Sunday, February 15, 2015

Capacity for evil

Unbelievable New York City sets record with no murders in 10 days in a row Reuters

Stanley Milgram’s studies endure not because they clarify our capacity for evil, but because his work doesn’t prove what he claimed it does... Psychology of Experiments

Art and the Third Reich. Why did artists cooperate with the regime? Their motivation came down to – what else? – self-interest and ego... Strangerst Bedfellows


Whats wrong with public intellectuals? Their underestimation of the public, which is, in fact, no less smart or striving than they are... What is Right with the Public 

Crows Understand Analogies Scientific American and The desire for right stuff

NASA study predicts decades-long droughts to hit west UPI

US ‘at risk of mega-drought future’ BBC (David L). Note that the Anasazi were an advanced civilization in Chaco Canyon, NM, by 1200-1300 standard. The end game of the drought included cannibalism.

Twelve ways the world could end Financial Times (David L). Look at the odds they assign…

Chasing ghosts: Where is China’s next wave of empty ‘new towns’? South China Morning Post

Oceans choke as plastic waste pours in at 8m tonnes a year Financial Times

Brazil faces water disaster; scientists warned it was coming UPI Antipodeans are not taking any notice - Melbourne is more dense than Hong Kong and Sydney skies are peppered with cranes.  Ostrich and the golden sand do go together.

“Raphael Pumpelly tells in his memoirs of the West in the good old days about a two-gunned bearded type who rolled into a Colorado hotel with a viand wrapped in a bandana. This he requested the cook to prepare, and seated at a table, napkined, wielding knife and fork with manners passably Eastern, consulting the salt and pepper shakers with a nicety, gave a fair demonstration of a gentleman eating. And, with a gleam in his eye and a great burp, he sang out at the end, `Thar, by God, I swore I’d eat that man’s liver and I’ve done it!’”