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Earl Killian’s Web Page

Contents

Monthly Quote

About Earl

Good stuff on the web

My heroes

Earl Killian
Puffle inspecting construction My name is Earl Killian. This is my personal web page. I like to read (history, politics, fiction, science, science fiction), and these pages contain pointers to a few books I recommend and pointers to interesting things on the web. I like to muse on the way things should be and these pages include some of my thoughts and ideas. I am vegan and a supporter of animal rights, and these pages include a few quotes and pointers on these subjects. I have a strong interest in technology and public policy that will eliminate the world’s greenhouse pollution. I have two battery-only powered electric vehicles (a Nissan Leaf and a Solectria Force), as well as a modified Prius that I charge at night to reduce its gasoline usage, and these pages have some EV analysis. I once built a solar (passive solar heating plus PV), straw bale home, but I no longer live there. I currently live in Los Altos with Puffle, a Labrador Retreiver who runs my life. Finally, my politics, values, and essays here reflect my interest and appreciation for non-violence and pacifism.

The opinions expressed herein are my own and do not reflect upon any organization, despite any association I might have.

Monthly Quote

Quote for February:

The first language humans had was gestures. There was nothing primitive about this language that flowed from people’s hands, nothing we say now that could not be said in the endless array of movements possible with the fine bones of the fingers and wrists. The gestures were complex and subtle, involving a delicacy of motion that has since been lost completely.

During the Age of Silence, people communicated more, not less. Basic survival demanded that the hands were almost never still, and so it was only during sleep (and sometimes not even then) that people were not saying something or other. No distinction was made between the gestures of language and the gestures of life. The labor of building a house, say, or preparing a meal was no less an expression than making the sign for I love you or I feel serious. When a hand was used to shield one’s face when frightened by a loud noise something was being said, and when fingers were used to pick up what someone had dropped something was being said; and even when the hands were at rest, that, too, was saying something. Naturally, there were misunderstandings. There were times when a finger might have been lifted to scratch a nose, and if casual eye contact was made with one’s lover just then, the lover might accidentally take it to be the gesture, not at all dissimilar, for Now I realize I was wrong to love you. These mistakes were heart-breaking. And yet, because people knew how easily they could happen, because they didn’t go around with the illusion that they understood perfectly the things other people said, they were used to interrupting each other to ask if they’d understood correctly. Sometimes these misunderstandings were even desirable, since they gave people a reason to say, Forgive me, I was only scratching my nose. Of course I know I’ve always been right to love you. Because of the frequency of these mistakes, over time the gesture for asking forgiveness evolved into the simplest form. Just open your palm was to say: Forgive me.

— Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

About Earl

Good stuff found on the web

My heroes

There is no single reason I see some figures and not others as heroes, but one pattern does emerge. My heroes are individuals who I recognize for seeing truth that other their contemporaries could not, successfully communicating this truth, and often thereby changing the world in some way. Usually both their accomplishments and methods are worthy of praise. Some of these people profoundly changed the world. They were or are not perfect, and fault could be found, but I find their examples inspiring. Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein’s were not the only great scientists. Darwin’s work revolutionized the way we look ourselves and ushered in an era where science supplanted faith and superstition in much of the general population. Einstein’s genius was coupled with a social conscience (his pacifism in militant environments), and with free thinking and non-conformance that has been all too rare in scientists. I recognize George Orwell, Rachel Carson and Ralph Nader for their illustration of Margaret Mead’s observation that a committed citizen can change the world. Carson’s Silent Spring ignited the environmental movement, and Nader’s long career standing up against the powerful showed how to use the legal system to hold power accountable, even if just a little. George Orwell in his essays and fiction shows that penetrating observations beyond the conventional wisdom are not only possible but also that fiction can shape societies (Mark Twain and Noam Chomsky are two others with penetrating observations). Off with the blinders! George Soros, while he acquired wealth in less than exemplary ways, shows that wealth can be put to political use in enlightened ways. Mohandas Gandhi and Aung San Suu Kyi both demonstrate courage that I can only aspire to in working to effect change non-violently.

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