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A View From the Edge

Humans bring greatest change to Earth

Wed, 11/28/2018 - 11:23am
By
Peter Riva

This era on our planet is called the Anthropocene – meaning the time of man (yes, and woman). And here’s the truly incredible news: humans have—and have had—more effect on the changes of the planet than earthquakes, glaciation, tides and all the rivers in the world. Yes, you read that right. We’ve collectively changed the planet more than anything nature previously provided.

100 years after World War I

Wed, 11/14/2018 - 11:09am
By
Peter Riva

November the 11th, last Sunday, was the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. To start with the original name was The Great War and only got called the First when we started the Second. And words from that time have lasted throughout the century since.  And some are very apt especially today.

Manned space, Mascot and Hayabusa2

Wed, 11/07/2018 - 10:42am
By
Peter Riva

While NASA waits for the Russians to test and reprove their launch vehicle for putting astronauts/cosmonauts on the International Space Station (the last flight was aborted and the two crew safely returned to Earth) ... the crew of three in orbit will have to extend their stay for at least four months. Why? Because the ISS cannot be left unattended, it would fall or destabilize in orbit. 

Why and wherefore on voting

Wed, 10/31/2018 - 9:59am
By
Peter Riva

The vote across the United States in November will be a watershed moment beyond the normal. 

• It doesn’t matter what your political affiliation is, if you have one.

• It doesn’t matter if you like or dislike incumbent candidates.

• It doesn’t matter if you are old or young.

• It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor.

Perhaps, the most important news this decade

Wed, 10/17/2018 - 10:27am
By
Peter Riva

Tim Berners-Lee has been thinking. And from a man who conceived the world-wide-web that has changed every corner of the planet, when Tim is thinking, everyone needs to pay attention. What he wants to do (and trust me, some of this is so esoteric, it is beyond most of our understanding) is take back the Web.

You are what you read or watch on TV

Wed, 10/10/2018 - 9:40am
By
Peter Riva

Basically, there are only so many media outlets shaping the country’s appetite for news and also a slew of outlets that do not, ever, want to mention anything about the news at all, preferring to coddle the electorate with kill-for-an-inch sports as entertainment. All these media outlets, all of them, pander to their viewers’ and readers’ prejudices.

The Blaze and the New York Post are read and Fox News is watched by the people who think they run the country.

What compassion really looks like

Wed, 10/03/2018 - 9:52am
By
Peter Riva

Try 20–plus years of dedication. Try compassion surpassing all norms of safety and possibility. Try helping 200,000 people including 144,000 refugees without a sou (a penny).

Notice Venezuela

Wed, 09/26/2018 - 9:53am
By
Peter Riva

Why we need to explore outer space

Wed, 09/19/2018 - 10:28am
By
Peter Riva

Elon Musk of SpaceX talks about space travel as a “duty to maintain the light of consciousness.” Frank Drake, the astronomer, says we must search for extraterrestrial intelligence to validate the probability — note, he says not possibility, but says probability — of other observable civilizations in our galaxy. Were Nikola Tesla and quantum physicist David Bohm right in affirming that space is not empty but filled with a kind of force field, something they referred to as “cosmic plenum?”