Real witches cry foul at portrayal on “True Blood”
(Reuters) – Critics of bloody violence and excessive sex on TV have long had HBO’s vampire drama “True Blood” in their cross hairs, but now the popular series has another group of wary citizens — witches, real ones.
The series’ fourth season has focused on Marnie Stonebrook (Fiona Shaw), a seemingly harmless medium and leader of a Wiccan group who becomes the physical conduit for Antonia, a long dead witch who is hellbent on vengeance against vampires who persecuted and burned her at the stake.
Marnie winds up as the mouthpiece for Antonia’s spell to drive the bloodsuckers of fictional “True Blood” town Bon Temps into the daylight. And that sort of deadly revenge, say some modern-day witches, is what gives witchcraft a bad name. Read full story from reuters.com
Native American:
State of Sequoyah Conference To Address Native American Issues
The State of Sequoyah Conference—scheduled for September 1 and 2—will address a number of Native American issues including economic development, history, contemporary studies, as well as warriors and war.
Speakers for September 1 include Cherokee Nation Tribal Councillors Julia Coates and Cara Cowan Watts; Wyman Kirk, who is with Northeastern State University’s (NSU) Language Program; Courtney Lewis, a Cherokee graduate student studying anthropology; Julie Reed, of the University of North Carolina; and Sonia Genslar, author of The Revenant, which is a young adult novel set in the 1890s at the Cherokee Female Seminary. Read full story from indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com
Court Preserves Indian Health Care Law
WASHINGTON – The permanent reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act is safe for now. That’s according to a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit handed down on August 12, which found that some parts of the overall Obama administration healthcare plan are unconstitutional—but not the Indian health law.
The permanent reauthorization of the IHCIA was signed into law in 2010 as part of the larger healthcare reform bill pushed by the Obama administration. Given the controversies involved with some parts of that legislation, especially the so-called “individual mandate” to require Americans to buy health insurance, some Indian advocates felt it would have been safer to have IHCIA pass as a standalone bill. Read full story from indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com
Natasha N. Hawkins, 31, pleaded guilty to a Class A felony battery charge in the death of 2-year-old Jezaih King. In June, a jury found Jezaih’s mother, Latisha Lawson, guilty of murder. Read full story from journalgazette.net
And now, those mysterious rumblings under the city have found a new believer — the city’s Ward 10 Coun. Al Maghnieh, who says it’s time to start taking the phenomenon seriously.
“It’s very present and real,” he said.
Maghnieh added that those who think the phenomenon is a joke or that its proponents are “crazy” need to grasp the implications in terms of health and the environment. Read full story from montrealgazette.com
Tattoos Come Alive in Canadian Indie Horror ‘Comforting Skin’ (VIDEO)
There have been a small handful of films made over the years about tattoos taking on a life of their own. I’ve always found these films to be conceptually interesting, since tattoos often carry deep meaning to the bearer, ones that are often tied to a persons sense of identity, but Comforting Skin appears to be the first film to execute on the idea solidly. Read full story from brutalashell.com
Holistic Health:
Traditional African Medicine: Herbalism, Spirituality and Treating HIV/AIDS
Throughout Africa, there are more traditional healers than trained medical practitioners, according to the book Healing Traditions: African Medicine, Cultural Exchange, and Competition in South Africa, 1820-1948. The traditional healers promote traditional African medicine, a form of holistic health that combines spiritual beliefs and herbalism to treat patients. Because traditional healers are so well-respected and trusted by their communities, many practitioners and followers of westernized medicine believe the healers can play an important role in treating deadly epidemics such as HIV/AIDS among Africans. Read full story from empowher.com
News:
1,000 alleged witches arrested, drugged DAKAR, Senegal — Authorities in Gambia have rounded up about 1,000 people and forced them to drink hallucinogens in a witch-hunting campaign that is terrorizing the tiny West African nation, an international rights group said Wednesday.
Amnesty International called on the government of President Yahya Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup and has claimed he can cure AIDS, to halt the campaign and bring those responsible to justice.
Gambian officials could not immediately be reached for comment and the government has issued no statements in reaction to the report.
Authorities began inviting “witch doctors,” who combat witches, to come from nearby Guinea soon after the death earlier this year of the president’s aunt. Jammeh “reportedly believes that witchcraft was used in her death,” the London-based rights group said. Read full story from msnbc.com
Photography:
Multicolored Auroras Sparked by Double Sun Blast
An auroral “flame” flickers over Tibbitt Lake in Canada’s Northwest Territories early on August 7. Throughout last weekend, auroras shimmered above northern countries as Earth’s atmosphere was hit by its strongest geomagnetic storm in years. See photos at nationalgeographic.com
Media:
The Moon Up Close, in HD
For the past two years, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been orbiting the Moon, gathering data that will help astronauts prepare for long-duration expeditions to the lunar surface, and eventually push further into the “infinite frontier of space.” (Read more about the big picture plan here.)
Making The Shining
In 1980, Stanley Kubrick shot The Shining, the classic horror film based on Stephen King’s novel. During production, the director allowed his daughter Vivian, then 17 years old, to shoot a documentary called Making The Shining, which lets you spend 33 minutes being a fly on the wall. Read full story from openculture.com
Gif Recap: ‘True Blood’
Oh, yes. It’s finally happened! Sookie and Eric! Well, that is until King Bill walks in on them. Damn it Bill! Royal or not, you have crappy timing! We wanted to see some Sookie/Eric sex! And really, Sookie shouldn’t have stopped Eric from staking Bill with that poker. Instead, Eric kneels before his liege. Oh, that isn’t going to end well. Read full story from screenjunkies.com
Figures show that Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the eighth and final instalment of the boy wizard franchise, has surpassed $1bn (£615m) in global box office returns. The previous best of the series was $974.8m set by the first movie 10 years ago, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Read full story from guardian.co.uk
Events:
UPCOMING POW WOWS 2011
Nationwide pow wow calendar covering all events including Gathering of the Nations and more. Check for the next Pow wow in your state or city.
“The Response” Promises Toxic Mix of Racism and Bigotry
A mix of racism and bigotry against American Indians, Palestinians, Muslims, Jews, gay people and others is the backdrop to a mass rally billed as “A National Day of Prayer” that will take place in Texas the first weekend in August.
August 3 , 2011 – Open Lughnasadh/Lammas Ritual (Bring a DISH)
Merry Meet! Come and join in the celebration of the next turninsg of the wheel. 13 Magickal Moons is hosting an Open Lughnassad/Lammas Ritual on Wednesday August 3 at 7:30pm during Tea Nite. Join us for an evening of magick and mystery! Bring a dish to share and be sure to dress accordingly for the weather!!!
News:
Woman killed over suspected sorcery
BARIPADA: A 45-year-old woman was arrested from Thakurmunda area in Mayurbhanj district for allegedly killing a tribal woman suspecting her to be practising sorcery. The accused Jaba Tudu was produced in the court on Monday and remanded in judicial custody.
Police sources said Tudu, a resident of Nunadiha village, beheaded Jamuna Hansda (55) suspecting that the latter practised black magic on her husband. Read full story from ibnlive.in.com
Local Pagans might have heard of Druid Heights, but then again, the area has been kept so secret that maybe they haven’t. The community is typically off limits to hikers and random visitors, but for only two days this summer (the first was July 30th) a lucky group of people will be treated to a hike and evening of amazing poetry amongst the beautiful architecture that is known as Druid Heights. Read full story from examiner.com
The Hindu secularists : Liberals or Hypocrites?
Today, we can find many people who are quick to christen famous Hindu gurus as “dhongis” and “pakhandi”. Such people generally hold the view that to become a guru all one needs is to chant a few mantras and promote the supertitions. These people think that the millions who follow the advice and teachings of such gurus are “fools” and ignorant of the modern science. Moreover, they not only percieve Hinduism as a mix of cast system, dowry, sati pratha etc but also use these assumptions as a basic elements of their argument to further denigrate their own culture and the ancient knowledge. These are the set of people who have never read even the bhagvad-Gita, the works of the world famous scholar Sri Aurobindo or the testimonials of the famous scientists like Heisenberg, Nicholas Tesla, Albert Einstein etc. Read full story from chakranews.com
Media:
Understanding the religious history of the Knights Templar
The group has come to everyone’s attention because of Anders Behring Breivik’s killing spree in Norway, now just over a week ago. He claimed in his rambling manifesto to represent a modern-day “Knights Templar”. Read full story from cnn.com
Why Pagans Need Community Centers
In response to the Sacred Paths Center’s financial situation, opinions have been circulating that Pagans don’t need community centers. I realized that we assume the reasons for community center projects are obvious.
In some of the conversations online, the feeling that we get is that some folks are looking at just what they need instead of the needs of other people and the whole of the Pagan community. If your first response is that you don’t need X (be it a building or whatever) to practice your religion, so that X isn’t a valid reason for Pagans to have a center, ask yourself this… Are there are a lot of other folks who would benefit from that function of the community center? What would having X mean for the Pagan community. Just think of all of the Pagans in just the DC region. What about the regions with large numbers of Pagans? Think of all of the Pagan groups and all of the Pagan event organizers. Just because you don’t feel that you’re in need of a community center doesn’t mean that the Pagan community wouldn’t greatly benefit from a community center. Read full story from openhearthfoundation.blogspot.com
Arts & Entertainment:
10 Creepy, Sexy Fairy Tales That Should Be Films Kelly Faircloth — If there’s one thing we learned this past week at Comic-Con, it’s that Hollywood is obsessed with fairy tales. They’re magical, they’ve got instant recognition… and they’re public domain. But Hollywood keeps hitting on the same five stories.
With all due respect to both Emma Watson and Guillermo del Toro, the absolute last thing we need is yet another take on Beauty and the Beast. We also don’t need a Sleeping Beauty or SnowWhite, and god forbid someone try again with Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood. Rather than returning to the same well-worn stories, here are ten slightly lesser-known fairy stories worthy of Hermoine and the Hellboy director, as well as anyone else in Hollywood. Read full story from io9.com
News:
S.African ‘corpse’ wakes up, scares off morgue staff: report
A 50-year-old South African man thought to be dead woke up in a chilly morgue on Sunday and shouted to be let out, scaring off two attendants who thought he was a ghost, local media reported.
“His family thought he had died,” health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo told the Sapa news agency.
“The family called a private undertaker who took what they thought was a dead body to the morgue, but the man woke up inside the morgue on Sunday at 5:00 pm and screamed, demanding to be taken out of the cold place.”
This caused two mortuary attendants on duty to flee the building in the small town of Libode in the rural Eastern Cape as they thought it was a ghost. Read full story from yahoo.com
When the severed head of a wolf wrapped in women’s lingerie turned up near the city of Tabouk in northern Saudi Arabia this week, authorities knew they had another case of witchcraft on their hands, a capital offence in the ultra-conservative desert kingdom.
Agents of the country’s Anti-Witchcraft Unit were quickly dispatched and set about trying to break the spell that used the beast’s head. Read full story from jpost.com
The “government enshrinement of the cross was an impermissible mingling of church and state,” the American Atheists say in a press statement.
The group says it filed the lawsuit this week in state court in New York and posted a copy of the lawsuit on its website. Read full story from cnn.com
Anders Behring Breivik: Christian terrorist? Right-wing extremist? Madman? When news broke about the bombing in Olso, many commentators assumed links with Islamic extremism. When reports came of the massacre on Utøya island, perpetrated by a “tall, blonde, Nordic, man,” speculation quieted down until Anders Behring Breivik was identified. News reports first described Breivik as a “Christian terrorist,” largely on the basis of his Facebook profile and his postings to Christian fundamentalist Web sites. After his manifesto became public, Breivik was characterized as a “right-wing extremist.” To most, the Christian terrorist/right-wing extremist distinction makes little real difference: Only a madman could engage in such wanton killing. REad full story from washingtonpost.com
Science:
The Science Behind Dreaming
For centuries people have pondered the meaning of dreams. Early civilizations thought of dreams as a medium between our earthly world and that of the gods. In fact, the Greeks and Romans were convinced that dreams had certain prophetic powers. While there has always been a great interest in the interpretation of human dreams, it wasn’t until the end of the nineteenth century that Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung put forth some of the most widely-known modern theories of dreaming. Freud’s theory centred around the notion of repressed longing — the idea that dreaming allows us to sort through unresolved, repressed wishes. Carl Jung (who studied under Freud) also believed that dreams had psychological importance, but proposed different theories about their meaning. Read full story from scientificamerican.com
One of the best shooting star events of the year is the annual August Perseid meteor shower. (See Perseids pictures.) However this year’s peak, on August 12, happens to coincide with a bright full moon—drastically cutting down the number of meteors visible to the naked eye.
Yet while the main event might be blocked out by the blinding moonlight, the opening act promises to be much better. Read full story from nationalgeographic.com
Where House Cats Roam: Researchers Compare the Mysterious Wanderings of Pet and Stray Felines
Anyone who has ever owned an outdoor cat knows that it tends to disappear for hours, sometimes days, at a time. Where do cats go when they are lurking out of sight? The question is of interest not just to pet owners but also to conservation scientists who study the impact of free-roaming cats on wildlife populations. Scientists at the University of Illinois and the Illinois Natural History Survey recently attached radio transmitters to the adjustable collars of 18 pet and 24 feral cats in southeastern Champaign-Urbana and tracked the animals by truck and on foot for more than one year. Read full story from scientificamerican.com
Media:
Norway attacks show why you can’t blame the muslims
In the immediate aftermath of 1995’s Oklahoma City bombing, much of the news media rushed to suggest that a Muslim, or at least a Middle Eastern connection, was behind the attacks.
News reports on television and in print featured Middle East terrorism experts claiming the Oklahoma City attack echoed a World Trade Center bombing two years earlier and that it contained parallels to recent Mideast attacks.
The FBI picked up Ibrahim Ahmad, a Jordanian American, for questioning in an initial dragnet.
The origins of the ancient Olympics are shrouded in mystery, but the generally accepted date for the first Olympiad is 776 BCE, and the games endured for an incredible 1,170 years before the Emperor Theodosius I suppressed them in 394 CE because they were too reminiscent of paganism. The city remained inhabited for another 150 or so years, but by around 551 CE Olympia lay in ruins, and it wouldn’t be until 1829 that it would be rediscovered and excavations could begin. Read full story from io9.com
Bronze Age house from Israel uncovered
Archaeological work during the first season at Tel Shikmona, on the southern edge of Israel’s city of Haifa, has uncovered the remains of a house dating back 3000 years. The site was originally excavated about 40 years ago, but neglect, off road vehicles and the build up of rubbish meant that the site became obscured from view and lay all but forgotten.
Tel Shikmona is located in the Shikmona Nature Reserve and National Park, managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. It was originally excavated by Yosef Algavish on behalf of the Municipality of Haifa, when remains of settlement dating from the late Bronze Age (16th century BCE) to the Muslim period of the 7th century CE were uncovered. Read full story from pasthorizonspr.com
“The Pottermania will experience one last spasm as the Grand Finale of Harry Potter movies, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2),” he writes. “When the book was released in July 2007, 11 million copies sold in 24 hours, making it the fastest selling book in history. Read full story from beliefnet.com
I’ll spare you the rest of my lines (they’re etched on my hand Harry Potter 5 style) and get to the point.
Yesterday Dread Central reported that a new Evil Dead film looked to be going into production. I know, most of us have long since learned to take such stories with at least a few hefty pinches of salt, given how often rumours of a fourth installment and/or remake have arisen this past decade or so. But in this instance, confirmation came quite swiftly from one of the highest possible sources, and – as is so often the case these days – it came via an exchange on Twitter: Read the full story from brutalashell.com
Assembly of First Nations Kicks Off National Assembly
First Nations from across Canada are gathering in Moncton, New Brunswick, this week, hosted by the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet Nations, as representatives from 633 First Nations gather to discuss resource development and other aboriginal priorities, including education.
Starting on July 12, hundreds of First Nations chiefs, youth, elders, dignitaries and citizens will gather at the group’s National Assembly to strategize and create an action plan to address indigenous priorities under the theme “The Spirit of Peace and Friendship,” according to an AFN statement. Read full story from indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com
Healthy Communities Focus of Cherokee Nation Conference
TULSA, Okla. — More than 150 representatives from communities across northeastern Oklahoma recently participated in a two-day conference on building healthy communities held recently in Tulsa.
The Creating Healthy Communities Action Institute, sponsored by Cherokee Nation, featured discussions and presentations on creating healthy eating and active living environments, healthy school changes, how complete streets lead to healthy environments and economies, food policies, commercial tobacco control and more.
“Our goal is to help create healthy communities by making the healthy choice the easy choice,” said Lisa Pivec, director of Cherokee Nation Healthy Nation. “In the spirit of gadugi, we work to form partnerships with schools, state and local governments and other organizations to accomplish this goal.” Read full story from cherokee.org
As he’d been doing for 20 years, Assemblyman Joe Lentol, a Brooklyn Democrat, sent his annual $50 donation to a scholarship fund at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish School. But the New York Daily News reports that it got returned with word that Brooklyn bishop Nicholas DiMarzio won’t allow any donations from politicians who voted for same-sex marriage. Read full story from advocate.com
Our Friday story about “The Ledge,” a new atheist-themed movie that’s trying to do for nonbelievers what “Brokeback Mountain,” did for gays and lesbians, drew nearly 4,000 comments.
A few commenters noted that the movie fits a recent trend of atheist evangelism: Read full story from cnn.com
With her best British accent, Demi Fair greeted boys and girls June 30 at Paul Smith Library of Southern York County.
She checked her scroll to make sure they were registered. Then the magical child left the muggle world behind.
Fair, program director at the library, and Dawn Stockbridge, children’s program director, designed a four-week summer camp to simulate Harry Potter’s first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from J.K. Rowling’s popular series. Read full story from ydr.com
Blogspot:
National Geographic – Photos: 4 Natural Wonders Added to World Heritage List
Kerchache, a key cultural adviser to Jacques Chirac, was instrumental in introducing African and tribal art to the Louvre in 2000.
The success of the Louvre’s new galleries led to Kerchache’s biggest achievement – the creation of the Musée du Quai Branly in 2006, France’s first major institution devoted to indigenous art, cultures and civilizations from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. Read full story from independent.co.uk
News:
Police watch as mob kills suspected witches
A couple accused of witchcraft was killed after the body of an eight-year-boy was discovered in a maize plantation Monday morning in Nyahera Village, Kisumu.
Residents were shocked when they found the partly mutilated body dumped in a maize plantation.
Although circumstances under which the child died were not immediately established, enraged villagers descended on the man and his wife, who they suspected of causing the boy’s death.
Residents stormed the home of the suspects where they argued with the man before killing him. They then turned on his wife. Read full story from standardmedia.co.ke
Scots site may hold the key to Arthurian mystery
IT is a mystery that has baffled generations of historians, but the secrets of King Arthur’s round table could finally be laid bare thanks to modern technology.
A circular earthen mound near Stirling Castle has been linked variously to the legendary king, to British aristocrats and to Roman invaders, but its origins remain shrouded in history.
Now, for the first time, a team of archaelogists from Glasgow University is preparing to use hi-tech scanners to survey the ground beneath it, providing a clear insight into the mound’s beginnings.
The structure, often referred to as the King’s Knot, has long fascinated national historians. Despite the mysteries it may contain, however, it has remained undisturbed for fear of damaging it. The new project, scheduled to run next week, will provide a full geophysical survey of the entire area.
Stirling Local History Society (SLHS) and Stirling Field and Archaeological Society have secured funding from Historic Scotland and Stirling City Heritage Trust for the operation. Read full story from heraldscotland.com
People from the southern city say hundreds are unaccounted for since a crackdown on protests began on 18 March and intensified when the army moved in on 25 April to try to quash unrest against Bashar al-Assad’s 11-year rule.
Radwan Ziadeh, the US-based head of the Damascus Centre for Human Rights, said so far seven bodies had been identified by residents. Read full story from guardian.co.uk
Photography:
Best Night-Sky Pictures of 2011 Named
Organized by astronomy-education projects The World at Night (TWAN) and Global Astronomy Month, the contest honors pictures that meet one of two criteria: “either to impress people on how important and amazing the starry sky is, or to impress people on how bad the problem of light pollution has become.” In total, ten winners were announced May 9 in either the “Beauty of the Night Sky” or “Against the Lights” category. Read full story from nationalgeographic.com
Police said they expect up to 50,000 people to visit the forested Mayadevi temple, built where Buddha is believed to have been born 2,555 years ago.
Devotees chanted and offered fruits and flowers at the temple.
Buddha was born as Prince Sidhartha in Lumbini, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) southwest of Katmandu. Followers believe he left his family and kingdom and meditated in the jungles of Nepal and India before achieving enlightenment. Read full story from washingtonpost.com
As a presidential candidate in 2008, Huckabee – a Baptist minister who focused on faith-related issues like opposition to abortion – rode evangelical support to victory in Iowa and seven other states during the primaries and caucuses. John McCain eventually won the GOP nomination.
With Huckabee on the sidelines, other Republican White House hopefuls will have a better chance of picking up evangelical votes, which accounted for more than half the GOP electorate in Iowa and South Carolina in 2008, according to polling. Read full story from cnn.com
100,000 to get Jason Pitzl-Waters on the Daily Show
In an effort to support religious equality and equal voice, we are trying to get Jason Pitzl-Waters a spot on the Daily Show to address recent attacks on minority religions. Media responds to numbers, if we show that enough people are actively interested in seeing Jason on the Daily Show then it is likely he will get on! Spread the word and let’s make it happen!
Archeology:
The Last Neanderthals?
As if deciphering human evolutionary chronology isn’t complicated enough, recent discoveries at a site in the foothills of the Ural Mountains of Russia have thrown yet another wrinkle in the developing fabric of the human ascent through the Ice Age.
While excavating at Byzovaya, Russia, an archaeological site in the cold western foothills of the Ural Mountains at the edge of the Arctic Circle, Dr. Ludovic Slimak of the Université de Toulouse le Mirail, France, along with a team of colleagues, had unearthed a total of 313 human artifacts, along with a massive accumulation of remains of mammoths and other animals, (such as reindeer, wooly rhinoceros, musk ox, horse, wolf, polar fox, and bear). Examination of the mammoth remains indicated that they had been butchered using human-made tools. But these artifacts, a stone tool technology known as Mousterian and associated most commonly with Neanderthals, were dated to about 28,500 BP, too late for the Neanderthals. The dating didn’t seem to match the nature of the technology, as the newly discovered artifacts defined a toolkit that belonged primarily to the Middle Paleolithic period (300,000 to 40,000 years ago), and Neanderthals are generally thought to have become extinct before that time — replaced, as many scientists have suggested, by Homo sapiens (anatomically modern humans) around 75,000 to 50,000 years ago with a more advanced stone tool industry. Read full story from popular-archeology.com
The truly remarkable event – when Jupiter lines up with Venus, Mercury and Mars in the pre-dawn sky – will be visible in Australia’s eastern sky on Friday.
The alignment of the four planets, which happens only once every 50 to 100 years, will occur just before sunrise, Sydney Observatory says. Read full story from heraldsun.com.au
To celebrate the anniversary of its 60th year, the Museum of Witchcraft has gathered together the memories of 50 people who have a connection with the museum and published them in a book called The Museum of Witchcraft – A Magical History.
Together with the book launch there will be talks throughout the day under the moniker The Guardians of Cornish Magic. Read full story from culture24.org.uk
Native American:
Sacred Languages
A relation to the sacred is inherent within many indigenous languages. The justification for the renewal of tribal languages is often the belief that language contains meaning that is not well understood or translated into English, or other languages. For many tribal cultural programs, language is a major strategy for renewing culture and identity. There is great wisdom in this viewpoint, but what can it mean? Read full story from indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com
Republican Frederick County Board of Commissioners President Blaine Young suggested implementing the prayer at the start of the meetings. Read full story from nbcwashington.com
“We tend to see purpose in the world,” Oxford University professor Roger Trigg said Thursday. “We see agency. We think that something is there even if you can’t see it. … All this tends to build up to a religious way of thinking.”
Trigg is co-director of the three-year Oxford-based project, which incorporated more than 40 different studies by dozens of researchers looking at countries from China to Poland and the United States to Micronesia. Read full story from cnn.com
The technology is called electrocorticography, or ECoG, and it uses electrodes placed on the surface of the brain to detect electrical signals coming from the brain itself.
Doctors have been using ECoG since the 1950s to figure out which area of the brain is causing seizures in people with severe epilepsy. But in the past decade, scientists have shown that when connected to a computer running special software, ECoG also can be used to control robotic arms, study how the brain produces speech and even decode thoughts. Read full story from npr.org
Media:
Dr. Andy Thomson – Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith
“THE WICKER TREE” grows in the U.S.
Fango has learned that writer/director Robin Hardy’s THE WICKER TREE—the British helmer’s semi-sequel to his 1973 classic THE WICKER MAN—has been picked up for distribution in North America and the UK, as early as this fall. The film’s international sales agent, High Point Media Group, will screen THE WICKER TREE at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival on May 14 and 16. Read full story from fangoria.com
Art exhibition offers a psychedelic experience
Visitors are invited to take a trip through hallucinogenic patterns, optical illusions and cosmic landscapes when the latest exhibition at The University of Queensland opens this weekend.
New Psychedelia takes over the entire ground floor of the UQ Art Museum from Saturday, May 7 with pieces by 43 contemporary Australian artists, including one that requires 3D glasses.
“A new psychedelia has undoubtedly emerged in the past decade as an off-spring of the rave party, but also out of the décor of virtual reality and what William Gibson dubbed the ‘consensual hallucination’ of cyberspace,” Dr Edward Colless writes in the exhibition catalogue.
Curator Sebastian Moody said it was debatable whether recent explorations of psychedelia are in fact a countermovement to the “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out” mentality of the 1960s. Read full story from ug.edu.au
Environment:
Deadly weather in US could become the norm
It’s been a severe start to the spring season in the United States. Tornadoes have ravaged the southeastern US, flooding threatens much of the Midwest, and wildfires are scorching Texas. But according to researchers, a confluence of seasonal oscillations in weather patterns, rather than climate change, is to blame. And growing populations mean that grim casualty figures from such events may become the norm.
“I don’t think there’s any way of proving climate change is responsible for the weather patterns this week and week before,” says meteorologist Howard Bluestein, of the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Read full story from newscientist.com
Native American:
Apache Leader Jeff Houser on Use of Geronimo’s Name
The day after the news spread that the operation to kill Osama bin Laden, or bin Laden himself, was code-named Geronimo, Fort Sill Apache Tribe Chairman Jeff Houser asked President Obama to issue a formal apology for associating one of the most enduring and heroic figures in Indian country with the name of the man who epitomized global terrorism. Read full story from indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com
News:
Barack Obama pays 9/11 respects at Ground Zero Barack Obama spoke no words as he laid a red, white and blue wreath at the centre of Ground Zero. But then he didn’t need to: the location and the identity of the individuals gathered round him spoke for him.
The location was in the shade cast by the Survivor Tree, an oak that was recently planted at the World Trade Centre for a second time. The first time was in the 1970s, but the tree was later engulfed in rubble on 11 September 2001. Read full story from guardian.co.uk
The archbishop of Canterbury has said the killing of Osama bin Laden left a “very uncomfortable feeling” because it appeared as if justice had not been done.
Bin Laden was shot dead in his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on Sunday. It has since emerged that he was unarmed when US Navy Seals fired at him.
Lambeth Palace had previously refused to comment on the death of Bin Laden but, when asked at a press conference what he thought of the killing, Dr Rowan Williams replied: “I think the killing of an unarmed man is always going to leave a very uncomfortable feeling; it doesn’t look as if justice is seen to be done. Read full story from guardian.co.uk
Paranormal:
How Many Intelligent Aliens are Out There?
OK, I’ve had enough. I’ve been looking up at the night sky for 20 years and not once have I ever seen anything that has aroused my suspicion that an alien visitor has popped by Earth to take a look.
The thing is, I am contacted far too often by people saying they have seen an unidentified flying object, or UFO. Being terribly literal, they probably have seen something “unidentified,” and it may look like it’s flying; whatever it is, it certainly is an “object,” but it doesn’t mean it’s aliens. Read full story from discovery.com
UFO, zombie, ghost and witch sightings revealed
DYFED Powys Police has revealed how many sightings of UFOs, zombies, ghosts, witches and vampires occurred in the county in the past five years.
The figures, made public because of a Freedom of Information Request Act, reveal 14 recorded UFO sightings in the past five years, along with 26 reports of ghosts, 11 witches and two of zombies and vampires respectively. Read full story from countrytimes.co.uk
What is often not fully absorbed by onlookers, though, is the underlying role that religious doctrine – or “pulpit power” – plays in the environmental debate in the US. On the one hand, you have the “Creation Care” movement which is prevalent in some quarters of the Christian Church. On the other, particularly among evangelicals, you often see a vitriolic reaction aimed towards environmentalism. Read full story from guardian.co.uk
Police in Munkyuong said they were overwhelmed with the investigation and declined to provide further details.
But local media depicted an elaborate reconstruction of the crucifixion of Jesus, with the victim wearing a crown of thorns and dressed only in his underwear. He put nails into the cross first, then drilled holes in his hands and hung himself on the cross, reports said. Read full story from cnn.com
Zam Zam water is taken from a well in Mecca and is considered sacred to Muslims, but samples from the source suggested it held dangerous chemicals.
Tourists can bring back small amounts from Saudi Arabia, but it cannot be exported for commercial use.
An undercover researcher found large quantities of bottles being sold in east and south London, and in Luton.
The president of the Association of Public Analysts said he would “certainly would not recommend” drinking it. Read full story from bbc.co.uk
World:
Nigerian kids ‘slain as witches’
HUNDREDS of Nigerian children have been severely beaten, burnt or killed after being accused of witchcraft, a British charity was to tell an inquiry overnight.
Stepping Stones Nigeria has compiled a dossier of more than 250 cases of severe violence against children accused of being witches in Akwa Ibom state. Children as young as two have been burnt, poisoned, buried alive or chained up because their families believed they were witches, according to the report. Read full story from australian.com
Pagan Freedom Day 2011
An ancient pagan Greek historian and author Thucydides (460-404BCE) once wrote “The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.” It takes courage to publicly announce ‘I am Pagan’ in South Africa, but that’s exactly what Pagans do every year on Freedom Day.
In January 2004, this initiative was formally chartered as the Pagan Freedom Day Movement (PFDM). Since 2004 Pagans of every religious persuasion, including Witches, Wiccans, Druids, Asatruars and many others, have mingled and shared with other South Africans in celebration of their constitutionally guaranteed freedom to practice their own personal religions, and to gather openly with others of like mind, without fear of persecution or prejudice. Read full story from newstime.co.za
The 13 meter (42 foot) tall statue of Amenhotep III was one of a pair that flanked the northern entrance to the grand funerary temple on the west bank of the Nile that is currently the focus of a major excavation. Read full story from washingtonpost.com
Three-dimensional mapping has “erased” centuries of jungle growth, revealing the rough contours of nearly a hundred buildings, according to research presented earlier this month.
Though it’s long been known to locals that something—something big—is buried in this patch of Guatemalan rain forest, it’s only now that archaeologists are able to begin teasing out what exactly Head of Stone was.
Using GPS and electronic distance-measurement technology last year, the researchers plotted the locations and elevations of a seven-story-tall pyramid, an astronomical observatory, a ritual ball court, several stone residences, and other structures. Read full story from nationalgeographic.com
Arts & Entertainment:
Spout About: Will “Thor” Inspire Neopaganism? Death to Body Swap Movies! Death of a “2001” Influence
Above is a cropped section of a “Thor” bus stop ad posted to BuzzFeed. You can see that someone has taped a religious flyer to it. Intentional? Is there a minor protest going on against the polytheistic themes of the upcoming comic book movie? Does “Thor” have a soundtrack consisting of Varg Vikernes and other infamous neopagan black metal bands? Is there any other reason for people to worry it preaches anti-Christian messages? I sincerely hope this is just a chance occurrence.
Still, apparently some people are seeing too much in a flashy, potentially campy summer blockbuster. Star Foster at the pagan blog Pantheon looks into why “Thor” matters. Remember how people were turned onto Wicca after seeing “The Craft”? Wait, did that really happen? I knew some Wiccans back in high school, but I can’t recall the movie being a huge influence. Anyway, Foster sees a similar thing occurring with “Thor” and neopaganism: Read full story from indiewire.com
News:
Rebuilding Japan’s disaster-hit towns may take a decade
TOKYO, April 26 (Reuters) – The reconstruction of Japanese towns and cities devastated by a deadly earthquake and tsunami last month could take a decade, an advisory panel to the government tasked with coming up with a blueprint for rebuilding said on Tuesday.
The March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which left a large swathe of Japan’s northeast in ruins, killed at least 13,000 people, forced about 130,000 into shelters and is estimated to have caused $300 billion worth of damage.
“The first three years would be needed for tasks like rebuilding roads and constructing temporary housing,” said Jun Iio of Japan’s Reconstruction Design Council, formed after the quake to advise the government’s rebuilding efforts. Read full story from scientificamerican.com
Paranormal:
THE STEYTLERVILLE MONSTER
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – A monster plaguing the town of Steytlerville struck again over the Easter!
There were two sightings of a terrifying shape-shifting monster reported over Easter in the province of Karoo in South Africa.
“Two men were walking near a tavern when they saw another man wearing a black jacket. One of the men, identified only as Nozipho, went up to the stranger and asked him, “What is your problem?” said Nelani.
When the stranger did not respond, Nozipho went closer and saw that the man had no head. The man then turned into a dog that was “very angry” and “as big as a cow”, Nelani said. Read full story from weeklyworldnews.com
I was raised to be a priestess (of Hinduism), grew up surrounded by world scripture and philosophy, and was taught by learned scholars and mystics. But my religious education didn’t really begin until I started talking — and listening — to other people from other ways of life. I had a great foundation but it had to evolve beyond what I could experience as an individual. Understanding is a journey, and it’s nice to have company if you can get it. Read full story from huffingtonpost.com
The church has cut a deal to acquire the historic Los Feliz studio lot that has been home to pubcaster KCET-TV Los Angeles for the past 40 years. In a lengthy statement, the church said the deal allows it to “establish one of the most advanced centers used by religious broadcasters with the ability to harness 21st century broadcast technology and production power to deliver its message to the the largest international audience possible.” Read full story from variety.com
Sathya Sai Controversies and the Art of Guru Bashing
It is not uncommon now that for many Gurus, Rishis or Seers who have emerged from India, there has always been an unprecedented number of vicious attacks launched on them. These have come in the guise of slander, misquotes, false allegations and myriad smear campaigns.
Moreover it is interesting to note that most of these attackers often turn out to be either individuals who have been suffering from dysfunctional complexes or personality disorders, or pseudo spiritualists, fundamentalists and Christian missionaries working at religions conversion of Hindus, or self-appointed- rationalist experts with highly opinionated, insular theories or dishonest television reporters and interviewers sensationalizing and tarnishing the image of Hinduism and Hindu Gurus, keeping with the trend of unprofessional, ignorant reporting and the highly biased- ‘paid news syndrome’. Read full story from chakranews.com
Summer Movie Preview, with a Witchly Touch
My question isn’t “What films will you be seeing this summer,” it is “What movie besides Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” will you be seeing. LOL! For us Pagans of all types, this is the pinnacle of film. It has opened the world up to the possible fact that Witches and Wizards exist and we’re not that bad. When you say you are a Witch, the fist image in their head isn’t the Wicked Witch of the West, but maybe of Hermione or, in my case, Looney Lovegood.
Here are the films this summer with Pagan content and do yourself a favour, find your nearest Drive-In theater. Enjoy a film under the stars! Read full story from apaganslifefor me
It’s Horror Month on SundanceNOW
I’m slowly becoming a big fan of watching films “instantly”, be it through Netflix, Hulu, FearNet or any other online provider. Well, Sundance has gotten in on the action with SundanceNOW, and April is horror month. (You can view a full line-up of their horror films right here).
While most of their films rent out from $3.99-$4.99 SundanceNow is offering our readers three films for only 99¢ each. That’s a pretty good deal, especially considering NONE of these are currently available through Netflix on Demand. Here’s the lowdown on the films and how to view them…Read full story from brutalashell.com
What is Gov’t Doing to Rescue Women in Witch Camps?
Democracy, education, technology and modernity still haven’t changed the mindset of people in this 21st Century. The beliefs and practices of people pre-dating this modern era still rule the lives of people today.
In the northern part of Ghana, the baseless accusation of aged women as being witches has made old age a nightmare for many women.
Witches’ camps in the northern part of Ghana have been in existence since time immemorial.
The reason behind the creation of these camps was to protect society from the harmful attacks of alleged witches, and the level of false accusations and brutalities compels the victim seek protection from a higher authority if the rest of the society is not willing to protect them. Read full story from allafrica.com
Paranormal:
JFK sought documents on UFOs 10 days before his assassination
Adding new speculation to the assassination of President John F Kennedy, two documents revealed by an author researching the JFK presidency show Kennedy’s interests in gaining access to UFO information.
In letters sent by President John F Kennedy to the CIA, and revealed by author William Lester to AOL News, as reported byThe Daily Mail, Kennedy requests access to top secret information on UFO sightings, with particular interest in sightings reported over the former Soviet Union. Read full story from digitaljournal.com
Religion:
Religion’s interconnectivity comes full circle in Rome
ROME – While chanting monks, accordion players and the Italian version of “Beauty and the Beast” I saw last week were very cool, I’m here to talk to you about a different kind of tune than what you’ll find in the rest of this paper: “Music of the Spheres.”
This ancient philosophy explains there is a harmony between God and heavenly beings that move around the Earth, especially the Sun and the Moon. The idea was later explained in a literal and physical sense by Johannes Kepler, astrology scholar David Plant said. Kepler explained that geometry, astrology and other sciences worked together to explain the movement of the planets.
Last week for class, I watched the film “Agora.” It displays a clash of ideologies in 5th-century Alexandria (Roman Empire), running the gamut from Roman Paganism to Judaism and Christianity, to astronomy and philosophy. It is impossible for me to go in depth, but what you need to know is that every denomination of faith in the film is portrayed in a bad light. Read full story from temple-news.com
Islam Converted the Pagans But Did Paganism Convert Islam?
The Arabia of Mohammed was religiously diverse during his childhood and throughout the region you had Pagans, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Sabaeans, and other faiths. Therefore, Arabia was multi-religious and extremely diverse and many faiths co-existed and thought patterns were openly debated because countless families will have been religiously mixed.
However, once Mohammed obtained power then the “no compulsion in religion” became “kill the apostate.” This small aspect of the Koran and Hadiths point to a period of weakness and moderation during the early stage but once powerful, then Mohammed desired power mechanisms in order to defeat and control the economic system of the non-Muslims.
Mohammed and orthodox Muslims in the world today believe that the next stage was about monotheism and the eradication of Paganism within the body politic of Islam. However, while it is true to say that Muslim forces did defeat the followers of Paganism it is also true to say that Paganism defeated Islam within the tenets, customs, rituals, and sayings of Mohammed. Read full story from aina.org
