In the East, everything other than “Self” - seen from personal perspective as unexplainable - is called “That” although it still remains difficult to define the boundaries of individuality any more specifically than as a fragment of “That” moving through time/space until awareness ceases. Anything inferred beyond this is either imagination, speculation or belief, though there does appear  to be some kind of hierarchical order at work that pervades everything.

Sentience, construed as a state of subjectivity, emerges from oblivion. If there is a continuity beyond consciousness or unconsciousness, perhaps it’s just another tier of that same awareness, only partially revealed, making it difficult to articulate anything that remains unseen using language. Here is where Art and Myth in all its forms reflect its creators’ vision of the relationship between “Self” and “That”, illuminating philosophy.

Consciousness, can also be analogized to a super saturated solution created by dissolving large amounts of a substance such as sugar into water as it is heated in a test tube over a Bunsen burner. Add a substrate and at a calculable moment it will suddenly crystallize into a solid, a symbol of elevated state realized in an instantaneous moment when surrounded by chaos.

The significance of any experience, as with a chemical solution, depends on what is remembered from the unconscious as it awakens, revealing congregations of circumstances interacting with individual lives, each representing alternate realities of each other - a notion usually relegated to  literature and science fiction that portrays one step beyond the real yet close enough to it to perceive imaginative variations of what is separated by a translucent barrier.

The controversy over sentience is not about its existence, but to what degree it is containable by other organisms, given a series of conditions, proposing that if any manifested form can evolve some kind of awareness, then it should be treated as if it has the potential to be self-aware, given time and experience.

These three concepts were meant to clarify that “things” do in fact exist, that it is possible to examine different aspects of the same “thing” and identify unique qualities that illustrate individual distinctiveness. Sound logic for a period of history known as the dark ages. Although historians generally disagree when this period began, some argue that the burning of the Alexandrian Library in the Fourth Century AD is one of its landmarks.

The cap often made of paper and used for public humiliation, expressed dim wittiness or stupidity, marked with a capital D. Somewhere along the line, its metaphysical meaning was lost. Perhaps it is a tool to funnel the cosmic energy to make one smart, much as the capstone of the pyramid serves as the point of manifestation from the invisible dimension to the seen world.

Although the geometrical model for a four sided pyramid is well known, its true meaning has been revealed only to a few, suggesting an esoteric significance associated with its function. Some mystical orders performed testing rituals and initiations in special chambers energized by the forces entering through the capstone, the power fracturing and enveloping all four corners at the foundation, opening portals into alternate dimensions. Whether that is true, not or just a crock remains to seen or experienced as one approaches the cosmic stream.

Those who understand the nature of the cap have also used the idea to invent interesting and new ways to adorn and care for the head such as this product called the Head Bath Cap advertised on Techeblog. Here is a chapeau that gives your head and your hair a good cleaning: “just place it over your skull and let water run within the boundaries of the cap onto your head, keeping the scalp water logged helping your hair grow faster and fuller by penetrating the pores in your scalp submerged beneath the trapped water.” Another variation of “go soak your head.”

Then there is The Shat (see below), a unique cap advertised by William Shatner (the Shat). It comes in different colors to reflect mood, Andorean Green, Romulan Red and Klingon Yellow. Now you too “can wear your feelings on your head.” Perhaps Mr. Shatner will don the red one after he finally sees the new Star Trek film and realizes that if Captain Kirk had not been killed off in Star Trek VII-Generations, he could have been in the current film. Now, the Shat will become just another variation of the cap of Duns Scotus, which is not latin for Scotty.

Traditionally, Science Fiction has not been given the credit it deserves, often overlooked by the Oscar’s except for special effects. Star Wars (1977) remains the exception, although the attention this year will be on the maiden voyage of the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 to challenge the notion that the genre is too unrealistic to compete or win multiple awards for screenplay, directing, set decorations, score, editing and acting.

This form of fiction has provided a perfect format for presenting contemporary issues often by slipping under the radar of the censors, unveiling the relevancy of the subject matter by being just one step beyond reality yet distant enough to be non-threatening.

Classic Star Trek, first conceived in 1965, had numerous story lines based on the important subjects of its time, including race relations, arms proliferation, over population, and many others in imaginative and colorful ways. No other series could have presented these issues at that time without having some kind of severe public backlash, yet of all of the thirty Emmy’s the franchise has been awarded, not one was in writing, directing or acting.

The conflicts raised by science fiction also relate to expectations of how society might evolve based on assumptions created by advancements in technology and medicine, suggesting conceivable possibilities although sometimes far fetched. This form of story telling challenges the imagination  sometimes requiring a leap of faith beyond the logic of the story’s credibility, focusing attention on character development, using special effects and futuristic gadgets to further the story rather than dazzle the audience.

In the past, the demographics of the voting academy members of the Oscars and Emmy’s were different and much older, dismissing science fiction, fantasy and horror as not worthy of competing with other genres. However, in 2003, The Lord Of The Rings-The Return Of The King earned eleven Oscars, the first fantasy film to win best picture, suggesting that the academy, now comprising a majority of baby boomers who grew up with the original Trek, may be ready to give science fiction the spotlight.

Review of Star Trek (2009)

The first photographs were taken in March 1995 in Puerto Rico by Madelyne Diaz don Diego who lost all of her 150 goats in an attack. Each animal she claimed had similar characteristic puncture wounds in the chest area and completely drained of blood.

In Coleman, Texas, a farmer named Reggie Lagow caught what he claimed was the Chupacabra in a trap he set up after the deaths of a number of his goats. The animal was described as resembling a mix of hairless dog, rat, and kangaroo. Lagow claims he delivered the animal to Texas Parks and Wildlife officials for identification, but reported in a September 17, 2006 phone interview with John Adolfi, founder of the Lost World Museum, that “the critter was caught on a Tuesday and accidentally thrown out in Thursday’s trash.”

As a literary work published in 1847, it chronicles the life of an Acadian girl named Evangeline Bellefontaine and her search for her lost love, Gabriel Lajeunesse, set against the sweeping landscape of North America during the time of “Le Grand Derangement“, an unpleasant period in Canadian history, when the inhabitants of the maritime provinces including Prince Edward Island and parts of Maine were relocated by the British. Many migrated to Quebec while others went to Louisiana and became Cajuns whose descendants still speak French, even today.

One of Longfellow’s most enduring works, it was written in dactylic hexameter - also the technique used in the Greek and Latin classics, a poem with a rhythmic scheme that goes on and on verse after verse, hence the term multi-verse. Perhaps it would have been more interesting to read had it been penned in prose or taught in History class instead of Poetry 101. Longfellow was obviously influenced by his close friendship with Nathanial Hawthorne who had an ever so slight lean towards the puritanical and who etched such memorable works as The Scarlet Letter.

From a scientific point of view, a multi-verse is an unproven theory of theoretical physics. The different universes within the multi-verse are sometimes called parallel universes, often interchangeable with the term alternate realities. However anyone versed in geometry knows that since parallel lines never meet, it is not possible to travel from one parallel universe to the next leaving us with a summation of alternate realities as the only credible explanation for the theoretical basis for reality, although to quote the eminent Dr. McCoy, “Good God Spock, I’m a doctor, not a physicist.”

Any reasonable person would ask, what do alternate realities have to do with Canadian history? Spock would probably respond, “Obviously the history of Canada is an alternate reality of American history without the revolutionary war.” If that were true, then in another reality, Canada is the fifty-first state.

Read more about alternate realities and parallel universes at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse_(science)

Memory depends on the concentration that events imprint, just recollections of mind and heart seeking new things to imagine and strive for by revealing diversity within the repetitive motion of the cycles that dominate existence, imposing their curved movement as the currents convey levels of order - the only way of understanding a world defined by laws partially perceived by science and theology.

Boredom is a collection of lost thoughts submerged by reiteration that can often lead to dependencies, at first offering the illusion of things differently, an uncommon perception that alters better sense and enables rationale convinced by physical or psychological means that to survive, whatever is depended upon is needed, effectively altering attention to prioritize behavior to preserve it, at the expense of other things.

Change is possible when there is no lower place to go, emotionally and physically bankrupt, not in control of events or aware of the dismal fate that lay ahead. Then nothing really matters because perspective and objectivity have been lost, until vision clarifies the notion that any transformation is better than descending into sameness, where even happiness can be a trap if there are no variations to appreciate it.

When self-consciousness is no longer a factor motivating actions, bold moves become possible. Then a solution for any cause depends on the ability to objectify the experience from the onset, allowing choices to be less affected by self-centered or disconnected emotions.

Once this is achieved, it is possible to see whether the path that has been led is straight, curved, or just a messy set of points suspended in space conveying nothing but chaos.

An overly simplified description of the myth of Narcissus, which has numerous versions, all of which converge on self love, and although told about a boy, Narcissus could equally be thought as a girl.  “As she tried to embrace and kiss the beautiful girl who confronts her in the water, eventually recognizing herself, she lay gazing enraptured with the pool, hour after hour. How could she endure both to possess and yet not to possess? Grief was destroying her, yet she rejoiced in her torment: knowing at least that her other self would remain true to her, whatever happened.” So told Theiresias, the blind seer who spoke of Narcissus, “He saw his own shape and it was fatal, for he could only see through it.”

“Alas! Alas!” Narcissus cried, but Echo, a local nymph had already forgiven and grieved with him; then sympathetically echoing his last words, “Alas! Alas!” as he plunged a dagger into his breast, she said finally, “Ah, youth, beloved in vain, fare thee well!” as he expired. His blood soaked the earth, and there sprang up the white narcissus flower with its red corolla.

No doubt an interesting story with unanticipated twists and turns, possibly echoed in Hamlet, Shakespeare’s masterpiece of the Prince of Denmark, one filled with numerous connotations especially the prophecy of the seer, incapable of seeing his physical world because of blindness yet one who is also wise of sight, quite capable of viewing only what lay beyond the existence of the five senses.

Since it is not possible to see oneself other than as a reflection off some external surface whether an inanimate object, or the opinions and attitudes of others, the myth of Narcissus is poignant in its scope about what it says concerning self, the ego, and whatever attributes are chosen to embellish the character most pleasing to see, or taught from negative experience, to mock.

Judgments about “self” begin, absorbed from childhood, and initially from “the other,” before being formulated as part of an individual reflection,  once again returning attention to the effects of parents and family that are the initial basis for these impressions, later reinforced or balanced with other things comprising experience. Self confidence, traced with narcissism provides an empowering quality to ascribe value and “self”  worth, worthy of living for.

Pathological narcissism can be a reflection unseen by “self,” a blind spot that can be disguised by loathing as well as misguided love also characterizing its invisibility of presence and the absence of “self” esteem so visible by others, describing yet another echo of an echo, caught between the surfaces of the three dimensions reflecting each other as it moves through Time/Space, as much a topic for mythology as is Science.

Originally designed as a treatment for migraines, it fits on the skull, the main unit lying in the middle of the forehead. Studies were initially focused on measuring changes in the frequency and severity of headaches until an increasing number of subjects were reporting that wrinkles were disappearing. Scientists speculated “only high frequency electrical intensity has proven successful to act on the motor nerves that diminishes wrinkles.” Impulses produced by this device, they claim, favors an ionic change in the muscle fibers (an accumulation of extracellular K+ potassium) which eliminates any relaxation (sag) potential, rendering the muscle fibers “inexcitable.” The promotional website has a number of paragraphs in French and lists the cost in Eurodollars, 350, so it’s safe to assume Safetox comes from somewhere in France, Quebec or Haiti. It is sold in blue with no apparent wires batteries or moving parts. It can be used in conjunction with botox, face lifts and electrolysis. Although why would one need these invasive procedures if Safetox worked?

Perhaps not the fountain of youth long rumored to be in Florida, although people have claimed for centuries that magnetic fields could improve the cellular matrix of the body securing small flat magnets placed over the seven main centers of the body opted by those with a New Age background, along with crystals and pyramid power which comprise three of the primary energies of the great OM. The only mystery here is the formula determining the appropriate intensity of the magnetic fields needed to produce a substantial effect on aging.

The whirling dervishes practiced dancing around for centuries and in some instances claimed that this motion could rejuvenate the body and perhaps be  a way to alter the effects of gravity not only on the appearance, but also the internal organs and subatomic particles, extending life span. However it is still unclear which direction one has to whirl or the speed and control of the spin needed to get the desired effect, otherwise one may change their vibratory signature and accidentally move into an alternate quantum reality and not even know it, or simply get very dizzy and pass out.

My Percepto rating: F
A - Used by Spock Prime in the new Star Trek film
B - A tiara worthy of the prom queen or king
C - An Artifact from Kandor, the lost city of krypton
D - Something Olivia would wear on Fringe
D - A sure way to attract the Magneto
E - A decorative refrigerator magnet tied to the forehead with string

Marie Anne Adeleide Lenormand

Leaders of all fields, peasants and aristocrats alike, allegedly came for advice from this gifted prognosticator including Marat, St-just, Empress Josephine, Czar Alexander and Robespierre. Her last entry recorded in her diary was about Marie Antoinette: “I saw her, while gazing at the cards in a trance after hearing that the French Queen had an affair with a peasant French boy, Pierre-Devual,” she wrote in beautifully scripted French, “La femme qui a cause mon homme ne est ici, je touche son sang. Ou est l’homme avec les yeux bleus, cheveux blonds, peau blanche? L’homme que je ne retrouve pas a cause d’un homme stupid, ou est l’homme que j’aime avec mon coeur? Quand la mort serra mon ami? Je ne sais pas.” She adds, “The sounds of the birds silenced as my crystal ball resonated and the air became thin and wispy, causing an array of candles to blow out, leaving smoke filling the air with the incandescent aroma of pomegranate, the mythic fruit of the underworld.”

A daughter of France born in Alençon on May 27th 1772 with the gift of foresight, she frequently found herself in prison throughout her life, on the run from disgruntled clients, but not for long once her reputation for card play spread rapidly in Europe as fear gripped her prophecies, although she claimed, “It is not what I see, but the way each person interprets what I see.”

Her diary was hidden in the odds and ends section of the Vatican archives, described as “ornately bound with gold leaf written in cryptic french.” Some interpretations claim she influenced the course of history of Western Europe much as the oracle of Delphi captured the attention of the ancient world. It is widely believed one of her readings to Napoleon Bonaparte encouraged what is known as The Louisiana Purchase, “Vente de la Louisiane,” in 1803.

Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand became so popular that a deck of cards was created and dedicated to her after her death in Paris on June 25th 1843, The Lenormand deck, still popular and widely used in Germany. Whether truth or tale about her life be told, she remains a fascinating if unfamiliar footnote in history, known only among some mystic circles.

One of the most frustrating wire thing’s has been earphones, assuming a confused form if looked at the wrong way, seeming to have a mind of their own, as if they intentionally mesh to irritate their owner. It’s a chore to remove all the knots before attaching them perhaps to a beloved iPod to listen to legally downloaded music, movies or TV programs for those fortunate to have purchased the collectors model, the 160 GB device, before it was discontinued by Apple. A proud addition to a diverse collection of artifacts also accumulating dust.

A solution has now been offered as an alternative to being all wired up. It’s the Zip It: YI Zipper Earphones, an intriguing Yanko design via Oh Gizmo and reviewed by Dvice: “The earphones were created by Ji Woong and features a zipper that lets you zip them up to eliminate cable knots with a convenient volume and hold feature in the zipper pull. The volume control is a small, rotating structure that enables you to adjust the volume, while the volume hold prevents unwanted controls in active conditions.”

According to Whacko, “the zipper teeth are made of plastic and the chord appears sealed in a fabric sleeve to which the zipper attaches.” Although most comments are favorable, it’s still in the developmental stage and no price has been mentioned, however manufacturers should take notice of this one since just about everyone has complained about a morass of wires, strongly suggesting the market exists with some minor modifications in design and function as long as the sound is good and it’s reasonably priced. The only remaining question is whether the Zip It:YI Zipper Earphones is a durable product or just a conversation piece.

My Percepto Rating: “No more wire Zippers!”

A: Zip it up
B: Down with metal zippers
C: Zip it sideways
D: Things can still get stuck with plastic teeth