Good Music

So much of today’s popular music is labeled as so because of how much it is advertised, or rather, it becomes so because of how much it is advertised.  Additionally, I think most of this music is of rather terrible quality, and deprives the general public of a deserved sensory experience. Therefore, to make it easier, I’d like to recommend a number of relatively unknown bands to whoever reads this. Please look into these bands, I promise you’ll find something you enjoy; all you really should need to do is go to youtube.com or google and type in the band’s name. Keep in mind, though, if the recording is live, then the quality may be different.

To start with, anyone who enjoys acoustic guitar should check out this guy. John Butler, or his band John Butler Trio, are a band with roots in Australia and South America just to name a few; however, their structure is similar to many American bands, being composed of a guitarist, a bassist (who will also play the didjeridoo simultaneously), and a drummer.  John hand picks a 12 string guitar with 2 of the strings taken off, allowing him to solo easier, in a very unique style, which I think many people will enjoy.

To see him playing by himself at Rothbury (the most incredible festival in recent years), go to youtube, and type in “John Butler Rothbury” and the first video should be of him playing a song called “Ocean.” It is incredible, especially around the six minute mark or so (I’m not too sure when it is exactly, but you’ll know the moment I’m talking about if you watch it - best example of an unexplainable mass ascension in energy from music).

A good band from New Orleans that doesn’t usually receive the credit they deserve is a band called Dumpstaphunk. Sometimes billed as Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, the band is comprised of two members of the Neville family (the most accomplished funk musicians from New Orleans), Ivan Neville and Ian Neville (Art Neville’s son), who play the organ and guitar, respectively. Adding to the funk, Raymond Webber plays drums while Nick Daniels and Tony Hall both play bass (although Tony will sometimes hop on guitar, as does Ivan). This is seriously the funkiest band in New Orleans right now, definitely worth a listen.

Toubab Krewe is another band that deserves a lot of credit for the music they create.  This band plays a mixture of African influenced music with their own style, creating an interesting mix of instrumental jams that are hard to describe.  An interesting aspect of this band is that they incorporate several African instruments into their music. These instruments include the kora (a 21 string African harp) among others.  For great quality and good music, go to google and type in “iclips.net Toubab Krewe Jam Cruise.”

Another great artist is Xavier Rudd. He’s an incredible multi-instrumentalist from Down Under. He plays slide guitar (on his lap usually), harmonica, didjeridoos, and other instruments usually simultaneously.  Go to youtube and search “Xavier Rudd Let me be.” It’s great music, acoustic based and kind of a beachy feel. It’s very up beat as well.

Lastly, I’d like to point out a few bluegrassesqu bands. First and foremost, Leftover Salmon is   an amazing band that blends Cajun music with Bluegrass and really creates an incredible musical experience.  They’ve had incredible influence on some more recent bands of a similar genre, Yonder Mountain String Band and Railroad Earth. Both of these bands warrant a listen if you enjoy any kind of country music or really if you just have good ears....

I really hope someone takes the opportunity to look into these bands, they really are some of the best bands of today. Unfortunately, they haven’t necessarily “sold out” or latched onto a particular market group, etc. Please, please give one of these bands a shot, you won’t be disappointed.

Quitting Cigarettes

If you don't want to read the blog, that's cool. But honestly, if you or anyone you know smokes cigarettes, then Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking is a book that made quitting smoking for me easy. I don't know how to fully explain how, but I'll try.  It really is an easy way to stop, it's been over three weeks since I've had a cigarette and the entire process was easy, and relatively craving free. Honestly, it was kind of fun.

For the past four years of my life, I smoked about a pack a day, consistently. Then, after reading a book, I was able to stop. I know it sounds crazy, but here's really what happened.  Rarely did I ever manage, in that time frame, to ever go more than a day without a cigarette.  I found it difficult to cut down, difficult to quit, and continually frustrating as I knew that it was the worst part of my life.  It really was.  When I think about it now, it confuses me to no end.  It had been over a year since I had taken any pharmaceutical medication, not even so much as an Advil, yet I continued to smoke a pack of cigarettes daily.

Then, as weird as this sounds, I came across a file on my computer that had "quit smoking" in the name, and I decided to open it.   It was about 2 AM, and I didn't have anything else to do, so i started reading it.  The file was a PDF file of a book called "Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking." I was pretty interested right away and read about 60 or 70 pages of the book before I turned off my computer.

 The most interesting part about this book was that he didn't focus on why cigarettes were harmful, etc. Nor did he focus on how much money you would save, etc. These were all aspects of the book, sure, but his focus was on why it's difficult to quit. Essentially, he explains that we become brainwashed into thinking quitting is hard, etc. and explains the truth behind many aspects of smoking. I know this sounds kind of like a hypnotist thing, but I promise, it isn't.

Also, he encourages you to continue smoking as you read the book, because once you have finished the book, you'll have grasped the concept and no longer want to smoke cigarettes, and quitting will now be easy.  I know that sounds crazy, but really, what the book does is allow you to have a conversation with yourself (and I guess Mr. Carr) about cigarettes, and really reach the truth, which, once you realize, will make cigarettes the easiest habit to quit. Think of it this way, running a 4 minute mile is hard, you have to train for it, etc. But quitting cigarettes is easy, all you have to do is not do something.

Composting/Recycling

Taking a break from the research I've been talking about, I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about a few things. I just moved into a new apartment about a month ago, and while the restrictions are obvious, I've been working on starting a compost. Ultimately, I plan to include this in the process of growing my own food and having a self sustaining garden. For anyone interested in gardening, check out companion gardening and permaculture; nowadays, there's plenty of well organized information (that's easy to access) about which plants grow well together and form symbiotic relationships, etc. Anyways, there's my idea for the compost. When I was younger, we had a large metal cylinder we kept the compost in, which we were able to turn because it was on an axis. Currently, I'm just using a plastic box with soil, some shredded leaves and things, plus food wastes and other stuff in it. What I'd like to do is to build a miniature cylinder that i can turn, similar to the one my family used when I was younger.

Additionally, I'd enjoy any help in creating this compost than anyone would like to offer. If you happen to recycle your things, maybe you want to go the extra mile and separate your stuff into three containers: waste, recycle, and compost. If you do, I'd gladly pick up two of the 3 (my apartment complex doesn't recycle, so I have to make trips to the dump anyways) and include your food waste in the compost. Ideally, I'd like to have to move my compost to my friend's place where there's more room, all I need is some help filling it.

One thing I've thought a lot about recently is why so many people want to recycle. I don't mean to say that I don't know why we should recycle, because I do. But, many people don't really gear their lives in that direction, but when it comes to "being green" they make sure to point out that they recycle, etc. So why do people think it is "good" to recycle? My answer is very simple. If you can appreciate the idea of every living and even non living thing being interconnected and a part of everything else, then you realize that serving to benefit other things (anything from another individual to a tree to recycling your water bottles) actually benefits yourself, because you are everything, in a sense. With that idea in mind, you're essentially able to answer any moral dilemma, or any question as to "why is this right or good?" If you can grasp that concept, everything else falls into place.

I'll give a quick synopsis of the last post. A credible study observed the locations of every naval or aviation disappearance to ever be recorded. What the study found was that all of these disappearances occurred in close proximity to twelve spots around the planet. Furthermore, all of these locations are equidistant from each other, and when you connect them to the poles, you create a 3-dimensional figure called an icosahedron. If you take this figure and invert it (take the geometric opposite of it), and then connect those locations to the original ones (not all of them together, just each dot to its respective adjacent spots), you're given a web-like diagram around the Earth. What's most interesting about this is that EVERY SINGLE monolithic structure can be located on one of these "ley lines." There is not a single monolithic structure of the slightest significance that does not occur precisely on these lines. So, where's that lead us?

The next research I'd like to talk about involves the Russians. There was a man named Alexander Golod who headed a certain group of experiments. What Golod did was he built pyramids. Using fiberglass, Golod build pyramids over 100 ft tall. So, what did they find? They found some pretty shocking results. First, Golod recognized that the pyramid's presence itself created an energy beam that came from the pyramid. Even more startling, is the fact that the damaged ozone layer above these areas was repaired so quickly no scientists could explain it. Additionally, some incredible effects could be found elsewhere. In addition to the energy created, the pyramids seemed to affect practically every other area of life. When one pyramid was next to several oil fields, all of the wells, everything else constant, were able to draw on average 25% more oil; moreover, the oil was 25% purer! Additionally, seeds that were placed in the pyramid before being grown yielded anywhere from a 30% to 100% increase in growth. It keeps getting more impressive. Golod even found that immune systems were increased incredibly when subjected to the pyramid's energy field. A control experiment had been carried out which infected mice with a deadly virus or disease (can't remember really) that consistently killed on average 60% of the mice. When the exact same experiment was carried out under the pyramid, only (get ready for it) 6% died! That means that instead of 40% surviving, 94% survived! Wow. It doesn't stop here, either. They also found that the yearly earthquakes of a significant magnitude stopped occurring altogether. Instead, the areas would experience much smaller tremors that caused essentially no damage. What else? Oh yeah, when they took some of these pyramids down, they used the crystalline structures in prisons. All they did was face these structures around the prison; they didn't change anything else. Guess what happened. With over 5000 prisoners, almost all traces of crime and violent behavior had been eradicated in a few months. Keep in mind the only change was simply bringing part of the pyramid to the prison. In addition, prisoners had unheard of addiction recovery rates, improving practically all aspects of their lives. So, what's all this getting at? Obviously, it's pretty revolutionary stuff if it's true, which it is; please challenge me or look it up if you don't believe me. I'll get to the rest of it soon, don't worry.

Some Interesting Things to Consider

In today's blog, I'm gonna talk about a lecture I watched recently. Basically, this lecture tied together mainstream research, and, essentially, explained how a type of energy field (they call it consciousness) which exists everywhere in the universe, and it defies our current physics. Furthermore, while we do not quite understand this "energy" yet, it seems that our ancestors and people that have come before us have. So, I'll do my best to explain it, and, while I won't get very far on this one blog post, over the next few blogs, I should have it fully explained. Trust me, it's very interesting and provocative stuff.

To begin with, there was this guy named Alfred Watkins that researched "ley lines" back in the 1920s. This guy found out that many monolithic structures, as well as spiritual sites, including massive cathedrals, all could be found on this one line of latitude.

The next research that occurred of significance to this topic, occurred in the 1940s, I think, and it was conducted by a man named Ivan Sanderson. Basically what Sanderson did was look at every disappearance that had ever occurred in aviation or any kind of marine voyage (including boats, submarines, etc.). What he found is astounding. Sanderson discovered that literally all of these (over 99.9%) disappearances occurred around 12 specific points around the globe (yes these include the Bermuda Triangle and the "Danger" or "Dead Zone" around Japan).

Furthermore, and even more astounding, is that these twelve points aren't randomly scattered. They're all equidistant from eachother, and when you connect them with the North and South poles, you get a geometric shape called an icosahedron. It's basically the same shape as a 20-sided dice.

The next research of significance came about by looking at the geometry of Sanderson's findings. Because the icosahedron is a perfect geometric three-dimensional figure, it can be inverted. These scientists, three Russian guys (I forget their names right now, they all end in "ov"), found that when you invert this shape, and then take the resulting points with the other adjacent points from the original twelve points Sanderson found, as well as the poles, you get something that resembles a net around the Earth. Now, I'll leave you all with this. Imagine this net, or grid around the globe, it sort of resembles a soccer ball. OK, so what these Russian guys discovered was that EVERY monolithic structure (including the pyramids, Easter Island, the Mayan structures, and many others) had been constructed on these lines that make up the "grid" or this net-like diagram around the Earth.

OK, I'll give you a peak into the next one. Why build pyramids? Well, we should do research right? Well, the Russians did. They built pyramids. What was the result? I'll talk about it next week, but essentially, what they found was that these pyramids, simply by existing, improved every aspect of life, boosting immunity, decreasing the severity of earthquakes, improving naturalistic aspects of the Earth, and even improving behavior in prisoners. I'll explain it all more next week.

Clearing some things up

So, I thought a little about my post last week. I think I ought to explain a few things. First, I know exactly where my friend's head is at. I know exactly what he is thinking (well, not exactly, but yes, I do understand why he is where he is). So, here goes nothing (or rather, everything). I'll start with what I'm not sure about, and move onto what I do know. First, I don't know that the best way to serve "the cause" is to immediately lead by example. I think that, given our societal bounds and limitations, one doesn't have to abandon society altogether to advocate for a change. Rather, I think that it is important to manipulate and take advantage of these silly bounds/limitations, so that, once you have, you can, from a (according to the masses) more "respected" position be advocating for whatever. This is my friend's and mine only disagreement. While he's ready to lead by example, I think it's important to take advantage of society (no matter how absurd it is) in order to affect change. Of course, there's the difference really, regardless of whatever else I say. I think he's looking for his own individual spiritual growth (undeterred by society), while I'm looking to advocate and affect societal growth, simultaneously growing as a spiritual individual (at least, hopefully). This doesn't mean that I will never live my life in a way that is by example, in fact, I've started, I'll continue, and I'm sure one day, both of us will be on the same page. However, he's fully pushing himself towards this, without trying to take advantage of society, rather, he's abandoning it. I understand this. I relish it, actually. I can't wait to visit and spend some time in the same fashion.
But here's what everyone reading this is probably wondering, what the hell am I talking about? Here's what I'm talking about: We all come from this Earth. No matter what you believe, I find it pretty hard to deny that everything is in some way interconnected. Every atom, every molecule, every cell, every organ, every organ system, every organism, every ecosystem, EVERYTHING is interconnected.  So, knowing this, we really should look out at the world as ourselves.  I'm not saying there isn't a God. What I'm saying is that there is God, but that we are seriously denying ourselves spiritual opportunity by living the way that we are. We seperate ourselves entirely from our mother, and consequently, from ourselves as well.  So here's what he's doing, and why: Simple living and high thinking. Simply put, live off of the land, more or less sustainably, and live civilized. I don't mean civilized as in usual terms; in fact, I'd say usual terms deem civilized man as one of the most uncivilized creatures. Here's what I mean by this, we're given, by nature, so many different and delicious (and nutritious) things to eat. We don't need to kill animals in order to get food. We need to live peacefully in a symbiotic nature. Think of the cow, he eats grass all day, and supplies us with milk. Now, unless you're a vegan, I'm pretty sure you've enjoyed milk before, let alone the countless number of foods you can make from it.  So, while I know this has gone all over the place (my apologies), what I'm trying to say is that my friend is living life the way it is, in essence, supposed to be lived. This is not counting out charitable actions or any kind of existence that promotes wellbeing, etc. This is to say that our current way of living typically, is conducive on so many levels. It hurts us as spiritual beings, which we are (account for your own existence if you disagree). It hurts us with concerns to health; look at our diseases! Now, before you say I'm crazy, did you know the animals that carry the most diseases per population are those that have the most interaction with humans? Not surprising, at all really. Finally, it hurts us individually. Look at the travesties that occur on other continents that we turn our backs to. How can we be proud of our country when there are others that need assistance? Be proud of individuals, be proud of good doers, be proud of those who really try, but be quick to recognize and discourage actions that are founded for selfish reasons, and you'll soon understand why our world is the way it is today. If you read all of that, sorry it was so all over the place, ask me about what I left out and I'll gladly share. Don't worry, though, I won't be waiting for a response.

Blog Post 2

I bet by now I've weeded out any non-sports enthusiasts. Too bad too, I was just about to get to music. In addition to playing soccer and coaching, I'm a huge music freak. I only say freak because I go through way too much trouble (never too much- just more than most people) to find music I really enjoy, as well as figure out how I can see it. For example, this past summer a friend and I trucked as far as Maine and back for the sole purpose of seeing music and whatever else we came across.  It was an incredible experience for both of us, and, unfortunately, I haven't seen this friend recently. He left for Tennessee to work on a farm (I would suspect an organic one), and hasn't really had a phone since. What you might find interesting is that, in the eyes of many, in fact most, my friend "went crazy." This is because he decided to be a vegetarian, drop out of school, and work on a farm.  I heard plenty of things, mostly the brief but broad "he went crazy" or "he just lost it," but all of this really only pointed one generalized thing out to me, which is this: People's perceptions are solely based  upon their own experiences, and once something either challenges, or worse, confuses those perceptions, then people (usually) combat these notions (the ones that challenge or confuse their perceptions). One way of combattance is to dismiss the notion as "crazy," implying that anyone "in their right mind" would not consider such a thing (this is regardless of what the notion truly is); this is what I witnessed most in this scenario. Also common, another form of combattance would be to oppose the notion, we see this in many other similar scenarios. Unfortunately, what seems to be the least common approach, is to identify with the notions, seperating ourselves from our own perceptions.

Let's Start with Soccer

To start with, I'm not really sure what I'd like my blog to be about, nor do I know what would be most beneficial (not just to me, but to you as well) for me to write.  So, with that in mind, I'll use this first post to briefly introduce you to myself, let you know how I keep myself busy, what my interests are (if we get that far), and I'll make sure to leave a disclaimer at the bottom to remind you all not to take me entirely seriously.
That last part, we might not go that far, but if we do, just remember I told you so. Anyways, who am I? Right now, I just finished my first season of coaching the JV team at Magnet High. It's not the most prestigious coaching position, but I'm working with my old coach, which has been an incredible experience. My first two years of college I spent playing soccer at Centenary, and honestly, it was miserable.  I won't go into too much detail about that, but the coach hardly knew soccer from football, and I felt as if I was losing "soccer intelligence" (which was the sole reason I wanted to play college soccer). Anyways, Radi, my old coach at Magnet, called me up and offered me the job, and I've enjoyed every minute of it (by the way, if anyone wants their child or whoever to do well in soccer, they need to work with Radi, he's by far the most knowledgeable individual in the state when it comes to soccer).  So, now that the season's over, my last obligation comes in the form of the banquet. This will be my seventh Magnet Soccer banquet in a row (4 as a player, 2 as a brother, this one as a brother and a coach), and I've got another four left at least, because my brother will be at Magnet next year.  Wow, this kind of became about coaching, but that's alright; honestly, it would have come out sooner or later. I guess that just goes to show how significant a part of my life that became. Anyway, aside from coaching, I've been trying to get back in shape for soccer at LSUS. I haven't played a whole lot (by my standards) since at Centenary, so I'd really like to get back into the swing of things; I wouldn't want my last couple years of playing soccer to go wasted. Well, here's the first thing to learn about me, I have an idea in mind when I start, but when it comes down to it, I like to really think these things out, and, as a consequence, we might have to go over things one at a time. See you next time.