The U.S. political journalist Jon Bodenet, prominent during the last presidential election campaign, sent me the following informative e-mail dated Nov. 8:

I wrote (after the first McCain-Obama debate) about the growth of China’s military might and the candidates’ ignorance on the matter. China’s military growth is even outlined in China’s “Statistical Yearbook,” available at the New York Public Library.

The word “consciousness” appeared in English in 1632 its definition being, “a living being’s awareness of the outside world, without which awareness, the survival of the living being is impossible.”