06.30.11
Posted in General at 1:27 pm by nemo
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/27/dalai-lama-washington-dc_n_885612.html: Dalai Lama To Host Washington D.C. Peace Festival In July
Yesterday (scroll back) we had a post on the Dalai Lama’s bad leadership. Criticizing this character is a big step, and will make a lot of enemies, but, actually, that seems to be less so now that once before.
It might be appropriate to challenge this figure, whose ‘jet set Gandhi’ game is a bit tiresome at this point. The reality is that buddhism is being destroyed, and the Dalai Lama substitutes a kind of fake ‘satyagrapha’ comedy routine to cover over the total failure of his politics.
To be fair, he is a man in an impossible situation, and has few options. But I wonder. Since I support non-violence the citique threatened is not going to come easily from me, and yet I think that something has gone flat here as the Dalai Lama’s take on non-violent action serves to discredit the whole field of tactics.
Let’s be blunt, to make the conversation start: non-violence by jet-set expatriate lamas is hypocritical. Has lost Tibet where a determined strategy of resistance (the Dalai’s original stance with some help from the CIA) might have succeeded.
Note this: Tibetan mountain men are tough, but they were not match for the Chinese army. So we got non-violence after the CIA ditched the Tibetans.
Doesn’t sound on the level.
The phoney baloney ‘non-violence’ routine here, let me note most provocatively, is an insult to all Americans, for it implies that American independence didn’t deserve to succeed because it was violent.
There is in any case something wrong with the Dalai Lama’s operation here. It is perhaps a syimptom of displacement due to heartbreak, and I should be less unkind in exposing him. But at this point we have lost Tibetan Buddhism, lost Tibet, and maybe about to lose buddhism altogether while the Dalai Lama, who suffers nothing from the crushing of Tibet, preens his feathers on the global jet set scene trying to play Gandhi.
Time for a rethink.
Let me note in passing Rajneesh’s detestation of gandhi (which I don’t share, but…), and his remark that a few rebels with riftles could have freed India in the twenties. Don’t know, but the fetish made out of gandhi’s tactics (unlike the heroic use of them by such as Martin Luther King) by the Dalai Lama’s celebrity show is unnerving.
The reality is that he has abandoned his people to their fate.
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Posted in Evolution at 1:15 pm by nemo
New Fossils Demonstrate That Powerful Eyes Evolved in a Twinkling
ScienceDaily (June 29, 2011) — Palaeontologists have uncovered half-a-billion-year-old fossils demonstrating that primitive animals had excellent vision. An international team led by scientists from the South Australian Museum and the University of Adelaide found the exquisite fossils, which look like squashed eyes from a recently swatted fly.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110629132546.htm
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Posted in Evolution at 1:13 pm by nemo
Human Ancestor Older Than Previously Thought; Finding Offers New Insights Into Evolution
ScienceDaily (June 29, 2011) — Modern humans never co-existed with Homo erectus — a finding counter to previous hypotheses of human evolution — new excavations in Indonesia and dating analyses show. The research, reported in the journal PLoS ONE, offers new insights into the nature of human evolution, suggesting a different role for Homo erectus than had been previously thought.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110629181853.htm
The work was conducted by the Solo River Terrace (SoRT) Project, an international group of scientists directed by anthropologists Etty Indriati of Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia and Susan Antón of New York University.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in General at 1:10 pm by nemo
Climbing Mt. Improbable
We missed our ‘sprint thru WHEE’ for this week: create you own via one section per chapter.
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Posted in General at 1:06 pm by nemo
Comment on ‘Liberal idea of freedom’
Richard
207.138.47.153 Submitted on 2011/06/29 at 1:17 pm
Almost any theory of “action” is supernatural & metaphysical. Unless you find some way to apply quantum mechanics/general relativity to every aspect of your life, then you’re as guilty as anybody else.
Good point, and it’s true. But I think that a real science would be able to make a unity of nature/supernature (as Kant essentially did).
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Posted in General at 12:58 pm by nemo
Godless Britain
The U.K.’s churches are empty enough to land jumbo jets inside.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304447804576413362436264204.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
This is something some will applaud, but, whatever the case, filling the void with the New Atheism cult is not the answer: a progression toward new and higher religions of the future should be on the agenda (and that might include an atheist component).
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Posted in Booknotes, Evolution at 12:55 pm by nemo
Am I a Monkey?
Six Big Questions about Evolution
Francisco J. Ayala
Despite the ongoing cultural controversy in America, evolution remains a cornerstone of science. In this book, Francisco J. Ayala—an evolutionary biologist, member of the National Academy of Sciences, and winner of the National Medal of Science and the Templeton Prize—cuts to the chase in a daring attempt to address, in nontechnical language, six perennial questions about evolution:
• Am I a Monkey?
• Why Is Evolution a Theory?
• What Is DNA?
• Do All Scientists Accept Evolution?
• How Did Life Begin?
• Can One Believe in Evolution and God?
Am I a Monkey?
Six Big Questions about Evolution
Francisco J. Ayala
Despite the ongoing cultural controversy in America, evolution remains a cornerstone of science. In this book, Francisco J. Ayala—an evolutionary biologist, member of the National Academy of Sciences, and winner of the National Medal of Science and the Templeton Prize—cuts to the chase in a daring attempt to address, in nontechnical language, six perennial questions about evolution:
• Am I a Monkey?
• Why Is Evolution a Theory?
• What Is DNA?
• Do All Scientists Accept Evolution?
• How Did Life Begin?
• Can One Believe in Evolution and God?
Commentary:
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/another-accommodationist-book-on-evolution/
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Posted in Evolution at 12:46 pm by nemo
Human Ancestor Older Than Previously Thought; Finding Offers New Insights Into Evolution
ScienceDaily (June 29, 2011) — Modern humans never co-existed with Homo erectus — a finding counter to previous hypotheses of human evolution — new excavations in Indonesia and dating analyses show. The research, reported in the journal PLoS ONE, offers new insights into the nature of human evolution, suggesting a different role for Homo erectus than had been previously thought.
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Posted in General at 12:44 pm by nemo
2010 One of Two Warmest Years On Record; El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Other Climate Patterns Play Major Role
ScienceDaily (June 29, 2011) — Worldwide, 2010 was one of the two warmest years on record, according to the 2010 State of the Climate report, which NOAA has just released. The peer-reviewed report, issued in coordination with the American Meteorological Society, was compiled by 368 scientists from 45 countries. It provides a detailed, yearly update on global climate indicators, notable climate events and other climate information from every continent.
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Posted in Evolution at 12:43 pm by nemo
Rockin’ Tortoises: A 150-Year-Old New Species
ScienceDaily (June 29, 2011) — A team of researchers investigated a desert tortoise from the United States Southwest and northwestern Mexico. What was thought to be a simple problem in species identification turned out to be a very complex matter. Their investigations required forensic genetics and several other methods. In the end, they found it necessary to describe a new species. More than that, the discovery has very important implications for conservation and the development of the deserts of southern California.
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Posted in General at 12:42 pm by nemo
Who’s Happy? How Long We Look at Happy Faces Is in Our GenesScienceDaily (June 29, 2011) — Though we all depend on reading people’s faces, each of us sees others’ faces a bit differently. Some of us may gaze deeply into another’s eyes, while others seem more reserved. At one end of this spectrum people with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) look less at other people’s faces, and have trouble understanding others people’s feelings. New research published in BioMed Central’s open-access journal Molecular Autism has found variations of the cannabinoid receptor (CNR1) gene that alter the amount of time people spend looking at happy faces.
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Posted in General at 12:40 pm by nemo
Prosecutions Up, Transparency Down
By LINDA GREENE
http://www.counterpunch.org/greene06302011.html
Teresa Chambers is the luckiest whistleblower in the United States. She lost her job as the first woman chief of the U.S. Park Police after she told the media in 2004 that the department was below the number required to perform the job adequately. She sued, and in January 2011 won her case.
But her victory is a rarity in the 21st century as President Barack Obama, who as an Illinois senator was instrumental in passing legislation to protect government whistleblowers, has effectively criminalized public servants who risk their jobs to speak out and expose waste, corruption and unethical behavior among their colleagues.
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:37 pm by nemo
Greenpeace: Sickened by Slack Lawmakers? Nauseated by Nonsense Laws? Disgusted by Lobbyists Making Policy?
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/06/29-8
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:36 pm by nemo
Brian Moench: Obesity/Diabetes Epidemic: Rise of the Obesogens
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/29-4
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:35 pm by nemo
Amy Goodman: ‘Food Terrorism’ Next Door to the Magic Kingdom
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/29-0
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:35 pm by nemo
Adam Sanchez: Taking on Big Coal’s Curriculum
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/29-2
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:34 pm by nemo
Harvey Wasserman: Fukushima Spews, Los Alamos Burns, Vermont Rages and We’ve Almost Lost Nebraska
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/29-1
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:33 pm by nemo
Message from Greece: ‘We Need Solidarity of Working Class People & Youth from Around the Globe’
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2011/06/29
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:32 pm by nemo
Global Warming and the Science of Extreme Weather
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/29-4
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:31 pm by nemo
Fresh Clashes in Cairo’s Tahrir Square
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/29
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:31 pm by nemo
Lower Taxes On The Rich Don’t Lead To Job Growth
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/29-5
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:30 pm by nemo
Long Hours, No Rest: Overworked Americans Dream of Vacation
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/29-3
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:29 pm by nemo
Ignoring Protests and Dissent, Greek Parliament Passes Austerity Measures
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/29-1
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:29 pm by nemo
Residents Near Los Alamos Fear Smoke from Nuke Site
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/29-7
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:28 pm by nemo
In Europe’s Squares and Streets, Some See the Dawn of a New Politics
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/29-6
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:27 pm by nemo
10 Years of US War: $3.7 Trillion… and Counting
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/29-0
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06.29.11
Posted in General at 12:58 pm by nemo
Cycle, System Return: The Axial Age
It is significant that none of the three major monotheisms actually arose during the ‘age of revelation’, the latter being a sensed perspective of the ‘Axial Age’, whose brief interval created the seeds for what was to come. In fact, we can’t decipher that the real sources are behind the distorted history of the Old Testament.
In any case, the later development of Judaism, Christianity and Islam shows something different. In fact, the Israelite veil around the original Axial emergence was so primitive that the whole thing is almost a dead loss: we have nothing left that consitutes a revelation.
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