log : ngl

“This is a Cuban tree frog on a tree in my backyard in southern Florida. How and why he ate this light is a mystery. It should be noted that at the time I was taking this photo, I thought this frog was dead having cooked himself from the inside. I’m happy to say I was wrong. After a few shots he adjusted his position. So after I was finished shooting him, I pulled the light out of his mouth and he was fine. Actually, I might be crazy but I don’t think he was very happy when I took his light away.”

–James Snyder, via National Geographic Magazine

Imagine a completely practical culture. Imagine a group of people who are so unconcerned with anything they can’t directly experience that they don’t have stories, very little art, or any oral history of the society. Imagine a tribe that has no creation myth and sees no need to even have one in the first place. Such a culture exists, and it is the Pirahã people of the Brazilian Amazon.

Missionaries have been preaching to the Pirahãs for 200 years and have converted not one. Everett did not know this when he first visited them in 1977 at age 26. A missionary and a linguist, he was sent to learn their language, translate the Bible for them, and ultimately bring them to Christ.

Instead, they brought him to atheism. “The Pirahãs have shown me that there is dignity and deep satisfaction in facing life and death without the comfort of heaven or the fear of hell and in sailing toward the great abyss with a smile.”

More at Sea Coast Online. This book is definitely going on my wishlist.

Best viewed in full screen.

[via aurgasm.us]

This video gets substantially better the longer you watch it.

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.