What is in today?
– A voting software used by politicans in the US which is set to automatically register each vote as a “yes” unless members of the council deliberately press a button to vote “no.” So they have private meetings, or play golf, while their voting record is still completely fine.
What is out today?
– Getting mocked by Facebook.
And if you do not choose to see
That what we are we choose to be
– It’s hard, but is all one to me
(Nail Gaiman — The Sandman IX: The Kindly Ones)
Richard Dawkins answers the simple question: “what if you are wrong?”
(via nerdcore)
People tend to say: “Eiko, it’s so easy to make you happy”, and then they laugh at me.
But they do have a point … eating a pizza will usually make me extremely happy. It is as simple as that. And there are other things.
Receiving beautiful letters, for instance. I haven’t dared to open it yet, but it looks promising.
It’s all in black!!
Update:
I just found another one. And yes, I actually have lived at that weird adress :)
The magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile last Saturday actually shifted the axis of the Earth by 8 centimeters. This led to an increase of the rotation of the Earth, which shortens the days by 1.26 microseconds (0.00000126 seconds). Unfortunately, this can only be calculated, not actually measured. The smallest amount of time that can currently be captured is 5 microseconds.
Now, what does that mean?
Even less sleep for me, I guess.
Sigh.
In comparison to Chile, the 2004 Sumatran earthquake (magnitude 9.1) is estimated to have shortened the length of day by 6.8 microseconds and shifted Earth’s axis by 7 centimeters. It did not have an impact as strong as the one in Chile – JPL research scientist Richard Gross explains why:
First, unlike the 2004 Sumatran earthquake, which was located near the equator, the 2010 Chilean earthquake was located in Earth’s mid-latitudes, which makes it more effective in shifting Earth’s figure axis. Second, the fault responsible for the 2010 Chiliean earthquake dips into Earth at a slightly steeper angle than does the fault responsible for the 2004 Sumatran earthquake. This makes the Chile fault more effective in moving Earth’s mass vertically and hence more effective in shifting Earth’s figure axis.
In the United States, the Catholic Church has payed more than 2.6 billion US dollars in compensation to victims so far. Since it is getting uncomfortable, they came up with a new way to cope with compensation payments now.
After yet another child-abuse scandal has come to light, the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus – also called Jesuits – filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The Province includes Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Oregon.
Seattle University Spectator reports:
The province [...] filed for reorganization [...] in response to a lawsuit in which 63 Native Alaskan victims have alleged they were sexually abused by Jesuits and that leaders of the province covered up the abuse. More victims will be joining the lawsuit in the coming weeks, according to the plaintiff’s lawyers.
Now, let’s see how Fr. Patrick Lee, S.J., provincial of the Oregon Province views this affair:
Chapter 11 will allow the Oregon Province to resolve pending claims, manage its financial situation and continue its various ministries in the Northwest in which it has been engaged since 1841. [...] Our decision to file Chapter 11 was not an easy one, but with approximately 200 additional claims pending or threatened, it is the only way we believe that all claimants can be offered a fair financial settlement within the limited resources of the Province.
To sum up, in order to pay a fair financial settlement, the church files for bankruptcy. Right.
John Manly, an attorney for the victims:
This bankruptcy has nothing to do with finances–the Jesuits are one of the wealthiest religious organizations in the United States. This filing is about protecting the hierarchy and those who covered up for abusers.
Patrick Wall, a representative of the victims:
We believe that this is an affirmation that the Society of Jesus knowingly and purposefully dumped priest perpetrators in Alaska. The data is overwhelming. Twenty-eight priests from 11 provinces in five countries resulted in over 300 Native Alaskan kids being sexually abused from 1948 to 2001.
And that is obviously just the tip of the iceberg. Why do I get the strong impression that this is not about individuals - one priest here, another there – but about the institution Church, about the way the whole system seems to work?
See also:
How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him.
– Adam Smith (1759, p. 1)
Random facts about empathy I dug up during the last week:
The word empathy is not – as one might think – derived from Greek. It appeared for the first time in 1909 in English literature. When we say empathy today, we mean “feeling with someone”. It might be a more adequate translation to go with “suffering with someone” (see: pathos).
In contrast to this, the term sympathy does actually have Greek roots.
Researchers have tried to differentiate between cognitive and emotional empathy, and found different brain regions connected to these concepts. People suffering from antisocial personality disorder are capable of cognitive empathy (enabling them to act extremely manipulative), but they do not actually “feel” with the other person (showing a severe lack of emotional empathy). Autists, on the other side, actually do have the ability to show emotional empathy as long as they are at least acquainted with the person suffering, but don’t show any signs of cognitive empathy. These concepts are heavily discussed in the current literature, and there also seems to be some data this rather simple differentiation cannot account for.
CSU-Generalsekretär Alexander Dobrindt hält die Grünen für “eine verkrustete und verzopfte Partei, mit der Zukunftspolitik nicht möglich ist”. Daraus schließt er: “Politische Gemeinsamkeiten mit den Grünen sehe ich Null Komma Null, die kann man nicht mal mit der Lupe suchen”.
Soso. Nicht mal mit der Lupe suchen. Von finden kann da ohnehin keine Rede sein.
Denn: im Gegensatz zu den Grünen sind die Christkonservativen modern, zukunftsorientiert, und alles andere als verkrustet. Und verzopft sowieso nicht.
Herr Dobrindt ist wie ein sehr schlechter Film, der deswegen schon wieder gut ist.
Kennt ihr solche Filme? Nichts ist amüsanter als ein miserabler Film, der sich selbst ernst nimmt und für besonders herausragend hält. Wie Battlefield Earth oder Druids.
Hut ab, Herr Generalsekretär. Oder am besten gleich: Krawatte ab, und stattdessen lieber Comedy machen?
(Quelle: tagesschau.de)
Ataraxia (ἀταραξία “tranquillity”) is a Greek term used by Pyrrho and Epicurus for a lucid state, characterized by freedom from worry or any other preoccupation.
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