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