Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

ANKARA:A Bird's Eye View

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • ANKARA:A Bird's Eye View

    A Bird's Eye View

    TDN
    Sunday, April 17, 2005

    OPINIONS

    Advena AVIS

    We birds were very saddened by the passing away of the pope. He was a
    fantastic human who had contributed greatly to humanity. May his soul
    rest in peace. We were also quite impressed by the list of
    dignitaries that were present at his funeral. Almost all the human
    leaders of the world were present. But the most impressive delegation
    was that of Turkey. According to the list on theCNN Web site, the
    Turkish delegation was headed by the prime minister and included a
    state minister, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartolomeos and Armenian
    Patriarch Mesrob II. The fact that a Muslim prime minister includes
    two Christian patriarchs in his delegation is a good example of an
    open society and of an administration that is trying to put past
    differences into the dustbin of history. Only Lebanon followed
    Turkey's example and included representatives of Christian churches in
    its delegation. So bravo, Erdogan man, for a job well done.

    As we birds circulate in the streets of Istanbul looking for food,
    weoften find metal screws lying here and there. And we ponder deeply
    on them. Have you humans ever thought that the screw is the basic
    element that holds your technological civilization together? Without
    screws you would not have automobiles, airplanes, trains, ships,
    telephones, modern dwellings, agricultural machines, refrigerators,
    etc., and we could continue with a list of thousand of items in whose
    production screws are used.

    But what is a screw? According to the definition given by the
    Wikipedia encyclopedia, "a screw is a shaft with a helical groove
    formed on its surface. Its main uses are as a threaded fastener used
    to hold objects together, andas a simple machine used to translate
    torque into linear force."

    The screw has been around since antiquity. The Greek human
    mathematician Archytas of Tarentum (428-350 B.C) was credited with the
    invention of the screw. By the first century B.C. wooden screws were
    commonly used throughout the Mediterranean world in devices such as
    oil and wine presses. Metal screws did not appear in Europe until the
    1400s.The metal screw did not become a common woodworking fastener
    until machine tools for mass production were developedat the end of
    the 18th century. It should also be mentioned that Archimedes of
    Syracuse invented the water screw, which lifted water from wells.

    While you humans use the screw to maintain and develop your
    technological civilization, you still lag behind Mother Nature, who
    can construct humans, animals, plants, etc. without the use of
    screws. So when we see screws thathave fallen off automobiles or from
    other items lying around in the streets, we begin to worry. The more
    screws we see, the more we become concerned about the fate and safety
    of the vehicle from which it fell off, for the passengers of that
    vehicle and, why not, about the future of human civilization, since
    these loose screws indicate that your technological civilization is
    slowly unraveling. We cannot also understand why such an important
    element is used as a curse word in English (the verb). So dear humans,
    next time you see a screw in the street, pick it up and ponder the
    role that it has played and continues to play in your civilization.

    Good things are happening in our neighboring country Greece as far
    asour species is concerned. The Greek Center for the Care of Wild
    Animals recently released into freedom a pelican, six storks, a gray
    heron, two peregrine falcons and four other hawks near the banks of
    the Aliakmon River. Most of the birds had needed treatment after being
    shot by hunters. The center's Thessalonica branch receives up to 1,500
    injured animals and birds every year, some 20 percent of which require
    short treatment. All this is very encouraging news and we birds would
    like to thank you humans for taking such good care of less fortunate
    members of our species. We hope the other countries of the regioncan
    also follow the Greek example, if they have not already done so.

    And we shall end today's column with another example that is
    comically sad, of human folly. We quote from the international
    traveler update section of the International Herald Tribune of April
    5: "TOKYO: The subway system on Monday began running its first
    women-only car during the morning rush hour, a special from 7:30
    a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on the Saikyo Line. A women's car has been in
    operation since July 2002 during the evening rush hour on the line,
    whose stops include Shinjuku, Japan's busiest station. A police report
    in February said that groping on trains had tripled in the past eight
    years and urged the system to add more women-only cars." It is a shame
    for humanity to resort to these kinds of measures in order to prevent
    indecent acts that human males inflict on human females. We can only
    express the hope that in the other cars, male humans do not resort to
    groping each other.

    So please, dear humans, ponder our thoughts for the benefit of this
    planet.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X