31 MAY 2015 by ideonexus
Flatland
Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like shadows—only hard with luminous edges—and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen. Alas, a few years ago, I should have said "my universe:" but now my mind has been opened to higher views...Folksonomies: speculation science fiction
Folksonomies: speculation science fiction
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notes07 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
Biocides
These sprays, dusts, and aerosols are now applied almost universally to farms, gardens, forests, and homes—non-selective chemicals that have the power to kill every insect, the "good" and the "bad," to still the song of birds and the leaping of fish in the streams, to coat the leaves with a deadly film, and to linger on in the soil—all this though the intended target may be only a few weeds or insects. Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a barrage of poisons on the surface ...Folksonomies: environmentalism
Folksonomies: environmentalism
1 notes
notes20 FEB 2014 by ideonexus
The Riddle of Power
The eunuch rubbed his powdered hands together. “May I leave you with a bit of a riddle, Lord Tyrion?” He did not wait for an answer. “In a room sit three great men, a king, a priest, and a rich man with his gold. Between them stands a sellsword, a little man of common birth and no great mind. Each of the great ones bids him slay the other two. ‘Do it’ says the king, ‘for I am your lawful ruler.’ ‘Do it’ says the priest, ‘for I command you in the names of the gods.’ ‘Do...
1 Three men in a room command a forth to kill the other two, who dies?
27 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
Adventists Live Longer
In America here, life expectancy for the average woman is 80. But for an Adventist woman, their life expectancy is 89. And the difference is even more pronounced among men, who are expected to live about 11 years longer than their American counterparts. Now, this is a study that followed about 70,000 people for 30 years. Sterling study. And I think it supremely illustrates the premise of this Blue Zone project.
This is a heterogeneous community. It's white, black, Hispanic, Asian. The only t...
1 Habits and characteristics of Adventists that may lend to their longer lifespans.
21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
An Egg is a Chemical Process
An egg is a chemical process, but it is not a mere chemical process. It is one that is going places—even when, in our world of chance and contingency, it ends up in an omelet and not in a chicken. Though it surely be a chemical process, we cannot understand it adequately without knowing the kind of chicken it has the power to become. But one with a long, complex history ahead of it.
12 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Argument for Decimal Currency
[Decimal currency is desirable because] by that means all calculations of interest, exchange, insurance, and the like are rendered much more simple and accurate, and, of course, more within the power of the great mass of people. Whenever such things require much labor, time, and reflection, the greater number who do not know, are made the dupes of the lesser number who do. 1 notes
notesBecause it is simple and complex things lead to people being taken advantage of.
03 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
An Cosmic Virus
The Blight has been our top priority since its instantiation a year ago. This is not just because of the Blight’s obvious strength, the destruction and the deicides it has committed. We fear that all this is the lesser part of the Threat. There have been perversions almost as powerful in the recorded past. What truly.distinguishes this one is its stability. We see no evidence of internal evolution; in some ways it is less than a Power. It may never lose interest in controlling the High Beyo... 1 notes
notesThe danger in Vinge's book is the "Blight" an godlike intelligence that is all the more dangerous for the fact that it does not evolve, but is a rot that sets in and stays.
17 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Break Nature's Locks to Reveal Truth
When human life lay groveling in all men's sight, crushed to the earth under the dead weight of superstition whose grim features loured menacingly upon mortals from the four quarters of the sky, a man of Greece was first to raise mortal eyes in defiance, first to stand erect and brave the challenge. Fables of the gods did not crush him, nor the lightning flash and the growling menace of the sky. Rather, they quickened his manhood, so that he, first of all men, longed to smash the const... 1 notes
notesGive up superstitious fears, Lucretius tells us, which oppress us and prompt us to do vile things.
