The Atheist's Pulpit

Are We Living in Sensory Overload or Sensory Poverty? – NYTimes.com

Short, well-written essay. Read it, then turn off your computer and sit outside for a while. Not to be smug, but I walked to the park, sat in the backyard, and will play volleyball for 2 hours under a gorgeous New Mexico sky in sight of a mountain range. A good day. mjh

Are We Living in Sensory Overload or Sensory Poverty? – NYTimes.com

By DIANE ACKERMAN 

As a species, we’ve somehow survived large and small ice ages, genetic bottlenecks, plagues, world wars and all manner of natural disasters, but I sometimes wonder if we’ll survive our own ingenuity. At first glance, it seems as if we may be living in sensory overload. The new technology, for all its boons, also bedevils us with alluring distractors, cyberbullies, thought-nabbers, calm-frayers, and a spiky wad of miscellaneous news. Some days it feels like we’re drowning in a twittering bog of information.

But, at exactly the same time, we’re living in sensory poverty, learning about the world without experiencing it up close, right here, right now, in all its messy, majestic, riotous detail. The further we distance ourselves from the spell of the present, explored by our senses, the harder it will be to understand and protect nature’s precarious balance, let alone the balance of our own human nature.

Are We Living in Sensory Overload or Sensory Poverty? – NYTimes.com

[hat tip to Meg Adams and Merri Rudd]

Health

Think before you eat. We are an on-going experiment for corporate profit.

Since largely eliminating wheat from my diet 6 months ago, my appetite has changed for the better, as has how I experience hunger: less dread, less distress. mjh

Mind games, man boobs, and muffin tops | Wheat Belly Blog

Posted on June 17, 2012 by Dr. Davis 

Wheat Belly is, first and foremost, about the changes introduced into modern wheat by the work of geneticists during the 1960s and 1970s, the same kind of research that led to the creation of Agent Orange, DDT, and other “better health through chemistry” types of efforts. The failure of agricultural geneticists and agribusiness to ask questions about the suitability of a genetically unique crop means they unleashed a foodstuff on a public . . . with no understanding of its effects on humans who consume it. This unquestioned acceptance of chemistry and genetics was the modus operandi during the mid-20th century. …

Among the changes introduced into wheat by geneticists:

  • Enrichment in the glia-alpha-9 genetic sequence that provokes celiac disease. Nearly absent from the wheat of 1950, nearly all modern semi-dwarf wheat contains this genetic sequence. Is it any wonder why the incidence of celiac disease has quadrupled?
  • Gliadin is a more powerful opiate–The changes introduced into the gliadin gene/protein make it a more potent opiate. While the digestive byproducts of gliadin bind to the opiate receptors of the brain, they lack the pain-relieving and euphoric effects of heroin and morphine, but “only” provoke addictive eating behavior and appetite stimulation. People who consume wheat consume, on average, 440 more calories per day, 365 days per year.
  • Changes in the lectin unique to wheat, wheat germ agglutinin, that is responsible for 1) direct intestinal damamge, and 2) a Trojan horse effect of helping foreign substances gain entry into the bloodstream. This is likely at least part of the reason why wheat-eaters experience more lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, polymyositis, type 1 diabetes in children, worse ulcerative colitis and Crohns, more Hashimoto’s thyroiditis: Foreign proteins gain entry to the various organs of the body and result in “autoinflammation.” Changes in wheat lectin may have also led to more effective blocking of the hormone of satiety, leptin.
  • Changes in alpha amylase inhibitors–These are the most common sources of wheat allergies, e.g., wheat allergy in kids.

Eliminating wheat is about undoing all these effects, effects that have broad implications for human health across an astounding number of health conditions.

Mind games, man boobs, and muffin tops | Wheat Belly Blog

Ah, Wilderness!, photos

Timing

I have one observation for photo enthusiasts: If your camera isn’t in your hand, you might as well not own a camera. I’ve made it my habit to have my camera ready to shoot most of the time I’m outside, especially on walks. Even so, I miss some great photos.  A legitimate complaint about non-DSLR cameras, such as my wonderful Sony HX-100v, is shutter lag: The time between pressing the button and capturing the image can make all the difference in the world. Today, it worked to my advantage, lagging from a mediocre shot into a very cool moment.

ladderback woodpecker on hummingbird feeder

I heard this bird a couple of minutes before I saw it. It’s familiar chuckle chided me to practice what I preach and get my camera out of the bag, lens cap off. Thank you, little one.

Save your accolades for the Universe. I was a lucky witness.

Be Ready for Good Luck Thu 05/05/11 at 12:00 pm

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams