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Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Terms Clarifed By Example

 


                                                              science.nasa.gov

 Confounding.      "This much we know. We live in a galaxy, the Milky Way containing around 200 billion stars. There are something like a trillion galaxies in our observeable universe. . . . Distant galaxies are moving apart from one another.  Extrapolating backwards we reach a hot, densely packed configuration about 13.8 billion years ago. . . . The Big Bang event is a hypothetical moment when the whole thing started - a moment in time - a 'singularity' - probably never happened, signals we do not have the correct understanding."                  Sean M. Carroll NYRB 8/20/2025  pp 27-29

Sardonic      "If I thought you weren't my friend, I just don't think I could bear it".                                                                                     Doc Holiday  Tombstone

 Fear        In 1935 Heavyweight boxing champion Max Baer defined "fear" as looking across the ring, seeing Joe Lewis and knowing he wants to go home early.    Google AI

Enlightment  In 1956 " . . . as Soviet tanks crushed the Hungarian uprising, the Marxist literary critic Gyorgy Lukacs was arrested in Budapest, held in a Romanian castle and deprived of his right to know the charges, much less rebut them. 'So Kafka was a realist after all" he declared.   NYT 5/23/2024

Alert    Old Jewish cable - "Start worrying. Details to follow."  Roger Cohen NYT  10/20/2017