originally posted on September 24, 2008

The idea for this blog came from a light friendly jest from Resurrected1 in the blog We Miss You Peggy Joyce.  I am manifesting it because me and Ariela and our words and intentions resonate on a higher level vibrations.  I would like to title this blog for John Lennon as such and not John Lennon Festival. 

Please share your love for all things John Lennon.  What is your favorite song of his, your favorite movie with him in it, your favorite John Lennon story, etc.  Where were you the day he died?  Have you seen him in concert?  What are your early memories of John Lennon and how has he affected your life?

I was just thinking that the Beatles as a group and John Lennon in particular did not received a lot of awards that they deserved.  I think that John Lennon should get a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize for promoting peace thru his music, philosophy and actions when he was still living.  And even so now, we just don't realize how John Lennon is still inspiring millions of people thru his music and life story. 

Also I would like to see the country and the government of India give accolades to the Beatles and John Lennon for spreading Indian culture.  Not that the culture of India needs propagating but the Beatles had inspired millions of people to the spirituality of India among others and Beatle's created a revolution.

Come to think of it, John Lennon is our more modern day Gandhi and our King whereas King has the I Have A Dream speech, Lennon has the equivalent in the song Imagine.  I believe more posthumous accolades, rewards, music festivals and tributes should be given to John Lennon in every country in the world.   

THANK YOU BEATLES, YOKO ONO AND JOHN LENNON!

With that said, welcome friends to this blog and thank you for your voices.

you may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one,

Samme

"What would you do if you weren't afraid?" is one of those wonderfully useful questions for those of us determined to live authentically... but what does it mean to "not be afraid"? Is there a difference between fearlessness and recklessness? Between being courageous and being foolhardy?

The opposite of love is not hate, it is fear.  To not be afraid means you are allowing yourself  to love fully and unconditionally and the road to that is understanding of oneself and others.  When you understand others there is no more fear and there is room for love to grow.  I personally would like to work on this more. 

Fearlessness and being courageous is aligning with the divine source.  When you are in alignment with the divine source, what is there to haunt you?  Recklessness and being foolhardy is aligning with ego and thus bound to unhappiness or failure. 

“Don't let the scorn and derision of others stop you from being effective in your goals. Keep a clear head and remain relaxed, knowing all the while that there is indeed final conclusion to these words as they now stand, and this moment does indeed approach with the unwavering certainty of the clock striking on the hour”.

I thought you should see these photographs. They're both powerful and moving.  They highlight the awful disease XDR -TB, a new and deadly form of tuberculosis that is threatening to become a global pandemic.

By viewing and passing on this link we can help to spread awareness, which is the first step to halting the disease. XDRTB.ORG (http://www.xdrtb.org/)

“I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it, in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”
James Nachtwey

 

Dear friends of TED,

In the midst of a horrifying story, here is cause for hope.

Over the past year, hundreds of individuals and companies associated with TED have collaborated in a spectacular TED Prize project, launching today, to raise global awareness of XDR-TB.

(What is XDR-TB? Please visit www.xdrtb.org and prepare to be shocked and moved.)

The next step is yours. I am today calling on all friends of TED to do their part in spreading the word. Forward this email, blog, write, broadcast, talk with your family, friends and work colleagues. You can quickly add your name to our advocacy effort by clicking the 'Sign' button here.

This is a race between the ability of a deadly, mutated bacteria to spread, and our ability to spread awareness first. Health authorities know what needs to be done, but politicians and the public at large don't have XDR-TB on their radar. That's what James Nachtwey's powerful TED Prize wish is all about.

I am so proud of what he and the TED community have made possible. Tonight, and over the next few days his breath-taking pictures are being projected at scale in public places in some 50 cities all over the world. Details are here under 'Where to Watch'.

This is a new idea inspired by the quote by Eugene Ionesco that goes, "It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question".  You can post questions to me in the comments section and I will try my best to answer them. 

You can also do the same in your own blog.  It does not mean we are expert on anything, this is just for fun and creativity.  Questions can be about anything and you can answer seriously or humorously, anything goes.  If the questions posed to you are hard or too personal we can just say we do not know the answer or just politely decline to answer the questions.  If you like to do this "copy and paste" the text below the line and put at the bottom of your blog also.

Thank you,

Samme


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Please copy this text under the line and post at the bottom of your blog.  If you like to do this same blog to your own blog, please check out Samme's first post.  Make sure to put the word "gaiaquests" in the tag section of your blog.  Please check out the other Gaians who are doing this by clicking the link below and ask them a question. 

A palindrome is a word or a sentence that reads the same forward as it does backward.

A Palin drome is a political spoof using palindromes involving Sarah Palin (and not to her advantage) which I thought of for political campaign in a fun and creative way.  I am not too political but in this creative venue I can dabble in politics in a different way. 

You can post comments to individual slides here.

Vote for your favorite Palin drome slide.  Welcome to Palin Drome Election 2008.

Thank you,

Samme emmas









This is what happens in a Vice Presidential Palindromic Debate.


























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My home is the universe and my soul. 

Ego.

                


         

We know that sexual predators search for the child that they see as weak, sad and unhappy. It 's the kid with the shuffling feet, head drooping and eyes fixed to the ground. It 's the child that appears they are in need of a friend. The predator wants an easy target when the time is "right."

For the most part, predators are not interested in any kind of visible, noisy or public struggle that brings attention to their nefarious deeds.

In fact, many predators choose to befriend a child first. They are patient as they develop a false friendship. They choose to develop a dependent relationship with a child that appears to be in need of a close friend. Many times, actually more often than not, it is that sad, unhappy child. The predator then offers gifts, ideas, or simple emotional comfort that makes the child feel better. The process slowly introduces sexual context and content into their interactions and conversations.

It can happen this way online or offline.

Some predators immediately engage in sexually explicit conversation with children right from the start. Online or Internet sexual predators may also collect and trade child-pornographic images. Others online may seek real face to face meetings with the kids they emailed or connected with in chat rooms or social blogs.

Predators work with one goal in mind: trapping and abusing an innocent child. With that as their goal they are obsessed with attaining the end result by any means. There is no one way they operate and there is no one profile, either, for a sexual predator. You cannot pick them out of a crowd.

Predators cunningly exploit weakness and ignorance. They will work very hard at driving a wedge between a child and their family. Predators will even accentuate any minor problems at home that your child might have, again befriending them and driving that wedge into the family structure.

A confident child represents more of a challenge, a problem, someone who will be hard to manipulate, for the sexual predator. Confident kids will also be uncooperative. They understand better, even if they cannot articulate their feelings, that something or
someone is "just not right" and will avoid them or stay away.

Today 's world is very different than when we, the parents, were growing up. It is quite different than anything seen before. It 's dangerous for adults. It is very dangerous for our precious children. This sad truth is a reality however, one that you must accept and deal with in order to keep your child safe from sexual predators.

Many parents today just don't know how to keep their kids safe in a modern world. There is nothing wrong with that. They grew up themselves with their parents warning of "Don't talk to strangers!" when they were a child heading out the door to play. It was truly useless information to the child back then as it is today, but somehow made the parents feel their children were safe.

Many parents, although they are adults now, still think like this. Today, however, this kind of thinking can not only keep your child unsafe, it may put them at risk as a target for sexual predators. This kind of thinking can really endanger your child. "This guy has to be a bad stranger," or "Stay away from weirdoes!" seems like it has to help. The sad news, however, is it is useless. The fact is, many parents today have no idea how to keep themselves safe let alone teach their children safety from sexual predators.

You can't spot a sexual predator but you can add an additional layer of safety between them and your child by building self-esteem and confidence in even the youngest tot. Building confidence in your child by letting them know you are there to help them, listen to them and teach them how to listen to their innate gut instincts when around new people, are real beginnings to a foundation of safety against even the worst sexual predator.

About the Author

Joyce Jackson is a child safety expert, #1 International bestselling author, speaker, trainer and consultant. For more information see her extensive website at
Keeping Kids Safe

Milk is a film about California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk, who was assassinated on November 27, 1978. The film was shot on location in San Francisco and directed by Gus Van Sant. The city's Castro Street, where Harvey Milk owned a camera shop, was transformed for the film in January, 2008 to look as it did in the 1970s. The producers felt that the life of Harvey Milk was "such a San Francisco story" that the film had to be shot on location. Milk is one of two films about Milk's life expected to be released around the same time. The other is The Mayor of Castro Street, directed by Bryan Singer.

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