A spider lily reflecting so much light that the texture of the petals is washed out. Or is that petal singular?

What is a petal? According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the history of the meaning of the term is:

1726, from Mod.L. petalum “petal” (1649), from Gk. petalon “leaf, thin plate,” originally neut. of adj. petalos “outspread, broad, flat,” from PIE base *pet- “to spread out.”

Me, I certainly heed the hunches of my feelings and allow them to guide my behavior, like a personal advisor might suggest a course of action. But when it comes to making decisions in which I have the time and information to do so consciously and deliberately, I rely on my head.

For example, as a rule I don’t gamble. When I break that rule I do it fully knowing I am paying to entertain myself. If I am willing to shell out a few bucks to generate some excitement, fine. The reasoning section of my brain understands, fortunately, that gambling is a losing proposition. Feeling lucky? Take a cold shower.

I also choose not to gamble with what I believe about the universe. The cold showers to which I subject my craving for knowledge consist of books, websites, magazines, courses, presentations, and discussions with knowledgeable others.

On the subject of gods, the human experts of the known — scientists — have found no evidence of The Big Guy. None. Zero. Those who claim they have evidence mean to say they have inferences, and there is a difference.

Are scientists biased, not looking hard enough? Are they fudging the numbers so Satan has a comfy home in the university lab? I don’t think so. Finding credible evidence of a god, in data that could be verified and validated by other experts, would be bigger than big. The scientist or group of scientists who did would be awarded the Nobel Prize and more. Scientists are human. In other words, they are motivated by recognition and reward.

Why are no teams of serious experimenters working on a god-detector? Why aren’t engineers planning and building a device for tracking down the tracks of The Almighty? Certainly human ingenuity and technology are up to the task. Heck, physicists have positively confirmed the existence of particles called “neutrinos.” These subatomic particles can pass through walls of material thousands of miles of thick without so much as causing a squeak. Nonetheless, cunning engineers have found a way to pry their existence out of background noise and a previous void in the data. Not even the Crossing Over guy can detect neutrinos. But scientists have.

Why do the vast majority of scientists leave gods out of their research? Because they full well know that all previous gaps in our knowledge have been filled with naturalistic mechanisms. All. And they see no reason why that won’t be the case in the future.

When a god’s batting average is a perfect zero, it’s time to pull him from the field of play.

I found this NASA photo evocative. Suggestive. What did it make me think/feel? Of many things: I wondered why, rather than tepid inkblots, some psychiatrists don’t use photos such as above to inspire the tongues of their patients. Or works of art. (Of course, there is the TAT — Thematic Apperception Test — and the above could be used for that, I bet.

More thoughts: Silence above the noise . . . the remarkable Big Picture above and including the hubbub of passing concerns . . . wonders beyond the customarily seen . . .

Do those personal responses tell you something important about me? Did I unintentionally (unconsciously) reveal a truer self?

More thoughts (insert yours here: _____________ )

Over the past decades a big argument against legalization was the claim that marijuana is a “gateway” drug. That it leads to the use and possible addiction to harder, more physically and socially injurious drugs.

Is marijuana a gateway drug? The answer to that question depends upon what studies you consider. From some research the logical conclusion would be, seems so. From other research, maybe not.

A recent study falls into the second category.

New research from the University of New Hampshire shows that the “gateway effect” of marijuana – that teenagers who use marijuana are more likely to move on to harder illicit drugs as young adults – is overblown. [source]

Reading and thinking carefully here, the use of the word “overblown” suggests there may be a small link, a minor influence of marijuana use on whether or not an individual later uses other, more truly dangerous drugs.

Oh darn. Damn those precise scientists! Can’t give us a completely black or completely white answer! We’ll have to go to a preacher or politician for one of those.

Additionally, the small gateway effect appears transient.

[O]nce young adults reach age 21, the gateway effect subsides entirely.

Drug use is a complicated subject. A couple other variables that seem involved were exposed by this study. The first being employment. When gainfully employed, individuals are much less likely to “move on” to the use of harder drugs.

And then there was this surprising finding (at least to me) -

The researchers found that the strongest predictor of other illicit drug use appears to be race-ethnicity, not prior use of marijuana. Non-Hispanic whites show the greatest odds of other illicit substance use, followed by Hispanics, and then by African Americans. [emphasis added]

Hmm. Now that’s food for thought. No, not hash brownies. Regular food. At least not until you punch-out on Friday.

Just an aesthetically pleasing photo. To my eyes, anyway.

I don’t even know what type of plant it is. Location was Albuquerque, NM. Plant height was less than knee level.

In the spirit of travel, let’s take a brief cruise this very minute. Shall we?

First stop: The Origin of Morality

Where does our moral sense come from? Good question. Many argue “from religion.” But this can’t be, for psychological studies and anthropological research has shown that people without religion have morals and behave as morally as those with. Even other primates and some animals show a rudimentary moral sense. A new study suggests that the capacity for a “moral faculty” evolved out of more mundane forms of cognition and emotion.

Specifically -

Scientists at Harvard University have found that humans can make difficult moral decisions using the same brain circuits as those used in more mundane choices related to money and food. [source]

Who gets the last piece of pizza? It seems how that question is answered might tell us a lot about where morality comes from.

Second Stop: A Transient Gender Difference

In a new paper in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, we find — hold onto your hats now — Study suggests boys and girls not as different as previously thought

Say it ain’t so! (Being facetious here.) Thinking of females as large, living Barbi-s, males as large, living G.I. Joes, just got a bit more antiquated.

Here’s the surprise -

Although girls tend to hang out in smaller, more intimate groups than boys, this difference vanishes by the time children reach the eighth grade.

So some gender differences are a mere flash-in-the-years? Could be.

Final Stop: A Less-Explored Dark Side to Vitamins

Okay, this destination could be a bit of a bummer for some. Like visiting a war memorial. Only what could be said to have been slain here is the hope of easy, natural health improvement — without drawbacks and dangers — provided by . . . vitamins. Vitamins? Doesn’t the very world have pure and uplifting connotations only? How could vitamins be bad?

Truth is, any substance that can influence our biology in good ways can also have side-effects or even outright detrimental influences under certain conditions or in a specific individual/population.

One such case gets spelled out with this headline: Vitamin A increases the presence of the HIV virus in breast milk.

Oh darn. That’s not good. Clearly spelling out the danger we’ve got this lead paragraph -

Vitamin A and beta-carotene supplements are unsafe for HIV-positive women who breastfeed because they may boost the excretion of HIV in breast milk—thereby increasing the chances of transmitting the infection to the child, a pair of new studies suggest.

And there you have it. Brief intellectual travels completed. I like to think that besides providing entertainment, such travels also bring an increased understanding of the world. Which has lasting benefits.

It’s crazy, I know. Maybe my behavior should be criticized. Maybe psychologists should study why I do it. Here’s a hunch: Perhaps it has something to do with the misplaced tendencies of my “tribal mind.” On some level it’s possible that I believe the men on the team I have adopted as my virtual coalition are going to bring home some of the spoils of their victory. Among these is status. (The cheerleaders I could do without.  But I guess the winning team doesn’t get to keep them as the pom-pommed booty from battles won.) Is that what is really going on with me and millions of others? I’d like to know. And once I did know, I just might persist in loving pro football.

Because I am well aware I engage in what can only be described as irrational behavior, I try to be tolerant of other types of activities that make absolutely no sense to me yet other people nonetheless get passionate about. Such as NASCAR and television soap operas.

I also try to view religious behavior the same way, with one significant exception: that practitioners of religion understand what they perceive as important and are passionate about is a personal matter. Sure, go ahead and believe Jesus once walked on water and will one day return to Earth. In my semi-facetious analogy, so, in my own way do I believe that Tom Brady performed a number of miraculous feats. But not in recent seasons. For he fell and has yet to rise again. Maybe this season he will prevail over the forces of evil — such as the New York Jets.

I have no qualms with personal irrationality provided believers don’t claim that what they are irrationally exuberant about is a truth that all others need to recognize and respect if not likewise participate in.

Unfortunately, many, many believers do make those claims. They force what should be a personal matter into town square. And that is why others, like me, deem it necessary to speak up in opposition.

—–

The above is a zoomed section of a photograph. It’s a part of a scene. Can you recognize anything in the scene? What do the shapes and colors suggest?

The full photo below the fold.

-

I took this photography while hiking in New Mexico. It’s a dirt-level view of a “baby” manzanita tree, I believe. Height – roughly 6 inches.

[recycled post; first appeared here]

An imagined dialogue:

Biologist: Young man, you don’t really like breasts . . .

Young Man: What?! I love breasts! Are you crazy?! Do you think I’m gay?!

B: Let me finish. You are not attracted to breasts for the breasts alone.

YM: Sure I am. Show me a photo of just a set of breasts, preferably full and upright and naked breasts, and I’ll be attracted to them.

B: Hold on. What I am trying to say is that your genes are causing you to be excited by signs of sexual maturity and fertility.

YM: If they are signs they definitely aren’t “Stop” signs. Maybe “Go” signs. Or “dangerous curves ahead.” But really, I just like breasts and that’s all there is to it.

B: Okay. Consider this: Is the reason why you crack open a nut simply because you enjoy cracking nuts?

YM: From breasts to nuts, I think you have issues, man.

B: The purpose to cracking open nuts is to get at the edible nut-meat. And the purpose of that is to eat and satisfy your hunger. One of the purposes of that, in turn, is to feed your liver fats and sugars that will keep you fueled during the hours between meals.

YM: I don’t eat for my liver. I eat because I am hungry. Screw my liver.

B: It may seem that way. But there are causes deeper than what our minds can readily perceive.

YM: I’ll tell you one thing – I definitely prefer breasts over nuts.

The above NASA pic reveals what we could see without the clouds and ambient light normally obscuring our vision. I’m not sure what coastline that is, but let’s call it New Found Lands.

Stars and galaxies — the backdrop to our relatively puny spinning planet. Far out, man!

Although I find existence to lack meaning with a big “M,” it does strike me as wonder-full.