The Friday Link for 6/6/25

Howdy All!

Today I was at my youngest child's high school graduation.  It was wonderful.  I am a proud father, and I made a lot of noise when my daughter's name was called.  There were a lot of proud parents there. When their child's name was read, the family members in the stands hooted and hollered, waved banners, made noise, and made sure their family pride was on display for everyone to see.

Talking to another one of the parents, she made an understandable point, that sometimes the cheering went on so long that it somewhat drowned out the name of the next person coming up to get their diploma. I get wanting to be fair and nice, but I also want to point out that considering the 4-year college graduation rate in the United States is around 38% (that's all Americans, either born here of American parents, immigrants, and those with birthright citizenship), high school graduation IS the major life education event for most families.  Let them hoot and holler.

The first video this week is a political one, but 1) it's fantastic, and 2) it addresses graduation and other topics that MAGA attacks immigrants and birthright citizens for.  It turns out that the far more productive class of people is the immigrants/birthright citizen group, NOT the American citizens born of American parents.  As a matter of fact, it's not even close.  Sullys_Classroom is the YouTube channel, and his point that some in MAGA feel like they don't have to earn something to receive it, is SPOT ON! No one is stealing anything from MAGA.  Some MAGA don't want to put in the hard work, demanding to be rewarded just for being MAGA. That's not how life works! 

Next up are two videos that are a bit heady.  The first is from regular Link contributor Joe Scott, asking what a common item found from the Roman age actually is. There is this strange object which has been found throughout the northern extent of the Roman Empire, and no one seems to know what its function was.  Scott breaks down the theories!

To understand the next video, you need to know what the Fermi Paradox is.  Enrico Fermi, when he started to realize how big the universe was, asked the question of "Where is everyone?" Considering the number of planets and stars and galaxies and universes, shouldn't there be a lot of alien species, some of whom are far more advanced than us, if evolution is something common?  This question has only gotten more and more interesting with the more and more planets and stars and galaxies and universes we discover.

Maybe there is a simple solution to why Earth managed to eke it out, and what happened on Earth is limited to a handful of other planets, a certain evolution of our cells, which makes the explosion of evolutionary diversity possible.

This is HEAVY DUTY SCIENCE! I found it fascinating. PBS Space Time has the details! 

That's it for this week!

Please make sure to stay up to date on your vaccinations.  I want you to be healthy!