ID in PA

02005-12-22 | Uncategorized

Mathaba News
A courtroom battle seen as a test case for the teaching of science in America ended in a decisive victory for evolution yesterday when a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled that it was unconstitutional to teach ‘intelligent design’ in biology class.

The Oxford Dictionary of American English defines the word Science as follows:

Science is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.

One could make many arguments for teaching comparative religion and spirituality in school, but IMO that should not dilute the teaching of science. Belief and hope are important, but they have nothing to do with Science as it is defined.

Wednesday

02005-12-21 | Uncategorized

In the Arms of Love will revert back to SSRI in 2007 – until then it is licensed to Higher Octave/EMI. Since we will release a new package at that time, I might as well do some work on the music. I have a bunch of ideas for changes and additions I want to make and will get started on that in the new year.

We are leaving for Denver tonight and I won’t take my laptop with me. I think I will observe a few days of radio silence during the holidays.

I would like to leave you – for now – with this:
What is the purpose of millions of years of evolution?
Let me tell you a secret: it’s YOU! It’s all so you can experience this life.
Lots of animals have to die so you can live, many humans work to enable your life, and much energy is used up by you.
So, please, take a deep breath, hug a child or a friend, kiss a lover, enjoy a meal alone or with company, take in a sunset, take a deep listen to a piece of music, enjoy a walk… just a take a few moments during this holiday to enjoy this incredible, this unbelievable, this very precious experience – your life.

Happy Solstice tonight and Happy Holiday weekend!

Food

In 2000, total meat consumption (red meat, poultry, and fish) reached 195 pounds (boneless, trimmed-weight equivalent) per person, 57 pounds above average annual consumption in the 1950s (table 2-1). Each American consumed an average of 7 pounds more red meat than in the 1950s, 46 pounds more poultry, and 4 pounds more fish and shellfish.

Energy:

In 1997, U.S. residents consumed an average of 12,133 kilowatt-hours of electricity each, almost nine times greater than the average for the rest of the world. (Grist Magazine)

Put more body into it

02005-12-20 | Uncategorized

Momus in Wired:

I dance therefore I am
One evening last week I got up from my computer — I seem to be on the damned thing all the time, using my body so little I might as well be a brain in a jar — and went to a party.

And

It’s this conception of reality — which elevates mind over body, the universal over the particular, and the unchanging over the changeable — that has informed (too much, some might say) the development of computing up until now. I have the evidence right here at my fingertips; the main way for me to interface with this machine I sit face to face with all day is still through a keyboard — a linguistic tablet, an alphabetic abacus.

Eno Interview in Wired (1995)

Eno interview in Wired
Do you know what I hate about computers? The problem with computers is that there is not enough Africa in them. This is why I can’t use them for very long. Do you know what a nerd is? A nerd is a human being without enough Africa in him or her.

My post from 2000

I think it will be interesting to see how this might change now that China and India are becoming forces in computing. I have never been comfortable with the view of brain or soul over body and physical sensations and always sensed that the body is no hinderance. Right now my hands are holding a glass of hot green tea and the feeling is wonderful because it is cold in my house this early in the morning. My best ideas come during long walks. I have tried to work with keyboards and Midi, but it just doesn’t give me the pleasure of plucking the strings of a guitar.