Sacred Geometry

       This is one of the most brilliant and revealing videos I have ever seen. It’s rather long but you can leave the final 25 min for later. This latter portion just consists of multicoloured graphics which extend the content of the preceding 1 hour. Whatever you do don’t miss the period from 28 min. to 1: 06 min. This fully explains the origin of the “Golden Ratio” and Fibonacci series and how it is integrated into every part of our reality from micro to macro -from DNA to the Cosmos. It consists of astonishing and easy to understand animated graphics. It has to be easy or I wouldn’t have understood it :)  There is no dialogue. 

       It should be shown in schools, as being entirely derived from mathematics it is a fundamental unarguable truth. The religious zealots cannot take issue with any of it. Many thinkers have said that the origin of the Universe and the elusive " Theory of Everything" is merely mathematics that we don't yet comprehend.  It's a very persuasive argumenrt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGqKdqfEYp4&feature=player_embedded

Sexual Ambivalence

      I find it quite extraordinary that here in 2012, there are still those who refuse to accept that homosexuals are, as as the song says “Born This Way”. Were this not the case then what would be the point in “coming out”. Surely it would be preferable to keep the closet door closed and avoid unnecessary marginalization of themselves to friends, families and associates. The Catholic church in Canada is currently even finding the usage of the word "gay" or "gay/strait alliance" unacceptable. Such intolerant semantic nonsense is a bit rich coming from an organisation with such an appalling record of sexual misconduct by its so called God's representatives on earth. In an even more extreme example, according to the evangelistic ignorati of Southern US, they will be destined to ”Buyurn iyn Hayell”!!
      The suggestion that homosexuality is a temptation against which all should safeguard themselves is perfectly absurd.. For the vast majority of heterosexuals, particularly males, the mere thought of same sex intimacy which includes anal sex, is quite abhorrent. The question of  "temptation" with respect to the healthily sexually normal rank and file is essentially a non-issue and invalid.
      Notwithstanding the foregoing, there is perhaps a contrary argument to be made in one specific case involving females who have frequently suffered from the actions of abusive husbands or partners. In these unfortunate circumstances, is it not likely that those so mistreated could possibly seek a relationship with other lonely women who have trodden a similar unhappy path to themselves in an effort to achieve some measure of security, happiness and even physical intimacy? Is this sinful too?
      It is a remarkably unperceptive person who cannot discern human anomalies that can exist both in appearance as well as spoken and body language. For example, the notion of of a mincing male designer of haute couture having anything in common either physically or emotionally with all-in wrestling is absurd. Similarly a robust female coach of a hockey team is rather unlikely to be interested in needlepoint and lace making. Not surprisingly the foregoing and other similar instances are frequently associated with tendencies towards homosexuality. The only question to be answered is whether there is an overlap between the overall range of male and female traits. Should this be the case, then surely ambiguity is to be expected together with a understandable sexual preference for the same gender.
      Using Coreldraw, I have cobbled together below a somewhat crude example of what I mean graphically. It takes the form of arbitrarily positioned circles representing male or female psyche traits respectively with an overlapping hatched “area of ambiguity” together with an equally arbitrary line of demarcation. Using the previous examples it would seem self evident that the sexual traits of the male designer would position him towards the right side of the "Man" traits circle and similarly the female hockey coach would be inclined towards the left of that of the "Woman". They may or may not cross the line of demarcation. Furthermore, however inconvenient it might be to the judgmental, in extreme cases there are transsexual people who possess physical sexual characteristics of both genders. What are they to do? It is not uncommon among these unfortunates that to enhance their quality of life, they resort to medical procedures -including surgery to bestow a physical configuration more in accord with their sense of emotional identity and peace of mind. Is this also a sin?

      As time goes on, due to the relaxation of societal acceptability, the traditional behavioural differences between the sexes is declining. In the case of modern females, now no longer required to behave in a “ladylike” manner, participation in such activities as boxing or other extreme sports is not uncommon. By the same token, male nurses or primary school teachers are becoming progressively mainstream. These activities are by no means indicative of sexual ambivalence but reveal that without artificial societal constraints placed upon them, the differences are perhaps less than previously thought.

      In conclusion, I would briefly address the assertions of religious zealots that homosexuality is against Biblical teaching. Within its pages it is possible to find reference or justification both for and against virtually any belief. Starting at the beginning, it is only necessary to reach Chapter 19 of Genesis; to read how Lot’s daughters got their father drunk, had sex with him and became pregnant. Verse 36 nicely encapsulates the story “Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father”. Even earlier, in Chapter 4, Verse 17, we are told that "Cain knew his wife". As the son of Adam and Eve, who did he marry? It must have been his sister. Does this mean that whilst homosexuality is taboo, incest is acceptable?

Proselytizers in the 'hood

              Our neighborhood seems to receive more than its share of visits from members of those bringing the “good news”. Last year, during one four week period we received 3 teams of emissaries, two from Jehovah’s Witnesses and the other from the Mormon Church. Indeed the sight of two or three representatives, usually clad like undertakers in dark suits and carrying briefcases prowling the neighborhood is a fairly common sight. 

               Whereas most residents seem to briefly indulge their sales pitch from behind the security of a partly opened door, prior to accepting their “Watchtower” (or equivalent); others give them short shrift and close the door with a terse “not interested". I have adopted a somewhat different response. Since they have seen fit to invade my privacy unbidden, I have now decided to try and take them on. I employ a pre-emptive move before they have time to get into their sales pitch and ask them a couple of (to my mind) quite legitimate questions.

               I inquire if they have considered that their chosen brand of religion is most probably the result of an accident of birth, since had they been born in Israel they would have been Jewish; in Italy, Roman Catholic; in India, Hindu or Buddhist; or in Saudi Arabia, Muslim. Radical changes from one belief to another, whilst not unknown -are extremely rare. I then continue by suggesting that their belief structure has not been acquired as a result of carefully considered thought leading to religious conviction, but from a process of mind conditioning throughout their formative years. They were instructed in what to believe without question, either by their parents and/or some controlling ecclesiastic. This would have stressed that should they fall short of meeting the right level of piety and rectitude they will be ultimately be subjected to the severest divine retribution. In other words they have been scared into it and for reasons of fear and superstition overlaid with a dash of guilt, they willingly toe the denominational line -blind faith!

               Their predictable blustering response is to proclaim that their convictions were indeed acquired as a result of carefully considered thought and introspection. This then opens the door for another question which is to enquire where and in what respects the unsuccessful competitors for devotional commitment have fallen short. Should not Islam be more likely since it evolved later than the others in an age of relative modernity? After all they are “People of the Book” with the same God and some overlap with Judaism and Christianity. What about Buddhism? Being more of a philosophy than a religion there is less of the supernatural esoteric to accept. In any event, all the contestants more or less embrace a “Golden Rule" concept in which we are all counselled to “do as you would be done by”, and it is only after the power and control freaks become involved that the problems start.
             On the latest visit, having completed some superficial research of their history and founders, I opened my account by inquiring whether Joe Smith sent them or were they Charlie Russell’s boys. This unexpected and somewhat crass query certainly seemed unsettle them even more than my two initial questions. At the end I asked why it is that we receive so many visits. After all our area consists mainly of reasonably affluent, law abiding (-to them, God fearing) citizens. In other words we represent safe and easy territory. Might not their ministrations be more appropriate in less fortunate areas where crime, violence and general mayhem is more common?  The effect of this plus my two questions caused them to abandon me as a lost cause, beating  a hasty retreat to next door.
             In future I am thinking of suggesting that Jesus’ parable of the talents in Matthew 25, where the recipient of just one talent buries it in the ground, could well be seen as a metaphor for their belief code. They have neglected to use their one talent of a magnificent, God-given reasoning brain and have effectively buried it whilst looking to others to do their thinking for them.

           Finally, I accept that despite their questionable doctrine they are sincerely trying to do good works. They would probably receive a less hostile or negative reception if they tried to look less funereal and wore informal clothing to better relate to those whose homes they are targeting. In any event I strongly feel that rather than just blandly accepting their predigested theological pablum, they should be questioned.  

The Crocus Tree

We live about 1km from Lake Ontario. Every year at about this time we enjoy a remarkable floral display around an oak tree close to the lake shore.

 

I have made a short three minute video, mainly for friends and relatives in Britain. It shows a little of the general area and the crocus  phenomenon in particular. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDgVMMCJ0Ow&feature=g-upl&context=G2bda33eAUAAAAAAAAAA

Dawes Kingpin re-visited

Last January (2011), I put up the video below which described the conversion of a shopper bike into a fast "hot rod".
http://marctoo.blogspot.com/2011/01/dawes-kingpin-shopper-bike-cycle-re.html
The bike has just been refurbished and reconfigured as a comfortable day tourer. I am very pleased with how it has turned out and how nice it is to ride. I particular I hope to use in its new role when I am on my summer camping excursions. 

                    

Here is a YouTube video giving details of the conversion:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxX1d_xL5Lg&feature=g-upl&context=G2bda33eAUAAAAAAAAAA

Consistent Inconsistencies!

            Even in this enlightened(?) age their remains an almost frenetic sense of propriety to safeguard society from unseemly images or strong language, exposure to which would no doubt irrecoverably corrupt those exposed to it. I initially referred to this phenomenon in my March 8^th 2011 blog “Bizarre Sense of Priorities”. Whilst it might be justified in the more extreme examples, I wonder what it is that the moral gatekeepers are hoping to achieve. For those charged with this awesome responsibility, as an absolute minimum it should be expected that at least there should be some consistency in deciding that which is acceptable from that which is not.

            For example, the use of the word for liquid excrement has become acceptable whereas the word for the solid variety has not. Thus one can be “pissed off” with impunity but cannot describe their day as s—ty or this subject as complete bulls—t. I add the hyphens to appease the blogging Gestapo and to do my share in protecting any unsuspecting readers from possible moral turpitude. Similarly the word “bitch” is quite in order to define the gender of a dog, but unacceptable when used pejoratively as an assessment of a woman’s character –at least sometimes, but not always. There are also a growing number of words involving so called “political correctness” This is intended to convey the full meaning without actually mouthing or writing the complete words of normal language and offending the sensibilities. This is done by abbreviation as in f-word; b-word; c-word; s-word; n-word; a-hole; etc. If this trend continues it will soon be necessary to communicate in politically correct shorthand. “U r an a-hole & full of s-word, so f-word off!” -and so on!

                               In the case of pictorial images there are more inconsistencies. For some reason, the sight of certain parts of the body is deemed to be so morally damaging that they must be covered –despite the fact that 50% of the population possesses and unavoidably sees all of those offensive parts on a daily basis! I remember way back in the ‘60’s the sight of a female nipple in a publication was an offense, particularly amongst America’s morally uprighteous. Despite this ban, one of the then fledging adult publications, I think it was “Playboy”, within its pages deliberately included an image of a breast, including the forbidden nipple.  Predictably this produced the expected degree of apoplexy amongst the self appointed up-tighteous custodians of morality. Representatives of the magazine duly appeared at a subsequent hearing to justify such blatant disregard of the rule. In their defense they showed the complete picture which turned out to be that of Johnny Weissmuller in his cinematic role as Tarzan!

                            More recently, the programme “Survivor” has achieved its success due at least in part to the sight of scantily clad, attractive young people disporting themselves in a variety of tropical settings. Here the public watchdogs have generously permitted the sights of abundant mammary cleavage to remain intact -to an arbitrary point, beyond which the offending area(s) are blurred out before anything as inflammatory as a nipple surfaces. However, there is now a new twist. During scenes where contestants are bending over, “bum cracks” now receive the blurring treatment! This "crack down" is particularly inexplicable. With no risk of deadly nipple exposure how on earth the mere sight of a portion of undulating anatomic topography can possibly be considered to present any risk to the viewer is beyond me. 

                           The extraordinary and sustained furor which erupted following Janet Jackson’s so called “wardrobe malfunction” at Superbowl XXXVII was also inexplicable. She actually was wearing a small floral disc (I think the correct term is “pastie”) to cover the demonic nipple so what was all the fuss about? This is an example of the neurosis that seems to grip the US psyche and nourished by the sensationalistic media. Just read the extent of the Wikipedia page on the subject:-

http://ewikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XXXVIII_halftime_show_controversy

                           Happily the rest of the world seems to be emerging from all this. Indeed there are an increasing number of TV stations, which provided that the requisite “viewer discretion” advisory precedes the transmission (-and which probably boosts viewership!), are showing programmes with language and bodily exposure which only a few years ago would have been out of the question.

                           I conclude with a famous story from the Scottish comedian Billy Connolly which gives some idea of how much more tolerent of Europe has become of "edgy" material. The joke was originally aired in the 1970’s when things were much more restricted and there was much sucking of teeth and serious misgivings about how it would be received. Nowadays it would be at worse considered to be in rather poor taste.

                           Billy recounted how a man confided to his friend in a pub that he had murdered his wife. Not surprisingly the friend refused to believe him whereupon he was taken to the man’s house where the dastardly deed took place. “I buried her in the back garden” he announced and invited his friend to look at her grave. Sure enough there was a mound of freshly dug earth but surprisingly the rear end of the body was still sticking above the ground. “Why did you leave her bum sticking out?” the friend exclaimed -to which the reply was. “Well, I needed somewhere to park my bike!” See:-   

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slw08b3bHFE

Virtually Everything?

    The other day, I was watching several young people being interviewed on TV. They were asked what they wanted most for Christmas. The age demographic of those questioned ranged somewhere between 9 and 14. All their replies placed various video games, I-pads, I-phones etc. as the preferred choice. Not one even mentioned any of the hitherto traditional choices such as sportswear, skateboards, bikes, musical instruments -or even clothes. I found this to be rather distressing and sadly in line with much of the younger population and increasingly amongst those not in the first flush of youth. More and more people are moving away from real experiences in favour of easy-to-access substitutes. As an example this has escalated to the point where it is not unusual to see groups of young people although in close proximity to each other are engaged in electronic communication with others who are not. The texting phenomenon in particular seems to have become preferable to direct conversation. These items of social media hardware it appears have now reached “must have” essential status.

  " I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots"
Albert Einstein

      Similarly with sporting activities, despite dire warnings on the   alarming incidence of obesity, there are increasing inducements to participate in indoor electronic simulations, which although without question provide enjoyable entertainment, do relatively little for musculature or cardio-vascular health. There is certainly a place for all the foregoing but it all comes down to a question of keeping it in perspective. Many modern day parents, with the necessity of holding down two jobs, live stressful lives in an uncertain work environment. Arriving home in the evening, in order to get some restful relaxation, they are only too pleased to provide distractions for their children which do not require their active participation. 
    The insidious nature of habit-forming, particularly on young and malleable minds, this could lead to the distinct possibility that video game representation of outdoor sports -such as for example tennis or golf, will become (-as they would have it) the default setting with indoor venues replacing those of outdoors. Extreme games featuring violence, war and associated mayhem can well imprint negative and undesirable effects on character development and at their worst, dull sense of compassion and skew perceptions of reality, right and wrong. As I write this, unbelievably a local school has decided to ban balls on school property in case somebody gets injured! By extension maybe pens and pencils should get the same treatment as they could be used as weapons!
    Where will it all end? With the exponential advance of technology there will be no limit as to what is possible. As an example, there could be no necessity to eat. It would be quite simple to introduce some form of union into the stomach which would be attached to a delivery hose from which would discharge a perfectly balanced mixture of nutritional substances at “meal times “or maybe by continuous “drip feed”. Maybe this facility could be integrated into gas station equipment so that human refueling can take place at the same time!
    On a more general level, this synthesizing of activities could ultimately result in a situation where to the young, actually being indoors becomes preferable to the outdoors -totally unheard of in my youth, In other words instead of a joyful immersion in the magnificent and wondrous world in which we live, the intention becomes one of providing insulation from it. 
    Everything which exists comes from the earth and will ultimately return to it. In this respect there exists within all of us a latent spiritual affinity which in our current circumstances may need a bit of a nudge to reactivate. To ignore, bypass or suppress such fundamental feelings cannot be positive or productive on any level.
    Then there is the phenomenon of “virtual sex”. I’m not sure quite how this works; but the traditional, original form, being essentially multifaceted, must be sadly absent in the electronic version. Two-dimensional cyber images, being purely visual cannot reproduce the scope of emotions associated with the old school, time-honored conventional method with its fusion of affection, touch, closeness, tenderness, love, passion, peace, relaxation -choose your own noun. To be sure there are copious quantities of material intended to stimulate, but much of this involves gross graphic gynecological images which surely cannot in any way be considered as erotically uplifting.

    In my far off youth, growing up in England, the subject of sex was taboo and kept under wraps. Perversely, for those doing the wrapping, mainly due to the “forbidden fruit” syndrome, this had the opposite effect of greatly heightening the erotic responses of any sexual contact -however mild in nature. At the time, Saturday evening community dances were common place from which many relationships evolved. Indeed these functions were considered the place to form liaisons with the opposite sex. Not surprisingly after an evening’s activities which by definition involved close physical contact, there was perchance a growing affinity towards a particular partner. This being the case, proceedings often drew to a close with a (fairly innocent) amount of consensual grappling behind the dance hall prior to dispersal to our respective homes. Despite being very mild by contemporary standards, the substantial hormonal disarray which resulted was commonly referred to by the youthful male intelligentsia as “Saturday night knee tremblers!” 

   I believe that the “in your face” nature of pornography is similar to extreme video games in that it has a desensitizing affect and in the process cheapens, demystifies and de-romanticizes the entire experience. Could this be the reason for the huge market in the upsurge of medications and other aids to overcome what appears to be a burgeoning epidemic of impotence? Could this be due to the fact that these products were not yet available in the pre-computer era or that there was no market for them? In the case of my confreres and myself, without question it was certainly the latter. In fact bromide, the medication supplied to inductee military personnel of the time (and with good reason), was aimed at achieving just the opposite!