Category: reggae
Posted by: stedawa
Jimmy Cliff is a legendary reggae singer from Jamaica.

I remember hearing some songs by Jimmy Cliff when I was living in Guyana in the early 1980s.

One song that I particularly like was Remake the World. The song spoke out against racial prejudice and talked of a hopefuly rebuilding of attitudes, institutions, society (what each person would call their own world.

I recorded the song some 25 years later in Guangzhou, trying hard to remember the lyrics and melody. I don't think I could find the original song on the internet at that time, but now we finally have it on youtube.

So, I give you first the original song sung by Jimmy Cliff in 2 versions (which I think are actually from the same LP)

1) the less clear, slightly more scratchy LP version (probably recorded using microphone instead of direct cable) but with LP cover as the only visual content in the video-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA3W-e-PEow


2) the clearer version but with rather bodacious representation of Jamaica's swimsuit crwowd --


Here are the lyrics:

Remake the World by Jimmy Cliff


Too many people are suffering
Too many people are sad
Too little people got everything
While too many people got nothing

Remake the world
With love and happiness
Remake the world
Put your conscience in the test
Remake the world
North, south, east, and west
Remake the world
Gotta prove that you're the best, yeah

Too many people are suffering
Too many people are sad
Too little people got everything
While the good suffer for the bad

Remake the world
Promote human dignity
Remake the world
Wipe out strife and poverty
Remake the world
Get racism from your sight
Remake the world
Be you black, be you white, yeah

Too many people are suffering
Too many people are sad
Too little people got everything
While too many people got nothing

We will remake the world
With love and happiness
Remake the world
People, people put your conscience to the test

Remake the world
And this is no jest, sir

Remake the world
Come on, come on, mister

Remake the world
Come on, come on, brother

Remake the world
I said this is no jest, sir

Remake the world
So, come on, brother

Remake the world
So, come on, sister

Remake the world
Come on, come on, mister

Remake the world
And don’t think you are too small

Remake the world
I said, this is no jest, Sir

Remake the world


Then I give you the slightly modified stedawa version




[Feb 07 10] slimzine looks snazy

Category: media&journalism
Posted by: stedawa

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.




Another critical review here.
Category: environment
Posted by: stedawa
SumBlurb: knee-jerk reflex response-disabled reporting VS balanced, thorough, informed investigative journalism: the revenge of the Giant Squids




A look at Yahoo! headlines 2 days ago brought me to a brief article about the threatening Invasion of Giant Squidsthey actually have the gall bladders and nerves to try to get close to human encampments, settlements, the massive human ecological footprint, and sophisticated seaside last resorts and civilized sprawling habi-tit-for-tat. Here is the Yahoo! authoritative news splash!


Giant ink-sqirting squid invade California waters, entice anglers to book fishing trips

Mon Feb 1, 8:09 PM
By The Associated Press

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - Giant squid weighing up to 60 pounds (27 kilograms) have invaded the California waters off Newport Beach and are being caught by sport fishermen by the hundreds.

The squid showed up last week and anglers started booking twilight fishing trips over the weekend to catch them.

The animals weigh between 20 and 40 pounds (9 and 18 kilograms),but a few fishermen have reeled in 60-pound creatures.

The Humboldt squid is also called the jumbo squid or jumbo flying squid and squirts ink to protect itself.

They can grow up to 100 pounds (45 kilograms) and 6 feet (1.8 metres) long and follow food sources. The squid have also recently been spotted off San Diego,Oregon and Washington,all on the U.S. West Coast.

Robert Woodbury with Newport Landing Sportfishing told The Orange County Register that anglers in the Southern California county have caught about 400 of the big squid since Friday night.



The report tells us that Giant Squids are knock,knock,knocking on our coastal lines in unusually high numbers. This makes for a heyday for fisherfolk,and the article informs us that these marine animals apparently have invaded the coastal waters (implying some kind of threat to the humans residing there) but quickly we can relax again as we read in the same sentence that they "are being caught by sport fishermen by the hundreds." Well,forget about the threat! Get out there in your boat with your block-and-tackle box and let's hoist to the joists! The bounty of it all! The G-d must love us,since why else have the Squid visited us! We may be so blessed that we can blast their whole infringing-in-our-sights and scopes obviously inept Squid schools! Moreover,since Squid can be dried and then later grilled or put in soup or sushi or kimbap,we should stock up on Squid meat — all of us. What a wondrous occasion this is!

We are told that anglers (they really have the correct angle on things,don't they) are "booking twilight fishing trips over the weekend to catch them". Doesn't this adventureous fishing lot have their own boats? Isn't there something Hemingwayish and manly and almost primeval about landing big marine animals? It is as though we think about the battle of Life over Death. The struggle of the fish is awesome to witness. But we never have to get close to or reflect to much on our own death,so fishing is a wonderful distraction for these thoughts. Since the human almost always wins,there is a guarantee of an awesome display and demonstration of the will to survive,the power of life over death,the slipperiness as the fish zigzags around in the water,as it is slowly pulled in and dangles to wrench itself free. even while drowning in air and holding on for dear life.

Probably indigenous people enjoyed this replay each time they fished. But Europeans who arrived here put down this "nomadic" lifestyle,dropping the traditio,and instead decided it's better to sit down and watch grains grow rather than risk life and death in dugout catamarans and canoes and not knowing for sure if or when fish will be caught. Certainty is such a necessity in the rational-thinking world. Now there is a flourishing and vibrant pay-n-catch or pay-n-plunder-the-plover the-ecologically-driven-elsewhere-fish-population tourist industry? Wow! That kind of economics is almost sustainable,right,since it involves Nature and we are not really taking more than our share,but just taking what Nature wants to give us. Hells,ocean swells,soars and sores and bells! That makes eco-automatic knee-jerk sense,right? That is a Rapid Response Unit! And the optimum fishing time of twilight means that more customers can join in since they will be off work by then! Wow! How conveniently Nature is cooperating so that we can recoup the scoop and dupe the troop and hiphop to the co-op as we opt for the top in every area and aspect that can help us amass our fortune 500 or more,hauling in about 150 big 'uns a day.

[Aside: Interesting how fish have their meal times twice a day at the beginning and end of the day. Some humans do like that,too,especially those who keep religious fasts like the Muslims or the Baha'is. Traditionally in Vedic India (I am told),there was a mid-morning meal and a mid-afternoon meal. None of this 3 meals a day! Wow! How can such a large organism get by on 2 meals a day! Even whales munch on little shrimps called krill and elephants are vegetarian,too! Humans shouldn't understand how to extend their longevity and learn about healthy dietary habits from those lowly low-swimming untrustworthy leviathan beasts of the deep,those scavenger scoundrels that are obviously out now doing their own Babewatch,just waiting for those infantile helpless creatures swept out by undercurrents and currents in the underground that fool and attract even those in the overground,causing confusion and numbing and dumbing of the senses in sensual poses even with pneumatic breasts that automatically lactate when viewed from certain distances!]. A branch of Christian theology is called pneumatology . I like the analogy. It is like the Fair Air of the Holy Spirit,pneumatically present and filling every membraned even peabrained creature,all those cellular spaces. In Hinduism,we have the akash as the great sea of molecules that fill certain sectors of the universe,and the Parajiva is the Spirit that blows air into the balloon of life,the tire of our treads and threads and dreads,our cellular container. Even our heads,too. Golly polliwogs and minnows wet in minuet! I am just touching the surface of the stock-and-barrel on this Deity trade talk,so pardon garden my ignorance and look askance at the Cosmic Dance.

Okay. Let's get back on track here with our sonar fish tracking devices. The next sentence tells us something about the weight of the animal: "The animals weigh between 20 and 40 pounds (9 and 18 kilograms),but a few fishermen have reeled in 60-pound creatures. " Since numbers are so important (especially when referring to money and stock indices) to the public and also since Nature is considered only in its translatable,convertible,plunderable value in terms of thinking of it not as an organism in a particular ecological setting,not as a survivor of the seas,a giant master of the murky depths,but as marketable flesh,a mass of dead meat that will be sliced and diced and exchanged for the almighty dollar or yen or won or whatever currency your coastal country uses,we need prioritize our reporting to cater to the steady diet of half-informed,flat news that streams from our flat screens; autrefois or in other words,we need to know its mass. That words has holy connotations for many including Catholics,so it must be important. We could say bulk as in bulk food or add bulk to your flexing,bulbous,speed bump ribbed Michelin Man muscles,but that would be confusing and misleading from our lead story here.

Also note that the pound figures (not the British unit of currency,of course) are given first because the reporter obviously is American or thinks that the American system of measurement is the main system,and that the metric equivalent (given for 2 but not all 3 of the numbers stated) is secondary and therefore put in parentheses. Since this is posted on the Internet,though,it must be made clear to the reader that the traditional Imperial system of measurement is still the main one for the reporter,since America knows best and is right all (well,er,most?) of time,right?

We are talking smelly fish market potential here. Forget your Scarborough Fairs or medical cannabis supermarkets or corner grocery stores. In China,they keep the creatures live until the last moment when you the buyer decide you want to eat it. Fish and chickens are guaranteed fresh,on the spot.

Back to the oceanlioners. Let's sellebrate our spontaneous decision for senseless slaughter! Those beasts threaten the stability and peace of a coastal citizens. Overkill is just an statistical adjustment technique tourniquet to help keep populations and popular rations in check with only predictable numbers that follow the norms,just like mustang horses are biting the bullet these days since their herd numbers are also skyrocketing as far as the Horse Nebula. Where will our beefalos and cattle herds graze since beef is the primary rib and prime roast of choice at our cookouts and barbies and barbe-off-cues,and the bigger stake houses in the outback or outreach where much is at steak but they are often the cuisine of first choice and representative of strength and power. It has been scientifically shown that eaters of steak and eaters of squid outclass non-eaters in every area of human endeavor and activity,especially in the Olympics and televised sport that merits much time and attention on global TV channels such as CNN where imported,inspected,and traceable beef (in case someone really breaks a world record we can check which food she or he consumed and do drug testing but mostly find out which prime cuts may correlate with their smashing of world records) and squid will be on-and-offered at all Olympic village diners.

Gandhi wrote that Strength of numbers is the delight of the timid. The valiant of spirit delight in fighting alone."and that "My soul refuses to be satisfied so long as it is a helpless witness of a single wrong or a single misery." if ever there was food or even shish-kabob for thought,those sentences surely are.

So,60 pounds... Mmm... Is that as heavy as a grade 1 child? A grade 4 child? Can a single "normal" person lift 60 pounds? I just want to get a handle on its size relative to the human dimension. Is it as heavy as the sack of rice that fell over and was reported on CNN?
Should I appreciate how heavy that is and how hard it is to carry a sack of rice on one's head,as the Canadian charity workers Anna shows in this August 2009 pre-quake photo.

Wow! That must not be easy,not to mention how it must challenge the neck muscles and perhaps even compress the vertebrae slightly. No wonder women who work in markets are not tall! How about 2 bags of rice — maybe one your head and one on a shoulder as these Sri Lankan women are doing. I wonder how big the Squid is compared to that!

Look at these 2 men carrying a single bag of rice! Nothing like teamwork!

Btw,why don't the buyers of rice have access to dollies,those things with 2 wheels that home moving companies use to move stuff out to their truck.

Well,back to our fish story. Apparently this wave of cephalopodic invasion happened in 2007,too. Or so the Hulicat Sportfishing and Charter Boat company website tells us. Be sure to go there and see the photos of their big boat and rather well-fed looking crew and clientele!

Their site also reports that the Squid can measure up to 80 pounds in weight and be as long as 12 feet! Wow,first hand report sure beats out that Yahoo investigative reporter's findings! We also learn that it is a deep swimmer,hanging out at a cool depth of about 1000 feet (isn't that around 300 meters?). Their story says that strangely they can be found at depths as low as 300 feet! Wow! Handy dandy and easy to landy!

the we-are-through crew
the we-are-through crew

So what are they doing swimming around in warmer waters at depths of 300 feet,or even so close to the surface that they get stranded on beaches,even in Tasmania [shortlink is.gd/7Iuyw]?

Interestingly,the Tassie report tells us that "Curiously,of the four known giant squid to have washed up on Tasmanian shores (1986,1992,2002 and 2007),all have been found in the month of July." Wow again! So this erratic aberration in Squid behaviour (losing track of depth and proximity to shore) must be tied in with the seasons! And since the seasons (the influence of the sun) affects greatly the temperatures of the oceanic waters and since July down under would be their winter,we can see that even at the coldest time of year,the time of their winter,the Squid are losing track of things. Their built-in depth gauges,sonar,and compasses are obviously not working. Or the food supply has taken on a whole new dimension and relocated to shallower depths,or else been glutted and gutted due to overfishing. Or is the deep too cold and they seek warmer waters? Is this movement to shallower waters seasonal and typical? Or is it a barometer,a true indicator things,especially climate,are awry?

When the waters should be at their coolest and most favored at deeper depths by Squid,they are not found their in their desired habitat,but are swimming around off shore in obvious warmer waters. Are they trying to go urban? Are they huge cumbersome suicide martyrs willing to sacrifice their lifeforces and fleshly meat and bones for human consumption and for use in a host (another Catholic holy word,but different meaning here) of related ancillary industries such as maybe fish ball soup and fertilizer and fish farming such as tilapia or dilapia?

tentacles mangled
Apparently these Tassie (Tasmanian) Squid dudes have put up a fight before: they bear the scars of survival,the keloids of clash: their tentacles are reported as mangled. Wow! Hefty word there - mangle! Were they freeing themselves from drift nets or hooks or chains or combinations thereof

By the by,in Korean,the word for stomach and ship is the same - bae. So if you say,my bae is full,you could mean your stomach is full or your ship is full. Wow,when Hulicat goes on their fishing expeditions and talk to each other,do they mean the first or second meaning or both!

(I am starting to have too many browser tabs open on this. I hope my Firefox doesn't crash as it has done several times recently.)

Well,back to the Yahoo article: We learn in the next sentence that "The Humboldt squid is also called the jumbo squid or jumbo flying squid and squirts ink to protect itself." Wow again! So we have this type of Squid called the Flying Squid. Not sure if it exits the water and soars and flies in the sky,or if it glides and flips and turns in the liquid world as birds and planes do in the air world. This point has been overlooked in both the article and the digital literature.


Maybe Richard Bronsonwas thinking of them when he worked on his Flying Underwater Plane! What a parallel connection! Humans can dive and soar and bank underwater — just like fish do! I mean just like birds do! I mean just like airplanes do! Maybe it's AN ANALOGY between how the fish swim gracefully in the water just as human airplanes soar gracefully at speeds of up to 600mph at altitudes that birds can't even reach at all! It's funtastic! It is amazing that the human mind can think poetically and technically,even in groups,and accomplish these amazing,even amylasing,things at the same time! What a connected world!

Well,both the Yahoo! article and one of the Hulicat articles report on the ink aspect. The Yahoo article calls this "ink-sqirting." Is this a new word? Maybe it's a female Squid,and the ink cloud (no relation to cloud computing,I don't think) is released in the shape of a Sufi dancer skirt (even though I think mostly only men do this dancing,but why can't women experience similar the dizzying heights of cosmic conscience obtainable through Dance? I think the female Squid is sending us a subtle message. It's really the woman who is doing the dancing,so go and bark up another tree you lame-brained dominant member of the human species! Those ink-sqirting Squids will shroud you in their cloud,so be careful!

And since ink is giving way to virtual ink these days,and we may no longer need all those ink trees and those inventors of the ball pen,and since therefore there is more ink to go around and be used in used in tattoos,we should be alarmed that this fish too a big supply and is using it as a kind of weaponry! What a stainful process it would be to be squirted or sqirted at! I can never go swimming off the California coast now because of this giant,evil Squid literally raining ink on my parade! We must fish them down to extinction!

Even with its defensive ink cloud,though,the Squid is obviously encountering some other nasty fishing techniques,or else another marine adversary,since the Tassie Squids had those mangled tentacles.

In the exciting next paragraph,we build up more on our foundation of knowledge: "They can grow up to 100 pounds (45 kilograms) and 6 feet (1.8 metres) long and follow food sources. The squid have also recently been spotted off San Diego,Oregon and Washington,all on the U.S. West Coast." So,we learn again of their huge mass (something like weight but in physics they are not exactly the same) and also of their length or height. As big as a human! Well,obviously they are therefore a threat to be reckoned with! Anything the same or bigger than human size must automatically constitute a threat! We can treat shrimp as shrimpy small creatures,but in no way should humans be considered shrimpy compared to other creatures. We learn also that the Squid follows food sources. Well,what is so tasty along all these beaches? Most of the humans and patrol boats have scared away the natural schools of fish that probably used to play along the coast? What tidbit piscean morsels are there along the coast? Are they not part of the big picture too? Why doesn't the reporter tell us what species of fish or fishlets are suddenly moving into coastal water and suddenly attracting the evil Killer Squid to also haunt the area?

But we are given some local coordinates:San Diego,Oregon and Washington,all on the U.S. West Coast. Er,um,say that again. All along the U.S. West Coast?! How unprecedented is this invasion? Did it only start in 2005? Has it helped fight unemployment by providing more jobs to the unemployed and maybe helping them getting fishing or touring or photographic equipment to really capitalize on this phenomenon?

Is it only the American west coast? What about Canadian,Mexican,Korean,Philippine,Australian,etc etc. — all those Pacific Rimy countries who survive living off the Great Pacific? Well,sorry. Our report just drops you off there and if want further information,go dig yourself! Apart from digging and enjoying yourself in all that pride in human accomplishments and the ever-harder and fastly fading paved and cobbled roads of history and really enjoying being alive in these exciting times when anomalous,freakish events attributable to climate change occur and humans still continue to live the same way. This article says that the subject history is in decline (and also here,while this one says that physicsis in decline. I read a recent report at Yahoo UK that repeated again about history as a subject being almost out the door (I should have tweeted it). Let's include in that: geography beyond borders,physics of fish,acrobatic swimming displays,Sufi dress design,the biology of need,local fishing trends,how to bank your fish on a beach and how to bank on your fish being banked on the shore,making a quick buck on the major players in the major leagues of the fisher flock folk who dwell 1000 leagues (or meters or feet or yards) below the sea,sustainable fish harvesting,all out war on all other living species,and other delectable dredgings from the dismal shores where tides still happen and waves still crash against the rocks

And let's get back now to the closing,clinching statement in our Yahoo! featured article: "Robert Woodbury with Newport Landing Sportfishing told The Orange County Register that anglers in the Southern California county have caught about 400 of the big squid since Friday night." Wow,400 off the coast of one county. That's quite a concentration. Again,big numbers impress us and make us think of progress and success in combating the obvious detrimental and potentially horrendous threat this species presents to the human population,but at the same time we can stock up on fish meat so let's hit both of these 4 flying squids with a single left hook until none are left,not a drop in the perennial bucket,not a screw left in the bicameral,hemispherical socket that also lurks somewhere in the 3 die-mentions. What about outher coastal townships? Since the shallow waters for some strange reason are their new preferred habitat (just like most Californians),we don't really need to know why this is happening,what imbalance and where is it in the food chain supply store or the temperature of coastal waters (even where coral is being bleached)? It's a mistery,not a misery,and we let the spray mist obscure our 20/20 (non metric) so we no longer have to look at the big picture when we have the big pitcher already,right?

Links (incomplete) (too many browser tabs open):
2005 2007 fisherfolk 1
http://is.gd/7Io7)%>
Category: mixed bag
Posted by: stedawa
1970s rock group Journey does Don't Stop Believing here.

The song lyrics are fairly audible, but not 100%. So I paste them here below:
Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world
She took the midnight train goin' anywhere
Just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit
He took the midnight train goin' anywhere

A singer in a smoky room
The smell of wine and cheap perfume
For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on and on and on

Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night
Streetlight people, living just to find emotion
Hiding, somewhere in the night

Working hard to get my fill, everybody wants a thrill
Payin' anything to roll the dice just one more time
Some will win, some will lose, some were born to sing the blues
Oh the movie never ends, it goes on and on and on and on

Don't stop believin'
Hold on to that feelin'
Streetlight people


I like the energy of the song and I like the guitar solo. It has the stamp of youth on it: expressiveness, energy, observation, evaluation, taking risks, not giving up hope, questioning the system, having confidence and conviction in a brighter and better day.

Should we try to get into the lyrics at all? Should we probe beneath the electro-voltage of amps and guitar wailing and the decibels of the drummer's beat? They are all vehicles for the message, the mood conveyed, the ideas inlaid, the temper of the times assigned to a day. What words and ideas are presented there? Apart from the melody (http://vimeo.com/8497104, what other aspects of this song make it have such broad appeal?

What exactly are they believing in? Anything substantive? Themselves as noble or heroic or aspiring humans? Sharing the night with a stranger or newly found friend or acquaintance? [Famous band members pick up smiling bed mates after concert?] Aimlessness? Idle people just hanging out by a public square? The addiction of gambling?

But oh the "Streetlight people, living just to find emotion / Hiding, somewhere in the night." The unemployed, the beggars, the drifters, the outcast, the barely surviving (different from the aggressive bearly surviving). In the 13th Arabic Hidden Word, Baha'u'llah writes: I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? ..." , but also says in the 25th Arabic Hidden Word, O Son of Spirit! Vaunt not thyself over the poor, for I lead him on his way...

These images are set before us, and then whammo! we are told not to stop believing! In what? In all these things that are listed and are presumably (most of them) good? Well, all right, youth is youth, and youth is the time for identity searching. From 15 to 25, most people go there various phases and follow different fads, checking out this and that. Or some behave as if they want to extend their childhood forever. Life is for frivolities and nothing more.

How does G-d's latest Manifestation, Baha'u'llah, view the human and the phases of life? Well, first of all, the age of maturity is set at 15. This is an age technically where one can declare oneself as a Baha'i. So it is not purely a matter of inheritance and following Mom or Dad's tradition. It would therefore seem incumbent that pre-youth (from about 12 to 15) should receive special attention, special educational initiatives that would deepen them in all aspects of comparative religion, the details and depths of the Dharma Drama. One should provide as wide and thorough and unbiased a picture as possible so that the pre-youth could decide if and one they would care to declare themselves as baby Baha'is at the legal age of 15.

How is the world doing in this regard? Are there any such groups that are trying to work towards this noble goal, to address not only the physical side of maturity, but the emotional and intellectual and spiritual side, too, since each person is a 4-way intersection of those aspects?

The top administrative, globally elected body of the Baha'i Faith, The Universal House of Justice, has stressed the importance of this to the Baha'is and therefore to the world at large. Of course, each person can contemplate and make their own decision as to the importance of this.

But they would be well to recall the words of Fanny Howe in her book The Wedding Dress: Meditation on Word and Life:
But often theology assumes the language of conviction, overdetermining the answers of its own questions. Theology can offer no evidence or proof to show for its conclusions, beyond the magnificence of language. While it is not free from current anxiety about the place of the human in the universe, about the human's right to exist at ll, theology is stuck with the word "God" as the beginning of itself and therefore its end."


She mentions Carmelite nun Edith Stein who noticed that our perception of objects requires that we notice the space around. In fact, she says that emptiness — space — teaches us to mistrust the location of the 'I' inside us... Space subsumes the structure of the person by waiting for it. Empty space precedes, succeeds, and accompanies our motions."

She calls this the zero point of orientation. Howe says more on it and even mentions that The Zohar, a collection of mystical interpretations of the Pentateuch, talks about this, equating or calling it Zero, the Supreme Will, or God.

[I intend to explore this role of the concept of Zero in both math and theology in a later bloggit. Suffice it for now to say that Zero is the only number that blows away other number, since n*0=0 for any real number that exists in the world of infinite numbers. Additively, n+0=n and this is of no benefit.

The American mathematician and inventor, R. Buckminster Fuller, gave us the equation Universe = Physical * Metaphysical. In other words, he too saw that the relationship of the reality of things involves the spiritual or metaphysical dimension and, also, that the relationship is multiplicative. Life is not a zero-sum game where one wins and the other loses. We are profoundly connected and implicated in ways that we can see only through spiritual eyes and insight.


When I was in Tanzania in the mid-70s, I correlated religion and science by putting the Baha'i modular 19-month calendar on the triangular sides of the 20-sided Platonic solid called the icosahedron. On the 20th side, I put the particular year according to the Baha'i Era count (possibly 131 or 132). I sent a copy to Bucky Fuller since he was the expert on icosahedron and all things mathematical. I did receive a thank you note back. But I was reassured in some small way when I saw that he had put that cosmic equation given above. He talked about each person's OmniDirectional Halo. Nowadays, some pop singers are catching up to the research of science and religion.

Please note that the original Icosahedral Baha'i calendar was made of gestetner stenciled paper stuck on thin cardboard that was cut out, edges interlocked, and painted blue perhaps with watercolors. There were no squishable bubbles on each triangular face, but perhaps the new version could have that.

With N people in a particular group, there are (N2 - N)/2 possible threads of conversation or dialogue. Considering that even in a village of of 100 people, there are 4950 possible different dialogues that can take place.

Why has Baha'u'llah also told us that we should solve disputes and misunderstandings and in fact any small or serious problem through consultation. And what does anybody know or what is being taught these days about the art of consultation, the variety of religions and other credo cribs, the 4 or 16 temperaments, and the sheer diversity that is such an essential fact in the human family?

A music student who know how to write the musical score for MIDI obviously let their talent shine through in putting the song into a Mario Brothers video game version. This broadens the appeal of song, thus encouraging young people to espouse these precious values that are set forth in the song, or even to start to envy the band members and their lay-away plan.



Well, let us suppose that there are other things to believe in. Is belief something that is cast in concrete, a set of principles, historical interpretations, values, and cosmic vision that is in sympathy with our mindset? Once established, should one ever change one's beliefs? How critical should one be on this?

Those with different sets of belief may find it hard to establish any middle ground. This can give rise to cynicism, perhaps even lead to hostilities. Beliefs are seated as much in the heart as they are in the mind. This emotional response is an indication that there is something deep to this subject. We might call it our soul-ar slant, our belief badge, our ticket stub to Eternity some might even say.


Over at NoBeliefs.com, there are some reasonably scholarly papers on religion, philosophy, science, and history. For those who claim that they have made an intelligent choice, they may want to look at certain parts of the package.

I am not saying I am in agreement with all offered at that website. I am currently reading several books that portray positions from a wide range of angles: What is GOD? by Jacob Needleman is one such book.


I like its opening 2 sentences:
To think about God is to the human soul what breathing is to the human body.
I say think about God, not necessarily to believe in God — that may or may not come later."




Sir 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, once said while visiting and giving a talk in London: "Divine things are too deep to be expressed by common words. The heavenly teachings are expressed in parable in order to be understood and preserved for ages to come. When the spiritually minded dive deeply into the ocean of their meaning they bring to the surface the pearls of their inner significance. (Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 79)

Elsewhere, we are told Knowledge is love. Study, listen to exhortations, think, try to understand the wisdom and greatness of God. The soil must be fertilized before the seed can be sown. (Compilations, The Compilation of Compilations vol. I, p. 204)

Some kinds of knowledge make us happy and seem to strike a chord in our hearts. Sacred Texts are a kind of cord that we can cling to for life as being pulled up from a sinking ship to a helicopter hatch, or it can bind us and confine us so that we can't move and are wrapped in a glue lasso like a victim of the velvet worm. "It's glue guns weave from side to side to spread its fire. The strands glue down the victim like a sticky net. This rapid adhesive dries in seconds. The velvet worm's knife-like jaw pierces its victim before sucking it dry." Amazing weaponry by that king of the insect world!

As in the natural world, victims are ensnared with approximate logic, historical ignorance, fuzzy fluttering hearts. They and the superficial reporting squad fail to use the trowel of a sharp and alert and curious mind.

We must approach a Faith's sacred texts with a partly poetic imagination. Stories are symbolic and therefore open to more than one interpretation. Allow for variance. Accept what seems most logical and complete and comprehensive to your mind. Value what has been put in your hands. In the human and natural world, no food is the perfect food (although algae seems to be fully representative of the spectrum of required nutrients, but it doesn't have bulk).

Run with the ball (or — in soccer — kick-dribble (??) the ball) as far as you can towards the goal (line). And if you reach the goal or goal-line, be happy but not too jubilant. And don't forget that probably the game is not over yet, and new defensive formations will be out there to impend your scurrying scamper to the end-of-the-times zone.

   

Sorry this bloggit is long, almost having research essay like qualities. If this is the Integral Age, it is the time to show how things and people are connected.

Do I rest my case? Did I adequately dress my case? Did I clearly uncrate the freight?

(In my text editor drafting this bloggit, it takes 95 (19x5) lines of text which is a Baha'i number and the number of times a Baha'i should repeat the phrase, "God is Most Glorious" ("Allah U Abha") (different to Allah U Akbar or God is Powerful which is the taqbir of Islam) every day. Plus, I know it has nothing to do with the Jodhaa Akbar Indian movie which depicts the story of one of the Moghul (Muslim) emperors who traipsed into India and liked what he saw, or more precisely, whom he saw in the person of a Hindu princess named Jodhaa and so began an international, interfaith marriage with all the cultural baggage and potential breaks along the seams that such a union has potential to include. As was also true, Muslims at that time entered Europe via Cordova and Alhambra, Spain were extremely wealthy due to fine standards in textiles and expertise in science and technology and engineering. They calculated how to make ribbed arches and flying buttresses, and their huge buildings brought admiration and a bit of envy from the Christian who want on soon to flaunt their own theocratic wares and wars and ware-y Gothic prayer houses (cathedrals) in spectacular Renaissance style. Read more on 3rd Moghul Emperor of India, Akbar the Great, here.

Click here for a review of that movie.

Not sure how much of all this historic past of domination, forced religious conversion, and turf taking is portrayed as being heroic and/or worthy of emulation.

I still have to do some more reading.
Category: General
Posted by: stedawa
photo preview from flickr. photo by tammylo.

Jai Agnish: Awake When You Dream (free audit/download here)

Jai's music is listenable and approachable, and because of this, it is more than a pleasant surprise. Since I live in Asia and my access to the latest English-language music is limited, I don't have a lot to compare it with. What immediately springs to mind, though, because of its vocal-layering and subdued tone is that it is similar to The Weepies. Words are given an appropriate background, a kind of cushion if you will, so that as they are sprinkled or flung before you, you are relaxed enough and ready enough to catch their impact, their full charge. The charge of the lightness of words brigade that skips the light fandango and leaves trellises for us to enjoy. Words are suitably inaugurated, as they should be in all good songwriting.

It's a meandering, gentle weave of sound and sight, like a bike ride or country roads ride in a car that may break down and need towing, across the landscapes and shifting sandscapes of family and urban and other things that are livable, lovable, laughable. His somewhat soft but clearly audible voice, backed with overlays of and stretches of carefully crafted acoustic guitar and occasional mellotron arrangements and vocals by Peg Carlin, informs the listener without contest or confrontation. He is obviously trying to collate in these confusing times. Lively enough and with words that tell little stories and conjure up places and people, with words that capture the fleetingness of it all, seemingly acknowledging even the fleetingness of the words themselves, the song collection has tinges of transcendentalism, poetic pit falls that pull us and tug at our mind that at times, too, must be childlike, down the Wonderland rabbit hole of the imagination and away from the Blunderland of our blesst social mess.

Phrases are elevated at times with repetition, sometimes unexpectedly, making us notice even prosaic phrases as having something worthy of note. I provide here some not-too-carefully sifted samples from the lyrics; perhaps you may feel compelled to drop by the above website for a listen to the whole album. I also [encase] what might be the theme or drift of the song in each case, although that is personal and someone else could interpret the song quite differently. Perhaps it is poetic confetti, picnic finger food, krill for blue whales — with no Ultimate Meaning intended.
(1) New Parade: Call up the press and stop the traffic -- — and make a New Parade. Everyone's here, and everyone's messed up [celebrating something?]
(2) Farview: Go inside and open up the door. Tell the man in there that you're ready for more. [staying open]
(3) Paradise: Trying to find my way to Paradise, to Paradise. Can't quite figure out this roadmap, there's too many signs. Tie me to the truck, maybe you can tow me there... Does it matter at all? [metaphor of driving in a car for the cosmic journey?]
(4) Walls: Walls above my head. [?] I guess it's best for the rest of us. Tears are in my eyes, but I can't cry. How high is this, anyhow? [consciousness? reality of emotion?]
(5) We Found Love: I found a new friend. We found love. How high does this love go? [love springs eternal]
(6) **Shopping Malls: Whose land is this, anyhow? Give it back to the animals, to the dinosaur age. How long til it all becomes walls, walls, shopping malls? You can buy anything in this shopping mall. [suburban mall sprawl]
(7) Your Dream: Quick, get out of bed. You can tell me all about your dreams later. I'll see you later. [morning routine, singing in the shower, sunshine after rain]
(8) India: Told our tour guide this journey's been sanitized. Crowds of people wander by aimlessly. Does anyone notice them? Does anyone notice me? [night time in Mumbai, heritage identity]
(9) Lightnings Bugs: They hung around almost for a week. They have me drive them down the street to the bagel shop... We sit out on the cliff by the lake just in time for the sunset... I wanted to tell you this story about this thing that I found... Is it the timing or the rhyming? Haven't really figured that out.... His toys are everywhere... [snippets of stories, starts of yarns -- it doesn't take too much to get a story going.]
(10) Parachutes: It's OK if you put on your boots and fly away... Into the sky, you and I... It's easy enough to get lost in all of these worlds. Hey, we forgot our parachutes. Hold on, falling, down. [the convergent and composite nature of reality, the inevitability and atemporality of death]
(11) An American: Just outside the city lines... She says she's an American... Puts in 60 hours a week... Play games with money... They heard the saints making noise... Then the war it begins... They dream of smoke, they dream of fire, they dream a vision... Her face is like the sun... It's sweaty on the trading floor... [American dream? statue of liberty? the inner battle?]

Links:
review at docstoc had this to say about him

Jai Agnish -

album at bandcamp
Category: must-see videos
Posted by: stedawa
Cheng Lin is a New Age and famous performer from Beijing. She has sold more than 25 million records. I guess we can say she is a superstar in China.

She plays the traditional 2-string Chinese violin called the erhu and sings, but not at the same time. That would be like honey trying to replace or blend with the sugar.

Her website has some audio tracks and some video that you might be interested in.

Go to the Music section. The first video is from the Forbidden City concert with Jean Michel Jarre in 2004. The second video, On the Road to Heaven, is a reassuring song for children. Her is a snapshot from that video:
Cheng Lin both sings and plays erhu in this video

The third video narrates more about her life, and includes Embrace the World Tour.

She also has done charity work after the Sichuan earthquake and promotes the Children's Virtues project (1 2).

She will sing at the One World Music Festival in 2015. (I hope she also sings before then!)
Category: transcendental
Posted by: stedawa
one of brett dennen's logos natalie merchant
tweet: brett dennen, natalie merchant: "heaven" (player) http://brettdennen.net/ http://tr.im/brett_heaven lyrics http://tr.im/HJjp discussion?

Brett Dennen and Natalie Merchant are great singer/songwriters. This song is a bit like John Lennon's Imagine. Both songs give rise to the question or role of religion in the future. If heaven is to be built on Uyrth/Earth or if humanity is to progress spiritually and manifest that transformation in her cities, her crafts, her music, what will that "heaven" be like? No poverty, no police, no homeless, no government, no business, no banks, no armies, no police? I wonder if everyone will transform into such perfected human beings all at once. Is this naive? Does society need law and order? Is not the role of police an insurance policy in case of destructive or threateningly harmful behaviour?

I like the "Where fact and fiction meet" line. Fusion fiction. Actualist fiction. This is discussed in the upcoming 1650 page 2-volume book The Two Hands Approach to the English Language, now at the final proofing stage.

What do you think of the lyrics? Tweet me at @stedawa.

"heaven" lyrics

Beyond the rules of religion
The cloth of conviction
Above all the competition
Where fact and fiction meet

There`s no color lines or castes or classes
There is no fooling the masses
Whatever faith you practice
Whatever you believe

Heaven, heaven
What the hell is heaven?
Is there a home for the homeless?
Is there hope for the hopeless?

Throw away your misconceptions
There ain't no walls around heaven
There are no codes you gotta know to get in
No minutemen or border patrol

You must lose all earthly possession
Leave behind your weapon
You cannot buy your salvation
There is no pot of gold

(chorus)

Heaven ain't got no prisons
No government, no business
No banks or politicians
No armies and no police

Castles and cathedrals crumble
Pyramids and pipelines tumble
Failure keeps us humble
Leads us closer to peace

(chorus)


Knocking on heaven's door, which could be the door of the poor. No harm in getting to know them. It has been written, in the Hidden Words, O Ye Rich Ones on Earth! The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My trust, and be not intent only on your own ease.. In another Hidden Word, we get echoes of Psalms 9:12, Psalms 12:05, and Proverbs 22:2 (RSV): O Children of Dust! Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness may lead them into the path of destruction, and deprive them of th Tree of Wealth. To give and to be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues."


Subsequent tweet: heaven=strawberry fields? http://tr.im/john_strawberry =hope? http://tr.im/jack_hope =paradise?= "walled garden" http://tr.im/paradise_def

Why in Persian does paradise refer to walled garden? Why walled? Why not just open park? Does (or will) paradise have any restraints, rules, laws, bylaws, civic order? Who defines the order? Is Heaven a more perfected or ideal arrangement? Does society need law and order? Why had postmoderns abandoned society? They think it's just cool to be an individual, an indie, an in-divide-you-all. No sock it to me social or Glad bag ties. Yet the Integral Age calls for social responsibility, collaboration, consultation. What did Baha'u'llah say about law and order? Will global society evolve by itself without the guidance of religion? Is nirvana the same as an ideal state or society? Is anarchy the best state with total religious and atheistic freedom or absence (but no killing)? Will the tradition of powerful and prestigious priests, bishops, imams, motivational preachers, gurus still continue in the future? If religion administration was to be re-invented for the next 1000 years, how should it be arranged? Or it does it hold no importance?

This is the month of Masa'il or Questions. Obviously, asking questions is an admirable trait, if it is one of 19 traits that have been picked as names for the months in the modular Baha'i calendar. It is interesting also that during this 19-day month, the winter solstice takes place. For those in the northern hemisphere, it is the longest night, the night of most darkness and shortest light. Is asking questions not a way figuratively to seek the light?

Since anodyne means without food, and anodyne means without pain, then anodomino must mean without G-d. See the dictionary for more. Is this the year 2009 anodomino? Is the wave of current scepticism about G-d a lot of postmodern angst and the anodomino effect?

Is the pianodomino effect the result of the peaceful use and spiritualizing effect of music? Pi-anodomino effect (pi = 3.141592, right?)is the effect of science and mathematics on the without G-d world? So, in effect, dharma, math, science, and music are all part of our future. Baha'ullah has made education compulsory on everyone, and speaks of the independent investigation of truth, which means without dependence on family or national or tribal tradition, but with a totally open mind. Truth-seekers we must always be.

Certainly the dream of world peace is strongly in the mind of musicians and artists around the world. May the collectivity expand!

Let's be new-spherical, noospherical, trans-scient (cross-cultural, cross-scientific).

Sorry for being so garrulous, voluble, almost care-ismatic, juxtatopical.

Words reverb.

Topic tapioca. Soul pancake. Mixed bag-avan (Bhagavan). Terminological cancer. A very soar-y state to be in.
Posted by: stedawa
Soul and R&B musician Stevie Wonder is now a UN Messenger of Peace.

View a short video clip here.

Stevie Wonder joins other musicians violinist Midori and cellist YoYo Ma, amongst the current roster of messengers of peace. Stevie Wonder with UN Secretary Ban Gi Moon
Category: mixed bag
Posted by: stedawa
Was over at the NPR 2009 roundup of folk tunes, and came across this thoughtful tune by John Gorka called Ignorance and Privilege



He sings of one's indebtedness to our forebearers, ancestors, and how we are so fortunate to be alive and how we can often forget the price paid by our ancestors for us to enjoy such privilege.



It relates a bit to my reading yesterday of the Poverty Point earth mound works of Louisiana that indicate a civilization of 3800 years ago that traded far and wide — as far north as the Great Lakes — and shows the attention to the geometry of urban design. It opens to the south — obviously for winter sun — and consists of 6 concentric semicircles. Were they dikes used to sluice off fish-full water, and kind of seasonal fish or shrimp farming? Were they housing ridges? The logistics of earth removal and maintaining and feeding a workforce are overwhelmingly impressive, showing sophistication. This civilization pre-dates Greece and Sumerian. Apparently, the Watson Break (Brake) is a nearby settlement that is even earlier.

There is a whole pile of stuff on ancient science at http://www.earthmatrix.com/ along with their animation presentations (really makes me feel ignorant about meso-American history.)


On another subject related to learning about the past, there is the cause of the wild horses of the American southwest. I tweeted some time ago (twitter.com/stedawa) about Sheryl Crow's rallying for this cause.

There is a must-see documentaryon the diminishing prospects and demise of the presence of wild horses (mustangs), Saving The American Wild Horse (flv video). Be sue to check it out.

Apparently cattle farmers whose cows compete with wild horses for grazing ground put pressure on the Bureau of Land Management (US Government) who are rounding up, slaughtering, keeping in captivity, selling for food or breeding purposes, transporting to Mexico or Canada — all so that cattle farmers who cater to the beef market will have better meat products.

The other prong prying at zeroing out the mustangs are the gas and oil corporations who want to capitalize on extracting the gas and oil with no regard to dwindling mustang populations or their sustenance.

The BLM, perhaps in an attempt to justify their population control of wild herds, have an adoption/auction program and a sales program to help them get rid of their captured herds. There is also a therapy program for prisoners to adopt and spend time with newly tamed wild horses. [Wow! What a great life as an inmate! Food, shelter, and playing with horses! Nice life!]

More here: 1 2 3

In contrast, the Canadian duet Dala debuts with a song about a boy who watches Horses and dreams of running with them:


The horse has long been an animal held in very high regard, a symbol of freedom and strength and courage. In the Hindu tradition, we find mention of horses (ashva) in the Vedas. There is even mention of a special horse sacrifice, ashvamedha. There was also a Horse Upanishad. This might be the Katha Upanishad. The 5 senses are symbolized by chariot horses. Later, some thought it's better to do an internal horse sacrifice (girding one's loins?) rather that doing a real horse sacrifice. In the Arya Samaj reform movement of Dayananda Sarasvati, the Ashvamedha is considered an allegory or a ritual to get connected to the "inner Sun" (Prana).

When one deals with religion, one has to be ready to not be so literal. The whole world is G-d's metaphor, a representative analogy or likeness. Even words are symbols for things and ideas but are not the things themselves.


Closing Note: Interesting that on the Coromandel coast at Mahabalipuram, the tsunami revealed 6 more structures associated with the temple complex there. If my memory serves me well, this complex included statues of horses.

Posted by: stedawa
Suggestion of the word swirled to describe multi-racial humans
Now we have a suitable non-hyphenated word
Koreans now liking differences from the NY Times

giga black chinese from long ago Buddha statue with oriental eyes but an otherwise african appearance

A bit of African/Chinese history
Start with this article on shame on those who claim racial purity, the story of Lou Jing, and something on the black Shang of China at parentsunderground

swirled child Lou Jing caught up in controversy
Lou Jing was born and grew up in Shanghai with her mother. When she was 7, she asked her mother who her father was. Because Lou Jing was obviously of swirled heritage and because of the almost inbred oriental dislike of dark skin, her mother never answered the question, and Lou Jing never asked her again. Video and articles on Lou Jing 1 2 3

I should also mention that many individuals who come from Cheju Island in Korea have hair that is bushy or more Afro style, so one can only guess that people of African descent visited there long ago. More on hair apparents 1 2 3

To many more links on the Chinese and African connection 1 2 3 4 5


We have to de-grout to get to humanity's common roots.
de-grout to da root