Internet (1991~2013): A virus forced into prostitution by
greedy corporations & used as a tool to Divide & Conquer.
Turn It Off, Tune It Out, Re-learn to Go Outside & Play.
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Below is the page mentioned in
Keith Lampe, Ro-Non-So-Te, Ponderosa Pine's
March 8, 2014 Newsletter
Click to view Peace On War by dahbud mensch
How THEY Silenced the Counterculture
ARPSN Seismic Heliplots ~ Seismic Activity & Weather at Seismic Site
M 3.0 - NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
2014-03-09 04:25:40 UTC ~ 7 km W of Cobb, CA
Notes from ~@~
Winky Dinks' Unfinished Business ~ http://vimeo.com/45343709
Time to Move On? The Case Against Daylight Saving Time
Changing our clocks twice a year doesn't save us energy or money, experts say.
Brian Handwerk, National Geographic, Published November 1, 2013, Article Source
[Ed Note: Clocks "spring forward" this Sunday, March 9, 2014 and Nobody is asking if this is a politicians trick to prevent NONE of the ABOVE from being a choice on Voter Ballots by using daylight savings time to keep voters dazed and confused ?]
Clocks "fall back" this Sunday, November 3, and people are again asking: Why do we bother with daylight saving time?
The latest Rasmussen Report from March 2013 found that only 37 percent of Americans surveyed thought daylight saving time (DST) is "worth the hassle," while 45 percent said it was not.
Tufts University professor Michael Downing, author of Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time, said such opposition has been around for a century.
"The whole proposition that you can gain or lose an hour is at best theoretical," he said. "So I think from the start people had no clear idea what we were doing or why we were doing it. It just generates confusion, and confusion generates bad will."
Beyond simple confusion and inconvenience, opponents make many cases against continuing to observe daylight saving time. (Related: "Daylight Saving Time 2013: When Does it End? And Why?")
No Energy Savings
From the early, humorous musings of Benjamin Franklin to the first widespread implementation of daylight savings during World War I and into the present day, observing DST has had a foundation in energy savings.
Lighter evenings mean lower demand for illumination and electricity, the theory goes. But studies question whether daylight saving time produces any gains at all—and some suggest it may have the opposite effect.
Indiana, once home to counties that both did and did not observe DST, adopted the practice statewide in 2006.
That unusual event meant Matthew Kotchen, an environmental economist at Yale, and colleagues could compare before-and-after electricity use across the state.
In their 2008 National Bureau of Economic Research study, the team found that lighting demand dropped, but the warmer hour of extra daylight tacked onto each evening led to more air-conditioning use, which canceled out the gains from reduced lighting and then some: Hoosiers paid higher electric bills than before DST, the study showed. (Related: "Extended Daylight Saving Time Not an Energy Saver?")
During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, parts of Australia extended daylight saving time while others did not.
Environmental economist Hendrik Wolff, of the University of Washington, and colleagues found that the practice did indeed drop lighting and electricity use in the evenings—but that higher energy demands during darker mornings completely canceled out the evening gains.
Wolff found regional differences in DST energy impacts, but paints an overall picture that's not positive.
"Everywhere there is air conditioning, our evidence suggests that daylight saving is a loser," Wolff said.
"If you don't have air conditioning, it could be a slight energy winner, but not overall in the United States. In 2007 we extended DST by one month in the U.S., and in that one month it turned out to be basically a zero-impact event." (See "Six Stealthy Energy Hogs: Are They Lurking in Your Home?")
In terms of energy savings, Downing said, Wolff's and other studies are no longer in much dispute: It's clear that DST doesn't save energy in the big picture.
Part of the story that is often ignored, he added, is the energy required to get people from place to place—gasoline. In fact the petroleum and automobile industries have always been huge supporters of DST, Downing said.
"When you give Americans more light at the end of the day, they really do want to get out of the house. And they go to ballparks, or to the mall and other places, but they don't walk there. Daylight saving reliably increases the amount of driving that Americans do, and gasoline consumption tracks up with daylight saving."
Hazardous to Your Health?
Shifting our clocks an hour naturally makes for a few groggy mornings, but some research suggests a far more dangerous impact to our bodies—an increased risk of heart attack. A 2012 study by University of Alabama at Birmingham's Martin Young found that the risk of heart attack surges by 10 percent on the Monday and Tuesday after moving the clocks ahead an hour each spring.
"Exactly why this happens is not known but there are several theories," Young said in a statement accompanying the study.
"Sleep deprivation, the body's circadian clock, and immune responses all can come into play when considering reasons that changing the time by an hour can be detrimental to someone's health."
The research reinforces 2008 findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that in Sweden, heart-attack risk rose just after the spring time change.
"The most likely explanation to our findings are disturbed sleep and disruption of biological rhythms," lead author Imre Janszky, of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, told National Geographic News in 2010.
Fortunately, these scary statistics may be balanced by the return to standard time, according to Young's research, which also found that heart-attack risk decreases 10 percent when clocks fall back.
"Just Plain Tired"
Till Roenneberg, a chronobiologist at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, studies less dramatic but cumulative and possibly critical impacts to our body's natural relationship with light and dark.
His research suggests that the human body's circadian clock, kept in tune by light and darkness, never adjusts to the changing chronology of DST. (Also see "Jet Lag Cure for Mice Illuminates Inner Workings of Circadian Clocks.")
"The consequence of that is that the majority of the population has drastically decreased productivity, decreased quality of life, increasing susceptibility to illness, and is just plain tired," Roenneberg told National Geographic in 2010.
Shifting a daylight hour from morning to evening only increases "social jet lag," Roenneberg explained, in which people's actual sleeping schedule is out of whack with optimal circadian sleep periods, making them chronically tired. (See: "Leap Year: How the World Makes Up for Lost Time.")
"Light doesn't do the same things to the body in the morning and the evening. More light in the morning would advance the body clock, and that would be good. But more light in the evening would even further delay the body clock."
Our health may benefit, however, from a quantifiable boost in recreational activities that goes along with lighter evenings. Hendrik Wolff and colleagues were among several groups to document this phenomenon, in their case using data from a nationwide American time-use study.
"We found that during the period of the 2007 [daylight] extension, people engaged in more outdoor recreation and less indoor-TV watching," he said. "An additional 3 percent of people engaged in outdoor behaviors who otherwise would have stayed indoors."
Cash is king, and economics have always played a role in the politics of daylight saving time. Over the past 50 years, DST has been stretched from six months to seven months to now eight months in part because several industries have been huge supporters. In the mid-1980s, for example, the golf industry estimated that an extra month of DST was worth $200 to $400 million.
During that same time the U.S. barbecue industry pegged their increased profits at $150 million for that same additional month.
Farmers Against DST
With any controversial subject, there are sure to be groups for and against. In the case of daylight saving time, it's often difficult to sort out which are which.
For some reason, many Americans grew up believing that the practice was adopted for farmers, Downing said.
"That's the complete inverse of what's true," he said. "The farmers were the only organized lobby against daylight saving in the history of the country," he said, explaining that the practice left them with an hour less sunlight to get crops to market.
"The farmers were the reason we never had a peacetime daylight saving time until 1966. They had a powerful lobby and were against it vociferously."
Many farmers still don't like DST, including some dairy farmers, who find that cows' natural milking schedules don't adapt easily to a sudden shift.
Religious, TV Opposition
Downing noted that a number of religions with prayer times depending on sunrise or sunset also object to DST because they don't like to have holy days fooled with—particularly among Orthodox practitioners.
"That echoes the original objections with daylight saving," he said. "The idea that we were fooling around with God's time and this was the mechanized world's way of somehow taking over God's world.
"Another group that's traditionally been opposed to it are organizations like the PTA and people concerned with schoolchildren," Downing noted.
"It has been expanded by a month every 20 years or so since the mid-1960s, and now we start to get daylight saving time in the late winter/early spring and in the very late autumn. This means that our sunrise times are so late that schoolchildren are out on dark streets in the morning, and that raises objections among parents of schoolchildren."
Downing's research also suggests that studies of increased traffic accidents and injuries, which variously support or condemn the practice of daylight saving time, don't really show enough of a difference to be statistically significant in a nation where more than 30,000 people are killed in traffic accidents each year.
The TV industry, Downing said, is also among the practice's opponents. "If you look at the Nielsen ratings during the first week of daylight saving, no matter when it is, even the most popular shows go down by 10 to 15 percent in viewership."
And Utah State University economist William F. Shughart II has estimated that the simple but inconvenient act of changing America's clocks and devices back and forth represents an annual $1.7 billion of lost opportunity cost.
Shughart's rough estimates were based on the average American's hourly wage and an assumption that each person spent some ten minutes changing clocks, watches, and other devices—time that could have been far more productively spent.
Daylight Saving Time Here to Stay?
The U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005 mandated a controversial month-long extension of daylight saving time, which began in 2007. A White House petition to end DST entirely stalled earlier this year because it failed to garner the required number of signatures, and Congress isn't currently exploring ending the practice, so it seems here to stay—at least where it's observed.
Because the federal government doesn't require states or territories to observe DST, Arizona—except for residents of the Navajo Nation—Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas Islands will ignore this weekend's switch.
This type of mishmash is common around the globe, creating the confusion that may be one of DST's biggest problems, according to critics. Most Asian and African nations avoid DST altogether. South America features a mix of different DST and non-DST schedules even among neighboring nations.
And while most of North America and Europe observe DST, all those nations don't change clocks at the same time, creating further discrepancies. "Every country tries to make their best switching dates based on their best beliefs," Wolff said.
Meanwhile, the passionate debate on the subject, at least, is likely to continue as it has for a century—even where facts linking DST to a given behavior are thin to nonexistent.
"Daylight saving has been credited with speeding up production in industrial plants and lessening eye-strain among school children, and it has been blamed for forcing homemakers to prepare dinner during the hottest hours of the day and browning out lawns unaccustomed to so much sunshine," Downing said.
"As you can imagine, the Congressional Record on daylight saving constitutes the great comic novel of the 20th century," he said.
"It's absolutely fascinating what daylight saving been blamed for and credited with over the years."
Should we drop daylight savings time?
Last week the UK changed the clocks, and this weekend it's time for the US to do the same. But a substantial amount of research suggests daylight saving time may not be beneficial – and in fact, might be harmful. Is it worth keeping?
theguardian.com, Friday 1 November 2013 14.30 EDT, Article Source
Is daylight savings time outdated? Photograph: Darren Staples/ReutersShould we no longer have daylight savings time?
68% = YES and 32% = NOThis poll is now closed
Nobody brought Peace Our Times, Nobody should be President,
& None of the Above should be a choice on Voter Ballots
Once Upon A Time
by C. Spangler © A work in progress
Maia a.k.a. Maya
A poem by Ralph Waldo EmersonIllusion works impenetrable, Weaving webs innumerable, Her gay pictures never fail, Crowds each on other, veil on veil, Charmer who will be believed By man who thirsts to be deceived.
Illusions like the tints of pearl, Or changing colors of the sky, Or ribbons of a dancing girl That mend her beauty to the eye.
The cold gray down upon the quinces lieth And the poor spinners weave their webs thereon To share the sunshine that so spicy is.
Samson stark, at Dagon's knee, Gropes for columns strong as he; When his ringlets grew and curled, Groped for axle of the world.
But Nature whistled with all her winds, Did as she pleased and went her way.
I have been asked to re-explain some things, publicly, for a select few who had a rare, particular type of, personal experience.
A majority of readers will not understand what is being shared without this personal experience, with exception of those who have observed it from a SPAT (Spiritual, Psychedelic, Already There) point of view.
Here is how this was usually introduced to kindred folks in the past. Everyone was asked, "How many here have burnt their hand?" In most cases, everyone in the room raised their hand.
This was followed by, "Raise your hand if your parents, in some way, told you playing with fire would burn." Once again, everyone in the room raised their hand.
This encounter was concluded by saying, "Even though your parents attempted to protect you from harm, you did not understand burn or fire until there was a practical experience of getting burned, harsh as it may have been.
Technical vs. Imagined Reality
Humanity is reflection, guided by frequency, based on light, and governed by duality.
Scientifically speaking eyes do not see, they reflect light which travels at 299,792,458 meters per second. Ears do not hear, they reflect sound which travels at 343 meters per second. Everything else, in a manner of speaking, is sense reflection based on touch, smell, and taste.
Imagine two (2) people standing inside a giant ball, looking eye to eye. Individual peripheral vision is approximately one hundred-eighty (180) degrees for a total shared reflection of three hundred-sixty (360) degrees, where reflection of maximum visual distance is based on ability of the eye to reflect objects in given light.
Beyond that space, or outside the ball, there is infinitive time and space most individuals are not able to observe. Jim Morrison and The Doors, for example, referred to this place as "The Other Side" in their song "Break On Through."
http://vimeo.com/36115671This concept becomes more interesting when one is aware of not being able to see directly behind their own head; which, from another perspective, is how close the "Other Side" actually is. ... Jumping ahead for a moment, in my opinion this is also a first step towards "breaking through" and there are people who meditate lifetimes in order to know a little about, or have the slightest experience of, this particular place.
Another factor involved in this developing equation is, the human body emits DC pulse and each one has a unique, specific, individual frequency which can not be currently measured due to mathematical inability; i.e., determining where zero decimal nine (0.9) turns into one (1.0); allowing for a simple subroutine to be created. Work in the field of biophotons may be an asset in discovering more about this phenomena.
On another note, if this frequency were discoverable [now] it could be used as a very nasty stealth weapon against other living things; which is bad because as a species, humans still kill without reason.
One also needs to understand that what happened five (5) minutes ago is now traveling through ether at the speed of light and defined in Sanskrit as Akashic records; a place of no secrets, where everything is recorded in light. Christians refer to this place as last judgment, where one's life passes before their eyes and the eyes of the throng.
Finally, the only thing that holds all of this stuff together, as we know it, and allows one to read this sentence, is an ability to breathe, like other living things. Unfortunately, air is the thing humans, in the form of pollution, attempt to destroy the most.
Explaining the Other Side
[Ed Note: This is a lengthy subject that needs to be presented in multiple levels and kept as brief as possible. There is other information that will be eventually added below and what one currently sees, is 'sort' of an outline. Also, it is impossible for me not to add related off topic stories few have heard. When this note is gone, this section is finished.]
The first question that usually comes up is, "Have you been there?" and the answer is yes, many times; however, I choose not to share this personal information via Internet.
I was impressed, beyond belief, with what I saw in that (Other Side) place and arrived at the question, "If something is personally experienced over and over, that is identical in every way, and other people have experienced it, when does one stop calling it hallucination and start calling it real?"
Myth of Er
The Myth of Er is a legend that concludes Plato's Republic (10.614-10.621). The story includes an account of the cosmos and the afterlife that greatly influenced religious, philosophical, and scientific thought for many centuries.
With many other souls as his companions, Er had come across an awesome place with four openings - two into and out of the sky and two into and out of the earth. Judges sat between these openings and ordered the souls which path to follow: the good were guided into the path in the sky, the immoral were directed below. But when Er approached the judges he was told to remain, listening and observing in order to report his experience to mankind.
Meanwhile from the other opening in the sky, clean souls floated down, recounting beautiful sights and wondrous feelings. Others, returning from the earth, appeared dirty, haggard and tired, crying in despair when recounting their awful experience, as each was required to pay a tenfold penalty for all the wicked deeds committed when alive. There were some, however, that could not be released from the underground. Murderers, tyrants and other non-political criminals were doomed to remain by the exit of the underground, unable to escape.
After seven days in the meadow the souls and Er were required to travel further. After four days they reached a place where they could see a rainbow shaft of light brighter than any they had seen before. After another day's travel they reached it. This was the spindle of Necessity. Several women, including Lady Necessity, her daughters and the Sirens were present. The souls were then organized into rows and were each given a lottery token apart from Er.
Then of their lottery tokens, they were required to come forward in order and choose their next life. Er recalled the first to choose a new life, a man who had not known the terrors of the underground, but had been rewarded in the sky, hastily chose a powerful dictatorship. Upon further inspection he realized that, among other atrocities, he was destined to eat his own children. Er observed that this was often the case of those who had been through the path in the sky, whereas those who had been punished often chose a better life. Many preferred a life different from their previous experience. Animals chose human lives while humans often chose the apparently easier lives of animals.
After this each soul was assigned a guardian spirit to help them through their life. They passed under the throne of Lady Necessity, then traveled to the Plane of Oblivion, where the River of Forgetfulness (River Lethe) flowed. Each soul was required to drink some of the water, in varying quantities, apart from Er. As they drank, each soul forgot everything. As they lay down at night to sleep each soul was lifted up into the night in various directions for rebirth, completing their journey. Er remembered nothing of the journey back to his body. He opened his eyes to find himself lying on the funeral pyre, early in the morning, and able to recall his journey through the afterlife.
In the dialogue Socrates introduces the story by explaining to his questioner, Glaucon, that the soul must be immortal, and cannot be destroyed. Socrates tells Glaucon the "Myth of Er" to explain that the choices we make and the character we develop will have consequences after death. In Book II of the Republic, Socrates points out that even the gods can be tricked by a clever charlatan who appears just while unjust in his psyche, in that they would welcome the pious but false "man of the people" and would reject and punish the truly just but falsely accused man. Thus in the Myth of Er, the gods send the falsely-pious and those moral out of conformity to norms to choose another life. The true characters of these are revealed when they choose the lives of tyrants. Missing from the people who choose their next life is what only the philosopher can give them: an appreciation of the intrinsic worth of wisdom, justice, courage and moderation--- not the pretense of these virtues but their genuine habituation in the character of the person. No matter how life treats one or how successful or famous or powerful one becomes, one way or the other, or even, as in the Myth, how many temporary heavenly rewards or hellish punishments one experiences, these virtues will always work to one's advantage. The truly virtuous is the megalopsuchia or great-souled person and this person has eudaimonia, that is, fully flourishing humanity. In the Myth of Er we are led to believe that philosophy will break the cycle of reward and punishment.
Frontiers of Science Fellowship
I continued to seek out folks who had personal experience with this 'other side' place and one of the more fascinating people I spoke with was Don Hamrick, who I met after a lecture in San Francisco during 1966.
Don established Frontiers of Science Fellowship (FOSF) on Redwood Drive in San Rafael and later moved the Harbinger facility to 1,085 acres (now called Harbin Hot Springs), in Lake County, California, about 100 miles north of the San Francisco Bay Area, from 1967 to 1969.
On another note, very few people are aware the Grateful Dead, on occasion, would practice in an old barn located at Harbin, that has since burned down, and funny as it was at the time, I remember Bear running around naked, there, with ;-) an eye dropper in his hand.
I should also mention "Frontiers of Science Celestial Synapse” that happened at Fillmore West on February 19, 1969 . Here is part of an article about it:
A what? What's Frontiers of Science? What's a synapse, and what's the Grateful Dead's name doing among the lines of medieval Irish script, the kind preferred for church bulletins?
The answer to the questions raised by the classy printed invitations was unquestionably the best musical gathering in months. Fifteen hundred invitations were sent out for the February 19 event, and though there was no other announcement, probably double that number attended. Everyone was treated to the best vibrations and some of the best music the Fillmore West had seen in some time.
After a stirring oboe and bagpipe introduction by the Golden Toad, Don Hamrick of Frontiers of Science spoke for a few minutes in a gentle rural accent, addressing the crowd as "the Goodly Company." "It is our hope," he said, "that this evening there will be an opening and a free interchange, so that something new may emerge. Let the barriers fall, let there be a merging."
Then the Grateful Dead began a set that ran for four hours or so with scarcely an interruption. "I haven't seen anything like this in years -- it's like one of the old Ken Kesey Acid Tests," said Bob Thomas, piper of the Toad and, like the Dead, veteran of many an Acid Test, "-- only it's less hectic and confused. It's fucking amazing." People were handing each other flowers, joints, funny incomprehensible little picket signs four inches high.
The Dead played continuously, a flowing improvisatory set of new material. (Originally the concert was to be recorded for inclusion on the next Dead album, but last-minute difficulties in setting up the recording equipment scotched that.) Three light shows were playing, at no charge to the sponsors. The Grateful Dead and Bill Graham donated their services for free.
Invitations had gone out to people in music and a broad range of psychedelic tribes -- from Rancho Olompali and other communes to the Hells Angels. Many Frontiers of Science people and other communards could be seen embracing each other, greeting strangers, dancing and celebrating.
Earth Coincidence Control Office (ECCO)
Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and John C. Lilly in 1991
One of my favorite photographs of this crew ~ via Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaI have always been fond of John C. Lilly's research, mimicked his work in a number of ways, and knew folks who kept me informed about what he was working on. We also had mutual friends.
During 1974 Lilly's research using various psychoactive drugs led him to believe in the existence of a certain hierarchical group of cosmic entities, the lowest of which he later dubbed Earth Coincidence Control Office (ECCO) in an autobiography published jointly with his wife Antonietta (often referred to as Toni). To elaborate, "There exists a Cosmic Coincidence Control Center (CCCC) with a Galactic substation called Galactic Coincidence Control (GCC). Within GCC is the Solar System Control Unit (SSCU), within which is the Earth Coincidence Control Office (ECCO). This conclusion had been predicted in his past works having stated that, "For the first time I began to consider that God really, existed in me and that there is a guiding intelligence in the universe."
He also states that there exist nine conditions which should be followed by humans who seek to control coincidences in their own lives.
1). You must know/assume/simulate our existence in ECCO.
2). You must be willing to accept our responsibility for control of your coincidences.
3). You must exert your best capabilities for your survival programs and your own development as an advancing/advanced member of ECCO's earthside corps of controlled coincidence workers. You are expected to use your best intelligence in this service.
4). You are expected to expect the unexpected every minute, every hour of every day and of every night.
5). You must be able to maintain conscious/thinking/ reasoning no matter what events we arrange to happen to you. Some of these events will seem catachlysmic/catastrophic/overwhelming: remember stay aware, no matter what happens/apparently happens to you.
6). You are in our training program for life: there is no escape from it. We (not you) control the long-term coincidences; you (not we) control the shorter-term coincidences by your own efforts.
7). Your major mission on earth is to discover/create that which we do to control the long-term coincidence patterns: you are being trained on Earth to do this job.
8). When your mission on planet Earth is completed, you will no longer be required to remain/return there.
9). Remember the motto passed to us (from GCC via SSCU): "Cosmic Love is absolutely Ruthless and Highly Indifferent: it teaches its lessons whether you like/dislike them or not."
Project Starquest, precursor of SETI [Off Topic]
Lilly was also interested in the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project. During 1961 a group of scientists including Lilly gathered at the Green Bank Observatory to discuss the possibility of using the techniques of radio astronomy to detect evidence of intelligent life outside our Solar System. They called themselves The Order of the Dolphin after Lilly's work with dolphins. They discussed the Drake equation, used to estimate the number of communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy.
"Project Starquest" was a precursor of SETI headed by Nick Marshall, W6OLO & K2SS, who held a weekly 20m "Starquest Net" on high frequency amateur radio.
There is little information available on Project Starquest and here are three (3) pages that contain scanned images of BBS communication (about it) from March 1981: Page 44, Page 45, & Page 46 via Dean Gengle's San Francisco CommuniTree; which is mentioned in this Wikipedia article on Trolls. Dean also wrote Toward An Electronic Bill of Rights, which is located here.
I worked with Nick as Starquest's secretary and here are some stories few know.
Before Starquest there was an amateur radio store on Telegraph Avenue, near the Oakland / Berkeley border, called HRO (Ham Radio Outlet).
On saturday mornings I would get together with my friend Steve, who worked there, and drop off a stack of large, fan-fold, printouts containing bay area satellite tracking data, for helping other amateur operators find satellites (this was before computers were popular).
Since this is Internet and ;-) things do not happen unless there are pictures, here are some confirmations for communicating with space vehicles, from home, using home-brewed equipment:
Acknowledgement for communicating with Aleksandr Volkov
on Soviet Space Station, MIR, from home
Acknowledgement for communicating with Owen Garriott, W5LFL
on Spacecraft Columbia from homeOne saturday morning I met a young amateur radio operator (Kent Cullers), who was a sightless, physics student at the University of California, Berkeley, that had a sense of humor similar to mine. We became friends and when I was visiting with Steve, he would drop by to have coffee and chat.
When I started working with Nick on Starquest, Kent became very interested in the project and later became involved with SETI.
During 1997 Kent was portrayed by actor William Fichtner as fictional character Kent Clark in the movie Contact.
In the realm of "Small world, isn't it?" Kent, at one time, was involved with a Bay area Amateur radio repeater and on occasion I would have conversations with him and John Cutler; a producer and engineer for the Grateful Dead.
Near-Death Experience (NDE)
I have been exposed to NDE multiple times and each experience was similar. In the below section on NDE traits, sentences in green are things I have personally experienced.
A near-death experience (NDE) refers to personal experiences associated with impending death, encompassing multiple possible sensations including detachment from the body, feelings of levitation, total serenity, security, warmth, the experience of absolute dissolution, and the presence of a light. These phenomena are usually reported after an individual has been pronounced clinically dead or has been very close to death. With recent developments in cardiac resuscitation techniques, the number of reported NDEs has increased. The experiences have been hypothesized in medical journals as having the characteristics of hallucinations, while parapsychologists and a number of scientists have pointed to them as evidence of an afterlife and mind-body dualism. Religious believers tend to be divided on and uncertain about their interpretation of NDEs, given that while they verify some aspects of the faiths, they also explicitly falsify other aspects. According to the 2013 PLOS ONE article by Thonnard et al., "near-death experiences cannot be considered as imagined event memories. On the contrary, their physiological origins could lead them to be really perceived although not lived in the reality."
According to a Gallup poll, approximately eight million Americans claim to have had a near-death experience. Some commentators, such as Simpson, claim that the number of near-death experiencers may be underestimated. People who have had a near-death experience may not be comfortable discussing the experience with others, potentially due in part to some seeing an NDE as a paranormal experience. NDEs are among the phenomena studied in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and hospital medicine.
Traits of a classic NDE are as follows:
• The notice of unpleasant sound or noise (claimed by R. Moody).
• A sense/awareness of being dead.
• A sense of peace, well-being and painlessness. Positive emotions. A sense of removal from the world.
• An out-of-body experience. A perception of one's body from an outside position. Sometimes observing doctors and nurses performing medical resuscitation efforts.
• A "tunnel experience". A sense of moving up, or through, a passageway or staircase.
• A rapid movement toward and/or sudden immersion in a powerful light. Communication with the light.
• An intense feeling of unconditional love and acceptance.
• Encountering "Beings of Light", "Beings dressed in white", or similar. Also, the possibility of being reunited with deceased loved ones.
• Receiving a life review.
• Receiving knowledge about one's life and the nature of the universe.
• Approaching a border, or a decision by oneself or others to return to one's body, often accompanied by a reluctance to return.
• Connection to the cultural beliefs held by the individual, which seem to dictate the phenomena experienced in the NDE and the later interpretation thereof.
Kenneth Ring (1980) subdivided the NDE on a five-stage continuum. The subdivisions were:
1). Peace
2). Body separation
3). Entering darkness
4). Seeing the light
5). Entering the light
"Born Lord" and "The Song"
At about the same time I began to seek out individuals (mostly psychologists) who could comment on this 'other side', music went psychedelic.
Along with The Holy Modal Rounders [1], John Fahey [2], The Charlatans, and Mike Wilhelm's contributions to the psychedelic scene, ... the Beatles introduced many of the major elements of the psychedelic sound to mainstream audiences in the mid-1960s, for example with "I Feel Fine" (1964), which used guitar feedback; in late 1965 the Rubber Soul album used a sitar on "Norwegian Wood"; they employed backmasking on their 1966 single B-side "Rain" and other tracks that appeared on their Revolver album later that year. Drug references began to appear in their songs, in "Day Tripper" (1965), and more explicitly in "Tomorrow Never Knows" (1966).
Then there was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) which is probably one of the best audio releases relating to this 'other side'.
As this music expanded I began to experience something 'other side' related that I called, "The Song."
"The Song" was any music played by a fictitious D.J. referred to as "Born Lord" and would (sort of) arrive in one's head, like a big locomotive at a train station, pick the listener up, and take them on an amazing journey to the source of that music or song.
Here are a few tunes that are paradoxical references to this place and present two sides of what is experienced; depending on the listeners' state of mind.
The Promise
by Michael Pinder ~ [Click to listen]The world is full of people Some are trying to lend a hand To help us learn to recognize So we can understand That life holds many secrets They stand before our doors Admit the ones you're hiding now So you may know them all
Twelve vibrations long ago are the cause Of me and mine, and you and yours Just let them be, and the doors will open wide To paintings on the rocks Gigantic Stonehenge blocks The Pyramids and the Sphinx The temples are the links To lead us through our past So we might find Ourselves at last
The first book ever written Was a symbol of our home It came from solar heaven Where our life wave was born We came in ships a-singing The Praise of One above Like children in a garden Our hearts were full of love
Ezekiel's wheels seem to be turning up now The pillar of fire, a luminous cloud I know I've seen them And they do make a sound They filled my soul with "Music of the Spheres" It's been my goal for nine long years To write this song; so I can say Exactly what I believe is coming down
Oh, sweet loving music I hear your tender call To me you are a river Pure love your waterfall A tide forever bathing a rough and rocky shore Please take us on a journey So we can learn some more
I dream by day, I dream by night Through colored rays, I feel your might And now I claim my right, son of God Eternal life, the promise of your rainbow light.
Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft
by Klaatu, John Woloschuk and Terry Draper ~ [Click to listen]In your mind you have abilities you know, To telepath messages through the vast unknown.
Please close your eyes and concentrate, With every thought you think, Upon the recitation we're about to sing.
Calling occupants of interplanetary craft, Calling occupants of interplanetary, most extraordinary craft.
Calling occupants of interplanetary craft, Calling occupants of interplanetary craft, Calling occupants of interplanetary, most extraordinary craft.
You've been observing our earth And we'd like to make a contact with you.
We are your friends.
Calling occupants of interplanetary craft, Calling occupants and interplanetary ultra-emissaries.
We've been observing your earth, And one night we'll make a contact with you.
We are your friends.
Calling occupants of interplanetary craft, Calling occupants of interplanetary, quite extraordinary craft.
Please come in peace we beseech you, Only a landing will teach them, Our earth may never survive, So do come we beg you.
Please interstellar policemen, Won't you give us a sign, Give us a sign that we've reached you.
With your mind you have ability to form, And transmit thought energy far beyond the norm.
You close your eyes, You concentrate, Together that's the way, To send the message.
We declare World Contact Day.
Calling occupants of interplanetary craft, Calling occupants of interplanetary craft, Calling occupants of interplanetary, most extraordinary craft.
Ahhh
Calling occupants, Calling occupants, Calling occupants, Calling occupants, Calling occupants of interplanetary, most extraordinary craft.
Eight Miles High
by The Byrds
[Click to listen] ~ Last appearance with a soon-to-be fired David Crosby]Eight miles high and when you touch down You'll find that it's stranger than known Signs in the street that say where you're going Are somewhere just being their own
Nowhere is there warmth to be found among those afraid of losing their ground Rain gray town known for its sound In places small faces unbound
Round the squares huddled in storms Some laughing some just shapeless forms Sidewalk scenes and black limousines Some living some standing alone
Are You Experienced?
by Jimi Hendrix ~ [Click to listen]If you can just get your mind together, then come on across to me, We'll hold hands and then we'll watch the sun rise from the bottom of the sea
But first, Are You Experienced? Uh! Have you ever been experienced? Well, I have
I know, I know you'll probably scream n' cry That your little world won't let go! But who in your measly little world are trying to prove that You're made out of gold and uh can't be sold
So-uh, Are You Experienced? Have you ever been experienced? Well, I have
Uh, let me prove it to you
Trumpets and violins like ah here in the distance I think they're calling our names Maybe now you can't hear them, but you will ha ha if you just, take hold of my hand
Oh, But Are You Experienced? Have you ever been experienced? Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful
About to Begin
by Robin Trower ~ [Click to listen]If you stand in the light, You get the feel of the night, And the music that plays in your ears.
In your head you can hear, A voice so sweet and clear, And the music that plays in your head.
As it flows up from the ground, Taking all who hear that sound, Close your eyes, it's about to begin.
Hardly daring to breathe, A new life you perceive, You try hard not to break the spell.
All at once it seems both, So far and yet so close, If you reach out to touch, it will be gone.
As it flows up from the ground, Taking all who hear that sound,
Close your eyes, it's about to begin,
Close your eyes, it's about to begin,
Close your eyes, it's about to begin.
You'll Make It Through
by Michael Pinder ~ [Click to listen]If you're caught in darkness Holding on for dear life Remember where you started and how you knew what was right And now if you're lonely, and the feeling ain't right
Hold on, don't give in You'll make it through the night Hold on You'll make it through this life
Living all together is the biggest challenge ever Someone's gonna come and set you right Spread your wings and love will guide your flight Get those good things into your life You've got the real thing, and only love can bring An ending to these troubled times
If your heart is heavy And you live in fear There's a time to be lonely And a time to get clear Let these words we're singing Reach your inner ear
Hold on, don't give in You'll make it through the night Hold on You'll make it through this life
Free As A Dove
by Michael Pinder ~ [Click to listen]One day I asked aloud, Amidst the dark confusion I asked where could be found the answer to our problems? And then out of the dark, a voice was saying, "Listen" Listen to your heart We are all wise within
And only you Only you can change the way you are And only you can find your morning start Through the day while you're working, Do your hands feel like clay? In the night when you're loving Do you give your love away? Or save it for a rainy day?
Only you, only you can change the way you feel And only you can beat the karmic wheel Through the day when you're thinking Do you know who you are? In the night while you're dreaming Do you know where you are? Is your home a distant star?
Keep your head wide open Do not fall for the same old things that you did before
This world's cold Religions they'll lead you anywhere But the secret door On your second floor
This time around, you've got to see from the highest mountain And then you'll find you've got to feel like the depths of the sea
All light and sound is perpetual motion If you understand then one day you'll be free Free as a dove
The Lonely One
by Dave Mason ~ [Click to listen]There've been moments of despair - There've been times I couldn't care - I was the lonely one - Then you showed myself to me - And I found I needn't be - Another lonely one
(CHORUS) - Running in the wilderness - And dreaming in the sun - n'Crying to the sky at night - For God's eternal son
Through the truth and through the lies - There is really no disguise - To hide the lonely one - You can find him on a card - Being matched with other hearts - The really lonely one
(CHORUS) - Running in the wilderness - And dreaming in the sun - n'Crying to the sky at night - For God's eternal son
Inside your rooms behind your wall - I see your face you know - I hear your call - Is this some madness that's been left unchecked - Or will there always be just promises
(CHORUS) - Running in the wilderness - And dreaming in the sun - n'Crying to the sky at night - For God's eternal son
There are men that hold the key - To set everybody free - But they are the lonely ones - And if the day should come - When they all can work as one - There'll be a destiny, Yes I know
(CHORUS) - Running in the wilderness - And dreaming in the sun - n'Crying to the sky at night - For God's eternal son, ............Yeah, yeah
Something Is Happening ... and Related Stories
Psychedelic Trips For The Mind
A book by Paul KrassnerGroup Hallucination
Chapter 3, The Grateful Dead, Page 82, by CurtisSan Francisco, 1967, the Human Be-In.
Something odd happened at this Gathering of the Tribes that still permeates my mind. I have confirmed that I was not the only one who experienced this.
Right before the Grateful Dead played, there was a "gentle person" from India who offered blessings from the stage. While this was occurring, a group of folks in the back of the crowd started screaming, "Fuck you, bring on the band," and other derogatory comments.
The person on stage stopped for a moment, kind of gazed in the general direction of the comments, bowed, and something that looked like a lightening bolt left him, and struck in that general area, illuminating it with light. This in turn seemed to swell the energy to even greater heights, and I heard the words, "Don't freak with a freak" come from the Cosmic Kitchen.
It was only a matter of moments before the Dead were (chuckle) tuned up and playing. This is when the oddity took place. I think the band was playing a song called "Alligator." The audience energy was swirling in what appeared to be a circle and gave the impression of being on a gigantic carousel. This swirling re-formed into this incredible egg-like shape of light that appeared above the stage, and everyone's body seemed to dissolve.
What happened next is hard to describe. It was like the light had joined everyone there together, and the realm of individuality was gone. There was a mutual chill of excitement that filled the air, and I began to hear comments like: "I think we made it." "Are we here?" "This is it!" And "God, isn't it beautiful?" For a moment there was absolute silence. We were all stuck in this "egg of light," and it was beyond any beauty that I could describe in words.
It was at this point I heard the words "Where do we go from here?" come from the Cosmic Kitchen. Almost instantaneously, I heard hundreds of responses come from the crowd, and very few were identical. The light began to fade, and in a flash we were back to the stage and crowd. I did hear folks asking one another, "Did you experience that?" among other questions, and the answer was yes.
When everything came back together, something new was present. It no longer seemed that we were one big family. It appeared that we somehow had resettled into smaller groups that were perhaps now driven by ego. Coincidently, this sort of shows up in successive events pertaining to the history of Haight/Ashbury and that culture.
This experience at the Be-In kept running through my mind. In the early '70s, Ram Dass and I discussed this at length, while sitting on the roof of the Palace Heights Hotel in Delhi, India. We came to the conclusion that this incident, which occurred in Golden Gate Park, was the beginning of what we termed the "Social Karma Ego Dharma Games," or a point where people started growing apart, rather than growing together.
[1] Ed Note: The Holy Modal Rounders and David Peel played for Nobody.
[2] Ed. Note: During the early '60s I opened for John [Click to listen] a few times on the East Coast and got to hang out with him. The last place I saw him, with my friend Ralph, was at a place called "The Folksinger" located in Portland, Oregon that was owned by Whitey Davis, who later worked with my old, missed, friend Chet Helms and The Family Dog at the Avalon Ballroom.
-------> Check back, == to be continued == this time, until finished <-------
Freedom of expression and freedom of speech aren't really important unless they're heard...It's hard for me to stay silent when I keep hearing that peace is only attainable through war. And there's nothing more scary than watching ignorance in action. So I dedicated this Emmy to all the people who feel compelled to speak out and not afraid to speak to power and won't shut up and refuse to be silenced. ~ Tom Smothers
Executives Screw 99% & Prove 1% Rules
Non-Wealthy Taxpaying Suckers
Pay for Executive Billionaires Airplane Fuel
One Can Lead A Horse To Water, But...
Until there is a solution for this, where one solution has been provided, Nobody will continue to bring Peace to Our Times, feed the hungry, care for the sick, bake apple pie better than Mom, and believes NONE of the ABOVE should be a choice on Voter Ballots.
Oh, I hope that I see you again I never even caught your name As you looked through my window pane ~~ So I'm writing this message today I'm thinking that you'll have a way Of hearing the notes in my tune ~~ Where are you going? Where have you been? I can imagine other worlds you have seen ~~ Beautiful faces and music so serene ~~ So I do hope I see you again My universal citizen You went as quickly as you came ~~ You know the power Your love is right You have good reason To stay out of sight ~~ But break our illusions and help us Be the light ~ Mike Pinder
Without love in the dream, it will never come true. ~ Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter
