A Canada Olympic Panic:
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, will be a major international multi-sport event held on February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the resort town of Whistler, British Columbia and in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond. Both the Olympic and Paralympic Games are being organized by the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC). The 2010 Winter Olympics will be the third Olympics hosted by Canada, and the first by the province of British Columbia.
The Olympic village is a billion-dollar project. The initial budget for building the Olympic Village was $750 million, but there has been an estimated cost overruns of $125 million due to increasing construction costs and the global economic downturn. The cost to host the olympics caused financial panic in Canada.
A Chemo Treatment:
Chemotherapy, in its most general sense, is the treatment of disease by chemicals especially by killing micro-organisms or cancerous cells. Most commonly, chemotherapy acts by killing cells that divide rapidly, one of the main properties of cancer cells. This means that it also harms cells that divide rapidly under normal circumstances: cells in the bone marrow, digestive tract and hair follicles; this results in the most common side effects of chemotherapy—myelosuppression (decreased production of blood cells), mucositis (inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract) and alopecia (hair loss).
Other uses of cytostatic chemotherapy agents (including the ones mentioned below) are the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Dermatomyositis, Polymyositis, Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and the suppression of transplant rejections (see immunosuppression and DMARDs). Newer anticancer drugs act directly against abnormal proteins in cancer cells; this is termed targeted therapy.
A Darwin Theory:
Darwin's Theory of Evolution is the widely held notion that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor. Evolution is change in the genetic material of a population of organisms through successive generations. Although the changes produced in a single generation are normally small, the accumulation of these differences over time can cause substantial changes in a population, a process that can result in the emergence of new species.
A Greenland Melting:
In 2009, satellite observations and a state-of-the art regional atmospheric model have independently confirmed that the Greenland ice sheet is losing mass at an accelerating rate. The Greenland ice sheet contains enough water to cause a global sea level rise of seven metres. Since 2000, the ice sheet has lost about 1500 Gt in total, representing on average a global sea level rise of about half a millimetre per year, or 5 mm since 2000.
At the same time that surface melting started to increase around 1996, snowfall on the ice sheet also increased at approximately the same rate, masking surface mass losses for nearly a decade. Moreover, a significant part of the additional meltwater refroze in the cold snowpack that covers the ice sheet. Without these moderating effects, post-1996 Greenland mass loss would have been double the amount of mass loss observed now.
Alien Paralysis:
Since the first reported alien abduction in 1957 by Antonio Villas Boas there have been a number of others that have also claimed to have been abducted. Their stories are remarkably similar. Almost all abductees claim they were paralyzed and kidnapped in their sleep from their rooms. They wake up and find themselves paralyzed, unable to move or cry out for help.
Sleep paralysis is thought by some to account for many alien abductions. Sleep paralysis occurs in the hypnagogic state or the hypnopompic state. The description abductees give of their experience--being unable to move or speak, feeling some sort of presence, feeling fear and an inability to cry out--is a list of the symptoms of sleep paralysis.
Real alien abductions are not the result of sleep paralysis. Aliens use a sonar device to stun their victims into submission by blasting them with an intense burst of sound. Many abductees report hear buzzing sounds. This is similar to ecolocation used by bats. During prey-capture attempts, many echolocating bats emit a 'terminal buzz', when pulse repetition rate is increased and pulse duration and interpulse interval are shortened. The buzz is followed by a silent interval (the post-buzz pause).
Abductees also report seeing flashing lights. They feel an electric sensation which levitates their bodies. The approaching aliens with wrap-around eyes, gray or green skin, lacking hair or noses causes the abductees' heart to pound violently. They are transported to the alien's ship where they are probed. Instruments are inserted in their noses, navels, or other orifices. See A Sonar Device
Apple Computer:
The Apple I, also known as the Apple-1, was an early personal computer. It was designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak. Wozniak's friend Steve Jobs had the idea of selling the computer. The Apple I was Apple's first product, demonstrated in April 1976 at the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto, California. It went on sale in July 1976 at a price of $666.66 According to Wozniak that price was chosen because "It was easy to remember, wholesale plus one-third. We didn't even know that 666 had negative connotations at the time."
Designer Rob Janoff came up with the famous stylized Apple Computer logo, now replaced by a monochrome version. The bite out of the apple has variously been interpreted as a play on "byte", or a reference to Adam and Eve. Occultists and New Agers teach that taking a bite out of the apple gave mankind knowledge, or gnosis, putting them on the path to self-divinity and godhood.
A Rosary Recited:
The prayers consist of repeated sequences of the Lord's Prayer followed by ten prayings of the Hail Mary and a single praying of "Glory Be to the Father" and is sometimes accompanied by the "Oh my Jesus" prayer; each of these sequences is known as a decade. The praying of each decade is accompanied by meditation on one of the Mysteries of the Rosary, which are events in the lives of Jesus Christ and his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Crystal Tears:
Share International reported at the end of 1996. Nabil Matraji, our correspondent in the Lebanon, contacted the Meselmani family to find out more about the amazing phenomenon, which lasted from March till November 1996. A discussion with Hasnah confirmed that the unseen hand behind the crystal miracle was that of Maitreya. A report about the mysterious "white knight" follows.
Commotion stirred the Arab world: a girl was making hard glass crystals, sharp enough to cut paper, appear from her eyes seven times a day without any apparent injury to herself - it had to be some kind of miracle. The 12-year-old Hasnah Mohamed Meselmani became the centre of attention. Religious authorities and scientists sought answers to the riddle.
The answer soon came: it was 'fraud', and the girl had admitted it, at least that is how the story was reported. Many people were upset and disappointed, others, less inclined to believe in inexplicable 'miracles', were relieved. Lebanon and other Arab countries declared the file closed and silence descended on the story of Hasnah Mohamed Meselmani. And yet certain questions remained unanswered. For instance, questions about the nature of the so-called fraud. How did Hasnah manage to pull the whole thing off with crystals coming out of her eyes in full view of television cameras? If the television pictures were authentic and anything to go by, then fraud would seem to be out of the question: the girl's eye was filmed in close-up and showed pieces of glass slowly pushing out of her eyes as if coming from the retina.
It all began in March 1996. She was at school when she felt something strange in her left eye - her first piece of crystal, which, understandably, troubled her. Back home, she told her family what had happened and, while she was doing so, a second piece of crystal appeared in her eye. Her father took her to the city of Chtaura to see Dr Araji, an ophthalmologist. She stayed in his clinic for two weeks, and the crystals kept flowing out of her eye. Dr Araji certified that the pieces were real crystals and said he had no scientific explanation of the phenomenon. It could only be understood, he thought, as an act of God. A few days later, Hasnah was told the same thing in another strange event.
"One night," she told Nabil, "I was still awake when I heard someone tapping at the window. I got up, walked to the window and there I saw a man dressed in white. He was sitting on a white horse, he smiled at me and called me by name. He asked me if I would go outside to talk to him." Hasnah went out through the front door.
There stood the "white knight", as she calls him, waiting for her. He was dressed from head to foot in a white tunic, which also covered his head and face.
"The white knight" said she needn't be afraid and he introduced himself to Hasnah as a "messenger from God". A conversation developed between them about which Hasnah revealed no further details, apart from the fact that the white knight led her to understand that it was he who had been behind the crystal tears, and that all went according to God's will. There was a witness to the conversation: Hasnah's little brother had followed her outside, heard his sister speaking, but failed to see who she was talking to. "The white knight" visited her a few times again and gave her advice and various warnings. When Hasnah asked when the tears would stop the answer was: "When God wills."
Hasnah remembered some of the words the "white knight" spoke to her in her dream. He kissed her on the forehead and said: "I will always be with you, even when you don't see me."
A fascinating aside: during one of her meetings with the white knight he advised Hasnah that her whole family should leave their home temporarily because something unpleasant was about to happen. The family followed the advice - all except one son. The following day he was involved in a traffic accident, and although his car was a write-off, Hasnah's brother escaped without a scratch. The same evening she met the white knight yet again. He asked: "Didn't I say that ALL of you should leave the house?"
The story became public: television stations, magazines and newspapers flocked to the house of the Meselmani family to meet the girl with the crystal tears.
The Maitreya is associated with the appearance of the "white knight" on a white horse.
Glacier Retreats:
A condition occurring when backward melting at the front of a glacier takes place at a rate exceeding forward motion.
Homosexual Man:
A homosexual man is someone who displays romantic or sexual attraction for members of the same sex. Homosexuals today commonly claim that they cannot help being homosexual. Homosexuality, they argue, is innate, perhaps genetically determined. Often times the biological reasons cited to explain homosexuality are:
1.) Hormonal Imbalance: The endocrine, the pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, pancreas, ovaries (female), and testes (male), carry various hormones throughout the body. Hormones control and stimulate the body. Homosexuals claim that hormonal imbalance may account for homosexual tendencies in some males and females. A homosexual female may have higher levels of testosterone in the body than other women. Equally a homosexual male may have higher levels of estrogen than other men.
2.) Genetic Mutation: According to a BBC report, male mice can be bred to have homosexual tendencies by introducing a mutation, a genetic modification, which disables production of a chemical, serotonin, in their brains. And the effect of this mutation can be reversed by injecting that same chemical into their brains. Sexual behaviour in mice is thought to be driven by their sense of smell.
Professor Keith Kendrick, a neuroscientist at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, said: "In terms of having potential relevance to understanding human sexual preference/orientation, we are of course far less influenced by odour cues in this context than mice are.
"There is some very limited evidence for altered responses to selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the brains of homosexuals, but we have been using psychoactive drugs which either increase or decrease serotonin function for quite some time now, and while effects on sexual arousal, impulsivity and aggression have often been reported, no effects on sexual preference/orientation have. At this time therefore any potential links between serotonin and human sexual preferences must be considered somewhat tenuous."
In any case homosexuals claim that homosexuality is so deeply ingrained that it is, for them, an inescapable condition. Therefore, they conclude, church and society should accept homosexuality as natural. According to the Bible, homosexuality is not natural: "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet" (Rom. 1:26-27).
In July of 1993, the prestigious research journal Science published a study by Dean Hamer which claims that there might be a gene for homosexuality. Research seemed to be on the verge of proving that homosexuality is innate, genetic and therefore unchangeable normal variant of human nature. Few human behavioral traits are directly inherited, in the manner of height, for example, or eye color. Inherited means "directly determined by genes," with little or no way of preventing or modifying the trait through a change in the environment
In 2008, a study of 90 adults showed similarities between gay men and straight women in a part of the brain linked to emotional response called the amygdala, and a similar finding for lesbians and straight men. The research also found lesbians and heterosexual men had larger right brains, the side associated with spatial ability, while the left and right brains of both gay men and straight women were more symmetrical. This study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds to research that suggest sexual preferences may be innate rather than learned, researchers said.
In complex vertebrates, including humans, the amygdalae perform primary roles in the formation and storage of memories associated with emotional events. Research indicates that, during fear conditioning, sensory stimuli reach the basolateral complexes of the amygdalae, particularly the lateral nuclei, where they form associations with memories of the stimuli. The association between stimuli and the aversive events they predict may be mediated by long-term potentiation, a sustained enhancement of signalling between affected neurons.
Fear conditioning is a behavioral paradigm in which organisms learn to predict aversive events. It is a form of learning in which an aversive stimulus (e.g. an electrical shock) is associated with a particular neutral context (e.g., a room) or neutral stimulus (e.g., a tone), resulting in the expression of fear responses to the originally neutral stimulus or context. This can be done by pairing the neutral stimulus with an aversive stimulus (e.g., a shock, loud noise, or unpleasant odor). Eventually, the neutral stimulus alone can elicit the state of fear.
Therefore the differences in the amygdala between gay men and straight men is the result of predictive behavior based on memories associated with emotional events. While the study would indicate that homosexuality has a "biological explanation", a cause for sexual orientation has been not conclusively been demonstrated. Various studies point to different, even conflicting positions. Scientists have been looking for the "gay gene" for more than 15 years. To date there is no evidence that shows that homosexuality is "genetic."
Those homosexuals who want recognition as Christians claim: “God made me this way.” God did not intend for men to have sexual relations with other men. The Bible makes this very clear: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them" (Lev. 20:13).
Man is not born gay. God did NOT make man this way. The "born that way" argument has now been widely refuted as false, and the current scientific consensus is that environmental and social factors work together to set the stage for homosexuality. There are numerous reasons for why a person may be homosexual.
1.) It's Trendy: “I kissed a girl and I liked it / The taste of her cherry chap stick.” These lyrics are by pop/rock artist Katy Perry. Some people think that being homosexual is a “cool” thing. Some people treat homosexuality as a fad because their friends are doing it, they could just be making excuses to try to be gay to get accepted. To learn more, please read: "Style.com Ponders 'Lesbian Chic' As Fashion's Hot New Trend"
2.) Rebellion: Homosexuality is rebellion against God's sovereign intention in creation, and a gross perversion of His good and perfect plan for His created order. Homosexuality is a rejection of God's created rule for our sexuality (Gen. 2:18-25), saying that man knows better than his creator how he is to live. In the Bible, homosexuality is linked to idolatry in Romans 1 because the homosexual becomes his own god and lawgiver.
3.) Sexual Abuse: In studies conducted by Diana Shrier and Robert Johnson in 1985 and 1988, males who had been sexually abused as children were almost seven times as likely as non-molested boys to become homosexuals. Furthermore, recent studies indicate an alarming 49% of homosexuals surveyed had been molested compared to less than 2% of heterosexuals.
4.) Gender Misidentification with a Parent: Some homosexuals may experience an altered sense of gender identity. This means a man who is homosexual may actually think of himself more as a woman than a man or, to use the popular expression, he may think of himself as a woman trapped in a man’s body. Frequently, homosexuals of one gender will take on the characteristics of the opposite gender. This may extend to dressing, talking, and carrying oneself as though they were of the opposite gender. Gender misidentification with a parent stems from the child feeling the need to take on the role of the parent because they felt that parent was lacking in their duties as a parent (i.e. male child takes the role as the mother because the mother is absentee, etc.).
5.) Negative Relationships with Persons of the Opposite Sex: Persons just coming out of bad relationships may carry a negative view of the opposite sex. In such instances, a person may turn to a member of the same sex for understanding and support. Soon a bonding takes place and eventually intimacy begins to develop.
6.) Feelings of Inadequacy and Rejection: Some homosexuals feel incompetent or incapable of performing gender specific activities. These activities which are perceived by the person as pivotal part of belonging to that specific gender. For instance, a man may feel inadequate if he does not take pleasure in activities like weight lifting, sports, automobiles, etc. Because of this incompetency they are rejected by their peers.
Lucifer Furnaces:
Lucifer Furnaces, Inc. has been a leading manufacturer of industrial furnaces - heat treating equipment for over 60 years. Lucifer Furnaces, Inc. has focused on providing quality small to medium size heat treating furnaces, ovens and kilns. Lucifer Furnaces was the originator of an industry favorite, the dual chamber “Space-Saver” furnace line which combines both a heating chamber and draw oven in one complete space saving unit. They also offer an economy Red Devil Series.
Mary Rosaries:
The rosary is part of the Catholic veneration of Mary. The Rosary (from Latin rosarium, meaning "rose garden") or "garland of roses" is a popular and traditional Roman Catholic devotion. The term denotes both a set of prayer beads and the devotional prayer itself, which combines vocal (or silent) prayer and meditation.
Pre-marital Sex:
The Bible undeniably condemns adultery and sexual immorality, but is sex before marriage considered sexually immoral? According to 1 Corinthians 7:2, “yes” is the clear answer: “But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.” In this verse, Paul states that marriage is the “cure” for sexual immorality. First Corinthians 7:2 is essentially saying that, because people cannot control themselves and so many are having immoral sex outside of marriage, people should get married. Sex within marriage is pleasurable, and God designed it that way. God wants men and women to enjoy sexual activity within the confines of marriage.
If the Bible's message on sex before marriage were obeyed, there would be far fewer sexually transmitted diseases, far fewer abortions, far fewer unwed mothers and unwanted pregnancies, and far fewer children growing up without both parents in their lives.
Rotten Apples:
"One bad apple spoils the bunch."
An apple that is already infested with mold will contaminate the fruit around it, which in turn will contaminate the apples around them, until it spreads through the whole basket. That is why it is important to sort fruit and remove any blemished apples.
A bad person like a rotten apple, influences everything he or she comes into contact with in a negative way. "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners" (1Cor.15:33).
Supervolcano:
A supervolcano is a volcano capable of producing a super volcanic eruption, which is a volcanic eruption with ejecta greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles), which is thousands of times larger than most historic volcanic eruptions.
Six known supervolcanoes: the Yellowstone, Long Valley, and Valles Caldera in the United States; Lake Toba, North Sumatra, Indonesia; Taupo Volcano, North Island, New Zealand; and Aira Caldera, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyūshū, Japan. Although there are only a handful of supervolcanoes, super volcanic eruptions typically cover huge areas with lava and volcanic ash and cause a long-lasting change to weather (such as the triggering of a small ice age) sufficient to threaten the extinction of species.
In October 2011, scientists have discovered that a previously dormant South American volcano is inflating with astonishing speed. Researchers from several U.S. universities say Uturuncu, which rises 6,000 meters in southwest Bolivia, is blowing up like a big balloon as its magma chamber grows around 10 times faster than normal.
Uturuncu is classed as a 'stratovolcano' - the most common type. But there is some concern that its rapid growth could indicate that a supervolcano is on its way.
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, will be a major international multi-sport event held on February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the resort town of Whistler, British Columbia and in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond. Both the Olympic and Paralympic Games are being organized by the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC). The 2010 Winter Olympics will be the third Olympics hosted by Canada, and the first by the province of British Columbia.
The Olympic village is a billion-dollar project. The initial budget for building the Olympic Village was $750 million, but there has been an estimated cost overruns of $125 million due to increasing construction costs and the global economic downturn. The cost to host the olympics caused financial panic in Canada.
A Chemo Treatment:
Chemotherapy, in its most general sense, is the treatment of disease by chemicals especially by killing micro-organisms or cancerous cells. Most commonly, chemotherapy acts by killing cells that divide rapidly, one of the main properties of cancer cells. This means that it also harms cells that divide rapidly under normal circumstances: cells in the bone marrow, digestive tract and hair follicles; this results in the most common side effects of chemotherapy—myelosuppression (decreased production of blood cells), mucositis (inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract) and alopecia (hair loss).
Other uses of cytostatic chemotherapy agents (including the ones mentioned below) are the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Dermatomyositis, Polymyositis, Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and the suppression of transplant rejections (see immunosuppression and DMARDs). Newer anticancer drugs act directly against abnormal proteins in cancer cells; this is termed targeted therapy.
A Darwin Theory:
Darwin's Theory of Evolution is the widely held notion that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor. Evolution is change in the genetic material of a population of organisms through successive generations. Although the changes produced in a single generation are normally small, the accumulation of these differences over time can cause substantial changes in a population, a process that can result in the emergence of new species.
A Greenland Melting:
In 2009, satellite observations and a state-of-the art regional atmospheric model have independently confirmed that the Greenland ice sheet is losing mass at an accelerating rate. The Greenland ice sheet contains enough water to cause a global sea level rise of seven metres. Since 2000, the ice sheet has lost about 1500 Gt in total, representing on average a global sea level rise of about half a millimetre per year, or 5 mm since 2000.
At the same time that surface melting started to increase around 1996, snowfall on the ice sheet also increased at approximately the same rate, masking surface mass losses for nearly a decade. Moreover, a significant part of the additional meltwater refroze in the cold snowpack that covers the ice sheet. Without these moderating effects, post-1996 Greenland mass loss would have been double the amount of mass loss observed now.
Alien Paralysis:
Since the first reported alien abduction in 1957 by Antonio Villas Boas there have been a number of others that have also claimed to have been abducted. Their stories are remarkably similar. Almost all abductees claim they were paralyzed and kidnapped in their sleep from their rooms. They wake up and find themselves paralyzed, unable to move or cry out for help.
Sleep paralysis is thought by some to account for many alien abductions. Sleep paralysis occurs in the hypnagogic state or the hypnopompic state. The description abductees give of their experience--being unable to move or speak, feeling some sort of presence, feeling fear and an inability to cry out--is a list of the symptoms of sleep paralysis.
Real alien abductions are not the result of sleep paralysis. Aliens use a sonar device to stun their victims into submission by blasting them with an intense burst of sound. Many abductees report hear buzzing sounds. This is similar to ecolocation used by bats. During prey-capture attempts, many echolocating bats emit a 'terminal buzz', when pulse repetition rate is increased and pulse duration and interpulse interval are shortened. The buzz is followed by a silent interval (the post-buzz pause).
Abductees also report seeing flashing lights. They feel an electric sensation which levitates their bodies. The approaching aliens with wrap-around eyes, gray or green skin, lacking hair or noses causes the abductees' heart to pound violently. They are transported to the alien's ship where they are probed. Instruments are inserted in their noses, navels, or other orifices. See A Sonar Device
Apple Computer:
The Apple I, also known as the Apple-1, was an early personal computer. It was designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak. Wozniak's friend Steve Jobs had the idea of selling the computer. The Apple I was Apple's first product, demonstrated in April 1976 at the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto, California. It went on sale in July 1976 at a price of $666.66 According to Wozniak that price was chosen because "It was easy to remember, wholesale plus one-third. We didn't even know that 666 had negative connotations at the time."
Designer Rob Janoff came up with the famous stylized Apple Computer logo, now replaced by a monochrome version. The bite out of the apple has variously been interpreted as a play on "byte", or a reference to Adam and Eve. Occultists and New Agers teach that taking a bite out of the apple gave mankind knowledge, or gnosis, putting them on the path to self-divinity and godhood.
A Rosary Recited:
The prayers consist of repeated sequences of the Lord's Prayer followed by ten prayings of the Hail Mary and a single praying of "Glory Be to the Father" and is sometimes accompanied by the "Oh my Jesus" prayer; each of these sequences is known as a decade. The praying of each decade is accompanied by meditation on one of the Mysteries of the Rosary, which are events in the lives of Jesus Christ and his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Crystal Tears:
Share International reported at the end of 1996. Nabil Matraji, our correspondent in the Lebanon, contacted the Meselmani family to find out more about the amazing phenomenon, which lasted from March till November 1996. A discussion with Hasnah confirmed that the unseen hand behind the crystal miracle was that of Maitreya. A report about the mysterious "white knight" follows.
Commotion stirred the Arab world: a girl was making hard glass crystals, sharp enough to cut paper, appear from her eyes seven times a day without any apparent injury to herself - it had to be some kind of miracle. The 12-year-old Hasnah Mohamed Meselmani became the centre of attention. Religious authorities and scientists sought answers to the riddle.
The answer soon came: it was 'fraud', and the girl had admitted it, at least that is how the story was reported. Many people were upset and disappointed, others, less inclined to believe in inexplicable 'miracles', were relieved. Lebanon and other Arab countries declared the file closed and silence descended on the story of Hasnah Mohamed Meselmani. And yet certain questions remained unanswered. For instance, questions about the nature of the so-called fraud. How did Hasnah manage to pull the whole thing off with crystals coming out of her eyes in full view of television cameras? If the television pictures were authentic and anything to go by, then fraud would seem to be out of the question: the girl's eye was filmed in close-up and showed pieces of glass slowly pushing out of her eyes as if coming from the retina.
It all began in March 1996. She was at school when she felt something strange in her left eye - her first piece of crystal, which, understandably, troubled her. Back home, she told her family what had happened and, while she was doing so, a second piece of crystal appeared in her eye. Her father took her to the city of Chtaura to see Dr Araji, an ophthalmologist. She stayed in his clinic for two weeks, and the crystals kept flowing out of her eye. Dr Araji certified that the pieces were real crystals and said he had no scientific explanation of the phenomenon. It could only be understood, he thought, as an act of God. A few days later, Hasnah was told the same thing in another strange event.
"One night," she told Nabil, "I was still awake when I heard someone tapping at the window. I got up, walked to the window and there I saw a man dressed in white. He was sitting on a white horse, he smiled at me and called me by name. He asked me if I would go outside to talk to him." Hasnah went out through the front door.
There stood the "white knight", as she calls him, waiting for her. He was dressed from head to foot in a white tunic, which also covered his head and face.
"The white knight" said she needn't be afraid and he introduced himself to Hasnah as a "messenger from God". A conversation developed between them about which Hasnah revealed no further details, apart from the fact that the white knight led her to understand that it was he who had been behind the crystal tears, and that all went according to God's will. There was a witness to the conversation: Hasnah's little brother had followed her outside, heard his sister speaking, but failed to see who she was talking to. "The white knight" visited her a few times again and gave her advice and various warnings. When Hasnah asked when the tears would stop the answer was: "When God wills."
Hasnah remembered some of the words the "white knight" spoke to her in her dream. He kissed her on the forehead and said: "I will always be with you, even when you don't see me."
A fascinating aside: during one of her meetings with the white knight he advised Hasnah that her whole family should leave their home temporarily because something unpleasant was about to happen. The family followed the advice - all except one son. The following day he was involved in a traffic accident, and although his car was a write-off, Hasnah's brother escaped without a scratch. The same evening she met the white knight yet again. He asked: "Didn't I say that ALL of you should leave the house?"
The story became public: television stations, magazines and newspapers flocked to the house of the Meselmani family to meet the girl with the crystal tears.
The Maitreya is associated with the appearance of the "white knight" on a white horse.
Glacier Retreats:
A condition occurring when backward melting at the front of a glacier takes place at a rate exceeding forward motion.
Homosexual Man:
A homosexual man is someone who displays romantic or sexual attraction for members of the same sex. Homosexuals today commonly claim that they cannot help being homosexual. Homosexuality, they argue, is innate, perhaps genetically determined. Often times the biological reasons cited to explain homosexuality are:
1.) Hormonal Imbalance: The endocrine, the pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, pancreas, ovaries (female), and testes (male), carry various hormones throughout the body. Hormones control and stimulate the body. Homosexuals claim that hormonal imbalance may account for homosexual tendencies in some males and females. A homosexual female may have higher levels of testosterone in the body than other women. Equally a homosexual male may have higher levels of estrogen than other men.
2.) Genetic Mutation: According to a BBC report, male mice can be bred to have homosexual tendencies by introducing a mutation, a genetic modification, which disables production of a chemical, serotonin, in their brains. And the effect of this mutation can be reversed by injecting that same chemical into their brains. Sexual behaviour in mice is thought to be driven by their sense of smell.
Professor Keith Kendrick, a neuroscientist at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, said: "In terms of having potential relevance to understanding human sexual preference/orientation, we are of course far less influenced by odour cues in this context than mice are.
"There is some very limited evidence for altered responses to selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the brains of homosexuals, but we have been using psychoactive drugs which either increase or decrease serotonin function for quite some time now, and while effects on sexual arousal, impulsivity and aggression have often been reported, no effects on sexual preference/orientation have. At this time therefore any potential links between serotonin and human sexual preferences must be considered somewhat tenuous."
In any case homosexuals claim that homosexuality is so deeply ingrained that it is, for them, an inescapable condition. Therefore, they conclude, church and society should accept homosexuality as natural. According to the Bible, homosexuality is not natural: "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet" (Rom. 1:26-27).
In July of 1993, the prestigious research journal Science published a study by Dean Hamer which claims that there might be a gene for homosexuality. Research seemed to be on the verge of proving that homosexuality is innate, genetic and therefore unchangeable normal variant of human nature. Few human behavioral traits are directly inherited, in the manner of height, for example, or eye color. Inherited means "directly determined by genes," with little or no way of preventing or modifying the trait through a change in the environment
In 2008, a study of 90 adults showed similarities between gay men and straight women in a part of the brain linked to emotional response called the amygdala, and a similar finding for lesbians and straight men. The research also found lesbians and heterosexual men had larger right brains, the side associated with spatial ability, while the left and right brains of both gay men and straight women were more symmetrical. This study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds to research that suggest sexual preferences may be innate rather than learned, researchers said.
In complex vertebrates, including humans, the amygdalae perform primary roles in the formation and storage of memories associated with emotional events. Research indicates that, during fear conditioning, sensory stimuli reach the basolateral complexes of the amygdalae, particularly the lateral nuclei, where they form associations with memories of the stimuli. The association between stimuli and the aversive events they predict may be mediated by long-term potentiation, a sustained enhancement of signalling between affected neurons.
Fear conditioning is a behavioral paradigm in which organisms learn to predict aversive events. It is a form of learning in which an aversive stimulus (e.g. an electrical shock) is associated with a particular neutral context (e.g., a room) or neutral stimulus (e.g., a tone), resulting in the expression of fear responses to the originally neutral stimulus or context. This can be done by pairing the neutral stimulus with an aversive stimulus (e.g., a shock, loud noise, or unpleasant odor). Eventually, the neutral stimulus alone can elicit the state of fear.
Therefore the differences in the amygdala between gay men and straight men is the result of predictive behavior based on memories associated with emotional events. While the study would indicate that homosexuality has a "biological explanation", a cause for sexual orientation has been not conclusively been demonstrated. Various studies point to different, even conflicting positions. Scientists have been looking for the "gay gene" for more than 15 years. To date there is no evidence that shows that homosexuality is "genetic."
Those homosexuals who want recognition as Christians claim: “God made me this way.” God did not intend for men to have sexual relations with other men. The Bible makes this very clear: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them" (Lev. 20:13).
Man is not born gay. God did NOT make man this way. The "born that way" argument has now been widely refuted as false, and the current scientific consensus is that environmental and social factors work together to set the stage for homosexuality. There are numerous reasons for why a person may be homosexual.
1.) It's Trendy: “I kissed a girl and I liked it / The taste of her cherry chap stick.” These lyrics are by pop/rock artist Katy Perry. Some people think that being homosexual is a “cool” thing. Some people treat homosexuality as a fad because their friends are doing it, they could just be making excuses to try to be gay to get accepted. To learn more, please read: "Style.com Ponders 'Lesbian Chic' As Fashion's Hot New Trend"
2.) Rebellion: Homosexuality is rebellion against God's sovereign intention in creation, and a gross perversion of His good and perfect plan for His created order. Homosexuality is a rejection of God's created rule for our sexuality (Gen. 2:18-25), saying that man knows better than his creator how he is to live. In the Bible, homosexuality is linked to idolatry in Romans 1 because the homosexual becomes his own god and lawgiver.
3.) Sexual Abuse: In studies conducted by Diana Shrier and Robert Johnson in 1985 and 1988, males who had been sexually abused as children were almost seven times as likely as non-molested boys to become homosexuals. Furthermore, recent studies indicate an alarming 49% of homosexuals surveyed had been molested compared to less than 2% of heterosexuals.
4.) Gender Misidentification with a Parent: Some homosexuals may experience an altered sense of gender identity. This means a man who is homosexual may actually think of himself more as a woman than a man or, to use the popular expression, he may think of himself as a woman trapped in a man’s body. Frequently, homosexuals of one gender will take on the characteristics of the opposite gender. This may extend to dressing, talking, and carrying oneself as though they were of the opposite gender. Gender misidentification with a parent stems from the child feeling the need to take on the role of the parent because they felt that parent was lacking in their duties as a parent (i.e. male child takes the role as the mother because the mother is absentee, etc.).
5.) Negative Relationships with Persons of the Opposite Sex: Persons just coming out of bad relationships may carry a negative view of the opposite sex. In such instances, a person may turn to a member of the same sex for understanding and support. Soon a bonding takes place and eventually intimacy begins to develop.
6.) Feelings of Inadequacy and Rejection: Some homosexuals feel incompetent or incapable of performing gender specific activities. These activities which are perceived by the person as pivotal part of belonging to that specific gender. For instance, a man may feel inadequate if he does not take pleasure in activities like weight lifting, sports, automobiles, etc. Because of this incompetency they are rejected by their peers.
Lucifer Furnaces:
Lucifer Furnaces, Inc. has been a leading manufacturer of industrial furnaces - heat treating equipment for over 60 years. Lucifer Furnaces, Inc. has focused on providing quality small to medium size heat treating furnaces, ovens and kilns. Lucifer Furnaces was the originator of an industry favorite, the dual chamber “Space-Saver” furnace line which combines both a heating chamber and draw oven in one complete space saving unit. They also offer an economy Red Devil Series.
Mary Rosaries:
The rosary is part of the Catholic veneration of Mary. The Rosary (from Latin rosarium, meaning "rose garden") or "garland of roses" is a popular and traditional Roman Catholic devotion. The term denotes both a set of prayer beads and the devotional prayer itself, which combines vocal (or silent) prayer and meditation.
Pre-marital Sex:
The Bible undeniably condemns adultery and sexual immorality, but is sex before marriage considered sexually immoral? According to 1 Corinthians 7:2, “yes” is the clear answer: “But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.” In this verse, Paul states that marriage is the “cure” for sexual immorality. First Corinthians 7:2 is essentially saying that, because people cannot control themselves and so many are having immoral sex outside of marriage, people should get married. Sex within marriage is pleasurable, and God designed it that way. God wants men and women to enjoy sexual activity within the confines of marriage.
If the Bible's message on sex before marriage were obeyed, there would be far fewer sexually transmitted diseases, far fewer abortions, far fewer unwed mothers and unwanted pregnancies, and far fewer children growing up without both parents in their lives.
Rotten Apples:
"One bad apple spoils the bunch."
An apple that is already infested with mold will contaminate the fruit around it, which in turn will contaminate the apples around them, until it spreads through the whole basket. That is why it is important to sort fruit and remove any blemished apples.
A bad person like a rotten apple, influences everything he or she comes into contact with in a negative way. "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners" (1Cor.15:33).
Supervolcano:
A supervolcano is a volcano capable of producing a super volcanic eruption, which is a volcanic eruption with ejecta greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles), which is thousands of times larger than most historic volcanic eruptions.
Six known supervolcanoes: the Yellowstone, Long Valley, and Valles Caldera in the United States; Lake Toba, North Sumatra, Indonesia; Taupo Volcano, North Island, New Zealand; and Aira Caldera, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyūshū, Japan. Although there are only a handful of supervolcanoes, super volcanic eruptions typically cover huge areas with lava and volcanic ash and cause a long-lasting change to weather (such as the triggering of a small ice age) sufficient to threaten the extinction of species.
In October 2011, scientists have discovered that a previously dormant South American volcano is inflating with astonishing speed. Researchers from several U.S. universities say Uturuncu, which rises 6,000 meters in southwest Bolivia, is blowing up like a big balloon as its magma chamber grows around 10 times faster than normal.
Uturuncu is classed as a 'stratovolcano' - the most common type. But there is some concern that its rapid growth could indicate that a supervolcano is on its way.
Posts
