Observations from a Friend Department:
A deeply spiritual chum spends much time helping others through various challenges in their lives. Among the volunteers who assist in the process are what a passing glance would suggest are “God’s People”. They quote scripture verbatim, constantly offer prayers, and attend Sunday services diligently.
Many of the folks helped in this effort are seriously hurting. They include a few drinkers, a smattering of “rough” characters, and others not usually welcomed into so-called “polite societies”.
Curious in this mix of people is the fact those who might be seen as the less significant are the ones who demonstrate more faith and more gratitude. Consider this quote from aforementioned friend: “I'm in a state of wonder and awe that so many of God's people don't seem to get this place at all, while so many drunks, lost teens, outcasts, exiles and refugees do.”
The Numbers Tell a Story Department:
Recent ratings by Nielsen Media Research reveal that more than 33 million people watched an episode of American Idol, while the three major US network news-shows garnered a total of less than 25 million viewers. Guess more of us want insults and mediocre entertainment more than we want information.
The Science of Love Department:
Bet you didn’t know you had a caudate and a ventral tegmental. Me neither, until today. Science has, yet-again, stepped into romance. Dr. Lucy Brown, and her colleagues at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, did MRI brain scans on students who were in love. The caudate area of the brain – which is involved in cravings – became very active when subjects were shown photos of their beloved. The ventral tegmental, that produces dopamine, which affects pleasure sensations and motivation, also lit up.
Inquiring Minds(I.M.) wonder when a wrist-band monitor will be invented that can measure such things while participating at a Speed-dating event.
Monkeying Around with Feng Shui Department:
(aka: Ya Couldn’t make this up Department)
The Los Angeles Zoo has paid an expert in Feng Shui (an ancient Chinese design-art that focuses on life-balance) to arrange an enclosure for two endangered golden monkeys scheduled to arrive at the zoo by the end of the year. In a classic understatement, Simona Mainini, the aforementioned expert, noted that “we don’t have any books on Feng Shui for monkeys. We just have to assume that Darwin is correct and that there is a connection, and what is good for humans is good for monkeys."
And the tab for this effort: $4500.00. I.M. wonder: How does one get a gig like that?
A deeply spiritual chum spends much time helping others through various challenges in their lives. Among the volunteers who assist in the process are what a passing glance would suggest are “God’s People”. They quote scripture verbatim, constantly offer prayers, and attend Sunday services diligently.
Many of the folks helped in this effort are seriously hurting. They include a few drinkers, a smattering of “rough” characters, and others not usually welcomed into so-called “polite societies”.
Curious in this mix of people is the fact those who might be seen as the less significant are the ones who demonstrate more faith and more gratitude. Consider this quote from aforementioned friend: “I'm in a state of wonder and awe that so many of God's people don't seem to get this place at all, while so many drunks, lost teens, outcasts, exiles and refugees do.”
The Numbers Tell a Story Department:
Recent ratings by Nielsen Media Research reveal that more than 33 million people watched an episode of American Idol, while the three major US network news-shows garnered a total of less than 25 million viewers. Guess more of us want insults and mediocre entertainment more than we want information.
The Science of Love Department:
Bet you didn’t know you had a caudate and a ventral tegmental. Me neither, until today. Science has, yet-again, stepped into romance. Dr. Lucy Brown, and her colleagues at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, did MRI brain scans on students who were in love. The caudate area of the brain – which is involved in cravings – became very active when subjects were shown photos of their beloved. The ventral tegmental, that produces dopamine, which affects pleasure sensations and motivation, also lit up.
Inquiring Minds(I.M.) wonder when a wrist-band monitor will be invented that can measure such things while participating at a Speed-dating event.
Monkeying Around with Feng Shui Department:
(aka: Ya Couldn’t make this up Department)
The Los Angeles Zoo has paid an expert in Feng Shui (an ancient Chinese design-art that focuses on life-balance) to arrange an enclosure for two endangered golden monkeys scheduled to arrive at the zoo by the end of the year. In a classic understatement, Simona Mainini, the aforementioned expert, noted that “we don’t have any books on Feng Shui for monkeys. We just have to assume that Darwin is correct and that there is a connection, and what is good for humans is good for monkeys."
And the tab for this effort: $4500.00. I.M. wonder: How does one get a gig like that?
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