Mimesis

Fiscal Cliff comic I did for a friend

my Gammaworld character: Mummbler

taught Arts and Crafts @ Camp Happyland 2012

Food Change comic page

camper requested a poptart

Here's a few column ideas I sent to a magazine, but they didn't want it so...

Energy Junkie

            Did you know that a hummingbird deprived of food would die within a few hours? The hummingbird has the highest metabolism of all animals, 30 times the human metabolic rate. So their little bodies require constant food energy to keep them alive, similar to any other animal, but even more so. They’ll consume three times their body weight in nectar daily and they’ll also eat other insects for protein and nutrients. One could easily see the vibrant energy hummingbirds give off, especially with their wings flapping up to 80 times per second and their heart rate reaching up to 1,260 beats per minute. You would think the birds would constantly be searching out food ferociously as they seem, but they only spend about 20% of their day feeding and the rest perching. The hummingbirds are actually digesting nectar as fast as they can while perching so they can go fill up their energy tank some more. They take in energy as fast as their digestive system allows. God created these birds so intricately; preparing them for the energetic life they’d have to live. We, on the other hand, were not meant to get our heart rate up to hummingbird standards, so keep the caffeine drinks to a minimum.

The Poopy Way

            Did you know that dung beetles use the Milky Way galaxy to steer poo? Apparently the beetle takes visual cues from the sky to direct the dung they find. They navigate to be able to roll the dung in as straight a line as possible with their hind legs. Sometimes the dung can weigh up to 10 times their weight. Why would a beetle roll up poop into a ball and push it around? For one thing, anything’s easier to move once it can roll. It also cools down the beetle in the process. For the most part, they will just eat it and wouldn’t even need to eat or drink anything else. The dung provides all the nutrients the beetle needs. Their babies are also born in it. And here I thought my brother’s kids were the stinkiest babies. Although they seem to be almost useless to humanity, they are actually quite the opposite. They improve nutrient cycling and soil structure. Livestock are also protected from poor hygiene and pests gathering to dung, which would no longer be there because of the dung beetle. The Chinese also use it in some medicine to cure diseases and the people of Thailand even eat them. I wouldn’t be going around eating poop anytime soon or even touching it for that matter, but you can be like the dung beetle and orient yourself with the help of the heavens.

Beware the Polar Bear

Did you know you could die if you ate a polar bear’s liver? It’s true, their liver contains so much Vitamin A one would suffer from acute hypervitaminosis A and maybe even die. Explorers as early as 1596 experienced symptoms including drowsiness, sluggishness, irritability, severe headache, bone pain, blurred vision and vomiting after consumption. So why would a polar bear’s liver be like this? One could argue God made the polar bear’s liver this way to withstand their high intake of vitamin A, which they get from eating so many arctic seals. An adult human liver can only tolerate approximately 10,000 IU (international units) of Vitamin A per gram while a polar bear’s can withstand up to 24,000 to 35,000. This is a toxic amount for any human. Now you know to stay away from the polar bear, not just because it’s the largest land carnivore, but also because its liver alone can kill you.

The Parable of the One Ring

Gollum from The Lord of the Rings is viewed as a villain even though he may also have a lighter side to him. But I would argue we could still learn something good from him. Jesus describes to us in Matthew 13:44 the kingdom of heaven being like a treasure hidden in a field, when a man found the treasure, he hid it again and sold all he had and bought the field. Gollum became so overwhelmed by the one ring; he gave up everything for it, even died for a final embrace with it. We need to be like Gollum in the sense that once we find the treasure of Jesus that God has given to us as a free gift, we should focus our entire being on Him and do whatever it takes to do His will. Make God your precious today.