date:20091217



--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj  wrote:
>
> 
> On Dec 17, 2009, at 12:49 PM, Hugo wrote:
> 
> > 
> > 
> > Fascinating interview, I hope Persinger is onto something here.
> > But if he uncovers too much quantum stuff in the brain he may have
> > to revise his book TM and Cultmania, which would be a fine day
> > for TM dome attendance.
> 
> 
> From physicists I know how've reviewed it, they think it's BS. What I wonder 
> is if he's just hopping onto the quantum bandwagon because it's not only 
> fashionable, but profitable. The entanglement has nothing to do with the 
> brain, but the measuring device (the SQUID or superconducting quantum 
> interference device).
> 
> No quantum brain IOW.
>

Hmmmaren't photons quanta of light?
Ain't the activity of the nervous system somehow connected
with photons? According to YS, da self is 'draSTaa' (Seer):

tataH kSiiyate prakaashaavaraNam.
tadaa draSTuH svaruupe 'vasthaanam.
draSTaa dRshimaatraH shuddho 'pi pratyayaanupashyaH.

[FairfieldLife] Are Hillary Clinton supporters murmuring I told you so?

2009-12-17 Thread raunchydog

"With a new NBC/Wall Street journal poll showing Obama hitting his lowest
approval rating in that poll, and the same poll showing that people are getting
increasingly fed up with Obama, the Democrats and how both have handled health
care,(how they handled it, not rejecting things that are in it, like the
public option) those who supported Hillary Clinton for president in the
Democratic primaries are starting to say "I told you so".

Obama's had the biggest approval ratings drop of any first year president in
history. He has disappointed most of his supporters on the left. And he has
accomplished little to nothing in his first year that has showed any concrete
results in spite of him giving himself a B+ for his performance in his first
year.

What he has done is make more speeches and had more prime time press
conferences in his first year than any president has given in their entire
first term.

On healthcare reform, most of his supportes are complaining that he sold out
and was two faced in his capitulation. Which he was. But these are traits he
exhibited not only during his entire 12 years of elected office, but were on
glaring display during the Democratic primaries.

Now everyone is angry with him for showing a lack of principle, commitment,
experience and expertise and his willingness to sacrifice any principle on a
dime, but that's who Obama has always been and he showed it repeatedly during
the primaries, whether he was willing to sell out the voters of Florida and
Michigan to help himself get elected, or reversing himself on a pledge to use
public financing.

Now as Obama's approval ratings continue to hit record lows for a first term
president, and he is bringing the Democratic party down with him, as people
are getting fed up with his handling of a propositon -- the public option and
health care reform -- that 72% supported back in June, many Hillary Clinton
supporters are starting to say "we told you so".

More and more of Obama's staunchest supporters, the same people who turned a
blind eye to Obama's deep character flaws, lack of experience, and brazen
political dishonesty and deceit, are now complaining that he's not what they
thought he was, that this isnt change they can believe in. But it never was in
the first place. It was clear to anyone who was paying attention, that "change
you can believe in" was nothing but a slogan. Because he never did say what
kind of change he had in mind.And if you asked a supporter they couldnt tell
you either.

Ed Schultz, Arianna Huffington, the people at The Nation, Matt Taibbi at
Rolling Stone, and Michael Moore are just a few of Obama flag wavers now
wavering in their support and scratching their heads saying "what happened"?

The answer is nothing happened. Obama is being the same Obama he always was,
the same Obama that was apparent during the Democratic primaries, the same
Obama that 18 months ago after listening to a couple of speeches, caused me to
write that he was a snake oil salesman and the most underhanded, deceitful
politician since Richard Nixon. But the press. who was in Obama's pocket,
refused to see it.Or report it.

For those who saw through the phoniness, Obama has been exactly what the
majority of Democratic primary voters thought he was. Remember that Hillary
Clinton actually received more votes than Obama, and went into the Democratic
convention having won the popular vote..."

http://snipurl.com/tqpeg
http://www.examiner.com/x-6572-NY-Obama-Administration-Examiner~y2009m12d17-Are-Hillary-Clinton-supporters-murmuring-I-told-you-so

[FairfieldLife] Re: Iraqis hack $4.5-million drones with $26 of software

2009-12-17 Thread off_world_beings


Lol, very cool. Reality is better than fiction.

OffWorld



--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
 , TurquoiseB 
wrote:
>
> This one is just great. Each of these drones, which the taxpayers
> paid General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. 4.5 million dollars
> *each* for, can be hacked and its video feed intercepted using $26
> worth of off-the-shelf software. The new models cost 10 to 12 million
> each, and can be hacked using the same trick. Great job, military
> industrial complex!
> Insurgents Hack U.S. DronesWASHINGTON -- Militants in Iraq have used
$26
> off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S.
Predator
> drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade
> or monitor U.S. military operations.
> Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed
insurgents
> intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected
> communications link in some of the remotely flown planes' systems.
> Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber --
> available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet -- to regularly
> capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports
> on the matter.
>
> U.S. officials say there is no evidence that militants were able to
take
> control of the drones or otherwise interfere with their flights.
Still,
> the intercepts could give America's enemies battlefield advantages by
> removing the element of surprise from certain missions and making it
> easier for insurgents to determine which roads and buildings are under
> U.S. surveillance.
>   [U.S. enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan have used off-the-shelf
programs
> to intercept video feeds from Predator unmanned aircraft.]
> The drone intercepts mark the emergence of a shadow cyber war within
the
> U.S.-led conflicts overseas. They also point to a potentially serious
> vulnerability in Washington's growing network of unmanned drones,
which
> have become the American weapon of choice in both Afghanistan and
> Pakistan.
> The Obama administration has come to rely heavily on the unmanned
drones
> because they allow the U.S. to safely monitor and stalk insurgent
> targets in areas where sending American troops would be either
> politically untenable or too risky.
>
> The stolen video feeds also indicate that U.S. adversaries continue to
> find simple ways of counteracting sophisticated American military
> technologies.
>
> U.S. military personnel in Iraq discovered the problem late last year
> when they apprehended a Shiite militant whose laptop contained files
of
> intercepted drone video feeds. In July, the U.S. military found
pirated
> drone video feeds on other militant laptops, leading some officials to
> conclude that militant groups trained and funded by Iran were
regularly
> intercepting feeds.
>
> In the summer 2009 incident, the military found "days and days and
hours
> and hours of proof" that the feeds were being intercepted and shared
> with multiple extremist groups, the person said. "It is part of their
> kit now."
>
> A senior defense official said that James Clapper, the Pentagon's
> intelligence chief, assessed the Iraq intercepts at the direction of
> Defense Secretary Robert Gates and concluded they represented a
> shortcoming to the security of the drone network.
>
> "There did appear to be a vulnerability," the defense official said.
> "There's been no harm done to troops or missions compromised as a
result
> of it, but there's an issue that we can take care of and we're doing
> so."
>
> Senior military and intelligence officials said the U.S. was working
to
> encrypt all of its drone video feeds from Iraq, Afghanistan and
> Pakistan, but said it wasn't yet clear if the problem had been
> completely resolved.
>
> Some of the most detailed evidence of intercepted feeds has been
> discovered in Iraq, but adversaries have also intercepted drone video
> feeds in Afghanistan, according to people briefed on the matter. These
> intercept techniques could be employed in other locations where the
U.S.
> is using pilotless planes, such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, they
> said.
>
> The Pentagon is deploying record numbers of drones to Afghanistan as
> part of the Obama administration's troop surge there. Lt. Gen. David
> Deptula, who oversees the Air Force's unmanned aviation program, said
> some of the drones would employ a sophisticated new camera system
called
> "Gorgon Stare," which allows a single aerial vehicle to transmit back
at
> least 10 separate video feeds simultaneously.
>
> Gen. Deptula, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said there were
inherent
> risks to using drones since they are remotely controlled and need to
> send and receive video and other data over great distances. "Those
kinds
> of things are subject to listening and exploitation," he said, adding
> the military was trying to solve the problems by better encrypting the
> drones' feeds.
>
> The potential drone vulnerabil

[FairfieldLife] Re: Iraqis hack $4.5-million drones with $26 of software

2009-12-17 Thread John

I don't believe the Iraqi or Afghan insurgents have a chance against the US 
technological advantage.  Their advantage for all practical purposes lies in 
the fact that they can use terrorist and political tactics within their own 
country to wreak havoc of their own people and technological advantage that the 
US allies have.

The insurgents know that they can outlast the US and allied occupation of their 
country.  They live with their own people and know the cultural complexities of 
their society.

On the other hand, the US and allies cannot afford to stay in their countries 
for the simple fact that it would cost more than the American economy can 
afford.  In short, the US does not have time nor the wish to change the culture 
of the occupied countries.









--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
>
> This one is just great. Each of these drones, which the taxpayers
> paid General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. 4.5 million dollars
> *each* for, can be hacked and its video feed intercepted using $26
> worth of off-the-shelf software. The new models cost 10 to 12 million
> each, and can be hacked using the same trick. Great job, military
> industrial complex!
> Insurgents Hack U.S. DronesWASHINGTON -- Militants in Iraq have used $26
> off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator
> drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade
> or monitor U.S. military operations.
> Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents
> intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected
> communications link in some of the remotely flown planes' systems.
> Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber --
> available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet -- to regularly
> capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports
> on the matter.
> 
> U.S. officials say there is no evidence that militants were able to take
> control of the drones or otherwise interfere with their flights. Still,
> the intercepts could give America's enemies battlefield advantages by
> removing the element of surprise from certain missions and making it
> easier for insurgents to determine which roads and buildings are under
> U.S. surveillance.
>   [U.S. enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan have used off-the-shelf programs
> to intercept video feeds from Predator unmanned aircraft.]
> The drone intercepts mark the emergence of a shadow cyber war within the
> U.S.-led conflicts overseas. They also point to a potentially serious
> vulnerability in Washington's growing network of unmanned drones, which
> have become the American weapon of choice in both Afghanistan and
> Pakistan.
> The Obama administration has come to rely heavily on the unmanned drones
> because they allow the U.S. to safely monitor and stalk insurgent
> targets in areas where sending American troops would be either
> politically untenable or too risky.
> 
> The stolen video feeds also indicate that U.S. adversaries continue to
> find simple ways of counteracting sophisticated American military
> technologies.
> 
> U.S. military personnel in Iraq discovered the problem late last year
> when they apprehended a Shiite militant whose laptop contained files of
> intercepted drone video feeds. In July, the U.S. military found pirated
> drone video feeds on other militant laptops, leading some officials to
> conclude that militant groups trained and funded by Iran were regularly
> intercepting feeds.
> 
> In the summer 2009 incident, the military found "days and days and hours
> and hours of proof" that the feeds were being intercepted and shared
> with multiple extremist groups, the person said. "It is part of their
> kit now."
> 
> A senior defense official said that James Clapper, the Pentagon's
> intelligence chief, assessed the Iraq intercepts at the direction of
> Defense Secretary Robert Gates and concluded they represented a
> shortcoming to the security of the drone network.
> 
> "There did appear to be a vulnerability," the defense official said.
> "There's been no harm done to troops or missions compromised as a result
> of it, but there's an issue that we can take care of and we're doing
> so."
> 
> Senior military and intelligence officials said the U.S. was working to
> encrypt all of its drone video feeds from Iraq, Afghanistan and
> Pakistan, but said it wasn't yet clear if the problem had been
> completely resolved.
> 
> Some of the most detailed evidence of intercepted feeds has been
> discovered in Iraq, but adversaries have also intercepted drone video
> feeds in Afghanistan, according to people briefed on the matter. These
> intercept techniques could be employed in other locations where the U.S.
> is using pilotless planes, such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, they
> said.
> 
> The Pentagon is deploying record numbers of drones to Afghanistan as
> part of the Obama administration's troop surge there. Lt. Gen. David
>

[FairfieldLife] Post Count

2009-12-17 Thread FFL PostCount

Fairfield Life Post Counter
===
Start Date (UTC): Sat Dec 12 00:00:00 2009
End Date (UTC): Sat Dec 19 00:00:00 2009
444 messages as of (UTC) Thu Dec 17 22:06:08 2009

50 authfriend 
43 TurquoiseB 
37 ShempMcGurk 
33 "do.rflex" 
31 WillyTex 
30 raunchydog 
29 Vaj 
29 Bhairitu 
22 dhamiltony2k5 
18 Rick Archer 
17 BillyG 
13 m 13 
13 PaliGap 
10 nablusoss1008 
 9 Mike Dixon 
 8 Hugo 
 7 off_world_beings 
 6 cardemaister 
 6 It's just a ride 
 5 lurkernomore20002000 
 5 Sal Sunshine 
 3 Zoran Krneta 
 2 yifuxero 
 2 michael 
 2 guyfawkes91 
 2 azgrey 
 2 John 
 1 sgrayatlarge 
 1 seekliberation 
 1 jpgillam 
 1 hari 
 1 anatol_zinc 
 1 wle...@aol.com
 1 Premanand 
 1 Joe 
 1 Ghanesh PV 
 1 Dick Mays 

Posters: 37
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Daylight Saving Time (Summer):
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Europe Saturday: BST 1 AM CEST 2 AM EEST 3 AM
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Europe Saturday: GMT 12 AM CET 1 AM EET 2 AM
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Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman

I'll be interested to hear how they react to it.

The filmmaker is also a Dzogchen practitioner, so there's some interesting 
moments, like where she helps her grandmother "transition" as she leaves the 
physical.

On Dec 17, 2009, at 3:26 AM, TurquoiseB wrote:

> Thanks, Vaj. I just ordered this for a number of
> friends of mine. It is also available via Amazon.

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Michael Persinger discovers telepathic link


On Dec 17, 2009, at 12:49 PM, Hugo wrote:

> 
> 
> Fascinating interview, I hope Persinger is onto something here.
> But if he uncovers too much quantum stuff in the brain he may have
> to revise his book TM and Cultmania, which would be a fine day
> for TM dome attendance.


>From physicists I know how've reviewed it, they think it's BS. What I wonder 
>is if he's just hopping onto the quantum bandwagon because it's not only 
>fashionable, but profitable. The entanglement has nothing to do with the 
>brain, but the measuring device (the SQUID or superconducting quantum 
>interference device).

No quantum brain IOW.

[FairfieldLife] Bill Clinton Weighs In On Health Care - Calls It 'Good Bill'


Fmr. President Clinton Weighs In On Health Care And Calls It 'Good Bill'
"Take it from someone who knows: these chances
don't come around every day. Allowing this effort
to fall short now would be a colossal blunder --
both politically for our party and, far more
important, for the physical, fiscal, and economic
health of our country."

  - Fmr.
President Bill Clinton

by Christina Bellantoni
 

Fmr. President Bill Clinton
Former President Bill Clinton, who is all-too-familiar with what happens
when Congress doesn't pass health care reform, issues a rare statement
on the ongoing negotiations on Capitol Hill.

Clinton, who had a similar message for the Senate Democrats recently in
a party lunch, says he knows the cost of inaction and calls it a good
bill.

The statement:

"America stands at a historic crossroads. At last, we are close to
making real health insurance reform a reality. We face one critical,
final choice, between action and inaction. We know where the path of
inaction leads to: more uninsured Americans, more families struggling to
keep up with skyrocketing premiums, higher federal budget deficits, and
health costs so much higher than any other country's they will cripple
us economically.

Our only responsible choice is the path of action. Does this bill read
exactly how I would write it? No. Does it contain everything everyone
wants? Of course not. But America can't afford to let the perfect be the
enemy of the good.

And this is a good bill: it increases the security of those who already
have insurance and gives every American access to affordable coverage;
and contains comprehensive efforts to control costs and improve quality,
with more information on best practices, and comparative costs and
results. The bill will shift the power away from the insurance companies
and into the hands of consumers.

Take it from someone who knows: these chances don't come around every
day. Allowing this effort to fall short now would be a colossal blunder
-- both politically for our party and, far more important, for the
physical, fiscal, and economic health of our country."

http://snipurl.com/tqhhw   [tpmlivewire_talkingpointsmemo_com]

[FairfieldLife] Re: Another "Golden Sunset" of the Age of Enlightenment??



--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, cardemaister  wrote:
>
> 
> 
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, cardemaister  wrote:
> >
> > 
> > hiraNyayena savitaa rathena
> > aa devo yaati bhuvanaani pashyan??
> > 
> > If we are lucky, we might see it in a couple of
> > minutes! (GMT 12.00??)
> > 
> > http://www.sarkanniemi.fi/www/webcam.php?lang=fi
> 
> Sorry, the sun was *way* too bright. It's kinda weird,
> this time of the year. I guess the Yffers in Denmark,
> a couple of hundred miles SW, are to "blame", LOL!
>

'Twas so brite, 'twas almost like a fission bomb implosion?

http://www.gypsii.com/place.cgi?op=view&id=2420671

Re: [FairfieldLife] Purusha e-letter

2009-12-17 Thread Bhairitu

What a con, contribute money to create something that can't be 
measured.  I'd love to visit one of these monasteries to  see how  
"coherent" the monks are there or if they are just space cases.  Now if 
they were directly helping out of the communities a people in need like 
other monastic paths they might be worth contributing to.

Rick Archer wrote:
> >From a Purusha friend:
>  
> Here's our latest Purusha e-mail newsletter.  It has links to recent photos 
> of our land in West Virginia (pretty), videos of the inauguration of Chris 
> Wege way, and progress report on construction.
>  
> See attached html files.
>
>

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Waterworld discovered...

2009-12-17 Thread It's just a ride

On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 2:05 PM, John  wrote:

> From what I read in an article yesterday, this planet may still me too hot
> to support life as we know it here on Earth.  They estimated that the
> average temperature may be as high as 5,000 degrees fahrenheit.
>
>
If the temp is 5K degrees F, the atmospheric pressure/gravity must be
thousands of times that of Earth.  It's the old PV=nRT in action here.
 You'd need a lot of pressure to prevent the water from boiling and just
filling the atmosphere with steam, thereby doing life as we usually know it
no good.  There are organisms which survive at high temperatures on the
Earth but not that high.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Sceptic James Randi On Global Warming

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend"  wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Hugo"  wrote:
> >
> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend"  wrote:
> 
> 
> > It's all crap I think for more reasons than I could
> > count. I'm sure Randi has arrived at the same conclusion
> > or started with the same assumption. I don't feel the
> > need to try and prove it's crap as much as I think
> > mediums should try and prove it isn't.
> 
> I'm sure there are a *lot* of frauds. I'm not sure they
> all are.
> 
> The issue of proof with this kind of thing is more
> problematic than Randi is willing to acknowledge--i.e.,
> that the effects might be genuine even though they
> don't show up on the kinds of controlled experiments
> he administers.
> 
> Lawrence LeShan recently published a book arguing at
> some length for a different approach to researching
> telepathy, precognition, and so forth:
> 
> "A New Science of the Paranormal: The Promise of
> Psychical Research"
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/New-Science-Paranormal-Psychical-Research/dp/0835608778/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261067360&sr=1-3
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/ya7lne6
> 
> He argues for a social-science approach, basically, and
> for studying strong individual real-world instances of
> purported psi in depth, rather than putting people in a
> lab and having them try to guess cards or influence
> random-number generators. He makes a compelling case, I
> think, but his thesis is too complex and tightly reasoned
> to summarize here.
> 
> But basically, we can't effectively "test" for psi
> ability until we have a better idea of what it is and
> how it operates. All the controlled lab experiments
> can prove is whether it shows up in controlled lab
> experiments, not whether it exists, in other words.

H, I'd have to read it but it sounds like special
pleading, surely *somebody* would have been able to
demonstrate something by now. Especially when you see just
how many are convinced they can do something but fail 
Randi's tests which are designed to stop them doing what 
he thinks they are doing to kid themselves, whether 
consciously or not.

I might treat myself to the book for Crimbo.

> 
> > Randi was on a recent TV doc about a guy who makes a fortune
> > out of reading the minds of babies, which is a concept so
> > obviously ridiculous that you'd wonder why anyone would 
> > fall for it or even want confirmation that babies *can* think.
> > But there are always people willing to believe (and pay for) 
> > bizarre stuff and they obviously get crumbs of comfort from it. 
> > 
> > It was so obvious that he cold-reads the babies mother and
> > sure enough when she wasn't there his mysterious "powers"
> > weren't so effective.
> 
> Um, and what happened when the mother *was* there? What
> would a "positive" result be if the mother was present?
> (I'm not challenging you or Randi here, I just don't
> understand what was involved. I mean, presumably the
> baby wasn't saying, "Yes, that's just what I was
> thinking.")

It was an open and shut case, when the mother was there
he kept up this babble of seemingly innocent questions
that gave him clues to what they thought about things.
When the baby was in the arms someone else who didn't speak
he didn't "pick up" anything. I could see what he was doing
straight away and he was good but you are reading minds or
you aren't and Randi demonstrated that he wasn't.

Interestingly he went to a researcher who was much more of
a believer in mystical stuff and this guy hooked him up to
an EEG machine and showed that he was using a different part 
of his brain in a unique way. The guy (and the programme makers)
concluded that he had a real skill in reading minds. Trouble 
is they tested him with mother present so he could do his cold-reading trick, 
renedering the results pointless. This is why
we need sceptics for this type of research, much less likely 
to make mistakes.

>  He believes in it enough to try for
> > the million dollar challenge. Randi set the test with his 
> > help and he failed miserably (of course) and then claimed
> > that the test was set up to make him fail, which is what
> > they all say much to Randi's amusement.
> 
> It would appear that the guy thought he could do
> whatever it was even with the controls, if he helped
> set it all up and approved of the approach. I'd have
> to know more of the details to comment further, but
> at worst it sounds as though the guy was deluded
> rather than committing intentional fraud.

I'd say he definitely believed that he had a special
power, no intentional fraud. Doesn't make it real of 
course, what annoys me about it is that he makes a
fortune from credulous parents who don't even learn
anything to their advantage. technically things like
this are illegal in britain now, if you are selling 
something that turns out to be crap it doesn't matter
if you didn't know, might have a wait before any court
vases come up. Maybe a job

[FairfieldLife] Re: Waterworld discovered...

2009-12-17 Thread John

>From what I read in an article yesterday, this planet may still me too hot to 
>support life as we know it here on Earth.  They estimated that the average 
>temperature may be as high as 5,000 degrees fahrenheit.

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Hugo"  wrote:
>
> Waterworld planet is more Earth-like than any discovered before
> Astronomers spotted the waterworld orbiting a star in our cosmic
> backyard, raising the chances that we will eventually discover planets
> suitable for life
> 
> * Ian Sample  , science
> correspondent
> * guardian.co.uk  , Wednesday 16 December
> 2009 18.00 GMT
> *
> *  [Super-Earth GJ 1214b discovered by MEarth project]  [View larger
> picture] 
>  60964484923/Super-Earth-GJ-1214b-disc-006.jpg>
> 
> Planet GJ 1214b orbiting its red dwarf star. The Hubble telescope will
> reveal whether it is suitable for life. Artist's impression: David A.
> Aguilar/CfA
> 
> A giant waterworld that is wet to its core has been spotted in orbit
> around a dim but not too distant star, improving the odds that habitable
> planets may exist in our cosmic neighbourhood.
> 
> The planet is nearly three times as large as Earth and made almost
> entirely of water, forming a global ocean more than 15,000km deep.
> 
> Astronomers detected the alien world as it passed in front of its sun, a
> red dwarf star 40 light years away in a constellation called Ophiuchus
>  , after the Greek for "snake
> holder".
> 
> The discovery, made with a network of amateur telescopes, is being
> hailed as a major step forward in the search for planets beyond our
> solar system that are hospitable to life as we know it.
> 
> Measurements suggest the planet is shrouded in a thick atmosphere of
> hydrogen and helium that blocks visible light from its sun, plunging the
> watery surface into permanent darkness. The weight of the atmosphere
> keeps the water liquid despite it being a searing 120C to 282C.
> 
> Writing in the journal Nature 
> , David Charbonneau
>   at the
> Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics
>   describes how his team used a suite of
> eight amateur-sized telescopes to spot the planet as it moved across the
> face of its star, which is less than 0.5% as bright as our own sun.
> 
> The telescopes picked up a slight dimming in light from the star as the
> waterworld, named GJ1214b, passed in front of it every 1.6 days. The
> planet has a radius 2.7 times as large as the Earth's and orbits at a
> distance of only two million kilometres from its star. Our own planet
> circles the sun at an average distance of around 150 million kilometres.
> 
> "It would be very difficult to imagine life as we know it on the
> surface. It's hot and dark and there are probably no rocky surfaces like
> we have on Earth," said Charbonneau.
> 
> Charbonneau heads the MEarth project
>  mearth-project-t54.htm> , which trains telescopes on a class of star
> called M-dwarfs or red dwarfs, which are much cooler and dimmer than our
> own sun. Planets orbiting close to these can lie in what astronomers
> call the "Goldilocks zone", where temperatures are neither too hot nor
> too cold for water to flow and life to flourish.
> 
> "We've found this planet in the first few months of MEarth being in
> operation, so we are either extremely lucky or these kinds of planets
> are very common," Charbonneau said.
> 
> "In time, we expect to find planets that are further away from their
> parent stars and so are likely to have surface temperatures much closer
> to those found on Earth," he added.
> 
> The latest planet is only a stone's throw away in astronomical terms,
> meaning scientists will be able to turn the Hubble Space Telescope
>   towards it
> and analyse its atmosphere, potentially revealing signs of life.
> Charbonneau's team has already requested time on the space telescope.
> 
> "Using the Hubble, we can look at the atmosphere and say not only
> whether it's habitable, but whether it's inhabited," Charbonneau told
> the Guardian. "If we find oxygen in the atmosphere things will get
> really interesting, because on Earth all the oxygen in the atmosphere
> comes from life."
> 
> After spotting GJ1214b in orbit, the astronomers measured tiny movements
> in the parent star as the planet circled around it. From these wobbles
> they calculated the mass of the planet to be 6.6 times as great as the
> Earth's. The most likely composition of the planet is 75% water, with
> 22% silicon and 3% iron forming a solid core, the scientists report.
> 
> In an accompanying article, Geoffre

[FairfieldLife] Re: Waterworld here we come.....

2009-12-17 Thread ShempMcGurk



--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer"  wrote:
>
> Maybe Shemp shouldn't move after all. He may end up with beachfront property
> there in Phoenix.




You've been listening to too much country music, Rick:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwVHOl4-Ndw





>  
> From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Hugo
> Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 6:44 AM
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Waterworld here we come.
>  
>   
> 
>  
> 
> 
>   Sea
> level rise may exceed worst expectations 
> 
> Posted by Ivica Miskovic Labels:
>  News 
>  
>  1600-h/arctic+ice+meltdown.jpg> Error! Filename not specified.Seas were
> nearly 10 metres higher than now in previous interglacial period.
>  
> With climate talks stalling in Copenhagen, a study suggests that one
> problem, sea level rise, may be even more urgent than previously thought. 
> Robert Kopp, a palaeoclimatologist at Princeton University in New Jersey,
> and his colleagues examined sea level rise during the most recent previous
> interglacial stage, about 125,000 years ago. It was a time when the climate
> was similar to that predicted for our future, with average polar
> temperatures about 3-5°C warmer than now. 
> Other studies have looked at this era, but most focused on sea level changes
> in only a few locales and local changes may not fully reflect global
> changes. Sea level can rise, for example, if the land is subsiding. It can
> also be affected by changes in the mass distribution of Earth. For example,
> says Kopp, ice-age glaciers have enough gravity to pull water slightly
> polewards. When the glaciers melt, water moves back towards the Equator. To
> adjust for such effects, Kopp's team compiled sea-level data from over 30
> sites across the globe.
> "We could go to a lot of different places and look at coral reefs or
> intertidal sediments or beaches that are now stranded above sea level, and
> build a reasonably large database of sea-level indicators," says Kopp.
> The team reports in Nature today that the sea probably rose about 6.69.4
> metres above present-day levels during the previous period between ice ages.
> When it was at roughly its present level, the average rate of rise was
> probably 5692 centimetres a century. "[That is] faster than the current
> rate of sea level rise by a factor of about two or three," Kopp says,
> warning that if the poles warm as expected, a similar accelleration in
> sea-level rise might occur in future. 
> 
> Climate meltdown
> 
> The study is "very sophisticated", says Peter Clark, a geologist at Oregon
> State University in Corvallis. "A lot more of the existing ice sheets at the
> time must have melted than was thought to be the case," he says, such as
> parts of Greenland and Antarctica. 
> The implications are disconcerting, says Clark. If the world warms up to
> levels comparable to those 125,000 years ago, "we can expect a large
> fraction of the Greenland ice sheet and some part of the Antarctic ice
> sheet, mostly likely West Antarctica, to melt. That's clearly in sight with
> where we're heading."
> Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Arizona in
> Tucson agrees. "Earth's polar ice sheets may be more vulnerable to climate
> change than commonly believed," he says. 
> Furthermore, even if global warming causes seas to start rising toward the
> levels seen 125,000 years ago, there is no reason to presume that it will
> proceed at the relatively sedate rate of 6-9 millimeters a year seen by
> Kopp's study. In part, that's because his study didn't have the resolution
> to spot changes on a year-by-year basis, so there's nothing to say that the
> rise during the last interglacial didn't occur in shorter, faster spurts,
> undetectable in Kopp's data.
> Near future warming will also be driven by potentially faster-moving
> processes than those of the last interglacial. "The driver of [climate
> change during the last interglacial period] was slow changes in Earth's
> orbit, happening over thousands of years," says Stefan Rahmstorf, an ocean
> scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.
> "We're now set to cause several degrees of global warming within just a
> century. I would expect this to drive a much faster sea level rise."
> Some scientists think that we may already be committed to a future with
> higher seas than had been expected. "There could be a global warming tipping
> point beyond which many metres of sea level rise is inevitable unless global
> greenhouse-gas emissions are cut dramatically, and soon," warns Overpeck.
> "I have spent a lot of time talking with national security decision-makers
> in this country and abroad about the security implications of clima

[FairfieldLife] Jess Ventura on Global Warming

2009-12-17 Thread Bhairitu

Hey Shemp, you might like Jesse's latest show on Global Warming.  It's a 
very interesting piece and Jesse is a friend of Al Gore and finds it 
hard to believe he is profiting from global warming but is willing to 
call him out if he is.  Jesse's show turns out to be the highest rated 
in TruTV's (formerly Court TV) history.  His show on 9-11 was great and 
next week he'll be covering Big Brother Surveillance.

My area was the last to get Comcast's "World of More" yesterday which 
means I have a lot more HD channels including TruTV HD.   I think the 
reason we were last as my area was one of the first that Comcast 
upgraded and we already had some of the channels people in other areas 
were getting under their WOM initiative (which is actually WOMMC or 
World of More Money for Comcast).  I do note that now that Comcast 
bought NBC they have their shows free OnDemand and even are showing a 
"censored" version of the Caprica movie.  Rent the DVD instead.

http://www.trutv.com/shows/conspiracy_theory/index.html

[FairfieldLife] Re: CBO Scores Senate Climate Bill - Will Save $21 Billion First 10 Years



--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "ShempMcGurk"  wrote:
>
> Oh, yes!
> 
> Of COURSE I believe that!
> 
> A government bill that SAVES money!



Fortunately reality doesn't depend on what McChump 'believes.'



> 
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "do.rflex"  wrote:
> >
> > 
> > CBO Scores Senate Climate Bill - Will Save $21 Billion in First 10 Years
> >   [Earth Logo]
> > The newest iteration of the climate bill in congress has just
> > been scored by the non partisan congressional budget office and, as with
> > the previous climate bill (Waxman-Markey in the House) the Senate bill
> > would save money. (It would cut carbon emissions too, potentially saving
> > trillions in items like flood relief not paid out too, etc, but that is
> > not a knowable sum, so the money saved by not destroying our climate
> > doesn't come into the CBO scoring.)
> > In scoring the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, the CBO
> > included the effects of the many counteractions that would result
> > throughout the economy in response to pollution costs entering the
> > equation for the first time.
> > 
> > One example is how much revenue might be lost to the Federal Government
> > because more companies would be likely to replace fossil energy with
> > renewable energy, and thus be eligible to take advantage of the 30% tax
> > credits, reducing taxable income.
> > Also, a cap and trade market that would be worth about $80 billion by
> > 2012 would allow people as well as companies to trade allowances.
> > Homeowners who could reduce their fossil fuel use would be able to earn
> > money, just like businesses who did the same.
> > 
> > Like Waxman-Markey in the House, the Senate's Clean Energy Jobs and
> > American Power Act would cap emissions from electricity and from other
> > industrial activities beginning in 2012. About 7,400 facilities would be
> > affected. Mandates would require utilities, manufacturers, and other
> > entities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through cap-and-trade
> > programs and performance standards.
> > The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would regulate two cap and
> > trade programs, one to reduce the greenhouse gases (GHGs) carbon
> > dioxide,  methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, perfluorocarbons
> > and nitrogen trifluoride - and a separate cap and trade program to
> > reduce hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) a new, indirect climate risk
> >  > .sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090622171503.htmhttp://www.sciencedai\
> > ly.com/releases/2009/06/090622171503.htmhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/rele\
> > ases/2009/06/090622171503.htmhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/0\
> > 6/090622171503.htm> .
> > 
> > 
> > The  EPA already runs a cap and trade program to reduce NOx and SOx
> > (that  cause acid rain) which cut both chemicals 50% in 20
> >  > ars/>  years.
> > 
> > The costs to polluters would make it more profitable to figure out how
> > to co-produce energy, for example with waste to energy, combined heat
> > and power, and other technologies, or find alternatives for polluting
> > substances. The CBO estimated that HFC pollution alone could be lowered
> > 50% by 2020.
> > 
> > The bill is sponsored by Environment Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer.
> > It would require U.S. emissions curbs of 20 percent by 2020 and 83
> > percent by 2050. The committee approved the bill with no GOP support,
> > after many attempts to get the Republicans to even show up. After
> > Senator Inhofe led a walkout, Senator Boxer reported the bill out of
> > committee.
> > 
> > The bill would increase federal revenues by about $854 billion; and
> > increase direct spending by about $833 billion. In other words, it would
> > not only not add to the Federal deficit, but it would create money;
> > reducing the deficit. About $21 billion between 2010 and  2019. More in
> > each decade for the next four decades.
> > 
> > http://snipurl.com/tqdwg   [cleantechnica_com]
> >
>

RE: [FairfieldLife] Waterworld here we come.....

2009-12-17 Thread Rick Archer

Maybe Shemp shouldn't move after all. He may end up with beachfront property
there in Phoenix.

From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Hugo
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 6:44 AM
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Waterworld here we come.

  Sea
level rise may exceed worst expectations 

Posted by Ivica Miskovic Labels:
 News 

 Error! Filename not specified.Seas were
nearly 10 metres higher than now in previous interglacial period.

With climate talks stalling in Copenhagen, a study suggests that one
problem, sea level rise, may be even more urgent than previously thought. 
Robert Kopp, a palaeoclimatologist at Princeton University in New Jersey,
and his colleagues examined sea level rise during the most recent previous
interglacial stage, about 125,000 years ago. It was a time when the climate
was similar to that predicted for our future, with average polar
temperatures about 3-5°C warmer than now. 
Other studies have looked at this era, but most focused on sea level changes
in only a few locales and local changes may not fully reflect global
changes. Sea level can rise, for example, if the land is subsiding. It can
also be affected by changes in the mass distribution of Earth. For example,
says Kopp, ice-age glaciers have enough gravity to pull water slightly
polewards. When the glaciers melt, water moves back towards the Equator. To
adjust for such effects, Kopp's team compiled sea-level data from over 30
sites across the globe.
"We could go to a lot of different places and look at coral reefs or
intertidal sediments or beaches that are now stranded above sea level, and
build a reasonably large database of sea-level indicators," says Kopp.
The team reports in Nature today that the sea probably rose about 6.69.4
metres above present-day levels during the previous period between ice ages.
When it was at roughly its present level, the average rate of rise was
probably 5692 centimetres a century. "[That is] faster than the current
rate of sea level rise by a factor of about two or three," Kopp says,
warning that if the poles warm as expected, a similar accelleration in
sea-level rise might occur in future. 

Climate meltdown

The study is "very sophisticated", says Peter Clark, a geologist at Oregon
State University in Corvallis. "A lot more of the existing ice sheets at the
time must have melted than was thought to be the case," he says, such as
parts of Greenland and Antarctica. 
The implications are disconcerting, says Clark. If the world warms up to
levels comparable to those 125,000 years ago, "we can expect a large
fraction of the Greenland ice sheet and some part of the Antarctic ice
sheet, mostly likely West Antarctica, to melt. That's clearly in sight with
where we're heading."
Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Arizona in
Tucson agrees. "Earth's polar ice sheets may be more vulnerable to climate
change than commonly believed," he says. 
Furthermore, even if global warming causes seas to start rising toward the
levels seen 125,000 years ago, there is no reason to presume that it will
proceed at the relatively sedate rate of 6-9 millimeters a year seen by
Kopp's study. In part, that's because his study didn't have the resolution
to spot changes on a year-by-year basis, so there's nothing to say that the
rise during the last interglacial didn't occur in shorter, faster spurts,
undetectable in Kopp's data.
Near future warming will also be driven by potentially faster-moving
processes than those of the last interglacial. "The driver of [climate
change during the last interglacial period] was slow changes in Earth's
orbit, happening over thousands of years," says Stefan Rahmstorf, an ocean
scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.
"We're now set to cause several degrees of global warming within just a
century. I would expect this to drive a much faster sea level rise."
Some scientists think that we may already be committed to a future with
higher seas than had been expected. "There could be a global warming tipping
point beyond which many metres of sea level rise is inevitable unless global
greenhouse-gas emissions are cut dramatically, and soon," warns Overpeck.
"I have spent a lot of time talking with national security decision-makers
in this country and abroad about the security implications of climate
change," says Marc Levy, deputy director of the Center for International
Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University's Earth Institute
in New York. "I've consistently witnessed an inability on their part to take
sea-level risks seriously. This study helps frame the risks in ways that
decision-makers can better understand."

[FairfieldLife] Re: Michael Persinger discovers telepathic link



Fascinating interview, I hope Persinger is onto something here.
But if he uncovers too much quantum stuff in the brain he may have
to revise his book TM and Cultmania, which would be a fine day
for TM dome attendance.


--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj  wrote:
>
> http://www.skeptiko.com/michael-persinger-discovers-telepathic-link/
> 
> Neuroscience Researcher and Laurentian University professor, Dr.  
> Michael Persinger, demonstrates telepathy under laboratory conditions.
> 
> 
> ï¿¼
> 
> Claims of telepathy, ESP and other psi phenomena are a mainstay of  
> popular culture but taboo in neuroscience research circles.   
> Fortunately, Dr. Michael Persinger of Canadaâs Laurentian University  
> has never been afraid to venture where other researchers fear to go.  
> In the 1980âs Persinger made headlines with his âGod Helmetâ, a  
> device that stimulates temporal lobes with a weak magnetic field in  
> order to produce religious states.
> 
> Now, Persinger has discovered the same type of brain stimulation can  
> create metal states conducive to human telepathy.  âWhat we have  
> found is that if you place two different people at a distance and put  
> a circular magnetic field around both, and you make sure they are  
> connected to the same computer so they get the same stimulation, then  
> if you flash a light in one personâs eye the person in the other  
> room receiving just the magnetic field will show changes in their  
> brain as if they saw the flash of light. We think thatâs tremendous  
> because it may be the first macro demonstration of a quantum  
> connection, or so-called quantum entanglement. If true, then thereâs  
> another way of potential communication that may have physical  
> applications, for example, in space travel.â
> 
> While Persingerâs experiments could prove groundbreaking, he remains  
> doubtful about his controversial findings reaching his colleagues,  
> âI think the critical thing about science is to be open-minded.  
> Itâs really important to realize that the true subject matter of  
> science is the pursuit of the unknown. Sadly scientists have become  
> extraordinarily group-oriented. Our most typical critics are not are  
> mystic believer types.  They are scientists who have a narrow vision  
> of what the world is like.â
> 
> (...)
>

[FairfieldLife] Purusha e-letter [2 Attachments]

2009-12-17 Thread Rick Archer

>From a Purusha friend:
 
Here's our latest Purusha e-mail newsletter.  It has links to recent photos of 
our land in West Virginia (pretty), videos of the inauguration of Chris Wege 
way, and progress report on construction.
 
See attached html files.

[FairfieldLife] Re: CBO Scores Senate Climate Bill - Will Save $21 Billion First 10 Years

2009-12-17 Thread ShempMcGurk

Oh, yes!

Of COURSE I believe that!

A government bill that SAVES money!

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "do.rflex"  wrote:
>
> 
> CBO Scores Senate Climate Bill - Will Save $21 Billion in First 10 Years
>   [Earth Logo]
> The newest iteration of the climate bill in congress has just
> been scored by the non partisan congressional budget office and, as with
> the previous climate bill (Waxman-Markey in the House) the Senate bill
> would save money. (It would cut carbon emissions too, potentially saving
> trillions in items like flood relief not paid out too, etc, but that is
> not a knowable sum, so the money saved by not destroying our climate
> doesn't come into the CBO scoring.)
> In scoring the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, the CBO
> included the effects of the many counteractions that would result
> throughout the economy in response to pollution costs entering the
> equation for the first time.
> 
> One example is how much revenue might be lost to the Federal Government
> because more companies would be likely to replace fossil energy with
> renewable energy, and thus be eligible to take advantage of the 30% tax
> credits, reducing taxable income.
> Also, a cap and trade market that would be worth about $80 billion by
> 2012 would allow people as well as companies to trade allowances.
> Homeowners who could reduce their fossil fuel use would be able to earn
> money, just like businesses who did the same.
> 
> Like Waxman-Markey in the House, the Senate's Clean Energy Jobs and
> American Power Act would cap emissions from electricity and from other
> industrial activities beginning in 2012. About 7,400 facilities would be
> affected. Mandates would require utilities, manufacturers, and other
> entities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through cap-and-trade
> programs and performance standards.
> The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would regulate two cap and
> trade programs, one to reduce the greenhouse gases (GHGs) carbon
> dioxide,  methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, perfluorocarbons
> and nitrogen trifluoride - and a separate cap and trade program to
> reduce hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) a new, indirect climate risk
>  .sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090622171503.htmhttp://www.sciencedai\
> ly.com/releases/2009/06/090622171503.htmhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/rele\
> ases/2009/06/090622171503.htmhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/0\
> 6/090622171503.htm> .
> 
> 
> The  EPA already runs a cap and trade program to reduce NOx and SOx
> (that  cause acid rain) which cut both chemicals 50% in 20
>  ars/>  years.
> 
> The costs to polluters would make it more profitable to figure out how
> to co-produce energy, for example with waste to energy, combined heat
> and power, and other technologies, or find alternatives for polluting
> substances. The CBO estimated that HFC pollution alone could be lowered
> 50% by 2020.
> 
> The bill is sponsored by Environment Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer.
> It would require U.S. emissions curbs of 20 percent by 2020 and 83
> percent by 2050. The committee approved the bill with no GOP support,
> after many attempts to get the Republicans to even show up. After
> Senator Inhofe led a walkout, Senator Boxer reported the bill out of
> committee.
> 
> The bill would increase federal revenues by about $854 billion; and
> increase direct spending by about $833 billion. In other words, it would
> not only not add to the Federal deficit, but it would create money;
> reducing the deficit. About $21 billion between 2010 and  2019. More in
> each decade for the next four decades.
> 
> http://snipurl.com/tqdwg   [cleantechnica_com]
>

Re: [FairfieldLife] Iraqis hack $4.5-million drones with $26 of software

2009-12-17 Thread Bhairitu

Vaj wrote:
>
> On Dec 17, 2009, at 8:57 AM, TurquoiseB wrote:
>
>> This one is just great. Each of these drones, which the taxpayers
>> paid General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. 4.5 million dollars
>> *each* for, can be hacked and its video feed intercepted using $26
>> worth of off-the-shelf software. The new models cost 10 to 12 million
>> each, and can be hacked using the same trick. Great job, military
>> industrial complex!
>
>
> I'm no military expert, but just from common sense, shouldn't ALL of 
> their communications be encrypted at a military level? I mean, duh.
http://www.skygrabber.com/en/skygrabber.php

Their website is a little busy of course. :-)

[FairfieldLife] Fight Health-Care Reform -- And Win A Trip To Hooters!


U.S. Chamber of Commerce Campaign: Fight Health-Care Reform -- And Win A
Trip To Hooters!   Zachary Roth
  | December 16, 2009,  8:52AM

How'd you like to fight government-run health-care -- and get a
free gift card to Hooters out of it?

Well, now you can!  And it's all thanks to the Chamber of Commerce.

Online ads have popped up lately, telling readers that they can win a
$150 Amex Gift Card for use at Hooters, if they complete a survey about
other offers. One of those urges them to sign up for "free emails" from
the Chamber of Commerce, which will explain "how to protect your
family's future and bring common sense solutions to the health-care
debate." In other words, getting involved with the Chamber's campaign
against reform.


These "incentivized ads" appear to be the favored new tactic of lobbying
groups looking to generate the appearance of grassroots support for
their positions.

What's going on here?  The ads -- images of which were obtained by
TPMmuckraker, and which you can see here
  -- are a product of the
Chamber's campaign to use the web to generate "grassroots" pressure
against health-care reform.

The Chamber contracts with a PR firm to handle the campaign, which then
sub-contracts with an online marketing firm that handles the process of
actually signing people up for the Chamber's campaign, an industry
source explained. The


Hooters card is the draw.


Blinking pop-up ads and web pages offer readers the card in return for
entering their names and personal information, and filling out a survey
asking if they want to sign up for various offers. In this case, those
offers range from agreeing to receive information about getting your
college degree online, to signing up for the Chamber's emails. (You can
also click 'no' not to sign up for each offer, and still get the Hooters
card. But chances are you'll sign up for a few.)

If other online campaigns are any guide, readers who sign up to receive
the Chamber's anti-reform emails are then enlisted in the business
lobby's campaign in a more active way -- for instance, by being asked to
send letters to lawmakers.


A similar campaign
  last year offered "MyPoints" -- points-based rewards,
redeemable in the form of gift cards from theaters, restaurants,
airlines and hotels -- in return for sending an email to Congress on
behalf of the American Medical Association, urging lawmakers not to cut
Medicare doctor payments, a key AMA priority.

And we told you
  about
how Facebook users were offered virtual currency in return for sending
an email to Congress opposing health-care reform, on behalf of a health
insurers lobby group. (Both the lobby group and the firm it hired, 720
Strategies, told TPMmuckraker
  their contract forbids such "incentivized ads," and that the
ad was faked, though it's unclear by who.)

A Chamber spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.


http://snipurl.com/tqepp   [tpmmuckraker_talkingpointsmemo_com]

[FairfieldLife] Re: 30th Anniversary Celebrations!

2009-12-17 Thread dhamiltony2k5

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Dick Mays  wrote:
>
> Announcing Two Upcoming Celebrations!
> 
> Celebrating 30 Years
> 
> Sunday, Dec. 20, 8:10 pm
> Dalby Hall, Argiro Student Center
> 30th Anniversary of Amherst WPA
> &
> Sunday, Dec. 27, 8:10 pm
> Dalby Hall, Argiro Student Center
> 30th Anniversary of Creating Coherence Course and Moving to >Fairfield
> 
> 
> Everyone is welcome and please bring your program badge!
> 
> Jai Guru Dev
>

Om Sweet Jesus!  As an old & conservative meditator who was also there, I would 
be very inclined to go up there and re-unite with this except for their "you 
got to have a badge" thing.  
An invite like this given the history reads again like a "fuck you and fuck 
off".  Unbelievably graceless.  God help 'em.

Jai Guru Dev,
-Doug in FF

[FairfieldLife] Apocalypse Sitges

2009-12-17 Thread ShempMcGurk

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, nablusoss1008  wrote:

[snip]

> 
> So you imagime Maharishi didn't know the truth without having it presented by 
> a messenger-boy ? How naive.

[snip]

COL. KURTZ ADDRESSING BARRY WRIGHT: "You're an errand boy, sent by grocery 
clerks, to collect a bill."

[FairfieldLife] Re: Sceptic James Randi On Global Warming

2009-12-17 Thread authfriend

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Hugo"  wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend"  wrote:

> It's all crap I think for more reasons than I could
> count. I'm sure Randi has arrived at the same conclusion
> or started with the same assumption. I don't feel the
> need to try and prove it's crap as much as I think
> mediums should try and prove it isn't.

I'm sure there are a *lot* of frauds. I'm not sure they
all are.

The issue of proof with this kind of thing is more
problematic than Randi is willing to acknowledge--i.e.,
that the effects might be genuine even though they
don't show up on the kinds of controlled experiments
he administers.

Lawrence LeShan recently published a book arguing at
some length for a different approach to researching
telepathy, precognition, and so forth:

"A New Science of the Paranormal: The Promise of
Psychical Research"

http://www.amazon.com/New-Science-Paranormal-Psychical-Research/dp/0835608778/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261067360&sr=1-3

http://tinyurl.com/ya7lne6

He argues for a social-science approach, basically, and
for studying strong individual real-world instances of
purported psi in depth, rather than putting people in a
lab and having them try to guess cards or influence
random-number generators. He makes a compelling case, I
think, but his thesis is too complex and tightly reasoned
to summarize here.

But basically, we can't effectively "test" for psi
ability until we have a better idea of what it is and
how it operates. All the controlled lab experiments
can prove is whether it shows up in controlled lab
experiments, not whether it exists, in other words.

> Randi was on a recent TV doc about a guy who makes a fortune
> out of reading the minds of babies, which is a concept so
> obviously ridiculous that you'd wonder why anyone would 
> fall for it or even want confirmation that babies *can* think.
> But there are always people willing to believe (and pay for) 
> bizarre stuff and they obviously get crumbs of comfort from it. 
> 
> It was so obvious that he cold-reads the babies mother and
> sure enough when she wasn't there his mysterious "powers"
> weren't so effective.

Um, and what happened when the mother *was* there? What
would a "positive" result be if the mother was present?
(I'm not challenging you or Randi here, I just don't
understand what was involved. I mean, presumably the
baby wasn't saying, "Yes, that's just what I was
thinking.")

 He believes in it enough to try for
> the million dollar challenge. Randi set the test with his 
> help and he failed miserably (of course) and then claimed
> that the test was set up to make him fail, which is what
> they all say much to Randi's amusement.

It would appear that the guy thought he could do
whatever it was even with the controls, if he helped
set it all up and approved of the approach. I'd have
to know more of the details to comment further, but
at worst it sounds as though the guy was deluded
rather than committing intentional fraud.

> It was interesting to see how Randi removes any
> possibility of cheating with absolutely locked down
> controls, there's no chance of pulling the wool 
> over his eyes in controlled conditions.

That's nice, but I do have a problem with his
assumption that what he's eliminating is necessarily
"cheating," i.e., intentional fraud.

 I couldn't help thinking
> some meditation researchers could use his help with
> the Marshy effect. Make sure they aren't just kidding
> themselves in some way.

I'm all for that.

> > Years ago back on alt.m.t, I did a detailed analysis
> > of Randi's chapter on TM in his book "Flim-Flam,"
> > showing how he fudged a lot of his "evidence" with
> > quite deliberately misleading statements. I'll go
> > look it up and post the URL if you'd like to read it.
> 
> I would, though I've not read his book.

I should have said I'd *try* to find it. I did try, and
I can't. There are references to it in a number of later
posts, but the original isn't accessible, it seems. Pain
in the butt, because I think I made a really good case!

I did locate a detailed discussion of Randi's quite
deliberate misrepresentations of what TM claimed about
Yogic Flying, but it's pretty arcane; I was also having
to deal with huge amounts of dishonest flak in Randi's
defense laid down by his disciple Andrew Skolnick (who
once worshipfully proclaimed Randi to be "St. George
slaying the dragon of pseudoscience," I kid you not).

At any rate, you'd need to be very attentive and
patient to follow all the twists and turns, and the
point isn't all *that* important, although ultimately
it's a really clearcut example of Randi's willingness
to fudge.

> > He's significantly more humble in this post on climate
> > change; at least he's willing to admit he isn't sure
> > of his ground. But as you note (and I did as well),
> > a lot of his argument is rather grossly ignorant, and
> > he introduces a bunch of complete non sequiturs. It
> > makes one wo

[FairfieldLife] CBO Scores Senate Climate Bill - Will Save $21 Billion First 10 Years


CBO Scores Senate Climate Bill - Will Save $21 Billion in First 10 Years
  [Earth Logo]
The newest iteration of the climate bill in congress has just
been scored by the non partisan congressional budget office and, as with
the previous climate bill (Waxman-Markey in the House) the Senate bill
would save money. (It would cut carbon emissions too, potentially saving
trillions in items like flood relief not paid out too, etc, but that is
not a knowable sum, so the money saved by not destroying our climate
doesn't come into the CBO scoring.)
In scoring the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, the CBO
included the effects of the many counteractions that would result
throughout the economy in response to pollution costs entering the
equation for the first time.

One example is how much revenue might be lost to the Federal Government
because more companies would be likely to replace fossil energy with
renewable energy, and thus be eligible to take advantage of the 30% tax
credits, reducing taxable income.
Also, a cap and trade market that would be worth about $80 billion by
2012 would allow people as well as companies to trade allowances.
Homeowners who could reduce their fossil fuel use would be able to earn
money, just like businesses who did the same.

Like Waxman-Markey in the House, the Senate's Clean Energy Jobs and
American Power Act would cap emissions from electricity and from other
industrial activities beginning in 2012. About 7,400 facilities would be
affected. Mandates would require utilities, manufacturers, and other
entities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through cap-and-trade
programs and performance standards.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would regulate two cap and
trade programs, one to reduce the greenhouse gases (GHGs) carbon
dioxide,  methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, perfluorocarbons
and nitrogen trifluoride - and a separate cap and trade program to
reduce hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) a new, indirect climate risk
 .


The  EPA already runs a cap and trade program to reduce NOx and SOx
(that  cause acid rain) which cut both chemicals 50% in 20
  years.

The costs to polluters would make it more profitable to figure out how
to co-produce energy, for example with waste to energy, combined heat
and power, and other technologies, or find alternatives for polluting
substances. The CBO estimated that HFC pollution alone could be lowered
50% by 2020.

The bill is sponsored by Environment Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer.
It would require U.S. emissions curbs of 20 percent by 2020 and 83
percent by 2050. The committee approved the bill with no GOP support,
after many attempts to get the Republicans to even show up. After
Senator Inhofe led a walkout, Senator Boxer reported the bill out of
committee.

The bill would increase federal revenues by about $854 billion; and
increase direct spending by about $833 billion. In other words, it would
not only not add to the Federal deficit, but it would create money;
reducing the deficit. About $21 billion between 2010 and  2019. More in
each decade for the next four decades.

http://snipurl.com/tqdwg   [cleantechnica_com]

[FairfieldLife] Sen. Rockefeller on Howard Dean's "Kill the Bill" Comments


Sen. Rockefeller with Andrea Mitchell on Howard Dean's Comments:
'Nonsense, Irresponsible, Stunning, and He's Wrong'

Rockefeller: "I'm a grownup, you're a grownup, and we've been around
this business a long time and you never get everything you want. You
don't sulk about it. You try to keep improving the bill - you do it the
next year or the year afterwards. Up 'til now Health Care's been every
15 or 20 years. From now on it's going to be every single year. I love
that..."

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJKHiTXezWI

[FairfieldLife] Bernie prepared to vote against Senate Health Care Bill

2009-12-17 Thread raunchydog

Now that the Senate Health Care Reform Bill has adopted social welfare for the 
insurance industry, LiberCare, and nixed any possibility of competition to 
check rising premiums, my man Bernie Sanders may filibuster the bill. I'm 
keeping my fingers crossed.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/16/sanders-vote/

[FairfieldLife] Michael Persinger discovers telepathic link

http://www.skeptiko.com/michael-persinger-discovers-telepathic-link/
Neuroscience Researcher and Laurentian University professor, Dr. Michael Persinger, demonstrates telepathy under laboratory conditions. Claims of telepathy, ESP and other psi phenomena are a mainstay of popular culture but taboo in neuroscience research circles. Fortunately, Dr. Michael Persinger of Canada’s Laurentian University has never been afraid to venture where other researchers fear to go. In the 1980’s Persinger made headlines with his “God Helmet”, a device that stimulates temporal lobes with a weak magnetic field in order to produce religious states.Now, Persinger has discovered the same type of brain stimulation can create metal states conducive to human telepathy. “What we have found is that if you place two different people at a distance and put a circular magnetic field around both, and you make sure they are connected to the same computer so they get the same stimulation, then if you flash a light in one person’s eye the person in the other room receiving just the magnetic field will show changes in their brain as if they saw the flash of light. We think that’s tremendous because it may be the first macro demonstration of a quantum connection, or so-called quantum entanglement. If true, then there’s another way of potential communication that may have physical applications, for example, in space travel.”While Persinger’s experiments could prove groundbreaking, he remains doubtful about his controversial findings reaching his colleagues, “I think the critical thing about science is to be open-minded. It’s really important to realize that the true subject matter of science is the pursuit of the unknown. Sadly scientists have become extraordinarily group-oriented. Our most typical critics are not are mystic believer types. They are scientists who have a narrow vision of what the world is like.”(...)

Re: [FairfieldLife] Iraqis hack $4.5-million drones with $26 of software



On Dec 17, 2009, at 8:57 AM, TurquoiseB wrote:


This one is just great. Each of these drones, which the taxpayers
paid General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. 4.5 million dollars
*each* for, can be hacked and its video feed intercepted using $26
worth of off-the-shelf software. The new models cost 10 to 12 million
each, and can be hacked using the same trick. Great job, military
industrial complex!



I'm no military expert, but just from common sense, shouldn't ALL of  
their communications be encrypted at a military level? I mean, duh.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Shemp, sell your house!

2009-12-17 Thread nablusoss1008

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Premanand"  wrote:
> >
> > Turquoise, your recollections of Bevan's attitude to passing 
> > on negative information to Maharishi actually puts the spotlight 
> > on Maharishi, for if Bevan was only trying to please Maharishi, 
> > how was it that Maharishi didn't want to be told the truth?

So you imagime Maharishi didn't know the truth without having it presented by a 
messenger-boy ? How naive.

If you couldn't stand some noise during meditation, plain food or a leaking 
sink you are not fit to become a TM-teacher.

[FairfieldLife] Iraqis hack $4.5-million drones with $26 of software

This one is just great. Each of these drones, which the taxpayers
paid General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. 4.5 million dollars
*each* for, can be hacked and its video feed intercepted using $26
worth of off-the-shelf software. The new models cost 10 to 12 million
each, and can be hacked using the same trick. Great job, military
industrial complex!
Insurgents Hack U.S. DronesWASHINGTON -- Militants in Iraq have used $26
off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator
drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade
or monitor U.S. military operations.
Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents
intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected
communications link in some of the remotely flown planes' systems.
Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber --
available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet -- to regularly
capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports
on the matter.

U.S. officials say there is no evidence that militants were able to take
control of the drones or otherwise interfere with their flights. Still,
the intercepts could give America's enemies battlefield advantages by
removing the element of surprise from certain missions and making it
easier for insurgents to determine which roads and buildings are under
U.S. surveillance.
  [U.S. enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan have used off-the-shelf programs
to intercept video feeds from Predator unmanned aircraft.]
The drone intercepts mark the emergence of a shadow cyber war within the
U.S.-led conflicts overseas. They also point to a potentially serious
vulnerability in Washington's growing network of unmanned drones, which
have become the American weapon of choice in both Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
The Obama administration has come to rely heavily on the unmanned drones
because they allow the U.S. to safely monitor and stalk insurgent
targets in areas where sending American troops would be either
politically untenable or too risky.

The stolen video feeds also indicate that U.S. adversaries continue to
find simple ways of counteracting sophisticated American military
technologies.

U.S. military personnel in Iraq discovered the problem late last year
when they apprehended a Shiite militant whose laptop contained files of
intercepted drone video feeds. In July, the U.S. military found pirated
drone video feeds on other militant laptops, leading some officials to
conclude that militant groups trained and funded by Iran were regularly
intercepting feeds.

In the summer 2009 incident, the military found "days and days and hours
and hours of proof" that the feeds were being intercepted and shared
with multiple extremist groups, the person said. "It is part of their
kit now."

A senior defense official said that James Clapper, the Pentagon's
intelligence chief, assessed the Iraq intercepts at the direction of
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and concluded they represented a
shortcoming to the security of the drone network.

"There did appear to be a vulnerability," the defense official said.
"There's been no harm done to troops or missions compromised as a result
of it, but there's an issue that we can take care of and we're doing
so."

Senior military and intelligence officials said the U.S. was working to
encrypt all of its drone video feeds from Iraq, Afghanistan and
Pakistan, but said it wasn't yet clear if the problem had been
completely resolved.

Some of the most detailed evidence of intercepted feeds has been
discovered in Iraq, but adversaries have also intercepted drone video
feeds in Afghanistan, according to people briefed on the matter. These
intercept techniques could be employed in other locations where the U.S.
is using pilotless planes, such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, they
said.

The Pentagon is deploying record numbers of drones to Afghanistan as
part of the Obama administration's troop surge there. Lt. Gen. David
Deptula, who oversees the Air Force's unmanned aviation program, said
some of the drones would employ a sophisticated new camera system called
"Gorgon Stare," which allows a single aerial vehicle to transmit back at
least 10 separate video feeds simultaneously.

Gen. Deptula, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said there were inherent
risks to using drones since they are remotely controlled and need to
send and receive video and other data over great distances. "Those kinds
of things are subject to listening and exploitation," he said, adding
the military was trying to solve the problems by better encrypting the
drones' feeds.

The potential drone vulnerability lies in an unencrypted downlink
between the unmanned craft and ground control. The U.S. government has
known about the flaw since the U.S. campaign in Bosnia in the 1990s,
current and former officials said. But the Pentagon assumed local
adversaries wouldn't know how to exploit it, the officials said.

Last December, U.S.

[FairfieldLife] Why Progressives Are Batshit Crazy to Oppose the Senate Bill


Why Progressives Are Batshit Crazy to Oppose the Senate Bill

by Nate Silver

Pick your subheadline:

a) It's time to stop being polite and start getting real.
b) Here's hoping a picture is worth 1,000 words.

  [BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415363971440574338] 


Any questions?

OK, I imagine that there will be a few.  Here's how I came up with these
numbers.

Senate Bill.  These estimates are straightforward -- they're taken
directly from the CBO's report

substantial discount, because the government is covering 72 percent of
the premium -- meaning that the gross cost of the premium is $14,286,
some $10,286 of which the government pays.

One caution: this reflects the situation before the public option was
removed from the bill. But, provided that the subsidy schedule isn't
changed as well, that shouldn't change these numbers much.

Status Quo. In 2009, the average premium for a family in the individual
market was $6,328, according to the insurance lobbying group AHIP
 . However, this figure paints an optimistic picture for two
reasons. Firstly, the average family size in the AHIP dataset is 3.03
people; for a family of four, that number would scale upward to $7,925,
by my calculations. Secondly, the CBO's estimates are based on 2016
figures, not 2009, so to make an apples-to-apples comparison, we have to
account for inflation. According to Kaiser, the average cost of health
coverage has increased by about 8.7 percent annually
  over the past decade, and by 8.8 percent for family coverage.
Let's scale that down slightly, assuming 7.5 annual inflation in
premiums from 2009 through 2016 inclusive. That would bring the cost of
the family's premium up by a nominal 66 percent, to $13,149. And
remember: these are based on estimates of premiums provided by the
insurance lobby. I have no particular reason to think that they're
biased, but if they are, it's probably on the low side.

Not only, however, would this family paying a lot more under the status
quo, but they'd be doing so for inferior insurance. According to the
CBO, the amount of coverage in the individual market would improve by
between 27 and 30 percent under the Senate's bill. Taking the midpoint
of those numbers (28.5 percent), we can infer that there would be about
$1,427 in additional cost sharing to this family in the status quo as
compared with the Senate bill; this would bring their cost sharing to
$6,427 total.

Add the $6,247 to the $13,149 and you get an annual cost of $19,576 --
for a family earning $54,000!  Obviously, very few such families are
going to be able to afford that unless they have a lot of money in the
bank. So, some of these families will go without insurance, or they'll
by really crappy insurance, or they'll pay the premiums but skimp on
out-of-pocket costs, which will negatively impact their fiscal and
physical health. But if this family were to want to obtain equivalent
coverage to that which would be available to them for $9,000 in the
Senate bill, it would cost them between $19,000 and $20,000, according
to my estimates.

Status Quo with SCHIP. Fortunately, some families in this predicament do
receive some relief via the SCHIP
  program. SCHIP eligibility varies from state to state; a family
earning income at 225 percent of the poverty line, as this family does,
is eligible for SCHIP in about half of the country
 .

Premiums are fairly cheap
  under SCHIP -- for a family
at 225 percent of poverty, generally on the order of about $60 per month
to cover two children. We'll assume that this will inflate slightly to
$75 per month, or $900 per year, by 2016.

The two adults in the household will still have to buy insurance in the
individual market, which will cost $7,684 by 2016. That makes the
family's total premium $8,584.

For the adults, we assume that the cost sharing component runs
proportional to premiums, and totals $3,756. For the children, this
calculation is a little bit more ambiguous. Out-of-pocket costs under
SCHIP are capped
  at 5 percent
of family income, which would be $2,700 for this family. But that's a
cap and not an average -- we'll assume that the average is half of the
cap, or $1,350. Total cost-sharing, therefore, is $5,106 between the
adults and the children.

This means that premiums plus out of pocket costs will equal $13,690 for
this family. I estimate the subsidy by subtracting this f

[FairfieldLife] Re: Shemp, sell your house!

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Premanand"  wrote:
>
> Turquoise, your recollections of Bevan's attitude to passing 
> on negative information to Maharishi actually puts the spotlight 
> on Maharishi, for if Bevan was only trying to please Maharishi, 
> how was it that Maharishi didn't want to be told the truth?

Paul, I can't speak for anything that happened
after 1977, but I saw quite a few interactions
between Maharishi and "underlings" in the years
before that. The reason no one wanted to be the
one to tell Maharishi any bad news, or even that
things weren't going as perfectly as he'd pre-
dicted or expected was that Maharishi used to
take his disappointment out on the person who
told him. 

It was very much a "kill the messenger" scenario,
often ending with the person who had told him the
less-than-positive news being banished from his
sight for days to weeks.

Bottom line was that in all such interactions I 
saw, I never got the feeling that Maharishi cared
very much about reality. He wanted to be told that
things were happening exactly as he'd imagined 
they would happen and had said they would happen. 
And woe be unto him who told him otherwise.

[FairfieldLife] Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joins negotiations at Copenhagen


Clinton: US would help raise billions on climate  [U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton has arrived at COP15 as time runs out for the
climate talks.]
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived
at COP15 as time runs out for the climate talks.

COPENHAGEN  As hopes faded for a strong climate deal, U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to put new life into
flagging U.N. talks Thursday by announcing the U.S. would join others in
raising $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poorer nations cope with
global warming.
She made the offer contingent on the conference's reaching a broader
agreement, including on the issue of "transparency," demanding a Chinese
commitment to allow some kind of oversight to verify its actions to
control emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

The Chinese thus far have resisted what they see as a potential
intrusion on their sovereignty. But without that, Clinton told
reporters, "there will not be the kind of concerted global action that
we so desperately need."

Clinton's arrival and announcement in snowy Copenhagen ratcheted up the
U.S.-Chinese diplomatic dueling that has been dominated the two weeks of
climate talks. The negotiations end Friday with a summit gathering of
President Barack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and more than 110
other national leaders.

For China's part, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Beijing told
reporters Thursday that developed countries should show "more sincerity"
in the talks here.

Environment ministers, having taken over from lower-level negotiators,
were getting down to final hours of talks Thursday in hopes of producing
partial agreements to put before Obama, Wen and the others leaders.

Such accords might include long-term goals for financing climate aid,
raised by Clinton, and monitoring of emissions controls.

The Danish hosts had envisioned a comprehensive Copenhagen deal listing
emissions cuts by richer nations, other restraints on the production of
greenhouse gases by major developing countries, and a plan to help
finance poorer countries adapt to global warming. It was to have served
as a framework for a treaty to be completed next year.

"As it looks now, we will not get the deal that we had hoped for," said
a Danish official, who is not authorized to speak publicly about the
talks and asked not to be named.

But British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was among those stressing the
time left, not the time lost.

"We can, by working together over the next 48 hours, reach agreement
that will help the planet move forward for generations to come," he told
reporters.

Two weeks of detailed talks on a range of issues  from emissions
commitments, to preventing deforestation, to transferring clean-energy
technology  reached an impasse on Wednesday when developing nations
objected to the process that produced a core draft document.

In a reprise of a perennial complaint at the annual conferences, the
poorer nations complained they were being excluded from the drafting of
the text, that "northern"  read wealthy nations'  views were
being imposed on the "south," or developing nations.

The Clinton offer on long-term climate financing for developing
countries reflected an amount  $100 billion  that Britain's
Brown has previously suggested, to help poorer countries build sea walls
against rising oceans, cope with unusual drought and deal with other
impacts of climate change, while also financing renewable-energy and
similar projects.

"It's good there's now been a statement of support for a clear number on
long-term finance," U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer said of the U.S.
offer. "This discussion will have to take place with other parties,
whether they feel that sum is adequate."

Expert studies, by the World Bank and others, have estimated the
long-term climate costs for poorer nations, from 2020 or so, would
likely total hundreds of billions of dollars a year. China and other
developing countries say the target should be in the range of $350
billion.

More immediately, the conference has been discussing a short-term
climate fund to help developing countries  a $10-billion-a-year,
three-year program. European Union leaders last week committed to
supplying $3.6 billion a year through 2012. On Wednesday, Japan, seeking
to "contribute to the success" of Copenhagen, announced it would kick in
$5 billion a year for three years.

U.S. funding is hovering at only around $1 billion this year, and
Clinton, when asked did not specify how much Washington would contribute
to the "fast start" package.

"We'll do our proportion of `fast start'," the secretary of state said.

De Boer commented afterward, "I'm keenly looking forward to hearing what
the U.S. contribution to that fund will be."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, said the U.S. must improve
its offer of emission cuts and stressed the urgency of reaching a
concrete climate agreement in Copenhagen.

"I have to be honest, an offer by the U

[FairfieldLife] Waterworld here we come.....

 Sea level rise may exceed worst expectations
  
Posted by Ivica Miskovic Labels: News

 
[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jVVDVzcqb9c/Synp37JP46I/JCU/atfjiIjJs\
6o/s320/arctic+ice+meltdown.jpg] 
 Seas were nearly 10 metres higher
than now in previous interglacial period.

With climate talks stalling in Copenhagen, a study suggests that one
problem, sea level rise, may be even more urgent than previously
thought.
Robert Kopp, a palaeoclimatologist at Princeton University in New
Jersey, and his colleagues examined sea level rise during the most
recent previous interglacial stage, about 125,000 years ago. It was a
time when the climate was similar to that predicted for our future, with
average polar temperatures about 3-5°C warmer than now.

Other studies have looked at this era, but most focused on sea level
changes in only a few locales and local changes may not fully reflect
global changes. Sea level can rise, for example, if the land is
subsiding. It can also be affected by changes in the mass distribution
of Earth. For example, says Kopp, ice-age glaciers have enough gravity
to pull water slightly polewards. When the glaciers melt, water moves
back towards the Equator. To adjust for such effects, Kopp's team
compiled sea-level data from over 30 sites across the globe.

"We could go to a lot of different places and look at coral reefs or
intertidal sediments or beaches that are now stranded above sea level,
and build a reasonably large database of sea-level indicators," says
Kopp.

The team reports in Nature today that the sea probably rose about
6.69.4 metres above present-day levels during the previous period
between ice ages. When it was at roughly its present level, the average
rate of rise was probably 5692 centimetres a century. "[That is]
faster than the current rate of sea level rise by a factor of about two
or three," Kopp says, warning that if the poles warm as expected, a
similar accelleration in sea-level rise might occur in future.
Climate meltdown
The study is "very sophisticated", says Peter Clark, a geologist at
Oregon State University in Corvallis. "A lot more of the existing ice
sheets at the time must have melted than was thought to be the case," he
says, such as parts of Greenland and Antarctica.

The implications are disconcerting, says Clark. If the world warms up to
levels comparable to those 125,000 years ago, "we can expect a large
fraction of the Greenland ice sheet and some part of the Antarctic ice
sheet, mostly likely West Antarctica, to melt. That's clearly in sight
with where we're heading."

Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Arizona in
Tucson agrees. "Earth's polar ice sheets may be more vulnerable to
climate change than commonly believed," he says.

Furthermore, even if global warming causes seas to start rising toward
the levels seen 125,000 years ago, there is no reason to presume that it
will proceed at the relatively sedate rate of 6-9 millimeters a year
seen by Kopp's study. In part, that's because his study didn't have the
resolution to spot changes on a year-by-year basis, so there's nothing
to say that the rise during the last interglacial didn't occur in
shorter, faster spurts, undetectable in Kopp's data.

Near future warming will also be driven by potentially faster-moving
processes than those of the last interglacial. "The driver of [climate
change during the last interglacial period] was slow changes in Earth's
orbit, happening over thousands of years," says Stefan Rahmstorf, an
ocean scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in
Germany. "We're now set to cause several degrees of global warming
within just a century. I would expect this to drive a much faster sea
level rise."

Some scientists think that we may already be committed to a future with
higher seas than had been expected. "There could be a global warming
tipping point beyond which many metres of sea level rise is inevitable
unless global greenhouse-gas emissions are cut dramatically, and soon,"
warns Overpeck.
"I have spent a lot of time talking with national security
decision-makers in this country and abroad about the security
implications of climate change," says Marc Levy, deputy director of the
Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia
University's Earth Institute in New York. "I've consistently witnessed
an inability on their part to take sea-level risks seriously. This study
helps frame the risks in ways that decision-makers can better
understand."

From:  
http://www.palenews.net/2009/12/sea-level-rise-may-exceed-worst.html

[FairfieldLife] Re: Shemp, sell your house!

2009-12-17 Thread Premanand

Turquoise, your recollections of Bevan's attitude to passing on negative 
information to Maharishi actually puts the spotlight on Maharishi, for if Bevan 
was only trying to please Maharishi, how was it that Maharishi didn't want to 
be told the truth?

Seriously, the issue of whether or not Bevan is to be described as a "toady" is 
really unimportant, but the issue of Maharishi's veracity is of paramount 
interest. It would be extremely useful if a list were made of specific examples 
where Maharishi's veracity is proven.




--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "ShempMcGurk"  wrote:
> >
> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj  wrote:
> > >
> > > You could be right. There could be another reason he said:
> > > 
> > > "I will always contend from the few encounters I had with Bevan 
> > > on my six-month course in 1977 that he was the most inspiring 
> > > leader of the TMO I've ever come across. I'd follow him anywhere."
> > 
> > Have you had any personal contact with Bevan, Vaj, and if so, 
> > what was it and why did it form what I assume form the above 
> > is a negative impression?
> 
> I'll provide a "personal moment," Shemp, from the
> same course during which you stupidly fell in love
> with him. Several guys on the course had medical or
> other issues while there *that were being ignored*
> by the nominal course leaders. For example, they
> were not allowed to go into town to see a doctor
> for a medical condition or get necessary medications.
> Because my "buddy" and I worked for the Regional
> Office, they asked us to talk to Bevan about it 
> when he came, to see if something could be done.
> 
> We talked to him, and presented these guys' requests,
> to be passed along to Maharishi. And as we sat there
> both of us knew as we spoke that he would never in
> a million years actually pass along these requests.
> (And he didn't. No one ever did, during the entire
> course.) His priority was being able to go back to
> Seelisberg and say, "Everything is perfect, Maharishi,
> just as it should be." There was never the slightest
> chance that he would ever have reported any of the
> numerous problems with food, lack of heat, tainted
> water coming out of the faucets, etc. that were
> given to him. 
> 
> In other words, he was yer classic self-serving toady.
> He went on to establish himself as one in many other
> situations over the years, but that was my first
> exposure to his toadiness. The welfare of the people
> on the course never once crossed his mind; all he
> cared about was how *he* appeared to Maharishi.
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: 1957

2009-12-17 Thread dhamiltony2k5

1962
Maharishi's Year of 
Theory of the Absolute

Maharishi brings to light the
Theory of the Absolute and trains
hundreds of Meditation Guides to
help bring the direct experience
of the absolute to people everywhere.

>
> 1961
> Maharishi's Year of Teacher Training.
> 
> Maharishi's inspiration to "multiply himself"
> by training teachers of Transcendental Meditation:
> the first international course is held in Rishikesh,
> India.
> 
> >
> > 
> > 1960
> > Maharishi's Year of Cosmic Consciousness.
> > 
> > Maharishi explains experiences of Transcendental
> > Meditation in terms of Cosmic Consciousness.
> > In London, Maharishi inaugurates his First 
> > Three Year Plan to spiritually regenerate the world.
> > 
> > >
> > > 1959
> > > Maharishi's Year of Global Awakening
> > > 
> > > Maharishi starts to teach Transcendental Meditation
> > > around the world.
> > > 
> > > >
> > > > 1958
> > > > Maharishi's Year of Spiritual Regeneration Movement.
> > > > 
> > > > Inspired to raise the quality of life in the world
> > > > through the practice of Transcendental Meditation,
> > > > Maharishi inaugurates the Spiritual Regeneration 
> > > > Movement to spiritually regenerate mankind.
> > > >  
> > > > 
> > > > >1957
> > > > > Maharishi's Year of Transcendental Meditation
> > > > > 
> > > > > Maharishi evolves a simple, natural practice for the mind to come to 
> > > > > a balanced state, and thereby gain the ability to spontaneously 
> > > > > function in accord with all the laws of nature.  This was the year of 
> > > > > revival of Yog, philosophy and practice; this was the year of revival 
> > > > > of Vedic wisdom for perfection in life.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: 30th Anniversary Celebrations!

2009-12-17 Thread dhamiltony2k5

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer"  wrote:
>
> Two points on this. 
> 1.   The 30th anniversary was actually last summer. I guess the idea
> just came up.
>  

Well, actually a few weeks ago some thoughtful person up there hosted a 
get-together for 50-year meditators living here in the community.  Some folks 
going back to the 1950's with Maharishi.  A congenial get-together for a meal 
in the Argiro student center up on campus.

Some folks who were invited and went to it enjoyed it a lot and were then also 
impressed by how grumpy Beven was as they saw him.

-D in FF

[FairfieldLife] Re: Another "Golden Sunset" of the Age of Enlightenment??

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, cardemaister  wrote:
>
> 
> hiraNyayena savitaa rathena
> aa devo yaati bhuvanaani pashyan??
> 
> If we are lucky, we might see it in a couple of
> minutes! (GMT 12.00??)
> 
> http://www.sarkanniemi.fi/www/webcam.php?lang=fi

Sorry, the sun was *way* too bright. It's kinda weird,
this time of the year. I guess the Yffers in Denmark,
a couple of hundred miles SW, are to "blame", LOL!

[FairfieldLife] Waterworld discovered...

Waterworld planet is more Earth-like than any discovered before
Astronomers spotted the waterworld orbiting a star in our cosmic
backyard, raising the chances that we will eventually discover planets
suitable for life

* Ian Sample  , science
correspondent
* guardian.co.uk  , Wednesday 16 December
2009 18.00 GMT
*
*  [Super-Earth GJ 1214b discovered by MEarth project]  [View larger
picture] 


Planet GJ 1214b orbiting its red dwarf star. The Hubble telescope will
reveal whether it is suitable for life. Artist's impression: David A.
Aguilar/CfA

A giant waterworld that is wet to its core has been spotted in orbit
around a dim but not too distant star, improving the odds that habitable
planets may exist in our cosmic neighbourhood.

The planet is nearly three times as large as Earth and made almost
entirely of water, forming a global ocean more than 15,000km deep.

Astronomers detected the alien world as it passed in front of its sun, a
red dwarf star 40 light years away in a constellation called Ophiuchus
 , after the Greek for "snake
holder".

The discovery, made with a network of amateur telescopes, is being
hailed as a major step forward in the search for planets beyond our
solar system that are hospitable to life as we know it.

Measurements suggest the planet is shrouded in a thick atmosphere of
hydrogen and helium that blocks visible light from its sun, plunging the
watery surface into permanent darkness. The weight of the atmosphere
keeps the water liquid despite it being a searing 120C to 282C.

Writing in the journal Nature 
, David Charbonneau
  at the
Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics
  describes how his team used a suite of
eight amateur-sized telescopes to spot the planet as it moved across the
face of its star, which is less than 0.5% as bright as our own sun.

The telescopes picked up a slight dimming in light from the star as the
waterworld, named GJ1214b, passed in front of it every 1.6 days. The
planet has a radius 2.7 times as large as the Earth's and orbits at a
distance of only two million kilometres from its star. Our own planet
circles the sun at an average distance of around 150 million kilometres.

"It would be very difficult to imagine life as we know it on the
surface. It's hot and dark and there are probably no rocky surfaces like
we have on Earth," said Charbonneau.

Charbonneau heads the MEarth project
 , which trains telescopes on a class of star
called M-dwarfs or red dwarfs, which are much cooler and dimmer than our
own sun. Planets orbiting close to these can lie in what astronomers
call the "Goldilocks zone", where temperatures are neither too hot nor
too cold for water to flow and life to flourish.

"We've found this planet in the first few months of MEarth being in
operation, so we are either extremely lucky or these kinds of planets
are very common," Charbonneau said.

"In time, we expect to find planets that are further away from their
parent stars and so are likely to have surface temperatures much closer
to those found on Earth," he added.

The latest planet is only a stone's throw away in astronomical terms,
meaning scientists will be able to turn the Hubble Space Telescope
  towards it
and analyse its atmosphere, potentially revealing signs of life.
Charbonneau's team has already requested time on the space telescope.

"Using the Hubble, we can look at the atmosphere and say not only
whether it's habitable, but whether it's inhabited," Charbonneau told
the Guardian. "If we find oxygen in the atmosphere things will get
really interesting, because on Earth all the oxygen in the atmosphere
comes from life."

After spotting GJ1214b in orbit, the astronomers measured tiny movements
in the parent star as the planet circled around it. From these wobbles
they calculated the mass of the planet to be 6.6 times as great as the
Earth's. The most likely composition of the planet is 75% water, with
22% silicon and 3% iron forming a solid core, the scientists report.

In an accompanying article, Geoffrey Marcy, an astronomer at the
University of California in Berkeley
 , said the extrasolar planet or
"exoplanet" provides "the most watertight evidence so far for a planet
that is something like our own Earth outside our solar system".

Zachory Berta, a co-author on the latest paper, said: "Despite its hot
temperature, this appears to be a waterworld. It is much smaller, cooler
and more Earth-like than any other known

[FairfieldLife] Another "Golden Sunset" of the Age of Enlightenment??


hiraNyayena savitaa rathena
aa devo yaati bhuvanaani pashyan??

If we are lucky, we might see it in a couple of
minutes! (GMT 12.00??)

http://www.sarkanniemi.fi/www/webcam.php?lang=fi

[FairfieldLife] Re: Sceptic James Randi On Global Warming

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend"  wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Hugo"  wrote:
> > 
> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend"  wrote:
> > >
> > > I suspect Randi will come to deeply regret this post.
> > > Even some of his groupie commenters are appalled by
> > > its ignorance and faulty logic. I hate to think what
> > > the climate scientists on RealClimate.org will do to
> > > it if they get hold of it.
> > 
> > Have a good laugh I should think. I've always been a 
> > big fan of Randi and I admire his willingness to put 
> > his money where his mouth is so I'm interested in why 
> > you say he hasn't always been on the side of the angels.
> > Care to expand?
> 
> Aahhh, too big a subject. Basically, his approach isn't
> at all scientific. He starts with the conclusion that
> such-and-such is a hoax or humbug, then does whatever
> he can think of to try to make it appear that he's proved
> it's a hoax or humbug. He takes shortcuts and uses
> rhetoric and ridicule and misdirection to conceal his own
> sleight-of-hand. One of his many fallacies is that if he
> can show that something could have been done using
> magicians' tricks, it proves that this is in fact how it
> was done.

I agree, as I say below with the medium trick he pulled
it didn't prove that's how they were doing it just that
it could've been faked. Not the same thing at all. But then
the legendary Doris Stokes used to keep all the thousands 
of letters she received from people desperately hoping for
news from dead relatives and when she was on tour she had
a ready resource of names from which to claim she was getting messages from, if 
the sender was in the audience all the 
better for her act. 

It's all crap I think for more reasons than I could count. 
I'm sure Randi has arrived at the same conclusion or started 
with the same assumption. I don't feel the need to try and prove
it's crap as much as I think mediums should try and prove it 
isn't.

> Don't get me wrong, in many cases he *has* exposed hoaxes
> and humbug. But in some cases he has only created the
> appearance of doing so. I think his attacks on Uri Geller
> fall into that category. Not that Geller didn't do a good
> amount of hoaxing, but he's also done some woo-woo stuff
> under controlled conditions, for which there doesn't seem
> to be any good explanation.
> 
> > I know he gets a lot of criticism from people who
> > fail his million dollar challenge but all the tests he
> > does are worked out with the agreement of the testee
> > that it's within their "powers". Be interested to hear
> > a counter argument.
> 
> Not from me, sorry. I haven't studied these instances,
> but the ones I've read about sounded like they were on
> the up-and-up (on Randi's part, that is).

Randi was on a recent TV doc about a guy who makes a fortune
out of reading the minds of babies, which is a concept so
obviously ridiculous that you'd wonder why anyone would 
fall for it or even want confirmation that babies *can* think.
But there are always people willing to believe (and pay for) 
bizarre stuff and they obviously get crumbs of comfort from it. 

It was so obvious that he cold-reads the babies mother and
sure enough when she wasn't there his mysterious "powers"
weren't so effective. He believes in it enough to try for
the million dollar challenge. Randi set the test with his 
help and he failed miserably (of course) and then claimed that 
the test was set up to make him fail, which is what they all 
say much to Randi's amusement. It was interesting to see how
Randi removes any possibility of cheating with absolutely 
locked down controls, there's no chance of pulling the wool 
over his eyes in controlled conditions. I couldn't help thinking
some meditation researchers could use his help with the Marshy effect. Make 
sure they aren't just kidding themselves in some way.

> Years ago back on alt.m.t, I did a detailed analysis
> of Randi's chapter on TM in his book "Flim-Flam,"
> showing how he fudged a lot of his "evidence" with
> quite deliberately misleading statements. I'll go
> look it up and post the URL if you'd like to read it.

I would, though I've not read his book.

> He's significantly more humble in this post on climate
> change; at least he's willing to admit he isn't sure
> of his ground. But as you note (and I did as well),
> a lot of his argument is rather grossly ignorant, and
> he introduces a bunch of complete non sequiturs. It
> makes one wonder if he's been similarly sloppy in doing
> his homework on other things he's supposedly debunked.

It does, I think the million dollar challenge is safe
but maybe some skeptical thought comes from the fact 
that if something isn't seen as being possible it must
not be and things maybe get twisted to fit. Yuri Geller 
was caught out good and proper though, he had stooges in 
the crowd and all sorts. You can see why Randi and co feel 
justified in doubting anything else he claimed w

[FairfieldLife] Re: Obama, Obama, Obama

2009-12-17 Thread seekliberation

You can't really blame Obama for anything he's done.  He feels very strongly 
that he's right.  In America, you don't have to be right, you just have to look 
right.  And boy doesn't Obama look right?!  Very clear and keen intellect, 
decent looking man, picture perfect wife and family, and insanely clever as a 
politician.  This is what people voted for.  This is America.  Image, 
appearance, and presentation is everything.  Substance is insubstantial.

I remember watching the Democrat Nat'l Party/celebration and a TV interviewer 
asked a woman why she's voting for Obama.  She said 'because he's gonna create 
jobs!!!'.  Then the interviewer asked 'how's he going to do that?'.  She 
replied 'He's just gonna do it!!!'.  

If you want to blame anyone, you can also blame republicans.  If Sarah Palin 
would've know what she was talking about, and would've avoided saying the 
blatantly stupid things that she said, perhaps she would've won John McCain 
some votes in the long run.  I think she had one too many 'pit bull' and 
'Maverick' speeches that anyone with half a brain decided to go with a 
candidate that had a more presentable speech to give.  

Hillary Clinton also had a few hiccups during her campaign.  She is not quite 
as brilliant as Obama in politics.  She is more experienced, and I agree she'd 
probably have made a few less mistakes or better decisions overall.  But I 
followed many of her speeches as well.  She received a lot of scrutiny in false 
display of emotions, and other non-genuine qualities.  Obama is too smooth of a 
talker to be beat, and the time was just right for him.  

seekliberation

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "It's just a ride" 
 wrote:
>
> Obama is a terrible person.  He stole the election from Thunder Thighs and
> RD.  He sold out to bankers.  He engineered a subterfuge which enables
> insurance companies to make a killing in the guise of getting the first
> comprehensive healthcare reform bill enacted, the first after 6 decades of
> trying.  He did this also in the pretense that the health care bill can be
> built upon in subsequent years, not unlike the Civil Rights Act or the first
> income tax or the first time Congress passed a bill which forced states to
> spend their own money to follow federal mandates, a form of taxation without
> representation.  Obama is a skunk.  Thunder Thighs would have done it all
> and better.  Just like she did when her hubby was in office.  Obama will
> suffer eternal damnation and the fires of Hell for everything he's done,
> starting with not conceding the election to Thunder Thighs.
> 
> There.  And I said it all without posting quote after quote of some other
> writer.
> 
> Thunder Thighs and RD* * über alles.**
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: NBC-WSJ Poll Reflects Americans' Deep Pessimism

2009-12-17 Thread BillyG

The Titanic is sinking and Obama is measuring the windows for drapes!!

Count me among those who feel this way, the Democrats/Unions have their boy in 
Washington and now you see how goofy and out of touch they all really are!!!  

Completely out of touch with main street reality.

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend"  wrote:
>
> Transcript of a report on tonight's NBC Nightly
> News about the results of a new NBC News-Wall
> Street Journal poll:
> 
> 
> CHUCK TODD, NBC POLITICAL DIRECTOR:  By any 
> measurement, this has been a tough year for the 
> country, and, by extension, a tough year for the 
> president.  Coming into office, it was clear he 
> was going to have to deal with a slew of 
> problems, from that financial crisis to two wars.
> 
> But the public was optimistic and hopeful about 
> the country and its new president a year ago.  
> That's not the case any more.
> 
> On his first day in office, the president was 
> full of optimism.
> 
> PRES. BARACK OBAMA:  On this day, we gather 
> because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of 
> purpose over conflict and discord.
> 
> TODD:  The country responded and grew optimistic 
> early on.  But now, the pessimism is back.  
> Fifty-five percent of those surveyed believe the 
> country is off on the wrong track.  And less than 
> half, 47 percent, now approve of the job the 
> president is doing, down from 60 percent at that 
> hopeful start of his presidency.
> 
> This grading of the president is at odds with his 
> own perception, which he shared with Oprah 
> Winfrey last Sunday.
> 
> OPRAH WINFREY, HOST, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW":  
> What grade would you give yourself for this year?
> 
> OBAMA:  Good solid B-plus.
> 
> TODD:  And while 54 percent had confidence in 
> President Obama's goals and policies when he came 
> into office, just 39 percent say the same thing 
> now.
> 
> Much of the second half of 2009 in Washington has 
> been dominated by the healthcare debate.  And the 
> longer this debate has gone on, the more negative 
> the public has turned.
> 
> Just 32 percent now believe the president's 
> healthcare plan is a good idea; 47 percent say 
> it's a bad idea.  And for the first time this 
> year, more folks tell us it's better if the plan 
> does not pass, 44 percent, than if it does pass, 
> 41 percent.
> 
> The lone bright spot in the poll for the 
> president, 55 percent support his decision to 
> send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.  In 
> November, before the president's West Point and 
> Nobel speeches, fewer than half, 47 percent, had 
> favored sending more troops in.
> 
> Despite finding common ground in Afghanistan, the 
> unity President Obama called for in January is 
> gone.  When he took office, nearly half were 
> optimistic that the two political parties would 
> work together.  Looking back, 81 percent now 
> believe 2009 was a year of division, where 
> neither party showed a willingness to compromise. 
> 
> Last week, the president acknowledged the 
> problem.
> 
> OBAMA:  For decades, we've watched as efforts to 
> solve tough problems have fallen prey to the 
> bitterness of partisanship, to prosaic concerns 
> of politics, to ever-quickening news cycles, to 
> endless campaigns focused on scoring points 
> instead of meeting our common challenges.
> 
> TODD:  I can't emphasize enough how pessimistic 
> the public is, according to this data.  Sixty-one 
> percent tell us America is in a state of decline. 
> Sixty-six percent have very little confidence 
> that our children will be better off than we 
> were.
> 
> Of course, all of this doom and gloom mindset is 
> tied to one issue, the economy.
>

[FairfieldLife] Bruce Cockburn -- "Put It In Your Heart" and "Wait No More"

For the Bruce fans here, two great new performances 
on YouTube, courtesy of the Bravo channel. An added
treat is Hugh Marsh on violin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcizJ8qWrdw

What does it take for the heart to explode into stars?
One day we'll wake to remember how lovely we are
Lightning's a kiss that lands hot on the loins of the sky
Something uncoils at the base of my spine and I cry

I want to wait no more
Wait no more
Wait no more

[FairfieldLife] Share International Magazine - update reminder

2009-12-17 Thread nablusoss1008


Share International Magazine - update reminder
December 2009



Update notice
A newly updated, abridged version of Share International magazine can
now be viewed at:
http://www.share-international.org/magazine/SI_current.htm


"...The Masters are readying Themselves for open recognition and work.
Their presence will provide the confidence that the needed changes in
our social life will be for the better and have long been necessary. The
aim is that the Masters and men should work together in every field of
endeavour, and thus expedite the changes required..."
From: Men will answer the Call, by the Master , through Benjamin
Creme
http://www.share-international.org/magazine/old_issues/2009/2009-12.htm#\
menwillanswerthecall


In case you missed it:
News Release: Spiral light over Norway  the 'star' that heralds
Maitreya's emergence
The enormous, spiral light with its glowing centre, seen over Norway on
December 9, 2009...is a sign heralding the imminent appearance of
Maitreya, the World Teacher, on his first television interview, which
will take place in the USA.
http://www.share-international.org/media/news_releases.htm


Star sign - latest update 11 December 2009
http://www.share-international.org/maitreya/Ma_starsign.htm




Please share this information with others.

Best regards,
Share International Volunteers
Background information is available at:
http://www.Share-International.org

[FairfieldLife] Re: Shemp, sell your house!

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "ShempMcGurk"  wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj  wrote:
> >
> > You could be right. There could be another reason he said:
> > 
> > "I will always contend from the few encounters I had with Bevan 
> > on my six-month course in 1977 that he was the most inspiring 
> > leader of the TMO I've ever come across. I'd follow him anywhere."
> 
> Have you had any personal contact with Bevan, Vaj, and if so, 
> what was it and why did it form what I assume form the above 
> is a negative impression?

I'll provide a "personal moment," Shemp, from the
same course during which you stupidly fell in love
with him. Several guys on the course had medical or
other issues while there *that were being ignored*
by the nominal course leaders. For example, they
were not allowed to go into town to see a doctor
for a medical condition or get necessary medications.
Because my "buddy" and I worked for the Regional
Office, they asked us to talk to Bevan about it 
when he came, to see if something could be done.

We talked to him, and presented these guys' requests,
to be passed along to Maharishi. And as we sat there
both of us knew as we spoke that he would never in
a million years actually pass along these requests.
(And he didn't. No one ever did, during the entire
course.) His priority was being able to go back to
Seelisberg and say, "Everything is perfect, Maharishi,
just as it should be." There was never the slightest
chance that he would ever have reported any of the
numerous problems with food, lack of heat, tainted
water coming out of the faucets, etc. that were
given to him. 

In other words, he was yer classic self-serving toady.
He went on to establish himself as one in many other
situations over the years, but that was my first
exposure to his toadiness. The welfare of the people
on the course never once crossed his mind; all he
cared about was how *he* appeared to Maharishi.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman