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Tuesday, May 20, 2003
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Joseph George Caldwell writes: Having described Neale Donald Walsch’s basic philosophy, I will now discuss his philosophy as it relates more specifically to the environmental crisis facing the planet. ... The major similarity in Walsch’s philosophy and mine is the concept of “what works” (what I call systems engineering). The major difference is our views of what constitutes the current world crisis. His view is that the crisis is the widespread violence, war, and oppression, and that this crisis has been caused by a decline in spirituality. My view is that the crisis is the global destruction of the environment and mass species extinction, and that it is being caused by mankind’s tapping of fossil fuels. I believe, as does Walsch, that the resolution of the problem will be determined by what people come to believe, and that the solution will be spiritual/religious in nature. From the point of view of “what works” to solve the world’s crisis, it is emphasized that Walsch’s view of what constitutes the crisis and my view are quite different. For that reason, our assessment of “what works” to solve the “world crisis” will likely also be (and is) very different. Walsch wants to address current social issues that interest him, with no consideration to what happens to future generations of human being or other species. I want to stop the mass species extinction, so that all future generations of mankind and other species may have the same choices open to them that we (Earth’s current generation) have. What is required to accomplish these very different objectives is not at all the same. (05/20/03) | |
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Giancarlo Livraghi writes: The beauty (I think) of Carlo Cipolla’s definition of stupidity (and intelligence) is that it is not based on an abstract concept but on results: a person or a behavior is stupid or intelligent depending on what happens. This has two advantages. The first is that it defines a person (and that person’s behavior) as stupid (or intelligent, or hapless, or a bandit) on the basis of facts; or, at least, on our understanding and definition of facts. The second, and even more important, is that it leads us to concentrate on the vital factor: not stupidity per se, but the damage it causes. There can be countless types of behavior that are, or appear, “stupid” but are harmless. They come up close to neutral in the Cipolla matrix – and that is, indeed, where they belong. For instance, sharing silly fun with friends and having a good laugh may be seen as “stupid” by outsiders, but according to the Cipolla Theory such behavior is likely to be classified as “intelligent”: which indeed it is, as long as the fun shared by the people being amused is more than the annoyance or boredom caused to bystanders. Generally the intelligence (practical advantage) of such behavior is limited to a moment of good humor; but quite often it can lead to more relevant effects, by sparking up cooperation and ideas in ways that would not be possible in a boring environment. (05/20/03) | |
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Craig Russell writes: In the spring of 1903, most people in upstate woke up in the cold. Their stoves were downstairs in the kitchen, and not much heat made it upstairs into the bedrooms. They would then either use the chamber pot (which would then, at some point, have to be taken outside and dumped) or go outside to use the outhouse and to get water from the well for their morning washing and cooking. They had to feed more coal to the stove so they could cook their breakfast before the men headed out to work – most likely in the fields, since more than half of all Americans then lived in rural areas like upstate – and the women remained inside to care for the children (there was no birth control, remember), wash the clothes (no washing machines), prepare dinner and supper (no microwave, no McDonald’s), and clean. The kerosene lamps, for example, needed constant tending – they had to be filled and wiped, their wicks trimmed; the chimney and shades needed washing. And the stove! Thomas Schlereth mentions an 1899 study by the Boston School of Housekeeping which reported that, every day, a coal stove “required at least 20 minutes spent in sifting ashes, 24 minutes in laying fires, one hour and 48 minutes in tending fires, 30 minutes in emptying ashes, 15 minutes in carrying coal, and 2 hours and 9 minutes on blackening the stove to keep it from rusting” (Victorian America, p. 130-1) If they went into town, they needed a horse or a mule. Everyone needed an animal like this for transportation. According to Schlereth City’s horse population deposited 2.5 million pounds of manure and 60,000 gallons of urine on the city’s streets every day (p. 20). And, at 10-15 miles an hour, travel took time – plenty of time. One of my relatives ran a stage (yes, a stage!) a hundred years ago that took three hours for a 15-mile round trip up and down a hill to town and back. Few of us today would want to live like that. (05/20/03) | |
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CNN Health -- SARS, first recognized in late February, has spread along international air routes. As of Friday, a total of 7,739 probable SARS cases and 611 deaths have been reported from 29 countries to the WHO. Meanwhile, Taiwan recorded its highest daily increase in SARS cases Saturday as the island continues to battle the spread of the deadly virus. The 34 new cases brings the total number of infections in Taiwan to 308, making it the worst hit area after Hong Kong and mainland China. The death toll now stands at 274. (05/20/03) | |
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CNN World -- North Korea will soon possess a full nuclear capability and, unless concerned nations work together to stop it, will have the ability to export weapons-grade fissile material or nuclear bombs, an independent task force has warned. In particular, China and the United States need to take more responsibility in getting Pyongyang to freeze its nuclear program and allow United Nations inspectors into the country, the report issued by the Independent Task Force on Korea concluded. The task force -- sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S. nonpartisan membership organization – has been studying the nuclear standoff between Washington and Pyongyang that flared up last October. The report, "Meeting the North Korean Nuclear Challenge," recommends the United States not only take the lead in summoning a coalition to work towards North Korea's nuclear disarmament but also ask China, North Korea's largest aid donor, to back up the coalition with sanctions if Pyongyang backs out of a deal. (05/20/03) | |
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New York Times: Environment -- "You can't begin to come up with any kind of engineering plan until you understand the situation that you have," said Col. John B. O'Dowd, a brawny, affable man who is the New York District commander of the Army Corps of Engineers. "Once you can sit back and look at the picture of what you have, then you can begin to look at what you can do to improve it." To help draw that picture, the corps and the City Department of Environmental Protection are splitting the $5 million cost of the Gowanus Canal and Bay Ecosystem Restoration study. The project, whose final report should be available by January 2005, is intended to offer potential solutions to the environmental problems and to determine what future activities the canal and its surrounding area could sustain. So the corps team, which includes a biologist and a geologist, has been out there, working to test the water quality, identify plant and animal life, and collect samples of what lies beneath. Their work should be completed soon, but the results are months away. Still, some hopeful signs have surfaced in the polluted canal. On a recent morning, for example, the team came across several snails, glass eels and some juvenile shrimp. "That's important for us because it lets us know that all the different life cycles are represented," said Pamela Lynch, the biologist. People have been working for years to bring the noxious waterway back from the brink. Built in the late 19th century as a commercial thruway, the canal was soon fouled by sewage. In 1911, the city opened a flushing tunnel that moved in cleaner water from the Buttermilk Channel, but the tunnel broke down in the 1960's and was left unrepaired for more than three decades. That, combined with industrial waste from nearby plants, turned the canal into a stagnant, putrid nose-sore. But largely through the work of local environmental and development groups, the Gowanus, long a reputed dumping ground for corpses, has been coming back. The flushing tunnel was reactivated in 1999. Oysters — bivalves that can filter tremendous amounts of water each day — have been introduced into the canal and are surviving. Jellyfish, bluefish, cormorants, ducks and egrets have appeared in and around the yellow-green waters. Harbor seals have even been sighted. The many different notions of what the canal should become — a little Venice, a recreation area, a peaceful wetland habitat — no longer seem firmly rooted in fantasy. (05/20/03) | |
6:00:03 AM 
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© TrustMark
2003
Timothy Wilken.
Last update:
6/3/2003; 5:44:56 AM.
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