This set me on the path to search for a biological explanation for what I was observing. The baby boys, by and large, seemed to struggle far more than the baby girls, and since behavioural factors couldn’t account for this differential I observed, I was left with the lingering question as to why this might be the case. But it was when I was taking care of premature babies that it became clear to me that the sex-based health outcomes that I was observing between the baby boys and baby girls I was caring for could not be behavioural in origin. Except everything I saw during my clinical practice and research work indicated otherwise. I was taught in medical school that most of the differences in health outcomes between the sexes was behavioural. How did the thought occur to you, that women might be the stronger sex? " The Better Half: On the Genetic Superiority of Women" makes the game-changing case that females have greater resilience, immunity, endurance and more, compared with males. Sharon Moalem is an award-winning genetics researcher, physician and author. Italian Nobel laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini
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From the brilliant travelogue-cum-memoir, Colour by Victoria Finlay to Kassia St Clair’s The Secret Life of Colour, readers are spoiled for choice. There has been an endless supply of books about colour in recent years. The history and theory of colour is a wide and fascinating field. It became the third-greatest traded product from the New World after gold and silver.” When the Spanish invaded the Aztec Empire, they discovered this valuable export, protecting “their exclusive supply by disguising the red dye’s origins in mystery, spreading the story that the cochineal was a pea-like vegetable. Carmine was used in the Americas for dyeing textiles as early as 700 BCE: “One of the reddest dyes that the natural world has ever produced, the crimson dye is carminic acid which is produced by the female cochineal to deter other insect predators.” It’s a laborious process yet for thousands of years mankind has gone to considerable trouble to produce dyes, inks and paints.Ĭolour is fundamental to our experience of the world – so fundamental that throughout history, health and lives were risked for the sake of treasured pigments. About 14,000 insects are needed to make just 100 grams of cochineal dye according to Chromatopia, David Coles’s illustrated history of colour. Also known as E120, its presence in the red of Skittles sweets was an issue for vegans and vegetarians until it was finally removed in recent years. As any self-respecting vegan knows, carmine food colouring comes from the cochineal insect. The leader of the Ten Rings terrorist cell that kidnapped Tony Stark in Afghanistan, Raza was betrayed by Obadiah Stane, who paralyzed him with a Sonic Taser before his goons slew Raza and his men. His dying words to Tony were for him to not waste his life. Having lost his family in a terrorist attack, Yinsen later sacrificed himself to help Tony escape, suffering fatal gunshot wounds. Ho YinsenĪ captive of the Ten Rings in Afghanistan, Yinsen first saved Tony’s life when he operated on his shrapnel wound and made an electromagnetic plate to keep it from reaching his heart. Stane then plummeted down into the reactor, which exploded into flames. The MCU’s first big bad met his end when he got fried by a blast from Tony Stark’s Arc Reactor while suited up in his Iron Monger armor. Cause of Death: Electrocution/fall/explosion. “His soul is saved, yes, but so are his mind and body.” (Ibid., p. This, of course, includes the ability to create and enjoy art. Rather, it is true to what is there, true in the whole area of the whole man in all of life.” (Francis Schaeffer, Art and the Bible, p. Christianity is not just ‘dogmatically’ true or ‘doctrinally’ true. “If Christianity is really true, then it involves the whole man, including his intellect and creativeness. Sacred truth is not detached from secular truth and then exiled into the “upper story.” The truth of Christianity is universal and pervasive-not compartmentalized.My hope is that the below snapshots will help instill in you (as they did in me), (1) a bigger view of Christ’s supremacy and (2) a deeper sense of what makes creativity valuable. Schaeffer’s Perspective on Artīefore looking into Schaeffer’s evaluative criteria, it is first helpful to understand Schaeffer’s perspective on art. In his pithy essays on art (published as Art and the Bible by IVP Classics), Francis Schaeffer provides us with a rich criteria for evaluating art. It looks good.” Or negatively, “I don’t like it. Often we are guilty of judging art with a flattened view. If every man is free, he can not will himself free. But we shall find here the same objection that we met when we examined the abstract moment of individual ethics. He must disclose the world with the purpose of further disclosure and by the same movement try to free men, by means of whom the world takes on meaning. This means that, through this world, each individual can give his freedom a concrete content. It is a speaking world from which solicitations and appeals rise up. The world in which he engages himself is a human world in which each object is penetrated with human meanings. Thus, every man has to do with other men. Simone de Beauvoir 1947 III The Positive Aspect of Ambiguity Kurti S, Rawat, director of the International Centre for Survival. Mary Roach traveled through India with Dr. The very first chapter delves into reincarnation. Readers are free to take in whatever they find to be thought-provoking. She does not provide the reader with a definitive answer about what, exactly, one should expect from the afterlife. In Spook, Mary Roach asks plenty of interesting questions, and follows up by finding out what science had to say regarding the afterlife. It is the book for people who wonder what science can tell us about the soul, where it lives, and where it might go. This is not the book for people who have strong religious beliefs about the afterlife and who are looking for something that confirms what their religion tells them. Go into this book with an open mind and you will definitely learn something about human nature. In my opinion, the best way to read Spook is to set aside whatever religious ideas you may have about the afterlife. Spook – Science Tackles the Afterlife was written in 2005. After writing about what happens to the human body after the person dies, it seems appropriate to write a book about what happens to the human soul after the body dies. Mary Roach is the author of Stiff – the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. They succeed, although Orestes spends the rest of his days pursued by Furies, while Elektra gets away Fury-free. So Elektra teams up with her brother, Orestes, and plots to murder her mother and her lover. Revenge is a big thing in Greek myth, especially when it concerns one’s bloodline. Understandably, she murders him and poor Cassandra when they return.īut here’s where it gets juicy. Anyway, Elektra’s mother was pretty peeved at Agamemnon because he sacrificed their other daughter, Iphigenia, at the start of the Trojan War in order to secure “a good wind”. When King Agamemnon arrived home, he brought back a lover (read: “war prize”) of his own, Cassandra. Because Sparta has a tradition of two kings, Menelaus rallied his brother, Agamemnon, and took off in pursuit to Troy, where they led a huge Greek army against Trojan forces for 10 years.ĭuring that decade of war, Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra patiently waited back home with her lover keeping her company. The Trojan War was started after a Prince from Troy, named Paris, allegedly abducted Helen, who was the wife of Spartan King, called Menelaus. We kinda need to talk a few steps back to get some context into why Elektra is such an important figure in Greek myth and it all goes back to The Trojan War. The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve GornichecĮlektra by Jennifer Saint Image: Wildfire What was the original myth?Įlektra is fleetingly referenced as the daughter of King Agamemnon and his queen, Clytemnestra in Greek mythology.The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea by Axie Oh. You can go to my Web Site to contact me, or sign up for my newsletter to get updates on future releases.įollow me on Facebook, Twitter or contact me by eMail at. And not least, thanks to my wife for her patience. Many thanks to my beta readers, whose comments, suggestions, and insight, have helped streamline this story and smooth out a few bumps. Thanks to Merry Jones for her hours of editing and proofreading. With the police hard on Jake’s trail, and the public on the watch, the Lincolns are drawn into a dangerous and desperate situation as they battle to expose the truth and prove Jake’s innocence before the police manhunt tracks him down. With the evidence mounting against Jake, he becomes a fugitive on the run from justice with only Annie to turn to. Private investigators Jake and Annie Lincoln find themselves up against the law when a routine stakeout ends in the shooting of an innocent woman. “I’ll talk to you about it tonight,” I told him. He burst out laughing this time, and I sighed. Then his tone of voice changed to a playful whisper. “Is that a skill you work on, or is it a natural-born talent?” “Usually if I pester you enough, you’ll just agree with me to shut me up.” “I like annoying you at work,” he said cheerfully. “Is this not something we could discuss over dinner?” I want you to come with me.”Ĭooper had two tickets to see some god-awful too-loud band at Madison Square Garden, and right or wrong he wanted me to go with him. “I don’t want any of them to come with me. “Why don’t you take one of your other friends?” “I told you it wasn’t really my scene,” I replied. Jones.” It was the third phone call that day. I picked up the receiver knowing who it would be.Ī familiar voice spoke in my ear. It was a beautiful clear day, the sky was a brilliant blue and while most people would have cursed having to work, I was still smiling. I recently picked it back up since I heard that a movie is coming out for it soon and I am SO glad I did. I read about 60 pages and set it aside, because, while I was intrigued, I was itching for a faster read at the time. I originally never knew much about this book, found it for $5 at Barnes and Noble, and started it right away. I’m in love with this book □ It is such a rich, luxurious, electric, rewarding novel to read. 4.5 read for sure, with just a few very minor hangups. Wow wow wow, this book was a masterpiece! So good. What if one happens to be possessed of a heart that can’t be trusted–? What if the heart, for its own unfathomable reasons, leads one willfully and in a cloud of unspeakable radiance away from health, domesticity, civic responsibility and strong social connections and all the blandly-held common virtues and instead straight toward a beautiful flare of ruin, self-immolation, disaster?…If your deepest self is singing and coaxing you straight toward the bonfire, is it better to turn away? Stop your ears with wax? Ignore all the perverse glory your heart is screaming at you? Set yourself on the course that will lead you dutifully towards the norm, reasonable hours and regular medical check-ups, stable relationships and steady career advancement the New York Times and brunch on Sunday, all with the promise of being somehow a better person? Or…is it better to throw yourself head first and laughing into the holy rage calling your name?” “ Only here’s what I really, really want someone to explain to me. |