[FairfieldLife] Re: Einstein was a man of faith !
I don't want to get into any of the knee-jerk defenses of faith vs. reason or God vs. things-just-happening; there is a place for both points of view in the world. I'm merely reacting to the oft-repeated-as-if-it-were- true claim that Einstein was a religionist or believed in God, almost always repeated by God freaks. T'ain't true. He said some things that mentioned God, usually as a metaphor for the laws of nature as he perceived them. These quotes have been touted by people with a God to sell, doing the same thing Maharishi did, trying to use a public figure to sell their ideas. But the vast majority of Einstein's quotes in letters and talks dealt with his *lack* of belief in any kind of sentient God. His daughter in recent years has released a number of these letters into the public domain, with the effect that Einstein's overall position as a rational humanist with an astounding sense of wonder about the universe, but without the need to project some kind of sentience guiding and controlling it, is clear. Here are a few balancing quotes from him. Those who feel that they need to become angry or lash out at either him or at me for pointing them out, please read my recent post on Faith before doing so to get a feel for what you look like, and what you are demon- strating about the nature of your faith when you do so. http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/einstein.htm http://www.atheistempire.com/greatminds/quotes.php?author=9 http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Religions-Atheist-Atheism-Agnostic.htm Now, that taken care of, as to the question of intuition. I for one see no problem with intuition being both a valuable and a valid mechanism, in both life and science. Having a feeling for how something works sometimes leads scientists to deeper and fuller understanding of the thing, and how it indeed seems to work. Sometimes it doesn't, and leads down a blind alley. The issue, in my opinion, is which one owes allegiance to the most -- one's intuition, or the facts. If the latter, you're a scientist, and will have no problem shrugging your shoulders, saying Ooops...wrong about that one, and moving on. If the former, you're a religionist (or a solipsist), and choose to disregard verifiable, demonstrable facts so that you can persist in believing the things you want to believe. While the latter approach is as old as humanity, and seems to be the Operating System du Jour on this dumb- and-dumber planet, you're never going to convince me that it's either a rational approach, or a spiritual one. My notion of spiritual most closely maps to the Buddhist one of trying to suss out What is, without a lot of What I've been told is or What I'd like to be in the way. Your mileage may vary. And that's OK, if you want to live your life that way. But don't think for a minute that you choosing to live your life that way sets any kind of standard.
[FairfieldLife] A Sense Of Wonder
The phrase in the Subject line, besides being the name of a pretty good Van Morrison album, defines for me the essence of the spiritual life. Some, like Van the Man, take the sense of wonder they feel about life and turn it into an appreciation for their personal notion of God. Others, like myself, stop at wonder. The sense of wonder, for us, is *enough*. As a representative of the latter predilection, one of the things I've never been able to understand about religionists and those who favor a more dogmatic view of spirituality is the sense of *certainty* they tend to impose on wonder, somehow feeling that it's either appropriate, or does justice to that which inspires wonder. Some people are so certain that they know how the universe works, that God exists, how good and bad are defined, what the mechanics of karma are, what sin is, etc. They actually seem to find solace and a sense of comfort in that certainty. They fight fuckin' *wars* over that certainty. Me, I'm not certain of much of anything. Every time I start to be, all I have to do is look around and jump- start my sense of wonder. All the sense of certainty flies out the window, to be replaced by the more (IMO) healthy sense of wonder. Others look around at the same things I'm looking at and find not wonder, but confirmation of the things they are so certain about. Go figure. Their call, and their right, and I wish them well with that approach. But will their certainty increase their joy and apprec- iation of life, or rob them of it by replacing wonder with stasis and complacency, because they already know how everything works? I wonder.
[FairfieldLife] Two photos, same subject, different intent
The intent of the first photo, IMO, is to make money (by selling magazines). The intent of the second is merely to make people think. [http://funmeme.com/image.axd?picture=Fascism-in-America.jpg]
[FairfieldLife] Who was the 1st person in Christian history to be executed for heresy?
Jesus. And yet look how his followers honor his memory. Re my suggestion in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/message/249747 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/message/249747 that the way people of faith react to someone poking fun at that faith says a great deal more about them than their claims about that faith, check out this article. Christian Right Group Tries to Kill Comedy Central Show About Jesus A new organization has been formed by the US religious right to attack a program that hasn't yet reached pilot stage. JC http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/2010/05/06/comedy-central-announces-\ 20102011-development-slate/ , a Comedy Central cartoon about Jesus trying to live a normal life in New York, does not have a completed script, but Citizens Against Religious Bigotry http://www.mrcaction.org/555/petition.asp?Ref_ID=3457CID=555RID=24550\ 778 (Carb) are calling on advertisers to force the channel to abort it. Carb, starchier than your average lobbyists, are particularly exercised by the contrast with the way Comedy Central backed down on airing scenes involving Muhammad in South Park http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/23/muhammad-sou\ th-park-censorship , fearing violence. Does that indicate that Christians then are punished because they aren't crazy? asked the talk show host and Carb Michael Medved. So censorship goes pre-emptive, a TV show doesn't even have to be made in order to offend, and the duty to protect the unborn has no relevance to works of creativity. I suppose it's not so big a leap as all that to banning things that don't exist yet for those who devote their careers to banning things they haven't seen. Religion is all about mystery, and nothing is so mysterious as the minds of the professionally offended. One mystery is what kind of God they serve. He is said to be Almighty, and yet desperately needs sticking up for. His emotional maturity is not the subject of any creeds but surely something you would assume of the perfect source of all being, if it weren't for his total inability to take any joke featuring himself (or sex for that matter). He tells his followers to turn the other cheek if they are assaulted themselves, but if people make fun of him expects his followers to hit them where it hurts. The Bible gives us rather conflicting impressions of God's attitudes to this kind of thing, but none of them fit very well with the God of Carb. There's the God of Moses and his successors, pockets full of locusts, boils and thunderbolts, just itching to strike down blasphemers, including those who touch the ark of the covenant to stop it from falling. Sure, this sounds very religious right, but if he really has such an arsenal at hand and the petulance to use it at the drop of an ark, does he really need or want charcoal-suited lobbyists fighting his battles for him by attacking the forces of darkness's advertising revenue? The Bible also gives us the rather different example of Jesus, the well-known homeless, penniless preacher, who submitted to humiliation and mockery rather more savage than anything Comedy Central might deliver, and who told his followers that their attitude should be the same as his. He told them not to fight back when their faith was attacked and ridiculed, but to count it a blessing. The letters of St Paul repeatedly point out that the way for believers to stop others blaspheming is not to deserve it. But the humility, gentleness and self-awareness of the New Testament can seem more Christ-like than Christian. If God has little need of protection from hurt feelings or dented pride, there remains the mystery of whose pride campaigners are defending, and the obvious answer would seem to be their own. Blasphemy dents their sense of honor, by insulting their religion, and what Christians call serving God could often be called self-serving. from http://www.alternet.org/story/147148/christian_right_group_tries_to_kill\ _comedy_central_show_about_jesus/ http://www.alternet.org/story/147148/christian_right_group_tries_to_kil\ l_comedy_central_show_about_jesus/
[FairfieldLife] Re: Teaching Virtue
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Buck dhamiltony...@... wrote: Spiritually, the duping, conning and wasting of time of unsuspecting practicing spiritual people, that would be really bad. Much like the Turq is doing on this forum. In its own category. Particularly bad on principle. I would bet the science about human spirituality would bare that out too. That is what i see in my experience with it. Jai Adi Shankara, -Buck
[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of seventhray1 Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 6:50 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, emptybill emptybill@ wrote: This rule was set up to curb intentional over-posters not to punish inadvertence. Repeat over-posters might warrant this action but this rule Ominance is Pharisaical and absurd. I agree. This was an obvious oversight. Isn't it the spirit, rather than the letter of the law we are concerned with? It's pretty obvious when someone is disregarding this rule. Why punish this infraction? Alex shouldn't have to take the heat for this. Judy has tried to be diligent about the post count, and I'm sure she didn't overpost intentionally. I've occasionally forgiven people who did that. I accidentally overposted myself one week, although several of my posts were administrative. So I say let's cut her some slack this time and not banish her. Now that is mature talk from you Rick !
[FairfieldLife] Soap Opera Digest
Dash, a polygamist with three wives, is father to three sons: Ram, Lak, and Shat. When a witch doctor comes to town complaining that demons are disturbing his ceremonies, Ram and Lak help out by telling him they've kicked the demons' asses. The witch doctor feels better, and all is well. But Ram is still single, and Dash doesn't like that much, and he wants to fix Ram up with a girl whose pedigree consists of having been found in a field as a baby. So he sets up a kind of a Strongman Contest, in which the guy who can flex his pecs and use them to pump string on a piece of exercise equipment the best gets the gal. Ram wins, and the two get hitched. All goes well until Dash is starting to circle the drain and wants to give his fortune and title to Ram before he dies. One of his three wives, in a scene possibly lifted from a discarded script of Big Love, demands that Dash banish Ram instead. Dash, completely pussy-whipped by not one but three wives for many years, goes for it. Ram, the equally pussy-whipped progeny of pussy-whippedness, agrees. Even though his sweetie wants to come with him, Ram wants to tough it out and show how cool and noble he is by doing the banishment thang all by himself. Even when his dad Dash kicks the bucket and his bro begs him to come back and take over the family business, Ram thinks it's more noble to hang out in exile and leave his sweetie to the sweet ministrations of her vibrator. So his bro installs Ram's best pair of Nikes as CEO of the family business instead. Shareholders actually buy this. Tune in next week, when Supernookie, an evil babe, attempts to seduce the three brothers and, when they're too busy being noble to go for it, tries to off Ram's sweetie in a fit of whore spite. This winds up seriously affecting Supernookie's sense of hearing and smell, and *her* bro doesn't like this much, so he decides to kidnap Ram's sweetie (not that Ram seems to care, still caught up in being all noble and shit). Much mayhem happens, including war, flying monkeys, and genocide. Don't miss The Ramayana, episode 2, in prime time on a cable channel near you.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Inc.: How to Build a Beautiful Company
I rarely respond to a Dick Mays post, but I'll make an exception for this post, for several reasons. First, like geezerfreak I used to know Bill Witherspoon, and think it's wonderful that he's doing well. Second, I think it's worth pointing out that the admirable structure he's come up with for his business is the utter antithesis of the way that the TM movement is run. Third, I suggest that the question of where Nabby's holy crop circles come from is now settled. Bill made them: In 1990 came a brush with notoriety when Witherspoon carved the Hindu symbol for the forces of nature into a dry lakebed in the desert. The design spanned a square quarter-mile. Aerial photos from a National Guard reconnaissance plane sparked a panic over aliens. :-) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Dick Mays dickm...@... wrote: http://www.inc.com/top-workplaces/2010/how-to-build-a-beautiful-company.html Top Small Cpmpany Workplaces How to Build a Beautiful Company Employing open-book management and leadership by consensus, the Sky Factory's Bill Witherspoon has set out to create the perfect business. As Told to Leigh Buchanan | Jun 8, 2010 Inc. Newsletter Andy Ryan Blue-Sky Thinking Bill Witherspoon's company manufactures high-tech illusions. Its virtual windows and skylights use backlit images and high-definition LCDs to replicate clouds drifting across perfect skies. Related Articles * The Sky Factory: Bill Witherspoon * 2010 Top Small Company Workplaces * Do You Have a Winning Workplace Culture? Small Business Success Inspiring company profiles and best practices for smart business owners In the early 1970s, Bill Witherspoon lived for months in a school bus parked in the Oregon desert. A hundred miles from the nearest town, he spent day after day painting the sky and the clouds. He later sold his work for tidy sums. Witherspoon would spend the rest of his life alternating between painting and launching companies. His first company experimented with new methods of agricultural management. In 1982, he co-founded Westbridge Research Group, a developer of ecologically friendly agricultural products that boasted Jonas Salk as a board member. In 1990 came a brush with notoriety when Witherspoon carved the Hindu symbol for the forces of nature into a dry lakebed in the desert. The design spanned a square quarter-mile. Aerial photos from a National Guard reconnaissance plane sparked a panic over aliens. During one of his peckish artistic periods, Witherspoon offered to tear out the ceiling in an orthodontist's office and replace it with a skyscape made from painted tiles in exchange for braces for his children. That act of creative barter provided the idea for The Sky Factory, a $3.9 million, 34-employee company in Fairfield, Iowa. The business makes backlit images of sea and sky that are installed on ceilings and walls. Its products are popular in hotels, spas, restaurants, and hospitals. When Witherspoon, then 60, launched The Sky Factory in 2002, he wondered, Was it possible to create a company as beautiful as a work of art? A beautiful company, in Witherspoon's mind, starts with the elimination of hierarchies that impede and repress the expression of people's natural curiosity and creativity. The Sky Factory's organizational structure is as flat as its creator's beloved desert. There are no employees, just owners, and everyone cares deeply about doing what is best for the group. Both painting and company building start with a blank canvas. In a painting you create beauty with the addition of each brush stroke. In a company you create it with the addition of each talented, engaged person and with each thoughtful act. I thought about how satisfying it would be to build a beautiful company, and how much better for the people who work there. I am an optimist and an idealist. In shaping The Sky Factory, I started with the assumption that people are naturally curious and creative. I wanted to craft an environment in which they would act like entrepreneurs, not like robots. My first decision was to give people the opportunity to purchase discounted ownership, and 100 percent of employees have participated. The responsibility for revenue and profit belongs to everyone. From that foundation, I derived five principles. 1. Share information As a company of owners, everyone who works here is naturally motivated to participate in important decisions. To do so, people have to know everything. All information about The Sky Factory is right out on the table -- with the exception of HR issues and salaries. And not to reveal compensation was the decision of the group. On Fridays, we have a two-hour meeting. For the first 30 minutes, we go over all the metrics. In addition to the critical numbers, people will raise questions about how many
[FairfieldLife] Re: Inc.: How to Build a Beautiful Company
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: Third, I suggest that the question of where Nabby's holy crop circles come from is now settled. Bill made them: In 1990 came a brush with notoriety when Witherspoon carved the Hindu symbol for the forces of nature into a dry lakebed in the desert. The design spanned a square quarter-mile. Aerial photos from a National Guard reconnaissance plane sparked a panic over aliens. Curious, I followed up on this and found the first Google reference pointing to an online book called Vital Signs, which is subtitled A Complete Guide to the CROP CIRCLE Mystery and Why it is NOT a Hoax, By Andy Thomas. He cites as part of his debunking of the hoax theory, In 1990, also in the US, Mickey Basin, a dry lake-bed in Oregon, found itself host to a huge Hindu symbol known as a sriyantra, etched into the soil with 3 furrows. The total length of the lines was around thirteen miles. Could this possibly be Bill's sri yantra? I rest my case. Bill Witherspoon is the source of Nabby's crop circles. They're not just a conspiracy, they're a TM-related conspiracy. Who knew? :-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count
Cool. I restored her posting privileges. I do think that because she posted 51 times last week, she should only post 49 this week. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of seventhray1 Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 6:50 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, emptybill emptybill@ wrote: This rule was set up to curb intentional over-posters not to punish inadvertence. Repeat over-posters might warrant this action but this rule Ominance is Pharisaical and absurd. I agree. This was an obvious oversight. Isn't it the spirit, rather than the letter of the law we are concerned with? It's pretty obvious when someone is disregarding this rule. Why punish this infraction? Alex shouldn't have to take the heat for this. Judy has tried to be diligent about the post count, and I'm sure she didn't overpost intentionally. I've occasionally forgiven people who did that. I accidentally overposted myself one week, although several of my posts were administrative. So I say let's cut her some slack this time and not banish her.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Einstein was a man of faith !
If they are my definitions of the words being used by Einstein in the quotes you've linked to, then he and I exactly agree -- exactly. He speaks pure Advaita. You anti-God-ists refuse to have a legitimate debate and insist on strawdogging by this easily thrashed dead-horse meme of personal God. Every time I use the word God, not a, ahem, soul here has bothered to see if I mean personal God or Einstein's object of wonderment. That's the tell, ya see? You anti-God-ists are out for a fight and pick your issues that you think are your aces up your sleeves. And, bother! if anyone tries to spotlight deeper issues. Anti-God-ists come off as sycophants of Holy Concept -- all bow to the power of concepts! Pray for another concept to arrive. Sickeningly religious if you ask me. Einstein's quotes clearly show his strongest endorsement of awareness and being as palpable memes that cannot be un-included in a scientific summation of the basis of creation. Awareness is required for any religion, but awareness has no need for any particularity when it comes to embodiments. Argue all day long about vanilla or chocolate, get off on it and rouse yourselves to heights of fervor, but let's all agree that there is such a thing as taste -- common ground, eh? That Einstein did not believe in a soul that survives death is the most powerful card anti-God-ists can play -- their faces displaying a proud smuggery that they've got the top trump. Note that Einstein says Buddhism would be a religion that came close to meeting his need for logic and sanity in a relationship with the unknown. Obviously Buddhism's void is a central meme that resonates with science's holy grail of the unified field -- for in such a field, there can be no defining (G. O. D. = Get Over Defining) since all forces would be one -- and where there's solely one there cannot be a second element with the role of observer. There's your Quantum God.pure unified everything more intimate with itself than two entangled photons. Whew, it takes my breath away when I read about today's ESTABLISHED profundities. If I were a Christian, I'd be bad-mouthing quantum physics with every Sunday's sermoning breath. And I suppose many of them do. They'd be the smarties. I haven't googled it, but maybe Einstein can be found opining that this unified field that is so sought by today's (post Bohr) very religious scientists who believe so deeply that it must exist is righteously labeled God, or Being or Awareness -- but always with the dynamic alive being integral to any defining. I see nothing in the quotes provided that would obviate this possibility -- that the unified field is alive and at least 13 billion years old, if not eternal. Alive would mean -- processing awareness that is structured by inviolate axioms of relationship. In this religion, one might say that an electron is being holy when it circles a proton exactly so. It is sinless, ya see? There is your alter, there is your saint with perfect humility. Every time I read about how physics is trending, I never see atheism becoming more solid. I see religion's power rent, but transcendentalism is all the more supported thereby. When I read Einstein's words, I hear a clarion pealing that there is a something which is beyond grasp by concept but which is as deserving of worship which one sees modeled in the electron's constancy as it en-spheres the proton. Indeed, I am humbled thusly, for I have not yet that perfect ability to focus on the centrality of existence -- Being -- in such lock-step resonance with it. If I did, I know I would feel ELECTRIC! Edg -- Priest of the Living Unknown --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: I don't want to get into any of the knee-jerk defenses of faith vs. reason or God vs. things-just-happening; there is a place for both points of view in the world. I'm merely reacting to the oft-repeated-as-if-it-were- true claim that Einstein was a religionist or believed in God, almost always repeated by God freaks. T'ain't true. He said some things that mentioned God, usually as a metaphor for the laws of nature as he perceived them. These quotes have been touted by people with a God to sell, doing the same thing Maharishi did, trying to use a public figure to sell their ideas. But the vast majority of Einstein's quotes in letters and talks dealt with his *lack* of belief in any kind of sentient God. His daughter in recent years has released a number of these letters into the public domain, with the effect that Einstein's overall position as a rational humanist with an astounding sense of wonder about the universe, but without the need to project some kind of sentience guiding and controlling it, is clear. Here are a few balancing quotes from him. Those who feel that they need to become angry or lash out at either him or at me for pointing them out,
[FairfieldLife] Re: Faith, and the demonstration thereof...
TurquoiseB: This morning I'm pondering the notion of faith, which I define as believing that one knows the truth about something (or more likely in spiritual circles... You didn't define the word 'spiritual'. Is that a belief in 'spirits'? Do you really believe in the spirits of the dead? What is a spiritual path? You have to have faith that there is a spiritual world beyond the world of the senses. Without faith that the goal of enlightenment exists, there would be nothing to strive for. You were not born with an innate sense of the goal of enlightenment - you have to take on faith what your teachers tell you about the enlightened state. Or, maybe you read about enlightenment in a book or magazine, and you have faith that there is a transcendental field. Enlightenment is not something that you know about apriori. The question is really, are we free or are we bound? If free, then there is no need for a yoga; if bound, by what means can we free ourselves? Not sure exactly what kind of Buddhist you think you are, Turq. Traditionally Buddhists throughout the Buddhist world consider that the universe contains more beings in it than are normally visible to humans. Buddhists have no objection to the existence of the Hindu Gods. Nevertheless, Buddhists can't take refuge in the gods because the gods are not Buddha. That is, they are not enlightened. All the Hindu gods, for all their power, are not the final truth of things. Power does not necessarily entail insight. For Buddhists, the gods do not have the liberating insight. But, none of this entails that the gods do not exist or that the gods cannot have a powerful influence over our lives. Thus, the Buddhist has no problem with the gods like you seem to have. Work cited: 'Buddhist Thought' by Paul Williams Routledge, 2000 Read more: 'Buddhism in Practice' ed. Donald S. Lopez, Jr. Princeton Readings in Religion, 1995
[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count
Joe sounds really scared of Judy. Joe: You're right Silly Willy. I am SO scared. So, Joe is scared of Judy. Damn boy, how'd you get to be so smart? By going to school? Must've been all that Texas skoolin! So, you're scared of people that have been to school? Go figure.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count
Alex Stanley: I restored her posting privileges... So, there are exceptions to the posting rules. But, the rule is just another example of the TMO mindset - a way to limit the free flow of information. We see this in the TMO all the time - lost Dome privileges, banning, and making all kinds of rules against visiting other teachers, etc. Why would anyone think that a TMer discussion group run by TMers would be any different than the TMO? According to Turq, TMers they have been 'brainwashed' to the point that when something happens that they don't agree with, they tell you to shut up. FFL is run by TMO people - Rick has been in the cult for thirty or forty years; Alex's brother is a 'Raja', and Petra apparently donates thousands of dollars to the TMO. The other FFL moderators claim to have some kind of TMO status. The most frequent posters are ex-TMers and TMO types like the two Barrys. Some of these people are so into the TM cult that they still live in Fairfield, even though they say they left TM years ago!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count
Sal Sunshine: Everyone here *must* be apprised of Judy's state of mind, and just *why* she went over... Unlike yourself, Judy has some insightful things to say. Most of your messages begin and end on one line. You just don't seem to have the intelligence to respond, so Judy calls you 'stupid Sal' for a reason - not because you are stupid, but because you say stupid things. So, it's probably natural for you to resent Judy. But, you could at least refrain from making stupid posts about Judy when she isn't allowed to respond. So, I'm saying that you are not only stupid, but you're also unethical as well. It's a cowardly thing to do, but typical of you TM types.
[FairfieldLife] Post Count -- For The Record
It's up to Rick, of course, but on reflection I have no problem with removing the posting limit. On one condition. Leave the Post Count program in place, and allow it to post its daily and weekly totals. I'm not likely to ever go over 50 posts per week, posting limits or not. I like the haiku-like structure of having to think through what I have to say, and put myself on a kind of rant diet. I find it helps to keep the samsaric weight off. But I think that everyone here knows that some *would* opt for spamming FFL with their rants, either to troll for attention and suck that attention vampire-like, or use the spam to sell their opinions as superior to the opinions of others. Since all but a couple of the potential abusers of their God-given right to spam have fled the scene, I have no problem with the remaining overposters being allowed to do so, as long as everyone is apprised daily and weekly how attached to a steady diet of Spam they are, and can consider that dietary and lifestyle choice when assessing their credibility.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Einstein was a man of faith !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, anatol_zinc anatol_z...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Hugo fintlewoodlewix@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, anatol_zinc anatol_zinc@ wrote: Einstein's theory of General Relativity predicted that light would bend bypassing a massive planet like the Sun. That was the only feasible experiment for his untested theory at the time since there were no lasers, etc. Einstein was asked what if the experiment proves his theory wrong? He said that would mean the experiment was not done properly. Amen ! HUGO: Wrong about the faith part I'm afraid. That was a measure simply of how confident he was about his theory of gravity and light. .. OK Hugo, so you see a big difference between the word faith and the word confidence. Not really, but you were implying Einstein was religious about science when he wasn't at all. I guess the difference between faith in god and confidence in his theory is that his theory was always testable when the existence of a god of any sort appears not to be. One can therefore have confidence in one's theories but one can only have faith in god. Well I'm no psychic, I don't believe anyone is. And I am confident about that :-) So let me guess, you might say I have confidence in myself and no-faith in God. Well what if, myself = God and confidence = faith? You can see how absurd the above assertion is. I would say I have occasional confidence in myself and no faith that there is a god. Couldn't see the point really, god is a bit of a failed hypothesis as far as I'm concerned, I've read all the holy books and god seems like a part of cultures that are so distant it's hard to say what god actually was to them. Was he an astronaut or the halucinations from a now defunct part of our brains? Was he an invention by the ruling class to keep the lower orders in line or was he a real live flesh and blood supreme creator being who just happens to not want to have anything to do with us any more? Or was he a name people came up with to explain how they felt in altered states of consciousness bought on by too much mushroom tea or meditation, or both? It's like the atheist said I did not believe in God, until I found out I am God I would say idiot rather than athiest, all they did was change a definition of something to incorporate a change of opinion about themselves. It isn't like thinking you are god changes the meaning of any other discoveries in any way whatsoever, it is merely a religious concept that makes spiritual people feel better about themselves. No harm in it but it's a conclusion based on faith. If you could *prove* you were god, that would be a different matter but I suspect most people would just say that isn't what god means.
[FairfieldLife] Guru Dev - The Three Types of Karma
The effects of the actions of a brief time are endured for a long time. Consequently the actions of one lifetime cannot be finished and can result in suffering in another lifetime... Until such time as the heap of actions is finished then it will befall you to return again and again inside a womb in order to live again. Consequently having obtained this human life you should deal with this heap of karma. The Shastras have divided actions into three types and explained the means to accomplish these tasks. These karmas are the three divisions - sanchita (collected karma), prarabdha (already commenced karma) and kriyamana (work now being done). Sanchita (collected karma) is limitless. This [accumulated karma] cannot be dealt with by experience. The way to deal with [such karma] is by obtaining gyaan (knowledge) or by endless bhakti (devotion) to the feet of Bhagwan. One has to experience the karma that has already begun, there is no other way: avashyameva bhoktavyaM kR^itaM karmaM shubhaashubham 'One has to endure the consequences of one's karma, both virtuous and sinful' By offering our kriyamana karma (current action) to Bhagwan there is no reason for it to be binding. In this way, by the method of burning the sanchita karma (accumulated action) in the fire of knowledge, experiencing prarabdha karma (action already begun) and dedicating kriyamana karma (current action) to Bhagwan - one will be liberated from being bound, and really find moksha (final liberation, beatitude, redemption, absolution, salvation, freedom). If the reason that acquisition of knowledge is delayed is because one's sadhana (spiritual practice) is neglected, then little-by-little offer your kriyamana karma to Bhagwan. Acting in this manner, there will be no reason for the karma of this life to be binding. Along with this thought be strong for the prarabdha karma which you will endure, which even the learned cannot escape. Therefore you should come with willingness to the suffering, with endurance and heroism. It is also necessary not to give up courage. Make no mistake, by this method is happiness gained. By doing this there will be an accumulation of punya (meritous) karma, and both this world and the next world will be prepared. ~~ Shri Shankaracharya UpadeshAmrita kaNa 6 of 108 from Paul Mason: http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/upadesh.htm
[FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung no_re...@... wrote: Hugo, are you offering to be my student? Thanks, but no. The fact Einstein turned out to right about a lot of things he thought to be obvious was never under discussion here. In fact if you look at another post I just did you'll see me defending his confidence in his ideas. From your acid-toned smarming about my opinions of Hawking, I can tell that you're not in a studious mood -- and that's dumber than dumb, because while you can't fix stupid, being stupid on purpose is a crime for which a proper penalty cannot be assessed -- for what could limit the cost of the immorality of blinding oneself? Actually I'm always in a studious mood, for some reason it suits you to be offended about my objection to your insulting attitude towards someone who's struggled with a horrifying disability his whole life. I don't believe for a minute that being in a wheel chair has influenced his opinion of whether or not there is a god or alien life, it isn't like they are unreasonable posistions to hold. (Interesting that you interpret my shock at your opinion of Hawking as acid-toned smarming, says a lot about you.) Einstein was, by my definition of spiritual, a Maharishi. And his honoring intuition was not merely for show. He knew his math wasn't up to the task of embodying his intuition that God doesn't play dice, and yet he knew he was right and never once in his life stopped trying to catch God red-handed running the universe down to least construct. This YOUR interpretation of Einstein, for every quote you can find of his supporting the mystical I can find more that don't. Many scientists (Hawking included) use phrases like mind of god to describe deep levels of physics, it doesn't mean they think that the universe is fundamentally intelligent in the way we are or in the way Maharishi taught just that they think it possible to know everything in a final physical sense, the original paramaters of creation. Anyone who's had a thought should know that every single one of them comes from a subtle level of existence that is not easily grasped -- that is, we, as egos, do not compose our own thinking but that we are as if victims of a thought machine which makes decisions without consulting the personality. Agreed. As I pointed out in my post to Anatol below. Einstein peered into his own mind enough to see this and that despite uncertainty, true randomness is yet but a concept -- not a proven entity. And just as you and I know that our thoughts are ours despite not being on the thought making committee, -- because the thought committee itself is a product of yet subtler processes -- Einstein knew that there was cosmic mind that also owned the underlying the processes of nature even if we could not have the alacrity to see behind the Uncertainty Curtain of Oz. The analogy doesn't fit, thoughts appear in our minds but we know there is an unconscious process involving large areas of the brain refering to past experience, social conditioning etc. and then deciding what becomes conscious. You can even see it working. The idea that universe also appears from a more complex underlying intelligence is a TM idea not shared by Einstein or any other working physicist, what you have is miniscule potentials in fluctuating fields none of which are fully understood. See mind of god above. Unless Einstein actually believed that the universe is under intelligent control at the very micro level in the way John Hagelin does, if so I missed it and it's a *very* religious concept because it appears to be totally unnecessary and of a totally different order of things to him being confident about gravity bending space and time, those things you can visualise, god in control of quantum physics is an invention by mystics and people who need an ultimate being for some reason. And people who like to make money out of others by linking sciencey sounding phrases with their own bullshit new age therapies. But as I say in my post below, it's possible and so cannot be discounted, but as it's unnecessary for an explanation of how the universe works, why bother? Why bother introducing unnecessary complexities to nature when simpler ones will do just as well. I think it's man's programming to seek greater complexity to explain simpler things, it's a god type hang-up we've yet to get over. Darwin did the best job of demolishing this erroneous idea. What a hero. Him, Newton Einstein. What a gang! Today's science is 100% reporting miracles constantly. Depends entirely on your definition of miracle. They appear miraculous because they are largely unexplained. Have you read David Deutsch yet? Try this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/10/david-deutsch-multiverse-fabric-reality It should at least give you hope that some questions are answerable. It's a damn good book about
Re: [FairfieldLife] Who was the 1st person in Christian history to be executed for heresy?
On Jun 12, 2010, at 2:54 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: Carb, starchier than your average lobbyists, are particularly exercised by the contrast with the way Comedy Central backed down on airing scenes involving Muhammad in South Park, fearing violence. Does that indicate that Christians then are punished because they aren't crazy? asked the talk show host and Carb Michael Medved. Well, it *is* an interesting contrast, albeit this guy's assumption that devout Christians will somehow be punished by this show going forward is craziness of and by itself. Yes, it seems we have a contest going on amongst the devout in 2 religions to see who can out-crazy the other. I'd ask if anybody wanted to bet on who will fire the first shot--literally--except that it's not funny. Sal
[FairfieldLife] Re: Einstein was a man of faith !
OK, Hugo, You are entitled to your POV, just like the rest of us. If it makes you happy, more power to you. If not, maybe go outside your fixed POV and explore a little; that's what real scientist do; get a hug from Amma or whatever. Let me repeat myself from a previous post with a few additions [] : From my observation, people define God in a limited way and say I don't believe in such a God. Well good for them! [but basically they are arguing with their own definitions] How about we define God as the unbounded infinite awareness/consciousness/supreme-intelligence in which all phenomena appears, persists temporarily short or long, and disappears? Hmm. May take a little honest persistent investigation, real science free from the limitations of fear [and fixed definitions of science, fixed definitions of religion, fixed definitions of spirituality] Added comment: or we can let go of all definitions, and start observing with our own awareness, our own existence, and see where that leads us; observe and notice without preconceptions not only the forms and noise but also that which is formless and noiseless. Maharishi encouraged physicists in the 70's and 80's that it should be possible to fulfill Einstein's dream of formulating Unified Field theories. And they did come up with what are called string theories, if I remember correctly. And it's interesting that the attributes of the Unified Field string theories basically was/is the same as the attributes of the God of the mystics or even that of the core essence of religions if you know where to look ~ a field of seeming unmanifest nothingness with attributes of omnipresence-omniscience-omnipotence in which and from which all manifest creation arises. Or as many current teachers say, by giving up all definitions, all preconceptions, self-realize the awareness which may seem initially as total emptiness/nothingness and then observe that it contains everything. In other words, don't juts rely on science and scientist external to yourself, become a real scientist yourself and experience truth rather that try to define it, which of course you can always do later for the fun of communicating. Observe, record, reason, take a break, allow thoughts to stop, allow intuition, have confidence in your own intuition, observe without thoughts, repeat, have fun, be happy, get a hug once a year; this is my science. peaceful spacious loving awareness, anatol --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Hugo fintlewoodle...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, anatol_zinc anatol_zinc@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Hugo fintlewoodlewix@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, anatol_zinc anatol_zinc@ wrote: Einstein's theory of General Relativity predicted that light would bend bypassing a massive planet like the Sun. That was the only feasible experiment for his untested theory at the time since there were no lasers, etc. Einstein was asked what if the experiment proves his theory wrong? He said that would mean the experiment was not done properly. Amen ! HUGO: Wrong about the faith part I'm afraid. That was a measure simply of how confident he was about his theory of gravity and light. .. OK Hugo, so you see a big difference between the word faith and the word confidence. Not really, but you were implying Einstein was religious about science when he wasn't at all. I guess the difference between faith in god and confidence in his theory is that his theory was always testable when the existence of a god of any sort appears not to be. One can therefore have confidence in one's theories but one can only have faith in god. Well I'm no psychic, I don't believe anyone is. And I am confident about that :-) So let me guess, you might say I have confidence in myself and no-faith in God. Well what if, myself = God and confidence = faith? You can see how absurd the above assertion is. I would say I have occasional confidence in myself and no faith that there is a god. Couldn't see the point really, god is a bit of a failed hypothesis as far as I'm concerned, I've read all the holy books and god seems like a part of cultures that are so distant it's hard to say what god actually was to them. Was he an astronaut or the halucinations from a now defunct part of our brains? Was he an invention by the ruling class to keep the lower orders in line or was he a real live flesh and blood supreme creator being who just happens to not want to have anything to do with us any more? Or was he a name people came up with to explain how they felt in altered states of consciousness bought on by too much mushroom tea or meditation, or both? It's like the atheist said I did not believe in God, until I found out I am God I would say idiot rather than athiest, all they did was change a definition of something to
[FairfieldLife] Earthquake warning for California. Have a nice day.
Because many here seem to believe pretty much any prediction that someone makes, for no other reason than that they think knowing the predicted thing ahead of time makes them special, here is very, very special prediction right up your alley. http://www.break.com/index/weird-guys-bizarre-earthquake-warning.html The scariest thing about this prediction is not, as one might think, the guy himself and his way of speaking. It's not even the possibility, however remote, that he might be right. Nope, the scariest thing by far is the cult of disciples who would form around him and become his followers if he *was* right. Digg, where I found this, predicted a 70% chance of this guy being home on prom night. I think that's lowballing it.
[FairfieldLife] BP spill response plans severely flawed
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37599810/ns/disaster_in_the_gulf/ Love will swallow you, eat you up completely, until there is no `you,' only love. - Amma
[FairfieldLife] Re: Einstein was a man of faith !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, anatol_zinc anatol_z...@... wrote: OK, Hugo, You are entitled to your POV, just like the rest of us. If it makes you happy, more power to you. If not, maybe go outside your fixed POV and explore a little; that's what real scientist do; get a hug from Amma or whatever. The first one's free. Find me out by the schoolyard fence if you need another. :-)
[FairfieldLife] Science will win what ?
Science will win what ? Quote from some previous post: science will win because it works What an absurd and meaningless thing to say. Doesn't everything work? Everything that happens works, but not necessarily for good. Mindless entertainment works to keep people mindless; does that mean it wins? Let's see how science works: Nuclear bombs work, gas chambers, thousands of dangerous chemicals, nuclear plants work very well at producing dangerous radiation waste, suicidal processed foods, can dig oil wells so deep cannot control them, go to the moon (what the heck for), produce weapons for war, transplant organs for a few at a staggering cost while billions go hungry, . Obviously, I'm leaving out some of the good stuff, to make this point because it does appear that survival of human race is at risk. Like Einstein said the mind is a terrible master, but can be a wonderful/good servant. Good servant to what? From my own experience and observation of world, the mind( thinking itself the master and believing only in material science or only in dogmatic religion) is the creator of all the problems; whereas the heart is the seat of all the solutions being the source of intuition which Einstein talked so favorably about. Here are some Einstein quotes: Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. http://thinkexist.com/quotation/science_without_religion_is_lame-religi\ on_without/15560.html Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. [sounds like Amma] The only real valuable thing is intuition. If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough And an article by Einstein on Religion and Science @ http://www.sacred-texts.com/aor/einstein/einsci.htm http://www.sacred-texts.com/aor/einstein/einsci.htm I do not agree with Einstein completely, because I have confidence that the greatest scientists were and are the ancient sages and the current sages. But, at least this article shows that Einstein did not think of Science VS Religion but saw the necessity of both, each at its best, should complement each other for beneficial progress and survival of the human race. I do see edg's point about using famous people's quotes as somewhat a selective and questionable process and will contemplate on that Om Shanti, anatol
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Alex Stanley Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 7:08 AM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count Cool. I restored her posting privileges. I do think that because she posted 51 times last week, she should only post 49 this week. Fair enough. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com , Rick Archer r...@... wrote: From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com [mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com ] On Behalf Of seventhray1 Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 6:50 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com , emptybill emptybill@ wrote: This rule was set up to curb intentional over-posters not to punish inadvertence. Repeat over-posters might warrant this action but this rule Ominance is Pharisaical and absurd. I agree. This was an obvious oversight. Isn't it the spirit, rather than the letter of the law we are concerned with? It's pretty obvious when someone is disregarding this rule. Why punish this infraction? Alex shouldn't have to take the heat for this. Judy has tried to be diligent about the post count, and I'm sure she didn't overpost intentionally. I've occasionally forgiven people who did that. I accidentally overposted myself one week, although several of my posts were administrative. So I say let's cut her some slack this time and not banish her.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Earthquake warning for California. Have a nice day.
TurquoiseB wrote: Because many here seem to believe pretty much any prediction that someone makes, for no other reason than that they think knowing the predicted thing ahead of time makes them special, here is very, very special prediction right up your alley. http://www.break.com/index/weird-guys-bizarre-earthquake-warning.html The scariest thing about this prediction is not, as one might think, the guy himself and his way of speaking. It's not even the possibility, however remote, that he might be right. Nope, the scariest thing by far is the cult of disciples who would form around him and become his followers if he *was* right. Digg, where I found this, predicted a 70% chance of this guy being home on prom night. I think that's lowballing it. Of course Californians are always on the alert for earthquakes. We just had a new moon so the gravitational effects are high. Those lead to shifts in the tectonic plates. Next month there will be a solar eclipse on the 11th and we have a partial lunar eclipse on the 26th of this month. Eclipses are very prone to triggering earthquakes due to even more intense gravitational effects. We seem to be having some increased earthquake swarms in the LA area as well as here in the Bay Area. I don't think we're quite as worried about the Golden Gate Bridge as the incomplete Bay Bridge which in a severe earthquake could lose the east span as the new span there which will be VERY earthquake tolerant is unfinished.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Earthquake warning for California. Have a nice day.
The scariest thing about this prediction is not, as one might think, the guy himself and his way of speaking. It's not even the possibility, however remote, that he might be right. Nope, the scariest thing by far is the cult of disciples who would form around him and become his followers if he *was* right. Digg, where I found this, predicted a 70% chance of this guy being home on prom night. I think that's lowballing it. Of course Californians are always on the alert for earthquakes. We just had a new moon so the gravitational effects are high. Those lead to shifts in the tectonic plates. Next month there will be a solar eclipse on the 11th and we have a partial lunar eclipse on the 26th of this month. Eclipses are very prone to triggering earthquakes due to even more intense gravitational effects. We seem to be having some increased earthquake swarms in the LA area as well as here in the Bay Area. I don't think we're quite as worried about the Golden Gate Bridge as the incomplete Bay Bridge which in a severe earthquake could lose the east span as the new span there which will be VERY earthquake tolerant is unfinished.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Earthquake warning for California. Have a nice day.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: TurquoiseB wrote: Because many here seem to believe pretty much any prediction that someone makes, for no other reason than that they think knowing the predicted thing ahead of time makes them special, here is very, very special prediction right up your alley. http://www.break.com/index/weird-guys-bizarre-earthquake-warning.html The scariest thing about this prediction is not, as one might think, the guy himself and his way of speaking. It's not even the possibility, however remote, that he might be right. Nope, the scariest thing by far is the cult of disciples who would form around him and become his followers if he *was* right. Digg, where I found this, predicted a 70% chance of this guy being home on prom night. I think that's lowballing it. Of course Californians are always on the alert for earthquakes. We just had a new moon so the gravitational effects are high. Those lead to shifts in the tectonic plates. Next month there will be a solar eclipse on the 11th and we have a partial lunar eclipse on the 26th of this month. Eclipses are very prone to triggering earthquakes due to even more intense gravitational effects. We seem to be having some increased earthquake swarms in the LA area as well as here in the Bay Area. I don't think we're quite as worried about the Golden Gate Bridge as the incomplete Bay Bridge which in a severe earthquake could lose the east span as the new span there which will be VERY earthquake tolerant is unfinished. And what are you going to do about it ? Nothing. Thought so.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Who was the 1st person in Christian history to be executed for heresy?
Wow! Those nutty *religionists*! Just because leaders like mahatma Gandhi and the Rev.Martin Luther King organized and participated in boycotts doesn't mean anybody else should! How hypocritical to NOT spend your money on products from sponsors intent on insulting you or even warning them that you won't buy their product. Barry, it seems to me, you not only want Christians to turn the other cheek, but you would also like them tied down and restrained while you pummel the other. I realize you're not into any spiritual authorities other than yourself, but M used to say, and said it frequently, that *religious behavior* was that of the enlightened, not the unenlightened. Christ said I have come for the sinner, not the righteous. Even St. Peter cut off the ear of a person intent on seizing Christ, yet he still inherited the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven and was put in charge of the Church, not for perfect religious behavior, but for his love of God. Perfection is not the path, it's the goal. Nobody has to grin and bare it while being insulted, but issuing a Fatwa to kill the person/s insulting you is a bit over the top. Aren't you glad Christ gave no man that authority?IMO, I think the Christian Right Group trying to kill Comedy Central Show about Jesus is more about showing the hypocrisy of the left in that it is NOT OK to insult or even offend Islam or any other religion (religious bigotry), except Christianity, of which there almost seems to be a *moral* duty to do so. From: TurquoiseB no_re...@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sat, June 12, 2010 12:54:50 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Who was the 1st person in Christian history to be executed for heresy? Jesus. And yet look how his followers honor his memory. Re my suggestion in http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/FairfieldL ife/message/ 249747 that the way people of faith react to someone poking fun at that faith says a great deal more about them than their claims about that faith, check out this article. Christian Right Group Tries to Kill Comedy Central Show About Jesus A new organization has been formed by the US religious right to attack a program that hasn't yet reached pilot stage. JC, a Comedy Central cartoon about Jesus trying to live a normal life in New York, does not have a completed script, but Citizens Against Religious Bigotry (Carb) are calling on advertisers to force the channel to abort it. Carb, starchier than your average lobbyists, are particularly exercised by the contrast with the way Comedy Central backed down on airing scenes involving Muhammad in South Park, fearing violence. Does that indicate that Christians then are punished because they aren't crazy? asked the talk show host and Carb Michael Medved. So censorship goes pre-emptive, a TV show doesn't even have to be made in order to offend, and the duty to protect the unborn has no relevance to works of creativity. I suppose it's not so big a leap as all that to banning things that don't exist yet for those who devote their careers to banning things they haven't seen. Religion is all about mystery, and nothing is so mysterious as the minds of the professionally offended. One mystery is what kind of God they serve. He is said to be Almighty, and yet desperately needs sticking up for. His emotional maturity is not the subject of any creeds but surely something you would assume of the perfect source of all being, if it weren't for his total inability to take any joke featuring himself (or sex for that matter). He tells his followers to turn the other cheek if they are assaulted themselves, but if people make fun of him expects his followers to hit them where it hurts. The Bible gives us rather conflicting impressions of God's attitudes to this kind of thing, but none of them fit very well with the God of Carb. There's the God of Moses and his successors, pockets full of locusts, boils and thunderbolts, just itching to strike down blasphemers, including those who touch the ark of the covenant to stop it from falling. Sure, this sounds very religious right, but if he really has such an arsenal at hand and the petulance to use it at the drop of an ark, does he really need or want charcoal-suited lobbyists fighting his battles for him by attacking the forces of darkness's advertising revenue? The Bible also gives us the rather different example of Jesus, the well-known homeless, penniless preacher, who submitted to humiliation and mockery rather more savage than anything Comedy Central might deliver, and who told his followers that their attitude should be the same as his. He told them not to fight back when their faith was attacked and ridiculed, but to count it a blessing. The letters of St Paul repeatedly point out that the way for believers to stop others blaspheming is not to deserve it. But the humility, gentleness and self-awareness of the New Testament can seem
[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count
Only Texas skools Willy. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, WillyTex willy...@... wrote: Joe sounds really scared of Judy. Joe: You're right Silly Willy. I am SO scared. So, Joe is scared of Judy. Damn boy, how'd you get to be so smart? By going to school? Must've been all that Texas skoolin! So, you're scared of people that have been to school? Go figure.
[FairfieldLife] Re: A Sense Of Wonder
TurquoiseB: A Sense Of Wonder... The process of meditation has as it's centralized hypothesis implementing a way to understand and correlate human consciousness with the 'Ultimate Reality', or in Turq's words, to see the 'Wonder' of reality, as an Absolute. Those who experience the Wonder of reality, transcend the field of the mundane, and go beyond the gross experience of ordinary sense enjoyment. Note that the designation of 'Wonder', 'Ultimate Reality' or 'Absolute' is somewhat of a misnomer - it's a common practice of philosophers to postulate a hypothesis, in order to avoid the fallcy of the 'regressus ad infinitum'. Phrases like 'Wonder' and 'Absolute' are straw-men erected by philosophers in order to avoid a 'regressus ad infinitum'. An Absolute is presented in an argument as a placeholder for a 'First Cause'. Without a hypothesis, we'd be doing nothing more than indulging in endless circular logic. So, the sense of Wonder is the Transcendental. But, meditation is not the cause of the Wonder - the Absolute was already there. Meditation simply provides the ideal opportunity for experiencing the Wonder of the Absolute. Some, like Van the Man, take the sense of wonder they feel about life and turn it into an appreciation for their personal notion of God. Others, like myself, stop at wonder. The sense of wonder, for us, is *enough*. As a representative of the latter predilection, one of the things I've never been able to understand about religionists and those who favor a more dogmatic view of spirituality is the sense of *certainty* they tend to impose on wonder, somehow feeling that it's either appropriate, or does justice to that which inspires wonder. Some people are so certain that they know how the universe works, that God exists, how good and bad are defined, what the mechanics of karma are, what sin is, etc. They actually seem to find solace and a sense of comfort in that certainty. They fight fuckin' *wars* over that certainty. Me, I'm not certain of much of anything. Every time I start to be, all I have to do is look around and jump- start my sense of wonder. All the sense of certainty flies out the window, to be replaced by the more (IMO) healthy sense of wonder. Others look around at the same things I'm looking at and find not wonder, but confirmation of the things they are so certain about. Go figure. Their call, and their right, and I wish them well with that approach. But will their certainty increase their joy and apprec- iation of life, or rob them of it by replacing wonder with stasis and complacency, because they already know how everything works? I wonder.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record
Turq I'm not opposed to posting limits since they have curbed the over-posters on FFL. However, having a bank of 10 unused posts would solve the problem of going over the limit from inadvertence. I don't have a dog in the fight on most of these contentions between people. I also don't have likes or dislikes in who could call upon a free post. My offer to Judy is the same for people I have had disputes with in the past like you or Vaj or WillyTex. The choice doesn't have to be either/or limit or no limit. A 10 post bank would solve the problem in a non-punitive way while maintaining the present state of order. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: It's up to Rick, of course, but on reflection I have no problem with removing the posting limit. On one condition. Leave the Post Count program in place, and allow it to post its daily and weekly totals. I'm not likely to ever go over 50 posts per week, posting limits or not. I like the haiku-like structure of having to think through what I have to say, and put myself on a kind of rant diet. I find it helps to keep the samsaric weight off. But I think that everyone here knows that some *would* opt for spamming FFL with their rants, either to troll for attention and suck that attention vampire-like, or use the spam to sell their opinions as superior to the opinions of others. Since all but a couple of the potential abusers of their God-given right to spam have fled the scene, I have no problem with the remaining overposters being allowed to do so, as long as everyone is apprised daily and weekly how attached to a steady diet of Spam they are, and can consider that dietary and lifestyle choice when assessing their credibility.
[FairfieldLife] Karate Kid remake a good one!
I saw the remake yesterday and was quite impressed. Jaden Smith is a chip off the 'Ol block and will be a fine actor as he matures. His father shines through him. Of course with Jackie Chan, it's not about Karate, but Kung Fu and he does a marvelous job describing the philosophy behind it. This is one to enjoy in a cinema.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Lock-down on the Gulf
Flight over the oil spill yesterday here: http://www.youtube.com/user/jamescfox Flight over BP Oil disaster Day 52 with Marine Biologist, Dr. Carl Safina From: jamescfox | June 11, 2010 | 3,225 views James Fox flew over the BP Gulf oil disaster with Marine Biologist Dr. Carl Safina who's president of Blue Ocean Institute on day 52 of the BP Oil spill. What we saw and documented was horrific. This flight was made possible by Gulf Restoration Network. Video produced by James Fox and Jette Newell with help from Associate Producers Cara Fay and Ann Morton. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: Thom Hartmann on this: Thom's blog Is BP Enforcing a No Fly Zone? Late last month, Mississippi state House Speaker Billy McCoy (D) and Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant (R) started a select committee to look into the BP oil spill and would hold hearings this week. McCoy said, The people of Mississippi deserve to know how this happened and what the future may hold for this most valuable part of our state. However, earlier this week, BP wrote a letter saying it wouldn't be showing up for the three-day hearings this week. They, after all, are corporate royalty and don't need to respond to the demands of mere elected officials of the state whose oil they're taking and selling to China. In a related issue, I interviewed extensively a charter airplane operator in Louisiana who said that during the first four weeks after the BP Oil explosion a area of Temporary Flight Restriction or TFR extended 30 miles or so around the Deepwater Horizon and has since expanded to cover virtually every place that oil is in the water or hitting wetlands or land. This representative noted that the command center for the crisis - out of which the Coast Guard and other federal agencies are operating - is headquartered in a BP training facility and, until the intervention of Louisiana Senator David Vitter, whenever charter flight operators called for permission to fly into the TFR they were extensively questioned about who they had on board the plane, and if it was the press the right to fly over the area was routinely denied. In the past few days, though, since the administration has moved from a position of helping BP cover up the extent of their crime by spraying dispersants and keeping the press out to a position of actively challenging BP, flights are being allowed into the area with press aboard. -Thom
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Lock-down on the Gulf
They weren't shot down? From: brian64705 no_re...@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sat, June 12, 2010 11:48:36 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Lock-down on the Gulf Flight over the oil spill yesterday here: http://www.youtube.com/user/jamescfox Flight over BP Oil disaster Day 52 with Marine Biologist, Dr. Carl Safina From: jamescfox | June 11, 2010 | 3,225 views James Fox flew over the BP Gulf oil disaster with Marine Biologist Dr. Carl Safina who's president of Blue Ocean Institute on day 52 of the BP Oil spill. What we saw and documented was horrific. This flight was made possible by Gulf Restoration Network. Video produced by James Fox and Jette Newell with help from Associate Producers Cara Fay and Ann Morton. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: Thom Hartmann on this: Thom's blog Is BP Enforcing a No Fly Zone? Late last month, Mississippi state House Speaker Billy McCoy (D) and Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant (R) started a select committee to look into the BP oil spill and would hold hearings this week. McCoy said, The people of Mississippi deserve to know how this happened and what the future may hold for this most valuable part of our state. However, earlier this week, BP wrote a letter saying it wouldn't be showing up for the three-day hearings this week. They, after all, are corporate royalty and don't need to respond to the demands of mere elected officials of the state whose oil they're taking and selling to China. In a related issue, I interviewed extensively a charter airplane operator in Louisiana who said that during the first four weeks after the BP Oil explosion a area of Temporary Flight Restriction or TFR extended 30 miles or so around the Deepwater Horizon and has since expanded to cover virtually every place that oil is in the water or hitting wetlands or land. This representative noted that the command center for the crisis - out of which the Coast Guard and other federal agencies are operating - is headquartered in a BP training facility and, until the intervention of Louisiana Senator David Vitter, whenever charter flight operators called for permission to fly into the TFR they were extensively questioned about who they had on board the plane, and if it was the press the right to fly over the area was routinely denied. In the past few days, though, since the administration has moved from a position of helping BP cover up the extent of their crime by spraying dispersants and keeping the press out to a position of actively challenging BP, flights are being allowed into the area with press aboard. -Thom
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of emptybill Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 1:33 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record Turq I'm not opposed to posting limits since they have curbed the over-posters on FFL. However, having a bank of 10 unused posts would solve the problem of going over the limit from inadvertence. I don't have a dog in the fight on most of these contentions between people. I also don't have likes or dislikes in who could call upon a free post. My offer to Judy is the same for people I have had disputes with in the past - like you or Vaj or WillyTex. The choice doesn't have to be either/or - limit or no limit. A 10 post bank would solve the problem in a non-punitive way while maintaining the present state of order. Yeah, but then Alex and I have to do clerical work keeping track of how many posts people have in their bank.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record
Rick Archer wrote: From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of emptybill Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 1:33 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record Turq I'm not opposed to posting limits since they have curbed the over-posters on FFL. However, having a bank of 10 unused posts would solve the problem of going over the limit from inadvertence. I don't have a dog in the fight on most of these contentions between people. I also don't have likes or dislikes in who could call upon a free post. My offer to Judy is the same for people I have had disputes with in the past - like you or Vaj or WillyTex. The choice doesn't have to be either/or - limit or no limit. A 10 post bank would solve the problem in a non-punitive way while maintaining the present state of order. Yeah, but then Alex and I have to do clerical work keeping track of how many posts people have in their bank. All this talk is silly. Either keep the 50 post limit or no limits. And how do we know that Judy wasn't planning a vaca and won't be back for a week anyway so didn't care. I believe she did that before.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Science will win what ?
There is a difference between Science and Technology. the Technology is based on duality. Science is pure abstract knowledge. Nuclear bombs , gas chambers, dangerous chemicals, nuclear plants, dangerous radiation waste, suicidal processed foods, oil wells, weapons for war etc etc are Technological Products that were created Commercial Corporate entities. It's use is dual and can be used for good and evil. Science itself is knowledge of abstract fundamental principles that govern Nature. --- On Sat, 6/12/10, anatol_zinc anatol_z...@yahoo.com wrote: Subject: [FairfieldLife] Science will win what ? Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010, 8:54 AM Science will win what ? Quote from some previous post: science will win because it works What an absurd and meaningless thing to say. Doesn't everything work? Everything that happens works, but not necessarily for good. Mindless entertainment works to keep people mindless; does that mean it wins? Let's see how science works: Nuclear bombs work, gas chambers, thousands of dangerous chemicals, nuclear plants work very well at producing dangerous radiation waste, suicidal processed foods, can dig oil wells so deep cannot control them, go to the moon (what the heck for), produce weapons for war, transplant organs for a few at a staggering cost while billions go hungry,…. Obviously, I'm leaving out some of the good stuff, to make this point because it does appear that survival of human race is at risk. Like Einstein said the mind is a terrible master, but can be a wonderful/good servant. Good servant to what? From my own experience and observation of world, the mind( thinking itself the master and believing only in material science or only in dogmatic religion) is the creator of all the problems; whereas the heart is the seat of all the solutions being the source of intuition which Einstein talked so favorably about. Here are some Einstein quotes: Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. [sounds like Amma] The only real valuable thing is intuition. If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough And an article by Einstein on Religion and Science @ http://www.sacred- texts.com/ aor/einstein/ einsci.htm I do not agree with Einstein completely, because I have confidence that the greatest scientists were and are the ancient sages and the current sages. But, at least this article shows that Einstein did not think of Science VS Religion but saw the necessity of both, each at its best, should complement each other for beneficial progress and survival of the human race. I do see edg's point about using famous people's quotes as somewhat a selective and questionable process and will contemplate on that … Om Shanti, anatol
[FairfieldLife] Latin American countries rising ...
Latin American countries rising to invincibility through Yogic Flying groups by Global Good News staff writer Global Good News 11 June 2010 According to a recent report,* nine new projects representing expansion of programmes of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi are under development in Latin America. 1. This week construction starts on a 1,100 square metre hall for the group of Yogic Flyers creating national invincibility for Mexico. 2. In Argentina, local municipality employees will create a group of Yogic Flyers for national invincibility, even before the Maharishi Invincibility School and Maharishi Tower of Invincibility are constructed in that area. 3. The first country to become invincible through a Prevention Wing of security and military personnel will be announced within a few weeks, when the effect is being produced. 4. Hindu communities in three Latin American countries are rising to support national invincibility through schools and groups of Maharishi Vedic Pandits. 5. Venezuela is now becoming active to stabilize the area by matching the invincibility of its neighbour Colombia. 6. A continent-wide residence course has been organized for the week of Guru Purnima** by Fr Gabriel Mejia. During this course hundreds of Yogic Flyers and practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation Programme will come together; 7. Several large courses for medical doctors to be trained in Maharishi Ayur-Veda health care will begin after the Guru Purnima course. 8. Two large Transcendental Meditation Teacher Training Courses will also begin at that time; 9. Construction of two new Maharishi Towers of Invincibility is underway, bringing the total to five Towers for Latin America. © Copyright 2010 Global Good News®
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Earthquake warning for California. Have a nice day.
nablusoss1008 wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: TurquoiseB wrote: Because many here seem to believe pretty much any prediction that someone makes, for no other reason than that they think knowing the predicted thing ahead of time makes them special, here is very, very special prediction right up your alley. http://www.break.com/index/weird-guys-bizarre-earthquake-warning.html The scariest thing about this prediction is not, as one might think, the guy himself and his way of speaking. It's not even the possibility, however remote, that he might be right. Nope, the scariest thing by far is the cult of disciples who would form around him and become his followers if he *was* right. Digg, where I found this, predicted a 70% chance of this guy being home on prom night. I think that's lowballing it. Of course Californians are always on the alert for earthquakes. We just had a new moon so the gravitational effects are high. Those lead to shifts in the tectonic plates. Next month there will be a solar eclipse on the 11th and we have a partial lunar eclipse on the 26th of this month. Eclipses are very prone to triggering earthquakes due to even more intense gravitational effects. We seem to be having some increased earthquake swarms in the LA area as well as here in the Bay Area. I don't think we're quite as worried about the Golden Gate Bridge as the incomplete Bay Bridge which in a severe earthquake could lose the east span as the new span there which will be VERY earthquake tolerant is unfinished. And what are you going to do about it ? Nothing. Thought so. Well, like most Californians I have emergency supplies on hand. I always keep at least a couple 24 packs of bottled water on hand and as I go through them replace them. I have some food bars on hand and I have first aid stuff. I also know what to do in event of an earthquake. A couple years ago while I was watching TV one evening a 4.1 hit about 1 mile away. I dropped to the floor from my chair as that the way my place is set up the safest thing to do. The thing roared through my house like a train going through. It didn't do much damage outside of screwing up my side entrance on the garage which still works but I need the frame redone. It knocked stuff off shelves at the market at the top of the hill. Earthquakes are a way of life around here and occasionally the house rocks lightly and I go to the government's earthquake site to see where it was centered. One the other evening was a light one centered about 40 miles away but still rocked the house. What else would you do, Nabby? If you think that bun hopping will prevent them then we have a slightly used bridge to sell you. :-D
Re: [FairfieldLife] Post Count -- For The Record
I'd like to keep post limits in though I filter out the massive posters. -- America always chooses to do the right thing. After it's tried everything else. – Who else but Winston Churchill
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Lock-down on the Gulf
For those of us who would like to end this madness of predatory corporations BP has done us a big favor as they're showing the world how incompetent big corporations can be. Hopefully this will spark interest in banning the size of companies throughout the world. To just ban them in the US won't do because they'll just go off to someplace like Dubai and headquarter there. So we also have to get the populace in places like that in on program too. brian64705 wrote: Flight over the oil spill yesterday here: http://www.youtube.com/user/jamescfox Flight over BP Oil disaster Day 52 with Marine Biologist, Dr. Carl Safina From: jamescfox | June 11, 2010 | 3,225 views James Fox flew over the BP Gulf oil disaster with Marine Biologist Dr. Carl Safina who's president of Blue Ocean Institute on day 52 of the BP Oil spill. What we saw and documented was horrific. This flight was made possible by Gulf Restoration Network. Video produced by James Fox and Jette Newell with help from Associate Producers Cara Fay and Ann Morton.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Lock-down on the Gulf
Ban BP here and it suddenly is drilling for oil for Mexico. Who says that America owns all the oil in the gulf? No one. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: For those of us who would like to end this madness of predatory corporations BP has done us a big favor as they're showing the world how incompetent big corporations can be. Hopefully this will spark interest in banning the size of companies throughout the world. To just ban them in the US won't do because they'll just go off to someplace like Dubai and headquarter there. So we also have to get the populace in places like that in on program too. brian64705 wrote: Flight over the oil spill yesterday here: http://www.youtube.com/user/jamescfox Flight over BP Oil disaster Day 52 with Marine Biologist, Dr. Carl Safina From: jamescfox | June 11, 2010 | 3,225 views James Fox flew over the BP Gulf oil disaster with Marine Biologist Dr. Carl Safina who's president of Blue Ocean Institute on day 52 of the BP Oil spill. What we saw and documented was horrific. This flight was made possible by Gulf Restoration Network. Video produced by James Fox and Jette Newell with help from Associate Producers Cara Fay and Ann Morton.
[FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?
Duvey assumes that advanced civilisations that have mastered Warp speed would be highly moral and ethical. Duvey assumes that there is some kind of Cosmic 'prime directive'. I think that this has something to do with resources. If the availablity of resources dip below a certain point, no ideology works. If advanced aliens go beyond warp technology and find a way to transmute matter into any element they want, then the resources on earth would be 'chicken feed' and coming after it would be like taking 'candy away from little children'. But the truth can be stranger that fiction. The frightening possiblity exists. There is also the reverse possiblity, Highly moral and ethical aliens with standards sooo high that they decide humans are viruses that should be weeded out for something more promising like dolphins...?? The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course of larceny, murder, rapine, and barbarism. We are always moving forward with high mission, a destiny imposed by the deity to regenerate our victims while incidentally capturing their markets, to civilize savage and senile and paranoidal peoples while blundering accidentally into their oil wells or metal mines. ”John T. Flynn, As We Go Marching(1944) --- On Sat, 6/12/10, Hugo fintlewoodle...@mail.com wrote: Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science? Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010, 7:47 AM Wrong, think of the damage to central American cultures the arrival of a slightly more advanced group of Spaniards did. Or any other country for that matter. Was it ever a good thing for them? This is what Hawking was getting at. Do you think humans are so great and secure we wouldn't be similarly psychically crushed by any civilisation that has the brains to be able to get all this way? Hawking with all this new knowledge actually in his hands yet denies Einstein's intuition that the universe is so vast and so ancient that life almost certainly has yielded up civilizations that re BILLIONS of years older than ours and which could have a complete mastery of physicality -- and such beings, Hawking tells us to be wary of. This comes off as pure paranoia -- a paranoia of one who has been, let's say it, as if struck down by God, and which is therefore understandable. In effect, Hawking is saying that aliens landing would be Gods and that he would advise us to run because they can only be ready to cripple all of us. There has never been a person whose mind was not a product of idiosyncratic physicality. Hawking seems to be no exception.
[FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?
Yeah, I do assume some sort of Prime Directive -- in that the universe is so old and that civilizations so advanced are a gimme. All this snatch and grab had to be regulated long ago. I can see the exceptions to my speculation having remote possibility, but come on -- any imperialistic species would have had comeuppance by the inter-galactic police for the crime of gluttony. If I can go faster than light, I can do anything with physicality -- no need to grab planets from the rubes. Yes, if they landed today, we'd all be depressed instantly -- and that might be why they haven't landed. I can go outside and ruin the lives of tens of thousands instantly -- my local anthill is just waiting for me to take all their belongings -- ridiculous Just so, we're ants, maybe even merely microbes comparatively. If any civilization lasts longer than, say, a thousand years past its discovery of faster than light travel, I fully expect religion based on absolutely figured out physics to hold sway on the morality of a species. The advanced species have their own problems -- immortality is a drag maybe for instance. Edg--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Jason jedi_sp...@... wrote:       Duvey assumes that advanced civilisations that have mastered Warp speed would be highly moral and ethical. Duvey assumes that there is some kind of Cosmic 'prime directive'.      I think that this has something to do with resources. If the availablity of resources dip below a certain point, no ideology works. If advanced aliens go beyond warp technology and find a way to transmute matter into any element they want, then the resources on earth would be 'chicken feed' and coming after it would be like taking 'candy away from little children'.      But the truth can be stranger that fiction.  The frightening possiblity exists. There is also the reverse possiblity, Highly moral and ethical aliens with standards sooo high that they decide humans are viruses that should be weeded out for something more promising like dolphins...?? The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course of larceny, murder, rapine, and barbarism. We are always moving forward with high mission, a destiny imposed by the deity to regenerate our victims while incidentally capturing their markets, to civilize savage and senile and paranoidal peoples while blundering accidentally into their oil wells or metal mines.  âJohn T. Flynn, As We Go Marching(1944) --- On Sat, 6/12/10, Hugo fintlewoodle...@... wrote: Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science? Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010, 7:47 AM Wrong, think of the damage to central American cultures the arrival of a slightly more advanced group of Spaniards did. Or any other country for that matter. Was it ever a good thing for them? This is what Hawking was getting at. Do you think humans are so great and secure we wouldn't be similarly psychically crushed by any civilisation that has the brains to be able to get all this way?  Hawking with all this new knowledge actually in his hands yet denies Einstein's intuition that the universe is so vast and so ancient that life almost certainly has yielded up civilizations that re BILLIONS of years older than ours and which could have a complete mastery of physicality -- and such beings, Hawking tells us to be wary of. This comes off as pure paranoia -- a paranoia of one who has been, let's say it, as if struck down by God, and which is therefore understandable. In effect, Hawking is saying that aliens landing would be Gods and that he would advise us to run because they can only be ready to cripple all of us. There has never been a person whose mind was not a product of idiosyncratic physicality. Hawking seems to be no exception.  Â
[FairfieldLife] Health Care Reform Bill Best Option: Analysis
Of all the proposals on the table that would expand health insurance to more Americans, the final health reform law included those that covered the largest number of people at the lowest cost to the federal government. TUESDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) -- The new U.S. health care reform law was the best option for providing health insurance to the largest number of people while keeping federal government costs as low as possible, according to an analysis by the RAND Corp., a nonprofit policy think tank. Researchers used a specially designed computer model to simulate more than 2,000 different policy scenarios and found that the only alternatives to the new health reform law were all politically difficult because they would have included much higher penalties for noncompliance, lower government subsides, and less generous Medicaid expansion. Under the new health reform law, about 28 million Americans will be newly insured by 2016, according to the analysis. Of all the proposals on the table that would expand health insurance to more Americans, the final health reform law included those that covered the largest number of people at the lowest cost to the federal government, study author Elizabeth A. McGlynn, a senior researcher at RAND, said in a news release from RAND. On balance, the new law appears to have landed on a distinctive plain of the policy frontier where the costs and coverage levels achieved were reasonable enough to secure passage of the law, she noted. The study appears in the June issue of the journal Health Affairs. http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/639889.html
[FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?
Here's a good summary of what the future civilizations (from Earth or beyond) can look like from a Physics professor's point of view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4WXEO3Dmhc --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Jason jedi_sp...@... wrote:       Duvey assumes that advanced civilisations that have mastered Warp speed would be highly moral and ethical. Duvey assumes that there is some kind of Cosmic 'prime directive'.      I think that this has something to do with resources. If the availablity of resources dip below a certain point, no ideology works. If advanced aliens go beyond warp technology and find a way to transmute matter into any element they want, then the resources on earth would be 'chicken feed' and coming after it would be like taking 'candy away from little children'.      But the truth can be stranger that fiction.  The frightening possiblity exists. There is also the reverse possiblity, Highly moral and ethical aliens with standards sooo high that they decide humans are viruses that should be weeded out for something more promising like dolphins...?? The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course of larceny, murder, rapine, and barbarism. We are always moving forward with high mission, a destiny imposed by the deity to regenerate our victims while incidentally capturing their markets, to civilize savage and senile and paranoidal peoples while blundering accidentally into their oil wells or metal mines.  âJohn T. Flynn, As We Go Marching(1944) --- On Sat, 6/12/10, Hugo fintlewoodle...@... wrote: Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science? Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010, 7:47 AM Wrong, think of the damage to central American cultures the arrival of a slightly more advanced group of Spaniards did. Or any other country for that matter. Was it ever a good thing for them? This is what Hawking was getting at. Do you think humans are so great and secure we wouldn't be similarly psychically crushed by any civilisation that has the brains to be able to get all this way?  Hawking with all this new knowledge actually in his hands yet denies Einstein's intuition that the universe is so vast and so ancient that life almost certainly has yielded up civilizations that re BILLIONS of years older than ours and which could have a complete mastery of physicality -- and such beings, Hawking tells us to be wary of. This comes off as pure paranoia -- a paranoia of one who has been, let's say it, as if struck down by God, and which is therefore understandable. In effect, Hawking is saying that aliens landing would be Gods and that he would advise us to run because they can only be ready to cripple all of us. There has never been a person whose mind was not a product of idiosyncratic physicality. Hawking seems to be no exception.  Â
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bhairitu Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:06 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record All this talk is silly. Either keep the 50 post limit or no limits. And how do we know that Judy wasn't planning a vaca and won't be back for a week anyway so didn't care. I believe she did that before. Well, she hasn't posted since she was unbanned, if Alex did that, so she may be out of town, but if her intention was to overpost because she was leaving, why would she have limited it to 51?
[FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung no_re...@... wrote: Yeah, I do assume some sort of Prime Directive -- in that the universe is so old and that civilizations so advanced are a gimme. ll this snatch and grab had to be regulated long ago. I can see the exceptions to my speculation having remote possibility, but come on -- any imperialistic species would have had comeuppance by the inter-galactic police for the crime of gluttony. Ahem. Might I point out that the twif saying this is the person who is incapable of imagining a human guy of, say, my age enjoying a conversation with a younger woman without wanting to (literally, according to things he has said on this forum) drug her and take advantage of her, but who believes that little green men from space are, like, so past that shit. Might I also suggest that, just in case little green men from space turn out to be a reality, Edg carry around with him a big tube of K-Y Jelly, because his ass and the asses of people who think like him are gonna be WAY up at the top of the alien let's turn out the twifs sexual agenda. *By his own standards*, without the handy tube of K-Y, Edg isn't going to be able to sit down for a month, if ever again.
[FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?
A new depth in the tawdry department. I never accused you of actually drugging young women or raping them thereafter -- only that you have the personality to do so if, ahem, push comes to shove. Anyone who doesn't throttle their ogling leers -- desires to hit it as you freely admit to indulging in, is playing with a slippery slope down to predation. What's your middle name, um, Joran? Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung no_reply@ wrote: Yeah, I do assume some sort of Prime Directive -- in that the universe is so old and that civilizations so advanced are a gimme. ll this snatch and grab had to be regulated long ago. I can see the exceptions to my speculation having remote possibility, but come on -- any imperialistic species would have had comeuppance by the inter-galactic police for the crime of gluttony. Ahem. Might I point out that the twif saying this is the person who is incapable of imagining a human guy of, say, my age enjoying a conversation with a younger woman without wanting to (literally, according to things he has said on this forum) drug her and take advantage of her, but who believes that little green men from space are, like, so past that shit. Might I also suggest that, just in case little green men from space turn out to be a reality, Edg carry around with him a big tube of K-Y Jelly, because his ass and the asses of people who think like him are gonna be WAY up at the top of the alien let's turn out the twifs sexual agenda. *By his own standards*, without the handy tube of K-Y, Edg isn't going to be able to sit down for a month, if ever again.
[FairfieldLife] Things are changing
There is talk on IA of going over the list of the banned and unbanning most of the people. The problem is most of the people have graduated. There's also a lot of talk about the years from 2008 to 2012. These are the years of the Phase Transition. You might want to look http://invincibleamerica.org/tallies.html and notice the red. Howard Settle said that if we can get few hundred more flyers in the Dome that he'd pay all the duties to bring 100 more pundits to VC. It's a good thing the man from N.O. isn't here to react to what I just wrote. -- America always choose to do the right thing -- after it's tried everything else-- Winston Churchill
[FairfieldLife] Re: Science will win what ?
Technology uses and misuses Science. Science, technology, government, business and society are all intertwined and not so separate and abstract. Government and business grants have a lot to do what scientists research that might be favorable to war technology for instance. Because the misuse is so heavy on the scale, was another of the several factors why i left my physics career 39 years ago and pursued the science of spirituality instead. om namah sivaya, anatol --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Jason jedi_sp...@... wrote:       There is a difference between Science and Technology. the Technology is based on duality. Science is pure abstract knowledge.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bhairitu Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:06 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record All this talk is silly. Either keep the 50 post limit or no limits. And how do we know that Judy wasn't planning a vaca and won't be back for a week anyway so didn't care. I believe she did that before. Well, she hasn't posted since she was unbanned, if Alex did that, so she may be out of town, but if her intention was to overpost because she was leaving, why would she have limited it to 51?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record
She emailed me Friday so she's probably still in town. I'm wondering if Alex has emailed her with an it's ok to post message? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bhairitu Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:06 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record All this talk is silly. Either keep the 50 post limit or no limits. And how do we know that Judy wasn't planning a vaca and won't be back for a week anyway so didn't care. I believe she did that before. Well, she hasn't posted since she was unbanned, if Alex did that, so she may be out of town, but if her intention was to overpost because she was leaving, why would she have limited it to 51?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count and Smokey The Bear Sutra
Rick and Alex No tracking, just me offering 10 posts per week. When someone inadvertently hits 51-52 then just take off one of mine. No counting - just following the already published totals. If someone consistently goes over 50 posts then they are no longer going over inadvertently. You can then, as Smokey The Bear Sutra says, crush their butts. SMOKEY THE BEAR SUTRA BY GARY SNYDER Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago, the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite Void gave a discourse to all the assembled elements and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings, the flying beings, and the sitting beings--even the grasses, to the number of thirteen billion, each one born from a seed, assembled there: a Discourse concerning Enlightenment on the planet Earth. In some future time, there will be a continent called America. It will have great centers of power called such as Pyramid Lake, Walden Pond, Mt. Rainier, Big Sur, Everglades, and so forth; and powerful nerves and channels such as Columbia River, Mississippi River, and Grand Canyon. The human race in that era will get into troubles all over its head, and practically wreck everything in spite of its own strong intelligent Buddha-nature. The twisting strata of the great mountains and the pulsings of volcanoes are my love burning deep in the earth. My obstinate compassion is schist and basalt and granite, to be mountains, to bring down the rain. In that future American Era I shall enter a new form; to cure the world of loveless knowledge that seeks with blind hunger: and mindless rage eating food that will not fill it. And he showed himself in his true form of SMOKEY THE BEAR A handsome smokey-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs, showing that he is aroused and watchful. Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath appearances; cuts the roots of useless attachments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war; His left paw in the mudra of Comradely Display--indicating that all creatures have the full right to live to their limits and that of deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions, and lizards all grow in the realm of the Dharma; Wearing the blue work overalls symbolic of slaves and laborers, the countless men oppressed by a civilization that claims to save but often destroys; Wearing the broad-brimmed hat of the west, symbolic of the forces that guard the wilderness, which is the Natural State of the Dharma and the true path of man on Earth: all true paths lead through mountains-- With a halo of smoke and flame behind, the forest fires of the kali-yuga, fires caused by the stupidity of those who think things can be gained and lost whereas in truth all is contained vast and free in the Blue Sky and Green Earth of One Mind; Round-bellied to show his kind nature and that the great earth has food enough for everyone who loves her and trusts her; Trampling underfoot wasteful freeways and needless suburbs, smashing the worms of capitalism and totalitarianism; Indicating the task: his followers, becoming free of cars, houses, canned foods, universities, and shoes, master the Three Mysteries of their own Body, Speech, and Mind; and fearlessly chop down the rotten trees and prune out the sick limbs of this country America and then burn the leftover trash. Wrathful but calm. Austere but Comic. Smokey the Bear will Illuminate those who would help him; but for those who would hinder or slander him... HE WILL PUT THEM OUT. Thus his great Mantra: Namah samanta vajranam chanda maharoshana Sphataya hum traka ham mam I DEDICATE MYSELF TO THE UNIVERSAL DIAMOND BE THIS RAGING FURY BE DESTROYED And he will protect those who love the woods and rivers, Gods and animals, hobos and madmen, prisoners and sick people, musicians, playful women, and hopeful children: And if anyone is threatened by advertising, air pollution, television, or the police, they should chant SMOKEY THE BEAR'S WAR SPELL: DROWN THEIR BUTTS CRUSH THEIR BUTTS DROWN THEIR BUTTS CRUSH THEIR BUTTS And SMOKEY THE BEAR will surely appear to put the enemy out with his vajra-shovel. Now those who recite this Sutra and then try to put it in practice will accumulate merit as countless as the sands of Arizona and Nevada. Will help save the planet Earth from total oil slick. Will enter the age of harmony of man and nature. Will win the tender love and caresses of men, women, and beasts. Will always have ripened blackberries to eat and a sunny spot under a pine tree to sit at. AND IN THE END WILL WIN HIGHEST PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT ...thus we have heard... (may be reproduced free forever)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record
I did email her. She has not responded to it. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, emptybill emptyb...@... wrote: She emailed me Friday so she's probably still in town. I'm wondering if Alex has emailed her with an it's ok to post message? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@ wrote: From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bhairitu Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:06 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record All this talk is silly. Either keep the 50 post limit or no limits. And how do we know that Judy wasn't planning a vaca and won't be back for a week anyway so didn't care. I believe she did that before. Well, she hasn't posted since she was unbanned, if Alex did that, so she may be out of town, but if her intention was to overpost because she was leaving, why would she have limited it to 51?
[FairfieldLife] It's back to the 60s with Moonbeams Brown
Well, for sure the Age of Enlightenment is going to dawn again. Jerry Brown has announced his candidacy for governor of California. I caught the rerun announcement on C SPAN today. -- America always choose to do the right thing -- after it's tried everything else-- Winston Churchill
RE: [FairfieldLife] Things are changing
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of It's just a ride Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 5:12 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Things are changing There is talk on IA of going over the list of the banned and unbanning most of the people. Who is talking this talk? Are those proposing the idea authoritative in any way? Are they being opposed by others in authority? The problem is most of the people have graduated. You mean in terms of the dome being relevant for them? There's also a lot of talk about the years from 2008 to 2012. These are the years of the Phase Transition. You mean just chit chat around town, or official MUM talk? You might want to look http://invincibleamerica.org/tallies.html and notice the red. I wonder what accounts for the high numbers lately?
Re: [FairfieldLife] Things are changing
On Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 6:48 PM, Rick Archer r...@searchsummit.com wrote: Who is talking this talk? The citizens. But that's a start. Are those proposing the idea authoritative in any way? What and have their grants and badges lifted? Are they being opposed by others in authority? Please read response to previous question. The problem is most of the people have graduated. You mean in terms of the dome being relevant for them? Yes. There's also a lot of talk about the years from 2008 to 2012. These are the years of the Phase Transition. You mean just chit chat around town, or official MUM talk? The talk about 2008 to 2012 is actually coming from people like Jeff of DEVCO. But not near a mike. You might want to look http://invincibleamerica.org/tallies.html and notice the red. I wonder what accounts for the high numbers lately? A large influx of ex-pats for one thing. One would expect the numbers to be low because MUM is out. Wait a minute. There are of 12 student fliers in MUM. Least that's how many I counted when I went for an early afternoon round 2000/2001 time frame. And the faculty don't have the money to leave FF do they? Does my pluralizing faculty make me look British? -- America always choose to do the right thing -- after it's tried everything else-- Winston Churchill
[FairfieldLife] Post Count
Fairfield Life Post Counter === Start Date (UTC): Sat Jun 12 00:00:00 2010 End Date (UTC): Sat Jun 19 00:00:00 2010 65 messages as of (UTC) Sun Jun 13 00:00:30 2010 11 TurquoiseB no_re...@yahoogroups.com 5 emptybill emptyb...@yahoo.com 5 WillyTex willy...@yahoo.com 5 Rick Archer r...@searchsummit.com 4 nablusoss1008 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 4 anatol_zinc anatol_z...@yahoo.com 4 It's just a ride bill.hicks.all.a.r...@gmail.com 4 Duveyoung no_re...@yahoogroups.com 4 Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net 3 Mike Dixon mdixon.6...@yahoo.com 2 Jason jedi_sp...@yahoo.com 2 Hugo fintlewoodle...@mail.com 2 Alex Stanley j_alexander_stan...@yahoo.com 2 do.rflex do.rf...@yahoo.com 1 merlin vedamer...@yahoo.de 1 gullible fool ffl...@yahoo.com 1 ditzyklanmail carc...@yahoo.co.in 1 brian64705 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 1 Sal Sunshine salsunsh...@lisco.com 1 John jr_...@yahoo.com 1 Joe geezerfr...@yahoo.com 1 Dick Mays dickm...@lisco.com Posters: 22 Saturday Morning 00:00 UTC Rollover Times = Daylight Saving Time (Summer): US Friday evening: PDT 5 PM - MDT 6 PM - CDT 7 PM - EDT 8 PM Europe Saturday: BST 1 AM CEST 2 AM EEST 3 AM Standard Time (Winter): US Friday evening: PST 4 PM - MST 5 PM - CST 6 PM - EST 7 PM Europe Saturday: GMT 12 AM CET 1 AM EET 2 AM For more information on Time Zones: www.worldtimezone.com
[FairfieldLife] new Transformers III star
http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/celebrities/gallery/2646/rosie-huntingtonwhiteley#photo3
