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108 Meditation Techniques

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 02:22:19 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

108 Meditation Techniques

This is our list of 108 different meditation techniques. The hyper-linked (underlined) meditation techniques are currently online, and we are always adding more in the Featured Technique section. In the near future, we hope to have all of the techniques online, but until then we appreciate your patience.

Tags: spirituality, meditation, religion

Child Prodigies

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 19:07:18 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: 60minutes.yahoo.com

Child Prodigies

They're Gifted...They're Talented...They're Whiz Kids. Meet seven of the most amazing youngsters 60 Minutes has profiled. From a pint-sized Mozart to a prepubescent tennis star. . . they've all achieved way beyond their years.

Tags: cbs, children, genius

Ditching laissez-faire, India plans a city

Fri, 11 May 2007 04:24:17 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: iht.com

But in a social experiment highly unusual for this most unplanned of countries, the Indian government has handpicked Nagpur to be fattened and primped into an international metropolis.

Lush parks and smooth roads have been lain, and malls and multiplex cinemas have sprouted. A drastically renovated airport is to become the cargo hub of India, with a terminal that is 100 times larger than the existing one and is to handle at least 100 jets at a time instead of the current five. An ecofriendly mass-transit system is being planned to absorb an expected surge in road traffic, years before the average Nagpurian owns a car. The government is building a special economic zone with tax breaks and ready-to-use water, electricity and fiber optic cable, in the hope of attracting 100,000 technology jobs to a city long dominated by coal mining.

Tags: india, city, economy, technology

Grass-root sexual revolution in China

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:00:11 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

SHANGHAI

WHEN Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue hit the newsstands last week in China for the first time, with the sexy singer Beyoncé on the cover, the competition was fierce.

Readers here had already seen the February issue of For Him Magazine, which features a Chinese singer named A Duo on its cover wearing a white V-neck leotard that reveals every other inch of her rather substantial figure.

The images and text would hardly be shocking to American or European readers. And the magazine’s photographs are tame compared with what appears in magazines in Japan and other parts of Asia.

But in China, where sex is still a taboo subject and pornography is outlawed by the ruling Communist Party, the images are not only highly provocative but perhaps the latest sign that sex and sexuality are infiltrating the mainstream media.

Tags: sex, life, china

U.S. rejects ban on cluster bombs

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 18:58:26 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.presstv.ir

The United States on Friday rejected an international call to abandon the use of cluster bombs, despite an overwhelming support from other countries.

"We take the position that these munitions do have a place and a use in military inventories, given the right technology as well as the proper rules of engagement," said the U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

McCormack said his country was aware of the "threat posed by the unexploded ordnance to innocent civilians", but revealed that the U.S. was "taking steps to upgrade cluster bombs".

Tags: united states, bomb, military, death, technology, politics, war

New England Awards Honor Design Excellence in the Region

Sat, 31 Mar 2007 03:42:22 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.aia.org

AIA New England Awards Honor Design Excellence in the Region

Summary: AIA New England announced the recipients of their annual Excellence in Design Awards at their annual meeting last September. Six projects were selected to receive Honor Awards for Design Excellence and 10 projects were awarded Merit Awards for Design Excellence. The program was administered by AIA Rhode Island this year, and the jury was composed of Lawrence Speck, FAIA, Page Sutherland Page, Austin, Tex.; Suha Ozkan, Hon. FAIA, Secretary General, Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Geneva; and Elva Rubio, AIA, Director of Design, Gensler, Chicago.

62 Center for Theatre and Dance, Williams College

The Raptor Exhibit at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science

675 West Kendall Street Laboratory

Brain and Cognitive Sciences Complex, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Private Residence

Park East Syngogue

Tags: architecture, awards, design

300-Foot-Deep Guatemala Sinkhole Kills 2

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 19:43:35 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AP) - A 330-foot-deep sinkhole killed at least two teenagers as it swallowed about a dozen homes early Friday and forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people in a crowded Guatemala City neighborhood. Officials blamed the sinkhole on recent rains and an underground sewage flow from a ruptured main.

Clip Source: www.ordena.com

Tags: news, wow, picture

Testosterone Gives Male Birds Their Color

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 22:12:04 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

Testosterone Gives Male Birds Their Color, Scientists Say

New research suggests that as testosterone in male birds increases, so does the level of carotenoids, the chemicals that create the bright coloring on birds' feathers, beaks, and legs.

The brilliant reds, yellows, and oranges serve as indicators of sexual competitiveness, signaling to females that the bearer is healthy and a potentially good mate.

Scientists already knew that testosterone in male birds brings out their macho best, making them sing more sweetly and court with added vigor—other key indicators of males' health and sexual appeal. (Related: "Tropical Wrens Sing Complex Tunes, Researchers Find" [August 8, 2006].)

But until now the relationship between bird coloring and testosterone had eluded biologists.

Tags: science, discovery, birds, research

In the Holy Caves of India

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 17:08:03 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: travel2.nytimes.com

In the Holy Caves of India

It would have been hot, as it always seems to be in this eastern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The land ahead of him would have been much as it is today — fairly flat, dusty, yellow, featureless, tricked out with thick scrub and forests of mimosa and tamarind trees. He was a soldier, and his fellow officers would have been behind him, keeping as quiet as they could and well downwind of their prey, a thus far unseen tiger.

Clip Source: travel2.nytimes.com

The monument comprises a series of 29 caves that have been carved deep into this sheer face of a horseshoe-shaped cliff a few miles from the old walled town of Ajanta, hidden away in the deep gorge gouged in the high Deccan plains by the Waghora River about 300 miles inland from Mumbai. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site, designated as such back in 1983 as one of India’s first, along with the Taj Mahal. And though Shah Jahan’s famous memorial in Agra is far better known, the Ajanta Caves are hugely popular, particularly with Indians, who see them as eloquent testimony to their country’s immense and unbroken history. The caves can in consequence become insufferably crowded. But I went in March, the lowest of the low seasons — the schools hadn’t closed for spring break and the weather, though warm, wasn’t as hot as most Indian travelers prefer. There were so few people around that it sometimes seemed as though the tourists were outnumbered by the monkeys, who gathered in troops up in the neem trees, gazing down at the scattering of humans who wandered, in rapt attention, in and out of great gaping holes in the high walls of the cliff.

Tags: india, photos, travel, archaeology

Hubble Heritage Image Gallery

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:56:06 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: heritage.stsci.edu

Tags: hubble, astronomy, pictures, space

10 Most Impressive Photos of our Universe

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 20:16:20 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Not sure if anyone has posted this here already.

Clip Source: www.oddpeak.com

10 Most Impressive Photos of our Universe

Eskimo Nebula

Pillars of Creation

Pale Blue Dot

Supernova 1987A

Antennae Galaxies

Hubble Deep Field

Crab Nebula

Cat's Eye Nebula

Gamma Ray Explosion

Protoplanetary Disks

Tags: science, universe, pictures

Dance Like a Dervish Sting Like a Bee

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 01:14:11 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.wie.org

Dance Like a Dervish
Sting Like a Bee

Muhammad Ali’s legacy as one of the greatest athletes of the twentieth century is well established, but with the recent unveiling of the new Muhammad Ali Center in his boyhood home of Louisville, Kentucky, fans from around the world will now have the chance to discover the Champ’s lesser-known spiritual side. This eighty-million-dollar, 93,000-square-foot museum dedicated to Ali’s life and boxing career was designed to motivate “current and future generations to achieve a higher sense of self and purpose while nurturing a respect for others.” And it features an entire pavilion dedicated to Ali’s spiritual journey, tracing the boxer’s footsteps from his early membership in the fiery Nation of Islam to his eventual embrace of a more tolerant and inclusive Muslim identity and his many humanitarian efforts for hunger and poverty relief around the globe.

“For many years,” says Ali, “I have dreamed of creating a place to share, teach, and inspire people.” Having lived with Parkinson’s disease since the early eighties, he’s an inspiration himself, still traveling over two hundred days a year in order to lend his name to the cause of peace and social responsibility. Where do his strength and dedication to public service come from? “He reads constantly,” says his daughter Hana Yasmeen Ali. “His life is like a prayer. God is constantly on his mind.” According to her, the Champ’s favorite author is none other than renowned Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan, one of the great spiritual luminaries of the last century and the father of another great Sufi teacher, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan. Ali’s collection of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s writings is “old and yellow and the pages are torn,” she says. “He always says they’re the best books in the world.”

Tags: athletes, sports, spirituality, health, disease

Jordan's ancient city a candidate for new seven wonders of the world

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:51:56 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Petra Is New Seven Wonders Candidate

Jan. 17, 2007 — Jordan's ancient city Petra was officially declared a candidate Tuesday in the contest to name the new seven wonders of the world at a ceremony amid its rose-colored stone buildings.

Contest founder Bernard Weber presented Jordan's Queen Rania with Petra's official candidacy at the event that included a presentation on the way the city's first inhabitants lived.

The New 7 Wonders of the World contest was launched in 2001 by Weber's Geneva-based NewOpenWorld Foundation, which aims to promote cultural diversity by supporting, preserving and restoring monuments. It relies on private donations and revenue from selling broadcasting rights. Twenty-one sites around the globe are vying to be declared wonders of the world.

On the List See other candidates for the new seven wonders.

Tags: world, jordan, contest, life

Iraqi Blogs

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:55:35 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Iraqi bloggers at home and abroad

Several of the Iraqi bloggers featured in previous roundups have left the country.

Here's a snapshot of some of those still writing from inside Iraq - and some of those who have left.

neurotic-iraqi-wife.blogspot.com

Neurotic Iraqi Wife is an Iraqi-British woman living and working in the Green Zone.

nabilsblog.blogspot.com

Nabil is 19. He left Baghdad and arrived in Jordan last month.

livesstrong.blogspot.com

Sunshine is a 15-year-old girl in Mosul, northern Iraq.

astarfrommosul.blogspot.com

"Aunt Najma" is also in Mosul. She is 19 and has sailed through her first year university exams.

last-of-iraqis.blogspot.com

Mohammed is a 25-year-old dentist in Baghdad.

twentyfourstepstoliberty.blogspot.com

Twentyfourstepstoliberty is a young Iraqi man studying journalism in Berkeley, California.

Tags: iraq, blogs

Every eight seconds, a young child dies from lack of water

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:49:10 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.nature.org

I recently attended an international water conference during which the keynote speaker revealed a shocking statistic:

Every eight seconds, a young child dies from lack of water or a waterborne disease.

He equated this to a 747 jetliner full of kids going down every hour.

Stunned by the enormity of this tragedy, I reflected on the relevance of our conservation work to this year’s World Water Day theme of water scarcity. The lack of suitable water for people and for nature is a growing crisis:

More than 1 billion humans lack access to clean drinking water.
Two billion — almost one in every three people on the planet — do not have adequate sanitation facilities or electricity.

Tags: children, disease, water, world