Last night I was watching the lightning bugs, and there were so many that they looked like the camera flashes in the stadium when the Superbowl Halftime Show begins. It was so surreal and beautiful that I found it difficult to keep looking.... it was like trying to look into the face of God.... a beauty so intense it might burn out my eyes.
The light show made me think about how abundant life is here and how it seems unfair that so many other parts of the world are dealing with death, destruction, and desolation. But I imagine that this is the natural ebb and flow of life around the globe. Sometimes I think that all those bugs flashing lights in the night are part of the tsunami of energy released into the world earlier this year. Everything is connected, right? And if the huge earthquake in Japan caused waves in groundwater thousands of miles away from it, then why couldn't all that energy vented from inside the earth have other waves of consequences across the planet?
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Monday, June 20, 2011
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Shine On You Crazy Carbon 2
I really like this title. ;-)
July 29 on The Colbert Report there was an interview with Eric Roston about his book "The Carbon Age: How Life's Core Element Has Become Civilization's Greatest Threat":
His statements at first are pretty sensible, but since I haven't read the book or much about it I don't know if he moves towards the silliness of the "climate crisis" and all that garbage. But the video is pretty funny.
Well, there are some passages from another book (first published 1990) that I've read while doing some of my shamanic studies. The passages are from the part of the book that examines the Earth element, also associated with the direction West (the four directions and the elements are very central to shamanic thinking). I kind of hate to copy whole, long passages, but here they are anyway, with some of my own notes inserted:
Okay, maybe those statements aren't exactly scientifically sophisticated, but it seems they are basically correct. Though I'm only going on my own intuitive understanding which is probably pretty oversimplified. "Motion at rest" is a paradox, but it will be better explained in later quotations.
I think this points to the root of so many of the delusions and false religions that flourish today. On one hand, there are some who insist and require that we abandon all of our material possessions, and any desire for them, in order to feel spiritually clean. But how is rejecting that from which we are made supposed to be a good thing? I don't understand that line of thinking, and it seems to be synonymous with the vilification of carbon.
On the other hand, sure, we should have balance and not be too materialistic at the detriment of our well-being, but to say that one must 'transcend the physical' in order to become fully alive or whatever is kind of crazy. Personally, I'm not in too much of a hurry to transcend this physical existence because it's too short already. That transcendence will come when I die, and I hope that will be a very long time from now. Please, God, allow me as many carbon emissions as possible for at least 3 or 4 more decades. ;-)
And it is one of those basic laws of nature that we, as part of this world, will and should affect it, "to control the material through the use of natural laws and cosmic forces and principles." That is our very nature, and to deny it is insanity.
Whether or not you accept the possibility of some Cosmic Intelligence, the earth truly is a wondrous, beautiful, and pleasurable thing. I know first hand that there are still very many 'pristine' places where man hasn't really altered nature so much, and yes, they are amazing. But we also should acknowledge the beauty and majesty of many of man's creations and alterations of the earth. We get the same kind of pleasure from creating and experiencing material, physical things as that other Creator does. And the results of our works are not always, or even usually, destructive as so many of the false prophets tell us today. We are all a part of this shimmering carbon-based appearance of matter, and I say 'shimmering' because it implies changing, which is absolutely natural and expected.
Again, the scientific veracity of those statements might be naive and simplistic, but it seems to be close enough. And recall that these quotes are from a book first published in 1990 by a non-scientist. The paradox of "matter at rest" basically means that what we see as matter is like a snapshot of a very complex, busy scene. And using my imagination I can see that from the right perspective the universe might really look like a solid object, perhaps a black marble, or even a black hole which might appear as a solid object sometimes too.
Anyway, I appreciate the intuitive wisdom of the shamanic ideas, but it's all too common for people who try to be "spiritual" to develop a very imbalanced view of the world, themselves, and life. I wish that more people would open their eyes to the physical realities instead of taking one idea or concept and making it the paramount concern. Like the weather. The "climate crisis" is a fraud based on some guys who try to tell everyone that our very breathing is helping to "imbalance" the planet's climate. I'm not certain how this trend has evolved, but I suspect that it is some convergence of the religious ideas that humanity is "fallen" and that the Earth should be worshipped. Neither of these ideas is really valid and their offspring, the manmade "climate crisis," is retarded too.
To be sure I'm not misunderstood I want to explicitly say that I am not discounting spirituality and religion. They are important aspects of life. I am only expressing that there must be more acknowledgement and celebration of mankind's physical existence in this physical world, instead of the self-hatred and false charge that we are destroying our world. There is as much imbalance in those who refuse to acknowledge spiritual issues and concerns, but it seems that refusing to appreciate the real physical aspects of existence is even less morally justified.
Just as Meadows said above, the Earth element is the most misunderstood, and this misunderstanding is a key psycho-social reason for the rise of the anti-carbon movement. I don't know if Mr. Roston is just another acolyte trying to convince people that they are somehow responsible for every bad weather that happens, butit's obvious that too many people have it wrong and have placed man at either too high or too low a position in nature instead of placing us precisely on the earth.
And just so I can add the "sermonette" label ;-) I'll close with a scripture:
*means the same as "learn how to control the material through the use of natural laws and cosmic forces and principles"
I'm sorry if this post is disjointed and incomplete because of the many interruptions I've had throughout writing it. Sometimes it's hard to maintain a line of thought with too many breaks. ;-)
July 29 on The Colbert Report there was an interview with Eric Roston about his book "The Carbon Age: How Life's Core Element Has Become Civilization's Greatest Threat":
His statements at first are pretty sensible, but since I haven't read the book or much about it I don't know if he moves towards the silliness of the "climate crisis" and all that garbage. But the video is pretty funny.
Well, there are some passages from another book (first published 1990) that I've read while doing some of my shamanic studies. The passages are from the part of the book that examines the Earth element, also associated with the direction West (the four directions and the elements are very central to shamanic thinking). I kind of hate to copy whole, long passages, but here they are anyway, with some of my own notes inserted:
The characteristics of Elemental Earth are solidity, inertia and stability. It is motion at rest. Elemental Earth is elemental 'substance' coming into form and shape and becoming tangible and recognisible - coming 'down to earth.' Matter is that which appears to be. It is important to bear in mind that matter is an appearance, and it is this that makes Elemental Earth perhaps the least understood of the elemental substances.
Okay, maybe those statements aren't exactly scientifically sophisticated, but it seems they are basically correct. Though I'm only going on my own intuitive understanding which is probably pretty oversimplified. "Motion at rest" is a paradox, but it will be better explained in later quotations.
On a practical level, we spend much of our time being concerned with the acquisition of physical, tangible things, but at the same time we dislike the restrictions and limitations that the material puts on us. The West is the place of the material, of appearances, of the world of form, of physical manifestation and of learning to cope with it.
You cannot develop your spiritual awareness by rejecting the material or turning your back on it. The physical and material is all part of Creation, not a secretion to be got rid of in some mistaken quest for 'spirituality', not something to be flushed away as something 'not nice.' Don't allow yourself to be misled by a sense of false spirituality. You are here in the material world of form, and part of the reason for your being here is to learn how to control the material through the use of natural laws and cosmic forces and principles [emphasis mine]. Spiritual work is of little value unless it can be 'earthed.'
I think this points to the root of so many of the delusions and false religions that flourish today. On one hand, there are some who insist and require that we abandon all of our material possessions, and any desire for them, in order to feel spiritually clean. But how is rejecting that from which we are made supposed to be a good thing? I don't understand that line of thinking, and it seems to be synonymous with the vilification of carbon.
On the other hand, sure, we should have balance and not be too materialistic at the detriment of our well-being, but to say that one must 'transcend the physical' in order to become fully alive or whatever is kind of crazy. Personally, I'm not in too much of a hurry to transcend this physical existence because it's too short already. That transcendence will come when I die, and I hope that will be a very long time from now. Please, God, allow me as many carbon emissions as possible for at least 3 or 4 more decades. ;-)
And it is one of those basic laws of nature that we, as part of this world, will and should affect it, "to control the material through the use of natural laws and cosmic forces and principles." That is our very nature, and to deny it is insanity.
Do you not think that it gave pleasure to the Cosmic Intelligence to bring the physical world of form into manifestation? Go out into the countryside or into a park or woodland and look around you at the beauty of the natural Earth. Even though man has shaped most of it by farming, does it not give you a thrill of pleasure to absorb its magnificence? We are not intended to reject the material in preference for some nebulous spiritual alternative, but to appreciate the physical and at the same time to look for the reality behind it. Both in equal partnership.
Whether or not you accept the possibility of some Cosmic Intelligence, the earth truly is a wondrous, beautiful, and pleasurable thing. I know first hand that there are still very many 'pristine' places where man hasn't really altered nature so much, and yes, they are amazing. But we also should acknowledge the beauty and majesty of many of man's creations and alterations of the earth. We get the same kind of pleasure from creating and experiencing material, physical things as that other Creator does. And the results of our works are not always, or even usually, destructive as so many of the false prophets tell us today. We are all a part of this shimmering carbon-based appearance of matter, and I say 'shimmering' because it implies changing, which is absolutely natural and expected.
Physical objects only look and feel solid because their atoms are spinning at fantastic speeds. As in a movie, people and vehicles appear to move but what we are seeing is a succession of static pictures being projected at such a speed that there appears to be movement, but the appearance is, in fact, an illusion. An atom is mostly space. If it were possible to expand a single atom to the size of a sports stadium like Wembley in West London, England, or the Giants stadium in New Jersey, USA, its centre or nucleus would be the size of a pea in a referee's whistle. If this were placed in the centre spot, the electrons would be whirling around it at the tops of the grandstands.
All matter is as roomy as the universe appears to be, and atom particles are like the stars and planets moving about in a continual pattern. If we could travel far enough away in outer space and look back at the universe it too would appear solid.
Kenneth Meadows, The Medicine Way, pages 119-120
Again, the scientific veracity of those statements might be naive and simplistic, but it seems to be close enough. And recall that these quotes are from a book first published in 1990 by a non-scientist. The paradox of "matter at rest" basically means that what we see as matter is like a snapshot of a very complex, busy scene. And using my imagination I can see that from the right perspective the universe might really look like a solid object, perhaps a black marble, or even a black hole which might appear as a solid object sometimes too.
Anyway, I appreciate the intuitive wisdom of the shamanic ideas, but it's all too common for people who try to be "spiritual" to develop a very imbalanced view of the world, themselves, and life. I wish that more people would open their eyes to the physical realities instead of taking one idea or concept and making it the paramount concern. Like the weather. The "climate crisis" is a fraud based on some guys who try to tell everyone that our very breathing is helping to "imbalance" the planet's climate. I'm not certain how this trend has evolved, but I suspect that it is some convergence of the religious ideas that humanity is "fallen" and that the Earth should be worshipped. Neither of these ideas is really valid and their offspring, the manmade "climate crisis," is retarded too.
To be sure I'm not misunderstood I want to explicitly say that I am not discounting spirituality and religion. They are important aspects of life. I am only expressing that there must be more acknowledgement and celebration of mankind's physical existence in this physical world, instead of the self-hatred and false charge that we are destroying our world. There is as much imbalance in those who refuse to acknowledge spiritual issues and concerns, but it seems that refusing to appreciate the real physical aspects of existence is even less morally justified.
Just as Meadows said above, the Earth element is the most misunderstood, and this misunderstanding is a key psycho-social reason for the rise of the anti-carbon movement. I don't know if Mr. Roston is just another acolyte trying to convince people that they are somehow responsible for every bad weather that happens, butit's obvious that too many people have it wrong and have placed man at either too high or too low a position in nature instead of placing us precisely on the earth.
And just so I can add the "sermonette" label ;-) I'll close with a scripture:
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue* it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 1:27-31
*means the same as "learn how to control the material through the use of natural laws and cosmic forces and principles"
I'm sorry if this post is disjointed and incomplete because of the many interruptions I've had throughout writing it. Sometimes it's hard to maintain a line of thought with too many breaks. ;-)
Monday, July 21, 2008
Phallic Clams
While checking my statcounter this morning I found that my Unusual Fossil post was linked in this forum. The following photos from that forum are quite impressive. I didn't know about these phallic "Geoduck" clams:
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Melting Ice and What To Do About It
Watch the following video and then use your brain to think of ways how to see this as a good thing:
Assuming that Greenland's ice really is melting as these "scientists" tell us, why must they always take a negative view of it? The way I see it, all that melting ice is a blessing and not a curse or disaster. How? Well, there are many places on this planet that desperately need fresh water. Why doesn't someone start harnessing this emerging source of fresh water? Couldn't water trade become the "new oil"? Couldn't some enterprising people begin to collect, store, and transport that water to the places that really need it? Wouldn't that solve several problems at once?
And another thing. Why doesn't someone harness the hydro-power of all that flowing water? I don't necessarily mean building dams because it would be problematic to build permanent structures on a quickly changing terrain. Why not construct mobile hydro-power units that can be moved when needed or dismantled and moved? Or maybe something similar to an oil-drilling platform that is used in the ocean? It seems that there are so many opportunities to approach the melting Greenland ice as an emerging resource instead of an imminent disaster.
I think the biggest problem is that so many people are either too stupid or too blind to see opportunities when they are literally flooding over them. I've often wondered, why can't the "climate crisis" alarmists who insist that mankind's activities are destroying the planet see that if mankind can destroy then mankind can also create and adapt? But really, I do not believe that mankind's activities are "destroying" the planet. Sure, mankind's activities do affect our environment. That is a basic "law" of evolution. But why is it so hard for those people to see that trying to preserve a very narrow set of conditions only inhibits evolution and progress instead of helping it?
Well, I don't really expect answers to these questions, but it would be really nice if some people would start considering how to use changes as stimuli for progress instead of whining and moaning about things changing and trying to "stop" it, which is completely useless and will be unsuccessful anyway. Change is the nature of life. Period.
We wouldn't even be here if our ancestors looked upon every change they encountered as a thing to fight against or to stop. What did they do? They looked at the changes and figured out how to deal with them and how to use them to their benefit.
Assuming that Greenland's ice really is melting as these "scientists" tell us, why must they always take a negative view of it? The way I see it, all that melting ice is a blessing and not a curse or disaster. How? Well, there are many places on this planet that desperately need fresh water. Why doesn't someone start harnessing this emerging source of fresh water? Couldn't water trade become the "new oil"? Couldn't some enterprising people begin to collect, store, and transport that water to the places that really need it? Wouldn't that solve several problems at once?
And another thing. Why doesn't someone harness the hydro-power of all that flowing water? I don't necessarily mean building dams because it would be problematic to build permanent structures on a quickly changing terrain. Why not construct mobile hydro-power units that can be moved when needed or dismantled and moved? Or maybe something similar to an oil-drilling platform that is used in the ocean? It seems that there are so many opportunities to approach the melting Greenland ice as an emerging resource instead of an imminent disaster.
I think the biggest problem is that so many people are either too stupid or too blind to see opportunities when they are literally flooding over them. I've often wondered, why can't the "climate crisis" alarmists who insist that mankind's activities are destroying the planet see that if mankind can destroy then mankind can also create and adapt? But really, I do not believe that mankind's activities are "destroying" the planet. Sure, mankind's activities do affect our environment. That is a basic "law" of evolution. But why is it so hard for those people to see that trying to preserve a very narrow set of conditions only inhibits evolution and progress instead of helping it?
Well, I don't really expect answers to these questions, but it would be really nice if some people would start considering how to use changes as stimuli for progress instead of whining and moaning about things changing and trying to "stop" it, which is completely useless and will be unsuccessful anyway. Change is the nature of life. Period.
We wouldn't even be here if our ancestors looked upon every change they encountered as a thing to fight against or to stop. What did they do? They looked at the changes and figured out how to deal with them and how to use them to their benefit.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Unusual Fossil
Sometimes being a packrat is rewarding. I've finally been unpacking some boxes from when we moved into our house seven years ago, and what treasures I've rediscovered!
Back in the pre-momma days we liked to go rock and fossil hunting. The local area has many places where fossils are easily found if you know where to look. I had completely forgotten about this particular kind that we'd found at least 15 years ago.
What does it look like to you?
My best guess for its identity is some kind of Stromatoporoid, but a Google search for "vulva-like fossil" doesn't yield much. You'd think such a curious thing would be a big Google hit, or at least I would think that. ;-)
Well, if any geologists or other experts know for certain what this fossil is then please do leave a comment to let me know. Thanks!
Oh, and isn't Nature fascinating? Who would have thought that the vulva form could be hundreds of millions of years old? ;-) And the shaman in me wants to think that this fossil is a very powerful talisman...
Back in the pre-momma days we liked to go rock and fossil hunting. The local area has many places where fossils are easily found if you know where to look. I had completely forgotten about this particular kind that we'd found at least 15 years ago.
What does it look like to you?
My best guess for its identity is some kind of Stromatoporoid, but a Google search for "vulva-like fossil" doesn't yield much. You'd think such a curious thing would be a big Google hit, or at least I would think that. ;-)
Well, if any geologists or other experts know for certain what this fossil is then please do leave a comment to let me know. Thanks!
Oh, and isn't Nature fascinating? Who would have thought that the vulva form could be hundreds of millions of years old? ;-) And the shaman in me wants to think that this fossil is a very powerful talisman...
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Ocean Pipes for Global Warming
Man, some people are even more whacked out and kooky than I am. This dude who's called a "Gaia guru" is suggesting putting "vertical pipes 100 to 200 metres long and 10 metres wide be placed in the sea, so that wave motion pumps up water and fertilises algae on the surface." Supposedly that will cause an algae bloom that will "push down carbon dioxide levels and also produce dimethyl sulphide, helping to seed sunlight-reflecting clouds." Wow. Some people just have way too much time on their hands for thinking up such ridiculous things. Yeah, I have to wonder if they've even considered that it might harm lots of other organisms in the process. And how are they going to make sure that the bloom is a beneficial one and not a harmful one? If this guy really is a guru of the Gaia theory he seems like an abusive type. I mean, if I was Gaia I don't think I'd like a bunch of giant pipes messing up my normal flows just because some man thinks it's a good idea. This guy doesn't love and respect Gaia. He wants to control her. That's not love. And that's not protection either. Of course, all of us dieites (I'm speaking for Mother Nature), especially female ones, appreciate being protected, cherished, honored, and otherwise worshipped ;-), but we don't want any "gurus" who want us to behave the way they think we should. I hope Gaia gives that man a taste of his own medicine and rams some pipes up his a$$. Amen, go in Peace, and have a nice day.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Jelly Day
Blackberry juice looks kind of like blood when it's draining from the strainer into a bowl. And the large quart jars are full of the thick, somewhat viscous juice too.
It's not an accidental or an artificial coincidence that I made jelly on almost the same date last year. It is just the way it has worked out. Despite a very late freeze this Spring and a drought this Summer the blackberries came as they normally would. This is because most life on this part of the Earth is well-adapted to big variations in conditions from year to year (and even from day to day because it was 20 degrees cooler today than it was on Monday). No year is ever the same as the last.
Also the big, late Spring freeze killed all the newly emerged leaves on the trees and shrubs like the blackberry canes. Did that spell disaster for the them? No, they sprouted new leaves within weeks. The trees and shrubs "knew" to do this because they have adapted to changes over many millennia and have retained the "knowledge" to replace frozen leaves. Life is resilient that way.
And actually, my blackberry yield has been even greater than last year's despite the bad weather. (But in all fairness several people have marveled at my yield because their own blackberry patches haven't done as well this year. Maybe I have magical powers? ;-) ) Last year by this time I got enough juice to make 14 cups of jelly, but this year I've made 20 cups. There are still berries ripening, and I'll probably pick a few more for pies. But I think I have enough jelly now. ;-)
I think I'll label these "Vicious Momma's Intense Blackberry Jelly" because it is that good. ;-)
I love the sound of lids popping and pinging to let me know the vacuum seal worked. As the jelly-filled jars cool from their boiling water bath in the canner, the change in temperature causes a suction to pull down the lid for an airtight seal. Pop, ping, pop, ping! Music to my ears. :-)
Hey, maybe I should get some kind of carbon tax credit for making my own jelly. No illegals were hired to pick and process the berries. I didn't even have to drive to get them. The jars are reused from last year. I wonder what the total economic cost of twenty cups of store-bought jelly is compared to twenty cups of homemade. Someone should do those calculations and lobby for a new tax credit for homemakers. ;-)
Which brings me to an opportunity to use some pictures I've had a while and wanted to put up here at some point. Back in the WWII era people were asked to do many things to help their country get through the Depression and the War hardships. One of those things was planting a "Victory Garden." Unfortunately, Al Gore might read this and decide to make it one of the sacraments of his Global Warming Religion. ;-)
For instructions on juicing berries see last year's jelly post.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Alien Tomatoes
We have three store-bought tomatoes that are freaking me out. I noticed that they were getting these weird bumps on them, as seen in the first picture. Well, being the curious thing I am I decided to cut one in half to see what was making the bumps. I figured that they might be some kind of fruit fly maggots or something like that. As you can see the tomato is not very over-ripe or anywhere close to rotten. It would still be just fine to eat if it didn't have those strange growths.
In the second picture it looks like worms are growing out of the flesh. It's not worms. It's the seeds sprouting while still inside the tomato.
I have never in my life seen anything like it. And neither has my dad who has grown tomatoes all his life. I'm guessing these are some genetically altered tomatoes that have evolved into self-propagating fruits. While I'm very freaked out and too suspicious of them to eat them I can see how it might be evolutionarily advantageous for a tomato to be able to grow like this. Or maybe they are alien body snatcher tomatoes? Either way I've left it outside to see if the sprouts are going to continue growing and feeding off the "parent" tomato.
Please, if anyone knows anything about this leave me a comment. Thanks!
(And I hope I haven't inadvertently exposed some government secret. Or maybe this is some kind of omen?) ;-)
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The True Danger of Global Warming
Image of Sun's UV radiation from NASA
No, this title does not mean that overnight I have miraculously accepted that humans are destroying the planet. ;-) It means that the hysteria over AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming) is very dangerous for us all. Allow me to list my primary points first, and then we'll discuss them in more detail.
1. It is a distraction from very real and immediate threats to our well-being.
2. It gives people a false sense of control over things that they really can't control.
3. It aims to "equalize" the entire globe which is contrary to the very laws of Nature.
4. It seeks to shift power and influence from those who provide, support, and sustain progress to those who want to stifle, suppress, and cripple growth and development.
Point 1
We have a global war on terror and many other serious and immediate concerns that are much more likely to cause widespread death and destruction than normal climate changes. Do you think that any Iraqis are sitting around worrying about an impending Ice Age or Hot Age? No, they are fighting for their basic rights and survival. AGW is taking valuable resources, attention, and energy away from helping them attain a decent way of life. If half the AGW activists would actually stop frivolously expelling extra CO2 and would concentrate on truly improving the world, we might actually see some progress.
Point 2
We cannot control the global climate, by "accident" or by "design". We do have a limited effect on our local conditions, but this influence is like gravity and weakens significantly with increasing distance. For the AGW alarmists to make people think that we have more control than we do is a delusion that we must not accept because it gives people a false sense of security. While we are told that we must go to extreme meausures to keep the global average temperature at some imaginary "ideal," we are not putting enough time, thought, and resources into preparedness. The Katrina disaster is a perfect example of this problem. Instead of throwing blame around people should say, "Wow, we really need to make some real and tangible plans to deal with natural disasters." Not, "Wow, we really need to stop these natural disasters." That is pure foolishness!
People need to wake up from their delusion of controling Nature and start doing real things to prepare for when Nature gets extreme. Instead of putting time and energy into manipulating emissions, etc., our leaders should be spending much more time on designing plans for evacuating people from threats and delivering food and water and assistance to those who could not be evacuated. They need to establish plans for mass communication in the event that the usual technological communication is disabled. And so on. The bottom line is that people must begin to focus on readiness and preparedness, as our long ago ancestors had to do in order to survive so that we could be here.
Points 3 and 4 (combined because they are so closely related)
Is the climate significantly changing? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. In the long term most of us won't live to really know. And there's a question in my mind as to whether or not we should really be all that concerned with "global climate" anyway. Sure, the weather is global system, but it is so variable and unpredictable that to view it from one angle is just silly.
And from the policital perspective the AGW movement is at its heart seeking to "redistribute the wealth" in the guise of "saving the planet" from the greedy consumers. The United States, we are told, uses the largest percentage of the world's resources and so on. Well, the United States also pretty much supports most of the world economy. The communist AGW alarmists hate the ecomony and anything that might cause some to have more than others, regardless of the effort they expend for themselves. I think that communism violates the laws of nature because it seeks to equalize all things, but that is absolutley NOT the purpose and drive of life and evolution. If things never changed then there would be no life. The very essence of life is change. The AGW movement is trying to stop the process of life. And that is just plain wrong.
In this day and age of 24 hour weather channels and news broadcasts we are much more aware of what is going on in places other than our local areas. The weather has been sensationalized to boost ratings. More people are living in areas where people haven't lived before, like all along the coastlines and in other less than stable places. The weather hasn't really gotten worse. We are just more aware of it and more people are being affected by it due to their choices of habitat.
You know, if our ancestors had taken the philosophy of the AGW alarmists and had put all their time and energy into trying to control the climate instead of adapting and preparing for it, we wouldn't be here.
Say, why don't we show a little appreciation to the cavemen who have endowed us with the ability to plan and prepare? Maybe it's because I might be a Neanderthal ;-), but I've always kinda liked the Geico caveman:
Incidentally, I'm in good company in my views on AGW. ;-)
Friday, February 2, 2007
Out of Balance?
Update 2-19-07: Just noting an interesting 'predictive' occurrence. Not long after this post, banking and its shady practices became a big news story. Well, make of it what you will, but this kind of thing happens to me often, just not always so quickly and in such big, obvious ways. And the really funny thing to me in looking back at this post is how especially well the title fits with these new developments. ;-)
I just have to rant a little about this stupid global warming crap with which groups like Greenpeace are polluting the world. Directly from their website (their bold emphasis):
Is that first paragraph not an obvious bunch of inflammatory lies meant to frighten and upset people? They should be sued for wrongful anxiety or something. And wow, "changing cycles in the natural world"? Since when did the cycles in the natural world not change? The Earth has never been a utopian paradise in some ideal "balance". That it was and that we in the last 100 years have ruined it is the biggest and dumbest and falsest myth of the whole global warming pile of bullcrap.
Now let me say one thing. I don't have a problem with a "clean energy revolution" as long as it doesn't involve some kind of communistic, socialistic, totalitarian regime imposed on unwilling people. I can't trust Greenpeace to follow those criteria because we all know that they don't respect the rights of anyone who disagrees with them. They clearly don't approve of choice unless the choices are the ones they have offered.
And why is ExxonMobil the only scapegoat bad guy here? It's one of the biggest publicly traded companies in the world, number 6 according to this Forbes list. What too many people don't stop to think about is that if you hurt a large publicly owned company you are hurting everyone. Well, it's just like global warming, right? ;-)
Let me go off on a little tangent here about the top five on that list.
1 Citigroup United States (Banking)
2 General Electric United States (Conglomerates)
3 Bank of America United States (Banking)
4 American Intl Group United States (Insurance)
5 HSBC Group United Kingdom (Banking)
Banking and Insurance. Yeah. Like those are pristine industries that do nothing to harm and exploit the poor and elderly and the environment. If I were a well-paid journalist I'd do a fancy, in-depth expose on those industries in comparison to ExxonMobil, and I suspect that the results would show that overall ExxonMobil is a choirboy in moral comparison to the evil that the banking and insurance companies do to all of us. But I'm not a well-paid anything. I'm just a random blogger, so sorry, I can't invest the time and energy on that project for free. I'm a capitalist at heart. ;-)
Militant Environmentalist Squirrel
It's easy to pick one company or person or thing to be a culprit, or boogeyman, that must be defeated. I sure hope that ExxonMobil isn't defeated by some squirrelly (by the way, I kind of hate squirrels) environmentalists. From what I've read they provide their employees with excellent benefits. On top of that imagine how much money is being earned by these people and how they in turn put that into the economy. Greenpeace and all the other people who vilify ExxonMobil need to realize that picking one company to blame imaginary problems on is just plain wrong.
Well, despite whatever those wackos say, the Earth is not out of "balance", and even if it was there is nothing that humans (or militant environmentalist squirrels with guns) could do to change it.
I just have to rant a little about this stupid global warming crap with which groups like Greenpeace are polluting the world. Directly from their website (their bold emphasis):
We're seeing the effects of global warming all around us - more intense heat waves that disproportionately affect the elderly and poor, more severe storms that wreak havoc on our homes and communities, and all kinds of changing cycles in the natural world.
That's why it's unacceptable for the U.S. government and oil companies like ExxonMobil to continue to fuel global warming while refusing to support solutions to the problem. Fortunately, a clean energy revolution is sweeping across the country-we have the tools to put the Earth back in balance, and we can do it today.
Is that first paragraph not an obvious bunch of inflammatory lies meant to frighten and upset people? They should be sued for wrongful anxiety or something. And wow, "changing cycles in the natural world"? Since when did the cycles in the natural world not change? The Earth has never been a utopian paradise in some ideal "balance". That it was and that we in the last 100 years have ruined it is the biggest and dumbest and falsest myth of the whole global warming pile of bullcrap.
Now let me say one thing. I don't have a problem with a "clean energy revolution" as long as it doesn't involve some kind of communistic, socialistic, totalitarian regime imposed on unwilling people. I can't trust Greenpeace to follow those criteria because we all know that they don't respect the rights of anyone who disagrees with them. They clearly don't approve of choice unless the choices are the ones they have offered.
And why is ExxonMobil the only scapegoat bad guy here? It's one of the biggest publicly traded companies in the world, number 6 according to this Forbes list. What too many people don't stop to think about is that if you hurt a large publicly owned company you are hurting everyone. Well, it's just like global warming, right? ;-)
Let me go off on a little tangent here about the top five on that list.
1 Citigroup United States (Banking)
2 General Electric United States (Conglomerates)
3 Bank of America United States (Banking)
4 American Intl Group United States (Insurance)
5 HSBC Group United Kingdom (Banking)
Banking and Insurance. Yeah. Like those are pristine industries that do nothing to harm and exploit the poor and elderly and the environment. If I were a well-paid journalist I'd do a fancy, in-depth expose on those industries in comparison to ExxonMobil, and I suspect that the results would show that overall ExxonMobil is a choirboy in moral comparison to the evil that the banking and insurance companies do to all of us. But I'm not a well-paid anything. I'm just a random blogger, so sorry, I can't invest the time and energy on that project for free. I'm a capitalist at heart. ;-)
Militant Environmentalist Squirrel
It's easy to pick one company or person or thing to be a culprit, or boogeyman, that must be defeated. I sure hope that ExxonMobil isn't defeated by some squirrelly (by the way, I kind of hate squirrels) environmentalists. From what I've read they provide their employees with excellent benefits. On top of that imagine how much money is being earned by these people and how they in turn put that into the economy. Greenpeace and all the other people who vilify ExxonMobil need to realize that picking one company to blame imaginary problems on is just plain wrong.
Well, despite whatever those wackos say, the Earth is not out of "balance", and even if it was there is nothing that humans (or militant environmentalist squirrels with guns) could do to change it.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Sedentary Living and Global Warming
I just got a laugh from this article about a new, serious disease that is even recognized by the World Health Organization:
Get Moving!
(by Carol Krucoff)
Uh, yeah, I think the most revealing phrase in the entire article is "RID, an organization advocating governmental support for research into the disorders associated with sedentary living." We all know what "advocating governmental support for research" means: we want money, money, money! Oh, boy, someone has discovered a new source of pork-spending. They've created a new lobbying group disguised as doctors and researchers concerned for the health of all the people sitting on their asses (writing blogs and reading blogs and stuff, ;-) ). But the real truth of it is that this is just like the global warming scare that some people have created and perpetuated for their own job security and wealth. This new "SeDS" group is taking a page right out of the global warming playbook and working to create a huge public health scare.
I mean, this could be a scary statement for some people: "sitting kills more than 300,000 Americans annually." Wow! Just from sitting. ;-) If this isn't some kind of alarmist scare tactic like Gore saying that we have about ten years until the Earth is uninhabitable unless we all immediately go back to living like in the Dark Ages (well, except for him and all the other "important" people, just like when the Communist leaders lived in luxury while the "people" lived in poverty). And then get this, "[sedentary living] is projected to cost the United States $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years." Trillion. They really have set their sights pretty high, haven't they? These are some high maintenance "researchers" who must have some big mortgage payments to think about. ;-)
Unfortunately, there is some grain of truth to this "SeDS" in that our lifestyles have changed and some people apparently aren't adapting too well to those changes. But this grain of truth gets turned into a mountain just like the way a warm winter gets turned into climate change. Is this really something that can be fixed? I'm kind of thinking that on the larger societal scale, no, it's not something that can be eliminated like small pox, unless someone invents a perfect health pill and/or instates the Health Police. (actually, the Health Police are already trying that with the no smoking laws and now the no transfat laws some cities are passing)
The Health Police were too late for this fella.
Photo found on this hilarious site: Pushin Daisies: a mortuary novelty shop, though it looks like this particular item is no longer available, oddly enough.
Besides, I really question some of their "facts" about what really makes people unhealthy and kills them. I keep hearing about all these famous athletes getting cancer and bad arthritis and all the same things that regular people get. Yeah, all that healthy eating and exercise didn't keep them from getting sick, did it?
Just look at the commercials on TV. There's another key to this story: poor health is big business. We are constantly being told that we are depressed, full of mucus, impotent, too fat, allergic to everything, sleepless, asthmatic, hypertensive, full of cholestrol, and have acid reflux, ADHD and enlarged prostates (men) and leaky bladders (women). But all we have to do to get better is take these expensive pills. Now seriously, are we supposed to believe that this "RID" group really wants to kill their cash cow? I see right through their ruse.
Another big money maker for doctors is colon cancer screening.* I remember the day when it was only the unethical and seedy doctors who advertised their services (but never on tv because tv ads are expensive), but now all the big practices have their pseudo public service ads telling us we all must go pay them (or if you're lucky your insurance will pay them) to stick a camera up our butts or we will die of colon cancer. Scare tactics, again.
And there is a part of me that asks why we should be trying to keep all these people alive longer anyway, especially if the world is becoming overpopulated with couch/computer potatoes who drive their gas-guzzling SUVs to the Dunkin Donuts for a 60 pack of donut holes and a dozen jelly-filled. ;-) Well, of course, the answer is that we must do as much as possible to keep filling up the doctors' and researchers' and lawyers' pockets.
I have to wonder if this isn't a matter that will take care of itself. Just like the climate.
*Hold onto your stones. There's no need to throw them. I know the seriousness of colon cancer and that screening can save lives. Thank you.
Get Moving!
(by Carol Krucoff)
Professor Frank Booth, Ph.D, was out for his daily run one spring morning in 2000, pondering one of the toughest problems facing public health officials these days: how to get the nearly 70 percent of Americans who don't regularly exercise to start moving.
"Everyone knows exercise is good for them, but many don't realize it's a matter of life and death," says Dr. Booth, who teaches biomedical science at the University of Missouri-Columbia. "My father was in advertising, so I know how important a short, catchy name is to grab people's attention and change the way they think and behave. Running always helps my creativity, and the name Sedentary Death Syndrome just popped into my head."
Sedentary Death Syndrome (SeDS) may be a little too scientific to be catchy. But it needs to catch on. Because what it means, says Dr. Booth, is that "inactivity kills."
Dead Man Sitting
In fact, sitting kills more than 300,000 Americans annually. If it were a real disease, that would make SeDS the third leading cause of death in the United States, right after heart disease and cancer. But SeDS is more than one disease. Being sedentary is linked to a wide range of debilitating ailments -- from diabetes and depression to osteoporosis, certain cancers, and even sexual dysfunction. It affects nearly three out of four adults and a growing number of children and is projected to cost the United States $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years.
Though it's not yet a household word, the SeDS concept has caught on with a growing number of exercise scientists. Dr. Booth used his own money to start "Researchers against Inactivity-Related Disorders," or RID, an organization advocating governmental support for research into the disorders associated with sedentary living. A founding group of 40 RID members unveiled the concept of SeDS on Capitol Hill in 2001. Today, the group has more than 400 members in 19 countries.
(Just sitting around is apparently a worldwide phenomenon. Last year, the World Health Organization announced that about 2 million deaths annually worldwide are attributed to sedentary lifestyles and chose physical activity as the theme for World Health Day.)
Uh, yeah, I think the most revealing phrase in the entire article is "RID, an organization advocating governmental support for research into the disorders associated with sedentary living." We all know what "advocating governmental support for research" means: we want money, money, money! Oh, boy, someone has discovered a new source of pork-spending. They've created a new lobbying group disguised as doctors and researchers concerned for the health of all the people sitting on their asses (writing blogs and reading blogs and stuff, ;-) ). But the real truth of it is that this is just like the global warming scare that some people have created and perpetuated for their own job security and wealth. This new "SeDS" group is taking a page right out of the global warming playbook and working to create a huge public health scare.
I mean, this could be a scary statement for some people: "sitting kills more than 300,000 Americans annually." Wow! Just from sitting. ;-) If this isn't some kind of alarmist scare tactic like Gore saying that we have about ten years until the Earth is uninhabitable unless we all immediately go back to living like in the Dark Ages (well, except for him and all the other "important" people, just like when the Communist leaders lived in luxury while the "people" lived in poverty). And then get this, "[sedentary living] is projected to cost the United States $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years." Trillion. They really have set their sights pretty high, haven't they? These are some high maintenance "researchers" who must have some big mortgage payments to think about. ;-)
Unfortunately, there is some grain of truth to this "SeDS" in that our lifestyles have changed and some people apparently aren't adapting too well to those changes. But this grain of truth gets turned into a mountain just like the way a warm winter gets turned into climate change. Is this really something that can be fixed? I'm kind of thinking that on the larger societal scale, no, it's not something that can be eliminated like small pox, unless someone invents a perfect health pill and/or instates the Health Police. (actually, the Health Police are already trying that with the no smoking laws and now the no transfat laws some cities are passing)
The Health Police were too late for this fella.
Photo found on this hilarious site: Pushin Daisies: a mortuary novelty shop, though it looks like this particular item is no longer available, oddly enough.
Besides, I really question some of their "facts" about what really makes people unhealthy and kills them. I keep hearing about all these famous athletes getting cancer and bad arthritis and all the same things that regular people get. Yeah, all that healthy eating and exercise didn't keep them from getting sick, did it?
Just look at the commercials on TV. There's another key to this story: poor health is big business. We are constantly being told that we are depressed, full of mucus, impotent, too fat, allergic to everything, sleepless, asthmatic, hypertensive, full of cholestrol, and have acid reflux, ADHD and enlarged prostates (men) and leaky bladders (women). But all we have to do to get better is take these expensive pills. Now seriously, are we supposed to believe that this "RID" group really wants to kill their cash cow? I see right through their ruse.
Another big money maker for doctors is colon cancer screening.* I remember the day when it was only the unethical and seedy doctors who advertised their services (but never on tv because tv ads are expensive), but now all the big practices have their pseudo public service ads telling us we all must go pay them (or if you're lucky your insurance will pay them) to stick a camera up our butts or we will die of colon cancer. Scare tactics, again.
And there is a part of me that asks why we should be trying to keep all these people alive longer anyway, especially if the world is becoming overpopulated with couch/computer potatoes who drive their gas-guzzling SUVs to the Dunkin Donuts for a 60 pack of donut holes and a dozen jelly-filled. ;-) Well, of course, the answer is that we must do as much as possible to keep filling up the doctors' and researchers' and lawyers' pockets.
I have to wonder if this isn't a matter that will take care of itself. Just like the climate.
*Hold onto your stones. There's no need to throw them. I know the seriousness of colon cancer and that screening can save lives. Thank you.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Hard Hearted?
Gorillas are dying and could end up extinct soon if ebola and hunting continue. Well, the hunting is one thing, but the ebola is quite another. Now, I don't mean to sound very hard hearted, but shouldn't we let Nature take its course if there is a disease that is eliminating an evolutionary dead end? How many species of primates have gone extinct so far? Is it really in the best interest of the planet to try to "save" every species that has probably lived out its course of life here? Perhaps it's in the best interest of the planet to let the gorillas die off and maybe the ebola virus with them? It is believed that humans contract ebola from the gorillas. Well, don't we kill off cows that have mad cow disease to keep it from spreading? And don't we kill off birds that carry the bird flu? Are we not supposed to protect our own population from real threats such as ebola, or is it more important to cut our CO2 emmissions? If you ask me I think ebola is much more threatening to human life (and that of other animals) than some mythical global warming. Sure, sometimes we like gorillas more than cows and birds because we think they are more like us. But how much like us are they really? I don't know the genetic information on that and I'm not looking it up right now.
Well, this isn't a Sunday Sermonette, not yet anyway. I might modify it later. ;-)
Well, this isn't a Sunday Sermonette, not yet anyway. I might modify it later. ;-)
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Magical Vines and Adjacent Universes
The VineThat's one of my all-time favorite poems. It's almost pornographic. ;-)
by Robert Herrick
(1591-1674)
I dreamed this mortal part of mine
Was Metamorphoz'd to a Vine;
Which crawling one and every way,
Enthrall'd my dainty Lucia.
Me thought, her long small legs & thighs
I with my Tendrils did surprize;
Her Belly, Buttocks, and her Waste
By my soft Nerv'lits were embrac'd:
About her head I writhing hung,
And with rich clusters (hid among
The leaves) her temples I behung:
So that my Lucia seem'd to me
Young Bacchus ravished by his tree.
My curles about her neck did craule,
And armes and hands they did enthrall:
So that she could not freely stir,
(All parts there made one prisoner.)
But when I crept with leaves to hide
Those parts, which maids keep unespy'd,
Such fleeting pleasures there I took,
That with the fancie I awook;
And found (Ah me!) this flesh of mine
More like a Stock then like a Vine.
A birdhouse gourd vine has 'magically' grown over one of my butterfly bushes. I grew gourds a few years ago but not since (intentionally), so the kids must have broken one in the yard and spilled the seeds. And actually, these 'accidental' ones are growing even better than the intentionally grown ones. There are two large gourds already and many small ones growing and many more blooms to come. It blooms at night with these big 'veiny' but delicate white flowers. They don't smell good, but they kind of glow in the moonlight. There is one starting to open in the photo.It is a single plant that has branched out to cover the butterfly bush and weigh it down. (I don't think it will break.) It's amazing how those tendrils 'know' to grasp onto whatever they touch and wind themselves around it. (That brings to mind images of dna replicating.) There is a primal sensuality about tendrils and vines, as Herrick's "dream" also suggests. And to the overimaginative it could appear to be some kind of rudimentary intelligence that a plant responds to touch and has developed a way to exploit that ability.
This year I've been blessed with many volunteer plants, but this gourd vine is the most surprising and perhaps symbolic. Maybe Nature wants me to make more birdhouses and rattles? Yeah, that's probably it - to make up for the ones I didn't finish last time. Nature always manages to get her way. ;-)
So, why rattles? Well, it's a shamanic thing. Many, probably most, shamans use drums and rattles to "call the spirits" and enter trance states and assorted other things. I'm intimidated by drums. I'm not ready to make that much noise. ;-) And I find myself more receptive to a rattle's sound. But I rarely ever shake a rattle because I don't want the kids to wonder what Momma's doing or to think I'm even that much weirder.
Maybe Nature wants me to make rattles and to actually use them? Great, I can hear it now, "knock-knock-knock Momma? What are you doing?" I think I'll keep one in the kitchen to chase away the "evil spirits" that make my lights go off and on by themselves sometimes. Yes, that really does happen, but I'm assured by the resident electrician that it's not "supernatural" though he hasn't fixed the problem yet. ;-) The rattle will be more fun anyway.
What do magical vines have to do with adjacent universes? Last night when I started this I knew where that was going, but today I'm afraid I can only guess. Maybe I was thinking about the surprises of life and how we handle them. When I found the vine growing on my butterfly bush I could have pulled it out to save the bush from any potential damage. But that seemed too rigid and boring. I like to let things grow and to see what happens. I can imagine that if we ever 'find' an adjacent universe and can actually see into it we should be prepared for surprises and possibly even disappointments. What if we find that our counterpart in the other universe doesn't fit our ideal image? Do we reject it or say, "oh, I made a mistake"? Or do we look closer and try to see if the differences are only a reflection of some kind of 'quantum' variations? I don't know. It's not really up to me anyway.
Besides, even if we do wake to find that our magical vine is really 'just' a stock there are lot things that stocks are good for. ;-)
Sunday, October 1, 2006
Destiny
Not that this is a reflection of my own underwear collection. But I've always thought those old-fashioned bloomers are cute.
I've always been a "global warming" skeptic, even way back when they first started talking about it. My mom read Al Gore's 1992 book and told me about it, but it just didn't make sense to me that there is a global environmental disaster created by man. I didn't really know why it didn't make sense though. It just didn't. But over the years I've learned more about things and have also learned that I'm not the only skeptic. And the other skeptics I've met are pretty smart ;-) which helped me 'out of the closet' of SGWS (Silent Global Warming Skepticism), which I suspect is fairly common. However, I do accept that our climate is changing because change is expected given the history of our planet. The Earth's climate has always changed and evolved and Life right there with it.
I've been studying the satellite images of the Earth that NASA shares on their websites. I've read their interpretations of the data. And I've also made my own conclusions.
In looking at all the satellite images it's clear that temperature and life are positively correlated. Lubos Motl explains that the Southern Hemisphere isn't warming in the same way as the Northern Hemisphere. The Northern Hemisphere has a greater concentration/distribution of life than the Southern Hemisphere, so that makes sense.
So, what am I saying anyway? I've got a terrible headache today. I think I was saying that it is our destiny to live on a changing planet and to either adapt to it or not. There is no other alternative. We cannot stop Destiny. It will happen if it wants to no matter how hard we might try to stop it. We don't have that much influence on Destiny or Evolution or Climate Change. We are part of the whole. We and all of our 'waste' products are part of the whole. The Global Warming advocates that say we are 'ruining' the planet are just stuck in some Anthropic delusions of grandeur. If humans are supposed to go extinct it will happen whether we choke on our own waste or whether the planet belches a supervolcano or whether a comet or asteroid collides with the planet. No, that's not 'scientific' exactly, but it's the truth. ;-)
Sometimes Life and Destiny don't turn out the way we imagined they would. We find things of value in the least likely of places, and sometimes we recognize those 'diamonds in the rough' and sometimes we don't because we often overlook or reject things that don't match our preset expectations. It's human nature to sometimes be disappointed by the appearance of things and to sometimes misinterpret appearances. But if we dig a little deeper and focus less on the superficial we will find that the answers are there.
(this isn't exactly a complete presentation of my thoughts about global warming, etc. but I'm just trying to get rid of some mental odds and ends)
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Word for Today: Nurture
Noun:
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French norriture, from Late Latin nutritura act of nursing, from Latin nutritus, past participle of nutrire to suckle, nourish -- more at NOURISH
1: TRAINING, UPBRINGING
2: something that nourishes: FOOD
3: the sum of the influences modifying the expression of the genetic potentialities of an organism
Verb:
1: to supply with nourishment
2: EDUCATE
3: to further the development of: FOSTER
There is a lot of debate about the influences that shape us. This Nature vs. Nurture argument has been around a long time, and I suspect it will continue as long as some groups try to think that it's one or the other that is most important. I am a little biased myself, though. If I had to put a percentage on it I would say that we are the product of about 65% Nature and 35% Nurture.* But let's not get too concerned with numbers here because that 35% can be very important and pivotal in the final outcome.
It seems some people think that Nurture is so minimally important that it is not worth any value. I strongly disagree. And it also seems that some people think that Nurture is easy and mostly warm cuddles and encouragement. These people are clearly not mothers. Of course, those things are aspects of Nurturing, but to truly further the development of things or people we must sometimes be harsh, critical, and/or vicious even ;-). The farmer who nurtures his crops must remove the weaker sprouts to make room for the stronger ones. Mother Nature eliminates many weaker things that would not benefit growth and development. Nurture isn't all about focusing only on the good and happy and beneficial. It takes a certain talent to be able to discern what needs to be done for nurturing to be successful and balanced.
Women are naturally the nurturers of our species. This is because the female is the one who bears children and Nature would not assign a duty without providing the proper "instincts" to fullfill that duty. If that were the case, we'd have never evolved to where we are now. Of course, I'm not saying that men can't or don't nurture or that some men might even be better at it than the average woman. There are many degrees of nurturing ability just as there are many degrees of other abilities. Unfortunately, our modern society doesn't value Nurturing as much as it should.** My own personal opinion about this is that the feminist movement is partly responsible for this trend (in addition to the rise of the patriarchal religions). Although women of today do benefit in many ways from the struggles of our feminist mothers we are also paying consequences that they didn't foresee. But this is a perfect example of the Nurturing that Nature does. Nature determines the consequences of our actions whether we like them or not and whether we expect them or not. Nurture can never fully overcome Nature. But to worship the powers of Nature without regard to our own powers of Nurture is just asking for trouble.
----
* In thinking about this percentage thing I realized I should probably explain it a little more. It seems best to think of it in the same way as weather forecasts. (not especially precise, etc.) When we hear that we have a 30% chance of rain, it actually means that 30% of the forecast area can expect rain. Though we can't really say which 30%. ;-) If this is incorrect then blame it on the meteorologist who explained it this way on TV. :-) We often joke at home about it "30 percenting" when we are the ones who get the rain and not the other 70% of our area. My 35% Nurture effect is somewhat similar to the weather situation. At any given time 35% of people will be experiencing some major Nurturing effects. ;-)
However, my little joke isn't really intended to limit it to that reasoning. I do also think that on an individual basis, on averagae, a person's self is 65% biologically determined while the other 35% is environmentally determined.
** By not respecting Nurture enough I mean that modern society wants to limit Nurture to only the positive reinforcement aspects while refusing to accept the harsher aspects of it (the Fall of Punishment, as in the form of no more corporal punishment in schools and the revolt against the Death Penalty, etc., is one example). Modern society can't accept that 'bad things can happen to good people' and that there are natural and sometimes chaotic consequences to life. There are many books devoted to that topic and it's much too broad to approach in a afterthought. Ultimately, Nature and Nurture are inseparable and as dependent upon each other as men and women.
And apparently at the present time my own personal Nature vs. Nurture influences are at battle so if I appear confused and/or inconsistent I will blame them. ;-)
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French norriture, from Late Latin nutritura act of nursing, from Latin nutritus, past participle of nutrire to suckle, nourish -- more at NOURISH
1: TRAINING, UPBRINGING
2: something that nourishes: FOOD
3: the sum of the influences modifying the expression of the genetic potentialities of an organism
Verb:
1: to supply with nourishment
2: EDUCATE
3: to further the development of: FOSTER
There is a lot of debate about the influences that shape us. This Nature vs. Nurture argument has been around a long time, and I suspect it will continue as long as some groups try to think that it's one or the other that is most important. I am a little biased myself, though. If I had to put a percentage on it I would say that we are the product of about 65% Nature and 35% Nurture.* But let's not get too concerned with numbers here because that 35% can be very important and pivotal in the final outcome.
It seems some people think that Nurture is so minimally important that it is not worth any value. I strongly disagree. And it also seems that some people think that Nurture is easy and mostly warm cuddles and encouragement. These people are clearly not mothers. Of course, those things are aspects of Nurturing, but to truly further the development of things or people we must sometimes be harsh, critical, and/or vicious even ;-). The farmer who nurtures his crops must remove the weaker sprouts to make room for the stronger ones. Mother Nature eliminates many weaker things that would not benefit growth and development. Nurture isn't all about focusing only on the good and happy and beneficial. It takes a certain talent to be able to discern what needs to be done for nurturing to be successful and balanced.
Women are naturally the nurturers of our species. This is because the female is the one who bears children and Nature would not assign a duty without providing the proper "instincts" to fullfill that duty. If that were the case, we'd have never evolved to where we are now. Of course, I'm not saying that men can't or don't nurture or that some men might even be better at it than the average woman. There are many degrees of nurturing ability just as there are many degrees of other abilities. Unfortunately, our modern society doesn't value Nurturing as much as it should.** My own personal opinion about this is that the feminist movement is partly responsible for this trend (in addition to the rise of the patriarchal religions). Although women of today do benefit in many ways from the struggles of our feminist mothers we are also paying consequences that they didn't foresee. But this is a perfect example of the Nurturing that Nature does. Nature determines the consequences of our actions whether we like them or not and whether we expect them or not. Nurture can never fully overcome Nature. But to worship the powers of Nature without regard to our own powers of Nurture is just asking for trouble.
----
* In thinking about this percentage thing I realized I should probably explain it a little more. It seems best to think of it in the same way as weather forecasts. (not especially precise, etc.) When we hear that we have a 30% chance of rain, it actually means that 30% of the forecast area can expect rain. Though we can't really say which 30%. ;-) If this is incorrect then blame it on the meteorologist who explained it this way on TV. :-) We often joke at home about it "30 percenting" when we are the ones who get the rain and not the other 70% of our area. My 35% Nurture effect is somewhat similar to the weather situation. At any given time 35% of people will be experiencing some major Nurturing effects. ;-)
However, my little joke isn't really intended to limit it to that reasoning. I do also think that on an individual basis, on averagae, a person's self is 65% biologically determined while the other 35% is environmentally determined.
** By not respecting Nurture enough I mean that modern society wants to limit Nurture to only the positive reinforcement aspects while refusing to accept the harsher aspects of it (the Fall of Punishment, as in the form of no more corporal punishment in schools and the revolt against the Death Penalty, etc., is one example). Modern society can't accept that 'bad things can happen to good people' and that there are natural and sometimes chaotic consequences to life. There are many books devoted to that topic and it's much too broad to approach in a afterthought. Ultimately, Nature and Nurture are inseparable and as dependent upon each other as men and women.
And apparently at the present time my own personal Nature vs. Nurture influences are at battle so if I appear confused and/or inconsistent I will blame them. ;-)
Thursday, September 7, 2006
Secret Worlds
Trust me, this is really neat. You'll take a 'tour' of the universe in an amazing way:
Secret Worlds: The Universe Within
While you're there click on some of the other galleries. They are beautiful. Click here for a gorgeous pearl image. This is a beautiful Universe, for all its mysteries and all that we've so far discovered. Nature is the greatest artist.
And don't miss the picture of my favorite cocktail.
Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to browse these wonderful images. Sometimes a lifetime isn't long enough.
Secret Worlds: The Universe Within
While you're there click on some of the other galleries. They are beautiful. Click here for a gorgeous pearl image. This is a beautiful Universe, for all its mysteries and all that we've so far discovered. Nature is the greatest artist.
And don't miss the picture of my favorite cocktail.
Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to browse these wonderful images. Sometimes a lifetime isn't long enough.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
To Whom It May Concern (or not):
I'm going to indulge in a bit of rambling today. It seems I'm feeling a little lost, no not lost, but disoriented. Sometimes the Earth seems to not be spinning just right on its axis so that I get a little topsy-turvy. In my reading about butterflies I learned that it's probably some kind of magnetic thing that guides Monarch butterflies in their sometimes thousands-of-miles-long migrations. Well, if a butterfly can have some kind of magnetic thing then why can't I? ;-) And though I don't really know much about any of that stuff I have read that the Earth's magnetic poles are shifting and that they have always done this. Anyway, whatever. Unfortunately, I'll probably never learn exactly why I feel this way sometimes.
I've had several posts started, but I can't seem to finish any of them yet. Primarily, I've been thinking about Cognitive Pyschology and Spirituality, Feminism (pros and cons, but mostly cons), the problems with Anthropic reasoning, Biological vs. Environmental Influences, Tricksters in History, and Magic Words and Alchemy. Is your head spinning yet? Mine is. LOL Maybe it's more than my poor little brain can handle.
Anyway, I just know there is some thread of something that will lead me back to my point. Whatever that is. You see, I'm so disoriented that I can't even decide if I need to go forewards, backwards, up, down, or what.
It's raining today. It's a nice steady rain, and while I was soaking in a hot bath (I hurt my back over the weekend) I opened the window over the tub so I could listen to the rainfall. I wish I could say it offered some relief or insight, but it didn't. It just sounded nice. Even Nature is ignoring me today.
And even writing this rambling piece of nothing I'm losing my way. David left very early this morning to go to Florida for a few days with his dad and brother. The disorientation isn't related to that because it was happening previous to that. I hope he has fun. He rarely gets to take any kind of break like that. And it's important now because his dad just had colon cancer surgery a few weeks ago. They got it all, but he's starting some chemo after he gets back as a precaution.
I've got some kind of spider or bug bite on my foot. It could be a brown recluse bite, but I didn't see what did it. I've had a couple of bites like this before. It's very painful and a little swollen. It will heal but leave a scar like the others. I wonder if I get bitten enough will I be like Spiderman? That would probably suck. Superheroes have hard lives. ;-) So does the Trickster. Both do tend to get beat up a lot, either from bad guys or people who don't like what you have for them. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, they say. I don't know if it's really possible not to. Be kind to your critics if you can shut them up that way, but if you can't, beat the shit out of them. LOL It doesn't pay to be moderate with some people because they'll just stab you in the back next chance they get. Et tu, Brute?
Well, it's time for me to go pick up the kids.
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