“…Hot cocoa and hot chocolate are terms that we often used interchangeably. Technically, hot cocoa and hot chocolate are as different as milk chocolate and bittersweet chocolate. Hot cocoa is made with cocoa powder, the way my mother made it when I was a kid. Hot chocolate is made from melting chocolate bars into cream…”
Illustration from 1913 showing Pythagoras teaching a class of women. Pythagoras believed that women should be taught philosophy as well as men and many prominent members of his school were women.Our practice is fairly structured as our Syllabus reveals. Once a month we like to break form and throw our agenda “open”. Unstructured. Completely determined by the interest of our clients, colleagues and followers. Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
* Lyndon B. Johnson played a significant role in the passage of the Education Acts of 1965, which consisted of two key pieces of legislation: the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Higher Education Act (HEA).
As President of the United States, Johnson made education reform a priority of his administration and saw it as a means of addressing poverty and inequality in America. He signed the ESEA into law in April 1965, which was designed to provide funding to schools serving low-income students and aimed to close the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers. The ESEA also provided funds for teacher training and other educational programs.
In November of the same year, Johnson signed the HEA into law, which provided funding for college and university education and sought to make higher education more accessible to all Americans.
Together, these Education Acts of 1965 were a significant achievement for Johnson’s administration and played a crucial role in expanding educational opportunities for millions of Americans. They marked a major shift in federal education policy and helped to establish the federal government’s role in shaping education policy in the United States.
The problem of this dissertation was to compare and evaluate the conceptions of God in the thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman.
The concept of God was chosen because of the central place which it occupies in any religion; and because of the ever-present need to interpret and clarify the God-concept. Tillich and Wieman were chosen because they represent different types of theology; and because each of them, in the last few years, has had an increasing influence upon theological and philosophical thought.
B. The Methods of Procedure
Several methods of procedure were employed in the investigation of the problem stated for this dissertation. First, the expository method was used. In this method the investigator sought to give a comprehensive and sympathetic exposition of the conceptions of God held by Wieman and Tillich. Second, the comparative method was employed. Here the thought of Wieman and Tillich was brought together with a view to determining their convergent and divergent points. Third, the critical method was employed. The investigator sought to give a critical evaluation of the conceptions of God held by Wieman and Tillich. In seeking to give this critical appraisal, two norms were employed: (i) adequacy in expressing the religious values of historic Christianity; and (ii) adequacy in meeting the requirements of consistency and coherence.
It was necessary to begin the study with a discussion of the methodologies of Tillich and Wieman, since the question of method is of such vital importance in theological and philosophical construction.
Throughout his theology Tillich undertakes the difficult task of setting forth a systematic theology which is at the same time an apologetic. The method used to effect this apologetic task is the “method of correlation.” This method shows the interdependence between the ultimate questions to which philosophy is driven and the answers given in the Christian message. In this method question and answer determine each other. Philosophy and theology are not separated, and they are not identical, but they are correlated.
The method which Wieman employs is the “scientific method.” He contends that this is the only method by which truth can be obtained, whether in the field of common sense, science, philosophy, or religion. The scientific method is defined as the method in which sensory observation, experimental behavior, and rational inference are working together. The methodologies of Tillich and Wieman are quite antithetical at many points. Wieman’s scientific method is basically naturalistic. Tillich’s method of correlation seeks to overcome the conflict between the naturalistic and supernaturalistic methods.
It was necessary to begin the exposition of Tillich’s conception of God with a discussion of his ontology as a whole, since it is his ultimate conviction that God is “being-itself.” It was also necessary to include a section on Wieman’s theory of value in the exposition of his conception of God, since he holds that God is supreme value and supreme source of value.
C. Conclusions
The following theses may be stated as conclusions drawn from this investigation of the conceptions of God in the thinking of Tillich and Wieman.
Tillich’s basic and most persistent definition of God is “being-itself,” esse ipsum. In affirming that God is being-itself, Tillich is denying that God is a being beside other beings. In this conception he intends to convey the idea of power of being. God is the power of being in everything and above everything.
Wieman’s basic definition of God is the “creative event.” This definition is an amplification of what Wieman means when he speaks of God as growth. He further defines God as “supreme value” and as “the unlimited connective growth of value-connections.” But these definitions seem to have three different meanings. […] At this point Wieman has failed to be consistently empirical.
Both Tillich and Wieman agree that God is an undeniable reality. […] Both sacrifice too much for the sake of getting rid of a troublesome question.
Both Tillich and Wieman deny the category of personality to God. […] In this respect Tillich’s thought is somewhat akin to the impersonalism of Oriental Vedantism. “Being-itself” is a pure absolute, devoid of consciousness and life.
[… continuing to point 13 …] Wieman’s ultimate pluralism fails to satisfy the rational demand for unity. Tillich’s ultimate monism swallows up finite individuality in the unity of being. A more adequate view is to hold a quantitative pluralism and a qualitative monism. In this way both oneness and manyness are preserved.
100 years ago, the Supreme Court made it clear in Pierce v. Society of Sisters: raising children is the responsibility of parents, not the government.
100 years later, the Trump Administration remains committed to protecting parental rights. pic.twitter.com/yduXdLShty
— Secretary Linda McMahon (@EDSecMcMahon) June 1, 2025
“…O chestnut tree;, great rooted blossomer, Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bold? O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance?”
We sweep through the world’s three major time zones; updating our understanding of the literature at the technical foundation of education community safety and sustainability in those time zones 24 times per day. We generally eschew “over-coding” web pages to sustain speed, revision cadence and richness of content as peak priority. We do not provide a search facility because of copyrights of publishers and time sensitivity of almost everything we do.
Our daily colloquia are typically doing sessions; with non-USA titles receiving priority until 16:00 UTC and all other titles thereafter. We assume policy objectives are established (Safer-Simpler-Lower-Cost, Longer-Lasting). Because we necessarily get into the weeds, and because much of the content is time-sensitive and copyright protected, we usually schedule a separate time slot to hammer on technical specifics so that our response to consultations are meaningful and contribute to the goals of the standards developing organization and to the goals of stewards of education community real assets — typically the largest real asset owned by any US state and about 50 percent of its annual budget.
1. Leviathan. We track noteworthy legislative proposals in the United States 118th Congress. Not many deal specifically with education community real assets since the relevant legislation is already under administrative control of various Executive Branch Departments such as the Department of Education.
We do not advocate in legislative activity at any level. We respond to public consultations but there it ends.
We track federal legislative action because it provides a stroboscopic view of the moment — the “national conversation”– in communities that are simultaneously a business and a culture. Even though more than 90 percent of such proposals are at the mercy of the party leadership the process does enlighten the strengths and weakness of a governance system run entirely through the counties on the periphery of Washington D.C. It is impossible to solve technical problems in facilities without sensitivity to the zietgeist that has accelerated in education communities everywhere.
Michigan Great Lake Quilt
Michigan can 100% water and feed itself. Agriculture is its second-largest industry.
Wilberforce University is the first private Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in the U.S., founded in 1856 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, making it the first institution of higher learning founded, owned, and operated by African Americans. While not the absolute first HBCU overall (that distinction belongs to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania), Wilberforce was the first private one and holds the unique distinction as the first to graduate Black students with accredited bachelor’s degrees in 1857, preceding Lincoln.
William Wilberforce (1759–1833) is the first name in the abolitionist movement in the Anglosphere; with Abraham Lincoln to follow. Accordingly, the first Historically Black College and University in the United States is named after him. Driven by his evangelical Christian faith, Wilberforce took up the cause in 1787 to abolish the British transatlantic slave trade which routinely faced resistance from African rulers in Lagos (modern Nigeria) and the; among them and the Kingdom of Dahomey (modern Benin).
§
§
Why is William Wilberforce often ignored in American history books?
William Wilberforce, the British MP who led the decades-long parliamentary campaign that resulted in the 1807 abolition of the British slave trade (and later full emancipation in 1833), is frequently overlooked in American history textbooks and education. We remind the education industry in the United States that the spark for ending slavery everywhere in the world originated with the Holy Trinity Church on Clapham Common in South London.
This omission stems primarily from national focus: U.S. history curricula emphasize domestic events and figures in the fight against American slavery. The narrative centers on the U.S. Constitution’s compromises, the Missouri Compromise, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, John Brown, and especially Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. British abolition, while influential and inspirational to American abolitionists, is seen as foreign history.
Additionally, the American story is framed as a uniquely national struggle involving internal conflict, sectionalism, and civil war—rather than parliamentary reform led by an evangelical Christian in another country. Some historians note a broader “forgetfulness” about the transatlantic abolition movement after the Civil War, as America focused on reconciliation and downplayed slavery’s moral dimensions.
Wilberforce’s heroic role is sidelined because American education prioritizes homegrown heroes and the violent path to emancipation in the United States over Britain’s earlier, legislative success.
We examine the proposals for the 2028 National Electrical Safety Code; including our own. The 2026 National Electrical Code where sit on CMP-15 overseeing health care facility electrical issues should be released any day now. We have one proposal on the agenda of the International Code Council’s Group B Committee Action Hearings in Cleveland in October. Balloting on the next IEEE Gold Book on reliability should begin.
FERC Open Meetings | (Note that these ~60 minute sessions meet Sunshine Act requirements. Our interest lies one or two levels deeper into the technicals underlying the administrivia)
Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei City, Taiwan
First Draft Proposals contain most of our proposals — and most new (original) content. We will keep the transcripts linked below but will migrate them to a new page starting 2025:
N.B. We are in the process of migrating electric power system research to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers bibliographic format.
Recap of the May meetings of the Industrial & Commercial Power Systems Conference in Las Vegas. The conference ended the day before the beginning of the 3-day Memorial Day weekend in the United States so we’re pressed for time; given all that happened.
We can use our last meeting’s agenda to refresh the status of the issues.
We typically break down our discussion into the topics listed below:
Codes & Standards:
While IAS/I&CPS has directed votes on the NEC; Mike is the only I&CPS member who is actually submitting proposals and responses to codes and standards developers to the more dominant SDO’s — International Code Council, ASHRAE International, UL, ASTM International, IEC & ISO. Mike maintains his offer to train the next generation of “code writers and vote getters”
Performance-based building premises feeder design has been proposed for the better part of ten NEC revision cycles. The objective of these proposals is to reduce material, labor and energy waste owed to the branch and feeder sizing rules that are prescriptive in Articles 210-235. Our work in service and lighting branch circuit design has been largely successful. A great deal of building interior power chain involves feeders — the network upstream from branch circuit panels but down stream from building service panel.
Our history of advocating for developing this approach, inspired by the NFPA 101 Guide to Alternative Approaches to Life Safety, and recounted in recent proposals for installing performance-based electrical feeder design into the International Building Code, appears in the link below:
Access to this draft paper for presentation at any conference that will receive it — NFPA, ICC or IEEE (or even ASHRAE) will be available for review at the link below:
NFPA 110 Definitions of Public Utility v. Merchant Utility
NFPA 72 “Definition of Dormitory Suite” and related proposals
Buildings:
Renovation economics, Smart contracts in electrical construction. UMich leadership in aluminum wiring statements in the NEC should be used to reduce wiring costs.
This paper details primary considerations in estimating the life cycle of a campus medium voltage distribution grid. Some colleges and universities are selling their entire power grid to private companies. Mike has been following these transactions but cannot do it alone.
Variable Architecture Multi-Island Microgrids
District energy:
Generator stator winding failures and implications upon insurance premiums. David Shipp and Sergio Panetta. Mike suggests more coverage of retro-fit and lapsed life cycle technicals for insurance companies setting premiums.
Reliability:
Bob Arno’s leadership in updating the Gold Book.
Mike will expand the sample set in Table 10-35, page 293 from the <75 data points in the 1975 survey to >1000 data points. Bob will set up meeting with Peyton at US Army Corps of Engineers.
Reliability of merchant utility distribution systems remains pretty much a local matter. The 2023 Edition of the NESC shows modest improvement in the vocabulary of reliability concepts. For the 2028 Edition Mike submitted several proposals to at least reference IEEE titles in the distribution reliability domain. It seems odd (at least to Mike) that the NESC committees do not even reference IEEE technical literature such as Bob’s Gold Book which has been active for decades. Mike will continue to propose changes in other standards catalogs — such as ASTM, ASHRAE and ICC — which may be more responsive to best practice assertions. Ultimately, improvements will require state public utility commission regulations — and we support increases in tariffs so that utilities can afford these improvements.
Mike needs help from IEEE Piscataway on standard WordPress theme limitations for the data collection platform.
Mike will update the campus power outage database.
Healthcare:
Giuseppe Parise’s recent work in Italian power grid to its hospitals, given its elevated earthquake risk. Mike’s review of Giuseppe’s paper:
Mike and David Shipp will prepare a position paper for the Harvard Healthcare Management Journal on reliability advantages of impedance grounding for the larger systems.
The Internet of Bodies
Forensics:
Giuseppe’s session was noteworthy for illuminating the similarity and differences between the Italian and US legal system in handling electrotechnology issues.
Mike will restock the committee’s library of lawsuits transactions.
Ports:
Giuseppe updates on the energy and security issues of international ports. Mike limits his time in this committee even though the State of Michigan has the most fresh water international ports in the world.
A PROPOSED GUIDE FOR THE ENERGY PLAN AND ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE OF A PORT
Other:
Proposals to the 2028 National Electrical Safety Code: Accepted Best Practice, exterior switchgear guarding, scope expansion into ICC and ASHRAE catalog,
Apparently both the Dot Standards and the Color Books will continue parallel development. Only the Gold Book is being updated; led by Bob Arno. Mike admitted confusion but reminded everyone that any references to IEEE best practice literature in the NFPA catalog, was installed Mike himself (who would like some backup help)
Mike assured Christel Hunter (General Cable) that his proposals for reducing the 180 VA per-outlet requirements, and the performance-base design allowance for building interior feeders do not violate the results of the Neher-McGrath calculation used for conductor sizing. All insulation and conducting material thermal limits are unaffected.
Other informal discussions centered on the rising cost of copper wiring and the implications for the global electrotechnical transformation involving the build out of quantum computing and autonomous vehicles. Few expressed optimism that government ambitions for the same could be met in any practical way.
Are students avoiding use of Chat GPT for energy conservation reasons? Mike will be breaking out this topic for a dedicated standards inquiry session:
This content is accessible to paid subscribers. To view it please enter your password below or send mike@standardsmichigan.com a request for subscription details.
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwBpic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
.jpg)
