A Sense of Doubt blog post #4227 - Remembering 9-11: Comic Book Sunday for 2609.13

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4227 - Remembering 9-11: Comic Book Sunday for 2609.13

Somewhat of a lazy post, but I wanted to remember 9-11 if not on the day, then this week.

Paul Levitz's post struck me as worth sharing.

That is all.

Thanks for tuning in.

Paul Levitz

23 hours ago ·

25 years ago the DC staff was gathered around the one or two working televisions in our midtown office, 7 miles north of Ground Zero. People tried to reach their families, uttering reassurances they didn’t completely feel, or trying to discover the whereabouts of friends and loved ones assumed to be in lower Manhattan. As an impossible number of sirens and unprecedented fighter planes roared, we tried to figure out how to get home from an island that had clamped down its gates and commuter services in fear. Could we walk to bridges we’d never crossed on foot? Would someone come and ferry us across to Jersey along with the thousands of others? And would any place be safe?

Like any community, we shared our fears, our worries, and made our plans. Luckily in the end, perhaps only one DC staffer discovered they’d lost someone that day. But we all lost some security, and knew that there would be more violence to come in response.

I had the honor of stepping in to edit our 9/11 benefit book, collecting and selecting work from an extraordinary range of comics creators. We were able to get printing, paper, ink and distribution costs all donated along with the talents’ usual fees (And arranged parallel donations for our friends at Dark Horse’s volume as well). If memory serves, we donated over $300,000 to survivors, families and first responders. And almost all the creative contributors agreed to donate their originals to the Library of Congress, where they are available to scholars and students alike.

It was almost certainly the last original comic I will edit, and going out on a volume that featured folks from Stan Lee to Jim Lee was a hell of a capstone project. Mark Chiarello art directed and guided the heart-rending poster pages as well as the iconic Alex Ross cover, and many of the DC team assisted. It was an incredibly sad and proud effort.

if you bought a copy, thank you. And if you’ve never read it, try to track down a copy.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2609.13 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 4091 days ago & DAD = 745 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4155 - Patriotism: Stand with the Country - America's 250th

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4155 - Patriotism: Stand with the Country - America's 250th

This is a good message for America's 250th, especially given that it is a day to celebrate the country, not one man, one president. If anything, a day to celebrate ALL presidents and all who have served our nation.

I am not posting about the country tomorrow, on the FOURTH, because that's the 11th year since my Mom died.

Thanks for tuning in.

LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.

BLOG VACATION #1 - 2026 - Taking a blog vacation for a couple of weeks, until at least June 26th, 2026. But now that it's past June 26, I am not sure when I am resuming normal operations. Mostly reprints. A few simple shares (not that simple shares are out of the norm) and THAT ONE THING. Need time for other things.

Saturday, June 7, 2025

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3763 - Patriotism is Not a Religion

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3763 - Patriotism is Not a Religion

Just this.

Image says it all.

This is THAT ONE THING for June 7th, 2025, which is also National Donut Day.

Thanks for tuning in.

BONUS IMAGE:
(related topic)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2506.07 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3628 days ago & DAD = 282 days ago
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2607.03 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 4019 days ago & DAD = 673 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4141 - Juneteenth - Freedom Day! SoD Reprint of 3775 from 2025

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4141 - Juneteenth - Freedom Day! SoD Reprint of 3775 from 2025

Just this.

FREEDOM!!!

LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.

BLOG VACATION #1 - 2026 - Taking a blog vacation for a couple of weeks, until at least June 26th, 2026. Mostly reprints. A few simple shares (not that simple shares are out of the norm) and THAT ONE THING. Need time for other things.

Link to the original post I am reprinting below: 

Thursday, June 19, 2025

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3775 - Juneteenth - Freedom Day

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3775 - Juneteenth - Freedom Day

I did mention being in low power mode, yes?

This is a lazy post, but there is good stuff here.

First, my previous Juneteenth posts.

Then new Juneteenth posts, with one that I like very much.

Happy Juneteenth.

Thanks for tuning in.




MY PREVIOUS JUNETEENTH POSTS

Friday, June 18, 2021

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2313 - Happy Juneteenth 2021!

Monday, June 20, 2022

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2680 - Toni Morrison on Freedom and Pharrell - Music Monday for Juneteenth 2022

Monday, June 19, 2023

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3044 - Juneteenth 2023

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3410 - Happy Juneteenth!!

OTHER CONTENT

https://www.history.com/articles/what-is-juneteenth

https://www.farmersalmanac.com/when-what-juneteenth

Behind Pay Wall: 

https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/real-history-of-juneteenth-messier/


I like this one the best:

https://unidosus.org/blog/2022/06/08/understanding-the-significance-of-juneteenth/

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2506.19 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3640 days ago & DAD = 294 days ago

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2606.19 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 4005 days ago & DAD = 659 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4117 - Tennessee school district bans Alex Haley’s Roots under 2022 state law

Alex Haley in London, England, on 13 April 1977.Photograph: TPLP/Getty Images

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4117 - Tennessee school district bans Alex Haley’s Roots under 2022 state law

I have written about censorship a lot on this blog, as well as delivering a lecture on the topic a few years back.

This kind of thing REALLY pisses me off.

I am several days behind on the blog, so this is the first of several quick shares.

Thanks for tuning in.

Tennessee school district bans Alex Haley’s Roots under 2022 state law

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/tennessee-school-district-bans-alex-210136505.html

Lucy Campbell

Fri, May 15, 2026 at 2:01 PM PDT

4 min read

A Tennessee school district has banned Roots, the author Alex Haley’s groundbreaking novel and one of the most renowned and influential works about the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade.

Knox county schools (KCS) took that step under a state law that has removed hundreds of titles from school libraries and alarmed advocates of free expression.

First published in 1976, Roots: The Saga of an American Family tells the story of Kunta Kinte, who was brutally stolen from his home in the Gambia and taken to North America to be sold into the nightmare of slavery.

The novel chronicles six generations of Kinte’s descendants in the US to Haley himself; won the Pulitzer prize; and was later adapted into a mini-series.

The book and show were cultural phenomena, transforming public understanding of slavery and African American identity – and inspiring thousands to trace their own lineage.

But KCS earlier in May pulled the novel from school shelves under Tennessee’s so-called Age-Appropriate Materials Act.

First passed in 2022, the law saw book-banning across the state soar to become third-highest in the country. It required Tennessee schools to have a public list of the materials in their libraries and to have a policy for reviewing them for appropriateness after feedback from parents, guardians, students or school employees.

The law also broadly prohibited titles if they were found to contain nudity, sexual abuse, sexual content or “excessive violence”.

A KCS spokesperson, Carly Harrington, confirmed the district’s decision to remove Roots from school library shelves under that law.

“As a district, we recognize the immense cultural and historical significance of Alex Haley’s Roots to our nation, to Tennessee, and particularly to the county seat of Knoxville,” Harrington said in a statement. “The decision made to remove Roots from school libraries is in no way a commentary on the literary or cultural value of the novel, but the result of adherence to state law.”

She said Roots had recently been elevated to the district’s review committee for consideration over a passage in the novel’s 84th chapter, which it determined was not “age appropriate” under Tennessee law. “Broader themes or historical significance of a work as a whole is not a consideration under the law,” Harrington added.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported that the KCS book-banning committee had previously reviewed an excerpt from Roots and did not recommend banning it. KCS did not answer a question from the Guardian on what new concerns had been raised.

The decision means the material can still be taught in classes; it just cannot be available on library shelves.

Alex Haley’s grandson Bill Haley, a co-founder of an organization named the Inherited Roots Project, said the decision was “incredibly short-sighted and without merit”.

“My grandfather famously said: ‘I think one of the most fascinating things you can do after you learn about your own people is to study something about the history and culture of other people,’” Haley said. “If a book like Roots depicting my family’s multigenerational journey through our nation’s uncomfortable history of slavery may be offensive to some readers, then why not ban another American classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which some readers may find offensive.”

Tasslyn Magnusson, a senior adviser at PEN America, the free expression non-profit, said banning books such as Roots “robs students of a critical connection point as they learn about the world and America’s past”.

“Roots provides a powerful entry point into what the slave trade meant, what it was like to be a slave and what it was like to be part of a culture that had slavery and the impact of that. It transformed our culture in a way that made people understand the inhumanity of slavery. And it did it without being exploitative or demeaning, but in a holistic and real fashion.”

Other titles banned by KCS under the act – of which there are now 124 – since early 2025 include The Handmaid’s Tale, Water for Elephants and The Kite Runner.

According to a report from October 2025, Tennessee ranks third in the country with more than 1,600 books banned over the previous year, surpassed only by Texas and Florida.

Alex Haley spent some of his younger years in Tennessee and later returned to live in Knoxville. There is a statue of him in East Knoxville, and he is buried on the grounds of his childhood home in Henning, which is now a museum.

Magnusson said it was harmful to students to take book excerpts out of context to justify banning books under laws such as the one that KCS used.

“We’re closing off places for students to understand stories on a new level and evaluate the world on their own,” she said.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2605.26 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3981 days ago & DAD = 635 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4107 - A new Species Offers a Clue to the Boom of GIANT Dinosaurs

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4107 - A new Species Offers a Clue to the Boom of GIANT Dinosaurs

PICTURE ABOVE: The recent discovery of Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, shown in this illustration, in Thailand adds support to the idea that warm, open, and relatively dry habitats created ideal conditions for the evolution of giant sauropods. DinoThaiThai


This article prompted me to make a dinosaurs category.

This is an astounding discovery of a true behemoth, a gigantic dinosaur.

Thanks for tuning in!!

A new species offers a clue to the boom of giant dinosaurs

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/species-offers-clue-boom-giant-090000731.html

Riley Black

Thu, May 14, 2026 at 2:00 AM PDT

Titans once towered over Thailand.

A research team led by National Geographic Explorer Sita Manitkoon has discovered a new long-necked dinosaur they estimate was over 88 feet long and weighed nearly 30 tons.

“Initial measurements of the bones excavated suggested that this could be the largest dinosaur ever found in Southeast Asia,” says Manitkoon, a paleontologist at Mahasarakham University in Thailand.

The telltale bones were uncovered in 2016 by a local man named Thanom Luangnan in Chaiyaphum Province, northeastern Thailand.

“He observed what he described as strange-looking rocks on the banks of a public pond,” says Manitkoon. Luangnan reported the findings to the country’s Department of Mineral Resources. The strange rocks, it turned out, were dinosaur bones, and when Manitkoon came upon them, he knew the creature must have been enormous.

(How to bring a 75-foot-long dinosaur back to life)

The researchers named the new species Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis after where it was found, and the giant serpent-like Naga of Southeast Asian folklore. The discovery, which was announced Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, provides insight into how changes in ancient climate and vegetation opened the doors for gigantic dinosaurs to develop.

“This is the most complete sauropod specimen discovered from the Khok Kruat Formation,” says Pedro Mocho, a paleontologist at the Universidade de Lisboa in Portugal, who was not involved in the study. Until now, Mocho says, the big dinosaurs in Thailand were known only from bits and pieces of skeletons. The new find is substantially more complete, revealing a titanic dinosaur never seen in the country before.

Sita Manitkoon oversaw the recovery of Nagatitan, the largest dinosaur ever discovered in Thailand. Tanintorn Ketburana

Colossal Cretaceous sauropods

Nagatitan left behind a smattering of vertebrae, ribs, hip bones, and limb bones entombed in 113-million-year-old rock. Its right forelimb is longer than that of other, recently uncovered giant sauropods such as Patagotitan and Dreadnoughtus, though the dinosaur itself likely was not as big as those heavy hitters, which weighed an estimated 60 and 50 tons respectively.

The largest dinosaurs of all time were not each other’s closest relatives. Sauropod dinosaurs evolved their giant body sizes more than 30 times over the course of more than a hundred million years on at least six landmasses. Nagatitan became a giant independently of other huge dinosaurs from other periods and places, but its relationships and habitat suggest it lived at the beginning of a time conducive to enormous dinosaurs.

Nagatitan belonged to a group called the somphospondyli. These dinosaurs tend to have long forelimbs compared to other sauropods, as well as a wide stance, says Paul Upchurch, a paleontologist at the University College London and a coauthor of the study. The other differences would have been difficult to spot on the living animal, but these subtle cues identify the Nagatitans as a group of immense dinosaurs that spread far and wide some 110 to 120 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous.

Sita Manitkoon and the Thai Paleontology Youth Network recovered a dorsal rib (about six feet long) from the site and moved it to the Sirindhorn Dinosaur Museum. Tanintorn Ketburana

How titans thrived

Environmental conditions in Cretaceous Thailand might explain why Nagatitan was so large.

During the time the dinosaur lived, Thailand was closer to the equator than it is today. Clues found in the same formation in which Nagatitan was buried indicate that the region was covered by relatively open, slightly dry shrublands. Earth was in a hothouse state, and recent research has suggested that big sauropod dinosaurs thrived under such conditions. Humongous herbivores could easily and efficiently travel through the woodlands, browsing on trees and nibbling plants like horsetails and ferns down low. Their feeding and trampling of the soils also kept such habitats more open and savanna-like rather than thickly forested.

The fossils were prepared and cleaned using specialized tools at the Sirindhorn Dinosaur Museum lab in Kalasin Province. Tanintorn Ketburana

Two local women from the Sirindhorn Dinosaur Museum area helped prepare the fossils, which involved using specialized pens, air compressors, scalpels, brushes, and glue to release them from the rock Tanintorn Ketburana

Nagatitan represents the beginning of this size boom. When the researchers looked at other giant sauropods from Asia for comparison, they found that the dinosaurs got even bigger during the warm Cretaceous years following the time of Nagatitan.

“Sauropods such as Ruyangosaurus, nearly 60 tons, are among the largest from Asia during the Cretaceous,” Manitkoon says. They add support to the idea that warm, open, and relatively dry habitats created ideal conditions for sauropods to evolve to giant sizes.

The overall picture is complex, says Mocho. Sauropod dinosaurs both expanded and shrank in size at different times and places.

(Scientists find a new titanosaur dinosaur species in Patagonia)

“Savannah-like ecosystems are known to favor the development of megaherbivore faunas, and it would not be surprising if environmental factors were related to sauropod gigantism,” he says.

The interplay between large herbivores like elephants and their habitats today could help researchers better perceive similar patterns in the fossil record.

“It seems a little odd that sauropods were able to cope with higher temperature conditions,” says Upchurch, as large bodies are harder to cool down and retain heat more readily.

But sauropod anatomy likely allowed the dinosaurs to work against expectations.

Sita Manitkoon is pictured standing next to the complete replica of Nagatitan's left femur. The specimen is the largest dinosaur limb ever found in Southeast Asia. Tanintorn Ketburana

The long necks of the dinosaurs, Upchurch says, increased the surface area from which they could shed heat. Their complex air sac system would also have helped them dump body heat as they exhaled. When habitats shifted to warm woodlands, full of vegetation at browsing height, the evolutionary gifts that sauropod dinosaurs already had allowed them to balloon in size, as they were well equipped to handle the heat.

“The discovery of Nagatitan and its giant relatives in Asia indicates that these dinosaurs had evolved to such enormous sizes since the early Cretaceous, a successful survival mechanism,” Manitkoon says.

The fossil record shows that from the time of Nagatian until the asteroid strike, dinosaur titans repeatedly evolved and grew large when conditions were just right.

The nonprofit National Geographic Society, committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world, funded Explorer Sita Manitkoon's work. Learn more about the Society’s support of Explorers.

Riley Black is a freelance science writer based in the U.S. She regularly reports on science, paleontology, and natural history for National Geographic and is also the author of The Last Days of the Dinosaurs.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2605.16 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3971 days ago & DAD = 625 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.