Spirituality: Lessons in affection have long shadows
Long before I was married, I kissed a girl whose practical German heritage gave her a keen sense of observation. Once kissed, she brushed her long blonde hair over her ear and said, 'You kiss funny!
A link to this page will be included in your message
More here:
We call Global Spirit the first internal travel series, because the topics and the discussions so often lead to a kind of inner exploration. Unlike programming on Animal Planet or National Geographic, Global Spirit is not about discovering anything that is outside of yourself. The opening program in our series, The Spiritual Quest, was one of our more exciting and challenging to produce.
Our only chance to have renowned author Karen Armstrong on a program was to meet her in New York, on a particular evening that she was free. It was her last night in the U.S. before she flew back to England to work on a new book for the next six or seven months. Since we so wanted to have Karen on our series, and because Tenzin Bob Thurman lived in New York, we decided to ship the Global Spirit set from San Francisco to New York, and do this program in an auditorium at CUNY. For me, as the producer/director, this show had all the excitement of New York, with a new setting, a new crew and even a live audience of 500 people!
For Karen and Bob, it was one of those first-time meetings that we try to achieve on Global Spirit -- to bring two people together for the first time, in this case, two highly articulate teachers and authors from distinct religious traditions, who have always wanted to meet each other. You can sense a kind of magic in the air, as they both experience the sheer delight of discovering things about each other theyve always wanted to know. Yes, it was an uplifting show, with a good amount of spontaneous humor.
As I am originally a filmmaker, on Global Spirit, we typically combine compelling experiential film segments with deep conversation, to let both film and conversation do what each does best. However, The Spiritual Quest is one of only two of our programs that doesnt incorporate what I call experiential video segments.
I remember the frustration of not being able to either produce or to find video footage that would somehow illustrate or speak authentically to the personal, spiritual quest of a Karen Armstrong or a Robert Thurman.
The Spiritual Quest relies more on the visual power of storytelling and real conversation. The program is full of rich, personal stories including some colorful, surprising, coming-of-age tales like that of the 19-year-old Thurman and his Mexican friend getting turned back from joining Fidels revolutionary army by Fidels recruiters: I was 6 3 and my Mexican friend was 51 and quite rotund. So they said: Ah, here is Don Quixote and Sancho Panza but we cant use you! Quixote, that blonde head of yours will be blown off immediately.
Our series host Phil Cousineau, a true spiritual seeker himself, who deftly poses the perennial questions, then jumps in to share the occasional hilarity. The personal chemistry between Armstrong and Thurman is stimulating and electric. This is of course something we can never totally predict, or even understand. For a producer, its the x factor, that mystical psycho-spiritual alchemy between two guests or actors that either ignites or doesnt. And here we were very fortunate -- both Thurman and Armstrong were witty and they connected effortlessly in humorous ways over a wide range of topics, including their shared monastic periods, their triumphs and disillusionments and their admittedly nave quests for what they thought of as enlightenment. Now older and wiser, they are able to look back and share some of those raw spiritual ambitions of their early 20s, now redefined, but still burning brightly, perhaps as a more enduring spiritual quest for a life of true peace and compassion. Robert Thurman meeting Karen Armstrong was a meeting of two oceans.
Global Spirit is an invitation to enter some uncharted seas for a unique inner journey. And while this new series might not have the ratings of an Animal Planet Special or a National Geo Explorer, there are for the brave of heart, some uncharted continents awaiting. - Stephen Olsson, Director of Global Spirit
GLOBAL SPIRIT is a unique inquiry into humankind's belief systems, wisdom traditions, and states of consciousness. Hosted by author and spiritual seeker Phil Cousineau and featuring renowned experts such as Deepak Chopra, Karen Armstrong, Robert Thurman, Riane Eisler and many others, this new critically acclaimed series takes viewers on a mind and soul-expanding journey, exploring the relationships between ancient wisdom traditions, diverse belief systems, world religions, metaphysics and modern science.
Go here to see the original:
Global Spirit: The Spiritual Quest With Bob Thurman And Karen Armstrong (VIDEO)
Houston, July 2 : Three members of the Expedition 31 crew undocked from the International Space Station and returned safely to Earth on Sunday wrapping up a mission that lasted six-and-a-half months.
Russian Commander Oleg Kononenko, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers landed their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft in Kazakhstan at 3:14 a.m. CDT (2:14 p.m. local time) after undocking from the space station's Rassvet module at 11:47 p.m. June 30.
The trio, which arrived at the station Dec. 23, 2011, spent a total of 193 days in space, 191 of which were aboard the station.
During their expedition, the crew supported more than 200 scientific investigations involving more than 400 researchers around the world. The studies ranged from integrated investigations of the human cardiovascular and immune systems to fluid, flame and robotic research.
Before leaving the station, Kononenko handed over command of Expedition 32 to the Russian Federal Space Agency's Gennady Padalka, who remains aboard the station with NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin.
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will join them July 17. Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide are scheduled to launch July 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
On June 25, Pettit celebrated achieving one cumulative year in space, combining his time in orbit on Expedition 6, Expedition 30/31 and the STS-126 space shuttle Endeavour flight to the station in November 2008.
Pettit now has 370 days in space, placing him fourth among U.S. space fliers for the longest time in space.
During Expedition 31, Pettit also used household objects aboard the station to perform a variety of unusual physics experiments for the video series "Science Off the Sphere."
Through these demonstrations, Pettit showed more than a million Internet viewers how space affects scientific principles. (IBNS)
Read more:
NASA's first Orion vehicle settles in at the Kennedy Space Center to get outfitted for an unmanned test flight in 2014. The first manned flight is expected around 2021.
The Orion spacecraft on display in the Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- The first space-bound Orion capsule, the centerpiece of NASA's post-shuttle push to break out of low Earth orbit for eventual manned flights to a variety of deep space targets, was officially unveiled at NASA's Florida spaceport today. The spacecraft will be outfitted for an unmanned test flight in 2014.
"As KSC celebrates its 50th anniversary this month, I can't think of a more appropriate way to celebrate than by having the very first Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle here at KSC," Robert Cabana, the center's director and a former shuttle commander, told more than 400 managers, engineers and technicians gathered at Kennedy's Operations and Checkout Building.
"Orion is ushering in a new era of space exploration beyond our home planet, enabling us to go farther than we've ever gone before. The future is here, now, and the vehicle we see here today is not a Powerpoint chart. It's a real spacecraft, moving toward a test flight in 2014."
Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, talks with reporters about the Orion crew capsule that NASA hopes to launch on a test flight in 2014.
Sen. Bill Nelson, the Florida Democrat who has led the congressional effort to build a new heavy lift rocket that will boost Orion into deep space, said the arrival of the first capsule is a symbol of things to come.
"Isn't this beautiful?" he said, standing before the empty pressure shell of the first test capsule. "I know there are a lot of people here who can't wait to get their hands and their fingers on this hardware. And ladies and gentlemen, we're going to Mars. Without question, the long-term goal of our space program, human space program right now is the goal of going to Mars in the decade of the 2030s.
"We still need to refine how we're going to go there, we've got to develop a lot of technologies, we've got to figure out how and where we're going to stop along the way. The president's goal is an asteroid in 2025. But we know the Orion capsule is a critical part of the system that is going to take us there."
Built by Lockheed Martin, the green interior pressure vessel that will make up the core of the first Orion capsule was delivered to Kennedy last week. Over the next year or so, engineers will attach a heat shield, install avionics systems and flight computers, and add in other critical components. If all goes well, the capsule will be launched on an unmanned test flight -- Exploration Flight Test 1, or EFT-1 -- in 2014.
Read more from the original source:
One small step for NASA's next human space exploration program -- the arrival of a test capsule for launch in 2014 -- lured a cadre of politicians, community leaders, NASA managers and even the brigadier general who runs the nearby Air Force base to the Kennedy Space Center for a welcoming ceremony Monday.
The star of the show was a stripped-down spacecraft called Orion, which is being designed to fly up to four astronauts to near-Earth asteroids, the moon, Mars and other destinations beyond the space station's orbit.
BIG PIC: NASA's New Spaceship Arrives for Tests
NASA -- or anyone else, for that matter -- hasn't flown people beyond a few hundred miles above Earth since the end of the Apollo program in 1972. The United States plans to change that in 2021 with a test run around the moon.
At least two other test flights are planned before NASA will put astronauts aboard an Orion capsule. And it was the arrival of the first flight hardware that drew the space glitterati to KSC's Operations and Checkout Building Monday morning.
The aluminum alloy hull is just the beginning of what eventually will be put on top of a Delta 4 Heavy rocket and shot some 3,450 miles into space. The point of the flight is to test the capsule's still-to-be-installed heat shield, parachutes and other systems.
NEWS: Monster Rocket To Travel to Mars
If the test goes as as planned, Orion will slam back into the atmosphere with roughly 84 percent of the forces a spaceship returning from a lunar orbit would have.
"It's really going to stress the heat shield, which is exactly what we're trying to do," said NASA program manager Mark Geyer.
Read more:
Log in to manage your products and services from The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune.
Don't have an account yet? Create an account
E-Mail or Member ID
Password
Remember Me Log In
Continue reading here:
NASAs plan for the immediate future is quite simple. Go to the Moon, go to an asteroid, go to Mars. Not in that specific order but that it what we are looking at as the essential missions in the next 30 years for the space agency. Since the retirement of the shuttle the question has continually been, how? Well that question was answered on the 28th when the Orion space capsule was delivered to NASAs Kennedy Space Center by Lockheed Martin.
This starts a new, exciting chapter in this nations great space exploration story, said Lori Garver, NASA deputy administrator. Today we are lifting our spirits to new heights.
The first flight of the spacecraft will take place in 2014 and will be uncrewed. Called Exploration Flight Test-1 or EFT-1, it will be loaded with a wide variety of instruments to evaluate how the spacecraft behaves during launch, in space and the through the searing heat of reentry. This spacecraft will also be the most advanced space craft ever designed with features that include emergency abort capability, sustain astronauts during space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space.
Ladies and gentlemen, were going to Mars, proclaimed U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who joined Garver and other officials to welcome the Orion spacecraft. We know the Orion capsule is a critical part of the system thats going to take us there.
The capsule will be launched into orbit by the Space Launch System (SLS) and the launch is scheduled to take place in 2017. The SLS is not without controversy though. This is a rocket system that was neither asked for or wanted by NASA but was forced upon them by congress. The huge rocket is capable of lifting up to 130 metric tons to orbit. The current rocket, and the one that will be used for the test flight, the Delta IV-Heavy, is more than powerful enough to get the job done.
The systems on this spacecraft, its bigger than Apollo and it has to stay in space longer than Apollo, so it has to be better than Apollo, said Bob Cabana, director of Kennedy and a former shuttle commander.
For now, the focus for NASA and Lockheed Martin is preparing this capsule for space in 2014. During the EFT-1 mission, a Delta IV-Heavy rocket from United Launch Alliance will lift the spacecraft into orbit. Its second stage will remain attached to the capsule and will be fired to raise the Orions orbit to 3,600 miles, about 15 times higher than the International Space Station. The mission will last only a few hours, which is long enough to make two orbits before being sent back into the atmosphere to test it at deep-space reentry speeds.
The rest is here:
HOUSTON -- Former NASA astronaut and space shuttle commander Alan "Dex" Poindexter died while on vacation with his family July 1 in Pensacola, Fla. A veteran of two spaceflights, Poindexter spent a total of 28 days in space.
Poindexter, a U.S. Navy captain, commanded the STS-131 space shuttle Discovery mission to the International Space Station in 2010, delivering more than 13,000 pounds of hardware and equipment. He was the pilot for shuttle Atlantis' STS-122 mission that delivered and installed the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory on the station in 2008.
"Alan and I joined the astronaut corps in 1998 and flew together on STS-122, which was truly an incredible experience," said NASA Associate Administrator for Education and former astronaut Leland Melvin. "He was a passionate, caring and selfless individual who will be missed by all."
"We in the astronaut family have lost not only a dear friend, but also a patriot of the United States," said Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "He proudly served his country for 26 years as a fighter pilot, test pilot, astronaut and commander of a space shuttle. I am proud to have both flown in space and worked with him for so many years. Dex will be deeply missed by those of us at Johnson and the entire NASA family."
Poindexter earned an undergraduate degree with highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and a graduate degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 1998 and served in the Astronaut Office, Shuttle Operations Branch at Johnson as the lead support astronaut for NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He also served as a spacecraft communicator, or CAPCOM, for multiple missions.
"Dex was a wonderful human being and a pleasure to have in the astronaut office," Janet Kavandi, fellow astronaut and Director of Flight Crew Operations said. "His good-natured demeanor made him approachable to his crews and the many people at Johnson and Kennedy who enabled his missions."
Poindexter retired from NASA and the astronaut corps in 2010 and returned to serve in the United States Navy as Dean of Students at the Naval Postgraduate School.
For Poindexter's complete biography, please visit: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/poindexter.html
Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
See original here:
NASA Extends Sympathy to Poindexter Family on Death of Former Astronaut
A new nonprofit organization that's supposed to take charge of expanding scientific research on the international space station has had a rocky first year, but now is starting to show what it can do.
The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space just signed one agreement with a company not traditionally linked to research in space: the sporting goods company Cobra Puma Golf.
With the space station now complete after more than a decade of construction at a cost of around $100 billion, attention has turned to how to best use the station.
CASIS was established to drum up interest in doing experiments by folks outside of NASA, including people who work at private companies, universities, or other federal agencies.
Or, as CASIS puts it in a promotional video, the mission is to "seek out those ready to put their ideas into orbit and to get them there."
How CASIS Can Work
"There's some things that a nonprofit organization can do that NASA as a government entity can't do," says Marybeth Edeen, a manager at NASA's space station program.
I'd give them a D-plus overall.
- Keith Cowing, NASAwatch.com
A nonprofit can go out and talk with companies and make a case for how research in orbit could potentially help their bottom line, Edeen says. A nonprofit can also raise money from investors or charities.
See more here:
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Without a heat shield or wiring, and with only welded metal panels to see, NASA's new spacecraft designed to take astronauts out beyond Earth and into the solar system doesn't look like much yet.
Read the original:
Technology News
July 03, 2012 // Peter Clarke
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have come up with a device structure that allows a switch back to vacuum, in contrast to the solid-state, as the medium for electron transport in transistors.
The team is proposing a MOS vertical structure with a triple layer of metal/silicon dioxide/silicon exposed on the side by a deep trench. The metal and silicon layers form the anode and cathode of the device, separated by the insulating silicon dioxide, and the electron transport occurs in the vertical direction through the vacuum.
The work is discussed in a research paper entitled Metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor with a vacuum channel, published in Nature Nanotechnology July 1.
The work represents a return to the roots of electronics. The solid-state transistor was invented in 1947 as a replacement for the bulky, unreliable vacuum tube. Vacuum tube style electronics in miniature made using solid-state semiconductor manufacturing techniques have been tried before, but the concept has struggled to overcome requirements for high voltage and issue of compatibility with the incumbent solid-state CMOS technology.
A team under Hong Koo Kim, principal investigator on the project and a Professor in the University of Pittsburgh's Swanson School of Engineering, has redesigned the structure of the vacuum electronic device. With the assistance of PhD candidate Siwapon Srisonphan and postdoctoral fellow Yun Suk Jung Kim and his team discovered that electrons trapped inside a semiconductor at the interface with an oxide or metal layer can be easily extracted out into the air. The electrons at the material interface form a sheet of charges, a two-dimensional electron gas and Kim found that the Coulombic repulsion of the electrons for each other enables the easy emission of electrons out of the silicon.
This allows the creation of a low-voltage device in which the electrons travel ballistically in air in a nanometer-scale channel without any collisions or scattering.
The channel length is of the order of 20-nm and the team measured a transconductance of 20-nS per micron and an on/off ratio of 500 and turn-on gate voltage of 0.5-V under ambient conditions, according to the paper's abstract.
"The emission of this electron system into vacuum channels could enable a new class of low-power, high-speed transistors, and it's also compatible with current silicon electronics, complementing those electronics by adding new functions that are faster and more energy efficient due to the low voltage," said Professor Kim, in a statement.
Link:
Nanotechnology switches back to vacuum transistors at low voltage
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) July 03, 2012
The scientific discoveries that led to the founding of the science driven molecular diagnostics company NexDx, Inc. (http://www.nexdx.com) in 2011 in San Diego are published in the current online edition of the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (http://bit.ly/QOZ8Zr), one of the highest impact peer reviewed scientific and medical journals, with the highest Impact Factor in the rheumatology category.
The new research, conducted by Gary S. Firestein, M.D., and colleagues at UC San Diego School of Medicine, is the first study to uncover a striking pattern of aberrant modifications in the DNA of the inflammation-producing cells, referred to as fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS), lining the joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
The DNA modifications that Dr. Firesteins lab discovered in RA patients cells are caused by an epigenetic mechanism known as methylation. Epigenetics refers to the modifications to an individuals unique DNA that influence the expression, or activity, of his/her genes without altering the order or sequence of the original DNA.
Dr. Firestein, an internationally recognized rheumatologist and Professor in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology at UC San Diego, and his team identified and then compared the DNA methylation profiles of the FLS of patients with RA, individuals with osteoarthritis (OA), which unlike RA is not an inflammatory or autoimmune disease, and individuals not affected by either disease.
RAs DNA methylation pattern was found to be novel and to involve 207 genes, many of which play key roles in inflammation, regulation of the matrix that supports cells, and recruitment of leukocytes, which are key cells of the immune system.
Dr. Firestein and his colleagues also determined that a genes methylation state whether it was hypo or hyper-methylated correlated with its actual expression or activity in RA cells.
The DNA modifications that are unique to RA are potential biomarkers for a blood-based test to diagnose the disease early when it can be most effectively treated, said Jonathan Lim, M.D., chairman and CEO of NexDx.
Drs. Lim and Firestein co-founded NexDx in August 2011. In April 2012, NexDx announced that it had signed an exclusive worldwide license agreement with UC San Diego to develop and commercialize Dr. Firesteins discoveries.
In addition to developing a diagnostic test, NexDx is investigating the aberrant DNA methylation signatures to determine the optimal therapy and discover novel drug targets for biopharmaceutical company partners.
See more here:
02-07-2012 14:24 This is just a re-upload of are intro! If you wouldn't mind uploading our intro to your channel please! Download link:
Read the original post:
THE general manager of the public relations company which advised the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association during last year's live exports ban has said those in agriculture needed to reconnect with urban Australians to ensure the future of their industry.
Addressing 120 current and future agricultural leaders at the 20th anniversary dinner of the Marcus Oldham Rural Leadership Program in Geelong last night, Jo Brosnan from Darwin-based Michels Warren Munday said those in regional and rural Australia had to embrace social media to influence public opinion.
"The use of public opinion had forced the hand of the Federal Government to end the live exports trade," Mrs Brosnan said.
"We heard again and again our industry had lost its social licence to trade."
With rural areas and particularly northern Australia "out of sight and mind", supporters of agriculture had to use the web to write blogs or upload videos of farming life to YouTube, Mrs Brosnan said.
One week short of the 12 month anniversary of the lifting of the live export ban to Indonesia, Mrs Brosnan said those in the NT livestock trade were still feeling the ban's consequences.
"[For those in the industry] it's going to be a tough 12-18 months," she said.
Marcus Oldham's annual leadership program provides training to about 30 participants from around Australia on people management, planning, community leadership, negotiation and media relations.
This year's participants in the five-day program were sponsored by a range of organisations including NAB Agribusiness, Elders, Rural Finance and East Gippsland Landcare.
Read the original:
When San Ysidro High School recently held its commencement ceremony, a small group of graduates wore something special around their necks: stethoscopes.
The students arent doctors at least not yet. But they have taken steps toward health care careers, completing the schools rigorous medical pathway curriculum of college-prep science courses. They worked as interns in hospitals and clinics, toured biotech labs, attended science fairs and put in hours of volunteer work teaching young children about eating right and keeping their teeth and gums healthy.
For video of a pig-dissection exercise at San Ysidro High School, visit utsandiego.com/medical-dreams
San Ysidro is one of 20 schools in San Diego County that are part of the Health and Science Pipeline Initiative, a statewide program for students looking to pursue careers in research and medicine. Educators, policymakers and professional health providers said this effort and others like it nationwide are crucial because without such exposure in high school, students too often fail in college science classes particularly anatomy and physiology.
They also see a booming demand for physicians, nurses and allied-health workers from radiology technicians to dental assistants to both replace baby boomers as they retire and serve those same peoples aging-related medical needs. Another factor fueling the growth of such jobs is the planned expansion of Medicaid under President Barack Obamas Affordable Care Act of 2010.
At San Ysidro High, teacher Sheila Krotz launched the medical-themed curriculum in 2006 after coming to the Sweetwater Union School District with hopes of helping disadvantaged youth living in the cross-border area envision bigger things for themselves. As a former nurse, she had started a similar program in Illinois. She knew that if students find their coursework relevant, theyre more invested in learning the material and gain a sense of focus and purpose as they move through high school.
Krotz teaches medical biology to freshmen and anatomy and physiology to seniors, meaning she has the students twice in their four years at San Ysidro High.
Her classroom is filled with medical toys CPR training torsos; full-size medical mannequins; models of lungs, the heart, the stomach and the human eye; and even a fake leg for students to practice their suturing.
From the beginning, Krotz tries to set a professional tone. Students don scrubs or lab coats and purple surgical gloves when they conduct experiments. When dissecting fetal pigs during their freshman year, the students know they arent just cutting up an animal. They are told to treat the exercise as a surgery, suturing up the incisions after they have identified all the internal organs.
Not only does the program prepare students for college, it also offers practical job skills.
Go here to see the original:
Swiss luxury watch brand Hublot has teamed up with the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia for the second consecutive year to serve as the “Official Watch and Timepiece” of the Liberty Medal award.
See the original post:
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Liberty have waived guard Kelly Miller.
The 12th-year veteran, signed as a free agent in the offseason, averaged 1.0 points and 7.5 minutes in 11 games for New York. A 38-percent 3-point shooter, she was 1 for 11 from beyond the arc for the Liberty.
New York announced the move on Monday.
Miller averaged 7.4 points, 2.8 assists and 2.3 rebounds while playing all 34 games for Washington last year. She came into the season with career averages of 7.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 353 regular season games with Charlotte, Indiana, Phoenix, Minnesota, Atlanta and the Mystics.
Miller's twin sister, Coco, was also waived by Los Angeles on Monday.
View post:
Death may be permanent, but headstones are always changing.
That is, unless you paste a QR code sticker onto one of them, which is newly possible thanks to at least one Seattle company. Buried at the end of Business Week's QR-code takedown, we find the following nugget:
But there is one important way in which the QR code differs from the gravestone technologies that came before it. Whereas all previous technologies required only the eyes and a basic sense of literacy, a QR code is not legible without a third-party device. It is worth noting, however, that they do have a key predecessor in the symbols, a kind of afterlife code, that members of fraternal organizations often placed on tombstones around the turn of the last century. These symbols -- an elk, two shepherds crooks crossing -- would have been easily recognizable at the time they were affixed on the headstones, but now they are as mysterious as the QR code will probably be to our descendents.
More From The Atlantic
Go here to see the original:
By: Roderick T. Long of Auburn | Letter to the editor Published: July 02, 2012 Updated: July 02, 2012 - 9:14 PM
In his letter on June 19, Edzard van Santen quotes the saying that one person's right to swing his fist ends where another person's nose begins.
Well and good; but what puzzles me is that he cites this saying as though it's meant to be a critique of libertarianism. On the contrary, that saying encapsulates the essence of libertarianism.
In the 19th century, Herbert Spencer stated the same principle less metaphorically:Each has freedom to do all that he wills provided that he infringes not the equal freedom of any other.And in the 20th century, Murray Rothbard explained it more fully:"No one may threaten or commit violence (aggress) against another man's person or property. Violence may be employed only against the man who commits such violence; that is, only defensively against the aggressive violence of another. In short, no violence may be employed against a non-aggressor. Here is the fundamental rule from which can be deduced the entire corpus of libertarian theory."
Van Santen also quotes the saying that no one is an island, again as though this conflicted with libertarianism.But libertarianism is the only political philosophy that actually takes seriously the idea that no one is an island.
Other ideologies assume, explicitly or implicitly, that human beings are inherently atomistic, with naturally conflictual interests, and so that society needs to have order imposed on it by top-down authority. Libertarians, by contrast, have traditionally rejected this atomistic vision of society, emphasizing that a human being is, in Emerson's words, "all made of hooks and eyes, and links himself naturally to his brothers."
It's precisely because we recognize that no one is an island that social order arises spontaneously and organically through voluntary, nonhierarchical relations among equals that we are libertarians in the first place.
More here:
Sunday December 28, 2003
IN recent years, the area around Pulau Sipadan has been under public scrutiny, not only for its tourist attractions and scenic beauty but also because of criminal incidents in the area.
Several kidnappings have occurred in the last two years, bringing about doubts over general and personal security on the 42 islands in the region.
These incidents have prompted the implementation of a much stricter security system manned by the combined forces of the Royal Malaysian Army, Air Force (RMAF), the Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) and the Pasukan Gerakan Am (PGA) made up of concerned volunteers.
About 650 officers from the RMAF, PDRM and PGA are stationed on each and every island in the region from Lahad Datu to Roach Reef, a man-made island located north towards the Philippines, according to officer-in-charge of troops Major Abdul Karim Ahmad (briefing the BRATs above)
Out of these officers, there are an estimated 100 commandos and a further 100 elite forces from Malacca, he explained to the BRATs. Even islands without inhabitants are occupied by at least two men.
For certain islands, security is beefed up, especially where there are visitors. For instance, during the BRATs 10th anniversary celebrations in Mabul, a contingency plan was devised for the expedition of 31 BRATs and a handful of facilitators should any emergency occur.
If any of the 42 islands come under terrorist threat, the BRATs would be evacuated. We have identified safe and classified areas in Mabul itself, and if an emergency such as a breach to security occurs, we will put everyone there. Then, we will evacuate the island either by helicopter or speedboat as soon as possible, Major Abdul Karim clarified .
He identified the close links between certain locals groups and the terrorist network as the main cause behind the successful terrorism-related activities around the islands. Without the villagers help, it would be virtually impossible for these terrorist groups to breach the military defences.
However, with the islands defences greatly strengthened now, it is certain that the security risks are kept at a minimum.
Original post: