Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Crystal pyramids found in Bermuda Triangle

Wisdom Quarterly; EndAllDisease.com

Two Giant Underwater Crystal Pyramids Discovered in Center of Bermuda Triangle
Pyramid at Cheops (MW)
With the use of sonar, oceanographer Dr. Meyer Verlag discovered giant glass pyramids at a depth of 2,000 meters. The use of other devices has allowed scientists to determine that these glass giants are made of a crystal-like substance and are nearly three times larger than the pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.
 
He believes that further investigation into the secrets in the center of the pyramids could reveal more information regarding the cases of mysterious disappearances associated with the legendary "Bermuda Triangle." In a press conference held in the Bahamas, Dr. Verlag presented a report with the exact coordinates of the pyramids... More

 

Buddhist radio, West Coast (Pacifica)

Wisdom Quarterly; Alan Watts, Roy Tuckman, Something's Happening (KPFK.org Archive)

The Earth from Saturn (photo)

Wisdom Quarterly; BBC News (bbc.co.uk)
Earth seen in the bottom right of the image beyond Saturn's majestic ring system (NASA)
  
Bhumi "Earth" Devi (MM)
NASA has released photos of the Earth and Moon taken by a spacecraft orbiting Saturn -- nearly a billion miles away. Our planet and its only satellite appear only as [pale blue] dots in the picture, which was taken by the Cassini spacecraft on July 19, 1990. Scientists wanted to pay homage to the "Pale Blue Dot" image captured by the Voyager 1 probe in 1990. This was the first time people knew in advance that their long distance picture was being taken. As part of the event launched by NASA, people were asked to wave in what Carolyn Porco, who leads Cassini's camera team, described as an "interplanetary cosmic photo session." "It thrills me no end... More

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

The Zeitgiest Media Festival

Wisdom Quarterly; ZeitgeistMediaFestival.org; TheZeitgeistMovement.com
Third Annual Zeitgeist Media Festival Aug. 3-4, 2013: LA and Global! Avalon, Hollywood 3:00 pm-10:00 pm (doors at 2:00) with sympathetic global events: 8/2/13 to 8/4/13.
“Changing the World Through Socially Conscious Art”
It was a festival of full-spectrum conviction, overflowing with compelling emotions that reflect the real [troubles] pressing in upon our emerging global society with accelerating force. In this sense this now-annual festival is a natural outgrowth of a growing, terrestrial upheaval that is going to leave no part of the human collective being untouched. - Hollywood Today
 


News of the World 
Coasttocoastam.com

The Problem with Werewolves

Nick Redfern discusses the internal strife caused within cryptozoology over mysterious "werewolf" reports. — Mysterious Universe

Loren's Top 50 Cryptids

Loren Coleman details a veritable menagerie of popular and obscure cryptids that continue to elude researchers. — Cryptozoonews

Meet Ippo the "Zonkey"

Rare foal was born after a zebra climbed a fence to mate with an endangered donkey. — Mail Online

MRSA: Farming up trouble

Microbiologists are trying to work out whether use of antibiotics on farms is fuelling the human epidemic of drug-resistant bacteria. — Nature

Tiny patch hides you from mosquitoes

Brightly colored little patches that stick on clothing or backpacks could represent an effective new way to fight mosquitoes and the deadly illnesses they spread. — Discovery News

(Big)foot in Mouth: Bigfoot Language

Eyewitnesses report hearing howls, whoops, growls, screams, mumbles, whistles and other strange vocalizations in the wild, and attribute these to Bigfoot. — Scientific American

Viking Jewelry Unearthed in Denmark

Several items, some of which contain gold, have been uncovered at a farm site in Denmark that dates as far back as 1,300 years. — LiveScience

Monday, July 29, 2013

Vipaka: The Results of Karma (sutra)

Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly translation based on Ajahn Thanissaro translation Vipaka Sutta (AN 8.40)

(safeerbandali/flickr.com)
"Meditators, taking life -- when indulged in, practiced, and developed -- leads to perdition, and/or to rebirth in the animal realm, and the realm of hungry ghosts.*
 
The least negative results from the taking of life is that, if and when one again is reborn among humans, this karma will result in a shortened life span.
 
"Taking what is not given -- indulged in, practiced, and developed -- leads to perdition, and/or to rebirth in the animal realm, to the realm of hungry ghosts. The least negative results from taking what is not given is that, if and when one is again reborn among humans, this karma will result in the loss of wealth.
 
"Illicit sexual conduct -- indulged in, practiced, and developed -- leads to perdition, and/or to rebirth in the animal realm, the realm of hungry ghosts. The least negative results from illicit sexual conduct is that, if and when one is again reborn among humans, this karma will result in rivalry and revenge.
 
"False speech [perjury, divisive speech, harsh speech, idle speech] -- indulged in, practiced, and developed -- leads to perdition, and/or rebirth in the animal realm, the realm of hungry ghosts. The least negative results from false speech are that, if and when one is again reborn among humans, this karma will result in being falsely accused.
 
"Divisive speech -- indulged in, practiced, and developed -- leads to perdition, and/or rebirth in the animal realm, the realm of hungry ghosts. The least negative results from speaking falsely is that, if and when one is again reborn among humans, this karma will result in the breaking of one's friendships.
 
Mystery of rebirth (androgynylist.com)
"Harsh speech -- indulged in, practiced, and developed -- leads to perdition, and/or rebirth in the animal realm, the realm of hungry ghosts. The least negative results from harsh speech is that, if and when one is again reborn among humans, it leads to unappealing sounds.

"Frivolous speech (idle chatter) -- indulged in, practiced, and developed -- leads to perdition, and/or to rebirth in the animal realm, to the realm of hungry ghosts. The least negative results from frivolous speech are that, if and when one is again reborn among humans, it leads to words not worth taking to heart.
 
"Taking intoxicants (drinking liquor) -- indulged in, practiced, and developed -- leads to perdition, and/or rebirth in the animal realm, the realm of hungry ghosts. The least negative results from taking intoxicants are that, if and when one is again reborn as a human, it leads to derangement."

*Karma, my Karma
WISDOM QUARTERLY COMMENTARY
One should not err in thinking that such a "course of conduct" is immediately exhausted simply by rebirth in an unfortunate realm or by a great deal of suffering from spending thousands of years in that realm. The effects of a single action are redounding. Karma does not mean "cause and effect," the Newtonian law. It is almost nothing like that. It is like pushing over a domino or dropping a stone in a still pond. The results and fruits (vipaka and phala) of the action (karma) can be known in general, but the full working out is incomprehensible. Even though Christians say, "God works in mysterious ways," it would be much appropriate to say that of impersonal karma, our own actions leading to their own results which then serve as the causes and conditions of further volitions. Nor is it appropriate to think that "intention" (cetana) means what we intend to happen. It simply means the motivation behind a purposeful act of mind, tongue, or body -- which colors that action and determines the result. All harmful, unprofitable, unbeneficial, unwholesome acts stem from only three roots; the same may be said for all helpful, profitable, beneficial, wholesome acts. Liking, disliking, and ignorance are the unwholesome roots; the names of the categories are more ominous: greed, hatred, delusion. And we blindly consider ourselves innocent of those extremes not realizing that they are simply the titles of three categories of action: craving, aversion, and wrong view. Everything good stems from three other very general categories: nongreed, nonhatred, and nondelusion. One need not "believe" in karma for it to be true. The unintended results, good and bad, will nevertheless come. Yet, doing good because one believes in karma is more beneficial than simply doing good, perhaps because the good action is accompanied by right view to that extent. The results are not likely to be seen for quite some time, so some degree of confidence is necessary to keep doing good. If one acts with the expectation that one will see an immediate result in line with that action, one is likely to be sorely disappointed and may fall under the wrong view that there is no result-of-action, no vipaka, no fruition, no benefit, no consequence, nothing to reap, no reason to further sow.

  • See also AN 4.111, as an example of harsh training. 
  • School of Natural Healing, learning use of HERBS with Dr. Christopher ("Something's Happening," July 24, 2013, KPFK.org Archives, 12:00-1:00 am)

System of a Down, Hollywood Bowl (video)

WARNING: Language! Rock am Ring, Nürburgring. Footage by Plus 1 Live, German TV, 2011.

SET TIMES: 00:00 Prison Song; 03:25 Soldier Side Intro; 04:20 B.Y.O.B.; 08:44 I-E-A-I-A-I-O; 12:30 Needles; 15:40 Deer Dance; 18:50 Radio/Video; 23:05 Hypnotize; 27:02 Question!; 30:55 Suggestions; 33:25 Psycho; 37:45 Chop Suey!; 41:00 Lonely Day; 43:50 Bounce; 45:43 Kill Rock 'n Roll; 48:24 Lost in Hollywood; 53:50 Forest; 57:45 Science; 1:00:19 Darts; 1:03:20 Aerials; 1:07:00 Tentative; 1:10:35 Cigaro; 1:14:29 Suite-Pee; 1:16:52 War?; 1:20:50 Toxicity; 1:24:26 Sugar.

System of a Down (with lead vocalist Serj Tankian having officially released his "Orca Symphony No.1" recently) will be bringing down the legendary Hollywood Bowl tonight. Wisdom Quarterly will be in attendance to keep the peace. And to hear some more or less conscious music. And to see what happens when everyone rebels and tries to mosh among bolted down seats.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Buddhist Gandhara (Ancient Northwest India)

Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Heilbrunn, MetMuseum.org
The Buddha was first depicted in the Gandhara style (freebody.zhang/flickr)
PHOTOS: Metropolitan Museum of Art Gandharan slideshow
How old is "India" (Great Bharat)? It has its roots in the fantastical Indus Valley Civilization
 
Synthesis of foreign styles with Indian forms is typical of the multi-ethnic character of Gandharan taste.

Gandhāra Buddhist Texts (gardendigest.com)
Gandhara is the ancient name of a region in India [which in 1948 became Pakistan] bounded on the west by the Hindu Kush mountain range [part of Himalayan range] and to the north by the foothills of the Himalayas. 
 
In 330 B.C., Alexander the Great [whom Dr. Pal reexamines along with Ashoka the Great and Diodotus I] conquered this region and, together with the Indo-Greek kings that succeeded him, introduced classical traditions that became an important part of Gandhara's artistic taste over the next seven centuries.
 
This contact resulted in the establishment of overland trade routes through the Parthian empire and Indo-Greek cities like Ai-Khanoum in northern Afghanistan. Starting about 50 B.C., this trade dramatically increased with the introduction of ocean routes employing monsoon winds to cross the Arabian Sea.
 
The Buddha, Indo-Greecian, Central Asian "Gandhara" style (RelationalBuddhism.org)

 
These sea routes supplied an expanding overland trade network that passed through Gandhara and continued on to Central Asia and China. Gandharan control of the high mountain passes vital to this international commerce made the region wealthy; the resulting cosmopolitan elites became some of the most powerful Buddhist patrons in all of South Asia.
Ancient India (Bharat) extended far to the west. Buddhism and cultural interactions existed all over modern Afghanistan, Iran (Persia), ancient Greece (Bactria, etc.), and up Central Asia through the 'stans into Russia and Europe's Kalmykia (berzinarchives.com).
 
Second- to the first-century B.C. luxury goods found in ancient fortified cities constitute some of the earliest remains from Gandhara attesting to contact with the Mediterranean world. Typical of this production is a stone dish (1987.142.307), which likely had a domestic religious function.

Proto "India": Indus Valley Civilization
Carved into the face is a representation of Daphne turning to look back at the approaching figure of Apollo, a composition that reveals the artist's familiarity with Hellenistic motifs and narrative structure, and perhaps even the story itself. Related in format is a silver roundel depicting the goddess Hariti (1981.460.2), a protector of children, only in this instance the linear treatment of drapery is stylistically akin to imagery of the Parthian empire. 
 
As is typical of many Gandharan compositions, Hariti wears jewelry and sits on a throne that has clear South Asian origins; this synthesis of foreign styles with Indian forms is typical of the multi-ethnic character of Gandharan taste. More

Related: Timelines (7), Primary Thematic Essays (6), Other Thematic Essays (18), Maps (8), Index Terms (33)

When life gives you raspberries, make pie

Bela Larson, Seven, Dev, Imogen, CC Liu, Maya, Wisdom Quarterly TEST KITCHEN
Raw vegan blackberry pie, California style (nicoglagalloway.com)
 
Tart, sweet red berries work best.
We cannot always control our situation. But we can control how we respond to it.

Challenging situations can be opportunities in disguise -- if we choose to see them that way. Otherwise, we can thoughtlessly assume, accept without question, and run like Chicken Little at the falling sky.

When life offers us berries -- we can make raw berry pie. But how?

Allow to cool in fridge for four hours+
Filling: Put raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, or strawberries in a blender with a can of rich coconut cream (from the Asian market, preferably a product from Thailand). Add agar-agar as per instructions. A tiny amount of dry soy lecithin will also help.

Crust: Soak and drain raw walnuts, pecans, almonds, or cashews. Place in food processor. Add lemon juice, cinnamon, sea salt, dates or agave nectar, and vanilla extract. Take out and press into glass pie pan. Pour in filling. Place in refrigerator until it sets up. Garnish with raw berries. Use toothpick to test before slicing.

Indonesia: "The Act of Killing" (film)

Pat Macpherson, Seven, Maya, Wisdom Quarterly; Werner Herzog, Joshua Oppenheimer
 
Richard Gere, Ajahn Jumnien, Borobudur
Inspired by American movies and their depiction of killing, these gangsters (premans,"free men") are formed into right wing death squads by the government.
 
They then go on to murder hundreds of thousands of fellow Indonesians, particularly the left. Now a Muslim country, Indonesia was once a Theravada Buddhist land -- with the world's largest temple at Borobudur -- in the vein of India, Burma, and Thailand. But installed dictator after dictator (thank you, CIA) utterly made this paradise a haunted killing field along the lines of post-American-war on Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. 
 
Why Buddhist countries bore the brunt of US military-industrial complex violence-for-profit seems to relate to their peacefulness and docility. The Khmer Rouge, the Red Army, Communist insurgents and rebels were turned inside out to destroy these lands from within as America bombed them from without for no better reason than to use up bombs and make use of deployed soldiers already in place in "Indo China" (Southeast Asia).

Herzog confirms his standing as poet laureate of people in extreme situations with this visually stunning exploration. He travels to the Antarctic's McMurdo Station, the hub of the U.S. Antarctic Program, home to 1,100 Americans during the austral spring and summer.

Over the course of his journey, Herzog examines human nature and Mother nature, juxtaposing breathtaking locations with the profound, surreal, and sometimes absurd experiences of the marine biologists, physicists, plumbers, and truck drivers who choose to form a society as far away from society as one can get.

In "The Act of Killing" the filmmakers, led by Joshua Oppenheimer, revisit Suharto's Indonesia (glamorized in the "Year of Living Dangerously") during the extermination and genocide period celebrated by the media in the West as good news in Asia. Here the killers themselves -- still in power and celebrated as "heroes" even as they deal with visitations by the ghosts of those whom they murdered -- brag, explain, reenact, and rationalize their acts of killing. Werner Herzog has created another classic documentary following on the heels of his trip to American researchers at McMurdo Station ("Encounters at the End of the World") and the "Cave of Forgotten Dreams."


In "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting. Neanderthal, pre-Neanderthal, Cro Magnon, Homo sapien, hybrid genetically manipulated evolving great ape being made more deva-like and "human" through art.

Werner Herzog and Errol Morris talk about "The Act of Killing"

Covert space alien activity on Earth (audio)

Wisdom Quarterly; CoasttoCoastam.com; DiscloseTruthTV (Alien Activity on Earth)
Human-type ETs generally look between 20-30 years old, with captivating eyes, telepathy, brought to Earth and switched with neonatal humans, forming a large terrestrial population. Looked in the mirror lately? (Marina Aleksandrova/zetaboards.com/WQ)

 
Thai deva (ChristyB30/flickr)
UFO expert and editor of Unicus Magazine, Robert Stanley shares his thoughts on Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's statements about extraterrestrials as well as covert alien activity taking place on the planet. Most remain utterly oblivious or willfully ignorant of the mysteries around us. The truth is much stranger than fiction and much more interesting than Hollywood fluff or fearmongering and Pentagon propaganda.
 
Sky "angels" (Cortona)
Stanley states that Medvedev was "100% serious" about the existence of secret files pertaining to the ET presence on Earth. When asked journalists become nervous in the mainstream media and are quick to engage in "damage control" in response to Medvedev's remarks. Stanley theorizes the Russian politician is upset that he is losing power and wanted to "throw a curveball" at the UFO secret keepers.

ETs  are living among humans, according to researcher Robert O. Dean, who revealed to him that NATO studies aliens who are "indistinguishable from anybody walking the street." 
 
Suspicious humans, Ukraine
How can one identify these entities? Stanley contends that, based on eyewitnesses he has spoken with, human-like ETs generally appear between 20 and 30 years old; their eyes have a captivating quality, which may be due to telepathic abilities. Chillingly, he recounts the testimony of one alleged ET, who claimed that these beings are brought to Earth and secretly switched with human infants. The total population of such entities on the planet today may be an astounding 100 million.