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lee weiting

designer babies - 0 views

groups.diigo.com/...new-media-ethics-2009-course

genetic engineering designer baby

shared by lee weiting on 21 Oct 09 - No Cached
  • lee weiting on 21 Oct 09
     
    this topic will be discussed in the presentation in class. However, i feel that maybe i should also start a discussion here regarding the topic on designer baby. This is an article regarding designer baby. Designer baby has raised many ethical issues, such as the right of fetus etc. Many people are against designer baby. However this article points out an advantage of designer baby that is to save sick people. if it can save a live, i do not think is unethical to do it. On the other hand, i will think is unethical if one knows of the presence of some serious genetic mutation and still choose to pass it on to the future generation. i think the most basic form of ethics is not to do harm to people whenever possible. strive for a balance, strive for the best. In my point of view, this is what determine if an action is ethical or not. from this perspective, i will think that designer baby is ethical and should be allowed. Any other views? =)
Weiye Loh

He had 500 offensive photos in his phone - 0 views

www.asiaone.com/...A1Story20081017-94424.html

Photography New Media Technology Privacy

shared by Weiye Loh on 23 Oct 09 - Cached
  • A man was caught with more than 500 offensive photos in his mobile phone. This happened after a woman complained against him taking a picture of her chest at a shopping centre.
  • "My husband and I were shocked when we were shown the data because there were more than 500 pictures of various women that this man took. All the pictures were of their chests and breasts. From the angle of the shots, I could see that the women in these pictures were not aware that they were victims."
  • According to the law, anyone who takes offensive photos of a woman in a public place without the lady's prior consent can be charged for outrage of modesty. If found guilty, the persons involved faces a fine, up to a year in jail or both.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • PLEASE! if the pictures taken are "offensive", then the "victims" in the pictures should be charged for INDECENT EXPOSURE! Where is the logic that a picture of a sexy girl is offensive but the same sexy girl walking in public is not offensive?IS IT UPSKIRT? NO! if i take a 18megapix wide lens camera and take the picture of a crowd, then crop out a sexy girl in the picture taken.. is that offensive? whats the diff? it is a publicly taken picture without anyone's consent!!!! IF PEOPLE DRESS SEXILY, THEY MUST BE EXPECTED TO BE OGGLED AND STARED AT!!
    • Weiye Loh
      Weiye Loh on 23 Oct 09
       
      This is a comment by a reader on the news website. I think the issue of privacy here is interesting because technically speaking the 'victims' are in the public. But one can also argue that even though they are in the public, they make no consent to have their photos taken, although consent to be viewed by the public is somehow implied since they willingly step out of their private space. Given that the photos are shots that are aimed at the chests and breasts of women (note that they are not up-skirt or down-blouse shots i.e. no clear legal infringement of peeping), is it wrong for the man to take the photos? The issue of objectification also comes in here since the 'victims' are being objectified based on a certain bodily part/ feature. Is this objectification the 'reason' for victimization? If the women were taken as a whole in the photos, will it still be considered wrong? Personally, I feel that this falls into the grey areas rather than the usual black and white situations (although one can argue that even black and white can be considered shades of grey). I have no answers, but it's still food for thoughts.
Paul Melissa

Ethics of Nanotechnologies - 0 views

www.nanotech-now.com/ethics-of-nanotechnology.htm

shared by Paul Melissa on 28 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Paul Melissa on 28 Oct 09
     
    I chanced upon quite an interesting site providing opinions on how nanotechnology can be ethical.
lo sokwan

FUTURE DREAM: THE END OF SLAUGTHER HOUSES - 0 views

www.voyle.net/...Jose%20Feneque%202004-003.htm

shared by lo sokwan on 28 Oct 09 - Cached
  • lo sokwan on 28 Oct 09
     
    This article is about how nanotechnology can be manipulated to make beef. According to the article, "you can get a couple of roses from your garden or that old spare tire in your garage and through molecular manipulation create 5 pounds of fresh meat in a couple of hours." This is really a cool idea. It is ethical and useful at the same time, we get to eat our delicious beef but not having to slaughter cows! Although nanotechnology does bring about much worries on other ethical aspects, but I guess in this perspective, nanotechnology is ethical?
Weiye Loh

Top News - Nanotechnology program targets schools - 0 views

www.eschoolnews.com/...index.cfm

Nanotechnology Education

shared by Weiye Loh on 29 Oct 09 - Cached
  • The nanotechnology industry will employ an estimated 2 million people worldwide by 2015, and with President Obama calling on colleges to ready students for the field, an Illinois-based company has introduced a program designed to teach the complex subject to undergraduates.
lo sokwan

endgame - 0 views

www.endgamethemovie.com

shared by lo sokwan on 04 Nov 09 - Cached
  • lo sokwan on 04 Nov 09
     
    Endgame: Blueprint for Global Enslavement is a 2007 American documentary film written and directed by Alex Jones. According to Wiki, this documentary is about how a group of people reveals an alleged eugenics-obsessed group of global elite whose mission is to eliminate most of the earth's population and the enslavement of the rest. I think that this idea sounds totally crazy and out of this world, yet upon further wiki-ing I found that there really is an Operation Endgame under US government. If there were some truth to this documentary film, a whole lot of ethical issues would arise, for instance the ethicality of using of technology to take over the world, and even the ethicality of creating such technology is the 1st place.
Weiye Loh

gssq: Rational and Irrational Thought: The Thinking That IQ Tests Miss - 0 views

gssq.livejournal.com/225779.html

Logic Rationality Dysrationalia

shared by Weiye Loh on 06 Nov 09 - Cached
  • When approaching a problem, we can choose from any of several cognitive mechanisms. Some mechanisms have great computational power, letting us solve many problems with great accuracy, but they are slow, require much concentration and can interfere with other cognitive tasks. Others are comparatively low in computational power, but they are fast, require little concentration and do not interfere with other ongoing cognition. Humans are cognitive misers because our basic tendency is to default to the processing mechanisms that require less computational effort, even if they are less accurate.
  • our tendency to evaluate a situation from our own perspective. We weigh evidence and make moral judgments with a my-side bias that often leads to dysrationalia that is independent of measured intelligence. The same is true for other tendencies of the cognitive miser that have been much studied, such as attribute substitution and conjunction errors; they are at best only slightly related to intelligence and are poorly captured by conventional intelligence tests.
  • Weiye Loh on 06 Nov 09
     
    No doubt you know several folks with perfectly respectable IQs who just don't seem all that sharp. The behavior of such people tells us that we are missing something important by treating intelligence as if it encompassed all cognitive abilities. I coined the term dysrationalia (analogous to "dyslexia"), meaning the inability to think and behave rationally despite having adequate intelligence, to draw attention to a large domain of cognitive life that intelligence tests fail to assess.
Weiye Loh

Jane Fonda's sexy looks -  Fashion - MSN Singapore Lifestyle - 0 views

lifestyle.sg.msn.com/...article.aspx

Transhumanism Popular Culture

shared by Weiye Loh on 10 Nov 09 - No Cached
  • 'I just had surgery on the spine and can only run with a solid corset. I also have a new knee and a new hip made of titanium. I'm slowly falling apart and feel like a walking spare parts depot. But I had to have it all repaired because next year in October I want to climb with my Zen teacher the Himalayas. And for 8,000 metres my body has to run smoothly.'
    • Weiye Loh
      Weiye Loh on 10 Nov 09
       
      It is interesting to see how popular culture influences discourses on transhumanism. Wanna-be like a celebrity? Maybe a titanium hip is the way to go. Already, a titanium hip sounds sleek, trendy and fashionable. Not to mention, HIP!  
Weiye Loh

AP IMPACT: Framed for child porn - by a PC virus by AP: Yahoo! Tech - 0 views

tech.yahoo.com/...us_tec_a_virus_framed_me

Privacy Child Pornography Virus

shared by Weiye Loh on 14 Nov 09 - Cached
  • Pedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear they'll get caught. Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal Web sites.
  • Whatever the motivation, you get child porn on your computer — and might not realize it until police knock at your door.
  • In 2007, Fiola's bosses became suspicious after the Internet bill for his state-issued laptop showed that he used 4 1/2 times more data than his colleagues. A technician found child porn in the PC folder that stores images viewed online. Fiola was fired and charged with possession of child pornography, which carries up to five years in prison. He endured death threats, his car tires were slashed and he was shunned by friends. Fiola and his wife fought the case, spending $250,000 on legal fees. They liquidated their savings, took a second mortgage and sold their car. An inspection for his defense revealed the laptop was severely infected. It was programmed to visit as many as 40 child porn sites per minute — an inhuman feat. While Fiola and his wife were out to dinner one night, someone logged on to the computer and porn flowed in for an hour and a half. Prosecutors performed another test and confirmed the defense findings. The charge was dropped — 11 months after it was filed.
    • Weiye Loh
      Weiye Loh on 14 Nov 09
       
      The law is reason beyond passion. Yet, reasons may be flawed, bounded, or limited by our in irrationality. Who are we to blame if we are victims of such false accusation? Is it right then to carry on with these proceedings just so those who are truly guilty won't get away scot-free? 
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The Fiolas say they have health problems from the stress of the case. They say they've talked to dozens of lawyers but can't get one to sue the state, because of a cap on the amount they can recover. "It ruined my life, my wife's life and my family's life," he says. The Massachusetts attorney general's office, which charged Fiola, declined interview requests.
Weiye Loh

Miracle tale of two babies -  Latest news around the world and developments c... - 0 views

news.sg.msn.com/...article.aspx

Conjoined Twins Medicine Dilemma

shared by Weiye Loh on 19 Nov 09 - No Cached
  • Australian surgeons have separated two-year-old twin sisters who were born co-joined at their heads with brains, skulls and network of blood vessels dangerously linked.
  • But here's an uncomfortable issue: Thousands of babies and infants die every day in developing countries from preventable and easily treatable diseases and conditions, like diarrhoea and malnutrition. They do so because of a lack of basic resources and rudimentary care ... in other words not enough money. So what about them? Could the money and effort that saved the twins have been better used to help perhaps thousands of other babies? Then again, is there a truly moral dilemma here? Or is it false to characterise this as an 'either-or' situation?
    • Weiye Loh
      Weiye Loh on 19 Nov 09
       
      hmm... It is never a case of the world not having enough to go around, but a case of uneven distribution. So is it ok to maintain this uneven distribution? Inequality to encourage people to work for it and not just be lazy bums... Very Ayn Rand. Or the other extreme whereby everything is equal? Where's the balance? Reminds me of an article on NYT about work/life balance. The author Jay Goltz says that "everyone talks about balance. There is no balance. Balance is perfect. There is nothing perfect in work/life balance. It is about compromise, choices and, often, regret." (source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/an-entrepreneurial-life/) Maybe we can attempt to make this world more ethical, more balance... but ultimately, we just have to live with the compromises, choices, and regrets.
Weiye Loh

Author Paulo Coelho supports piracy: "share to get revenue" - 0 views

thenextweb.com/...ts-piracy-share-to-get-revenue

Piracy Profits

shared by Weiye Loh on 19 Nov 09 - Cached
  • A year ago, exciting news about publishing 2.0 reached the blogosphere. Thriller writer Paulo Coelho had started to tell people how he was using filesharing networks as a way to promote his books. Coelho thinks that giving people the possibility to swap his books for free, actually has a positive effect on sales. In a keynote speech at the Digital, Life, Design conference in Munich he gave some strikingly good examples. When he uploaded the Russian translation of “The Alchemist”, sales in Russia went from around a 1.000 books per year to 100.000 and then to a million and more
  • His American publisher wasn’t too pleased though. After a rather imitating call from CEO Jane Friedman, Coelho chose a middle way and made the book viewable – but not downloadable. The torrent links are still up there though. Why? Coelho: “You’ll have to share in order to get some revenue”.
  • “At the end of the day, it doesn’t hurt your sales. People download the book but don’t read it They wait for the hard copy anyway”, Coelho continued. “Don’t be fooled by the publishers who say that piracy costs authors money.”
    • Weiye Loh
      Weiye Loh on 19 Nov 09
       
      Reminds me of music downloads... some people, including those I know, actually download music for free and if they like it, they'll buy the CD. 
  • Weiye Loh on 19 Nov 09
     
    Allowing people to download his books for free actually increases Coelho's book sales. 
Weiye Loh

flaneurose: The KK Chemo Misdosage Incident - 0 views

flaneurose.blogspot.com/...-chemo-misdosage-incident.html

Medicine Technology Design Capitalism

shared by Weiye Loh on 19 Nov 09 - Cached
  • Labelling the pump that dispenses in ml/hr in a different color from the pump that dispenses in ml/day would be an obvious remedy that would have addressed the KK incident. It's the common-sensical solution that anyone can think of.
  • Sometimes, design flaws like that really do occur because engineers can't see the wood for the trees.
  • But sometimes the team is aware of these issues and highlights them to management, but the manufacturer still proceeds as before. Why is that? Because in addition to design principles, one must be mindful that there are always business considerations at play as well. Manufacturing two (or more) separate designs for pumps incurs greater costs, eliminates the ability to standardize across pumps, increases holding inventory, and overall increases complexity of business and manufacturing processes, and decreases economies of scale. All this naturally reduces profitability.It's not just pumps. Even medicines are typically sold in identical-looking vials with identically colored vial caps, with only the text on the vial labels differentiating them in both drug type and concentration. You can imagine what kinds of accidents can potentially happen there.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Legally, the manufacturer has clearly labelled on the pump (in text) the appropriate dosing regime, or for a medicine vial, the type of drug and concentration. The manufacturer has hence fulfilled its duty. Therefore, if there are any mistakes in dosing, the liability for the error lies with the hospital and not the manufacturer of the product. The victim of such a dosing error can be said to be an "externalized cost"; the beneficiaries of the victim's suffering are the manufacturer, who enjoys greater profitability, the hospital, which enjoys greater cost-savings, and the public, who save on healthcare. Is it ethical of the manufacturer, to "pass on" liability to the hospital? To make it difficult (or at least not easy) for the hospital to administer the right dosage? Maybe the manufacturer is at fault, but IMHO, it's very hard to say.
  • When a chemo incident like the one that happened in KK occurs, there are cries of public remonstration, and the pendulum may swing the other way. Hospitals might make the decision to purchase more expensive and better designed pumps (that is, if they are available). Then years down the road, when a bureaucrat (or a management consultant) with an eye to trim costs looks through the hospital purchasing orders, they may make the suggestion that $XXX could be saved by buying the generic version of such-and-such a product, instead of the more expensive version. And they would not be wrong, just...myopic.Then the cycle starts again.Sometimes it's not only about human factors. It could be about policy, or human nature, or business fundamentals, or just the plain old, dysfunctional way the world works.
    • Weiye Loh
      Weiye Loh on 19 Nov 09
       
      Interesting article. Explains clearly why our 'ethical' considerations is always only limited to a particular context and specific considerations. 
Weiye Loh

Schoolgirl arrested for refusing to study with non-English pupils | Mail Online - 0 views

www.dailymail.co.uk/...-study-non-English-pupils.html

Racism Ethics Pragmatism

shared by Weiye Loh on 27 Nov 09 - Cached
  • A teenage schoolgirl was arrested by police for racism after refusing to sit with a group of Asian students because some of them did not speak English.
  • The teenager had not been in school the day before due to a hospital appointment and had missed the start of a project, so the teacher allocated her a group to sit with. "She said I had to sit there with five Asian pupils," said Codie yesterday. "Only one could speak English, so she had to tell that one what to do so she could explain in their language. Then she sat me with them and said 'Discuss'." According to Codie, the five - four boys and a girl - then began talking in a language she didn't understand, thought to be Urdu, so she went to speak to the teacher. "I said 'I'm not being funny, but can I change groups because I can't understand them?' But she started shouting and screaming, saying 'It's racist, you're going to get done by the police'."
  • A complaint was made to a police officer based full-time at the school, and more than a week after the incident on September 26 she was taken to Swinton police station and placed under arrest.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • After questioning on suspicion of committing a section five racial public order offence, her mother Nicola says she was placed in a bare cell for three-and-a-half hours then released without charge.
  • "Codie was not being racist." "The reaction from the school and police is totally over the top and I am furious my daughter had to go through this trauma when all she was saying was common sense. " "She'd have been better off not saying anything and getting into trouble for not being able to do the work."
  • School insiders acknowledge that at least three of the students Codie refused to sit with had recently arrived in this country and spoke little English. But they say her comments afterwards raised further concerns, for example allegedly referring to the students as "blacks" - something she denied yesterday.
  • Last night Robert Whelan, deputy director of the Civitas think-tank, said: "It's obviously common sense that pupils who don't speak English cause problems for other pupils and for teachers." "I'm sure this sort of thing happens all the time, but it's a sad reflection on the school if they can't deal with it without involving the police." "A lot of these arrests don't result in prosecutions - they aim is to frighten us into self-censorship until we watch everything we say."
Weiye Loh

Climate Emails Stoke Debate - WSJ.com - 0 views

online.wsj.com/...SB125883405294859215.html

Censorship Hacking

shared by Weiye Loh on 27 Nov 09 - Cached
  • The scientific community is buzzing over thousands of emails and documents -- posted on the Internet last week after being hacked from a prominent climate-change research center -- that some say raise ethical questions about a group of scientists who contend humans are responsible for global warming.
  • Some emails also refer to efforts by scientists who believe man is causing global warming to exclude contrary views from important scientific publications.
  • "This is what everyone feared. Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult for anyone who does not view global warming as an end-of-the-world issue to publish papers. This isn't questionable practice, this is unethical."
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • "The selective publication of some stolen emails and other papers taken out of context is mischievous and cannot be considered a genuine attempt to engage with this issue in a responsible way," the university said.
  • A partial review of the hacked material suggests there was an effort at East Anglia, which houses an important center of global climate research, to shut out dissenters and their points of view. In the emails, which date to 1996, researchers in the U.S. and the U.K. repeatedly take issue with climate research at odds with their own findings. In some cases, they discuss ways to rebut what they call "disinformation" using new articles in scientific journals or popular Web sites. The emails include discussions of apparent efforts to make sure that reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that monitors climate science, include their own views and exclude others. In addition, emails show that climate scientists declined to make their data available to scientists whose views they disagreed with.
  • Phil Jones, the director of the East Anglia climate center, suggested to climate scientist Michael Mann of Penn State University that skeptics' research was unwelcome: We "will keep them out somehow -- even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!"
  • John Christy, a scientist at the University of Alabama at Huntsville attacked in the emails for asking that an IPCC report include dissenting viewpoints, said, "It's disconcerting to realize that legislative actions this nation is preparing to take, and which will cost trillions of dollars, are based upon a view of climate that has not been completely scientifically tested."
  • Weiye Loh on 27 Nov 09
     
    The scientific community is buzzing over thousands of emails and documents -- posted on the Internet last week after being hacked from a prominent climate-change research center -- that some say raise ethical questions about a group of scientists who contend humans are responsible for global warming.
Weiye Loh

American Airlines worker fired for replying to web user complaint - Telegraph - 0 views

www.telegraph.co.uk/...ing-to-web-user-complaint.html

Privacy Anonymity

shared by Weiye Loh on 27 Nov 09 - Cached
  • American Airlines has been caught in a row over customer engagement after it fired a contract worker for responding to a complaint about their website.
  • Mr Curtis, an American web designer, was unimpressed by his experience using the the AA.com website, and made that clear in a lengthy open letter to the company on his blog, complete with a suggested redesign of the homepage (see the gallery above), saying he would be “ashamed” of the site. He also suggested that they fire their design team.
  • Mr X, a web designer, responded to the letter, saying in a long email that Mr Curtis was "so very right" about the problems of the website, but that it was less to do with staff incompetence and more to do with the internal culture of the airline. Mr X also told Mr Curtis that they were improving the website, but that it was a slow process. By speaking to Mr Curtis, however, Mr X was in breach of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) he had signed with AA, barring him from revealing sensitive information.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • after bosses at American Airlines became aware of Mr X's response, they searched through their email database, found his identity and fired him for a breach of the NDA. Mr Curtis says he is "horrified" at Mr X's treatment. He said on his blog: "AA fired Mr X because he cared. They fired him because he cared enough to reach out to a dissatisfied customer and help clear the company's name in the best way he could."
Weiye Loh

CBC News - Montreal - Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos - 0 views

www.cbc.ca/...ebook-sick-leave-benefits.html

Facebook Privacy

shared by Weiye Loh on 27 Nov 09 - Cached
  • A Quebec woman on long-term sick leave is fighting to have her benefits reinstated after her employer's insurance company cut them, she says, because of photos posted on Facebook.
  • The Eastern Townships woman was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from Manulife, her insurance company, but the payments dried up this fall.
  • She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on the popular social networking site, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday — evidence that she is no longer depressed, Manulife said. Blanchard said she notified Manulife that she was taking a trip, and she's shocked the company would investigate her in such a manner and interpret her photos that way.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Blanchard said that on her doctor's advice, she tried to have fun, including nights out at her local bar with friends and short getaways to sun destinations, as a way to forget her problems. She also doesn’t understand how Manulife accessed her photos because her Facebook profile is locked and only people she approves can look at what she posts.
  • Insurer confirms it uses Facebook
    • Weiye Loh
      Weiye Loh on 27 Nov 09
       
      Yup. Facebook has greater implications than staying connected with friends. 
  • the insurer said: "We would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on websites such as Facebook." It confirmed that it uses the popular social networking site to investigate clients.
  • Weiye Loh on 27 Nov 09
     
    Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos
Weiye Loh

John Schneider - "Cooter" Says Fellow Hazzard Castmates Victims Of P.C. "Vigilantes" -... - 0 views

www.contactmusic.com/...ctims-of-pc-vigilantes_1025201

Censorship Political Correctness

shared by Weiye Loh on 14 Dec 09 - Cached
  • Jones said in a statement, in which he called the cancellation "a dangerous affront to the rights of performing artists and their audiences." Jones particularly criticized the NAACP for endorsing the cancellation. "I'm a life member of the NAACP and proud of it," he said. "Denying an artist an opportunity to entertain an audience because of somebody's wrongheaded political viewpoint is just plain un-American. I have fought for equal rights all of my life, and that is why I am speaking out on this."
  • Weiye Loh on 14 Dec 09
     
    Double edged sword
Weiye Loh

BBC News - Cleaners 'worth more to society' than bankers - study - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8410489.stm

Capitalism Equality

shared by Weiye Loh on 16 Dec 09 - Cached
  • The research, carried out by think tank the New Economics Foundation, says hospital cleaners create £10 of value for every £1 they are paid. It claims bankers are a drain on the country because of the damage they caused to the global economy. They reportedly destroy £7 of value for every £1 they earn. Meanwhile, senior advertising executives are said to "create stress". The study says they are responsible for campaigns which create dissatisfaction and misery, and encourage over-consumption.
  • And tax accountants damage the country by devising schemes to cut the amount of money available to the government, the research suggests. By contrast, child minders and waste recyclers are also doing jobs that create net wealth to the country.
  • a new form of job evaluation to calculate the total contribution various jobs make to society, including for the first time the impact on communities and environment.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • "Pay levels often don't reflect the true value that is being created. As a society, we need a pay structure which rewards those jobs that create most societal benefit rather than those that generate profits at the expense of society and the environment".
  • "The point we are making is more fundamental - that there should be a relationship between what we are paid and the value our work generates for society. We've found a way to calculate that,"
  • The research also makes a variety of policy recommendations to align pay more closely with the value of work. These include establishing a high pay commission, building social and environmental value into prices, and introducing more progressive taxation.
  • Weiye Loh on 16 Dec 09
     
    Cleaners 'worth more to society' than bankers - study
Weiye Loh

The climate denial industry is out to dupe the public. And it's working | George Monbio... - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...climate-change-denial-industry

ClimateGate

shared by Weiye Loh on 20 Dec 09 - Cached
  • When I use the term denial industry, I'm referring to those who are paid to say that man-made global warming isn't happening. The great majority of people who believe this have not been paid: they have been duped. Reading Climate Cover-Up, you keep stumbling across familiar phrases and concepts which you can see every day on the comment threads. The book shows that these memes were planted by PR companies and hired experts.
    • Weiye Loh
      Weiye Loh on 20 Dec 09
       
      It runs against the PR practices and theories that I am taught. Maybe it's time they rethink the module content and show us the reality!
  • The second case study reveals how Dr Patrick Michaels, one of a handful of climate change deniers with a qualification in climate science, has been lavishly paid by companies seeking to protect their profits from burning coal.
  • none of the media outlets who use him as a commentator – including the Guardian – has disclosed this interest at the time of his appearance. Michaels is one of many people commenting on climate change who presents himself as an independent expert while being secretly paid for his services by fossil fuel companies.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • a list published by the Heartland Institute (which has been sponsored by oil company Exxon) of 500 scientists "whose research contradicts man-made global warming scares" turns out to be nothing of the kind: as soon as these scientists found out what the institute was saying about them, many angrily demanded that their names be removed. Twenty months later, they are still on the list. The fourth example shows how, during the Bush presidency, White House officials worked with oil companies to remove regulators they didn't like and to doctor official documents about climate change.
  • Weiye Loh on 20 Dec 09
     
    The climate denial industry is out to dupe the public. And it's working
Weiye Loh

Basics - Another Challenge for Ethical Eating - Plants Want to Live, Too - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...22angi.html

Ethics

shared by Weiye Loh on 26 Dec 09 - Cached
  • Food choices are often like that: difficult to articulate yet strongly held. And lately, debates over food choices have flared with particular vehemence.
  • Gary Steiner, a philosopher at Bucknell University, argued on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times that people should strive to be “strict ethical vegans” like himself, avoiding all products derived from animals, including wool and silk. Killing animals for human food and finery is nothing less than “outright murder,”
  • we might consider that plants no more aspire to being stir-fried in a wok than a hog aspires to being peppercorn-studded in my Christmas clay pot.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Plants are lively and seek to keep it that way.
  • their keen sensitivity to the environment, the speed with which they react to changes in the environment, and the extraordinary number of tricks that plants will rally to fight off attackers and solicit help from afar
  • When plant biologists speak of their subjects, they use active verbs and vivid images. Plants “forage” for resources like light and soil nutrients and “anticipate” rough spots and opportunities.
  • Plants can’t run away from a threat but they can stand their ground. “They are very good at avoiding getting eaten,”
  • At the smallest nip to its leaves, specialized cells on the plant’s surface release chemicals to irritate the predator or sticky goo to entrap it. Genes in the plant’s DNA are activated to wage systemwide chemical warfare, the plant’s version of an immune response.
  • in less than 20 minutes from the moment the caterpillar had begun feeding on its leaves, the plant had plucked carbon from the air and forged defensive compounds from scratch.
  • Just because we humans can’t hear them doesn’t mean plants don’t howl. Some of the compounds that plants generate in response to insect mastication — their feedback, you might say — are volatile chemicals that serve as cries for help. Such airborne alarm calls have been shown to attract both large predatory insects like dragon flies, which delight in caterpillar meat, and tiny parasitic insects, which can infect a caterpillar and destroy it from within.
  • certain plants can sense when insect eggs have been deposited on their leaves and will act immediately to rid themselves of the incubating menace. They may sprout carpets of tumorlike neoplasms to knock the eggs off, or secrete ovicides to kill them
  • when a female cabbage butterfly lays her eggs on a brussels sprout plant and attaches her treasures to the leaves with tiny dabs of glue, the vigilant vegetable detects the presence of a simple additive in the glue, benzyl cyanide. Cued by the additive, the plant swiftly alters the chemistry of its leaf surface to beckon female parasitic wasps. Spying the anchored bounty, the female wasps in turn inject their eggs inside, the gestating wasps feed on the gestating butterflies, and the plant’s problem is solved.
  • seedlings of the dodder plant, a parasitic weed related to morning glory, can detect volatile chemicals released by potential host plants like the tomato. The young dodder then grows inexorably toward the host, until it can encircle the victim’s stem and begin sucking the life phloem right out of it. The parasite can even distinguish between the scents of healthier and weaker tomato plants and then head for the hale one.
  • It’s a small daily tragedy that we animals must kill to stay alive. Plants are the ethical autotrophs here, the ones that wrest their meals from the sun. Don’t expect them to boast: they’re too busy fighting to survive.
  • Weiye Loh on 26 Dec 09
     
    Sorry, Vegans: Brussels Sprouts Like to Live, Too
  • guanyou chen on 27 Dec 09
     
    Eh bro, even after results are out you're still relentless with the postings. It's the hols man...
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