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Why the World Still Needs Philosophy

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:35:21 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

This new century has the potential to be either the worst or the best of times for humanity. The worst of times because there is no end in sight to the struggle between a dehumanizing global economy and the irrational forces (sexism, racism, and superstition) threatened by its hegemony. Unlike any other time in history, ours has sufficient stupidity, power and hatred to destroy the conditions for the possibility of life on this planet before they may be preserved anywhere else; the destructive powers at our disposal far exceed our present capacity to express love or altruism. Yet, it could very easily be the best of times because we finally have technological resources sufficient to provide a good life for the entire
population of the earth.

While the desires of human beings are at least potentially finite, most of us, with varying degrees of comprehension, allow our lives to run by insatiable institutions

artificial entities have no motive other than profit and unlimited accumulation

Tags: perspectives

Parents harm children's development by keeping them safe

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 08:59:24 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

It is a scene that epitomises childhood: young siblings racing towards a heavy oak tree, hauling themselves on to the lower branches and scrambling up as high as they can get. Yet millions of children are being deprived of such pleasure because their parents are nervous about exposing them to any risks, new research has revealed.

Children are not being allowed many of the freedoms that were taken for granted when we were children

They are not enjoying the opportunities to play outside that most people would have thought of as normal when they were growing up.

Last year, almost three times as many children were admitted to hospital after falling out of bed as those who had fallen from a tree

transformed how they experience childhood

children ought to be taking risks

Risk-taking increases

resilience

helps them make judgments

fire-building, den-making, watersports, paintballing, boxing and climbing trees

should be encouraged

your heart is in your mouth and that is normal

The Web's Perspective Diversity Paradox

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:13:26 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Paradoxically, even as the daunting array of information sources grows, we seek comfort by consuming narrow views that support our own interests and biases.

Clip Source: www.technewsworld.com

The Internet has brought an unprecedented amount of diversity to the news and viewpoints readily available to the everyday reader. Sitting at your desk, you can immediately read the same story reported by Fox News, Al Jazeera, or any point of view in between. The paradox is that despite this diversity, many readers remain tightly focused on news sources that merely echo their own world views, writes Timothy J. McNulty.

For all the potential of the Internet, there are times when I consider it a cesspool of misinformation, ignorant opinion and faked imagery. I also find it confusing and untrustworthy.

Then someone reminds me how valuable it is to have checks and balances, not only on the government but also on the media. They remind me how glorious it is to enjoy another worldview and to examine what we think through others' eyes.

'What the Government Wants You to Know'

Base-Level Trust

Limiting access to information is routine around the world

BBC vs. CNN

Tags: diversity, opinions

This Will Blow You Away!

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:16:25 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: I have just seen the clip on the site (only just over a minute long) on the BBC news. Please do have a look, it/s stunning.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A new BBC series makes use of satellite technology to create stunning images of Britain from above. Mark Sanders reports.

Andrew Marr presents the series Britain from Above, the first episode of which will be broadcast on Sunday 10 August at 2100 on BBC One.

Tags: britain from above

“Power Nap” Prevents Burnout; Morning Sleep Perfects a Skill

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:02:53 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Interesting read

Clip Source: healthycare.in

Evidence is mounting that sleep — even a nap — appears to enhance information processing and learning.

New experiments by NIMH grantee Alan Hobson, M.D., Robert Stickgold, Ph.D., and colleagues at Harvard University show that a midday snooze reverses information overload

mprovement in learning a motor skill is largely traceable to a late stage of sleep that some early risers might be missing.

Overall, their studies suggest that the brain uses a night’s sleep to consolidate the memories of habits, actions and skills learned during the day.

Rather than generalized fatigue, the researchers suspected that the burnout was limited to just the brain visual system circuits involved in the task.

This led the researchers to propose that neural networks in the visual cortex “gradually become saturated with information through repeated testing, preventing further perceptual processing.

The new findings have implications for learning sports, a musical instrument, or developing artistic movement control.

Tags: sleep, brain, learning

Houston doctors say they may have found a way to destroy HIV

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:14:49 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Basically, their idea could be used to control the disease for people who already have it and prevent infection for those at risk.

The theory has held up in lab and animal testing. The next step is human trials.

Clip Source: www.kvue.com

There is real hope that what’s happening in a Houston lab might lead to a cure for HIV

We have found an innovative way to kill the virus by finding this small region of HIV that is unchangeable,” Dr. Sudhir Paul of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston said

Dr. Paul and Dr. Miguel Escobar aren’t talking about just suppressing HIV – they’re talking about destroying it permanently by arming the immune system with a new weapon lab tests have shown to be effective

The virus is truly complex and has many tricks up its sleeve

But Dr. Paul thinks he’s cracked a code

We’ve discovered the weak spot of HIV,” he said

Paul and his team have zeroed in on a section of a key protein in HIV’s structure that does not mutate

That Achilles heel is the doctors’ way in. They take advantage of it with something called an abzyme

It’s naturally produced by people, like lupus patients. When they applied that abzyme to the HIV virus, it permanently disarmed it.

Tags: medicine, hiv

Jellyfish, a warning sign

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:39:28 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Stinging Tentacles Offer Hint of Oceans’ Decline

From Spain to New York, to Australia, Japan and Hawaii, jellyfish are becoming more numerous and more widespread, and they are showing up in places where they have rarely been seen before, scientists say. The faceless marauders are stinging children blithely bathing on summer vacations, forcing beaches to close and clogging fishing nets.

But while jellyfish invasions are a nuisance to tourists and a hardship to fishermen, for scientists they are a source of more profound alarm, a signal of the declining health of the world’s oceans.

The explosion of jellyfish populations, scientists say, reflects a combination of severe overfishing of natural predators, like tuna, sharks and swordfish; rising sea temperatures caused in part by global warming; and pollution that has depleted oxygen levels in coastal shallows.

These problems are pronounced in the Mediterranean

Tags: global warming, pollution, ocean

The Whole History of Dmegivern's Clipmarks Comments

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 08:02:50 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: thewisdomgoldenmean.blogspot.com

All my Clipmarks Comments

what I am trying to stress is that even if I eventually made it to the indebted middle class, I am not okay from the journey. I am traumatized. Poverty harmed me deeply. It broke up my family. It put me into foster care, and led to dozens of stressful moves. It provided me with a first-hand seat to the ridicule of the poor; I carry in diaries... in memories... a lifelong record of anti-poor and anti-welfare comments hurled at me.

"I disagree. I grew up in the household of mentally ill people who went untreated. It led to us going to foster care, long-term poverty, neglect, and sometimes mistreatment. I take my meds religiously because I never want to endanger my family in the same way. They may not work for everyone, but they have been wonderful for me. My brother who committed suicide in 1996 at the age of 23 never wanted to take meds either. I think people are too cavalier about dismissing their importance for real mental illness."

Tags: comments, poverty, mental illness

10 Fascinating Facts About the Ancient Olympic Games

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:53:42 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.neatorama.com

Most people know that the Olympics started out in Ancient Greece, but did you know that back then the athletes competed in the nude? (Though technically, they could wear penis restraints - yes, you read that right). Or that one of the games was an ancient form of mixed martial arts? Or that a chef won the very first Olympic games?

To help celebrate the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, we'll posts some neat facts about the Olympics, starting with this one: 10 Fascinating Facts About the Ancient Olympic Games:

1. Ancient Olympic Athletes Competed in the Nude

2. The Prudes Wore Penis Restraints

3. A Chef Won the Very First Olympic Games

4. ... and He Won ... An Olive Branch!

5. More than Just Running: Wrestling and Boxing Added to the Ancient Olympics

6. Pankration: Ancient Greek Mixed Martial Arts

7. The Olympic Games Weren't the Only One

8. Heraea: Ancient Olympics for Women

9. Ancient "Computer" Used to Set Olympics Date

10. Christianity Killed the Ancient Olympics

Tags: olympics, ancient greece

The Aral Sea - A Tear Drop on Mother Earth

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:47:46 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: "The Aral Sea is not an isolated case almost all the lakes in the world are under threat of faulty development agenda of the short sighted governments and in various stages of degradation. If the Aral Sea model opens anybody’s eye it would be of immense good for the generations to come."

Clip Source: keralaarticles.com

Its story may be the most pathetic of all the lakes; steadily shrinking with increasing salinity; lake has shrunk exposing three deeper parts; all its fish and plants dead and with the fish; once flourished fishing industry also breathed its last; the Aral Sea at present remains as tear drop on mother earth.

It is located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan two members of the former Soviet Union. Initial surface area of this lake was 68,000 sq kms; it was well fed by the waters of the great rivers and endemic plants and fish were abundant.

The present surface area is about 15,000 sq km! Salinity is not the only menace; pesticides, testing of biological weapons, run off of excessive chemical fertilizers, chemical effluents from factories all reduced the sea in to a dirty salt pit.

Clip Source: www.global-greenhouse-warming.com

Once the world's fourth largest lake, the mighty Aral Sea is now in it's death throws.

the sea has been shrinking for the last 40 years

Clip Source: www.unep.org

Clip Source: photo.net

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

ruined ships abandoned in sand that once formed the bed of the Aral Sea

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:39:40 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.theatlantic.com

"Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?” So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly poignant scene toward the end of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Bowman, having nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory circuits that control its artificial »

brain. “Dave, my mind is going,” HAL says, forlornly. “I can feel it. I can feel it.”

I can feel it, too. Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think

I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy.

Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages

Tags: google

No gender differences in math performance

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:51:03 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.brainmysteries.com

We've all heard it. Many of us in fact believe it. Girls just aren't as good at math as boys.

But is it true? After sifting through mountains of data - including SAT results and math scores from 7 million students who were tested in accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act - a team of scientists says the answer is no.

Whether they looked at average performance, the scores of the most gifted children or students' ability to solve complex math problems, girls measured up to boys.

There just aren't gender differences anymore in math performance

Though girls take just as many advanced high school math courses today as boys, and women earn 48 percent of all mathematics bachelor's degrees, the stereotype persists that girls struggle with math

Cultural beliefs like this are "incredibly influential," she says, making it critical to question them. "Because if your mom or your teacher thinks you can't do math, that can have a big impact on your math self concept

Tags: gender, math, cognition

Judge on Rove citizen arrest: "It's about time"

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:56:23 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: “Mamn [sic], what were you doing at the Wakonda Country Club?”

“I was attempting to make a citizen’s arrest of Karl Rove, your honor,” Shaw answered.

“Well,” the judge looked up and said, “it’s about time.”

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

Judge on Rove’s citizen arrest: ‘It’s about time.’»

Last Friday, police in Des Moines, Iowa arrested four people who attempted to make a citizens’ arrest of former top White House aide Karl Rove, who was in town to speak at a GOP fundraiser. A retired minister and three members of the Des Moines Catholic Workers community were cited for trespassing. However, according to a press release, the judge presiding over the case praised their efforts:

[Mona] Shaw was the first called before Polk County Fifth Judicial District Associate Judge William Price.

After entering her plea, the judge asked Shaw, “Mamn, what were you doing at the Wakonda Country Club?”

“I was attempting to make a citizen’s arrest of Karl Rove, your honor,” Shaw answered.

“Well,” the judge looked up and said, “it’s about time.”

Tags: rove, law