mexico spawning 2009
Friday, September 25th, 2009
Archive for September, 2009
mexico spawning 2009
Friday, September 25th, 2009
SAUDI ARABIA: Will new university bring freedoms?
Friday, September 25th, 2009
September 24, 2009 | 7:26 am
Saudi Arabia’s first coeducational university, a graduate research institution known as the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or KAUST, is a test of “whether the kingdom is prepared to expand academic freedoms and women’s rights,” said Human Rights Watch.
The university, which opened Wednesday, is located about 50 miles north of the Red Sea city of Jidda. The Saudi-based English-language daily Arab News featured a glowing — some would say glorifying — account of the inauguration ceremony:
“Breathtaking, spectacular and just amazing." That is how Wednesday’s inauguration ceremony of the multibillion-dollar King Abdullah University of Science and Technology was described by a large section of the nearly 3,000 guests that included prominent Saudis, foreign leaders, Nobel laureates, researchers, scientists and journalists.”
The university prides itself with a high-tech campus and state-of-the-art labs, and boasts the world's 14th-fastest supercomputer. It has partnerships with leading foreign universities and has so far attracted about 70 professors and 800 students from 61 countries.
The institution breaks a number of the Islamic kingdom’s social taboos, including allowing men and women to mix freely in classes and not forcing women to wear veils. In all other Saudi universities, women and men are taught separately and male professors lecture to female students via video link.
Critics say the university is an artificial world, an enclave cut off from the rest of the kingdom, where mostly foreign students will study in a slick multibillion-dollar bubble. It is another example, they say, of how Saudi oil money can build grand schemes for science and technology but cannot change the restrictions of an ultraconservative society.
“The question is whether KAUST will live up to its apparent commitments to freedom and to gender equality,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director for Human Rights Watch. “It remains to be seen whether the university will be an island of freedom in an ocean of repression, or whether it can help spread freedoms to other parts of the kingdom.”
So far, Saudi universities have not protected academic standards. Human Rights Watch quotes a communique that was sent to all university presidents in March from the Ministry of Higher Education which forbids education officials, including academics, from “any direct communication with foreign parties or cooperation with diplomatic missions or international organizations in the kingdom.”
– Alexandra Sandels in Beirut
Photo: A news conference at the university's opening. Credit: Associated Press
September 24, 2009 | 7:26 am
Saudi Arabia’s first coeducational university, a graduate research institution known as the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or KAUST, is a test of “whether the kingdom is prepared to expand academic freedoms and women’s rights,” said Human Rights Watch.
The university, which opened Wednesday, is located about 50 miles north of the Red Sea city of Jidda. The Saudi-based English-language daily Arab News featured a glowing — some would say glorifying — account of the inauguration ceremony:
“Breathtaking, spectacular and just amazing." That is how Wednesday’s inauguration ceremony of the multibillion-dollar King Abdullah University of Science and Technology was described by a large section of the nearly 3,000 guests that included prominent Saudis, foreign leaders, Nobel laureates, researchers, scientists and journalists.”
The university prides itself with a high-tech campus and state-of-the-art labs, and boasts the world's 14th-fastest supercomputer. It has partnerships with leading foreign universities and has so far attracted about 70 professors and 800 students from 61 countries.
The institution breaks a number of the Islamic kingdom’s social taboos, including allowing men and women to mix freely in classes and not forcing women to wear veils. In all other Saudi universities, women and men are taught separately and male professors lecture to female students via video link.
Critics say the university is an artificial world, an enclave cut off from the rest of the kingdom, where mostly foreign students will study in a slick multibillion-dollar bubble. It is another example, they say, of how Saudi oil money can build grand schemes for science and technology but cannot change the restrictions of an ultraconservative society.
“The question is whether KAUST will live up to its apparent commitments to freedom and to gender equality,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director for Human Rights Watch. “It remains to be seen whether the university will be an island of freedom in an ocean of repression, or whether it can help spread freedoms to other parts of the kingdom.”
So far, Saudi universities have not protected academic standards. Human Rights Watch quotes a communique that was sent to all university presidents in March from the Ministry of Higher Education which forbids education officials, including academics, from “any direct communication with foreign parties or cooperation with diplomatic missions or international organizations in the kingdom.”
– Alexandra Sandels in Beirut
Photo: A news conference at the university's opening. Credit: Associated Press
Saudi to launch elite science, tech university
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
CAIRO — Saudi Arabia has dug into its oil-fueled coffers to set up a new research university, a multibillion dollar coed venture built on the promise of scientific freedom in a region where a conservative interpretation of Islam has often been blamed for stifling innovation.
The King Abdullah Science and Technology University — complete with state-of-the-art labs, the world's 14th fastest supercomputer and one of the biggest endowments worldwide — is poised to officially open its doors Wednesday on a sprawling campus nestled along the Red Sea coast about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the commercial center of Jeddah.
Saudi officials have envisaged the postgraduate institution as a key part of the kingdom's plans to transform itself into a global scientific hub — the latest effort in the oil-rich Gulf region to diversify its economic base.
But KAUST, whether its founders intend it or not, has the potential to represent one of the clearest fault lines in a battle between conservatives and modernizers in the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia is the most religiously strict country in the Middle East with total segregation of the sexes and practices Wahhabi Islam — a byword for conservatism around the region. But the new university will not require women to wear veils or cover their faces, and they will be able to mix freely with men.
They will also be allowed to drive, a taboo in a country where women must literally take a back seat to their male drivers.
With KAUST's inauguration, "we see the beginning of a community that is unique" in Saudi Arabia, the university's president, Choon Fong Shih told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday.
"We recruit the very best in the world …. and we give them the freedom to pursue their scientific interests," said Shih, a mechanical engineer by training who headed the National University of Singapore for nine years.
While it takes decades to develop world class institutions like what KAUST hopes to become, the university's breakneck inception in many ways reflects Saudi Arabia's rise to wealth and power in the global political and economic arena.
The inaugural ceremony is to be headed by its namesake, the Saudi monarch, as well as several world leaders, dignitaries and officials who will stand on what three years ago was just a sweeping acreage of sand, but is now a 36 square kilometer (13.9 square mile) campus with its beach on the Red Sea.
In a region where Internet access can often be lackluster, KAUSTS boasts Shaheen, a 222 teraflops supercomputer which officials says is the fastest in the Middle East and 14th fastest in the world. The computer is named after the Arab Peregrine falcon, believed to be the fastest animal on earth.
It also boasts a fully immersive, six-sided virtual reality facility called CORNEA that officials say, for example, can allow researchers to visualize earthquakes on a planetary scale.
Among the other equipment and facilities are 10 advanced nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, a coastal and marine resources laboratory and bioengineering facilities with labs needs to study cell molecules for DNA sequencing.
The English curriculum is focused on the sciences, with masters and doctoral degrees offered in nine fields including computer science, bioscience and various engineering specialties. The university is also focused on collaborative work with the private sector, as well as other research institutions.
KAUST has enrolled 817 students representing 61 different countries, of whom 314 begin classes this month while the rest are scheduled to enroll in the beginning of 2010. The aim is to expand to 2,000 students within eight to 10 years.
Of that total, 15 percent are Saudi, say university officials.
With research institutions, cash is king, and KAUST, thanks to Saudi's oil wealth, has plenty.
It has tossed generous salary packages to prospective hires from around the world, an offer made more tempting by a multibillion dollar endowment that Shih says is "one of the biggest in the world."
The 71 faculty members include 14 from the U.S., seven from Germany and six from Canada.
Shih did not provide a specific figure, but the funding allows all the students to receive full scholarships covering their tuition plus a stipend.
He says without that aid, students would have to pay about $60,000 to $70,000 per year.
The university is being launched at a time when the OPEC powerhouse has been upping its push to focus on education and development programs aimed at boosting economic growth.
Saudi officials have said they are committed to spending $400 billion over the next five years on various development and infrastructure projects, and the kingdom set a 2009 budget that ran a deficit for the first time in years specifically to sustain spending on such ventures.
But more than a projected research juggernaut in a region where other oil-rich nations are also embracing similar initiatives — albeit on a much smaller scale — KAUST may indirectly challenge the brand of conservatism that critics say has stifled progress in the Muslim world.
"We do not restrict how they wish to work among themselves," Shih said, referring to whether men and women can freely intermingle on campus. "It's a research environment …. driven by scientific agenda."
In many ways, the campus is similar to other Western-style compounds in Saudi where residents are often allowed more flexibility in embracing liberal Western values shunned outside the confines of their community in the kingdom.
But the university also could also be seen as a return to Islam's golden age — an era centuries ago when Muslim scholars took up the mantle of the Greeks and were pioneers in the fields of medicine, mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, among others.
This tolerant and inquiring period was snuffed out under pressure from invasions by Crusaders, Mongols and nomadic desert hordes in the Middle Ages and was replaced by an age where faith superseded reason amid unstable times.
In the modern era, bureaucratic bungling, a lack funds, and a general stifling of freedoms has left much of the Arab Middle East in a state of academic and scientific atrophy.
Officials say KAUST's embrace of scientific freedom marks Saudi Arabia's determination to not be left behind as technology increasingly drives global development.
"In a way, we are paving the way," said Shih, referring to the university's focus on pure science. But if "KAUST is leading the way, it has to meet global standards of excellence, otherwise how else can we be a global player."
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
CAIRO — Saudi Arabia has dug into its oil-fueled coffers to set up a new research university, a multibillion dollar coed venture built on the promise of scientific freedom in a region where a conservative interpretation of Islam has often been blamed for stifling innovation.
The King Abdullah Science and Technology University — complete with state-of-the-art labs, the world's 14th fastest supercomputer and one of the biggest endowments worldwide — is poised to officially open its doors Wednesday on a sprawling campus nestled along the Red Sea coast about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the commercial center of Jeddah.
Saudi officials have envisaged the postgraduate institution as a key part of the kingdom's plans to transform itself into a global scientific hub — the latest effort in the oil-rich Gulf region to diversify its economic base.
But KAUST, whether its founders intend it or not, has the potential to represent one of the clearest fault lines in a battle between conservatives and modernizers in the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia is the most religiously strict country in the Middle East with total segregation of the sexes and practices Wahhabi Islam — a byword for conservatism around the region. But the new university will not require women to wear veils or cover their faces, and they will be able to mix freely with men.
They will also be allowed to drive, a taboo in a country where women must literally take a back seat to their male drivers.
With KAUST's inauguration, "we see the beginning of a community that is unique" in Saudi Arabia, the university's president, Choon Fong Shih told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday.
"We recruit the very best in the world …. and we give them the freedom to pursue their scientific interests," said Shih, a mechanical engineer by training who headed the National University of Singapore for nine years.
While it takes decades to develop world class institutions like what KAUST hopes to become, the university's breakneck inception in many ways reflects Saudi Arabia's rise to wealth and power in the global political and economic arena.
The inaugural ceremony is to be headed by its namesake, the Saudi monarch, as well as several world leaders, dignitaries and officials who will stand on what three years ago was just a sweeping acreage of sand, but is now a 36 square kilometer (13.9 square mile) campus with its beach on the Red Sea.
In a region where Internet access can often be lackluster, KAUSTS boasts Shaheen, a 222 teraflops supercomputer which officials says is the fastest in the Middle East and 14th fastest in the world. The computer is named after the Arab Peregrine falcon, believed to be the fastest animal on earth.
It also boasts a fully immersive, six-sided virtual reality facility called CORNEA that officials say, for example, can allow researchers to visualize earthquakes on a planetary scale.
Among the other equipment and facilities are 10 advanced nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, a coastal and marine resources laboratory and bioengineering facilities with labs needs to study cell molecules for DNA sequencing.
The English curriculum is focused on the sciences, with masters and doctoral degrees offered in nine fields including computer science, bioscience and various engineering specialties. The university is also focused on collaborative work with the private sector, as well as other research institutions.
KAUST has enrolled 817 students representing 61 different countries, of whom 314 begin classes this month while the rest are scheduled to enroll in the beginning of 2010. The aim is to expand to 2,000 students within eight to 10 years.
Of that total, 15 percent are Saudi, say university officials.
With research institutions, cash is king, and KAUST, thanks to Saudi's oil wealth, has plenty.
It has tossed generous salary packages to prospective hires from around the world, an offer made more tempting by a multibillion dollar endowment that Shih says is "one of the biggest in the world."
The 71 faculty members include 14 from the U.S., seven from Germany and six from Canada.
Shih did not provide a specific figure, but the funding allows all the students to receive full scholarships covering their tuition plus a stipend.
He says without that aid, students would have to pay about $60,000 to $70,000 per year.
The university is being launched at a time when the OPEC powerhouse has been upping its push to focus on education and development programs aimed at boosting economic growth.
Saudi officials have said they are committed to spending $400 billion over the next five years on various development and infrastructure projects, and the kingdom set a 2009 budget that ran a deficit for the first time in years specifically to sustain spending on such ventures.
But more than a projected research juggernaut in a region where other oil-rich nations are also embracing similar initiatives — albeit on a much smaller scale — KAUST may indirectly challenge the brand of conservatism that critics say has stifled progress in the Muslim world.
"We do not restrict how they wish to work among themselves," Shih said, referring to whether men and women can freely intermingle on campus. "It's a research environment …. driven by scientific agenda."
In many ways, the campus is similar to other Western-style compounds in Saudi where residents are often allowed more flexibility in embracing liberal Western values shunned outside the confines of their community in the kingdom.
But the university also could also be seen as a return to Islam's golden age — an era centuries ago when Muslim scholars took up the mantle of the Greeks and were pioneers in the fields of medicine, mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, among others.
This tolerant and inquiring period was snuffed out under pressure from invasions by Crusaders, Mongols and nomadic desert hordes in the Middle Ages and was replaced by an age where faith superseded reason amid unstable times.
In the modern era, bureaucratic bungling, a lack funds, and a general stifling of freedoms has left much of the Arab Middle East in a state of academic and scientific atrophy.
Officials say KAUST's embrace of scientific freedom marks Saudi Arabia's determination to not be left behind as technology increasingly drives global development.
"In a way, we are paving the way," said Shih, referring to the university's focus on pure science. But if "KAUST is leading the way, it has to meet global standards of excellence, otherwise how else can we be a global player."
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
KAUST inauguration
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
finally, my new workplace opened officially its doors!
His Majesty King Abdullah, along with Arab and world leaders, attends a ceremony to inaugurate a higher education university near Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday (Photo by Yousef Allan)
JEDDAH (Agencies) - His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday attended the inauguration ceremony of the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) which was held in Jeddah and marked the anniversary of Saudi Arabia’s national day.
Upon arrival at the ceremony, held in the Thuwal area located north of Jeddah, the King was received by Saudi King Abdullah Ben Abdul Aziz, a Royal Court statement said.
His Majesty congratulated the Saudi king on the 79th anniversary of Saudi Arabia’s national day, the opening of the university and the kingdom’s achievements in various fields, expressing his wishes for the Saudi people to see more progress and prosperity.
King Abdullah and other world leaders and international figures attending the ceremony toured the university’s exhibition, held on the occasion.
According to Agence France-Presse, the new hi-tech, co-ed university on the Red Sea coast is designed to catapult into vanguard global technological research and break through religious barriers to women's opportunities.
The Saudi king said KAUST was a dream he had had for 25 years.
The ceremony was also attended by Syrian President Bashar Assad, Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh, Britain's Prince Andrew, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
The Saudi monarch said: "Faith and science are not incompatible" and that universities should be "in the front line in the war against extremists". He expressed hope that the university would be a "house of knowledge and a place of tolerance". Earlier, Ali Al Naimi university chairman and oil minister said: "This represents a pivotal point for the future of Saudi Arabia. It is incumbent on us to work on diversifying our economy for the future." Jammed with 1.5 billion dollars of state-of-the-art equipment and sporting one of the world's fastest supercomputers, KAUST is a keystone of the 85-year-old monarch's efforts to modernise the kingdom.
Riyadh has poured billions of dollars into the project, including huge sums to recruit an international staff of top-flight professors and a student body for the all-English, all-postgraduate institution.
Built in just two years out of the barren desert coast 80 kilometres north of Jeddah, experts say KAUST is probably the first research university in the world built from the ground up.
"Our research facilities are unsurpassed," says KAUST President Choon Fong Shih, who helped build the national university in Singapore into a respected research institution.
"I stood here two years ago, there was nothing but sand and sea. Today, there is one of the best infrastructures for research," he told AFP.
The 374 masters and doctorate degree students in the inaugural class represent more than 60 countries, with some 15 per cent from Saudi Arabia itself.
Scientists said a key factor in making KAUST successful would be whether the operating environment would be more open, dynamic and efficient than other institutions.
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finally, my new workplace opened officially its doors! |
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JEDDAH (Agencies) - His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday attended the inauguration ceremony of the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) which was held in Jeddah and marked the anniversary of Saudi Arabia’s national day.
Upon arrival at the ceremony, held in the Thuwal area located north of Jeddah, the King was received by Saudi King Abdullah Ben Abdul Aziz, a Royal Court statement said.
His Majesty congratulated the Saudi king on the 79th anniversary of Saudi Arabia’s national day, the opening of the university and the kingdom’s achievements in various fields, expressing his wishes for the Saudi people to see more progress and prosperity.
King Abdullah and other world leaders and international figures attending the ceremony toured the university’s exhibition, held on the occasion.
According to Agence France-Presse, the new hi-tech, co-ed university on the Red Sea coast is designed to catapult into vanguard global technological research and break through religious barriers to women's opportunities.
The Saudi king said KAUST was a dream he had had for 25 years.
The ceremony was also attended by Syrian President Bashar Assad, Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh, Britain's Prince Andrew, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
The Saudi monarch said: "Faith and science are not incompatible" and that universities should be "in the front line in the war against extremists". He expressed hope that the university would be a "house of knowledge and a place of tolerance". Earlier, Ali Al Naimi university chairman and oil minister said: "This represents a pivotal point for the future of Saudi Arabia. It is incumbent on us to work on diversifying our economy for the future." Jammed with 1.5 billion dollars of state-of-the-art equipment and sporting one of the world's fastest supercomputers, KAUST is a keystone of the 85-year-old monarch's efforts to modernise the kingdom.
Riyadh has poured billions of dollars into the project, including huge sums to recruit an international staff of top-flight professors and a student body for the all-English, all-postgraduate institution.
Built in just two years out of the barren desert coast 80 kilometres north of Jeddah, experts say KAUST is probably the first research university in the world built from the ground up.
"Our research facilities are unsurpassed," says KAUST President Choon Fong Shih, who helped build the national university in Singapore into a respected research institution.
"I stood here two years ago, there was nothing but sand and sea. Today, there is one of the best infrastructures for research," he told AFP.
The 374 masters and doctorate degree students in the inaugural class represent more than 60 countries, with some 15 per cent from Saudi Arabia itself.
Scientists said a key factor in making KAUST successful would be whether the operating environment would be more open, dynamic and efficient than other institutions.
Gridlok Void LP - can t wait !
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
You can't wait either, can you? He played a few of these bits during his recent mix on SUBSESSIONS.
Tracklist:
1. Gridlok - Parallel Universe - VOID LP
2. Skitty - N.L.P. - Project 51
3. Gridlok - Steady - VOID LP
4. Gridlok - Untitled - Dub
5. Koldfront - Moonraker (Gridlok Remix) - Human
6. Gridlok - Fade Out - VOID LP
7. Hive and Dom - 1134 - DRP Recordings
8. Gridlok - Chatter - VOID LP
9. Gridlok - Short Term Memory - VOID LP
10.Gridlok - Untitled - Dub
11. Dom and Gridlok - Moodswings - DRP Recordings
12. Gridlok - Vienna - Horizons Music
13. Gridlok - Untitled - Dub
14. Gridlok and Origin - Two Tone - BC Recordings
15. Gridlok - 5th Dimension - Violence
16. Divine Elements - The Coming - The Greater Unknown LP
17. Gridlok - Radar - VOID LP
18. The Upbeats - Big Skeleton - Non Vogue
19. Gridlok - Know This Sound - CIA Recordings
20. Gridlok - Space Phantom Killa - Dub
21. Pyro and 154 - War on Error - Dub
22. Cern - True Talk - P51 Dub
23. Genr8 and Legion - Smoke in the Attic - Dub
24. Dom and Roland - Hypnosis - DRP Recordings
You can't wait either, can you? He played a few of these bits during his recent mix on SUBSESSIONS.
Tracklist:
1. Gridlok - Parallel Universe - VOID LP
2. Skitty - N.L.P. - Project 51
3. Gridlok - Steady - VOID LP
4. Gridlok - Untitled - Dub
5. Koldfront - Moonraker (Gridlok Remix) - Human
6. Gridlok - Fade Out - VOID LP
7. Hive and Dom - 1134 - DRP Recordings
8. Gridlok - Chatter - VOID LP
9. Gridlok - Short Term Memory - VOID LP
10.Gridlok - Untitled - Dub
11. Dom and Gridlok - Moodswings - DRP Recordings
12. Gridlok - Vienna - Horizons Music
13. Gridlok - Untitled - Dub
14. Gridlok and Origin - Two Tone - BC Recordings
15. Gridlok - 5th Dimension - Violence
16. Divine Elements - The Coming - The Greater Unknown LP
17. Gridlok - Radar - VOID LP
18. The Upbeats - Big Skeleton - Non Vogue
19. Gridlok - Know This Sound - CIA Recordings
20. Gridlok - Space Phantom Killa - Dub
21. Pyro and 154 - War on Error - Dub
22. Cern - True Talk - P51 Dub
23. Genr8 and Legion - Smoke in the Attic - Dub
24. Dom and Roland - Hypnosis - DRP Recordings
79 Unique and Awesome Underwater Sculptures
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
this is effin awesome. me wanna go diving there! go to the article, they even have a video
Sculptures decorate landscapes, museums, and buildings, but water covers the majority of the Earth’s surface thus making it the world’s largest art gallery. The ocean is filled with mystery and an underwater sculpture park only heightens the intricate secrets hiding beneath the depths. Artificial reefs disguised as sculptures appear different each moment to a diver’s view as sand shifts along the ocean floor, sunlight penetrates at different depths and angles, and turbulent water currents combine in a kaleidoscope effect to delight the senses. Here are 79 unique and awesome underwater sculptures, environmental art, to encourage the natural ecological process.
Vicissitudes
this is effin awesome. me wanna go diving there! go to the article, they even have a video
Sculptures decorate landscapes, museums, and buildings, but water covers the majority of the Earth’s surface thus making it the world’s largest art gallery. The ocean is filled with mystery and an underwater sculpture park only heightens the intricate secrets hiding beneath the depths. Artificial reefs disguised as sculptures appear different each moment to a diver’s view as sand shifts along the ocean floor, sunlight penetrates at different depths and angles, and turbulent water currents combine in a kaleidoscope effect to delight the senses. Here are 79 unique and awesome underwater sculptures, environmental art, to encourage the natural ecological process.
Vicissitudes
Pope says it’s all our fault
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
hmm, yeah, Terry Sanderson has kind of a point here, no?
Category: Environment • Religion
Posted on: August 30, 2009 11:35 AM, by PZ Myers
The Pope has become an environmentalist, and he has figured out who is causing all our ecological difficulties: the atheists.
Is it not true that inconsiderate use of creation begins where God is marginalized or also where his existence is denied? If the human creature's relationship with the Creator weakens, matter is reduced to egoistic possession, man becomes the 'final authority,' and the objective of existence is reduced to a feverish race to possess the most possible.
Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, has a pithy reply.
This is rich coming from the leader of an organization that has plundered the world to enrich itself. As he sits in his golden palaces, surrounded by unimaginable luxury and material wealth, he lectures the rest of us about restraint and greed. We have nothing to learn about environmentalism from this hypocrite.
I think I'd have a few questions for this pope. Like, "What about over-population, Ratzi dear? What's the devout Catholic plan for dealing with that rather serious environmental issue?" and "Hey, have you noticed all those hell-holes of destruction in Africa? How does catholicism help people achieve economic and individual autonomy, huh?"
hmm, yeah, Terry Sanderson has kind of a point here, no?
Category: Environment • Religion
Posted on: August 30, 2009 11:35 AM, by PZ Myers
The Pope has become an environmentalist, and he has figured out who is causing all our ecological difficulties: the atheists.
Is it not true that inconsiderate use of creation begins where God is marginalized or also where his existence is denied? If the human creature's relationship with the Creator weakens, matter is reduced to egoistic possession, man becomes the 'final authority,' and the objective of existence is reduced to a feverish race to possess the most possible.
Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, has a pithy reply.
This is rich coming from the leader of an organization that has plundered the world to enrich itself. As he sits in his golden palaces, surrounded by unimaginable luxury and material wealth, he lectures the rest of us about restraint and greed. We have nothing to learn about environmentalism from this hypocrite.
I think I'd have a few questions for this pope. Like, "What about over-population, Ratzi dear? What's the devout Catholic plan for dealing with that rather serious environmental issue?" and "Hey, have you noticed all those hell-holes of destruction in Africa? How does catholicism help people achieve economic and individual autonomy, huh?"
“Reef Safe” Sunscreens Debut to High Praise, Big Sales
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
New Beach Buff® product line spares the environment while protecting your skin
ORMOND BEACH, FL – That sunscreen you slather on your skin before jumping in the ocean may be protecting your body, but it may also be killing coral reefs. In fact, 4,000 to 6,000 metric tons of toxic sunscreens are estimated to wash off swimmers into the oceans every year, leading to sunscreen-induced bleaching of up to 10 percent of the world’s coral reefs.
Ormond Beach, Fla.-based Tropical Seas, Inc., wants to eliminate this environmental menace.
The company recently introduced a new line of Beach Buff® “Reef Safe” sunscreens, and the market’s response has already been extraordinary.
“The products are flying off the shelves,” said Dan Knorr, CEO and president of Tropical Seas, Inc. (www.tropicalseas.com). “Our distribution partners tell us that consumers are embracing the idea that they can protect themselves while helping to save the oceans, reefs and sea life.”
The sunscreens were subjected to a comprehensive series of independent laboratory tests to support and authenticate the biodegradability of the lotions. The research found that 99 percent of the material biodegraded in seawater within 60-80 days, while no evidence of toxicity to micro-organisms and other sea life was detected.
No other sunscreen currently on the market can substantiate the “reef safe” claim.
The study also found that Beach Buff’s waterproof formula allows less than 3 percent of the product to come off in the water, which compares favorably to mass market brands that lose up to 29 percent of the product immediately upon entering the water.
“That means our “Reef Safe” lotions not only biodegrade quickly, but very little gets into the oceans to begin with,” said Knorr. “These sunscreens are in keeping with our corporate commitment to environmental responsibility. We’re proud to do our part in making the oceans a little cleaner while we keep our customers safe from the dangerous effects of the sun.”
Tropical Seas donates a portion of every sale to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (www.ifaw.org). No animal by-products are used in its products, and it does not perform animal testing of any kind.
Beach Buff “Reef Safe” sunscreens are now available in resort locations across the U.S. Sunbelt and throughout the Caribbean islands. Additional distribution both domestically and internationally will be announced shortly.
New Beach Buff® product line spares the environment while protecting your skin
ORMOND BEACH, FL – That sunscreen you slather on your skin before jumping in the ocean may be protecting your body, but it may also be killing coral reefs. In fact, 4,000 to 6,000 metric tons of toxic sunscreens are estimated to wash off swimmers into the oceans every year, leading to sunscreen-induced bleaching of up to 10 percent of the world’s coral reefs.
Ormond Beach, Fla.-based Tropical Seas, Inc., wants to eliminate this environmental menace.
The company recently introduced a new line of Beach Buff® “Reef Safe” sunscreens, and the market’s response has already been extraordinary.
“The products are flying off the shelves,” said Dan Knorr, CEO and president of Tropical Seas, Inc. (www.tropicalseas.com). “Our distribution partners tell us that consumers are embracing the idea that they can protect themselves while helping to save the oceans, reefs and sea life.”
The sunscreens were subjected to a comprehensive series of independent laboratory tests to support and authenticate the biodegradability of the lotions. The research found that 99 percent of the material biodegraded in seawater within 60-80 days, while no evidence of toxicity to micro-organisms and other sea life was detected.
No other sunscreen currently on the market can substantiate the “reef safe” claim.
The study also found that Beach Buff’s waterproof formula allows less than 3 percent of the product to come off in the water, which compares favorably to mass market brands that lose up to 29 percent of the product immediately upon entering the water.
“That means our “Reef Safe” lotions not only biodegrade quickly, but very little gets into the oceans to begin with,” said Knorr. “These sunscreens are in keeping with our corporate commitment to environmental responsibility. We’re proud to do our part in making the oceans a little cleaner while we keep our customers safe from the dangerous effects of the sun.”
Tropical Seas donates a portion of every sale to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (www.ifaw.org). No animal by-products are used in its products, and it does not perform animal testing of any kind.
Beach Buff “Reef Safe” sunscreens are now available in resort locations across the U.S. Sunbelt and throughout the Caribbean islands. Additional distribution both domestically and internationally will be announced shortly.
Math Proves It: Grocery Store Express Lane Not So Express
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
… finally a convincing study … i knew it from the beginning: your nearest neighbor is your worst enemy :)
Here's a different sort of grocery store math than you're probably used to. A high school math teacher in Santa Cruz, California drew up a lesson plan for teaching students to answer the question: "which checkout line is the fastest?" Clearly, this is education after our own hearts. You may have your own anecdata on this subject, and even try to make predictions as you choose your line and thus your destiny, but that is no match for science.
The conclusions, after studying the lines in his local store as well as cash register data: it's people that slow down the checkout process, not items, and the express line is slower when all other things are equal.
The express lane isn't faster. The manager backed me up on this one. You attract more people holding fewer total items, but as the data shows above, when you add one person to the line, you're adding 48 extra seconds to the line length (that's "tender time" added to "other time") without even considering the items in her cart. Meanwhile, an extra item only costs you an extra 2.8 seconds. Therefore, you'd rather add 17 more items to the line than one extra person! I can't believe I'm dropping exclamation points in an essay on grocery shopping but that's how this stuff makes me feel.
… finally a convincing study … i knew it from the beginning: your nearest neighbor is your worst enemy :)
Here's a different sort of grocery store math than you're probably used to. A high school math teacher in Santa Cruz, California drew up a lesson plan for teaching students to answer the question: "which checkout line is the fastest?" Clearly, this is education after our own hearts. You may have your own anecdata on this subject, and even try to make predictions as you choose your line and thus your destiny, but that is no match for science.
The conclusions, after studying the lines in his local store as well as cash register data: it's people that slow down the checkout process, not items, and the express line is slower when all other things are equal.
The express lane isn't faster. The manager backed me up on this one. You attract more people holding fewer total items, but as the data shows above, when you add one person to the line, you're adding 48 extra seconds to the line length (that's "tender time" added to "other time") without even considering the items in her cart. Meanwhile, an extra item only costs you an extra 2.8 seconds. Therefore, you'd rather add 17 more items to the line than one extra person! I can't believe I'm dropping exclamation points in an essay on grocery shopping but that's how this stuff makes me feel.
