# Continuity **URL:** https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/c/scanalyzer/continuity/8.md [Latest](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/latest.md) · [Categories](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/categories.md) · [Tags](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/tags.md) --- ## [About the Continuity category](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/about-the-continuity-category/14)
**Author:** [@Fourmilab](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Fourmilab)\ **Replies:** 0
History doesn’t repeat, but it often rhymes. Things are as they are because they were as they were. Tracing the threads that cross the years and ages. --- ## [Tolkien Movie](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/tolkien-movie/6485)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [17 October 2026 12:47 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/tolkien-movie/6485 "2026-10-17T12:47:20Z")
Quite by accident the other night, we found and watched the 2019 movie Tolkien on Prime Video. The cinematography is beautiful and artfully evocative of emotional tones portrayed in the film. The story traces J.R.R. Tolk… --- ## [On Public Executions](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/on-public-executions/6479)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [16 October 2026 22:46 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/on-public-executions/6479 "2026-10-16T22:46:24Z")
After awaiting justice - even military justice - for 17 years, Nidal Malik Hasan will be executed Dec. 3 by firing squad. This, itself, is unremarkable (aside from the concept that “justice delayed is justice denied”), e… --- ## [Grok Slipping Leftward. Bye, Grok](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/grok-slipping-leftward-bye-grok/6404)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 11\ **Last updated:** [12 October 2026 19:20 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/grok-slipping-leftward-bye-grok/6404 "2026-10-12T19:20:57Z")
Well, slogans aren’t necessarily reality. “Truth-seeking” in an AI has its limits, sadly, in America’s political environment. I asked Grok about a truly absurd, actual case, amusingly called Tickle vs. Giggle. Two appell… --- ## [Iran War et. seq.](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/iran-war-et-seq/6291)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 34\ **Last updated:** [4 October 2026 23:00 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/iran-war-et-seq/6291 "2026-10-04T23:00:24Z")
This post comes under the Scanalyzer category of “Continuity” for a clear reason: modern Iran’s belligerency was reactivated shortly after the Ayatollah Khomeini took power in 1979. Iran has insinuated itself strategical… --- ## [From 1945—“The Atom Strikes!”](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/from-1945-the-atom-strikes/1824)
**Author:** [@johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/johnwalker)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [29 August 2026 14:00 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/from-1945-the-atom-strikes/1824 "2026-08-29T14:00:25Z")
Shortly after the surrender of Japan in 1945 and the arrival of U.S. occupation forces in the country, the Manhattan Project sent a team to Japan to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the targets of the atomic b… --- ## [Demographic Collapse around the World](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/demographic-collapse-around-the-world/3833)
**Author:** [@johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/johnwalker)\ **Replies:** 58\ **Last updated:** [7 August 2026 17:47 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/demographic-collapse-around-the-world/3833 "2026-08-07T17:47:43Z")
--- ## [Douglas DC-3—Flying towards 100 Years](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/douglas-dc-3-flying-towards-100-years/3371)
**Author:** [@johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/johnwalker)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [10 July 2026 12:22 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/douglas-dc-3-flying-towards-100-years/3371 "2026-07-10T12:22:23Z")
The Douglas DC-3 first flew in 1935 and entered airline service in 1936. With the entry of the U.S. into World War II, the design was adapted into the military C-47 Skytrain, of which more than ten thousan… --- ## [Ayyan Hirsi Ali on the "Truce"](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/ayyan-hirsi-ali-on-the-truce/6326)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 14\ **Last updated:** [13 April 2026 12:56 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/ayyan-hirsi-ali-on-the-truce/6326 "2026-04-13T12:56:48Z")
Here are a few quotes to help you decide to read the entire essay of what the West is really up against. There’s not much to be optimistic about. “So where does radical Islamism go when its traditional territories contr… --- ## [O'Sullivan's First Law Reading Room](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/osullivans-first-law-reading-room/6325)
**Author:** [@CTLaw](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/CTLaw)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [13 April 2026 09:45 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/osullivans-first-law-reading-room/6325 "2026-04-13T09:45:01Z")
CTLaw’s corollary: “All organizations that are actually right-wing will over time become left-wing, only more slowly at first.” The founder of the Electronic Freedom Foundation vs the current executive director of the… --- ## [Report From Extreme of Old Age](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/report-from-extreme-of-old-age/5691)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 10\ **Last updated:** [2 March 2026 15:55 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/report-from-extreme-of-old-age/5691 "2026-03-02T15:55:17Z")
HALLELUJAH This is a continuation of my irregular reports from my creeping extreme of old age. I say ‘extreme’ because I have exceeded my statistical life expectancy at birth by 8 years - that being 72 in the US. Even m… --- ## [November 1984—The Forty-Minute Korean War](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/november-1984-the-forty-minute-korean-war/1408)
**Author:** [@johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/johnwalker)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [12 February 2026 07:56 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/november-1984-the-forty-minute-korean-war/1408 "2026-02-12T07:56:38Z")
For additional detail, see U.S. Army Col. Thomas Hanson’a article, “A Forty-Minute Korean War: The Soviet Defector Firefight in the Joint Security Area, Panmunjom, Korea, 23 November 1984”. The incident de… --- ## [Servicing and Re-boosting the Hubble Space Telescope with a SpaceX Crew Dragon Mission?](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/servicing-and-re-boosting-the-hubble-space-telescope-with-a-spacex-crew-dragon-mission/2110)
**Author:** [@johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/johnwalker)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [8 February 2026 23:46 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/servicing-and-re-boosting-the-hubble-space-telescope-with-a-spacex-crew-dragon-mission/2110 "2026-02-08T23:46:53Z")
SpaceX and Jared Isaacman have been awarded an unfunded Space Act agreement by NASA to study a servicing and re-boost mission to extend the life of the Hubble Space Telescope. On the last Space Shuttle ser… --- ## ["The Pitt" is the (woke) Pitts](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/the-pitt-is-the-woke-pitts/6262)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [5 February 2026 05:47 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/the-pitt-is-the-woke-pitts/6262 "2026-02-05T05:47:36Z")
In case you’ve missed it (you would be fortunate), The Pitt is a Max/HBO production of an ER-esque remake, except entertainment takes a waaay back seat to wall to wall, top to bottom, side to side woke pieties. It’s set … --- ## ["Man Has Forgotten God" - Solzhenitsyn](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/man-has-forgotten-god-solzhenitsyn/6234)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [11 January 2026 19:38 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/man-has-forgotten-god-solzhenitsyn/6234 "2026-01-11T19:38:19Z")
Before I ever asked them, in 1983, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn had already anticipated and answered the questions I have been earnestly asking myself for only the past two decades. He was way ahead of me. I was late in asking… --- ## [A Most Worthy Twenty Minutes of Jordan Peterson](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/a-most-worthy-twenty-minutes-of-jordan-peterson/6225)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [29 December 2025 04:27 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/a-most-worthy-twenty-minutes-of-jordan-peterson/6225 "2025-12-29T04:27:28Z")
I cannot recommend this strongly enough. Moving. pure wisdom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKMOVUyMXA0 --- ## [Nobel Prize in Physics Lectures 2022—Quantum Entanglement and Local Reality](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/nobel-prize-in-physics-lectures-2022-quantum-entanglement-and-local-reality/2499)
**Author:** [@johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/johnwalker)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [16 December 2025 15:35 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/nobel-prize-in-physics-lectures-2022-quantum-entanglement-and-local-reality/2499 "2025-12-16T15:35:52Z")
Here are the cue points in the video for the lectures by the three prize winners. 00:08:40 Alain Aspect 00:46:10 John F. Clauser 01:26:20 Anton Zeilinger All of these are well worth your time, and provid… --- ## [Lawfare Shifts Gears](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/lawfare-shifts-gears/6077)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [26 August 2025 11:54 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/lawfare-shifts-gears/6077 "2025-08-26T11:54:50Z")
I don’t know whether to characterize it as going into overdrive or downshifting, but lefty lawfare (is there any other kind?) has moved from attempts to destroy Trump personally, to trying to emasculate his executive pow… --- ## [Why South Koreans Aren't Having Kids](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/why-south-koreans-arent-having-kids/3559)
**Author:** [@johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/johnwalker)\ **Replies:** 32\ **Last updated:** [10 July 2025 01:02 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/why-south-koreans-arent-having-kids/3559 "2025-07-10T01:02:08Z")
South Korea has one of the lowest birthrate (total fertility rate) figures in the world. The 2023 statistics from the United Nations Population Fund estimates a rate of 0.9 births per woman, with only Hong Kong lower at… --- ## [Soviet Venus Lander Missions](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/soviet-venus-lander-missions/1732)
**Author:** [@johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/johnwalker)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [1 May 2025 16:30 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/soviet-venus-lander-missions/1732 "2025-05-01T16:30:30Z")
The Soviet Union’s Venera program, which ran from 1961 through 1984, performed the first on-site exploration of the planet Venus and accomplished a number of significant “firsts” in planetary exploration: … --- ## [A Theory of Addiction and Implications for Human Societies](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/a-theory-of-addiction-and-implications-for-human-societies/5902)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [27 April 2025 14:43 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/a-theory-of-addiction-and-implications-for-human-societies/5902 "2025-04-27T14:43:34Z")
BROKEN INTO 3 SECTIONS PER REQUIREMENTS OF THE WEBSITE \[Introductory note on definitions: I will use “addiction” and “alcoholism” interchangeably, though strictly speaking, addiction is a general term for various compul… --- ## [A Theory of Addiction (cont. 3 of 3)](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/a-theory-of-addiction-cont-3-of-3/5904)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [27 April 2025 02:31 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/a-theory-of-addiction-cont-3-of-3/5904 "2025-04-27T02:31:23Z")
OVERVIEW To summarize - addiction is rooted in our humanity, our instincts to survive. It afflicts sufferers with a compelling, but illusory, feeling that they will die if they fail to obtain their next dose of their dr… --- ## [A Theory of Addiction (cont)](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/a-theory-of-addiction-cont/5903)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [24 April 2025 11:54 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/a-theory-of-addiction-cont/5903 "2025-04-24T11:54:06Z")
Is there any hope, then, for such people? I believe so. Note that the first word of the first step of 12-step programs is “we”. This means that recovery involves interaction with fellow addicts who have been there, who u… --- ## [Pervasive Double Standards in Law](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/pervasive-double-standards-in-law/5887)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [16 April 2025 20:19 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/pervasive-double-standards-in-law/5887 "2025-04-16T20:19:46Z")
I’ll not bother with names, which are irrelevant to this discussion. The principles are what matter. I’m referring to the deportation order for the lead perpetrator of events at Columbia. His deportation has resulted in … --- ## [“The Window” - by Leonard Cohen](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/the-window-by-leonard-cohen/5862)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [27 March 2025 16:58 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/the-window-by-leonard-cohen/5862 "2025-03-27T16:58:09Z")
Somehow, I did not even know of Leonard Cohen’s existence or his poetry or music until shortly after his death in 2016. He was born 10 years before me, in Montreal. In 2022, I watched a documentary film about him and was… --- ## [A Determinative Fundamental Inequality](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/a-determinative-fundamental-inequality/5854)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [20 March 2025 21:27 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/a-determinative-fundamental-inequality/5854 "2025-03-20T21:27:22Z")
Many years ago - when I still paid attention to him - George Will said that progressivism worked like a ratchet. He said that, once enacted, leftist policies never retreat. This idea has re-occurred to me many times over… --- ## [Theory of Everything - Recent Cultural/Political](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/theory-of-everything-recent-cultural-political/5850)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [16 March 2025 16:50 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/theory-of-everything-recent-cultural-political/5850 "2025-03-16T16:50:30Z")
If you believe politics is downstream of culture as I do, you will savor this lengthy essay by David Samuels. It is meaty and explains what has happened (and is still evolving) when it comes to shaping (creating from who… --- ## [The End of the World (as we know it? or PERIOD?)](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-or-period/4888)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 20\ **Last updated:** [19 February 2025 08:36 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-or-period/4888 "2025-02-19T08:36:22Z")
Today, RFK Jr. has gotten some well-deserved and hopefully heeded headlines by warning Biden and Starmer to NOT assist Ukraine in using long range missiles to attack Russia. “Assist” and not “permit” is the operative wor… --- ## [Indeterminism hidden in Newton's Laws?](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/indeterminism-hidden-in-newtons-laws/5729)
**Author:** [@owenwengerd](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/owenwengerd)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [11 January 2025 21:43 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/indeterminism-hidden-in-newtons-laws/5729 "2025-01-11T21:43:18Z")
I just happened across this on YouTube today. I don’t recall ever hearing about this “paradox” before, but apparently it has sparked some heated debate over the years. The Dome Paradox: A Loophole in Newton’s Laws John… --- ## [Public Policy, Accountability and Murder](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/public-policy-accountability-and-murder/5705)
**Author:** [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [26 December 2024 12:17 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/public-policy-accountability-and-murder/5705 "2024-12-26T12:17:31Z")
The murder of a heath insurance CEO is much in the news. This act, like all murder, is deeply abhorrent. That said, this heinous act was intended ‘pour décourager les autres’ and may affect policy decisions in the health… [Next page](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/c/scanalyzer/continuity/8.md?page=1)