"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
Stock Your Mind
My friend, Agent Karanja, in Kenya made a post calling for Africa to arise and pointing out the importance of education. I couldn't agree more. As a teacher, and the daughter of two teachers, I know firsthand just how far an education can take one. Actually, I don't. I'm still trying to find the limits but I don't think there are any.
In response to his call to action, I posted the following quote from the book Angela's Ashes:
"You have to study and learn so that you can make up your own mind about history and everything else but you can't make up an empty mind. Stock your mind, stock your mind. It is your house of treasure and no one in the world can interfere with it. You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace."
In the story, author Frank McCourt recalls his history teacher Mr. O'Hallahan giving this advice to a bunch of rowdy Irish lads who would soon be let loose on the world. The autobiographical book itself is a tough read at times - alternating between dark humor and horrible scenes of endemic poverty in Ireland back in the 1940s and 1950s. But that quote struck home because I was hearing the same thing from my parents. I didn't grow up in endemic poverty, but things occasionally were tight on the subsistence farm I grew up on. And my parents wanted to be sure I had the skills and knowledge to take care of myself and have other opportunities if I wanted to take advantage of such.
Over the years, I have had many teachers - formal and informal, books and nature. I think it is valuable to remember that some of our most important lessons don't come from books. In fact, books are only a recent invention in the history of humanity.
We learn from watching others, asking questions, trying it out on our own and making mistakes. Books (and computers) are just a fancy way of carrying around the thoughts of others in a permanent form. Many of the communities where we will be collaborating to solve problems have a wealth of knowledge and skills, even if they lack libraries and cybercafes.
Certainly the skills we bring to the situation have value. But they are worthless if we cannot meld these ideas with current local capacity and build/expand that capacity. So sharing here is a way to stock our minds and prepare for the work that is to come.
In response to his call to action, I posted the following quote from the book Angela's Ashes:
"You have to study and learn so that you can make up your own mind about history and everything else but you can't make up an empty mind. Stock your mind, stock your mind. It is your house of treasure and no one in the world can interfere with it. You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace."
In the story, author Frank McCourt recalls his history teacher Mr. O'Hallahan giving this advice to a bunch of rowdy Irish lads who would soon be let loose on the world. The autobiographical book itself is a tough read at times - alternating between dark humor and horrible scenes of endemic poverty in Ireland back in the 1940s and 1950s. But that quote struck home because I was hearing the same thing from my parents. I didn't grow up in endemic poverty, but things occasionally were tight on the subsistence farm I grew up on. And my parents wanted to be sure I had the skills and knowledge to take care of myself and have other opportunities if I wanted to take advantage of such.
Over the years, I have had many teachers - formal and informal, books and nature. I think it is valuable to remember that some of our most important lessons don't come from books. In fact, books are only a recent invention in the history of humanity.
We learn from watching others, asking questions, trying it out on our own and making mistakes. Books (and computers) are just a fancy way of carrying around the thoughts of others in a permanent form. Many of the communities where we will be collaborating to solve problems have a wealth of knowledge and skills, even if they lack libraries and cybercafes.
Certainly the skills we bring to the situation have value. But they are worthless if we cannot meld these ideas with current local capacity and build/expand that capacity. So sharing here is a way to stock our minds and prepare for the work that is to come.
Views: 118
Comment
Latest Activity
Fourth of July on the Lake
This past weekend was the annual celebration at the lake house in Connecticut. It is amazing that the lake is still so clear and beautiful after all these years. The watershed association has done a wonderful job protecting these waters from the damaging effects of development.The wood grill was finally ready to cook on, so we didn't miss the propane tank fueled grill anymore. The food actually tasted fresher than in the past and was easy to keep fueled.Dad was very proud of the solar hybrid…See More
Stinging Nettle
In this blog post I will focus on a plant that is abundant in our nature, and which is immensely nutritious. It's of course the Stinging Nettle. Let's start with the chemical constituents of this plant:37 % Non-Nitrogen-Extracts19 - 29 % Ash9 - 21 % Fiber4 % Fat22 % ProteinOnce the leaves are drid, their protein content can reach an astounding 40 %, which is much higher than beef, which even under the best of circ**stances can never exceed 31 % protein. In addition the Stinging Nettle consists…See More
The meal
It is 7'oclock, I was late home from work due to an assignment that i wanted to get ahead on. By the time I get home I am feeling extremley tired and I cannot be bothered to make a proper meal. I walk to the fridge and open it to see what there is for me to eat. All of the out of date foodstuffs have been automaticaly thrown away by the fridge, they will be recycled tomorrow as animal feed or something. I see i have organic local eggs and some local cheese. Foods are vacc** sealded for easy…See More
Future
FutureToday is 2020/1/1. It is just like yesterday. The war is still continuing. It has started since 2010. In 2010, that year was a horrible year. Almost every energy ran out. Every country’s governments were crushed down at the same time. There were riots everywhere. All of the big company’s bosses were killed xdeadx in the riots. Troops fought each other everywhere. Food was bought up xawayx at once. There were no more food supplies in any shops. The economy was all crushed down. All the…See More
public servants
The exchange works directly for state and public workers and servants. It gives them credit in exchange for the amount of public work they contribute to the community. The more constructive they are based off a base rate the more credit they recieve.
© 2024 Created by Alchemy.
Powered by
You need to be a member of Urgent Evoke to add comments!
Join Urgent Evoke