The Zero Point Field caused me to clear my mind again.  It presents a new confrontational yet inspiring concept with which I am at home because “it contains a blueprint of our existance.”  We’re all connected to each other by an endless sea of energy from man to matter according to Lynne McTaggart.  The “Field” is our alpha and omega.

Accepting that there must be a connection between mind and matter (although I have never been able to bend a spoon with my mind), I’m aware of the power of the energy of the mind.

As pointed out by Rene Descartes, “The human mind is separate from the lifeless matter we call ‘body’”.  We’re all aware of the survival of the fittest where only the strong survive, an evolutionary accident without any particular meaning.  It comes down to science vs. religion, and scientists are falling over their own interpretations.

Matter, to me, is held together by energy.  Einstein’s group couldn’t reconcile new discoveries in quantum physics with Newton in reality and created a scientific monster.  Zero Point Field may provide a bridge between spirituality and science.

Clinical studies on Salamanders showed they might have an unusually strong connection with the energy field around them as do humans.  Similar research done on clairvoyants gave startling proof when they were given co-ordinates of places, then without being there, each clairvoyant could describe the area.

Hall Puthoff of Stanford University concluded that time and space do not exist on the level of the Zero Point Field.  True?  Do past, present and future apparently flow together in the energy field?  Could time be a relative notion?

One human being is connected to another through energy, and together, we create reality.  Ergo: I am one with everyone and I understand the Zero Point Field…a bit.

www.oden\a magazine.com/doc/8/the_amazing_promise_of_the_zero_point_field/

Recently, Charlie drew my attention to The Crystal Star which he calls “a knock off” of ‘Star Wars’.  It tells of the ten years following Darth Vader becoming peaceful, and then dying in “Return of the Jedi”.  He enjoyed the book, but said, “You can tell that it was written by a girl because it was all about family, hugging and friendship stuff”.

Princess Leia had twins, and a boy named Anakin after Luke’s dad.  The children were kidnapped by one of Darth Vader’s Imperial Justices.  Luke and Han were off investigating a research vessel which was by a white dwarf that was about to fall into a black hole.  He added that, of course, being by a black hole reduced the Force considerably, so Jedi defenses were almost non-existent.

According to Charlie, “Some being from another universe had come through the black hole, and was drawing from Jedis near the hole to regain its strength in order to go home with the power from the Force”.  As my son mentioned, most of the story is about the twins trying to escape from their captors.  The twins were five, and Anakin was a brave three and a half year old.  Of course, the family dog (Six Legs) was cute, and defending them.

My son said that “the kids found not only were they part of a slave trade with a bunch of other multi-species children, but the Imperial Justice Representative was planning to train them for the Empire Reborn!  Ceethreepio, Artoo Deeto, Chewbacca and the cool starships were all there.  But Charlie missed the whole “Star War’s ” atmosphere.  This was a real family presentation complete with a friendly dragon who loved to play.  Princess Leia of Alderaan, Freedom Fighter, Destroyer of the Empire and Founder of the New Republic seemed to have been well represented.

Throughout the tons of science fiction books I’ve read in the past, there seems to be few female writers.  Maybe…just maybe, I should become an Alpha Female and try my hand at it?

That’s the focus of research by Kansas State University’s Eduardo Alvarado, sophomore in pre-law, who is looking at the behaviors elicited from the musical lyrics of common songs.

Alvarado is working with Donald Saucier, associate professor of psychology at K-State to study the effects priming can have on behavior by looking at the positive and negative responses stimulated from music lyrics from a variety of song categories, including patriotic and Christmas songs. Priming, he said, is when someone is exposed to a certain environment and their subconscious is activated, and then they tend to act in accordance with that environment without deliberate intent. Priming can manipulate behavior; if someone witnesses violent behavior, they would likely behave more violently.

“One of the key implications is that behaviors may be malleable in the sense that many individuals have the capacity for similar reactions in social situations,” Saucier said. “Relatively small-scale primes may activate certain reactions, and these may be pro-social or anti-social depending on the context.”

Alvarado said the researchers wanted to see if certain musical lyrics activated a pro-social response, which is a positive feeling like empathy, or an anti-social response, which is a negative feeling like aggression. Study participants had to complete a survey and do a lyrics exercise. For the lyrics exercise, participants had to fill in missing lyrics for different songs.

The songs involved in the study were patriotic songs, such as “The Star-Spangled Banner”; secular Christmas songs, such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”; religious Christmas songs, such as “O Holy Night”; and neutral songs, such as “Itsy Bitsy Spider.”

Participants filled out a survey that asked questions about their religion and their attitudes toward other cultures and diversity. Half of the participants were asked to complete the survey before the lyric exercise, and the other half completed the survey after the exercise.

Alvarado said the researchers assume people act similarly to primes, and they looked overall at the surveys to see if there was a change in the responses before and after completing the lyrics exercise. They wanted to see if the songs created a pro-social or an anti-social response. He said the preliminary findings showed that the patriotic songs had a negative effect on the participants, as shown through their responses to the survey’s questions about other cultures and diversity. The patriotic songs made the participants close-minded and prejudiced.

“Once they were in a patriotic point of view, they were less empathetic,” Alvarado said. “They didn’t put themselves in other people’s perspective.”

Though songs like “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” were meant to be neutral primes, the researchers found that they stimulated a pro-social response.

“You wouldn’t think that those songs were going to put people in a certain mind frame, but they do activate a certain attitude,” Alvarado said. “We found it made people more accepting and more empathetic. The reason for this we think is because we used to listen to these songs when we were little and they kind of activate childhood happiness.”

Saucier said follow-up research will focus on using stronger and more salient primes to influence pro-social and anti-social behavior. Jessica McManus, graduate student in psychology, has been collaborating on the project.

It’s been called everything from “a circus on acid” to “French burlesque meets Sweeney Todd.” Cirque Berzerk’s unique flavor of adult psychedelic vaudevillian tomfoolery returns to the Los Angeles State Historic Park. Performances run Thursday, June 18th through Sunday, July 5th, 2009.

The Cirque includes acrobats, aerialists, stilt walkers, dancers, contortionists, clowns, and more — it sounds like a punk rock cross between Cirque du Soleil and mid-90s Lollapalooza.  If you’re in Los Angeles, why not check it out?  And if you do, report back, please!

The books follow a young girl and her family in the latter half of the nineteenth century, through various moves across what is now the northern Midwest, and through many trials and triumphs. Although written for young people, the content may resonate for those of all ages. The character Laura and her family are poor, although this is not explicitly stated. They simply work very hard and appreciate what they have. That struck me even as a young child – I marveled at Laura’s appreciation of her Christmas gifts: a stick of candy and a tin cup to call her own.

In these fast-moving and hyper-connected times, Wilder’s books possess a seductive simplicity, but they also show timeless values: love, friendship, hard work, cooperation, and appreciation for what we have. The collection I bought is available at Amazon and elsewhere; other collections and the individual books are available as well. I recommend them for both the young and the young at heart.

Born in Hawaii, Johnson was a competitive surfer, but a surf accident in his teens prompted him to find another career path. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in film and then became a musician. His debut album, Brushfire Fairytales, came out in 2001; he now has five solo studio CDs to his credit, as well as soundtracks, collaborations, and EPs.

Johnson’s music has a soft folk/acoustic sound with a hint of reggae. The overall feeling is mellow and relaxed, but he addresses serious issues, particularly environmentalism and green living, and his lyrics can be clever and insightful. You can hear his music and view his videos here.

I recommend Jack Johnson not just for his talent but also for his ethics – it’s a nice combination that I’d like to see more of in this world.

Until now, scientists had thought that the brain’s “default network,” which is linked to easy, routine mental activity, was the only part of the brain that remains active when the mind wanders. But in the study subjects, the brain’s “executive network” – associated with high-level, complex problem-solving – also lit up. The less subjects were aware that their mind was wandering, the more both networks were activated. “This study shows our brains are very active when we daydream – much more active than when we focus on routine tasks,” Christoff said.

So I guess (some of our) parents were wrong. Dream away!

“All the leaves are brown
and the sky is grey,
I’ve been for a walk
on a winter’s day.
I’d be safe and warm
if I was in L.A.
California Dreamin’
on such a winter’s day.”

– “California Dreamin’”, The Mamas & The Papas

I remember reading The Women’s Room when I was entirely too young (9 or 10!), simply because it was in the enormous family bookcase, I read anything and everything I could get my hands on, and some of it was very, very interesting, if ultimately confusing. I first read this book as an adult in my early twenties; I don’t remember much of this reading, although my mother claims that I said it had nothing to do with my life. (Digression: in fairness, I should say that although I believed in feminism at that time, I was afraid of the title of “feminist” with its unfairly embarrassing cultural connotations, and called myself a humanist. Today? Feminist all the way, baby.)

I am now reading The Women’s Room for the third time, as a full-fledged adult sliding quickly toward middle age. I don’t know what I will take away from it this time, but this passage, about the character Mira’s youthful experiences, stands out:

Later, much later, she would remember these years, and realize with astonishment that she had, by fifteen, decided on most of the assumptions she would carry for the rest of her life: that people were essentially not evil, that perfection was death, that life was better than order, and a little chaos good for the soul. Most important, this life was all. Unfortunately, she forgot these things, and had to remember them the hard way.

Project Gutenberg is the oldest digital library. Started by Michael Hart in 1971, the original PG lived on one of the fifteen computers that eventually became the internet. PG currently offers over 28,000 free books.

Wikibooks is a collection of free textbooks in a wide variety of academic areas, and features as diverse as a cookbook, nonfiction for children, and a “random book” button.

Munseys offers downloadable books in a multitude of categories for various portable reading devices.

Baen Books publishes science fiction and offers some of its titles for free, to read online or download.

AudioBooksForFree.com has a wide variety of downloadable audio books.

There really is something for everyone…

For years I wrote corporate profiles of tech companies, involving extensive research and interviews. I’ve also written weekly columns for a baseball website, assisted a college Social Work program with the reaccreditation process, and of course been a Daily Revolution contributor. Some of this work has paid very well indeed; some I’ve done because I care about the topic or source. Very little has been work that I can count on weekly to pay my bills.

The economy has hit freelancers, particularly in the arts, very hard. Craigslist ads have bottomed out; listings seem to have diminished by 75% or more. There are normally very few creative jobs in my community; now I may see only one or two per year at my local university. I am interested in working for non-profits that focus on literacy or animal welfare. But where are these (paying) jobs? Do they even exist?

Freelancing is a tough life. I’m not complaining; I’m simply observing. I have multiple friends in more or less the same situation. I have a good friend in Portland, Maine, a visual artist, whose company was recently bought out. Her job is gone. I have another artist friend who has always had to take other jobs to make ends meet. This is the reality for many creative types. We love what we do, and we’d probably be doing it anyway – but it would be nice if there were paying opportunities for us out there. For the most part we are incredibly hard-working and dedicated people. There should be a place for us – ideally, anyway.

Are you a creative type? What are your experiences? Let me know and I will follow up. In the meantime, best wishes and good luck to all the hard workers out there in every field. Keep following your dreams!

Theroux is equally known for his many nonfiction books about his railway and other travel experiences. The Great Railway Bazaar chronicles his first major trip, circling from England to Europe, the Middle East, India, Asia, Russia, and back to England. In The Old Patagonian Express, he travels from Massachusetts all the way down to Patagonia. My personal favorite, The Happy Isles of Oceania, follows his travel by plane, train, and kayak (!) around Meganesia (Australia and New Zealand), Melanesia, and Polynesia. His most recent book is Ghost Train to the Eastern Star (2008), which retraces The Great Railway Bazaar.

I am most familiar with Theroux’s travel books. He is a witty and astute observer, often highly acerbic, critical, and seeking. When I read his experiences, personal as they are, I feel as though I am really seeing a place – he does not rhapsodize like a tourist brochure; he relates sights and smells and sounds and people as he encounters them, no sugarcoating and no bullshit. Some will not like this approach, but I enjoy the (sometimes brutal and necessarily subjective) honesty. He has given me so much information about so many places, most of which I will never see other than through his eyes. Because of Oceania, though, I dream of Aitutaki…

You can find more information about Theroux at the PaulTheroux.com fan site, and in an excellent National Geographic Traveler interview.

Ah, my kitchen! I just happened to be making a delicious local fusion specialty (well, local to my good friend Pat and me) – green chile risotto. If you’ve never made risotto because it seems too difficult, let go of that particular prejudice. Risotto takes time – it does not take any special ability or knowledge. Trust me on this – I’m no chef, but I can make very decent meals, thank you very much. Oh, okay, don’t trust me – check out these recipes, anyway:

These are two of the many posters John has drawn for local band concerts.

Monster Island (now on its third issue) is an art zine focused on the convergence between monsters and comics.

Stay tuned for more from John Mavreas.

Everyplace that’s anyplace has one of these postcards, the traditional “Greetings From…” York, located on the southern Maine coast, has long been a summer tourist destination, especially for Canadians, who have no idea that the 65’F water temperature is not, in fact, warm.

Long Sands is one of three major beaches in York (the other two are Short Sands and York Harbor), and by the far the biggest and most popular. I used to live across the street from Long Sands. It’s congested in the summer, and surreal in the winter – have you ever seen snow on a sandy beach?

Nubble Light is located to the north of Long Sands, off Cape Neddick. I just found out that its official name is Cape Neddick Lighthouse. No local would ever call it that. That would be wicked stupid, ayuh.

The Isles of Shoals are a group of small islands about ten miles off the coast at the Maine/New Hampshire border. This old hotel, on Star Island, is no longer open to tourists, unfortunately.

The site of several sea disasters, Boon Island Light is located about six miles off Long Sands, and is clearly visible (as are the Isles of Shoals, further to the south) from the beach.
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Suddenly I feel like taking a trip Downeast…

P.D. James is one of my all-time favorite authors. She specializes in very British mysteries, although some of you might know the film adaptation of her science fiction novel Children of Men. James is a stunning writer; her attention to plot is unparalleled, and she has an uncanny ability to render even the most unpleasant characters in a relatable and almost sympathetic way. The general ghettoization of genre fiction has long enraged me: P.D. James is not a great mystery writer; she’s a great writer, period. My English Lit degree backs me up on this one! James’ latest book, The Private Patient, was released in November 2008; I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Although more of a Worldly Wednesday kind of guy, geneticist and author Bryan Sykes has a number of great books out there that explore human genetic mysteries in lucid and fascinating detail. Look especially for The Seven Daughters of Eve; Adam’s Curse: A Future without Men; and Saxons, Vikings and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland.

Bubba Ho-Tep, a film released in 2002, based on a Joe R. Lansdale short story, and starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis, was a revelation – a weird one, certainly, but still! It’s nominally science fiction, or fantasy, or horror, or comedy, or – something, centered on the aging Elvis Presley, stuck in an east Texas nursing home and trying to fight off a soul-sucking mummy with the aid of JFK. Who is, umm, black. If all that doesn’t scare you off, go find it!

For music, I must admit that I’ve hit that age where my brain seems to no longer have room for new stuff – certainly not for new lyrics! If you could eavesdrop on my house, you’d hear a lot of old blues (I adore Howlin’ Wolf) and, embarrassingly, 80s bands like Def Leppard. I do adore the current British group Arctic Monkeys, though. Anything I should give a listen?

Finally, I enjoy the work of Canadian artists Billy Mavreas and his brother John Mavreas, from whom I will try to get some original work to show on this site.

That’s it for now; just remember, you can never drink in too much art!

The author indicates that, in our present “period of comparative poverty and economic decline” we should develop a sensitive behavior when things go “terribly wrong”.

You won’t find it outlined by Emily Post, and I’ve already checked my 1959 copy of Amy Vanderbilt’s “A Guide to Gracious Living”…not there. 

The recommended “read” is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby.  Greed, excess, the wrong statement at the wrong time (i.e.Marie-Antoinette’s comment on why the people of Paris looked so miserable.  Told they had no bread, she indicated they should eat cake.  Off with her head!) 

His recommendation on how to keep your head?  a) Don’t brag about your brilliant financial decisions.  b)  Don’t groan and weep in public.  c) Don’t say, “How’s work?”  They may be unemployed.  f)  Want to talk about 401(k)s, bonuses, etc.?  Do it all by yourself in a locked room.  g)  Shut up about the funny stories of people who thought the banks were closing, and did strange things.  h) Unless you have a good plan, don’t gather the family ’round for a recession talk.  i) Hardly anyone tells the truth about money now, before or after.  j) Face reality on your financial status and k) If you’ve still got it, don’t flaunt it.

It all comes down to being thoughtful of one another.

Born in Russia, Spektor’s playful use of language, music and video is like Lori Anderson with occasional odd sounds and intentional grating feelings but mixed in with a sweet ranging vocal essence that is compared to Tori Amos and Fiona Apple and the lyrical work of Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco and Bjork.  But comparisons are better made in one’s own head, so cruise on over to reginaspektor.com and enjoy a few minutes of respite from the crazy world – in the crazy offworld of Regina.

Right away you will become enshrined with her – “they made a statue of us, our noses have begun to rust. They’ll name a city after us, and later say it’s all our fault. Then they’ll give us a talking to!” Rummaging for answers in the pages, Spektor warns we are “living in a den of theives and it’s contageous!”

Wikipedia reports “Spektor learned how to play piano by practicing on a Petrof upright that was given to her mother by her grandfather. She was also exposed to the music of rock and roll bands such as The Beatles, Queen, and The Moody Blues by her father, who obtained such recordings in Eastern Europe and traded cassettes with friends in the Soviet Union. The family left the Soviet Union in 1989, when Regina was nine, during the period of Perestroika,

“Now tourists come and stare at us
Blow bubbles with their gum
Take photographs for fun, for fun”

Spektor has said that she works hard to ensure that each of her songs has its own musical style, rather than trying to develop a distinctive style for her music as a whole.  Surely “Poor Little Rich Boy” goes along with “Better” but the latter sounds fit for a post-party dance floor and the former fitter for a rap-poetry open mike.

Her features favor the camera as well.  Heavily drooping eyelushes, naked of shadow surmount full lips that shape “lovesongs just to break my fall.”

See the spektacle for yourself at ReginaSpektor.com

The green component of the much larger stimulus plan would cost at least $15 billion a year, and perhaps considerably more, depending on how the projects were defined, aides working on the package said.

During the campaign, Mr. Obama supported a measure to address global warming by capping carbon emissions while allowing companies to buy and trade pollution permits. He said he would devote $150 billion of the revenue from the sale of those permits over 10 years to energy efficiency and alternative energy projects to wean the nation from fuels that are the main causes of the heating the atmosphere.

But the Obama adviser who discussed the green energy project said Mr. Obama would not await passage of a global warming bill before embarking on the new energy and infrastructure spending. House and Senate supporters of a climate bill said they would continue working on legislative language but did not expect quick action on a cap-and-trade law because of the economic emergency.

That means that the green-jobs program would not be financed with pollution credits bought by power generators and other carbon emitters, but instead would be added to the budget deficit.

Congressional officials working with the Obama administration said the stimulus program was also likely to involve tax breaks or direct government subsidies for a variety of clean energy projects, including solar arrays, wind farms, advanced biofuels and technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants.

Read the rest here.

By Lilith

Dearest Thirsty,

One recent July Saturday night, I had the great pleasure to attend Thee Vaude Villains (“Fire-Breathing, Shimmy Shakin’, Belly Dancing, Tassel Twirlin Stage Violators from Hell!”) show at The Chiq Bar.

The Chiq Bar in St Pete FL sports a cabaret as you walk in the front entrance, a tinseled stage to the right and a cozy corner of little round tables and chairs to the left. Walk straight through to the large comfortable bar, or around to the right past the poolroom to the patio.

Thee Vaude Villains strutted their stuff not in the main cabaret but in a tiny room to the left of the bar. There was red tinsel all around the cramped floor standing room mostly, although we copped a couple of chairs at the back of room next to the small bar later in the show. A motley troupe of young entertainers with a flair for the bright, spangled, fringed, feathered, top-hatted style of 1920’s cabaret and the moody genderbending heart of millennial dark cabaret put on a flashy spangled saucy show not for the faint of heart.

The expertly DJ’d soundtrack was loud, lascivious, and luscious – and otherwise created a perfect atmosphere for the troupe’s numbers, which included dancing, gentle but naughty strip tease to the tassels, acrobatics, physical theatre, comedy and generally bawdy behavior.

Thee Vaude Villains is a neo-burlesque company- easily identified by the twirling tassels and lusty jokes. Bravo to Thee Vaude Villains for their delicious play on the word vaudeville, since vaudeville was actually the cleaned-up version of burlesque, both of which were popular late in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. With the proliferation of sound cinema in the late 1920’s, vaudeville and burlesque gave way to night club culture.

That Saturday night, I had the sincere gratification to witness not a resurgence of an old form, but a thoroughly modern reinterpretation. Just to name a few of the characters to cross the stage that night to delight us with their talents: Vita DeVoid, LeJeana Firefox, Danny Panic and Spikey Dikey.

And to my complete joy, they finished the evening with an all-too-short gothic belly-dance to throbbing music and light. It was intoxicating and deliriously brief. Thee Vaude Villains stick to an old stage-performers motto: Always leave ‘em wanting more.

Encore!

http://www.myspace.com/vaudevillainsfla

http://www.theevaudevillains.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaudeville

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlesque

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_theatre

A writer writes alone. A reader reads alone. And so they are alone together. Just like the DJ and the listener are alone together. The painter and the admirer are alone together. The players and the audience are alone together in the dark (“how delightful!” cries my wicked sister Eris).

Let us stretch our minds across the digital divide and be alone together to share words and music and art and all the finest of what we offer alone and together.

One word has crossed my vocabulary landscape many times of late.

Impact.

I begin to hate this word for the frequency of its usage as a verb in recent popular parlance. My grammar teachers were very strict on this point. “Impact”, when used as a verb, means ‘to compact or compress’. The word is not a substitute for the verb “affect”.

On the other hand.

Language is a living thing we all create together, so if we decide to change it up to fit the moment, so be it. It is everywhere- a Wikipedia search revealed its ubiquitous presence, so I know when I’m beat. I will refrain from correcting my friends’ usage of it so they won’t glare at me. I will not refrain from snapping at the journalist on my radio, nor will I be able to avoid cringing when I read it in the news. Call it tyrannical grammatical conditioning.

I looked up this word- I’ll not repeat it, thank you – in Wiktionary.com, and the article discusses this very issue. It calls the verb usage of it “proscribed”. In other words, “not considered proper”. Well, that makes me appear rather prim, doesn’t it? Even curmudgeonly, one might say.

Alas. I overcame other tyrannical conditioning from an involuntary childhood. I suppose I can overcome this one.

Affectionately yours until next Thursday,
Lilith

P.S. However, nuclear is still only two syllables, not three. Sorry George.
RELATED LINKS
Wikipedia.com – Impact
Wiktionary.com – Impact
WordSpy
World Wide Words
Asteroid Impacts
In-situ Measurements of Particles and CME Transients (IMPACT)