Ecological Homeostasis

Are We Short of Water and Food ??

http://www.lovinghut.com/
Since the vegetarian diet is the most effective solution to global warming, under Supreme Master Ching Hai's guidance, members of The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association recently opened a chain of Loving Hut vegetarian restaurants around the world, in the United States, Japan, Indonesia, Au Lac and Formosa. These places provide affordable and high-quality vegetarian delicacies to the public, bringing a positive impact on the food and beverage industry...
Meat or vegetables? Independent online (SA)
A recent study has revealed that giving up meat could drastically reduce one's carbon footprint. A diet with meat is responsible for producing in a year (as many) greenhouse gases as driving a mid-sized car for 4,758 km, the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IOeW) said last week. But the food a vegetarian consumes in (the same period of time) is responsible for generating (gases only) as driving for 2,427km, the IOeW said in a study commissioned by independent consumer protection group Foodwatch...
Vegetarian Shoes And Bags
The term pleather ("plastic leather") is a slang term for synthetic leather made out of plastic, a portmanteau of plastic and leather, the term can be either descriptive, or derogatory, depending upon the user (the derogatory use implies use as a substitute for genuine animal hide leather to cut costs)...

From All Corners of the Galaxy

Which Stars Are You From?
  • Galactic Highway - The Wormhole
  • Wormholes are a valid consequence of Einstein's general relativity view on the universe. A wormhole, in theory, acts as a shortcut or tunnel through space and time. There are several versions on the same theme (i.e. wormholes may link different universes; they may link the two separate locations in the same universe; they may even link black and white holes together), but the physics is similar, wormholes create a link two locations in space-time, bypassing normal three dimensional travel through space. Also, it is theorized, that matter can travel through some wormholes fuelling sci-fi stories like in the film Stargate or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

    If wormholes do exist however, it is highly unlikely that you'll find a handy key to open the mouth of a wormhole in your back yard, they are likely to be very elusive and you'll probably need some specialist equipment to travel through them (although this will be virtually impossible).

    Alexander Shatskiy, from the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow, has an idea how these wormholes may be observed. For a start, they can be distinguished from black holes, as wormhole mouths do not have an event horizon.

    Secondly, if matter could possibly travel through wormholes, light certainly can, but the light emitted will have a characteristic angular intensity distribution. If we were viewing a wormhole's mouth, we would be witness to a circle, resembling a bubble, with intense light radiating from the inside "rim". Looking toward the center, we would notice the light sharply dim. At the center we would notice no light, but we would see right through the mouth of the wormhole and see stars (from our side of the universe) shining straight through.

    Source:http://www.universetoday.com/

  • Stream of Time
  • Plato argued that time is constant - it's life that's the illusion. Galileo shrugged over the philosophy of time and figured out how to plot it on a graph so he could get on with the important physics.

    Albert Einstein said that time is just another dimension, a fourth one to go along with the up-down, side-side, forward-back we move through every day. Our understanding of time, Einstein said, is based on its relationship to our environment.

    Weirdly, the faster you travel, the slower time moves. (Is it truely weird? Not quite!!) The most radical interpretation of his theory: Past, present, and future are merely figments of our imagination, constructs built by our brains so that everything doesn't seem to happen at once.

    Source: http://www.socialtext.net/

2007-08-29

你也有餅乾嗎?

記得大四那一年,我滿腦子想的都是怎麼樣進入大公司、領高月薪、如何在短期內還清家中債務、出人頭地等。

很幸運的,我後來進入了國內某知名集團工作,擔任外籍主管的翻譯兼特助。由於職務的關係,我得以參加很多高階主管聚集的決策性會議,讓我這個念應用外語出身的社會新鮮人, 得以比其他同輩更快學到很多關於零售採購、談判技巧、利潤分配、業績追蹤、行銷企劃等專業知識。


那時候,我以為這就是我要的人生!!

隨著工作時間增長、工作量增多,我變得早出晚歸。常常大清早就進入地下道內搭捷運,步出公司時已是晚上,一整天都沒看到陽光。因為加班,我常挨餓到晚上九點多,滿腦子想的都是毛利與業績,邊吃泡麵邊打隔天要用的報告。

我忘了要打電話回家關心家人、錯過了和朋友們的聚餐、割捨了最愛的籃球和閱讀、忽略了四季的更迭,更嚴重的是,我漸漸地也越來越不認識鏡子裡面的那一個人是誰。

一天,我毅然決然遞出辭呈,並在一週內辦好機票和簽證,一個人獨自飛往印度,展開了我有生以來最有意義的旅程。

在這趟旅程中,我沒有預訂任何飯店或做任何行程規劃。甚至,我連旅遊導覽都沒帶就出門了。我體驗到了「流浪」的滋味。更重要的是,我透過與當地人民的接觸,了解了生命真正的意義。

在窮苦的印度,連喝一杯乾淨的水都是祝福。

我不再汲汲營營。每天清晨,我划著一艘小船,在恆河上慢慢的渡著。當時間空間都被抽離後,人就會很自然地回想自己的過去、遙想自己的未來。

當我開始領悟到生命的價值並不是取決於薪水、位階、財產等等這些物質化的東西後,我整個人豁然開朗,開始想要多接觸當地人民的生活。

於是我在恆河畔召集那些向觀光客兜售香菸、蠟燭與紀念品的小孩。他們年紀都很小,有的才三四歲就出來做生意。每天黃昏我們相約在一個階梯式廣場,由我免費教他們英文。在夕照下,我們圍成一個圈圈,然後我們在夕陽餘暉中各自漫步回家,有時唱歌,有時這些印度小孩會拉著我的手寫印度文給我看。

離開印度的前夕,我買了包餅乾,目的是要分給我的「學生」們。只見他們自然形成一列,一個個乖巧的排隊等著領餅乾,我心中感到非常欣慰。就在這時候,我發現我的餅乾發光了,卻還剩下最後一個小女孩沒有領到。

我想起身再去買一包,卻看到她失望地流下了眼淚。心急的我,想辦法用簡單的英文告訴她,我沒有忘記她。但因為語言上的障礙,使得她難過的放聲大哭。就在我不知所措的時候,一個大約七八歲的小男孩走了過來,將他手中的餅乾剝一半遞給了小女孩,接著其他小朋友跟著重複同樣的動作。

一眨眼,原本淚汪汪的小女孩手中已有三四片餅乾,一群小朋友蹦蹦跳跳的笑著跑開了。

親眼目擊這一幕的我,不禁紅了眼眶。原來,幸福就是這麼簡單;原來,分享是那麼樣地快樂。

最令我動容的是,這位小男孩發自內心的舉動,並沒有來自任何人的指令或後天的教導,全是他發自內心的行為舉止。

那一晚在恆河畔,我想了很多。為何物質生活享受遠超過印度人的我們,在精神層面上卻不一定能像他們一樣快樂?人民所得提高後,是否生活就能夠變得更幸福?

沸沸騰騰的教改,究竟改了些什麼?又教會了我們的孩子些什麼?現代的小孩子不需要排隊領餅乾,究竟是禍是福?他們如果不知道挨餓為何物,將來怎麼會懂得惜福感恩?

如果我們的教育、社會價值觀乃至評斷人的標準,都不斷的強調名次、位階與年收入,扣掉有幸能夠符合這些標準的人,剩下的芸芸眾生,如何平衡人生本來就會有的不完美?如何接受餅乾發到你時剛好沒了?而有幸拿到餅乾的人,如何回過頭來幫助沒拿到餅乾的人?

回國後,我一直記得這一幕,並與週遭親朋好友分享這個難得的經驗,希望這半餅乾能夠激發更多人的愛心與善心,讓這樣的善行一直傳下去,讓我們的社會更加溫馨。

來源: 蔣阿姨電子郵件轉寄

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