thinktoomuch.net

A 2009 article on The Guardian presents arguments against saving the panda as well as arguments in favour: TV naturalist Chris Packham said pandas might not be worth saving. Mark Wright from the World Wide Fund for Nature is one of the many who disagree. What do you think? Read the whole article: Should pandas [...]

[Read more →]

This blog hasn’t touched on racism much, if I recall correctly. Given that I was pointed at an Academy Award winning short film from 1993 (won Best Short Subject in 1994) on the topic of racism in Germany, I thought I’d share it. The German title, “Schwarzfahrer”, means either “fare-dodger” or “black traveler”: A penny [...]

[Read more →]

Nick Kristof’s Sunday column, When Donations Go Astray, is entirely on the topic I started with my previous post. He warns about inefficient charities, for some only 21% of your donation actually reaches the needy. (For convenience, click through to it via a Google search. Go read the column.) In particular Nick warns religious givers, [...]

[Read more →]

2010. I’ve decided this is the year I start giving — my charitable contributions until now have not been significant. There were a couple of things encouraging me lately, I must confess the thing that finally pushed me over the threshold was a silly little tax thing, i.e. selfishly motivated. The tax form I had [...]

[Read more →]

This is a rerun of Community Meta-Guidelines with one word replaced — which do you prefer? Which word should I run with, or should I simply use both at once? Meta: In epistemology, the prefix meta- is used to mean about (its own category). For example, metadata are data about data (who has produced them, [...]

[Read more →]

Meta: In epistemology, the prefix meta- is used to mean about (its own category). For example, metadata are data about data (who has produced them, when, what format the data are in and so on). Similarly, metamemory in psychology means an individual’s knowledge about whether or not they would remember something if they concentrated on [...]

[Read more →]

In the previous post, I mentioned I prefer sanity to be found within the context of relationship, rather than by rules. In particular, I would like this to be the case for this site: I would have loved to have no rules or guidelines. But this isn’t a closed community, and while anyone on the [...]

[Read more →]

Cambodia has its work cut out for it, in rebuilding after the devastating Khmer Rouge regime. A huge problem. The problem is so huge, it may seem absolutely hopeless. What can an outsider do to help? Can an outsider with a couple of thousand dollars contribute in any meaningful way? I’m going to let the [...]

[Read more →]

People don’t realise the extent of human irrationality. We are emotional creatures. Our emotions are a part of us. Our emotions shape us. Yes, we also have rationality, but emotion and subjective experience is not controlled by rationality. The interplay between the two is complex. Much of human fighting and disconnectedness results from a lack [...]

[Read more →]

Ruth sent me the following email about a project to build a BMX track for the children of Kayamandi: Through Elana Meyers foundation, JAG, www.songo.info is raising funds for the construction of a BMX track in the Stellenbosch Township through donors buying virtual kilometers of the 950 kilometers. These are to be ridden by current [...]

[Read more →]