Michael C. Perkins's Blog, page 6
February 1, 2017
The absurd ban
from today's WSJ...
Gen. Talib al Kenani commands the elite American-trained counter terrorist forces that have been leading the fight against ISIS for two years.
“I’m a four star general, and I’m banned from entering the U.S.?” he said.
His family was relocated to the U.S. for their safety, and he’d had plans to see them next week, until he was told not to bother.
“I have been fighting terrorism for 13 years and winning,” he said. “Now my kids are now asking if I’m a terrorist?” . . .
Gen. Talib al Kenani commands the elite American-trained counter terrorist forces that have been leading the fight against ISIS for two years.
“I’m a four star general, and I’m banned from entering the U.S.?” he said.
His family was relocated to the U.S. for their safety, and he’d had plans to see them next week, until he was told not to bother.
“I have been fighting terrorism for 13 years and winning,” he said. “Now my kids are now asking if I’m a terrorist?” . . .
January 29, 2017
Karl Popper
The philosopher of science Karl Popper coined the term "risky prediction" to describe the process by which scientists verity untested theories. Good theories, Popper proposed, generate risky predictions.
They presage an unanticipated fact or event that runs a real risk of not occurring or being proven incorrect. When this unanticipated fact proves true or the event does occur, the theory gains credibility and robustness.
For example, Newton's understanding of gravitation was most spectacularly validated when it accurately presaged the return of Halley's comet in 1758. Einstein's theory of relativity was vindicated in 1919 by the demonstration that light from distant stars is "bent" by the mass of the sun, just as predicted by the theory's equations.
They presage an unanticipated fact or event that runs a real risk of not occurring or being proven incorrect. When this unanticipated fact proves true or the event does occur, the theory gains credibility and robustness.
For example, Newton's understanding of gravitation was most spectacularly validated when it accurately presaged the return of Halley's comet in 1758. Einstein's theory of relativity was vindicated in 1919 by the demonstration that light from distant stars is "bent" by the mass of the sun, just as predicted by the theory's equations.
