Carbon foot print
http://scienceblogs.com/deanscorner/2011/01/unique_global_carbon_footprint.php
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
First Chimpanzee Press Conference
"...and there were more than a few times—usually after being shot with a tranquillizer dart and then waking up hours later with excruciatingly painful bleeding stitch holes in my neck and chest regions—when I wasn’t sure if it was worth it. But I guess it was, because here we are today, in this beautiful conference room at the Sheraton."
Read the masterpiece:
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/06/06/050606sh_shouts
Read the masterpiece:
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/06/06/050606sh_shouts
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Thursday, December 30, 2010
A serious oldy
I ran into a video by Natalie Merchant's of her song, Candy Everybody Wants
http://www.mtvmusic.com/artist/10,000_maniacs/videos/58362/candy_everybody_wants
I thought of another song that is in style very different, yet covers similar terrain.
The song, American Metaphysical Circus by the group
The United States of America (1968)
Sound file:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE1DDR-oATM
Lyrics:
At precisely eight-o-fiveDoctor Frederick von Meier
Will attempt his famous dive
Through a solid sheet of luminescent fire.
In the center of the ring
They are torturing a bear
And although he cannot sing
They can make him whistle Londondderry Air
And the price is right,
The cost of one admission is your mind
We shall shortly institute
A synopticon of fear
While it's painful, it will suit
Many customers whose appetities are queer
Or for those who wish to pay
There are children you can bleed
In a most peculiar way
We can give you all the instruments you'll need
And the price is right,
The cost of one admission is your mind
If you're harder yet to serve
We have most delightful dreams;
Our recorders will preserve
The intensity and passion of your screams.
For we only aim to please;
It's our customers who gain
As their appetities increase
They must come to us for pleasure and for pain.
And the price is right,
The cost of one admission is your mind.
http://www.mtvmusic.com/artist/10,000_maniacs/videos/58362/candy_everybody_wants
I thought of another song that is in style very different, yet covers similar terrain.
The song, American Metaphysical Circus by the group
The United States of America (1968)
Sound file:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE1DDR-oATM
Lyrics:
At precisely eight-o-fiveDoctor Frederick von Meier
Will attempt his famous dive
Through a solid sheet of luminescent fire.
In the center of the ring
They are torturing a bear
And although he cannot sing
They can make him whistle Londondderry Air
And the price is right,
The cost of one admission is your mind
We shall shortly institute
A synopticon of fear
While it's painful, it will suit
Many customers whose appetities are queer
Or for those who wish to pay
There are children you can bleed
In a most peculiar way
We can give you all the instruments you'll need
And the price is right,
The cost of one admission is your mind
If you're harder yet to serve
We have most delightful dreams;
Our recorders will preserve
The intensity and passion of your screams.
For we only aim to please;
It's our customers who gain
As their appetities increase
They must come to us for pleasure and for pain.
And the price is right,
The cost of one admission is your mind.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Climate Ark: Modeling and Data Links
A fun site. Plenty of interactive features with climate models, data, etc.
http://www.climateark.org/links/Science_and_Research/Modeling_and_Data/
http://www.climateark.org/links/Science_and_Research/Modeling_and_Data/
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
The birth of the Tea Party
Irony. An MSNBC broadcast of some grifters, i.e. the floor of the Chicago Commodities Exchange.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcvSjKCU_Zo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcvSjKCU_Zo&feature=related
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
Perhaps Senator Bird has a succesor?
Pretty much sums it up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5OtB298fHY
Pretty much sums it up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5OtB298fHY
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Christian Variants
Icon depicting the First Council of Nicaea
I can pretty easily tell the difference between Catholic & Protestant belief systems, but at a finer grain level, when checking things on the Protestant side especially , its gets kinda hairy for me. Here is a helpful resource on that score. http://www.creeds.net/
I can pretty easily tell the difference between Catholic & Protestant belief systems, but at a finer grain level, when checking things on the Protestant side especially , its gets kinda hairy for me. Here is a helpful resource on that score. http://www.creeds.net/
Happy Holidays!
Hanging the Mistletoe by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Mōdraniht & Yule
“Again we have produced Yule-being's feast, the mead of poetry, our rulers' eulogy,
like a bridge of masonry.” Anon.
like a bridge of masonry.” Anon.
Light the bonfires!
Sing the sagas!
Drink sweet ale!
Aset (Isis) Nursing Heru (Horus)
Antiquité égyptienne du musée du Louvre
Aset
Queen of Heaven, Mother of Horus,
Queen of Heaven, Mother of Horus,
Mother of the Gods, Great Lady of Magic
Mistress of the House of Life,
She Who Knows How To Make Right Use of the Heart
She Who Knows the Orphan
She who knows the Widow Spider
She Who Seeks Justice for the Poor
She Who Seeks Shelter for the Weak
She who Seeks the Righteousness in Her People
Mistress of the House of Life,
She Who Knows How To Make Right Use of the Heart
She Who Knows the Orphan
She who knows the Widow Spider
She Who Seeks Justice for the Poor
She Who Seeks Shelter for the Weak
She who Seeks the Righteousness in Her People
The birth of Horus was celebrated on the day in the
ancient Egyptian calendar that was the same day as
Decemberus 25 in the Roman calendar
ancient Egyptian calendar that was the same day as
Decemberus 25 in the Roman calendar
Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain.
Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters.
Who maketh the clouds his chariot;
Who walketh on the wings of the wind;
Who maketh winds his messengers
Flames of fire his ministers"
From the Hymn to Aten by Pharaoh Akhenaten
as recorded in tomb of Ay in Amarna; and the later Psalm 104.
as recorded in tomb of Ay in Amarna; and the later Psalm 104.
chag chanukkah sameach ve-shana tova
Mosaic of Sol in Mausoleum M Christ-Sol (Christ as the Sun/Apollo).Mausoleum of the Julli. Mid-3rd century C.E. Rome
Felix Dies Natalis Solis Invicti
( Happy day of the birth of the unconquered sun )
Refers to Decemberus 25th, the date of the solstice in the Roman calendar, during the holiday of Saturnalia.
matunda ya kwanza(First fruits of the harvest)
Xmas, or Christmas? or, Putting the X back in Christmas
X-as-chi was associated with Christ long before X-as-cross could be, since the cross as a Christian symbol developed later.
The Greek letter Chi Χ stood for "Christ" in the ancient Greek acrostic ΙΧΘΥΣ.
While some see the spelling of Christmas as Xmas a threat, others see it as a way to honor Christian martyrs. The use of X as an abbreviation for "cross" in modern abbreviated writing (e.g. "Kings X" for "Kings Cross") may have reinforced this assumption.
In ancient Christian art χ and χρ are abbreviations for Christ's name.
In many manuscripts of the New Testament and icons, X is an abbreviation for Christos, as is XC (the first and last letters in Greek, using the lunate sigma); compare IC for Jesus in Greek.
The Oxford English Dictionary documents the use of this abbreviation back to 1551, 50 years before the first English colonists came to North America and 60 years before the King James Version of the Bible was completed. At the same time, Xian and Xianity were in frequent use as abbreviations of "Christian" and "Christianity"; and nowadays still are sometimes so used, but much less than "Xmas".
Almost forgot, the "mas" part. Debate on this one. Some say it is from the latin "missa", (to send forth). Others say it is from the Anglo-saxon/Germanic "Mas" (festival or celebration).
Monday, November 29, 2010
Another holiday passes...
WILMINGTON, DE— "The nation looked on in reverence Friday as 20,000 citizens were decapitated, dismembered, and burned alive in the name of Corporate America, continuing the age-old annual rite to ensure bounteous profits in the coming fiscal year...."
http://www.theonion.com/articles/20000-sacrificed-in-annual-blood-offering-to-corpo,18542/
http://www.theonion.com/articles/20000-sacrificed-in-annual-blood-offering-to-corpo,18542/
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
It Was a Toasty, Stormy October
At Climate Central:
"What makes all of this — and especially the U.S. temperatures — so significant is that we’re now under the influence of the cool Pacific ocean and atmospheric cycle known as La Niña. La Niña, which appears every five to seven years on average, tends to lower global temperatures by about a tenth of a degree C from what they would otherwise have been."
http://www.climatecentral.org/breaking/blog/it_was_a_toasty_stormy_october/
"What makes all of this — and especially the U.S. temperatures — so significant is that we’re now under the influence of the cool Pacific ocean and atmospheric cycle known as La Niña. La Niña, which appears every five to seven years on average, tends to lower global temperatures by about a tenth of a degree C from what they would otherwise have been."
http://www.climatecentral.org/breaking/blog/it_was_a_toasty_stormy_october/
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Carl Sagan's Last TV Interview
"Carl Sagan gave his last interview with Charlie rose on May 27th 1996. He discussed pseudo-science, religion, unfounded claims, his personal love affair with science and his struggle with myelodysplasia as well as other elements of his last book: The Demon-Haunted World."
In three parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jod7v-m573k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDKSZO-aACk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxeN6Wf7mbU&feature=related
In three parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jod7v-m573k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDKSZO-aACk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxeN6Wf7mbU&feature=related
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Chris Hedges hew book on the failure American liberalism
NPR interview with Chris Hedges:
"In a traditional democracy, the liberal class functions as a safety valve. It makes piecemeal and incremental reform possible. It offers hope for change and proposes gradual steps toward greater equality. It endows the state and the mechanisms of power with virtue. It also serves as an attack dog that discredits radical social movements, making the liberal class a useful component within the power elite.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131166027
"In a traditional democracy, the liberal class functions as a safety valve. It makes piecemeal and incremental reform possible. It offers hope for change and proposes gradual steps toward greater equality. It endows the state and the mechanisms of power with virtue. It also serves as an attack dog that discredits radical social movements, making the liberal class a useful component within the power elite.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131166027
Thursday, November 4, 2010
A couple more things from G' Kar
G' Kar was a character in the television series, Babylon V.
"If I take a lamp and shine it toward the wall, a bright spot will appear on the wall. The lamp is our search for truth, for understanding. Too often, we assume that the light on the wall is God, but the light is not the goal of the search, it is the result of the search. The more intense the search, the brighter the light on the wall. The brighter the light on the wall, the greater the sense of revelation upon seeing it. Similarly, someone who does not search - who does not bring a lantern - sees nothing. What we perceive as God is the by-product of our search for God. It may simply be an appreciation of the light... pure and unblemished... not understanding that it comes from us. Sometimes we stand in front of the light and assume that we are the center of the universe - God looks astonishingly like we do - or we turn to look at our shadow and assume that all is darkness. If we allow ourselves to get in the way, we defeat the purpose, which is to use the light of our search to illuminate the wall in all its beauty and in all its flaws; and in so doing, better understand the world around us. "
"There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities; it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain."
"If I take a lamp and shine it toward the wall, a bright spot will appear on the wall. The lamp is our search for truth, for understanding. Too often, we assume that the light on the wall is God, but the light is not the goal of the search, it is the result of the search. The more intense the search, the brighter the light on the wall. The brighter the light on the wall, the greater the sense of revelation upon seeing it. Similarly, someone who does not search - who does not bring a lantern - sees nothing. What we perceive as God is the by-product of our search for God. It may simply be an appreciation of the light... pure and unblemished... not understanding that it comes from us. Sometimes we stand in front of the light and assume that we are the center of the universe - God looks astonishingly like we do - or we turn to look at our shadow and assume that all is darkness. If we allow ourselves to get in the way, we defeat the purpose, which is to use the light of our search to illuminate the wall in all its beauty and in all its flaws; and in so doing, better understand the world around us. "
"There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities; it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain."
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The Great Divide
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/11/mid-term_elections_2
and
"Voters rejected a controversial proposal to suspend California's landmark greenhouse gas reduction law Tuesday, showing their support for the state's efforts to lead the nation in confronting climate change."
San Francisco Chronicle:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgif=/c/a/2010/11/03/MNGN1G2HVN.DTL&feed=rss.news
At least we know what Carl Rove has been up to.
"Barack Obama pushed them together. Old habits and secretive instincts nearly kept them apart. But in the end, a cadre of big-money Republican outside groups worked together to spend millions to take down the Democratic House majority, carefully coordinating their ad buys and political messages through a series of regular meetings and phone calls aimed at picking off selected Democrats. The groups – including familiar names like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Crossroads – shared their target lists and TV-time data to ensure vulnerable Democrats got the full brunt of GOP spending."
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=12A84851-9F18-52C6-9A295CB5B0C38371
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=12A84851-9F18-52C6-9A295CB5B0C38371
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." -- Mark Twain
Shades of German federal election, 1930?
http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/kpally/nationwide-poll-the-success-of-gop-depends-on-its
http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/kpally/nationwide-poll-the-success-of-gop-depends-on-its
The origin of the word "idiot"
"An idiot in Athenian democracy was someone who was characterized by self-centeredness and concerned almost exclusively with private--as opposed to public--affairs. Idiocy was the natural state of ignorance into which all persons were born and its opposite, citizenship, was effected through formalized education. In Athenian democracy, idiots were born and citizens were made through education."
Wikipedia article re Athenian democracy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot_(Athenian_democracy)
"People who customarily refer to themselves as taxpayers are not even remotely related to democratic citizens. Yet this is precisely the word that now regularly holds the place which in a true democracy would be occupied by 'citizens.' Taxpayers bear a dual relationship to government, neither half of which has anything at all to do with democracy. Taxpayers pay tribute to the government, and they receive services from it. So does every subject of a totalitarian regime. What taxpayers do not do, and what people who call themselves taxpayers have long since stopped even imagining themselves doing, is governing. In a democracy, by the very meaning of the word, the people govern."
Quoted in citation above, from Daniel Kemmis's The Good City and the Good Life.
Wikipedia article re Athenian democracy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot_(Athenian_democracy)
"People who customarily refer to themselves as taxpayers are not even remotely related to democratic citizens. Yet this is precisely the word that now regularly holds the place which in a true democracy would be occupied by 'citizens.' Taxpayers bear a dual relationship to government, neither half of which has anything at all to do with democracy. Taxpayers pay tribute to the government, and they receive services from it. So does every subject of a totalitarian regime. What taxpayers do not do, and what people who call themselves taxpayers have long since stopped even imagining themselves doing, is governing. In a democracy, by the very meaning of the word, the people govern."
Quoted in citation above, from Daniel Kemmis's The Good City and the Good Life.
Monday, November 1, 2010
We are One
I have been slowly re-watching the series Babylon V on Netflix.
The episode watched last night included an inter-governmental body passing the follow, which i have found inspirational.
ISA Statement of Principles
The universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice.
The language is not Narn, or Human, or Centauri, or Gaim or Minbari
It speaks in the language of hope
It speaks in the language of trust
It speaks in the language of strength and the language of compassion
It is the language of the heart and the language of the soul.
But always it is the same voice
It is the voice of our ancestors, speaking through us, And the voice of our inheritors, waiting to be born
It is the small, still voice that says We are one No matter the blood No matter the skin No matter the world No matter the star:
We are one
No matter the pain
No matter the darkness
No matter the loss
No matter the fear
We are one
Here, gathered together in common cause, we agree to recognize the singular truth and this singular rule:
That we must be kind to one another
Because each voice enriches us and ennobles us and each voice lost diminishes us.
We are the voice of the Universe, the soul of creation, the fire that will light the way to a better future.
We are one.
The episode watched last night included an inter-governmental body passing the follow, which i have found inspirational.
ISA Statement of Principles
The universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice.
The language is not Narn, or Human, or Centauri, or Gaim or Minbari
It speaks in the language of hope
It speaks in the language of trust
It speaks in the language of strength and the language of compassion
It is the language of the heart and the language of the soul.
But always it is the same voice
It is the voice of our ancestors, speaking through us, And the voice of our inheritors, waiting to be born
It is the small, still voice that says We are one No matter the blood No matter the skin No matter the world No matter the star:
We are one
No matter the pain
No matter the darkness
No matter the loss
No matter the fear
We are one
Here, gathered together in common cause, we agree to recognize the singular truth and this singular rule:
That we must be kind to one another
Because each voice enriches us and ennobles us and each voice lost diminishes us.
We are the voice of the Universe, the soul of creation, the fire that will light the way to a better future.
We are one.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
From Bleu
Song For the Unification of Europe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ON3iA_boQ&feature=related
The lyrics are in Greek, from 1 Corinthians 13
http://www.xs4all.nl/~beren/unieuro.html
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
A radical pessimist's view
Hey, you say "pessimism" like it is something bad, hey...
http://www.nextnature.net/2010/10/douglas-coupland-a-radical-pessimists-guide-to-the-next-10-years/#more-11023
http://www.nextnature.net/2010/10/douglas-coupland-a-radical-pessimists-guide-to-the-next-10-years/#more-11023
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The Onion's take on the Nobel award this year in medicine.
Funny, first thing i thought of too...but in less colorful words :)
http://www.theonion.com/articles/nobel-prize-awarded-to-man-who-helped-humans-have,18219/
http://www.theonion.com/articles/nobel-prize-awarded-to-man-who-helped-humans-have,18219/
Saturday, October 2, 2010
I just realized....
That not only is "Intelligent Design" not a scientific concept, it is also just plain bad writing. It is another name for Deus ex machina! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina
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