The Blip Report for Friday, April 26th 2024
Universities in China and America, and the Moon
I read a fascinating story about some archeological findings in Kashgar, in Xinjiang, China – ‘Digging up the Buddhist past’, and that they have so far found over 10,000 artifacts and the remains of a Buddhist temple from the 3rd century!
And I read another story about some archeological findings at the Longmen Grottoes caves in Luoyang, in Henan, China - ‘Relics tumble out of wall at Longmen Grottoes’, and that these stone carvings may be 1300 years old, but that after an earthquake in the 16th century, some of the damaged carvings were used as infill to rebuild a wall, a wall that they are now digging into, to uncover these finds.
Both of these discoveries are being researched at China’s universities, so that it could shed more light on some of the past Buddhist history of China.
But then I read a strange story about the universities in the United States - ‘Netanyahu decries pro-Palestine university protests over Gaza as horrific and antisemitic’, that the Israeli Prime Minister is upset at the ongoing student protests at the universities in another country - the United States, and he said that somehow these protesters are anti-bababa, and that they must be stopped.
And a little birdie chirped in, that maybe he just doesn’t like universities? since Israel has destroyed all the universities in Gaza! Hmmm…
And then I read another story that the American Speaker of the House was booed when he visited one of these universities – ‘Speaker Mike Johnson booed at Columbia University as he calls for president to quit unless pro-Palestine protests quelled’.
And again a little birdie chirped up, that maybe the United States government might respond like Britain is doing with its migrants, and that they might propose to deport these students to Rwanda! Hmmm…
But then I read an even stranger story - ‘NASA director smeared China's moon landing, ignoring professional common sense’, that tells about the administrator of NASA when he was asked ‘What are the Chinese doing on the back side of the moon?’, that he actually answered that:
"the back side of the moon will always be dark. Americans don't plan to go there, and they don't know why the Chinese would go."
Someone should tell him that, although we here on earth only see the one side of the moon, in actuality both sides of the moon receive equal amounts of sunlight!!!
‘Many ordinary netizens … lamented that this is not only funny, but also a symbol of the United States today. The person in charge of NASA does not even understand the most basic facts of astronomy.’
If this is the quality of education at our universities today, then those students have every reason to protest. In fact, perhaps they should demand a refund! Hmmm…
And then my feathered friend chirped about all that money that was just voted for endless wars, and wondered how many tuitions could be paid for with $100 Billion? Hmmm…