The Tragedy of no Scientific Advisor for POTUS. UK Cities Visit Barnier. Books and Pollen

Lily Pollen 400x, inverted stack

President Trump experienced a renewed protest on US gun laws outside the White House, by students and parents affected by the most recent Florida shool shooting. Will anything real come of this or will business revert to normal once the issue is overtaken by the next headline.

Another worrying long term issue where there has been inaction - The empty post of Scientific Advisor to the president. The president has not filled the post after 390 plus days of his inauguration and the Office of Science and Technology Policy is running on one third of its original staff. The fact has been repeatedly been raised at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  There is no scientific voice to give the president impartial advice on the the consequences of nuclear action by or on North Korea. 

But I personally think that we shouldn't be surprised. The White House and politics in general are focused on short term issues, debates and actions that can maintain their power, influence and popularity. It is currently an adrenaline pumping roller-coaster along the corridors of power, where reputations can rise or crash in the space of a day. Facts have a low priority compared to emotions and deal-making.

Science is also a playground of power, influence and popularity - but these are all subservient to facts and ideas that match the observations of the world around us. However, science is for the long term and works at a much slower pace than politics. 

In the long run, reality and science catch up with you. The most obvious is when medical issues like illness and disease affect you personally and you hope that someone has already researched and developed a solution for you. Climate change is a slow burner that will come back to haunt us if unaddressed.

If President Trump really intends to stay for the longer term, the post of  Scientific Advisor to the President needs to be filled. It provides practical and impartial advice to scope out the real environmental, medical or technological challenges that can appear anywhere on the horizon. Forewarned is forearmed.

A delegation of 10 council leaders and city mayors of the UK's major cities met today with the chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier, the group contained both brexiteers and remainers. Their objective was to raise the issues and interests of their cities in the Brexit negotiations. The group was willing to talk to both EU and UK Brexit negotiators but so far only the EU had shown interest in meeting them. The invitation to talk is still open for the David Davis and the Department for Exiting the EU.

Major news today. Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets in the UK closed - due to a lack of chicken deliveries. Could this be a subversive government plot to push the populace towards healthier eating?

Back to serious work today - one book off to the printer and awaiting a print proof, two books currently going through final edits and a number still waiting in the pipeline. 

I'd had a session taking photograph stacks of lily pollen under the microscope last night. This was in preparation for the talk on macro-photography on Friday. this evening I combined the 400 plus pictures into 6 focus stacks of varying success.