Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts

Sunday, 4 May 2014

7 animals that are not DINOSAURS (video)

CC Liu, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; SciShow (Facebook/YT/TT, May 1, 2014)
Buddhist nagas are reptilians from the view of the terrifying Crocodile Cage (wiki)


Getting most information about ancient animals from vintage cartoons? If so then it may come as a surprise that a lot of beings we think of as "dinosaurs" actually aren't. Learn the definition of true dinosaurs and the evolutionary relationships shared by the non-dino reptiles that lived on land, in the sea, and in the air on this quick excursion into the world of Western science.

Like SciShow? Support it: get things to put on walls, attach to torsos, and hold liquids by checking out the awesome products at DFTBA Records or help support by subscribing on the Subbable page. Enough of "science"; it's time to journey into Eastern mysticism.
The Monster of Whitehall is not a single creature but a concentration of them in upstate NY.
 
Sutra: the Reptilian Mucalinda
John D. Ireland (trans.), Mucalinda Sutra (Udana 2.1, BPS); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.)
Theropod dino egg nest discovered (news.nationalgeographic.com/Museu da Lourinha)
 
Mucalinda the naga (khanh_huynhtuan/flickr)
Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha (Bhagava, the "Blessed One") was staying at Uruvela next to the river Nerañjara at the foot of the Mucalinda Tree, having just realized full enlightenment.
 
At that time he sat cross-legged for seven days experiencing the bliss of liberation. Now it happened that there occurred a great rainstorm. For seven days there was unseasonable weather with rain clouds and cold winds.
 
Then [the magical dragon] Mucalinda the Naga-King left his dwelling and with his coils encircled the Buddha's body seven times. He stood with his great [cobra] hood spread over the Buddha's head (thinking) to protect him from cold and heat, from gadflies, mosquitoes, wind, sun, and the touch of creeping things.
 
At the end of seven days the Buddha emerged from that profound concentration (samma-samadhi). Then Mucalinda the Naga-King, seeing that the sky had cleared and the rain clouds dispersed, removed his coils from the Buddha's body. Transforming his appearance (shape-shifting) and assuming the appearance of a youth, Mucalinda the Naga-King stood in front of the Buddha with his hands placed together (añjali mudrā) venerating him.
 
Then realizing its significance, on that occasion, the Buddha uttered this inspired utterance, this verse of uplift:
 
Blissful is detachment for one who is content,
For one who has found Dharma [Truth] and who sees;
Blissful is non-affliction in the world,
Restraint towards all living creatures;
 
Blissful is passionlessness in the world,
The overcoming of sensual desires;
But the abandoning of the conceit "I am" —
That is truly the bliss supreme!
 
The seven are the five mentioned in the SciShow video (above), the "Monster of Whitehall" (an American Sasquatch), and the reptilian Muclinda. Mokele Mbembe is real and is a non-extinct dinosaur frequently seen in the Congo river in basin of Africa.

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

Mindfulness: Business and Behavioral Sciences


Innovation and creativity are understood as necessary skills for thriving in a dynamic economy, but what is often left out is the role of transforming the mind itself -- as the Buddha recommended.

Today's overwhelming challenges require leaders to move beyond "being effective" to fundamentally change themselves and how they see and relate to the world. How can individuals and organizations let go of ego and transform mindsets to evoke creativity, productivity, and innovation?

In this edition of Southern California Public Radio's Drucker Business Forum series SCPR hears about a new model for creative and productive leaders, a model in which innovation is actually a complete mentality, not a business-led process.

Nick Udall, Ph.D., is CEO of nowhere (now-here.com) and chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on New Models of Leadership, puts it this way: leaders have to "stop taking up space and start making and holding space" to help their organizations deal with facing the unknown.  They must turn the notion of leadership on its head and move beyond their own egos. Udall sits down with Drucker School Assistant Professor of Practice Jeremy Hunter, Ph.D. (Claremont Graduate University, co-author chapter "Making the Mindful Leader: Cultivating Skills for Facing Adaptive Challenges" in the new The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Leadership, Change, and Organizational Development.  They will explore how transforming the way leaders and groups relate, learn, and organize can lead to new patterns of thought and innovative action.

This insightful conversation will draw on their personal and organizational skills to show how awareness, perception, consciousness, and mindfulness can lead to more purposeful, sustainable, innovative -- and successful -- organizations.
 
Nick Udall works with CEOs and executive leaders of global businesses to develop breakthrough strategies and build cultures of innovation; Chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on New Models of Leadership. His new book, Riding the Creative Rollercoaster: How Leaders Evoke Creativity, Productivity and Innovation, is out this month.

Sunday, 26 January 2014

"There are no Black Holes" - Stephen Hawking

What do a fiction writer and an astrophysicist have in common? Marilynne Robinson and Marcelo Gleiser connect the dots between the cosmos, our minds, and all the ways we discover the story of where we came from (onbeing).
  
Stephen Hawking has produced a “mind-bending” new theory that argues black holes do not actually exist -- at least not in the way we currently perceive them.

Instead, in his paper, Information Preservation and Weather Forecasting for Black Holes, Hawking proposes that black holes can exist without “event horizons,” the invisible cover believed to surround every black hole.

Rude Prof. Hawking gets proof of black holes - Trisha Takanawa, Quahog News ("Family Guy")

During a previous lecture, “Into the Black Hole,” Hawkins described an event horizon as the boundary of a black hole, “where gravity is just strong enough to drag light back, and prevent it escaping.”
 
“Falling through the event horizon, is a bit like going over Niagara Falls in a canoe,” he said. “If you are above the falls, you can get away if you paddle fast enough, but once you are over the edge, you are lost. There's no way back.
 
Fake Buddha quote (H.koppdelaney/flickr)
“As you get nearer the falls, the current gets faster. This means it pulls harder on the front of the canoe, than the back. There's a danger that the canoe will be pulled apart. It is the same with black holes.”
 
But now Hawking is proposing “apparent horizons” could exist instead, which would only hold light and information temporarily before releasing them back into space in “garbled form,” Nature has reported.
 
The internationally-renowned theoretical physicist suggests that quantum mechanics and general relativity remain intact, but black holes do not have an event horizon to catch fire. More

Sex with Stephen Hawking with wheelchairs ("Family Guy")
Evolution of Human Consciousness
The coming stage of [our spiritual and cultural] evolution, Teilhard de Chardin said, won't be driven by physical adaptation but by human consciousness, creativity, and spirit. "On Being" visits with de Chardin's biographer Ursula King and experience his ideas energizing New York Times' Dot Earth blogger Andrew Revkin and evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson. LISTEN

Tuesday, 7 January 2014

Hominoids, evolution, and us (video)

Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; LloydPye.com; SciShow
Science vs. science: We did not evolve by gradual transition as we are taught (26:50).
Human origins? Everything we are told is wrong. But science and truth will surface.
 
The revolving evolving theory (RU)
(Nov. 2011) Lecturer Lloyd Pye puts it all together -- human origins and who we are as a species. Pye explains, with an amazing degree of scientific certainty, the four types of hominids on the Earth today (their archeological lines and distribution on the planet). Why has Wisdom Quarterly been talking about cryptozoology, "forbidden" archeology, ancient Indian and Sumerian mythology, or any other "outlandish" topic? We dare to question, to find in these verboten topics something about ourselves as earthling human beings. There are other kinds of humans, as we have pointed out before. But it will be a long time before mainstream science will admit its biases, errors, and cover-ups.

Hominoids (primates, prehumans): Yetis (upper montane, Himalayan range), Sasquatches (lower montane forests generally peaceful, probably omnivorous mainly-plant eaters, to be distinguished from cannibals, which Native Americans and Forest Service anthropologist Kathy Moskowitz Strain call "Hairy Man" and consider human), Almas (lower montane, possibly remnant Neanderthals, a human species surviving in Southern Russia and Western China), and Agogwes or the pygmies of the group mainly residing in jungles (South America [duende?], Africa, Indonesia). Where this would leave Australia's Yowie/Yahoo is unclear, but it is described as a Sasquatch by Aboriginals down under.

All of these "ogres" may be described by the general Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain term "yaksha" (yakshi, yakkha, yakshasa, rakshasa) -- intelligent brutes and beasts living apart from humans. The most famous is featured in the texts by the name of the Yakkha Alavaka. Yakkhas are cannibalistic hominoid* creatures so crafty and mean that the term is often simply translated as "demon." This is not to suggest that they are actually "demons" (titans, hellions) or devils, but simply brutally callous to human suffering.
The Buddha and the ogre (yakkha) Alavaka
The closest Buddhism comes to a "creation myth" is the arrival of advanced life forms on Earth (Bhumi) from space/sky (akasha deva loka) or "the heavens," a celestial plane. They then devolve into us, "Man." Interestingly, the word for the human realm is manusya-loka. This is gleaned from the Aggañña Sutra. What most fail to notice is that this discourse, often translated as "A Buddhist Genesis," does not talk about how life or existence originated. The story is about how "human" or humanoid life arrives on this planet cyclically. This did not happen one time; it happens over and over. The Buddha is famous for using Vedic lore and popular conceptions, imbuing them with a lesson, a parable of sorts. The sutra is very general and covers spans of time only Michael Cremo could countenance because ancient Indian time is measured in great aeons (maha kalpas), ages (kalpas), and epochs, which are indeterminate periods of time too large to measure and staggering to contemplate.
 
We are lied to about our origins on Earth
*HOMINOID: Some or all hominoids are also called "apes" [humans being the "naked ape" according to Desmond Morris; see below]. However, "ape" is used in different senses. It has been used as a synonym for "monkey" or for any tailless primate with a humanlike appearance. So the Barbary macaque, a kind of monkey, is popularly called the "Barbary ape" to indicate its lack of a tail. Biologists have used "ape" to mean a member of the superfamily Hominoidea other than humans, or more recently to mean all members of the superfamily Hominoidea, so that "ape" becomes another word for "hominoid." See Primate: Historical and modern terminology.

(Nov. 2013) The SciShow (Subbable, Facebook, Tumblr) explains where this over-simplified "March of Progress" magazine image of Darwin's evolution comes from. The scientist who used it was not confused, but we have been led to take this literally. What is it actually supposed to mean? SOURCES: wiki, evolution.berkeley.edu, mentalfloss.com, sci-news.com
  
The truth is much stranger than fiction.
We may be related to the "apes," but we did not evolve on Earth as they did. Archeologist Michael Cremo has found and presented evidence for the extreme antiquity of "modern" humans (Homo sapien sapiens). We are far older than 120,000 years, far older than 1,000,000 years, older than 100,000,000 years... How is this possible? What was here, what has been here and come to its demise, did not evolve from the popular fossil record many scientists use to theorize our origins on the planet. Evolution is occurring; this is not a fundamentalist Christian argument. But, as Cremo points out, we are currently devolving. Intentional genetic manipulation made us who we are, as Pye describes, and as the historical record from ancient Sumer and Egypt documents.
 
The Naked Ape
Naked Ape (amazon.com)
"A startling view of man [modern humans, the Homo sapien sapiens], stripped of the facade we try so hard to hide behind." In view of [hu]man's awesome creativity and resourcefulness, we may be inclined to regard [ourselves] as descended from the angels, yet, in his brilliant study, Desmond Morris reminds us that man is relative to the apes -- is in fact, the greatest primate of all. With knowledge gleaned from primate ethnology, zoologist Morris examines sex, child-rearing, exploratory habits, fighting, feeding, and much more to establish our surprising bonds to the animal kingdom and add substance to the discussion that has provoked controversy and debate the world over. Natural History Magazine praised The Naked Ape as "stimulating... thought-provoking... [Morris] has introduced some novel and challenging ideas and speculations." "He minces no words," said Harper's.  "He lets off nothing in our basic relation to the animal kingdom to which we belong... He is always specific, startling, but logical." More

Monday, 30 December 2013

New species discovered in 2013 (photos)

Wisdom Quarterly; LiveScience.com 
While 2013 may not have been the year that saw a Sasquatch shot dead (that happened in October of 2010) or a Chupacabras captured alive, the past year boasted a surprising number of newly-discovered species. From the adorable dwarf lemur (pictured) to the ghastly ghost shrimp of Catalina Island, California, a vast array of remarkable new animals and plants were found in both remote locations as well as more familiar locales (some near the LAX runway). For a look at 13 of the most breathtaking animal and plant discoveries of 2013, check out this gallery at LiveScience.

Monday, 9 December 2013

The Science of LUST (video)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Nyanatiloka Thera, Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines
(Discovery/Extraordinary People) "The Science of Lust" full documentary. [NOTE: Remove annoying annotations from screen using "gear" icon.]

CRAVING (tanhā, literally "thirst") is the proximate root of disappointment (unsatisfactoriness, woe) and of the ever-continuing Cycle of Rebirths.
 
"What is the cause of disappointment? It is that craving which gives rise to ever-fresh rebirth and, bound up with pleasure and lust, now over here then over there, finds ever fresh delight. It takes three forms:
  • sensual craving,
  • the craving for existence,
  • the craving for non-existence" (DN 22).
It is the eighth link in the formula of Dependent Origination. Corresponding to the six kinds of sense-objects, there are six kinds of craving: craving for sights, sounds, fragrances, flavors, bodily impressions, and mental impressions (MN 9, DN 15).
 
Chanda (zeal) can be "good desire"
Corresponding to the three spheres of existence, there are three kinds of craving -- for sensual existence, for fine-material existence, for immaterial existence (DN 33).
 
There are 18 "thought-channels of craving" (tanhā-vicarita) induced internally and 18 induced externally. Because they are counted as occurring in the past, present, and future, they total 108. (See AN IV, 199, Vibh., Ch. 17, Khuddakavatthu-Vibhanga).

According to causal links of Dependent Origination, craving is conditioned by sensation. Of craving for existence it is said: "No first beginning of the craving for existence can be perceived, O meditators, before which it was not and after which it came to be. But it can he perceived that craving for existence has its specific condition. I say, O meditators, that craving for existence also has a condition that feeds it and is not without it. And what is it? 'Ignorance' one has to reply" (AN X.62).

Oh my Gratitude, I love the smell of Nature!
Ignorance (delusion) and craving for existence (becoming) and are called "the outstanding causes that lead to happy and unhappy destinies (courses of existence)." (See Vis.M. XVII, 36-42).
 
The most frequent synonyms of craving are lust (rāga) and greed (lobha), one of the three roots of unwholesome karma.

Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Did climate change cause typhoon? (video)

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Amy Goodman, DemocracyNow.org, 11-13-13
Eye of Typhoon Haiyan (a.k.a. Super Typhoon Yolanda) travels over islands (wiki)
"Listen to the people, not polluters" (DN at the UN Climate Summits)

What would the devas say?
It's 90+ degrees in sunny SoCal as Thanksgiving (a rare Thanksgivukkah) approaches. But the temperature is about to drop and rain is looming by the weekend. My petty chores need doing to contribute greenhouse gases to the global warming problem. Meanwhile, people are dying crushed under flimsy houses demolished by the super storm in the Philippines. Better send a check. More importantly, better address climate chaos and think of a better solution than the "magic of the marketplace" after captitalizing on the sale of "carbon credits" as major polluters, multi-millionaires like Al Gore, and Wall Street dream. We can all go vegetarian, waste less, bike more, plant trees, pre-cycle (buy in a way that minimizes post-consumer waste) and recycle, stop war, promote peace, turn toward sustainable power sources (like free energy), conserve water, collect rainwater, boycott multinational corporations, thwart the NSA and CIA, share, love, meditate, care, go green, vote green, occupy...
 
Science on climate change
Desperate survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines are struggling to receive aid in the aftermath of the worst storm in recorded history. In Tacloban, a city flattened by the typhoon, survivors marched in a contingent three miles long to seek water and food at the local airport. Eight people died in the province of Leyte when a crowd of thousands stormed a government rice warehouse in search of food. The victims died under a collapsed wall. On Tuesday, Philippines Pres. Benigno Aquino cited a lower death toll for Typhoon Haiyan, saying he believes around 2,500 people were killed. Initial estimates put the toll at around 10,000. More than 670,000 people have been displaced. The United Nations, meanwhile, has launched a $300 million appeal for relief aid. Speaking in Manila, U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said the Philippines is facing its worst-ever crisis:
"This is such a major calamity for the Philippines, a country which over this year has already seen so many crises, but by all accounts, this one is the most deadly and destructive. While it’s still too early to tell the full scale of the destruction, it’s clear that the needs are huge."
Typhoon a "manifestation of climate change"
Haiyan/Yolanda's eye (wiki)
Appearing with U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario thanked international donors for providing aid [after Yeb Saño declared he would respectfully be going on hunger strike until action is taken by this body of world officials at the U.N. Climate Change Summit]. But he also issued an appeal for action on global warming, saying climate change worsened the typhoon’s scale and strength:
"From the devastation, it is clear, though, that much more aid and assistance will be needed. And we thank the international community for its continued generosity and support. The unprecedented scale and strength of Yolanda [known as Haiyan in the US], a typhoon that occurred at a very late time of the year, is a clear demonstration of the changing weather pattern. Whether the world faces up to it or not, this is a manifestation of climate change." More
Yeb01
An emotional Yeb Saño at U.N. Summit
"Stop this madness!" - Filipino Climate Chief Yeb Saño begins hunger strike fast to protest global inaction on global warming and climate chaos.
"Get it done!": After stirring Durban speech, student Anjali Appadurai initially banned by U.N. in Doha.
A Carbon Tsunami in Doha (Nov. 12, 2013) On the opening day of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Doha, Poland, the chief climate negotiator from the Philippines gave an emotional appeal to the world to address the climate crisis following...

Thursday, 26 September 2013

Complaint: Why ya gotta talk about SEX?!

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly
That is so disgusting! Sex and Buddhism together?

Lost in translation (en espanol*)
COMPLAINT: I'm no prude but... Why do you have to talk about SEX?!

My gratitude to Wisdom Quarterly for posting some articles and therapeutic workshops regarding sexuality ("Sex, Intimacy, Communication on Buddhist the Path"), but why?

In the world of sensuality, desire, and intimate sexual relationships, I believe that they are educational to many. HOWEVER, as we ALL know, practitioners at different levels may have different needs! For those, like me, who have been on the path for many years and have transcended those worldly desires and felt free will not need any therapy!

Furthermore, although observing celibacy is not required in many spiritual practices for laypeople, enjoying sex, especially with multiple partners (over-indulging in sensual pleasures) is certainly not  encouraged. Do you encourage it? Why is WQ talking about food, too? I'm not done yet! I want to be heard!!


REPLY: Dear Madam and/or Sir, Consider contributing something on the topic. Anyone who reads one day of Wisdom Quarterly may be misled. But anyone who reads many days will begin to see some balance in our coverage.

WQ: public relations geniuses (lol)
We do not encourage sexual misconduct/clinging to sense desire. We condemn it. It is not the path. But most people may not actively be on the path or seeking it just yet. What should they do? Live lives of shame and guilt, hide or be frustrated, lie to others and deceive themselves? Sex is here. Let's deal with it, candidly and honestly with care for our relationships and the place of this part of our corporeal reality. Believe it or not, there are uptight members of this Judeo-Atheistic-Christian society. 

Our human bodies are fine (examiner.com)
Wisdom Quarterly is a sex-positive site: Like FEMEN and OCCUPY and PUSSY RIOT and SLUTWALK and GO TOPLESS and CRASS, we use our bodies to demonstrate and call attention to ill-done deeds around the world. Let intolerant/orthodox Christian fundamentalists, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Satanists, and gatekeeping scientists condemn us. But we will nevertheless cover "forbidden" topics. We welcome all help toward voluntary celibacy for temporary intensive-practitioners, such as those on retreat or pursuing a period of monasticism. Please, offer our readers help on this popular subject.

 

Right-wing Republican Jesus
COMPLAINT cont'd: I may not be able to offer help since I am not a "sex" guru. I just wanted to point out the fact that there are lay practitioners of different kinds of spiritual practices who have realized greater satisfying fulfillment from spiritual practices than from sex. They may not need sex therapies in order to please their partner(s). Of course, I agree with that most humans still have basic needs to fulfill. Therapies suggested by Wisdom Quarterly could be educational and helpful. However, "sex" may not need to be "encouraged" in the name of religion! Why don't you stupid tramps give it a rest? Many great sages of different kinds of spiritual practices embrace a life of celibacy, although they might not be required to do so. However, without judging people by religious standards, I have nothing against those who like to enjoy hot sex. It's just personal choice. As for me, I agree with the teachings of Yoganada [Editor: SRF's Paramhansa Yogananda] and Jesus [St. Issa] on "relationship." Get a life.

*TRANSLATION: A boy wearing a skull rock 'n roll tee-shirt is being scolded by a Catholic priest, who is saying: "Look, son, I don't have anything against rock, but doesn't it seem morbid and in poor taste to you that someone would use an image of a cadaver as a marketing strategy?" Poster reads "Church versus Rock: Not too different."