Didn't see that one coming

Some people spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about global warming, their personal impact on the planet and advocating “green” activities. I use the scare quotes because little evidence points to “green” companies or policies being any more or less detrimental to the planet---example: Coffee shop uses recycled cups in a “green” effort to limit their impact on the environment, but you know what would really limit it? NO COFFEE SHOP! We now have recycled cups in landfills instead of not recycled cups in landfills, but if we were really concerned about the environment we would be putting ZERO cups in landfills. Instead we pay a slight premium to buy the guilt-free recycled cups and delude ourselves into thinking that we are doing something good for the environment, by filling it with recycled paper instead of first use paper.

So it goes with fossil fuel consumption, I would suggest that worrying about your personal carbon footprint is similar to an ant standing on top of his ant hill--- farting---and then worrying aloud that his emission of dangerous gas will destroy the ozone. But, if that’s your bag—who am I to judge, everyone has their own altar to worship at—and we all want something to believe in, even if it is nothing to believe in.

99 times out of 100 we are worried about the wrong things and sometimes with spectacularly terrible consequences--like standing on the beach in Thailand worrying about a sunburn immediately prior to the tsunami that killed 200k+ people. As Smays pointed out, "you never hear the bullet that gets you."

NASA thinks that a Gamma Ray Burst from a distant star may have caused the extinction events paleontologists have discovered and had no ability to explain. What? You’ve never heard of a Gamma Ray Burst? Well, the US military discovered them on accident in the 60’s and until recently kept them hush hush. There is no warning, the rays travel at the speed of light and they are inescapable, and although unlikely, if one were to happen in our own galaxy and be pointed at us, there is not anything we could do to avoid total annihilation; the planet would be “cooked” by the gamma rays of the exploding star. How powerful a blast? It’s the equivalent energy of a Hiroshima type blast every second for the next 13 years occurring in the span of less than 10 seconds.

If you will sleep better thinking that your hybrid SUV will save the planet because it burns fossil fuels at a slightly more efficient rate than the regular SUV, go ahead. But be prepared to look silly when the entire planet is semi-vaporized by an unseen and unpredictable cosmic force capable of boiling the oceans and melting the earth’s crust.

The Buddha Boy is back!

I first wrote about the Buddha Boy in November of 2005, something about his meditation under the pipal tree caught my eye, his celebrity grew and over 100,000 people made pilgrimages to see him because they thought he may be the reincarnation of a Buddha. I know that sounds crazy but consider that the Dali Lama is widely considered to be the reincarnation of a bodhisattva---a person who has dedicated there life to bodhi (transcendent meditation) that has the possibility of attaining the enlightenment of a Buddha in a future lifetime---and then I realize that it’s not all that far fetched if you subscribe to that world view.

He disappeared for months but now he is back, 16 years old and sitting under the same pipal tree, but he has said he doesn’t want people to call him the Buddha, he is simply meditating for the next 6 years.

That’s pretty much the same thing I wanted to do when I was 16, it was either meditate in the woods alone under a pipal tree for 6 years or make out with a cheerleader---but only if she was dedicated to bodhi.

My evolutionary advantage.

I am capable of digesting milk, as an adult. I didn't realize it was a special ability, but apparently it is as some researchers are reporting that the ability to process lactose as adults is a genetically advantageous trait that is a fairly recent mutation. Me and other milk drinkers procreate and survive better over the long haul than those who can't drink milk--has something to do with common ancestors that first domesticated cattle---eating their meat (the cows') and drinking their milk and surviving droughts better.

Think about that with your next bowl of cereal---you have mutated into a super-procreating milk consuming glutton.