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U.S.
Military Entities, Photo Display
Click
anywhere on the following photo display to bring up BBC summary
descriptions of the U.S. military entities displayed. The sequence
in this photo display matches the sequence of the summaries
in the BBC article:
Guide
to U.S. Military Strength
(click to access summary descriptions
of U.S. military entities)
Naturalism
and Morals
How
humans live is based on naturalism, in totality. What about
the impression many have that religions are somehow required
in order for humans to be "moral"? Religions are merely
a result of humans in ancient times facing a world of unknowns
and making up stories and, over time, they became quite elaborate.
Many
of those ancient philosophies are no longer considered "moral"
in the present day, and are discarded by most modern day religions.
Many situations we face in the current day were not faced by
the ancients.
Therefore,
in those cases where ancient faith does not provide guidance,
"religious morals" have been improvised in varying
ways by modern day religious interpretations.
The way those issues, like abortion and women's rights and human
rights, are addressed, varies widely amongst religions because
in ancient times, those were not part of the knowledge or philosophies
of those times. As such, the ancient documents spoke of those
issues, if at all, in terms foreign to or antithetical to the
way we interact and think about such things in the better educated
parts of the modern world.
What
about naturalism results in the "morals" of the modern
day?
1)
Our genes
2)
Our memes (teachings and influences of societies and cultures
into which we're born and exposed, especially during our vulnerable
child development periods)
3)
Our life experiences apart from and in addition to memes mentioned
above
4)
Randomicity (random activity in our brain neuron network, a
recently discovered aspect of existence over which we have absolutely
no control - see Decisions
= Stimuli + Random Brain Activity)
Some
of the religious wonder why a person would be "moral"
if there is no religion or no god.
I
would reply, by the same token, what about naturalism prevents
one from (or discourages one from) doing something that feels
natural and good, like helping an old lady across the street,
kissing one's love partner on the lips ... a little tongue,
there ... now, now, stop with the frenching and ... oh, well,
no one's looking, go for the hand 'neath the ...
Jump-cut
...
What
about naturalism keeps one from (or discourages one from) smiling
at a person on the street, saying hi to a friend, patting a
buddy on the back, helping a business associate get past a difficult
challenge,
opening a door for a person as a simple human courtesy, saying
"hi, how's it going?" to an unknown on the phone ...
and so on and so forth ...
Nothing
about naturalism prevents or discourages positive "moral"
activities and nothing about naturalism encourages negative
amoral activities, as based on the items iterated, genes
+ memes + life experiences (including but not restricted to
memes) + randomicity (random firing of neurons) ... all
that is reveals a natural explanation for every action and lack
of action by every entity we know of.
For
a graphic conveying this naturalistic process, with the exception
of randomicity which was discovered after the graphic was created,
see the Circle
of All That Is.
Religions
are merely a meme amongst many memes, a risky meme at that,
and I would submit that it is a meme that humankind would best
be served by leaving in our past due to its insistence on holding
fast to calls for activities / ideologies / behaviors / mindsets
which are, unfortunately, from an array of perspectives, not
in the best interests of humankind.
Source:
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Weblog
Special: Anthrax
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|
Key
web links (compiled by the Guardian Unlimited) regarding
anthrax: |
- JAMA
- Anthrax as a Biological Weapon (12 May 1999)
Objective - To develop consensus-based recommendations for
measures to be taken by medical and public health professionals
following the use of anthrax as a biological weapon against
a civilian population.
- Anthrax
(band's web site)
Press Release: ANTHRAX (the band) vs. ANTHRAX (the disease)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: In light of current events, we are
changing the name of the band to something more friendly,
"Basket Full Of Puppies". ...
Source:
AC-130
Gunship
A
Flash graphic presentation (by
the Guardian Unlimited),
describing the AC-130 gunship, may be accessed by clicking on
the following graphic. Per
the Pentagon, two of these gunships were recently used in the
attacks against terrorist forces in Afghanistan.
This
presentation includes information on key aspects of the aircraft
... twin 20mm vulcan cannon which fire 6,600 rounds per minute,
laser target designator, radio signal sensor, 7.62mm 'miniguns',
40mm Bofors cannon which can fire 100 rounds per minute, tracking
radar, searchlight, and a 105mm howitzer, all positioned on
the left side of the aircraft:
(Click for Flash presentation)
Excerpts
from a profile of the AC-130 gunship (from the BBC)
...
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- - begin excerpts - - -
The
AC-130 gunship which the Americans used on Monday in the Kandahar
area of Afghanistan is a special forces aircraft with considerable
firepower.
It
is designed for precise attacks in urban areas and close support
of ground forces.
It
is a version of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft and as
such is slow, flying at less than 300mph, but has a range of
around 2,000 miles without needing to refuel and can loiter
over a combat area for some time.
The
latest U-model, known as Spooky II, is operated by the US Air
Force's 4th Special Operations Squadron, based at Hurlburt Field,
Florida.
It
has three big guns projecting from the left side of the fuselage:
a 25mm Gatling gun that can fire up to 1,800 rounds per minute,
and 40mm and 105mm cannons.
Computerised
Although
it is based on an old Hercules transport plane, it has one of
the most complex aircraft weapon systems.
It
uses television, infra-red and radar sensors to locate ground
targets, even at night. Uniquely, the targeting computers can
follow two separate targets with two different sensors and fire
two different guns.
...
The AC-130U version has 13 crew, including pilot, co-pilot, navigator,
fire control officer, electronic warfare officer, flight engineer,
operators for its "all light level" TV camera and infrared
detection set, a loadmaster, and four "gunners" - who
reload the weapons which are normally controlled from the flight
deck. ...
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- - end excerpts - - -
Humans
at Risk of Extinction if We Don't Colonize Space
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In
an alarming forecast, Steven Hawking states "I don't
think that the human race will survive the next thousand
years, unless we spread into space." |
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- - further quotes - - -
"Although
September 11 was horrible, it didn't threaten the survival of
the human race, like nuclear weapons do," said the Cambridge
University scientist.
"In
the long term I am more worried about biology. Nuclear weapons
need large facilities, but genetic engineering can be done in
a small lab. You can't regulate every lab in the world."
"The
danger is that, either by accident or design, we create a virus
that destroys us. I don't think the human race will survive
the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There
are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet."
"But
I'm an optimist. We will reach out to the stars," said
Professor Hawking
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- - end quotes - - -
Sources:
- BBC
- Sydney
Morning Herald [link inactive]
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