In a time where it seems that all news is bad news, there has been a surprising and extremely encouraging discovery that would certainly be considered great news.
[That is, assuming it wasn't a hidden fact to promote climate alarmism, global warming, and overheating oceans to promote a capitalist agenda of selling pollution credits to corporations to let them legally pollute for profit and profit from selling the permission to pollute to others. Is there any better single way of destroying the natural environment than capitalism?]
Researchers from the University of Queensland have found that there are far more coral reefs on planet Earth than previously assumed.
In fact, they found more than 200,000 miles of coral in the ocean’s shallow waters.
Now, they hope this "new" information will help scientists around the world understand and protect these and all other reefs.
The reason coral is dying, bleaching, and eroding away was discovered by Dr. Joel Wallach, though no one seems to pay attention to his groundbreaking discovery. He is famous, though hardly known by the average person, for solving the riddle of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), finding the nutritional deficiencies that were ruining mothers' lives after their horrifying losses as they were blamed for rolling on their children and killing them. But it was something missing from the SAD (Standard American Diet). When replaced, we stopped hearing about SIDS until now nearly no one remembers it.
What is the cause of coral reef loss, according to Dr. Wallach? The building of dams all around the world, depriving the ocean of massive amounts of minerals from silt spilled into the seas from rivers before they were blocked. These base minerals countered acidity. Acidic ocean conditions erode coral reefs. It can be undone.
Anyone who’s ever cared for orchids knows that they’re pretty special.
From their practically microscopic seeds, to their tasty seed pods, to their worldwide range, these flowering beauties are nothing short of amazing.
They seem more of a celestial item -- like the mandarava (flame tree, coral tree, erythrina) bloom in Buddhist texts (e.g., Maha Kassapa: Father of the Sangha) -- than a terrestrial one. Here are a few things most probably didn’t know about them:
1. They are the largest family of flowering plants
By some estimates, Orchidaceais the largest family of flowering plants, with at least 25,000 to 30,000 species — not including the 100,000 hybrids and cultivars created by horticulturalists that aren’t naturally occurring. Of all flowering plant species on Earth, orchids make up about 10%. More
Hellmuth Hecker, Maha Kassapa: Father of the Sangha, Chp. 8 (DN 16), revised and enlarged translation from German by Nyanaponika Thera (edited by Wisdom Quarterly)
Devas and human beings loved to give the Buddha the gift of fragrant flowers.
Wildflowers are neon signs doing everything they can to attract pollinators like bees.
One of the Buddha's main disciples, Maha Kassapa, played a leading role in the Monastic Community (Sangha) after the Buddha passed. Only two of the five most prominent disciples were present, the brothers Ananda and Anuruddha. Sariputta and Maha Moggallana had already passed into bliss.
Maha Kassapa, with a large company of wandering ascetics, was traveling on the main road from Pava to Kusinara to see the Buddha. He veered and sat down under a tree to rest. Just then a naked ascetic passed by with a mandarava flower in his hand, which is said to grow only in a celestial (deva) world.
When Maha Kassapa saw it, he knew something unusual must have happened for such a flower to be found on earth.
He asked the naked ascetic whether he had heard any news about the Buddha, and the naked ascetic affirmed that he had, saying: "The recluse Gautama passed into nirvana a week ago. I picked up this mandarava flower from the place of cremation."
It looks like a celestial flower from the deva realm, the flame tree (Erythrina sandwicensis)
.
I'm not "naked." I'm a "sky-clad" sadhu.
Among the monastics who heard the news, only those who were arhats [fully enlightened] like Maha Kassapa could remain calm, cool, and collected.
The others who were not yet liberated from the passions and defilements lamented and wept: "Too soon has the Blessed One passed into nirvana! Too soon has the Eye of the World vanished from our sight!"
There was one [crochety] monk named Subhadda who had ordained in his old age. He addressed the others: "Enough, friends! Do not grieve! Do not lament! We are well rid of that Great Ascetic. We have been troubled by his telling us, 'This is befitting, that is not befitting.' Now we can do what we like, and we won't have to do what we do not like!"
[This led Maha Kassapa to realize the need for a great Buddhist council to formalize the Teachings (Dharma) of the Buddha. In that sense, Maha Kassapa became the founder of "Buddhism," taking what he had learned from the Buddha, what he knew about monasticism, society, and Brahmins to give us a new -ism. Prior to that Buddhism was not a religion but a path of practice to enlightenment. It was soon to become a formal structure.]
Until then it had not been possible to set the funeral pyre alight as the devas [celestial "shining ones"] present wanted to wait until Venerable Maha Kassapa came and paid his respects to the remains of the Buddha. When he arrived at the place of cremation, he reverently walked twice around the pyre with clasped hands then, with bowed head, paid his respects at the feet of the Tathagata (the Buddha).
Relics (sarira) are an arhat's cremation remains.
When his company of monastics did likewise, the pyre, it is said, burst into flames by itself. Hardly had the bodily remains of the Tathagata been cremated when there arose a conflict about the distribution of the relics (sarira) among the laypeople assembled and those who had sent messengers later.
The distribution was settled by the Brahmin Dona, who divided the relics into eight portions and distributed them among. He took the vessel in which the relics had been.
There's a reserve in Los Angeles County for spring wildflowers (weather.com)
.
Maha Kassapa brought his share of the relics to the current king of Magadha, Ajatasattu. Having done so, he turned his thoughts to the preservation of the Buddha's spiritual heritage, the Teachings (Dharma) and the Disciplinary Code (Vinaya).
The necessity to do so was demonstrated to him by Subhadda's challenge of the discipline, advocating moral laxity. Maha Kassapa took this as a warning. If that attitude were to spread, it would lead to the decline and ruin of both the Monastic Community and the Teaching.
To prevent this, Maha Kassapa proposed holding a council by which the Dharma and Discipline could be reliably established and secured. He turned to the monastics gathered at Rajagaha (modern Rajgir, India). They agreed and at their request Maha Kassapa selected 500 [lit. "a large number" not actually 500] members, all but one of whom were fully enlightened (arhats). More
Coral Castle, tarot reading, and the academic firestorm surrounding a controversial piece of ancient papyrus were among the riveting stories explored last week on Coast to Coast. And a gargantuan crater was found in Russia, an eerie "shadow creature" (shapeshifting skin-walker wolf, fox, or dog) was filmed in Maine, and a pair of Italian flat earth skeptics got lost trying to find the "edge of the world."
On Tuesday Theresa Reed detailed nearly 30 years of work with the popular divination tool called the tarot card deck. She explained that reading the cards relies on intuition honed over many sessions coupled with a strong understanding of their foundation and multiple interpretations.
NASA's fake space footage revealed by mouse
The monstrous power of Mother Nature was on full display this week: a jaw-dropping video of an enormous crater that appeared in Russia's Arctic Tundra region.
Inadvertently discovered by a news crew flying overhead, the chasm located on the country's Yamal Peninsula measures 165 feet deep. In the face of online speculation that the ominous pit was somehow related to UFOs or a clandestine weapon test, a Russia expert quickly explained to the public that it was a natural phenomenon brought about by melting permafrost.
Whoever makes crop circles goes coronavirus
The mysterious Coral Castle [American Stonehenge] in Homestead, Florida has long perplexed researchers who wonder how Edward Leedskalnin could have built the elaborate stone structure by himself.
On Monday night's program, R.L. Poole shared details from his investigation into the location and its creator. He argued that Coral Castle was crafted using a secret scientific technique related to magnetism.
Moreover, Leedskalnin hid a code in the stone which, when applied to his writings, revealed a collaboration with the wealthy heiress Doris Duke.
A curious piece of footage surfaced this week that seemingly shows some kind of shadow creature crossing a dark and spooky road. The video came courtesy of a dashcam from a Maine motorist driving through the community of Yarmouth a few days earlier and, at the time, didn't notice anything out of the ordinary from his trip.
When looking back at the footage to find out if it captured a deer he had spotted on the drive, the man was stunned to see a baffling black form zipping from one side of the road to the other in front of his vehicle. A supernatural visitor, paranormal activity, or a trick of light and shadow? We're still not sure.
Of course I was married! I was a rabbi.
The fantastic story of how a scrap of papyrus purportedly indicating that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene set off a firestorm in the religious studies world a few years ago was discussed in fascinating detail on Saturday night's program by journalist Ariel Sabar.
He recounted how the controversial piece of paper made its way to a Harvard professor who unveiled her blockbuster discovery at a 2012 conference and how her findings quickly fell apart when the artifact was said to be a fraud.
All ancient cultures described a domed flat earth
By far the most bizarre story of the week came from Italy where a pair of alleged Italian flat earth enthusiasts tried to find the "edge of the world" but wound up on an epic misadventure.
Map of Mt. Sumeru and our flat earth
The duo began by breaking coronavirus-related travel restrictions to embark on a road trip that led to them selling their car, buying a boat, and sailing to an island hundreds of miles away in the opposite direction of what they believed to be the literal end of the earth.
Despite failing in their mission, the pair persisted twice more, much to the chagrin of authorities who kept trying to get them to adhere to the country's pandemic quarantine.
This is NOT a picture of Australia burning but an artist's rendition of areas already affected by fire.
Australia fires: Misleading pictures go viral
(BBC News, 1/8/20) Maps and pictures of Australia's unprecedented bushfires are being spread widely on social media. Users post them to raise awareness of the devastating fires, but some of the viral maps are misleading. They are spreading disinformation about the crisis. One image shared widely by Twitter users, including the famous singer Rihanna, was interpreted as a map showing the live extent of fire spread, with large sections of the Australian coastline molten-red and fiery. But it is actually artist Anthony Hearsey's visualization of one month of data of locations where fire was detected, collected by NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System. Australia is fighting one of its worst bushfire seasons, fueled by record-breaking temperatures and months of severe drought [weather modification, dam water mismanagement]. Since September at least 25 people have died and thousands have been made homeless. More than 15.6 million acres (63,000 sq kms, 6.3 million hectares) have been burned so far. One hectare, by the way, is roughly the size of a sports field.
Rife could see all viruses and eliminate them.
First, this corona virus scare. They want us to be scared, very scared. They did it with SARS, swine flu, AIDS, sarin gas, anything they can sell toxic vaccines to countries for, which get forced into citizens because other citizens are terrified, and so on ad nauseum.
Tim Conway Jr., who likes to fan the fires of frenzy for ratings and because he's becoming a germophobe, noticed a shocking inconsistency on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. He was spraying down the radio booth with an old can of Lysol. It kills 99.9% of germs, the label reads, and it lists some. China said it just caught on to this new virus.
(CBC) Nurse in Wuhan, China says China is lying about outrbeak severity
Then the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) claimed it had never heard of corona virus until two months ago. That means that not until late November of 2019 had the leading agency on health been aware of this thing called the corona virus, so called because of the dots around the virus under a microscope. Conway read the Lysol can, which said it was manufactured in late 2017, and it says itdisinfects corona virus. So Lysol heard of corona virus before W.H.O.? Or is it all more government conspiracy fearmongering? Be afraid, and scare everyone else until they're more afraid than you are.
Eucalyptus forest brush: ready for bush fire.
Dr. Joel Wallach, Ph.D. figured out why Australia is having two problems. The first problem is the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef, as the coral dies due to rising acidity and ocean warming, except warm ocean wouldn't kill the coral were it not for the acidity that eats it away. Why in Australian waters? It turns out that due to the foolish and shortsighted building of many dams, the alkaline silt which normally would run out into the ocean to balance the acidity is no longer there. Solution?
Dr. Joel Wallach begins the show today discussing his plan to save the dying coral reefs. Asserting that since dams were put on major waterways, silt is being prevented from reaching the oceans. He contends that bacteria need the minerals in silt, and algae feed on those bacteria. Algae moves up the food chain, and without algae reefs are dying. Youngevity is poised to help save the earth.More
Flush the dams. Release the silt. Keep the alkalizing salts (base minerals) flowing the waters around the Great Barrier Reef. The shock news of the day are the fires raging in Australia, polluting the air and killing billions of animals (at least half a billion to a billion big, important, lovable animals like koala bears, kangaroos, and other things they make into plush dolls, but many more creatures no one cares much about, which do not even come into the count). Dr. Wallach says this is due to flammable air, which means industrially polluted air.
Gondowan forest cover of Australia (wiki)
Moreover, on Friday, Jan. 31st, the famous Western Buddhist monk Ajahn Brahm, who lives in Perth, far western Australia, explained that when it gets very hot, and it has been very hot, and the fires approach, volatile organic compounds in eucalyptus and other trees combust in the air, and the trees explode like bombs (Ajahn Brahm, BSWA). There's no way to stop these fires once they get going.
Global warming or local warming, industry needs to stop polluting the polluting the planet and blaming it on citizens and carbon. Carbon good, more carbon better. It feeds plants and greens the world.
Carbon is not the problem we are told it is. Be seem willing to accept Carbon Markets due to our fear, as if selling "pollution credits" for something that is not a pollutant were an answer. Earth likes carbon, whereas it does not like toxic pollution. Let's reduce deadly things rather than our carbon footprint. We have been sold a bill of goods. Sorry, Greta Thunberg. We love you. Your message is being exploited as you are being glorified. Every corporation, stop polluting for profit. Let's stop letting heavy industry off the hook.
Let's get to planting a trillion trees, or how many ever it is companies have destroyed to sell the rich resources which are our birthright. We didn't get a check, like they get in Alaska for pumping the oil they should be leaving in the ground. California pumps plenty of oil, and we are legally entitled to compensation as citizens of the state, but we've never gotten our checks.
Underwater forest: Ancient "fairy world" found off Alabama coast
Wood from this ancient forest is still so fresh that it drips sap (This is Alabama)
.
The 50,000-year-old, perfectly preserved forest is showcased like never before in a newly released documentary.
Some 50,000 years ago, Earth was experiencing an ice age. Sea levels
had dropped precipitously, and the Alabama coastline stretched over 10
miles farther out to sea than it does today.
Thick cypress forests
covered a swampy valley in places that are now covered in over 60 feet
of seawater.
It's difficult to imagine, but there's one place where the
remnants of these ancient forests still exist like tangible ghosts,
where deep below the surface, cypress trunks peek out of the sediment and fish congregate like fairies.
Environmental reporter Ben Raines described the first time he
descended down into this ancient undersea woodland: "It was like
entering a fairy world," he told The Washington Post." More
SOUTH ARI ATOLL, Maldives [islands off of the tip of India] - There were startling colors here just a year ago, a dazzling
array of life beneath the waves. Now this Maldivian reef is dead, killed
by the stress of rising ocean temperatures. What's left is a haunting
expanse of gray, a scene repeated in reefs across the globe in what has
fast become a full-blown ecological catastrophe.
PHOTOS: An underwater photographer documents an expanse of dead coral at Lizard
Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Coral reefs, which are unique
underwater ecosystems that sustain a quarter of the world's marine
species and half a billion of its human inhabitants, are dying [at an accelerated rate and] on an unprecedented scale.
Scientists are racing to prevent a complete wipeout within decades (The
Ocean Agency/XL Catlin Seaview Survey via AP).
The world has lost roughly half its coral reefs in
the last 30 years. Scientists are now scrambling to ensure that at least
a fraction of these unique ecosystems survives beyond the next three
decades. The health of the planet depends on it: Coral reefs support a
quarter of all marine species, as well as half a billion people around
the world.
"This isn't something that's going to happen 100
years from now. We're losing them right now," said marine biologist
Julia Baum of Canada's University of Victoria. "We're losing them really
quickly, much more quickly than I think any of us ever could have
imagined."
Even if the world could halt global warming now,
scientists still expect that more than 90 percent of corals will die by
2050. Without drastic intervention, we risk losing them all. "To lose
coral reefs is to fundamentally undermine the health of a very large
proportion of the human race," said Ruth Gates, director of the Hawaii
Institute of Marine Biology.
Coral
reefs produce some of the oxygen we breathe. Often described as
underwater rainforests, they populate a tiny fraction of the ocean but
provide habitats for one in four marine species. Reefs also form crucial
barriers protecting coastlines from the full force of storms.
They provide billions of dollars in revenue from
tourism, fishing and other commerce, and are used in medical research
for cures to diseases including cancer, arthritis and bacterial or viral
infections. More
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