacher who disagreed with a new law that made it illegal to teach about evolution in the Tennessee public schools. Scopes broke the law and was arrested. Scopes had other choices--quitting his job, protesting to the board of education while obeying the law--but he chose to break the law, because he wanted to be tried in court for teaching what he believed to be accurate science. Other people have made similar choices, and have become "test cases".

your polling place

     Something that is apparently not explained clearly enough at election time--you may only vote in your designated polling place. You may not vote at any other polling place. Your polling place, if you live in the city, is probably located very close to your home. The election workers there have a roll of all the registered voters in their voting district--if you're not on it, you will not be able to vote. This happened to me once, during a presidential election. We had recently moved, and  had sent in the change of address forms. One got returned in time, one didn't.
     We pay more attention to presidential elections, but all elections are local. Your neighbors in the next block may be voting for a different set of candidates for city or town council. Although all city council members work for the city, your local representative works for your district, and is elected by the voters in your district. It wouldn't be fair to try to "crash" the election in the voting district next to yours. It wouldn't be fair to the people running and voting in the local election there, and it wouldn't be fair to you, since you wouldn't be able to vote for your choice of representative in your own district.
     If you are not sure where your polling place is, but have noticed a polling place--perhaps you pass one on the way to work--stop and ask for their help. Or call/visit the League of Women Voters, or the local headquarters of one of the political parties--democratic or republican--either one will help you find your polling place.

what makes a champion?

     A champion does not mean a winner, although that is how the word is often used. A champion takes the field ( the "champ" ) for someone else. Remember the story of the trial of Guinevere, from the Arthurian legends? Guinevere was accused of murder. Arthur, her husband, could not be her champion because as the king, he was to be her judge. Since Guinevere was accused of murdering one of the knights of the round table, no on wanted to be her champion. Finally Galahad, not much more than a boy, offered to take the field on Guinevere's behalf. If Guinevere's champion won the contest, it would prove her innocence. If he lost, she would be deemed guilty and be put to death--a "trial by combat". "Kid Galahad" won, and Guinevere was set free, by the prowess of her champion.
     The philosophy behind the belief in "trial by combat" is simple, but not readily apparent. It was assumed that the winner had the favor of God, and therefore was not only stronger, or a better fighter, but right--as in "right makes might". If the contestant had been in the wrong, he would have lost, according to this philosophy, played out in uncountable movie westerns,  gladiator films, and even war movies.

filibuster

     A "filibuster" is something they once did in congress. A senator would get up to make a speech, and then never stop talking. If the senator could talk long enough to wear everyone else out, I suppose they might vote to approve his bill ( proposed legislation ) just to shut him up. The senate no longer permits its members to filibuster.  If you are interested, you can watch Mr. Smith Goes to Washington--a good old movie about how a filibuster saved the day.

some of the things on your keyboard

 Here are some of the signs you may encounter on your keyboard, without knowing their names. Some of these signs, when they are encountered on a page,are read as if they are words. Some tell you how to pronounce what is written, or whether it is a question or a statement. Some marks help to divide what we write into sensible ideas--as we might do with our voice when speaking.

~   This is a tilde. It is used in Spanish to spell some words properly, or in English dictionaries to show how a word is  pronounced.

@  This symbol actually means "at". It is read "at". A grocer or accountant might use it to show the price per item of a number of items, for example--
6 apple @10 cents each  ( 6 apple at ten cents each ).

#  This sign means "number", used to denote where an item ranks in a series or set, for example--
This is #3, is read "this is number three".
#  is also the symbol for pounds, used as a measurement of weight, for example--
The recipe calls for a #5 can of peas  ( a number five can of peas ).

^  This is a caret. It is used to show where a word or words should be inserted, or put into, a sentence.

&  This is an ampersand. It means and, and is usually read "and", for example--
A & E is read aloud "A and E".

*  This is an asterisk.  It tells you to note or pay attention, specifically to look for a matching asterisk that may have further information about what you are reading.

( )  These are parentheses. They are always used in a matching set. The words inside the parentheses usually tell you something more about the sentence they are interrupting--a sort of "by the way" sign.

+  This is a plus or and sign, read "plus" or "and".

=  This is an "equals" sign,  read "equals". For example, 5 +5=10 ( five plus five equals ten ).

%  This is a percent sign, read "percent". Percent means how many out of a hundred, like cents out of a dollar.
10%, read ten percent, means ten out of every hundred.

!  This is an exclamation point, used to show excitement or surprise. If you are reading something aloud ( out loud ) and encounter this sign, you might raise your voice or sound more emotional.

"" These are quotation marks. I typed two of them because they are always used in a pair. The words between the quotation marks were said or written by someone else, for example--
He said "don't go near the water".
The quotation marks mean that the person writing that didn't say it, but is reporting what someone else said. The words between the quotation marks should be the actual words of another speaker or writer, not just information about what was said, for example--
Dad said we should stay away from  the water. This doesn't have quotation marks because it is not a quote, just some information passed along in the speaker's or writer's own words.

[ ]  These are brackets, also always used in a pair. They are used to show that the words enclosed within the brackets are not part of the original text, meaning the author's words. Brackets might enclose the modern spelling of  a word in an old reprinted work, for example. This shows they were not part of the original, but that an editor or compiler wanted you to know something about the work while you were in the middle of reading it.

{ } These are braces, usually used in math problems.

<  This means "less than" in math, for example--
2 < 5 ( two is less than five ).

>  This means "greater than" in math, for example--
5>2  ( five is greater than two ).

--  This is a dash or hyphen. It types in the middle of the letter. It is used to show a pause when speaking, or a separation of ideas when writing.

__  This is an underline, although it won't work that way on  most keyboards. A row of these will make a line across the page, to separate one  part from another, like this___________________________

$  This is the familiar dollar sign. It is read aloud as "dollars", or , if the actual number of dollars is specified as one, as "dollar".

'   This is an apostrophe--it prints at the top of a letter.   It is used to denote possession, meaning something that belongs to someone or something, for example--
That is John's house.
An apostrophe and an "s" are added to show the idea of possession. This is not done with words that are already "possessive", for example, yours, his, hers, and the possessive its.
An apostrophe is also used to indicate a contraction, meaning two words we have combined by leaving out a letter or letters and putting in an apostrophe, for example--
Do not do that.  Don't do that.
I will not. I won't.
It is not. It isn't.
It is mine. It's mine.

,   This is a comma--it prints at the bottom of a letter. A comma separates more than one word used to describe something. A comma separates parts of the same thought into manageable bits. It is the same as a short pause when speaking.

:  This is a colon. It denotes a sort of complete stop, usually meaning a list to follow.

;  This is a semicolon. It is used to show that two distinct and separate thoughts are actually related to each other in one sentence.

?  This is a question mark. It means the sentence is a  question. In writing, it must be at the end of every question, or it isn't really a question, which might be confusing.

/  This is a  slash, used to mean either/or. The slash is also used to type a fraction.

\   This is  a backslash.

.   Last and least, this is a "dot" or period. It denotes  the end of a sentence.

caught you again

     I have been watching "Cold Case" again, partly to see if I could catch them in an error ( not just an invention ) about our fair city of Philadelphia, the setting of the show. The episode I watched tried to move a part of the city of Philadelphia. One of the characters on the show referred to Chestnut Hill, a prosperous and historic Philadelphia neighborhood, as part of the "Main Line". The "Main Line" is not a generic term for a swanky neighborhood. It refers to the main train line of the old Paoli and Western, or "P and W", now the "Paoli and Thorndale", which misses Chestnut Hill by a few miles.

sounds like a good idea, but...

     It is against the laws of the United States to require anyone to take a test as a condition for voting--in fact, it's unconstitutional. It may sound like a good idea to assure that all of our fellow voters understand our system of government before voting in an election, but it didn't work out that way in practice. In practice ( before a constitutional amendment that made it illegal ), voting tests were administered very unfairly, according to race, or according to political affiliation.. One potential voter might have been asked "who is the president of the United States? ", and another might have been asked to recite the constitution.  Anyone who could control the voter "qualification" process was assured a victory in the election.
 Any foreigner who becomes a citizen of the United States does have to pass a test--not to vote, but to become a citizen.
     Everyone born in the United States was once assumed to be a product of state-run or state-approved schools, where they would have been taught about our system of government. With so many people now being "home schooled", this may no longer be the case. But a  voting test is not the answer--the potential for abuse is too great. If enough people do decide that a citizenship test for voting is a good idea, and that it could be fairly administered, we would need to amend the constitution to put it into practice.

schrodinger's cat

     If you watch "The Big Bang", you may have heard the characters discussing "Schrodinger's cat", a standard philosophical problem. Schrodinger's cat is supposedly sealed in a box, and we cannot know if it is alive or dead unless we open the box. The cat, while in the box, is purported to be both alive and dead--philosophically, it exists in two mutually exclusive states at the same time.
     Schrodinger's cat does not exist in two mutually exclusive states at the same time. It is not alive and dead--it is alive or dead. We thus have demonstrated to us the philosophical principle of uncertainty--we do not know, and cannot know, whether the cat is alive or dead--unless we open the box.

things found in old books

     I have bought thousands of used or old books, and sometimes a little something is left behind in them. The most common thing to find in an old book is the receipt--even 50 or 60 years later. The next most common thing to find is a bookmark or card from the store where the book was originally purchased. I have found a few other mementos--a beautiful hand-tinted postcard of Venice or Florence--some school notes--a photograph of some men in military work uniforms, probably during the Korean War--a leaf that left a silhouette on the page--a pressed flower--a 40 year old credit card bill--and two four leafed clovers.

fraud, old style

     We all know that fraud isn't anything new--or do we? You can read about fraud in the Bible--yes, the Bible. Remember the part where Ananias promises the group the money he gets for selling something, but keeps part of the money?  The Annals of Imperial Rome, also about 2,000 years old, describes fraud and graft in detail. A whole section of Rome burned--while Nero fiddled, supposedly. After the fire was put out, all of the upper-class Romans who owned property in the burned section were voted money to build nice new villas in another part of town. Arson isn't mentioned, but it certainly is suspicious, isn't it?

check your facts

     When you write an opinion piece, it's important not only to check your facts, but to write so that others can check your facts if they want to.  If you are writing about what happened in a movie, a book, a play, a TV show, a magazine or newspaper article, a website or a blog, tell your readers the name of it--and the  issue/episode/page/chapter, or whatever. Give the address of the website. Name ( politely ) the author of the book, play or article. Your readers may not take the trouble to check your facts, but by showing them that you don't mind if they do, they may not feel a need to--and they'll have more respect for your opinion because of it.

the assassination wasn't "solved"

     People remain interested in the assassination of John F. Kennedy because, in a way, it couldn't be "solved".  After Kennedy was shot, a suspect was arrested--Lee Harvey Oswald. While moving Oswald from one jail to another, Oswald was shot and killed by a man--Jack Ruby--standing among the spectators. Here in the United States, we can't try the dead, and Oswald was dead. We have the right to be confronted with the witnesses against us, which can't occur if the accused is absent or dead. So there was no trial for Oswald--just the Warren Commission, which did investigate the murder. Conspiracy theorists have been busy ever since.

the iron curtain

     World War II ended in 1945, when the Americans and the Russians met in Berlin. Germany was defeated, and its territory was divided between the Russians, in the east, and the Americans, British, and French, in the west. Although the Americans and the Russians had been allies during the war, the Americans distrusted the Russians, and disapproved of their communist government. This was the beginning of what came to be known as the "Cold War" between the United States and the Soviet Union ( Russia ). Europe was divided, along an east-west line, with the Soviets having great influence in the east, and the United States ( America ) in the west. The Americans tried to broadcast by radio into the countries of Eastern Europe, but were eventually blocked by an "iron curtain".  The term "iron curtain" was more literal than figurative. Planes carried iron chains back and forth along the borders to block the unwanted radio transmissions. The Americans believed they were broadcasting messages of freedom. The people in Eastern Europe thought that their own attempts to communicate with one another were being blocked by a form of pirate radio. This was all part of the "Cold War" that had a generation fearing a real war, possibly a nuclear war.

when you read you begin with ABC

     Unfortunately for the many adults who need basic literacy classes, there are no real shortcuts to learning to read.  It may take less time for an adult, but the beginning is still the ABC's--learning to write them, both upper and lower case, learning to recognize them, and learning the sounds that they represent. Any adult who does this is more than halfway to literacy. Adults who try to skip this don't learn to read--and the teachers who have told them that there is a "shortcut" have done them a disservice, and worse than a disservice.

the federalist papers

     If you just can't stand to listen to people arguing about the "original intent" of the framers of the United States Constitution, you might try reading The Federalist Papers.  It's quite an undertaking, but you might find it worthwhile. The original papers were written as letters to the editor, and published in the newspaper, while the constitution was still being written and discussed. Ordinary citizens could read in the newspaper the arguments for each decision made, and why some alternatives were rejected. If you are interested in a particular article or amendment, you can use the book's index to "search" for it, instead of reading the entire book.

why we argue about nuclear power

  People spend a lot of time arguing about nuclear power--you may have read some of their comments on the internet. Nuclear power, also called atomic power, can be used to generate electricity. Electricity is the same no matter how it is generated--by a nuclear power plant, a windmill, a coal-burning power plant, a hydroelectric ( a dam over running water ) plant, or by solar panels. All the electricity reaches your home to turn on your lights in the same way. Different methods of generating electricity have different effects on the environment, and on the people ( us ) and creatures who live in it. Solar panels, windmills and hydroelectric plants produce little or no pollution. Coal-burning plants make smoke and smog, and release chemicals into the air. Nuclear power produces radiation, including radioactive waste--the same radioactivity that killed many people who survived the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. No one really knows what to do with this radioactive waste--a lot of it is put in steel drums and dumped in the ocean.We do know that radioactive waste remains potentially harmful for thousands of years. That's what everyone is arguing about.

a featherless biped

     When asked to define a human being, a famous ancient philosopher said that man is a "featherless biped" ( walks on two legs, no feathers)--who can argue with that?

"dirty" electricity

     A woman wrote a comment on a website recently about "dirty" electricity. She was sure that the electricity in her house was dirty, because she heard that coal was burned to make it. She was misinformed about the electricity, but not about the dirt--not exactly. The electricity made from burning coal is the same as any other electricity. The electricity made from a nuclear reactor is the same as any other electricity. When it gets to your house, it's just electricity, and all of it is the same. The "dirt" happens where the electricity is made--where the coal is burned. There may be more smog there, and more air pollution. When people talk or write about "clean" electricity, they are promoting sources of electricity that don't pollute the air as much as burning coal does, and that don't leave nuclear waste behind. The burning of coal may be miles from where the electricity is consumed, but it still pollutes the air, so many people are opposed to it--because of its "side effects" or "marginal costs"--not because the product ( electricity ) is any different.