Speedlinking 9/15/06

Morning image is from =ibas at deviantART.

Let's get right to it. . . .

~ I posted the other day about how you could view the Gombe chimpanzee reserve through Google Earth. Now the Sierra Club blog reveals that Google Earth is in partnership with " the Discovery Networks, the National Park Service, and, ... the United Nations Environment Programme's One Planet, Many People: Atlas of our Changing Environment. " Google Earth is a free download, so check it out -- it's fun. (No, I'm not getting paid to say that, but I'm open to offers.)

~ Two stories from the world of archeology yesterday: (1) Researchers have found what they claim is the oldest example of writing in the New World, attributed to the Olmec people. There is some controversy as to whether or not it is authentic, but if it is, very cool. (2) A new cave find on the Iberian Peninsula—now home to Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar— suggests that that was the last stand of the neandertal before they went extinct. The find adds another 2,000 years to their time on earth, making their demise about 28,000 years ago.

~ For all the theory geeks out there, Edward Berge at Open Integral started a discussion on "Is mixing business & education a category error?" Most of the good stuff is in the comments. The discsussion centers around Ken Wilber's IMP theory.

~ Will at thinkBuddha.org offers a meditation on Awakening to Awakening. This is an interesting post, so go check it out.

~ ebuddha of Integral Practice did a deep reading of KW's Iraq War piece the other day, and it raised a question he has decided to tackle head on: What ARE some integral values? He makes an attempt to answer his own question, but wants input from others. So, what might some integral values be, with or without Wilberian, SDi, Kegan, or other some model being the defining template?

~ Joe Perez at Rising Up reviews -- and likes -- the movie Half Nelson, giving it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

~ Matthew Dallman posts a link to the Euston Manifesto, an attempt to bring "liberalism" back to its roots. He presents the entire manifesto at his site if you'd rather read it there. To my quick reading of it (and I will go back and read it more closely), it seems like an attempt to bring liberalism back from the sensitive, relativist, post-modern quagmire that it currently finds itself in. The authors seem to be promoting a more rationalist, patriotic, and pragmatic approach. What do you think of it?

~ Jeff Meyerhoff's newest rebuttal to Ken Wilber is up over at Visser's site.

~ I posted yesterday on starving artist syndrome, and yesterday also offered a post from Dave Pollard at How to Save the World on Living On the Edge, Comfortably. His posts are more like mini-articles, so they are good reading.

~ Jay at The Zero Boss offers up an experiment in video blogging: Vlog.1: The Mermaid Titty Transfer Protocol.

~ Colmar offers up a link to Michele Malkin (her response to Rosie O'Donnell), in which Malkin quotes Bruce Bawer on the issue of how evil the Islamofascists are (compared to Christofascists). Bawer talks about how the Islamofascists kill women and gay folks, which is horrible and true. But it's also horrible and true that people like Bawer and Malkin want gay folks to live in this country without ALL the rights shared by other Americans, and are working to take away women's reproductive rights, so you might see how O'Donnell might be a little concerned. See this post for a clearer statement on the issue.

And in more political news:

~ Colin Powell spanked Bush on his efforts to legalize torture. Thank god there are a few sane Republicans on that committee. Powell is right -- when we descend to the level of our enemy, we have lost the war.

~ Wired posts a real threat alert system, with terrorism at the bottom, where it belongs. You have a better chance of being shot by a police officer (3,949) than of dying from a terrorist attack (3,147). The real threats over a ten tear period?

Driving off the road: 254,419
Falling: 146,542
Accidental poisoning: 140,327

And I would add to that, cigarette smoking and obesity, at around 300,000 each year, times 10 years.

And that's a wrap.

Tags: terror alert, Colin Powell, George Bush, torture, Islamofascists, Christofascists, living on the edge, Ken Wilber, Jeff Meyerhoff, Euston Manifesto, Half Nelson, integral values, awakening, Buddhism, speedlinking, Open Intergal, neandertals, Olmec, writing, Google Earth