Hyenas eat our ancestors for breakfast

Five hundred thousand years ago a hyena was munching on the remains of one of our early human ancestors.

The human remains were found resting in a cave in the suburbs of what is now Casablanca in Morocco, an area known to be rich in fossils.More specifically, it was tucking into the thigh bone of an individual believed to belong to the prehistoric species Homo rhodesiensis,thought to be the common ancestor of both our species and the Neanderthals.

The femur bone was uncovered in a layer of sediment known to be half a million years old. It was unearthed in excavations in 1994 but only "rediscovered" over a decade later. -BBC news 

I thought this was interesting because it's not everyday you hear your great great great great great great etc. ancestor could have been an ancient hyenas breakfast. I don't really know what principle this would fit in with or what it would be like in the ideal world because I really don't mind the fact that we used to be eaten. It's not like we don't eat animals and back then we were just another animal. And besides being eaten by a prehistoric hyena is a pretty cool way to go.

Weasel interferes with physics!

The Large Hadron Collider is offline because a weasel had an encounter with the transformer and caused a "severe electrical perturbation". The weasel did not survive.

In an ideal world, our human actions would not cause death of other creatures. As it is, we can do our best to live the Golden Rule with all the creatures on earth. In this particular case, perhaps a better barrier between the transformer and the animals would be useful to consider.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36173247

PowerShake

PowerShake is a wireless charging system thought of by Paul Worgan of the University of Bristol, in England, with his colleagues. Of course, there have been wireless charging systems before. So what’s different about this one? The answer is that PowerShake is focusing on trying to make phones and other portable electronic devices, such as smartwatches, be able to share their charge. You would be able to share charge by holding a device with a low battery against another device, which would then initiate the power transfer. I thought that that seems like it would make it easy to just steal someone else’s charge, but perhaps they’ll make it so that there’s something else you have to do first.

In testing this idea, however, they found that some people said they wouldn’t want to share their precious battery charge. In response to this, they decided that a form of inducement might help. Vassilis Kostakos, a computer scientist at Oulu University in Finland, said that one possibility is cash. He and his colleagues set up an auction for battery charge, with 22 volunteers. The results showed that most of the people wanted $2.00 for 10% of their power when it was fully charged, and $5.00 for 10% when their charge had depleted to 20%. On average, people wanted $3.00 for 10% of their power.

A principle I think is involved here is the golden rule. If you needed to make an important phone call, but didn’t have the charge to do it with, you’d probably appreciate it if someone was willing to give you some power. Of course, many people probably would want to help, though maybe not if you just wanted to watch some cat video. The ideal situation, I think, would be that everyone would have solar charging capabilities on their devices as well as be able to charge them normally, and possibly be able to share their charge. They would share generously when possible, in device power the same as in everything else.

http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21697800-trading-power-could-free-users-dead-battery-tyranny-buddy-can-you-spare

Ballot

I thought this comic was cynically funny.

Myo

The Myo Gesture Control Armband, being developed by Thalmic Labs, is a wearable device that allows you to control the actions of electronic devices (through Bluetooth) with different hand and arm motions. It feels the movements of your muscles and translates that to what it should do. In a video released about the Myo armband by Thalmic Labs, it showed multiple real-life scenarios where this could be used, including someone who is fixing their bike pausing and rewinding a video that tells him how, someone giving a presentation changing the screen with a twist of their hand, a medical personal changing the view of a patient's scan without having to move away, as well as some uses for toys and in video games, just for fun. There was also another video about the Myo technology being used to make a prosthetic arm, something I found pretty cool. It costs about $200 to buy.

I think that in an ideal world, more people and businesses would work together instead of competing against each other, so that we could further our technology more quickly. Also, that anyone in need of a prosthetic limb would be able to get one without financial difficulty—not by some power forcing them to give their money to help him, but by the simple kindness of others. Actually, scratch that, no one would even be in the circumstances that would make them need a prosthetic limb, though people would still help each other in hard times without the use of government intervention.

First Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te1RBQQlHz4

Prosthetic Arm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSuzMxQDmzg

Monster Trucks and Floods

This past week there was a flood in Millsap, Texas. A woman, Deborah Wright, was trapped in her house when through the flood she saw her neighbor, Cole Geeo, coming to her rescue in his monster truck. He also helped a couple whose car had gone off the side of the road during the flood. Cole's father had helped people in a flood that had happened years before and his father was the inspiration for Cole. Geeo built his monster truck because of his father's good example. This man was applying the Golden Rule to his life. Ideally, everyone would be like this man and want to help where they can. Cole was passionate about helping people with his truck. We should use our assets for the good of others. 
Link here

Harriet Tubman will be the new face of the the $20 bill

The replacement of Andrew Jackson on the front of the new $20 bill with abolitionist Harriet Tubman isn't the only change to new versions of U.S. currency announced Wednesday — five leaders of the women's suffrage movement will also be featured on the back of the $10 bill.

Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul will be on the back of the bill, the Treasury Department announced. Alexander Hamilton's image will still appear on the front of the $10 bill.

"I'm very excited by it and I think it's much bigger than just honoring one woman," Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told NBC News. "This is about saying that our money is going to tell a much bigger part of our story."

I think the principle involved in this is equality. Having women on our currency is helping us get closer to a world where men and women are equally represented. The world is made up of 50% women and 50% men so we should be equally represented in all the things we do.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/anthony-mott-truth-stanton-paul-meet-women-new-10-bill-n559476

ALLIGATOR EATS OTHER significatly smaller ALLIGATOR

Photographer captures gator eating gator!

Photographer Andrew Lilyquist captured a rare image of a gator eating another gator at Circle B Bar Nature Reserve in Lakeland, Florida. 

Link to video

So in the "ideal world" I guess alligators and people and animals in general wouldn't have to eat and just photosynthesise thus solving world hunger and all other eating related problems I guess. So whoop dee do ,perfect world, no eating... sounds great. 

Nigeria

There were several kidnappings of girls in Nigeria. The girls were taken two years ago, but just recently the government received footage of some of the girls begging for the government to cooperate with the militants for their release. If we lived in an ideal world then everyone would follow the Golden Rule; we wouldn't have to worry about kidnappings in the first place so none of this would've happened. These girls would be safe in their homes with their families.

Corporations Are People, People Are Not

Actually the headline was Corporations Are People, FEC Commissioners Are Not. And maybe this story does a better job of covering the situation.

The FEC has ruled that one of their own members is not a person under the law. This is another step in the erosion of the rights of real people, in favor of legal "persons". Remember the Citizen's United case? It gave more political rights to corporations, in the form of unlimited political spending. Meanwhile, individual campaign contributions continue to be limited to $2700. This adds to the many rights granted to corporations, which are not granted to real people, such as limited liability, immortality and taxation on net income instead of gross income.

Principles are obvious: Corporations are not people; Money is not speech.

For the ideal world, I will quote from D&C 104:50 "And you shall do your business in your own name, and in your own names." There is no hiding your actions behind corporate limited liability in Zion.

Muslims vs. Muslims

This bombing in the news caught my attention this week.

Iraq: Bombing at Soccer Stadium Kills At Least 41

Of course, this bombing is being under-reported, because it belies the propaganda that Muslims are at war with Christians. If Muslims are bombing Muslims, what are the real issues?

Of course, in an ideal world, no one would throw bombs at anyone else, but failing at that, we could at least stop using God as an excuse for killing people, and stop using those who claim to kill in the name of God, as an excuse to persecute honest people from the same religion. We are not all jihadists and inquisitors.

Playing into IS's plan

L"It is never a good idea to do what the terrorists want you to do, yet so many people are doing exactly that. The goal of terrorist groups is not simply to kill people but to influence their target group."

This article by a former CIA counter terrorism agent is, in my opinion, something everyone should read. It is so easy to imagine Trump's comments, especially, being excerpted and included in terrorist recruitment videos. Frightening thought. The terrorists want to convince all Muslims that the non-Muslim world hates them. Too many people in the spotlight are making that goal easier. 

In an ideal world, we would respect the lives of others and follow the Golden Rule. This would stop both military actions and terrorism, and additionally Trump wouldn't say such awful things. 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/27/opinions/getting-terrorism-completely-wrong-opinion-hasler/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Candidates ranked after being fact checked

A couple weeks ago we talked about fact checking and this mentioned that so I thought I might as well post it and it was also just interesting to see the candidates compared this way. From what I've heard about these guys it doesn't seem like any of them are ideal but if I was able to vote I think I would go with the most honest person because even if they aren't amazing at least you can trust them...most of the time. I think the principle for this would be honesty and it's importance. Link --> http://www.startribune.com/assessing-the-candidates-overall-truthfulness/372603041/?from-mobile=true

Brooks' Place BBQ

On January 1, 2016, a law was passed in Texas, making it so that open carry of handguns is no longer prohibited. You still need a license to carry a gun, concealed or not, but now that license will allow you to carry your gun openly. Private institutions, such as businesses, can ban them on their private property if they so please. But one well-regarded business, Brooks’ Place, a small BBQ trailer in Cypress, Texas, is openly supporting gun carry.

The same day as the new law came out, Trent Brooks, the owner, made a 25% discount for all open carriers. Soon this was lowered to a 10% discount for open and concealed carry, where it remains as of today.

The responses have been mostly positive, though he did get a threat on facebook. Someone posted, "I'll shoot up the place on Saturday. Let's see how your gun toting patrons will stop me." However, Brooks didn’t close on Saturday. No attack came.

When I saw the title while looking at the news, This Texas barbecue joint will give you a discount for carrying a gun, my first reaction was, “Well, that might be a little too much.” But as I read about it, I decided that it really wasn’t, and that it’s good that he’s standing up for our right to self-defence.

Sources (and further reading):

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-texas-barbecue-guns-20160119-story.html

http://www.ammoland.com/2016/02/tx-brooks-place-bbq-offers-discount-for-open-carry/#axzz43sUmmRZy

http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/cyfair/news/article/Houston-area-BBQ-favorite-25-percent-off-for-6735344.php#photo-9186521

Stealing a donation Jar? Really?

There's been a setback for a Utah girl raising money for a humanitarian trip to Central America this summer. Her donation jar went missing, but surveillance video shows exactly how it disappeared. Here is the first link: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=39026468&nid=148

With the help of a few new tips from the public, police detectives were working Thursday to identify two women who stole a donation jar from a Tony burgers restaurant last week.

Surveillance video from the Salt Lake City restaurant, 613 E. 400 South, shows one woman distracting an employee while the other stuffs the donation jar under her coat and walks out.

"These girls had come in and asked for a Band-Aid, and when the person at the register went to go grab it, they had taken the jar," said Laura Carver, who was raising the money for a humanitarian trip to Nicaragua.

Carver estimates there was between $150 and $200 in the jar.

Click for full story: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=39038816&nid=148&title=police-following-leads-to-identify-2-women-who-stole-donation-jar

This goes with the value of Honesty. is a couple hundred dollars really worth your integrity? 

Cruel and Unusual

Trump wants to make waterboarding legal. Around the time of the attack on Brussels, Salah Abdeslam was arrested because he is suspected of planning the terrorists attacks in Paris in November. Trump states "Frankly, the waterboarding, if it was up to me, and if we changed the laws or had the laws, waterboarding would be fine. If they could expand the laws, I would do a lot more than waterboarding. You have to get the information from these people." This is not cool because it goes against the eighth amendment. "[no] cruel and unusual punishments inflicted" It is just plain wrong. It also goes against the Golden rule in the sense that you should treat people like they are human and not some sort of animal. No one should torture anyone.
The link here

More terror attacks to come

This article about the trained IS fighters is terrifying but also brings home the reality that this isn't a battle or a war we can win. Our military and Europe's militaries have violiated these countries enough, and now they have the expertise and resources to make loud and deadly protests. It's not going to get better if we continue on the same course of military occupation and action. 

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/ap-islamic-fighters-target-europe-for-maximum-carnage/article_a437e7b7-193e-5988-905e-11fe7d14df70.html

Letter from the First Presidency

My son, Alex, pointed out this letter from the First Presidency, in 1941 (Heber J. Grant was Prophet):

Returning to our your original letter and our reply thereto regarding the selling of Defense Bonds. The Church as a Church does not believe in war and yet since its organization whenever war has come we have done our part. Our members served in the war with Mexico, not such much in the Civil War because we were so far away, but our members went into the Spanish-American War and they went into the World War, and the records will show that they acquitted themselves honorably. But, nevertheless, we repeat, we are against war. We believe that international difficulties can and should be settled by peaceful means, and that America’s great mission in the world is to bring this about. We believe that our entry into this present war by sending our men abroad (and this seems now to be deliberately planned) would constitute not only a mistake but a tragedy. We believe that the present war is merely a breaking out again of the old spirit of hatred and envy that has afflicted Europe for a period of a thousand years at least. We do not believe that this war will settle anything when it is over because we believe that the peace, whoever dictates it, will be primarily the outgrowth of hate, and hate never settled anything righteously.

However, we do thoroughly believe in building up our home defenses to the maximum extent necessary, but we do not believe that aggression should be carried on in the name and under the false cloak of defense. (!) We therefore look with sorrowing eyes at the present use to which a great part of the funds being raised by taxes and by borrowing is being put. We are much impressed with the views of those military and naval men who say we are not militarily threatened(Lindberg). We believe that our real threat comes from within and not from without, and it comes from that underlying spirit common to Naziism, Fascism, and Communism, namely, the spirit which would array class against class, which would set up a socialistic state of some sort, which would rob the people of the liberties which we possess under the Constitution, and would set up such a reign of terror as exists now in many parts of Europe. We feel that our defenses should be built against this danger even more than the touted danger of foreign military invasion which many responsible military men tell us cannot come.

Can you count the principles here? 

Pacifism, civic duty, self-defence, non-aggression, peace cannot come from hate (also known as violence can only beget more violence), liberty, honesty, cleanse the inner vessel first, free market, to name a few.

Civic Duty in Brazil

There are interesting things happening in Brazil.

A scandal involving the state oil company (Petrobras) and the former President (Lula da Silva) has taken a bizarre turn when the current president (Dilma Rousseff) appointed him to her (yes, President Rousseff is a woman) cabinet, in a attempt (according to recorded phone conversations) to help him avoid prosecution, because cabinet ministers get special priviledges regarding prosecutions and have never been successfully prosecuted.

Millions of Brazilians are protesting in the streets over the corruption, and the supreme court of Brazil has declared the appointment illegal.

Brazil has been a economic success story under da Silva (who is socialist, but a fiscal conservative), but the economy is in chaos over the recent scandals. “I voted for Lula, but now I think he is a thief.”

So we have flagrant corruption in the government on one hand (violations of the Golden Rule), and on the other hand, this has incentivized the people to get involved (civic duty). But civic duty has to be a constant thing, not just a single event, because the temptation for corruption with government power is a constant thing.

Personal Responsibility & Self Reliance

I thought this article was interesting, discussing the people in America who are angry and longing for a past day of greatness and those who are optimistic about the future. As a woman, I feel like today is a much better time to be alive than any time in the past, and I know that minorities feel the same. It is easy to romanticize the past and sweep the ugly stuff under the rug, but I don't think that does any good. If we want to really make progress as a society, we need to acknowledge the ugliness in the past so we can improve on things now. 

Here's a paragraph from the article that stood out to me: 

"For every disgruntled person out there who felt undone by the system and threatened by the way the country was changing, caught in the bind of stagnant wages or longing for an America of the past, we found someone who had endured decades of discrimination and hardship and yet still felt optimistic about the future and had no desire to go back. In this season of discontent, there were still as many expressions of hope as of fear. On a larger level, there were as many communities enjoying a sense of revival as there were fighting against deterioration and despair."

http://wapo.st/1U9I302