Nessie!

The beast said to inhabit Loch ness in Scotland highland which is said that have more freshwater than England and Wales combined. The legend began in the 6th century when St. Columba went to Christianize the country who ordered one of his monks to swim across the loch to get the boat and when suddenly a monster appeared to the monk, then St. Columba upon seeing the monster said these famous lines: "go no further, nor touch the man, go back!" and the monster (nessie) said to fled.

After that story a numerous number of explorers gathers round the loch and waiting for the appearance of the 'Monster'. And centuries of waiting, in 1934, there was a man who was allegedly caught a picture of the monster, but it was deemed fake during the late 70's and during the 80's it is said to be a diving board and lately it is said to be a hoax perpetrated by the Big-game hunter who took the shot, and the reality was it was a toy with a clay attached to it.

In 18th century, the loch ness monter said to have a color of an elephant, a small head that is turning side to side. After a year the witnesses found the creature in the wooded area, that has 4 legs, long nech and a dak grey color. In the early 19th century it is compared to a camel but smaller, long neck, humped-back and fairly long legs, sandy pale yellow color. In 1934 Grunt said it has a bulky body with 2 slight humps, long tail, rounded at end. head like an ell with large eyes. Overall length is 15-20 ft, tail is 5-6ft, neck 3-4ft long,maximum diameter of 4ft and the color was black or dark brown.

Even for today it is being verified if the creature really exist.

New data last May 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB_c2RwpbXU

Degeneration of Society

The Guardian of the Cause of God, Shogi Effendi had said:

"Indeed, the chief reason for the evils now rampant in society is the lack of spirituality. The materialistic civilization of our age has so much absorbed the energy and interest of mankind that people in general do no longer feel the necessity of raising themselves above the forces and condition of their daily material existence. There is not sufficient demand for things that we should call spiritual to differentiate them from the needs and requirements of our physical existence."

There are a number of conditions when he describes the process of disintegration in the world. Among them are: moral downfall, laxity and depravity of the permissive society, irresponsible attitude towards marriage and the consequent tide of divorce, weakening of family solidarity and progressive slackening of parental control, feverish pursuit after earthly vanities, riches and pleasures, lapse into luxurious indulgences, the degeneracy of art and music, the deterioration of the standard of literature and of the press, racial animosity and patriotic arrogance.

Media and technology as we know today, has made our lives easier, albeit enjoyment and communication. But if we look deeper into the condition of our society, we see more violence exploitation degradation of family solidarity, music,arts and many others.

The opposite effect effect is rather alarming. If we try to evaluate the mode of music, commercials and programs aired by the media today, there is a lack of language and images that instill us noble thoughts. The effect is so strong that the society accepts these foul language and images as a standard. Technology help us execute things more efficiently and quickly, giving us more time, but in reverse, we still try to add more hours to our laziness, vanities and things that obviously harmful to us and others. The purpose of media & technology is not at bad, but the effects,when not controlled, would be very dangerous.

People became more focused on getting ahead,competing with others,acquiring more and more of material things than focus on what is really needed when people are dying everyday from hunger, oppressions and many more and the thirst for power become more evident; misuse of our natural resources leads to environmental problems;the disregard of the Divinity of our nature is so widespread which is lowering the standards of moral behavior resulting in the misdirection in our sense of purpose.

Material progress is surely dominating our civilization, but this will not sustain us long enough to see a brighter future. This should be accompanies with our spiritual progress- for it is our natural part of existence.

The trap within the war

This is a story of a boy whose name is John-to hide his real name- who had seen the effects of violence and war since has was eights. When he was thirteen he began to promote peace in schools and youth organizations, accepting the consequences which included harsh ridicule from some of his peers:

None of it bothered me. My family believed it was important to care about the community and to do whatever we could help. Even though I was only thirteen, I could see that the biggest problems facing us were violence and the war. Peace was needed more than anything else. Of course, it is hard for a child to try to make peace, but trying is the only way anything ever happens...

So many lies have been told in my country for so many years that people do not know what or who to believe anymore. They cannot always trust the newspapers, the radio or television, the politicians, the armed group-but when they hear children talking about the violence and the war is affects us and how we want peace, somehow they know they are hearing the truth...

Some people say they are fighting for the poor, but the poor have suffered more than anyone else in the war. I think that some people are also fighting for revenge, or for power, or because they feel that they have no other choice. Some young people join the armed groups because their families are poor and they see no other way out.

John and his family were threatened in the midst of civil conflict and had to move out of town. His father went back and forth between his office and the farm in which they lived, but this relative calm could not be maintained. His active support of the processes of peace finally resulted in his being assassinated.

I thought I understood about war because I lived in the thick of the conflict. There were battles in the streets during the night. I was often woken up by gunfire. When I went to school in the morning. I saw the evidence - the blood on the sidewalks, the bullet-riddled buildings. And I had seen the victims at the morgue, not far from my fathers office.

I had talked about this with confidence, as if I knew what the war meant - but when my father was murdered, I was shattered not just by grief, but because then I understood the war. I knew what if felt like to want to fight. I realized that no matter how much you want peace, you take a stop towards violence when the war hits you personally.

This is the same trap that has caught so many people in my country....

Nothing was the same afterwards. The house felt like a dead empty shell, The streets that were so familiar all looked strange. Nothing and nowhere felt safe. I thought all my work for peace was worth nothing because it had not saved my father. The horrific violence that had engulfed our town had finally struck the heart of my family - and I had been unable to stop it. I blamed my self. I asked myself "What had i done that my father should die in such a violent way?"

The family continued to be threatened. John bought a gun in order to protect his loved one. One evening, ten days after his father was killed all members of John's family were gathered in a room on the upper floor of the house. As John came down to the kitchen he saw an intruder in the garden carrying a gun and looking at the second floor windows:

I knew that I could gun and kill this man.. It would be taking revenge for my father's death. I would be protecting my family. And almost no one in.. would be me for shooting him.. Yet while all of this was true I did nothing.. My father had wanted me to work for peace. How could I become violent now? The only way I could show respect and love for my father, the only way I could help save my family, was by trying to make peace. Killing him would bring no peace to me, or my family or my country. In fact, by killing him I would lose everything. I would be no better than he was.

John watched the intruder quietly who, after a while and for no apparent reason, turned away and left. Not long after, John got rid of his gun and decided never again to acquire one.

Miss Mafia!

In Hungary, a beauty pageant for girls, who were accused of Mafia-connected crimes, is held last week.

This year in Budapest, the organizers will be hosting the first-ever contest exclusively for women, who are committed crimes such as, thievery, fraud, bank robbery and swindling.

To get into the contest, the gang member will post a picture in a specific website only after submitting to the police their mugshot to prove their backgrounds with charges and time spent behind bars.

Ann, who as a finalist in the said competition, said that "I was told by my friends several times to go in for a beauty contest. But I couldn't because they rule out anyone with a criminal record.

The finals was held in a bar that was once bombed out by a mafia clan fight.

The winner got a car and an apartment.

Language

As we celebrate this month the importance of our national language, Filipino, the question came to me-how can I give importance and contribute to enrich it?

There must be numerous ways. One thing I am sure of is by using it the right way, expressing my thoughts and letting others feel that our language is beautiful. Simply using it everyday is preserving it, but more to that is how we translate our words into actions, I believe this is the truest way to enrich it. A noble idea can be appreciated but putting it into action is giving life to every letter and words which makes it alive inside of us. The most powerful collective result language can achieve is to motivate each person to participate in social action.

Being a student, I know the possibilities are endless but again, it lies in my own understanding of why I need to do it and how, which leads me back to my purpose as a part of this human family created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.

The Carpenter's Story

This is indeed a heart-warming story of a carpenter who made a bridge to unite two estranged brothers instead of following the older brother's order to build a fence separating him farther away from his younger brother. He used his skills and his wisdom to accomplish his task. He made them realize that people can always have choices with our actions-either to just do something that benefits one person or reach out and see more beyond the words of people, not acceding to their shallow needs but letting them reflect on what their divine needs and responsibilities are.

In our society now, how many people have the carpenter's perspective?to conquer the hatred with a more powerful thought of love to bring more light in this world. Would the most knowledgeable engineer think the way the carpenter did? As a member of the greater human family, how can I contribute to building bridges in this world that has become too small to be filled with fences?
Just like the carpenter, I should have some skills to contribute to building something, and that skill is developed through education. If in each community, education is given the most importance where the members can use their talents and skills to help others and improve their conditions, the world by now must have become one country.

Education is just one of the strong foundations to build bridges that I will mention here. We know that knowledge is acquired through science(understanding our physical environment) and religion(spiritual reality and its relation to the individual and community life-in its pure form the source of unity). These two are both needed because they help us understand the world we live in. If science is without religion, it becomes dogmatic materialism; and religion without science becomes superstition. The forces of these two work together to overcome superstition so that humanity can advance free from the limitations on the human mind.

As a student I hope that my education will help me fulfill my purpose: to be like the carpenter building bridges to make the world just one homeland for everyone.

Mysterious Mountain

I found the text very informative and it is presented chronologically. Mt. Apo was described through the order of time. Also a great deal of information was given in various fields like how it was named, it's geological truths and spiritual beliefs about Mt. Apo.

The text is also easy to understand because the vocabularies are easy and the text is objective, it adds to the interest of the reader because it gives him a vivid picture of Mount Apo in his thought.

Therefore, descriptive type of narration can point the scene of the story, the appearance or characters. It also makes places more concrete and through imagination it is presented to the reader and through descriptive writing and wide scope of informatiuon and creativity it can light the fire of interest to a person or whatnot.

No One Stops To Say "Thank You" Anymore

The world in which we live is now on it's transitory stage, humanity just got to the stage of maturity and the advancement of science is fast approaching. Sometimes we tend to forget to acquire spiritual qualities and focus only on acquisition of material things,even depriving our little ones with these immeasurable gifts. These qualities although inherent to us need to be practiced in order for them to become active. One should guide one another especially the little ones because these pure-hearted children are still free from the world's impurities,their hearts should be polished constantly with the help of the parents especially the mother, then eventually by himself/herself and continue to pass on the gifts she/he had received to other people and become a polished mirror that completely reflects the attributes of God and attracts like a radiant lamp that guides others to the straight path.

As society advances materially, it should be accompanied by spiritual progress. It's like the wing of a bird that it can neither fly without each other, when these two are intertwined only then that humans can attain true advancement. We should always harmonize our earthly goals with the laws of God. Meaing we should focus our strength, vigor and intelligence for the benefit of civilization, not on our personal pursuit.

We should start building this civilization by appreciating and doing simple courtesies, for the acquisition of these qualities depend on the person's capacity to receive them. We must strive day and night to expand our capacity to receive these bounties by offering a hand to the needy and by simply saying "thank you" to a person who helped us along the way.

The difference between the impossible and possible lies in the person's determination.

We all have our own dreams to achieve in life. These are built for the benefit of people we love and our community but the question is how can we make an impossible dream possible? And where does that feeling of deep striving come from? We know that striving for something is always a part of our nature, not just striving to simply acquire something but striving for excellence. People who have given so much and developed their potentials to the fullest made a difference. I believe each of us is born to make a difference. So how can we achieve a dream that seems so far away?

Understanding is the greatest of all motivators. That knowledge of our own self capable of developing potentials to the fullest will then fill us with the ardent desire to work for it. Now that we have the knowledge and the ardent desire to develop our capacity, what else do we need? We should then possess that will to do it. Then we should make a constant effort to develop our capacity. What else do we need aside from these? Will we succeed now? The last and the most important is to supplicate to our Creator to grant us succor and grace in achieving our purpose. These steps will surely assist us in achieving our dreams in life, but as one person put it, it all lies in our determination to carry on with each step.

Life is so short that we should fill each moment with the acquisition of spiritual attributes that we need in the next world, this is the most impossible task that each of us was born to achieve. And the world is just waiting for us to make it possible.

Human as a distinct creature above all creatures on Earth

Still, some of us believe that humanity's ancestors are mammals, apes and chimps, but I do believe that

humans are already human from the beginning, millions of years ago. It is because of the environment they live in,

and thus, intellectual powers are still hidden, waiting to be discovered. They, the humans, have fur and also walk with their hands, because the strongest predators at that time walk with their hands(lions, tigers, mammoth, apes) and so they mimic them (sign of brain development). And humans that time have fur because, and of course, it's very logical to have some protection on skin million of years ago when fire is not yet discovered. He needs some sort of protection and thus fur is essential that time. And after millions of years humans discovered fire and slowly knew how to build houses to protect them from violent weathers, eventually the physical appearance of human adopted to the changes happening in their environment and the brain/intellectual powers are rapidly developing. They less and less needed the fur, they now need agility and dexterity, and thus resulting in using their hands in combat for effective hunting. But now our physical appearance is on it's perfection, we are not adopting physically to the environment anymore, on the other hand we are using the environment to accommodate our needs.

Thus I conclude that our physical evolution is at it's perfection.

All things either make progress or lose ground. Everything moves forward or backward, nothing is without motion. From his birth, a man progresses physically until he reaches maturity, then, having arrived at the prime of his life, he begins to decline, the strength and powers of his body decrease, and he gradually arrives at the hour of death. Likewise the plant progresses from the seed to maturity, then it's life begins to lessen until it fades and dies. A bird soars to a certain height and having reached the highest possible point in it's flight, begins its descent to earth.

Thus it is evident that movement is essential to all existence. All material things progress to a certain point and then begin to decline. This is the law which governs the whole physical creation.

Now let us consider our distinct feature that no creatures on earth have, the rational soul or so I say, our intellectual powers or the Mind. How can humanity progress this much or the so-called ancestors of humans, the apes are still monkeys? If humans are from the apes, there shouldn't be a single ape right now because they should have evolved as humans.

Let us say the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdom have also their spirits/powers. For example the mineral kingdom have the power of existence. The vegetable kingdom the power of growth. The animals have the power of the senses, also for humans the intellectual powers or powers of the mind.

Our human spirit/rational soul embraces all beings, and as for our human ability it permits discovery of the realities of things and become cognizant to their peculiarities and effects.For however much the mineral can progress, it can never comprehend the vegetable world, now that lack of comprehension does not prove the non-existence of plants.To however great a degree a plant may evolve it is unable to understand the animal world; this ignorance is no proof that animals do not exist. The animal be he never so highly developed cannot imagine the intelligence of man, neither can he realize the nature of his soul. But again, this does not prove that man is without intellect or without soul. It only demonstrate this, that one form of existence is incapable of comprehending a form superior to itself.

My main point here is not about evolution or motions: forward and backward but the distinction of our existence that no other creatures on earth have.Next topic if I have the chance I'll discuss the nature of the next form of existence a world above ours, the spiritual world and the continuity of our existence which is our destined goal, inevitable to alter.

My hope for you, is that you will progress in your acquisition and developing spiritual powers in this world of matter, that your intelligence will develop, your knowledge will augment, and your understanding be widened. You must ever press forward never standing still; avoid stagnation the first step to a backward movement, to decay.

Good day.

SERIOUSLY!!

SHORT SUMMARY:

Edmond Dantes, a young and innocent sailor from Marseilles, whom after being betrayed by his jealous best friend Fernand Mondego is imprisoned in the infamous Chateau d'If. During his stay in this hardly hospitable prison—his warden whips him for each anniversary of his stay—he befriends inmate Abbe Farria who teaches him philosophy, science and the art of fencing. Before dying, the priest gives him the location of an immense treasure that Dantes recovers after a daring escape. Returning to France under the name of the lavish Count Monte Cristo, he uses his fortune to get back at those who sent him to jail and meets again with his former fiancee Mercedès now married to Mondego.

SPOILER ALERT!

Seriously I've been looking forward for this movie (before). I'm not a novel reader but I really like

how Alexander Dumas wrote his novels. It's kinda disappointing because lots of subplots from the

novel aren't present or have loose ends in the movie which doesn't give us enough time to fully enjoy

all the subtle mechanism of the count's vengeance. But still, it is a great movie and I applaud them from

being to summarize the novel to a short 2 hour movie.

To further add, I really like how the director change some of the encounters and conversations, like

Fernand and Edmund battle for the first time with the swords in the movie. That is really awesome.

And of course I like how it ends in the movie; in the novel, Fernand took his life and Edmond is alone

and never to be with Mercedes, but in the movie Fernand and Edmond had a clash in the ending and

thus resulting Fernand's Death.

I really urge you to watch this great movie even though it lacks some of the detailed tasks the count

had made.

And oh, by the way' I really liked how he flashily come to the party from a balloon and only said

"Greetings." with such a soft and cunning voice. '-'

Activity 1. Purpose of Life

Many of us is wondering what is our purpose in life. Well, as for me first, is to know our Creator

and to love Him and second, is to contribute to the ever advancing civilization. To "contribute"

constitute many things, I can contribute financially, contribute morally etc.. But I define "contribute"

as myself being in the grassroots itself, meaning directly contributing and tending to the needs of society.

And that is why I'm studying BS Psychology to further enhance my understanding about human behavior

and its components.Now, why is my chosen course is related to the contribution in the ever-advancing

civilization? Well me, as a Psychologist, I can study their thoughts, feelings, and their personality,

so I can prepare a material or make my approach according to the society's needs and interest. It's already

been proven that as a Physician, you must thoroughly examine the patient first before giving the

appropriate medicine. And in relation to that, I can devise a strategy that will help to cure the society's

ill and make humanity or it's inhabitants benefit therefrom. And of course, can share the learnings

and insights we have gotten from it, for the world is waiting for that special contribution each

of use is born to make.

Just like me a couple of years ago. I don't even have the slightest interest in these fields,

and for that, I believe that personality has no element of permanence and through constant handwork

and steadfastness you too will unlock that hidden potentialities within you and what is it you have

to do to contribute to the ever-advancing civilization.

My prayer to all of you is that your spiritual faculties and aspirations daily increase, and

that you will not allow the material senses to veil from your eyes the Heavenly Illumination.

Andy McKee - Rylynn - Acoustic Guitar - www.candyrat.com

Hope you guys enjoy this as much as I do!

Secret Garden ~ Songs From A Secret Garden

Song From A Secret Garden (Album Version) by Secret Garden

Song From A Secret Garden (Album Version) by Secret Garden