All Individual Nations and Individual religions are minorities on Earth

I was thinking today what would trump ethnocentrism of individual Nations and individual Religions?

It came to me while I was relaxing my muscles outside in my Hot Tub Spa: "All individual nations and Individual religions are minorities here on Earth.

Now, this might be hard for large nations and large religions to take this in. But if you think about it it is absolutely true.

Whether it is the most populous nation on Earth China which is presently 1,331,460,000 people.  source www.google.com/publicdata   from source "World Bank".


Or whether it is Christianity which is presently:
33% of the world's population considers themselves Christians. That includes all types, though. In June 2009, there were approximately 2 billion Christians living in the world.
Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_popularity_of_Christians_in_the_world_today

Or whether it is Muslims which is presently:
800 million muslims live in the world
source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_muslims_live_in_the_world_approximately

Or whether it is Hinduism which is presently:
Demographically, Hinduism is the world's third largest religion, ... with more than a billion adherents, of whom approximately 1 billion live in India

Or whether it is Buddhism which is presently:

Around 330 million, mostly in East Asia, Although many Westerners are converting.

 source http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_Buddhists_are_in_the_world

 Note: I'm having trouble making it all the same typeface when I copy and paste from another source so please bear with me

I could go on and on listing nations and religions but you get the basic idea which is:

6,897,910,518 or approximately 7 Billion people presently alive on Earth. source is:

http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html

So, my premise is that no nation or religion could stand against the rest of the world and win in any conflict. Therefore all individual nations and religions are minorities and could be wiped out by all the other minorities if they joined together. 

So, in seeing that all individual nations and all individual religions are minorities in the world, it behooves us all to find a way to stand together for our mutual survival ongoing.

This is the best argument that I can presently find against either National or Religious ethnocentrism 

worldwide. 

For now, possibly, the United Nations and its next incarnations through the years look to be the best hope for Earth and its peoples ongoing.

Note: I also found this demographic for population rise worldwide here on earth by month (beyond now it is an estimate).

07/01/10    6,852,472,823
08/01/10    6,858,904,297
09/01/10    6,865,335,772
10/01/10    6,871,559,780
11/01/10    6,877,991,255
12/01/10    6,884,215,263
01/01/11    6,890,646,738
02/01/11    6,897,078,213
03/01/11    6,902,887,287
04/01/11    6,909,318,762
05/01/11    6,915,542,770
06/01/11    6,921,974,245
07/01/11    6,928,198,253

Source is:  http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html

 

  

The Leaderless Revolution in Cairo

The main problem with the revolution in Cairo and throughout Egypt is that it is a "Leaderless" revolution with the only group that is organized enough to actually take charge of the country likely to be like a Sunni version of Hezbollah which was who Israel was fighting in Lebanon the most recently. So, I think that the Muslim Brotherhood would have no real reason ideologically to support the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt brokered by Sadat, Begin and Jimmy Carter I believe. This would make it necessary for there to be a war at some point between Israel and Egypt. One of the most embarrassing things about this is for the U.S. is that the U.S. has been training and educating the Egyptian army from officer level upward here in the United States for 30 years or more. This is going to be a real problem if the Muslim Brotherhood which I would equate with being a Sunni Hezbollah takes over. Likely the only way this could happen is with Mubarak dead. He pledged this last week that he would never leave Egypt and planned to die there. As an ex-General of Egypt's armies I think he means just that. Therefore, I think we will see some major bloodshed before this is over. I hope it is not comparable to what we just saw in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The Muslim Brotherhood took Credit for Sadat Assassination

My wife was explaining to me how she heard on NPR that the Muslim Brotherhood took credit for the assassination of Sadat. Since Mubarak is the protege of Sadat who was groomed to be put in place after Sadat by Sadat it makes complete sense why Mubarak and many Egyptians hate the Muslim Brotherhood.

Americans travel less Abroad

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/02/04/americans.travel.domestically/index.html
Begin quote from above article.

(CNN) -- The numbers tell the story: Of the 308 million-plus citizens in the United States, 30% have passports.
That's just too low for such an affluent country, said Bruce Bommarito, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the U.S. Travel Association.
"Americans are comfortable in their own environment," Bommarito said.
There were 61.5 million trips outside the United States in 2009, down 3% from 2008, according to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries. About 50% of those trips were to either Mexico or Canada, destinations that didn't require a passport until 2007. end quote.

Though the U.S. and China and Russia tend to be the most ethnocentric nations on earth:
(Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior, customs, and religion. These ethnic distinctions and sub-divisions serve to define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity.^[1]
The term ethnocentrism was coined by William G. Sumner, upon observing the tendency for people to differentiate between the ingroup and others. He described it as often leading to pride, vanity, beliefs of one's own group's superiority, and contempt of outsiders.<sup>[2] 
end quote from Wikipedia under the heading "ethnocentrism".


Also, I would say generally that ethnocentrism is not healthy for the world because it tends to lead towards economic or physical wars between nations and was one of the major reasons both World War I and II were fought. So these differences really do make a difference in regard to peace worldwide.

I would say the most dangerous ethnocentric divide on earth at present is between the U.S. and China. Both nations are incorrigably ethnocentric to a fault.

begin quote:</sup>

Answers.com - What is incorrigable

Definitions and Word Differences question: What is incorrigable? Something that cannot be corrected. Although it's usually spelt INCORRIGIBLE.


<sup>However, even though I have had a passport for about 30 years at present (I would have gotten one sooner but before then I mostly traveled to Hawaii, Canada and Mexico if I was leaving the mainland, so I didn't need one before then. Besides, one has to become wealthy enough to travel which takes some time unless you are born rich which I was not(I was born middle class which means I always had enough but not enough to travel abroad and have it be fun or useful to me before my thirties).


Today, the only places on earth where I feel completely safe when traveling outside of the U.S. and Canada is probably Europe and Great Britain. Most other places I don't feel to safe. Although I felt fairly safe in the 1980s in Thailand, India and Nepal and in Japan. But I was much younger then than now.


Sadly, even though I spent a lot of time in Baja California in Mexico in the 1970s I really don't feel safe in Mexico anymore. I think it was the guys with machetes walking around with hate in their eyes for Americans and the fact that several of my friends were beaten by police in Baja after being given parking tickets in areas that weren't marked. After complaining to the police they were tied to a jail cell and beaten and whipped until they were unconcious. I think these situations sort of ended my joy of going to Mexico. So strangely enough I feel the least safe in Mexico of anywhere I've been on Earth.


And the country I feel the safest in (even safer than anywhere in California is Canada). I think Canada might be now the safest country on Earth in some ways. I'm not entirely sure why this is but I do know
that for example, if you (as a stranger) walk into someone's house(in Canada) a Canadian will say, "What are you doing here?" If you did this anywhere in the U.S. likely you would be shot with no questions asked. You would be dead. This is the difference between living in the U.S. and Canada in a nutshell. The same with visiting there. There is just more respect for life and less paranoia and fear in general in Canada. Sometimes in the 1980s (since the Canadian English accent is almost the same as the standard American English accent) I would tell people who asked me when traveling in Asia where I was from and I would say "Canada" if I didn't trust them or know them.(Because most people there couldn't tell the very slight basic difference between Canadian English and American English) It was a way of staying alive while traveling because often people like to kill or injure or maim Americans for a variety of reasons. So, since nobody seems to hate Canadians it is better to say you are a Canadian even if you are really an American just to make sure you live through the day.(However, obviously if you are talking to authorities or hotel clerks in countries you Must tell them who you really are because you will have to show them your passport. It is only people on the street that you might say you were a Canadian to).


Especially since 9-11 Americans in general (except for College age Americans and people in their 20s) I think generally travel a lot less out of the country. It's just a way to make sure they and their families stay alive. Also, jobs and money have been harder to come by since 9-11 so that is a factor too.</sup>

Surfing as a Meditation

When I was 12 to 14 years of  age I became a surfer. This would be between 1960 and 1962 in Glendale, California. However, it wasn't until I was about 15 with a friend who had a 1951 Ford Convertible that we could take our 10 foot 2 to 10 foot 4 longboards to the ocean because Glendale is too far away otherwise. Before then I had to wait for my father to take me sometimes on weekends. But by age 15 (1963) I wore the lemon juiced (lighter colored hair of a sunbleached surfer and surfer bangs that looked sort of like JFK). I also wore the Levi Jeans, white socks and Tennis shoes, and white T-Shirt that were the outfit of a Los Angeles County California Surfer.And if it was cold I always had my Pendleton Wool Shirt that was a part of being a surfer then. Since then there were the Greasers (as in the movie Grease) and since these guys also were car clubbers(clubs  who raced cars  as street racers) I tended to be friends with both the surfers and the street racers even though I was a fairly good student in High School. So, through high school I mostly identified myself as a surfer. And slowly surfers started to wear their hair longer as was the style then.

I found an interesting a youtube video that typified the spiritual philosophy of surfing during the 1960s when I would say it was the most pure and idealistic. Surfing wasn't just something you did on weekends, it was also a religious and spiritual philosophy. And for many it still is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU7_Jg70syY&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Talking Underwater

(on the IPhone4)
Though to my wife my IPhone4 is a dissappointment in that she can barely understand me when I talk to her through it and she says I sound like I'm underwater, I still love my new IPhone4. I was sitting and waiting in my Oral Surgeon's office yesterday and trying not to think about having a drill inserted into the socket of a tooth I had pulled 8 months ago. So, I was experimenting with Safari on my IPhone4. I hadn't tried it that much yet as I had been sort of satisfied with putting in all the cities that my kids live in in California and Oregon so I could know the temperatures that day there. I find it comforting to know the weather that moment where my children are living. So I can just flip with my thumb through the temperatures and feel more  at peace about most of them being grown up now and living somewhere else.

But yesterday, I needed to think about something else other than a drill going into my upper jaw and skull to put a metal sheath that a screw is later screwed into with a tooth mounted on it. Though my son has had one and my cousin thinks that it might be better to have all tooth implants, still this was my first and the thought of it wasn't something I wanted to think about.

So, I started experimenting with Safari and Google online. At first my IPhone asked me if I wanted to join any of the local wifi networks. Since I knew there were many businesses in the building and likely all had passwords I declined. So I surfed the internet through my phone company (AT&T). I was able to read stories through the New York Times and Los Angeles Times about the severe 2500 mile long storm that just hit 33 states and 100 million people and also the developing story regarding Egypt and Cairo and Mubarak. I found that I could magnify the articles and turn the phone sideways to read more easily and better. I was quite pleased at what I was capable of doing even without wifi. Even though for a person of my age (62) the print generally is a little small if I don't magnify it by spreading my fingers, it kept my mind from thinking to much about the procedure as I waited about 1 hour for my turn with the surgeon. When I finally went in I told them I couldn't take xylocaine and didn't want to be completely knocked out as I had had a bad experience at 18 when I had to take Darvon for a month when my 5th wisdom tooth infected and impacted the other 4 and then had had Sodium Pentothal to be knocked out for their removal at age 18. I hadn't felt the same since and wasn't happy with the emotional or psychological or physical effect long term upon me. I said I preferred more pain to the long term reactions to being knocked out. But since Carbocaine doesn't last long I was feeling the drills become more and more painful towards the end. It reminded me a little of the time in Tijuana in my 20s when I thought I would be macho like many Mexicans were then and have a tooth drilled without Novacaine or anything. I lasted about 30 seconds to about 1 minute before I realized that if I fainted suddenly the dentist might injure me. So, I finally was smart enough to ask for Novacaine (the anesthetic used then) during the 1970s. (I lived in San Diego then so going to a really good dentist in Tijuana might only cost about 1/4 of what a San Diego Dentist would charge) I got my first root canal then in 1975 on an upper eye tooth for only 75 dollars. The same thing in the U.S. would have been about 500 dollars minimum then in 1975.

Anyway, I'm really pleased about my experience media package wise regarding reading the most recent news on my IPhone. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it actually being a phone I talk over. However, it seems to be only my wife that's having trouble when she talks to me through her hands free phone through her car speakers. I think there is a satellite boost in that system that might be having a problem with the IPhone. I'll have to see.

Belief or Reality: Chicken or Egg?

What is the real difference between animals and humans besides the size of their brains.
Beliefs. Yes. I would say the main difference is what they believe is going on all the time.

It's sort of like animals are sort of more hardwired and humans are more programmable and so beliefs keep us able to cope with all the changes as our beliefs and real life experiences change and evolve over thousands of years. Imagine what it was like before Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity or Hinduism or all the other varieties of more organized religion existed.

I bet if you traveled back in time you might be struck with the fact that people on one level were just the same as now but on another level were completely different in how they approached their lives. And for many who are deeply indoctrinated into their religions going back in time and experiencing the way men and women used to be might cause a psychotic break or episode because many people would unknowingly expect humans to have always been the way they are now. But they weren't in many different ways at least culturally and religiously speaking.

Though religions and farming allowed larger and ever larger groups of people to live together in relative peace with each other, also something very precious and individualistic was lost. Even in my lifetime the main benefit is that less people generally die horrific deaths now that before. (or more correctly said a lower percentage of the entire human race has a really bad death and/or life).

But this is at the expense of the richness and the diversity of conflicting cultures and religions. So now, though we know a lot more about each other, in some ways there is actually more confusion about the whole thing because the differences now are just so blatant that there is no longer any useful way to run away from all the differences in religions and values all over the world.

But which came first, the chicken or the egg or Belief or Reality. I think the best approach is if one considers the possibility that it all came forth at once. I know this likely is not likely possible in actuality but philosophically and psychologically it appears more useful to view it in this way.

Belief Creates Reality Feb 3rd 2011

Why is it that some people can do things that (for now) no one else can (that we know of). For example, there is a guy named Laird who (as far as I now know) is the only one on Earth that can surf waves on the ocean 75 feet high and do it without getting seriously injured or dying? Why is it that the U.S. has sent men to the moon and no one else has that we know of (on the news). Why can some people know things before they happen or even travel the universe or all over the earth while there body stays one place or sometimes even if that one's body is traveling in a car, train, plane bus, Truck, boat or ship etc.?

These things happen because these people Believe that they can do these things. And if they slowly do more and more amazing things they slowly get to where they can do the things we are talking about here.

For example, if any of us doesn't believe that they can lift their arm or walk then they can't until they do. If you don't believe you can open your eyes and see you might not. If you believe firmly enough that you are dead you might just lie wherever you are until you really are dead.

So, being a human on earth and just breathing, eating, and living requires belief. You might not notice it but you all reading this believe that you are alive. Otherwise, you wouldn't be.

So, when people do exceptional things they do it because they can. And they can because they believe they can. It might have taken years of practice and study or whatever before they can do what they can. But now they have believed enough and practiced enough so that they actually can do whatever it is.

So, at least for humans, Belief Does Create Reality!

Note: I found out that:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/bg-119493/biggest_wave_ever_ridden_100ft_miguel_del_toro_billabong_xxl_winner/

I found out that someone named Miguel Del Toro in Patagonia rode an over 100 foot high wave with many "Big Wave" Riders looking on to certify his over 100 foot Wave. Amazing!

It Takes a General to begin a Real Democracy

Whether is is General George Washington for the beginning of the United States, or whether it is General Petraeus and the other Generals in Iraq before him, it takes a General (Usually an Army General of that country) to begin a democracy there that can actually work. First there needs to be martial Law. Then there needs to be a system of governance set up with a Constitution appropriate for that nation and its new legal system. Then there either needs to be a parliament or a Congress and a President and a Vice President elected by the people and to represent the people to make it all actually work. The checks and the balances by the legislative, Congress and Judicial actually makes the whole thing work as long as all (or at least most) are good and honest and reliable and love their country and are willing to die for it if necessary(because sometimes it is). So, in this sense all members of the government are in many ways like soldiers. Also, a free press because members of a free press are also like soldiers of the truth and are often killed or harmed during the obtaining of the truth from those who don't want to give the truth up.

All these things are necessary for any democracy to work and any democratic government that isn't a sham and any official of that government would be able to tell you that this is all true and necessary to make any democracy work over both the short and long term.

Cairo beginning to Resemble Tiananmen Massacre in China in 1989

The Tiananmen Massacre Victims Map

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The present mess in Cairo is beginning to remind me of watching live the Tiananmen Massacre in Beijing in 1989. At first everyone in the western world was very encouraged by the pro-Democracy demonstrations by many highly educated Chinese College students. This went on for several days until the government began to massacre them and imprison them. The only ones who survive those days left the country. Most of those not killed are still in prison today in China. If that was the saddest day for democracy in the last 100 years, these days are also some of the saddest days for human rights and democracy during the last 100 years as well. Only Iran and Burma and sometimes China are more violent and brutal and fatal in destroying the lives and dreams of their people.

I understand the basic need for order in all cultures and nations worldwide. But snuffing out the hopes and dreams of the people only makes a nation, another one of the "living dead" nations on earth most typified by North Korea.  The North Korean example is one of starving "Mummies and zombies" without good reason to stay alive, so many don't.

 

Verizon IPhone better phone but not as good a media device

http://www.wired.com/reviews/2011/02/verizon-iphone/
To read full article that I quote from below please paste above.

first quote:
But over the weekend, when I called buddies with both an AT&T iPhone 4 and subsequently a Verizon iPhone 4, we could immediately tell the difference.
“Holy crap, you sound so much better,” a friend said after I switched to the Verizon handset while walking through downtown San Francisco. “That’s amazing. I can actually hear you.”

 2nd quote from same source:
That’s simply because Verizon’s 3G-transfer rates are slower than AT&T’s. For the few days I’ve had the Verizon iPhone, I’ve been riding my motorcycle all around San Francisco to test its performance against the AT&T iPhone. The AT&T handset on average scored significantly better in speed tests: 62 percent faster for downloads and 38 percent faster for uploads. (If you’re curious about test procedures, check out our explainer and our interactive map on Gadget Lab.)end quotes.

So, in the end it appears (at least for now) the superior Iphone is now on the Verizon network but the superior Media IPhone is AT&T. So, depending upon what you bought the IPhone for you may or may not be frustrated in your area. My new Iphone I have already heard several complaints   that I sound like I'm talking underwater. However, I'm okay with that as long as people can understand me which as for now they can. And so far I'm happy with the media package.  However, I did find out that there is no unlimited media package any longer for AT&T. There biggest media package is now $25 a month flat fee. So, if you want to upload and download in an unlimited fashion your only choice is Verizon but it is 62% slower in downloads than AT&T. Competition being what it is likely both companies will get a lot better at all this over time so I believe everyone in the end will be much happier with both their phone service and their media speeds.

Pragmatist

prag·ma·tism

- is a practical approach to problems and affairs (according to the Merriam-Webster.com dictionary)


I would add to this that a pragmatist would be someone who was more into practicality and functionality than anything else. In other words such a person likely would not be an idealist or would be acting as a pragmatist to apply his or her idealism in the real world as opposed to an idealistic world which doesn't exist or might not ever exist here in the physical world.


Though the grievances of the young (under 30) in the Arabic world are real (lack of jobs and above 20% unemployment most places, without leadership (which has mostly been eliminated in non-democratic governments there), how can these revolutions be successful without real pragmatic leaders to as safely as possible guide their people to democracy, jobs and human rights?


I suggest that they might not be successful until real pragmatic leaders are found or made through all the anger, sadness and violence presently happening in the Arabic world. So, likely until useful leaders towards democracy and more rights are found or made we may see a lot of unwanted mayhem and death in the Arabic or other nations hungering now for democracy, human rights and jobs to support themselves and their families.

2nd and 3rd World Governments in Collapse

When the present economic downturn started around 2007 and 2008 many pundits predicted that it would come to this. Simply because not enough people would be able to view what is happening globally on an economic level in a sophisticated way enough because of lack of education to not just blame their governments for everything. As a result it was predicted that governments (especially 2nd and 3rd world governments) might collapse into chaos.  And the problem in many of these situations like Egypt is that all opposition parties have been mostly disbanded, put in prison or exiled or killed. So, in places like Egypt there IS no opposition leadership. So, the opposition since it has no leader is in some ways like a chicken with its head cut off (in other words dysfunctional). So, since all potential leadership for new movements has been created leaderless, new movements wind up in a vacuum or a state of chaos like we see in Egypt. For example, El Baradei has great standing as an opposition leader but won't likely represent enough people to actually be the leader. I think Mubarak left El Baradei alone all this time because he knew that El Baradei's status wouldn't take him to replacing Mubarak in the end. In the end even though he is 82, Mubarak is also an ex General of the military there and still thinks like one which is why he has stayed in power 30 years.

Most of the people opposing Mubarak tend to be theoretical (as in young college graduates or students) as opposed to being people who have suffered enough in life to become pragmatists. I think here are some of the problems with the present (revolution) in Egypt being successful (at least in it's present form). It is simply too big a country for simple solutions to its problems. Whoever the leader will be he must be a pragmatist and possibly have a military background to create any kind of order and hopefully democracy in Egypt.

NASA finds at least 1000 possible planets outside solar system

NASA finds planets a plenty outside solar system

NASA released new data Wednesday from its Kepler telescope on more than 1,000 possible new planets outside our solar system — more than doubling the count of what astronomers call exoplanets. They haven't been confirmed as planets yet, but some astronomers estimate that 90 percent of what Kepler has found will eventually be verified. end quote.

It appears that there are more possible planets to look for life on every day outside the solar system.

Easy Rider

I was 21 years old in 1969 when the movie "Easy Rider" came out starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. I was living in Venice, California at the time and thought the movie was amazing and captured something powerful about what was going on in the U.S. so though I found the movie very disturbing so was the Viet Nam War and there is really no way to appreciate "Easy Rider" without viewing it in the anxst of that era.

I had begun the evening trying to figure out what songs I wanted from ITunes from the 1960s and 1970s while I was from 12 to 32 from 1960 until 1980. So I was very surprised when I found so much amazing music from the Easy Rider Sound Track at youtube.com. I also found a video montage of out in the country motorcycle shots that I really like of Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda riding their 'choppers' (chopped down motorcycles custom built) of that era. I recently saw someone in his late 50s riding a copy of Peter Fonda's chopper through Mt. Shasta last Summer while I was visiting who was riding it up interstate 5 northwards. He even had the stars and stripes helmet to match.

Here is the internet address of the chopper footage with music in the background:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uygNtTB2Urc&feature=fvst

I also found in the Easy Rider sound track at youtube.com Joe Cocker's "with a little help from my friends" as well as "Born to be Wild" and some other Steppenwolf tracks. Also, Jimmy Hendrix had some music in Easy Rider as well.

It took me back to the craziness and amazingness of that era that all those who actually survived it all and are still alive and well today remember well.