Blog Heap o' Urantiana Links

The quasi-Christian mix of science and religion in "The Urantia Book" — the text Stockhausen bought from the wizardly figure — became the spiritual basis for a huge operatic cycle, "Licht" ("Light"). Written from 1977 to 2003, "Licht" exceeds even Wagner's "Ring" cycle in its epic proportions, comprising seven full operas, one for each day of the week, and clocking in at 29 hours total. Stockhausen died in 2007, without having seen "Licht" staged in its entirety. But his work has found new life at the Cologne Opera, which in recent weeks presented the culmination of the cycle, "Sonntag" ("Sunday"). To house the production the company built two theaters within the cavernous Staatenhaus am Rheinpark, part of the city's exhibition center.

Did his persona rub off on you professionally, in any way? Every single one of my judgments has been guided and inspired by a divine hand (weeps). I believe in two entities, Krishna and Sathya Sai. I am not a devotee but a lover of Krishna. People may call me mad, and yes, this is madness. The madness of love. At the age of 11, I would run outside the house and weep for Krishna. As a professional, each time I would sit down to write a judgment at 5 'o'clock in the morning, I was only writing what my god dictated. Bhagwan held my hand as I put pen to paper. Everything that I have achieved in respect of the law, and people say I have achieved a lot, is owing to the guidance and inspiration of Sathya Sai Baba. There is no doubt on that score.

Higher levels of circulating vitamin D appear to reduce the risk for early onset of age-related macular degeneration in women ages 50 to 74

Old One says: April 11, 2011 at 7:05 pm (Quote) What a piece of work. Sanger was truly a vile person. Margaret's eugenicists doctor acolytes in that progressive paradise of Minnesota forcibly aborted (she was told she suffered a miscarriage) & secretly sterilized the wife of my mother's cousin when she was hospitalzed for what was diagnosed as nervous disorders in the late 1930s. … Many doctors of that period had taken up Sanger's eugenics ideology & put them into practice. the lady lived a normal productive life, raised two adopted children but lamented until the day she died at age 90 not having her own children. It was only 50 years later that her adopted son learned she had been aborted & secretly sterilized while hospitalized. … Big Brother Obliara now tells us we should all love our elite intellectual betters and fund with taxpayer dollars our "betters" at Planned parethood. Not I say! … Margaret Mead was another sick academic puppy of the same progressive time & mentality and now their ideological descendants are back in power wreaking havoc upon us, our nation, & the world. We must not remain silent.

Former President Jimmy Carter says much of the discrimination and abuse suffered by women around the world is attributable to a belief "that women are inferior in the eyes of God." Carter said such teachings by "leaders in Christianity, Islam and other religions" allow men to beat their wives and deny women their fundamental rights as human beings. [All those times the Presbyterians stoned rape victims to death. Religionists! They're all the same, aren't they, Reverend Jimmy?]

One of India's best-known spiritual leaders, famous for his apparent miracles and long list of influential followers, is on life support in a southern hospital, officials said on Tuesday. Satya Sai Baba, 85, who has devotees in more than 100 countries, was admitted to a hospital funded by his organisation in the town of Puttaparthi with lung and chest congestion on March 28. His condition has since deteriorated and he is now on a ventilator and is receiving kidney dialysis, the most recent health bulletin from the hospital said on Tuesday. He remains "critical," although his "level of consciousness has considerably improved" and his vital systems are "stable", said the update from the Sri Satya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences. [his "level of consciousness has considerably improved" … always a great thing to say about a guru.]

A 92-year-old woman is set to stand trial for allegedly killing her 98-year-old husband after more than 70 years of marriage.... the couple survived both the Japanese invasion of China and Mao's Cultural Revolution before moving to Australia 30 years ago... Her lawyers say she suffers from dementia and had feared her husband was trying to poison her... [How terribly sad.]

It was during this period that polygamy was slowly being phased out under pressure from state legislators. The results were clear: the more women partnered with a man, the fewer children each of those women had. Exactly why is not clear. Like the Soay rams, men may simply not have had the stamina. Wade says: "It could be owing to competition between women within a plural marriage for shared resources, or it could be owing to other unknown factors." Neither was polygamy a great deal for males. For every man who had multiple wives, there were many who had none. "For every male that has three mates, there must be two who have none," said Wade. "If a male has even more mates, then the disparity among male reproductive haves and have-nots can become quite high."

Decades of census data, alongside a mathematical model, suggest religion in nine secular countries is being driven to extinction…. The team took census data stretching back as far as a century from countries in which the census queried religious affiliation: Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland. Nonlinear dynamics is invoked to explain a wide range of physical phenomena in which a number of factors play a part….

Pious legend credits St. Patrick with banishing snakes from the island,[53] however all evidence suggests that post-glacial Ireland never had snakes.[54] However, one suggestion is that snakes referred to the serpent symbolism of the Druids[55] during that time and place, as exampled on coins minted in Gaul (see Carnutes). Legend also credits St. Patrick with teaching the Irish about the concept of the Holy Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a three-leaved clover, using it to highlight the Christian belief of 'three divine persons in the one God.'[56]

According to the study, 5,500 women want sperm from complete strangers, but only about 60 men are willing to donate their sperm without recompense. Now who would have seen that coming? Dr. Edward Hughes, the study's main author, is deeply concerned about this situation, and he has a solution: Government action!

The gaps and stringy fibers in these space rocks sure look like bacteria, and a NASA researcher has caused a stir with claims that they're fossils of alien life. But as NASA found 15 years ago, looks can be deceiving.

Using tissue from a patient's damaged urethra, researchers can grow an entirely new section of urethra and then transplant it into the patient, according to a surgeon who employed the technique on five boys.

Internationally acclaimed Himalayan poet and writer Yuyutsu RD Sharma will offer a reading of some of his work from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at The Center for Inner Peace, 740 W. 15th St. ... Yuyutsu's reading has been arranged by members of Urantia Book Study Groups of Pueblo.

A new study showed that fecal bacteria could be found on a majority of shopping carts. [Courtesy of Brandon Dutcher tweet. Uh.. urk.. thanks...]

…allegations came to light Monday that the Church of Scientology is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for violating human trafficking laws. In particular, the allegations are that Sea Org practices may have violated human trafficking laws. Sea Org is a kind of fraternal religious order for the most devoted members of the Church of Scientology… claims that the church pays Sea Org workers as little as $50 per week, uses physical force to keep church members from escaping Scientology compounds, as well as other complaints of mistreatment of church members who try to quit, and allegations that dozens of apostates were confined in "reeducation camps" doing manual labor — sometimes for years….

Aliens have landed, infiltrated British nuclear missile sites and deactivated the weapons … The unlikely claims were compiled by six former US airmen and another member of the military who interviewed or researched the evidence of 120 ex-military personnel. [And is there a problem here…?]

An expanded version of JJ Johnson's insightful book and study guide, Up Close and Personal with The Urantia Book has been released in paperback and is available at Amazon.com.

Six years after the Episcopal Church consecrated a gay bishop, setting off a firestorm of protests, delegates meeting in Bedford, Texas, this week officially constituted the new Anglican church with 700 congregations and 100,000 members.

A Connecticut church has outraged gay rights advocates by posting a video of members performing an apparent exorcism of a teen's "homosexual demons."

Earlier this week, ABCnews.com published an article outlining the top frustrations doctors experience with their patients. But there was another side to the coin. Our audience shot back with comments about the bad habits doctors had that they felt often led to wasted time and wasted money.

Physical violence permeated Scientology's international management team…. Staffers are disciplined and controlled by a multilayered system of "ecclesiastical justice….' the church muscled the IRS into granting Scientology tax-exempt status…. The defectors are liars, they say, bitter apostates who have dug up tired allegations from the Internet and inflated the importance of the positions they held….

People make value judgments about others based on their facial expressions. A new study shows that -- after looking at a face for only 100 milliseconds -- we can detect expressions of happiness and surprise faster than those of sadness or fear.

a technique known as rapid prototyping, or three-dimensional printing, could enable tissue engineering that replicates the porous and hierarchical structures of natural tissues at an unprecedented level.

Scientists have discovered a unique beaked, plant-eating dinosaur in China. The finding, they say, demonstrates that theropod, or bird-footed, dinosaurs were more ecologically diverse in the Jurassic period than previously thought, and offers important evidence about how the three-fingered hand of birds evolved from the hand of dinosaurs.

A U.S. appeals court says a California girl conceived from the frozen sperm of a dead man cannot receive his Social Security benefits. A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision Wednesday, ruling the girl wasn't dependent on her father at the time of his death… he died unexpectedly in 1995 from an allergic reaction….

A novel bacterium -- trapped three kilometers under glacial ice for over 120,000 years -- may hold clues as to what life forms might exist on other planets.

extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees…

"I didn't go through what most people go through," Hess said. "I gained some weight. I pretty much thought it was like the 'freshmen 15.'" Hess was shocked when what she thought were bad menstrual cramps were actually contractions, and that led to the surprise birth of a seven pound baby in the dorm bathroom….

A small company that prints the letters WWJD a common acronym for the question What would Jesus do? on its correspondence has been sued by the president of a competing company, who claims the reference is abusive and harassing…. claiming the motto violates the federal Debt Collection Practices Act…. use of "WWJD" invokes shame or guilt in the letter's recipient, portraying the debtor "as a sinner who is going to hell…." [It must be asked… WWJD?]

after suffering decades of pain he found it had never actually healed... "Everyone tells me that having a broken leg for nearly 30 years is unheard of...." He will now have a metal Ilazarov frame fitted around his leg and foot to stretch the bone 1mm each day for seven to nine months. Then he will be in plaster for a further three months.

looked in the La Bamba bag and found two bundles of cash totaling $5,000, along with a bank deposit slip. The money had been dropped accidentally by a La Bamba manager who had meant to take it to the bank…. She told the driver what she had found… she said the cabdriver began acting strangely, insisting that the money should be taken to a cab stand, and drove Narsete around and around, running up the fare. "He wouldn't let me out of the car…."

There is a similarity between Scientific Theory and Religion and The Urantia Book. There is a popular idea that the origin of humans began in Africa. This idea is promoted by scientists that specialize in these areas, such as paleoanthropologists. So it is a difficult task to change that idea. But looking at their findings there are serious objections to the idea that humans arose in Africa.... -Frank Jakubowsky

[fOR] the first time the transmission spectrum of the Earth has been measured.... The spectrum not only contained signs of life but these signs were unmistakably strong. It also contained unexpected molecular bands and the signature of the earth ionosphere.... "Now we know what the transmission spectrum of a inhabited planet looks like, we have a much better idea of how to find and recognize Earth like planets outside our solar system where life may be thriving...."

Astronomers have at last uncovered newborn stars at the frenzied center of our Milky Way galaxy... have known that stars can form in this chaotic place, but they're baffled as to how this occurs…

two men who fooled the City Clerk's Office into letting them tie the knot…. The gullible clerk didn't seem to notice that both Nelson, 18, and Stenson, 21, have male first names…. By a fluke, Nelson's ID card has an "F" for female on it…. As they walked out of the building hand in hand, Jason said to his new spouse, "I think we just made history…." When they told another male couple about duping the city, that pair made a bee-line for the clerk's office and were also wed….

…a fundamental new discovery about how birds breathe and have a lung capacity that allows for flight — and the finding means it's unlikely that birds descended from any known theropod dinosaurs…. may finally force many paleontologists to reconsider their long-held belief that modern birds are the direct descendants of ancient, meat-eating dinosaurs….

"I know this is going to sound weird, but in a way, it was a blessing. With all the problems my father had, I'm in a better place in life now than if he had raised me."

Nearby Star May Be Getting Ready to Explode, Red giant Betelgeuse has suddenly shrunk in size, which means it may soon explode in a supernova.... It's possible we're observing the beginning of Betelgeuse's final collapse now.... If so, the star, which is 600 light-years away, will already have exploded — and we'll soon be in for a spectacular, and perfectly safe, interstellar fireworks show....

An Oklahoma farm family could be the next global reality TV stars.... The Brits will be expected to attend church and help with chores around the farm.

Reiki therapy.... invisible energy fields... acupuncture.... meditation, yoga and massage... herbal supplements... Mainstream medicine and prescription drugs have problems, too.... homeopathy, chiropractic, and native or traditional healing methods.... "We bristle when people talk about us as if we're just fringe...." [That list is such a mish-mash of reality and fantasy!]

showed no emotion when she was arrested Thursday afternoon... not married and has no children... lived with her terminally ill mother...

Research in tickling apes and infants suggests laughter evolved in a common ancestor more than 10 million years ago.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday he supports gays being able to marry but believes states, not the federal government, should make the decision.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a form of motor neuron disease caused by the degeneration of neurons located in the ventral horn of the spinal cord and the cortical neurons that provide their afferent input.

woman accused of leading an armed robbery gang involving her 12- and 14-year-old sons.... "If anything surprises me, it's that it took them so long."

A previously unknown giant volcanic eruption that led to global mass extinction 260 million years ago has been uncovered.

Our brain is wired to identify gender based on facial cues and coloring, according to a new study. Psychologists found the luminescence of the eyebrow and mouth region is vital in rapid gender discrimination.

Desmond Hatchett's brood came to light after authorities in Tennessee in the U.S. took him to court for non-payment of child support. He has apparently set a U.S. record but said: 'It just happened.'

Bonnie Sweeten is accused of filing false reports that she and her daughter were kidnapped, and then taking her daughter for a trip to Disney World while using another woman's ID to get there.

some critics charging that its premise is misogynistic [NO DOUBT the SAME people who decry similar women's groups as misandrist!]

told them to "stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit"

A 62-year-old Singapore man was temporarily denied entry into the U.S. because a cancer drug he was taking had made his fingerprints disappear.... people being treated with Xeloda, described as an oral chemotherapy drug, should carry a letter from their doctor that they are taking the medication if they want to travel to countries that require fingerprints for identification. ...

Berkeley Elliott Challis took sudden leave from our planet on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Berkeley was born on May 17, 1982 in Oklahoma City to proud parents, Michael Challis and Elizabeth Hansel Challis. ... Berkeley will be remembered by his amazing willingness to be of service to those in need. He was a true friend and always ready to lend a hand. He was a skilled automotive technician, a carpenter, a gardener, and the best cook in the family. ...The Mansions on High now have a dedicated servant as he continues his Paradise ascent to find the satisfactions of eternal service. ...

A judge ruled Tuesday afternoon that 13-year-old Daniel Hauser's parents could have custody of their son as long as they agree to treat his cancer with chemotherapy. Colleen and Anthony Hauser now say they understand their son needs chemotherapy. A doctor's exam showed the tumor, which is located in his chest, has grown and is pushing against his trachea, causing pain.

Billy Best ran away from home in Norwell, Mass., in 1994 to avoid chemotherapy, and today he offered conflicting words of support and opposition to Daniel and Colleen Hauser. The mother and son, who are from Minnesota, are now part of an international police search after they fled a judge's court-ordered chemotherapy Monday for Daniel.

a leading paleontologist said scientists have dug up the 47 million-year-old fossil of an ancient primate whose features suggest it could be the common ancestor of all later monkeys, apes and humans. Anthropologists have long believed that humans evolved from ancient ape-like ancestors. Some 50 million years ago, two ape-like groups walked the Earth. One is known as the tarsidae, a precursor of the tarsier, a tiny, large-eyed creature that lives in Asia. Another group is known as the adapidae, a precursor of today's lemurs in Madagascar. Based on previously limited fossil evidence, one big debate had been whether the tarsidae or adapidae group gave rise to monkeys, apes and humans. The latest discovery bolsters the less common position that our ancient ape-like ancestor was an adapid, the believed precursor of lemurs.

A millionaire is selling his £16 million country house hotel and donating the entire proceeds to a cancer charity after his wife survived the illness.

An Albuquerque archeologist and his team have returned with artifacts from a dig site near the Dead Sea which they believe reveals the lost city of Sodom. ...

DNA tests have revealed that a 13-year-old British boy who claimed to have fathered a child with his 15-year-old girlfriend was not the dad.... story... sparked claims from other boys who lived nearby that they could also be the father and social workers organised a DNA test. ... father was 15-year-old Tyler Barker, who lived on the same housing estate

This morning the European Space Agency successfully launched two new science heavyweights — the Herschel Space Observatory and the Planck Surveyor — onto journeys deep into space, where they will begin their much-awaited missions. With its far-infrared vision, Herschel will help astronomers learn more of how stars are born today and how galaxies formed in the early universe. Planck will look even earlier. It should help unravel the origin of the universe as a whole by mapping in new detail the microwaves radiated 380,000 years after the Big Bang.

"The outstanding characteristic of this race was their peculiar urge to build, to build anything and everything, even to the piling up of vast mounds of stone just to see which tribe could build the largest mound. Though they were not a progressive people, they profited much from the schools of the Prince and sent delegates there for instruction. ... The orange race was probably part of those that built the pyramids, as it was said they liked to make vast mounds of stone. ... --Frank Jakubowsky

A remarkable ivory carving is arguably the oldest sculpture of a human figure yet found ... The distorted object, which portrays a woman with huge breasts, big buttocks and exaggerated genitals, is thought to be at least 35,000 years old. ...

At a press conference addressing Carrie Prejean's disputed title in the Miss USA competition, pageant owner Donald Trump compared Prejean's stated views on gay marriage to Obama's. "It's the same answer that the president of the United States gave," Trump said. "She gave an honorable answer. She gave an answer from her heart." In her own remarks moments later, Prejean echoed Trump's statement, telling reporters: "The president of the United States, the secretary of state, and many Americans agree with me in this belief."

Police say a Palmetto mother neglected to provide her child with needed dental care, which led to severe tooth decay.

having a conscientious partner may actually be good for one's health. ... study, of adults over age 50, also found that women, but not men, get an added health benefit when paired with someone who is conscientious and neurotic....

the fifth state to approve the practice and moving New England closer to allowing it throughout the region. New Hampshire legislators were also poised to send a gay marriage bill to their governor, who hasn't indicated whether he'll sign it. If he does, Rhode Island would be the region's sole holdout.

Two identical twin brothers have married two identical twin sisters in a joint wedding ceremony in China. The two couples, from Binhai town, look so much alike that members of their own family struggle to tell them apart. ... "We really can't distinguish who's who, so we ask them to name themselves before speaking," said Zhang Shengzhong, the father of the twin sisters. And the grandmother of the twin brothers admitted: "If I can't tell the difference, I just answer them with a smile without speaking."

An Oklahoma mother, who stood by and watched as someone gave drugs to her seven-year-old, is now behind bars. The stunning scene involving the developmentally delayed child was caught on camera. Authorities were tipped off to what happened after video of the incident surfaced on a repossessed computer.

resolved a long-standing mystery about an X-ray glow along the plane of the our home galaxy. The glow in the region covered by the Chandra image was discovered to be caused by hundreds of point-like X-ray sources, implying that the glow along the plane of the Galaxy is due to millions of such sources.