Thoughtful Thursdays, Stayed on Freedom’s Call page 25, and motherless children

Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better

It is crucial that we each help our society to become more fully inclusive for all of us today, and to come and work together, for all of us, right?   Remembering that any one of us could have become a motherless child is part of that, no?

I believe that attention to shared histories, as in DC, may provide part of an answer.  I started a note about that, a few years ago, in my book Stayed on Freedom’s Call:

” … Shalom. Assistance rendered by members of the Hanafi sect to both Ohev Shalom and Tifereth Israel members on various occasions inspires the hope that
neighbors can learn from and work with each other to build longer lasting cooperative structures. Ongoing efforts at cooperation between the Jewish and
Black communities will be discussed in later chapters. Shepherd Park and nearby Takoma, DC are also home to individual Jews…

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Mystery of the deep: Behaviour of J pod orcas confounds researchers | CBC News

A growing mystery around some of B.C.’s most endangered killer whales may have been solved, but experts say changes in the animals’ behaviour still have them concerned.

The southern resident orca group known as J pod is usually seen in the waters between the southern tip of Vancouver Island and the United States on a near-daily basis between April and September.

But for 108 days there were no sightings of the endangered pod, until Monika Wieland-Shields, founder of the Orca Behaviour Institute in Washington state, captured them on video on July 27 in Haro Strait.

“It was pretty remarkable to not have them here for so long, especially in what was considered to be the peak season to see them,” she said.

Source: Mystery of the deep: Behaviour of J pod orcas confounds researchers | CBC News

‘The Pied Piper leading us off a cliff’: Florida governor condemned as Covid surges | Florida | The Guardian

“He’s like the Pied Piper, just leading everybody off a cliff right now, letting them know that they don’t have to like the CDC, they don’t have to wear masks, they can do whatever they want in the midst of an enormous pandemic – and Florida, by wide margins, is easily the worst state in the country.”

The mayor said he felt “hamstrung” by legislation signed by DeSantis in May that gave him veto power over coronavirus mandates by municipalities.

“We’re not allowed a mask edict now. We were one of the first cities to require it and the governor stopped allowing us to do it, then immediately we saw a surge across our county and state.”

Source: ‘The Pied Piper leading us off a cliff’: Florida governor condemned as Covid surges | Florida | The Guardian

Police allege Hillsong founder concealed child sex abuse – The Washington Post

The founder of the Sydney-based global Hillsong Church, Brian Houston, has been charged with concealing child sex offenses, police said Thursday.

Detectives served Houston’s lawyers on Thursday with a notice for him to appear in a Sydney court on Oct. 5 for allegedly concealing a serious indictable offense, police said.

“Police will allege in court the man (Houston) knew information relating to the sexual abuse of a young male in the 1970s and failed to bring that information to the attention of police,” police said.

Source: Police allege Hillsong founder concealed child sex abuse – The Washington Post

Spanish Engineers Extract Drinking Water From Thin Air – Slashdot

“The goal is to help people,” said Enrique Veiga, the 82-year-old engineer who invented the machine during a harsh drought in southern Spain in the 1990s. “The goal is to get to places like refugee camps that don’t have drinking water.” The devices made by his company, Aquaer, are already delivering clean, safe water to communities in Namibia and a Lebanese refugee camp. “In the villages we visited in Namibia, they were astonished, they didn’t understand, asking where the water came from,” he said.

The machines use electricity to cool air until it condenses into water, harnessing the same effect that causes condensation in air-conditioning units. While other water generators based on similar technology require high ambient humidity and low temperatures to function effectively, Veiga’s machines work in temperatures of up to 40 Celsius (104F) and can handle humidity of between 10% and 15%. A small machine can produce 50-75 liters a day, and be easily carried on a trolley, but bigger versions can produce up to 5,000 liters a day. Source: Spanish Engineers Extract Drinking Water From Thin Air – Slashdot

Khayyam|خیام

A Voice from Iran

 

“72nd story”

First published: Jan.03.2019

Omar Khayyam never got married and didn’t have any children. He was a tall man with a big head, quiet and recluse.

A genius who was able to read a full book and memorize it right away.

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Omar was a fan of Avicenna, the Persian Polymath, and in his notes named him as his teacher and mentor. Khayyam translated one of Avicenna’s Arabic treatise about Monotheism to Farsi. In the end, Khayyam left 13 treatises.

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In one of his treatises, he has a geometric solution for a cubic equation that Will Durant names a masterpiece of mathematics in the Middle Ages. One of Khayyam’s students, Hamedani, became a great poet, judge, and Gnostic who was killed because of his beliefs in philosophy.

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All of Hamedani’s theories have been proven thus far. The death of Hamedani was a trigger for Khayyam to start writing…

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“All the Living World is Interdependent:” A Q&A with Artist Barbara Crane Navarro — Open Americas

Barbara Crane Navarro

Barbara Crane Navarro is a French artist, author, and activist who currently lives near Paris. Over a period of 12 years, she spent the winter months with the Yanomami people in Venezuela and Brazil, an experience which has inspired her artistic practice and her decades-long effort to draw attention to the devastation of the Amazon Rainforest. From creating burning art installations to writing and illustrating a children’s book series, Crane Navarro is a prolific artist who has the power to instill a sense of urgency, responsibility, and connectedness in all those who interact with her creations.We spoke with her about her biggest inspirations, what she is currently working on, and what makes the rainforestinvaluable.

“All the Living World is Interdependent:” A Q&A with Artist Barbara Crane Navarro — Open Americas

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Research: Palm Oil Deforestation and its connection to retail brands — Palm Oil Detectives

Barbara Crane Navarro

Despite the green tick of approval for the industry certification the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), as of 2020, there have been no brands confirmed to have stopped purchasing palm oil from mills causing deforestation. According to watchdog Chain Reaction Research, even brands with NDPE policies in place (no peatland and deforestation) are[…]

Research: Palm Oil Deforestation and its connection to retail brands — Palm Oil Detectives

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