Jing-reed's Musings from Thailand

Mandala Tibetan Gold

                                  [   click to enlarge ]

As frequent visitors to this small niche of the internet know I have been intrigued by the Mandala art form for well over 25 years.  Both the traditional Tibetan sand mandalas and thangkas as well as more contemporary forms, especially those produced by fractal design. I have been using the Ultrafractal software for well over ten years, one of the finest creative programs ever produced for the PC.

In common use, 'mandala' has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, a microcosm of the Universe from the human perspective.
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Mars-Bound Curiosity Rover

Scary Landing Awaits Mars-Bound Rover

Mars Science Laboratory will use a new landing system called a sky crane to touch down on Mars on Aug. 6, 2012.

For the final mile of its 354 million-mile journey, the rover will fly beneath a rocket-powered platform that will gently lower it on tethers to the floor of a crater.

The goal of the two-year mission is to determine if Mars could have, or possibly still has, habitats for life.

Entering the Martian atmosphere is not for the faint of heart. The envelope of gases surrounding the planet is thick enough to slow down a spacecraft from its interplanetary speed of about 3.5 miles per second, but too thin for safe landing by parachutes alone.

NASA previously used airbags or thruster rockets on its Mars rovers and landers to cushion the impact, but Mars Science Lab, which weighs nearly a ton, needs a beefier system.

Enter the sky crane -- the final piece of a complicated landing system that will cap the rover's nearly nine-month, 354 million-mile journey to Mars.

The spacecraft, nicknamed Curiosity, is folded up inside a protective shell that includes a large heat shield, which will melt and evaporate away from friction as it falls through the atmosphere.

At about 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles, above the surface, a 51-foot diameter parachute deploys to further slow Curiosity's descent and the heat shield is jettisoned.



   Mars Science Laboratory - Curiosity Rover - Mission Animation

 

Sensitive Politicians

Gov. Brownback sucks, Kansas sort of sucks [lived there, I know from experience]. 

And here is the proof. . . . .

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Feathered Dinosaurs

Microraptor – the four-winged dinosaur that ate birds

:"We now know that birds evolved from small, feathered dinosaurs. It’s easy to think that since birds are still around today, they must have come after their dinosaur* cousins, but that’s not true. In the Cretaceous period, dinosaurs were still around while their descendants flitted through the skies. And some dinosaurs made meals of their flighty relatives. Jingmai O’Connor from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has uncovered the remains of a small dinosaur called Microraptor that has the bones of small bird in its gut.

O’Connor analysed the fossil with Xing Xu, a Chinese scientist who has made a career from discovering beautiful feathered dinosaurs. Microraptor is one of his most important finds. This tiny animal, about the size of a pigeon, had four wings, with long feathers on both of its legs as well as its arms. It was, at the very least, a very competent glider, if not a true flier.

The specimen that O’Connor and Xu have studied isn’t the best preserved Microraptor around. However, it does clearly have the remains of a small bird in its gut, including the left wing and both feet. There aren’t enough bones to tell which species it was, but the distinctive shape of its leg bone singles it out as one of the  enantiornithines, an extinct group of early birds. They were, after all, one of the most common groups of birds in the  forests of China, where Microraptor hunted. , , , , "


Equally amazing is that someone by the name of 'Jingmai O’Connor' is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
But she does indeed exist, and here is her home page:

    

Black Friday

Black Friday has come and gone.  This year with a surprising amount of violence and people acting like animals which were out of control . But what are its anticedents. The history of Black Friday began in 1966. This is when a story appeared in an ad in The American Philatelist. The Philadelphia Police Department used the name 'Black Friday' to describe the traffic jams and crowding in the downtown stores.

Black Friday has been the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season since the 1930s. In fact, President Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up a week during the Great Depression because retailers wanted an extra week of shopping revenue.

Violence Mars Black Friday Shopping

"Black Friday's typical jostling and jockeying took a more ominous turn during this year's bargain-hunting ritual with a shooting, a pepper spraying and other episodes of violence that left several people injured.

In the most serious case, a robber shot a shopper who refused to give up his purchases outside a San Leandro, Calif., Walmart store, leaving the victim hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

At another Walmart in a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles, a woman trying to get the upper hand to buy cheap electronics unleashed pepper spray on a crowd of shoppers, causing minor injuries to 20 people, police said. The attack took place about 10:20 p.m. Thursday shortly after doors opened for the sale at the Walmart in Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley.

Meanwhile, police in suburban Phoenix came under fire when a video was posted online showing a 54-year-old grandfather on the floor of a Walmart store with a bloody face, after police said he was subdued Thursday night trying to shoplift during a chaotic rush for discounted video games."


.[Be sure and watch the lady in  the blue tee shirt - her butt crack may be showing as her very tight pants slide ever downward, but she got at least 4 of those $2 waffle makers.]

Quote of the Day

Excellent observation, however the commentor neglected to mention that the Tea Party members also have trouble with the basic skills of logical thinking. 

It is a well known fact that 40 million Americans are 'functional illiterates' [unable to read or write beyond a 4th grade level].  And it would appear that many, if not most, of them belong to the Tea Party. 

'Ullu Chods' of the World, Unite !

Pak bans dirty texting: just say no to monkey crotch

"You cannot SMS ullu chod [owl fucker] in Pakistan anymore. Nor can you SMS monkey crotch if you had any reason to do so.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has banned 1,795 expletives on SMS, ordering telecom companies to filter out SMS-es containing these offending words with effect from 21 November 2011. The letter includes a list of 1,109 English words, more pornographic terms than expletives, and another 586 Urdu words which are more colourful sexual expletives of the standard South Asian kind rather than the plain garden variety pornography.

A letter from the PTA, dated 14 November and signed by its Director General (Services), Muhammed Talib Doger invokes the “Protection from Spam, Unsolicited, Fraudulent and Obnoxious Communication Regulations, 2009″ to pass the order. . . . . "

The Express Tribune also comments on this latest revelation from Pakistani PTA. 


Pakistanis can still rape, pillage, murder, throw acid in the faces of women who piss them off [as long as they sing the praises of Allah], but mentioning 'owl fuckers',  'Athletes Foot', willies, condoms and more than a thousand other 'offensive' words will be forbidden.

Jay Greenberg, Musical Prodigy

Jay Greenberg Composer

"Born in 1991 in New Haven, Connecticut, American composer Jay Greenberg began playing the cello at three, and subsequently taught himself to play the piano. His first formal lessons in theory and composition with Antony John at Duke University began at seven; three years later he enrolled as a scholarship student in a special program at New York’s Juilliard School of Music that involved courses at both the pre-undergrad and undergraduate levels, including composition classes with Samuel Adler, music theory with Samuel Zyman and Kendall Briggs, and multiple courses in ear training and piano. Later, during the 2006-07 academic year, Greenberg took composition classes at the Yale School of Music as part of a high school independent study program. Currently he is a second-year undergraduate student reading Music at Peterhouse, Cambridge."


'He came to the American media's attention through the sponsorship of Juilliard instructor Samuel Zyman, who lauded Greenberg's talent during a CBS News 60 Minutes broadcast on November 28, 2004, and again on November 26, 2006. "We are talking about a prodigy of the level of the greatest prodigies in history, when it comes to composition. I am talking about the likes of Mozart, and Mendelssohn, and Saint-Saëns."   His primary composition instructor was Samuel Adler. Greenberg composes primarily on his computer, using a music notation program. His most well known work is the Overture to 9-11, about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which was featured on PRI's From the Top. At the time of the attacks, he was living in Macedonia but has since returned to the United States. His father, Robert Greenberg, is a professor of Slavic languages at Yale University. His Israeli-born mother also has no musical background, but Jay found himself attracted to music from an early age.

Like many composers, Greenberg says he hears the music performed inside his head and often several musical pieces simultaneously, and he is then able to simply notate what he has listened to. He says he rarely needs to make corrections to what he has notated. A lot of other material comes to him in this manner.

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The Mysterious Beetle Mandala

Several years ago a friend, knowing of my interest in the mandala art form, sent me an unusual image she had encountered on the internet [though she couldn't remember exactly where]. A 'mandala' composed of bugs, specifially 4 beetles and 2 moths with some Runic characters around the outside rim.  A handsome composition, but I always wanted to know more about who made it, and something about the significance. 

Yesterday I discovered a new feature of Google's Image Search - namely that you can paste an image into the search bar and find all instances of that image that occur on the internet.  Felt that perhaps I could finally get more information on this attractive, and mysterious image.

Including my own posting in 2007 there were  11 sites that had used this unusual image.  Only two in English, four in French, one each in Romanian, Russian, Chinese, Hindi and Greek.   And  with the exception of my site and the one in Russian [devoted to butterflies and moths], all of the various sites included the image primarily because of the Runic inscription.

  

So, despite my search, I still don't knowch more than I did before

Out Of The Blue Documentary

"Narrated by Peter Coyote, OUT OF THE BLUE is widely considered the best documentary ever made about UFOs. The producers traveled around the world to investigate some of the most famous UFO events on record. Through exclusive interviews with high-ranking military and government personnel, this award-winning film supports the theory that some UFOs are of extraterrestrial origin."



This documentary is thought provoking and compelling.

First of all, everything is up to date and there is excellent footage of UFO's and modern computer simulations where video of sightings are not available. Forget the blurry blobs of the past. Feast you eyes on relatively sharp images and clear shapes in colour.

Secondly, it makes use of old footage of statements made by Government officials during the late forties and fifties to great effect. Each statement on it's own seems insignificant but when many such statements are seen together it soon becomes clear that something "funny" is going on. By the end you'll realise that the government position is a joke. How stupid do they think we are?

Thirdly, this documentary is suitable for skeptics and those who know little about the subject. You will be informed about the origins of the "flying saucer" phenomenon and where it's at now. A case will be presented in which the evidence cannot be denied. Only a fool would persist in saying there is nothing to it. People who believe in the existance of extra-terrestrial life will get a lot out of it as well. You may feel like shouting "See - I told you so!".

Another interesting point is that this documentary covers the religious aspect and interviews two theologians to great effect. What they have to say is fascinating.

This is easily the best UFO documentary I have seen and I commend its creators. They have presented the evidence in a professional and exhaustive manner.

Many years ago I worked for the Stanford Research Institute [South Pasadena office] and was amazed to learn that they had been threatened by the Pentagon.

Stanford Research Institute, Senior Policy Analyst, Dr. Alfred Webre

"I worked on the 1977 Carter White House Extraterrestrial Communication Project. It called for creation of central and regional databases under independent control on UFOs and EBEs – that is Extraterrestrial Biological Entities. The full management staff and the research institute had signed off knowingly on the proposal….I flew back from my meeting with the White House, at which this final approval had been given. And when I arrived back at my offices at SRI (Stanford Research Institue), I was called back into the office of the senior SRI official. The project was to be terminated. They had received direct communication from the Pentagon that if the study went forward, SRI's contracts would be terminated. These contracts were a substantial part of SRI's business at the time. The senior Pentagon liaison stated that the project was terminated because, "There are no UFOs." Here we have a President of the United States who came to office under a pledge to open up the UFO issue, and an open study in the White House, and that was squelched.  pp.  441 – 446. See also Dr. Webre's website at http://www.exopolitics.com"

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