O aplicativo Vocabulário Russo ajuda a melhorar a sua leitura e vocabulário. Esta aplicação foi desenvolvida com o fim de ajudar os estudantes do idioma Russo nos níveis intermediário e avançado a melhorarem seu vocabulário e habilidades de leitura. Características: 1657 termos e definições. Tocador de Vocabulário: pause, reinicie e revise termos como se utilizando …
in a playlist of three parts:
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The Humanist, scientist and broadcaster Jacob Bronowski was honoured today with a blue plaque in Hull, the city where he once taught. The unveiling of the plaque follows a campaign by the Hull and East Riding Humanist Group to celebrate Dr Bronowski’s achievements.
Dr Bronowski is most well known for presenting the 1973 BBC TV series The Ascent of Man. Born in Poland in 1908 to Jewish parents, his family moved to Germany during the First World War, and then to England in 1920. His intellectual interests ranged widely, straddling the divide between the science and the humanities. He was also a committed Humanist. In October 1968 he wrote:
The notion that a man shall judge for himself what he is told, sifting the evidence and weighing the conclusions, is of course implicit in the outlook of science. But it begins before that as a positive and active constituent of humanism. For evidently the notion implies not only that man is free to judge, but that he is able to judge. This is an assertion of confidence which goes back to a contemporary of Socrates, and claims (as Plato quotes him) that ‘man is the measure of all things’. In humanism, man is all things: he is both the expression and the master of the creation.
The campaign for a blue plaque began after diaries discovered by his daughter, the academic and broadcaster Professor Lisa Jardine, showed that he had lived in Hull. The blue plaque was unveiled at 29 Hallgate in Cottingham, where Dr Bronowski lived between 1934 and 1942, when he was a lecturer at the University of Hull.
Dr Bronowski died in August 1974 at the age of 72. He inspired figures such as Carl Sagan, who went on to make the TV series Cosmos, and David Attenborough.
Tim Stephenson, secretary of the Hull and East Riding Humanist Group, said that Dr Bronowski was ‘a real Renaissance man’. ‘He’s known as a mathematician and a scientist who was interested in physics and biology, but he was also a poet. He was a multi-faceted person who was involved in the broad area between the arts, the sciences and the social sciences. He was a really interesting character.’
BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson, who was present at the unveiling of the plaque, commented ‘Jacob Bronowski was a great humanist. He was one of the main contributors to the development of humanist thought in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s. This work of his is less well-known now than his pioneering work in science communication but just as worth celebrating as the fruits of a brilliant life.
Related articles:
- Anthony Grayling named new British Humanist Association President
- Centre for Inquiry UK becomes new section of British Humanist Association
Is it banning the procedure, executing people who terminate a pregnancy, as many Christians propose? Hardly. Women have sought abortions for centuries, for one common and overarching reason: Desperation.
When women have more autonomy over their reproductive life, when they are able to CHOOSE when to become pregnant, there is far less demand for abortion. It's THAT BLOODY SIMPLE. Sure, there are abortions due to medical need (which even some Christians in America and other benighted places in this world would prefer to oppose), but no civilized society would deny that contingency.
I make no reservations in this view. I firmly believe that our society, in seeking to decrease female reproductive autonomy both legally and socially, is moving further and further away from the realm of "civilized." It must stop, this insistence that women not be allowed the freedom to determine when they are READY to bear a child, and the freedom to terminate the pregnancy if they find themselves pregnant when they are not.
When women have more autonomy over their reproductive life, when they are able to CHOOSE when to become pregnant, there is far less demand for abortion. It's THAT BLOODY SIMPLE. Sure, there are abortions due to medical need (which even some Christians in America and other benighted places in this world would prefer to oppose), but no civilized society would deny that contingency.
I make no reservations in this view. I firmly believe that our society, in seeking to decrease female reproductive autonomy both legally and socially, is moving further and further away from the realm of "civilized." It must stop, this insistence that women not be allowed the freedom to determine when they are READY to bear a child, and the freedom to terminate the pregnancy if they find themselves pregnant when they are not.
Statistics: Posted by SouthernFriedInfidel — October 30th, 2012, 2:33 am — Replies 0 — Views 15
Actually there are lots of problems, but I thought I should point to one [series of problems] in particular.
Drugs
One of the candidates is determined to continue the war on drugs. This determination includes arresting and ruining the lives of terminal cancer patients who have medical marijuana that’s also legal in their state of residence. This war has cost about $1 trillion since the 70s. The social cost is immense: it’s responsible for the vast majority of the explosion in incarceration rates in the US. Currently, the US appears to have a higher instantaneous incarceration rate than even the USSR during Stalin’s 1937 purges. (This might not bear out if you consider larger time chunks since the Gulags had a much higher “turnover”.) And yet it’s perfectly fine to have about 100 SWAT team raids on private houses per day — raids where police routinely show up at the wrong house but are perfectly happy to shoot dogs (and on rarer occasions, people).
Detention
He has indicated that he will not close Guantanamo Bay, despite the fact that the terrorism suspects housed therein are under indefinite detention. In fact he seems ok with indefinite detention as well — he supported a bill that according to many analysts would either allow for indefinite detention of US citizens under certain circumstances or is likely to provide cover to a future administration that wants to do this.
Torture Accountability
He explicitly intends to provide cover to key members of the Bush administration who were responsible for implementing torture (eg. waterboarding) as part of the standard method of interrogating terrorism suspects. He specifically intends to abandon the USA’s obligation (as a signatory to the Convention Against Torture) to prosecute these people. In addition to being ridiculous in itself, by removing the expectation of prosecution, he effectively wants to set up a climate where future presidents will feel they can do this with impunity. They’ll be right.
State Secrets
His view on government secrecy is expansive. He has indicated his intent to mount the largest-ever campaign of prosecutions against whistleblowers who expose government misconduct. Furthermore, his view of the state secrets doctrine is even more expansive than the Bush administration’s. He believes that the government should be able to stop people prosecuting it for misconduct if the trial involves something that makes the government look bad because the misconduct was so terrible. In that case, the government’s shame is considered a state secret. For instance, an innocent man was tortured because of America’s extraordinary rendition program and had his genitals sliced with razor blades. He cannot sue the airline that was used to transport him because that will expose a “state secret” (that the government caused a man to have his genitals sliced with razor blades).
Murdering Civilians
Most disturbingly, he likes them predator drones out in Pakistan. He intends to have the continue killing/injuring civilians, with the uninjured ones being afraid to go outside, suffering from PTSD and so on. If that wasn’t bad enough, he is a supporter of the double-tap tactic. This is where an area is bombed and then bombed a second time when rescuers gather to help those killed/injured in the original attack. This has been aptly described as cartoon-level evil, such that you might be hardpressed to believe if it was in a movie.
Sorry about the obvious punchline, but as you’d have guessed, the problem with the election is that one of the candidates will do all these terrible things. The other one’s Romney.
Here is an interesting video I found featuring Sheldon Richman, editor of The Freeman.
In Los Angeles County you can vote early at any time between now and November 6th at the main Registrar/County Clerk office in Norwalk. This information is not at all easy to find on the webpage, but I found this out because I called to find out about the status of my vote by mail ballot. They are even open Saturday and Sunday until 4pm. So if you think something might prevent you from voting next Tuesday, this might be a good option since it's probably too late to receive and return a vote by mail ballot. You never know what could happen on election day so it's a good idea to get it done early.
Here is the link for the main Los Angeles voting information page: http://www.lavote.net/
Also, if you want to vote left, but you want some guidance on how to vote on the propositions or some of the more obscure parts of the ballot, such as the state assembly members or state congressmen, here is a website that provides the Democratic endorsements: http://www.cadem.org/vote?id=0006
In addition, for the more local information, such as District Attorney or local and county measures, this website is helpful: http://www.lacdp.org/endorsements/
If you're concerned about the authenticity, you can scroll to the bottom of the links, and you'll see they were payed for by the California and Los Angeles Democratic parties respectively.
Here is the link for the main Los Angeles voting information page: http://www.lavote.net/
Also, if you want to vote left, but you want some guidance on how to vote on the propositions or some of the more obscure parts of the ballot, such as the state assembly members or state congressmen, here is a website that provides the Democratic endorsements: http://www.cadem.org/vote?id=0006
In addition, for the more local information, such as District Attorney or local and county measures, this website is helpful: http://www.lacdp.org/endorsements/
If you're concerned about the authenticity, you can scroll to the bottom of the links, and you'll see they were payed for by the California and Los Angeles Democratic parties respectively.
In his latest documentary for Channel 4, Richard Dawkins explores Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life. The series has three episodes and runs through the end of the month. Episode 1 was about “sin” and Episode 2 was about what science can tell us about death.
In Episode 3, Dawkins talks about the meaning of life as an atheist:
I haven’t seen the whole thing yet, so if you like any particular moments, please leave the timestamps and summary in the comments!
But here’s one part you won’t want to miss: Ricky Gervais shows up at the 36:00 mark 
(via BBUK0001)
Take a look at this Wind Map — I see we have gentle zephyrs here in Minnesota, but there’s something strange going on on the east coast.
Look back on Mitt Romney in 2011:
KING: You’ve been a chief executive of a state. I was just in Joplin, Missouri. I’ve been in Mississippi and Louisiana and Tennessee and other communities dealing with whether it’s the tornadoes, the flooding, and worse. FEMA is about to run out of money, and there are some people who say do it on a case-by-case basis and some people who say, you know, maybe we’re learning a lesson here that the states should take on more of this role. How do you deal with something like that?
ROMNEY: Absolutely. Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.
Instead of thinking in the federal budget, what we should cut — we should ask ourselves the opposite question. What should we keep? We should take all of what we’re doing at the federal level and say, what are the things we’re doing that we don’t have to do? And those things we’ve got to stop doing, because we’re borrowing $1.6 trillion more this year than we’re taking in. We cannot…
KING: Including disaster relief, though?
ROMNEY: We cannot — we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off. It makes no sense at all.
You know he’s not going to do a thing to slow the advance of global climate change (or does he think that can be done at the level of individual states, too?), and he doesn’t support federal emergency services. Why should he? Disasters like this don’t discomfit the rich.
This is the third and last video in the series Sex, Death And The Meaning Of Life. It’s about “meaning.”
Richard Dawkins sets out to answer the question he often gets asked - “How do you get up in the morning?”
Sex, Death And The Meaning Of Life Episode 3.
Another laid-back coverage by Dawkins. He gives plenty of space to the religious attempts to find meaning but is personally not convinced. I find his own description of meaning in understanding and observing reality, experiencing human art and culture, and appreciating the awe provided by our surroundings, far more attractive.
Similar articles
Right now, we here on Long Island are getting battered by Hurricane Sandy. Residents of the barrier islands like Fire Island and Long Beach on the South shore were told to evacuate. Watching on the news, most places on the South Shore and the East End have been flooded.
I'm fortunate to live near the midway point between the North and South shores, so I am not concerned with flooding. What is causing devastation for those of us who live away from the coasts is the high wind speeds that are knocking down trees. For me, it is an issue of special concern because we have a large tree in the middle of our back yard that has already lost many large branches that have struck our house and battered a section of the chain link fence between our yard and our neighbor to our immediate right.
I went outside a short while ago, first to inspect the exterior of the house and then to check out the immediate neighborhood. Thus far, my house has suffered some minor damage, but nothing to get terrible upset about. A falling branch took out a light bulb near our back door and dented a small portion of the gutter. Our deck and behind our garage is littered with large branches. On the front of the house, I espied a couple of missing roof tiles and a portion of the siding lining on the front of the house has gotten unattached and is swinging in the wind. It wouldn't surprise me if the entire thing comes off before the night is over, unless the wind slackens.
The biggest concern is that the entire tree may come down. When the wind blows especially hard, you can actually see the ground on one side rise up as the leaning of the tree to the other side creates an upward tug on the roots. I can only hope that the tree either remains standing, or if it falls, that it will fall directly westward and miss both my home and my neighbor's home.
After surveying my house, I walked up and down my block in both directions. Across the street, the homes are without power. While the lights have flickered on and off at times here, we have been lucky that we have not lost power. I am prepared for that contingency though, having an ample supply of glo sticks and flashlights. One of my neighbors across the street, an elderly Italian man who lives alone, had a whole section of his siding torn off on the east side of his house. I gave him one of my glo sticks.
Further down the block, a large tree in the front of one of the houses came down across the front lawn, though the house itself appears to have been mercifully spared..
And that's how things stand in my little section of the world tonight. Depending on conditions tomorrow, I will see if I can take some pictures of the damage for a follow up post.
The November election is not a battle between Republicans and Democrats. It is not a battle between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. It is a battle between the corporate state and us. . . .
[...]
All the major correctives to American democracy have come through movements and third parties that have operated outside the mainstream. Few achieved formal positions of power. These movements built enough momentum and popular support, always in the face of fierce opposition, to force the power elite to respond to their concerns. Such developments, along with the courage to defy the political charade in the voting booth, offer the only hope of saving us from Wall Street predators, the assault on the ecosystem by the fossil fuel industry, the rise of the security and surveillance state and the dramatic erosion of our civil liberties.
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any,” Alice Walker writes.
It was the Liberty Party that first fought slavery. It was the Prohibition and Socialist parties, along with the Suffragists, that began the fight for the vote for women and made possible the 19th Amendment. It was the Socialist Party, along with radical labor unions, that first battled against child labor and made possible the 40-hour workweek. It was the organizing of the Populist Party that gave us the Immigration Act of 1924 along with a “progressive” tax system. And it was the Socialists who battled for unemployment benefits, leading the way to the Social Security Act of 1935. No one in the ruling elite, including Franklin Roosevelt, would have passed this legislation without pressure from the outside.
Related articles
- What’s wrong with lesser evilism (dandelionsalad.wordpress.com)
Slate has the quiz and it features quotations like this one:
“It’s like having a flower, or a rose. You water it and keep it at home for yourself, to look at it and smell it. It is not supposed to be taken out of the house to be smelled.”
Who said it?
100 Internet points to anyone who gets a perfect score!
(Thanks to Rike for the link)
Why is Hurricane Sandy causing so much destruction right now?
According to John McTernan, Hurricane Sandy was caused by the homosexual agenda and whatever we’re doing in Israel:
Hurricane Sandy is hitting 21 years to the day of the Perfect Storm of October 20, 1991… This was the day that President George Bush Sr. initiated the Madrid Peace Process to divide the land of Israel, including Jerusalem. America has been under God’s judgment since this event. Both of these hurricanes were cause by freakish weather patterns that came together to create [sic]
Twenty-one years breaks down to 7 x 3, which is a significant number with God. Three is perfection as the Godhead is three in one while seven is perfection.
It appears that God gave America 21 years to repent of interfering with His prophetic plan for Israel; however, it has gotten worse under all the presidents and especially Obama. Obama is 100 percent behind the Muslim Brotherhood which has vowed to destroy Israel and take Jerusalem. Both candidates are pro-homosexual and are behind the homosexual agenda. America is under political judgment and the church does not know it!
Margie Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church blames gay marriage…
Sandy Winds AHEAD! bit.ly/VxC6qu via @godsmacksu375,000 evacuated in NYC. Praise God! Stop marrying fags in NYC! #FagsDoomNations
— MargiePhelps (@MargieJPhelps) October 29, 2012
“Ex-gay” activist Linda Wall blames a custody case involving a lesbian couple:
Let’s See How Vermont Does During The Hurricane
…
I didn’t expect most of you to agree with my statement. But I tell you this the tragedy here is that a little six year old Christian girl and her born again Mother had to flee America in order to obey God’s Word.
And now a Minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ is facing imprisonment for helping protect a little child from being removed from her biological Christian Mother and turned over to a stranger.
Christians who loved and nurtured Lisa and Isabella through the six plus years are also being sued for obeying God’s Word. So look in the mirror and decide where your commitment is.
Vengeance is God’s and He does repay.
Pat Robertson will surely make an idiotic statement on this hurricane’s cause very soon, so keep an eye out for that, too.
Meanwhile, here’s what an actual scientist is saying:
In the immediate term, three factors have come together to make Sandy what it is: A huge storm with winds gusting up to 90 mph (145 kph) set to make landfall somewhere on the East Coast Monday night. First, hurricane season is still on, meaning the tropics are still actively generating storms. That’s Sandy’s origin…
But a storm like Sandy would normally be losing steam by now as it moved into colder, less energetic waters, said David Robinson, a Rutgers University professor and New Jersey’s state climatologist. In this case, however, a trough of low pressure dipping down from the Arctic is feeding the hurricane, actually strengthening its intensity as it moves northward. (Higher tides because of a full moon may also increase flooding from the storm.)
Those conditions are the same as 1991′s “Perfect Storm,” a tempest that occurred when a nor’easter fed by Arctic air absorbed Hurricane Grace. But that storm never made landfall. The third weather factor feeding Sandy, a high-pressure system, is pushing the hurricane onshore, making this “about the worst case imaginable,” Robinson said.
Crazy Christians: 0. Scientists: 29829214131.
By the way, I’m well aware those Christians I quoted above don’t represent most Christians. But many “sane” Christians still believe God had something to do with this — it’s God’s will, God has a plan for us, God does everything for a reason, etc.
They’re just as wrong about its origins. Don’t forget that.
I hope to be able to post about what atheists are doing to help victims of this disaster very soon.
***Update***: I laughed:
A pastor on East Coast blames gays for the hurricane. While he’s wet, tell him San Francisco is dry and celebrating the World Series
— CJ Werleman (@rationalists) October 29, 2012
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