Archive for May, 2008
Juice It Up
An apple a day still keeps the doctor away…well, if you’re a hamster, that is.
Juice made from purple grapes had the most beneficial effect
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Juices made from apples or purple grapes – and the fruit themselves – protect against developing clogged arteries, a study suggests.
Researchers fed hamsters the fruit and juice or water, plus a fatty diet.
The animals who were fed grape juice had the lowest risk of developing artery problems, Molecular Nutrition and Food Research reports.
The University of Montpellier team said the juice’s benefits came from its high levels of phenols – an antioxidant.
Antioxidants in various foods have been regularly cited as being beneficial to heart health.
The French team looked at how juicing affected the phenol content of fruit – because most studies look at raw fruit.
Four glasses a day
They then looked at how being fed various kinds of fruit affected the hamsters’ risk of atherosclerosis – the build-up of fatty plaque deposits in the arteries that can lead to heart attacks or strokes.
The amount of fruit the hamsters consumed was equivalent to three apples or three bunches of grapes daily for a human.
Hamsters given juice drank the equivalent of four glasses daily for a person weighing 70 kilograms (154 pounds).
The apples and grapes had about the same phenol content, while the purple grape juice had 2.5 times more phenols than apple juice.
Compared with animals given water, those given fruit or fruit juice had lower cholesterol levels, less oxidative stress, and less fat accumulation in their aorta, the main vessel supplying oxygenated blood to the body.
Purple grape juice had the strongest effect, followed by purple grapes, apple juice and apples.
The researchers say their findings suggest the amount of phenols contained in a food have a direct effect on its antioxidant properties.
Other antioxidant compounds in the fruits, such as vitamin C and carotenoids, could also contribute to their effects, they added.
The team, led by Kelly Decorde, said their findings “provide encouragement that fruit and fruit juices may have a significant clinical and public health relevance.”
A British nutritionist said: “High levels of antioxidants are recognised as being good for you.”
1 comment May 19th, 2008
Have you noticed that all the people in favour of birth control are already born?
- Benny Hill
Add comment May 18th, 2008
18 May: Nrsimha-caturdasi
Today is the appearance day of Lord Nrsimhadeva. Fasting til dusk.
May 18th, 2008
No Solution…
Meat in a low-carbon world
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By Tom Heap
Costing the Earth, Radio 4 |
Feel-good food just got tricky.
It was easy when “good” meant anything which could have stepped off a John Constable canvas: free range chicken, foraging pigs and grazing cattle.
But then climate change came along. No one noticed at first, still concentrating their fire on the obvious targets like 4×4s, long flights and coal power stations; but our meaty diet is laden with greenhouse gases, and trying to reduce them throws up some unpalatable choices.
It has prompted the Vegetarian Society to take out adverts in the paper declaring that our carnivorous tastes are a “silent but deadly” assault on our climate.
First a few farmyard facts. Cows and sheep are ruminants which means their digestion produces much methane, a gas with about 20 times the global warming power per puff than carbon dioxide.
It comes out in breath, burps and farts. Their manure is also heavy with nitrates which pollute both water and air.
Pigs produce less gas, but plenty of manure. Chickens eat and waste little.
There is also a vast difference in the efficiency with which they turn vegetable fodder into meat protein; and the less land you need to feed each animal, the more you have left for anything else – like climate-friendly forests.
Cows and sheep need 8kg of grain for every 1kg of meat they produce, pigs about 4kg. The most efficient poultry units need a mere 1.6kg of feed to produce 1kg of chicken.
The UN’s food and agriculture organisation has added all this up and decreed that livestock warms the planet more than transport.
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 Organic poultry meat has about 45% more global warming potential than indoor-reared poultry meat  Peter Bradnock, British Poultry Council
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So in fear that the “anti-carbon tyrant” might wipe their business from the planet, the meat industry has been looking for low greenhouse gas (GHG) solutions, and the problem is that many of them are found indoors.
Housing animals gives humans control. The diet can be precisely manipulated to maximise growth and minimise polluting gases.
Animals do not waste food energy on running about and keeping warm. Their manure can be collected and burned as a fuel, avoiding damaging evaporation and seepage into rivers.
In the future, it is hoped that sealed barns would have exhaust vents where the harmful gases could be captured before they entered the atmosphere.
This combination of precision husbandry and species advantage is what puts commercial indoor poultry sheds at the top of the climate chart.
Peter Bradnock of the British Poultry Council says: “Organic poultry meat has about 45% more global warming potential than indoor-reared poultry meat. If you’re rearing outside, then the bird is using a little more of its feed to keep itself warm, or simply to keep itself cool in hot climates.”
Dairy drawbacks
There is a further hiccup with the vegetarian option: most of those who avoid meat source their protein from dairy foods. And dairy animals pump out gases and gobble up supplementary feed just like the rest: f you are avoiding meat for climate reasons, you should be shunning dairy too.
But as abandoning it is unlikely, are there any reduced GHG options? Yes; but once again, they are not the rustic visions you see in the adverts.
Jon Moorby of the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research at the University of Aberystwyth believes that intensive indoor dairy farms are more climate friendly than their outdoor brethren.
“In general, intensive dairy farms are actually quite good for the environment, because it allows us to control what we do with what comes out of the cow much better than in a more extensive system,” he says. “With the animals being inside all the time, it allows us to control the manure and slurries from them much better than we can when they’re outside.”
But that goes contrary to a basic belief that animals should be allowed to range outdoors in as natural an environment as possible.
“Your Holstein dairy cow is almost like your Formula One car of the bovine world, and you wouldn’t keep your Formula One car outside under a bit of plastic, would you?” counters Jon Moorby. “So you’ve got to nurture them. Being inside, especially when it’s bad weather, is the best thing for them.”
Find that all too distasteful? Then try this: upland-grass-fed sheep and cattle graze on land where little else will grow and their feeding habits actually encourage wildlife. So they may be a bit gassy but at least they are not demanding that distant lands be ploughed, and they are nibbling a home for birds, butterflies and beetles.
Vegetarians argue that the simple answer is to avoid meat; but altering the diet of billions is a tall order and would rock the lives of millions of farmers.
But in negotiating the place of animals in a low carbon world, we should remember that, unlike cars, they are life forms and deserve respect.
Ed: Just not enough respect that would mean “stop killing them…”
May 18th, 2008
Sweet Krishna…
Krsna’s pastimes in Vraja are filled with loving sweetness evoked by the Vrajavasis. What sweet mood would cause the Supreme Personality of Godhead to utter the words, “Do you want to go to your mother?”
Srila Jiva Gosvami describes kumara Krsna’s playing with Balarama and Their friends in the Vrindavana forest just after they have begun to care for the young calves.
Sri Jiva describes:
“After arranging that the calves eat the green grass that surrounded them, the boys playing until lunchtime. At that time Krsna and Balarama played Their flutes. They and Their friends hurled fruit and other projectiles at each other, kicked each other with angling-anklet-adorned feet, and enjoyed mock-fighting pastimes in imitation of bulls fighting amongst themselves.
“They enjoyed water-pastimes, and, decorating themselves with forest-ornaments, They wandered about. The two brothers became filled with wonder upon seeing the varieties birds and animals within the forest. They playfully began imitating the sounds of the animals, but when They imitated the roar of some dangerous forest-beast, Their friends became, for a moment, frightened. They then enjoyed pastimes of wrestling. Grabbing each others’ heels, they made a great commotion.
“Krsna and Balarama continued to watch as the calves ate grass and drank water. Krsna approached one calf, massaged the calf’s face and limbs, hugged the calf, and said in the calf’s ear, “Do you want to go to your mother? I will take you to her.”
Add comment May 18th, 2008
Máj.17: Bhagavad-gita, az örök tudomány 3.
“Ki vagyok én?” – A hare krsna mantra éneklése felébreszti a kíváncsiságot.
Lecke Debrecenben 2008. április 19-én, 3/3. rész. (Az előző részek: 3/1. 3/2. )
- Hogyan tudjuk megközelíteni Istent?
- Amikor értékelni kezdjük a lelki önvalónkat, amikor rászánjuk az időnket, akkor fel fogjuk ismerni, hogy Isten mindig a közelünkben van.
- Krisna négy módszert ajánl a vele való kapcsolat fejlesztéséhez: Gondoljunk rá, szolgáljuk őt, imádjuk és hódoljunk meg előtte.
- A “Ki vagyok én?” kérdésre nem mindenkinek tetszik a válasz…
- A tanuláshoz alázat kell és el kell fogadnunk egy megfelelő rendszert hozzá.
Add comment May 17th, 2008
A humble God centred life is more valuable than a colossal hoax of a life dedicated to Godless altruism or socialism.
- Srila Prabhupada, Sri Isopanisad (2)
Add comment May 17th, 2008
Wildlife Populations Plummeting
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Between a quarter and a third of the world’s wildlife has been lost since 1970, according to data compiled by the Zoological Society of London.
Populations of land-based species fell by 25%, marine by 28% and freshwater by 29%, it says, while over-fishing and demand for shark fins as a delicacy have hit shark numbers.
Humans are wiping out about 1% of all other species every year, and one of the “great extinction episodes” in the Earth’s history is under way, it says.
Pollution, farming and urban expansion, over-fishing and hunting are blamed.
River dolphin
The Living Planet Index, compiled by the society in partnership with the wildlife group WWF, tracks the fortunes of more than 1,400 species of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, using scientific publications and online databases.
It said numbers had declined by 27% in the 35 years from 1970 to 2005.
Some of the worst hit are marine species which saw their numbers plummet by 28% in just 10 years, between 1995 and 2005.
Populations of ocean birds have fallen by 30% since the mid 1990s, while land-based populations have dropped by 25%.
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Reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease and where water is in irregular or short supply James Leape
Director general, WWF UK |
Among the creatures most seriously affected have been African antelopes, swordfish and hammerhead sharks.
Another, the baiji – or Yangtze River Dolphin – may have been lost altogether.
The findings were released ahead of a meeting of the Convention on Biodiversity in the German city of Bonn.
The convention was signed in 1992 with the aim of stabilising the loss of species. In 2002, member states pledged to achieve a “significant reduction” in the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.
But the Zoological Society said governments had since failed to put in place policies necessary to achieve that goal.
It said that while species’ decline does appear to have flattened off in recent years, it is “very unlikely” that the 2010 target will be reached.
Impact on humans
The WWF said that over the next 30 years, climate change was also expected to become a significant threat to species.
Land-based species, such as African antelopes, have fallen by 25%
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Colin Butfield, head of campaigns at WWF UK, said: “Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives, so it is alarming that despite an increased awareness of environmental issues we continue to see a downward trend.”
The charity also warned that a failure to stop biodiversity loss would have a direct impact on humans.
Director general James Leape said: “Reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease and where water is in irregular or short supply.
“No-one can escape the impact of biodiversity loss because reduced global diversity translates quite clearly into fewer new medicines, greater vulnerability to natural disasters and greater effects from global warming.”
The WWF is calling on governments meeting in Bonn to honour their commitments to put in place effective protected areas for wildlife and to adopt a target to achieve net annual zero deforestation by 2020.
Add comment May 17th, 2008
Máj.16: Avatás előtt 3.
Istagosthi avatás előtt néhány nappal, 2008. május 6-án Budapesten. 3/3. rész.
- Csak az okoz szenvedést a lelki tanítómesternek, ha valaki az általa megfogadott szabályokat nem tartja be, vagy az is ha nem jár a reggeli programra vagy más kötelességeinek nem tesz eleget?
- A japázásról és az éneklésről.
- Hogyan tud a tanítvány személyes kapcsolatra törekedni a lelki tanítómesterrel?
Add comment May 16th, 2008
16 May: Nitya-krsna-dasa
Vyasa-puja post-kirtan lecture in New Vraja-dhama:
- The simple position of servant is the most relishable.
- The identity of “spiritual master” is only acceptable because it’s service that Krishna wants.
- We need to be reminded that we are an eternal servant and to reawaken the propensity to serve.
- The women in this movement are performing as much service, if not more, than great personalities in our tradition.
- This movement is created for Vaisnava seva.
- Srila Prabhupada glorified his disciples: he didn’t spare praise when it came to Vaisnavas.
- Even Prabhupada was astounded by the amount of books distributed and the service performed by the devotees.
- Krishna is judging the devotees by their service.
- There is no Kali-yuga under the shelter of Nityananda’s lotus feet: problem is that we don’t always stay there.
- Don’t judge whether someone is a big or little devotee, but how they’re serving Krishna.
the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda
2 comments May 16th, 2008
Vyasa-puja Book 2008
Ebook: Downloads 3760 Ebook: Downloads 1548This year’s Vyasa-puja offerings in a pdf book form, plus the images from the book in a separate pdf document.
May 16th, 2008
PETA Preaches Veg Diet to Bush
WASHINGTON: One way to beat the worldwide grain shortage is for meat-eaters to turn vegetarian, and the movement should start with US President George Bush, the Indian affiliate of the animal rights organization PETA has said.
Jumping headlong into the controversy that began with Bush’s misconstrued remarks about India’s role in the rise of food prices worldwide, PETA India has written a letter this week to the US President urging him to become a vegetarian and asking other compassionate Americans to follow his example.
How will kicking wealthy countries’ addiction to meat help feed starving people? PETA India’s letter points out that the world is already growing enough crops to feed every human being, but food that could be used to nourish starving people is instead fed to billions of chickens, pigs, and cows who are slaughtered for their flesh.
“In addition to being extremely cruel to animals, meat production is also staggeringly inefficient: It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of meat,” says PETA.
PETA, which stands for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, also points out that although biofuel production is blamed for skyrocketing food prices worldwide, “humans’ wasteful addiction to eating animal flesh” is a far bigger culprit.
While 100 million tons of grain will be used to produce biofuel this year, “a staggering 760 million tons will be used to feed animals farmed who are destined for the dinner table,” according to the organization.
The India affiliate of the Virginia, US-based outfit said it has sent President Bush an easy-to-follow “Vegetarian Starter Kit” and a basket of tasty vegan foods “to help him embark on a healthy new diet.”
“Eating meat — more than anything else — takes desperately needed grain away from the world’s poorest people,” PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk said. “In light of the global food crisis, it’s the perfect time for President Bush to lead the fight against hunger by going vegetarian.”
Not that Bush is likely to follow the advice any time soon. The US President’s home state Texas is the nation’s leading cattle producer, and although a fitness fanatic — he works out almost daily — he is known to have a preference for meat. So have all US presidents in the past.
Despite the efforts of PETA, whose supporters include stars such as Pamela Anderson and Paul McCartney, and American Vegan Society (which was founded by Indian-American Jay Dinshaw) vegetarianism has made only slow inroads into the US, among the world’s largest meat-eating countries, and now under counter-attack from the likes of PETA for causing the world grain shortage.
The US has even had political party to espouse vegetarianism (American Vegetarian Party, founded in 1947), but it never took root, even as PETA itself was spoofed by an organization calling itself People for Eating Tasty Animals.
Only about 3 per cent of Americans (about 10 million) are vegetarian according to a 2004 poll, compared to around 30 per cent (400 million) in India.
India remains possibly the only country in the world where the question “Veg or Non-Veg?” is routinely posed to ascertain dietary preferences.
Add comment May 16th, 2008
Vraja Project Developments
The creation of Visrama-ghat.
Click on the image to view slideshow
May 16th, 2008
Tell It To The Birds…
Want to attract birds to your garden? Then plan your menu, says the RSPB…
Tearing up crispy slices of toast and stale old crusts, spreading them out on the garden bird table then watching from the kitchen window as, one by one, a small feathery flock swoops in to peck and gulp, has always seemed a thrifty and altruistic pleasure.
Now, though, experts say that far from nourishing them, feeding bread to birds could do more damage than good.
“Bread doesn’t contain any of the vital ingredients birds need to breed and feed,” explains Val Osborne, head of wildlife enquiries at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). But they still fill up on it, then fail to eat food that would provide them with the nutrition they need to survive.
Blue tits aren’t able to digest lactose and drinking milk can give But while tossing scraps of bread to quacking ducks at the pond may no longer be considered a kindness, the good news is that there are plenty of household leftovers, from uncooked pastry to porridge oats, that you can still donate to your neighbourhood birds in good conscience. Indeed, for some birds, these scraps are an invaluable lifeline.
“We have seen a lot more goldfinches in gardens in the past year,” says Gemma Rogers of the RSPB, “and that’s largely to do with the fact that more people are putting out food.
“There’s no denying that we have a part to play in their well-being. The birds are really busy at the moment, constantly flying back and forth feeding their young, and they need energy.And during deepest winter when they can’t forage as easily, feeding them can make the difference between life and death.”
Sunflower seeds, leftover cake, jacket potatoes, millet, pinhead oatmeal, peanuts (as long as they are not salted or dry-roasted) and animal fats can all safely be given to birds.
“Don’t give them anything with added salt,” says Rogers, who adds that birds are also partial to a bit of cheese.
What sort? Camembert, cheddar, or do they prefer a nice piece of Stilton?
“I don’t think they mind, though it’s probably best if it’s a mild-flavoured cheese.
“The important thing is that it’s grated or torn into small pieces, because the birds are feeding their chicks at this time of year and they will struggle to swallow large chunks.”
What food you put out will also make a difference to the type of birds you attract. If you’d like to see the sleek inky plumage and hear the melodic song of the blackbird in your garden, it will help to put out some apple. Starlings and great tits, on the other hand, will flap hungrily to a stash of peanuts.
Of course, you can’t magic a bird out of thin air even with a pile of tempting food. But you can encourage species already in the vicinity into your garden and help them to breed by providing a steady food supply.
Any of the mesh feeders you can buy in shops are suitable to hang from a bird table or wall. Some are even contained inside a gnaw-proof metal cage to make them squirrel-proof, ensuring that the food you put in it will reach the right mouths.
A bird table with a rim, so that food doesn’t fall off it, and a drain so that it doesn’t become water-logged are also advised and, again, if squirrels are a pest you could fix an upside-down biscuit tin to the top of the post to prevent them clambering on to the table.
“Don’t leave food out for ages, because that’s asking for rats,” warns Rogers. “And don’t put too much out at once. Birds are like us – they don’t like old, mouldy food.
“The biggest mistake people make is to think birds are dustbins. They’re not. They can be quite fussy.”
Finally, a supply of water to drink and bathe in is always welcome, particularly in the summer months.
FEEDING THE BIRDS
Different birds have different tastes. Here’s how to attract some of your favourites species.
BLACKBIRDS
These popular garden warblers are keen on chopped-up apple; ground mix (a special bird food mixture containing sunflower kernels, raisins, sultanas, husk-free oats and flaked maize) which can be spread either on the bird table or directly on the ground.
BLUE TIT AND GREAT TIT
In the days of milk deliveries, the brightly coloured blue tit was often seen perching on the rim of a milk bottle, pecking at the foil top to get to the creamy milk beneath.
Little did the birds know, but this wasn’t a great move: blue tits aren’t able to digest lactose and drinking milk can give them diarrhoea.
Blue tits are particularly hungry – the average family eats 10,000 invertebrates before the chicks leave – but they can safely eat whole unsalted peanuts, peanut cake and sunflower hearts (husk-free sunflower seeds). Anything with fat in it is also good.
BLACKCAP
Named for the dark head feathers that make it look as if it has been turned upside down and dipped in a bottle of ink, this summer visitor is praised for its ‘full, sweet, deep and loud pipe’.
It thrives on peanut cake and fruit such as over-ripe strawberries or windfall apples.
ROBINS
The robin redbreast (along with song thrushes and dunnocks) loves grated cheese. Sunflower kernels are also advised if you want to attract this cheery bird to your garden.
GOLDFINCH
Oil-rich nyjer seed, otherwise known as thistle seed, is a magnet for goldfinches as well as redpolls and siskins.
Because it is very tiny, it needs a special kind of feeder so as not to slip out.
Gemma Rogers says: “Goldfinches are also drawn by teasels and thistles, which are becoming more common now that people no longer trim their lawns to within an inch of their lives.”
WRENS
“Wrens are ground-feeding birds and they like to forage,” says Rogers, “so it’s good to put food out for them in lower areas. They are one of the birds that seem to like cheese.”
They also adore crushed or grated peanuts.
COLLARED DOVE
Like pigeons and pheasants, doves feed on the ground, often in large and intimidating flocks (which puts off smaller birds, so beware). They like eating wheat and barley grains, and are partial to seed mixes.
GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER
A rare sight these days: according to Mark Cocker’s Birds Britannica, there are only 27,000 pairs of this strikingly patterned bird spread across the country.
However, sightings have increased thanks to their liking for peanuts, often left out in bird-feeders.
They will also eat fatty food, particularly if it is smeared on tree trunks.
May 15th, 2008
Máj.15: Ki vagyok én? 2.
Ez a legtermészetesebb kérdés, korunkban mégsincs bátorítva és megválaszolva. 2/2. rész.
Lecke a Srimad Bhagavatam 3.8.18. verséről 2008. május. 14-én Kecskeméten. 2/2. rész.
- Ha megfelelő lemondásokat végzünk, könnyen választ kaphatunk az élet nagy kérdéseire.
- Úgy tudjuk megoldani a valódi problémáinkat, ha menedékre lelünk a valódi anyánknál és a valódi apánknál.
- A modern tudománnyal egy részét tudjuk meg a valóságnak, a teljes kép ezzel a módszerrel nem érthető meg.
- Mit jelent egy vaisnava számára a szülőhazája?
- A kudarcok megszabadítanak a félreértéseinktől?
Add comment May 15th, 2008
15 May: Transcendence in Matter
Continuing the topic of Brahma’s manifestation from Canto 3:
- The supreme transcendence is present in matter, but unattainable through material consciousness.
- A change of consciousness is required if we are to perceive Krishna.
- When our consciousness is no longer inhibited by contact with matter, we will see the fully manifest form of transcendence.
- It requires a proper methodology to invoke the transcendental potency–that’s what the Krishna conscious process is.
- Spiritual subject matters only work through revelation; they cannot be conquered by an inferior material potency.
Add comment May 15th, 2008
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