I was much busier than I expected to be these past few weeks. I've had little time left for journaling, but I couldn't let the day pass without wishing those celebrating a very lovely Litha!

Updates to follow--hopefully before July!

Just a couple of links to share tonight. The first is a spicy little southern dish and cautionary tale from the talented Colleen Doran:


The Corner Store is where everyone gets their gas, their Twinkies, and their homemade potato salad, as there is a tiny little diner therein. Right there next to the diner counter is the door to the Loo of Love.

While a couple of old fogies (who never actually seem to leave the diner bench no matter what time of day it is) watched in amazement, Lil dragged a dazzled Bubba out of her limo and took him for a swirl around the basin; in the men’s room.

My mother was shocked:”But the lady’s room is so much cleaner!”

And if you need a little oxygen after that, check out this trippy vid, and let's hear it for lung power!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1827871101?bctid=19507941001

Courtesy of goodbrains:Cat got your tongue? What happened to a male lion when he angered his jealous mate | Mail Online

Not much time to catch up on posts/comments today. I just wanted to wish all celebrating a very Happy Easter!

The Birkat Hachamah, the Blessing of the Sun, which occurs only once every 28 years, was celebrated this year on the eve of Passover, marking the fourth day of the creation story when the sun was placed in the heavens. Of course, not wanting their tradition to be confused with the practices of polytheists, this article from Google AP notes the celebration is not the same thing sun worship. Because that would just be wrong--I guess.

Devout Jews emphasize that they are not worshipping the sun, but rather paying homage to God.

Many self-described polytheists are much more nuanced in their approach to divine concepts than given credit for by monotheists. Most polytheists I've met describe a concept of a divine essence capable of manifesting in a multitude of forms, technically a form of panentheism. And while some may believe in the existence more than one distinct divine entities, I don't believe I know a single poly who feels compelled to lie prostrate before any planetary body unless in a creative or celebratory fashion.

It would be so hip if the different religious cultures could APPRECIATE what they had in common with other traditions, rather than trying ever so hard to distinguish themselves in such a way that it seems they're fleeing from the rest of humanity. "Hey, you got a ritual for that? We got a ritual for that! Neato." Instead, we still get brand wars.

Of course, now that I think of it, there's plenty that need not be shared, like gender bias, exploitation of the vulnerable, condemnation of homosexuality and an emphasis on rampant judgmentalism. However, much of cultural and religious ritual can be easily shared and celebrated by the larger community, in the same way cultural foods and music are shared and celebrated.

Such sharing often happens naturally in interfaith families where traditions are woven together to make a unique ritual tapestry. Interfaith families provide a template for good relations across cultures for the community at large. So for all those who are sharing their Passover tables this week, enjoy! May you be blessed with good food and good company.

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, and today is the kickoff for 100 Hours of Astronomy, a worldwide celebration of space and space exploration. Join in the fun online for live webcasts or find out what events are happening in your area IRL.

Many schools, museums and local planetariums are planning their own events along with major observatories and universities around the world. Amateur astronomy groups will be available to give introductory lessons on the night sky and to offer a glimpse through their telescopes. If you can't get out for a view, there are opportunities online for virtual viewings.

24-hour Global Star Parties are planned for Saturday, the start of Yuri's Night, in honor of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Although the 100 Hours Event comes to a close on Sunday, the Yuri's Night celebrations are known to last more than a week in some places. Even if you're not planning to take part in any organized events, this is a great reason to at least look up and appreciate the beauty and wonder of the universe around us.

It could have been, of course, a meteor, a UFO, the second coming of Christ …


Beauty. If you didn't happen to catch my last post about the explosion in the skies over Tidewater Sunday evening, you can catch up on all the latest additions to the theory list by checking out the link in the quote above or the video below. The videographer did a great job capturing the both the strange and the beauty that is Virginia Beach. ♥ The Pilot also has cute little aliens on the main page for those who like that sort of thing. Enjoy!




PS: Think I went overboard on the tags for this post, but they were just so fun to add together!

Military installations, police and meteorologists in Hampton Roads were barraged with phone calls starting around 9:45 last night after strange lights and an explosion in the sky were witnessed by many local residents. While interviewing Virginia Beach residents about their experience, reporter Patrick Terpstra was accused of being involved in a conspiracy to hide what "really happened" from the public.

goodbrains and I heard the noise, which was loud enough to make the windows rattle. The skies were fairly clear, so thunder and lightening were unlikely causes. Living where we do, we speculated that some stealthy military aircraft flying overhead just broke the sound barrier. We didn't witness any lights, since we were inside at the time. However, those who were outside witnessed quite a show.

So, what really happened? That's still being debated. Dr. Robert Hitt, who directs the Chesapeake Planetarium, suggested it could have been a meteor, while a source from the U.S. Naval Observatory stated it may have been debris from a Russian Soyuz rocket that was expected to enter the lower atmosphere sometime after 8:00 PM.

I have a big enough challenge in trying to keep up with ordinary correspondence, email and this journal to even consider Twitter. The concept seems a little absurd to me, but then again, what isn't these days? I'm sure it has been put to some productive uses; however, the reason for its attraction and popularity eludes me. For those who enjoy it, that's cool. For those who just don't get it, I offer you this video courtesy of luckavery.



And thanks to mlfoley for the following blast from the past. Concerned about health? Trying to detox? Tweaking your diet? Brother Theodore's here to tell you about root of all your problems. You eat, so stop, and all your problems will simply vanish. (Of course, so might you.) It has been well over a decade or two since I've seen Brother Theodore's act, so it was a nice surprise to find this clip. For more about the man and his work check out this article from Boing Boing.

Does Satan Exist? I grabbed this link from imanotalone and watched the debate this morning online. It was hardly a neutral venue for the discussion as it was held at Mars Hill Church where one of the panelists, Mark Driscoll, is the pastor. He and Annie Lobert, founder of Hookers for Jesus, argued for the affirmative, that the devil does indeed exist, based on Driscoll's interpretation of one of the versions of the scriptures and their personal experiences. Ms. Lobert is a former sex worker who relayed the story of what she believed to be her possession by demons and her delivery from them by accepting Christ.

On the other side of the debate were Dr. Deepak Chopra and Bishop Carlton Pearson, arguing that what believers are experiencing when they feel they are dealing with devils, demons or possession are projections from their own troubled psyches.

Chopra discussed the apparent contradiction of tendencies within ourselves and noted that Freud traced the origins of neurosis and even psychosis to the individual not being able to acknowledge or reconcile these apparently opposing aspects of self. He moved on to use the Jungian term, the shadow, the representation of all we dislike and disown in ourselves, all we try to push away, as a comparison for the fundamentalist Christian concept of Satan. In order to find peace, according to Chopra, we must acknowledge, understand and forgive these aspects of self, freeing ourselves from repeating old expected patterns, freeing ourselves from guilt, shame and anger.

Pearson spoke with familiarity of both sides of this debate. He stated he came from four generations of "devil-caster-outers" and even performed his own exorcisms before questioning whether he was, in fact, helping to create the very thing he professed to cast out. He spoke of the cultural conditioning and expectations of fundamentalist faiths and how this helped to create the very symptoms attributed to demonic possession.

Both Chopra and Pearson carefully asked whether there might be a more psychologically based reason for Lobert's experiences. During her time as a sex worker, she had been kidnapped, bound, brutally gang-raped and nearly died. Lobert admitted having PTSD; however, she didn't seem to be very aware of dissociation or how it related to hearing voices or feeling like she was being attacked by unseen forces.

One of her descriptions of demonic attack sounded just like a flashback to me, but Lobert was convinced this was all Satan's doing. Lobert questioned how the horrors she experienced could possibly have happened without the existence of the devil and rejected explanations of human behavior in inhumane circumstances or that abuse naturally begets more abuse without the need for ultimate evil to prod things along.

Sadly, there were no agnostics, atheists, skeptics, sociologists or behavioral psychologists on the panel, for their perspectives would have been very interesting here. Instead, this was a debate of theists, who all accept the existence of God, but not necessarily Satan. Even so, the body language and behavior of panelists and audience members is fairly interesting to observe whether or not one "believes."

A follow-up article on the debate, with more background about the participants, can be found here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=7170007&page=1

I haven't been online much lately and have posts and comments from friends to reply to, but before I get to that, I just felt like sharing this one story of sexy hijinx among the stars. Such a topic is ordinarily not one that grabs my attention for very long, unless, as in this case, the stars are artists with amazing talents and engaging characters.


The classy and very funny Cloris Leachman (shown in the userpic) has written a new memoir which includes tales of epic sex with actor Gene Hackman. "I remember well the feisty lad he was." Oh, yeah!



With her extensive comedic achievements, people might not recognize Leachman's steamy, sultry side, but she raised more than a few eyebrows with Timothy Bottoms in The Last Picture Show where she played the older, married lover of a teen still in high school. She won an Academy Award for that performance. However, it sounds like with Hackman, acting skills were not a necessity. :P

The mystic, skeptic and cynic have been debating. As the hubby and I were cooking this week, three sets of double yolks popped up from two different cartons of organic eggs, one set appearing at each of three meals prepared with eggs for the week.


(I'm itching to turn this story into a math problem, somehow.)



Anyway,

The mystic feels
this is a wonderful reminder of the fecundity of nature
and a symbol of creativity and abundance!

The skeptic asks
which farms supplied the eggs
and about the hens who laid them.

"Maybe a brood of hens
has a predisposition for twins?"

The cynic decides
all these
"organic eggs"
have simply been
irradiated,
doubting,
there's a difference,

anyway.


The pragmatist
just finds the whole thing
very amusing
and prefers
veggie omelets,

thank you!

This little shameless plea for a confidence boost showed up twice on my f-list while I was catching up on eljay haps. So lacking motivation for my own creative content this morning, I'm snagging this feel good meme, courtesy of distractionz and mlfoley.



One little compliment can make you feel amazing. So give me a compliment, anything in the entire world, even that my shoelaces are pretty. Put this in your journal. And once you get some comments, put that entry in a memory or tag and when you are feeling down, just go to that entry and this will remind you how great you are.

Comments are screened.

I happened to notice Damian Thompson's counterknowledge.com site has been down for a few days. Every time I checked, I kept getting a message saying "server not found." So, I tried again today, and it seems as if the domain has been snagged. I couldn't find anything about it on the interwebs--no news, no comments from others who link to the site--nada. Does anyone else here have the scoop?

especially in the morning before I hear any "news". In our house, we enjoy the Lols sites, the fails, the graphs, but this pic was the first that made me LOL this morning, so I must pass it along. It's classic and uncontrived.




more animals

Here's to unselfish love in all its beautiful forms and the ability to find it in every encounter, whether with another, with the world around us or simply within ourselves!

So far, I've had a full and fab morning. I woke up and did a little vowel chanting to loosen myself up since the fibro tends to make my body tense while sleeping. What's vowel chanting, you didn't ask? Well there are many different versions, so I do my own. I start at oo and move through oh, ah, ay (as in day), ee and i (as in eye) and then move back down. (Other traditions use different vowel sounds in a different order, but ya gotta do what works for you.) What I find when I do this is that I reduce tension and make space from the base of my gut/spine up through my head. It helps to vibrate out congestion and ease the body.

Next I did some meditations and visualizations and then moved on to Irish blessings, which can be done whether or not you're a "believer." Basically Irish blessings are simply verbalizations of intended desires all starting with "May," such as: "May I be healthy. May I be strong. May I be compassionate. May I be wise. May I be glad. May I be grateful. May I be just. May I move with ease. May I work well. May I live well." You get the point. What I enjoy about Irish blessings is that they work well whatever state I am in, skeptical or mystical. I can turn within or without for inspiration. If you doubt in anything divine, turn to the best within yourself, and this exercise can still have an impact.

After I finished these mental and verbal exercises I moved, albeit a bit stiffly, to work through a couple of different short yoga routines. Just as I was finishing, my hubby goodbrains, who I thought was still asleep, surprised me by announcing my favorite breakfast, a veggie white omelet, was ready and waiting for me! So wonderful!

Tonight I'm making him one of his favorite dinners, chicken piccata. For desert we have sustainably farmed and fairly traded Endangered Species chocolate! YUM! The stage is certainly well set for love!

Intel, intel, who's got the intel?

Preferring to give equal time to skeptics and mystics during my internet roaming, I ran across this piece today on the JREF site about Edgar Cayce and the Association for Research and Enlightenment, which is located in my hometown, along with Pat Robertson's Regent University and shore-to-shore military installations. Can anyone say "strange bedfellows"?

Randi is a member of CSICOP and has been rumored to have consulted for the intelligence community, but the A.R.E. also has its own ties to that very same community. Such ties make sense, of course, especially considering all of the privileged info local psychics pick up from their clients, which is not unlike information priests and preachers are able to glean from their flocks. There's also been a curious exchange of funding from the A.R.E. to S.R.I. (Stanford Research Institute) over the years for a variety of projects, including ones in Giza. And there's no shortage of individuals who claim ties to the intelligence community running workshops at the A.R.E. on remote viewing and ESP development, workshops which can be rather pricey, to say the least. But, hey, what's a few hundred dollars for the promise of phenomenal cosmic power?

This shell game of intel is not for the faint of heart or thin of wallet, and it's a game that seems to be run by a very cunning octopus! I wouldn't want to place any bets on who has the clearest picture!