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If it makes you happy to live by your own personal philosophy, who is anyone else to tell you differently?

A fly-on-the-wall account of the smart and strange subcultures that make, trade, curate, collect, and hype contemporary art.

The art market has been booming. Museum attendance is surging. More people than ever call themselves artists. Contemporary art has become a mass entertainment, a luxury good, a job description, and, for some, a kind of alternative religion.

In a series of beautifully paced narratives, Sarah Thornton investigates the drama of a Christie’s auction, the workings in Takashi Murakami’s studios, the elite at the Basel Art Fair, the eccentricities of Artforum magazine, the competition behind an important art prize, life in a notorious art-school seminar, and the wonderland of the Venice Biennale. She reveals the new dynamics of creativity, taste, status, money, and the search for meaning in life. A judicious and juicy account of the institutions that have the power to shape art history, based on hundreds of interviews with high-profile players, Thornton’s entertaining ethnography will change the way you look at contemporary culture.

Duration : 0:1:34

The current issue of controversy affecting science teachers, as I’m sure you’ll be aware, is that of the best way to explain the mechanics of biology in a politically correct manner; how should we accommodate the beliefs of others while necessarily educating our students. Granted, the issue is not as debatable anywhere to the extent it is in the USA, but with the rise of neo-conservatism and religious intolerance, arguably antagonised by outspoken atheists such as Dawkins and Hitchens, we are faced with a growing number of those who wish Creationism to be taught in schools. I’ll briefly explain the two sides of this feud. The theory of evolution was proposed by Charles Darwin in the nineteenth century – it claims that all species evolved over a period of millions of years from microscopic primordial sludge to the complex and intricate life-forms we find today. The evidence is colossal – fossils, the distribution of species, the similarities between members of species, study of DNA – and without any significant flaws. Hundreds of palaeontologists, geneticists, evolutionary biologists and even philosophers (e.g. Daniel Dennett) have polished, refined, and extended the theory. The premise of Intelligent Design states that God created everything that exists now in exactly six days. Practically every branch of science can disprove this. However, the theory’s advocates suggest that God intentionally placed misleading evidence to test our faith; dinosaurs did in fact walk with humans, and denial of that is a heresy. The third view, theistic evolution, is basically identical to the naturalistic approach I’ve always favoured, although followers of the belief claim that God started it – Richard Dawkins would call this a “God of the Gaps” fallacy. These positions have been in conflict since Darwin and possibly before; and since it took the Catholic Church 400 years to apologise to Copernicus (“this progress gives rise to both wonderment and fear”) I don’t hold much hope for religion and science to harmonise. In researching this topic I found several interesting articles; one, http://darwinconspiracy.com, declares to have successfully refuted Darwin’s argument: the claims it claims to have produced render anything other than Genesis absurd. So what are these proofs? I’ll take an example to give you a taste of the level of scientific thought employed: ‘If evolution is truly based on survival of the fittest, what about all those helpless babies?’ What indeed. Since it is obviously impossible for a species to have evolved over generations that doesn’t protect its young, babies are nurtured by their parents; and anyone who’s read The Selfish Gene will know that babies are far from innocent, in their striving for preferential treatment.

The problem with creationism as illustrated by the aforementioned website

“God knew that there would come a Theory of Evolution and He made certain to create life on Earth in such a way that there would be major discrepancies between real life and the false theory. God is the Master of timing and this is the time He chose to bust Darwin – and this website is an agent for Him to do so.” The kind of ludicrously inconsistent denial expressed in the above sentiment is, and I don’t believe that it is unacceptably controversial for me to say this, typical of creationists. The writer claims that God was so insecure about his work that he foresaw a scientific essay and moulded a planet round this essay so as to render it untrue – he did this so people would acknowledge that Earth was his creation, and ‘bust’ Charles Darwin. Further, he is working through the website’s administrator. Logic like this is unavoidable when you are trying to convince others that the world is six thousand years old, that during the week of October 23rd 4004 BC God made light, then he made the sun, and later every animal the writers of the Bible could have encountered and nothing more. Do we really want to expose our children to the kind of anti-scientific prejudice that currently is limited to the most ‘intellectually deprived’ areas of North America? Even mentioning that the ID theory exists can mislead some that it is actually a feasible alternative to Darwinism; the fact is that evolution is taught in science classes as opposed to any other theory because, and solely because, there is a huge amount of evidence in its favour – consequentially, if we are to teach other theories like creationism, which have absolutely no scientific backing, then every single piece of superstition ever written should be discussed: how else could we discriminate?

Chris Ashby
http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/creationism-and-the-atheist-707741.html

Duration : 0:9:57

21 Good Reasons to Think About Alternative or Second Citizenship and Passport

Our world is changing dramatically and holding a passport of specific nation or country can be challenging if not dangerous nowadays and is definitely connected to some restrictions. Here is a brief list of such exposures:

1. Political or economic situation in your home country makes travel on your current passport difficult.

2. Your assets are the target of litigation or you are burdened by taxation.

3. Your basic human rights or travel is restricted by your citizenship.

4. You are not allowed to work, do business, buy property or land overseas or settle in another country.

5. Your assets, freedom of movement and even life are threatened by your country’s economical or political situation.

6. You are subject to persecution for your religious or political beliefs or for pursuing certain harmless activities.

7. Your current citizenship and passport can make you exposed for hijackers and terrorists.

8. Your current passport could be revoked, confiscated or suspended for some reasons.

9. You can be a subject to tax on your worldwide income, currency controls or other confiscation measures.

10. Your state controls, restricts or monitors your travels or private or business activities.

11. Your present passport causes you delays, harassment or denies at any border.

12. You need visas to visit places where you want to go or stay.

13. Your citizenship forces you into unwanted military or other burden obligations.

14. You are identified as a citizen of an unpopular, immoral, aggressive or despotic state.

15. Your passport needs to be renewed or validated frequently.

16. Limited freedom to invest your money when and where you please.

17. You belong to the “wrong” country, like ex-Yugoslavia, Iraq, Iran, North Korea etc.

18. You cannot invest in the foreign stock markets or offshore mutual funds without restriction or hindrance.

19. You would like to insure a freedom of movement, residence, business of choice for yourself, your dependants etc.

20. You simply would like to open a new opportunities and guarantee a certain freedom and choice for yourself or your dependants.

21. You just would like to have a right for employment in another country which is not available now or permission is difficult to obtain.

There, of course, can be other reasons to gain another passport. You may possibly have a passport from a country that has travel restrictions imposed upon it, and this can be frustrating to say the least. For example:

* Many Chinese are desperately looking for a way to get out of their country, and/or to ease travel restrictions.

* Many US citizens do not like the idea of being enslaved to the IRS worldwide, regardless where they may choose to live. Also they may not like being targeted by terrorists because of irresponsible actions by their immature government.

* Many Western Europeans feel that during these turbulent times, it may be a good idea to nurture their plans for an additional insurance policy against difficult times ahead.

* Many Russians and Eastern Europeans are tired of having to queue to get visas all the time, and being treated as second class individuals by many, just because of their nationality.

* Many Africans and Latin Americans have tasted a bit of freedom but it doesn’t seem like they are free all the time as crazy governments and extreme travel restrictions make it very hard to get around.

With passport from one of the EU countries you are free to work, live and do business in any of the 27 member states of the European Union.

You may qualify to obtain your documents free through ethnic background, ancestry or religion in Brazil, China, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Portugal, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America etc.

Another way is to get an alternative passport by registration, by descent, via marriage or naturalization. In some countries you can be eligible for your 2nd passport in just 6 months after residence application and there is no need to spend this time in the country! There is an option for a 2nd passport and citizenship virtually for everyone who is seriously interested.

www.offshorebox.co.uk

Sponsors: www.e-book-store.org. www.ask-and-bid.com

Russel Taylor
http://www.articlesbase.com/national,-state,-local-articles/21-good-reasons-to-think-about-alternative-or-second-citizenship-and-passport-117940.html

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