Mind Controls Body

In a monastery in northern India, thinly clad Tibetan monks sat quietly in a room where the temperature was a chilly 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Using a yoga technique known as g Tum-mo, they entered a state of deep meditation. Other monks soaked 3-by-6-foot sheets in cold water (49 degrees) and placed them over the meditators' shoulders. For untrained people, such frigid wrappings would produce uncontrolled shivering.If body temperatures continue to drop under these conditions, death can result. But it was not long before steam began rising from the sheets. As a result of body heat produced by the monks during meditation, the sheets dried in about an hour.Attendants removed the sheets, then covered the meditators with a second chilled, wet wrapping. Each monk was required to dry three sheets over a period of several hours.Why would anyone do this? Herbert Benson, who has been studying g Tum-mo for 20 years, answers that "Buddhists feel the reality we live in is not the ultimate one. There's another reality we can tap into that's unaffected by our emotions, by our everyday world. Buddhists believe this state of mind can be achieved by doing good for others and by meditation. The heat they generate during the process is just a by-product of g Tum-mo meditation."Benson is an associate professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School and president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He firmly believes that studying advanced forms of meditation "can uncover capacities that will help us to better treat stress-related illnesses."Benson developed the "relaxation response," which he describes as "a physiological state opposite to stress." It is characterized by decreases in metabolism, breathing rate, heart rate, and blood pressure. He and others have amassed evidence that it can help those suffering from illnesses caused or exacerbated by stress. Benson and colleagues use it to treat anxiety, mild and moderate depression, high blood pressure, heartbeat irregularities, excessive anger, insomnia, and even infertility. His team also uses this type of simple meditation to calm those who have been traumatized by the deaths of others, or by diagnoses of cancer or other painful, life-threatening illnesses."More than 60 percent of visits to physicians in the United States are due to stress-related problems, most of which are poorly treated by drugs, surgery, or other medical procedures," Benson maintains.The Mind/Body Medical Institute is now training people to use the relaxation response to help people working at Ground Zero in New York City, where two airplanes toppled the World Trade Center Towers last Sept. 11. Facilities have been set up at nearby St. Paul's Chapel to aid people still working on clearing wreckage and bodies. Anyone else who feels stressed by those terrible events can also obtain help at the chapel. "We are training the trainers who work there," Benson says.The relaxation response involves repeating a word, sound, phrase, or short prayer while disregarding intrusive thoughts. "If such an easy-to-master practice can bring about the remarkable changes we observe," Benson notes. "I want to investigate what advanced forms of meditation can do to help the mind control physical processes once thought to be uncontrollable." TBC from Harvard Gazette

Ukraine celebrates it's 1,020th anniversary of Christianity

In July 2008 Ukraine celebrated the 1,020th anniversary of its adoption of Christianity by holding church services and processions and welcoming foreign Orthodox Church leaders to the capital, Kiev.President Viktor Yushchenko held a reception for Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, at the 11th century St. Sophia Cathedral on Saturday. King Volodymyr the Great was the figure who officially brought Christianity to modern-day Ukraine. In 988 A.D., King Volodymyr was baptized and then instated Christianity as the state religion of what was then known as Kievan Rus.Afterwards, Volodymyr, had his family and all the people of Kievan Rus baptized and destroyed the wooden statues of Slavic pagan gods. Ukrainian President Yushchenko said Thursday ahead of the gatherings that he hoped Ukraine’s celebrations of the adoption of Christianity will encourage unity among the country’s Orthodox communities.

The country has three major Orthodox Churches, which often compete against one another: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church–Kiev Patriarchate, and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the only one with a canonical standing in Eastern Orthodoxy and has full communion with other Eastern churches. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchy broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1989, while the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church obtained autonomy from Moscow.

global warming over estimated

Oh, can we blaspheme against the whole global warming and carbon emissions 'business deal' that has been set into motion by an expresidential candidate who was bought off by a nobel prize and a twisting of a truth? Well, here tis'. Enjoy the read.
A detailed analysis of black carbon -- the residue of burned organic matter -- in computer climate models suggests that those models may be overestimating global warming predictions. A new Cornell study, published online in Nature Geoscience, quantified the amount of black carbon in Australian soils and found that there was far more than expected, said Johannes Lehmann, the paper's lead author and a Cornell professor of biogeochemistry. The survey was the largest of black carbon ever published. As a result of global warming, soils are expected to release more carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, which, in turn, creates more warming. Climate models try to incorporate these increases of carbon dioxide from soils as the planet warms, but results vary greatly when realistic estimates of black carbon in soils are included in the predictions, the study found. Soils include many forms of carbon, including organic carbon from leaf litter and vegetation and black carbon from the burning of organic matter. It takes a few years for organic carbon to decompose, as microbes eat it and convert it to carbon dioxide. But black carbon can take 1,000-2,000 years, on average, to convert to carbon dioxide. By entering realistic estimates of stocks of black carbon in soil from two Australian savannas into a computer model that calculates carbon dioxide release from soil, the researchers found that carbon dioxide emissions from soils were reduced by about 20 percent over 100 years, as compared with simulations that did not take black carbon's long shelf life into account. The findings are significant because soils are by far the world's largest source of carbon dioxide, producing 10 times more carbon dioxide each year than all the carbon dioxide emissions from human activities combined. Small changes in how carbon emissions from soils are estimated, therefore, can have a large impact. "We know from measurements that climate change today is worse than people have predicted," said Lehmann. "But this particular aspect, black carbon's stability in soil, if incorporated in climate models, would actually decrease climate predictions." The study quantified the amount of black carbon in 452 Australian soils across two savannas. Black carbon content varied widely, between zero and more than 80 percent, in soils across Australia. "It's a mistake to look at soil as one blob of carbon," said Lehmann. "Rather, it has different chemical components with different characteristics. In this way, soil will interact differently to warming based on what's in it."
from Newswise Science

Breaking news

26 November 2008 Spectacular Night Sky Event Happening Now

The best sky show of the year, a spectacular three-way merging of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon in the night sky is happening now. At the end of the day, when the horizon is turning red, step outside and look southwest. You'll see Venus and Jupiter beaming side-by-side through the twilight. Glittering Venus is absolutely brilliant and above it, giant Jupiter is nearly as bright as Venus. Together, they're dynamite.Each night you’ll be amazed at how much the Venus-Jupiter gap has closed. The two planets are converging, not in the slow motion typical of heavenly phenomena, but in a headlong rush – almost a full degree (two full Moon widths) per night. As the gap shrinks, the beauty increases. In biblical times, a similar but closer pairing occurred and may have been mistaken for the ‘Xmas Star’ by the three wise men seeking the birthplace of baby Jesus.On November 29 the two planets will be so close you'll think to yourself "surely it can't get any better than this." And then it will. On Nov. 30th a slender 10% crescent Moon leaps up from the horizon to join the show. The delicate crescent hovering just below Venus-Jupiter will have cameras clicking around the world.

December 1st is the best night of all. The crescent Moon moves in closer to form a triangle with Venus and Jupiter. The three brightest objects in the night sky will be gathered so tightly together, you can hide them all behind your thumb held at arm's length!The celestial triangle will be visible from all parts of the world, even from light-polluted cities. People in New York and Sydney will see it just as clearly as astronomers watching from remote mountaintops. Only cloudy weather can spoil the show.Although clear with naked eyes a small telescope will make the evening even more enjoyable. In one quick triangular sweep, you can see the moons and cloud-belts of Jupiter, little over half phase of Venus), and craters and mountains on the Moon. It's a Grand Tour you won't forget!

Finally, look up from the eyepiece and run your eyes across the Moon. Do you see a ghostly image of the full Moon inside the bright horns of the crescent? That's called ‘Earthshine’ because sunlight hits Earth and ricochets off to the Moon, lighting the dark lunar surface. By itself, a crescent Moon with Earthshine is one of the loveliest sights in the heavens. Add Venus and Jupiter and, well … it's time to stop reading and go mark your calendar. courtesy of David Reneke

Oh what a night!

This asteroid turned fireball was caught on a police dash video in Canadia land last night. It streaked across the sky sparking several times before impacting. A $10,000 reward has been put up by an entrepreneur going to the first person who finds it. Wow, this is all very exciting!
I'm sure there will be more to follow.

How to add years to your life

Live long and prosper!
Researchers have found that people who go to church are likely to outlive those who spend their Sunday mornings staring vacantly at the TV. "Involvement in any kind of religion can increase your ability to cope with stress,and helps you make meaning of your life." Which means you're less likely to drink yourself into a stupor over the weekend. 3.1 yrs added if you go to church
Learning ways to strengthen and protect neural connections in your brain may help you delay cognitive decline and dementia. Keeping your brain busy every day adds 4.6 years to your life.
Flossing not only cleans teeth and gums but also unclogs furredup arteries and adds 6.4 years of life
A person's initials can apparently predict longevity, according to the Society of Behavioural Medicine. Psychologists found that people with initials such as A.P.E. didn't live as long as people with initials such as A.C.E. Pick positive initials to add 7.5 years of added life.
People with a sense of humour have a 30% higher probability of survival when severe disease strikes.Laughter produces more protective hormones, regulates blood pressure, reduces the effects of stress and boosts the immune system. Taking all these benefits into account, developing your capacity for laughter could add eight years to your life.
People who own dogs tend to have lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels than those who don't and dogs are more effective than other animals because they force their owners to take a daily walk adding 9.4 years of life.
People who measure their own blood pressure regularly at home instead of just when they visit a doctor are more likely to keep it under control. This study says add on an extra 25 years of life if you check your own blood pressure at home, this one seems somewhat blown out of proportion to me.
Bovine colostrum is cow's milk from the 24 hours after mum's popped out a calf. It's apparently nature's most potent anti-ageing supplement and many clinical studies claim it can do one or all of the following: increase energy, rejuvenate skin, reduce pain, improve allergies, build muscle, rebuild and repair the body and enhance moods adding an extra 7.2 years.
Long-term, loving relationships can make your real age as much as 6.5 years younger," says Roizen. Throw regular sex into the equation and you give yourself an extra year's worth of under-the-cover action.
A week on a beach should lift you out of a dark mood. In one study, just 30 minutes of bright-light therapy a day for five consecutive days was enough to alleviate depression in half of the participants. Add 1.7 years
All of this adds up to 101 years of extra life
so...
Live long and prosper

Climate change blunder

A surreal scientific blunder last week raised a huge question mark about the temperature records that underpin the worldwide alarm over global warming. On Monday, Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), which is run by Al Gore's chief scientific ally, Dr James Hansen, and is one of four bodies responsible for monitoring global temperatures, announced that last month was the hottest October on record.This was startling. Across the world there were reports of unseasonal snow and plummeting temperatures last month, from the American Great Plains to China, and from the Alps to New Zealand. China's official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its "worst snowstorm ever". In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years.So what explained the anomaly? GISS's computerised temperature maps seemed to show readings across a large part of Russia had been up to 10 degrees higher than normal. But when expert readers of the two leading warming-sceptic blogs, Watts Up With That and Climate Audit, began detailed analysis of the GISS data they made an astonishing discovery. The reason for the freak figures was that scores of temperature records from Russia and elsewhere were not based on October readings at all. Figures from the previous month had simply been carried over and repeated two months running.The error was so glaring that when it was reported on the two blogs - run by the US meteorologist Anthony Watts and Steve McIntyre, the Canadian computer analyst who won fame for his expert debunking of the notorious "hockey stick" graph - GISS began hastily revising its figures. This only made the confusion worse because, to compensate for the lowered temperatures in Russia, GISS claimed to have discovered a new "hotspot" in the Arctic - in a month when satellite images were showing Arctic sea-ice recovering so fast from its summer melt that three weeks ago it was 30 per cent more extensive than at the same time last year.A GISS spokesman lamely explained that the reason for the error in the Russian figures was that they were obtained from another body, and that GISS did not have resources to exercise proper quality control over the data it was supplied with. This is an astonishing admission: the figures published by Dr Hansen's institute are not only one of the four data sets that the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) relies on to promote its case for global warming, but they are the most widely quoted, since they consistently show higher temperatures than the others.If there is one scientist more responsible than any other for the alarm over global warming it is Dr Hansen, who set the whole scare in train back in 1988 with his testimony to a US Senate committee chaired by Al Gore. Again and again, Dr Hansen has been to the fore in making extreme claims over the dangers of climate change. (He was recently in the news here for supporting the Greenpeace activists acquitted of criminally damaging a coal-fired power station in Kent, on the grounds that the harm done to the planet by a new power station would far outweigh any damage they had done themselves.)Yet last week's latest episode is far from the first time Dr Hansen's methodology has been called in question. In 2007 he was forced by Mr Watts and Mr McIntyre to revise his published figures for US surface temperatures, to show that the hottest decade of the 20th century was not the 1990s, as he had claimed, but the 1930s.Another of his close allies is Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, who recently startled a university audience in Australia by claiming that global temperatures have recently been rising "very much faster" than ever, in front of a graph showing them rising sharply in the past decade. In fact, as many of his audience were aware, they have not been rising in recent years and since 2007 have dropped.Dr Pachauri, a former railway engineer with no qualifications in climate science, may believe what Dr Hansen tells him. But whether, on the basis of such evidence, it is wise for the world's governments to embark on some of the most costly economic measures ever proposed, to remedy a problem which may actually not exist, is a question which should give us all pause for thought.