Saturday, April 23

            I am grateful to those who can take complicated ideas and make them understandable by finding the pattern and presenting them under one comprehensive approach.  Samantha Powers’ book on genocide, A Problem from Hell, did this a few years ago by showing that genocide was occurring more than reported and brought the known cases together for study.  The book was especially helpful in allowing one to understand America’s varying approaches to the issue and why it intervenes at times and not at others.  Isn’t all genocide bad?  Shouldn’t all of it be stopped?  Is mass killing harder to deal with and comprehend that a single killing?  

Sunday, April 24

          The book, God’s Brain, by Lionel Tiger and Michael McGuire point out that there are believed to be 4200 distinct faith groups or religions in the world.  This matches up interestingly I think with the reported 6912 languages in the world.

Monday, April 25

          Mike Daisey appeared on C-Span and reminded me that every now and then you are treated to someone who changes your mental paradigm.  There are two things that struck me about him.  One, is that he is a performer of monologues which is somewhat of a niche art form, think of Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain.  Second, his subject matter is current issues.  He brought one to my attention related to his views of the poor working conditions at Foxconn, a gigantic factory in Shenzhen, China that purportedly builds most of our electronics.  His current monologue is called the Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs and its about the juxtaposition of these state of the art devises, iPod, iPhone, iPad that are made in alledged primitive working conditions.