Author Archives: Kit Stolz

Hillary: Bush Declared War on Science

In a speech on the anniversary of the Sputnik launch, Hillary Clinton said today:

Fifty years ago, Sputnik marked the dawn of the Space Age and the
beginning of a new era filled with new challenges. Fifty years later,
there is no single, galvanizing event to steel our resolve and to lift
our eyes to the heavens. The challenges we face are more complex and
interconnected. From the rise of globalization to the threat of global
warming. These challenges require big ideas and bold thinking.

But instead of fostering a climate of discovery and
innovation, the Bush administration has declared war on science. The
record is breathtaking:

The Dangerous Allure of the World Trade Center

No better way to gauge the worth of a book has ever been found than the test of time, and John McPhee’s work stands up spectacularly well, I think it’s fair to say, in this passage from a book he published back in l973. It’s called The Curve of Binding Energy, and it’s about the danger of small nuclear weapons constructed by the likes of terrorists, but below is the passage that most stands out, late in the book, about McPhee and physicist Ted Taylor driving into Manhattan, and seeing the World Trade Center:

The book works on several levels: as a factual warning, as a character study, and as pure writing in the non-fiction genre. Because the passage is long, I’m going to put most of it below the fold, but I guarantee, you will not regret the time spent reading it:

Driving down from Peekskill…we found ourselves on Manhattan’s West Side Highway just at sunset and the beginning of dusk. There ahead of us several miles, and seeming to rise right out of the road, were the two towers of the World Trade Center, windows blazing with interior light and with red reflected streaks from the sunset over New Jersey. We had been heading for midtown but impulsively kept going, drawn irresistibly toward two of the tallest buildings in the world. We went down the Chambers Street ramp and parked, in a devastation of rubble, beside the Hudson River. [The buildings were still under construction at the time.] Across the water, in New Jersey, the Colgate sign, a huge neon clock as red as the sky, said 6:15. We looked up the west wall of the nearest tower. From so close, so narrow an angle, there was nothing at the top to arrest the eye, and the building seemed to be some sort of probe touching the earth from the darkness of space. "What an artifact that is!" Taylor said, and he walked to the base and paced it off.

Why Radiohead Is Giving Away Their Record

Somebody–the ever-thoughtful Ann Powers at the Los Angeles Times–finally gets to the heart of the reason why Radiohead is selling their new record for whatever price you’re willing to pay. It’s about the album. They want you to appreciate the record as a whole. They think rock music is about art and exploration, not justContinue reading “Why Radiohead Is Giving Away Their Record”

The Return of the Wild

The Channel Islands, off the coast of Southern California, turn out to be shockingly big and wild and, with the exception of Catalina, undeveloped. Nonetheless some of the best lands, such as Santa Cruz Island, have been ravaged by decades of ranching — 100,000 sheep at one point. But in the last twenty years, underContinue reading “The Return of the Wild”

Largest Fire Ever on North Slope of Alaska

According to the AP, the largest tundra fire ever recorded in Alaska is currently burning on the North Slope, and will likely continue to burn for several weeks. Just last week, a forestry professor from Juneau testified before Congress on global warming and the changes it is bringing to Alaska, in a story reported inContinue reading “Largest Fire Ever on North Slope of Alaska”

Sunday on the Planet: The Twilight Wedge

Below is a phenomena I  have seen only in my so-called "Secret Camp," which I learned this week, can be attributed to the fact that only in this location am I likely to be looking many miles east during a sunset. I thought that the sky was blue at the horizon, and pink above, becauseContinue reading “Sunday on the Planet: The Twilight Wedge”