Tag: animals

An Observational Rant

On By StevoIn anthropology, critical thinking, nature vs. nurture, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I honestly don’t think some humans care at all how others view them when they are in public…and maybe they do not even realize they are in public.

What follows is some of my over half a century of observational evidence of this bizarre and problematic phenomenon:

“Adults” who are loud talkers insulting/bullying/demeaning the person(s) they are with in some bizarre attempt to draw attention to their target(s) with the goal to make some lame point or expose/humiliate, when in reality they are making themself look supremely infantile. Here’s an idea: grow the frak up you 12 year old little brat!

People talking loudly into their mobile communication device as if increasing the volume of their voice will make the person on the other end of the “line” hear them/understand them better.
Here’s an idea – noone anywhere wants to hear your incoherent, chimplike hooting, no matter how important you believe you are…and your device has a super sensitive microphone that can detect a whisper, AND the ape on the other end has a volume control and will turn you down when you get annoying. Be respectful you filthy, matted, hairball.

People watching videos/things on their mobile devices at max volume (or any audible volume) in a resturant, waiting room, bus, train, plane, ship, etc…this is happening 20′ from me as i type these words.
Here’s an idea – be respectful of others and get some earphones/buds you obnoxious drooling troglodyte!

Parents/people loudly yelling hate/ obscenities/absurdities at their unfortunate offspring.
Here’s an idea – don’t have offspring if you cant control yourself and treat them with the respect they deserve. Are you purposefully trying to lead by your awfully hateful example and make them a carbon copy of your disgusting hateful self?! 

People talking loudly at each other across a span of space occupied by other humans (ex. train, plane, bus, waiting room, resturant etc.). Here’s an idea: walk closer to each other and converse at a reasonable voice being respective of the others in the room. Whatever it is, it is not all about you, you miserable stinking troll.

People who crowd up to the elevator door as if upon arrival it will be magically empty and is there only for them. Here’s an idea: push the call button and stand back you impatient wank walker.

People who blow their nose in a crowded public place such as a resturant – even with a napkin or handkerchief, this is just disgusting and nasty.
Here’s an idea – have some respect for others around you, step into the bathroom or outside and blow your festering air hole all you like you putrid steaming snotnozzle.

Impatient bully types who just have to be first in every line, que, or intersection.
Here’s an idea you greedy tantrum tossing tool – have some respect for others and wait your damn turn.

People who disrespect our only planet by littering, defacing nature with graffiti, poachers, and those who exploit nature for personal gain without any consideration for future generations…

…and so many more. If you have encountered similar lack of respect from the seething masses of humanity then feel free to add your own examples in the comments.

Heavy Thought Time

On By StevoIn anthropology, critical thinking, earth, Environment, nature, nature vs. nurture, religion, Science, space, UncategorizedLeave a comment

To create a life is rather easy, people do it all the time.

To create good people, that is possibly the most difficult thing we will ever do.

We have all heard about the nature vs nurture debate, and from where I stand as an observer of nature, I see many deep connections between all living things everywhere I look – connections that run like fungal mycelium throughout the deep-time tapestry of life.

These ancient genetic connections are incredibly apparent to me because I see them in myself. I was adopted as a newborn and spent the next several decades with wonderful, loving parents who nurtured and cared for me, giving me a comfortable home, an education, and most of all, the ability to think for myself. They let me choose my own path – they did not force on me any specific religion, politics, or any other worldviews – they let me choose for myself who I was to become. They were the nurture side of the coin that I received in this coin toss called life.

On the nature side of the coin: From a very young age, my curiosity about the natural world around me was incredibly strong. I have always had a deep empathetic nature and a deep connection to animals, nature, wildlife, and the silent teachers that exists in the forest, an endlessly flowing river, the rolling ocean waves, and the deeptime knowledge that exists in every rock, tree, mountain, water drop, and in our own DNA – these are teachers that only some of us can hear.  Due to these deep connections to the natural world I always wondered if I had inherited this intense love and focus on nature from my biological family.

Then, in 2018, I used the tools of science to find my genetic family and my suspicions were confirmed – my love of nature was indeed genetic – my father and all my family members were great lovers of nature and all things wild and wonderful. My father and I shared so many things in common – even down to things like favorite foods, TV shows, music, vehicles, wildlife, it is really astounding how many deep connections we share.

So for me specifically, the nature vs nurture argument is no longer a debate – i am a product of both of these things.

From my point of view, and from my lived experience – I believe that at birth we carry within our genetic code, a singular sequence specifically written by the experiences of our parents, grandparents, great grandparents and far far back into deeptime, to a time before we gave ourselves names, before we harnessed fire, before we were even human. This ancient code sequence is the nature side of the coin. It is a hard written instinct stamped into our DNA by the experiences of all our ancestors. This ancient code is expressed,  like it or not, by our consciousness.  But what the heck is consciousness anyway?

In an attempt to answer this age old question we need to flip the coin back over to the nurture side again and ask – what about our consciousness?  Where does it come from?  What is it that allows us to look in the mirror and say “Hello me, i recognize that i exist…i think therefore i am.” 

Where does the consciousness  originate?  Some say it is all in the mind…and maybe this is so.  However, I sometimes wonder if it comes from outside the body…another realm of existence that we have yet to identify.  Maybe we and all life on earth are part of this unique and massive energy field…this Singularity…and we are greatly limiting ourselves when we think that we are separate, apart, alone individuals.  But in reality…a reality we have not discovered yet because we are not yet ready, not evolved enough to experience that reality and understand it…maybe we are all connected deeper than we could ever imagine.  Maybe when our body exhausts itself and ceases to exist, maybe our unique consciousness – our soul – retreats back into this unknown realm, this undiscovered country, to rejoin with the rest of the whole where it then shares its lifetime of experiences with its “peers” afterwhich it is reset, and then born again as another lifeform on earth…or another planet in the vast cosmos – and the cycle continues.

I do not believe in omnipotent beings – a god or gods – and therefore i do not believe a devine creator being gives us each a unique consciousness – at soul – at birth.  I have this hypothesis that at birth, our consciousness is a blank clean slate…like a new computer waiting to have is blank but eager to learn storage drives filled up with all our unique photos, music, stories, history – the unique things we save close to our hearts and minds – the things that make us, us.

Maybe we are all born with this same basic, “blank slate” consciousness.  Maybe this blank slate consciousness is exactly the same for everyone – it is a carbon copy of whatever the first one was, whatever the first human being was.  Then, as we live and grow and are exposed to our family, friends, society, the media, religion, politics, science, culture, war, love, hate, bullies, hippies, laughter, passion, sickness, trauma, etc – maybe it is only after this exposure to all these unique outside experiences and influences, coupled with the genetic expression of our instinctual nature knowledge passed down from our unique evolutionary lineages, does our unique consciousness truly becomes ours, and only ours.  It becomes unique to each human due to the unique experiences each of us has experienced as well as the deep genetic connections we brought forward in time from our unique ancestrial DNA.

Maybe the “me” and “you” parts of our thinking brains are exactly the same until they experience life, the universe, and everything around us during our first few years of life – and then we become the unique individuals that we are – we become the you and the me that we see in the mirror.

If all this is so, then to guide an innocent young human into adulthood as a parent, teacher, or mentor, is possibly the greatest responsibility one could ever hold.

Choose wisely.

Think before you speak.

Be a good human.

Do good things.

Another Thought Experiment

On By StevoIn anthropology, climate change, critical thinking, earth, Environment, nature, religion, Science, space, UncategorizedLeave a comment

If a highly advanced, long-lived, extraterrestrial species from another galaxy landed on Earth today and told us we were all part of a long-term planetary biology/evolution “lab” experiment designed and implemented several million years ago in the attempt to discern the direction biological evolution would take under the unique environmental conditions offered by this planet and its star…

…and/or…

If Jesus (or any other religious prophet) returned and/or appeared – and he was a dark skinned, barefoot, long haired, “herb” smoking, robe wearing, bisexual, “hippie” “dude” whose pronown was “whatever man” and he was asking all of us to destroy our walls, weapons, governments, religions, superficial labels and divisions, and all coexist and live in harmony…

Recent events suggest that many people who call themselves religious would probably deny the flesh and blood evidence standing in front of them, and cry “demon,” “witch,” ” infidel,” “imposter,” – and then try to crucify and/or dissect them.


Sadly, the fearful, preconceived notions of what many believe their god and/or extraterrestrial visitors should be are far too limiting and microscopically small, to allow them to see the grandeur of the cosmos as it actually exists, and all the amazing possibilities it may hold.

We are our own most limiting factor.

Something from my brain.

On By StevoIn anthropology, climate change, conspiracy, COVID-19, critical thinking, earth, Environment, nature, religion, Science, space, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The star we call Sol sent out its energy across the deep void of space…the oceans and land warmed…waters evaporated…clouds grew tall and mighty…wind blew, rains fell, and fell, and rivers jumped out of their banks…their mindless liquid fury eating up the ephemeral landscape while ending all the innocents in its path…the humans cried out – “Why?!?”

The heat and humidity continue to build and build…and the exhaustion and heat stroke drop more and more of us…the sick, the old, and the weak…the humans cried out – “Why?!?”

The land drys out, clouds move over, and, like socks on carpet in winter – friction charges them up like big fluffy sky capacitors and their charge is soon released in great jagged bolts of superheated plasma – igniting the dry lands below…

…and monsterous unstoppable wildfires race across the landscape indescrimanantly devouring everything and everyone in their path…while simultaneously sending choking toxic smoke far and wide beyond their perimeter…the humans cried out – “Why?!?”

The snows, glaciers, sea ice, permafrost, and ice caps melt, while those bedded and beached upon the shore watch as the waters rise, and rise, and rise some more – they build their stuff – buildings, roads, bridges, and walls – higher while they watch in disbelief as their homes are taken back by the mighty and timeless great blue ocean…the humans cried out – “Why?!?”

…and yet, the complacent, self absorbed, multi-colored, mostly hairless, big brained, bipedal apes that call themselves the humans continue to ignore…the reality.

Still they burn…like an addict sucking down cancer sticks as fast as possible while their lungs rot out of their chest…faster they drill baby drill and burn baby burn, more and more oil…more and more coal…more and more gas…more and more and more of this ancient, trapped sunlight and carbon-rich energy…these fossil fuels: the true and tested evidence-supported peer-reviewed root cause of all the “natural” disasters we are all now facing.

And yet, as they watch the sky and pray and cry for the lost – still they choose to blame and deny. And the humans cried out – “Why?!?”

Do they deny because an imaginary sky god or grinning political figurehead made its way into their brain and told them piles of lies about how things work?

I do not know, but I have a suspicion.

But my question remains…why?

Why can’t they think for themselves?

Why do they need a leader, a father figure, a tribe, a chief to tell them his why?

Why can’t they understand and support what their own eyes see?

Why do they continue to deny the facts and findings, the science, the reality?

They laugh and scoff and call it a hoax as they blame the rich, the scientist, the empathetic, the poor, the immigrant, the elderly, those who live differently than they do, and they always loudly blame the “other” – it is obvious to me that they must not care at all about their Mother…or father…or children…or all the “others” on “their” side…and the “other” side of all the imaginary lines they have drawn on pages, in the sands, and in their heads…lines that were intentionally designed to seperate and to create the fear and hate that feeds their bloody war machines and bloated bank accounts…that all are automated by and in support of all the ancient fossil fueled lies.

They often wrongly say the “other” “tribes,” the leftists, the hippies, the pot smokers, the mexicans, the women, the gays, yhe lesbians, and the science types made all these things happen with bribes, tricks, and planes, schools, books, and sprays, and “seeds,” and loads and loads of lies…all to build support to fund their own needs.

This is not reality.

The reality is this: the liers and deniers are in fact on both “sides.”

We are all to blame for our own demise.

They often pray and say their god(s) will keep them safe from the storms, the heat, the sickness and pain…and that it is also their gods who are punishing those who have died for some terrible “sin”…what a childish and heartless reply designed by some nasty old guys with dollar signs in their greedy uncrying black eyes.

Bad sports they are in this game of games while they point crooked fingers and yell hateful names…at all the “others” but never, in the mirror, never ever admitting they were wrong in the game, but always claiming they were wronged by the game…and yet, somehow, they are unable to own up to their own errors in judgement, unable to give aid to those who were maimed.

So many wonderful and beautiful people have tragically died, their lives, homes, and towns washed away, burned, bombed, blown down,

…yet still those that remain, still they choose to deny.

Why?!?!?

Still they cheat, swindle, disrespect, and lie through their perfect little grinning blood dripping teeth, while they get fatter and fatter like bloated parasites sucking the life out of you and me with their toxicly malignant pride.

Those that choose to rebel, to disagree and fight back…they are soon dissappeared. Murdered in cold blood by heartless, soulless, uncaring, brainless, tiny boned, shrunken, little old white men (descended from immigrants), and their throngs of ultra dangerous ultra proud boylike yes men and women – the ultimate toady brown nosers and arse kissers, in suits and masks, hoods, and pointy hats, who will lie rapid fire to your face while shiny gold crosses hang around their necks – nothing at all matters to them except to feel powerful and to win, win, win.

Yes, that is it I believe, they must win. If they lose out in their lust for “greatness” and power, they actually believe – in their tiny, dessicated, shrunken husk of a mind – that they have failed. So, no matter the cost to themselves, their family, city, country, environment, or the entire earth – no matter the cost to our species, they must win. They are the ultimate sore losers, the ultimate bitter, hateful, venomous, malignant, bullies.

When will they ever take responsibility?

What will it take?

Or are they so full of ego, greed, hubris, fear, meanness and hate that they will choose to go down with their ship while pointing their finger at those they have labeled as the enemy…when the real enemy is inside.

Ancient Clues

On By StevoIn anthropology, critical thinking, Environment, nature, religion, ScienceLeave a comment

The more I learn about archeology and anthropology, the more I discover that primates and violence seem to go hand in hand.

Sadly, this fact, encoded in our DNA, and in the DNA of every human walking the earth today going all the way back to our humble beginnings on the African savanna – is a deepset part our our own evolutionary history.


It may be that our unique primate opposable thumb+big “thinking” brain combination – while an incredible engineering and survival tool kit – has a great and fatal flaw.
That great flaw often leads us to believe things and then do things, not because they are true and supported by evidence, but because we want them to be true, we need them to be true, possibly to satisfy some ancient need, or qwell a fear that exists only in the past. Sadly, it seems that for many Modern humans, believing something is true is easier than working to find out if it really is true.

This great and fatal flaw may in fact be the undoing of our species, leaving us as just another fossilized animal deposit in the rock strata of deep time.

Honestly, I hope I am wrong on this, but the evidence from the last few hundred decades suggests otherwise.
Looking at the fossil record of our family tree we see that every single one, every one – every early human save for us, only exists, no longer in the flesh, but as ancient fossil remains recorded in the rocks. May it be that these ancestors of ours are extinct by their own hand?
Maybe the fatal flaw was their downfall?
Maybe the fatal flaw will render us extinct as it may have done for them? I hope not. We have so much potential.

Or maybe it was their strong, evolutionary survival instinct that lead to a hyper-selfish focus on surviving which, over time, selected for early humans with a lack of empathy – with only a drive and focus to acquire that which it needed to survive while pushing its own kind out of the way. Millions of years ago it was competition for food and brute strength that kept the bullies alive.

Today, it’s not food, it’s money and power thry need. The vestigial fatal flaw is directing the uncaring bullies to compete.  In their minds, they are still fighting to survive – it is all their DNA will allow them to do. Instead of adapting to adopt an empathetic sharing nature that would benefit all members of their family, and species – they chose self over society.

Empathy, is one of the most important aspects of what it means to be human. Without empathy for others of your kind, you are just another smart, strong, competitive predator. Maybe it is empathy that is the answer, maybe it is the genetic key that unlocks the next level in our own evolution.

Will we level up…or will we damn dirty apes choose to fearfully continue to bar our teeth and bash  each other’s skulls in just as so many countless human primates stretching back millions of years into the past have done before?

Only time and the rocks will tell.

We are working with animals

On By StevoIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

chickens

Anyone who has ever kept or worked with animals or livestock knows this rule: when an animal gets sick you pull it from the herd, quarantine it alone, in its cage, stall, paddock, in its home – away from the other members of the family/herd. You do this as directed and often as required by law, by the animal health and disease experts so as not to put your, and other, healthy animals at risk. You then treat the sick animal, as directed by the experts, with medicines, fluids, special diets, vaccinations, and isolation until it recovers.

If a neighboring population of animals is stricken with a disease, you quarantine the entire sick population in one location, in their cages, stalls, paddocks, in their homes.
You also quarantine the healthy populations in another location away from the sick population for a time period as set by the animal health and disease experts so as not to put your healthy animal populations at risk of cross-contamination from the sick.

goat-herd-picture

No matter how much barking, braying, bleating, noise, and other raucous vocalizations, and displays of self-centered malcontent some of the quarantined animals may make in their request to rejoin the rest of the herd/pack/family/population…

barkingdog

angryprotestorscovid19…you do not under any circumstances give in and mix the sick with the healthy because your experience and common sense and the recommendations from the experts tell you doing so will cause even more sickness, death, and loss.

sheep

Once the animals have recovered you then have an expert in animal health that we call a veterinarian (who is a doctor) give the animal(s) a health check and if all checks out, the recovered animal(s) can then be released back into the herd to go on with their business.

rabies-vaccine-for-dogs-1024x684

We are animals.

We are the herd.

We must listen to the experts.

No matter how uncomfortable and inconvenient it may be.

Be a good human.

Do the right thing.

Follow the rules.

Stay home.

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