http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/
Every American schoolchild is taught that George Washington – the country’s first President – could not tell a lie. If the administrations of his successors lived up to the same principle, today’s document flood would be a mere embarrassment. Instead, the US Government has been warning governments -- even the most corrupt -- around the world about the coming leaks and is bracing itself for the exposures.
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikileaks
Wikileaks har hotats av stängning flera gånger och på grund av detta finns det flertalet spegelbilder av databasen runt om i världen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks describes itself as “an uncensorable system for untraceable mass document leaking”. WikiLeaks is hosted by PRQ, a Sweden-based company providing “highly secure, no-questions-asked hosting services.” PRQ is said to have “almost no information about its clientele and maintains few if any of its own logs.” The servers are spread around the world with the central server located in Sweden.[54] Julian Assange has said that the servers are located in Sweden (and the other countries) "specifically because those nations offer legal protection to the disclosures made on the site". He talks about the Swedish constitution, which gives the information providers total legal protection.[54] It is forbidden according to Swedish law for any administrative authority to make inquiries about the sources of any type of newspaper.[55] These laws, and the hosting by PRQ, make it difficult to take WikiLeaks offline. Furthermore, "Wikileaks maintains its own servers at undisclosed locations, keeps no logs and uses military-grade encryption to protect sources and other confidential information." Such arrangements have been called "bulletproof hosting."[56][57]
On 17 August 2010, it was announced that the Swedish Pirate Party will be hosting and managing many of WikiLeaks' new servers. The party donates servers and bandwidth to WikiLeaks without charge. Technicians of the party will make sure that the servers are maintained and working.[58][59] Some servers are hosted in underground cold war era nuclear shelters. The physical security layer is 30m White Mountains solid bedrock.[60]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYU7pdGfrUM
Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Walks Out of CNN Interview
http://www.examiner.com/exopolitics-in-seattle/extraterrestrial-hypothesis-is-now-public-operative-explanation-for-ufos-france-u-k-and-china
In the U.K. on August 4, 2010, the U.K. Ministry of Defence released World War II documents that confirmed that Prime Minister Winston Churchill had adopted the extraterrestrial hypothesis as the operating hypothesis of the U.K. government with regard to specific UFO sightings. In early August, 2010 the U.K. Ministry of Defence made public “an account of a wartime meeting attended by Winston Churchill in which, it is claimed, the prime minister was so concerned about a reported encounter between a UFO and RAF bombers, that he ordered it be kept secret for at least 50 years to prevent ‘mass panic’.
http://www.fremover.no/lokale_nyheter/article4750061.ece?service=print
28 November 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Utah
Archeological evidence dates the earliest habitation of Native Americans in Utah to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.
Around 8000 BCE, this population was replaced by the Desert Archaic people, who sheltered in caves near the Great Salt Lake.
The Fremont culture, named from sites near the Fremont River in Utah, lived in what is now north and western Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from approximately 600 to 1300 CE.
At the time of European expansion, beginning with Spanish explorers traveling from Mexico, five distinct native peoples occupied territory within the Utah area: the Northern Shoshone, the Goshute, the Ute, the Piute and the Diné (Navajo).
Fremont petroglyph, Dinosaur National Monument
Archeological evidence dates the earliest habitation of Native Americans in Utah to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.
Around 8000 BCE, this population was replaced by the Desert Archaic people, who sheltered in caves near the Great Salt Lake.
The Fremont culture, named from sites near the Fremont River in Utah, lived in what is now north and western Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from approximately 600 to 1300 CE.
At the time of European expansion, beginning with Spanish explorers traveling from Mexico, five distinct native peoples occupied territory within the Utah area: the Northern Shoshone, the Goshute, the Ute, the Piute and the Diné (Navajo).
27 November 2010
http://arxiv.org/abs/1011.370
Conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC) posits the existence of an aeon preceding our Big Bang 'B', whose conformal infinity 'I' is identified, conformally, with 'B', now regarded as a spacelike 3-surface. Black-hole encounters, within bound galactic clusters in that previous aeon, would have the observable effect, in our CMB sky, of families of concentric circles over which the temperature variance is anomalously low, the centre of each such family representing the point of 'I' at which the cluster converges. These centres appear as fairly randomly distributed fixed points in our CMB sky. The analysis of Wilkinson Microwave Background Probe's (WMAP) cosmic microwave background 7-year maps does indeed reveal such concentric circles, of up to 6{\sigma} significance. This is confirmed when the same analysis is applied to BOOMERanG98 data, eliminating the possibility of an instrumental cause for the effects. These observational predictions of CCC would not be easily explained within standard inflationary cosmology.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11837869
Conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC) posits the existence of an aeon preceding our Big Bang 'B', whose conformal infinity 'I' is identified, conformally, with 'B', now regarded as a spacelike 3-surface. Black-hole encounters, within bound galactic clusters in that previous aeon, would have the observable effect, in our CMB sky, of families of concentric circles over which the temperature variance is anomalously low, the centre of each such family representing the point of 'I' at which the cluster converges. These centres appear as fairly randomly distributed fixed points in our CMB sky. The analysis of Wilkinson Microwave Background Probe's (WMAP) cosmic microwave background 7-year maps does indeed reveal such concentric circles, of up to 6{\sigma} significance. This is confirmed when the same analysis is applied to BOOMERanG98 data, eliminating the possibility of an instrumental cause for the effects. These observational predictions of CCC would not be easily explained within standard inflationary cosmology.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11837869
26 November 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/15/us/thomas-banyacya-89-teller-of-hopi-prophecy-to-world.html?pagewanted=print
Thomas Banyacya, who spent half a century on a tireless and often thankless Hopi spiritual mission to save the planet from the ravages of modern materialism and greed, died on Feb. 6 at a hospital in Keane Canyon, Ariz., about 40 miles from his home in Kykotsmovi on the Hopi reservation. He was 89 and the last of four messengers named by Hopi elders in 1948 to warn the world of impending doom.
The 15,000 or so Hopis are a small nation, but their sense of burden is great. According to a 900-year-old religious tradition, the Great Spirit Maasau'u, Guardian of the Earth, assigned them the duty of preserving the natural balance of the world and entrusted them with a series of ominous prophecies warning of specific threats and providing guidance on how to avoid them.
The prophecies remained a secret oral tradition until 1948, when Hopi religious leaders, alarmed by reports of the atomic bomb's mushroom cloud, which they saw as the destructive ''gourd of ashes'' foretold in the prophecies, appointed Mr. Banyacya and three others as messengers to reveal and interpret the prophecies to the outside world.
http://banyacya.indigenousnative.org/
http://banyacya.indigenousnative.org/un92.html
The Hopi Message To The United Nations General Assembly
Submitted By Thomas Banyacya, Kykyotsmovi, Arizona
December 10, 1992
The presentation by Mr. Thomas Banyacya, the final indigenous speaker, was preceded by three shouts by Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Six Nations and first speaker of the day. The shouts were a spiritual announcement to the Great Spirit of the presence of the people assembled and the intention to give a message of spiritual importance.
Thomas then sprinkled corn meal next to the podium of the General Assembly and made a brief remark in Hopi that translates as follows:
Hopi Spiritual leaders had an ancient prophecy that some day world leaders would gather in a Great House of Mica with rules and regulations to solve world problems without war. I am amazed to see the prophecy has come true and here you are today! But only a handful of United Nations Delegates are present to hear the Motee Sinom (Hopi for First People) from around the world who spoke hear today.
My name is Banyacya of the Wolf, Fox and Coyote clan and I am a member of the Hopi sovereign nation. Hopi in our language means a peaceful, kind, gentle, truthful people. The traditional Hopi follows the spiritual path that was given to us by Massau'u the Great Spirit. We made a sacred covenant to follow his life plan at all times, which includes the responsibility of taking care of this land and life for his divine purpose. We have never made treaties with any foreign nation including the United States, but for many centuries we have honored this sacred agreement. Our goals are not to gain political control, monetary wealth nor military power, but rather to pray and to promote the welfare of all living beings and to preserve the world in a natural way. We still have our ancient sacred stone tablets and spiritual religious societies which are the foundations of the Hopi way of life. Our history says our white brother should have retained those same sacred objects and spiritual foundations.
In 1948, all traditional Hopi spiritual leaders met and spoke of things I felt strongly were of great importance to all people. They selected four interpreters to carry their message of which I am the only one still living today...
Thomas Banyacya, who spent half a century on a tireless and often thankless Hopi spiritual mission to save the planet from the ravages of modern materialism and greed, died on Feb. 6 at a hospital in Keane Canyon, Ariz., about 40 miles from his home in Kykotsmovi on the Hopi reservation. He was 89 and the last of four messengers named by Hopi elders in 1948 to warn the world of impending doom.
The 15,000 or so Hopis are a small nation, but their sense of burden is great. According to a 900-year-old religious tradition, the Great Spirit Maasau'u, Guardian of the Earth, assigned them the duty of preserving the natural balance of the world and entrusted them with a series of ominous prophecies warning of specific threats and providing guidance on how to avoid them.
The prophecies remained a secret oral tradition until 1948, when Hopi religious leaders, alarmed by reports of the atomic bomb's mushroom cloud, which they saw as the destructive ''gourd of ashes'' foretold in the prophecies, appointed Mr. Banyacya and three others as messengers to reveal and interpret the prophecies to the outside world.
http://banyacya.indigenousnative.org/
http://banyacya.indigenousnative.org/un92.html
The Hopi Message To The United Nations General Assembly
Submitted By Thomas Banyacya, Kykyotsmovi, Arizona
December 10, 1992
The presentation by Mr. Thomas Banyacya, the final indigenous speaker, was preceded by three shouts by Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Six Nations and first speaker of the day. The shouts were a spiritual announcement to the Great Spirit of the presence of the people assembled and the intention to give a message of spiritual importance.
Thomas then sprinkled corn meal next to the podium of the General Assembly and made a brief remark in Hopi that translates as follows:
Hopi Spiritual leaders had an ancient prophecy that some day world leaders would gather in a Great House of Mica with rules and regulations to solve world problems without war. I am amazed to see the prophecy has come true and here you are today! But only a handful of United Nations Delegates are present to hear the Motee Sinom (Hopi for First People) from around the world who spoke hear today.
My name is Banyacya of the Wolf, Fox and Coyote clan and I am a member of the Hopi sovereign nation. Hopi in our language means a peaceful, kind, gentle, truthful people. The traditional Hopi follows the spiritual path that was given to us by Massau'u the Great Spirit. We made a sacred covenant to follow his life plan at all times, which includes the responsibility of taking care of this land and life for his divine purpose. We have never made treaties with any foreign nation including the United States, but for many centuries we have honored this sacred agreement. Our goals are not to gain political control, monetary wealth nor military power, but rather to pray and to promote the welfare of all living beings and to preserve the world in a natural way. We still have our ancient sacred stone tablets and spiritual religious societies which are the foundations of the Hopi way of life. Our history says our white brother should have retained those same sacred objects and spiritual foundations.
In 1948, all traditional Hopi spiritual leaders met and spoke of things I felt strongly were of great importance to all people. They selected four interpreters to carry their message of which I am the only one still living today...
25 November 2010
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11810553
The results suggest that the Universe is made up of about 70% dark energy.
"In general relativity, there is a direct connection between geometry and dynamics," Professor Marinoni explained, "so that once you measure the abundance of matter and energy in the Universe, you have direct information on its geometry; you can do geometry as we learn in primary school."
The team's conclusions suggest the Universe is indeed flat - an assumption first put forth by Albert Einstein and seemingly confirmed by more recent observations but that remains one of the most difficult ideas to put on solid theoretical footing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal
At present, the overall geomagnetic field is becoming weaker at a rate which would, if it continues, cause the dipole field to temporarily collapse by 3000–4000 CE.[citation needed] The South Atlantic Anomaly is believed by some scientists, including Dr. Pieter Kotze, head of the geomagnetism group at the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory in the southern Cape, to be a product of this.[citation needed] The present strong deterioration corresponds to a 10–15% decline over the last 150 years and has accelerated in the past several years; however, geomagnetic intensity has declined almost continuously from a maximum 35% above the modern value achieved approximately 2000 years ago. The rate of decrease and the current strength are within the normal range of variation, as shown by the record of past magnetic fields recorded in rocks.
The nature of Earth's magnetic field is one of heteroscedastic fluctuation. An instantaneous measurement of it, or several measurements of it across the span of decades or centuries, is not sufficient to extrapolate an overall trend in the field strength. It has gone up and down in the past with no apparent reason. Also, noting the local intensity of the dipole field (or its fluctuation) is insufficient to characterize Earth's magnetic field as a whole, as it is not strictly a dipole field. The dipole component of Earth's field can diminish even while the total magnetic field remains the same or increases.
The Earth's magnetic north pole is drifting from northern Canada towards Siberia with a presently accelerating rate — 10 km per year at the beginning of the 20th century, up to 40 km per year in 2003, and since then has only accelerated.
Because the magnetic field has never been observed to reverse by humans with instrumentation, and the mechanism of field generation is not well understood, it is difficult to say what the characteristics of the magnetic field might be leading up to such a reversal.
Some speculate that a greatly diminished magnetic field during a reversal period will expose the surface of the Earth to a substantial and potentially damaging increase in cosmic radiation. However, Homo erectus and their ancestors certainly survived many previous reversals.
There is no uncontested evidence that a magnetic field reversal has ever caused any biological extinctions. A possible explanation is that the solar wind may induce a sufficient magnetic field in the Earth's ionosphere to shield the surface from energetic particles even in the absence of the Earth's normal magnetic field.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Hope,_Alaska
Point Hope town is located in the Point Hope landhead, at the NW end of the Lisburne Peninsula, on the Chukchi Sea coast, 40 mi. SW of Cape Lisburne, Arctic Slope at 68°20′49″N 166°45′47″W / 68.34694°N 166.76306°W (68.347052, -166.762917)[2].
Before any modern settlement, the Ipiutak lived here.
The descriptive Inuit name of the place, "Tikarakh" or "Tikigaq" commonly spelled "Tiagara," means "forefinger". It was recorded as "Tiekagagmiut" in 1861 by P. Tikhmeniev Wich of the Russian Hydrographic Department and on Russian Chart 1495 it became "Tiekaga". This ancient village site was advantageous, because the protrusion of Point Hope into the sea brought the whales close to the shore. At Tikigaq, they built semi-subterranean houses using mainly whalebone and driftwood. Point Hope is one of the oldest continually occupied sites in North America. While some of the earlier dwellings have been lost to erosion as the island shrinks, it still provides a welter of valuable information to archaeologists on how early Eskimos survived in their harsh environment. The Tikigaq site is "by far the most extensive and complete one-period site yet discovered and described in the entire circumpolar region." - Helge Larsen [4]
http://majikimaje.wordpress.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy
Rogers et al. suggest that one must differentiate between cognitive empathy and affective empathy when regarding people with Asperger syndrome. They suggest that autistic individuals have less ability to ascertain others' feelings, but demonstrate equal empathy when they are aware of others' states of mind. Autistic and AS people actually have a greater response to stress that they witness others experiencing than neurotypical people do.[62]
The extent to which a person's emotions are publicly observable, or mutually recognized as such has significant social consequences. Empathic recognition may or may not be welcomed or socially desirable. This is particularly the case where we recognise the emotions that someone has towards us during real time interactions. Based on a metaphorical affinity with touch, philosopher Edith Wyschogrod claims that the proximity entailed by empathy increases the potential vulnerability of either party.[64]
In evolutionary psychology, attempts at explaining pro-social behavior often mention the presence of empathy in the individual as a possible variable. Although exact motives behind complex social behaviors are difficult to distinguish, the "ability to put oneself in the shoes of another person and experience events and emotions the way that person experienced them" is the definitive factor for truly altruistic behavior according to Batson's empathy-altruism hypothesis. If empathy is not felt, social exchange (what's in it forctional MRI investigation |workbut if empathy is felt, an individual will help by actions or by word, regardless of whether it is in their self-interest to do so and even if the costs outweigh potential rewards.[65]
The results suggest that the Universe is made up of about 70% dark energy.
"In general relativity, there is a direct connection between geometry and dynamics," Professor Marinoni explained, "so that once you measure the abundance of matter and energy in the Universe, you have direct information on its geometry; you can do geometry as we learn in primary school."
The team's conclusions suggest the Universe is indeed flat - an assumption first put forth by Albert Einstein and seemingly confirmed by more recent observations but that remains one of the most difficult ideas to put on solid theoretical footing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal
At present, the overall geomagnetic field is becoming weaker at a rate which would, if it continues, cause the dipole field to temporarily collapse by 3000–4000 CE.[citation needed] The South Atlantic Anomaly is believed by some scientists, including Dr. Pieter Kotze, head of the geomagnetism group at the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory in the southern Cape, to be a product of this.[citation needed] The present strong deterioration corresponds to a 10–15% decline over the last 150 years and has accelerated in the past several years; however, geomagnetic intensity has declined almost continuously from a maximum 35% above the modern value achieved approximately 2000 years ago. The rate of decrease and the current strength are within the normal range of variation, as shown by the record of past magnetic fields recorded in rocks.
The nature of Earth's magnetic field is one of heteroscedastic fluctuation. An instantaneous measurement of it, or several measurements of it across the span of decades or centuries, is not sufficient to extrapolate an overall trend in the field strength. It has gone up and down in the past with no apparent reason. Also, noting the local intensity of the dipole field (or its fluctuation) is insufficient to characterize Earth's magnetic field as a whole, as it is not strictly a dipole field. The dipole component of Earth's field can diminish even while the total magnetic field remains the same or increases.
The Earth's magnetic north pole is drifting from northern Canada towards Siberia with a presently accelerating rate — 10 km per year at the beginning of the 20th century, up to 40 km per year in 2003, and since then has only accelerated.
Because the magnetic field has never been observed to reverse by humans with instrumentation, and the mechanism of field generation is not well understood, it is difficult to say what the characteristics of the magnetic field might be leading up to such a reversal.
Some speculate that a greatly diminished magnetic field during a reversal period will expose the surface of the Earth to a substantial and potentially damaging increase in cosmic radiation. However, Homo erectus and their ancestors certainly survived many previous reversals.
There is no uncontested evidence that a magnetic field reversal has ever caused any biological extinctions. A possible explanation is that the solar wind may induce a sufficient magnetic field in the Earth's ionosphere to shield the surface from energetic particles even in the absence of the Earth's normal magnetic field.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Hope,_Alaska
Point Hope town is located in the Point Hope landhead, at the NW end of the Lisburne Peninsula, on the Chukchi Sea coast, 40 mi. SW of Cape Lisburne, Arctic Slope at 68°20′49″N 166°45′47″W / 68.34694°N 166.76306°W (68.347052, -166.762917)[2].
Before any modern settlement, the Ipiutak lived here.
The descriptive Inuit name of the place, "Tikarakh" or "Tikigaq" commonly spelled "Tiagara," means "forefinger". It was recorded as "Tiekagagmiut" in 1861 by P. Tikhmeniev Wich of the Russian Hydrographic Department and on Russian Chart 1495 it became "Tiekaga". This ancient village site was advantageous, because the protrusion of Point Hope into the sea brought the whales close to the shore. At Tikigaq, they built semi-subterranean houses using mainly whalebone and driftwood. Point Hope is one of the oldest continually occupied sites in North America. While some of the earlier dwellings have been lost to erosion as the island shrinks, it still provides a welter of valuable information to archaeologists on how early Eskimos survived in their harsh environment. The Tikigaq site is "by far the most extensive and complete one-period site yet discovered and described in the entire circumpolar region." - Helge Larsen [4]
http://majikimaje.wordpress.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy
Rogers et al. suggest that one must differentiate between cognitive empathy and affective empathy when regarding people with Asperger syndrome. They suggest that autistic individuals have less ability to ascertain others' feelings, but demonstrate equal empathy when they are aware of others' states of mind. Autistic and AS people actually have a greater response to stress that they witness others experiencing than neurotypical people do.[62]
A common source of confusion in analyzing the interactions between empathy and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is that the apparent lack of empathy may mask emotional oversensitivity to the feelings of others. People with ASDs may suppress their emotional facility in order to avoid painful feedback. This is cited by Phoebe Caldwell, an author on ASD, who writes:
An apparent lack of empathy may also mask an inability to express empathy to others, as opposed to difficulty feeling it, internally.[63]What is clear is that, while people on the spectrum may not respond easily to external gestures/sounds, they do respond most readily if the initiative they witness is already part of their repertoire. This points to the selective use of incoming information rather than absence of recognition. It would appear that people with autism are actually rather good at recognition and imitation if the action they perceive is one that has meaning and significance for their brains. As regards the failure of empathetic response, it would appear that at least some people with autism are oversensitive to the feelings of others rather than immune to them, but cannot handle the painful feed-back that this initiates in the body, and have therefore learnt to suppress this facility.
The extent to which a person's emotions are publicly observable, or mutually recognized as such has significant social consequences. Empathic recognition may or may not be welcomed or socially desirable. This is particularly the case where we recognise the emotions that someone has towards us during real time interactions. Based on a metaphorical affinity with touch, philosopher Edith Wyschogrod claims that the proximity entailed by empathy increases the potential vulnerability of either party.[64]
In evolutionary psychology, attempts at explaining pro-social behavior often mention the presence of empathy in the individual as a possible variable. Although exact motives behind complex social behaviors are difficult to distinguish, the "ability to put oneself in the shoes of another person and experience events and emotions the way that person experienced them" is the definitive factor for truly altruistic behavior according to Batson's empathy-altruism hypothesis. If empathy is not felt, social exchange (what's in it forctional MRI investigation |workbut if empathy is felt, an individual will help by actions or by word, regardless of whether it is in their self-interest to do so and even if the costs outweigh potential rewards.[65]
21 November 2010
http://www.altruisticlove.org/index.html
The goal of the conference is to initiate creative thinking towards stimulating and promoting excellence in research into the phenomenon and interpretation of altruistic love. The approach is highly integrative, linking the biological and social sciences with philosophical, ethical, and religious themes. Love includes a variety of concepts, and in particular the John Templeton Foundation and the Fetzer Institute are interested in genuine generosity and self-giving love. Many religious perspectives affirm in various and diverse ways that love is at the “heart of being” and that the ultimate reality or ultimate purpose of things is related to love. To explore this topic fully there needs to be an inclusion in the discussion and research of a broad range of concepts, including altruism, attachment, bonding, empathy, and others.
One aim of resulting research would be to better understand under what conditions, attitudes as well as behavior centered on the good of others might be fostered. The potential contribution of this to the improvement of the human condition is substantial. The following questions serve as a starting point for furthering the inquiry into this field of study:
The goal of the conference is to initiate creative thinking towards stimulating and promoting excellence in research into the phenomenon and interpretation of altruistic love. The approach is highly integrative, linking the biological and social sciences with philosophical, ethical, and religious themes. Love includes a variety of concepts, and in particular the John Templeton Foundation and the Fetzer Institute are interested in genuine generosity and self-giving love. Many religious perspectives affirm in various and diverse ways that love is at the “heart of being” and that the ultimate reality or ultimate purpose of things is related to love. To explore this topic fully there needs to be an inclusion in the discussion and research of a broad range of concepts, including altruism, attachment, bonding, empathy, and others.
One aim of resulting research would be to better understand under what conditions, attitudes as well as behavior centered on the good of others might be fostered. The potential contribution of this to the improvement of the human condition is substantial. The following questions serve as a starting point for furthering the inquiry into this field of study:
- To what extent do human individuals and societies manifest behavior that is motivationally or consequentially altruistic?
- What are the evolutionary origins and neurologic substrates for altruistic behavior?
- What developmental processes foster or hinder altruistic attitudes and behavior in various stages of life from early childhood onwards?
- What psychological, social, and cultural factors influence altruism and caring?
- How do spiritual and religious experiences, beliefs, and practices influence altruistic attitudes and behavior?
- How does the giving and receiving of altruistic love interact with personal well-being and health?
- How can researchers from various disciplines collaborate to enhance this field of study?
- Overall, is it possible to gain new insights which can be utilized to help people and their communities to better appreciate the significance and importance of love, and benefit from its expression as a lived reality?
http://www.philosophypress.co.uk/?p=1583
“Philosophy does not contribute to our knowledge of the world we live in after the manner of any of the natural sciences. You can ask any scientist to show you the achievements of science over the past millennium, and they have much to show: libraries full of well-established facts and well-confirmed theories. If you ask a philosopher to produce a handbook of well-established and unchallengeable philosophical truths, there’s nothing to show. I think that is because philosophy is not a quest for knowledge about the world, but rather a quest for understanding the conceptual scheme in terms of which we conceive of the knowledge we achieve about the world. One of the rewards of doing philosophy is a clearer understanding of the way we think about ourselves and about the world we live in, not fresh facts about reality.”
“By doing philosophy you come to realise things about the structure of our conceptual scheme that you would never have realised otherwise. Realization is indeed a dawning of knowledge. But the knowledge here is not knowledge of the world we live in. It is knowledge of the structure of our conceptual scheme. It very often looks like “metaphysical knowledge” of reality – as it were knowledge of the scaffolding of the world. But it’s no such thing. The world doesn’t have scaffolding. Rather, in doing philosophy, we come to realise the character of the grammatical and linguistic scaffolding from which we describe the world, not the scaffolding of the world.”
“Philosophy does not contribute to our knowledge of the world we live in after the manner of any of the natural sciences. You can ask any scientist to show you the achievements of science over the past millennium, and they have much to show: libraries full of well-established facts and well-confirmed theories. If you ask a philosopher to produce a handbook of well-established and unchallengeable philosophical truths, there’s nothing to show. I think that is because philosophy is not a quest for knowledge about the world, but rather a quest for understanding the conceptual scheme in terms of which we conceive of the knowledge we achieve about the world. One of the rewards of doing philosophy is a clearer understanding of the way we think about ourselves and about the world we live in, not fresh facts about reality.”
“By doing philosophy you come to realise things about the structure of our conceptual scheme that you would never have realised otherwise. Realization is indeed a dawning of knowledge. But the knowledge here is not knowledge of the world we live in. It is knowledge of the structure of our conceptual scheme. It very often looks like “metaphysical knowledge” of reality – as it were knowledge of the scaffolding of the world. But it’s no such thing. The world doesn’t have scaffolding. Rather, in doing philosophy, we come to realise the character of the grammatical and linguistic scaffolding from which we describe the world, not the scaffolding of the world.”
20 November 2010
http://www.frankfuredi.com/index.php/site/article/its_time_to_stand_up_for_courage_and_conviction/
An example of this stigmatisation of virtue relates to something I feel strongly about, namely, devotion and care. During the course of writing a book a few years ago called Therapy Culture, I noticed that aspects of devotion and care had become increasingly stigmatised, often being expressed and defined as a marker of a disease. In fact, any manifestation of love, friendship, loyalty or altruism was potentially labelled as a form of addictive behaviour. Altruistic behaviour – which hardly seems a bad thing – is actually diagnosed as compulsive helping. According to this definition, compulsive helpers disregard their own needs and feelings and focus on helping another person. That kind of sums up our current situation with regards to public virtue: in a different era, in a different society, this so-called disease would be seen as a positive thing.
An example of this stigmatisation of virtue relates to something I feel strongly about, namely, devotion and care. During the course of writing a book a few years ago called Therapy Culture, I noticed that aspects of devotion and care had become increasingly stigmatised, often being expressed and defined as a marker of a disease. In fact, any manifestation of love, friendship, loyalty or altruism was potentially labelled as a form of addictive behaviour. Altruistic behaviour – which hardly seems a bad thing – is actually diagnosed as compulsive helping. According to this definition, compulsive helpers disregard their own needs and feelings and focus on helping another person. That kind of sums up our current situation with regards to public virtue: in a different era, in a different society, this so-called disease would be seen as a positive thing.
18 November 2010
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11773791
Researchers at Cern, home of the Large Hadron Collider, have held 38 antihydrogen atoms in place, each for a fraction of a second.
Antihydrogen has been produced before but it was instantly destroyed when it encountered normal matter.
The team, reporting in Nature, says the ability to study such antimatter atoms will allow previously impossible tests of fundamental tenets of physics.
The current "standard model" of physics holds that each particle - protons, electrons, neutrons and a zoo of more exotic particles - has its mirror image antiparticle.
The antiparticle of the electron, for example, is the positron, and is used in an imaging technique of growing popularity known as positron emission tomography.
However, one of the great mysteries in physics is why our world is made up overwhelmingly of matter, rather than antimatter; the laws of physics make no distinction between the two and equal amounts should have been created at the Universe's birth.
"Atoms are neutral - they have no net charge - but they have a little magnetic character," explained Jeff Hangst of Aarhus University in Denmark, one of the collaborators on the Alpha antihydrogen trapping project.
Researchers at Cern, home of the Large Hadron Collider, have held 38 antihydrogen atoms in place, each for a fraction of a second.
Antihydrogen has been produced before but it was instantly destroyed when it encountered normal matter.
The team, reporting in Nature, says the ability to study such antimatter atoms will allow previously impossible tests of fundamental tenets of physics.
The current "standard model" of physics holds that each particle - protons, electrons, neutrons and a zoo of more exotic particles - has its mirror image antiparticle.
The antiparticle of the electron, for example, is the positron, and is used in an imaging technique of growing popularity known as positron emission tomography.
However, one of the great mysteries in physics is why our world is made up overwhelmingly of matter, rather than antimatter; the laws of physics make no distinction between the two and equal amounts should have been created at the Universe's birth.
"Atoms are neutral - they have no net charge - but they have a little magnetic character," explained Jeff Hangst of Aarhus University in Denmark, one of the collaborators on the Alpha antihydrogen trapping project.
"You can think of them as small compass needles, so they can be deflected using magnetic fields. We build a strong 'magnetic bottle' around where we produce the antihydrogen and, if they're not moving too quickly, they are trapped," he told BBC News.
"What we'd like to do is see if there's some difference that we don't understand yet between matter and antimatter," Professor Hangst said.
"I'm delighted that it worked as we said it should," Professor Gabrielse told BBC News.
"We have a long way to go yet; these are atoms that don't live long enough to do anything with them. So we need a lot more atoms and a lot longer times before it's really useful - but one has to crawl before you sprint.
Professor Gabrielse's group is taking a different tack to prepare more of the antihydrogen atoms, but said that progress in the field is "exciting".
"It shows that the dream from many years ago is not completely crazy."
"What we'd like to do is see if there's some difference that we don't understand yet between matter and antimatter," Professor Hangst said.
"I'm delighted that it worked as we said it should," Professor Gabrielse told BBC News.
"We have a long way to go yet; these are atoms that don't live long enough to do anything with them. So we need a lot more atoms and a lot longer times before it's really useful - but one has to crawl before you sprint.
Professor Gabrielse's group is taking a different tack to prepare more of the antihydrogen atoms, but said that progress in the field is "exciting".
"It shows that the dream from many years ago is not completely crazy."
13 November 2010
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6924783997124351408#
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Perkins_%28author%29
http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system?source=link_fb20101112solarsystem ... Most of the planets also have magnetic fields, which extend into space and form a magnetosphere around each planet. These magnetospheres rotate with the planet, sweeping charged particles with them. The sun has a magnetic field, the heliosphere, which envelops our entire solar system.
Ancient astronomers believed that the Earth was the center of the universe, and that the sun and all the other stars revolved around the Earth. Copernicus proved that Earth and the other planets in our solar system orbit our sun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_magnetic_field
Animals including birds and turtles can detect the Earth's magnetic field, and use the field to navigate during migration.[17] Cows and wild deer tend to align their bodies north-south while relaxing, but not when the animals are under high voltage power lines, leading researchers to believe magnetism is responsible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_migration
Migratory birds may use two electromagnetic tools to find their destinations: one that is entirely innate and another that relies on experience. A young bird on its first migration flies in the correct direction according to the Earth's magnetic field, but does not know how far the journey will be. It does this through a radical pair mechanism whereby chemical reactions in special photo pigments sensitive to long wavelengths are affected by the field. Note that although this only works during daylight hours, it does not use the position of the sun in any way. At this stage the bird is similar to a boy scout with a compass but no map, until it grows accustomed to the journey and can put its other facilities to use. With experience they learn various landmarks and this "mapping" is done by magnetites in the trigeminal system, which tell the bird how strong the field is. Because birds migrate between northern and southern regions, the magnetic field strengths at different latitudes let it interpret the radical pair mechanism more accurately and let it know when it has reached its destination.[26] More recent research has found a neural connection between the eye and "Cluster N", the part of the forebrain that is active during migrational orientation, suggesting that birds may actually be able to see the magnetic field of the earth.[27][28]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Perkins_%28author%29
http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system?source=link_fb20101112solarsystem ... Most of the planets also have magnetic fields, which extend into space and form a magnetosphere around each planet. These magnetospheres rotate with the planet, sweeping charged particles with them. The sun has a magnetic field, the heliosphere, which envelops our entire solar system.
Ancient astronomers believed that the Earth was the center of the universe, and that the sun and all the other stars revolved around the Earth. Copernicus proved that Earth and the other planets in our solar system orbit our sun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_magnetic_field
Animals including birds and turtles can detect the Earth's magnetic field, and use the field to navigate during migration.[17] Cows and wild deer tend to align their bodies north-south while relaxing, but not when the animals are under high voltage power lines, leading researchers to believe magnetism is responsible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_migration
Migratory birds may use two electromagnetic tools to find their destinations: one that is entirely innate and another that relies on experience. A young bird on its first migration flies in the correct direction according to the Earth's magnetic field, but does not know how far the journey will be. It does this through a radical pair mechanism whereby chemical reactions in special photo pigments sensitive to long wavelengths are affected by the field. Note that although this only works during daylight hours, it does not use the position of the sun in any way. At this stage the bird is similar to a boy scout with a compass but no map, until it grows accustomed to the journey and can put its other facilities to use. With experience they learn various landmarks and this "mapping" is done by magnetites in the trigeminal system, which tell the bird how strong the field is. Because birds migrate between northern and southern regions, the magnetic field strengths at different latitudes let it interpret the radical pair mechanism more accurately and let it know when it has reached its destination.[26] More recent research has found a neural connection between the eye and "Cluster N", the part of the forebrain that is active during migrational orientation, suggesting that birds may actually be able to see the magnetic field of the earth.[27][28]
12 November 2010
Cradle2Cradle
Kiesha Crowther
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0XgirV99Fc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mDuXsaZr24
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla Because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist by many late in his life.
(Newton's Coat of Arms)
Newton's postulate of an invisible force able to act over vast distances led to him being criticised for introducing "occult agencies" into science.[44] Later, in the second edition of the Principia (1713), Newton firmly rejected such criticisms in a concluding General Scholium, writing that it was enough that the phenomena implied a gravitational attraction, as they did; but they did not so far indicate its cause, and it was both unnecessary and improper to frame hypotheses of things that were not implied by the phenomena. (Here Newton used what became his famous expression Hypotheses non fingo).
http://www.universetoday.com/47219/what-was-the-norway-spiral/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFWI0kbsiK8&feature=related
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html
... the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012
08 November 2010
http://www.heartmath.org/research/research-publications/electrophysiological-evidence-of-intuition-part-1-the-surprising-role-of-the-heart.html
Conclusions: Overall, we have independently replicated and extended previous research documenting prestimulus responses. It appears that the heart is involved in the processing and decoding of intuitive information. Once the prestimulus information is received in the psychophysiologic systems, it appears to be processed in the same way as conventional sensory input. This study presents compelling evidence that the body’s perceptual apparatus is continuously scanning the future. To account for the results presented in Parts 1 and 2, Part 3 will develop a theory based on holographic principles explaining how intuitive perception accesses a field of energy into which information about future events is spectrally enfolded.
http://www.heartmath.org/research/research-library/achieving-collective-coherence-group-effects-on-hrv.html
Objectives: This study examined whether a group of participants trained in achieving high states of heart rate variability coherence (HRVC) could facilitate higher levels of HRVC in an untrained subject in close proximity.
Design: Fifteen adult volunteers were trained to increase their HRVC. In a series of 148 10-minute trials using six different experimental protocols, three of the trained participants were placed together with one of 25 additional volunteers to test whether the three could collectively facilitate higher levels of HRVC in the fourth.
Results: The HRVC of the untrained subject was found to be higher in approximately half of all matched comparisons and was highest in cases where all four participants focused on achieving increased HRVC. A probit analysis revealed a statistical relationship between participants’ comfort with each other and trial success. Greater levels of inter-group comfort were seen to be positively linked to increases in HRVC. Evidence of heart rhythm synchronization between group members was revealed through several methods, including correlation analysis, coherence analysis, wavelet coherence analysis, and Granger causality tests. Higher levels of HRVC were found to be correlated with higher levels of heart rate synchronization between participants.
Conclusions: These results suggest that a coherent energy field can be generated and/or enhanced by the intentions of small groups of participants trained to send coherence-facilitating intentions to a target receiver. This field is made more coherent with greater levels of comfort between group members. The evidence of heart rhythm synchronization across participants supports the possibility of heart-to-heart bio-communications.
http://www.heartmath.org/research/research-publications/energetic-heart-bioelectromagnetic-communication-within-and-between-people.html
This chapter will focus on electromagnetic fields generated by the heart that permeate every cell and may act as a synchronizing signal for the body in a manner analogous to information carried by radio waves. Particular emphasis will be devoted to evidence demonstrating that this energy is not only transmitted internally to the brain but is also detectable by others within its range of communication. The heart generates the largest electromagnetic field in the body. The electrical field as measured in an electrocardiogram (ECG) is about 60 times greater in amplitude than the brain waves recorded in an electroencephalogram (EEG). The magnetic component of the heart’s field, which is around 5000 times stronger than that produced by the brain, is not impeded by tissues and can be measured several feet away from the body with Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID)-based magnetometers (1). We have also found that the clear rhythmic patterns in beat-to-beat heart rate variability are distinctly altered when different emotions are experienced. These changes in electromagnetic, sound pressure, and blood pressure waves produced by cardiac rhythmic activity are "felt" by every cell in the body, further supporting the heart’s role as a global internal synchronizing signal.
http://www.heartmath.org/research/research-publications/correlated-heart-rate-measures-in-the-study-of-nonlocal-human-connectedness.html
Conclusions: Overall, we have independently replicated and extended previous research documenting prestimulus responses. It appears that the heart is involved in the processing and decoding of intuitive information. Once the prestimulus information is received in the psychophysiologic systems, it appears to be processed in the same way as conventional sensory input. This study presents compelling evidence that the body’s perceptual apparatus is continuously scanning the future. To account for the results presented in Parts 1 and 2, Part 3 will develop a theory based on holographic principles explaining how intuitive perception accesses a field of energy into which information about future events is spectrally enfolded.
http://www.heartmath.org/research/research-library/achieving-collective-coherence-group-effects-on-hrv.html
Objectives: This study examined whether a group of participants trained in achieving high states of heart rate variability coherence (HRVC) could facilitate higher levels of HRVC in an untrained subject in close proximity.
Design: Fifteen adult volunteers were trained to increase their HRVC. In a series of 148 10-minute trials using six different experimental protocols, three of the trained participants were placed together with one of 25 additional volunteers to test whether the three could collectively facilitate higher levels of HRVC in the fourth.
Results: The HRVC of the untrained subject was found to be higher in approximately half of all matched comparisons and was highest in cases where all four participants focused on achieving increased HRVC. A probit analysis revealed a statistical relationship between participants’ comfort with each other and trial success. Greater levels of inter-group comfort were seen to be positively linked to increases in HRVC. Evidence of heart rhythm synchronization between group members was revealed through several methods, including correlation analysis, coherence analysis, wavelet coherence analysis, and Granger causality tests. Higher levels of HRVC were found to be correlated with higher levels of heart rate synchronization between participants.
Conclusions: These results suggest that a coherent energy field can be generated and/or enhanced by the intentions of small groups of participants trained to send coherence-facilitating intentions to a target receiver. This field is made more coherent with greater levels of comfort between group members. The evidence of heart rhythm synchronization across participants supports the possibility of heart-to-heart bio-communications.
http://www.heartmath.org/research/research-publications/energetic-heart-bioelectromagnetic-communication-within-and-between-people.html
This chapter will focus on electromagnetic fields generated by the heart that permeate every cell and may act as a synchronizing signal for the body in a manner analogous to information carried by radio waves. Particular emphasis will be devoted to evidence demonstrating that this energy is not only transmitted internally to the brain but is also detectable by others within its range of communication. The heart generates the largest electromagnetic field in the body. The electrical field as measured in an electrocardiogram (ECG) is about 60 times greater in amplitude than the brain waves recorded in an electroencephalogram (EEG). The magnetic component of the heart’s field, which is around 5000 times stronger than that produced by the brain, is not impeded by tissues and can be measured several feet away from the body with Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID)-based magnetometers (1). We have also found that the clear rhythmic patterns in beat-to-beat heart rate variability are distinctly altered when different emotions are experienced. These changes in electromagnetic, sound pressure, and blood pressure waves produced by cardiac rhythmic activity are "felt" by every cell in the body, further supporting the heart’s role as a global internal synchronizing signal.
http://www.heartmath.org/research/research-publications/correlated-heart-rate-measures-in-the-study-of-nonlocal-human-connectedness.html
Previous studies investigating correlations in brain activity between isolated pairs have found significantly correlated brain activity in approximately 20% of participant pairs when one member is engaged in a specified task and the other is not. Participants who demonstrate correlated electroencephalogram (EEG) activity might hypothetically be expected to demonstrate correlated heart rate (HR) activity. Research questions explored whether there were correlations between HR, dominant heart rate variability (HRV) frequencies, and prestimulus HR responses among individuals in participant pairs.
Participants included 14 pairs of people who were known to each other, and expressed a sense of familiarity and connectedness. They were physically isolated while HR and EEG measures were simultaneously recorded. One participant, the "sender," was shown a randomly timed video image of the other, interspersed with a blank screen. The other participant, the "receiver," was in an electromagnetically sealed chamber with a video camera focused on his/her face. Senders were asked to use the video image as a reminder of their intentional task of focusing on the sense of connection they felt with their partner. Moment-to-moment HR fluctuations averaged across a group of 3 participant pairs with the highest EEG correlations between senders and receivers (high EEG group) were compared with the same measures in a group of 3 participant pairs who had the smallest absolute EEG correlations (low EEG group).
The high EEG group demonstrated a statistically significant normalized HR correlation, while the low EEG group did not reach statistical significance. Results from power spectral density analysis of the range of frequencies suggested that the high EEG group had a dominant 0.1 Hz range, associated with autonomic nervous system balance, while the low EEG group showed a dominant 0.04 Hz range, associated with higher sympathetic nervous system activation. Participants in the high EEG group also appeared to demonstrate a prestimulus heart rate response that was not evident in the low EEG group. Although participant numbers are small, the possibility that heart rate and heart rate variability patterns are correlated at a distance is a new finding. Prestimulus HR response occurring nonlocally in relation to both time and space is also a new finding.
06 November 2010
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