Saturday, August 30, 2003

Leap Forward or Perish Barry Carter writes: In addition to having been conditioned for a lose/win environment we have also evolved from it. Lose/win is our reality. As we look at the animal world and all of nature we see lose/win. One animal must die in order for another to live. Eat or be eaten is the rule. Within groups of animals there is a control hierarchy and pecking order, just like society and companies. Lion prides continuously battle for territory with other lion prides and hyena packs. This battling occurs with what appears to be the same fierce hatred as that which we've witnessed between racial, religious and ethic groups. This is the reality from whence we evolved. Though advanced society is separate from this activity, our paradigm and social institutions still reflect this reality. Lose/win then is our evolved reality from millions of years of evolution. With lose/win being our reality, how is it possible to change this reality? Evolution puts forth the concept of adapt or die. It clearly shows that species must adapt to new and changing environments or cease to exist. Win-win cannot be done half way. It's "win-win or no deal." This then is our challenge. We must adapt for a new win-win environment or face extinction, or at best a giant leap backwards and maybe another chance in another thousand years. As radical as it sounds, it appears as though humanity must have some type of evolutionary leap forward. Humanity must have a break with the lose/win reality of the past, in order to continue moving ahead. The latest theories about evolution put forth the concept that evolution works in leaps and bounds, not in slow, steady change. It is not such a radical thought that as the universe evolves into consciousness and intelligence, at different points in this evolution there must be radical breaks with the past--breakpoints where the old rules are simply not applicable anymore. When a being cannot make a break with the past as the environment dictates, it ceases to exist. We appear to be at one of these breakpoints in our evolution. It appears that we either are on the verge of a mass spiritual awakening, driven by needs at the top of the hierarchy, or we are on the verge of mass annihilation as shown in Infinite Wealth. (08/29/03) I Have a Dream Martin Luther King said: I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. ... This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"  (08/29/03) Saving the Corncrakes BBC Nature -- Conservationists are releasing the last of 55 captive-bred corncrake chicks on Friday in an attempt to reintroduce the endangered species in England. The bird, a relative of the coot and moorhen, has been virtually wiped out by modern farming methods in England. The corncrake chicks, bred at Whipsnade Zoo, are being released at the RSPB's Nene Washes reserve, near Peterborough. Project leaders hope the birds will head south to spend the winter in Africa and return to breed in spring. Corncrakes have bred in England only sporadically since the 1950s, though they survive in the north and west of Scotland. The reintroduction is being carried out by the RSPB, English Nature and the Zoological Society of London. ... Phil Grice, senior ornithologist with English Nature, said that the release represented a turning point for a globally-threatened bird. "Historically, the call of the corncrake was a familiar sound across Britain and Ireland. "Sadly, as in the rest of Europe, the needs of this bird are incompatible with modern farming and so its numbers have crashed, requiring intensive conservation efforts everywhere it breeds," he said. The RSPB, English Nature and the ZSL hope to release up to 100 birds a year for the next five years if this year's release proves successful. (08/29/03) Dark Chocolate Healthy BBC Health -- Dark chocolate may be healthier than milk chocolate, according to a team of scientists. Researchers in Scotland and Italy say dark chocolate has much better anti-oxidant properties. This means that it can protect the heart and arteries from oxidative damage, similar to the rust that develops on metal over time. Writing in the journal Nature, they said adding milk to chocolate may cancel out these health benefits. Previous studies have suggested that chocolate may help to protect against heart disease and even cancer. While some of these have distinguished between dark and milk chocolate, many have not. Dark chocolate was found to boost blood antioxidant levels by nearly 20%.  However, there was no such effect when volunteers ate milk chocolate or drank milk with dark chocolate. "What this tells us, is that probably the proteins in milk bind with the antioxidants in chocolate," Professor Alan Crozier of Glasgow University told BBC News Online. "As a consequence, they are not being absorbed to the same extent as they would be with dark chocolate. Any potential protective effects are lost." The findings raise the possibility that dairy products may interfere with the healthy properties of other foods, such as fruits, tea and red wine, which are also believed to have anti-oxidant effects. The researchers said future studies into the health impacts of these foods should take this into account. (08/29/03) The Herb Sage Good for Memory BBC Science -- Centuries-old theories that the herb sage can improve memory appear to be borne out by modern research. Scientists at the Universities of Newcastle and Northumbria tested 44 people, who were either given the herb or a dummy placebo pill. They found that those given the sage oil tablets performed much better in a "word recall test". Experts believe the active ingredient may boost levels of a chemical that helps transmit messages in the brain. The Medicinal Plant Research Centre (MPRC) at the universities are testing many old-fashioned claims about the healing powers of herbs and flowers. Sage is often referred to in ancient texts - in 1597 the herbalist John Gerard said that it was "singularly good for the head and quickeneth the nerves and memory." Researcher Nicola Tildsley said the results of the study proved that, in some cases at least, the herbalists should be taken seriously. She said: "This proves how valuable the work by the old herbalists was, and that they shouldn't just be ignored because they were writing centuries ago." There are still question marks over the herb's ability to boost long-term memory, she said. "Tests would need to be carried out on people over a longer period of time to prove that sage improves exam performance - but we don't have any plans to do this at present." (08/29/03) 8:49:26 AM

© TrustMark 2003 Timothy Wilken. Last update: 9/1/2003; 1:45:04 AM. This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.