History – Page 21

Bob Shell: Science

Science

To say that the world exists “out there” independent of us, that view can no longer be maintained. — John Archibald Wheeler, Quantum Physicist

Some scientists were inclined to think that psychological phenomena could ultimately be explained on the basis of physics and chemistry of the brain. From the quantum-theoretical point of view there is no reason for such an assumption. — Werner Heisenberg, Quantum Physicist

The unconscious mind may include all man’s past; but it also includes all man’s future. — Colin Wilson, Author, Polymath, 1969

For any speculation that at first glance does not look crazy, there is no hope. –Freeman Dyson, Physicist, Futurist

Theories have four stages of acceptance:

I. This is worthless nonsense.

II. This is interesting, but perverse.

III. This is true, but quite unimportant

IV. I always said so.

— J. B. S. Haldane, Theoretician

Because of my original training in science and the time I spent working for and with scientists, I still think of myself as a scientist, even though I didn’t make my living that way. If I were just coming to college today I’d probably major in physics, and end up somewhere in academia. We’ve learned a lot about how the world really works in the last hundred years, much of it more recently as old Newtonian ideas have been replaced with ideas from the realm of quantum dynamics. The old idea of solid matter being something you could knock up against has been replaced with the idea of matter as just another form of energy. You could think of matter as “crystalized energy,” and not be wrong. It was Einstein who first put this idea into theoretical form and started us on the path to converting matter directly into pure energy, first in the uncontrolled form of nuclear bombs, and then in the more controlled form of nuclear reactors. In both, matter is directly converted to energy, lots of energy.

The alchemists of old were laughed at for their ideas of transmuting one element into another, but they did hit on some important truths about matter. They classified matter into earth, water, air, and fire. They did not mean for these to be taken literally, they had discovered the four basic forms of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Today we recognize these same four states and pat ourselves on the back for knowing more than our ancestors. Really? So what have we learned that they didn’t know? Until pretty recently, not much.

Today we’re peering a bit deeper into nature’s vault of secrets, blowing atoms apart with our super colliders, which is like studying how cars work by having them collide head on at high speed and picking up the pieces. Maybe we’ll get it right, maybe not. Now we’ve discovered that everything is made of particles, protons, electrons, neutrons, and such. What are those particles made of? The physicist says “quarks,” as though that answers your question. Yes, but what are quarks made of? Some answer “super strings,” some answer “branes,” and some just scratch their heads and adjust their glasses. It seems that the deeper we go, the more surreal things get.

I’m very intrigued by what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance,” otherwise known as quantum entanglement. Put two particles in close proximity and they become “entangled,” and once they become entangled, you can separate them by any distance, put them billions of light years apart, and any change you make in one instantly changes the other Einstein never accepted this, but it has been demonstrated in the lab.

Currently cosmologists believe in the Big Bang, that the Universe was created from a singularity that exploded. But in that singularity there was no time or space, meaning that every particle in the Universe was born entangled with every other particle. That means that Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance” is the norm, not something unusual. In the language of physics such connections are “nonlocal.”. I have come to believe that consciousness itself, that difficult to define phenomenon, is itself nonlocal; not confined to the brain. This nonlocality of consciousness would account for so-called “psychic” phenomena. A good book on this is The Sense Of Being Stared At. Well worth reading to broaden your perspective on how things really work.

I’ve been asked often if I believe in the supernatural. The answer is a resounding NO! There is NO supernatural! Everything that happens in the universe is natural, but there are still many completely natural phenomena that we simply don’t yet understand. As Arthur C. Clarke once said, any sufficiently advanced technology would appear to us to be magic. Every new generation of scientists looks back at their predecessors and says, “can you imagine that they believed THAT?”

Sometimes it is dangerous to speak the truth when those in power believe otherwise. Geordano Bruno wrote, ” there are innumerable suns and an infinite number of planets which circle around their suns as our seven planets circle around our Sun … innumerable suns exist. Innumerable Earths revolve around these. Living beings inhabit these worlds.”. For refusing to recant those words, Bruno was tortured by the Inquisition for months. Finally, on February 17, 1600, Bruno was led into the Campo de’ Fiori in Rome where he defiantly said, “You may be more afraid to bring this sentence against me than I am to accept it.”. He was then tied to the stake and burned alive, while priests sang the litanies. This is all recorded dryly in Vatican records. Today a statue of Bruno stands on the spot where he was immolated. A lot of good that does him!

But there’s more. In 1930 Pope Pius XI made Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino into a saint. Who was he? He was the man who condemned Bruno to death, the Chief Inquisitor in Bruno’s trial.

The universe is the way it is and cannot be constrained by social or cultural prejudice. — Chandra Wickramasinghe, Cosmologist, Astrobiologist.

About The Author: Bob Shell is a professional photographer, author, former editor in chief of Shutterbug Magazine and veteran contributor to this blog. He is currently serving a 35 year sentence for involuntary manslaughter for the death of Marion Franklin, one of his former models. He is serving the 13th year of his sentence at Pocahontas State Correctional Facility, Virginia. To read additional articles by Bob Shell, click here: https://tonyward.com/bob-shell-science-versus-religion/

Editor’s Note: If you like Bob Shell’s blog posts, you’re sure to like his new book, COSMIC DANCE by Bob Shell (ISBN: 9781799224747, $ 12.95 book, $ 5.99 eBook) available now on Amazon.com . The book, his 26th, is a collection of essays written over the last twelve years in prison, none published anywhere before. It is subtitled, “A biologist’s reflections on space, time, reality, evolution, and the nature of consciousness,” which describes it pretty well. You can read a sample section and reviews on Amazon.com. Here’s the Link:

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A.H. Scott: Men of Bronze

Cover of VHS tape Men of Bronze — Men of Bronze

DON’T TREAD ON ME, GOD DAMN, LET’S GO!

Now, as you read that title,” DON’T TREAD ON ME, GOD DAMN, LET’S GO!”, you might think these words are of those who beat their chest in some sort of patriotic braggadocio of the modern day.

But, in actuality, this IS the motto of the 369^th Infantry Regiment, otherwise known as the Harlem Hellfighters.

Nicknamed the Men of Bronze (Hommes de Bronze) by the French troops which they fought with and Hell-fighter (Hollenkampfer) by the Germans that they battled for almost two-hundred days in the trenches, during World War I; these were the American soldiers that exemplified courage and an unstoppable will.

Nowadays, you hear armchair warriors speak in giddy tones of an enraptured melding of manhood and war-hood with a peppering of patriotism as a side dish. America the strong! America the brave! America, America, America! Patriotism is mine and mine alone, say-eth the armchair warrior!

“The Negro will follow the American flag wherever it may lead. There are now over 250,000 Negroes in the army. The Negro is intensely loyal and patriotic. By the record he has already made in France he has earned the right of all the benefits of full citizenship – that act of simple justice his heart craves more than anything else.” – Dr. Robert R. Moton[1], principal of Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University)[2]

Men that have gone off to war and fought in hand to hand combat against a military foe aren’t so eager to drunkenly divulge what they’ve seen and done in the sobriety of war theater, as if to rattle off their past actions in some sort of grotesque confessional for trivial consumption.

One of these military veterans was Frederick H. Williams, a kind and loving human being who was my great-grandfather.

Portrait of Frederick H. Williams ||| — Frederick H. Williams

I can remember seeing a scar on my great-grandfather’s leg when I was a little girl. As a kid, I never really paid much attention to it whenever I saw him pulling on his socks and putting on his shoes. That discolored patch of skin with slight disfigurement on his leg was something that never was talked about much.

As I’d gotten older and he’d talked a little bit about his younger days from time to time, he told me that the scar was from a shrapnel blast he’d incurred from fighting on the front-lines during World War I.

The documentary titled, “Men Of Bronze” [3], details the Harlem Hellfighters’ valor on the battlefields of France. Directed by William Miles, who had spoken at my great-grandfather’s funeral when he died in 1978, it is narrated by the unmistakable, towering voice of Adolph Caesar.

On September 15, 1918 during a major allied battle offensive in Meuse-Argonne my great-grandfather and the rest of the French 4^th Army had started up the hill and all hell broke loose; leaving many of the men in the squad broken of flesh and bone, but not of will.

Final war report of the battle of Meuse-Argonne had been casualties of the four black infantry regiments of the 93^rd division whom were 3,925 killed and wounded. Frederick was so badly injured, he returned to the United States on a casualty ship, not expected to live past nine months. Yet, he survived and thrived until his death in 1978.

But, now as an adult I definitely remember those little things about him. From his ability to make the most amazing stovetop biscuits with tiny chunks of cheddar cheese, orange marmalade he made from scratch and even fresh peanut butter. I guess my love of plants and flowers must have been passed down through the family from him also. Oh, but the one thing I remember was the scent of the pipe he used to smoke. He even used to make this beep-beep, kind of whistling sound with his lips that would make me giggle when I was a little girl. Gee, I guess I’m just a pushover for all things sentimental.

Wow, history of over a century ago has a way of coming around to be remembered and honored at present time, as I’ve seen recent news about the Harlem Hellfighters receiving the Congressional Gold Medal and it made me think back to my great-grandfather’s military service in World War I in France.

When I saw the report on ABC World News Tonight with David Muir about the Harlem Hellfighters [4] and United States President Joseph R. Biden’s August 25^th signing the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal [5] to the 369^th Infantry Regiment, my mind snapped back to listening to those stories he used to tell me about his younger days.

Introduced in the House of Representatives by New York Representative Tom Suozzi, H.R. 3642 reads as the following:

H.R. 3642, the “Harlem Hellfighters Congressional Gold Medal Act,” which provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to the 369th Infantry Regiment, commonly known as the “Harlem Hellfighters,” in recognition of their bravery and outstanding service during World War I.

Sometimes you might not realize the enormity of your roots. My advice to anyone who is young today, please take a listen to those elders in your life. Be it a family member or a neighbor who might be up in age. In the moment they may be speaking to you about something, you might not even really be listening to them. But, then as you get older, you remember one thing here or another thing there. You never know what history they have to tell you.

American-Negroes_-Glorious-Fighting-Record World War 1 paves citizenship — Bismarck Daily Tribune

Know your past, before you assume the future!

Watch the entire documentary, “Men Of Bronze”[6] online here: https://youtu.be/Gx73edFoZUY

“DON’T TREAD ON ME, GOD DAMN, LET’S GO!”

Footnotes:

1. “American Negroes’ Glorious Fighting Record Gives Them Right to Benefits of Full Citizenship,” Bismarck Daily Tribune (Bismarck, ND), Aug. 9, 1918 – https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2019/02/harlem-hell-fighters-african-american-troops/

2. Tuskegee University Presidents –

https://www.tuskegee.edu/discover-tu/tu-presidents/robert-russa-moton

3 IMDB – “Men Of Bronze” – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0281999/

4. ABC World News Tonight with David Muir – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-TnE9p2NKY

5. President Biden Signs Harlem Hellfighters Congressional Gold Medal Act –

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/25/bills-signed-h-r-1448-and-h-r-3642/

6. Men of Bronze – Black Medal of Honor American Heroes 8111977 –https://youtu.be/Gx73edFoZUY?t=1

About The Author: A.H. Scott is a poet based in New York City and frequent contributor to Tony Ward Studio. To read additional articles by Ms. Scott, go here: https://tonyward.com/a-h-scott-dont-stop-the-dance/

Bob Shell: Science Versus Religion

Science Versus Religion

In the eighth century, science in Europe was pretty much at a standstill. The iron hand of the Catholic Church dictated all truth, and challenging the Church on its version of truth was a very perilous proposition. The Earth was the center of all creation, the Church decreed, the Sun and stars revolved around it, and Man was the center of creation.

But while Europe stagnated, other areas moved forward, notably the Arabs and Chinese, and quite possibly the Mayans and other indigenous cultures in the Americas. I know very little of Chinese science in those days, and not much more about Mayan, so I will limit my discussion to Arab science, only mentioning that the Mayans appear to have been very advanced in mathematics and astronomy.

Arab science wasn’t held back by religion, and Arab scientists and mathematicians made great discoveries. It is no accident that about two thirds of the stars visible in the clear night sky of their arid lands bear Arabic names. Aldebaran, Algebar, Acrab, Betelgeuse, Deneb, Kitalpha, and Rigel are but a few examples. Arab astronomers knew the Earth was round, knew it orbited the Sun, and even knew its approximate diameter. Some of this they inherited from ancient Greece, but most they discovered on their own.

The center of Arab science was probably the ancient city of Baghdad, where discovery flourished.

The Arab mathematicians invented the base-ten number system we use today, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 …. 9, 10, etc. This system made complex calculations easy, unlike the awkward numerals of the Romans.

And, of course, Arabs invented the Zero, 0, without which our computers could not function.

Arab mathematicians invented Algebra, al-Gebra, meaning ‘the numbers.’ They invented Algorithms, Azimuth, and other mathematical and geometric ideas.

In Alchemy, derived from ‘al,’ Arabic for ‘the,’ and Khem, the Arabic name for Egypt, came Alchemy, the precursor of chemistry. Alchemy looked for the Alkahest, the ‘Universal Solvent’ that would dissolve anything. They named Alcohol, Alkaline, and Elixer, another goal of Alchemy and Magick.

By the end of the Eleventh Century, the greatest flowering of knowledge in human history had sprung from Arab science and mathematics.

Then it all died.

What happened? In a word, Islam.

Hamid-al-Ghazali, a brilliant Islamic scholar, wrote a series of books challenging science and philosophy, attacking Aristotle, Plato, and other ancient scholars. He declared that mathematics was anti-Islamic, calling it ‘the science of the devil.’ His writings were very influential, he’s been called the most influential Muslim in history, and under his influence and those who followed, Arab science collapsed. Doctrine replaced experiment, plunging the Islamic world back into ignorance from which they are only now beginning to recover. Fundamentalist groups like al-Quaida and the Taliban would stamp out all such progress, returning the world to a pre-scientific age, eschewing all technology except guns and explosives.

Why is this important to us today?

Today we have a new ‘religion’ challenging Western Science. It’s called ‘wokeness,’ ‘critical race theory,’ and a few other silly names. Make no mistake, though, it is a religion, with its own inflexible dogma. Just like Hamid-al-Ghazali’s perversion of Islam, it is attacking western science and philosophy, with its doctrine that there are no ‘right’ answers to important questions, that demanding that students actually learn is ‘racist,’ ‘the science of the white devil.’ Under this barrage by zealots we could lose our science and technology and go back to making flint arrowheads as the peak of our technology.

I fervently hope this new religion dies on the vine, just as I’m sure Arab scientists and philosophers hoped when faced by the rabid hoards of Hamid-al-Ghazali’s followers, but, unless academia comes to its senses and stops indoctrinating our impressionable youth with this garbage, I don’t see much of a future for western culture.

Bob Shell: In Her Own Words

Portrait of Marion Franklin by Bob Shell, Copyright 2021

Marion – In Her Own Words

The main thrust of the prosecutor’s case against me was his contention that Marion and I never had a sexual relationship; that our relationship was strictly business. He even said that it was inconceivable that a photographer could have a sexual relationship with a woman and not have pictures of them having sex!

How many photographers reading this could prove in court that you have a sexual relationship with your partner? It was a ridiculous claim.

Anyway, I thought I’d share a few of Marion’s notes to give my readers a feel for who she was.

Sometime in the spring of 2003, she handed me a folded note and told me to read it later. It’s not dated, but I believe she gave it to me in March. It’s in her own distinctive handwriting. It reads:

Bob…

I wanted to write you a note because I feel that sometimes you might not know how important you are to my life. Though sometimes I may push myself away without realizing it; I feel like I’m closer to you than anyone in a long time.

Every day I learn something new from you. You transformed [me] from an insecure and confused girl into a confident and beautiful woman. You’ve given me the best gift I could ever receive, self confidence. Everyone I know sees me slowly coming out of my shell and I can’t describe how wonderful it feels. I’m always thanking you for this or that, the truth is there is nothing I can say that would describe what you’ve done for me. I love you and maybe I’ll be able to better show it one day.

[drawn heart] Marion

Does that sound like a business letter? The prosecutor said it did to him.

The next is from her diaries, the one that didn’t disappear after the police took them. A model/friend found the diary in my studio in Marion’s travel bag. The police missed it in their search, thankfully. I’ve kept her spelling and punctuation exactly as written. It’s dated May 21, 2003, written on our way to Massachusetts:

Yep, on an airplane again. I’m a ridiculously blessed person, and one of my many blessings I am most thankful for is all of the opportunities I have to travel; to see new places in the world by way other than TV.

Growing up in a town with a population of about 500…(that’s low), I never thought I would be one of the lucky kids who didn’t end up stuck in nowheres-ville working for shit and actually getting a taste of culture.

Yet, I did.. Let me take a moment to reflect on what my wonderful new life has given me. I have a VERY well paying job w/ security doing something I love and learning a business/profession. I live in a giant apartment, which I barely pay pennies for with two extra bedrooms (currently office and walk in closet), expensive furnishings, extra chill room with practically a whole garden in it, and an extremely coveted computer setup.

And the number of times I’ve ran out of money for pot had dropped down to a pretty low NEVER.

My mother and father have never been so proud of me. I’m actually treated like a family member and not just the kid. And I even think my brother is jelous of me.

On April 17, 2003 she sent me this late night email, after we’d had a long outdoor shoot, followed by sex in my forest. (elissas refers to Elissa’s, a lingerie and sex toy shop in Christiansburg, VA, where she loved to go). How could anyone read this and say we didn’t have a physical relationship, yet the prosecutor insisted that we didn’t, and the jury bought it!:

Hey Bob

Here it is four o’clock in the morning and no sleep again. I’ve just been too hyper to sleep, and my mind is racing. No drugs either!! Well not really but only a little bit of pot.

I don’t know which words to use. Maybe there just aren’t any for such strong feelings. You know I love you so much but I haven’t been able to turn off my inhibitions and really show you. I don’t know what was different about yesterday, maybe the time was just finally right.

I guess I could do what I always do and make a joke out of it. I could say it was great to finally have something up.my butt besides those vibrators you bought me. But this is too important to be just a joke. I love you and I know you have always known it and you know I will always love you. But my fucking inhibitions just always pop up when I’m ready to let go. I can’t believe how patient you’ve been with me. No pushing. Like I told you all of my other boyfriends would have wanted blow jobs for a week if they bought me something nice. I guess it was just hard for me to believe that someone could love fucked up me without expecting big doses of sex in exchange. I know you wanted me but you didn’t push. You let me have my time and space so things could develop… Yesterday everything just felt right and I know you felt that way too.

You are the first boy who didn’t make me feel bad because i like it in my butt. You showed me that there was nothing wrong with me for liking that just like you showed me theres nothing wrong with me for liking girls in a sexual way. You’ve done so much for me that I could never repay you but I understand that you are not someone who expects pay back for everything you do. You say you just want me to be happy and that’s all and I believe you.

You know you are my only real friend. I’ve told you so many timed that the only thing I have in common with my other friends is doing drugs and that really makes me feel bad. I want friends I can talk to about other stuff. I know you are serious about helping me find some but I keep falling back with the others because I cant seem to get loose from the addiction. You’ve helped me so much by showing me that what happened to me growing up wasn’t my fault, but I still run back to the drugs. Maybe someday with your help and love I will be able to get hold of my past and live without chemical help. But I don’t think that will be soon.

When you’re leaving and we embrace I don’t want to ever let go. I just want you to hold me and protect me and always be with me. It doesn’t make sense that I feel like that and I’m not ready for you to live here all the time but that’s just me and you know how I change my mind all the time. I’m not sure how you even stand me with me being up and down all the time and you never know which Marion will be here when you come in the door every morning. But you come back every time and I’ve never had someone before I could depend on like that.

I love you truly,

Marion

Marion was very bipolar, had been treated for that and OCD for years, and was on Valium the whole time i knew her. I’ll try to post some more of the real Marion in the future. I miss her very much. It’s been sixteen years, and her death still hurts like it happened yesterday.

Bob Shell: Censorship Rears Its Ugly Head Again

Mickey and Steve. Philadelphia 1995. Photo: Tony Ward, copyright 2021

Censorship Rears Its Ugly Head Again

I am, and always have been, a very strong proponent of freedom of speech in its broadest sense, including not just speech, per se, but also all forms of expression. Censorship, thought control to put it bluntly, is one of the few genuine evils in this world.
As an involuntary guest of the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC), I’ve railed against the stupid censorship imposed by that organization.
When I first came into the system in 2008, we could subscribe to Playboy, Penthouse, etc. I didn’t, but could have if I’d wanted to. Explicit photos were sold to inmates by several firms, most notably Surrogate Sisters in Las Vegas. I didn’t buy any, but they were common in every pod I was in, some men spending lots of money on them.
Then, for some reason, the DOC decided we couldn’t have any of that anymore. Men had to turn in those magazines and pictures or face disciplinary charges. It was sudden and unexpected, with no reimbursement for lost money.
I had nothing on the disapproved list to turn in, but some men had hundreds of dollars invested in magazines, books, and pictures that were now verboten.
For years I subscribed to Rolling Stone, Traveler, Wired, Vogue, and several photography magazines, including Shutterbug, Popular Photography, Rangefinder, Professional Photographer, and some others.
I let my subscriptions to Rolling Stone, Traveler, Wired, Vogue, and all the photography magazines except Professional Photographer and Nature Photographer expire, because under the new censorship rules I might only get one out of four. The rest were disapproved and confiscated.
The new nudity policy bans any bare female breast. Bare male breasts are OK with the DOC censors, though, a blatantly sexist policy. If a female nipple is visible, even covered by form-fitting fabric, the magazine is disapproved.
Disapproved publications are sent to the DOC’s Publication Review Committee, which, in one of those meaningful coincidences, has the same initials as the People’s Republic of China, and is just as un-American. Sometimes, the PRC overrules the institutional decision and we get the magazine or book, but the process takes months.
After photographing nude women for 40+ years, it’s pretty ludicrous for someone to tell me that I’ll somehow be harmed, or my ‘rehabilitation’ set back, by seeing a bare female breast, or the outline of one in tight clothing.
I’ve filed a First Amendment suit in Federal court over this idiotic policy, but these civil rights cases move through the courts at a snail’s pace. I filed the suit in 2016 and it has not reached final settlement yet.
This issue reared its ugly head again recently when the July issue of Professional Photographer was disapproved for ‘nudity.’ I asked a friend who also subscribes to check out the July issue for me. He’s gone through it carefully and can’t find any nudity, so I must utilize the cumbersome and almost always futile grievance process to protest. Almost all grievances are ruled ‘Unfounded’ by the DOC honchos, so no matter how sound my argument, I’ll almost certainly lose.