Diary: Faith Benefits

Teaching kids to have faith in a God might be an essential survival skill. At this point even though I can rationally reject the popular concept of God, I can still be comfortable with the idea of being able to find refuge with someone larger than life. I think I am able to do this because I was at some point a strong believer. Maybe if someone raised their kid to pooh-pooh the idea of God in all its forms, the kid would be really "lonely" at times.



This "idea of God" is a good companion, because its an image from within our own brains. This image cannot do anything to betray our trust, because we just wouldn't allow it to. So suddenly now God sounds like an imaginary friend. I think they would serve the same purpose. However personally I am not able to find safety in the idea of an imaginary friend. I become very aware of the fact that I am the creator of this fictional friend. Whereas with the God character its been implanted in there without me being very aware of it. So now rationally even though if you think that God is the sum-total of everything thats beyond the understanding of human brains, then I have a face for it. I can leave stuff up to it, cos I know at times victory against the will of god will come slowly and with a lot of patience.

:)

less

Nothing to lean on.

Mind it

Its our mind, and that alone, that chains us or sets us free
-Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

"War Between the Sexes:" The Co-evolution of Genitalia in Waterfowl

http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=2050 --- According to the study, in various independent lineages of ducks females developed more elaborate oviducts as males evolved longer phalluses. In other lineages females lost oviduct complexity as the phallus evolved toward smaller size. Why all this dynamic evolution? Brennan hypothesizes that the female waterfowl have evolved these unique anatomical features as physical counter-measures to evade male attempts to assert control over reproduction. "Despite the fact that most waterfowl form monogamous pairs, forced copulations by other males — the avian equivalent of rape — are common in many waterfowl," said Prum. "The length of the phallus of a species is strongly correlated with the frequency of forced copulations." "In response to male attempts to force their paternity on females, female waterfowl may be able to assert their own behavioral and anatomical means of controlling who fathers their offspring," Brennan said.



Evolution of convolutions in the Mallard oviduct (left) and phallus (right) may give the female duck an anatomical means of controlling who fathers their offspring. Bar measure cm. (Courtesy of Patricia Brennan)

Cat droppings a lucrative business in Philippines

One of the most expensive coffee's is extracted from the dung of an animal called the "Civet" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civet)

Exotic Dung Coffee

Kopi Luwak, also known as caphe cut chon (fox-dung coffee) in Vietnam and kape alamid in the Philippines, is coffee that is prepared using coffee cherries that have been eaten and partially digested by the Asian Palm Civet, then harvested from its feces.

[Videos]
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