Today


more at flickr posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Jesus, the talking doll version


The foot-tall Jesus doll will be able to recite five Biblical verses at the push of button on its back, while the Moses doll will recite the Ten Commandments. The Mary doll will recite a long Bible verse. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Ironic

From the Corpus Callosum I learned that today is World Voice Day
“Larynx or voice-box cancer most often presents as hoarseness, and the American Cancer Society estimates that about 10,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year,” says Hogikyan. As with many other cancers, the chance of curing it is best if it is discovered at an early stage. An estimated 3,770 people will die this year from laryngeal cancer.

When Craig had his recurrence it showed up as vocal cord paralysis which first manifested as hoarseness. Of course the first tendency is to think you have a virus and continue ignoring it even if you intuitively know something else is going on.

The Corpus Callosum also has an entry from late March called: On the Uselessness of Intuition; An Untestable Hypothesis to Explain Creationism. I told him back then I wanted to come back and argue a little but haven't been in a place mentally to do it and he's been pretty occupied with some delightful newcomers to his brood (see pictures, more if you scroll) so I don't feel horribly bad for not getting back earlier. I don't think 'argue' is the best word because I really just want to hash through his 'untestable theory' more. Readers of this page who are interested in intuition may want to go read his thoughts. In a sense I've been posting some of my 'arguments' on this page without pulling them together. Arguing an untestable hypothesis is also a bit ironic I've concluded. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

a year ago

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Happy Birthday Craig

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Creativity and consciousness studies gain attention at U-M

Creative people have suggested a link between creativity and consciousness.

"Creative individuals in many fields talk about heightened states of consciousness, also called flow, or transcendence, or peak experiences—among other terminology—in their work," Sarath says. "These heightened states are characterized by profound mind-body coordination, flashes of insight, lucidity, effortlessness in performance, inner calm even amid outer turbulence, and other features.

...) "Everyone has their own methods for invoking creative states. Some use meditation as a means for preparing for creative work. Others go for long walks. One of the interesting things about the Program in Creativity and Consciousness Studies meetings is the capacity to hear colleagues from a wide range of fields talk about their respective creative processes."

...) The solution is to invoke a heightened awareness state that allows us to transcend these patterns."

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Here I sit between my brother the mountain and my
sister the sea. We three are one in loneliness, and the
love that binds us together is deep and strong and strange.
~Kahlil Gibran posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Ideals Work



It seems some of the purpose behind Homeland Absurdity has been realized by a group far more competent than I could have hoped to be. Tis a good thing. Should I keep Homelandabsurdity up? Does anyone still use it? posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Solar Project Updates

Bob has some updates on his solar project. With the weather cooperating I expect to see some new pics soon. If not, I'll just have to stop by and take some myself. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Words for Wednesday

Buddhist Anarchism by Gary Snyder

Rocky Mountain Contemplative Writing Retreats

I snatched the links above from Michael of Spontaneous Arising who is one of the teachers at the Writing Retreats. I learn so much when I read his page. I was going to point to a couple important posts of his yesterday before my page was so rudely swept offline.

Today I learn from him that Ram Dass needs help. Please go read his page for the details.
As Michael says, "Ram Dass has done nothing but serve others for the past 35 years. There can be no sweeter presence imaginable, anywhere, anytime, and we really must do something to ensure that his last years are made as comfortable and secure as possible. Please help if you can.

Don't stop there. Scroll down his page. Especially go out of your way to find and read Some Scientists Getting a Clue and Joe Bageant: In Praise of Holy Madness. Important stuff there and Michael has a knack of pulling out and expanding on the pressing points. Indeed a good teacher.

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Tim Boucher is thinking of the children. With links that will blow your mind if your into Armageddon information and how it is dispersed.
"First off, I think it’s crazy to be pumping children’s heads full of this kind of thing - even if it’s in the form of entertainment. Apocalypse fantasies are almost like pornography. They can be a lot of fun, but you shouldn’t get confused about how the world really is and how to treat people from them."

Brian Moffatt sees a different perspective while thinking about the older children. He promises to get back to more thoughts about this later so I won't permalink this. You may have to scroll to "Here's my one thought for the day".
"Anyway...my though is...gee...isn't this the sort of thing - the site BAG news- that should be taught in schools, to young men and women - about the age of thirteen is my guess - and lo and behold, upon reading the About this site section at Bage News - that is the guy's purpose."

Dawn is thinking about all of us. Frugal For Life has been one of my regular reads for quite sometime. She has great hints, resources and original ideas. I guess it's way past time I shared her link. We can all be a bit more frugal. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Peachy Fun

Well...THAT was fun. I'd love to go through that again sometime in my next life. It was good for housecleaning but now I have repairs to do.
THIS PAGE HAS BEEN SUSPENDED! was plastered all over my site last night.
It happened a few days ago too, and when I contacted my host then they said I was sending out thousands of email. "We don't allow that." I know that.

I wasn't doing that. I thought I deleted any scripts that could have been doing it after talking to them.

Last night their server crashed. I supposedly crashed it by sending out millions of email this time. They took me down and ignored me the rest of the night.

This morning I thought I was finally getting response from them and then I received another email stating that I was running a phishing scam. No way buddy. I called them this time. I can't say I blame them but they took my entire site down. Zip, off the server.

So, I am here recreating from backups and making sure any of the testing I was doing with other blogging tools doesn't get put back on the server for now. Of course my backups aren't all up to date. I'm not that anal. I often make quick but visually huge changes directly on the server. Images are missing too. This weblog should be ok, thank you blogger, but other parts of the site will undoubtedly be screaming for help. If anyone has a clue what script may have been corrupted please clue me in. I really had better things to do today. It's at least 70 degrees and sunny. I'm outta here. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Beer and Pot for Sunday, why not?

All Ypsi/Arbor bloggers and blog readers are invited

I'm passing along an alternative media initiative from Mark Maynard which is a great idea garnering a good response. Here's a highlight, but go read his post and consider jumping in.

"As I mentioned here a week or so ago, I’ve been thinking about launching a local grassroots reporting site here in Ypsi. At the most basic level, what I have in mind would only require about half a dozen people each volunteering to cover one City Council or School Board meeting a month or so (something that they might already be doing for their own sites anyway). It doesn’t have to be anything complex, at least not at first.

...Anyway, the initial response was positive enough that I went the next step and reserved a table at Frenchie’s for tax day – Friday, April 15 – from 7:00 to 9:00."

As for the event itself, I don’t think it has to be totally focused on this community reporting portal idea, but I would like to at least take half an hour or so to discuss it. The rest of the time, we can just drink beer and talk shit about the people who don’t show up."

I'm not too sure what frame of mind I'll be in that day because it will have been a year to the day that Craig died, so I can't make any promises. Likewise the day before, which was his birthday, and the day after, which is my birthday. Just excuse me for the rest of the month as I blunder my way through it.

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Less of a bash, more issues to hash
Focus of marijuana festival shifts from freedom to party to freedom from pain

Drizzling rain and cold weren't enough to keep about 900 people Saturday from congregating on the University of Michigan Diag to hear music and speeches calling for the legalization of marijuana.

They came for the annual Ann Arbor Hash Bash, held each year on the first Saturday in April. This was the 34th bash.

...) Poet John Sinclair, a 1960s activist, urged participants to fight for the right to legalize marijuana. "We will continue to work to alter the laws in this town," he said.

The first Hash Bash was held after Sinclair's 1969 arrest and imprisonment for possessing two marijuana joints.

The number of participants was smaller than last year's estimated 1,500, but organizers said they were pleased with the turnout.

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Consumerpedia
The information resource everyone can help build

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Degree Confluence World Map
just go see it! posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

The Art of Silence and Listening

Are you listening or just waiting to talk?

Below are three exercises to help cultivate the art of silence and listening. To listen requires being able to be silent. There is a silent channel in our mind. First we have to access it. Second we have to listen to the silence and be with it. The silence is always there. Our challenge is to train ourselves to pay attention to it.

EXERCISE ONE
Everyday be silent and practice listening within. Simply sit quietly, be with your breath, feel the sensations in your body and find your neutral channel. Gently and silently be with yourself. Start with 3 to 5 minutes and work up to what you are comfortable with.

EXERCISE TWO
During the day, practice listening to yourself before you interact with others. Listen inside to what you want to say before saying it. Do your best to get your own answers before seeking advice. Process your own thoughts and feelings before sharing them with others. Share only those thoughts and feelings that inform and inspire others. Do not dump your emotions on others as a way to avoid processing them yourself. Keep your own personal issues and processes to yourself for this exercise.

EXERCISE THREE
Once a week practice silence with a partner or with a group of friends. Observing silence, go for a walk together, be together at home, eat a meal together or partake in another activity. Agree on the process beforehand, so you can relax and enjoy the experience. Have a notepad handy in case the need to communicate arises.

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The above practice makes us aware of how much we turn our attention outward and look for cues outside ourselves. We realize how much talking is unnecessary and a waste of energy. We start to see how much we try to fill in "empty" spaces to feel comfortable or make the other person feel comfortable so we will feel comfortable.

The Silence Between the Notes
We find our intuition in the open spaces of our minds. I am always reminded that I have to listen to myself if I want to hear my intuition. It is not that my intuition is not working. It is dormant through inactivity or is buried by all my mental noise.

When we are not listening, trusting and following our intuition our feelings scream at us in other ways - accidents, stress, fear, and anger.

Categories: listening posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

A Thousand Ears

"What is the deep listening?
'Sama' is a greeting from the secret ones
inside the heart, a letter.
The branches of your intelligence grow
new leaves in the wind of this listening.
Rooster sound comes,
reminding you of your love for dawn.

The reed flute and the singer's lips:
the knack of how spirit breathes into us
becomes as simple and ordinary
as eating and drinking.

The dead rise with the pleasure of listening,
if someone can't hear a trumpet melody,
sprinkle dirt on his head and declare him dead.

Listen, and feel the beauty of your separation,
the unsayable absence.

There's a moon inside every human being.
Learn to be companions with it. Give
more of your life to this listening.

As brightness is to time, so you are to
the one who talks to the deep ear
in your chest.

I should sell my tongue and buy a thousand ears
when that one steps near and begins to speak."

~ Rumi posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Framing Environmentalism?

Follow the Links and think.

Environmentalism and sustainability are two words whose meanings have been skewed by propaganda and Rovian tactics to trigger a negative visceral reaction in many people, much like the word liberal has been skewed. The link above has some great references to the ongoing discussion of framing and is worth a bookmark simply for the ease of referral and background legwork. I find they are omitting some of the encouraging words used by the very people they are hoping to draw and are therefore missing a huge opportunity to see the bigger picture which could enhance understanding and collaboration from all viewpoints. I personally find the term creation care (google it) a bit off-putting but it very much needs to be acknowledged and embraced as a bridge. We are all on the same planet even if it often seems as if we aren't. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

The Most Influential Woman in Rock

Newsweek's Brian Braiker has a web exclusive interview with Patti Smith.
As so many things change it's good to hear a solid voice still seeing possibility while walking in new places. Inspiration and energy as always.

Now there’s just so much information and so much between the listener and the voice. There’s so much image; there’s all this music TV, all this lifestyle, that to actually be spoken to, there’s a bigger gap than ever. Across the board everything is so materialistic and so sexualized and there’s so much violence that the core issues of humanity are sort of lost.

So maybe rock is on the brink of a new movement?
A lot of exciting things come out of periods like this. Eventually people will wake up. They’re going to see that the war in Iraq is wrong, that drilling in Alaska is wrong, that letting millions of people die in Africa of AIDS is wrong. They’re going to start connecting all these dots. That’s why sometimes you need a new place.

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

A Few for Friday

The Unobservable Mind
"As a conscious subject, I have a point of view on the world. The world seems a certain way to me, and this seeming defines my unique perspective. Every conscious being has such a perspective, since that is what it means to be a subject rather than a mere object. When I give a scientific account of the world, however, I am describing objects only. I am describing the way things are, and the causal laws that explain them. This description is given from no particular perspective. It does not contain words like here, now, and I; and while it is meant to explain the way things seem, it does so by giving a theory of how they are. In short, the subject is in principle unobservable to science, not because it exists in another realm but because it is not part of the empirical world. It lies on the edge of things, like a horizon, and could never be grasped from the other side, the side of subjectivity itself. Is it a real part of the real world? The question begins to look as though it has been wrongly phrased. I refer to myself, but this does not mean that there is a self that I refer to. I act for the sake of my friend, but there is no such thing as a sake for which I am acting."



Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) Synthesis Report,


The state of the world? It is on the brink of disaster
"Slow degradation is one thing but sudden and irreversible decline is another. The report identifies half a dozen potential "tipping points" that could abruptly change things for the worse, with little hope of recovery on a human timescale."

Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up'

Final Exam: Birds and Bees 101
Thanks to Professor President George W. Bush, millions of your tax dollars are being pumped into risky abstinence-only programs. But what is Bush really teaching America's teens? Could YOU pass sex-ed by President Bush? Take the quiz to find out...

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Letting Go, Intuition (listening to yourself)

If you are willing to confront the fears that arise when you are faced with letting go of some cherished illusion, then intuition allows you to know things as they are. At this point, when you have made commitment to your own inner truth, you may be increasingly willing to follow the guidance of intuition rather than try to use it to fulfill egotistical desires. The steady pursuit of self-knowledge leads eventually to a self-transcendence in which personal needs and desires are seen in a larger perspective. The intuitive realization that one is part of a larger whole, inseparable from the environment in which one lives, and that being is essentially the same in everyone, albeit in an infinite variety of patterns and forms, allows one to see oneself and the universe as an interdependent unit.
~Frances E. Vaughan

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |