The simple life

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/travel/escapes/12ashrams.html?em

hijab ~ tudung ~ modest clothing

Sunlight and osteoporosis: The reduction of seafood in the diet (compared to a million years ago) plus habitually wearing heavy clothing (to reduce evaporation and to follow culture mores) means more sunlight is required to prevent osteoporosis.
http://www.moneduloides.com/?p=571

Trajectory in brain cortical thickening, intelligence: http://scienceblogs.com/developingintelligence/2008/12/how_the_temporal_trajectory_of.php


New fashion: Squid Scarf with mitten tentacles ... ?? [h/t pharyngula] http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/11/squid_hats.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
(Not advertising, just PR!)
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What is the biological rationale for wearing the veil and layered clothing?

To reduce water (sweat) loss, advantageous for people without access to water eg. desert nomadic herders. "Covering your aurah" is equivalent to a mammal's fur layer, it retains body moisture preventing dehydration. reality 101. One advantage of our human ancestors living along seashores had was protection against freshwater microbial pathogens (virus, bacteria, fungi), which could not adjust to the powerful combination of direct sunshine (ultraviolet light), freshwater submersion and saltwater submersion, together with the paranasal sinus emitted Nitric Oxide and the cutaneous eccrine glands produced slightly basic urea/dermcidin/defensins and slightly acidic skin surface. http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/static.do?p=education_discussion/molecule_of_the_month/current_month.html



Chimps don't swim. Humans do. What are you?


Humans can swim before we can crawl, walk, run, sit or stand. Yet some people want to mimic chimpanzees, mentoring others to be afraid of water. That's the path to chimpiness and polluted oceans with no fish and dead coral reefs. As fellow Minnesotan Greg Hussein Laden says "Don't be a chimp!". I concur. Get in the water, learn to swim, dive, backfloat. Be human. If you are scared, ask me to help, I will, if it's not too late.

"Female primates love chatting: IT has long been known that it is a female trait to enjoy a good gossip. Now scientists think they could have pinpointed the reason behind the female tendency to chit chat – by studying monkeys. The researchers found that like women, female macaque monkeys were more likely to make friendly noises to each other, such as grunts and coos, than the males of the species." [The researchers obviously are unaware of Dive Song, the human-only language development during backfloating and diving between dive partners, which did not occur among other primates. DD]

They think the discovery could add weight to the theory that language evolved from the need to form social bonds, with females needing to build closer relationships than males. [Rather obvious IMO. DD] http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/uk/Why-do-women--.4712406.jp

Menstruation causes brain flip: The female brain has a clever way of mitigating the stress experienced during menstruation: it flip-flops. Such a change could help women cope with the hormonal maelstrom going on in their bodies without causing huge behavioural shifts. Oestrogen levels levels, in particular, plummet around menstruation. http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2008/11/female-flipping-brain.html
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color ~ warna ~ varini




trust me to teach you to swim, backfloat and dive. No fear. Fun, and safer than walking across the street. :)

ingatlah ni, a chimp in fine linens yakking on a cell phone in a lexus is still a chimp if she can't swim.

cuz it's biology, baby! and good for the ventricles too!

ps. if you don't have a sense of humor, go buy one. life is too crazy without one. wasalam.

~ daud di nor calif ~

floppy puppy in flight

last eve, the ephemeral scent of the vitalized seashore while walking around
this morn, the heavenly smell of baking bread molded into raisin bagel form

Fall behind, Spring ahead

It's Daylight Savings Time here, so the clocks ran backwards for an hour, sort of.

If your gonna fall back, make sure it's soft like water, so you can back-float comfortably.

After the winter ends with the ice melt, time to spring forward, diving into the sunny future.


I just brewed up a nice hot cup of java, with some evaporated milk, kopi susu, scrumptious!



Oh, coming up, the Coffee Opp will be having a grand opening in the Ink People Gallery:
http://california.tribe.net/event/THE-COFFEE-OPP-GRAND-OPENING-FESTIVAL-NOVEMBER-15TH-4-10PM-THE-INK-PEOPLE-CENTER/eureka-ca-95501/8c37824e-7860-4f66-b8c7-ccb9d481a3d8


Kevin (from Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean) is emceeing the show, lots of activities.

ps. just got some reed-weave flip-flops, comfy, walked out in the rain, chilly but fresh.

"a spring in my step"

Primatology
leaping indri lemurs

springy sifaka lemurs

Top two pics: baby gibbons. Bottom: indri, siamang





Indri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indri
href="http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Indri_indri/">http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Indri_indri/
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=indri+lemur&search_type=&aq=f

There seem to be many parallels between the indri and the siamangs. The abundance of liana vines in island SE Asia for siamangs to swing (brachiate) and the lack of liana vines in Madagascar for the Indris may be why clinging and leaping was adopted among the Indris. Both tend to walk/skip bipedally rather than quadrupedally, and both have enlarged laryngeal air sacs likely indicating past vertical floating in tidal forests.

Inhabits montane and coastal rainforest from sea level to 1800 meters (6). Indris are active during the day and are most at home in the trees, where they feed on leaves, flowers and fruit, but they do occasionally descend to the forest floor to cross small treeless areas or to eat soil (4) (6). On the ground they cannot walk on all fours and so move around on their back legs, standing upright and holding their arms outstretched for balance, skipping in a unique fashion through the forest (6). The indri is one of the most endangered species of lemur on Madagascar, and one of the most threatened primates in the world (4). They live by the coast, where forests have become so fragmented that they are almost too small to sustain viable populations (6).

Except a narrow strip at the eastern coast most of their natural habitat, the rainforest, is destroyed. Indris are amongst the most endangered species.

Even if you are luckily you meet Indris it's more likely to hear their voices instead of seeing them up in the trees. Their voices are said to be amongst the loudest within the animal kingdom. Indris live in family groups and they use their voices to mark their family range.

They give birth to just one young at a time. The young Indri stays in the family for a long time, even if there are younger siblings. Indris are very similar to gibbons concerning these behaviours. Other characteristics of Indris are their large ears, the long hands and the very short tail whereas most other prosimians have long tails. They belong to the few prosimian species which are active during the day; most of the other prosimians are nocturnal animals.

Why is the indri that endangered? Most of the Indri's natural habitat is destroyed by now and the Indri isn't able to adapt to other habitats than the rainforest. The destruction was caused by the growing number of human inhabitants and their need for soil to plant rice which is the common food on the island. Madagascar is a poor country and the methods of planting rice are not very efficient. Conservation societies worked out a masterplan together with the government of Madagascar to use the soil more efficiently, hoping that no more rainforest areas are destroyed in the future.


When elephants weep
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0385314280/

Anthropology

Early humans from Africa to Asia: Speed walking or a stroll along the beach?
http://sciencenow. sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/1007/3

Speed walking? Wouldn't they all resemble each other cranially very strongly if
that were the case? There's a lot of cranial differentiation, indicating long term separations between groups geographically.

from 2002
http://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12098208

http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/ha/erec.html

Ok one more entry, about what singles typically are looking for in a prospective mate: "This could explain why women are drawn to indicators of resource and future investment, while men are more likely to look for youth and waist-to-hip ratio - signs of reproductive potential and the ability to tolerate the stresses of childbirth". h/t Ed Yong link: the cost of having children

That doesn't sound very romantic, does it? So analytical. Oh well, that's life.

malaria

http://www.afreeman.org/2008/02/28/great-interview-week-scientific-serendipity-in-sydney-2/

Chromera velia, a unicellular photosynthetic symbiotic brown algae found associated with coral reefs, which leaves when the reef water becomes too warm resulting in bleached coral, has been found to be related to malarial Plasmodium and other apicomplexan parasites like toxiplasmosis.

Apparently, these blood-borne parasites derive from coral cell symbiont alga, and still contain vestigial chloroplasts (chlorophyll compounds, like in tree leaves that construct tissue from hydrocarbons using sunlight energy) , but now obtain energy from their animal hosts.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6468381.stm

hard core

Medical analysis: Bone deformity, mineral loss & joint pain due to hard floor praying

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article4412074.ece

Sema Yılmaz^{1, 3} , Hamide Kart-Köseoglu¹, Ozgen Guler² and Eftal Yucel¹

(1)	Division of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey

(2)	Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey

(3)	Vatan cad., Devrim sit., B/blok No:29/4, Selcuklu, 42040 Konya, Turkey

Received: 10 March 2007 Accepted: 24 September 2007 Published online: 10 October 2007

Abstract Prayer is one kind of worship that is composed of repetitive action during praying in Islam. The prayer is performed five times a day, every Friday, bairams and death ceremonies. The aim of this study is to search the role of this repetitive action on knee, hip osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Forty-six patients who had been performing the prayer at least for 10 years, and 40 patients who had not performed the prayer, were included in this prospective study. Each patient was evaluated with standard questionnaire form, joint examination was done and various laboratory parameters were studied. Anterior–posterior radiography of the pelvis and weight-bearing knees of each patient were examined. Each film was evaluated by two investigators separately and first scored by using Kellgren and Lawrence (K&L) scale, then the width of the joint space of hips and knees were measured directly using a steel ruler and recorded to the nearest half millimeter. Bone mineral density (BMD) of lumbar spine and femur was measured. Patients having Heberden’s nodes, Bouchard’s nodes, and carpometacarpal disease were frequent in worshiper group. Joint space width measurements and assessment according to K&L scale did not differ between worshipers and non-worshipers. BMD of lumbar spine was decreased in worshipers and also decreased with patients having Heberden’s nodes, Bouchard’s nodes, female gender and age. Prayer has no effect on knee and hip osteoarthritis, and may be related with hand osteoarthritis. It seems to have negative effect on lumbar BMD, but further investigations are needed.

Keywords Prayer - Osteoarthritis - Osteoporosis

Perhaps tatami mats or a sandy beach in the shade of a coconut palm might be more healthy.

~peace~

Coconut thoughts (retread)

canteeek ni gambo!

Botany 101 metaphor

Coconuts can't grow if cracked from the outside. Coconuts can grow if the root inside can penetrate out through the shell, away from the light, down into the dark soil, stabilizing position (representing basal trust network stability, parental bond, security, daily nutritional foundation), only then can the stem grow up (representing freedom, independence, choices, responsibilities).

The stem (and branches-leaves-etc.) all have to grow up away from the shell, towards the light/energy source.

The leaves grow towards the light, but then, they point outwards (away from the stem, which is the structural support) so the horizontal leaf surface absorb maximum light.

This is like reaching out to friends... They can't give light, but can reflect it and also help slow the gusts of storm winds. However they also compete (need their own space to grow), so one can't overextend too far, or the stem will weaken (too dependent on other people weakens self-discipline, slows growth).

Sometimes the wind blows hard or the water level in the soil drops or rises, these are life's challenges. Every night, darkness allows sleep (rest & restore inside).

Don't worry about cracking the "shell", that happens naturally as you grow both deeper and higher. :)

Coconut embryo: coconut-bubble

ps. We have many other palm trees here in Kuala Walu Wiki, Nor Calif, but only one coconut palm tree grows naturally in California.

Mothers & Daughters : mengerti?

in two dimensions (with added colors), looks like butterflies, but in three dimension, it's hominid pelvis configurations, from Lovejoy, 2005, fig. 5


...attention: this post is considered veiled...
_____________________________________________________________________________________

She and her rainforest ancestors: hanging, standing or sitting while plucking/tree climbing/bipedal wading/quadrupedal walking on knuckles and feet but no swimming/diving/back-floating. Note the huge biceps/triceps and long arms but short legs, and long fingers-toes but short palm-sole and hyper-erect ear pinnae, lack of subcutaneous fat, hyper-trophic muscles, very short achilles tendon.
11 yr old female


She and our seashore ancestors: standing, sitting or mid-dive while plucking/cliff climbing and bipedal shoreside beachcombing wading and walking and running/swimming/diving/back-floating. Note the long legs but short arms, long flat palm-sole (paddle-like) but short toes, slightly erect ear pinnae and long hydrodynamic scalp hair, subcutaneous fat, (comparatively) atrophic muscles, very long achilles tendon. [Note: wearing high-heeled shoes daily causes shrinkage of the achilles tendon, best to combine with barefoot walking and stretching]
10 yr old female


Newborn infant: mother grips branch, eats birth mucus and afterbirth (same as deer), infant no fat layer, face emerges ventrally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfVnFJDjUyQ


Newborn infant: mother immersed, does not eat mucus or afterbirth (same as dolphin), infant SC fat layer, face emerges dorsally. (midway through and end of video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyL1Hak2xwY


labour progression and birth of human, bipedal-linear pelvic structure requires newborn to rotate on axis, no other primate does this. The afterbirth remains viable and continues to pump blood and oxygen for a minute after birth, allowing extended full submersion of infant. This may indicate that the human ancestral condition was a slow birth, semi-immersed in warm water.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3aPusn8Hj5o

One way to flip a breech baby?: handstand (vertical diving posture) in water http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQvDXy-6Kzs&mode=related&search

Hominid pelvis structure and bipedalism (but lacks semi-aquatic information)
http://www.wannabe-anthropologist.com/wba_writing_pelvis.php

Human vs chimp pelvic structure, birth process
http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/resources/clarifications/HumanBirth.html#

Pregnant mums swimming, diving, back-floating: (big tummies, Spanish vid)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l80jkfQK_uA&feature=related

380,000,000 year old mother placoderm giving birth, umbilical cord present internal.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/05/materpiscis_attenboroughi.php
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(I've no idea why I put this here, rather than in the arc.)

Gate = Bridge = Pass = Pax = Peace = Salam = Shalom = Taarak

Palesraeli Hadhari

lihat sabar, young padawan... Do not make me take a Jedi stance and draw out my Jedi Light Sabre Kris and wave it about menacingly!

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/this-is-a-kosovar-muslim-11372

The reason I was disappointed in the behavior of the Serbs (and not much more with the Montenegrens, Croats, Macedonians) was that I had such high regard for their rich, ancient cultural history. They had greed but no need to harm their neighbors.

of the innocent on all sides who died, al fatiha ~ blessed and rest in peace
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for those interested, this is one path one might take, among many equally valid:
http://www.seasons-of-peace.net/opening/fatiha.htm

however, being, of nor calif, my singular responsibilities differ from imams ~ an example is that i don't count prayers, as there are never enough for those who lead, nor do i count the footsteps nor swimming strokes or breaths taken and given.

i do not support the nation of israel,
i do not support the nation of palestine,
i do offer my whole hearted but just symbolic support to de` caffienate krislamarina caliphate of palesrael, in peace, via resource allocation, manufacturing, trade, technology, etc. as chief executive officer (ceo) of the non-profit corporate caliphate, pro the dream maker program in the form noted as 'dream stars & desert islands' (dsdi), once i've found a lady and married, insyaAllah. Until then, i can only watch the suffering in silence, since i cannot claim this position if i'm solo, sad to say. i lost `my' princess to an imam, which is why i do not follow or submit to the imam, though i do not oppose them; they have their duties, i have mine, alhamdulillah.

اهدِنَــــا الصِّرَاطَ المُستَقِيمَ ihdinā ṣ-ṣirāṭ al mustaqīm
guide us to the straight path ~ guide us along the arc of life


The Quran says:

“Let there be no compulsion in the religion: Clearly the Righteous Path is distinct from the crooked path.” (Quran 2:256)

The righteous or straight path is a smooth curvilinear arc, not jagged or crooked.
Of course, real life is bumpy, but the ideal is to go through it smoothly.

please note that straight = curved because earth is spherical in the space-time continuum, it is not a flat surface. an example of this, is the making of window glass: a puddle of molten glass must rest upon a puddle of molten tin, in order to have a consistent thickness, since both puddles, like the oceans follow the earth's curvature. in two dimensions (X, Y), the path is straight, in three dimensions (X, Y, Z) the path follows an arc, in four dimensions it follows an orbital cycle (X, Y, Z, T (T = Temporal)). life is fluid and therefore spherical and cyclical following planetary orbital seasons, through the temporal dimension of light years of time, not crystaline like a rock which cracks and erodes into alluvial fans or eluvium, therefore, the straight path is an arc, by definition. those who have been to the moon and outer space have verified this fact. earth is not flat land, it is curved. all paths are curvilinear made up of arcs. many do not understand this, and do not understand scientific theory of geology, ecology, biology, spatial geometry, etc. it is nature, it is the primal gift. sela. salud. salam. shalom.

Codeword: Gold Show

gold show here today for Arts Alive (every 1st saturday of the month is Arts Alive, lots of open houses at art shops, theatres, coffee shops). Nice art pieces, abstract paintings and sculptures etc. My favorite was outside though, the beautiful sunny day. :) I stopped by Russian Innocence dome to see their creative icons, quite nice.

Golden Sunrise Saturday.










Morning has broken




Nature provide seed
for everyones' need
but not enough feed
for all of your greed

paraphrase: MGandhi

jom !

Dr Taj Hargey, chair of the Muslim Education Centre of Oxford:

"The only requirement is that when women swim they should be modestly clad."

"The Prophet Mohammed pbuh is recorded as saying that it is a Muslim's duty to learn to swim as it could save his or her life".
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That's right girls, learn to swim, in a safe way. But ... even gorillas and orangutans can swim. (The pygmy chimpanzees seem scared to swim) Only HUMANS can dive and backfloat, so better learn that too! I can teach if u want. Jangan jadi chimpanzee oy.

even the desert camel can swim... and the long tailed macaque and big nose proboscis monkeys can swim better ... pompuan muslimah jom ... dive like the beautiful dolphin, backfloat like the happy sea otter hehe jangan takutleh jom jom

selamat selam jom kita berswimming & berdiving & berbackfloating

squall season

[Jedi grand master Yoda prepare to cut the birthday cake]


epi brpday cik paan taicho chan ! :)

Windmill polypedalmobile

http://www.glumbert.com/media/kineticsculpture

Wind powered flock of flamingos or herd of elephants?

Art, science, engineering

Bucky Fuller in Time Magazine: geodesic domes, dymaxion, synergetics
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601640110,00.html

Spacial Geometry article on Buckyballs and geodesics
http://members.cruzio.com/%7Edevarco/invisible.htm