Notes and comments from "Last Ape Standing" - The Seven-Million-Year Story of How and Why We Survived by Chip Walter
"Despite its academic-sounding name, a good deal of brawling often goes on within the field of paleoanthropology."
"Today hominid refers to all great apes, including gorillas and chimpanzees, but hominin refers specifically to ancient and modern humans who split off from a common chimp ancestor seven million years ago, or thereabouts."
The first of the genus Homo, Homo habilis, arose about 2,350,000 years ago.
"Between 160,000 and 200,000 years ago the first anatomically modern humans emerged, probably near Ethiopia. {But there is anything but universal agreement on this}."
As many as 12 other species of Homo have also been found.
Seven other genera of hominin, going as far back as 7 million years, have also been found; but there are probably, if not certainly, very many other undiscovered genera and species.
"...between 4 percent and 6 percent of the genomes of the people of Papua New Guinea and Bougainville Island contain Denisovan DNA."
" ..most of the human race from Europe to the islands of Southeast Asia{and probably farther}is part Neanderthal! That Africans seem not to share any Neanderthal blood indicates that these two families mated after the wave of Homo sapiens departed Africa, but before their descendants headed into Europe and Asia."
"How many more species and hybrids might we find now that DNA analysis has opened so many genetic doors?"
"It is not as crazy as it might once have been thought that a more modern descendant of Homo erectus was still living as recently as twenty-five thousand years ago."
"Nearly every waking moment we describe what is going on in our minds to ourselves ..."
Does this describe the human mind as a speaker and a listener? This life-long conversation with ourselves must be, by far, our most important conversation.
"When you are thinking, and talking, to yourself, the you that you are speaking to is a symbol."
"We are not only an animal that can explore a life not yet lived, and dream of a future we desire, we can also take hold of these dreams and make them come true. Out of a chaotic flux of random events in nature that have no agenda and are utterly incapable of making any plans, we have evolved into a planning, agenda-making, dream-conjuring creature."
"And don't we all live in imaginary worlds of our own making - in the tomorrows that we plan; the lives that we lay out; the conversations we imagine having with friends or enemies?"
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Experimental Blog # 165
Quotations and comments from "The Art of Betrayal - The Secret History of MI6" or Life and Death in the British Secret Service by Gordon Corera
"The task of the Secret Intelligence Service{SIS} - or to use its more popular name MI6 ..."
"The British public had become obsessed with traitors .."
"On both sides of the Atlantic, a fire had been lit by *******'s betrayal < > It blazed with fierce intensity, nearly consuming both the CIA and MI6 until it burnt itself out."
"The early 1960s were a golden age for the small army of Soviet spies plying their trade in Britain."
"Did it all matter? Did the spying and the lying and betraying make any real difference? Critics argue that all the spying accomplished was to raise the temperature by heightening suspicions that fuelled the Cold War in which ignorant armies clashed by night. Those who believe in intelligence say it did make a difference by managing a hostility that was real and dangerous."
"Donald Rumsfeld expressed this strange view best when he said 'the absence of evidence is not absence of evidence'."
By the end of this book, which is filled with fascinating and often tragic stories, but not so many basic facts, is the author Gordon Corera completely oblivious, or is he only pretending?
"The task of the Secret Intelligence Service{SIS} - or to use its more popular name MI6 ..."
"The British public had become obsessed with traitors .."
"On both sides of the Atlantic, a fire had been lit by *******'s betrayal < > It blazed with fierce intensity, nearly consuming both the CIA and MI6 until it burnt itself out."
"The early 1960s were a golden age for the small army of Soviet spies plying their trade in Britain."
"Did it all matter? Did the spying and the lying and betraying make any real difference? Critics argue that all the spying accomplished was to raise the temperature by heightening suspicions that fuelled the Cold War in which ignorant armies clashed by night. Those who believe in intelligence say it did make a difference by managing a hostility that was real and dangerous."
"Donald Rumsfeld expressed this strange view best when he said 'the absence of evidence is not absence of evidence'."
By the end of this book, which is filled with fascinating and often tragic stories, but not so many basic facts, is the author Gordon Corera completely oblivious, or is he only pretending?
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Experimental Blog # 164
Quotations from "The Faiths of the Postwar Presidents - From Truman to Obama" by David L. Holmes
"In Christianity, four churches fall into the liturgical category: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Episcopal, and Lutheran. These four churches worship in a more formal way than the churches categorized as nonliturgical - such as the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Mennonite < > Liturgical churches emphasize the Christian sacraments, follow patterns of worship inherited from centuries of Christianity, and tend to be less emotional and more ritualistic than services in nonliturgical churches."
"Evangelical Christians view the Bible as the supreme authority for faith and conduct, emphasize born-again conversion experience{and not simply baptism} as the entrance to Christianity, and believe that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is not only possible for humans but essential to their salvation."
"Eisenhower presided over a major religious revival in the United States. < > Every religious group that occupied the approximate American religious center - Judaism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and mainline Protestantism - grew. It was an unexpected legacy for a president who was raised in the extreme left wing of American religion."
As for President John F. Kennedy:
"The religious profile of Rosemary, the oldest sister, is difficult to determine. < > Possibly bipolar < > After a lobotomy arranged by her father when she was twenty-three caused permanent disability, Rosemary was placed in the care of nuns in rural Wisconsin for the rest of her life."
"But the most sweeping assessments came from Kennedy himself. "If I had to live my life over again," he wrote to a friend, "I would have a different father, a different wife, and a different religion.""
" ...the churches that Lyndon Johnson attended were what Christianity refers to as "liturgical churches.""
"Johnson probably hopped from church to church for a combination of reasons."
"Thus Johnson varied the churches he attended - Christian{or Disciples of Christ}, Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, and others."
"In Christianity, four churches fall into the liturgical category: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Episcopal, and Lutheran. These four churches worship in a more formal way than the churches categorized as nonliturgical - such as the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Mennonite < > Liturgical churches emphasize the Christian sacraments, follow patterns of worship inherited from centuries of Christianity, and tend to be less emotional and more ritualistic than services in nonliturgical churches."
"Evangelical Christians view the Bible as the supreme authority for faith and conduct, emphasize born-again conversion experience{and not simply baptism} as the entrance to Christianity, and believe that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is not only possible for humans but essential to their salvation."
"Eisenhower presided over a major religious revival in the United States. < > Every religious group that occupied the approximate American religious center - Judaism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and mainline Protestantism - grew. It was an unexpected legacy for a president who was raised in the extreme left wing of American religion."
As for President John F. Kennedy:
"The religious profile of Rosemary, the oldest sister, is difficult to determine. < > Possibly bipolar < > After a lobotomy arranged by her father when she was twenty-three caused permanent disability, Rosemary was placed in the care of nuns in rural Wisconsin for the rest of her life."
"But the most sweeping assessments came from Kennedy himself. "If I had to live my life over again," he wrote to a friend, "I would have a different father, a different wife, and a different religion.""
" ...the churches that Lyndon Johnson attended were what Christianity refers to as "liturgical churches.""
"Johnson probably hopped from church to church for a combination of reasons."
"Thus Johnson varied the churches he attended - Christian{or Disciples of Christ}, Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, and others."
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Experimental Blog # 163
Quotations and comments on "The Secretary" - A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power by Kim Ghattas
"Even today, while America is deeply in debt again, exhausted by two wars, its influence challenged by rivals big and small, millions of people around the world still believe that the United States can snap its fingers to make things happen, for good or bad .."
"As ever, interpretation of any statement depended on your political leanings: you were either looking for a sign that help was on its way or looking for a clue about America's nefarious designs."
"Governments everywhere that instinctively and narrowly pursued their national interest somehow expected the United States to suspend the pursuit of its own interests to please them. The Arabs wanted the United States to ditch the Israelis; the Israelis wanted the United States to bomb Iran; the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wanted Obama to wait with him for the Shiite messiah; Pakistan wanted to be given Afganistan on a gold platter; India wanted the United States to say it could have Kashmir; Japan wanted Washington to make Beijing go away."
Was there a murder of an American special representative, or envoy, for Afganistan and Pakistan? Kim Ghattas says or asks no such thing. She only writes that he "died suddenly" and, "Not everybody had agreed with Holbrooke, and there was much infighting within the administration about him, but he kept people's minds focused on the issue."
Kim Ghattas writes extensively about the very embarrassing revelations and exposures in 2010 by WikiLeaks; but since none of them were "top secret", they apparently did not cause very serious or lasting damage.
Kim Ghattas was a very close witness and reporter of the Arab uprisings that began in Tunisia in December 2010 and seemed to move infectiously on to Egypt and Libya and Syria.
Of course, the author also writes about many other subjects from her 300,000 mile journey with the American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In the acknowledgements section at the end of her book Kim Ghattas writes, "Living through war is nothing to be thankful for but it did push me to always seek meaning in life." And, "my parents taught me never to give up and to never blame anyone or anything else for what's going wrong in my life."
"Even today, while America is deeply in debt again, exhausted by two wars, its influence challenged by rivals big and small, millions of people around the world still believe that the United States can snap its fingers to make things happen, for good or bad .."
"As ever, interpretation of any statement depended on your political leanings: you were either looking for a sign that help was on its way or looking for a clue about America's nefarious designs."
"Governments everywhere that instinctively and narrowly pursued their national interest somehow expected the United States to suspend the pursuit of its own interests to please them. The Arabs wanted the United States to ditch the Israelis; the Israelis wanted the United States to bomb Iran; the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wanted Obama to wait with him for the Shiite messiah; Pakistan wanted to be given Afganistan on a gold platter; India wanted the United States to say it could have Kashmir; Japan wanted Washington to make Beijing go away."
Was there a murder of an American special representative, or envoy, for Afganistan and Pakistan? Kim Ghattas says or asks no such thing. She only writes that he "died suddenly" and, "Not everybody had agreed with Holbrooke, and there was much infighting within the administration about him, but he kept people's minds focused on the issue."
Kim Ghattas writes extensively about the very embarrassing revelations and exposures in 2010 by WikiLeaks; but since none of them were "top secret", they apparently did not cause very serious or lasting damage.
Kim Ghattas was a very close witness and reporter of the Arab uprisings that began in Tunisia in December 2010 and seemed to move infectiously on to Egypt and Libya and Syria.
Of course, the author also writes about many other subjects from her 300,000 mile journey with the American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In the acknowledgements section at the end of her book Kim Ghattas writes, "Living through war is nothing to be thankful for but it did push me to always seek meaning in life." And, "my parents taught me never to give up and to never blame anyone or anything else for what's going wrong in my life."
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Experimental Blog # 162
Comments on "The Roberts Court" - The Struggle for the Constitution by Marcia Coyle
This book is so complicated and detailed that it is very difficult for someone who is not well acquainted with American law and the judicial system to understand rather large parts of it.
The Supreme Court and the American judicial system probably have more to do with American government and politics than many people realize. The White House and its current occupant, the houses of congress, and the public activity of both the Democratic and Republican parties can be so distracting that the real governing, that is control, of the American people through its many courts might sometimes hardly be noticed. People might think that since they never go into them, any of the courts that is; they then have nothing to do with them.
There are so many laws passed by so many governing bodies, and the acts of the federal government can be so long, even 2 or 3 thousand pages, that millions of American citizens and their lawyers can continuously find ways to question the "constitutionality" of laws and acts of all kinds that they don't like. Or, at least, so it seems.
It is tempting to say that the "brains", or intelligence, of the American government, that means control, are concentrated in its juducial system; with the Supreme Court at the top. The well thought out arguments carried out before the 9 Supreme Court justices, and involving them, too, must be among the best examples of America's strongest minds; or, at least, strongest in the use of carefully chosen words in carefully composed sentences.
This book is so complicated and detailed that it is very difficult for someone who is not well acquainted with American law and the judicial system to understand rather large parts of it.
The Supreme Court and the American judicial system probably have more to do with American government and politics than many people realize. The White House and its current occupant, the houses of congress, and the public activity of both the Democratic and Republican parties can be so distracting that the real governing, that is control, of the American people through its many courts might sometimes hardly be noticed. People might think that since they never go into them, any of the courts that is; they then have nothing to do with them.
There are so many laws passed by so many governing bodies, and the acts of the federal government can be so long, even 2 or 3 thousand pages, that millions of American citizens and their lawyers can continuously find ways to question the "constitutionality" of laws and acts of all kinds that they don't like. Or, at least, so it seems.
It is tempting to say that the "brains", or intelligence, of the American government, that means control, are concentrated in its juducial system; with the Supreme Court at the top. The well thought out arguments carried out before the 9 Supreme Court justices, and involving them, too, must be among the best examples of America's strongest minds; or, at least, strongest in the use of carefully chosen words in carefully composed sentences.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Experimental Blog # 161
Quotations and comments from "Plutocrats - The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else by Chrystia Freeland
"The rise of the 1 percent is a global phenomenon .."
"The 1 percent is outpacing everyone else in the emerging economies as well."
"Today two terrifically powerful forces are driving economic change: the technology revolution and globalization."
"Globalization is working - the world overall is getting richer. But a lot of the costs of that transition are being borne by specific groups of workers in the developed West."
" ..Credit Suisse calculated that there were about 29.6 million millionaires < > in the world, about half a percent of the total global population. North Americans .. account for 37 percent .. 37.2 percent .. are European ..Asia-Pacific is home to ..19.2 percent .. there are just over 1 million in China{3.4 percent}."
"Forbes classifies 840 of the 1,226 people on its 2012 billionaire ranking as self-made."
"In 2011, after Viktor Yanukovych, whose candidacy was backed by several eastern Ukrainian oligarchs, was elected president, he imprisoned Ms. Tymoshenko, in a politically motivated case redolent of Mikhail Khodorkovsky."
"When it comes to the creation of twenty-first-century billionaires, the USSR's sale of the century is also the most powerful driver, more important than Silicon Valley's technological revolution or the flourishing of finance on Wall Street and in the city of London."
"The fire sale of the assets of the former Soviet Union stands out because it marked such a sharp shift from nearly total state ownership ..But it was also part of a wider global trend."
" .. the seventy richest members of the NPC{National People's Congress in China} made more money in 2011 than the total combined net worth of all the members of all three branches of U.S. government - the president and his cabinet, both houses of congress, and the justices of the supreme court{all 660 members of the three federal branches}."!!
" .. there were 271 billionaires in China in 2011 .."
"China's plutocrats don't fight the state because they are the state - and when any of them forget that, they are treated with summary brutality: between 2003 and 2011, at least fourteen Chinese billionaires were executed."!!{also quoted as a fact in blog # 154}.
"The rise of the 1 percent is a global phenomenon .."
"The 1 percent is outpacing everyone else in the emerging economies as well."
"Today two terrifically powerful forces are driving economic change: the technology revolution and globalization."
"Globalization is working - the world overall is getting richer. But a lot of the costs of that transition are being borne by specific groups of workers in the developed West."
" ..Credit Suisse calculated that there were about 29.6 million millionaires < > in the world, about half a percent of the total global population. North Americans .. account for 37 percent .. 37.2 percent .. are European ..Asia-Pacific is home to ..19.2 percent .. there are just over 1 million in China{3.4 percent}."
"Forbes classifies 840 of the 1,226 people on its 2012 billionaire ranking as self-made."
"In 2011, after Viktor Yanukovych, whose candidacy was backed by several eastern Ukrainian oligarchs, was elected president, he imprisoned Ms. Tymoshenko, in a politically motivated case redolent of Mikhail Khodorkovsky."
"When it comes to the creation of twenty-first-century billionaires, the USSR's sale of the century is also the most powerful driver, more important than Silicon Valley's technological revolution or the flourishing of finance on Wall Street and in the city of London."
"The fire sale of the assets of the former Soviet Union stands out because it marked such a sharp shift from nearly total state ownership ..But it was also part of a wider global trend."
" .. the seventy richest members of the NPC{National People's Congress in China} made more money in 2011 than the total combined net worth of all the members of all three branches of U.S. government - the president and his cabinet, both houses of congress, and the justices of the supreme court{all 660 members of the three federal branches}."!!
" .. there were 271 billionaires in China in 2011 .."
"China's plutocrats don't fight the state because they are the state - and when any of them forget that, they are treated with summary brutality: between 2003 and 2011, at least fourteen Chinese billionaires were executed."!!{also quoted as a fact in blog # 154}.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Experimental Blog # 160
Quotations from "Secrets of Silicon Valley" - What Everyone Else Can Learn from the Innovation Capital of the World by Deborah Perry Piscione
"Silicon Valley is a meritocratic culture that rewards innovative ideas, independent thinking, and hubris. It .. also embraces youth, failure, and transparency."
" ..Silicon Valley technologies impact the world's most basic ideas about work, learning, and lifestyles."
"We're just beginning a global startup revolution in talent development and idea creation , a movement so widespread that it could redefine the foundational concept of business and work in the twenty-first century."
" ..Silicon Valley is responsible for creating almost every technological innovation that has and will continue to change the global world in the way we live, work, and socialize."
"No longer does China want to be known as the world's manufacturing plant, but rather seven strategic emerging industries have been targeted for growth: next-generation information technology, biotechnology, new enegry, energy conservation, clean energy vehicles, new materials, and high-end manufacturing equipment."
"Silicon Valley is essentially a one-industry town < > all of its energy and resources go toward creating the best possible high-tech economy."
"Silicon Valley is a meritocratic culture that rewards innovative ideas, independent thinking, and hubris. It .. also embraces youth, failure, and transparency."
" ..Silicon Valley technologies impact the world's most basic ideas about work, learning, and lifestyles."
"We're just beginning a global startup revolution in talent development and idea creation , a movement so widespread that it could redefine the foundational concept of business and work in the twenty-first century."
" ..Silicon Valley is responsible for creating almost every technological innovation that has and will continue to change the global world in the way we live, work, and socialize."
"No longer does China want to be known as the world's manufacturing plant, but rather seven strategic emerging industries have been targeted for growth: next-generation information technology, biotechnology, new enegry, energy conservation, clean energy vehicles, new materials, and high-end manufacturing equipment."
"Silicon Valley is essentially a one-industry town < > all of its energy and resources go toward creating the best possible high-tech economy."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)