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03 July 2009

 

Is History Repeating Itself?
In his 1969 book, immodestly titled "Civilization", Kenneth Clark writes:

Every civilisation seems to have its nemesis, not only because the first bright impulses become tarnished by greed and laziness, but because of unpredictables - and in this case the unpredictable was the growth of population. The greedy became greedier, the ignorant lost touch with traditional skills, and the light of experience narrowed its beam so that a grand design like Greenwich would now be thought of as a waste of money that no accountant could condone.

Although he was writing about the end of the 17th century when the great Naval Hospital was built in England, he could have been writing about the United States in 2009. Perhaps it is time to slow down a bit and relearn the traditional skills of human life, otherwise we may find history repeating itself yet again.

posted by Lorenzo 8:16 AM

02 July 2009

 

Endurance
The early demise of Michael Jackson certainly makes one appreciate the durability of musician/performers like Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones.

posted by Lorenzo 12:02 PM

 

Finally, a little common sense from the courts
Landmark Ruling Issued on Collective Cultivation of Medical Marijuana

The California Third District Court of Appeal issued a landmark ruling today on the right under state law of patients to collectively cultivate. ... "This ruling by the California Courts sends yet another strong message to state law enforcement that they must abide by the medical marijuana laws of the state and not the competing federal laws, the deputy was acting under color of California law, not federal law. Accordingly, the propriety of his conduct is measured by California law." ... Today's appellate court decision upholds Butte County Superior Court Judge Barbara Roberts' ruling from September 2007, in which she states that seriously ill patients cultivating collectively "should not be required to risk criminal penalties and the stress and expense of a criminal trial in order to assert their rights." Judge Roberts' ruling also rejected Butte County's policy of requiring all members to physically participate in the cultivation, thereby allowing collective members to "contribute financially." ... Even in his dissenting opinion, Court of Appeal Judge James Morrison stated that, "the United States Congress should reconsider its refusal to amend the federal drug laws to make reasonable accommodation for the 13 states that have enacted some form of compassionate use exception to their penal codes."

posted by Lorenzo 6:28 AM

01 July 2009

 

Vegetarians less likely to develop cancer than meat eaters
(Karen McVeigh, The Guardian,1 July 2009)
Fresh evidence from the largest study to date to investigate dietary habits and cancer has concluded that vegetarians are 45% less likely to develop cancer of the blood than meat eaters and are 12% less likely to develop cancer overall. . . . Scientists said that while links between stomach cancer and eating meat had already been reported, they had uncovered a "striking difference" in the risk of blood cancers including leukaemia, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma between the groups. The study looked at vegetarians, fish eaters and people who ate meat. . . . Today's findings were based on a study of 61,000 people who scientists followed over 12 years. During this time, 3,350 participants were diagnosed with cancer. Of those, 68% (2,204) were meat eaters, 24% (800) were vegetarians and 9.5% (300) ate fish but no meat. . . . "We think that the link between diet and cancer is complex and as scientists themselves say, more research is needed to see how big a part diet plays."

posted by Lorenzo 5:13 AM

30 June 2009

 

Don't Get That College Degree!
(New York Post, June 28, 2009)
The four-year college degree has come to cost too much and prove too little. It's now a bad deal for the average student, family, employer, professor and taxpayer. . . . A student who secures a degree is increasingly unlikely to make up its cost, despite higher pay, and the employer who requires a degree puts faith in a system whose standards are slipping. . . . I'm not arguing against higher learning but for it -- and against the degree system that stands in its way. . . . College degrees bring higher income, but at today's cost they can't make up the savings they consume and the debt they add early in the life of a typical student. ... THERE'S A BETTER WAY (Please click the above link for this entire story, including a very revealing graphic about the difference in long term incomes and savings and which compares the two approaches.)

posted by Lorenzo 11:22 AM

29 June 2009

 

The global brain begins to synchronize
I don't know if you caught this or not, but apparently right after the news of Michael Jackson's death there were so many Google searches for Jackson that they thought they were under a DNS attack. Maybe this is no big deal, but it could also signal the early stages of the formation of some kind of global brain that works in much the same way as does the group mind for a school of fish who synchronize their movements as a group. ... I have no idea what this means, if anything, or where it will lead to, if anywhere. However, it does seem to be something to keep an eye on.

posted by Lorenzo 7:31 AM

28 June 2009

 

98% of supposedly environmentally friendly products in US supermarkets make false or confusing
(Suzanne Goldenberg,guardian.co.uk, 21 June 2009)
More than 98% of supposedly natural and environmentally friendly products on US supermarket shelves are making potentially false or misleading claims, Congress has been told. And 22% of products making green claims bear an environmental badge that has no inherent meaning, said Scot Case, of the environmental consulting firm TerraChoice. . . . The study of nearly 4,000 consumer products found "greenwashing" in nearly every product category – from a lack of verifiable information to outright lies. . . . The interest in products that do not poison water or air, create unnecessary waste or unduly add to the effects of climate change has defied class divisions and the economic recession. In its company surveys, Wal-Mart, the chain of low-cost megastores, found that 57% of its customers professed to be concerned about the environment. [COMMENT by Lorenzo: Now that's a good sign. If the majority of Wal-Mart shoppers are thinking about the environment, then it seems to me like we are gaining ground in our struggle for sustainablility.]

{Please click the link above for the complete story.)

posted by Lorenzo 7:53 AM

27 June 2009

 

Whose Side is Obama On? ... Not mine!

This story is very disturbing (click the link above for the complete article). The guy I wish was President is Obama's speech writer. I agree with a lot of things that guy has to say. It's too bad that Obama just reads them and doesn't listen to his own speeches and then take action on them. From where I sit, I don't see a whole lot of difference between the Obama and Bush regimes.

White House Is Drafting Executive Order to Allow Indefinite Detention; Move Would Bypass Congress . . . The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close Guantanamo, is drafting an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate suspected terrorists indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations. . . . Such an order would embrace claims by former President George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that bypassing Congress could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, [COMMENT by Lorenzo: Yeah, he's completely lost me now. Let's hear it for Ron Paul.] the officials said. . . . But some senior Democrats see long-term detention as tantamount to reestablishing the Guantanamo system on U.S. soil. "I think this could be a very big mistake, because of how such a system could be perceived throughout the world," Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., told Holder. . . . Instituting long-term detention through an executive order would leave Obama vulnerable to charges that he is willing to forsake the legislative branch of government, as his predecessor often did. Bush's detention policies suffered successive defeats in the courts in part because they lacked congressional approval and tried to exclude judicial oversight [like Obama's policy also does].

posted by Lorenzo 9:30 AM

26 June 2009

 

A movie I don't want to miss!

posted by Lorenzo 7:47 AM

23 June 2009

 

You've gotta see this. Just trust me. Click this Link to see a vision that even Dante would be proud of.

Brilliant! Each time I watch it I see something new. Here is what a friend found out about this amazing video:

Civilization by Marco Brambilla (featuring Crush)

Civilization, a video mural created for the new Standard hotel in New York City, depicts a journey from hell to heaven interpreted through modern film language using computer-enhanced found footage. This epic video mural contains over 300 individual channels of looped video blended into a multi-layered seamless tableau of interconnecting images that illustrate a contemporary, satirical take on the concepts of Heaven and Hell.

posted by Lorenzo 10:12 PM

 

If this doesn't cause you to smile for the next 25 seconds I feel sorry for you.

posted by Lorenzo 9:55 PM

18 June 2009

 

Today we're all prisoners in the USA
The above link will take you to an article about a recent change in U.S. law. As of June 1, 2009, you can no longer leave the country without proper, government-issued papers.

Here is part of a paragraph from that article:
We are now forbidden by Federal regulations from leaving or entering the USA, anywhere, by any means - by air, by sea, or by land, to or from any other country or international waters or airspace - unless the government chooses to issue us a passport, passport card, or "enhanced" drivers license (any of which "travel documents" are now issued only with secretly and remotely-readable uniquely-numbered radio tracking beacons in the form of RFID transponder chips),

When I was growing up in the 1950s we were told that the phrase "Show me your papers" was only heard in totalitarian countries. Hmmmm.

posted by Lorenzo 7:28 PM

13 June 2009

 

A simple yet brilliant idea that gives me hope

posted by Lorenzo 8:37 PM

 

Now this is something different
... but you've gotta stick it out for the first three minutes.

posted by Lorenzo 8:05 AM

03 June 2009

 

Life Inc. The Movie ... by Douglas Rushkoff
If you have any concern at all about our current economic situation, and if you want to hear a very encouraging and hopeful message, then you own it to yourself to watch this trailer for Douglas Rushkoff's new video.

Life Inc. The Movie from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

posted by Lorenzo 8:04 PM

15 May 2009

 

Net Neutrality Survives in Europe!

It's over for now guys, congratz!
WE WON! ... STRASBOURG, France, May 6 (Reuters) - The European Parliament rejected a major reform of EU telecoms rules on Wednesday due to concerns over the rights of Internet users.

posted by Lorenzo 5:28 PM

08 May 2009

 

Alice in Wonderland ... music video
Click the link above to see an interesting version of this video.
... and be sure to zoom in. (After a while you will notice that it loops :-).

Below is the original video, but the link above is way more fun.

posted by Lorenzo 3:17 PM

27 April 2009

 

Swine Flu and Torture
Eventually, the current news about a possible flu epidemic will come to an end. I wonder if we will still remember that the #1 story before the flu was the Bush Crime Family's use of torture as American policy. It makes one wonder whether this flu scare has been manufactured just to knock torture from the headlines.

posted by Lorenzo 8:02 AM

24 April 2009

 

A Stunning Work of Art/Philosophy/Science
When a friend sent me this link, I didn't think I would watch the full 34 minutes that it runs. But now I'm hooked and have watched it more than once :-).


Digital Art: a poetic vision | Toporek from Sergio Toporek on Vimeo.

posted by Lorenzo 3:04 PM

18 April 2009

 

The Art Bar

posted by Lorenzo 9:25 PM