The Uniqueness Of Being A Human Being: Something's Screwy Somewhere!

There's just something really special about Homo sapiens relative to all the other animal and plant life forms we share Planet Earth with. Well actually every life form is special in one way or another*, but still humans stand out from the crowd. Many people will attribute that to the alleged 'fact' that we were created in God's image, although IMHO the concept of a supreme, supernatural creator being carries so much dead (philosophical baggage) weight as to have as close to zero credibility as makes no odds. Therefore, I suggest something's screwy somewhere.

For a few quick examples of human uniqueness, of all the true mammals, humans alone walk exclusively upright - we're bipedal critters. Why is that so? If the trait of bipedal walking had real survival-of-the-fittest evolutionary significance, I'd expect the walking-on-two-feet trait to be way more common than it is.

We're also top of the pops when it comes to IQ, and by a very wide margin relative to our primate ancestors, or even the dolphins and whales, not to mention the crow family (like magpies). Again, if extreme intellectuality abilities had some sort of paramount importance in terms of Darwinian natural selection, you'd expect we'd have some animal rivals in whose species will compete with us to be grand master in chess. Alas, no species, other than the human one, will ever lay claim to that title. Artificial intelligence is another issue, but not overly relevant here and now in context.

Now extreme exceptions to the bipedal and IQ rule require some sort of detailed explanation. I've dealt with those traits in a separate essay. (Hint: Extraterrestrial intelligence and artificial selection could account for these.)

Humans come in breeds - well we call our breeds' 'races'. There are lots of other animals that come in breeds too. The commonality between all our animal (and plant) kin that come in breeds is that we humans were responsible for their creation - our artificial selection versus natural selection. That at first glance doesn't make us unique, until you stop and wonder who applied artificial selection on us? (Hint: think extraterrestrials again.)

Facial features: How do you help finger and identify the suspect in a crime? Well you try to provide an identikit profile - facial features. Of course you could say the criminal was white - that fits a lot of people; the criminal was male - that fits a lot of people; the criminal was short - that fits a lot of people; the criminal was fat - that fits a lot of people; the criminal was bald - that fits a lot of people. You could say the criminal was white, male, short, fat and bald - that still fits a lot of people. But, match the face to the perpetrator - you've got your man! Apply that to an animal - say a man-eating tiger or a crocodile. How do you finger which tiger or crock is the man-eater? By facial features - I think not.

Here are a few other anomalies.

Physical anthropologists are pretty much in agreement that the modern human evolved in and migrated out of roughly equatorial Africa and from there colonized the planet (minus Antarctica). Now all our primate kin in Africa (gorillas, etc.) have fur. For some reason we lost our massive cover of fur. That suggests that humans were going to be relatively unsuited to colder climates because we lost our fur covering. Why? Okay, it's hot in equatorial Africa, we don't need fur there, but yet our kissing cousins in Africa have fur but they don't really need it either - Something's screwy somewhere.

Question: Why did we lose our fur?

For that matter we have primate ancestors that live, survive and thrive in cold climates - because they have fur. This time, in these geographies, fur is required. If we migrated to colder climates, why didn't we keep our fur?

Okay, naked (no furry) humans migrated out of Africa and drifted into colder climates too. Firstly, why would we migrate into cooler geographies when presumably our population was low enough way back then that there was more than enough hot (or at least very warm) geography to go around? Again, I think that there's something's screwy somewhere. Well obviously we did migrate towards the Arctic, and points south as well, but we needed to invent, unlike our furry primate cold climate cousins - clothing.

Okay, so at some point clothing served a very practical purpose. However, humans today live in some parts of the world where it's hot enough that clothing isn't required for all or some of the year. Take say, Adelaide, South Australia. For much of Adelaide's summer, the population could save on the wear and tear and cost of their clothes and exist in just their birthday suits. The same could be said about various other geographic regions throughout the world. What prevents humans from clothing themselves in just their birthday suits when the climate is right? Even in tropical regions, primitive tribal societies still tend to wear some form of covering over selected areas of the body.

One obvious answer is protection of the private parts, although the rest of the animal kingdom seems to get along nicely with exposed private parts. Even so, be it primitive societies, or cultured societies, the actually amount of protection offered isn't really that great. It's not all that difficult to do yourself a private parts injury even when fully dressed - unless you're a knight in shining armour of course, but that subspecies has gone extinct.

Well, the other obvious answer is, in public at least, it tends to be against the law - that's what society wants and expects. Though shall wear clothes when in public. Well, something's screwy somewhere because no other animal society has any such equivalent ban on nakedness.

Translated, if our animal kin don't worry about it, why don't you take your furless body out in public minus clothing when the temperature's hot; even hotter; and absolutely at its hottest?

Well the standard answer, apart from being arrested of course for alleged indecency, is that you'd probably be embarrassed to; having others seeing your birthday suit is an invasion of your privacy, so to avoid that, you don't allow the great unwashed to see same and thus, heatwave be damned, you go out in public fully dressed. Comfort is not the issue.

That brings up some interesting observations. Privacy (which is not the same thing as having your own personal space or your own territory) and embarrassment seems to have no obvious evolutionary advantage. That's obviously the case because such concepts are not shared by any other animal life form currently on Earth, and that probably equates to past animal life forms as well. Did T-Rex care about being naked before doing battle with an equally naked Triceratops? - Probably not. Did T-Rex hide behind a tree before doing a pee? - Probably not.

Question: Why do we feel the need for privacy and feel a sense of embarrassment? Where did these concepts come from if they have no obvious survival (evolutionary) advantage?

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Why User Manual Templates Are Required

Let us suppose you recently bought a baby swing and it has a user manual for you to install it properly. While installing, suddenly you feel that an important step is missing and so you couldn't complete the process. That means the manual lacks the important necessary information. If that manual had followed a template then such mistake would not have occurred.

This is where the role of a user manual template comes into play, and such templates assist the product owners in providing essential instructions. A template is a document that triggers the manual creator of all the required information for a user manual. Once a user manual template is created it can be used as a reference point and the correct information can be entered at the allocated spaces.

This ensures a consistent product and a manual that includes all the relevant data for the product. Imagine if you do not follow a template? Every time you create a manual for a product you would have to start from the scratch. Save time and think smart by creating a template as a lot of things will be common in all manuals. If you document a template then next time your task will be very easy and take less time to get completed.

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Simple Ways to Earn-Essay Writing Jobs

Do have a bit of spare time everyday and wondering how it can be used productively? Have you written small articles for the local magazines in your school/college days and would like to build on that? Here's a simple way to supplement your current income by just spending just a couple of hours a day: Essay Writing.

Essay writing is a very good idea if you have reasonable English skills, that can be put to good use in your leisure time. Its not time consuming, and actually slowly grows on you, in fact. Why not display your language prowess by writing articles and essays?

Ever since the advent of the internet, the website business has mushroomed. Who provides the content for all these billions of websites? Each time a new website pops up, someone has to fill it up with content, and it might as well be you, and make some money in the process. Many people use essay writing as their supplementary careers, some of them to great success.

Essay writing has been popularized by many article database websites, such as eZine itself, whose growth has been exponential since its launch. Writing essays can also be stimulating to the brain, garnering knowledge from various sources. There are other benefits as well. Writing is a great way to actually "reach out and touch someone". It is quite gratifying to have others read and compliment your skills, and have people from all over the world looking to you for their needs.

Did you also realize that writing is one of the few areas that still isn't automated! I think we can take pride in that fact. Pick up a pen, er, i mean keyboard, gear up your Grey cells and put those creative juices to use. Who knows, with a bit of luck, you might be the next Francis Bacon!

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Match Vs Adult Friend Finder - Which is Best? There's Only One Way to Find Out!

With recent sad news in the UK about a young girl being lured to her death by a paedophile posing as a teenage boy on Facebook, we all need to know which dating sites are safe.

Adult Friend Finder or AFF for short is more risque. It's certainly not for the faint hearted. As soon as the site loads you will instantly be greeted by some graphic photos representing what most members are looking for.

AFF is a site for open minded people who are looking for NSA (no strings attached) relations. This may sound awful to most romantics who, aren't prude but believe sex should be between two people who love and trust each other.

No strings attached sex, like it or not is a new phenomenon in today's fast paced society. It's not just horny, lonely men, this is a craze enjoyed by rich, successful careerists who have no time for a relationship but still have natural urges.

This site allows you to almost pick and choose your 'perfect' sexual partner. It's a very different, and quite daunting prospect and certainly not for everyone.

From personal experience, two of the best relationships I've been in have come from AFF, although it wasn't typical of the site. We met in the day time and dated, spoke on the phone and sent many text messages, we had built an emotional bond, however there were always strong sexual undertones.

Match.com on the other hand is a more 'traditional' match making site. You browse profiles and not only judge potential suitors by their photos but also based on their likes/dislikes, their personalities and whether you can detect humour in their writing. You can either 'wink' for free or subscribe to send messages to potential matches.

The magic of Match.com comes when you first send a wink to a member who catches your eye. The excitement when you receive a wink back. Its school ground stuff, but you never out grow it. It is an innocent and sweet way of dating. You can tell after a few messages whether the connection is purely based on attraction or whether it goes deeper. Sometimes the messages dry up as you realise you have nothing in common, however when it clicks, you can find yourself writing essay after essay. There is the giddy excitement of checking your e-mail to see if he/she has messaged you back.

In today's fast paced world, people are finding it increasingly difficult to find their 'match.' More and more people are turning to online dating as the stigma attached disappears as we become more and more acquainted with online social networking. It's no longer the sad lonely nerd sitting at his computer trying to find a girlfriend; it's the lawyer, the doctor, the teacher, students, single parents and many more.

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Essay Writing - The Importance of Citing Sources

For many students, documenting sources in an age where information is widely available and easily accessible can seem like an inconvenience. Thus, many downplay the importance of citing sources when they write assignments. Here are some key reasons, though, why documentation of all sources in any assignment is important.

Acknowledging sources prevents plagiarism

Citing sources prevents plagiarism, the unacknowledged use of someone else's information, research or ideas. Copying another student's assignment, copying a passage from a book or website and passing it off as one's own, or even snatching illustrations on the Internet that are not part of the public domain all qualify as plagiarism.

Documentation prevents a number of undesirable consequences

At colleges and universities the consequences of being caught for plagiarism could be detrimental to the student's future. A student, for example, could get a grade of zero on the assignment (and a failure in the course that could result). The occurrence of plagiarism could also be noted on an academic transcript and the student could be suspended for a semester. In some cases, a student could even be expelled from the school.

Citing Sources is professional and ethical

Using and acknowledging credible sources in an academic paper can certainly help provide for a textured discussion and enhance the level of argument in student work. It conveys to the reader that the writer has taken the time to consult and consider a mix of viewpoints on a given topic before providing his/her own synthesis. The act of acknowledging those sources, then, is part of the professionalism that adds to the quality of the paper.

When students give credit where credit is due they are also practicing ethical, responsible academic behavior, a skill that will stand them in good stead for their future work lives where they may have to produce research-based documents. Imagine the consequences of being caught stealing someone else's work or ideas at the workplace.

These are some of the key reasons why it is important to cite sources. With so much information readily available, it is easy to cut and paste. But, documentation is one academic requirement that will not disappear any time soon. And practicing it will help you develop good professional and ethical habits for all researched work.

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Legal: Copyright Article Category

Brand Protection: Maximising the Online Investment

by Rachel K Dawson

Brand protection is vital for all businesses who have invested time and monetary resources in building a viable operation. With the global marketplace becoming increasingly competitive, securing your brand and identity has become one of the highest priorities. With the company brand being the first thing that current and potential customers associate with your business and its offerings, it is essential that your investment is secure from others who may wish to borrow or steal some aspects of the branding to drive their own venture. This is not limited to the company name, but includes the logo, colour schemes, typesets and fonts, slogans and domain names. The aspects which are unique to your brand and longevity of profits need to be secured.

Losing Rights to Your Own Artwork

by Lance Klass

Don't think that when you sell "all rights" to a company that you'll still own the copyright and reproduction rights to your artwork. In most cases, you won't, because you've agreed to what's called a "buyout". Lots of companies like buyouts because the transaction is over and done with. They'll never have to report royalties to you from sales, or pay you anything else in the future. And they'll be able to license what was your art, anywhere they wish in the future. They can even remove your signature from the artwork. After all, they own it! Check out the full article for more information.

Copyright Symbol - When and How to Provide a Copyright Notice

by Sarah Kolb

The creator of any original work fixed in a tangible medium (i.e., a work that physically or digitally exists somewhere, as opposed to being simply an idea) automatically owns a copyright to that work simply by virtue of being its creator-but in order to prove that ownership in a court of law, the work must be registered with the US Copyright Office. But what about the Copyright symbol? What does that little circled "c" really mean-and what happens if you don't use it?

Public Domain and Copyright Protection

by Sarah Kolb

It's illegal to use someone else's copyrighted work without their permission, but a copyright registration doesn't last forever. In fact, a copyright lasts only a certain number of years past the author's death; when the registration ceases to be valid, the work enters the public domain and is freely available for use by anyone who chooses to use it. So how do you determine whether a work's copyright registration has run out -- our whether that work was ever registered in the first place? These questions seem straightforward, but the answers are more complex than you might think. Unfortunately, if you'd like to use a particular work but you're not sure where to start, it's your own responsibility to determine whether it's protected by a copyright or in the public domain. A work might be in the public domain for any number of reasons; in order to figure out if you're free to use a work, there are a few questions you should ask yourself.

Publishing And Digital And Electronic Rights

by John J Tormey III, Esq

The following publishing industry article addresses some of the legal issues arising for publishing lawyers, entertainment attorneys, authors, and others as a result of the prevalence of e-mail, the Internet, and so-called "digital" and "electronic publishing". As usual, publishing law generally and the law of the digital right and electronic right specifically, governing these commercial activities, has been slow to catch up to the activity itself. Yet most of the publishing industry "gray areas" can be resolved by imposing old common-sense interpretations upon new publishing lawyer and entertainment lawyer industry constructs, including the digital right and electronic right, and others. And if after reviewing this article you believe you have a non-jargonized handle on the distinction between "digital right" and "electronic right" in the publishing context, then I look forward to hearing from you and reading your article, too.

Copyright Registration Is Not A Pre Condition To Protection

by John J Tormey III, Esq

Contrary to the near-indefatigable lay assumption that entertainment attorneys like myself hear all the time, one is not required to register a copyright in one's work with the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. (or elsewhere) as a condition precedent for U.S. copyright protection. In other words, the New York-based author in Chelsea, for example, already has copyright protection in his or her finished original work of authorship, under U.S. federal law, just as soon as the work is reduced to a tangible medium of expression in New York. That copyright protection is automatic, and inheres in the Chelsea-situate New York author immediately, his or her entertainment lawyer will opine.

Role of an Entertainment Lawyer

by Jonathan R Bailey

Entertainment law - also known as media law - covers the gamut of laws governing entertainment industry businesses and professionals. Lawyers practicing in this area of law are known as entertainment lawyers. They are also familiar with other areas of law such as litigation, labor law and contract law.

Safe Harbor Provision - Important Requirements You Need to Know About

by Sarah Kolb

It's becoming more and more commonplace for small business owners to reach out to online users with a company blog. This can be a great way of interacting with your client base and target market, not to mention generating organic traffic through good SEO practices. However, there are very real copyright infringement issues that you need to be aware of. I'm not talking about stealing content for your blog - that's a no-brainer, and strictly illegal. I'm talking about users' comments. What if someone completely unaffiliated with your company posts a comment containing copyrighted information? Which party is legally liable? If you haven't taken steps to ensure that you're protected by the Safe Harbor Provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), you are.

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Writing and Speaking: Writing Article Category

Tips for Writing a Novel

by Donald Finch

If you love to write novels, then you must follow a few essential tips. You must first decide the plot, prepare the first draft and take valuable suggestions from other writers.

Tips for Writing a Research Paper

by Urvi Tandon

Students who go in for higher studies will, in most likelihood encounter the need to write and submit a research paper. Many students are anxious about turning in a quality paper as they are inexperienced, but then student days are all about learning and once you have a research paper behind you, you will feel much more confident in the subject of your research. Writing a research paper can be a good learning experience and a rewarding one.

Making Translation As A Stepping Stone to Being An Author

by Majelis Abu Hamid

The author describes how a translator can be an author of his or her own work (articles and books) because translating needs the skills that an author should have in order to be a good writer. So, if one can translate well, he or she has a potential to be a good author.

The Top 5 Pieces of Content You Need to Be Writing

by Dawn Goldberg Shuler

I have a checklist of over 70 types of content that business owners could be writing. That sounds overwhelming, but as a business owner, you probably don't need to write all 70+. And... to keep in front of your market and your community and to establish your credibility, you do need to be writing something. So, what do you write?

Writing Habits During the Holidays

by Patrick Smyth

The Winter Holiday season often means people with regular jobs get time off from work. If that includes you, then this is a good time to dedicate some effort for writing. If you have a family, this can be challenging if they decide this is the time for you to entertain them. Time with family is important, but you need to establish a balance between them and your writing time. This takes organization and discipline.

Are Writers Psychopaths?

by Priya Ravinder

There is a thin line between sanity and insanity. Writers seem to traverse that all the time. Writers have the ability to take readers to the peaks and depths of the imaginary world and the human psyche.

Tips for Managing the Perfectionist in You

by Patrick Smyth

If you find yourself stuck in your writing by searching for the perfect idea, phrase, descriptive language, action sequence or grammatically correct prose, you may be a perfectionist. Producing high quality text that engages and enthralls the reader should be the goal of every writer. Perfectionists must learn to manage the balance between getting a work to market and making it perfect.

Seeing the Hidden Writing Ideas in Your Life

by Harriet Hodgson

Experienced writers can run out of ideas. You were chugging along, producing work, and suddenly your mind seems to have gone blank. Some ideas may be within view, if you would only look carefully. Follow these steps to new writing ideas.

Why You Need an Impeccable Introduction for Your Essay

by Benard Nyarangi

This article outlines the three main purposes that a good essay introduction should serve. It tries to explain how a writer should write a good introduction to his/her essay.

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