Toad sat and did nothing. Frog sat with him.
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The door to the dining area of the Alcobaça Monastery in Portugal, was made narrow so that monks who got too fat were forced to go into fasting.
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The "good" Eugenicist: Julian Huxley's remarks for the founding event of UNESCO in 1946
"At the moment, it is probable that the indirect effect of civilisation is dysgenic instead eugenic; and in any case it seems likely that the dead weight of genetic stupidity, physical weakness, mental instability, and disease-proneness, which already exist in the human species, will prof too great a burden for real progress to be achieved. Even though it is quite true that any radical eugenic policy will be for many years politically and psychologically impossible, it will be important for UNESCO to see that the eugenic problem is examined with the greatest care, and that the public mind is informed of the issues at stake so that much that now is unthinkable may at least become thinkable." - Source: Julian Huxley: UNESCO its Purpose and its Philosophy, Page 21 (PDF) (1946)
In 1991 the UNESCO Courier printed excerpts from Julian Huxley's above text "UNESCO: Its Purpose and Philosophy" and provided them with the following footnote:
„In 1946 the British scientist and humanist Julian Huxley wrote a long paper entitled Unesco, its purpose and its philosophy, in which he set forth guidelines for the new organization. The document was highly controversial. It was regarded by some as an attack on religion, by others as pro-communist. Eventually Unesco’s General Conference refused to sponsor its publication. Over forty years later, Huxley’s »planetary utopia« has lost none of its force or topicality.“
Source: A Planetary Utopia. In: The UNESCO Courier, 1991 XLIV: 2, pp. 41-42. In: R. S. Deese: Twilight of Utopias: Julian and Aldous Huxley in the Twentieth Century. In: JSRNC 5.2 (2011) 210-240
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Something is deeply wrong with how humans relate to nature
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China’s after-school tutoring crackdown goes nuclear
New draft rules circulated today would force China’s private education companies to turn nonprofit. Share prices of tutoring companies plummeted, and some see the end of a highly lucrative industry.
A popular Chinese commentator argued on Twitter today that turning the education companies nonprofit would be a big blow to investors, but not necessarily for parents and children. Even if this new policy is problematic, “the direction is right.”
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The Rise of Neurotechnology Calls for a Parallel Focus on Neurorights - By Nayef Al-Rodhan
Chile is leading the way with a bill that offers protections against abuses and inequities that could arise from technologies that augment human capacities.
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New research aims to uncover long-term effects of glyphosate spraying on forests
Forests are complex ecosystems and dumping glyphosate on them has far-reaching impacts — some known, but most not. A forest serves many needs, glyphosate prioritizes one: commercial logging.
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The Honest Weather Prediction Service
An engraving from 15th century Germany of witches bringing down the rain Want: A weather prediction service that publicly states it is using Astrology, the I Ching and other divination techniques, to predict the weather. As an added bonus, it tells you about the implications of today's weather for your personal fortune. It would be about as effective as current weather prediction services, just far more fun and honest.
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Praxis: Knowledge isn't power until it is applied.
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"Accurate communication is possible only in a non-punishing situation" - Celine's Laws
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Today in "the fall of western civilization": Meditation Apps
Many of the "successful" western meditation mobile apps promote their service using images of beautiful young people with their smart phones in their hands and wireless headphones in their ears, while gently smiling and pretending to be casually "meditating" in their designer living rooms or offices. This is late capitalist bullshit at its finest - Namaste! (image source)
