Eye on Faith

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Angola Prison Rodeo: Bulls-eye or just plain bull?

Good Advice (MigGronigen)

Some say that Louisiana’s Angola Prison has struck a bulls-eye for social justice, others say that its biannual Prison Rodeo program is just plain bull.

Imagine this: Four inmate “cowboys” are sitting around a poker table, engaging in a little R & R. However, this ain’t no ordinary card game. The table sits in the middle of a huge arena, and suddenly “a wild bull is released with the sole purpose of unseating the poker players.”

“Unseating…” Hmmm… Could this be code for breaking every bone in their sitting-duck bodies while the spectators cheer? Or has that been (ahem) banned since the “good ole” days of the Roman Empire?

“Oh no,” say supporters. This is straight-up prison rehab. Why sit around getting a GED or studying the Bible when you could instead be engaging in state-sanctioned gladiator games?

If mangled poker players and/or gutted bulls aren’t exactly your cup of brew, not to worry. There is plenty of other action to salivate over. Why, between the bull-riding event in which “inexperienced inmates sit on top [but not for long] of a 2,000 pound Brahma bull” and the “wild cow milking” (use your imagination), there’s not a dull moment (nor an unfrayed nerve) in the house.

But let's hear what the “experts” have to say. Gloria Hultz, Executive Director of the North American Association of Wardens & Superintendents, stated the following to ABC News: It’s a wonderful morale booster. The inmates are very excited and very proud to be in this rodeo. It’s an honor.

However, dead men tell no tales (and give no interviews). Assistant Warden Cathy Fontenot did admit to some “previous fatalities.” This could give a whole new meaning to “life sentence” (which she mentions some of the inmate “cowboys” just happen to be serving)…

Resources http://news.yahoo.com/ride-em-inmate-prison-rodeo-opens-gates-guts-232720283--abc-news-topstories.html

'Pretty' only goes so far

'Pillow' Lips (Photo by Saintswithin)

The dainty "feminine" look that many women think they need in order to attract men only goes so far in a pinch.

Stephanie Pappas of Live Science reports that women with this type of look are “perceived to be less socially dominant.”

In harsh environments, men allegedly seek female mates “who can hold on to resources” - a trait which is often (fairly or not) equated with less dainty-looking females.

How does this all play out within today’s nations? Pappas explains that the Nepalese, Nigerians and Columbians are least likely to be attracted to “girly” looks, whereas the Japanese, Australians and Americans are most likely to pursue “femininity.”

These conclusions were drawn from a study of heterosexual men within 28 nations. “Feminine” features – described as “large eyes, pillow lips and a soft jaw” – were equated with “fecundity.”

Resources

http://news.yahoo.com/harsh-conditions-men-dont-want-pretty-face-230237617.html

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Can R-E-S-P-E-C-T be legislated?

(Photo by Jeremy Noble)

According to Wikipedia, “respect is a positive feeling of esteem or deference

for a person or other entity… and also specific actions and conduct representative of that esteem.”

Yahoo! Odd News recently reported that Spain is considering the passing of a law which would require children to “do chores and ‘be respectful.’”

The question is: Can respect really be legislated? (And if so, should it be?)

This Yahoo! report prompted a number of diverse comments from readers. These include the following:

Sounds like a great start. New laws, making children have respect, and such, would be a start at turning this country around. How about it people, would you support such laws? I would, because every day there

are media stories about the lack of respect, at home, at school, and in public…

But on the other hand:

Funny, I've never needed a law to get my children to do anything. Of course, my kids were raised (not hatched and ignored) by my wife (not baby mama) and myself. You know, together. In a home. With rules and guidelines, supervision, respect, responsibility and discipline…

Obviously a polarizing topic with no ready-made answer key…

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/spain-might-pass-law-that-would-make-children-do-chores-and-%E2%80%98be-respectful%E2%80%99-181006526.html

Monday, April 28, 2014

Are males becoming extinct?

(Public Domain)

Although some folks have been complaining that it’s hard to find a good man these days, that is not

because males are becoming biologically extinct.

In fact, Danielle Wiener-Bronner of The Wire writes that Men Are Here to Stay, Thanks to the Y Chromosome’s Indestructible Genes.

It is the Y chromosome that signals the human fetus to grow male sex organs rather than default to the female ones.

Because the Y chromosome has lost a great deal of its genes over (lots of) time, and was “significantly shorter” than the X chromosome to

begin with, some (alarmists, no doubt) worried that this was the beginning of a world without men.

Not to worry… A recent study indicates that the “Schwarzeneggers” of this planet will be around for quite a while longer. It now seems that in the past 25 million years, the Y chromosome has virtually quit shedding its genes.

Resources

http://www.thewire.com/national/2014/04/y-chromosome-men-genes-nature/361151/

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Exomoon life: Does it exist?

Exomoon Sunsets (NASA artistry)

Instead of people singing “Moon Over Miami,” aliens may one day

be singing (or whatever) “Exomoon Over Exoplanet.”

According to Andrew Norton of The Open University, there are some good scientific reasons to believe that the number of exomoons (moons that orbit exoplanets) exceed even the number of exoplanets (planets that orbit stars other than our sun).

Therefore, the possibility of finding life on exomoons may be even greater than the possibility of finding life on exoplanets.

Theoretical exomoons have been thus far categorized in these four ways: habitable (with more than 10% of the surface “at a temperature between the freezing and boiling points of water”), hot (with “average temperatures above 100 degrees Celsius at all times”), snowball (“permanently frozen”), and transient (generally habitable, but “the amount of habitable surface area varies widely with time”).

Resources

http://www.space.com/25645-move-over-exoplanets-exomoons-may-harbour-life-too.html

Friday, April 25, 2014

Great Filter: Are we next?

(Enrico Fermi)

Physicist Enrico Fermi had often wondered why we never found evidence of intelligent life out there in the vast universe.

Andrew Snyder-Beattie of Oxford University explains that this lack of evidence (despite all the attempts and theoretical possibilities) has come to be known as the Fermi Paradox.

It takes a great question to have a great answer, and one response to the Fermi Paradox has been appropriately called the Great Filter.

Snyder-Beattie points out that the Great Filter is the apparent “bottleneck for the emergence of alien civilisations from any one of the many billions of planets…”

Because no alien civilizations have thus far “emerged” (at least as far as most scientists are concerned), this could mean that intelligent life fails to survive long enough to be able to make contact with faraway worlds.

If this be the inevitable fate of alien civilizations, then what does that say about our own?

Resources

https://theconversation.com/habitable-exoplanets-are-bad-news-for-humanity-25838

Lethal depression: Is it killing you?

(Warning Signs of Women's Heart Attacks)

The ancient belief that the heart is the center of emotion is now being echoed by modern-day science.

Megan Gorman and Lindsay Van Gelder write about “the surprising connection between your mind-set and your heart.”

They explain that “negative emotions” such as grief and rage are “cardio-toxic.”

In other words, the toxic chemicals that are released within the body tend to “spike your risk of a heart attack” by elevating blood pressure and heart rate.

Chronic angry hostility, accompanied by a flood of stress hormones, can weaken the heart muscle over time. This results in a condition called cardiomyopathy.

Long-term grief can have the same effect, which is why folk wisdom has said that people can die of a “broken heart.” Arteries are also vulnerable to such an emotional drain.

The good news is that if depression and grief can kill, perhaps cheerfulness and optimism can heal. The results of a 2013 John Hopkins study of 6,000 participants indicates that positive emotions can indeed lead to more healthful outcomes.

Resources

http://t.healthyliving.msn.com/diseases/heart-and-cardiovascular/is-unhappiness-killing-you