On:

We expect all politicians and leaders to have ideals and surprisingly, despite the various dirty tricks some of them gotten up to, most of them do. I define ideals as moral goals?to get better education for kids, more housing for the poor, more jobs for the middle class, etc.

But when do ideals become ideology and how do we recognize this when it happens? I define ideology as a plan of action, with a set of specific goals that an individual or group wants to accomplish. There may be ideals behind this, such as world democracy, but an ideologue isn’t flexible about his or her plan. An ideologue sees only one way of doing things: his way.
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On:

Scientists are still trying to figure outhow birds getaround. They also want to understand how birds from thesame species may be isolated from each other for months, butstill somehow know exactly when to return home to meet upwith their mates again in the spring. It was once thoughtthat bird pairs stayed together when they migrated, but nowbiologists think this isn’t the case.

Patricia Reaney writes that biologists are studyingIcelandic migratory birds called black-tailed godwits thatrarely see each other, spend winters in different countriesand don’t communicate for long periods but can stillcoordinate their journeys, from different countries athousand miles apart, so they arrive back at their Icelandbreeding grounds within a few days of each other.
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On:

The Chinese want to claim the moon for its valuableHelium-3, although the U.S. has vowed to return and plantanother American flag there first. Now Denmark wants tostake a claim to the North Pole, so they can hunt for theoil that has become more accessible due to thinning icecaused by global warming.
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On:

We’re waiting to see if Mount St. Helens will erupt again inWashington State, but we never hear about volcanic activityon the East Coast of the U.S. There’s a scientific reasonfor this.

Sally Harris writes that the kinds of geological conditionsthere don?t support volcanic activity. Geoscientist R.J.Tracy says, “The active margin of North America is itswestern margin, and only the northwestern segment of itcurrently has the right conditions to produce volcanoes likeMount St. Helens. The interior of North America and the Eastcoast lie far from any currently active plate boundaries andtherefore are not locales where volcanism can occur.”
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