Earth’s Magnetic Fields Carry Biologically Relevant Information That ‘Connects All Living Systems’

It is part of the whole but the core reality is that our bodies are operated by cellular astral bodies all networked and responsive to our general intention.  Magnetic fields are a gross part of all this.

Our spirit bodies working in sync nicely explains the observed phenomena.

The sheer implied density of the information associated with our spirit bodies is staggering.  that it is naturally ordered is more so..

 
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Earth’s Magnetic Fields Carry Biologically Relevant Information That ‘Connects All Living Systems’

  by Arjun Walia

 

http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.ca/2016/12/earths-magnetic-fields-carry.html

Science has recently shed light on the fact that what we used to perceive as ‘human’ aura is actually real. All of our bodies emit an electromagnetic field, and this fact plays a very important role far beyond what is commonly known when it comes to understanding our biology, and the interconnectedness we share with all life.

For example, did you know that the heart emits the largest electromagnetic field of all the body’s major organs? These fields and the information encoded into them can change based on how we are feeling, what we thinking, and different emotions we take on. The heart even sends signals to the brain through a system of neutrons ( ? arclein ) that have both short-term and long-term memory, and these signals can affect our emotional experiences. The emotional information that’s modulated and coded into these fields changes their nature, and these fields can impact those around us. As Rollin McCraty, Ph.D, and director of research at The HeartMath institute tell us, “we are fundamentally and deeply connected with each other and the planet itself.”

"Research findings have shown that as we practice heart coherence and radiate love and compassion, our heart generates a coherent electromagnetic wave into the local field environment that facilitates social coherence, whether in the home, workplace, classroom or sitting around a table. As more individuals radiate heart coherence, it builds an energetic field that makes it easier for others to connect with their heart. So, theoretically it is possible that enough people building individual and social coherence could actually contribute to an unfolding global coherence." (1)

The quote above comes from Dr. Deborah Rozman, the President of Quantum Intech.  We are living in exciting times when it comes to science, and although not emphasized and studied in the mainstream as much as we’d like, science is acknowledging that we are all part of a giant web of connections that, not only encompasses life on this planet, but our entire solar system and what lies beyond it.

So, what exactly is heart coherence? Well, it implies order, structure, and as Dr. Rozman puts it, “an alignment within and amongst systems – whether quantum particle, organisms, human beings, social groups, planets or galaxies. This harmonious order signifies a coherent system whose optimal functioning is directly related to the ease and flow in its processes.” Basically, feelings of love, gratitude, appreciation and other ‘positive’ emotions not only have an effect on our nervous system, but they have an affect on those around us, far beyond what we might have previously thought.

It’s similar to the studies that have been conducted regarding mass meditation and prayer. As far as their effects on physical systems, numerous publications have yielded statistically significant results. For a selected list of downloadable peer-reviewed journal articles reporting studies of this type of phenomena, mostly published in the 21st century, you can click here.

Another point that illustrates the importance of coherence is the fact that several organizations around the world have conducted synchronized meditations, prayers, intention experiments, and more. A number of studies have shown that collective meditations, prayer or focused intention directed toward a certain positive outcome can have measurable effects.

For example, one study was done during the Israel-Lebanon war in the 1980s. Two Harvard University professors organized groups of experienced meditators in Jerusalem, Yugoslavia, and the United states with the specific purpose of focusing attention on the area of conflict at various intervals over a 27-month period. During the course of the study, the levels of violence in Lebanon decreased between 40 and 80 percent each time a meditating group was in place. The average number of people killed during the war each day dropped from 12 to three, and war-related injuries fell by 70 percent. (1)

Another great example is a study that was conducted in 1993 in Washington, D.C., which showed a 25 percent drop in crime rates when 2,500 meditators meditated during a specific periods of time with that intention.

"Every individual’s energy affects the collective field environment. The means each person’s emotions and intentions generate an energy that affects the field. A first step in diffusing societal stress in the global field is for each of us to take personal responsibility for our own energies. We can do this by increasing our personal coherence and raising our vibratory rate, which helps us become more conscious of the thoughts, feelings, and attitudes that we are feeding the field each day. We have a choice in every moment to take to heart the significance of intentionally managing our energies. This is the free will or local freedom that can create global cohesion." – Dr. Rozman (1)

 

The Global Coherence Initiative (GCI)

 

The GCI in an international cooperative effort to help activate the heart of humanity and facilitate a shift in global consciousness.  It’s primary focuses are to invite people to participate by actively adding more heart-coherent love, care, and compassion into the planetary field. The second is scientific research on how we are all energetically connected with each other and the planet, and how we can utilize this interconnectivity, which is very real, to raise our personal vibration to assist in creating a better world.

 The hypotheses of the researchers and scientists behind this process are as follows:

• The Earth’s magnetic fields are a carrier of biologically relevant information that connects all living systems

• Every person affects this global information field. Large numbers of people creating heart-coherent states of love, appreciation, care, and compassion can generate a more coherent field environment that benefits others and helps off-set the current planetary discord and incoherence

• There is a feedback loop between human beings and Earth’s energetic/magnetic systems

• Earth has several sources of magnetic fields that affect us all. Two of them are the geomagnetic field that emanates from the core of the Earth, and the fields that exist between Earth and the ionosphere. These fields surround the entire planet and act as protective shields blocking out the harmful effects of solar radiation, cosmic rays, sand, and other forms of space weather. Without these fields, ice as we know it could not exist on Earth. They are part of the dynamic ecosystem of our planet

Think about the current state of our planet. We are definitely not in coherence, with all of the violence, war, hate, and greed that still plague our planet, we have a lot of work to do. We do not yet know how these thoughts, emotions, and feelings are affecting the entire planet, and what type of information these experiences are encoding into once electromagnetic fields, and how it is interacting with that of the Earth’s. Things are changing, however. There is definitely a shift within people who are desiring a better experience here on planet Earth.

These energetic fields are known to scientists, but there are still many unknowns. Solar activity and the rhythms taking place on Earth’s magnetic fields have an impact on health and behaviour. This is firmly established in scientific literature. (source)(source)

Scientific literature also firmly establishes that several physiological rhythms and global collective behaviours are not only synchronized with solar and geomagnetic activity, but that disruptions in these fields can create adverse effects on human health and behaviour. (source)(source)(source)

When the Earth’s magnetic field environment is distributed it can cause sleep problems, mental confusion, usual lack of energy or a feeling of being on edge or overwhelmed for no apparent reason. At other times, when the Earth’s fields are stable and certain measures of solar activity are increased, people report increased positive feelings and more creativity and inspiration. This is likely due to a coupling between the human brain, cardiovascular and nervous system with resonating geomagnetic frequencies. (1)

The Earth and ionosphere generate frequencies that range from 0.01 hertz to 300 hertz, some of which are in the exact same frequency range as the one happening in our brain, cardiovascular system, and autonomic nervous system. This fact is one way to explain how fluctuations in the Earth’s and Sun’s magnetic fields can influence us. Changes in these fields have also been shown to affect our brain waves, heart rhythms, memory, athletics performance, and overall health.

Changes in the Earth’s fields from extreme solar activity have been linked to some of humanity’s greatest creations of art, as well as some of its most tragic events. (source)

We know how these fields affect us, but what about how we affect these fields? That’s the real question here. GCI scientists believe that because brain wave and heart rhythm frequencies overlap the Earth’s field resonance, we are not just receivers of biologically relevant information, but also feed information into the global field, thus creating a feedback loop with the Earth’s magnetic fields.

Research is indicating that human emotions and consciousness encode information into the geomagnetic field and this encoded information is distributed globally. The Earth’s magnetic fields act as carrier waves for this information which influences all living systems and the collective consciousness.

This research, which is still in its infancy, has great ramifications. It will further push along the fact that our attitudes, emotions, and intentions actually matter, a lot, and that these factors within the realm of non-material science can affect all life on Earth. Coherent, cooperative intention could impact global events and improve the quality of life on Earth. Practicing love, gratitude, appreciation, and bettering ourselves as individuals is one out of many action steps towards changing our planet for the better.

 

So What Can You Do?

 

So, next time you are upset, angry, or frustrated, try observing yourself and how you react. It’s great practice to try and lose your buttons so they cannot be pushed, and work on your personal development. You have to do whatever you can to feel good, which could include exercise, eating healthy, minimizing electronics time, spending time with friends, animals, and more. You could practice being less judgemental, and work on your intentions by figuring out if they are coming from a  ‘good’ place. You could be more grateful, you could help others, and you can treat others how they want to be treated.

There are a number of tools you could use, like meditation, for example, to assist you with these action steps. Bottom line, if you are at peace with yourself, and have control over your emotions, you are helping the planet and others around you. If you are constantly angry, harming others or have negative intentions, you could be doing the exact opposite.

To further your research on this topic, an excellent place to start is the at the Institute of HeartMath. The Institute of HeartMath is an internationally recognized nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to helping people reduce stress, self-regulate emotions, and build energy and resilience for healthy, happy lives.

You Are On a Mission.

It is quite hard to accept that you will have guides to assist you in your choices in life.  It is even harder to accept that you actually plan your life before you enter it.Yet that is what we are been told and once understood it is readily confirmed by anyone to at least that person's satisfaction.  Proving it to someone else is a forlorn hope as you must overcome denial.

Once you learn to listen, you discovers that it works.   Been utterly independent in spirit, i have asked rarely for selfish needs, yet have also tested it many times.  Particularly in order to discover an impossible source and to actually meet an impossible witness.  Just how many westerners happen to have obsessively read two thousand year old Chinese material and spent time with Taoist monks in order to step around the deliberate obscurity used then?  Then promote successful state change experiments never imagined.  Yet i understood i needed to meet such a person and he arrived on my doorstep.

Yes you are an a path and you also have choices.  There is best choice and then otherwise.  Critical thinking is mandatory.  You can open yourself to mischief makers who will wreak you..  Understanding that you have a better choice is the first step.  I once gave a job to a hard man who had AIDS before the cure.  It was the only job he had ever had that showed him that there was a better way and better choices.  He still passed, but he will surely be back for a much better life to begin to move forward..

You Are On a Mission.

December 15th, 2016

By Juliet Tang

http://wakeup-world.com/2016/12/15/how-to-answer-your-calling-3-ways-to-remember-why-your-soul-chose-this-life-2/

“You came here with something to do. You are part of a universal consciousness, and there are no accidents in it. In your true essence — not the false self, not the ego part of you, but in the true essence of who you are — you are infinite and you have something very profound to accomplish while you’re here. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.

Find it. Pay attention to it. Listen to the callings. See the clues, the cues. See the alignments, whatever they might be, no matter how absurd or bizarre they might seem to everyone around you… if you have a calling inside that says there’s also something else, don’t ignore that. Don’t die with your music still in you. Don’t die with your purpose unfulfilled. Don’t die feeling as if your life has been wrong. Don’t let that happen to you.” ~ Wayne Dyer

Prior to birth, just like an artist who is selecting which paints will go onto the blank canvas, our souls choose a set of colors to work with which determine our parents, ethnicity, country of birth, etc. We also choose a number of possible paths that would allow us to experience certain aspects of our being. For instance, if courage is one of those aspects of ourselves we wish to experience, we would collaborate with other souls in this physical realm so circumstances would arise in our lives where we are required to invoke courage within us. Likewise, we choose a certain mission, or a calling that would allow us to maximize our full potentials on this live stage called earth.

In order to fully step into our calling with power and consciousness, we must first elect to forget what it is at birth so we may, after years and decades, and for some, lifetimes of soul searching, arrive at a point in our lives where we must make a choice to remember who we truly are and deliberately call forth what gives us highest joy.

Personally, I see the long years of painful searching as nothing more than a rite of passage with intended experiences and divinely placed circumstances that fully prepares us to be who we came here to be. The second we reunite with our soul’s calling, the universe registers our seriousness and we come to the realization that nothing can and will stand in our way.

At that moment, all fears and obstacles begin fading as the path unfolds in front of us. At that moment, we will move mountains and cross oceans just so that we can become one with our highest intention and commit to our divine mission. At that moment, our body, mind and soul become aligned with one single purpose – to experience ourselves as our own grandest creation in this life.

Funny enough, once we remember our mission, we often realize the mission has very little to do with us and everything to do with everyone else. It is a mission that allows us to serve humanity and to light the paths for others through servicing, healing, inspiring, teaching and empowering.

It is no coincidence that for many, in order to remember that mission, we must first experience the pains and turmoil in life so we may later not only decide to transcend what limits us, but also use our life journey as a tool to inspire and encourage others to do the same. Some of the most influential teachers from Hay House such as Louise Hay, Anita Moorjani and the late Wayne Dyer are but a few who had journeyed to the darkness and back so they may light the way for others.

Know that wherever you are in life is exactly where you need to be. You are not bound to any fate and you have the power to change and create anything in life. It is my hope that by sharing the following 3 reminders, which are embedded in your soul blueprint, you will begin manifesting your calling.

1. Identify Your Highest Joy\

As beings of energy, we ourselves are literally the creation tools we are born with and our feeling is the direct line of communication with our soul, or the higher self. At any time when our thoughts, words and actions are aligned with the soul’s vision, we know it immediately by the way we feel which is usually identified as harmony, inner-peace, joy, gratitude and love.

Whenever we feel good, our vibration is instantly higher which easily leads to inspired action; and by committing ourselves to inspired action, it leads to more joy which expands the breeding ground of inspired action. The more we can get in touch with the “feel good” component within ourselves and listen to it, the easier it will be for us to define our mission in life.
For the longest time, I had not a clue what my calling was and I spent the majority of my time complaining and wishing I could do something else with my life while holding onto the belief that a job and a passion are mutually exclusive. I did have many passions and since I felt miserable with my job, I indulged myself with activities I enjoyed whenever I had free time. Being a spiritual seeker since birth, one of my passions was alternative healing. For many years, I heard and read about Reiki and there was always that little voice in the back of my head whispering, “Take a Reiki class.” Like many, I brushed aside the little voice with as many excuses as I could find but eventually, the voice became so persistent that I decided to just go for it.

As someone who was also obsessed with doing the due diligence for everything I stepped into, I spent hours researching for an experienced teacher. I already signed up for a course elsewhere when the name of my first Reiki teacher popped up in my search, and for reasons unknown to me at the time, I made a last minute decision to go with this class.

During the two days of training, I met someone whom I became friends with. Fast forward to years later, we currently share an office space doing healing work in Midtown Manhattan. Within the same year after the initial training, the same friend introduced me to another Reiki teacher who is the very reason why I eventually became a recovery and wellness coach as well as Reiki master. During those years, every time when I was guided by inspiration, life rewarded me with more people, events and circumstances that helped me remember my true essence and carry out my mission.

Do not despair if you do not yet remember what you came here to be. Your only duty in this life is to follow your highest joy. Believe me, it is much more than just a cliché line that we use as a bumper sticker.

Once we follow the first inspired idea, we are sending out the energy with the intention of “I am my highest joy at this given moment” into the universe which slowly intensifies and magnifies as we become more accustomed to singing our heart’s song. What has started as a seed is given more opportunities to grow and flourish every time when we follow our highest feelings because the energy behind that intention is literally snowballing and creating more and more movement in the quantum field in bringing us what make us happy.

What inspires you? What makes your heart sing? What’s that one thing you’ve been wanting to do but have been putting off forever?

It’s time.

“Respond to every call that ignites your spirit.” ~ Rumi

2. Allow Your Being to Guide Your Doing

One of the most frustrating things we do to ourselves is we get stuck envisioning the million tasks we must do to accomplish anything, that can also be the very thing that keeps us from moving forward.

Answering our calling is very much a process like everything else. The end result may look nothing like what we started off with or what we planned, and that is completely okay. Sometimes what we think we want only serves as a stepping stone that leads us closer to fulfilling our mission. The universe does not care about what we do that makes us radiate with joy, it can be taking a Reiki class or a baking class, going on that spontaneous vacation or calling an old friend we haven’t seen for years. The universe only cares about the vibrational signature we give off when we are being that joy.
By giving ourselves into inspired action, we may be meeting a teacher for life who becomes our source of inspiration, or be welcoming an opportunity that otherwise would not be there had we not chosen to follow our heart and arrive at that exact location and time.

The only decision we have to make on a daily basis is to start following whichever things that give us whatever amount of joy out of all the available daily activities in front of us rather than coming up with a huge plan of action to get ourselves from point A to B because “it is the right thing to do” or “everything else does it.”

If your only daily activities are comprised of chores such as house cleaning, meeting deadlines and cooking for a family of six, then invite yourself to do some (or all) of those things with as much joy and presence as you can, and to squeeze in a couple of little activities that bring you peace and make you come alive. They can be as simple as having quiet time to read for 15 minutes or working on that hobby when everyone goes to sleep. You just never know what may come out of them!

Do not ever underestimate the power behind these little activities as they are what make the energy accumulate. Remember, it is always about being the “I am my highest joy at this given moment” energy rather than flooding ourselves with tasks and running around aimlessly for the simple reason that we cannot find our calling outside of ourselves, but we can remember or create it within us. The more we can allow that energy to flow to us and from us, the more the universe can bring us everything that resonates on the same energy level to help us remember and create our destinies.

Is the path of committing ourselves to remembering, and eventually embodying our calling always peachy? The answer is no. It is a journey that is made of a thousand little steps of learning and choosing. Along the way of building my healing practice, I was constantly discouraged by my lack of knowledge and tools to run a business as well as overwhelmed by the millions of tasks I was constantly bombarded with.

I invested a great deal of energy on training courses from learning how to write my about page to polishing up the content of my website so I can reach a larger audience. No matter how much I tried to tweak my writing while working with business coaches and alike, I was unable to meet their standards of using “simple and client friendly” language where I could explain what I do in a couple of sentences to an eight-year old.

One day, exactly one year from the day I resigned from my last job, it finally hit me. While I will always remain grateful of the knowledge and support I have taken away from the courses, my writing reflects my true essence, and who I am at the core is someone who thinks, feels and speaks like the spiritual geek that I am proud to be. By giving myself endless tasks of to-do’s that do not align with my inspired actions, I am neglecting who I came here to be — someone who helps others heal, awaken and create through spiritual writing, healing and coaching.

In fact, this article was entirely inspired by hours of staring at weeks worth of unfinished homework documents from my latest course with the sudden realization that the content of my website may never appeal to everyone, and that is perfectly okay. I was faced with two choices, to continue doing the daunting task of sounding like someone I am not, or being immersed in the joy of writing. The moment I chose the latter, a stream of inspiration poured in and gave birth to these words.

At the end of the day, it isn’t about what we do, how we do it, what our titles are, how polished our website looks, how many credentials are displayed in our bios and how many award-winning books we’ve published. It is about whether we can allow ourselves to step into who we truly are, and boldly and lovingly declare our authenticity to the world. No vibration in the universe is more powerful than our energy when it becomes an extension of our divine calling.

What are some things on your daily to-do list? Which ones of those give you any amount of joy? How can you insert more “feel good” activities into your life? How can you replace the aimless “to-do’s” with more inspired action?

3. Your Calling is Your Own Creation

Our souls have chosen a certain mission prior to birth, but the moment we become fully conscious of who we are and awaken to the creator within, we are no longer bound to any predetermined paths we laid out for ourselves before coming into this physical body. The more we are aware of our true essence and our connection with the divine source, the more empowered we become and the more we can claim the gift of free will which ultimately allows us to exercise our birthright as the conscious creator to Be, Do, and Have anything our soul desires.



To achieve that, we must first free ourselves from everything that limits us. Limitations can take the form of fear such as fear of uncertainty/change, fear of lack, or even fear of success. Limitations can also manifest as endless excuses ranging from “I have a full time job with no time or money” to “I’m too old to do this.” In addition, limitations show up as disempowering beliefs including, “There isn’t enough for everyone” or “I am not special enough.”

There is no one way to initiate that journey of liberation, there is only what works for you. Personally, I’ve found spiritual practices such as energy healing, Kundalini yoga, meditation, working with a spiritual coach, being in nature, journaling and reading inspirational books are all great ways to awaken.

I used to be the queen of “what-if’s.” “What if I failed?”… “What if I lost it all?”… “What if I became a laughingstock?”… One day, I grew sick of my negative what-if’s and decided to do a 180. “What if I succeeded?”… “What if I learned something from this?”… “What if I could help others?”… I made a point to do this every day for months and it made a remarkable difference in my ability to exercise my free will.

Prior to tapping into our true creator role, many of us feel like powerless victims who take whatever life throws at us. We may be passionate about answering our calling as an artist but end up working at a bank because we are afraid we won’t make ends meet. We feel limited, even enslaved by the conditions in our lives. We submit ourselves to our so-called fate and tell stories of how we aren’t fortunate enough to be one of those who seem to have it all.

When we awaken, we become aware that we are who we say we are, and what we create as well as how we wish to experience everything in life depends on one thing and one thing only – our choice.
Your calling is something you soul chose in the realm of the formless before it took on a body, and you can choose again at any time in this life because the truth is, your soul remains who you truly are while your body and mind are only additional tools for you to carry out your mission so you may experience your own creations physically in this 3D time and space dimension. That power of choice has never left you. Once you decide, allow the universe to bring you the rest of the co-creators to make it happen.

It is time to unleash your free will and write your own destiny. There is nothing written in the stars that are foreshadowing who you are and what you can become. Once every part and every cell within you is aligned with this inner-knowing, you have awakened to the divine power of creation you have inherited. That power lives in you and patiently awaits for you to call upon it.

You are neither your past, your birth conditions, your roles, your accomplishments, your credentials, your awards, your bills, your bank statements, your 9-5 job that makes you cringe every morning upon waking up, nor are you your body, your mind, your beliefs, your thoughts, your baggage, your limitations, your past relationships, even your soul contract. Deep down inside, you are a being powerful beyond your imagination. Once you remember all this, you will remember your sacred ability to create anything you wish and your joyous vibration will make the world just a little brighter.
It matters not one bit if you do not know your calling. If you could start from a blank slate and create anything you wanted in life without limitations from this moment on, who would you be? What would you create? What is one small step you can take today to be that?

Follow your heart.

Should we change the reasonable doubt standard for convictions of rape?

 This is a very difficult issue and has proven difficult to deal with.  Both parties have sexual needs that must be actively managed.  Our culture has developed a protocol of consent without violence.  It has failed to provide a protocol of service that ensures continuous resolution of sexual needs thus obviating risk of any form of non consensual sexuality.  Such a protocol has quite commonly existed in primitive cultures but has failed to make a transition into more complex cultures.

The most serious issue is that costs of non consent are now mostly criminal which is simply not provable  with most rape cases.  Was there criminal intent and was it even rape?  Who can independently confirm either?  With rare exceptions such as a public assault, you are stuck with two witnesses who can have all sorts of motives in the event that they do know each other.

If strangers are involved we have no doubt.  Trouble is that this is rarely the case at all.  This is about someone who got close enough through trust to certainly confuse the whole issue of doubt. Throw in drugs and general judgement impairment and suddenly we are dealing with a serious decay in decision control.

So how do you ever get a conviction?  The victim's testimony is a solid first step and this needs to be seriously honored.  In fact it needs to be enough.  The act itself may need to be confirmed in some cases and ulterior motives will also need to be ruled out.

What needs to be addressed is the actual cost to the perpetrator.  This needs to be dialed down. We no longer value sexual access in the traditional manner when most men and women are simply satisfying their lusts as a matter of course pretty generally. Just what is the cost to the victim?  That also matters and that is a wide open question.

Thus we allow a criminal record by declaration to be established rather easily and the costs applied truly commensurate with the circumstances.  If this were to become common practice, the whole culture of shame will also likely diminish making it quite easy for women to come forward.  This also allows serious pathology to be quickly identified. as well..

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Should we change the reasonable doubt standard for convictions of rape?

Hans Van Den Berg/Fickr

 https://aeon.co/ideas/why-rape-cases-should-not-be-subject-to-reasonable-doubt

 

Conviction rates for sexual assault against women are shockingly low, to the extent that, even in a developed nation such as the United Kingdom, only 6 per cent of rape allegations result in a conviction, a far lower rate than for any other violent crime. As The Guardian columnist Julia Bindel puts it, ‘rape might as well be legal’.

Disturbingly low conviction rates have many explanations, but one contributing factor is the ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ standard of evidence employed in criminal cases. This standard requires that the jury not have any reasonable doubts about the defendant’s guilt in order to convict. Doubts they have that are frivolous or hypothetical should be put aside.

Unfortunately, this standard contributes to a low conviction rate in cases of sexual assault, which is often physically indistinguishable from consensual sex. This means that a verdict can hinge solely on testimony. When two people tell stories convincingly, each story casts some reasonable doubt on the other.

The standard is also incorrectly applied due to the prevalence of rape myths ­– prejudicial, stereotyped or false beliefs about rape, rape victims and rape perpetrators. These myths involve blaming the victim and sympathising with the perpetrator, along with the common belief that women, motivated by jealousy, revenge or spite, falsely claim rape after consensual sex.

‘Testimonial injustice’, a concept developed by the feminist theorist Miranda Fricker at the University of Sheffield, is a systematic, insidious tendency to unjustifiably and often unintentionally downgrade the credibility of women’s testimony. Testimonial injustice and rape myths function together to render unreasonable doubts reasonable in the minds of judges and juries. Even judges can buy into the most egregious stereotypes about women’s sexual behaviour.

Part of the response to this dire situation is surely better prevention of sexual violence against women, as well as raising awareness of deep-seated social prejudices. However, we should also question what justifies the reasonable doubt standard in the first place, and whether it has been unduly stretched in the case of sexual assault. The 18th-century jurist Sir William Blackstone provides perhaps the best-known statement of the rationale behind the reasonable doubt standard. Blackstone argued: ‘It is better that 10 guilty persons escape than that one innocent should suffer.’ A strong intuition seems to undergird this proclamation: the harms of false conviction are so severe that the legal standard of evidence should drastically reduce the likelihood of it occurring.

For the falsely accused, these harms can indeed be severe. They include stigma, broken relationships, violent victimisation in prison, lost income, an increased likelihood of committing crimes, and greater difficulty in finding employment after release. On the face of it, it seems as though the potential to inflict such harms on an innocent person justifies an extremely high standard of evidence like the reasonable doubt standard.

This move is too quick though, since it neglects the harms of false acquittal. In considering whether or not a standard of proof is justified, we should consider not just the harm done to the one man wrongly convicted, but also the harm done by the 10 men wrongly released. This means that the justification for a standard of proof should also consider the accrued harms of false acquittal to the initial victim, to future victims of those criminals and to society.

In the case of sexual assault, these harms are extraordinarily severe. The victim suffers horrendously through the trial and is often badgered into reliving disturbing details of the incident. When the false acquittal is reached, all this is for nothing. Worse than this, she is falsely branded a liar, with all the psychological trauma this entails.

The harms of false acquittal to future victims and their loved ones amplify and extend this harm. Indeed it has been suggested that the trauma of sexual assault is greater than that experienced by war veterans.

Moreover, sexual offenders are likely to offend multiple times. In one study, rapists self-reported an average of 10 violent crimes, even before their ‘careers’ had ended. Consequently, to paraphrase Blackstone’s ratio with reference to sexual violence would mean saying it’s better to have the harm of 100 sexual assaults than the harm of one false conviction – a conclusion that is untenable.

All this is without consideration of the social harm of false acquittal. One is that false acquittals contribute to a vicious circle: a lower chance of conviction leads to a lower likelihood of reporting. Lower reporting again reduces the chance of conviction and so on. Given this circle, it is perhaps unsurprising that in the UK it is estimated that between 75 per cent and 95 per cent of rapes are never even reported. Those that are reported are often not investigated or prosecuted because of the low chances of conviction.

A vicious circle operates in another respect, too: false acquittals reinforce rape myths. When a man is found not guilty on the basis of reasonable doubt, this creates the impression, wrongly, that he was in fact innocent and the accuser was a liar. The large number of acquittals in rape cases thus serves to strengthen and reinforce utterly unfounded rape myths that women are vindictive and frequently lie about having given consent. Again, these myths feed into the social imagination, prejudicing judges and juries, and further lowering the likelihood of conviction.

As it stands, the legal system is weighted unfairly in favour of perpetrators of sexual assault. In addition to sending out a powerful expression of intolerance for gender violence, a lower standard of proof can decrease these harms by reducing the likelihood of false acquittal. Reasonable doubt is inappropriate, but what standard would do better?

Of the standards commonly employed in law, only the ‘preponderance of the evidence’ standard has been used on a consistent basis to decide cases of sexual violence, albeit in civil trials. Indeed, given the high probability of false acquittal, civil trials have increasingly become a first port of call for female victims of sexual violence in the US. Rather than calling for the absence of doubt, this standard judges a case on what the evidence leads one to believe most strongly. If a woman’s testimony provides a stronger reason to believe that she did not give consent, this should be enough.

Yes, it has finally happened, solar has become cheap and that makes it first choice wherever it is practical.  We have waited now for about fifty years to see this potential achieved. It has been a long difficult technical development.

 

Other energy sources are coming as well, not least the simple tapping of static electrons to flood circuits with usable power which we have mastered.

 

Global energy is about to become dirt cheap everywhere. Be cautious in investing because that will alter all economic models.

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Sun Solution Rises as Solar Fast Becoming World's Cheapest Electricity Source

'Solar investment has gone from nothing—literally nothing—like five years ago to quite a lot'

by  Nadia Prupis, staff writer
Friday, December 16, 2016

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/12/16/sun-solution-rises-solar-fast-becoming-worlds-cheapest-electricity-source

The cost of solar in 58 developing nations dropped to about a third of 2010 levels, BNEF reported. 

For the first time, solar power is becoming the cheapest form of electricity production in the world, according to new statistics from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) released Thursday.

While unsubsidized solar has occasionally done better than coal and gas in individual projects, 2016 marked the first time that the renewable energy source has out-performed fossil fuels on a large scale—and new solar projects are also turning out to be cheaper than new wind power projects, BNEF reports in its new analysis, Climatescope.

The cost of solar in 58 developing nations dropped to about a third of 2010 levels, with China in particular adding a record number of solar projects. And as the Independent notes, solar "has proved a godsend for remote islands such as Ta'u, part of America Samoa, in the South Pacific."

In fact, Ta'u has been able to abandon the use of fossil fuels altogether and power itself almost entirely on renewable energy.

"Solar investment has gone from nothing—literally nothing—like five years ago to quite a lot," said Ethan Zindler, head of BNEF's U.S. policy analysis.


  (Disclosed capex for onshore wind and PV projects in 58 non-OECD countries Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance) 
BNEF chairman Michael Liebreich also told investors this week that "[r]enewables are robustly entering the era of undercutting" fossil fuel prices.

Unsurprisingly, developing countries are at the forefront of this advancement, having invested in clean energy economies to stave off the catastrophic effects of climate change at a greater rate than wealthy nations.

"[F]or populations still relying on expensive kerosene generators, or who have no electricity at all, and for those living in the dangerous smog of thickly populated cities," Bloomberg reports, "the shift to renewables and increasingly to solar can't come soon enough."

First Contact! Where did the first Maya immigrants live in North America?

The South East was clearly a magnet for migrating peoples coming from south America, Central America and also Europe and the Mediterranean  at least.  Africa is not so obvious but not impossibly so..


Population collapse extinguished much of their contributions and make it hard to now piece it all together.  That a serious effort is needed is the least we need.

The work done here is very much in preparation for that recovery of interest.

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First Contact! Where did the first Maya immigrants live in North America?

Posted by Richard Thornton | Dec 16, 2016

https://peopleofonefire.com/first-contact-where-did-the-first-maya-immigrants-live-in-north-america.html

Map Above:  The indigenous towns in the Southeastern United States were obviously much more accessible to the Mesoamerican civilizations.  It was far easier to transport people and bulk goods over the ocean than by inland rivers or mountainous land routes.  While archaeologists at the much more distant urban centers of Chaco Canyon and Cahokia Mounds are aggressively searching for and finding cultural connections to Mesoamerica, such as cocoa residue in jars,  archaeologists in Georgia and Florida;  the US Forest Service and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina have expended extensive efforts and funds toward blocking any public knowledge or discussion of the Mesoamerican connections to the Southeast.   This is especially odd, since the original settlers of Savannah, Georgia in the 1730s, observed local Creek and Uchee Indians cultivating cacao trees and pineapple plants!

The Apalachicola River Delta in Florida;  Lake Okeechobee, Florida; the Florida Keys; Bottle Creek Mounds north of Mobile Bay, Alabama; the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers in Georgia;  what is now Downtown Savannah and Tybee Island, GA are all candidates for where Mesoamericans first lived in North America.  Each location has compelling reasons for being labeled the first location for first contact. It could well be that distinct bands of Mesoamericans journeyed to all these locations.

Unfortunately, without a time machine or any interest among the current crop of Southeastern archaeologists,  the only course of action now is to identify promising places to dig and then sending invitations to archaeologists in other parts of the United States or Latin America to join Muskogean researchers from the Southeast in their quest. 

 

A Chontal Maya seacraft was about the same size as a Viking longship , but probably faster.

It was never a theory.  It was never a “bunch of crap” as a former president of the Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists publicly stated in 2012. It was not “something pulled out of thin air” as repeatedly stated by South African archaeologist, Johannes Loubser, in his “Maya-myth Busting in the Mountains” lectures during 2012 and 2013.    There is substantial physical, linguistic and genetic evidence of Mesoamerican cultural influence among the Muskogean peoples, despite what has repeatedly been stated in nationally published articles by USFS archaeologist, James Wettstaed.  Wettstaed is a recent transplant from the Northwest, who has exclusively collaborated  with the North Carolina Cherokees, when interpreting Georgia Creek sites.  He was primarily known for studies of American Elk migration patterns prior to moving to Georgia.

In an earlier POOF article, we learned that a century ago, the Seminoles in southern Florida openly described themselves as being Mayas.  Many Eastern Creeks and Seminoles grew up being told that they were part Maya. Most Eastern Creeks and Seminoles carry at least some Mesoamerican and/or Peruvian and/or Arawak DNA test markers. Most of the words in Creek languages that are associated with architecture, agriculture, trade and government are Mesoamerican or Panoan (Peru) words . . . including the Creek words for boat.*   All major branches of the Creek Confederacy, except the Uchee, have migration legends that describe journeys by foot or water from lands to the south of the United States.  The Uchee say that they came across the Atlantic and landed at the mouth of the Savannah River.

*The Creek word for a boat is perro.  An Eastern Peruvian word for a boat is piro. Ase is the Creek and Panoan word for “Sacred Black Drink”.  Chiki (house), taube (salt), Iche (corn), talako (bean), mako (leader), hene ahau (sibling of Great Sun) and chilam (write) mean the same in Eastern Creek and Itza Maya.

The Migration Legend of the Itsate (Hitchiti) people states that their ancestors arrived by boat from lands to the south and settled first near a great lake in southern Florida.  They then lived for awhile in a “land of reeds,” but ultimately established roots at where Downtown Savannan is located.  In an earlier article, it was learned that a century ago, the Seminole People of Southern Florida openly described themselves as “Mayas who immigrated to North America to escape famine.”   

The Miccosukee Migration Legend said that their ancestors originated in southern Mexico then walked along the edge of the Gulf of Mexico until they reached what is now Georgia. The languages of the Miccosukee and certain branches of the Mayas are so close that they get understand the gist of what each other is saying.  The Kashita Migration Legend said that their ancestors originated at the foot of the Orizaba Volcano in western Vera Cruz and then walked around the edge of the Gulf of Mexico to the Southeastern United States.

Between 1948 and 1968, the nationally respected archaeologist, Arthur Kelly, found artifacts along the Lower Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers, which did not seem to “fit” into local artistic traditions.  In early 1969, he made a public announcement in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had found artifacts that he believed were either made in Mesoamerica or were copies of artifacts made in Mesoamerica.  He was immediately attacked on all sides by many of his professional peers.   He spent the rest of his life as professional pariah in the Southeast.

In October 2012,  the laboratory of the University of Minnesota Department of Earth Sciences found a 100% match between attapulgite from a mine in the State of Georgia and Maya blue stucco from a temple in Palenque, Chiapas that was furnished by the INAH.   It was announced on an internationally broadcast prime time program on the History Channel, the evening of December 21, 2012 . . . the beginning of the new Maya calendar.  The discovery has been completely ignored by all professional anthropological journals in hope that no one will find out. Need we say more.

First, we will have a little geography lesson.

Am Ixchel:  Am Ixchel means “Place of the Goddess Ixchel” in the dialect of Maya spoken by the Chontal Mayas in Tabasco State, Mexico.  The Chontal Maya were the premier mariners of the Americas.Unlike most other branches of the Mayas, the Tabasco Mayas considered Ixchel to be their most important deity.  Shrines to her were marked by crescent shaped mounds or piles of sea shells.  Of course, crescent mounds are quite common along the Florida Gulf Coast and near Lake Okeechobee.

At the time that the Spanish began exploring Mesoamerica and North America, there were three towns and surrounding provinces on the periphery of the Gulf of Mexico named Am Ixchel (Amichel in Spanish).  They were on the northern tip of Yucatan, Tampico Bay in Tamaulipas State, Mexico and the region between Mobile Bay, Alabama and the Apalachicola Delta in Florida.  The province of the Chakata People corresponded to the Province of Am Ixchel.  See POOF’s recent article on THE CHAKATA.

The three towns, named Am Ixchel formed an equilateral triangle, with the vector between Mobile Bay and the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula being aligned to true North-South.  The vector between Tampico Bay and Mobile Bay, when extended intersects a vector between the ancient  Ladds Mountain Observatory in Cartersville, GA and the mouth of the Apalachicola River.  The point of this intersection is the location of the large town of Patauli (Singer-Moye Mounds). 

The Am Ixchel at the northern tip of Yucatan was immediately due south of the mouth of Mobile Bay.  It would have been quite simple for Chontal Maya navigators to maintain a true north course and therefore, not necessary to follow the shore line along Florida

Typical Chontal Maya town on an island in the Usumacinta Delta

Usumacenta River Delta:  The Usumacenta  River was the primary trade corridor for many Maya provinces.  The serpentine channel of the  Usumcenta is a mirror image of the Altamaha River in Georgia.  The distances between the ocean and the Fall Lines of these rivers are almost exactly the same.  At the Fall Line of the Usumacenta was the Maya salt-trading center of Waka, set on a terrace above the river.  At the Fall Line of the Ocmulgee River, a major tributary of the Altamaha, was another town named Waka, which was set on a terrace above the river. That is why one of the members of the Creek Confederacy was named the Wakate or Wakake.

The Chontal Mayas lived on the islands in the marshes of the Usumacinta Delta.  The region today is called Chontalpa, which means “Place of the Chontal.” Over time, they became the most skilled mariners in Mesoamerica and came to dominate its regional trade.  There was little difference in appearance between a Chontal Maya town and a Muskogean town.  Both peoples built pyramidal earthen mounds.  Their houses were identical.  The Chontal Mayas were illiterate and considered barbarians by Classic Period Maya elite.

The Usumacinto River was the primary trade artery to the ocean for many of the most famous Maya cities. They included Waka in Guatemala, plus Palenque, Bonampak, Tonina, Piedras Negras, Pomona, Yaxchilan, Amparo, Anayte, Chiapas, Chinikha and Chinkultic in Mexico.

Candidates for the first Chontal Maya trading centers and Itza Maya colonies

Temple to the Maya goddess Ixchel at Ortona, Florida – Ixchel temples always were framed by crescent-shaped earthworks.

(1) Calusa Bay – Lake Okeechobee:  The famous Creek mikko, Tamachichi, had a pure Itza Maya name that means “Trade Dog”.  He told Georgia’s colonial leader, James Edward Oglethorpe, that his ancestors sailed across the ocean from the south and first settled on a large lake in Florida.  This was probably the Calusahatchee River Basin, just south of Lake Okechobee.  Beginning around 450 BC, an advanced culture began developing in this region that is is the oldest definite location where corn was grown in North America.  Between 900 AD and 1150 AD, the population was very dense with dozens of towns connected by canals and earthen causeways.

Tamachichi’s ancestors then moved northward and lived in a swampy land with many reeds.  This may be the headwaters region of the St. Johns River, which contains many lakes and marshes.  An advanced culture of mound builders once lived there during the period from 900 AD to about 1150 AD.  Invaders (Arawaks?) arrived in Florida and so his ancestors paddled northward and settled where Savannah is today.  Tamachichi pointed to a mound on Yamacraw Bluff in Savannah and stated that his ancestors were buried there.

Chontal Maya Figurine

(2) Florida Keys:   The Florida Keys would have been the first landfall north of Cuba.   There are mounds on several of the keys.  Some have been excavated.  However, there has never been a specific effort to identify Chontal Maya type artifacts.  They are not terribly different from the artifacts found on the Lower Chattahoochee River during the Woodland and Early Mississippian Periods (200 AD – 1200 AD).

(3) Mobile Bay – Bottle Creek Mounds:  Mobile Bay is a logical place for Maya traders to have established a base.  Right now, the only known site that resembles a Chontal Maya trading base is Bottle Creek Mounds on a side channel of the Mobile River, just north of Mobile Bay.  However, it has been radiocarbon dated to between 1250 AD and 1550 AD. That’s way too late for Classic Period Maya exploration activities.  The Chontal Maya bases in Tamaulipas State, Mexico (also called Am Ixchel) were abandoned around 1250, when the region was devastated by Chichimec barbarians.   If there was a Classic Period  Maya colony (0 AD – 900 AD) it must have been somewhere else . . . perhaps on the bay itself.

Bottle Creek Mounds near Mobile, Alabama was identical in every detail to the large Chontal Maya trading ports along Mexico’s Gulf Coast.

(4) Apalachicola River Delta:  It was roved by the University of Minnesota’s Department of Earth Science in 2012 that for many centuries attapulgite was mined in the Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin of Southwest Georgia.   The confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers becomes the Apalachicola River.  Thus, for certain, Maya sea craft entered the Apalachicola Delta of Florida.  This region is very similar in appearance to the Chontalpa on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico.  Chontal Mayas would have felt right at home there.  It is quite likely that they established at least one village near the mouth of the river.  Below is shown likely locations for Chontal villages.

(5) Lower Chattahoochee and Flint River Basins:  Between 1948 and 1968 the famous Georgia archaeologist, Arthur R. Kelly, found several artifacts in this region, which seemed “out of place.”   They were small bowls, jars, figurines and cylindrical clay seals that were not similar to artifacts he had found in Georgia and Alabama throughout his career.  They were most concentrated along the Flint River, northwest of the town of Attapulgus, GA.  

Mysterious stone building on the Lower Flint River

In 1969,  John S. Pennington of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote an article about Kelly’s discoveries and his theory that these artifacts came from Mesoamerica or were copies of Mesoamerican artifacts.  Kelly’s colleagues in the Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists had a flying fit.  

A stone hoe was mysteriously stolen from the boxes of artifacts from the Mandeville Site at the University of Georgia’s Laboratory of Archaeology . . .  then on a Sunday afternoon in June of 1969, inserted in a mound near Six Flags Over Georgia in Metro Atlanta.  Kelly was charged with stealing the hoe, but later cleared.  Nevertheless, he was sacked from his faculty position and spent the rest of his life as a pariah.  The two student assistants at the archaeology lab at that time are now members of the Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists.  

No one else was ever charged with the crime.  Strangely, the same Georgia archaeologists, who were outraged about Arthur Kelly’s theory that Mesoamericans had visited the Southeast and the supposedly lax security measures at the UGA Laboratory of Archaeology, suddenly wanted the whole matter hushed up after they had ruined Kelly’s reputation on the local evening news.  Atlanta TV stations never followed with news reports, which stated that Arthur Kelly had been cleared of any criminal activities. 

Ironically, it was attapulgite from a mine located between the Flint River and Attapulgus, Georgia which was found in the Maya Blue stucco on a temple in Palenque, Chiapas.   That attapulgite would have been paddled up the Usumacinta River.  Also, near the mouth of the Flint River are the ruins of an oval stone building that was identical to structures built by the Mayas along the Usumacinta River. 

Creek Indian brine drying facility on Tybee Island, 
GA   Sketch by Phillip Von Reck in 1737

 

(6) Tybee Island, Georgia:   Tamachichi’s Migration Legend stated that his ancestors eventually settled where Savannah is todoy, but there is historical and linguistic evidence of a possible early presence of Chontal Mayas on Tybee Island at the mouth of the Savannah River.  Tybee is the Anglicization of the Itza Maya and Itsate Creek (Hitchiti) word for salt, taube.  When Savannah was settled in 1733, the colonists observed Native American buildings and mounds on Tybee Island, associated with the large scale manufacture of salt from sea water.  

The Savannah River is the shortest and straightest route between the ocean and the Southern Appalachians.  The region between the Lower Savannah River and the Ogeechee River was the original homeland of the Uchee (Yuchi) People.  Perhaps their proximity to the mountains is what propelled them to be heavily involved with regional trade.  The Usumacinto River was the primary trade artery to the ocean for many of the most famous Maya cities.  They included Waka in Guatemala, plus Palenque, Bonampak, Tonina, Piedras Negras, Pomona, Yaxchilan, Amparo, Anayte, Chiapas, Chinikha and Chinkultic in what is now Mexico.

Merchant of Jaina Island, Yucatan

Furthermore, the presence of a brine processing facility on an island named with the Itza word for sale is highly significant. The backbone of the wealth made by Chontal and Itza traders in Mesoamerica was the salt trade.  Because of hurricanes, “regular” Mayas did not like to live near the coast. They were usually afraid of the ocean and did not venture very far from the ocean shore.  As a result, vast quantities of salt were transported inland by the Chontal Mayas to meet the needs of exploding urban populations.  The salt was traded for such valuable commodities as jade, cacoa beans, quetzal fevers,  gold, jaguar skins and copal resin.  By the end of the Classic Maya Era in 800 AD, the wealth of the Chontal merchants rivaled that of the kings.  

Beginning when Palenque was incinerated by the El Chichon Volcano around 800 AD,  one Maya city after another collapsed. The last Maya “Long Calendar Date” was carved around 900 AD.  Endemic warfare interfered with trade.  The Chontal Mayas began looking for other markets.  This is probably when they made a concerted effort to establish markets in northeastern Mexico, Cuba and southeastern North America.  It is no accident that a market town was established on a terrace overlooking the Ocmulgee River in Macon at the exact moment in time when Maya civilization was “toast.”   It is probably no accident either that at the same time, the population and sophistication of the towns along the Caloosahatchee River in southern Florida exploded.   A century later, there was a rash of new towns and mountainside terrace complexes in Georgia and Alabama, shortly after the Itzas in Chichen Itza were attacked and subordinated by another ethnic group.