We’re in the Age of the Anthropocene

People are now in charge of the Earth and we are destroying it. Robert Krulwich writes that Planet Earth is Under New Management. We are no longer in the age of the Holocene.

Earth is being dramatically changed, and the changer, this time, is us: humankind ("anthro" in the Greek). "We are no longer in the Holocene," he told the group. "We are in the Anthropocene." It's a coinage he may have borrowed from biologist Eugene Stoermer, but here's the logic: The Earth is no longer being shaped mainly by natural forces, forces that operate on their own with a logic of their own. Our little blue dot is now, increasingly, sculpted by one of its inhabitants. This is our planet now. We've taken over.

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Frustration with snake handlers

Michael Morris is at it again at Funmentionables. This time he's frustrated with snake handlers. Here's an excerpt:

So let’s make a new First Commandment, even before “Love the Lord your God and your neighbor etc.” and it’s this: “First and foremost, use your brain.” Period. I don’t want to read any more news stories of snake handlers dying in my name.
The article contains an interview with Jesus H. Christ, who corrects some errors in the Bible.

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How Google hires.

Excellent points made in this article describing how Google hires. The title is, "Why Google doesn’t care about hiring top college graduates." These approaches dovetail well with Paul Tough's book, "How Children Succeed." Here's an excerpt:

Google looks for the ability to step back and embrace other people’s ideas when they’re better. “It’s ‘intellectual humility.’ Without humility, you are unable to learn,” Bock says. “Successful bright people rarely experience failure, and so they don’t learn how to learn from that failure.”

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