My family and I have loaned out over $400 on Kiva to people all over the world (with no deafults!) and it looks like we’re not alone. Here’s a video showing all Kiva loans across the world since Kiva’s inception (via: Curiosity Counts): Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance from Kiva Microfunds on Vimeo.
by Jessica I’m loving the Carl Sagan book “The Varieties of the Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God”, starting at the back as Jeremy suggested. It’s interesting to read about his work in the context of the work I do with First Nations on environmental and wildlife management issues (and reading [...]
So In Love–Jill Scott ft. Anthony Hamilton Yes! Since the passing of Jack Layton, my mind has been on politics and political philosophy a lot and less on health and science. But I found something that allows me to tie the two together (kinda). When I talk to people about politics they all seem to [...]
An Argument With Myself–Jens Lekman NPR’s To The Best of our Knowledge has a series of episodes about science and meaning. Sounds good but if it’s anything like the Can Science be Sacred episode I just listened to, I don’t need to listen to anymore. Firstly, the question is misleading, do they mean can [...]
I spent my Saturday afternoon at a public viewing of Jack Layton’s funeral. I expected it to be good, I was particularly looking forward to hearing Stephen Lewis who is always a well-spoken and rousing speaker. But I also expected some less interesting parts where I would be looking outside wondering what I was doing [...]
Gorgeous Georgie–Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Sam Harris is nothing if not direct when speaking his mind. While I agree with a lot of what he says, I would have thought that, by now, he would have said everything he could have said that would have offended his fans and readers. But he [...]
Why is science such a powerful tool? If we lived in a world where our senses never deceived us and we had the superhuman ability to look at thing objectively, we probably wouldn’t–well, no, we’d still need science but it would just have a different role. But part of science’s role is to try and [...]
I’m in a period where I’m straddling the vibrant optimism of being young and the cynicism that comes all too often with age. As my friends, family, co-workers, everyone I meet, get older, it seems that the passion behind certain ideals wanes–and understandably so. Party time is over. It’s all punch in, punch out, bring [...]
I was listening to CBC radio this morning when there was an interruption for a special update. I thought for sure it was going to be the announcement of the capture of Gaddafi. Sadly, the news wasn’t good, it announced the loss of the NDP’s leader Jack Layton. In my opinion, he was the only [...]
Eyes be closed–Washed Out Two intelligent guys, one of them a bazillionaire and one of them not, talk about extreme affluence. First bazillionaire Warren Buffett in his NYT article Stop Coddling the Super-Rich: OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich [...]
