Hope does have feathers!

"Hope" is the thing with feathers, was the title of a piece i wrote here back on June 11, 2008..... it has blown my mind to say the least and today i'm revisiting that topic for Hope has dropped in on my life and she has feathers.

Researchers determined in the 1990's that the Delmarva Peninsula in Virginia was an important fueling stop for Whimbrel's during their seasonal migration. The area has an abundance of fiddler crabs that the birds would use to build up reserves to get them to their arctic breeding grounds. Scientists wanted to track the migration because Whimbrels have been experiencing dramatic declines in their populations for decades. The focus of this research was to identify the traditional summer breeding areas in the arctic.

The first Whimbrels released with satellite transmitters in Virgina left in 2008. After tracking those original Whimbrels last year, scientists realized their understanding of Atlantic Whimbrels breeding in the south and west sides of the Hudson Bay and Pacific Whimbrels breeding in Alaska and the Northwest Territories had to be revised. Winnie, who was released in 2008, was a western bird taking an eastern route, which no one expected. Hope is also a western bird taking an eastern route.

May 19, 2009.......... Hope was released in Virginia after having been outfitted with a satellite transmitter that is powered by the sun...... by the 28th of May she was detected in Canada heading north. By late June she had already skirted along the southern shore of the Hudson Bay across Northern Canada(Northwest Territories) and over to the edge of the Beaufort sea on the border between Alaska and Canada. It appears she was around Mackenzie Bay. Here she turned around followed almost the same track back across the Northwest Territories but made a northern turn and ended up on the island of Southampton in the Hudson Bay. It looks like she may have spent a few days around Southampton before flying straight south across the Hudson Bay and into James Bay. Here she hit land and went across towards Montreal and Quebec where she popped back out along the Atlantic somewhere in Maine.

From here she went back out to sea on the 10th of August and made an incredible journey over the Atlantic to the West Indies where she landed on St. Croix around the 15th of August. We found her August 21st at Great Pond and to say the least felt like we had won the birder's lottery.
http://www.ccb-wm.org/programs/migration/Whimbrel/whimbrel.htm

Map of travel

i think Hope dropped in here for more than one reason. Hope came to establish the migratory pattern of these birds and to reinforce the need for all of us on St. Croix to work towards protecting the migratory habitat of these world travelers. We are part and parcel of a pathway that supplies traveling birds with the fuel they need to carry them on their journeys to their winter grounds. St. Croix serve's as a stop over(staging area) after traveling thousands of miles across the Atlantic. They need area's that can supply them with nourishment and if we continue to degrade their habitats they will become extinct. Great Pond, where Hope has been for the past 8 days, is one of the largest and most important wetlands in the US Virgin Islands, many shorebirds and warblers aside from Whimbrels stop in here on their migrations. Unfortunately, Great Pond is not receiving adequate protection.
Hope, is by far more potent than many of the evils Pandora let out of the box. When Pandora revisited that box after releasing lying, slander, vanity, greed, pinning and envy she released Hope to give individuals freedom to change the social circumstances of their lives and others.

Fighting to realize those challenges is what i'm doing here, whether the topic is violence, how to get along, habitat protection or health care, Hope the bird has dropped in to remind me to revisit an important theme.


i think Hope impacted my life in order to reinforce the need for social change. Nature and man go together but we argue over it. We need to provide for both. There is more than simple synchronicity or coincidence going on here. How in the world did i know i would actually meet a bird called Hope, a bird that has traveled far and wide, when i wrote about the topic of hope a year ago and titled it " Hope is the thing with feathers?"

Jesus spread his word while also impacting the citizenry of his time through healing. i've looked over the list of miracles. i list them here so you can review them.

* Turning water into wine (John 2:1-11)
* Healing of a nobleman's son (John 4:46-54)
* Delivering a man in the synagogue from demonic spirits (Mark 1:21-28; Luke 4:31-37)
* Healing Peter's mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31; Luke 4:38-39; Matthew 8:14-15)
* The first of two nets of fish and the calling of His first disciples (Luke 5:1-11)
* Cleansing a leper (Mark 1:40-45; Matthew 8:1-4)
* Healing a paralytic (Mark 2:1-12; Matthew 9:2-8; Luke 5:17-26)
* Healing of the man at Bethesda (John 5:1-15)
* Healing a man with a withered hand (Luke 6:6-11; Matthew 12:9-13; Mark 3:1-5)
* Healing the Centurion's servant (Luke 7: 1-10; Matthew 8:5-13)
* Raising the widow's son (Luke 7:11-16)
* Casting out a dumb and blind spirit (Luke 11:14-26; Matthew 12:22-32; Mark 3:22-30)
* Calming a storm (Mark 4:35-41; Matthew 8:18-27; Luke 8:22-25)
* Healing a man possessed by demons at Gadara (Mark 5:1-20; Matthew 8:28; Luke 8:26)
* Healing a woman with an issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34; Matthew 9:18-26; Luke 8:40-56)
* Raising Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:21-43)
* Healing of two blind men (Matthew 9:27-31
* Casting out a spirit (Matthew 9:32-34)
* Feeding 5,000 with five loaves and two fish (John 6:1-14; Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17)
* Walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33; John 6:15-21; Mark 6:45-52)
* Delivering the Syrophoenician's daughter (Matthew 15:21-28)
* Healing a deaf and dumb man (Mark 7:31-37)
* Feeding another 4,000-plus (Mark 8:1-10; Matthew 15:32)
* Healing the blind man of Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26)
* Casting demons out of a lunatic boy (Mark 9:14-29; Matthew 17:14-21; Luke 9:37-42)
* Pulling a coin from the mouth of a fish (Matthew 17:24-27)
* Healing a man born blind (John 9:1-41)
* Healing a woman with an 18-year infirmity (Luke 13:10-17)
* Healing a man with dropsy (or edema) (Luke 14:1-6)
* Raising Lazarus (John 11:1-46)
* Cleansing of ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19)
* Healing blind Bartimeaus (Mark 10:46-52)
* Cursing the fig tree (Mark 11:12-26)
* Healing of Malchus' ear (Luke 22:49-51)
* A second net of fish (John 21:1-12)

Out of 35 miracles 24 revolved around healing the sick. That is a lot of miracles for healing! Jesus had compassion which is more than many so called "Conservative's" have today. Doesn't he teach us to care for the sick in his place?

Some will say, "Why don't you ask how your neighbors are doing and offer to help them?" Well, we ask how they are doing and they tell us, "Fine". American culture at this point is not conducive to helping your neighbors. We don't even know what's really going on with them. Let alone be able to supply them with enough money to get an operation.

This antiquated notion that government helps the most by getting out of the way of progress is an insult to fair-minded people everywhere. Is this great nation called the USA unable and unwilling to act humanely towards humans or nature? We can spend more money on our military than any other nation, in fact more than all the other nations in the world combined, money for weapons and war but health care must be self supported and self supporting?

How about we kick every single government-hating republican out of government! Because, at the end of the day, if you hate government enough to declare that it is ineffective and useless...perhaps you shouldn't be trying to steer the damn ship, seeing as you'd rather sink it! Imagine.......just really try to imagine a business hiring an employee that was out to destroy it?

Just a thought.

We claim to be a Christian Nation first.........what better way to move Jesus' work forward in the USA than by creating an environment where all resident human beings have equal access to affordable health care? It's the nation's deeds, not their words that broadcast our humanity and set the stage for others to emulate. Government can work for all if it is supported by people that believe in it.

Do your part for Jesus if nothing else and support an American Health Plan, one that includes an American public option. Hope is here...she has stopped in and she wants us to fight for what is right for nature and for man.

Think about it!

i have a great set of cards that was given to me as a gift years ago. They are 2.5x4.5 about the size of a deck of Tarot cards. They come in a box with a small book. It is called the "Observation Deck" and was put together by Naomi Epel.

The idea behind this deck of cards is to shuffle them up and pick one. i don't think i have looked at this set of cards for about 3 or 4 years. i move it around the house, dusting it off, putting it away in the book shelf, but never opening it up to use. It was given to me by a great friend that thought it could help on days i couldn't think of anything to write. Until today i've never actually used it to inspire me.

But this was a different day and i was having trouble thinking about what to write so i Googled "Writer's Block." i quickly realized i wasn't having writer's block in its pure sense as i had been writing earlier on a different subject. What i was needing was inspiration.

i left the computer, sat down on the couch, looked across at the bookshelf and it glared back at me, screaming....... pick a card....pick any card....just do it!

i got up, got the deck of cards and sat back down. i opened up the box, took out the cards, shuffled them up and picked one that was sticking out farther than any of the others. When i read what was on it i gasped. This, could not be for me i immediately thought and almost shuffled up the deck to draw another card.

Instead, after contemplating the two words i had in my hand, i got out the little book that comes with it....turned to page 88 and read the instructions.

"Sometimes we get so overwhelmed by the things we think we need to accomplish that we become frantic and get nothing done at all. Today, instead of speeding up, slow yourself down. Don't think about all the things you have to do, just focus on what you are doing at this very moment."

i read the rest of it....two pages worth concerning how to slow down...and realized it was time to linger.

Slow down it said. Isn't it something we all need to practice in order to accomplish those goals we set for ourselves? Slowing down and focusing on one thing instead of multi-tasking and doing a mediocre job with all of them. We get so caught up trying to do too much that none of it gets done properly. If we slow down and concentrate we actually do a much better job.

So slow down....linger here.......look at the pictures.......read some of the other posts you haven't read....stroll through the archives.........take an extra minute to really observe in all parts of your life. Slow down and listen to that co-worker, slow down and listen to your friend, your wife, your husband. Slow down, sit in your car before you go tearing off to that next thing that just has to get done and take a minute. Look around, savor things, slow down.

Today just try to slow one thing down.


Update on the Century Plant!
As you can see it is still going strong. One year has passed since it sent out the big C and almost to the day it started sending out a new shoot. If you want to see the original...look back in the 2008 August and September archives.

Now a typical century plant is not supposed to send out a shoot except once in its lifetime, but this is not your typical plant. This new shoot also has curves but not as spectacular as the original.
i continue to be mesmerized by its growth and resilience.

Update on the underwater growth

Update on the Cyanobacteria. i had a lot of responses to last weeks piece that went to my e-mail address not on the blog. One poster here had an alarming comment that would be true if what we collected had been the stuff referenced, it wasn't.

Many people from all over helped out by directing me to links that may have had the answer. One picture that was closest to our sample material may be it but we still aren't sure. The explanation details a defensive mechanism by the coral. Apparently corals can secret a mucous that is used to clean debris and sediment off the coral. In other words the coral creates this substance to clean itself. Quite an ingenious method and would explain why it came off so easily. It doesn't explain why it felt so spongy. Unfortunately this answer is also one which can be an indicator of stress and a precursor to more coral bleaching.

As i said last week, the material disappeared in two days. Very, very odd and we are still keeping our eye out for more. Fish and Wildlife is taking the dead black piece i still have...they may be able to glean something from it. Thank you all for the great links and responses.

Next up is the Peace Index, the total number of countries covered is 144, encompassing almost 99% of the world's population and over 87% of the planet's land mass. So often all we focus on is conflict, agonizing about localities around the world that remain dangerous. One thing overlooked is that even those dangerous places have large pockets of stability.

Last year(2008) Iceland topped the list in the number one(1) spot with Denmark a close second(2), Canada placed eleventh(11), the US placed Ninety-Seventh(97), Israel came in One Hundred and Thirty Sixth(136) and Iraq was last at One Hundred and Forty(140). Iraq is still last but four more countries were added so Iraq is now One Hundred and Forty Four(144). Israel is One Hundred and Forty One (141), Canada moved up and is now eight (8), New Zealand is first(1) Denmark is still second(2) and zooming right up the ladder the US has moved to Eight Third place(83) Whew!

Political Anger

1992-1999. Years of the "Angry White Man." Anger: GOOD Thing!!

2002-2008: Years of the "Angry Left" denounced in chorus by the so called "responsible" mainstream voices; EVIL AND NASTY, UNPATRIOTIC!!

2009. Year of the "Angry White Man. Anger:" GOOD Thing!


Buzz words to make you FEARFUL about health insurance reform.
communism
socialism
Marxism
Nazis
euthanasia
death panel
rationing
government take over
government doesn't work

Writers that use those words in their pieces don't want you to think about the real issues. They want to cloud your mind with visions of takeover and evil.
Skip those.

A Public Option Insurance Plan

A public plan could offer the same benefits as a private plan at less cost because it would not have the high administrative costs—which include sales, marketing, and underwriting expenses—associated with most private plans. It would not be under constant pressure from Wall Street to reward shareholders by constantly keeping an eye on the medical loss ratio and earnings per share, and it would not have to make a profit.

We should be comparing what insurers, drug companies, and organized medicine said during earlier reform efforts, and then report on how well they've delivered on those promises. The evidence shows they haven't delivered. Insurance companies would rather fight you in court and pay a fine than follow the regulations. So why believe any reform has a chance with out a public option?

THERE IS NO EVIDENCE FREE MARKET HEALTH CARE HAS WORKED FOR THE PATIENT, there is lots of evidence to show it works for insurance companies.

Personally, i think some things in this world should not be controlled by profits, illness is one of them.

And finally, i have been thinking about religion mixing with politics in the United States:

Some immature people use religion to destroy each others freedom, create bondage and make church's holding pens for intolerance. Mature people, that don't use religion as a crutch, can help each other create more accepting environments, they can help each other to reduce violence and destroy the bondage, they can create a world where the flow of information is not controlled by fear. When love flows with freedom there is beauty. When love flows with dependence there is ugliness.

Some immature people also use religion to excuse bad behavior. They make decisions in favor of bad behavior, knowing they will be forgiven. Mature people, that don't use religion as a crutch, do not make decisions expecting to be excused or forgiven in some afterlife, they understand they need the integrity to stand alone here today in this life and be judged today for what they have done.

Cyanobacteria?

Another water piece that takes place at Cane Bay, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. Two days ago, while swimming, we noticed this stuff attached to the coral. At first look i thought it was a shredded white plastic bag billowing in the water. It was too far down to retrieve so i kept swimming.

A few strokes later i saw some more of it looking more stringy and wondered what it was. i stopped for a longer look but again thought it was more plastic and kept going. The other swimmers had noticed it by now too and when we reached the first buoy we had seen so much of the stuff that when our heads came out of the water we all said "What iiisssss that stuff?"

Remember, we have been swimming out here three times a week for years. We have watched all sorts of changes and have a real feel for anything out of the ordinary. In 2005 we noticed the brain coral turning this lovely lavender color and then watched in horror as coral bleaching turned the floor of the ocean into a white bone yard. We didn't understand at the time that the beautiful shade of lavender was the corals last gasp.
So that day, when we started discussing it, we were in about 40-50 feet of water. We tried studying this new oddity from the surface. We floated around, looking down, looking up, talking about it. We determined that the material looked completely alien and was definitely not plastic. The more we looked the more we saw.

We couldn't dive down that far so the rest of the swim was spent noting how much of it there was and the area it took up over the live coral. On the way back to shore we agreed one of us needed to go down and get some because it was just too mysterious. We had to wait until we were in about 15 feet of water so we would have enough air to actually scope it out while underwater and collect some.

Two of us dove down and grabbed it off the coral, it came off pretty easily. We brought the samples up to the surface in our fists. It was like nothing we had ever felt before. Rubbery and spongy, stringy and globular and two different colors. One batch was pale pink and the other was pale yellow.

Each of us stuck the stuff between our cap and mask on the backs of our heads so we could swim in without really having to handle it too much. We had no idea if it was harmful so we tried to be cautious.

It was agreed that i would take the stuff home, photograph it and send it off. i did that and soon responses started coming in. Cyanobacteria seemed to be the prevailing answer except the pictures i was sent to look at didn't look like what i had. One scientist said it could possibly be a precursor to more coral bleaching which put me in a terrible mood. i sure hope not...we don't have much coral left.

i left the stuff outside and by mid afternoon it had turned a dark ugly black mess.

Now two days later, after notifying the dive shop and Fish and Wildlife, the stuff is gone. Completely gone, not a bit of it is around. The coral is clear except for the usual algae. We searched everywhere and are completely mystified as to how this unusual growth could have vanished so quickly.

My friend says i should keep the sample i have just in case someone wants to do a chemical analysis. i'm thinking it is too far gone but i've stored it outside just in case.

i'm putting the pictures up on line so if anyone can identify it conclusively let me know. If you double click on the images you will get a larger view.

It is definitely one of those mysteries of nature that we would like to have more answers about.

Friendship!

I'm a Natator!

Have you ever spent time just floating? Using as little effort as possible to stay on top of the water with out sinking? If you are one of the unlucky ones that plummet like a rock, that has no buoyancy don't read any further. No! I'm kidding, keep reading.

Anyone that spends a lot of time in the water be it fresh or salt eventually arrives at a place of contentment and connection with everything. Not everyone can do it but those that can enjoy a oneness with the aquatic environment that is every bit as valuable as that gained from a session of quiet meditation or a trip to temple,church or the mosque. Even those that use aids to keep them afloat experience that same feeling of oneness at times.

I'm not suggesting that only those with a connection to water are somehow blessed with an extra ability. Water folks connect through water while people that aren't comfortable in water but that love the mountains or deserts connect through the earth. For others it is the connection they get through their religious affiliations. It is those that can connect where ever they are and in whatever medium they are experiencing, here and now, in the present, that are truly blessed.

Today's topic is not really about floating on top of the water or hiking in the mountains or camping in the desert, or going to temple, church or the mosque, it is about friendship. It is about connection, it is about how we hold those people who have impacted our lives in some manner close to our hearts whether we see them or not, whether we talk to them or not, whether we are interacting with them now or whether we will interact with them in the future.

A few days ago a friend who used to live here came back to visit for a week. This person is a water-baby and has made a name for herself internationally.....but to us...she is just our friend, she fit in to island life and bonded with us. She is someone we enjoy swimming with, someone we love talking to, someone we have fun showing things to, someone we love to entertain when she comes to visit, and someone we exchange funny haiku's with over the distance that separates us.

But she is not alone, she is just one of many who have left the island for a different life and for reasons so varied i can't go into them here. But they all share one thing in common, they became our friends and we never forget them. We love having them come to visit. We are proud of our homes and get great pleasure from their enjoyment.

This morning our friend came to swim with us but it wasn't like the usual work out swim it was more like doing intervals then stopping because " OH MY GOSH did you seeeeee that huge turtle?" " i think he gets the prize for the longest tail ever," said one swimmer. "No, no, no that last one was bigger," says someone else. Or, "Hey, did i tell you about bla, bla," which moves into all sorts of conversational tangents, books, politics, religion while we are out there floating over the abyss.......saving the world....... while not thinking about the fact that we are in shark territory and they have been a bit too aggressive of late and we should be wary..... when someone takes our mind off the shark and says," What do you think of those waves?" I'm having trouble swimming, my stroke sucks in these, i'm getting airborne off the swells, how about you? Or, over here, over here look at this school of squid....are they cuttlefish?

i had to look this one up because i had this feeling i had been wrong with my answer and although they are from the same class.... cephalopod..... its a different order they belong to. But this was a minor thing because this morning we could care less about time or even reality........our friend was visiting........and we were all enjoying her excitement at just being here. It always amazes me the ease at which one falls right back into the same way of communicating, almost as if they never left.

There are forces all around us drawing some together and repelling others. Repulsion happens when something is placed between the two attracting forces, figure out what that is and how to remove that something and most friendships can be repaired. i believe that we never loose our connections even when they have been adverse because that initial joy just doesn't go away. Those people pop into our heads, throughout our lives, at the oddest moments and re-acquaint us with the things we liked about them, even over the anger.

It is the totality of intra molecular forces, those of atoms, molecules and their surfaces that continues to draw us together, especially over vast distances. We are all composed of the same stuff and maybe it is the water, maybe it is the earth, for some it may be that dedication to doing something regularly, whatever it is we all experience connection in our own special ways, cherish it. When that memory of a friend pops in, savor it, or contact them cause life is short and you may have missed out on something really wonderful.

what would you do if?

Do you ever wonder what would or could have happened if you had only done something differently? That play that keeps repeating itself in your mind, what if I had only done B instead of A maybe C would have happened instead of D.

Many claim that if it weren't for the liberalism of the 60's, society would have been more moral and stable, we would see more responsibility, lower divorce rates etc., but maybe the consequences of this alternate reality would have been less innovation as a result of a lack of creative individualism. Life today might have had fewer people resisting authority, even more pollution than we are experiencing now, more poverty, poisoned food sources, malfunctioning medicinal remedies, no Ipods, cell phones or WiFi and a host of other things i can't come up with at the moment. The imagining of that moral, stable "better" world might have left us at a place we really didn't want to live in.

For some it is easier to reside in the what might have been world rather than harmonizing with the what is. When we imagine that only a single incident like liberalism of the 60's can be enough to change our present, we indulge in what might have been. This single element did not and could not create all the change we experience today. It is not the sole determining factor.

The 60's brought in a renewed focus on love as a result of the war they were watching being waged in their names. For many of the participants the time spent trying to educate the nation was filled with failures and yet, here, today, they are being credited for the lack of morality in present society.

All of us on some level indulge in what if's. But when we indulge in what if's we leave out other options for why the world and our way of living is functioning as is. We fail to stay present, we live in the past for all of us can only work with what we have not with some fantasy alternate reality.

Consider this..........maybe, the lack of morality today is a result of self-interest rather than liberalism and the result of choices rather than mistakes.

Just look at the laws of nature some say for it explains mankind.

Natural law as described in the International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences had stoics being indifferent to the divine or natural source of the law: "the Stoics asserted the existence of a rational and purposeful order to the universe (a divine or eternal law), and the means by which a rational being lived in accordance with this order was the natural law, which spelled out action that accorded with virtue. Stoics emphasized the universal ideas of individual worth, moral duty, and universal brotherhood."

The Christians on the other hand had the Fall and according to Wikipedia

"some Christians believe the Fall corrupted the entire natural world, including human nature, causing people to be born into original sin, a state from which they cannot attain eternal life without the gracious intervention of God. Protestants hold that Jesus' death was a "ransom" by which man was made forever free from the sin acquired at the Fall, and other denominations believe that this act made it possible for man to be free without necessarily ensuring it. In other religions, such as Judaism, Islam, and Gnosticism no term "The Fall" is recognized and varying interpretations of the Eden narrative are presented. Natural Law still plays a role in all these."

"Prelapsarian" refers to the sin-free state of humanity prior to the Fall. It is sometimes used in reference to sentimental recollections of a past time when conditions stood in sharp contrast to the present." It demonstrates the what if mankind could have had if only they had followed orders.

Many philosophers, modern and ancient both, have used the term "Natural Law" to argue and dissect the human condition. Philosophers added to the catalog of man made discourse and man made "laws" concerning "Natural Law," our "rational" participation in what if scenarios encouraged the acceptance of "Natural Law".

My question concerns "Natural Law," can we consider it an invention by man? Nature has never once insisted upon or commanded us to use any "natural laws" that we must follow, but many men have insisted that according to nature this or that is so and mankind must adhere to that law.
Again we aren't following orders.

So...........just to throw this out there, can you consider that there is no such thing as a Natural Law?

Eons may pass until mankind completely penetrates to the core meanings of our existence and then there may be no meaning at all. We have become deaf to each other in the present while our belief's from the past try to conquer all. We may just be here along with every thing else living and dying as part of our earth's cycle. Why is it that modern researchers who delve deeper into the chemical makeups of everything on earth continue to find symbiotic relationships dominating? Where is this conversation?

Some of us can spend too much time in the substrate, learning the lessons, filling in the slots, and thinking about what if"s. We can't look ahead the way you do in chess, we can plan but we can't know absolutely or see the end result until after it has happened.

Consider this....maybe if we step back, take a look around and go on a longer journey in the present maybe more will reach that goal of "happiness in this life" faster. If you are indulging in what might have happened or what if ‘s, you may have forgotten a piece of knowledge that has been stored in your unconscious, something left there which had no rule for handling. Access to it was lost but it never left storage, it is still there waiting to be opened on a different level.

Choose to examine it.
Take it out of storage.
Work with it and use it to divest of the what if's.
Take action now. Don't wait for tomorrow.

swimming the currents of the intertubes

Has anyone noticed while swimming along the currents of the intertubes a trend with numbers?
Daily on Yahoo, AOL, Digg, MSNBC, and all the other similar story aggregations the one getting the most hits has a number in it.




Top 10 ways to please your lover.
Top 5 things that happened at the hearings
7 Key Genes predict brain cancer survival
14 Regrettable professional sports promotions
8 things your contractor won't tell you
6 ways to swear effectively
10 surprising sex statistics
9 Inspirational Presidential speeches
15 Rites of Passage
4 reasons why something sucks
10 things you might not know about socialized medicine

i'll bet you want to read one of those don't you?
i only put one link in...the one to socialized medicine the rest you can google and find on your own.

Here is another frequent set of articles. They start with a question.

Do you drink too much?
Can you keep a secret?
Do you really want to live forever?
What does she/he really want you to do in the bedroom?
Do you have a white roof, learn how to fight global warming?
Did you know scientist's found the worlds oldest wily?
Why did squid wash up on a California beach?
Bush's CIA: Who deserves the assassin's bullet?
Which Bruno outfits are your favorites?

i thought about putting the links in for all of these in case you wanted to follow up but it is just as easy to Google them. Are you a statistic......... do these types of stories sucker you in? Writers understand how to grab your attention and by the looks of things on line numbers and questions get the most hits.

Moving on i have also been thinking about idioms. Idioms are phrases that have meanings different than the actual words. i wanted to play with them to see what kind of a piece i could put together. Unfortunately i'm not a comedian, if only i knew how to do humor i'll bet this could be really funny and fun. But in researching idioms i've learned that they tend to be pretty serious. Teaching us lessons and all that.

i put this little piece together....tried to keep it light.......see how many idioms you can find....the answer will be at the end.

The calm before the storm, as luck would have it.....is that period of serenity before it all hits the fan...usually happens when two people or the circumstances are at an impasse. One person hangs the other out to dry but maybe the shoe is on the other foot and these circumstances have gone from positive to negative. It may be the person who has turned off the spigot was making other people experience their ill will and now they are experiencing it also. The bad karma they left behind came back to bite them.

Too many try to reinvent the wheel when they are arguing. Things are easier said than done and remember when you are in the midst of a battle if you are given lemons make lemonade. You can make something great out of something that could have gone sour cause all's well that ends well and really.......... its better to try and understand the devil you know rather than the devil you don't.

Why do some people turn on those that have supported them? Why do they repay kindness with a wrong? They get a chip on their shoulder and they can't get it off. They can't understand if you give them a taste of their own medicine because that only works one way and they don't see the bad karma biting them back. Sometimes the easiest way to resolve it is to cut to the chase. Don't waste time beating around the bush because drastic times call for drastic measures.

The saying "don't bite the hand that feeds you because you may need it someday" is one to keep close to your heart. You don't want to bite off more than you can chew when repaying those who supported you when you needed them. But remember that old adage...casting pearls before swine is all about wasting good deeds on someone who does not appreciate them. Don't put something in front of those that don't value them. We all have axe's to grind but it is better to let the water flow under the bridge.

If you are crying over spilt milk you have already lost something, you can't move on, and you can't remain upset over it. Stop going up a blind alley, set the wheels in motion and get started. Sometimes you have to go back to square one because you are stuck between a rock an a hard place.
We can all get stuck in some frame of mind that does nothing for our future. Putting your tail between your legs is unnecessary.
We all know that every cloud has a silver lining, so drop the cock and bull story, and stop being so fixed in your ways.

You know how it is....when it rains it pours because a lot of things can go wrong...i can
foam at the mouth all i want.....but you should just wake up and smell the coffee. Go out on a limb, go the extra mile, stop with the knee jerk reactions and let bygones be bygones. The ball is in your court, pick it up because then you will have the best of both worlds and its better late than never.

Remember, no matter the consequences those who are honest with themselves get farther in life.

46

Human symbiosis

While alive we humans, who may have evolved from symbiotic relationships between bacteria's, continue to learn why symbiosis is so important to our well being.

The definition of symbiosis is commonly described as the interactions between diverse biological species. We are not diverse, just different. Definitions of symbiosis include three categories of symbiotic relationships, mutualism, parisitic, or commensal. A primary aspect is to describe it as one beneficial to both parties.

However it is defined, the main premise is one of positive interaction.

The biologist Lynn Margulis, famous for her work on endosymbiosis, contends that symbiosis is a major driving force behind evolution. She considers Darwin's notion of evolution, driven by competition, as incomplete and claims that evolution is strongly based on co-operation, interaction, and mutual dependence among organisms.

If we look at humanity one of the precepts for all human cultures is to contain your desires.

Caving into desire is to act unnaturally which upsets the natural harmonic balance. Well maybe it doesn't. Maybe caving in to desires that don't involve violence is what creates change in a symbiotic universe.

Much of the ancient and modern meditations on human behavior admonish us to "return to nature" yet not to allow our "free will" to gain "free rein." To seek a "calm" state free from desires. Well maybe these meditations on human behavior are wrong. Maybe that calm state free from desires is what allows the violent in society to prevail, to run roughshod over the rest of us who are remaining calm and containing our desires.

The fact that suffering, pain and death will never end as long as humanity inhabits earth is minimized when we curb our desires. Suffering and pain can be diluted but death will always be the end result of life as we humans know it. Curbing our desires means that love, kindness and compassion take a back seat to pain and suffering.

Interactions of the human kind are dictated by habits of mind. We passively accept the manipulation of our societies by religious and political leaders. We become sheep. We subsist in a state of inertia, the continual everyday life that we accept even when there is no apparent connection between the overriding realities that are bombarding us from outside our comfort zones, and that of a better world.

Death and love, those are the strange passions of humanity that guide our every action. They bind us to each other and split us off. We know we are all fellow participants in spaceship earth and yet many of us work against each other for our own ends which aren't always beneficial to all. This working against each other has been encouraged, even though the historical record shows that interaction and cooperation exhibit more positive results.

The art of symbiosis is not manipulation. No entity is manipulated, benefits accrue either to both or to one of the participants without devastating harm to the other. If the relationship ends in death for one, the other quickly follows making this form of symbiosis the least likely to achieve successful evolutionary progress. The most ideal symbiotic relationship is mutualism when both parties benefit.

According to Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan,

"Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking."

Today, networking has taken off. The internet has changed the combination of our linkages to those all over the world. It has created a more positive environment for transferring ideas and solutions to many more people just as did the radio and television.

All of us, at one time or another, need helping hands during those big times of our lives. We connect through business, family, friends and acquaintances. Symbiotic relationships are a part of nature and our beings. Recognizing the important role it plays in changing our lives is just another step we as humans are taking to make this world a better place for all of us.

Random Phenomena

Random phenomena can either be single events or those occurrences that evolve over time in a random fashion. Our lives exhibit these random circumstances on a daily basis. More often than not some fiasco will insert itself into our well laid plans and we must change the final outcome.

How that fiasco, failure, disaster, mess or washout happened is insignificant. What we did with it and how we fiddled with it is significant.

For example, if you have told a lie, some falsehood, some made-up story, an invention or some deception to an acquaintance, friend or family member your outcome will evolve over time. Randomness comes into play.

Initially, you may believe the outcome to be positive. The result of your action, at the time, has smoothed over the rough spot and you are off the hook. But the fib now lives with you, it follows you and may grow. You must always guard against revealing details that may ensnare you in falsehood.

Subjective logic takes uncertainty and belief ownership into account. A fundamental aspect of the human condition is that nobody can ever determine with absolute certainty whether a proposition about the world is true or false. Whether what someone has told them is true or false.

belief is the belief that the specified proposition is true.
disbelief is the belief that the specified proposition is false.
uncertainty is the amount of uncommitted belief.
base rate is the a priori probability in the absence of evidence.

Back to the lie, which does contain some truth. The truth and the lie are fused into one story which is not necessarily a complete fiction.

This is where trust comes in.

Many of us have an uncanny ability to exhibit warmth of emotion even when the underlying fervor is one of suspicion. We don't want to believe our friends or family or leaders are lying to us but there is the nagging indications that they may be. We may especially feel this way if they have lied to us in the past and we have caught them. They may not be aware that we have "caught" them and so they continue to repeat the lie.

We see this happening everywhere. It happens politically, it happens with religions, it happens with social relationships. Any human interaction can be fraught with untruths.

So how does one guard against falling for the "story" or "falsehood" be it religious, political or social?

By shining a light on the falsehood. By calling it out. By creating simple questions that lead to truth.
Guantanamo isn't closed.
We are still in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We still torture.
These issues have not gone away just because the administration changed.
There are still lies that need uncovering and even though many of us have stopped discussing these events they still live and breath in the lies that created them.

Hate Speech

All of us at one time or another use "hate speech" to describe groups unlike ourselves. We use "hate speech" to demonize the "other".

Today in the political environment "hate speech" has replaced civil discourse. On the internet when differences in political ideology come in contact with each other the use of "hate speech" by both sides dominates the conversation which essentially shuts it down.

Who are those that want it shut down and why do they not want the two main political parties talking to each other?

Recently the main issues being discussed on line revolve around Iran, health care, and the economy but this is what you see when you read comment threads.

DUMBOCRATS, DEMONCRATS(DEMS)

STEAL FROM THE WORKER AND GIVE TO THE LAZY LIBERAL WELFARE BREEDERS

Impeach Obama and his American SS hate groups.

The only people who watch NBC are nitwits, numbskulls, perverts, and a few demoncrats that have learned how to understand English.

Liberals= SOCIALISTS really scary word on AOL

GREED OVER PEOPLE, WINGNUTS(GOP)

YOU STUPID RED STATE REPUBLICAN HICKS SHOULD LEAVE OUR GREAT BLUE STATE NATION

CEO's losing billions and taking millions in bonuses for incompetence. That's really working hard all right, AT BEING A THEIF.

FAUX NEWS(Fox News)

The only people who watch FOX are nitwits, numbskulls, perverts, and a few wingnuts that have graduated from high school.

Right Wing=FACISTS really scary word on HUFFINGTON POST

The above is just a fraction of what poses as internet comments.

Demonization works to keep the ideologically pure on both sides hating each other.

But is it necessary?

And how do both sides stop it?

All of us need to realize that demonizing anyone relegates them to the "EVIL ZONE".
Once you have been categorized as "EVIL" nothing you say is heard. So why don't the powers that be want us to hear each other?

Because if we do listen to each other then we can't be controlled.

Is morality a social construct?

There are many that believe it is morally right to send teenagers(children) to prison for life.
There are many that believe it is morally right to kill adulterers.
There are many that believe it is morally right to circumcise women and men.
There are many that believe it is morally right to torture.
There are many that believe it is morally right to hang a criminal.
There are many that believe it is morally right to go to war.
There are many that believe it is morally right to abort a fetus.
There are many that believe it is morally right to kill an intruder.
There are many that believe it is morally right to collect data on all citizens.
There are many that believe it is morally right to engage in extraordinary rendition.
Hitler believed it was morally right to exterminate the Jews.
Stalin believed it was morally right to assassinate his enemies.

There are many that believe it is morally right to____________________________.
fill in the blank.

If we don't agree on what is morally right then there must not be any universal moral standards.

The Anthropological Argument for moral standards is as follows:
1. People in different societies make different moral judgments regarding the same action.
2. If people in different societies make different moral judgments regarding the same action, they must accept different moral standards.
3. If people in different societies accept different moral standards, there are no universal moral standards.
4. Therefore, there are no universal moral standards.

Think about points 3 and 2 are they accurate? What is the difference between moral judgement and moral standards and do moral judgements depend upon moral standards?

To understand the difference one must consider facts and belief and ones view about the nature of reality.

According to Emmanuel Kant our experiences are mediated through the human mind which universally structures perceptions in accordance with our relative time and space. Others have argued that our experiences are mediated by our culture....realizing that "our culture is the center of the universe," and "our culture" can be vastly different for peoples living in the same country.

Theodore Schick Jr. says: One's cultural focus may take obvious forms, in which one consciously believes that one's people's arts are the most beautiful, values the most virtuous, and beliefs the most truthful.
This is known as ethnocentrism...all culture's have it and it can be a problem when trying to understand ourselves and others.

Marcus and Fisher claim that in using portraits of other cultural patterns to reflect self-critically on our own ways, anthropology disrupts common sense and makes us reexamine our taken-for-granted assumptions.

Theodore Schick Jr. says

"It is widely believed that there are self-evident truths in logic, such as the statement that everything is identical with itself. But are there any self-evident truths in morality? Consider the statement, "Unnecessary suffering is wrong." This statement does not say that suffering is wrong or that no one has suffered unnecessarily. What it says is that whenever one is made to suffer unnecessarily, a wrong has been committed. To anyone who understands what suffering and wrong are, this statement should be self-evident.

If you do not believe that this statement is true, the burden of proof is on you to provide a counterexample. If you are unable to do so - if you cannot cite a situation in which unnecessary suffering is right - then any claim that it is false is irrational, for you have no good reason to make it."

Developing a framework for looking at domestic and international human rights issues through a lens not colored rosy might awaken us and help us create new methods for dealing with moral disagreements. It might provide common ground and encourage all to look at these disagreements from new perspectives.

First on the list may be understanding that we don't all agree on what is "morally right."

Go Ahead and Die

Tidbits

Years ago My Mom started a list of words she detested. Whenever i'd visit i'd ask her to get out the list and share her new ones. She never threw the list out she just kept adding to it. i love the time spent examining her list because it is always filled with lots of laughter while she explains why she just abhorred some word.

Well recently i've been thinking of making my own list and here are two:

Bipartisan
Kool-aid

Moving on.....today is a slow day as i have been working more on another project. i've been writing and tearing up passages, stopping to read when frustrated and thinking about why i really enjoy quotes, poetry and thoughts from other people. i collect them and keep them in a Miscellaneous file. Today i've dredged some up that i hope you enjoy. So to start...I'll go back in time.

One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives...Euripides

I don't know why I did it,
I don't know why I enjoyed it,
and I don't know why I'll do it again. Socrates

Demonization of anyone destroys the ability to think critically.

Is not general incivility the very essence of love?

All people, all over the world, be they rich or poor must establish their fundamental right to decent standards of living.

"Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend, and step off before it is discredited." George Soros

Peace does not necessarily have to be something humans might achieve "some day." They contend that peace exists in the present, we can create and expand it in small ways in our everyday lives, and peace changes constantly. This view makes peace permeable and imperfect rather than static and utopian.[5] From a "Call for Many Peaces" by Dietrich/Echavarría/Koppensteiner

Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve, "Independent mortgage companies, which are not covered by CRA, made high-priced loans at more than twice the rate of the banks and thrifts."- The real conclusion about the CRA and the mortgage meltdown is that laws and regulations did not make lenders engage in predatory lending, absence of oversight and lender greed did.

These people, the banks, the lenders, and the executives are the ones who are directly responsible for the crisis. Next in line are the politicians who are subsidized by these same big money interests who helped do away with responsible regulations and crippled regulatory agencies. All those who believe that the free market will properly regulate itself are the real culprits.

.
All told, according to statistics provided by the National Abortion Federation and not including this last murder, since 1977, there have been seven murders, 17 attempted murders, 41 bombings, 175 arsons, 96 attempted bombings or arsons, 390 invasions, 1400 cases of vandalism, 1993 cases of trespassing, 100 butyric acid attacks, 659 anthrax threats, 179 cases of assault and battery, 406 death threats, four kidnappings, 151 burglaries, and 525 cases of stalking specifically directed at clinics, their workers, or their volunteers in the US and Canada. That's over 6,100 cases of terrorist activity by the "pro-life" movement. And that's just what was reported -- the actual numbers are probably much higher

And to end the piece i'll let Rahman Baba himself explain here:

Live not with thy head showing in the clouds,
Thou art by birth the offspring of this earth,
The stream that passed the sluice cannot again flow back,
Nor can again return the misspent time that sped,
Consider well the deeds of the good and bad,
Whether in this thy profit lieth or in that.

open arms

In the Virgin Islands we have a stairway that usually leads to the main entrance of the great house. Many refer to the shape of the stairway as one of open arms and are known locally as "welcoming arms."

These stairways reflect the beauty and grace of these islands. They begin wider at the bottom with curves like open arms welcoming all. Unfortunately, in the beginning, these stairways belonged to the owners of slaves and they did not "welcome all."

The United States of America began this way. Opening up its vast stretches of land to all who wanted a new way of life. One free of the restrictions they wanted to escape. "Empathy" helped the birthing of democracy in this land, that ability to "walk in another's shoes." Our laws were created from an understanding of empathy and the trials and tribulations that had gone on in other countries and our own that we didn't want to continue to repeat. We had a steep learning curve that we still do battle with. Our laws continue to evolve as we learn more about humanity and the way we all interact.

Today we find the word empathy mixed up with the word "emotional" and "feelings" as a negative attribute. "Emotional" dominates the airwaves and empathy now means the word emotion almost exclusively. Emotion is a negative word these days.

Sampling another's feelings, understanding them, walking in their shoes does not mean you "sympathize" with them.

Empathy means your understanding has another layer.

Our country's laws would not be what they are today without those original drafters of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution having some form of empathy. Empathy is not racism. Empathy is the ability to walk in another's shoes which is sorely lacking in this country today.

So the next time you read or hear the word "empathy" see if you are being played and it is all about "emotion" and "feelings" instead of "walking in another's shoes."

Remember "empathy" means you have another layer of understanding....not sympathy.

Quining

i've been reading "Godel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid" by Douglas Hofstadter for the past few months. This is not a book you read in a hurry. i like to read a piece at a time maybe a whole chapter so the full aspects can be digested.

A few days ago i finished reading a piece between the Tortoise and Achilles called Air on G's String. The Tortoise and Achilles interact usually following more theoretical parts of the book and have Escher paintings and Bach fugues thrown in to clear up confusion.

In this conversation between Achilles and Tortoise they discuss how peculiar a phrase can be when it talks about itself. Achilles talks about his head spinning and what kind of a lunatic mind would torment innocent people during the night by leaving a quined phrase on his answering machine. He repeats the phrase to Tortoise which i'll reproduce here but unless you've read the book it won't make much sense.

"YIELDS FALSEHOOD WHEN PRECEDED BY ITS QUOTATION"
YIELDS FALSEHOOD WHEN PRECEDED BY ITS QUOTATION.

This is only really significant to me and later to you because last night i couldn't sleep. All night long the Beatles song Blackbird was running through my mind. i tried to OM, i got up and tried to read, i got a glass of water, i tried everything but i couldn't get it to stop playing. So this morning i decided it was important, that i needed to pay attention in keeping with my philosophy not to ignore things.

i went to look up more information on McCartney. According to my research, McCartney has credited Bach with the inspiration for the music to Blackbird. "Hmmmmm Bach?" Thinks i, some may not realize it but throughout the song every single chord contains a G. "Air on G's String?" Thinks i.
So i go re-read the Tortoise and Achilles piece.

Its interesting that this song played over and over in my mind last night because it had to do with civil rights. i went to look up some more and found that McCartney had just recently sang this song to crowds at the Coachella Music Festival the end of April. He made mention of its history and said today, 40 years later, many of the negative civil rights issues had been addressed positively. The lyrics are timeless and i repeat them here in hopes that our human rights issues are addressed positively as well.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Oh you were only waiting for this moment to arise
Oh you were only waiting for this moment to be free

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXIx1nhF7rU

i bring this all up because in many ways we as a nation are quining. We make reference to ourselves but the mirror isn't always that which is reflected back. We use phrases that talk about ourselves as a nation but they don't reflect much truth.

We analyze the statement, we investigate it to find its truth but then some of us find it is synthetic.

"WE DON'T TORTURE"
WE DON'T TORTURE.
is a quinned statement my government uses. They use it in a synthetic manner, i use it analytically understanding it not to be true.......who is correct?

Petraeus and Colin Powell are finally free of those who were taking this country towards a future where our talk and our actions were diametrically opposed. This weekend in an appearance on Radio Free Europe Petraeus said that President Obama's decision to close down Guantanamo and end harsh interrogation techniques(which he has testified against and helped write guidelines that are in keeping with our agreements under the Geneva Conventions) would benefit the United States in the broader war on terror. Powell said, on Face The Nation "We're doing it(closing Guantanamo) to reassure Europeans, Muslims, Arabs, all the people around the world that we are a nation of law.

Again, we as a nation are learning to see, like the McCartney song says "learn to see". The blinders are coming off and we are working towards healing that which ails us. Let us hope we don't decide to quine instead.

When all humans are considered humans and proceed to due process under our laws and all pain inflicted is recognized for what it is...only then will we be a nation whose words and deeds mesh.

"WE DON'T TORTURE"
WE DON'T TORTURE.