Use Your Brain

Don't be a sheep, be a lion.

[kbg9248-blog]

“Using plants and trees in a unique way, Singapore officials opened Gardens by the Bay this year. The 11-million-square foot (1-million-square-meter) complex—the size of nearly 250 U.S. football fields—aims to curb the heat island effect while bringing botanical bliss to urbanites.

The centerpiece of Gardens by the Bay is a glass atrium that houses approximately 220,000 types of vegetation, or 80 percent of the world’s plant species, according to Singapore’s National Parks Board.

Outside the menagerie of plants is a grove of 18 “supertrees”— vertical gardens up to 164 feet (50 meters) tall that capture rainwater, filter exhaust, and are capped with solar panels that provide enough energy to light up the trees at night.”

[thoughtprovokingstuff-blog]

[think-progress]

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Oh Target, Target, Target! Thank you for taking a stand and proclaiming your support for equality. Because that is all the "gay marriage" debate is about: equality. We were born with innate human rights, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The pursuit of happiness involves doing what makes you happy. For the majority of people, happiness involves being intimately involved with another. Thus the pursuit of happiness includes the right to be intimately involved with whomever you'd like, regardless of gender, because it makes you happy. 

No matter what side of the debate your on, I think its important to bear in mind that we cannot unilaterally decide who others can be with, and who they cannot be with. Freedom of choice should be upheld at all costs.

[think-progress]

[kbg9248-blog]

What Americans’ annual health care spending could buy. 

[thoughtprovokingstuff-blog]

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Maybe the end of an era? The U.S. and Cuba haven't had diplomatic relations, at least officially, for about five decades. The world is changing, and isolationist foreign policies are slowly fazing out and becoming obsolete given the high levels of interdependence among core states. I'm looking forward to the U.S. response to same and seeing if this actually pans out. 

[thoughtprovokingstuff-blog]

Gun Control

"A small group of Democratic lawmakers in Washington renewed calls on Tuesday to ban high-capacity gun magazines. But there is little expectation that gun control will be addressed by politicians in the run-up to November's presidential election."

Interesting! 

The right to bear arms is a slippery slope among Americans. Stronger regulations for gun control and harsher penalties for illegal possession of same would definitively limit accessibility and in turn limit illegal usage. However, in the alternative, lack of action or dialogue (which is anticipated) facilitates the potential for violence. The mounting potential for violence and actual violence in turns facilitates the desire to bear arms for protection from same. 

 "According to data released by the Colorado Bureau of Investigations, 880 people applied for the state-approved background checks on Friday, 13 July, days before the shooting.  On Friday, 29 July, the day following the shooting, the number was 1,216, and on the Saturday, 1,243. In total, 2,887 people were approved to buy a gun over the weekend, an increase of 43.5% on the weekend before, said the bureau."  

Where do you stand?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18980974