From TFA:
"Thompson may have more to say in his own defense as to his alleged contemptuous behavior, but at this juncture, with all respect, he does not apologize for nor regret what he has done... if this court desires to throw Thompson into jail for trying to sound the alarm in this dramatic fashion... then Thompson is prepared to go there."
I'm sure he's more than prepared to go to jail. I bet he can't wait to get in that cell and let Bubba know why he's been sent there. He's such a naughty, naughty boy. He needs to be punished....
This got me thinking about a (possibly horrible) idea for a website:
Set up a site that covers one topic at a time. The topic would have to be something that most people can agree isn't getting the coverage it deserves. The purpose wouldn't necessarily to recommend action - just to research and report facts.
It could cover corruption, deforestation, pollution, human rights abuses etc. There are lots of issues that can become clouded in opinions and arguments - but there are also a lot of issues out there that most sane people can agree on.
People would collaborate on research then go back to their own blogs and write an article and make a small banner ad or something. You'd have members everywhere from tech sites to celebrity gossip sites on the same issue.
The users would become experienced at researching and how to take action collaboratively. It's way too disorganised waiting for people to just hear about issues, and then just hoping someone who knows how to take action comes along.
There are lots of issues I care about and am willing to educate myself about, but I'm not a lawyer and wouldn't go to a protest, and there are also a lot of issues that I would care about if I had ever heard about them.
You could even cover less important stuff like what's going on with the RIAA - what people's rights and obligations are, or educating people on security, spyware etc.
In my head it sounds like a good idea. But I can also think of a million reasons why it wouldn't work and where it would go wrong. Just putting it out there.
We could study the effects we're having on our environment for a very long time without ever having conclusive evidence.
The fact is bad things are happening. It may not be the end. We may or may not be having much of an impact on climate change. But it's not like climate change is the only thing we can prevent against by changing the way we live - pollution, extinction of species, overpopulation, water shortages - you know how long the list is.
How we're impacting and exactly what we need to do to improve our environment should be a secondary job for scientists. The important thing for everyone else to do is invest in solutions for the problems at hand. Who cares whether we're responsible or not? We only need to concentrate on what we can do improve what's wrong.
It's plain to see even without climate change we're going to destroy our environment eventually isn't it? Maybe soon, maybe not. Take a look at our environment 100 years ago, then look at it today and in another 100 years. Logical, yes? Wouldn't it be better to just start doing something now, rather than waiting to hear just what we're responsible for?
I know I'd prefer to live in a world where I can actually still do things like take a walk in a forest, drink water out of stream and go fishing rather than just staying in a concrete box somewhere boiling my water with the windows closed to keep out the polluted air. It's not just about survival - it's about quality of life.
It's almost hilarious how an insignificant amount of people get blown up in a building and we're willing to invest all our resources and fear into it. Anyone would think the goal of terrorism was to kill people, rather than making them live in fear and divert all their resources into easing that fear. I only wish climate change, disease, pollution, deforestation and extinction of species were as entertaining as some people find terrorism - then maybe we could start taking these problems seriously.
Remember, this isn't 'the environment', it's OUR environment. We're not doing this to save a bunch of trees and animals. We're doing this to save ourselves. If we mess this up there will be no more science, money, politics or people left to terrorise.
If we don't take matters regarding our environment seriously, no matter how seemingly insignificant or unprovable by science, we're as good as dead.
If it was hardwired into our genetics, we couldn't help but believe. The result would have to be 100%, not 92% or even 99%.
Religion is part of culture. You find it all over the world, people have different but similar beliefs. It's learned from and shared between other people in their society - just like language.
Religion was great. It has helped us survive, deal with strong emotions and explain things in the natural world we didn't have an answer for. It's still useful as an easy device for some people to fall back on in emotional situations such as when people die. Religion is also a source of power, control and authority which individuals try to hold on to. This is bad.
Law has given us all the rules we need to live. Science has taken it's place to explain the natural world, as well as to deal with human emotion for those who are strong-willed enough.
Slashdot Mirror
From TFA: "Thompson may have more to say in his own defense as to his alleged contemptuous behavior, but at this juncture, with all respect, he does not apologize for nor regret what he has done... if this court desires to throw Thompson into jail for trying to sound the alarm in this dramatic fashion... then Thompson is prepared to go there." I'm sure he's more than prepared to go to jail. I bet he can't wait to get in that cell and let Bubba know why he's been sent there. He's such a naughty, naughty boy. He needs to be punished....
This got me thinking about a (possibly horrible) idea for a website:
Set up a site that covers one topic at a time. The topic would have to be something that most people can agree isn't getting the coverage it deserves. The purpose wouldn't necessarily to recommend action - just to research and report facts.
It could cover corruption, deforestation, pollution, human rights abuses etc. There are lots of issues that can become clouded in opinions and arguments - but there are also a lot of issues out there that most sane people can agree on.
People would collaborate on research then go back to their own blogs and write an article and make a small banner ad or something. You'd have members everywhere from tech sites to celebrity gossip sites on the same issue.
The users would become experienced at researching and how to take action collaboratively. It's way too disorganised waiting for people to just hear about issues, and then just hoping someone who knows how to take action comes along.
There are lots of issues I care about and am willing to educate myself about, but I'm not a lawyer and wouldn't go to a protest, and there are also a lot of issues that I would care about if I had ever heard about them.
You could even cover less important stuff like what's going on with the RIAA - what people's rights and obligations are, or educating people on security, spyware etc.
In my head it sounds like a good idea. But I can also think of a million reasons why it wouldn't work and where it would go wrong. Just putting it out there.
And to think, all this was started by one simple word: "blahbob".
The only reason this is happening is because you allowed it.
I never liked paragraphs anyway!
We could study the effects we're having on our environment for a very long time without ever having conclusive evidence. The fact is bad things are happening. It may not be the end. We may or may not be having much of an impact on climate change. But it's not like climate change is the only thing we can prevent against by changing the way we live - pollution, extinction of species, overpopulation, water shortages - you know how long the list is. How we're impacting and exactly what we need to do to improve our environment should be a secondary job for scientists. The important thing for everyone else to do is invest in solutions for the problems at hand. Who cares whether we're responsible or not? We only need to concentrate on what we can do improve what's wrong. It's plain to see even without climate change we're going to destroy our environment eventually isn't it? Maybe soon, maybe not. Take a look at our environment 100 years ago, then look at it today and in another 100 years. Logical, yes? Wouldn't it be better to just start doing something now, rather than waiting to hear just what we're responsible for? I know I'd prefer to live in a world where I can actually still do things like take a walk in a forest, drink water out of stream and go fishing rather than just staying in a concrete box somewhere boiling my water with the windows closed to keep out the polluted air. It's not just about survival - it's about quality of life. It's almost hilarious how an insignificant amount of people get blown up in a building and we're willing to invest all our resources and fear into it. Anyone would think the goal of terrorism was to kill people, rather than making them live in fear and divert all their resources into easing that fear. I only wish climate change, disease, pollution, deforestation and extinction of species were as entertaining as some people find terrorism - then maybe we could start taking these problems seriously. Remember, this isn't 'the environment', it's OUR environment. We're not doing this to save a bunch of trees and animals. We're doing this to save ourselves. If we mess this up there will be no more science, money, politics or people left to terrorise. If we don't take matters regarding our environment seriously, no matter how seemingly insignificant or unprovable by science, we're as good as dead.
If it was hardwired into our genetics, we couldn't help but believe. The result would have to be 100%, not 92% or even 99%. Religion is part of culture. You find it all over the world, people have different but similar beliefs. It's learned from and shared between other people in their society - just like language. Religion was great. It has helped us survive, deal with strong emotions and explain things in the natural world we didn't have an answer for. It's still useful as an easy device for some people to fall back on in emotional situations such as when people die. Religion is also a source of power, control and authority which individuals try to hold on to. This is bad. Law has given us all the rules we need to live. Science has taken it's place to explain the natural world, as well as to deal with human emotion for those who are strong-willed enough.