Rise of the Baha'i Think Tanks

[Updated: Sep 2, 2024]
Throughout the history of the Baha'i Faith from 1844, individual writers have performed as "reporters" or "journalists". They produced news items of upcoming events to books recording the history and teachings of the new religion. In the last 50 years, Baha'i think tanks have emerged, encouraged by the highest Baha'i administrative unit -- the Universal House of Justice (UHJ). A think tank may be defined as an organization of multiple persons collaborating to conduct investigative journalism including news reporting, analysis of events, research and editorial opinion. To start conversations about the rise of Baha'i think tanks, a selected list of these efforts is presented chronologically. Interesting features of this phenomenon are discussed.

Is Baha'i Review In Hospice Care?

[Updated Jan. 25, 2024]

Abstract and Introduction
Sources report US Baha'i Review has failed to function according to one or all 1971 Universal House of Justice (UHJ) guidelines requiring (1) prompt review, (2) correct information and (3) dignified presentation. Associated ethical issues surpass the question of possible censorship and include basic questions about justice, integrity and honesty. Why is Baha'i Review becoming a failed policy and process? How should Baha'i Review policy develop to become a useful tool?

The Secret Plan Of Shoghi Effendi To End The Guardianship With His Ministry

Editor's note: Shoghi Effendi served as Guardian of the Baha'i Faith from 1921 to 1957.

Abstract
One of the greatest, if not the greatest, achievement of Shoghi Effendi may be ending the institution of the Guardianship with his ministry. Even after over half century, his carefully planned, multi-decade effort continues to "play" observers and critics who portray its components as failings. Thus, he has yet to receive full credit for his complete success in achieving his objective. Imagine if he had failed and there was a "Guardian" poking around possibly throwing monkey wrenches into the workings of the present Universal House of Justice (UHJ). This article presents two competing theories: (1) success of the secret plan of Shoghi Effendi versus (2) failure of Shoghi Effendi as Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.

Baha'i Themes Book Series

Baha'i Themes book series by James J Keene

Justice Book: Some Baha'i Teachings on Human Development
Justice Book presents the "big picture" of the world today with important Baha'i teachings on human development. The Baha'i writings may serve as a survival manual and an adventure story. 16 new tables and flow charts illustrate key points and processes in this "justice made simple" cook-book.

Blog Readers Vote

Free Poll for the Baha'i Community: Having done nothing on this Independent Investigation of Truth blog for almost a decade, I thought it might be interesting to rank the articles by number of pageviews. The results might be interpreted as a poll of what topics interest Baha'is and others the most (compared to other articles in the list). I color-coded the top results as a sort of heat map.

The two "all-time favorites" shown in red appear to be in a class by themselves. The next ten (orange, yellow) might be dubbed "the top-ten". Close top-ten contenders have the green highlight.

The table below lists these articles by title and pageviews, thanks to the wonderful Google Analytics service.

Memes For Physicists II

Memes continue to appear on bulletin boards at Binary Mechanics Lab (BML).

Fig. 1: General Relativity Excluded; Binary Mechanics Included

Memes For Physicists

Memes have started to appear on bulletin boards at Binary Mechanics Lab.

Fig. 1: Physics Standard Model Math

Recent Binary Mechanics Lab Videos

Brief History of Quantum Theory

Wisconsin Fallout From Fukushima Radiation After Only 3 Days

The west coast of the U.S. awaits arrival of the most concentrated radioactive ocean water from the disasters at Fukushima nuclear reactors over the coming several months. However, many reports indicate that there is not much left to kill in the Pacific waters off the west coast. In that respect, the upcoming arrival of the greatest concentration of deadly man-made radioisotopes may be a sort of anti-climax. On the other hand, rainfall and other mechanisms will continue to spread the illness, mutations and death to inland territory. Those who remain on the west coast to watch the show have been called "dead men walking."

In contrast to the months and years involved in dispersion of Fukushima radiation by ocean currents, this article features a clever analysis showing airborne travel of harmful radioisotopes all the way from Fukushima, Japan, to Wisconsin, U.S., and neighboring areas in little more than three days.

RadiationNetwork vs NETC CPM Comparison

Research question: To what extent might CPM values on radiationnetwork.com and netc.com be comparable?

Methods: All "Std" GM tube sensor values for radiation monitoring sites in the US were tabulated in an excel spreadsheet for the two radiation monitoring web sites during the Oct 19-20, 2015, period. "Pancake" data from RadiationNetwork and identified "pancake" (N=1) and "beta" counting sites from NETC were not included. The RadiationNetwork values appeared to be updated about every minute whereas the ten minute average is reported for each monitoring site by NETC and this more stable value was used. The .xls file of raw data is available upon request from the author (jamesjkeene_at_gmail.com).

Results:

De Facto US Dollar Gold Standard For Over One Year

[This article was published by www.silverdoctors.com under the title "New Gold Window? The De Facto US Dollar Gold Standard"]
The one year gold price chart from www.kitco.com shows that the US has been on a de facto US dollar gold standard for over a year now. This means that the US dollar gold price has been "fixed" for all practical purposes at about $1,300. This is big news since President Nixon closed the "gold window" back in 1971. "Gold window" just means people and governments can exchange a fixed number of US dollars for each troy ounce of gold. Now after more than 40 years, a new "gold window" has been opened.
[Click on chart above to enlarge.] Amazingly, none of the main stream or alternate news outlets has reported this fact, as far as I know.

Anti-Surveillance Web Browser

Script-free, Anti-Tracking, Anti-Surveillance Browser. The HotStrip Browser obtains and filters web page source before sending it for browser rendering with two major objectives. First, if menu option Tag Strip:Scripts is checked, all scripting code is removed. Second, many web page references to other web sites that record and track your internet surfing behavior are also removed. This browser design may have many benefits. For starters, "Look Ma, no more Google ads!". Please click the Hotstrip Browser link above to download and try this free software.