Category Archives: Check this out!

Check Out This Abandoned “Psychedelic Salt Mine” In Russia

February 21, 2016 Jeff Wilson Leave a comment

Yekaterinburg is the industrial and cultural center of Ural Federal District, Russia. Its sprawling, rich cultural metropolis has been hiding a beautiful geologic formation. A couple hundred feet below the city is a mine rich in the mineral carnallite, giving the caves an insane psychedelic collision of colors. Carnallite is an active ingredient for plant fertilizer and is normally a yellowish red color. Most of the mine is abandoned but Mikhail Mishainik, photographer and spelunking enthusiast, and his friends explored the caves and corridors now abandoned and forgotten. What he found was astonishingly beautiful.

After exploring for twenty some hours and spending the night on a couple of occasions, Mishainik found superb content for photos. While typically earth toned, the carnallite in these caves has taken on all the possible variations of colors, from vibrant reds, stark white, fluorescent oranges, emerald greens and rusty purples.

“It is easy to get lost as many of the passageways look the same, we navigate our way around very carefully.Many people know about the mines but it is very difficult to access them if you don’t have an official permit,” Mikhail said. “We take our safety very seriously, but of course there are always dangers. There is the possibility of a gas leak from chemicals such as methane, hydrogen sulphide carbon dioxide as well the risk of a landslide. The danger element is part of the fun and it’s a special feeling being somewhere very few people have seen.”

The Russian explorer has other adventures that he has graciously documented on his website. The Internet and the Spirit Science crew were blown away the naturally psychedelic formations. Its a great reminder have how grand the world we live in is.

Check this out!, Thoughts

This Is What Your Chinese Zodiac Has In Store For You This Year

February 19, 2016 Jeff Wilson Leave a comment

The 4,713th Chinese Year is here! As we enter the year of the ‘Red’ or ‘Fire’ Monkey, take a moment to see what this means for you. The Chinese Zodiac runs off a twelve year cycle with a year for each symbol. The system is based off the Chinese lunar calendar.

Rat: 2008, 1996, 1984, 1972, 1960
Ox: 2009, 1997, 1985, 1973, 1961
Tiger: 2010, 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962
Rabbit: 2011, 1999, 1987, 1975, 1963
Dragon: 2012, 2000, 1988, 1976, 1964
Snake: 2013, 2001, 1989, 1977, 1965
Horse: 2014, 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966
Goat: 2015, 2003, 1991, 1979, 1967
Monkey: 2016, 2004, 1992, 1980, 1968
Rooster: 2017, 2005, 1993, 1981, 1969
Dog: 2018, 2006, 1994, 1982, 1970
Pig: 2019, 2007, 1995, 1983, 1971

While this year will favor anyone born under the monkey sign, there will also be benefits to everyones’ sign. The Chinese horoscope is based off the five elements and every animal has a different composition of elements. By knowing the compositions of the animal signs, how they interact and the image of the I-Ching, spiritualists can project probabilities and influences of the signs. The Monkey is associated with metal and water, so this will be a year filled with money opportunities, wisdom and danger.

Rat

This looking like a great year for your love affairs. Those who are single will have a great many option to choose from. If you are in a relationship there will be opportunities to build on the foundation of what you two already share. Temptation will be present frequently so keep strong and have faith! Your career path will be on the up and up so be sure to keep an eye on opportunities.

Ox

Last year wasn’t the greatest for Oxen, but your trend is on the rise my friend. The perfect year for dreaming big, any mistakes this year will be quickly rectified. All aspects of your life (love, professional, and personal) will be recovering rapidly from last year’s issues. Use the momentum to your advantage.

Tiger

A word of caution, monkeys are the tiger’s natural enemies so avoid conflicts with them this year. Besides that its going to be a great year for your love life. Whether finding someone new or appreciating whoever is in your life, the universe smiles on your adventures. This year is going to be the perfect time for bug changes but you’ll need to keep your head on straight. Think before you act this year.

Rabbit

Rabbits will be the luckiest sign this year, so what ever goes will get better. Plant your seeds carefully, so you can enjoy the harvest for years to come. Let this year ignite your passions, desires and adventures this year.

Dragon

This won’t be the most romantic year for you, my fair dragon. The cosmic wisdom being imparted on all creatures will benefit you more than others. Use your powerful intuition to glean more opportunities and routes to success.

Snake

Longterm relationships are about to get more serious for snakes and they are advised to not be too fickle with new romances. This will be a lucky year but there will be financial hang ups if your not careful.

Horse

This year will be a struggle for your romantic affairs. Single horses will have a hard time finding sustainable company and attached horses should try to be more understanding and compassionate this year. This will be a great year for your career though. Follow your instincts and the will help you flourish like never before.

Goat

As long as you let the little things slide this will be a great year for the romantic goat. This success will be felt with your intellectual pursuits so start creating something you’ve been putting off. The will be a rise in your productive energies so cut out bad habits or take up new interests.

Monkey

This is your year, the key will be to keep a sense of balance as each of aspect of your life will be on the rise. Make sure you spend time with those important to you. Make sure you take the time to rest and enjoy life outside of your work and hobbies. If something goes wrong for you realize it is opening unseen doors so keep an eye out.

Rooster

A great year for romance, dear rooster. Declare to the world how you feel and chase after your desires. Its going to be a grandiose year so try to keep your goals realistic and you wits about you.

Dog

A challenging year awaits dogs. Romantically the single members of this sign will have to keep their professional goals and personal growth for consuming all their time. Those in relationships will have lots of miscommunication and experience the feeling of abandonment. Keep trying and keep faith in your loved one. Trust your instincts this year because not all is as it seems.

Boar

The single boar will have an easier time than the attached boar. Single boars will have lots of opportunities and encouragement. Attached boars will have to actively work against misunderstandings and wild emotions on both sides. Keep you passions in check and you’ll get through it.

Check this out!, Inspirational, News

The Most Beautiful Hand Drawn Video: The Day That Death Fell In Love With Life

February 18, 2016 Submitted By You 1 Comment

This is an entirely hand drawn short video by Marsha Onderstijn, an animator from the Netherlands. This video follows a fun representation of death. Death appears as a cute specter wearing a skull as a mask. Death is going through a forest when it see’s a dear. There is a prolonged sense of longing as Death projects a sense of loneliness. Everything Death touches, dies.

A really well done video, done entirely by hand which is a rarity these days. Most animated videos are products of massive production lines and computer projections This video has been received warmly at various animation festivals. It was even featured on the EYE film DVD of Selected Dutch Shorts.

The idea that death is in love with life, and that is why Death takes living beings, isn’t a new idea. That doesn’t stop it from being a fun concept!

This version of Death is softer than most, metaphorically relating a more ‘human’ side of Death. It would make sense that Death is a sad spirit, with a unquenchable desire for contact and communication. We fear and hate the idea of death, if everyone hated you it would color your character strangely as well.

The Life of Death from Marsha Onderstijn on Vimeo.

Check this out!, News, Science, Technology

What is This Strange Object That’s Been Orbiting The Earth Since 1920?

February 18, 2016 Submitted By You Leave a comment

The Black Knight Satellite is an metallic object in a polar orbit with Earth. There has been a lot of fairly fantastical speculation over the origins and purpose of this 100 meter long (328 feet) satellite. The satellite was discovered in the 1920’s by means of radio transmissions. Scientists, including the brilliant Nikola Telsa were believed to receiving radio transitions from the spinning hunk of metal. This was one of the first recorded cases of Long Delay Echoes (LDE), a phenomena in which the sender of a radio transmission receives an echo of the transmission after a minimum of 2.7 seconds.

The orbit of the object is highly eccentric. It is in a polar orbit, meaning that its flight path passes over both magnetic poles of the planet. Humans launched the first satellite that had an intentional polar orbit in 1960. The Black Knight is the only non terrestrial object to have this flight pattern. It circles the Earth at 79 degrees off the equator, not the 90 degrees that is considered a standard polar orbit. The Black Knight is moving quickly, completing it’s orbit every 104.5 minutes. No country has claimed the object.

This ends the factual list for the Black Knight Satellite. The rest of the available information is mainly speculation. The United States and Russian government have shown marked interest in the device but not shared much of it’s information.

‘Black Knight is a jumble of completely unrelated stories; reports of unusual science observations, authors promoting fringe ideas, classified spy satellites and people over-interpreting photos. These ingredients have been chopped up, stirred together and stewed on the internet to one rambling and inconsistent dollop of myth,’ said senior education support officer, Martina Redpath, of Armagh Planetarium.

There is the theory that it is a bungled spacecraft part or a broken satellite. This is the most easily dismissed theory, as the discovery of the object predates the first satellite launch. Its massive size also eliminates the remaining probability of it being a forgotten human construct.

The more popular theories say the Black Knight is an alien probe, spy device, or part of a larger alien communication network. This is due to a number of people recording radio transmissions seeming to originate to the satellite. Tesla said the frequency and elements of the transmission were unlike any he had seen before. There are many natural phenomena that Tesla could have been receiving that science as a whole had not yet to identify. While we can not validate the theory that he was listening to the Knight it is an interesting theory.

In 1973, Duncan Lunan, a science fiction author and graduate of the famous University of Glasgow, experimented with the transmissions emanating from the Black Knight. The strength and intervals of the transmissions led him to believe that the signals were coming from Epsilon Bootis, a star near the Moon. Translating the messages led him to believe the transmissions had been going on for 13,00 years. The Black Knight was send star charts and information to find other intelligent life!

The lack of information creates appropriate space for varied interpretations of available fact. People desperate for conformation of alien life are willing to view elements in a certain light to create hope. As space travel becomes more sophisticated, hopefully we will be able to extract the device for study. It is bizarre that such a mystery has been spinning around our planet for at least decades, and organizations aren’t more interested in it.

Check this out!, News, Science

Gazing Into Someone’s Eyes For 10 Minutes Creates Altered States Of Consciousness

February 18, 2016 Submitted By You Leave a comment

Most people have gotten bored to the point that they will stare at walls, and objects in varying degrees of lighting. By focusing our eyes and shifting attention, we can blur the outline of objects or watch plain surfaces bend and take on unorthodox properties. Staring randomly out of windows during class or looking at the multicolored designs of public space carpets, another phenomena occurs. We start to see faces and animals where none was apparent or intended.

Giovanni Caputo is a psychologist at the University of Urbino, Italy. He combines the abstract theories of dissociation, hallucination, dysmorphia, and projection to stretch what humans can create, perceive and experience. He shows how a meditative and altered state of consciousness can be created out of nothing more than staring into another person’s eyes for ten minutes.

He took twenty individuals and paired them up randomly. The participants were not informed about the purpose of the experiment, they were only told that researchers were exploring meditative avenues.

There was a control group of another twenty people that were also randomly paired up. Instead of staring at each other, the control group pairs sat in the room with one another and stared a a blank wall.

The experimental group was instructed to sit facing one another at a distance one meter (3.28 ft) from one another and stare into their partner’s eyes. The room was dimly lit to distort their color perceptions. There was enough light to easily distinguish each other’s features.

At the end of the ten minute stare down, participants given two questionnaires. One was geared towards exploring any dissociation symptoms experienced during the sessions.

Dissociation symptoms are disruptions of perception, awareness, or identity. Basically the experience of reality and how it changes. The other survey was about the specific perceptions of their partner’s face. The results were wild!

The experimental group (the group that stared at each other) reported high levels of dissociation. All test subjects experienced wild distortions in time, colors, and sounds. 90% of the participants hallucinated their partner’s face morphing and distorting.

75% saw their partners change into variations of monsters. 50% saw their own faces be super imposed and 15% saw their partner change into a relative of theirs.

Remember that they hadn’t been told that the researchers were looking for dissociation trances.

Caputo had done another study back in 2010, involving mirrors. Fifty participants were asked to look at their reflections under similar lighting schemes. The results were similarly fantastic.

Participants saw their parents, animals, monsters and portrait styled archetypes that weren’t readily recognized.

Check this out!, Inspirational, News, Spirituality, Thoughts

5 Negative Thoughts That Halt Your Spiritual Growth

February 17, 2016 Submitted By You Leave a comment

Speech is a powerful tool. The way we consciously and subconsciously choose to express ourselves, it is a clear reflection of our mentalities and emotions.

More than just a reflection though, words are a form of action and carry a similar same weight. The mind frequently projects images or spins a thought into a realm we are not comfortable with. The mind is like a child, it grasps at things it knows it shouldn’t grab. This ‘grabbing’ action doesn’t inherently mean that the ‘child’ wants the object it reached for. There are many reasons our mind do this, but for the most part it is exercising its ability to do so.

This act of doing something to do it translates to our speech as well. Uncensored, our mouths can run up a storm. Words carry a different strength and influence than thoughts. There is a more quantifiable element to the immediate effect of words. Speech is an intangible form of action that stem from thought. As soon as you turn a thought or intention into an action, it leaves your realm of influence and becomes a separate entity. A cruel word can not be stifled or taken back. More actions must be taken to heal the damage.

We frequently use the cruelest of language on ourselves. Our minds are always chatting away, damning this and criticizing that. We sometimes foolishly vent these thoughts, normally in a joking manner.

The sarcastic shine to a ill hearted phrase does nothing to deter the damage. If anything it poisons those who hear it, tricking them into thinking it doesn’t hurt.

Below are listed some common phrases used to create a negative separate entity. In the interest of ‘blowing off steam’ or a weird sort of half hearted self forgiveness, we utter these phrases. They become actions that hurt us and slow us down.

“I’m So Stupid.”

There are so many definitions and types of intelligence. There is also the difference between wisdom and intelligence. Even if you’re being a little thick right now, have the wisdom to not belittle yourself. This phrase can be exchanged for, ‘I could have done better’.

“I Can’t Do That.”

This statement always precedes a conversation about technique and support, then after practice and effort the impossible is done. Decide what you want to do according to your priorities and do it.

Do not say that something is important to you and then mark it down with technical difficulties.

You jeopardize the sanctity of your priorities when you do this. This statement is interchangeable with; ‘This will be difficult’, or ‘I will need help with this’.

“I Hate Myself.”

‘Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself- if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself- it is very difficult to take care of another person. In the Buddhist teaching, it’s clear that to love oneself is the foundation of the love of other people.’ Thich Nhat Hanh

This phrase should be replaced with: ‘I can do better’, ‘I will do better’, ‘It’s hard for me to be honest with myself right now.’

“I’m Ugly.”

This statement comes in many forms; I’m fat, my hair is hideous, my eyes are too close together, my nose has two holes.

They are all ridiculous. Beauty comes from inside, it spins out from a healthy spirit. Fashion is the nonsense that says people are this and that. Be beautiful and love yourself. This phrase can be replaced with: ‘I’m awesome!’,’My core is so strong!’, I am beautiful!’

“I Hate My Life.”

Don’t let the momentary madness in your skull or the storm in your heart ever exit your lips in this form. If you are upset with your life that means you care and are beyond frustrated. Voice your frustration and emotions but don’t ever lash out at the unique story that is your life. This phrase should never be spoken, replace it entirely with: ‘I’m upset’, ‘I am in need of help’, or ‘I want a hug’.

Rat

Ox