A few articles caught my attention this week. Kepler, education activists & atmospheric rivers are the topics. I’m not claiming that these are related, but I’ll try and make a case. In the next 3 days, you’ll find a post on each subject. You can follow the links to see what I read.

Kepler

Twice a week I receive essays from Maria Popova‘s blog the marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings). She is a brilliant essayist, book author, poet and writer of literary and arts commentary. Her blog writing is impressive and remarkable. She merges art, science, culture and life writing beguiling essays. Although today’s post was not about Kepler, her side margins led me to an earlier post How Kepler Invented Science Fiction and Defended His Mother in a Witchcraft Trial While Revolutionizing Our Understanding of the Universe.

Education Activists

In a Truthout article, Lois Weiner writes that “too many education activists have implicitly accepted the conventional wisdom that education’s purpose is preparing workers to compete for jobs in the global marketplace. Such a curriculum tends toward using standardized testing based on metrics set by international finance and governance organization.”

Atmospheric Rivers

Robin Meadows (Scientific American article) wonders why California Is being deluged by atmospheric rivers. She explains that “California has been hit by repeated storms fueled by torrents of moisture called atmospheric rivers that will only intensify in a warming climate.”