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Kategorie: Think!

Posts for education – selfreflection is the first step in the 3rd Millenium.

The story of stuff

Published on 29. Mai 2008

The story of stuffHave you ever bought a radio for € 7.50? Ever asked yourself how it is possible to pay for the high tech insides, the plastic housing, the disposal of toxic waste from production, the fees, the transport from China, the margins of producer, dealer and seller with out of this low amount?

Did you ever thought about what goes on before and after you buy stuff? In this 20 minute animation you’ll get a firm overview of the whole process: earn resources, production, distribution, selling and disposal of waste. Where does our consumption lead us?

Probably this is nothing new to you — nevertheless it’s fun to watch this piece of art, which shows in a surprisingly clear and funny manner the complex connections, the big picture of what is going on when you buy stuff.

You won’t feel sad after, because Annie don’t point a finger at you saying «You’re a dumb, mean destroyer». You’ll feel like «Wow, why don’t we change that, I want to».

This is great educational stuff! Show and talk about this with you children and everyone who wants to know or wonders. And them who don’t too! They will go 😯 !

Published inEcologyEconomyThink!

When will we fairvote?

Published on 21. Mai 2008

So, first, let me throw some numbers at you:

  • In USA, between 1979 and 2005, the income of the poorest households increased by 1.3 % annually, the average income less than 1 %, the top revenues by 200 %. If you calculate the latter after tax it even grew 228 %.
  • The richest percent in the USA earned between 2002 and 2006 3/4 from the earnings growth. Statistically followed by Great Britain, Spain and Switzerland (oh my!).
  • In Germany, two tenth own about 80 % from the assets.
  • In 2007, top managers income grew 25 % in Germany.
  • Etc, you know what I mean…

(via misswirtschaft.blogspot.com, german. Get the data on US-income here.)

The gap between rich and poor

In the 1920s we had about the same extraordinary mess, followed by the great depression in the 30s. As a consequence (also because WW II), in the middle 50s the highest US tax rate was 91 %, the one for corporate profits 45 %. But today?

We all know who is responsible for todays inequity. It’s not me, not you (well, the chances are about 1:10), it’s not God, it’s neither Mickey Mouse nor Dagobert Duck. It’s THEM! If one points at someone, three fingers point at yourself, so we know who is THEM: We ALL are.

We are in the advantageous situation where we all vote every day several times. Do you buy Nestlé or regional products? On which bank do you save your money? Do you use escalators and go to your fitness center by car? Who do you vote for, politically? Do you buy fast or organic food? Do you buy and travel fair?

US-taxes 1979-2005Profit (or a real fair amount of) belongs to the one who spins the screw driver. Why let we the one who paid for the screw driver steal the profit? And, finally, why is this thefts income tax rate even lower than the one of them who are cleaning his office? Who is doing the real work here, the dollar?

We all know from our own inner temptation that everyone thinks of himself first. So why do we vote for the rich? Do we believe the rich must be wise? Or do we believe they do know to deal with crisis because they became rich? Have we all missed Dagobert Duck stories in our youth?

Everywhere you can read who and what is responsible for the actual crisis. The Neocons/-liberals have proofed themselves as not survivable without their hated, „over regulating“ governments and state banks paying for their mess. Why can’t we simply stop this behavior? What are we afraid of? Of loosing our employment? Todays production is in China because we vote for the thefts rules — we vote for our own crisis every day. Why is this so hard to understand?

:dontget:

Diversification is good for social stability — but it seems we don’t want a peaceful society. In the end we shoot ourselves in our homes, schools and on streets, out of frustration and fear. Sometimes this system is unbelievable: We vote for our own slavery while believing to be free, and when we check our misery, we execute ourselves. Is this the meaning of life? Or maybe an intermediate step in our evolution? Hopefully we will evolve a bit cleverer than lemmings…

Published inEconomyPoliticsSocietyThink!

China and its Olympic Boxing

Published on 4. April 2008

China trains for Olympia This pic I found at www.igfm.de. It’s a german site from „international society for human rights“, on a subpage for notifications. From another subpage you can find some postcards and posters.

Are the Olympic Games good for chinese people? I’m not shure what to think of it. Boycott china means isolation and there would be no communication, no influence. Doing the Olympic Games in China means thousands of press people sniffing around and even China will not be able to control them all, wouldn’t they? Or will China simply throw in enough snitchers? 😕

China can censor the internet, but can hardly control all the informations exchanging between chinese people and foreigners. So if we go there, we have much more possibilities. In the meantime, we have to turn a blind eye or two to todays circumstances. Which is something I really hate!

I tend to belive that the KP somehow is of the same kind like the Bush administration and so many other: They want to rule, the more, the better. Others are bad, don’t know nothing, are doing wrong, in general are the enemies. This is thinking of the past millenniums, of our biological heritage, which will destroy us if we can’t get behind it.

Todays freedom of pressIf the average human would be this bad, we would have died off since long. I assume there are some 15 to 25 % us who are holding the rest back to do the next step – and in general they do it like this nowadays.

But we may realize that today humans are more economic on death: Most western systems tend to do less physical harms to its people to control them. The modern systemic pressure is more of psychological and economic kind. Human work power is understood as assets, it is understood that physical force leads to physical opposition – see todays Tibet, Iraq or Palestine, etc. This modern slavery seems perfect: People believe in being free, while they do drudgery and are cash cows themselves. But in counts of lives it could be considered as an advance. Nevertheless, many leaders didn’t got this change yet…

So are the Olympic Games good for chinese people? I think, they have nothing to loose. So they can only win.

Are the games good for Tibet? Running the torch through Tibet is one of the biggest affronts I can imagine, if you think of the original, symbolic meaning. This is so… it makes me want to be the boxer above! This is so pretentious! It’s the sheriff with the thickest gun, openly dealing with the gangsters, showing off in front of his office: «Look here, how I f*ck you people, and it feels daaamn goood!» But be sure must of his functionaries believe credulous they do help people…

I really don’t know. I dream of 25’000 olympic photographers rushing tibet on one day, occupying the occupiers to flood the KP-occupied chinese media, so chinese people can reoccupy their land, confound the sheriff. But usually men – and not women – just change roles in the above boxing match…

:dontget:

Published inPoliticsSocietyThink!

Carnegie Mellon Lecture: Global Climate Change

Published on 28. März 2008

On YouTube I stumbled upon this actual lecture about Climate Change. It is mainly in three parts:

  • Facts about climate change from an environmental point of view
  • Needs and possibilities to master the challenge
  • Economical views on the subject

The question of why America sends annual 300 Mrd $ to foreign countries for oil, which is answered with Lenin’s quote „The capitalists are so hungry for profits that they will sell us the rope to hang them with.“, and the addition „…and they will send us the money to buy the rope“ is a very typical view for Americans somehow, I think. Cowboy Smiley

Nevertheless, with todays technics our vehicles could be 50 %, buildings 80 % more efficient without change in lifestyle. Acting is not a question of money or ideology, but of intelligence.

What not comes in numbers here is the benefit in public health due to better air and water quality. Nothing is really new here, but the arguments may help you out in the field…

(Dr. Lester Lave, Co-Director Carnegie Mellon Electrical Industry Center; Dr. M. Granger Morgan, Director of the Climate Decision Making Center; Edward Rubin, Professor in Engineering and Public Policy and Mechanical Engineering, 1:15)

If you wanna know it really exactly, watch the following video too, which outlines the research and the process behind the Global Climate Change Report to the Bush administration in 2002. So yes, they know: Global warming is fact, it’s due human activities, without sun activities being a reason etc.

(And yes, this is a very dry one, but gives an excellent overview on the complexity of the matter, if you’d like to be fed with data, numbers and formulas by Ralph Cicerone, Chancellor of the University of California at Irvine, 1:10)

Published inEcologyScience

The Blue Brain of Lausanne

Published on 14. März 2008

(Update Nov. 2009): German Article on Zeit Online http://www.zeit.de/2009/21/PD-Markram

On futur:plom I stumbled over a link to an article „Out of the blue“ on seedmagazine which describes the Blue Brain Project (with some nice simulation videos) from Lausanne here in Switzerland. It started in 2005 and aimed in a first step at creating a digital model of a single neuron.

In December 2006 the project reached the goal of simulating 10’000 neurons, which equivalents a 0.5 x 2 mm slice of a rat brain. To get me right: This project is not about emulating a brain by translating brain work into digital code in form of a tamagotchi – this is a supercomputer with 22.8 teraflops to simulate neuron networks on a biological level. The computer doesn’t think like a brain, the computer is acting as a neuron network.

Neuron with simulation data mapped in color.
Neuron with simulation data mapped in color.

Next step will be simulating a whole rat brain, then a human brain. The road map of ten years to this point may be a bit scary, but I like the approach because this is not reductionist science. By digitally rebuilding a brain we may get a better understanding of nature, which is more a holistic system than a four-dimensional machine. We may enjoy a paradigm shift in the near future… :please:

Now the really interesting part is about consciousness. Will this computer get one? Today I think possibly yes, because I don’t see consciousness as something mystical – thinking words, imagine pictures and planning strategies is simply an evolutionary advance. But there’s too this kind of consciousness one can reach by hushing the brain. In ordinary words: Will this computer get charity? Mercy? Will it see dying soldiers simply as collateral damage?

I guess so. In fact, from a certain point of view, the individual is not important – only the surviving of the system is. Valuation of individuals is a relatively new phenomena and actually bad for the gen pool.

It depends on what is defined as the system. Is it a tribe or an ethnic group, humanity or the earth, the universe? At this point Stanislav Lem comes to mind, especially his story „Golem XIV„. This technological singularity judged war simply as illogical (By the way: „Golem XIV“ is a must read in many ways!). However, I don’t think such computers will find a benefit in meditation – aside from standby mode.

Since „Out of the blue“ is a nine page read, you can get a small excerpt if you click on read more. And what do you think: Can a technological singularity reach higher consciousness? Speaking in the concept of souls: Can a machine get a soul? Or can humans „bewitch“ machines and get them a soul? Or is anyway everything illusion, including me typing this?

WeiterlesenThe Blue Brain of Lausanne
Published inScience

Brattleboro approve Bush-Cheney indictment articles

Published on 7. März 2008

Wanted: Bush and CheneyWow, it’s definetly true: America is the country of the unlimited possibilities! President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney now may want to think twice about any vacation plans in the Green Mountain state, where the voters of Brattleboro today voted to seek an indictment of the president and vice president and arrest them if they show up in town.

Read more here on michaelmorre.com, globalresearch.ca or boston.com.

Before I was reading this article from Deepak Chopra, «Why Jesus lost Nomination». The first comments are mostly evangelical, I only thought «oh my god, America is lost!». Later one Commenter wrote: To discuss with evangelicals is like kicking a big rock – no move, but your foot hurts. So you better go around and leave it.

How ever, on the other hand, there is now an indictment article on Bush and Cheney in Brattleboro. Nature tries to keep the balance, it seems. I can live with that… :peace:

Published inPolitics

Launchball

Published on 2. März 2008

Just found this very interesting site: Science Museum England. It’s very well done with a great look and feel. This applies also to this beautiful game:

Screenshot Launchball

If you loved playing Leco Technic, you’ll love Launchball too! Having fans, batteries, switches, copper, magnets, mirrors, beams, jumppads, heaters, iceblocks, escalators etc. at your hands, you’ll have to guide a ball in its goal. If you like, you can create your own levels and share them with others. Perfect to tinker a little while.

But be warned – CAUTION: If you click this link above, say goodbye for the next two hours. If not, you never were a true Lego master. 😉

Published inFunThink!

The Nokia Morph Concept

Published on 1. März 2008

Here’s a small view in our communication future. Imagine a piece of plastic film which fulfills all your needs in every days live:


(Seen on futur.plomlompom.de)

Some thought about this:

  • body related:
    • To have a solar powered smart phone, a palmtop, a mp3-player, an environment and health analyzer, a camera, a memory device, a paycard and eventually a folded flying carpet in a plastic film is a beautiful concept. You don’t have to lock it away if you go swimming.
    • I definitely wouldn’t like to have it hardwired to my brain. Unless the hotline to Manitou is integrated too.
    • They don’t say anything about the expected SAR-value. Even in five or ten years I wouldn’t like my wrist cooked.
    • Nice to have a device to warn me about pollution in the apple I’m about to eat or in the air I’m breathing – but can it act as a mask too?
    • I like most the unbreakable touchscreen and the superhydrophobic surface.
    • Please no Windows 3000 CE!
  • mind related
    • Such devices should get a overall function lock: To prevent brain degeneration you must enter every day some reflecting thoughts about your life or your surrounding world, play some chess, be creative with it in an artistic way or sit down/meditate quietly for some time – otherwise you’ll get a bluescreen.
    • If I ask for time, it should make me guess first to train my intuition.
    • If I think of paying my tea – can it send a remark on the waiters to-do-list?
  • soul related
    • If I’m getting angry because the waitress is not coming – can it automatically send a GPS-location from me to her Nokia Morph with an acoustic beep, overriding her bluescreen? Ideally with a navigation path for her.
    • I miss the ability to generate an automated playlist depending on my mood.
    • If a Morph-wearing child or woman is mistreated, it should inform the next social worker or the police at once.
    • The mistreating person should get an electroshock.
    • Once an emotional network is established, it can inform me «Caution: Angry racer behind!», «Distracted manager ahead!» or «Grandpa in gateway!» while flying on it.

Seriously, I believe technology can help to save our future – especially with efficiency. Also I believe in the importance to stay in focus with the real problems. What advantage do I have if I’m connected with the whole world but loose the connection to myself.

Maybe it’s evolutions way that we need to play around until it gets boring – so we can turn in searchers for truth again. Hopefully nature gives us enough time.

Published inScienceSocietyThink!

A dollars wondrous journey

Published on 15. Oktober 2007

Hello, today’s Blog Action Day! So here’s my post. Since it’s about environment and I thought there are so many experts better than me out there, I’ll write a nice little tale. Well, finally it got a bit oversized, because I tried to tell this and to tell that too, and those points seems important, and so on. There are no Karl-May-like lengthy descriptions, but our little friend stumbles from one adventure into the next before he reaches his destiny.

So I hope you take your time and enjoy the reading! However, I had fun writing it. And please leave a note. 🙂

A dollars wondrous journey

American DollarOnce upon a time there was a lonesome Dollar. It was not very beautiful – more the average type of a green printed piece of paper. He was very ambitious and wanted to make more out of his live. So he decided to go out into the big, wide world to see it all – and to become more beautiful, as every dollar wants to be.

By chance he found himself in Indonesia. He remembered that rainforest is considered as a good place to become more beautiful – for the price of only one tree. «There are so many trees» he thought, «nobody will miss it if I’ll take one».

Short time later he felt more beautiful because it had taken the trees beauty and Dollar was very pleased with himself. But, on the other hand, he felt no longer independent. «Doesn’t matter» he told himself matter-of-factly, and was magically drawn along with the tree over the ocean to America.

ErosionHe never looked behind and so he couldn’t see all the other dollars hunting for beauty in the woods and the trees vanishing one by one. Very quickly the rainforests was cleared of trees – which enhanced neatness and visibility of the environment enormously – and also in making Dollars more beautiful. Problem was, once the forests were deserted, no dollars came anymore. People in now raindesert-countries started to fight each other out of frustration and lack of education to free themselves from their anger. Many times their leaders told them to do so because they feared the powers from the poor. And as long as they fought each other, they wouldn’t fight the leaders.

In America, in the meantime, the tree had ended up as a door case. Our dollar was owned by an international habitation proprietor, now ten times more beautiful. Although he was not free anymore, he had a good life and enjoyed his beauty. To become even more beautiful, he was sent to Germany: There were low cost housings for sale and they promised much beauty. After some home-improvement projects that made the workers sweat, Dollar pocketed his first slice of beauty.

PlattenbauThen the buildings were sold again and our dollar got his second slice of beauty. He returned to America twenty times as beautiful as when he arrived in Europe. Again he didn’t look back and therefore couldn’t see the tears of families which didn’t find a payable flat anymore. And those who could afford high lease prices had to live in energy wasting houses full of toxic materials. It paid the most beauty – for Dollar.

WeiterlesenA dollars wondrous journey
Published inEcologyEconomyFunPoliticsSocietyThink!

Junkyard Gürbetal

Published on 9. September 2007

This is one where people are of two minds I think. Even my own splits in two here. Can a junkyard bear a historical meaning? And if yes, should it be cleared due to environmental protection?

Junkyard 1

Well, the story is this: In the years from 1933 until 1975, when his son took over his business, Walter Messerli dealt second hand spares. He parked the remaining car wrecks in his backyard, where they are still today. Now a local curt decided that the area has to be cleared because of pollution. Now there’s a pool forming to save this ‚Historical Junkyard‚.

You know, I want cars with combustion engines abolished. I would stand in the first row! But when I see this pictures – there’s something intriguing and I’m sort of glad I don’t have to make the decision. Click ‚continue reading‘ to see more pics and tell me what you think.

WeiterlesenJunkyard Gürbetal
Published inEcologyFun

Killing fuss

Published on 23. August 2007

In ‚Dying for some quiet: The truth about noise pollution‚ in the NewScientist they state that

«…the WHO’s findings suggest that long-term exposure to traffic noise may account for 3 per cent of deaths from ischaemic heart disease in Europe – typically heart attacks.»

In Europa alone probably half a million lifeyears are lost anually.

Killing fussNothing new are the facts that chronical niose pollution cause sleep disorder, hardness of hearing and learning disorders.

But really interesting is this:

A Swedish survey in Munich has shown a 25 % advancement of childrens long-term memory in th area of the airport Riem, after it was closed. Just impressive is the fact of a memory decline in the same degree in the area of the new Munich airport since it started operation.

So, what do we learn? Wearing ear muffs should be obligatory… 😐

Published inHealthScienceSocietyThink!

Growth and exponential functions

Published on 18. August 2007

«The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.»

Watch this dissertation from Dr. Albert A. Bartlett, professor emeritus of physics at the university of Boulder, Colorado (8 parts, each approx. 9 min):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY

Mankind is growing with approx. 1.6 percent a year. This means, in 780 years we’ll have an one-squaremeter-society: on every squaremeter land is one person living. And in 2500 years mankind will weigh the same as the whole earth (dear Albert is a joker for shure).

Albert A. BertlettOr think of bacteria living in a bottle. It’s eleven o’clock. They double their volume once a minute. What time is it, when they realize that the bottle is half full and they’re getting a place problem? Right, it’s exact 11:59. If they become aware of the fact when the bottle is one eighth full? It’s 11:57. Ok, they start a big search now and can find 3 more bottles by the time when the first is one fourth full, witch gives an amazing amount of space: 16 times the room they use now! Problem solved, you think? Wait until 12:02…

Click above – this is the most important video you’ll ever see! Find out why it seems that most politicians, economists and even scientists are unable to do simple math we all did back in school.

And while you are at it, asking yourselt why we should act today to save our tomorrow, have a quick look at this video (9 min).

Published inEcologyEconomyPoliticsSocietyThink!

Global Dimming

Published on 31. Mai 2007

industry and greenhouse gases

English (deutsch siehe unten)

If you thought it would be nice to have mediterranean temperatures in middle Europe by two more degrees Celsius in 2025, you must know that there is a good chance we’d have an increase of four degrees that year. And with it the dryness of nord Africa.

You ask why? Particulate matter might decrease the effect of greenhouse gases by its half, Nowadays, with all the particle filters, we’ll eventually get a nice burn in the future – simple, isn’t it?

Watch this BBC-documentation on YouTube and spread the word:

Global Dimming
(edit: Updated the videolinks)

Deutsch

Wer dachte, es wäre hübsch, in Mitteleuropa Mittelmeerklima zu haben, indem es 2 Grad wärmer wird, muss damit rechnen, dass es bis dann 4 Grad wärmer geworden ist. Und damit hier so trocken wie in Nordafrika.

Wie das gehen soll? Feinstaub in der Atmosphäre dürfte den Effekt der Treibhausgase um die Hälfte dämpfen. Mit den heutigen Partikelfiltern werden wir uns vielleicht einen netten Sonnenbrand einfangen.

Guck Dir dazu diese BBC-Doku auf YouTube:

Global Dimming Teil 1 | Teil 2 | Teil 3 | Teil 4 | Teil 5

Published inEcologyScienceThink!

Have a Game

Published on 15. April 2007

Since I didn’t got inspired by something spectacular, I post here some links to little games thar you can play online. Some requires plugins like Shockwave, which you may have to install or update to make fun of it.

  • Bubble ShooterThe first one is Bubble Shooter. In classical manner you’ll have to hit colored bubbles with another one you shoot. If there are more than three in the same color, they’ll disappear. The goal is to clean the bubbles off the field. Beware: Danger of habit formation!
  • The second is a classic: Backgammon.
  • Gold StrikeOne more is Gold Strike. You’ll be a miner who’s diggin‘ to some Banjosounds. The game principle is somewhat like Bubbles, but with a time limit and the bricks disappear, if there are more than two of the same type neighboring. It’s fun, but the game seems somewhat unfinished…
  • Snow StormFor a limitet time (until you’ve found the best strategy) is Snow Storm. Free the parking area with your snow plug. The graphics are very nicely done.

Have fun with these and let me know which you like most. On http://www.playit.ch you can find tons of games – most are some kind of stupid… you know 😉 . Also, please post in the comments if you know some good sites for a short break.

Published inFunThink!