AprilDawn's blog: "Articals"

Bisexual was a term originally used in referance to hermphrodites.It is now a term used for those who are physically,romantically,or sexually attracted to those of the same sex as themselves as well as the opposite sex(I got this info from websters online dictionary,wikipedia and encyclopedia britanica)So technically I could've dropped the curious from my old screen name ...hehehe

Faith From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Faith (disambiguation). This article or section does not cite its references or sources. You can help Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations. This article has been tagged since December 2006. levi is a belief, trust, or confidence, not based merely on logic, reason, or empirical data, but based fundamentally on volition often associated with a transpersonal relationship with God, a higher power, a person, elements of nature, and/or a perception of the human race as a whole. Faith can be placed in a person, inanimate object, state of affairs, proposition or body of propositions such as a religious credo. Faith is distinct from hope in that faith is typically general, rather than specific to an aspect, and in contrast to a "false hope" in a fantasy, the object of faith typically transcends what can be proven scientifically and sometimes exceeds what can be objectively defined. Faith can mean believing unconditionally. It can be acceptance of something that one has been told by one who is considered trustworthy. Faith, by its very nature, requires belief outside of known fact. Faith is formed through instinct, intuition, meditation, communing with nature, prayer, or perceived usefulness of a belief system. The raison d' etre for faith seems to lie in the fact that to some who have attained to a sufficient depth of it, it 'works' in lieu of, or even in addition to, rational reason, logic and science. In other words, faith and reason to some are 'inimical' while, to some others, both work in their respective spheres and in particular sets of circumstances. It is thus that we have scientists on the one hand - including for example top notch ones such as Erwin Schrodinger, Wernher von Braun, Albert Einstein - and religious and spiritual masters, on the other, who hold that faith and reason will both be necessary in order to comprehend reality in all its mystery, since reason is necessarily conditioned by just the four dimensions of space (comprising three dimensions as its elements) and time (one dimension) and as such rational reasoning, or faith, alone can only scratch the surface of reality. Those who understand limitations of reasoning point out that the mere knowledge of the micro organisms and the macro cosmos through science and application of engineering and technology, will never be able to satisfy the deepest urges of human curiosity and wonderment, and even be sufficient for ensuring the survival and thriving of countless species of organic beings. Contents [show] 1 Context and usage 2 Faith as the basis for human knowledge 3 Religious faith 3.1 Judaism 3.2 Mormonism 3.3 Christianity 3.4 Islam 3.5 Buddhism 3.6 Bahá'í Faith 3.7 Rastafari 4 See also 5 Further reading 5.1 Classic reflections on the nature of faith 5.2 The Reformation view of faith 6 External links [edit] Context and usage Although faith has generated many roots in religion, it is not necessarily a religious word and is not exercised solely in God and god alone, but can apply to any situation where judgments are made irrespective of evidence. Faith in something means to have experience with that something and then, due to this experience, judging and concluding so that you can predict an action of this something in a positive way. So for example a sister may leave the house for university, she returns in three years time to find her sister has not opened her diary which she explicitly asked her not too, even though her sister had every opportunity to open it without her knowledge or consent. The older sister would now have faith in the younger sister, judging by that experience she concludes that she can predict that anything else she trusts with here sister is safe. This is faith. [edit] Faith as the basis for human knowledge Many noted philosophers and theologians have espoused the idea that faith is the basis of all knowledge. One example is St. Augustine of Hippo. Known as one of his key contributions to philosophy, the idea of "faith seeking understanding" was set forth by St. Augustine in his statement "Crede, ut intelligas" ("Believe in order that you may understand"). This statement extends beyond the sphere of religion to encompass the totality of knowledge. In essence, faith must be present in order to know anything. In other words, one must assume, believe, or have faith in the credibility of a person, place, thing, or idea in order to have a basis for knowledge. One illustration of this concept is in the development of knowledge in children. A child typically holds parental teaching as credible, in spite of the child's lack of sufficient research to establish such credibility empirically. That parental teaching, however fallible, becomes a foundation upon which future knowledge is built. The child’s faith in his/her parents teaching is based on a belief in their credibility. Unless/until the child’s belief in their parents’ credibility is superseded by a stronger belief, the parental teaching will serve as a filter through which other teaching must be processed and/or evaluated. Following this line of reasoning, and assuming that children have finite or limited empirical knowledge at birth, it follows that faith is the fundamental basis of all knowledge one has. Even adults attribute their basis of knowledge to so called "authorities" in a given field of study. This is true because one simply does not have the time or resources to evaluate all of his/her knowledge empirically and exhaustively. "Faith" is used instead. It is sometimes argued that even scientific knowledge is dependent on 'faith' - for example, faith that the researcher responsible for an empirical conclusion is competent, and honest. Indeed, distinguished chemist and philosopher Michael Polanyi argued that scientific discovery begins with a scientist's faith that an unknown discovery is possible. Scientific discovery thus requires a passionate commitment to a result that is unknowable at the outset. Polanyi argued that the scientific method is not an objective method removed from man's passion. On the contrary, scientific progress depends primarily on the unique capability of free man to notice and investigate patterns and connections, and on the individual scientist's willingness to commit time and resources to such investigation, which usually must begin before the truth is known or the benefits of the discovery are imagined, let alone understood fully. Faith by definition is not related to proof. The main focus of faith is trust. It could then be argued that until one possesses all knowledge in totality one will need faith in order to believe an understanding to be correct or incorrect in total affirmation. Philosopher Descartes sought to challenge this idea in his statement "I think, therefore I am." It has however been argued that even the statement "I think" is based on faith in the existence of a thing called "thought." [edit] Religious faith Sometimes, faith means a belief in a relationship with a deity. In this case, "faith" is used in the sense of "fidelity." Such a commitment need not be blind or submissive though often shares these types of characteristics. For many Jews, for example, the Hebrew Bible and Talmud depict a committed but contentious relationship between their God and the Children of Israel. For quite a lot of people, faith or the lack thereof, is an important part of their identity, for example a person who identifies himself or herself as a Muslim or a skeptic. A certain number of religious rationalists, as well as non-religious people, criticize implicit faith as being irrational, and see faith as ignorance of reality: a strong belief in something with no tangible proof, or in spite of opposing evidence. In this view, belief should be restricted to what is directly supportable by logic or evidence and nothing should be believed unless supported by the Scientific method - being itself, ironically, a system of beliefs grounded in faith in positivism. Others say faith is perfectly compatible with and does not necessarily contradict reason. Sometimes, faith means a belief in the existence of a deity, and can be used to distinguish individual belief in deities from belief in deities within religion. However it can also be used in context of belief in deities within religions. Many Jews, Christians and Muslims claim that there is adequate historical evidence of their God's existence and interaction with human beings. As such, they may believe that there is no need for "faith" in God in the sense of belief against or despite evidence; rather, they hold that evidence is sufficient to demonstrate that their God certainly exists, and that particular beliefs, concerning who or what their God is and why this God is to be trusted, are vindicated by evidence and logic. No historical evidence has managed to convince the entirety of the community of historians on earth that any one religion is true. For people in this category, "faith" in a God simply means "belief that one has knowledge of [any particular] God". It is logically impossible that all these different religions with their mutually contradictory beliefs can simultaneously be objectively true. Therefore, most historians with religious beliefs hold others to be "false", or essentially wrong. This is a standard tenet of most religions as well, though there are exceptions. An example of this is some forms of Hinduism, which hold the view that the several different faiths are just aspects of the ultimate truth that the several religions have difficulty describing or understanding. They see the different religions as just different paths to the same goal. This does not explain away all logical contradictions between faiths but these traditions say that all seeming contradictions will be understood once a person has an experience of the Hindu concept of moksha. What is believed concerning God, in other words, is a matter of faith supported - but not replaced by - facts. Some religious believers – and many of their critics – often use the term "faith" as the affirmation of belief without an ongoing test of evidence, and even despite evidence apparently to the contrary. Most Jews, Christians and Muslims admit that whatever particular evidence or reason they may possess that their God exists and is deserving of trust, is not ultimately the basis for their believing. Thus, in this sense faith refers to belief beyond evidence or logical arguments, sometimes called "implicit faith". Another form of this kind of faith is fideism: one ought to believe that God exists, but one should not base that belief on any other beliefs; one should, instead, accept it without any reasons at all. Faith in this sense, grounded simply in the sincerity of faith, belief on the basis of believing, is often associated with Søren Kierkegaard for example, and some other existentialist religious thinkers; his views are presented in Fear and Trembling. William Sloane Coffin counters that faith is not acceptance without proof, but trust without reservation.

Study: Fellatio may significantly decrease the risk of breast cancer in women Thursday, October 2, 2003 Posted: 9:19 AM EDT (1319 GMT) (AP) -- Women who perform the act of fellatio and swallow semen on a regular basis, one to two times a week, may reduce their risk of breast cancer by up to 40 percent, a North Carolina State University study found. Doctors had never suspected a link between the act of fellatio and breast cancer, but new research being performed at North Carolina State University is starting to suggest that there could be an important link between the two. In a study of over 15,000 women suspected of having performed regular fellatio and swallowed the ejaculatory fluid, over the past ten years, the researchers found that those actually having performed the act regularly, one to two times a week, had a lower occurance of breast cancer than those who had not. There was no increased risk, however, for those who did not regularly perform. "I think it removes the last shade of doubt that fellatio is actually a healthy act," said Dr. A.J. Kramer of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who was not involved in the research. "I am surprised by these findings, but am also excited that the researchers may have discovered a relatively easy way to lower the occurance of breast cancer in women." The University researchers stressed that, though breast cancer is relatively uncommon, any steps taken to reduce the risk would be a wise decision. "Only with regular occurance will your chances be reduced, so I encourage all women out there to make fellatio an important part of their daily routine," said Dr. Helena Shifteer, one of the researchers at the University. "Since the emergence of the research, I try to fellate at least once every other night to reduce my chances." The study is reported in Friday's Journal of Medical Research. In 1991, 43,582 women died of breast cancer, as reported by the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Len Lictepeen, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, said women should not overlook or "play down" these findings. "This will hopefully change women's practice and patterns, resulting in a severe drop in the future number of cases," Lictepeen said. Sooner said the research shows no increase in the risk of breast cancer in those who are, for whatever reason, not able to fellate regularly. "There's definitely fertile ground for more research. Many have stepped forward to volunteer for related research now in the planning stages," he said. Almost every woman is, at some point, going to perform the act of fellatio, but it is the frequency at which this event occurs that makes the difference, say researchers. Also key seems to be the protein and enzyme count in the semen, but researchers are again waiting for more test data. The reasearch consisted of two groups, 6,246 women ages 25 to 45 who had performed fellatio and swallowed on a regular basis over the past five to ten years, and 9,728 women who had not or did not swallow. The group of women who had performed and swallowed had a breast cancer rate of 1.9 percent and the group who had not had a breast cancer rate of 10.4 percent. "The findings do suggest that there are other causes for breast cancer besides the absence of regular fellatio," Shafteer said. "It's a cause, not THE cause." Original URL: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/rnr/244990587.html

RENO, Nev. - The widow of a soldier killed in Afghanistan saw a Wiccan symbol placed on a memorial plaque for her husband Saturday, after fighting the federal government for more than a year over the emblem. Roberta Stewart, widow of Sgt. Patrick Stewart, and Wiccan leaders said it was the first government-issued memorial plaque with a Wiccan pentacle — a five-pointed star enclosed in a circle. More than 50 friends and family dedicated the plaque at Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery, about 30 miles east of Reno. They praised Gov. Kenny Guinn for his role in getting the Nevada Office of Veterans Services to issue the plaque in September. The agency cited its jurisdiction over maintenance of the state cemetery. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes more than 30 symbols, including more than a dozen variations of the Christian cross and the atomic whirl used by atheists, but not the pentacle. VA officials have said they are rewriting rules for approving emblems, but the process requires a public comment period. Last month, Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued the VA on behalf of Stewart and others for its refusal to include the Wiccan emblem. "Our people are on the front line in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it's not right they're not getting equal treatment," said the Rev. Selena Fox, one of the Wiccan organizers of the event. About 1,800 active-duty service members identify themselves as Wiccans, according to 2005 Defense Department statistics. Wiccans worship the Earth and believe they must give to the community. Some consider themselves "white" or good witches, pagans or neo-pagans. Stewart and four other soldiers died Sept. 25, 2005, when their Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.

Don, Susan and Michael do not generally put their pictures up on public Web sites, preferring instead to trade and communicate ¡ª often using instant messaging ¡ª with a more select audience of their own choosing. Susan, for example, has occasionally viewed Don's camming sessions. She says finding an audience is not difficult. ¡°I do have ads up on a couple of different Web sites but I think there are networks of people," Susan says. "If you meet somebody and they know 20 people who know 20 people who know 20 people, it is pretty easy to get an expanded community.¡± That is just what Don has created. At first, he surfed the Web looking for still images of naked female exhibitionists. Then around the year 2000, ¡°when I learned that computers could broadcast cams, I watched a few ladies, usually only topless, perform for me on the Web ¡­ Eventually I met a [woman] from Florida who showed me everything and begged me to get a cam. I did, and soon found myself stripping for her. I looked for others who liked it too, and didn¡¯t have to look far.¡± Story continues below ¡ý -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- advertisement -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Don, ¡°camming¡± usually means displaying himself masturbating, often with one or more women, and sometimes a man, as his audience. Often the camming is mutual, with Don and a woman, using her Web cam to display herself to Don, instant messaging dirty talk back and forth. 'Avenue of escape' Now, Don tells me, he has about 120 regulars with whom he frequently chats and ¡°cams.¡± He has had virtual sex over the cam with many more people than that, and he does it most nights when he is on the road. ¡°The digital world,¡± he says, ¡°gives me an avenue of escape to secret desires where I can find fulfillment.¡± He is able to satisfy ¡°a private hard-core lover hidden inside of me¡± that he can express online in anonymity. That anonymity is important because Don, who tells me he is a conservative Republican Catholic and somewhat shy in real life, is married with children. His wife knows nothing about his online sex life. ¡°I am basically a moral person but flawed major league when it comes to sex," he says. "And yet there is this secret side to me that must be satisfied ¡­ I have always had a streak of exhibitionism in me and felt guilty about that.¡± Click for related coverage Survey: Do you let your inner exhibitionist out? Read Brian Alexander's Sexploration columns He is torn. On the one hand, he worries there might be something wrong with him. On the other, he feels release when he¡¯s ¡°camming.¡± ¡°I think of [online exhibitionism] as pure erotic expression of human desire," he says. "We seek escape from our difficulties, from our routine or pressures, and this gives it to us.¡± So far, it's tough to say whether Don's form of escape will continue to grow, or if the novelty of digitally mediated exhibitionism will wear off. But it's clear that, for now at least, many Americans are thrilled by the prospect of being their own porn star. Brian Alexander, a California-based freelance writer and MSNBC.com's Sexploration columnist, is traveling around the country to find out how Americans get sexual satisfaction. Alexander, also a Glamour contributing editor, is chronicling his work in the MSNBC.com special report "America Unzipped" and in an upcoming book for Harmony, an imprint of Crown Publishing. In the final installment in this series, he discusses whether we're satisfied yet.

BALTIMORE — Not long into my instant message conversation with “Don,” it’s obvious there is no way to know if he is who he says he is, if he's answering my questions honestly or if he's playing me for a chump. All I know for sure is that Don placed an image on his IM profile that appeared on my monitor when we began chatting. At first the image he used to represent himself was that of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. But he's just replaced that one with another, so now I'm looking at a shot of a torso complete with an erect penis. I assume that’s him, but then again, you never know. Don, an American, says he is on a business trip to Europe and doing what he often does during downtime — firing up his Web cam and exposing himself to the world. The body parts look to be about the right age, 49, and his conversation seems mature enough. Plus, I have managed to contact Don through other online exhibitionists I have met in person. Still, it’s possible Don is actually a lonely retiree in Yellowknife, Canada who's surfing the Internet between glances at "Wheel of Fortune." Story continues below ↓ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- advertisement -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is exactly the point of online exhibitionism, and why so many people have started doing it. You can be as free as you want to expose as much of yourself as you want without looking over your shoulder for the county sheriff. This makes the Internet an ideal fantasy playground where anybody can launch naked signal flares into the digital sky to announce: “I’m here, and I’m hot.” Homemade erotica has been around forever. When Polaroid introduced its Model 95 camera in 1948, average people were given the power to produce personal porn on a mass scale because nobody had to develop the pictures. But digital culture has broadened the possibilities. There are dozens of ways to use digital media to expose yourself, ranging from the mild to the X-rated. Bikini retailers host online “customer galleries” featuring women (and sometimes men) wearing thongs and see-through tops, or no tops at all. On some sites, Web surfers can send e-mails to their favorite bikini-clad woman stating just how much they appreciate the view. Popular exhibitionist Web sites such as Red Clouds, Watcher's Web, Voyeurweb and True Voyeur offer the same service, allowing every man and woman the chance to let the world see what they look like naked on a rubber float in the backyard pool or spread-eagle in the Barcalounger, and to read how excited (or not) that makes others. The sites appear to have a strong following. Among users of the Alexa Web search Toolbar, for instance, Voyeurweb ranks as the 398th most popular Web site over the past three months. In other words, out of every million users, 1,075 go to Voyeurweb and average 17.7 page views. There also are sex blogs everywhere now, and MySpace and Flickr are populated by people posing like porn stars. Of course, "online exhibitionism" sounds creepily similar to "online predator" and "kiddie porn," and the potential for that kind of abuse is great. But the exhibitionists I contacted all stress that not only are they concerned parents themselves who closely monitor the Internet use of their kids, they also regard such use of the technology as a scourge. The mom next door For Susan, Internet exhibitionism has uses of a very interactive kind. I visited Susan in her Maryland home with “Michael” (who asked I not use his real first name), a man Susan met online. Susan uses the Net to trade images of herself with individuals and couples she meets through computer chats and online ads. Sometimes she is naked, sometimes she’s performing a sex act. Susan describes herself “as very much an exhibitionist,” but she’s nothing like the grizzled guy in the trench coat. She is a middle-aged medical professional, a church-goer and a mother. She is studying for an advanced degree. She calls herself “Rubenesque” and though she is attractive, she does not look like a centerfold model. “Something I am not interested in is losing my sexuality,” she says. “For a woman that is more of a fight.” Taking digital pictures of herself, trading them with others and knowing they appreciate them helps her reclaim her feminine sexual identity. America Unzipped | FULL COVERAGE L. Kleinhenz/Docuvitae • A sizzling sex life is no sin MSNBC.com • Adult superstores seduce a new crowd MSNBC.com • Sex and the suburbs Bob Croslin • All dressed up – in latex and dog collars Getty Images file • The thrill of putting it all out there MSNBC.com • Are we satisfied yet? Michael and Susan met when she answered an ad he placed on Craigslist (where ads for sex partners often display the advertiser’s genitals). They exchanged nude pictures, met in person and have now struck up what Michael, also a middle-aged professional who works as an executive at a high-tech company and is a father, calls “an intimate friendship.” Sometimes they include other people they meet online in their lovemaking, in threesomes or foursomes. For Michael and Susan, the digital realm is liberating. “I can be free to think the things I want to think and not only think them but act upon them,” he says. “How cool is that? You can dream the dream and then go make it real. This is a portal into a parallel universe. I mean, it’s a wild world.” That world has been further fueled by technology. Thanks to broadband connections, Web cams and instant messaging, anybody can carve out a space in which they can act in ways they might not outside the virtual world. Click for related coverage Survey: Do you let your inner exhibitionist out? Read Brian Alexander's Sexploration columns “At church ... or wherever your community is, you cannot be real open and talk about your sexuality,” Susan says. “But you sure can online. And you can very easily find somebody who is interested in the same things you are.” Many online exhibitionists have no idea who is on the other end of a Web cam and don’t really want to know. But some, like Susan and Michael, eventually drop the anonymity because their ultimate goal is to make online fantasies real. “My goal is skin to skin,” Susan says. CONTINUED: Always a receptive audience