Category: Newsletter

A mindset, a worldview, a singular sensemaking sublimity is that the natural world is a web of intricately entwined elements, each in constant dynamic dialogue with every other. For example, science is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat of beauty and poetry. It is the challenge of our times to be a person whose eyes, ears and mind are armed by all the science, arts and implements which mankind has anywhere accumulated. It is the challenge to the comfort of domestic mediocrity to be one that is living proof that a certain vastness of learning, or quasi omnipresence of the human soul in nature, is possible.

The Call today is for visionary understanding of nature’s interconnected spark, the basic ecological awareness that gives rise to the environmental movement. Hence, today’s need for an integrated approach to science, incorporating elements of art, philosophy, poetry, politics and history that together can provide the last bold counterpoint to the disconnected and dysfunctional “villages” of specialization into which science fragments Generation X.

Knowledge must be exchanged and made available to everybody. But, knowledge is not merely an intellectual faculty — it is an embodied, holistic presence with life in all of its dimensions. Observation is an active endeavor. Mind, body and spirit are all instruments of inquiry into the nature of the world. People must traverse that thick line between reason and emotion.

We must cultivate a great part of our response to the natural world as based on the senses and emotions to excite a “love of nature”. Thus, nature has to be experienced through feelings.

My view of life is not revolutionary, but rather an emotional assertion that everything is naturally related and interconnected. Nothing, not even the tiniest organism, can be looked at on its own. In this great chain of causes and effects, no single fact can be considered in isolation. Hence, today’s reference to the web of life, the concept of nature as we know it today. When nature is perceived as a web, its vulnerability also becomes obvious. Everything hangs together. If one thread is pulled, the whole tapestry may unravel.

In a world where we tend to draw a sharp line between the sciences and the arts, between the subjective and the objective, insight that we can only truly understand nature by using our imagination is visionary. Therefore, an interdisciplinary approach is more relevant than ever. I believe in this free exchange of information and the unification of the Knowledgeable and laypeople to foster communication across disciplines: these are the pillars of our present world. These concepts of nature as one of worldwide patterns underpins our thinking today.

Let’s step back and look at the Big Picture and note what is being included and excluded. Let’s make the most of old knowledge resources blended with new resources now being uncovered. Let’s rediscover Understanding. Do these things for our children. Act today.

Enjoy another wonderful week and be safe out there … Peace and Aloha!

Modern birds originated in Southern Hemisphere about 95 million years ago

Source: Asteroid impact helped create the birds we know today | Science/AAAS | News

Source: For the first time, researchers have proved that a fundamental physics problem is actually unsolvable – ScienceAlert

Wall Street investment houses were eager to generate mortgage-securitized trusts – financial instruments created by bundling thousands of mortgages and selling shares to investors who expected to profit from the combined monthly mortgage payments. To deal with the paperwork involved with securitized trusts, many banks set up a process that came to be called robo-signing – high-volume approval of mortgage transfer documents by employees who didn’t review details and missed troubled mortgages. Hughes argued that when Wells Fargo retroactively attached the Wolfs’ mortgage to a securitized trust that was closed and sold to investors three years earlier, the bank violated a Texas law that prohibits fraudulent real estate filings. The jury agreed, although State District Judge Mike Engelhart hasn’t formally entered the verdict, and the bank and mortgage company haven’t said whether they’ll appeal. Ownership of a deed is created when the promissory note is transferred to a trustee, not when change of ownership is recorded at the county clerk’s office, Wells Fargo’s lawyers argued in court filings. Wells Fargo also argued the Wolfs do not have legal standing to contest whether their note and deed of trust were handled correctly under the trusts’ pooling and servicing agreements. […] homeowners are typically in the background and aren’t involved in buying or selling mortgages, transferring documents into trust agreements or creating mortgage-backed securities. […] this time, the Wolfs could stop the foreclosure – and potentially receive millions of dollars in damages if the jury verdict stands – because of the Texas law that prevents fraudulent filing of documents involving real estate. Dana Karni, a consumer rights lawyer in Houston, said that lenders, as well as companies that buy debt at a discount. then try to collect it, may view occasional legal judgments as a business expense unless juries award millions of dollars or more. A representative from Carrington told them that with the job loss and mounting bills, they would be good candidates for a federal program to help struggling homeowners.

Source: Jury awards $5.4 million to couple after finding fraud in foreclosure case – Houston Chronicle