Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Free Hugs
Instead of "I love you," say "I am love"
"The common expression is 'I love you.' But instead of 'I love you,' it would be better to say, 'I am love — I am the embodiment of pure love.' Remove the I and you, and you will find that there is only love. It is as if love is imprisoned between the I and you. Remove the I and you, for they are unreal; they are self-imposed walls that don't exist. The gulf between I and you is the ego. When the ego is removed the distance disappears and the I and you also disappear. They merge to become one — and that is love. You lend the I and you their reality. Withdraw your support and they will disappear. Then you will realise, not that 'I love you,' but that 'I am that all-embracing love.'"
- Quote by Ammachi, the Hindu hugging saint
Monday, June 16, 2008
Queer Brains ARE Different
LONDON - Gay men and straight women share some characteristics in the area of the brain responsible for emotion, mood and anxiety, researchers said on Monday in a study highlighting the potential biological underpinning of sexuality.
“The observations cannot be easily attributed to perception or behavior,” the researchers from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute wrote. “Whether they may relate to processes laid down during the fetal or postnatal development is an open question.”
Brain scans of 90 volunteers showed that the brains of heterosexual men and homosexual women were slightly asymmetric with the right hemisphere slightly larger than the left, Ivanka Savic and Pers Lindstrom wrote. The brains of gay men and heterosexual women were not.
“These observations motivate more extensive investigations of larger study groups and prompt for a better understanding of the neurobiology of homosexuality,” they wrote.
- from an MSNBC article entitled Gay men, straight women have similar brains: New study points to possible biological source of sexual orientation
“The observations cannot be easily attributed to perception or behavior,” the researchers from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute wrote. “Whether they may relate to processes laid down during the fetal or postnatal development is an open question.”
Brain scans of 90 volunteers showed that the brains of heterosexual men and homosexual women were slightly asymmetric with the right hemisphere slightly larger than the left, Ivanka Savic and Pers Lindstrom wrote. The brains of gay men and heterosexual women were not.
“These observations motivate more extensive investigations of larger study groups and prompt for a better understanding of the neurobiology of homosexuality,” they wrote.
- from an MSNBC article entitled Gay men, straight women have similar brains: New study points to possible biological source of sexual orientation
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
The kiss of the sun
This bit of information may be of practical use to some of my readers who like to think outside the box, so here goes: a Hare Krishna sister recently sent me an interesting video of devotees cooking with a sun cooker: a solar powered stove that can be used outdoors on sunny days to reduce dependency on conventional electricity. It uses free energy, generates no pollution, needs no wood, produces no smoke, and helps save the Earth. It may even add more vitamin D to our meals, since it derives its heat from the sun directly.
Sun cookers have been prominent in the relief efforts in Darfur, and efforts are being made to take solar ovens to impoverished parts of the world. Already, an entire village in India uses solar ovens, and there's even a video on youtube showing a home made solar oven that works in slighly higher than freezing temperatures.
Sun cookers have been prominent in the relief efforts in Darfur, and efforts are being made to take solar ovens to impoverished parts of the world. Already, an entire village in India uses solar ovens, and there's even a video on youtube showing a home made solar oven that works in slighly higher than freezing temperatures.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Prove it!
According to this Associated Press news item entitled "Federal court rules against military's gay policy", the appeals court judges disagree with the ban against out gays in the military.
The ban has been controversial from the beginning because, not only does it lack factual data that proves that being openly gay is 'bad for the morale', as they often cite, but also because it does not allow for open and honest discussion on the deeper problem of hostility against gay soldiers, who have often been harassed by fellow soldiers and even been the silent victims of hate crimes. If a gay soldier is attacked, he must fear discharge if he or she speaks up.
The ban was challenged by a lesbian nurse who sued after being discharged without pay by the Air Force for being gay, after serving for eighteen years. Her discharge took place during a shortage of flight nurses. Her law suit was dismissed, and she then appealed before a federal court. The opinion of the court is as follows:
"When the government attempts to intrude upon the personal and private lives of homosexuals, the government must advance an important governmental interest ... and the intrusion must be necessary to further that interest," wrote Judge Ronald M. Gould.
The article closes with the following remarks by the nurse:
"I am thrilled by the court's recognition that I can't be discharged without proving that I was harmful to morale," Witt said in a statement. "I am proud of my career and want to continue doing my job. Wounded people never asked me about my sexual orientation. They were just glad to see me there."
The ban has been controversial from the beginning because, not only does it lack factual data that proves that being openly gay is 'bad for the morale', as they often cite, but also because it does not allow for open and honest discussion on the deeper problem of hostility against gay soldiers, who have often been harassed by fellow soldiers and even been the silent victims of hate crimes. If a gay soldier is attacked, he must fear discharge if he or she speaks up.
The ban was challenged by a lesbian nurse who sued after being discharged without pay by the Air Force for being gay, after serving for eighteen years. Her discharge took place during a shortage of flight nurses. Her law suit was dismissed, and she then appealed before a federal court. The opinion of the court is as follows:
"When the government attempts to intrude upon the personal and private lives of homosexuals, the government must advance an important governmental interest ... and the intrusion must be necessary to further that interest," wrote Judge Ronald M. Gould.
The article closes with the following remarks by the nurse:
"I am thrilled by the court's recognition that I can't be discharged without proving that I was harmful to morale," Witt said in a statement. "I am proud of my career and want to continue doing my job. Wounded people never asked me about my sexual orientation. They were just glad to see me there."
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Religion justifies genocide
When one person suffers from insanity, that is known as madness. When many people suffer from insanity, that is known as religion. - Robert M. Pirsig
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