RIFLE RANGE BOY

Darwin's Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design (2013) Author: Stephen C. Meyer Alert: For Mature Readers Only Discretion Advised What triggered to look into this book was Zakir Naik's emotional argument with a self-professed atheist who was born Muslim on the theory of Evolution. The atheist challenged the rejection of Darwin's theory in Islam. The discourse went personal as Dr Naik started questioning the seeker's basic understanding of science and its terminologies. Then on, it became farcical, and the session had to be terminated. It was harbouring on diabolical issues like whether the theory of gravity was a mere theory or a fact and how scientific facts differ from theories. A paragraph in sciencemag.org succinctly summarises the journey a scientist goes through in his thirst to know the truth. The intentions are nevertheless always altruistic, but sometimes personal agendas come in the way. They cherrypick...

It was a dark, humid night, and as I was traversing a back alley making it to my car, I stumbled upon a meowing or rather a weak yowling. It turned out to be that a tiny kitten, all drench in muck, was straddling to wherever it was heading to. My heart felt for that tiny creature. No, I did not take the pitiful animal home to nurse it back to health and send it out to the wilderness with a glint in my eye. It is too much responsibility. What went through my mind was what someone told me (or maybe overheard) long ago; that our existence is just a freak accident of Nature. We, the products, have to fight it out to survive to preserve the entity called Consciousness. The consciousness that probably also happened via the accident of Nature. Life as we knew it was just going on without care as simple organisms with hermaphroditical abilities. We dragged on our existence with self-propagation without care. As life became more complexed, there was a need for variation. Nature dictated t...

Sometimes in times of introspection, I do wonder why the contour of the posterior profile of an individual is so important that people dared to go through great lengths and life-endangering surgeries to ‘improve’ theirs to what is perceived as ‘perfect’ in the eyes of the masses. Even though poets have described the buttocks as the equal counterpart of a person’s frontal beauty, come to think of it, it hosts orifices of some the human excrements with putrefying odours that may, in cultured settings, be considered inappropriate on polite conversations. Seeking the perfect symmetrical contour is some people’s favourite pastime. Performing of some kind of ritualistic war dance with the gluteals is some people’s idea of arousal and enticement to exchange bodily fluids. When exactly did this part of the human body become an object of endearment? Science suggests that just like the nuchal ligaments which stabilise our head to our trunk, the gluteus muscles revolutionised our species ...

They are both from the rodent family but people's perception of both these furry animals are worlds apart. One receives awe of cuteness when seen roaming around the garden whilst the other received shrieks of panic. One has a fluffy springy tail whilst the other has a slim tapering tail. Both had their bodies evolve over generations to suit the environment they live and their need to survive. The squirrel's furry tail may aid in the balance as it jumps from branch to branch. The tapered rat tail helps escape through tight fissures. The bushy tail of the squirrel has its own added coincidental benefits. Being around flowering plants, the hairs on the tail aid in pollination. Certain internal traits could have evolved over time as and when the environment demanded. Other incidental features, like the fuzzy tail, performs accidental purpose to the survival of other species. Who decides on this? Is there a higher power who plays the role of an intelligent designer who, f...

That is what the world has come to. There is sadly no 'one-answer-fit-all' response. The people who argue against the grain are smart people with intelligence quotients higher than the general public.  Everyone is concerned only of his own self. There is an inner desire to live life to the fullest; enough of living under the pretence that something sacrosanct needed to be protected. If all this while they had cowed to societal pressures and suppressed their inner needs, it was the time that they let their hair down. They do as they please. Over generations, through trials and error, regulations have been put in the system. Each sex had their gender roles. Each gender had their duties and expectations. It was not a perfect arrangement, but there was a semblance of order. The general public accepted it as necessary to continue our existence.  Nothing does not offend anyone any more. This signage in  an Italian B and B with an 'alien' in a coquettish p...

Something in the evolution of mankind cannot be altered. The need to communicate and travel has made the world indeed a smaller place. With the advent of communication technologies like the internet, this need just got a further gigantic push forward. If those days, man needed horsemen and the pony express to relay messages, now with a fragment of the time required to wink, information travels further than the mind can imagine. Man, however, instead of blending with the rest of the people to live as one, choose to subdivide themselves to groups of same intentions, ideology or ethnicity. People use the technology to rekindle old sentimentality to revive ancient languages, old mega plans forgotten by history, instigate animosity and further subdivide people who have been finally united under the same flag after so many years of tribal fighting and bloodshed. Is it the fate of man to head for self-destruction? Is it in our DNA?

Papa Roach! The law of Nature as described by Charles Darwin is that the world is for the fittest. Over time, to allow the survival of the not-so-fit (the sick, handicapped and weak) and to allow them to share the wealth of Nature and co-habitat on Earth, man created the concept of God and putting the fear (of God) of a super Being watching your move and deciphering your every thought with the promise of 72 virgins in the after world and possibilities of moving up the ladder of karma with every divine deed must have been introduced. 65 million years ago, the last the roaming dinosaurs were wiped off the surface of Mother Earth probably due to adverse planet conditions or attack by giant meteors. Apparently certain die-hard never-say-die survivors survived this catastrophe and have managed to cling on to their style of living amongst us even as we speak. I am of course referring to our not so friendly home grown roaches (have been around for more than 300 million years) and members ...