#systems

The Everglades was the only place on earth where alligators (broad snout, fresh water, darker skin) and crocodiles (pointy snout, salt water, toothy grin) lived side by side. It was the only home of the Everglades mink, Okeechobee gourd, and Big Cypress fox squirrel. It had carnivorous plants, amphibious birds, oysters that grew on trees, cacti that grew in water, lizards that changed colors, and fish that changed genders. It had 1,100 species of trees and plants, 350 birds, and 52 varieties of porcelain-smooth, candy-striped tree snails. It had bottlenose dolphins, marsh rabbits, ghost orchids, moray eels, bald eagles, and countless other species that didn't seem to belong on the same continent, much less in the same ecosystem. ↗

— Michael Grunwald

#ecosystems #environment #everglades #change

The tendency has always been strong to believe that whatever received a name must be an entity or being, having an independent existence of its own. And if no real entity answering to the name could be found, men did not for that reason suppose that none existed, but imagined that it was something peculiarly abstruse and mysterious. ↗

— John Stuart Mill

#science #systems #imagination

But as the Everglades continued to wither, a few of their colleagues began to wonder if conservation really should mean development more than preservation. These heretics did not believe that God had created man in order to 'improve' or 'redeem' nature; they found God's grace in nature itself. ↗

— Michael Grunwald

#ecology #ecosystems #everglades #preservation #nature

It may be possible to discover which religion is the most profound, but if we ask which religious system is best, it is difficult to respond. The value of a religion is relative to each individual. A religion's philosophical view may be the most profound and comprehensive, but still it can be inappropriate for a particular individual. Buddha did not always teach he most profound perspective. Rather than trying to force the deepest view on everyone, he taught according to individual interest and dispositions. ↗

— Dalai Lama XIV Becoming Enlightened

#compare #perspective #religion #systems #religion

Shows were very different then - even as the headliner we did a very short set by today's standards and sound systems were really primitive. But the girls made it all worthwhile! ↗

— Peter Asher

#different #even #made #primitive #really

The negative side to globalization is that it wipes out entire economic systems and in doing so wipes out the accompanying culture. ↗

— Peter L. Berger

#culture #doing #economic #entire #globalization

I wanted to have virtual memory, at least as it's coupled with file systems. ↗

— Ken Thompson

#file #i #least #memory #systems

We were gradually playing larger venues and in the early days PA systems were kind of non-existent. So to play loud, we had to use louder equipment. The PA systems back then didn't mic the instruments - only the vocals. ↗

— John Entwistle

#days #early #equipment #gradually #had

When I played with the Knicks, I was just as important or just as smart as any other of the guards I played with. I still had to call out plays, notice schemes, know the systems, do everything they had to do. ↗

— Patrick Ewing

#call #everything #guards #had #i

This crisis exposed very significant problems in the financial systems of the United States and some other major economies. Innovation got too far out in front of the knowledge of risk. ↗

— Timothy Geithner

#economies #exposed #far #financial #financial systems