Alchemical Transformation

My new 'waterspeeder' - part 2

2011-11-27T22:21:00.020Z

The other day I spent half of the afternoon to finish cleaning it. Looks great and I have discovered that most bits are the originals so I am quite impressed. Have a look below. The only thing I miss is the pin which connects the boom to the mast. I left a message with John Claridge and I expect he will get back to me but if you know another place from where I can source it drop me a line please. Cheers!

My new 'waterspeeder' - part 1

2011-11-22T00:15:00.014Z

Ahoy Star Wars fans!
You may be already familiar with landspeeders and airspeeders.

Today I give you The Waterspeeder! (can you hear that main theme playing??)

Ok, stop, stop the music. Come back to planet Earth now. Good. That's good.

This is my latest single handed sailing dinghy which I've salvaged from a park near Swindon. I had in plan to give it a good wash this weekend however I have underestimated the amount of time I had to spend in scrubbing off the algae & moss living happily on the cover. So, I managed to do just that - the pvc cover.

I've used some non-chlorine bleach, it worked a treat! It turned to its natural blue after few hours of effort. The rest it will have to wait for the next available Saturday or Sunday.

To understand what actually hides underneath the cover have a look here:
http://www.lightning368.org/lnwp/

More pics will follow...

Prana and Birth

2011-11-21T10:22:00.013Z

There are many secrets in this world which 21st century western science has successfully unraveled. Some however remain just that: inexplicable phenomena that happen right here, in the very front of our eyes, and despite our best efforts will continue their magic perhaps in the same enigmatic way for a long time.

One of them is the perpetuation of life and in particular the moment of birth. To this present day researchers are unable to explain what exactly initiates labour although there are few studies around attempting to throw some light on the mystery. A recent one, done on mice, suggests that once baby's lungs are matured enough to handle air they release a protein which may trigger labour. There is no certainty that the same mechanism would apply to humans so we are on uncharted territory here. Anyway, it appears that the new organism would be ready to function independently once lung's capacity to manage O2 intake & gas exchange etc. reaches an adequate level.

Ancient texts like the Upanishads recognise the existence of a vital force called prana - an intangible spirit or unseen energy sustaining all life - and the possibility of controlling the flow of prana through meditation and breathing exercises (pranayama) acknowledging that breath represents the most subtle material form of prana.

Prashna Upanishad(3:3) goes further and reveals that "Prana is born of the Self. Like a man and his shadow, the Self and Prana are inseparable. Prana enters the body at birth, that the desires of the mind, continuing from past lives, may be fulfilled.”

Prana is something which modern science does not recognise and probably it will not for a long time therefore no, I am unable to prove what I am about to say

My thoughts are, and you may want to comment on this, that labour is actually initiated by prana entering child's lungs generating the need for a first breath. This subtle entry would be translated at a physical level through a higher level of protein-A which in turn will regulate prostaglandin production within uterus and culminating with the onset of labour. Ultimately it is the foetus the one who initiates everything.

P.S. Due date is tomorrow!

Not very long now...

2011-11-09T15:23:00.002Z

2 weeks till due date, decorating is now finished and everyone is patiently awaiting as you can see...

New Forest creatures

2011-08-24T20:57:00.006+01:00

Sand castle competition

2011-08-01T17:56:00.021+01:00

Gull sailors from the whole wide world we salute you!

Moi, le wife and bambino (you can't see him yet, he is 24 weeks old) crossing the narrows from Keyhaven to Totland Bay (Isle of Wight) in our 'Free Spirit'

Our 'Free Spirit' is having a well-deserved rest ... with scow friends...

The competition begins

Everyone helps, little kids and big kids as well

The Alchemist: new to be comic book...or novel

2011-08-01T12:09:00.008+01:00

Hello All, this morning i had a revelation so to speak...

I decided that the way I will share my message will be through a comic book or a set of short novels...that should be interesting...

So, wish me luck!

First race (Keyhaven, near Hurst Castle)

2011-07-25T18:10:00.008+01:00

It was quite gusty so i did not take any chances...

Looking fab!

2011-07-12T17:31:00.001+01:00

http://gulldinghysailing.blogspot.com/2011/07/chris-yardleys-pictures-from-rutland.html

Extreme Sailing

2011-07-12T17:16:00.003+01:00

Having in mind the way I have lost my hatch cover at Rutland I was curious to see how others capsize in strong winds and I have found this:

Have a look at 2:46 & 7:48 and you will have an idea how it actually happened with me

The Miracle of Life - 20 weeks

2011-07-06T14:13:00.007+01:00

Sometimes expectations are exceeded...and as you can see he is smiling, trying to tell me that it will take more than just breathing through a nostril or another in order to change what he has chosen already
A royal wave perhaps?

And a fully active Sahasrara chakra...no doubt

Solitude

2011-07-05T18:15:00.002+01:00

Long weekend at Rutland

2011-06-29T10:04:00.013+01:00

We decided to join other Gull sailors for a long weekend at Rutland Water
What a fantastic time! Very windy on Saturday, I've lost my hatch cover after a dramatic capsize otherwise the boat managed heroically in 30 - 35miles / hour gusts.
If you want to have an idea of how rough it was have a look at a video made on that day by our lead organiser, Chris.
I have left my 'Free Spirit' with Ian Porter so a new custom made cover will be molded, it will take about two weeks, they will change also the old fittings (fiddly) with the new sturdier double strap system.
I love this boat, has got style if you know what I mean, it feels on water like a Mercedes - Benz on road or at least this is my novice sailor opinion, mind you, my experience is rather slim having sailed only a Mirror and a Scow until now...

Sunday training reloaded

2011-06-21T11:03:00.012+01:00

Another perfect sailing day, everyone managed very well given that average wind speed was around 27 -30 knots (yes, it is not a typo). These scows are not bad at all, i am looking forward to test my Gull this coming weekend...I expect it will be even better!

Sunday sailing

2011-06-05T22:22:00.013+01:00

Spur of the moment... I decided to go out for a RYA training day with other club members. And because my Gull still rests in the garage (I know, I know...it will hit the water but not before Rutland I'm afraid...) I've picked up one of the club's boats: a Scow.

Support boat duty

2011-06-05T22:04:00.010+01:00

On Saturday it was my turn to helm the 'Saracen'. We had a great time as you can see below, strangely, not too busy for a weekend in Keyhaven.

Pics done with my HTC Desire

The Miracle of Life

2011-05-14T13:24:00.008+01:00

12 weeks + 3 days

Breathing status at conception according to Svara:

- mother - predominant Surya
- father - predominant Chandra

Tattva: Prithvi

Expected gender: feminine

Huxley vs. Orwell

2011-03-21T18:31:00.004Z

Spring colours

2011-03-20T17:22:00.015Z

Free Spirit

2011-02-26T15:45:00.017Z

Our newly acquired 'wave breaker'

Pics done with my HTC Desire

Just chillin'

2011-02-10T18:52:00.003Z

Alchemical Emblems

2011-01-02T00:27:00.012Z

Dear reader, I stumbled across a beautiful collection of illustrations, most of them alchemical emblems, which I thought you may be interested in. The book is free to download in pdf format here

Each emblem is also accompanied by a description in several languages: Latin, Italian, French, German.

Why is a raven like a writing-desk?

2010-12-26T21:54:00.014Z

Initially posed by the Mad Hatter at the famous Tea Party, the riddle was meant to have no answer. However years after Lewis Carroll wrote Alice's Adventures he made some interesting comments:

"Enquiries have been so often addressed to me, as to whether any answer to the Hatter's Riddle can be imagined, that I may as well put on record here what seems to me to be a fairly appropriate answer, viz: 'Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!' This, however, is merely an afterthought; the riddle as originally invented, had no answer at all."

Yes, this is the way the author spelled it adding to the initial confusion as nevar is raven spelled backwards.

It is said that L Carroll was inspired to write the story after experiencing a lucid dream. There are countless similarities to lucid dreaming and astral projection throughout the book which cannot be discounted.

I believe that the answer to the riddle lies beyond our waking state, the question is a paradox, illogical, in the same way as the fact that in most dreams the dreamer is not aware that is dreaming. The answer could be anything or everything, it does not matter, what matters is the connection between a raven and a writing-desk. Likewise in a lucid dream what is most important is the moment when the dreamer realises that the course of events can deliberately be influenced. In that different state of mind the answer, like the dream, is not required any more, is transcended.

Merry Christmas ... and a Happy New Year to everyone!

2010-12-25T15:02:00.031Z

Best Xmas decorations are the ones you make yourself...

When winter knocked on my door

2010-12-22T19:58:00.016Z

All started in one night, at a very fast pace

By the time the sun was up the sky was already clear

it didn't lasted long however...clouds are back on duty

Still a pretty sunset I would say...

A new experiment involving fermentation

2010-12-02T20:45:00.015Z

For those of you who may not know Fermentation is recognised as key step in the process of alchemical transformation.

Fermentation is seen as the process of refining, skimming the crud that rises to the surface, separating the subtle from the gross to obtain a purer solution, the penetration of the purified essence by forces from Above.

There aren't too many articles on the web who go into much detail on this, a bit strange in my opinion but there you go...

Anyhow, what i wanted to share with you refers to a more earthly fermentation. Many of you perhaps are familiar with what is called Kefir? If not I shall explain briefly: Kefir is the parent of all yogurts. It is made by adding live, cauliflower looking like colonies of probiotic bacteria and yeasts to milk. These formations are called Kefir grains and can be added to any type of milk: raw or pasteurised, cows' milk, goats' milk, soy milk, coconut milk, etc. Do not confuse them with water Kefir grains as those ones are different. Milk Kefir grains look like this:

You will have to source the grains from someone else who has them as they are a live culture. Dry grains powder can be used to obtain the final product as well - this happens in the industrial production of Kefir but the quality is however inferior as the powder will not contain the same complex of bacterias as the live culture does.

The benefits are immense: rich in Vitamin B1, B12, calcium, amino acids, folic acid and Vitamin K, excellent source of biotin, maintains adequate B vitamin intake range, regulates kidney, liver and nervous system function, helps relieve skin disorders, boosts energy and promotes longevity.
For further info on 'how to' have a look at Dom's Kefir site: http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefir-faq.html#links

There are other probiotic foods, some of them non-diary, which could supplement your vitamin intake & boost your immune system especially over the winter period: sauerkraut (cabbage fermented in brine), pickles, miso, etc.

I have started to ferment cauliflower and beetroot about two weeks ago. It supposed to be ready at the end of next week. I will let you know if I have been successful enough...until then I am enjoying two big glasses of Kefir every 48 hours!

Alchemists and Astral Projection

2010-10-14T17:35:00.007+01:00

The Sages say truly
That two animals are in this forest:One glorious, beautiful, and swift,
A great and strong deer;
The other an unicorn.
They are concealed in the forest,
But happy shall that man be called
Who shall snare and capture them.
The Masters shew you here clearly
That in all places
These two animals wander about in forests
(But know that the forest is but one).
If we apply the parable to our Art,
We shall call the forest the Body.
That will be rightly and truly said.
The unicorn will be the Spirit at all times.
The deer desires no other name
But that of the Soul;
which name no man shall take away from it.
He that knows how to tame and master them by Art,
To couple them together,
And to lead them in and out of the forest,
May justly be called a Master.
For we rightly judge
That he has attained the golden flesh,
And may triumph everywhere;
Nay, he may bear rule over great Augustus.

Book of Lambspring

Paradigm Research Group

2010-10-05T13:31:00.014+01:00

Have a look at this:

http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/main.html

At first glance you may be tempted to say: eh, another bunch of dreamers taking the 'Mulder & Scully' path. But look closer, is not really that way. These guys are pros, most of them ex heavy weight military personnel who have decided that enough is enough and the world needs this disclosure

I like in particular their latest press release:

Are you offended by this?

If "yes", then you should ask yourself the following questions?

Do you think these?

Run on this?

If your answer is "no", then the following questions need to be posed to the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency:

1) does the United States Government have in its possession vehicles of extraterrestrial origin?
2) if "yes", has the United States Government for decades been studying the energy and propulsion physics of such vehicles?
3) if "yes", when will this technology be available to address the growing challenges facing the planet and the human race?

Contact Stephen Bassett
prg@paradigmresearchgroup.org
202-215-8344 (USA)

Also see a sample of their Television Coverage & Interviews:

Little mermaid caught on my camera phone

2010-08-09T17:32:00.005+01:00

Death of the Big Bang

2010-08-04T15:47:00.009+01:00

And because I feel that I can think geometrically today here is another one: more and more astronomical evidence shows the weaknesses of the theory stating that the universe started with a Big Bang. This piece of research reveals that "the Big Bang model suffers from crucial failures that are becoming increasingly serious with continuing progress in astronomical observations. These observations, however, are consistent with a universe that is unlimited in time and space."

I personally love this comment which I picked up from a thread on the above paper:
"Given the size of the universe and our profound ignorance about it I felt it was a bit of a stretch to assume light speed as a constant in all places and at all times."
Nice one!

Little ICE Age

2010-08-04T14:08:00.008+01:00

I have been regularly keeping and eye on this web site where a bunch of smart dudes do loads of research on the solar activity and how that impacts on our planet. They go further and look at how Sun's path is modulated by all planets in the system. You may have been considering our Sun as the stationary anchor of our solar system, in reality this star actually moves as the planets tug on it causing it to orbit the center (aka Solar System Barycenter(SSB)) of the system. The position of the planets changes drastically the position of the Sun around the SSB. Surprisingly, this coincides also with slowdowns in solar activity. Recent research suggests that we are in the early stages of a new ice age. However, same guys continue to reassure us that it will be a little one, similar to 1250-1850.
Not sure about you but I've already started to stock up on tined food, wood and coal :-PPP

Any thoughts, comments, jokes?

Baroque masterpiece

2010-07-29T21:36:00.009+01:00

I saw Casanova recently. Personally I like this movie, quite a good comedy although it may not be every one's cuppa. The music is beauty for the ears. Vibrant and uplifting!

Apparently, the producers of this film hired some of the top period performance musician-specialists to record the soundtrack. You can download it in full here. Enjoy!

You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling! (Inception,2010)

2010-07-28T17:49:00.009+01:00

This film doesn't stop to amaze me.
If you haven't seen it yet please, do go and see it, it is worth all the money
Now, as I said, the music composed by Hans Zimmer is brilo.
Some dude had the foresight to compare Edith Piaf's fragment used in the soundtrack with the actual piece composed by Zimmer - check this out:

As the characters travel deeper and deeper into the dream state (a dream within a dream within a dream) also the music gets slower and slower. E Piaf's fragment acts as an anchor to remind them that they are still dreaming...genius!

Flying Ladybird

2010-07-18T22:58:00.015+01:00

Scene location: Hurst Castle

Meet the crew...

And our "Ladybird"...

Do I look happy or what??

Yes, I agree, it may not be the Flying Dutchman but is still flying... especially with the F3 - F4 wind this afternoon

Initiation in lucid dreaming

2010-07-17T00:49:00.016+01:00

Just imagine a world where lucid dreaming is taught in schools and peoples' mind is explored through a dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream invasion.

Caught your attention?

If you've enjoyed watching the Matrix trilogy then you will love this ...

Check out also the soundtrack composed by Hans Zimmer - outstanding!

Trip to the Salt Marshes, Lymington

2010-07-14T23:12:00.025+01:00

The tide is out

Sunny day ... just perfect!

Kite surfing anyone?

A sailing club for the little ones

Out sailing!

2010-06-22T21:21:00.008+01:00

Incentive in Recession

2010-06-22T15:49:00.009+01:00

As Mr Osborne revealed today tough new budget measures a new incentive tactic was also announced at my workplace:

Organic VS Irradiated food

2010-06-22T14:45:00.002+01:00

This apple was left (purposely) for weeks under a desk in the building where I work.
While I do acknowledge this is not really the right way to conduct such experiments :-))) I must highlight the fact that there is no mould on it what so ever!
Long live the dead food!

The Secret Powers of Time - Just Brilliant!

2010-06-22T11:24:00.003+01:00

Circles & Crops

2010-06-07T17:26:00.021+01:00

I've been gagging for a long time to write about this but didn't had the chance ... until now ...

Every year over the Spring - Summer period an interesting phenomenon takes place in Wiltshire. There is a lot of mystery around many of these circles which appear in farmers' crops. One would argue that some of them are man made however, in many cases what strikes me is the complexity of these formations and the speed at which they emerge.

A classic one is the formation which appeared near Stonehenge on July 7, 1996. Apparently an airplane pilot had flown over the area and there was not a crop circle in the field at that time. Forty-five minutes later the pilot returned from his destination and reported the crop circle which had appeared in broad daylight. On ground, people who were visiting the complex during that time period didn't see anything. The picture below gives you an idea of the size of this formation when compared with the stone complex.

Another odd phenomenon is what we could call land memory. The "footprint" of a crop circle from a previous year is sometimes visible a year later. Have a look at The Humming Bird, a formation which appeared in 2009, and its trace in the same spot now, in 2010:

You will need sound for this one! :-)))

2010-05-18T15:42:00.001+01:00

My Unknown Friends

2010-04-27T11:07:00.024+01:00

"Because that thing can happen at any time. Even tomorrow. May be in an hour. May be it happens right now."

Since young age I was attracted by UFO & alien stories. I remember one day in my primary school, I think i was 10 or 12 i started a discussion with my teacher and some of my colleagues around a book called My colleagues from the unknown written by Doru Davidovici. At that time I filled up the blackboard with images of UFOs shown in that book, one of the images was pretty impressive: a beam of bent light coming out of the top of an UFO seen sweeping the ground with it.

The idea of bending light looks unreal but not impossible although it has never been achieved by us like in the example above. Not yet...

According to Einstein all objects with mass alter the curvature of spacetime, the 4 dimensional fabric of the universe. Objects moving through spacetime then simply follow the curves that have been created. Light makes no exception but to achieve a curved beam of light it takes very massive objects to get something as fast as light to curve enough that you can notice.
Does it mean that my unknown friends are capable of controlling mass? Theoretically this may be a way of explaining it although nothing is certain here. However the capability of controlling mass is not found only in the example above. From January 2010 huge UFOs are seen in close proximity of our Sun not really affected by its gravitational pull. You can read here about this.

One thing is certain, we humans, have only started to be aware of the laws of this universe and there is still a long way to go until we will truly understand them. The question is: would it be easier for us to understand if they would make contact? I am not sure about this, i personally feel like a bidimensional creature living in Edwin Abbott's 'Flatland' with the only difference that I am trapped in a tridimensional space. And until we will find a way to break through this limitation we will not be able to understand how they do it. We can certainly think about it, and the tessaract is the result of such thinking, but that's about it. For now...

Carrot feast

2010-04-25T17:57:00.011+01:00

Grooming session

Grrrr! Be aware! Be very aware! I bite!

What's that? I think is something I want!

Can you see me smiling? That's because I like carrots!

How come? No more? I'm very sad now...

Football

2010-04-25T17:12:00.010+01:00

OK, and so it happens that the organisation I work for was challenged by another one

Of course, as "challenge" is my second name I've signed up

My team

A friendly one with the enemy

So it was clobberin' time!

I was so close...
Great pic with myself obviously in control of the ball

Sea Calling

2010-03-29T11:54:00.018+01:00

Hi everyone!

Sorry for not posting for a while - got busy with some house refurb and other stuff
I have joined a sailing club!
Hurrah!
I shall learn the ropes and the ways of the Sea!
Recently I went out to see a dinghy race.
You see these guys below? I will do the same...Soon!
Huzzah!

Sunny day on the beach

2010-01-02T21:15:00.008Z

Our house is not far from the coast, about 10 minutes drive...
Today was sunny but freezing cold!

Snow in Basingstoke

2010-01-02T20:47:00.004Z

Apologies for my long silence, moved house and ended up with no internet services for a while
Anyway, people may remember that just before Christmas we had "a bit" of snow...some places more than other...
You can get a better understanding if you read the article on BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8425718.stm
As wife does commute to Basingstoke every working day she obviously got stuck. I decided to get my shinny armour on and rescue her one more time :-)))
And man, what a rescue...our snowman ended up on BBC's Breakfast News the very next day!

Cancun

2009-09-04T21:47:00.004+01:00

On our way to Cancun tomorrow - Hurrah!

Everything else will have to wait...

Carrots for Ponies

2009-08-08T15:15:00.003+01:00

Summer Sunset in New Forest

2009-08-08T08:41:00.007+01:00

Lymington Marina

2009-07-26T09:55:00.027+01:00

... 8 miles South of Sway!

Wildlife in Dobrogea

2009-07-04T15:54:00.008+01:00

Turtles, lizards, birds and butterflies...