1. UN report shows world population growing faster than previously projected
2. Richmond City Council considering zoning for shoreline open space June 7
3. The "clean" facade of biomass burning - June 9
4. Towering lodgepole pines, smoke-blue spruce, and endless, aching expanse of aspen
5. Abraham Lincoln, book reviewer
6. Restoration experts: post your qualifications on Thumbtack
7. Three San Franciscans map the culture, history, and change in Laramie
8. Join GG Audubon at Pier 94 tomorrow, June 4
9. GGP supporters: Sunday Streets June 12/leafleting opportunity/"GGP Under Siege"
10. Camp Mather lottery registration begins Monday June 6
11. U.S. weights tighter restrictions on fire retardant drops/overcoming 'timber-itch'
12. SFPUC to present variety of development options for Francisco Reservoir
13. Something phishy - Gmail under attack
14. Seabirds among California's most fascinating birds, and most threatened.
15. Notes & Queries: Did evil exist before the advent of Homo sapiens?
1. From Population Institute
• UN Report Shows World Population Growing Faster than Previously Projected
The U.N. has issued a revised world population forecast that shows population growing faster than previously projected. The new "medium variant" forecast issued by the U.N. shows world population reaching the 7 billion mark in October of 2011, reaching 9.3 billion by 2050 and 10.1 billion by the end of the 21st century. Hania Zlotnick, director of the population division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, warned that the new projection has "serious implications" for the ability to provide food, water, energy, education and employment for millions of people in the world's poorest nations.
• World Bank President says the Food Crisis has entered the “Danger Zone”
On April 14, World Bank president Robert Zellick warned that the world food crisis has entered the "danger zone." Food stocks are so low that another round of bad harvests could send food prices soaring still higher. According to the World Bank's index of basic food commodities, prices last month were 36% above a year earlier.
• India’s Population Rises to 1.2 billion
The government of India released the results of its recent decennial census. The provisional results indicated that the population of India has grown by about 17.64% between 2001 and 2011. The population of India, 1.21 billion, is now almost equal to the combined population of USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan put together and will likely exceed 1.4 billion by 2030,surpassing China's population and making India the world’s most populous nation.
• Federal Budget Cuts International Family Planning Funding by 5%
The Federal Budget was approved last month with $615 million in funding for international family planning and reproductive health programs for the current fiscal year (FY2011). The $615 million is a 5% cut from the funding level from last year (FY 2010) which was $648 million. This breaks down to $575 million in bilateral assistance and $40 million for the United Nations Population Fund. While the $615 million is far short of the $1 billion appropriation that advocates of international family planning say is required in order to achieve universal access to reproductive health care by 2015, opponents were gearing up for far larger cuts in funding.
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2. Tuesday June 7 at 6:30pm
Support Open Space on the North Richmond Shoreline
Richmond City Council
450 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond, CA 94804
(on Barrett/Macdonald Avenues between 25th Street & 27th Street)
It's crucial that you attend the June 7 meeting to support protection of the North Shoreline. The City Council will vote whether or not to approve the Parks and Open Space zoning. Ask the Council to do the right thing-- to preserve an open vista of shoreline for generations to come. Once it's developed, it's gone. Urge the Council to not make the mistake of the last generation which privatized and polluted the shoreline with industrial and big box uses.
This new Richmond General Plan envisions the North Richmond Shoreline as a natural open space restored and protected to continue its historical function as vital habitat and provide enhanced opportunities for public access and recreation. This is the right thing to do.
The North Richmond shoreline, where Rheem Creek flows into San Pablo Bay, is home to millions of migrating birds. Its 500 acres of tidal marshes and 800 acres of mudflats shelter many threatened and endangered species. Just off shore is the largest eelgrass bed in SF Bay - important feeding, escape and breeding habitat for many species of invertebrates, waterfowl, and fishes. Preserving this shoreline corridor as open space offers a unique opportunity to create a visible edge to the city with stunning long views in every direction.
Come out and show your support to preserve the environment and wildlife along the Richmond shoreline
You can also send an email supporting parks and open space to your City Council Members: HERE!
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3. “Worse than Coal?” Biomass Discussion - June 9, 2011
Increasingly, state and federal policies are promoting biomass energy generation — essentially, burning trees to generate electricity — as a "renewable" and "carbon neutral" source of power. The Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed exempting biomass burners from key Clean Air Act regulations that can dramatically reduce carbon pollution and help us in the ever-more urgent fight against climate change.
In California, a number of state renewable energy and greenhouse gas-reduction programs are proposing to include biomass energy without determining the carbon balance and their ecosystem impacts, threatening to create perverse incentives to mine forests for fuel to the detriment to forest ecosystems, while also causing increased greenhouse gas emissions.
Join the Center for Biological Diversity’s Senior Attorney Kevin Bundy and California Climate Policy Director Brian Nowicki in a discussion titled “Worse than Coal? Why Burning Trees for Energy Isn’t Clean, Renewable or a Solution to the Climate Crisis.” We’ll talkabout recent scientific work that raises serious questions regarding the "clean" facade of biomass burning and the carbon-accounting methods used to conclude that biomass emissions have no effect on the climate. Come learn why emissions from woody biomass burning can be even worse than coal, and what needs to be done to ensure biomass energy programs provide real benefits to our forests and climate.
When: 5:30 p.m. refreshments, 6 p.m. talk
Where: Center for Biological Diversity office
351 California St., Suite 600 (between Sansome and Battery; a five-minute walk from the Montgomery Street BART)
Cost: Free
Contact Climate Campaign Director Rose Braz for more information or Click here to RSVP.
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4. Field Study: Aberdeen, Scotland
Dendrology is not the study of dendrites, but rather,
as a Scottish dendrologist explained,
the discipline of discerning a tree in the distance by its form--
its arching limbs, sprawling crown, the silhouette of a single trunk.
In a country almost wiped clean of trees a century ago,
there is such a love for them that small boys
know the difference between lanky branches of a wych elm
and the contained posture of an English oak.
I carry my notebook as we pick our way
among heather, sheep, and spiny gorse
and sketch these rare, leafy bodies--their distant forms,
their twisted shape against wind off the North Sea.
But it is only in the quiet of my chilly dormitory room,
gazing out the window at lithe red petioles of a sycamore about to turn,
that I understand my great grandmother who left Scotland
years before this generation of saplings took root--
her quiet marveling in a brogue I only knew as hers
as we drove through the canyons of Utah
with their towering lodge-pole pines, smoke-blue spruce,
and the endless, aching expanse of aspen.
Molly Wimbiscus
Dr Wimbiscus is at the Cleveland Medical Center
Read by Dr David Watts at the UCSF Thursday noon concerts
######################################################
5. People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.
Book review by Abraham Lincoln
2. Richmond City Council considering zoning for shoreline open space June 7
3. The "clean" facade of biomass burning - June 9
4. Towering lodgepole pines, smoke-blue spruce, and endless, aching expanse of aspen
5. Abraham Lincoln, book reviewer
6. Restoration experts: post your qualifications on Thumbtack
7. Three San Franciscans map the culture, history, and change in Laramie
8. Join GG Audubon at Pier 94 tomorrow, June 4
9. GGP supporters: Sunday Streets June 12/leafleting opportunity/"GGP Under Siege"
10. Camp Mather lottery registration begins Monday June 6
11. U.S. weights tighter restrictions on fire retardant drops/overcoming 'timber-itch'
12. SFPUC to present variety of development options for Francisco Reservoir
13. Something phishy - Gmail under attack
14. Seabirds among California's most fascinating birds, and most threatened.
15. Notes & Queries: Did evil exist before the advent of Homo sapiens?
1. From Population Institute
• UN Report Shows World Population Growing Faster than Previously Projected
The U.N. has issued a revised world population forecast that shows population growing faster than previously projected. The new "medium variant" forecast issued by the U.N. shows world population reaching the 7 billion mark in October of 2011, reaching 9.3 billion by 2050 and 10.1 billion by the end of the 21st century. Hania Zlotnick, director of the population division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, warned that the new projection has "serious implications" for the ability to provide food, water, energy, education and employment for millions of people in the world's poorest nations.
• World Bank President says the Food Crisis has entered the “Danger Zone”
On April 14, World Bank president Robert Zellick warned that the world food crisis has entered the "danger zone." Food stocks are so low that another round of bad harvests could send food prices soaring still higher. According to the World Bank's index of basic food commodities, prices last month were 36% above a year earlier.
• India’s Population Rises to 1.2 billion
The government of India released the results of its recent decennial census. The provisional results indicated that the population of India has grown by about 17.64% between 2001 and 2011. The population of India, 1.21 billion, is now almost equal to the combined population of USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan put together and will likely exceed 1.4 billion by 2030,surpassing China's population and making India the world’s most populous nation.
• Federal Budget Cuts International Family Planning Funding by 5%
The Federal Budget was approved last month with $615 million in funding for international family planning and reproductive health programs for the current fiscal year (FY2011). The $615 million is a 5% cut from the funding level from last year (FY 2010) which was $648 million. This breaks down to $575 million in bilateral assistance and $40 million for the United Nations Population Fund. While the $615 million is far short of the $1 billion appropriation that advocates of international family planning say is required in order to achieve universal access to reproductive health care by 2015, opponents were gearing up for far larger cuts in funding.
######################################################
2. Tuesday June 7 at 6:30pm
Support Open Space on the North Richmond Shoreline
Richmond City Council
450 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond, CA 94804
(on Barrett/Macdonald Avenues between 25th Street & 27th Street)
It's crucial that you attend the June 7 meeting to support protection of the North Shoreline. The City Council will vote whether or not to approve the Parks and Open Space zoning. Ask the Council to do the right thing-- to preserve an open vista of shoreline for generations to come. Once it's developed, it's gone. Urge the Council to not make the mistake of the last generation which privatized and polluted the shoreline with industrial and big box uses.
This new Richmond General Plan envisions the North Richmond Shoreline as a natural open space restored and protected to continue its historical function as vital habitat and provide enhanced opportunities for public access and recreation. This is the right thing to do.
The North Richmond shoreline, where Rheem Creek flows into San Pablo Bay, is home to millions of migrating birds. Its 500 acres of tidal marshes and 800 acres of mudflats shelter many threatened and endangered species. Just off shore is the largest eelgrass bed in SF Bay - important feeding, escape and breeding habitat for many species of invertebrates, waterfowl, and fishes. Preserving this shoreline corridor as open space offers a unique opportunity to create a visible edge to the city with stunning long views in every direction.
Come out and show your support to preserve the environment and wildlife along the Richmond shoreline
You can also send an email supporting parks and open space to your City Council Members: HERE!
######################################################
3. “Worse than Coal?” Biomass Discussion - June 9, 2011
Increasingly, state and federal policies are promoting biomass energy generation — essentially, burning trees to generate electricity — as a "renewable" and "carbon neutral" source of power. The Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed exempting biomass burners from key Clean Air Act regulations that can dramatically reduce carbon pollution and help us in the ever-more urgent fight against climate change.
In California, a number of state renewable energy and greenhouse gas-reduction programs are proposing to include biomass energy without determining the carbon balance and their ecosystem impacts, threatening to create perverse incentives to mine forests for fuel to the detriment to forest ecosystems, while also causing increased greenhouse gas emissions.
Join the Center for Biological Diversity’s Senior Attorney Kevin Bundy and California Climate Policy Director Brian Nowicki in a discussion titled “Worse than Coal? Why Burning Trees for Energy Isn’t Clean, Renewable or a Solution to the Climate Crisis.” We’ll talkabout recent scientific work that raises serious questions regarding the "clean" facade of biomass burning and the carbon-accounting methods used to conclude that biomass emissions have no effect on the climate. Come learn why emissions from woody biomass burning can be even worse than coal, and what needs to be done to ensure biomass energy programs provide real benefits to our forests and climate.
When: 5:30 p.m. refreshments, 6 p.m. talk
Where: Center for Biological Diversity office
351 California St., Suite 600 (between Sansome and Battery; a five-minute walk from the Montgomery Street BART)
Cost: Free
Contact Climate Campaign Director Rose Braz for more information or Click here to RSVP.
######################################################
4. Field Study: Aberdeen, Scotland
Dendrology is not the study of dendrites, but rather,
as a Scottish dendrologist explained,
the discipline of discerning a tree in the distance by its form--
its arching limbs, sprawling crown, the silhouette of a single trunk.
In a country almost wiped clean of trees a century ago,
there is such a love for them that small boys
know the difference between lanky branches of a wych elm
and the contained posture of an English oak.
I carry my notebook as we pick our way
among heather, sheep, and spiny gorse
and sketch these rare, leafy bodies--their distant forms,
their twisted shape against wind off the North Sea.
But it is only in the quiet of my chilly dormitory room,
gazing out the window at lithe red petioles of a sycamore about to turn,
that I understand my great grandmother who left Scotland
years before this generation of saplings took root--
her quiet marveling in a brogue I only knew as hers
as we drove through the canyons of Utah
with their towering lodge-pole pines, smoke-blue spruce,
and the endless, aching expanse of aspen.
Molly Wimbiscus
Dr Wimbiscus is at the Cleveland Medical Center
Read by Dr David Watts at the UCSF Thursday noon concerts
######################################################
5. People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.
Book review by Abraham Lincoln
######################################################
6.
I've been searching for restoration experts, and I was excited to find you.
It's too hard to find trustworthy, quality service providers, and Thumbtack is changing that. We're growing really fast, we need more restoration experts, and I think you're a perfect fit!
Posting on Thumbtack is a great way to advertise yourself and it's completely free for service providers like you.
All you need to do to post your information is visit thumbtack.com.
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7. Mapping culture, history and change in Laramie
What is Laramie? This winter, creative writing graduate students at the University of Wyoming teamed with author Rebecca Solnit and cartographers Ben Pease and Shizue Seigel to answer that question. The series of maps and essays that resulted provide a nuanced portrait of place -- one that pairs missile silos with beetle kill, ghosts with cottonwoods, the wild West with its longstanding Asian influences.
The students explain the stories behind the maps in an interactive slideshow accompanying the story, which you can view at HCN.org. Click on the audio icons to hear each map's story.
Also in this issue, we feature a review of Solnit's other foray into mapmaking: Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas. Reviewer Jeremy Miller calls it a topographical ode...interweaving vivid maps with short historical travelogues, Solnit and her fellow contributors offer unique perspectives on a city that is continually rising up and ebbing away." View images and learn more about these two mapping projects at HCN.org.
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8. Join Golden Gate Audubon at Pier 94, on San Francisco’s South Eastern Waterfront
Saturday, June 4, 2011 from 9:00 a.m. until noon
As part of our ongoing efforts to restore wetlands in San Francisco Bay , we will continue at Pier 94, throughout the year. Activities include invasive plant removal, trash pickup, monitoring, and planting. See California Sea-blite and winter shorebirds and waterbirds. Currently part of National Audubon’s program “Together Green Volunteer Days” inspiring people everywhere to take action to improve the health of our environment.
Directions: Find your way to 480 Amador St. in San Francisco (an office for a neighbor). Just ahead you will see a small sign next to the left of white barriers. This is the entrance to Pier 94. Park in front of the barriers.
Public Transit: The Muni Metro T-Line stops at Marin, which is located a couple blocks before Cargo Way on Third Street. Please visit www.511.org for a transit planner from your location. Follow the directions above from Third Street turning onto Cargo Way.
Please wear sturdy close toed shoes, weather appropriate clothes, hat and sunscreen. Bring a water bottle if you have one to minimize trash. We’ll provide instruction, gloves, tools, snacks and water
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9. TO ALL SUPPORTERS OF GOLDEN GATE PARK:
1. SF Ocean Edge volunteers meeting – June 5th, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
2. Outreach opportunity – June 12th, Sunday Streets – come have fun with your fellow Ocean Edgers! Other dates available.
3. Leafleting opportunity – get exercise and get to know the neighborhoods!
4. Commonwealth Club panel discussion “Golden Gate Park Under Siege” is now available on-line – see our website for links
5. New video on the Soccer Fields by film maker Dexter Ho and crew
1. Volunteers meeting:
Sunday, June 5th, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. , 1243 42nd Avenue between Lincoln and Irving
Come and learn what’s going on and what you can do to help. Enjoy great snacks! (Bring great snacks!)
2. Volunteers needed for the following events.
You will meet wonderful people, people who love our parks. People all over San Francisco are grateful that we are reaching out to inform them about the threats to Golden Gate Park.
Sunday Streets: Sunday, June 12th, 11:00 – 4:00 p.m. · Bayview, 3rd Street from Bayview Opera House to Dogpatch, Lower Potrero Hill. Join our volunteers if only for an hour or two, and then go off and enjoy the day. This is a fun way to talk to people and enlist their support, and a great way to get to know other parts of the City. Bring a friend! Let us know, so that we can give you our table location.
(Next date: July 10th: Great Highway and Golden Gate Park)
Oak Woodland Trails improvement meeting: June 15; July 13- Leafleting: 5:30 to 6:30. Meeting starts: 6:00 (ends at 7:30 p.m.) GGP Senior Center (Fulton near 37th Avenue). Come a little early and hand out leaflets at the door. Oak Woodlands folks are interested in habitat and appreciate being informed about the damage to the habitat that the soccer fields will cause.
Ocean Beach Vision Plan public workshop/open house: Saturday, June 4th. Leaflet anytime between 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. GGP Senior Center, Fulton and 36th Avenue. Hand out leaflets as folks arrive to view the most recent plans for Ocean Beach - from the Cliff House to the Zoo. While you are there, give input on any plans near Golden Gate Park and ask to keep the Park a place for nature – not development! Go to our website for links to this project.
3. Can’t come to a scheduled event? Need exercise? Interested in getting to know the neighborhood? Come join us in distributing leaflets!
Many, many people in the Outer Sunset and Richmond Districts still do not know about the soccer fields project (or the water treatment factory!). Join your fellow Ocean Edgers in walking the local area and leaving leaflets. Let us know you are interested, and we’ll have a leafleting party.
4. Commonwealth Club Panel program “Golden Gate Park Under Siege” now available:
We are adding video to the audiotape. Go to our website for more information and links. www.sfoceanedge.org
5. New video on the Beach Chalet soccer fields project now available:
Video just completed by film maker Dexter Ho and his talented crew - go to the link and enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_DdK1IOcJs
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10. Camp Mather Fall Lottery Registration Begins Monday, June 6!
Enjoy the beauty of Camp Mather this fall. Registration for the Camp Mather Family Camp Fall Lottery opens Monday, June 6, and closes at 12 midnight on Monday, July 4. Camp dates are:
Thursday, Sept. 8- Monday, Sept. 12
Thursday, Sept. 15 - Monday, Sept. 19
Reservation availability is based on your lottery placement combined with the preferences you choose at the time of registration. For more information on how to register, click here.
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11. Weekly Update: Forest Service News May 31, 2011
U.S. weighs tighter restrictions on fire retardant drops – Los Angeles Times
The proposed limits are intended to reduce drops on and near waterways, where they can kill fish, and to slightly expand the acreage that is off limits to retardant releases for ecological reasons.
Overcoming 'timber-itch' – Miami Herald
Jim Furnish, former deputy chief of the Forest Service, argues that the agency needs a progressive planning framework that charts a clear path towards sustainability, water and wildlife protection, and diverse recreational values of the natural landscape.
Boulder researchers: Chemical in wildfire smoke harmful to humans – Daily Camera
Smoke from forest fires contains an acid that can be harmful to human health, according to new research that was conducted, in part, during last year's devastating Fourmile Fire.
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12. Francisco Reservoir - From Russian Hill Improvement Assn:
Despite the apparent inactivity and continued deterioration of the reservoir property, progress is being made. While we continue to press the PUC to remedy the hazard they have created, representatives of Aquatic Park Neighbors (APN), Russian Hill Improvement Association (RHIA) and Russian Hill Neighbors (RHN) met with Supervisor Farrell and PUC officials in recent months to provide input on the future of the reservoir property. Supervisor Farrell also met independently with PUC General Manager, Ed Harrington and other PUC real estate personnel. The entire process slowed this spring when the PUC proposed elimination of existing real estate personnel, but is now moving again.
Last December, RHIA met with Gary Dowd of the PUC and PUC consultant David Prowler to hear their latest proposal and provide feedback. Well aware of RHIA's preference for open space and involvement in getting the 2008 Reservoir Open Space resolution passed by the Board of Supervisors, Mr. Prowler claimed that development of the property is necessary to pay for removal of the reservoir and maintenance of a small park to be retained somewhere on the site. When asked about reservoir removal costs though, Mr. Prowler said they had not prepared a budget. Mr. Prowler then used cardboard cutouts of "pocket parks" around the City to show how a small park could be part of a new development, but had no specifics when it came to the amount of open space or the size, type or location of development desired. Having previously stated RHIA's position in favor of 100% open space and unable to provide specific feedback to their general development/park concept, RHIA agreed to respond if a specific proposal is timely submitted. RHIA also requested that the PUC provide their budget for reservoir removal.
The PUC now believes they will be ready to present a variety of development options sometime in late-June or early-July. RHIA and our APN and RHN counter-parts will keep you informed and ask that you stay actively involved. Although we may be tempted to start dreaming about a beautiful new open space, park or community garden, our focus must remain on getting the PUC to acknowledge that there is no development value for them in this City-owned open space. Until that time comes, the PUC is likely to ignore the reservoir's growing liability and allow further deterioration of the property in hopes of gaining community support for it's removal and development.
If you have any questions or comments, please visit www.franciscoreservoir.org<http://www.franciscoreservoir.org/> and go to the Support page or send an email to info@franciscoreservoir.org<mailto:info@franciscoreservoir.org>.
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13. Gmail under attack - Something phishy
A Chinese cyber-attack on a jumpy America
Jun 2nd 2011 | from The Economist print edition
Chinese crackers munched Google
THE more onerous internet security in the office becomes, the more attractive easy-to-use services such as Google’s Gmail. This paradox is at the heart of what looks like a big cyber-attack by China (or Chinese hackers) against the private e-mail accounts of hundreds of senior officials, military types and journalists from America and Asian countries, chiefly South Korea.
Google says it has “detected and disrupted” this campaign, first noted in February by a blogger, Mila Parkour. Unlike previous Chinese attacks on Google, which involved heavyweight cryptographic attacks on its software, this one was clever but simple. Targets received plausible-seeming “phishing” e-mails, often sent from faked State Department addresses, with a subject line such as “Fw: Draft US-China joint statement” and an attachment. Clicking on that produced a bogus Gmail screen. Anyone unwise enough to give their login and password would make their past and future e-mails, and contacts, available to the snooper.
Google has tense relations with the Chinese authorities. In 2010 it stopped co-operating with their censorship efforts, moving its servers to Hong Kong; it is struggling to renew licences it needs for its other operations (it still employs 500 people in China, many of them selling advertising). Now it is talking to the FBI.
But the target of the attack is Google’s customers. The Chinese government denies having any part in the scam, but the e-mails seem to have come from the eastern city of Jinan, home to a Chinese military cyberwarfare unit and a college blamed for other attacks on America. This one comes at a time when people there are already jumpy about electronic security. Lockheed Martin, the government’s main information-technology provider, said last week that it had experienced a “significant and tenacious attack”. A forthcoming Pentagon report says that cyber-attacks could in future prompt a military response. Shooting careless officials would be a start.
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14. Raise your voice to protect California seabirds
Seabirds rank among California’s most fascinating birds – and its most threatened. But you can help these birds by making your voice heard today.
With larger fish largely gone from our shores, we are increasingly taking smaller forage fish from our oceans. At one time, forage fish made up 40 percent of California's commercial fish catch by weight; now that number stands at 85 percent. The problem with this is that these smaller fish – squid, anchovy, herring, etc. – are also vital sources of food for seabirds such as Common Murre, Brown Pelican, albatross, Brant’s Cormorant, Tufted Puffin, and many others.
In the next day or so, the State Assembly will vote on a bill (A.B. 1299) which will establish a policy in California that forage species be valued as a food resource for birds and other wildlife in the marine ecosystem. This policy will consider – for the first time – how many of these fish need to be left in the ocean to support a healthy ecosystem.
This is an important step in protecting seabirds up and down our coast, and we need your support to ensure that it passes.
Tell your representative to vote Yes on AB 1299 now.
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15. Notes & Queries, Guardian Weekly
Considering a possibly uniquely human trait
Did evil exist before the advent of Homo sapiens?
Obviously not, hence the phrase "Thinking Man". You can't have the concept of evil without thought. Animals don't experience evil.
Dick Hedges, Nairobi, Kenya
• Yes, but it had been sequestered in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Too bad about the apple.
Dennis Roddy, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
• God only knows.
Phil Morton, Berkeley, California, US
• Hell, no. No hell.
Sue Graczer, Opua, New Zealand
Query handled with care
Do we know the back of our hand?
No, it's a silly notion that's been palmed off on us. We can just thumb our noses at it, and give it the finger.
John Mildon, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada
• Only back-handedly!
Bill Bunbury, Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia
• I know mine. It's easier to see than my navel.
Margaret Wyeth, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• I know the back of my hand like the back of my hand, as any spot check will prove. Perhaps that sounds vein, but wrist assured I turned my hand to study at quite a tendon age, knuckled down and made a fair fist of it.
Jim Dewar, Gosford, NSW, Australia
Naming conventions
If the people of Nigeria are Nigerians, what do we call the people of Niger?
Nigeriens et Nigeriennes, peut-être?
Kurt Strauss, New Earswick, York, UK
It springs eternal
Where does hope come from and how do we keep it?
We are hope hardwired for survival (Dum spiro spero) and its ultimate expression, immortality (In sure and certain hope of the resurrection into eternal life). Whenever the mould is imperfect, hope may not or cannot be maintained.
AT Nasr, Muncie, Indiana, US
• Hope flows from an eternal spring. Like most springs, much of it is lost through cracks in the ground never to be seen again. But some enterprising politicians and their henchpersons bottle and sell it. Purchasers usually find, however, that when the bottle is opened the contents have evaporated and one is left with yet another empty container to be added to the mountain of unrecyclable false promises.
Peter Hoare, Quorn, Leicestershire, UK
Allotment issues
How much space would each person have if the planet's land surface were shared equally?
A lot more than most of us have now.
George Galbraith, Taurize, France
Any answers?
Why do small flies dive to their deaths in my sundowner?
Donald Edwards, Almuñecar, Granada, Spain
Why do so many people on radio keep saying "absolootely!" instead of "yes"? Why do women throw the word "actually" (or rather akshly) into every sentence? Why do men preface all their statements with "basically"?
David Bye, Göd, Hungary
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