We’ve previously seen “Black Friday” become “Black Month” and now it’s further morphed into “Early Black Month,” starting at the end of October. Stores are trying to stay above water, competing to offer more promotions.
Stores in Costa Rica and globally have been closed due to the covid-19 pandemic for months. This leaves them with excessive products and desperation to sell. Businesses must reduce inventories.
The current situation led to a change in shopping behaviors. Many now shop online. This will likely last long after covid. E-commerce is part of our new way of life. Correos de Costa Rica expects a 50% increase in clothing, footwear, technology, and telephone accessory packages.
Forever 21 has a section on it’s website called “All Special Offers,” with 14 promotions. Amazon launched special holiday deals. Walmart announced three Black Friday sales events. The marketing manager for JetBox noted that there have been much more aggressive online store promotions due to the pandemic.
Deputies have approved, with 43 votes in favor and none against, a bill to reduce the tax on vehicle ownership to vehicles whose fiscal value is less than ₡15 million.
Vehicles with a value of up to ₡7 million will pay 50% of the vehicle tax. Those valued between ₡7 million and ₡10 million will get a 25% discount and those valued between ₡10 million and ₡15 million will get a discount of 15%.
This, unfortunately, leaves a gap of at least ₡50,000 million in income that the Government had expected to use to cover end-of-year expenses, like Christmas bonuses for public officials.
This is a gap of almost 0.15% of the GDP. The 2020 budget reflects a deficit of over 11% of the GDP, a historical figure that is bringing us closer to an economic crisis.
The first and second photos are of Deanna Jaxine Stinson, Psychic Medium. 3rd drawing is Captain America crossover with Wishfire aka Deanna Jaxine Stinson – drawn by Richard Vasseur.
ACCORDING TO COAST TO COAST AM:
Pop star Miley Cyrus claims she was once chased by a UFO and made eye contact with an alien being that was aboard the craft. She revealed the wild tale during a conversation with designer Rick Owens in a recently published article for Interview Magazine. Asked if she believes in extraterrestrials, Cyrus replied “I had an experience, actually. I was driving through San Bernardino with my friend, and I got chased down by some sort of UFO.” In recounting the sighting, she likened the craft to “a flying snowplow” wherein “it had this big plow in the front of it and was glowing yellow.”
Cyrus went on to indicate that her unnamed friend also saw the UFO and that “there were a couple of other cars on the road and they also stopped to look, so I think what I saw was real.” Reflecting on the experience, the pop star said that she was deeply shaken by the event for days afterward and “I couldn’t really look at the sky the same. I thought they might come back.” As if her story was not strange enough, Cyrus indicated that the initial sighting itself did not feel particularly threatening until she looked over and saw a being seemingly piloting the craft.
“It looked at me and we made eye contact,” she recalled, “and I think that’s what really shook me, looking into the eyes of something that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around.” Cyrus is the second pop star to make UFO-related news this week after Demi Lovato shared a video of an unidentified craft on her Instagram page and claimed that she is able to contact ETs via meditation. Special Note: Demi spotted her UFO at Joshua Tree with her friends and Dr. Steven Greer. The two musicians’ willingness to talk about their experiences is rather indicative of how the phenomenon has become a significant part of the zeitgeist in recent years.
SPECIAL NOTE FROM PAUL:
UFOs have been seen all over the Los Angeles Greater Area, so to hear a report from San Bernardino, California is no surprise. Supposedly, there is an underground UFO base off Catalina Island. UFOs have been seen by many witnesses coming out of the water near Catalina Island and going into the water. Reptilian aliens have been seen by many witnesses in the sewer systems of Los Angeles. Tommy Stokes of San Bernardino says that he has lived in San Bernardino all his life and has witnessed up to 23 UFOs on several different occasions. He has seen cigar shaped UFOs, classic disc shaped UFOs and 2 globe shaped UFOs. On one particular night he encountered a small disc shaped UFO the size of a small house pass overhead. The UFO then came back and shined a bluish spotlight on him. The light remained on Tommy for about 2 minutes. Then the light did something odd. The light bent around as if it was looking at something from the back end. The light also stopped midair. The light did not shine all the way through, it stopped mid-air, like a Star Wars light saber, the light does not project out endlessly, it stops mid-air. After the light bent around, it went back into the disc and the disc flew away at a high speed. Tommy would not be surprised to know that Miley Cyrus saw a UFO. Besides all of the UFOs that are seen around Los Angeles and especially Joshua Tree, let’s not forget the Battle of Los Angeles, in which the military engaged with a possible UFO. And if you want to see a UFO at Joshua Tree, then check out this video: www.amazon.com/vdp/587ca11280f84509ba863d3e067875b1 – Many UFO sightseers flock out with Dr. Greer to Joshua Tree to see the many UFOs that gravitate to this intriguing desert area.
Now, let’s step away from popstars seeing UFOs and let’s get some chills with Melon Heads in Michigan and in Ohio, see below:
MELON HEADS
The melon heads of Michigan are said to reside around Felt Mansion, although they have also been reportedly seen in southern forested areas of Ottawa County. According to one story, they were originally children with hydrocephalus who lived at the Junction Insane Asylum near Felt Mansion. The story explains that, after enduring physical and emotional abuse, they became feral and were released into the forests surrounding the asylum. The Allegan County Historical Society asserts that the asylum never existed, although it was at one point a prison; however, the story has been part of the local folklore for several decades. Laketown Township Manager Al Meshkin told the Holland Sentinel that he had heard the tales as a teenager, noting that his friends referred to the beings as “wobbleheads”. Some versions of the legend say that the children once lived in the mansion itself but later retreated to a system of caverns (or caves in a nearby hill left over from an abandoned zoo). Some versions of this legend say that the children devised a plan to escape and kill the doctor that abused them. It is said that the children had no place to hide the body, so they cut it up in small pieces which they hid around the mansion. Rumors exist that teenagers who had broken into the mansion saw ghosts of the children and claimed to see shadows of the doctor’s murder through the light coming from an open door. The legend has spread throughout the region, even becoming the subject of a 2011 film simply titled The Melonheads, which is based around the West Michigan legend.
Legend in Ohio
The melon head stories of Ohio are primarily associated with the Cleveland suburb of Kirtland. According to local lore, the melon heads were originally orphans under the watch of a mysterious figure known as Dr. Crow (sometimes spelled Crowe, Krohe or Kroh or known as Dr. Melonhead. Crow is said to have performed unusual experiments on the children, who developed large, hairless heads and malformed bodies. Some accounts claim that the children were already suffering from hydrocephalus and that Crow injected even more fluid into their brains.
Eventually, the legend continues, the children killed Crow, burned the orphanage, and retreated to the surrounding forests and supposedly feed on babies. Legend holds that the melon heads may be sighted along Wisner Road in Kirtland, and Chardon Township. The melon head legend has been popularized on the Internet, particularly on the websites Creepy Cleveland and DeadOhio, where users offer their own versions of the story. A movie, “Legend of the Melonheads”, released in 2010, is based on the Ohio legend and various other legends in the Kirtland area.
SPECIAL NOTE FROM PAUL:
An interesting twist to the Melon Head story is that Stephen Hathrow from Michigan says that he was chased, along with his two camping friends by a so-called Melon Head. The Melon Head had a large melon shaped head, that reminded Stephen of a big white honey dew melon. The Melon Head was 3 ½ feet tall, thin arms and hands, thin legs. The Melon Head seemed at times to glide and float. Stephen was not able to make out any facial features. As the Melon Head chased Stephen and his friends, it came upon a deer. The deer was frozen in its tracks and the Melon Head touched its snout. The deer then collapsed. The Melon Head then seemed preoccupied with the deer and no longer was chasing Stephen and his friends. About 30 minutes later Stephen and his friends saw a small triangular shaped UFO hovering in the sky and then zip away. Could Melon Heads actually be extraterrestrial humanoids that now have a bad reputation as being fugitives from a mental ward? Special Note: Stephen Hathrow mentioned that his Melon Head incident occurred at Isle Royale National Park.
Melon Heads probably gave you goosebumps. Let’s take those goosebumps away by listening to a melon song, that should bring a smile on your face, please see link below:
An internal audit found emails in which a Logistics Manager requests that a supplier of masks make an advanced payment of a sanction for a delay in delivering five million masks. An intimidating phone call about the issue was also reported.
The CCSS assures that this is against protocol and is not an endorsed procedure. Therefore, it asks the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate.
It was on May 27 that MR Political Communications won the emergency contract for $1.9 million to supply masks for the protection of health personnel. The masks were to enter the CCSS warehouses the first week of June. None have been delivered, to date.
The CCSS never collects fines in advance. The procedure is to deduct fines from future payments. The supplier never sends payment of fines. In the event of delays by a contractor, public entities can charge fines per day up to a maximum of 25% of the total value of the contract.
Six officials face administrative investigations in regards to this issue, which is in the hands of the Public Ministry.
Eleven people died in Costa Rica, from 2006 to 2015, from causes related to cosmetic surgeries. One case is still in court. On this October 12, a 27-year-old teacher, mother, and sister lost her life at a clinic not equipped to revive her.
Because of blockades in recent days, she decided to have the procedure at a place close to home that a friend had gone to. It was in an ordinary house in which they created a room for operations. The doctor is listed as a general surgeon in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Costa Rica.
The woman’s sister dropped her and the friend off and went to get her car washed with plans to return in two hours. After an hour she had a bad feeling and returned to the clinic to find her sister convulsing.
The friend reported hearing the patient yell “Oh, it hurts!” She didn’t undergo the procedure because the complication happened at the very beginning. When the sister arrived she heard the friend saying “You can do it Arelys, you have to fight, you cannot die.” 9-1-1 hadn’t yet been called. Everyone was running. There was no anesthesiologist or specialist. There was not even oxygen. There was nothing with which to resuscitate or intubate her.
She was in pain and agony for two more hours until the ambulance finally arrived. By then, she had almost no signs of life. She was given oxygen and taken to the hospital but she died after attempts to revive her.
App development is a must in today’s mobile innovative business environment. From social media to ecommerce, there are applications for nearly every use case. Many companies are relying on remote DevOps teams to fill the skills gap when it comes to app development and deployment. Which means you need to have your processes in order for a successful launch.
For instance, utilizing Docker container files and a Docker registry can streamline a number of application development and deployment processes for your remote DevOps team. Giving you more time to manage your business without worrying about managing your company’s DevOps.
This can equate to big time increases in efficiency, productivity, and profits. But how can you serve up simplified processes to get the results you want and need to stay competitive? Let’s take a closer look at the key app development tips for your remote DevOps team.
Utilize DevOps Tools Like Docker
Giving your remote DevOps team the tools to be efficient and more productive when it comes to app development is essential. Docker is one DevOps tool that can make this happen.
How? Docker makes it easier for developers and engineers to develop, deploy, run, and update applications via containers. The containers allow DevOps teams to package an app, including the app’s dependencies and libraries, for deployment in a single lean package.
This allows the app to run on any machine, regardless of settings. This eliminates the need for virtual machines and virtual operating systems. Thus increasing performance while decreasing application size.
Application Functionality And Performance Trumps Beauty
This is a major app development tip that many remote DevOps teams forget about. A sleek beautiful application is certainly great, but if the functionality and performance lacks, users will be sure to abandon the app, regardless of how pretty it is.
Can you have your app cake and eat it too? Absolutely. In some ways, this is where container images come into play again. However, focusing on performance and functionality first, and then tidying up the application after, may prove far more valuable.
Look to remind your remote developers and ops pros that functionality and performance wins over beauty. Let them focus on making the best product first, and leave the best looking product for later. This is when updates can serve purpose.
Ensure Top Notch App User Experience
This is critical for your app development team, especially if they are remote. Give them the autonomy to build out a powerful user experience, because they are the experts after all.
The application your remote DevOps team is building needs to be responsive, highly intuitive, provide an ease of use, as well as simplified navigation. Empower your DevOps team to think like users, and let them take the app for test spins during development.
And don’t forget about the offline user experience. Depending on what type of application your team is developing, an offline experience may serve up even more value to users. When there is no internet connection, or if the internet connection is lost, have offline functionality that doesn’t disrupt the overall user experience.
Testing Is Very Important To App Development Success
Another top app development tip is all about testing. First, your remote DevOps team should be testing the application with a large number of user skills. Having a variety of skill levels during testing can help your DevOps team tweak UI to ensure development success.
From the first time app user to expert app-smiths, test the application with users of different mobile device comfort, educational levels, backgrounds, and location. If the UI is good for all, the app will be sure to make waves after launch.
What about devices? Great question. Testing doesn’t end with UI. You also need to encourage your remote DevOps team to test the application across multiple devices. And not only iOS and Android devices either. Test on everything under the sun.
But be sure to test your app on devices that fit your target demographic. THis can be easily found using key analytics, you should have from your market research.
In Conclusion …
App development can be very profitable if done right. Especially if you’re utilizing the skills of remote DevOps teams to get the project done. Communication is the top rule of thumb when working with remote teams. But always be sure to give your team the tools and guidance they need to be successful. Have you used a remote app development team? Tell us your story.
Twenty-first century nationalism is just atavistic tribalism with cell phones. After two world wars spewed from nationalistic sewers in the 20th century, yet another scourge of jingoism infects the world. What will it take to finally purge the scourge of tribalism from human consciousness?
On the left, American sentimental nationalists like Roger Cohen make one last stab at progressive spiritual and metaphysical denial:
“The essence of America is openness. History, geography, immigration and fate have established that. The shrinking of the American mind under Trump therefore amounts, for Americans, to a dangerous denial of themselves.”
American nationalists on the right, like Ross Douthat, have schizoid dialogues between their dark side and their darkest side. The lesser of two evils wins in Ross by surrendering the man-made chaos that Trump epitomizes and maximizes to Christianity’s Father God:
“It wouldn’t entirely surprise me if, by some miracle, Trump won one more time — if his presidency is part of a bipartisan chastisement, and God isn’t finished with us yet.”
The “us” that “God isn’t finished with” is, abnormally, America. To white nationalists on the right, and ‘right’ nationalists on the left, the United States remains the center of the world.
All nationalists feel their nations are the center the world of course. The difference is no empire since the Roman Empire, which encompassed the known world surrounding the Mediterranean, has spread its rapacious culture like America has.
And no other nation in history has its tentacles in three-quarters of the nations of the world through its obscenely bloated military, which sucks up a trillion dollars a year just to keep it unquestioningly afloat.
Therefore if Trump wins again, miracles will have no more to do with it than they did the last time. Democrats will just have a harder time blaming a screwy electoral system, even with Republican voter suppression, and President Trump’s ‘fluke’ will become as immaterial as Senator Flake.
So if we define God as immanent intelligence, what is She up to? It is an awfully small-minded God that’s concerned with the fate of one nation, especially a nation of such military strength and spiritual weakness as America.
To say the least, I doubt that another “Trump presidency is part of a bipartisan chastisement.” It seems Douthat’s God is a nationalist, albeit one that stands above the fray in divine comity (and comedy) even during the nastiest of times.
People old enough to remember the dizzying events of 1989 (the Tiananmen massacre, the fall of the Berlin Wall) know what a ‘hinge of history’ feels like.
Though it seems the hinges of history have rusted shut (or rather rusted open, seeing how wide the gates of hell have opened), do we stand at another hinge of history, the second in even a 50-year lifespan?
Given there is some kind of Intelligence beyond the unintelligence of man, clearly the Donald is playing a bit part in a much larger drama involving, though certainly not revolving around the shrunken stature of the United States of America.
That said, Douthat’s self-comforting notion that “Trump is too incompetent to pull off anything so ambitious as stealing an election” is dangerous as hell. Both Democrats and Never (Again) Trump Republicans have continually been taken in by the incompetence of the man, while underestimating the evil the man channels.
Going from the slime to the sublime, it’s a risky business exploring the mind of God. If God isimmanent however, rather than above and apart, then potentially at least, God is, to some degree, within us.
And if that’s true, “Nosce te ipsum” is not just the dubiously cumulative journey of self-knowledge, or even the pathless path of self-knowing, but via negativa (the negational way) to the sacred.
Just as there is no fixed entity as a “Supreme Being,” there is no fixed providential plan external to us. The plan, if we can even call it a plan, can only unfold with our participation, unwitting or witting (preferably witting).
Clearly any cosmic intelligence worth its stars would want potentially intelligent life, wherever it evolved in the universe, to live in harmony with its planet, itself and the cosmos. But let’s face it; Homo sap is still heading headlong in the opposite direction.
This ‘context’ throws an entirely different light on the darkness that is pan-Trumpism, and on the more-annoying-than-destroying global plague that is Covid-19.
So what is the future of humanity, even the near future of humanity?
Looking into the vacant, dead eyes of the narcissistically mask-less one can see one future; looking into the searching, empathic eyes of the masked one can see another.
The amusement park is one of the happiest places in Costa Rica, usually. This year, it’s closed, due to the pandemic. Just 23 employees keep everything up to date. They describe it as a sad year.
Workers used to get excited about their jobs there, noting that they would take the bus among families with children screaming of excitement from a few stops away when they saw the tops of the rides.
The park is now so silent you can hear the birds. The kiosks and restaurants are closed and the train is not running. The water slide and lake are dry. The rides are maintained every other week to keep them in good shape. Otherwise, the park is asleep, it seems.
It’s been like this for seven months and will stay this way indefinitely, until it is safe to reopen. There’s no goal or idea of when that might be, as it depends on how the covid-19 situation continues.
266 employment contracts were put on hold in March, at the start of the pandemic, and another 62 were put on hold more recently. Among those out of work are the six senior citizens who patiently took visitors on a train tour of the entire park, sharing their spark and experiences.
Each year, before the covid-19 pandemic, the park was able to donate approximately ₡120 million to the National Children’s Hospital. This year, there is no income and no funds to donate.
The management dreams of soon hearing joy fill the park and being able to share the earnings with the children’s hospital.
The failed Diquís plant was a project that spanned three administrations but didn’t get far. Still, somehow, ₡88,557 million were used for this project that was stopped in 2011 and cancelled in 2018.
The Comptroller’s Office is investigating how this could have happened. Specifically, it has opened an administrative procedure against the ex-hierarch, three other former workers, and one current employee.
All of them must appear in court on November 2. The reasons that the investigation is directed toward these individuals has not been disclosed. The preliminary investigation was completed and possible irregularities found.
The procedure may lead to sanctions like disqualification from holding public office. ICE may be ordered to recover resources, if patrimonial responsibility is confirmed. A formal investigation will be conducted.
“I am and I will be against trawling,” said President Carlos Alvarado during his campaign. Has he changed his mind? Many organizations and institutions call on him now to veto the law approved in Congress on Thursday that would allow trawling once again.
The practice is widely believed to devastate the ecosystems that so many sectors and families depend on. The fishing technique was suspended in 2013, by the Constitutional Chamber, due to the environmental damage it caused. The door was left open to restart it if a sustainable outlet was demonstrated.
A new type of net was tested and shown to capture 75% shrimp and 25% other marine life. Older practices caught a much larger percentage of fish and turtles. Still, these studies are under question because they were carried out so quickly without taking into account the conditions in different sectors of the seabed and during different parts of the year.
The United Nations Development Program called on Costa Rica to not backtrack on the progress made in conservation and sustainable marine management, for which it was awarded the “Champions of the Earth 2019” award.
Three European airlines will be resuming flights to Costa Rica soon, the first, Air France, on October 31st. They’ve been absent from the country for seven months, due to the covid-19 pandemic that left borders closed.
The first flight will arrive from Paris with 300 passengers. In December, the frequency will be increased to three times a week, on Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.
British Airways and KLM have also confirmed they are to resume flights between Europe and Costa Rica. They will do so in November, in time for the start of the high season.
By the end of October, just three months after reopening to commercial flights, there will already be 48 weekly operations.
Europe is a great market for tourists because of the population’s high educational level and appreciation for both nature and culture. The opening of new flights will contribute to the recovery of the tourism sector.
My first desire
Was to drink from the well
Of love-
Nearby a heart shaped radio
Which makes music in frequencies
That cannot be seen by us
But, like a vampire
I wanted to aquire life
Even though I was already dead
With blood red lips and rosy flesh
to kiss you with
This time,
I did not want it
But, I did not know
The face of death like I thought I did
Because it is always changing
So, I can’t remember him
Yet, the first word I spoke was
‘Milk’
to my mother
Who gave me a copper bracelet
When I was born
To wear upon my wrist
For good luck to exist
Because I was starving
Then and now-
It’s left with the dead
Who want nothing
But words
To pray
To be said
Good things that were meant
To be forgiven for
Crimes they did not commit
But, maybe
I feel like I want to die
Because
I’m always hungry-
And I hate being empty
And tomorrow I will
Be sad as I rise up
Without her
To do it again
So, I melted the moon
Into silver bullets
For my weapons
Against the ones who
Hurt her
And I sleep in-
dreaming till noon
of you God
Where I wake up
And I know
Each night that
I sleep & drink
From a bowl of porcelain
Waiting for my resurrection
To feed
And be full again
CHOCOLATE
My first admirer
Gave me chocolate
And I ate it,
But-
I didn’t want to date him
So,
I took the letter
He wrote,
It was a poem
And I gave it to my father-
Who took the boy’s side
And I became evil
For destroying him
By
Saying
“No, I won’t.”
To being his girlfriend.
He must have been
Heartbroken
Because he
Gave me the sugar
From his family
And it was nothing to me
But, a treat.
I’m sorry.
But, I still
Have the ring
Made of amethyst
That my first boyfriend
Gave me and
It’s already rusted
I GUESS
I like chocolates instead.
PUMPKIN
Speak of the dead
The silence will wake them
Ghosts fly at midnight
By candle flame
They worship the words
On my tongue,
The jewelry on my neck
And the promises
That I said-
Which can bring you
Pleasure or pain
The wisdom won by
Carving out with a golden knife
Your happy face like
A beautiful life
A smile set free
Onto a glowing pumpkin
Beneath a leafy tree
Changing colors & lovers
Jack O’ Lantern
While the seeds
Of your dreams
All turned into food
And you knew I would taste
Best on your lips
Better
Than the humans do
Because
You made wishes
Underneath a full moon
For me
A destiny
On Halloween
And I was the one
That you couldn’t cut loose
Or everything would change
When night turned to day
And you realized I was gone
And it was winter again
With 1,503 new cases, Costa Rica is almost at 100,000 covid infections. 14 deaths were reported on Wednesday, bringing the total losses of life from the disease to 1,236.
Of the 1,503 new cases, 329 are due to epidemiological nexus and 1,174 due to laboratory tests. This number was a big jump, following two days with figures well below 1,000 (847 on Tuesday and 632 on Monday.
Of the total covid-19 cases in Costa Rica, 47,811 are female, 51,614 are male, 83,140 are Costa Rican and 16,285 are foreigners.
The age range of cases resulting in death is from zero to 100-years-old. By age group, there are 2 minors, 417 adults, and 817 senior citizens.
There are currently 531 patients hospitalized due to covid-19. 206 of them are in intensive care. They are aged 1-91-years-old.
60,738 people have already recovered from covid. These include 29,120 females, 31,618 males, 52,092 adults, 3,420 seniors, 5,155 children, and 71 still under investigation.
The Pan American Health Organization stated that Costa Rica has the highest incidence of covid-19 cases in Central America, established by the relationship of number of cases and the population.
The Costa Rica ambassador in Panama, Gioconda Ubeda, died, after suffering from a chronic disease. This has been confirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She was a prominent diplomat who served many roles during her career. She was Vice Chancellor of the Republic, ambassador to Mexico, ambassador to Argentina, legal director of the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry, Secretary General of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, consultant for the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, host and producer of the Bitácora television program, and a professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Costa Ricain Public International Law and International Humanitarian Law.
She made a great difference in issues such as nuclear disarmament, human rights, public international law, international humanitarian law, refugee protection and international migration.
The cause of her death was not covid-19, rather an unspecified chronic disease she endured for about a year.
The Foreign Minister expressed, “It is a painful loss, of an official who distinguished herself for her dedication and commitment to the country and the institution, and for her permanent struggle to defend and promote human rights.
As I stopped on the bike to look at the hills, I was confronted by at least 100 crows. They were on the ground by the dozens, and dozens more alighted on completed or partially completed buildings nearby.
Crows are very smart, and I could feel their awareness as they landed and swooped around me. Indigenous people did not dismiss such encounters, but saw signs in them, which educated people dismiss as superstition.
I couldn’t dismiss them, especially when they made a final circle around me, and then flew away, every one of them. People often think crows represent bad luck, or even a bad omen and death. But there were too many of them for such a limited, personal metaphysical meaning.
It felt more like what much of the literature on crows says, that they “symbolize transformation and change, especially spiritual and emotional change.”
Do crows have brains capable of symbolic activity? Experiments have shown that they can perform complex sequential tasks involving planning, so yes, they must have at least a rudimentary capability to think symbolically.
Unlike humans however, they certainly don’t symbolically mediate their experience. Symbolic activity is both our great gift and our great curse as a species.
On one hand, the evolution of conscious symbolic thought is the single greatest adaptation that evolution has ever produced on Earth.
On the other hand, it’s the most disastrous evolutionary adaptation for the Earth, since the creature in which it evolved—us—is bringing about catastrophic climate change and the Sixth Extinction, which are decimating the diversity of life.
The breakthrough that brought about “fully modern humans” (Homo sapiens sapiens, a double insult to intelligence, given that sapiens means ‘wise’) was the Cognitive Revolution. It occurred about 70,000 years ago, and gave humans the linguistic, technological, cultural, artistic and spiritual capacities we have today.
Major technological developments after the Cognitive Revolution included not only much more sophisticated stone tools, but also little things such as oil lamps and needles, and big things such as boats, which took people to Australia at least 50,000 years ago.
Though there was some intermingling with other hominid species such as Neanderthals, our species did to other hominin species what we’re now doing to many animals on Earth—we wiped them out.
The Cognitive Revolution appears to have taken place after the Toba Super volcano eruption in Indonesia, which may have produced a geographic and population ‘bottleneck,’ which in turn generated the evolutionary pressure for the cognitive leap.
Humankind faces a different kind of bottleneck at present, one belied by our overwhelming numbers (nearly 8 billion and growing).
The present bottleneck is of the very consciousness that brought us tremendous success as a species, allowing man to dominate all other animals and the biosphere itself in what scientists glibly call “the Anthropocene Age.”
This bottleneck is both outward–a man-made global ecological crisis; and Inward–a blockage and deadening of the capacity to feel, care and grow as human beings.
For example, as Americans have demonstrated during the pandemic, half the people are so self-centered and stunted they don’t care whether their own community members get Covid-19 and die. In a society and world like this, what is the alternative to ‘numbing out?’
The consciousness humans have known since the Cognitive Revolution took place is based on thought, which is to say on symbol, memory, association and reasoning.
That consciousness is essentially separative, divisive, fragmentary and accumulative. Darkness/evil is its by-product, and leaders who are “immoral, amoral sociopathic liars who function from a core of insecure malignant narcissism” are logical ends.
Liberals might ask: What about Indigenous peoples? Didn’t they live in harmony with nature?
Setting aside the fact that when people lived in nature they had no choice but to live in harmony with nature, the integrated beliefs, rituals and social structures of indigenous peoples reflect a continual concern with maintaining balance with the natural order. Indigenous people would not have had that concern if humans were ‘naturally’ an integrated species.
More to the point, with very few exceptions, humans do not live in the wilderness anymore, both because there is very little wilderness left, and because contact with the modern world brings with it the technologies and pathologies of the modern world. What’s left is a valiant attempt by a dwindling minority of indigenous people to preserve the old languages, traditions and customs of the indigenous past.
The pluralistic delusion is that diversity still exists within and between cultures and peoples, and that, as one activist said to me recently, “There are many beacons of light, even in America.”
The naïve hope is that somehow at some point in the foreseeable or distant future the forces of light will defeat the forces of darkness, and that humans will once again live in harmony with the Earth and each other. But if our written and evolutionary history is any indication, such a time never existed.
It turns out that so-called mystical experiencing, which flows from direct, unmediated perception of what is, is the way out of the ecological, spiritual and social bottleneck produced by our species. (God does have a sense of humor!)
That means enough humans have to make the leap from symbol-based consciousness to consciousness based on direct perception and insight, or man will continue to destroy the Earth, and humanity.
The U.S. is the nation with the highest number of covid-19 cases and deaths, at 7,896,895 and 216,073 respectively. There are 40,000 new cases every day. Because of this, travelling there is generally avoided at this time. Still, some have urgent business to attend to there and must find a way.
Such was the case of one man who had to fly to the east coast and then get to the middle of the country. He had many questions.
Should I go?
Is it necessary?
Can I go?
Will I have to quarantine each time I cross state lines?
Where are the mandatory quarantines?
Will I be able to get a direct flight to a small town?
Can I circulate through airports to a connecting flight without quarantining?
What are the new restrictions on flights?
How risky is it to be in a closed plane with someone who might have covid?
His experience was that, as in most buildings in Costa Rica, the airport required masks and there were people taking temperatures at the entrance. Once inside, things looked normal except that there were fewer people and there were markings on the floor and seats to remind passengers to leave space between them when on line or in waiting areas.
Masks were even required on the plane except when eating or drinking. Arriving in New Jersey, the man noticed a lack of people monitoring symptoms. This was because they use cameras that are sensitive to body heat.
In the U.S., the use of masks and requirements about where to use them vary from state to state and are generally not enforced. The Government seems to rely on people choosing to do the right thing. Some do not. In some states masks are used even outside and in other states they are worn more as a fashion statement than a means of protection, leaving the nose uncovered.
Flying between New Jersey and Missouri would be possible but would leave a paper trail that led to mandatory quarantine so the man opted to get there by road trip, as quarantine rules don’t apply the same to car travel as to air travel.
To get back into Costa Rica, he would need a PCP test but that’s not a problem because they are widely available, free, and fast.
The traveler noted that the effect of covid is seen and felt more in Costa Rica than in the United States and is not as marked or obvious in the States where it seems that life goes on as normal for the most part.
An alert from the Ministry of Health warns us not to drink “Fiesta Blanca” guaro, as it has taken the life of a young father, seven others, and made many more critically sick. This is because methanol, extremely toxic, was in it.
While the company that makes it has a sanitary permit, it is still unclear whether the original or falsified version has methanol. In any case, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference, so even bottles thought to be original must be avoided.
Additionally, there are alerts for risk of alcohol with methanol for the following: Chonete, Cuerazo, Sacheto, Gran Apache, Estrella Roja, Montano, Barón Rojo, Timbuka, Molotov, Perla Gris, Bombillo, and Kosako.
These must not be sold or enjoyed. Information about any store selling them should be reported to 9-1-1 for public safety. If you have ingested any of these you should go to an emergency room at once, before severe symptoms.
Steven Álvarez Castillo had Fiesta Blanco on Saturday and lost his life two days later, at just 23-years-old, leaving behind a distraught mother.
He began to feel sick the morning after consuming the product and overslept. He arrived at work late, was sleepy, and had an altered pulse. He was not himself. Normally a great employee of the hair salon, he was late and he even cut someone when trimming a beard. This never happened before. He was ordinarily responsible and attentive. He went home early because he was feeling unwell.
Then more serious effects began to take a toll on his body. He had terrible stomach pain and couldn’t stop vomiting. He was faint and couldn’t get up the next morning. He couldn’t see. He stopped responding and his eyes were moving in a strange way. He was taken to Hospital Mexico. His vital signs were very low. Doctors did all they could but he passed at around 7 pm.
The bottle he drank from was handed over to the authorities and they tested the drops left and discovered methanol.
Others in the same community got sick with similar symptoms starting on Monday. Seven others died from the same cause. 11 others, including friends of Steven, are hospitalized in delicate condition.
This may be an all nighter. The caller is a Medical Doctor / Brain Specialist. Experiencing poltergeist / demonic activity. Constant knocking on his door at his office and his home. The occupant is constantly being scratched and the entity’s scratches are in 3s -disrespect for the Trinity. Recently received a scratch mark that went straight down his back. We will be investigating both places, office and home. Address to be at, his office: Lodi, CA. Fictional Name of Client: Fred Johnson. Fred does not want to be on camera, and does not want to be identified as a doctor. HPI Case Number: 5U30P751M9604. Special Note: The client only allowed us to investigate his office and not his home. We gathered enough evidence, in which he was satisfied and it did not require an all-nighter.
HPI PARANORMAL INVESTIGATORS ROLL CALL
Deanna Jaxine Stinson – Psychic Medium, Financial Officer, HPI Co-Owner; Paul Dale Roberts – HPI Co-Owner; Master JM Isidro Jr; Brandon Smith; Kathy Smith; Nick Asevedo; Jo Jo Asevedo; Justin Cortez; Jason Wilkerson.
INITIAL BRIEFING:
The Professor briefs all of the paranormal investigators in the parking lot. He tells us that things started happening in Vallejo. Those things are paranormal activity. The entities may have followed him here to Lodi. The first incident was a loud 3 knocks at his back office door and when he opened the door, no one was there. More knocking started happening and again, no one is ever there. Objects move about in the office. The Professor, a very intelligent man who went to prestigious schools has now became nervous and decided it was time to call HPI.
Red Phantom Chaser
THE INVESTIGATION:
We had two teams. One team was called “The Outsiders” and the other team was called “Team Double Dutch”. We had two investigative sessions, one outside and one inside and then on the 2nd round, they would switch areas. Nick and JoJo Asevedo acquired all sorts of EVPs that sounded like unearthly growling or howling. Many times the ghost radar was going crazy and names were being thrown out on our ghost devices. We captured a CLASS A EVP outside, where Deanna detected an entity. The EVP was 3 words and the voice was of a little girl and there was no little girl with us during the investigation. You can hear the EVP at one of the video clips in this article. When an investigator asked on his recorder, is anyone here and we get a background voice saying…”we’re all here!” EVP. Jason felt an entity brushing up against his skin and hair. The first round of our investigation, we gathered all kinds of evidence. The 2nd round, the entities must have pooped out and the evidence was insignificant. Deanna picked up on entities across the street, so I went over to the building across the street and the lights in the building started blinking off and on and I captured one EVP in which was a small whisper. The ghost detector was throwing out names like Nancy and a few other names.
THE CLEANSING:
Deanna conducted a metaphysical cleansing with the help of Master JM Isidro Jr. I conducted a Roman Catholic Office Blessing. Let’s just hope the entities are gone. The Professor was saddened that we captured an EVP of a lost girl spirit and he hopes she will find her way to heaven. The Professor says the girl sounded like she could be 5 years old. Listen to the EVP and you be the judge. Special Note: The Professor is associated with one of the scientists on The Entity case. To learn more about the Entity case, see here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entity
The rains haven’t come yet, but the leaves have begun to turn—yellows mostly. It’s early autumn in California, and the winds have cleared and cleaned the air after months of depressing smoke and toxic haze. For a half hour, sunlight streams through the trees and onto the spot where I sit beside the creek. There is timelessness and peace.
Have you noticed that there are a few days of the year that stand out in their beauty? Today was one of those days, which occur only once or twice per season in my experience.
As self-involved humans, it’s hard to be sure that one isn’t merely having a good day, or in a good mood. I don’t think so though, since one’s mood and self-concern is emptied and forgotten by the beauty of the Earth on such days.
I pedal out beyond the new construction to look at the canyon and foothills, which are breathtakingly vivid in a cloudless sky. A young man in hardhat exits a trailer-office as I pull over. He says hello, and I comment on how clear the hills are.
“Yes, I live up there,” he replies, pointing up beyond the canyon that forms Upper Park, “and this is as clear as I’ve ever seen them.” He’s the son of the owner of the construction company, and he seems to fit the role and not fit it at the same time.
Though we’re standing at least six feet apart, he pulls up a scarf-like mask as we talk. I reach into my pocket and put on a surgical mask. I ask what it’s like around Paradise Lake, my favorite place to meditate before the fire that incinerated the town two years ago, and he says some logging has taken place there.
I give him my card, and we talk about having a beer outdoors at a bar. I take a last look at the brown, shimmering hills, and ride back.
This damn pandemic makes you appreciate little human exchanges a lot more. I can count on one hand the times I’ve exchanged more than a few passing words with strangers in the last few months.
There are two primal fears all people share. The first is being socially outcast, since for thousands of years in the wilderness before so-called civilization, ostracization meant death.
The second, and directly related inwardly, is leaving the known. The known once meant the accretion over uncounted generations of culture and tradition, of beliefs about animal spirits and human relationships embedded in the natural world—entirely orally transmitted.
Since the invention of writing, knowledge and the known (not the same thing) were also transmitted by tablets and parchment, and then books after the invention of the printing press, and now digitally, which is encompassing virtually all human knowledge and experience.
It is extremely rare for anyone to leave the stream of the known, so rare that I wonder how many people even know what I’m talking about.
In the simplest terms, leaving the stream of the known means a spontaneous stillness of mind, the cessation of thinking and thought, and the ending of the continuity of psychological memory.
These are words, not the thing. The actuality is an acute state of awareness, which occurs when passive watchfulness gathers sufficient attention—a very different thing than concentration.
These two primal fears arise during deeper states of meditation—the fear of being utterly alone; and the fear of knowing and being nothing.
We fear leaving the stream of the known because we equate it with losing one’s mind. When one remains with that fear however, one realizes that one is not losing one’s mind, but gaining Mind.
Given that’s true, a tremendous question arises. If, through random evolution the human brain is potentially a vessel for the numinous (the intrinsic awareness and sacredness that permeates the universe), why is it so rare and difficult to attain that level of awareness?
To my mind, cosmic and terrestrial evolution is essentially a seamless movement, without a ‘Prime Mover,’ beginning with the misnomer of ‘chaos’ to the higher levels of order of galaxies and stars, and from simple to complex biology, where life has the right conditions to take hold and enough stability to develop.
I feel that physics, chemistry and biology follow the same basic principles everywhere in the universe. If so, that means single-celled life is common; multicellular life is rare; and potentially intelligent life like we humans is rare. How much more rare is genuinely intelligent life?
What, you may ask, does all this have to do with the terrible disparities and darkness of this world, not to mention the pressing challenges and day-to-day struggle to survive?
The mass madness of QAnon has spread beyond America, the factory of reams of memes for a globalized culture. Neo-Nazi Germans believe Donald Trump will invade and save them from Angela Merkel. It would be hilarious if it weren’t so terrifying.
On the more benign side, “Twitter, Facebook and other social networks have been flooded with QAnon-related false information about Covid-19, the Black Lives Matter protests and the 2020 election.”
On the bizarre, beelzebub side, the “Q” crazies believe “the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles who are plotting against Mr. Trump while operating a global child sex-trafficking ring.”
As has been reported, “QAnon followers believe that this clique includes top Democrats including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and George Soros, as well as a number of entertainers and Hollywood celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres and religious figures including Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama.” Tell me it ain’t so Dalai Lama!
It gets worse: “Many of them also believe that, in addition to molesting children, members of this group kill and eat their victims in order to extract a life-extending chemical from their blood.”
QAnon has thus become a black hole of the Western mind, sucking in every piece of crap that comes anywhere near it and spewing quasar-like jets of shit out both ends.
“In Britain, QAnon-themed protests under the banner of ‘Save Our Children’ have taken place in more than 20 cities and towns, attracting a more female and less right-wing demographic.”
In Germany, Patrick Sensburg, a lawmaker in Ms. Merkel’s conservative party and member of the intelligence oversight committee, said, “I was astonished that QAnon is gaining such momentum here. It seemed like such an American thing. But it’s falling on fertile ground.”
What is going on here and there? Not at the political level, which frightens the bejesus out of the old media, but at the philosophical and metaphysical level that QAnon represents for the West.
At this point, the Q virus does not appear to have infected Asians. Besides Germany and Britain however, large stampedes of QAnon herds can be heard in Australia, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand and Brazil.
What’s the endgame? QAnon promises salvation from tyranny at the end of a struggle dubbed “The Storm,” when President Trump will save the world from the evil global network of the aforementioned blood-sucking pedophiles. If it’s true that the one thing the devil cannot stand is laughter, then let’s laugh until it hurts, or stops hurting.
Q followers come from every walk of life, and cannot be written off as some marginal social media craze. As many have noted, Q “has jumped from the virtual world into the real world.”
Then again, the virtual world and the real world had become a distinction without a difference years before QAnon exploded onto to the scene in 2017.
“World War Z,” starring Brad Pitt fighting a planet overrun by zombies infected with a lot more difficulty than Covid-19, was a prophetic allegory for the QAnon movement.
Take inwardly dead people anywhere in the imploded West that have lost the capacity to empathize and retain only the worst impulses of human nature (especially herd mentality); continually project hate and prime the pump of fear, and ipso facto, you get QAnon.
On the other side of the world, the herd mentality of Communist China, and to an even greater degree North Korea, have contained the Covid virus and immunized against the Q virus. After all, why do a people need to become Borg if they are already Borg?
It’s often said that civilization is a thin veneer. That does not mean however, that humans are inherently animalistic underneath the surface, as conservatives believe. It simply means that what we call human nature remains a mystery to us because we remain a mystery to ourselves.
The antidote to QAnon is what “Q” actually stands for: Questioning with the honest intent to understand, not make oneself feel comfortably part of some group.
The ancient Greek aphorism inscribed on the Temple of Apollo, “Nosce te ipsum” (Know thyself) remains as true today as it was then. It seems even more unheeded in our age however.
QAnon is filling a vacuum of spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical insight with meaningless garbage, which satisfies the unfelt hunger of ignorant people to make sense of the world.
This mad movement is not going to blow over. It must be blown away by strong winds of insight sweeping the toxic smoke and haze from the Western mind. It’s not too late.
After months, the skies are finally clear and the air is clean in northern California.
Hotels and cabins throughout Costa Rica are once again allowed to operate, but only at 50% capacity. They are trying out different tactics to attract what little business they can. They offer discounts of up to 50% for the current low season.
One hotel in Puerto Jiménez lowered rates incredibly, from $1,000 a night to $250, for nationals. Nayara Springs reduced its rate from $750 to $450. The hotel Castillo El Arenal lowered its rate from $65 a night to ₡23,000.
Some also add in meals or offer other deals, like pay two nights and stay three. Tour companies are offering 2×1 tours in many locations as well.
Although the rates are significantly reduced, clients or potential customers have taken to social media to complain. They want to see rates of just 25%. Hotel owners ask for understanding. If they lower rates any more they wont stay above water. They wouldn’t be able to cover their costs. Additionally, they’ve been completely out of business for months. Those with fewer than 20 rooms were able to open in May and the rest in June. Still, it is not profitable to open at 50% capacity with more than 50% discounts.
The waiting time for surgeries in the CCSS has increased significantly, on average, 105 days, due to covid-19. Pandemic related cases have taken priority. While emergency, trauma, and cancer surgeries continue, 36,000 other surgeries have been put on hold. From March to August, 24,288 surgeries were performed. In normal periods, this figure would have been 61,120.
Additionally, 1.6 million appointments with specialists and 70,000 diagnostic tests have been cancelled, between March and August.
In February, before the pandemic, the average wait time for surgery was 393 days. Now it is 498 days. The average wait for an initial appointment with a specialist went from 148 days in February to 166 days in August. The wait for a diagnostic procedure, such as an ultrasound or CT scan, went from 117 days to 136.
1.4 million appointments were handled virtually. Those who must go to the hospital are made to wash their hands before entering, use face masks, and keep distance from others on lines and in waiting rooms.
The CCSS hired 4,023 workers, especially intensive care nurses and respiratory therapists. The CCSS has a fund in place to reschedule surgeries in 2021 that were cancelled in 2020.
The next few months may well determine the foreseeable future of humanity. There is great urgency, yet most people, on the reasonable left and rationally right, want only a return to so-called normalcy. The comfortable status quo ante not only led inexorably to this global ecological, spiritual and political crisis however; it is gone.
It seems the greater the challenges for humankind, the smaller the responses by individuals. There is a Zen saying that seems to support such smallness: “Make your own little corner of the universe holy.” It’s not quite a koan, though I’m not sure what it means, since it seems to be both true and false at the same time.
On one hand, there’s an irrefutable truth to “make your own corner of the universe holy,” since the only thing over which we have any semblance of control is our own lives. And even there control doesn’t really apply!
As a Baltimore teacher said about her approach to online instruction of elementary school kids during the pandemic: “I know what I do in my space, but I can’t control what anyone else does in theirs.”
The truth in the saying is this: In making our own corner of the universe holy we are making ourselves what we truly are–a microcosm of the universe. There is no separation; instead, there is wholeness.
Nature and the universe, seen as a whole, are holy. That which is undivided is intrinsically holy. Wholeness and holiness have the same etymological root, and point to the same actuality.
The great paradox is that we are creatures of separation, since our “adaptive strategy” as humans is to remove things from the environment and make them ready for use (the root meaning of the word separation).
However division, which is separation carried into the psychological and social dimensions, leads to confusion and darkness, domination and war.
Most people have little relationship to nature, and the globalized Western paradigm, which has brought the Earth and world to the edge of ruin, is to think in terms of extracting ‘resources’ from nature.
As humans, separation and manipulation of ‘things’ is what we do to survive. But fear, need and greed prevent us from seeing when to stop separating from nature, much less cease dividing us from each other.
Not seeing nature and the universe as a whole, nothing is holy. In the prevailing worldview, Christianity superimposes an exception, Jesus Christ, to the rule of the background meaninglessness of life. However that is not what Jesus was about, which is the wholeness of humanity.
Science cannot make us whole, since there is no science without separation and reduction. Some scientists would like to think there is science without separation and reduction, but that’s the scientific mind intruding on the space meant for the religious mind. (Not meant by ‘a God.’ And the religious mind has nothing to do with belief systems). Science has its place, obviously, just not first place in a spiritually rich and balanced life.
“2016 was an outlier; 2016 was a fluke,” progressives believe. That’s a very dangerous notion, not simply because anything could happen between now and the outcome of the American election and inauguration, but because human consciousness, as we’ve known it for tens of thousands of years, has come to a head in our age.
Therefore the hope that things can return to some nostalgic notion of normalcy and decency is wishful thinking of the highest order.
Kafka quipped, “The messiah will come when you don’t need him anymore.” Does that means when we are a light to ourselves the light of the world will come? That when some no longer need a messiah, the world still will?
I don’t know, but Jesus’ mission clearly failed. After all, what need would there be for a “Second Coming” if it hadn’t?
The only thing I’m sure of, other then complete negation of the ‘me’ and quieting of thought in undirected attention, is that consciousness as we’ve known it since time immemorial is no longer tenable.
There must be radical change, which means individual transmutation sufficient to bring about psychological revolution.
On the side of the house grows a sprawling vine, spilling over the fence from the neighbor’s unkempt yard. It has many delicate flowers of deep purple. They apparently need very little water. They ask for nothing, yet they give everything to anyone who knows how to look and feel.
I felt today that that purple color must be the most beautiful color on Earth. Taking a short meditation in the meter-wide space between the house and the fence before the flowers close in the hot California sun, I was reminded of the saying: “Color is God.” What does it mean?
A film I watched with a friend last night remains with me today: “God On Trial.” It was Masterpiece movie taken from a play by the same name, and is the story of a formal trial conducted at Auschwitz by a group of Jewish men.
About half of the men had been selected for death in the gas chamber the next day, lending poignancy and urgency to the trial. The question: Was God in breach of his covenant with the Jewish people?
The story was long thought to be apocryphal, but in 2008, eight years before his death, the Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel said, “I was there when God was put on trial.”
“Putting God On Trial” does much more than condemn God for breaking his covenant and abandoning the Jewish people. The characters, as
in the camps, were educated and uneducated men, theists and atheists, men who were angry, accepting or resigned to their fate. It is both a meditation on evil, and on the nature of God.
The play is introduced with the line: “They tried the person they thought most responsible for their catastrophe.”
“What is the charge?” To which a condemned man replies: “Are you blind? Murder. Collaboration.”
Beyond the anthropomorphizing of God, there is a real attempt to understand how any God could let the Holocaust happen. The believers trot out the usual tropes: “We are Jews; we suffer.” “We are being tested.” “It’s because of our sins.”
The arguments become subtler. “Hitler will die, the war will end. God is like a surgeon that has to remove an arm or leg, not as punishment but as purification.”
Some scoff. One answers: “God reserves the right to punish the wicked, but He punishes the good and lets the wicked like Hitler go free.”
A long-time prosecutor brings the arguments back to reality: “We aren’t talking about the mind of God; the charge is breach of covenant.”
However they cannot help but inquire into the mind of God, though some deny that God exists at all. The trial distills down into three compelling scenes.
In the first, a father who tries to save his three sons as they are being taken from him is given a Sophie’s choice: Pick one.
He leaves his listeners in the dark, where we all are, refusing to say what he did. Instead he speaks of the beauty of a spring morning even in Auschwitz, and says, “I don’t know why this is happening, but God is here, I know He is here. I felt God that morning, but the guards could not.” Color is God.
A scholar of Jewish history walks the men through the slaughters by the Jewish people of entire cities that the Torah details. “Now we are being slaughtered,” he says. “Yes,” another replies, “the German guards have ‘God is with us’ on their belt buckles.”
The trial takes a turn. The message is clear: Peoples make God in their own image, and put into his mouth the evils that erupt from their own minds.
A physicist stands and speaks of how many stars are in this galaxy alone: “There are 100,000 million stars in our galaxy, and God’s whole attention is on one planet, and then just with the Jews?” he rhetorically asks.
The prosecutor whispers his secret to the other two judges, telling them, “I was a Jew-hating German. I didn’t know I had a Jewish grandfather until they came for me. They have taken everything from you…don’t let them take your God too, even if he doesn’t exist. Let there be something they can’t take from you.”
That strikes a false note as the play ends. Earlier, someone spoke the truth: “The mistake is to make this personal.” That diagnosis and prescription is dismissed too glibly: “What is a God that isn’t personal? It is weather,” someone says.
Not true. God is not a person, and is not personal. The personal is the source of evil and suffering; understanding things non-personally is the way out.
God is not a being, but being. There is cosmic intelligence and love. Does it care about us? We are people, human beings, potentially at least. God needs us to care.
In 1994, I went on vacation with my ex-wife and my son Jason. We went to London, England and saw Westminster Abbey, Piccadilly Circus, Tower Bridge over the river Thames, East End of London where the Kray Twins and Jack the Ripper frequented. Later on this vacation, we took a train to Edinburgh, Scotland and going back to London, the train went through Cardiff, Wales, where I met other “Roberts”. Yes, I do have a tad bit of Welsh blood in me and according to my family’s legend, we are related to the pirate Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts. While in beautiful England, we did a quick stop over at Stonehenge, saw the Changing of the Guard, toured the inside of Buckingham Palace, visited the town of Bath to see the Roman baths and a quick visit to the Isle of Man. Special Note: On another vacation, we visited Ireland’s Dublin Castle & Guinness Beer Factory and a quick stopover at Newry, Northern Ireland.
Yes, we saw a lot and one of the reasons why I took a vacation to England are for two reasons. One the history. Yes, there is plenty of history in England. If you don’t believe me, just take a bus tour through London, the tour bus will stop every 3 minutes to point something out and finally #2 – the paranormal. Because of all the history in England, you have hauntings everywhere. You have UFOs. You have crop circles. You have the Loch Ness Monster for crying out loud. England is a smogasbord of paranormal activity that will make any paranormal investigator, cryptozoologist, cerealogist and Ufologist happy as a lark! When I was in England, I was hoping and praying that I would see a crop circle. Unfortunately, I did not find a crop circle.
A person could write a zillion books about the United Kingdom, but I am going to focus only one stop over and that is when we visited the Isle of Man.
CASTLE RUSHEN
It was a short visit, so the only place we saw at the Isle of Man was the medieval Castle Rushen. Castle Rushen is located at the historic capital Castletown. The castle is used as a museum and education center. This castle was built in 1200. It was built for the last Norse King of Man who died in 1266. Robert the Bruce destroyed part of the castle in 1313 during his siege. Sir William de Montacute in 1344 rebuilt the castle and brought the castle back to it’s former glory. One of the reasons why I wanted to visit this castle, because I heard about the mysterious Gray Lady. According to legend, the townsfolk believe she killed her son. She was arrested for murder. She was tried and found guilty. The people of the town hung her. After she was executed, the townsfolk learned that her son had actually died of natural causes. Now the ghost of the Gray Lady is seen walking with her ghostly son on the drawbridge. I heard about the legend of the Gray Lady and was fascinated by the story. Special Note: Castle Rushen served as a prison and executions took place at this castle. Other ghosts seen at this castle have the following names: White Lady, Rose, and the Woman in Black. There is also a mysterious underground room in the castle where a male ghost has been seen lingering. Tourists have named this male spirit Sune, because a United Kingdom ghost hunter claims that he asked the spirit its name and captured a deep male voice saying “Sune”. So it appears that this male ghost has been identified.
Present day thoughts. As I think about the Isle of Man, I wish I had stayed there longer, there were many haunted places to explore and only later on in life, did I realize that I missed out on so much that the Isle of Man had to offer. Let’s take a look at some of the haunted sites on this incredible island.
GAIETY THEATER
A special seat at this theater is said to be haunted. Seat B14. The B14 Old Lady haunts this seat. People have seen an old lady sitting on that seat laughing or crying and acting like she is watching a show. Legend has it that she lost her husband in the war and she remembers the fun times that she had at this theater with her husband watching shows. Her favorite seat was of course B14. Sandra Barr who visited this theater said that she encountered the B14 Old Lady and that the B14 Old Lady got up from her seat, walked towards Sandra, walked through Sandra and went into a wall and vanished. Sandra was astonished that she for the first time encountered the paranormal.
PEEL CASTLE
Peel Castle was was built in the 11th century by the Vikings, under the rule of King Magnus Barefoot. The castle was originally built with wood and later local red sandstone was used. Red sandstone is plentiful on the island. People claim that they see phantom black dogs at the castle. The most famous black dog of Peel Castle is Moddey Dhoo. During the 17th century Moddey Dhoo was seen many times over wandering the grounds of Peel Castle. It was mostly seen on a regular basis. It would seem to emerge from or disappear into a passageway that connected the guard room to the apartment of the Captain of the Guard. A guard had a mild stroke after encountering Moddey Dhoo and because of that they sealed up the passageway. This ended the sightings of Moddey Dhoo. In this passageway unearthly screams were heard and a guard came out of the passageway as white as a ghost. After the experience, it was said he was lethargic and eventually passed away. Another black dog that is seen is called Mauthe Doog. Mauthe Doog is said to come out during a full moon and his silhouette is seen along the hillside. Recently another strange black dog was seen roaming the grounds and the tourists who were witnesses to this phenomena call the dog “Silvermane”, because he is all black, but has a silver streak going up his snout and over his head. One tourist claims she heard him howl.
MALEW CHURCHYARD
There are many famous vampires that we know of, such as Dracula, Edward Cullen of the Twilight series, Bill Compton of True Blood, Nosferatu. Even Lilith and Judas from the Bible have been accused of being vampires in various novels and movies. But, here is a story of a true life vampire named Matthew Hassall. Matthew was just an ordinary fellow until the day he died. Many of his friends and family gathered around at his wake. At the wake he startled everyone by sitting straight up. At that point of time he was declared a vampire and could not be buried on hallowed ground with his deceased wife Margaret. The legend goes that his grave was dug from behind the stone wall that the grave stands against (the old boundary of the church yard) and his body placed inside that way. Just to make sure he didn’t rise again, a stone slab was placed over his corpse and iron stakes and chains cover the grave to keep him in. These chains have remained from the 1800s to this very present day.CASTLETOWN
If you’ve been to Castletown, you have seen the Smelt monument in the town square. On one side is a wooden plaque that states the fate of a local woman who was accused, along with her son, of riding broomsticks around fields to encourage crops to grow. Both were held as prisoners at Castle Rushen and on their last day were dressed in white gowns and taken by cart to Peel where they were put on display as a caution to would-be witches. Afterwards they were taken back to Castletown for execution by fire. Leslie McKinnon says that she has a actually seen 2 figures on fire riding broomsticks under the light of a full moon in Castletown. These 2 figures are known as the Castletown Fire Witches.
MILNTOWN
Milntown is a historic house on Lezayre Road, just outside of Ramsey. It has extensive gardens and a restaurant. The main part of the house is said to be where the ghosts sightings have been and it’s reported to be the most haunted house on the Isle of Man! There are two main ghosts that have been reported here, the former lady of the house (known as the Milntown Lady) and the other is a malevolent, aggressive spirit who likes to frighten visitors (known as the Narky Poltergeist).
GROUDLE GLEN POLAR BEARS
So as you can see, there is so much happening at the Isle of Man. If you were to get away from the paranormal, you will also find mysteries. One mystery is the Groudle Glen Polar Bears who were released during WWI. After their release, they simply vanished, never to be seen again. The Groudle Glen Polar Bears were very popular and to this day, they are still discussed among family members.
