Native to the Americas, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) travels widely in search of sustenance. While usually foraging alone, it relies on other individuals of its species for companionship and mutual protection. Sometimes misunderstood, sometimes feared, sometimes shunned, it nevertheless performs an important role in the ecosystem.
This scavenger bird is a marvel of efficiency. Rather than expend energy flapping its wings, it instead locates uplifting columns of air, and spirals within them in order to glide to greater heights. This behavior has been mistaken for opportunism, interpreted as if it is circling doomed terrestrial animals destined to be its next meal. In truth, the vulture takes advantage of these thermals to gain the altitude needed glide longer distances, flying not out of necessity, but for the joy of it.
It also avoids the exertion necessary to capture live prey, preferring instead to feast upon that which is already dead. In this behavior, it resembles many humans.
It is not what most of us would consider to be a pretty bird. While its habits are often off-putting, or even disgusting, to members of more fastidious species, the turkey vulture helps to keep the environment from being clogged with detritus. Hence its Latin binomial, which translates to English as "golden purifier."
I rarely know where the winds will take me next, or what I might find there. The journey is the destination.
I think the concepts behind the depolarization challenge can also be applied to science and science communication. There was a (non-research) piece published in Nature a few months ago that provides a great example of this, but only part of it is publicly available (that I've been able to find so far). It acknowledges that an educated iteration of tribalism has contributed to mistrust in the scientific community globally and that things will need to change in their part.
Some people want to change but i think the majority are set in their ways or on their comfort zone. As far as our government goes..they refuse to work together..they have forgotten why they are there. It will be like this and worse until Christ returns!
I pride myself on the fact that, as a supervisor, I was always happy to let my subordinates fully and completely present their ideas and positions before I told them NO.
"I'd also add this: Be humble enough to know that you can be wrong. Be brave enough to admit when you're wrong. And allow space for the idea that sometimes, your ideological opponents are right."
We all need to print that on a wallet-sized card and read it at least once a day.
But unless you have an extremely hot flame it wouldn't even work underwater! Thats why they use magnesium torches for underwater welding. Maybe if they had atomic fire breath like Godzilla?
Wait, they're mythological creatures. Does it matter? Ah heck maybe I gotta write another story about Kaiju... or a sea monster capable of producing fusion induced plasma that they then use for hunting or an alien.
I dunno about science, but I have some idea about what your downstairs neighbors would say.
You’ve tried everything to feel more awake in the mornings—caffeine, sunlight, water, stretching—but no matter what, you still feel groggy and unready to face the day.
Have you tried attuning your schedule to your chronotype, instead of trying to fit your chronotype into someone else's schedule?
Yeah, yeah, I know, few have the privilege of being able to do that. I certainly did not for most of my life.
There’s one thing you probably haven’t tried that’s taking social media by storm: jumping.
If it's "taking social media by storm," a) I'd be the last to hear about it and b) I'd immediately distrust it, like I did the "walking backwards" fad from, what, a year ago? Two?
Now, even though I don't practice this these days, I can accept that some exercise is better than no exercise. I can also accept that, sometimes, you gotta try something new to break up your routine a bit.
Near as I can tell, if you don't live above someone else or can do it (shudder) outside, there's nothing inherently wrong with this and it doesn't make you look as dumb as walking backwards does.
And yet, I'd still shun it, simply because it's a trend.
The article goes on to list the "benefits" of this particular exercise. I won't rehash them here. Just assume I'm skeptical. Not in the denial sense, but in the "I'm not going to trust this one source" sense.
Who Should Skip the Jumping
This section header is the actual reason I saved this article. Skip? Jumping? I'm dying over here.
You might want to think twice about participating in this trend if you have a weak pelvic floor, significant knee, hip, ankle, or foot pain, Achilles tendinopathy, plantar fasciitis, recent sprains, a history of stress fractures, or balance issues, Wickham says.
I admit, though, that putting this here assuages some of my skepticism.
To get the most out of your jumps, jump 50 times in place at a rapid, consistent speed, making sure to drive through the balls of your feet and land softly on the balls of your feet.
If I tried that right now, I'd end up in the hospital.
Meanwhile, I'll continue my usual jumping exercises: the ones that lead me to conclusions.
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