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Week's Top Stories: November 9 - 15, 2013
Super Typhoon Haiyan: Super Typhoon Haiyan meets or surpasses the record of the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone in recorded history, and is among the strongest ever recorded. Haiyan made landfall during the early morning hours of November 8 near Guiuan, The Philippines, with estimated 1-minute wind speeds of 185-195 mph (300-315 km/hr). While it is still too early to fully assess impacts to the area, severe to complete wind damage is a near certainty adjacent to the storm track, with wave battering and water velocity damage most severe within 20 miles (32 km) of the storm track.
Cyber Risk and its Impact on Supply Chains: Cyber risks are not isolated and are usually connected to other risks. Many companies that are exposed to cyber risks are, for example, also exposed in turn to risks to their supply chain. Due to technological innovation and advances, many parts of a company's or industry's supply chain have become interconnected and automated. Technology is indeed a critical enabler of a supply chain's operations. Therefore a cyber attack has the potential to put an entire company's supply chain at risk. Cyber security and supply chain risk management must therefore be considered in conjunction with one another.
The Reality of Global Warming: The increase in the global mean air temperature, as compared to the 1951-1980 average, is depicted in Figure F-2, and the surge in average oceanic heat content for the 0-700 meter layer is depicted in Figure F-3. The increase in oceanic heat content in particular is notable as it takes a very large amount of energy to heat such a volume of water.
Causes of Supply Chain Disruption: The Business Continuity Institute's 2012 Supply Chain Resilience Survey estimates that outsource service provider failure represents one of the most significant causes of supply chain disruption, only lagging behind adverse weather and technology (see Figure F-1). The particular danger represented by the supplier or service provider, especially if it involves an aspect of critical infrastructure, is that the failure is likely to cut across multiple industries and geographies. For example, the disruption caused by a component part of technology used by a power generator does not just shut the utility down - all commercial and residential operations grind to halt.
Supply Chain Risk Management and (Re)insurance Solutions: Technological advances have resulted in business being conducted all over the world in an instantaneous manner, meaning supply chain failures can significantly impact companies' revenue, credibility and reputation. Companies are therefore now far more exposed to external risks than ever before. This has raised (re)insurers' concerns over the ability of the market to understand the risks that are being underwritten and the viability of offering business interruption/contingent business interruption (BI/CBI) cover. Indeed, some (re)insurers have taken the view that risk management strategies at the company level need to be improved before coverage can be offered.
And, you may have missed…..
Demand for Asia Pacific Catastrophe Reinsurance at a Record High in 2013: Total Asia Pacific catastrophe limit purchased in 2013 increased for the tenth year in a row, but once again failed to keep pace with strong gross domestic product growth in the region, according to a new report released today by Guy Carpenter.


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Celebration Gathering
of Drumming & a Nourishing Feast
Date TBA
Drumming: 11:00-12:30
We'll awaken our breath, voices and bodies as instruments.
We'll explore hand drum technique and rhythms in sacred community circle.
Instructor Debbie Fier, drummer, percussionist, & vocalist welcomes drummers of all levels. If you have a drum, please bring it along.
Feast: 12:30- 2:00
Feast will feature local, seasonal Peruvian and Middle Eastern cuisine,
prepared with intention and gratitude.
We incorporate principles from Ayurveda, slow-foods,
Eco-Kashrut, and nourishing traditions.
Our festive meal will include fish & vegan options, and is usually gluten-free.
Avishai & Viviana offer catering for special celebrations and cooking workshops.
Place and Cost: $18 for each part or $30 for both.
530 Masonic Avenue. In Albany [map]
Look for the gate covered with the blooming Passion flowers.
Accessible by Public Transportation
A pleasant 7 min walk from El Cerrito BART, South on the Ohlone Bike Path
(at Brighton go right to Masonic, continue towards the end of the block)
Avishai Pearlson 510-559-7727
email@example.com passionfoods.weebly.com
For more about Debbie Fier, visit: www.DebbieFier.com
Musician, Musical Educator, Piano Tuner: 510-535-2180

subset: commoncrawl


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In April 2017 I announced a new series – "Panic! Horror In Space" and the availability of the first volume in that series which featured two related short stores: "Mercury Rising" and "Mercury Resurgent".
The second volume will be released shortly, and features two more related short stories entitled "Dead Center" and "Through A Dark Glassy".
What, you may be asking yourself, is there to panic about? Let me tell you:
What is "Panic! Horror In Space"? It is a series of science-fiction-horror stories mostly in the same setting featuring mostly the same regular characters, with the occasional introduction of new characters or settings. The premise of the concept was to create a horror-sci-fi story in a series of connected short fiction installments.
A little background: The series came about by complete chance, as I was in the process of finishing some unrelated incomplete short stories which were intended to go into a sequel for "Space Sucks!" called "Space Really Sucks!". Some of the short stories I was working on at the time were originally essays and compositions left over from high school nearly 30 years earlier, including "Code Red" and another called "The Curse" from 1987, which at the close of 2016 I reworked into masterful suspense slash horror story and renamed it "Mercury Rising" for inclusion into that second volume of "Space Sucks!".
What sort of scenarios or horror plot devices can readers expect to see in this series? Things like zombies, ghosts, haunted or cursed objects as well as assorted kinds of paranormal activity are likely to feature in a variety of settings such as deserted colonies or outposts, and derelict space ships or stations.
I generally considered myself a sci-fi/fantasy writer until the 'Panic!' series – despite also occasionally writing numerous horror plot-devices and characters into many of my stories previously – and was somewhat hesitant to identify myself as a horror writer proper. As such, I regarded the writing of "Mercury Rising" as something of an experiment.
"I loved the suspense and thrill of Mercury Rising; I felt like any moment was going to break into horror. Zombies in space on a small, dead ship in the middle of nowhere is an utterly terrifying thought. I felt claustrophobic, like I was in that derelict with them.
The scene of Flane and Vic walking the hull was brilliant in reference to the title. That brief moment of hope before the characters' devastating disappointment is cunning. I liked that you didn't put too much emphasis on the hope aspect; it felt like a natural hope from what you'd expect out of the perspective of two exhausted people going through an adrenaline crash.
I thoroughly enjoyed the contact scenes; full of action and anxiety. The ending was a blanket of dread that fell over me. My heart sank to my stomach. I suspected the Mercury was infected but I wasn't fully prepared for the confirmation.
I have questions; like what the contagion is, how it spreads, how it affects lifeforms, but they're best left to my imagination I think. So the vague clues were well placed. I felt like there should be more after the S.O.S, though I can't think of a better way to end it. The unhappy ending is beautiful! So much despair.
I'm really looking forward to reading your other stories! It's refreshing to read some old-school action sci-fi that works more on the story than the plausibility of the sciences in it.
Thank-you for letting me read Mercury Rising! I'm probably going to dream about it now." – Anike Kirsten, author of "Of Beasts And Men".
South African sci-fi author Anike Kirsten reviewed that first story very positively in early 2017, and bolstered by by that review and encouragement from several other readers I sent that story to for input, I made the choice to write a sequel and turn the story into a series on its own! I have frequently given the credit for encouraging me to write a sequel ("Mercury Resurgent") and turn it into a standalone sci-fi horror series to my fiance'e, Wendy K. Gloss.
"Panic!" – the series: Each volume that would be released would contain two distinctly separate stories of around 13,000 words each, and these stories would not necessarily be of a 'part 1 & part 2' nature as in the first volume (April 2017). This means that while both stories in each volume would typically feature the same core group of characters, they would typically encounter a different scenario in each story, as in the second volume (due August 2017).
The series was launched (April 06, 2017) with "Mercury Rising" and "Mercury Resurgent" appearing in the first volume (#1), where the reader is introduced to main characters Stuart Flane and Vic Chapman, and some of the crew of the ill-fated starship Mercury.
While on a routine deep-space mission to chart new territory on the frontier of unknown space, the Pioneer Fleet starship Mercury stumbles across an apparent shipwreck in deep-space that opens a whole new can of worms for her crew.
How had a ship last seen near a Terran colony light years away forty years ago got here before the Mercury? Why couldn't the cause of death of the crew be determined – what was in the deleted log entry of the Kilgary – and why had it been deleted?
The last thing Stuart Flane, captain of the Mercury, expected while he and five members of his crew worked to discover the answer to the enigma, was a day-long running battle inside the bowels of the moldering corpse of a long-vanished loderunner. Their troubles don't end there, because Mercury – their only ride home – is also in trouble…
The story continues in volume #2, which features "Dead Center" where the (new) crew of the Mercury has to 'babysit' a TV crew on a purportedly haunted abandoned mining facility with disastrous consequences, and "Through A Dark Glassy" in which the Mercury is sent to assist a cargo ship in trouble, only to discover that the cause for the loderunner Marconi's distress – and now theirs – is a box load of haunted items!
Dead Center: Some people enjoy watching paranormal TV shows – but not Stuart Flane, captain of the Terran starship Mercury. Having just narrowly missed being a ghost – or worse, himself – after a weird incident involving reanimated corpses and alien nanobots, Flane wanted nothing to do with playing host to a bunch of paranormal investigators for a popular TV show called 'Specter Adventures'. Neither did he fancy a 12 hour jaunt on Floridia-7, which was described by some as 'the most haunted abandoned Terran outpost in the galaxy' – but since he owed Commodore Peters for covering his ass after he lost nearly his entire crew to the zoms, he reluctantly agreed. And that, pretty much, is where things started going off the rails.
Through A Dark Glassy: Haunted paintings. Possessed dolls. Nightmarish accursed items that leave messy trails of misery, horror and death behind them through the pages of history. Regular folk would run a mile if someone offered them such a terrifying object, so what sort of person would want to actually collect them? More importantly, why would anyone think it was safe to transport these items via a courier service with only a poorly printed paper sign reading "WARNING: ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY DO NOT OPEN" stuck on the box? What if someone did? Even more of interest to Captain Flane of the intrepid starship Mercury, why did it always have to be his ship that drew the short straw?
The second volume is scheduled for release at the end of July 2017 and the third by December.
Volume #1 is already available, so if you're not already in a Panic!, the question is – why not?


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More on Walter Mondale and the Wellstone Succession: Rocket Man, as always, your memory is perfect, and the story does not get much less painful through the lapse of time. As to the need for a Democratic president for Lillehaug to become a judge…I invite Deacon to weigh in.
Now that the Mondale succession to Senator Wellstone's candidacy is a done deal, I want to weigh in briefly on Mondale's return to public life. Like many Minnesotans, I have a relationship with him that extends back quite a ways. When I graduated from high school in June 1969, I went to work as an intern for the summer in his Washington office. Like all such senate offices back then, his was relatively small and informal. I worked directly for his chief of staff, Mike Berman. Mike is now a Democratic consultant who is frequently quoted in background stories on Mondale.
Given his personal rectitude, his longevity as an officeholder, and the offices he has held, Mondale has become the elder statesman of the Democratic party in Minnesota and perhaps nationally. As the vice president and a vital member of what was to that time the worst administration in American history, Mondale is an ideal barometer of the liberalism of our era. When he talks about the comprehensive domestic and foreign policy catastrophes that brought down the Carter administration–unprecedented inflation/recession, the Iranian hostage taking, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan–he talks about them sincerely as if they were a plague of locusts that descended from the sky, unrelated to the policies of his own administration. He is a perfect fool.
Fast forward to 1996. As Bill Clinton found himself immersed in the campaign finance scandals that revealed his adminstration to be the most corrupt in American history, he called on Walter Mondale to head a commission that would provide him the political cover he felt he needed to ride out the scandals. As such, Mondale became the butt boy (or ass clown) of the Clinton administration.
Mondale was of course the right guy for the job of heading the commission. As a member of the senate in 1974, Mondale had been a leading advocate of the campaign finance reform law that governed in 1996. In accepting the job, Mondale characterized the regime of campaign finance law that he was partially responsible for as a "nightmare" without himself or anyone else noting its direct relationship to the "reform" he had sponsored as a senator.
Even greater irony is suggested by the fact that as a University of Minnesota Law School student in 1956, Mondale had published an incredibly astute law review note criticizing Minnesota's campaign finance law on grounds that applied generally to laws like the 1974 law (and to the reform law adopted this year). Mondale himself was aware of the irony; in 1979 he had contributed an autographed copy of the law review note to a University of Minnesota Law School fundraiser (I bought it–cheap).
When Mondale stepped into his role as head of Clinton's campaign finance commission in 1996, Rocket Man and I wrote a long article about all this for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The article appeared there as well as in a shorter form in the Washington Times. I'm taking the liberty of posting the shorter version of the article for whatever interest it may have in this context. The piece is "Fritz '56: Reflections of the Young Mondale on Campaign Finance Reform."
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"Arise and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time." Winston Churchill
"Proclaim Liberty throughout All the land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof." Inscription on the Liberty Bell


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Dad's Letter to Daughter About Having "Awesome Sex" Goes Viral
If your dad was like mine, his contribution to dating advice was more or less "Be home by 10:00pm" accompanied by a withering stare that said "or else…" without words. Sexual shenanigans weren't spoken of directly; he didn't have to mention them — the warning against them was implicit in the 10:00pm curfew and his oft-repeated "nothing good goes on after dark" maxim.
My dad was actually a step above the fathers of yesteryear, though, and their downright oppressive "advice" to their female offspring. In 1920, Isaac Gomez compiled literature he felt would help his daughter behave properly and wrote several pages of poetry about preserving her virginity, including this cautionary verse called "Maniac" about the dangers of sex before marriage:
See ! yon poor Maniac: shiv'ring in her cell,
With hair dishevell'd, and with bosom bare;
Once bless'd with innocence,
the hours roll'd on In glad succession.
Her cultur'd mind Was calm'and mild as summer ev'nings are,
Till in her soul convulsing passions strove,
And rais'd a dark and wild tornado there…
What's a girl to do when she just can't wait for the wild tornado to start?
Thank goodness for modern dads like Ferrett Steinmetz, whose essay called "Dear Daughter: I Hope You Have Some Fucking Awesome Sex" has gone viral this week. In it, Steinmetz says he was inspired by reading a post on FetLife (which, oddly, is a BDSM and kink community website) called "10 Rules For Dating My Daughter," containing the usual "touch my daughter and you die" BS.
From Steinmetz' essay:
Look, I love sex. It's fun. And because I love my daughter, I want her to have all of the same delights in life that I do, and hopefully more. I don't want to hear about the fine details because, heck, I don't want those visuals any more than my daughter wants mine. But in the abstract, darling, go out and play.
Because consensual sex isn't something that men take from you; it's something you give. It doesn't lessen you to give someone else pleasure. It doesn't degrade you to have some of your own. And anyone who implies otherwise is a man who probably thinks very poorly of women underneath the surface.
From a kinkster website that doesn't like the idea of kids getting kinky to a writer-dad who actually wants his daughter to have great sex — maybe someday everyone will be able to have reasonable discussions, even with their daughters, about doing the deed. In the meantime we can applaud Ferrett and his obviously awesome relationship to his own kin. I can't help but think I would have saved myself a lot of time and heartache if I'd had someone to help me out rather than lock me in. Let's hope it catches on.


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Behnam Ebrahimzadeh's letter to International Labour Organisation
The annual conference of the ILO is due to start on June 5th. I, Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, have been sentenced to five years in prison for my struggles in support of workers' and children's rights. I have already spent three years in prison, and now, although my only son is in hospital for leukaemia, they want to return me to prison.
I ask all workers' and human rights organisations around the world to protest against this decision, and to call for the immediate and unconditional release of jailed workers and political prisoners. I call on the trade union delegates at the ILO Conference to support the struggle of workers in Iran and this appeal of mine. However, I would also like to protest: for how long is the ILO, as an organisation which speaks in the name of worker, going to remain silent on all these violations? I, as a worker, expect the ILO to put pressure on the participating states to respect the most basic rights of workers and people. The right to organise, the right to strike and the unconditional right to free expression are all basic human rights, just like the air we breath, and whose breach is a blatant crime. In particular, in Iran, poverty and inflation are wreaking havoc, while wages, several times below the poverty line, have driven a large part of the society towards destruction.
Today in Iran workers are in prison for protesting against this situation and for their basic rights. The detentions and persecution of workers' leaders and activists must be condemned. With this letter, I wish to be the voice of my and my family's protest and that of jailed workers and all political prisoners.
Behnam Ebrahimzadeh
Jailed worker, 22 May 2013
Translation by: Free Them Now! Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran


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Road Trip Report: Marlton and Haddonfield, New Jersey
On the road again...so this is a travel post... visiting family in Marlton and Haddonfield NJ. I had to include the fantastic baked oatmeal served with warm milk by my gourmet sister at her home (might as well be a B&B) that started out our Saturday. A great do-ahead breakfast for chilly mornings...then on to The Knitting Knook in Marlton. There is just something about roomfuls, baskets, and shelves brimming over with yarn in every color and texture... all that hope and possibility in one place. And then,.. the wee sweater,... knitted with sock yarn, appeared...so delicate.
On to quaint and historic Haddonfield and the "In the Kitchen Cooking School" where we found french market baskets, olive oils, linens, glassware, and yes, more textiles. Classes are held in the back of the store around a huge honed, carrara marble- topped counter and also showcases a very large stove from England which has a "simmering oven" among other features.
The Polished Plate has Juliska glassware (European reproductions) and ceramics. I have to admit it has the ability to take your breath away...or is it more like a gasp when you notice the price....? It is really the craftmanship I admire. Actually, there are numerous useful and beautiful gifts (wedding, anniversary, etc) here in a range of prices.


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If you've just started a photography business or thinking of starting one then Robyn's course is essential. No-one should head out into the world of a photo business without understanding her skillful marketing knowledge, ideas and techniques.
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Attending Robyn Mayne's Today Is Different workshop was the best thing I did for my fledgling business this year. I went from being ye olde "photographer specialising in weddings, portraits, families, babies, pregnancy, pets, your kitchen sink too" to really understanding my right client, my niche, and how to target those clients. I'm looking forward to working with Robyn in future to really get my business + passion running like a well-oiled machine. Today Is Different brought the zest into…


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Adjectif+ noun and des
Kwiziq community member
14 July 2018
2 replies
Adjectif+ noun and des
Bon jour,
I still don't understand why des changes to de or d' . If it's a vowel it's fine but adjectif+ noun ,why in this case . Why des changes ,how does it make a difference to the sentence.
In case of partitive article ,while doing negation des changes to de as there is no quantity. That's understandable.
What's the rule here ,as it's article des.
Thank you.
This question relates to:
French lesson "Using ''de / d' '' instead of 'des' in front of adjectives preceding nouns (partitive article)"
Kwiziq community member
The rule is simply this: use de imstead of des when there is an adjective betwixt it and the noun. That's all.
J'avais de grandes voitures. -- I had big cars.
J'avais des voitures. -- I had cars.
-- Chris. (Sorry for the not very imaginative examples).
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from me, cosmetics & pop culture geek Derek Murawski
Makeup and skincare are fun! Society limiting who can use them is not. I created this blog to break the norm and to share my excitement with you.Whoever you are, enter my judgment-free zone, focused on the latest in cosmetics, multimedia and lifestyle.


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The development from animal man to human man
presupposes the understanding and transformation of brain and mind which the religions called spiritual rebirth. To understand this rebirth, and consciously participate in it, you need only look to the structure of the human brain. It is made up of three parts: neocortex, limbic system, and cerbelleum/brain stem.
- The body consciousness and the force of attention is situated in the brain stem and the cerebellum. You activate it by discovering verticality as by yoga and martial arts. Only when the spinal column is erect is attention liberated.
- The Limbic system is the affective memory of the soul, based on repetition of pleasure and avoidance of pain, the unconditioned or conditioned. If one point of the reflex arc is affected, the whole arc starts to unfold leading either to repetition or avoidance. From this system arises discursive consciousness with the distinction of good and bad, right and wrong, by which people can be manipulated. Affective memory (joys, humiliation, etc.) is not a library as once thought, it is more like a discotheque.
- The neocortex, evolved, is fourfold, verifiable by the four brain currents:
Beta 16-32 hz Waking
Alpha 8 -16 hz Reflection
Theta 4 - 7 hz Dream
Delta 2 - 3 hz Sleep and Attention
The frontal Lobes of the brain are the home of deep sleep where the brain waves cycle between 2 to 3 hertz, the Delta waves. Ironically, it is also the home of Attention, alternating between Observation and Memory. Attention is the door to awareness. When real AWARENESS takes place, observation and memory, time and space, merge. In Yoga the center of the frontal lobe is called the third eye. The practice "tratak" of looking steadily at a single point of an object, like a flower, until you really see, is intended to bring about this merger.
Attention is based on the emptiness of deep sleep. So in that sense you can only memorize and observe events happening between 2 to 3 Hertz. Sleep and attention are connected. Attention captures the Power of CHI, the flow of indescribable cosmic energy. Attention is the creative capacity of the strange attractor. It can unite what is clearly apart: YES and NO, as the frontal lobes alternate between observation and memory.
The Right Brain is the home of dreams where the brain waves cycle between 4 to 7 hertz, the Theta waves. Dreams are based on chaos with its four attractors. The deep dream state or R.E.M. (Rapid Eye Movement) state also typically includes some strong Alpha brain wave activity.
During the course of a night's sleep you go through all of the four basic states of consciousness in cycles. You go from waking, to half waking reflection, then into deep sleep, then into dream, then back into waking for a brief moment, to groggy reflection again, deep sleep, then dream again. This cycle repeats five times in an eight hour sleep period. In each cycle the REM stage grows progressively longer.
REM means reestablishing the mental equilibrium. It is a precondition to acting freely the next day. Note for instance that the Alpha waves that appear with the REM Theta waves are stronger than the Alpha waves which typically appear in waking consciousness. Dreams are important. You need to follow your own dreams, not the dreams of others.
The Hind or Occipital Brain is the home of Reflection with brain wave cycles between 8 to 16 hertz. These are the Alpha Waves. They are produced when in a state of Reflection or deep thought. Reflection has two directions in the hind brain: changing words and number into mental images, or changing images and events into words and number. It is the uniquely human function, the emphasis on which distinguishes us from the animals. This is the place in the brain where you might carry a picture of The Wheel. The Alpha waves of 12 hertz are also produced when people have peak experiences of Cosmic Consciousness, Nirvana, Satori, Heavenly Bliss and the like.
The Left Brain is the home of Sensing where the brain waves cycle between 16 to 32 hertz. Reaching 16 hertz, the lowest C in music, we attain the electromagnetic window: seeing transversely 3800 - 7600A, from violet to red, or hearing longitudinally from 16 - 20,000 hertz.
The way from left brain to right brain creates science and experience, the way from right brain to left brain, vision, revelation and creativity. The goal is all four sides.
METHODS/EXPERIMENTS: There are many exercises to develop the different brains and therewith liberate the mind. A pioneer in this field is the American psychologist, Jean Houston. She has written many books on this subject, such as The Possible Human and Mind Games. One exercise originally developed by Jean Houston which has proven to be very effective involves exploration of the four neocortex brain centers. You start with an image evocative of the left brain, then invoke an image of the hind brain, then the right brain, and end with the front brain which gives you a kind of summation message of what you should do. You always begin such sessions with a deep relaxation exercise where all tensions are released and you imagine yourself in a different, pleasant place. The mind is then free to imagine and visualize.
In the exercise of the four sides of the neocortex, after relaxation, you are asked to visualize your self on the main shopping street of the town in which you live. Then you are told to visualize an alligator or crocodile on the street. What do you do? This imagery brings you into the left brain. You give yourself two minutes to fully visualize your reaction. For some the visualization comes directly. For others they hear what happens in their head, and they must then transform the words into visual symbols. A few people begin with a kinesthetic feeling, a sense of touch, and they must transform that into words, then visions, or directly into visions. The responses which people imagine will tell them something of their left brain.
The next hind brain image involves imagining yourself standing in front of an actual mirror which you know. What age are you? How are you dressed? Do you like your appearance? Then you are asked to step through the mirror into the other side. What happens when you visualize this? What do you see, what happens to you, what do you do? Again you give yourself two minutes to fully experience the imaginations which come.
The third right brain image requires you to imagine yourself standing as a cross roads in a forest. Then you hear a horse approaching. From which direction does come? How many roads have you imagined. When the horse comes into view you see that it has a cloaked rider. What color is the horse, the cloak? He rides up to you and you see that the rider is a skeleton. The skeleton carries a goblet which he hands to you to drink? What do you do? What happens then? Again give yourself a few minutes to fully imagine your reaction to the last detail.
The last front brain image involves imagination of a mountain. What does it look like? On the side of the mountain you see a great house. You walk towards it. What does it look like? Then you go through the front door of the house and walk into a great hall. There is a large table in the hall with a bowl of fruit on it. What does the hall look like, the table, the bowl of fruit? Is anyone else there with you? You pick up one of the fruits and you eat it. What happens? Give yourself three or four minutes for this last vision, then slowly the guide leads you back to normal reality and asks you to open your eyes.
In group work this exercise is normally followed by people sharing their visions with each other under the questioning of a group leader. This is one way to use guided imagery so that the Self can speak to the ego, the unconscious can become conscious.
You can educate the brain up to a certain level. However, for average consciousness the corpus callosum is insurmountable. Waking reflection and dream-sleep are beyond reach in associative turmoil. The conscious ego is cut off from the larger transpersonal Self. The left and right brains are blocked, with the left brain usually dominating and creating an artificial symmetry. Thee is no inner coherence which includes everything, including chaos and the unpredictable. The person is either imprisoned in the social consensual reality of a constricted left brain view, a false little coherence with poor creativity, depth and perspective. Or they are lost in vague imaginations of right brain madness with poor focus, clarity and purpose. The waking-reflecting person does not know the sleeping-dreamer. With the two sides of the person disassociated, it is not possible for health, holistic coherence and spiritual development to progress. The separation of the brains has to be overcome; the dreamer and doer must become one.
For the average person today awareness is stunted because they are trapped in the left brain.(3) Illness then results from the stagnation of too much order and not enough chaos and emotion; too much Day left brain, occipital brain and ego, and not enough Night right brain, frontal brain and Self.
We cannot just use our left brain faculties to develop our right brain. The corpus callosum is not so easily overcome. The only sure route from the left brain to the right brain is down through the body. The development of body Awareness allows an escape from left brain dominated consciousness, guiding you to the black Zero. There inspiration comes from your whole brain, springing forth a new iteration, your unique path at that time to fractal order.
Consciousness is in the Head, Awareness is in the Whole Body. In order to experience and live in Awareness we have to shift the emphasis from ego in the head, to Self in the belly. The lower stomach is the center of movement situated at the level of the Sacrum, the "sacred bone", also called the "Hara". This is why whole body awareness - the critical first step on the path of Wisdom of knowing your body - must be attained by all who would fulfill their full human potential - use all parts of their brain.
The Brain-Mind is the slowest; the Heart and Blood Mind is quicker; but the Belly-Sacrum Mind is the quickest. In crises, the Body-Mind takes over. This is why the Sufi tradition used to force a man into a crisis, a mortal danger, in order to force a shift from the left brain into body Awareness.
Example: You are driving a car fast around a corner. You see a truck stopped in the road. You can barely pass. Immediately the Brain and Affective Mind stop. The Body Mind takes over, you instantly swerve, and you pass the truck by a few inches. At a certain distance you stop. Your Affective Mind, your heart, starts beating quickly and you visualize what could have happened. Five minutes later the Brain Mind takes over: Why did that bastard stop in that place without putting a sign up before the curve? If you had tried to drive with your Brain mind, you would be dead already. The survival instinct violently shifted you from your normal abode in the Brain Mind, into the Belly Mind.
METHODS/EXPERIMENTS: There are two ways to shift the emphasis from Head to Body: the violent shift by crises and mortal danger employed for instance by the Sufis; and the non-violent shift by body awareness and creation of a Kinesthetic Body from Chaotic Imagination. This is the second step on the Wisdom path of creation of the energy body. The violent methods are too dangerous, and so we focus on the non-violent methods developed originally by the Indians and the Chinese.
There are literally hundreds of such methods. Among the best are the Hatha Yoga exercises from the Indian tradition. All of the physical disciplines basically involve body exercises, stretching, body awareness, breathing exercises, attention focusing, energy awareness and stimulation, and various meditation techniques. They are designed to develop awareness and mastery of the body first of all, and then to develop and balance subtle body energies, called Chakras by the Indians, and CHI by the Chinese.
Knowing your body, and creating an energy body, are the first two steps on the Wisdom path. Your study of this book/web should be accompanied by some type of body and energy work, otherwise the full meaning of the concepts in this compendium will never become clear. The ideas presented presuppose an experience of body/energy Awareness, considered by most to be an "altered state of consciousness". Without this background and experience with the body and the soul, you will not be able to make sense of many of the ideas. Isolated development of the spirit alone, without a solid foundation in the body and soul, is simply not possible.
Help in this area is now readily available . In almost any community you can find meditation groups of all kinds, humanistic and transpersonal psychologists and psychiatrists with expertise in this field, Yoga teachers and teachers of the soft martial arts like Tai Chi, and the hard arts like Kung Fu, Karate, etc., and doctors of Oriental Medicine, Holistic Medical Doctors and massage therapists. Unlike traditional Western medicine which mechanistically focuses on body parts for health, oriental medicine, and some holistic western medicine and massage, are primarily concerned with bioenergies. They are concerned with maintaining health through proper energy flow using acupuncture, massage and the like.
Try a few of the well known experiments with friends from the Eastern martial arts traditions. These experiments may be able to provide you with some direct experience of CHI immediately. Only by experiencing CHI directly can you, for instance, ever really understand what is meant by referring to "space" as "original force". One well known experiment which is easy to try involves holding your arm outstretched, imagining a stream of light going through your fingers, without using any muscles. The imagination of the stream of energy flowing out your arm is the key to be focused on. Done intently, it will be next to impossible for another person to bend your arm. Try it, both with and without the stream of force. Then have another person stand in front of you with their arm outstretched. First test the muscular strength of their arm without their using the stream of energy technique. Now activate and move your Chi (the light force, mental beam of awareness, kinesthetic body). First move your Chi downwards, and while doing so again test the other's arm. Assuming they are not activating their own Chi, they will lose half of their muscular strength and you will be able to bend their arm without much effort. The same happens by moving the force in both hands counter clockwise. To give strength, move the kinesthetic beam upwards or clockwise. You will have to exert greater force at the beginning to bend their arm.
Another experiment requires a group of people who have been sitting together for sometime. Stand in front of a tired audience. Tell them to relax, letting all preoccupations and sadness go into the ground. With closed eyes have them imagine their feet sinking into the center of the Earth. Then have them slowly move the tremendous forces in the center of the earth up to the ground level. When they have done that, tell them to open their eyes. Then facing the audience, and holding a rock crystal in both hands, move your hands together in front of you from waist level up to just above your eye level. Tell them that they are now surrounded by a mandala of force. The audience will now be attentive. Only that which is really part of the Self, centered in what the Japanese call Hara, will remain. This follows the concept of the Inca religion: Good is what is connected to your center (the Self point below the navel), Bad is what is not connected (like cancer in the body). You have to abandon the unconnected through time-light, and restore the pristine purity of reconnection to Self.
Since the violent methods of awakening the self are so dangerous, the Indians and Chinese developed a nonviolent "Ahimsa", "Wu Wei" method: to create links, called the Chakras or CHI, between the body and mind brains. One of the best introductions to the Indian way was written in 300 B.C. by Patanjali in his classic text, Yoga Sutras, but we will describe them in modern brain-mind terminology.
During waking life the day is divided roughly into three periods of 8 hours: work (Spirit), social life (Soul) and sleep/dream (Body). The body is formed during the embryonic stage, and sleep means getting back into regeneration.
As a well known Buddhist prayer says: "Let me see my face before I was born." This means that the embryonic development stage of our life has to be integrated with our adult life. We have to go back into the womb and recall our earliest memories through a process called "rebirthing".
Rebirthing is a necessary precondition to complete a non-violent shift to the Body-Mind. Without it you can never fully develop and balance the chakras, or create a unified field of all components in Awareness. Rebirthing goes beyond the normal field of recollection of early childhood memories normally addressed in psychoanalysis. Rebirthing goes further back to the pre-verbal memories, to memories of birth, pre-natal life in the womb. It goes all the way back to the original orgasmic moment of conception.
A truly liberating rebirthing experience requires a basic understanding of the biology of the development of the body. We need to understand the discoveries of science in this area to have full recall and visualization. We need to understand the process of Mitosis, from the original union of sperm and egg to early childhood development. We also need to comprehend the significance of the seven stages of Mitosis, and its relation to our perceptive awareness, and the unified energy field. This essential knowledge is summarized in the following chart:
Spirit Mind Soul Mind Body Mind:
7 Speak 7 Spirit 1 Fecundation Neocortex6 Read 6 Soul 2 Polarization Limbic5 Touch 5 Body 3 Organization Brain Stem4 Hear 4 Willing 4 Circulation3 Taste 3 Feeling 5 Metabolism Birth2 Smell 2 Think 6 Breathing1 Seeing 1 Sense 7 Moving
There are seven stages of development:
- Fecundation. A single sperm, one of 500 million ejaculated, is accepted by the female egg.
- Polarization. The 23 male and 23 female chromosomes meet at the equator and blend to form the original cell. An average size human cell has about the same number of molecules as an average size human brain has cells. The fertilized human egg cell shown below has even more molecules.
- Organization. The cell divides according to the law of the octave, 1 - 2 - 4 - 8 - 16 - 32 - 64 - 128 ....., up to about 54 divisions, then the organism is complete. By about four months all organs have been formed and simple growth begins. Actual photographs are shown below of the human embryo at the 2, 4 and 8 cell stages.
- Circulation. At five to six weeks, when the embryo is no more than three fifths of an inch long, the heart begins to beat. The heart beats continuously, uninterrupted, until we die. Here an embryo is shown at about five and one half weeks. The big protrusion between the flipper and the head is the heart.
- Metabolism. At about eight weeks, when the embryo is one inch long, weighing two and one half grams, metabolism starts in the embryo through the umbilical cord connection with the mother's metabolism. The embryo floats weightlessly in warm amniotic fluid, nourished from the outside, in a state of bliss. Recollection of this earliest time in your life is quite pleasant, however, for most the recollection of the birth process which follows is not. Here is a picture of a fetus at about eight weeks.
- Birth. After nine months of blissful growth, the organism is ready for birth which comes in three stages:
- Movement. Once out the baby starts coordinating the senses by movements. By about the third month after birth the senses are acclimated to the new external environment.
For rebirthing to succeed the fear of pain must be overcome. The same is true of life itself. Otherwise fear will prevent you from starting the backward journey within. In this way many people are trapped by fear into living their whole life in one little corner of their brain.
In the first two to three weeks the three basic layers are formed in the embryonic tissue:
Entoderm: Inner Organs, Inner layerMesoderm: Tendon and Muscles, Middle layerExoderm or Ectoderm: Sense Organs, Outer layer
One of the three embryonic layers tends to dominate in a person from this earliest stage. The dominant layer may later determine the preponderance of a person's temperament. An Entoderm dominant person will invite people for a good dinner, a Mesoderm person to jogging or mountain climbing, and an Exoderm person to listen to a concert.
a. Contractions
b. Birth
c. First breath
All three stages are painful and thus their recollection in the rebirthing process is frequently not pleasant. Still, remembering this pain frees you from it, and sets the stage for further development.
The ejection from the womb is intense and frightening, particularly the initial stage of contractions, before movement down the birth canal begins. The contractions produce visions of hell. Compression down the birth canal to birth produces visions of the fall from the amniotic paradise. When you recall the first breath, you also recall the tearing open of the bronchial. Also, at the moment of birth the "foramen ovale" closes and the two chambers of the heart separate. The first painful breath and heart break is the threshold of rebirth. The rebirthing experience, like most all tribal initiations, necessarily involves the acceptance of intentional suffering.
b. Birth
c. First breath
All three stages are painful and thus their recollection in the rebirthing process is frequently not pleasant. Still, remembering this pain frees you from it, and sets the stage for further development.
The ejection from the womb is intense and frightening, particularly the initial stage of contractions, before movement down the birth canal begins. The contractions produce visions of hell. Compression down the birth canal to birth produces visions of the fall from the amniotic paradise. When you recall the first breath, you also recall the tearing open of the bronchial. Also, at the moment of birth the "foramen ovale" closes and the two chambers of the heart separate. The first painful breath and heart break is the threshold of rebirth. The rebirthing experience, like most all tribal initiations, necessarily involves the acceptance of intentional suffering.
METHODS/EXPERIMENTS: General reflection and imagination of your original conception and Mitosis and birth is possible and safe by visualizing the above described stages. Listen to PrimaSounds and try and recollect your earliest memories as a baby or child, then imagine from there backwards to the initial conception. Then reverse the sequence and visualize in greater detail the seven stages going to the point of birth and first movements and sensual orientation.
Deep intense recollection in this way, without the aid of a trained facilitator, is possible but unlikely unless you are gifted in this area. But you can at least get a feel for it on your own. Recollection of these memories requires a deep hypnotic state and a trained assistant to assist and to make the psychic pain sometimes involved more tolerable. In many communities persons trained in rebirthing techniques can be found, however, you may find wide discrepancies in usage of the term "rebirthing" and confusion as to its meaning.
We can only go from Consciousness to Awareness at a certain stage in development.
- Child: The child is primarily in the right hemisphere, dream phantasy, play and imagination.
- Student: Most people grow up out of the Child stage, shift to the left brain, and enter the Student stage. In involves schooling where you learn the local cultural consensus.
The problem is, most people never get out of the Student stage. They are always trying to adapt at the expense of their personal motivations. They fit in and try to succeed. They lose touch with their own wishes, desires and motivations. They become what society or their parents want or expect them to be, not what they truly want to be. They never find their individuality and true inner essence, but live small selfish lives with a false ego identity, a little "I", not connected with their total Self, their potential role in the Universe. You could say they are asleep to life, hypnotized by the local cultural consensus. They are literally trapped in their left brain. To escape they must attain the third stage of the Master or Teacher.
- Master: The third stage is best understood in the context of the Artisan tradition, still present in many trades and professions today, with the three stages of Apprentice, Companion and Master. The first stage is the Apprentice who trains under a Master craftsman to learn the basics. He works under a Master or mentor as an unskilled assistant. The Companion is equivalent to the second stage. He has completed his apprenticeship, knows the trade, and typically works with a number of Master Artisans to learn more skills and refine those he already knows.
After you are well established and have complete mastery of your craft and your life, you become a Master, and have apprentices of your own.. This presupposes a return back to the right hemisphere with the left now fully developed and intact. A shift to the right brain before the left is strong and fully operational is premature and can not succeed. The Master has a strong ego, but the ego is fundamentally different than before. The ego has changed from a false self image into a functional organ. The ego becomes a persona for creative action, like teaching or some other form of service to humanity or the earth. The ego is now in touch with the Self, but is not selfish. The ego is no longer apart and alienated from others, but is identified with a transpersonal whole. It seeks to benefit all humanity by fulfillment of the person's unique potential, their true Ego, or big "I" connected with all others.
Being a Master is a personal decision. It cannot be taught. It has to be induced by another Master using subliminal method when that person is ready.
When you are in head centered ego dominated consciousness, you are functioning at the lowest level. It is equivalent to the ground state of the atom where all electrons are in the lowest energy position. To reach awareness and attain mastery you must increase your energy level. You do this by creating a kinesthetic body from out of chaotic imagination. The bioenergies then become a Vehicle of Awareness, a link with the total Self, the right brain and the Universe. Then the new "I" linked with All can develop, create and act. This is the path to reality - the fourth dimension - where the Mandelbrot formula applies for navigation through chaos.
METHODS/EXPERIMENTS: The creation of the kinesthetic body is a technique now widely used by top athletes in all sports from baseball, to golf, to swimming and skiing. It involves the use of imagination and mental visualization to perform a physical movement in your head before actually doing it. The imaginary performance actually triggers subtle muscle energy responses and so the name "kinesthetic" body. For a simple example try the following now: lift up your right arm, slowly, then lower it; now slowly lift it up again, and lower it again, and observe carefully the movement of your muscles when you do so; now lift up an imaginary right arm, slowly, visualizing it going up, then down again. Do this several times, first the real arm, then the kinesthetic arm, then switch arms. Then try other physical movements until you can imagine quite complicated movements as in sports. There are many books which contain lengthy kinesthetic body exercises described in detail; one of the best is again Jean Houston's book The Possible Human.
- As a child develops it first orients itself to the new world through its primary sense, vision, by moving its head and looking around. Throughout the rest of life a person's movement is directed by the sense of seeing. You look where you are going or you may stumble and fall. But the other senses are equally as important to full development as vision. The other senses also relate back to the original Mitosis and to the structure of consciousness.
- After seeing, the next sense is smelling. The breath is controlled by smelling, liberating thinking out of associations. In the Indian tradition the use of breath exercises to liberate thinking is called "Pranayama". All spiritual traditions employ some types of breathing methodologies to help quiet the inner dialogue and find energy.
Both Vision/Sensing/Movement and Smelling/Thinking/Breathing belong to the left brain and are conscious. To progress further you have to cross the threshold into the womb, into Feeling. This requires the maturity and individuality of the Master.
- Feeling involves the sense of tasting which has four parameters: sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Feeling is the capacity to accept suffering and death, overcoming guilt that we must all kill, consuming either or both animals and plants, in order to survive. Knowing the Native American "give away", getting into the spirit of service, enables you to overcome this guilt and to understand your impulses, wishes and motivations. Feeling is connected with the dream imagination of the right brain. When you cross the threshold you move from little ego to Self.
Little ego starts with the point-like experience of birth and ends with physical death, if the link with Self is not established. This linking means spiritual rebirth. Your ego looks for success in job, family, ambition, etc. Your Self is moral, it wants to get back to and merge with the great Source, the Singularity.
- Circulation is tuned to your heartbeat. Hearing is the sense of mathematics and voice. You hear and remember tone sequences and spoken words. But hearing also touches silence and the intervals between the tones. From out of the intervals and silence, you develop attention, inner emptiness and Being. Meditation leads to the heart, and only the heart, the will, is linked to the divine Source, infinite - 0 - Awareness. Only through the heart and hearing are you able to get into the higher capacities. (0-4 relation in the dimensions).
- The faculty of organizing the body gives rise to the sense of touch. Through the proprioperceptive nerves you can sense your liver, your toes, every part of your body and therewith create greater shape and detail to the kinesthetic body.
- Instead of the polarization and union, the inner eye of the soul reads, interprets and establishes significations. It is the reading of meaning from events and symbols. The basic polarities inherent in symbolic communication and communion are expressed in the framework of the six original family relations:
Mother and Father
Sister and Brother
Daughter and Son
Somebody touching one of the archetypal relations will cause you to act beyond your personal motivations. You will be compelled to do so until you have integrated the postulates inherent in their structure and fulfilled that potential within yourself. The meaning of the six archetypical relations is shown in the following chart.
Father Duty
Mother Nurturing and Manners
Sister Beauty
Brother Courage
Son Capability
Daughter Satisfaction of Needs
- Fecundation and Gnosis are the same in old languages: Adam knew Eve, and the result was Abel. Only in speaking do you attain the spirit; thus the meaning of prayer is to attain inspiration, and therewith realize the full potential of the neocortex. Language anchored in the will overcomes the corpus callosum and liberates the bicameral mind.
The center of all the different minds or chakras is the heart, Willing.
Spirit 7 Waking
Soul 6 Reflection
Body 5 Dreaming
Willing 4 Sleep/Attention
Feeling 3 Dreaming
Thinking 2 Reflection
Sensing 1 Waking
The waking of sensing leads to force, waking of spirit to light, but the power of the heart chakra is the Voice. Through our voice we find and create our immortal being.
Through our voice and language, rooted in body Awareness, we can articulate who we really are. We can then act out our true role, our potential destiny. This is a matter of tuning our mind, our overall mood -- all seven energies or components of our mind. Thus the Way travels full circle, from little "I" - the disassociated ego - to Self, then back again to true individuality, the actualized being - Ego in tune with Self.
The Way no longer ends from ego to Self, but must travel on to individual fulfillment, the big "I" identified with the whole Universe. The individual expressing their unique potential through action in the World. The big "I" is thus equivalent to the Mandelbrot fractal which unites all of the other I's, the little ego Julia fractals, by Zero-God as the common source.
METHODS/EXPERIMENTS: Try saying out loud the last two paragraphs several times. Try other favorite passages Reread other parts of this book, or another, out loud to yourself, or to one you love. Feel the power which can resonate from the verbalization and articulation of truth, or at least a close approximation thereof. Feel how it penetrates and resounds in your heart, how it links you to a higher force. Try singing to PrimaSounds, or to the individual PrimaTones at the end of the CDs.
Listen to the sound of your voice during the day when you are speaking in different circumstances. Notice how it sounds different at times of genuineness. Notice how at other superficial times it sounds mechanical, emotionless. By paying attention to your voice, truly hearing what you say to others on many levels and how it feels, you can be guided to your inner essence. Your own voice can tune you in to who you really are, and who you have the potential to become. What kind of speaking, to whom and in what circumstances, feels right to you, has the ring of wholeness and authenticity. What kind of speaking seems false and unreal.
All of the seven senses presented here can be guides if cleansed and intensified. There are many exercises to heighten the senses as for instance in The Possible Human and other books. A sense can be sharpened by focusing our attention on it over time. By exercises we can greatly enhance all of our perceptive abilities. Extra sensory perception, ESP, may well be a normal extension and amplification of our sensory capabilities. See for instance Michael Murphy's book, The Future of the Body.
Certainly the senses can extend beyond the physical realm into the energetical and mental. We all have the potential ability to sense energies, forces and powers as easily as the physical forms in the third dimension. Not simply the touch of hot or cold, but the perception of auras and taste of powers is possible. So too with training and effort we can come to vividly see ideas, touch and smell them. We can learn to speak ideas as a sensation of spirit, a direct experience, as opposed to speaking as an expression of an already apprehended idea. This may explains some, but not all of the so called "Channeling" phenomena.
The basic sensory phenomena, the basic fact underlying all theory, is our body. It is like an incredible computer, a work of art, in which we temporarily live. Our body is the most fantastic technology possible, far beyond our current technical understanding. Still, we know some things about the electronics of our systems which can help us to understand the place of number - 0 and 1 - in our body. This knowledge gives us clues on how to attain Awareness -- the Zero state.
It is now common knowledge that Zero and One are the basis of computers and the basis of our brain. In our brain the neuron synapse either fires an electrical impulse - 1 - or not - 0. This is the same way a computer works. The binary system is the essence of all number and information processing. This is the direct machine language of computers and the human brain. Above that there are many other types of higher languages; for example, for computers - assembly language, fortran, C, basic. For humans there are also many types of languages -- English, German, French, sign language, etc.
The higher languages serve as an intermediary between being and number. They control the computer, or brain binary, language. The computer translates the higher language commands, such as basic, down into direct machine language commands, on and off, to control the computer output. The central nervous system does the same thing for the body. The higher language commands, such as English, are translated into specific synaptic firings in the brain, to control what the body does.
The basic architecture of computers and human form is not that far apart. Just as computers have a basic operating system to handle the behind the scenes operations, for instance, DOS or Windows, humans also have a unconscious operating system to maintain the basic functions of the body, such as breathing, heart beat, digestion and other organ functions. In the body this is handled by the autonomic nervous system. In order to create a program for a computer which operates efficiently, you must know the operating system of the computer, which in itself is a program with its own language. For instance, to create an application programs for a personal computer you must know the Windows operating system language. The operating system is an essential intermediary which higher languages use to successfully translate into machine language - 0/1 - and run the computer.
The same thing applies to the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system, like Windows, must be known and mastered before you can master your body, and write your own life programs. The efficient link between being and number for human kind requires understanding and use of the autonomic nervous system.
As seen in Chapter One, language is important. It is the key to consciousness and the doorway to the mind. Language drives the central nervous system, makes us uniquely human, and allows us to program ourselves. But we must also pay attention to the bodies operating system, the unconscious. Esoteric traditions have always known that the autonomic nervous system is the key to Awareness and thus to spiritual development. The autonomic system is the doorway to the wisdom of the body. The body systems may be unconscious, and the autonomic nervous system may be outside "our control," that is, our ego control, but it is still a part of us, the holistic self. For this reason some people have learned to control some of the autonomic systems, and a few Yogis for instance, can slow down, or even stop, the heart for a short time.
The autonomic nervous system is divided into two parts: sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sympathetic system accelerates the twelve organ systems of the body with adrenaline. It is tuned to the left hemisphere of the brain -- the ego, time and waking consciousness. The parasympathetic system does just the opposite. It slows down the organs. It is tuned to the right hemisphere of the brain -- to self, space and dreaming.
The sympathetic design system connects the organs to the spinal cord horizontally. The spinal cord is related with one nerve to the cerebellum, and 20 nerves to the organ systems, through the twelve chest vertebrae and the five lumbar vertebrae. Thus in waking we are not just apprehending the real world, but are also processing the reactions of the organs. For that reason we naturally create the human environment in part as an organic projection. For example, we build kitchen's for our stomach, and toilet and sewer systems for our waste elimination organ system. Our skeleton is like our machines, our brain is like our computers. We build facilities like our liver for power and energy production, and our fashions are related to our skin and sensation system. We have to get in tune with our body and its twelve systems to understand our environment.
The slowing parasympathetic nervous system is only connected to the head nerves and to the sacrum. There are no connections with the vertebrae. The directive tenth nerve, vagus nerve, which actually changes it position over time and is thus known as the "wandering nerve," branches out to other organ systems. But the vargus nerve does this in a 1:1 relation, not 20:1 as in the sympathetic system. The deceleration side of the nerves is tied to the spiritual side of man. The quickening is tied to the material. For example, in the male sex organs, erection depends on the parasympathetic system, on romantic love. Ejaculation comes from the sympathetic system, from the movement of love making, from quickening.
Consciousness is inherently fragmented. It follows the numbers one to infinity. Awareness is holistic, unifying. It follows the number zero. Slowing down and quickening have a limit which leads to the same experience from two different directions. Slowing down the associations in Yoga creates a state of meditation. Quickening can lead to the greatest velocity, the speed of light, illumination. The slowing down is stopping, absolute zero, which again is illumination, but of a different character. As soon as you come to a full stop and reach complete silence and center, you are in the same place as the speed of light, and illumination will come by itself. This has been described by many Asian traditions and scientifically by transpersonal psychologists like Charles Tart. Thus Yin/Parasympathetic and Yang/Sympathetic blend in total awareness of Chi. With this blending a human can be totally awakened to both this and the next world.


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My VBox guest is Ubuntu, and the network mode is NAT. I cannot use Bridge Network mode. I tried to connect to my VPN from the guest, but failed.
I can connect to the VPN on another VBox guest, which network is bridged. So I think the NAT mode is causing the problem. I think it is because I did not configure the
port-forwarding rules correctly. But I have no idea which port the PPTP program uses.


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My Librarian
I love to travel, especially to the UK as I'm a huge Shakespeare fan. I enjoy crafts of many descriptions. I like to bake and my specialty is iced biscuits as in 'The Biscuiteers Book of Iced Biscuits'.
Favourite Reads: Thrillers, historical, children's books.
My book of choice has to be anything with an assassin or a good fantasy plot. Being dyslexic, I was a reluctant reader as a kid but after finding the right books for me I'm very rarely without one. So now, I use that to help other reluctant readers find the right books for them, it's a challenge but I'm up for it.
Ask Jessie for a recommendation
I have eclectic tastes in reading – love the mystery and thriller series (especially the Scandinavian authors). I'm always on the lookout for strange and interesting titles in the general fiction area. I have my favourite New Zealand authors – mainly fiction. I read non-fiction too, especially love the controversial subjects – as well as gardening and architecture and the odd biography. I have always loved books and reading and since finding my calling as a librarian, some years ago, have been able to indulge this addiction to my heart's content.
Ask Debbie for a recommendation


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Dhamma (Wisdom) Discussion after Meditation Session
with Venerable Na Long Dhammakaya
Which things do Buddhists do differently to those of other religions?
Buddhism is a very old and diverse religion. Thus, there have been many attempts to summarize the features which Buddhists have in common and hence how these differ from those of other religions. The most famous of these are Colonel Henry Olcott's fourteen points: Buddhists are taught to show the same tolerance, forbearance, and brotherly love to all men (people, ed.), without distinction and an unswerving kindness to the members of the animal kingdom.
The universe was evolved, not created; and it functions according to law, not according to the caprice of any god.
The truths upon which Buddhism is founded are natural. They have, we believe, been taught in successive kalpas, world periods, by certain Illuminated beings called Buddhas, the word Buddha meaning enlightened.
The fourth Teacher in the present kalpa (aeon) was Sakyamuni or Gautama Buddha, who was born in a royal family of India about 2,500 years ago. He is an historical personage and his name was Siddhartha Gautama.
Sakyamuni taught that ignorance produces desire (craving unsatisfied desire is the cause of rebirth, and rebirth the cause of sorrow). To get rid of sorrow, therefore, it is necessary to escape rebirth; to escape rebirth, it is necessary to extinguish desire; and to extinguish desire, it is necessary to destroy ignorance.
Ignorance fosters the belief that rebirth is a necessary thing. When ignorance is destroyed, the worthlessness of every such rebirth, considered as an end in itself, is perceived, as well as the paramount need of adopting a course of life by which the necessity for such repeated rebirth can be abolished. Ignorance also begets the illusive and illogical idea that there is only one existence for man (humankind), and the other illusion that this one life is followed by states of unchangeable pleasure or torment.
The dispersion of all this ignorance can be attained by the persevering practice of an all-embracing altruism in conduct, development of intelligence, wisdom in thought, and destruction of desire for the lower personal pleasures.
The desire to live being the cause of rebirth, when that is extinguished, rebirths cease, and the perfected individual attains by meditation that highest state of peace called Nirvana.
Sakyamuni taught that ignorance can be dispelled and sorrow removed by the knowledge of the four Noble Truths, i.e. the miseries of existence the cause productive of misery, which is the desire (craving, ed.), ever renewed, of satisfying oneself, without ever being able to secure that end the destruction of that desire or the estranging of oneself from it.
The means of obtaining this destruction of desire. The means which he pointed out is called the Noble Eightfold Path: i.e.: Right Belief, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Means of Livelihood, Right Exertion, Right Remembrance, Right Meditation. Right meditation leads to spiritual enlightenment, or the development of that Buddha like faculty which is latent in every man, The essence of Buddhism, as summed up by the Tathagata (Buddha) himself, is " 'to cease from all sin, to get all virtue, to purify the heart'.
The universe is subject to a natural causation known as karma. The merits and demerits of a being in past experiences determine his condition in the present one. Each man (person, ed.), therefore, has prepared the causes of the effects which he now experiences.
The obstacles to the attainment of good karma may be removed by the observance of the following precepts, which are embraced in the moral code of Buddhism: i.e.: (1) kill not; (2) steal not; (3) indulge in no forbidden sexual pleasure; (4) Lie not (5) take no intoxicating or stupefying drug or liquor.
Five other precepts which need not here be enumerated should be observed by bhikkhus and all those who would attain, more quickly than the average layman the release from misery and rebirth. Buddhism discourages superstitious credulity. Gautama Buddha taught it to be the duty of a parent to have his child educated In science and literature.
He also taught that no one should believe what is spoken by any sage, written in any book, or affirmed by tradition, unless it accords with reason, If I were a school student, I would be focusing on points 1. (no violence is allowed even in the name of one's religion), 2. (no creator god is needed to account for existence) and 9, (salvation is achievable by a man's own efforts in meditation).
April 6th Pix


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Monday, 4 January 2016
Beneath the Planet of the Apes (5 Stars)
This is the sequel to "Planet of the Apes". It was made in 1969 and released in 1970. It continues seamlessly from the first fim. The first few minutes are a recap of the ending of the first film.
Today was the first time I've watched this film on Blu-ray. Just like the first film, it's been cleaned up admirably for the high definition release. The picture quality is almost miraculous for a film that's so old. If anyone already has this film on DVD, I strongly recommend the upgrade. It currently costs £8.00 from Amazon UK for the five-film box set on Blu-ray, which is an amazing price. In America it costs $19.99, which works out about 50% more than the UK price, but it's still a good deal.
The film has sentimental meaning for me. It's one of only two films that I ever saw with my father in the cinema. The other was "2001: A Space Odyssey". I strongly suspect that my father wanted to see the film himself and took me along as an excuse. That's no problem for me. I highly enjoyed the film, and it's had a lasting impression on me for the rest of my life.
As I've said before, this should have been the last "Planet of the Apes" film. The bootstrap paradox introduced in the following two films was interesting, but unnecessary. I'm not in a hurry to watch the other three films in the box set. I'll probably watch them eventually, but they're a low priority for me.
The ironies in "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" are laid on thick. So much of it is a satire of 20th Century politics.
"We are a peaceful people. We don't kill our enemies. We get our enemies to kill each other".
That's a beautiful definition of peace.
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The area code for British Virgin Islands is 284 and the country is part of the NANP.
The area code was created in a split from the original area code 809 in around October 1997.
In British Virgin Islands, a local telephone number is dialed using the seven digits of the telephone number. Callers from the United States or another NANP country would dial 1 284 and the seven digit number. Callers from outside the NANP would dial their international access code, followed by 1 284 and the seven digit number.
Scam Warning
The 284 area code has been linked to a form of telephone fraud known as the "one ring scam". The person perpetuating the scam calls the victim via a robodialer or similar means, sometimes at odd hours of the night, then hangs up when the phone is answered with the hope that they will be curious enough to call the number back. When the victim does this, an automatic $19.95 international call fee is charged to their account, as well as $9.00/min thereafter.


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Thursday 16th of April 2015
Double FIA European Rallycross Champion Timur Timerzyanov announced earlier this week that he will race an OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta Supercar in the FIA World Rallycross Championship this season, running as an Individual Entry in the championship.
The Russian driver is looking forward to working with Ford OlsbergsMSE team drivers Andreas Bakkerud and Reinis Nitiss. "I get on really well with the guys, and we will share everything. Maybe at some points they will be faster and at others I will be faster, so we need to share the information. Even though I am not scoring points for the team, I hope they can do well. I will be really happy if Ford wins the teams championship again. I will try to help the guys with some of my knowledge – I'm not scared to give them everything that I have stored in my mind," said Timerzyanov.
The move reunites the Russian driver with former team principle Jussi Pinomaki, the Finn's Set Promotion team running Timerzyanov to Super1600 championship success in 2010, before he moved to Supercar with Hansen Motorsport and won the European Championship in 2012 and 2013 in a Citroen DS3. Last season, Timerzyanov raced for Team Peugeot-Hansen in the inaugural World Rallycross Championship. Pinomaki now works as team manager at OMSE. "Jussi taught me a lot when I was with him from 2009. It's really good to work with him again; he gave me my first step in rallycross. As a driver, to be World Champion is my goal, but everybody I know everybody is the same. I know if everything goes well then I can do it."
Timerzyanov topped the Intermediate Classification after day one in Portugal last season, and is confident that he can be straight on the pace next week at the World RX season opener. "Portugal is a track I really like. I've been so many times, I feel really comfortable there."
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Soap with a wool covering "sweater" describes felted soap. A favorite among fiber lovers and those seeking gentle exfoliation with lovely soapy lather.
Each kit includes your pick of 1 soap, generous amount of local merino wool (colors vary), and instructions from start to finish for felting soap.
For soap selection, tell us what bar you wish in the instruction box in check out cart.
These kits are a popular with creative crafting night out groups, school groups, girl scouts and more.
Ashgrove Soaps supports local shepherds who lovingly tend their flocks to provide this luxurious merino wool.
*Do not use if allergic to wool fiber.


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Sunday, February 7, 2016
Let's Party!
12 comments:
First of all, I love that you're coming dressed as Phryne and Jack!!! I think my husband and I would have to come dressed as Nick and Nora Charles… :-)ReplyDelete
Oh I just love Phryne Fisher and Detective Inspector Jack Robinson!! What a great idea.ReplyDelete
Tht's great! There aren't that many to choose from however. So bound to be a few repeats.ReplyDelete
I will be coming stag as Mata Hari 😍ReplyDelete
Bernie Little and bring my dog Chet.ReplyDelete
Bernie Little and bring my dog Chet.ReplyDelete
I love this seriesReplyDelete
I always get hooked by the artwork and clever titles, but despite people say don't judge a book by it cover, I've found clever titles more than often we also clever stories and characters. I love this series...inside and out!ReplyDelete
Lord Peter Whimsey and Harriet Vane!ReplyDelete
Like your choice of couple.
Love Miss Fisher's mysteries. Can't wait to read the book.ReplyDelete
If I could get my husband to come I would want to come as Nick and Nora Charles, although I don't know where we could borrow Asta from...ReplyDelete


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In addition to God creating the varieties and time frames for reaching full bloom, it requires knowledgeable people to know how to create a masterpiece landscape so there are always evidence of new beginnings and beauty surrounding one's home.
I do not have this talent and still have to ask if it's the annual or perennial that comes back each year. My parents on the other hand understand plants and flowers and their cycles. Once Spring arrives and the daffodils bust through the snow and dirt, the color explosion begins. Yellow daffodils to tulips then these irises. And this is only on side of our house. I'm thankful for two amazing fathers, my Heavenly Father and my Daddy. Both care for me and provide such beautiful blessings to remind me of how uniquely we are each made and how much I am loved. If God cares about the birds and the flowers, how much more does He care for You? This is an amazing concept if you slow down and think about it.


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GoodWORD Partnership exists to equip and stimulate the local church and evangelists worldwide in fulfilling their calling of inviting people of all ages and nationalities to a relationship with Jesus Christ through public proclamation of the Gospel. We work towards this goal by partnering with recognized Christian evangelists of integrity from any country in the world, helping them to exercise their gifts as messengers of the gospel of Jesus Christ in public evangelistic outreaches.
There are a variety of ways in which you can support GoodWORD.
Work with indigenous evangelists!


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Good morning! I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Lots of fun things over here: grilled pizza party on friday night, long mountain bike ride on Saturday and a halloween birthday party for my friend Emily on Saturday night.
Once the rain cleared up on Sunday I was itching to get out and do something. Angus and I ended up running to the YMCA (about 2 miles) and then completing this KILLER tabata workout. It's a good one! Definitely on the advanced side of things and you may not have access to certain equipment such as battle ropes. Feel free to swap in different exercises that you don't have the equipment for! Also, a tabata timer app on your iPhone will be very helpful for this workout! Enjoy 🙂


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Starter Kit & Getting Started Guide
Welcome to the vaping world! If you are asking yourself, "What should I start of with? What do I need to get? How do I use said equipment?" then you have come to right place! The essential parts to vaping are an atomizer, a battery and e-juice. Starter kits, as one would consider them, is a perfect beginner vape. The name speaks for itself. It is a complete package which usually, includes one battery, an atomizer and a charger. Looking to quit smoking? Look no further! The starter kits we offer gives you the ability to choose which type of juice you want to use. It comes in a slick package, no bigger than a pen, which makes it portable and easily accessible.
Tanks + Variables
What is a variable? A variable is a type of mod with an electronic chip which allows you to either adjust voltage, wattage or both. It is an intermediate vape in which the user has more control of the type of output he/she desires. They come in all shapes and sizes. Stay Juiced offers Innokin iTaste vv v3.0, which sports a clean look with an LCD screen and adjustable voltage/wattage. An atomizer is the heating element in an e-cigarette. Today's market offers a variety of options depending on what you are looking for. The type of atomizer is responsible for producing either more vape, flavour or throat hit. It all depends on which type of vaper you are.
Mechanical Mods
Mechanical Mods, as the name states are mechanical, which means, there is no electronic chip inside and operates at a steady amount of voltage. There are a variety of Mods in today's market. TO BECONTINUED


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Film 4's 50 Films to See Before You Die
Film4 is a free British digital television channel, owned and operated by Channel 4, which screens 'high-quality' films.
This is their list of 50 Films To See Before You Die. As is the case with most of the lists of this kind, its quite controversial and open to debate but they have not focussed on the more popular ones but paid attention to those which gives the viewer a different experience. I agree to quite a few of them. Credit goes to them to not keep the list to only English movies - So in come movies like Lagaan and City of God(along with quite a few French movies) which most similar lists miss ou.t
Here's the List (Starts from Number 50, and ends in the Numero Uno - Just to Build up the suspense):
#50 Badlands - Martin Sheen at his best in his younger days
Secrets and Lies
Aguire - The Wrath of God
This Sporting life - The Only Movie in the List related to Sports
Raising Arizona
Princess Mononoke - The Only Animated movie in the list
Dawn of the dead - The Only Horror movie in the list
The king of comedy
The ipcress file
Mulholland drive
The searchers
Fight Club - One of the best endings in Hollywood, Satire on 21st Century Consumerism
The ladykillers - Not the recent one but the original made in 1955
The royal tenenbaums
Three colours blue - Another French clasic
Terminator 2 - This one surprised me. Why Number 2 instead of the Original one?
Scarface - Al Pacino at his best
All About eve
Pink Flamingos - What the Hell ????
Fanny and Alexander
The breakfast club
Hero - The only movie with Martial Arts but what stunning visuals
Trainspotting - Though the movie is in "English" , u will still need the English sub-titles to understand it
Erin Brockovish
A night at the Opera
Heavenly creatures
Come and See
The Player
Boyz n the hood
Black Narccissus
Touch of Evil
Pulp Fiction - Tarantino's Masterpiece
Lagaan - Hats Off to Ashish Gowarikar and Aamir Khan
The Shawsank Redemption - The Number One movie in most other lists
Lost in Translation - The most boring movie I have ever seen , What did I miss
Alien - Classic Alien stuff
#10 Manhattan - Woody Allen's ode to New York
#9 Donnie Darko - Another one which I havent figured out why its regarded as a classic
#8 A bout de souffle
#7 North by NorthWest
#6 2001: A Space Oddyssey - The movie which started the entire "outer space" genre
#5 Sexy Beast - Ben Kingsley as a British Gangster
#4 Chinatown
#3 City of God - Brazil's Slums and Underworld brought to life
#2 The Apartment
#1 Apocalypse Now - Coppolla's classic which many believe the Best War movie ever made, Many others find it boring and incomprehensible beyond words. Hats Off to Martin Sheen who started this list(At Number 50) and ends the list(At Number 1)


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switching from http to https
what does your website's reputation look like?
As a rule whenever i develop a website I go with https right from the onset. It's so much easier than switching a site over down the road. But that isn't going to matter much soon because in case you haven't become aware of it, Google is now showing warning signs on any and all websites for non-secure (http) we pages that have search implemented within the coding structure.
So why do so many wait so long to switch – Confusion and Fear
Recent online reporting shows that "Many people mistakenly think that 'making your site secure' means simply buying an SSL certificate and you're done. That's not the case." Unfortunately, switching to a secure site involves more than just purchasing a certificate. It is a technical process that requires a lot of steps and a large investment of time and planning.
Here are just a few of the things you need to do to move from HTTP to HTTPS if you have a WordPress site:
- Database pattern changes: All instances of database entries containing the string pattern "http://" must be changed to "https://".
CSS/PHP hard-coded http:// patterns: There may be instances where codes in CSS and PHP files have hard-coded http:// strings instead of variables representing the transfer protocol. These may need to be manually edited and uploaded back to the server for the site to function properly.
- .htaccess mod-rewrite: The .htaccess file is where instructions are written and tells the server how to handle URL strings.
- .htaccess 301: 301 redirects are placed in the .htaccess file in old/new URL pairs separated by new lines for each entry.
- SSL certificate change, server config, WordPress config: Log into the domain host, select the certificate that changes the IP address of the website, ensure the server is properly configured for the change, modify any settings in WordPress and install an SSL plugin.
- Domain propagation/resource monitoring: This involves watching for the domain change to fully propagate (go live) — which could take up to 48 hours — and checking the website for resources (images, links and so on) that fail to reflect the change to the https:// protocol. Images and files that fail to reflect the change (hyperlinked, hard-coded resources) will generate errors.
So, what's the verdict? A tad bit of a quandary are we now?
Even though it seems like a complete nightmare to switch to HTTPS, Google is going to continue showing warning flags to searchers. The average searcher likely has no idea what HTTP and HTTPS means, but if Google says a site isn't secure, chances are they'll leave your site faster than greased lightning.
HTTPS isn't easy, but it's becoming a necessity.
DESIGNS BY RON – Search Engine Optimization Services


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By now, you've probably heard that State Rep Winfred Dukes has been accused of costing Albany State University the funding for the Ray Charles Fine Arts Center.
You may have even heard that he got into a very verbal and visual altercation with his accuser around lunchtime today.
I can verify that the accusations are indeed accurate, and to steal a phrase from the late great Paul Harvey, here's the REST of the story…
It all began, according to several sources, on January 30. On that day, the House of Representatives debated the Homeowner's Tax Relief Grants. At about one hour and 36 minutes into the debate, Rep Dukes makes the comments shown in this video – which was taken directly from the video in the GPB archives. Now, the comments Rep Dukes makes about Delta and Gulfstream could be taken as attacks on Reps Burkhalter and Keen, respectively. Rep Burkhalter's district is in the North Fulton/Alpharetta area, where Delta is a major player due to the proximity of its home base at Hartsfield Airport. Rep Keen's district in Brunswick is the site of a major Gulfstream office. Burkhalter and Keen are also 2nd and 3rd in charge of House leadership, right behind Speaker Glenn Richardson.
So the comments in the video, and the fact that this early in the session he was already balking on major initiatives of House Leadership, didn't earn Rep Dukes too many favors. And ultimately, as we all know, the way politics unfortunately works is who owes who favors. I personally can't STAND this, but until we elect people with spines that will stand for right no matter what, it is the way the game is played.
So Rep Dukes already was shooting himself in the foot, when ANOTHER major pet project of House Leadership came up. Indeed, this particular project was SB 200, the Department of Transportation reorganization that was signed by Governor Perdue today, and has been a pet project of his throughout the session. House Leadership knew this particular bill was going to be extremely close, and the voting was kept open for quite a long time – roughly 5 minutes, about 5x as long as any other vote. While it was speculated then by myself, Jason Pye, and many others, that much deal making was going on during this time, I can now confirm this – and Reps Dukes and Fullerton were at the heart of it.
You see, according to what I am hearing, a deal was made whereby if Reps Dukes and Fullerton voted for SB 200, BOTH the Ray Charles project at Albany State AND the project at Darton would be funded in this year's budget. Rep. Fullerton upheld her end of the deal and voted for SB 200, and Rep Dukes simply walked away from the chamber and did not vote. Because he did not vote, the Speaker himself was forced to take the EXTREMELY unusual move of casting a vote himself, and the Speaker's vote – that should have been Rep Dukes' vote – was the deciding factor in the passage of the bill.
Because of Rep Dukes reneging on his end of the deal, and because he had made no secret that the Albany State project was a pet project of his, Leadership then decided to strip the Albany State project from the budget during the final conference committee.
So you see, Rep Dukes DID, in fact, cause Albany State to lose the funding for the Ray Charles project, no matter how much he protests it.
Filed under: State | Tagged: Georgia DOT, SB 200, Super DOT, Winfred Dukes | 7 Comments »