| Richard Dawkins is Oxford University's "Professor for the Public Understanding of Science." Author of the landmark 1976 book, The Selfish Gene, he's a brilliant (and trenchant) evangelist for Darwin's ideas. In this talk, titled, "Queerer Than We Suppose: The strangeness of science," he suggests that the true nature of the universe eludes us, because the human mind evolved only to understand the "middle-sized" world we can observe. (Recorded July 2005 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 22:42) - More TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com | |
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Richard Dawkins' jaw-dropping talk on our bizarre universe (TEDTalks)
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Understanding Peace, By Dyske Suematsu
We hear words like "evil", "brutal", and "dictator" quite often these days. What we tend to forget is that they are relative terms. A few hundred years ago, the world was much more "brutal" place with countries like Great Britain dictating many parts of the world. By todays standard, what many European countries did to their colonies would be described as "evil." What the settlers did to the Native Americans could also be described as "evil". If you compare what Americans did to blacks, what Saddam Hussein did doesn't sound so bad.
Even if you take a slice of time, some countries are always behind others in terms of how civilized they are. From the perspective of civilized countries, the behaviors of uncivilized countries appear "evil" or "brutal". We see Iraq's dictatorship to be "evil" and "brutal", but this too is relative and subjective. To most Europeans, Americans are still uncivilized when it comes to things like death penalty. Most Europeans see Americans to be "brutal", if not "evil", for continuing to kill their own people by capital punishment. One could argue that capital punishment is not "brutal" but that does not change the fact that Europeans perceive it as such. By the same token, Saddam could also argue that what he is doing to his own people is not "evil", but we will see it as evil regardless.
Once we crush Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, the standard of "evil" and "brutal" will simply be readjusted. Remember: what we consider "evil" today, isn't as evil as what was considered evil, say, a few hundred years ago. Other countries that did not appear so "evil" when the Axis of Evil was around, will eventually look evil. In this manner, the world will always live side by side with "good" and "evil". If we cannot manage to have peace with "good" and "evil" coexisting, we'll never achieve it. The path to good cannot be forced on others; it can only be shown by your own example, like Gandhi did. When you try to crush evil, you only grow it bigger. Don't underestimate the power of the dark side. Only by throwing your lightsaber and saying "Never. I'll never turn to the dark side," could you show others the path to good.
Puritanical Christians, for instance, who deny the existence of "evil" within themselves, project their own inner evil unto others, and attack them in order to give themselves the illusion that they are nothing but good. We all are mixtures of good and evil. Good cannot exist without evil, and vice versa. If you think you are nothing but good, like George W. Bush does, you create conflicts not only in the world but also within yourself. It is only when you are convinced you are absolutely good, that you can impose your own will on others, i.e., "dictate" others. That is exactly what Hitler did. He never thought he was doing anything evil. He thought he was doing the right thing for his people.
Tony Blair said about a month ago, "But sometimes it is the price of leadership and the cost of conviction." If you had never heard this before, and if I told you that these were words of Hitler in response to a criticism for executing the Jews, it would be perfectly believable.
A peaceful person, or world, is where good and evil live side by side.
By Dyske Suematsu | Apr-5-03
Even if you take a slice of time, some countries are always behind others in terms of how civilized they are. From the perspective of civilized countries, the behaviors of uncivilized countries appear "evil" or "brutal". We see Iraq's dictatorship to be "evil" and "brutal", but this too is relative and subjective. To most Europeans, Americans are still uncivilized when it comes to things like death penalty. Most Europeans see Americans to be "brutal", if not "evil", for continuing to kill their own people by capital punishment. One could argue that capital punishment is not "brutal" but that does not change the fact that Europeans perceive it as such. By the same token, Saddam could also argue that what he is doing to his own people is not "evil", but we will see it as evil regardless.
Once we crush Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, the standard of "evil" and "brutal" will simply be readjusted. Remember: what we consider "evil" today, isn't as evil as what was considered evil, say, a few hundred years ago. Other countries that did not appear so "evil" when the Axis of Evil was around, will eventually look evil. In this manner, the world will always live side by side with "good" and "evil". If we cannot manage to have peace with "good" and "evil" coexisting, we'll never achieve it. The path to good cannot be forced on others; it can only be shown by your own example, like Gandhi did. When you try to crush evil, you only grow it bigger. Don't underestimate the power of the dark side. Only by throwing your lightsaber and saying "Never. I'll never turn to the dark side," could you show others the path to good.
Puritanical Christians, for instance, who deny the existence of "evil" within themselves, project their own inner evil unto others, and attack them in order to give themselves the illusion that they are nothing but good. We all are mixtures of good and evil. Good cannot exist without evil, and vice versa. If you think you are nothing but good, like George W. Bush does, you create conflicts not only in the world but also within yourself. It is only when you are convinced you are absolutely good, that you can impose your own will on others, i.e., "dictate" others. That is exactly what Hitler did. He never thought he was doing anything evil. He thought he was doing the right thing for his people.
Tony Blair said about a month ago, "But sometimes it is the price of leadership and the cost of conviction." If you had never heard this before, and if I told you that these were words of Hitler in response to a criticism for executing the Jews, it would be perfectly believable.
A peaceful person, or world, is where good and evil live side by side.
By Dyske Suematsu | Apr-5-03
Meanwhile: Middle school girls gone wild, by Lawrence Downes
NEW YORK: It's hard to write this without sounding like a prig. But it's just as hard to erase the images that planted the idea for this essay, so here goes.The scene is a middle school auditorium, where girls in teams of three or four are bopping to pop songs at a student talent show. Not bopping, actually, but doing elaborately choreographed recreations of music videos, in tiny skirts or tight shorts, with bare bellies, rouged cheeks and glittery eyes.
They writhe and strut, shake their bottoms, splay their legs, thrust their chests out and in and out again. Some straddle empty chairs, like lap dancers without laps. They don't smile much. Their faces are locked from grim exertion, from all that leaping up and lying down without poles to hold onto.
"Don't stop don't stop," sings Janet Jackson, all whispery.
"Jerk it like you're making it choke. Ohh. I'm so stimulated. Feel so X- rated."
The girls spend a lot of time lying on the floor. They are in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
As each routine ends, parents and siblings cheer, whistle and applaud. I just sit there, not fully comprehending. It's my first suburban Long Island middle school talent show. I'm with my daughter, who is 10 and hadn't warned me. I'm not sure what I had expected, but it wasn't this. It was something different. Something younger. Something that didn't make the girls look so one dimensional.
It would be easy to chalk it up to adolescent rebellion, an ancient and necessary phenomenon, except these girls were barely adolescents and they had nothing to rebel against. This was an official function at a public school, a milieu that in another time or universe might have seen children singing folk ballads, say, or reciting the Gettysburg Address.
It is news to no one, not even me, that eroticism in popular culture is a 24-hour, all-you-can-eat buffet, and that many children in their early teens are filling up. The latest debate centers on whether simulated intercourse is an appropriate dance style for the high school gym.
What surprised me, though, was how completely parents of even younger girls seem to have gotten in step with society's march toward eroticized adolescence — either willingly or through abject surrender. And if parents give up, what can a school do? A teacher at the middle school later told me she had stopped chaperoning dances because she was put off by the boy-girl pelvic thrusting and had no way to stop it — the children wouldn't listen to her and she had no authority to send anyone home. She guessed that if the school had tried to ban the sexy talent-show routines, parents would have been the first to complain, having shelled out for costumes and private dance lessons for their Little Miss Sunshines.
I'm sure that many parents see these routines as healthy fun, an exercise in self-esteem harmlessly heightened by glitter makeup and teeny skirts. Our girls are bratz, not slutz, they would argue, comfortable in the existence of a distinction.
But my parental brain rebels. Suburban parents dote on and hover over their children, micromanaging their appointments and shielding them in helmets, kneepads and thick layers of SUV steel. But they allow the culture of boy-toy sexuality to bore unchecked into their little ones' ears and eyeballs, displacing their nimble and growing brains and impoverishing the sense of wider possibilities in life.
There is no reason adulthood should be a low plateau we all clamber onto around age 10. And it's a cramped vision of girlhood that enshrines sexual allure as the best or only form of power and esteem.
It's as if there were now Three Ages of Woman: first Mary-Kate, then Britney, then Courtney. Boys don't seem to have such constricted horizons. They wouldn't stand for it — much less waggle their butts and roll around for applause on the floor of a school auditorium.
Lawrence Downes is a member of the New York Times editorial board.
Published: December 29, 2006
Thursday, December 28, 2006
21 Century Peace Plan.
5. Each country will surrender their militaries to a to be established multi-national Earth Defence Force. An annual 10% of that country’s GDP shall be the cost;
4. All nuclear, biological & chemical weapons shall be dismantled or destroyed. War will be abolished. A world court will be established to address grievances;
3. The World will establish a body to find ways to address all mortal threats to the planet collectively;
2. Provide assistance for countries to provide for the needs of their domestic populations;
1. A supranational government shall be established, promote and account for the following four points;
Productive input will be appreciated.
REF: http://crawfordstake.blogspot.com/2006/11/five-steps-to-get-out-of-iraq-only.html
4. All nuclear, biological & chemical weapons shall be dismantled or destroyed. War will be abolished. A world court will be established to address grievances;
3. The World will establish a body to find ways to address all mortal threats to the planet collectively;
2. Provide assistance for countries to provide for the needs of their domestic populations;
1. A supranational government shall be established, promote and account for the following four points;
Productive input will be appreciated.
REF: http://crawfordstake.blogspot.com/2006/11/five-steps-to-get-out-of-iraq-only.html
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
The Hollow Men
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind's singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.
Let me be no nearer
In death's dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer --
In the twilight kingdom
T.S Eliot
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
The Purpose of...
The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish, and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten. The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten. The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.
Chuang Tzu
Monday, December 18, 2006
The Face of Islamic Democracy
TEHRAN: Iranian reformers and moderate conservatives asserted Monday that they had struck a blow against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by winning most of the seats in local elections and exposing public discontent with the president's hard-line political stances and inefficient administration.
The voting for local councils represented a partial comeback for reformists, who favor closer ties with the West and a loosening of social and political restrictions under the Islamic government. In past years, hard-liners drove reformers out of the council, Parliament and finally the presidency, leaving the once popular movement demoralized.
But the victory in Friday's elections was for moderate conservatives, supporters of the cleric-led power structure who are angry at Ahmadinejad, saying he has needlessly provoked the West with his harsh rhetoric and has failed to address the faltering economy...
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Confronting Holocaust denial, Ayaan Ali Hirsi
One day In 1994, living in Ede, a small town in Holland, I got a visit from my half-sister. She and I had applied for asylum in Holland. I was granted one, she was denied. The fact that I got asylum gave me the opportunity to study. My half- sister could not.
In order for me to be admitted to the institute of higher education I wanted to attend, I needed to pass three courses: language, civics and history. It was in this preparatory history course that I, for the first time, heard of the Holocaust. I was 24 years old; my half-sister was 21.
In those days, the daily news was filled with the Rwandan genocide and ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. On the day that my half-sister visited me, my head was reeling from what happened to 6 million Jews in Germany, Holland, France and Eastern Europe. I learned that innocent men, women and children were separated from each other. Stars pinned to their shoulders, transported by train to camps, they were gassed for no other reason than for being Jewish. It was the most systematic and cruel attempt in the history of mankind to annihilate a people.
I saw pictures of masses of skeletons, even of kids. I heard horrifying accounts of some of the people who had survived the terror of Auschwitz and Sobibor.
I told my half-sister all this and showed her the pictures in my history book. What she said shocked me more than the awful information in my book.
With great conviction my half-sister cried: "It's a lie! Jews have a way of blinding people. They were not killed, gassed nor massacred. But I pray to Allah that one day all the Jews in the world will be destroyed."
My 21-year-old sister did not say anything new. My shock was partly at her reaction in the light of so much evidence and partly because of the genocides of our own time.
Growing up as a child in Saudi Arabia, I remember my teachers, my mom and our neighbors telling us practically on a daily basis that Jews were evil, the sworn enemies of Muslims who's only goal was to destroy Islam. We were never informed about the Holocaust.
Later in Kenya, as a teenager, when Saudi and other Gulf philanthropy reached us in Africa, I remember that the building of mosques and donations to hospitals and the poor went hand in hand with the cursing of Jews. Jews were said to be responsible for the deaths of babies, epidemics like AIDS, for the cause of wars. They were greedy and would do absolutely anything to kill us Muslims. And if we ever wanted to know peace and stability we would have to destroy them before they would wipe us out. For those of us who were not in a position to take arms against the Jews it was enough for us to cup our hands, raise our eyes heavenward and pray to Allah to destroy them.
Western leaders today who say they are shocked by the conference of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran denying the Holocaust need to wake up to that reality. For the majority of Muslims in the world the Holocaust is not a major historical event they deny; they simply do not know because they were never informed. Worse, most of us are groomed to wish for a Holocaust of Jews.
I remember the presence of Western philanthropists, nongovernmental organizations and such institutions as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Their agents brought those they thought of as needy medicine, condoms, vaccines, building materials — but no information on the Holocaust.
Secular and Christian donors and relief organizations did not come with an agenda of hate, but neither with a message of love. This was surely a missed opportunity in the light of the hate- spreading charities from oil-rich Muslim countries.
The total number of Jews in the world today is estimated to be around 15 million, certainly no more than 20 million. In terms of fertility, their growth can be compared to that of the developed world, and in terms of aging too.
On the other hand, the Muslim population is estimated to be 1.2 to 1.5 billion people, and it is not only rapidly growing but also very young. What's striking about Ahmadinejad's conference is the (silent) acquiescence of mainstream Muslims.
I cannot help but wonder: Why is there no counter-conference in Riyadh, Cairo, Lahore, Khartoum or Jakarta condemning Ahmadinejad? Why is the Organization of the Islamic Conference silent on this?
Could the answer be as simple as it is horrifying: For generations the leaders of these so-called Muslim countries have been spoon-feeding their populations a constant diet of propaganda similar to the one that generations of Germans (and other Europeans) were fed that Jews are vermin and should be dealt with as such. In Europe, the logical conclusion was the Holocaust. If Ahmadinejad has his way, he will not wait for compliant Muslims ready to act on his wish.
The world needs conferences of love, a promotion of understanding of cultures and antiracist campaigns, but more urgently the world needs to be informed again and again of the Holocaust. Not only in the interest of the Jews who survived the Holocaust and their offspring, but in the interest of humanity in general.
Perhaps the first place to start is to counter the Islamic philanthropy that comes laced with hatred against the Jews. Western and Christian charities in the third world should take it upon themselves to inform Muslims and non- Muslims alike, in the areas where they are active, about the Holocaust.
In order for me to be admitted to the institute of higher education I wanted to attend, I needed to pass three courses: language, civics and history. It was in this preparatory history course that I, for the first time, heard of the Holocaust. I was 24 years old; my half-sister was 21.
In those days, the daily news was filled with the Rwandan genocide and ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. On the day that my half-sister visited me, my head was reeling from what happened to 6 million Jews in Germany, Holland, France and Eastern Europe. I learned that innocent men, women and children were separated from each other. Stars pinned to their shoulders, transported by train to camps, they were gassed for no other reason than for being Jewish. It was the most systematic and cruel attempt in the history of mankind to annihilate a people.
I saw pictures of masses of skeletons, even of kids. I heard horrifying accounts of some of the people who had survived the terror of Auschwitz and Sobibor.
I told my half-sister all this and showed her the pictures in my history book. What she said shocked me more than the awful information in my book.
With great conviction my half-sister cried: "It's a lie! Jews have a way of blinding people. They were not killed, gassed nor massacred. But I pray to Allah that one day all the Jews in the world will be destroyed."
My 21-year-old sister did not say anything new. My shock was partly at her reaction in the light of so much evidence and partly because of the genocides of our own time.
Growing up as a child in Saudi Arabia, I remember my teachers, my mom and our neighbors telling us practically on a daily basis that Jews were evil, the sworn enemies of Muslims who's only goal was to destroy Islam. We were never informed about the Holocaust.
Later in Kenya, as a teenager, when Saudi and other Gulf philanthropy reached us in Africa, I remember that the building of mosques and donations to hospitals and the poor went hand in hand with the cursing of Jews. Jews were said to be responsible for the deaths of babies, epidemics like AIDS, for the cause of wars. They were greedy and would do absolutely anything to kill us Muslims. And if we ever wanted to know peace and stability we would have to destroy them before they would wipe us out. For those of us who were not in a position to take arms against the Jews it was enough for us to cup our hands, raise our eyes heavenward and pray to Allah to destroy them.
Western leaders today who say they are shocked by the conference of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran denying the Holocaust need to wake up to that reality. For the majority of Muslims in the world the Holocaust is not a major historical event they deny; they simply do not know because they were never informed. Worse, most of us are groomed to wish for a Holocaust of Jews.
I remember the presence of Western philanthropists, nongovernmental organizations and such institutions as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Their agents brought those they thought of as needy medicine, condoms, vaccines, building materials — but no information on the Holocaust.
Secular and Christian donors and relief organizations did not come with an agenda of hate, but neither with a message of love. This was surely a missed opportunity in the light of the hate- spreading charities from oil-rich Muslim countries.
The total number of Jews in the world today is estimated to be around 15 million, certainly no more than 20 million. In terms of fertility, their growth can be compared to that of the developed world, and in terms of aging too.
On the other hand, the Muslim population is estimated to be 1.2 to 1.5 billion people, and it is not only rapidly growing but also very young. What's striking about Ahmadinejad's conference is the (silent) acquiescence of mainstream Muslims.
I cannot help but wonder: Why is there no counter-conference in Riyadh, Cairo, Lahore, Khartoum or Jakarta condemning Ahmadinejad? Why is the Organization of the Islamic Conference silent on this?
Could the answer be as simple as it is horrifying: For generations the leaders of these so-called Muslim countries have been spoon-feeding their populations a constant diet of propaganda similar to the one that generations of Germans (and other Europeans) were fed that Jews are vermin and should be dealt with as such. In Europe, the logical conclusion was the Holocaust. If Ahmadinejad has his way, he will not wait for compliant Muslims ready to act on his wish.
The world needs conferences of love, a promotion of understanding of cultures and antiracist campaigns, but more urgently the world needs to be informed again and again of the Holocaust. Not only in the interest of the Jews who survived the Holocaust and their offspring, but in the interest of humanity in general.
Perhaps the first place to start is to counter the Islamic philanthropy that comes laced with hatred against the Jews. Western and Christian charities in the third world should take it upon themselves to inform Muslims and non- Muslims alike, in the areas where they are active, about the Holocaust.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
The People Own Ideas!
"We're against software piracy. We believe Microsoft's rights should be respected. And the simplest way to respect their rights is for Brazilians everywhere to switch to free software."
2005 World Social Forum
Brazilian Government Member
2005 World Social Forum
Brazilian Government Member
Monday, December 11, 2006
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Sunday
Today is the first day of actually returning to military service. I thought or rather have been thinking about it for weeks.
"It has perhaps never been more important for the world's voices to be heard in America, never more important for the world's ideas and dreams to be known and thought about and discussed, never more important for a global dialogue to be fostered. Yet one has the sense of things shutting down, of barriers being erected, of that dialogue being stifled precisely when we should be doing our best to amplify it. The cold war is over, but a stranger war has begun. Alienation has perhaps never been so widespread….”
SALMAN RUSHDIE
Let reason be heard...
"It has perhaps never been more important for the world's voices to be heard in America, never more important for the world's ideas and dreams to be known and thought about and discussed, never more important for a global dialogue to be fostered. Yet one has the sense of things shutting down, of barriers being erected, of that dialogue being stifled precisely when we should be doing our best to amplify it. The cold war is over, but a stranger war has begun. Alienation has perhaps never been so widespread….”
SALMAN RUSHDIE
Let reason be heard...
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Thursday...
I hope this makes you smile as it does me. I is from the Michael Leunig, cartoonist, philosopher, poet and artist.
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