Pack your bags. We found a better Earth

CGI: Could there be another "pale blue dot"?

What must the god-like extraterrestrials flying around on vmanas think of our dirty Earth?

Fake CGI of "Earth" with faker "Moon" (NASA)

‘Super Earth’ (Kepler-442b) could be more habitable than our own planet, Junky Earth, scientists discover. White men in white lab coats say there is a better planet over there in that part of the galaxy, way better than this smoking dumpster fire of a polluted plane. (Yes, it's more likely a plane than a planet evidence-wise; never mind the rhetoric).

I'll move us or kill us all trying: spaceX

Elon Musk must be right. (The government that backs him can't let him be wrong. SpaceX must succeed and Neuralink, too. They didn't let him take the title "richest man in the world" for nothing).

Musk said he'd build rockets and eventually get us off this trash heap and onto a New Earth. (Maybe this is what Oprah-boosted Eckhart Tolle actually meant?)

It's time we could spread our wings and got on with the colonizing of this solar system, galaxy, and universe (as if that hasn't already happened. It has. That's why we're here. We are not from this Earth, just more sort of naturalized arrivals).

Our world as a CGI mock up and mockery

(SOTU) The space race initiated in the 1940s heralded an era of exploration, propelling the quest for greater cosmic discoveries beyond our solar system in the ensuing decades. More: ‘Super Earth’ Kepler-442b could be more habitable than our own planet, scientists discover

• What else have scientists been up to? Scientists discover gigantic 'structure' under the surface of the Moon

• Charlotte White, The State of the Union, 5/20/24 (Space race ©via YouTube); I Rony, Seth Auberon, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How a chicken can fly: path to enlightenment

Gary Larson (art); Dhr. Seven (poem), Ashley Wells, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

A flood? Why didn't you fly? - I lost the balloon.

"Oh, how sad, Chicken Bob, to see you try.

They call you Fryer, but you're meant to fly."

He muttered, I thought, asked, "Hey, what the cluck?"

I sat and I pondered: What could be up?

My eyes lifted as thought-balloon drifted.

Wide pupils shifted, reading, it's scripted:

How bright the idea that balloon brought!

Better the bulb than the darkness of thought.

Now what if he rows as I provide lift?

I get him to float, won't he flap his wings?

Now "what if" is no way to live a life.

For what if I ask, and he but denies?

So sinched at the waist, a string through his strut,

Seatbelt fitted in haste, he levitates up!

The helium balloon wafted him high.

I said, "Daft bird, see, it's better to try!"

Analysis

What is at the very heart of wisdom?

-So, Seven, you're saying, through symbolism and Gary Larson's comic strip, that we should figure out a novel solution and try it?

Poetry is not symbolic. I'm just telling a story about a scared bird, Chicken Bob, who thought he couldn't. Then with a little help he could. It's like when I try to meditate, I can't. But with a little help, who knows. Once my teacher applied peppermint essential oil to my upper lip to keep my attention at the breath as it goes in and out (anapanasati bhavana). It worked. It was subtle, but peppermint is brightening and kept me awake and vigorous, yet not too excited as green tea might do. I would never have thought of that. "Plant helpers" can go a long way to bring us to the verge of samadhi and insight. But without a deva to point that out, it's hard for a fledging sitter or an old bird set in his ways to make progress.

O, hail, Kwan Yin, Goddess of Compassion!

-Ingenius! So you're saying everyone should try peppermint to advance their sitting practice.

I'm saying no such thing. I'm just telling a story about a scared bird, Chicken Bob, who thought he couldn't.

-Is he "Chicken Little," symbolically?

No, he's Chicken Bob.

-Ah, and is "flying" meditation?

No, meditation is meditation, generally of two kinds, initial calming and subsequently systematic practice with a purified mind to know-and-see.

-Know-and-see what?

Ultimate materiality (kalapas) and mentality (cittas).

-What does that mean?

There are particles of perception, and discreet mind-moments that form the stream of consciousness we take to be one thing when it's really part of an impersonal PROCESS going on. We take this process to be a "self," and we cling to it.

-Isn't it a "self"?

Heart of Perfect Wisdom (Prajna Paramita)

No, it's not-self. The Heart Sutra makes this clear: form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness are the Five Aggregates or "Heaps" clung to as self. But they are not self.

• Isn't it a self that clings to self? 
• -No, a "self" doesn't cling; ultimately speaking, form clings to form, feeling to feeling, perception to perception, mental formations to mental formations, and consciousness clings to consciousness. The whole entanglement is ignorance, avidya, and snapping out of it to wisdom, knowing-and-seeing, and right view is "awakening" or bodhi).

-What ARE they then?

They are impermanent, disappointing, impersonal (empty) phenomena arising and passing away. When we see that directly, we can let go.

-If we let go, is that flying?

Letting go is freedom. Enlightenment is possible in this very life, right here right now, because there's only now, right?

-The past is not real? The future is not real?

One is a memory, one is a dream, and all that's real is right now. This present moment is real and it's all that's ever been real. Forget the rest. Be at your best RIGHT NOW.

-Is that what Ram Dass (Harvard's Dr. Richard Alpert) was saying when he famously said, "Be here now"?

I don't know. But it's good advice. Be. Here. NOW.

-Isn't that Eckhart Tolle's advice?

I think it might be Byron Katie's advice. Do The Work, asking the Four Questions. That'll bring you into the present moment, that is this NOW.

-Then who needs help?

Sometimes we need help. People weren't just spontaneously awakening until the Buddha arose and pointed the Way, revealed the Path, gave step-by-step instructions to make an end of all suffering right now.

-Those instructions still exist?

Yes, they do. Each teacher might put a spin on them unique to each individual's capacity and unique experience, but the fundamentals are right there in the ancient texts.

-Which texts?

The Pali canon is pretty reliable. Pa Auk Sayadaw has renewed their vitality and cleared the cobwebs and so has awakened students like Beth Upton, Ven. Dhammadipa, Sayalay Susila, Sayalay Dipankara, Tina Rasmussen, Stephen Snyder, and my own erstwhile teacher. Even Ayya Khema and her student Leigh Brasington, with the help of a Sri Lankan meditating monk, made it back to the original right-stillness (samma-samadhi) practices for calm. Vipassana is a little more involved.

-But the Heart Sutra is in Sanskrit not Pali!

It is, and isn't it amazing that it is the mostly widely read "discourse" in Mahayana Buddhism, yet no one gets what it's about?

-What's it about?

Ven. Sariputra, foremost in wisdom

"Emptiness" (shunyata). The mark of things is that they are all impersonal. All composite "things" (dharmas) are anatta, "not self." The "perfection of wisdom" is the direct realization that all things are impersonal -- particularly those five things clung to as a "self": form (body) [arrangements of the Four Elements or characteristics of materiality]; feeling (sensation), perception (all we perceive), mental formations (all the other psychological stuff), and the hat trick consciousness (awareness) [the four characteristics of mentality].

-And that made you think up a bird poem?!

No, there's no symbolism. I'm just telling a story about a scared bird, Chicken Bob, who thought he couldn't.

Prophecy: Zionist Jews bring about WW III

Sunday Cool, Episode 62; Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

Look, Mom, it's a sign we're about to be reborn. - No, it means we're about to die. - Same thing.

"Einstein's Future Religion..." (Redbubble)

We've never heard of Alfred "Nosestradumbass" Pike, but we prefer the vague prophecy of another Albert, the Buddhist'ish-Jew and world-class scientist Einstein, which is more a warning against the misuse of his scientific discoveries to develop atomic weapons. It runs: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

• UN: Israel's action "points to a genocide"
• Israel’s ludicrous PROPAGANDA wins over the only audience that counts, the U.S. (The Nation)
• Fake fact check: Did Einstein really say that Buddhism will be the religion of the future? (Quora)
• Amusing Overheard conversations in NYC that made us raise an eyebrow (parentinfluence.com)

What will the other beings say about us Earthlings?

Doo Dah Parade 2023 video (11/19)

KTLA 5 News on Rose Parade Queen and Court; Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

Doo Dah Parade 2023 is back by popular demand, Sunday, Nov. 19, Pasadena, L.A.

It's peace, love, and happiness

WHAT HAPPENED? It was the biggest parade ever with countless Monsanto [now Bayer Corporation] corn tortillas being thrown in appreciation of the freak flag, guys in drag, and all the wit, irony, and anti-Israel sentiment one would want in an anti-mainstream flotilla of nonsense. If only Republicans could have seen it. It was not even Democrat-friendly. This is an event for Greens, Peoples Party petitioners, Independents (not LaRouchian Libertarian types), and those willing to speak truth to power. Not that most people are paying attention. If there's one this this event is not is a Grand Tournament of Roses "Rose Parade," though it took place on the exact same spot, a stone's throw from the world-famous Rose Bowl. The after party was at the Old Towne Pub with a band headed up by one of the Hair: The Musical actors and strange vehicles, the rainbow clad, Asian gawkers, and just about the clearest skies after the rains one could ever wish for in Los Angeles.

(What's Up Pasadena!) Doo Dah Parade Pasadena Media, Dec. 22, 2017: The occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade celebrates 40 years of irreverent frolicking on the streets of Pasadena, California, in East Pasadena along Colorado Boulevard, the original Route 66. Website: pasadenamedia.tv/what-s-up...

• 10 funniest Far Side comics in HELL (Gary Larson)
• VIDEO: Vegan leather here to save (animal) world
• Taylor Swift struggles to breathe while performing during deadly Brazil Eras Tour (pagesix.com) This is just like that time in Moulin Rouge when Nicole Kidman coughs bloods and the audience figures out she is tragically dying of consumption in Old Timey France. Live, Taylor, live
• The stunning transformation of Former First Lady Melania Trump, supermodel
• Big reasons to never get a tattoo (thelist.com)
• American Neo-Nazis march compassionately to save the children of Palestine (or to cheer on Hamas, it's not clear)

Neo-Nazi marchers descended on Madison, Wisconsin [nowhere near Pasadena or Columbus], for a twisted weekend rally, prompting swift condemnation from state and local pols and University of Wisconsin-Madison officials. A group of approximately 20 people [angry white guys] dressed in red and black and masks while waving large [swastika] flags and making the [old] Nazi salute ["Heil, Hitler"] made their way from State Street near the UW-Madison campus to the state capitol Saturday, cops [who were on hand to make sure no one stopped them or stood in their way] said [proving that racist white supremacy is still alive and well in the heart of the USA]. More

• sraeli Jews raid alleged terrorists' luxury homes, take over parliament and police HQs in Gaza (nypost.com)

Who knew Columbus was cool?

(Doo Dah Parade 2023: Beginning of the Parade Route Eric Homan I Media Works) July 5, 2023: Goodale Park, Columbus, Ohio. A 4th of July Freedom of Speech Celebration. Filmed and edited by Eric Homan.

The Far Side comic strip animated (video)

Gary Larson (comics); Kerry Uchida (Technomorph Sound Design, YouTube, 9/30/16); MSN.com, 10/29/23; Amber Larson, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Kerry Uchida Sound Design demo: Tales From The Far Side 1 & 2

(Technomorph Sound Design) Here are a few selections of Kerry Uchida's Sound Design work for Gary Larson's TV specials Tales From The Far Side I and II.

NOTE: Original material may have been edited down to pick up the pace to showcase the Sound Design material. Uchida also did the picture editing for this demo reel. More of Uchida's picture editing and video work: demo.technomorph.com, imdb.com, sounddesign@technomorph.com

Co-Sound Designer Irving Mulch Foley by Andy Malcom. Directed by Marv Newland. Music by Bill Frisell. Mix by Bill "Otis" Sheppard and Dean Giamarcco from DBC (dbcsound.com). Mixed at Sharpe Sound Studios in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Hi, I'm Gary Larson. I went bald up front from thinking up all these great gags.

Yeah, Doug, but what kind of life?

Gary Larson's The Far Side is known for its surreal humor and morbid perspective, including several comics where no human is left standing.

Whether taken out by space aliens, big animals, or their own hubris (overarching pride), humans are just another animal trying to get by in an often hostile world.

The people of The Far Side are prone to apocalyptic levels of foolishness, often reflecting the (hopefully) less lethal foibles of the comic strip's millions of fans.

Here are the 10 best The Far Side comics where -- for a truly impressive variety of reasons -- no human makes it out alive. Some are iconic, some underappreciated, but in each case, Larson leaves no room for doubt that his human characters aren't long for this world. More

• 10 Funniest Far Side Comics Where Everybody Dies

People coexisted with dinosaurs, Moon bldg

MSN.com; Seth Aubeorn, Sheldon S., Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Human ancestors coexisted with dinosaurs? Yes, according to stunning new research (MSN)

Ancient Mexican clay figurine depicts human on dinosaur (Acambaro Collection)

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An astonishing new study concludes that human ancestors survived the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs. This fact, and other new insights into the timeline of animal evolution, are rocking the scientific community.

Researchers conducted a thorough analysis of the fossil record. They discovered that placental mammals – a group that includes humans, dogs, and even bats - originated in the Cretaceous period.

Placental mammals, human ancestors, and dinosaurs

Science didn't stop Gary Larson.

This suggests that these mammals shared the planet with dinosaurs for a brief period before the mass extinction event. This finding that throws a curveball into the long-standing debate among researchers. 

Until now, it was a point of contention whether placental mammals walked alongside dinosaurs or only came into existence after the large reptiles had vanished. Fossils from placental mammals only showed up in rocks less than 66 million years old.

That was the time when an asteroid had a fateful encounter with Earth.

This evidence seemed to suggest that placental mammals appeared only after the dinosaurs' dramatic exit. However, molecular data has been hinting at an older age for this group. This finding has completely complicated the narrative.

How the placental mammal study was conducted... More

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Every kid knew it, every TV watcher thought it, and those exposed to the discovery by a German living in Mexico many years ago -- of course humans coexisted with dinosaurs.

This discovery was of 33,000 clay figures, ancient artifacts showing humans interacting with dinosaurs. There's an ancient Buddhist/Hindu temple with a bas relief depiction of a dinosaur (possible stegosaurus).

• The immense Acambaro collection of Mexico
• PHOTOS: Ica Stones prove humankind coexisted with dinosaurs and had advanced technology

In both cases, centuries ago, people did not know what "dinosaurs" looked like. That came about from fossil digs and artists' renditions, most of them quite inaccurate, leaving out color, feathers, skin, hair -- making everything a version of a lizard.

Mocked by science, Christians knew something

Moreover, there are still dinosaurs around today, here on the surface and in inner earth and, according to Billy Meier, on other nearby planetary bodies.

However, Eric Dubay insists dinosaurs are fake, did not exist, and that fossils -- or at least their interpretation -- are hoaxes used to promote the view that everything just evolved impersonally, Earth is not special nor central to anything, and there is no meaning to our lives. Religion says otherwise. There is meaning, and the Vedas tell of it, and sacred Buddhist and Christian texts confirm it. Older Sumerian and Anatolian monuments suggest it. And the ancient cylinders, carved in stone, have much to say.

Scientists discover gigantic "structure" under the surface of the Moon (msn.com)