Buddhist dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgXM0IxQb7w

I have already posted this on my facebook profile but I would like to share it here also.  It's too special not to.

New jaw-bone grown from back-muscle in Germany

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002017103_jaw27.html

Medical research that can help doctors to better help patients I believe is a direct result of skill derived from their intelligence.  And that intelligence is a gift to them from God, whether or not they believe in a supreme being.  Be that as it may, this is an interesting article.  It is something that makes people like me very happy.  I know that if I was the chap in need of a new jaw-bone I would be extremely happy for the skill of the doctors.

The Dalai Lama's facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/DalaiLama?v=wall#!/note.php?note_id=481561867321

I have always admired the Dalai Lama, who is the head of the Buddhists and a very wise man, for sure one with nature.  He is on a par with Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa and others who live in peace. 

Re-imagining God

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-small/reimagining-god-in-the-21_b_822776.html

I'm not sure what I think about this but it is interesting.  God is the ocean, we are the waves.  God is the forest, we are the trees.  It is a good read.

Tycho, new planet?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/14/tyche-hidden-planet_n_823028.html?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily+Brief&utm_campaign=daily_brief

I noticed this and thought it worthy of inclusion here.  It's huge, so they say, and dwarfs even Jupiter, and it's very far out, 15,000 astronomical units.  That compares impressively with 40 units, which is how far out Pluto is.  Our Earth is about 93 million miles from the Sun, which one astronomical unit is defined as being.  This is why astronomy fascinates me--the incredible distances involved. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00555/tyche3_555342a.pdf

Happy Valentine's Day!

To all the ladies, and to the guys, do not forget!

Autism

http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/autism-syrmptoms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son-Rise:_A_Miracle_of_Love

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi771556121/

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/posted.php?id=585213495


I have read and heard a lot about autism and everything I have learned makes me want to learn more.  I first heard of it when I read "Son-Rise", about a boy named Raun Kaufman, severely autistic, but with absolute devotion and love from his parents was brought out of his lonely place to become the CEO of the Autism Treatment Center of America. (Second link above.)

I also watched "House of Cards", a wonderful movie about an autistic girl named Sally, played by Asha Menina, with Kathleen Turner as her Mom and Tommy Lee Jones as her psychiatrist.  The third link above is to a trailer for the movie.

Another video, this one is of a man named Stephen Wiltshire with a photographic memory.  He went in a helicopter over a good deal of the city of Rome and then sat down and drew in complete detail everything he took in.  Just amazing.  This is the last link above.

Hubble deep-space

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=hubble+images&qpvt=hubble+images&mid=B66BD2618C9ED0E8F8F9B66BD2618C9ED0E8F8F9&FORM=LKVR10#

When I was a kid I fell in love with astronomy.  I had no idea what a light-year was but when I found out--for the record it's the distance that light, which travels at 186,000 miles a second, moves in a year, and that the nearest star, other than the sun, is 4 light-years away, I became infatuated.  I became further awe-struck when I learned that our galaxy alone is made up of millions of stars, and that there are millions of galaxies. . .As a Christian who believes that God the Creator has created all things I am completely blown away.  This is my God, our God, who cares deeply for me, for all of us.  All-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving.

Evolution Weekend

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-zimmerman/evolution-weekend-an-oppo_b_819153.html

More about bridging the gap. 

The sun in stereo!

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/02/07/science-sun-nasa-stereo.html
Now we can see both sides of the sun at the same time.  Two spacecraft on opposite sides.  Brillant photos and video.

Foxhole faith and foxhole prayers

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-hamlin/foxhole-faith_b_818907.html

We who believe in a loving God hold fast to our faith and believe that God is there when we need him.  This is what this piece is about.  Sometimes the burden of our duties or predicaments are just too heavy for us to deal with and that's when we must reach out, just as our children reach out to us when they need help.

I added the picture as an afterthought.  It's just to make the point that sometimes we need some help along the way.  The donkey is carrying the goat.

Picking up the pieces, or, struggling with our faith

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/how-do-you-pick-up-the-pi_b_816781.html

This is a very good article about faith.  I read it and I thought about that scene in "Fiddler on the Roof" in which Tevye is asking his God why he has made so many poor people.  Why does his life have to be so hard?  Why this?  Why that?  Why, why, why?  This movie is about the struggles of the Jews in Czarist Russia about a  hundred years ago.  They were trying to hold on to their traditions, to look after their families, as they have done for thousands of years.  And it isn't easy.  They are also being persecuted by the soldiers who are under orders to evict them from their villages.

In Genesis 32: 22-32 Jacob apparently wrestles with God.  This is an important passage because it says, symbolically that it isn't an easy task for some to accept God in our lives.   We want to be in control of our own lives.   We think we don't need God to help, to guide or to bless us.

I'm a Christian and I can identify in small measure to the Jews.  Sometimes I wonder if there really is a loving God or even if there's a God at all.  I struggle too.  Even as I write this I wonder if I am doing the right thing.  I wonder sometimes if I am following the path that I should be following.  I forget to pray, or I decide that something else is more important in my life than my relationship with God. 

evolution-creation debate, chapter whatever. . .

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/30/jack-kingston-evolution_n_815909.html?ir=Religion

There will always be people on both sides of this issue.  And there's others, like me, who see a common ground.  I do believe though, that we have to make up our own minds and believe whatever makes sense to us.  Enough said (by me!)

There is a short video clip at the end of this article.