NASA SAYS WORLD WON'T END IN 2012 DESPITE MAYAN CALENDAR
http://profit.ndtv.com - Quashing the 'doomsday' rumours, top NASA scientists have assured that the world won't end on December 21, 2012. “The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” NASA said on its website. The 'doomsday story' started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth, scientists said. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 - hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012, they said. “Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012,” NASA said.
“This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then - just as your calendar begins again on January 1 - another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar,” NASA said. Scientists also clarified that the rumour of a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction is just an “Internet hoax”. “Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye,” scientists said. “Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles,” they said. NASA astronomers are carrying out a study called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit.
We’re less than a month away from the so-called end of the world, but NASA says you don’t have anything to worry about. The US Space agency specified that the Mayan calendar does not end in December 2012. Just as your desk calendar ends on Dec. 31 and world keeps going on, the same goes for the Mayan calendar, NASA explained. Just before you run out of pages doesn’t mean life as we know it will cease to exist. The science experts also dispel a few other online rumours associated with the end of 2012. The planets are not going to align, there is no predicted blackout for this December and the Earth’s rotation isn’t going to change directions. According to the Vedic point of view there is still a long time for the dissolution of the universe. We are living in the Kali yuga, the present age of quarrel and hypocrisy, of which only 5,000 of 432,000 years have passed.
WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?
There are four ages, namely Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga, which comprise a divya-yuga, one set of the four yugas. Let’s remember that Satya-yuga lasts 1,728,000 years, Treta-yuga 1,296,000 years, Dvapara-yuga 864,000 years, and Kali-yuga 432,000 years. That is a total of 4,320,000 years. A day of Brahma, called a kalpa, lasts for 1,000 of these cycles, and is thus 4,320,000,000 solar years. There are 14 Manus in each day of Brahma. Each Manu is said to exist for one manvantara, which is a period of time lasting 71 divya-yugas. Therefore, each Manu exists for roughly 306,720,000 years. Additionally, Brahma lives for 100 years, composed of 365 of such days in a year. Let’s remember also that we are talking about beings who do not live in the same dimension as we do, and are thus free from the same influences of time and matter with which we must contend.
The month of December seems to preserve its best for Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan. After tasting stupendous success in the form of the mega-blockbuster 3 Idiots and surprise hit Delhi Belly, both being released in December, will Aamir Khan be 3rd time lucky with his latest venture Talaash?
Talaash - The Answer Lies Within is a Bollywood suspense thriller involving a cop, a housewife and a prostitute whose lives get entangled in mysterious and unexpected ways. The film is being directed by Reema Kagti and it stars Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor. The film has already created quite a buzz among cinegoers with its unconventional promos, something that Aamir has mastered over the years. And going by track record of the film’s leading male protagonist, Talaash is all set to become a hit even before its release.
The film is releasing on 30 November, 2012 and as per numerology, its ruling number turns out to be 1. So it would not be wrong to assume that Aamir is once again here to rule the box-office with Talaash. The film was made at an estimated cost of Rs.40 crores and after having already sold its satellite rights for approximately the same amount, Talaash is a break-even film even before its release. And the fact that the film is releasing in more number of screens overseas than even his biggest hit 3 Idiots, also acts in favour of it.
Moreover, Aamir’s own stars are also there to add to the chances of the film’s success. As per astrology, Aamir is a Piscean by birth. Pisceans are very creative by nature and it is this characteristic of Aamir Khan that lands that killer punch to his roles and eventually his films. Pisceans are also more social than the other zodiac signs, according to astrology, and are also quite popular, another characteristic which is quite evident in Talaash’s leading man Aamir Khan.
And that is not all. Aamir was born on 14 March, 1965 and according to Indian numerology, his ruling number is 5. People ruled by the number 5 are very artistic in nature and they constantly strive for excellence at work, characteristics now synonymous to Aamir Khan and also the reason for his films’ success. Numerology also suggests that people with the ruling number 5 are pretty flexible, love challenges and possess great potential for success. They also possess a keen eye for details without losing sight of the bigger picture, yet another of Aamir’s many qualities that call for his films’ success.
So, according to Indian astrology, the stars are all in favour of Talaash - The Answer Lies Within, much thanks to its leading man Aamir Khan. The near future seems quite bright for the film and come this Friday, 30 November, 2012, we shall see the stars rising for Aamir Khan, yet again!
Believe it or not, being a semi-professional bike blogger isn't as glamorous as you might think. The truth is that I put my pants on one leg at a time--when I do wear pants, which I usually don't, which is one of the more glamorous aspects of this job. Otherwise, I have worldly concerns just like the rest of you people. I have to polish the marble Cipollini statues here at the Wildcat Rock Machine mansion. I have to skim the surface of the indoor pool for used prophylactics. I have to launder the togas so tomorrow evening's guests at least have the illusion of cleanliness.
Once in a great while though I do manage to slip away for a short lunchtime ride. Back when I lived in Brooklyn, that usually meant going to Prospect Park:
I absolutely love Prospect Park. It has a zoo. I've seen hawks picking apart dead animals there. It's a great place to have a wine-soaked white people picnic.
However, riding in it is something else. Between racing and just plain riding I've probably circled the Prospect Park loop a thousand million hundred times. About ten years ago I reached the point that I could barely complete a lap without falling asleep, and since then the only way I've been able to get around the damn thing is by slapping myself repeatedly in the face. To this day, as I fall asleep my legs twitch and spin in exactly the rhythm and cadence it takes to propel a bike around Prospect Park. This will probably be my death spasm. And the most interesting aspect of the park from a cycling perspective is this tiny bit of an incline, where people like these shout "Hold your line!" at you for no apparent reason:
(They actually shouted "Hold your line!" at me even though my line was being held securely by me.)
Well, yesterday a window opened for a lunchtime ride, and because I don't live in Brooklyn anymore I didn't go to Prospect Park. Instead, I went here, which is close to where I live now:
It was a lot more fun than Prospect Park. The possibility of a lunchtime mountain bicycle cycling ride has been my dream for many years, and it's finally become a reality. Granted, it was a pretty long lunch, but whatever. I lubed my chain with tears of joy. The only problem is that a lifetime spent living and cycling on a giant sandy glacial deposit has made me an utter wussbag when it comes to riding over rocks:
(If it's so easy then you go over it.)
I actually caught myself wishing I had a full suspension bike, and then I blanched at the realization that I have now been transformed into a person who covets both a folding bike and a full suspension bike. I mean really, there's clearly no hope for me now, I should have just buried myself alive in those woods. But instead, I fashioned a switch with a sapling branch and whipped myself repeatedly in the thigh until I came to grips with the fact that buying your way out of a fear of riding over rocks is the coward's way out, and that I need to hike up my breeches and work with what I've got. (Which is a perfectly good bike with a suspension fork and a bad case of sucking at riding bikes.)
I did, however, determine that wider handlebars would be a worthwhile upgrade, since the ones I was using on that bike were narrow vestiges of a time when bikes had 26-inch wheels and I fancied myself fast, and I also really like the wide handlebars on my Engin, which I was not riding at the time because I felt like being able to shift. So after the ride I went to a bike shop and bought some wider handlebars, and wouldn't you know it, they had folding bikes! In particular, they had Terns:
(Wine-soaked white person in mid-flight.)
I took one out for a ride and it actually felt pretty darned good, though I'm not sure it folds up small enough for my taste. Call me paranoid, but you never know when you're going to have to secret a bicycle in your own rectum, and when it comes down to that every fraction of a cubic centimeter counts, believe you me.
And now, I'm pleased to present you with a quiz. As always, study the item, think, and click on your answer. If you're right then HOLY FUCKING CRAP!!!, and if you're wrong then you'll see cycling.
Thanks very much for reading, ride safe, and Lob bless.
--Wildcat Rock Machine
1) Why does this Hyundai have only one teal wheel?
Aloha from Wailea, Maui. If you have any restaurant suggestions, please pass 'em along. Mahlo, y'all. Even in paradise I never stand down from my Friday Question watch. What’s yours?
Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Kveller (what a name) starts us off:
The mention of the awful series finale for Mad About You brings me to a Friday question - series finales. How does a good show go bad
http://health.yahoo.net - Need a good laugh? Here’s one to tickle your funnybone: giggling keeps your heart stronger, might lower your blood sugar levels and even enhances your friendships. Researchers studying the health benefits of laughter agree: unlike stress and worry, laughing doesn’t hurt us, physically or emotionally—and it may very well cure what ails us. Nor does it take long for our systems to respond to something funny. Less than half a second, in fact, is all the time our brains need to see or hear a joke, “get” it, and tell our bodies that it’s time to smile or laugh. Laughter truly is as spontaneous as we’ve always believed it to be. Joking around may not heal every ailment, but the health benefits of a good laugh are far-reaching. Here are a few: You can laugh your way to a healthier heart. Researchers first linked laughter to healthy blood vessels in 2005, when they showed two movies to volunteers and found that when watching a funny movie, brachial artery flow increased 22 percent.
Watching a movie that caused mental stress had the opposite effect, slowing blood flow about 35 percent. Laughing will help your heart, but a healthy heart also will help you laugh more easily. Michael Miller, MD, director of the Center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, conducted both the 2005 study and more recent research that found individuals with heart disease laughed less than healthier people - and affirming that not only laughter but an ongoing sense of humor may keep heart attacks at bay. “The ability to laugh - either naturally or as learned behavior - may have important implications in societies such as the US where heart disease remains the number one killer,” he said. The fact is, laughing is a physical act - not just an emotion - whose physical nature helps laughers find a stimulus pleasurable, or funny. Laughing is good for your blood sugar. Laughing makes you smarter. Laughter attunes people to each other.
Not everyone is funny - or chuckles easily - by nature. But even if you have to fake it, laughter can boost your health. Lisa Collier Cool explains that a researcher at Vanderbilt University, Maciej Buchowski, found that 10-15 minutes of laughing burned off 50 calories, while another laughter scientist, William Fry, said that one minute of robust laughter sent his heart rate to the same level as 10 minutes on a rowing machine. She also mentions that Ron Berk, PhD, retired psychologist from Johns Hopkins Medical School, began telling jokes in class and noticed his students performed better in exams. In this material world there are many reasons to be sad. But there are many more reasons to be happy, grateful, and to do something wonderful in this world.
WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?
Smile. Because you are spirit soul. Smile because you are eternal. Smile because God is in your heart. Smile because you can chant the Holy Names. Smile because you can go to the temple and do service. ... Smile because Krishna loves you. ... Smile because you can make yourself useful in helping others. Smile because your life is a chance to make others smile. Their smile is a flower and every flower is a smile of God. And if you smile for God your smile becomes like a flower to attract people to God. So don’t show your stone face, in South America we say, don’t show your wood face, don’t show your negativity. ... Be joyful, be thankful. And laugh about yourself. But really, have a good laugh, I mean a real thundering laughter, laugh about this silly guy who gets angry, who eats too much, who likes to hide behind other peoples faults, who has a big ego although he is a little nobody.
First of all, I want to thank all the people who commented and emailed with their folding bike suggestions yesterday--except for the person who told me to go fuck myself, which frankly seemed unwarranted. Also, somebody else commented that I have a lot of bikes already, which, like, none of your business. I also have a lot of wine bottles in my bathtub, but none of those fold either. So what's your point? Just because I have so much bottled wine I'm not allowed to buy a wine skin so I can fold it up and hide it in my pants at the movies?
I DON'T have to EXPLAIN myself to YOU. [Stomps foot on each capitalized word and pouts, then slams door to bedroom and cranks up the Fallout Boy.]
Anyway, clearly I have lots to consider. For example, some people suggested the Swift Folder:
On the plus side, they seem to be slightly less clownish than other folding bikes. On the negative side, they don't seem to fold down that small--and I want it to fold down small so I can take it into the bathroom of my yacht with me. Also, judging from the guy in the photo, it's a total hipster bike. I mean seriously, what a total hipster.
On the plus side, you can do folding bike dorklocross like the guy in the video. On the negative side, you might have nightmares about noted Bike Friday enthusiast Phil Liggett:
Also, at least one commenter pointed out that Bike Fridays are made in the USA. I know that's supposed to be a good thing, but what do I care? In fact, I'm rooting for the death of American manufacturing because the sooner this country collapses due to a lack of factory jobs then the sooner some foreign power will come in and take us over, which quite frankly may be our only hope. That way, at least there's a chance that whoever takes us over will be bike-friendly. Does China like bikes?
Speaking of China, I think Dahons may be made there, and that's another folding bike purveyor I should consider:
On the plus side, they're pretty reasonably priced. One the negative side, "Mu P8" sounds like "mupate," which sounds like something you'd do after you micturate.
(Never let someone who rides a bike like this crash on your floor for just "a night or two at most" unless you want a permanent roommate who doesn't pay rent.)
On the plus side, they're British, and there's no culture in the world that is better at making things that fold up quickly. Just consider that the British Empire went from this:
Down to this:
In like 20 years, which is the geopolitical equivalent of a bike that folds from this:
To this:
In a single millisecond.
Given this, it's a testament to British refinement and tact that all they did was make the Brompton.
That's not to say I've necessarily decided on the Brompton though, since I'd have to buy a lot more tweed, and honestly I don't think I could handle wearing the underpants.
Anyway, clearly I have a lot to think about, and the process is so daunting that I'm tempted to just say, "Fuck it, I'm buying a Hyundai"--which, it turns out, is just what they're hoping we'll do:
This car calls for a joke as stale and dated as the trend on which it is trying to capitalize, and so I'll say that Bianchi called and they want their "colorway" back. As the Tweeterer rightly points out, Hyundai are clearly at least five years behind the cycling trend curve, which means that we can expect them to launch a car that looks like a cyclocross bike sometime around 2018. By the way, this is a stupid way to carry a bike:
What's the point of taking up the trunk space and reducing your ability to parallel park while still letting the bike hang out there like a fixed-gear hemorrhoid? Put on your big boy pants and put the fucking bike on the roof already. Sure, it burns a little more gas, but if you're afraid to burn some gas then you shouldn't be driving. Or you could just ride the stupid thing, but I can't really blame somebody for not wanting too.
Hyundai says its idea came from fixed-gear bikes, the "fixies" that have taken over urban corridors around the country. Originally ridden by bike messengers, they went mainstream for riders who wanted ultra low weight. Unlike the bikes, the car has brakes. "We were inspired by the proverb 'A rolling stone gathers no moss,'" said Chris Chapman, Hyundai's chief designer in the U.S. The concept car "offers the 'no strings attached' freedom of a roll top convertible."
Yes, nothing says "no strings attached freedom" like a lease, an insurance policy, and a dependence on fossil fuels. And if you want real car/bike "collabo" street cred, you're much better off with a Jetta Trek:
Something tells me the Veloster is going to be even less "classic" than that Jetta in 15 years.
Sorry, I nodded off there for a moment because I'm like so over everything. This because I was once a delusional bike racer, then I became a jaded irreverent bike racer, and now I'm just a crotchety loner with hairy legs and a general disdain for everything. At least I can take solace in the fact that while everyone's hopping on and off bikes that don't shift I'll be on the Internet shopping for folding bikes. So suck on that.
Mabye if you're lucky those Rapha sandbaggers will show up again and leave before the tattoos are handed out:
Director Steven Spielberg was very disappointed in the outcome of his movie last year, WAR HORSE. Not because it bombed at the boxoffice but because it didn’t win any awards. When a Steven Spielberg movie comes out in the Fall it’s all about Oscars. And if millions of theatergoers happen to like it, well that’s just a plus. When he wants big boxoffice numbers he goes off and makes
TOBACCO COMPANIES ORDERED TO PUBLICLY ADMIT DECEPTION ON SMOKING DANGERS
http://edition.cnn.com - Tobacco companies have been ordered by a federal judge to publicly admit, through advertisements and package warnings, that they deceived American consumers for decades about the dangers of smoking. Federal Judge Gladys Kessler issued her ruling Tuesday in one of the last legal steps settling liability in the long-running government prosecution of cigarette makers. “By ensuring that consumers know that [tobacco companies] have misled the public in the past on the issue of secondhand smoke in addition to putting forth the fact that a scientific consensus on this subject exists,” said Kessler, “defendants will be less likely to attempt to argue in the future that such a consensus does not exist.” Several other lawsuits over cigarette labeling are pending in federal court, part of a two-decade federal and state effort to force tobacco companies to limit their advertising, and settle billions of dollars in state and private class-action claims over the health dangers of smoking.
The judge, six years ago, concluded that tobacco companies were guilty of racketeering, and had ordered them to put tougher warning labels and other language in their marketing. The litigation had been tied up for years over the wording of such labels, but Kessler said Tuesday the language pushed by the Justice Department was factual. “Corrective statements” were ordered to be placed on five different areas, including: “Smoking is highly addictive. Nicotine is the addictive drug in tobacco” and “When you smoke, the nicotine actually changes the brain - that's why quitting is so hard.” Another mandated message says: “A Federal Court has ruled that the Defendant tobacco companies deliberately deceived the American public about designing cigarettes to enhance the delivery of nicotine, and has ordered those companies to make this statement. Here is the truth: Smoking kills, on average, 1200 Americans. Everyday.” Other areas deal with second-hand smoke dangers, and the false benefits of so-called “low tar” and “mild” cigarettes marketed by some companies.
Major tobacco companies who spent decades denying they lied to the US public about the dangers of cigarettes must spend their own money on a public advertising campaign saying they did lie, a federal judge ruled.According to the ruling, one of the statements says: “Tobacco companies intentionally designed cigarettes to make them more addictive.” Another says: “All cigarettes cause cancer, lung disease, heart attacks, and premature death.” Tobacco companies have to admit that they deceived all people around the world - not just Americans - by misleading advertising campaigns about the dreadful dangers of smoking, only to become super-billionaire without considering the damage they have done to the people.
WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?
Working in advertising is a big responsibility. It is therefore essential that this profession should be run with consciousness and involve the truth. ... In fact, the principles of advertising such as suggestion and creativity can be put at the service of ecology, health, education, culture. These themes are so important to mankind that never the work of publicists can be ignored. ... Advertising should show these facts to people, and free them of mental conditioning and pollution to which they have been subjected by the advertising with a bad conscience. The Spoon Revolution is an example that it is possible to cure the disease with the same machinery that caused it. Conscious advertising and conscious commerce are not a problem. The publisher has an important social function, so he is prompted to put forward campaigns for the common good.
Once in awhile, people ask me questions electronically. This is because I'm so approachable electronically. Recently, the most common questions have been, in reverse order of frequency:
3) Why do you suck so much at everything you do?
Look, I don't know, I just do. What do you want from me?
2) How do you tell the weather from inside now that you've moved and no longer have a view of the ursine man who's always smoking on his fire escape?
Easy, I study the hue and volume of the exhaust fumes emanating from the luxury cars as they drop off children at the elite prep school on the corner. Or, if it's a weekend, I just throw cash out the window to determine how windy it is.
1) Some variation of the following:
@bikesnobnyc do you know of any bike shops in #NYC worth a visit? Over from the UK in December — Kirsty Medlock (@cyclebybicycle) November 28, 2012
(I just figured out you can embed Tweets, coincidentally just after I figured out what "embed" means.)
I've probably said it before because I repeat myself endlessly and I'll say it again because I repeat myself endlessly: don't come visit New York City and waste your time in bike shops. This is not to say I have anything against hardworking bike shop proprietors. Quite the contrary--I hope they all make a million billion zillion dollars. It's just that, as a gigantic bike dork, I know how important it is to take a break once in awhile from being a gigantic bike dork, and visiting one of the greatest cities in the world is a perfect opportunity to do just that. Seriously, just give it a rest. Go to a museum. Go to the theee-ay-ter. Go eat some of that spicy food that the "ethnics" are so good at making. Go to a trendy bar and rob some hipsters, who are the only group in New York City more haplessly inept than the tourists.
Nevertheless, I do acknowledge that a great city's "bike culture" is worthy of some degree of exploration. The problem is that there's only so much you're going to learn by standing around in a bike shop and watching the staff service New York City's disgusting overabundance of filthy rich Freds. (Or, increasingly, New York City's disgusting overabundance of haplessly inept hipsters.) Therefore, I think what the city needs is a Museum of Cycling, a place where bike dork tourists can satisfy their curiosity in a single visit. In fact, I may open just such a place, since thanks to Obama's liberal regime the government is handing out cultural endowments and grants like Mario Cipollini hands out herpes:
(Mario Cipollini giving Danilo Di Luca his trademark "herpes hand-up.")
By the way, speaking of grants, this portrait was commissioned by the US government and paid for with taxpayer funds:
Some might say that $500,000 is a bit much, but I say that America now has its Mona Lisa.
So right, the museum. Well, once the funding comes through and I get that loft in West Chelsea, I'm first going to buy that Cipo portrait for a million dollars. Then, I'm going to curate (which doesn't require quotes around it for once) such permanent installations as:
Badass Food Delivery Bikes
It's not a truly badass New York City food delivery bike unless the motocross fender is "slammed" against the saddle rails.
This exhibit will feature all the accomplished professionals who used New York City's stultifying round-and-round-Central-and-Prospect-Parks racing scene as their springboard to the elite ranks of competitive cycling. GFOATS include George Hincapie, George Hincapie, and various other dopers you've long since forgotten if you've even heard of them in the first place.
The Hall of Byrne
The consummate New York City cyclist, David Byrne does not own a car, nor does he own a car, and this exhibit will be dedicated to his many contributions to New York City bicycle culture, including an exhaustive retrospective of his whimsical bike racks:
With a typical u-lock you can just about secure the bike by the front wheel only. Now that's good design.
Not only that, but Byrne has committed to designing my museum's bike racks, and he promises they'll be his most impractical designs yet. Here's an early sketch he sent me on a cocktail napkin:
An elegantly minimalist sweeping arch, he calls it the "Steal Me."
Oh, there's also going to be one more permanent exhibit:
The Sleep-Inducing Bicycle Historian Who Constantly Reminds You That There Used To Be Six-Day Races At Madison Square Garden
Did you know there used to be six-day races at Madison Square Park? Sure you did, people bring it up constantly. And what does that mean? Absolutely nothing. There also used to be a cholera epidemic. Track racing is not coming back. Get with it already.
Anyway, obviously there will also be changing exhibitions that are more in tune with the zeitgeist, and the first one will probably be a series of photographic portraiture called "Ass Cracks Across the Williamsburg Bridge."
Moving on, I find myself moving on in life, by which I mean I'm confronting the fact that I'm getting to be an old fuddy-duddy with an uninteresting lifestyle. This realization creeps up on people in various ways. Some people never realize it. Other people realize it when they discover they need a toupé. (I don't need a toupé, I just stick the hair that collects in the shower drain to my cranium with soap scum.) Still others realize it when they figure out that they need Viagra. (I don't need Viagra since I don't have genitals.) As for me, I realized it when I suddenly discovered I badly wanted a folding bike:
I haven't actually gotten a folding bike yet, but I think it's only a matter of time, and that's a scary notion to contemplate. The thing is, due to geography and new travel requirements I want to be able to get on and off of different trains and stuff yet still have a bike with me, and so all of a sudden I find myself exploring a contraption about which I know little. So, like any consumer, I find myself studying manufacturer websites:
I guess you could say I'm under "life pressures," assuming you consider shopping for a folding bike a life pressure. I'm also under economic pressure, in that I live underneath a gigantic mountain of money and huge amounts of cash do weigh a lot. However, I'm under no environmental pressure whatsoever, since I don't care what my crabon toof pirnt is, nor do I worry about the cost of gas, since even though I OWN A CAR I burn very little gas with it. Really, I have only two concerns, which are as follows:
1) Which folding bike should I get?
and
2) Where can I get a bear suit to wear while riding it?
Feel free to offer answers to one, both, or none of these questions in the comments.
Lastly, bike racing person Barry Wicks asked me to mention some sort of cyclocross beer-and-pushup contest in Bend, Oregon:
Frankly, I was enraged and disgusted. How dare he ask me that? In fact, I was so mad that I didn't even realize I was posting the flyer, and by the time I figured out what I was doing it was too late.
So Angus T. Jones has found religion and publicly told America to not watch his show, TWO AND A HALF MEN, because it’s “filth.”
Just so I have this straight – he was fine doing the show all the previous years? The subject matter of the show was not a surprise to him? It’s not like he signed up for one thing but it became something else? He’s made a ton of money over this period? He’s
NEGLECTED DEITIES FROM SACRED GROVES TAKEN TO AMEDA TEMPLE
www.thehindu.com - A century ago, around 25,000 sacred groves were believed to exist in Kerala, but now the numbers have dwindled to about 2,000. With 90 per cent of such groves disappearing from the face of land, it is a bad omen for the State ecologically. With the vanishing groves, the pond ecosystem that feeds the groundwater table and biodiversity of an area too disappears. Nobody wants a sacred grove on their part of the inherited land that would lower the salability of the property. It is either sold to non-Hindus or the grove is taken to another place where they will be happy after the observing the prescribed rituals. What happens when there is no one to look after them and the sacred groves (Sarpakavu) are left in the lurch? Ameda Temple is one of the temples that “accepts” the snake spirits of the sacred groves from places that the land owners are unable to maintain. “We try to talk to the land owners about preserving the ecosystem of the land.”
“But most of the times the share of the land that has to be divided among the family would be small and the presence of the sacred grove would further lower the share. This brings them to us to conjure the spirits of their grove to join the Ameda temple groves,” said Vasudevan Namboothiri, one of the priests of the Ameda Mangalam, the family that runs the temple. “If the area has more space, we advise people to tend to the grove. But we do take it up when people from other religious communities approach us,” said Mr. Namboothiri, who has taken voluntary retirement after a long stint at Hindustan Newsprint in Velloor. With fast diminishing sacred groves, the down fall of society is imminent because it was the most natural way to preserve biodiversity, said N. C. Induchoodan, convener of the Project for Conservation of Sacred Groves in Kerala and the Deputy Conservator of Forests, Munnar. Only if people feel for nature and try to foresee a future for their children by preserving the ecology, rather than securing future for them through a better bank balance, can the sacred groves be maintained, said Dr. Induchoodan.
Ameda Temple is home to deities shifted out of neglected sacred groves (Sarpakavu). They are kept around a tree on the Ameda Temple premises near Kochi, a city in the Indian State of Kerala. Ameda Temple has the shrines dedicated to the Nagaraja and Nagayakshi along with the main deity known as Saptamathrukkal. “We are guided by astrological predictions in these rituals and sometimes if the spirits do not want to leave the place, no ritual or prayers can help,” said Mr. Namboothiri. The priests at Ameda had in a year invoked the spirits of about a hundred sacred groves to Ameda. “And these rituals have been on the rise for the last two decades. Earlier, it was just one or two such rituals in a year”, explained Mr. Vasudevan Namboothiri, one of the priests of Ameda Mangalam. Sacred groves should be cared for, worshiped and respected. The ones which still survive today are a reminder of the old Vedic culture.
WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?
Vrajbhumi, the region around Vrindavan, always had a very good environmental balance, following the traditional pattern of Hindu India. This balance was achieved through the relationship between human settlements, forests and water resources. Between the villages there would be three types of forest patches: forest sanctuaries, dense woodland and sacred groves. ... These groves were usually composed of fruit trees and were maintained by the village as places for religious observance, festivals and recreation. A typical pastime was Julan, swinging from a seat suspended from the branches of a tree. Most recreation, such as dancing or singing, had to do with religious festivals like rasalila, the circle dance of Krishna. This commemorates Sri Krishna's dancing with the cowherd girls during the full-moon night of the autumn season in the sacred groves on the banks of the Yamuna river.
http://profit.ndtv.com - Quashing the 'doomsday' rumours, top NASA scientists have assured that the world won't end on December 21, 2012. “The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” NASA said on its website. The 'doomsday story' started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth, scientists said. 
“This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then - just as your calendar begins again on January 1 - another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar,” NASA said. Scientists also clarified that the rumour of a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction is just an “Internet hoax”. “Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. 
There are four ages, namely Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga, which comprise a divya-yuga, one set of the four yugas. Let’s remember that Satya-yuga lasts 1,728,000 years, Treta-yuga 1,296,000 years, Dvapara-yuga 864,000 years, and Kali-yuga 432,000 years. That is a total of 4,320,000 years. A day of Brahma, called a kalpa, lasts for 1,000 of these cycles, and is thus 4,320,000,000 solar years. There are 14 Manus in each day of Brahma. Each Manu is said to exist for one manvantara, which is a period of time lasting 71 divya-yugas. Therefore, each Manu exists for roughly 306,720,000 years. Additionally, Brahma lives for 100 years, composed of 365 of such days in a year. Let’s remember also that we are talking about beings who do not live in the same dimension as we do, and are thus free from the same influences of time and matter with which we must contend.
