Story

Over the past few years a suspicion has grown among some scientists that the original cradle of life on this planet was not water but earth-specifically clay. Now from the NASA-Ames Research Center in Sunnyvale, California, comes new evidence to support that contention.
It has long been known that after exposure to gamma radiation and subsequent heating, the surfaces of some clays give off ultraviolet radiation. Were it not for the relative violence of this chemical scenario, that radiation might have stimulated the formation of the complex organic molecules necessary for life. But now NASA chemist Lelia Coyne has discovered that clays will also give off life-promoting radiation as a result of what she calls "gentler processes." Coyne and her colleague Noam Lahab of Hebrew University in Rehovot, Israel, spread a wet paste of kaolin clay on the inside of a vial. They then slowly dried the paste with a chemical drying agent. A photon counter revealed that when the clay dried through a certain critical range of moisture content, it emitted a burst of ultraviolet radiation.

The significance of the discovery, Coyne thinks, is that it greatly expands the number and kinds of circumstances-including routine erosion and the wetting and drying cycles involved in normal rainfall-under which clays could have emitted radiation important to stimulating the growth of organic molecules. All in all, she says, the chances are now significantly greater that clays could have been the "little powerhouses" that supplied protolife's first energies.

Gorilla found with two books: Darwin's Theory of Evolution and the Bible. He was trying to determine whether he was his brother's keeper or his keepers brother!

8/30/00

8/29/00

02/12/01

What's on a One Dollar Bill?

Take out a one dollar bill and look at it. The one dollar bill you're looking at first came off the presses in 1957 in its present design. This so-called paper money is in fact a cotton and linen blend, with red and blue  minute silk fibers running through it. It is actually material.
 
We've all washed it without it falling apart. A special blend of ink is used, the contents we will never know. It is overprinted with symbols and then it is starched to make it water resistant and pressed to give it that nice crisp look.
 
If you look on the front of the bill, you will see the United States Treasury Seal. On the top you will see the scales for balance - a balanced budget. In the center you have a carpenter's T-square, a tool used for an even cut.  Underneath is the Key to the United States Treasury. That's all pretty easy to figure out, but what is on the back of that dollar bill is something we should all know.
 
If you turn the bill over, you will see two circles. Both circles, together, comprise the Great Seal of the United States. The First Continental Congress requested that Benjamin Franklin and a group of men come up with a Seal. It took them four years to accomplish this task and another two years to get it approved. If you look at the left hand circle, you will see a Pyramid. Notice the face is lighted and the western side is dark. This country was just beginning. We had not begun to explore the West or decided what we could do for Western Civilization. The Pyramid is un-capped, again signifying that we were not even close to being finished.
 
Inside the capstone you have the all-seeing eye, an ancient symbol for divinity. It was Franklin's belief that one man couldn't do it alone, but a group of men, with the help of God, could do anything.

"IN GOD WE TRUST" is on this currency. The Latin above the pyramid, ANNUIT COEPTIS, means "God has favored our undertaking." The Latin below the pyramid, NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, means "a new order has begun." At the base of
the pyramid is the Roman Numeral for 1776. If you look at the right-hand circle, and check it carefully, you will learn that it is on every National Cemetery in the United States. It is also on the Parade of Flags Walkway at the Bushnell, Florida National Cemetery and is the centerpiece of most hero's monuments. Slightly modified, it is the seal of the President of the United States and it is always visible whenever he speaks, yet no one knows what the symbols mean.
 
The Bald Eagle was selected as a symbol for victory for two reasons: first, he is not afraid of a storm; he is strong and he is smart enough to soar above it. Secondly, he wears no material crown. We had just broken from the King of England.
 
Also, notice the shield is unsupported. This country can now stand on its own. At the top of that shield you have a white bar signifying congress, a unifying factor. We were coming together as one nation. In the Eagle's beak you will read, "E PLURIBUS UNUM", meaning "one nation from many people."

Above the Eagle you have thirteen stars representing the thirteen original colonies, and any clouds of misunderstanding rolling away. Again, we were coming together as one. Notice what the Eagle holds in his talons. He holds an olive branch and arrows. This country wants peace, but we will never be afraid to fight to preserve peace. The Eagle always wants to face the olive branch, but in time of war, his gaze turns toward the arrows.
 
They say that the number 13 is an unlucky number. This is almost a worldwide belief. You will usually never see a room numbered 13, or any hotels or motels with a 13th floor. But, think about this: 13 original colonies, 13 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 13 stripes on our flag, 13 steps on the Pyramid, 13 letters in the Latin above, 13 letters in "E Pluribus Unum", 13 stars above the Eagle, 13 plumes of feathers on each span of the Eagle's wing, 13 bars on that shield, 13 leaves on the olive branch, 13 fruits, and if you look closely, 13 arrows. And for minorities: the 13th Amendment.
 
I always ask people, "Why don't you know this?" Your children don't know this and their history teachers don't know this. Too many veterans have given up too much to ever let the meaning fade. Many veterans remember coming home to an America that didn't care. Too many veterans never came home at all.

"Though used synonymously, choice and decision are not the same thing.
Decisions are made in your mind, whereas choices are made in your gut.
Decisions come from the rational, reasonable weighing of the
circumstances; choices come from your essence and an attunement with your higher self."

"When you see the utter perfection in everything--not just those things
with which you agree, but (and perhaps especially) those things with
which you disagree--you achieve mastery."

"Faith is a gift of the spirit that allows the soul to remain attached to
its own unfolding." [Thomas Moore]

"We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a
journey that no one can take for us or spare us."  [Marcel Proust]

"What we call results are beginnings."  [Ralph Waldo Emerson]

It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life, perpetuating itself through all eternity; to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the Universe; and to try humbly to comprehend even an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in nature.

It’s amazing how much you can hear when no one is saying anything.

                                                                      Elaine St. James

Each small task of everyday life is part of the total harmony of the universe.

                                                St. Theresa of Lisieux

"Most people define ' wrong' as that which is different from them."

An ego trip is something that never gets you anywhere.

                                                                        Suzan L. Wiener

Never ruin an apology with an excuse.

It is not enough to wire the world if you short-circuit the soul.  Technology without heart is not enough.

“I have been intensely and imaginatively happy in the quietest places.  I have been filled with life from within in a cold waiting room in a deserted railway-junction.  I have been completely alive sitting on an iron seat under an ugly lamppost at a third-rate watering place.  In short, I have experienced the mere excitement of existence in places that would commonly be called as dull as ditchwater .... I am confident that there is no future for the modern world, unless it can understand that it has not merely to seek what is more and more exciting, but rather the yet more exciting business of discovering the excitement in things that are called dull.”                  G.K. Chesterton

 03/28/01

03/29/01

04/09/01

04/12/01

06/24/01

There is no need to learn through pain.  And gentle lessons are acquired
joyously, and are remembered gladly.  What gives you happiness you want to
learn, and not forget.  It is not this you would deny.....
---------- A Course In Miracles,  Chapter 21 Reason and Perception

11/26/02

11/26/02

LIFE

11/26/02

11/26/02

11/26/02