Month: January 2026

Bizarre, Curiositys, Nuclear, UKLeave a comment

Nuclear Bunker Falling Into Ocean

Fernando Kaskais

Just days away from a sad demise. By Frank Landymore – Published Jan 18, 2026 3:45 PM EST How’s a literal nuclear bunker hanging off the side of a crumbling cliff face for portent symbols of how our society seems to be teetering on the edge of some imminent catastrophe? Not good enough for you? Well, it’s what we’ve got. The brick building, located near Tunstall on the East Yorkshire coast in the UK, is thought to have been built way back in 1959 as a lookout post in the event of a nuclear war. But it’s now just days away from falling … Continue reading Nuclear Bunker Falling Into Ocean

Buddhism, Living, Philosophy, PsychologyLeave a comment

The Power of a Quiet Life

Fernando Kaskais

Sleeping Porch, Marsh House by Robert Langham III | Photo taken on a 5 x 7 View Camera and printed as a palladium contact print, 1992 Sometimes the best way to help the world is to move slowly through it. By Lewis Richmond One of the most beautiful and powerful Buddhist teachings is the bodhisattva vow, the aspiration to work for the welfare and liberation of all beings. In my half-century as a Buddhist meditator and teacher, I have tried to live in accordance with this vow and have encouraged others to do the same. But when I see the state of the … Continue reading The Power of a Quiet Life

Curiositys, History, Philosophy, ScienceLeave a comment

The shape of time

Fernando Kaskais

Detail from Adams Synchronological Chart of Universal History created by Sebastian C Adams in 1881. This timeline is a visual representation of world history, spanning from 4004 BCE to 1881 CE. Courtesy the David Rumsey Map Collection In the 19th century, the linear idea of time became dominant – with profound implications for how we experience the world By Emily Thomas is professor of philosophy at Durham University, UK. Her scholarly books include Absolute Time: Rifts in Early Modern British Metaphysics (2018), Victoria Welby (2023) and Real Time: A Reinvention in British Metaphysics 1883-1928 (forthcoming). She has also written a trade book, The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad (2020). ‘It’s natural,’ … Continue reading The shape of time

Art, In Portuguese, PhotographyLeave a comment

Imaginando

Fernando Kaskais

FERNANDO KASKAIS Imaginará um futuro demasiado longínquo, medindo a distância entre o passado e o presente pelo ritmo a que as ondas do mar rebentam na areia. Como é aparentemente fácil considerar-nos outro ser distinto, e a nossa vida presente como qualquer coisa que não a simples continuação do passado. O mar como oráculo, e o futuro sob o nosso controlo enquanto o fluxo da água se mantiver inalterável. Não, não é fácil, compreender os mistérios do tempo ultrapassa a aptidão humana. https://kaskaisphotos.wordpress.com/2026/01/17/imaginando/ F. Kaskais Web Guru Continue reading Imaginando

Curiositys, History, Japan, Media&Culture, USALeave a comment

Samurai and Guerrillas: The First Official Japanese Visit

Fernando Kaskais

Japanese Embassy, Navy Yard, Washington, DC, 1860 The first Japanese delegation to the US captivated crowds and confounded expectations, as the press cast its samurai as “effeminate. By: Matthew Wills  In June, 1860, a Japanese diplomatic mission visited Washington, DC, and then toured Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. The first official Japanese visit to a Western nation, the delegation was composed of seventy-seven samurai. They created a sensation with their exotic clothing, not least for throwing the rigid male-female gender dichotomy and racial order of mid-century America into turmoil. Scholar Ikuko Asaka writes that news coverage of the mission used already-established orientalist … Continue reading Samurai and Guerrillas: The First Official Japanese Visit

AI, Brain, Psychology, Science, TechnologyLeave a comment

Computer Intelligence Versus Human Intelligence

Fernando Kaskais

Professor Joseph Weizenbaum created a chatbot he named ELIZA that conversed with users the way a psychotherapist might Gary Smith  I recently read an article (“Computers and the Nature of Man:  A Historian’s Perspective on Controversies about Artificial Intelligence”) by Judy Grabiner, a celebrated mathematician and historian of mathematics and I learned two things that I want to share.  The first concerns the Eliza effect, our inclination to attribute human-like intelligence and emotions to computers. In the 1960s, MIT computer science professor Joseph Weizenbaum created a chatbot he named ELIZA that conversed with users the way a psychotherapist might; for … Continue reading Computer Intelligence Versus Human Intelligence

Curiositys, Freak U.S.A, Politics, Rights, UnbelievableLeave a comment

What Would a Trump Takeover Mean for Greenland’s Resources?

Fernando Kaskais

Top: Oil tanks in Ilulissat, Greenland. Visual: Connect Images via Getty Images The Danish territory holds significant stores of oil, gas, and minerals. The vast majority is still in the ground. By Nicholas Kusnetz, Inside Climate News Even before U.S. forces seized Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump reiterated his long-stated desire to take control of Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory. “We need Greenland for national security,” Trump said publicly last month. This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Those comments took on new urgency after the military intervention in Venezuela. Within a day, Trump … Continue reading What Would a Trump Takeover Mean for Greenland’s Resources?

Europe, Manipulation, Politics, Rights1 Comment

Germany’s Latest War on Freedom

Fernando Kaskais

by Jim Bovard  “There is no censorship here in Germany,” according to Steffen Meyer, a top spokesman for the German government. In reality, Germans have freedom of speech except for ideas that politicians and government contractors and nonprofit activists don’t like. Germany is providing a road map for freedom can be squashed throughout the western world. Germany was the scene of some of the twentieth century’s worst tyranny but today’s German leaders have only noble intentions for oppression. Berlin’s Best and Brightest™ “improved” democracy by turning politicians into a privileged caste. After a conservative editor mocked a top German law enforcement official by … Continue reading Germany’s Latest War on Freedom

AI, Future, Nuclear, Planet, WarLeave a comment

Is the ‘Forever Winter’ Our Future?

Fernando Kaskais

Thoughts on AI, nuclear weapons, and forever wars… by Chris Mott Reprinted from The Realist Review: When it comes to fictional depictions of a post-nuclear future, Nevil Shute’s 1957 classic novel On the Beach arguably popularized the trend. The story showed the extinction of the human race from a globally omnipresent and ever spreading radiation. In later years, the made-for-television movies Threads and The Day After shocked Cold War audiences in the 1980s by depicting the nightmare of a post-apocalyptic future in which most people were not in fact killed quickly but rather lingered on in great suffering ; a future which sounds less bleak but was in fact more … Continue reading Is the ‘Forever Winter’ Our Future?

Curiositys, Health, History, Philosophy, PsychologyLeave a comment

The 2,500-year-old secrets to health and wellness (that aren’t secrets at all)

Fernando Kaskais

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain / Big Think Health policy expert Ezekiel Emanuel says you don’t have to be obsessed to live a healthy life. Wellness can, and should, be something you enjoy. Key Takeaways By Ross Pomeroy “Remember the first rule of life: We’re all going to die.” A grim thought in isolation, but in the context of Ezekiel Emanuel’s new book, Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life, the statement offers a sense of liberation. Emanuel has been working to improve Americans’ health for decades. A bioethicist, health policy expert, oncologist, and chocolatier — yes, really — … Continue reading The 2,500-year-old secrets to health and wellness (that aren’t secrets at all)