News I liked so far this week:

Scientists pinpoint link between light signal and circadian rhythms

New botanic database holds a million plant names

Eclipse at Moonset

hope everyone had nice 'holidays'

as for me..

only Christmas could make me drink;)

and talk about demons and what not

haha!

One Million Galaxies

Are the nearest galaxies distributed randomly? A plot of over one million of the brightest "extended sources" detected by the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) shows that they are not. The vast majority of these infrared extended sources are galaxies. Visible above is an incredible tapestry of structure that provides limits on how the universe formed and evolved. Many galaxies are gravitationally bound together to form clusters, which themselves are loosely bound into superclusters, which in turn are sometimes seen to align over even larger scale structures. In contrast, very bright stars inside our own Milky Way Galaxy cause the vertical blue sash.

electricristal.blogspot.com

Sometime after sunset tonight, the Moon will go dark.

'This total lunar eclipse, where the entire Moon is engulfed in the shadow of the Earth, will be visible from all of North America, while the partial phase of this eclipse will be visible throughout much of the rest of the world. Observers on North America's east coast will have to wait until after midnight for totality to begin, while west coasters should be able to see a fully darkened moon before midnight. Pictured above is a digital prediction, in image form, for how the Moon and the surrounding sky could appear near maximum darkness. Rolling your cursor over the image will bring up labels. Parts of the Moon entering the circle labeled umbra will appear the darkest since the Sun there will be completely blocked by the Earth. Parts of the Moon entering the circle labeled penumbra will be exposed to some direct sunlight, and so shine by some degree by reflected light. The diminished glare of the normally full Moon will allow unusually good viewings of nearby celestial wonders such as the supernova remnant Simeis 147, the open star cluster M35, and the Crab Nebula M1. By coincidence this eclipse occurs on the day with the shortest amount of daylight in the northern hemisphere -- the Winter Solstice. This solstice eclipse is the first in 456 years, although so far it appears that no one has figured out when the next solstice eclipse will be.'

"I studied biology because I was interested in animals and plants and when I was studying it in Cambridge I began to have terrible doubts of what I was doing because everything that really interested me about animals and plants somehow vanished when I got into biochemistry and biology. I was majoring in biochemistry and I did a PhD in biochemistry there but theres a curious thing about biochemistry, your doing biochemistry to study the molecular basis of life, yet the very first thing you do as a biochemist is kill whatever your studying, grind it up, extract the enzymes and then in a test tube study the properties of some of these molecules extracted from this killed organism, and it began to occur to me that perhaps this wasnt the best way to understand life...."

-Rupert Sheldrake

'Metamorphosis: A trialogue on chaos and the world soul with

Rupert Sheldrake, Ralph Abraham, and Terence McKenna'

M82:

Galaxy with a Supergalactic Wind

I have been waking up early for some time now, and accidentally discovered that if I go back to sleep I seem to experience the most beautiful, intricate dreams.

Later I did some research and found that it may be because of the body's melatonin, and cortisol Circadian rhythms, also that this cycle can be used to attain lucidity, and provoke OBEs.

So today I woke, and decided to do this again, and had one of the weirdest dreams to date.

I was with friends from my past whom I haven't seen in years, and we were going through this inspection in this building, and I had a knife so i was scared to go through the metal detector, anyways I somehow manage to get around it, and we are now laying down in this open field- well its open and vast on one side, and its like a jungle on the other, we were laying by this rock formation, and some trees on the jungle like side when I look up and there is your typical UFO, you know like in cartoons a simple disc swirling in the sky, but it moved like a flower, or as if it had wings like a flower has petals. Then I tell my friends and we are all just in awe, when I realize that there is a huge crowd in this field with us (dreams are crazy). So this is the strangest part: the disc in the sky shoots out this beam of light in all directions to give it a kind of halo appearance and in this circle of light are people, like normal human beings just going on about their day, then some realizing they're being watched and instead of freaking out, they just wave hello to us. What can that mean?

for today:

this is what I worked on today, Its not done yet, and this is as much of it that could be scanned so its a bit cut off. I want to paint eyeballs on the necklace or something like that;)

fix the face a bit, and hands, you know you know

and the background I really dont know yet......

Balance

"And so I try not to believe in anything, but the

other side of that coin is not to disbelieve in anything either."

I love that! and its a fundamental thinking point in my life.

Jonathan also says this:

"And so I just think that it’s something that we can’t know. It’s unknowable."

and to balance it all out (because balance is just so essential and key) is this, from a book im reading called "The Glorious Presence" its incredible to say the least:

"...I think that the universe is our creator.

And to me the divine is the universe itself. And specifically

it’s manifestation as energy, as opposed to matter or as a

more tangible, palpable thing. And so far as I can tell, neither

science nor any religion can explain the origin of the

universe. If you talk about it—and SASHA did a good job of

satirizing this—the “big bang,” and so forth. The universe

was created in this big bang, and is so old. Okay, but if there’s

no universe and no temporal era, when did that happen,

where did it happen, and where did it come from? So you’re

still postulating the universe, basically. And if they say, “Okay,

this or that deity created it,” or that life actually came in interstellar

dust, you’re still just pushing away and farther back.

But where did that start? Where was this deity standing if

there was no universe? Where did she come from? Out of

what was this created? And so I just think that it’s something

that we can’t know. It’s unknowable. I haven’t experienced it

as plant-spirits, and so I can’t vouch for that particular way

of seeing it. But I would never say that it’s for pinheads or

pea-brains or whatever, or negate someone else’s perception

of it. I have to admit that that is possible. And it’s certainly

plausible. And so I try not to believe in anything, but the

other side of that coin is not to disbelieve in anything either.

And I try to just enjoy and live with the uncertainty of not

knowing. I just think there are things that we can not know.

The whole business of religion—and science has gone into

that same business, and now everybody and his brother is

exploiting the breach that science has more or less vacated

by not doing such a good job of it—is offering certainty to

people, when basically the universe gives us questions not

answers. People don’t want to live in uncertainty. RICHARD

FEYNMAN said it really well. He said, “I can live with doubt

and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more

interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which

might be wrong…I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel

frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious

universe without a purpose, which is the way it really is

as far as I can tell.”

-Jonathan Ott

Jonathan Ott Speaks part two

Interview with 'The Entheogen Review'

I actually was productive last night, this is what came of it.

I hope to paint some more today.

Birds, and I dont know, I guess Ill call everything I do a self portrait;)

The second piece has a bit of some of Pablo Neruda's poetry:

Desnuda eres tan simple como una de tus manos,

Lisa, terrestre, mínima, redonda, transparente,
Tienes líneas de luna, caminos de manzana,
Desnuda eres delgada como el trigo desnudo.

Desnuda eres azul como la noche en Cuba,
Tienes enredaderas y estrellas en el pelo,
Desnuda eres enorme y amarilla
Como el verano en una iglesia de oro.

Desnuda eres pequeña como una de tus uñas,
Curva, sutil, rosada hasta que nace el día
Y te metes en el subterráneo del mundo

Como en un largo túnel de trajes y trabajos:
Tu claridad se apaga, se viste, se deshoja
Y otra vez vuelve a ser una mano desnuda.

In nude you are as bare as one of your hands

smooth, earthly, small, round, transparent

with lines of moon and paths of an apple,

in nude you’re slender like a naked stem of wheat.

In nude you look blue like the Cuban night

with stars and vines in your hair,

in nude you are whole and yellow

like summer in a church of gold.

In nude you look tiny like one of your finger nails

curvy, subtle, rose-colored like the rising dawn

and you move back to the world's underground.

As if in a large tunnel of robes and chores:

your clarity, dressed, blinds and drops its leaves

and other times becomes a naked hand again.

This week I added two books to my little library, one I "coincidently";) came across with, and the other was a gift from beautiful friends. has anyone read these? I got H.G Wells solely for his 'time machine' and was given 'Ishmael' it is just so beautiful so far Ive only browsed through it though. Is anyone else a fan of H.G Wells?

spaghettification

I dont know if ive said this here before but if you know me personally you know I want to jump into a black hole, its just one of those things, a super-massive black hole though, stellar ones are dope, but you know;)

What would you see if you went right up to a black hole? Above is a computer generated image highlighting how strange things would look. The black hole has such strong gravity that light is noticeably bent towards it - causing some very unusual visual distortions. Every star in the normal frame has at least two bright images - one on each side of the black hole. Near the black hole, you can see the whole sky - light from every direction is bent around and comes back to you. The original background map was taken from the 2MASS infrared sky survey, with stars from the Henry Draper catalog superposed. Black holes are thought to be the densest state of matter, and there is indirect evidence for their presence in stellar binary systems and the centers of globular clusters, galaxies, and quasars.

-Alain Riazuelo

Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris

I am the Lizard King

I can do anything.

Happy Birthday

Uploaded some more rare Jimi tracks, this ones not so rare but I love to hear him speak, and i think it goes well with my blog;)

M33:

The small, northern constellation Triangulum harbors this magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, M33. Its popular names include the Pinwheel Galaxy or just the Triangulum galaxy.♥

I know you "go with the flow" but do you have any specific goals in life? kinda personal but im interested

haha, well i dont know actually and i avoid this question a lot.

when people ask me that they want me to say like, be married, have a family, or something like that, but i dont know.

i guess id have a small home i built myself and live simply on alot of land with a nice garden.

Id love to adopt but in time, and if the time comes.

maybe teach art, and have a warehouse kind of building where i share my artwork with friends, and have little gatherings on advancements in pharmacological research, travel and take lots of photographs;)

[Where's your will to be weird?]

The story of Life............

two amazing things happened today, first these are now mine! :D!! :

and I was driving to the grocery store, and just as im getting out of my driveway i see the strangest thing in the sky, like a long chain of lights, almost like a caterpillar? so im just saying to myself, what am i looking at!!! so I chase if for a good while, and i can see it above and now its like a diamond shaped object, realizing I dont have my camera with me, I take photos with my phone, but the camera on it is shit! so I just stop, and go back to the grocery store for bread and candy. yup.

gibberish

Ive been working on that collage I posted on some time ago, and im really enjoying it this is what its coming to look like everything has been really sort of spontaneous and is coming together magically in the sense that everything is right where it should be in context with the text. and I do not plan this, its a really nice reminder that art is something bigger than me;)

This is one of the many things that made me rip up the book used for the collage. Its so crazy what religions will have you believe, yet make you deny that which is right before you, or even your true self. Some things really got to me, like passages that read "war in heaven ended with all the demons being hurled down to the earth; you are now feeling the effects" or "your religion really matters" "drug abuse such as drunkenness and using marijuana for pleasure is popular among the devils government" and things like "this is what you must do to be in gods kingdom" "you have hard changes in order to meet gods requirements, dont worry, you can do it!" and of course, "your soul dies, after death you are in a state of complete unconsciousness"

why have people feel beneath a said benevolent god? and tell them the earth is evil and so are they that the only way to the light is by following such rules that not so coincidently go hand in hand with norms put forth by beings/systems after their control.

Ill stop before anger overcomes me, hahaha;)

just kidding;)

anyways, while trying to get ideas/inspiration I was looking through some books of mine, and I came across this forgotten little book that I really dont remember buying, but then again impulse book buying is one of my weird habits;) well I have started to read it, its really fascinating and glossolalia was a subject of much interest not too long ago, I wonder why Im just now reading this, all things happen in due time;)

I wasnt in town to post anything for the 27th and I didnt just want to say happy birthday, or something like that

I recently got the authentic PPX recordings box set!♥ there are very few albums I know of that I dont own

(thats incredible to just say!)

and its absurd to even say "own" haha

I wish for my collection to grow as much as possible I must have so many songs to share,

and I wonder if there are some never heard, and what a sin it is to keep them hidden

I fall in love more and more each day

I dont know what to say really, words escape me;)

myLove

"...As for me, I am so glad to salute the brave, reckless gods in another man. 
So glad to meet a man who will abide by his very self.
Ideas! Ideals! All this paper between us. What a weariness.
If only people would meet in their very selves, 
without wanting to put some idea over one another, or some ideal.
Damn all ideas and all ideals. Damn all the false stress, and the pins.
  I am I. Here am I. Where are you ?
Ah, there you are! Now, damn the consequences, we have met.
That's my idea of democracy, if you can call it an idea."

exit

the moral of this story is, UFO means.... u found out!;)

Now I decided I would solve the mystery

about that flying saucer scare

'bout the UFO's people been seing.

And what's goin' on up there?

So I went to the most likely place,

Where I thought they'd come around.

Took a peanut butter sandwich and my binoculars.

And thought I'd have a sit-down.

To wait that is.

Then suddenly I saw it.

Doing about ten thousand miles a curve

Quiet landed right beside me.

And a strange voice said:

"Good evening, sir."

If I knew that you were a man like me,

and you liked rock 'n' roll,

I'd have come to see you, friend,

a long long time ago.

I found an old journal of mine the other day, I started writing in it again, Ive been looking back through it, its nice to revisit old thoughts. Ive been meeting so many poets recently, Ive felt inspired to write, I have so many journals lying around, every time I see a nice journal, I buy it, its a bad habbit of mine i guess, especially since a lot are blank, or only the first few pages written on. Its time I use them;)

Im sick

hot tea is God sent.

that is all

Stardust

Almost 1000 light years away, this stardust in Aries spans an estimated distance of 30,000 light years and covers almost two degrees of the sky♥

Prelude

Last night I could not go to sleep so I was browsing through my library and found myself picking up Carolyn Kleefeld's 'Climates of the Mind' once again, and later I wrote some things myself also. well this is one of her poems which is just so incredibly beautiful and exactly where I am in this moment. I want to share it with you all. It is titled "Prelude".

I want to do, be, sleep, hear
without exterior reactions to my being
I want to be an invisible being-
not defined, judged, watched

I do not want to represent anything to anybody
no longer to be inside
the other person's rigid picture frame of me
I want to be-just for the sense of being
To relax again enough to taste, touch, realize life
before it is filtered through me-
through other people's psychic strainers
through their telescopic needs
I want it fresh for me to grasp
before its had so many hands on it first
Just mine to embrace, discover, share
or not share
A privacy, intimacy of me to me-
whatever this may be
to relate directly from where it lies

I breathe a deep breath
at the thought of new discovery-
An intimate first-hand glide with life in my hand
with me connected directly
No filters, no microphones
No need for closed doors; instead-
Open windows Wide skies
No hands on life's clock
Another chance to feel that part of me
that is undiluted
My life to belong to me
to consistently feel its essence

Breathtaking

you have to view full screen!

Aurora Borealis timelapse HD - Tromsø 2010 from Tor Even Mathisen on Vimeo.

Have you ever seen an aurora? Auroras are occurring again with increasing frequency. With the Sun being unusually dormant over the past three years, the amount of Sun-induced auroras has also been unusually low. More recently, however, our Sun has become increasingly active and exhibiting a greater abundance of sunspots, flares, and coronal mass ejections. Solar activity like this typically expels charged particles into the Solar System, some of which may trigger Earthly auroras. As this year unfolded, the above timelapse displays of picturesque auroras were captured above Tromsø, Norway. Curtains of auroral light, usually green, flow, shimmer and dance as energetic particles fall toward the Earth and ionize air molecules high up in the Earth's atmosphere. With solar maximum still in the future, there may be opportunities to see spectacular aurora personally over the next three years.

I know my last post or two might seem contradictory because I am a kind of animal rights activist, but there is a sweet assurance I feel as I post these things that they are beautiful and proof of the contradictory nature of 'The true, the beautiful, the good.'

"If you don't at least occasionally contradict yourself, your position isn't (nearly) complex enough..."

-Terence Mckenna

Cockfight

Suradita Village, West Java, Indonesia (2010). Children playing with their rooster. Actually it was not a real cockfight because the rooster didn't wear blades on their feet. Children likes to play this game because they almost never have toys in their life.

Photo and caption by Ario Wibisono

San Bushman

A San Bushman shows his hunting technique

Photo and caption by Michael Phipps

Indonesia, Java, Volcano Ijen: sulfur miner chocked by toxic fumes

These Indonesian miners,in primitive conditions not seen in most places for more than a century,often wear no protection,carrying up to 100 kilos of sulfur on their shoulders,climbing steep rocky paths and descending the volcano for 3 kilometers,bare foot,twice daily,choking from stinking,toxic fumes.For this shortened, blinding, gagging life in hell,they are paid 6 Euros a day. These conditions destroy their lungs, eyes and other tissues.“We work in hell,” said the miners,“our eyes and lungs burn the whole day, but there’s nothing we can do. Otherwise, we’re scared we’ll have nothing to eat.”

Photo and caption by pierpaolo mittica

Eyes Of Time

I had the opportunity to walk the streets of Kayamandi, one of the most interesting, eye opening, experiences of my life. To see people live in conditions I did not realize could exist.

Photo and caption by Joshua Smith

Cambodian Boys and Snakes

I was getting an intimate perspective of the Tonle Sap in Cambodia from a local teenager, when these two boys with snakes swam up behind looking to engage us. This was a day in the life of a child living on a river settlement. This was also one of those moments that can not be conveyed with words.

Photo and caption by Thomas Szelazek

The Fisherman Dance in The Morning

look for fish in the morning is a habit of fisherman in the Rawa Pening, Central Java, Indonesia. One of the fishermen in this picture called Sugeng. He has a characteristic in catching fish using nets. While he was fishing he looked like he was dancing.

Photo and caption by thommy auguzth

The earth needs a beautiful and rich nature

This is Daria, 28. She is mother of two children and pregnant with a third. She lives with her family on a landfill in Cebu City. They have an average income of 2 USD a day, earned by collecting the recyclable fractions out of the city garbage. I like this shot because Daria found herself a T-shirt saying "The world needs a beautiful and rich nature". What an irony, considering the environment she and her family have to live in.

Photo and caption by Tanja Schalling

Into the hands of faith

The believer pierced at a Thaipusam festival in Singapore's Sri Sririnava Perumal Temple points at a woman who lets out a shrill scream before falling into a trance-like submission. She is supported by fellow devotees who hold her up while Saffon powder is rubbed on her forehead as a form of blessing.

Photo and caption by Phua Li Ling

The following photographs are some of my favorites from this years

National Geographic Photography Contest

in the 'People' category.

The ocean glowed bright peacock green Sunday off of Namibia.

Phytoplankton bloom seen by NASA's Terra.

Ocean waters glowed bright peacock green off the northern Namibian coast in late November 2010. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image on November 21, 2010.

These bright swirls of green occur along a continental shelf bustling with biological activity. Phytoplankton blooms often occur along coastlines where nutrient-rich waters well up from ocean depths. The light color of this ocean water suggests the calcite plating of coccolithophores.

Phytoplankton blooms and the bacteria that break them down can create a complex network along a continental shelf. This swirl of peacock green could contain phytoplankton, sulfur, or a combination.

♥♥♥Flowers for me♥♥♥

There are places I remember....

This is the lake I used to visit (from my last post)

The ducks used to come right beside me and take their morning naps while I read.

Beauty.

things

I just watched the film 'How The Beatles rocked the Kremlin' it was really really good. Tomorrow is my birthday and I have decided to do nothing! haha well to not celebrate it how some people would like me to, I plan on just spending time with myself and to reflect on my 20 years on this earth!, it is much needed. definitely. Things have (mentally) been kind of shakey lately and I really just need to go sit by a lake and relax like I used to, I remember on windy days the tiny waves would rush my way and its the most amazing feeling to have the water want to reach and hug you while the wind caresses your skin, I need more moments like that, I mean they are all around me, all the time, but I need to appreciate them a bit more than I have lately. Its a sad thing, after spending some time in one of the most beautiful places on earth, to come home and slowly accept, or get used to living indoors. It happens. I just need to see every space that I am in with the same amazement, and to see it holds the same beauty as anything else. This by the way is NGC 6357 and its beautiful massive stars.

Happy Birthday to me♥

Stephan's Quintet

About 300 million light-years away, only four galaxies of the group are actually locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters.

‎"Powerful Women are able to draw on both the feminine and masculine dimensions of shamanism in their minds and flesh, truly exemplifying the woman

in the Shaman's Body."

- Barbara Tedlock, PhD in "A Woman in a Shaman's Body"