When Smiles Fade
This is a fictionalized story of Austrian physicist Lise Meitner who discovered nuclear fission that paved the way for power generators using nuclear fuels. Part of the story is actual, and the rest is created by the author.
Hannah Weiss was a professionally battered woman who was treated unfairly in academics because of her gender and Jewish faith in Germany. Deeply hurt by the rising power of the Third Reich and the impact on her life, migrate to United States to work in the Manhattan Project. Robert Oppenheimer (Oppie), the director of the project trying to develop atomic bomb at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico becomes her supervisor. Shortly after coming on board, the mission suspects that Hannah is providing highly sensitive information related to atomic bombs to Nazi Germany. An investigation led by Major Jack Delaney believes that she is a traitor; the evidence on hand are some coded post cards she mailed to her colleague in Germany. Over three days of interrogation, Jack discovers Hannah is not only a brilliant scientist but also a mysterious, lonely, somewhat fragile, and sensual woman who can tease a major general of the U.S. Army. Delaney, himself a Jew goes by an Irish name that hides his identity for personal reasons. He fails to understand the harsh environment of antisemitism in her native Austria and Germany. The author cleverly creates situations for Hannah where she manipulates and seduce Jack. Jack begins to believe that Hannah is innocent, and he sees the feminine side of a lonely woman in male dominated profession. Their love does not go far enough, and it does not end in a relationship, but the author cleverly handles this at the end, but the ending will not be the same as many readers would guess.
One of the moral questions the author poses is to focus on the unfair treatment of Jews by United States during WWII. If she is so genuine, why would she create a story where Hannah already suffered greatly in her life is subject to further humiliation that tarnishes the image of Lise Meitner? Despite these observations, I like the style of author’s writing and strongly recommend reading chapters, 18, 23, 25, 27, 33, 35, and 38 (chapter #s from proof made from author’s manuscript) that narrates the progression of Jack’s feelings for Hannah.
An historical perspective to this book must be in order since the focus of this book is Lise Meitner fictionalized by the author as Hannah Weiss. Albert Einstein first wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt a letter of caution after the publication of Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn paper about nuclear fission that would enable Hitler’s Germany to make an atomic weapon. This ultimately led to the establishment of the Manhattan Project in 1942. Meitner in real life refused an offer to work on the project declaring that she will have nothing to do with a bomb. She was also horrified to learn that it was used on Hiroshima. In fact, she was a leading physicist with Einstein to oppose making atomic weapons.
Meitner was a professionally battered woman and was treated unfairly because of her gender and Jewish faith. Otto Hahn alone was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of nuclear fission. Meitner was deeply hurt, and this injustice by the Nobel Committee has been wildly criticized in the academic world for decades. In 1945, when she was recognized in America for her accomplishments, she dined with President Harry Truman, who at a dinner for the Women’s Press Club honoring Meitner’s accomplishments remarked, “So you’re the little lady who got us into all of this!” Yet despite misleading press reports in Sweden and President Truman’s misperceptions, Meitner never worked on the Manhattan project. She never married and had no children. If major universities in United States had offered her an academic position, she probably would have worked tirelessly to promote physics and science education among women. She would have been a champion to encourage women to study physics.
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Book Reviewed: After the Caliphate by Colin P. Clarke
The Dark Wave: Islamic Caliphate and the New World Order
In the liberal media and politically correct environment, Islam is treated as a peaceful religion, and terrorism is a product of the economic and political ferment of the twentieth century. If one looks at 1,400-years of Islamic history and its rise in Asia and Europe, it becomes obvious that terrorism results from the Islamic teachings.
In the summer of 2014, three years after America’s full troop withdrawal from the Iraq War, President Obama authorized a small task force to Iraq to stop rapidly emerging terrorist threat. A plague of brutality that would come to be known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) had created a foothold in northwest Iraq and northeast Syria. It had declared itself a Caliphate, an independent nation-state administered by the Islamic law, and it was spreading like a newly evolved virus. Most of its fighters were foreigners who were influenced by the Islamic teachings. In ISIS controlled areas, Islamic laws were rigidly applied. Homosexuals were hanged or pushed from high-rise buildings; adulterers were stoned, religious minorities were reduced to dhimmitude, a form of second-class citizenship, they were denied civil rights, and specially taxed via the Islamic Jizya. Young men were abducted as conscripted soldiers and young women as sex slaves of ISIS soldiers. What ensued after this was the battle to defeat ISIS, which was ferocious and brutal. The U.S troops and Iraqi army with cooperation of local militia had to break it down village by village to a final victory when ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who once controlled a vast territory with tens of thousands of jihadist fighters died in a recent raid by U.S. Delta Force.
The fight against terrorism and global jihad is unending since it did not go out of existence completely. It is back to a focus on local and regional conflicts to fragmented groups with same ideology as ISIS. These splinter groups are waiting to be taken over by a new Caliph who can offer leadership. Then a new generation of Muslim men and women from across the globe move forward with the belief that Islamic Caliphate is attainable and desirable objective. This would result in a relentless pursuit of global jihad.
The track record for preventing another mass mobilization of jihadist movement is not promising. As of 2018, there were 230,000 jihadists prepared for suicide missions. A 247 percent increase from 2001, and this threat is not new. The aftermath of Soviet-Afghan war in 1980s; Bosnia and Chechnya in the 1990s, Iraq in the 2000s or Syria in 2014. Most defining moment for these Muslims is the establishment of the Caliphate. In chapter 3, the author focuses on Europe which has the prospect of turning itself into next ISIS-building project. It has become fertile for the incursions of sharia law and other Islamic practices that is totally alien to Western civilization. No-go zones created by Muslim communities provides opportunities for radicalization which has become a normal way of life. Most European citizens have liberal and leftist tendencies, they have supported the immigrant population which makes it all to comfortable for the next jihadist sanctuary. ISIS or its equivalent is waiting to happen, but this may occur in an Islamic country in Asia or Africa, but much of the fighters will be young men and women from Western hemisphere.
Author Colin Clarke’s work is critical to understand what is ahead in terms of terrorism. This is an excellent book of scholarship and highly analytical in contemporary literature that is already filled with radical and leftists’ writings that is too sympathetic to Muslim ideology. This work should prove useful to scholars and policymakers alike.
In the liberal media and politically correct environment, Islam is treated as a peaceful religion, and terrorism is a product of the economic and political ferment of the twentieth century. If one looks at 1,400-years of Islamic history and its rise in Asia and Europe, it becomes obvious that terrorism results from the Islamic teachings.
In the summer of 2014, three years after America’s full troop withdrawal from the Iraq War, President Obama authorized a small task force to Iraq to stop rapidly emerging terrorist threat. A plague of brutality that would come to be known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) had created a foothold in northwest Iraq and northeast Syria. It had declared itself a Caliphate, an independent nation-state administered by the Islamic law, and it was spreading like a newly evolved virus. Most of its fighters were foreigners who were influenced by the Islamic teachings. In ISIS controlled areas, Islamic laws were rigidly applied. Homosexuals were hanged or pushed from high-rise buildings; adulterers were stoned, religious minorities were reduced to dhimmitude, a form of second-class citizenship, they were denied civil rights, and specially taxed via the Islamic Jizya. Young men were abducted as conscripted soldiers and young women as sex slaves of ISIS soldiers. What ensued after this was the battle to defeat ISIS, which was ferocious and brutal. The U.S troops and Iraqi army with cooperation of local militia had to break it down village by village to a final victory when ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who once controlled a vast territory with tens of thousands of jihadist fighters died in a recent raid by U.S. Delta Force.
The fight against terrorism and global jihad is unending since it did not go out of existence completely. It is back to a focus on local and regional conflicts to fragmented groups with same ideology as ISIS. These splinter groups are waiting to be taken over by a new Caliph who can offer leadership. Then a new generation of Muslim men and women from across the globe move forward with the belief that Islamic Caliphate is attainable and desirable objective. This would result in a relentless pursuit of global jihad.
The track record for preventing another mass mobilization of jihadist movement is not promising. As of 2018, there were 230,000 jihadists prepared for suicide missions. A 247 percent increase from 2001, and this threat is not new. The aftermath of Soviet-Afghan war in 1980s; Bosnia and Chechnya in the 1990s, Iraq in the 2000s or Syria in 2014. Most defining moment for these Muslims is the establishment of the Caliphate. In chapter 3, the author focuses on Europe which has the prospect of turning itself into next ISIS-building project. It has become fertile for the incursions of sharia law and other Islamic practices that is totally alien to Western civilization. No-go zones created by Muslim communities provides opportunities for radicalization which has become a normal way of life. Most European citizens have liberal and leftist tendencies, they have supported the immigrant population which makes it all to comfortable for the next jihadist sanctuary. ISIS or its equivalent is waiting to happen, but this may occur in an Islamic country in Asia or Africa, but much of the fighters will be young men and women from Western hemisphere.
Author Colin Clarke’s work is critical to understand what is ahead in terms of terrorism. This is an excellent book of scholarship and highly analytical in contemporary literature that is already filled with radical and leftists’ writings that is too sympathetic to Muslim ideology. This work should prove useful to scholars and policymakers alike.
Friday, January 10, 2020
Book Reviewed: Wild Sex: The Science Behind Mating in the Animal Kingdom by Carin Bondar
The wild side of wildlife
Vatsyayana’s Kama Sutra is one of the greatest classics written about erotica that deals with the human component of sexual pleasure in the most sensual way possible. Luckily, this is possible only for humans because sex in animal kingdom is wild, mysterious and extremely challenging. It could even be very violent. The author discusses the tactics of courting, seduction, and the difficulties in the mechanics of animal sex.
Nature is intense and could be aggressive in its evolutionary challenges. The blue whale's penis weights around 400 lbs. and it could be between 8 to 12 feet long. Such a heavy weaponry seems dangerous but not so much for its own species. The female ducks have evolved corkscrew vaginas to stop unwanted advances of male ducks. The females of blanket octopus may reach 2 m (6.6 ft) in length, but the males are about 2.4 cm. The weight ratio is at least 10,000:1 and can reach as much as 40,000:1. Sexual cannibalism is common among most predatory species of mantises. It is observed that male-female encounters result in male being devoured by female during fertilization and is still able to continue the sperm deposit successfully!
Author Carin Bondar is fascinating and amusing in her narratives. The reader will find that animal intercourse is not a fun experience. In fact, it is not so much about enjoying, but it is about the reproduction and survival of its species.
Vatsyayana’s Kama Sutra is one of the greatest classics written about erotica that deals with the human component of sexual pleasure in the most sensual way possible. Luckily, this is possible only for humans because sex in animal kingdom is wild, mysterious and extremely challenging. It could even be very violent. The author discusses the tactics of courting, seduction, and the difficulties in the mechanics of animal sex.
Nature is intense and could be aggressive in its evolutionary challenges. The blue whale's penis weights around 400 lbs. and it could be between 8 to 12 feet long. Such a heavy weaponry seems dangerous but not so much for its own species. The female ducks have evolved corkscrew vaginas to stop unwanted advances of male ducks. The females of blanket octopus may reach 2 m (6.6 ft) in length, but the males are about 2.4 cm. The weight ratio is at least 10,000:1 and can reach as much as 40,000:1. Sexual cannibalism is common among most predatory species of mantises. It is observed that male-female encounters result in male being devoured by female during fertilization and is still able to continue the sperm deposit successfully!
Author Carin Bondar is fascinating and amusing in her narratives. The reader will find that animal intercourse is not a fun experience. In fact, it is not so much about enjoying, but it is about the reproduction and survival of its species.
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Book Reviewed: How to Pay Zero Taxes, 2020-2021: Your Guide to Every Tax Break the IRS Allows, by Jeff Schnepper
Helpful guide for your 2019 tax return
Tax guides are generally voluminous, this one with 928 pages is big and covers all aspects of 2019 tax return and IRS updates. The IRS 1040 instruction book and the supplement guides goes only so far but does not discuss specific cases where your situation could be unique.
This comprehensive guide is well organized by subject matter and clearly explained. IRS eligibility requirements for claiming the benefits are discussed in detail and you can make the most informed decisions possible. Deductions and credits are key in using IRS code in your favor. This book gives you the straightforward information to save on personal income tax returns. For example, in section 167 on page 529, the author argues in favor of dividends over long-term capital gains, especially for seniors based a good tax strategy. Another section that interested me personally is section 106: The Transportation Expense deductions on page 365 that describes the circumstance in which you can deduct daily transportation expenses from your income.
Tax guides are generally voluminous, this one with 928 pages is big and covers all aspects of 2019 tax return and IRS updates. The IRS 1040 instruction book and the supplement guides goes only so far but does not discuss specific cases where your situation could be unique.
This comprehensive guide is well organized by subject matter and clearly explained. IRS eligibility requirements for claiming the benefits are discussed in detail and you can make the most informed decisions possible. Deductions and credits are key in using IRS code in your favor. This book gives you the straightforward information to save on personal income tax returns. For example, in section 167 on page 529, the author argues in favor of dividends over long-term capital gains, especially for seniors based a good tax strategy. Another section that interested me personally is section 106: The Transportation Expense deductions on page 365 that describes the circumstance in which you can deduct daily transportation expenses from your income.
Sunday, January 5, 2020
Book Reviewed: The Last Negroes at Harvard: The Class of 1963 and the 18 Young Men Who Changed Harvard by Kent Garrett and Jeanne Ellsworth
Champions of Change
In 1959, Harvard University recruited eighteen African American men to its undergraduate program as a symbolic gesture of affirmative action, a term that did not exist at that time. Author Kent Garrett, one of these kids recalls and recollects his experiences at the famous school and brings us into the same page; how it was like to be black at Harvard at that time. In fact, they were referred to as negroes but later would change the term to African Americans. This book is an autobiography and personal recollection when civil rights movement began to advance in the south and started to shake the conscious of people around the nation.
This is an outstanding story of bright young men who changed the course of history at Harvard. This stirring memoir of love and resilience proves that there are no limits for living joyously despite the fact society treats you unequally. The author is a fierce advocate for equal opportunity, and his life-story is an inspiration to all young men. He renews hope and offers fresh strength. Author Garrett’s work offers insights to a journey only 5% of applicants get to experience. It unearths curiosities that will rock the Ivory Tower and change perceptions forever.
Muriel Sutherland Snowden, a black woman who graduated from Radcliffe in 1938 could not attend classes at Harvard, at that time women were barred from taking Harvard classes. Her experiences at Radcliffe was like the author Kent Garret at Harvard who apparently had a good life at the famous university. It is possible that Garrett might be cleverly hiding racist and other intolerable experiences on campus. Snowden admits that her background of growing up as a black child in a white community and attending all-white schools had made her assimilation at Radcliffe easier! Is that possible?
Activist Richard Theodor Greener was the first African American who graduated from Harvard in 1870. His admission was "an experiment" by the administration and paved the way for many more black graduates. The famous black activist and scholar W.E.B. Dubois earned his PhD from Harvard in 1890. The darkness in the legacy of Harvard, in terms of race relations, stretch as far as its 384 years of iconic history. The greatest university in the world sometimes dos does not live up to its reputation since the university was built partly on slave labor. In a recent message, dated Nov 21, 2019 from Harvard President Lawrence Bacow, a number of activities were planned to promote racial healing on the campus: memorials commemorating the lives and contributions of slaves were installed at Wadsworth House and Harvard Law School; a faculty committee initiated research on the university’s historical ties to slavery through work with the Harvard Archives and other university collections; conferences with peers from across higher education; and numerous classes, seminars, exhibitions, performances, and discussions took place across the university campus.
What exactly is goodness? Where is it found in the literary imagination? Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison pondered these perplexing questions in her Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University in 2012. She observed that it is commonly found in society and among black population that has responded to centuries of brutality with creativity.
In 1959, Harvard University recruited eighteen African American men to its undergraduate program as a symbolic gesture of affirmative action, a term that did not exist at that time. Author Kent Garrett, one of these kids recalls and recollects his experiences at the famous school and brings us into the same page; how it was like to be black at Harvard at that time. In fact, they were referred to as negroes but later would change the term to African Americans. This book is an autobiography and personal recollection when civil rights movement began to advance in the south and started to shake the conscious of people around the nation.
This is an outstanding story of bright young men who changed the course of history at Harvard. This stirring memoir of love and resilience proves that there are no limits for living joyously despite the fact society treats you unequally. The author is a fierce advocate for equal opportunity, and his life-story is an inspiration to all young men. He renews hope and offers fresh strength. Author Garrett’s work offers insights to a journey only 5% of applicants get to experience. It unearths curiosities that will rock the Ivory Tower and change perceptions forever.
Muriel Sutherland Snowden, a black woman who graduated from Radcliffe in 1938 could not attend classes at Harvard, at that time women were barred from taking Harvard classes. Her experiences at Radcliffe was like the author Kent Garret at Harvard who apparently had a good life at the famous university. It is possible that Garrett might be cleverly hiding racist and other intolerable experiences on campus. Snowden admits that her background of growing up as a black child in a white community and attending all-white schools had made her assimilation at Radcliffe easier! Is that possible?
Activist Richard Theodor Greener was the first African American who graduated from Harvard in 1870. His admission was "an experiment" by the administration and paved the way for many more black graduates. The famous black activist and scholar W.E.B. Dubois earned his PhD from Harvard in 1890. The darkness in the legacy of Harvard, in terms of race relations, stretch as far as its 384 years of iconic history. The greatest university in the world sometimes dos does not live up to its reputation since the university was built partly on slave labor. In a recent message, dated Nov 21, 2019 from Harvard President Lawrence Bacow, a number of activities were planned to promote racial healing on the campus: memorials commemorating the lives and contributions of slaves were installed at Wadsworth House and Harvard Law School; a faculty committee initiated research on the university’s historical ties to slavery through work with the Harvard Archives and other university collections; conferences with peers from across higher education; and numerous classes, seminars, exhibitions, performances, and discussions took place across the university campus.
What exactly is goodness? Where is it found in the literary imagination? Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison pondered these perplexing questions in her Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University in 2012. She observed that it is commonly found in society and among black population that has responded to centuries of brutality with creativity.
Book Reviewed: Kent State by Deborah Wiles
Dissent and Death
In this book, the Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970 by the Ohio National Guard is narrated in a poetical form. This shooting during an antiwar demonstration resulted in the killing four students and wounding nine others. This historical event shook the conscious of people around the globe. The author uses her poetical skills to describe the history as a series of images, feelings, sounds, and experiences. Adopting a lyrical style helps the reader enter this moving and powerful genre and puts into a different focus on a story that has been widely published.
Author Deborah Wiles is known to write on children, community, historical events and social justice in her literary work. Recreating a story as powerful as John Filo's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling over the body of Jeffrey Miller is certainly challenging. This is powerfully illustrated by narratives that is well researched. This experience moves your heart to tears for lives cut short, lives damaged, and the nation forever scarred. The author hopes that her work will articulate the devastating moment in the history, understand the landscape of the events that led to the tragedy.
Several singers and song writers vividly narrated the shootings, one notable song was written by Neil Young, and sung by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Music and artistic presentations narrate a story more powerfully than written prose. This compact sized book of 132 pages makes an interesting read.
In this book, the Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970 by the Ohio National Guard is narrated in a poetical form. This shooting during an antiwar demonstration resulted in the killing four students and wounding nine others. This historical event shook the conscious of people around the globe. The author uses her poetical skills to describe the history as a series of images, feelings, sounds, and experiences. Adopting a lyrical style helps the reader enter this moving and powerful genre and puts into a different focus on a story that has been widely published.
Author Deborah Wiles is known to write on children, community, historical events and social justice in her literary work. Recreating a story as powerful as John Filo's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling over the body of Jeffrey Miller is certainly challenging. This is powerfully illustrated by narratives that is well researched. This experience moves your heart to tears for lives cut short, lives damaged, and the nation forever scarred. The author hopes that her work will articulate the devastating moment in the history, understand the landscape of the events that led to the tragedy.
Several singers and song writers vividly narrated the shootings, one notable song was written by Neil Young, and sung by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Music and artistic presentations narrate a story more powerfully than written prose. This compact sized book of 132 pages makes an interesting read.
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