Jakarta - Scientists scouring the ocean floor to study the nature of tsunamis discovered a massive underwater volcano off Indonesia's western coast.
The 15,000-foot- (4,600-meter-) high mountain spans 30 miles (50 kilometres) at its base, Yusuf Surachman Djajadihardja, a marine geologist with the government's Agency for Assessment and Application Technology, said Friday. Its discovery was "completely unexpected," he said.
It was not immediately clear if the volcano is active, but he said if it were and it erupted, it would be "very, very dangerous."
An international team of scientists discovered the volcano 205 miles (330 kilometres) west of Sumatra island while carrying out a survey of the Indian Ocean floor earlier this month, Djajadihardja said. The tip of the volcano is 1,380 meters (1,260 yards) below the water's surface.
The goal of their research was to better understand the cause of disasters like the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations, more than half of them in Indonesia, which was closest to the epicentre.
Indonesia straddles a chain of fault lines and volcanoes known as the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is prone to seismic activity. - Sapa-AP

Read about some of the commonly used supplements to relieve rheumatoid arthritis symptoms — and find out whether they'll work for you.

In your search for relief from the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, you might hear or read about spices and dietary supplements that are said to help ease symptoms. But before you reach for these on your kitchen — or grocery store — shelf, find out how such supplements could fit into your rheumatoid arthritis treatment plan.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment: Supplements
According to the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health, a variety of complementary and alternative therapies (including herbal and dietary supplements) claim to be helpful for RA. While NCCAM is sponsoring several clinical trials to test these claims, those with rheumatoid arthritis should not stop traditional — and more proven — treatments in favour of these supplements until talking with their doctor. Doing so could cause more harm than good.

All herbal and dietary supplements have the potential to interfere with your regular medications or cause other unwanted side effects such as an allergic reaction, so arming yourself with the nuts and bolts of these supplements — and discussing them with your doctor before taking them — is essential.

Some of the most commonly known supplements marketed for rheumatoid arthritis include:

Borage oil comes from a plant and contains omega-6 fatty acids, which are thought to offer people with rheumatoid arthritis some relief from pain and joint stiffness. One recent study showed success in using borage oil to reduce pain and inflammation in people with rheumatoid arthritis. According to NCCAM, however, results of studies involving borage oil for rheumatoid arthritis have not been conclusive. And caution is in order: Borage oil and other oils that contain omega-6 fatty acids, such as evening primrose oil, can increase bleeding and bruising. NCCAM also warns that borage oil is made with an additive that may increase liver damage.

The appropriate dose of borage oil varies with each individual. Discuss what is appropriate for you with your rheumatologist. Borage oil supplements are available at many pharmacies and natural food stores.

Capsaicin cream is a numbing agent that comes from cayenne peppers. The cream is rubbed onto joints that are sore and inflamed. Studies suggest that this cream is modestly effective in reducing joint pain if it is used daily. Side effects can include a burning sensation after application. This cream is available online and at some pharmacies and health food stores. Follow your doctor's recommendations for use.

Cod liver oil, a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, is the only dietary supplement that has been strongly associated with relieving symptoms such as inflammation and pain among people with rheumatoid arthritis. "It has [results] similar to non-steroidal drugs like ibuprofen and can be used safely," says Robert W. Hoffman, DO, professor and chief of the division of rheumatology and immunology in the department of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "It also has cardiovascular protective benefits."

The risks of cod liver oil include increased bleeding and bruising and possible exposure to mercury from the original codfish. Research has shown 10 grams of cod liver oil daily to have a positive effect on joint pain, but there are no official recommendations about dosing. Cod liver oil is available in gel tablet forms at pharmacies, some grocery stores, and health food stores.

Flaxseed oil, which comes from ground flax seeds, also contains omega-3 fatty acids. This oil is available in gel capsules and as in oil form for salad dressings or foods, but it must be kept refrigerated. Adults can take about 3,000 milligrams a day. It is available at pharmacies, health food stores, and some grocery stores.

Ginger is a spice that comes from the root of the ginger plant. It can be ground up to a powder, used fresh, boiled as a tea, or crystallized. Ginger has been used in Ayurvedic medicine (ancient medical practices native to India) for hundreds of years to fight inflammation. Data from scientific studies is scarce and inconclusive, but at least one study has shown ginger to help relieve some of the pain and swelling experienced by people with RA. Ginger can be bought at grocery stores as a spice, tea, crystallized candy, or a fresh root. It is available in capsule form as well. It can be used daily, but you should not use more than four grams each day.

Thunder god vine (TGV) is made from the root of a plant native to China, Japan, and Korea. It has been used in Chinese medicine to fight autoimmune diseases. Some studies in the United States suggest that taking TGV extract can help relieve RA symptoms. However, NCCAM notes that there is no safe product containing TGV available in the United States. It can be acquired through Chinese sources or Chinese medicine practitioners, who will make a recommendation about the appropriate dose.

Turmeric is a spice that, like ginger, has played a role in ancient Ayurvedic practices as an inflammation fighter. Research into its effectiveness is ongoing. At least one study has shown that taking turmeric daily can help relieve morning stiffness and joint pain. Turmeric is available as a ground spice, in capsules, and as a cream. Curcumin is the active ingredient that addresses inflammation. Taking too much turmeric can cause stomach problems such as ulcers. About 1,200 milligrams a day is what is typically recommended. It can be bought at health food stores and grocery stores.

Rheumatoid Arthritis and a Healthy Diet
Although many supplements are available in pill form, it may be a healthier — and less expensive — to turn to your diet for pain relief.

A diet rich in fruit and vegetables is also a diet rich in antioxidants, which also play a role in fighting inflammation. "All RA patients should eat a healthy, balanced diet," says John M. Stuart, MD, professor of medicine and rheumatology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Centre. "There is good evidence that diets rich in antioxidants may have at least modest long-term benefits."

If you decide to go the supplement route, talk to your doctor — together you can construct a "supplementary" plan that is right for you.

Source: By Madeline Vann, MPH

Medically reviewed by Cynthia Haines, MD

5 May 2009

WASHINGTON, DC - A noted scientist has just produced proof that the lunar surface was inhabited by intelligent life: a 10-inch angel sculpture embedded in a moon rock.

Geologist Dr. Morris Charles revealed last week that NASA lab workers chipped the angel from one of the rocks brought to Earth by Apollo 11 astronauts 40 years ago, in 1969. Dr. Charles was a NASA scientist himself for 23 years but left the agency in 1987. He still maintains close ties to many of his former colleagues.

“The implications of this figurine are absolutely mind-boggling,” Dr. Charles told reporters. “It means that at one time the moon had an atmosphere conducive to life. And what’s more, it was once home to a sophisticated race of people with a highly refined sense of beauty.”

The angel - a humanoid female with wing-like appendages on her back and long flowing hair - is made of an iron compound found exclusively in the highlands of the moon.

This rules out the possibility that it was dropped by a race of aliens from another planet. It’s been hand polished to a silvery metallic sheen. Based on chemical analysis of the metal, geologists estimate the sculpture to be 200,000 years old which means it was made 170,000 years before the human species appeared on Earth.

It’s been examined by art experts who concur with Dr. Charles’ appraisal of the culture that produced it. “Clearly these beings had a sense of religion that parallels our Christianity. Perhaps they had a Jesus of their own, proving that the important spiritual principles are, in a very literal sense, universal,” said a Washington anthropologist.

Others are not so sure of its religious significance. Dr. Miles Fredericks of New York University countered, “This is just more Christian propaganda. The Sumerians told stories of the Annunaki, winged deities, as far back as 18th century BC. Maybe the Sumerians were visited by these moon beings, who merely modelled the statue after their own image.”

While many ponder the significance of the figure, others are curious about why it has remained a secret for so long. “The artefact has been common knowledge among NASA insiders for years,” said Dr. Charles. “But space agency higher-ups have kept the information highly classified, fearing world-wide panic. It was smuggled out to me by persons who must, for obvious reasons, remain anonymous.”

NASA officially denies Dr. Charles’ allegations. The statue was displayed to photographers and newsmen but is now being held for further study at an undisclosed location.

Astronauts of Antiquity - Zecharia Sitchin has already shown in The Twelfth Planet that the statues of gods and goddesses from Sumer present special helmets with protuberances on both sides (the Middle Ages' illiteracy turned them into”devil horns”), which perfectly look like the pilots’ headphones; the statues were provided with the SHU.GAR.RA - a term that literally means”that which makes you go far into the Universe”.

Another image discovered in North Israel, dating back to the ninth millennium B.C., represents the sculpted head of a god with a helmet and safety glasses. Also a picture of the goddess Ishtar from her temple in Sumer…

All this suggests to us that the attire …was that of an aeronaut or an astronaut”…

Many drawings on the Sumerian plates show the gods with wings, which were not belonging to the body, but they were accessories of the flight suit, therefore the gods looked like eagles…
This drawing on a Sumerian plate suggests that an Anunnaki / Elohim spaceship is connected to the base on Earth.”The central object … it is more mechanical, more manufactured than natural.Its (( wings )) looks almost exactly like the solar panels which American spacecraft are provided to convert the Sun’s energy to electricity. The two antennas cannot be mistaken. The circular craft … is located between Mars (the six - pointed star) and Earth and its Moon”(Z. Sitchin, The Twelfth Planet)…

Source: http://thecrit.com/2009/05/05/200000-year-old-statue-found-on-moon/

The Simple Finger Interlock Technique: This tried and tested strategy can promote healing and repair damage to the energy system resulting from long-term stress.

The Finger Interlock Technique is easy to implement, and its effects are instant. To begin this technique, simply bring together the tips of your thumb and middle finger of each hand to form two circles. Then, bring your hands together to form interlocking circles while envisioning your body enveloped in a bright sphere of impenetrable energy.

Finally, relax your hands and simply affirm, "I am now energized and fully protected." This simple, inconspicuous technique requires only seconds and can be used almost any time or place.

With practice, you can use the finger interlock gesture as a cue to instantly activate the effect you are seeking. Overcoming stage fight, improving memory, and promoting positive social interactions are all within its scope. You can use the technique to induce instant relaxation during important examinations, public presentations, and conferences, to list but a few of its many applications.

A former student, now a practicing attorney, attributes his admission to law school largely to his use of the technique during the entrance exam. The technique, here ported, effectively reduced his stress level and stimulated his recall of important information. Because the technique is so inconspicuous and easily executed, it has become popular among public figures including actors, politicians, performing artists, and TV personalities. If you observe their hands, you will notice many of them using the simple finger interlock gesture.

Hi Suki, Horst, Judex, Laird and Kenny.

Thank you for visiting my page and for your comments. I enjoyed reading them all.

Suki how is your veg garden coming along are you going to have a good spring crop.

Horst I see you have a great following, enjoy.

Judex, we have spoken about the 1 minute noodles…..you need to enjoy a variety of good foods. Anyone out there who would like to share recipes with Judex?

Laird, soon you will be off on your overseas holiday. Please send us pictures and news.

Kenny, have you completed the painting of your home in time to just enjoy the pleasure that comes with spring? last recall was that you were well immersed in paint……

Take care all

Warm hugs

Kate xxx.

Cloves have many medicinal virtues. They are stimulant. They are useful in counteracting spasmodic disorders and in relieving flatulence. They help stimulate sluggish circulation and thereby promote digestion and metabolism.In the Indian system of medicine, cloves are used in various conditions either in the form of a powder or a decoction made from them. Clove oil contains ingredients that help stabilize blood circulation and regulate body temperature. Clove oil, applied outwardly, has stimulating effects on the skin, producing heat and redness.
Digestive Disorders
Cloves promote enzymatic flow and boost digestive functioning. They are used in various forms of gastric irritability and dyspepsia. Licking the powder of fried cloves mixed with honey is effective in controlling vomiting. The aesthetic action of clove numbs the gullet and stomach and stops vomiting.
Cholera
Cloves are very useful for treating cholera. About 4 grams of cloves are boiled in 3 litres of water until half the water has evaporated. This water, taken in draughts, will check severe symptoms of the disease.
Coughs
Chewing a clove with a crystal of common salt eases expectoration, relieves the irritation in the throat and stops cough in the pharynges—that is, inflammation of the pharynx. Chewing a burnt clove is also an effective medicine for coughs caused by congested throat and pharyngitis.
Three to five drops of clove oil mixed with honey and a clove of garlic helps alleviate the painful spasmodic coughs in tuberculosis, asthma and bronchitis. It should be taken once before going to bed.
Asthma
Clove is an effective remedy for asthma. A teaspoon of decoction prepared by boiling 6 cloves in 30 ml of water can be taken with honey thrice daily as an expectorant.
Teeth Disorders
The use of a clove in toothache decreases pain. It also helps to decrease infection due to its antiseptic properties. Clove oil, applied to a cavity in a decayed tooth, also relieves toothache.
Earache
A clove sautéed in a teaspoon of sesame oil and 3 to 5 drops of this (warm) oil put into the ear can cure earache.
Muscular Cramps
Muscular cramps are often relieved when the oil of dove is applied as a poultice near the affected portion.
Headaches
A paste of clove and salt crystals in milk is a common household remedy for headaches. Salt, as a hygroscopic agent, absorbs fluid and decreases tension.
Sty
Clove is one of the best remedies for sty's which is an inflammation around the eyelash. A clove stub rubbed in water and then applied over the sty gives relief.
Other Uses
Cloves are used as a table spice and mixed with chillies, cinnamon, turmeric and other spices in the preparation of curry powder. They are also used to flavour the betel quid (pan pad). Clove oil is used in the manufacture of perfumes, soaps, bath salts and as a flavouring agent in medicine and dentistry.

Disclaimer
The sole purpose of these newsletters is to provide information. This information is not intended for use in the diagnosis, prevention or cure of any disease. If you have any serious, acute or chronic health concern, please consult a trained health professional who can fully assess your needs and address them effectively.

I apologise for dropping messages on ‘The arrival of baby Reilly, Kate Abbott’. This was caused by the resubmitting of the post, as in the previous one I had spelt her name incorrectly. I do apologise.

Reilly kate arrived early. She was delivered safely after an emergency  caesarean procedure. Baby, mum and Dad all doing fine

It is good to remember that one of our goals in life is to not be perfect. We often lose track of this aspiration. When we make mistakes, we think that we are failing or not measuring up. But if life is about experimenting, experiencing, and learning, then to be imperfect is a prerequisite.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t strive to be our best. We simply accept that there is no such thing as perfection, in life. All living things are in a ceaseless state of movement. Even as you read this, your hair is growing, your cells are dying and being reborn, and your blood is moving through your veins. Your life changes more than it stays the same. Perfection may happen in a moment, but it will not last because it is an impermanent state. Trying to hold on to perfection or forcing it to happen causes frustration and unhappiness.

In spite of this, many of us are in the habit of trying to be perfect. One way to nudge ourselves out of this tendency is to look at our lives and notice that no one is judging. Sometimes, perfectionism is a holdover from our childhood, an ideal we inherited from a demanding parent. We are adults now, and we can choose to let go of the need to perform for someone else’s approval. Similarly, we can choose to experience the universe as a loving place where we are free to be imperfect. Once we realize this, we can begin to take ourselves less seriously and have more fun. Imperfection is inherent to being human. By embracing your imperfections, you embrace yourself and life becomes more interesting.

While many other signs have their creative sides, Pisces is without question the most creative of all signs. Individuals born with a Pisces sun sign tend to be deeply gifted in one or many creative pursuits. Many great writers, artists, musicians, actors and filmmakers share this compelling sign.

Much of Pisces creativity comes from the fact that they are deeply sensitive and emotional people. They are extremely giving and charitable, and always willing to lend a hand to a friend or a loved-one.

Pisces make excellent listeners and also give excellent advice.

Many Pisces suffer from shyness or too much modesty -- not wanting to draw attention to themselves. Even famous or successful Pisces suffer from this trait to some extent, and must constantly force themselves into the limelight where their talents can be seen and appreciated.

Pisces are almost always very diplomatic. Their deep sensitivity towards the feelings of others gives them a keen awareness of what they say, how they say it, and what others want to hear.

Pisces at Work:

While Pisces creativity lends itself most obviously to the typical creative disciplines of music, art, writing and acting -- Pisces individuals in many different professions apply their unique abilities to creative problem-solving and original solutions. As such, Pisces individuals perform well in many different professional areas -- particularly those involving people-skills.

They must always be careful not to react too negatively to criticism, and to not allow opposition to affect them emotionally.

Pisces in Love:

Pisces are made for deep and fulfilling relationships. Their amazing ability to perceive the moods, thoughts and emotions of others give them a profound ability to relate to their loved ones with a deep level of understanding. Their generosity and selflessness know no bounds when they are in love and in a committed relationship.

Because Pisces are dreamers however, there is always the possibility of being led astray. And because they are so concerned with hurting the feelings of their partner -- if Pisces are led astray they tend to become deeply secretive.

Treat a Pisces right, and allow them to be themselves, and they're one of the more stable signs in a relationship.

I received an interesting article about the worldwide economic recession and thought I'd share it with you.  It's not like we have not been here before and we will all survive.  So enjoy the read and let’s get down to living life rather than letting life live us.

Have a wonderful weekend!

"We should remember that the boom-slump cycle is a natural part of our history; indeed, it is indispensable to our psychological make-up. It is like love. It is a basically incurable condition, and we revert to it again and again. First. we conceive the passion - the Tulip Mania, the South Sea Bubble, the dotcom or the property boom - and then we bicycle-pump our hearts with wild hormonal elation, and every time it happens we tell ourselves that this is the big one, this time it's real, this time we have broken the paradigm; and we invest with ever more irrational exuberance, and though some people occasionally tell us that the love-object is not worth it, we don't see it that way, of course we don't, since our exuberance is irrational.

And then it turns out that we have been in some way deceived, and the bubble bursts, as bubbles do, and the irrational optimism gives way to a pessimism that is equally irrational, and life isn't worth living, and nothing will ever be the same again, and we wish we could be towed out to sea and sunk with 20-inch guns.

And that, economically speaking, is where we seem to be today. It is miserable, but it is not so miserable that we have to cease all economic activity out of deference to our misery. Some people genuinely seem to think we would be better off staying at home and growing our own cabbage and baking our own bread. This is insanity. I have just brewed 24 bottles of home-made cider, and by the time I had bought the bottles and the stoppers and the yeast and the press and the alembics, it was the most expensive cider ever made."

(author unknown)

Active volcanoes, nuclear waste deposits, Mayan pyramids - there are lots of places physicists don't want to go in person, for fear of burning in in a river of magma, lethally and painfully failing to develop superpowers, or incurring the wrath of Cizin (Mayan god of death and winner of the "Most people sacrificed" award three millennia running).  Such structures have a scale that laughs in the face of radar and can be so complicated that the best seismic imaging will tell you is "Yep, there's definitely stuff down there all right".  Professor Schwitters of the University of Texas suggests using muons instead.

If you just asked "What's a muon?", then congratulations, you're part of the 99.99999 % of the population that aren't particle physicists.  A muon is a high energy subatomic particle which can penetrate huge volumes of rock, making them perfect for imaging vast structures.  The problem is that the only way humans can produce them is in huge particle accelerators like CERN or Fermilab.  These things cost such a spectacular sum of money that it would probably be cheaper to build your own Mayan pyramid and look at the blueprints to see what's inside, and besides, building a particle accelerator into a live volcano sounds like a great way to convince Bond to shoot you.  Erecting an atom-smasher around a Mayan temple, on the other hand, is a plot that the SciFi channel would dismiss as too stupidly ridiculous despite great lines like

"Professor, the linear coil accelerators are haunted!"

But Professor Schwitter doesn't mess around with piddling little toys like 26 kilometer long accelerators that require the power of a small city.  He's bringing a much bigger muon generator to bear - the universe.  It's a fact that any kind of radiation you care to imagine is generated somewhere out there, and the only reason we aren't all triple-headed glow in the dark skeletons is that the cosmic rays bathing the Earth collide with the upper atmosphere producing all kinds of fancy subatomic particles.  Including muons.  Every square centimeter of the surface receives a complimentary muon per minute courtesy of stuff in space (you've gone through a fair few reading this far), and by planting detectors around the mayan pyramids the professor plans to build up a 3D model of the interior.

The key is that while muons can pass through solid matter, they can be deflected from their path - the more mass, the greater the deflection. In this way the detector data can build up a picture of where there is solid rock (more deflection) and empty chambers (less). Combining subatomic shenanigans, astrophysics and archaeology in this way is one of the coolest crossing of concepts since the short-lived Trampoline Shark Boxing League, and is at least one positive side-effect of every subatomic physicist in the world standing around bored and twiddling their thumbs waiting for the Large Hadron Collider to come online.

Posted by Luke McKinney. Source:www.dailygalaxy.com

Certain aspects of the interlocking Maya calendar system have filtered into public consciousness in the last decade and a half. One of them is the prediction that we will come to the end of a solar-planetary cycle in 2012. But what is this cycle exactly and why is it going to end on the winter solstice of that auspicious year? Is the world going to end as some people are forecasting?

The Maya conceived of time and human history as moving in cycles, small and large. While we use a single calendar to keep track of our annual solar circuit and to mark all of the important days within a year, the Maya used a variety of calendars. The array included a 365-day solar calendar; a 260-day sacred calendar and a Long Count calendar that operated something like an odometer with a zero start date. Unlike the other calendars the Long Count clocked linear time and was programmed to stop after 5,125 years elapsed.

The Long Count was begun at the onset of this current cycle, known as the 5th Sun, in 3114 BC. It will clock the required number of years to complete a full cycle of five suns on December 21, 2012. John Major Jenkins has made the case that this date corresponds to two major alignments, (one between the winter solstice sun and the galactic equator; the other an approximate one between solstice sun and galactic core) and it also completes the Great Zodiac precession cycle of 26,000 years.

The Maya began their Long Count on what they referred to as the ‘Birth of Venus.’ Scholars have never been able to determine what the Maya were referring to and neither have alternative researchers. Nevertheless their sacred calendar, the Tzolkin, placed the synodic cycles of Venus in a central role. The 104-year ‘Venus Round’ cycle (2 Calendar Rounds of 52 years each), was a very important ceremonial event as this was the point in time when the solar and sacred calendars realigned with the cycle of Venus.

An important numerical progression needs to be inserted at this point to provide a basis for the rest of the article. The number thirteen was a root number for the Maya. It is both a prime number and the eighth number in the crucial Fibonacci series that is one source of the Golden Ratio, 1.618.

If we use 13 as the root of the Mayan calendar system we find the following sequence: 13, 26, 39, 52, 65, 78, 91 and 104, which are achieved by simply adding 13 to each succeeding sum. These are the key numbers in the Mayan calendrics and they have a solid scientific footing. Venus was the central component of the Mayan cosmology. It is for good reason that our nearest planetary neighbour is called earth’s sister planet. They have a phase-locked orbital cycle that is based on a 13:8 ratio. That is derived from the fact that Venus revolves around the sun 1.6 times faster than Earth so that 13 Venus revolutions is equal to 8 years.

Why is this important? By establishing Venus as the key component of the sacred calendar they automatically built the Golden Ratio (1.6) into the system since that ratio defines the difference between the two planets orbital cycles. By using 13 as the root number they also included the crucial multiples, or powers, of thirteen - 13,000 and 26,000 - or half as well as the full number of years in the precession. We see that the 5 Suns, each lasting 5,125 years, also add up to the Great Zodiacal Year. We can break these numbers down in different ways and each will show that there was nothing arbitrary about the Mayan system. We somewhat arrogantly disdain other cultures for being superstitious until we come to the number 13 and our own irrationality surfaces. But let’s examine how deeply embedded this number - as well as 26, 52 and 91 - are in our own calendar. Our year is divided into four seasons that are demarcated by the equinoxes and solstices.

Each of the four seasons is 91 days or 13 weeks long, which gives us a year of 52 weeks. We see the key Maya 13-base numerical progression reflected in our own calendar. Half of a year is 26 weeks. It is beyond the scope of this article to delve into all of the intricacies of the Mayan calendrical and mathematical systems; they were extremely adept in these fields.

What has been uncovered during decades of research into this topic are two crucial keys to understanding the system: the ‘Transit of Venus’ and solar output cycles. It just so happens that the 2012 end date corresponds to a Venus Transit cycle that occurs twice in the next 10 years in 2004 and then in 2012. As mentioned above Venus was central to the Mayan cosmology. The Long Count began on what the Maya call the “Birth of Venus” so it is perhaps not too surprising that it ends on a Transit of Venus.

This research has revealed that a Transit of Venus occurred in 1518 and 1526. This was the period when Cortez landed on the shores of the Yucatan and wound up conquering the Aztec empire. The next transit was in 1631-’39. It was followed by a complete stoppage of the sunspot cycle, which lasted for 70 years (science has no explanation for this event). The ‘little ice age’ occurred between 1645 and 1720. What do we find associated with the next transit in 1761-‘69? We discover the birth of the American Revolution.

There is no doubt that the Transit of Venus was an important divinatory alignment factored into the Maya calendar. We will not have to wait for long to test this theory and also get a glimpse of 2012 during the ‘passage’ years. But in reality as Jose Arguelles and others have pointed out the precursor years began in 1987 and the final stages of this cycle really kicked into gear in 1991-’1993. How do we know? There has been a tremendous surge in the number and magnitude of natural disasters and this was also forecast as a harbinger of the 5th Sun’s demise.

13,000 years is a very important time period since we know that the last ice age ended then. This indicates that there is a periodicity to the solar output cycle. There are short and long term fluctuations in solar output and as a result great ice ages, little ice ages and warm inter-glacial, which we are in nearing the end of now.

The cyclical nature of the long range weather patterns are well established is are the variable nature of solar activity. We know that that is true since we have been in a ‘global warming’ period for the past 300 years. The “little ice age” started to thaw in the early 1700s when the sunspot cycle returned. The level of solar activity has been increasing steadily from that ‘zero sunspot point’ right up to our recent sunspot cycles in 1989-‘90 and the double peak in 2000- ’02.

Is it a coincidence that 2012 also coincides with the next solar sunspot maximum? The actual peak of this 300-year cycle of increasing solar output occurred in 1960 when the number of sunspots exceeded 200, the usual peak is around 100-150. Now, what is interesting is that during the first half of the 20th century the Earth’s seismic and volcanic activity were comparatively quiet.

Then after 1960 the level of seismic and volcanic activity increases steadily to the point that the 1990s can accurately be called the ‘decade of disasters’. The surge in major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions radically departed from earlier decades. According to the chief scientist for the world’s largest reinsurance company Zurich Re, “since 1960 natural disasters are a growth industry.” There is hardly the need to mention “global warming” since it is constantly in the headlines. However, the truth is obvious for those that care to see it. The Earth has been warming for 13,000 years with periodic short-term cold spells. However, solar output is the forcing mechanism behind global warming and the 5th Sun is intimately tied to that phenomenon. What does the end of the 5th Sun really mean?

This can be taken very literally to mean that the sun’s output is going to change. We are going to enter the flip side of a new 13,000 year cycle. The earth is overheated and so is the sun, the result being planetary instability manifested in rising earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and erratic weather patterns. These will increase further starting in 2004. The volcanic ash will create more and more cloud cover and that will begin to cool the planet down. If my theory is correct the Maya knew that the Venus Transit acted like a circuit breaker switching off the sunspot cycle and impacting the Sun-Moon-Earth-Venus system. This appears to have happened just prior to the previous two ‘little ice ages’ that were preceded by what solar physicists call the Spoorer (1400-1510) and Maunder Minimum(s) 1640-1710), periods of radically diminished solar activity.

The Venus Transit will trigger the demise of the 5th Sun and set the stage for the next cycle, the 6th Sun. That is the physical side of the Maya 5th Sun forecast. Unlike many predictions this one is built into the Maya calendar and it can be verified with some historical research. Is the world going to end in a violent crescendo of natural disasters and impacts from cosmic objects? This is not likely to be the disaster anticipated nor is it what the Maya predicted.
However, a prolonged period of change is on the horizon that will be ushered in by the 2004 – 2012 ‘passage’. It will culminate in the galactic alignment and complete the processional cycle at that point.
Source: Diagnosis 2012

The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the world's ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

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Hello Horst, thanks for the visit and your comment. I hope this answers your question

Salad Rocket is also referred to as Arugula

All rocket species have a distinct, pungent-aromatic flavour; the pungency increases with the age of the leaf. The aroma is often described as nutty, herbal or green. The rocket species are native to Central and Southern Europe, but have also been spread to Northern America.