“…women with a positive family history of alcoholism exhibited a preference for significantly higher sucrose concentrations and craved sweets significantly more often than did women with a negative family history (P=0.05).
Beyond implications for food preferences and consumption, the results could have implications for identifying people who are prone to addictive behaviors, the investigators concluded. …”
I find myself annoyed, around Hallowe’en, by the folks who feel it necessary to make a statement by arranging “alternate” celebrations so that their kids (and, presumably, themselves), won’t be tainted by association with this horrible “pagan” holiday.
In the first place, Hallowe’en–originally All-hallows Eve–is in most of the Christian world celebrated as an important religious holiday, the purpose of which is to honor the souls of the departed. Continue reading
Generally speaking I believe PETA’s efforts are misdirected and -guided, but this is a great site for folks interested in the vegetarian and vegan lifestyles!
VegCooking: Vegetarian Recipes, Products, Restaurants, and Much More!
The Pope is expected to use his first address to the United Nations to deliver a powerful warning over climate change in a move to adopt protection of the environment as a “moral” cause for the Catholic Church and its billion-strong following.
The New York speech is likely to contain an appeal for sustainable development, and it will follow an unprecedented Encyclical (a message to the wider church) on the subject, senior diplomatic sources have told The Independent.
Pope to make climate action a moral obligation – Independent Online Edition > Europe
Vilayanur Ramachandran explores how brain damage can reveal the connection between the internal structures of the brain and the corresponding functions of the mind. He talks about phantom limb pain, synesthesia (when people hear color or smell sounds), and the Capgras delusion, when brain-damaged people believe their closest friends and family have been replaced with imposters.
Some folks may wonder why I so often link to the Christian Science Monitor. It’s simply one of the best deep-reporting newspapers in the world, is why, and those folks understand dharma, whether they know it or not. Witness this article…
Berkeley, Calif. – Patrons of Karma Kitchen don’t need to fight for the check at the end of a meal. There isn’t one. Instead, the “guests” of this restaurant are handed a gold envelope with a handwritten note on the outside that says, “Have a lovely evening.” Inside a bookmarker-sized card states: “In the spirit of generosity, someone who came before you made a gift of this meal. We hope you will continue the circle of giving in your own way!”
By Martha Henry
This January, in the bleak days of a New England winter, I was unemployed, mournfully alone, and having a bad hair day. It suddenly occurred to me that I could solve all of my problems by becoming a Buddhist nun.
Just days after “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling revealed that the popular professor character Albus Dumbledore was gay, President George W. Bush told the nation that he would seek a ban on fictitious gay weddings.
“In order to protect the sanctity of marriage in the real world, we must first protect the sanctity of marriage in fiction,” Mr. Bush said. “This is the most pressing goal of my Administration – even more important than bombing Iran.”
While the president’s address was for the most part consistent with his earlier statements on gay marriage, it was uncharacteristic in that it demonstrated an awareness of books.
Steve Bass, at PCWorld, has this cool — not to say downright freaky — link, which supposedly determines if you’re right-brained or left-brained. Just check it out, then see if you can get it to reverse. (Not a joke, apparently…)
Let’s begin by reaffirming a basic truth: Satan exists. His demonic minions exist. Scripture and Tradition depict Satan as the supreme evil leader of the fallen angels who seek to disrupt God’s plan of salvation for humanity.
Whatever.
Elephants electrocuted in drunken rampage – World Environment – MSNBC.com
GAUHATI, India – Six Asiatic wild elephants were electrocuted as they went berserk after drinking rice beer in India’s remote northeast, a wildlife official said Tuesday.
Tantor no take pledge.
Bottled water corporations are changing the very way people think about water. Though many bottled water brands come from the same source as public tap water, they are marketed as somehow more pure. What’s more – bottled water corporations sell water back to the public at thousands of times the cost. Plastic bottles also require massive amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture and transport. Billions of these bottles wind up in landfills every year.
You can help reverse this trend. At events and over online networks tens of thousands are supporting the efforts of local officials to reduce the social impact and environmental harm of bottled water by prioritizing public water systems. Taking the Think Outside the Bottle Pledge is quick, easy, and sends the message that water is a human right, not a commodity. Take the pledge!
Chris Megerian, The Emory Wheel: Your role as Dalai Lama has been very unique from all previous Dalai Lamas in your political nature. I was wondering how you saw the role of the Dalai Lama evolving in future generations.
DL: Future generations? Nobody knows. *laughs*
CM: Do you think it will remains as political a role as it has been recently?
DL: No, no, no. As early as 1969, I publicly made statement to whether the very institution of the Dalai Lama should continue or not for the Tibetan people. Some people, you see, get the impression that the Dalai Lama institution is so important for Tibetan nation or Tibetan Buddhism. It’s wrong. Some occasions the Dalai Lama institution very strong. Some occasions, the Dalai Lama institution, it has ceased. But Tibetan spirituality, Buddhism, Tibetan nation will remain. So for my own case, ’til my death, I am fully committed to promotion of human value and promotion of religious harmony. After me, after my death, my responsibility now finished. *laughter*
So as a Buddhist, I believe, you see, the next sort of rebirth. I don’t know where rebirth comes, whether this planet, or some other planet more peaceful. More happier. *laughs* Next question. …
An Interview with His Holiness the Dalai Lama | The Emory Wheel
Lakeport, Ark. – Richard Johnson and Harry Taylor have spent their adult lives 1,100 miles apart – Mr. Johnson as a human-resources director in Texas, Mr. Taylor as a tool-and-dye maker in Kentucky. That’s not unusual for cousins. But Taylor is black; Johnson is white. And as the two men embrace today on a green Arkansas farm, under a Southern sun with bolls of cotton blowing in the breeze, the homestead in the background isn’t just any white colonial or red-brick ranch. Nor is this just any family reunion.
Lakeport is a plantation – a stark fact and a complex heritage that can evoke pride, shame, anger, fondness, and humiliation, often all at once. Over 150 years ago, African-American slaves carved this place from the forests that dotted the riverbanks, while white landowners moved into the stately “Big House,” which could be a backdrop for “Gone with the Wind.”
Now, as the two men pose for a picture at a rare reunion marking the reopening of the plantation, Johnson hugs Taylor.
“You never know who you’re related to,” Taylor says with a laugh.
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