08.30.08
Treaty Languishes
Common Dreams
Published on Saturday, August 30, 2008 by Inter Press Service
Treaty Languishes on State Terror
by Haider Rizvi
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Rendition
Extraordinary Rendition, Extraordinary Mistake
by Sangitha McKenzie Millar
Mamdouh Habib, an Australian citizen, was living in Sydney with his wife and four children when he took a trip alone to Pakistan to find a home for his family. When Habib boarded a bus for the Islamabad airport to return home, Pakistani police seized him and took him to a police station, where he was subjected to various crude torture techniques, including electric shocks and beating. At one point, he was forced to hang by the arms above a drum-like mechanism that administered an electric shock when touched. Pakistani police asked him repeatedly if he was with al-Qaeda, and if he trained in Afghanistan. Habib responded “No” over and over until he passed out.
New Spy Software
RG mail
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9983
New Spy Software Coming On-Line: “Surveillance in a Box” Makes its Debut
By Tom Burghardt
Global Research, August 29, 2008
Antifascist Calling… – 2008-08-28
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Zinn: Science, The Public, and Social Change
sciftp mail
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18617
The Citizens Among Us
Science, The Public, and Social Change
Read the rest of this entry »
Challenge to extinction theory
gnxp
New research deals a blow to the hypothesis that a decrease in
atmospheric oxygen contributed to a mass extinction 250 million years ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/science/02obsoxy.html
Sticks and stones
gnxp
The old adage “sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can
never hurt you”, simply is not true, according to researchers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7587780.stm
Poverty and stress
gnxp
These emotions are a constant for the poverty-stricken. New ideas are
emerging to combat the long-term effects.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-poverty1-2008sep01,0,3159674.story
Radical green
Alternet mail
5 Steps to an Environmental Revolution
By Bill Vitek, Prairie Writers Circle. Posted August 27, 2008.
Efficiency tweaks won’t save us. Even if every car in the world were a hybrid, growing demand would dwarf savings.
Food colonialism
Alternet mail
It’s Pretty Clear That Europe Is Using ‘Trade’ Deals to Steal Food from Poor Countries
By George Monbiot, Monbiot.com. Posted August 28, 2008.
A new wave of food colonialism is taking food from the mouths of the poor.
Internet Traffic Begins to Bypass the U.S.
RG mail
Internet Traffic Begins to Bypass the U.S.
By JOHN MARKOFF Times
SAN FRANCISCO — The era of the American Internet is ending.
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08.29.08
The Eonic Effect and The Great Explosion
Selection from World History And The Eonic Effect
The Great Explosion
Man’s emergence from the Paleolithic is both his entrance into history and his attempt to discover the meaning of that transition. The search for the significance of history and the resolution of its enigma is the most existential commitment of man and his most ancient of legacies, the question of Gilgamesh himself. The quest for some pattern in the surface incoherence of historical events takes form with the birth of civilization and the invention of writing, and inspires the traditions of sacred history, reborn in the secular philosophy of history, then challenged and recast by the idea of evolution.
The discovery of evolution is the gateway to its greater significance, the great clue, yet in revealing the unknown the idea of evolution is still confronted by the mystery of the known, man in history. The idea of evolution seems destined to fulfill the ancient hope in its new form by its revolutionary transformation of our perspectives of deep time. Indeed it is a precondition and foundation for any enquiry into man’s origins And yet this ambition to claim man’s view of his nature by the very invocation of universal evolution at first merely compounds the enigma and demands the answer of one and the same riddle, as universal history, that has always accompanied the chronicle of kingdoms, states, and empires.
Even as evolution yields one part of the riddle of history, it is history, ironically, that yields us a further clue to evolution, and to the unobserved drama of man’s transition from the lost world of his evolutionary infancy. As we observe the eonic effect, we begin to see, or detect, an ‘evolutionary’ process in the ‘rolling out’ of emergent civilization. This effect is too massive, and too high-level to coexist with what is currently claimed as explanation, even if we grant the possibility of confusing cultural and biological evolution. In many ways, history is a crucial test for any theory of the descent of man, the only record at close range, at the level of centuries that man has of the evolution of anything. The reason lies in a subtle contradiction in our thinking concerning the relationship of history to evolution, with particular regard to our freedom and ideas of that. The eonic effect highlights a discrepancy. Although man at the beginning of history has a clear dimension of ‘freedom’, this is limited, and the overall development of civilization shows a clear ‘helper’ evolution. Can we suppose that much earlier men succeeded without this? Read the rest of this entry »
Top posts this month
Top posts this month. Surprising that the issue of the Axial Age remains on people’s minds. Also note that the Stuart Newman post shot to the top, with only two days so far this month
3919 1.89% http://darwiniana.com/2006/01/31/confusion-over-axial-age/
1993 0.96% http://darwiniana.com/2006/10/23/marilynne-robinson-on-dawkins/
885 0.43% http://darwiniana.com/blogzone/
821 0.40% http://darwiniana.com/2007/09/05/can-computers-mimic-darwinian-evolution/
642 0.31% http://darwiniana.com/2007/02/13/mccain-on-evolution/
634 0.31% http://darwiniana.com/2008/08/26/scoopaltenberg-stuart-newman-interview/
581 0.28% http://darwiniana.com/2008/08/16/designists-and-darwinists-out-of-their-minds/
489 0.24% http://darwiniana.com/2008/07/26/frank-on-right-wing-con-men/
452 0.22% http://darwiniana.com/2007/12/25/a-new-topic-for-debate/
449 0.22% http://darwiniana.com/2008/08/13/judson-in-times-on-evolution/
316 0.15% http://darwiniana.com/2008/08/02/review-of-davies-book-the-darwin-conspiracy/
295 0.14% http://darwiniana.com/2008/08/10/top-secret-and-pop-mysticism-vs-big-science/
291 0.14% http://darwiniana.com/2007/12/07/slavoj-zizek-and-hegelian-brain-damage/
Beyond neo-darwinism: Stuart Newman interview links
Here are the links to the Newman interview, which have been popular reads here: Video of Newman interview
Blogzone: three articles
Chopra interview, plus turtle fossils, and ‘intelligence not strictly human’
More nonsense on altruism gene
Capitalism, Darwinism and democracy share not only a reliance on competitive self-interest but a presumption that self-interest works – or can be made to work – for the common good. As America’s patron saint Adam Smith so memorably wrote in The Wealth of Nations, “it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.”
Now they want to corrupt the idea of democracy with Darwinism. The two traditions are very different. Democracy is about autonomous individuals and their freedom, about self-interest only secondarily, and not in a game of social darwinism. Its core ideas don’t sit well with this Darwinian nonsense about the altruism gene. Democratic thinking long predates biological theory, and in any case the reality shows how extreme self-interest in its classical liberal form can wreck a democracy.
Big molecules and chance
Molecules Evolution Can’t Explain!
August 28, 2008 04:30 PM EST
Millions of high school and college biology textbooks imply that Stanley Miller, in the 1950′s, showed that life could arise by chance. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Miller, in his famous experiment in 1953, showed that individual amino acids (the building blocks of life) could come into existence by chance. But, it’s not enough just to have amino acids. The various amino acids that make-up life must link together in a precise sequence, just like the letters in a sentence, to form functioning protein molecules. If they’re not in the right sequence the protein molecules won’t work. It has never been shown that various amino acids can bind together into a sequence by chance to form protein molecules. Even the simplest cell is made up of many millions of various protein molecules.
Also, what many don’t realize is that Miller had a laboratory apparatus that shielded and protected the individual amino acids the moment they were formed, otherwise the amino acids would have quickly disintegrated and been destroyed in the mix of random energy and forces involved in Miller’s experiment.
Fish loses “armour” to survive
Fish loses “armour” to survive in freshwater lake
Britain News.Net
Friday 29th August, 2008 (ANI)
Ottawa, August 29 : A new study by researchers from the University of British Columbia in Canada (UBC) has indicated that by shedding its bony “armour”, the stickleback fish has managed to thrive in freshwater and outsize its marine ancestor, a find which supports Charles Darwin’s natural selection theory.
Origin of the Origin
Genesis and the origin of the Origin of the species
The argument that God exists based on design figures nowhere in the Hebrew Bible
‘Non-random’ evolution pushed deceptively
“Random” Samples of Media and Textbook Descriptions of Darwinian Evolution
In his Autobiography, Charles Darwin stated, “There seems to be no more design in the variability of organic beings and in the action of natural selection, than in the course the wind blows.” It is thus quite odd that a ScienceDaily.com article earlier this year with the headline “New Findings Confirm Darwin’s Theory” should go on to say “Evolution Not Random.” This study may be confirming some theory, but it isn’t Darwin’s theory.
This tactic to push evolution to the public as “non-random” appears to be part of an ongoing campaign on the part of Darwinists to make neo-Darwinism appear more appealing to the public (which tends to be religious). While there are non-random components to natural selection, evolutionary biology textbooks have made it clear that other aspects of Darwinian evolution are quite random.
Obama on ‘social darwinism’ of GOP
Obama hit his strongest notes when criticizing the social Darwinism of the GOP, although evangelicals would have liked it if he used that phrase.
GOP Veep and ID
Palin’s dangerous views on science education
By Ed Brayton 8/29/08 12:57 PM
One of the first things that stands out to me about the choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be McCain’s running mate is the fact that Palin is an advocate of teaching Intelligent Design Creationism (IDC) in public school science classrooms alongside evolution.
My ScienceBlogs colleague Afarensis reported two years ago:
Palin was answering a question from the moderator near the conclusion of Wednesday night’s televised debate on KAKM Channel 7 when she said, “Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.â€
This is standard rhetoric for IDC advocates because it taps in to a very basic notion of fairness held by most Americans. If you’re going to teach one theory, it’s only right to teach both theories, right? Well, wrong. The premise here is false, but it’s false in a way that feeds into the ignorance of science that is so pervasive in our society.
Will Dalai Lama return to Tibet?
Will the Dalai Lama return to Tibet?
Meindert Gorter gives his views on religious freedom in China today and the prospects of the Dalai Lama return from exile
Victory over guinea worm
The Parasite That Reveals Good News From Africa
by Johann Hari
And now for the great news – from Africa. Yes, I know that seems like a perverse opener, with Robert Mugabe perpetuating his oozing Alzheimocracy, a looming famine in Ethiopia, and international peacekeepers failing to prevent genocidal massacres in Darfur. The cynics who jeer that Africa is a black hole for help feel they have the wind of no change at their back. But some time next year – or soon after – a beautiful moment in the history of humanity will come to pass on the Western shores of Africa. An excruciatingly painful disease that has stalked humans for millennia will end – forever.
Settler movement
Israel Must Rein in Settler Movement, Protect Palestinian Children
by Joel Gulledge
SOUTH HEBRON HILLS, West Bank – I left my home in the United States to spend the summer in the West Bank, where I was attacked by Israeli settlers late last month. As a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team, I went to the South Hebron Hills to help keep young Palestinian children safe from Israeli settlers intent on hurting Palestinians. Armed only with a video camera, it was my job to escort the children back and forth from school and summer camp.
SW inbox
Report: Elizabeth Schulte
ICE BRINGS PANIC TO A MISSISSIPPI TOWN Read the rest of this entry »
EI Update
_______________________________
UPDATE FROM THE
ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
http://electronicIntifada.net
_________________________ Read the rest of this entry »
Brain evolution
gnxp
Subtle refinements in brain architecture, rather than large-scale
alterations, make us smarter than other animals
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=intelligence-evolved
Behavioural economics
gnxp
Behavioural economics is becoming increasingly fashionable. Does it
represent a revolution in economic thinking? Or does it merely provide
a few handy insights into the more irrational behaviours of individuals
http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10359
A happier place?
bnxp
THE economy is plummeting, the planet could burn to a crisp, and war
has just broken out – again. Believe it or not though, people around
the globe are happier today on average than they were 25 years ago.
The secret seems to be a combination of rising economic prosperity,
democracy and social liberalisation.
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg19926714.100-why-the-world-is-a-happier-place.html
Medicating Parkinson’s
gnxp
Early use of medication may be able to slow down progression of
Parkinson’s disease, preliminary research suggests.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7583657.stm
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