Here You Are... Wondering... About The Earth Expanding? Really?

Neal Adams - thinks the earth is expanding!

The idea and the animation is compelling enough to have collected over a million views and followers on YouTube! Scientists are appalled, though - and one of them at least went through the extensive and entertaining trouble to debunk this outdated theory to keep it real for our kids.

It is great that "the common man" - people who may not have had the circumstances or desire in their youth to spend decades studying geology or astrophysics (most of us) - are fascinated enough by the earth, space, nature, religions, and philosophies to spend hours researching the Internet for information and putting together videos and blogs to share their discoveries and opinions. It's a good start, and a great alternative to reality TV shows! All we need is a bit of civility in the conversation now to move this along to the point where all of us get a bit more educated about everything.

It is equally as wonderful that someone more knowledgeable will take the time to respond to faulty thinking, albeit with quite a bit of mocking - but, I love the British accent - it can't be beat! "The common man, woman and child" - generally have no idea as to the true rigors of science. The endless measuring, observing, building theory after theory only to have it destroyed by someone smarter. The ridicule, disdain and teasing one has to endure from other scientists - even if proven right a hundred years later and never getting to reap the glory - can be quite excruciating. It's a tough business to be in - and endlessly fascinating and humbling. Great scientists can be some of the humblest people, and I am lucky to know a few of them. "Religious believers", on the other hand - be it believers in actual religions, or scientific theories - are always going to be a problem for the advancement of human understanding.

A scientist starts wondering about things, comes up with an idea or theory - and then does painstaking research to prove or disprove it to himself and others. It reminds me of the time I was scolded by my geography teacher in 6th grade (1969) for "blabbering nonsense" when I proclaimed that "Africa fits into America perfectly and must have been stuck together at some point in the past". There are things plain to see, that nonetheless completely elude some of the experts. Or take poor Dr. Ignaz Semmelweiss, who tried to get doctors to wash their hands before delivering babies and was ignored for another 100 years at great cost to women and children. The ignorance and arrogance of the experts often enough equals the ignorance and arrogance of the lay people looking into things. This alone keeps things moving forward and will keep "YouTubers" going, even if debunked with ridicule. If they want to be "researchers and scientists" they are going to have to suffer like them.

In sixth grade, I took the easy way out. "I knew I was right" - but didn't move on to study geology to prove this to myself and others. Now I just watch people fight it out on line or in books - also very efficient for me, if still far less disciplined than a true scientist or researcher.

Don't despair Neal Adams - you, Aristotle, and 19th century thinkers - at least can be said to be thinking alike, so you're in good company. Keep wondering - and try to catch up. My gratitude goes to both Neal Adams for sticking his neck out, AND "Potholer", the debunker, as I found out more about the earth sciences, as well as the history of earth science this way. It's all about the conversation! One thing one needs to develop when "getting into research" and science is a great sense of humor in order to handle the frequent humiliations.

But, hey, "Potholer" - "this flies into the face of everything we know" - is not a logical argument! Anything new would do exactly that. Where are we now with the speed of light - has that been settled yet? I have "known" for years that there couldn't possibly be a limit to the speed of light other than "from our perspective" and in our bubble of experience, just as "the flat earth" once was.   A flat earth that you could fall off of, made no sense - neither does a vast universe were you can't go everywhere and meet everybody. Just waiting for the scientific evidence. Hippie science... lazy science - and on the cutting edge :-)


Humility and wisdom come from being painfully wrong thousands of times - so there is no problem with being painfully wrong, either! All of you lay people and hippies out there - keep going! And all of you scientists out there - thank you for your time when obvious mistakes in thinking have been made, need correcting, and you respond with great data that has passed rigorous scientific thought - it's important and very much appreciated.

It's a win/win for everybody :-) Certainly for me today -

  

Here You Are... Wondering... About The Moon Going Crazy, Feb 6, 2012

Tonight I was "wondering" about the moon. So I got my binoculars and stepped out into the crystal clear, bright night.

And the moon looked a little strange to me. I couldn't tell why, though. So onto the Internet I went to visit all those nice people who post videos on YouTube and enlighten us on Wikipedia. Thanks, everyone!!!!

Maybe I only "discovered" something that is normal, and everyone is going to have a good chuckle. At least I found out, though, that I wasn't imagining things.

First we need to clarify "the man in the moon". Or the "rabbit", or "the pretty lady"... but especially, what I will call "the little dog". See the small crater behind the "man in the moon carrying sticks" - that's "his little dog" following him.

Well - who let the dog out?

In "official" pictures of the moon, "the little dog crater"- which I am sure has a proper Greek or Latin name, hangs around at the position of about 2 o'clock.

Well - not tonight!!! Or last night!!! The moon is dancing, and fast!!!


Last night that "little dog" crater hung out at the position way down by 5 o'clock! And tonight it is way up at about 3 minutes past midnight. That's a lot of rolling around in 24 hours!

Here is yesterday's moon, filmed by Chucky - Thanks, Chucky!!! A full view of the moon is at the (1:51) spot in the video, and at the end.

Feb 5, 2012 Video:   http://youtu.be/RiaaTvcnxFs

This is the moon a day later - tonight (2/06/2012) - and tonight's video posted by Mike - Thanks Mike!!! Nice to know I haven't lost my mind, imaging the moon taking a half spin since yesterday.

Feb 6, 2012 Video:       http://youtu.be/ybHQ4G2LTVM

Something to consider - the moon has what's called Libration. Yet - the video below is a one month time lapse - not an overnight, full moon event! 

This may not be normal - but it may be the "new normal" as this happened last November 19-23/2011 , as well as in December 2011 - and not just during the full moon. It supposedly "prompted a response" -  certainly an article on the phenomenon, from Cornell University.

Here is the video of the November 2011 rotations, and the Cornell document (in the video, also):

I love the Cornell response which basically says: "This, and this, and this, does not explain the moon's behavior, and the only thing that could possibly explain it is a huge object in our solar system, but that would be too crazy an idea." Bet they know the real name of the "little dog" crater, though! 

Well - we do, too, now - "Mare Crisium", or "Sea of Crisis"!

The poster "Medusa Media" seems to have a plausible explanation:

"Every millenium the sun has to adjust to accomodate mass burn off.

The sun shrinks in size

It's gravitational pull on the moon relaxes

Earths gravity during this phase exerts a little more pull

The moon wobbles. Given a year or so everything goes back to normal.

Strange effects such as new planets spotted or objects in front of the sun are optical illusions caused by this same gravitational effect on light within the solar system. No end of the world or alien invasion just plain old optics."

That seems simple enough. The sun has been extremely active lately. "Every millennium"? At least that would qualify as an unusual event. Who knew the sun could shrink and let the earth make the moon go crazy - sideways? Somebody write a letter to Cornell! (But spell millennium with two n-s and accommodate with two m-s).

As I am writing this - it is now 2am here in Utah - "Mare Crisium" is at almost the 3 o'clock position. And now, an hour later, it is in at the 4 o'clock position. Dancing fast! This must at least be unusual enough, that it could have been explained on the news so more people and kids could watch and understand it. If it were indeed understood and explainable.

Moon hasn't  rolled any further in the last 20 minutes - so I am going to bed.

Good Night, YouTube! Good Night, Wikipedia! Good Night, MacBookPro!
Good Night, MOON!!!

Here You Are... Wondering... Until Suddenly... You Remember... Amnesia and Reincarnation

We forget where we came from - where we were before conception - and where we will return to after death. This forgetting - or even remembering, if it happens during our lifetime - has a reason and a purpose that eludes us, much like some forms of Amnesia. Amnesia both protects us from, and also urges us on, due to our fundamental longing for the truth. There is a gift in forgetting, and a gift in remembering.

"Believe me, you will find more lessons in the woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you what you cannot learn from masters."

Bernard of Clairvaux

Trees and stones - and our children.

Here You Are...Wondering... How Everything Appears Out Of Nowhere ... Lawrence Krauss Lecture

...Like The Waves Rise Up From The Sea...

Lawrence Krauss is one of our brilliant physicists. Brilliant physicists can make you laugh like Buddhist masters can, as they try to put into words the nature or existence. Why we even try to do this for each other is the mystery of love - mutually "destructive" enlightenment to balance the constructs of our minds.

Here You Are...Wondering...About Wisdom And Foolishness...May 21, 2011, End of the World

Doomsday May 21, 2011 has come and gone and the mocking of the gullible, trusting souls is in full swing. I am not sure, though, what is worse - the prophets or the arrogant?

NASA's warning of guaranteed solar flares of worrisome magnitude and consequence are enough to keep me humble as far as dooms days in general are concerned. I have more faith in scientific than in religious guesswork - but look what that is getting me. A more certain doomsday scenario? A better reason to prepare? Do we trust in God but tether our camel? Or do we just trust?

Trust - is both foolish and wise - and so is "preparedness".

Here You Are...With The Air Smelling Sweet...

This line of Here You Are took me to the blog, "First Nerve", written by Avery Gilbert, a sensory psychologist whose specialty is olfaction. He is the author of "What The Nose Knows".

The post was about mysterious sweet smells appearing over Manhattan and other urban areas. Hmmm....not exactly what I meant in Here You Are.

Perspective By The Power Of Ten

Here is a little perspective...fly a million light years away from the earth, and return to dive 0.00001 angstroms under your skin...

Hope And Change

A Picture's Worth A 1000 Words

As farfetched as Dr. Emoto's ideas may seem to some, I don't think they are. As we progress as a species no doubt we will have to a much larger extent think and communicate in pictures rather than words for the simple reason that the vast amount of human knowledge and information cannot be processed otherwise.

Is water the most likely medium for retaining and retrieving information? It already is, but we are not aware nor have we mastered how to use this. Who would have thought 100 years ago that fiberglass would be a carrier of vast and almost instant information around the globe? Maybe someone did but surely he or she would have been thought a fool.

As the saying goes "a picture is worth 1000 words". No wonder YouTube is such a success...

Reconsider what you think of as "just" water...or "just" words, for that matter...

Consciousness - A Video Summary

Sound On Water

Over 3.000.000 hits on YouTube for this video. The demonstration is somewhat mundane, yet fascinating due to the fact that this may just be quite important in-formation and we subconsciously recognize that this is something to pay attention to. After all we are 50% - 70% water ourselves, including our brain which can be up to 90% water depending on age. What happens to water happens to us and our children.

The vibration we subject ourselves to will match and invite similar vibrations - be that viruses or people. Since we cannot control all influences on us in our environment we need to know that we have an always available antidote to incoming vibrations which is our own thoughts, and even better, our stillness. That is how so-called miracle healing happens around the enlightened ones - they are masters of thought and no-thought and can meet and neutralize any discordant thought pattern they encounter.

One of the most powerful thoughts we can have is "Thank You" and it is important to learn to get into a habit of not only thinking it often, but also for no reason and against all reason. If someone hurts us physically or emotionally meeting it with "Thank You" in our mind neutralizes all long term harm. Not "Thank You" to them for what they are doing, but simply as an independent, powerful thought to replace all other thoughts that want to come in that always prove to be more destructive in the long run than the original pain inflicted on us.

The Internet's First Braincells

The Internet will double every 5.32 years according to Chinese researchers...

Bell Labs/Lumeta Corporation- Click image to link to article

And so will our children...

Entanglement And Pointlessness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja0UUKbVlhA

When scientists are lost for words like the enlightened ones because their discoveries are close to impossible to describe - we are on to something - even if it is ancient news. The outer reflects the inner. Ancient texts and sages describe all of these things in detail, and it is exciting to see Western scientists catching up.

Entanglement is still an idea suggesting time and space, even though the idea of instant information over significant distances starts to hint at the truth of stillness and oneness where time and space only exist as potential. When a meditation student gets to this point he usually exclaims. "Well, now what?!" - which always gives the master a good belly laugh. Or, as a Berkeley Physics Professor friend asked me a bit annoyed once: "Well, what would be the point?"

There is no point to the truth. That is why it eludes us for so long, because we like there to be a point. The truth that sets us free from all questions is pointless, or it would not be the final truth.

Flexibility Without Destroying Structure

(Click on Image)

‎

Hypnotic math anyone? (By Jason Hise) A nice illustration about how with flexibility structures themselves are not necessarily threatened at all. Not just interesting mathematically, but also socially, psychologically and spiritually.

BBC Documentary On Physics

The Scientists are catching up with the mystics - with M-Theory. The past resistance amongst physicists to infinite parallel universes surprised me. It would seem obvious. Thinking we are the only universe seems childish - equal to our past, in which we thought we were the only "world", and flat at that.

If truly in touch with infinity, eternity and stillness - as possible through meditation - the idea of constants for example, like the speed of light, the magnetic force, the nuclear force etc., are a dead give-away that this can only be one version of an infinite variety of universes.

As recommended - when one does not understand something - as in how could scientists be so blind for so long - one needs to follow the money trail. Physics is subject to fads and fashions, and funding that follows them, determined by "gurus who dictate the direction in which new ideas grow" quoting super gravity theorist and defender of the 11th dimension and infinite parallel universes, Micheal Duff of the University of Michigan.

The following clips are a nice summary of physics so far. But - even after all this work, we are thrown back into cause and effect thinking - as now we have a cause for the Big Bang. Now we need to find out how membranes are created - when and out of what. Even if we create universes in our basements in the future, as suggested by one of the scientists whose name is not given in the videos, it still does not explain much, except maybe who we think God might be from then on - just a kid in a basement feeling creative. No question this could make us feel a bit more significant in our infinite insignificance.

Mystics are hard to impress. A mystic does not try to describe the physical universe or explain its cause with logical math equations, which is what physicists and cosmologists try to do. A mystic may resort to poetry, but mostly only tries to remind people to be still long enough to remember for themselves. This is another law of existence - that this knowledge is available to anyone regardless of material resources for discovery.

The nature of existence - all of existence including infinite universes - is stillness. We can unite with this stillness and know! One tiny step out of that stillness, in other words, the tiniest movement imaginable, creates time and space in which all universes and all infinite variety grows, and from which everything eventually again returns home. This home is beyond cause and effect, time, space or movement. It is nothing but infinite potential. The empty moment before creation is not the cause of creation but its origin and its destination, much like the emptiness in a teacup is not the cause of the tea one drinks from it.

"There's Probably No God -

...Now Stop Worrying And Enjoy Your Life."

Very funny London Bus advertising by atheists to "counter" religious ads. It's entertaining living in free countries. Rich countries - who have money for such silly ad wars among the various proselytisers. Richard Dawkins - our most popular proselytiser for atheism, says he would have liked to have them drop the word "probably" even though during his satellite appearance on the Bill Maher Show he admitted a scientist always has to build in some iota of improbability, and therefor he could not say with 100% certainty that there is no God.

"Converting" to Atheism is mentioned in this video as well. How can one convert to a non-belief? You can only convert to a different belief as in "I believe there is no God". This takes as much faith as believing in God. Atheism is in fact trying to be a belief system like Creationism. Just the other extreme on the same continuum of ignorance or faith. Like Creationism pretends to be scientific, science professors like Richard Dawkins pretend to be experts on spiritual matters without ever having meditated to any degree that would make them anywhere near expert on the matter. The blind, being led by the blind with PhDs - who, of course, collect the money from their followers.

If it indeed said "There is no God..." on those buses, many Muslims would have been pleased in London, as this they could consider a truthful - if incomplete statement. Maybe not a bad start for the West. Just like any religiously raised teenager moves from childhood trust and belief through a predictable atheist phase before searching for the truth himself, maybe the Western population is ready for that stage of spiritual development. According to the Gospel of Judas, even Jesus laughed in dismay at the apostles' simplistic belief in a creator God that was not grounded in any of their own meditation experience, nor in any understanding of his teachings and the higher mysteries.

The search for what is, for a lack of a better word called "God", requires no less commitment, suffering, headaches, confusion, frustration, and work than the search for the Unified Theory in Physics. We keep looking - either until we find it, or as long as we're having fun searching. How silly would be an ad banner on a London bus trying to convince Physicists to go out and get some exercise instead of hovering over their desks 24/7 because "There probably is no Unifying Theory" and tell them to "stop worrying and enjoy their lives"?

Atheists assuming agnostics or the faithful don't enjoy their lives is a bit presumptuous and unscientific. In the advanced, religious ecstasy is far more pleasurable than any drug one could take. Atheist "ecstasy" always stays in the realm of the physical, material - sex, drugs, food, fame, power, math, music, architecture, etc. The hobbies of kings, not buddhas or prophets.

Considering the present worldwide crisis of having overspent on all of our enjoyments way beyond our means out of some sort of desperation for enjoyment (fueled by advertising) - maybe "enjoying ourselves" a little less is where the bliss is actually going to come from. Living like Kings pales in comparison to living like Buddhas, Christs, Prophets, Saints...But - it does not hurt to be king for a while - guilt-free - to figure that out before moving on. So Atheism has its purpose. There is no question that the religions' preachings against natural and simple pleasures has pushed people into the insane seeking of extreme and perverted pleasures.

As I mentioned in an earlier post - "the infinitely small iota of probability" is where Atheists and Believers need to meet. The word "probably" is the most important word in this ad campaign and makes a great mantra for meditation. A very enjoyable word which creates humility in both science and religion. Let's all indeed enjoy our short and precious lives, and allow others to do the same. It does not take belief in or against God to do so.

"Occopooey"

This is my one-year-old grandchild's favorite animal. He even owns a stuffed "Occopooey" he often wears on his head. This handsome boy, a Giant Pacific Octopus, lives in the Seattle Aquarium. His name is Popeye and he lives next door to his female companion, Olive Oil, who is more of a napper. Their two tanks are connected by a water tunnel that will be opened for them on Valentines Day. I might have to fly back to Seattle to see what two Octopi do with each other on Valentines Day. Love, when you have three hearts and nine brains, not to mention eight arms, with salt water as a conductor of electricity, must be quite an experience.

Popeye made quite an impression on me. He looks at people as he floats gracefully along. We were told Octopi can see faces, and tell them apart. There seemed to be a lot of intelligence in that tank. The awareness level of a nine-brained, three-hearted being may far surpass our own. While we need Hubble Telescopes to become aware of our surroundings Octopi may just be able to see it all as they float and commune in silence.

Meet Popeye himself -



And here is what things would be like on Valentine's Day. He sure lights up when he sees her.



Make sure you watch the end of this video - and you'll see what can be done with nine brains.

Total Uncertainty

Richard Dawkins admitted on his holiday season book tour, that, as a scientist he cannot say with 100% certainty that there is no God, any more than he could say with absolute certainty that there are no pink unicorns. A scientist never says "never". It has been proven foolish to do so. In a universe of 100 billion galaxies, and the possibility of infinite parallel universes in addition to ours, what could we possibly say "does not" exist. Most likely anything we can think of - God, the devil, or pink unicorns - if we think it, we may have created it. Maybe we should watch our thoughts. Dawkins settled for 99.99% certainty, that there is no God, and no pink unicorns. Luckily there are enough little believers in pink unicorns.

Likewise - most religious people - have the opposite problem. They struggle with doubt about God, especially when they see their loved ones go through great suffering. So we could say that religious people also are only 99.99% sure, that there is a God.

Great suffering often turns the religious against God. Suffering also, just as often, turns devoted atheists towards God - even if it is just a defiant outburst, or demand to prove his existence. So that 0.01% is a powerful thing.

The very nature of suffering is that it takes away our certainty - as such it has its place in the universe and serves our ultimate liberation. Religious people say to themselves :"God knows best." - and Atheist say: "Nothing matters." Both religion and science with great teachings try, and succeed, in relieving our uncertainty - even though it is the very thing that can set us free.

It is the 0.01% that explains everything. As a matter of fact - this level of certainty about anything is still far, far too much for enlightenment or the Big Bang. Both can only happen at a point of total and absolute uncertainty! So the religious as well as the atheists - both with their 99.99% certainty - are impossibly far from the goal.

Religious people sometimes fare better because the very thing they are being made fun of - the ability to go beyond reason - makes them able to trust. Trust comes from the heart.

The atheist only "trusts" his intellect which is such a small thing and under ones own control - it can hardly be called trust. It's like a man locked up in his own house with iron gates, body guards and 24/7 alarm systems in place, a gun in his pocket accompanied by two Dobermans, telling people he feels perfectly safe. Unfortunately, many religious people are not much better, also just using their intellect - and badly. No wonder these two sides have to battle it out.

Peace is in absolute uncertainty. When in doubt about God's existence or non-existence - just open or close your eyes, and discover what is beyond doubt. It is always there.

Santa and Atheists

I do love atheists for their intelligence and scientific way of thinking - but frankly they do not know entirely what they are talking about for one simple reason - they generally do not meditate a great deal. The same can be said about many religious people. Pursuit of truth without thousands of hours in silence is like the pursuit of physics without thousands of experiments, or the discipline of endless hours of doing the math.

Do atheists offer a scientific explanation or theory about how much better off we actually would be without the major world religions - most of which teach compassion and kindness? That would be more interesting and convincing than ridiculing organizations that have managed to survive thousands of years and have offered relief to millions of suffering people. If all religions united around the fundamentals of compassion it would be better than getting rid of them altogether, in favor or what? Governments? Universities? It would be like getting rid of science because of all the deaths from car crashes, atom bombs, medicines, guns, etc. Science has killed as many people as all the religions put together, and may actually be in the process of destroying life for good on our planet.

It would be hard to imagine that famous atheists like Dawkins do not understand that all so-called religious wars are nothing but power struggles for resources with the excuse of religion. If we remove religion - other excuses for violence will arise, so what would be the point? It would be throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We should not do that to religion or science. Do both religion and science need to wake up in a rather big way? Yes! And let not money and power be their motives!

A favorite argument of atheists is that one cannot prove the non-existence of a pink elephant in the sky who runs the Universe. And it is true. Atheists cannot disprove God's existence, nor can anyone else prove God's existence - scientifically. But, that is the whole point! Scientific proof only applies to the material world. Anything that is of the non-material world is up for grabs. We are allowed to invent anything - "dinglehoppers", pink elephants, and God - whatever makes us better people, or life more enjoyable. Our devotion and worship of what we imagine defines us and leads us beyond the material. It is with God in mind that some of the greatest music in the world was composed, for example. Far more fascinating and limitless than the material world. Once we venture into the non-material world we will eventually stumble upon the truth which is far beyond our imagination. This is unlikely if we stay focused only on the material world, no matter how Bison-Higgs-like.

The reason for this post is, that my nine-year-old son who "knows" there is no Santa Claus, refuses to give up the fantasy and I am expected to play along like a mother should to the point of providing excellent details about the Northpole, present delivery, rules of goodness that guarantee lots of gifts, etc. My inner atheists and scientist, including my traumatized self of having been "lied to" as a child, have a lot of resistance to this, but as I was triumphantly told by my Jedi warrior two nights ago: "Nobody can prove to me that Santa does not exist! You can't prove ANYTHING that doesn't exist, that is doesn't exist!" A child's mind is naturally Buddhist, non-dualistic and free.

So why not create a magical world of love and surprises - like my mother did for me. Fantasy Christmas is much more fun than secular, scientific Christmas. Atheists do not know the joy and pleasure serious religious people - those who simply have infinite trust and faith like children, or those who do their own endless experiments meditating - indulge in. Science is almost as much fun, but not quite. Scientists and religious people who have it right have a twinkle in their eyes. All the others look miserable and grumpy in their struggle for fame and power.

When I could only find this "dinglehopper" clip in Norwegian I realized - even language is a crazy invention of the imagination. One man's religion makes no sense to another - neither does one man's language make any sense to another. As Ramana Maharshi says: "We need to discover our own true source. That is all that is required." We can start with a smile. Maybe while sitting in silence.

Google Sky To Keep Us Humble

Here is something cool and interesting to make us feel both powerful and oh so insignificant in this vast Universe - Google Sky! If Google Earth made us feel powerful like a spying fighter pilot Google Sky will make us feel like Luke Skywalker. Or, frustrated and greedy in that curiosity kind of way, for more detail when we fly up to a planet or galaxy. Then there is that feeling of being lost at sea without a compass or any understanding of what we're encountering, and you just want to hang out in the solar system just so you know - kind of - where you are - "up" or "down" or "sideways" - ideas that lose their meaning.

Then there is that other, though very familiar feeling - of too much Universe to explore when you really should get your work done.