Comments on "Animal Wise" - The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures by Virginia Morell
Although the 18th century philosopher Voltaire and the 19th century scientist Charles Darwin seem to be exceptions, the science of animal cognition, or cognitive ethology, did not become genuinely scientifically respectable until later in the 20th century.
This science attempts to describe the mental lives of other animals, from "ants to apes"; and more specifically in this book: fish, birds, rats, elephants, dolphins, dogs and wolves.
What do their minds contain? Images, smells, sounds, emotions, memories, self-awareness; even imagination and abstract concepts?
The contributions of contempory science women are very noticable and fundamental. In this book they include: Jane Goodall, Victoria Braithwaite, Irene Pepperberg, Karen McComb, Cynthia Moss, Diana Reiss, and Rachel Smolker.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Experimental Blog # 157
Comments on "Gold Rush in the Jungle" - The Race to Discover and Defend the Rarest Animals of Vietnam's "Lost World" by Dan Drollette
During the War in Vietnam, or the American War, or the Second Indochina War, hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs and over 12 million gallons of herbicides destroyed over 850 square miles of forest.
The destruction in Vietnam, although enormous, was concentrated in selected areas of the country's 127,240 square miles of total area. There were many remarkable places where native wildlife flourished; including 63 new species of vertebrates, up to and over 200 pounds, that were unknown to science before 1992.
But, finally, came peace, developement, and "prosperity", as well as, extinction.
During the War in Vietnam, or the American War, or the Second Indochina War, hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs and over 12 million gallons of herbicides destroyed over 850 square miles of forest.
The destruction in Vietnam, although enormous, was concentrated in selected areas of the country's 127,240 square miles of total area. There were many remarkable places where native wildlife flourished; including 63 new species of vertebrates, up to and over 200 pounds, that were unknown to science before 1992.
But, finally, came peace, developement, and "prosperity", as well as, extinction.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Experimental Blog # 156
Quotations and comments from "Death Zones and Darling Spies" - Seven Years of Vietnam War Reporting by Beverly Deepe Keever
" .. in escalating the U.S. military presence in Vietnam, Kennedy brushed aside the prophetic warning given to him in 1962 by French general Charles de Gaulle: "You will, step by step, be sucked into a bottomless military and political quagmire."
"These newcomers < > about 6,000 < > nearly tenfold the limit of 685 < > allowed < > under international accords agreed upon on July 21, 1954 .. "
"Also, as the American public was to learn years later, breaching this international agreement was Kenndy's secret order initiating covert operations against North Vietnam and Laos conducted by U.S. Special Forces .."
Beginning in 1961, "U.S. helicopters would go on to fly an amazing number of over thirty-six million{!!!} flights over South Vietnam and North Vietnam."
"Unwilling to support either a Communist takeover of Vietnam or continued French colonial rule, Eisenhower vigorously supported Diem as a third force." "If elections had been held in 1956, Eisenhower is quoted as saying that 80 percent of the Vietnamese people would have voted for Ho Chi Minh .."
"Calling Republican Senate leader Everett Dirksen for the second time, Johnson implored him to intervene again with Nixon < >"'They're contacting a foreign power in the middle of a war. < > This is treason." Dirksen responded simply, "I know."" This is regarding Richard Nixon's contacts with the South Vietnamese before the 1968 American election.
"On June 8, 1969, Nixon announced the United States would unilaterally withdraw 25,000 troops from Vietnam. Like a giant yo-yo, U.S. numbers began a free fall, from a peak of 543,000 on March 31, 1969, until on December 31, 1973, "less than 250" U.S. military personnel were assigned in Vietnam."??!!
The last chapter of Beverly Deepe Keever's book is mostly about Pham Xuan An, the author's evidently remarkable "associate and a Communist spy."
" .. in escalating the U.S. military presence in Vietnam, Kennedy brushed aside the prophetic warning given to him in 1962 by French general Charles de Gaulle: "You will, step by step, be sucked into a bottomless military and political quagmire."
"These newcomers < > about 6,000 < > nearly tenfold the limit of 685 < > allowed < > under international accords agreed upon on July 21, 1954 .. "
"Also, as the American public was to learn years later, breaching this international agreement was Kenndy's secret order initiating covert operations against North Vietnam and Laos conducted by U.S. Special Forces .."
Beginning in 1961, "U.S. helicopters would go on to fly an amazing number of over thirty-six million{!!!} flights over South Vietnam and North Vietnam."
"Unwilling to support either a Communist takeover of Vietnam or continued French colonial rule, Eisenhower vigorously supported Diem as a third force." "If elections had been held in 1956, Eisenhower is quoted as saying that 80 percent of the Vietnamese people would have voted for Ho Chi Minh .."
"Calling Republican Senate leader Everett Dirksen for the second time, Johnson implored him to intervene again with Nixon < >"'They're contacting a foreign power in the middle of a war. < > This is treason." Dirksen responded simply, "I know."" This is regarding Richard Nixon's contacts with the South Vietnamese before the 1968 American election.
"On June 8, 1969, Nixon announced the United States would unilaterally withdraw 25,000 troops from Vietnam. Like a giant yo-yo, U.S. numbers began a free fall, from a peak of 543,000 on March 31, 1969, until on December 31, 1973, "less than 250" U.S. military personnel were assigned in Vietnam."??!!
The last chapter of Beverly Deepe Keever's book is mostly about Pham Xuan An, the author's evidently remarkable "associate and a Communist spy."
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Experimental Blog # 155
Quotations and notes from "Almost Everyone's Guide to Science" - The Universe, Life and Everything by John Gribbin with Mary Gribbin
Some important developments in the sciences have been made since 1997 when this book was written, however:
" ...the scientific world view < > has taken only about four hundred years to develop {starting from the time of Galileo,"
"Everything in science is about models and predictions," However, "None of the models is the ultimate Deep Truth, but they all have their part to play." " ..even the best model is only a good one in its own context,"
" ..science is primarily an investigation of our place in the Universe -" "It is all about where we came from, and where we are going."
"When physicists try to describe the way the world works at the most fundamental level, the most important component of their toolkit is the concept of a field."
"Ice can only grow over the poles of our planet if the supply of ocean currents carrying warm water from tropical latitudes is cut off, "
"With the present-day geography of the Earth, the natural state of the planet is to be in the grip of a full ice age."
"Roughly speaking < > the pattern of climate change over the past five million years or so has been one in which full ice ages, each a bit more than a hundred thousand years long, are separated by shorter, relatively warm intervals, each about ten or twenty thousand years long."
" ..cold winters go hand in hand with hot summers, "
"Drought goes hand in hand with the spread of ice, "
" ..the important point about all of these astronmical influences on climate is that they do not change the total amount of heat received by the whole Earth over a whole year. All they can do is rearrange the distribution of heat between the seasons."
Some important developments in the sciences have been made since 1997 when this book was written, however:
" ...the scientific world view < > has taken only about four hundred years to develop {starting from the time of Galileo,"
"Everything in science is about models and predictions," However, "None of the models is the ultimate Deep Truth, but they all have their part to play." " ..even the best model is only a good one in its own context,"
" ..science is primarily an investigation of our place in the Universe -" "It is all about where we came from, and where we are going."
"When physicists try to describe the way the world works at the most fundamental level, the most important component of their toolkit is the concept of a field."
"Ice can only grow over the poles of our planet if the supply of ocean currents carrying warm water from tropical latitudes is cut off, "
"With the present-day geography of the Earth, the natural state of the planet is to be in the grip of a full ice age."
"Roughly speaking < > the pattern of climate change over the past five million years or so has been one in which full ice ages, each a bit more than a hundred thousand years long, are separated by shorter, relatively warm intervals, each about ten or twenty thousand years long."
" ..cold winters go hand in hand with hot summers, "
"Drought goes hand in hand with the spread of ice, "
" ..the important point about all of these astronmical influences on climate is that they do not change the total amount of heat received by the whole Earth over a whole year. All they can do is rearrange the distribution of heat between the seasons."
Friday, April 19, 2013
Experimental Blog # 154
Quotations and notes from "Tiger Head, Snake Tails - China Today, How It Got There and Where It Is Heading" by Jonathan Fenby
"Average annual per capita income has soared from 528 yuan at the start of < > the early 1980s to 19,100 in urban areas and 5,900 in the countryside at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century."
"Sixty-five million Chinese travel abroad each year."
"The number of patent applications has risen from 50,000 to 300,000 a year since 2000{again placing China second only to the USA}".
"A Chinese publication has reported that more than fifty billionaires have died of unnatural causes since 2003; of these seventeen committed suicide, fifteen were murdered and fourteen were executed."
"Eighty million Chinese belong to the Communist Party .."{apparently 20% are women}.
Since China has such diversity of climate and terrain, "China contains 30,000 species of plants{compared to 17,000 in all North America}."
"Shanghai < > has constructed the equivalent of 334 Empire State Buildings in fourteen years."
"Religion is officially regulated with five faiths allowed: Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism and Daoism - the latter being China's only indigenous creed, with its doctrine of the pursuit of the mystical way, freewheeling belief system and bewildering array of gods and demons .."
"The central bank{of China} estimates that 18,000 officials have skipped abroad in the last two decades, taking a total of more that $120 billion with them."
"Average annual per capita income has soared from 528 yuan at the start of < > the early 1980s to 19,100 in urban areas and 5,900 in the countryside at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century."
"Sixty-five million Chinese travel abroad each year."
"The number of patent applications has risen from 50,000 to 300,000 a year since 2000{again placing China second only to the USA}".
"A Chinese publication has reported that more than fifty billionaires have died of unnatural causes since 2003; of these seventeen committed suicide, fifteen were murdered and fourteen were executed."
"Eighty million Chinese belong to the Communist Party .."{apparently 20% are women}.
Since China has such diversity of climate and terrain, "China contains 30,000 species of plants{compared to 17,000 in all North America}."
"Shanghai < > has constructed the equivalent of 334 Empire State Buildings in fourteen years."
"Religion is officially regulated with five faiths allowed: Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism and Daoism - the latter being China's only indigenous creed, with its doctrine of the pursuit of the mystical way, freewheeling belief system and bewildering array of gods and demons .."
"The central bank{of China} estimates that 18,000 officials have skipped abroad in the last two decades, taking a total of more that $120 billion with them."
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Experimental Blog # 153
Quotations from "Chinese Characters - Profiles of Fast-Changing Lives in a Fast-Changing Land", edited by Angilee Shah and Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Forward by Panaj Mishra
Here are a few quotations from 3 of the 18 contributors, 10 men and 8 women, who compose this anthology.
From Panaj Mishra:
"...the word "capitalism" scarcely describes an economic system in which a one-party state controls the major banks and companies and regulates the movement of capital. < > China has surely also adopted commonplace Western practices such as the privatization and truncating of public services, deunionization, and the fragmenting and lumpenization of urban working classes."
From Jeffrey Wasserstrom:
"It is true that China is still run by a Communist Party ... It is a Communist Party, however, that has stopped celebrating class struggle < > that the pursuit of a "harmonious society" is what China's leaders today talk about most .."
From Angilee Shah:
" ...China's economic rise is{quoting Adam Hersh} "the most rapid socioecnomic transformation in the history of human civilization."
"Some five hundred million people have been raised out of poverty since the 1980s .."
"China today is a place of great diversity and incredible people who are living through an unprecedented time."
Here are a few quotations from 3 of the 18 contributors, 10 men and 8 women, who compose this anthology.
From Panaj Mishra:
"...the word "capitalism" scarcely describes an economic system in which a one-party state controls the major banks and companies and regulates the movement of capital. < > China has surely also adopted commonplace Western practices such as the privatization and truncating of public services, deunionization, and the fragmenting and lumpenization of urban working classes."
From Jeffrey Wasserstrom:
"It is true that China is still run by a Communist Party ... It is a Communist Party, however, that has stopped celebrating class struggle < > that the pursuit of a "harmonious society" is what China's leaders today talk about most .."
From Angilee Shah:
" ...China's economic rise is{quoting Adam Hersh} "the most rapid socioecnomic transformation in the history of human civilization."
"Some five hundred million people have been raised out of poverty since the 1980s .."
"China today is a place of great diversity and incredible people who are living through an unprecedented time."
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Experimental Blog # 152
Quotations and notes from "The Terror Factory" - Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism by Trevor Aaronson
"A Senate oversight committee found in 1975 the FBI had 1,500 informants. In 1980.., 2,800 ...Six years later .. 6,000 .." Today, after the Moslem{Muslim} terrorist attacks on 9/11, the FBI has an "official roster" of 15,000 informants. The author, Trevor Aaronson, writes that the FBI has a "vast army of spies, located in every community in the United States with enough Muslims to support a mosque.."
"The FBI currently spends $3 billion annually to hunt an enemy that is largely of its own creation."
"According to government and federal court records, the Justice Department has prosecuted more than 500 terrorism defendants since 9/11."
"Of the 508 defendants, 243 had been targeted through an FBI informant, 158 had been caught in an FBI terrorism sting, and 49 had encountered an agent provocateur. Most of the people who didn't face off against an informant weren't directely involved with terrorism at all, but were .. small-time criminals with distant links to terrorists overseas."
"Of the 508 cases, I could count on one hand the number of actual terrorists .."
This is a very provocative book on a very controversial subject.
"A Senate oversight committee found in 1975 the FBI had 1,500 informants. In 1980.., 2,800 ...Six years later .. 6,000 .." Today, after the Moslem{Muslim} terrorist attacks on 9/11, the FBI has an "official roster" of 15,000 informants. The author, Trevor Aaronson, writes that the FBI has a "vast army of spies, located in every community in the United States with enough Muslims to support a mosque.."
"The FBI currently spends $3 billion annually to hunt an enemy that is largely of its own creation."
"According to government and federal court records, the Justice Department has prosecuted more than 500 terrorism defendants since 9/11."
"Of the 508 defendants, 243 had been targeted through an FBI informant, 158 had been caught in an FBI terrorism sting, and 49 had encountered an agent provocateur. Most of the people who didn't face off against an informant weren't directely involved with terrorism at all, but were .. small-time criminals with distant links to terrorists overseas."
"Of the 508 cases, I could count on one hand the number of actual terrorists .."
This is a very provocative book on a very controversial subject.
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