Philippine Coat of Arms: a Catholic Interpretation

Icons of the Philippine Coat of Arms

Icons of the Philippine Coat of Arms

Is Christianity still needed in today’s world?

Christianity (or a religion, for that matter) is not needed anymore.  The world is against established religious structures (e.g. Churches).  The against issues which Christians (particularly Catholics) advocate.  The debate on the existence of God is still very much an issue.  One could be “ethical” and leave a good and happy life without believing in God and belonging to a religion.  And scientific knowledge provides the answer to most of life’s questions and problems (thus Christianity seems to be absurd).

The world is against established religious structures such as churches.  But whenever the world removes the Church and its of sacramental life, it leaves a spiritual vacuum that the world has to find something to fill it with–another church–or should we say a cult–possessed not by the Holy Spirit but by a different kind of spirit which promotes ideas antithesis to the Catholic religion.  Remove the Sacrament of Baptism and the world replaces it with abortion.  Remove the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist and the world replaces it with the altars of the rock gods and idols in concerts and movie theaters.  Remove the Sacrament of Confession and the world replaces it with the Psychoanalyst’s couch.  Remove the Sacrament of Confirmation and the world replaces it with hazing ceremonies of fraternities.  Remove the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick and the world replaces it Euthanasia.  Remove the Sacrament of Marriage and the world replaces it with homosexual marriage, polygamy, prostitution, and fornication.  Remove the Sacrament of Holy Orders and the world replaces it with Orders according to strength and power such as those of the Communist Party and Freemasonry.

If the world is against the issues advocated by Christians, then this should not be surprising because Christ said to his disciples:

“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. 20Remember the word I spoke to you, No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours, 21And they will do all these things to you on account of my name,  because they do not know the one who sent me. (Jn 15:18-21)

One can debate on the existence of God, but the existence of God does not depend on the outcome of debates.  The only way to live is to do the wager of Pascal.  If God does not exist, then there is no difference between believing and not believing in his existence: we all die anyway.  But if God does exist and we live our life accordingly, then our reward is to be with Him forever.  To refuse to believe in Him would be the greatest insult and we shall be separated from Him forever.  Maybe an analogy would help.  Suppose you chance upon a Facebook page of the  woman of your dreams.  If you believe that the person behind the Facebook persona is true as her profile says and you communicated with  her always, live your life befitting of the love you have for her, and manage your Facebook posts so that you would not hurt her feelings, then one can be rewarded with marriage with her someday.  If she turns out to be a poser, you have wasted your time and energy–the same amount of time and energy you would waste had you ridiculed her and questioned existence.  If she is a poser, both you and the nonbeliever loses.  But if she turns out to be true, then only you will win and the nonbeliever will wail and gnash his teeth in the darkness.

One can be ethical without belonging to the Catholic religion, by only following one’s conscience.  Pagans who do so may also be rewarded with the beatific vision of God in heaven.  But it is difficult to be ethical in all one’s actions and thoughts, because one mistake can be fatal to one’s soul.  It is like looking for the house of your friend in a large city without knowing where it is and without a map.  One can go from house to house and ask if your friend lives there, but this would be very difficult, because people may slam doors on you or would not respond to your calls or were simply not around when you came.  The best way is really to ask your friend on the way to take to go to his house.  Similarly, the best way to live an ethical life is to ask God Himself on how to live an ethical life.  The good news is that God already answered our question through the Ten Commandments.  And in the fullness of time, God sent His own Son Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Scientific knowledge may provide answers to many questions: whether it will rain today, whether it will be high tide, and at what time the sun will set.  But science can only answer what it can measure and it cannot measure the things that really matter.  Facebook can count the number of our friends and wall posts but not our love and our trust for each of them.  Google can rank the relevance of all articles on the web, but not our memories of joy and laughter. Physics can speculate on the beginning of the universe but not the purpose of our existence.  Where physics ends, metaphysics begins.

Skyline movie review: Christian rapture and the war for human brains

My father and I watched the movie Skyline few Sundays ago. We came about 15 minutes late, but we made it to the Day One of the Alien Invasion. The film ran for about an hour and a half. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a 14% rating, i.e. bad movie. But I disagree.

First, there are no movie stars like Tom Cruise. I think this is a positive aspect of the movie. The characters are plain and boring–just like you and me. They represent many of people we know who spend the night away in parties and orgies. A casual sex made a girl pregnant and the man is not ready to be a father. The setting is a condominium and there is no family to speak of. An old man lives alone with a dog.

And second, the story was not well told because it has a hanging ending. When the movie ended and the cast of characters went up, the people still remained in their seats, wondering if the movie has really ended. I felt cheated that the movie did not end properly unlike Independence Day–a virus was delivered and the spaceships were destroyed. Or in Transformers: the Autobots defeated the Decepticons. A glorious morning shines after a terrible storm. But this is not how it ended in Skyline: in the face of an alien invasion, the humans–with all their jet fighters and nuclear missiles–are powerless. And the thought of powerlessness lingered long hours or days for me after watching the film.

Let us turn to some theological elements in the film:

1. Captivating Light and Beatific Vision

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, as quoted by Wikipedia, beatific vision is defined as follows:

The immediate knowledge of God which the angelic spirits and the souls of the just enjoy in Heaven. It is called “vision” to distinguish it from the mediate knowledge of God which the human mind may attain in the present life. And since in beholding God face to face the created intelligence finds perfect happiness, the vision is termed “beatific.”

The light seen by the human characters in the movie may also be called beatific in the superficial sense, because they find it wonderful to see.  Such a wonderful light pulls them towards the heavens, similar to what St. Paul described during the coming of Christ:

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thes 4:17)

But in the movie there was no heaven to speak of, but a deep pit of dark slime where humans are piled on top of each other.  This is Sheol, the abode of the dead.

Such an alien light reminds me of the shining darkness of sin (e.g. pornography): it captivates your vision, drawing you closer to read or see more, until your soul is plunged in the darkness of sin.  Not to look is difficult for the will, unless another person immediately pulls you out from the captivating light.  This reminds me of the palantir of Orthanc that Pippin looked into and the Dark Lord Sauron caught hold of his mind; Pippin only recovered when he confessed his sin to Gandalf.

2.  War for the human brain

The alien creatures may be classified as octopi and behemoths.  Octopi creatures capable of flight.  No, they do not scan for electromagnetic radiation like that in the Matrix and zoom in for the kill.  Instead, they seek human and draws them out either by lure or by force.  Behemoths, on the other, have nothing else to do but to crush everything in its path.

These alien creatures remind me of the modern-day headhunters: multinationals, governments, and non-government organizations.  They get the best minds to join them and the persons they get became imbued with the organization’s culture and values.  I am thinking countries like China, companies like Planned Parenthood, and the many organizations which promote the homosexual lobby.  What the movie’s ending may be saying is that it is possible to be part of these organizations while keeping your own mind.  Tyranny is terrified by the human free will and tyrants will try to keep human mind in control either by brainwashing the adults in universities or by sucking the brains of infants in partial birth abortion.

The movie ends with utter hopelessness: no US nuke missiles can destroy the alien ships. The US tried all their military hardware and software against Vietnam; US lost the war.  The US also tried their military might against Iraq; the US is now recalling back its forces.  The US has not learned its lesson well: a war of the mind cannot be fought with guns and nukes.  The religion of peace called Islam can only be converted by the peace of Christ, the Lion from the Tribe of Judah.  The Great Red Dragon that is communist Russia and China can only be defeated by the Woman Clothed With the Sun, Our Lady of Fatima.  And the multi-tentacled behemoth that is Planned Parenthood can only be destroyed by She Who Crushed the Head of the Serpent, Tequaxalupeaux, Our Lady of Guadalupe whose feast we now celebrate.  In the end, this is what we can be sure: the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary shall triumph.

This was quoted by Filmer who disagrees with this idea:

Fr. Aristotle C. Dy, S.J.: “Is it possible to be a Buddhist Christian?”

Is it possible to be a Buddhist Christian?
A talk by Fr. Aristotle C. Dy, SJ
Thursday, September 3, 4:30-6:00pm
Conference Room 1, Ricardo and Dr. Rosita Leong Hall, Loyola Heights Campus
Organized by the Loyola Schools Chinese Studies Program
For reservations, call Ritch at (63-2) 426-6001 local 5280 or Lally at local 5208

Note: I was not able to attend this talk.  If there is someone who has slides or transcript for Fr. Dy’s talk, I would be happy to get a copy.  But here is a comparison of Buddhism and Christianity from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

Buddhism vs Christianity

Another fatal defect of Buddhism is its false pessimism. A strong and healthy mind revolts against the morbid view that life is not worth living, that every form of conscious existence is an evil. Buddhism stands condemned by the voice of nature the dominant tone of which is hope and joy. It is a protest against nature for possessing the perfection of rational life. The highest ambition of Buddhism is to destroy that perfection by bringing all living beings to the unconscious repose of Nirvana. Buddhism is thus guilty of a capital crime against nature, and in consequence does injustice to the individual. All legitimate desires must be repressed. Innocent recreations are condemned. The cultivation of music is forbidden. Researches in natural science are discountenanced. The development of the mind is limited to the memorizing of Buddhist texts and the study of Buddhist metaphysics, only a minimum of which is of any value. The Buddhist ideal on earth is a state of passive indifference to everything. How different is the teaching of Him who came that men might have life and have it more abundantly. Again Buddhist pessimism is unjust to the family. Marriage is held in contempt and even abhorrence as leading to the procreation of life. In thus branding marriage as a state unworthy of man, Buddhism betrays its inferiority to Christianity, which recommends virginity but at the same time teaches that marriage is a sacred union and a source of sanctification. Buddhist pessimism likewise does injustice to society. It has set the seal of approval on the Brahmin prejudice against manual labor. Since life is not worth living, to labour for the comforts and refinements of civilized life is a delusion. The perfect man is to subsist not by the labour of his hands but on the alms of inferior men. In the religion of Christ, “the carpenter’s son”, a healthier view prevails. The dignity of labour is upheld, and every form of industry is encouraged that tends to promote man’s welfare.

Buddhism has accomplished but little for the uplifting of humanity in comparison with Christianity. One of its most attractive features, which, unfortunately, has become wellnigh obsolete, was its practice of benevolence towards the sick and needy. Between Buddhists and Brahmins there was a commendable rivalry in maintaining dispensaries of food and medicine. But this charity did not, like the Christian form, extend to the prolonged nursing of unfortunates stricken with contagious and incurable diseases, to the protection of foundlings, to the bringing up of orphans, to the rescue of fallen women, to the care of the aged and insane. Asylums and hospitals in this sense are unknown to Buddhism. The consecration of religious men and women to the lifelong service of afflicted humanity is foreign to dreamy Buddhist monasticism. Again, the wonderful efficacy displayed by the religion of Christ in purifying the morals of pagan Europe has no parallel in Buddhist annals. Wherever the religion of Buddha has prevailed, it has proved singularly inefficient to lift society to a high standard of morality. It has not weaned the people of Tibet and Mongolia from the custom of abandoning the aged, nor the Chinese from the practice of infanticide. Outside the establishment of the order of nuns, it has done next to nothing to raise woman from her state of degradation in Oriental lands. It has shown itself utterly helpless to cope with the moral plagues of humanity. The consentient testimony of witnesses above the suspicion of prejudice establishes the fact that at the present day Buddhist monks are everywhere strikingly deficient in that moral earnestness and exemplary conduct which distinguished the early followers of Buddha. In short, Buddhism is all but dead. In its huge organism the faint pulsations of life are still discernible, but its power of activity is gone. The spread of European civilization over the East will inevitably bring about its extinction.

Aiken, Charles Francis. Buddhism.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 7 Sept. 2009 <;.

(Note: The converse may be true: the present spread of Buddhism in Christian West is a symptom of the West’s abandonment of its Christian foundation.)

Is Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) the Church from the Far East or Far West?

One of the favorite verses used by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) to buttress its claim that the Catholic Church apostasized after the death of the apostles and the reemergence of the true Church in the Far East is Isaiah (43:5-6):

Moffatt Translation: “From the far east will I bring your offspring, and from the far west I will gather you.” (emphasis ours)

Today’s English Version: “Do not be afraid—I am with you! From the distant east and the farthest west I will bring your people home.” (emphasis ours)

as quoted by Marlex C. Cantor of INC-Pasugo.

But we must note that Isaiah is a Jew and his prophecies are meant for the Jewish people.  if we look at the Isaiah passage carefully, we see that the text simply says that the Jews, after their diaspora, will be gathered again from all the four corners of the world: East, West, North, and South.  This in fact happenned after their Babylonian captivity in 586 BC and their subsequent return in 538 BC, as recorded in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah.  This also happenned again after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Romans and the return of the Jews to form the State of Israel in May 14, 1948.   Thus, the passage in Isaiah speaks of the gathering up of the Jews after their diaspora and not the formation of Iglesia ni Cristo in the Far East.

Why do the INC insist in the Far East?  If we follow the Moffatt translation, the new Church of Christ could also have been in the Far West.  And Far North and Far South, for that matter, for these places must also “give up” the sons of Israel.

In the passage of Isaiah, the center of the world is in Israel: everything else is determined with respect to it–East and West, North and South.  When INC tries to apply that passage to the modern era, the division of the world into East and West is not anymore centered on Jerusalem, but somewhere between Rome (the Western Roman Empire) and Byzantium or Constantinople  (The Eastern Roman Empire)–now in Istanbul, Turkey.  Great Britain, a western civilization, became an worldwide empire in the Modern Age and the terms Near East, Middle East, and Far East was invented, still with respect to the old boundaries of the Old Roman Empires:

The term Far East was popularized in the English language during the period of the British Empire as a blanket term for lands to the east of British India. Prior to World War I, the Near East referred to relatively nearby lands of the Ottoman Empire, Middle East to northwestern South Asia and Central Asia, and Far East for countries along the western Pacific Ocean and countries along the eastern Indian Ocean.(Wikipedia)

The Eastern and Western Roman Empires were two halves of the Roman Empire under Theodosius I, who made Catholicism as the empire’s official religion.  Thus, if INC insists that it rose from the Far East, then INC accepts the division of the world defined by Christians in general and Catholics in particular.  INC is not a Christian church, since it denies the divinity of Christ.  INC is closer to Islam, who claims that “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.”  For INC, “There is no God but the God of Jesus, Jesus is his prophet, and Manalo is his last prophet.”

Fr. Peter H. Kolvenbach, S.J. on the Difficulties of Dialogue with Islam

Giacomelli: Let’s go on to another frontline apostolate entrusted to you by the Pope: dialogue with non-Christian religions.  You’ve lived for twenty-fiver years in the Lebanon, you’ve had contact with Moslem believers.  Have you ever tried to hold a dialogue with the followers of Islam?  More Important still, is religious dialogue possible with Moslems?

Kolvenbach: Dialogue is possible, but clarity’s the think.  Dialogues begun by putting confidence in similarities accepted without much discernment can only lead to sentimental and superficial agreements.  If the dialogue is conducted without sincerity, there can be not true meeting of minds betweeen those taking part.  Manipulating Islam to make it a mirror-image of Christinaity impedes true contact and dialogue in depth with living, present-day Islam.  Moslems and Christians proclaim themselves to be children of Abraham, yet we are not in fact brothers in Abraham, but in Christ.  For Islam, Abraham is the first monotheist, while for Christians he is the father of the covenant between God and his people: and inconceivable thing for a Moslem.  Similarly, the Virgin Mary is venerated by Catholic believers and by Moslems.  Yet for Moslems she is only themiracle of God’s omnipotence: God can do anything, so why shouldn/t he be able to turn motherhood into virginity?  Whereas for Christians, Mary is the new creature who, through her free assent, was forechosen to be the Theotokos, the Mother of God.  thus Mary becomes the ikon of the Church, offering an ideal of consecrated virginity which is unthinkable in Islam.  To refuse, because of false sense of charity, to face up to Islam, with all the apparent, insuperble difficulties that acceptance of the truth entails, means taking the risk of depriving Moslems of the path to a true understanding of Christianity.

Giacomelli: We hear a lot about Islamic fundamentalism today, and religious and political agitation in the Arab world is attributed to it.  Should we lookon this fundamentalism as a passing phenomenon?

Kolvenbach: The intolerant and aggressive character of jihad has its source in a theological concept of the will of God.  Islam is faith in God and in his Book.  The Koran is not merely central to Islam: it is its essence.   For Christians, the Incarnate Word is the immediate Word of God, while the Bible is the mediated Word.  For Moslems, in contrast, the Koran as book is the immediate Word of God.  Christians wish the Bible to be translated into every language and spread throught the world; Islam find it hard to accept that the Koran, having been revealed in Arabic by God, can be prayed, read and written inay language other than the one in which god himself revealed it.   Now, the Koran, the essence of Islam, is a law.  Hence the ordinances found in it are divine and, since the explicity will of God are universally binding on everyone, everywhere.  the are definitive, having binding force to the end of time.  To take one example: the Ramadan fast hasn’t altered in thecourse of many hundreds of years.  the notion of renewal, of adaptation or revision, which in Christianty are the fruit of the Spirit, conflicts with the divine character of  every ordinance of Islam.

These points having been made, let me now give you an answer to your question.  What we call Islamic fundamentalism is not a passing phenomenon, nor is it the expression of some individual’s fanaticism: it is Islam as it’s supposed to be Hence the difficulty, for a Middle Eastern government, of opposing the will of God.  christians deeply believe that the Spirit guides the Church, by means of renewal, towards the whole, entire truth of god.  Islam has to follow an immutable datum, since that has been divinely revealed; hence its intolerant, fanatical and fundamentalist aspect, summed up in the unfortunate expression holy war. It’ clear I’m referring to the Islamic religion as sucn; I’m not passing judgement on the individual Moslem, nor on his faith in God, nor on his faithfulness to the Koran.

Peter H. Kolvenbach, S.J., Men of God: Meh for Others: The Jesuits, an Obedient Avant-Guard Confronting the Challenges of the Modern World, interviewed by Renzo Giacomelli, trans. by Alan Neame (Makati, St. Paul Publications, 1990), pp. 108-109.


Submission Number:
Wayne Toberer
Initiative Name:
The constitution of the United States of America guarantees freedom of speech whether that speech be from extremists, moderates, or conservatives. The constitution also guarantees the freedom of the press - extended to electronic media not only hard copy newsmagazines, newspapers, etc. Regulating and taxing any form of media (especially conservative shows, blogs, websites, etc.) is working toward ultimate control of the media and what we, the populace, are going to be able to read. It will especially lead to only one view - the view that only a few people want seen. Many of these thoughts and ideas are being proposed by socialist thinkers not freedom loving, country loving people. Many might argue that this is not socialism, but rather moving to a one world (utopian) government. In his book, 1984, George Orwell wrote about a society that was controlled by one central group of people. The media was controlled in such a way that everyone heard or read only what "Big Brother" decided was essential for controlling the populace. Much of our current media is being "controlled" from Washington D.C. in much the same way that Orwell alluded to in his book. We are often being fed news that is definitly biased toward the current administration and the administration's views. Restricting reporting that does not always reflect the desires of Washington D.C. is a noose around the necks of the American people. This great nation was founded upon principles that provided for public opinion of many types. Throughout the history of this country many things have been disagreed and agreed upon by "we the people". We, as a nation, have grown strong because of the opportunities to oppose, reject, or even change ideas. The United States of America has become the greatest nation in world history. Do not destroy our nation because some media chiefs, polititions, or special groups do not like what is being presented in conservative media.


AuthorsY. Li, M. Zhang, T. Yue, S. Ali and L. Zhang
TitleSearch-based Uncertainty-wise Requirements Prioritization
AfilliationSoftware Engineering
Publication TypeProceedings, refereed
Year of Publication2017
Conference NameThe 22nd International Conference on Engineering of Complex Computer Systems

To ensure the quality of requirements, a common practice, especially in critical domains, is to review requirements within a limited time and monetary budgets. A requirement with higher importance, larger number of dependencies with other requirements, and higher implementation cost should be re-viewed with the highest priority. However, requirements are inherently uncertain in terms of their impact on the requirements implementation cost. Such cost is typically estimated by stakeholders as an interval, though an exact value is often used in the literature for requirements optimization (e.g., prioritization). Such a practice, therefore, ignores uncertainty inherent in the estimation of requirements implementation cost. This paper explicitly taken into account such uncertainty for requirement prioritization and formulates four objectives for uncertainty-wise requirements prioritization with the aim of maximizing 1) the importance of requirements, 2) requirements dependencies, 3) the implementation cost of requirements, and 4) cost over-run probability. We evaluated the multi-objective search algorithm NSGA-II together with Random Search (RS) using the RALIC dataset and 19 artificial problems. Results show that NSGA-II can solve the requirements prioritization problem with a significantly better performance than RS. Moreover, NSGA-II can prioritize requirements with higher priority earlier in the prioritization sequence. For example, in the case of the RALIC dataset, the first 10% of prioritized requirements in the prioritization sequence are on average 50% better than RS in terms of prioritization effectiveness.

Citation Key25519


Turn-key full automation ham processing

Metalquimia presents the AUTOLINES turn-key integral automatic ham processing plants, which integrate injection, tenderization, massaging, maturation, stuffing, clipping, cooking and cooling, in an entirely automatic and continuous flow line.

AUTOLINES presented by Metalquimia are the most modern, productive, versatile, compact, energy-efficient, safe, clean and profitable systems in the world meat market, for processing cooked meat products with completely proven vanguard technology.


Parsnip Cashew Nut Roast Recipe

The healthiest vegan diet program begins with fresh make, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds – basically, the ingredients that form the basis for our 4 Pillars of Healthier EatingYou can discover most of what you need for a satisfying and nutritionally sound vegan diet plan in our generate aisle and bulk bin section. For fresh gourmet vegan meals that are GMO-, gluten-, soy-, and dairy-free of charge, verify out the vegan meal delivery service championed by the one and only Beyoncé. At time of writing these incorporate a handful of vegan Ethiopian food stalls as well as Pomodoro e Basilico (Italian vegan food) located at the Boilerhouse. They offer you vegan pizza produced with Daiya cheese and with toppings like seitan sausage and soy pepperoni.

They have a cafe that prioritizes vegan food (such as wraps, soups, and baked goods) and a downstairs meeting space that can be reserved for events. Marble Sweets – I genuinely hope this list of protein-rich foods is beneficial to your mother. They specialize in totally-customizable vegan hot dogs, and also serve veg chili, salads, and side dishes. Learn how to be vegan with our valuable cookbooks and courses that teach you how to cook, balance your meals, lose weight, stock your kitchen, and a lot more! Vegans can get all the protein they need to have from lentils, tempeh, tofu, beans, nuts, seeds, and even vegetables.

You can order from their lengthy vegan pie menu names like Vegan Angel of Doom, Thunder and Lightning, and New Maps Out of Hell. Vegan furnishings makers designing and constructing modern furniture employing salvaged, reclaimed and new material. Energy in meals, as measured by calories are supplied by carbohydrate, fat and protein. Innovative recipes make this meal delivery service’s vegan meal options scrumptious and satisfying. It delivers a devoted vegan choice in addition to juices, cleanses, and detoxes.

In reality, vegans eat almost everything non-vegans consume, but without the animal items and most likely with a lot more selection from particular foods. Franktuary is a sit-down, full-service restaurant, exactly where you can order customizable vegan hot dogs and vegan sausages. Vegan cafe providing raw and organic meals, primary courses, desserts, smoothies as nicely as catering for events. Eggs and oatmeal look to be quite common amongst the list of breakfast favorites for readers of this Hub!

This occurs since plant foods are bulky, wealthy in fibre and lower in calories than meat or cheese that are not eaten. I personally really like to consume vegetables, fruits and nuts to acquire necessity percentage of protein for my physique rather than opting meat or poultry. Vegan possibilities are many and contain salads, rice and noodle dishes, sushi rolls, tempura, spring rolls, and entrees such as Basic Tso and Kung Pao Tofu.


The teaser poster of Zoya Akhtar's next film 'Dil Dhadakne Do' was released yesterday.

'Dil Dhadakne Do' teaser poster
'Dil Dhadakne Do'

The film features an ensemble cast including Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra, Farhan Akhtar, Anushka Sharma, Anil Kapoor and Shefali Shah, and revolves around a dysfunctional Punjabi family on a cruise trip.

The film is scheduled for release on June 5, 2015.


Man Rescues Old Drone with New Drone

“Make new drones, but keep the old…”

You know I can be found/sitting home all alone/

This reminds me of WALL-E:

more from Christine Linnell.

Christopher Cocca

Get it done, science.

Why Do We Dream?

Hope is a tattered flag and a dream of time,” wrote Carl Sandburg.  We delight in, struggle with, are comforted, haunted, challenged, or vexed by these sometimes sweeping, sometimes simple arcs. Dreams are fleeting tapestries of memories, fears, hopes, doubts, unresolved problems, traumatic events, desires, things we could have should have would have done or said.  Why do we have them?  Where do they come from, really?  How is it even possible that our brains construct them in the first place?

Science doesn’t really know.  Researchers have linked the phenomenon of dreaming to memory-making, problem-solving, and the processing of information and emotion.  Renee Descartes, the 17th-century French philosopher famous for formulating the maxim cogito ergo sum (“I think, therefore I am”), warned that dreams prove the fundamental duplicity of our senses.  Lucid dreams (dreams in which we know we are dreaming) are rare, prompting Descartes to note that to a dreamer in the act of dreaming, the dreamed reality is experienced as reality.  Our senses are unable to properly distinguish the dream-time simulation from real-world experience.  Consider this an early formulation of the sensory anxieties inherent to various brain-in-a-vat scenarios or the Matrix films.

Can't_readMany people believe that left-brain functions, such as reading, are impossible while dreaming.  This concept was a key plot point in a 1992 episode of Batman: The Animated Series in which Bruce Wayne realizes he’s captured in an induced, idyllic dream (his parents are alive) when he repeatedly tries and fails to read newspapers and books.  This episode is so well-remembered that Google assumes you want to add “batman” to  the search phrase “can you read in dreams” (which of course you do).  Batman makes everything better, but it’s not as clear whether the no-reading meme is true.  Lots of people say they’ve read in dreams, but because that makes Batman a liar (more likely, they are lying, because Batman), I have my doubts.

Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the double-helix structure of DNA, held that dreams were essential to problem-solving, allowing the otherwise resting mind to sort through millions of inputs and establish patterns.  Crick’s research partner, James Watson, famously claims to have realized the double-helix structure after dreaming of a spiral staircase in the thick of their research.  Descartes himself claimed to created what become the basis of Western material philosophy, the scientific method, in a dream.

Although we still don’t really know for certain why we dream, scientific consensus seems to be with Crick.  Minus the inventory of mental needs that comprise our waking hours, in sleep, our minds are free to fire different neural paths and establish intellectual, emotional, and other connections we’re often kept from making otherwise.  In fact, with apologies to Fiona Apple, problem-solving isn’t just the reason for dreams, but for the very act of sleeping.

We sleep, it seems, to dream, and we dream to make sense of life, to better understand and experience our world, ourselves, and our relationship to everything between.  Here the spiritual experience of dreams as visions or prophetic words are not at odds with the likes of Descartes or Crick, and certainly not with Sandburg.  We are vessels of knowledge, hope, and time seeking understanding, clarity of purpose.  We seek better patterns, fairer systems, and, sometimes, we find them.

4 Extinct Prehistoric North American Species Encountered by the Continent’s Ancient Human Settlers

1. American cheetah:  North America used to have cheetahs, or more accurately, cheetah-like big cats with puma faces. Like the other species on this list, it survived in North America down to the time of human migration to the continent.

2. Speaking of which, it blows my mind to think of Paleoindian populations living alongside the mighty Glyptodon, but that’s apparently exactly what they did, at least for a while.  These armored tanks, relatives of armadillos, anteaters, and sloths, stood close to 5 feet high and 11 feet long.  They are thought to have been eradicated by humanity’s penchant for over-hunting. According to the never-wrong editors of Wikipedia, ancient peoples used Glyptodon shells for shelter.

3. In the 1840s, the U.S. Army thought camels would make good pack animals because deserts.  It didn’t work out because horses are apparently afraid of camels.  That’s not to say the idea was totally without historic or scientific basis.  The Camelops survived in North America until 10000 years ago.

4. Mastodon is often wrongly thought of as a synonym for mammoth, but it turns out the North American mastodon, though closely resembling both mammoths and elephants, is closely related to neither.

Can you imagine a world in which mastodons and glyptodons roamed the American plains down to recent history?  It’s a shame that didn’t happen.  So too the extinction of many other species since 1500.  Just the thought of human beings interacting with these creatures in the first place is outstanding.  I wish they would have left some.


Religion Parliament to Meet in Chicago

MORE than 20 religious delegations have announced plans for a 1993 Parliament of World's Religions. The event will mark the centennial of the original Parliament of World's Religions, convened at Chicago's Columbian Exposition in 1893. The idea behind the centennial is to bring various faiths together to focus on how to solve community problems. Most of the world's major religions from Christianity to Buddhism will be represented as well as religions such as Bahaism and Zoroastrianism. ``We would like to make it a model in the Chicago metropolitan region of how religion can address social issues and act as a bridge between the different cultures and races in the area,'' says Bud Polk, publicity chairman for the council that is planning the parliament.

The formal announcement on Nov. 4 of the event took place at the University of Chicago. ``What we want is a global concourse of all religions.... [But] if this is just going to be the old-style religion, then the global concourse won't make much sense,'' said keynote speaker Paulos Mar Gregorios, the Bishop of the Delhi, India, Syrian Orthodox Church and president of the World Council of Churches for Asia.

Religion in the past has too often caused wars and sided with oppressors rather than the oppressed, which has led to the rise of secular humanism in the West, he said. ``We don't need to fight secularism. We need to learn from it.'' The current parliament differs from the 1893 event. Then, most Americans had never seen a Buddhist or a Muslim, and delegations of the various religions had to travel to Chicago from India, Japan, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Now, representatives of those religions already live in Chicago.


Marc Grossman calls on Hafeez Sheikh

The newly accredited US Special Representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc Grossman, who is visiting Pakistan, called on Federal Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh here on Sunday.During the meeting, the Federal Minister gave a detailed account of the economic reforms, which the government has been taking to improve the economic condition of the country. Dr. Hafeez highlighted the budget priorities, which were resource mobilization, expenditure cut, tax measures and control of inflation and recounted the efforts of the government, said a press release issued here.

Earlier, the Federal Minister gave an overview of the state of the economy when the government took over in 2008.
“Economic growth was lost due to non reconciliation of development with reforms due to which the whole macro-economic framework affected,” he said.
Dr. Hafeez said that he had to take difficult decisions to transit the national economy towards development in adjustment of floods and increase in oil prices in international market.
Marc Grossman appreciated the government’s economic measures and hoped that these measures would benefit the people of Pakistan in the days to come.


Large, shallow pan Crossword Clue

Greetings to all crossword lovers! Today's (14 July 2017), we bring you yet another crossword by New York Times and its clue "Large, shallow pan". After checking out all the hints provided by the New York Times, other sources and relevant information for the crossword puzzle, we are now all ready to solve the given clue: Large, shallow pan.

Answer: SHEET

Crossword Date: 14 July 2017

Crossword solver - "Large, shallow pan"

If you believe we have a mistake with the suggested answer for today clue "Large, shallow pan" ,


Going beyond supply cost benchmarking

Since its introduction, Procured Health’s Analytics platform has pushed the frontier of cost optimization, taking an evidence-based approach to identify strategies within clinically sensitive product categories.

Now with the inclusion of Market Insights, you can go even further—comparing your organization’s product selection, utilization and pricing against peer organizations. Because Market Insights are grounded in Procured Health’s proprietary clinical product categories, hospitals and clinicians are finally able to analyze comparative data and answer questions related to appropriate use of premium-priced products, technology adoption trends and vendor pricing strategies.

By combining clinical evidence with Market Insights, you can act confidently to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes.


Trading Radar: SuperTrend Spotted Below Stock Price for Tamm Oil and Gas Corp (TAMO)

Zooming in on shares of Tamm Oil and Gas Corp (TAMO), we have seen that the SuperTrend indicator is presently below the stock price. Traders tracking this signal may be contemplating a possible sell at current levels.

Investors have the option to employ technical indicators when conducting stock research. At the time of writing, Tamm Oil and Gas Corp (TAMO) has a 14-day Commodity Channel Index (CCI) of 48.80. Developed by Donald Lambert, the CCI is a versatile tool that may be used to help spot an emerging trend or provide warning of extreme conditions. CCI generally measures the current price relative to the average price level over a specific time period. CCI is relatively high when prices are much higher than average, and relatively low when prices are much lower than the average.

Checking in on some other technical levels, the 14-day RSI is currently at 54.07, the 7-day stands at 57.49, and the 3-day is sitting at 69.62. The RSI, or Relative Strength Index, is a commonly used technical momentum indicator that compares price movement over time. The RSI was created by J. Welles Wilder who was striving to measure whether or not a stock was overbought or oversold. The RSI may be useful for spotting abnormal price activity and volatility. The RSI oscillates on a scale from 0 to 100. The normal reading of a stock will fall in the range of 30 to 70. A reading over 70 would indicate that the stock is overbought, and possibly overvalued. A reading under 30 may indicate that the stock is oversold, and possibly undervalued.

By Sherwood Contributor


current international roots, many of which are polysyllables.

It follows that a language designed on the speedword principle would not be as easy to learn for purposes of reading, writing or speaking as a language built up of unmutilated internationally current word-material. For that reason Interglossa eschews contracted forms except for 5 essential pronouns, the 2 interrogative and imperative particles, and a special class of 13 generic substantives or amplifiers (pp. 97-105) which enter into large groups of compounds. The last-named have alternative full forms. At the same time, a language of which all the essential vocables do not exceed 900 is well adapted to make use of the Dutton principle for note-taking and other purposes for which economy of space and speed of transcription are specially important. It is possible to represent each vocable of Interglossa by a distinct monosyllable based on the initial letters or bisyllable made up of not more than four letters, keeping the average length of a word to 2.6 letters. It would not be possible to do the same thing with a natural language— other than Basic English— because too many of the combinations of less than 4 initial letters would have to be the same. A casual glance at any page of a dictionary suffices to prove this.

Since each pigeon-hole in the 880-item semantic schema has its appropriate number, it is possible to communicate with a code of ten symbols, i.e. the Arabic numerals, without using more than three consecutive symbols for each word. Thus, dispatched fifty kilograms wheat last month is: 464. 31.26.38. 717. 625. 72. 68. This involves recourse to half as many symbols from a keyboard with less than half as many items.


Menopause: A Close-Up Look

As the life expectancy has increased markedly, more and more women are living longer after menopause. In western society, women can anticipate living for approximately 80 years, spending more than one third of their lives in the postmenopausal period. Menopause refers to the complete or permanent cessation of menstruation; an interval of 6 to 12 months of amenorrhea is usually necessary to establish the diagnosis of menopause. The median age of menopause in the United States is 51.4 years, with a range of 48 to 55 years. Although it has been suggested that the age of menopause may be increasing. When menopause occurs at 35 years of age or younger, it is classified as premature menopause.

The biologic event of menopause marks a meaningful life passage for every woman. It is a transition made from the reproductive stage of life to the non-reproductive stage. This transition is the period of declining ovarian function, which usually becomes apparent clinically over the 2 to 5 years around menopause. The population of postmenopausal women continues to rise; currently approximately 470 million women in the world are of age 50 and older- a figure that is projected to increase to 1.2 billion by 2030. It is estimated that 25 million women each year pass into menopause. Several studies have shown that both the number of cigarettes smoked and the duration of smoking affects the onset of menopause and it induces earlier menopause.

Endocrine Changes:

Menopause should be looked on as a hormonal deficient state. The primary alteration in the reproductive endocrine system is probably in the ovary, which demonstrates decreasing responsitivity to stimulation by pituitary gonadotrophins, leading to a further drop in estrogen levels. Several years before menopause and during the perimenopausal phase, which is the time just before menopause, there is a gradual increase in circulating FSH toward the upper limit for normal during the menstrual cycle, a concomitant decrease in serum estradiol level, no significant change in LH level, and only a slight decrease in serum progesterone. These changes are still associated with follicular maturation and corpus luteum development. After age 40, it is more common for the follicular phase to be shorter. However, serum LH levels later become elevated but still to a lesser extent than FSH levels. Anovulatory cycles may be interspersed with ovulatory cycles, and consequent anovulatory bleeding may occur. The progressive decline in ovarian follicles and the increased resistance to gonadotropins give rise to decreased estrogen production and also inhibin levels. The combination of decreased inhibin and estradiol levels is probably responsible for the early elevation of FSH.

During the perimenopausal years, estradiol is the principal circulating estrogen, is made almost entirely by the maturing ovarian follicles during each cycle, and is therefore primarily derived from the ovary. After the menopause, ovarian estrogen production decreases markedly secondary to the failure of adequate follicular recruitment, growth, and maturation. Estradiol levels decline to 20 to 25 pg/ ml or less after the menopause, and therefore estrone now becomes the principal circulating estrogen. Serum levels of testosterone are slightly lower than in the perimenopausal state.

Menopausal Symptoms:

A variety of problems or symptoms arise at or after the menopause, which have an impact on the quality of life. In addition,the increases in morbidity related to several serious conditions, such as osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease are seen in postmenopausal years.

  1. Cardiovascular Disease: It is the leading cause of death in American women, with 500,000 deaths occurring annually, most of which are atherosclerosis - mediated disorders, mainly myocardial infarction and strokes. Twice as many women die of cardiovascular disease than of cancer. After menopause there is a considerable increase in serum cholesterol. Most studies also found an increase in triglycerides, a significant increase in LDL, and a significant decrease in HDL, notably after acute estrogen withdrawal as in the case of surgical castration.

  2. Psycho-neuro-endocrine Effects: Headaches, tiredness, lethargy, irritability, anxiety, nervousness, depression, sleep difficulties, inability to concentrate, and hot flushes are symptoms for which perimenopausal and post menopausal women frequently seek medical assistance. As many as 85% of post menopausal woman have hot flushes, and up to 45% of them continue to experience hot flushes for 5 to 10 years after the menopause. Characteristically, a hot flush begins in the head and facial areas with a sensation of warmth followed by facial flushing that may radiate down the neck and to other parts of the body. Each hot flush averages 2.7 minutes and is associated with an increase in temperature, increased pulse rate, increased blood flow in the hand and increased skin conductance, followed by a decline in temperature and profuse perspiration over the area of flush distribution. Episode of hot flush during sleep are referred to as night sweats.

    A rapid estrogen withdrawal rather than a low estrogen level by itself is likely to induce hot flushes. Synchronous with the onset of each hot flush is the release of a pulse of LH. Sleep deprivation and interrupted sleep may develop in postmenopausal women. Although estrogen does not alter the duration of sleep significantly, the sleep latency interval is significantly reduced and the percentage of time spent in REM sleep is significantly increased.

    Hypoestrogenic levels after the menopause provide a biochemical framework for possible development of depression. Although other nonspecific menopausal complaints, such as headache, tiredness, lethargy, irritability, anxiety, and nervousness, may also be due to family, social, and personal environmental factors.

  3. Skin and Uro-genital Effects: Loss of ovarian function and decreased estrogen levels after the menopause reduce skin thickness secondary to a significant decrease in epidermal thickness and collagen content. As a result of postmenopausal skin thinning, skin is clinically lax, is more transparent, has more readily visible capillaries and blood vessels, and is also more easily bruised. Additionally, the vaginal epithelial cells contain less glycogen and the acidity of the vagina changes after the menopause. Coital difficulties need not arise from thinning of the vaginal epithelium as long as regular coital activity is maintained. With severe atrophy or atrophic vaginitis, however dysparunia may occur. Sexual response remains intact, but because of age related neuro-endocrine and circulatory alterations in postmenopausal women, the timing and extent of the phases of sexual stimulation and pattern of response change occurs.

    Urodynamic evaluations indicate a 30% drop in urethral closure pressure at rest and during stress in urethral closure pressure at rest and during stress in postmenopausal women because of atrophy of the urethral mucosa, which is emryologically derived from uro-genital sinus and is estrogen sensitive. Senile urethritis or atrophic urethritis secondary to hypoestrogenism may occur in postmenopausal women. The condition is clinically characterized by urgency, frequency, dysuria, and suprapubic pain in the absence of urinary tract infection.

  4. Bone Effect: osteoporosis is one of the most significant long-term sequelae of menopause but can be readily prevented of reduced through appropriate preventive management. Osteoporosis is responsible for 1.5 million fractures annually and $6 billion in healthcare costs. 25% of women or 5 million women will have radiologic evidence of osteoporosis by 60 years of age. Of women living to 80 years, one in four can expect to have fracture of hip. The incidence of hip fractures in women doubles each decade after 50 years. Hip fractures are six times more common in women than in men, with 85% of such fractures occurring in women. In the initial period of up to 4 to 5 years after the menopause, there is accelerated loss of bone mineral mass, after which the rate of further loss is a little lower and more age-related. This bone loss produces osteopenia, which is defined as decreased calcification of density of bone. Thus, the three most common fractures seen in postmenopausal women are of the vertebrae, ultra distal radius, and the neck of femur, all of which are sites of high trabecular bone composition.

Reduce weight for height ratio, white or asian ethnicity, nulliparity, alcohol abuse, positive family history, low calcium intake, high sodium intake, cigarette smoking, early menopause, sedentary life-style, high caffeine intake, high protein intake, secondary loss (glycocorticoid therapy, hyperthyrodism, hypoparathyroidism)

Evaluation and Workup:

For women who undergo natural menopause at the normal expected age and for those who undergo hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oopherectomy, evaluation usually includes a complete history (including dietary practice) and physical examination. Pap smear, mammogram and lipid profile. Because osteopenia and osteoporosis are important long-term sequelae of the menopause, determination of bone mass is frequently recommended. Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) for measuring bone density appears to be reliable and promising and is preferred.

FSH and LH levels are sometimes evaluated to confirm the diagnosis of menopause. Other appropriate workups should be performed when there are relevant symptoms, such as workup related to urinary continence problems, psycho emotional states (depression and anxiety).

  1. Calcium:

    Adequate calcium intake appears to play an important role in preventing osteoporosis and fracture. The daily intake of calcium for postmenopausal women should be at least 1200 mg. The contribution of calcium supplementation or increased calcium intake by itself without estrogen replacement therapy is probably small but remains to be clearly defined. If calcium supplementation is needed, calcium can be given as calcium carbonate, calcium chloride, calcium lactate, calcium gluconate, bone meal, and dolomite or calcium citrate. A simple way of administering calcium supplement is to use an antacid (Tums), which contains calcium.
    Foods which promote calcium absorption, are: protein, lactose, carbohydrate, and acids- lactic, citric.
    Foods which inhibit calcium absorption, are: oxalates- leafy vegetables, phytic acid- grains, high phosphorus- meat, carbonated beverages, fat, and fiber.

    Finally, calcium supplements should be given with a meal rather than during fasting or on an empty stomach because the fraction of calcium absorbed is markedly less in the later situations.

  2. Exercise:

    Besides its positive effects on cardiovascular fitness, exercise should be advocated to retard bone loss because prolonged immobilization results in accelerated bone demineralization. Postmenopausal women should perform low impact, weight bearing exercises, such as walking, jogging, tennis, racquetball, or dancing, in moderation.

  3. Hormone Replacement Therapy:

    Whether or not to take HRT (hormone replacement therapy) is an issue that may have important short and long term implications for health and vitality during the transition of menopause and into the ensuing years. Fortunately, our growing medical knowledge is revealing new insights into the role of HRT, not only regarding short-term symptom relief, but also as protection against conditions and diseases once believed to be the inevitable consequences of aging. The decision for or against HRT requires balancing the known and potential benefits and risks with each woman's distinct preferences and needs. The benefits of HRT are, reducing the likelihood of developing coronary heart disease, preventing osteoporosis, and possible preventing Alzheimer's disease, colon cancer, macular degeneration, urinary incontinence, and skin aging.

    However, even when the decision to initiate HRT is made, there are still many choices: which estrogen and progestin to use, and in which doses, when to begin treatment and how long to continue, and which type of treatment regimen and route of administration to use. Above all, it is important to avoid the pitfalls of a "one size fits all" approach. Because response to therapy both in terms of efficacy and side effects may be highly variable, it is important that the health care providers monitor the response. Such an approach, in which therapy is chosen and adjusted according to the patient's needs, helps to ensure that more women gain the important long-term benefit of HRT.

    Potential Risks and problems of HRT: breast cancer, endometrial cancer, venous thromboembolic disease

    Editor's Note:
    The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) is a randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled set of three trials and one observational study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health is to examine the effects of various interventions on the common causes of morbidity and mortality in postmenopausal women. The WHI provides health care providers and patients with much-needed prospective data regarding the effects of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) on postmenopausal health. One arm of the WHI followed 16,608 healthy patients aged 50 to 79 years at baseline, with intact uterus, taking either hormone replacement therapy (HRT; conjugated equine estrogen plus medroxyprogestrone acetate) or placebo. On July 9, 2002, 5.2 years after study initiation, the HRT portion of the trial was halted due to the observation that the risks of treatment outweighed its benefit, namely, that the increases conferred in the risk for cardiovascular disease, thromboembolism, and breast cancer were greater than the decreases demonstrated in osteoporosis and colorectal cancers.

    For details please visit:

  4. Alternative and Complementary Therapy for menopause:

  5. Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (SERM):

    Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) are synthetic compounds that bind estrogen receptors and produce agonistic activity in some tissues while acting as estrogen antagonists in other tissues. A number of compounds that exhibit the properties of SERMs are either in clinical use or are in development. Four SERMs are approved for use in the United States: 1) clomiphene, 2) tamoxifen 3) toremifene, and 4) raloxifene. Clomiphene is among the most widely prescribed drugs for the management of infertility in women. Tamoxifen, originally developed as a medical therapy for the treatment of breast cancer, was found to have estrogenic activity on bone remodeling and in cholesterol metabolism. It also was found to have estrogenic activity in the endometrium, resulting in an increase in relative risk of benign and malignant neoplasms. Tamoxifen has been approved by FDA for the treatment of breast cancer and to reduce the incidence of breast cancer in healthy women at high risk of breast cancer. More studies comparing tamoxifen and raloxifene for breast cancer prevention currently are underway. Toremifene also is indicated for the treatment of estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Raloxifene is approved for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Tibolone has not yet received FDA approval. However, it has been used in Europe for approximately 20 years for the treatment of menopausal symptoms and prevention of osteoporosis. Other SERMs (idoxifene, droloxifene, and levormeloxifene) have shown adverse gynecologic, gastrointestinal, and genito-urinary effects that resulted in the suspension of phase three trials.

    Neither raloxifene nor tamoxifen should be used in women with a history of venous thromoembolic events, including pulmonary emboli, deep vein thrombosis, or renal vein thrombosis. Any abnormal uterine bleeding should be investigated in women taking tamoxifen or raloxifene. Consideration should be given to tamoxifen therapy for women at high risk for developing breast cancer. Raloxifene is appropriate therapy for women who are candidates for chemoprevention of osteoporosis and established osteoporosis to prevent osteoporotic fractures. The use of tamoxifen for chemoprevention should be limited to 5 years. Co-administration of local vaginal estrogen therapy may be used for the relief of vaginal dryness in patients receiving raloxifene or tamoxifen therapy. Individualized risk assessment should be performed to determine whether a patient is a candidate for breast cancer risk reduction by chemoprevention, unless she has ductal carcinoma in situ or lobular carcinoma in situ in which case, the benefit of chemoprevention already has been documented.

  6. Bisphosphonates

    Bisphosphonates act as specific inhibitors of osteoclast mediated bone resorption. These agents reduce bone turnover by reducing the number of sights at which bones are modeled. Thus, bone formation exceeds bone absorption at these remodeling sights leading to progressive gains in bone mass. The increase bone mineral density at both the spine and hip is seen and reduce fractures in women with established osteoporosis at all assessed locations by approximately 30-50%. Bisphosphonates may cause upper gastrointestinal side effects and are contraindicated in individuals with reflux, gastro-esophageal reflux disease, and other esophageal abnormalities. This class of agents has very poor absorption, typically less than 1% of the administered dose. It is, therefore, very important that they be taken on an empty stomach only with plain water, that the patient remain upright for at least 30 minutes, and that no additional food or drink be ingested during this period. Alendronate and risedronate also can be used to treat osteoporosis in individuals with established disease. Fracture reduction in this treatment population has been demonstrated for both of these agents.

In conclusion, menopause has attracted attention as a topic of growing scientific interest with respect to both research and public health perspectives. Hormonal treatment and non-hormonal treatments have been studied and used for more than 30 years. Few health care decisions, however, are as complex and have needed to be so individualized. Lifestyle changes remain the best way to maintain quality of life and prevent the diseases of aging. Weight control, exercise, diet, and not smoking are still the safest approaches to a healthy life.

Suggested Reading:

  1. World Health Organization
    Research on the Menopause
  2. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
    Hormone Replacement Therapy: Knowledge and Use in the United States (pdf)
  3. National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  4. The North American Menopause Society (NAMS)
    Promoting women's health and quality of life through an understanding of menopause

© Women's Health and Education Center (WHEC)


What are T-bills, T-notes and T-bonds

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Postby chicagotech » Sun Oct 22, 2017 2:32 pm

What are T-bills, T-notes and T-bonds?

Treasury bills (T-Bills), notes (T-Notes) and bonds (T-Bonds) are marketable securities that the U.S. government sells in order to pay off maturing debt and to raise the cash needed to run the federal government. T-bills are issued for a term of one year of less. T-bills are considered the world’s safest debt as they are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government.

A treasury note is a marketable U.S. government debt security with a fixed interest rate and a maturity between one and 10 years. Treasury notes are available from the government with either a competitive or noncompetitive bid

Bonds represent debt obligations – and therefore are a form of borrowing. If a company issues a bond, the money they receive in return is a loan, and must be repaid over time. The good example is the mortgage on a home or a credit card payment.

What's the difference between bills, notes and bonds?

T-bills are short-term obligations issued with a term of one year or less, and because they are sold at a discount from face value, they do not pay interest before maturity. The interest is the difference between the purchase price and the price paid either at maturity (face value) or the price of the bill if sold prior to maturity.

Treasury notes and bonds, on the other hand, are securities that have a stated interest rate that is paid semi-annually until maturity. What makes notes and bonds different are the terms to maturity. Notes are issued in one-, three-, five-, seven- and 10-year terms. Conversely, bonds are long-term investments with terms of more than 10 years.
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Definitions of Suspecting

  1.   of Suspect

Quotes of Suspecting

  1. At that point which would be around February 2002 they came and they confiscated my computer because they said they were suspecting that I was communicating with certain Senate members and taking this issue outside the Bureau – Sibel Edmonds
  2. The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him – Abraham Lincoln
  3. I don't want anybody suspecting I am some sheep and part of the Washington D C establishment – George Nethercutt
  4. My pessimism goes to the point of suspecting the sincerity of the pessimists – Edmond Rostand
  5. My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of other pessimists – Jean Rostand

Usage examples for Suspecting

  1. If you will do this and take him away without any one so much as suspecting who he really is and on the train that passes here at 1 20 for New York we will give you 500 out of the 5 000 reward – Gallegher and Other Stories by Richard Harding Davis
  2. He suspecting no harm in this bids all his men stay there and follows the dwarf who has betrayed him – Four Arthurian Romances "Erec et Enide", "Cliges", "Yvain", and "Lancelot" by Chretien DeTroyes
  3. How far the innocent young woman was from suspecting the truth – Maximina by Armando Palacio ValdÃ©s
  4. He was far from suspecting the practical nature of her intentions but he could see that she liked him and wanted to stand in his favour – Joanna Godden by Sheila Kaye-Smith
  5. But Hans suspecting treason has only sent up his club – Beowulf An Introduction to the Study of the Poem with a Discussion of the Stories of Offa and Finn by R. W. Chambers
  6. He made no answer and I walked along with him Hinge following at a distance of a yard or two and so far of course suspecting nothing – In Direst Peril by David Christie Murray
  7. She had entered the room strongly suspecting that the process of conversion might be proceeding in the absence of Penrose and determined to interrupt it – The Black Robe by Wilkie Collins
  8. So I wanted you to be able to come back without anybody suspecting you of friendly feelings for them – Long Ago, Far Away by William Fitzgerald Jenkins AKA Murray Leinster
  9. “ A clerk suspecting us at Sydney and a passenger suspecting us in the vessel – Foul Play by Charles Reade Dion Boucicault
  10. Now to fancy that I was capable of suspecting you of such a manoeuvre – The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, Vol. 1 (of 2) 1845-1846 by Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett
  11. “ I am confident you will be satisfied with our reasons for suspecting this new party – Hand and Ring by Anna Katharine Green
  12. You are at the present moment suspecting me of crimes beyond number – The Evil Shepherd by E. Phillips Oppenheim
  13. Lord Norris suspecting that the old man had been murdered by the one person whom his death would profit compelled him to come and to touch with his finger as so many had willingly done the hand of the dead – Old Church Lore by William Andrews
  14. The old man burst out laughing and Lucrezia suspecting the truth bit her lips and said nothing – The Memoires of Casanova, Complete The Rare Unabridged London Edition Of 1894, plus An Unpublished Chapter of History, By Arthur Symons by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
  15. Let me see that check I gave you this afternoon he demanded with an air of suspecting a good joke on himself – Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford by George Randolph Chester
  16. Suspecting who they were he sent some of his men on shore to inform them that they were friends and to propose a union for their common safety – The Pirates Own Book by Charles Ellms
  17. They had been gone some time of course before any one thought of suspecting flight – The Big Otter by R.M. Ballantyne
  18. This is one reason why we pass over such smooth language without suspecting that it contains little or no meaning – The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown
  19. Why then does he suspect me of suspecting him since I have not spoken – The Red Thumb Mark by R. Austin Freeman
  20. But I cannot help suspecting it is the same man – East Lynne by Mrs. Henry Wood


stop8 Seconds and they’re gone

Good products, in the right place, have about eight seconds to capture their readers. That’s the maximum amount of time to hold the attention of someone seeking information. If it is perceived that progress is not being made within that time, most people give up. This demonstrates how easy it is to waste money – all that time spent designing, producing and implementing the products for very few people to get past the first hurdle.

Different types of environments and situations where FWT has followed another of its guiding principles of The four Ds: Discover, Define, Design, Deliver, can be found by clicking on Case Studies. There is no point in designing products for a particular need, if no-one is clear what the need is. We are believers in the maxim: “Don’t tell me your solution, tell me your problem”.

Context is everything

The vast majority of information provided to public transport users has been produced to the same formulae for decades. It is our opinion that there is a fundamental lack of understanding of what passengers actually need (and where) and this is almost always because the context in which it is to be used is not understood by most designers. This can mean that a significant amount of money is wasted. The problem is then compounded by the false assumption that the same formula will work anywhere.

It is essential for us to identify the problem before coming up with any solutions. We cannot over emphasise the importance of a clear objective without pre-conceived ideas of the solutions. Meaningful and cost effective budgets can then be established.


 Page 13 - humanethology

Page 13 - humanethology

Basic HTML Version

A study of the evolution of organic life - by Gerd Ney
magnetic field on Earth. Electromagnetic spectrum (EM) is the name of radiating energy. It includes radio, microwave,
infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-rays- and gamma rays. Only the first five mentioned waves are reaching the earth; we are
protected fortunately against the other two.
Biological cells and inorganic matter are principally perceptive and forced to react on the permanent penetration of
electromagnetic radiation.
Biological cells are bridging distances and are to be served through differing waves as a point of orientation. It has been
proven that biological cells are travelling on comets or planets throughout the Universe. It is open still if some of them
are ‘riding’ through the Universe without any support of planetary bodies but on electromagnetic oscillating bands or
carpets. Like a fish swims in a sea so are cells ‘swimming’ in a sea of electromagnetic waves. As this is their surrounding
environment, they are sensing changes of strength and frequency very well, an ability we had mostly lost during the
evolutionary process.
We are processing this electromagnetic information according to our
elementary pattern and modifying it through the quality of individual
acceptance. This information equals the width of frequency radiation
which causes the tensioned dynamic of our biological and spiritual life.
In whatever type of biological formation nobody and nothing is able
to withdraw from the sucking and pushing power of these elementary
phenomena. These tension creating oscillations of electromagnetic
waves are predictable to an extent after lengthy and patient observation
measured with a sidereal time scale.
They are differing on Earth following longitudinal and latitudinal positions
and strength of the electromagnetic fields – and to make it more difficult,
these fields are not stable at all as we know from permanent geological
We regard the expanding waves in our culture as positive and accordingly,
the retracting waves as bad messengers; this is correct and biased in
the same instance as it expresses the painful learning curve. Retraction
is a necessary pre-condition to expand again and develop. Elementary
patterns have been created during painful or threatening retractions of
electromagnetic waves.
Only later when reviewing successful events we call it luck, or more
subjectively, as personal achievements.
At the beginning of this chapter I said that we are continuously exposed to
electromagnetic waves and are figuring as ‘electrical resistance’ in between
them. We are able to visualize this if we measure the aura around us and
this photographic picture of a halo around us became popular.
Wherever we are, how high on mountain we are, how deep we are diving
into the ocean, or when are in Patagonia or flying in a balloon, we are
surrounded by waves.
There are four main beams which are striking us for a few seconds
or minutes, according to the four points of the compass as the Earth
continues to rotate the 360 degrees of the circle.
We can therefore state, we are surrounded by the full circle of 360 degrees
in a mist of electromagnetic waves.
The split of the circle into 360 units is created by Babylonian astrologers
(or Indians?) and the Greeks Aristarchos of Samos and Hipparchos
recognized versatility of this geometric shape as a mathematical basis.
They found it most practical with regards to being the nearest to the days
of the synodic year and nearly accurate to the sidereal year ( 4 minutes
difference per day).
Egyptians and Mayans used this as a calendar, they had then to drop about
We are bombarded with electromagnetic waves at
any time and from all directions; it became part of our
evolutionary coined existence – it is questionable if
we could survive without them.
This is the source of mental and intellectual
characteristics and expressions like optimism, joy
and sadness but also depression and illusions.
This influence accompanies us since earliest stages
as single cells.
Very likely it is essential for us to be kept under
tension by these and gravitational forces. On the
other hand, Gamma rays are shielded from the Earth;
they would seriously harm us.
Electromagnetic fields are changing their position
permanently, in shorter or longer periods. The
poles can just turn around to the opposite and this
happened probably at different times during the
period of existence of multicellular life.


Namami Bansal – AIR 17 of “UPSC Civil Services Examination”

Name Namami Bansal
UPSC Roll No. 0950301
IAS Attempts 4
College Lady Shri Ram College
School Nirmal Deep School Rishikesh
Work Experience The Economics
State Uttarakhand

Ques.- Congratulations Ms. Namami. How does it feel to be getting AIR 17 Rank in UPSC IAS Examination”?

It feels great. Very happy, a lot more grateful.

Ques.- Please tell us about your School life and College life.

I did schooling from my hometown and Eco hons from LSR, Delhi

Ques.- Please tell us about your family.

My father is a businessman. My mother is a homemaker. My younger brother is working as a PO in SBI. Together they make the most supportive family a person can hope to have.

Ques.- Please share your success mantra?

Perseverance, determination and hard work.

Ques.- What all hurdles did you face while preparing for it?

Some changes in prelims pattern and lesser guidance for economics optional.

Ques.- After doing graduation you had many opportunities, what made you to choose UPSC Civil services?

I always wanted to get into civil services and serve my nation.

Ques.- How did you prepare for UPSC? Have you gone to any coaching institute or you studied on your own? If you attended any coaching then do you think coaching is essential?

I did self-study. Coaching is discretional depending upon one’s strategy.

Ques.- What study material (like List of Books) did you use for studying for the UPSC examination?

I read standard books and graduation textbooks for economics.

Ques.- What was your strategy for General Studies and English?

I relied on my notes from newspapers and online sources like, Pib etc. For English paper no specific preparation.

Ques.- Please share your Interview experience with us?

It was based mostly on economy current affairs both national and international.

Ques.- What were your optional subjects? What was the basis of selecting these optionals?

Economics, my graduation subject.

Ques.- What will be your priority in your service?

I want to work for girl child education.

Ques.- Whom would you credit your success?

My parents and my brother. They have been the rock solid support system through various ups and downs.

Ques.- Would you like to Convey any message to the future aspirants?

Live your dream, give it your 100%. Self-belief, patience and hard work can make anything possible.

Ques.- What are your future plans?

I am excited and looking forward to training ahead.

UPSC Civil Services Exam

Discussion - If you have any query ask here.


En revolutionär infoportal

Anarchists storm the greek parliament during the 2nd day of anti-austerity riots (Greece, 18/5 riot)

“We won’t live like slaves - The only lost battles are the ones that they have not been given”.

On Thursday 18 May 2017 thousands of people joined a 2nd day of protests following a general strike all over Greece on the day before, against the new harsh austerity measures of 4.9 billion euros incorporated in the 4th Memorandum signed by the greek government, aimed once again against the lower income classes rather, than the banks and the wealthy.

And as if a life with no future wasn’t enough, the streets of Athens were filled with thousands of riot policemen to impose fear on people daring to protest. During the protest in Athens anarchists trying to storm the greek parliament and attacked the riot police brigades on the stairs leading to the front yard of the building -that once was purported to be the royal palace in Syntagma Square- whilst inside politicians were voting on the new harsh financial measures to be imposed on the people, without the people.

Flera bilder från Aten igår


The World has many empires that warred with each other for years with no real advancement on any side with many of the leaders of these people being so powerful that they had not moved on or had instilled a way of thinking that was hard to break out of.  They warred for years until a group of similar minded lawful dragons and others within each society agreed that there needs to be order they forgave there inherently evil and good characteristics in favor of order that allowed for a more diplomatic time.  This was no easy task and took many years of careful planning and manipulation to even bring an end to outright hostility let alone any form of negation. Over time a tenuous peace was obtained as more of the greater empires came into agreement those that where outright opposed saw a shifting of power that they could not counter. It quickly became an adapt or die situation for many of the empires leaders, which most did. However, there are still some old wounds and differences in culture that lead to disputes and conflicts. Whilst all of the empires have extreme power within their own land there are very strict rules on inter empire interaction such that people from one land cannot immigrate to new lands under harsh punishments.

In the most central section of land the capital city of Bayalela a city which is huge and sprawling capital of white spires which dragons and aarakocra fly to and from and dark underpasses for drow and undead.  It is the home of grand council which is the arena in which representative of each empire debate on matter of sovereignty and disputes however before anything is brought before the council it must first be investigated by the commission for the investigation of empires actions that are deemed negative to order which has been given the nickname Observer.  This organization main function is to obtain evidence of empires infringing on other nations people or territory and whether it has a negative impact. If it is a small event then the observer’s agents, called Empire Hunters by the common folk, are expected to rectify the situation and make reports. If the event is large scale or leads to some form of conspiracy or has an any form of legitimacy linked to them then they are to bring all findings to the main observer council which will send more investigations to confirm this. Once conformed the observer council then present the information to the grand council for discussion and punishment. This can lead to a slow process of law in large cases but also swift justice in minor ones.

The main empire in the alliance are the Fey Courts, The Under Dark Compact, The Ziggurat, the Dwarven Kings , the Valiant,  The Orc Tribes and The Ocean Lords.  With a few none council worthy sub groups such as The Purebloods, The Goblin Trading Company, The infernal cabal and a few others that have arisen in times of peace.  The alliances these nations hold are strenuous at best and are only truly kept in check by the observer and the empire hunters the alliance deploys. Whether this is preventing village disputes or checking on spending in the empire they look for anything that could be consider harmful to both the law and the peace.

Christian1771 the_benji ChairmanWow Azura165 turada_am Idlewilder


Just another cover-up?

I’ve been researching undercover policing ever since the boyfriend I knew as Mark Cassidy left me in spring 2000. Like the other female activists bringing cases of undercover police abuse to light, I have become skilled in scouring documents, interrogating and interpreting evidence. We’ve fought a legal case against the Metropolitan police to expose its institutional sexist practices, and waited for five years for an apology that should have been given much earlier.

Now I’m one of the 180 “non-state core participants” (NSCPs) in the public inquiry into undercover policing. Established in March 2015, the inquiry was due to report in July 2018, but it’s looking unlikely any evidence will be heard until 2019, and the end date is no longer even in sight.

Sir John Mitting, the inquiry chair, is sitting for three days this week in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, listening to legal arguments and counter-arguments about police anonymity. He obliquely responded to a letter from October signed by 115 NSCPs expressing our concern about the inquiry’s lack of openness and transparency, stating that his priority was to “discover the truth”.

For many of the ordinary people attending as core participants, the Royal Courts building – with its endless gothic corridors – is intimidating and alien.

Sitting in the public gallery of court 76 is a collection of journalists, core participants, and our friends and family. We are listening to the lawyers discuss principles established in case law that very few of us sitting at the back will understand. We usually sit politely and wait in good faith, as we’ve been doing now for two years, for crumbs of information about the police officers who collectively used and abused us. But yesterday morning was different. Vocal interventions from core participants expressed our frustration at a process which, despite the judge’s reassurance, is looking more likely to obfuscate than reveal the truth.

Because nothing is being revealed. Not even the full list of the groups spied on. Despite the Metropolitan police apology issued to me and the other women, Mark Jenner (who I knew as Mark Cassidy) is the only officer cited in our case whose identity has still not been officially confirmed by either the Met or the inquiry. No reason has been given. The latest tranche of documents promised that some names would be revealed: a few cover names (including HN81, who infiltrated the Stephen Lawrence family campaign) and some real names. Each officer is coded by an HN number, and the list is dizzying.

But many officers we will learn nothing about. The judge has already made some orders for some evidence to be heard in secret, and it will no doubt be so heavily redacted before it reaches the public as to be meaningless.

In these cases, he will rely on information collected by the police about their own officers. How can this be fair? How can a judge determine the impact of secret deployments if those who were targeted are not told who spied on them?

Without transparency, how do we know if these nameless HN numbers infiltrated other family justice campaigns? How do we know if they had abusive, intimate relationships with those they spied on? How do we know if they passed on information to private corporations resulting in trade unionists being blacklisted from work? And how do we know if they acted within the law?

Trying to access and make sense of their redacted evidence buried deep within the inquiry’s website is hugely challenging. Like the corridors of the building, the complexity of the website renders many of us bewildered and disengaged from a process in which our participation feels anything but “core”.

Despite institutional racism being central to the setting up of the inquiry, when it was revealed that the Lawrence family was spied upon, the inquiry team is all white. It is predominantly male and is now being chaired by a judge who is a member of the men-only Garrick Club. A letter sent to the home secretary in September, requesting a meeting to discuss the inappropriateness of the new judge, has been ignored.

Instead of recognising the damage done to those of us who tracked down our ex-partners, various witnesses are characterising our searches as malicious. And the emphasis the police are placing on the right of the abusers to protect their families contrasts sickeningly with their total lack of regard for the families they intruded upon.

Mitting must appreciate the context in which his inquiry is now taking place. Since the recent revelations about abuse of women by men in the film industry, parliament and elsewhere, the misogyny of our society has become unignorable. What happened to us was sustained abuse.

The men who have been exposed in other spheres have been named and shamed. Harvey Weinstein, Max Stafford-Clark and Kevin Spacey cannot hide who they were when they were abusing their positions of power.

Sexual abusers should not be able to rely on a court anonymity order

Undercover police officers, by contrast, were given state-sponsored identities. From what we know thus far, it’s likely that many committed long-term and far-reaching human rights abuses, for which they may never be held publicly responsible if their real names are concealed. If they didn’t commit these wrongdoings, what are they afraid of? If their targets were legitimate, why do they need to hide behind fake names? Sexual abusers should not be able to rely on a court anonymity order. No one else alleged to have committed such abuse is offered this privilege.

We know that three officers who had intimate, sexual relationships with activists (John Dines, Bob Lambert and Andy Coles) all went on to reinvent themselves, taking on public roles as advisers and consultants to international police departments and university criminology courses, or holding public office as a deputy police and crime commissioner.

Without knowing the real names of the officers involved in our lives and the lives of others, how do we hold to account those who have since created illustrious careers advising policymakers on police matters? Many of us feel this inquiry is turning into another attempt at an establishment cover-up. Our patience is running out.

Alison is one of eight women who successfully took legal action against the Metropolitan police over the conduct of undercover officers. Most of the women have chosen to remain anonymous. This piece was published in the Guardian newspaper on 21 November 2017.

Women call on Home Secretary to recognise Institutional Sexism in the police

Today, 13 women who were deceived into intimate sexual relationships with undercover policeman, over a period spanning nearly 30 years, have written to the Home Secretary to raise their concerns about the progress and recent direction of the Public Inquiry into Undercover Policing.

The women noted that, two years into the Inquiry, the names of the 1000+ groups spied on by political policing units have still not been made public, nor have the cover names used by officers while undercover.  These two steps are critical to allow non-police witnesses to come forward and give evidence to the inquiry.  The women also raised concerns about the recent appointment of Sir John Mitting as Inquiry Chair. Continue reading “Women call on Home Secretary to recognise Institutional Sexism in the police”

Jessica meets Leader of Peterborough Council

Today ‘Jessica’ took the courage to meet with Councillor Holdich at Peterborough Town Hall to discuss ex spycop Andy Coles’ position in the Council. She was told that the council will not answer any questions during council meetings regarding Andy Coles. She was also informed that the council would be writing to her lawyer in response to her official complaint. Apparently the council have no powers to remove or suspend an elected member of the council, unless they are convicted of an offense. Jessica commented that “the crown prosecution will not charge any of the spycops with sexual offenses – so Andy Coles will never be convicted”.

A public meeting is planned, in Peterborough, in the near future where a strategy to move the campaign forward will be discussed.

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Fragments of consciousnessDo Our Beliefs Create Reality?

Without a doubt, consciousness plays a decisive role in creating and shaping our world. So, I want to be clear about something: What I am about to say does not diminish or invalidate in any way the insight expressed in phrases such as “belief creates reality” or “we create our own reality.”

The core insight is valid, and I honor it. I think it gives expression to a profound truth. However, I also think it can be misleading if simply taken at face value, without finer discernment. As a philosopher, I like to burrow beneath surfaces to reveal deeper meanings and truths.

I want to draw attention here to the difference between “belief” and “intention.” When I hear people talk about “beliefs creating reality” they usually mean intention co-creates reality. These are two very different claims, with very different—and important—consequences for our lives and for the world we live in.

Yes, many people do believe in the creative power of belief.  I don’t. I have a different view, discussed in my books Radical Knowing and more recently Consciousness from Zombies to Angels. Here’s my take on this issue.

Frozen Fragments of Consciousness

Beliefs are made of thoughts. Thoughts are abstractions—“frozen fragments of consciousness” taken from the moment-to-moment flow of ongoing experience. Because thoughts are abstractions, they are only fragments of reality, echos of expired experiences that have now moved into the past (near or distant). Thoughts are “mental snapshots” of a moment in time. Thoughts and beliefs are rooted in the past.

Experience is always happening now. Reality, too, is always happening now. The “happy coincidence” of experience and reality meeting in the now means that by paying attention to what we are actually experiencing in the present moment, we have direct access to reality, to what is actually happening now.

When we focus on thoughts and beliefs, however, our attention is fixated on residues of expired experiences that belong to the past—not to present reality. We get mesmerized by our intricate tapestries of thoughts (literally “entranced” by them). We then mistake our abstractions (snapshots of the past) for what is real, and we miss out on what is really happening now, in our in-the-moment experience.

Because thoughts are abstractions, they have no real power or potency. And because beliefs are constructed of thoughts, they are essentially impotent, too. Beliefs are “mental habits” and, like all habits, they are mechanical, having no creativity. As “habits of mind,” beliefs are tools of the ego (egos are mental machines).

However, experience is very different. It is naturally and intrinsically creative. Why? Because at every new moment a new experience comes into being. Each experience is literally an act of creation—a gift from the universe. And the wonderful thing is we don’t have to do anything for experiences to happen. They come built into the very fabric of existence itself. To be is to experience. To experience is to be creative.

Fragments fragmentThat’s why I encourage people to focus on being present—bringing awareness and attention to what we are actually experiencing right now, moment-by-moment. That’s where our power lies. That’s the source of our creativity.

When I examine sayings such as “beliefs create reality” I find that what is really being expressed is the insight  “intentions create reality.” That seems to me to be the deeper truth.

Language is critically important, and so I pay close attention to the words we use. I do so not merely as an intellectual exercise (that would be pointless), but because, as I see it, the words we choose do make a real difference in how we live our lives and, therefore, how we impact the world.

I pay particular attention to the distinction between “belief,” “experience,” and “intention” because a great deal of confusion and strife in the world is caused by people holding onto their cherished beliefs at all costs. People die by the thousands, perhaps millions, every year when different belief systems collide. And countless millions of individuals from other species die, too, because of clashing human beliefs.

I sometimes say, only half humorously, that I’ve never met a belief that created anything—except trouble.

Here’s a quick rule of thumb for choosing experience beyond belief: No experience is ever wrong—or even could be wrong. Every experience simply is exactly what it is. However, beliefs can be wrong because they are interpretations (they are stories), and like all interpretations they can miss the mark, be mistaken, or be misunderstood.

Experiences happen in the moment before interpretation kicks in. Every experience reveals a slice of reality for what it truly is at that moment. Here’s what typically happens:

experience —> interpretation —> belief —> dogma —> ideology —> action

Notice that our actions (how we interact with others and the world around us) are many steps removed from the original experience that connects us with reality. Is it any surprise, then, that so many of our actions just add further confusion and disruption to our lives and the environment? For the most part, for most of us, our actions are out of touch with reality.

Much better, then, to learn to act directly from experience. Cultivating this ability is at the core of most (perhaps all) spiritual practices and effective psychological discipline.

Think, for example, about master martial artists or think of great athletes—men and women who achieve exceptional performance because they have learned to act directly from their experience in the moment—not from their beliefs! In the midst of action, they do not stop to think or to make sure they act from their beliefs. If they did, their performance and effectiveness would collapse.

Intention: The Creative Expression of the Soul

So much for “experience beyond belief.” What about “intention”?

Whereas beliefs are habits of mind rooted in the ego, intention is the focused creative expression of the soul’s natural intelligence.

By paying close attention to our experience in the moment, we open up to expressions of intelligence flowing from the soul—from the innermost depths of our being. Intention is choosing to align ourselves with our deepest wisdom. (Actually, it is not really “our” wisdom. Ultimately, it is the collective wisdom of all sentient beings, expressed through us as individuals at a particular point in space and time. But that’s a topic for another discussion.)

Wisdom, then, involves getting the ego out of the way—getting beyond our mental, mechanical habits—and, instead, choosing to allow the soul’s intelligence its full natural expression. “Intelligence seeks expression,” declares Darwin in Deep Spirit. One way or another, intelligence will express itself. We might as well choose to go along for the ride. Why fight or resist the flow of natural intelligence by trying to mold reality to our beliefs, by trying to shape reality to fit in with our mechanical mental habits?

When we consciously choose to align with this deep collective intelligence, we open to the creativity of intention. Creativity flows from intention, from focused natural expression of the soul’s deepest intelligence and wisdom.

Beliefs don’t create reality; they distort it—inevitably. Beliefs distort reality because they are rooted in the past, and reality is always now.

Of course, I don’t want you to believe a word of this. I do, however, want you to pay attention to whatever you experience as you let in the meaning of these words. What are you feeling right now? Guided by that feeling, what do you choose right now? What is your intention beyond belief?


Prototype Using a Seven Tooth Pinion

Mon, 25 Feb 2013

Another page for the Gear Zine

This time about using mixed 2D and folded tooth gears. For gears with few teeth (in this case, 7) the faces of the teeth need to be curved. These are known as involute gears. I'm using double thickness card to construct 2D involute gears.

I wanted three smaller gears spaced equally around a central gear so there was a bit of geometry involved 🙂

By adding the radii of the two gears I knew that the distance between the centre of the larger gear and each of the small gears was 57mm. I planned to make a T shaped base (in red above) Fitting the lower gear and first gear was simple, I just space them by the 57mm.

The other two require a little geometry. I'm spacing the pinions evenly round the central gear, so that is one every 120°

That makes the angle opposite 'a' = 30° so I can work out height 'a' as sine 30° =0.5

0.5 x 57mm = 28.5mm

Length 'b' is calculated the same way but this time with the angle being 60°

sine 60° = 0.8660

0.8660 x  57mm = roughly 49.5mm

With piece the parts laid out, here's how it looks. Again I've made the support piece from the same colour card as well background so it blends in.

…and here it is in a mock up of the zine so far.