QUALITIES of SPIRITUALLY EVOLVED HUMAN BEINGS

1) Integrity: One of the greatest pitfalls of humanity is the over grown mind, which is a fragmentary instrument. How that which is fragmentary, can ever lead you to integrity? As long as one lives as a slave of this fragmentary thought-memory-mind, the quality called integrity is never available. Integrity is the qualitative outcome of the integral being. The integration happens only if the fragmentation is no more. This is possible only when this mind, which is the bundle of thoughts, emotions, memory & fears, is transcended. As the spontaneous outcome of this integrated wholeness, quality called integrity arises. A real spiritually evolved human is the one who is firmly rooted in this kind of integrity, which is very rare.

2) Awareness: Most of the time when we talk about awareness, it is always about something. e.g. social awareness, computer awareness and so on. But what about the awareness of awareness itself? For that one has to become aware of one's body as a first step. If you do so, you will become aware of your gestures, movements and so on. If you go little deeper in silence, by observing your breath, you will able to listen to your heartbeats. If you carry it further, in the second step you can watch your thoughts in an aloof manner as an observer. If it becomes even subtler, the third step is to see the deep-rooted feelings & subtlest emotions. Now if you remain vigilant of all these three steps simultaneously, for longer duration and wait without expectations, the fourth state of becoming aware of awareness happens on its own accord. This is the quality called," awareness of the awakened one", we are talking about. A real spiritual person carries this relaxed multi-dimensional awareness all the time. The quality which is timeless in itself. It's eternal.

3) Non-attachment: Our attachment to our Body, Thoughts, emotions and ideas is so much that it is very difficult to understand the meaning of "Non-attachment" from the view point of the awakened one. A spiritual master is fully aware of his body, thoughts, emotions & ideas but is simply unattached to it, like the lotus in the pond is very much in the mud but it still remains untouched by all that is around it! A Buddha also has his body-mind and he has to take care of it. But it is only functional. He is not the part of the power game of the mind. He is simply a dropout!

4) Silence: We are conditioned by our educational system to understand the word silence as the absence of speech. Or at the most we understand it as the silence of the dead man. But real silence is totally different phenomena! It is not just the absence of speech and the chattering mind but it's vibrant and has the quality of dynamicity or effervescence. It's alive and throbbing, which can be felt by the sensitive ones who go near the awakened one. By being in the energy field of the awakened one, it's possible to experience this silence. It is like, if you go near the flower, you get the fragrance! The fragrance belongs to flower, the silence belongs to Buddha. You may get the glimpse of it but ultimately everyone has to work for it on one's own! The borrowed silence doesn't last long! To be awakened to this effervescent silence is the birth right of everyone and it is not the monopoly of the few selected ones.

5) Love: This is another word, which is most misused and misunderstood. Our love for car or a pet dog or a relative is just the attachment, which is the part of our social conditioning. "Making love" means sex! It's simply physical! Few talk of love in the platonic sense, but that too is the glorification of the non-physical aspect of it. The real love is overflowing joy of the ego-less being! As long as the fictitious identification with body/mind is there, the love exists not. If you ask sun about darkness, it knows nothing about it, so also this purest quality called love can never co-exist with ego. Eradication of the subtlest ego is the primary requirement to understand and experience love. A real spiritual master is a one who is absolutely egoless. Love oozes out of such a person like water flows out of a fountain! It is unconditional and it is available to all.

6) Compassion: Passion is the quality of body-mind, compassion is the quality of mind-less-ness. A passionate person is full of desires and hence gripped by the unawareness. A compassionate Buddha is rooted into the desirelessness and the awareness. Passion is the fever of the body-mind, while compassion is the purest form of love plus meditation. Compassion is neither the duty nor the psychological love. It's neither sympathy nor empathy. Compassion is the quality that comes from beyond the thought-mind! A real compassionate spiritual master is a one who gives without giving. It's a kind of unconditional sharing! A saint, a criminal and a prostitute, all are equal when it comes to the sharing of such a master!

7) Innocence: Look into the wondrous eyes of the child whose mind is not yet polluted by parents & society and you willunderstand the quality called innocence. The awakened one is as innocent as child, but with one difference. A child isunaware of it while an awakened one is absolutely rooted in the awareness. When such a person laughs in his child-like innocence, the entire existence participates in it! The presence of such a person on earth is the blessing unto existence.To reclaim that lost innocence, it is necessary to be born again. With this new spiritual birth, one becomes incorruptible. All that is done by the society is undone in the awareness. To regain this innocence is the real maturity, the ultimate flowering.

8) Courage: One thing that differentiates courageous from cowardice is that a coward goes by his fears while a courageous one puts aside all his fears and is ready to jump into the unknown. When one carries this courage in every situation in life to face the unknown, it ultimately flowers into the fearlessness. The spiritually awakened person is rooted firmly in this fearlessness and hence even death can not touch him. How can the death touch that which is deathless?

9) Friendliness: A real spiritual person does not behave like a Guru to anybody, as he is not on any Gurudom trip! So there is no Guru & there are no disciples. Only friends. Friendship is like relationship. It has it's own limitations like expectations etc. Whereas Friendliness is a quality. It's a state of being. The awakened one carries this feeling of friendliness for everyone and everything around. Friendliness is a quality in which arises the freedom. Freedom is not just opposite of possessive-ness but it is a dimensionally different phenomenon. It simply allows everything to happen around the master with love overflowing.

10) Humor: A real spiritual person is definitely not the one with the most serious looks and a long face. On the contrary, an awakened one has the great sense of humor. At times, even mischievous! Only such a person can laugh at oneself. He laughs at the absurdity of the mind itself! For such a person, life is an everyday picnic! It's a celebration! These are the people who enjoy life because the hindrance to joy from the thought-mind is not there. When the achievement-oriented mind is transcended, the becoming gets transformed into being. A person rooted in his beingness shares it with humor to others around! When the struggle of the thought-mind ends, the humor arises on its own accord!

11) Humility: Learning from nature is one of the best ways to learn. Observe a Mango tree. Its branches move outward & upward, but when it's laden with fruits, the tree bows down in humility. So also the spiritually evolved person becomes humble & simple. An awakened one is not the storehouse of the borrowed informative knowledge but he remains always in the state of not knowing, which is the most humble state of being.

12) Acceptance: In the highest state of choice-less awareness everything is accepted as it is. Likes and dislikes are no hindrance to it as it is beyond both. It's a state of non-judgmental witness. If everything in existence that life offers is accepted as it is, the life becomes a celebration unto itself. Unconditional acceptance of all that is there in the existence is the most virtuous and aesthetic quality of evolved human consciousness.

13) Maturity: A mature person is a one who always lives in the present moment. Present moment is not the same as present. Past, present and future is the continuation of time. To be in the present moment is to be in the eternal nowness. In the depths of silence, if one remains aware and vigilant, the ego disappears. Self-realization is the realization of the self without the ego. When mind is no more, meditation happens. When ego is no more, maturity happens. Maturity is the ultimate flowering of Meditation.

Taken from:
www.premnirmal.com/qtsofspiritualehb.htm

To live timelessly will delight you, channeled  by John Smallman

In Reality life is fun, great fun! Here in the spiritual realms, there is always an air of playfulness as we attend to the work in hand. Of course work here is not in the remotest sense like work on Earth, where most of you struggle to manage your financial obligations and feed and shelter your loved ones, frequently doing work that you positively dislike.

What we call work is our vocation, our calling, our brief, an occupation to which we are perfectly suited, and which stimulates us, excites us, fascinates us, and entrances us – it is “following our bliss” – and we are constantly, enthusiastically engaged with it because of that. Needless to say it is endlessly creative and uplifting.

When you awaken, you will take your places beside us — already reserved for you since the moment of your creation — engaging actively and harmoniously with us in this, which is in effect an ongoing, sublime symphony in praise of Love, Life, Sentience, Consciousness, Oneness, the Source of all that exists, our Father, God.

Words are truly utterly inadequate forms of symbolism with which to describe or even try to paint mental pictures that attempt to express what we do here in Reality. Even the word “do” in this context is quite meaningless. When you awaken, then you will understand the difficulties that we have in communicating meaningfully with you while you remain unawakened and totally reliant on symbols to provide you with information and knowledge.

The environment in which you are presently experiencing life seems vast and complex to you, especially when you take into account the universe which envelops your home planet, the galaxy that enfolds it, and your own lack of magnitude. However, compared to God’s divine Reality, in which all that exists is contained, it is as nothing.

Your awakening is to be an amazing event of enormous significance. It is an event towards which you have been making your way for eons as you played with the concept of linear time, and that concept is now unraveling. To live timelessly will delight you: no deadlines, no anxious waiting periods, no missed opportunities, life unfolding for you all at once and actively encouraging your participation, now and forever. It has to be experienced to be understood, and the joy of that experience awaits you.

Many, many timelines in your earthly scenario are now merging and coming together in a way that is presently wholly inconceivable to you. In a sense, each one of you, each individual human being has his or her own personal timeline, which folds and wrinkles, swerves and curves, as you make decisions and choices that interact with and alter the direction in which your lifepath is taking you, moment to moment.

Because you are each seemingly locked to your own individual paths – doctor, scientist, artist, student, soldier, mother, father, etc. – it is very difficult for you to grasp any real sense of another’s. It is a bit like eating ice cream, or swimming: you see others doing it, you know what it feels like for you, but your individual experiences are just that – yours, individual, separate, different. As these timelines merge, this will all change, and you will start to experience the meaning of oneness.

This merging and melding of timelines will continue until there is only one, and then that too will dissolve, disintegrate, disappear, leaving only Oneness, Creation, God. But no one will be lost because all sentient life is eternal, immortal, fully integrated into the divine energy field. What you see and experience as separate and individual is illusory. All is interconnected permanently. It is just that your very limited perception hides this from you.

Every one of you knows someone whom you see as fixed, inflexible, attached to an unreal belief that he thinks defines him, while it is apparent to others that he is living in his own illusory world, unaware by choice or ignorance of the unreality of his belief, of his situation, of how he presents himself to the world, and convinced that all those around him are odd, wrong, even insane.

Well, in truth you have all to a greater or lesser extent enclosed yourselves in limited and exclusive environments – your churches, your clubs, your political affiliations, your work places, your ethnicities, even your families. When you awaken, those self-imposed limits, those boundaries, those inflexible and “self-evident” beliefs will fall away and you will see with new eyes, hear with new ears, sense with new senses. You will recognize yourselves as One, and your joy will be infinite.

Your loving brother, Jesus.

John Smallman

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Zero-Point Consciousness

Let’s take the mystery out of Zero-point. For these purposes, we will explore this term in relation to consciousness…although it is a term used in physics too. (The basic definition and principles are the same…one dealing with physical matter, the other with consciousness.)

 

What is Zero-point consciousness, how do we arrive there & more importantly how do we stay there?

 

Zero-point consciousness is the point in the center of the circle that everything springs from.

   It is the originating point & as such holds “all potential” & “all possibility” within it.

     On a personal level, it is the center of your Being…your divine connection and the realm of pure potential within you.

      Imagine your brain on a teeter totter.

      Your analytic brain is on the left side & your creative brain is on the right side of this teeter totter.   

 

      In the center is the fulcrum…the point of balance, the point that embraces both sides as needed components to the whole.

      They were created to work together, "not separately".

 

Now, whenever you place a judgement of any sort, or allow the ego to take center stage in any circumstance,

      you have ventured out of the neutral zone that embraces all things into one with personal opinions created from your limited perspective which resulted from eons of personal & social conditioning.

        You have allowed your intellect to react without consulting your heart…

         or possibly you have allowed your emotions center stage without balancing them with your intellect.

       Either way, you have separated yourself from Unity consciousness that lies in the center of all created things & you have weighted in some way your teeter totter & now it leans to one side.

 

       Congratulations! You have now entered the world of imbalance where duality reigns.

        Your perceptions are tainted because they are from a limited view since you can only perceive one side of the equation (your intellect or emotions taking the lead)

     They talk or preach oneness, but everytime They OVER RE-ACT TO A GIVEN OUTER EVENT, THEY BLOW IT, SEPARATION  AGAIN--

IS ONGOING AS LONG AS WE CONTINUE TO OVER RE-ACT IN OUR EMOTIONS,ESPECIALLY. SIMPLY WALK AWAY, BUT TURNING AWAY FROM IT.. OR THEM..... PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT..

 

     You no longer view the "BIG PICTURE" which is only visible from the center or "Zero Point" of Consicousness-your awareness of your reaction or actions of what comes into your field of hearing or seeing or feeling... these are the things we must be constantly on alert to... OUR RE-ACTIONS TO THEM --PERIOD! 

 

      "STOP! IT!"  WE are not children anymore..!  Grow up and make a stand for yourself..YOU WANT FREEDOM..

 

         You are firmly rooted in 3D consciousness wheN you make comparisons with everything you come in contact with.  pURe eGo of I....again in latin MEANS THE SAME THING...

 

     You cannot view or feel unity because you are divided in your thought processes.

     You can never experience lasting peace, listen close now;

 

    "because peace" is a property of 4D consciousness…where consciousness starts to change....in 4D there was a stirring.... deep inside of us all, Well almost.....the consciousness of Unity, Love, Joy which resides in the fulcrum…5D is pure of intent, no calling names or blaming the outside world realities that WE all live in.. none...

 

the "CENTER" of all created things----ZERO POINT or the "Ge" spot, (Gforce, G-force, Ge-force) & it is the Gforce of 5 = 8 = Diamond Heart Consciousness.....IS A LOVE/JOY VIBRATION. IT IS THE HOLY GRAIL THAT IS SOUGHT AFTER THRU OUT ALL TIME, IT IS NOT AN OUTY, BUT AN INNY WITHIN EACH OF US.. HANDS DOWN..

 

      The key to creating peace, joy, happiness, success & fulfillment in life is to stay balanced,

       & the only way to do that is to monitor at every moment where your thoughts come from  & where you allow them to reside.

 

     What we must realize is that our opinions and resulting judgments are ego centered and belong to us alone.

 

    They are created from our personal experiences & memory banks of confused separated thoughts.

     They are our perceptions and not our neighbors & yet WE constantly try & impose these personal conclusions onto others.

 

    For a very good reason. We are not connected. We have separated ourselves from Unity consciousness (remember when we tilted the teeter totter and left the center of balance).

 

    If we cannot recognize & honor the Divine center of ourselves, if we cannot consciously embrace this center within us as our directing force, how in the world can we possibly honor it in others?

 

    The very act of connecting & recognizing our own Divine natures reveals this same pure seed within all others.

     This in turn opens our vision & we immediately recognize what needs to be healed within any given situation.

 

    We have opened the lines of communication between our own divine natures and those of others by residing in Love and not tainting it, casting shadows with our personal opinions.

 

     When a seeming problem arrives our perceptions are clear & our trust unwavering.  With eyes that recognize the Divine in All, we see beyond the outer reflection, which is the effect to the inner reason…the cause.

      This recognition allows us to perceive issues that come into our lives as opportunities to advance our awareness rather than problems that steal our energy.

      No longer do we focus on outside appearances but look for the gem or gift that is hidden within because we have developed

  “eyes that see.” Two, is the balance of life when living in Duality..Duality is fun, it was meant to be creative, sorry if you created so many painful and unpleasant memories for eons of time... Just remember you did no one else is reponsible. Y O U are the Creator.....are you not.... if not then Wake the hell up...& learn to let it go...WE all have to start somewhere.

 

 

        Outer illusions no longer hold us hostage.

 

    Zero-point is our core self & our connection to Source the Gforce--- the point of stillness within us that has no opinions or judgments.

 

    Everything outside of that central point…that point of origination which holds all possibility, is a split from Source & a world of personal perceptions.

 

    The world your "EGO" has created; personal to you but no one else.

When you exist in Zero-point consciousness, your intentions meet pure consciousness with no opinions and judgments to cloud creation.

 

     You have a choice, you are in control.  Dwell in your egotistical world of divided thinking, teetering on one side only with

    a limited view of life, created from your opinions & judgments…

 

     or embrace Unity consciousness which exists at Zero-point,

 

the point of stillness where peace reigns supreme AS IN SUPREME BEING-NESS & “all potential” becomes your playground & your heritage.

 

“United we stand…divided we FALL"

Sanat Kumara

A young seeker sets off on a quest to find Shambhala and after a long and difficult journey across the Himalayas arrives at the cave of an old hermit. "Where are you going?" the hermit asked. "To find Shambhala," replied the youth. "Ah! Well, you need not travel far," said the hermit. "For the kingdom of Shambhala is in your heart."

- Old Tibetan Legend

The following is a true story about a dark period in the history of the planet. It is about an Ascended Master named Sanat Kumara and 144,000 lightbearers.

Sanat Kumara, also known as the Ancient of Days, is the Hierarch of Venus. Long ago, around the time of the caveman, Sanat Kumara came to the earth to keep the flame of life (the threefold flame) for everyone on the planet. This was during the earth’s darkest days when the consciousness of the people had fallen to an all time low and no one honored God or the inner flame of the heart. It was such a dark time that a council of the Cosmic Hierarchy convened to discuss what could be done. Sanat Kumara convinced the council to let him come saying he would keep the flame of the heart on behalf of the people until at least some started doing it for themselves. He was granted this request and prepared to go into exile when 144,000 lightbearers from Venus volunteered to come and support him in the mission.

A special envoy went ahead to build the retreat of Shamballa on an island in the Gobi Sea. Today we know this area as the Gobi Desert. Sanat Kumara placed a focus of the inner flame (threefold flame) on the altar where it remained in the physical for many centuries. Although Sanat Kumara resided in this retreat he did not embody in the physical and remained in his higher body of light. In subsequent lifetimes he did embody. What this master did was truly beautiful and demonstrates the love of an Ascended Master of Light for all of us. He anchored a filigree ray of light from his heart to each heart on the planet and continuously nourished it plus assisted everyone to be quickened by the consciousness of the Christ. After a period of time people began to respond and finally some of them started raising their consciousness and developing their inner flame. This allowed Sanat Kumara to return home to Venus.

Many of the 144,000 lightbearers who were part of the original mandala are still here today. Some have returned home and others got sidetracked or entangled in karma. Today, we have the opportunity to once again pick up where we left off on the path of initiation with the masters. To assist us they have provided the teachings and the tools we need to successfully make the journey home. If you feel a tug on your memory, you might just be one of them!

Conclusion
No matter what his faith, his creed or his religion, the seeker can profit from the experience and the know-how of those who have gone before him on the Path. Many look to Jesus as the wayshower; others follow the Eightfold Path of the Buddha or the law of Moses. In the West they have pursued the calling of Saint Francis and Clare, of the Little Flower of Jesus and the Virgin Mother; in the East they hail Maitreya, Lord Krishna, Lao-tse (Lao-tzu) and Confucius. These and countless others have demonstrated the principles of Truth and left a record of exemplary lives. But whomever the seeker follows, it is results that count! If a man's philosophy does not make him a better man, capable of contributing something of worth to his friends and to his society, then either he or his philosophy has failed."

- Mark and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, June 1, 1972
http://www.ascendedmastersoflight.com/conclusion.php

Anrita Melchizedek has uploaded Sacred Cosmic Fire of Stability and Equilibrium.

Sacred Cosmic Fire of Stability and Equilibrium

http://youtu.be/TCAjOCLygnE

Published on 4 Mar 2013

The Sacred Cosmic Fire of Stability and Equilibrium

Mp3 download http://pleiadianlight.net/free-downlo...

Written Invocation and Elders message http://pleiadianlight.net/march-2013-...

In this month of March, amplified through the Equinox on March 20th/21st, we experience the sacred Cosmic Fire of Stability and Equilibrium through the Overlighting of Helios and Vesta, Sanat Kumara, the bridge to Solar Christ Consciousness, and the many Illumined Beings of Light from On High assisting in this Golden Age of Light.

We are invited into the etheric Spiritual Sun Temple of Helios and Vesta to experience this sacred Cosmic Fire of Stability and Equilibrium wrapped in beautiful copper-gold and pink-gold flames of Light, and surrounded in an Electronic Ring of Fire, a shield of pure God essence.

Stability requires we are unchanging in the face of adversity, looking through our Master eyes at all of Life around us. And through the sacred Cosmic Fire of Stability and Equilibrium we experience a blending of earthly and Spiritual experience, manifest as Stability, and the immutability of Mother/Father God. As these sacred transfiguring Flames of Divine Love, we are leading the way through our Divine Love and the recognition that all Life is Divinely equal, with the knowing that only the levels of "Cosmic Consciousness" awareness differs from individual to individual. Stability brings a level of emotional equilibrium, as we release old karmic patternings, false beliefs and judgments, and experience a deeper sense of "controlling our frequency" through the radiance of the Cosmic Heart of all Creation and the Patterns of Perfection, in the knowing that all is Divinely Perfect. We find contentment, peace and stillness of mind and heart in our collective union with the Divine, trusting and surrendering to all that unfolds, while co-creating our heart's dreaming.

To fully comprehend the Sacred Cosmic Fires of Helios and Vesta, and how each sacred Cosmic Fire imbues us with the radiant Light frequencies and key codes of the New Earth Templates, we bring a focus to our I Am Avatar Bodies of Light, actualized through the merging and integration of our Beloved I Am Presence, the creation of our Crystalline Bodies of Light and the activation of our Crystalline Sun DNA templates

The Crystalline Life-Code Seed Atoms being activated at this time are experienced through every sub-atomic particle within our Beingness, and these new sub-atomic particles frequencies carry the key codes in geometric formations, sonic vibrations and color codes for holding the Light unwaveringly in this Golden Age of Light, bringing about Stability. This transformational process and related chemical reaction affects all of the energy centers in our physical bodies; as well as the organs and body parts, central nervous system, and sensory system, brain chemistry, bio-circuitry, and the endocrine system.

It affects the cells, the mitochondria, the DNA, and the hormones. Additionally this creates the holographic energy field of Divine Love within and around us, further activated through the Crystalline Sun DNA templates.

Read More: http://pleiadianlight.net/march-2013-...

Invocation by Anrita Melchizedek http://pleiadianlight.net

Artwork by M Art Dimension www.martdimension.com
Thaddeus music "The Spiritual Sun" by Sanaya Roman www.orindaben.com

7 photos that reveal what families eat in one week

In a new series of photos, families worldwide pose with one week’s food supply.

How much food does your household go through in a week? What are your go-to family meals? And how much do you spend on food? You can get a glimpse of how others answered these questions in Oxfam’s new photo series, which depicts people from around the globe with one week’s food supply for their families.

Building on an idea that originated with 2005′s Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, the new images feel especially timely now, when reports about half of the world’s food going to waste vie for space with news about rising global food prices. According to a recent article accompanying some of the photos in the UK Independent, “There is deep injustice in the way food is grown and distributed … the world’s poorest people spend 50-90 percent of their income on food, compared with just 10-15 percent in developed countries.”

As you can probably guess, the families’ diets differ depending on where they live. But if if there’s one common thread that links these images, it’s that we all have to eat. We all face challenges and successes when it comes to feeding our families. And we can all help to make the food system fairer for everyone.

So check out seven highlights below. Then tell us in the comments: What does your week’s food supply look like? How does your family measure up?

Shahveller, Azerbaijan

Photo: David Levene/Oxfam
Mirza Bakhishov, 47, his wife, Zarkhara, 37, and two sons, Khasay, 18 and Elchin, 15, own a small plot of land where they grow cotton and wheat as well as animal feed. “Our small cattle and poultry [are] everything for us. All our income and livelihood is dependent on them,” said Bakhishov.

Vavuniya, Sri Lanka

Photo: Abir Abdullah/Oxfam
Selvern, 70, far right, and her daughters have been members of Oxfam’s local dairy cooperative for four years. Her youngest daughter Sukitha, second from right, works at the cooperative and is also trained as a vet. Selvern gets up at 5:30 every morning to help her daughters milk their cows; she sends most of the milk to the co-op with Sukitha and uses the remainder to make cream and ghee for the family.

Mecha, Ethiopia

Photo: Tom Pietrasik/Oxfam
A week’s food supply for Wubalem Shiferaw, her husband Tsega, and 4-year-old daughter Rekebki includes flour, vegetable oil, and a paste of spices called berbere. Tsega works as a tailor, while Wubalem follows a long local tradition and supplements her income with honey production. An Oxfam-supported cooperative helped Wubalem make the transition to modern beekeeping methods, which produce greater yields.

Yegeghus, Armenia

Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith/Panos
The Josephyan family from with their weekly food supply, which includes wheat flour, dried split peas, sugar, and cooking oil. The family supplements their diet with eggs laid by their chickens and wild greens from the fields.

London, UK

Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith/Oxfam
Ian Kerr, 30, with his family and a week’s food supplied by a charity food bank. Ian left his job to become a full-time carer to his disabled son Jay-J, 12. Also pictured are his daughter Lillian, 5, and mother-in-law Linda, 61. Kerr says the family’s favorite food is spaghetti Bolognese, but Lillian says her favorite is Jaffa Cakes.

Kaftarkhana, Tajikistan

Photo: Andy Hall/Oxfam
BiBi-Faiz Miralieba and her family, from left to right: son Siyoushi, 11, niece Gulnoya Shdova, 14, and children Jomakhon, 6, Shodmon, 9, and Jamila,13. Like many women in rural areas of Tajikistan, Miralieba is now the head of her household as her husband has migrated to Russia to find work.

Gutu, Zimbabwe

Photo: Annie Bungeroth/Oxfam
Ipaishe Masvingise and her family with their food for the week, which includes grains and groundnuts as well as fruits like pawpaw and oranges. Masvingise, a farmer, said she sells extra grain from her harvests to pay for school fees and medical costs, and to support members of her extended family who don’t own their own land.

Beautiful Pictures

towering red dust storm gathers over the ocean, ahead of a cyclone approaching Onslow, West Australia, on January 9. The remarkable photo was captured by tug boat worker Brett Martin, 25 nautical miles from the town of Onslow. (AFP)

Killer whales surface through a breathing hole on January 9. The creatures were trapped under sea ice in Canada's Hudson Bay. Up to a dozen whales were feared to be stuck, however winds later pushed the ice away from the coast. (Reuters)

Snowfall at the ruins of the Roman Temple of Bacchus in the historic town of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon on January 10. An unusual chill swept across the Middle East recently, bringing heavy snow and freezing conditions in Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Syria and Palestine. The weather has claimed at least 17 lives across the region (Reuters)

Tammy Holmes and her grandchildren clutch each other as they seek refuge under a jetty on January 4 after wildfires consumed their home in Dunalley, Tasmania. The photo was taken by their grandfather, Tim Holmes. The family survived but their house, which Mr Holmes built himself, was destroyed. (Sky)

A twilight view of London from the top of the Shard, the tallest building in western Europe. The skyscraper, which is 1,013ft tall, opens to the public on February 1. Visitors will be able to reach the 72nd floor of the 78 floor building. (Reuters)

A 'lion' caused panic in Virginia, America when it was spotted loose on the streets. When police investigated it turned out to be 'Charles the Monarch' - a labradoodle whose fur had been shaved to look like a lion (SWNS)

Unexplained readings from the Cassini probe, which orbits Saturn, hint that blocks of ice might bob on the surface of the lakes of liquid methane on Titan. NASA believes that life could lurk in the ice - but it would be very different from life on Earth as the lakes are composed entirely of liquid ethane and methane. (NASA)

Andrejus Rascinski, aged nine, from Birmingham, waits to perform in the under-14s competition at the European Elvis Championships on January 6. Over 70 Elvis impersonators, decked in sequins and well-groomed sideburns, flocked to Birmingham to take part in the competition. (PA)

Photographer Reinhard Dirscherl took this extraordinary snap of a whale shark, which looks like it is about to eat a diver in Indonesia. The 47,000lb shark is not dangerous to humans, instead preferring to snack on plankton (Caters)

A wonderful dear Friend sent this to me, and now I am sending it to you, Love and Blessings. Melodie

WARNING: Grab a handkerchief

At the prodding of my friends I am writing this story. My name is Mildred Honor and I am a former elementary school music teacher from Des Moines , Iowa.

I have always supplemented my income by teaching piano lessons - something I have done for over 30 years.

During those years I found that children have many levels of musical ability, and even though I have never had the pleasure of having a prodigy, I have taught some very talented students.

However, I have also had my share of what I call 'musically challenged' pupils
- one such pupil being Robby..

Robby was 11 years old when his mother (a single mom) dropped him off for his first piano lesson. I prefer that students (especially boys) begin at an earlier age, which I explained to Robby. But Robby said that it had always been his mother's dream to hear him play the piano, so I took him as a student.

Well, Robby began his piano lessons and from the beginning I thought it was a hopeless endeavor. As much as Robby tried, he lacked the sense of tone and basic rhythm needed to excel. But he dutifully reviewed his scales and some elementary piano pieces that I require all my students
to learn. Over the months he tried and tried while I listened and cringed and tried to encourage him.

At the end of each weekly lesson he would always say 'My mom's going to hear me play someday'. But to me, it seemed hopeless, he just did not have any inborn ability.

I only knew his mother from a distance as she dropped Robby off or waited in her aged car to pick him up. She always waved and smiled, but never dropped in.

Then one day Robby stopped coming for his lessons. I thought about calling him, but assumed that because of his lack of ability he had decided to pursue something else. I was also glad that he had stopped coming - he was a bad advertisement for my teaching!

Several weeks later I mailed a flyer recital to the students' homes. To my surprise, Robby (who had received a flyer) asked me if he could be in the recital. I told him that the recital was for current pupils and that because he had dropped out, he really did not qualify.

He told me that his mother had been sick and unable to take him to his lessons, but that he had been practicing. 'Please Miss Honor, I've just got to play' he insisted. I don't know what led me to allow him to play in the recital - perhaps it was his insistence or maybe something inside of me saying that it would be all right.

The night of the recital came and the high school gymnasium was packed with parents, relatives and friends. I put Robby last in the program, just before I was to come up and thank all the students and play a finishing piece. I thought that any damage he might do would come at the end of the program and I could always salvage his poor performance through my 'curtain closer'.

Well, the recital went off without a hitch, the students had been practicing and it showed. Then Robby came up on the stage. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair looked as though he had run an egg beater through it. 'Why wasn't he dressed up like the other students?' I thought. 'Why didn't his mother at least make him comb his hair for this special night?'

Robby pulled out the piano bench, and I was surprised when he announced that he had chosen to play Mozart's Concerto No. 21 in C Major.

I was not prepared for what I heard next. His fingers were light on the keys, they even danced nimbly on the ivories. He went from pianissimo to fortissimo, from allegro to virtuoso; his suspended chords that Mozart demands were magnificent!

Never had I heard Mozart played so well by anyone his age.

After six and a half minutes he ended in a grand crescendo, and everyone was on their feet in wild applause! Overcome and in tears, I ran up onstage and put my arms around Robby in joy. 'I have never heard you play like that Robby, how did you do it?

' Through the microphone Robby explained: 'Well, Miss Honor .... remember I told you that my mom was sick? Well, she actually had cancer and passed away this morning. And well ...... she was born deaf, so tonight was the first time she had ever heard me play, and I wanted to make it special.'

There wasn't a dry eye in the house that evening. As the people from Social Services led Robby from the stage to be placed in to foster care, I noticed that even their eyes were red and puffy. I thought to myself then how much richer my life had been for taking Robby as my pupil.

No, I have never had a prodigy, but that night I became a prodigy ....... of Robby. He was the teacher and I was the pupil, for he had taught me the meaning of perseverance and love and believing in yourself, and may be even taking a chance on someone and you didn't know why.

Robby was killed years later in the senseless bombing of the Alfred P. Murray Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April, 1995.

And now, a footnote to the story. If you are thinking about forwarding this message, you are probably wondering which people on your address list aren't the 'appropriate' ones to receive this type of message. The person who sent this to you believes that we can all make a difference!

So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice

Do we act with compassion or do we pass up that opportunity and leave the world a bit colder in the process?

You now have two choices:

1. Delete this; OR

2. Forward it to the people you care about. You know the choice I made.

Thank you for reading this.

May God Bless you today, tomorrow and always.

Live simply.

Love generously.

Care deeply.

Speak kindly.

Leave the rest to God.

Facebook 'Likes' can reveal secrets - including politics, IQ and drug use

Your Facebook page could reveal more about you than you realise - including your sexuality, your IQ and even whether you abuse drugs.

By Rob Waugh | Yahoo! News – Mon, Mar 11, 2013

Your Facebook page could reveal more about you than you realise - including your sexuality, your IQ and even whether you abuse drugs.

Simply looking at all of a person's Facebook 'Likes' can reveal everything from a person's race to a person's political views - with up to 95% accuracy.

Distinctive patterns of 'Likes' correspond very strongly to different personality traits, say researchers at the University of Cambridge who studies the patterns of 58,000 volunteers' 'likes'.

Facebook users were warned that this information could be visible even on accounts with high privacy settings - possibly alerting employers to details users might wish to be private.

Users were more likely to have a higher IQ if they liked 'Mozart', 'The Godfather' and 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.

People who liked 'I Like Being a Mom' and 'Harley Davidson' were more likely to have a lower IQ, the research found.

People in a relationship liked pages including 'Weight Watchers' and 'Scrapbooking' while singletons followed sports stars such as Usain Bolt and Maria Sharapova.

Heavy drinkers tend to like pages such as 'Tattoo Lovers' and 'Getting A Text That Says I Love You'.

The statistical research method proved 88 per cent accurate for determining male sexuality.

It was 95 per cent accurate for distinguishing race and 85 per cent accurate in determining political views.

Christians and Muslims were correctly identified in 82 per cent of cases, and accurate predictions were also achieved for relationship status and substance abuse.

Even personal details such as whether users’ parents separated before that person reached the age of 21 were accurately predicted to 60%.

The researchers were able to work out their conclusions without relying on obvious 'Likes'- for example only five per cent of gay men and women liked a Gay Marriage page.

The researchers said the observation of 'likes' alone was now believed to be as informative as a personality test.

But worryingly they warned all of the information needed for the telling analysis is readily available to the public - even if your profile adopts the highest privacy setting.

Michal Kosinski, Operations Director at Cambridge University's Psychometric Centre, said: "Given the variety of digital traces people leave behind, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for individuals to control.

"I am a great fan and active user of new amazing technologies, including Facebook.

"I appreciate automated book recommendations, or Facebook selecting the most relevant stories for my newsfeed.

However, I can imagine situations in which the same data and technology is used to predict political views or sexual orientation, posing threats to freedom or even life.

"Just the possibility of this happening could deter people from using digital technologies and diminish trust between individuals and institutions - hampering technological and economic progress.

"Users need to be provided with transparency and control over their information."

David Stillwell from Cambridge University added: "I have used Facebook since 2005, and I will continue to do so. But I might be more careful to use the privacy settings that Facebook provides."

The research was carried out at Cambridge’s Psychometrics Centre in collaboration with Microsoft Research Cambridge and published yesterday (Mon) in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).

Researchers said their findings could signal the beginning of a revolutionary method of psychological assessment.

Thore Graepel from Microsoft Research said he hoped the research would contribute to the on-going discussions about user privacy.

He said: "Consumers rightly expect strong privacy protection to be built into the products and services they use and this research may well serve as a reminder for consumers to take a careful approach to sharing information online, utilising privacy controls and never sharing content with unfamiliar parties."

The Three Sisters

The three sisters are Corn, Beans, and Squash. They are seen as the three beautiful sisters because they grow in the same mound in the garden. The Corn provides a ladder for the Bean Vine. They together give shade to the Squash. The Cherokee till the mound three times.

The Native American story of the Three Sisters vary from tribe to tribe. This story below is taken from an oral account by Lois Thomas of Cornwall Island, compiled by students at Centennial College and found in "Indian Legends of Eastern Canada."

The Three Sisters

A long time ago there were three sisters who lived together in a field.

These sisters were quite different from one another in their size and way of dressing. The little sister was so young that she could only crawl at first, and she was dressed in green.

The second sister wore a bright yellow dress, and she had a way of running off by herself when the sun shone and the soft wind blew in her face.

The third was the eldest sister, standing always very straight and tall above the other sisters and trying to protect them. She wore a pale green shawl, and she had long, yellow hair that tossed about her head in the breeze.

There was one way the sisters were all alike, though. They loved each other dearly, and they always stayed together. This made them very strong.

One day a stranger came to the field of the Three Sisters - a Mohawk boy. He talked to the birds and other animals - this caught the attention of the three sisters.

Late that summer, the youngest and smallest sister disappeared. Her sisters were sad.

Again the Mohawk boy came to the field to gather reeds at the water's edge. The two sisters who were left watched his moccasin trail, and that night the second sister - the one in the yellow dress - disappeared as well.

Now the Elder Sister was the only one left.

She continued to stand tall in her field. When the Mohawk boy saw that she missed her sisters, he brought them all back together and they became stronger together, again.

The Iroquois Legend of the Three Sisters

Erney, Diana. 1996. Long live the Three Sisters. Organic Gardening. November. p. 37-40.

The term “Three Sisters” emerged from the Iroquois creation myth. It was said that the earth began when “Sky Woman” who lived in the upper world peered through a hole in the sky and fell through to an endless sea. The animals saw her coming, so they took the soil from the bottom of the sea and spread it onto the back of a giant turtle to provide a safe place for her to land. This “Turtle Island” is now what we call North America.

Sky woman had become pregnant before she fell. When she landed, she gave birth to a daughter.

When the daughter grew into a young woman, she also became pregnant (by the West wind). She died while giving birth to twin boys. Sky Woman buried her daughter in the “new earth.” From her grave grew three sacred plants—corn, beans, and squash. These plants provided food for her sons, and later, for all of humanity. These special gifts ensured the survival of the Iroquois people.

For more information contact: Chief RedArrow
http://www.birdclan.org/threesisters.htm

Unique Passover Traditions

By I. Carmon

Did you know Afghan Jews whip each other with scallions during the ceremonial Passover meal, known as the seder? And that's not all! Every spring, Jews celebrate Passover, marking God sparing the Israelites and delivering them from slavery in Egypt, as detailed in the book of Exodus. For seven days Jews abstain from leavened bread to mimic the deprivation of their forefathers as they left Egypt through the Sinai desert.

The scattering of the Jews around the world over the past 2,000 years, to nearly every continent, has meant that these traditions have evolved and been adapted to different settings. Here are some of the most unique Passover traditions from around the world.

Eating the Dust of Real Bricks

Every Passover, Jews prepare charoset, a sweet paste that can be made with fruits like dates, figs, and apples. The result is meant to remind sedergoers of the mortar in the bricks that Jewish slaves in Egypt used in their labor. In the British territory of Gibraltar, a tiny peninsula off Spain where Jews have lived for about 650 years, there's a special recipe for charoset: the dust of real bricks, ground up and mixed in.

Re-enacting Crossing the Red Sea

Hasidic Jews from the Polish town of Góra Kalwaria, known as Gerer Hasids, re-enact the crossing of the Red Sea on the seventh day of Passover by pouring water on the floor, lifting up their coats, and naming the towns that they would cross in their region of Poland. They raise a glass at each "town" and then thank God for helping them reach their destination.

Whipping Each Other with Scallions

Jews living in Afghanistan developed the tradition of using scallions or leeks to stand for the Egyptian slavedrivers' whips, using them to lightly "whip" each others' backs. Jews have lived in Afghanistan at least since the Babylonian conquest 2,000 years ago, but in 2004 only two Jews were left in the country. It is now estimated that only a single Jew lives in Afghanistan, as the other died in 2005. The largest group of Afghan Jews in the world is comprised of 200 families in Queens, New York.

Destroying Earthenware Dishes

The Jews of Ethiopia strongly identify with the story of Exodus -- and indeed, the first of the famous airlifts that delivered them to Israel was actually called Operation Moses. In some Ethiopian families, the matriarch would destroy all of her earthenware dishes and make a new set to mark a true break with the past. Ethiopian Jews had no Haggadahs, and read about Exodus directly from the Bible. Matzahs were homemade, often from chickpea flour, and on the morning of the seder, a lamb would be slaughtered. They also refrained from eating fermented dairy like yogurt, butter, or cheese.

Tapping Guests on the Head

In a custom that began in Spain in the fourteenth century, the seder leader walks around the table three times with the seder plate in hand, tapping it on the head of each guest. Many Moroccan, Turkish, and Tunisian Jews adopted this tradition, which is said to bless those whose heads are tapped. This is sometimes connected to the Talmudic custom of "uprooting" the seder plate so that guests might ask questions about the Jews in Egypt.

Telling the Exodus Story in Costume

In many Sephardic traditions, (a term used to describe Jews originally hailing from the Iberian peninsula and North Africa), an elder member of the family enacts a skit in costume, posing as an ancient Jew who experienced the exodus from Egypt and describing the miracles he saw. In the countries of the Caucasus region, Iraq, Kurdistan, Yemen, and others, the seder (usually the head of household), would put the afikoman matzah in a bag, throw it over his shoulder, and use a cane to support himself. Sometimes a child participated, and there was a call and response with the table: "Where are you coming from?" "Egypt," was the reply, followed by the story of the Israelites following Moses out of slavery. "And where are you going?" someone at the table would ask. "Jerusalem!"

Breaking Matzah into Hebrew Letters

In the Syrian community, the custom of breaking the middle matzah on the seder table into pieces (known as yachatz) can sometimes take on Kabbalistic meaning. Matzah broken into the shape of the Hebrew letters "daled" and "vav" correspond to numbers, which in turn add up to 10, representing the 10 holy emanations of God. Jews from North Africa, including from Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Libya, break the matzoh into the shape of the Hebrew letter "hey," which corresponds to the number five.

Inspecting Rice for Defects

Jews have lived in Cochin, in the Indian state of Kerala, for 2,000 years. In the tiny community that remains, Passover preparation begins immediately after Hanukkah, about 100 days beforehand. After Purim, Cochin's Jews scrub their house of chametz (bread and any fermented grain) and repaint them, keeping special Passover dishes in a separate room. Wells are drained and cleaned for fear of chametz, and every grain of rice is inspected for defects that might let impure chametz in. Jews usually maintain warm relations with the larger community, but during Passover and the preceding months, they keep entirely to themselves.

Cooking with Wine from Elijah's Cup

Many different customs surround the welcoming of the prophet Elijah, who is said to visit every seder. While Ashkenazi Jews (whose families came from Germany and later Eastern Europe) commonly leave a goblet of wine for the prophet, in Casablanca, Morocco, Jews would set up an elaborate chair with cushions and ornaments and leave it empty for Elijah's arrival. And in Marrakesh, dishes are prepared using the wine from Elijah's cup. Ashkenazi Jews often open the door to allow Elijah in, a tradition that wasn't historically a part of the Sephardic practice.

Wearing White

Both Hasidic Jews and Moroccan Jews have the custom of wearing white to seder, possibly to signify joyfulness. Some Jews wear white on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, or on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, although this varies.

Displaying Gold and Silver Jewelry

Three passages in Exodus say that the Israelites received gold and silver from the Egyptians (for example, 12:35: "The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing"). Accordingly, Hungarian Jews had a tradition of putting all of their gold and silver jewelry on the seder table.

Tossing Pebbles in the Ocean

Among Moroccan Jews, Mimouna is celebrated the day after Passover with a generous feast of baked goods. Some say it marks Maimonides' birthday, while others link it to the Arabic word for luck. A table is heaped with items symbolizing luck or fertility, many repeating the number 5, such as dough with five fingerprint marks or five silver coins. Fig leaves, live fish, stalks of wheat, and honey might also be included. In some parts of the Moroccan Jewish community, Jews entered the ocean and tossed pebbles behind their backs to ward off evil spirits.

The Ajanta Caves

Two thousand two hundred years ago work began on an extensive series of cave monuments in Maharashtra, India. Over a period of hundreds of years, thirty one monuments were hewn piece by piece from the rock face. Then, some speculate around the year 1000 AD, they fell in to disuse. Dense jungle grew around, hiding the caves away from human eyes.

Image Credit Flickr User David S Lowry

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

The Ajanta caves lay undisturbed for hundreds of years. Then, in April 1819, during the time of the British, Raj, an officer with the unassuming name of John Smith, came rediscovered a doorway to one of the temples. He had been hunting tigers – something of which many would disapprove today but his next step was disrespectful in the extreme. He vandalized one of the walls with his name and the date, something which is still visible today.

Image Credit Flickr User qiv

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

One can only imagine what went through Smith's head when he made his find. Such a rediscovery did not remain secret for very long. Soon, European and Indian tourists were thronging to the site – after extensive tidying up. After all, the caves had been home to bat, birds and larger animals for hundreds of years. The Ajanti Caves had been returned to the world of the living.

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

The nearest human habitation is Ajinṭhā, a tiny village a few miles away from the caves. The sanctuaries, which are known as chaytia-girhas date from the second century before Christ. They were used primarily as prayer halls and are similar to an extent to the contemporary Roman designs of arch and column. However, these sanctuaries were carved from the immense rock face of the caves, with chisels and, indeed, bare hands.

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

Image Credit Flickr User Karmalize

The first caves were hewn from the bare rock at the time of The Sātavāhana Empire which started around 230BC. The Sātavāhanas brought peace to India after several foreign invasions and the decline of the previous, Mauryan Empire. It is not without irony, then, that they were rediscovered by a contemporary invader and representative of a foreign empire.

Image Credit Flickr User srlasky

Image Credit Flickr User slrasky

Image Credit Flickr User srlasky

Although there is widespread debate about the time at which the second period of building took place, most now agree that it was probably during the reign of Harishena, from 460AD and over a period of around twenty years. This architectural flowering saw the creation of twenty temples which were used as monasteries.

Image Credit Flickr User kun0me

Image Credit Wikimedia

Image Credit Wikimedia

There are paintings everywhere – literally. Every surface apart from the floor is festooned with narrative paintings. Time has taken a serious toll on these marvelous works with many parts simply just fragments of what they were when first created. The stories are almost wholly devoted to Jātakas – tales of the Buddha’s previous lives. These 547 poems were painstakingly and lovingly painted on to the walls by devotees.

Image Credit Flickr User kun0me

They were created using an ancient method. The surface was chiseled so it was rough and could hold plaster which was then spread across the surface. Then the master painter would, while the plaster was still wet, commence his work. The colors soaked in to the plaster and so became a part of the surface. Although this meant that it would not peel off as easily, perhaps not even the painters foresaw the temples persevering for over two thousand years.

Image Credit Flickr User nozomiiquel

Image Credit Flickr User nozmiiquel

No one knows for sure when and why the caves were abandoned – whether it was a gradual desertion of some event of political and social magnitude took place which precipitated the neglect and final vacation of the site.

Image Credit Flickr User tvangoethem

Yet for hundreds of years the place remained forsaken, to be rediscovered that fateful day in 1819 by John Smith.

AMAZING, ISN'T IT?!!!

The Ajanta Caves

Two thousand two hundred years ago work began on an extensive series of cave monuments in Maharashtra, India. Over a period of hundreds of years, thirty one monuments were hewn piece by piece from the rock face. Then, some speculate around the year 1000 AD, they fell in to disuse. Dense jungle grew around, hiding the caves away from human eyes.

Image Credit Flickr User David S Lowry

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

The Ajanta caves lay undisturbed for hundreds of years. Then, in April 1819, during the time of the British, Raj, an officer with the unassuming name of John Smith, came rediscovered a doorway to one of the temples. He had been hunting tigers – something of which many would disapprove today but his next step was disrespectful in the extreme. He vandalized one of the walls with his name and the date, something which is still visible today.

Image Credit Flickr User qiv

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

One can only imagine what went through Smith's head when he made his find. Such a rediscovery did not remain secret for very long. Soon, European and Indian tourists were thronging to the site – after extensive tidying up. After all, the caves had been home to bat, birds and larger animals for hundreds of years. The Ajanti Caves had been returned to the world of the living.

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

The nearest human habitation is Ajinṭhā, a tiny village a few miles away from the caves. The sanctuaries, which are known as chaytia-girhas date from the second century before Christ. They were used primarily as prayer halls and are similar to an extent to the contemporary Roman designs of arch and column. However, these sanctuaries were carved from the immense rock face of the caves, with chisels and, indeed, bare hands.

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

Image Credit Flickr User Karmalize

The first caves were hewn from the bare rock at the time of The Sātavāhana Empire which started around 230BC. The Sātavāhanas brought peace to India after several foreign invasions and the decline of the previous, Mauryan Empire. It is not without irony, then, that they were rediscovered by a contemporary invader and representative of a foreign empire.

Image Credit Flickr User srlasky

Image Credit Flickr User slrasky

Image Credit Flickr User srlasky

Although there is widespread debate about the time at which the second period of building took place, most now agree that it was probably during the reign of Harishena, from 460AD and over a period of around twenty years. This architectural flowering saw the creation of twenty temples which were used as monasteries.

Image Credit Flickr User kun0me

Image Credit Wikimedia

Image Credit Wikimedia

There are paintings everywhere – literally. Every surface apart from the floor is festooned with narrative paintings. Time has taken a serious toll on these marvelous works with many parts simply just fragments of what they were when first created. The stories are almost wholly devoted to Jātakas – tales of the Buddha’s previous lives. These 547 poems were painstakingly and lovingly painted on to the walls by devotees.

Image Credit Flickr User kun0me

They were created using an ancient method. The surface was chiseled so it was rough and could hold plaster which was then spread across the surface. Then the master painter would, while the plaster was still wet, commence his work. The colors soaked in to the plaster and so became a part of the surface. Although this meant that it would not peel off as easily, perhaps not even the painters foresaw the temples persevering for over two thousand years.

Image Credit Flickr User nozomiiquel

Image Credit Flickr User nozmiiquel

No one knows for sure when and why the caves were abandoned – whether it was a gradual desertion of some event of political and social magnitude took place which precipitated the neglect and final vacation of the site.

Image Credit Flickr User tvangoethem

Yet for hundreds of years the place remained forsaken, to be rediscovered that fateful day in 1819 by John Smith.

AMAZING, ISN'T IT?!!!

Bionic Eye 'Enables Blind People To See'

By Thomas Moore, Health and Science Correspondent | Sky News – 14 hours ago

http://youtu.be/bJstsHF5Z0U

• The retinal implant can help restore some visionSky video 1:55A bionic eye has enabled blind people to read letters and simple words.

Bionic Eye 'Enables Blind People To See'

A bionic eye has enabled blind people to read letters and simple words.

The implant converts images from an external camera into electronic signals that the brain can "see".

Tests on 21 patients with retinitis pigmentosa , a degenerative disease that destroys light-receiving cells at the back of the eye, showed that three quarters were able to correctly identify single letters.

More than half were able to read four-letter words, according to results published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology .

Before being fitted with the device Richard Barrett only had vague light perception in one eye.
Now he can locate objects and find his way around.

He said: "When I am indoors I can see where windows are. To go to a door you can scan and pick up where the door frame is.

"If you have a path and grass down one side, you can pick up the edge of the path. That's where the device comes into its own."

Lyndon da Cruz, consultant retinal surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, said the Argus II device could "restore some meaningful vision in patients that otherwise would have been left blind".

He told Sky News: "At the best end of it they can start to read small 5cm letters formed into words. This was a huge change in perception of what we thought this device could do."

The Argus II is currently the only approved retinal prosthesis. A camera mounted on a pair of glasses feeds pictures along a cable to an electronic chip resting against the retina inside the eye.

The chip stimulates the optic nerve, which carries signals to the visual processing centre of the brain, giving the wearer a highly pixellated black and white view of the world.

Best of Yahoo! News

How to see comet PanSTARRS over the UK this week

Sky-watchers in Europe could catch a glimpse of a visitor from very deep space this week - the comet PanSTARRS will be bright and visible until March 18.

• This photo of PanSTARRS was taken by Markus Mugrauer in Santiago de Chile on March 6th using a Canon D10

Sky-watchers in Europe could catch a glimpse of a visitor from very deep space this week - the comet PanSTARRS will be bright and visible in our skies until March 18 this week.

Binoculars are recommended to catch the comet, which will be faintly visible on evenings this week, around sunset, according to Sky and Telescope magazine.

The comet will not return in our lifetimes - its orbit around the sun is thought to take 106,000 years.

PanSTARRS is now at its closest to Earth and being lit up brightly by the light of the Sun.

It was first detected in 2011, when it was 1.2 billion miles from Earth.

The comet - a lump of ancient ice - is thought to have come from the Oort Cloud, a cloud of icy objects the edge of our solar system, almost a light year from the sun.

Skywatchers in the Southern Hemisphere captured spectacular images from Mexico, Uruguay, Chile and New Zealand last week.

Comet Pan-Starrs as seen from Mount Dale, Western Australia (AP/Nasa)"Our good views should begin around March 13th, when the crescent Moon is there to point the way," says Alan MacRobert,senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine.

"Before then the comet was too near the horizon. It will start fading later this week, so if the sky is clear, don't miss your chance."

“The best time to look is about 30 to 45 minutes after your local sunset time. This narrow window of viewing time comes after twilight fades enough for the comet to show through at all, but before it sinks too low and sets.”

“On Wednesday March 13th, you'll see a thicker crescent Moon higher up. Watchers in Europe should look below it by about the width of your fist at arm's length. On Thursday the 14th, look two fists below the Moon and perhaps a bit to the right. After that, the comet will gradually move to the right from evening to evening as it begins to fade.”

Dr Pedro Lacerda, of Queen’s University Belfast says that UK watchers may catch a glimpse at around 6.45: “The coma at the head of the comet should be visible to the naked eye but to see the tail may require the use of binoculars. The most visible features will be its tail and bright coma.

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 12: The comet PanSTARRS, above and to the right, passes over the Stratosphere Casino Hotel …

“Those features originate in the nucleus of a comet, a solid lump of dirty ice which, heated by sunlight, sublimates and feeds the diffuse cloud of gas and dust that gives the comet its fuzzy appearance – the coma. Then, light and other particles from the sun push part of the coma away from the nucleus to form the tail which gives comets their spectacular appearance.”

“Comets are important as frozen relics of the formation of our solar system. Before plunging into the inner solar system they spend most of their lives beyond Neptune at temperatures below negative 220 C. For that reason comets retain ices of the ingredients that were present when the planets were born and that are long gone from the surfaces of the much warmer asteroids, for example.”

(NATIVE AMERICAN) IROQUOIS STRAWBERRY BREAD
Author Shayn Amber Wetherell

Origin UNITED STATES

No sugar! This is more like a moist cake than bread.

METHOD

Bake in the oven for 60 mins on 190c (American 274F) It goes in as a liquid.

The strawberries will rise to the top.

I sprinkle them on top when the mixture is in the baking pan.

Let it sit for a good while after it is baked (30 mins – 60 mins)

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup cornmeal aka polenta
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup wild strawberries or sliced larger berries

http://www.tasteofharmony.org.au/recipes/view/402#commentarea

10 Strange Facts About Dreams

http://youtu.be/ByBdGvh5E08

(NATIVE AMERICAN) IROQUOIS STRAWBERRY BREAD
Author Shayn Amber Wetherell

Origin UNITED STATES

No sugar! This is more like a moist cake than bread.

METHOD

Bake in the oven for 60 mins on 190c (American 274F) It goes in as a liquid.

The strawberries will rise to the top.

I sprinkle them on top when the mixture is in the baking pan.

Let it sit for a good while after it is baked (30 mins – 60 mins)

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup cornmeal aka polenta
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup wild strawberries or sliced larger berries

http://www.tasteofharmony.org.au/recipes/view/402#commentarea

'Black Death' Skeletons Found Under Crossrail
Sky News – 11 hours ago

Click link here for video
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/video/black-death-believed-killed-60-061605997.html

Archaeologists say 12 skeletons found beneath a building site in London could provide evidence of a Black Death burial ground.

The remains were found by teams working on Crossrail - a £15bn project to improve transport links in the capital, including at Farringdon where the bones were found.

Historical records indicate a hastily-built cemetery opened in the area in 1348 as the plague spread across the country.

Up to 50,000 people are thought to have been buried there in less than three years.

Jay Carver, lead Crossrail archaeologist, said: "This is a highly significant discovery and at the moment we are left with many questions that we hope to answer.

"We will be undertaking scientific tests on the skeletons over the coming months to establish their cause of death, whether they were plague victims from the 14th century or later London residents, how old they were and perhaps evidence of who they were.

"However at this early stage, the depth of burials, the pottery found with the skeletons and the way they have been set out, all point towards this being part of the 14th century emergency burial ground."

The skeletons were found during excavations below a road in Charterhouse Square.

They were buried in two rows and laid out in a similar formation to skeletons discovered at a Black Death burial site in Smithfield in the 1980s.

Experts at the Museum of London Archaeology will now use DNA testing and carbon dating to determine both a cause of death and a burial date.

Charterhouse Square had previously been identified as a possible site for the lost burial ground, as it is one of few locations in Farringdon to remain undeveloped for the past 700 years.

John Stow, the 16th century historian, said more than 150,000 victims of the Black Death were buried in London, including 50,000 at a site in Farringdon known as 'No Man's Land'.

About 75 million people and up to 60% of the European population are said to have died in the four-year global pandemic.

Archaeologists working on Crossrail have already uncovered more than 300 skeletons near Liverpool Street station.

It is thought they were buried near the site of the Bedlam Hospital in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

'Black Death'

Pictures: Rio’s Olympic rowing lake filled with 65 tonnes of dead fish
By Eurosport | World of Sport – 4 hours ago

A huge clean-up has been launched in the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon after 65 tonnes of dead fish filled the waters which are set to play host to the 2016 Olympic rowing events.

The lagoon, authorities say, became deoxygenated after heavy storms, which washed ‘a large amount of organic matter’ into the lake.

The clean-up is still underway, and is not the first time that the lagoon has suffered such misfortune. In 2009 an estimated 100 tonnes of dead fish, predominantly shad, had to be removed from the waters after a similar incident.

As you can see from the picture above, taken during the Pan-Am Games in 2007, the lagoon hosted rowing successfully.

But you can see the horrific pictures of the Lake as it is this week below: