Yes, it’s ludicrous
Yes, it’s ludicrous
“Ludicrous” is an interesting word, and I thank D. Maloney for introducing it into the Thirty Meter Telescope discussion (Your Views, Tribune-Herald). For me, personally, as a somewhat educated citizen, it is the objective of the TMT that is ludicrous:
To reach back into space and Einstein’s time, some 10 billion (give or take a few million) of our years, to understand the Singularity that caused the Big Bang.
I happen to know what caused the Big Bang: It was God. Intentionally popping a balloon.
“MaiMan,” the sage of lower Mamo Street, told me how she saw this TMT situation.
There’s this international conference for all persons interested in the fate of life on Earth, and a great and sumptuous banquet is prepared and set before all attendees. Science, being loudly self-congratulatory, decides to dine upon something that looks shiny, delicious and new, but located at the other end of the great table. Being well-sated and confident in its prowess, Science reaches across the banquet table, knocking over and discombobulating the grand design of the conference. Well, as can be well-imagined, History, Culture, Religion and Poetry are up in arms.
On the plate before Astronomy are the analyses of thousands of astronomical facts and fictions, thanks to all the fruits of the Age of Reason, from Spinoza to Hubble.
What we really need is a TMT that will implement some rules of international civility. The late Sen. Spark Matsunaga envisioned a Peace Department equal to the war department.
That’s where the $1.4 billion should go — build it right here on Hawaii Island.
What Athens was to Praxiteles’ and Plato’s Mediterranean, let Hawaii be to the world.
The Singularity ain’t goin’ nowhere.
Tomas Belsky
Hilo
Care about keiki?
On the way to school (Friday) morning, my son says, “Mommy, it seems like they care about the cars on the highway more than they care about the kids.”
I’m just curious: Why is the speed limit not 25 mph on Highway 130 by Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences in Pahoa? It’s 25 on Highway 11 at Mountain View school, and 20 mph at Ke Kula ‘O Nawahiokalani‘opu‘u Iki school in Keaau.
They even have flashing lights and crosswalks at the other locations, and we already have the flashing 45 mph “reminders,” so just a tweak to 25 mph would be a simple/free solution.
How about putting those same measures in place for our Pahoa children?
Jennifer Tanner
Pahoa