Prophecy and Oracle on the History Channel

Generally I like the presentation of ideas on the History Channel.

They recently had a special on Prophecy, Oracle and the 2012 date.

Plenty of input from around the world across many ages speak to the
year 2012.

They could have easily fit everything they said into a half hour and
still had time for commercials but the thing that really put me off
this particular episode is that every time they mentioned the Maya
calendar they showed a picture of the Aztec calendar.

Here now is another special called Decoding the Past and goes deep
into the aspects of the Mayan calendar technology.

Apparently there are three calendar systems working together with
stunningly unbelievable accuracy.

Worth a little more study I think.

Bill Moyers Journal

There were several wonderful segments on last night.

Craig Unger on the House of Bush the House of Saud.
On American interests, Saudi interests and our mis-guided bumblings
in the desert.

Time for a little Common Sense? Revitalizing Tom Paine, by Harvey J.
Kaye

Who gets all the money ... On the New Gilded Age.
"There's one party in Washington. The party of money."
David Cay Johnston

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/

And after that I watched the BBC World News.
It's overwhelming not having seen real news in awhile.

No wonder we go for the feel-good, info-tainment news programming.

Cutting Corners

A couple nights ago on the ABC news there were several unconnected
items that feel awfully connected to me.

First, the final report on the Minneapolis bridge collapse indicated
that the steel gusset plates that hold the beams to the deck were
only half as thick as what was called for in the design. One half
inch vs. one inch thick.

The report on the tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo finds that
the concrete barrier between the tigers and the humans was four feet
short of the recommended design height. Four feet too short. I wonder
why it took so long for the tiger to get out.

I have the odd feeling that the statue of limitations just ran out on
all responsible parties.

In the same news cycle the FDA approves the sale of cloned meat,
dairy and who knows what else for consumption by humans and does not
require the providers to label their products as such.

Well, it can hardly be any worse for you than what you're already
eating.

And, the night after that, the FDA says that drug companies must
publish the bad reports along with the good reports on all their
clinical studies but that they have up to two years to do so.

Does it seem like there is less and less responsibility being offered
up by those we entrust with our care?

Cold

-4°F
RealFeel®
-30°F
Winds: WNW
at 16mph

Partly Sunny

Yep. It looks pretty out there. Might venture out in it, too.

Went looking through the offerings at meetup.com recently.
Signed up for a freelance writer thing.

More meetups to sign up for; graphic designers, web folks, etc.
Need to engage more effectively and more often.
A new 8 chamber luncheon will take place next Tuesday.
I hope to be there.

I went to a meeting a week ago with a long-time friend.
He has a user-consultant group that he put together to enhance his
own business offerings.
He got the idea from the Master Mind groups mentioned in Think and
Grow Rich. Pulled it off the shelf to give it a reading.

I was sitting between him and a gal that had recently had an
opportunity to hear a motivational talk by Jane Stewart aka
pubilictyhound.com.

I signed up for her email tip sheet press releases and have been
reading right along. She's a monster.

Also, recently got a book about being on purpose. Title is in another
room right now.

So, that's pretty much my deal lately.

Worked with a guy about his message. Refined it just fine until we/he
realized that there was no explicit offer in it.
The Action blog by Robert Middleton says that this is something that
frequently happens to independent creatives.
http://www.actionplan.blogs.com/

More later.

Stay warm.

Adventures in $40 eyeglasses

Well, this looks interesting.
No pun intended.

http://tinyurl.com/yts7hj

Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products

_____________________________________

Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake
for American Power by Mark Schapiro

The comestics industry exempted itself from oversight in the 30's
when the FDA opened for business.
Opened for business. Isn't that cute?

And so, among other things, there's lead in lipstick.

He covers the toy industry and electronics as well. Plenty of heavy
metals and carcinogens in electronics manufacture. Cadmium, Chromium,
Mercury and Lead. They are reasonably safe while we are using them.
When they break down they get into the bloodstream and DNA.

Apparently the European Union has been watching manufacturers and
bringing legislation that ensures better quality products for its
citizens. How? Well, they comprise a bigger marketplace than the good
old US of A. And the governments provide healthcare. It's just how
the numbers add up.

It was a fascinating interview on Fresh Air. I think the book will be
a great peek under the covers of the free market system that keeps us
glowing warm.

The book is not yet in the Milwaukee Public Library system.

Dear Santa ...

Verandananda

When death comes to find you, may it find you alive.

- African proverb
__________________

Perhaps you think you did not make the world, but came unwillingly to
what was made already, hardly waiting for your thoughts to give it
meaning. Yet in truth you found exactly what you looked for when you
came. There is no world apart from what you wish, and herein lies
your ultimate release. Change but your mind on what you want to see,
and all the world must change accordingly.
courseinmiracles.com/ ... /lesson132.htm

__________________

The mind of a Wayfarer is plain and direct, without artificiality.
There is no rejection and no attachment, no deceptive wandering mind.
At all times seeing and hearing are normal. There are no further
details. One does not, furthermore, close the eyes or shut the ears;
as long as feelings do not stick to things, that will do.

- Kuei-Shan (771-854)
__________________

When you are old, you become impatient with the way in which the
young applaud the most insignificant improvements - the invention of
some new valve or sprocket - while remaining heedless of the world's
barbarism.
Julian Barnes - Flaubert's Parrot

__________________

If you know that everything comes from the mind, don't become
attached. Once attached, you're unaware. But once you see your own
nature, the entire Canon becomes so much prose. It's thousands of
sutras and shastras only amount to a clear mind. Understanding comes
in midsentence. What good are doctrines?
- Bodhidharma (d. 533)
__________________

"When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left, I buy
food and clothes."
-- Desiderius Erasmus
__________________

Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is
evil; our great hope lies in developing what is good.
-- Calvin Coolidge

__________________

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is
that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our
Darkness, that most frightens us.
Marianne Williamson, Return to Love

__________________

Just as a man shudders with horror when he steps upon a serpent, but
laughs when he looks down and sees that it is only a rope, so I
discovered one day what I was calling "I" cannot be found, and all
fear and anxiety vanished with my mistake.

The Buddha
__________________

You may have a fresh start at any moment you choose, for this thing
we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down.
—Mary Pickford, actress
__________________

Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it
injures the hated.
- Coretta Scott King
__________________

The sooner we use up all the oil, the sooner we can stop caring about
the Middle East and global warming, and move on to a cleaner, safer,
alternative.
So, please: guzzle gas. For the children.

Ayn Marx

__________________

"No question that the enemy has tried to spread sectarian violence.
They use violence as a tool to do that."— George W. Bush, Washington,
D.C., 3/22/06

__________________

Fearful people are more dependent, more easily manipulated and
controlled, more susceptible to deceptively simple, strong, tough
measures and hard-line postures. ... They may accept and even welcome
repression if it promises to relieve their insecurities.
George Gerbner
__________________

The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems,
takes longer.
Edward R. Murrow

__________________

If you're not laughing by now you don't fully appreciate the situation.

Summer reading - 2006

Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond.

Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell

The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell

Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt

Buddha's Nature, by Wes Nisker

The End of Suffering, by Russell Targ

In Persuasion Nation, by George Saunders

________________

Yes, I am digging through the files.
Things may appear out of order.
I am looking for some poems to read
while a drummer drums. How very beat.

Smoothie Recipe

Frozen cherries,
banana,
orange juice,
chocolate protein powder.
Mix. Drink.
Yum.

Two Recent Poems

Beautiful. Betty.

After some time of waiting,
reading about writing,
listening to the flute Muzak and
successfully ignoring my pounding
ear infection, the doctors assistant
brings a jasmine tea.
How. Beautiful. Betty.
_______________________

Beautiful. Betty. Addendum.

I should have read her the poem and then handed it to her. But, I
didn't. I told her it was a poem first and then handed it to her.
That was not in our best interest.
As she started to read it her head began to bob back and forth as if
hoping to catch a ride on a rhyme. Sadly, for her, it was a short
freight train of free verse and all the box car doors were closed.

David White 8/31/06

Curiosity Kills Cat

Curiosity kills cat. So we say. We do not speak of the cat dying.
There's never any question of old age or natural causes. Was it
suicide or accident? A mob hit? Black ops? Hoax? Urban myth?
Intentional dis- or mis-information? Or, is it just what some
authority figure says instead of shut up?

Cat or otherwise, do you have questions of your own?

MuZingers (Muse + Zinger)

If it's called propaganda when they do it,
what's it called when we do it?
___

Some say that life begins at conception.
When does free will begin?
___

A binary, or dualistic thought that seems to explain - everything is
love or a call for love.
___

Terrorism is war conducted by the poor.
War is terrorism conducted by the rich.
- Charles P. Mountford