Robber fly - Nature photographer Thomas Shahan specializes in amazing portraits of tiny insects. It isn't easy. Shahan says that this Robber Fly (Holcocephala fusca), for instance, is "skittish" and doesn't like its picture taken.

Nature by Numbers (Video)

"The Greater Akashic System" – July 15, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) (Subjects: Lightworkers, Intent, To meet God, Past lives, Universe/Galaxy, Earth, Pleiadians, Souls Reincarnate, Invention: Measure Quantum state in 3D, Recalibrates, Multi-Dimensional/Divine, Akashic System to change to new system, Before religion changed the system, DNA, Old system react to Karma, New system react to intent now for next life, Animals (around humans) reincarnate again, This Animal want to come back to the same human, Akashic Inheritance, Reincarnate as Family, Other Planets, Global Unity … etc.)

Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

Dian Fossey's birthday celebrated with a Google doodle

Dian Fossey's birthday celebrated with a Google doodle
American zoologist played by Sigourney Weaver in the film Gorillas in the Mist would have been 82 on Thursday (16 January 2014)

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Unique healthfood of Indonesia eaten by millions

The Jakarta Post, Jonathan Agranoff

Part of Indonesia's culinary heritage, and now a healthfood for the West, tempeh is unique amongst soy foods and has been an important part of the Indonesian diet for hundreds of years.

Native to Indonesia, it is found throughout the archipelago and eaten by millions, but until recently was almost unknown out of the country.

Now, research in food science and nutrition has shown this food to be unique amongst vegetarian foods, and already popular among vegetarians in the U.S. and Australia.

Any visitor to an Indonesian market or dinner table will almost certainly come across tempeh, though wonder what on earth it really is. Closely resembling a Camembert cheese in color and texture with a mushroom-like aroma, tempeh is in fact one of the world's first soybean foods. It is composed of cooked soybeans that have been fermented through by an edible fungus which, when mature (like a cheese) becomes an attractive and aromatic white cake suitable for a variety of uses in hundreds of local dishes.

In fact, in a country where meat is expensive and often of dubious quality, tempeh is an excellent high protein substitute to meat or fish, without the need for scrupulous hygiene or expensive refrigeration.

When scientists first began undertaking research in food and nutrition in Indonesia, tempeh revealed itself as an important component of the native diet. Moreover, the method of production was itself considered an ingenious process of applied microbiology and became the focus of attention in several laboratories in the U.S. by both American and Indonesian researchers.

One of the earliest documented records of the nutritional importance of tempeh was its significance during the second world war in Asia. Here, tempeh was known to the prisoners of the Japanese in prison camps in Java, many of whom suffered from dysentery and were unable to digest most of what little food they had. Boiled soybeans were virtually indigestible to them. Only tempeh, with its high digestibility was able to be assimilated and the food reportedly saved the lives of many Dutch and British prisoners of war in Java. It was smuggled through the fence by the local Javanese and those who survived have attributed it to the tempeh they managed to sustain themselves with.

Nutritionally, tempeh represents a food rich in protein (the same quantity and nearly the same quality as beef because of its high digestibility) but unlike beef, contains no cholesterol or saturated fats that current evidence links to heart disease in the "affluent" West. It also contains a certain vitamin (B12) that is normally only found in animal products and milk.

In this respect tempeh is unique as a vegetarian food without the accompanying disadvantages of many unpalatable "meat substitutes" of poor texture and flavor.

It is also very easy to digest due to the fermentation and very suitable in small quantities for babies or those with malabsorption diseases. In fact, one of the latest nutritional findings has been the use of a tempeh-based formula weaning food in Indonesian primary health centers to successfully treat infants suffering from stomach infections and dehydration. A natural antibacterial compound has been identified and is still being studied. Research has found that rabbits fed high tempeh diets show increased resistance to infection and raise their antibody levels, suggesting interaction with the immune system. Basically, tempeh represents a cheap form of good quality protein and other nutrients, many essential to a healthy diet, that is readily available and is therefore well suited to a developing nation as a local high quality food resource that is cheap to buy and use.

The craft of tempeh making is passed on through generations of tempeh making families, in much the same way as that of beer brewing or cheese making. Tempe is manufactured in a way that is more like the work of a microbiology laboratory than a village household; the tropical climate serves well as an incubator with constant temperatures day and night.

Basically, tempeh is made from cooked soybeans that have been inoculated with a special starter culture of fungal spores, packed into banana leaves (although the ever popular plastic bag has taken over from the traditional banana leaves) and then left to ferment. During this time, a luxuriant growth of white mold grows through to knit together the beans and turn them into tempeh.

Fermented foods in Southeast Asia, especially tempeh, have an important role to play in rural development and by providing employment and generating income for investment in the rural economy.

Tempeh-making is a labor-intensive industry; a clear advantage in a country with serious over population and urban employment problems. Nationwide cottage industries like tempeh-making are vital to maintain profitable rural employment opportunities that help to stem rural to urban migration that is so typical a cause of city poverty in tropical developing countries.

Moreover, tempeh manufacture in Indonesia is very well suited to the technological environment of the country, having evolved over hundreds of years and uses all locally available home grown ingredients; domestic skills with no dependence to the purchase of tools or skills from abroad.

In fact, tempeh has been considered as a food for Africa where technology transfer may play an important role. Indeed, what has been a Javanese village tradition since ancient times may yet hold a high potential for the future.

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