TED Talk: Big History Of The World. The Power Of Collective Learning

"The History Of The World In 18 Minutes"

See Christian's discussion of "collective learning" around the 13 minute mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqc9zX04DXs

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If humankind would overcome the destructive pull of entropy -- that persistent impulse to disorder which manifests at the fundamental level of energy exchange (and at most derivative levels as well) -- then "collective enterprise" "must" be honored as more important than individuals' working in isolation.

Although individuals play a crucial role in human development, the species must finally remain subsidiary to collective enterprise just as scientists themselves work within collective enterprise - and not only collective enterprise but collective enterprise that is trans-generational.  

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Teilhard de Chardin S.J. "Research As Adoration"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/09/scientific-research-as-adoration-pierre.html

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Teilhard de Chardin S.J.
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/07/teilhard-de-chardin-sj.html

Notre Histoire: Video History Of The World In Two Minutes

Notre Histoire

Marc Becy

http://marcbrecy.perso.neuf.fr/history.html

Weird Enuf Fer Ya? News From Barbaria #117

John Oliver: Calling Uganda’s anti-LGBT laws ‘harsh’ is like calling Stalin ‘a bit of a grump’

Anti-LGBT twins compare reality TV show cancellation to martyrdom, D-Day, ‘Braveheart’

Hobby Lobby wins Supreme Court case, limits the ACA contraception mandate

Blackwater leader threatened to kill State Dept. official before Nisour Square massacre: NYT

Fox News decides there’s a ‘feminist war’ on men’s rights after protest in Detroit

Stepmother who gagged autistic daughter, tied her to S&M device found guilty of murder

Rick Santorum: Founding fathers had right idea limiting those who could vote

Sparsely attended ‘men’s rights’ soirée arrives at source of their problems. Hint: It’s women

New York City man strangled his 8-year-old son to death: police

LA GOP candidate for Congress: Climate change is a hoax, can be disproved with thermometer

Florida GOP lawmaker ready to put Taco Bell drunk driving arrest behind him after plea deal

KKK at Gettysburg: Those opposing white revolution will be ‘going in the ground’

How the world is turning tropical right before our eyes

CNN’s Toobin: Americans should be ‘grateful’ that Cheney is back on TV talking about Iraq

• This sentence from Paul Krugman says it all


• Sign the pledge: Boycott Hobby Lobby


• Germany pulling plug on US tech companies


• The sex-toy argument for gun safety


• Bill Maher warns of revenge in Iraq


• White supremacists terrorize and takeover small town. Welcome to Leith—The Documentary


• The next Obamacare 'freakout,' set to hit just before election


• Blackwater quashed investigation by threatening to kill State Department employees


• Fox News viewers blast Cavuto for being rude to Michele Bachmann


• Yes, I'm actually writing about a 3.5-inch howitzer shell shot from an OK gun range that hit a house

Kitchen Klatching And Contempt For Science

"The Danger Of Science Denial"
by Michael Specter
(one of Bill Gates' 13 favorite TED Talks and a great talk by any measure)
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/03/ted-talk-danger-of-science-denial.html

USA Today: New Study Shows Vaccine Side Effects Extremely Rare

Vaccine side effects extremely rare, study says. 

Liz Szabo in USA Today.

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"The Death Of Epistemology: Anti-Vaccine Expert (And Playboy Model) Jenny McCarthy"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-death-of-epistemology-anti-vaccine.html

Paranoia occupies the heart of contemporary conservatism.

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"Conservatives Scare More Easily Than Liberals"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/07/conservatives-scare-more-easily-than.html

Obama: "I'll Do Immigration Reform Myself." (And The GOP's Peril At Doing Nothing)

Obama: I'll do it myself. "The president said he has directed Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to move enforcement resources to the southern U.S. border, to focus on removing undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes....Obama also is asking his advisers to find steps...to change the U.S. immigration system for the millions of undocumented immigrants...who haven’t broken laws....Obama separately asked Congress for emergency funds and legal authority to stem an increasing flow of undocumented immigrants — especially children traveling without adults — from Central American countries." Angela Greiling Keane and Derek Wallbank in Bloomberg.

Explainer: 4 ways Obama can reform immigration himself. Danny Vinik in The New Republic.

Once again, Obama is facing pressure from immigration activists. "More than 52,000 unaccompanied children and 39,000 women with children have been apprehended at the border this year....The administration also is preparing to ask Congress for statutory authority to more quickly deport the children. That decision has alarmed human rights advocates who say they are at risk of being returned to dangerous communities. During a conference call earlier Monday, some advocates said they would not accept a policy in which the White House toughens its stance on the children at the border while providing enforcement relief for adults who have lived in the country for a long time." David Nakamura and Zachary A. Goldfarb in The Washington Post.

News analysis: Obama's no-win immigration predicament. Frank James in NPR.

Memo to GOP: Block reform at your peril. "The collapse of Mr. Obama's top legislative priority is a win for conservatives....It also is a victory for Republicans who wanted to avoid a divisive immigration debate in an election year. But it leaves Republicans with the same problem they faced in the presidential election two years ago — a disadvantage with the growing bloc of Hispanic voters. Many in the GOP have cautioned that the party won't win another national election unless it finds a way to improve the party's standing with Latinos. That isn't possible, many caution, without passing an immigration bill." Laura Meckler and Janet Hook in The Wall Street Journal.

"Let Them Eat Cash." Cash Grants To The Poor Are Remarkably Effective

Let them eat cash. "Globally, cash is a major tool to fight extreme poverty. The United Nations is handing out ATM cards to Syrian refugees alongside sacks of grain. The evidence suggests these cash programs work. There have been randomized trials of cash grants to poor Mexican families, Kenyan villagers, Malawian schoolgirls and many others. The results show that sometimes people just eat better or live in better homes. Often, though, they start businesses and earn more....I haven’t spent any time with the homeless in the United States. Maybe I’d see that the differences are profound. But I ask myself: If homeless people and drug users in Liberia don’t misuse cash, why would we expect the homeless in New York to waste it?" Christopher Blattman in The New York Times.