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ET and Prayer Cloths...

Source

In his new book "Religions and Extraterrestrial Life" (Springer 2014), David Weintraub, an astronomer at Vanderbilt University, takes a close look at how different faiths would handle the revelation that we're not alone. Some of his findings might surprise you.



Public polls have shown that a large share of the population believes aliens are out there. In one survey released last year by the company Survata, 37 percent of the 5,886 Americans who were polled said they believed in the existence of extraterrestrial life, while 21 percent said they didn't believe and 42 percent were unsure. Responses varied by religion: 55 percent of atheists said they believed in extraterrestrials, as did 44 percent of Muslims, 37 percent of Jews, 36 percent of Hindus and 32 percent of Christians.



In light of it being Columbus Day, it's kind of a fun speculation, but a somber one as well.



There is move afoot to dumb down AP History for not teaching enough "patriotism, respect for law and order" and to avoid/obfuscate and/or present a less harsh view of American History like - colonization and its impact on Native Americans; slavery and Jim Crow and its impact on African Americans.



Seriously, the article at Space.com and I assume the book as well posits a good question: if we were to discover extraterrestrial life, how would we as a society deal with it? Currently, we're having many difficulties between science and the many faiths that insist any science conforms to what its holy writ said before telescopes...or radiometric dating...or quantum mechanics.



It's also interesting that fairly modern faiths like Mormonism, Seventh-day Adventism, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Baha'i Faith (from the article) all accept the possibility of extraterrestrial life coinciding with the telescope coming into popular usage by astronomers at the time.



Would we, or could we develop a "Prime Directive"? Note the origins of it in vintage faux Star Trek history:

The creation of the Prime Directive is generally credited to original-series producer Gene L. Coon, although there is some contention as to whether science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon, who wrote of the Prime Directive in an unused script for the original series, actually came up with it first. The Prime Directive closely mirrors the zoo hypothesis explanation for the Fermi paradox.

The directive reflected a contemporary political view of critics of the United States' foreign policy. In particular, the US' involvement in the Vietnam War was commonly criticized as an example of a global superpower interfering in the natural development of southeast Asian society, and the assertion of the Prime Directive was perceived as a repudiation of that involvement.

In an interview published in a 1991 edition of The Humanist magazine, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry implied that it also had its roots in his belief that Christian missionaries were interfering with other cultures. Wikipedia

It would be interesting (and I think, a very good idea) if we could get some practice with one another in a Prime Directive primer before encountering and trying to convert say...the Klingons.



Space.com: Would Finding Alien Life Change Religious Philosophies?

Megan Gannon, News Editor

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Cover art and design by Quinton Veal.

“You cold?” the young woman shook her head. “Are you finished eating?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Annabelle pushed her chair back from the table, rose and walked back out into the hallway, Sonya followed. They stood before the door. “Don’t ever try to open this door or any of the doors in this by yourself. Understand?”

Sonya nodded impatiently, now in a hurry to be off. “Cle-Menti, she’s ready,” called Annabelle.

The words were barely out of her mouth, before he blurred alongside her. “You wish to go out princess?”

“Uh-huh,” Sonya stammered. Boy, I sound brain dead. But he is so fine!

He took her hand and they faced the door. “We wish to go to the beach,” he commanded. It swung open, to reveal golden sands and foaming turquoise waters; under an unbelievably bright orange-blue sky.

They strolled around the corner of the mansion, to find the two centaurs now racing each other up and down the sand; one Bronze, with green eyes, reddish-brown hair that curled about her shoulders, and a dark red mare’s hindquarters. The other was Amber with slanted, almond eyes, and black hair that flowed to her waist—a waist that ended in black horse’s body. Each wore silver brassieres covering their torsos.

“Can I get a closer look?”

Cle-Menti smiled indulgently, “Of course!” He shouted in a booming voice that echoed along the beach: “This is Sonya and she’d like to play with you; but behave yourselves! None of your
tricks—you hear?”

Sonya approached the centaurs slowly, twisting her hands in front of her like a child. “Hi…” she said softly.

They regarded her with open curiosity. “I’m Lui and this is Juliana,” the Amber centaur lisped. “Would you like a ride?”

“Oh yes!” Sonya breathed.

“Well, climb on my back then! We’re going to race!”

“And I’m going to win!” Juliana pronounced.

“Hold on tight!” Lui warned. She galloped down the beach—with Sonya holding on for dear life— then back again. The Indigo girl glanced over her shoulder, and glimpsed mermen and women looking on with great interest.

A crowd of aquatic folk had gathered near the ocean’s edge, and were bobbing up and down in the waves, smiling and pointing: waiting for their chance to play with this newcomer.

As Sonya slid off Lui’s back, she whispered: “You would make a lovely centaur! Wouldn’t you like to be one of us?”

Sonya frowned “Oh no!”

“And why not?” Juliana chipped in petulantly. “Are we not beautiful?” Beside her Lui pouted.

Sonya’s face split in a wide grin, flattered beyond measure that these magical equines wanted her to join their family. “You’re the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen!” Mollified they smiled back.

“Well?” said Lui expectantly.

“I have a family,” Sonya explained. “If I stayed with you, they’d miss me.”

For a moment Juliana and Lui seemed to seriously consider. “We could be your family,” Juliana offered, smiling openly as if this solved everything.

Sonya looked distressed. I don’t want to make them mad! “But I’d miss them too!” she stammered, “I love them!”

“What is… love?” asked Lui, looking confused.

Sonya’s jaw dropped. “You miss a person when they’re gone,” she groped for words, “you don’t ever want to be without them; and when they hurt, you hurt too.”

They listened intently. “Oh. . .!” said Juliana nodding; beside her Lui bobbed her head in agreement.

But it was obvious they still didn’t understand. Another small almost imperceptible shiver of fear coursed through Sonya. “Could we ride to the water?” she asked.

“Oh yes!” Lui smiled brightly, “We can do whatever we want!”

“Ride me this time!” chirped Juliana.

At the ocean’s edge Sonya scrambled off the centaur’s back—thankful to be rid of them—and into the warm water. She swam into the mere folks’ midst, marveling at their lustrous emerald, golden, brown, ebony, purple, sepia and pinks skins; and joined them in a game of tag.

Sonya began diving under the waves with them. A purple mermaid, with long ropy hair to match her skin, laughed at how playful the girl was;  and pulled Sonya under the water, swimming alongside her. At this, they took turns dragging her down with them. Sonya couldn’t remember when she’d had so much fun.

She paddled into the depths marveling at the sea blooms and geometric coral; and at how long she was holding her breath. A slender, pink-skinned merman with golden hair, sea green eyes, and a matching tail, bobbed alongside her grinning. Without warning, he reached out and pulled her into his arms; his body even warmer than the sea.

How do they do it?  thought Sonya, Like us?

The merman bubbled laughter in her ear, as if he could hear her thoughts, and pressed himself even more tightly against her. She could feel the maleness hidden beneath his scales.

They swam deeper and deeper still entering cobalt blue waters, bedded by stalks of coral growing from an unseen ocean floor. He paused with Sonya still in his arms and kissed her, pushing his strange bumpy tongue into her mouth. And she wondered how it would feel to have him take her right there, beneath the oceans depths.

“ENOUGH!” Cle-Menti’s booming voice echoed beneath the waves. “BRING HER BACK DEMETRI!”

Demetri lifted his mouth from hers. Frowning, he stared up; then swam to the surface, holding her in his arms. They burst above the foam, and for an instant she couldn’t breathe.

I’ve been breathing water –!

It passed. Her lungs accepted the air, and Demetri was moving to the shallows to release her. Sonya stood in thigh length water… and felt a curious longing. He held her eyes, his lips curving upward in a smile as if they shared a secret. With a flip of his tail he was gone.

Cle-Menti was sitting on the beach waiting for her. “Time to go princess.”

Sonya pouted. “Why’d you make me come back? I was having fun!”

He rose, his full lips spreading into a smile. “Not so innocent after all,” he said, almost to himself, and Sonya blushed. He put an arm about her shoulder guiding her to the door. “You couldn’t breathe when you first came out of the water,” the Indigo man said. “Don’t you wonder why?” Sonya nodded.

“Demetri changed you because he wanted you.” There was no trace of humor in Cle-Menti’s voice now. “If you’d made love to him, you would have become a creature of the sea. And you would have to stay here. Forever.”

He dipped his head toward the beach. “Many of them were human once,” he continued, “but once transformed, they forgot all about their past lives.” Now his gaze was direct, penetrating. Looking into those eyes, Sonya felt nauseous with fear. “They wouldn’t make suitable playmates, you see, if they missed their families.”

The door swung open and she rushed past him, back to the safety of the castle.

Copyright 2010, 2014 Valjeanne Jeffers

Available at www.vjeffersandqveal.com

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Felipe Vadillo-Ortega, M.D., PhD...

Source: Biology of Reproduction

Research Interests & Projects



Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Birth Outcomes in Mexico City. We will investigate how air pollution and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) component of particles can influence the outcome of pregnancy, and whether certain periods of gestation represent critical time windows and opportunities for preventive intervention.



Air Pollution, Inflammation and Preterm Birth: A Mechanistic Study in Mexico City. We will advance understanding of prematurity by investigating how air pollution and inflammation may act together to influence the outcome of pregnancy, and whether certain periods of gestation represent critical time windows and opportunities for preventive interventions, both clinical and environmental.



Professional Affiliations



Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM)



School of Public Health
University of Michigan: Felipe Vadillo-Ortega, M.D., PhD

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Other-ing...

Source: LA Times Opinion

The epic conflagration between Ben Affleck, Bill Maher and Sam Harris in some links has well over a million hits. The "emperor has no clothes" when Bill is getting props from that other-Bill-named-O'Reilly for Islam-o-phobia as a "proper" mental state.



To note:



Isaac Asimov - secular humanist, scientist and science fiction writer - gave a succinct explanation regarding critical thinking, fundamentalism, science and religion. He pointed out in his interview with Bill Moyers, Robert Millikan - of the famous oil drop experiment (I met his grand nephew at Manor HS); Michelson - of the Michelson-Morley experiment measuring the speed of light - were both Nobel Laureates and devout Christians.



Steven Weinberg (born May 3, 1933) is an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles. Dr. Salam was known as a devout Muslim and was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community who saw his religion as fundamental part of his scientific work. (Wikipedia)





...his vote was interpreted by Jefferson to mean that Virginia's representatives wanted the law "to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahomedan, the Hindoo, and Infidel of every denomination." Mahomedan would have been how Islam was referenced. Might have also been the origin of that pesky Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment everyone seems to gloss over.



When blanket statements are made of one group - in this case, Muslims - it broad brushes those that practice their religion peacefully, it atomizes them into a prejudicial, bigoted category. One could say: "if/because the Ku Klux Klan has been known to burn crosses, then all Christians must burn crosses." In logic, that is Post Hoc Fallacy.



The debate - if you can call it that - ignored pretty much the impact of our foreign policy that can be summed up in three words since Mossadegh was deposed from democratically elected power in Iran in 1953 and the Shah installed by the US: get-the-oil! Never mind like oil rich and mineral rich countries - i.e. aluminum, diamond, lithium - the people living over the mineral wealth get NOTHING. We'll just "pray" for them as we enrich ourselves - cell phones, jewelry, laptops, etc. Being poor and hungry probably doesn't radicalize them: they just "hate us for our freedoms" (to loot).



Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Michael Shermer - all supposed paragons of critical thinking, rationality and reason - have lately been called out for their sexism and boorish statements. I notice however, they are all authors with public platforms on social media not unlike Bill Maher who has his show, and controversy quite frankly sells a lot of books.



It is true many scientists - a vast majority - do not believe in a personal deity. Lack of belief or otherwise does not make one a good scientist. As I've pointed out to many numerous times, science requires adherence to its tenants: following The Scientific Method and submitting your results to rigorous, brutal inquiry. It is then you've got something that can be called a Law or Theory, both of which are horribly misunderstood.



There is a prevailing modern myth regarding theism and science, a large part owed to the pseudoscience of creationism/intelligent design; its plainly politicized motivations and lack of usefulness - what has intelligent design "designed"? The insistence of passing it off as science - as the rest of the global economy carries no such delusions - in the public classroom has set up animosity between the two camps of reality vs. fantasy. Global warming denial, despite the evidence and 97% of climatologist agreeing on it, is just another example of the crackpot mainstreamed via marketing.



Science may/may not lead one to become either Atheist or Agnostic. That like theism is a personal choice. The solution is not politically injected authoritarian pseudoscience or willful ignorance. Atheism nor theism will make you more rational, reasoned or thoughtful in your approach to problem-solving, science or interactions with your fellow humans.



I could however, go for a few less narcissistic, xenophobic assholes.
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Monday October 13th, H. Wolfgang Porter's 'Dark God's Gift: The E.R.O.S. Device' debuts! Travel 65,000 years into humanity's future to a Corporate Weapons Development and Testing Facility hidden within a Dark Matter Cloud. An incredibly ancient artifact has been found and it could be a weapon of devastating power! A team of researchers is assigned to examine the find, but will it be the financial breakthrough believed or just another old piece of junk?

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Dr. María González...



“500 million people worldwide suffer from invasive amebiasis, the disease kills 110,000 people per year.”

Born on Sept. 10, 1955 in San Buenaventura, Coahuila, Mexico. Dr. González won the MEXWII 2006 award for her work on diagnostic methods for invasive amebiasis. María González patented the processes to diagnose invasive amebiasis, a parasitic disease that kills over 100,000 people each year.




Her parents are Maria del Socorro Garcia Gonzalez and Humberto Flores Flores. She is the first of 5 siblings from her family and is now married to Federico Castaneda and has a daughter Ana Cecilia and son Juan Jorge. Dr. González grew up in a home where everyone was treated equally and her parents always instilled the importance of a good education. She was raised to help people study and get ahead. Dr. Gonzalez’s parents had a very open relationship with their children and always had open dialoge during dinner. Dr. Gonzalez’s Grandmother was a very strong willed woman that inspired Dr. Gonzalez to excel.



She studied her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry as a drug biologist at the Faculty of Chemical Sciences at the Autonomous University of Coahuila (1976). Master’s and doctorate of Science specializing in immunology (1986) at the National School of Biological Sciences of the National Polytechnic Institute (1982). Conducted a post-doctoral in the Unité d, Immunohematopatologie. Institute in Paris Paris (1985). Dr. Gonzalez is the author of 21 articles published in national and international journals and 17 popular articles.



Amazing Mexicans: Dr. María del Socorro Flores González

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Dark Matter's Bright Future...

The cryostat for the XENON1T experiment.
Image credit: The XENON1T Collaboration.

The US Department of Energy Office of High Energy Physics and the National Science Foundation Physics Division have announced their joint programme for second-generation dark-matter experiments, aiming at direct detection of the elusive dark-matter particles in Earth-based detectors. It will include ADMX-Gen2 – a microwave cavity searching for axions – and the LUX-Zeplin (LZ) and SuperCDMS-SNOLAB experiments targeted at weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). These selections were partially in response to recommendations of the P5 subpanel of the US High-Energy Physics Advisory Panel for a broad second-generation dark-matter direct-detection programme at a funding level significantly above that originally planned.



CERN Courier: A bright future for dark-matter searches

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The Soma

I had it again last night, went to bed around 12:30, awoke at 3:00, tired and dislocated. Then came the restful sleep. Thought about a new hotel, The SOMA. A huge cube of sleeping rooms, no beds, no amenities. a closet, a big chair in a dim room, a bathroom. I went in, sat, pressing my backside and ribcage into the plush. The street sounds were replaced by ones of my choice interspersed with the sweet voice of the SOMA's concierge attendant. When I responded, I moved thru a dream space. I couldn't tell if it was real or what. I met with people, did business, smooth talked and jived, chilled out and closed a deal. 

I awoke, the taste of rum on my lips, the scents of the evenings, a few selfie photos, a stack of business cards, a thank you note on a napkin with a cell number. Drove home, wife kissed me, asked how was my night, had breakfast, sent the kids out to play. We had our time together, a sweet time, seems the days never end. Hey hon, time to go to work. Yeah I know. Working nights, who came up with that idea? I pulled into The SOMA tired from the day as usual, the big comfy chair welcoming and the calming voice saying message this time. The chair hummed and stroked. Drifting off I responded, received a margarita, chatted with my clan of business colleagues.....

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With a former Korean War Era Soldier as guide, Dr. Sybil Perth venture's forth towards the strange tower relic of the Atomic Age! Will the source of the sicknesses and disappearances of the townsfolk be found within the foreboding radioactive structure? Can even she, a Nuclear Physicist unravel and undo the mysterious force holding the town in thrall? If the good Dr. Perth's efforts fall short, is she prepared for the eternal consequences of her failure? All shall be revealed in the exciting conclusion!

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Dr. José Hernández-Rebollar...



José Hernandez-Rebollar -- Electrical Engineer



Inventor of the AcceleGlove, a glove-like device that translates sign language into written words for deaf individuals.



Born in the state of Puebla, Mexico, Jose Hernandez-Rebollar is a young scientist whose made a reputation for himself as a young innovator with big ideas. Long before this electrical engineer moved to the U.S. from Mexico on a Fulbright scholarship to complete work for his Ph.D at Georgetown University, he had dreamed of the possibility of creating a way for deaf people to translate sign language into text and sound by electronic means. Through persistence and the power of engineering, he has achieved that goal.



In His Own Words: Commenting on future applications of his invention, he says: “The idea is not to fix deafness. The idea is to provide an instrument that can translate ASL [American Sign Language] to other languages.”



USA Science Festival: José Hernandez-Rebollar, PhD

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A Majorana Glimpse...

Scanning-tunnelling-microscope image showing a chain of iron atoms. The inset shows the probability that Majorana quasiparticles reside in that portion of the chain. The dark red blob at the tip indicates high probability at the tip. (Courtesy: Yazdani Lab, Princeton University)

The strongest evidence yet that Majorana quasiparticles (MQPs) can be found lurking in some solids has been unveiled by physicists in the US. The team used a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) to locate MQPs at the ends of atomic chains of magnetic iron lying on the surface of a lead superconductor. MQPs have special properties that could make them ideal for use in quantum computers, and this latest breakthrough could lead to practical devices that make use of the quasiparticles.

First predicted by the Italian physicist Ettore Majorana in 1937, the Majorana fermion has zero charge and is its own antiparticle. Unlike conventional fermions such as the electron – which obey Fermi–Dirac statistics – the Majorana fermion obeys "non-Abelian" statistics. This means that quantum information encoded in the particles would be highly resistant to decoherence. Decoherence is the bane of physicists who are trying to develop practical quantum computers, and therefore devices based on Majorana fermions could be used in future quantum-information systems.


Physics World: Majorana quasiparticles glimpsed in magnetic chains
Hamish Johnston, editor of physicsworld.com

See also:
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Dr. Sybil Perth's frantic escape attempt has failed! But, answers surrounding the strange community hidden in the Nevada desert are being revealed. The problem with answers is; they create more questions and the mystery deepens. Yet, time is running out for Dr. Perth because a deadly secret lies at the bottom of this mystery and if she doesn't solve it soon, she may regret it...for eternity!

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Roberto del Rosario...

Source: Link below

Music is an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner, and one true bloodied Filipino have it’s own share of this kind of fashion. He is the inventor of the one-man band.



Roberto del Rosario is the president of the Trebel Music Corporation and the inventor of the Karaoke Sing Along System in 1975. Roberto del Rosario has patented more than twenty inventions making him one of the most prolific Filipino inventor. Besides his famous Karaoke Sing Along System Roberto del Rosario has also invented:



•Trebel Voice Color Code (VCC)

•piano tuner’s guide

•piano keyboard stressing device

•voice color tape



Roberto del Rosario – Noted Patents:



•Patent No. UM-5269 dated 2 June 1983 for audio equipment and improved audio equipment commonly known as the sing-along system or karaoke

•Patent No. UM-6237 dated 14 November 1986 audio equipment and improved audio equipment commonly known as the sing-along system or karaoke



Roberto del Rosario – Karaoke Sing Along System:



Karaoke is a Japanese expression for singing along to a famous record with the vocals removed. Roberto del Rosario described his sing-along system as a handy multi-purpose compact machine which incorporates an amplifier speaker, one or two tape mechanisms, optional tuner or radio and microphone mixer with features to enhance one’s voice, such as the echo or reverb to stimulate an opera hall or a studio sound, with the whole system enclosed in one cabinet casing.



Del Rosario, 71, died peacefully in August 2003.



Pinoy Achievers Blog: Roberto del Rosario, one-man band inventor

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The Impact of Dust...

Image Credit: ESA - Planck Collaboration

(Inside Science) -- "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." This phrase, popularized by the late Carl Sagan, kept going through my head on March 17, the day that researchers involved with BICEP2, a telescope in Antarctica, made a big announcement at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The researchers reported that BICEP2 detected gravitational waves from the first moments after the big bang, a feat, which if confirmed, would open up a new field of study and would surely be recognized in a future Nobel Prize.



On the day of the BICEP2 announcement, and for many days afterward, people were largely accepting the results as correct and already jumping to the implications of the BICEP2 results for what appeared to be a new era of gravitational-wave cosmology.



In writing my (the author's) story for Inside Science News Service, I was fortunate to get an early voice of skepticism from David Spergel, a theoretical cosmologist at Princeton University in New Jersey. He commented:



"Given the importance of this result, my starting point is to be skeptical. Most importantly, there are several independent experimental groups that will test this result in the next year."



Sure enough, in the weeks that followed, other researchers pointed out that the signal that BICEP2 detected may have been attributable to the polarization of light caused by dust in our galaxy. The BICEP2 team certainly knew that dust could also polarize light in a similar way to gravitational waves, but they used a model, based on the data that was available from the Planck satellite, that, the other researchers pointed out, may have underestimated the amount of dust in the part of the sky they were studying.



The biggest lesson, to me (the author), is that no one should rush to make announcements and pronouncements, whether big or small, even in the face of intense competition and the alluring prospects of launching a new field of study and winning a Nobel Prize. Scientists, and the rest of the public, should follow the time-tested scientific practice of subjecting claims to sufficient levels of scrutiny, and waiting for other groups to validate results, before making bold statements. At the very least, there have been major caveats and qualifiers in announcing new data with potentially huge implications.



Inside Science: You Cannot Ignore Dust
Ben P. Stein, Director of Inside Science

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Halt, who lives here?

When I first posted my futuristic home drawings, one asked what kind of people would live in them. I could not answer well at that time because I didn't know what the future beings would be like. Since then some light has come to me in the face of all the changes going on.

We will go back to nature, not hanging out in the woods or being a farmer. We will get in touch with our inner consciousness. According to some folks we have entered the Aquarian Age by reason of two events, the procession of the equinoxes and the types of changes Uranus it's ruler has brought, invention, electricity and the scientific overtake of religion and superstition. Long established social, religious and political traditions are disrupted. Institutions are being affected, the cause is of course the inward consciousness of people being redirected. In other words, a new vibration is hammering our planet via the new position of things in our universe, new harmonics.

We are struggling to find ourselves, still don't know what to call ourselves. We can't find a definitive answer from our past associations and affiliations. We turn within, the place the major religions told us not to go or where we don't have time to go for being so busy with everything else. We as a people need to not live in our minds on the level of base desires nor be seduced by emotionalized religious fervor. Being spiritual is more internal (experienced) and scientific (documented) but not at all religious (dogma, fear and guilt) or based on faith (not knowing). Materialism is being demolished as a economic incentive and the personal gratification motive. The reason less is more is because the inner awareness becomes more important than the outward accumulation of things and our preoccupation with how we appear to others via those things. Life becomes simpler.

We need a place to shelter us, to gather family, receive friends and allow us to bathe and poop to our hearts content, to cook and store our food. Then we need to see the morning and setting sun and see a green world around us, the night sky. This can not be had if we don't change on the inside. When the secret insides are changed the outward world changes to match us (not the other way around). The evidence is the things around us now and the world around us now, it matches us. We change, it all changes. We elevate, it all improves. Education only improves us does not elevate us. Religion puts us in stasis, spirituality lifts us, elevates us, causes things to change because we have inwardly changed.

So in my homes, a bedroom is a sleeping chamber. I see large open living spaces, places for reflection and for horsing around, a small dark meditation room. Keep TV's connected to the outside world small (a laptop), perhaps large video for personal programming, art, music. Food gardens are a must, meat and cheese from a local market. Our people should let go (death grip) of heavily marketed sports, entertainment and other cotton fields. We should invent technologies that take us off the energy plantations be it solar or a self contained quantum quark psytronic generator (heats/cools air and water, refrigerates and supplies electricity. We learn to grow/eat fresh food year around and perfect food storage methods which means change what we eat also. Our kitchens don't need every appliance for every day cooking, besides catering is a good business. We have diversity or options in so many areas that we can't concentrate on anything that benefits us. Diversity, options, abundance coupled with ego gratification, concern for appearance and lack of resources, why the hell does competition and a stigma have to be attached to everything and for a higher price?

My homes will be inhabited by a people with an elevated mind and spirit. That is more needful than high education or high finance or high status. Just everyday dark peoples who by turning within themselves are restored to all the power and dignity that we were legendary known to possess and then some.

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Dr. Gregorio Zara ...



Gregorio Zara — Filipino physicist and aeronautical engineer



Creator of the first videophone (a forerunner of such video telecommunication applications as Skype, Webcam and videoconferencing) and discoverer of the physical law known as the “Zara Effect.”



Back in the 1950′s, the videophone — a telephone device that allows you to see the individual you are speaking with in real (or near-real) time — was a mere dream of science fiction. But physicist and aeronautical engineer Gregorio Zara, one of the Philippines’ most celebrated inventors, began to change all that in 1955 when he introduced the first videophone. Gregorio, the creator of other early models of futuristic technology ( including a solar battery, a talking robot, and an airplane engine powered by biofuel), was born in 1902 in Lipa City, Batangas, a province in the Philippines. After graduating as valedictorian of his high school class, he enrolled at the University of the Philippines, and later went on the U.S. and France to complete his training in engineering and physics. Already he was formulating innovative ideas of the future that would hallmark his career.



Why He’s Important: Gregorio is perhaps best known as the inventor of the videophone, which he patented in 1955 as a “photo phone signal separator network.” Five years after he invented the instrument, AT&T began work on commercial application of a video phone (or “picturephone”). The company introduced the video phone to the public in 1964 at the New York World’s Fair, but the device did not become a viable marketable item until about 30 years later when it was integrated with the internet as the digital revolution took off. Video phones are especially popular today with the hearing impaired, in addition to being rooted in such familiar technologies as cell phones, telemedicine, Skype, distant learning and videoconferencing.



Other Achievements: In 1930, Gregorio discovered the physical law of electrical kinetic resistance (called the Zara Effect). “Kinetic electrical resistance is the resistance to the passage of electric current when contacts are in motion. Permanent electrical resistance manifests itself when contacts are at rest,” according to the online library Scribd.com in describing the Zara Effect.



Education: Gregorio earned his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1926 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), his Master’s of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Michigan (graduating summa cum laude), and his Ph.D. in Physics from the Sorbonne University in Paris (again, graduating summa cum laude, or “Tres Honorable” — the first Filipino given that honor from the university).



USA Science and Engineering Festival: Gregorio Zara, PhD

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Nobel Prize in Physics 2014...

Photo: Y. Nakamura
Meijo University Isamu Akasaki
Prize share: 1/3
Hiroshi Amano
Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
Prize share: 2/3
Shuji Nakamura
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Prize share: 3/3



Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources".



"The Nobel Prize in Physics 2014". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 7 Oct 2014.

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: If you were to go to Best Buy and, while your friend did something distracting at the front of the store, dismantle one of the Sony 4K Triluminos TVs on display, you’d find a couple of remarkable materials inside. One of the materials is made of quantum dots—tiny crystals a few billionths of a meter in diameter that absorb light of one color and emit light of a very different hue and a very precise wavelength. They’re the basis, for example, for the brilliant red light you see in some medieval stained glass windows. And they’re the reason these Sony displays have some of the most stunning color you’ll see anywhere.

You’ll also find blue LEDs, a feat of science and engineering that took decades of concerted work to create. Like the quantum dots, they rely on quantum mechanics—they use ultrathin structures known as quantum wells to generate light efficiently. Without the blue LEDs, the quantum dots would be useless. The blue LEDs are the light source for the display. Some of the blue goes to lighting blue pixels in the display. The rest stimulates quantum dots to produce green and blue pixels. The red, green, and blue pixels together produce all the millions of colors the display can generate. [Note also Hyper Physics: Particle in a Finite-Walled Box]

Today (7 Oct) the inventors of blue LED lights—Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura—learned that they had won the Nobel Prize for physics. Sony’s Triluminos displays are just one of the latest technologies nased on their invention. Blue LEDs are also used to produce the white backlight inn many more conventional LCD displays, which produce red and green light using materials known as phosphors. The high color quality, compact size, and high efficiency of LED backlights made possible the ultrathin, vivid displays we have now in smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
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In the second installment of the 'Dark God's Gift: A Great Uncle's Legacy; Dr. Sybil Perth's unexpected car trouble in the middle of the Nevada Desert has met with good fortune. Her vehicle is being looked after and a kindly couple has taken her in for the night, but the solemn warning by one of her hosts to leave has fallen on deaf ears. The growing mystery surrounding the tiny community is far too intriguing for Dr. Perth to ignore....

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Print Books Outsold Ebooks the First Half of 2014

Fans of print books, who have long lived in fear that their neighborhood bookstore will be rendered obsolete by the ubiquity of ebooks in a matter of years, can take comfort in new numbers from Nielsen Books & Consumer showing that ebooks were outsold by both hardcovers and paperbacks in the first half of 2014.

According to Nielsen’s survey, ebooks constituted only 23 percent of unit sales for the first six months of the year, while hardcovers made up 25 percent and paperback 42 percent of sales. In other words, not only did overall print book sales, at 67 percent of the market, outpace ebook sales, both hardcovers and paperbacks individually outsold ebooks.

Given the explosive growth of ebook sales since the launch of the Kindle in 2007, with increases in the triple digits for several years, many expected the paper book industry to remain in retreat for the foreseeable future. Recently, however, ebook gains seem to have stabilized with hardcover and paperback books still comfortably dominant. In 2013, sales growth for ebooks slowed to single digits, and the new numbers from Nielsen suggest the leveling off was no anomaly.

At Electric Literature, Lincoln Michel theorizes that this anticipates a future in which paper books and ebooks will coexist peacefully. This hope was also expressed to Publishers Weekly last year by industry insiders, including Perseus Books Group CEO David Steinberger, who commented that: "A healthy, diverse marketplace with multiple format, price point, and channel choices for the consumer is generally a positive for readers, authors, and publishers overall.”

Author Stephen King told HuffPost Live recently that he also believes print books have a long and bright future ahead of them, saying, "I think books are going to be there for a long, long time to come." King compares books' prospects positively with those of CDs and vinyl."[A]udio recordings of music have only been around for, I'm going to say, 120 years at the most," he said. "Books have been around for three, four centuries ... There's a deeply implanted desire and understanding and wanting of books that isn't there with music."

This continuing variety in format doesn’t only appeal to choice-conscious consumers. It may be a boon for those worried about the possible downsides of ereading, given growing, though still preliminary, evidence that print books may allow for deeper reading and stronger understanding and memory than digital books. Advocates of more engaged reading have often warned that the increasing omnipresence of ereading might erode our capacity to read deeply.

If the new trends continue, such warnings of the death of print books, and their potential benefits, may prove to have been greatly exaggerated.

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