Notes on a web journey

“ At least 1,200 people were executed in 2007 and many more were killed by the state, in secret, in countries including China, Mongolia and Viet Nam. The figures come from Amnesty International's yearly statistics, Death Sentences and Executions in 2007, issued on Tuesday, which say that at least 1,252 people were executed in 24 countries and at least 3,347 people were sentenced to death in 51 countries. Up to 27,500 people are estimated to be on death row across the world.”

Secrecy surrounds death penalty

Death penalty, violence against women, arms dealing...all of it should and COULD be stopped...if the indifference would stop as well.

“ To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world. Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration's wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found...Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air. Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration's war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized.”

Behind Analysts, the Pentagon's Hidden Hand

What leaves me speechless is that these things need to be “discovered” by the New York Times. I cannot believe that most of people are so uninformed that need to be told what's going on...or maybe that is the chilling truth because I see it happening over and over again, people getting manipulated blatantly actually buying it and supporting the manipulators (see Italy's elections results as the latest example).

“ Last year wheat prices rose 77% and rice 16%. These were some of the sharpest rises in food prices ever. But this year the speed of change has accelerated. Since January, rice prices have soared 141%; the price of one variety of wheat shot up 25% in a day... The prices mainly reflect changes in demand - not problems of supply, such as harvest failure. The changes include the gentle upward pressure from people in China and India eating more grain and meat as they grow rich and the sudden, voracious appetites of western biofuels programmes, which convert cereals into fuel. This year the share of the maize (corn) crop going into ethanol in America has risen and the European Union is implementing its own biofuels targets. To make matters worse, more febrile behaviour seems to be influencing markets: export quotas by large grain producers, rumours of panic-buying by grain importers, money from hedge funds looking for new markets.”

• The new face of hunger
• Reviving the ration card

I'm not an economist so my vision of the problem may be simplistic but it seems to me as if all these programs that should help the poorest are just attempts to patch up the effects of economic imbalance between “developed” countries and the rest of the world. These programs don't address the causes and don't try to really change the situation but just to keep it going and as invisible as possible. Food prices raise in response to speculations, rumors...people die of starvation because someone in an air-conditioned office says “maybe we will buy more wheat next year”..and the solution to something so absurd is to tell the farmer that they have to produce more wheat using more fertilizers...these are not solutions, these are the usual suspects making tons of money on rumors like it happens with the oil (forecast a cold winter or a hot summer and oil prices raise). Rumors, forecasts, projections, predictions, previsions...why we let them do this all the time?

My deepest condolences to my country for one of the worst choices ever. The numbers are now officially inverted, not 21st but 12th century.

“ The illicit drugs trade (also referred to as the illegal drugs trade or drug trafficking) is one of the largest global businesses, at some $322 billion, according to the UN World Drug Report, 2007.”

Illicit Drugs

I think decriminalization is the only way. It would eliminate the profits of organized crime (with all the other dealings that come with it) and it would cut the micro criminality rate down quite a lot.

The idea that if drugs are decriminalized automatically everyone becomes a drug addict is just nonsense and I don't understand where the people thinking like that have been living until now. As far as I know the youngs usually know exactly what does what. If you were a teenager in the eighties, like I was, you should have seen it all already, as I did.

Beside, believing that people are not able to take care of themselves is an insult to everyone intelligence, if we are able to choose how to regulate the use of alcohol, for example, since it is legal, why shouldn't we be able to do the same with other kinds of drugs? Sometimes I wonder: are the people advocating prohibition doing it because they somehow really believe in it or because there are to many interests at stake? Both drug trafficking and war on drugs are worth billion of dollars and are tight with arms dealing...sometimes the line between licit and illicit becomes strangely blurred...

“ Half the world - nearly three billion people - live on less than two dollars a day. More than 80 percent of the world's population lives in countries where income differentials are widening. The poorest 40 percent of the world's population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.”

Poverty Facts and Stats

As long s the indifference is as big as the difference there is little hope for a fairer world. I believe it could be much better then it is now, if the awareness of people, especially in the developed Countries, could raise to the challenge.

“ No one will win next month's elections in Italy, especially not the nation's citizens. For all the campaign rhetoric about change and reform, everyone seems dead set on ignoring the country's fundamental problem: organized crime, or what we might call our criminal economy. Talk of this corruption crisis never goes beyond expressions of solidarity with the victims, praise for the valiant police, and generic appeals to morality. All of which leads nowhere. Last year, a report by the Italian business association Confesercenti estimated that the Mob in Italy generated more than $125 billion of annual revenue, a figure equal to 7% of the country's gross domestic product. That's more than double the annual income of Italy's entire agricultural sector.”

Maimed by the Mob an article by Roberto Saviano

What leaves me speechless (I'm Italian) is that many people in Italy know all of that but the same politicians keep getting elected and then come up with unbelievable laws that help the organized crime to make more money and stay in control. To anyone that uses his own brain for a fraction of a second all that should be clear; evidently in Italy we are not able to think.

“ Global military expenditure and arms trade form the largest spending in the world at over one trillion dollars in annual expenditure and has been rising in recent years.”

World Military Spending

World hunger and health problems could benefit immensely from even just half of such a huge amount of money. Instead, it is used to increase those same problems, in many instances actually being the direct cause.

“..the 30 rich countries that compose the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) account for 90% of the planet's health spending, even though they comprise only 20% of the world population. The rich countries on average spend USD 3170 per capita on medical care, while poor countries spend USD 36 a year. Considering the abysmal health status of the poor (both inside and outside of the rich countries), one might expect in a fair world that expenditures might be reversed, with the lion's share going to those in more dire medical need... The WHO estimates that wealthy countries would have to double their current foreign aid contributions to poor countries. This would mean distributing USD 120 billion annually to support basic health care for the poor worldwide. This is not a lot of money. There are so many comparisons I could offer, but consider just one. The United States is now spending USD 12.5 billion a month on the Iraq war. Ten months of the US Iraq war bill would pay for the whole world annual cost. In real terms, our share would surely be no more than our proportion of 22% of the total funding of the United Nations...”

Mosquito Nets, Malaria, and Getting the World Healthy

There are so many things that should and could be done better. Articles like this are very important to raise people awareness to a real possibility of change in the world. I think we are still acting in a very ancient way and it's time to evolve!

An article in the Comment is free.. section of the Guardian:

“ In their attempt to oppose laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (that is, laws supporting gay rights) while supporting other such laws, conservatives have long tied themselves in knots. You shouldn't compare antigay discrimination to racial discrimination, they said, because race is an immutable characteristic, while homosexuality is a chosen behavior...But wait a minute, I used to say to conservatives. It's obvious to thinking people that sexual orientation isn't chosen - it may be genetic or environmental, but it certainly isn't chosen. As far as the individual is concerned, it's an innate or immutable characteristic. So if that's your standard, then discrimination against gays is just as unreasonable as discrimination against blacks.”

Sex, religion and conservatives

What makes me wonder is that in the year 2008 there is still the necessity to discuss these issues. I may like someone more or less based on his honesty and sincerity but not on his sex, religion or skin color. I know many people that think exactly like me, fortunately. I think fear is usually the reason why some people tend to be suspicious and unable to accept the differences that make humanity what it is. The solution is to keep always an open mind and to be willing to learn.

“ ARMSFLOW is a data visualization which displays arms transactions globally between 1950 and 2006. It was created by Jeffrey Warren of Vestal Design with data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. ”

armsflow.org

Year 2008, still unable to even talk seriously about stopping any of this. Will we ever be intelligent enough to change things?

“ Rarely has democracy been so acclaimed yet so breached, so promoted yet so disrespected, so important yet so disappointing. Today, democracy has become the sine qua non of legitimacy. Few governments want to be seen as undemocratic. Yet the credentials of the claimants have not kept pace with democracy's growing popularity. These days, even overt dictators aspire to the status conferred by the democracy label. Determined not to let mere facts stand in the way, these rulers have mastered the art of democratic rhetoric that bears little relationship to their practice of governing.”

Human Rights Watch: world report 2008

“ More than 1 billion people on our planet are forced to drink foul, infected water, which has killed at least 22 million people in the last decade. They could all have safe, clean water within 10 years, for just a tiny fraction of the cost of global military spending. Why isn't it happening? Most governments, especially rich white ones, would apparently rather buy weapons to kill other human beings than build water facilities to save the lives of black, brown and yellow poor people. According to the Stockholm international peace research institute, in 2006 total global military expenditure topped $1.2tn; with the US accounting for $528.7bn of this spending and the UK for $59.2bn.”

Water not war

Yesterday's post was about oil, today's is about arms trade. Merry Christmas!

Image taken from: Movers and shakers

More on arms trade: Arms Trade - a major cause of suffering

Found via Kottke.org

Original post: Who Has the Oil?

Bigger image taken from: Who has the oil?

Another, interactive, Oil World Map, with different figures: The Oil World Map

Today is the V-Day in Italy:

V-Day in Italian

Clean Parliament in Italy: I'm looking forward to see how many people participated and what the reactions will be.

It's also the International Literacy Day:

“ An estimated 774 million adults, two-thirds of them women, live without basic literacy skills. More than 72 million children are out of school and many more attend irregularly. Moreover, many newly literate people are unable to sustain their skills in the absence of appropriate reading material.”

International Literacy Day 2007

“ Favourable weather, Taliban insurgents and corrupt government officials all contributed to this year's record poppy haul, which has edged Afghanistan perilously close to becoming a full narco-state. The opium trade involves 3.3 million of Afghanistan's 23 million population, according to the UNODC, and accounts for more than half of its estimated $7.5bn (£3.7bn) gross domestic product.”

UN horrified by surge in opium trade in Helmand

“ Politicians in all parties routinely assume that voters think prison works. But 51% of those questioned want the government to find other ways to punish criminals and deter crime.”

More prisons are not the answer

Two examples of the same wrong approach: instead of fixing the causes patching up the effects. Prison is not good, never redeemed anyone. Opium trade exists because there are arms to be bought with the profits and wars to be fought because of messy economics and politics.

“ British doctors are to rebel against high prices set by pharmaceutical companies for their products by giving patients a cheap but unlicensed drug that prevents blindness, the Guardian has learned.”

NHS doctors challenge high drugs prices

That's what all doctors everywhere should do, in my opinion. They are the only ones able to really force the pharmaceutical companies to change the way they operate.

“ The US military is building a three-mile concrete wall in the centre of Baghdad along the most murderous faultline between Sunni and Shia Muslims.”

Latest US solution to Iraq's civil war

I cannot believe the stupidity of it: more walls? These people will never learn, apparently, they just keep digging a deeper hole. That building walls to keep people out, or in, does not bring any positive results should be clear to anybody at this point in history. How can they think that this could be a solution? This is the best the “experts” can come up with? Please, let monkeys run the show, we'd get much better results.

“ Like the rest of the advertising industry, pharmaceutical companies look at their nails innocently when you suggest that adverts might affect behaviour, even though they know - that we know - that they'd only spend money on it if it worked. In fact, specific campaigns have been shown to affect prescribing practice, because modern doctors listen to their patients' demands, and pharmaceutical consumer advertising is growing twice as fast as advertising direct to doctors, for one simple reason: history has shown that you are stupid and easily led, although your education in bad science may stand you in good stead.”

We've got the pills, so you must have a problem

Pharmaceutical companies are responsible for many, many deaths. Research done in Africa, using people as guinea pigs, drugs sold at very high prices, always looking to gain as much money as possible instead of keeping the health of people as their main target. Last example, the avian flu vaccine: Governments around the world bought it and it does not work. To make money on people health it's as bad , if not worse, then selling arms.

“ Cluster munitions spread bomblets or submunitions over wide areas threatening civilians as well as soldiers during attacks. They also leave unexploded bombs that threaten civilians for decades after a conflict. This page provides information and resources for individuals and organisations to take action to stop cluster munitions, a weapon with indiscriminate effects that is proliferating rapidly around the world.”

Cluster munitions coalition

“ The world's richest countries, which have contributed by far the most to the atmospheric changes linked to global warming, are already spending billions of dollars to limit their own risks from its worst consequences, like drought and rising seas. But despite longstanding treaty commitments to help poor countries deal with warming, these industrial powers are spending just tens of millions of dollars on ways to limit climate and coastal hazards in the world's most vulnerable regions - most of them close to the equator and overwhelmingly poor.”

Poor Nations to Bear Brunt as World Warms

“ Told often enough that the West and Islam are natural enemies, we start to believe it, and assume it has always been so. But the Metropolitan Museum of Art argues otherwise in Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797 a show that, with classic Met largesse, recreates the spectacle of two different cultures meeting in one fantastic city, where commerce and love of beauty, those great levelers, unite them in a fruitful bond.”

The Republic of Beauty, Melding West and East

The article begins with..Told often enough that the West and Islam are natural enemies, we start to believe it...and I'm very surprised. Who is saying so? Natural enemies? What's that? And what they mean with West? I'm Italian, from the south, what do I belong to, West or Middle East? The Mediterranean sea has seen all the populations living on its shores coming in contact sooner or later, the culture that developed is a result of a mixing of everything, with peaks of greatness and dips into nothingness for each of the populations involved. The Mediterranean culture is one of the most ancient and rich of the so called West and it's the result of exchange not of enmity. There have been many wars, sure, but that's just the usual human stupidity and greed not natural hostility.

“ Homes across Britain are wasting a total of 3.3m tonnes of food a year, a report is expected to reveal.”

Homes waste 3.3m tonnes of food

Apparently is now, finally, trendy to say vaguely reasonable things. Even such a low level of awareness is welcome...better then the usual abyss of irresponsibility. As long as it doesn't just stop there, the issue of wasted food is extremely important as are its distribution and availability.

8 of MARCH - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

It's always necessary to remember the struggle of women for their rights. The International Women's Day is not a commercial recurrence but a reminder of the necessity to be together , men and women, to build a better life for everybody.

“ As Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, we know there is a direct relationship between peace, justice and respect for human rights. As long as women are denied human rights, anywhere in the world, there can be no justice and no peace. Recognizing women's equal rights, therefore, is an essential requirement for the creation of strong, sustainable and stable societies and ensuring that women enjoy equality with men in all areas of life is a key step to making human rights a universal reality.”

• Stop Violence Against Women
• IWD

On Nature:

Italian jobs cause ruction

Research is important, the italian Government should be much more attentive and concerned about promising without delivering.

“ In 1999 the Government started a series of “farm-scale trials” of GM herbicide-tolerant crops. Each of these GM crop trials covers ten hectares (25 acres) and it is planned to have at least 25 sites for each GM crop involved - winter and spring oilseed rape, maize and sugar beet. These trials are meant to examine the environmental effects of GM crops, but they have not been designed to prevent pollen escaping from the test sites or to protect nearby beekeepers from contamination of their honey.”

Bees, Honey and Genetically Modified Crops

Too much time spent inside labs and not nearly enough outside, learning from nature. Agriculture and the production of food in general are basic to the survival of the human species, but , instead of creating herbicide-tolerant crops, why don't they try to use different ways to supply for raising demand? I don't think the real problem is lack of food, even if it's necessary to bear in mind the population growth, rather it's the distribution that needs to be addressed. We need to understand that farming has to be organized better then it is now, in a more environmental friendly way, with attention to local necessities. Forcing higher production through manipulation finalized only to commercial ends, short lived, is not going to solve the long run problem of feeding a growing population. I may be naive, but I'd expect more intelligence from people spending so much time studying..

“ The Buddha once told a story about a king who ordered a group of blind men to be presented with an elephant. Each man touched a different part of the animal. The king then asked them what an elephant is like. The blind men who touched the elephant's head replied, “An elephant, your majesty, is just like a water jar.” The blind men who touched its ear said, “An elephant, your majesty, is just like a winnowing basket.” The blind men who touched its tusk declared, “An elephant, your majesty, is just like a plowshare.” The ones who touched the trunk replied, “An elephant, your majesty, is just like a plow pole.” The blind men who touched the body replied, “An elephant, your majesty, is just like a storeroom.” The blind men who touched the foot replied, “An elephant, your majesty, is just like a post.” The blind men who touched the hindquarters replied, “An elephant, your majesty, is just like a mortar.” The blind men who touched the tail replied, “An elephant, your majesty, is just like a pestle.” And the blind men who touched the tuft at the end of the tail replied, “An elephant, your majesty, is just like a broom.” The blind men fell into a fistfight, shouting, “An elephant is like this, an elephant is not like that! An elephant is not like this, an elephant is like that!” ”

The Genome: An Outsider's View

So, maybe, lab people should find the time to live on a farm..

On BBC:

“ Oil prices saw their sharpest drop in two years, shedding more than $2 a barrel as mild US weather led consumers to use less petrol and heating oil. US light crude oil fell $2.73 to $55.59 a barrel in New York, falling by over $5 in two days. In London meanwhile, Brent crude fell $2.85 to $55.11. The US Energy Department said stocks of distillates rose by two million barrels in the last week of 2006. The fall led oil group Opec to say it might act if prices continue dropping.”

Oil in biggest fall in two years

When prices were raising, Opec was going to act to stop them. Now, prices are falling and Opec is going to act..what is it that they want? Not only Opec, all of these so called oil people? A few months ago everybody was saying they were trying to find a way to reduce oil prices and I thought it was just a scam to keep people from burning them down. Now it's obvious, but unfortunately, as usual, nobody notices. It's ridiculous..more posts about oil

“ Improvements they devise to the molecular structure of an existing, expensive drug turn it technically into a new medicine which is no longer under a 20-year patent to a multinational drug company and can be made and sold cheaply.”

Scientists find way to slash cost of drugs

The fact that multinational drug companies holding patents on medicines of large use sell them very expensive is incredible but painfully true. I suppose many people know about it but very little has been done to correct the situation.

“ The Niger Delta is made up of nine states, 185 local government areas, and a population of 27 million. It has 40 ethnic groups speaking 250 dialects spread across 5,000 to 6,000 communities and covers an area of 27,000 square miles. This makes for one the highest population densities in the world, with annual population growth estimated at 3 percent. About 1,500 of those communities play host to oil company operations of one kind or another. Thousands of miles of pipelines crisscross the mangrove creeks of the Delta, broken up by occasional gas flares that send roaring orange flames into the already hot, humid air. Modern, air-conditioned facilities sit cheek-by-jowl with primitive fishing villages made of mud and straw, surrounded with razor wire and armed guards trained to be on the lookout for local troublemakers. It is, and always has been, a recipe for disaster.”

The Curse of Oil

Exxon is getting discounts:

Court halves Exxon spill damages

Considering they reported record profits for the year 2005 and the third-highest quarterly profit in the company's history they should be made to pay more not less.

It's always good to remind ourselves of what we need to live and that we have an untouchable right to it:

“ Water (H2O, HOH) is the most abundant molecule on Earth, composing 70-75% of the Earth's surface as liquid and solid state in addition to being found in the atmosphere as a vapor. It is in dynamic equilibrium between the liquid and vapor states at standard temperature and pressure. At room temperature, it is a nearly colorless, tasteless, and an odorless liquid.”

Water molecule

On Wired:

The Church of the Non-Believers

I don't like any kind of extremism. I think everyone is entitled to believe in whatever he wants, as long as one doesn't try to impose his beliefs on others. I personally don't believe in a God, I know there is a life energy that keeps things the way they are but I don't see the necessity to call it something or attribute it “human-like” qualities. I think that religions originally are born as guidelines for social behaviour, in times when there were very few people able to write and read and the only way to regulate society was to convince everyone in a higher entity seeing all and judging us for our actions, even when, for example, in absence of witnesses would have been possible to get away with murder. Also, for literate people, they were a tool to a higher awareness. As far as extremes are concerned, it's always people twisting things to gain something. I think that having to choose it's good because it makes people take responsability. I don't think the problem is the religion in itself but the interpretations given to it by people for personal (or economical) reasons.

On Scientific American:

Love Thy Neighbor

Altruistic behaviour surely came from the fact that it ensures better survival odds, a step up from cooperation during a hunt. But, after a few thousand years of written history, humans should realize that only the awareness of others and their needs can lead to a peaceful co-existence and mutual understanding. Two steps up from cooperating to hunt?

On a different level but of the same basic meaning:

What's Holding Back Arab Women?

Women, like men, should be free to choose; choose to study or not, choose to work or not, choose to wear the veil or not, choose to get married or not..cultures are an ever changing part of social human life. What is today seen as usual wasn't so until fifty years ago and that's valid in any culture. The problems that women face in the Arab world are often basically the same as the ones they face in the Western world. Fifty years ago the similarity were even closer. That's what I meant when I wrote “of the same basic meaning”: freedom of choice, respect, cooperation; that's all we need. When we will understand that we will all have a chance to live with dignity.

A photo-essay:

a trail of diamonds

An exemplification of how the world economy works nowadays: some people can spend millions of dollars because many more have absolutely nothing.

On The Nonist:

“ It is only possible to succeed at second-rate pursuits - like becoming a millionaire or a prime minister, winning a war, seducing a beautiful woman, flying through the stratosphere or landing on the moon. First-rate pursuits - involving, as they must, trying to understand what life is about and trying to convey that understanding - inevitably result in a sense of failure. A Napoleon, a Churchill, a Roosevelt can feel themselves to be successful, but never a Socrates, a Pascal, a Blake. Understanding is ever unattainable. Therein lies the inevitability of failure in embarking upon its quest, which is none the less the only one worthy of serious attention.”
Malcolm Muggeridge

The trap of first rate pursuits

Another outstanding post from The Nonist. Food for thought.

“ The world's ecosystems are being degraded at an unprecedented rate, and by 2050 humans will need at least two planets' worth of natural resources to live as they do now, the conservation group WWF warned today.”

Humans using resources of two planets

See also: ecological overdraft.

“ Hippos falling victim to a poaching spree in a national park could die out in the area by Christmas unless the culling stops, Zoological Society of London conservationists are warning. A Congolese militia group is already thought to have killed half the hippo population in Virunga National Park since setting up a base there two weeks ago. Lake Edward, in the centre of the park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was once central to Africa's greatest concentration of these magnificent beasts.”

Hippos slaughtered by rebel group in national park

War is always bad for everything: humans, animals and environment. We all know it but it still goes on in so many places on Earth. It's easier to destroy then to create.

“ We believe that history matters. A society out of touch with its past cannot have confidence in its future. History defines, educates and inspires us. It lives on in our historic environment. As custodians of our past, we will be judged by generations to come. We must value it, nurture it and pass it on.”

History matters

A nice idea, I believe that history matters and it's absolutely necessary to know some of it to have a perspective on current events. Human lifespan is too short and we tend to consider “normal” things (like television, cars and mobile phones) that until 50 years ago didn't exist or were rare. The initiative is only for England, but it should be taken as an example by all Countries. In my opinion, it's also important to remember that history must be part of our future and not a burden on it. Change is especially good when salted with common sense coming from a knowledge of human history and, in these days of confusion, badly needed.

Three projects for the 2006 season of artists' billboards produced by Clockshop. The participating artists are Trevor Paglen & John Emerson, Ignasi Aballi, and Nadiah Bamadhaj. A map of rendition flights, lists made of newspaper cuttings and photos of disappearing people.

Clockshop: the war must go on

“ Humanity slides into the red today and begins racking up an ecological overdraft driven by unsustainable exploitation of the world's resources, according to a report by the sustainable development organisation Global Footprint Network. In little more than nine months, humans have used up all that nature can replenish in one year, and for the rest of 2006 are destined to eat into the planet's ecological capital, the study claims.”

World moves into ecological overdraft

Global Footprint Network

There is need of a much higher awareness on sustainable development. Unfortunately, the media mostly concentrate in pushing people to augment the waste rather then bring the attention on the impossibility to keep going the way we have so far.

“ The world's glaciers and ice caps are now in terminal decline because of global warming, scientists have discovered. A survey has revealed that the rate of melting across the world has sharply accelerated in recent years, placing even previously stable glaciers in jeopardy. The loss of glaciers in South America and Asia will threaten the water supplies of millions of people within a few decades, the experts warn.”

Water for millions at risk

“ Sitting on the edge of the water in the Gulf of Kutch on India's western shore is one of America's dirty secrets. A mass of steel pipes and concrete boxes stretches across 13 square miles (33sq km) - a third of the area of Manhattan - which will eventually become the world's largest petrochemical refinery.”

America's dirty secret

One hand fixes it and the other destroys it...typical human behaviour, apparently.

Posts and articles about the dangers of a software “monoculture”:

• Monoculture Considered Harmful
• Revisiting the Software Monoculture
• Microsoft Monoculture Myopia

I think that any kind of monoculture is dangerous. Diversity ensures vitality and fairness, creates opportunities, leaves the possibility of choice, teaches respect and understanding because it needs an open mind.

“ IN the autumn of 68 B.C. the world's only military superpower was dealt a profound psychological blow by a daring terrorist attack on its very heart. Rome's port at Ostia was set on fire, the consular war fleet destroyed, and two prominent senators, together with their bodyguards and staff, kidnapped.The incident, dramatic though it was, has not attracted much attention from modern historians. But history is mutable. An event that was merely a footnote five years ago has now, in our post-9/11 world, assumed a fresh and ominous significance. For in the panicky aftermath of the attack, the Roman people made decisions that set them on the path to the destruction of their Constitution, their democracy and their liberty. One cannot help wondering if history is repeating itself.”

Pirates of the Mediterranean

An interesting article, except that, after more then two thousand years, I'd expect people to be more aware, to learn from history, to finally understand that what needs to be fixed are the causes and not the effects. Wrong..possibly people are less aware now then in Roman times, even if today it's much easier to find news and explanations of current political and economical affairs.

“ Peak Oil is the simplest label for the problem of energy resource depletion, or more specifically, the peak in global oil production. Oil is a finite, non-renewable resource, one that has powered phenomenal economic and population growth over the last century and a half. The rate of oil “production”, meaning extraction and refining (currently about 84 million barrels/day), has grown in most years over the last century, but once we go through the halfway point of all reserves, production becomes ever more likely to decline, hence “peak”. Peak Oil means not running out of oil, but running out of cheap oil. For societies leveraged on ever increasing amounts of cheap oil, the consequences may be dire. Without significant successful cultural reform, economic and social decline seems inevitable.”

Peak Oil primer

Watching Lebanon

It's a disturbing article, food for thought. I know that that's the way many people think but I really don't see how it could ever bring anything positive along. It seems to me as if everybody actively involved is avoiding to see the causes of all this, only concentrating on the effects, as I never tire to say.

“ Weapons are going to be used and when they are, we try to make them as safe for the user as possible, to limit the collateral damage and to impact as little as possible on the environment.”

Environmentally friendly fire
via the nonist

Sometimes I wonder if they are just plain stupid or if they actually are trying to manipulate the perception of reality of the people. How can anyone say something like that? It's like calling all humankind a bunch of hopeless idiots incapable to choose anything else but shooting each other to solve a problem. I know, that's what happens mostly, but I don't believe that that's the best we can do and I still reckon humans able to learn and change what needs to be changed.

The tendency to see ourselves as the most important factor in the change of life conditions on Earth is another mistake, as the one we make continuously avoiding to see the error in how we relate with what's around us and with each other. Balance seems to be very difficult to attain for us humans. As everybody knows, to create is much more difficult then to destroy.

The anthropogenic trap

“ In the 1970s, a Harvard class taught by evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers ignited a controversy that would escalate into the “sociobiology wars”. His papers provided a Darwinian basis for understanding complex human activities and relationships. Across town at MIT, revolutionary linguist Noam Chomsky had earned a reputation as a leading opponent of the Vietnam War. Throughout those pivotal years, and in the following decades, the two explored similar ideas from different perspectives. Long aware of each other's work, they had never met until a couple of months ago, when they sat down to compare notes on some common interests: deceit and self-deception.”

Noam Chomsky + Robert Trivers
via The Nonist

“ Last year, three friends gave hundreds of disposable cameras to two groups on opposite sides of the U.S.-Mexico border: the undocumented migrants crossing the desert and the American civilians trying to stop them. The result? A portrait of the border like no other.”

BORDER | film project via GOOD magazine

The Bush Administration and Godwin's Law

An historical frame of reference is of great importance to keep perspective on current events. Nowadays very often words are used in the media to catch inattentive people attention and subtly steer public opinion. I say inattentive because it seems to me people don't really pay attention to what words mean, to the fact that one day something is said to be white and the next black. Facts are continuously turned around to fit momentary needs of political nature, regardless of accuracy. What makes me wonder is the incapacity (or maybe unwillingness) of people's memory to retain these manipulations and see the incongruence between them. I heard a journalist saying that we have developed a “TV memory”, short unrelated flashes, and I think that in many cases it's, regrettably, the truth.

How it should be:

A Javascript elaboration of a thought (“Fear breeds hate, respect brings peace” - one of the random quotes that appear on the right upper corner of this site) to illustrate a concept: until fear is greater then respect the end result will always be war.

The most important is the last line (fear--;) without it the loop is infinite and crashes the computer..

The double minus sign is a decrement operator and subtracts 1 from whatever is assigned to. With each iteration of the loop fear decreases and the loop ends. Right now, fear is ++, it increases with each iteration. The loop is infinite.

Let's break that loop..

The Internet, in theory, enables anyone from anywhere to access information. In reality all the people with dial-up connections are cut out of a lot of it. I know that in the States and Europe almost everybody has some kind of high speed connection but the rest of the world is still using dial-ups. I'm not a professional of the web but I like it because it has brought more freedom to people, more opportunities to learn.
Podcasts, videocasts,screencasts: there should always be a text version that can be downloaded by everyone.

“ One-third of the world's population is living in water-scarce areas, say scientists behind a 5-year analysis of global water resources. The finding is a worrying update to an older study by the same team, who had previously predicted that such a situation would not arrive until 2025.”

Water crisis happening now

Next wars will be for water not oil. Will we be able to avoid that or will we just go ahead as we always seem to have done? Another self-inflicted situation, fueling my doubts on the intelligence of humans.

• Put the blame where it belongs
• World grasp of genetics and acceptance of evolution

I think that this debate is also an indication of the confusion most people live in. I don't believe that the problem, as far as the uninvolved with science common man is concerned, really is creationism or evolutionism but instead a need to be told what is “good” and what is “bad”. Most people that believe in a religious system also believe that moral standards are directly proportional to faith: religion makes people more compassionate. Which may be true to a certain extent (read: cross-national correlations of quantifiable societal health with popular religiosity) but it also means that helping someone else is done in the name of one's own God and, if the other person's God is a different one, soon trouble will arise. To be able to understand and accept other cultures and beliefs we must have an open mind and inform ourselves: lots of work. To just decide that “what I believe is right” solves most questions and unfortunately leaves very little room for learning. Religion in itself cannot make a human being better, each one of us has to work hard every moment of our lives to achieve that.

On the 2nd of August, 1980 a bomb exploded in the train station of Bologna at 10:25 am, killing 85 people and injuring two hundred more.

Today, on the 26th Anniversary of the massacre, the masterminds behind the bombing are still unknown.

1980: Bologna

Irrepressible.info:

“ The Internet is a new frontier in the struggle for human rights. Governments - with the help of some of the biggest IT companies in the world - are cracking down on freedom of expression. Amnesty International, with the support of The Observer UK newspaper, is launching a campaign to show that online or offline the human voice and human rights are impossible to repress.”

Fourteen years ago, in 1992, Paolo Borsellino was killed by a car bomb.

In a Country where all kind of political prevarication goes unpunished but the World Football Cup gets thousands of people on the street there is a strong need to remember and regain some sort of dignity and understanding of what is important in life.

What do they have in common? Not much, apparently..

On the BBC: detainees to get Geneva rights

“ All US military detainees, including those at Guantanamo Bay, are to be treated in line with the minimum standards of the Geneva Conventions.”

“ Daniel Dell'Orto, a defence department lawyer who was the first to testify, said there were about 1,000 detainees in US military custody around the world. Guantanamo Bay holds an estimated 450. Mr Dell'Orto did not say where the others were being held.”

“ The new Pentagon policy applies only to detainees being held by the military, and not to those in CIA custody.”

It is the year 2006, isn't it?..sometimes I believe we are living in a time warp..

Country overview: women quotas

“ Obstacles to women's political participation exist throughout the world in prevailing social and economic regimes, as well as in existing political structures. In 2005, the representation of women reached nearly 16 percent globally. Although this total has increased in recent years, the minimal progress globally means that the ideal of parity remains a long way off.”

“ Today women constitute 16 per cent of the members of parliaments around the world. Recently, Rwanda superseded Sweden at the number one in the world in terms of women's parliamentary representation - 48.8% women against Sweden's 45.3%. Rwanda is an example of the new trend to use electoral gender quotas as a fast track to gender balance in politics.”

Italy is the 48th Country, after Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. France is even worse.

On the Guardian: race to the world's energy hotspots

Like vultures flying all around a dying animal. Except, when the animal dies, we are likely to follow..

G8 vaccine setback

"The G8 missed an opportunity on Saturday to fight disease in the world's poorest countries.."

..again.

Tim Berners-Lee on Net Neutrality (via webdevout's blog) :

• Neutrality of the Net
• Net Neutrality: this is serious

I agree, it's serious and it needs more attention that it has gotten so far.

Amnesty International ad campaign

"It's not happening here but it's happening now"

Simple and effective. Hopefully it will raise people's awareness a bit..

On the Guardian: Aboriginal life expectancy

That's their land..or at least used to be.

On The Guardian: disappeared, but not forgotten

Armaments, Disarmament and International Security:
SIPRI Yearbook 2006

The Chapter 8 is about military expenditure and makes me think about a previous post.

On the Guardian: wages of chaos

As usual the people has to pay for all kind of political and economical reasons. I doubt that anybody, except the warlords and the powerful businessmen, understands what's going on. Western governments play their games and then the effects are felt all over the world. Famine, disease, poverty, desperation, illegal immigration. Fix the causes, don't patch the effects.

Basta in Italian means enough and I believe change is overdue.

Berlusconi under fire, another example of intelligence and decorousness..

I'm proud to be one of the "coglioni" that will NOT vote for Berlusconi.

On Newsweek: rise and fall

I hope common sense (the fall) will prevail otherwise my Country really deserves what she's going to get.

"The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro"
World Water Day

On the New York Times: terror insurance

Is this the 21st century? Sometimes it feels rather like the 12th century..except for the insurance, which is a modern scam.

20th of March 2006, third anniversary of the war in Iraq:
the start of the US-led campaign

As in any war, killing and torturing: Secret Unit's "Black Room"

On the Guardian: Berlusconi is the devil

"Berlusconi is a dangerous man to become entrapped with. He deals in the dark sides of Italian political life. His party, Forza Italia, worked tirelessly to ensure that it inherited the mafia vote from the corpse of the Christian Democrats. His financial tentacles have abused and disfigured Italian political life. He regards the law to be malleable, negotiable and corruptible."

To me as an Italian the problem is that Berlusconi was voted by the Italian people even if many knew what he was involved in and how he made his money. In Italy there is a tendency to call a thief "clever" if he's not caught, to confuse cunning and slyness with intelligence. Now we all have to pay the price for this.

The sad Italian reality: Tipping Italy

I live abroad and have no chance to avoid the shame of being associated to what the Italian Government calls its policy. They always say that they represent Italians, I feel offended by what they do and by who is supposed to represent me. People that mistake personal beliefs for a Country point of view. People that ignored a huge amount of citizens in the streets of Rome condemning the war in Iraq, for example. People that consider a Country as a company, to be run by managers. Except I'm NOT an employee of my Country, I'm a citizen, I cannot be fired from being Italian, the people supposedly representing me, on the other end, CAN be fired from their posts, they are employees of all Italians. Unfortunately I don't think there is a chance for people like that to listen or be willing to change because to do that requires too much courage and the choices they make are the result of fear.

On Reuters: old men rule in aging Italy

A very good article, there should be many more like this, in Italy is almost impossible to do and say anything anymore. The world is changing very fast and Italy is just sitting and watching stuck in a twilight zone.

On the BBC: charting the lost innovations of Islam

On the BBC: Water policy "fails world's poor"

Water, too often, is taken for granted and wasted. Take the quiz and see what you know about water usage.

Water is a primary necessity, see the hotspots.

On the Guardian: Bush's new best friends

8 of MARCH - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

In these times of confusion is more then ever necessary to remember the struggle of women for their rights. The International Women's Day is not a commercial recurrence but a reminder of the necessity to be together , men and women, to build a better life for everybody.
As it is now:

• Iraq's Pandora's box
• Work harder
• Rape sentence cut scroll down the page until you find the Italy entry
• The rape of Darfur previously posted as Darfur rape on 2006-01-18