Omdat ze eten van een invasieve plant zijn de inheemse blauwtongskinken van oostelijk Australie resistent tegen het gif van een invasieve reuzepad.
Ik hou van originele muziekvideo's. De band Wilco heeft er een gemaakt in samenwerking met Popeye.
Ik hou ook van animatiefilmpjes. Zoals deze die voor de oscar genomineerd is: The Fantastic Flying Books of Thomal Lessmore. Hij gaat over boeken, wat hem direct een van mijn favoriete korte films ooit maakt ...
Goed nieuws voor de liefhebbers van superheldenfilms (daar behoor ik toe): Matthew Vaughn, de regisseur van X-men: First Class, heeft zijn contract getekend voor het vervolg.
Weer een aardig artikel over de begrenzing van onze wilskracht legt uit waarom fitnesscentra winst kunnen maken van mensen die niet komen sporten: "Given the choice between small/soon rewards versus larger/later benefits, we'll take the former. Hyperbolic discounting helps to explain why Congress can't pass deficit reduction, why drug addicts stay addicts, why debtors don't pay off their bills, and why you keep telling yourself that the right day for exercise is always "tomorrow." The other problem with sustaining the motivation to work out is that ... well, motivation is exhausting! According to the theory of decision fatigue, the simple act of making any decision depletes us of a limited store of willpower. Exercise isn't just an investment of time, it's also a choice -- and a difficult, even exhausting choice for people whose daily habits don't involve running and lifting." Alleen jezelf betalen of straffen voor het nalaten van het sporten lijkt te helpen. Helaas denken nog steeds veel christenen dat we op onze wilskracht kunnen vertrouwen om onszelf te veranderen. In een wat ouder artikel op Mockingbird wordt de theologie van Joel Osteen onder de loep genomen: "The human condition, described in the Bible, is that “no one seeks God”—rather, we are bound to seek our selves, our own good. To tell bound people, people enslaved to compulsive self-destructive behavior, to just change their thinking is dead-on-arrival. In the Bible, God is seen as a Savior—someone who rescues people when they are at their worst, not when they are thinking positive thoughts."
Dit wordt verder uitgewerkt in een prachtige overdenking: "In our constant quest for happiness, for peace, the answer is to be found not in the quest for control, but in the release of it. True peace only comes about when we receive the good news that in spite of our petty powerlessnesses and intractable addictions, however big or small they may be, we are loved and accepted; that we do not, in fact, control our own destiny, but rather our fate has been bought and our future is secured by the Cross of Christ. As we walk through life, constantly frustrated by our inability to be and do what we want, the answer is not self-mastery, but rather the love of the Master. We are not, and will never be, what we ought to be, yet God, through Jesus, says to us, over and over again, “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
Ook The Christian Monist schrijft in een deel van zijn vervolgserie over de menselijke zoektocht naar betekenis. We hebben een bodemloze put in ons hart, en onze pogingen die te vullen leiden tot manipulatie en controle (oftewel: zonde): "From that pit in your souls where you feel worthless, you have this insatiable desire to manipulate others to make yourselves feel more worthy. When you manipulate others, you push up your own emotional position from part of the worthless herd, to a master level, the one who controls others ... virtually all sin is the result of humans trying to fill that bottomless pit." Het goede nieuws is echter dat God ons liefheeft en daarmee alle betekenis heeft gegeven die we zouden kunnen wensen. Dit is waardoor ons gedrag verandert, niet door regels en verplichtingen. "If you really, really understand the Gospel and that the bottomless pit has found a bottom . . . and a lid . . . and a complete filling, the need for sin goes away. If your really grasped the fact that we are extremely forgiven, that we have an absurd value and that we now please God with unquenchable pleasure . . . the need for sin becomes extraneous."
Ons succes, onze betekenis, het blijkt allemaal niet van onze wilskracht af te hangen. Ik las dit mooie artikel over de liefde van God. "God loves you. Period. Isn't that only half the story? No, it's the whole, entire, complete story. There is nothing else in God's attitude toward you but love. His love does not come alongside anything else that might dilute or alter or temper it, or overrule it or modify it in any way. Or even "balance" it or form some sort of polarity with it. There is no tension, so to speak, betwen God's love and anything else. There is no dark side whatsoever in God's attitude toward you. It's pure love, infinite love, unconditional love." Maar hoe zit het dan met de hel? "Hell does not mean God sends someone to any separate place. Hell does not mean God tortures us, or has the devil do it for Him. Hell is something each person does to himself. As the saying goes, the gates of hell are locked on the inside. It's our reaction to God's love that becomes our hell. There can be all sorts of reasons God's very Love becomes hell for us. But God Himself harbors nothing for us but eternal, undiluted, steadfast, unchanging, infinite Love. Period."
Wat is het gevolg van het op zo'n manier leven in afhankelijkheid van God? Als we beseffen dat wij zwakke mensen zijn en Hij de enige is die onze verlangens kan vervullen? The Rabbit Room suggereert het antwoord: "Instinctual gratitude and unprovoked gladness. And unprovoked isn’t quite right the right word. It will only seem such. For as we grow, won’t our hearts be awakened to the wonders everywhere to be seen, so that everyday we live and breathe and have God’s unmerited favor we are overwhelmed with thankfulness? We will always be provoked."
