Two Paths Diverge In the Arctic

Every week now it seems, astronomers are making a mind-blowing discovery or observation. Supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies; strange stars and galaxies flickering on just after the “Dark Age” of the universe following the Big Bang; and unseen “dark energy” propelling the universe’s expansion. This, astronomer’s say, is the “golden age of cosmology.”

There is at least one unexplained phenomenon that has implications for how a psychological revolution may happen. Astrophysicist Brian Greene, the author of “The Elegant Universe,” describes a phenomenon that defies the laws of space-time: When one distinct object is touched, it instantaneously affects another distant object. This process is not only faster than the speed of light; it transcends space and time.

Scientists have given this phenomenon the misnomer “entanglement,” which is an odd way of saying that it “makes things that appear to be distinct, part of the same whole.” If that principle applies to material objects in the known universe, how does it apply to the illusorily separate consciousnesses of individuals living in the global society?

“We may naively think things are distinct,” Greene says. That has a nice, New Age ring to it, but the implications are far more serious.

As humans, our strong tendency, a byproduct of the evolution of ‘higher thought,’ is to separate, and see ourselves, and everything else, as separate. Therefore “entanglement” actually applies to us. We are entangled in our own self-made ideas and projections of reality. Science mitigates against this tendency of thought, but as a product of thought as well, science still separates and reduces.

The question, I feel, is not, what is our place in the universe, but what is consciousness? We can discover its basic principles and underlying premises, and thereby gain insight into how we got came to this ecological, spiritual and political impasse. In doing so, we come upon another order of consciousness.

Of course the common view is that the universe is just random, meaningless chaos, and the human brain and consciousness are simply chance developments. That’s getting harder and harder for scientists to maintain. Besides, it’s philosophically facile, and externalizes all the interesting questions.

We study the stars and are awed by the universe’s continually surprising elegance, but assume ‘human nature’ and the increasingly disordered consciousness of man are givens, searching the heavens like medieval astrologers for our place in the universe.

Greene says that in terms of cosmology, “explanations are getting simpler, more elegant” even as the phenomena being observed and discovered are getting stranger and stranger. Scientists aren’t arriving at final answers, but they are beginning to understand how one process relates to another.

There are still huge and possibly unanswerable questions, like what started the Big Bang, and what was there before it occurred? And there are questions science cannot begin to answer, and for which there is no answer except holding the question, such as what is God and what is enlightenment?

Some who see the contradiction between man and nature, and feel the disastrous direction humankind is headed, believe man was a mistake of evolution. But that’s too easy.

Evolution may generate dead ends, but it is self-correcting. Besides, the evolution of a creature such as Homo sapiens begs the question: How can a sentient species, which evolved along with all other life, have the power to destroy virtually all life?

Since one species, possessing what it calls consciousness, can destroy most life on its planet, then logically that same species has tremendous potential for true consciousness.

Apparently the evolution and growing domination of symbolic thought, including and especially through science, is a stage of consciousness that generates its own crisis, leading to a “phase shift” of another order of consciousness altogether. In short, we are an experiment in consciousness, and experiments can fail.

Our present consciousness makes us increasingly hubristic technological creatures; awakened consciousness makes us human beings and members of the brotherhood and sisterhood of intelligent species in the universe.

Consciousness does not evolve, in the sense of gradually improve. But serious human beings can bring about a revolution in consciousness within themselves and human consciousness as a whole.

Indeed, is there is any choice? It’s either the death of humanity by merging with our machines, as capitalistic technologists are actively promoting, or painfully birthing a new order of consciousness, allowing humankind to live in imperfect harmony with our planet and the cosmos.

Martin LeFevre

Costa Rica Businesses Moving Away From Disposable Plastics

Costa Rica News – The single use plastics we carelessly throw away end up in our food. They hurt 170 marine species too.

Restaurants in Escalante and nearby neighborhoods are voluntarily joining the campaign #chaoplasticodesechable to do their part in avoiding disposable plastics.

The restaurants and shops will stop using plastic straws, cups, bags and containers. They will be replaced by items made of alternative materials, such as cardboard or wood. Some will also allow customers to bring their own containers in exchange of a discount.

At this time, only 2% of plastic is recycled and the rest ends up in landfills, rivers and beaches. We have released more plastic into the sea in the last 10 years than in the last 200 years.

To help the cause, shop at places with the plaque certifying them as free of plastics.

A Costa Rica Vacation in March; Less Rain & Big Waves for Surfing

Costa Rica Travel & Tourism – In March, the peak dry season in Costa Rica offers travelers bigger surf, better chances to spot wildlife as trees drop their leaves, and sparse rain—particularly in the more arid province of Guanacaste. The large, northwestern area surrounding the city of Liberia is a rapidly developing destination for active, nature-loving travelers who can hike through rainforests, snorkel in calm bays, and soak in thermal springs.

Five-Star Style | A recent $35 million refurbishment of the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica on Peninsula Papagayo brings contemporary style to the plush enclave, along with fine dining, a stellar wine list, and an enormous breakfast buffet. Screened balconies offer cozy water views ($1,080 and up). The upgrades continue down the road, where the Andaz Costa Rica Resort at Peninsula Papagayo has opened new nature trails, and more refurbishments are in the works ($440 and up).

Being Underwater | A few feet from their butler-attended beach chairs, Four Seasons hotel guests can use complimentary snorkel gear and dive into a spectacular aquatic wonderland in Culebra Bay. Enormous puffer fish, parrotfish, triggerfish, and varieties of colorful wrasse surround swimmers in swarms. Frequent catamaran tours departing from the hotel beach explore sunset views and deeper snorkeling.

Handy Ranch | Hotel Hacienda Guachipelín, an eco‑tourism resort, is about 15 miles northeast of Liberia, Guanacaste’s central city. The 3,400-acre working ranch offers day tours, river tubing, horseback or mountain bike riding, and hiking through dry tropical forest landscape and waterfalls ($15 and up). The resort’s free buffet breakfast includes fresh fruit and handmade tortillas (rooms $110 and up).

A Nature Trek | Many hotels and resorts offer tours to the Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park ($15), which includes an active volcano and its less-threatening boiling mudpots, steamy fumaroles, and waterfalls in the green season. Though hikes to the volcano’s peak are now off-limits, other well-marked trails loop through diverse terrain that’s home to exotic birds and animals.
Spring Into Inaction | Soak up nature in the natural hot springs at the lush Tabacón Thermal Resort and Spa ($300 and up). Immerse in shallow, terraced pools of warm volcano-fed springs, surrounded by exotic landscaping (free to hotel guests; visitor day‑passes $77 and up). Meditate under a waterfall or stare at a fin-crested basilisk that walks on water. Have an unforgettable spa massage in Tabacón’s open-air cabanas ($115 and up). Refresh at the resort’s Los Tucanes restaurant with herb-crusted sea bass ($30) and quail’s egg and beef tenderloin salad ($20).

Arenal Volcano | Tourists help support high-caliber dining in the town of La Fortuna, known for the nearby Arenal Volcano that has spilled lava since its 1968 eruption. At the casually elegant Don Rufino Restaurante, the wide-ranging menu includes outstanding ceviche ($9); a goat cheese, quinoa, and sweet potato salad ($8); and an upscale take on the classic Costa Rican casado, slang for the typical meal of a married man. Earthenware platters and bowls contain fluffy rice, savory black beans, green salad, sweet plantains, and egg‑topped picadillo vegetable hash with grilled chicken, beef, or fish ($12).

Rainforest Adventure | Take a reservation-only guided rainforest tour at Sensoria, a private reserve with an observation platform above the jungle canopy, sparkling waterfalls, and soothing mineral thermal pools for swimming ($90 to $120). Guides help identify flora and fauna, and lunch is served after the tour.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: With Easter on April 1, expect religious processions and services throughout the country this month. In the Guanacaste region, Miércoles de Ceniza (Ash Wednesday) means livestock parades and, in Liberia, harm-free bullfights.

By Valli Herman, From Orange Coast

Liev Schreiber Vacations with Rumored Girlfriend in Costa Rica

Costa Rica News – Liev Schreiber is vacationing with rumored girlfriend Taylor Neisen, 26, in San José, Costa Rica.

The “Ray Donovan” star, 50, and the former Miss South Dakota have been alleged to be a couple since last fall, but never confirmed the relationship.

They were seen frolicking on the beach in bathing suits while on the vacation along with Schreiber’s two sons, Alexander and Sam.

Schreiber split with the boys’ mother, Naomi Watts, in 2016 after 11 years.

Page Six reported in December that Schreiber and Neisen were seen on a date at Joe’s Pub.

Neisen competed to be Miss USA in 2012 — Olivia Culpo

By Mara Siegler, Pagesix.com

Costa Rica Laws Regarding Electric Cars Holding Up Customs Processing

Costa Rica News – The laws regarding electric cars are not clear or being enforced, it seems, as 22 cars are stuck in Customs waiting on clarification.

There is confusion because the agencies say they were informed that a regulation is required while the Treasury Department insists that the regulation only applies to spare parts.

Group Q has 20 Hyundai Ioniq electric cars. Grupo Automotriz has two more Ford Focus electric vehicles. While 20 Hyundai units have been sold they cannot be delivered because of the situation.

Customs informed both agencies that they should wait for the publication of the regulation to be able to deliver them with the exemptions offered by the new Law of Incentives and Promotion of Electric Transportation.

The Danissa Group is also affected. It seeks to market the electric car Nissan Leaf in the country. It already has demand from customers but is on hold awaiting the publication of the regulation.

More Business Between Nicaragua and Costa Rica

Costa Rica News – With the aim of increasing trade relations between both countries, Nicaragua and Costa Rica will reactivate the Chamber of Industry and Commerce jointly, in order to expand trade relations between the two countries.

The president of the Nicaraguan-Costa Rican Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Mario Solano Salazar, has convened several companies in Nicaragua that have business relations with Costa Rica, and major companies of Costa Rican capital to the Embassy of Costa Rica in Managua, to reactivate starting on March 6, the Chamber of Industry and Nicaraguan-Costa Rican Trade (CADICONIC).

The objective, explained Salazar, is “to strengthen the expansion of commercial relations between both countries and to facilitate customs and consular and to expedite border procedures.”

CADICONIC acquired its legal status in May 1996. According to estimates of the Central Bank, in 2017 Nicaragua exported products for US$129.3 million dollars to, and imported US$444.2 million dollars from Costa Rica.

Nicaragua sells bovine meat, live cattle, beans, wheat flour, oranges, coffee, unroasted peanuts, rum and shrimp, among other products to Costa Rica.

Meanwhile, Nicaragua buys oil, fuels and lubricants, raw materials and intermediate goods for agricultural and industrial use, palm oil, sauces, medicines, plastic articles and fine bakery products from Costa Rica.

The sector in which there is more Costa Rican capital in Nicaragua is the industrial sector, followed by agriculture and commerce and services, according to Salazar.

“We consider it appropriate to strengthen our commercial policy actions, not only for business and investment promotion, but also to improve the facilities of financing windows for the development of joint projects,” said Salazar.

From QCostaRica

Haunted Cronan Ranch Trailhead

Ghosts & the Supernatural – During dusk, some people have made claim that they could hear Native American chanting. The Native Americans came up from the Central Valley and settled in near the river to fish and hunt.

If you are hiking the trails here at Cronan Ranch Trailhead, you will see many rocks. Some hikers and horse riders have made claim of hearing pounding on the rocks. Could this be Tommy Knockers? In 1849, during the Gold Rush, parts of the South Fork American River were mined for gold. This is where they hear the knocking on rocks. One of the early miners was William Bacchi and when the gold rush fever died down in 1856, Bacchi purchased the land and brought cattle to this ranch.

Legend has it that sheepherder, cattleherder Dusty Brannon haunts these hills. There have been reports of people seeing a cowboy on his horse rounding up some phantom sheep. As people watch this cowboy, he merely fades away into nothingness, along with his sheep.

During this hike, I was fighting off a cold, but somehow I survived the hike. Our main goal was to hike to the 2003 movie set of “Love Comes Softly”, starring Katherine Heigl and Dale Midkiff. The movie set is pretty run down and it’s a hazard to walk inside the movie set, so they have it closed off.

Near Cronan Ranch Trailhead is Pilot Hill Cemetery. We stopped at this cemetery. Some background on the cemetery: Pilot Hill Cemetery, also known as Centerville Cemetery, was established in 1850 for the community of Centerville located near in what is now known as the town of Pilot Hill. The Pilot Hill Cemetery was established during the beginning of the Gold Rush. There were many miners and growing communities in this region. While the first recorded burial was in 1850, it is possible that this area was used for burials before that time. In 2002, the property was deeded to El Dorado County.

At Pilot Hill Cemetery a “Woman in Blue” is sometimes seen wandering the graveyard. Legend has it, she is the widow of a miner, that lost his life. When her husband died, she committed suicide and spends eternity looking for her lost love. Also, some people that have walked in this cemetery have heard the sounds of moaning. While we were at the cemetery, we saw 2 police vehicles blaring their sirens and going up the hill. Now, back to Cronan Ranch.

The Cronan Ranch was first purchased by the Central Pacific Railroad through a Federal land patent in 1887. Michael Cronan took possession of the property from the Central Pacific Railroad in 1891. The ranch was grazed by the Cronan family until 1918. In 1918, that land was sold to George and James Murphy. The Murphy family used the ranch for a time and then sold the property to Byron and Francis Bacchi in 1945 for inclusion in the Bacchi Ranch. Although this portion of the Bacchi Ranch was sold in 2004 to create the Park, the Bacchi Ranch remains active today on nearby lands.

After our hike, we were headed for Lincoln, to visit my sister-in-law Abigail “Abby” Stinson, her husband Ryan and son Roman. We had to leave early, because my cold got worse and I started getting the chills. On our way home, I was at a green light and did not proceed, because my head was very foggy from the cold and a Lincoln police officer told me to go when the light turns green. I apologized and did what he said. We made it home safely.

Paul Dale Roberts, HPI Esoteric Detective
Halo Paranormal Investigations (HPI International)
www.facebook.com/#!/groups/HPIinternational/

Who Holds the Keys to Your Personal Email? Supreme Court to Decide

World News – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday takes up a battle between the federal government and the internet giant Microsoft over the privacy of its customers’ data.

The issue is straightforward: Can the company be compelled to turn over emails stored on overseas servers?

A victory for the government, privacy advocates say, would set off a global free-for-all, with nothing to stop any country from seeking data stored anywhere in the world.

But the Justice Department says a win for Microsoft could create data havens, places where governments would be unable to obtain evidence of serious crimes.

The dispute began in 2013, when federal agents served a search warrant on Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, seeking the contents of an MSN.com account they claimed was being used to conduct drug trafficking.

Microsoft said it couldn’t comply, because the emails were stored on the company’s servers in Dublin — one of the company’s more than 100 data centers in 40 countries. Search warrants issued in the U.S., it said, have no effect beyond U.S. borders.

In essence, the company told the federal agents to go ask Ireland for the data.

A key issue in the case is where the search occurs.

The Justice Department argues that Microsoft can easily call up the data with a few keystrokes at its headquarters. That means the search takes place where the company hands the data over, the government says, not where it transfers emails internally from one data center to another.

“Any invasion of privacy occurs only when Microsoft divulges a user’s communications to the government and the government examines those communications for evidence of a crime,” Solicitor General Noel Francisco wrote in his Supreme Court brief. He said the search warrant gives the government authority to see those emails.

If the law didn’t work that way, Francisco added, internet companies “could move all information about U.S. subscribers beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement simply by building its servers outside the United States.”

But Microsoft says the search happens where the data is stored, not where a computer operator happens to sit. The company can no more be compelled to produce the evidence stored overseas than Hilton could be required to send a housekeeper to a hotel room in Dublin, photograph a guest’s papers and email copies to Washington.

It doesn’t matter, the company said, that its employees are performing the actual data retrieval, because they’re acting under court orders, which makes the search a government one, not a private act.

“We believe that people’s privacy rights should be protected by the laws of their own countries, and we believe that information stored in the cloud should have the same protections as paper stored in your desk,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft’s chief legal officer.

Privacy groups are lined up on Microsoft’s side. If the Supreme Court rules for the government, “any country could seek data stored anywhere in the world, including the United States, based only on that nation’s own judicial authority,” said Marc Rotenberg, president and chief executive of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a public interest research center in Washington.

Mark Rasch, an attorney who once prosecuted computer crimes at the Justice Department, agreed. “Such a decision would allow foreign countries to search your files in the United States if the company storing them happens to have an office in that country,” he said.

The federal law governing stored communications was passed in 1986, before the development of electronic mail and the creation of the World Wide Web. Several technology companies say Congress, not the courts, should provide an answer to the privacy storage issue.

The justices will decide this case by late June.

by PETE WILLIAMS, NBCNews.com

Man Dies at Costa Rica Envision Festival

Costa Rica News – A young man lost his life this weekend during the Envision 2018 festival. The festival took place in Uvita.

The victim was identified by the Judicial Police as Wesner Chavarría Camareno, of San Pedro de Montes de Oca. He was 32 years old.

Because Envision is a private event, security refused to reveal any details of what happened. The cause of death is unknown.

Witnesses say that around 7 am on Sunday the man was on the beach. When the water reached his knees he suddenly vanished.

Before this, we have seen other recent deaths due to water accidents, those of three brothers from Las Mesas de Pejibaye of Pérez Zeledón and a boy whose body was found in the Sarapiquí River.

Electric Vehicles in Costa Rica

Costa Rica News – There are about 150 electric vehicles in Costa Rica.

A law to exonerate them from taxes will likely increase that figure. There are still doubts and myths about the vehicle type among the public.

The electric vehicles operate with just 25% of the energy per kilometer than a normal car does.

There are additional benefits including non-payment of parking meters, special parking spaces and not being subject to vehicular restrictions.

The battery charge depends on many factors. For instance, it discharges faster when the air conditioning is used. There is, however, a regenerative braking technology that increases the charge as the car goes down hill.

One user of an electric vehicle shared some financial information. His electric bill has increased by ¢5,000 after getting the car but he saves ¢55,000 in fuel costs.

The only problem is that many areas don’t yet have recharging stations.

Costa Rica’s 89decibeles.com Saying Goodbye

Costa Rica Entertainment – 89decibeles.com is saying goodbye. It will cease to exist in March.

The website’s director, Adrián Pauly, wrote a farewell letter to his readers, collaborators and friends, thanking them. This final post was shared on Facebook.

The site came to exist in 2003, a creation by Pauly and journalist Diego Delfino. They continued to co-lead the project until 2015, when Delfino went on to pursue other ventures.

89decibles was popular for broadcasting entertainment news and national music. It hosted columns by young communicators, such as René Montiel.

It became a conversation space for artists and youth. It was an important digital media and it will be missed.

Pauly explained in his farewell that he does not have the resources necessary for the site to reach its potential.

Costa Rican Model Catalina Freer Signs With US Agency

Costa Rica Entertainment – Costa Rican model Catalina Freer is preparing to compete in the big leagues of modeling after signing this past week with one of the main agencies in the United States and cities such as Paris (France), Milan (Italy) and London (England).

The 26-year-old Tica is now the talent of Next Model Management, a prestigious modeling and talent agency founded in 1989 in New York in 1989 and has promoted the careers such as Abbey Lee, Meghan Collison, Marloes Horst and Zuzanna. Bijoch, and of male superstars like Andrés Velencoso, David Agbodji, Jon Kortajarena, Marlon Teixeira and Larry Scott.

“All this really started a year ago. I started traveling constantly to Miami (Florida) because my boyfriend lives here. I worked with several photographers as an independent model and it was they who recommended me to look for an agency. I contacted one a few weeks ago and yesterday (on Tuesday) I did the casting and they accepted me immediately,” Freer said.

La Nacion’s Viva reports the contract with the agency will mean the Tica will be settling in Miami, in the coming months. “I will be moving to Miami in two months and I will start working internationally and traveling to Los Angeles and New York. They told me about some opportunities in Germany and an interest for Sports Illustrated magazine, “said the model from Miami.

The Herediana said that signing with an agency with great experience and international projection will support her career and allow her access to opportunities in the industry that she had was passed up because she had not been with a U.S. modeling agency.

“I’m excited because it’s something I’ve wanted all my life. Next is one of the best agencies in the world and represents the best models, which participate in the most important runways and campaigns in the world, ” she reiterated.

In Costa Rica, Catalina Freer is a renowned model not only for her career on the runway, but also because she is the owner of the High Select Models agency and the HSM Talents academy.

From QCostaRica

 

America’s Involvement in the International Space Station to End

World News – It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

When the Trump administration released its latest budget proposalon Feb. 11, fans of human space exploration were dismayed to learn that it included plans to end America’s involvement in the International Space Station.

The proposal calls for the U.S. to sell its share of the ISS by 2025, treating the orbiting lab like some distressed piece of real estate in need of a buyer. Yet for much of the public — as well as to ardent space proponents, including former astronaut Mark Kelly — humanity’s only permanent outpost in space is an institution that needs to be protected.

“Cutting funding for the station,” Kelly said in an impassioned editorial, “would be a step backward for the space agency and certainly not in the best interest of the country.”

Kelly’s lament echoed loud across the internet. But a look back at the station’s long, messy history offers a different perspective. In the original plan, the ISS wasn’t supposed to end like this — because it was supposed to be a charred heap lying on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean by now.

REAGAN AND RUSSIAN ROOTS

Since the launch of the station’s first component on Nov. 20, 1998, the ISS has logged 110,000 laps around Earth, covering more than 2.5 billion miles while hosting more than half of the 553 astronauts who have ever left our planet.

But the origins of the ISS date back to 1984, when President Reagan announced plans to build Space Station Freedom in a Kennedy-esque state of the union speech. “Tonight I am directing NASA to develop a permanently manned space station and to do it within a decade,” he said.

Reagan promised that the station would bring “quantum leaps in our research in science, communications, and in metals and lifesaving medicines.” It was also supposed to foster collaboration with Europe, Canada, and Japan while preserving America’s preeminence in space.

Then came the harsh realities of translating Reagan’s vision into hardware. Freedom’s cost was initially estimated at $8 billion. That number quickly doubled, leading to a series of painful design compromises that still failed to stop the budget bloat.

The station might not have been built at all were it not for the fall of the Soviet Union.

In 1993 the U.S. and Russia signed an agreement to work together on a new International Space Station. The merger gained broad U.S. support as a way to keep Russian scientists gainfully employed (rather than, say, building bombs for the Taliban) while rescuing both nations from space station projects that had become embarrassingly unaffordable.

Yet even with the Russian assist, the “$8 billion” space station has wound up costing the U.S. roughly $90 billion in construction and transportation over the 19 years it’s been operating. On top of that, we pay $3 billion to $4 billion a year to operate the station.

Those expenditures have put NASA in a bind: The ISS was designed to be a gateway to new deep-space missions, but the agency cannot afford such missions as long as it continues to fund the ISS. As a result, for nearly two decades, American astronauts and their international partners have had nowhere to go except a canned outpost circling just 240 miles above the ground.

That left the station with a lot of critics in the scientific community. “One unexpected side benefit of the ISS was in producing make-work projects for private industry like SpaceX to develop their rockets, and that would be useful down the road,” says Arizona State University physicist Lawrence Krauss. “But they probably don’t need that now, so no tears here if the project is terminated.”

A SPACE STATION BORN TO DIE

Even as the ISS was still under construction in 2009, the Obama administration announced a six-year plan to defund the station and bring about its demise. “In the first quarter of 2016, we’ll prep and de-orbit the spacecraft,” ISS program manager Michael Suffredini said — “de-orbit” being a bureaucratic euphemism for “sending the thing to a flaming death.”

Under this plan, NASA would end the regular rocket boosts that keep the station’s orbit from shrinking as a result of atmospheric drag. As the ISS drifted lower, crew members would be evacuated and then powerful strapped-on rockets would execute a series of firings, steering the ISS deeper into Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Ultimately, the station was to have been steered into the Pacific Ocean, where there was little chance that debris would rain down on someone’s head.

Except that NASA and its congressional overlords kept giving the ISS reprieves. By 2014, the official line was that the U.S. would move out of the ISS but that the station itself would survive at least until 2024. The Trump administration’s decision is hardly a new move against the ISS. It’s just one more in a long list of death notices.

ANYBODY WANT A LIGHTLY USED SPACE STATION?

What happens to the ISS after 2025 is a complete unknown. “There are lots of potential uses,” says former astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, now a professor at MIT. “Other partners could continue scientific investigations. Private enterprise could turn it into a space hotel. However, I don’t know how any of these schemes would provide the resources to keep the station going.”

The space-hotel concept appeals to the Russian space contractor RKK Energia, which recently proposed building an orbiting luxury resort (priced at $40 million per visit) using ISS-related hardware. But the resort would be housed in a new module that need not be part of the station itself.

In the U.S., Robert Bigelow, CEO of Bigelow Aerospace, has proposed building space hotels, but his plans also do not revolve around the ISS. This week he announced a new company, Bigelow Space Operations, to build separate, private space stations, culminating in a supersized model with “over 2.4 times the pressurized volume of the entire International Space Station” late in the 2020s.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF RACE

If the future of the ISS remains murky, so is NASA’s post-ISS strategy. At the unveiling of the 2019 budget proposal, acting administrator Robert Lightfoot declared that freed-up ISS funds would pay for “the return of humans to the moon for long-term exploration.”

That’s a new priority, but not exactly a new plan. Even before Trump came into office, NASA was pushing the Deep Space Gateway (since renamed the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway), a space station to be situated near the moon.

Krauss is more optimistic about this project. “There is, at least in principle, something to do on the moon that would be useful, from learning how to do remote construction projects to science projects on the far side of the moon,” he says.

The problem is money. NASA’s current five-year budget map shows zero growth, and in 2019 there is only a trickle of money for new space infrastructure.

Private companies may yet come to the rescue. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos have both expressed interest in sending astronauts to the moon. Meanwhile, Bigelow Aerospace is seeking NASA support for another, more ambitious space station: an inflatable outpost, part hotel and part office park, located near the moon. Bigelow claims he can build it for $2.3 billion.

China is the wild card. Since the launch of its first astronaut, Yang Liwei, in 2003, the China National Space Administration has followed a slow but methodical strategy, sending up a pair of space stations with a third, larger station set to begin operations in 2023. In a recent interview with Chinese state media, Yang Liwei confirmed that the country is also making tentative “preparations for a manned lunar landing mission” in 2036.

In the long run, the end of NASA’s decades-long ISS project may mark the beginning of a new kind of space race: capitalist entrepreneurs versus the last communist superpower.

by Corey S. Powell, NBCNews.com

History & Changes to Barrio Amon in San Jose, Costa Rica

Costa Rica News – Barrio Amon was the most elegant neighborhood in San Jose and it is now an artists’ quarter of historical interest. What will the future make it into? What will this generation do with the Amon neighborhood?

Last century, Amon was the first residential neighborhood of the coffee bourgeoisie of San Jose. There were houses for big families, with impressive indoor patios. Chickens were sold door to door.

Later, as people moved into suburbs and away from this center, it became desolate and gave way to a culture of prostitution and sex tourism. Buildings crumbled and the beauty faded. Crime took its place.

Now there are many who seek to remake Amon. On Saturday, March 3, starting at 9am, the Festival Amon Cultural will celebrate its fourth edition. 100 activities will take place at 42 points in the neighborhood.

The artistic festival will include 19 restaurants, 70 organizations, architecture, art and design, concerts, performing arts, and environmental and urban life groups.

20 Hours of Surgery to Separate Siamese Twins in Costa Rica

Costa Rica News – Neurosurgeons took 20 hours to separate Siamese twins. They report that they did not feel hungry or tired. It must have been so interesting!

They had to fight some traumatic bleeding experiences, reviving one of the twins twice.

They were surgeons from the National Children’s Hospital. They organized a shift rotation to rest, eat and recharge. However, some last minute changes made them have to work the 20 hours without any breaks.

The twins are Samuel and Ezequiel Núñez Badilla. The surgeons donated the extra hours they stayed in surgery, as reported in a press conference. They prefered to keep working when Samuel had hard times.

After the twins were separated and both were stable, the reconstructive team came in and took over. There were so many people involved, from anesthesiologists to intensive care specialists who are now watching the twins at every moment.

Can Space Aliens Hack Our Planet?

World News – With all the news stories these days about computer hacking, it probably comes as no surprise that someone is worried about hackers from outer space. Yes, there are now scientists who fret that space aliens might send messages that worm their way into human society — not to steal our passwords but to bring down our culture.

How exactly would they do that? Astrophysicists Michael Hippke and John Learned argue in a recent paper that our telescopes might pick up hazardous messages sent our way — a virus that shuts down our computers, for example, or something a bit like cosmic blackmail: “Do this for us, or we’ll make your sun go supernova and destroy Earth.” Or perhaps the cosmic hackers could trick us into building self-replicating nanobots, and then arrange for them to be let loose to chew up our planet or its inhabitants.

Mind you, making a small star like the sun go supernova would be a mind-boggling trick — one that would impress astrophysicists (if any were left). As for the nanobots, I figure the aliens need only wait a century or two, and we’ll make the little devils ourselves, without any help.

LIKE THREATENING NEANDERTHALS

It’s indisputable that space aliens, if they do exist, might not be friendly. But it’s hard to think of things that we could do for agile, technically sophisticated aliens that they couldn’t accomplish more easily on their own. Imagine modern humans threatening Neanderthals with nuclear war unless they washed our cars. Would that make any sense?

The astrophysicists also suggest that the extraterrestrials could show their displeasure (what did we do?) by launching a cyberattack. Maybe you’ve seen the 1996 film “Independence Day,” in which odious aliens are vanquished by a computer virus uploaded into their machinery. That’s about as realistic as sabotaging your neighbor’s new laptop by feeding it programs written for the Commodore 64.

In other words, aliens that could muster the transmitter power (not to mention the budget) to try wiping us out with code are going to have a real compatibility problem. The Stuxnet virus that took out Iran’s enrichment centrifuges was designed to target a contemporary bit of software: the Windows operating system.

If these nasty aliens are more than 40 light-years away, they won’t know that we have personal computers, let alone which operating system they should target. If they’re more than 80 light-years away, they won’t know that we have computers of any kind.

Maybe they’ll try to disable our abacuses.

A DANGEROUS GIFT

It’s worth remarking that today’s SETI experiments — in which large antennas are used to search for signals from alien societies — are largely impervious to any of this chicanery. SETI receivers integrate incoming signals (which is to say, they average them) over seconds or minutes. That would turn any message into digital goo, and no pernicious content would remain. Yes, that’s a technical point, but I think it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever have computers susceptible to Klingon code.

Yet there is a way that messages from space might be disruptive. Extraterrestrials could simply give us some advanced knowledge — not as a trade, but as a gift. How could that possibly be a downer? Imagine: You’re a physicist who has dedicated your career to understanding the fundamental structure of matter. You have a stack of reprints, a decent position, and a modicum of admiration from the three other specialists who have read your papers. Suddenly, aliens weigh in with knowledge that’s a thousand years ahead of yours. So much for your job and your sense of purpose.

If humanity is deprived of the opportunity to learn things on its own, much of its impetus for novelty might evaporate. In a society where invention and discovery are written out of the script, progress and improvement would suffer.

Then again, aliens would likely have real trouble transmitting knowledge to us. In movies, extraterrestrials often communicate with us in colloquial English. But a real message from space is likely to be no more understandable than a digital TV signal would be to Guglielmo Marconi. An alien transmission is unlikely to be a Trojan horse — but it would at least tell us that there’s someone outside the gates.

by Seth Shostak, NBC News

Copyright Holders Call Out Costa Rica Over ThePirateBay.cr

Costa Rica News – The MPAA, RIAA and other entertainment industry groups want Costa Rica to step up its efforts to combat copyright infringement. They inform the US Government that the Central American country is failing to meet its trade agreement obligations, calling out the local domain registry as a “safe haven” for sites like ThePirateBay.cr.

The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) has submitted its latest submission for the U.S. Government’s 2018 Special 301 Review, pinpointing countries it believes should better protect the interests of the copyright industry.

The IIPA, which includes a wide range of copyright groups including the MPAA, RIAA, BSA, and ESA, has listed its complaints against a whole host of countries.

Canada is prominently discussed, of course, as are Argentina, China, India, Mexico, Switzerland and many others. The allegations are broad, ranging from border protection problems to pirate site hosting and everything in between.

What caught our eye, however, was a mention of ThePirateBay.cr. This domain name which, unlike the name suggests, sports a KickassTorrents logo, uses the Costa Rican Top Level Domain .cr.

While it’s a relatively small player in the torrent site ecosystem, it appears to be of great concern in diplomatic circles.

Previously, the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica threatened to have the country’s domain registry shut down unless it suspended ThePirateBay.cr. This hasn’t happened, yet, but it was a clear signal.

In the IIPA’s recent submission to the USTR, the domain is also brought into play. The copyright holders argue that Costa Rica is not living up to its obligations under the CAFTA-DR trade agreement.

“One of the key DR-CAFTA obligations that has not been implemented is introducing clear rules on copyright, liability, as well as providing meaningful legal incentives for inter-industry cooperation to deal with online infringements,” the IIPA writes.

“Instead, Costa Rica’s law offers largely unconditional liability exceptions to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and others, even allowing identified infringing activity to remain on their systems for as long as 45 days.”

Next, it puts a spotlight on the local domain registry, which it described as a safe haven for sites including ThePirateBay.cr.

“There are still many instances where the Costa Rican Top Level Domain (ccTLD) registry has provided a safe haven to notorious online enterprises dedicated to copyright infringement,” IIPA writes.

“For example, thepiratebay.cr domain is still online despite actions against it from ICANN and the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica. Costa Rica’s failure to deal effectively with its obligations regarding online infringement, more than six years after these came into force under DR-CAFTA, is a serious concern.”

The latter is worth highlighting. It claims that ICANN, the main oversight body for the Internet’s global domain name system, also “took action” against the notorious domain name.

While it is true that ICANN was made aware of the tense situation between the US Embassy and the Costa Rican domain registry through a letter, we were not aware of any action it took.

Interestingly, ICANN itself also appears to be unaware of this, when we asked the organization whether it took any action in response to the domain or letter.

“The Governmental Advisory Committee and ICANN Org took note of the letter but did not provide a response as it was not warranted. While the letter was addressed to the GAC Chair, it did not contain any specific question or request for action,” an ICANN spokesperson responded.

Whether ICANN got involved or not is irrelevant in the larger scheme though. The IIPA wants the US Government to use ThePirateBay.cr domain to spur Costa Rica into action. After all, no country would like a local domain registry to serve a Pirate Bay proxy.

Meanwhile, the official Pirate Bay domain remains operational from ThePirateBay.org, which happens to be using the US-based PIR registry. But let’s not bring that up…

IIPA’s full submission is available here (pdf).

BY ERNESTO, From Torrent Freak

Steven Pinker’s Lie

A huge mass of gray and white clouds, looking like hundreds of cottonballs packed together and filling the southern sky, move almost imperceptibly from west to east. Small slices of blue open up between the individual clouds, and every few minutes the sun bursts through with brilliance and warmth.

As you watch the conglomeration of cumulus inch their way across the sky, you suddenly have the feeling the earth itself is moving. The sensation, though illusory, is so strong that it’s mildly disorienting. The simulacrum is probably the closest one can come to feeling the rotation of the earth.

Steven Pinker’s latest book, “Enlightenment Now,” is a slap in the face to anyone serious about enlightenment. The so-called Age of Enlightenment, based on the veneration of reason, empiricism and science, has spiritually, philosophically and ecologically dead-ended.

Pinker, the poster boy of fuzzyheaded intellectuals, has floated to the top of the septic tank of this society by “refusing to be pessimistic.” He achieves this by setting up and knocking down the straw man of “nostalgia for the economy of the 1950’s, when jobs were plentiful and unions strong.”

What Pinker and his ilk refuse to grasp is that it’s not the economy stupid, or any other metric of post post-modern man’s glorious achievements, but the inward darkness and deadness that has saturated their vaunted Western civilization.

By preaching the gospel of positive thinking in the Harvard professor’s garb, Pinker thereby adds to the very pessimism and cynicism he dismisses, and considers it his solemn duty to offset with statistics.

As the saying goes, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. The I-can-have-things-both-ways-because-I’m David Brooks intones, “Pinker has data in sphere after sphere marking the progress we’ve made in health, the environment, safety, knowledge and overall happiness…Pinker is a paragon of exactly the kind of intellectual honesty and courage we need to restore conversation and community.”

Speaking out of another orifice, Brooks proclaims, “our nation is emotionally sick…[because] tribal emotions have been aroused, existential fears rain down, narcissistic impulses have been given free rein, spiritual longings have nowhere healthy to go, and social trust has been devastated.” Which is it David?

As a psychologist, Pinker’s superficial, dismissive diagnosis the despair and depression so many people feel amounts to psychological malpractice. He says it’s the result of a lack of information and reason, plus entropy inherent in all systems and irrational belief systems, which altogether generate a misperception of the “facts” of human progress.

Steven, and his newfound third cousin David (“Learning of this kinship tie, I now feel special affection for him,” Brooks says) completely miss the point. Public intellectuals like Pinker and Brooks are cheerleaders for the self-gratulatory Anthropocene Age, fiddling and diddling as the earth burns.

Pinker, a leading false prophet of progress, sermonizes about how we must “rededicate ourselves the Enlightenment’s ideals.” His ignorance is startling, since he fails to ask the first question: Is humankind is heading in the right direction or the wrong one?

Clearly as a species we are still heading in the wrong direction. The basic, increasingly destructive course of humankind has not changed. Things are coming to a head, and actual awakening and enlightenment is the only way ahead.

The ecological crisis has produced a directly proportional crisis in human consciousness, which is usually experienced personally. Some consciously despair; many fall into subconsciously induced depression. People who are aware see and feel the crisis within and without, which mitigates despair and depression.

What is the common factor in man’s destructiveness? It is the domination of the adaptive strategy of symbolic thought in our species and by our species. Ruled by thought, we think things are separate, and therefore are dividing and fragmenting the earth and ourselves all to hell.

The continuity of thought through habit and tradition has been the way the brain has obtained order, but it has been illusory and has become increasingly disordered.

It is, paradoxically and counter-intuitively, the spaces and silences between thoughts, indeed the complete ending of thought’s continuity in attention to its entire movement, which bring order.

The false and increasingly destructive continuity of thought, whether in the form of belief systems, traditions, or the individual self, spontaneously ends when awareness is allowed to grow quicker than thought through passive watchfulness.

Then whole brain then sees through the ongoing “original sin”—the cumulative mistake of separation and self-centeredness.

Non-directed awareness can be faster than a hummingbird’s wings. When it is, thought slows and even stops, and the brain begins to undergo the transmutation essential to our surviving and thriving as a genuinely intelligent species.

Martin LeFevre

Enjoying the Beautiful Trees in San Jose, Costa Rica

Costa Rica News – Valentine’s may have come and gone but the romance doesn’t have to be over. Take a stroll with your loved one through the urban parks of the Central Valley.

It’s an ideal time because they are alive with colors due to the flowers livening the season.

The dry season gives us the opportunity to take advantage of the bright sunny days and dry evenings to go through a few parks snapping unforgettable photos of the usually green areas. They are now more yellow, pink, violet and orange areas.

The flowering signals the beginning of the reproductive cycle of trees endemic to San Jose. The leaves fall from the trees due to strong winds and flowers bud due to the characteristics of the summer season.

It’s almost as if the whole city is decorated, by nature of course. The beauty of the trees of different heights and types and flowers of every color is irresistible. Even if you can’t spend the whole day in La Sabana, be sure to take a moment to notice the impressive beauty as you pass trees throughout your day.

Domestic Prices in Costa Rica Could be On The Rise

Costa Rica News – Domestic prices in Costa Rica are in danger of rising.

This is due to increases in costs for oil, wheat, corn and soybeans which affects product transportation, livestock production costs and bread making expenses.

One of the biggest concerns is oil prices. Demand has been greater than supply and prices are on the rise. Fuel impacts the production chain, as it is used in tractors and the transport of products.

Another concern is that animal feed concentrates are made from imported corn and soybeans which are increasing in cost.

The increase is in the international prices of the raw materials which has been experienced since the end of last year. The prices were in a period of stability until the fourth quarter of 2017.

This change may alter controls on inflation. If the increases turn out to be greater than those incorporated in the Macroeconomic Programming set for 2018-2019, then the BCCR would have to evaluate potential actions deemed appropriate to avoid inflation.

Birding in Costa Rica

Costa Rica Travel – The Jay’s Bird Barn/Prescott Audubon tour of Costa Rica began on Wednesday, Feb. 14, and I arrived two days earlier to do some birding on my own.

For my personal list, I have seen close to 290 bird species. I have also seen and heard numbers of species that have gone unidentified — always a part of the challenge when birding in a new part of the world.

When we left the city of San Jose, we headed west to our first location, on the Pacific side of Costa Rica, where the habitat and terrain are gorgeous.

We stayed at Hotel Villa Lapas. A river ran through the property, and we ate all of our meals outside, near the river.  We found many interesting bird species right on the grounds of the property, including yellow-throated toucan, fiery-billed aracari, bare-throated tiger heron, spectacled owl, scarlet macaw and many more.

We start bird watching each morning at 5:30, before breakfast, because the old adage is true — the early bird gets the worm! Early morning hours are the most productive for bird watching.

Villa Lapas is within close proximity of Carara National Park and the Tarcoles River. We visited the park on two different days, and our boat ride on the Tarcoles River was magical. We saw an incredible variety of birds, including double-striped thick-knee, yellow-headed caracara, mangrove hummingbird, Panama flycatcher and a plumbeous kite, as well as many, many other species.

Leaving Villa Lapas, we went south along the coastal highway that parallels the Pacific Ocean. At lunch time, we stopped at an eco-lodge that looks over the Pacific. We birded there for several hours and added several species to our trip list, including linneated woodpecker, golden-naped woodpecker, and red-lored parrots. From a distance, we also saw brown boobys on a small, rocky island.

We left the lodge and made our way up, up, up — into Costa Rica’s central, high-elevation volcanic region, climbing to an elevation in excess of 10,000 feet. What a contrast — from sea level, then, within a few hours, we were in a cloud forest!

At another lodge, where we stopped in at a restaurant, hummingbird feeders were hanging from the eaves of the building. The feeders made bird watching there a lot easier. Trying to find a hummingbird in the wild in a cloud forest is not, otherwise, an easy task. But at this location, we added several new species to our trip list, and, for me, personally, to my life list.  The hummers visiting the feeders were one or two feet away from us. I had to back up to focus my binoculars.

We stayed two nights at the Paraiso Quetzel Lodge. Our target bird at that location was the resplendent quetzal. Any serious field birder who has traveled abroad probably has this species on his or her bucket list of birds to see.

In my estimation, this is one of the most beautiful birds anywhere. Seeing this species in person is the best way to appreciate its beauty, its unique colors and the patterns of its feathers. In adult males, the most impressive feature is its long tail feathers — extending more than two feet from its body.

We left the lodge early in the morning with a local guide, in search of the quetzal. Each day the guides receive phone calls from local farmers, who let the guides know whether any quetzal is on their property. If the bird is there, the guide takes his group to the property, and if they see the quetzal, the farmer gets paid.

At the second location we visited that day, we were rewarded with views of a male quetzal at close range.

Words cannot express my emotions on seeing this bird for the first time. Feelings of relief and joy washed over me.

Our visit to the high-elevation area also resulted in many other amazing sightings, which I will try to share in the future.

Until next week, happy birding!

Eric Moore is the owner of Jay’s Bird Barn, with three locations in northern Arizona — Prescott, Sedona and Flagstaff. He has been an avid birder for more than 50 years. Email questions about wild birds to eric@jaysbirdbarn.com

By Eric Moore, The Daily Courier

The Magic of Color

Before anything can truly become alive in a spiritual and physical sense we must breathe deeply the air, into our dreams, into our subconscious mind and focus on bringing out our thoughts into real life actions. The act of intent is a powerful thing, perhaps the most powerful energy in the world. A simple thought, action or movement can shape the future.

Before something is, it is in the spiritual sense alive first. You can pull out messages from this universe by simply expanding your mind and focusing on your inner being.

The colors of the world seem to be prechosen and often symbolize deeply spiritual things. For instance, the changing of a leaf from green to brown is a process of death in the changing season of fall. Although, there are scientific reasons for this, the spiritual world has forewarned us what is happening and we can read this through color.

Giving someone flowers can signify spiritual intention by using certain colors for instance giving your lover red roses and bringing white ones to a funeral mean very different things. Give a yellow rose in friendship and a black to symbolize divine beauty and the universe. This is a powerful act of intention.

Reading colors is a spiritual gift and can be used for anything from dreams, art, auras, candle magic and beauty into interpreting mood by the color someone chooses to wear in a day. Most people subconsciously focus on colors at all times without realizing as it’s almost automatic.

Animals change color with the season, habitat and mood as well and when we are struck to try something new color often gives an energizing liveliness to many situations.

There is a place that gives birth to all souls and energy and we are made to know that place. Please feel comfortable there, in this spiritual world as that is a place of creation and home for your spirit.

It is your resting place in the heavens. You may safely draw out the information from your higher being here and focus on shaping your life like clay. You can really be in control of a lot more than you think you are capable of. We have learned the art of creation, through our own and you can amaze yourself if you only try. It seems like the artist has the most truthful and divine view on the world, the artist is essentially a master of colors. Color is expression.

Black

Black is a shade and the absence of color. Black represents negativity, fear, death, depression and tragedy. Black is a very powerful signal of negative influences. The colors black and red together symbolize devious intentions as red is a negative symbol for anger.

Blue

The color blue is most often represented as a spiritual indicator of a positive manner. Blue is the color of the skies, clear waters and many precious gemstones. Blue has been used since ancient times as representation of spiritual peoples and truth.

If you dream of the color blue, pay most attention to what shade of blue you are seeing and the overall feeling that you experience. Wherever the blue is standing out there is most likely a pattern. For example, do you see it only when looking towards the skies or does everyone in the dream seem to be wearing this color? Well than you will associate it with the element it is in.

The stone Lapis Lazuli is used to enhance those with psychic abilities.

Staring into this dark blue rock can cause visions and immersing it in water may heighten them.

Brown

The color brown represents the Earth. This means soil, sand, dirt and wood. To dream of the color brown means that either your spiritual path is leading you on an unclean road or that you are being to materialistic. You need to find a way to center yourself. Because most woods are brown, it is not unnatural to dream of brown wood. However, because different types of wood hold special meaning it is important to focus on the shade of brown and the special meaning of the wood. Trees have roots which is also a symbol for our need to stay grounded.

Gold

The color gold represents good fortune, promises, spiritual wealth and refinement. To see gold in your dreams is an indicator of good luck soon to come. Pay special attention to any messages coming through, good luck does not necessarily mean material fortune. After all, money is just pieces of metal from the Earth that we placed values and ideas into. Its so palpable that it can be shaped easily, yet uncommon enough to be precious.

Green

Green is a beautiful color (my favorite) that represents the nature and lush vegetation of the Earth. The color green is relaxing to look at.

The color green in a dream represents healing and good health. Because most of spirituality is composed of essence it could also possibly mean healing of your soul, heart or mind.

Orange

The color orange is the color of a flame burning. To see orange in your dreams represents a spiritual passion. As you realize, many things that are materialized into the physical world, once started in the dream world. Orange is a positive sign in dreams, foretelling of a positive life and an omen of good news. The only time orange can have a negative connotation is if it is lackluster, foretelling the same passion dying out.

Purple

Purple is a symbol of materialistic, alive, occult and earthly royalty.

Purple is a vibrant color, one that was only afforded by the rich in ancient times. It was a high symbol of status. Today, the energy still carries through and purple is linked much the same.

If you dream of the color purple you will be divinely successful in Earthly ways. People of ancient times believed that those in high status held a special esteem with the Gods and may have been the bloodline of superhuman beings. That is why there is an occult touch about this color, as if your material fortunes may have been God given.

Red

The color red is an indicator of extreme emotions and anger. Red is also a symbol of life and blood. Red is a loud color, and a very hard color on your eye. Red stirs up bold actions and thoughts. To dream of the color red symbolizes anger and intensity. When you dream of this color you need to rely on your logic instead of emotions.

Silver

The color silver is used for representation of divine female energies especially ones dominated by the power of the moon. To see silver in your dreams is an indicator of unfortunate luck, but remember that luck is sometimes the signal of a new beginning through many endings. Silver may also represent a divine intuition. In these instances, I recommend going with the feeling from your dream into the present situation in life. Intuition is instant and immediate and so therefore, to dream of silver foretells of an event soon to pass.

White

White is also considered a shade and is a symbol for purity and innocence. In the United States, it is customary for a woman to wear white on her wedding day to represent this. White is a peaceful color but can be easily smeared or smudged and hard to keep clean when dreaming of white is signals the same emotions. Dreaming of a glowing white radiance is a celestial sign that you are very much loved by the Gods and Goddesses. Especially please take into your interpretations also the object or thing it is a celestial symbolism of greater proportions.

Yellow

The color yellow is for friendship. If you see yellow lights, it foretells sorrow with wisdom. Yellow is the color for air in magic surprisingly so with it follows creation. To see the color yellow represents a balance of energies arriving to you but overall you will have a clarity and understanding.

Color is an act of expression and awareness. Color can be healing or stimulating but most of all it is magical. Please act with intention and understanding each day as your soul will remember this habit and it will be easy for you to be confident and powerful always as you focus on the whole spectrum of things.

The Painter

My memories are patterns
Of you
A wet brush painting my skin
Spiraling, staining
Awakening spirits from within
Calling me to feel freedom
The painter, the potter
I am your art piece
Your energy sculpture
Your Venus and your Jupiter

Deanna Jaxine Stinson aka The Black Rose
Halo Paranormal Investigations (HPI International)
https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/HPIinternational/

Hobbesians On the Left and Right

Pause and reflect on the following passage. It’s a disturbingly clear statement of a Hobbesian view of human nature, and it comes from a leading progressive commentator. It feeds into the very traits in human nature that it loathes.

Keep in mind that our worldviews have two prime elements—how we see nature, and how we see humans in nature.

 

“People are weak. They are susceptible. They are easily manipulated through their fears. They long to prostrate themselves. They can be led by the nose into the gutter. The angels of their better natures, if they’ve ever given a moment’s thought to them, are a lot less powerful than the devils of their diabolical urges.

 

They lie, they exploit, they seek distraction at any price from the monotony of existence. The life of humankind, as Hobbes famously put it, is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Especially short: You no sooner begin to get the hang of it, learn a few useful tricks like lowered expectations, than it’s over. Poof! This is the basic setup. Society is an exercise in trying to offset horrors through law and convention.”

 

The first thing you notice in this miserable view of humanity is the use of the word ‘they.’ The author of this brief manifesto of misanthropy uses that separative word (which almost always connotes everyone but the speaker or writer), no less than seven times in two paragraphs.

 

The second thing that jumps out at a minimally discerning reader is how similar this worldview is to the very people that progressives oppose and seek to depose—far right conservatives, Second Amendment gun nuts, and completely self-serving politicians like Donald Trump.

 

Indeed, this small screed of small mind would serve very well as the opening lines for the National Rifle Association’s mission statement, an organization that now advocates arming half the teachers in American schools, which President Trump supports.

 

It is, in other words, a fully self-fulfilling outlook, which accepts without critical thinking the deformed and delimiting indictment of humanity by Thomas Hobbes, whose 1651 book Leviathan established the social contract theory that has served as the foundation for Western political philosophy since.

 

Let’s examine the basic premises, beginning with “people are weak, easily manipulated through their fears, and can be led by their noses into the gutter.” While evidence attests that’s quite true with the majority of people, it certainly isn’t true of all people.

 

And that’s the rub, since besides the huge ego that sets itself apart and above by making such a claim about “people,” the generalization isn’t just far too sweeping; it’s total.

 

The cynic does not question why “the better angels of our nature,” to correctly quote Lincoln, “are a lot less powerful than the devils of [our] diabolical urges.” Thus this description is itself a diabolical urge.

 

“They lie, they exploit, they seek distraction at any price from the monotony of existence.” They, they, they. Who lies? Who exploits? Who seeks distraction at any price from the monotony of existence?”

 

Certainly enough of the American people do to get a cretin like Donald Trump, the chief spokesman for the devils of our diabolical urges, elected. Oh, I forgot, the Russians did it.

 

I say ‘our’ as an American citizen, though I stopped seeing myself first as such after I graduated from high school. There’s been a lot of talk about tribalism within America and between Americans lately. But the first tribalism—that of seeing oneself as an American First—is not questioned, even by most people on the left.

 

We are first and last human beings, and until that fact sinks in emotionally, the tribalism of nationalism will continue to propagate and provoke conflict and war, inside and outside our borders.

 

So do most people in every country “lie, exploit and seek distraction at any price from existence?”

 

No, and in any case one can only speak in such terms about one’s own people and culture, if it’s true. No one can be sure what human nature is, much less that human nature is immutably weak and diabolical.

 

As to the definition of “society as an exercise in trying to offset horrors through law and convention,” this is a view looking through the warped lens of the 20th and early 21st centuries, and to some degree the warped lens of Western civilization itself. Indigenous peoples, which all peoples once were, certainly did not view, believe and behave as if “society is an exercise in trying to offset horrors.” 

At the rank, mucky bottom of this worldview is an ugly, shrunken view of nature and life. And life, it should go without saying, is not just the world man has made with our cunning minds.

 

Our relationship, or lack of relationship, with nature either colors our existence with the reds of sunsets, the blues of skies and greens of spring, or we only see shades of gray, and increasingly, black. 

 

 Martin LeFevre

 

 Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/opinion/trump-network-film-populism.html

 

Looking for a House in Costa Rica? Visit Expoconstrucción this Weekend

Costa Rica News – Expoconstrucción 2018 brings together 260 housing projects in the metropolitan area, San Carlos, Guanacaste and Puntarenas.

The fair started on Wednesday and will go until February 25th.

It takes place at the Pedregal Events Center. The cost is ₡1,000 for today and tomorrow and then ₡2,000 for Saturday and Sunday. It will be open 1pm to 10pm tomorrow and Friday and then 10am to 8pm on the weekend.

There are over 700 stands of companies offering new houses or materials to remodel and expand houses. Expoconstrucción offers a portfolio of 115 options for buying housing in buildings, 95 horizontal options and 50 projects for the sale of lots. 16 financial entities will be present to offer different credit options to buy or remodel.

The most affordable option is Los Frutales, in Orotina. Lots start at $20,000 and homes at $60,000.

An income level of ₡625,000 is required. The most exclusive, luxurious options are from Kirebe, in towns in the West of San Jose.

They can exceed $1 million. The same company offers studios in buildings at $120,000.

Recope Fuel in Costa Rica Is Harmful for Some Engines

Costa Rica News – Recope is selling diesel that, while less polluting, is harmful to some engines.

The new fuel composition seems to toast the seals thus causing leaks.

The new diesel has been distributed since November to gas stations. The fuel has less sulfur and aromatics, meaning it is less harmful to health and the environment.

It has been found to damage the fuel injection pumps of vehicle engines by damaging the packaging of pump. The fuel injection system functions to regulate the entry of the hydrocarbon into the combustion chamber of the engine. The fuel also generates a shrinkage of the nitrile seals. The growth in demand for repairs to the injection pump has increased significantly starting in December.

Recope created a Report on the Quality of Diesel and Possible Impact on the Seals of the Injection Pumps which states that they did not know this was going to happen but it does acknowledge the problem.

Still it will continue to import less polluting hydrocarbons because of benefits to public health.