Smorgasbord
6
Wednesday,
January 7, 1998
© Copyright 1998 by NewHeavenNewEarth
smorgasbord
(smor-gos-bord) n.
A buffet meal featuring a varied number of dishes.
Another NHNE publication --
albeit more loosely knit than most
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Total Subscribers:
This Issue: 991
Last Issue: 969
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"My father was constantly learning and listening and was a lifelong student.
I ultimately aspired to be like him. He always told me that we should keep in
the company of those looking for the truth and run away from those who had found
it. That made a strong impression on me."
---Deepak Chopra
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CONTENTS:
LETTERS:
A Power Greater than Ourselves
-- Dream References
-- Pathwork References
Preparing for the Second Coming
NEWS WATCH:
Fewer Earthquakes, More Lives Lost in 1997
Russians Seek Atlantis Off Cornwall
CNN's Top 10 Sci-Tech Stories
High-Tech Dog Tags
Computerized Pen Wins European Prize
Warp Drive with Parallel Computing
Remote-Control System Uses Brain Waves
Japanese Cartoon Triggers Mass Child Seizures
Breast-Fed Children Perform Better
Biologists Identify Aging Mechanism
Humans Not Neanderthals' Descendants
Americans Promise 99 Percent Pollution-Free Cars
Biggest Meteorite Ever to Hit the Earth?
NASA Promises Cydonia Images "At Every Opportunity"
Launching Spaceships with Lasers
NASA Looks Toward Interstellar Travel
New Planets Found
The Oracle of Changes
IN SEARCH OF THE PROMISED LAND:
The Center for Millennial Studies
NOTES FROM THE HOME PLANET:
Apocalyptic Native American Movements
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
What Went Wrong?
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LETTERS:
A POWER GREATER THAN OURSELVES
By David Sunfellow
Over the years, I've shared alot of thought-provoking material with everyone
on the NHNE mailing list. But only a handful of publications have generated as
many heartfelt letters as my Christmas message ("A Christmas Story",
http://www.nhne.com/smorgchristmas.html). Along with many kind and supportive
letters, I also received a number of letters from people who said they were wrestling
with the same issues I am. Because of this, I thought it might be helpful to
share a little bit about the roller coaster I've been on since last I wrote.
One of the themes that appeared in my Christmas letter, and which has
also been popping up in other NHNE articles, is my growing sense of
frustration with the
apparent lack of authentic spiritual masters in our world. I have yet to meet
or hear of anyone alive today who embodies the kind of perfection I believe is
our birthright. And while there is certainly no shortage of people claiming to
be perfect, those who proclaim spiritual mastership the loudest, often turn out
to be the least developed and most lost. And this includes many of the eastern
world's most celebrated "masters" who, along with whatever genuine
inner strengths and powers they tapped into, frequently demonstrate glaring moral
defects and/or an inability to function gracefully in the real world.
After emailing out my Christmas letter, I had a dream that reflected
these painful perceptions. I dreamed I was visiting a woman who had
been closely associated
with Edgar Cayce. In real life, I knew this woman and also knew Edgar Cayce's
son, Hugh Lynn Cayce. In my dream, both Hugh Lynn Cayce and the woman had grown
up together. I saw pictures of them posing together when they were cheerful,
idealistic teenagers. Now the woman was old and sick. I came to visit her and
after studying her middle-class home, noting her debilitating illness, and becoming
aware of the many sorrows she had known, I began to weep. "Even a person
who spent their whole life with Cayce and the Cayce readings," I sobbed, "ended
up living a normal human life. What hope is there for ever breaking free from
the chains of suffering that bind us in this world?"
While I have no illusions about Edgar Cayce (he was a man with special gifts
who also had his share of human failings), his life and work were uncharacteristically
God-centered and sincere -- and so were many of the people who were drawn to
him. Unlike many of today's flamboyant, opportunistic psychics, who are often
more gifted at bamboozling gullible seekers than offering authentic intuitive
guidance, Cayce was the real McCoy. Along with helping thousands of people with
their day-to-day struggles, Cayce's legacy also includes hundreds of thoroughly
documented, often very dramatic, healings, which helped give birth to the wholistic
health movement many of us enjoy today. But my dream reminded me that even those
of us who are fortunate enough to be surrounded by gifted human beings, and inspiring
sources of information, often have trouble rising above the trials of ordinary
life. More to the point, I came face to face with one of my greatest fears: that
after all is said and done, myself, my loved ones, my friends -- all of us --
will grow old, suffer our share of earthly trials, and then leave this world
without ever having reached the spiritual heights so many sources promise we
can.
I realize, of course, that I/we are better off today than ever before. Those
of us who have been fortunate enough to be born in many of today's western cultures
live longer, healthier lives. We can pursue whatever interests and callings we
have with little fear of starving to death, dying from the newest plague, being
forced to serve tyrannical madmen, or being killed by marauding war parties.
For the most part, we can love and marry whom we want, and follow whatever religious
(or non-religious) path we choose. We also understand a great deal more about
ourselves, and our world, than our ancestors did. Humankind, in other words,
is clearly progressing from unconscious, self-centered, selfish, exclusive, uninformed,
rash, warlike and narrow-minded levels of existence to higher, more loving and
fulfilling ones.
But in spite these accomplishments, many of which trace directly back to spiritual
impulses that laid the foundation for today's more peaceful, tolerant societies,
our world is still surprisingly devoid of human beings who have reached their
full potential. Today's world, of course, does have its fair share of inspired
spiritual teachers, and teachings. But when was the last time these teachers
-- as sincere, kind hearted and dynamic as many of them are -- walked on water,
commanded the forces of nature, raised someone from the dead, or even did something
as simple as stop or reverse their own aging process, heal a broken arm, repair
a bad tooth, produce life-long healthy relationships with their children, spouses,
friends, co-workers? Many of them teach that we can do all these things. But
have they? Can we?
Lately, I've been hearing from a growing number of people who have
become disillusioned with the hodgepodge of spiritual paths available
today, as well as many of the
spiritual teachers that champion them. Some of these people have had dreams and
inner realizations similar to mine. Others, who were absolutely convinced a decade
ago that our planet would be in the throws of major geological change by now,
are disheartened that planetary-wide geological activity is at or below normal
averages. Even Edgar Cayce's organization, THE ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH & ENLIGHTENMENT
(A.R.E.) is currently mulling over the fact that Cayce's famous 1958 to 1998 "test
period" is almost over -- without producing any of the major earth changes
Cayce had predicted.
Last week, I came across an organization on the web that helped snap
things into
perspective for me. The organization is called "THE CENTER FOR MILLENNIAL
STUDIES" (see "In Search of the Promised Land" in this issue for
more details). Their primary purpose is to document and understand all things
millennial. In reading their mission statement, one line leapt out at me. It
said that apocalyptic expectations "have always proven wrong." While
the statement itself was referring to literal end of the world predictions, it
got me to thinking about humanity's ever-present longing for salvation and the
various apocalyptic prophets and prophetic visions that have emerged over the
centuries. Have any of them ever come true?, I wondered. Is there any valid reason
to believe that human beings, in mass (or even one at a time), will EVER realize
their full potential?
Two thousand years ago, ancient Palestine was a hotbed of apocalyptic activity.
The Jewish people, suffering under brutal Roman rule, were expecting a Moses
or King David-like Messiah to show up and lead them in war against the Roman
Empire. Many, including the Essenes that some scholars believe were closely associated
with Jesus, expected an all-out, end-of-the-world battle between the forces of
good and evil. And, of course, thanks in large measure to the turbulence, uncertainty
and desperation of the times, numerous false prophets appeared on the scene,
fanning the flames. It was a time very much like today. It was, indeed, a time
very much like other time periods in human history when the forces of change
were destroying old cultures and creating new ones with such a vengeance that
prophetic voices seemed to be everywhere, spontaneously venting collective hopes,
dreams, grievances and delusions.
But unlike other prophetic ruptures that produced no lasting changes in the culture
they appeared, the apocalyptic expectations of ancient Palestine came to dramatic
fruition. The appearance of Jesus two thousand years ago changed everything --
albeit not in the way anyone expected. The world didn't come to a sudden end
as many believed it would, nor was Rome violently overthrown by another Old-Testament-style
warrior prophet. Nor even did most of Jesus' own people believe he was the one
they had been expecting. But whole peoples were swept up in the wake of Jesus
and his vision of love nonetheless. Mighty Rome, determined to crush the upstart
religion that sprang up around Jesus, was instead converted. New nations, inspired
by Christ's life and teachings, eventually emerged and became dominate world
powers. And a growing host of human beings, some of whom were able to manifest
the same kind of miraculous powers as their master had, began following in his
footsteps and making their own mark on human history. Along with all the prophets
and prophetic voices that came to nothing (and there have been many), here was
one that had the power to change virtually everything it touched. Which brought
me back to my ponderings.
"Rome," as they say, "wasn't built in a day." And like it
or not, we've probably got a few more eons ahead of us before large numbers of
humanity burst into the same kind of flames that Jesus did. In the meantime,
I believe it is possible for many of us to start glowing a great deal brighter
than we have been. But I don't think this kind of glowing can be achieved solely
through our own efforts. One of my all-time favorite Pathwork lectures (Lecture
258, "Personal Contact with Jesus Christ," by Eva Pierrakos), summarized
what I believe are the three "truths" all human beings must eventually
incorporate into their spiritual journey:
"1. Only you yourself can effect your salvation. It is your responsibility.
2. You cannot possibly do it alone, you need the help of others who share the
journey with you, who may often see what you do not see. 3. Without God, without
the personal assistance of the personal aspect of God (Jesus), the undertaking
is too vast for you to accomplish."
This particular Pathwork lecture was the last one ever done by Eva Pierrakos
and, significantly, it focused entirely on Jesus and the importance of forming
a personal relationship with him.
"How could you ever overcome the hurdle of your self-hate that fosters underneath
all your defenses," this Pathwork lecture asks, "if it were not for
the experience of Christ's personal love, forgiveness, acceptance, and total
vision of you? How could you learn to love yourself without at least knowing,
and finally experiencing, his love for you? How could you activate the power
to change involuntary aspects that do not directly respond to your outer will?
Only through allowing yourself to know -- and later to feel -- his total love
and total acceptance of who you are now, no matter how flawed, imperfect and
destructive your lower self may be, will you be able to do same."
Realizing the need for a direct encounter with God/Jesus/Spirit and actually
having one are, of course, two different things. For while we can prepare ourselves,
we can't dictate when, or even how, God will finally touch us. Indeed, as Pathwork
lecture 258 points out, along with seeking the healing touch of God (or Jesus
in this case), we also have to be patient, accepting of all aspects of ourselves,
and continue, as best we can, to work on ourselves:
"You may be mentally completely reconciled to his reality. You may have
used your personal will to make this total surrender and you may sincerely mean
it. Yet you may not have experienced the emotional reality of his sweet and loving
Presence. Often man becomes impatient and then he begins to doubt, thus disrupting
the plant he has sown. When the emotional experience fails to materialize for
a while, it is not that he keeps you waiting. It is that your inner barriers
need to give way. And that can happen only with the context of your unique, personal
rhythm pattern. Remember that and do not despair. Christ is here. He hears you.
He loves you. He protects you. He is deeply concerned with you, even though your
senses are still too dull to perceive it. But suddenly will the time come when
you will be intensely aware of this fact. You will feel his loving, healing arms
in which you can always rest and find new sustenance for your life work."
The main message I took away from my dream, then, was not that I, or anyone else,
should accept our sad fate as pathetic, miserable, hopeless human beings. Rather
than a call to surrender, I believe my dream, at least for me, was a call to
arms; a call for me to seek more fervently the One in whom my (and our) ultimate
salvation depends.
My hope and prayer, then, is that God may reach into each and every
one of our lives, and personally touch and transform us. I pray that
the kind of despairing
dreams I've been having, and hearing about, are replaced with real life stories
of being touched, and healed, by the likes of Jesus, Buddha, or whatever other
authentic spiritual forces do God's bidding. I also hope and pray that as this
millennium comes to an end, and the next one prepares to throw open its doors
to ever-increasing heights of human achievement, that at least a few of us can
be lifted up high enough to be beacons of hope to the next wave of souls that
will be seeking, as we have, to realize their "full" potentials in
this world.
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DREAM REFERENCES:
Dreams have played a very important role in my life, and in the lives of many
of my closest friends. If you would like to learn more about dreams and how to
use them to receive guidance, help, and inspiration, I encourage you to check
out the following resources:
Dreams & VisionQuests:
http://www.nhne.com/visionquests.html
Lifetreks:
Dream Interpretation Services & Resources:
http://www.lifetreks.com/~dreams
The Association for the Study of Dreams:
http://www.ASDreams.org/
Dream Lynx:
http://licensure.com/.dream/
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Dreams:
"For these, if paid attention to, brought back in the memory, written and
kept and studied, interpreted as actual experiences which are symbolic and yet
real in their nature, become guidelines to such an extent that one should be
able to understand and rectify all those things in the life which are of an imperfect
nature."
"The greatest book of study is that one of your own, written by the soul
upon time and space--that of your dreams."
---From the book, "Season of Changes, Ways of Response",
based on the
A.L.M. Readings
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PATHWORK REFERENCES:
If you would like to find out more about Eva Pierrakos and the Pathwork lectures,
an NHNE Special Report on the subject is available on the NHNE website:
http://www.nhne.com/pathwork.html
The Pathwork New York Region also has a website at:
http://www.pathwork.org
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PREPARING THE WAY
"David, thank you for your personal Christmas message. I appreciate you
sharing it. I would like to give you and your readers my 'Holyday Message.' I
sat one night praying, 'How will I recognize Christ when he comes back, when
so many didn't recognize him the first time he was here? What can I do until
Christ returns?' The message came clear in my thoughts: 'Practice, practice and
practice more, treat everyone you meet as if they were Christ. You will bring
out the Christ consciousness in them as it will bring out the Christ consciousness
in you. Both will win by the practice and experience.' I have been practicing
and wow it has opened my life to some glorious experiences. I am devoting my
life to sharing this important message to enhance the evolution of Christ consciousness
here on Earth for a better universe. So be it. Love & peace to you and your
readers."
---Rev. Rhonda McCloud
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NEWS WATCH:
FEWER EARTHQUAKES, MORE LIVES LOST IN 1997
(Source: EUREKALERT, 12/31/98)
Seventeen major earthquakes (magnitude 7.0 or higher) were recorded in the world
for 1997, according to the U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY NATIONAL EARTHQUAKE INFORMATION
CENTER (NEIC) in Golden, Colorado. This is just under the average of 20 major
earthquakes in the world each year. Despite the lower number of major earthquakes
worldwide (21 major earthquakes were recorded in 1996), the death toll from earthquakes
was much higher in 1997 than in the previous year. In 1996, a total of 449 people
were reported killed by earthquakes around the world. More than double that number
were reported killed in just the first three months of 1997. The total death
toll from earthquakes in 1997 is at least 2,913.
We continue to hear from many people throughout the world that earthquakes are
on the increase. Although it may seem that we are having more earthquakes, this
is not the case. In fact, earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or higher have remained
fairly constant throughout this century. A partial explanation for this impression
may lie in the fact that in the last twenty years, we have definitely had an
increase in the number of earthquakes USGS has been able to locate each year.
This is because of the tremendous increase in the number of seismograph stations
in the world and the many improvements in global communications. Also, because
of the improvements in communications and the increased interest in natural disasters,
the public now learns about more earthquakes.
The effect that earthquakes have when they strike is generally more pronounced.
Although we have gained much knowledge in building safer structures, when earthquakes
occur today, losses (both human and property) are greater in many areas of the
world. This is not because the earthquakes are stronger; it is simply because
the Earth's population is increasing and more property (much of it not built
to withstand earthquakes) exists that can be destroyed in an earthquake.
USGS estimates that several million earthquakes occur in the world each year.
Many of these earthquakes go undetected because they occur in remote areas or
have very small magnitudes. The USGS locates 12,000 to 14,000 earthquakes each
year (about 35 per day).
As the nation's largest water, earth and biological science and civilian mapping
agency the USGS works in cooperation with more than 2000 organizations across
the country to provide reliable, impartial, scientific information to resource
managers, planners, and other customers.
Additional information on the year's earthquakes is available on the USGS NEIC
Homepage at:
http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/
To receive the latest USGS news releases automatically by email, please send
a request to listproc@listserver.usgs.gov. Please specify the listserver (s)
of interest from the following list of names: water-pr; geologic-hazards-pr;
biological-pr; mapping-pr; products-pr; lecture-pr. In the body of the message
say subscribe (name of listserver)(your name). Example: subscribe water-pr joe
smith.
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/usgs-eqstml.html
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RUSSIANS SEEK ATLANTIS OFF CORNWALL
(Source: BBC NEWS, 12/29/97)
For centuries explorers have searched for the remains of Atlantis -- the fabled
city under the sea. Now a team from Russia says it has identified it -- 100 miles
off Land's End, off the south-west coast of England. And this summer they intend
to prove it. The team from the MOSCOW INSTITUTE OF META-HISTORY is one of two
new projects to start in the New Year. The other is a 30-strong British expedition
to Bolivia to find Atlantis under a lake. The Russian search is based on a re-reading
of classical Greek texts. They believe Atlantis is at Little Sole Bank, a hill
on the Atlantic seabed. The site is at the edge of the Celtic Shelf which, before
the Ice Age, was above sea level. The site description fits in with the Cornish
myth of the land of Lyonesse -- also known as the City of Lions. Lyonesse is
said to have stood between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Atlantis was first described by the Greek philosopher Plato in his
work The Republic nearly 2,500 years ago. Plato said the city existed
for more than 9,000 years
with walls paved with silver and gold. In The Republic, Atlantis is destroyed
by the gods when its people become wicked and decadent. But classical scholar
Dr Peter Jones told the BBC: "Historically Atlantis is nonsense." He
added that Plato was using a political allegory but also that he was very precise
about the location of Atlantis. "It is an island in front of the straits
of Gibraltar, and no such island exists," said Dr Jones. "This is pure
invention. It's not history, it's not even myth, it is an allegory -- a fabulous
science-fiction superstate -- a utopia, and ancient philosophers like Plato use
allegories like this all the time."
British explorer Colonel John Blashford-Snell, believes there is enough evidence
in The Republic to justify a search for Atlantis in Bolivia. His team leaves
in March. His team has used satellite mapping technologies to analyse the topography
in Bolivia and has found striking resemblances between the area and the site
Plato describes, he says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_43000/43172.stm
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CNN'S TOP 10 SCI-TECH STORIES:
1. Earth Invades Mars!
2. Cloning Cloning
3. Misadventures of Mir
4. Comet Hale-Bopp
5. Internet Growth
6. Deep Blue Beats Kasparov
7. IBM's Copper Computer Chip
8. New Fuel Cell
9. Cassini Launch
10. Year 2000 Bug
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1997/year.ender/scitech/frame.html
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HIGH-TECH DOG TAGS
(Source: Jonathan Karl, CNN ONLINE, 12/27/97)
Through triumph and tragedy and two world wars, the military dog tag has been
an American icon for generations of soldiers and sailors. Today's armed forces
wear the same basic dog tag that their great-grandparents wore. But that's about
to change. By 1999, the 1.4 million members of the active duty military will
be issued a high-tech dog tag that contains a computer chip. The old dog tags
had just five lines for information, which included spaces for name, religion
and blood type. The new digital tags, however, can contain volumes of multi-media
information, including medical histories, X-rays and cardiograms. With the new
technology also comes new concerns over possible dangers in making such sensitive
information so readily available by hanging it on chains around the neck.
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9712/27/high.tech.dog.tags/index.html
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COMPUTERIZED PEN WINS EUROPEAN PRIZE
(Source: REUTERS, 11/28/97)
A device that looks and works like a big ballpoint pen but is actually a miniature
computer system won a grand prize at a European technology conference this week.
When someone uses the LCI-SMARTpen to sign his or her name on a piece of paper,
a computer equipped with special software can tell whether it is the real thing.
LCI won $228,000 at the annual European Information Technology Prize ceremony
sponsored by the European Commission and the scientific organization Euro-CASE.
http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/971128/tech/stories/pen_1.html
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WARP DRIVE WITH PARALLEL COMPUTING
(Source: EUREKALERT, 12/11/97)
An accountant for XYZ WIDGET CO. has stepped out for lunch and left his computer
running with the Dilbert screen saver doing its job. In his absence and without
his knowledge, a co-worker downstairs in engineering has silently tapped into
the very brain of the accountant's computer, borrowing powerful processor cycles
and using them for her own purposes. A hacker at work? Not at all. It's parallel
computing with high-performance networks, a concept UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA researchers
are developing. Alan George, director of UF's High-performance Computing and
Simulation Research Lab, says parallel computing could make computers thousands
of times faster than today's models and sidestep the physical limitations of
ever-shrinking microprocessors. With parallel computing, multiple processors
are linked together in a network so computers can talk to each other -- across
the hallway or across the globe -- as easily and quickly as possible by replacing
existing network wires with fiber-optic cables. Bill Phipps, an electrical and
computer engineering graduate student who has been working at the UF lab for
more than two years, said linking multiple computers with high-speed communication
may be the next big step in carrying computers into the 21st century.
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/uf-ntbpcn.html
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REMOTE-CONTROL SYSTEM USES BRAIN WAVES
(Source: AP, CNN ONLINE, 12/25/97)
Hidenori Onishi is using a device that senses brain-wave patterns and converts
them into signals used to operate electrical appliances. He claims that the machine
is the world's first brain-wave remote control aimed at a broad consumer market.
Its inventors believe it may be a major breakthrough for bedridden or paralyzed
people whose bodily movements are severely restricted. TECHNOS JAPAN CO. jointly
developed the device with the HIMEJI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. "When your
limbs are paralyzed and you can't use your voice, what you have left is your
brain." The device in Onishi's lab looks like a pair of ski goggles -- in
fact, a device to hold electrodes to the head -- attached to a laptop-sized computer.
It is called the Mind Control Tool Operating System, or MCTOS, and should be
ready for sale in April at a cost of about $4,800. Onishi said similar devices
have been built, but remain either experimental or highly impractical. One device
made in the United States requires that an electrode be implanted in the user's
scalp, he said. MCTOS, however, appear to be surprisingly easy to master.
Any strong mental affirmation sends out a brain signal that the electrodes apparently
intercept and feed to the computer. The computer then activates the appropriate
appliance. Items on the display menu, which looks like a computer screen and
can be placed conveniently in front of the user, include television, stereo and
electric bed control. A brain wave pulse turns the computer on, and more pulses
are used to step through a menu of appliances and the desired actions by them.
An Associated Press reporter who tested the system easily mastered simple tasks
like turning on lights. More demanding activities such as changing television
channels took a bit of extra thought, however.
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9712/25/remote.control.ap/index.html
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JAPANESE CARTOON TRIGGERS MASS CHILD SEIZURES
(Source: Janet Snyder, REUTERS: 12/16/97)
A television cartoon based on the popular video game "Pocket Monsters" triggered
convulsions in hundreds of children around Japan when a "bright red explosion" flashed
for five seconds on screens. A spokesman for the Fire Department, which carried
out a national survey, told REUTERS at least 618 children suffered convulsions,
vomiting, irritated eyes and other symptoms. Many were rushed to hospital by
frantic parents and 19 were badly enough affected to be kept in hospital. The
cartoon "Pokemon," aired every Tuesday at 6.30 p.m., has an audience
of millions of children. The children all came down with the symptoms about 20
minutes into the 30-minute long animation. The ages of the children ranged from
three upward. KYODO NEWS SERVICE said some children reportedly said they felt
bad and had vision problems after seeing "Pikachu, one of the most popular
characters, flash its eyes red during the cartoon.
Dr. Yukio Fukuyama, an expert on juvenile epilepsy, said bright flashes of light
and color from a television screen could trigger a phenomenon known as television
epilepsy. The medical profession has been aware children were susceptible to
such seizures even before the dawn of television, but it became more evident
with the spread of TV, Fukuyama said. He said the seizures, albeit unpleasant,
were not dangerous and that spontaneous recovery was the norm. But parents should
be aware of possible side effects of watching programs featuring bright flashing
lights. The networks should definitely think of issuing a health warning beforehand,
Fukuyama said.
http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/971216/news/stories/cartoon_3.html
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BREAST-FED CHILDREN PERFORM BETTER
(Source: REUTERS, 1/5/98)
Children breast-fed longer do better in school, with benefits that can be measured
into adolescence, according to a study published Monday. The report, from researchers
at the Christchurch School of Medicine in New Zealand, was based on a a look
at more than 1,000 children born there in 1977 and followed through age 18. Some
of the children were breast-fed less than four months, others four to seven months
and some for eight months or more while others were not breast-fed at all. The
study's authors found that the longer infants were breast-fed, the higher they
scored in evaluations.
http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/980105/news/stories/breastfeed_1.html
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BIOLOGISTS IDENTIFY AGING MECHANISM
(Source: EUREKALERT, 12/25/97)
MIT biologists have identified a mechanism of aging in yeast cells that suggests
researchers may one day be able to intervene in, and possibly inhibit, the aging
process in certain human cells.
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/agemech-mit.html
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HUMANS NOT NEANDERTHALS' DESCENDANTS
(Source: Siobhan Darrow, CNN ONLINE, 12/17/97)
For more than a century, scientists believed that Neanderthal man, a hulking
ape-like creature who lived in Europe and the Middle East some 300,000 years
ago, was the direct ancestor of human beings. But new DNA tests may have finally
proven that, while we may be distantly related to the Neanderthals, they were
not our direct forebearers. Scientists extracted and cloned DNA from the bones
of a Neanderthal specimen. The results showed that human DNA and Neanderthal
DNA had too many differences to be directly related. Instead, the results bolster
the hypothesis that our ancestors, the first homo sapiens, emigrated from Africa
about 100,000 years ago and lived side-by-side with the Neanderthals. More graceful
and agile, homo sapiens survived. But the Neanderthals, despite their abilities
to make tools and weapons, couldn't adapt the to harsh and changing climate of
the times and died out.
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9712/17/britain.neanderthals/index.html
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AMERICANS PROMISE 99 PERCENT POLLUTION-FREE CARS
(Source: BBC NEWS, 12/20/97)
For much of the Kyoto climate change summit in Japan in early December it appeared
the chances of carbon emission actually reducing in the near future were virtually
nil. But if the recent comments from the U.S. car industry are taken at face
value, that may not be the case. The GENERAL MOTORS Vice-President, Dennis Minano,
has promised: "GM will build a car that is 99% emissions-free." This,
he added, "will guarantee that America has the cleanest fleet of motor vehicles
in the world well into the next century". The United States, as pundits
never tired of repeating from Kyoto, produces a quarter of the world's population
and the petrol-powered car is the single largest cause of American emissions.
American industry reacted furiously to the international proposals that pollution
levels should be cut and mounted a publicity drive to try to prevent the U.S.
delegation from agreeing to do so. However, the new announcements from General
Motors and other car makers appear to be motivated by a new belief: clean vehicles
can be good business. Meanwhile, Toyota's Prius is expected to be on sale in
America by 2001, while Honda hopes to be first into the arena, with a natural
gas-powered Civic GX model with an emission level of next to zero being launched
in 1998.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_41000/41407.stm
------------
BIGGEST METEORITE EVER TO HIT THE EARTH?
(Source: BBC NEWS, 12/17/97)
As fishermen minded their nets in the dull grey of a Greenland dawn, a blinding
flash lit up the sky which could be one of the biggest meteorites to ever hit
the Earth. Bjorn Ericksonn, the first mate on the trawler Regina, saw the object
fall. "I was on the bridge and looking out of the window, I have never seen
so strong light before in the night," he said. Many people across the southern
tip of Greenland saw the huge light in the early hours of Tuesday morning last
week. But no-one was able to photograph it as it glowed for between 2 and 5 seconds.
Seismographic equipment recorded a 10 second shockwave. Scientists believe the
early indications are that the meteorite could have measured between 50 and 100
metres across, and have been travelling at 7,600 mph. This would put it on a
par with the Tunguska meteorite which devastated hundreds of square miles of
Siberia in 1908, when it exploded with the same energy as a 15 megatonne nuclear
bomb. The Danish airforce have sent up planes to look for the impact site. So
far they have had little success because of appalling weather conditions. The
meteorite would have been white hot when it hit the ground. It would have melted
its way into the pack ice, which would have then melted on top of it. Just to
make things more difficult, there was heavy snow in the hours after the impact,
further obscuring the site. The meteorite has been named Qaqortoq, after the
nearest post office, which is apparantly traditional.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_40000/40507.stm
------------
NASA PLEDGES CYDONIA IMAGES "AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY"
(Source: Michael Lindemann, CNN NEWS, Vol. 3, No. 20, Part 2, Dec. 20, 1997)
In a long-sought breakthrough that many thought would never come, NASA
officials publicly promised on November 24 that the Mars Global Surveyor
spacecraft would
take high resolution photos of the controversial landforms in the Cydonia region
of Mars "at every opportunity." If the promise is fulfilled, it would
mean that the question of possible artifical structures on Mars will almost surely
be settled, one way or another, within approximately two years.
Dr. Mark Carlotto, one of the top experts on the Cydonia landforms, announced
the breakthrough at the recent World UFO Forum in Brazil. Carlotto was one of
six scientists representing the SOCIETY FOR PLANETARY SETI RESEARCH (SPSR) who
met with two top NASA officials on November 24 in Washington, D.C. to discuss
the new agreement. Carlotto said he left the meeting feeling entirely satisfied
that NASA's promise was genuine. Background on the long effort by SPSR to influence
NASA's thinking on the Cydonia landforms is posted on the website of SPSR co-founder
Professor Stanley V. McDaniel:
http://www.mcdanielreport.com/brkthru.htm.
------------
LAUNCHING SPACESHIPS WITH LASERS
(Source: CNN ONLINE, 12/12/97)
Thousands of pounds of liquid gas are ignited each time a spacecraft is launched
into orbit. The gas load is costly and its burnoff contributes to pollution.
Scientists hope a new method will prove to be cheaper and better for the environment.
The new launch system works by concentrating laser beams and aiming them at the
craft, which converts their energy into a propulsive fuel. If the space shuttle
could be launched using lasers, the savings could be astronomical, explained
Franklin Mead of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. Because the fuel source
stays on the ground, the spacecraft is lighter, saving a tremendous amount of
money. It currently costs $10,000 to lift just one pound of payload into space.
Beamed energy propulsion could also revolutionize the future of air travel on
our planet. Myrabo suggested that in the future, a new type of airborne vehicle
could pick you up at your home, then go to a laser fuel station and from there,
carry you anywhere in the planet in under an hour. While laser propulsion may
improve spacecraft efficiency and cut costs, the environment could be this technology's
biggest benefactor. "The reason I think this technology is so important
is that it allows us in the future to get rid of the dependency on fossil fuels," Myrabo
said. "(Laser) propulsion systems are very environmentally friendly."
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9712/12/t_t/laser.propulsion/index.html
------------
NASA LOOKS TOWARD INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL
(Source: NASA PRESS RELEASE, 12/2/97, Thanks to Chris Czech)
Many people wonder when we will be able to travel to distant solar systems as
easily as envisioned in science fiction. Discover NASA's perspective on the prospects
that exist today for achieving such far-future visions via a new website called, "Warp
Drive, When?" This website explains the challenges of interstellar travel,
the prospects and limitations of existing propulsion ideas, and the prospects
emerging from science that may one day provide the breakthroughs needed to enable
practical interstellar voyages. Analogies to familiar science fiction are used
to simplify concepts such as "warp drive."
http://www.lerc.nasa.gov/WWW/PAO/warp.htm
For a look at what NASA is doing to achieve such breakthroughs, another website
is available about the new NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics program. This
modest program is taking a step-by-step approach toward discovering the ultimate
breakthroughs needed to revolutionize space travel and enable human journeys
to other star systems - credible progress toward incredible possibilities. This
program represents the combined efforts of individuals from various NASA centers,
other government labs, universities and industry.
http://www.lerc.nasa.gov/WWW/bpp/
------------
NEW PLANETS FOUND
(Source: BBC NEWS, 12/17/97)
British scientists have used new cameras to find what they say is conclusive
evidence of planets circling four of the stars closest to our solar system. Wayne
Holland, one of a team of scientists at EDINBURGH'S ROYAL OBSERVATORY, was quoted
in THE OBSERVER as saying: "It's planets, I've no doubt." The newspaper
said the discovery was bound to lead to speculation that planets were a common
feature of our galaxy, making the existence of intelligent life within it much
more probable. The camera probed four stars, Beta Pictoris, Fomalhaut, Epsilon
Eridani and Vega. These stars are all relatively young -- about 200 million years
old compared with several billion for our sun -- and are all within 24 light
years from Earth.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_39000/39536.stm
------------
THE ORACLE OF CHANGES
By David Sunfellow
For several years I have used a computer program called "Synchronicity." Based
on the I-Ching, Synchronicity has provided a wealth of valuable guidance in times
of need. A few months ago, I was contacted by the makers of Synchronicity about
their "next generation" program, called "The Oracle of Changes." They
sent me a copy of their "new and improved" software and asked me to
take it for a spin. I did, and think it is so well done that it deserves a plug
in Smorgasbord. According to the information on their website, The Oracle of
Changes is essentially the same I-Ching system Albert Einstein and Carl Jung
used to gain inspiration and insights from beyond the realm of reason. Several
innovative thinkers, such as John Gray ("Men are from Mars, Women are from
Venus"), and Jean Houston, have also sang praises for The Oracle of Changes.
The new program includes beautiful art, entrancing animation, a soothing soundtrack,
and an easy-to-use modern translation. Loaded on CD-ROM (Win 95 or Mac), The
Oracle's list price is $59.95. Reduced prices are available by visiting their
website.
VISIONARY NETWORKS, INC.
2641 SW Huber St, Suite A
Portland, OR 97219
Sales Phone: (800) 471-8313
Office Phone: (503) 246-4043
Fax: (503) 244-7749
eMail: visionary@iching.com
WWW: http://www.iching.com/
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
IN SEARCH OF THE PROMISED LAND:
THE CENTER FOR MILLENNIAL STUDIES
http://www.mille.org/
Tired of getting all worked up about the newest end-time prediction, fire-and-brimstone
prophet, or apocalyptic organization? Here's a website, and organization, that
will help you put all those end-of-the-world expectations into perspective. THE
CENTER FOR MILLENNIAL STUDIES seeks to accomplish three major goals:
"1. To gather and archive the vast "harvest" of apocalyptic literature
that is appearing at the turn of the second Christian millennium; 2. To collect
and edit documents from earlier such times; and 3.to encourage, through publications,
conferences, and research, the study and analysis of apocalyptic thought, the
millenarian movements it generates, and the kinds of mutations that they must
undergo in order to adjust to the (inevitable) return to normal time."
According to their mission statement (http://www.mille.org/mission.html):
"Few religious phenomena are more paradoxical than apocalyptic expectations
-- that is, the belief in an imminent, radical transformation of the world. On
the one hand, one can say about them what one cannot say about any other religious
belief: they have always proven wrong. On the other hand, despite the consistent
disappointment of such beliefs, they surge up repeatedly, moving large numbers
of people to extraordinary deeds. Indeed, the intensity of the movement is almost
a function of its brevity: the sooner the end, the more intense the manifestations
of its expectation and the faster the disappointment. Perhaps the most striking
result of this paradox concerns the traces these movements leave on the record:
partly because they prove wrong in the lifetime of the believers themselves,
partly because they provoke some bizarre and embarrassing behavior, there is
a tendency for the written record to reflect the (inevitable) 20-20 hindsight.
Thus, the historical record tends to reflect not the power of these beliefs while
they still offered hopes, but the weakness and ridicule they experienced in failure.
The historian, working ex post facto, can only hear the second stage of the doppler
effect: not the crescendo of noise, but its rapid fading.
"And yet, seen ex ante, before they have proven wrong, these movements can
have immense force, they can move their followers to monumental sacrifices, they
can inspire the most dramatic sacrifices, and engender radical behavior that
spans the gamut from the most pacific to the most violent. Moreover, even after
disappointment, many movements -- the most powerful ones -- rarely disappear.
They just rewrite their pasts to eliminate the mistaken apocalyptic beliefs which,
like a booster rocket, first put their communities and movements in orbit. We
need to look for the signs of these discarded (even disowned) apocalyptic booster
rockets and, once found, to reinterpret the trajectory of their satellites."
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
NOTES FROM THE HOME PLANET:
APOCALYPTIC NATIVE AMERICAN MOVEMENTS
(Excerpted from "The Native Americans: An Illustrated History", by
David Hurst Thomas, Jay Miller, Richard White, Peter Nabokov, Philip J. Deloria,
and Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.)
"Indians in the eye of this storm (the growing invasion of white people
into Native American lands), eventually began to seek a spiritual rather than
violent remedy to their desperation. In the early 1870s, as the death toll mounted
and personal tragedies multiplied from cruelty and dislocation wrought by miners,
ranchers, new diseases, and a loss of habitats, a wave of native prophets began
preaching apocalyptic messages of redemption. The so-called California Ghost
Dances, foreshadowing the better-known Plains Indian Ghost Dance by 20 years,
were less a single doctrine promulgated by one charismatic individual than a
contagious message of divine hope that was reinterpreted by local curers and
shamans in hamlet after hamlet throughout northern-central California. Its basic
message was that true believers who danced, prayed, and received visions of their
dead relatives would experience a world purged by fire and flood, after which
white would be gone and Indian life would be better than ever."
------------
"Although the Plains region yielded a number of messianic movements, in
the 1880s one cult, inspired by the Paiute prophet Wovoka, gained prominence.
The son of a visionary named Tavibo, Wovoka's message of salvation held a special
appeal. His 'Ghost Dance' adherents gathered for many days, praying, chanting,
and dancing in large open-air circles. Do this, Wovoka preached, undergo ceremonial
purification, reject alcohol, and do not mourn. Then the old world will return,
dead relatives will embrace their surviving kinfolk, the landscape will look
as it did before the white man, buffalo will thicken the plains, and whites will
disappear.
"The compelling message was personally experienced, as closed-eyed Ghost
Dancers earnestly swayed, sang, and eventually fell into trances where these
future promises were vividly envisioned. Through letters written by boarding
school-trained intermediaries and personal pilgrimages, Wovoka's desperate word
of hope spread from tribe to tribe across the Plains, but found fertile ground
especially with the Sioux, Arapaho, and Cheyenne. For some his message of non-violence
was downplayed, and specially blessed and symbol-covered muslin shirts were said
to stop soldiers' bullets in the event of coming strife.
"In the fall of 1890, when local towns got word of restless, 'wild and crazy'
Indians talking about a world free of white men, they wired for military help.
The agitation was only heightened when Indian police killed Sitting Bull in a
botched attempt to arrest those considered ringleaders of the incipient religious
rebellion. The building tragedy came to a head two days before the close of the
year, a deplorable moment memorialized in the poet Stephen Vincent Benet's elegaic
line, 'Bury my heart as Wounded Knee.'
"Along Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge reservation, Seventh Cavalry
troops, having rounded up a band of Hunkpapa Sioux suspected of potential trouble
(fully two-thirds of them were women and children), herded the Indians for the
night into a tight group surrounded by five hundred soldiers, their normal armament
reinforced with four Hotchkiss guns. In the morning, the Sioux men were culled
out, lined up, and disarmed. Someone is said to have discharged a weapon. Immediately,
the Hotchkiss guns opened fire, and most of the men were killed in the first
five minutes.
"The Hotchkiss guns, carefully trained on the milling, terrified people,
continued to fire. Some Indians fought back with whatever they had, stones or
sticks or bare hands (leaving twenty-nine soldiers dead), while others tried
to flee. Within an hour some two hundred Indians were dead or dying. A few women
got as far as three miles away before being caught and killed. The rest, about
one hundred souls, fled and later froze to death in the hills."
"It is unfortunate that the infamous Wounded Knee massacre... seemed to
validate the 'myth of the vanishing Indian' by implying that an entire way of
life had ended symbolically in this terrible finale. It served the dramatic needs
of popular Indian history, but the reality was very different. For one thing,
revitalization movements like the Ghost Dance survive in diverse forms throughout
Indian America right up to the present day, still providing succor and hope to
native peoples caught between the often contradictory creeds of two cultural
worlds. For another, it was not so much sensational battles and deplorable inhumanities
that, in the long run, cost Indians their autonomy after the Civil War, but rather
the devastation wrought by disease and the expropriation of their land through
the bloodless process of treaty making and anti-Indian legislation. Indeed, a
vote in the U.S. Congress two years before the slaughter of innocents at Wounded
Knee Creek probably created more widespread Indian suffering and left a more
destructive legacy for Indians in the future than that infamous massacre."
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
WHAT WENT WRONG?
(Source: "Uh-Oh" by Robert Fulghum, Thanks to James Gregory)
Over the past couple of years I have been a frequent guest in kindergartens and
colleges. In the beginners' classroom and university campuses the same opportunities
and facilities exist -- the environments differ only in scale. The most apparent
difference is in the self-image of the students.
Ask a kindergarten class, "How many of you can draw?" and
all the hands
shoot up.
"Yes, of course we can draw -- all of us."
"What can you draw?"
"Anything!"
"How about a dog eating a fire truck in the forest?"
"Sure! How big do you want it?"
Ask how many can sing. All hands.
"What can you sing?"
"Anything."
"What if you don't know the words?"
"No problem. We make them up. Let's sing."
"Now?"
"Why not?"
How many like to dance? Unanimous again.
"What kind of music do you like to dance to?"
"Any kind. Let's dance.!"
"Now?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Do you like to act in plays?"
"Yes!"
"Do you write poetry?"
"Yes!"
Over and over again, their answer is Yes! The children are confident in spirit,
infinite in resources and eager to learn. Everything is possible.
Try those same questions on a college audience. Only a small percentage
of the students will raise their hands when asked if they can draw
or dance or sing
or act or play an instrument. And not infrequently, those who do raise their
hands will want to qualify their response: "I only play the piano; I only
draw horses; I only dance to rock and roll; I only sing in the shower."
When asked why the limitations, college students respond that they
do not have the talent, are not majoring in the subject, or have not
done any of these things
since about third grade. Or worse, that they are embarrassed that others would
see them sing or dance or act. And when an even older audience is asked the same
questions, you can imagine the response: "None of the above."
What has gone wrong between kindergarten and college?
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
NHNE
MISSION STATEMENT, CREDITS & CONTACT INFORMATION
The
mission of NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) is to answer humankind's oldest,
most perplexing questions: Who are we? Where are we from? What is
the origin and purpose of life? Instead of relying on ancient or
contemporary wisdom, or the knowledge of isolated experts, we are
building a global network of seekers from all walks of life, from
all parts of the world, lay people and professionals alike, that
can pool talents, experience, and resources to unravel life's great
mysteries.
We
also believe that our planet is passing through a time of profound
change and are seeking to create a global community of like-minded
people that can safely pass through whatever changes may come our
way and help give birth to a new way of life on our planet.
------------
NewHeavenNewEarth
(NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 2242
Sedona, AZ USA 86339
eMail:
nhne@nhne.com
NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (928) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492
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