Teenage students in Roswell, Ga., joined half a million teens nation-wide for 30 hours of fasting, collecting donations and performing community service to support World Vision's 30 Hour Famine. This annual event has raised $135 million since 1992 -- to bring both food to the poorest of countries and awareness of world hunger to privileged U.S. students.
Alex Ferrand and other teens in Roswell duct taped cardboard boxes together to make shelter for themselves to sleep in during the night. Ferrand felt cold and hungry as he tried to sleep and said, "I'm happy for the things I have and for [my] friends and family."
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March 13, 2010
March 12, 2010
If Your Brain Is A Quantum Computer, Can It Connect You To The World?
Could it be that the Internet mirrors something about how we really communicate (or could communicate) with each other and with the world? I'd like you to consider the possibility that nature embodies within herself a kind of Internet, and that through our brain we might be able to communicate with it. (I have discussed the scientific foundations of the concept of a cosmically extended natural Internet in my recent books, including Science and the Akashic Field, and The Akashic Experience.) Let me consider here the ramifications of this possibility for our life and our future.
To understand how our brain could communicate with a natural information field that embeds us and all things around us, let's explore how our brain developed, and how it functions. How did it evolve its precise and stupendously complex architecture? And how did it grow into a quantum computer?
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To understand how our brain could communicate with a natural information field that embeds us and all things around us, let's explore how our brain developed, and how it functions. How did it evolve its precise and stupendously complex architecture? And how did it grow into a quantum computer?
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Goddess Of The Week: Filmmaker Vicki Abeles
god•dess n:
1. one of a group of superstar female beings who uses her feminine wisdom and supernatural powers to heal the collective consciousness and create good in the world.
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1. one of a group of superstar female beings who uses her feminine wisdom and supernatural powers to heal the collective consciousness and create good in the world.
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“Brothers In Arms”: One Son’s War & Peace Playlist As We Prepare to Enter “The Pacific”
Back in World War II, my late great father Stanley Wild -- who we lost exactly one year ago on Sunday -- was a very young, very scared and very brave Naval Lieutenant serving his country in the Pacific. Though my father was not shy about sharing some colorful war stories with his kids, the truth is I have probably learned more about our Second World War from Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg than I ever did from Dad or any of the other great teachers in my life. To me that's a true public service and a rather excellent use of our airwaves and time. Band Of Brothers forever deepened my understanding of war, peace and history, and so I will meekly but fittingly honor my father's guts and grace by tuning into HBO on Sunday night to begin a whole new journey into The Pacific. I only wish my Dad were still here to watch it too.
To put myself in the proper mindset to enter The Pacific, I've come up with a playlist of great songs that -- at least for me - speak powerfully to the very big subject of war & peace from a variety of perspectives and eras. Though I'm no expert on history, I'm fairly certain they did not have iPods on Naval ships during World War II. Yet if they did, here are a few songs I might load onto one for Dad as he shipped off to serve this country and help try to save the world.
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To put myself in the proper mindset to enter The Pacific, I've come up with a playlist of great songs that -- at least for me - speak powerfully to the very big subject of war & peace from a variety of perspectives and eras. Though I'm no expert on history, I'm fairly certain they did not have iPods on Naval ships during World War II. Yet if they did, here are a few songs I might load onto one for Dad as he shipped off to serve this country and help try to save the world.
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We’re All In This Together
Is it just me, or are you feeling more anxious and unnerved than usual?
I can't remember living through a period of such uncertainty in my lifetime. I'm not talking so much about the uncertainties in my own life - there are always plenty of those - but about everything that's going on in the world around us.
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I can't remember living through a period of such uncertainty in my lifetime. I'm not talking so much about the uncertainties in my own life - there are always plenty of those - but about everything that's going on in the world around us.
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Art Therapy for Alzheimer’s: “I Remember Better When I Paint”
I didn't know much about Alzheimer's before watching "I Remember Better When I Paint" and nor did I really care. I'm not a monster-- it's just that the disease had never affected anyone I knew. This is not to say I was indifferent to the suffering experienced by those with the disease, or the sacrifices made by their caretakers. However, I had picked my battles with injustice and left this fight for someone else to wage. And wage on they did. Berna Huebner and Eric Ellena have crafted a poignant documentary about hope in a world where hope is seldom found.
"I Remember Better When I Paint" follows the progress of Alzheimer's patients who are introduced to the creative arts. Once disconnected from the world, these Alzheimer's sufferers are suddenly brought back-- be it by a discussion of a Seurat painting or a debate over what color to apply for their Renoir reproduction. One of my favorite parts of the film was when one elderly gentleman was asked to draw Honolulu; rather than white sand beaches and shiny hotels, he drew a war-ship with 'Destroyer' on its bow. He was a late-stage Alzheimer's patient having a very lucid memory of his days in the service. Amazing.
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"I Remember Better When I Paint" follows the progress of Alzheimer's patients who are introduced to the creative arts. Once disconnected from the world, these Alzheimer's sufferers are suddenly brought back-- be it by a discussion of a Seurat painting or a debate over what color to apply for their Renoir reproduction. One of my favorite parts of the film was when one elderly gentleman was asked to draw Honolulu; rather than white sand beaches and shiny hotels, he drew a war-ship with 'Destroyer' on its bow. He was a late-stage Alzheimer's patient having a very lucid memory of his days in the service. Amazing.
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March 11, 2010
The Evolution Will be ooVood
Almost since the word first entered the Middle Eastern lexicon, globalization has gotten a bad rap. And with good reason. For hundreds of years the peoples of the region, like their counterparts across Africa, Asia and Latin America, were told that the price of great incorporation into the world economy and other benefits of modernity were imperial or colonial rule and systematic exploitation, followed by independence that brought rulers who were often little more than proxies for continued domination by their former colonizers.
In the last decade, however, a profound change has occurred in the larger perception of globalization across the Muslim world. Led by young people adept at both writing computer code and code-switching between their own and Western cultures, this more positive and proactive utilization of the technologies, concepts, and promise of globalization is epitomized both by burgeoning youth music scenes across the region and by the use of Facebook and other social networking technologies to organize activities that challenge their societies' autocratic elites.
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In the last decade, however, a profound change has occurred in the larger perception of globalization across the Muslim world. Led by young people adept at both writing computer code and code-switching between their own and Western cultures, this more positive and proactive utilization of the technologies, concepts, and promise of globalization is epitomized both by burgeoning youth music scenes across the region and by the use of Facebook and other social networking technologies to organize activities that challenge their societies' autocratic elites.
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Where Do Things Stand on International Efforts to Address Global Warming?
It is almost 3 months after the Copenhagen Accord was hammered out by 28 of the world’s key countries that represent over 80% of the world’s global warming pollution and some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change (as I discussed here). Given the state of the Accord just after Copenhagen with some calling it a failure, some outlining the foundations in the Accord for international efforts (and as my colleague discussed here), and others…well not quite sure what to make of it, where do things stand on international efforts to address global warming?
If you just picked up the paper, watched TV, listened to the radio, or read blogs you might think that things aren’t really moving as there is very little coverage of international global warming discussions (especially compared to last year when every 5 seconds some news story or analysis emerged). But that doesn’t mean that nothing is happening on the international front. In fact, despite the lack of regular coverage, things are moving forward – albeit tentatively, behind the scenes, and without a big splash. Here are four things that are occurring that are worth following.
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8 Of The World’s Most Popular High-Speed Trains (PHOTOS)
The Obama Administration recently allocated money for high-speed train projects across the nation. Here at HuffPost Green, we think high speed rail is totally awesome, and we hope to see many great rail projects across the country. The definition of high-speed rail varies across the world, with the US Federal Railroad Administration defining it as a train that exceeds speeds of 110 mph, while other countries set the standard much higher. Many places in the world are way ahead of us on rail projects, but they certainly give us something to aspire to. Take a look at some of the world's most popular high-speed trains, and let us know which you like best!
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