William Sutherland's most commented articles

Based on an increasing pool of scientific evidence, it is likely Mars was once “covered by oceans and lakes and was layered by a thick atmosphere, very much similar to Earth.” [1] In addition, per scientific studies, Mars had all the ingredients necessary for life: an abundance of water, an energy source, sufficient presence of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorous, all with the proper “atomic charge” and a stable environment capable of supporting life for at least a billion years…

Many times the decision to exhibit or permit a public exhibit of photographs featuring the nude (aesthetic or erotic) art is not an easy decision since the delineation between legitimate art and pornography may appear to be blurred. Examples of this paradox exist when one considers the sculptures at the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple in Khajurâho, India, 19th century Japanese Shunga art, and the jury finding that a collection of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) featured in The Perfec…

Created from Shutterstock Stock Photograph purchased for Article “You have given up on us. You are leaving us to be slaughtered.” [1] [Gen. Mazloum Kobani Abdi, Commander, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces] While I oppose any coups, I believe President Trump’s misguided and reckless decision to abandon the Kurds is reason enough for voters to deny him a second term. Personally I cannot in good conscience vote for a President whose actions unleash genocide, nor one w…

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem [Psalm 122:6] Many have voiced their opinions about the recent 14 May 2018 violence along the Gaza border with Israel and the formal opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Consequently I write this article to express my opinion too especially since based on the well recited quote, “ All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. ” Although I am a strong supporter for the creation of a viab…

Notes: Header Illustration created from stock images purchased from Shutterstock®. Story is a narrative of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The United States has been invaded. The Coronavirus has taken over the White House. To deceive the American people, officials claim it “snuck” in. Maybe the secret service is to blame for sleeping on the job! If it was only so! The President threw open every door and window and invited it in. Now the Coronavirus controls the country’…

I created the header image because the United States is facing its greatest threat ever – a coup that will forever destroy the Constitution, extinguish freedom and have significant, profound and lasting consequences for not only America but the entire world as human dignity and fundamental rights such as freedom of speech, thought, religion and life are eliminated and governments determine and control the dissemination of information, shape our individual destiny and even decide who may have off…

Created using free online clipart from Clipart Library and Clipartmax. Words cannot express my shame (hence even the Chinook hangs it head) on this new day of infamy when all the lies of our Vietnam "success" are repeated, Chinooks ferry out Americans as the leadership or more aptly the cowards in Washington leave some 37 million innocent Afghans (especially women and girls) to fend for themselves in an uncertain future if there is one. :( Is America's word any good? Why should any countr…

When my brother, Don called me to let me know the temperature in NYC had dropped to –1º F, I had just left church with plans to take a few local photographs. Prior to mass, I had documented a pair of blooming dandelions and several crocuses in the –3º F cold in my neighborhood. Knowing that the temperature had fallen below zero F only a handful of times in NYC during my life (this was only the 7th time to be exact) and it hadn’t done so for a record drought of 22+ years, I decided to race to…

Doll (2013) Prior to the early 20th century, garbage was not considered photographic art. In fact it was not considered to be art at all. Consequently, if it appeared in photographs, it was accidental or unavoidable such in pictures documenting poverty and social issues (e.g. sanitation strikes, health hazards). A prominent 19th century photographer that included garbage in his photos while advocating for the poor was Jacob Riis (1849-1914) when he documented the lives of New York City’s…

While New York City, a metropolis of 8.6 million is known for its urban bustle and towering skyscrapers currently with four over 100 stories tall, Central Park with its diverse ecosystems and abundance of flora and fauna provides a hidden view of New York City and a welcome escape from the urban din. “Under the forest canopy of the Ravine , Manhattan’s skyline is hidden and the rushing sound of a waterfall drowns the city noise. When Park designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux create…

In 1890 the garbage looked different (as illustrated in Garbage 1890 ), but it was still litter. In fact, in the late 19th century the litter problem was as bad as it could since today’s municipal sanitation services had not yet been established. Streets were at times filled knee-deep in garbage and the air reeked of putrid odors from a menagerie of rotting food and decaying animal corpses. For instance, when a horse died, its corpse remained untouched for months. As a result, children often sw…

The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. [Acts 2:20] Actually instead of doom and gloom, 8 April 2024 proved to be a surreal, awesome, joyful and even life-changing day for many who had watched as the eclipse unfolded with anticipation, excitement and awe. Since 21 August 2017 when our area (the NYC metro region) experienced a partial solar eclipse, Don and I had resolved to see totality in a solar eclipse set fo…

Banner created using Coronavirus clipart for the zeros in 2020 purchased from Shutterstock and photograph of a solitary person who exited the New Jersey Path at World Trade Center Station Updated: 20 April 2020: With New York the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic and the daily death toll now exceeding 200, grim reality has sunk in. Consequently with the exception of military personnel providing services at the Jacob Javits Center that had been converted into an operational hospi…

Back in the late 5th century BCE, Chinese philosopher Confucius (551-479 BCE) said, “When wealth is distributed, the people are brought together.” His words could not be more appropriate in 2015 with the widespread use of social media and smart phones – all of which have bound people together regardless of distance, borders, and time. Today we communicate with each other all across the world and operate on a 24-hour cycle, checking messages and updates thousands of times a day. The “unconnec…

All of us who lived that 9/11 day eighteen years ago will never forget. That fateful Tuesday started out full of promise with a cloudless sky and mild temperatures until the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of 1 World Trade Center at 8:46 AM. A second plane, United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower seventeen minutes later. By 10:28 AM both towers had collapsed and New York City was shrouded in darkness with the Statue of Liberty the only beacon of light as it…

Reckless calls for the death of those who engage in free expression must STOP! If one doesn't like a cartoon or some other statement, they can avoid it. For instance, I do not like pornography. Therefore I avoid it. However, at the same time, I do NOT call for the death of those who support this industry or participate in it nor reject their God-given right to do so. As for the cover of Charlie Hebdo No. 1178 -- it is anything but blasphemous or insulting. It humanizes Mohammed (after all in…

Image created by Dall-e 2 Today, with the USA on the cusp of an intractable split, the Supreme Court exhibited a rare example of unity handing down a 9-0 decision that prohibited states from removing former President Donald Trump from the ballot. Like him or loathe him, this is the correct decision since allowing states to determine who is on their ballots would've destroyed our electoral system since states sympathetic to Trump’s candidacy threatened to retaliate and likewi…

Never has good weather felt so bad. Never have flowers inspired so much fear. Never has the warm caress of a sunbeam seemed so ominous. The weather is sublime, it’s glorious, it’s the end of the world. Run for your lives! [1] With temperatures consistently breaking 50º F and 60º F and a peak high of 70º F on the 24th, February 2017 with a mean temperature of 41.6º F set a new record for the warmest February in history in the New York metro area. The previous mark of 40.9º F had bee…

Insects “may all look alike to human eyes, but each… is unique” with its own distinct face and “personality” that consists of traits like boldness, forcefulness, determination, shyness and even the presence of an ego, [1] despite being an estimated quintillion in number. At the same time, insects are conscious sentient beings that can communicate, think, have subjective experiences, possess a memory, feel pain, display emotions including empathy and engage in both individualistic and group b…

This year after a wet, tropical-like hot summer followed by Indian Summer in much of September, the spring before Halloween was present for all who sought it in the New York City metro area despite brilliant reds, oranges and yellows that drew attention and thick canopies of leaves that concealed the off-season blooms. It is as if the Jack O’ Lanterns played a seasonal trick with spring flora and gave us an April-like treat this October. In the late 19th century, poet Mary Clemmer wrote, “Th…