Monthly Archives: July 2011

New Look Inside Mayan Tomb

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24 June 2011 Last updated at 21:53 ET

Video camera reveals secrets of ancient Mayan tomb

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The inside of a Mayan tomb thought to be 1,500 years old has been filmed by archaeologists.

Using a tiny video camera, the researchers were able to capture images of the burial chamber in Palenque in south-eastern Mexico.

As the device was lowered 16ft (5m) down into the tomb, they saw red paint and black figures emblazoned on its walls.

The scientists say the images will shed new light on the Mayan civilisation.

Royal necropolis?

The tomb in Palenque was discovered in 1999 and then filmed using a tiny camera lowered on a pole, but archaeologists have not been able to excavate for fear of undermining the pyramid.

Palenque was a Mayan city-state in what is now Mexico’s Chiapas state, but after its decline during the 8th Century AD it was absorbed into the jungle.

to read more, go to:    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13913770

Effect of Memory on Visual Perception

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Memories May Skew Visual Perception

ScienceDaily (July 22, 2011) — Taking a trip down memory lane while you are driving could land you in a roadside ditch, new research indicates. Vanderbilt University psychologists have found that our visual perception can be contaminated by memories of what we have recently seen, impairing our ability to properly understand and act on what we are currently seeing.

“This study shows that holding the memory of a visual event in our mind for a short period of time can ‘contaminate’ visual perception during the time that we’re remembering,” Randolph Blake, study co-author and Centennial Professor of Psychology, said.

“Our study represents the first conclusive evidence for such contamination, and the results strongly suggest that remembering and perceiving engage at least some of the same brain areas.”

to read more, go to:    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110720091542.htm

Large Watery Quasar Found

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Earliest Watery Black Hole Discovered

ScienceDaily (July 22, 2011) — Water really is everywhere. A team of astronomers have found the largest and farthest reservoir of water ever detected in the universe — discovered in the central regions of a distant quasar. Quasars contain massive black holes that are steadily consuming a surrounding disk of gas and dust; as it eats, the quasar spews out huge amounts of energy. The energy from this particular quasar was released some 12 billion years ago, only 1.6 billion years after the Big Bang and long before most of the stars in the disk of our Milky Way galaxy began forming.

The research team includes Carnegie’s Eric Murphy, as well as scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the California Institute of Technology, University of Maryland, University of Colorado, University of Pennsylvania, and the Institute for Space and Astronautical Science in Japan. Their research will be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The quasar’s newly discovered mass of water exists in gas, or vapor, form. It is estimated to be at least 100,000 times the mass of the Sun, equivalent to 34 billion times the mass of Earth or 140 trillion times the mass of water in all of Earth’s oceans put together.

Since astronomers expected water vapor to be present even in the early universe, the discovery of water is not itself a surprise. There is water vapor in the Milky Way, although the amount is 4,000 times less massive than in the quasar. There is other water in the Milky Way, but it is frozen and not vaporous.

to read more, go to:    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110722142058.htm

 

The Enneagram

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http://www.drcochran.org

The Enneagram: A Guide to Understanding Yourself and The People Around You

Posted: 7/16/11 11:15 AM ET

Have you ever looked at the people you know and work with and wondered why they behave the way they do? Why one person would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it, and another person would argue the importance of having a shirt at all? Why would yet another type of person be chronically over-committed, habitually complain about it and yet persist in cramming still more things into their already-overflowing calendar? What do these very different kinds of people want and how can they be reached? The answer to these questions can be found by using a 9-point system called the Enneagram.

In the study of human behavior there are many ways of identifying and discussing it, and most of them involve diagnosing pathological behavior, using terms such as schizophrenic, anti-social personality and so forth. While identifying pathology is an important part of understanding human behavior, it certainly does not explain it in its entirety. Humans, being what they are, present with an often confounding array of behavioral traits and emotional states. The Enneagram gives the user a “road map” and a system of language with which to understand and talk about them.

What Does The Enneagram Look Like?

There are nine basic types in the Enneagram system, and they are as follows:

  1. The Perfectionist
  2. The Giver
  3. The Achiever
  4. The Romantic
  5. The Observer
  6. The Doubter
  7. The Dreamer
  8. The Leader
  9. The Diplomat
alternatively, you can go here:    http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/intro.asp

A Quieter Life for Wendell Berry

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A Quieter Life Now

In an exchange of letters with a dear friend, Wendell Berry explains why his writing is only a small part of the movement against greed and waste.
 by Wendell Berry, Madhu Suri Prakash
posted Jun 29, 2011

YES! contributing editor Madhu Suri Prakash is a longtime friend of poet, essayist, novelist, activist, and farmer Wendell Berry. Inspired by changing attitudes among her college students, who were reading Berry, Madhu declared the Wendell Berry Era, and wrote to him, proposing that he write an open letter to President Obama calling for funding to establish new small farms. This correspondence ensued.

Dear Wendell,

Madhu Suri Prakash

Madhu Suri Prakash.

I have a dream; and, at its center, you stand—tall, humble, simply magnificent.
Despite all my reservations about writing to you, here I am, hours before dawn, doing something I could not even have dared to imagine only last evening.

I awoke with a dream long before the sun is scheduled to shine. In this dream, I join millions reading your open letter to the White House, courteously requesting $5 billion—a tiny pittance compared to the going rate for government bailouts—to regenerate 50 million family farms; $5 billion, in other words, that could support young people who have the gumption and sense of adventure necessary to grow food and sequester carbon in the soil; $5 billion that would allow American women, men, and their families a chance to eat and grow clean, uncontaminated, uncancerous food.

Your moral stature and vision are such that all you would have to do is write such an open letter to the president to more fully awaken millions; to start a groundswell.

My dream declared itself loud and clear as soon as I rolled out of bed—perhaps the time is right. It’s been a long time coming, Wendell. Your half-century-old patience, my dream declares, may finally be paying off. Your time, the Wendell Berry Era, has finally dawned. Hopefully.

to read more and see Wendell Berry’s reply, go to::    http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/beyond-prisons/a-quieter-life-now

 

8 Best Things of Day 1 @ Comic-Con

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The 8 Best Things From Comic-Con Day One

Comic-Con 2011 By Cole Abaius on July 22, 2011

With little sleep and almost zero vegetables eaten during the day, Robert Fure, Cole Abaius and Jack Giroux gathered in their hotel room overlooking the San Diego Convention Center and a giant cargo freighter loading container after container of bananas to discuss what their favorite moments were.

After a quiet start to a roaring event, the day was filled with fantastic little moments that made us all wish you were right here in the hotel room with us. Each and every one of you. In one room.

While we’ll be calling dibs on the bed, check out the 8 best things about Comic-Con‘s opening day.

to read more, go to:   http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/the-8-best-things-from-comic-con-day-one.php

Mary Magdalene

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Why She Matters So

In Metahistory Quest we regard Mary Magdalene as the “patron saint” of our enterprise, although “patron heretic” would perhaps be a better term. We do so for a number of reasons:

First, Magdalene commands unique power in the popular imagination, equalling that of her male counterpart, Jesus. As the central figure in the missing part of the story upon which Christianity is based, she is the key to a revision of history and the cue to a future story through which human spirituality might be developed in an entirely different way than traditional religions propose. Although Magdalene emerged within the received script of Christianity, she leads away from it. She connects us to all that the founders of Christian religion denied and destroyed.

Second, she is the human reflection of the Divine Sophia, the feminine principle of wisdom central to the teachings of the Western Mysteries. With the Gaia-Sophia Principle as its main guideline for evaluating beliefs, Metahistory.org gives unique importance to the woman traditionally seen as reflecting the Sophia principle. If Jesus in some sense represents the divinity innate to humans (a debatable point, however), Mary Magdalene represents the innate wisdom that wells up from indwelling divinity, and the loving recognition that embraces it. In the sense of indigenous wisdom, she is a reflection of the Earth Goddess.

Third, Magdalene is almost the sole surviving example of Pagan spirituality in which women played the role of initiator with sexuality as a sacrament. This aspect of Magdalene is highlighted in the review of Karen King’s book, The Gospel of Mary of Magdala, and elsewhere throughout the site. Liberated from the racial and historical assumptions of the Jesus story, Magdalene emerges as the woman who can best represent to the modern world the lost legacy of Pagan, pre-Christian spirituality, and the moral code of Pagan ethics.

to read more, go to:    http://www.metahistory.org/MM/WhySheMatters.php

528 Hz Solfeggio Frequencies

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Forgotten In Time: The Ancient Solfeggio Frequencies
2006 01 21

From: lightwithin.com/SomaEnergetics

 


Photos by From: powerofharmony.tripod.com
 

What Are The Ancient Solfeggio Frequencies?

These original sound frequencies were apparently used in Ancient Gregorian Chants, such as the great hymn to St. John the Baptist, along with others that church authorities say were lost centuries ago. The chants and their special tones were believed to impart tremendous spiritual blessings when sung in harmony during religious masses. These powerful frequencies were rediscovered by Dr. Joseph Puleo as described in the book Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse by Dr. Leonard Horowitz. I give honor to both of these gentleman for the part they’ve played in helping return these lost frequencies back to humanity.

The Six Solfeggio Frequencies include:

UT – 396 Hz – Liberating Guilt and Fear
RE – 417 Hz – Undoing Situations and Facilitating Change
MI – 528 Hz – Transformation and Miracles (DNA Repair)
FA – 639 Hz – Connecting/Relationships
SOL – 741 Hz – Awakening Intuition
LA – 852 Hz – Returning to Spiritual Order

For example, the third note, frequency 528, relates to the note MI on the scale and derives from the phrase “MI-ra gestorum” in Latin meaning “miracle.” Stunningly, this is the exact frequency used by genetic biochemists to repair broken DNA – the genetic blueprint upon which life is based!

A Little History

to read more, go to:    http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/2006/01jan/solfeggio.html

Emotional Lives of Animals

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The Emotional Lives of Animals

by Marc Bekoff
posted Mar 02, 2011 
Grief, friendship, gratitude, wonder, and other things we animals experience.
Horses and couple spread

Scientific research shows that many animals are very intelligent and have sensory and motor abilities that dwarf ours. Dogs are able to detect diseases such as cancer and diabetes and warn humans of impending heart attacks and strokes. Elephants, whales, hippopotamuses, giraffes, and alligators use low-frequency sounds to communicate over long distances, often miles; and bats, dolphins, whales, frogs, and various rodents use high-frequency sounds to find food, communicate with others, and navigate.

Many animals also display wide-ranging emotions, including joy, happiness, empathy, compassion, grief, and even resentment and embarrassment. It’s not surprising that animals—especially, but not only, mammals—share many emotions with us because we also share brain structures—located in the limbic system—that are the seat of our emotions. In many ways, human emotions are the gifts of our animal ancestors.

Grief in magpies and red foxes: Saying goodbye to a friend

Many animals display profound grief at the loss or absence of a relative or companion. Sea lion mothers wail when watching their babies being eaten by killer whales. People have reported dolphins struggling to save a dead calf by pushing its body to the surface of the water. Chimpanzees and elephants grieve the loss of family and friends, and gorillas hold wakes for the dead. Donna Fernandes, president of the Buffalo Zoo, witnessed a wake for a female gorilla, Babs, who had died of cancer at Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo. She says the gorilla’s longtime mate howled and banged his chest; picked up a piece of celery, Babs’ favorite food; put it in her hand; and tried to get her to wake up.

I once happened upon what seemed to be a magpie funeral service. A magpie had been hit by a car. Four of his flock mates stood around him silently and pecked gently at his body. One, then another, flew off and brought back pine needles and twigs and laid them by his body. They all stood vigil for a time, nodded their heads, and flew off.

to read more, go to:   http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/can-animals-save-us/we-second-that-emotion