Human efforts [are] cumulative, something in every effort [is] preserved and added to the whole. — Fifty Degrees Below Zero, Kim Stanley Robinson (1952-)
This week’s qualities are Aplomb and Fortified. They have in common a certain poise.
Peace,
Jim
APLOMB
FORTIFIED
Familial Quality: mettlesome
Consider the Source
Dreaming tiny dreams has become a favorite pastime in the past five or 10 years. The “tiny house movement” is gaining greater traction as ever more people choose to downsize for economic or ecological reasons. A small house, usually being defined as one offering less than 400 sq ft of space, offers a stimulating challenge about living smart as people escape from debtor’s prison in droves.
In the USA, groups of enthusiasts offer inspiration and practical information on avoiding the government game of mother-may-I. They carefully navigate zoning laws, planning restrictions, and the burden of permitting. In the UK, it’s less of a movement and more of a frenzied pack of victims, refugees of the crazily distorted, government-aggravated madness infusing the property market. Those who can afford to buy something – anything, even if it’s a bit of infill – do so in order to get a toe on the ladder. Then there are those who can’t even see the ladder through the fog of wagery and debt.
As long as we can still dream of freedom, one can easily while away the hours on tinyhouseuk.co.uk, nomadmicrohomes.com, microcompacthome.com, tinyhouseblog.com and hundreds of other similar websites. Facebook groups, youtube videos, and a good old fashioned Listserv can provide practical information on active and passive solar, micro-hydro, gasifiers, LED lighting and all the other components that make up the buffet of new lifestyles.
As governments devolve to the point where they are of, by, and for the bankers, we must now re-assert a most basic human right — the right to live. Consumer sovereignty is a game changer. Instead of cutting the cord to live off the grid, we can now sell the surplus power generated, on a homestead scale, to the electric utility. Instead of having entire nations that are effectively working for the financial services industry, we can build on a modularized, pay-as-you-go basis. We have options!
“The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,” and so it is today for many of his followers. Despite all the warnings about the snares laid by moneylenders, despite the fact that gage mort is literally translated as a pledge to give up one’s life, millions have lost their homes through mortgage exploits, and their quality of life through the service of debt.
Find Out How to Get Your Life Back!
“Petri dish milk will mirror the formula of the real thing — the yeast cultures will be churning out real milk proteins — it will retain the taste and nutritional benefits of cow milk,” says Perumal Gandhi, a co-founder of the synthetic dairy start-up Muufri (pronounced Moo-free) in San Francisco, California. “That will distinguish it from soy – and almond-based alternatives.”
Gandhi and Muufri co-founder Ryan Pandya are both vegans who view the livestock industry’s practices as inhumane. “Dairy production is responsible for roughly 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions each year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, mostly because cows belch methane. And although dairy is already a more efficient way than meat of converting plant feed into animal protein, bioengineers can do even better than nature,” Gandhi says.
Muufri will contain only those essential proteins, fats, minerals, and sugars. Pandya and Gandhi’s plan is to insert DNA sequences from cattle into yeast cells, grow the cultures at a controlled temperature and the right concentrations, and harvest milk proteins after a few days. The process is extremely safe, says Gandhi: It’s the same one used to manufacture insulin and other medicines.
Although the proteins in Muufri milk come from yeast, the fats come from vegetables and are tweaked at the molecular level to mirror the structure and flavor of milk fats. Minerals, like calcium and potassium, and sugars are purchased separately and added to the mix. Once the composition is fine-tuned, the ingredients emulse naturally into milk.
By controlling the ingredients, however, Pandya and Gandhi hope to make milk more healthful. The team is experimenting, for instance, with sugars other than lactose, which 65 percent of adults have trouble digesting. And it has engineered a more healthful, unsaturated fat that retains the distinct flavor of dairy. Reproducing that flavor is a prime goal for Gandhi and Pandya, who were not always vegan—and who say they miss the taste of cheese, butter, and ice cream.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.
Always bear in mind that your resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing. — Abraham Lincoln (1806-1865) 16th U.S. President
Peace,
Jim
STELLAR
MANEUVERABLE
Consider the Source
Even if someone has looked into the unknown before you, each of us is a Pioneer when we look at it for the first time. We find out there is more to discover. The lessons each child is being taught in every family are the same (or similar) to the lessons every other child is being taught. Look at something new, or in a new way, this week. And share it with someone you are Familial with.
Peace,
Jim
FAMILIAL
Definition: pertaining to or characteristic of family bonds
Consideration: The family is the basic unit of society, then comes the clan, race, state, nation, world, and universe. Once we all recognize our kin, we will have a chance for world peace.
Quote:
So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family, that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty. — Haniel Long (1888-1956) American Poet
PIONEERING
Compatible Quality: courageous
Parental Qualities: faith, freedom
Familial Quality: adventurous
Consider the Source
We change the outcome of our future through the choices we make in each moment of the present. — The Dead Sea Scrolls (ca 100 AD)
Is it Fitting that any of us call ourselves Auspicious? I have read that progress is the watchword of the universe. We will always be moving from our current accomplishments, our present state of completion, to a greater state of being. Some of the keys to such growth is in the definitions and derivations of this interesting word symbol.
Peace,
Jim
AUSPICIOUS
Synonyms: advantageous, favorable, lucky, propitious, successful
FITTING
Synonyms: adequate, apposite, apt, competent, conformable, congruous, expedient, seemly
The social pathology, existential vacuum, and meaninglessness experienced by contemporary society is the result of intrinsic values starvation, Being-value deficiency. Transpersonal values command adoration, celebration, and reverence. They are worth living and dying for. Contemplating and becoming one of these values gives the greatest sense of worth and joy that human beings can experience. — Spiritual Psychology, Meredith Sprunger, Minister
From whence comes the Bountiful? The source is Openhanded. Nonetheless, we are required to seek – and in seeking an ever-expanding universe is progressively revealed.
Peace,
Jim
BOUNTIFUL
OPENHANDED
Symbol: the removal of the right glove
Match the frequency of the reality you want, and you cannot help but get that reality. — Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Deep Thinker
The word good in a Good Self-image can represent quite a few descriptors, including the words in the definition of Clean. We all have an idea of self which often does not match the ideas others have of us. And most probably neither is our actual nature, character, or soul.
Peace,
Jim
CLEAN
Synonyms: purified, sinless, spotless, untarnished
Saying: Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
GOOD SELF-IMAGE
The American Journal of Nursing, Barbara C. Schutt R.N., Editor.
Components of a Good Self-Image
• An ability to understand and be understood
• Satisfaction of personal expectations
• Reasonable control of environment
• Satisfaction of personal wants
• Satisfaction of personal goals
• Reasonable control of self
• A sense of productivity
• A sense of usefulness
• A sense of belonging
Threats to a Good Self-Image
• A sense of isolation, alienation, or loneliness
• A sense of insecurity (a threat to identity)
• A sense of helplessness
• Fear
— Jesus (talking with Nathaniel) The Urantia Book (167: 7.6)
If you are Angelic, I suppose you would also be Carefree. Yet we are always striving to be more than we are. A small child possesses the carefree innocence of and angel, yet to mature those (or any other) qualities takes a bit of learning and intention.
Peace,
Jim
ANGELIC
Quotes:
— The Talmud
Make friends with the angels who, though invisible, are always with you. — Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Preacher and Writer
Comment: How angels serve humans may not be what you think – but what you need.
CAREFREE
Color: orange
Symbol: a bird (American Indian)
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
• Be Proactive (responsible, independent, imaginative, self-aware)
• Begin with the end in mind (conceptualization, visualization, creation)
• Put first things first (time management, start with matters of importance)
• Think Win/Win (mutual benefit, successful, integrity, maturity)
• Seek first to understand, then to be understood (good listener, communication)
• Synergize (communication, cooperation, trust)
• Sharpen the saw (re-energize, relax, be of service)
— The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Richards Covey (1932-2012) American Educator
Read the difference between Effective and efficient. I usually strive for efficiency, but as I get older, the dogged persistence of effectiveness seems to take the day.
Peace,
Jim
PRINCIPLED
EFFECTIVE
Synonyms: conclusive, convincing, forcible, influential, potent
Quote:
Consider the Source