steve10k

This evening I watched a TV documentary, Earth 2100, which tells the story of a "worst case scenario" for human-driven environmental degradation and its toll on the human race. As a long time student of technological and ecological futurism, I would call the events dramatized in Earth 2100 a mildly optomistic median case projection. On the whole I would give the film good marks, with a few strong cautions to the viewer.

Problems associated with refugee migrations were dramatized, and war was mentioned. But a genuine "worst case scenario" would include massive wars for control of energy resources - wars for which the United States is already preparing, by conquering and fortifying Middle Eastern oil and gas pipeline routes. The possibility of nuclear and/or biological warfare was not included in the scenario presented.

Earth 2100 mentions the danger of a sudden, major riese in sea level if Greenland's ice cap slid into the ocean; but the fact that it is already in motion and accelerating was not mentined. I did not notice the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica's largest future contribution to our oceans, being taken into account in Earth 2100's "worst case scenario" for sea level rise.

The authors of this documentary apparently choose to leave unmentioned, the growing scientific consensus that the "tipping point" for rapid onset climate change has already come and gone. That is, if by tipping point we mean point of no return. In the last few years, climatologists have discovered massive and annually increasing methane releases from former permafrost bogs in Siberia, and the coastal shallows of the Arctic Ocean. A continent-sized area has started releasing methane from megatons of biomass that has been frozen since the last ice age. Some may recall the discovery of well preserved mammoths in Siberian permafrost; their world's tundra and swamps and kelp beds were frozen with them, and now the fridge is failing fast.

Some of the experts interviewed referred to "delaying" climate change, but in so doing they wandered off the main theme of Earth 2133: A utopian future is possible for a child born this year. All hope for this glittering prize is pinned on an imaginary 2015 conference where the world's major energy consuming nations initiate a universal revolution in basic infrastructure that makes fossil fuels obsolete as fast as humanly possible.

Unfortunately, the optomistic best case scenario in Earth 2100 is based on old numbers: Numbers crunched before the world's largest sources of methane gas discharge were discovered. For a decade or more, climatologists have been puzzled by the fact that the Earth's surface temperature is rising faster than then-current models predicted - and they hoped it was a statistical blip, due for correction by a slowdown in global warming "any time now". But if one adds the methane contributions of the recently discovered environmental sources, the corrected models fit the data almost perfectly - and no matter what we do, we are already in real trouble.

In my opinion, the last chance to really fix the situaiton depicted in Earth 2100's future history came and went in the 1970s. Our last chance to prevent an epic global disaster passed by unnoticed in the 1990s. What is left? The certain knowledge that while much of the human race will be gone, a billion or more will be left at century's end. The renewable, sustainable, local energy technology that is too little too late for us, will be the key to their ability to build a civilization that literally puts ours to shame. For the sake of these people, none of whom I will ever meet, I can fully support the push to allegedly "prevent" a global collapse, because the technology we leave behind will be inherited by the 22nd century survivors. This technology will give them a real chance to build a civilization that enables the human race to fulfill its real potentials.

From the page: ""Rigorous clinical evaluations confirm the enormous and enduring toll of agony and anguish inflicted for months by US personnel on eleven men who were detained without any charge or explanation," stated PHR President Leonard Rubenstein. "Their first-hand accounts, now confirmed by medical and psychological examinations, take us behind the photographs to write a missing chapter of America's descent into the shameful practice and official policy of systematic torture." "

One thing that police departments, real estate developers, the business community, and our faithful watchdog Free Press agree on is, "we don't want any lynchings". That's why they are ruled suicide and quickly forgotten. One such "suicide" happened just a few miles from where I am sitting now: Somehow a young black man, Damien Johnson, managed to climb a live oak without getting a mark on his pristine white T-shirt. There were no traces of bark or moss on his shoes, which did retain leaf material from the ground below. The manner in which he "hanged himself" was mechanically impossible without lots of help. But his death was ruled suicide the next day and the case was closed without any undesirable publicity.

What makes Riad Hammad's death different, is that he had been harassed by the FBI and vigilante-minded local citizens, and was well known in his local activist community. But never mind: He used duct tape to tie his own hands and feet, wrapped it around his head, and threw himself into the lake. Isn't it obvious? The rest of the story: tinyurl.com/6cu34p [tinyurl.com/6cu34p]

Philip Agee 1935 - 2008

What turned Phil was the torture chambers in Central and South America. His legacy is nearly a decade of highly motivated Congressional and media oversight of the U.S. intel community, which prevented many gross abuses. The truth is, Philip was tolerated by an important faction in the Intel community, the real pros who draw the line at torture. That is why he was allowed - some would say used - to publish his book. I met him briefly while playing volunteer roadie at a presentation on covert foreign policy some years ago. He can spy for my country any time.

The MIT Media Lab has launched a new research initiative to develop a $100 laptop, a technology that could revolutionize how we educate the world's children. To achieve this goal, a new, non-profit association, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), has been created. For current news see laptop.org & the wiki.

Red Hat is currently defining the operating system software for the generation 1 and 2 OLPC laptops. These computers run without external electricity, and are capable of forming wireless mesh networks to reach global Internet access points. They will be distributed to 3rd World schools.

StumbleUpon runs on Debian Linux servers. Check out this freshly installed desktop. I am presently using Ubuntu Linux, a Debian-based distro specifically for "regular folks", and loving every minute of it. Dell is now selling PCs with Ubuntu pre-installed as a standard option!

"I have given away over 32,000 of my paintings simply because I can. The objective of this project is to prove that I am free to hold the opinions expressed in these paintings which I have made and that I can have them printed and then send them freely to anyone I choose, anywhere in the United States, or anywhere on Earth and that the only thing I have to fear is art criticism."

One of the most amazing things about happibun's SU page, is how few people have reviewed it. Demonstrates the outer limits of what can be done to compose a StumbleUpon page, and best of all, the pretty stuff showcases excellent content. Check it out.

 
"Is Our Children Learning?" [hilarious Bush video]

From the page: "Poor education quality is a major threat to our nation, partly caused by unacceptable teaching methods, and dumbed-down textbooks and test standards."
 
Starting early in the 20th century, our schools were converted, one step at a time, into babysitting services tasked to turn out acceptable workers with little or no useful knowledge outside that required by industry. This was done quite deliberately by America's policy makers: "We believe that education is one of the principal causes of discontent of late years manifesting itself among the laboring classes." (Senate Committe on Education, 1888)
 
The longer kids stay in American schools, the worse they do in international competition. They do worse than kids from poorer countries that spend much less money on education, ranking behind not only Belgium but also Poland, the Czech Republic and South Korea. By age 15, when students from 40 countries are tested, the Americans place 25th.
 

Today's public education process amounts to psychological child abuse. John Taylor Gatto, named New York City Teacher of the Year for three years in a row, now argues persuasively against school. A High School diploma used to be a sign of intellectual achievement; today it is the mark of mindless conformity. The No Child Left Behind laws assure that reforming your local school district is literally impossible.
 
Wikipedia on Homeschooling: Did you know that Thomas Edison attended compulsory school for only three months, after which he was taught at home by his mother and a tutor? Homeschoolers don't go it alone, they participate in community projects with a large at-home component. Finding resources is as simple as doing a Google search for "[your state] home education" and "[your state] homeschool".
 
My personal advice to U.S. High School students is simple: Unless you are in a truly exceptional school, enrolled in programs that really light your fire, don't waste your time. Drop out. Get a GED (the test is a simple literacy test), and go directly to college or tech school.