Blog Archives

Sept 20th

9/20/2013

nationalsafety.wordpress.com

Storms are raging over planet Earth. My planet, my home. Along with every perceptive person on the planet, I care about the tragedy others are suffering. Has something gone wrong to make Mother Nature angry?

In the US state of Colorado, the flood toll has risen to seven people. Further south, in Mexico, victims are alone. A Red Cross worker has said they can not be reached.

Yesterday, the tropical storm battering the south-west of Mexico was upgraded to a category one hurricane by US meteorologists. Hurricane Manuel in north-western Mexico threatens more destruction, the US National Hurricane Centre says. Tropical storms Manuel and Ingrid left at least 80 people dead earlier this week and 40,000 people are still stranded in the popular resort of Acapulco.

Now, Typhoon Usagi moves towards Philippines, Taiwan. It could become the most powerful typhoon of 2013. The tropical hurricane is expected to hit China over the weekend. Philippine officials have issued storm warnings for flash flooding, landslides and storm surges for several northern provinces.

Is the Earth fighting back? If so, what is the problem?

en.wikipedia.org

I'm not sure if weather conditions are worsening lately, or if I didn't hear about so many world-wide catastrophes before. Either way, Mother Nature seems particularly violent with these latest storms. I'm not saying the Earth has a consciousness or a sense of right or wrong—or even a self-preservation instinct. Maybe in the future scientists will discover, in their never-ending probing, a form of intelligence in every stone and grain of sand or minute particle of rock the way the machine on Mars is seeking a record of past life within rocks after not finding the expected methane.

Of course, I won't discount the healing power of crystals. Colorful stones of all different shapes and colors sit on our living room mantle-piece—just in case they should work their magic over our senses. A star moonstone even features in my novel Still Rock Water.

As to the problem the Earth might perceive: overcrowding by a species playing with nature the way they would a toy. Never caring if they smash and destroy, they look up to Mother, waiting for her to fix it.

Sept 19th

9/19/2013

www.clifornia-gold-rush-miners.us

Gold, with its bright, mellow luster, is the most prized metal amongst mankind. Over millennia, the unusually soft metal has been dug from the earth and used to show status, from the ancient Egyptians, Bronze Age man in Britain, and the Native Americans. The gold-rushes to Australia and America are two examples of the fever the wonderful metal caused. In the USA, the Gold Basin meteorite is an L4 Chondrite meteorite and is found in an area popular with gold prospectors in Mohave County Arizona.

For the chieftains of pre-Columbian America, the dazzling yellow stuff they found glinting at the bottom of streams or buried in the rocky ground captured the power of the sun god. They dressed themselves in battle armor wrought from the enchanted metal, believing it would protect them. They were sadly deceived.

Gold didn't protect the pre-Columbian Americans from the steel of the Spanish. But the spiritual nation may well have been right in believing the element was otherworldly.

The idea that gold came from outer space sounds like science fiction. However, in the field of earth sciences, the theory of meteorites bearing the gift of gold has become well-established.

news.discovery.com

The majority of scientists now hold the theory of a meteorite bombardment as a way of explaining gold's abundance. There may only be 1.3 grams of gold per 1,000 tones of other material in the Earth's crust (the rocky shell of the planet that is around 25 miles thick) but that's still too much to fit with the standard models of our planet's formation.

After its birth four-and-a-half billion years ago, the surface of the Earth heaved with volcanoes and molten rock. Then, over tens of millions of years, most of the iron sank down through the outer layer, known as the mantle, to the Earth's core.
Gold would have mixed with the iron and sunk with it.

The theory fits with the pattern of meteorite activity as scientists understand it, climaxing with a huge storm that took place more than 3.8 billion years ago, referred to as the "terminal bombardment". The meteorites punched out the craters we see on the moon and came from an asteroid belt that still exists between Earth and Mars. Read more on the late veneer hypothesis here.

Everything on Earth formed from particles made by an exploding star.
In essence, we are all made up of stardust.
This makes our bodies more miraculous than any hunk of gold. We live and breathe, we imagine and worship, we feel joy and pain in all their subtleties.

Yesterday while shopping, my husband collapsed. Paramedics dropped him home, advising rest before seeing the doctor. At 74, he is usually hale and hearty, doing all the shopping, cooking and cleaning as well as supporting me. I'd rather have a loving companion than all the gold in existence.

Sept 18th

9/18/2013

freeimageslive

When I woke up this morning, I found the world largely the way I left it. I was the same person, with the same stiffness. I forced myself to walk, remembering a time when the task caused no effort. My bedroom was the same one I'd decorated many years before when I had the energy to do such things. The 9ft hydrangea's green upright leaves pressed against the window pane in the same manner as when I drifted off to sleep.

After I'd dressed, the computer proved that history was unchanged. Yesterday's news stories still showed up on BBC News. And yet, the future remained unknowable, which is a blessing because nowadays my husband and I treasure each day together.

freeimageslive

In other words, I woke up to reality. But what is reality? The more we probe it, the harder it becomes to comprehend. See more here.

Wikipedia states: Reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible.

Is love reality?

Is hope a comprehensible emotion?

Is imagination more real than hay bales or the leaves falling from autumn trees?

www.123rf.com

I live in a half-world. The plots in my novels are just as influential in my thoughts as the food on the dinner table. Memories of the last time I saw my children play over in my mind. I hope to see them again. I send them love in a strong steady beam. Do thoughts really affect things?

These are the concepts I explore in the Moonstone Series. In Still Rock Water, Liliha inherits an ancient Egyptian moonstone ring, which influences her to become involved in visions. When Liliha mind-melds with a host, she whispers advice to them rather like a conscience. In Tidal Surge, another piece of jewelry causes the opposite effect on her daughter. Kaelyn goads her visionary contact into committing despicable acts. Mother and daughter wage battle over good and evil thoughts in everyday events of other people's lives. Hence, the reference to our inner thoughts and how they affect our lives.

Imagination produces an idea, which leads to the plot of a book. When recorded and printed, the novel becomes a solid thing—reality. Same with a painting or a sculpture. The objects then go on to become history: the Bible, for instance or the painting of Mona Lisa.

Are thoughts real things? The great seer Edgar Cayce thought so.

Every action, every thought, every idle word sets up reactions, according to the Universal Law. When one thinks a thought, that thought makes an impression on the Universal Consciousness. Nothing is lost or done in secret. Everything is done within the Universal Consciousness, and the Whole is affected by it (as well as all others within the Whole).

This isn't easy for us to believe, living in our own little worlds. Secret, private, alone and separate are active words in our vocabulary. This is due to our current separation in consciousness from the Whole. In the higher realms of consciousness there is no space. Things and people are not separate, but part of a Whole. All is actually One. All is within the Whole. By increasing the focus on self, we have created the illusion of a self separated from the rest of life, but it just isn't so. Our individual actions and thoughts make an impact on the Mind of the Universal One.

And so we come back to the concept of reality. Are you a 'what you see is all there is' person? Or do you believe some reality is hidden?

Sept 17th

9/17/2013

Research suggests that across-the-board lifestyle changes—reducing stress, improving diet and moderate exercise—may increase the length of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that control cell ageing.

The University of California team says it has found the first evidence the strict regime can have such an effect. But experts say although the study in Lancet Oncology is intriguing, it is too early to draw any firm conclusions.

Of 35 men with prostate cancer, researchers saw visible cellular changes in the group of 10 men who switched to a vegetarian diet and stuck to a recommended timetable of exercise and stress-busting meditation and yoga. See more on lengthening telomere cells and more cellular stuff here.

The healthy lifestyle men in the study did at least 30 minutes walking six days a week. The other measures included a largely vegetarian, low-fat diet, yoga, meditation, relaxation and increased social support.

Of course, the question that springs to mind is: why did ancient man grow old if eating healthy food and going on a health-kick reverses aging of the cells? Primitive man ate grain, seeds, nuts, fruits, berries and meat. He got plenty of exercise chasing his food. Maybe the rough food wore their teeth down so they could no longer chew and therefore starved.

There is one mention of a very old man in the bible. Methuselah.

According to the Hebrew Bible, Methuselah is purported to be the oldest person to ever live. Extra-biblical tradition maintains that he died on the 11th of Cheshvan of the year 1656 (Anno Mundi, after Creation), at the age of 969, seven days before the beginning of the Great Flood. Methuselah was the son of Enoch and the grandfather of Noah.

I don't know about you, but living to a great age doesn't appeal to me. Age brings stress to joints and bones. Just this week, my spine suffered another fractional break, causing great pain. In my youth I measured 5'10". I've already lost 2 ½ inches in the last ten years. Although I'm not a master of Kung Fu, I live a healthy life and eat the recommended fruit, cereal, vegetables and protein required for good health—nothing else; no sweets or carbs or fatty foods.

So, the researchers say going on a health kick reverses ageing at the cellular level. Maybe my good diet, daily walks and faithful meditation over the last thirty years has assisted telomere cells to lengthen—who knows?
The experts say a much more detailed study is needed before they can draw any conclusions.

When I reach the pearly gates, my life choices will be questioned. 'Why didn't you make your first marriage work? Why did you leave your family behind? Why did you simply think of your lifestyle?'

Sept 16th

9/16/2013

Smaller animals tend to perceive time in slow-motion, according to a new study published in the UK journal Animal Behaviour. This means that they can observe movement on a finer timescale than bigger predators, allowing them to escape danger.

Insects and small birds, for example, can see more information in one second than a larger animal such as an elephant.

www.rentokil.com

Graeme Ruxton, of the University of St Andrews, Scotland, a co-author, said: "Having eyes that send updates to the brain at much higher frequencies than our eyes do is of no value if the brain cannot process that information equally quickly. Hence, this work highlights the impressive capabilities of even the smallest animal brains.

Flies might not be deep thinkers but they can make good decisions very quickly."

www.telegraph.co.uk

Animals with the fastest visual systems in the database included golden mantled ground squirrels, starlings and pigeons. Flying in flocks, they are able to perceive where their partner is. It's fascinating to wonder how insects and birds might perceive the world differently to us. Everything must come to them in slow motion, while they have the ability to react in normal time, like one of those tricks of the camera in a movie.

Apparently, some humans perceive movement faster than others. Athletes can often process visual information more quickly. An experienced goalkeeper would therefore be quicker than others in observing where a ball comes from. I can name other games where fast thinking would benefit a team: polo, basketball, short track races; you can probably suggest more.

According to the study, the speed at which humans absorb visual information is also age-related. Youngsters react fast right up to their prime, but the ability decreases with age.

The study used a technique called critical flicker fusion frequency, which measures the speed at which the eye can process light. Plotting results on a graph revealed a pattern that showed a strong relationship between body size and how quick the eye could respond to changing visual information such as a flashing light.

They warned that our perception of speed has reached the limit of what is humanly possible in driving Formula 1 speed cars or flying planes. To move any quicker would require either computer assistance, or enhancement of our visual system, either through drugs or implants.

Sounds like more science fiction becoming reality for the future.

Sept 15th

9/15/2013

www.bbc.co.uk

Is the United Kingdom a small group of islands, as the Prime Minister conceded after the minor official's slur at a recent summit?

My birthplace, Australia, once thought of as an island, is actually the smallest continent. Of course, that's only temporary because the land mass has broken away from the Antarctic and is slowly travelling towards Indonesia. Experts believe they will form together and join Asia in the future.
The land on our planet is constantly moving and evolving. But that's another topic.

Looking at the facts, Britain is "a fairly large island as far as islands go", according to a professor at the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada.

"At the top end we usually define the very large islands as continents and from a geographical point of view there are only four of those: Eurasia-Africa, America, Antarctica and Australia.

"So if we include those as mega-islands, Britain would actually be the lucky 13 - the 13th largest land mass on the planet."

SSGreat Britain en.wikipedia.org

If you don't include those continental land masses, Britain scores higher. It's ninth, behind Greenland, New Guinea (Indonesia/Papua New Guinea), Borneo (Indonesia/Malaysia), Madagascar, Baffin Island (Canada), Sumatra, Honshu (Japan) and Victoria Island (Canada).

That puts it way ahead of some other well-known islands, Cuba for example (17th), Sri Lanka (25th), Trinidad (117th) or Long Island (148th). Russia's largest island, Sakhalin, ranks a mere 23rd.

Britain is one of the few islands of significant size that calls itself Great, smaller ones doing so to distinguish themselves between a lesser one of the same name. The Great had to be appended to Britain mainly to distinguish it from Brittany—also known as Britannia minor, or lesser Britain, the French peninsula that had been settled in the fifth and sixth centuries by Celtic immigrants from the British Isles.

Rather than self-important or overconfident, the name could be a factual indication of Britain's size. After all, size matters.

The name United Kingdom refers to the union of what were once four separate countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (though most of Ireland is now independent). Great Britain is the island combining England, Scotland and Wales. You could say that's the evolution of a country.

Everything alters over time. Continents shift. Forests die. Grassland takes over. Animals become extinct. Pioneers settle in new lands and displace the original inhabitants. We need to bend like bamboo before the wind rather than snap in the manner of a stiff branch in our ever-changing world.

14th Sept

9/14/2013

Amnesty International has denounced the forcible eviction of tens of thousands of homeless people from makeshift camps in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

The human rights group says the process has led to large-scale human rights abuses. Some 370,000 people have been living in the camps, having fled drought, famine and fighting.

Badbaado, the refugee camp located outside of Mogadishu, Somalia, formed as a result of the 2011 East Africa drought and famine, and houses roughly 30,000 refugees.

Food aid is available for refugees there, but its supply has been tenuous due to the policies of al-Shabab. The limited access to food has been a source of violence in the camp, and there has also been looting by freelance militias and government forces. Due to the unsafe conditions, some refugees have fled Badbaado to seek other camps.

Now, the makeshift camps and tent cities in Mogadishu are hampering the government's drive to relocate hundreds of thousands of displaced people to camps on the outskirts so they can rebuild the city.

The Amnesty report says the relocation plan could have been a positive development if it had respected the security, fundamental rights and basic needs of displaced people.

However, the government plan proved to be inherently flawed and seems to have resulted in large-scale human rights abuses and forced evictions.

In March, Human Right Watch said displaced women in Mogadishu were reporting being gang-raped in the camps. The groups said managers of the camps—often allied to militias—were siphoning off food and other aid.

Some residents told Amnesty bulldozers had flattened their shelters, destroying their possessions and leaving them with nowhere to go.

On 21 August, Amnesty delegates visited the area. They saw evidence of a large number of shelters having been recently destroyed.

This world is so unequal. The place where we are born decides how our life will be mapped out. Even if motivational leaders lectured these displaced refugees, the audience faces little hope of achieving greatness. I guess, they can strive for their potential—be the best they can be, love their neighbor and tread the path their birth set them on to the end. If only we who have plenty in comparison could share what we had. I can't see any way of helping these people.

Sept 13th

9/13/2013

The news story this morning is so sad.

A girl of 16 has been charged with the murder of a newborn baby boy at a house in Lincolnshire, UK. Police were called to a property 5 September. A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death was a blocked airway and that the child had choked. Officers are piecing together the sequence of events over the last couple of days. Lincolnshire Police said a girl of 16, who cannot be named, had been charged with murder and would appear at Grantham Magistrates' Court later.

So sad. I can imagine the circumstances and wish I could change things.

This is the sort of news snippet I used when looking for ideas. I would turn it into a short story in one of my novels in the Moonstone Series. Liliha is drawn into visions, where she sees through other people's eyes and hears their thoughts. She never knows where she'll arrive, but is determined to help.

By whispering into their mind, she offers alternatives.

Here's an example from my work in process:

~~~~~

Too quick. Reach a safe place. Liliha staggered through the doorway and pressed her back against the rear wall behind the shop counter. She dropped her coat and bag and checked the customer gazing at the street outside before tilting within the deviation toward another place.

* * *

I peer down with my tunneled telescopic vision and ignore the fuzzy edges and the surreal floating sensation. Below, occasional cars roar along a wide road. Concentrating on this area, I hover under bright, late morning sun and get my bearings. To one side, shops line the roadside and people stroll along the pavement.

Ahead of a line of traffic, a car slows. The horn sounds.

A child stumbles along the edge of the road--a toddler on unsteady legs, dressed in pink trousers and top. More cars reduce speed.

I zoom toward the closest pedestrian and meld with a middle-aged woman. "Pay attention to the road."

She turns her head and notices the toddler. Her first instinct is to help, but she hesitates. I read a deep-seated problem inside her consciousness.

'Quick. Get the child before a car runs her over'.

Overcoming her uncertainty, she darts forward and swoops the little one up into her arms. "Well done," she whispers to herself. "When I tell my husband, he'll say, 'Good for you, Daphne'." She speaks louder to the child to be heard above the traffic. "What are you doing on the road? Where's Mommy?"

The girl points.

Our gaze swings to a woman lying prone close to the gutter between cars, face tilted sideways. Daphne tucks the child on her hip, hurries over, and leans close, adjusting her burden to compensate. "What's wrong?"

The disheveled woman mumbles. A strong smell of alcohol rises from her swollen lips.

"Mommy, Mommy." The child squeals and wriggles. Daphne lowers her to the ground.

Worry seeps into Daphne's mind. Unless she reports the incident to the police, the child will be in very real danger and she can't remain with her. She's on her way to pick up her grandchildren from pre-school.

She doesn't want to call the authorities. Flashes of her unhappy childhood with foster parents rise to the surface. Welfare services took her from her own lackadaisical mother. She wouldn't wish a similar future on any child.

The slumped woman stirs, but then sags.

'Call the police', I whisper. 'Things might not turn out the same way for this child'.

The toddler tries to wander off again. When Daphne grasps her, our gaze falls on the dial of her watch. Close to the time to collect her charges, she scans the area for someone else to take over.

I issue a strong certainty to her. 'You must call'.

She flicks open her phone and asks for help.

A female voice says, "An officer will be with you very soon. There is one just around the corner. Please remain with the child."

The little girl struggles, but Daphne keeps a firm hold on her dress strap. With a squeal of tires, a motorbike stops. A uniformed officer dismounts, removes his helmet and strides over.

After explaining the situation, Daphne alerts him about her need to leave while he bends to examine the woman. She blurts, "What will happen to the child?"

"Don't worry, Ma'am. We'll keep them both safe for the night, and if all is well, they'll be released in the morning."

Daphne hurries away to meet her charges.

I lift off too.

* * *

Soft sounds in the tearooms eased Liliha's passage--the hum of the refrigerator, an occasional muffled clink. She'd love to find out what happened to the mother and little pink toddler--so innocent. The child had no control over the circumstance of her birth. However, the mother would have been intoxicated before and could be again. She might pull herself together after the humiliating experience of being locked up for the night.

~~~~~

I wish I could have sent Liliha to help the young mother mentioned in the news item before she took such desperate action.

Sept 12th

9/12/2013

camelshump.co.uk

Children who read for pleasure are likely to do better in maths and English than those who rarely read in their free time.

The study, by the Institute of Education, London University, examined the reading habits of 6,000 children. They analyzed the results of tests taken at the age of 16 by 6,000 children, all born in one week, from the 1970 British Cohort Study.

This seems a long time ago. I wonder if the same results would apply to children of our age. So many changes have taken place, with computers, more television, and hand-held screens. I notice Amazon are showing children reading from kindles in their latest television advertising.

The result of the study indicated reading for pleasure was more important to a child's development than how educated their parents were. The researchers concluded a wide vocabulary helped children absorb information across the curriculum.

The findings showed readers at the age of 10, who had been reading books and newspapers more than once a week right through to age 16, performed better than those who had read less. Read More.

www.telegraph.co.uk

The Institute of Education also looked at the impact on test scores of having brothers and sisters. Youngsters with older siblings were less likely to do well, particularly in vocabulary. This could be because children in larger families spend less time talking one-to-one with their parents and have less chance to develop their vocabulary skills. There was less effect on older children, although they may score lower on vocabulary.

Once again, studies show the likelihood of a strong reading ability enabling children to absorb and understand new information and affect their attainment in all subjects.

The next study should be how to interest potential gangsters in reading for pleasure. Here, I think parenting skills could play an adverse role in setting bad models of behavior. Not always, though. My children loved to read and developed high IQ's. Yet one of them turned to crime. So, far be it for me to judge other parents. I know the heartache and the shame it can cause when your child throws off everything you have taught them.

Here are excerpts from letters written over several years before my son's death at age 28 years:

I am still the same son you know. I am just harder of heart and more callous toward the world and its contents. It may not help my afterlife, but I now have a place in this one. My only real enemies are those in blue, and because I have really long hair, they don't even like the look of me. [...]

[...another...]I thank you for all the time you patiently spent bringing me up. I thank you for loving me through all the times when perhaps you didn't feel like it. And last but more important, I thank you for the side of my personality which just loves, and is seen by everyone no matter what I am up to, where I am, or what I am doing. I know also, that some of this was naturally in me, but, like my artwork, it was carefully matured so as one day both may have a chance to play their parts in my life.

Yours with great love and adoration, [...].

Sept 11th

9/11/2013

www.bbc.co.uk

DNA research suggests that hunters did not kill off the wooly mammoth. Previous research showed them to be a hardy, abundant species that thrived during their time on the planet. But research in the Swedish Museum of Natural History shifts that view.

Whew! What a relief. I would hate it if mankind killed off whole species in the past the way we seem to be doing these days. There is enough harm to answer for nowadays without knowing that humans were born exterminators.

Researchers have found evidence to suggest that climate change, rather than humans, was the main factor that drove the woolly mammoth to extinction. A DNA analysis shows that the number of creatures began to decrease much earlier than previously thought as the world's climate changed.

Research suggests the species nearly went extinct 120,000 years ago when the world warmed up for a while. Numbers are thought to have dropped from several million to tens of thousands but they recovered as the planet entered another ice age.

They also found that the decline leading to their eventual extinction began 20,000 years ago when the Ice Age was at its height, rather than 14,000 years ago when the world began to warm again as previously thought. In the south and tundra in the north, it could have been so cold that forests replaced the grassland on which the creatures thrived.

Woolly mammoths lived in Britain as recently as 14,000 years ago, according to radiocarbon dating evidence. The results from the adult male and four juvenile mammoths from Condover, Shropshire, reveal that the great beasts were in Britain more than 6,000 years longer than had previously been thought.

www.dailymail.co.uk

In May, an amazingly preserved woolly mammoth was found frozen in a Siberian ice tomb after 39,000 YEARS. Adults often reached heights of four meters or more (13 ft). However, woolly mammoths in certain areas where, on average slightly smaller (6 ft) in size, just half the size of one of the largest woolly mammoth individuals.

Scientists think the ancient animal got stuck in a swamp. Preserved muscle tissue was also found from the creature, aged between 50 and 60 when she died, according to the Russian team who made the discovery on islands off the northern coast of Siberia. They could reach the age of 80 years. With matted hair and bald patches, resembling a much-loved toy somewhat past her prime, the mammoth was discovered in an ice tomb in the New Siberian Islands, or Novosibirsk Islands earlier this year. Parts of the carcass are especially well preserved because they remained entirely frozen for thousands of years. Read more.

The remains are on display in Tokyo between July and September. The laboratory has confirmed it is working with other mammoth DNA samples in a bid to return the extinct Siberian mammoth. The long-range plan is to plant an implanted egg into a live elephant for a 22-month pregnancy. They hope at least one living cell of the mammoth was preserved although this may not be the case.

Earlier this year a group of scientists from around the world met for the TEDx conference in Washington, sponsored by National Geographic. The group discussed the possibility of bringing 24 animals back from extinction, also known as ‘de-extinction’.

Eeeek! Another plot in a science fiction novel looks likely to become reality. I'm glad I won't be around to see Jurassic Park.

<<Previous

Forward>>

Author

Francene Stanley, author of many published novels. If you like my writing, why not consider purchasing one of my books? You'll see them on the sidebar below.
Born in Australia, I moved to Britain half way through my long life.

Author

Archives

Categories