Nature or Nurture?

I've often wondered. What do you think?

Is it Real? Feral Children 1/5

Twilight Zone or Premonition?

That's 3.5 minutes of a Twilight Zone episode entitled "No Time Like the Past" from 1963. Sound familiar?

The Georgia Guide Stones ..... America's Stonehenge?

Have you ever heard of the Georgia Guide Stones? I hadn't until this afternoon.

See them by clicking on the link in my title or here:

Georgie Guide Stones

Designed and paid for in 1979 by someone who wished to remain anonymous, using the pseudonym R. C. Christian, they were erected in 1980 from enormous granite slabs weighing a total of 240,000 pounds. R. C. Christian supposedly indicated that he represented a small group of Americans. That may be rumor, as in fact most stories about him may be purely rumor.


To this day, evidently not much if anything is known about R. C. Christian. The four large upright blocks pointing outward are oriented to the limits of the migration of the moon during the course of the year.

It is said that the monument commands a view to the east and to the west and is within the range of the summer and winter sunrises and sunsets.

In order to retain constant visibility of the North Star, an eye level hole was drilled from the south to the north side of the center gnomon stone. Ostensibly symbolizing orientation and constancy with the forces of nature.

A slot is cut in the middle of the gnomon stone to form a window which aligns with the positions of the rising sun at the Summer and Winter Solstices and at the Equinox, so that the noon sun shines to indicate noon on a curved line.

Here's a brief view of the monument:


This is what is inscribed on the stones in eight languages: English, Russian, Swahili, Spanish, Hebrew, Chinese, Arabic and Hindi.

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature.

Of course there are those Christian (when using the word Christian in this blog I am referring to that radical, verbose, self-righteous Christian element; not the real Christians who believe in a message of love and light) based conspiracy theorists who feel that anything outside their closely held Biblic sphere is heresy. Everything is a conspiracy to "get them" and turn the world "socialist". Hmmmm. WARNING: sarcasm begins here:

First of all ...... the guide towards keeping earth's population down does not suggest KILLING 5.5 billion people. Duh. The way to get the earth's people population under control is to stop producing hordes of progeny! Get ahold of yourselves, people! Hello, Pope, hello African governments, et al ...... advise the use of birth control before before you put us all out of business! But no, that is giving women power and we can't have that, can we? Power over our own bodies ...... power to control the amount of children for which we have the time and money to care. Don't you dare suggest THAT you damn commies!



Then there's that part about nature. God forbids a reverence and care for nature! Doesn't he? Oh wait, no, I don't think that's in the Bible. In fact I think the Bible tends to lean towards care of the environment and the earth's inhabitants. Oh well, minor detail as far as the Christians are concerned.

It's ever so much more convenient to take what suits their purposes from the Bible (those short paraphrases about homosexuality or whatever their current prejudice) and forget those pesky little commandments they don't like. You know the ones. Loving each other, caring for our brothers, not eating the abominable shellfish. Stuff like that.


Add to that the fact that their control is superficially disguised by the 180 degree attempt at telling you that whoever paid to erect these guideposts is the one trying to control you. Not them.

Hmmm again. So ...... Christians are not trying to control the world? If that's true, what are missionaries doing? What are all those Bible thumping preachers doing who tell you it's their way or the highway or worse yet ..... their way or eternal damnation? That's NOT control?

Reminds me of the political party who with regularity accuses the other of doing precisely what they themselves are doing. But I digress.

Check out one of the many conspiracy theory videos and see what you think. Really, I'd like to know. In your opinion are the guideposts evil Illuminati propaganda or are they possibly very good instructions about how to live richly and peacefully on this earth without damaging it beyond repair?



Now that you've gotten to enjoy the right wing Christian conspiracy explanation for these mysterious guide posts, here is the creator's (R. C. Christian) interpretation. His explanatory words, from a book written by and left in a Georgia library by R. C. Christian, are in italics.

* Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
Means the entire human race at its climax level for permanent balance with nature.

* Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.
Without going into details as yet undiscovered, this means humanity should apply reason and knowledge to guiding its own reproduction. "Fitness" could be translated as "health." "Diversity" could be translated as "variety".

* Unite humanity with a living new language.
A "living" language grows and changes with advancing knowledge. A "new" language will be developed "de novo" - and need not necessarily be adopted from any languages now in existence.

* Rule Passion - Faith - Tradition - and all things with tempered reason.
"Faith" here may be used in a religious sense. Too often people are ruled by blind faith even when it may be contrary to reason. Reason must be tempered with compassion here - but must prevail.

* Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
Courts must consider justice as well as law.

* Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
Individual nations must be free to develop their own destinies at home as their own people wish - but cannot abuse their neighbors.

* Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
Self explanatory.

* Balance personal rights with social duties.
Individuals have a natural concern for their personal welfare, but man is a social animal and must also be concerned for the group. Failure of society means failure for its individual citizens.

* Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.
The infinite here means the supreme being - whose will is manifest in the working of the cosmos - if we will seek for it.

* Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature.
In our time, the growth of humanity is destroying the natural conditions of the earth which have fostered all existing life. We must restore reasoned balance.

That all sounds pretty darned good to me and is totally in keeping with my nature based spirituality. Am I going to Hell because I believe we should take care of our Mama Nature? According to the radical Christians who want to tear down this monument, evidently I am.

What do you think?

War and Greed, Not by Tolstoy

"I see in the future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of the war."

Wish I'd said that, but I didn't. Guess who did. Go ahead ........ guess.



- Abraham Lincoln
Nov. 21, 1864 (letter to Col. William F. Elkins)
Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)

Sunday Mornings

Sunday mornings are great days to sit around, watch the "CBS Sunday Morning" show (the last 2 minutes of nature scenes are my favorite), drink coffee, watch the clouds roll by and share some alone time with my Honey.



Since I'm a multi-tasker, I'm also enjoying youtube. So today I'm going to share with you some fun. Fun for me is often seeing other people have fun. I also adore dancing. Put the two together and it's a win-win.

The Wedding Dancers ..... this guy is good!



You know this isn't easy in a wedding dress .....




And here it is, my all-time favorite. Good thing for my Honey I didn't see this prior to OUR wedding, eh?



Blessings, y'all. Hope you're enjoying your Sunday morning, also.

Ok, this is getting too weird

Now there's an old movie starring Michael Jackson, where he also portrays someone who looks precisely like the DA who prosecuted him for child molestation. Naturally, since there's money in it, someone's about to put it on TV.

There are reports that his nose was a prosthesis, and he had a velvet lined tray full of them in his home.

Someone claiming to be his "love child" has come out of the closet. Evidently he was at MJ's funeral, sitting with the family?

They're making a movie out of his last rehearsal shots.

No, this is no surprise. Anywhere there might be money made, there will be someone trying to do it.

Geez. Leave the guy alone. He's dead. I don't know what all his demons were, but maybe he's finally at peace. Too bad the vultures, including his own father, don't fade peacefully into the sunset.

One thing I did find interesting which was pointed out to me after MJ's death was this video. Inspiration or pattern?

Let's Be Honest

I'm watching "Face the Nation" this morning. On the first segment we have Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) discussing the ongoing struggle with health care in this country.

At least twice, as the camera cuts back to Orrin Hatch following Charlie Rangel's comments, Senator Hatch's first sentence is, "Let's be honest."



How offensive. Is he suggesting that Congressman Rangel is not being honest? Is he suggesting, perhaps, that he's the only one who can be "honest" on this subject matter?

Have you noticed how often, when someone says, "let's be honest", what it really means is "now listen to me, even though I have nothing substantive to say because I want to discredit what the other person just said by being evasive". It seldom has little to do with being honest. In this case, when Orrin Hatch continues to suggest that any change in health care will put small businesses out of business via health care penalties, it has NOTHING to do with honesty. It's an outright lie.

Reminds me of the old Indian quote: "How smooth must be the language of the whites, when they can make right look like wrong, and wrong like right."



So, Senator Hatch, how about an HONEST conversation regarding health care in this country. How about BEING honest. How about letting us hear a suggestion from a Republican rather than solely criticism? Come up with an idea! You didn't do it with a stimulus plan and you're not doing it with health care. Where is your plan? Status quo? The old Republican mantra: "Status quo status quo status quo"?

Go ahead. Let's be honest.

Nina Simone

Nina Simone has been one of my favorite singers for years. This morning something reminded me of this tune, also one of my favorites. It's been sung by Ms. Simone, Judy Collins and even Neil Diamond. "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" was written by Randy Newman in 1968.



And my all time favorite, "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl" (1967):



Excerpt from Nina Simone's bio:

Nina Simone
pianist, singer

Dates: February 21, 1933 (*) - April 21, 2003

Also known as: "Priestess of Soul"; birth name: Eunice Kathleen Waymon, Eunice Wayman

Known for:

* Composed over 500 songs, recorded almost 60 albums
* First woman to win the Jazz Cultural Award
* "Woman of the Year" 1966, Jazz at Home Club
* Female Jazz Singer of the Year, 1967, National Association of Television and Radio Announcers

In 1993, Don Shewey wrote of Nina Simone in the Village Voice, "She's not a pop singer, she's a diva, a hopeless eccentric ... who has so thoroughly co-mingled her odd talent and brooding temperament that she has turned herself into a force of nature, an exotic creature spied so infrequently that every appearance is legendary."

Nina Simone was born as Eunice Kathleen Waymon in 1933(*) in Tryon, North Carolina, daughter of John D. Waylon and Mary Kate Waymon, an ordained Methodist minister. The house was filled with music, Nina Simone later recalled, and she learned to play piano early. When her mother took a job as a maid for extra money, the family saw that young Eunice had special musical talent and sponsored classical piano lessons for her. She studied with a Mrs. Miller and then with Muriel Massinovitch.

For her last year of high school, Nina Simone attended Juilliard School of Music, as part of her plan to prepare to attend the Curtis Institute of Music. She took the entrance exam for the Curtis Institute's classical piano program, but was not accepted. Nina Simone believed that she was good enough for the program, but that she was rejected because she was black.

Her family by that time had moved to Philadelphia, and she began to give piano lessons. When she discovered that one of her students was playing in a bar in Atlantic City -- and being paid more than she was from her piano teaching -- she decided to try this route herself. Armed with music from many genres -- classical, jazz, popular -- she began playing piano in 1954 at the Midtown Bar and Grill in Atlantic City. She adopted the name of Nina Simone to avoid her mother's religious disapproval of playing in a bar. The bar owner demanded soon that she add vocals to her piano playing, and Nina Simone began to draw large audiences of younger people who were fascinated by her eclectic musical repertoire and style. Soon she was playing in better nightclubs, and moved into the Greenwich Village scene.

By 1957, Nina Simone had found an agent, and the next year issued her first album, "Little Girl Blue." Her first single, "I Loves You Porgy," was a George Gershwin song from Porgy and Bess that had been a popular number for Billie Holiday. It sold well, and her recording career was launched. Unfortunately, the contract she signed gave away her rights, a mistake she came to bitterly regret. For her next album she signed with Colpix and released "The Amazing Nina Simone." With this album came more critical interest.

Nina Simone briefly married Don Ross in 1958, and divorced him the next year. She married Andy Stroud in 1960 -- a former police detective who became her recording agent -- and they had a daughter, Lisa Celeste, in 1961. This daughter, separated from her mother for long periods in her childhood, eventually launched her own career with the stage name of, simply, Simone. Nina Simone and Andy Stroud drifted apart with her career and political interests, and their marriage ended in divorce in 1970.

In the 1960s, Nina Simone was part of the civil rights movement and later the black power movement. Her songs are considered by some as anthems of those movements, and their evolution shows the growing hopelessness that American racial problems would be solved.

Nina Simone wrote "Mississippi Goddam" after the bombing of a Baptist church in Alabama killed four children and after Medgar Evers was assassinated in Mississipppi. This song, often sung in civil rights contexts, was not often played on radio. She introduced this song in performances as a show tune for a show that hadn't yet been written.

Other Nina Simone songs adopted by the civil rights movement as anthems included "Backlash Blues," "Old Jim Crow," "Four Women" and "To Be Young, Gifted and Black." The latter was composed in honor of her friend Lorraine Hansberry and became an anthem for the growing black power movement with its line, "Say it clear, say it loud, I am black and I am proud!"

With the growing women's movement, "Four Women" and her cover of Sinatra's "My Way" became feminist anthems as well.

But just a few years later, Nina Simone's friends Lorraine Hansberry and Langston Hughes were dead. Black heroes Martin Luther King, jr., and Malcolm X, were assassinated. In the late 1970s, a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service found Nina Simone accused of tax evasion; she lost her home to the IRS.

Nina Simone's growing bitterness over America's racism, her disputes with the record companies she called "pirates," her troubles with the IRS all led to her decision to leave the United States. She first moved to Barbados, and then, with the encouragement of Miriam Makeba and others, moved to Liberia.

A later move to Switzerland for the sake of her daughter's education was followed by a comeback attempt in London which failed when she put her faith in a sponsor who turned out to be a con man who robbed and beat her and abandoned her. She tried to commit suicide, but when that failed, found her faith in the future renewed. She built her career slowly, moving to Paris in 1978, having small successes.

In 1985, Nina Simone returned to the United States to record and perform, choosing to pursue fame in her native land. She focused on what would be popular, de-emphasizing her political views, and won growing acclaim. Her career soared when a British commercial for Chanel used her 1958 recording of "My Baby Just Cares for Me," which then became a hit in Europe.

Nina Simone moved back to Europe -- first to the Netherlands then to the South of France in 1991. She published her biography, I Put a Spell on You, and continued to record and perform.

There were several run-ins with the law in the 90s in France, as Nina Simone shot a rifle at rowdy neighbors and left the scene of an accident in which two motorcyclists were injured. She paid fines and was put on probation, and was required to seek psychological counseling.

In 1995, she won ownership of 52 of her master recordings in a San Francisco court, and in 94-95 she had what she described as "a very intense love affair" -- "it was like a volcano." In her last years, Nina Simone was sometimes seen in a wheelchair between performances. She died April 21, 2003, in her adopted homeland, France.

In a 1969 interview with Phyl Garland, Nina Simone said:

There's no other purpose, so far as I'm concerned, for us except to reflect the times, the situations around us and the things we're able to say through our art, the things that millions of people can't say. I think that's the function of an artist and, of course, those of us who are lucky leave a legacy so that when we're dead, we also live on. That's people like Billie Holiday and I hope that I will be that lucky, but meanwhile, the function, so far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times, whatever that might be.

Nina Simone is often classified as a jazz singer, but this is what she had to say in 1997 (in an interview with Brantley Bardin):

To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt and that's not what I play. I play black classical music. That's why I don't like the term "jazz," and Duke Ellington didn't like it either -- it's a term that's simply used to identify black people."

Judy Collins' version of "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" was one I listened to repeatedly in the late 1960s (the old long blonde, guitar strumming college days).



Ok, so I listened to Neil Diamond a lot in the 70s and 80s. I admit it.



Sung by the composer, Randy Newman: