The Oldest Organisms on Earth

It is amazing to think that today there exist living things—mostly plants—that were already around at the time of Caesar or even before.... Absolutely astounding....

2,150-year-old Sentinel Tree, Sequoia National Park, CA

(Source: The Daily Dish; Image source & other images here)

Glücklich Oktoberfest!

I'm definitely going to try to make these pretzels one of these days....

(Source: Wired)

Immigrants & National Pride

The chart below, taken from The Economist, shows pride in one's country. Australia and Canada top the list. (Flip of the middle finger to you Canada scorners!)

This second chart taken from Think Progress shows the percentage of foreign-born individuals in the top three countries with foreign-born population. Australia and Canada once again top the list—and in that order, too!

Whaddya know?! Immigrants are not detrimental to 'trust, admiration, respect and pride in [one's] country,' to use the language of The Economist.

Suck it, Xenophobia!

Kalashnikov Going Kaput

According to an article in Der Spiegel, the makers (and the inventor) of the Kalashnikov are on the verge of declaring bankruptcy. The most popular weapon in the world might become a victim of its own popularity and of the popularity of its forgeries....

Relentless Thuggery

Conservatives are behaving like piranhas: they attack a prey and never leave until all that is left are its lifeless bones. And they succeed by virtue of their numerous appeals to the masses and the reactions they elicit, among which are the worst and ugliest of human nature.

ACORN is the conservatives' latest victim (though they still are attacking president Obama and others). Rachel Maddow does a tremendously good job of exposing and unmasking the forces behind the conspiracy against ACORN:

What happened to Republicans' appeal to the 'better angels of our nature,' so vivid 150 years ago?

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Abraham LINCOLN

«O Captain! My Captain!»

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

Walt WHITMAN

The Democracy We Engendered

If that democracy was supposed to be a hub of criminality, violence, and relentless unrest with no end in sight, then we have succeeded.

A Parrot Dancing to Egyptian Music

At least, I think it's a parrot... might be something else....

(Source: BuzzFeed)

The Brain and Moral Judgments

It's all in the physiology of our bodies and it is acquired with its development with age.

Skica e ditës

Burimi

The Pontiff Speaks...

... and in his words, nonsense abounds.

Nonsense such as blaming people of no faith for our environmental woes:

Is it not true that inconsiderate use of creation begins where God is marginalized or also where is existence is denied? If the human creature's relationship with the Creator weakens, matter is reduced to egoistic possession, man becomes the "final authority," and the objective of existence is reduced to a feverish race to possess the most possible.

Is he on something?! Because I'd like a free sample of it....

What about the millennia of Judeo-Christian principles teaching us that the Earth and everything in it is for our use because we're god's chosen creatures?

I think the pope and his coterie might just be losing it....

New York Times On 50 + 1 majority

The New York Times had an editorial a couple of weeks ago highlighting the ins and outs of the so-called budget reconciliation method of voting in the Senate, as opposed to a filibuster-proof majority. The latter seems to be sought by every democrat who is for healthcare reform, even though the probability of sixty votes for a strong healthcare reform bill is out of reach. With this in mind, the former is the more viable option, albeit imperfect.