Lawrence R. Spencer's Blog, page 442

NUMBER 108: LOST AND FOUND

The popular American TV show “Lost” made many esoteric references to the number “108” (a series that I never watched personally)

 Apparently, the series includes quite a few references to Buddhism. For example, the sum of “the numbers” (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42) is 108, and “the numbers” must be entered into a computer every 108 minutes. One hundred eight is also the number of days “the Oceanic 6” have spent on the island. And Jacob tells Hurley to rotate the mirror in the lighthouse to a heading of 108°.

The following is a collection of information about the number “108” (reference links included):

One hundred [and] eight (or nine dozen) is an abundant number and a semiperfect number. It is a tetranacci number.

It is the hyperfactorial of 3 since it is of the form .

108 is a number that is divisible by the value of its φ function, which is 36. 108 is also divisible by the total number of its divisors (12), hence it is a refactorable number.

In Euclidean space, the interior angles of a regular pentagon measure 108 degrees each.

There are 108 free polyominoes of order 7.

In base 10, it is a Harshad number and a self number.

The equation results in the Golden ratio

Importance in Astronomy and Astrology

The earth cycle is supposed to be of 2160 years = 20 x 108. The distance between the Earth and Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Sun. The diameter of the Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Earth. The distance between the Earth and Moon is 108 times the diameter of the Moon. The universe is made up of 108 elements according to ancient texts. The current periodic table claims a few more than 108.

There are 12 constellation and 9 arc segments. 9 times 12 equal 108. The 9 planets travelling through the 12 signs constitute the whole of existence. 9 x 12 = 108. The 27 nakshatras or lunar constellations spread over the 4 elements – fire, earth, air, water or the 4 directions – north, south, east, and west. This also constitutes the whole of existence. 27 x 4 = 108.

Source: http://humanityhealing.net (http://s.tt/13wja)

Religion and the arts

The number 108 is considered sacred in many Eastern religions and traditions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and connected yoga and dharma based practices. The individual numbers 1, 0, and 8 represent one thing, nothing, and everything (infinity). 108 represents the ultimate reality of the universe as being (seemingly paradoxically) simultaneously One, emptiness, and infinite.

Hinduism

For example, Hindu deities have 108 names, while in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, there are 108 gopis of Vrindavan. Recital of these names, often accompanied by counting of 108-beaded Mala, is considered sacred and often done during religious ceremonies. The recital is called namajapa. Accordingly, a mala usually has beads for 108 repetitions of a mantra.

The distance of Sun from Earth divided by diameter of Sun and distance of Moon from Earth divided by diameter of Moon is approximately equal to 108. It is claimed that the great sires of Vedanta knew this relationship and thus 108 is a very important number in Vedantic chantings.

Buddhism

Likewise, Tibetan Buddhist malas or rosaries (Tib. ཕྲེང་བ Wyl. phreng ba, “Trengwa”) are usually 108 beads;[1] sometimes 111 including the Guru Bead(s), reflecting the words of the Buddha called in Tibetan the Kangyur (Wylie: Bka’-‘gyur) in 108 volumes. Zen priests wear juzu (a ring of prayer beads) around their wrists, which consists of 108 beads.[2]

Japa Mala, or Japa beads, made from Tulasi wood. Consisting of 108 beads in total + the head bead.

The Lankavatara Sutra has a section where the Bodhisattva Mahamati asks Buddha 108 questions[3] and another section where Buddha lists 108 statements of negation in the form of “A statement concerning X is not statement concerning X”.[4] In a footnote, D.T. Suzuki explains that the Sanskrit word translated as “statement” is “pada” which can also mean “foot-step” or “a position.” This confusion over the word “pada” explains why some have mistakenly held that the reference to 108 statements in the Lankavatara refer to the 108 steps that many temples have.[5]

In some schools of Buddhism it is believed that there are 108 defilements.[6] In Japan, at the end of the year, a bell is chimed 108 times in Buddhist temples to finish the old year and welcome the new one. Each ring represents one of 108 earthly temptations a person must overcome to achieve nirvana.

Ancient artifacts

The pre-historic monument Stonehenge is about 108 feet in diameter. [3]

Other References

In the neo-Gnostic teachings of Samael Aun Weor, an individual has 108 chances (lifetimes) to eliminate his egos and transcend the material world before “devolving” and having the egos forcefully removed in the infradimensions.[7]

Martial arts

According to Marma Adi and Ayurveda, there are 108 pressure points in the body, where consciousness and flesh intersect to give life to the living being.[8]
The Chinese school of martial arts agrees with the South Indian school of martial arts on the principle of 108 pressure points.[9][10]
108 number also figures prominently in the symbolism associated with karate, particularly the Gōjū-ryū discipline. The ultimate Gōjū-ryū kata, Suparinpei, literally translates to 108. Suparinpei is the Chinese pronunciation of the number 108, while gojūshi of Gojūshiho is the Japanese pronunciation of the number 54. The other Gōjū-ryū kata, Sanseru (meaning “36”) and Seipai (“18”) are factors of the number 108.[2]
The 108 of the Yang long form and Wing Chun, taught by Yip Man having 108 movements are noted in this regard.[5]
Several different Taijiquan long forms consist of 108 moves.
Paek Pal Ki Hyung, the 7th form taught in the art of Kuk Sool Won, translates literally to “108 technique” form. It is also frequently referred to as the “eliminate 108 torments” form. Each motion corresponds with one of the 108 Buddhist torments or defilements.

In literature

In Homer‘s Odyssey , the number of suitors coveting Penelope, wife of Odysseus.
There are 108 outlaws in the Chinese classic Water Margin/Outlaws of the Marsh .
There are 108 love sonnets in Astrophil and Stella, the first English sonnet sequence by Sir Philip Sidney.

In other fields

An official Major League Baseball baseball has 108 stitches.[11]
In the Manga and Anime series Shikabane Hime Aka and Shikabane Hime Kuro (Corpse Princess), the shikabane himes must hunt 108 evil undead corpses in order to ascend to heaven.
The atomic number of hassium.
The number of Mbit/s of a non-standard extension of IEEE 802.11g wireless network using channel bonding.
There are 108 Stars of Destiny to collect in the video game Suikoden distributed by Konami for PlayStation
108 is the name of a community of and for open source developers, created by Red Hat.[12]
There are 108 cards in a deck of UNO cards.
There are 108 Code Crowns in Digimon Xros Wars .
Volume expansion of freezing water is roughly 108%.

 EMRI – Emergency Services

108 degrees Fahrenheit is also the internal temperature at which the human body‘s vital organs begin to fail from overheating.In India, 108 (1-0-8) is the toll-free emergency telephone number. Calls are handled by GVK EMRI (GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute), the only professional Emergency Service Provider in India today, handling medical, police and fire emergencies.

Highways and Roads

List of highways numbered 108

OTHER SIGNIFICANCES OF THE NUMBER 108

The Indian Subcontinent rosary or set of mantra counting has 108 beads. 108 has been a sacred number in the Indian Subcontinent for a very long time. This number is explained in many different ways.

The ancient Indians were excellent mathematicians and 108 may be the product of a precise mathematical operation (e.g. 1 power 1 x 2 power 2 x 3 power 3 = 108) which was thought to have special numerological significance.

Powers of 1, 2, and 3 in math: 1 to 1st power=1; 2 to 2nd power=4 (2×2); 3 to 3rd power=27 (3x3x3). 1x4x27=108

Sanskrit alphabet: There are 54 letters in the Sanskrit alphabet. Each has masculine and feminine, shiva and shakti. 54 times 2 is 108.

Sri Yantra: On the Sri Yantra there are marmas where three lines intersect, and there are 54 such intersections. Each intersections has masculine and feminine, shiva and shakti qualities. 54 x 2 equals 108. Thus, there are 108 points that define the Sri Yantra as well as the human body.

9 times 12: Both of these numbers have been said to have spiritual significance in many traditions. 9 times 12 is 108. Also, 1 plus 8 equals 9. That 9 times 12 equals 108.

Heart Chakra: The chakras are the intersections of energy lines, and there are said to be a total of 108 energy lines converging to form the heart chakra. One of them, sushumna leads to the crown chakra, and is said to be the path to Self-realization.

Marmas: Marmas or marmastanas are like energy intersections called chakras, except have fewer energy lines converging to form them. There are said to be 108 marmas in the subtle body.

Time: Some say there are 108 feelings, with 36 related to the past, 36 related to the present, and 36 related to the future.

Astrology: There are 12 constellations, and 9 arc segments called namshas or chandrakalas. 9 times 12 equals 108. Chandra is moon, and kalas are the divisions within a whole.

Planets and Houses: In astrology, there are 12 houses and 9 planets. 12 times 9 equals 108.

Gopis of Krishna: In the Krishna tradition, there were said to be 108 gopis or maid servants of Krishna.

1, 0, and 8: 1 stands for God or higher Truth, 0 stands for emptiness or completeness in spiritual practice, and 8 stands for infinity or eternity.

Sun and Earth: The diameter of the sun is 108 times the diameter of the Earth.

Numerical scale: The 1 of 108, and the 8 of 108, when added together equals 9, which is the number of the numerical scale, i.e. 1, 2, 3 … 10, etc., where 0 is not a number.

Smaller divisions: The number 108 is divided, such as in half, third, quarter, or twelfth, so that some malas have 54, 36, 27, or 9 beads.

Islam: The number 108 is used in Islam to refer to God.

Jain: In the Jain religion, 108 are the combined virtues of five categories of holy ones, including 12, 8, 36, 25, and 27 virtues respectively.

Sikh: The Sikh tradition has a mala of 108 knots tied in a string of wool, rather than beads.

Chinese: The Chinese Buddhists and Taoists use a 108 bead mala, which is called su-chu, and has three dividing beads, so the mala is divided into three parts of 36 each.

Stages of the soul: Said that Atman, the human soul or center goes through 108 stages on the journey.

Meru: This is a larger bead, not part of the 108. It is not tied in the sequence of the other beads. It is the quiding bead, the one that marks the beginning and end of the mala.

Dance: There are 108 forms of dance in the Indian traditions.

Pythagorean: The nine is the limit of all numbers, all others existing and coming from the same. ie: 0 to 9 is all one needs to make up an infinite amount of numbers.

Originally posted 2012-02-28 13:39:59. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

TESLA E.T. CONNECTION

( Article re-posted from http://humansarefree.com/2014/11/the-possible-connection-between-nikola.html )



“Nikola Tesla was one of the greatest minds of all time and was considered to be the father of the 21st century. There were rumors that Tesla received his inventions from E.T. sources. Was this the main reason every step Tesla made was monitored by the elite?

Hidden in plain sight

Many devices that we use today contain Tesla’s patents, ideas, concepts. Most people have no idea that Tesla is behind these inventions. However, we rarely hear his name mentioned, especially in school books. His genius was often too much both for ordinary people and the elite.From bankers like JP Morgan to politicians, jealous, scientists, and others, the goal was to not only stop him from bringing these inventions to humanity but to steal them while keeping it out of the public eye.


When the midwife started getting used to relentless thunder outside the house, she asked Tesla’s mother how she knew the baby would be a very important person. Tesla’s mother responded that she did not know how but she simply knew.

His very birth was an interesting event because later Tesla literally played with thunder in his experiments and was born during similar circumstances. Just like his mother knew that her child would become an important person, Tesla simply knew what to do and would create complete devices in his mind before experiments.

Another interesting thing is that his father was a Serb Orthodox priest and his son was anything but his father in terms of understanding the universe.

Tesla was also born in a region that was not particularly known for anything at that time. If you believe many Tesla followers that Tesla himself was an alien who incarnated in this world, the question is why he chose the family and the region for his birth and why there was such a storm while he was being born.

The period in which Tesla was born coincided with the old Zoharic prophecy about the opening of the gates of wisdom upon the earth. Coincidentally, Albert Einstein was born during this time as well.

Tesla’s childhood

The “genius who lit the world”, as some call him, witnessed a terrible accident at the age of seven. In 1863 Tesla’s brother Danijel was killed in a riding accident. Tesla was in a state of shock and was reported to have started seeing visions.  Many people have said that Tesla suffered from lifelong mental illnesses caused by the loss of his brother. A more logical explanation is that this shock served as a trigger in Tesla’s mind (as it happens to many people who witness terrible things) and that it prepared him for the unique way of using his mind.

Tesla’s life was very dramatic. At an early age he showed the superiority of his mind and was fascinated with thunderstorms and lightning. It is possible that this was also caused by the impressions of the storm when he was born. Nikola was fascinated with electricity and was absolutely determined that he would harness the power of the Universe to help humanity.

Tesla’s downloads

In 1882, the idea of a brushless AC motor simply came to him as Tesla was walking. He sketched the images in the sand. That is the first story about how he would simply have an idea in an instant, create the whole design in his head, and then simply start building it from scratch.

When Tesla moved to New York in 1884, he was hired as an engineer at Thomas Edison’s headquarters. Edison was impressed with Tesla and told Tesla he would give him 50 thousand dollars for a better design of his DC dynamos.

Tesla experimented for months. However, when he presented his solution, Edison did not give Tesla any money and Tesla quit.  Tesla then decided to work alone and ideas kept coming one after another. In 1887 and 1888 he was granted more than 30 patents for his inventions. George Westinghouse, Edison’s major competitor, was very interested in Tesla’s work. What followed is one of the greatest and strangest stories of all time.  Tesla kept creating more and more, sleeping only two hours at night. Tesla would stay awake 22 hours a day, taking a nap 15 – 20 minutes for every four hours awake. This started when he was very young.

When he was studying in Graz, Austria, Tesla became very good at playing billiards. Sometimes he would play more than 48 hours in a stretch. Also, once Tesla worked in his laboratory for 84 hours without any rest or sleep.  To the people around him this was simply incredible. Tesla had unusual amounts of energy and would get complete schematics in an instant. All this and much more points to two possible conclusions: Tesla was an E.T. or Tesla was able to contact them and the invisible realms and that is how he would get his ideas and energy.

Probably the most famous Tesla quote regarding his communication with other realms is:

“My brain is only a receiver. In the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength, and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.”

Tesla openly stated that his brain was a receiver and that the knowledge came from a core. Was he trying to mask the fact that he was communicating with an E.T. race that many say he was a part of?

It is possible, but it is certainly much easier to explain his incredible work to the public in this way, saying that he was doing something that Da Vinci and Einstein were also famous for – communication with other realms.

Another quote is very interesting:

“My method is different. I do not rush into actual work. When I get a new idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination and make improvements and operate the device in my mind.

“When I have gone so far as to embody everything in my invention, every possible improvement I can think of, and when I see no fault anywhere, I put into concrete form the final product of my brain.”

The whole process explained in his words, an invention in his brain without any drawing, experiments, something most people can only dream of, yet so natural to Tesla. Was it possible because he communicated with E.T.’s, other realms, the core as he called it?

Intelligent electrical signals from space

Nikola Tesla built a laboratory in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1899, to experiment with high frequency electricity and other phenomena. In that laboratory he received and recorded cosmic radio waves on his sensitive instruments.

He announced that he received extraterrestrial radio signals. The scientific community in 1899 did not believe him, because knowledge of cosmic radio signals did not exist at that time.

Here is what Tesla said about the signals:

“I can never forget the first sensations I experienced when it dawned upon me that I had observed something possibly of incalculable consequences to mankind. I felt as though I were present at the birth of a new knowledge or the revelation of a great truth.

“My first observations positively terrified me as there was present in them something mysterious, not to say supernatural, and I was alone in my laboratory at night; but at that time the idea of these disturbances being intelligently controlled signals did not yet present itself to me.

“The changes I noted were taking place periodically and with such a clear suggestion of number and order that they were not traceable to any cause known to me.

“I was familiar, of course, with such electrical disturbances as are produced by the sun, Aurora Borealis, and earth currents, and I was as sure as I could be of any fact that these variations were due to none of these causes.

“The nature of my experiments precluded the possibility of the changes being produced by atmospheric disturbances, as has been rashly asserted by some. It was sometime afterward when the thought flashed upon my mind that the disturbances I had observed might be due to an intelligent control.

“Although I could not at the time decipher their meaning, it was impossible for me to think of them as having been entirely accidental. The feeling is constantly growing on me that I had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another. A purpose was behind these electrical signals.”

This is very revealing- Tesla openly stated that he had the feeling that he had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another. Here Tesla went further and replaced the core that he had mentioned with a direct link with E.T. life. It seems that to an open mind person it cannot be any clearer.

At the time, it was surmised by prominent scientists that Mars would be a likely haven for intelligent life in our solar system, and Tesla at first thought these signals may be originating from the red planet.

He would later change this viewpoint as he became more adept at translating the mysterious signals. Near the end of his life, Tesla had developed several inventions that allegedly could send powerful amounts of energy to other planets.

“The signals are too strong to have traveled the great distances from Mars to Earth,” wrote Tesla.

“So I am forced to admit to myself that the sources must come from somewhere in nearby space or even the moon. I am certain however, that the creatures that communicate with each other every night are not from Mars, or possibly from any other planet in our solar system.”

Tesla said he had flashes, some kind of light, and then he would get his ideas. He never said that the images in his mind were holographic, but some researchers claim that it was exactly what was going on in his mind.

It may have been similar to what computers do today when they create models, rotate them, and analyze all possibilities needed to complete the task.

Tesla wrote letters to friends in which he talked about mysterious signals. He was convinced that the communication was with E.T’s.

Tesla was not very popular in those days and many newspapers mocked him for saying that he was in contact with some kind of space intelligence. What the press wrote was almost certainly ordered by those who did not want Tesla to succeed in his intentions.

So what better way to belittle him than say that he was a mad scientist who thought he was in contact with aliens? It often works in our so-called modern age, so it definitely worked such a long time ago.

The first clean energy

When speaking of Tesla, we cannot forget about Wardenclyffe Tower that was located in Long Island, New York. The tower was 187 feet to the top and 120 feet into the ground. What Tesla had in mind were various wireless transmitter points all over Earth.

Tesla wanted to move energy from one tower to the next wirelessly. No, we are not talking about wireless technology like we have today, which is very toxic and harmful. This was clean energy to be used interplanetary.

Researchers at MIT managed to transmit power wirelessly only 100 years after Tesla and at a much shorter distance. 100 years is a lot of time and it is hard to believe that it took so much time for scientists to imitate Tesla to some extent.

Tesla wanted to give free energy to humanity but the Tower was demolished in 1908. J.P. Morgan was the founder of the project. When he discovered what Tesla’s intentions were, he did everything to stop him.

Tesla also invented beam weapons, wireless power transmission, antigravity devices, anti-war shields, and a plethora of other suppressed inventions.

Can we prove that Tesla had contact with alien intelligence? If we take a closer look at what Tesla did, said, and created, we can at least say that he had the ability to tune into the core that he talked about.

His life was full of drama, sci-fi-like stories, synchronicities, and many interesting things and events. But is there proof that Tesla had ET contact?

If we accept the fact that we live within the visible light in that tiny fraction of what we call space, we can also accept that some consider our reality to be a projection in our minds.

Proof is just in the physical realm that we decode, but Tesla was not limited by visible light. His genius can almost certainly be attributed to his communication with other realms and probably aliens themselves.

Tesla was the most brilliant scientist that Earth has probably ever had, and he was not afraid to say that he believed in spirituality. This is not even common in the science community today.

He was a spiritual scientist in communication with other realms and possibly E.T.’s- and left a legacy behind of bewilderment and awe in the true history of humankind.”

Originally posted 2014-12-08 22:21:09. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

CHARGE YOUR CELL PHONE WITH TWIGS

BioLite CampStove Demo & Story from BioLite on Vimeo.

Originally posted 2012-07-18 11:43:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Alien Interview on Exopolitics Radio, Part 3 « ALIEN INTERVIEW

Alien Interview on Exopolitics Radio, Part 3 « ALIEN INTERVIEW.

Originally posted 2010-12-02 07:57:22. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

FLYING MONKEYS

Excerpt from the book THE OZ FACTORS by Lawrence R. Spencer

 

“Take special care of those Ruby Slippers. I want those most of all … now fly! fly! fly!”     –The Witch beseeching her Flying Monkeys to capture Dorothy in ‘The Wizard of Oz‘

              “THE PSYCHO-BABBLE OF FLYING MONKEYS —  It is said that the mythical Tower of Babble was a mechanism created by the gods as a way to create different languages among men. The variety of languages was intended to make it more difficult for men to communicate with each other. The barriers to communication, therefore, would make it more difficult for men to get together and figure out what the gods were really up to. In this way, the secret activities of the gods would be secure.

Like the ancient myth, there are modern, would-be gods and witches who have secrets and hidden agendas to hide. A common hiding technique is to “redefine” language and invent new words that are “politically correct”, yet nonsensical in reality. As with the gods of old, the intention of such redefinition of language is to disguise a hidden agenda or misdirect attention.

For example, psychiatry fabricate words to describe newly invented mental “diseases”–the so-called disease of school children called “attention deficit disorder” for instance. This nonsense language is called “psycho-babble”.

The Communist Party in Russia was notorious for their masterful redefinition of the language to re-educate the people of Russia into a new, socialized thinking about themselves and the world. For example, the Communists used the word “comrade” instead of “peasant worker” and “commissar” instead of “czar”. (The only real difference between a commissar and a capitalist and an aristocrat, who the commissar despises, is spelling! They are each supported by the work of other people, as none of them produces anything of value themselves.)

Politicians put a spin on existing words and ideas in order to covertly influence our thinking. Television, movies and news media feed us the newly defined, politically correct words and ideas as they are revised and released. For example, the federal government spends billions more than it collects in taxes every year. In the business world this is called “overspending” which results in “bankruptcy”. In the political world, the politico-babble word for it has been changed to “deficit spending” and results in a “budget deficit”.

The world of advertising is another culprit using these methods. The newest and therefore hip, cool, groovy trend or fad is usually designed to sell something–music, clothing, drugs, movie tickets, etc. For example, the marketing campaign designed to sell “oversized, overpriced, luxury, four-wheel drive, passenger trucks”, is made more acceptable with the phrase, “sports utility vehicle”.

The subject of the spirit, in the Western world, is another example of a subject which remains heavily shrouded in mystery and skepticism. There is a “politically correct” nomenclature used by the “doctors” of psychiatry to describe the spirit, which has been made intentionally obtuse and foreboding. Psychiatry uses condescending phrases like “paranormal”, to describe spiritual phenomenon, which literally means, outside of the normal. Of course, the unspoken implication is that being “normal” is supposed to be some nebulous state of perfect bliss and fulfillment that can be achieved only by a strict, life-long adherence to the rituals of the normal or chosen class. A “normal” person eats cheeseburgers, pays taxes, takes drugs, buys mass quantities of merchandise he or she doesn’t need, and believes that what he or she sees on television is “the truth”.

Another favorite phrase used to describe spiritual matters is “alternative reality”. Okay, so let’s see … there’s only ONE reality and it’s the reality you’ve been told to believe by the government and the television set and your shrink. If you don’t agree with the ONE reality they’ll lock you up in a loony-bin, drug you, electroshock you, give you a pre-frontal lobotomy. Finally, when your insurance company won’t pay them any more money to keep you locked up, they’ll let you out for the rest of your so-called “life” as a brain-dead vegetable. You have now been “cured” of your “delusions” and are “being reasonable” and “realistic”. Gee, that’s some “alternative” reality.

“Parapsychology” is yet another distorted concept which literally means, “the study of things around the spirit”. The only problem is that the “study” is being conducted by psychiatrists, with government funding, who, through a meticulous process of torturing laboratory animals, have “expertly” concluded that man is a stimulus-response animal, and not a spiritual being.

As we will see, the goal of such “research” is to learn how to CONTROL the behavior of men in order to make them more obedient taxpayers.”

Originally posted 2015-10-02 14:23:44. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Dutch tulip spectacular

 

 

When its spring again… The Dutch tulip fields so spectacular they have become a tourist attraction | Mail Online.

Originally posted 2011-04-26 22:34:50. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

TP, A HISTORY

Since the dawn of time, people have found nifty ways to clean up after the bathroom act. The most common solution was simply to grab what was at hand: coconuts, shells, snow, moss, hay, leaves, grass, corncobs, sheep’s wool—and, later, thanks to the printing press—newspapers, magazines, and pages of books. The ancient Greeks used clay and stone. The Romans, sponges and salt water. But the idea of a commercial product designed solely to wipe one’s bum? That started about 150 years ago, right here in the U.S.A. In less than a century, Uncle Sam’s marketing genius turned something disposable into something indispensable.

How Toilet Paper Got on a Roll

The first products designed specifically to wipe one’s nethers were aloe-infused sheets of manila hemp dispensed from Kleenex-like boxes. They were invented in 1857 by a New York entrepreneur named Joseph Gayetty, who claimed his sheets prevented hemorrhoids. Gayetty was so proud of his therapeutic bathroom paper that he had his name printed on each sheet. But his success was limited. Americans soon grew accustomed to wiping with the Sears Roebuck catalog, and they saw no need to spend money on something that came in the mail for free.

Toilet paper took its next leap forward in 1890, when two brothers named Clarence and E. Irvin Scott popularized the concept of toilet paper on a roll. The Scotts’ brand became more successful than Gayetty’s medicated wipes, in part because they built a steady trade selling toilet paper to hotels and drugstores. But it was still an uphill battle to get the public to openly buy the product, largely because Americans remained embarrassed by bodily functions. In fact, the Scott brothers were so ashamed of the nature of their work that they didn’t take proper credit for their innovation until 1902.

“No one wanted to ask for it by name,” says Dave Praeger, author of Poop Culture: How America Is Shaped by Its Grossest National Product. “It was so taboo that you couldn’t even talk about the product.” By 1930, the German paper company Hakle began using the tag line, “Ask for a roll of Hakle and you won’t have to say toilet paper!”

As time passed, toilet tissues slowly became an American staple. But widespread acceptance of the product didn’t officially occur until a new technology demanded it. At the end of the 19th century, more and more homes were being built with sit-down flush toilets tied to indoor plumbing systems. And because people required a product that could be flushed away with minimal damage to the pipes, corncobs and moss no longer cut it. In no time, toilet paper ads boasted that the product was recommended by both doctors and plumbers.

The Strength of Going Soft

In the early 1900s, toilet paper was still being marketed as a medicinal item. But in 1928, the Hoberg Paper Company tried a different tack. On the advice of its ad men, the company introduced a brand called Charmin and fitted the product with a feminine logo that depicted a beautiful woman. The genius of the campaign was that by evincing softness and femininity, the company could avoid talking about toilet paper’s actual purpose. Charmin was enormously successful, and the tactic helped the brand survive the Great Depression. (It also helped that, in 1932, Charmin began marketing economy-size packs of four rolls.) Decades later, the dainty ladies were replaced with babies and bear cubs—advertising vehicles that still stock the aisles today.

By the 1970s, America could no longer conceive of life without toilet paper. Case in point: In December 1973, Tonight Show host Johnny Carson joked about a toilet paper shortage during his opening monologue. But America didn’t laugh. Instead, TV watchers across the country ran out to their local grocery stores and bought up as much of the stuff as they could. In 1978, a TV Guidepoll named Mr. Whipple—the affable grocer who implored customers, “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin”—the third best-known man in America, behind former President Richard Nixon and the Rev. Billy Graham.

Rolling the World

Currently, the United States spends more than $6 billion a year on toilet tissue—more than any other nation in the world. Americans, on average, use 57 squares a day and 50 lbs. a year. Even still, the toilet paper market in the United States has largely plateaued. The real growth in the industry is happening in developing countries. There, it’s booming. Toilet paper revenues in Brazil alone have more than doubled since 2004. The radical upswing in sales is believed to be driven by a combination of changing demographics, social expectations, and disposable income.

“The spread of globalization can kind of be measured by the spread of Western bathroom practices,” says Praeger. When average citizens in a country start buying toilet paper, wealth and consumerism have arrived. It signifies that people not only have extra cash to spend, but they’ve also come under the influence of Western marketing.

America Without Toilet Paper

Even as the markets boom in developing nations, toilet paper manufacturers find themselves needing to charge more per roll to make a profit. That’s because production costs are rising. During the past few years, pulp has become more expensive, energy costs are rising, and even water is becoming scarce. Toilet paper companies may need to keep hiking up their prices. The question is, if toilet paper becomes a luxury item, can Americans live without it?

The truth is that we did live without it, for a very long time. And even now, a lot of people do. In Japan, the Washlet—a toilet that comes equipped with a bidet and an air-blower—is growing increasingly popular. And all over the world, water remains one of the most common methods of self-cleaning. Many places in India, the Middle East, and Asia, for instance, still depend on a bucket and a spigot. But as our economy continues to circle the drain, will Americans part with their beloved toilet paper in order to adopt more money-saving measures? Or will we keep flushing our cash away? Praeger, for one, believes a toilet-paper apocalypse is hardly likely. After all, the American marketing machine is a powerful thing.

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The article above, written by Linda Rodriguez, is reprinted with permission from the Jul/Aug 2009 issue of Mental Floss magazine.

 

Originally posted 2011-05-19 09:15:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

YOU ARE THE MATRIX

— excerpt from the book Alien Interview

“Everything you will ever know about the creative force and ability of a god can be found within you — an Immortal Spiritual Being.  (Is-Be)

How can a blind man teach others to see the nearly infinite gradients that comprise the spectrum of light? The notion that one can understand the universe without understanding the nature of an IS-BE is as absurd as conceiving that an artist is a speck of paint on his own canvas. Or, that the lace on a ballet shoe is the choreographer’s vision, or the grace of a dancer, or the electric excitement of opening night.

Study of the spirit has been booby-trapped by the thought control operation through religious superstitions they instill in the minds of men. Conversely, the study of the spirit and the mind have been prohibited by science which eliminates anything that is not measurable in the physical universe. Science is the religion of matter. It worships matter.

Study of creation without knowing the IS-BE, the source of creation, is futile. When you sail to the edge of a universe conceived by science, you fall off the end into an abyss of dark, dispassionate space and lifeless, unrelenting force. On Earth, you have been convinced that the oceans of the mind and spirit are filled with gruesome, ghoulish monsters that will eat you alive if you dare to venture beyond the breakwater of superstition.

The vested interest of the “Old Empire” prison system is to prevent you from looking at your own soul. They fear that you will see in your own memory the slave masters who keep you imprisoned. The prison is made of shadows in your mind. The shadows are made of lies, and pain, and loss, and fear.

The true geniuses of civilization are those IS-BEs who will enable other IS-BEs to recover their memory and regain self-realization and self-determination. This issue is not solved through enforcing moral regulation on behavior, or through the control of beings through mystery, faith, drugs, guns or any other dogma of a slave society. And certainly not through the use of electric shock and hypnotic commands!

The survival of Earth and every being on it depends on the ability to recover the memory of skills you have accrued through the trillenia; to recover the essence of yourself.”

Originally posted 2015-08-21 22:21:51. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

BOX-O-TREK

What Star Trek Geek doesn’t have a box of space ship models and Borg Cubes in an old cigar box?

Originally posted 2012-01-06 12:32:02. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

PAN-GOD OF THE WOODS is ON iTUNES!

[image error] This book is available on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iBooks and on your computer with iTunes.

Pan, the Greek god of forests, shepherds and fertility, has long represented the pagan gods in general. With the advent of the Christian church communication with the pagan gods was very heavily suppressed by priests who have a vested interest in eliminating religious competition, by any means required, including, but not limited to lying, stealing, cheating, murder, mayhem, extortion, torture and blackmail. As a result, general public attention to the pagan gods disappeared about 2,000 years ago. PAN-God of the Woods assumes that the pagan gods may still be active, living beings. If any of the ancient gods are still around in the 21st century, what are they doing now If they are here now — still watching, still powerful, still immortal — where or how might we contact them If Pan is still around which of us mortals could not use the helping hand of a friendly god once in awhile — Lawrence R. Spencer

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Originally posted 2011-06-15 22:39:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter