Another reason to support our zoos

An extremely rare blue Spix’s Macaw is returning to Brazil, in hopes that the bird will help reestablish its species’ biodiversity.  The San Diego Zoo assisted in this case with DNA testing and genetic material storage; the Denver Zoo monitored the bird’s health prior to its flight to Brazil. 

Both zoos need on-going funding through donations to continue this kind of urgent work, as well as their day-to-day work on conservancy and education.

I’ve said it before, I’m asking again.  Support your local zoo, join now as a member or make a donation.  Take your children to the zoo and educate them through hands-on learning opportunities offered at many zoos.  With further support and education, we may yet be able to save the biological richness of this planet.  Your small contribution either through membership or donations can truly make a difference.

6:13:50 PM    comment []

ThinkingAhead: The Practical Futurist…isn’t…

I’ve been toying for some time now with pursuing an advanced degree in Future Studies.  The study of the future fascinates me, probably an offshoot of my taste for science fiction or stemming from my studies in science and technology (or both).  We can shape and mold it or let it run over us…wow, the possibilities, the probabilities are so tantalizing, entertaining.

Consequently, I jump all over anything that smacks of futurist thinking.  The Practical Futurist sounded like just such a jumping point.  Michael Rogers’ bio indicates he might have an interesting viewpoint and sufficient credentials to generate some deep futurist thinking.

Unfortunately, the column is so short-term (short-sighted?) that I really can’t recommend it as a purely futurist resource.  A practical resource, possibly, but that’s pretty subjective.  I’m looking for information about the next 10, 20, 50 years out, the stuff that we (the editorial we, the we of the human race at large) can still shape and affect, not the short-term 5-year plan that’s already embedded in some corporate geek’s PowerPoint presentation on their laptop.  Rogers’ stuff is just that – speculation on somebody’s already laid-out 5-year plan.

There are a few interesting links (many are blogs) located with his column, though; a number are truly futurist in nature.  Check them out, see where you might be able to shape or re-shape the future ahead, before it becomes some PowerPoint presentation.

Just a few you can find by weeding through links at The Practical Futurist’s column:

Long Bets

Transterrestial Musings

bottomquark

Quark Soup

1:42:21 PM    comment []

RantsCounterRants:  Comparison with Venezuela…

Miguel Octavio continues a fine job of coverage in his blog of the ugly situation in Venezuela.

He says the most frequent question he receives is “why can't we just follow the Constitution and wait until August recall referendum”. 

If Bush attempted even a fraction of the wrong-doing alleged by COFAVIC, we’d be demanding raucously his immediate impeachment as well.  (A number of Americans didn’t exactly wait for the next elections before attempting an impeachment of Clinton for far less!)

One disturbing point in Miguel’s post on COFAVIC addressed the lack of independence of the Attorney General’s office.  That took me aback a bit – because we don’t have an independent AG here, either.  Ashcroft was appointed not for his ability to make independent determinations based on codified law, but on his ability to enforce them within the parameters of the Bush Administration’s agenda.  (And I distinctly remember a lot of bellowing about Janet Reno’s relationship to the Clinton Administration…)

Food for thought, hmmm?  What would a third-party neutral observer say about the U.S.?  would it look anything like COFAVIC’s report?

10:32:15 AM    comment []

RantsCounterRants:  Scared snotless…

This is the kind of thing that scares the snot out of me, leaves me sleepless in the middle of the night.

Dubya may get to pick a Supreme Court Justice AND name a new Chief Justice within the next year.

God in heaven help us if we have to go through another Clarence Thomas.  Thomas was grossly under-qualified for the job, having not the depth of experience and background nor the actual talent required for the job (he still has difficulty arguing his way out of a wet paper bag even after nearly 10 years on the bench – just a “yeah, what he said” Justice).  And Dubya’s dad didn’t have the sense God gave a maggot to yank Thomas and find somebody else with better credentials, more talent and no skeletons in the closet.

Hope like hell somebody in the current Bushie ranks learned something from the Thomas debacle and steers Bush towards a moderate, credentialed Republican candidate.

But I highly doubt it.  Somebody would have to have LEARNED something.

9:51:00 AM    comment []