Outside the tiny circle of orthodox practitioners, almost no one grasps the significance and meaning of Judaism’s complex religious law. In a much broader sense, the ceremonial acts of the whole Judeo-Christian world are increasingly a mystery to modern man. All such religious ritual has been dismissed as morally irrelevant superstition. But science, specifically thermodynamics, helps to write a commentary on religion. In this area, as in so many others, science sits at the feet of religion.
[…]The question has always been acute in Judaism, where the rabbis insist repeatedly that commandments must be done “for their own sakes!”, “out of love,” never “in expectation of a reward.” And Judaism has always been vague on the topic of life after death. The Christian tradition centers far more on the soul’s career after the body dies, on heaven and hell and the last things. But some devout Christians are uneasy with this focus. Some branches of Christian thought are likely to become more “Jewish” (in focusing ultimately on living rather than dying) in the future. But why bother with religious ritual, if not for the practical gain? Why should 21st-century man spend time and energy on this sort of thing?
Religion as a virus rejected
It took a seminar of scholars for her to see the light. At least, that's what she claims.
Obama in deep political trouble
He’s now only two or three points ahead of four potential GOP opponents, or “gopponents.”
Virtual unknowns are not that far behind him these two years out from 2012. That’s two years of lame-ducking his way through watching legislation that harms the poor and middle class to the benefit of the upscale and the rich.
And you might as well write off global ecology and most of the human race.
Home says we have just 10 years left to turn things around. I say, mankind's death certificate will effectively be signed and filed away before Obama leaves office in two years, if we make it that far.
Ideas to shrink cities
A few of these ideas are actually starting to be tried. In Detroit, a city that now has more than 40 square miles of vacant land, Mayor Dave Bing has committed himself to finding a way to move more of the city’s residents into its remaining vibrant neighborhoods and figuring out something else to do with what remains. A growing number of cities and counties are creating “land banks” to enable them to clear the administrative hurdles that previously prevented them from taking control of blighted blocks of abandoned homes.
The idea remains controversial. [Some]… argue that planned shrinkage is simply an excuse to stop helping the people in the worst-hit neighborhoods, and will only compound the pain that industrial decline and the housing collapse have had on the lives of poor and working-class residents.
But to the proponents of the idea, it’s a recognition of reality, and, more than that, an opportunity to free struggling cities from a paralyzing preoccupation with past glories. At its most ambitious, smart shrinking offers an opportunity to rethink what makes a city a city: Some planners envision a landscape that isn’t recognizably urban, suburban, or rural, but some combination of the three, with multistory apartment buildings next to working farms, and public transit lines extending through neighborhoods where most households have ample space to park their cars.
“This is an area where five years ago basically nobody except a couple of academics and oddball planners were talking about it, and now it’s pretty widely accepted. You’ve got just a lot of land and a lot of buildings for which there is no quote redevelopment potential,” says Alan Mallach, an urban planning expert at the Brookings Institution. “Part of what you have to do is think about ways to use land that help improve the quality of life but don’t involve actual building.” […]
Other organizations are looking to turn vacant lots to more straightforwardly productive uses. Urban farms, for example, are spreading in several cities. These are not just community gardens, but larger-scale operations meant to be viable commercial enterprises. One of the most successful is the Ohio City Farm, a 6-acre plot behind a large housing development across the Cuyahoga River from downtown Cleveland. The farm, still in its first growing season, produces over 100 varieties of heirloom fruits and vegetables, and is worked by a few young entrepreneur farmers, residents of the housing development, and, thanks to a local nonprofit, refugees who have resettled in the area.
The fish are hard to look at
One whitefish has a golfball-sized tumour bulging from its side. Another is simply missing part of its spine, its tail growing from a stumpy rear end.
One has no snout. Another is coloured a lurid red instead of a healthy cream. Others are covered with lesions and still others are bent and crooked from deformed vertebrae.
All were taken from Lake Athabasca, downstream from the oilsands in northern Alberta, and were on display Thursday. All are reasons, say a group of scientists and aboriginals, for the federal government to conduct an independent study on what’s happening to the Athabasca River and its watershed after decades of industry expansion.
“A lot of people are afraid to eat fish from the lake,” said Robert Grandjambe of Fort Chipewyan, which is also downstream of the oilsands. “It’s time we had a proper monitoring study done.”
Prominent scientists, two area doctors, five past and present First Nations leaders, a local member of the legislature, the mayor of the Wood Buffalo municipality that includes Fort McMurray, and other area residents all support a letter requesting such a study that was sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday.
The fish aren’t part of any formal scientific survey. But local anglers say the number of such deformed and disturbing catches is growing.