Lawrence R. Spencer's Blog, page 568
February 21, 2013
BY ONESELF
The Dhammapada (Pāli; Prakrit: धम्मपद Dhamapada; Sanskrit: धर्मपद Dharmapada) is a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures. The original version of the Dhammapada is in the Khuddaka Nikaya, a division of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism.
VOICE OF THE GODS
About the painting: "Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses" is an oil painting in the Pre-Raphaelite style by John William Waterhouse that was created in 1891. The painting depicts a scene from Greek mythology, the sorceress Circe offering Odysseus a cup containing a potion with which she seeks to bring him under her spell as she has his crew.
In Greek mythology, Circe (pronounced "Keer-keeh" "falcon") is a minor goddess of magic (or sometimes a nymph, witch, enchantress or sorceress). By most accounts, Circe was the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid. Her brothers were Aeetes, the keeper of the Golden Fleece and Perses, and her sister was Pasiphaë, the wife of King Minos and mother of the Minotaur. Other accounts make her the daughter of Hecate. Circe was renowned for her vast knowledge of drugs and herbs. Through the use of magical potions and a wand she transformed her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals.
ESCHER HAIKU
ESCHER HAIKU by Lawrence R. Spencer
The right hand draws the left
Draws the right drawing the left
Drawing the left hand.
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Visit the Official M.C. Escher website -- http://www.mcescher.com/
Maurits Cornelis Escher (17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972), usually referred to as M. C. Escher, was a Dutch graphic artist. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and tessellations.
February 20, 2013
TELEPATHY: SPIRITUAL MIME
Telepathy (from the ancient Greek τηλε, tele meaning "distant" and πάθη, pathe or patheia meaning "feeling, perception, passion, affliction, experience") is the supposed transmission of information from one person to another without using any of our known sensory channels or physical interaction.
Telepathy is commonly used in fiction, with a number of superheroes and supervillains, as well as figures in many science fiction novels, etc., use telepathy. Notable fictional telepaths include the Jedi in Star Wars. The use of "The Force", which enables the use of the spirit to influence the physical universe. The inspiration for Star Wars was based largely on the much earlier science fiction books of E.E. Smith, most especially in the six books of THE LENSMEN SERIES, first published in 1948.
The mechanics of telepathy in fiction vary widely. Some fictional telepaths are limited to receiving only thoughts that are deliberately sent by other telepaths, or even to receiving thoughts from a specific other person. For example, in Robert A. Heinlein's 1956 novel Time for the Stars, certain pairs of twins are able to send telepathic messages to each other.
In A. E. van Vogt's science fiction novel Slan, the mutant hero Jommy Cross can read the minds of ordinary humans. Some telepaths can read the thoughts only of those they touch, such as Vulcans in the Star Trek media franchise. Star Trek science consultant and writer André Bormanis, has revealed that telepathy within the Star Trek universe works via the "psionic field." According to Bormanis, a psionic field is the "medium" through which unspoken thoughts and feelings are communicated through space. Some humanoids can tap into this field through a kind of sense organ located in the brain; in the same manner that human eyes can sense portions of the electromagnetic field, telepaths can sense portions of the psionic field. In the book "Eragon", Eragon can communicate through his mind with almost anyone, including his dragon Saphira, but it is possible to block people from one's mind with a barrier.
In the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, telepathy is a magical skill known as Legilimency. In the John Wyndham novel The Chrysalids, the main character and narrator David Strorm is one of a group of nine telepaths. In Anthony Horowitz's Power of Five series twins Jamie and Scott Tyler were born with telepathic powers that enable them to read people's minds and, ultimately, control them.
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A mime artist (from Greek "μίμος"—mimos, "imitator, actor") is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech. In earlier times, in English, such a performer would typically be referred to as a mummer. Miming is to be distinguished from silent comedy, in which the artist is a seamless character in a film or sketch. The performance of pantomime originates at its earliest in Ancient Greece; the name is taken from a single masked dancer called Pantomimus.
WHO’S TOUGHER THAN A TARDIGRADE?
Imagine if these creatures were 6 feet tall....
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Tardigrade, kleiner Wasserbär, meaning 'little water bear' in German. The name Tardigrada means "slow walker" and was given by Lazzaro Spallanzani in 1777. The name water bear comes from the way they walk, reminiscent of a bear's gait. The biggest adults may reach a body length of 1.5 millimetres (0.059 in), the smallest below 0.1 mm. Freshly hatched tardigrades may be smaller than 0.05 mm.
About 1,150 species of tardigrades have been described.Tardigrades occur throughout the world, from the Himalayas(above 6,000 metres (20,000 ft)), to the deep sea (below 4,000 metres (13,000 ft)) and from the polar regions to the equator.
The most convenient place to find tardigrades is on lichens and mosses. Other environments are dunes, beaches, soil, and marine or freshwater sediments, where they may occur quite frequently (up to 25,000 animals per liter). Tardigrades often can be found by soaking a piece of moss in spring water.
Tardigrades are able to survive in extreme environments that would kill almost any other animal. Some can survive temperatures of close to absolute zero, or 0 Kelvin (−273 °C (−459 °F)), temperatures as high as 151 °C (304 °F), 1,000 times more radiation than other animals, and almost a decade without water. Since 2007, tardigrades have also returned alive from studies in which they have been exposed to the vacuum of space for a few days in low Earth orbit. Tardigrades are the first known animal to survive in space.
Tardigrades (commonly known as waterbears or moss piglets) are small, water-dwelling, segmented animals with eight legs. It is an ancient group, with fossils dating from 530 million years ago, in the Cambrian period. They are notable for being one of the most complex of all known polyextremophiles. (An extremophile is an organism that can thrive in a physically or geochemically extreme condition that would be detrimental to most life on Earth.)
Tardigrades can withstand temperatures from just above absolute zero to well above the boiling point of water. They can survive pressures greater than any found in the deepest ocean trenches and have lived through the vacuum of outer space. They can survive solar radiation, gamma radiation, ionic radiation— at doses hundreds of times higher than would kill a person. They can go without food or water for nearly 10 years, drying out to the point where they are 3% or less water, only to rehydrate, forage, and reproduce.
Usually, Tardigrades are 1 millimetre (0.039 in) long when they are fully grown. They are short and plump with 4 pairs of legs, each with 4-8 claws also known as "disks." The animals are prevalent in moss and lichen and, when collected, may be viewed under a very low-power microscope, making them accessible to the student or amateur scientist as well as the professional.
February 18, 2013
SHARED UNIVERSES (Download FREE The Complete works of H.P. Lovecraft)
USE THIS LINK TO DOWNLOAD Free Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft for Nook and Kindle – Cthulhu Chick.
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(Excerpt from a letter from Howard Lovecraft, to Sherlock Holmes)
“My Dear Mr. Holmes,
Word of your private and discreet investigations into alchemical investigation has reached me, vicariously, through a chain of referrals, culminating with your acquaintance, Arthur Conan Doyle. I am an aspiring writer in America of which I am sure you have not heard. Nonetheless, I am compelled to contact you in the off chance that you may find the enclosed information of interest.
I have developed several correspondences during my young life with other writers with whom I share an intense interest in all manner of scientific, metaphysical and pseudoscientific speculation. Foremost among my correspondents are Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard, with whom I share a great enthusiasm and very modest income from writing fiction for pulp magazines in America, most notably “Weird Tales”." -- Excerpt from SHERLOCK HOLMES: MY LIFE by Lawrence R. Spencer
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Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) — known as H. P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction. Lovecraft's guiding aesthetic and philosophical principle was what he termed "cosmicism" or "cosmic horror", the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally inimical to the interests of humankind. As such, his stories express a profound indifference to human beliefs and affairs. Lovecraft is best known for his Cthulhu Mythos story cycle and the Necronomicon, a fictional magical textbook of rites and forbidden lore.
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe. A shared universe is a fictional universe to which more than one writer contributes. Works set in a shared universe share characters and other elements with varying degrees of consistency. Shared universes are contrasted with collaborative writing, in which multiple authors work on a single story. Shared universes are more common in fantasy and science fiction than in other genres. Examples include Star Trek, DC Universe, Marvel Universe, Star Wars, Forgotten Realms, Babylon 5, Foundation series, Dragonlance, Power Rangers, Man-Kzin Wars, and Cthulhu Mythos. (from Wikipedia.org)
February 16, 2013
ANOTHER ANTI-GRAVITY VIDEO: SPRING!
It's fun to disagree with reality! 
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BenJammin - Spring from Till Nowak on Vimeo.
Nach intensiven Training ist es BenJammin gelungen, die Schwerkraft zu besiegen! Die Single "SPRING" ist am 21.08.2009 erhältlich. Wir freuen uns!!
February 15, 2013
READ THESE BOOKS! (unless you’re an Illiterate Chickenshit)
il·lit·er·ate (
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Pin Itr-
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adj.
1.
a. Unable to read and write.
b. Having little or no formal education.
2.
a. Marked by inferiority to an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature.
b. Violating prescribed standards of speech or writing.
3. Ignorant of the fundamentals of a given art or branch of knowledge: musically illiterate.
chick·en·shit (ch
Pin Itk
Pin ItPin Itn-sh
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n.
1. Contemptibly petty, insignificant nonsense.
2. A coward.
adj.
1. Contemptibly unimportant; petty.
2. Cowardly; afraid.
(Note: This post is a unabashed, unapologetic self-promotion of books I have written and/or edited. I have learned that writers have to spend a lot of time promoting and marketing the books they write or no one reads them. I would rather WRITE books than spend my time on marketing. If you would rather READ BOOKS instead of advertisements ABOUT books, please buy my books. Thank you! )
