Historical Importance of Prohibition

The Noble Experiment. The Volstead Act. The Eighteenth Amendment. Call it what you will, the amendment that would become the National Prohibition Act was passed by the House of Representatives on December 18, 1917. On December 5, 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment was ratified and repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, the first and only time in U.S. history that an Amendment has been repealed.

What happened in between? Innocent people suffered, organized crime grew into an empire; police and politicians became increasingly corrupt and disrespect for the law grew; and the per capita consumption of alcohol increased dramatically, year by year, while Prohibition was in place.

This week, a look at Prohibition.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Just beyond the next planet, just beyond the next star..." - Captain Jonathan Archer, Star Trek: Enterprise, “These Are The Voyages..."

Historical Importance of Prohibition

Panettone

It's not Christmas for me unless I have a panettone. A buttery mix of dried fruits, this labor intensive bread is best accompanied by coffee or liqueur. My grandmother used to make them when I was a child, mixing ingredients, allowing it to rise, resting, mixing and rising again and again.

This famous Italian bread has its beginnings in Milan, Italy. That much is certain. There are also a few legends which surround the history of this sweet holiday bread.

This week, a look at the origins, legend and history of panettone.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Like they say in the Temporal Mechanics Department, there is no time like the present." - Captain Kathryn Janeway, Star Trek: Voyager, “Endgame”

Panettone

A Wrinkle in Timekeeping

The trouble with time started a century ago, when Albert Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity demolished the idea of time as a universal constant. One consequence is that the past, present, and future are not absolutes.

Einstein’s theories also opened a rift in physics because the rules of general relativity (which describe gravity and the large-scale structure of the cosmos) seem incompatible with those of quantum physics (which govern the realm of the tiny). In short, the best way to think about quantum reality is to give up the notion of time -- that the fundamental description of the universe must be timeless.

The possibility that time may not exist is known among physicists as the “problem of time.” It may be the biggest, but it is far from the only temporal conundrum. Mankind has been adding "leap seconds" to coordinate time across the globe with atomic time, rather than rely on the variable rotation of the Earth. But are these leap seconds necessary?

This week, we look at a wrinkle in timekeeping.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Feelings aren't positive or negative Data, it's what you do with those feelings that becomes good or bad." - Counselor Deanna Troi , Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Descent Part 1"

Timekeeping

Chocolate Supply Threatened by Cocoa Crisis

Cocoa can only be grown close to the equator, mostly in West Africa, and farmers there lack incentives to replant the trees as they die, as cocoa trees take three years to mature. Combined with a drought in that area, crops being destroyed by two mysterious diseases that have scientists baffled and ever-more gluttonous choco-habits, and you've got a shortage. Indeed, the price of chocolate has doubled in the last six years.

Says John Mason, founder of the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council: "In 20 years chocolate will be like caviar. It will become so rare and so expensive that the average Joe just won't be able to afford it."

This week, a look at why a chocolate revolution may be at hand.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Spock, I've found that evil usually triumphs...unless good is very, very careful." - Doctor Leonard McCoy, Star Trek: The Original Series, "The Omega Glory"

Chocolate Supply Threatened by Cocoa Crisis

Momentum

We've all heard the expression, "When it rains, it pours." Conversely, when things are going well, they seem to get better. This is the Law of Momentum at work. The Law states: "When you are down, the universe works to keep you down. When you are up, the universe works to keep you up."

What exactly is this mysterious Law of Momentum? What makes up the mechanics of this force? How exactly does it work? The force of momentum simply exists as a result of our own mindset. We have it available to us at all times, but we must tap into it. The force of momentum is neutral; we make it positive or negative by our attitude. In other words, we make our own luck.

This week, a look at momentum.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Everyone's trying to...look out for us. Protect us from ourselves. But in the end, all that matters is how we feel...and what we do about it. Because either way, we're the ones who have to live with the consequences." - Jadzia Dax, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “Rejoined”


Momentum