it’s less than 20 years since killer asteroids started poking our awareness, after one just missed the planet, without our knowledge until it had passed
as we started learning more about these renegade rocks, the Cosmos put on an impressive show with Shoemaker-Levy, to demonstrate what one of these rocks can do, then threatened us with the early perceived potential of Hale Bop
there’ve been some big rocks recently that passed closer than the Moon, including one the size of the Tunguska boulder [imagine something like that over New York] that was just barely too high to hit one of the outer satellites [bah! who needs television broadcasts anyway, eh?]
now that we’re looking for them, we can see some of these rocks coming ~ by a few hours, or perhaps a few days
a Nature News feature looks at what happened last fall when we figured out one of them definitely had us in its cross-hairs
20 seconds after it penetrated the atmosphere, the asteroid exploded in a fireball that was seen across the Sudan and Egypt and dusted the sparsely populated Nubian Desert with a shower of hot, glowing embers
the initial search for fragments turned up several kilograms of alien material, with some pieces the size of a big potato
good thing it was only a drill
more next time
Blessed Be
20090329
20090327
even rednecks can evolve
too bad it’s not faster, but Alberta [remember Ralph Klein?] is showing signs of philosophical and social – and deceivingly political [welcome to the future] – evolution [maybe it’s Barrack’s influence]
the province actually took the first step Feb 6, '09 with the appointment of a new human rights commissioner whose priorities include working protection of sexual orientation into Alberta human-rights legislation - soon
hey, change happens, although apparently not in Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda
more next time
Blessed Be
the province actually took the first step Feb 6, '09 with the appointment of a new human rights commissioner whose priorities include working protection of sexual orientation into Alberta human-rights legislation - soon
hey, change happens, although apparently not in Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda
more next time
Blessed Be
20090326
if you can’t stop witch-hunts …
... at least stop using the word
I was watching one of my favourite shows on the telly Thursday evening and was shocked, for some reason, when I heard the phrase ‘witch-hunt’ [there’s no smiley for my reaction]
I was shocked because I thought it was being used less these days; maybe it was an old show; maybe it was just harder to ignore on the day of the new Moon in Aries [happy new year!]
the original witch-hunts were a process of making false accusations against a large number of people and, usually, torturing or executing them; there were trials sometimes, but no one was acquitted, not even Joan, who ‘saved’ France
a significant proportion of those burned at the stake were spinster or widowed women who ‘owned’ land, which was then appropriated by The Church; smaller communities of victims included subversives and ‘sorceresses’; recent research indicates many victims were young women executed because of the way they reacted to moldy food, especially anything made with rye flour
the witch-hunt label is used mostly today to describe the process of searching out and harassing dissenters, a far cry from the original meaning; and accusing a dissenter of dissenting is hardly a false accusation ~ fascist, perhaps, but not false
I’m sure the people who still use the phrase don’t understand how it makes Witches feel; those same people probably think that Jews over-react about their holocaust and that there were no AmerIndian, Romani, Slavic, homosexual, Freemason, African, Soviet, Rawandan, Serbian, or any other holocausts [sorry, know I missed some]
I have no delusion that we can stop this, but that’s no excuse for not fighting the ignorance in today's world
as Dylan wrote, you gotta stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything
do what you can
more next time
Blessed Be
I was watching one of my favourite shows on the telly Thursday evening and was shocked, for some reason, when I heard the phrase ‘witch-hunt’ [there’s no smiley for my reaction]
I was shocked because I thought it was being used less these days; maybe it was an old show; maybe it was just harder to ignore on the day of the new Moon in Aries [happy new year!]
the original witch-hunts were a process of making false accusations against a large number of people and, usually, torturing or executing them; there were trials sometimes, but no one was acquitted, not even Joan, who ‘saved’ France
a significant proportion of those burned at the stake were spinster or widowed women who ‘owned’ land, which was then appropriated by The Church; smaller communities of victims included subversives and ‘sorceresses’; recent research indicates many victims were young women executed because of the way they reacted to moldy food, especially anything made with rye flour
the witch-hunt label is used mostly today to describe the process of searching out and harassing dissenters, a far cry from the original meaning; and accusing a dissenter of dissenting is hardly a false accusation ~ fascist, perhaps, but not false
I’m sure the people who still use the phrase don’t understand how it makes Witches feel; those same people probably think that Jews over-react about their holocaust and that there were no AmerIndian, Romani, Slavic, homosexual, Freemason, African, Soviet, Rawandan, Serbian, or any other holocausts [sorry, know I missed some]
I have no delusion that we can stop this, but that’s no excuse for not fighting the ignorance in today's world
as Dylan wrote, you gotta stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything
do what you can
more next time
Blessed Be
fiery faucets ~ updated Mar 27
think water puts out fires?
not in this Colorado home; don't think it'd be a good idea to drink it, either
Mar 27 update
I thought fiery water was an interesting anomaly, but it turns out some of the smart scientist-guys think we can cut GHGs by burning ice
more next time
Blessed Be
not in this Colorado home; don't think it'd be a good idea to drink it, either
Mar 27 update
I thought fiery water was an interesting anomaly, but it turns out some of the smart scientist-guys think we can cut GHGs by burning ice
more next time
Blessed Be
20090324
what if …
… we had 90 seconds to duck & cover?
and what if, instead of a solar storm, it's The Big One off the Pacific NorthWest coast, or another killer asteroid, or a thermonuclear suitcase bomb, or … ?
now, I don’t mean to be apocalyptic ~ or maybe I do, considering the word apocalypse originally referred to hidden knowledge, not ‘end of the world’ ~ but I’ve never believed ignorance is bliss, and if it were, shouldn’t we all know exactly what’s going on? after all, not many of the people I see in my daily life seem to demonstrate much bliss, ignorant or otherwise
I’ve never understood why so few people want to pay attention to anything outside their backyard, if they even look that far; that’s like keeping your eyes closed on a roller-coaster ride
if life is so fragile, shouldn’t we celebrate it more and treat one another better?
more next time
Blessed Be
and what if, instead of a solar storm, it's The Big One off the Pacific NorthWest coast, or another killer asteroid, or a thermonuclear suitcase bomb, or … ?
now, I don’t mean to be apocalyptic ~ or maybe I do, considering the word apocalypse originally referred to hidden knowledge, not ‘end of the world’ ~ but I’ve never believed ignorance is bliss, and if it were, shouldn’t we all know exactly what’s going on? after all, not many of the people I see in my daily life seem to demonstrate much bliss, ignorant or otherwise
I’ve never understood why so few people want to pay attention to anything outside their backyard, if they even look that far; that’s like keeping your eyes closed on a roller-coaster ride
if life is so fragile, shouldn’t we celebrate it more and treat one another better?
more next time
Blessed Be
the new witch hunts : {
just because we don’t hear much about the executions on the evening news doesn’t mean The Burning Times are gone
Patti’s Paganism/Wicca blog has a rundown on some of what’s going on these days in Gambia, as well as reference links to other postings; it’s not pretty, so reader discretion is required
more next time
Blessed Be
Patti’s Paganism/Wicca blog has a rundown on some of what’s going on these days in Gambia, as well as reference links to other postings; it’s not pretty, so reader discretion is required
more next time
Blessed Be
20090323
the new S–word?
first of all, as a Witch my ‘old’ S-word, of course, is Satan, described erroneously by many Witches as a Christian invention, probably because so many Christians erroneously associate him with the Craft
but these days I’m far more interested in the new word; while the energies associated with the metaphoric Satan may have something [e.g. greed, etc] to do with today’s so-called financial crisis, I’ve never been a big S fan, and I really prefer the new S-word, described by – among others – a recent AlterNet posting as the Decline and Fall of Capitalism
this could have been what Khrushchev meant in his shoe-thumping "Мы вас похороним!" speech at the United Nations, but I’m not sure that rant counts for much, since the Soviet empire fell apart more than 2 decades ago
the new S-word, of course, precipitates instant knee-jerk reactions among people who would have been happy living in McCarthy’s better-dead-than-red days
but it’s hopeful and inspiring to see more people, reaching as far into the mainstream as Alan Greenspan, suggesting it might be time to toss the money lenders out of the temple again
more next time
Blessed Be
but these days I’m far more interested in the new word; while the energies associated with the metaphoric Satan may have something [e.g. greed, etc] to do with today’s so-called financial crisis, I’ve never been a big S fan, and I really prefer the new S-word, described by – among others – a recent AlterNet posting as the Decline and Fall of Capitalism
this could have been what Khrushchev meant in his shoe-thumping "Мы вас похороним!" speech at the United Nations, but I’m not sure that rant counts for much, since the Soviet empire fell apart more than 2 decades ago
the new S-word, of course, precipitates instant knee-jerk reactions among people who would have been happy living in McCarthy’s better-dead-than-red days
but it’s hopeful and inspiring to see more people, reaching as far into the mainstream as Alan Greenspan, suggesting it might be time to toss the money lenders out of the temple again
more next time
Blessed Be
20090321
Hail, Spock!
hey, Trekkies! heard the news?
Vulcan, AB, – so-named in 1915 after the Roman God of Fire – has been lobbying Paramount Pictures for a year to premiere the next Star Trek movie there
personally, I would’ve thought it was a no-brainer, given the town’s obsession with Vulcan and the fact it’s hosting VulCON16: Spock Days/Galaxyfest 2009
but, apparently a few hundred Canadians with a Spock-fetish in a town named Vulcan aren’t enough to impress or inspire Hollywood’s P.R. “gurus”; I guess that’s why I still work north of the 49th, eh?
or at least they weren’t impressed until Spock himself stepped in to support the town
now Canwest News Service reports Paramount has agreed to set up a special screening of the film for the Vulcans; not a premiere, but better than nothing, I guess, for Canadians
:(
Live long and prosper!
Vulcan, AB, – so-named in 1915 after the Roman God of Fire – has been lobbying Paramount Pictures for a year to premiere the next Star Trek movie there
personally, I would’ve thought it was a no-brainer, given the town’s obsession with Vulcan and the fact it’s hosting VulCON16: Spock Days/Galaxyfest 2009
but, apparently a few hundred Canadians with a Spock-fetish in a town named Vulcan aren’t enough to impress or inspire Hollywood’s P.R. “gurus”; I guess that’s why I still work north of the 49th, eh?
or at least they weren’t impressed until Spock himself stepped in to support the town
now Canwest News Service reports Paramount has agreed to set up a special screening of the film for the Vulcans; not a premiere, but better than nothing, I guess, for Canadians
:(
Live long and prosper!
20090314
so where’d the cauldron come from?
[a commentary on black holes]
one of my many favoured creation metaphors, for this universe at least, is that The Goddess [a.k.a. God, Raven, Spider Grandmother, Mbombo, Mangala, Damballah, etcetera, including Izanagi and Izanami] created everything, from the chaos/void in Her cauldron before the Beginning of Time
it’s only one of the creation myths/metaphors/folklore/science that I like; there are so many creation myths, and they all are myths because no one who knows has any evidence; Joseph Campbell, in his pre-suicide PBS interviews, said they all tell a universal story ~ pare any creation story down to an outline and you have an outline for every/any creation story
the people closest to knowing are the NDE survivors, whose experiences don’t match the myths ~ except the ones who thought they’d gone to hell, which might support some myths I guess
I also relate to theories going around years ago about the possibility that black holes are the seeds of new universes or new dimensions, which would mean that this universe can reproduce, which is also one of the criteria for life, which would mean the universe is alive, just like Witches, shaman and others have been teaching forever [duh!]
who knows if we’ll ever find out, as long as we live here; but we do have an interesting opportunity ahead to find out what happens if 2 black holes collide!
would that give you twins?
more next time
Blessed Be
one of my many favoured creation metaphors, for this universe at least, is that The Goddess [a.k.a. God, Raven, Spider Grandmother, Mbombo, Mangala, Damballah, etcetera, including Izanagi and Izanami] created everything, from the chaos/void in Her cauldron before the Beginning of Time
it’s only one of the creation myths/metaphors/folklore/science that I like; there are so many creation myths, and they all are myths because no one who knows has any evidence; Joseph Campbell, in his pre-suicide PBS interviews, said they all tell a universal story ~ pare any creation story down to an outline and you have an outline for every/any creation story
the people closest to knowing are the NDE survivors, whose experiences don’t match the myths ~ except the ones who thought they’d gone to hell, which might support some myths I guess
I also relate to theories going around years ago about the possibility that black holes are the seeds of new universes or new dimensions, which would mean that this universe can reproduce, which is also one of the criteria for life, which would mean the universe is alive, just like Witches, shaman and others have been teaching forever [duh!]
who knows if we’ll ever find out, as long as we live here; but we do have an interesting opportunity ahead to find out what happens if 2 black holes collide!
would that give you twins?
more next time
Blessed Be
20090305
got ancient trees in your can?
synchronicity is an amazing Cosmic Truth; I’m not sure which entrances me more, the way it works so seamlessly, if you let it, or the way the uninitiated react when ‘coincidence’ becomes obvious
for example, a recent conversation touched on the differences between North American toilets and those around the rest of the planet, which revived some of my memories about Soviet toilets, especially the splinters in the toilet paper in Odessa more than 20 years ago
a far cry from the downy-soft stuff a lot of us use here in Consumption Land, eh?
then I found out about the sacrifice ancient forests play in keeping our bottoms comfy in the can; AlterNet has posted a summary of reports about the fact more than 98% of the toilet paper Americans use [and I doubt Canada's much different] comes from virgin and old growth forests; the posting includes links to source postings from Greenpeace, The Guardian and the New York Times
how green is that?
more next time
Blessed Be
for example, a recent conversation touched on the differences between North American toilets and those around the rest of the planet, which revived some of my memories about Soviet toilets, especially the splinters in the toilet paper in Odessa more than 20 years ago
a far cry from the downy-soft stuff a lot of us use here in Consumption Land, eh?
then I found out about the sacrifice ancient forests play in keeping our bottoms comfy in the can; AlterNet has posted a summary of reports about the fact more than 98% of the toilet paper Americans use [and I doubt Canada's much different] comes from virgin and old growth forests; the posting includes links to source postings from Greenpeace, The Guardian and the New York Times
how green is that?
more next time
Blessed Be
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