And so I have wasted these few hours since I got home from work playing with Xanga themes (hope you like the new layout)... and soon I must trundle off to bed so I can get up at 5AM and do it all again. I am not a morning person. Case in point, I got up at 4:30 this morning and walked into a doorjamb letting the dog out. I popped a lens out of my glasses too. I'm just lucky they weren't broken beyond repair.

I bought another lottery ticket yesterday, since I obviously didn't win last Wednesday. Why is it that the only people who ever win big in the lottery are either rich, old, or from out of state? It just doesn't make any sense.

Hopefully I'll have more content for you all tomorrow. But for now...

.........and don't forget the holy handgrenade.

April 7th

This is the fourth Day of the Megalesia.

In Romania, offerings were made to the Blajini, "kindly ones," the hidden spirits of water and the underworld.

The Church of All Worlds was founded in 1972.

Socrates_Cafe

New Topic(s)

1. Is Democracy a failure? (Topic to be discussed @ Socrates_Cafe)

2. What is Truth? (Topic to be discussed here)

Truth? I do not believe in it. It is too transitory to nail down. What is true for one person, is false for another. Even science only works in theory because truth is so elusive it seems to fade from any given statement with enough time and research.

An outright lie is something we know for certain to be untrue in so far as our experience tells us. A lie is intentionally misleading. By comparison then, in most instances, truth is merely something that we believe is correct. Believing the veracity of something only makes it true in our minds, not in reality.

Even the "truth" of reality has been called into question with the philosophies of materialism and idealism. Is reality merely matter or is it a construct of thought and belief? Pragmatism would say it doesn't matter, do whatever works for you. Depending upon how you look at it, light is a wave or a particle. Reality may also be both matter and thought, but your outlook, and the way in which you interact with reality, will cause you to perceive it as more of one than the other. Matter manipulated by thought, or thought as a side effect of matter.

Truth then is a reflection of our perception of reality. Two people can be in agreement by approximation, but no one perceives reality exactly as someone else does. This is why it is impossible for two witnesses to a crime to agree on an exact description when talking to the police. The truth, like reality, is flexible because it is based on personal perception and interpretation. What is a shooting star for me is an alien space ship for someone else. I can dismiss the other person as a kook, but that doesn't make my observations more true than theirs. This is especially true if my perception is second hand... the person who saw it says that it was a UFO, but I dismiss it as a shooting star without having seen it, (for the sake of argument) deciding it is a shooting star because I simply don't believe in UFOs.

Truth then is a purely subjective ideal. There is no objective truth, or at least not one that is knowable to our finite perceptions. Science tells us that simply by observing something, we change it with our expectations. Truth is also subject to this rule. Though we can agree on a "truth" by consensus, when our understanding becomes altered through time and observation, this truth may change. If something was never true, but we believed it to be true at the time, was it still true when we believed it, but untrue in the present? And does it matter? If we believed something to be true, and used it as a template for our thoughts and actions, then it affected us and caused us to act in a certain way. In that sense, it is true in so far as it is the origins of our present circumstances. At one time, people thought the world was flat and that sailing too far would cause someone to fall off the edge. We now know this to be untrue, but for the people of that time period, it was a true statement and affected their actions. They simply did not sail too far from home. If the universe is based on idealism, then the simple idea that the earth might not be flat may have been enough to stop Columbus from sailing off an unknown edge. Perhaps up until Columbus (or the Vikings) sailed that far, the earth was flat. How are we to know? We weren't there, and it is only our modern perceptions and beliefs that dictate the truth that the earth is "round" and always has been.

Because we cannot observe the unfiltered and whole truth, we cannot know it. Truth is not something humanity is familiar with. We have our beliefs, but truth is something we cannot own beyond our perceptions, which are flawed. An imperfect being which observes a perfect truth will not be able to perceive that truth in its entirety and so will have an imperfect understanding of the truth. Even belief, statement, and lie contains grains of truth, but even these were are unable to positively identify from our vantage point. It is not for us to say what is true or untrue. It is more important to decide what we will do with what we believe.

April 5th

This is the second Day of the Megalesia.

In China, this is Tomb Sweeping Day. This is also the feast day if the Chinese goddess, Kwan-Yin or KwanShi-Yin, goddess of mercy, tolerance, and understanding.

April 6th

This is the third Day of the Megalesia.

What makes a place 'home' for you?

Huh... this is a tough one. So many of these featured questions are lame-easy, it kind of makes for lazy answers.

A home is a den is a lair is a turtle's shell. A home is an extension of our territorial instincts and an extension of our psyche. A home should have clearly defined borders, but can be great or small. My body is my home, as much as my room is my home, as much as my house is my home, as much as the world is my home, as much as my solar system is my home, as much as the Milky Way galaxy is my home, as much as this Universe is my home. Each "home" surpasses and encompasses the one before it, making Home a location identified through the concentric rings of a funnel of attention. It is There; it is a specific space that we identify with ourselves. A home is both a point of origin and a means of defining oneself. By extension, it is also a means of determining family. Family lives in the home, whether that home is the same space as your own or is determined by the larger space that is the Earth. You are all my family because the Earth is my home.

Home is more than the place where you keep your stuff. Even in so far as the stuff you own is a reflection of who you are, a home without material possessions would still be a home. But a home, however empty, as much defines us as we define it. We shape it to contours which comfort us. Moving all our stuff into a home is just one way we shape it. Still, once a home becomes part of our sense of self, once we proclaim ownership of it, it also defines who we are to other people. You take care of your home like you take care of your body because both are important to your quality of life. A being without some place to call home has nowhere to which they may retreat to rest or recover from life's little injustices.

A home which does not in some way reflect who we are is just a place we sleep. Even a home, however Spartan and spare in its decoration, proclaims something about its inhabitant. We saturate every beam, wall, and dust mite that floats through the sunlight. Since dustmites feed on our dead skin cells, this is actually not just a poetic turn of phrase. Within a home is a tiny ecosystem with you at the center. It is an ecosystem which would collapse without you. Whether we are talking about your symbiotic intestinal bacteria and eyelash mites, your house plants and pets, or the microcosmic world of dustmites and bathroom mildew, your home depends upon you for its ecological balance. In your home, your contributions to its existence are more readily felt than in the larger world (the home of our species) where your contributions are pooled with others and not easily singled out or recognized.

Your home needs you, as much as you need it. Without you, your home does not exist. It is merely a place, lacking definition and purpose. A home is more than a shelter. It is a part of who we are, an adopted part of the family if you like. It is a thing given identity by our needs, a reflection of our personality, a nurturing entity that comforts and welcomes us.

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April 4th

This is the first day of the Megalensia or Megalesia, a festival in honor of the Magna Mater, Cybele. In commemoration of the arrival of the holy stone image of Cybele at Rome, the people held processions and games. From the fourth to the tenth of April at her temple on the summit of the Palatine, scenic plays, Ludi Megalenses, were held in her honor.

On the 20th day of Pachons, Ma´at judges the souls before the Netjeru (gods).

stolen from A Very Serious Question....

OK you meet a hypnotist who will pay you money if she can hypnotize you so that it’s impossible for you to use foul language. She plans to use you as an example to show what an excellent hypnotist she is.

You wouldn’t even be able to say “hell” or “damn”. You would physically be unable to do so, and you’d have to say things like “to blazes with you!” and “what the duck?” for the rest of your life, the process is irreversible and will definitely work.

Do you agree to do it? If so, how much money does she have to pay you?

To clarify:

You could say “WTF”, “Filth Flarin Filth” or even “ESS MY BEES!”.

There would be something like an American version of the list that the researchers made on about page 56 of this study (warning: it’s a pdf). The 20 words that are generally considered to be the dirtiest would be impossible for you to utter. These words would not be subject to revision over time, so even if society got much more or less prudish in the next few years, your restrictions would remain unchanged.

This question is right up my alley because I don't curse much at all. Even when I hurt myself, I seldom curse. I already say things like fudge, sherbert, heck, darn, etc. I already use abbreviations like the WTF, knowing what it means, but refusing to write it out. Okay, I admit to calling some people an ass or bitch. That's about the extent of my cussing, and technically, they aren't really cusswords... (jack)ass or female dog? Not that serious.

Language is important to me. I try to use it exactly as it is meant to be used, to convey meaning. So far as I am concerned, curse words are excellent at conveying emotion, but little else. They certainly don't tell anyone what is wrong. In so far as cusswords are a way of conveying information, they are utterly useless.

Curse words are like the finite language of the vervet monkeys. Researches have proven that the monkeys have specific words for different kinds of predators. They say pyow for leopards, hack for eagles, and combining the two sounds make the troupe leave the area. Kind of like curse words... they call attention to a problem, but if you use them too much, no one will want to be anywhere nearby.

The hypnotist in question wouldn't have to have to pay me too much to get me to agree to her technique, but you know I'd hold out for as much money as possible. I'm no fool.

How about you?

April 3rd

Cybele, the Magna Mater (Great Mother), was honored with a Phrygian festival called the Megalesia which begins tonight. On the advice of the sibylline oracle on how to end the Punic wars, a meteorite which represented Cybele was brought from Phrygia to Rome in 204 BCE where it was installed in the Temple of Victory on April 4th (in the ancient world, a day generally began the evening of the previous day, hence the celebration begins tonight). The harvest that year was wonderful and the war ended the following year, giving rise to a parade in her honor in which her image was carried through the streets in a chariot drawn by lions, her animals. The castrated priests who served her, danced alongside, playing timbrels and cymbals and gashing themselves.

The 19th day of Pachons is the Day of the Counting of Thoth Who heard Ma´at. 

This is the birthday of Hans Christian Anderson.

How do you feel about the world's obsessions with weight, diet and beauty?

I feel that such superficial obsessions are about as unhealthy psychologically as they claim to be physically. Now look, really, if we were stuck with these bodies forever, I could see investing the time and energy into making them "perfect," but there's a reason we grow old and die and its so that we don't build such unhealthy obsessions with this form.

I can see why people are concerned with weight. Because past a certain point, too much is as uncomfortable as too little, but again, we're all just going to die! Get over it. Obsessing over a body is as bad as obsessing over wealth or possessions... it's not like you can take it with you. Enjoy what you have, but don't obsess over it. Obsession is as damaging to the quality of life as apathy. I'm not saying be a gluttonous slob any more than I'm saying to starve yourself, but obsessing over something as transitory as a body is just silly.

Your body is a tool, a vehicle for your soul, and when you're done with it, it rots just like all other matter. Fat or thin, ugly or beautiful, our bodies all decompose when we leave them. The only thing we can take with us, the only thing worth improving in life, is the mind and soul. A beautiful mind doesn't worry about weight if you feed it on a diet of healthy ideas.   

By all means, worry about weight, diet, and beauty... but weight only matters if you're a supermodel or sumo wrestler, diet only matters in terms of what will keep your body and mind healthy, and beauty is only skin deep.

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April 2nd

The day following All Fool's Day is Preen-tail Day or Tailie Day in Scotland. Paper tails were attached to the backs of unsuspecting people as a joke.

 The 18th day of Pachons is the Day of Joy of the Ennead and crew of Ra.

Top 10 April Fools pranks of all time

#1: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

 In 1957 the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."
(heh, might grow something... green. I've actually heard of this one before.)

 In its April 1985 edition, Sports Illustrated published a story about a new rookie pitcher who planned to play for the Mets. His name was Sidd Finch, and he could reportedly throw a baseball at 168 mph with pinpoint accuracy. This was 65 mph faster than the previous record. Surprisingly, Sidd Finch had never even played the game before. Instead, he had mastered the "art of the pitch" in a Tibetan monastery under the guidance of the "great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa." Mets fans celebrated their teams' amazing luck at having found such a gifted player, and Sports Illustrated was flooded with requests for more information. But in reality this legendary player only existed in the imagination of the author of the article, George Plimpton.
(Not sure why this one made the top ten, but then I'm not really into baseball.)

 In 1962 there was only one tv channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that, thanks to a new technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen. Stensson proceeded to demonstrate the process. Thousands of people were taken in. Regular color broadcasts only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.
(People... are very gullible.)

In 1996 the Taco Bell Corporation announced that it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.
(This is the only one that made me laugh out loud.)

 In 1977 the British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement devoted to San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean consisting of several semi-colon-shaped islands. A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of this obscure nation. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni, and its leader was General Pica. The Guardian's phones rang all day as readers sought more information about the idyllic holiday spot. Few noticed that everything about the island was named after printer's terminology. The success of this hoax is widely credited with launching the enthusiasm for April Foolery that gripped the British tabloids in subsequent decades.
(I like to think I would have caught this one right away. I did recognize most of the terms. I thought this was the next funniest prank after #4.)

In 1992 National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation program announced that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." Accompanying this announcement were audio clips of Nixon delivering his candidacy speech. Listeners responded viscerally to the announcement, flooding the show with calls expressing shock and outrage. Only during the second half of the show did the host John Hockenberry reveal that the announcement was a practical joke. Nixon's voice was impersonated by comedian Rich Little. 
(You know, I bet they could get away with this prank again, with Nixon or various other former presidents.)

The April 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the 'Biblical value' of 3.0. Before long the article had made its way onto the internet, and then it rapidly made its way around the world, forwarded by people in their email. It only became apparent how far the article had spread when the Alabama legislature began receiving hundreds of calls from people protesting the legislation. The original article, which was intended as a parody of legislative attempts to circumscribe the teaching of evolution, was written by a physicist named Mark Boslough.
(I can see this happening actually, and not as a prank... just because 3 is easier to remember for most people than 3.14 or 3.14159. Yeah... I am not much impressed by my fellow human beings.)

In 1998 Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others requested their own 'right handed' version."
(This is just... sad.)

In its April 1995 issue Discover Magazine announced that the highly respected wildlife biologist Dr. Aprile Pazzo had discovered a new species in Antarctica: the hotheaded naked ice borer. These fascinating creatures had bony plates on their heads that, fed by numerous blood vessels, could become burning hot, allowing the animals to bore through ice at high speeds. They used this ability to hunt penguins, melting the ice beneath the penguins and causing them to sink downwards into the resulting slush where the hotheads consumed them. After much research, Dr. Pazzo theorized that the hotheads might have been responsible for the mysterious disappearance of noted Antarctic explorer Philippe Poisson in 1837. "To the ice borers, he would have looked like a penguin," the article quoted her as saying. Discover received more mail in response to this article than they had received for any other article in their history.
(This one I actually remember! hah)

In 1976 the British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at 9:47 AM a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to occur that listeners could experience in their very own homes. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth's own gravity. Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 AM arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported that she and her eleven friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room.
(This one sounds familiar too, but I would have only been two at the time, so I can't be remembering it. I have a feeling that this prank has been played since 1976.)

from Top 100 April Fools Day Hoaxes of all time... check their site for the other top 90 heh

April

The name of this month comes from the Latin word aperire, "to open." This is appropriate for a month of blossoming flowers dedicated to Aphrodite. The Anglo-Saxon name for this month is Eastermonath and to the Franks it was Ostarmanoth, the month of Eostre the goddess of Spring and origin of Easter. The Asatru and many other Pagans simply call it Ostara. The Irish word for April is Aibrean or an Giblean, while the end of April is known as Seachtain an t-Sionnaich, end of the winds.

The first Full Moon of this month is called Seed of Planting Moon, Budding Tree Moon, Egg Moon, or Growing Moon. Tribes in coastal areas refered to this as the Fish moon when Shad would come upstream to spawn. It is also referred to as Pink Moon for wild ground phlox, one of the earliest and widespread flowers of the spring, Full Sprouting or Green Grass Moon, Planter or Planting Moon, and Hare Moon, names it shares with May’s Moon. It also shares the name, Wind Moon, with March. April's moon is also the Paschal Full Moon, the first full moon of the spring season. 

On April 20th, the zodiac turns from Aries to Taurus. The sweat pea is the flower for April children. Aries is the diamond, though on some older lists, sapphire is the stone for the month of April. The birthstone for Taurus is the emerald. Aries also lays claim to amethyst, carnelian, garnet, fire agate, pink tourmaline, and topaz, while aquamarine, lapis lazuli, kunzite, rose quartz, and sapphire are associated with Taurus.

April 1ST

The tradition behind April Fool's Day is uncertain. Though sometimes linked to a tradition of releasing insane people for one day a year for the amusement of "normal" folk, it is also considered sacred to Loki, the Norse trickster god, and it is acceptable to play tricks on people till noon. The day may even have evolved from the festival of Cerelia. An ancient Roman feast, it celebrated the story of Proserpina. Due to the hopelessness of Ceres' quest to find her daughter, it has been called a "fool's errand."

Some believe the celebration of April Fool's Day began many years ago in France. It may even relate back to the ancient festivals held on the vernal Equinox, March 21st. This was the beginning of the new year according to the pre-Gregorian calendar. In France when the Gregorian calendar was changed by Charles IX in 1564, the beginning of the new year was changed and celebrated on January first. Those people who still celebrated the day on the first of April were then known as April Fools.

Prior to the change of the date it was customary to give gifts on the first day of the year. When the date was changed, people began sending mock gifts to other people on April, making them April fools. In Scotland, the custom was known as "hunting the gowk," (the cuckoo, a term of contempt), and April-fools were "April-gowks." In France, a person who resisted in changing the date of the new year was victimized by pranksters who played practical jokes on him. This person became a poisson d'avril, an April Fish. The French traditionally celebrated by placing dead fish on the backs of friends, though today, real fish have been replaced with sticky, fish-shaped paper cut-outs that children try to sneak onto the back of their friends' shirts. Candy shops and bakeries also offer fish-shaped sweets for the holiday. Some believe the origin lies in the weather of the vernal equinox which seems to fool all of mankind. In many countries however, April Fools' Day is not celebrated on the first of April. In Mexico, Fools' Day falls on the 28th of December, and in ancient Rome, the day was celebrated on the 25th of March. They observe the day on the 31st of March in India.

The festival of Veneralia or Festum Verneris honors Venus "Goddess of Beauty, Mother of Love, Queen of Laugher, Mistress of the Grapes." This is a time for women to seek good relations with men. During the, married women invoked the goddesses Concordia, Venus, and Fortuna. The jewelry and decorations of Venus was removed from her statue. The figure was washed, dried, and the golden necklaces restored. Offerings of roses and other flowers, myrtle and incense were given. English folklore says myrtle won't grow unless planted by a woman.

Fortuna Virilis is also held today in honor of Fortuna. Today was a festival of good luck honoring the goddess Fortuna, Lady Luck, to whom all gamblers pray whether they know it or not.

This is the 17th day of Pachons according to the Egyptian calendar. It is a day scared to Hathor.