Eye on Faith

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Dognition Assessment: Is Fido a Renaissance Dog?

Multiple dogs, multiple intelligences... (Uploaded by Poke2001)

Much good work has been done to assess the multiple intelligences of humans. However, these same humans often downplay the skills and talents of their alleged “best friends.”

It will now be harder to ignore Fido’s vast capabilities, thanks to a team of canine lovers from the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University in North Carolina.

The Los Angeles Associated Press reports that this team developed a $19 series of games to play with dogs. The results can be sent to www.dognition.com, and Duke will then put "together your pet’s profile.”

This profile includes such canine categories as “Ace, Charmer, Socialite, Expert, Renaissance Dog, Protodog, Einstein, Maverick or Stargazer.”

It comes as no surprise that “Einstein” denotes a brainiac dog, although perhaps a socially awkward one. “Aces,” on the other paw, are “good at almost everything” (including mischief).

Resources

http://news.yahoo.com/dont-let-slobber-fool-dog-could-brainiac-151347755.html

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Americanitis: Has it ever really gone away?

Elbert Hubbard (Public Domain)

Some things never change.

Back in the late 1800s/early 1900s, a diagnosis of “Americanitis” meant that you were stressed out to the max. A term that was coined in 1880, “Americanitis” was reflective of “the hurry, bustle, and incessant drive of the American temperament.

Those who were said to have suffered from this condition included Theodore Roosevelt and social activist Jane Addams. By 1925, Time reported that 240,000 per year had succumbed to Americanitis.

Handy-dandy cures at the time included a concoction called Dr. Mile's Nervine. Yes, Nervine did tend to slow people down; after all, its active ingredient was cannabis.

Mental Floss explains that a more holistic approach involved this wise advice from self-help author Elbert Hubbard: “cut down your calling list, play tag with the

children, and let the world slide.”

Hubbard’s seasoned advice seems even more pertinent for today’s technological world, a world in which people seem constantly tethered to their deadlines and responsibilities.

Resources

http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/the-19th-century-illness-that-struck-busy-stressed-out-americans/ar-BBjy5li

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Time: Frittering the fleeting

(Photo by S Sepp)

Assuming that the average human life span is 75 years (which is far more than many actually get), that would equal approximately 2,366,769,450 seconds or 657,450 hours.

If seconds were quarters, or hours were dollars, we might try to spend them more judiciously. Since time (which is arguably our most precious asset here on earth) is quite intangible, we tend to take it for granted.

MSN Lifestyle reports that many spend 26 years of their lives sleeping (after 7 years of lying awake), “and another 11 watching TV.” Men tend to spend 11 months of their lives oogling women, most commonly in supermarkets.

Hate doing the laundry? Three years of life is often preoccupied with this pursuit. Compare this with only 115 days spent laughing.

But doesn’t sex make it all worthwhile (especially after all that oogling)? If you consider 9 hours of male orgasms a fair trade for countless hours of strategizing, then maybe it does.

And what about females? Their lifetime ration is allegedly a mere “90 minutes of [orgasmic] pleasure.” But hey! There’s also that 27 days of romance to forever cherish.

Other startling statistics include the following: “2 years in meetings… 5 years surfing the Internet [as compared to a mere 4.4 years eating]… and 8.5 years shopping."

Kind of makes you wonder whether humans ought to be rethinking their priorities…

Resources

http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/smart-living/30-surprising-facts-about-how-we-spend-our-time/ss-BBjhPAS

Monday, May 11, 2015

Jefferson Davis: Kneeling in prayer

(Postwar Portrait by Daniel Huntington)

Although as much of a work in progress as any other human being, Jefferson Davis had also been widely known for his piety.

Michael T. Griffith tells us that Davis was “deeply religious,” and was seen “kneeling in prayer in the presidential mansion” more than once.

He not only read the Bible in English, but also in Greek. He took Scripture to heart, and quoted it liberally. When two of his own children had died, Davis was able to summon up the faith to say: Not my will, but thy will be done.

Yet how could such religious fervor be reconciled with the slavery of the day? Griffith reports that Davis “believed it was his Christian duty to treat blacks with respect.”

Davis therefore made it a point to develop friendly relationships with slaves. During the war, he personally cared for an orphaned mulatto. Former slaves of Davis fiercely defended him from detractors years after the war was over.

There was so much trust between Davis and his slaves that when the plantation had been threatened by white outlaws, Davis “armed his slaves” to help drive the ruffians away.

Davis also recognized the “evils and abuses” of slavery. Toward the war’s end, he “led the fight to grant slaves their freedom in exchange for military service.”

Resources

http://www.mtgriffith.com/web_documents/jeffersondavis.htm

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Fungi fuel factories are taking off

Aspergillis on Tomato (Photo by Multimotyl)

Fungi has often been the butt of some pretty bad jokes. However, having “a fungus among us” might finally morph from a sore- to a soaring-subject.

Danny Gallagher of CNET reports that scientists are turning to the common soil fungus, Aspergillis, in the hopes of “making a new jet biofuel.” Aspergillis is that yucky looking mold that grows on decaying fruit.

Researchers suspect that Aspergillis naturally produces hydrocarbons in order to defend itself against invading bacteria. Genetically-modified aspergillis can be made to produce even “larger quantities of hydrocarbons.”

With Aspergillis doing “the work of a biofuel refinery,” jet fuel might become easier and cheaper to obtain. Hopefully, these savings (rather than the Aspergillis itself) will then be passed on to airline passengers.

Resources

http://www.cnet.com/news/scientists-may-have-found-a-formula-for-turning-fungus-to-fuel/#ftag=YHF65cbda0

Copyright May 10, 2015 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Bill Nye: Doing the ET math

Bill Nye (Photo by BDEngler)

When Bill Nye has difficulty falling asleep (what with all of those counter-evolutionists to contend with), he no longer counts sheep.

Nye instead counts planets. Not just the ones in our solar system, mind you (although these days that’s challenging enough)…

Nye has broadened this mathematical quest to include all planets within God’s Creation (aka “Nye’s Universe”).

His bedtime ritual (as recently "revealed" on HuffPost Live) might therefore sound something like this: I mean there’s 200 billion stars in this galaxy alone. Then you start talking about the hundreds of

billions of galaxies…

If still awake after that first astronomical round, Nye might then (hopefully sleepily) continue: Hundreds of billions of galaxies, which in turn have hundreds of billions of stars, which in turn have tens of hundreds of billions – trillions – of planets.

His final conclusion (before desperately reaching for some Nyquil) sounds definitive: It’s [extra-terrestrial life’s] gotta exist outside the solar system.

Resources

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/08/bill-nye-extraterrestrial-life_n_7236752.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

Friday, May 8, 2015

Home-free: Not talking baseball

Where the heart is... (Leonardo da Vinci)

Is home where the house is, or where the heart is? Terry K. of Salon definitely prefers the latter definition.

Terry points out that the Oxford dictionary has many ways to define “home.” He then presents this choice as his favorite one: A place where something flourishes…

Well, then, that could be just about anywhere… Even within one’s office? In Terry’s case, that would have been a resounding yes!

He not only worked in a “10-square-feet” cubicle all day, but also secretly slept there all night. Rents in the Los Angeles area had become so high that Terry had relinquished his “250 square feet of glorified tenement housing.”

After chucking the apartment (along with many possessions), Terry camped out each night behind his work desk. A duffel bag filled with clothing and a few remaining personal items was tucked away in a hidden corner.

Each morning, well before the work day began, Terry would head out to a local fitness club. He would exercise, shower, then head back to the office. No one suspected a thing.

This “home-free” (more positive-sounding than “homeless”) period lasted for 500 days. During that time, Terry became more relaxed, more productive, more creative, and definitely more fulfilled.

Resources

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/i-secretly-lived-in-my-office-for-500-days/ar-BBiZtrz