In the News (from Spiegel Online): “Loneliness is a common feature of Western civilization; the number of people living alone is growing; there is a growing segment of households, designed for single people. Moreover, isolation is characteristic of both the elderly and the youth. Family ties become more fragile. Against a background of declining marriage, the number of families whose members have to live separately is increasing.”

My Comment: It seems like a paradox: The city does not gather, but divides people. Thus direct communication is replace by other means of communication. The growing egoism does not tolerate direct communication. This will lead to all sorts of psychological and social problems. But I think that the crisis is developing faster and will force the acceptance of the need to implement integral education everywhere. And it will change the connection between people. The quality of these connections determines our future.
[92564]

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In the News (from CNET): “A year after Iceland asked its citizens to help write its new constitution by making suggestions via Facebook, voters decide this new draft should be the basis for the upcoming constitution. …

“In the wake of a crushing recession and raging protests, the government decided to rewrite its constitution and asked its citizens for help. Rather than requesting petitions, letters, or phone calls, the government asked people to help draft the new constitution through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.

“Over the course of the year, Iceland’s citizens offered roughly 3,600 comments and 370 suggestions on the draft constitution, which was then drawn up by 25 members of a constitutional council, according to Reuters.

“Two-thirds of Iceland’s population is on Facebook, so during the drafting period the council’s weekly meetings were broadcast live on the council’s website, as well as on the social network. Citizens were able to make their own suggestions, engage in online debates, and follow the proceedings in real-time.”

“The bill’s prologue starts with the following words: ‘We, who inhabit Iceland, want to create a fair society, where everyone is equal. Our different origins enrich all of us as a whole and together we have the responsibility for the legacy of the generations, land and history, nature, language and culture.’

“The main themes which the Constitutional Council has observed during its work have been these three: Distribution of power, transparency and responsibility. …

“The Chapter on Human Rights has been revised and is now called Human Rights and Nature. The Principle of Equality is more detailed than in the present constitution and especially provides that all shall be granted the right to live with dignity. …

“Other new items in the Chapter on Human Rights and Nature are articles on Icelandic nature and environment and an article on resources, which states that resources not under private ownership are owned collectively and eternally by the people of Iceland.” Source

My Comment: If this is not accompanied by integral education, then we end up lagging in all the areas of life with an artificially closed society and dictatorship. I repeat, it is impossible to build anything artificially, meaning with an unprepared society. There will be success only if the scope of laws will be adapted to people, their capabilities, their level of requirements for themselves, and consciousness, instead of to unrealistic ideals.

Society should be equally developed; it should strive consciously for unity and equality. These properties must be instilled in people in advance. And only after that you can begin to implement the project. The ARI Institute offers the state of Iceland the method of integral education and upbringing and volunteers to provide any assistance in its implementation!
[92516]

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In the News(from CNN): “Superstorm Sandy was no freak, say experts, but rather a hint of a coming era when millions of Americans will struggle to survive killer weather.

“They’re telling us we shouldn’t be surprised that this 900-mile-wide monster marched up the East Coast this week paralyzing cities and claiming scores of lives.

“’It’s a foretaste of things to come,’ Princeton University professor Michael Oppenheimer told CNN. ‘Bigger storms and higher sea levels’ will pile on to create a ‘growing threat’ in the coming decades. …

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted in 2007 that the global average sea level would rise between 7 and 23 inches by the end of this century. More recent projections suggest that the melting of Arctic sea ice could mean a rise in excess of 30 inches. The New York State Sea Level Rise Task Force translated that into a local projection of 2 to 5 inches by the 2020s, and with rapid ice melt, the rise could be as much as 5 to 10 inches over the next 15 years. …

“The conclusion of Oppenheimer and his colleagues is that storms will become larger and more powerful.

“’Climate change will probably increase storm intensity and size simultaneously, resulting in a significant intensification of storm surges,’ they wrote. Sandy’s diameter measured much larger than most storms.”

My Comment: Nature will “chastise” us as naughty children until we become smarter, until we come to our senses and realize that this is not a game of ecology, but a lack of balance with nature at the level of “human” —the likeness to it in our mutual love and unity. When will we see the example of this from our “rulers?” But without this, their work, even if initially it was done not for themselves but for the good of society, will be only to the detriment of everyone!
[92488]

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Opinion (Laurence J. Brahm, global activist, author, pioneer social enterprise entrepreneur, political-economist, international mediator, and lawyer based in Beijing): “China loses its competitive advantage. Many foreign manufacturers withdraw their investments from China to neighboring countries – Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, where wages and corruption are not so high. …

“The influx of foreign capital led to the integration of China into the international community. … China’s economy is capitalism on steroids, and there is a danger that it is deflating. … A small group of rich people angers the poor. … Economy becomes more fragile. …

“The new reform in China is impossible without rethinking the existing social values; the cult of money thrives in society. The Chinese model of economic growth cannot reach balance by using only financial and administrative controls. It is necessary to rethink concepts such as social success. And it may just be the biggest challenge for China.”

My Comment: Realizing what social success means is not the biggest but the only problem, and not only for China but for the whole world. This success can be achieved only by educating people. We must “go to the people.” No financial or administrative measures will help. They will only cause resentment and rebellion. But integral education will immediately explain the cause of the crisis and its correction to the general public.
[92407]

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Opinion (George Soros, Chairman of Soros Fund Management and Chairman of the Open Society): “Originally, the European Union was what psychologists call a ‘fantastic object,’ a desirable goal that inspires people’s imaginations. I saw it as the embodiment of an open society – an association of nation-states that gave up part of their sovereignty for the common good and formed a union dominated by no one nation or nationality.

“The euro crisis, however, has turned the EU into something radically different. Member countries are now divided into two classes – creditors and debtors – with the creditors in charge.

“The only way to reverse the trend is to recapture the spirit of solidarity that animated the European project from the start. My goal is to revive the idea of the EU as an instrument of solidarity, not only of discipline.”

My Comment: How many times have we heard the good wishes and thoughts of financiers! But the idea that solidarity was the soul of the European project from the beginning is beautiful. However, how it was expressed? Was it to deny the Portuguese fishing, the only source of their income, and to make the Lithuanians cancel their dairy industry that fed them, etc. in all countries for the benefit of a few powerful countries? Is that solidarity? That is why we have the crisis!
[92260]

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In the News (from China Daily): “A ‘renminbi bloc’ has been formed in East Asia, as nations in the region abandon the US dollar and peg their currency to the Chinese yuan — a major signal of China’s successful bid to internationalize its currency, a research report has said.

“The Peterson Institute for International Economics, or PIIE, said in its latest research that China has moved closer to its long-term goal for the renminbi to become a global reserve currency. …

“And now seven out of 10 economies in the region — including South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand — track the renminbi more closely than they do the US dollar. …

“The PIIE said that renminbi could rise to the status of an international currency in 10 to 15 years if the country can reform its financial market and allow greater access for foreigners via capital account liberalization. In fact, trade is also propelling the rise of the renminbi outside East Asia. …

“The currencies of India, Chile, Israel, South Africa and Turkey all now follow the renminbi closely, in some cases, more so than the dollar.”

My Comment: China does not have time; they need to educate the population; otherwise, it will be just a stumbling block in its development. It is necessary to continue to transform socialism into integral education; this will help equalize the population’s income and unite it for good hegemony in Asia, Africa, and South America.
[92188]

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Opinion (Sergey Tichonov): “It seems that people have angered nature. Along with the hurricane Sandy and the resulting flood in the United States, there were more than 200 regions in 41 countries worldwide, or about 11% of the inhabited land that experienced natural disasters. But out of all these disasters, the world media prefers to talk only about the American one. Many regions of the world were under extreme weather conditions, but the media somehow see only the American tragedy.

“The situation in the USA is only a small part of natural disturbances at a planetary scale. Storms and floods are happening in several regions at once, killing people, and even in larger quantities than in the USA. According to experts, this happened for the first time in the history of systematic meteorological observations.

“The strongest earthquake in 25 years hit Canada. … As a result of heavy rains, water began to flood Buenos Aires; the city halted public transport. … The lagoon city of Venice, Italy, is under water after a week of rain, with flooded ground-floor stores and apartments. … New Zealand and Burma have experienced the power of a huge tornado, and the Thai Meteorological Service warned of the approaching 8-meter killer waves.

“Sadly, the majority of readers and viewers of the ‘impartial’ international media will not know about these disasters with thousands of victims. I understand when the American CNN shows such a cynical selectivity of information, but even the European TV channels are silent. What happened to the Euronews? Even the Russian information space, devoted to the world news, talks about unfortunate Americans left without light and subway, and the closed New York Stock Exchange …”

My Comment: If we live in an egoistic world, then our media talk about what is closer to them. It is not interesting to talk about what happens at the “bottom” (of the map, globe)… And you, don’t you think so?
[92192]

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In the News (from The New York Times): “Hesitantly, climate scientists offered an answer this week that is likely to satisfy no one, themselves included. They simply do not know for sure if the storm was caused or made worse by human-induced global warming.

“They do know, however, that the resulting storm surge along the Atlantic coast was almost certainly intensified by decades of sea-level rise linked to human emissions of greenhouse gases. And they emphasized that Hurricane Sandy, whatever its causes, should be seen as a foretaste of trouble to come as the seas rise faster, the risks of climate change accumulate and the political system fails to respond. …

“Recent decades seem to show an increase in hurricane strength, but hurricanes tend to rise and fall in a recurring cycle over time, so it is possible that natural variability accounts for the recent trends.”

In the News (from Time): “Superstorm Sandy will end up causing about $20 billion in property damages and $10 billion to $30 billion more in lost business, according to IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm. …

“The short-term blow to the economy, though, could subtract about 0.6 percentage point from U.S. economic growth in the October-December quarter, IHS says. Retailers, airlines and home construction firms will likely lose some business. …

“Most homeowners who suffered losses from flooding won’t be able to benefit from their insurance policies. Standard homeowner policies don’t cover flood damage, and few homeowners have flood insurance. …

“Across U.S. industries, disruptions will slow the economy temporarily. Some restaurants and stores will draw fewer customers. Factories may shut down or shorten shifts because of a drop in customer demand.

“Some of those losses won’t be easily made up. Restaurants that lose two or three days of business, for example, won’t necessarily experience a rebound later. And money spent to repair a home may lead to less spending elsewhere.”

In the News (from Interfax): “Hurricanes appear for reasons independent of climate change, but their incredible destructive power came as a direct result of temperature rise on the surface of the planet. It is proven that climate change is happening much faster than it should be according to the best calculations of climatologists. … What will happen if the devastating hurricanes will be repeated every fall and will be followed by abnormally cold winters and hot, dry summers?

“Indeed, the temperature rise in the world is to blame for violent storms, too hot winters in the USA and too cold summers in Europe. …

“The USA, Canada and Europe will suffer either an extremely cold or extremely hot weather. Devastating hurricanes are possible in the fall. This year, satellites recorded the highest rate of ice melting in the Arctic.

“The temperature of the ocean has become higher; the atmosphere has become more humid due to warming. This means that stronger hurricanes draw more moisture, which is then dumped on the coast.”

My Comment: But most of all, we affect nature not physically but spiritually by our egoistic opposition to each other, although nature requires us to be actively included in its system of harmonious integral interaction. The entire still, vegetative, and animate nature instinctively observe this condition. But a human being must learn the system of nature and make a conscious decision to be in balance with it. To follow it, we must to come to the biblical condition: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”
[92103]

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In the News (from LiveScience): “Even 5-year-olds know to protect their reps. Children are more generous when they know their actions will be seen, according to a new study.

“The findings, published Oct. 31 in the journal PLoS One, suggest that even kindergarteners have learned to play the social game and strategize ways to burnish their reputation. …

“Leimgruber’s team gave 5-year-olds stickers and told them they could share one to four of them with another child of the same age. Some of the children could see their sharing partner, while others were hidden from view. The team found that the children were stingier when the other youngster was hidden from them. The kids also hoarded more loot when they had to give stickers in an opaque box rather than a transparent one that showed what they were giving.

“Overall, the kindergarteners were pretty selfish: Only those children who saw their partners and gave their stickers in a clear box consistently donated the maximum of four stickers. Interestingly, past studies showed children were more generous than the current study.

“’Previous studies that observe high levels of generosity may have inadvertently included the same audience and transparency cues,’ that motivate kids to share, the researchers wrote in the journal article.”

My Comment: Well, children are like grown-ups; nature does not change but only evolves and adapts. In any case, we have to become aware of this evil with our minds or through suffering and correct it; in any case, we will have to. Kabbalah calls us to do this quickly and easily through by “Achishena” (hastening).

Let’s discuss our nature, reveal its flows, and expose our natural thoughts and desires up to the point of becoming aware of them as the only evil in the world. It is so much so that it is killing us. In the realization of our common evil, we will discover its creator—the Creator; we will find how to turn to Him so that He will correct what He has created. Studying Baal HaSulam’s main articles helps us become familiar with our nature as evil.
[91986]

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Opinion (from Nature): “The principle that ‘popularity is attractive’ underlies preferential attachment, which is a common explanation for the emergence of scaling in growing networks. If new connections are made preferentially to more popular nodes, then the resulting distribution of the number of connections possessed by nodes follows power laws, as observed in many real networks. Preferential attachment has been directly validated for some real networks (including the Internet) and can be a consequence of different underlying processes based on node fitness, ranking, optimization, random walks or duplication. Here we show that popularity is just one dimension of attractiveness; another dimension is similarity. We develop a framework in which new connections optimize certain trade-offs between popularity and similarity, instead of simply preferring popular nodes. The framework has a geometric interpretation in which popularity preference emerges from local optimization. As opposed to preferential attachment, our optimization framework accurately describes the large-scale evolution of technological (the Internet), social (trust relationships between people) and biological (Escherichia coli metabolic) networks, predicting the probability of new links with high precision. The framework that we have developed can thus be used for predicting new links in evolving networks, and provides a different perspective on preferential attachment as an emergent phenomenon.”

My Comment: A human being was created on the principle of an integral cell of a single network, and anything he creates, he creates based on the same principle because he cannot imagine a different connection.
[91983]

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