This is so cool! Solar Guerillas are people who have installed solar and wind generators at their homes and are often feeding electricity BACK INTO the grid! Most of them haven't mentioned their setups to the local power companies because of the hassle, the red-tape, and other annoyances. There are a lot of inspiring stories here!
(from News of the Weird) The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced in July that an employee fired for his obsessive belief in the validity of "cold fusion" can sue the employer for "religious" discrimination. As long as an employee has a seriously held conviction that in his own value system he regards as "religious," he is protected under federal law, even though the vast majority of physicists believe "cold fusion" is bogus. The petitioner, Paul A. LaViolette, worked at the U.S. Patent Office, but there was no evidence that he was assisting in the patenting of bogus technologies.
It's funny - there are a lot of items in the news, but nothing I feel like blogging about. Our email lists have calmed down, and it's a weekend now, which usually means blogs will calm down too - feels like everyone's taking a break of some kind. Where's that hammock? *grin*
This guide to Conversational Terrorism (thanks /usr/bin/grl!) offers many insights into the muck of conversations where you wonder what the hell is going on - where topics and simple self-expression and sharing aren't the focus but WINNING is. BUT *grin* if you've ever been on an email list with a flame war, or even a 'heated conversation', many of these same tactics get used. One tactic I didn't see on my quick read through, however, was the "I agree with you...." and then the person continues on with their same point which is actually NOT in agreement with you - they are either using it as a tactic (either consciously or unconsciously) or they really are NOT discerning a difference where you are. Either way.... it doesn't really lend them any credibility. *shrug* In any case, it was great fun reading through this page and thinking of times when I've seen these tactics in use.
I was interested in finding out about how many of the traditions of the holiday season come from pagan traditions and how, so I did a search on the web. I was surprised to find that at least the first 24 search results were for chris-tian sites trying to make the point that it's ALL pagan and the only TRUE observance of Christmas is prayer - something like that. My mistake seems to be in looking up "christmas" instead of "solstice" - so I'm going back to the search engines. I know the basic ideas, but want to brush up on the details.
Before John left this morning, we were standing around thinking that there was SOMETHING that we needed to do or say, but neither of us could think of it. We finally decided that the feeling was of CHANGE - it's like when something's coming, but is not yet here, and you have no reason NOT to do things the way you normally do, but it feels different.... Here's another description - it's like when a pattern in your life is changing and suddenly it doesn't feel the same when you send out 'feelers' into your future.... something like that.
A story of personal disaster averted because of listening to your intuition - with "bionic" ears - how appropriate! "Lindsay Wagner, of 'The Bionic Woman' fame was due to take a plane out of Chicago, but her feelings of overwhelming dread saved her and her mother from getting on that plane, a plane that, yes, crashed. On that Friday, Lindsay and her mother were waiting to check into the fated American Airlines flight. Lindsay was no stranger to psychic intuition, and over her life, had many psychic flashes and intuitions that would later prove to be absolutely correct. Consequently, when she started to get a really terrible feeling at the check in counter, she gave in to the "psychic" voice in her mind. Probably more carefully than other people might have done. As it got closer to the time to board the flight, Lindsay said that she could only look at the other passengers, and felt wave after wave of a feeling of blackness come over her. She could not pinpoint it exactly, but she knew there was no way she was getting on that airplane. Her mother could see how agitated Lindsay was getting, and although she didn't feel anything, she could see that her daughter was genuinely distressed. So it didn't take much for her mother to agree that they could take a later flight. With just ten minutes left to board the plane, and never look back, the two women decided to remain on the concourse at O'Hare. As the DC-10 rose in the air, Lindsay prayed that it was just her imagination, but still couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. Seconds later, as the jet fell from the sky, she knew that her intuition, gift of prophecy, or whatever you want to call it, had saved the life of her mother and herself." (from Blue Moon News)
Kristen here now - what stuck out for me was the 'waves of blackness' description. I remembered a story from (I THINK) Edgar Cayce's life where he was about to get on an elevator but was suddenly struck by a blackness or deadness around everyone else in the elevator. The doors closed without him on the elevator, and it malfunctioned and everyone plunged to their deaths. At least, that's how I remember it. That also reminds me of that X-Files episode where the photographer that can't seem to die, goes around taking photos of people who are ABOUT to die - they showed these people in black and white instead of color. I think these are all rather excellent descriptions of really LOW or practically nonexistent energy. I've actually described people who seem really low on energy as feeling very 'grey' to me. Interesting!
Tom's server is down for a bit because they are upgrading his capabilities, so his NOTHING blog and the OUT OF CONTEXT QUOTES above (that live on his server) aren't available at the moment, but should be back very soon. :-)
Because she talked in class and then refused to go to the principal's office, a high school student is now facing criminal charges and a $50,000 fine, including 20 counts of disorderly conduct and 1 count of criminal trespass. What better way of sending a message to the students that the teachers and school officials feel powerless and don't believe in their own authority! Come ON! My friend "B"'s brother used to tell her that she should have taught her daughter to respect her elders (meaning him). "B" would first joke, "Why teach her something she just has to unlearn?" and then follow up with, "People have to EARN my daughter's respect, she doesn't just give it to them because of their age or position." I think that's SO perfect. :-)
On Contentment (thanks, Serena - what an oddly perfect name for someone who passed this quote to me - LOL!) "Wherever I am is wherever I am meant to be, whatever I am doing is whatever I am meant to be doing and whatever everyone else is doing is exactly what they are meant to be doing - this is contentment. If you do want to change where you are, or what you are doing, the first thing is to be content with wherever you are and whatever you are doing right now. Paradoxically that's what attracts opportunities and invitations to be somewhere else! Why? Because you are a living magnet, and contentment is one of your most attractive qualities."
If you're looking for some stone bookends, eggs, balls, spheres, jewelry, tumbled stones, either for yourself or as a cool gift, Nature's Emporium is a good place to start browsing!
Egad! I spent almost the entire day yesterday either writing emails, chatting online, blogging, singing to cows, or causing earthquakes! *grin* Today I think I'll relax a little and go out to eat with some friends. Something that doesn't necessarily require a keyboard. (You didn't know that earthquakes and cows required keyboards? Where have YOU been hiding? LOL!)
This afternoon, I was chatting with a friend, live, on ICQ - we were talking about how life is really a fun, dramatic adventure once you get past your fears. I was reminded of the El Nino flood that destroyed our road in 5 places and how we got a free helicopter ride with the Red Cross and got to go 4-wheeling through deep mud and rivers, etc.. I was also reminded how Tom loves saying that he wouldn't create earthquakes if they weren't fun for him. *grin* My friend and I got to chatting about earthquakes for a bit - and then went onto a different topic.
Five minutes later - WHUMP - my whole house shook like a giant had whacked the side of it. *grin* We hadn't had an earthquake here in at LEAST 8 months - at least not one big enough to really notice. When I went to the earthquake site, sure enough, there was a big red square pretty much right where our house is - it was a 3.9! And it was, indeed, fun! Talk about a nearly instantaneous creation! And this image you see is a small piece of a larger map - the red square indicating the earthquake is pretty much right under our house.
1. When Ann McLane locked her keys in the car with her Alsatian-Collie mix, she tried for hours to get the car door open. After a policeman and Ann had both failed to get the car door opened, Ann was desperate. She told Sheba to: "Go get mummy's keys." To the surprise of the crowd who had gathered to watch, Sheba opened Ann's purse and retrieved the keys, then passed them out of the one and a half-inch gap to her rather shocked owner.
2. Candlearia Villanueva was traveling on the "Aloha" when it caught fire and sank six hundred miles south of Manila. With only a life jacket strapped around her for twelve hours floating in the Sea, things were looking pretty grim. That was, until she was rescued. Kinda.. .. A giant Sea turtle appeared beneath her. Some thirty-six hours later, the crew of a Philippine navy vessel rescued her, thinking that the woman was floating along with the aid of an oil drum. They didn't realize it was a turtle keeping her afloat until they pulled her out of the water. Villanueva later reported that there was also a smaller turtle that had crawled up on her back and nipped her every time she was about to fall asleep. She thought that it wanted to prevent her from submerging her head beneath the waves, and drowning.
On the human chessboard, all moves are possible. --Miriam Schiff (thanks Serena!)
I am appreciating people who bring me limiting ideas that I no longer subscribe to, so that I can firmly state my new knowings and more fully step into them, as in the above quote. Muchas Gracias! This is getting fun now, folks! LOL.
Ladies and Gentlemen, if you'd so kindly look to the right and up, just below the "out of context quotes" box, you'll see the new archive links! I got tired of trying to figure out how to get the archives to automatically generate CORRECTLY (I think somewhere along the line I deleted something I shouldn't have, and the "regenerate archives" option doesn't seem to be functioning right, perhaps just for me though) and so put in a drop down menu box. I have to update it manually when a new archive gets created, and some of the archives are in older layout styles, but all the information is there and at least it WORKS now. Whew!
Our landlord just stopped by to work on the wall heater (heater in the wall, not a machine to heat walls - LOL) and gave us a three pound jar of sage honey, made from bees kept just up the road. The local ranchers often trade a little 'bee keeping' space for honey, since this area is ripe with sage. Our landlord also mentioned that coyotes killed one of his two ewes - he said he went out there and it was a mess - wool everywhere. Apparently there are a lot of coyotes around right now, because their only real natural enemy is the mountain lion... and while there are a bunch out here (I saw one once!), there aren't enough right now. The coyotes also killed a (neighbor's down the road) newborn calf a month or so back. The universe has all kinds of odd checks and balances - maybe someday I'll figure it out. And neighbors stopped by his house and gave him a wild pig (almost a boar, but not quite) they'd killed. Oh, the things you learn whilst chatting with the locals.
Something that's really been driven home for me the last few days: "IT IS NOT MY JOB TO ACCOMODATE ANYONE ELSE'S VIEW OF REALITY." I have had a long-standing habit of "dealing with" or "managing people" just so I could have what I wanted, whether it was dealing with my family so they'd be calm so *I* could then relax, or with any other 'social' interaction. But I've remembered that I just need to accomodate my OWN view of reality, to back myself up, and then all the rest just falls away. I feel like I'm 100 pounds lighter now! :-)
Under-18s banned from buying eggs - this in a small town where elderly people are getting assaulted regularly with the offending ovals. In some ways this reminds me of my recent trip to Wal-Mart, where I discovered that all of their markers were in a special locked case that said, "You must be 18 or 0ver to Purchase Markers." And I've also heard (true? I dunno) that Wal-Mart creates special CDs for sale in their stores that either edit out 'bad language' or don't include certain songs that might be offensive and that this is something that record companies agreed to? Ugh! I should go to Wal-Mart, tell them I'm going to buy a bunch of markers, and then later, just leave them laying around in the pen isle for just ANYONE to buy *grin* - you'll know if I've been successful because there will be total anarchy - dogs and cats sleeping together - worldwide chaos.
Sometimes I forget that even if people have a general metaphysical background that 'you create your own reality' ideas can be somewhat startling. And to hear that others really believe that the world is created through your focus, your beliefs, and that it's ALL beliefs and no absolutes, well, even if THEY don't believe it, it may shake a lot of their assumptions about well, EVERYTHING. And when you shake a foundation, people are bound to yell, "HEY, CUT THAT OUT, YOU IMBECILE!" And when people are scared, they either run away or attack because they think that they (their beliefs) are being attacked.
People are NOT their beliefs. But when a belief remains unchanged for an entire life it would certainly seem to be a valid assumption. It's hard to picture yourself or who you are in a new framework, when you weren't even really aware that there was even an OLD framework to begin with.
Having a few out of body experiences has really helped me to see the potential of ME in other frameworks. It's like finding out there are different games to play - "who am I now?" Mind boggling and unnerving at first, perhaps, but definitely worth the learning curve.
This afternoon, I was chatting with a friend, live, on ICQ - we were talking about how life is really a fun, dramatic adventure once you get past your fears. I was reminded of the El Nino flood that destroyed our road in 5 places and how we got a free helicopter ride with the Red Cross