A Day Made of Glass - A Glimpse into the near future.

Glass manufacturer Corning gives us this glimpse into the world of tomorrow. 

A world where we are always connected.

Technology, as all of us know, is bringing us together, faster and faster, closer and closer, all the time. We are all connected, with the use of wireless devices we are all instantly in communication with each other, and distances are as nothing. In a flash you can talk to anyone, in even less time you can receive data in the form of text messages and emails.  All of this is happening, and yet at the same time we seem to be more and more distant from each other in certain ways.  Many of us now live in gated communities, cut off from the world and from our neighbors. We ride in our own enclosed cars and then we retreat into our own private houses, whereupon we sit in front of our own private screens, be they television, computer monitor or smartphone -- and then, once alone, we "connect."

The same issues prevail in the workplace. Technology encourages us to work more and more by ourselves, connecting to others only via e-mail and telephone.

How did we get to this place, stuck in this paradox of more connection and more isolation at the same time?

 Social networks like Facebook gives us a false sense of being part of a community without any real physical contact. Is this a preview of the future? Will our grandchildren live in a world where they only interact through avatars or surrogates?

Pretty soon, gone will be the days when entertainment took place in theaters,  concert halls,  cinemas and dance halls. Entertainment will be streamed to you wherever you want it. Remember when there was no other way to have a spontaneous live conversation with another person except by meeting him or her on the street or in the rum shop. Things happened in public; that was taken for granted. Communication existed mainly by letter, and had a whole other form of existence, more leisurely and thoughtful, in a sense, carefully and deliberately composed pieces of writing, not rapid-fire exchanges. The expectation of instant reply -- indeed, the expectation of a speedy resolution of almost any issue, be it a relationship, a business matter, or a simple invitation -- was simply not there.

I know that technology is here to stay but we must be careful that we don’t embrace it to the extent where we lose our sense of community and by extension, our humanity. Imaging how hard it would be today to survive in a world without automobiles, telephones, internet, electricity? For hundreds of years man did just that and prospered but we have already become so dependant on these things that we cannot even imaging living without them. Cast you mind into the future to the time depicted in the video. As mankind become more and more reliant on technology,.... what will happen to us if we lost it?

Quote of the Day

 "Technology is the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it."  Max Frisch

God is in the Neurons

What makes humans conscious?

As mere collections of organic matter, it’s pretty impressive that we’re even able to ask ourselves this question. What is it that makes our power of self awareness possible?
Setting aside the task of defining what consciousness really means, where does it come from?

Here are the options:

1. Humans are not conscious – it’s just an illusion.
2. Consciousness comes from something physical (the brain).
3. Consciousness comes from something non-physical (a soul).

1. Humans are not conscious – it’s just an illusion.
If this is the case, then we immediately run into an apparent contradiction. How is it possible to think about whether you’re conscious without actually being conscious? This is very similar to the argument behind “I think, therefore I am.” Still, I don’t think we can rule it out entirely. Sometimes I look into the mirror and wonder, “Are you really me, or do I just think you are? And if the latter, do I really think you are, or do I just think I think you are?”

2. Consciousness comes from something physical (the brain).
This seems like a simple and obvious answer, but it’s really not. Because if consciousness comes from the brain, then there’s no reason we can’t build a conscious machine simply by replicating the brain with mechanical parts. Sure, we’re currently far from having the technology to interconnect 100 billion artificial neurons with 100 trillion artificial synaptic connections. But technology has improved a lot over the last hundred years. What will happen over the next million?
I wouldn’t be too quick to predict limits on technological progress. When we build semi-intelligent nanobots, won’t they be capable of helping us build more intelligent nanobots? And then won’t it be easy to build a brain far better than what we have now?
Can you imagine a program being truly conscious? Wondering what its life purpose is, whether this external hard drive makes it look too fat, and when it will finally get the right to vote? Moving it to the recycle bin would be kidnapping, and deleting it would be murder. Ridiculous, right?

3. Consciousness comes from something non-physical (a soul).
This would provide a nice answer to the previous question – a program can’t be conscious, because it doesn’t have a soul. Of course, this option comes with its own problems, not the least of which is that it’s a severe violation of Occam’s razor. The absence of supernatural phenomena is the simplest possible explanation, and therefore most likely to be the correct one. Unless, of course, it’s too simple to be possible.
When a car shuts down from a dead battery, you just put in a new one and it comes roaring back to life. Why doesn’t the same thing happen with people? If someone dies from a heart attack, why can’t you just repair their heart (and anything else that may need it) and watch them come back to life?
What part of them has really died, if all their organs are completely intact? Why doesn’t Frankenstein work in real life?  Then again, maybe it does. The real problem with a fatal heart attack is probably that it causes brain death, and nerve cells are not easy to repair. But is this just a matter of technology?
Can we someday inject nanobots into someone’s bloodstream, having programmed them to repair any and all cell damage, and expect the person to live indefinitely in perfect health, not even aging?

Which of these is the right answer? I have no idea but if you like me are fascinated by the workings of the human brain I invite you to view the following:-

Quote of the Day

“If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't.”

Emerson M. Pugh

US troops take on Taliban with secret ‘Jesus rifles’

American troops fighting in Afghanistan are using rifle sights secretly inscribed with coded biblical references. The inscriptions are in direct contravention of military rules designed to prevent criticism that the US is embarked on a religious "crusade" against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. What is bizarre about this revelation - unearthed by ABC News on January10th, 2010 - is that US military commanders were apparently unaware of the fact. The inscriptions were made by the sights' manufacturer, Trijicon, a Michigan company that has always operated with,"Christian principles".

The news brought a strong reaction from those who feel the separation of church and state must be upheld in the US military. "It's wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws," said Michael Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).


"It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al-Qaeda and the insurrectionists and jihadists to claim they're being shot by Jesus rifles," he said.

Some of the inscriptions on the sights were as follows:-


When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life". John 8:12


For it is the God who said, 'Let your light shine out of darkness' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6


And so we  have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19


In the same way, let your light so shine before other, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16


The Lord is my light and my salvation/whom shall I fear?/The Lord is the stronghold of my life/of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1


Trijicon quickly, "Saw the Light."


It was no surprise that the threat of losing millions of dollars in contracts to the US Army and Marines quickly made Trijicon abandon all, "Christian principles",for  the sake of financial prudence. I mean, when your main product is designed to help people be more efficient killers of his fellow man, you need the military on your side and to hell with "Christian principles".  On 22 January 2010, Trijicon announced it would stop the practice of engraving Biblical references on products sold to the government. It also offered to provide modification kits for the purpose of removing such engravings on sights already produced and sold to the military. In a statement, the company said it was both "prudent and appropriate" to remove the engravings. Trijicon's consumer products are still engraved with Biblical references in accordance with company tradition and "Christian principles."


The pressure on Trijicon was even more acute coming after the incident in 2009, when military leaders discarded and burned “unsolicited” Bibles sent to a soldier in Afghanistan by a U.S. church that had located Bibles translated into Dari and Pashto, “the two most common Afghan languages.” Military spokespersons said that the Bibles could be used for proselytization of Muslims (or contribute to the perception that U.S. troops were engaged in proselytization), actions which are strictly against U.S. policy for deployed troops.  Central Command “General Order Number 1” (updated as General Order Number 1B), specifically prohibits “proselytizing of any faith, religion, or practice," and military representatives say that “if actions were perceived in this manner,” they could “endanger American troops and civilians in the devoutly Muslim nation.” According to Afghan law, it is a crime to try to convert a Muslim to another faith."


News about the Bibles had reached the Al Jezeera network, which had broadcast a story about the possibility that American troops were violating anti-proselytization rules. The report included video footage of U.S. Army Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Gary Hensley telling soldiers that they had a responsibility to "hunt people for Jesus": "The special forces guys — they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down.... Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do, that's our business." The footage shows a discussion between soldiers and their chaplain discussing how the Bibles might be distributed without violating the military's General Order against proselytization. When a reporter from Al Jazeera brought up the issue of using the Bibles to proselytize Afghanis during a May 4, 2009, Pentagon news conference, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Michael Mullen stated that "from the United States military's perspective," it is "not our position to ever push any specific kind of religion. Period.


I am no card carrying, bible thumping supporter of any religion but even I feel insulted by the use of Christianity by corporations whose only aim is to make money off the suffering and bloodshed of war. You have no problems making the tools that make soldiers more efficient killers but you feel the need to make them into, instruments of righteousness, by inscribing them with religious propaganda! 


Trijicon, how about using this inscription:-


No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. - Matthew 6:24


If Trijicon had told the US military that this is what we believe in, this is our product, take it or leave it, they would have gained my respect but to bow to pressure to stop doing what they believed was the, “right thing to do”, shouts of hypocrisy.


As for Lt. Col. Gary Hensley, "hunt people for Jesus", “get the hound of heaven after them”. Are you serious Colonel? Was this the message that the story of Jesus intended to impart? This is the 21^st century, for Christ’s sake, (pun intended), not the Dark Ages.  Don't let me even start to expound on the imagery these words evoke. The shield emblazoned with the symbol of the cross in on hand and the sword in the other!  The Crusades are alive and well!  


I am reminded of a quote from Mahatma Gandhi.


 “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It’s just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ. I would be a Christian if it were not for Christians.”


Quote of the Day

A picture is worth 1000 words.

I Just Want to Love God. A Look at Religious Eclecticism in Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi.

Dear Friends,

“I have a story that will make you believe in God” (Martel: x) – that is how Yann Martel introduces his novel, Life of Pi, in which the main character, the aforementioned Pi, is simultaneously a Hindu, Christian, and Muslim. When he was only 16 years old, miraculously survived 227 days in the Pacific Ocean as the lone human survivor of a sunken ship. Surviving 227 days adrift at sea is hard enough to believe, but add a 450-pound Bengal tiger into the lifeboat and this existential parable is ratcheted up from the inspiring to confounding, from the miraculous to outright unbelievable – which, by the way, is exactly the point of the story. After all, Yann, like many religious writers before him, obviously subscribed to the notion that if the story did not stretch the limits of credibility, it could not make its readers believe what he saw as the unbelievable, to believe in God.

But while the story is introduced with this promise to the reader, what at first appears straightforward becomes increasingly complicated as the story unfolds. For instance, in which God is this story supposed to make us believe – the Hindu, the Christian, or the Muslim? The novel does not say, and if the novel is read by one with secular biased leanings they would remained confused. I found no such confusion in the narrative. I found the fictional Pi, {some would say like Jesus and others), to be a believable character that should serve to demonstrate that our appreciation of the awesomeness of God should not be restricted to man's limited comprehension.

Pi tells us that he is a Hindu because his Aunt first brought him to a temple for a traditional Hindu rite of passage when he was still a baby. While he has no conscious memory of this first introduction to the temple, he writes that “some smell of incense, some play of light and shadow, some flame, some burst of colour, something of the sultriness and mystery of the place must have stayed with me. . . I became loyal to these sense impressions even before I knew what they meant or what they were for” (Martel: 47-48). Thus, in Pi’s
words, he owes “to Hinduism the original landscape of [his] religious imagination” (Martel: 50), and the universe continues to make sense to him through his Hindu eyes.

Though he was “a contented Hindu” when he was 14 years-old, he became both deeply enthralled and troubled the first time he heard the story of Jesus. The story of Jesus was the Christian story that proclaimed to be about God, but not as God should be, or at least not as Pi had come to expect the stories of God to be told. As Pi asked, the story of Jesus tells the story of a God “who goes hungry, who suffers from thirst, who gets tired, who is sad, who is anxious, who is heckled and harassed, who has to put up with followers who don’t get it and opponents who don’t respect Him – what kind of god is that?” (Martel: 55). Nevertheless, the more Pi speaks with the village priest about this thoroughly pedestrian god, the more
enthralled he becomes to the point that he asks what he must do to become a Christian. The priest smiled and answered, “You already are, Piscine – in your heart.” From that point on, Pi could then enter into the church without fear, for, as he says, “it was now my house too. I offered prayers to Christ, who is alive. Then I raced down the hill on the left and raced up the hill on the right  – to offer thanks to Lord Krishna for having put Jesus of Nazareth, whose humanity I found so compelling, in my way” (Martel: 58). A prayer of thanks to Lord Krishna for having made him a Christian must have caused quite a stir in the celestial realm.

Then, again in Pi’s words, “Islam followed right behind, hardly a year later.”  When walking the streets of the Arabic neighborhood while exploring unknown parts of his hometown in Pondicherry, India, he shares bread with a Muslim baker and observes the baker interrupt his work in order to perform his daily prayers right in the midst of a storm of flour. Pi observes, “So it went the first time I saw a Muslim pray – quick, necessary, physical, muttered, striking. Next time I was praying in church – on my knees, immobile, silent before
Christ on the Cross –  the image of this callisthenic communion with God in the middle of the bags of flour kept coming to my mind” (Martel: 60). Soon after, Pi would ask his parents for his own prayer rug, and that same Muslim baker would initiate him into the mysteries of Sufi mysticism.

Pi was now a practicing Hindu, Christian, and Muslim, and the prized student of all three faiths. That is, until his parents and teachers discovered his secret and together expressed their uniform incredulity. After each tried to claim the boy as their own, their attitudes shifted from their suspicion of one another, to their shared breathlessness and disbelief, and finally to their mutual disappointment in Pi. Each of their respective arguments for the exclusivity of their faith failed: from the imam, “Hindus and Christians are idolaters;” from
the pandit, “Mulims have many wives,” and “Christians know nothing about religion;” and from the priest, “There is salvation only in Jesus.” As the Christian sees it, it is the difference between “real religion – or myths;” for the Muslim, it is between “God – or idols;” and for the Hindu, it is between “Our [Indian] gods  – or colonial gods.” As for Pi’s parents, they sought to protect their son, thinking that his religious eclecticism was nothing more than a stage he would eventually grow out of. Pi’s father, trying to split the difference, reminded the three religious leaders that the new India was a country that allowed for the freedom of
religious practice, which finally prompted some agreement from the teachers: “Yes! Practice
– singular!” All agreed that Pi’s piety was admirable, “But he can’t be a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim.

So I ask. "If Pi could not be a Hindu, a Christain and a Muslim, what was he?"

No one can argue that his way of life and practice of religious devotions were not a credit to the teachings of all three religions. All three religious leaders would have gladly accepted him to be a shining beacon of their faith if only he renounced the others. However, all three could only see the differences in their respective doctrines and could not accept the obvious truth as seen by Pi. Poor Pi, in the simplicity of his boyhood faith, he sincerely believed that all religions were true. Out of his embarrassment and at the close of this first introduction to inter-religious dialogue, he blurted out,

 “I just want to love God” (Martel: 67-69).

Should there really be anything more to it than that?

References
Martel, Yann
2001 The Life of Pi. New York: Harcourt.
You can read the full novel at the following link.
http://e-books-4u.blogspot.com/2008/01/download-free-e-books-life-of-pi.html

Quote of the Day

My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality.  Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God.  ~Albert Einstein

The Devil's Bible - The World's Largest Book

Dear Friends,


This book has fascinated me for many years. I believe that this forum should be used to highlight people and objects of interest to all open-minded and inherently inquisitive persons like myself so today I share with you the story of The Devil’s Bible, also known as the Codex Gigas, Liber Pergrandis or Gigas Librorum.


This book was created in Bohemia. The first mention of the Devil’s Bible comes from the year 1295, but it is supposed that the manuscript is about 65 years older. The book was owned by a small Benedictine
monastery of Podlažice near Chrudim, most likely around 1229. However, no records about its origin, author or reason for writing it have been preserved. The Benedictines is a monastic tradition that stems from the origins of the Christian monastic movement in the late third century. They regard Saint Benedict as their founder and guide even though he did not establish a Benedictine Order as such. He wrote a Rule for his monastery at Monte Cassino in Italy and he foresaw that it could be used elsewhere.  At first it was one of a number of rules accepted by a particular monastery but later, especially through the promotional efforts of Charlemagne and his son Louis, it became the rule of choice for monasteries of Europe from the ninth century to this day.

The Largest Manuscript Book of the World


The book is unusually large; it is thus no wonder that it was compared to the Seven Wonders of the World in the Middle Ages. It is about 900 mm tall, 505 mm wide and weighs an awesome 75 kilograms. It contains 312 parchment folios, hence 624 pages. It is reckoned that the skin of about 160 donkeys was necessary to acquire the writing material. What is fascinating is the unity of the book, concord of the writing and initial letters, harmony of the overall composition and individual details; all the texts are still legible even today. All the indications are that it was a life work of one person. Historians estimate that the scribe in question must have conceivably spent as many as twenty years on such a monumental work.

A Work of the Devil


The existence of the book is connected with a legend about the Devil, according to which it was also given its popular name – the Devil’s Bible. The legend tells of a monk who once lived in the east of the Czech kingdom, in the monastery of Podlažice, and was sentenced to be walled up alive for his sinful deed. In order to avoid the punishment, he promised to write the largest book that the world had ever seen in a single night. His accusers were fascinated by the proposal and allowed him the chance to escape his sentence. However, at midnight the monk realised that he could not finish it in time. Therefore, he called upon the devil for help. The legend has it that the monk drew the image of the devil into the book out of his gratitude.
However, even though he escaped the punishment, his life turned to hell and he spent the remainder of his days attempting to atone for his sins by indulging in self  flagellation with an implement very similar to the modern cat o' nine tails.


Despite the Satanic legend, the Codex was never condemned by the Inquisition but, on the contrary, it became the focus of interest of scholars and lovers of art and curiosities. The Inquisition was a Roman Catholic tribunal for discovery and punishment of heresy, which was marked by the severity of questioning and punishment and lack of rights afforded to the accused. It was actually instituted by Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) in Rome. In 1233,Pope Gregory IX resurrected, (forgive the pun), the Inquisition to combat the heresy of the Abilgenses, a religious sect in France. By 1255, the Inquisition was in full gear throughout Central and Western Europe. Those accused of heresy were sentenced at an auto de fe, Act of Faith. Clergyman would sit at the proceedings and would deliver the punishments. Punishments included confinement to dungeons, physical abuse and torture. Those who reconciled with the church were still punished and many had their property confiscated, as well as were banished from public life. Those who never confessed were burned at the stake without strangulation; those who did confess were strangled first. During the 16^th and 17^th centuries, attendance at auto de fe reached as high as the attendance at bullfights During that time thousands of books and manuscripts considered by the church to be promoting heresy were burnt and the fact that the Codex survived only added to its mystique.

What Does the Manuscript Contain?


About half of the Codex consists of the entire Latin Bible in the Vulgate version, except for the books of Acts and Revelation, which are from a pre-Vulgate version. They are in the order Genesis-Ruth, Isaiah-Daniel, Hosea-Malachi, Job, Samuel & Kings, Psalms-Song of Solomon, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Jesus, Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Esther, Maccabees. Between the Testaments are Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews and Wars of the Jews, as well as Isidore of Seville's encyclopedia Etymologiae and medical works of Hippocrates, Theophilus, Philaretus, and Constantinus. Following a blank page, the New Testament commences with Matthew-Acts, James-Revelation, and Romans-Hebrews. Following the picture of the devil, Cosmas of Prague's Chronicle of Bohemia, a list of brothers in the Podlažice monastery, and a calendar with necrologium, magic formulae and other local records round out the codex. The entire document is written in Latin, in addition, it contains Hebrew, Greek, and Slavic alphabets. It also contains the  so-called Penitential – a manual for priests with a list of sins and appropriate ways of atonement. And exactly here, on page 290 recto, the most extraordinary thing can be found – an almost half-a-metre-tall colour figure of the devil is depicted here. Several pages that follow are dark and gloomy both in their appearance and in their content. They contain medical incantations to drive out falling sickness, ague or to detect a thief. This chapter is followed by the most valuable document – The Chronicle of Bohemia (Chronica Bohemorum) by the Dean of the Prague Chapter Cosmas (1045-1125). This copy is one of the oldest and best. At the very end, there is a list of the days on which Easter would fall over the next few years


In 2007, the National Library of the Czech Republic, in conjunction with the National Library of Sweden,
hosted an exhibition where the original Devil’s Bible will be presented to the public. The exhibition was open to the public from 20th September 2007 until 9th March 2008. Apart from the original of the rare manuscript itself, the visitor had the opportunity to become better acquainted with the content of this fascinating book and follow its dramatic journey through the centuries. 


You can download the book at the following link. It is 2.86 GB.


http://www.kat.ph/benedictine-monastery-of-podla%C5%BEice-codex-gigas-complete-book-626-tiff-files-t2947116.html


Quote of the Day

“It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui.”  Helen Keller

To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before.

Dear Friends, 

Captains Log, Stardate 09-08-2011.
Today the TV series Star Trek celebrates its 45th birthday. On this day last year, physicists at the Australian National University celebrated by announcing that they've built a rough equivalent of a tractor beam -- okay, more like a device capable of transporting small glass particles one and a half meters across a laboratory desk without touching them. But still -- a tractor beam in concept.

In celebration of the birthday of Star Trek I will take a quick look at other Star Trek technologies that have inspired real-world scientists.

When he launched the original series in 1966, Gene Roddenberry famously chose anti-matter as the ship's fuel. Would you believe that small amounts of anti-matter are now created almost routinely at the CERN facility in Switzerland, although not nearly enough to power a spaceship, yet.  Throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation, touch-based control panels called PADDs (personal access display devices) were frequently used by crew members. Today we have the Ipad. How many of you realised that Star Trek foresaw the convenience of portable digital storage. On Star Trek, they were the small square coloured pieces of plastic that they inserted into various computer consoles, but in the 80s and 90s we had the 3.5-inch floppy disk that was remarkably close to the same size as those pieces of plastic that they had on Star Trek.Later, in Star Trek: The Next Generation, they had isolinear chips that could hold gigabytes upon gigabytes of data. These days, you don’t see floppy disks being used but USB flash drives which are, incidentally, pretty close to the same size that Star Trek TNG showed the isolinear chips were.

In 1966, the world watched in wonder as the doors on the Enterprise miraculously opened when people approached. Today RTE (request to exit) technology is so commonplace that I have witnessed people walking into doors when the RTE sensor was broken. Many of the then fictional technologies are already here. Tricorders? The Department of Homeland Security is well on its way toward developing a patient triage tool: a snazzy handheld device one could magically wave over an injured person to make an instant medical diagnosis. And Martin Cooper, inventor of the cellphone, has admitted he drew inspiration from the flip-top handheld devices sported by Captain Kirk and his crew to communicate while exploring alien planets. Today's bluetooth earpieces make Lieutenant Uhura's look primitive and today's speech recognition could easily hold its own against the Enterprise computer's.

Thanks to advances in "meta-materials" research, the cloaking devices used by Romulan and Klingon ships might also be on the horizon. In 2009, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley used a mixture of ceramic, Teflon and fiber composites to deflect light waves around a three-dimensional object -- effectively "cloaking" it from sight. As for the famous transporter technology -- "Beam me up, Scotty!" -- quantum teleportation is advancing rapidly. In 2010, a team of Chinese scientists broke records when they successfully teleported information between photons over a free space distance of nearly ten miles. Even better, they were "able to maintain the fidelity of the long-distance teleportation at 89 percent." While that's pretty impressive when we're talking about information, it's still a long way from teleporting an entire human being -- Captain Kirk wouldn't be so eager to beam down onto a planet if there were a chance 11% of him might not make the trip.

The Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response (PHASR) gun is under development at the US Air Force Research Laboratory which like Star Trek's phasers can "stun" assailants. The real PHASR is a non-lethal, portable deterrent weapon which uses a laser system to blind the enemy temporarily. The Universal Translator is not here yet but the US military is using the Phraselator in Iraq for speech translation. The website Google, among others, can translate web sites and phone manufacturer NEC is launching the first mobile phone with speech translation.

Given all of that, can warp drives, traversable wormholes to other dimensions and parallel universes be far behind? Probably. We're nowhere near being able to harness the huge amounts of energy that would be required to achieve those perennial features of the Star Trek universe but what history has taught us is that anything the mind can conceive the mind can achieve and though it may take a thousand years to mature and bear fruit, Gene Roddenberry and his team has sowed the seed.

However, the influence of Star Trek goes way beyond the technology. One only have to google Star Trek to see the millions of websites dedicated to the language and culture of the Borg, Klingon,  Bajoran, Ferengi, Andorii, Vulcan and a dozen other species introduced to the world by Star Trek.You can log on to the Klingon Language Institute and become fluent in Klingon. I kid you not. There is even a translation of the Bible into Klingon! I am still trying to wrap my mind around the theological implications of that one!

No one can really be sure why Star Trek has realised the phenomenal success it enjoyed over the last 45 years but it has spanned generations and attracted fans from all demographics. I still remember watching Star Trek with my grandfather on our black and white Zenith and enjoying it as I do now sitting with my granddaughter watching it on my computer. I believe the theme of technological advancement paired with the shows expression of social progress was a major factor when it first started. The original series had its finger on the pulse of the 1960s. It addressed the issue of race relations head-on though casting. The multicultural bridge crew included a member of African descent (Uhura), East Asian descent (Sulu) and Russian descent (Chekov), all serving alongside an alien from another planet, Vulcan (Spock). It was what the world needed. Over he years the show has continued to highlight the best of what mankind can be without being judgemental and people have responded with their support.

It seems that Star Trek is here to stay as it continues to attract a new generation of fans. 

Quotes of the Day                 

 

Tich tor ang tesmur -  Vulcan  (Live long and prosper)

 lIj jaghpu' vo' SoH Daq taHvIp - Klingon  (May your enemies run from you in fear)

Real Heroes - Sgt.Maj. Dan Daly

Dear Friends,

Every month I promised to share the story of a real hero with you. I hope that the exploits of these men and women will serve as an inspiration to all of us for generations to come.

Today I have chosen one of the better known of all American soldiers the legendary marine.....

Sgt Maj Dan Daly

The US Marines are the soldiers sent in when shit needs to be taken care of.

Among the United States Marine Corps, Sergeant Daniel Daly is something of a legend.  Now that's saying something in and of itself, considering some of the men and women who have served the Corps during the years.  He was no Swarchenegger or Rambo look alike. But this 5'6", 135lb soldier was fearless, tough, and well respected among officers and enlisted men. 

The man epitomized what it means to be a soldier.

In January of 1899 the United States and Spain went to war over Cuba.  Well Dan Daly heard about all the action that was to be had in serving his country he decided to enlist in the Marine Corps and try to get in on the fighting.  Unfortunately by the time his drill instructors were done whipping him into shape old-school-style at boot camp on Parris Island, the war was already over.

When Private Daly got out of Basic he was assigned to the Asiatic Fleet, which was deployed to the Far East.  Well around this time things were beginning to heat up in China, as the Qing Dynasty was in the early stages of the Boxer Rebellion.  This was an uprising by the Chinese peasantry against foreign influence in their country.  Since these Boxers were getting a little bit more violent every day, the U.S. decided to send in some Marines to make sure their diplomatic legation was safe.  Dan Daly's Marines were deployed.

When the Marines arrived they found a small contingent of German soldiers camped outside the American embassy in Beijing.  The Corpsmen didn't like this one bit and assaulted the German positions, pushing them out of there.  Since the defensive positions surrounding the legation were badly damaged, the rest of the Marines headed off to gather reinforcements and supplies to rebuild the fortifications around the embassy.  Private Daly volunteered to stay back and hold the fort while they were gone.

That night, shit hit the fan.  Dan was just hanging out, smoking a cigarette, when all of a sudden a huge force of Chinese Boxers started bull-rushing the American Embassy with torches, rifles, and various other weaponry raised above their heads, screaming like madmen.  They had come to destroy the consulate, and Daly was the only man between this rampaging horde and the diplomatic legation.  In the face of this seemingly unending onslaught, Dan Daly knew it was time to be a Marine.  He jammed an ammunition belt into his squad machine gun, took a deep breath, and squeezed the trigger.

The next morning, the rest of Private Daly's squad arrived at the barricade Daly had been charged with defending.  Through the smoke and the carnage, they saw Dan Daly sitting on the fortifications puffing a smoke, surrounded by the bodies of 200 slain Boxers.  For his actions in single-handedly defending the legation in the face of impossible odds, Private Daly received the Congressional Medal of Honor.

But his job wasn't finished yet.  In 1914 Daly was transferred to Haiti during the American occupation of that country.  It was here that he would distinguish himself in combat once again.
Daly, who was now a Gunnery Sergeant at this point, was part of a platoon that had been sent out on a reconnaissance patrol deep into the Haitian countryside.  One day, as they were fording a small river, the Marines found themselves in the middle of a deadly ambush.  400 Haitian Cacos rebels poured fire into the 35-man platoon from three points on the river, tearing into the U.S. troops.  The Marines fought hard and managed to push their way across the river, where they set up defensive positions and tried to fight off their attackers.  Unfortunately, the platoon's heavy machine gun had fallen in the initial pandemonium and was now resting peacefully at the bottom of the river.  Things looked pretty bleak for the heavily-outnumbered Marines.

Then Sergeant Daly stepped up.  He made his way out from the American positions in the middle of the night, jumped into the river, pulled the machine gun up, strapped it to his back and snuck back to join his platoon.  The following morning, the now-heavily-armed Marines split into three fire teams and swept through the jungle completely annihalating the rebel units.  Sergeant Daly earned his SECOND Congressional Medal of Honor.

After Haiti, Daly served fleet duty aboard the USS Newark, Panther, Cleveland, Marietta, Mississippi, Ohio, and Machias, saw combat in Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Panama, and served on Marine bases in eight different U.S. cities.  The man got around, because when you're as tough as Dan Daly was you're usually in pretty high demand.

In 1917 the United States once again needed the help of Sergeant Daly.  Around this time France and Germany were in the middle of the biggest and deadliest war the planet had ever seen, and the U.S. decided to send in the Marines to help kick some ass in "The Great War", as it was now being called.  Well Daly surely did not want to miss out on an opportunity to fight in a World War, so he shipped out at age 44 for some more adventures.  He fought in several campaigns with the American Expeditionary Force in France, and won combat medals three more times - once when he crawled out under heavy enemy fire and rescued a half-dozen wounded Marines who were pinned down, once when he single-handedly captured 13 German soldiers, and once when he took out a heavily-fortified German machine gun nest all by himself using nothing more than a handful of grenades and a Colt .45 Automatic.  He was also wounded three times, but yeah right like that could slow him down.

Daly's greatest moment in World War I came during the intense fighting at the Battle of Belleau Wood.  Daly's Marines were in the middle of heavy fighting. They were outnumbered two-to-one, outgunned, and facing down the barrels of numerous German machine gun nests.  They had been pinned down for hours by a non-stop hail of artillery and gunfire, and things were looking bleak as hell for the troops. Well all of a sudden, just as things were looking hopeless, a lone figure jumped up onto the earthworks the American Marines had been using for cover.  Sergeant Dan Daly looked down the line, clutched his rifle and shouted, "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?"  before charging out to meet the enemy.  The men of the United States Marine Corps saw this act of bravery and decided, no, they did not want to live forever.  They went "over the top" and charged the German positions.
On 26 June 1917 the U.S. High Command in France received the following telegram:

Woods now U.S. Marine Corp's entirely.

For his actions in the Belleau Woods, Sergeant Daly received the Navy Cross and the French Croix de Guerre.
Daly would serve in the occupation army, then work in Fleet Reserve until he finally retired from the Corps.  He worked as a banker for 17 years after his service and died in 1937 at age 65.  He is one of only two Marines to ever receive two Congressional Medals of Honor, and to this day remains one of the most legendary figures in American military history.  A true hero.

Even after his death the spirit of Dan Daly lived on in the American destroyer DD-519 -- the USS Daly.  The Daly fought bravely in the Pacific Fleet, earning eight Battle Stars during 27 months of service in World War II.  Even death couldn't stop the spirit of Sergeant Major Dan Daly from kicking asses and taking names.

The USS Daly

Quote of the Day

"God has a hard-on for Marines, because they kill everything they see." Movie Full Metal Jacket

Mental Slavery - The Barbadian Condition

NIGGER OR NIGGA?

I happened to overhear a conversation today among a group of teenage schoolboys that started me thinking. The boys were reasonably articulate, probably post CXC. In the course of the animated conversation every sentence was punctuated by the inclusion of the word “nigger”  It was “Nigger, you watch Fast Five yet? Nigger, that sh** was hot! etc.” This reminded me of something I had read some years ago. The American rapper, Tupac made the following remark:

"NIGGER- a black man with a slavery chain around his neck. NIGGA- a black man with a gold chain on his neck."

Are our bright young men in Barbados seeing themselves as Niggers or Niggas? Can they recognise the difference?

I believe we need to examine the history of the African in Barbados if we are to gain any insight into the mental state of today’s future leaders. The next three (3) paragraphs excerpted from THE AFRICAN INFLUENCE ON BARBADIAN CULTURE by Historian Trevor G. Marshall October-2003, does an excellent job of setting the background.

In 1640, there were only 1,000 Africans in Barbadian society, a society of 10,000. Society increased eightfold and by 1690 Barbados was over-populated. It had 80,000 persons and whereas it had a ratio of 9 to 1 in 1640 in favour of Europeans - Englishmen, Scotsmen, by 1690 that ratio was overturned. Barbados now had 60,000 Africans and 20,000 more or less whites - Euro-Barbadian, British, English-Barbadians. By the end of the century there were about 90,000 people in this society and about 75,000 of them were African-Barbadian.

Over the next two centuries Barbadians coalesced (in sexual terms), to produce what was described as half-castes. That grouping was called "mulattos" , European in features, phenotype hair etc. but having African genes. They had quaint and queer terminology "mulattos" suggested that they were "little mules" in that they come from a donkey (which is an African) and a horse (which is a European) and that they could not reproduce normally and that they had to return to the matrix, either a full blooded African or a full blooded European to produce. To carry that joke a bit further, where you find a European and a African mating the product was a mulatto; a European and a mulatto mated, the product was an octoroon, one eighth white; if that octoroon mated with a white, the product was a quadroon, a quarter white; if a quadroon and a white mated, the product was a mustee  and if that mustee and a European mated, the product was a mustifino, or seven eighths white (or as they said seven eighths human) and that process was called "washing the blackamoor white". In Barbados therefore one can move from African to white in about three or four generations.

Victorian ideology argued that there was the Darwinian process of evolution from beasts coming up from the swamp lands and evolving into Australopithecus, Java man  etc. and becoming Homo Sapiens and at some point there was a "missing link" between man and the monkeys, chimps etc. and that was the African.  So at the time the African came to Barbados and other places, the propaganda was that he had nothing but brawn and a pint-sized brain and that his society had contributed nothing to the noble heritage of mankind. This was part of the reasons used by Christians and others for enslaving him, because he was, after all, not a human being, he was a sub-human. All Europe from Portugal to Russia became involved in the slave trade, enslaved Africans and brought them to this region.

They subscribed to the notion, at least officially, that Africans were sub-human, but as we see, sexually, Europeans did not subscribe to that belief. It is hard to believe that Mr. Phillips, my Great Great Great Grandfather, a white Welshman,  thought that he was committing an act of bestiality when he copulated with my Great Great Great Grandmother those many years ago thus giving me the genes and surname that I so proudly pass on to my children.

The African was not supposed to come from a society that had reading, writing or had contributed anything of major scientific note, and although Egypt is extremely firmly situated in Africa, it was argued by scientists (and is even argued today) that Egyptian civilisation is not African, it could not be. Africans could not produce the pyramids, those great temples at Karnak, papyrus writing etc. It was established that the typical African was in the Bantu-speaking people, of West Africa with woolly hair like mine, jutting jaws, thick lipped, and that they had not either the brains, intellectual tools or else to create a major civilisation.

It is unfortunate that over 170 years after the abolition of slavery in Barbados, our children know next to nothing about the achievements of Africans and people of African descent. Little effort has been made to dispel many of the deliberate lies told to us by our former European masters. The result is that today they see nothing wrong with referring to themselves as niggers.  It would take many pages to list the many misconceptions that have been taught openly or implied subconsciously to our children. However, I have included the following link which conscious readers may find interesting. Personally,I do not endorse all the sentiments expressed but it illustrates the extent of the misinformation that we as black Barbadians need to correct if our children are to understand and realize their true heritage and by extension their true potential.

http://www.africanholocaust.net/html_ah/black%20out%20white%20wash.htm


In our effort to heal the injury that a hundred years of slavery has inflicted in our conscience and sub-conscience, it is not in the the best interest of the young Black Barbadian to continue to perpetuate the inflicted self loathing masterminded by our oppressors, by the repeated use of derogatory terms to each other. It is a fact that we have been brutalized, branded and humiliated by people who did not appreciate us. We have been failed by governments that never sought to make our education system relevant. We have also been fooled by churches who promised us a heaven that is for after we are dead rather than showing us how to make the most of life.

In 2011, In Barbados, we can still have a black politician apologising for another referring to a group of white elitist as "white elitist". In England we have a noted white personality publicly proclaiming that the break down in law and order can be attribited to the adoption of "black culture".

However, the power lies within each one of us to start making a difference. Talk to our children, try to instill in them a sense of pride is who we are and where we came from. We must teach ourselves so that we can teach them. We do not have to wait on the schools and chuches to do it for us. A black man now stands as the President of the most powerful country in the world and our youth still see themselves as niggers...or is it niggas.

Quote of the Day

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds!”  Bob Marley

Jesus Christ..Truth or Myth?

Dear Friends,

Yesterday I was taken to task for daring the suggest that Jesus Christ the man may just be a legend based on numerous other legends that existed, in some cases, thousands of years before Jesus Christ was conceptualized.

Despite all of the literature continuously being cranked out and the significance of the issue, in the public at large there remains a serious lack of formal and broad education regarding religion and mythology, and most individuals are highly uninformed in this area. Concerning the issue of Christianity, for example, the majority of people are taught in most schools and churches that Jesus Christ was an actual historical figure and that the only controversy regarding him is that some people accept him as the Son of God and the Messiah, while others do not. However, whereas this is the raging debate most evident in this field today, it is not the most important. Shocking as it may seem to the general populace, the most enduring and profound controversy in this subject is whether or not a person named Jesus Christ ever really existed.

Although this debate may not be evident from publications readily found in popular bookstores, when one examines this issue closely, one will find a tremendous volume of literature that demonstrates, logically and intelligently, time and again that Jesus Christ is a mythological character along the same lines as the Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Sumerian, Phoenician, Indian or other godmen, who are all presently accepted as myths rather than historical figures. Delving deeply into this large body of work, one uncovers evidence that the Jesus character is based upon much older myths and heroes from around the globe. One discovers that this story is not, therefore, a historical representation of a Jewish rebel carpenter who had physical incarnation in the Levant 2,000 years ago. In other words, it has been demonstrated continually for centuries that this character, Jesus Christ, was invented and did not depict a real person.
Let me state for the record that the observance of religion has it’s place. The stories surrounding the various religions has helped some people to become extraordinary human beings whose lives has become inspirations for generations. However, this does not mean that the stories are true. Like any good fable the stories  of Jesus, Buddha, Horus, Mithra and Krishna to name a few are meant to guide mankind to an elevated state of being.  
Man’s psyche is such that he will always seek an explanation to the question of, “Why are we here? What is the reason for our existence?. Religion gives most people a reason to get up every morning and be all that they can be, and for that I salute it.

However there is some of us that are unable to accept without question the many stories that surround religious beliefs and seek to gain as much information of possible about the origins of religious dogma. If you are one of those persons, please read the attached link, if you are willing to accept what you have been told and do not want to read anything that might make you doubt that what you absolutely KNOW to be true, STOP READING NOW.

Quotes of the Day

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” Galileo Galilei

“Because God is indefinable, because God's wisdom is beyond measure, no one religion can contain it in its entirety. Therefore, God has inspired the birth of many religions, each one offering its own unique view of eternal truth.” George Wolfe

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cvUyTelsrouuWpwccMZrE0fuHjoQkRPJGx6CJIxlHM4/edit?hl=en_US