Spanish Rice

trishlee75's avatarCook Plant Meditate

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Aloha e komo mai oukou!  Mahalo nui loa na ho’olaule’a me la kaua i ka Coach Kawamoto.

This is a pretty basic Spanish Rice and is cooked with oil prior to adding all of the goodies and steaming.  This step makes the rice “unsociable”, as my dear friend Victoria at The Halau says.

IMG_4768Spanish Rice

1 cup rice
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt to taste
½ cup diced onion
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon freshly minced garlic
1 teaspoon freshly ground coriander
½ teaspoon freshly ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
tiny pinch cayenne pepper
4 ounces tomato sauce
1 ½ cup water
1 cup diced tomatoes

Preheat saucepan to medium heat.  Stir oil, rice and a teaspoon salt together.  Cook, stirring frequently, until rice begins to brown.

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Stir in to coat coriander, cumin, paprika, chili powder and cayenne.  Cook, stirring constantly, around one…

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On Social Rights from an Analytical and Philosophical Perspective | Wojciech Zaluski – Academia.edu

The paper examines the concept of social rights both from the analytical and philosophical perspective. In the first part of the paper a distinction is made between social rights in the strict sense (called in the paper ‘social rights of Type 1’), …

Source: On Social Rights from an Analytical and Philosophical Perspective | Wojciech Zaluski – Academia.edu

The Utterance of Isis

Do you remember Me? I have been known by many names in many nations, But the Egyptians called Me Isis. Do you remember Me? Think back, far back, to that primeval time When you were hungry and frightened in the desert. I brought forth the waters of the Nile, And the river poured its bounty over the earth. I taught you to till the soil, and irrigate the fields, And the land blossomed with wheat and barley. Do you remember Me? When your life was harsh and rough, I provided the means of civilization – Storing grain, pressing oil, weaving cloth, Firing pottery, building cities, writing words. When you were lonely and doubtful, I engendered love between women and men. I instituted marriage; I shaped the laws To help people live in harmony. Egypt did not contain Me. I crossed three continents. I was honored upon the Tigris and the Tiber as well as the Nile. I sailed beyond the Mediterranean, and flew north with the Roman eagles. From the mists of Britain to the sands of Arabia, I was the universal Goddess, And you who are not of the blood of My Birthland May still be My children. Do you remember now? I am that beneficent power, The glory of life, the mystery of the seasons, The abundant grace of creation. When you rejoice, Feel My blessing in your laughter. When you mourn, Feel My consolation in your heart. I am Isis, Queen of Heaven, And I spread My wings over the Two Lands!

Mysteries of The Pineal Gland Ignored by Mainstream Science and Research — Love Has Won


By Christina Sarich, Waking Times, 04/12/2016

There is an endocrine gland within our bodies that, when unimpeded, receives more blood flow per cubic volume than almost any organ in the body, including the heart.[1][2] It has been written about in masked language, or painted in art throughout the ages, and represented in a staggering number of ways for thousands of years – yet modern medicine hasn’t found it interesting enough to study clinically – or has it?The pineal gland’s true purpose is shrouded in mystery. Is this intentional?Will it take an information coup to keep us from being estranged from the cosmic gifts which so many of our ancestors refer to as being locked within this tiny pine-cone shaped mass of cells, or is there modern, scientific corroboration for what the ancients called the Epicenter of Enlightenment just waiting for us to peruse?Basics of the Pineal GlandOn the surface level, the ‘Pine’al’ gland, shaped like a pinecone, is at the geometric center of our brain and is intimately entwined with our perception of light. The pineal gland modulates circadian rhythms, and thus how we sleep. It remains uniquely isolated from the blood-brain barrier system, yet receives a higher percentage of blood flow than any other organ of the body except the kidneys. The pineal gland is tiny – smaller than a dime – located at the back of the roof of the third ventricle of the brain. (The ventricles are parts of the brain filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which act to maintain the optimum chemical environment for the central nervous system cells). The pineal becomes steadily calcified with age, starting most often before puberty, meaning it shows up clearly on skull X-rays and CT scans to allow identification of the midline.[3]It is worth mentioning here that sodium fluoride calcifies the pineal gland. British scientist Jennifer Luke published a study showing that fluoride deposits accumulate in the pineal gland and calcify it. Just as bones go through a process of calcification to harden – a good thing, necessary for our health and functioning, the pineal gland can become ‘hardened’ through calcification, but to our greatest detriment, the reasons for which will be explained as you read further.Additionally, a 450 page review on fluoride toxicity published by the National Research Council in 2006 reported that fluoride produced a range of negative side effects including “decreased melatonin production” and “other effects on normal pineal function, which in turn could contribute to a variety of effects in humans.”The Pineal, Light, and Melatonin ProductionThe light-transducing ability of the pineal gland has led some to call the pineal the “third eye”. Oddly, the pineal contains rods and cones, just like our eyes in order to process light, even though it is smack dab in the center of our ‘dark’ brains. The gland is also responsible for creating and secreting melatonin. Melatonin communicates with our hormonal system about environmental light to the rest of the body and can entrain us to a certain biological rhythm, but there’s more to melatonin than just regulating our sleep-wake cycles.The precursor to melatonin is serotonin, which is stored in large quantities by the pineal gland – a hormone you may have heard of since it is so keenly linked with feeling good. Without proper serotonin creation in the body, the result is depression, and sometimes severe depression. Of the 40 million cells in our brains, serotonin interacts or communicates with almost all of them.[4]Is the Pineal Responsible for Spontaneous Realization or Psychedelic Experience?On a spiritual level, people in hundreds of cultures throughout the world have credited the pineal gland’s proper functioning with spontaneous spiritual experiences. Does it produce a psychedelic chemical or chemicals that allows us to exit into other dimensions, and even to enter and exit physical form? Does it allow an escape from this physical world in which we are currently held prisoner? What, truly, does this mysterious gland really do?The pineal gland forms in a human embryo at 49 days during gestation – which just happens to also be the amount of time it takes, according to Tibetan Buddhists, for a soul to reincarnate into their next physical body.[5]Other historical as well as natural references to the pineal gland[6], and so many of them, would certainly pique the interest of most any modern scientist studying the brain, the endocrine system, botany, or even human intelligence, but there seems to be a shrouding of the mysteries of the pineal, for reasons which might become more obvious after reading further. For example: * The pinecone happens to be the evolutionary precursor to the flower, with the spines spiraling in a perfect Fibonacci sequence, just like the sacred geometry of a rose, a sunflower, or a nautilus shell. * The Staff of Osiris from the Egyptian culture, dating back to approximately 1224 BC, depicts two intertwining

Source: Mysteries of The Pineal Gland Ignored by Mainstream Science and Research — Love Has Won

Where Is The Center of the Universe?, by Steve Kalec

  
Where is the Center of the Universe ?
A philosopher once said, “God is as a circle whose circumference is nowhere and whose center everywhere. “Geometrically trying to understand this, lead me into the contemplation of infinity. I remembered some very fascinating concepts that I was introduced to in my mathematics studies.
If I project a straight infinite never ending line up vertically above my head going on forever, and at the same time I project its other end below my feet going on forever infinitely, and if I wanted to dissect that line in a perfect half, where would that point be ? It would be exactly where I stand, for infinite = infinite. If I should go to the roof of my house and dissect the line there, the dissection point of the line would be then there on my roof, for again infinity = infinity, and so on if I dissect it on the moon. In other words where ever I go to the above or the below, there would be the dissection point of the infinite line.
Einstein has said that a straight line projected to infinity comes back upon itself forming an infinite circle. Where then is the center of an infinite circle whose circumference stretches out to infinity? It is everywhere! It is where you stand, where I stand, where anyone stands. Again since infinity = infinity, the center is everywhere!
But what first of all, determines that there is a circle at all? It is consciousness. There is nothing else in existence but consciousness, for without it there would exist NO THING, no Being, no Self, no you, no me, no heaven, no earth, no world, no circle. Each and every one of us is the center of THE CIRCLE. The Hermetic symbol of gold is a circle with a dot in the center, which also symbolizes the sun and both represent soul and consciousness. The dot represents the entity and the circle being the universal infinite spirit. The entity cannot exist outside of the infinite circle, where would one put it, since infinity = infinity! The circle cannot exist without a center, for what would project its circumference ? Truly it is a mystery, God, the universe, man and consciousness.
— Steve Kalec

Disclosure is about to take place, re. Notice to the world

David Robinson's avatarMaine Republic Email Alert

Just before the end of 2010, Pennsylvania — as a state — put together a Declaration of Notice to the world stating that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had returned itself and its people back under its de jur Constitution, of the 1700s, and declared the People
of Pennsylvania, Free! — no longer recognizing unlawful corporate government within their state.

They did this legally and properly. They did not ask for permission, they simply went ahead and did it. And they received their shipping receipt back from the Office of Private International Law at the Hague.

Shortly after that, an informed contact — who had been in touch with various groups who had come forward about that time — was contacted and given a simple message, and that message was this:

“It has come to our attention, what Pennsylvania has done. How long would it take you to put together a simple majority of states to duplicate what Pennsylvania has done, for at
such a time there could be monetary and military support?”

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Thought For Today

  
“Admit it. You aren’t like them. You’re not even close. You may occasionally dress yourself up as one of them, watch the same mindless television shows as they do, maybe even eat the same fast food sometimes. But it seems that the more you try to fit in, the more you feel like an outsider, watching the ‘normal people’ as they go about their automatic existences. For every time you say club passwords like ‘Have a nice day’ and ‘Weather’s awful today, eh?’, you yearn inside to say forbidden things like ‘Tell me something that makes you cry’ or ‘What do you think deja vu is for?’ Face it, you even want to talk to that girl in the elevator. But what if that girl in the elevator (and the balding man who walks past your cubicle at work) are thinking the same thing? Who knows what you might learn from taking a chance on conversation with a stranger? Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts. Do the unexpected. Find the others .…” 

— Timothy Leary

Family is not limited to blood

ReverendRoxie22's avatarThe Mana'o Blog

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OHANA

Our lives on planet Earth were meant to be shared. Regardless of what we might want to believe, the reason we have certain people in our lives is because we have a purpose and that purpose includes our not seeing to our mission alone, because that is not the way the Goddess does things. We are not born into this lifetime to be by ourselves, so why do we elect to be alone and not with those we are meant to be with?

My life, like all of our lives, started out with the same things that most people have at the ready, with our blood relations being the first “thing” that we come to know as ours.

Sometimes, even though we come from the same stock, we learn from a very young age who we are meant to be with, who, essentially, is our ohana, our family. What…

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BPS Research Digest: Intensive meditation training seems to enhance people’s compassion

A key factor cited in research from the Center for Healthy Minds was what they called “Outlook”. This is how we see others and the world around us in general. They’ve been studying the part of the brain circuitry that underlies this. What they’ve learned is that this part of the brain does not remain active in people who struggle with depression.

What is so important is that their research suggests that even mild exposure to meditation focused on loving kindness and compassion can activate this part of the brain and improve our outlook. Many studies are underway to help identify and understand these positive effects. You can read more about one of them in this article here.

Source: BPS Research Digest: Intensive meditation training seems to enhance people’s compassion

Chocolate Dobash Cake

Recipe – Hawai’ian Chocolate Dobash Cake

thecupcakeletters's avatarthecupcakeletters


chocolatedobashcake
I’ve been looking for the best moist chocolate cake recipe for the longest time – similar to our country’s famous Lana cake – and I chanced upon this recipe. It looked fairly simple and I was really keen to try it out.

I think the cake turned out great and it’s definitely going to be a keeper for me. But what really caught my attention was the frosting. L has decided that it’s his favourite chocolate cake so I guess I’ll be baking more of this.

Some personal notes on the recipe below:

– I didn’t have any vegetable oil so I used light olive oil and it turned out fine.

– I reduced the sugar for the frosting from 1 cup to 1/2 cup. Do take note that for the frosting, instead of adding the cocoa powder, cornflour and water together in the mixture (doing that causes lumps in…

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ROOTS

ReverendRoxie22's avatarThe Ghetto Allegory

NO_EAU_WISDOM MEME

When thinking in terms of all things ‘weirdness’ and specifically where we each should all start when first we choose this Path, the best place is our ancient, native origins

I make it absolutely NO secret of what my origins are. I am Hawai’ian, of course, like almost ALL Hawai’ians, of mixed ancestry.

Yet, I am like all Hawai’ians who were raised by island born parents – to be Hawai’ian in everything that I do. This includes everything that I do with what it is that I am, who it is that I am, and what it is that I do in the sense that is the ‘weirdness.”

Lots of us have been raised as “one nation under” a big and scary God. We have all been told who we are in terms of what we are allowed to believe. Then, one day, ultimately, we all grow up and we…

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Shi Shi Beach & Trail — Pacific North Wanderers

A taste of Spring in the Pacific Northwest …

Shi Shi Beach is one of those hidden gems that most people are unaware exists. It’s located in the upper northwest portion of the Olympic peninsula. It consists of a 2.5 mile coast line with tide pools, archipelagos, caves, sea stacks, wildlife, perfect sunsets, pristine stargazing, and more. The journey there is a long one as it’s roughly a 4–5 hour drive by car from the Seattle/Tacoma area. Once at the trailhead it’s about an hour hike to the beach and then another hour or so walk to the south end of the beach to the Point of the Arches. It’s all worth it as this is the best wandering experience we’ve had so far!

Source: Shi Shi Beach & Trail — Pacific North Wanderers