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Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Sandy Hook & Conspiracy Theory Hoaxers

"The conspiracy theories are many and weird. For example, all of us have heard about the government cover up of visits by extra terrestrial beings to planet Earth. Some people claim to have seen flying saucers in the sky while yet others claim to have been kidnapped by these beings, brought to their saucer and submitted to intrusive physical examinations.

One of the more painful theories is that the murder of 18 children in the Newtown massacre was committed by the government to give them an excuse to take guns away from Americans. In fact, some conspiracists assert that the massacre never occurred. They insist that it was a media event created toward the same goal of taking our guns away."

https://www.mentalhelp.net/blogs/paranoia-and-conspiracy-theories/

http://theweek.com/articles/655024/exposing-sandy-hook-hoaxers

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting

My Comment: If some people want to think that we are being governed by reptilian overlords or that 9-11 was a plot by some group other than have been publicly identified, then I choose to simply disengage and be on my way slowly shaking my head and being grateful that I'm not similarly afflicted. But, if someone claims that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, then I hope I'm not in their proximity. Their insanity is exactly why some people should not be carrying firearms in public. Paranoid schizophrenics with a propensity for handling guns can be dangerous.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Samadhi & IAM Presence


http://www.ascension-research.org/presence.html
Read- 
"If you will be firm and determined in calling your 'Presence' into Action, there is not one solitary thing of human limitation or seeming obstruction that can remain in your pathway. I assure you it means firm, determined, constant Application, until the human appearance of limitation goes down before It. No discord or limitation can stand before It, if you will continue to apply this Law earnestly and with determination. As you gain momentum in your recognition and acceptance of the 'Presence', you will find every step becomes easier and easier."

View- 9 minutes 
Samadhi: Be Still and Know...
https://youtu.be/dqGdWoW-GT8

Consider silence as the language of God and all else is a poor translation. [Rumi]
Rumi Inspirational Quotes:

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Rapid Evolution Action of Species

"....studies have demonstrated a fast drive toward adaptation that scientists have come to call “rapid evolution.” Researchers who once assumed evolution required millennia are documenting species adapting in mere decades, or even shorter time frames. Mosquitoes that colonized the London Underground in 1863 are now so different they can no longer mate with their above-ground relatives. Chinook salmon from Alaska to California needed just a human generation to become smaller and shorter-lived after an increase in commercial fishing in the 1920s..... most recently, it was found that green anole lizards on islands in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon needed just 20 generations to adapt to an invasion of brown anoles. Driven to higher perches by the invaders, the green anoles became better at clinging to branches by developing larger toepads with more scales — in just 15 years. It’s more evidence of evolutionary change on observable time scales....Adaptation is happening right under our noses, in our lifetimes."
http://discovermagazine.com/2015/march/19-life-in-the-fast-lane

http://listverse.com/2011/11/19/8-examples-of-evolution-in-action/

Faster evolution of humans:
http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/10/evolution-humans-are-rapidly-changing.html?m=1

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Political Malaise: We All Share In Responsibility

The adage that we get the government we deserve seems especially apt at the moment. Part of it is reflected by the current Republican nominee (though not limited to him or his party). But, since his outlandishness highlights much about us as a nation, let's 'pick on him' him to illustrate how we are all responsible for our current political malaise:

"....the Trump fiasco has been more than two decades in the making, going back to Newt Gingrich’s destruction of civility, Bill Clinton’s personal misconduct, a Supreme Court that, in Bush v. Gore, delegitimized democracy, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney squandering the warm courage of national unity after 9/11, a bipartisan cycle of revenge in Congress, angry liberals portraying Bush as a war criminal, the fury and racial animus of the tea party and the birthers, GOP leaders too timid to tamp down the excesses, and Supreme Court decisions that allowed anonymous groups to spend unlimited sums poisoning the airwaves with vicious and false political speech......"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/shame-on-trump-shame-on-us/2016/10/14/841e54e8-9214-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html?utm_term=.86829d0240d3

Why Countries Such As Ireland And Finland Rate Higher Than USA On International Goodness Scale:
https://youtu.be/1X7fZoDs9KU

Monday, October 17, 2016

Hillary Clinton To Give New Life To Tea Party?

..... in our recent history nearly every Democratic presidency has given rise to a radical right-wing anti-government movement of some sort. Barack Obama's election spurred the creation of the Tea Party; Bill Clinton's election brought about the militia movement with their fear of black helicopters; and going back farther, the Kennedy and Johnson years saw the increasing prominence of the John Birch Society and other radical anti-communists. If Hillary Clinton becomes president, there will be some kind of grassroots uprising against her; the question is what it will look like and how effective it will be.

What distinguished the Tea Party from its forebears is that it was quickly incorporated within the GOP, as even establishment Republicans proclaimed themselves Tea Party sympathizers and began parading around in tricorner hats, either literally or figuratively. Founding Father fetishism became the order of the day, with every Republican waxing poetic about the need to reject this usurper Obama and restore the ideals of 1776.
The power of the Tea Party — or more properly, establishment Republicans' fear of the Tea Party — became one of the central organizing forces of the Obama era. Even more than they had before, Republicans were required to make a public display of their contempt for Washington, for government, and for Obama, even if it meant shutting down the government or threatening to default on America's debt. At every critical moment, even backroom backslappers like John Boehner had their options and choices shaped by the unruly mob waving "Don't Tread On Me" flags.......

http://theweek.com/articles/654748/hillary-clinton-rebirth-tea-party?utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_source=afternoon&utm_medium=10_15_16-article_1

Sunday, October 16, 2016

"Ump•tray" Supporters: Significant Common Factor

Many misconceptions exist about the anti-Hillary crowd. Race (white) and religion (self professed evangelicals) are two variables that seem significant. A third is pro-authoritarianism (paternalism).

"That’s right, Trump’s electoral strength—and his staying power—have been buoyed, above all, by Americans with inclinations towards authoritarianism...
authoritarians have steadily moved from the Democratic to the Republican Party over time...... the trend began decades ago, as Democrats embraced civil rights, gay rights, employment protections and other political positions valuing freedom and equality. 

Trump’s strongman rhetoric will surely appeal to some of the 39 percent of independents who identify as authoritarians and the 17 percent of self-identified Democrats who are strong authoritarians.

What’s more, the number of Americans worried about the threat of terrorism is growing... and non-authoritarians respond to the perception of threat by behaving more like authoritarians. More fear and more threats mean more voters are susceptible to Trump’s message about protecting Americans. 

Take activated authoritarians from across the partisan spectrum and the growing cadre of threatened non-authoritarians, then add them to the base of Republican general election voters, and the potential path to a Trump presidency increases.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-2016-authoritarian-213533

Supplemental:
http://samslair.blogspot.com/2015/06/putin-creating-fascist-state.html?m=0

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Global Warming: It's Getting Hotter


In 1978, I was living in a travel trailer parked under the shade of a mesquite tree in the 'monte' north of La Joya, Texas. I was far from any utilities, so I used propane for cooking and kerosene for lighting. I used empty milk jugs to haul water from town each day 15 miles away where I taught school. When I "showered", I stood on the paving stones that served as a porch - and grabbing a shovel and a roll of toilet paper was in lieu of an outhouse. In the winter, it could be almost brutal living in my out in the open 'tin can'. And the summers could be even worse. 

It was on one fine Fall day that I was reading an article about how native Alaskan Inuits were having to travel further and further north in order to gather the berries that they favored. And grave stones of the earliest white settlers in that had been in the ground for over a century in Alaska were now tipping over / and the depth of the permafrost was decreasing. It was obvious that their climate was warming.

In my circumstance, I could see that if the same occurred where I was at, then even the tough vegetation all around me would become more stunted and sparse like it was further inland around Laredo. At my location, I could tell that I received less rain than the areas to the east of me. As the climate warmed, my eastern south Texan friends would then be looking like me.

During the next decade, other stories of earlier Springs and disappearing mountain glaciers came forth. Gardeners and forestry experts provided bountiful anecdotal information that showed we are in the midst of a warming global climate. Some people like to think that it has nothing at all to do with greenhouse gases; but, I know better. And so do you.

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/barrow-alaska-climate-change-action

http://www.history.noaa.gov/stories_tales/sylar.html

http://www.history.noaa.gov/stories.html

http://www.history.noaa.gov/index.html

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Evolution: Humans Are Rapidly Changing


http://discovermagazine.com/2009/mar/09-they-dont-make-homo-sapiens-like-they-used-to

Over the past 10,000 years, human evolution has occurred a hundred times more quickly than in any other period in our species’ history. The new genetic adaptations, some 2,000 in total, are not limited to the well-recognized differences among ethnic groups in superficial traits such as skin and eye color. The mutations relate to the brain, the digestive system, life span, immunity to pathogens, sperm production, and bones—in short, virtually every aspect of our functioning.

Many of these DNA variants are unique to their continent of origin,"It is likely that human races are evolving away from each other. We are getting less alike, not merging into a single mixed humanity....
We aren't the same as people even a thousand or two thousand years ago. Almost every trait you look at is under strong genetic influence."

"During the span of the past 35,000 years, teeth are getting smaller, skull size is shrinking (as brains become more efficient) ....! With newly emerging genetic data from stunning advances in sequencing and deciphering DNA in recent years, scientists had begun uncovering, one by one, genes that boost evolutionary fitness. These variants, which emerged after the Stone Age, seemed to help populations better combat infectious organisms, survive frigid temperatures, or otherwise adapt to local conditions. And they were popping up with surprising frequency."

"...Why might evolution be picking up speed? Because, in a large population you don’t have to wait so long for the rare mutation that boosts brain function or does something else desirable.... in reviewing the demographic data, ten  thousand years ago, there were fewer than 10 million people on earth. That figure soared to 200 million by the time of the Roman Empire. Since around 1500 the global population has been rising exponentially, with the total now surpassing 6.7 billion. Since mutations are the fodder on which natural selection acts, it stands to reason that evolution might happen more quickly as our numbers surge.... this was nothing new to animal breeders of the 19th century. Darwin himself emphasized the importance of maintaining a large herd for selecting favorable traits.”

"The logic behind the notion was undeniably simple, but at first glance it seemed counterintuitive. The genomes of any two individuals on the planet are more than 99.5 percent the same. Put another way, less than 0.5 percent of our DNA varies across the globe. That is often taken to mean that we have not evolved much recently, but keep in mind that the human and chimp genomes differ by only about 1 to 2 percent—and nobody would call that a minor difference. None of this conflicts with the idea that human evolution might be accelerating.”

[There is much more.....]

Map: Y-DNA Human Migration (Haplogroups):
http://discovermagazine.com/~/media/import/images/4/e/b/ydnamigration.jpg

Supplemental:
http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/09/when-humans-left-africa.html?m=1

Monday, October 10, 2016

Heavenly Horizons: Inner Worlds/Outer Worlds (Akasha, Heaven, Logos.....)

One of the limitations of religion is that we try to give the Creator a name. Even using the name Creator tries to qualify what is Infinite, thus limiting spirituality.

7 videos that give a detailed overview of cosmic principles leading towards a greater spiritual awakening:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD8E5F0D70B62BEFE

Shortened URL for easier sharing with others in hand written fashion:
tinyurl.com/hetemvk


Friday, October 7, 2016

History of the Bible

"The Bible was written over a span of 1500 years, by 40 writers. Unlike other religious writings, the Bible reads as a factual news account of real events, places, people, and dialogue. Historians and archaeologists have repeatedly confirmed its authenticity."
http://www.everystudent.com/features/bible.html

Stories not included in the Bible:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1650870/posts

Secrets of the Bible: Lost In Translation 
http://www.history.com/shows/bible-secrets-revealed/season-1/episode-1

The Basic Storyline of the Old Testament:
http://youtu.be/VBj0-hD6J7k 
(10:56:47)

NOVA: The Bible's Ancient Secrets (2 hours):
http://youtu.be/qalTJzk4kO0

Banned from the Bible (1:30:37)
I. http://youtu.be/Kxrdwbii8is

II. https://youtu.be/D_EATru0ufg



Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Global Warming: Listening to Arnold Schwarzenegger

As a rule of thumb, Republicans aren’t keen on climate change science. It’s not just Donald Trump – almost all of the Republican presidential nominations are against the need to act on global warming.
That shouldn’t be a surprise... there is an extremely strong correlation between conservative political ideology and denial of science. 

There are exceptions, however, and one of those is Arnold Schwarzenegger... who has written a stinging, but brilliant, Facebook post aimed squarely at those who deny the climate science.

Entitled “I don’t give a damn if we agree about climate change”, the former Republican governor challenges the deniers to embrace renewable energy sources, even if the majority of scientists turn out to be wrong: "Let's put climate change aside for a minute. In fact, let's assume you're right,” he begins.

He then proceeds to ask climate sceptics three questions: “First – do you believe it is acceptable that 7 million people die every year from pollution? That's more than murders, suicides, and car accidents combined.”.....

There's more in the article:
http://www.alphr.com/environment/1002192/arnold-schwarzenegger-just-came-up-with-a-climate-change-argument-that-s-hard-to

Note: Be sure to listen to the imbedded in the above TED talk video relating to how to encourage bipartisan action on other major issues that are facing America. Issues that both partisan groups already agree are problems; but, because of other partisan issues not agreed upon are being ignored because doing so would mean talking with members of the enemy camp (tribal warfare mentality). We need to remember that we are all Americans and we are all "in the same boat". 
TED talk (20 minute): 
"How common threats can make common political ground"
https://youtu.be/v3o-F94S4FI

Group selection: 
"When we're all in the same boat":
(05:27 video) "The Glitch"
https://youtu.be/lR4M-s9uC-c

Global Warming: Boiling Frog Metaphor

"The boiling frog is an anecdote describing a frog slowly being boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is put in cold water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphorfor the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of threats that rise gradually."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog

In the case of global warming, this particular metaphor may be particularly apt. Especially when you consider that Earth has not experienced comparable warm temperatures since the last interglacial age and they are set to rise even higher due to greenhouse gas amplification.

http://theweek.com/speedreads/652846/earth-hasnt-been-hot-more-than-100000-years

Here are my most recent postings regarding global warming:

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/09/global-warming-lets-ignore-reality-and.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/08/global-warming-great-barrier-reef-dying.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/08/global-warming-schism-of-tribalism.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/08/global-warming-simple-demonstrations.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/07/global-warming-i-didnt-know-gun-was.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/07/global-warming-big-thaw.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/04/global-warming-younger-dryas-comet.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/02/global-warming-milankovitch-cycles-c02.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/01/global-warming-apocalyptic-contender.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/01/during-interglacial-periods-global.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2015/11/global-warming-greenhouse-effect-vs.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2015/08/global-warming-basics.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2015/06/popes-climate-change-encyclical-missing.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2015/04/global-warming-whos-smarter-than-8th.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2015/01/global-warming-cryosphere-shrinking.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2015/01/global-warming-greenland-ice-pack-tells.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2015/01/global-warming-are-we-doomed.html?m=1

There are more; but, let us stop the listing here.


Sunday, October 2, 2016

Blue Light, Digital Devices and Your Eyesight & Health

Exposure to blue light at night, emitted by electronics and energy-efficient light bulbs, may be not healthy....

http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side

Sunlight also contains blue light, and it is vital during the day. It’s what helps to keep us awake and alert, and it’s an integral part of how sleep cycles work.
But exposure to blue light at night is a bad thing, as it effectively tricks your brain into thinking that it’s still daytime. It suppresses the secretion of melatonin, a hormone that is produced at night and prepares the body for sleep.

Its impact is so great, in fact, that another study even suggested that having a blue LED shining from a car dashboard would be an effective way of preventing drivers from falling asleep at the wheel.

http://m.marketwired.com/press-release/liquipel-debuts-eyesight-saving-ion-glass-blue-light-protection-iphones-androids-radioshack-2042015.htm

I put an anti-blue light screen protection filter on my smartphone that was easy to install:
https://www.radioshack.com/products/liquipel-blue-ion-glass-iphone-7

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Psalm 46: Be Still and Know...

From newspaper:

"Sometimes the simple act of formatting a piece of prose transforms it into poetry. Take, for example, a verse I love from Psalms 46: “Be still and know that I am God.” I learned this verse as a child. And then, some years ago, I rediscovered its meaning during an interfaith pastoral care course."

"Each week, one of us would deliver a short devotional to begin our work together. I don’t remember the name of the classmate who shared this, although I can still picture what she looks like. She had been a nun for more than 30 years and still felt that there was more to learn. I don’t know whether she found this format or created it. What I do know is that these words took on a whole new meaning when she presented them."

“Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that I am.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.”

"Before she spoke, I was quite sure that I knew what this verse was about. “Be still and know that I am God.” Our familiarity with something often tends to do that. It prompts us to make assumptions about what we know to be true, and then again, might not be. What this format did was to pare the verse down, bit by bit, to its essence. By examining each line, one word at a time, I had the opportunity to discover the message anew......"

Mantra helps us learn to just be and find God by Susan Hawkins Sager (interfaith clergy):
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/lifestyles/religion/mantra-helps-us-learn-to-just-be-and-find-god/nsggs/

Note: If this strikes a chord within you, then revisit "I Am Activities":

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/05/spirituality-101-law-of-one-i-am.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/08/i-am-presence-httpswww.html?m=1

Also:
http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/09/dont-know-much-about-bible-by-kenneth.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/08/symbolism-in-bible.html?m=1

http://samslair.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-four-stages-of-spiritual.html?m=1