Boredom and Excitement

Thanks very much for your birthday wishes to K which I passed along. I now have a Syrian hamster (birthday present "Shelley") in the room next door, it's quite cute, I can hear her running in her wheel as I type (in fact, here is a picture of her). I understand that female hamsters on average live significantly shorter lives (2-3 years) than the males (3-4 years) - I wonder why this is? (And why human females live on average longer than males, although not by so much of a difference as hamsters).

Note: Actually I just did some Googling and it may be a fairy-tale that the males live longer so ignore me!

According to dictionary.com's definition of religion those environmentalist tree huggers you mentioned might fall into the last category?

re li gion Pronunciation Key (r-ljn)
n.

a.Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
b.A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.
c.The life or condition of a person in a religious order.
d.A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
e.Cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.

But I agree with you, my view is that religion is about God, and although the term "religious debate" (eg. Windows vs. Linux) is often used to describe secular discussion where there is no right or wrong answer, I still think of religion as being related to thoughts about our Creator. In the example just given, is the right answer "Linux" or "Windows"? And does "Christianity or Islam?" have the same answer?

Also I think I mentioned my view that nuclear bombs will be the only thing that can save all life on Earth from an "extinction level event" caused by a big stone hitting it sometime in the next 1000 years or so, and that anyone who really wants to save the whale (and not just to be politically correct and follow fashion) ought to sign up for such a nuclear defense.

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You make a good point about the tension inside of humans that is caused by the desire for safety whilst at the same time seeking adventure - if that's what you meant? Why would we have such a characteristic? Is it the optimal line to walk for best survival? Or does the desire for ritual come from our circadian rythms, which in turn are related to the movement of the Earth through space around the sun (or something else?)

For example most people get up at very much the same time everyday and go to bed at the same time, eat lunch at the same time (sometimes with the same people) etc etc etc.

PS. This is our 700th post !