Silkie : The ornamental chicken

The Silkie is a breed of chicken named for its uncommon fluffy plumage, which is said to feel like silk .


The Silkie Chicken is the lap dog of the chicken world, with many people owning them because of their docile temperament and amazingly soft & fluffy feathers. It looks like a living cotton ball when walking in your backyard and they are most likely originated in ancient
China.

The breed has several other unusual qualities, such as black skin, flesh, and bones, blue earlobes, and five toes on each foot, whereas most chickens only have four. They are often exhibited in poultry shows, and appear in various colors.
Although in the Western world silkie chickens are sold mainly for
ornamental purposes, in countries like China they are considered a super food and are appreciated for their deep, gammy flavor.


All Silkies have black skin, bones and grayish-black meat; their Chinese language name is wu gu ji literally meaning "black- boned chicken".Melanism which extends beyond the skin into an animal's
connective tissue is a rare trait, and the Silkie is one of only a handful of chickens to exhibit it.

WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face.
( but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.



They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.

After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:
TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.
The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him,
“After i hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?”



The other friend replied “When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”
LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE.
They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. Do not value the things you have in your life. But value who you have in your life!

Strange custom : The tribe where kids start having sex at 6

The Trobriand Islands (today officially known as the Kiriwina Islands) or Love Islands are a 450 km² archipelago of coral atolls off the eastern coast of New Guinea .
They are part of the nation of Papua New Guinea and are situated in Milne Bay Province . Most of the population of 12,000
indigenous inhabitants live on the main island of Kiriwina , which is also the location of the government
station, Losuia.

One interesting thing about this people is that children "enjoy
considerable sexual freedom and
independence ". At seven or eight years of age, Trobriand children
begin to play erotic games with each other and imitate adult seductive attitudes. About four or five years later, they begin to pursue sexual partners in earnest.
They change partners often. Women are just as assertive and dominant as men in pursuing or refusing a lover. This is not only allowed but encouraged.






The attitude of the grown-ups and even of the parents towards such
infantile indulgence is either that of complete indifference or of
complacency -- they find it natural, and do not see why they should scold or interfere. Usually they show a kind of tolerant and amused interest, and discuss the love affairs of their children with easy jocularity. It is possible to hear benevolent gossip as this among the parents: «So-and-so (a
little girl) has already had intercourse with So-and- so (a little boy).» And if such were the case, it
would be added that it was her first experience. An exchange of lovers, or some small love drama in the little world would be half-seriously, half- jokingly discussed. The infantile sexual act, or its substitute, is regarded as an innocent amusement . It is their play to "kaita" (to have intercourse). They give each other a coconut, a small piece of betelnut, a few beads or some fruits from the bush, and then
they go and hide, and "kaita".» But it is not considered proper for the
children to carry on their affairs in the house. It has always to be done in the bush.





The unregulated intercourse for these early years becomes systematised in adolescence into more or less stable intrigues, which later on develop into permanent liaisons. Connected with these latter stages of sexual life, there exists in the Trobriand Islands an extremely interesting institution, the bachelors' and unmarried girls' house, called by the natives "Bukumatula"; it is of considerable importance, as it is one of those arrangements sanctioned by custom which might appear on the surface to be a form of "group-marriage".





In the Trobriand Islands, there is no traditional marriage ceremony. And it is not unusual for a teenaged girl to sleep with many boys as this was a good practice to determine who would make a good husband .
A Trobriand couple wishing to marry, could also display their interest by not only sleeping together but spending time together and staying with each other for several weeks. The girl's
parents approve of the couple when a girl accepts a gift from a boy. After that, the girl moves to the
boy's house, eats her meals there and accompanies her husband
all day. Word subsequently spreads that the boy and girl are married.

BEATING DEVIL TO HIS GAME !

An American, an English man, and a Nigerian were on a ship. Suddenly the Devil appeared and said,
“Drop anything in the sea, if I find it I will eat yiu, If I can’t, I will be your slave!”

The American dropped a pin, the Devil found it and ate him.
The English man dropped a coin the Devil found it and ate him too.

The Nigerian opened a bottle of salty water, poured it in the sea and said, “Na today be today, go find am make we see !”.

That's how Devil became slave to Naija man and respect everything Naija.

The ungrateful horse that wanted more beauty

A cosmic god had a horse. The horse was beautiful and also it had many good qualities. But it wanted to be more perfect in every way. It especially wanted to become beauty unparalleled.

One day the horse said to the cosmic god, “0 Lord, you have given me beauty. You have given me other good qualities. I am so grateful to you. But how I wish you could make me more beautiful. I would be extremely grateful if you could make me more beautiful.”




The cosmic god said, “I am more than ready to make you more beautiful. Tell me in what way you want to be changed.”
The horse said, “It seems to me that I am not well proportioned. My neck is too short. If you can make my neck a little longer, my upper body will be infinitely more beautiful. And if you can make my legs much longer and thinner, then I will look infinitely more beautiful in my lower body.”
The cosmic god said, “Amen!”

Then immediately he made a camel appear in place of the horse.


The horse was so disheartened that it started to cry, “0 Lord, I wanted to become more beautiful. In what way is this kind of outer form more beautiful?”




The cosmic god said, “This is exactly what you asked for. You have become a camel.” The horse cried, “Oh no, I do not want to become a camell I wish to remain a horse. As a horse, everybody appreciated my good qualities. Nobody will appreciate me as a camel.”

The cosmic god said, “Never try to achieve or receive more than I have given you. If you want to lead a desire-life, then at every moment you will want more and more. But you have no idea what the outcome will be. If you cry for a longer neck and legs, this is what will happen.

Each thing in my creation has its own good qualities. The camel is not as beautiful as you are, but it carries heavy loads and has a tremendous sense of responsibility.'
So be contented with what you have because many will die to have that which you don't appreciate.

Strange culture: Sharo, the fulani's festival of flogging to get a wife.

Fulani are the largest migratory ethnic group in the world. They are
among the "super" ethnic groups of Africa with members numbering 30
million and above and spread over western part of African continent. Fulani people despite embracing Islam still practise their culture and. traditions, and one of such is Sharo cultural festival or Tradition festival of flogging. The Sharo cultural festival is a very unique festival observed by the fulani tribes of Nigeria and some other West-African countries.

Sharo is a test of bravery, a rite of passage to adulthood and marriage
ritual ceremonies . According to the Fulani custom of sharo, rival suitors underwent the ordeal of flogging as a means of eliminating those who are less persistent. The
point, however, is that the victim being beaten does not flinch but shows utter indifference to pain and even sneers at his attacker. If he is able to achieve this, his family and friends surround him with joy, offering gifts and congratulations and he's consider worthy of a woman to marry.

The significance of this festival is that the lashing of the groom is to determine the willingness to endure marital pains and ability to undergo hard ship for his wife. But the sad part of it is that many people lose their lives while proving
their manhood.

Stand firm and believe your dream.

I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk
programs. The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let Jack use my horse. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses.
As a result, the boy’s high school career was continually interrupted.

When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.

“That night he wrote a seven- page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200- acre ranch, showing the
location of all the buildings, the
stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a
4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.

“He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after class.’

“The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, `Why did I receive an F?’

“The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse
ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you’ll have to pay large stud fees. There’s no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher added,
`If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.’

“The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said,
`Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.’

“Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all.
He stated, “You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream.”




Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, “I tell you this story because you are sitting in my 4,000-square- foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the fireplace.”

He added, “The best part of the story is that two summers ago that
same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.” When the teacher was leaving, he said, “Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption not to give up on yours.”

“Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.”

- Author Unknown