Heartbeats 100-Hole Challenge: Fill & Download for Free

What I like about Quora is that makes me think about aspects I would not have otherwise encountered - and in the process, makes me realize that there are multiple knowledge repositories that I know nothing about.I don't know if these rituals that I found on Cracked are interesting and are certainly scary:(Credit to Alexandra Gedrose for her article)--The 5 Most Terrifying Rites of Manhood from Around the Worldhttp://www.cracked.com/article_16313_the-5-most-terrifying-rites-manhood-from-around-world.html#So what did you do to earn your manhood? At the very worst, some of you had to read a prayer or two from a select holy book, maybe a distant uncle sent you a few bucks. Your parents start bugging you about getting a job and force you to move out by the time you're 20, or maybe 35.But in some parts of the world, manhood is still something you earn.#5. Vanuatu Land DivingWhen you're a member of the South Pacific Vanuatu, by the time you get to be eight-years-old or so it's high time to prove your masculinity. And what better way to prove you're ready to take on the challenges and responsibilities of adult life than stripping naked and bungee diving off a rickety 100-foot-tall platform?Oh, and instead of stretchy bungee cables, they use vines. Those things that have been known to drop grapes and tomatoes every once in a while. They will show absolutely no give when you run out of slack and you're still hurtling toward the earth at hundreds of miles per hour. That will show no remorse when you plummet to your death. Vines.The ritual is intended to impress both the gods and the ladies. Maybe you're thinking, "Hey, tourists do that sort of thing all the time! That's not so terrifying!" The Vanuatu people also realized that and decided that the gods would only be impressed if the boy's head touched the ground.Jump, plummet 100 feet, hit the ground, don't die. We're not sure why the Vanuatu need to appease gods, because if you can pull off that combo, you're damned immortal in our books.#4. Australian Aborigines Take Circumcision to a Whole New LevelWaiting until you're a teenager to get circumcised should be terrifying enough, but a lot of indigenous tribes actually do that as a rite of passage. The Aborigines decided they had to find a way to multiply the terror that surrounds your typical teenage penis-cutting incident. Brace yourself:The ceremony begins by taking a 15- to 16-year-old boy to a secluded place with a number of tribesman. Then begins a several-hour-long chant that's supposed to relax the boy, but we're assuming will do absolutely nothing if he knows what's coming.Then, two men get on their hands and knees together, and the boy clambers on top of their backs. If ever in the future you find you're in need of a late-in-life circumcision, we challenge you to replace the operating table with two nearly-naked, chanting tribesman. While they do their cutting, the boy is expected to show no signs of pain. You know, because only children feel pain when their penises are cut.Then, with that fresh in his mind, they make him wait about a week. That's when a second operation is performed. Jens Bjerre, one of the very few men to have witnessed this ceremony, documented it in his book, The Last Cannibals:"A hole was pierced right through his sex organ near the root, and there was inserted into it, at either end, a splinter to keep the aperture from growing together again. The object was to ensure that henceforth the urine and the sperm would be ejected through this little hole high up on the sex organ, instead of by the normal channel."Guess what they're all watching.Just let that soak in for a minute.The idea is these guys can now have sex without impregnating a woman unless they cover the newly made hole.In case you've forgotten, or blocked it out, all of this is done with no anesthetic to ease the pain, other than a bunch of men repeating the same phrase over and over again.#3. Hamar Cow JumpingAround ages 12 through 15, when most boys are worried about being picked last for kickball, Ethiopian boys of the Hamar tribe are expected to make a leap of pure holy-mother-of-pearl faith over a row of cattle who serve a fate worse than those at a Burger King farm. When these cattle aren't being jumped, stepped, or fallen onto, they're probably more than happy to maul the poor sucker who trips and face-plants.That guy made it look pretty easy, didn't he? For a real life equivalent, imagine trying to run and jump over your car four times. And that all your family and friends are gathered around to watch you. And the car is a living squirming thing. And that you have to jump over the squirming car about four consecutive times without falling. That you only get one shot. That if you fall, you can forget manhood, a potential wife, and respect from your relatives. That's right, in this reality there's actually a way for you to fail puberty. You couldn't even speak in class without your voice cracking under the pressure, and you think you're going to be running wind-sprints across a herd of cattle?Stop: Hamar Time.Once the Hamar boy passes the cow-jumping test, he earns the respect given to a man and also becomes a eligible to participate in the Hamar women-beating ceremony, where the girls of Hamar happily volunteer to prove their devotion to their husbands by being ceremonially hit and whipped. If some woman should ever object, we're assuming a simple, "Hey, I jumped over those cows earlier," trumps any argument she can muster.#2. The Algonquin Drug TripThe idea of getting force-fed hallucinogens in order to become an adult will appeal to a lot of you. But this isn't that Grateful Dead concert you remember so well. Boys of the Algonquin Indian tribe of Quebec were brought to a secluded area, often caged, and then given an intoxicating medicine known as wysoccan.This stuff contained the deadly datura, an extremely dangerous hallucinogen that is said to be 100 times more powerful than LSD. Yes, to the Algonquin people, manhood took the form of spending 20 days in a completely deranged state that included a racing heartbeat, amnesia and hypothermia. If the Beatles had been ballsy enough to graduate from LSD to datura, their musical influence probably would have been deterred due to all of their subsequent songs sounding roughly like a donkey giving birth to a tractor.The whole idea of this drug-induced party was to force any memories of being a child out of the boy's mind. Unfortunately, memory loss tends to affect, well, everything, including memory of their family, how to speak, or even who the hell they were.If boys showed recognition towards their childhood after returning to the village, they were taken back and given a second dose and the pleasure of having to cheat death again.#1. Matis Hunting TrialsAs screwed up as the Algonquin ritual is, the Matis, a small Brazilian tribe, top them pretty handily.The ritual for recruiting boys into the ranks of their hunters begins with dumping a bitter poison directly into their eyes, allegedly in order to improve their vision and enhance the senses. We're sort of interested in how many different combinations of toxic liquids the Matis shamans shoved into their eyeballs before finding a winning formula that didn't dissolve them into a white, gooey mess.The next series of trials includes beatings and whippings, but those look like Matis massages compared to the final trial. The concluding test revolves around an inoculation of Phyllomedusa bicolor, which is basically Latin for "local frogs that just happen to secrete nature's death juice."Don't you dare fuck with me.After burning an area of the skin, the frog goop is injected with the use of a wooden needle. The poison is said to increase strength and endurance. However, those enhancements must come after the unbearable lightheadedness, vehement vomiting and violent relieving of the bowels. After all, REAL men don't need innards.Once the boys prove themselves able to withstand these trials, they are treated to performing them before every future hunt they partake in. Actually, thanks anyways but we think we'll keep playing with our Tonka trucks over here guys.Reference; Source article from Cracked

The King of Wakanda vs The King of the Oceans.After detaining Orm for his unprovoked attack on Wakanda, Arthur seeks to have him brought to justice in Atlantis for his crime of attacking the surface. To show that he is here for peace he comes to Wakanda, against the advice of his council and wife, alone and by himself with not a shred of Atlantean support for hundreds of miles.T'Challa is not budging on this offer. For the destruction of almost 10% of the nation, which was rebuilt after the war with Atlantis, the King of Wakanda, needs to be assured that Orm faces “Wakandan” justice…many lives were lost and much property was destroyed by the wanton attack upon his country.Arthurs bid to make sure that he will pay is not making a dent and after the war between Wakanda and Atlantis Vincent L. Dillon's answer to How would a battle between Atlantis (Aquaman) and Wakanda (Black Panther) go down? Nothing short of Orms death will appease the proud Wakandans.T'Challa, through with the conversation, turns to leave and Arthur grabs the King by the arm in an attempt to keep some type of negotiation going. Swiftly and before he can react Okoye swings here staff catching Aquaman first on the arm and then across the face.“YOU ARE NOT EVER TO TOUCH THE KING OF WAKANDA” she yells, at that the royal guard splits in two, half guarding T'challa and half surrounding Aquaman.T'challa: “Go back to your kingdom king of the fish. There is nothing here but death for Orm and if you proceed.. Death for you.”Aquaman: “I have no desire to fight you T'Challa but if we cannot negotiate then By Bloodshed May The gods Make Known Their Will!!”Arthur hits the Kings guards with a blast of lightning that is as devastating as it is unexpected, and instantly takes out half of the Kings forces.Aquaman: “You have woefully underestimated me T'Challa. I AM NOT Namor. I Am More.”BP: “ Stand down Royal Guards! I will put down and dispatch of this so called” king”!!Arthur spins his Trident over his head and with a yell of rage slams it into the ground leaving it in place as he confronts Black Panther head on.T'Challa with his speed borne from the cat he's named after immediately goes on the attack against Aquaman with a flurry of kicks and strikes. His suit is storing up energy that he knows he will need. As Wakandan vibranium claws meets Atlantean Scalemail all that's produced is sparks. In a move to create space He kicks Aquaman with a combination that sends him through the glass of the palace and down 30 stories to the street below. Hitting the concrete hard enough to crack it Arthur, enraged, jumps back up to the palace room and through the hole in the window just to catch a powerful punch from T'Challa that sends him up through the ceiling and back down again.ENOUGH!! screams Arthur.BP: Do you perhaps need some water? I thought that this would be more of a challenge. I will allow my Royal Guard to deal with you. Apparently I am not out of your league and contrary to your statement.. You. Are. NOT. More.With a speed that shocks the King of Wakanda, Arthur closes the gap and with a single punch knocks Black Panther through all of the walls of the palace and into the next building. As the king starts to fall down the outside of the building he uses his claws to slow down his descent until he gets to the ground.After seeing their King thrown from the building Okoye and the rest of the Royal Guard, in a coordinated and graceful attack, pummel Arthur will blows from their staffs and shock him with enough force to kill ten elephants. The King grabs his Trident and pulls moisture from their bodies that is the equivalent of 3 days without any water and they immediately go into shock.Arthur jumps through the hole that he made when he was knocked from the building and after landing on the ground finds T'Challa coming around the building at full speed leaping towards him.The suit that Black Panther wears is made from the highest tech that Wakanda has but what the proud King doesn't know is that magic, imbued by the god Poseidon, runs through Arthurs Trident and when it comes to mans technology it cannot compare to, or compete with, the power of a god.Arthur punches T'Challa in midair and sends him through another building, down the block and into a gas station erupting it into an inferno. He is hoping that he can overload his suits tech by hitting him with massive shots but to his surprise T'Challa is getting back up…unsteady.. But rising still, the armies of Wakanda are starting to converge and Arthur will have a choice end this quickly or face the entire forces of Wakanda. He chooses ending it quickly.Not wanting to kill the King he takes his Trident and literally does what his fists almost accomplished. Using a combination of Atlantean magic mixed with lightning he literally overpowers and shorts out Black Panthers suit. Knowing now that he cannot store up additional energy to redirect towards him he calls down lightning to disperse the quickly arriving troops while also pulling moisture from the air to instantly freeze others in blocks of ice and at the same time continues to pummel the king of Wakanda.T'Challa has never faced the strength of Hulk or Thor and sees now that he has indeed underestimated the strength and power of Aquaman. When the reports came that he swam a Soviet sub up to the surface, his initial thought was that it was an over exaggeration of facts but based on the sheer amount of power used to pummel him he knows that he was wrong as he feels his bones breaking. This Is No Man.With one final hit T'Challa passes out. He knows his time is short because not only will he have to deal with Wakanda but quite possibly the Avengers. He needs to make a move now to find Orm.Stopping in his tracks and concentrating he hears Orms unique heartbeat. Ironically it's directly below the palace 100 feet and he makes his way to the lower level and without hesitation punches a hole through ten feet of reinforced concrete which shatters a water line. He holds his brother under the water to revive him and while it's not their native salt water…it does the job. Completely revitalized Orm is ready for the attack with his brother but is quickly sedated by the power of the Trident.Aquaman throws his brother over his shoulder and jumps the 4 miles to the sea. As he is in the air he sees a S. H. I. E. L. D. Helicarrier and a Avengers Quinjet with Captain Marvel, Thor, Iron Man, Vision, and War Machine quickly heading towards Wakanda. “damn…this is NOT how this was supposed to go down. Dammit T'Challa why couldn't you have just work with me. It didn't have to go this far. “Just as Aquaman hits the water he takes off at 10,000 mph heading towards Atlantis and while doing so his Justice League communicator alerts him to a call coming in. Batman through Brother Eye tells Arthur he has seen everything and that he and the Justice League will be arriving in Atlantis.Batman: I know you see Atlantis as your Gotham and I wont interfere but with who is heading towards Wakanda and eventually to Atlantis, I think you may need some assistance from your team and friends. Also I've called in additional members of the League, Captain Atom, Shazam, Martian Manhunter, Zantanna, Dr Fate, Firestorm, Black Canary, Atom, Green Arrow, Green Lantern and Vixen. With the addition of some of our most powerful reserve members along with our current lineup we have all the bases covered. I had a plan in place to bolster our team just incase something like this were to happen. Going against seven will be tough for the Avengers. Going against us now will be more than they can handle …Arthur do you mind?Aquaman: absolutely not. Boom Tube down. After i imprison Orm, Mera and I will meet you in my Throne Room. I won this battle but the war is about to start……

The average human brain has about 100 billion neurons or nerve cells and many more neuroglia or glial cells which serve to support and protect the neurons. Each neuron may be connected to up to 10,000 other neurons, passing signals to each other via as many as 1,000 trillion synaptic connections, equivalent by some estimates to a computer with a 1 trillion bit per second processor.Estimates of the human brain’s memory capacity vary wildly from 1 to 1,000 terabytes. For comparison, the 19 million books in the US Library of Congress represents about ten terabytes of data.The cerebrum is the “thinking part” and also the biggest part of your brain. It is responsible to hold your memories and controls your muscles. Another part Cerebellum lies in the back of your brain, and its job is to maintain coordination, balance and movement. The brainstem links your brain to your spine. It is responsible for the activities you can’t control, like breathing, digestion, and your heartbeat.–Quran Miracle: Enough Opportunities For EveryoneMostly people believe that everyone’s intelligence is fixed. We are born smart, dumb, or average and our ability for understanding and learning is determined by what we are born with. Actually, the factor that is responsible for a person’s level of intelligence at any age is their exposure to information and experience put together with the amount of time they spend learning.Every time you learn a new fact or skill, you change your brain. It is something we call neuroplasticity. Thirty years ago, we thought that after puberty, the only changes that took place in the brain were negative i.e ageing loss of cells etc. but now research has shown us that all of our behaviours change our brain. And that these mutations are not limited by age. So your brain’s changing capacity i.e neuroplasticity is supported by three ways chemical, structural, and by functional changes. Research has shown that increased difficulty, increased struggle actually leads to both more learning, and more significant structural change in the brain.So do not think yourself average or dumb and underestimate your potential. It is just a matter of training your brain. It is a world, a universe of possibilities. A slave can become a ruler, a weak can become the strongest person, an ignorant can become the most wise. A world of possibilities where anyone can reach to any level. It’s just a matter of how big a person thinks and how accurately he acts upon that. Most of the things are in your hand and with effort and struggle you can even change your capacities, capabilities and lastly your destiny. Remember most of the great men in human history were born to poor parents and in unfavourable conditions. But with their courage, dedication and struggle they changed not only their fate but the fate of all of humanity. To understand it more read Highly Logical Concept Of Destiny & Freewill in Quran.Neuroplasticity And The Power Of The Brain“Neurons That Fire Together, Wire Together”When you learn things, the brain sends signals and messages from one neuron to another. If you do the same thing for a longer period repeatedly, your brain ultimately makes a link, a connection or path between neurons. This makes tasks easier, and you can do them better and better. It’s same like crossing a field full of crops. The first time can be difficult but when you cross it several times fighting your way thru the crops, the bushes, the grass… eventually it will create a path within the field from going over it again and again.When you use a specific path or wire again and again, the relationship or connection between these neurons strengthens. The is called myelination and it actually involves building up a safety coating that encloses the wire, like the rubber insulation or coating on an electric wire. This myelin sheath makes signals capable to move faster, which the brain loves because brain’s primary objective is efficiency. Thus through continuous practice and repeated challenges, we can construct pathways that make our brains powerful and sharp and on account of this process, the brain literally grows bigger not in size but in weight.Quran Miracle When It Emphasis on Adopting Certain Rituals & Good HabitsAll Of Our Behaviors Change Our BrainWhen you repeat an action, emotion, a behaviour or a thought over and over again, the pathway responsible for transmitting the signal grows stronger and it becomes easier and easier. This is how skills are developed and habits are formed. It’s also how emotional triggers are built and negative patterns are created.This is the lesson all religious scriptures told you that by thinking good, keeping good company and by controlling your desires and by practice you can actually purify your soul and eventually be able to get control on your habits and the evil whispers that force you for wrong things.٧ وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّاهَا٨ فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا٩ قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا١٠ وَقَدْ خَابَ مَنْ دَسَّاهَاAnd [by] the soul and He who proportioned itAnd inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness,He has succeeded who purifies it,And he has failed who instils it [with corruption]. (Surah Shams 91:7-10)Things like spiritual disciplines, prayer, fasting, refraining from sin do a couple of things. They open our consciousness to things that we typically are not paying attention to. On the opposite side when Quran says to avoid sin is because of the reason that in that case our brain will become increasingly controlled by animal brain mechanisms and will become more and more unruly with desires and visceral feelings that are driven by carnal cravings and greedy desires.So our brain is tremendously plastic, and it’s been shaped both structurally and functionally by everything we do, but also by everything that we don’t do. Behaviours that you employ in your everyday life are important. Each of them is changing your brain. Is this all designed, created, happening and running by its own. Nay, it is all by the Will and command of your Lord. So which of the favours of your Lord will you deny?٤ إِنَّ سَعْيَكُمْ لَشَتَّىٰ٥ فَأَمَّا مَنْ أَعْطَىٰ وَاتَّقَىٰ٦ وَصَدَّقَ بِالْحُسْنَىٰ٧ فَسَنُيَسِّرُهُ لِلْيُسْرَىٰ٨ وَأَمَّا مَنْ بَخِلَ وَاسْتَغْنَىٰ٩ وَكَذَّبَ بِالْحُسْنَىٰ١٠ فَسَنُيَسِّرُهُ لِلْعُسْرَىٰIndeed, your efforts are diverse.As for he who gives out his wealth and fears Allahand affirmed the Truth of goodness:We will ease him toward ease.But as for he who withholds and considers himself free of needand denied the Truth of goodness:We shall facilitate him toward difficulty. (Surah Lail 92:4-10)Quran Miracle: Why Righteous Get More AfflictionsThe Value Of Problems, Obstacles & Failures:Problems, hardships and failures help us learn, and they make our brains grow. If you were driving on a new street and your car’s wheel stuck in a hole, that would be okay. You wouldn’t stay there; you would just manage to get out from it and learn the choice you selected to get there.Next time, you would remember that the hole was there, and you could drive around it. Failures and obstacles teach you how to improve next time.Failures and hardships make the brain grow. In truth, the brain does NOT grow just from receiving the answers right. To keep strengthening & growing neural pathways, we must continue challenging ourselves and going to the next level of difficulty. This is the lesson Quran teaches again and again to the believers. This is also an answer to the skeptics who often argue that why those chosen slaves of God suffered so much in their lives…..The answer is simple….THAT WAS PART OF THEIR TRAINING.…… وَفَتَنَّاكَ فُتُونًا ۚ ……. ثُمَّ جِئْتَ عَلَىٰ قَدَرٍ يَا مُوسَىٰ………and We tried you with various trials……Then you reached at the decreed (level and time), O Moses. (Surah Taha 20:40)