Clark (1984), Ronald W, The Survival of Charles Darwin: A Biography of a Man and an Idea, Random House 1984 Darwin: "I never expected to convert people [in] under twenty years, though fairly convinced now that I am in the right. For a week hardly passes without my hearing of some good judge coming a little way with me. By far the greatest part of the opposition is just the same as that made when the sun was first said to stand still and the world go round.
Man in his arrogance thinks himself a great work worthy of the interposition of a deity. More humble and I think truer to consider himself created from animals.' 
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Misner (1973), Charles W, and Kip S Thorne, John Archibald Wheeler, Gravitation, Freeman 1973 Jacket: 'Einstein's description of gravitation as curvature of spacetime led directly to that greatest of all predictions of his theory, that the universe itself is dynamic. Physics still has far to go to come to terms with this amazing fact and what it means for man and his relation to the universe. John Archibald Wheeler. . . . this is a book on Einstein's theory of gravity. . . . ' 
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Nicholls (2025), Jeffrey, Cognitive cosmology: a systematic integration of physics and theology, Austin Macauley 2025 ' More than 60 years ago my spiritual advisors (rightly or wrongly) diagnosed in me a divine call to the Roman Catholic priesthood. As soon as I turned 18 I entered the Dominican Order
I quickly fell on love with their leading theologian, Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1275) and read him voraciously. His Latin is so easy and his ideas quite cosmic.
Aquinas revolutionized theology by harmonizing it with the work of Aristotle, the best science available in the Middle Ages. Since the time of Galileo (1562 - 1642) modern science has travelled far beyond Aristotle. We now have comprehensive knowledge of the Universe. We can now see that it is big enough and beautiful enough to be considered divine. It seems obvious to me that it is time to introduce science to theology once again. Just three steps are required:
First, we must assume that the Universe is divine. This makes God observable, amenable to modern science which is based on observation.
Second, it follows, if this is the case, that physics and theology have the same subject and must therefore be consistent.
Third we need open up a new field of research, repeating Aristotle’s ancient journey from physics to theology. In this book I have tried to trace a quantum theoretical path from the unstoppable omnipotent emptiness of the initial singularity to the exquisite complexity of our world. My only guide is the logical constraint placed on omnipotence by consistency.'  
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A. Einstein, B. Podolsky and N. Rosen (1935_03_25), Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?, ' In a complete theory there is an element corresponding to each element of reality. A sufficient condition for the reality of a physical quantity is the possibility of predicting it with certainty, without disturbing the system. In quantum mechanics in the case of two physical quantities described by non-commuting operators, the knowledge of one precludes the knowledge of the other. Then either (1) the description of reality given by the wave function in quantum mechanics is not complete or (2) these two quantities cannot have simultaneous reality. Consideration of the problem of making predictions concerning a system on the basis of measurements made on another system that had previously interacted with it leads to the result that if (1) is false then (2) is also false. One is thus led to conclude that the description of reality as given by a wave function is not complete. back

Amra Lee (2025_05_26), Israel’s new aid delivery system for Gaza is sparking outrage. Why is it so problematic?, ' Some 2.1 million Gazans are facing critical hunger levels, with many at risk of famine following Israel’s 11-week blockade on aid intended to pressure Hamas. According to the United Nations, 57 children have already died from malnutrition since the aid blockade began on March 2. A further 14,000 children under 5 years old are at risk of severe cases of malnutrition over the next year. Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu permitted a limited number of aid trucks into Gaza amid increasing pressure from allies who have drawn a line at images of starving children. However, Israel is controversially planning to transfer responsibility for distributing aid in Gaza through a new system that would sideline the UN and other aid agencies that have been working there for decades. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres swiftly rejected Israel’s new aid distribution system in Gaza, saying it breaches international law and humanitarian principles. In a joint statement, two dozen countries, including the UK, many European Union member states, Australia, Canada and Japan, have supported the UN’s position on the new model. The signatories said it won’t deliver aid effectively at the scale required, and would link aid to political and military objectives.' back

Anne Maree Payne & Heidi Norman, 30 years ago Australia confronted its Stolen Generation past – then the Howard government blew it, ' May 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the national inquiry into the forcible removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. Conducted by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the inquiry’s final report was called Bringing Them Home. It demonstrated the extent and trauma of First Nations child removal practices across Australia over more than a century. Our archival research paints a dramatic picture of how the Howard government set out to minimise the impact of the report, despite the genuine outpouring of national grief. [. . .] The Healing Foundation commissioned a recent report on the unfinished business of Bringing Them Home. It identified the lack of a whole-of-government policy response that centred on the needs and rights of Stolen Generations survivors and descendants, as a key failing. This is unsurprising given the approach by the Howard government was carefully designed to limit the impact of Bringing Them Home. Despite this, the inquiry achieved a significant legacy. This includes greater public awareness of the Stolen Generations, apologies from all Australian parliaments, and the establishment of compensation schemes, now in place in most Australian states and territories. This was despite the Howard government’s sustained rejection of such measures 30 years ago when the nation was first seeking to come to terms with the wrongs of the past.' back

Armin Alimardani & Emma A, Jane (2025_05_30), Researchers created a chatbot to help teach a university law class – but the AI kept messing up, back

Associated Press (2025_05_25), 9 of Gaza doctor’s 10 children are killed in Israel’s latest strikes, ' The bodies of 79 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday – a toll that does not include hospitals in the battered north that it said are now inaccessible. The dead over the past day in Israel’s renewed military offensive included nine of a doctor’s 10 children, horrified colleagues and the health ministry said. Alaa Najjar, a paediatrician at Nasser Hospital, was on duty at the time and ran home to find her family’s house on fire, said Ahmad al-Farra, head of the hospital’s paediatric department. Najjar’s husband was severely wounded and their only surviving child, an 11-year-old son, was in critical condition after Friday’s strike in the southern city of Khan Younis, Farra said. The dead children ranged in age from seven months to 12 years old. Khalil Al-Dokran, a spokesperson for Gaza’s health ministry, said that two of the children remained under the rubble. Israel’s military in a statement said it struck suspects operating from a structure next to its forces, and described the area of Khan Younis as a “dangerous war zone”. It said it had evacuated civilians from the area, and “the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review”.' back

Benjamin Smith & John Black (2025_05_29), How the North West Shelf expansion risks further damage to Murujuga’s 50,000-year-old rock art, ' Yesterday, new environment minister Murray Watt approved an extension for the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas project. The gas plant at Karratha, Western Australia, will run until 2070. [. . .] On Friday, the Western Australian Government released the long awaited Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Program Year 2 report. This report examines the effect of industrial pollution upon one of the world’s most significant rock art sites. ['. . .] The most significant findings are the Weathering Chamber results. These subjected all rock types from Murujuga to the air pollutants released by industry. The results showed that all were degraded, even with relatively low doses of sulphur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). The second highly significant finding is that “there is statistically significant evidence of elevated porosity of granophyre rock surfaces”. This is centred on the industrial precinct in Murujuga. The report acknowledges industrial pollution is the most likely cause. This degradation and elevated porosity of the rocks puts the survival of the petroglyphs at risk.' [. . .] With Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Program report showing evidence of damage to the art from pollution, the state government chose to emphasise in their report summary that a defunct power plant from the 1970s and 1980s was likely the culprit. The report’s data suggests this power plant produced about 3,600 tonnes of NO₂ per year, and less than 400 tonnes of SO₂ per year. Current industry in the immediate area produces more than 13,000 tonnes of NO₂ per year and more than 6,500 tonnes of SO₂. If the old power plant damaged the art then contemporary industrial emissions will be damaging the rock art at least five times faster.' back

Ehud Olmert (2025_05_27), Opinion | Enough Is Enough. Israel Is Committing War Crimes, ' The government of Israel is currently waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success. Never since its establishment has the State of Israel waged such a war. The criminal gang headed by Benjamin Netanyahu has set a precedent without equal in Israel's history in this area, too. The obvious result of Operation Gideon's Chariots is, first and foremost, the confused activity of Israeli military units deployed around Gaza. This is true particularly in neighborhoods where our soldiers have already fought, were hurt and fell while killing many Hamas combatants, who deserve to die, and many more innocent civilians. These have joined the statistics of pointless victims among the Palestinian population, reaching monstrous proportions. Recent operations in Gaza have nothing to do with legitimate war goals. The government sends our soldiers – and the military obeys – to wander around Gaza City, Jabalya and Khan Yunis neighborhoods in an illegitimate military operation. This is now a private political war. Its immediate result is the transformation of Gaza into a humanitarian disaster area. [. . .] Nor is it possible to ignore what has been happening in some Israeli military units, including special forces, where the best and most daring soldiers serve. There have been too many incidents of cruel shooting at civilians, of destruction of property and homes, even when this should not happen. There is too much looting and theft from homes, about which in many cases Israeli soldiers have boasted. Some have gone as far as posting about their antics online. Israelis are committing war crimes. I do not share the opinion of former Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon, who said that Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing. But we are nearing the point when it will be undeniable that such is the unavoidable result of what the government, the military and our brave soldiers have been doing in practice. It is time to halt, before we are all banished from the family of nations and are summoned to the International Criminal Court for war crimes, with no good defense. Enough is enough.' back

Emma Graham-Harrison & Quique Kierszenbaum (2025_05_27), Thousands of Israelis join violent, racist march through Jerusalem’s Muslim quarter, ' Thousands of Israelis have joined a state-funded march through the Muslim quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem, where large groups chanted racist slogans including “Gaza is ours”, “death to the Arabs” and “may their villages burn”. The annual march, paid for and promoted by the Jerusalem city government, celebrates Israel’s capture and occupation of East Jerusalem and its holy sites in the war of 1967. The Israeli takeover is not recognised internationally. The Jerusalem municipality advertises the event, known as the flag march, as a “festive procession”, part of a broader programme of events celebratin'g the “liberation” of the city. The march has been marred by racism and attacks on Palestinians for years, and is preceded by a campaign of violence in the Old City that in effect shuts down Palestinian majority areas, particularly in the Muslim Quarter. back

Jeffrey Nicholls (2020), Scientific Theology: a new history of creation, ' This site comes from a lifetime investment in theology, a journey from disaster and despair to reconstruction and hope. As a young person I suffered severely from the effects of theological delusion. I pledged my life to the Catholic Church by entering a monastery, taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and beginning to train for the priesthood. After about three years I discovered that the Church worships a false God with feet of clay. I spoke my mind and was asked to leave.' back

John Palmer (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Parmenides, ' Immediately after welcoming Parmenides to her abode, the goddess describes as follows the content of the revelation he is about to receive:
You must needs learn all things,/ both the unshaken heart of well-rounded reality/ and the notions of mortals, in which there is no genuine trustworthiness./ Nonetheless these things too will you learn, how what they resolved/ had actually to be, all through all pervading. (Fr. 1.28b-32) ' back

Manley, D. B., & Taylor, C. S. (1996), Descartes Meditations - Trilingual Edition, ' The publication of this English-Latin-French edition of Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy is quite simply an experiment in electronic scholarship. We decided to make this edition available and to encourage its free distribution for scholarly purposes. The idea behind the experiment is to see how others involved in electronic scholarship might put these texts to use. We have no predetermined ideas of what such use may be when transformed from this origin. The texts have no hypertext annotations except for those used for navigation. We invite others to download this edition and to create their own hypertext annotated editions and then to publish those additions on their own Web servers for everyone to use.' back

Michelle Goldberg (2025_05_27), From the Creator of ‘Succession,’ a Delicious Satire of the Tech Right, ' In November, when Succession creator Jesse Armstrong got the idea for his caustic new movie, Mountainhead, he knew he wanted to do it fast. He wrote the script, about grandiose, nihilistic tech oligarchs holed up in a mountain mansion in Utah, in January and February, as a very similar set of oligarchs was coalescing behind Donald Trump’s inauguration. Then he shot the film, his first, over five weeks this spring. It premieres Sunday on HBO – an astonishingly compressed timeline. With events cascading so quickly that last year often feels like another era, Armstrong wanted to create what he called, when I spoke to him last week, “a feeling of nowness.” He’s succeeded. Much of the pleasure of Mountainhead is in the lens it offers on our preposterous nightmare world. I spend a lot of my time saucer-eyed with horror at the rapid degeneration of the United States, agog at the terrifying power amassed by Silicon Valley big shots who sound like stoned Bond villains. No one, I suspect, can fully process the cavalcade of absurdities and atrocities that make up each day’s news cycle. But art can help; it’s not fun to live in a dawning age of techno-feudalism, but it is satisfying to see it channelled into comedy.' [. . .] “Mountainhead” isn’t about Trump, but it is about people to whom he’s given nearly free rein. Considering how cowardly many media executives have been about crossing the president, I wondered if Armstrong had any problem getting the movie made. He said, however, that HBO was supportive: “Maybe they had some qualms, but I’ve never felt the vibrations myself.” I hope audiences reward the network for that. “Mountainhead” is the first movie I’ve seen about now, but many more should follow.' back

Patrick Boudet (2023), Nicole Kidman: Eyes Wide Open, ' Over the years, Oscar winner Nicole Kidman, became both a pop culture icon and a complex dramatic actress. Her career is a unique body of work that mirrors her personal life, which is more political than it might seem.' back

Peter Bradshaw (2025_05_07), Ocean with David Attenborough review – a passionate case against the ruination of the seas, ' A visual marvel like all his work, governed by his own matchless authority and striking a steady tonal balance between warning and hope, David Attenborough’s new film about the oceans is absorbing and compelling. He makes a passionate case against the ruin caused by industrial overfishing and the sinister mega-trawlers which roam everywhere, raking the seabed with their vast metal nets, brutally and wastefully hoovering up fish populations of which the majority is often simply thrown away, depleting developing countries and fishing communities of their share. Attenborough says that this is the new colonialism. The film is released in cinemas in anticipation of the UN’s World Oceans Day in June, which is campaigning for 30% of the world’s oceans to be preserved from exploitation – at present, only around 3% is protected in this way.' back

Phillip Butterss (2025_05_29), How a dogged researcher tracked down the original Sentimental Bloke – and found a different man to C.J. Dennis’s loveable larrikin, ' When C.J. Dennis’s verse novel The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke was launched in 1915, it went off “like a packet of firecrackers”, as the book’s illustrator observed. This gently humorous story about a larrikin in love gave the nation something to smile about during the horrors of World War I. It sold 1,000 copies a week for its first year and quickly became Australia’s best-selling book of verse, a title it still holds. An original cover of the book. Goodreads The bloke in this Australian classic is Bill, whose infatuation with Doreen transforms him from tough larrikin to doting husband and father, (without improving his language). Part of Bill’s appeal was his turn of phrase – “stoushin’ Johns” for fighting police or “moochin’ round like some poor barmy coot” to describe his aimless, lovesick wandering. [. . .] Now, with tenacious detective work, independent researcher Gary Fearon has tracked down the original Sentimental Bloke. Fearon invited me, as Dennis’s biographer, to collaborate on an article about the model for the bloke, forthcoming in the Victorian Historical Journal. [. . .] The National Library’s digitisation of old microfilms on its Trove database now means we can search for needles in the vast haystack of Australian newspaper archives. But there wasn’t much detail to pursue: horse trainer, plumber, Toolangi, trouble with the police, Chinatown, Bullecourt. In the book, the narrator is very uncomfortable when Doreen’s pretentious mother calls him Willy rather than Bill, which she regards as vulgar. The names William and Doreen were also worth a try. [. . .] Trove searches showed that, like Dennis’s fictional character, he had form for drunkenness, fighting and gambling prior to the first poem. [. . .] By then, he was living with Ethel Weddell and her three children next to the Bendigo Racecourse. One critic observed that Dennis’s description of Bill and Doreen’s life together contained “more marital bliss to the square inch than anything I ever read”. The few surviving details of Weddell and Mitchell’s relationship suggest it was not so joyful. He was killed by a shell in the German lines at Bullecourt on 3 May 1917, a day of particularly bloody slaughter. His body was never recovered. The authorities accepted Weddell’s claim that she and Mitchell were married and that he had adopted her previous children. They all received war pensions.. back

Philosophy of Science (journal) - Wikipedia, Philosophy of Science (journal) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Philosophy of Science is dedicated to the furthering of studies and free discussion from diverse standpoints in the philosophy of science. It is a peer-reviewed academic journal. Official affiliations In January 1934 Philosophy of Science announced itself as the chief external expression of the Philosophy of Science Association, which seems to have been the expectation of its founder, William Malisoff. The journal is currently the official journal of the Association, which Philipp Frank and C. West Churchman formally constituted in December 1947.' back

Qiu-Hong Hu (2005_12_29), The nature of the electron, ' Through investigating history, evolution of the concept, and development in the theories of electrons, I am convinced that what was missing in our understanding of the electron is a structure, into which all attributes of the electron could be incorporated in a self-consistent way. It is hereby postulated that the topological structure of the electron is a closed two-turn Helix (a so-called Hubius Helix) that is generated by circulatory motion of a mass-less particle at the speed of light. A formulation is presented to describe an isolated electron at rest and at high speed. It is shown that the formulation is capable of incorporating most (if not all) attributes of the electron, including spin, magnetic moment, fine structure constant, anomalous magnetic moment, and charge quantization into one concrete description of the Hubius Helix. The equations for the description emerge accordingly. Implications elicited by the postulate are elaborated. Inadequacy of the formulation is discussed.' back

Richard BlanshardRoger Penny, Cannes Uncut: Documentary, ' Looks at the glamour, red carpets, movies, craziness, stunts, deals, parties and personalities that have been part of the Cannes Film Festival over eight decades, as well as looking to the future.' back

Siegfried Sassoon - Wikipedia, Siegfried Sassoon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Siegfried Loraine Sassoon CBE MC (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front,[1] he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches and satirized the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war.[2] Sassoon became a focal point for dissent within the armed forces when he made a lone protest against the continuation of the war with his "Soldier's Declaration" of July 1917, which resulted in his being sent to the Craiglockhart War Hospital. During this period, Sassoon met and formed a friendship with Wilfred Owen, who was greatly influenced by him. Sassoon later won acclaim for his prose work, notably his three-volume, fictionalised autobiography, collectively known as the Sherston trilogy.' back

The Hours (film) - Wikipedia, The Hours (film) - Wikipedia, the frtee encyclopedia, ' The Hours is a 2002 psychological period-drama film directed by Stephen Daldry, from a screenplay by David Hare based on Michael Cunningham's 1998 novel. It stars Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep as three women whose lives are connected by Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel Mrs Dalloway. In 2001 New York, Clarissa Vaughan (Streep) prepares an award party for her AIDS-stricken friend and poet, Richard. In 1951 California, Laura Brown (Moore) is a pregnant housewife in an unhappy marriage. In 1920s England, Virginia Woolf (Kidman) battles with depression while writing Mrs Dalloway. Supporting roles are played by Ed Harris, John C. Reilly, Stephen Dillane, Jeff Daniels, Miranda Richardson, Allison Janney, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, and Eileen Atkins.' back

Tom Levitt & Deepa Parent (2025_05)28), Revealed: Saudi Arabia’s secretive rehabilitation ‘prisons’ for disobedient women, ' A young woman wearing a black abaya is pictured in a city in north-west Saudi Arabia standing precariously on a second-floor window ledge. A second photograph shows a group of men escorting her down with the help of a crane. The woman’s identity is unknown, but she was allegedly being held at one of Saudi Arabia’s notoriously secretive “jails” for women banished by their families or husbands for disobedience, extramarital sexual relations or being absent from home. It was a rare glimpse of the plight of hundreds or more girls and young women believed to be held in such facilities, where they are “rehabilitated” so they can return to their families. Speaking out in public or sharing footage of these “care homes”, or Dar al-Reaya, has become impossible in a country where voices on women’s rights appear to have been silenced. But over the past six months, the Guardian has gathered testimony about what it is like inside these institutions, described as “hellish”, with weekly floggings, forced religious teachings and no visits or contact with the outside world. Conditions are reported to be so bad that there have been several cases of suicide or attempted suicide. The women can spend years locked up, unable to leave without the permission of their family or a male guardian[. . .] A Saudi government spokesperson said there was a network of specialised care facilities that supported vulnerable groups, including women and children affected by domestic violence. It categorically rejected claims of enforced confinement, mistreatment, or coercion. “These are not detention centres, and any allegation of abuse is taken seriously and subject to thorough investigation … Women are free to leave at any time, whether to attend school, work, or other personal activities, and may exit permanently whenever they choose with no need of approval from a guardian or family member.” It also said that reports of domestic violence were received through a dedicated and confidential hotline, and that all cases were addressed swiftly to ensure the safety of those affected.' back

Wojciech Hubert Zurek (2008), Quantum origin of quantum jumps: breaking of unitary symmetry induced by information transfer and the transition from quantum to classical, 'Submitted on 17 Mar 2007 (v1), last revised 18 Mar 2008 (this version, v3)) Measurements transfer information about a system to the apparatus, and then further on – to observers and (often inadvertently) to the environment. I show that even imperfect copying essential in such situations restricts possible unperturbed outcomes to an orthogonal subset of all possible states of the system, thus breaking the unitary symmetry of its Hilbert space implied by the quantum superposition principle. Preferred outcome states emerge as a result. They provide framework for the “wavepacket collapse”, designating terminal points of quantum jumps, and defining the measured observable by specifying its eigenstates.' back

Z L Yang (2025_05_22), A pulsar-helium star compact binary system formed by common envelope evolution, ' A stellar common envelope occurs in a binary system when the atmosphere of an evolving star expands to encompass an orbiting companion object. Such systems are predicted to evolve rapidly, ejecting the stellar envelope and leaving the companion in a tighter orbit around a stripped star. We used radio timing to identify a pulsar, PSR J1928+1815, with a spin period of 10.55 ms in a compact binary system with an orbital period of 3.60 hours. The companion star has 1.0 to 1.6 solar masses, eclipses the pulsar for about 17% of the orbit, and is undetected at other wavelengths, so it is most likely a stripped helium star. We interpret this system as having recently undergone a common envelope phase, producing a compact binary.' back