All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Evidence and faith

LANDBACK Friends

I find it increasingly difficult to make sense of what is going on today. All the terrible things I had anticipated for the future are suddenly happening now. And things I never imagined, like the assaults on truth and science, come at a time when they are desperately needed.

There are all kinds of ways to divide/categorize the American public: there’s the urban/rural divide, the differences between Republicans and Democrats, people who are college educated versus those who are not…One distinction that is rarely highlighted but incredibly important doesn’t even have a descriptive term–it’s the difference between people who recognize and respectevidenceand those who don’t.

Think of it as the difference between people who accept the Enlightenment emphasis on empirical reality and those who are “faith-based.” Being faith-based, at least as I am using the term, doesn’t necessarily mean “religious.” It means preferring an ideological commitment–something taken on…

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Eco-Kids Want to Protect the Environment and Now it is Easy for Adults to Tell Them How

FunWritings

Since the eco-friendly children’s eBooks are being loaned on Amazon, every child can learn more tips and develop good eco habits so they can help to implement the zero waste plan

We will see more climate action when even the children start believing that they can

We shouldn’t be watching the climate crisis get worse each year

When we can change the way we talk about environmental care

Photo by Julia M Cameron on Pexels.com

Now that the climate solutions are simplified so that children can understand them

More people can work towards solving the very huge problem

We can plan for a green future and reduce our bills each day

When we start using eco-friendly tips in many different ways

Photo by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels.com

It is now easier for parents to pass on information to children with eBooks they can borrow

Let us all get ready to…

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As mulheres sempre foram inferiorizadas em relação aos homens

Pensamentos.me/VEM comigo!

As mulheres sempre foram inferiorizadas em relação ao homens. Um exemplo claro dessa maneira de pensar vem do próprio Rousseau ao defender uma educação com qualidade inferiorizada as mulheres. Ele, assim como, os homens de sua época contribuíram para aquela ideia de que a mulher só devia cuidar da casa, filhos e marido.
A educação é um dos instrumentos de emancipação feminina. Por que se percebe por exemplo que, muitas mulheres avançaram no seu modo de pensar, ser e se comportar? Algumas evoluíram principalmente, na forma de pensar e atuar, outras não. Você já avaliou esse fator? Nem todas aprendem na mesma proporção. Claro, culturalmente estamos evoluindo. O comportamento feminino vem mudando bastante nas últimas décadas, mas ainda vemos mulheres com uma certa limitação em acompanhar as outras na sua maneira de pensar. O comportamento, assim como os costumes de uma sociedade, é algo que leva tempo para mudar. Então…

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Reading While Texan | The Weekly Sift

Worse, “debated” and “controversial” are fundamentally subjective notions. An issue becomes “debated” not because it is objectively dubious, but because somebody chooses to debate it. It becomes “controversial” whenever someone starts a controversy, no matter how baseless that controversy might be. [3] As much as I want to accept the school district’s assurance that “this bill does not require an opposing viewpoint on historical facts”, I can’t find such a clear statement in the text of the law.

And even if you grant an exemption for “historical facts”, the very distinction between facts and opinions is itself controversial these days. The essence of Trumpism is to deny that objective facts can be found by examining evidence. (American intelligence agencies say one thing, but Vladimir Putin says something else. Who can determine where the truth lies?) If Trump repeats something often enough, it is true — or at the very least it becomes an “alternative fact“. Any evidence that refutes his opinion is “fake news”.

So it appears to me that if, say, a large number of people in some Texas community believe the Earth is flat — or if the Oracle of Mar-a-Lago starts making that claim — a classroom’s globe might become debated and controversial; it might need to be balanced against some other representation of the Earth. HB 3979 would then require teachers not to “defer” to the view that the Earth is spherical.

Or suppose one of your students has a parent like this guy, who wore a “Six million wasn’t enough” shirt to a Proud Boys rally in December. (They’re available online.) Would that make the Holocaust “controversial” enough to invoke the provisions of 3979? Or maybe you regard the fact of the Holocaust as beyond controversy, but describing it as “a terrible event” is a value judgment that this guy disputes. Doesn’t that make it “debated”? How many people have to agree with him before it’s “widely” debated?

Source: Reading While Texan | The Weekly Sift

Tadrart Akakus, Libija – Tadrart Akakus, Libya

Myrela

U blizini jednog od rijetkih giltija (bazeni za skupljanje kišnice) u Vadi Sugdu, skrivenom u prevoju Akakusa, leži “Saharska pošta”. To je zid od bazalta, uglačan od vjetra, na kojem su generacije Tuarega, nomadskog plemena iz ove pustinje, ostavljale poruke karavanima. Ima poruka iscrtanih kredom, kao i onih urezanih komadom metala. Neke su stare samo nekoliko dana, neke su tu već vijekovima, a sve su napisane na tifinagu, pisanoj verziji tuareškog jezika tamašaka. Pošta je samo uvod u istoriju te oblasti, staru više od deset hiljada godina, o kojoj pripovijedaju mnoge slike i urezi razbacani širom Tadrart Akakusa. Tadrart Akakus je planinski vijenac (na tamašaku je tadrart množina od riječi adrar, to jest planina) u jugozapadnoj Libiji, koji se proteže u dužini od oko 250 kilometara, sve do alžirske granice. Paradoksalno, najnoviji tragovi što ih je čovjek ostavio, najmanje su prefinjeni, kao da je umjetnički senzibilitet uvenuo kada je…

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