Authoritarianism And Secrecy

Authoritarianism and secrecy breed incompetence; the two feed on each other.  It's a vicious cycle.  Governments with authoritarian tendencies point to what is in fact their own incompetence as the rationale for giving them yet more power.

-- Josh Marshall (1969 -), American political journalist and blogger, Talking Points Memo (17 January 2006)

Artemis II

NASA's Artemis II is the first crewed mission of the Artemis program and will carry NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen on an approximately 10-day mission around the Moon and back to Earth. 

The first crewed deep-space flight in over 50 years, Artemis II is expected to send the crew farther from Earth than any previous human mission, potentially breaking the record of about 248,655 miles (400,171 km) from Earth set by Apollo 13 during its lunar free-return trajectory.  This milestone will occur during the lunar flyby phase, when the crew travels on a free-return trajectory around the Moon, which allows the spacecraft to loop around the Moon and return to Earth without entering lunar orbit. 

During the test flight, NASA will test life-support systems and critical operations in deep space, paving the way for future lunar landings and Mars exploration. 

-- Jason Costa at Nasa.gov, "LIVE: Artemis II Launch Day Updates" (1 April 2026)

Arrogance Of Power

Power tends to confuse itself with virtue and a great nation is particularly susceptible to the idea that its power is a sign of God's favor, conferring upon it a special responsibility for other nations -- to make them richer and happier and wiser, to remake them, that is, in its own shining image.  Power confuses itself with virtue and tends also to take itself for omnipotence.  Once imbued with the idea of a mission, a great nation easily assumes that it has the means as well as the duty to do God's work.

I do not think that America's greatness is questioned in the world, and I certainly do not think that strident behavior is the best way for a nation to prove its greatness.  Indeed, in nations -- as in individuals -- bellicosity is a mark of weakness and self-doubt rather than of strength and self-assurance.

-- J. William Fulbright (1905 - 1995), American politician, academic, and statesman, US Senator from Arkansas from 1945 until 1974, The Arrogance of Power (1966)

Lifeguard Redux

Yesterday, for perhaps the last time, I got recertified as a lifeguard with the Red Cross.  Since it was a recertification, there was very little new training.  It was a brief review, followed by testing out in Water Rescue, First Aid, CPR, and AED.  

We started at 8:00 AM and finished just before 4:00 PM, including 3 1/2 hours in the water or on the pool deck demonstrating individual skills and team rescues.  

The training was hosted by the University of Illinois at their Activities & Recreation Center.  The other three trainees are lifeguards for the university, and we all managed to work pretty well together.  I'm pretty sure I'm old enough to be grandfather to any of them.

I'll be 67 in May and certification is good for 2 years, so I have time to decide whether to go through it one more time (when I'll be 69) and stay certified into my early 70s.

Truly Respectable

No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected without being truly respectable; nor be truly respectable without possessing a certain portion of order and stability.

-- Alexander Hamilton (1755 or 1757 - 1804), Founding Father of the United States, one of the most influential interpreters and promoters of the U.S. Constitution, Federalist No. 62 (26 February 1788)

If You Know

Three steps:  1) Accept what is.  2) Deliver "excellent best" right now.  3) Never quit; win it in the late innings. ...  If you know what's true but do not let that guide you, then you get what you deserve.

-- Robert Forster (1941 - 2019), American actor and TNS member, speaking to a crowd at ggg999, the General Global Gathering of the Triple Nine Society (1 September 2012)

From Whatever Source

One should accept the truth from whatever source it proceeds.

-- Moshe ben Maimon (1135 or 1138 - 1204), commonly known as Moses Maimonides, Jewish rabbi, physician, and philosopher, Foreword to The Eight Chapters Of Maimonides On Ethics, translated by Joseph I. Gorfinkle, Ph.D. (1912), Page 35-36