Reality vs. Vision

I had blogged earlier in July about the Burj in Dubai, soon-to-be the tallest building in the world, being almost ready.

Well...just read that the tower is now the world's tallest free-standing structure, surpassing Toronto's CN Tower. (Note: the 2nd link in the previous sentence puts the Burj at #2, behind a KVLY-TV mast in Fargo, North Dakota. Should look into the source of that edit! Must be their way of trying to get Fargo on the world map. Thought the movie (a very good one too!) did that but maybe they have major phallic envy. :)

See the picture at the link. Compared to the architect's schematic (also see many pictures in the "almost ready" link above), it looks ugggh! Maybe it will look grander when lit up at night.

But then maybe our visions rarely meet the reality. (Me a glass-half-empty kinda guy? Huh? How'd you guess?)

The passage of time

Alive a month ago. Dead today.

Two U.S. soldiers whose signatures appeared on an op-ed piece in The New York Times critical of the war in Iraq were among seven Americans killed in a truck accident outside of Baghdad this week.

Alive 10 days ago. Dead today.

A bomb killed sheikh Sattar Abu Reesha near his home in Anbar's capital Ramadi. The attack came just hours before US President George W. Bush, who shook the sheikh's hand during a surprise trip to Iraq 10 days ago, was due to make a televised address defending his handling of the war.

And certainly not to make light of the above two unfortunate deaths...

but, RIP, Alex - the braniac 31-year-old African gray parrot, who knew more than 100 words and could count and recognize colors and shapes! (You think that's frivolous? Think you'll have a foundation named after you when you die?)

Confession: Occasionally, like some people read obituaries, I do the analogous in today's e-world - I go through the wikipedia list of deaths in 2007 to see who has passed on. It is an interesting pastime because despite hours of surfing, one suffers from information-overload and misses so much. Many of the names in these lists are people I had never heard of but occasionally one reads about some notable one has heard about but didn't read about their death.

For example, just read that Jane Wyman, first wife of Ronald Reagan (1940-1948), died on Monday. And in reading about her, I learned something I did not know - conservative talk-show host, Michael Reagan (rabid, I say...based on 3 minutes of hearing him on AM radio some years ago!) is the adopted son of Jane Wyman and Ronnie.

This I knew -- Jane Wyman had the unique distinction of being the only ex-wife of an American President. (This may not be so unique if Giuliani or some of the others in the fray for 2008 win their primaries and then the final election! *shudder*.... that's at the thought of Giuliani as the next President! *phew*...that's thinking we somehow survived 8 years of Bush - so we probably can survive anything. *sigh*....but 3000+ Americans didn't survive. And with that we come back to the beginning. The passage of time. Cyclical life.

Playing God

Papa salmon plus mama salmon equals ... baby trout? Japanese researchers put a new spin on surrogate parenting as they engineered one fish species to produce another, in a quest to preserve endangered fish.

*shudder*.... what can I say!

World's most polluted cities

Given all that we hear (even from Chinese officials, occasionally) about China's heading to an environmental disaster & catastrophe due to its scant respect for the environment as its industry grows ferociously, it is not a wonder that couple Chinese cities are in Time magazine's list of The World's 10 Most Polluted Cities.

But as the report says, if India's environment is on the whole healthier than its giant neighbor China's, that's because India is developing much more slowly.

Two Indian cities (see below) make the list along with two Chinese cities, a few cities in ex-Soviet bloc countries, and one in Peru. However, it is not far-fetched to imagine a list of the to-10 most polluted cities with Indian and Chinese cities in a few years, with a token entry from Russia.

Sukinda, which has one of the largest open cast chromite ore mines in the world, 60% of the drinking water contains hexavalent chromium at levels more than double international standards.

and

in Vapi, the levels of mercury in the city's groundwater are reportedly 96 times higher than WHO safety levels, and heavy metals are present in the air and the local produce.

Link to Time magazine article via a post at India Uncut.

Decline of Violence

I have long wanted to read books by the very erudite Stephen Pinker. (Time magazine named Pinker one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2004.)

I started his book How the mind works in December 2004 but did not really get into the meat of it. (See more about that in my previous post.)

I recommend seeing this TED Talk by him in 2005, in which he previewed his latest book, The Stuff of Thought, which looked at language, and the way it expresses the workings of our minds. He questions the very nature of our thoughts -- the way we use words, how we learn, and how we relate to others.

Now, in another TED talk, Pinker argues that our ancestors were far more violent than we are, that violence has been in decline for long stretches of time, and we are living in one of the most peaceful times of human existence. Seems the decline of violence is a fractal phenomena! Do see the talk to hear more about his interesting argument.

Update: Amit Varma has a quote for the day that goes quite well with the above post.

The direct use of physical force is so poor a solution to the problem of limited resources that it is commonly employed only by small children and great nations.

It is om The Machinery of Freedom by David Friedman, a book Amit strongly recommends.

Dumb move

You won't get anywhere with a stalled car but you'll save some money!

By keeping your car for 15 years, or 225,000 miles of driving, you could save nearly $31,000, according to Consumer Reports magazine. That's compared to the cost of buying an identical model every five years, which is roughly the rate at which most car owners trade in their vehicles.

But at the same time, before you go and trade that old car for a new one, read about the Five Dumb Car-Shopping Moves!

Homeland Insecurity

In a 7-part series Mother Jones' senior correspondent James Ridgeway examines how the government has let homeland security languish since September 11, 2001, with dire consequences." - via Metafilter.

Also this via Mefi -

Back in 2001, amateur musicians seeking exposure on my.mp3.com responded spontaneously to the 9/11 attacks by posting their own heartfelt musical tributes to the event, which included the Wings cover Taliban on the Run, the anti-abortion ambient synth rock of Unborn Baby of Tower One, and the Christian numerology of Wayne and Liz's 9-11 Warning. More recent tributes can be found on YouTube and elsewhere, including the pro-Bush emo of 9 11 Vision of You, What Does Nine 11 Mean 2 U from "blog 'n' roller" Dr. B.L.T., and the Moby-ish The 9/11 Memorial Song. Meanwhile, YouTube has inspired somebody to ponder if you can make 9/11 look more "funny" by adding the Benny Hill theme song.

--

Today, as we remember those that died on this day 6 years ago, also remember these men and women, who have died since in the name of security and become victims of people's war-mongering . Whatever be the reasons for the war, these brave men and women ought not to be blamed for what they do.

· Faces of the Fallen - Iraq

· Iraq Coalition Casualties

· Iraq War Casualties

· Iraq Body Counts

· Casualties