07.28.10
PR vs safety
PR, Not Safety First for BP?
http://act.commondreams.org/go/1619?akid=124.96588.CS0_VL&t=24
Gaza called prison camp
British PM Calls Gaza ‘Prison Camp’
http://act.commondreams.org/go/1616?akid=124.96588.CS0_VL&t=16
Greenpeace closes down BP stations
Greenpeace Activists Close Down BP Stations in London
http://act.commondreams.org/go/1615?akid=124.96588.CS0_VL&t=14
Wikileaks and Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg Describes Afghan War Logs as On a Par with ‘Pentagon Papers’
http://act.commondreams.org/go/1613?akid=124.96588.CS0_VL&t=10
Stopping war bill?
War Bill Could Be Stopped Today With 144 Votes
http://act.commondreams.org/go/1610?akid=124.96588.CS0_VL&t=4
New oil leak
New Oil Leak Reported as Barge Crashes Into Oil Well in Gulf of Mexico
http://act.commondreams.org/go/1609?akid=124.96588.CS0_VL&t=2
Stereotyping Muslims
RG mail
The hidden agenda in stereotyping Muslims
Islamophobia has spread because it is being actively used to further political ends
By Syed Hamad Ali, Special to Weekend Review The far Right parties always want a victim they can demonise and stir up fear and hatred of. And at present it is Muslims and Islamophobia – Ken Livingstone, Former mayor of http://gulfnews.com/news/world/uk/the-hidden-agenda-in-stereotyping-muslims-1.632087
War porn
RG mail
It’s Called ‘War Porn’
by Tanya Cariina Hsu
Global Research, May 25, 2010
“And
so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the
name of right and honour and peace, until the gods are tired of blood
and create a race that can understand.” George Bernard Shaw, Caesar’s Monologue, “Caesar and Cleopatra,” 1898
War has always been a
turn-on, its thrill as old as mankind itself. It is intense; it is raw;
it is primal. It reaches into every nerve, so carnal it borders on the
sexually erotic. And many who cannot participate want to watch.
It’s called war porn.[1]
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19329
To sail past Israel
RG mail
Women Prepare to Set Sail Past Israel
By Mona Alami
Samar Hajj
BEIRUT, Jul 22, 2010 (IPS) – The ‘Maryam’, an all-female Lebanese aid ship, currently docked in the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli, is getting ready to set sail for Gaza in the next few days. The ship, which aims to break Israel’s siege on the Palestinian territory, will carry about 50 aid workers, including some U.S. nuns keen to deliver aid to the long-suffering women and children of Gaza.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52237
07.27.10
Times on free will
The Limits of the Coded World
By WILLIAM EGGINTON
Article cited in previous post
Free will and consciousness
New York Times to readers: of course you have free will.
In yesterday’s New York Times, William Egginton, a professor of humanities at Johns Hopkins, was exercised by recent research showing that when monkeys make a “decision,” their neurons register it before they’re conscious of it. (This finding has been duplicated in humans.) That implies that the “decision” isn’t really a conscious one—that is, it doesn’t conform to our notion of free will.
This kind of situation proves nothing: in Kantian transcendental idealism there are several approaches or models to consider such issues.
But the assumpition that the act of free will is purely temporal may be false.
More generally these issues assume an understanding of consciousness, but that misses the point.
One smart octopus
http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/are_octopuses_smart/
In the wild and in the lab, octopuses exhibit remarkable behavior that hints at sophisticated intelligence. Should they be treated differently from other animals?
Web-crawlers
Web-crawling computers will soon be calling the shots in science
Within a decade, computers will be able to plough through scientific data looking for patterns and connections – then tell scientists what they should do next
Robinson takes on Darwinism?
http://www.uncommondescent.com/darwinism/marilynne-robinson-takes-on-darwinism/
Actually, Robinson leaves Darwinism alone, attacking it indirectly.
Dawkins groupies ‘naturally selected’??
Attendees of Dawkins lecture ‘naturally selected’, hundreds turned away
By HEATHER BRYANT – THE SUN STAR
Added: Tuesday, 27 July 2010 at 01:12 AM
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/493270-attendees-of-dawkins-lecture-%E2%80%98naturally-selected%E2%80%99-hundreds-turned-away
Darwinian faith
http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20100727/OPINION03/7270324
Once pseudo science is stripped from Darwinism, it’s just a theory that everything spontaneously generated from nothing.
ID Facts Institute
PR: http://www.i-newswire.com/the-intelligent-design-facts-institute/50679: The Intelligent Design Facts Institute Launches Top Rated New Website To Defend Intelligent Design Through New Scientific Research
Segmentation and diversity
Segmentation Is the Secret Behind the Extraordinary Diversification of Animals
ScienceDaily (July 27, 2010) — Segmentation, the repetition of identical anatomical units, seems to be the secret behind the diversity and longevity of the largest and most common animal groups on Earth. Researchers from CNRS and Université Paris Diderot have shown that this characteristic was inherited from a common segmented ancestor thought to have lived 600 million years ago and whose presence “changed the face of the world.”
Prions
Infectious Prions Can Arise Spontaneously in Normal Brain Tissue, Study Shows
ScienceDaily (July 26, 2010) — In a startling new study that involved research on both sides of the Atlantic, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute in Florida and the University College London (UCL) Institute of Neurology in England have shown for the first time that abnormal prions, bits of infectious protein devoid of DNA or RNA that can cause fatal neurodegenerative disease, can suddenly erupt from healthy brain tissue.
Winter snows
Converging Weather Patterns Caused Last Winter’s Huge Snows in U.S.
ScienceDaily (July 26, 2010) — The memory of last winter’s blizzards may be fading in this summer’s searing heat, but scientists studying them have detected a perfect storm of converging weather patterns that had little relation to climate change.
The fly home
How Monarch Butterflies Fly Away Home
ScienceDaily (July 26, 2010) — Monarch butterflies — renowned for their lengthy annual migration to and from Mexico — complete an even more spectacular journey home than previously thought.
Arctic sea ice
The sea ice in the Arctic has become very thin. As a result it now reacts quickly and sensitively to weather, making sea ice extent less predictable than ever …
Iraq and lost billions
Published on Tuesday, July 27, 2010 by BBC News
US ‘Fails to Account’ for Iraq Reconstruction Billions
by Gabriel Gatehouse
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/27-0
A US federal watchdog has criticized the US military for failing to account properly for billions of dollars it received to help rebuild Iraq.
The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says the US Department of Defense is unable to account properly for 96% of the money.
Billions have gone to rebuild Iraq but much of the money is impossible to trace, says a US auditOut of just over $9bn (£5.8bn), $8.7bn is unaccounted for, the inspector says.
Floating Chernobyls
Russian Greens Fight Putin’s Plan for Floating Nuclear Power Plants
Floating Chernobyls
By KARL GROSSMAN
They would be floating Chernobyls.
Russia has embarked on a scheme to building floating nuclear power plants to be moored off its coasts—especially off northern and eastern Russia—and sold to nations around the world.
Education/dementia
gnxp
People who stay in education for longer appear to be better able to compensate for the effects of dementia on the brain, a study suggestsPeople who stay in education for longer appear to be better able to compensate for the effects of dementia on the brain, a study suggests
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10741274
Pre-Cambrian
gnxp
A once-worrisome gap in the fossil record preceding the Cambrian has ignited intense interest among geologists and paleontologists
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/science/27creatures.html
Quest for youth pill
gnxp
Anti-aging scientists and their quest for the youth pill
http://www.slate.com/id/2260786/
Evolution and class ideology
gnxp
They’re often branded as thoughtless and irresponsible, but teenage mothers and deadbeat dads may be making the best of their bad situations
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727692.100-die-young-live-fast-the-evolution-of-an-underclass.html
Drone attacks kill 35
Weekend of Pakistan Drone Attacks Leaves 35 Dead
http://act.commondreams.org/go/1597?akid=123.96588.NVGV3r&t=10
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