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News Briefs 7-09-2009

I’m convinced the universe is working on a new and improved Murphy’s Law, and my life is the beta version.

Quote of the Day:

You can give people money or food and help them for a while. You can give them an education and help them for one life. But if you give them an opportunity to really meet with their mind – to understand that their mind is indestructible space – you help them for life, for death, what comes after death and for all future lives.

Kalu Rinpoche

  1. The lost art of child rearing
    In Re: Older people have a much stronger sense of morality than the young, the world’s biggest study into dishonesty suggests.

    “Dr Stefan Fafinski and Dr Emily Finch, co-authors, said that we probably become more judgemental as we got older because we had “more to lose”.

    “These results could suggest that society is becoming more dishonest as the young are less likely to consider actions are wrong,” said Dr Fafinsky, a qualified criminal lawyer.

    “But it could be that the older you get your views change. Maybe it is the older you get the possessions you acquire and so the more you value honesty.

    “I don’t think we are turning into a nation of petty criminals.”

    A nation (or society) of petty criminals?
    No more than has always been the human potential for such behavior. But today, with parenting skills having become an anachronism and liberal social concepts that forbid most forms of punishment, that old potential is again there to be tapped at whim by the young immortal.

    In so many instances of youthful crime, it is the parent and the state who should bear at least some portion of the responsibility.

    1. indeed
      Indeed some sociological questions are asked the wrong way.

      We ask, what makes kids violent, or careless of other’s feelings or wellbeing.

      That is the wrong question – normal children are that way to start with. Behaving in a cooperative way is learned behaviour. Parenting is an essential part of teaching children, schools can’t do much for good personality development. The environment in schools is too competitive for that, and it needs to be competitive. Children need to learn and understand both compassion and competition.

  2. LOL
    [quote]I’m convinced the universe is working on a new and improved Murphy’s Law, and my life is the beta version.[/quote]

    I’m using this as Quote of the Day next Thursday! 😛

    1. Murphy’s Law
      >> I’m using this as Quote of the Day next Thursday! 😛

      I didn’t have time to look for the little ‘C in a circle’ symbol, but I definitely claim copyright on that one! 😉

      Kat

  3. Bermeja
    A quick look at Google Earth shows the location to be quite close to the edge of the continental shelf. Perhaps an earthquake did in Bermeja? The article quotes maps, however maps are often compiled from earlier maps. When was the last time someone took a picture of the island or set foot on it? That’s what we need to know.

    1. Huh?
      [quote]Some have scented skulduggery on an epic scale and conspiratorially minded Mexican nationalists have seized on the mystery as an opportunity to bludgeon America, a standard reflex when things go wrong south of the Rio Grande.

      They accuse the great behemoth in the north of destroying the island – described in some accounts as a sand bar or coral clump and in others as a volcanic rock rising out of the sea – to undermine Mexico’s oil claims. Others argue that natural causes, from rising sea levels to earthquakes, may have brought about the demise of Bermeja, which means bright red in Spanish.[/quote]

      Hmmm… first time I heard of this —and every day I read Reforma, one of the most important newspapers in Mexico.

      It’s an interesting mystery. Reminds me of the accounts of “vanishing islands” in ancient times, when mariners thought these temporal landmarks were patches of land stuck on the back of great sea monsters.

      My first thought was that the island was sunk beneath the ocean because of the rise of water levels; but that wouldn’t explain why explorers and prospectors failed to locate a single trace of it.

      What was the island composed of primarily? If it was a coral reef, maybe it suffered from erosion?

      Maybe our friend daydreamer, who is a trained geologist, could throw some light on this issue.

  4. Fairy Tales
    Kat, thanks for the heads up on the fairy tales/cultural evolution lecture. It’s just down the road, and right up my street! I’m going to try to catch it tomorrow.

  5. Re. Ancient Black Hole:
    “It

    Re. Ancient Black Hole:

    “It is surprising that such a giant galaxy existed when the universe was only one-sixteenth of its present age,” said lead-author Tomotsugu Goto, of the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. “The galaxy and black hole must have formed very rapidly in the early universe.”

    Maybe they are immigrants from a previous Universe, ancestor to our own.

  6. Re. The world may have to
    Re. The world may have to turn to God to save itself from climate change, claims one of Britain’s most eminent scientists:

    He said that no country was prepared to take the lead and a “punisher” was needed to make sure the rules of co-operation were not broken.

    The former Government chief scientific advisor said in the past that was God and it might be time again for religion to fill the gap.

    “Maybe religion is needed,” said Lord May, who was brought up a Scottish Presbyterian but went through an “inverse epiphany” at the age of 11.

    “A supernatural punisher maybe part of the solution.”

    To me is sad to see again and again that atheists seem only to focus on the negative aspects of religion. It’s not really God who Lord May seems to wish to enlist in the enviromental campaign, but the Devil! :-/

    We don’t need a punisher. What we need is to inflame a sense of compassion that prompts us to embark in the kind of sacrifices that will be needed to overcome the most drastic outcomes of climate change.

    Because, unlike George Michael, I don’t think God ever bothered with keeping score. We’re the ones who keep our own.

    1. When things were better
      Look at past history, when things were better, when everyone was religious, the punisher in chief made sure the world was in good order.

      When the fear of God prevented wars, and encouraged clean living. There was no violence, no pestilence, no thievery, no dishonesty of any kind.

      Yes in history, as recently as … oh wait a sec, when was that again?

  7. Re. Telegraphs ran on
    Re. Telegraphs ran on electric air in crazy 1895 magnetic storm:

    The fight to secure the Earth’s technical systems from geomagnetic anomalies continues. Late last year, the National Academies of Science put out a report on severe space weather events. If a storm even approaching 1859 levels were to happen again, they concluded the damage could range upwards of a $1 trillion, largely because of disruptions to the electrical grid.

    Yeah, but that would have made a more boring blockbuster 😉

  8. Older people have stronger morality . . . .
    Questions . . . I have questions . . .

    Is this something that’s generalizable to generations throughout history?
    Is this evidence of ethical evolution taking place over the lifespan, that is an artifact of time and experience?
    If the older gneration is more moral, does this indicate it failed to effectively pass on its values to its offspring (lousy, but moral parents)?
    Is this evidence of real shift in moral values or are younger people just more honest about dishonesty (hence, actually more moral)?

    I could go on like this for hours. Interesing, but it’s greatest value may be spurring future research.

    1. IMO the researchers failed to
      IMO the researchers failed to realize the outcome of their results could also be interpreted as proof that the younger generations are more tolerant than the older ones, who tend to have a more manicheistic (black/white) view of the world.

      It would have been interesting if they had asked questions regarding the interviewees’ views on religion and sexual orientation.

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