In Homero Aridjis' novel, "The Lord of the Last Days", one can read how at the end of the first millenium after the Birth of Jesus Christ, there appears an Antichrist by the name of Abd Allah. There is also a false prophet: "Isidoro". In times of upheaval the old order crumbles.
An Apocalypse in the terminology of early Jewish and Christian literature, is a revelation of hidden things given by God to a chosen prophet; this term is more often used to describe the written account of such a revelation. Apocalyptic literature is of considerable importance in the history of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition, as beliefs such as the resurrection of the dead, judgment day, heaven and hell are all made explicit in it. Apocalyptic beliefs predate Christianity, appear in other religions, and have merged into contemporary secular society, especially through popular culture (see Apocalypticism). Apocalypse-like beliefs also occur in other religious systems; an example is the Hindu concept of pralay.
If the ruler misrules, then the space is open for a new ruler. The King is Dead, Long Live the King!
As I write this, civilized society is crumbling in the state of Oaxaca, land of the Mixtecs and Zapotecs; land of Benito Juárez, the first native american president in this continent after the European conquest.
Who is the false prophet, and who is the Antichrist?
There is an organization (APPO), Asamblea Popular del Pueblo de Oaxaca:
APPO
Are the leaders good or bad? Are the Mexican People moving in the right direction? What is the right direction?
There must be some infiltrators, that act like Isidoro in Aridjis' novel, an ignorant man leading ignorant people, the blind, leading the blind; but also there could be some clear thinking leaders, maybe Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or subcomandante Marcos, that can lead the Mexican People to a better life.
I do not know. What I know is that the environmental catastrophe the world is going through was caused by legitimate businesses and governments. They definitely left the door open for false prophets like Isidoro.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Monday, October 30, 2006
Brad Will
The American journalist Brad Will, became a friend of Mexicans.
You can read about him in Spanish by Luis Hernández Navarro:
La Jornada
You can read about him in Spanish by Luis Hernández Navarro:
La Jornada
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Canadian Citizen Illegally held, tortured, and released tells his story
This was BEFORE the new laws relaxing corpus went into effect. Only in the US on a stop over, Maher Arar is illegally detained, ridiculed, and interrogated by US officials for six months. Finally he is sent to Syria where he is tortured into confessing to crimes he did not commit. BEFORE the new laws... what horror stories await now?
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Homero Aridjis
This Mexican poet wrote a book about the last end of times, the end of the year 1000, the end of the first millenium. There are similarities with current times, I recommend his book.
You can read about Mr. Aridjis in:
Homero Aridjis
and about his book in:
The Lord of the Last Days
Homer wrote great epics in Greece, this Greek-Mexican also writes great epics.
You can read about Mr. Aridjis in:
Homero Aridjis
and about his book in:
The Lord of the Last Days
Homer wrote great epics in Greece, this Greek-Mexican also writes great epics.
Sick Earth?
What really caused the largest mass extinction in Earth's history? The most likely explanation for the disappearance of up to 90 percent of species 250 million years ago, said David Bottjer, is that "the earth got sick."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Bradley Roland Will
You can read here one article in Spanish by the American journalist killed in Oaxaca, Bradley Roland Will. This appeared today in "La Jornada".
Death in Oaxaca
R.I.P. Bradley Roland Will. Remember him on this coming Day of the Dead.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
American Journalist killed in Mexico
An American journalist was killed yesterday. Mexico's problems affect the USA. We have to be informed on the situation south of the border. Oaxaca is so beautiful and so poor. Journalist Bradley Roland Will, 36, of New York, was hit in the abdomen and died later at a Red Cross hospital. Will worked for Indymedia.org, an independent Web-based media organization and sold video on a freelance basis, said friends and Indymedia colleague Hinrich Schuleze. He had been documenting the upheaval in Internet dispatches that showed strong sympathy for the protesters.
Oaxaca, famed for its colonial architecture and as a center of Indian handicrafts and cuisine, is one of the most famous inland tourist attractions in Mexico. Mountains overlooking the city hold the imposing ruins of the Zapotec city of Monte Alban.
Mexico: American Among Dead in Oaxaca
Article Tools Sponsored By
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: October 28, 2006
A New York journalist and three other people were shot and killed during protests in the southern city of Oaxaca as left-wing groups seeking to oust Gov. Ulises Ruiz tried to strangle the city with blockades and encountered resistance from the police and ordinary citizens. The violence came as the movement to force Mr. Ruiz to resign seemed to be splintering, with a teachers union whose walkout set off the civil unrest five months ago was close to an agreement with the government to return to classes. The American journalist, Bradley Roland Will, 36, was working with a left-wing Web site called NYC Indymedia and had been in Mexico for several weeks. He was shot while trying to film some men in plainclothes who opened fire on protesters at a roadblock on the outskirts of the city.
Mexican President Sends Police to Oaxaca
OAXACA, Mexico (AP) -- Shop owners shuttered their businesses and demonstrators built up street barricades Saturday after President Vicente Fox ordered federal police to intervene in this picturesque city torn by more than five months of protests and violence.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Le Petit Exorcisme
L'exorciste
Officiellement nommés par l'Eglise catholique, les exorcistes sont des prêtres ou des abbés spécialisés dans le traitement des personnes qui s'estiment possédées. Après analyse du cas, si les soupçons sont avérés, on procède à un «petit exorcisme» qui prend la forme de prières de délivrance. Suite à cela, on peut effectuer un «grand exorcisme», une procédure plus lourde qui implique que l'exorciste s'adresse directement au Démon. Ce second cas est cependant extrêmement rare. Ces deux prestations sont gratuites.
L'incroyable succès des guérisseurs, The Incredible Success of Healers
When I teach adolescents I feel that I am practicing an exorcism. They seem to be taken by forces I don't understand, but I know that behind what I see, there is a mind that can be nurtured with the ideas I have.
Officiellement nommés par l'Eglise catholique, les exorcistes sont des prêtres ou des abbés spécialisés dans le traitement des personnes qui s'estiment possédées. Après analyse du cas, si les soupçons sont avérés, on procède à un «petit exorcisme» qui prend la forme de prières de délivrance. Suite à cela, on peut effectuer un «grand exorcisme», une procédure plus lourde qui implique que l'exorciste s'adresse directement au Démon. Ce second cas est cependant extrêmement rare. Ces deux prestations sont gratuites.
L'incroyable succès des guérisseurs, The Incredible Success of Healers
When I teach adolescents I feel that I am practicing an exorcism. They seem to be taken by forces I don't understand, but I know that behind what I see, there is a mind that can be nurtured with the ideas I have.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Courage and Free Thinking
Jan Pronk was expelled from Sudan because he spoke his mind. As U.N. representative he was supposed to let the U.N. Secretary, Kofy Annan to be the spokeperson of any substantial announcement. He disobeyed and now he has to leave.
I believe Mr. Pronk is savvy enough to know the consequences of his actions; if he chose to publicize the truth about Sudan, I believe is because he knows more about the genocide going on in Sub Saharan Africa than most of us, and decided, with courage, to tell the truth.
He has become one of my heroes, and his blog link is now in the links list of this blog.
I believe Mr. Pronk is savvy enough to know the consequences of his actions; if he chose to publicize the truth about Sudan, I believe is because he knows more about the genocide going on in Sub Saharan Africa than most of us, and decided, with courage, to tell the truth.
He has become one of my heroes, and his blog link is now in the links list of this blog.
Khartoum Expels U.N. Envoy Who Has Been Outspoken on Darfur Atrocities
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 22 — Sudan’s government on Sunday ordered the chief United Nations envoy to leave, saying he was an enemy of the country and its armed forces.
NYT
NYT
Sen. Barack Obama Says He's Weighing 2008 Run : 1st Black President?
Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged Sunday he was considering a run for president in 2008, backing off previous statements that he would not do so.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Darfur
Grim New Turn May Harden Darfur Conflict
NYT
ON THE CHAD-SUDAN BORDER, Oct. 20 — Haroun Abdullah Kabir stepped from one bloodied corpse to another on the parched, rocky battlefield. He searched the soldiers’ decomposing faces for an aquiline nose, fair complexion or fine, straight hair: telltale Arab features.
NYT
ON THE CHAD-SUDAN BORDER, Oct. 20 — Haroun Abdullah Kabir stepped from one bloodied corpse to another on the parched, rocky battlefield. He searched the soldiers’ decomposing faces for an aquiline nose, fair complexion or fine, straight hair: telltale Arab features.
Rumsfeld's Effect
I say: next November it is likely that Republicans will lose seats in Congress, and the Senate; and in two years, maybe the White House. At least Rumsfeld should not last until 2008 as Secretary of Defense.
RUMSFELD caught in a LIES by 27 year CIA VET!!!! MUST SEE!!!
27 Year Vet of CIA asks Rumsfeld about WMD's in IRAQ and he LIES!!! Click on the Link! Also shows how Main Stream Media won't ask any real questions!! It is Funny, BUT NOT!!! And at the end of the clip, Rumsfeld refers to a piece of 9/11 as "Wonderful" as if he enjoys what had happened. Love to read your comments? DIGG IT UP...MUST BE SEEN!!
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Counting Iraqis Dead in War
Have six hundred thousand Iraqis died as a consequence of war or thirty thousand? American troops should officially count how many Iraqis die as a consequence of war.
Jon Stewart on Bush's Moral Hypocrisy
Jon Stewart's Daily Show does one of the best news reports in the last 6 years.
It is very sad when the only commercial broadcast channel that will do the hard news is the Comedy Channel. So much for the liberal bias in the media. That is long gone.
read more | digg story
It is very sad when the only commercial broadcast channel that will do the hard news is the Comedy Channel. So much for the liberal bias in the media. That is long gone.
read more | digg story
Hawaii's Earthquake Due to Volcanic Stress
As volcanos grow and spread, pressure builds up and gets released in the form of quakes
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Woman Earns High School Diploma At 82 Years Of Age
"Now that she has her high school diploma, an 82-year-old Brevard County woman plans to keep going. Kathy Berger never finished her senior year of Tyner High School in her hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. But she never gave up hope of receiving her diploma." Read on
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
2045
In 2045 I will be over ninety or not. I may be dead. Ray Kurzweil predicts a singularity two years later. If he is right I may live forever.
The Singularity is Near
The Singularity is Near
America in 2043
Now that the United States officially numbers more than 300 million, what next?
What will 400 million look like? If demographers are right, we'll hit that mark by 2043. They and other futurists envision a typical American neighborhood that year will be something like this:
read more | digg story
What will 400 million look like? If demographers are right, we'll hit that mark by 2043. They and other futurists envision a typical American neighborhood that year will be something like this:
read more | digg story
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Charles Darwin's works go online
The complete works of one of history's greatest scientists, Charles Darwin, are being published online.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Global and Local
If there is a global crisis I should see local effects. This looks more like a necessary than a sufficient condition. I may have ruined my life and human life can still go smoothly, on the other hand if there is a relation, my personal predicament is an indication of trouble ahead for all of us. I really don't know, but here I express a few ideas that may be useful to others.
Schools in first world countries get more money than schools in poor countries. It is not clear to me that the performance is proportional to investement; there may be a rule of diminishing returns at play here. Granted, the US gets more Nobel prizes than other countries, but that in itself does not prove that double the investment leads to double the result. Republican administrations in the US have been reducing public school per capita investment. To the extent that test scores have not deteriorated proportionally, there have been efficiency improvements. On the other hand, it is definitely in the realm of possibilities that the American public school system as it was in the fifties will not come back any time soon. We may be witnessing the beginning of the end of a great nation.
My gut feeling is that there are great students and gret teachers that under dire conditions perform amazing feats. But barring extraordinary individuals it is logical that less investment eventually will lead to very bad schools; maybe already the public schools in the US are bad. I see then that my job may be in jeopardy, and if I am not allowed to do what I was trained to do, then we have waste. What worries me is that this waste may be a symptom of a dying system.
Schools in first world countries get more money than schools in poor countries. It is not clear to me that the performance is proportional to investement; there may be a rule of diminishing returns at play here. Granted, the US gets more Nobel prizes than other countries, but that in itself does not prove that double the investment leads to double the result. Republican administrations in the US have been reducing public school per capita investment. To the extent that test scores have not deteriorated proportionally, there have been efficiency improvements. On the other hand, it is definitely in the realm of possibilities that the American public school system as it was in the fifties will not come back any time soon. We may be witnessing the beginning of the end of a great nation.
My gut feeling is that there are great students and gret teachers that under dire conditions perform amazing feats. But barring extraordinary individuals it is logical that less investment eventually will lead to very bad schools; maybe already the public schools in the US are bad. I see then that my job may be in jeopardy, and if I am not allowed to do what I was trained to do, then we have waste. What worries me is that this waste may be a symptom of a dying system.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Conflict in Oaxaca
Some of the readers might have forgotten that teachers in Oaxaca are in strike. This strike has lasted more than three months, and right now the Mexican Senate is deliberating on regime change in that state of the south of Mexico.
This picture shows a "thief" caught by members of the popular movement that took over the city of Oaxaca.
I am worried that the government cannot control the country, drug dealer gangs already are in control of billions of dollars. To me these are signs of maybe liberation, and maybe the law of the jungle.
Utopia or Oblivion.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Soviet Union, Lucent, and Suburban High Schools
These three topics do not seem to be related, nor do they seem to be relevant science; why do I bring them to this blog?
One reason is that I have experience relevant for all of them, and I collect them here.
I was teaching in a public university in Mexico when the USSR collapsed. I had colleagues that studied there and I talked to them. They had misfeelings, they got a free education in sciences and for that they were grateful. Nevertheless they accepted that not everything was good in Russia. Russians of light skin fought darker students from the third world, when they thought they were getting in their territory. As time passed and the extent of the catastrophe was becoming more and more evident, I thought that the problems in the Soviet Union had more to do with problems in the modern world, than with intrinsic problems of the communist system. Professor Batra, had published some scary ideas from his field in economics that applied to both the second and the third world.
I moved to the US in 1998 to work for Lucent Technologies in Naperville, IL. I only worked there three years, because the company collapsed. This American icon is now owned by the French company ALCATEL. In my opinion Bell Labs was the pinacle of what an industrial laboratory can be. Transistor, Laser, Big Bang, Information Theory, you name it; almost all the important communications technology was being developed there, and then some. Why could they not pay my salary anymore? I cannot help thinking that something funny is going on. One may think that now that Google is doing well, all that only means, that some companies go extinct, and some others take their place. But maybe not.
Finally I report on my experience at two highschools in the suburbs of Chicago.
What I see is not pretty; with a much bigger budget than what I saw in highschools in Mexico, less is accomplished. Maybe the sheer number of students is unprecedent in the Chicago area, and administrators do not quite know what to do; maybe two years is not enough for me to get a realistic assessment of efficiencies here and in Mexico. Be it as it may, put together with all the ominous signs I see coming from scholars in disciplines different than mine, which is physics, I want to present here a hypothesis.
Just to give more information to the reader, so he or she can make more sense of my hypothesis, I should add that at this moment I carry a heavy debt. Maybe is all my fault, but I am just thinking publicly so others can consider how relevant is this idea to their own situation.
As some thinkers like Buckminster Fuller have already said, we are facing Utopia or Oblivion, Hegemony or Survival, I add my hypothesis that we, and I in particular, are at a crossroads.
We can change the world for good, as Ray Kurzweil writes in his book, The Singularity is Near ( year 2045 ), or we can go extinct as James Lovelock writes in his book, Gaia's Revenge.
My original contribution is that depending on how we ( and I ) fight for our own survival, we will perish as a species or morph into something new. Something as big as the change we experienced going from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.
May all have wisdom to continue this heroic march we call human civilization.
One reason is that I have experience relevant for all of them, and I collect them here.
I was teaching in a public university in Mexico when the USSR collapsed. I had colleagues that studied there and I talked to them. They had misfeelings, they got a free education in sciences and for that they were grateful. Nevertheless they accepted that not everything was good in Russia. Russians of light skin fought darker students from the third world, when they thought they were getting in their territory. As time passed and the extent of the catastrophe was becoming more and more evident, I thought that the problems in the Soviet Union had more to do with problems in the modern world, than with intrinsic problems of the communist system. Professor Batra, had published some scary ideas from his field in economics that applied to both the second and the third world.
I moved to the US in 1998 to work for Lucent Technologies in Naperville, IL. I only worked there three years, because the company collapsed. This American icon is now owned by the French company ALCATEL. In my opinion Bell Labs was the pinacle of what an industrial laboratory can be. Transistor, Laser, Big Bang, Information Theory, you name it; almost all the important communications technology was being developed there, and then some. Why could they not pay my salary anymore? I cannot help thinking that something funny is going on. One may think that now that Google is doing well, all that only means, that some companies go extinct, and some others take their place. But maybe not.
Finally I report on my experience at two highschools in the suburbs of Chicago.
What I see is not pretty; with a much bigger budget than what I saw in highschools in Mexico, less is accomplished. Maybe the sheer number of students is unprecedent in the Chicago area, and administrators do not quite know what to do; maybe two years is not enough for me to get a realistic assessment of efficiencies here and in Mexico. Be it as it may, put together with all the ominous signs I see coming from scholars in disciplines different than mine, which is physics, I want to present here a hypothesis.
Just to give more information to the reader, so he or she can make more sense of my hypothesis, I should add that at this moment I carry a heavy debt. Maybe is all my fault, but I am just thinking publicly so others can consider how relevant is this idea to their own situation.
As some thinkers like Buckminster Fuller have already said, we are facing Utopia or Oblivion, Hegemony or Survival, I add my hypothesis that we, and I in particular, are at a crossroads.
We can change the world for good, as Ray Kurzweil writes in his book, The Singularity is Near ( year 2045 ), or we can go extinct as James Lovelock writes in his book, Gaia's Revenge.
My original contribution is that depending on how we ( and I ) fight for our own survival, we will perish as a species or morph into something new. Something as big as the change we experienced going from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.
May all have wisdom to continue this heroic march we call human civilization.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Concentrated Ideas
Temblor in Hawaii, Flooding in New Orleans; is there a pattern here?
Both are US locations, both are worrisome. Does it mean something?
I can make a hypothesis, I know this hypothesis is far fetched, and dubious, because I am worried about environmental degradation, but either the hypothesis is wrong or right.
A warmer ocean surface means higher sea level, and warmer air in the vicinity, this can produce bigger hurricanes, like Katrina. Volcanoes draw their energy from down under, not surface water, but maybe a case can be made that warmer surface can tip forces that were previously balanced, and then we see the big force that was contained underground.
I add this on October 22, 2006. Today's Time magazine gives a different explanation, completely independent of warming on the surface of the Earth. You can read it above with the title, " Hawaii's Earthquake Due to Volcanic Stress".
In any case I am looking for signs of anomalous weather. Maybe they mean something. That volcano in Hawaii had been inactive for thousands of years.
Both are US locations, both are worrisome. Does it mean something?
I can make a hypothesis, I know this hypothesis is far fetched, and dubious, because I am worried about environmental degradation, but either the hypothesis is wrong or right.
A warmer ocean surface means higher sea level, and warmer air in the vicinity, this can produce bigger hurricanes, like Katrina. Volcanoes draw their energy from down under, not surface water, but maybe a case can be made that warmer surface can tip forces that were previously balanced, and then we see the big force that was contained underground.
I add this on October 22, 2006. Today's Time magazine gives a different explanation, completely independent of warming on the surface of the Earth. You can read it above with the title, " Hawaii's Earthquake Due to Volcanic Stress".
In any case I am looking for signs of anomalous weather. Maybe they mean something. That volcano in Hawaii had been inactive for thousands of years.
Is There Something Special about This?
I heard over NPR today that a volcano in Hawaii is active now after thousands of years of inactivity.
I wonder what it means. It will take some time before we hear reports on the geophysical aspects of this event.
I wonder what it means. It will take some time before we hear reports on the geophysical aspects of this event.
Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake Strikes Hawaii
"An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 struck Hawaii early Sunday morning, waking up residents and knocking out power."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Nuclear North Korea: The Nightmare Comes to Pass
Now that North Korea has carried out a nuclear test, can anything be done to punish it? Or would the collapse of the regime be even more dangerous?
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
UN Resolution on North Korea
The resolution:
o Demands North Korea eliminate all its nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.
o Requires all countries to prevent the sale or transfer of materials related to Pyongyang's unconventional weapons programmes, as well as large-sized military items such as tanks, missiles and helicopters.
o Demands nations freeze funds overseas of people or businesses connected with North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
o Allows nations to inspect "as necessary" cargo moving in and out of North Korea to check for banned items.
o Bans imports of luxury goods.
o Calls on Pyongyang to return "without precondition" to stalled six-nation talks on its nuclear programme.
o Demands North Korea eliminate all its nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.
o Requires all countries to prevent the sale or transfer of materials related to Pyongyang's unconventional weapons programmes, as well as large-sized military items such as tanks, missiles and helicopters.
o Demands nations freeze funds overseas of people or businesses connected with North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
o Allows nations to inspect "as necessary" cargo moving in and out of North Korea to check for banned items.
o Bans imports of luxury goods.
o Calls on Pyongyang to return "without precondition" to stalled six-nation talks on its nuclear programme.
2045
Ray Kurzweil predicts a singularity in 2045.
Too bad, unless I follow his advice to live forever I will be 96 years old then. I may miss the fun.
Read his book The Singularity is Near
Too bad, unless I follow his advice to live forever I will be 96 years old then. I may miss the fun.
Read his book The Singularity is Near
Signs of Coming Events
If you have read this blog, you may know that I try to predict future events. I know the task is close to impossible. Nevertheless I try. I just finished reading Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival. I had forgotten the US decisions to brake its international commitments on Weapons of Mass Destruction. Prof. Chomsky reminded me of those ominous decisions, at the same time that North Korea took a very logical step and after Saddam Hussein was put in prison, Won Kim Jong-il does not want to go to prison. I could have predicted that.
Get ready for freak weather, world's polluters told
MONTERREY, Mexico - The world's top polluting nations were told on Wednesday to prepare for decades of weather turmoil, even if they act now to curb emissions and pursue green energy sources. Environment and energy ministers meeting in the Mexican city of Monterrey vowed to work faster to control global warming.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Online Collaboration
Today I started to use the Google online collaboration tools. One can share Spread Sheets and html files. I could not use my pdf files though. Either I will convert from tex to html, or look for another tool that allows me to format mathematical expressions.
I will want eventually to write math documents with students online. I am still trying to get them interested in basic math, I am not there yet in online collaboration. In any case these free Google tools come in handy.
On the other hand, this blog could be a collaboration; unfortunately I do not have many comments. I need to state clearly the basis of the collaboration, the expected time each day I will participate, and the expected results.
I venture a topic here. Is this blog useful?
I will want eventually to write math documents with students online. I am still trying to get them interested in basic math, I am not there yet in online collaboration. In any case these free Google tools come in handy.
On the other hand, this blog could be a collaboration; unfortunately I do not have many comments. I need to state clearly the basis of the collaboration, the expected time each day I will participate, and the expected results.
I venture a topic here. Is this blog useful?
Google Docs & Spreadsheets: Google's stand against Microsoft.
Google Docs & Spreadsheets is a web-based word processing and spreadsheet program that keeps documents current and lets the people you choose update files from their own computers. You can, for example, coordinate your student group's homework assignments, access your family to-do list from work or home, or collaborate with remote colleagues on a n
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
If the World is About to End, Why are We so Calm?
I have been reading papers for more than forty years now. I spent some time thinking also. At this moment I feel that some limits, maybe Earth's carrying capacity for humans, have been crossed. Like when an object crosses the event horizon of a black hole, nothing spectacular happens, but the future of that object is sealed. So I suspect we have crossed that threshold. Some of the news items in this blog point in that direction.
If that is so, Why are we so calm?
I really don't know.
For now I congratulate myself in being the 6000th person to dig the story of Google and You Tube. Uplifting story.
If that is so, Why are we so calm?
I really don't know.
For now I congratulate myself in being the 6000th person to dig the story of Google and You Tube. Uplifting story.
Its confirmed. Google buys youtube for $1.6 billion
Google Inc. said Monday it's buying No. 1 Internet video sharing Web site YouTube Inc. for $1.65 billion in stock. The deal is regarded as a largely defensive one that leapfrogs Google into a leading role in a burgeoning Internet marketplace
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Monday, October 09, 2006
What to do about the environment?
From observations some people see worrisome signals. I myself only read the work of scientists working in this area like Dr. James Henson from NASA. I have not done research in this area so I do not know the extent of the problem. From my experience I can only say that I have seen very grim scenes of environmental neglect, maybe worse than most people reading this. It looks ugly.
What should I do?
I really don't know. I do not have money, nor power, only a scientific worldview because of my training.
I want to tell readers of these lines, that the warnings are ominous, I advice that we pay attention, maybe it is as bad as experts say.
According to Lovelock, the creator of Earth System Theory, we are late, he does not see a way out.
I believe that we should organize people's participation in public life. Our leaders have failed us.
What should I do?
I really don't know. I do not have money, nor power, only a scientific worldview because of my training.
I want to tell readers of these lines, that the warnings are ominous, I advice that we pay attention, maybe it is as bad as experts say.
According to Lovelock, the creator of Earth System Theory, we are late, he does not see a way out.
I believe that we should organize people's participation in public life. Our leaders have failed us.
Earth's ecological debt crisis: 'Borrowing' from nature hits new record
Scientific evidence is mounting that rapid population growth and rising living standards among the Earth's six billion inhabitants are putting an intolerable strain on nature.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
North Korea conducts Nuclear Test
North Korea has conduced a Nuclear Test despite warnings from the rest of the world.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Scientists are Regular People, This Week Nobels
Science is boring? Not during nobel week, when the recipients of the highest honors in chemistry, medicine and physics are announced. The 2006 winners were named last week, continuing a tradition begun in 1901, five years after Swedish dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel died, leaving $9 million and instructions to start annual prizes to honor achieveme
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Canada Protests to US Over deported Man
NYT Link
The Canadian government filed an official complaint with the United States over the treatment of Maher Arar, the Canadian the United States sent to Syria for interrogation that included torture on the basis of false terrorism allegations. Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters that he wanted the United States to acknowledge “inappropriate conduct” and to commit that such an incident would not happen again.
The Canadian government filed an official complaint with the United States over the treatment of Maher Arar, the Canadian the United States sent to Syria for interrogation that included torture on the basis of false terrorism allegations. Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters that he wanted the United States to acknowledge “inappropriate conduct” and to commit that such an incident would not happen again.
America's Science Empire: It's About Money ... and More
Every Nobel Prize in science went to an American this year, confirming a 50-year domination of medicine, physics and chemistry. It is a phenomenon that the question of financial resources alone cannot explain. Of the 513 researchers to have been crowned with a scientific Nobel since 1901, 232 were American. But why?
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Researchers in Mexico Discover Sculpture
Researchers said Thursday they have unearthed what may be one of the earliest calendar entries in Meso-America, massive stone sculpture that suggests women held important status roles in pre-Hispanic culture.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Edge of black hole
NASA scientists and their international partners using the new Japanese Suzaku satellite have collected a startling new set of black hole observations, revealing details of twisted space and warped time never before seen with such precision.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Jailed for 34 days, Tribune reporter writes: What I saw in Darfur
A Chicago Tribune reporter who was incarcerated in Darfur for over a month describes his experience and why he thinks the situation there will soon get worse.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Red de Blogs por la Democracia
Acabo de agregar una liga a la Red de Blogs por la Democracia. El movimineto de cambio en México tiene una presencia en la noósfera. También agregué una liga a Puebla. Trabajé dieciocho años en la Universidad Autónoma de Puebla y ayudé a poner en línea La Jornada de Oriente. Varios periodistas de este periódico ponen su material en ese blog.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Signals of Impending Danger
I have been unemployed on and off for the past five years. Besides the nerve wracking experience involved I have had time to read and think. I have worked in theoretical physics since 1972. I keep current on the work posted on the Los Alamos electronic repository in my field. I have followed the news since I was about ten years old, now I am close to sixty. Here I write some comments about hard times I see coming for all of us. I hope I am wrong, I rather live in a world where human ingenuity keeps finding the way out of the messes we keep getting into.
I do not want to clarify how I got in this difficult situation; I just want to state the backdrop from where I see a dark future not just for me but for all humanity. These opinions are based on facts and ideas I have read and thought.
When I was in Mexico I saw the rivers die. In the middle of the city I saw rats feeding on the garbage that people threw in there. My mother's hometwon changed from a nice picturesque place to an ugly medium size city. The whole center of the country has several times more people than when I used to live there. Mexico City and the surrounding area went from four million people when I was in grammar school to more than twenty million people now. Together Mexico the US and Canada have a population that is getting close to half a billion people. The North American continent now has half the number of people than India, this in itself may not seem alarming, but the standard of living that all of us expect in this part of the world is around five times better than what the people of India are enjoying now. Here in the Chicago area I hear rumblings of impending water shortages. India already does not have enough water to satisfy the needs of the people living there.
Besides the scarcity of resources, the refuse from energy usage, mainly CO2 is producing something akin to a plastic bag around the Earth. Maybe my knowledge about the impending environmental catastrophes is inadequate, and I should leave the decisions on what to do to the experts; the problem is that the experts in charge produced the deterioration that I see. I lost faith in the world governments. This reminds me of what happened to me in Mexico City in 1968, up to that point I had trusted the revolutionary government that my ancestors made possible. That year on October 2nd an unknown number of students, just like me, were killed by the army supporting that revolutionary government.
I try to reach my own conclusions based on the information on the public domain. Some signals I am following are:
- Winter conditions in the Chicago area
- Tropical diseases this far North
- Frequency of catastrophes with more than one thousand people dead
- Wars in Equatorial Africa
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Big and Small Things
Today my baby brother turns 40!
He is a distinguished university professor with contributions to what we know about the world. My other siblings also have made their contribution for a better world. This I call small things. What individuals do is a small contribution to the process of life, and specifically human life.
What are the big things?
I really do not know. Maybe the sum of all those small things. The good feelings we produce to those close to us. Maybe we do not even know they feel so good about us. When my father died in December of 1980, all his children felt that some umportant person had passed over the face of the Earth. Of course only us kids knew. The world at large did not know that somebody so important had died. As it happened the next day John Lennon died, and the whole world knew. My father also wrote poetry, and was a courageous and wise man. Was his work small, and Lennon's big?
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind ...
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
He is a distinguished university professor with contributions to what we know about the world. My other siblings also have made their contribution for a better world. This I call small things. What individuals do is a small contribution to the process of life, and specifically human life.
What are the big things?
I really do not know. Maybe the sum of all those small things. The good feelings we produce to those close to us. Maybe we do not even know they feel so good about us. When my father died in December of 1980, all his children felt that some umportant person had passed over the face of the Earth. Of course only us kids knew. The world at large did not know that somebody so important had died. As it happened the next day John Lennon died, and the whole world knew. My father also wrote poetry, and was a courageous and wise man. Was his work small, and Lennon's big?
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind ...
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Good kids
Today I had a better experience than yesterday teaching Algebra. Students can be a handful, almost bordering on the criminal. I am increasing the amount of homework, and requesting more attention in class. If by Friday they do not do the homework, I will send a select few to another location to be tutored on the homework.
I believe that a focus on the subject matter, can be my way out of a discipline problem.
I forgot that young people try to find out how much they can get away with. Now they are finding out the limits I impose. More academic work, and less monkeying around.
I believe that a focus on the subject matter, can be my way out of a discipline problem.
I forgot that young people try to find out how much they can get away with. Now they are finding out the limits I impose. More academic work, and less monkeying around.
Mexican archaeologists find important Aztec ruins
Mexican archaeologists have found what may be the most significant Aztec ruin in decades, with the unearthing of an altar and a monolith in the busy heart of Mexico City, Mayor Alejandro Encinas said on Wednesday.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
How does the future look like?
I am among young people having fun in a photography class. Unfortunately not all my math classes are so gay. There is a product, students like to see the pictures they make, and they want to make better ones; -- "that is the prettiest one!" -- one says. The instructor is a graduate of this high school. I don't see any student that is here because he or she has to be here. They are motivated.
Mathematics is a required class, that is a blessing in disguise. It is up to me to make the students feel comfortable, so far I am not satisfied.
I already taught college students and older high school students. I even tried to work with grammar school children.
The future looks worrisome from my standpoint. It is not the students, it is more us and our parents and grand-parents. It seems to me that we abused our house; the Earth. The chemical composition of the atmosphere has changed since at least ten thousand years, when human culture started.
The children, all in all, seem to be calm. I am getting nervous because of the wars and environmental catastrophes I see, I hope I am wrong.
Mathematics is a required class, that is a blessing in disguise. It is up to me to make the students feel comfortable, so far I am not satisfied.
I already taught college students and older high school students. I even tried to work with grammar school children.
The future looks worrisome from my standpoint. It is not the students, it is more us and our parents and grand-parents. It seems to me that we abused our house; the Earth. The chemical composition of the atmosphere has changed since at least ten thousand years, when human culture started.
The children, all in all, seem to be calm. I am getting nervous because of the wars and environmental catastrophes I see, I hope I am wrong.
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