Faith & science, the balance.

[Sandy]

Hey Michele,
We're okay here. Earlier they predicted that today and tomorrow could be nearly as hot as Tuesday when I think we may have hit nearly 113 degrees F here. We saw on the news our town was the hottest in New South Wales. Figures..I love the heat so! (oops there I go getting in Eeyore mode again! ) But anyway, today is hot but not overly hot! I am beginning to understand what you guys went through last summer in the states...and you guys had a whole summers worth! Hats off to all of you!

I so appreciate that cool minty cloud... Thanks for the cool thoughts!
Feeling better already!

XXSandy

[11light11]

113!! Oy vey! It's hard to remember how hot last summer felt when it's so cold today! Kind of like when you're sick with the flu -- it's hard to remember being well! And when you're well it's hard to remember what the flu feels like! I'm glad it wasn't as bad as they predicted the last couple days.

Did I ever tell you this trick I did once? I had no choice. I had just gotten some needles in my toe at the acupuncture clinic, and they leave you alone for a half hour - you can't get up because you have needles in all over, you'll get hurt. Well it felt so hot, it felt like my toe was just burning up in a flame, I couldn't take it, I started to panic. Then I thought well what am I going to do, I can't scream out and disturb the other patients? So I pictured I was in Greenland and I was sticking my toe in a snow drift. I kept focusing on it as hard as I could and soon my toe felt icy! Who knew. If that hadn't happened out of necessity I might not've learned how powerful our minds can be, in a pinch!!! So sending you that icy mist!

Oy -- it's so weird how we have opposite seasons isn't it???? Hopefully we don't keep alternating sizzling summers year after year!

Love to you and George! And mint! Love, Michele

[Sandy]

Wow!

Did I ever tell you this trick I did once? I had no choice. I had just gotten some needles in my toe at the acupuncture clinic, and they leave you alone for a half hour - you can't get up because you have needles in all over, you'll get hurt. Well it felt so hot, it felt like my toe was just burning up in a flame, I couldn't take it, I started to panic. Then I thought well what am I going to do, I can't scream out and disturb the other patients? So I pictured I was in Greenland and I was sticking my toe in a snow drift. I kept focusing on it as hard as I could and soon my toe felt icy! Who knew. If that hadn't happened out of necessity I might not've learned how powerful our minds can be, in a pinch!!! So sending you that icy mist!

No you hadn't told me that. But what a "cool" experience, Michele! ( pardon my pun. )
I hope the summers settle down a bit for all of us. That kind of heat on a regular basis is rough on the plant and animal life.
Of course that in no worry right now on your side of the world. Sending warm thoughts your way!

XXSandy

[inlikeflint]

113 is hot.
My garden plants for the last few years have not been able to handle it.

The weather is nuts.

I learned today that the Jerusalem Artichokes grow well with runner beans. As the stalks of the Jerusalem Artichokes grow, the runner beans grow up the stalks. The runner beans can be eaten like sugar snap peas when small, or you can wait for them to get big and store them to make bean soup later. (Pretty neat trick.)

I have started growing cactus just in case the hot weather comes back!

[11light11]

Weird coincidence (synchronicity)! I'm reading J.K. Rowling's first non-Harry-Potter book (The Casual Vacancy) and one of the characters wins 1st prize in the gardening contest each year, for her runner beans! First time I ever heard of them!! Also the last time you were talking about Jerusalem artichokes, we had Theunium dreaming about artichokes in another thread!

You know what flourishes, even in heat? Mint. You'd think I own stock in mint for how often I praise it, LOL. Even during last year's scorching summer, the two tiny spearmint and peppermint plants I planted in the backyard, ballooned to an area about 9X9, and they reached about 4 feet tall! No matter how hot the sun was, beating down on them! Isn't that wild? And they had no shade whatsoever, just full-day sun. How do they do it??? They must harness their internal coolness.

Love! I hope you share your garden photos, Flint and Sandy, like I-AM always does!

Michele

[Philip Fong]

Talking about the weather, well it sure have changed quite drastically in Malaysia, we are experiencing flip flop never before and many people gotten sick too on top of dengue fever, local health counsel do fogging at dawn also genetically modified mosquito were released at selected state but no full scale plan yet. Don't know if that is the real solution but its the best of science in action.

I find it harder to believe in alien than creator, maybe alien not interested in my country and my last conclusion is that they might be our ancestor or related, since every molecule in our body is cosmic dust, this analogy came when a probe collected comet dust and discovered organic material. It is not easy to investigate such subject when it could implicate certain parties and unfortunately, many people loaded low quality video and hoax that make searching unpleasant.

[inlikeflint]

I've been looking at a lot of Permaculture/homesteading sites and watching their videos on doing things more naturally as nature intended... Or tweaking things to push nature in one direction or another for a desired result.



Bat habitats are more realistic for catching mosquitoes with less energy or effort. Bats can eat up to 1000 mosquitoes an hour.


Basil seems to do pretty good in the heat left alone.
We had a lot of different mints that popped up allover the place in the yard...That and lavender, licorice and sage.

[11light11]

Wild, Flint . . you had random, wild mint, licorice and sage? No one planted them??? How does that work exactly? Last spring down in Southern Illinois, I noticed, taking walks through the neighborhood, that wild onion was growing everywhere -- and it hadn't done so the previous spring. I couldn't fathom where it had all come from. Huge bulbs -- huge stalks. I started pulling it up as I took walks and was plush with onions for weeks! They were all over my yard as well. Once the season died out I really missed the onions and resented having to return to the store to stock up. I'm still mystified over that one, and here you're talking wild herbs too! Where do they come from??? I guess they might be native to IL (the onions) -- Chicago means something like stinking onions in the Miami-Illinois language. They must've had wild onions too back then, eh?

Philip, that's really scary about the dengue fever. Are there preventive strategies (besides the fogging)? I'm a little worried that you guys are breathing in their fogging. I know they do that because of the bugs, but all the other animals and plants are breathing it in, too, and it scares me.

many people loaded low quality video and hoax that make searching unpleasant.

Hilarious and true!
Peace, Michele

[Sandy]

I am sorry to hear that Indonesia is having such severe health problems. I had never heard of Dengue fever till last year when one of our member's daughter's contracted it in Central America and I discovered it can be a very nasty illness. I hope the mosquito population can be brought under control as they can spread all sorts of disease. Please stay safe over there, Philip!

I can vouch for the effectiveness of bats in controlling mosquito populations. Where I used to live in Northern Ohio we were surrounded by ponds and lakes that were breeding grounds for thousands of mosquitos. It used to be miserable in the summer and we couldn't stay outside in the evening without wearing mosquito repellent. Then one year we built a small storage barn with greatly slanting roof. There was no attached soffit boards under the roof so what was created was a nice niche that the local bats quickly recognized as a great place to sleep during the day. The bat population grew and in less then a year we had no more problems with mosquitos or "mozzies" as they are called here in Australia. What I like about using bats as an ally is that it cost us essentially nothing since we lucked out with a building design that suited them. There was no buying expensive equipment or paying the energy cost of running it. It is natural and nature's solution, I suppose. Of course, at times over the years Rabies could be a problem but compared to the hundreds of thousands of bats flying the skies there...very few were ever found to be rabid or carrying the fatal disease, rabies.
Our bats or rather, the bats that chose our barn, never were bothered by our movements during the day and we were never bothered by their presence just above our heads. It was actually a beneficial relationship for all of us.

Michele, I think this may have happened before you were frequently on the board, but our friend, Flint is a little like a modern day, Johnny Appleseed but with all kinds of beneficial plants. I still smile when I think of you, Flint, was it last year or the year before, with your little mud balls of seed?
Oh, how I would love to have some spearmint in the yard for that mint iced tea I so enjoyed back home. I bought a small spearmint plant when I first moved here but this variety was not as strong or potent as I liked and somehow I managed to kill it! I know, Michele! I haven't a clue????...that stuff is so tough!
I really appreciate the information about the Jerusalem artichokes. I think it would be an ideal crop to plant in our latest garden bed which runs the length of the back fence. George put in some pole beans so maybe next planting we might try the Jerusalem artichoke and beans together. Better get the artichokes ordered, though.

I'll see what I can do about taking some "photies" as Petra calls them. I'm not the smartest brick when it comes to posting these things but I am sure with persistence and a little help when I get stuck I can get some kind of photo up there...just don't expect anything as gorgeous as Robert's endeavour's. That dear man has a very "green thumb."

Love to all of you,
Sandy

[inlikeflint]

Guerrilla Gardening started about last year... I forgot my mud-ball mix ratio but I think it was 1 part clay to 3 parts potting soil and then seeds...

If you add too much water and it is not cool enough the seeds will start to germinate...If you plan on storing the seed balls.

The fun part was hitting vacant lots with wildflowers and bee feeding plants to attempt to increase the bee population.


A lot of places are mowed down regularly, so finding places that are fenced off are really nice to see-bomb. In other places I had seed-bombed thousand of sunflowers and someone chemically treated the area so it killed practically everything off.


The Jerusalem Artichokes are invasive, but they make a solid food source if you are harvesting them once a year. The tubers store like potatoes and you can grow them practically anywhere. (This is what I have been told and have seen on video anyway.)

The methods of growing plants together are called the, "three sisters"... (Corn, beans, squash.) The plants help each other by shading creating a natural trellis,or providing nutrient to one another.

[inlikeflint]

Video on people in Montana and their opinions of Jerusalem Artichokes.
What they look like... This video also gave me a good hint on where to get some to start growing. (Health food store.)

[Sandy]

Lots of good information there, Flint...I am really getting excited at planting some of these little wonders. Thanks!
Love,
Sandy

[Philip Fong]

Hmm... I don't plant and cannot do so living in apartment, I asked how does plant know animals will eat them and it grow defence mechanism like thorn to irritant, also trap insect as food in a heated argument in Richard Dawkins youtube channel and they all say the plant does not know, it just happen and no reason needed. Chicken dwarfed its wings because they don't fly any more and some parts of the human organs like wisdom tooth was needed in the past because of decay without proper oral hygiene.

Nothing grow without reason, that is why human don't grow horn and what direct mutation to change is clearly intelligent design that some scientist are too egoistic to acknowledge, they are arrogant and too proud of themselves just because science uncovered many things and assuming it is the ultimate tool to challenge our own existence, perhaps it will lead us closer to the creator but for now, the "double slit experiment" really baffle the most prominent scientist.

[inlikeflint]

You can plant inside your apartment or find a community garden... or create you own space if you ever feel inclined to grow plants. Home grown tomatoes are better than anything you can buy from the grocery store. (A lot of things are this way).

Plants are living organisms like animals... they adapt to their environment. Each one has a specific function or job. (I don't know if they have dreams or goals though....They may be content with who they are.)

[Sandy]

That was so fascinating Philip! ...and it was spoken in a language that even I can understand...However...Wow! What if matter in some way held a consciousness...as the matter seemed to in the experiment when it knew it was being viewed and changed its reaction. awesome!
In my own simple way, I view all matter as forming from the depths of the Source. So, in a way, if that were true, would that indicate that all matter is indeed a part of what some people call the Creator or God? If this is possible could that would seem to indicate that all matter is not only created by God but a part of God As well. We have heard our Celestial Teachers remind us many times that "we are all one at our spiritual root Source."

I enjoyed this little bit of science you have provided for us to contemplate, Philip...Thank you.

Plants are living organisms like animals... they adapt to their environment. Each one has a specific function or job. (I don't know if they have dreams or goals though....They may be content with who they are.)

Hey, Flint, I never really thought of this much until I watched a David Attenborough special called, 'The Kingdom of Plants' and discovered that they are absolutely amazing organisms every bit as interactive with each other as the animals we watch on nature videos. They adapt and change and even fuss and fight with each other just as we do... It has caused me to look at the plants in my garden in a whole new way. ..the little darlins!

but getting back to Philips's question ...

I asked how does plant know animals will eat them and it grow defence mechanism like thorn to irritant, also trap insect as food in a heated argument in Richard Dawkins youtube channel and they all say the plant does not know, it just happen and no reason needed.

I am wondering, especially after having just seen the video in your post and the experiment, that because the matter that groups together to form what we actually think of as a recognizable organism may be self aware, the matter itself makes the needed changes even working together with other matter to complete what is desired. Now it is interesting to wonder if it is possible for the matter to actually remember from whence it came...maybe even still have a connection and a directional motivation? The Urantia Book speaks of Life Carriers...directors of Life. making me wonder it indeed they are "life herders of a sort...Life herders with a lineage, responsibilities and knowledge that far exceed what we can imagine...steering matter here and there, overseeing, perhaps, what occurs naturally, embellishing and promoting, much like many humans do in our own gardens, but in a much more complex and far reaching way.
LOL okay as you can see I do not have much in the way of a scientific brain but sure enjoy listening to you all discuss it.
Love,
Sandy

[Philip Fong]

I tried to keep a few mini cactus and they all died, very few people plant vegetables in the city here, food stall is abundant except health conscious or hobbyist but I have not seen it in person, only saw it on TV. As for whether plant have consciousness to be aware of animals may not be direct, I suspect external intelligence because plant is an essential part in the ecosystem, they provide food to most of the animals and animal faeces nourish the soil.

Why roses have thorn and chilli is hot does call for speculation, these plant are special food or not food at all, if so, what is their role? Human activity is cancerous to the environment thus far but we know the consequences and begin to salvage or forced to be considerate by the changing climate. The double slit experiment showed the probabilities of a single electron can be at any where at the same time, it could mean when human observe the Universe, it only show what we need to see that make sense to our logic.
The term reality is a condition for physical matter not an illusion while we are in it sharing the same speed of time until we are out of this condition, for example, fish lives in liquid condition. When we dream, there are no boundaries where the limit is our imagination, so we dream to exercise our creativity solving problems in dream and recall them when awake, many of my technical solutions came from dreaming about it, not appear in dream like a handout.

[inlikeflint]

Human activity is cancerous to the environment thus far but we know the consequences and begin to salvage or forced to be considerate by the changing climate.

I think that humans can come from either "electron slit." Humans become cancerous when we allow ourselves to continue to repeat the same mistakes without ever correcting them. However, humans by nature are not cancerous. Humans that are deprived of a shared/common knowledge are likely to become cancerous. Humans that are determined to be inferior by race, gender, handicap, economic... eventually become cancerous to those making that determination.

IMO, most of the global warming/climate problems on the planet could be corrected within two to three growing seasons. (It would have to be a mass-effort on a global scale to replace and double the growing space that has been covered over with concrete and tar. Instead of mowing a field or a ditch, you would let it fallow much like what a farm field or cattle grazing field. This is the one thing that has been passed down from farmer to farmer for thousands of years. It is using nature to take care of nature. a whole planet engaged in some sort of mass planting of plants that help filter and produce oxygen. Corporations cutting down or eliminating their destructive practices, and a little bit of love would go a long way in healing our planet.

Most plants need about three things to survive the brownest of green thumbs; Sunlight, water, & and a little bit of love. If you cannot grow plants in the same place you live, you might consider moving. In the "Good Old Days" when men would go deep underground to work in the mines, they would take birds in cages with them to determine if conditions in the mine were safe to work in. If the birds died, it was a sign that conditions were not safe to work/live in. Plants can be the same kind of warning device.

Hazardous chemicals/pesticide/gasoline will turn poison ivy's leaves from green to red in a few hours of exposure.
Poinsettias will shrivel and die if they are exposed to temperatures below freezing for only a few minutes...

Your cactus could have died for many reasons... Lack of sun, wrong kind of soil, too much water, neglect, parasite, wrong temperature... plants inside the home create a healthier home on different levels.

When we dream, there are no boundaries where the limit is our imagination, so we dream to exercise our creativity solving problems in dream and recall them when awake, many of my technical solutions came from dreaming about it, not appear in dream like a handout.

I suppose this could be true if you believe that dreams take place in the mind and that the mind manufactures imagination from learned/observed experiences. This would not explain why a blind person can see in their dreams. It also does not explain why physically handicapped people can walk and run in their dreams...It is all on what your belief is I suppose.


You should try growing mushrooms from a kit. They only require water.

[Philip Fong]

I suppose this could be true if you believe that dreams take place in the mind and that the mind manufactures imagination from learned/observed experiences. This would not explain why a blind person can see in their dreams. It also does not explain why physically handicapped people can walk and run in their dreams...It is all on what your belief is I suppose.

From what I read so far, a blind person who have not seen before can only dream with sound and emotion, they have no visual memory and describe their dreams with known words. Contrary to the handicapped, they can assume to be physically healthy because they can see and dreams are mere simulations from cumulated thoughts and influenced by conscience indirectly, we try to practice moral & ethics while awake but lost that to the devil inside when we dream. So, our dreams reflect our mental health, many people dream of the things they fear, worry and desire the most.

[inlikeflint]

From what I read so far, a blind person who have not seen before can only dream with sound and emotion, they have no visual memory and describe their dreams with known words. Contrary to the handicapped, they can assume to be physically healthy because they can see and dreams are mere simulations from cumulated thoughts and influenced by conscience indirectly, we try to practice moral & ethics while awake but lost that to the devil inside when we dream. So, our dreams reflect our mental health, many people dream of the things they fear, worry and desire the most.

I'm not sure I agree with your interpretation of dreams, but everyone has their own perceptual direction.
I wonder if mentally handicapped people can have intelligent uninhibited dreams from observing intelligent people.

[11light11]

Maybe if your handicap is your just your life-mask, you can overcome it in the dreamworld, when you're natural or real. Like, for me, I'm a bit on the blind side, but sometimes I can see just fine in my dreams . . other times the whole dream is a blur because I believe I can't see. It shouldn't matter in the dream; in the dream I should be able to see with clarity. So it depends on my mood and where I am with the process. When I believe I can see I can see . . .like the day Flint functioned without his contacts. He thought he was wearing them: the placebo effect. So we're powerful. We can overcome limitations with our focused intent (or by accident). We have to imagine that in 'real life,' the life we live beyond this body (because we are not our bodies), we are not handicapped. Only a body can be handicapped. People have talked about visits with deceased loved ones, who no longer walk with a cane, or have a limp, or wrinkles, now that they've died and crossed over. They're whole again. So at the soul-level (if we attain to the soul-level in dream life), wouldn't we be free of the albatross life gave us? I think when we dream we still have the handicap, we could be looking at a cross between belief/expectation/self-imposed limitations . . and anxiety over having the handicap, to begin with. But if we are not our bodies . . . and when we dream, we are having a vivid out-of-body experience . . .why should our body hold us back?

When it comes to mental handicaps (the issues we have), I sometimes look at it like we have 20/20 vision when we're born . . and our childhood put prescription lenses over the top of our natural ability to see with clarity, or live in objective reality. We each have a unique prescription. Through meditation or self-actualization, a little bit at a time, we reduce our prescription until we come closer to seeing objective reality . . instead of our subjective experience, which no one else can see, and no one else agrees with. This is why we can get into an argument where both people see things their own way, and hold stubbornly to those things . . and neither person is completely 'right,' but both feel they are right. Meanwhile, a third party could enter the scene, and see the situation more objectively . . . and witness the subjective experience of the two people arguing, and see where/why/how they are tripping all over each other (and themselves). So it seems like the way we get to clarity is to look at our inherent prejudices, our prescription of early life, and learn how to take off those lenses . . and just see. It takes a lot of hard work . . .but it's worth it!

I don't know . . my two cents!
Thanks for the awesome ideas you guys . . .love Michele

[Philip Fong]

I'm not sure I agree with your interpretation of dreams, but everyone has their own perceptual direction.
I wonder if mentally handicapped people can have intelligent uninhibited dreams from observing intelligent people.

In my opinion, if a person suffer mental handicap such as down syndrome, they simply lack the full intelligent ability and can never describe what they dream or interpret beyond their comprehension. Animals too dream and it is a learning process because the experience reduce chances of panic if we dreamt about it before, the experience prepared us to face situations and also show us how ugly we can be only in our dreams.

I started to wonder seriously about human ability over twenty years ago and particularly interested in what made the norm, what influence our perception that led me to take a closer look at religion, human evolution and talent, what is intelligence is my big question. It is only being polite to say you are not sure if you agree simply means you don't in behavioural pattern. Although I never study these things in-depth but constantly observing and form probable conclusions to derive my own analysis.

Many people never think about the question what we are & who we are seriously, I have and my answer changed recently according to new knowledge and we continue to mature while some people become stubborn and they never change or improve. With the internet, I am able to cross reference to confirm my thoughts, right or wrong, true or false is a choice that can be categorized into groups of people who share the same mentality, we choose to be with our own kind and who to be friend but can't avoid bumping into different kind at work.

[inlikeflint]

Dolphins communicate using sonar

[Philip Fong]

Dolphin and human story is known but dolphin and pets is new.

[Philip Fong]

Unfortunately, whales & dolphins seems like mass suicide, something is wrong but scientist haven't found the reason and preliminary guess is they blame it on bacteria or secret underwater weapon testing, since they are sensitive to magnetism, the earth could be in trouble, it happen to other fish too.

[11light11]

This is sad. Did anyone see the documentary on Animal Planet called "Mermaid: The body found"? I still can't figure it out. It was presented like a regular documentary, and it showed that there were mass beachings of whales and dolphins, all over the world, as the Navy did these sonar testings under the water's surface in the oceans. Something about the intensity/frequency of the sonar testings, caused these whales and dolphins to wind up on shore, dying, which was really sad. So in the course of the documentary they said that they had tapes of sonar noises coming from marine animals, and were able to easily identify the sounds of whales, dolphins and so on . . but they had a frequency recorded that they call the "Bloop," which is an unknown marine animal. A whale expert said that he can identify "words" that dolphins and whales make, when they "speak" to each other . . .and this new animal they've caught on tape, uses more complex words, and longer sentences, and it's a deeper voice. They have no idea what kind of an animal made it (apparently this part of the documentary is true and verified). However, other parts of this documentary presented evidence that they've found mermaid bodies all over the world.

Apparently after the documentary aired they started to say it was a 'mock-umentary" and that the stuff about mermaids was made up. But it was presented as fact, and didn't come across as funny or anything (8:28) so I felt really confused. When I went online to look up information about the scientists who presented the information in this documentary, every website I went to had been blocked by homeland security. So if it was all a joke, why would they block the websites? Even weirder, a few days after the documentary first aired, homeland security did a press release that there's no such thing as mermaids???? It's like, Who asked? If this is a fake documentary why are they bothering to comment? Do you know what I mean.

I was really shocked and didn't know what to think, but the documentary felt really convincing to me, and made me wonder if it's really true, that there is such a thing as mermaids. They showed how cultures all over the world, in ancient history, spoke about mermaids . . and I always wonder, whenever you see one idea repeated from one group of people to the next, if there's something to it -- you know what I mean? Fishermen have claimed that they've seen mermaids for thousands of years.

Oh yeah -- the doc presented the idea that the reason all these whales and dolphins are beaching, all over the world, due to these sonar blasts the Navy is doing, is because the Navy is trying to kill the mermaids so no one finds out about them . . but the poor dolphins and whales! They're caught up in this mess, if there is any truth to it . . . but Philip's clip makes you think, because why are they doing this?? They're such intelligent creatures.

Anyone else see it???

Love to you guys! Michele