Category Archives: Of Interest

Lucid Dreaming

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What it is: fr/Wikipedia

A lucid dream is a dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming. The term was coined by the Dutch psychiatrist and writer Frederik (Willem) van Eeden(1860–1932).[1] In a lucid dream, the dreamer can actively participate in and manipulate imaginary experiences in the dream environment.[2] Lucid dreams can seem real and vivid.[3]

A lucid dream can begin in one of two ways. A dream-initiated lucid dream(DILD) starts as a normal dream, and the dreamer eventually concludes it is a dream, while a wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD) occurs when the dreamer goes from a normal waking state directly into a dream state, with no apparent lapse in consciousness.

Lucid dreaming has been researched scientifically, and its existence is well established.[4][5]

 

for more fr/Wikipedia, go to:    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream

Also, here is an interesting site for lots of information and research on Lucid Dreaming:   http://www.lucidity.com/

 

Great Movies About the Afterlife

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Top Ten Afterlife Movies

Posted by Greg at 13:36, 22 Oct 2010

Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter tells the story of three individuals touched by death in different ways, and how each of them deals with their encounter with ‘the other side’. Here’s ten other movies which explore what might lie beyond the veil of death:

To see the list and clips from each, go to:

http://www.dailygrail.com/Lists/2010/10/Top-Ten-Afterlife-Movies

Dalai Lama at the White House 7/16

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Dalai Lama White House Visit: Barack Obama Invites Spiritual Leader For Saturday Meeting

Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010, following a meeting with President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

07/15/11 06:12 PM ET   AP

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has invited the Dalai Lama to the White House Saturday, making time for the Tibetan spiritual leader who is in Washington for an 11-day Buddhist ritual.

The president last met with the Nobel Peace laureate in February 2010, infuriating Chinese officials. China accuses the Dalai Lama of pushing for Tibetan independence.

Employing a low-key approach, the White House has set the meeting in the White House Map Room, not the Oval Office, which is reserved for visiting heads of state. The White House is keeping the meeting closed to the news media, as it did last year.

A White House official says Obama will urge that representatives of the Dalai Lama be allowed to engage with Chinese authorities and will call for the preservation of Tibetan culture.

 

fr/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/15/dalai-lama-white-house-visit-saturday_n_900435.html?ir=Religion

Troops March in San Diego Pa-ride

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San Diego Pride: Troops To March As Identifiable Group In Gay Parade For First Time

Gay Pride

By JULIE WATSON   07/15/11 02:04 PM ET   AP

SAN DIEGO — Sean Sala felt so elated when Congress approved repealing the military’s ban on openly gay troops the 26-year-old sailor went on TV and revealed his sexual orientation publicly in what he calls his “Rosa Parks moment.”

Now the former Navy operations specialist, who finished his service last month, is organizing what is believed to be the first military contingent of hundreds of active-duty troops and veterans to lead a gay pride parade. The group will march Saturday in San Diego’s parade, the nation’s fifth largest.

to read more, go to:    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/15/san-diego-pride-parade_n_900086.html

Red Wine in Space

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Astronauts May Benefit from Red Wine in Orbit

by Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 15 July 2011 Time: 04:21 PM ET
Red wine
A chemical in red wine could prove beneficial in fighting the health effects of weightlessness.
CREDIT: Dreamstime

While the astronauts on NASA’s final shuttle mission right now don’t have a sip of alcohol around, new research suggests it actually might be good for their health.

The study found that red wine could help prevent the ill effects of prolonged weightlessness on the human body.

An ingredient in red wine, called resveratrol, has shown promise protecting against the bone density loss and insulin resistance that can be side effects of flying in space, researchers said. The finding is based on a study of rats held upside down by their hind limbs and tails to simulate weightlessness. The rats fed resveratrol did not develop the adverse symptoms of the other group.

to read more, go to:    http://www.livescience.com/15072-red-wine-space-alcohol-astronaut-health.html

Ecological Effect of Loss of Predator Populations

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Loss of World’s Top Predators Is Pervasively Changing Ecosystems

Wynne Parry, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 14 July 2011 Time: 02:01 PM ET
coral reef sharks
A healthy coral reef ecosystem with sharks off Jarvis Island, an uninhabited island located in the South Pacific Ocean. A loss of these large predators can alter the patterns of predation and herbivory, ultimately leading to an coral system where reef-building corals and coralline algae lose their competitive advantage.
CREDIT: Brian Zgliczynski

The loss of top predators, such as lions, wolves and sharks, is causing unpredictable changes to food chains around the world, according to a review written by 24 scientists.

These animals, called apex predators, play a crucial role in ecosystems, and their disappearance — often due to hunting by humans and loss of habitat — can lead to changes in vegetation, wildfire frequency, infectious diseases, invasive species, water quality and nutrient cycles, according to the authors led by James Estes, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

to read more, go to:    http://www.livescience.com/15051-apex-top-predators-loss-food-chain-ecosystem.html

New Spin on Antimatter

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New Spin Revealed on Mysterious Antimatter

by Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 14 July 2011 Time: 08:42 PM ET
Warped space-time around galaxy
The spinning of a massive body like a galaxy bends and warps space-time according to the rules of general relativity.
CREDIT: University of Warwick

The puzzling prevalence of matter over antimatter in the universe might be related to the bizarre space-time stretching caused by our galaxy’s spin, a new study suggests.

Antimatter is a strange cousin to the stuff that makes up galaxies, stars and us. For every matter particle there is thought to exist an antimatter partner with the same mass but opposite charge. When matter and antimatter meet, they annihilate, converting their mass into energy in a powerful explosion.

Though the universe today is almost completely made of matter, scientists don’t understand why. The Big Bang that created the cosmos 13.7 billion years ago should have produced equal parts matter and antimatter, which would have annihilated, leaving the universe barren of either. Luckily, it didn’t (hence the Earth and the life it supports are here).

to read more, go to:    http://www.livescience.com/15063-antimatter-asymmetry-galaxy-spinning.html

Internet Searches Affect Memory Patterns

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Is Google Messing with Your Mind? Search Alters Memory Patterns

Jennifer Welsh, LiveScience Staff Writer
Date: 14 July 2011 Time: 02:00 PM ET
computer, internet, google, yahoo, search engine
Search engines are making people more likely to rely on computers to “remember” things for them, computers and online search engines have become a kind of external memory system that can be accessed at will — and that human memory is adapting to it.
CREDIT: Simon Cataudo

Whether the Internet is making us smarter or stupider may be up for debate, but new research shows that search engines are changing the way we learn and remember things.

People are using the Internet as an external “expert” to be accessed at will. This phenomenon, called transactive memory, isn’t new; it’s been around as long as humans have communicated. We’ve always relied on experts within our group (which used to be other humans) and, with the invention of the printing press, stored information in books. In those cases, we had to remember only who or what held the information.

to read more, go to:    http://www.livescience.com/15044-internet-google-influence-learning-memory.html