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Protesting is okay except when you dishonor America
I don’t like to get on my soapbox, but sometimes things just bother me so much that I have to say something about it. In this case, I heard a news announcer yesterday make the statement that Colin Kaepernick couldn’t get a job in the NFL after he protested racial injustice, and of course they…
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Why do people still have an irrational fear of radiation?
In February 1896, Henri Becquerel working in a lab in France made a consequential discovery – it was radioactivity – an unknown (up until that time) physical event taking place in nature. The term radioactivity was actually coined by Marie Curie who was able to repeat Becquerel’s findings in her own lab. It was soon…
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Now more than ever, are you prepared to die?
When I was younger, I never thought about what would happen if I were to die. Back then, except possibly when my submarine was at test depth and the steel girders around me kept grinding as if they were going to break, did I worry that others would be affected should I die. Now, going…
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Reflecting on the Greatness of America
All my life I’ve had a fascination and a love of history. Countless times I’ve seen something that triggers the thought of how things could have been different except for a key decision or event; like what if that huge meteor hadn’t struck Chicxalub 65 million years ago, or what if the Europeans hadn’t risked…
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Farming is an incredibly important occupation
I’d like to make a confession. I grew up on a farm near Chesterland, Ohio, and although I had some good times there, I didn’t leave it happily. Instead, as a rebellious teenager I left in anger having disagreed for the last time with my step-Dad, Everett Holt, who happened to be the farm manager. …
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The value of a happy new year
It’s great to have a high school website that helps track and communicate with old friends, like the AAHS Class of 1970 website. For those of us who are softees and like to reminisce about the good old days, they are indispensable. They also list the passing of fellow classmates over the years, a sad…
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My submarine Captain D. Volgenau and a Christmas at sea
As all military veterans and their family members know, being home to spend time together during a holiday is never guaranteed. I can attest to this having missed several holidays while serving in the Navy. One of these was Christmas in 1977. It was during a long deployment at sea, and I described it to…
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China, climate change, and nuclear fusion thoughts
In 1985, my wife and I traveled to China (see pictures below) to deliver information about nuclear energy to a country that at the time was extremely behind in technical knowledge. Although in the past the country had invented some of the most impactful items the world has ever known, like gunpowder for example, their…
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The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, my memories, and its link to the Billfish submarines
According to the U.S. Naval Institute, the first warship built in North America occurred while Britain was in charge of the 13 colonies. It was the 54-gun frigate Falkland. Constructed for the Royal Navy, she was launched in 1690 on Fernald’s Island, between the Maine and New Hampshire shores at the mouth of the Piscataqua…