Archive for nuclear disarmament
never again
Posted in Kids with tags 06 August 1945, arms race, CND, hibakusha, Hiroshima, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Japan, Nagasaki, nuclear disarmament, nuclear weapons, rearmament, Second World War, unilateral nuclear disarmament, WW II on August 7, 2026 by xi'an
a journal of the burning year
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel, University life, Wines with tags big tech, Black Plague, book reviews, Cantonese, chickpea flour, China, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, fantasy, Hong Kong, Hugo Awards, Journal of the Plague Year, kindle, LAcon V, Macau, nuclear disarmament, rhubarb, Russian invasion, science fiction, Stand Up To Trump, trenches, world building, WW I on July 15, 2026 by xi'an
Read another Hugo “best novel”, The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow, which I could not complete. The story is a time loop scenario when one (academic) character repeatedly travels to the past to impact the destiny of his nation, but too many loops kill the fun! Plus clumsy borrow-ups from the Arthurian cycle and 1984 characters And a short story, Kaiju Agonistes by Scott Lynch. Given my deep admiration for the Gentlemen Bastards series, esp. the first volume (The Lies of Locke Lamora), I was expecting much better than a light-weight science fiction story where an alien finds turning a venture capitalist is the best way for humans to stop the nuclear armament race… And a few pages of [not an Hugo hopeful!] Angel Down by Daniel Kraus. Despite it being set in the trenches of WW I, which is a good premise given my childhood fascination for the “Great War” (and my sapper neighbour who had kept memorabilia from his war actions, including bits of grenade under his arm skin!). But the style of one sentence a paragraph was just too unbearable, while the action did not seem to move in the least.
Prepared almost exclusively cold salads to cope with the heat waves, except for the occasional pissaladière (despite its warmup impact). And even more bowls of rhubarb preserve both from my garden and from the local market. But recycled red lentils dahl into a quite decent humus, which may prove the future choice instead of chickpeas.
Watched few series, with again midstream abandons, like Straight to Hell, on a famous (real character) fortune-teller, despite an interesting rendering of post WW II Japan. And A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, which is set in an idyllic English countryside town but runs way too light to be convincing in any respect. Watched most of Mobius, a Chinese thriller with magical aspects since the main detective regularly finds himself caught in a time loop (coïncidence!). Rather addictive action series, with a criticism of big tech, if a wee bit too sleek (and dreadfully slow moving on the romantic aspects).
Nature tidbits [10 July 2025]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, University life with tags @ScientistTrump, camembert, Cantabrigians, Chang'e 6 Mission, defence spending, Department of Homeland Security, Europe, evidence, Gaza, Geneva, Io, Iran, metal-organic frameworks, metascience, missiles, moon mission, National Academy of Sciences, Nature, nuclear disarmament, nuclear energy, plastic waste, raw milk, Science, USA, USAid, Weizmann Institute on August 27, 2025 by xi'an
- another “feel-good” editorial on the need for a highly ambitious UN treaty on plastics, or rather against plastic, at the August meeting in Geneva this month. Given the opposition of major producers like the USA (now more than ever!) and China, as well as all oil producers, the terrible impact of plastics on life as a whole (also documented in this issue) is again likely to be ignored in favour of short-term commercial goals. (As illustrated by a feature article on metal-organic frameworks that capture CO² but are posing clear biosafety and environmental challenges, not mention in the article.)
- a second editorial on the rise of metascience, a term I had not X’ed previously, which appears to be the science of scientific practice and impact. Given the limited impact scientists have on governments and societies, now more than ever!, it is hard to forecast that metascientists will do better…
- a rather tone-deaf tribune by the president of the Weizmann Institute on how they are reconstructing the institute after the Iranian attacks of 15 June (following the Israeli attacks of 13 June that hit several universities and assassinated several nuclear scientists). With empty words for “scientists in Gaza” when the very same Israeli government that funds Weizmann has flattened all academic and medical institutions in Gaza. (The asymmetry was later pointed out by a letter to the Nature editor from an Iranian scientist.) Followed a few pages later by the covarege an independent survey on a likely 80,000 death toll in Gaza.
- A news article on the US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine failing to take a stand against Trump 2.0, and too readily engaging into collaboration and censorship. And another one on the growing number of foreign scientists arrested at the border for carrying biological material. While I have (in the long past!) carried a raw milk Camembert in my bag and into the US, mea culpa (Io), I am less sympathetic to these cases since some of the material was hazardous, beyond being undeclared. What has changed in the recent is Homeland Security jumping on these cases to increase their deportation figures…
- A long comment by Cantabrigians on the ambivalent role of AIs in writing and reviewing papers, with a proposed fix through the Conservative Evidence database, in Cambridge, England. A lot of coulds, woulds, and shoulds, imposing an international involvement, open access, and reliable procedures separating chaff from grain…
nuclear disarmament now!
Posted in Kids, pictures, Travel, University life with tags 06 August 1945, atomic bombing, CTBT, hibakusha, Hiroshima, IAEA, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Japan, Korea, Korean Atomic Bomb Victims Association, Nagasaki, NPT, nuclear disarmament, war crimes, WW II on August 6, 2025 by xi'an
75 years later, it is more than time for full nuclear disarmament!
Posted in Kids with tags ban the bomb, disarmament, Hiroshima, ICAN, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Nagasaki, nuclear disarmament, nuclear weapons, unilateral nuclear disarmament, WW II on August 6, 2020 by xi'an
