Owl & Ibis - A Confluence Of Minds

In Charts: Oil A Collection of Charts, Graphs and Maps Exploring the Global Oil Industry The Globalist April 28, 2020 Just how big is the oil industry? Much bigger and more invasive in our lives than I thought. It is tied to almost every product and service we consider modern necessities and desirables. See the above link for eleven graphics providing facts on the global oil industry. The last chart from  The Globalist  (see above, top) shows a selection of consumer products that can be produced from one barrel of oil. Along with our technological efforts at fixing, ameliorating, and redirecting oil dependency we need a radical reset of our values and beliefs, especially those about our relationships with each other, and with Earth. Regrettably, this involves efforts in politics and economics, areas where the vast majority of humankind have little to no control. I say regrettably because of the deep dysfunctional and economic cronyism of cur

Photo: Raising Miro: On the Road of Life ( http://www.raisingmiro.com/2011/07/05/i-am-a-global-citizen/ ) “What is a Tribe?” Ligaya Mishan April 13, 2020 The New York Times  T Magazine Some things, the writer of this essay gets right, IMHO. Others, she does not. Writer at large, Ligaya Mishan, declares she is going to rescue "tribe" from "decades of anthropological study that privileged Western civilization." Okay. I guess. But that would be a tall order in a short  New York Times  T Magazine essay. Yes, the British Colonial Office hired anthropologists in the early-mid 20th Century to further colonialism, and help expand the privileges of Westerners beyond Europe. I am not sure what decades of anthropological study the writer wants to rescue "tribe" from. Because later she rightly refers to American anthropologist Marshall Sahlins who objected to the term in the mid-20th century; and who was quickly joined by virtually all ot

Caesar Augustus (63BC-14AD) Over the past year or so, I have been reading ancient Roman history and biographies of notable Romans of that time. I have done so out of interest and at the recommendation of my doctor, a good friend who insists I need some “mental popcorn” to balance the nonfiction staple of my literary diet. Rather than the fiction he recommends I have opted for the grandeur that was Rome! I finished my most recent book, Augustus , this morning, in my bed. I mention where I was to express how grateful I am to be retired and have the time to read as much as I want, of what I want. Happily, government reports and white papers, emails, congressional inquiries, immigration law books, have not appeared before my eyes since November 2007. With that and having in mind my friends many of whom are also in their good, old age, I offer below some excerpts from the last pages of Augustus. Pages   that focus on his final days, his summing the counts of his personal life and t

From the Unknown into Uncertainty: Essays and Commentary on  the  Origin, Evolution and   Future of Humankind by James E. Lassiter (2020) To purchase this book click the image or title above, or  here . From the Unknown into Uncertainty  is a compilation of my essays and commentaries from 2010 to the present. Most of the material is from my blogs, Facebook (before I jumped ship), and published articles. I revised or rewrote all of the original writings. Much of the material in the essays and commentaries is new. Some essays contain extracts from written communications I have had with a few of you - presented in the book anonymously, of course. Revisions include eliminating run-on sentences and unnecessary jargon, adverbs, and adjectives, curses of my speaking and writing style. This book is not the breezy, catchy read I somewhere in my mind wish it was. There are breezy, sometimes funny passages in it. But it is really a thinker’s book, of sorts. Something