Below is a roundup of news, politics science, and humor. I hope you enjoy.
First I want to highlight some actions I am pushing for. Right now I am focusing on keeping up the pressure on companies that oppose fully funding women's healthcare:
Boycott Hobby Lobby: https://www.facebook.com/...
Boycott Eden Foods: https://www.facebook.com/...
Finally as I remain unemployed I have to plug myself a bit. First of all, anyone out there who shops through Amazon.com, if you shop through my Amazon Affiliate store it can help me get through this period of unemployment. Second, anyone in the NYC area, if you know someone who needs tutoring or other kinds of help, here is my page on the University Tutor website. I am not charging much right now because I want to establish a customer base.
Sorry for the self-advertising. Now onto the news, science and randomness below...
HEALTH, SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS:
Well worth a read: How to evaluate the quality of scientific research
I covered a lot of very promising info about solar energy last week. Here's more:
Huge win for solar energy in Iowa
And more good news on the solar front: US military wants 25% of its energy from renewable sources by 2025, solar saving lives in war zones.
The history of our understanding of Hay Fever: John Bostock: The man who 'discovered' hay fever. The uncertainty about why pollen allergies are rising mentioned at the end of the article reminds me of an article I wrote some years back: America's Asthma and Allergy Epidemic
What was that about learning from history or repeating it? Oklahoma drought kindles spectre of 1930s 'Dust Bowl'
POLITICAL NEWS:
Yes...more of this please, fellow Democrats:
Putin steps in deep dog shit? MH17 crash: Ukraine releases alleged intercepts. I said years ago, possibly when Putin first took control, that Russia could only be a super power in opposition to the West. Putin, in order to display his manliness, had to revive the cold war. Funny how Cold War history repeats itself.
Republicans STILL hate America's Veterans: AK-Sen: Mark Begich (D) Slams Tea Partiers For Holding Up His Plan To Restore Public Trust In The VA
More from Senator Begich:
A pretty good analysis: What does Israel's ground offensive aim to achieve? I can understand the Israeli response to the missile and infiltration attacks from Gaza, though it is often overkill. But what I can't understand is why Israel doesn't balance its "big stick" approach to Gaza with a friendly approach to the West Bank, where Palestinians have NOT been attacking. As my wife says, Israel is "all stick and no carrot."
This is a HUGE admission and a sign that the Catholic Church might actually be ready to deal with this long-standing, criminal issue: Pope Francis: 'About 2%' of Catholic clergy paedophiles. I admit I find the whole Papacy thing a bit silly, but even I am enjoying watching a really cool Pope doing really cool things. If only they could get over that birth control thing. One wonders how history would have been different if this guy had been Pope around, say, 1500...
The Article Google Doesn't Want you to see: Merrill's mess. Google has deleted this article from its European web searches. That means I consider it worth highlighting to you. (from 2007).
More Merrill Lynch scandal they don't want you to remember: (both before AND after the article Google deleted). My goal is to make the Merrill Lynch scandals MORE transparent to compensate the attempt of Merrill Lynch and Google to bury the scandals.
http://www.sec.gov/...
http://www.glassdoor.com/...
http://www.nytimes.com/...
http://www.cjr.org/...
Whole Foods and the great organic scam: Exposed: How Whole Foods and the Biggest Organic Foods Distributor Are Screwing Workers
The slippery slope part I: The Supreme Court has already expanded Hobby Lobby decision
The slippery slope part II: Hobby Lobby decisions [sic] reactivates gay-hating Kansas conservatives
HISTORY:
An interesting historical comparison: The Voyage of the St. Louis (and how it mirrors the Border Crisis)
Just before WW I: The real Europe of 1914: class war, civil war and private wars on the eve of World War I
Spinoza seems more reviled by Catholics than by the Judaism he came from: Mostly Forgotten History: Spinosa and the Index of Forbidden Books
A bit on Spinoza from Jews and Words by Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger:
It took the early modern giant Baruch Spinoza to say out loud that the biblical texts are fully and fallibly historical. That they contain mistakes and contradictions, and they should be read with a scientific eye, with a philologist's magnifying glass.
Spinoza suffered for his insight. In 1656 he was ostracized by the Amsterdam Portuguese Jewish community...But was Spinoza ejected from Jewish memory? Ask the Jewish youngsters who began to read his works in German during the eighteenth century, among them Moses Mendelssohn and Solomon Maimon. By the late nineteenth century Yiddish discussions and Hebrew translations were available to eastern European yeshiva students to read secretly, under the desk, out of the rabbi's sight. Perhaps some of their rabbis actually read him, too. Spinoza's was one of the first fresh voices infiltrating the vast closed world of Ashkenazi Orthodoxy, chiming the notes of a changing world, and encouraging their well-trained eyes to move to new sorts of texts.
RANDOMNESS:
It is seriously pathetic when a deposed tyrant sues a video game because they don't like how they are being portrayed: Manuel Noriega sues Activision over Call of Duty. Just a reminder about how bad Manuel Noriega REALLY was from Amnesty International (from 2011). So the guy found guilty of drug charges and crimes against humanity is suing a video game because they make him look bad? Truly pathetic.
Jon Stewart Zen Moment:
A real moment of Zen: from the Gateless Gate
Joshu Washes the Bowl
A monk told Joshu: `I have just entered the monastery. Please teach me.'
Joshu asked: `Have you eaten your rice porridge?'
The monk replied: `I have eaten.'
Joshu said: `Then you had better wash your bowl.'
At that moment the monk was enlightened.
Mumon's Comment: Joshu is the man who opens his mouth and shows his heart. I doubt if this monk really saw Joshu's heart. I hope he did not mistake the bell for a pitcher.
It is too clear and so it is hard to see.
A dunce once searched for fire with a lighted lantern.
Had he known what fire was,
He could have cooked his rice much sooner.
From
BBC News: Today's African Proverb:
“There is always a winner, even in a monkey's beauty contest”
--Sent by Martin Manyiel Wugol, Juba, South Sudan
For last week's issue:
Mole's Cool News Roundup 13