"You can kill a man,
but you can't kill an idea."
--Medgar Evers before his own assasination 

...modern science differs from all previous traditions of knowledge in three critical ways:

a. The willingness to admit ignorance.  Modern science is based on the Latin injunctioin ignoramus - 'we do not know'.  It assumes that we don't know everything.  Even more critically, it accepts that the things we think we know could be proven wrong as we gain more knowledge.  No concept, idea or theory is sacred and beyond challenge.

b. The centrality of observation and mathematics.  Having admitted ignorance, modern science aims to obtain new knowledge.  It does so by gathering observations and then using mathematical tools to connect these observations into comprehensive theories.

c. The acquisition of new powers.  Modern science is not content with creating theories.  It uses these theories in order to acquire new powers, and in particular to develop new technologies.

The Scientific Revolution has not been a revolution of knowledge.  It has been above all a revolution of ignorance.  The great discovery that launched the Scientific Revolution was the discovery that humans do not know the answers to their most important questions.

(He goes on to discuss how the premodern religious traditions of the world all assert that we already knew everything that we needed to know, and tamped down inquiries.)

-p250-251 in Sapiens

I am an agnotologist, no doubt.  That is to say, I am fascinated with all that we do not know, with the gray areas and uncertainties of life, death, and everything.  Agnostic = Doesn't Know.  Agnotology = Study of Ignorance.  Science depends on us being very clear about what we do not know yet, so that we can devise ways to try to find out.

( Great article here from the NY TimesCollapse )

If factoids could speak, what would this one say? To me it whispers ominously: "We want to kill and not get caught" and "We are willing to give our personal info to the ATF and pay lots of money for the gadget that will let us do the deed." Silencers often cost more than the guns they quiet.

US sales of silencers went from 285,000 in 2011 to 360,000 in 2012. According to the ATF there's now a 9 month waiting period for registration approval, and applicants must provide the ATF with a photo and fingerprints, and pay a $200 tax.

The assault rifle buying binge provoked by the Newtown shooting has tapered down, and those same people are getting set up with silencers, flashlights, laser scopes, stocks, pistol grips and rail systems for attaching other accessories.

SOURCE
http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/22/news/companies/gun-silencer-sales/

He's retiring from congress at age 77, and going on a speaking tour. He has signed on with the Greater Talent Network to book his speaking schedule. Should be interesting to see what this senior statesman does in his retirement from congress. He's not done yet.

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/political-potpourri/2012/dec/6/ron-paul-hire-liberty-free-market-speaker-circui/

"I think it has the potential to be quite explosive," Potholm says. "I don't think the Ron Paul people are particularly interested in whether Obama is defeated or not. I think that's long passed as their number one objective."
http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNewsArchive/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3475/ItemId/23206/Default.aspx

The way I see it, the Republican party has lost all credibility and is ripe for takeover. And the Ron Paul people are more interested in resurrecting a fiscally conservative party (from the fascist ashes) than they are in ousting Obama. And Obama is more ready for that revolution than Romney is.

No one has to do everything but everyone has to do something.
--GreenDot