More bad news for honeybees: Beekeepers lost nearly half their colonies in the past year
Published under Global, Life, Science and Technology May 16, 2016Bee colony collapse is a major issue that society should be concerned about and focused on.
Archive for the ‘Global’ Category
This video about my cousin Emmanuel’s cinematography literally moved me to tears. The humanity within every one of his shots, the fragility and beauty these convey about our human condition and the world we inhabit are so humbling, so poetic, so powerful. Emmanuel, aka “Chivo”, has won two Oscars thus far and just got nominated for a third. He turns movies into the most emotive art. His imagery moves and stirs one’s soul as if watching the most beautiful sunset. And he has the ability to turn a banal breath into an enigmatic contemplation of sorrow and pain.
When we were little, I remember noticing him as he contemplated and photographed an army of ants on a wall as my other cousins wrestled one another. If you pay attention when you watch the movie, you will capture a shot he took of warring ants that says so much, particularly knowing of Emmanuel’s artistic journey, where everything is captivating and wondrous.I also remember as a kid how he would always show a noble spirit, protecting my sister when others were teasing her, and inviting me to be part of his sports team when I was starting to feel sad because other kids wouldn’t pick me (yes, I was a kind of clumsy soccer player). It is amazing to see how this little kid grew to be such an epic observer of nature and such a wizard of light.
Ten Weather Extremes That Defined Hottest Year Ever Recorded
Published under Environment, Global Jan 04, 2016
My sister shared this note with me. It is from an “avatar” that is the founder of the Oneness movement. Often, I find these things a bit out there, but these words really spoke to me….
“What can we do as individuals in the face of inhuman violence, terrorism?”
“We wake up to another day’s revenge, retribution and rancor . The violence and brutality that surrounds us is the result of the destructive effect of fragmentation – one individual against another, one group against another, religiously, socially, culturally and economically. We are brothers and sisters, children of the same mother, inheritors of the same collective destiny. What we do to another, we do to ourselves. Why then do we behave as though we are inhuman warring tribal factions? How can we hunt or kill another? Is not the experience of pain same for all? Do not all living beings dread fear? How then can we perpetrate violence and pain on another? Will we today take the time to teach our children that division in any name whether sacred or secular is a crime? Will we tell them that we are human beings and not labels that divide us? Will we in this moment of crisis mould their young minds to be citizens of the world and not narrow bigots?
Ideological differences are at the root of the violence that is robbing sanity and endangering survival. When we become concerned with our own individual survival, with the survival of our group, our belief, we are being divisive and threaten the actual survival of the whole.
A beautiful song by Alicia Keys.
The key to solving the puzzle of Afghanistan is Pakistan
Published under Global, United States Oct 09, 2015By Fareed Zakaria, Thursday, October 8, 2015
Recent setbacks in Afghanistan — from the fall of Kunduz to the errant U.S. bombing of a hospital in that city — again raise a question. Why, after 14 years of American military efforts, is Afghanistan still so fragile? The country has a democratically elected government widely viewed as legitimate. Poll after poll suggests that the Taliban are unpopular. The Afghan army fights fiercely and loyally. And yet, the Taliban always come back.
The answer to this puzzle can be found in a profile of the Taliban’s new leader, Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. It turns out that Mansour lives part time in Quetta, the New York Times reports, “in an enclave where he and some other Taliban leaders . . . have built homes.” His predecessor, Mohammad Omar, we now know, died a while ago in Karachi. And of course, we remember that Osama bin Laden lived for many years in a compound in Abbottabad. All three of these cities are in Pakistan.
Four articles to read regarding the Iran deal:
- Theguardian.com: We should not let euphoria about the Iran nuclear deal cloud our judgment, Michael Herzog
- New York Times: A Good Deal for Israel, Chuck Freilich
- Ynet News: Before we Storm Capitol Hill, Efraim Halevy
- The New York Times: Backing Up Our Wager With Iran, Thomas L. Friedman
- Ottomans and Zionists: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Iran Nuclear Deal, Michael Koplow