| Rayne Today Searching for dharma, in spite of the weather...
For those of you visiting to read my blockbuster temper tantrum-rant extraordinaire from yesterday, you’ll find it here. I thought I could use a little blog feng shui. I’ve moved it out of the front room to improve the chi in this area, reduce the negative sha energy. Mmm, feels better!
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Ever think about human brain size? No? okay, how about climate change? You should! I know I've been thinking about both a LOT after reading William Calvin's A Brain for All Seasons.
The potential outcome makes this Iraq-al Qaeda stuff look like fluff. Join me here in BookReports and let me know, I'm curious if you come away with the same opinion.
3:59:41 PM  comment []This year’s published discovery of the oldest remains believed to be hominid is rather exciting. We’re learning more and more about the true nature of man with every discovery. Are we merely naked apes, who lost our hair wading in the shoals looking for seafood? Are we descendents of the orangutans, coming down from the trees and walking upright, or are we chimpanzee’s cousins who found upright walking preferable to four-legged motility? The answer becomes clearer with more study and conjecture; the answer may not solve many of our problems today, but they may tell us something about our future. A particularly fun read, A Brain for All Seasons not only discusses the possible origins of man, but on the apparent correlation between major climatic shifts and human’s brain size. Selection may have been accidental, caused by interbreeding of individuals with larger heads once they were isolated by severe climatic change. Or perhaps the increase in size was opportunistic; animals with larger brains may have been smarter and more apt to survive the climatic shifts. The author William Calvin presents the arguments in a breezy, conversational fashion, in portions approximating messages sent home to students. It’s a highly engaging read; Calvin strikes one as the kind of chap you’d enjoy meeting for a beer at the local pub to hash over the relative merits of isolationism for genetic improvement. But Calvin’s most stimulating comments are not at all about the size of the human brain. They are about the potential for catastrophic changes in climate, and what we as humans are doing now that may accelerate these changes. It’s important to note that humans have most likely expanded their brain capacity to a point of excess – we don’t use all the capacity we have. We’ve also reached a point where we can clearly work around the changes in climate, rather than be mutely acted upon by the forces of nature. Having said that, what will we do with the concerns that Calvin lays out for us? Global warming is in progress – it’s part of a normal cycle. Charts provided by Calvin clearly indicate that we can continue to expect an increase in average earth temperature for some time. Pollution we generate may also add to this warming process, accelerating any resulting condition. However, one little known side affect of global warming is the change in salinity in the various oceans and seas; these changes in salinity due to thawing and blockages of water flows by ice packs that have broken off have a major impact on the rate of temperature change. This pump of saline water rising and falling, shifting locations of saline pools, may accelerate a counter-response, a swing back in temperature. Of great concern, the rate of change may be extremely rapid – years, not decades – moving us backwards rapidly into a Little Ice Age. (Imagine Calvin’s comments about the future are a little terse – after a warm and funny chat, all of a sudden this kindly uncle-type is rattled, worried. This feeling is clearly conveyed to the reader. He’s on point with his assessment about the probable approach, versus the needed approach. Naturally, further education, increased study and immediate reduction of causal pollutants are called for here. And the biggest bottlenecks to possible remedies? Either a "know-nothing president" or a "do-nothing congress". (Actual quotes, no kidding.) No wonder Calvin is worried. After reading this book, I know I’m petrified, because I’m pretty certain it’s not either or – it’s both bottlenecks at once. 2:15:35 PM comment []During this morning’s daily walk, I thought to myself, wow, that’s why I don’t like doing current events in my blog. Reading them, living them, it’s toxic stuff for me when heaped on top of the current futility of a job search. And then it hit me – the last time I felt this crappy was during the Reagan Administration. That was the last time I was unemployed. And the economy was just as whacked, albeit in different ways. At the time there were few jobs for the uneducated; the local economy was especially hard hit because it was based on the automotive industry. Any Asian person could expect to be harassed about taking American jobs, since locals pretty much thought any Asian was probably Japanese. (I still think occasionally about poor Vincent Chin, murdered by thugs 20 years ago because he was Asian in Yeah, it’s all coming back, like a really bad dream... Voo-doo, trickle down economics, tax cuts and David Stockton. Where the heck is he now, anyhow? I remember listening to Ollie North’s testimony (he always gave me the impression he was smiling, smirking, on the inside, keeping a poker face on the outside). I had nothing better to do than listen to this at the time. And William Casey, the only man who could really link Ronnie to the Iran-Contra Affair, dies rather suddenly of a tumor. I won’t ask where the heck he is now (although being the conspiracy-theorist I am it puzzles me that Casey becomes terminally ill about the time the clue train stops at his door). 20 years later and now all I can find are jobs for those without education – labor, retail, service jobs. The coin has flipped, but it’s the same coin. I couldn’t save any money in the 80’s because I couldn’t find work and the few jobs available paid poorly. Today I can’t save any money because I can’t find work, my investments and savings have tanked, and the few jobs available pay even more poorly than they did in the 80’s (at least I could still expect health care benefits or make enough to cover child care in the 80’s, could still make the rent!). The controversy today isn’t Iran-Contra. It’s Iraq-al Qaeda. Still the Any time now I’ll be hearing A Flock of Seagulls has a new hit. 9:28:06 AM comment []
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