| Thursday, March 18, 2004 |  |
| Night Tears - Oriah Mountain Dreamer | 3 comments |
| 18 Mar 2004 @ 11:32 Night Tears There is a crying that happens at night that does not come while the light is with us. There are things that cannot be evaded once the sun goes down. Small nocturnal creatures with sharp white teeth silently gnaw at the edges of belly and heart when the darkness descends and the void inside grows larger. It can split you open. And the bone in the centre of your chest aches like the cracked wishing bone from the turkey breast. And if we are strong enough to be weak enough we are given a wound that never heals. It is the gift that keeps the heart open. Oriah Mountain Dreamer © 1995 More > |
| Big bang revised again? | 0 comments |
| 18 Mar 2004 @ 11:31 Big bang revised again? By David Clark "Cosmologists Paul Steinhardt and Niel Turok... theorize that the cosmos was never compacted into a single point and did not spring forth in a violent instant. Instead, the universe as we know it is a small cross section of a much grander universe whose true magnitude is hidden in dimensions we cannot perceive. What we think of as the Big Bang, they contend, was the result of a collision between our three-dimensional world and another three-dimensional world less than the width of a proton away from ours — right next to us, and yet displaced in a way that renders it invisible. Moreover, they say the Big Bang is just the latest in a cycle of cosmic collisions stretching infinitely into the past and into the future. Each collision creates the universe anew. The 13.7 -billion-year history of our cosmos is just a moment in this endless expanse of time." Wow. While it is exciting to elaborate on the big bang, it is wrong to pretend that a theory so fluid has sufficient authority to govern unrelated fields such as biology. In other words, the big bang theory does not prove that life can originate from nonlife by natural means. Real evidence is needed. ============================== Before the Big Bang Maverick cosmologists contend that what we think of as the moment of creation was simply part of an infinite cycle of titanic collisions between our universe and a parallel world By Michael D. Lemonick Illustrations by Moonrunner Design DISCOVER Vol. 25 No. 02 | February 2004 | Astronomy & Physics The Catholic Church, which put Galileo under house arrest for daring to say that Earth orbits the sun, isn’t known for easily accepting new scientific ideas. So it came as a surprise when Pope Pius XII declared his approval in 1951 of a brand new cosmological theory—the Big Bang. What entranced the pope was the very thing that initially made scientists wary: The theory says the universe had a beginning, and that both time and space leaped out of nothingness. It seemed to confirm the first few sentences of Genesis. Eventually, astrophysicists followed the pope’s lead, as evidence for the Big Bang became too powerful to ignore. They accepted the notion that the entire observable universe—100 billion galaxies, each stuffed with 100 billion stars, stretching out more than 10 billion light-years in all directions—was once squashed into a space far smaller than a single electron. They bought the idea that the cosmos burst into existence precisely 13.7 billion years ago and has been expanding ever since. But even now, many astrophysicists are still uncomfortable with the implication that the Big Bang marked the beginning of time itself. And the theory has yet to yield a satisfactory answer to a key question: What made the Big Bang go bang? |
| Hemp Plastics - CD Cases To Be Made From Hemp | 0 comments |
| 18 Mar 2004 @ 10:24 Hemp Plastics - CD Cases To Be Made From Hemp Paul Benhaim - Hemp Consultant 3-15-4 From March 2004, jewel cases manufactured from the hemp plant will be available. It is clear that the primary benefits will be environmental; hemp,s biodegradable status makes it a far more desirable material for production when compared with the billion or so CD trays currently made that have no environmentally friendly means of disposal. The hemp plant is a viable alternative resource in many areas such as paper and plastics production; an acre of hemp produces as much pulp as four acres of trees and while it can take twenty years to once again grow trees on the same land, hemp can be grown and harvested in 90 days, twice a year. In our current climate of deforestation and global warming, such sustainability gives hemp a distinct advantage over products in many markets. While it may until recently have been the preserve of a more classically environmentally conscious consumer, in recent years such things as the free press, contribution towards a greater awareness of hemp,s manufacturing potential have helped lead it once more to the cusp of being a major industry; amongst others, Giorgio Armani, Mercedes and the Body Shop are just a few who currently use hemp-produced material in several of their products and it is likely that this pattern is to continue in many industries. As a plant which can be grown and harvested year after year, hemp,s potential as a cash crop is on a scale of industries as vast as those of tea and coffee; such a widespread availability will (in addition to being environmentally desirable) result in hemp being a far more economical way to produce such products as mobile phone cases, computer cases, paper, clothing, jewel cases and so on. It should also be recognised that hemp products are noted for their strength and durability (in the Second World War American farmers were ordered to grow hemp as part of the war effort where it was used to make parachutes, rope and many other essential materials). Hemp jewel cases have an added advantage over current petro-chemically produced ones in that logos can be embossed on them, providing the ability to further individualise the product in question, whatever it may be. Now that the stranglehold of big business protecting its own interests is being loosened, hemp is ready to take its place as one of the twenty-first century,s biggest success stories. Hemp Resources: www.hemp.co.uk www.hempmusic.com www.ecofibre.com.au www.hempplastic.com www.hempfoods.com.au www.onewithus.com www.alivefoods.com |