Return of the John Birch Society : a progenitor of conspiracy-minded politics rises again in Texas

Ostracized for decades, the John Birch Society, one of the powerful cornerstones of the late 1950s and 1960s extreme conservative movement, is making a comeback in Texas. In early 2017, in the tiny farming town of Holland, new members gather in a church annex to learn about a secret conspiracy to emasculate ordinary Americans by taking their guns, their religion, and their heritage. In sprawling Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city, members listen eagerly as a Southern Baptist pastor (who doubles as a George Washington impersonator) thunders that President Trump was sent from God to save the country. “John Birch Society membership in Texas has doubled in the last three years, and state legislators are joining the group,” says Jan Carter, a 75-year-old retiree who leads the Central Texas Chapter of the John Birch Society. This report is a journey into the singular world of the John Birch Society in Texas, a world riven with far-right, conspiracy-minded ideology. The report examines the sociological, political, and psychological forces that have contributed to the resurgence of the John Birch Society; forces that are underreported in the mainstream media, and forces that helped propel Donald Trump to the White HouseJournalis

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project: overview and status

The LIGO Project is a joint effort between the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to build and operate a novel astronomical observatory that directly senses gravitational waves, and in doing so open a new observational window to the universe. Installation of detector components is planned to begin in the spring of 1998 with the first data run at the designed strain sensitivity of h ~ 2 X 10^(-23) m/√Hz scheduled to begin in 2002

Beethoven\u27s Ninth Symphony Reflects Evolving German Nationalism

This work relates the evolution of Beethoven’s music to the historical evolution of a unique Germanic culture; it is a vignette of the melding of art and politics in the building of a nation. The music of Beethoven began under the thumb of an entrepreneurial father and his own admiration of the music of Mozart; Beethoven through his lifetime pushed the threshold of the classical form to its outer limits reaching the pinnacle in his Ninth Symphony. The 19th century German culture can be traced to the Hohenzollern Dynasty which was granted a crown in 1701, and went into high gear when c.1725 Herder proposed the concept of a culture college. The concept of nation building included: common language, common values and traditions, and contiguous landholdings. Most was accomplished through the service of Otto von Bismarck under several Kaisers. The high point of German nationalism resulting from Herder’s concepts began to deteriorate around 1871 from classic order to nebulous romanticism. This work closes with the dismissal of Bismarck in the early 1890s

Britain\u27s conciliatory proposal of 1776, A study in futility

This paper is a study of Britain\u27s most significant conciliatory effort during the American Revolution. The thesis presents a discussion of the North Conciliatory Plan of 1778 and the obstacles which confronted Britain\u27s peace emissaries--the Carlisle Commission--during negotiations in America

The rodent research animal holding facility as a barrier to environmental contamination

The rodent Research Animal Holding Facility (RAHF), developed by NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) to separately house rodents in a Spacelab, was verified as a barrier to environmental contaminants during a 12-day biocompatibility test. Environmental contaminants considered were solid particulates, microorganisms, ammonia, and typical animal odors. The 12-day test conducted in August 1988 was designed to verify that the rodent RAHF system would adequately support and maintain animal specimens during normal system operations. Additional objectives of this test were to demonstrate that: (1) the system would capture typical particulate debris produced by the animal; (2) microorganisms would be contained; and (3) the passage of animal odors was adequately controlled. In addition, the amount of carbon dioxide exhausted by the RAHF system was to be quantified. Of primary importance during the test was the demonstration that the RAHF would contain particles greater than 150 micrometers. This was verified after analyzing collection plates placed under exhaust air ducts and rodent cages during cage maintenance operations, e.g., waste tray and feeder changeouts. Microbiological testing identified no additional organisms in the test environment that could be traced to the RAHF. Odor containment was demonstrated to be less than barely detectable. Ammonia could not be detected in the exhaust air from the RAHF system. Carbon dioxide levels were verified to be less than 0.35 percent

Spatial and temporal filtering of a 10-W Nd:YAG laser with a Fabry-Perot ring-cavity premode cleaner

We report on the use of a fixed-spacer Fabry–Perot ring cavity to filter spatially and temporally a 10-W laser-diode-pumped Nd:YAG master-oscillator power amplifier. The spatial filtering leads to a 7.6-W TEMinfinity beam with 0.1% higher-order transverse mode content. The temporal filtering reduces the relative power fluctuations at 10 MHz to 2.8 x 10^-/sqrtHz, which is 1 dB above the shot-noise limit for 50 mA of detected photocurrent

Chronicles of Oklahoma

Article narrates the Cherokee response to the leasing of the Cherokee Outlet by directors of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association. The responses culminated into a series of hearing before the United States' Committee on Indian Affairs that lasted seventeen months