A British scientist and author of the book, The Rational Optimist, makes the case that mankind’s progress has been vigorous, widely spread, and not just benefiting the privileged few.
Matt Ridley says, “Average citizens are becoming healthier, cleaner, smarter, kinder, happier, and more peaceful.” And he has the facts to back it up. (Read his essay below…)
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A British scientist and author of the book, The Rational Optimist, makes the case that mankind’s progress has been vigorous, widely spread, and not just benefiting the privileged few.
Matt Ridley says, “Average citizens are becoming healthier, cleaner, smarter, kinder, happier, and more peaceful.” And he has the facts to back it up. (Read his essay below…)
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The unemployment rate fell to a two-year low of 8.8 percent in March, capping the strongest two months of hiring since before the recession began.
The economy added 216,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday. Factories, retailers, the education and health care sectors and professional and financial services all expanded payrolls. Those job gains offset layoffs by local governments.
Organized crime networks have been sending tons of relief goods in trucks from the Tokyo and Kobe regions to deliver food, water, blankets and toiletries to evacuation centers in northeast Japan, the area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
As with the devastating 1995 Kobe earthquake, government workers were slow in reaching afflicted areas, so the “yakuza” groups — society’s outcasts — stepped in quickly, and in many cases, were first on the ground.
Age wasn’t about to stop Libyan-American Ibrahim Elfirjani from joining the fight to oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. So the 60-year-old owner of an auto repair shop left his home in Illinois and trekked to Libya to help the opposition on the frontlines of the conflict.
“I decided my birth country needs me today. … I’m an old man but I have energy to kick this dictator out,” Elfirjani, of Orland Park, Ill., told msnbc.com by phone from Libya, during a stop near the Egyptian border to pick up communications equipment for the rebel fighters. “My heart is still young … 25 years old.”
13,000 low-income workers in Pakistan are getting nearly-free health care thanks to Asher Hasan and his micro-insurance program, Naya Jeevan, founded in 2007.
The surgeon-turned-social entrepreneur left a successful career in the United States to return to Pakistan, where he had spent his formative years, on a mission to provide affordable health care to low-income workers.
(READ the full story at the CS Monitor) – Donate at Naya Jeevan!
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is upgrading the status of the Okaloosa darter from endangered to threatened saying that the population is being managed so well, the small fish is making major strides on its road to recovery. Much of the praise goes to a U.S. Air Force Base.
Originally listed as endangered in 1973, the Okaloosa darter is a small, perch-like fish known to occur only in six clear stream systems in Walton and Okaloosa counties in northwest Florida. About 96 percent of this watershed drainage area is under the management of Eglin Air Force Base.
Fly ash, a byproduct of coal-burning electric power plants, could save billions of dollars if used in the repairing of U.S. bridges and roads, researchers say.
Using fly ash to coat the concrete used to rebuild America’s infrastructure could extend the life of those roads and bridges by decades, saving billions of dollars of taxpayer money, scientists told a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, Calif., Tuesday.
A struggling Baltimore parish received a surprising donation two Sundays ago, when a winning lottery scratch-off ticket arrived in the collection plate.
The Maryland Lottery ticket, which was already scratched revealing the prize, was discovered by the church’s pastor when tallying the day’s contributions.
A struggling Baltimore parish received a surprising donation two Sundays ago, when a winning lottery scratch-off ticket arrived in the collection plate.
The Maryland Lottery ticket, which was already scratched revealing the prize, was discovered by the church’s pastor when tallying the day’s contributions.
The state’s sportsmen were outraged when Roxanne Quimby, the conservation-minded founder of Burt’s Bees cosmetics, bought up more than 120,000 acres of Maine’s fabled North Woods — and had the audacity to forbid hunters, loggers, snowmobiles, and all-terrain vehicles on the expanses.
Time compiled a list inspired by the story following the Japan tsunami, where a dog remained alongside its trapped canine companion until it was dug out by rescue workers.
The top ten list includes a miniature horse used for therapy in senior homes, a carrier pigeon that helped save soldiers, and Trakr, trained as a police dog in Canada, the animal was credited with locating the last survivor beneath the rubble of the World Trade Center in New York after September 11.
Doctors and consumer advocates have long argued over whether hyperactivity might be tied to certain dyes and additives used in processed foods.
In a two-day meeting beginning Wednesday, an FDA advisory committee will examine the strength of evidence surrounding food dyes and the detrimental behavior changes seen in some children. They may decide that food labels should be changed to better protect consumers, or that certain dyes should be banned altogether, or to further study the issue.
Many scholars are pessimistic that Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution and the political transition in Egypt will successfully bring about democracy in these countries, and worry that there is a significant risk of Islamic political groups, some with radical interpretations of shari’a (Islamic principles of jurisprudence), taking on an inordinately influential role during the political transition.
Is there any truth to the argument that Islam is incompatible with democracy? The Indonesian example suggests otherwise.
Pixar replaced Disney long ago as the undisputed king of animated filmmaking, but for 15 years Disney remained one-up on the upstart, until now. With its 13th major film in production, Pixar is, at last, turning to a female character to play the sole protagonist. And, like Disney’s Mulan, she will turn out to be an inspiration, despite her sassy ways and nonchalance for the breaking of out-dated rules (which rains turmoil down on her kingdom).
Pixar replaced Disney long ago as the undisputed king of animated filmmaking, but for 15 years Disney remained one-up on the upstart, until now. With its 13th major film in production, Pixar is, at last, turning to a female character to play the sole protagonist. And, like Disney’s Mulan, she will turn out to be an inspiration, despite her sassy ways and nonchalance for the breaking of out-dated rules (which rains turmoil down on her kingdom).
Millionaires across New York State are banding together to ask for more taxes.
About 100 wealthy New Yorkers, including actor Mark Ruffalo, say they want to do their part to help the state out of its budget crisis, and they are encouraging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to extend their so-called millionaire’s tax.
The group, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, sent an open letter with about 100 signatures to Cuomo and state legislators Thursday urging them to renew the tax, slated to expire in April, in order to avert budget cuts that would hurt the poor and middle class.
“Many of us New Yorkers are troubled that you’re giving a $5 billion tax cut to 2 percent of New York’s most wealthy, while cutting $9 billion from education and social services for the rest of New Yorkers,” said the NYC celebrity in an online video addressing Cuomo.
(WATCH the video below, and read more at DNA Info)
Millionaires across New York State are banding together to ask for more taxes.
About 100 wealthy New Yorkers, including actor Mark Ruffalo, say they want to do their part to help the state out of its budget crisis, and they are encouraging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to extend their so-called millionaire’s tax.
The group, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, sent an open letter with about 100 signatures to Cuomo and state legislators Thursday urging them to renew the tax, slated to expire in April, in order to avert budget cuts that would hurt the poor and middle class.
The efforts of tiger conservationists and the Indian government appear to be paying off.
Officials received “a very encouraging sign” from a new tiger census published on Monday that estimated the number of wild tigers in India to be 1,706. That’s almost 300 more than the last count of the highly threatened species, tallied in 2006.
The Mississippi Legislature honored the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers for her bravery, championing civil rights and race relations even while her family lived under constant threat during their fight for voter registration and economic advancement for blacks.
“Myrlie Evers-Williams saw the Civil Rights Movement as a Christian movement teaching love, liberation and equality for all under the law, and it is appropriate that we acknowledge the contributions and commitment of this nationally known leader,” according to a resolution read Monday by both legislative chambers.
(READ the AP article in Washington Examiner)
