Not So American History

Back in August 2018 I wrote about more well-rounded, more objective, and more even-handed American history of the late 19th-century that often is overlooked, intentionally or not, by our modern media, 2-5 minute fast-paced journalism, and in our educational curriculums; curriculums from middle school up to private university standards. What history is that you ask?

It is the shared history, or lack of, our nation’s infancy, growth and expansion by Manifest Destiny and the Dawes Act of 1887, to name just two. It all but ignores a very human side of the cultures and Native American tribes which had already inhabited all of North America, including within the modern borders of the USA, for well over 15- to about 30-millennia before the white man of Europe arrived. Should this portion of authentic American history be stamped in glory and hubris or by some degrees shame and genocide? I know exactly what I label that time in American history. What, why, and how do you or will you label it?

I revisited my blog-post Authentic American History because of Netflix’s new release this past week entitled “Sitting Bull.” As I stated in the August 2018 post:

Normally, I do not care for the History Channel’s overly hyped-up, overly dramatic cinema of actual historical events as they played out. The Channel and its parent corporation, A+E Global Media often go overboard and willingly admit that in order to capture younger audiences—with attention spans of maybe 10-minutes—executives, producers, directors, and actors must hype-up key points of the plot and narrative, sometimes sacrificing the context of historical events. The top corporate executives are fine with “some” cinematic license, or slack-on-facts, to juice-up, fancy-up, grab the younger modern audiences short attention with modern Euro-American music and graphic, bloody battle scenes and not let them rest. Whether it is all pristine, historical, verified facts doesn’t matter so much.

But this particular two-part series had Leonardo DiCaprio as executive director, an A+E Global choice that I would give a long, fair chance and consideration. I was pleasantly surprised.

On top of this fine docu-drama were acclaimed scholars of the American West Era such as Dr. Elizabeth Rule, PhD from Brown and Yale Universities, and none other than Guy Jones whose great-great-grandfather, Chief Gall, fought with Sitting Bull at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Guy Jones shared all of his vast knowledge about Chief Gall, and the Hunkpapa band of Lakota Indians who stood up to and fought against aggressive U.S. westward expansion and the U.S. Army’s atrocities and war-crimes against his ancestors and people.

The entire cast of Sitting Bull is packed with great contributing historians as well, such as Christy S. Coleman, MA – Hampton University, Dr. Douglas Brinkley, PhD – Georgetown University, and Dr. Edward T. O’Donnell, PhD – Columbia University, all providing perspectives surrounding Sitting Bull and the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota tribes. Also featured in the two-part series was Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and others that played significant roles in the fate of the Sioux nations. I recommend watching this docu-drama series if for no other reason than it tells the true history of these chiefs and peoples of the Great Plains from their perspective and personal, firsthand accounts passed down from generation to generation. They still “live” today along with their traditional customs and beliefs.

Sitting Bull in Dakota Territory, c. 1883 – photo D.F. Barry, Bismarck, ND

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However, there was another recognition I gained from watching this excellent docudrama series. It was disturbing to me because the series showed how much appalling history we (white) Americans are repeating or allowing to repeat since the 1850’s and into the 21st-century today. What is it? Why haven’t we learned once and for all the worst times of human history, the clear behaviors of war-crimes, genocide, and atrocities on non-combatant civilians, even on children?

I hope you will watch the series Sitting Bull because in between the lines I couldn’t help but recognize the similarities, in some cases the identical behaviors, of crimes against humanity committed against the Native Americans. More poignantly I realized how indistinguishable our American white ancestors treated (removed, exterminated) those people they labelled as “savages” and “blood-thirsty barbarians” under the guise of “Divine Ordination” and those behaviors and treatment by the Nazis and SS under the Third Reich.

And now today, inside our own national borders and abroad, what is happening in Gaza, Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran, or what happened in the Caribbean Sea and Venezuela, or how I.C.E. and our current DHS is treating normal U.S. citizens as well as well-behaved legal immigrants in detention and in their court hearings! Are we going backwards toward the Wannsee Conference and A Final Solution, so to speak, of atrocities against humanity all the way back to Sitting Bull, the Sioux nations, and all other Native Americans wiped out? Are we back to that point or nearing it? …

So Americans… it must be asked, have we really evolved for the better after only 150-years and Sitting Bull? If you never learn the painful lessons of deep regret done in history, then how will you avoid repeating them in the future? Have we really progressed past those previous times and eras of sheer brutality, massacres, genocide, and depravation of societal values for other “different” peoples and cultures? I know what my answer is and has been for some time. What is your answer?

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2025 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

MeerKAT Telescope Array, SA

Yes, Earth has received a laser-beam signal from 8-billion light-years away! Who sent it? Or what sent the signal? How did it hit the MeerKAT Telescope array at the North Cape in South Africa and more astonishing it stayed needle-sharp for 4.7 hours!? That signal was with such extreme clarity from a hyper-extreme range that it puzzled scientists hinting that something else unusual was involved. It had to be because when the laser-signal originated at that distance, Earth was not even in existence! What was going on? What had gone on that long ago? Has extra-terrestrial life made contact with us?

The mega-maser coming from HATLAS J142935.3–002836 was detected by the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa, which is made up of 64 linked radar dishes. Credit: CSARAO/MeerKAT

Don’t jump to any conclusions yet. The Cosmos is our endless treasure trove of splendid weirdness and mind-boggling phenomena. It always challenges us and/or rewrites what we once thought was understood. Were we contacted, or was it something else?

After more extensive examination scientists determined that it was a hydroxyl megamaser which is a natural microwave amplifier triggered by two galaxies slamming together. Imagine our own Milky Way slamming into Andromeda, the nearest galaxy to us. In fact, cosmologists, astrophysicists, astronomers, etc., want to rename or make a new category for the phenomena called gigamaser. What is a megamaser or gigamaser?

HATLAS J142935.3–002836 is only visible to us thanks to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. These 2014 images, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope (right), show a partial “Einstein ring” of magnified light from the distant galaxy merger. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/NASA/ESA/W. M. Keck Observatory

What happens when a host galaxy looks distorted and stretched to astronomers and other scientists?

Illustration of the distant galaxy 8 billion light-years away (red), magnified by an unrelated foreground disk galaxy, resulting in a red ring. Credit: Inter-University Institute for Data-Intensive Astronomy (IDIA).

In some 4.5 billion years our Milky Way galaxy will indeed collide, crash into the Andromeda galaxy—the gravitational pull is too great for us to escape it. It is already happening. When they do crash together it will form a new, giant elliptical galaxy, often nicknamed by scientists “Milkdromeda“. Here is a computer simulation of what that collision might look like from the outside of both galaxies… perhaps to another distant civilization monitoring their outer-space with highly advanced instruments:

Wow, talk about a non-stop fireworks show in the celestial night sky! Unless of course Earth is hit, wounded, or obliterated, vaporized. Yikes. 😧😬

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2025 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Best U.S. States to Reside In

I always follow the U.S. News and World Report annual data compilation of Best States to reside because it offers anyone in America a good, objective litmus test and comparison of how states are ranked in making living, a quality of life, and affordability to live there for U.S. citizens. The final tallies are always very telling. Without further delay here is this year’s 2026 overall rankings:

#1Utah

#2New Hampshire

#3Idaho

#4Minnesota

#5Nebraska

#6Florida

#7Vermont

#8South Dakota

#9Massachusetts

#10Washington

My home state of Texas usually, well… almost always ranks in the middle half to the lower one-third of the fifty United States. For 2026 they rank #29, the lower half once again. And once again for 6-10 years running our “economy” is the ONLY category that ranks high compared to the other 49 states, with “fiscal stability” ranking 12th; no surprise. But every other category has always been dismally low or barely average for the last 2-3 decades. It begs the question, What changed in Texas in 1994-1995 to the present? Hmmm. 🤔 It’s pretty obvious.

If you would like to see how all the other states rank and their breakdown of why their ranking status go to: Best States Rankings at U.S. News & World Report for an excellent, unbiased assessment. You might be surprised between what is hype and propaganda about states and what is actual fact(s).

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2025 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

U.S. 25th Amendment

There is really not much for me to say that hasn’t already been said by the world’s most sane, by the most reasonable, by the most stoic and diplomatic in foreign affairs, by most unbiased news reporters and journalists, and frankly, most good-hearted, authentically patriotic Americans. But now it has become glaringly obvious that our POTUS is, if he hasn’t already, has lost his marbles, his mind, sanity, and any remaining human decency (if there was any) for We the People of the United States and this nation’s good will. And the dissent now includes lawmakers, on both sides of the congressional political aisles.

Miranda Jeyaretnam of Time Magazine and Time.com perfectly sums up in her article what has gone very, very wrong for our POTUS and his MAGA Republican cabinet, as well as for our entire nation:

In his childish tirade early, early this past Easter Sunday morning on his social-media platform for kids, the tantrum-throwing toddler of the United States presidency let loose an ultimatum rant of profanity upon Iran’s ruling regime that would have made Sam Kinison cower in shock. And with each passing day and passing week, as Iran keeps demonstrating repeatedly to U.S. White House officials, Iran’s military leadership, missiles, and will to fight to the bitter end has not wavered, has not been “obliterated back into the stone age,” and certainly shows no signs of further weakening. Those press releases and speeches from the administration are merely half-truths, largely ambiguous, or flat out lies. The bottom-line is that Trump’s war is failing. Period. Time Magazine’s Jeyaretnam continues:

Therefore America and Americans, including congressional lawmakers, it is now time to seriously examine removing our acting, yet mentally and emotionally unstable Commander-in-Chief, from office. If the U.S. congress members, both parties, do not proceed with preparations for invoking the 25th Amendment on Trump, the consequences come Wednesday, April 8, 2026, could be so devastating that the United States economy, along with the rest of the free world’s economies may not recover for decades. This is no joke people! This is no joke federal lawmakers!

President Donald Trump addresses the nation about the Iran War from the White House on April 1, 2026. Alex Brandon—AP/Bloomberg/Getty Images

I strongly suggest reading Miranda Jeyaretnam’s excellent article, if for no other reason than to be prepared, to be in the know of what seems likely to happen after Wednesday, April 8th. It will be infamous and history making, no doubt. If what should happen does happen, then there is a very apropos poem president tRump should learn and stick to memory, if that’s even possible for him today. Since he likely has never heard of it (Dunne) or understood its poignant and powerful imagery and meaning, then the school-yard bully should’ve learned it and memorized it by high school…

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2025 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Earth Physics, DNA & Quantum Mechanics

Over the Easter, or Ēostre weekend I have often written about all those religious theological fallacies and rampant mistakes within Christendom that the ancient Greco-Roman Catholic Church covered up, changed, edited, omitted, etc., from the 1st-century CE Jewish reformer Yeshua bar Yosef and then passed down to 21st-century Protestant followers, churches, and seminaries. But this time I am going to skip all that. Why? Because verifiable, authentic history never changes. Why beat a dead horse into oblivion? Faith-followers will either be objective or not, equitable or not, brave and open-minded or not, or worse scared to death, or not. C’est la vie. 🤷‍♂️

No, today I want to write about things that really matter, pun intended. I want to share and comment on a few science subjects, in particular Earth’s physical status—another disruptive affect of Climate Change that is becoming disturbingly obvious—DNA sequencing discoveries, as well as recent atomic findings such as Quantum Entanglement.

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Have any of you noticed that the days on Earth are getting longer now? Yes, it is factually true. You might ask, How is that possible? Believe it or not, Climate Change or a warming planet is contributing to a slower rotation of Earth. Scientists say that this slower rotation has not been seen for at least 3.6-million years. Many decades ago, perhaps century ago, earlier research established an increasingly warming planet affects sea levels and consequently, Earth’s rotation on its axis. However, this change is in a geological context. Geodesist Professor Benedikt Soja of ETH Zurich, Switzerland, states:

One of Soja’s colleagues, Mostafa Kiani Shahvandi of the University of Vienna, explains that the effect is similar to a figure skater spinning more slowly after extending their arms. This is simple high school Physics 101. Ice sheets and glaciers across the planet are more dense and therefore heavier; a slower rotating Earth. However, a warm planet and much warmer seas are less dense, thinner, molecularly more active so less weight has less gravity which means a faster rotating Earth. Despite the simple physics though, what has been uncertain or never before seen was whether or not climate had ever lengthened the day this quickly before. To answer that puzzling question, the research team reconstructed changes in Earth’s day-length going back millions of years.

Relying on fossilized remains of benthic foraminifera, i.e. single-celled marine organisms that preserve chemical signals of past ocean conditions. This method of study, like polar ice-cores, has proven to be highly revealing of Earth’s climate history for many of her past millennia. First, by analyzing these fossils, scientists were able to infer ancient historical sea-level fluctuations and calculate how those shifts would have affected Earth’s rotation. Second, the researchers then applied a type of deep learning algorithm to their findings, designed to reflect sea-level change while accounting for the uncertainty that comes with ancient climate data.

These findings strongly suggest that Earth’s day-length has varied significantly over the last 2.6-million years, in particular during the Quaternary Period, when large continental ice sheets repeatedly grew and melted. Those ice-driven sea-level changes caused Earth’s rotation to speed up or slow down in different eras of Earth’s history.

However, that said, scientists have found that today’s increase in day length is exceptional. More specifically, they found only one period, around two million years ago, showed a rate of change that came close to present-day levels, and even that episode was slightly slower than what has been observed between 2000 and 2020. This only leads scientists to one most plausible conclusion: the current climate trend reflects a broader pattern of unusually rapid climate and oceanic change. And these scientists predict that by the end of the 21st-century accelerated climate-driven domino effects on our length of days could surpass the gravitational pull or slowing by our Moon. In other words, the further ripple-effects upon Earth will be catastrophic.

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Through the methodology of DNA Sequencing paleoanthropologists and geneticists have discovered that the last known remaining Neanderthals stayed totally isolated from other human groups, including Homo sapiens as well as Neanderthals nearby, which alters human history.

Researchers used part of a root of one of Thorin’s molars to determine that he was male and to generate a whole-genome sequence, revealing that he was part of an isolated, previously unknown lineage of Neanderthals. (Image credit: Ludovik Slimak)

Ludovic Slimak, the paleoanthropologist who made the remarkable discovery at Grotte Mandrin, a cave in Rhône Valley, France, had the jaw bone of Thorin analyzed by geneticists and then sequenced showed that Thorin’s lineage managed to stay totally isolated from the rest of the Neanderthal population, “in spite of the fact that other human groups lived close by.Slimak goes on to say:

With this discovery everything about the Neanderthals and their extinction, and by default human history must now be rewritten. Also, with this discovery it further proves that diversity among human populations is highly advantageous if not simply for better immune systems. And those groups of inclusive only religious populations—not marrying or procreating outside of a specific faith—is known to be highly risky and disadvantageous for retardations, weaker immune systems, and higher survivability rates.

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At the Australian National University Research School of Physics, tangibly observed for the first time a pair of atoms existing in two different places simultaneously, i.e. at the exact same time known as Quantum Entanglement. Quantum physicists at ANU said, “It’s really weird for us to think that this is how the universe works. You can read about it in a textbook, but it’s really weird to think that a particle can be in two places at once” when you see it with your own eyes on atomic instruments, says Dr. Sean Hodgman.

Dr. Hodgman goes on to say, “This result confirms the predictions of over a century ago that matter can be in two locations at once, and it can interfere with itself even in those locations.” This means massive, better knowledge of examining how small-scale Quantum Mechanics interact with gravity and General Relativity at the universal scale. This means physicists are one step closer to the “Theory of Everything.” It isn’t as unknown anymore.

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2025 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0