Who is Wu Hou?

I’m not saying right now, but the Encyclopædia Britannica’s “300 Women Who Changed the World” that identifies 300 women who helped shape the course of history is well worth the read. Many, like me, you probably won’t know. Others will be very familiar. The stories are wonderful. Check out National Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day.

Galileo, George Washington

Italian natural philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician Galileo, born 15/02/1564, made fundamental contributions to the sciences of motion and astronomy, as well as to the development of the scientific method.

Called the “Father of His Country,” George Washington, general and commander in chief of the colonial armies in the American Revolution (1775–83) and first president of the United States (1789–97), was born 22/02/1732.

Debating the Divine

This is the title of a two piece commentary in this weekends “Australian’ newspaper. One author – Catholic Archbishop of Canberra, Mark Coleridge. The other – Editor of Quadrant magazine and atheist PP McGuiness. They were commenting on Richard Dawkin’s new book, “The God Delusion”. I was edified by both of these commentaries particularly because they both pinpointed the primary psychological cause of conflict in human society – ideology. For Mark Coleridge religious fundamentalism is religion decayed by ideology, while PP McGuiness pointed out the role of 20th Century non-religious ideologies in crimes against humanity. They both raised the spectre of the evil of both ‘religious’ and ’scientific’ ideologues. I am very glad they have written the articles they have, as it gives me hope that there are leading thinkers from Theist and Atheist viewpoints who can help human society work towards peaceful outcomes. More at the “What I Believe page”

Next gen leaves home 2

It has been a busy weekend. I flew with one son to Brisbane to Union College, to start a science degree at University of Qld. 9 years since I’ve been at the campus, and there are several changes including a new biotech research centre and a bridge ove the river.

My wife drove with the other son to Townsville to George Roberts College, to start a Law degree at James Cook Uni.

The twins are now apart (1500 kms apart) after 18 years being in each other’s pockets. We wonder how they will find it. So far they are presenting the nonchalant ‘doing our own thing’ attitude.

We met back in Cairns to drive home together late last night.

Next Generation leaves home

My twin sons having had a year off after highschool, are now starting University next week. One is going to University of Queensland in Brisbane. The other to James Cook University in Townsville.

They spent last year in India

and then in Port Douglas cleaning rooms at the Radisson.

Democracy and Solution

The primary step for any organisation is to place a set of problems or challenges on the table. Once there is agreement from the stakeholders that these challenges do exist, it seems that there are likely to be a number of ways to solve them. Each solution will have its strengths and weaknesses and the final solution should be that which is the strongest solution overall for all stakeholders, rather than necessarily the strongest solution for any individual stakeholder. This is exactly what a democracy should be aiming. Otherwise the natural tendency among any group of people as I read the research, is for a dominant group (about 20%) to corner 80% of the resources leaving the 80% to rely on 20% resources. This is the outcome of unfettered capitalism but some of our liberal friends have a proclivity toward this as well. Feudalism was worse of course. But capitalism is only successful while the peasants get enough to make them believe they are well off. And that relies on the rape of the land and environment (sound familiar). The democracy should be able to elevate best solutions so that we have a much smaller gap between the greedy and the weak.

So in the same vein, organisations should be able to bring challenges to a common table and solve them for each other. Ultimately a mindset of this nature can help to recognise where a change or merger of organisational structure is really necessary.

Ultimately it does rely on a common sense of goodwill and failure of this will always stall progress,

Learning

The Mind is a thing with Wings

Education, learning

Is not a thing inside a mind

A mind is a thing

With arms and legs and heart

Legs that are made to walk together

Arms that work tools and link

And hearts that attract.

Learning is a thing

To help legs walk together,

Arms work together,

Hearts live together.

The mind is a thing

With wings

Well, I’m sure this is not good as poems go but it seemed a way to talk about this question of learning and the circling the burning bush attitude we get about it. Even abstract things are not really esoteric but have real purpose in our lives. The purpose of learning is the future of humanity. The future is unknown. So how does learning provide for the unknown? It has to prepare us for as many consequences as are likely. This is easier in the short term than the long term. So there must be a broad platform in learning that not only helps us function in immediate society, but helps us veer a course over our lives, but then also ensures as many possibilities or even more for the next generation. So our learning platform gets bigger each generation, not smaller – the wings of the bird spreads but grows bigger with every beat. For me this is exactly the platform Baha’u’llah has created. Each of us in the Baha’i Faith have come from cultures whose mindset around knowledge and learning had become like a stilletto heel upon the planet. It is therefore no wonder we are stamping deep holes in it everywhere. So we do need to vigorously reengineer our mindset. This is a painfuil experience, for some who take more to heart than for others. To take on this pain is the only way forward for humanity. Individually we don’t need to be right with every step we take, but taking steps we must. The anguish cry of His Holiness, Christ, “Take this cup away from me” must resonate with everyone who has been moved by the will of the Great Educator only to find that He is using you as a cutting blade of the divine road grader. Oooch that gravel hurts no matter how sharp your steel. (Well I was getting a bit serious)

Clouds

I just love clouds.

Today I was sitting on my verandah reading and occassionally looking over the valley when I realised that, without seeming to move at all, the storm clouds had slowly gathered and with half and hour the sky had turned from blue to nearly covered. So I found a electric power line that I could sight the edge of a cloud through and sure enough, then I could see the steady relentless movement of the cloud. I am left wondering how fast a cloud can move before it is perceptible to the eye against the sky alone.

Charles Dickens Birthday

I previously wrote about Charles Dickens take on knowledge in “Hard TImes”. Yesterday was his birthday – England 1812, Charles Dickens, whose works include A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations, is generally considered the greatest Victorian-era novelist.

I don’t think there are any Anglo authors who have taken the condition of society into popular literature in the same way since, although perhaps he was just a man of his times.

http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/hardtimes/

An Unconvenient Truth

Watched Al Gore’s movie ‘An Unconvenient Truth’ last night. Some have criticised it’s content but I found it very watchable – a good example of an educational video – got the message across very well. In fact so well that I can say I haven’t been that frightened by a documentary in a long time – probably since the Cold war docos on the third world war. And the data really does tell us that, well, have all the wars you want, but the floods will push the population around in such unrelenting fashion (100million refugees over the next 50 – 100 years) that if you are a warlord and can’t talk your way into a cooperative environment, then you are a dead warlord. As Gore says, ‘maybe we should be focussing on something other than terrorism.”?