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1 week ago | 
tolerance.ca | John Long
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4 weeks ago | 
roanoke.com | John Long
In my last column, I started the story of Patrick Henry’s legendary “Give Me Liberty” speech, uttered 250 years ago this month. I ended with a provocative statement: we actually have no idea what exactly he said that day in St. John’s Church in Richmond. First of all, let’s concede the obvious. The technology to record such an event was still generations away. But nor did anyone seem to take notes or attempt a contemporary transcript.
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1 month ago | 
roanoke.com | John Long
250 years ago this month, one of the most influential speeches in American history was delivered right here in Virginia. It was Patrick Henry’s spirited “Give Me Liberty or Give me Death” oration. Let’s ponder the story and try to grasp why it still matters. The scene was St. John’s Church in Richmond, where the Second Virginia Convention had convened to consider responses to perceived British violations of American rights.
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1 month ago | 
roanoke.com | John Long
With the recently completed session of the General Assembly, the governor now has a truckload of legislation to consider for passage. One issue that hasn’t gotten much attention is one I think he should consider carefully: the proper place of License Plate Recognition Systems in law enforcement. License Plate Recognition Systems, or License Plate Readers (LPRs) are pretty much what they sound like.
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1 month ago | 
biorxiv.org | John Llewelyn |John Long |Richard Cloutier |Alice Clement
AbstractAim: The diversity and distribution of traits in an ecological community determine how it functions. Modern fish communities conserve trait space across similar habitats. However, little is known about trait-space variation through deep time (or across vastly different habitats). In this paper, we sought to identify how trait diversity varies through space and time. Location: Global Devonian and modern fish communities.
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2 months ago | 
roanoke.com | John Long
The other day I was listening to a podcast and the subject of artificial intelligence came up; specifically the inappropriate ways students can use or misuse it. Now, in full disclosure I have to confess: I have little expertise in such matters, But, like many newspaper columnists, that won’t stop me from commenting on the subject. I’ve played with AI a little but never put it to any serious use.
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2 months ago | 
essentialsurrey.co.uk | John Long
From ancient megalodons to fearsome Great Whites, come and hear the complete, untold story of how sharks emerged as Earth's ultimate survivors, from world-leading palaeontologist John Long. Sharks have been fighting for their lives for 500 million years and today are under dire threat. They are the longest-surviving vertebrate on Earth, outlasting multiple mass extinction events that decimated life on the planet. But how did they thrive for so long?
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2 months ago | 
roanoke.com | John Long
As happens every four years, you’ve been hearing a lot lately about executive orders. A president, especially one newly sworn in, uses EOs to set the agenda, undo the priorities of a previous administration, and/or to give supporters little victories. My guess is if you are thrilled about the latest batch of executive orders, you weren’t too fond of a swarm issued in January 2021. And vice versa.
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Jan 17, 2025 | 
roanoke.com | John Long
Monday marks the 250th anniversary of a crucial event in Virginia’s history, expressing some seminal ideas that would help spark our nation’s independence. Let’s explore the Fincastle Resolutions of 1775. Let’s first acknowledge that nothing in history ever really starts. There are always antecedents to consider. The Fincastle Resolutions didn’t just happen. There were months—years—of growing dissatisfaction against British rule in the American colonies, including Virginia.
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Jan 2, 2025 | 
roanoke.com | John Long
I was getting ready to write about a different topic when the news dropped that former President Jimmy Carter had died at the age of 100. By the time you read this, it will be old news; but only 45 men have ever served as president of the United States, over nearly a quarter of a millennium of American history. Only one was ever Jimmy Carter. I figure his legacy is worth a few column inches here. Now, let me say at the outset that I was too young to ever vote either for or against Carter.
