The state of the forests, deforestation, and what we can do about it
Up until about the Industrial Revolution, deforestation—if it could be called that—used to be a not unnatural consequence of man’s need for timber, the expansion of human settlements, and slash-and-burn agriculture which has been practised since the Neolithic Age and is still used by indigeous or nomadic peoples and settlers. Forests have been cleared “to make space for agriculture and animal grazing, and to obtain wood for fuel, manufacturing, and construction.” Further and other drivers of deforestation vary from one geographical region to another. Continue reading →
I present herein ‘The Quantum Theory of Money.’ The name is not some silly gimmick; it is meant to illuminate, if I may be so presumptuous. Continue reading →
“Zakir Hussain Shah slit the throat of his daughter Sabiha, 18, at Bara Kau in June 2002 because she had ‘dishonoured’ her family. But under Pakistan’s notorious qisas law, heirs [of a murder victim] have powers to pardon a murderer. In this case, Sabiha’s mother and brother [as Sabiha’s heirs] ‘pardoned’ the father and he was freed,” wrote Robert Fisk on 10–09–07 in The crimewave that shames the world, one segment of his multi-part feature on gynicide carried by The Independent. Continue reading →
“The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.” Though this phrase may appear to be straight out of George Orwell’s 1984, it is actually a quotation from Hollywood’s favourite Science Fiction writer, Philip K. Dick (author of the books/short stories behind Blade Runner, Total Recall, and AI). Continue reading →
