Ghastly Pontification

a piece for those throwing their lives away to debt in order to learn something useful:

i, am a pontificating grad student, that will gladly participate as a conversant, simply so i can wrap the rim of my thoughts and watch 'em ring in concentric circles like waves of liberty.

usually as the conversation progresses i, harbor not a care in regards to which directions the, needle and thread of topic goes; so long as the fabric is continuously woven, and beads of ideas keep on rollin', i will remain comforted in yielding to the flow.

but, o-ccasionally i will stumble into a discussion, often with a young man in proximity to the age of myself; now i do not consider myself a confrontational individual, but refrain from denying the fact that sometimes i revel in a little conflict.

we prepare to engage:

he strokes his armamentarium of knowledge with onanistic glee, hardening his defenses, attempting to loom above me; tryin' to impress his lady friends who i simply have no interest in, and in research i've discovered that the best weapon is no weapon.

i'll drop this fool with peace.

he comes at we with all his might, verbal front thrust kicks and strikes to da chest, violent, furious, and berserk at best; red eyes, heat effusing, yang rising to contest.

but what he meets is a ghost, barely visible at most, movements undetected tectospinal messages deflected; and so he tries to punch the river, and fails to respect the void, slips into swift current, cold, thrashing and paranoid; his own arguments bind his limbs to his corpus, the current carrying him hopeless to the cliff-side of his arrogance; i bow to my befuddled aggressor, turn heel to head home and crack open a book.

Crude Oil is Cruel Indeed

Since the first day of the Gulf Disaster i have been watching and waiting to see how man would address his folly. It has taken this long for some kind of temporary solution to hold weight. Every time i see a bit of news about the oil gushing into the Gulf i feel my blood begin to boil with contempt for BP's KGB-like dismissal of safety concerns as the world saw with Chernobyl. The notion that they have destroyed not only the Gulf, but harmed everything around it, including people, makes me sick with disgust.

What i didn't expect was for the cruelty of crude oil to hit so close to home. I figured while this terrible thing was happening in the Gulf, at least we are spared here in the Midwest.

I was wrong...

http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Michigan-river-oil-spill

Over 800,000 gallons of oil have been leaked into the Kalamazoo River in Battle Creek Michigan... the oil has been spotted 16 miles downriver from the spill, although members of Enbridge Inc., the company owning the line responsible for the leak, claim that they do not expect the spill to travel any further due to containment efforts. While this company readily accepts their responsibility for their spill and immediate began cleanup (in drastic comparison to BP in the Gulf), there is no question in my mind that mining for oil must be stopped.

As living beings on this planet, we cannot expect to survive with our continued addiction to oil. More manpower and resources need to be diverted to research in Photovoltaic (Solar) cells and Wind Power transduction. Cars need to all be made hybrid, and hopefully, one day, we will see efficient solar vehicles. It is clear that oil, when let loose by poor engineering (which i have 0 tolerance for) influenced by corner-cutting higher-ups, ravages the environment and kills and harms thousands of lifeforms.

We need to speak out, our voice must be heard: end the cruelty of crude oil.

Deep Dark Secrets

Deep Dark Secrets:

The blue holes of the Bahamas yield a scientific trove that may even shed light on life beyond Earth. If only they weren’t so dangerous to explore...

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/08/bahamas-caves/skiles-photography

check out this amazing photographic footage of incredible dives to unreal underground caves

Inspired by Conflict

This is a copy of a message i sent to Youtube user "benfaust" in response to his video: Science and Atheism vs. Psychic Phenomena.

Hello there.

Thanks for the add and the follow.

I understand your gripes with the western scientocracy; i have been to the far reaches of human consciousness and experienced things and emotions that simply cannot be explained within the confines of a double-blind experiment. You seem to grasp this, so it is more a rhetorical question but.... i must ask, do you understand what true science has to offer us? To me science has light and dark aspects: it shows us the importance of critical thinking and doubting the obvious, it encourages us to be both observant and creative, and it warns us of those who would use collected evidence or "statements of fact" to influence the masses how they see fit. It attempts to safeguard our race from mindful manipulation and blind faith while science itself at large seems to be the greatest tool for just those things. So... there is fundamental hypocrisy in what we know as science today, just as there is hypocrisy in what we know and have known as religion.

What i encourage is the melding of what we know, with the unlimited expanse and potential of what we don't know: to reject fear and promote curiosity.

I am now a student of (Integrative but chiefly) Oriental Medicine: i actively learn about that which is well established within the limited scope of science as well as that which is not, of which the concept of 气 (or "qi" as it is transliterated in pinyin) is a fantastic example. As a student of Integrative Medicine i see the body as composed of atoms, molecules, cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems, as well as 气, 血，精，and 津液。Investigate for yourself (www.orientalmedicine.com), the Chinese knew more about the human 5,000 years ago before any of our western forefathers.

I admire your tandem belief in god and dedication to free thought. It is hard to be both spiritual and rational in today's world. It seems that one must be crammed into either this box or that.

Keep up the good work.

peace and respect,

aloefire

On I Ching: Understanding the Layers

In my recently initiated study of the I Ching, i found myself struggling with the terms "Opposite Gua," "Inverse Gua," and "Mutual Gua."

(For those who don't know) A "gua" is a binary image composed of 6 either yin (broken, yielding; 0) or yang (unbroken, strong; 1) yao (lines), read from the bottom up. Its code describes the state of an event or situation and how that situation is able to progress and/or change. Below are the first 3 Accomplished Gua (6-line gua vs. the 3-line "Primary Gua") contained in the I Ching.

(1)Qian Initiating

(2)Kun Responding

(3)Zhun Beginning

Looking at (3)Zhun, allow me to explain the structures of what are known as the Opposite Gua, the Inverse Gua, and the Mutual Gua. The Opposite Gua is obtained by changing each yin into a yang, and each yang into a yin; as such, the Initial (or Original) gua of (3)Zhun is read: yang, yin, yin, yin, yang, yin and its Opposite gua is (50)Ding, which is read: yin, yang, yang, yang, yin, yang (shown below).

(50)Ding Establishing the New

The Inverse gua of an accomplished gua is obtained by reflecting the image over a horizontal axis. Reading the Initial gua from top to bottom, the Inverse gua of (3)Zhun then is (4)Meng, which is read: yin, yang, yin, yin, yin, yang (shown below).

(4)Meng Childhood

The Mutual gua of an accomplished gua is obtained by constructing two new primary gua, using lines 2, 3, 4, and 5, and arranging them into a "nuclear hexagram" or Mutual gua: the lower primary gua of the Mutual gua is constructed from lines 2, 3, and 4; the upper primary gua of the Mutual gua is constructed from lines 3, 4, and 5. So, looking at (3)Zhun, the lower primary gua of the Mutual gua is: yin, yin, yin; the upper primary gua of the mutual gua is: yin, yin, yang. By combining the new lower and upper primary guas, one obtains the Mutual gua (23)Bo, which is read: yin, yin, yin, yin, yin, yang (shown below)

(23)Bo Falling Away

Now that you know what an Accomplished gua is, what Primary gua are, and what the Initial, Opposite, Inverse, and Mutual gua are, allow me to expound on what i believe each represents through the use of analogy.

Consider the Initial gua as a black & white photograph. The Opposite gua would be the negative image of the photograph, trading the places of highlights and shadows. The Inverse gua would be a mirror image of the photograph reflected over an axis . The Mutual gua would be any and all images arising due to permutation that are present within the Initial photograph (any shapes or images within the original photograph that recombine to construct "hidden images").

As the analogy follows, the Opposite gua will show the situation in a different light and thus will provide perspective on forces classified as generative (initiative) and receptive (responsive). The Inverse gua will show the situation from a different angle and thus will provide perspective on matters/forces classified as inner and outer. The Mutual gua reveals otherwise hidden patterns and information within the situation and thus will provide perspective on what one considers to be obvious or subtle.

I am sure that my understanding of these aspects of the I Ching will change over time, but i believe this to be a helpful summary for those looking to deepen their understanding of the many hidden layers of the I Ching.

Scholarship Essays

So, i applied for two scholarships today: one involved a personal statement of goals and why you deserve the money and the other was about the Green movement and recycling. Here they are respectively:

Gen and Kelly Tanabe Scholarship Essay:

Medicine is the art of humanity.

I have chosen to attend graduate school for Oriental Medicine. I have no desires to be rich or famous; I neither wish to live a luxurious life nor live a life without work. I have always found it important to give back to my community, even when I have a busy schedule and have little time for myself. To study medicine and to make it affordable to the public is one of the greatest ways that one can give back to one’s community. By studying the art and science of Oriental Medicine, with a rigorous background in Biomaterial Engineering, I hope to apply my intellectual ability to switch between Oriental and Western medical paradigms towards the integration of these great systems of medicine. I see, with a rapidly growing world population, that the medicine of the future cannot afford to merely apply bandaids and simply hope that the patient will stop complaining. The medicine of the future must be robust, it must focus on prevention, and no disease, syndrome, or condition must lie outside its scope. It is my mission, my duty, and my destiny to help bring this medicine into the world. As such, I need as much scholarship money as I can get so I can stop taking out loans; this will allow me to amass savings that will in the future be invested in my practice of medicine and thus in the community that is the world around us.


Castle Ink Green Scholarship:

I designed a videogame controller that could be made from post-consumer, recycled polypropylene and high-density polyethylene along with SBS. Only the SBS, making up a mere 3.2% of the controller’s mass, would need to be purchased as newly synthesized. I have yet to get a patent.

I clean and recycle everything that can be recycled; I also take all of my old computer and electronic parts to proper recycling locations, as well as batteries and empty printer cartridges. We are not the only beings that inhabit this planet; environmental consciousness must be at the top of humanity’s list of priorities.

11 Creations That Prove "Mario Bros" Was The Most Important Video Game Ever (PHOTOS)

Sooooo sweeeet.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost