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"How do you feel about putting students in AP classes for the exposure, even if they don't have the skills to succeed?"
I feel it's a really stupid idea. It's good to challenge students and have them reach beyond their comfort zone. But if they don't have the skills to succeed in a class, why would we put them in the class? Unfortunately, this is policy in many public schools. Students supposedly benefit from "exposure" to material that's way over their head. It's thought to be OK if they don't pass the class or even take the exams. I've been told several times: "They'll learn just by being there."
But what do they learn?
Administrators with an overabundance of training in education theory keep making perfectly obvious things murky. They claim, for example, that placing ill-prepared students in advanced math classes is helpful. They say it's about "equity" and "opportunity." It's about "challenging" them. It's "good" for their self-esteem. The policy also can make money for the schools, look good on spreadsheets and serve to mask the nature of what's really going on in the classrooms.
But behind the mask, there is devastation.
Young children enjoy math and science. In America, this enthusiasm gets squished right out of many of them. By 4th grade, they've changed their minds forever. I place the blame squarely on reform mathematics. Reform math curricula deemphasize traditional algorithms; instead, students learn multiple "alternate" ways to solve problems. And "discovery" teaching models have them working in groups or pairs to teach concepts to each other.
"Traditional methods don't work anymore," parents are told. "Our kids need 21st-century skills."
(Personally, I think that phrase is code for "Our kids need TI84 calculators.")
Traditional math does work – every time. It helped build America. It doesn't have a shelf life where it might curdle or grow moldy. It's needed as much in the 21st century as it was in the 14th century. It isn't one of "many acceptable alternatives." For most students, it's the best, most efficient, most effective method for learning mathematics. It's necessary in college, businesses, trades, and STEM careers. It should be emphasized – taught first and then practiced. Yet, thanks to reform, most public-school children don't become proficient in the arithmetic skills that are critical to their future.
When these children struggle in math, they might be given TI calculators to take the place of arithmetic. Instead of practicing skills, they might get lessons in how to pass standardized tests. When they're bored, they might get extra sheets of busy work. When they're frustrated, they might be sent into the hallway where they can't bother anyone. Some are delivered, nicely wrapped, to behavioral or special education groups. And regardless of what anyone learns, nearly all will go to the next grade in the fall.
This is called "social promotion," best defined in this way: "Students can fail the entire grade, learn less than nothing, actually fall farther behind than where they began, basically become mindless amoebas just taking up desk space and annoying their classmates and teachers – and they'll still be passed to the next grade so that room can be made for the next class."
Social promotion could work if students received tutoring or remedial help over the summer, but the vast majority is neglected entirely. The next fall, many are tagged – either with a "behavioral" or "special ed" tag, or perhaps just with a roll of the eyes, an averted gaze, and a "You won't believe the class I have this year!" These kids continue to lurk in hallways, "special" classes and detention. They're expected to work cooperatively with classmates to reinvent thousands of years of math – on their fingers, and with molding clay and pipe cleaners. Day, after day, after day. Plop on the forehead. Plop on the forehead… drip… drip…drip…
Since students have no training in special education or child psychology, and they lack the "professional development" teachers get, they fail to see how all of this is good for them. By 4th grade, they begin to tune out.
"I hate math," I've heard 9-year-olds say. "I'm no good in math." "My Dad can't understand this." "I can't wait for recess."
In middle school, there is usually more reform math. Behavior problems are blamed on society, "free will," short attention spans, video games, parents, hormones or a sense of entitlement.
(I have heard all of these.)
When they get to high school, students are encouraged to take honors math and Advanced Placement math classes. The entire point of AP classes is to earn college credit while still in high school. Most universities and colleges won't give credit for AP math classes unless students pass AP exams with a score of 3 or better. But high school students are encouraged to take AP classes even if they lack the requisite math skills.
"Let them eat cake," administrators tell parents. No, I'm just being silly. Parents are told, "Students learn just by being there."
As the students flounder in these classes, whatever bare shreds of dignity and self-esteem they have left are battered to death by a daily pounding of material that's over their head. Their worst fears are realized: "Maybe I'm really not capable in math," they fret. "Geez. Maybe I am stupid."
A few struggle through the classes, thus fueling the administrator view that the policy works. Most sink into apathy or outright rebellion. In Spokane, 808 more AP exams were flunked in 2008 than in 2000. These flunkings don't take into account the AP students who didn't take AP exams or the AP students who dropped out of school altogether. (Currently, up to a third of our students will drop out before graduation.)
After they're sufficiently tortured, high school seniors are eventually allowed to graduate without requisite math and science knowledge because retaining them isn't "fair" to them.
(As if graduating them without the necessary skills is fair to them.)
In college, most want to run as far and as fast as they can from mathematics, but they need some form of college math to get a degree. Up to 95% test into remedial math. Many require remediation in arithmetic.
The bad news continues. College math classes go fast. There is little time to practice. Some students have to take remedial classes more than once in order to pass. As they struggle, give up, or drop out – they're blamed yet again. I watched students drop like flies from a remedial algebra class, and the instructor explained it this way: "Students just don't want to learn."
Instead of becoming the engineers, mathematicians, scientists and tech specialists this country desperately needs, these students head into other fields that don't require a whole lot of math classes. Like education.
And thus, the circle is complete – a betrayal of trust from elementary school all the way through college. Think how much these students could have learned, had they been in the right class with the right material and an efficient teaching approach.
Doesn't it make you angry?
There are a few specks of sanity out there, but not many. Most students don't have access to the specks. They're pushed, prodded, poked, analyzed, assessed and – ultimately – blamed. Many give up, tune out, and move beyond our reach forever.
What to do about it? Well, here's the good news. The easiest, most productive thing we can do to fix remediation rates, dropout rates, enrollment drops, and the entire "math problem" is to just start teaching the children properly. It's easy. "Obvious," you could say. But the education establishment is – for the most part – unwilling. Proponents of reform mathematics and discovery teaching models appear determined to believe in them, despite all contrary evidence – until they die. Parents must do it then – find a way to provide their children with the needed math skills.
Math doesn't have to be torturous. It isn't scary or bad; it's logical and interesting. It's a helpful tool. Taught properly – directly, with a logical progression of skills and time for practice – most of the children will learn it.
And I promise you – they'll take it from there.
Please note: The information in this post is copyrighted. The proper citation is:
Rogers, L. (June, 2009). "Students learn by being taught." Retrieved (date) from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/
This article was published June 25, 2009, at EducationNews.org at http://ednews.org/articles/students-learn-by-being-taught.html


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Adobe InDesign CC - Level 2 LoanNew
The skills and knowledge acquired in Adobe InDesign CC - Level 2 are sufficient to be able to work with various advanced aspects of InDesign CC including working with the Creative Cloud, creating and modifying interactive documents and much more.
Adobe Photoshop CC is designed for users who are keen to extend their knowledge of InDesign CC.
Adobe InDesign CC - Level 2 assumes some knowledge of the software. Also, it would be beneficial to have a general understanding of personal computers and the Windows operating system environment.
The Adobe Account
- The Adobe Website
- Signing in to Your Adobe Account
- The Creative Profile Home Page
- Managing Your Adobe Account
- Adobe Creative Cloud Application Manager
- Working With Apps
- Understanding Library Assets
- Understanding TypeKit
- Add Fonts in Typekit
- Understanding Adobe Colour CC
- Understanding Behance
Creative Cloud Libraries
- The Libraries Panel
- Adding Elements to the Library
- Accessing the Contents of Your Library Online
- Sorting the Contents of the Library
- Adding People to Your Library
- Working With Libraries
Working Collaboratively
- Uploading a File to Creative Cloud
- Creating a Folder in Creative Cloud
- Working With Files and Folders
- Adding Collaborators
- Viewing and Navigating a File in Creative Cloud
- Making Changes to a Shared File
- Commenting on a Shared File
- Deleting Comments
- Creating User Identification
- Adding Notes to a Shared File
- Viewing Notes in a Shared File
- Working With Tracked Changes
- Accepting Collaboration Invitations
- Removing Collaborators
Paragraph Formatting
- Understanding the Paragraph Panel
- Applying Space Before and After Paragraphs
- Applying an Indent
- Applying a First Line Indent
- Understanding Tabs
- Setting Drop Caps
- Creating a Bulleted List
Formatting Objects
- Applying Effects
- Applying Corner Effects
- Applying Transparency
- Applying a Gradient to an Object
- Using the Eyedropper to Copy Formatting
- The Find Change Dialog Box
- Creating a Snippet
- Inserting a Snippet
Working With Styles
- Understanding Styles
- Understanding Styles Panels
- Creating Character Styles
- Applying Character Styles
- Creating Paragraph Styles
- Creating a Style From Existing Formatting
- Applying Paragraph Styles
- Working With Style Groups
- Editing Styles
- Creating and Applying Object Styles
- Deleting Styles and Style Groups
Working With Tables
- Creating a Table
- Selecting Tables and Table Cells
- Entering Text in a Table Cell
- Adjusting a Table
- Formatting Text in a Table
- Understanding the Table Panel
- Formatting Cells
- Working With Table Borders
- Working With Table Colour
- Importing a Spreadsheet Table
- Deleting a Table
Long Documents
- Understanding Tables of Contents
- Inserting a Table of Contents
- Formatting a Table of Contents
- Creating a Table of Contents Style
- Updating a Table of Contents
- Understanding Indexes
- Adding Index Entries
- Generating a Simple Index
Creating a Simple E-Publication
- Understanding Digital Documents
- Fixed Layout vs Reflowable
- Checking Your Fonts for EPUBS
- Interactive Navigation Tools
- Understanding Adding Animation
- The EPUB Interactivity Preview Panel
- Adding Animation
- Creating a Multi State Object
- Interactive Objects
- Creating a Button
- The EPUB Export Options Dialog box
- Exporting to EPUB
- Understanding MultiMedia Tools
Alternate Layouts
- Understanding Alternate Layouts
- Previewing Liquid Layout
- Applying Liquid Layout Rules
- Constraining Specific Objects
- Applying Rules to Other Pages
- Creating an Alternate Layout
- Splitting the Document Window
At the completion of this course you should be able to:
- understand and work with your Adobe account
- understand, modify and create Creative Cloud libraries
- collaborate and work with others effectively
- format text
- apply formatting to various kinds of objects
- understand and work with styles
- understand, create and modify tables
- create and insert a table of contents and an index.
- create a simple E-Publication
- understand and work with alternate layouts
Watsonia workbook with 102 topics.
Files for the exercises are also provided on a CD at the back of the book or can be downloaded here
Adobe InDesign CC
Approximately 6 - 8 hours
- Adobe Illustrator CC: Introduction
- Adobe Illustrator CC - Level 1
- Adobe Illustrator CC - Level 2
- Adobe Illustrator CS6
- Adobe InDesign CC: Introduction to Desktop Publishing
- Adobe InDesign CC - Level 1
- Adobe InDesign CS6
- Adobe Photoshop CC: Advanced (Level 2)
- Adobe Photoshop CC: Introduction (Level 1)
- Adobe Photoshop CC - Level 1
- Adobe Photoshop CC - Level 2
- Adobe Photoshop CS6
- Microsoft Publisher 2013 (with Challenge Exercises)
- Microsoft Visio 2013 (with Challenge Exercises)
- Microsoft Visio 2016 (with Challenge Exercises)
- Publisher 2016: Creating Professional Publications
- Visio 2016: Organisational, Gantt and Flowcharts
Booking / availability

subset: commoncrawl


text: Kinda proud of myself. First year I've really paid much attention to the college basketball scene because of trae young videos. I watched over 10 duke games, glazed over a couple early tournament games and really got into the final 4. I picked nova to win it too. Well played.


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17 May 2013 | News | By BioSpectrum Bureau
The curtain raises on Bio Taiwan 2013 on July 17, 2013
Singapore: Bio Taiwan 2013, Taiwan's largest annual biotech event, which is to be held at TWTC Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei from July 17-21, 2013, has already garnered unprecedented response in terms of exhibitor registrations. Witnessing a six-fold increase over last year, the event has already seen registrations from 1,200 exhibitors and is expecting over 600 cases of one-on-one partnership.
The event will see participation from not only leading international and Taiwan firms, all six biotech industrial parks in China, and major Japanese biotech venture capital funds; but also from key global pharmaceutical firms such as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), who has announced its plan to perform clinical trials in Taiwan. In addition, delegates from the US, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand will also participate in Bio Taiwan 2013, seeking all forms of business cooperation.
The unprecedented response towards Bio Taiwan 2013 confirms to Taiwan's rising status as a key biotech hub. In spite of the global financial slump that dealt a serious blow to financial markets the world over, Asia has emerged as a particularly bright spot, with Taiwan playing a crucial role leveraging its close links to the biotech industries of China and other countries. Market capitalization of Taiwan's biotech sector has grown over 5.2 times over the last four years, jumping from $3 billion in 2009-to-$15 billion in 2013. Taiwan's close association with China has given a boost to former's biotech industry.
Dr Johnsee Lee, chairman, Taiwan Biotech Center and director general, Taiwan Biotech Industry Association, which organizes Bio Taiwan 2013, said that, "The ties across Taiwan Strait has more than doubled the market space and business scope of Taiwan's bio-medical firms. Homogeneous lifestyle and pathological patterns on both sides makes it one single market in a biological sense."
Dr Lee said, "Taiwan's biotech sector has gone through its decade of embryonic growth, accomplishing strong footholds in biotech, pharmaceutics, medical treatments, and food sectors owing to its R&D and manufacturing capabilities and its vibrant capital market. Recognizing Taiwan's strength, many international players, notably from Japan and China, have shown high level of interests in collaborating with Taiwan for entry into international markets."
Dr Lee highlightd that global pharmaceutical and medical device firms are increasingly drawn by Taiwan's skills in biological products, biosimilar drugs, medicine-affiliated companion diagnostics, digital medical treatment, CRO clinical trial, and agricultural biotech. Hence, Bio Taiwan 2013 will feature exhibitions heralding newly developed drugs and medical devices, and also feature 'BioBusiness Asia Conference', 'Conference on Greater China Opportunity', and 'Annual Cross-Strait Cooperation Meeting', which will highlight the closer integration of biotech firms in the Greater China region and will be attended by deputy minister-level officials from both sides.


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The movie Conviction starring Hillary Swank is coming out this week. NBC10 interviewed Roger Williams Law School Dean David Logan, Law Librarian Nan Balliot, and Associate Dean Andrew Horwitz about their educational institution played in this important story.
Filed under: Administration, Ethics, Library Marketing, Library Organization, Library Profession, Public-academic | Leave a comment »


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Have you ever heard the term "psychoactive drugs?" Drugs in this category act on the central nervous system and alter its normal, everyday activity, causing changes in mood, awareness, and behavior. Psychoactive drugs disrupt the communication between neurons (brain cells), so abusing them can have serious short- and long-term effects on the brain.
Psychoactive drugs include four groups of drugs: depressants like alcohol and sleeping pills; stimulants like nicotine and ecstasy; opioids like heroin and pain medications; and hallucinogens like LSD.
The term psychoactive drug might make you think of drugs, like LSD, that change your brain and behavior in really extreme ways. LSD is a hallucinogen or "psychedelic" that significantly alters the brain and the user's perception of reality. It is also an illicit, or illegal, drug.
But not all psychoactive drugs are illegal. Caffeine is a stimulant found in coffee and energy drinks, and opioids like Vicodin, OxyContin, or morphine are often prescribed by doctors to relieve pain. Misusing prescribed psychoactive drugs is illegal though, and can be as dangerous as using cocaine or heroin. That's one reason why they come with warning labels telling people not to drive or operate heavy machinery. Drinking too much caffeine is not good for you either (see chart)!
So...legal or illegal, psychoactive drugs demand caution.
NIDA provides lots of information about the different types of psychoactive drugs:
i understandd now lol i think tis is greatt(:
Thank you for sharing this beautiful, really wonderful, continue to go.
interesting stufs yes this is great.
Given the prevalence of easily accessible alcohol and drugs in today's society it is understandable that parents will worry about their children – especially teenagers. There are no hard and fast rules to tell if a child is involved with drugs but some of the most common signs are:
Changes in Eating Habits
Changes in Sleep Patterns
A New Crowd - New Friends
School / Work Performance Suffering
Mood Swings
Lack of Motivation
Excessive Secretiveness
Needing more money
[commercial link and sales language removed, per guidelines]
Very sad what people will do do themselves for a high ! Messed Up !!
sleepin pills killed my uncle:( three years 2day!!! STUPID PILLS BURN IN MY FIRE PIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One more issue is that video games are typically serious as the name indicated with the principal focus on learning rather than leisure. Although, there's an entertainment facet to keep your sons or daughters engaged, every single game is generally designed to develop a specific set of skills or area, such as instructional math or technology. Thanks for your posting. [commercial link removed, per guidelines]


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Tuesday, December 21, 2010 is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
This is a long newsletter, because we take a look at the Winter Solstice Traditions from various Mystery School Traditions and religions from around the world. It's fascinating to see the parallels between them all.
And we also offer instructions for a set of beautiful meditations: a special Solstice Meditation designed to unite the aspirant with the Invincible Sun -- the Christ within -- and a Gabriel Meditation, calling upon the Archangel of the new Winter season to transform our lives. And to top it all off, we present a beautiful song-poem by Buffy St. Marie entitled "God is Alive, Magic is Afoot", which captures the essence of this Sacred Season. So please be patient and read on. . .
Solstice 2010 is the day the Sun enters into Capricorn, conjuncting Pluto, which not too long ago entered this Earthy sign of large organizations, public and private for a multi-decade long stay that will transform our entire global society. And this year's Solstice is a promise that we can transform our lives and our society, and fulfill our dreams for a life with a Higher Purpose than mere survival, domination, or accumulation.
Solstice Secrets of the Mystery Schools of the East and the West
The Solstice has been a holy day around the world for thousands of years. The holy days marking the beginning of the four seasons are known as the "cross-quarter days" because the two equinoxes and the two solstices divide the plane of the ecliptic into four equal parts. The plane of the ecliptic is the apparent yearly path of the Sun in space, which seems to an observer on the ground to be moving around the Earth.
The lengths of the seasons are unequal because of the changing velocity of the Earth in its orbit. The change in velocity is caused by the fact that the Earth's orbit is elliptical, and so as the Earth travels along its path through space, it builds up increased momentum from time to time according to the laws of motion.
The Earth is three million miles closer to the Sun at New Year's than it is in June, but here on the East Coast of North America, we are entering the coldest part of the year.
The seasonal rhythms on our blue-green planet are orchestrated by the fact that, as the Earth revolves around the Sun, the Earth's axis wobbles off-center, tilting some 23°27' from the perpendicular, relative to the plane of the planet's orbit.
The Earth is nearly spherical, and receives parallel rays from the Sun as it rotates daily on its axis in its annual orbit around the Sun. The tilting of the Earth's axis remains basically constant throughout the year. Since the Earth's axis is always pointed in approximately the same direction in space during a given yearly cycle, each terrestrial pole is turned alternately toward and away from the sun during a given solar year.
This wobble tilts the Northern Hemisphere away from direct solar exposure during the autumn and winter, and causes the Sun to appear lower and lower in the sky for fewer and fewer hours per day in the Northern Hemisphere during the autumn months, until we reach the Winter Solstice, the point where the planetary wobble begins to tilt the Northern Hemisphere back in the other direction, increasing the length of time the Earth is exposed to the Sun each day, and causing the Sun to appear higher and higher in the sky.
Beginning on this Sunday, December 20, we enter the three-day period called "The Winter Solstice Window", when the sun appears to stand still from the standpoint of a viewer on Earth, and rises in the same place along the horizon for three days in a row.
The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Every day thereafter until the end of June, days will grow longer and longer.
Why then does the Winter Solstice herald the onset of winter? As days grow longer, one might expect days to grow warmer as well.
The Solstice is followed by winter because the atmosphere and conditions on the Earth's surface affect the progress of seasonal climate change.
The air, ground, rocks, lakes, rivers and oceans all conduct heat more slowly than the vacuum of space.
After the Summer Solstice in June each year in the Northern Hemisphere, days grow shorter and the Earth loses heat, but water, ground and air release their heat slowly, so that even though days are growing shorter, warm conditions prevail for some time.
For some weeks after the winter solstice, the daily increase in heat from slightly longer days is much more than offset by the cumulative cooling of ground, air and water on the Earth's surface, set in motion by the shorter days of fall, and cold weather prevails. It takes a long time for the rate of heating to overcome the rate of cooling, and that time lag determines the length of the winter season.
So as we enjoy winter sports or huddle around the fireplace, let us all meditate on the fact that despite appearances, day by day the web of life on Earth is being infused with cosmic forces conducive to life and growth, and conditions in our Solar System, and especially here on Earth, are creating a collective momentum toward light, warmth, growth and rebirth of vegetation on the Earth's surface. That momentum will sustain the long summer season and the harvest of early fall in the coming year.
This mystery, the eternal return of the light, implicit in the moment of greatest darkness, is what we celebrate at the Winter Solstice.
"Annually at this festival point in December the celestial rhythm of Earth and Sun come momentarily to pause," says biodynamic farmer, philosopher and astrologer Steven McFadden, "an anomaly that moves us inescapably into the deep, the dark, the other. At this Winter point, consciously or unconsciously, we set an inner pattern to guide what we will weave in the outer world through another solar cycle. We dream the dreams that will flower in another season. How much more powerful if we know we are dreaming? How much more beguiling if we know nature is inviting us to peer through the veils?"
Ancient Solstice Science and Spirituality
The Winter Solstice has been held sacred in spiritual traditions around the world for thousands of years, as the time of the rebirth of the Sun, and of the birth of the Son of God.
Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Icelandic, Irish and Hindu spiritual traditions speak of the succession of the Ages through a period of time known as the Great Year, calculated to be approximately 26,000 years, and the reincarnation of human souls through vast cycles of time. All these traditions celebrate yearly festivals dedicated to the return of the light, the birth, and re-birth of a Solar Deity.
It is quite likely that the Earth's wobble is the physical phenomenon underlying these diverse manifestations of spiritual science.
Because of the Earth's wobble, there is a 23°27' angle between the planes of the earth's equator and orbit. The Earth's axis performs a slow, wobbling movement in relation to the fixed Zodiacal constellations found in the plane of the ecliptic, and thus the site of the rising sun on the day of the Spring Equinox performs a slow, backwards movement through the signs of the Zodiac. This long cycle takes 25,920 years, and this cycle is known as the Precession of the Equinoxes.
From approximately 4000-2000 BC, the spring sun rose in the sign of Taurus, the Bull; from around 2000 BC to 1 BC the sun rose at the spring equinox in the sign of Aries, the Ram, and from I AD to the present it has risen in the sign of Pisces. We are now about to enter a 2,160 year long phase of the Great Year in which the spring equinox will find the sun rising in the sign of Aquarius, the Water-Bearer. This is the meaning of the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. We are living in the cusp between ages, a time that many ancient cultures speak of as being a time of great confusion, transition, challenge, and opportunity for spiritual advancement.
For ancient civilizations, the Precession of the Equinoxes indicated a flaw in the Earth's orientation in space that seemed to be the root cause for seasonal fluctuations in temperature, rainfall and general weather conditions that resulted in the yearly vegetation cycle of birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth.
This wobble represented a kind of cosmic "original sin", the signature of human mortality writ large across the Earth's surface and indeed, across the vast expanse of the starry night skies.
Ancient astrologers were scientists and priests. These ancient practitioners of spiritual science devised rituals and myths that would explain the origins of the Universe and detail the descent of humanity into a creation fraught with the vicissitudes of Nature and circumscribed by the iron-clad limits imposed by the death of the physical body. They sought to provide spiritual practitioners with the wisdom teachings and the tools they would require to understand and transcend the unceasing cycle of birth, death – and reincarnation.
For it was obvious to these spiritual scientists that the human soul had its home and origin in realms that transcend the yearly seasonal cycles, overarching the incomprehensibly long cycles of the Great Cosmic Year, and that the soul, like the Sun, like the Earth's vegetation, was subject to a cosmic cycle of eternal return involving repeated birth, growth, death and resurrection.
On a social level, these astro-hierophants believed that it was necessary for human beings to participate in these yearly and cosmic cycles, attuning their efforts to the energies prevalent at the time, and performing spiritual tasks, rituals and prayers, designed to insure the ongoing cycles of eternal return would successfully initiate a new yearly cycle of birth and growth, a new yearly resurrection of the light at winter's onset, a new rebirth of vegetation slumbering in the depths of the Earth during the time of the dying of the light.
Evidence compiled by archeologists and comparative mythologists, and detailed in Dr. Thomas McEvilley's comprehensive work,"The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies", shows that in the fourth millennium BC, prior to the invention of writing, Sumerian spiritual scientists, working with an oral tradition that handed down memorized sunrise positions for the Spring Equinox over very long periods of time, correctly calculated the cycle of the Precession of the Equinoxes.
These Sumerian hierophants created a calendar of 72 five-day weeks with 5 additional inter-calendar days. Multiplying 72 by five we get 360, and multiplying 360 by 72, we get 25,920, the number of years in the Great Cosmic Year.
The Sumerians also created a sexagesimal number system, whose primary use throughout history has always been for astronomical observation. All this prior to the invention of writing.
"What the evidence just reviewed suggests is that the Sumerians, in the fourth millennium B.C. . . .had developed an alternative arithmetical method -- the sexagesimal – which would magically plug into the Precessional cycle and thus give greater force to human reckonings by harmonizing them with cosmic fact, and finally that they subsequently devised a myth of cycling time, since lost, which diffused secretly from one priestly caste to another, giving rise to variant myths with interrelated numerologies from Cambodia to Iceland," explains Dr. McEvilley, in "The Shape of Ancient Thought", p.79. "The alternative is that these steps were taken by some earlier culture or cultures and inherited by the Sumerians."
As another example of the importance of the Solstice to humanity's various mystical traditions and religions, consider the case of Stonehenge, thought to date to around 2800 B.C. Sir Norman Lockyer was the first person to identify an astronomical reason for the orientation of Stonehenge, in a book published in 1906. He realized that on the summer solstice the sun rose at the end of the main axis, as it would have done in the second and third millenniums BC.
The huge circular stone megalithic structure at Newgrange, Ireland is estimated to be 3,200 years old, older than Stonehenge. Newgrange was built to receive a shaft of sunlight deep into its central chamber at dawn on the winter solstice.
Hundreds of other megalithic structures throughout Europe are oriented to the solstices and equinoxes. Archaeologists exploring the origins of ancient structures and their links to astronomical events have discovered similar sacred sites in the Americas, Asia, Indonesia, Africa, and the Middle East.
The Chumash Indians, who occupied coastal California for thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans, "believed in supernatural forces and beings and they believed that humans could influence those forces for good or for evil," according to the University of Michigan website, Windows to the Universe. "The most important time of the year for the Chumash was right before the winter solstice. They believed that this was the time when the Sun might not choose to come back to the Earth. This would've obviously affected life on Earth and so it is not surprising that the Chumash took it upon themselves to influence the Sun to come back since it was a matter of life and death. The Chumash people held times of prayer and dancing that would last for several days. They observed the Sun by putting sun sticks and poles in the ground. This vigilance was meant to pull the Sun back to Earth."
Hannukah is the name of the Jewish Festival occurring around the time of the Solstice. Known as the Festival of the Lights, Hannukah occurred December 1-9 this year. The Hannukah celebration is tied to both lunar and solar festivals and calendars. Hanukkah begins three days before the new moon closest to the Winter Solstice.
Hanukkah commemorates the Maccabees' victory over the Greeks and the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem.
After many years of war and persecution, the Jewish people, who had been in exile, returned to their temple in Jerusalem, which lay in ruins. The Jews began rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem in 165 B.C. When they came to rededicate the Temple they found only one small flask of oil with which to light the menorah, or temple candleholder, which illuminated the sacred texts. This flask contained only enough oil for one day, yet the lamp burned for eight days (by which time a fresh supply of oil was obtained).
On the first night of Hanukkah, one light is lit. On each successive night a light is added until the eighth night, when all the lights are lit. The addition of light recalls the greatness and growth of the miracle. Candles are placed in the menorah from right to left, but lit from left to right. The highest candle, known as the Shamash or "servant", is used to light the other candles. Blessings are recited each night before the lights are kindled.
Hannukah recapitulates the basic Solstice themes of resurrection, this time of a temple, and of an entire people, the return of the light, and the waxing and triumph of the light.
In Iran, the Winter Solstice is the time of the Feast of Shab-e Yalda. "In most ancient cultures, including Persia, the start of the solar year has been marked to celebrate the victory of light over darkness and the renewal of the Sun," explains Massoume Price in his article on Yalda on Farsinet.
". . .Egyptians, four thousand years ago celebrated the rebirth of the sun at this time of the year. They set the length of the festival at 12 days, to reflect the 12 divisions in their sun calendar. They decorated with greenery, using palms with 12 shoots as a symbol of the completed year, since a palm was thought to put forth a shoot each month."
"The Persians adopted their annual renewal festival from the Babylonians and incorporated it into the rituals of their own Zoroastrian religion. The last day of the Persian month Azar is the longest night of the year, when the forces of Ahriman are assumed to be at the peak of their strength. While the next day, the first day of the month 'Day' known as 'khoram rooz' or 'khore rooz' (the day of sun) belongs to Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom. Since the days are getting longer and the nights shorter, this day marks the victory of Sun over the darkness. The occasion was celebrated in the festival of 'Daygan' dedicated to Ahura Mazda, on the first day of the month."
"'Day' Fires would be burnt all night to ensure the defeat of the forces of Ahriman. There would be feasts, acts of charity and a number of deities were honored and prayers performed to ensure the total victory of sun that was essential for the protection of winter crops. There would be prayers to Mithra (Mehr) and feasts in his honor, since Mithra is the Eyzad responsible for protecting 'the light of the early morning' known as 'Havangah. It was also assumed that Ahura Mazda would grant people's wishes, specially those with no offspring had the hope to be blessed with children if performed all rites on this occasion."
"One of the themes of the festival was the temporary subversion of order. Masters and servants reversed roles. The king dressed in white would change place with ordinary people. A mock king was crowned and masquerades spilled into the streets. As the old year died, rules of ordinary living were relaxed. This tradition persisted till Sassanian period, and is mentioned by Biruni and others in their recordings of pre-Islamic rituals and festivals. Its' origin goes back to the Babylonian New Year celebration. These people believed the first creation was order that came out of chaos. To appreciate and celebrate the first creation they had a festival and all roles were reversed. Disorder and chaos ruled for a day and eventually order was restored and succeeded at the end of the festival."
"The Egyptian and Persian traditions merged in ancient Rome, in a festival to the ancient god of seedtime, Saturn. The Romans exchanged gifts, partied and decorated their homes with greenery. Following the Persian tradition, the usual order of the year was suspended. Grudges and quarrels forgotten, wars would be interrupted or postponed. Businesses, courts and schools were closed. Rich and poor became equal, masters served slaves, and children headed the family. Cross-dressing and masquerades, merriment of all kinds prevailed. A mock king, the Lord of Misrule, was crowned. Candles and lamps chased away the spirits of darkness."
"Another related Roman festival celebrated at the same time was dedicated to Sol Invictus (the invincible sun). Originally a Syrian deity, this cult was imported by Emperor Heliogabalus into Rome and Sol was made god of the state. With the spread of Christianity, Christmas celebration became the most important Christian festival. In the third century various dates, from December to April, were celebrated by Christians as Christmas. January 6 was the most favored day because it was thought to be Jesus' Baptismal day (in the Greek Orthodox Church this continues to be the day to celebrate Christmas). In year 350, December 25 was adopted in Rome and gradually almost the entire Christian Church agreed to that date, which coincided, with Winter Solstice and the festivals Sol Invicta and Saturnalia. Many of the rituals and traditions of the pagan festivals were incorporated into the Christmas celebration and are still observed today."
Solstice Wisdom Teachings
Wisdom teachings of the West provide us with insight into the deep spiritual meaning of the Christmas festival.
"In the days when genuine occult teaching was not disowned as it is today by materialistic thought but was the very wellspring of the life of the peoples, the Christmas Festival was a kind of memorial, a token of remembrance of a great happening on the Earth," explains mystical Christian philosopher, sage and educator Rudolf Steiner, in his Christmas 1905 lecture, given in Berlin, called "The Christmas Festival: A Token of the Victory of the Sun".
"At the hour of midnight the priests gathered around them their truest disciples, those who were the teachers of the people, and spoke to them of a Great Mystery. . . .This Mystery was connected with the victory of the Sun over the darkness. There was a time on the Earth when the light triumphed over the darkness. And it happened thus: in that epoch, all physical, all bodily life on Earth had reached the stage of animality only. The highest kingdom upon the Earth had only reached a stage at which it was preparing to receive something higher.
And then there came that great moment in evolution when the immortal, imperishable soul of man descended. Life had so far developed that the human body was able to receive into itself the imperishable soul. These ancestors of the human race stood higher in the scale of evolution than modern scientists believe, but the higher part of their being, the divine 'spark' was not yet within them. The divine spark descended from a higher planetary sphere to our Earth which was now to become the scene of its activity, the dwelling-place of the soul which henceforward can never be lost to us."
"We call these remote ancestors of humanity the Lemurian race," Steiner continues. "Then came the Atlantean race and the Atlantean race was followed by our own — the Aryan race. Into the bodies of the Lemurian race the human soul descended. This descent of the divine 'Sons of the Spirit,' this great moment in the evolution of mankind was celebrated by the sages of all times as the victory of the light over the darkness. Since then the human soul has been working in the body and bringing it to higher stages of development but not at all in the way that materialistic science imagines. At the time when the human soul was quickened by the Spirit, something happened in the universe, something that is one of the most decisive events in the evolution of mankind."
. . ." And now try to think of the course of human life in connection with the harmony of the universe. Man seems to become more and more akin to the great rhythms of Nature. If we think of all that encompasses the life of the soul, of the course of the Sun and everything that is connected with it, we are struck by something that closely concerns us, namely, the rhythm and the marvellous harmony in contrast to the chaos and lack of harmony in the human soul.
We all know how rhythmically and with what regularity the Sun appears and disappears. And we can picture what a stupendous upheaval there would be in the universe if for a fraction of a second only the Sun were to be diverted from its course. It is only because of this inviolable harmony in the course of the Sun that our universe can exist at all, and it is upon this harmony that the rhythmic life-process of all beings depends.
Think of the annual course of the Sun. — Picture to yourselves that it is the Sun which charms forth the plants in spring time and then think how difficult it is to make the violet or some other plant flower out of due season. Seed-time and harvest, everything, even the very life of animals is dependent upon the rhythmic course of the Sun.
And in the being of man himself everything that is not connected with his feelings, his desires and his passions, or with his ordinary thinking, is rhythmic and harmonious. Think of the pulse, of the process of digestion and you will feel the mighty rhythm and marvel at the wisdom implicit in the whole of Nature.
Compare with this the irregularity, the chaos of man's passions and desires, especially of his ideas and thoughts. Think of the regularity of your pulse, your breathing, and then of the irregularity, the erratic nature of your thinking, feeling and willing. With what wisdom the powers of life are governed where the prevailing rhythmic forces meet the challenge of the chaotic! And how greatly the rhythms of the human body are outraged by man's passions and cravings! Those who have studied anatomy know how marvellously the heart is constructed and regulated and how wonderfully it is able to stand the strain put upon it by the drinking of tea, coffee and spirits."
"There is wisdom in every part of the divine, rhythmic Nature to which our forefathers looked up with such veneration and the very soul of which is the Sun with its regular, rhythmic course. And as the wise men of old looked upwards to the Sun, they said to their disciples: 'Thou art the image of what the soul born within thee has yet to become and what it will become.' The divine cosmic Order was revealed in all its glory to the sages of old. And again, in the Christian religion we have the 'Gloria in excelsis.' The meaning of 'gloria' is revelation, not 'glory' in the sense of 'honour.' Therefore we should not say: 'Glory (honour) to God in the highest,' but rather: 'To-day is the revelation of the Divine in the heavens!' The birth of the Redeemer makes us aware of the 'Glory' streaming through the wide universe."
"In earlier times this cosmic harmony was placed as a great Ideal before those who were to be leaders among their fellow-men. Therefore in all ages and wherever there was consciousness of these things, men spoke of Sun Heroes. In the temples and sanctuaries of the Mysteries there were seven degrees of Initiation. I will speak of them as they were known in ancient Persia.
"The first stage is attained when a man's ordinary feeling and thinking is raised to a higher level, where knowledge of the Spirit is attained. Such a man received the name of 'Raven.' It is the 'Ravens' who inform the Initiates in the temples what is happening in the world outside. When medieval poetic wisdom desired to depict in the person of a great Ruler an Initiate who amid the treasures of wisdom contained in the Earth must await the great moment when newly revealed depths of Christianity rejuvenate mankind — when this poetic wisdom of the Middle Ages created the figure of Barbarossa, ravens were his heralds. The Old Testament, too, speaks of the ravens in the story of Elijah."
"Those who had reached the second stage of Initiation were known as 'Occultists'; at the third stage they were 'Warriors,' at the fourth, 'Lions.' At the fifth stage of Initiation a man was called by the name of his own people: he was a 'Persian,' 'Indian,' or whatever it might be. For that man alone who had reached the fifth degree of Initiation was regarded as a true representative of his people. At the sixth stage a man was a 'Sun Hero' or one who 'runs in the paths of the Sun.' And at the seventh stage he was a 'Father.'"
"Why was an Initiate of the sixth degree known as a Sun Hero? To reach this level on the ladder of spiritual knowledge a man must have developed an inner life in harmony with the divine rhythms pulsating through the cosmos. His life of feeling and of thinking must have rid itself of chaos, of all disharmony, and his inner life of soul must beat in perfect accord with the rhythm of the Sun in the heavens. Such was the demand made upon men at the sixth degree of Initiation. They were looked upon as holy men, as Ideals, and it was said that if a Sun Hero were to deviate from the divine path of this spiritual harmony, it would be as great a calamity as if the Sun were to deviate from its course. A man whose spiritual life had found a path as sure as that of the Sun in the heavens was called a 'Sun Hero,' and there were Sun Heroes among all the peoples."
". . .The Sun-Soul was the great example for the way in which a man's life must be ordered. How did the ancients conceive of the soul of a Sun Hero who had reached this inner harmony? They pictured to themselves that no longer did a single individual human soul live within him, but that forces of the cosmic Soul were streaming into him. This cosmic Soul was known in Greece as Chrestos, in the sublime wisdom of the East as Budhi. When a man no longer feels himself a single being, as the bearer of an individual soul, but experiences something of the universal Soul, he has created within himself an image of the union of the Sun-Soul with the human body and he has attained something of the very greatest significance in the evolution of mankind."
". . . If the glory, the revelation of the divine harmony in the heavenly heights is a real experience within us, and if we know that this harmony will one day resound from our own souls, then we can also feel what will be brought about in humanity itself by this harmony: peace among men of good-will. These are the two thoughts or, better, the two feelings which arise at Christmastide. When with this great vista of the divine ordering of the world, of the revelation, the glory of the heavens, we think of the future lying before mankind, we have a premonition even now of that harmony which in the future will reign in those who know that the more abundantly the harmony of the Cosmos fills the soul, the more peace and concord there will be upon the Earth.
The great ideal of Peace stands there before us when at Christmas we contemplate the course of the Sun. And when we think about the victory of the Sun over the darkness during these days of Festival there is born in us an unshakable conviction which makes our own evolving soul akin to the harmony of the cosmos — light over the darkness had always been commemorated. And so Christianity is in harmony with all the great world-religions. When the Christmas bells ring out, they are a reminder to us that this Festival was celebrated all over the world, wherever human beings knew what it signified, wherever they understood the great truth that the soul of man is involved in a process of development and progress on this Earth, wherever in the truest sense man strove to reach self-knowledge."
Wisdom Traditions of both East and West have always taught that the Winter Solstice presents those of us on the Path of Spirit with a unique opportunity for accelerated development in our chosen practices.
Those who wish to participate in the Esoteric Mysteries, the Wisdom School Teachings of Mystical Masters of the East and West, are encouraged to call upon Archangel Gabriel, the Guardian Archangel who presides over The Winter Solstice and the winter season at this most sacred time of year.
Gabriel is the Archangel known as the Leader of the Heavenly Hosts, the Messenger of the Lord. As Messenger of the Lord, Gabriel is first and foremost the Archangel of Vision, and also the Archangel of revelation, creativity and faithful service.
Gabriel is known as the messenger who brings good news from Divine realms. In the Old Testament, in the Book of Daniel, verses 8 and 9, Gabriel appeared to interpret Daniel's dream vision of the future of Israel to the prophet.
Jewish sacred tradition says that Gabriel inspired Moses to write the Book of Genesis, and that Gabriel taught Joseph 70 languages he needed to rule in Egypt.
Islam teaches that the Archangel Gabriel revealed the 114 chapters of the Koran to Mohammed.
Most famously, as the self-announced "Bearer of Good Tidings of Great Joy", Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary bearing a lily flower at the time of the Annunciation, bringing her the Good News that she was to become the Divine Mother of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. This moment was at once a revelation, a fulfillment of prophecy, an interpretation of a sacred vision, and a unique sacred empowerment of the Virgin Mary.
Gabriel is often pictured with a trumpet, because he is expected to return at the Second Coming of Christ to announce the Turning of the Aeons, the Resurrection of the Dead, and the Last Judgement.
Gabriel figures prominently in the Sacred Tarot, the repository of the Wisdom Teachings of the West during the time of the Inquisition and thereafter, appearing in Trump 20, known as "Judgement", which is also called "The Aeon" in some modern decks.
All the people, places and events pictured in the Tarot are not just archetypical figurations of chapters in the world's history, they are, perhaps more importantly, representations of archetypical stages in the evolution of the Soul on its journey from animalistic instinctual behavior to rationalistic egoistic mentality and eventually to achievement of the ultimate goal, Unity consciousness and Self-realization. (For more information on the Tarot and the true Mystery Teachings of the East and West, see my article, "Tarot: The Yoga of the West".
The Tarot teachings concerning the Last Judgement consider that apocryphal event to be the culmination of a lifetime's spiritual practice, the doorway to liberation of the mind and enlightenment.
The Judgement or Aeon card is about transformation of the egoistic personality, and awakening to a higher consciousness, the birth of the Higher Mind, the dawning of the Higher Self, and represents the final preparations before the disciple can attain the final goal, Christ Consciousness, or Cosmic Consciousness, Self-Realization, pictured in Trump XXI, called The Universe.
In the Waite deck, Judgement pictures the Archangel Gabriel blowing his trumpet, as three figures, a man, a child and a woman, rise from coffins in the lower foreground. The man represents the conscious, rational egoistic mind, the woman represents the unconscious powers of instinctual wisdom, and the child represents the infant born of their union, the intuitive consciousness residing in the Higher Mind.
Gabriel's golden horn delivers the sacred sound that triggers our awakening from the living death and spiritual imprisonment represented by consciousness dominated by the egoistic personality and the instinctual impulses of the unconscious mind. The energy signature of Gabriel's horn is a sacred tone, ormantram, which also exists as a vision – a frequency of golden light. This golden light of inner awakening, which emanates from Gabriel's horn, and at his command, appears in the mind's eye on a field of deepest midnight blue during the meditative state at the moment of initiation and realization.
In the Western Mystery School Tradition, the Winter Solstice is traditionally the time when the initiate strives most intensely to attain this Gabriel initiation, which comprises the inner nativity, the birth of the Higher Mind and the Higher Self, the moment when the Inner Christ manifests to us offering us at least a transitory glimpse of Higher Worlds.
For students of the Ancient Wisdom, Gabriel's role as bringer of visions makes him the Archangel who reveals the truth of one's unique role in the world – which is known as the Higher Purpose, the Soul's true calling, and empowers one to pursue that Higher Purpose successfully.
Thus the time of the Winter Solstice is the time for those walking the arduous path of Spirit to seek a vision of their Higher Purpose, to connect with the Divine Wisdom as revealed by Archangel Gabriel, and to connect with Higher Self and Higher Mind through the intercession of Gabriel, who interprets the super-rational wisdom found in Higher Realms into words and symbols that can be understood by the rational mind. Through Gabriel's intercession, we can gain understanding of the mysteries of our own life's journey, and of the larger mysteries surrounding the evolution of our spiritual brothers and sisters, our nation, and humanity as a whole.
Gabriel's element is water and his chakra is the throat chakra, which is associated with the color blue, with creativity, and with communication. Traditionally, the opening of the throat chakra represents the beginning of the attainment of Higher Consciousness, once the heart is opened and compassion is attained. The opening of the heart chakra is a long, arduous process, which depends upon the purification of the emotions, which are associated with the element of water.
When we have successfully banished negative emotions, such as jealousy, greed, lust, and anger, and successfully released the old energies of past emotional traumas and failed relationships, then we are prepared for the Gabriel Initiation of the Winter Solstice.
This is why the season of Advent is traditionally a time of purification, and Christians are encouraged to perform acts of penance, fasting, and abstinence during the forty days prior to Christmas. Penance, fasting and abstinence are designed to purify the physical body, and also to cleanse the emotions, as well as turning our attention away from material pleasures and toward the summits of spiritual attainment.
The Gabriel Initiation
Those who wish to pursue the path leading to the Gabriel Initiation of the Winter Solstice are encouraged to spend the three day period of the Winter Solstice through Christmas in a spirit of wakeful awareness, open and waiting for a revelation, and to perform their normal spiritual practices in a relaxed, yet determined manner, in an attitude of certainty born of faith, for Gabriel is the Archangel of Faith.
As Messenger of the Lord, Gabriel appeared to the Shepherds in the Fields near Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, and announced to them the Nativity of Jesus Christ.
As it says in the second chapter of Luke, ". . . there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city ofDavid a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
On these three sacred days of the Solstice Festival, especially on Christmas Eve, the aspirant is encouraged to seek the Vision of the Inner Sunrise in a late night meditation session. If the preparation is adequate, and if the disciple's spiritual evolution has brought the individual to a moment of inner awakening, and if the individual's karma allows it, the disciple will receive an initiation.
To best prepare to receive this initiation, the disciple is encouraged to identify with the shepherds in the field near Jerusalem.
Quiet the mind, and enter into a meditative state using whatever practices have been taught to you by your Teachers and Guides. Call upon the Archangel Gabriel to illuminate your mind, to elevate your Soul, and to grant you a Vision of the Birth of the Christ Child, Unity Consciousness, your own Higher Self or Higher Mind.
Allow the indigo blue of a clear, cold starry night to permeate your consciousness. Ideally, you will see a field of deep midnight blue in your mind's eye. Maintain an attitude of watchful wakefulness, expectant but open and relaxed.
Then, cast your consciousness through the center of the Earth, and into deep space on the other side of the globe, where the Sun is shining, radiant and golden. Imagine a ray of illumination, extending from your third eye, and penetrating through the depths of the Earth, and imagine that as this illuminating ray penetrates the Earth, your consciousness penetrates and illuminates the roots of your own personality, your own egoistic mind, your own human nature.
Allow images of the high and low points of your life, and of your past lives, if they are granted you, to appear as you penetrate deeper and deeper into your own Earthly nature. Maintain your inner equilibrium, and remain identified with the Inner Watcher who sees all without becoming emotionally involved, no matter how turbulent or difficult or painful or delightful those images of your inner lifetimes become as you envision them within your mind's eye.
As each vision appears before you, simply observe what happens. Observe the emotions attached to these actions. Simply observe your own emotional reactions, and identify with that watchful presence within you rather than with the visions or the emotions they release.
Continue this practice in your meditation until you reach a point where you achieve inner stillness. For the Birth of the Word of God is found only in Silence. Although Gabriel's element is water, his inner nature is Fire, and his Word which is a mantric blast from his trumpet is a brilliant Light. You will know you have achieved this inner stillness when the inner visions of your own Earthly nature dissipate and your field of vision is filled with the midnight blue of the starry night of Bethlehem.
Feel the peace that passes all understanding, for this is what the shepherds felt on that Nativity Night so long ago. Relax into this peaceful indigo blue energy. Allow the mind to completely relax. Let go of all thoughts, emotions and mental considerations. If you like, you may again call upon Archangel Gabriel to grant you an initiation or to grant you an initiation into the Birth of the Christ Child at this time.
If you are successful in this meditation, you will see a small, brilliant globe of golden light appear within the field of midnight blue in your mind's eye and this golden globe will grow until a brilliant light fills your field of vision and you will have a sensation similar to that of being in an open field on a summer's day, but without the heat – you will sense a downpouring of this brilliant light from above the crown of your head, streaming into your being, filling you with a brilliant, yet cool, golden light.
This is the golden dawn of the invincible sun within you. Know that this is the Gabriel Initiation, the announcement to you of your own inner awakening to Higher Consciousness. Whether or not you see everything described here in this meditation, it is highly productive spiritually to repeat this meditation as often as possible during the period between Christmas and Epiphany.
Consecrate this time as a time of your own personal Vision Quest. Concentrate during this period of inner questing upon your own strong, heartfelt desire to receive an understanding of your own Higher Purpose, and of the best path forward for you to achieve that Higher Purpose during the upcoming year. Open yourself to receive messages from the Universe in meditation, and in your daily life as synchronicities and in the form of meaningful coincidences of all kinds. Remain observant day and night.
May the Archangel Gabriel favor you with a Vision of your path forward in life during this High Holy Season, and may the Archangel's trumpet blast penetrate your inner ear, awakening you to the Life Divine that dwells within you. May you be present this year and every year to come at the Nativity of the Christ Child, and may his birth signal a birth of Unity Consciousness within you that will connect you ever more closely to the Spirit of the Invincible Sun.
Solstice at the Turning of the Ages
At the time of the Winter Solstice 2005, the Sun was located near the Galactic Center, where the Milky Way intersects the ecliptic, an area sacred to the Mayans, known as the home of Hunab K'u, the Creator God, the Center of Consciousness that manifested our Galaxy through a whirling "cosmic womb" in space. Hunab K'u was also thought to be the gateway to other galaxies beyond our own. The Mayans believed that all activities in our Galaxy were directed and shaped by Divine intelligence manifested as periodic bursts of energy emanating from this Galactic Center.
Modern astronomers have verified that there is a "black hole" at the center of the whirling disk which is the Milky Way, and that this "black hole" emits and swallows stars.
In March of 2005, physicist and astronomer Dr. Scott Hyman announced the discovery of an intermittent signal coming from the Galactic Center, which seems to be intelligently directed. (See Strange Rumblings at the Center of Our Galaxy.)
"The ancient Mayan astronomers accurately predicted, over 1500 years ago, the exact alignment of the Earth, the Sun, the star cluster Pleiades and of the center of our Galaxy that will take place at the end of the present long cycle on the Gregorian year 2012," according to Hunab K'u researcher Hector Carreon. "On the Mayan Long Calendar the day designated as 4 Ahau 3 Kankin (18.104.22.168.0) falls on December 21, 2012 and this day will mark 'El Fin de los Tiempos' or the end of the long cycle at which time humanity will experience a new beginning. On this day, according to the Mayas and subsequent Meso-American civilizations, the return of Kukulcan (Quetzalcoatl) will take place."
New Age researchers and students of Mayan ways expect to see startling, unprecedented bursts of Cosmic energy emanating from the Galactic Center at the Winter Solstice of 2012, and predict that the Earth will be inundated by high-frequency waves that will trigger the elevation of human consciousness and simultaneously inaugurate a breath-taking array of profound climatological earth changes, ushering in a new age qualitatively different in every way from our present culture and consciousness.
This Winter Solstice, Lightworkers, meditators and everyone can begin to tune in to the energies of this New Age during the three-day Solstice Window we are now entering. Try it for yourself. Take a quiet moment, light a candle, symbol of the return of the light, and invoke the Higher Consciousness at the Galactic Center, which has been radiating high-frequency, intelligent energy broadcasts throughout this tumultuous year. Sit quietly and meditate upon the alignment of this year's Winter Solstice with that Galactic Center, and upon the scale of the transformations taking place in our world.
Reflect upon the difficulties and the sorrows experienced by so many around the world this year as a result of hurricanes, famine, war, disease, and human greed. Contemplate the fact that humanity is experiencing a difficult and painful initiation that is essential for our spiritual evolution as a species, and consistent with the demands traditionally placed upon humans, as individuals and as societies, during the time of the turning of the Ages.
Reflect upon the Great Cosmic Truth that despite the vicissitudes of life encountered during the cycling of the Ages, the human spirit continues to advance Age after Age, producing a continuous flowering of human culture in the form of Wisdom teachers, artists, scientists, and Lightworkers dedicated to the affirmation of the forces of Life, working diligently in service to humanity, to Nature and to Spirit.
Conscious of the grand arc of human evolution, let us rest in a state of radiant inner equanimity, like the Sun. Despite the tumultuous upheavals in our world today, it is nothing less than our historical and spiritual task to maintain our equilibrium at this time of World Transition, and to steadily, consciously and lovingly assist in the setting aside of old, outworn cultural forms and norms and in the birthing of the New Age that will replace the current global culture of greed, materialism and religious war.
Let us then celebrate the accelerating earth changes occurring around us and let us give thanks for the elevation of human consciousness we are currently experiencing worldwide at this time of conflict and global climate change at the cusp of the Age of Aquarius. Let us maintain a spirit of surrender, love and gratitude despite the physical discomforts, emotional upheaval, mental turmoil and soul angst that horrendously destructive outer events and tremendously demanding inner transformations now trigger within us.
It is ever the task of the clairvoyant, the spiritual being, to channel the energies of humanity's future evolution into the world of today. In this respect, little has changed over the centuries.
Those who are able to maintain their inner balance during this time of transformation are being offered access to the energies of Love generated within the crucible of the New Cosmic Age, as evidenced by the recent bursts of intelligent cosmic energy emanating from the Cosmic Center of our Galaxy.
For rest assured that no love is in vain, love will never lose its own, and those who walk the path of Spirit will inevitably experience for themselves the Victory of the Sun, despite the appearance of darkness all around them.
Love, light, peace, health, happiness, and well-being to you and yours throughout this Festival Season from Jane and Curtis and Satya Center. May you find harmony with Nature, become one with the power of the Spirit, plant the seeds of your own best and highest being deep within your heart, and may you receive the grace and guidance required to help you fulfill your loftiest spiritual goals.
Meditation Moment: God is Alive, Magic is Afoot
God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot
Play song from MySpace Music
(Lyrics: Leonard Cohen, Recorded By Buffy Sainte-Marie)
God is alive, magic is afoot
God is alive, magic is afoot
God is alive, magic is afoot
God is afoot, magic is alive
Alive is afoot, magic never died
God never sickened
Many poor men lied
Many sick men lied
Magic never weakened
Magic never hid
Magic always ruled
God is afoot, God never died
God was ruler
Though his funeral lengthened
Though his mourners thickened
Magic never fled
Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live
Though his words were twisted
The naked magic thrived
Though his death was published
Round and round the world
The heart did not believe
Many hurt men wondered
Many struck men bled
Magic never faltered
Magic always led
Many stones were rolled
But God would not lie down
Many wild men lied
Many fat men listened
Though they offered stones
Magic still was fed
Though they locked their coffers
God was always served
Magic is afoot, God is alive
Alive is afoot
Alive is in command
Many weak men hungered
Many strong men thrived
Though they boast of solitude
God was at their side
Nor the dreamer in his cell
Nor the captain on the hill
Magic is alive
Though his death was pardoned
Round and round the world
The heart would not believe
Though laws were carved in marble
They could not shelter men
Though altars built in parliaments
They could not order men
Police arrested magic and magic went with them
Mmmmm.... for magic loves the hungry
But magic would not tarry
It moves from arm to arm
It would not stay with them
Magic is afoot
It cannot come to harm
It rests in an empty palm
It spawns in an empty mind
But magic is no instrument
Magic is the end
Many men drove magic
But magic stayed behind
Many strong men lied
They only passed through magic
And out the other side
Many weak men lied
They came to God in secret
And though they left Him nourished
They would not tell who healed
Though mountains danced before them
They said that God was dead
Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live
This I mean to whisper to my mind
This I mean to laugh with in my mind
This I mean my mind to serve
Til' service is but magic
Moving through the world
And mind itself is magic
Coursing through the flesh
And flesh itself is magic
Dancing on a clock
And time itself
The magic length of God
[Nature photos by Jane Sherry]


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The Siren Call Of The Andes Mint
This is actually a true story. The mints themselves came from Olive Garden, which I'm slowly realizing we have some kind of fascination with, and since I'm not partial to mints regardless of the mountain range he usually takes all of them. And he makes it clear during the check phase of the meal that a single mint will not be sufficient. Oh no. When they come back to grab the card and run it so that their lives may continue, he places a hand on it and in a low voice, so low they must bring their ear close to hear it, he establishes that it could be "worth their while" if they bury him in mints. I am certainly pro tip, I have a a bank of odd neuroses regarding it I will bore you with at some point, but if the idea is to secure as many mints as possible there are grocery outlets in operation which could no doubt improve the rate of exchange. He's not into it, there's something about that ritual that makes the mints more flavorful. At any rate, this is all meant to say that he probably had somewhere in the neighborhood of ten mints in there with his wallet and his Edge card. His pocket had become a kind of rich stew.
It may be at this point that you have grown weary of the E3 and the tales surrounding it. I imagine that at this point, after you've had multiple weeks to digest the information - and multiple sources from which to glean - I am like a madman relentless with the slides of his vacation. I don't want to be him, but there was something I missed, and I was actually there: Guitar Hero.
Harmonix has put out a few musically themed games now, Frequency and its sequel Amplitude being personal favorites, but Kara and I are also capable of a mean duet on "My Immortal" in Karaoke Revolution. They've apparently hooked up with Red Octane - you know, the game rental/hyperspecific novelty hardware company - to drop what is essentially a Guitar Freaks for the American market.
Guitar Freaks is easily my favorite arcade game of all time. I love feeding those Goddamn machines, but even in my misspent youth where almost everything seemed better, there is no experience to match it. If you are "rocking" with a friend (Kara again, actually) trading leads on the hottest Bon Jovi hitz, I mean, that's it. It also hooks up to a drum version of the game ("Drummania") and a keyboard version ("Keyboard Mania," startling, I know) - relating the particulars of that experience could be the work of my entire life. At the most basic level, using a large mock guitar with three buttons and a "strum" control, you try to approximate various American and Japanese songs.
It never made it here unless you imported it, so a version we can actually buy without beaching ourselves financially is welcome. Guitar Hero seems to focus largely on "Rock" songs as opposed to Freaks' more varied catalog, and there is even a "rock" meter that lets one determine the exact level of rocking happening at any time. Harmonix games with arcade elements tend to get pretty brutal difficulty wise, and Guitar Hero adds two more buttons that I'm sure they'll use to beat the shit out of players. Anyway, I've watched these videos over at Gamespot five or six times a day since I downloaded them. Gabriel contends that "Fast Car" is the finest song in existence, and I've always countered that the golden throne rightfully belongs to Boston's "More Than A Feeling," which might account for some of my enthusiasm. There's no evidence for it, but I am desperate in the hope that it will feature co-operative rocking. Harmonix, do not fail me.
There's a contest, too, if you have a band who'd like to get their song in the game.
(CW)TB out.
looked like a picture of a sunny day


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My Bloggiesta weekend wasn't as productive as the last few Bloggiestas. Maybe that's because I'm so organized now? Yeah, let's say that's the reason. More likely it's because the thought of putting a lot of time into re-vamping my blog, just seems like too much right now. Later, maybe.
I did just install Pocket for Book Vixen's mini-challenge. I hope I'll be able use it for my Friday Bookish Buzz posts. Right now I have stuff favorited everywhere. It would be nice to have it all in one place.
I know it's not officially October and that Trish's Pin It and Do It hasn't officially started either but I couldn't wait to whip up this pie. Doesn't it look tasty?! You can find the directions here.
Just to rap up this bloggy weekend, here's a bit of book blogging fun from Bay State's Reader Advisory.


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We all love prospects. Not in a sexy way, though Jose Iglesias does have a certain magnetism about him. No, it's their promise we love, the possibility that each player in the top 11 could become great, thereby helping propel my favorite team (not yours) to the World Series. Prospects are lottery tickets in the common parlance of the term, a role of the dice as to whether they'll ever figure out the game enough that they can contribute at the major league level. But they're also lottery tickets in promise. Each represents what could be, what we hope will be, and while most don't reach the upper reaches of their ceiling, the height, the potential of that ceiling makes them baseball's ultimate exercise in optimism.
Paraphrased conversation I had in 1992:
Friend (Orioles fan): So you wouldn't trade Jeff McNeely for Cal Ripken, Jr., huh?
Me (Red Sox fan): Heck no! We already have Luis Rivera and someone's going to have to step in for Bob Zupcic one of these days.
As you certainly know, in 1992 Cal Ripken was a Hall of Fame shortstop at the height of his power. Jeff McNeely was, to put it charitably, not. McNeely was the Red Sox' no. 2 prospect that year, according to Baseball America. Twenty years later his Baseball-Reference page lists him as, "Centerfielder and Pinch Runner." The second of the two designations isn't bestowed when your career turned out as intended. It also isn't bestowed upon starting outfielders, but as is probably obvious, McNeely never was that. Outside of his 1991 season in High-A, he never posted an OPS above .700 in the minor leagues, which is about the bare minimum of skin you have to show to get into the night club. It was hoped McNeely would turn into the next speedy Red Sox centerfielder, batting atop the lineup for a decade or more. Instead he became like so many promising players before him: nothing. Forty-four major league plate appearances and he was gone.
This kind of thing happens to every team, the Red Sox aren't unique… buuuut since I have their system pulled up let's just pile on, shall we? In 1994 Baseball America's top 10 Red Sox prospects included the names Ortiz, Rodriguez, McGuire, and Johnson. That's Luis Ortiz, Frankie Rodriguez, Ryan McGuire, and J.J. Johnson. Outside of Trot Nixon, who was no. 1 on that list, Jeff Suppan* would have the best major-league career. After him we're back to McGuire (Ryan), who spent all of 368** games in the bigs.
* Hard to believe nobody ever nicknamed him the Supp Nazi.
**Originally I had mistyped 367, but who would want to short-change poor Ryan McGuire out of one of his 368 games?
As direct comparisons go, McNeely is to the latest Red Sox phenom, pitcher Matt Barnes, as a flaming goat is to a fighter jet. At least that's the case right now. But these things have a way of changing, even though Matt Barnes has put together as good a minor-league resume over a half season as any Red Sox pitcher in the last decade.
How good has Barnes been? Here he is throwing a pitch for the Greenville Drive earlier this year:
His fielders have so much confidence in him that they hold their gloves in their throwing hands while he pitches. As it turns out, the confidence isn't misplaced. On May 17th, Barnes' 67 strikeouts were the most of any pitcher anywhere, majors or minors. The best strikeout rates in the majors belonged to two Washington Nationals, Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strasburg, at 11.1 each. Barnes was at 13.5. I bring that up because that's when I started writing this article and, even though it's not true any more, that it was ever true is pretty impressive.
Since then, Barnes has struck out 19 in 23 innings, giving him 86 strikeouts in 67 2/3 innings spent in Single-A and High-A. That also dropped his K/9 to 11.44. (Stephen Strasburg made the Red Sox look silly on Friday night, which brought his K/9 up to 11.66. Booo!!)
OK, that's a lot of strikeouts, but minor-league hitters strike out a lot, especially in the low minors and especially against polished pitchers fresh out of college. The stats that make those strikeouts impressive are these: during those same 67 2/3 innings, he's walked 11, and in those same 12 starts, he's given up more than one run once.
So the stats are very good. Now let's all jump to wild conclusions! Let's see, can someone please compare the High-A pitcher to one of the greatest pitchers of all time? How about Walter Johnson, or Cy Young, or Bob Gibson… Oh! I know! How about Roger Clemens? Terrific! You're going to be shocked to hear this so I recommend sitting down and removing your pants*: the comparison doesn't really work. Both were picked 19th overall, which you could also say of Tony Torcato and if you look in a mirror right now you'll see by the look on your face that you've never heard of him.
*Ha ha. Made you take your pants off for no reason.
Looking at the comparison more closely, both Clemens and Barnes are alive, white, male pitchers, but since Barnes beat the rap on that federal kitten-trafficking charge the similarities end there. He's not the next Clemens, he's the next Next Clemens.
The truth is, as great as Barnes has been and as promising as he appears to be, nobody knows. We can project him forward based on scouting information, aging patterns, and his performance both in the minors and in college and we can work ourselves up into a fine lather in the process, but in the end, well, it's kind of like this:
General: I just received the order. Fire the missile!
First Officer: [presses button] Missile fired, sir.
General: Excellent. Now where will it land exactly, Johnson?
First Officer: Oh, it's hard to say, sir.
General: Hard to say? Are you telling me we've just launched a missile at a foreign country and we don't know where in that country it'll land?
First Officer: Oh, no, I'm not saying that, sir.
General: Phew…
First Officer: We don't know where on the globe it's going to land.
The more I learn about baseball the more I realize we don't know very much. Sure, we can project team and player seasons and on the whole we do pretty damn well at it, but individually it's not 100 percent or particularly close. Each year someone shows up out of the blue. Jose Bautista? Curtis Granderson can all of a sudden hit lefties? Those are just two of many that nobody could have projected to happen, or, if they did project them to happen, they'd have been an idiot. This isn't to say we shouldn't keep trying to get better, just that the error bars are far apart.
If he keeps going like this, Red Sox fans will fixate on Barnes. One of them might even write a ridiculous article about him in these very virtual pages! Can you imagine it? They'd probably not have that much to say about him and have to make up a ridiculous conversation between a general and a first officer involving… I don't know, missiles or something! Ha ha! Don't click on that article.
The deification of Matt Barnes is only beginning. Soon he'll be blown up to almost impossible lengths. Trade Matt Barnes for Felix Hernandez? Are you crazy? Never! Paraphrased conversation I will have in 2013:
Friend (Mariners fan): So, you wouldn't trade Matt Barnes for Felix Hernandez?
Me: Heck no! We already have Felix Doubront and someone's going to have to step in for Jon Lester one of these days.
Barnes looks like he's going to be a hell of a pitcher. Or not. Oh, drat. Now we'll all just have to watch some baseball games to find out.
Thank you for reading
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) Kevin Durant scored 20 points, Russell Westbrook added 18 points and 10 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder won their fifth straight game, 100-79 over the struggling New Orleans Hornets on Saturday night.
The two Thunder stars did all their work in first three quarters, resting for the final period after helping their club build a 27-point lead.
Kevin Martin added 19 points and Nick Collison 12 in reserve roles for Oklahoma City, which has won nine of 10, including its last four by double digits.
Ryan Anderson had 21 points and 10 rebounds for New Orleans, but was only 3 of 11 on 3-point attempts, normally his strength. Robin Lopez added 12 points and Roger Mason Jr. 11 for the Hornets, who have lost nine of 10.


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I've never actually seen someone get hurt at an amusement park until this weekend. If you're going to Waterworld in Concord, CA, please avoid the ride above, I think it's called Death Shudder or Costner's Folly or something. I captured a few shots and videos of some of the rides here with the waterproof Pentax W60 here before shit went down and the guards had me clear my SD card. I rode the slide above despite its major joints were leaking acrid, over-chlorinated water. It was fun, but I suppose that's what made it dangerous for the others we were with; two flipped, with one ending up sliding down the entire ride on her neck, inhaling a good bit of water and eventually being delivered to the ER. You'd think it would be a good thing that I had a waterproof camera along to record the experience. But as I said, security guards asked persistently that I delete such photos to "protect my friend's identity". Seems more like they're trying to avoid posts like this one. Or this one! Or this one! As mr dude walked away, I passive aggressively snapped a few more of him walking away.
I know that guy who convinced me to delete the photos was just doing his job, but I didn't know his job was to be a dick. My sense is that I didn't have to delete the photos and never have before during work related activities. But I would have had to leave the park right then and there and I wasn't ready to make that call for our entire group of 10. I took shots of the aftermath only because I thought that it was slightly negligent of the medical staff to not give a soaking wet patient standing in a breeze for 20 minutes a blanket when she could have been a little shocky. As far as the Pentax W60 camera goes, it is still highly recommended. Although I am sad that the undelete button did not work. Apparently you need to keep the camera on and immediately undelete photos to recover them. I could attempt an SD card data recovery app, but the few I found were not cheap. I also am starting to notice that the extremely solid depth of field on this camera has an unfortunate side effect of catching all the water on the lens cover. The video mode continues to be the killer app. The focal length at widest zoom works to capture a POV of one's face during rides if one plants it on a belly. (I will warn you, although safe for work, there is decent amount of man nipple in this video.)
I guess the park has to watch its liability after accidents like that time in 1997 when a ride collapsed. Other than that, the park was pretty good for kids, and apparently dangerous enough for adults to appreciate. Funnel cake sucked, burgers were good. I would have considered a 2009 season pass for $40, as just a fun testing ground for waterproof digital cameras, had the day not taken such a sour turn. To Raging Waters!


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If you've come to brip blap via search, you probably landed on one of a few pages: How to make money without a job is still popular, and 25 quotes on ambition spikes up all the time. However, one post is far and away, the most popular: 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds.
I wrote that post in 2007. I had actually started losing weight in 2000, but by 2006 had really hit my stride. I was eating well, exercising constantly (running and weight lifting), and was in tip top health. The post seemed to resonate simply because most of it was anecdotal – it's almost like one of those "Chicken Soup" types of books, where you can jump in, read a few points, then move on. But it was quite popular – it generated hundreds of thousands of views and I was quite proud of it. It was an odd topic for a personal finance blog (which was what I was concentrating on at the time) but it got people interested.
So why am I writing about this?
I gained it all back (practically).
Last time I basically went from 300+ down to 185. So in all actuality it was more than 100 pounds. Some of it was fat being replaced by muscle, too, so there was a lot to lose. And once your metabolism is operating so well that you can slip up with a pizza once in a while and still lose weight (due to exercise, muscle mass, etc.) it becomes easy to make excuses.
- I had kids – sleep went out the window.
- I hurt my foot running; took an "extra" few months to "make sure" before running again.
- I got bored and started eating worse.
- I took in a lot of empty calories from snacks and alcohol.
- I ate out for convenience all the time.
- I had a long commute – a bagel and cream cheese on the ferry was easier than a light breakfast at home.
- [Insert random excuse here]
And so on and so on, ad nauseum. The thing is, if you are in good shape, you can go a year or two eating worse, exercising less, before you really see results. I thought I had just permanently fixed my metabolism. Nope. The weight crept up. I thought "tomorrow" every evening. I quit running. I stopped biking. I lifted weights intermittently, which does no good. I basically did everything I could to get back OUT of shape.
And it worked.
By 2012, I was back up to (probably) 270 pounds. I say probably because I wouldn't get on a scale. I was demotivated and giving up. Doritos were back in the rotation. I'd pass on salad for fish and chips or burgers and fries. I tried, here and there: there was a vegan phase (tofu pizza!) and a calorie restriction phase (works for me for about two days, then…pizza). I lifted weights (wow, what a workout…let's have a pizza). But despite some bounces back and forth, I slowly increased.
Most studies show that dieters will have life-long yo-yo struggles with weight. You can't diet and then alter your lifestyle…being healthy is a lifestyle that simply means certain foods can't ever be consumed on a semi-regular basis. You can have a 1400 calorie mongo burger once a year on your birthday…but you can't just drop in and grab one because you are out running errands. The lifestyle has to revolve around making healthy choices on an almost constant basis, and by almost constant I mean "default to healthy" all the time.
So why am I writing this?
I realized a few months ago that following other people's advice was pointless. I had written a guide as to what worked for me 7 years ago. Why was I chasing other diets? I had a quantified, proven system that had worked brilliantly for me before.
So I took my own advice, and it is working.
I'm down from the 270s. My chosen form of exercise this time has been biking (seems easier on the joints) and soon I plan to begin weight training. I have read a lot about the ketogenic diet; reviewed Atkins and various nutrition sites. I'm not happy about eating so much meat; philosophically I'd rather be vegan. But I had to recognize what worked for me. I drink bulletproof coffee (coffee with butter), lots of eggs and egg whites, grilled chicken and beef, and drink seltzer instead of alcohol unless I'm going out. I have gotten lazy and let diet sodas creep back in, but I'm quitting that. When I go out I have salads with ranch dressing, so I get vegetables. I am monitoring my sleep (using sleep apps on my phone), too, which seems to be important.
Result so far? Down to 225 (45 pounds down).
I'm not done, far from it. I have several actor role models for physical fitness – Daniel Craig, Jason Statham, Christian Bale, Matt Damon and Tom Hardy. I don't see any of them, other than Statham, as being any more of an athlete than I am – they were actors who needed to get super fit for roles. So healthy eating, targeted exercise and discipline could give me similar results. It won't be easy – their JOBS are to get fit like that, and they have time-saving resources I could only dream of (chefs spring to mind). But it's doable. Take a look at Chris Pratt, from Guardians of the Galaxy: before and after. Or this guy from a thread on Reddit: progress pics. Both pics are slightly NSFW (nothing too bad, just guys posing shirtless).
What have I learned? It's a lot easier to get fat than to get fit. But you can recover from your mistakes, and the recovery can make you even stronger. You have to be vigilant in all aspects of self-improvement, and if you are not improving, you are declining. And no one can do it for you. You can certainly have support and encouragement and motivation, but at the end of the day YOU have to put down the slice.
And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.
– Quote from Thomas Wayne:, Batman Begins
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. And check out 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds, too.


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By Benjamin Snyder
Flip flop: As the Sony Ericsson Open winds down, two very different players are working their way up in the rankings. For the men, it's Mardy Fish, who overtook Andy Roddick as the top American man with a win over David Ferrer in the quarterfinals. A sick Roddick succumbed to Pablo Cuevas in the second round of the huge hard court Miami event and was bounced out of the top ten for the first time in some years.
Maria's back in the habit: While the Williams sisters fall outside of the top ten with illness and injury, Maria Sharapova is rising back to the top tier with decent showings at Indian Wells and this week in Miami. Masha has Andrea Petkovic in the semis, a player who flattened her when the two met Down Under in Melbourne. (More Maria: Those earrings!)
… but no royal wedding, yet: Apparently, the 23-year-old Maria is in "no rush to get married," according to Show Biz Spy. And why should she be? We'd like to see Maria win two or three more Majors – she's got them in her, we think – before strolling down to take Sasha's hand. Meanwhile: No playoffs for his Nets.
But seriously, is Maria just getting cold feet? "In the beginning I was really, really excited, and all my friends were giving me like wedding magazines and wedding books. But I was quite overwhelmed with it, and then I just put them down and said, 'Okay, I have plenty of time.' We're still very young."
TSF Exclusive: Rumors say Djokovic has strolled down the aisle
Swan song for Petko's dance? While Petkovic even has the ever-awkward Ana Ivanovic shaking her tail feather on the tennis court, the German – who is matching her play to her popularity this week – is retiring her famous jig following this week. She told the press that it's time to move on from the ditty, which became an underground hit in tennis realms. Is she lending her dance skills to B-Spears? We sure hope so. But notice: She said "move on." We're sensing another dance number folks, just something new and, well, so Petko.
Rum like Rafa: Rafael Nadal recently signed a deal with Bacardi, receiving some backlash in the process. Says Nadal, "I am not presenting alcohol party, you know. It's a responsible campaign, a social campaign. Anyway, I think alcohol is inside our lives, so is nothing new, no?" No Rafa, it's nothing new to us. And we appreciate your push for responsibility. More: YouTube channel | Facebook
'Round the world: Then there are the two Missoula, Montana, teens who just broke the Guinness World Record for the longest singles tennis match, ever. Isner-Mahut looks like a Roehampton side court to this Centre Court effort. The two high school seniors clocked in nearly 61 hours of tennis over three days before collapsing, raising $7,000 for charity in the process. Snaps for those court warriors.
(Image by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)


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MONTERREY, Mexico – Real Salt Lake accomplished much of what they wanted to with an exciting 2-2 draw at Monterrey in the first leg of the Champions League finals on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, they lost key ingredient to their success in the process.
Thanks to a disputed yellow card midway through the second half, RSL captain Kyle Beckerman will be unavailable for the second leg.
In the 65th minute, the veteran midfielder went in for an innocuous challenge and came away with a yellow card to show for it. Since it's his second caution in the knockout rounds, Beckerman will be forced to miss the match at Rio Tinto Stadium on April 27.
That reality could be felt against the backdrop of an otherwise satisfying result on Wednesday in Monterrey.
"It's huge," said striker Fabian Espindola after the draw.
Aside from being a key component of the defense and an important linking piece to the attack, Beckerman's loss is significant as he is in many ways the emotional leader for the team.
"He's a guy that makes us tick, both on the field and off," said goalkeeper Nick Rimando. "And he's bummed right now in the locker room. To see his head down is something that you never see, ever. But again, we keep saying that we pride ourselves on depth, and now we have a couple of players that can fill that position."
The call was clearly a controversial one, and could prove to be a pivotal one in the series.
"I think it's a travesty, to be completely honest," said Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis, "because that, for me, was a fair tackle. It wasn't even a foul. That was mindboggling to me. I'm extremely disappointed with the referees."
Beckerman expressed his disappointment and frustration about receiving the discipline.
"It was a 50-50 ball, and I went in," described the RSL captain. "The other guy went down like he'd been shot. And the referee bit on his acting."
Beckerman will be joined on the sidelines by Monterrey striker Aldo de Nigris and midfielder Jesús Zavala, who also earned yellow-card suspensions for the second leg.
Penalty was right call
That yellow-card controversy came just two minutes after the first bit of controversy on the night. In the 63rd minute, defender Jamison Olave appeared to clear a cross and was whistled for a handball infraction, bringing with it a penalty kick that ultimately gave Monterrey a 2-1 lead.
However, Rimando had a birds-eye view of the play and believes the proper call was made.
"It was bad luck for Olave," said the RSL 'keeper. "He clears it and it hits his leg, and hits his hand. You know it's a PK. You're going to give that to the home team for sure."