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Remarkable People Series Award given to Bruce Conway
(lightman)
July 15, 2010

Lightwatcher's Exclusive Free eBook Download

Practical Advice
for Perilous Times

by Bruce Conway
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Message from Lightman:
....For over a decade Lightwatcher.com has been bringing uplifting and enlightening content to the internet, during difficult and very challenging times. Lightwatcher has been an antidote to mainstream media propaganda by offering positive press, original stories and under-reported news absent in the mainstream media.

Heroic mailman saves 3 lives while on the job
source: MSNBC
AKRON, Ohio — The mailman finished his afternoon deliveries in an unassuming way, betraying no sign that anything out of the ordinary had occurred save for the blood on his uniform and the cut on his lip. Back at the post office, his actions were greeted with cries of disbelief: "Did you hear? Keith saved another life today."
McVey now can't walk down the street without being honked at by passing cars filled with admirers — or, apparently, without saving a life.
"He's a rock star in our eyes," says Tina Starosto, a receptionist at King Apartments, where a sign declaring "Keith Our Hero" is on the office wall...(full story).

You Can Be a Real-Life Superhero
source: Intelligence for your life / www.tesh.com
Who’s slower than a speeding bullet, less powerful than a locomotive, unable to leap tall buildings in a single bound, yet still doing whatever they can to save the world? According to CNN, a growing number of regular citizens are volunteering their time these days to become real-life superheroes. Some dress up in elaborate costumes, while others work anonymously. Some have fancy names – like Mr. Xtreme, Civitron or the Dark Guardian! Most real-life superheroes go by less colorful names – like Direction Man, Camera Man, and The Cleanser. While none of these people have any real super powers, they’re all finding small ways to help make their community better.
....For example: Direction Man walks around the streets of New York, offering help to complete strangers who look lost. Meanwhile, The Cleanser scours city sidewalks and parks, picking up trash. Others use their superhero alter egos to help raise money for the homeless, to feed needy children, or to hand out fliers in high-crime neighborhoods. This new superhero movement began several years ago, when a handful of comic book fans bonded with each other on MySpace. Today, there are nearly 300 real-life superheroes working around the world, and the worse the economy gets, the more people want to help (full story)

The 12 Greatest Real-Life Superheroes of All Time
source: By DaveHoward / Posted by RLSH staff
The LAPD has performed a bltizkreig assault on Superheroeson Hollywood Blvd ( http://ow.ly/1Wsch ). True, just in front of the world famous Grauman’s Chinese Theater, dozens of Real-Life people who dress as superheroes on a daily basis were rounded up in a raid. In a sinister government plot not seen since “Heroes., Police jailed members of the” X-Men,” Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Bumblebee, Mr. Incredible and Catwoman. The Incredible Hulk and Superman were just two of the iconic loiterers who outsmarted the fuzz and returned to panhandle another day. Unlike these classic, renowned panhandlers, here are 12 people who really make a difference with their superhero costumes. (full story)

U.S. military is liaising with extraterrestrial life according to independent sources
source: by Honolulu Exopolitics Examiner / Michael Salla, Ph.D / December 28, 2009
....Independent sources have claimed an on-going set of face-to-face meetings between U.S. military officials and extraterrestrial life. The sources reveal that senior U.S. Navy officers have played a leading role in an inter-services working group responsible for the meetings, and that different extraterrestrial groups are allegedly involved. One source claims that the contact involves extraterrestrial groups known as Reptilians, and a silicon based life form dubbed ‘the Conformers’. Another source claims that the extraterrestrials are called Ebens from the Zeta Reticuli star system, but known colloquially as the Grays. A third source claims that human looking extraterrestrials representing an association of star nations are liaising with military officials. Two of the sources have been interviewed by this writer who has been aware of their claims for more than a year, and finds them credible. The similarities in these independent reports gives reason to conclude that an ongoing program of secret meetings involving senior military personal from the U.S. Navy and other military services with one or more extraterrestrial civilizations is underway.
....One source claiming to have participated in face-to-face meetings is a serving U.S. Navy officer that in February 2008 revealed the existence of a confidential set of meetings at the UN where UFOs and extraterrestrial life were discussed. Known as Source A, the Navy officer claims that he was sanctioned by a working group comprising a number of admirals to disclose the UN talks without revealing his identity. In June 2008, Source A claims he was assigned to another project that involved direct meetings with two groups of extraterrestrials in a covert project where he was sanctioned to board their spacecraft on three different occasions. One group is a Reptilian looking species, and another is a silicon based life form he dubbed the ‘Conformers’. (full story)

When E.T. phones the pope
source: by Marc Kaufman / Washington Post
ROME -- A little more than a half-mile from the Vatican, in a square called Campo de' Fiori, stands a large statue of a brooding monk. Few of the shoppers and tourists wandering through the fruit-and-vegetable market below may know his story; he is Giordano Bruno, a Renaissance philosopher, writer and free-thinker who was burned at the stake by the Inquisition in 1600. Among his many heresies was his belief in a "plurality of worlds" -- in extraterrestrial life, in aliens.
....Though it's a bit late for Bruno, he might take satisfaction in knowing that this week the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding its first major conference on astrobiology, the new science that seeks to find life elsewhere in the cosmos and to understand how it began on Earth. Convened on private Vatican grounds in the elegant Casina Pio IV, formerly the pope's villa, the unlikely gathering of prominent scientists and religious leaders shows that some of the most tradition-bound faiths are seriously contemplating the possibility that life exists in myriad forms beyond this planet. Astrobiology has arrived, and religious and social institutions -- even the Vatican -- are taking note.
....Father Jose Funes, a Jesuit astronomer, director of the centuries-old Vatican Observatory and a driving force behind the conference, suggested in an interview last year that the possibility of "brother extraterrestrials" poses no problem for Catholic theology. "As a multiplicity of creatures exists on Earth, so there could be other beings, also intelligent, created by God," Funes explained. "This does not conflict with our faith because we cannot put limits on the creative freedom of God." (full story)

Pee Wee Herman Is Back In 2010!
source: by Shira Lazar/ CBS News
Pee Wee Herman is coming back!

....You heard me correctly -- the iconic character who took over pop culture with Pee Wees Playhouse in the '80s will be reintroduced to the public in 2010.
....It's been a long time coming. Some of you may have noticed that Pee Wee aka Paul Reubens went into obscurity after his 1991 arrest for indecent exposure at an adult cinema (see related CBSNews.com article about how he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure).
....Even that hasn't stopped people of all ages from loving him, imitating him in conversation and dusting off that classic suit, skinny tie and white loafers for Halloween year after year.
....Pee Wee recently stepped back into the spotlight when he launched his own Twitter account and appeared on The Jay Leno Show in September. Now fans will be able to catch him in person at The Club Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles for four weeks in January.
....I recently caught up with the man himself at the "Pee Wee Herman Show" press conference, where he gave me the scoop on his upcoming multi-million dollar stage show... (full story)

Do it yourself - Convert Your Car to a Browns Gas (HHO) Hybrid
source: by Pete Marks / Ezine Articles

Note from Lightman: If you are one of the few people out there who has not heard about HHO or Brown's Gas, you owe it to yourself to look into this revolutionary technology. This simple yet effective way of producing Hydrogen-Hydrogen-Oxygen (HHO) gas from water has been around since the late 1800's. But research and development in the past two decades has discovered ways to produce three to four times the amount of energy of HHO gas that the amount of electricity needed to produce it. Thousands of do-it-yourselfers are getting up to double their gas milage from water using this easy to produce HHO reactor. But don't waste your time reading the disinfo being put out by the proxies of big oil, this system really works!

....Convert your car to run on water by using electrolysis and water to produce HHO gas or Brown's gas? You car will never truly be a water car, but you could increase gas mileage and based on reports it is not uncommon to increase gas mileage by 15-50%.
....HHO gas technology is not really that new but due to the recent increase in diesel and gas prices it has brought hydrogen on demand back into the spotlight. You may have seen the water car on the news making the rounds.
....When you convert your car to run on water not only could you improve gas mileage but you could also see cleaner emissions and this may answer a question on how to pass emissions tests. Your car or truck should also run cooler thus improving engine life. This technology not only works for gas engines but also for diesel engines. Engines run smoother, quieter and there is less vibration!...(full story)

Related links
http://www.newsherald.com/articles/james_66885___article.html/morris_city.html
http://www.runyourcarwithwater.com/
http://www.gas4free.com/aff/?hop=webdirect2
http://water4gas.com/2books.htm?hop=webdirect2

Faith-Based Currency
source: Congressman Ron Paul / Texas Straight Talk
....The Latin term “fiat” roughly translates to “there shall be”. When we refer to fiat money, we are referring to money that exists because the government declares it into existence. It is not based on production or earnings, and not backed by any commodity. It is solely based on trusting the government. Fiat money is exchanged in the economy as long as there is faith in the government that issues it.
....Some are blaming the recent shakeup in the markets to “whining” or financial fear-mongering, which misses the whole point. History has shown that fiat money, or “faith-based currency” always fails, because when governments claim this power, they always behave irresponsibly...(full story)

Changing Channels: Tuning Into The Real World
source: thecleaver.blogspot
....The path of transcendence and spiritual insight frequently compels the student to absorb large quantities of data in order to unearth and unite the golden strands of real wisdom. There’s a lot to assimilate and a limited amount of time to do it in. Ancient history, cosmology, the occult, shamanism, quantum physics, botany, divination, astronomy, religion, psychology and philosophy all vie for attention, each offering the potential for profound connection.
....Can the brain reliably store and index such a magnitude of data? Is there an upper limit? Should the prudent researcher become expert in one field or have a broad awareness of many diverse subjects? The answer is suggested in an old Japanese story about a distinguished university professor who visits a Zen master. (full article)

Plug in your Prius
source: ODE Magazine /Jacco Kroon / January/February 2008 issue
....What does it take to retrofit your Toyota Prius so it never sips a drop of gasoline again? Twenty batteries the size of a carton of milk, some aluminium strips, a charger, a spool of electrical wire and electrical components. Oh, and knowledge of automotive electronics.
....The onboard computer in the Prius calculates the most efficient collaboration between the electric- and the gas-powered engine. In practise, the Prius only uses electricity at low speeds. A group of California-based engineers, electric-car fans and environmental activists have been tinkering to create a plug-in hybrid that can be charged at any outlet and can drive farther on electricity. (full article)

Alternative Energy breakthrough makes cheap, abundant hydrogen
source: (AFP) / Yahoo! News
US researchers have developed a method of producing hydrogen gas from biodegradable organic material, potentially providing an abundant source of this clean-burning fuel, according to a study released Monday.
....The technology offers a way to cheaply and efficiently generate hydrogen gas from readily available and renewable biomass such as cellulose or glucose, and could be used for powering vehicles, making fertilizer and treating drinking water.
....Numerous public transportation systems are moving toward hydrogen-powered engines as an alternative to gasoline, but most hydrogen today is generated from nonrenewable fossil fuels such as natural gas.
....The method used by engineers at Pennsylvania State University however combines electron-generating bacteria and a small electrical charge in a microbial fuel cell to produce hydrogen gas. (full article)

Damanhur - Atlantis in the Mountains of Italy
source: by Ross Robertson / What is Enlightenment? Magazine
What would you say if I told you there was a place nestled in the foothills of the Italian Alps, by the wild gray waters of the Torrente Chiusella, where dreams are not just for children, and magic has not yet gone from the world? A place where men and women live together in harmony with the land and in tune with the cosmos, working and building, playing and cooking, ringing out the evening’s greeting on conch shells that echo from village to village across the forested valleys, gathering at night to revive the lost rites of history’s great kaleidoscope of sacred traditions in underground halls and temples under the moon? It is a place washed by mysterious energies, where people seem to age more slowly and latent creative abilities bubble up spontaneously in young and old alike. A place where artists and artisans, merchants and councilmen, poets and architects all walk the paths of a university dedicated to the quest for esoteric knowledge and the spiritual advancement of humankind. You might even hear stories of quantum physicians plying the borders of matter and energy who claim to have penetrated the information codes underlying human DNA; or psychic technicians who speak of traveling the earth’s planetary energy lines, slipping backward in time to set events in motion that may be destined to change the course of the distant future... (full article)

Flexible Plastic Solar Panels: Inexpensive And Easy To Make
source: New Jersey Institute of Technology / Science Daily
Science Daily — Researchers at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have developed an inexpensive solar cell that can be painted or printed on flexible plastic sheets. "The process is simple," said lead researcher and author Somenath Mitra, PhD, professor and acting chair of NJIT's Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences. "Someday homeowners will even be able to print sheets of these solar cells with inexpensive home-based inkjet printers. Consumers can then slap the finished product on a wall, roof or billboard to create their own power stations."
Harvesting energy directly from abundant solar radiation using solar cells is increasingly emerging as a major component of future global energy strategy, said Mitra. Yet, when it comes to harnessing renewable energy, challenges remain. Expensive, large-scale infrastructures such as wind mills or dams are necessary to drive renewable energy sources, such as wind or hydroelectric power plants. Purified silicon, also used for making computer chips, is a core material for fabricating conventional solar cells. However, the processing of a material such as purified silicon is beyond the reach of most consumers. . . (full article)

The issue before us is whether we now face circumstances so dire and so novel that we must choose one objective over another. It is reasonable to conclude that we face a very serious problem in Iraq. But is a general doctrine of preemption based on a theory that would overturn the international law and the structure that has existed since our victory in WWII? Is that necessary? No. I believe not.

Skin Cells to Stem Cells, A New Cell Technique
source: by Nicholas Wade / New York Times
The advance is an easy-to-use technique for reprogramming a skin cell of a mouse back to the embryonic state. Embryonic cells can be induced in the laboratory to develop into many of the body’s major tissues.
If the technique can be adapted to human cells, researchers could use a patient’s skin cells to generate new heart, liver or kidney cells that might be transplantable and would not be rejected by the patient’s immune system. (full article)

Laughter Really is the Best Medicine
source: by Brandon Keim June/WIRED.com/PM Health
When nursed on milk produced by mothers who recently laughed, babies with eczema experience reduced allergic reactions to dust mites and latex.
Those were the findings of doctors at the Moriguchi-Keijinai Hospital in Osaka, Japan. To stimulate the laughter, they showed mothers a DVD of Modern Times, featuring Charlie Chaplin. Moms in the control group watched weather reports.
Breast milk from Chaplin-watching moms had markedly higher levels of melatonin, which appears to be responsible for the allergic reductions of their babies. 
Each group had only 24 mother-child pairs, so it's a pretty early study, and the abstract leaves some questions unanswered -- the least of these being, do Japanese women really think Charlie Chaplin is funny? (full article)

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
source: Yes Magazine.org
In 1948, the world agreed on rights that belong to everyone. This Magna Carta for humanity sets a high bar that few governments clear.
Eleanor Roosevelt with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She regarded her role in its creation as her greatest accomplishment.
With the horrors of World War II fresh in their minds, the members of the newly formed United Nations came together to agree on the rights that belong to all members of the human family. These are rights we have without regard to nationality, race, gender, or religion. They are not the gift of any government; they cannot rightly be taken away by any ruler. It took two years for the first United Nations Commission on Human Rights, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, to produce the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was adopted in 1948, and stands as the first comprehensive, internationally approved statement of rights. Here is an abbreviated form of the document Mrs. Roosevelt hoped would become “the international Magna Carta.”

Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,... (full article)

There are real superheroes
source: Lightman / Lightwatcher.com
This past week was a milestone for those of us who believe in superheros. Not only was Superman's kryptonite discovered, but I got to personally meet two actual superheros: The Whippersnapper and Atomic Calm. Both are members of the Superhero group, whose headquarters is in Cottage Grove, Oregon. This dynamic duo had traveled to our small island to build a pottery studio for Thrinley DiMarco. Thrinley runs the Sakya kachod Choling Tibetan Buddhist Retreat center, and has long dreamed of building her pottery studio there, but the lack of resources had prevented her from actualizing her dream.
....Whippersnapper and Atomic Calm built Thrinley's dream studio in under a week, evidently using their special superpowers... and didn't charge her a dime for their services. It is not often that you hear of such an act of selflessness and kindness. It makes me want to don a cape, tights, and a utility belt, and go do some super-good in the world.

The Superhero Haul of Justice
source: by Elizabeth Field Bauchner /positivenewsus.org
"Do good!  Everywhere, every moment, in everything, do good!" from the Superhero Start Up Kit.

On June 5th, a group of real-life Superheroes left Washington State for British Columbia, where they will embark upon a bicycle journey across Canada with the sole purpose of helping others. Just how far they will go, no one knows.  Who they will help and what they will do depends on "what the Universe sends their way."  Superhero coordinator Ethan Hughes, aka the Blazing Echidna, says, "A few members want to cross Canada - which will take four months - but most riders commit to riding with us for one month."

An Interview with SuperHero Ethan Hughes (The Blazing Echidna)
source: Chris Roth / Talking Leaves Magazine
....In May, 2000, a fleet of colorfully caped bicyclists left Seattle for a four-month, 5500-mile trip across America. They dubbed it the Haul of Justice. Dressed as self-created Superheroes characters such as Hugman, Turquoise Seeker, and Therapy Dog, they committed themselves to "doing good": being of service to others wherever they could find people to help. Ethan Hughes took on the persona of The Blazing Echidna (the echidna, also called the spiny anteater, is a burrowing nocturnal mammal related to the duckbilled platypus).
....Following Gandhi's dictum, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world," the group undertook projects of all sizes, from picking up trash and moving baseball bleachers to installing community gardens, helping to build a new library, and finding a lost whitewater rafter. They also painted over 600 faces, spontaneously led games in city playgrounds, invited all strangers to join them at their meals, danced and sang a song at every state border crossing, and held memorial services for thousands of road kill animals they encountered along the way. Through pre-arranged sponsorship by friends and family back home, riders also raised money for various nonprofit organizations. They did plan a few stops in advance--to help nonprofits seeking to address the roots of problems (e.g., teaching low-income families how to grow their own food, instead of just feeding them)--but most of their trip unfolded spontaneously.
....In the summer of 2001, the second Haul of Justice took place-a three-week ride through Maine, with similar activities and goals. The group now plans to travel in one state per summer; for 2002, Ethan and friends have chosen North Carolina.
Before this interview, I had heard Ethan talk several times about the Superheroes; in fact, earlier the same year, volunteers from the Hero Alliance (the local, part-time continuation of the Haul of Justice project, based in Cottage Grove and Eugene, Oregon) had helped us at Lost Valley Educational Center with garden bed preparation. The conversation below took place in November, 2001, during a break in a workshop Ethan was participating in at Lost Valley. Against a background of troubling world events--terrorism and war had dominated the news in recent months--I found his stories and visions extremely hopeful and inspiring. As Ethan remarked later in our conversation, "I've seen how beautiful people are, at the core. I really believe that, even to the point of taking life, people who do 'evil' things are acting out of fear and not being loved. The best I can do is live my own truth. That will assure that I'm not overwhelmed by the evil in the world, because I start seeing beauty everywhere." In Ethan's experience, "being love" and "being peace" (Thich Nat Hanh's term) are not only possible--they're contagious. (full story)

Light therapy & antidepressant both effective treatments
for seasonal affective disorder
source: by Nadia Norcia / HospitalNews.com
http://www.hospitalnews.com/modules/magazines/mag
....Bright artificial light therapy is as effective as antidepressant medication in the treatment of winter depression, say Canadian psychiatry researchers in a new study published in the May 2006 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
....The study compared the use of the antidepressant drug fluoxetine and light therapy as treatment for trial patients in four Canadian cities over three winters.
...."Both treatment options produced positive results - an improvement in the patient's condition in 67 per cent of the cases - however the light therapy showed some advantages over the antidepressant fluoxetine," says Dr. Anthony Levitt, co-author of the study and Chief of Psychiatry at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. "The light therapy worked faster, having a greater effect at one week's time, and it also produced less agitation, less sleep disturbance and less palpitations. The overall dropout rate however, including those due to side effects, did not differ between treatments," says Dr. Levitt, who is also a Professor at the University of Toronto. (full story)

Do animals have emotions? Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle
source: by Michael C. Bradbury / The Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2003333119
....Danger-junkie orangutans in Borneo climb dead trees and destabilize them until they begin to fall. They scream with excitement as they cling to the falling tree. Just before the tree hits the ground the orangs leap to another tree or vine, narrowly escaping death. Researchers call this peculiar behavior snag-riding and liken it to bungee jumping for monkeys. While no one can ask orangutans if they enjoy the same adrenaline rush as a person playing an extreme sport, one animal behaviorist sees this monkey fun as a bit of harmless thrill-seeking.
....A growing number of scientists agree that animals are conscious and capable of experiencing basic emotions, such as happiness, sadness, boredom or depression. A few scientists even see the possibility for higher animal emotions like love, jealousy and spite. (full story)

Mahatma Gandhi: A Century of Peaceful Protest
source: by Justin Huggler / Common Dreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0916-03.htm
....He's a huge box-office hit. He's at the top of the Indian music charts. He's on the front cover of magazines. One hundred years after Gandhi first called on his compatriots to resist white colonial rule without violence, he is back in fashion once more.
....Suddenly the Mahatma is back in fashion in India. Two years ago, it was unthinkable that the centenary of a speech by Gandhi, seen as a relic of the past by most young Indians, would be so much as noticed in a country that was obsessed not with figures from its past, but with its headlong rush to embrace modernity.
....Today Gandhi has caught the Indian imagination all over again. He appears as a character in the biggest Bollywood hit of the summer - a comedy, but one that even his admirers accept does not degrade his message. His writings are bestsellers again. He is at the top of India's music charts too, with a tape of his Hindu devotional songs, or bhajans. A new Gandhi museum in Delhi is opening its doors to 2,000 visitors a day...(full story)

Is 15 year old Palden Dorje the Buddha of our time?
source: Lighwatcher/ Wikipedia.
....Ram Bahadur Bomjon was born on May 9, 1989 in Nepal. His official Buddhist name is Palden Dorje, but his media nickname quickly became "Buddha Boy."
Palden Dorje is the young monk from Nepal who generated worldwide attention in 2005 by meditating continuoulsy, day and night, apparently without taking any food or water. As news of his existence spread, Palden Dorje began attracting thousands of visitors, and unwanted global media attention. It is believed that this attention began distracting hime from his meditations and subesequently led to his dissapearance on March 11, 2006.
...."On March 19, the Chairman of the Om Namo Buddha Tapaswi Sewa Samiti (ONBTSS), Bed Bahadur Lama, and his colleagues allegedly met with Bomjan about 2 miles (3 kilometers) south-west of his meditation site. They say they spoke to him for thirty-minutes, during which Bomjan told them there is no peace here and he would return in six years, or roughly 2011 or 2012. He left a message for his parents telling them not to worry. He has not been seen nor heard from since." - Full Wikipedia Article

3rd Rare White Buffalo Born on Wis. Farm
source: by Emily Fredrix / Associated Press Writer
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/09/14/D8K4PNBO0.html
....A farm in Wisconsin is quickly becoming hallowed ground for American Indians with the birth of its third white buffalo, an animal considered sacred by many tribes for its potential to bring good fortune and peace.
....Thousands of people stopped by Heider's Janesville farm after the birth of the first white buffalo, a female named Miracle who died in 2004 at the age of 10. The second was born in 1996 but died after three days.
....Heider said he discovered the third white buffalo, a newborn male, after a storm in late August.
Over the weekend, about 50 American Indians held a drum ceremony to honor the calf, which has yet to be named, he said.
....Floyd "Looks for Buffalo" Hand, a medicine man in the Oglala Sioux Tribe in Pine Ridge, S.D., said it was fate that the white buffaloes chose one farm, which will likely become a focal point for visitors, who make offerings such as tobacco and dream catchers in the hopes of earning good fortune and peace.
....The white buffalo is particularly sacred to the Cheyenne, Sioux and other nomadic tribes of the Northern Plains that once relied on the buffalo for subsistence...(full story)

PeaceJam Marks 10 Years With Nobel Laureates
source: by Chase Squires / Associated Press Writer
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-peacejam
....DENVER -- To inspire a new generation of peace activists, educators are turning to such figures as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Costa Rica President Oscar Arias and the Dalai Lama.
....The three peace emissaries are among 10 Nobel Peace Prize laureates who will gather here this week to help PeaceJam celebrate its 10th anniversary.
....PeaceJam, a nonprofit educational organization, encourages children and teenagers worldwide to initiate community service projects and work for social change.
....Ivan Suvanjieff, PeaceJam co-founder, said the assembly of Nobel Peace Prize winners in Denver is the largest gathering of its kind in North America. Beginning Friday, the laureates will exchange ideas and join with about 3,000 teens from 31 countries in a three-day festival of unity and commitment to peace...(full story)

10 Years of Burning Man
source: WIRED.com
http://blog.wired.com/burningman10/
....Barbara Traub's new book Desert to Dream is an unprecedented photographic record of a decade of Burning Man celebrations. Contributions from filmmaker Les Blank, Burning Man founder Larry Harvey, Leonard Nimoy and beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti help to illuminate her unique perspective on this evolving event...(full story)

Crystal Cave - Discovery of the Largest Crystals on Earth
source: Richard D. Fisher / Photographer/Explorer
http://www.canyonsworldwide.com/crystals/index.html 
....In what has proved to be the discovery of the largest known crystals on earth, work is underway to document and preserve this historic find. While some minor damage has already occurred in the primary cave and a secondary cavern, called Cave of Dreams, iron doors have been installed by the Peñoles company to prevent damage to the giant, magnificent crystals. While investigations are underway the mine is closed, but with the newly installed lighting system, it is expected to open in the fall 2001.
....Found deep in a mine in southern Chihuahua Mexico, these crystals were formed in a natural cave totally enclosed in bedrock. When I first stepped into the cavern it was like walking into the Land of the Giants. I have often admired crystal geodes held in my hand, but when photographing these unique natural structures it was almost impossible to get any sense of scale. This is a geode full of spectacular crystals as tall as pine trees, and in some cases greater in circumference. They have formed beautiful crystals that are a translucent gold and silver in color, and come in many incredible forms and shapes. Some of the largest are essentially columnar in shape and stand thirty to fifty feet high and three to four feet in diameter. Many of the smaller examples are four to six feet in circumference, have many incredible geometrical shapes...(full story)

85% of Cancer Victims are Acidic - Eat alkaline food and drink
source: y Sue Mueller / FoodConsumer.org
http://www.foodconsumer.org/777/8/Health_Tip....
Minerals are important to maintain one's health. Linus Pauling, winner of two Nobel Prizes, said each disease is associated with deficiency of certain minerals.
....One vital function of minerals is to keep an alkaline body pH. When you do not feel good and you know something wrong, you go to see a doctor and he does not know there may be something wrong with your body pH.
....Often times, when you feel down, your pH is too low or strongly acidic. You are supposed to have a slightly alkaline pH, anywhere between 7.1 and 7.4 roughly. PH 7 is neutral and below 7 is acidic. You need a normal alkaline pH to keep all cells functioning properly.
....A low acidic body pH is one of the important causes for many diseases including cancer. 85% cancer patients are found to have a low pH between 5 and 6. At a normal pH, cancer cells can't grow. That is why some cancer patients get their cancer controlled after they change their lifestyle including diet...(full story)

'Hobbit' stirs scientific clash
source: by Paul Rincon / BBC News science reporter
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4994054.stm
.... A US-British team of scientists has challenged the idea that the tiny skeleton from Indonesia dubbed the "Hobbit" is a new human species.
Writing in Science magazine, the team presents an alternative theory that the remains could be those of a modern human with a brain disorder. Their arguments appear in a technical critique of previous research into the Hobbit brain also published in Science.
....But the authors of that earlier paper have vigorously defended their work. The skeletal remains were discovered by an Australian-Indonesian research team in the cave of Liang Bua on the island of Flores in 2003.
After carefully analysing the bones, the group declared them to be those of a human species previously unknown to science, and to which they gave the classification Homo floresiensis. (The specimen is also sometimes referred to as LB1 after the cave in which it was found)...(continued)

The Eternal Value of Privacy
source: by Bruce Schneier| WIRED News
http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70886-0.html?tw=wn_index_22
The most common retort against privacy advocates -- by those in favor of ID checks, cameras, databases, data mining and other wholesale surveillance measures -- is this line: "If you aren't doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?"
....Some clever answers: "If I'm not doing anything wrong, then you have no cause to watch me." "Because the government gets to define what's wrong, and they keep changing the definition." "Because you might do something wrong with my information." My problem with quips like these -- as right as they are -- is that they accept the premise that privacy is about hiding a wrong. It's not. Privacy is an inherent human right, and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect.
....Two proverbs say it best: Quis custodiet custodes ipsos? ("Who watches the watchers?") and "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
....Cardinal Richelieu understood the value of surveillance when he famously said, "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged." Watch someone long enough, and you'll find something to arrest -- or just blackmail -- with. Privacy is important because without it, surveillance information will be abused: to peep, to sell to marketers and to spy on political enemies -- whoever they happen to be at the time. ...(continued)

Boy Swims From Alcatraz to San Francisco
source: by Kim Curtis / Associated Press Writer
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-alcatraz-swim,0,5244578.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines
A 7-year-old Arizona boy swam from Alcatraz Island to the city in 47 minutes Monday, then was lifted by his father from the chilly waters.
....Braxton Bilbrey was joined by his coach and two other adults for the estimated 1.4-mile swim. The second-grader was greeted at the finish by reporters, photographers and well-wishers.
...."I think it's pretty cool," the wetsuit-clad boy said shortly after his father grabbed him under the arms and out of the water, which was in the mid-50s Monday.
....Braxton said his next ambition is to swim the English Channel. He said he ate pizza for dinner Sunday and was helped along by shouts of encouragement from his coach, Joe Zemaitis. The toughest part of the swim was the water temperature, the boy said...(continued)

Dalai Lama Meets With Muslims in Calif.
source: By Justin M. Norton / Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO -The Dalai Lama urged religious leaders Saturday to reach out to Muslims, saying Islam is a compassionate faith that has been unfairly maligned because of a few extremists. "Nowadays to some people the Muslim tradition appears more militant," the 70-year-old exiled monk said at a weekend conference, which aimed to bring Muslims and Buddhists together. "I feel that's totally wrong. Muslims, like any other traditions -- same message, same practice. That is a practice of compassion," he said.
....Event organizers say the Dalai Lama interrupted his schedule to fly to San Francisco and meet Islamic scholars and leaders from other faiths to discuss reducing violence and extremism.

Can Organic Farming Feed Us All?
source:Brian Halweil: Senior Researcher / Worldwatch Institute
Join Worldwatch Institute Senior Researcher Brian Halweil to discuss the role of organic food in helping to alleviate hunger globally. In an article in the May/June issue of World Watch Magazine, Halweil notes that two recent studies reveal that a global shift to organic farming would yield more food, not less, for the world's hungry. Organic farming tends to raise yields in poorer nations, precisely those areas where people are hungry and can't afford chemical-intensive farming...

Divers honored for saving Humpback - "the experience was unforgettable"
source: by Peter Fimrite / San Francisco Chronicle Writer
The Marine Mammal Center and several local divers were honored Tuesday for a remarkable rescue in December of a humpback whale that was entangled in crab pot lines. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, named rescuers for its Compassionate Lifesaver award for what it said was an unprecedented effort to untangle the leviathan. Divers freed the 45- to 50-foot whale from 20 to 30 nylon crab pot lines near the Farallon Islands on Dec. 11. The Marine Mammal Center assembled and coordinated a rescue crew after a fisherman discovered the huge mammal struggling to stay afloat as the ropes dug into its blubber and weights pulled it downward. The female whale did not move and seemed to watch the divers as they cut the ropes. When the whale was freed, she swam from one diver to the next, nudging them as if trying to thank them. The divers, who named the whale Lucky, called the encounter amazing and unforgettable...

Scientist/Author John Barrow Wins Religion Prize
source: by Matt Crenson / AP National Writer
John D. Barrow, a British scientist and writer whose work explores fundamental questions about the universe and humanity's place in it, has won a religion award billed as the world's richest annual prize. In the past, the $1.4 million Templeton Prize has honored Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, and Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn. It recognizes advancement in knowledge of spiritual matters. Barrow, 53, is known for his popular books and essays on cosmology, the study of the structure and history of the universe. His writing touches on topics such as the spiritual implications of the big bang, the nature of infinity and the limits of science in addressing some of humanity's most enduring unknowns...

Jungle search for teenage 'Buddha'
source: AP/CNN / 3.11.06
Hundreds of people scoured a jungle in southern Nepal on Sunday for a missing teenager who many believe is the reincarnation of Buddha. Ram Bahadur Banjan, 15, disappeared Saturday from a forest where he had meditated for the last 10 months, during which his associates said he consumed no food or water. Local official Santaraj Subedi said police, followers and family members were looking for the boy in the jungles of Bara, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of the capital, Kathmandu. Police official Gautam Raj Kattel said some people said they saw Banjan walking southwards before dawn on Saturday. His clothes were found near where he had been meditating. Banjan had been sitting cross-legged and motionless with his eyes closed in a niche among the roots of a tree in the jungle since May 17, 2005. Thousands of followers flocked to see him every day... (update/Wikipedia.com 4.16.05)

Scientists to check Nepal Buddha boy
source: by Navin Singh Khadka / BBC News, Kathmandu
A meditating teenage boy in south-central Nepal is drawing the attention of scientists after attracting huge crowds in the past six months and earning himself the name Buddha-reincarnate. They are mulling over how to examine him without disturbing his meditation. Ram Bahadur Bamjan's friends, relatives and managers say he has been meditating without drinking water for six months now and that he will carry on for another six years until he gains enlightenment. Word spread quickly about the teenager and people around Ratanapuri village in Bara district began to visit Bamjan, 15, who has been sitting cross-legged in a traditional Buddha posture under a peepal tree...

Free Community Internet - Broadband as a Public Service
source: FreePress.net
High-speed Internet access is fast becoming a basic public necessity - just like water, gas or electricity. But far too many Americans are finding themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide, unable to get connected or afford expensive commercial service. Community Internet is the answer. Soon all media -- TV, telephone, radio and the Web -- will be delivered via the Internet over a broadband connection. New wireless and wired technologies allow local governments, public-private partnerships, schools and community groups to offer faster, cheaper and more reliable Internet service.
Hundreds of Community Internet and municipal broadband projects have sprouted up across the country. Click here to find a network near you...

Huge Solar Plants Bloom in Desert 
source: by Will Wade / wired.com
The barren deserts of Southern California are known for relentless sunshine and miles of empty space-- the perfect combination for the world's most ambitious solar-energy projects. Two Southern California utility companies are planning to develop a pair of sun-powered power plants that they claim will dwarf existing solar facilities and could rival fossil-fuel-driven power plants. Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric are working with Stirling Energy Systems, a Phoenix startup that has paired a large and efficient solar dish with a 200-year-old Stirling engine design. Stirling Energy Systems is planning to build two separate solar farms, one with the capacity to generate 500 megawatts of electricity in the Mojave Desert near Victorville, California, for SoCal Edison, and a 300-megawatt plant in the Imperial Valley, near Calexico, California, for SDG&E. The utilities have signed 20-year deals to buy all the juice the farms can turn out, and have options to expand the plants if they are successful. "Without question, this will be the largest solar project in the world," said Gil Alexander, a spokesman for SoCal Edison. "It will be bigger than all U.S. solar-energy projects combined."
Alexander said...

Biodiesel Keeps Home Fire Burning
source: by Gretchen Cuda
Biodiesel, the vegetable-oil alternative to diesel that sparked a small, grass-roots movement, is exploding onto the commercial marketplace and rapidly gaining widespread acceptance. But not as an alternative to gasoline, as many had envisioned. This clean-burning, renewable fuel is making its way into a growing number of American homes as a substitute for residential heating oil.

This Magic Moment - encounter with a wounded manta ray
source: by Jennifer Anderson / 123relax.com
It was like many Maui mornings, the sun rising over Haleakala as we greeted our divers for the day's charter. As my captain and I explained the dive procedures, I noticed the wind line moving into Molokini, a small, crescent-shaped island that harbors a large reef. I slid through the briefing, then prompted my divers to gear up, careful to do everything right so the divers would feel confident with me, the dive leader.
....The dive went pretty close to how I had described it: The garden eels performed their underwater ballet, the parrot fish grazed on the coral, and the ever-elusive male flame wrasse flared their colors to defend their territory. Near the last level of the dive, two couples in my group signaled they were going to ascend. As luck would have it, the remaining divers were two European brothers, who were obviously troubled by the idea of a "woman" dive master and had ignored me for the entire dive...

Patriotism - Challenging a War takes More Courage than Fighting One.
source: by George McGovern / The Nation
There is a notion abroad in American politics, carefully crafted by its proponents, that is both disturbing and false. It is especially disturbing to me personally because it is frequently associated with my campaign for the presidency in 1972. The notion is that my party, and especially its standard-bearer of '72, are not interested in the defense and security of America. Nor, according to this notion, do we care about marriage and the family, the sacredness of human life and the things of the spirit. Perhaps my views are outdated, but I have always assumed that every American cares about these values; consequently, they are not issues for partisan exploitation. What is the truth as I see it? First and foremost, I have believed since childhood that my country is the greatest nation on the face of the earth...

Diesel Hybrids on the Fast Track 
source: by John Gartner / WIRED
Hybrid gas-electric vehicles are the current champions of fuel economy, but they may soon get lapped. Auto manufacturers are making tracks to produce diesel hybrids that will go even further on a gallon of fuel. Hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid employ an electric motor that assists the engine and enables the vehicles to go between 15 and 50 percent further on a tank than a comparable gasoline vehicle. But a new generation of hybrid diesel prototypes being developed by General Motors, DaimlerChrysler and Ford could soon surpass these milestones.
Vehicles with diesel engines typically get 25 to 30 percent more miles to the gallon than their gasoline counterparts...

source: by N.K. Subramanium / Special Correspondent / India Daily
Remote viewing is nothing new in Tibetan monasteries. For thousands of years remote viewing in the middle of other spiritual activities have dominated Tibetan culture. What some Indian tourists came to learn from a few Tibetan monasteries under the current Chinese rule is extremely alarming and fascinating. According to these tourists remote viewers are seeing world powers in the course of self-destruction. They also see that the world will not be destroyed. Between now and 2012 the world super powers will continue to engage in regional wars. Terrorism and covert war will be the main problem. In world politics something will happen in and around 2010. At that time the world powers will threaten to destroy each other...

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