Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

The flotsam of the contemporary news cycles moves by us so quickly and is soon forgotten. Our Orange Dynast is a child whose attention flits quickly from one subject to another, more-or-less effectively dragging the news cycle with him. Hey! It would be cool to buy Greenland. Look! There are protestors at my rally! Wow! That one is fat! We need more background checks. Oooh, something shiny! We have lots of background checks. I'm the Chosen One. That was a joke. Isn't it time for another infrastructure week? Anyway, about buying Greenland ... the thought that occurs to me is that Trump must have figured Greenland is HUUUUGE because he probably doesn't understand Mercator projection, and the fact that areas near the poles aren't as large as they seem to be on a standard map. Portrayed as above, it is still impressive but not quite so HUUU... Also, Trump probably has heard that Jefferson bought a large territory from Napoleon, that Andrew Johnson bought A...

Simple fact: the maximal extent of the Arctic ice pack is mid-March, and the minimum is in mid-September. Until recent years, the maximum has been about 15 million square miles, the minimum about half of that, that is, between 7 and 8 million SQ M. In September 2007 the usual time for the annual minimum, the ice pack shrank to only 4.3 million SQ. M., or about half of the usual minimum. This was a record for recorded history. In recent Septembers it has been somewhat larger, that is, 2007 retains that record. But these last few years have included the second third and fourth lowest extents. in other words, the lowest four coverages ever recorded have all been notched within the last six years. Don't want to believe that? It's from The New Yorker , and for all I know you might consider that a dubious source. Still, nations and commercial interests are both acting as if a critical change is underway, and it would be churlish to act as if they're all crazy. Also, s...