The Quickening

...... to test the teeth of what, the beast,

laughter, languid from the toil, the breath of

hatred and of rage, attesting to this mortal coil?

twixted the patterns, twine and tweed,

whistling at the pretty deed,

amen for fasting from all thoughts,

that could wager from their greed.

helas the marketeer and his race, gave pause

to the man with a mask on his face, to pay the

dues and seal his fate, from the tax of his head

to the bargaining plate,

on wall street, that's where walls cave in,

a shot in the dark, or a stale-air win?

freemason, freeman, marching home,

the cotton-pickers fate could not be known,

and if in his flesh he burdens right,

the burning of his brightest flight,

across the ocean, once in a score,

to collect a debt or debit some more,

perhaps the phrase "time and again,"

were words that could have soothed him then.....

checkers and chess, failure at best,

the cow lays down, her utters to rest,

filthy scorn, and laughter from adores,

twelfth hour setting on the lawn in a storm......

Tsunami

The wind whispered cries, but the men paid them no mind. Shelter was a long forgotten notion, and the dead were but a foundation upon which shame and indignation were to build. If only men's minds were like earthquakes, and would themselves subside, perhaps we could clear a path through the fog of terror. But here, with so much up for grabs, Tantalus, himself, it seems, had arrived to over-see the operation.

More Nice Mars-in-the-summer pics

Promethei Terra:











































Juventae Chasma

if the music gets you high,
do not stumble on your lies,
we're inside the blinking eyes,
see your cause into the night.

If you tumble then you feel,
if you felt the fall was real
then you would not say goodnight,
... you would sing a lulliby.

a sword tears seams on common ground,
just how long has this truth been 'round?
We call up garments of lovely lace,
but dare not show then your whole face?
Querent quivers with what comes next
... do you bless or may in fact a hex?

secrets worry, secrets bind
if there for all to surely find.
Depths consume and depths compel ...
'ere even writ, the depths of hell.

For utter righteousness unwronged
should there be worked up as a song.

Magic does indeed appeal,
but for all in all, what counts for real?

More evidence of life on Mars.

Isn't Mars beautiful in the summer? This is an official European Space Agency picture.

Here is original link. The image is actually very large. You might want to go to the ESA website for a clearer view of what is going on, here. To be fair, the ESA says these are sulfate deposits ... but why Lowell saw them shift with the seasons is another happy little investigation, and honestly, I like my imagination, better. This does look an awful lot like a forest ...



Of course, we've always known that Mars has blue skies. I had a picture here, but apparently the site is down, and I would just prefer you go to Kieth Laney's site, directly, anyway.
Here are some more links that you might find valuable:
The Hidden Colors of Mars.Beautiful pictures of the real Mars ... with blue skies, and a little information you may find interesting.

Trees and Vegetation on Mars, More Images.
This is the original article where the above picture was linked from. All pictures are linked from the ESA ... because, of course, everything really good seems to still come from Europe.

Keith Laney's Mars Photography Website.
Color calibrated collection of photos from the Mars landers.

Ancient Technology and Wisdom

This one has a lot of interesting links, there's also a separate series by the same man (you don't have to buy anything, just click "view full report")
http://www.forgottenagesresearch.com/lost-knowledge-series/

and this one:
http://www.forgottenagesresearch.com/vanished-civilizations-series/

You will probably want to read every article on both of the above pages.

They also knew what "dark matter" was, the stuff that scientists are trying to wrap their heads around, now.  They said that the universe of the dark-matter can be combined in a certain way with the light universe (this universe) to bring forth new creation.  The old story goes something like the dark was split in two, and created light and the remnant darkness, as well ... and that the deep was tapped for the creation of all things.  REALLY fascinating.

... there's even a few paragraphs in the Rig Veda that describes exactly how to make a battery and to induce the electrolysis of water ... Brown's gas :

The Agastya Samhita, an ancient Indian text, gives directions on how to make a battery: "Place a well-cleaned copper plate in an earthenware vessel. Cover it first by copper sulfate and then moist sawdust. After that put a mercury-amalgamated-zinc sheet on top of an energy known by the twin name of Mitra-Varuna. Water will be split by this current into Pranavayu and Udanavayu. A chain of one hundred jars is said to give a very active and effective force." By the way, Mitra-Varuna is now called cathode-anode, and Pranavayu and Udanavayu are to us oxygen and hydrogen, respectively.

___

The hymn 1.50 of the Rigveda on the Sun, says
[O Sun] you who traverse 2,202 yojanas in half a nimesa. The usual
meaning of yojana is about 9 miles as in the Artha shastra and for nimesha.
The measures of time are thus defined in the Puranas:
15 nimesa = 1 kastha
30kastha= 1 kala
30 kala = 1 muhurta
30 muhurta = 1 day-and-night

A nimesa is therefore equal to 16/75 seconds.
That ratio equals out to about 189,500 miles per second.
It does come very close to the correct figure of 186,200 miles per second... and we don't know the precise measurements used by the ancients, so we could possibly figure that the discrepancy in the two numbers is the result of historical error.

http://astrobytes.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/speed-of-light-given-by-vedas/

Armored Amphibious Assault Tank:

Job 41

¹ "Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook
or tie down his tongue with a rope?

² Can you put a cord through his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?

³ Will he keep begging you for mercy?
Will he speak to you with gentle words?

⁴ Will he make an agreement with you
for you to take him as your slave for life?

⁵ Can you make a pet of him like a bird
or put him on a leash for your girls?

⁶ Will traders barter for him?
Will they divide him up among the merchants?

⁷ Can you fill his hide with harpoons
or his head with fishing spears?

⁸ If you lay a hand on him,
you will remember the struggle and never do it again!

⁹ Any hope of subduing him is false;
the mere sight of him is overpowering.

¹⁰ No one is fierce enough to rouse him.
Who then is able to stand against me?

¹¹ Who has a claim against me that I must pay?
Everything under heaven belongs to me.

¹² "I will not fail to speak of his limbs,
his strength and his graceful form.

¹³ Who can strip off his outer coat?
Who would approach him with a bridle?

¹⁴ Who dares open the doors of his mouth,
ringed about with his fearsome teeth?

¹⁵ His back has rows of shields
tightly sealed together;

¹⁶ each is so close to the next
that no air can pass between.

¹⁷ They are joined fast to one another;
they cling together and cannot be parted.

¹⁸ His snorting throws out flashes of light;
his eyes are like the rays of dawn.

¹⁹ Firebrands stream from his mouth;
sparks of fire shoot out.

²⁰ Smoke pours from his nostrils
as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.

²¹ His breath sets coals ablaze,
and flames dart from his mouth.

²² Strength resides in his neck;
dismay goes before him.

²³ The folds of his flesh are tightly joined;
they are firm and immovable.

²⁴ His chest is hard as rock,
hard as a lower millstone.

²⁵ When he rises up, the mighty are terrified;
they retreat before his thrashing.

²⁶ The sword that reaches him has no effect,
nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.

²⁷ Iron he treats like straw
and bronze like rotten wood.

²⁸ Arrows do not make him flee;
slingstones are like chaff to him.

²⁹ A club seems to him but a piece of straw;
he laughs at the rattling of the lance.

³⁰ His undersides are jagged potsherds,
leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.

³¹ He makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron
and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.

³² Behind him he leaves a glistening wake;
one would think the deep had white hair.

³³ Nothing on earth is his equal—
a creature without fear.

³⁴ He looks down on all that are haughty;
he is king over all that are proud."

---

Thermonuclear Weapon:

The Mahabharata

Gurkha,
flying a swift and powerful vimana
hurled a single projectile

Charged with all the power of the Universe.

An incandescent column of smoke and flame

As bright as the thousand suns

Rose in all its splendour...

a perpendicular explosion
with its billowing smoke clouds...

...the cloud of smoke
rising after its first explosion
formed into expanding round circles
like the opening of giant parasols...

..it was an unknown weapon,
An iron thunderbolt,
A gigantic messenger of death,
Which reduced to ashes
The entire race of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas.

...The corpses were so burned
As to be unrecognizable.

The hair and nails fell out;
Pottery broke without apparent cause,
And the birds turned white.

After a few hours
All foodstuffs were infected...

...to escape from this fire
The soldiers threw themselves in streams
To wash themselves and their equipment.

If you elect people into positions of power and trust them to tell you how free you actually are then you are not actually free.

Government is the most dangerous threat to human existence that the world has ever known.

Religion is cynical old men telling the huddled masses that they are defeating the enemy by enduring their suffering for God.

There is no more of an excuse for someone to insist that they are right than when they have great wealth behind them.

People who coin witty sayings often do so from the shallowest part of their character.

(All attributed to yours truly ... well, okay, I stole a few).

I think I've figured it out.

Cycles exist as "things," they're like objects, when perceived from a vantage beyond the realm of time.

... when the sun has risen, it has already set.
... that which is new is already old.
... that which is bright is already dim.

: what is beyond time? Eternity.
What is beyond Eternity? The Absolute.

What is beyond the Absolute?

a) Nothing
b) Nothing - Then Everything once more.
c) Eternity once more.
d) That which simply is.
e) Figure it out, yourself, why are you asking me?
f) All of the Above (somehow).
g) None of the Above (somehow).
h) The Absolute Once More.

The Thicket.

The Thicket of Yvette.

The ghostly and supernatural tale of a French forest maiden.

Just ... you know, before I forgot about it.

Good Wisdom.

(from I dunno where...)

: The best thing that teachers could hope for is for their students to exceed them.

Jesus, The Son Of Man.

“In truth the earth is fair and all that is upon her is fair.

“But there is a kingdom beyond all that you behold, and therein I shall rule. And if it is your choice, and if it is indeed your desire, you too shall come and rule with me.

“My face and your faces shall not be masked; our hand shall hold neither sword nor sceptre, and our subjects shall love us in peace and shall not be in fear of us.”

Thus spoke Jesus, and unto all the kingdoms of the earth I was blinded, and unto all the cities of walls and towers; and it was in my heart to follow the Master to His kingdom.

Then just at that moment Judas of Iscariot stepped forth. And he walked up to Jesus, and spoke and said, “Behold, the kingdoms of the world are vast, and behold the cities of David and Solomon shall prevail against the Romans. If you will be the king of the Jews we shall stand beside you with sword and shield and we shall overcome the alien.”

But when Jesus heard this He turned upon Judas, and His face was filled with wrath. And He spoke in a voice terrible as the thunder of the sky and He said, “Get you behind me, Satan. Think you that I came down the years to rule an ant-hill for a day?

“My throne is a throne beyond your vision. Shall he whose wings encircle the earth seek shelter in a nest abandoned and forgotten?

“Shall the living be honoured and exalted by the wearer of shrouds?”

“My kingdom is not of this earth, and my seat is not builded upon the skulls of your ancestors.

“If you seek aught save the kingdom of the spirit then it were better for you to leave me here, and go down to the caves of your dead, where the crowned heads of yore hold court in their tombs and may still be bestowing honours upon the bones of your forefathers.

“Dare you tempt me with a crown of dross, when my forehead seeks the Pleiades, or else your thorns?

“Were it not for a dream dreamed by a forgotten race I would not suffer your sun to rise upon my patience, nor your moon to throw my shadow across your path.

“Were it not for a mother’s desire I would have stripped me of the swaddling-clothes and escaped back to space.

“And were it not for sorrow in all of you I would not have stayed to weep.

“Who are you and what are you, Judas Iscariot? And why do you tempt me?

“Have you in truth weighed me in the scale and found me one to lead legions of pygmies, and to direct chariots of the shapeless against an enemy that encamps only in your hatred and marches nowhere but in your fear?

“Too many are the worms that crawl about me feet, and I will give them no battle. I am weary of the jest, and weary of pitying the creepers who deem me coward because I will not move among their guarded walls and towers.

“Pity it is that I must needs pity to the very end. Would that I could turn my steps towards a larger world where larger men dwell. But how shall I?

“Your priest and your emperor would have my blood. They shall be satisfied ere I go hence. I would not change the course of the law. And I would not govern folly.

“Let ignorance reproduce itself until it is weary of its own offspring.

“Let the blind lead the blind to the pitfall.

“And let the dead bury the dead till the earth be choked with its own bitter fruit.

“My kingdom is not of the earth. My kingdom shall be where two or three of you shall meet in love, and in wonder at the loveliness of life, and in good cheer, and in remembrance of me.”

Then of a sudden He turned to Judas, and He said, “Get you behind me, man. Your kingdoms shall never be in my kingdom.”

- Kahlil Gibran. Jesus, The Son of Man.

(I reconciled my angst).

Rick Warren (you think I was going to stay quiet?)

Bigotry is ignorance ... brazenly speaking out against an entire group of people is extremely negative karma.

Now ... I know that Rick Warren tries to blend a very moderate and compassionate tone with his condemnation of homosexual acts ... he still stirs the fires ... he's still a symbol of that movement so I can't just keep quiet.

I know the dogmatic religious zealots are unswayed by common sense. They will believe their book tells them to hate, and to do so righteously.

: sadly.

: Does no one trust the words of Christ, anymore? You can't quote Christ himself for anything definite when it comes to gays. Promiscuous people? Yes. Loving couples? No. The notion on that is ever vague. Like much of the Bible is.

In the Buddhist perspective ... homosexuality is such mundane activity ... and it, in addition to a host of things that MANY people are susceptible to, are to be regarded as distracting and worldly. Both Christianity and Buddhism teach forgiveness, compassion, and detachment from the world.

In that perspective, my passions, personally, are quite cool.

Like, the old testament 'eye-for-an-eye' still finds favor amongst several protestant denominations, even though it was supposedly superceded by the greater teaching of Christ to "turn the other cheek."

Because revenge is also negative and worldly.

Speaking harshly of others and judging them is negative and worldly.

Om Mani Padme Hum.

... on an aside : piercing scholarship of ancient texts reveals their context, and what it meant for societies of old for these things to transpire.

On that note, I'll leave you with a highly enlightened verse from the bible:

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
1 Peter 4:8

Tangerines!

My tangerine tree is in full fruit ... it's laden down so much the branches are drooping like a willow.

Very VERY tangy ones, this time, too. There must be 2000 some odd individual tangerines ... I run into this problem every year.

: I have to convince and beg people to come pick the fruit, because I just can't climb up 20 feet to get the top ones ... and what am I going to personally do with 2000 tangerines?

That's a LOT of Asian chicken salad ... ( when the recipe calls for mandarin oranges, you can use tangerines).

It's never a good idea.

To try to smelt down metal in your kitchen.

I learned my lesson after the first explosion ... and I am here to recommend against it.

Exhausted.

I've been up since 4 this morning. I had a cup of coffee and did all my laundry.

: then I went to work ... in St. Petersburg, FL. If you're not familiar with the geography of this region, that's an hour commute across the bay bridge ...

... then I worked a full day building a server for the Robinson Group (who shall probably be my employers until I retire, I hope, I love those people).

: then I had to commute BACK to Valrico.

So : full work day, full on hour long commute across the Gandy bridge and I can't believe I even managed to go to the store after I got home.

I'm exhausted.

God I'm glad I don't have to commute every day.

But it's good for the soul to commune with the misery of the commuting, 9-5 masses.

Throwing shoes.

What an interesting and colorful culture the Arabs have.

I would NEVER throw my shoes ... mostly because I wear all designer shoes... very expensive insult to sling, I'd fathom.

Fine drunken reading material.

Tequila Mockingbird.

I'm feeling a little better, now (and no I am not drinking at 9 in the morning. I have to go into the office in an hour to set up a server ... which is actually fun).

But I stand in solidarity with all of those whose misery continues in relentless waves and droves.

I'm programming...

Until my eyes bleed.

Line after line after line of code.

... and if anything is off just a tiny bit ... if I forget to dot one i or cross one t, the entire thing will crash.

: So, simple perfection is what I do for a living.

do while (1) {} -- and all is absolutely perfect forever and ever.

I'm just me.

I have the same struggles as everyone else ... the struggle to fly right and keep bad karma off my tail as much as possible.

It's so funny ... a night of hanging out with my peers (all born in 1976, mind you) ... and it was corrupting enough to me that I started to watch porn, again.

Then I immediately repented for it ... but not with as much enthusiasm as last time.

It's so funny. But, I really feel, you know, "in the mix" again... human, normal ... the way I ought to be.

I'm forced to conclude that beings in higher realms are slightly psychotic.