The New Curiosity Shop

Prince Charles gives us 96 months to save our world from global warming. Giving this year’s Dimbleby Lecture, the Prince of Wales said, ”If we fail the Earth, we fail humanity.” Placing the blame squarely on the unfairness in the world economy, he went on to say,  ”We are standing at a moment of substantial transition where we face the dual challenges of a world view and an economic system that seem to have enormous shortcomings, together with an environmental crisis – including that of climate change – which threatens to engulf us all.”

More from the Press Association …

Adult Learners’ Week runs from 9th to 15th May this year and NCS is doing its bit to support it. You can try some course snippets and a complete free course over at the NCS ALW page. Try a course on Archaeology, Health Care or Herbology. It’s all free for Adult Learners’ Week.

Feminist Philosophy

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s new Apollo course, the NCS is proud to announce another new course, Feminist Philosophy. Course tutor, Jenifer Booth will be leading students through the writings of women philosophers whose work reveals some key aspects of current feminist thought. Aimed at a more general learner than the philosophy specialist, Jenifer hopes that it will be an introduction to philosophy for many, as well as an introduction to feminism.

The course will introduce general feminist philosophy as well as feminist political philosophy, through the work of Genevieve Lloyd, Elisabeth of Bohemia, Maria von Herbert, Luce Irigaray and Mary Wollstonecraft. It is planned to go live in May. Find out more about NCS courses on their web site.

We're Going To The Moon For Christmas

Progressive space folk band Arbelos is offering its Christmas single for free on the band’s website. Song writer Mark Toner explains that, while the song is a typical fun Christmas song, it also draws attention to the fortieth anniversary of Apollo 8′s historic Moon mission and asks questions about what the world did with all the promise of better things that was raised in those days. The song is entitled “We’re Going To The Moon For Christmas” and carries a hopeful message in our troubled times.

Jane Chidwick, wife of keyboard player Noel Chidwick, suggested that a Christmas song would be a good opportunity to do some good in the world and the single is offered for a free download, but with an invitation to pay whatever the listener considers it is worth to UNICEF. The band hope that UNICEF will do very well out of this arrangement and that the musicians will build up some positive Christmas spirit for themselves in the process. More from the Arbelos website….

The fundamental science of quantum mechanics casts doubt on whether the world is real or just the way we see it. Scientists at the Institut für Quantenoptik und Quanteninformation (IQOQI) in Vienna have been trying to test whether this prediction of the theory is actually true, or just a consequence of the quantum model. Their answers to the question may be disturbing to many. So much so, that they are advertising for a philosopher to come and work with them to interpret the implications of their results. You can read more in Seed Magazine.