tagged w/ lighten up
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Message from the Maya:
With the world focused on the Mayan world this coming December 21st, it is time to understand what ’13 Bak’tun’ and the ‘Mayan Prophecy’ really mean. Here, Mario Galindo, an expert in Mayan Cosmovision and teacher at Utatlan Spanish School in Quetzaltenango Guatemala, explains what the significance is to the indigenous Mayan people:
Unlike other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Maya used a number system based on twenty. Independently, they developed the concept of “zero” in 36 BC, which is the first documented use of the number. The Maya created a number system as an instrument of measuring time, not for mathematical calculations. For this reason Maya numbers have to do with days, months, years, and the organization of the calendar.
One of the sciences that played a major role in their system of numbers was astronomy. By observing the movement of the stars they achieved the development of their calendar. The Maya calendar is a collection of almanacs that integrates three simultaneous calculations of time. It is a cyclical calendar as it repeats the same dates and series of years. For example, in the current Gregorian calendar, the date “February 10, 1999” will never come again. But in the Maya calendar it will repeat countless times to reinitiate a new century.
The current cycle began August 13th, 3114 BC and will end December 21st, 2012 AD. Because of this, this date symbolizes a kind of Maya prophecy that many scholars have related to “the end of the world” but this comes from the perspective of western religious concepts or European ideas. The Maya don’t speak of “the end of the world” in terms of total destruction. Instead they refer to it as a series of changes at the physical level of the planet and in the consciousness of the human race in their base philosophical concept of religion. Their vision of the world was not planetary but of a galactic character. For this reason their calendar called “The Calenderial Wheel of Long Calculation” records huge cycles of time that don’t have a human scale. Supposedly we are at the beginning of a rebirth that will be more spiritual and harmonious with the earth and energies of the universe.
They believe that we humans have the answers and that our behavior will determine our future, specifically our awareness of our continuing destructive influence on the planet.
They say it is necessary that we humans end our predatory conduct and align ourselves with nature’s rhythm. They also say that only with good will can we free ourselves from the fear of what is our civilization could become. If there is good will, we will take a step towards a new harmonious reality. It is necessary to be conscious of the existing movement of the energies of the universe, nature, and the cosmos. Only then may we may achieve a new era that will not have a human race based on military economics or the imposition of “truths” by force or a system of unequal distribution of wealth.
We are at the end of a cycle of 5125 years, at the end of the galactic day of 26,000 years. We are at the forefront of an era of great change that the Maya called “The Time without Time”, a prophesized era that also has also been predicted by other cultures and religions that concur that we are at a point of changes of grand proportions. All of the prophecies look for a change in the minds of humans, that we can comprehend our fundamental connection with all that exists and can understand that we are an integral part of the cosmos.
In short, “The Maya Prophecy” does not refer to the end of the earth, but the end of our previously established mentalities. We will be responsible our own change, for better or for worse.
To find out more about the ancient (and modern) Mayan civilization, we suggest you come and visit Guatemala and experience first-hand the richness and diversity of the culture, history and natural beauty of the county.Message from the Maya:
With the world focused on the Mayan world this coming... more
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In teaser adverts promoting its "Whopper Virgins" challenge, the fast food chain describes how it sought out farmers in rural Romania, Thai villagers and residents of Greenland's icy tundra to compare its signature burger with arch rival McDonalds'.
"What happens if you take Transylvanian farmers who have never eaten a burger and ask them to compare Whopper versus Big Mac in the world's purest taste test?" one of the adverts asks. "Will they prefer the Whopper? These are the Whopper Virgins."
The "undeniable" results of the chain's "unbiased" global research – which involved "13 planes, two dog sleds and one helicopter" – will be unveiled in a documentary next week, according to whoppervirgins.com, the website promoting the campaign.
"If you want a real opinion about a burger, ask someone who doesn't even have a word for burger," states the site to a haunting theme of drums and pan pipes. "Watch the whopper virgins take their first bite."
But critics have slammed the campaign as insulting and exploitative.
"It's outrageous," Sharon Akabas of the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University, told the New York Daily News. "What's next? Are we going to start taking guns out to some of these remote places and ask them which one they like better?"
Marilyn Borchardt, development director for Food First, called the campaign insensitive.
"The ad's not even acknowledging that there's even hunger in any of these places," she told the Daily News.
The campaign has also stirred up a welter of online commentary. Brian Morrissey, writing on Adfreak.com, likens the campaign to colonialism and declares it "embarrassing and emblematic of how ignorant Americans still seem to the rest of the world."
"It doesn't get much more offensive than this," noted The Inquisitor blog. "If visiting poor people in remote locations, some who would be at best surviving on below poverty levels and throwing a burger in their faces isn't bad enough, it gets better, because they also ask the Whopper Virgins to compare the taste of the Whopper to a McDonalds Big Mac as well.
"It's hard to place exactly where this begins on the level of wrongness."In teaser adverts promoting its "Whopper Virgins" challenge, the fast food... more
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Hilarious Onion mock editorial, laughed so hard i almost spit coffee onto my mac pro. here is an excerpt.
This is from www.theonion.com, i did not write this.
Do We Really Want Another Black President After The Events Of Deep Impact?
By Kevin Henry
February 13, 2008 | Issue 44•07
I am not prejudiced. Far from it. What I am—or, I should say, who I am—is a man who loves his country so deeply that he is unwilling to stand idly by while our nation allows itself to be completely annihilated by another incoming comet.
Have we learned nothing from the tragic events of 1998, when, under the watch of President Morgan Freeman, this nation was plunged into chaos, and hundreds of millions of people died at the hands of the deadly Wolf-Beiderman space rock? The mere fact that this country is even considering putting another black man, Barack Obama, in the Oval Office proves that we have not.
We can't deny the facts, people. All we will get by electing an African-American is Texas-size space particles crashing into the Earth's surface, mega-tsunamis that barrel into the Appalachian Mountains, and 6.6 billion dead people.Hilarious Onion mock editorial, laughed so hard i almost spit coffee onto my mac pro.... more
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