SPARKS, NEVADA: At Tesla’s annual general meeting June 11thElon Musk observed that five years ago the Gigafactory didn’t exist. It was merely a vast expanse of rocks and dirt. Today it is a sprawling three-story red and grey building stretching across the desert. Its footprint equals a dozen football fields and is expected to become the world’s largest building. This is where half of the … Continue reading Tesla’s Future Linked to Nevada Gigafactory
The great flu epidemic that began in 1918 killed half a million Americans and 25% of the entire population was infected. Cincinnati was hard hit with 80,000 cases and 1,700 deaths from flu in 1918. To cope with the poorly understood disease, hotels removed chairs and sofas from lobbies. Theatres, schools and churches were ordered closed. Leaf burning was banned. At Camp Sherman in Chillicothe … Continue reading The Great Flu Epidemic in Southern Gallia County, Ohio
When my father Howell Wood was born in 1903 on the family farm near Mercerville, rural life in Gallia County was strenuous but enjoyable. Food was mostly home grown, friends and family were nearby and Gallipolis and villages nearby were growing along with the commerce on the Ohio River. The country was at peace, Teddy Roosevelt was in the White House and the wounds of … Continue reading Early 20th Century Life in Southern Gallia County Ohio
On June 4th, for the first time, ISIS, claimed responsibility for an attack in northern Mozambique near the Tanzanian border. Its message said, “The soldiers of the Caliphate were able to repulse an attack by the Crusader Mozambican army in Metubi village, in the Mocimboa area. They clashed with them with a variety of weapons, killing and wounding a number of them. The mujahideen captured … Continue reading Isis Comes to Northern Mozambique
Lou Junker ranks highest among several outstanding professors I encountered at Western Michigan University in the mid to late ‘60s. His forte, as I reflect on the decades that have passed, was challenging students’ conventional thinking and in so doing prompting an examination of one’s own beliefs. In today’s idiom, Junker was empowering. He opened doors to critical thinking and self-confidence. But the corollary to … Continue reading Economics Prof Lou Junker: Free Speech & Critical Thinking
In a March 25thtalk at Washington’s Cosmos Club, former nuclear analyst Daniel Ellsberg said a complacent public must be educated to the horrors of nuclear war. A nuclear exchange involving any of the nine nuclear powers would kill hundreds of millions. Referring to decades of global apathy, he said “we have accepted a nightmare.” Dan Ellsberg and the author Ellsberg, 88 in April, is best known … Continue reading Dan Ellsberg: Get Rid of Nukes
