Ticking Clock

Being someone with a prepper mindset, I'm always interested in people predicting the end of the world. Today, we have those concerned scientists from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists who have moved their "Doomsday Clock" from 2 1/2 minutes to midnight to two minutes to midnight. The clock was originally published in 1947, and at that time the clock was set to seven minutes before midnight. In all of these many years since, the clock has never fallen below 17 minutes before the end of the world. In 2017, the Doomsday Clock was set to 2 1/2 minutes before midnight because…well because...Donald Trump. Today, those merry clock setting atomic scientists (I love saying "atomic scientist". It's so Buck Roger-ish.") bumped it up another 30 seconds because…well because...Donald Trump.

I'm always interested in the organizations that are fronted by powerful names like the "Bulletin of Atomic Scientists" (Heh) So I went to their webpage and checked out just what kind of atomic scientists were on the staff of the publication.

What a surprise. So far as I can tell from the staff bios, not a single one of them is an atomic scientist. In point of fact, any of the physical sciences seem to be missing from the curriculum vitaes' of the people behind the Bulletin.

The president and CEO of the BAS, Rachel Bronson,  served for eight years at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs She taught "Global Energy" as an adjunct professor at the Kellogg School of Management. She was a senior fellow and director of Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Earlier positions include a senior fellowship for international security affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  Dr.(?) Bronson also has "hundreds of publications" under her belt, appearing in such prestigious scientific tomes as " The New York Times, The Washington Post, Huffington Post and The Chicago Tribune" and apparently Teen Vogue. And let's not forget her public appearances on important educational outlets such as " CNN, al Jazerra, the Yomiuri Shimbun, "PBS NewsHour," "The Charlie Rose Show," and "The Daily Show."

I won't get into the other staff members by name, but the Editor-in-Chief is a recipient of the prestigious Sidney Hillman award for reporting on social justice issues, the Senior Editor began his journalism career in Taiwan where he reported for a business magazine, the Deputy Editor has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a Masters in science writing from New York University. The the rest of the staff are media experts, reporters, and social activists. So far as I can tell not a single one of them could define Planck's constant on a bet.

For my own reasons, I won't delve too deeply into my own educational background. But my college experience make me more of an atomic scientist than anyone on the staff of Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

So I wouldn't worry too much about the doomsday clock. In point of fact - in my humble opinion - The world's safety has recently been enhanced by replacing the poodle in the national doghouse with a pit bull.