Good Things and Bad Things

to encourage or discourage (have courage!)

Good
Health, Development, Education
Peace, Hope. Love, Fun, Happiness, Community, Freedom
Honor, Integrity, Values
Money, Wealth
Magic, Juggling, Kites, RC cars/planes/helicopters (remote control)
Movies, Music, Books, Magazines

Bad
Poverty, Squalor, Lack
Unemployment, Underemployment, Debt, Deficit
Recession, Depression, Inflation, Stagnation, Inequality, Resentment
Anger, Hatred, Rage
Torture, Evil, Depravity
Malnutrition, Hunger, Famine
Pain, Agony, Suffering, Torment, Misery, Anguish
Unhappiness, Stress, Anxiety
Natural Disaster, Drought, Flood, Earthquake, Fire, Volcano, Hurricane, Typhoon
Sickness, Illness, Disease
Lack of clean water/ sanitation
Obesity, Smoking,
Aids, Tuberculosis, Malaria
PTSD, S.A.D
Corruption (political, economic),
Greed, Outrageous CEO/Wallstreet pay packages, Theft
Slavery, Prostitution
Murder, Killing, Assassination, Homicide
Abortion, War, Capital Punishment
Weapons of Mass Destruction (nuclear, biological, chemical)
Terrorism, Torture, Crime
Depression, Schizophrenia, Mental Illness
Sadness, Sorrow, Crying, Tears, Weeping, Wailing, Gnashing of teeth
Deforestation, Desertification, Habitat Preservation, Extinctions
Acid Rain, Pollution (air, water, soil), Poisoning
Global Warming, Overpopulation, Resource Depletion
Ignorance, Apathy, Sloth
Sociopathic Corporations, the Military-Industrial Complex
Skewed Priorities
Immorality, Amorality
Racism, Sexism, Intolerance
Xenophobia, Jingoism, Ethnocentrism
Scapegoating, Blame
Negativity, Pessimism, Cynicism, Hopelessness, Despair, Giving Up
Ennui, Boredom, Malaise, Spite
Overstimulation, Too much information
wickedness, sin, cruelty, malice
Isolation, Withdrawal
Fear, Bullying, Intimidation
Objectification, Dehumanization
Rape, Assault
Atrocity, Holocaust, Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing
Drug/Alcohol Addiction , Gangs,
Injustice, unfairness
Premature Death, Oblivion
Stupidity, Foolishness, Illiteracy
Lies, Manipulation, Deceit
Expedience, Exploitation
Failure, Loss,
Frustration, Annoyance, Irritation, Bother
Poor/Lack of Communication
Silent treatment, Ostracism
Fascism, Oppression, Repression,
Slander, Calumny, Censorship
Mind Control, False Consciousness, Insecurity
Hell

Some good ideas

quotes, that is

1) "There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved" -George Sand

2) "And God Said, Let Us Make Man in Our Image" -Genesis 1:26-28
(note the plurality of God, aka love)

marriage tips
3)"Marriage isn't ownership. It's a partnership"
4)"Love each other unconditionally" and "Love me when I least deserve it. Because that is when I really need it."
5)"Opposites might atttract, but it's our similarities that keep us together"
6)"Agree to disagree; you're individuals, not clones" and "Learn to be tolerant of your differences and respect them"
7)"Love= Passion + Friendship + Unconditional Affection"
8)"Take care of each other. Share secrets. Create a private club with just the two of you in it"
9)"The supreme happiness in life is the assurance of being loved for oneself. Even in spite of oneself."
10)"Keep a place both physically and spiritually for yourself. Private time is important"
11)"Pretend you're still dating. Prepare romantic dinners together, and eat by candlelight"
12) "Give all to love" -Ralph Waldo Emerson
13) "Bring flowers to each other...just because. Small gestures can make big impressions."
14) "Find time for an occasional weekend getaway. Stepping outside your routine adds spice to life"
15) "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach." -Elizabeth Barrett Browning
16)Take time to regularly be alone together.
17)"Pick fights carefully. Unless it's worth a divorce, Give it up. Life is too short."
18)"Be to their virtue very kind Be to their faults a little blind." -Matthew Prior
19) "Of all the serious things, marriage is the funniest." -Pierre de Beaumarchais
20) Ignore everything petty, and smile.
21) In marriage do thou be wise: Prefer the person before money; Virtue before beauty; the mind before the body.
22) Say "i Love you" every day.

Value

money and ideas

The US may be headed for a double-dip recession, or even a depression, but I found this one quote encouraging:

"The richest person in the world -in fact all the riches in the world- couldn't provide you with anything like the endless, incredible loot available at your local library" -Malcolm Forbes

Movies with the word 'love' in the title

133 of them

-Love me or leave me
-Immortal love
-Endless love ('81)
-Love is forever
-Love is eternal while it lasts
-I really love my wife
-Love affair ('94)
-Love is not a sin
-Love is God
-What love is
-Love is a crazy thing
-Love is a many splendored thing
-Crazy, stupid love
-Love is all there is
-Love, actually ('05)
-Love is the only solution
-Love happy ('49)
-Women in love ('69) France
-Love in the afternoon ('57)
-Lovers and other strangers
-Lover come back ('61)
-What is love?
-This is love
-I've loved you for so long
-From Paris with love
-From Russia with love ('63)
-I love you, Phillip Morris
-Crazy love
-Shakespeare in love
-Carry on loving
-Love is a four letter word
-Love is a fat woman
-Love is the drug
-Love is the law
-This is not a love song
-This is not a love story
-Love and other disasters
-I love you to death ('90)
-The lovely bones
-Love and human remains ('93)
-A time to love, and a time to die
-Love wrecked
-Love only destroys
-Love! Valor! Compassion!
-New York, I love you
-Lovers in the arctic circle ('98) Spain
-I love you, Beth Cooper
-Love letter
-Love parade ('29)
-Sea of love ('89)
-True love ('90)
-A short film about love
-Let's make love
-Love me tonight
-In the mood for love
-I love you, man
-I love you too
-Love with the proper stranger ('63)
-Can't buy me love ('87)
-Love field ('92)
-Love a rainy night
-Love and basketball
-Love sick
-Love in the time of cholera
-Love and other diseases
-Love me tender
-Love train
-Love story
-The love bug
-p.s. I love you
-A thin line between love and hate
-Rich in love ('93)
-Love and a .45 ('94)
-Love at large ('92)
-My name is love ('08) Sweden
-Isle of love ('68) France
-In love and war
-It's all about love
-The two faces of love ('74)
-What's love got to do with it
-Love conquors all
-Love is all
-The love guru
-Love on Sunday
-Love story
-New York, I love you
-Must love dogs
-Everyone says I love you

-And in theaters as of Christmas, 2012 (in NY and LA):
AMOUR, www.amourthemovie.com, by Michael Haneke

-L.O.V.E. ('10)
-LOVE ('12)
-Love ('64) (1919)('27) ('48) ('13) ('14) ('20) (24) (56) (57) (68)
('74) France ('80)Sweden
('82) ('91) (96)('99) ('01) (02) (03) (04) (05) (06) (07) (08) (09) (10) (11)

-koi ('24)
-Laska ('56)
-szerelem ('71)
-tou shou zai ('82)
-sneham ('77)
-Preet ('45)
-Ai ('55) ('62)
-Karlek ('52)
-Kathal ('52)
-Bhalobasa ('55)
-Dard-E-Dil ('34) ('53)
-Ljubezen ('84)
-Mahabbat ('85)
-Lyubov ('92)

I'm Single, Ladies

Don't be sad

Let me know if I'm your kinda guy.
I'm a Virgo, which they say is most compatible with Taurus, Capricorn, or another Virgo. (or maybe Cancer or Scorpio, says somewhere else).

I'm also a Boar, which they say should marry a Rabbit or a Sheep.

A Rabbit (I have the Chinese restaurant place mat) is born in '63, '75, or '87.
A Sheep is born in '67, '79, or '91.

(I'll be moving from Roseville and living in the Bay Area soon)

Life, The Universe, and Everything

What is the meaning of it all?

Life is good! as they say.
Being and Existence are good.

Reality is God ("reality is all the god there ever is" -Avatar Adi Da Samraj)

In a nutshell
Nature, Reality, Life, The Universe, It All, and Everything
The Total, The Entirety, The Sum
The Whole Enchilada

is GOD

...and the bible says vanity of vanities, All is Vanity

Closest Star and Galaxy

Space is the Place

-The closest star is Proxima Centauri, at only 4.2 light years away.
-The closest galaxy is the Canis Major Dwarf galaxy, at 25,000 light years.
and
-The closest spiral galaxy is Andromeda, at 2.5 million light years.

Andromeda has a few hundred billion stars, like our Milky Way.
Canis Major, which is irregularly shaped, has around 1 billion stars.

Get this:
One light year is about 5.88 trillion miles.

So, by my calculations, Proxima Centauri is 24.696 trillion miles.
(24,696,000,000,000)
Canis Major Dwarf galaxy is 25k x 5.88t, or 147,000 trillion miles.
(147,000,000,000,000,000)
And Andromeda is about 15 million trillion miles., which is:
(14,700,000,000,000,000,000 miles away)

Some TED astronomy talk, I remember, said, from the most average location in the (known) universe, the sky is black, meaning you can't see any stars, because they're so far away. Wow.

Andromeda, from earth, is a fuzzy patch of light, when seen through a pair of quality binoculars.

I sure hope future space travel has some fun things to do inflight, for the folks on board.

"there's a place in the stars...for a new ghetto" -Oingo Boingo

-The diameter of the known universe is 93 billion light years.
That's546.84 billion trillion miles.
That's
546,840,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles.

"to infinity and beyond" -Buzz Lightyear

Moving to Berkeley

I hope to move in to an apartment there next month

so email me, jessteshara@yahoo.com, if you are (or know of) a roommate with a room available in Berkeley, Ca

Did you know there are also Berkeleys in Denver, Illinois, and Missouri?
But I'm referring to the Bay Area's Berkeley, California, home of the Cal Bears.

Musical Collective Identity

All we are: a bit of pop culture philosophy

-All we are is dust in the wind; Kansas

-You and me baby ain't nothin but mammals (so let's do it like they do it on the discovery channel); The Bloodhound Gang

-All in all is all we are; Nirvana

in other words, we're interpenetrating mammal dust :-)

God only knows

this is a weird expression

I heard the song "God only knows where I'd be without you"
and I switched to literal mode...
and the meaning changed drastically.

what's up with that? God doesn't know anything else??
if not, shouldn't we be saying "only God knows where I'd be without you"?

These are a few of my favorite things

happy, happy

museums
circuses
rollercoasters
magic shows
juggling
travelling
restaurants
swimming
music
movies
books

Harold Camping and Family Radio

Judgement Day: they're idiots

Apparently, they've spent over 100 MILLION dollars advertising today, at 6pm, as the day of "rapture".

What a waste of money. You'd think they would spend it on doing good. Ugh.
God is not pleased.

The 89 y.o. Camping is in Oakland with his family. Maybe he'll spontaneously human combust or something. That would be cool. A hundred mil. she-it.

Agnostic

I'm convinced the only way God can be made real is to become Him/Her.

-because You are the only thing that is real to you? no, that's not quite right. or is it? "you-niverse"
-because goodness must come from within. hm, maybe not.
-the Creator is you: you create your own world; saying an external deity did so is just hypnosis
Your parents are your creators, of course. Nature and nurture, dna and environment, play a role, of course.

okay, it just seems right. I can't really nail down the logic.
I'm gonna steal from Nike, and say Just Do It.

If God is love, which is an emotion, but also a deity, a being, then for God to be real you have to be in love with someone, which could be just yourself, I guess, but is more happy if it's an actual other living, loving, in-the-flesh person. 'God' is just the hypothetical substitute for a lover or parents, who are probably imperfect.

If only God is good, you have to start with yourself. Otherwise, you're bad, and that doesn't help. Guilt and suffering ensue, with the possibility of hell and all. You should love yourself.

It's the only option if you're agnostic. Wikipedia link on agnosticism.
If God, out there, is unknown or unknowable..
You can at least Know Thyself.
Being good is an imperative, of course, because otherwise, you're evil.
If you want to be evil, then you must think it is good (so it's not evil).
But maybe you'll end up being raped in prison.
So, First, do no harm. Doing nothing is better than doing evil.
Of course, prison should not be evil, either.
"It's all good" is untrue, and in my opinion, evil.

If I weren't God, I'd be an agnostic atheist, or agnostic theist if I were in love.
An 'agnostic atheist' is atheist because he does not believe in the existence of any deity, and agnostic because he/she does not claim to know that a deity does not exist.
It all depends on how you define a deity.
I am concerned for the welfare of the universe and it's inhabitants, but I'm not omnipotent.
In fact, I'm infinitely small, in relation to the universe.
So all I can do is make my life good, which is what you should do, too, as
God of your own domain.
Religion is just set forth as principles for happiness.
I cannot know whether a deity exists or not, and neither can you (strong agnosticism),
UNLESS we make a God of ourselves.
So be good.
That's all it takes.

The Explaining Religion Project

Link, from the Economist

Sometimes I feel like somebody's watching me. Can't get no privacy. whoa o-oh.
Indeed, my two eyes and mind's eye are watching you.

There's a car being named the Karma

The idea of (religious/spiritual) karma is that misdeeds result in proportionate misfortune, and the opposite, that good deeds reap proportionate rewards.

If you think you're being watched/monitored, you're also more likely to act morally.

9 things you can do to be happy, link

Books

I've been on a reading bender

-The Best Spiritual Writing (2002)
-The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, 3rd annual collection
-There Are No Children Here, Alex Kotlowitz
-All The Money In The World (How the Forbes 400 Make and Spend Their Fortunes)
-On My Honor (Boy Scouts and the Making of American Youth), Mechling
-Cholo Style (Homies, Homegirls, and La Raza), Reynaldo Berrios
-My FBI (Bringing down the mafia, investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the war on terror), Louis Freeh
-God is Not Great (How Religion Poisons Everything), Christopher Hitchens
-The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins
-Cell, Stephen King
-Hokkaido Popsicle, Isaac Adamson
-Brainiac (Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive world of trivia buffs),Ken Jennings
-Kingdoms of Sorcery
-Killing Monsters (Why Children Need Fantasy, superheroes, and make-believe violence)
-Bare Bones (Conversations on Terror with Stephen King)
-Smart on Crime , Kamala Harris
-Armed and Dangerous, William Queen & Douglas Century
-Dave Barry's Bad Habits
-Dave Barry's History of the Millennium
-Vietnam Now: A reporter Returns, David Lamb
-Chickenhawk: Back In The World, Robert Mason
-Madness Visible: A Memoir of War , Janine Di Giovanni
-Jarhead, Anthony Swofford
-Flags of our Fathers, James Bradley
-State of the World 2009, The Worldwatch Institute
-Plan B 3.0, Lester R. Brown
-The Areas of My Expertise, John Hodgman
-The Oxford History of Mexico

-The Best American Essays, 2007
-Mexico, A Traveler's Literary Companion
-Monty Python's Flying Circus, all the words, v. 2
-Malicious Intent, Sean Mactire
-Reason, Robert B. Reich
-Don't Drink the Water, Woody Allen
-The Writing Life, writers on how they think and work
-Jimmy Corrigan, the smartest kid on earth

-Best American Short Stories, 2005
-Best American Short Stories, 1990
-The Oxford Book of Essays
-Blind Man's Bluff, (submarine espionage)
-The New History of the World, J.M. Roberts
-The Year's Best Horror and Fantasy, 2008

on deck
-Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond
-The Mustard Seed, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

Happy Easter

and Happy Wester, too

We praise His Name
You can't spell Jesse without JSS
He (the prince of peace) came not to bring peace, but the sword
What a mess (iah)
P-raisin'
What's the s-word?

soul? she-it. Ain't no such thang.

Navy

"A Global Force for Good"

I got a postcard in the mail, with this latest military recruitment slogan on it.
They're looking for a few good men to aim high as an army of one, yada yada.

All I have to say is, although the military's mission is to prevent war, they certainly prepare for it. I guess I'm just a sucker for that other bumper-sticker slogan, "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war" by whoever thought that one up. On second thought, I guess you can; it's just that you don't have all your eggs in one basket.

The Navy does seem like a nicer service than say, the Marines, but I'm not going to be fooled that they don't kill people all the same.

I take my own marching orders, not the president's.
And that's the last word on the subject.
Well, maybe not: Go Navy, beat Army
Annapolis, ooh rah

Religious Kooks

I may be one of them

I read an online article that said a lot of religious crazies appear among tourists and travelers to Israel; i.e. the Holy Land. Normal folk suddenly flare up into full-blown psychosis. Apparently, the number one delusion is that they are the Messiah (i.e. Jesus, I guess) The second-most frequent is having the identity of Satan. Thirdly, the big head honcho himself, God. An attorney in Sacramento told me there have been a gaggle of Antichrists declaring themselves at the Sacramento County Jail. So this role-playing thing can get out of hand, maybe.

Then again, I may really be God, lol.

More religious geography

The place does not make the person

Roseville has evil in it
Natomas has satan in it
Mendocino has demon in it
(demonstration also has demon in it)
(funeral has fun in it)
Ogden has God in it

aside
mean, anger, hater, hated, rage, prey
meaning, tangerine/manger/manager, heart, death, garage, pray

'Hated' having the same letters as 'death' seems the most interesting...
although loved as 'devol' makes you go hm.

atheist: hate is t, a theist, ate shit, hates it
oblivion: i liv on (ob)

College Radio

I dig college radio

I skip around and surf these all, online:

Cal
http://kalx.berkeley.edu/

Stanford
http://kzsu.stanford.edu/

Harvard
http://whrb.org/

UC Davis
http://www.kdvs.org/

UC Santa Cruz
http://kzsc.org/

UC Santa Barbara
http://www.kcsb.org/

UC San Diego
http://scw.ucsd.edu

CalPoly SLO
http://kcpr.calpoly.edu

MIT
http://wmbr.mit.edu/

Hallelujiah, Amen, and Hosanna

Hallelujah means 'praise God' or praise Jah or praise Jehovah...(from the first two letters of YHWH), used by Christians to shout their joy towards God

Amen means 'So be it' or It is so or Truly, from the Hebrew aman which means to be faithful, support, or confirm.

Hosanna means 'Save Us!'
or praise, like Hallelujah

from the most trusted of sources, straight off the internet...
hamensanna!

Happy Valentine's Day

hug, smooch
Love,
Jess

A joke

How did the Judge know his milk went bad?

Odor in the quart!

Good Friday

I think this song by the Cowboy Junkies is beautiful

dentist and sushi

Today, after more than a year, I go to the dentist

It's part of my Kaiser plan, now, starting 1/1. I like the way my mouth feels after all that scraping and cleaning.

Then, Sara and I are going out for sushi, possibly my favorite food, next to Thai.
It's gonna be a good day!
-----
well, it wasn't as great a day as I had hoped...
I'll be out some money to pay for periodontal disease/4cavities
and
we therefore didn't have sushi (we had okay indian)
and
my meds are apparently affecting my liver...ugh; it will be tested soon.
and
the horrific arizona shooting. The suspect looked alot better with his hair. What a psycho mugshot. So sad about the young girl. The shooter; what an a-hole. Eric Holder apparently thinks he's a priest. I think his religious talk is inappropriate, myself. Whatever, though.

The Efficacy of Prayer

Weird, but apparently prayer works

It's the last chapter, pg. 896, of a book I just bought with my Barnes and Noble gift certificate, called The Owner's Manual for The Brain (everyday applications from mind-brain research)

It says,
half of a group of 393 cardiology patients who were prayed for by home prayer groups were 5x less likely to require antibiotics and 3x less likely to develop fluid in the lungs, reported from a 1988 review.

Another instance of impressive results is a study in which 10 people focused their prayers on retarding the growth of a laboratory fungus, while they were 15 miles from the fungus. Over 70% of the cultures showed retarded growth. The results were duplicated 16 times (out of 16). (!)

Speaking of prayer, my uncle Tom is having heart surgery on Monday, January 24. So join me if you like in praying for a safe surgery and healthy recovery. Thanks!

Happy New Year!

Go Kings!

The Sacramento Kings nba basketball team won in the last second, literally, last night in their game against the Grizzlies, 100-98, with a halfcourt prayer shot at the buzzer by Tyreke Evans. Memphis and Sacramento are apparently the last place teams, but it was still an exciting game to watch.

I was going back and forth between the nailbiter and an interview on Larry King with the world's richest person (over Bill Gates and Warren Buffett), Mexico's Carlos Slim, who strikes me as a really good, stand-up person. So maybe the Simpson's caricature of capitalists as being loathsome Montgomery Burns types is unrepresentative. I think he has 53.5 billion or something, if I remember correctly. The only thing I can say that I don't like about him is that he has invested in tobacco, which kills someone every 6 seconds, the commercials say.

I just finished listening to all the lectures by Richard A. Walker in this last semester at Cal's Economic Geography of the Industrial World. Good stuff. Despite not seeing any of the visuals, I would still say I learned a fair amount.

I bought an Amtrak ticket to Berkeley, where Sara works, for Sunday, when we will celebrate Christmas with my family in San Francisco. A one-way fare costs 27 bucks from Roseville. I used to take Amtrak alot to the Bay Area from Davis when I was a student there. The Veil Between Heaven and Earth is now open for business! (before the students have returned from break). I read the Tao Te Ching the other day, which they sell there.

Part 5 (there are 81 small chapters) says (in part):

Between Heaven and Earth,
There seems to be a Bellows:
It is empty, and yet it is inexhaustible;
The more it works, the more comes out of it.
No amount of words can fathom it:
Better look for it within you.

Now you can also look for it on 1862 Euclid, in Berkeley, 94709

Merry X-mas

Christ in Greek begins with chi, whose symbol is X, so it's not irreligious...

Other Trivia off of Music Choice:
Mistletoe has been held sacred by the Norse and Celtic Druids
Christmas in Chinese is Sheng Dan Kuai Le
The traditional Christmas instrument in Italy is called a zampagnori, or bagpipes
In1995, the 30dollar tickle-me elmo sold up to 2500 dollars.
There are about 15k christmas tree growers in the US
Each rockette has only 78 seconds to change costume during the Radio City Christmas Spectacular
In the Phillipines, a star made of crepe paper is hung in the window.
JIngle bells was published by James Pierpont in 1857
30% of christmas time consumers use credit cards
On Christmas 1776, George Washington led troops across the Delaware
Americans spend close to 8b on christmas decorations annually.
Christmas tree lights were invented in 1882 by Edward Johnson, Thomas Edison's asst.
Candles were placed on trees before electric lights were invented
LED chrismas lights last 100,000 hours
Clement Moore's Twas the Night Before christmas popularized the idea of santa going from house to house, with reindeer and a sleigh
Thomas Nast, a cartoonist, was the first person to depict Santa as we know him today.
Eskimos like to eat akutaq during the holidays, a mix of fat with sugar and berries.
The Nightmare before christmas was the first stop motion animation film ever made
Peak production only yielded 70 seconds of film per week.
Little Christmas is celebrated in Ireland on January 6th
as is the feast of St. Nicholas Day
THe first ball lowering ceremony in times square took place in 1907
Silent Night was first performed at St. Nicholas church in Austria
Christmas ridge is underwater about 120 miles off of tampa bay
In 1977, Mattel's Slime was the most popular christmas toy gift., transformers in 94
In 1907, Oklahoma was the last state to declare christmas a holiday
THe first state to declare christmas a legal holiday was Alabama in 1836
Norwegian children leave porridge for Nisse,
Miracle on 34th st. was released in May to increase sales
Monopoly was the best selling gift of 1936. The monocled guy is named Rich Uncle Pennybags
In Holland, the gift -giver is Sinter Klas, who has an 8-footed horse
The typical Christmas sevice in India lasts 3 hours
Gaghant Baba comes on Christmas in Armenia (actually on Dec. 31st)
John Francis Wade penned Oh Come all ye Faithful
Christmas cards originated in England in the 1840's
For every christmas tree cut down, roughly 3 are planted
The world's largest christmas tree is 141 feet tall, in Idaho
Rumor has it that Silent Night was penned in 1816 because the church organ was broken
Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas in the 1600's
Matthew and Luke have th emost com[plete christmas story in thebible
WHite spruce is the most popular capitol christmas tree (of the 13 varieties used)
77 million xmas trees are planted annually
THere's a town called Santa Claus in Indiana where letter to Santa are delivered
Pokemon was the best selling gift of 1999
Noel Redding of the Jimi Hendrix Experience was born on Christmas, 1945
Macy's first had Santa in their store in 1870
Kissing under the mistletoe dates from a 17th century english custom
A yule log takes the place of a christmas tree in Italy
yule comes from romans, celts, and saxons
Candy canes were bent to look like a shepherd's staff in the 1600's.
Grandfather Frost brings the presents in Russia
Myvaa Joulua means merry christmas in finnish
A figure of a goat called a juldukk in Sweden is placed under the tree to protect the presents
German christmas trees in the 1700'a were really just decorated branches hung from the ceiling
Hong Kong surrendered to Japan in WW2 on christmas 1941
How the Grinch stole christmas debuted on cbs in 1966
evergreen, ivy, holly, and mistletoe all symbolize everlasting life
In Guatemala, the gift-bringer is the christ child
The Rockefeller christmas tree uses over 5 miles of lights
THere's a town called Christmas, FL (where a decorated tree is kept year-round)
Mistletoe was known for centuries as the symbol of healing and divine love
Emperor Aurelian declared dec. 25 the celebration of the invincible sun
Matzo balls are held on christmas or xmas eve by the jewish
Glaedelig Jul in Danish means merry xmas
THe Ukrainian christmas eve supper consists of 12 courses (1 for each apostle)
3 million cabbage patch dolls were sold in 1983
In 2008, Elmo Live was the best selling gift
1990, teenage mutant ninja turtles
2001, Bratz dolls
1989, Nintendo game boy
2004, RoboSapien (it could breakdance and burp)
2006, Play Station 3
Unmarried women ate gingerbread 'husbads' in olden times to give them luck in the romance dep.
Tchaikovsky wrote the music for The Nutcracker
Oregon harvest the most christmas trees in the US
30-35 million christmas trees are felled in the us each year
Toy comes from the old english word for tool
Hotelosho brings gifts in Japan (he has eyes on the back of his head)
Bethlehem PA is also known as Christmas city
Calvin Coolidge in 1923 initiated the first public xmas tree lighting ceremony
Dickens' A Christmas Carol has been filmed over 200 times
THe war of 1812 ended xmas eve 1814
The first us postal christmas stamp was issued in 1962
Mikulas brings presents in Hungary (st. nick)
Pere Noel or Le Petit Jesus brings gifts in France
1651-81 Boston outlawed christmas celebrations on the fear people wouldn't be pious enough
Reindeer are in Lapland, Finland (but not in the North Pole)
29B was spent in america in online holiday shopping in '09
Christmas day, 800a.d., Charlemagne was crowned emperor
santa was depicted as a bishop, gnome, or dwarf before Thomas Nast
Scandinavian mythology brought us kissing under mistletoe
In France, mistletoe kissing happens on new year, not xmas
Samichlaus is santa in Zurich, switzerland
Barbie and Ken were named after the kids of Mattel's founder
39-18-33 is Barbie's measurements
1930, Mickey and Minnie handkerchiefs were a top-seller
Jim Carrey played Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber
Jim Carrey was first picked to play the elf in Elf, before
Christindl brings gifts in Germany (the christ child)
Children receive gifts on Epiphany, too, in Puerto Rico
Children receive gifts twice in Poland during the xmas season
Yule is winter solstice, the darkest night of the year
In 1822, Clement C. Moore's gift to his children was the poem A Night Before xmas
Sinterklaas comes by steamboat in the Netherlands
Germans hang mushroom ornaments
Holly berries are actually poisonous
Handel wrote the Messiah in 24 days
Norman Rockwell painted The Day After xmas (santa napping) in 1922
Candy canes weren't striped until the 20th century
1992, Barney the purple dinosaur (top gift)

Find the Meaning

Here's a cool site

http://findthemeaning.org/

(from my friend Dan Paul on facebook)

Jesus Christ-athon

coming up on KALX, Berkeley student freeform radio

Christmas Eve, Friday Dec. 24, from 9am to Noon -music of all genres about Jesus
It's on 90.7fm in the Bay Area, or you can hear it on your computer through http://kalx.berkeley.edu/

Kitty Purry

That's the name of Katy Perry's cat, lol

While I was cuddled up in bed today, I thought of all the bad words I could think of:

wrong, bad, immoral, unethical,
wicked, evil, sinful, turpitude
pain, agony, suffering, torment, misery, anguish,
anxiety, stress, frustration, disappointment
dissatisfaction, discomfort, disquiet, dis-ease, discontent
affliction, sickness, illness, disease, mental illness
criminal, unlawful, illegal, injustice, unfair
improper, error, incorrect, gaffe, mistake, embarrassment
infraction, misdemeanor, felony,
punishment, 3 strikes, life imprisonment, deathrow
terrorism, torture, assault, rape, murder, violence, war
poor, impoverished, needy, undeveloped, backward, squalid
incorrect, untrue, false, lies
inconsiderate, cold, uncaring, mean, unkind
cruel, vicious, savage
unhappy, depressed, sad, sorrow,
mourning , weeping, crying, wailing,
anger, hatred, rage, wrath, fury, ire, apoplexy, madness
unsatisfactoriness, unpleasant, uncomfortable, horrible, hellish
hungry, starvation, craving, delerium tremens, withdrawal,
shit, excrement, vomit, puke, stench
senescence, aging, dying
boring, tiresome, taxing, dull, draining, dead
unhealthy, unwell, sickly, weak,
disgusting, ugly, gross, revolting
dangerous, unsafe, jarring, frightening, horror
zombie, vampires, demons,
satan, devil, lucifer, mephistopeheles, beelzebub
stupid, ignorant, dumb, foolish
tyrannical, despotic, corrupt,
selfish, self-absorbed, spoiled
spite, malice
rotten

onion article, link

-----
okay, switch gears with me-
it's all good:
good, right, correct, true, clean, pure, happy, alive, alive!, pleasant, kind, friendly, funny, loving, joyful, fun, flirtatious, frivolity, frolic, great, terrific, wonderful, beneficent, compassionate, justice, peace, fairness, tranquility, calm, amazing, exciting... healthy, well, thriving, fit, strong, warm, comfortable, satisfied, blissful, ecstasy, entertaining, delightful, delectable, delicious, orgasmic, beautiful, safe, full, content, thankful, understanding, wise, smart, intelligent, knowledgeable, enlightened, awake, aware, victorious, champion, wealthy, thrill, wit, perspective, talent, impressive, appreciative, affection, intimacy, hugs, kisses, tasty, yummy, food, friends, family, friendship, pets, juggling, merriment, mercy, magic, lovely, miraculous...
honor, integrity, value, virtue,
trustworthy, loyal, helpful, courteous, cheerful, thrifty, brave, reverent

sushi, thai, indian, chinese, mexican, ethiopian,
pizza, donuts, fast food, sweets, eggnog...
movies, music, money, dance, romance, travel, kites, play, sports, basketball, dunks, poetry, books, concerts, computers, tv, radio, languages... Nature. hiking, swimming, boating, diving, surfing, skiing, waterskiing, camping, photography, arts and crafts, animation, blogs.

Um, does Buddhism seriously want me drop these aversions/cravings/attachments/thoughts?
Some Buddhist humor:
What's different about a buddhist vacuum cleaner? It has no attachments
What did the buddhist monk say to the hot dog vendor? Make me one with everything.

I thought I was somewhat comprehensive, and then I peeked at my thesaurus...I've only scratched the surface. oh, well.

Ay, Dios!

Dios, 4961
2, Jesus

ay, dios
8, 49 o.s.
God, Jesse Teshara operating system
operating 675912957=6
system=171254=2

operating system =god

I'm immersing myself these days in my spanish-english dictionary and my world atlas (I discovered 'Batman' is a city in Turkey!)

numerology=5345963677=1
ay dios=numerology=1. The bible says God is 1.
one=655=7. uno=5. jesuschrist=7. christ=5.
loco de remate!

1a, j, s
2b, k, t
3c, l, u
4d, m, v
5e, n, w
6f, o, x
7g, p, y
8h, q, z
9i, r

I'm so goofy!

Each Other

If you love someone, and he/she ("they") loves you in return, then:

it is commonly said, they love each other.

This is intended to signify that each one loves the other one, BUT
you can take it literally to mean,
each one loves each other, which means EVERYBODY

Maybe all in all is all we really are.
And love of one is truly love of all.

If you take this to be a virtue, then maybe you should marry the person you detest the most.
Or, you can just love spiders or something.

Let it Grow

Listen to the thunder shout, "I AM" -Grateful Dead
I talk to the wind, the wind cannot hear -King Crimson
Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire -Jerry Lee Lewis

This (last) song is derived from a southern expression, which some Christians consider blasphemous, which refers to the moment the Holy Spirit manifested itself "as cloven tongues as of fire" and the Apostles spoke in tongues.

thunder, wind, and lightning is all very Godly (the face of God moved over the deep)
it feels better when you're bundled up inside, next to a fireplace or something.
I've been getting letters from Unicef, because I'm on their mailing list for giving some money once, and they say:

-this will be a bitterly cold winter for children in Afghanistan, where there is a resurgence of violence. THey need warm woolen blankets for bitter winter snows ($3 each).
-the 2010 Holiday Shopping List includes: polio immunizations, Oral Rehydration Salts to save the lives of children sturck by severe diarrheal dehydration, vaccinations against measles, tetanus, diphtheria, polio, whooping cough, and tuberculosis; water purification tablets, basic family water kits; micronutrient powder, high-protein biscuits especially designed for malnourished children, therapeutic milk; blankets, waterproof tarpaulins for emergency shelter, and sturdy tents for emergency shelters for families.

I've also heard
Gdradio.net also has an appeal by Michelle Obama to support the American red cross to assist with the effort in Haiti.

helping can be tax-deductible, of course.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's the link to the Yale opencourseware class entitled:
the psychology, biology, and politics of food

http://oyc.yale.edu/psychology/the-psychology-biology-and-politics-of-food

Empty

The Smashing Pumpkins say: "God is Empty, just like me"

To use an analogy from another band (the Grateful Dead), I'm a "box of rain"
I've got blood and guts and gristle and bone in there, along with a few items of idealogical content, such as

M.T. =empty or Margaret Teshara
During meditation, you can seek to be empty, just like Billy Corrigan
I'm a little teapot, short and stout, here is my handle here is my spout when you tip me over, tea comes out. something something something...

The vampires have bled us dry
The mosquitoes have sucked us empty
the leaches
Replenish and refuel and refill
the cup
the glass
runneth over
with more leftover to give to others

ah, bloody hell
bloody likely
carnivorous thirst
eat my body and drink my blood, this is the cup of the new and everlasting covenant...
said heyzeus, the L or D (life or death), christ (annointed with oil)
I'm sorry but transubstantiation is a joke
anyone with half a brain knows
a brain half-full, and half empty
a meathead, if you ceso

Indict Bush Now

1)George w. Bush is responsible for the deaths of more than a million people in Iraq
(and many more injuries)

and
2)for five million Iraqis who were driven from their homes and made into refugees
and
3)for the 45oo plus U.S. soldiers who lost their lives
and
4)for the tens of thousands more who became injured.
and
5)He lied to congress and the people.
6)He ordered warrantless wiretaps and spying on the american people
7)Defying the Geneva Conventions, he set up secret torture centers and prisons around the world.
8)He bankrupted the country by spending over a trillion dollars on the Iraq war.

that's the case, according to an email I got from indictbushnow.org, although I heard Dubya on TV, seeming kindly and good-natured, describing how he thinks the world is better off without Saddam in power, which is probably true. Who can say, really. I think the world is better off without Bush in power, I'll tell you that, though.

Nuclear Adoption

I AM...adopted
and it's all good

Speaking of Nuclear (from nuclear family), why can't Barack and Medvedev/Putin agree to eliminate each countries' nuclear stockpiles, instead of just reducing them and agreeing to inspections. It's just silly and stupid. We both have no intention of using them, so wtf??

Come on, fellas. Wake up.

Being and Nothingness

God on existentialism

I've read Sartre's Nausea and L'estranger (the stranger) by Albert Camus.

Time is eternal, going both forward and back, which makes us even less than blip in the history of the universe. I believe there was an eternity of time before the big bang, and there will be an eternity of time after all of us are dead. How can anything have meaning in a context like this?

And space... We are the smallest of small in an incomprehensible vast. The known universe is just speck in an even greater Vast.

We are just animals, the product of evolution, who arose from matter, and remain just matter, if you dare to see it that way. We have thumbs and brains and vocal chords that permit us a great culture, and we have books that create worlds for us, including religious works that tell us we are more special and unique than we really are. I believe we each have the same claim on life as an ant, or even a spider, however repulsive we may find them.

This could be interpreted as a free ticket to act any way you like...you only live once, and people are just like bugs, which we squash without compunction. I actually can't refute this. Only that love is purported to be omnipotent, and there's this concept of hell lurking out there as a potential eternally painful punishment. There are these pesky things called neurons, protecting our fragile bodies, that unfortunately give us pain upon injury. But no God would be that evil, of course. Neurons die at death, too. We just have to do unto others as we would have them do to us, unless other people would prefer it otherwise.
(that's my addendum to the golden rule)

Absurdity is in the bible. All is vanity (translated as frustration, futility, nonsense, or absurdity). Being good is supposed to be it's own reward. Why be good for heaven? You don't have a soul to go there, and your body will decay to dust, so it's just fodder for your imagination that I wouldn't give very much weight to, besides having something to wonder about and look forward to upon one's death.

Did you know that we are mostly empty space? 99.999999999999 % of us empty. that's point with twelve nines. We barely exist. So oblivion isn't really much difference from the current state of affairs. But that's not how we experience ourselves.

"Go out to love and serve the lord", as the priests say at the end of Catholic mass.
or
"You know what your problem is? You need to get more fun out of life", as Hannibal Lecter said in Silence of the Lambs.

I would point out that these are not incompatible. Go out to love and serve Hannibal Lector. (don't worry, he doesn't exist either)

:-)

My Boys

Marcel and Oliver, our French bulldogs

Ahimsa

It's a policy of non-violence to sentient beings

I heard in high school that plants can react to music. I'll have to research this. Are plants sentient? If so, then maybe I can still eat meat, which I really like. I mean, if whatever I eat is sentient, anyway, then it doesn't matter. Maybe eating is inherently bad on some level. Well, my body will be eaten, too (after I die). What goes around, comes around. Hate is like H ate. H is the eighth letter. God sums to 8 (764). So God ate. ate sums to 8, too (125). Why is the world so damned weird? There's obviously a lot going on under the surface of things, like words. To hate god, we eat him (in an act of reverence, perhaps, called communion, which also evokes cum union, or sex). Ah, nuts.

I guess I should stop killing bugs, too -like the Jains.
Maybe all matter itself is sentient. So do what thou wilt.
I don't think so, though. That would be too much pain.

Philosophy of Religion

I just read a lot of it (the link I provide on the right), and here's what I think:

let it be said that I am agnostic on both my own Godhood and the Godhood of any other, external, being or Being.

Agnostic (a, not. gnostic, knowing) means 3 things
1) that evidence both for or against the existence of God doesn't wash, or
2) the evidence can't be found/known,
3)or is equal -that is, balances- the evidence of Atheism with Theism.

I subscribe to #3. Arguments for both are equally convincing.

But I believe love exists.
I believe anyone can play the role
I believe in goodness (and the good book says only God is good)
I heard a physicist on TV say that it is possible to create a universe.

but there's a lot of other stuff that gets attributed to God, that I think is ridiculous: namely, the Omni's: omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence (in time/space), and omni-benevelence.
That seems to be basic to most people's conception; i.e. infinite power, knowledge, and love. I just picture God as being human with the maximum amount of power and influence to lead and change the world. The power to kill is omnipotence, and I'm not about that at all. We need to say God is omnipotent to intimidate the haters. We need to believe in infinite love to overcome adversity.

God is different things to different people. The definition may not even be clear to the people who believe in Him. The logic, I'm saying, can be fuzzy.

But I don't know. Maybe. Maybe anyone's conception is true. I don't know. Why not.

There's virtual reality and objective reality. An operative concept in your head is true for you, but may not be objectively there, in reality. In other words, it can be a delusion.

I agree with Freud that religion can be a response to feelings of helplessness and guilt. We need security and forgiveness. In the face of uncertainty, we resort to imploring a higher power for safety. And we fear death, so the prospect of heaven is a powerful pull. And it's a meme that has staying power, because people survive better in communities that help each other out.

I'm God because I want to instill a morality that will help a world mired in anger, hate, violence, war, disrespect for life, poverty, disease, and sadness. I want to be good. I want to make a difference. That about sums it up.

I'm pro-life, but I don't like it's affiliation with either the Republican party, or religions and religious belief. I'm a democrat, and prefer the secular point of view. But everyone needs love in their lives. That's religion. And 'Be Good' and 'Be nice to others' and 'love one another' and 'kindness is my religion.'

I have a presumption of atheism. I'm agnostic because you can never really know. And I'm a theist because I can embody God myself; i.e. step up and play the role. Be kind, compassionate, and loving. And I'm not alone. I think everybody claims their own authority for their moralities and preferences. People are their own Gods and they don't even know it.

I agree that it is more economical to postulate the existence of any number of finite beings than to postulate the existence of one infinite One. That sentence is taken straight out of the Improbability of God section. This is what I see- lots of individuals, with their own experiences and opinions. Richard Swinburne says that an infinite being is the most probable kind of being. I think this is laughably ludicrous. Does he have ANY idea what infinite means?? Remember what I called the 'jest'. Infinite space goes on FOREVER. It 's not clear what he could possibly signify by an 'infinite being'. I just say, yeah, whatever.

I've been atheist because of the problem of evil, in the past. But I can see the alternative; namely, that God gives us free will to choose evil, so that we can learn from our mistakes and become closer to God; i.e. become more loving. Slaves or automatons to a universal theistic morality wouldn't be much fun at all. (Being bad can be fun, too. Bad can be good, in a way, or sometimes.) We have long lives ahead of us and we need to keep things interesting. Actually, we have free will whether God gives it to us or not, but that's just a fun way of stating it. Fate exists, in that we all are destined to die. So live life how you want, you only live once.

Religion is fun. Clapping hands, dreaming up sermons, keeping the dark side in check. Let there be light!

Happiness Tip

Minimize the wandering of your mind

article link

:-)

Good Stuff

It's 'Adoption Month' !

Other good stuff is:

-the Fetzer institute, http://www.fetzer.org/

http://www.values.com/

-cnn's annual 'heroes'

I liked today's news of Barack and Michelle dancing with some Indian schoolchildren, too.

The Jewish Bible and Buddhist psychology

I just finished the Yale open-courseware class (which I have a link to on the right) on the Old Testament, taught by Christine Hayes.

I'm current, also, with the Psychology 107 (Buddhist psych) at Berkeley being taught this very semester by Eleanor H. Rosch (which you can link to through the 'cal' link on the right).

PLUS, I'm reading Middlemarch, by George Elliot, hailed by one reviewer on the cover as possibly the best book in the english language.

some info from the Buddhism lectures:
-there's a Buddhist bookstore in Berkeley on Channing and Fulton
-the hyper-sensitive (in terms of empathy) frequently withdraw, according to research by Nancy Eisenberg
plus,
-caregivers experience burnout, and
-psychologically, there's what is known as 'compassion fatigue'

There's the biblical maxim 'faith without works is dead'
(so maybe I'm not setting the best example)
It seems I, and many others, need the right kind of motivation to start, and continue, making the world a better place.

A book I read fairly recently was What is the What? about Sudan.
horrifying, edifying, and well-written.

There's a temptation for God to become an assassin of evil men, for surely
reality requires the stick as well as the carrot
to encourage moral behavior.

The rewards of compassion and kindness are the only legal way, of course.

Happy Samhain

oh, and Halloween and All Saints Day and Day of the Dead


I'm not turning the porch light on because I ate all our candy.
Sorry, kids.

God is a man of war

One of the stated missions/purposes of our military is to prevent war, I've recently learned

And that's why God is all about peace.
Pop! (prince of peace)
I have been fairly hard on the military, saying I hate them, so all apologies

But seriously, can't we just -as a planet- agree to cease having militaries?
Why not disarm everybody?
Is this really so foreign to human nature?
Can't we all just get along?

maybe not, but I still think we should just treat all violence as crime, to be dealt with by a world police force. And all violence should be in the form of boxing/martial arts/wrestling (BMW), without weapons and with an agreed upon set of rules.

Actually, upon second thought, that would put a lot of people at a disadvantage to the martial artists. Guns are the great equalizer. I want to say everyone should own a gun, but that doesn't seem right, either. I guess the laws we have make the best of the situation; I dunno.
peace, out -J

Heroin and God

Godsmack

GOD was an Australian band, and Love was a 60's/early 70's American band

Both bands suffered from heroin addictions amongst their members.
I don't know about Godsmack, though

"It's my wife, and it's my life" -Lou Reed (Velvet Underground)

hero win! (beat the addiction)
Stay at the Hair Row Inne. Okay, now I'm just being stupid.

Alice in Chains has a song called 'God Smack' on their album, Dirt

Congratulations, Newlyweds!

Pat Brown and Ron Hall, today (9/25) at 4:00 p.m.

Here's a little something I thought of:

Ron is the brightest star in Pat's sky
As to Ron, oh my
Astronomy

I suppose Emily Dickinson is better.
Go to http://www.bartleby.com/, select Dickinson, then Part Three (Love), then poem 16
(I tried to cut and paste, but was unable)

May your lives be harmonious together, full of joy, happiness, and pleasantry!
(Pat is my mother-in-law)

Pat & Ron belong together:
Patron (of a library, or of the arts)
and Patron (alcohol)

Tell Me All Your Thoughts On God

cause I'd really like to meet her
cause I'm on my way to see her

-Dishwalla

She hates doing dishes, as a matter of fact.

'cause I wanna be someone who believes
-Counting Crows (Mr. Jones)
J 1 s

Teshara (as earth, the Sara, has tear)