Chapter 1: The Green Revolution
Chapter 2: The Greenhouse Effect, Ozone Hole, and Other Acorns
Chapter 3: The Sun and the Atom: The Only Sources of Electricity
Chapter 4: Nuclear Power, Solar Power, and Things Beyond
Chapter 5: When Nuclear Goes Wrong
Chapter 6: Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic, Taught to the Tune of...
Chapter 7: Government — by the Bureaucrat, for the Bureaucrat
Chapter 8: Civilized Warfare
Chapter 9: The Anatomy of a Nuke
Chapter 10: If Not Nukes, Then What?
Chapter 11: Morality and Ethics, or "It's Not My Fault!"
Chapter 12: Starlight, Star Bright: The Cosmic Speed Limit
Chapter 13: The Chicken Little Factor
Excerpts from Chapter 3
“Radiation is energy transfer. It can take several forms. One is tiny mass-less packets called photons. We experience photons most commonly as ordinary light. This radiation frequently is called electromagnetic radiation. Photons carry energy, and the more energetic they are—the higher their frequency—the more “dangerous” they can be. Harm results when energy is transferred to living cells in a damaging way. Early atomic scientists identified a form of radiation they called “gamma-rays.”
“Generally speaking, any radiation above the level of mid-infrared has the potential to affect a cell. ”
“Radioactivity is expressed in Becquerels (Bq). One Becquerel is equivalent to one atomic disintegration per second—the release of one alpha or beta particle, one neutron, or one gamma-ray every second.”
“Most radiation is benign, as we normally experience it. Of the radiation that is potentially dangerous, only a small fraction is associated with the generation of atomic power.”
Excerpt From
The Chicken Little Agenda
Robert G. Williscroft
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Excerpt from Chapter 6
“The commission concluded that “declines in educational performance are in large part the result of disturbing inadequacies in the way the educational process itself is often conducted.”
"...Three disturbing facts about the use that American schools and students made of time: (1) compared to other nations, American students spent much less time on schoolwork; (2) classroom and homework time was often used ineffectively; and (3) schools were not doing enough to help students develop either the study skills to use time well or the willingness to spend more time on schoolwork.”
The author presented a lot of evidence based statistics and facts in Chapter 6 about the educational system in the United States.
“If history has taught us anything, it is that we can learn from history; we don’t need to retry all the things that have failed in the past. We can, instead, build on those things that worked in earlier times, adapting them to modern circumstances and using them to our best advantage.”
“In his 1999 book Market Education: The Unknown History, Andrew Coulson examined the history of education”
“The inescapable conclusion from Coulson’s research is that for the last two and a half thousand years, the only school systems demonstrating long-term effectiveness were those offering parents a choice in the school, the curriculum, the teachers, and the administration and requiring their financial involvement in the operation of the school.
"It’s time we applied this dramatic lesson from history.”
“The education side, however, is more complicated. Teaching a young person to think is more challenging than teaching that person to read.”
“The education side, however, is more complicated. Teaching a young person to think is more challenging than teaching that person to read. Among the retired experts who can be expected to join a market-based school system will be some who ran companies, managed scientific laboratories, served as elected officials—society’s leaders. They will make important contributions to the education of our children. Beyond this, however, a market-based school system can entice top-level thinkers into our basic school system as a career by offering salaries that compete with corporate America."
"There is no question that our current education system is a disaster. We can continue to apply discredited top-down solutions that may produce temporary relief from or even the reversal of one or two specific problem areas. Or we can learn history’s 2,500-year lesson that a successful school offers parents choices in the school, the curriculum, the teachers, and the administration and requires their financial participation in its operation."
Excerpt From
The Chicken Little Agenda
Robert G. Williscroft
This material may be protected by copyright.
I recommend this book.
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