My Blog

I saw and spoke with my parents

Artimusbartimus — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:47:33 GMT

I did something that I swore I would never do. I saw my parents yesterday. I DID NOT WANT TO DO THIS! but Pup convinced me that I needed to after much heated argument. Things went well, I guess. My parents and I have done this before, and it didnt work before, I ended up being even more angry with them. But we will see what happens. They got to meet Pup as well. At least that is one good thing that has come from this. I guard my heart with bars of security. So that not many can get all that close to me. Pup is the only one in my life that I would do anything for. And even still then I put up a fight. I am stuborn. Now that all this is said and done, I still dont feal better about them, and I still hate God because of them. And now, I am packing my things to fly back home to Richmond. And it couldnt come too soon.

Weilding the dangerous ferret

Artimusbartimus — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:45:36 GMT

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – It's one thing for shoplifters to hide plunder in their pants. But a live ferret? Police said a homeless man in north Florida did just that. And he made it out the door before being challenged. Rodney Bolton, 38, was charged with theft over the $129 animal that police say he took from a pet store in Jacksonville Beach. A 17-year-old witness confronted Bolton in the parking lot and was bitten by the animal after the man allegedly shoved it in the teen's face. That confrontation makes the ferret a "special weapon" under Florida law. So Bolton also faces battery charges for dangerously wielding the animal. Calls to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department to see if Bolton has a lawyer were not answered early Thursday.

Puff The Magic Dragon

Artimusbartimus — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:55:17 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wik2uc69WbU

Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary dead at 72

Artimusbartimus — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:53:31 GMT

Mary Travers, one-third of the popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary who were perhaps best known for their hit "Puff (The Magic Dragon)," died in a Connecticut hospital after battling leukemia for several years. She was 72.The band's publicist, Heather Lylis, said Travers died Wednesday at Danbury Hospital. Bandmate Peter Yarrow said that in her final months, Travers handled her declining health with bravery and generosity, showing her love to friends and family "with great dignity and without restraint." "It was, as Mary always was, honest and completely authentic," he said. "That's the way she sang, too; honestly and with complete authenticity." Noel "Paul" Stookey, the trio's other member, praised Travers for her inspiring activism, "especially in her defense of the defenseless." "I am deadened and heartsick beyond words to consider a life without Mary Travers and honored beyond my wildest dreams to have shared her spirit and her career," he said. Mary Allin Travers was born on Nov. 9, 1936 in Louisville, Ky., the daughter of journalists who moved the family to Manhattan's bohemian Greenwich Village. She quickly became enamored with folk performers like the Weavers, and was soon performing with Pete Seeger, a founding member of the Weavers who lived in the same building as the Travers family. With a group called the Song Swappers, Travers backed Seeger on one album and two shows at Carnegie Hall. She also appeared (as one of a group of folk singers) in a short-lived 1958 Broadway show called "The Next President," starring comedian Mort Sahl. It wasn't until she met up with Yarrow and Stookey that Travers would taste success on her own. Yarrow was managed by Albert B. Grossman, who later worked in the same capacity for Bob Dylan. In the book "Positively 4th Street" by David Hajdu, Travers recalled that Grossman's strategy was to "find a nobody that he could nurture and make famous." The budding trio, boosted by the arrangements of Milt Okun, spent seven months rehearsing in her Greenwich Village apartment before their 1961 public debut at the Bitter End. Their beatnik look — a tall blonde flanked by a pair of goateed guitarists — was a part of their initial appeal. As The New York Times critic Robert Shelton put it not long afterward, "Sex appeal as a keystone for a folk-song group was the idea of the group's manager ... who searched for months for `the girl' until he decided on Miss Travers." The trio mingled their music with liberal politics, both onstage and off. Their version of "If I Had a Hammer" became an anthem for racial equality. Other hits included "Lemon Tree," "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Puff (The Magic Dragon.)" They were early champions of Dylan and performed his "Blowin' in the Wind" at the August 1963 March on Washington. And they were vehement in their opposition to the Vietnam War, managing to stay true to their liberal beliefs while creating music that resonated in the American mainstream. The group collected five Grammy Awards for their three-part harmony on enduring songs like "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" and "Blowin' in the Wind." At one point in 1963, three of their albums were in the top six Billboard best-selling LPs as they became the biggest stars of the folk revival movement. It was heady stuff for a trio that had formed in the early 1960s in Greenwich Village, running through simple tunes like "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Their debut album came out in 1962, and immediately scored a pair of hits with their versions of "If I Had a Hammer" and "Lemon Tree." The former won them Grammys for best folk recording, and best performance by a vocal group. "Moving" was the follow-up, including the hit tale of innocence lost, "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" — which reached No. 2 on the charts, and generated since-discounted reports that it was an ode to marijuana. Album No. 3, "In the Wind," featured three songs by the 22-year-old Dylan. "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" and "Blowin' in the Wind" both reached the top 10, bringing Dylan's material to a massive audience; the latter shipped 300,000 copies during one two-week period. "Blowin' In the Wind" became an another civil rights anthem, and Peter, Paul and Mary fully embraced the cause. They marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Ala., and performed with him in Washington. In a 1966 New York Times interview, Travers said the three worked well together because they respected one another. "There has to be a certain amount of love just in order for you to survive together," she said. "I think a lot of groups have gone down the tubes because they were not able to relate to one another." With the advent of the Beatles and Dylan's switch to electric guitar, the folk boom disappeared. Travers expressed disdain for folk-rock, telling the Chicago Daily News in 1966 that "it's so badly written. ... When the fad changed from folk to rock, they didn't take along any good writers." But the trio continued their success, scoring with the tongue-in-cheek single "I Dig Rock and Roll Music," a gentle parody of the Mamas and the Papas, in 1967 and the John Denver-penned "Leaving on a Jet Plane" two years later. They also continued as boosters for young songwriters, recording numbers written by then-little-known Gordon Lightfoot and Laura Nyro. In 1969, the group earned their final Grammy for "Peter, Paul and Mommy," which won for best children's album. They disbanded in 1971, launching solo careers — Travers released five albums — that never achieved the heights of their collaborations. Over the years they enjoyed several reunions, including a performance at a 1978 anti-nuclear benefit organized by Yarrow and a 35th anniversary album, "Lifelines," with fellow folkies Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Dave Van Ronk and Seeger. A boxed set of their music was released in 2004. They remained politically active as well, performing at the 1995 anniversary of the Kent State shootings and performing for California strawberry pickers. Travers had undergone a successful bone marrow transplant to treat her leukemia and was able to return to performing after that. "It was like a miracle," Travers told The Associated Press in 2006. "I'm just feeling fabulous. What's incredible is someone has given your life back. I'm out in the garden today. This time last year I was looking out a window at a hospital." She also said she told the marrow donor "how incredibly grateful I was." But by mid-2009, Yarrow told WTOP radio in Washington that her condition had worsened again and he thought she would no longer be able to perform. Travers lived for many years in Redding, Conn. She is survived by her husband, Ethan Robbins and daughters, Alicia and Erika.

BACON!!!!

Artimusbartimus — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:18:43 GMT

If bacon asn't good for you, then it wouldn't be in the grocery store! hehehehe!

Parallels suggested about the lives of Jesus & Horus, an Egyptian God

Artimusbartimus — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:59:22 GMT

"The Christian myths were first related of Horus or Osiris, who was the embodiment of divine goodness, wisdom, truth and purity...This was the greatest hero that ever lived in the mind of man -- not in the flesh -- the only hero to whom the miracles were natural because he was not human." Gerald Massey, author of "The Natural Genesis," 1 "None of the attempts made by sceptics [sic] to demonstrate that Christianity is false because it contains alleged pagan elements is credible or convincing." Unidentified historian. 2 Hosea 13:4: King James Version. "...I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me." Young's Literal Translation: "And I [am] Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt, And a God besides Me thou dost not know, And a Saviour -- there is none save Me." This passage may have an additional and completely different meaning from the usual interpretation. Overview: Some skeptics have suggested that there was, in ancient times, a shared supply of religious myths spread throughout much of the Mediterranean area, the Middle East and beyond. They suggest that ancient and modern religions have adopted material from this common source of stories about heroes, saviors and god-men. One of the more controversial theories -- sometimes called the "copycat thesis" -- suggests that many of the miracles, other life events, and beliefs about the supernatural status of Horus, an ancient Egyptian God, were incorporated into stories about Jesus as recorded in Gospels and other books in the Christian Scriptures (New Testament). The copycat thesis is strongly rejected by the vast majority of Christians but accepted by many skeptics. Most conservative Christians look upon the Bible as a "top-down" document: one revealed by God to humans. Since fraud, deceit, and lying are not attributes normally associated with God, they believe that the Bible -- as God's Word -- is truthful and accurate. Many skeptics view the Bible as a "bottom-up" document: one written by human authors to promote their religious and spiritual beliefs. Such authors are quire capable of adopting religious concepts of other cultures and incorporating them into their literary works. On this topic, we are faced with a stalemate. Skeptical commentators claim that there are many parallels between the lives of Horus and Jesus; Christian commentators tend to deny the existence of most or all of them. Some skeptics may lose objectivity because they are motivated by a desire to weaken the claims of Christianity; Christians may lose objectivity because they don't want to admit that there such parallels could exist and throw doubt on the accuracy of the Bible. We have not yet found an objective, reliable source. Background material about Yeshua of Nazareth: He is commonly referred to as Jesus Christ, although Yeshua or Joshua would be a more accurate name. "Christ" is not his last name; it is simply the Greek word for "Messiah," or "anointed one." Theologians have discovered about 50 gospels which were widely used by Jewish Christian, Pauline Christian and Gnostic groups within the early Christian movement. Only four of these were chosen by the surviving group -- often called Pauline Christianity because of its basis in the teachings of Paul. It was these four that were included in the Bible. Those four Gospels describe Jesus as: An observant Jew, An itinerant native healer, An exorcist, A magician, 1 A Jewish prophet, specially adopted by God A rabbi/teacher who followed the liberal school of Jewish philosophy promoted by Hillel the Elder. A god-man who is Lord and Savior. Yeshua is said to have been born in what are now the occupied territories -- formerly called Palestine - circa 4 to 7 BCE. Two of the Gospels say that Yeshua was born of a virgin; John seems to deny the possibility, and Mark is silent on the virgin birth. Yeshua's ministry lasted for one year largely in the Gallilee (according to the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke) or a three year largely in Judea (according to the Gospel of John) ministry, starting when he was about 30 years old. Most Christians believe that he was executed by the Roman occupying army, visited the underworld, was resurrected, spent either one or 40 days with his disciples (Gospel sources differ), and then ascended to heaven. Most Christian denominations view Jesus as God, and as the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity. Muslims view him as a great prophet, second only to Muhammad. They believe that God is indivisible and that the Trinity concept is perhaps the greatest blasphemy one can believe in. Many evangelical Christians view the four Gospels and the rest of books in the Bible as being inerrant and that their authors were inspired by God. The Gospels and other passages in the Bible are mostly interpreted literally, unless this is obviously not intended Background material about Horus: Various ancient Egyptian statues and writings tell of Horus, (pronounced "hohr'-uhs;" a.k.a. Harseisis, Heru-sa-Aset (Horus, son of Isis), Heru-ur (Horus the elder), Hr, and Hrw), a creator sky God. He was worshipped thousands of years before the first century CE -- the time when Jesus was ministering in the Galilee and/or Judea. 2 Horus was often represented as a stylized eye symbol, symbolizing the eye of a falcon. He was also presented "in the shape of a sparrow hawk or as a man [or lion] with a hawk's head." 3 He is often shown as an infant cradled by his mother Isis. He was considered to be the son of two major Egyptian deities: the God Osirus and and the Goddess Isis. In adulthood, he avenged his father's murder, and became recognized as the God of civil order and justice. Each of the Egyptian pharaohs were believed to be the living embodiment -- an incarnation -- of Horus. Tom Harpur, author of "The Pagan Christ; Recovering the Lost Light," 2 suggests that ancient Egyptian religion was henotheistic. That is, they recognize a single deity, Ra. They view other Gods and Goddesses as manifestations or aspects of that supreme God. [We use the present tense in these sentences because the ancient Egyptian religion is still in existence in the form of a Neo-Pagan reconstruction. Harpur writes: "A list of the names of all the gods of Egypt would fill pages. But all these gods were only forms, attributes or phases of Ra, the solar god, who himself was the supreme symbol or metaphor for God....Horus, the son of Osirus and Isis, is himself an aspect of Ra." Parallels suggested between Jesus & Horus Alleged comparisons between Jesus & Horus' life events. etc. Life events allegedly shared by Horus and Yeshua (a.k.a. Jesus) Stories from the life of Horus had been circulating for centuries before Jehua's birth (circa 4 to 7 BCE). If any copying occurred by the writers of the Egyptian or Christian religions, it was the followers of Jesus who incorporated into his biography the myths and legends of Horus, not vice-versa. Tom Harpur, an author, journalist, Anglican priest, and theologian, studied the works of three authors specialized in ancient Egyptian religion: Godfrey Higgins (1771-1834), Gerald Massey (1828-1907) and Alvin Boyd Kuhn (1880-1963). Harpur incorporated some of their findings into his book "Pagan Christ." 1 He argued that all of the essential ideas of both Judaism and Christianity came primarily from Egyptian religion. Harpur writes, in his book "Pagan Christ:" "[Author Gerald] Massey discovered nearly two hundred instances of immediate correspondence between the mythical Egyptian material and the allegedly historical Christian writings about Jesus. Horus indeed was the archetypal Pagan Christ." 2 One problem with comparing events in the life of Horus and Yeshua relates to time. Horus was a leading figure in Egyptian mythology for millennia. Folklore about him naturally proliferated during this interval. So, for example, there is more than one story about the method by which he died. Thus, if the writers of the Christian Scriptures (New Testament) did copy events from Horus' life, they would have had multiple options from which to choose. Further, one cannot compare crucifixion in 1st century CE Judah, and in ancient Egypt. Roman crucifixion followed a specific procedure by which the victim was made to carry the crosspiece through the city, clothing was stripped from him, his lims were tied -- or rarely nailed -- to the cross, etc. Nothing precisely like this existed in ancient Egypt. So, one cannot strictly call Horus' execution a crucifixion, even if he was tied to a tree and died of exposure. Comparison of some life events of Horus and Jesus: Event Horus Yeshua of Nazareth, a.k.a. Jesus Conception: By a virgin. There is some doubt about this matter By a virgin. 3 Father: Only begotten son of the God Osiris. Only begotten son of Yehovah (in the form of the Holy Spirit). Mother: Isis-Meri. 4 Miriam (now often referred to as Mary). Foster father: Seb, (a.k.a. Jo-Seph). 4 Joseph. Foster father's ancestry: Of royal descent. Of royal descent. Birth location: In a cave. In a cave or stable. Annunciation: By an angel to Isis, his mother. By an angel to Miriam, his mother. 3 Birth heralded by: The star Sirius, the morning star. An unidentified "star in the East." Birth date: Ancient Egyptians paraded a manger and child representing Horus through the streets at the time of the winter solstice (about DEC-21). In reality, he had no birth date; he was not a human. Born during the fall. However, his birth date is now celebrated on DEC-25. The date was chosen to occur on the same date as the birth of Mithra, Dionysus and the Sol Invictus (unconquerable Sun), etc. Birth announcement: By angels. By angels. 3 Birth witnesses: Shepherds. Shepherds. 3 Later witnesses to birth: Three solar deities. An unknown number of wise men. 3 They are said to have brought three gifts; thus the legend grew that there were three men. Death threat during infancy: Herut tried to have Horus murdered. Herod tried to have Jesus murdered. Handling the threat: The God That tells Horus' mother "Come, thou goddess Isis, hide thyself with thy child." An angel tells Jesus' father to: "Arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt." Rite of passage ritual: Horus came of age with a special ritual, when his eye was restored. Taken by parents to the temple for what is today called a bar mitzvah ritual. Age at the ritual: 12 12 Break in life history: No data between ages of 12 & 30. No data between ages of 12 & 30. Baptism location: In the river Eridanus. In the river Jordan. Age at baptism: 30. 30. Baptized by: Anup the Baptiser. John the Baptist, a.k.a. John the Baptist. Subsequent fate of the baptiser: Beheaded. Beheaded. Temptation: Taken from the desert of Amenta up a high mountain by his arch-rival Sut. Sut (a.k.a. Set) was a precursor for the Hebrew Satan. Taken from the desert in Palestine up a high mountain by his arch-rival Satan. Result of temptation: Horus resists temptation. Jesus resists temptation. Close followers: Twelve disciples. There is some doubt about this matter as well. Twelve disciples. Activities: Walked on water, cast out demons, healed the sick, restored sight to the blind. He "stilled the sea by his power." Walked on water, cast out demons, healed the sick, restored sight to the blind. He ordered the sea with a "Peace, be still" command. Raising of the dead: Horus raised Osirus, his dead father, from the grave. 5 Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave. Location where the resurrection miracle occurred: Anu, an Egyptian city where the rites of the death, burial and resurrection of Horus were enacted annually. 5 Hebrews added their prefix for house ('beth") to "Anu" to produce "Beth-Anu" or the "House of Anu." Since "u" and "y" were interchangeable in antiquity, "Bethanu" became "Bethany," the location mentioned in John 11. Linkage between the name of Osirus in Egyptian religion and Lazarus in the Gospel of John: Asar was an alternative name for Osirus, Horus' father. Horus raised Asar from the dead. He was referred to as "the Asar," as a sign of respect. Translated into Hebrew, Asr is "El-Asar." The Romans added the prefix "us" to indicate a male name, producing "Elasarus." Over time, the "E" was dropped and "s" became "z," producing "Lazarus." 5 Jesus is said to have raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. Transfigured: On a mountain. On a high mountain. Key address(es): Sermon on the Mount. Sermon on the Mount; Sermon on the Plain. Method of death By crucifixion or by the sting of a scorpion; sources differ. 6 By crucifixion. Accompanied by: Two thieves. Two thieves. Burial In a tomb. In a tomb. Fate after death: Descended into Hell; resurrected after three days. Descended into Hell; resurrected after about 30 to 38 hours (Friday PM to presumably some time in Sunday AM) covering parts of three days. Resurrection announced by: Women. Women. Future: Reign for 1,000 years in the Millennium. Reign for 1,000 years in the Millennium. Comparison of some characteristics of Horus and Jesus: Characteristics Horus Yeshua of Nazareth, a.k.a. Jesus Nature: Regarded as a mythical character. Regarded as a 1st century CE human prophet by Jewish Christians; viewed as a human man-god in the Gospel of John. Main role: Savior of humanity. Savior of humanity. Status: God-man. God-man. Common portrayal: Virgin Isis holding the infant Horus. Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus. Title: KRST, the anointed one. Christ, the anointed one. Other names: The good shepherd, the lamb of God, the bread of life, the son of man, the Word, the fisher, the winnower. The good shepherd, the lamb of God, the bread of life, the son of man, the Word, the fisher, the winnower. Zodiac sign: Associated with Pisces, the fish. Associated with Pisces, the fish. Main symbols: Fish, beetle, the vine, shepherd's crook. Fish, beetle, the vine, the shepherd's crook. Comparison of some teachings of Horus and Jesus: Characteristics Horus Yeshua of Nazareth, a.k.a. Jesus Criteria for salvation at the place of judgment: "I have given bread to the hungry man and water to the thirsty man and clothing to the naked person and a boat to the shipwrecked mariner." 7 "For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me..." Matthew 25:35-36 (KJV). "I am" statements "I am Horus in glory...I am the Lord of Light...I am the victorious one...I am the heir of endless time...I, even I, am he that knoweth the paths of heaven." 8 "I am Horus, the Prince of Eternity." "I am Horus who stepeth onward through eternity...Eternity and everlastingness is my name." "I am the possessor of bread in Anu. I have bread in heaven with Ra." "I am the light of the world....I am the way, the truth and the life." "Before Abraham was, I am" "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and forever." "I am the living bread that came down from heaven." (From the Gospel of John) Debates about the validity of the evidence for the copycat thesis Acharya S. quotes priest and author Joseph McCabe: "Whatever we make of the original myth, Isis seems to have been originally a virgin (or, perhaps, sexless) goddess, and in the later period of Egyptian religion she was again considered a virgin goddess, demanding very strict abstinence from her devotees. It is at this period, apparently, that the birthday of Horus was annually celebrated, about December 25th, in the temples. As both Macrobius and the Christian writer [of the "Paschal Chronicle"] say, a figure of Horus as a baby was laid in a manger, in a scenic reconstruction of a stable, and a statue of Isis was placed beside it. Horus was, in a sense, the Savior of mankind. He was their avenger against the powers of darkness; he was the light of the world. His birth-festival was a real Christmas before Christ. 1,2 Acharya S. mentions a number of other references to Egyptian virgin births in her essay on Horus. 2 James Frazer writes in The Golden Bough: 3 "The ritual of the nativity, as it appears to have been celebrated in Syria and Egypt, was remarkable. The celebrants retired into certain inner shrines, from which at midnight they issued with a loud cry, "The Virgin has brought forth! The light is waxing!" The Egyptians even represented the new-born sun by the image of an infant which on his birthday, the winter solstice, they brought forth and exhibited to his worshippers. No doubt the Virgin who thus conceived and bore a son on the twenty-fifth of December was the great Oriental goddess whom the Semites called the Heavenly Virgin or simply the Heavenly Goddess." 4 On the other hand, Christian theologian Ward Gasque surveyed twenty contemporary Egyptologists. He asked them about the relationship whether Horus experienced a virgin birth. Ten responded; they unanimously agreed that there is no evidence that Horus was born of a virgin 5 Did Horus have 12 disciples? Glenn Miller wrote: "...my research in the academic literature does not surface this fact. I can find references to four 'disciples'--variously called the semi-divine HERU-SHEMSU ('Followers of Horus'). I can find references to sixteen human followers. And I can find reference to an unnumbered group of followers called mesniu/mesnitu ('blacksmiths') who accompanied Horus in some of his battles. ... But I cannot find twelve anywhere." 6 Of course, the early Christian movement might have imported the concept of many disciples from Egypt and changed the number so that the number of Jesus' disciples matched the number of the tribes of Israel. Gasque's survey came up empty on the matter of Horus' disciples as well. Was Horus crucified? If the term "crucified" is defined as a Roman crucifixion, the answer is definitely no. The Roman Army that occupied Judea at the time of Jesus' execution had a highly organized method of executing uppity slaves and insurrectionists. It involved a flogging, forcing the victim to carry the cross arm to the place of execution, stripping the victim, tying his or her limbs in place (or rarely nailing them to the wood beams), waiting for the victim to die a slow, lingering death, and then throwing the body on a garbage heap for scavengers to eat. The whole procedure was carefully calculated to terrorize the population. That type of crucifixion did not exist in ancient Egypt, and thus Horus was definitely not given a Roman-type execution. However, some sources claim that he was crucified in the sense of being tied to a tree and allowed to die from asphyxiation and exposure. On the other hand, Glen M. Miller writes: I can find no references to Horus EVER dying, until he later becomes "merged" with Re the Sun god, after which he 'dies' and is 'reborn' every single day as the sun rises. And even in this 'death', there is no reference to a tomb anywhere... http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa5.htm

hmm

Artimusbartimus — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:44:25 GMT

I have had a rush of emotions come over me. And I just don't know sometimes Cause sometimes ends up all the time As the tears run down my face I miss a few people in my life And I have hurt even more And I hurt even more than that I have been fighting this for so long I have been turnning every corner Just to find that something That someting that left me soi long ago

Benoit Mandelbrot

Artimusbartimus — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:19:29 GMT

Revelation: My mind is opened up to see things in a diffrent prospective...Almost three dimensionally. Am I manic right now?....YES...But not really...More so fascinated! Looking at things in a way I have never seen things. Is it an LSD trip?...No....I watched a program last night on NOVA...Hunting the Hidden Dimension....The Fractal Geometry of Nature...mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot. FASCINATING! I am thinking so many things right now, on how this can be applied to anything...And makes me wonder if anything is random at all....And if it is random...then that randomness is like a cancer.....All I can say right now is....I am completly blown away...And there were a few things that I saw in this program that I have found myself doing.....In the since of mathematical equAtions. And now I am looking at those in my head and I am seeing that I have been thinking in that direction for a while. I just can't explain with words.....

Imagine

Artimusbartimus — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 10:52:11 GMT

Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today... Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace... You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be as one Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world... You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GAHFrLAxzM

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Lab Accidents

Artimusbartimus — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:42:10 GMT

1 There went our best chance: In the ninth century, a team of Chinese alchemists trying to synthesize an "elixir of immortality" from saltpeter, sulfur, realgar, and dried honey instead invented gunpowder. 2 German scientist Hennig Brand stored 50 buckets of urine in his cellar for months in 1675, hoping that it would turn into gold. Instead, an obscure mix of alchemy and chemistry yielded a waxy, glowing goo that spontaneously burst into flame—the element now known as phosphorus. 3 Soldiers supplied the raw material in vast, sloshing quantities until the 1750s, when Swedish chemist Carl Scheele developed an industrial method of producing phosphorus. He discovered eight other elements, including chlorine, oxygen, and nitrogen, and compounds like ammonia, glycerin, and prussic acid. 4 Scheele was found dead in his lab at age 43, perhaps owing to his propensity for tasting his own toxic chemicals. 5 Kevlar, superglue, cellophane, Post-it notes, photographs, and the phonograph: They all emerged from laboratory blunders. 6 The Flash, created in 1940 for All-American Publications, was the first comic book hero to develop superpowers after a lab accident, attaining "super speed" after inhaling "hard water" vapors. 7 Other beneficiaries of the Freak Lab Mishap include Plastic Man (struck by a falling drum full of acid), the Hulk (irradiated by an experimental bomb), and of course, Spider-Man (bitten by a radioactive spider). 8 In real life, perhaps a bigger risk comes from lab-contracted diseases. The world's last documented case of smallpox killed photographer Janet Parker in 1978 after the virus escaped from a lab at the University of Birmingham in England. 9 But sometimes humans strike back: Alexander Fleming, famous for his serendipitous discovery of penicillin, also chanced upon an antibiotic enzyme in nasal mucus when he sneezed onto a bacterial sample and noticed that his snot kept the microbes in check. 10 The lab-accident rate in schools and colleges is 100 to 1,000 times greater than at firms like Dow or DuPont. 11 In 1938 DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett opened a dud canister of tetrafluoroethylene gas and discovered an amazing, nearly friction-free white powder. He named it Teflon. 12 Perhaps he should have chucked it out instead: In 2005 the Environmental Protection Agency identified a Teflon ingredient, perfluorooctanoic acid, as a "likely carcinogen." It is now in the bloodstream of 95 percent of Americans. 13 After a 1992 drug trial in the Welsh mining town of Merthyr Tydfil, male subjects reported that sildenafil citrate hadn't done much for their angina, but it did have an unusual side effect on another part of their anatomy. Today the drug is sold as Viagra. 14 In 1943 Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman inadvertently absorbed a small quantity of lysergic acid through his fingertips and experienced "dizziness . . . visual distortions . . . [a] desire to laugh." The age of LSD had begun. 15 Hoffman's long, strange trip continues. He turned 100 this past January. 16 Why he's not the father of the electric chair: While trying to electrocute a turkey, Benjamin Franklin sent a whopping jolt from two Leyden jars into his own body. "The flash was very great and the crack as loud as a Pistol," he wrote, describing the incident as an "Experiment in Electricity that I desire never to repeat." 17 In 1965 astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson scrubbed their Bell Labs radio antenna to rid it of pigeon droppings, which they suspected were causing the instrument's annoying steady hiss. 18 That noise turned out to be the microwave echo of the Big Bang. 19 The world has scores of superpowerful particle accelerators. Last year, a fireball created at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in Upton, New York, had the characteristics of a black hole. Physicists are reasonably sure that no such black holes could escape and consume Earth. 20 Reasonably.

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Nothing

Artimusbartimus — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:25:30 GMT

1 There is vastly more nothing than something. Roughly 74 percent of the universe is “nothing,” or what physicists call dark energy; 22 percent is dark matter, particles we cannot see. Only 4 percent is baryonic matter, the stuff we call something. 2 And even something is mostly nothing. Atoms overwhelmingly consist of empty space. Matter’s solidity is an illusion caused by the electric fields created by subatomic particles. 3 There is more and more nothing every second. In 1998 astronomers measuring the expansion of the universe determined that dark energy is pushing apart the universe at an ever-accelerating speed. The discovery of nothing—and its ability to influence the fate of the cosmos—is considered the most important astronomical finding of the past decade. 4 But even nothing has a weight. The energy in dark matter is equivalent to a tiny mass; there is about one pound of dark energy in a cube of empty space 250,000 miles on each side. 5 In space, no one can hear you scream: Sound, a mechanical wave, cannot travel through a vacuum. Without matter to vibrate through, there is only silence. 6 So what if Kramer falls in a forest? Luckily, electromagnetic waves, including light and radio waves, need no medium to travel through, letting TV stations broadcast endless reruns of Seinfeld, the show about nothing. 7 Light can travel through a vacuum, but there is nothing to refract it. Alas for extraterrestrial romantics, stars do not twinkle in outer space. 8 Black holes are not holes or voids; they are the exact opposite of nothing, being the densest concentration of mass known in the universe. 9 “Zero” was first seen in cuneiform tablets written around 300 B.C. by Babylonians who used it as a placeholder (to distinguish 36 from 306 or 360, for example). The concept of zero in its mathematical sense was developed in India in the fifth century. 10 Any number divided by zero is . . . nothing, not even zero. The equation is mathematically impossible. 11 It is said that Abdülhamid II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s, had censors expunge references to H2O from chemistry books because he was sure it stood for “Hamid the Second is nothing.” 12 Medieval art was mostly flat and two-dimensional until the 15th century, when the Florentine architect Filippo Brunelleschi conceived of the vanishing point, the place where parallel lines converge into nothingness. This allowed for the development of perspective in art. 13 Aristotle once wrote, “Nature abhors a vacuum,” and so did he. His complete rejection of vacuums and voids and his subsequent influence on centuries of learning prevented the adoption of the concept of zero in the Western world until around the 13th century, when Italian bankers found it to be extraordinarily useful in financial transactions. 14 Vacuums do not suck things. They create spaces into which the surrounding atmosphere pushes matter. 15 Creatio ex nihilo, the belief that the world was created out of nothing, is one of the most common themes in ancient myths and religions. 16 Current theories suggest that the universe was created out of a state of vacuum energy, that is, nothing. 17 But to a physicist there is no such thing as nothing. Empty space is instead filled with pairs of particles and antiparticles, called virtual particles, that quickly form and then, in accordance with the law of energy conservation, annihilate each other in about 10-25 second. 18 So Aristotle was right all along. 19 These virtual particles popping in and out of existence create energy. In fact, according to quantum mechanics, the energy contained in all the power plants and nuclear weapons in the world doesn’t equal the theoretical energy contained in the empty spaces between these words. 20 In other words, nothing could be the key to the theory of everything.

Britain To Put CCTV Cameras Inside Private Homes...oh my GOD...it's 1984

Artimusbartimus — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:16:08 GMT

As an ex-Brit, I’m well aware of the authorities’ love of surveillance and snooping, but even I, a pessimistic cynic, am amazed by the governments latest plan: to install Orwell’s telescreens in 20,000 homes. £400 million ($668 million) will be spend on installing and monitoring CCTV cameras in the homes of private citizens. Why? To make sure the kids are doing their homework, going to bed early and eating their vegetables. The scheme has, astonishingly, already been running in 2,000 family homes. The government’s “children’s secretary” Ed Balls is behind the plan, which is aimed at problem, antisocial families. The idea is that, if a child has a more stable home life, he or she will be less likely to stray into crime and drugs. It gets worse. The government is also maintaining a private army, incredibly not called “Thought Police”, which will “be sent round to carry out home checks,” according to the Sunday Express. And in a scheme which firmly cements the nation’s reputation as a “nanny state”, the kids and their families will be forced to sign “behavior contracts” which will “set out parents’ duties to ensure children behave and do their homework.” And remember, this is the left-wing government. The Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling, batting for the conservatives, thinks these plans are “too little, and too late,” implying that even more obtrusive work needs to be done. Rumors that a new detention center, named Room 101, is being constructed inside the Ministry of Love are unconfirmed.

Clean Energy 2030

Artimusbartimus — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:23:50 GMT

Okay, check out this glistening, rainbow scenario: I don’t starve to death in a mass planetary famine in my old age, and by weather-turbulent home state of Texas is not reduced to climate-crisis nightmare of scary droughts broken by massive hurricanes, because the unleashed brilliant intellects at Google have come up with a workable, reasonable and even profitable energy-transition scenario that they’ve put on their big fake Wiki. *And everybody reads this complex but quite thorough technocratic plan, and they just kinda do whatever Google wisely suggests, in a massive technical transition that spreads throughout the planet as quickly and peaceably as, uh, Google. And by 2030 we don’t even worry about the Greenhouse any more. I’m 76 years old and mostly I worry about my cane, my trifocals and my hearing-aid. *Who do you s’pose has more raw ability to save our bacon: Google, or the United Nations? You can’t say the head of the UN obscures the issue, anyhow. “Here, as elsewhere around the globe, I have seen the human face of climate change. Already, hundreds of millions of people are facing increased hardships. “Three-quarters of all disasters globally are now climate related, up from half just a decade ago. “In my travels in Africa, I have met families whose crops have been scorched by droughts. “In Haiti and Latin America, I have visited those whose homes have been destroyed by floods and storms, and I have been deeply moved by their suffering. “In a matter of years, climate change could usher in widespread chronic hunger and malnutrition across broad swathes of the developing world. “Already, over one billion people go to bed hungry each night. “Imagine what will happen when rains become more erratic and droughts intensify. “Imagine, for a moment, that the glaciers of the Himalaya melt. The lives and livelihoods of a billion people will change across Asia. “But we don’t need to imagine. “Reality is grim enough. Scientists say that by 2020, 75 to 250 million people in Africa will face growing shortages of water due to climate change. “Yields from rain-fed agriculture could fall by half in some African countries over the next ten years. “These are frightening scenarios. “Even the world’s richest nations are not immune. (((I’d like to find this “richest nation” that’s immune to the sky. It’s like trying to find the immune richest quarter in New Orleans.))) “In the United States, the Energy Secretary has warned that California – the world’s fifth largest economy — could see prime farm land reduced to a dustbowl, and major cities running out of water by the end of the century. (((Think faster, Google!))) “Past and present emissions are already changing the climate. And the emissions are still increasing. The adverse impacts will increase. “The point is clear: the climate is changing and so, therefore, must we. “There is only one way forward. Together, we must transform our economies and embark on a lower emission, clean energy pathway. “We must strengthen our ability to adapt to a changing climate. “Adaptation is an essential investment in our common future. “We must invest in making our communities more resilient and in reducing our vulnerability to natural disasters. “And we must invest in the eco-systems that sustain us. “Across the globe, we see that humankind is neglecting or destroying our environment at an accelerating rate. “They include the fisheries and fields that feed people and drive economies. “They include the wetlands that protect us from floods, and the forests that provide fresh air, clean water and livelihoods for 1.6 billion people. “Ladies and Gentlemen, “We must walk a different path…”

Thin, lightweight, foldable thermochromic displays on paper

Artimusbartimus — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:28:51 GMT

This article describes an electronic display that is fabricated by patterning electrically conductive wires (heaters) with micron-scale dimensions on one side of a sheet of paper, and thermochromic ink on the opposite side. Passing electrical current through the wires heats the paper and changes the thermochromic ink from colored (black, green, or other colors) to transparent; this change in property reveals the paper underneath the ink—exposing any messages printed on the paper—and serves as the basis for a two-state shutter display. This type of display is thin (100 µm), flat, lightweight (the display weighs <20 mg/cm2), can be folded, rolled, twisted, and creased while maintaining function, and ultimately can (if required) be disposed of by incineration. The display is appropriate for applications where information must be presented clearly (usually only once) for little cost (each display costs <$0.10/m2 in materials) and where limited electrical power is available.

Inside Holland's "Half Baked" Pot Policy

Artimusbartimus — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:24:28 GMT

When it comes to the debate over legalizing marijuana, even the president of the United States has a hard time keeping a straight face. After legalization questions got high ratings in an online town hall in March, Mr. Obama couldn't suppress a grin and a joke about what the popularity of the topic "says about the online audience." To the disappointment, if not the surprise, of marijuana advocates, he went on to say that he doesn't think legalizing and taxing marijuana "is a good strategy to grow our economy." Yet there are many Americans - and public officials - who are taking the issue more seriously. In a CBS News poll released Monday, 41 percent of Americans said they favor marijuana legalization. Other polls put that figure as high as 52 percent. Meanwhile, Reps. Barney Frank and Ron Paul co-authored a bill to end federal penalties for possession of small amounts of pot. Sen. Jim Webb has put forth legislation to create a commission examining drug policy and problems in the criminal justice system. In California, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano introduced a bill to legalize recreational use of the drug in order to generate desperately-needed tax revenue - and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he is open to a debate over doing just that. These are significant steps for American politicians, who have long been loath to take on drug legalization for fear of being labeled soft on crime. But they mark little more than an early effort to prompt discussion around the issue. For a more substantive look at how politicians are grappling with decriminalization, one must cross the Atlantic and take a look at Holland, where casual marijuana use has been de facto legal since 1976. Where Pot Is Both Legal And Illegal: Despite what the typical backpack-toting college student might think, pot exists in something of a legal netherworld even in Amsterdam. While coffee shops in some areas of the country can sell marijuana without risk of punishment, proprietors cannot legally obtain the product for sale. And possession and production are technically misdemeanors that can prompt a fine. "The Dutch model is a little half baked," quips Tim Boekhout van Solinge, a drug policy expert at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. "The supply side is still illegal, the production is illegal." Experts on both sides of the issue lament the ambiguity of marijuana policy not just in Holland but also in places like California, where there are not clear rules about the distribution of medical marijuana. Dutch drug policy is grounded in the separation of soft drugs like marijuana from harder drugs like cocaine and heroin. "The policy has evolved slowly over time," said Craig Reinerman, a sociology professor and drug policy expect at the University of California Santa Cruz. "At first they had a national commission, much like the Nixon administration had. And their national commission said, 'look, all drugs have risks, even legal ones. Some are acceptable, and some are just too high.'" Because history suggested people would use marijuana regardless of the limits imposed by the government, the Dutch tried to manage use as part of an attempt to keep transactions as safe as possible. (They have a similar philosophy when it comes to prostitution). Dutch law enforcement will not go after coffee shops that sell small amounts of marijuana (up to five grams) to people over the age of 18, though the coffee shops can only operate if the local municipality allows it. The coffee shops can only keep 500 grams of marijuana onsite at any one time, can't advertize, can't sell alcohol or hard drugs and can be shut down if they become a nuisance to the neighborhood. Customers are permitted to consume the drug on the premises or at their home. WATCH: Dutch Doctor Frederick Polak talks to CBSNews.com about the relationship between repression and use. WATCH: An American cannabis tour guide talks to CBSNews.com about drug tourism in Amsterdam. In addition, if not for international treaties designed to restrict supply, the Dutch may well have crafted a policy in which the supply side is (at the very least) de facto legal as well, according to Boekhout van Solinge. In the current system the state can only generate tax revenue indirectly, via the incomes of those who run the coffee shops. And many proprietors have little choice but to engage in somewhat shadowy transactions in order to secure the product. "The fact that production and supply are still left in the underground certainly creates some problems," said Bruce Merkin at the Marijuana Policy Project. Predict: Marijuana Nation Will any state legalize marijuana by the end of 2009? Over the years, Dutch policy has prompted serious grousing from neighbors. In the 1990s, French president Jacques Chirac suggested the country's position was weakening Europe-wide efforts to combat drug use. One of his allies in the legislature went so far as to dub Holland a "narco-state." Holland has long fought illegal drug trafficking, yet remains a significant producer of a number of drugs and a key entry point for narcotics into Europe. Yet as defenders of the Dutch policy are all too happy to point out, the Dutch actually smoke less pot than many of their neighbors - the French included. According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 22.6 percent of Dutch citizens between ages 15 and 64 reported having used cannabis in their lifetime. In France, the percentage in that age group who reported using the drug was nearly four points higher - 26.2 percent. Among Spaniards the lifetime usage rate for this age group is even higher - 28.6 percent - while among Italians it sits at a relatively robust 29.3 percent. In the United Kingdom, where the sample included 16 through 59 year olds, the percentage who said they had used cannabis was above 30 percent. For the record, the country with the most liberal drug policy in Europe is actually Portugal - which happens to have the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in the entire European Union. (But that's a different story.) In the United States, meanwhile, more than 40 percent of people 18 and older have used marijuana or hashish. America boasts one of the highest pot usage rates in the world. "If you look at the data, it really dispels any notion that allowing adults to possess marijuana creates a nation of potheads," Merkin said. Dutch public opinion over the nation's drug policy has long been split, with polls usually suggesting that a slim majority favor the coffee shop-based system. In recent years, however, the country has moved to become more restrictive, thanks in large part to resentment over the impact of so-called "drug tourists," whose partying has long angered locals. In 2007, the Netherlands banned the use of psychedelic mushrooms (which had essentially been treated as soft drugs) after a drug-related suicide, and several municipalities have moved to close coffee shops to discourage crime and drug tourism. The U.S. Department Of Justice says that 81 percent of the country's municipalities did not allow coffee shops as far back as 2000. One Dutch professor predicts there will be no more coffee shops in Holland by 2010, thanks in large part to anger over drug tourists. One of the key debates around pot policy in Holland, the U.S. and elsewhere centers on the question of destigmatization - whether or not giving the drug the imprimatur of legality will drive up usage rates. Joel W. Hay, a Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Economics & Policy at the University Of Southern California and an opponent of marijuana legalization, says yes. "A lot of people are now getting the clear social signal that pot is not that great because it is illegal" in the United States, he said. "It certainly doesn't deter use, but it probably deters a substantial amount, and that's for the good." But Reinerman argues that destigmatization is a "tricky question." "I interviewed a Dutch parent once and asked about this, and he told me, 'my son will smoke a little pot now and then, but mostly it doesn't occur to him to do that. There's no allure of the forbidden fruit,'" he said. Reinerman allows that "in the first six months or a year or two [after legalization] there might be an increase" in marijuana use, but says the destigmitization that would come with legalization ultimately works both ways. "Availability is not destiny," he argues. Peter Reuter, a University of Maryland professor of criminology, believes that any increase in usage rates if marijuana were decriminalized would be modest. He points to the fact that Dutch marijuana users tend to give up the drug at the same time as Americans do - in their 20s. "I'm reasonably confident that if we followed the Dutch model we would not see a big uptick in usage," he said. That could depend, however, on whether the United States could successfully follow one aspect of the Dutch policy that both legalization advocates and opponents laud: its ban on advertising. Hay notes that under a legalization policy business interests would be incentivized to try to drive up demand. In the United States, he argues, a policy that bans advertising on legal marijuana would raise questions of Constitutionality. (Congress and the Obama administration did recently pass legislation more strictly limiting tobacco advertising.) "I think it would be tightly contested whether restrictions could be put on it, because the adverse health effects are not that great," said Reuter. "Potential producers could bring suit." These sorts of complex questions are being seriously considered in some American circles for the first time since the 1970s. The federal government, however, is not exactly joining the conversation. Though new drug czar Gil Kerlikowske has been lauded for his emphasis of treatment over incarceration - and for abandoning the phrase "war on drugs" - he recently told Rolling Stone that legalization is not something worth considering "under any circumstances." Hay believes there is simply no good reason to abandon the status quo and emulate the Dutch policy, let alone move to full legalization. "We have a philosophical question if potheads should be able to [use marijuana], and they sort of already can," he said. "It's not really that illegal right now. And I think having society saying this is something you shouldn't do, but we don't throw the book at you when you do it, is sort of a socially optimal policy." But while medical marijuana use has been decriminalized in some areas of the country, police still arrest between 750,000 and 900,000 people per year on marijuana-related charges, the vast majority for possession. "It just should be accepted that cannabis is consumed by hundreds of millions of people around the world," said Boekhout van Solinge. "When governments arrest people, it hasn't stopped people from consuming cannabis

Lady GaGa's boobs explode

Artimusbartimus — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:01:08 GMT

I'VE been known to refer to a girl's chest area as bangers - but LADY GAGA's look more like Roman Candles. IT must be hard to keep a Poker Face when your front is on fire - though Lady G is nothing if not professional. The singer didn't bat an over made-up eyelid as she unleashed a stream of sparks from her boobs during Canada's MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto. Later she even had some dancers on hand to conduct a close manual inspection of the area that had erupted. What a woman.

New Swiss firefighting tool: TV remote control

Artimusbartimus — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:10:39 GMT

ZURICH – It must rank among the easiest fires ever to put out. Zurich authorities say police and firefighters were called to the house of an elderly woman early Thursday after she reported her television set was burning. When they arrived, they discovered no signs of fire or smoke. They found instead that the TV was tuned into a German station that in the early morning hours aired the constant image of a fireplace. "The fire was extinguished with the press of a button," police said in a statement.

Japan may add noise to quiet hybrid cars for safety

Artimusbartimus — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:01:01 GMT

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan's near-silent hybrid cars have been called dangerous by the vision-impaired and some users, prompting a government review on whether to add a noise-making device, according to an official. The petrol-electric vehicles, which in recent months have become the country's top-selling autos, hum along almost soundlessly when they are switched from fuel to battery mode. "We have received opinions from automobile users and vision-impaired people that they feel hybrid vehicles are dangerous," a transport ministry official said. "Blind people depend on sounds when they walk, but there are no engine sounds from hybrid vehicles when running at low speed" and on the electric motor, he said. The ministry has launched a panel of scholars, vision-impaired groups, consumers, police and the automobile industry to discuss the matter. "They decided to consider introducing a sound-making function" in petrol-electric hybrids when the 13-member panel held its first meeting Thursday, the official said. They have not decided on what kind of sound should be used, only that it should induce a response of caution, he said. "On the other hand, we should pay attention to residents (along roads) as hybrids are excellent in reducing noise," the official added. The panel is expected to draw up a report by the end of the year. Its proposal will be discussed at the ministry's committee on automobile safety before it could be drafted into legislation. Toyota Motor launched the world's most popular hybrid, the Prius, in 1997. A cheaper, revamped Prius, rolled out in Japan in late May, has been a huge hit, drawing orders for 200,000 units, according to Toyota. It recently became the best-selling car in Japan's domestic market

Last Night - Lunik

Artimusbartimus — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:33:58 GMT

Last night I heard my voice from the ceiling Last night I had another face I didn't understand this dream's meaning Last night I fell through the floor And landed in a cage of lions I stood in the middle of them all They just stared at me in silence Many things I'd like to know Hard to choose which way to go Many things I'd like to see What you do for getting free If I could fly away alone Like a bird out on my own Would I stop feeling so lost I will never know Last night I found a bird it was bleeding I took him home and I saved his life Didn't understand this dream's meaning Many things I'd like to know Hard to choose which way to go Many things I'd like to see What you do for getting free If I could fly away alone Like a bird out on my own Would I stop feeling so lost I will never know Many things I'd like to know Hard to choose which way to go Many things I'd like to see What you do for getting free If I could fly away alone Like a bird out on my own Would I stop feeling so lost I will never know

wHY ARE THERE DAFODILS IN dAFODIL MEDOW? A Story for the Mountain.

Artimusbartimus — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:19:19 GMT

why ARE THERE DAFFODILS IN daffodil MEADOW? well, A LONG LONG LONG AND EVEN LONGER TIME AGO. when WE HAD NOT EVEN SET FOOT. THE LAND WAS BROWN. FROM EVERY DIRECTION YOU COULD SEE, ALL WAS BROWN. EVERYTHING LIVED UNDER THE GROUND. and ALL THE FLOWERS LIVED UNDERGROUND. where NOBODY COULD EVER SEE THEM. they LIVED THERE DAILY LIVES IN A BLEAK DARK WORLD. DAY IN AND DAY OUT. and THE LAND ABOVE THEM STAYED BROWN. THEN ONE DAY, ONE OF THE DAFFODILS STARTED TO ASK WHAT WAS ABOVE THEM, AND THE OTHERS WOULD SAY, THERE IS NOTHING ABOVE US BUT MORE OF THIS. nothing. and THE ONE DAFFODIL SAID IT COULD NOT BE SO. for THERE IS SOMETHING AROUND US, AND SOMETHING BELOW US. there HAS TO BE SOMETHING ABOVE US. the OTHERS CALLED HIM CRAZY. but HE HAD TO FIND OUT IF THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOVE. so HE WIGGLED HIS FINGERS AND HE WIGGLED HIS ARMS, HE WIGGLED HIS SHOULDERS, AND HE STARTED WITH ALL HIS STRENGTH TO MOVE HIS ARMS FROM HIS SIDE. it TOOK HIM ALL DAY, BUT HE MADE SOME PROGRESS. he MANAGED TO MOVE HIS FIRST ARM UPWARDS. the OTHERS STARTED TO LAUGH AT HIM TELLING HIM THAT HE LOOKED FUNNY WITH HIS ARM IN THE POSITION IT WAS IN. he SAID YOU JUST WAIT. i WILL PROVE YOU WRONG./ he RESTED ALL THAT NIGHT. and HE DREAMED OF WHAT COULD BE ABOVE. and ALL HE COULD SEE WAS NOTHING. more DARK. when HE WOKE THE NEXT MORNING HIS FINGERS FELT WARM. so HE STARTED ALL OVER AGAIN. he WIGGLED HIS FINGERS AND HE WIGGLED HIS ELBOW. he WIGGLED HIS SHOULDERS, AND HE MOVED HIS ARM A LITTLE FURTHER. the OTHERS CONTINUED TO LAUGH AT HIM. but A FEW STARTED TO QUESTION WHAT HE WAS DOING. thinking TO THEMSELVES THEY WISH THEY COULD MOVE THERE ARMS AS WELL. and THEY STARTED. they WIGGLED THERE FINGERS AND WIGGLED THERE ELBOWS. wiggled THERE TOES THERE FEET. they WERE JUST A WIGGLING ALL OVER. meanwhile the ONE WHO STARTED THE WHOLE THING HAD MANAGED TO FREE ONE OF HIS ARMS. he HAD WIGGLED HIS ARM FREE FROM THE GROUND. and IT WAS SWAYING BACK AND FORTH. now SOME OF THE OTHERS STILL LOOKED AT HIM IN DISAPPROVAL, BUT THERE WERE MORE WHO WERE DOING JUST THE SAME, wiggling THERE WHOLE SELVES SO THEY COULD FEEL THERE ARMS MOVE BACK AND FORTH FREELY. eventually EVERYBODY HAD FOLLOWED THE ONE. and ALL OF THERE ARMS WHERE RAISED UPWARDS. swaying TOO AND FRO. wiggling THERE FINGERS THERE ELBOWS ANYTIME THEY FELT THEY NEEDED TO. then THE ONE. he WAS TIRED OF SEEING THIS NOTHING AROUND HIM. his ARMS WERE MOVING BACK AND FORTH ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT. and HE STARTED TO ASK THE OTHERS IF THEY KNEW WHAT WAS ABOVE THEM. and THE OTHERS SAID TO HIM THAT THERE WAS NOTHING ABOVE THEM, FOR THEY COULD FEEL NOTHING AROUND THERE ARMS, SO THAT PROVED IT. and HE LOOKED AT THEM SADLY AND SAID, but HAVE YOU SEEN IT?...and THE OTHERS SAID TO HIM. there IS NOTING TO SEE. nothing AT ALL. you SHOULD BE THANKFUL THAT YOUR ARMS ARE NO LONGER BOUND UP INSIDE OF YOU. just ENJOY YOUR ARMS THAT ARE FREE. we MUST BE THANKFUL FOR THIS. and HE AGREED THAT WE MUST BE THANKFUL. he KNEW THAT THE OTHERS WHERE RIGHT IN WHAT THEY HAD SAID. but HE STILL HAD TO SEE IF THERE WAS NOTHING AT ALL. so THAT NIGHT WHILE HE SLEPT, HE DREAMED OF WHAT COULD BE OUT THERE. and STILL HE ONLY SAW DARK. but HE DREAMED OF WHAT IT COULD BE ABOVE HIM AS HIS ARMS SWAYED BACK AND FORTH. the NEXT MORNING WHEN HE AWOKE, HE STRETCHED HIS ARMS A LITTLE FURTHER, AND HE STARTED TO WIGGLE HIS HEAD, BECAUSE THE TOP OF IT FELT WARM. he WIGGLED ALL DAY, AND HE MANAGED TO MOVE HIS HEAD UP A LITTLE BIT. the OTHERS WHERE WATCHING HIM, AND THEY HAD A MEETING ABOUT HIM, TO WARN HIM NOT TO TRY AND SEE ABOVE HIM. and HE SAID NO. they TOLD HIM THAT HE WOULD DIE IF HE WENT ABOVE, AND THAT THEY WOULD MISS HIM. he SAID NO. i NEED TO SEE WHAT IS ON THE OTHER SIDE. so HE STARTED TO WIGGLE SOME MORE he STRETCHED HIS ARMS OUT A LITTLE FURTHER, WIGGLED HIS NECK HIS HEAD, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN HE WAS ALONE. he COULD NO LONGER HEAR THE OTHERS. his ARMS WERE SWAYING BACK AND FORTH, AND HIS HEAD WAS SWAYING BACK AND FORTH. he FELT FREE. for THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE HE FELT FREE, SWAYING TO AND FRO. his ARMS STRTCHED A LITTLE FURTHER AND HE STRETCHED HIS HEAD A LITTLE FURTHER OUTWARDS. the OTHERS DOWN BELOW WHERE IN A PANIC. he WAS GONE. his BODY WAS THERE, BUT HE WAS NOT. his FEET WERE STILL FIRMLY PLANTED BELOW HIM, but HIS ARMS WHERE STRETCHED FORWARDS AS WHERE THEIRS. but THERE HEADS WERE STILL WHERE THEY WERE. but THEY HAD TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM. so THEY TOO STARTED TO STRETCH THERE HEADS UPWARDS. the WIGGLED THEY WIGGLED WITH ALL OF THERE MIGHT. the ONE WAS SWAYING BACK AND FORTH, BUT HE STARTED TO THINK ABOUT WHAT HE COULD NOT SEE. and HE HAD TO KNOW WHAT IT WAS HE COULD NOT SEE. so HE STARTED TO SHAKE HIS HEAD. he STARTED TO STRETCH HIS EARS. he STARTED TO PURSE HIS LIPS. and ALL OF A SUDDEN his HEAD WRAP POPPED OFF. and ALL WAS BRIGHT WHEN HE OPENED HIS EYES. he SQUINTED AND SHADED HIS EYES A LITTLE. and WHAT HE SAW IN THAT INSTANT WAS BRIGHT YELLOW. . he CLOSED HIS EYES FOR JUST A MOMENT REFLECTING BACK ON WHAT IT WAS HE WAS SEEING. he HAD TO BE DREAMING HE THOUGHT. so HE OPENED HIS EYES AGAIN, AS HE LOOKED UPWARDS HE SAW BLUE AND WHITE. he MOVED HIS EYES DOWNWARDS AND HE STARTED TO SEE BROWN IN SOMETHING FAR OFF. then HE LOOKED DOWN AND SAW ALL THESE ARMS UPRAISED. he SAW HIS ARMS. and THEY WERE GREEN. he WAS AMAZED AT HOW BEAUTIFUL EVERYTHING WAS. but HE STARTED TO FEEL LONELY. he MISSED THE OTHERS AROUND HIM. he COULD SEE THERE ARMS, BUT HE COULD NOT SEE THEM. he STARTED TO CALL OUT TO THE OTHERS AS LOUD AS HE COULD. the OTHERS BELOW HIM COULD HEAR HIM. they COULD HEAR HIM, SO THEY WIGGLED EVEN MORE, AND AS THE ONE WAS CRYING UP ABOVE ONE OF THE OTHERS BELOW HIM POPPED THERE HEAD UP NEXT TO HIM. HE SHOUTED IN HAPPINESS TO THE OTHER. you are free now. you WILL SEE WHAT ALL i SEE, AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL, SO THE OTHER ONE STARTED TO MOVE HIS EARS AND PURSE HIS LIPS, AND SHAKE HIS HEAD, AND THE HIS HEAD WRAP POPPED OFF. the ONE WATCHED HIM VERY CLOSELY, as THE OTHER STARTED TO LOOK ABOUT. oh my god THIS IS BEAUTIFUL, AND THE ONE SAID IT IS, and IT IS OURS. it IS OURS TO SEE AND ENJOY. HOW BEAUTIFUL IT ALL IS. but WHAT HAS BECOME OF THE OTHERS. well THE OTHERS ARE TRYING TO FIND YOU, AND THEY ARE COMING UP AS WELL. THEY WILL BE SO AMAZED. they WILL BE IN AWWWW OF EVERYTHING THAT THEY SEE. and THEN MORE STARTED TO COME UP FROM THE GROUND, AND SOON ALL OF THEM WERE ABOVE THE GROUND SHAKING THERE HEADS PURSING THERE LIPS STRETCHING THERE EARS, JUST SO THEY COULD SEE WHAT IT WAS THE one HAD TOLD THEM THEY COULD SEE. they BELIEVED HIM, AND THEY BELIEVED ALL OF THE OTHERS WHO SPOKE OF ALL OF THE BEAUTY THEY COULD SEE. and THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN THEY WERE ALL ABOVE THE GROUND and IT WAS A FIELD OF GOLDEN YELLOW HEADS SWAYING BACK AND FORTH. arms WERE OUTSTRETCHED TO THE SKY IN THANKFULNESS THAT THEY COULD SEE ALL OF THIS. they STARTED TO SING TO THE ONE. they STARTED TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THE ONE WHO HELPED THEM TO BE ABLE TO SEE NOTHING BUT THE DARK. and LEAD THE WAY FOR THEM OUT INTO THE LIGHT. and NOW TO THIS DAY, THEY ALL COME UP SO THEY CAN SING SONGS ABOUT THE ONE AND BE FREE, AND KNOW THAT THEY ARE FREE AS WELL.

Engineering God in a Petri Dish

Artimusbartimus — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:00:34 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO -- On a steep, narrow street above Chinatown works Jonathon Keats, a tweed-suited, bow-tied 32-year-old who, with assistance from a phalanx of scientists, is genetically engineering God in his apartment. Advisers to Keats' organization, the International Association for Divine Taxonomy, include biochemists, biophysicists, ecologists, geneticists and zoologists from the University of California at Berkeley, the Smithsonian and other institutions of scientific repute. The mission: to determine where on the phylogenetic map -- the scientific tree of life -- to put God. Keats, as you may suspect, is not a scientist. He's a conceptual artist. But legitimate scientists, such as Smithsonian zoologist Mark Moffett and Berkeley geneticist Tom Cline, happily lend Keats credibility by helping him design experiments and interpret the results. "He's applying a rigorous scientific question to the absurd," Cline said. "That's where the irony comes in, what makes you think about it. "But then the question is: What is ludicrous about it? It introduces people to the kinds of systems used to answer questions -- though this isn't the kind of question people usually ask." Keats' project asks some serious scientific questions -- and no small number of religious ones: If evolutionary theory is accurate, then God's genetic makeup should most resemble Earth's first life forms. Or, if creationists are right, then God's DNA is more like the life forms he created in his own image. Said another way: Is God more like blue-green algae or the fruit fly? After all, blue-green algae (aka cyanobacteria) are the first known organism on Earth, evolutionarily more primitive than mammals or even slime molds. At the other end of the tree, the fruit fly sits on the same phylogenetic branch as man. Without flinching or cracking a smile, Keats explains that the first step in his study -- which will be made public at San Francisco's Modernism gallery Wednesday -- was to hypothesize where exactly God might sit in the three-domain tree of life. Recognizing that God probably is unique enough, genetically speaking, to warrant a category of his own, Keats added a fourth domain to the existing Archaea, Bacteria and Eucarya, dubbed Divinea. It includes Pagan and Hindu gods, as well as Diveneus deus, Keats' scientific moniker for the monotheistic God known as Jehovah, Yahweh or Allah. "All the same god with different names, just like different plants in different countries all have the same name," Keats said. In keeping with his "blue-green algae or fruit fly" premise, Keats created two hypothetical four-domain versions of the tree of life. The Divinea are near the domain Bacteria in one version, and near domain Eucarya, home of the animal and plant kingdoms, in the other. "Ordinarily, to fit a species on the phylogenetic tree would be to sequence its genome," he explains, "but nobody I contacted had a sample of God's DNA." So he decided to genetically engineer a god. Since testing his hypotheses for all gods in Divinea might overwhelm the lab in his apartment, he focused on Divineus deus. Using "continuous in-vitro evolution," Keats tried to mutate a species -- bacteria or fruit fly -- to make it more godlike. He calls it "an accelerated form of Darwinian natural selection," which, he points out, is a standard scientific procedure.

I just dont know

Artimusbartimus — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:22:11 GMT

I feel the world crushing in on me I see everything That I dont want to see I hurt in ways I never dreamed And I cry I feel the pain of a lost friend And I see something That I just cant stand I hurt in ways that make me scream And I cry I tell myself to turn and run I hide myself under the sheets Looking for that womb to crawl into And just hold me I feel the pain I caused so long ago And I see the things that I did wrong And I hurt in ways I never dreamed And I cry I feel, I hurt, And I cry --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have had so much bad news in a period of a few days. A dear friend of mine is now poz, My partner is crushed because of what is going on with his son, And I am taking what happened to his son to be as if it were me. A verdict dropped on me. I miss Puppy, And I dont know how to even tell him what I feel. I miss his support. And so much more going on.

Most accurate assessment of Television in Richmond Va. I have ever seen!!!!!

Artimusbartimus — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:55:55 GMT

This is what Television coverage in Richmond Va. Looks LIKE!!!! The Gods know that we just couldn't LIVE without another RONCO fish peeler or the handy dandy Turkey Syringe Stuffer....Ooowwww!! and this is what i pay like $89.00 a month for???? Give me a break!!!! PAID PROGRAMMING

Legend Of A Mind - The Moody Blues

Artimusbartimus — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:08:28 GMT

Timothy Leary's dead. No, no, no, no, He's outside looking in. Timothy Leary's dead. No, no, no, no, He's outside looking in. He'll fly his astral plane, Takes you trips around the bay, Brings you back the same day, Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary's dead. No, no, no, no, He's outside looking in. Timothy Leary's dead. No, no, no, no, He's outside looking in. He'll fly his astral plane, Takes you trips around the bay, Brings you back the same day, Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary. Along the coast you'll hear them boast About a light they say that shines so clear. So raise your glass, we'll drink a toast To the little man who sells you thrills along the pier. He'll take you up, he'll bring you down, He'll plant your feet back firmly on the ground. He flies so high, he swoops so low, He knows exactly which way he's gonna go. Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary. He'll take you up, he'll bring you down, He'll plant your feet back on the ground. He'll fly so high, he'll swoop so low. Timothy Leary. He'll fly his astral plane. He'll take you trips around the bay. He'll bring you back the same day. Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary.

"Slumdog" child star's Mumbai shanty home torn down (Reuters)

Artimusbartimus — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:08:06 GMT

MUMBAI (Reuters) - City authorities in Mumbai demolished the shanty home of a "Slumdog Millionaire" child star on Thursday, forcing his family into the streets months after the Oscar-winning film shot him to global fame. Azharuddin Ismail, 9, played the character of Salim as a child in the film, a rags-to-riches romance about a poor Indian boy competing for love and money on a television game show. Ismail's tarpaulin-covered home in a teeming slum was one of several shanties, illegally built along a drain, that were demolished by local authorities in Mumbai, India's financial capital and entertainment hub. "When they came I was sleeping, they shook me awake and one policeman even threatened me," Ismail, surrounded by half-broken suitcases filled with clothes and utensils, told Reuters. "What can I do if they have demolished my house? I will sleep out in the open." A poster of "Slumdog Millionaire," signed by director Danny Boyle, fluttered from the only wall of Ismail's shanty still standing. Open sewers run nearby and it had no running water. Authorities said the shanties had been demolished earlier but had sprung up again on the same spot. "The shanties are all touching a drain that has to be cleaned before the advent of the monsoons," said U.D. Mistry, the local official in charge of the demolition drive. Earlier this year, there was an outcry after pictures emerged of "Slumdog Millionaire's" child stars living in squalor despite the movie's box-office success and eight Academy Awards. The film also sparked controversy for its name, deemed by some to be offensive to slum dwellers, and its treatment of the cast. Its depiction of the lives of poor Indians was dubbed "poverty porn" by sections of the media. In February, the housing authority of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, said they would give Ismail and fellow child star Rubina Ali new houses. But Ismail's mother, Shameem, said the family is now at the mercy of the rains. "We also heard that the government had promised us houses, but what happened? We are still homeless," she said. "My son has brought glory to the country, shouldn't he get some credit?" (Writing by Tony Tharakan; Editing by Matthias Williams and Paul Tait)