This is an excellent tutorial on how to improve hand writing. The author analyzes and offers solutions to the technical causes of poor penmanship through pen positioning and muscle excersizes.http://www.paperpenalia.com/handwriting.html
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Body Language and Emotion
http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2006/10/02/body-signals-emotional-mastery-series/
This blog article basically says emotions can be triggered after executing associated body language. What with all the thyroid trouble I have, which affects my mood significantly, I'm curious if this article's methods works.
This blog article basically says emotions can be triggered after executing associated body language. What with all the thyroid trouble I have, which affects my mood significantly, I'm curious if this article's methods works.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Bird Discrimination?
There's something on my mind that's been bothering me since adopting an unusual species of bird for a pet. The bird I adopted is a European starling; not unlike any other bird, but unusual nonetheless in the pet trade.
In my attempts to better understand the creature in my care, I researched his breed on the internet and I learned European starlings are disliked by many naturalists because it is in their nature to compete with local wildlife for resources. Some such people hate them with such a passion that they shoot them right out of the sky as a favor to more popular species who they decide are derserving of life.
My thoughts on this is simply "How arrogant!" Sure, starlings are an introduced species, but unless starlings pose a threat to humans, how dare we interfere with their natural path? They live here now and have lived here for at least 100 years. I hope no one minds me venting, but it bothers me when people play God with natural selection. Naturalists justify taking one animal's life because it supposedly eases the life of a less able bodied one. Natural selection, on the other hand, which takes place in nature and is natural, constantly strives towards strengthening successful creatures and weeding out the failures. Sure, we introduced starlings to North America, and now we humans are observing the clashing of species as they compete for simillar resources. They florish, live and compete with native wildlife. But introduced species aren't the ONLY birds who compete with naitive ones. Cowbirds, crows, and a great many others live exactly the same way, pose the same nuisances, and eat simillar foods. They destroy nests and eggs of other birds with simillar nesting habits and those are some reasons certain bird lovers do not like the birds I'm speaking of. The only difference though, between an agressive but naitive bird and a starling is, they are legally protected whereas immigrant birds are not.
It is sad that not all creatures can live in perfect harmony, but conflict is a part of nature's design. Clashes of this sort leads to the strengthening of successful genes and the demise of poor ones, and progress in the course of natural selection. A crow culling the young of it's competitors can't (or at least shouldn't) be compared to murder, because a bird is not predisposed to the same value systems as we humans. They are creatures who live and react on instinctive emotional impulses, and we should not judge them as if they were human, even if they are proven to have human-like emotions.
The starling I adopted is a wonderful creature: Smart, affectionate, curious, and full of life. He is exactly like a flighty parrot with a pointy bill and white-spangled feathers that shine with a glossy green and purple sheen. His emotional capacity for affection is the same as the more familliar petstore parrots, and his capacity for mimicking human speech is an exciting surprise. He has an affinity for learning tricks, playing games, and a need for mental stimulation.
Scientific finds regarding these birds include the discovery of language structures used within starling flocks. I think this is pretty interesting becaue my "pet" starling already uses different sounds and body language to comunicate different desires such as "feed me" and "let me out of the cage" or "play with me"--"Can't catch meee!" What I'm trying to say is, nature's achievement in this species is advanced compared to some less communicative birds (like finches) and to play God by manually trying to inhibit their evolutionary growth by trapping, poisoning, and disposing of their young is an unconcionable act that could lead to a great loss in the gene pool.
Starlings were introduced by man, but they are no more competetive than the native cowbird or grackle. So don't poison or shoot them. Enjoy the bluebirds, warbles, and other creatures nature created. But don't view their competition with one another as a war. Maybe their struggles are an opportunity for the bluebirds, flickers, etc. to advance and strengthen their own genes. We might loose some, but who knows what will be born in the future, if we just let them continue evolving?
In my attempts to better understand the creature in my care, I researched his breed on the internet and I learned European starlings are disliked by many naturalists because it is in their nature to compete with local wildlife for resources. Some such people hate them with such a passion that they shoot them right out of the sky as a favor to more popular species who they decide are derserving of life.
My thoughts on this is simply "How arrogant!" Sure, starlings are an introduced species, but unless starlings pose a threat to humans, how dare we interfere with their natural path? They live here now and have lived here for at least 100 years. I hope no one minds me venting, but it bothers me when people play God with natural selection. Naturalists justify taking one animal's life because it supposedly eases the life of a less able bodied one. Natural selection, on the other hand, which takes place in nature and is natural, constantly strives towards strengthening successful creatures and weeding out the failures. Sure, we introduced starlings to North America, and now we humans are observing the clashing of species as they compete for simillar resources. They florish, live and compete with native wildlife. But introduced species aren't the ONLY birds who compete with naitive ones. Cowbirds, crows, and a great many others live exactly the same way, pose the same nuisances, and eat simillar foods. They destroy nests and eggs of other birds with simillar nesting habits and those are some reasons certain bird lovers do not like the birds I'm speaking of. The only difference though, between an agressive but naitive bird and a starling is, they are legally protected whereas immigrant birds are not.
It is sad that not all creatures can live in perfect harmony, but conflict is a part of nature's design. Clashes of this sort leads to the strengthening of successful genes and the demise of poor ones, and progress in the course of natural selection. A crow culling the young of it's competitors can't (or at least shouldn't) be compared to murder, because a bird is not predisposed to the same value systems as we humans. They are creatures who live and react on instinctive emotional impulses, and we should not judge them as if they were human, even if they are proven to have human-like emotions.
The starling I adopted is a wonderful creature: Smart, affectionate, curious, and full of life. He is exactly like a flighty parrot with a pointy bill and white-spangled feathers that shine with a glossy green and purple sheen. His emotional capacity for affection is the same as the more familliar petstore parrots, and his capacity for mimicking human speech is an exciting surprise. He has an affinity for learning tricks, playing games, and a need for mental stimulation.
Scientific finds regarding these birds include the discovery of language structures used within starling flocks. I think this is pretty interesting becaue my "pet" starling already uses different sounds and body language to comunicate different desires such as "feed me" and "let me out of the cage" or "play with me"--"Can't catch meee!" What I'm trying to say is, nature's achievement in this species is advanced compared to some less communicative birds (like finches) and to play God by manually trying to inhibit their evolutionary growth by trapping, poisoning, and disposing of their young is an unconcionable act that could lead to a great loss in the gene pool.
Starlings were introduced by man, but they are no more competetive than the native cowbird or grackle. So don't poison or shoot them. Enjoy the bluebirds, warbles, and other creatures nature created. But don't view their competition with one another as a war. Maybe their struggles are an opportunity for the bluebirds, flickers, etc. to advance and strengthen their own genes. We might loose some, but who knows what will be born in the future, if we just let them continue evolving?
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