Animal Planet and Clorox have joined forces to focus worldwide attention on the deadly fungus that is destroying frogs and other amphibian populations around the world through a new multimedia project called The Vanishing Frog. The film, produced by Discovery Studios, sends Animal Planet's Jeff Corwin on a worldwide mission to uncover clues to the frog's deadly plight while also unifying viewers with a common cause of environmental and wildlife protection. The Vanishing Frog is slated to premiere Fall 2008.

From the rocky streams of coastal Australia to the jungles of South America, and even to the American West, the world's frogs are mysteriously vanishing at alarming rates. Frogs and their relatives have thrived on earth for more than 360 million years, but now they're under serious threat. Experts believe that as many as one-third to one-half of the planet's 6,000 amphibian species are in danger of disappearing — victims of one of the most significant mass extinctions since the dinosaurs. Why are amphibians in such dire straits? And can we take action to save them? Jeff Corwin, who has experienced the most mammoth of mammals, reptiles and marine life worldwide, will take on these questions in the documentary The Vanishing Frog.

"Frogs are incredibly amazing creatures with a variety of astonishing skills and innate abilities," commented Corwin. "The plight of the small amphibians is — unfortunately — quite large. Frogs have been with us since the dinosaurs; they are a critical part of the ecosystem and now they are disappearing."

"Jeff is so passionate about raising awareness for this crisis and has such a deep knowledge of the issues affecting these fascinating creatures that he is the perfect person to take us on this journey of discovery," noted Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet. "We're thrilled that our partner Clorox has been an ardent advocate for the amphibian crisis and is taking that commitment even further by partnering with us to produce The Vanishing Frog documentary project."

Clorox, whose namesake bleach is used in the field everyday in the battle to save the frogs, last fall became the first corporate sponsor of the Amphibian Ark's "Year of the Frog" initiative and signed on to The Vanishing Frog project while it was still in development.

So far, it has aired on Showtime a number of times and won 4 'Best Documentary' film-festival awards.  Some of the many prominent interviewees include Dr. Charles Grob, Tommy Chong, Mike Ruppert, Dr. Ron Paul, Cynthia McKiney and Ralph Nader.

For more info and to purchase the DVD go to americandrugwar.com/

A must-see.

LINK TO VIDEO (in six parts)

After two days it skyrocketed to the #1 video on Google Video and then (big fuckin surprise) it was deleted from the top 100 the next day, the video taken down and the comments frozen.

It's back online now and I've linked it below, but because this documentary is so good, I suggest downloading a higher-quality torrent or better yet, buying an original DVD copy and then making copies of that for others.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2144933190875239407]

Interestingly enough, much of the work I did last month at the Men's Rites of Passage program/retreat-- coordinated by Father Richard Rohr and the Center for Action and Contemplation-- bears out the truthfulness of the science I've been learning. We're not bodies that happen to have spirits, energies, or emotions. We are actually spirits that happen to have physical bodies, and our spirits (and our physical brains) are changed (grown or chipped away at) by our physical bodies and our real experiences (experiences that we put the spirit & body through, intentionally or unintentionally).

We do have some "control" over our brain and body development (through our choices, disciplines practiced, what we eat, etc.), but if one believes in an active God, then one of the main tasks for discipleship and growth is surrendering our need for control to The God Who Is There  (title of a very good Francis Schaeffer theology/apologetics book that I found helpful as a young man).

For no reason in particular, other than "listening to the Holy Spirit", I picked up a DVD copy of the film What the Bleep Do We Know? and watched it last week. It was a bit weird overall, trying to draw connections between quantum physics, human physiology, psychology and spirituality. But it did stir up some interesting questions for me. It's clearly a New Age-influenced film (one of the main "speakers" is a woman said to be "channeling" a long-dead spiritual leader), but a good portion of the hard science, the quantum physics and biology, is well-established (but new and esoteric) ideas. Some (30% or more?) of the science is definitely theoretical, but as any casual student of quantum physics would be able to tell you, twenty centuries of so-called "proven fact" came into question once the ideas of quantum mechanics were seriously explored and tested.

The universe does not "owe us" any explanations, unfortunately. From a Christian perspective, maintaining an openness to the mysteries of God, to the hard, real questions that scripture or experience leave unexplained, is one of the central tasks in being of a disciple of Jesus. Jesus spoke in parables, stories and riddles partly because true scientific awareness did not exist in the first century.

As an exercise in considering these New Brain Science ideas, below are some notes I took on the most recent PBS program I saw, called "Happy for No Reason". Look them over, take what you need, see if it makes sense to you. Though I'm no big fan of the tendency of "self help" books to put the onus entirely on our weak, lazy, sinful selves, still the call remains for us to find our True Selves, root them in Christ, and continue to grow in love, happiness and productivity throughout our lives.

Happy for No Reason - book and suplemental materials

by "Transformational Expert" Marci Shimoff

Official PBS program description:

Is this "New Age" ?  _ I don't know.  Based on the hard science I've read about the brain, the program struck me as at least 70% scientifically accurate. I have no doubt some of the speakers interviewed are extrapolating philosophical or personally biased ideas from the hard science about brain and body chemistry. And certainly (other than Buddhist thought) the religiously relevant language about "soul" or "spirit" has been scrubbed from this program. It's not Christian, per se. But there's room for Christian faith and practice, especially practicing monastic-style prayer and social action, in the overall approach. So I think the program overall is helpful, accurate, and meaningful. Evidence of New Age connections: mentions Sedona, AZ (traditional "harmonic convergence" zone); Santa Fe Productions produced the show (New Mexico -another mecca for many New Age spiritual seekers); at least one of the sicentists I saw quoted was a genetics expert(?) also featured in the more questionable film What the Bleep Do We Know?

Another quoted PhD psychologist is connected with something called the Wellspring Institute. Don't know more about it, but his principles seemed pretty sound.

[Note: In doing a websearch on Wellspring, I discovered an upcoming conference of note: Neuroscience and Spiritual Practice: an "interreligious" conference at Claremont School of Theology in California. Among the speakers is Fr. Thomas Keating, who I've heard good things about.]

Positive experiences - our brain & body tend toward "teflon", i.e. the good (the grace?) "slides off" of us if not allowed to penetrate

Negative- brain operates more like "velcro":  negative experiences & pain grabs much more easily onto brain's bio-chemical "hooks", unless these experiences are transformed or re-wired for usefulness

Therefore, to raise your "happiness setpoint" -learn to register the postives, move experience (esp. positive ones) from short-term memory to deeper or more permanent long-term memory, move simply from firing (chemical movement between neurons) to wiring (creating new synaptic connections that are permanent)

"firing but not wiring" - synapses are always "going off" or firing. But cognition (esp. through meditation, or higher and sustained attention) has the potential to use those firing moments to literally rewire the brain; we can re-organize bio-chemical and physical connections between neurons into new thought patterns and behaviors. You're wiring the moment into permanent memory and useful learning (hopefully of useful skills, since learning the "bad" patterns happens in much the same way, unless those experiences and patterns are transformed).

Mariel Hemingway interviewed -re: the Hemingway curse - legacy of suicide & mental illness, she had to re-teach herself. She had to learn both to listen, and to stop listening, to various internal and historical voices. Her recovery was about re-connecting with her true self, being present in the moment and rising above those internal storms that she was subject to.

Shimoff - Author of Happy for No Reason (CD, DVD, Hardcover book, course (CD-ROM or workbook?), daily booster kit, and (heart map) quick coherence coach - the PBS pledge person called the materials a "mind spa" or retreat

Regular meditation leads to physical transformation in the brain - compassion meditation increases the connections in the Insula, a sort of body map area- related to brain-body connection; stillness of meditation actually changes some of brain's motor centers (preparation to "act")

30 minutes of training a day, for two weeks, produces measurable changes in the brain AND increased compassion

connecting to purpose - richard nelson bowles (Happiness= my deep gladmess meeting the world's deep need.) ...and the "universe" cooperates with you. I have not read Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Life", but I suspect he's working from many of the same principles, but rooted in Jesus' example and church history.

Is happiness our "default" brain position? Whether the answer is yes or no, a better connection to who we are, our essence, is always a move toward happiness. Because we are made in God's image, so knowing our True Self is to get to know God in a new way.

Shimoff's Seven Steps to Happiness (the habits of happiness)

Step 1- Take responsibility for your own happiness. (Change bad habits incrementally. Don't get stuck in cycles of blame. Related to recieving things as a victim, or as hero of your own life... a choice in how we tell ourselves and others the story of our lives.)

2- Practice forgiveness - conditions of happiness include compassion, tolerance

3- Express gratitude.

4- Don't believe everything you think.

5- Practice mindfulness and meditation. (Like physical exercise, mental/spiritual well-being requires working out the brain & biochemical/spiritual states).

6- Live a life inspired by purpose. (Do things on purpose, focus, align self with a purpose)

Step 7 - Cultivate nourishing relationships.

Metaphor: building a home. eg mind heart body soul - four corners of the house, roof=purpose, garden = people around you -correlates to the seven steps above

e.g. Masai tribe in Africa - needy from a material perspective, yet as happy as Westerners. Why?

Book- "Spiritual Evolution" - I missed the author's name, but the title alone points toward the convergence of spirituality and science in the twenty first century.

"social contagion" - transmission of idea or emotion to others, but this idea was not scientifically backed up in the video.

Shimoff suggests, when one tries out the 7 habits, get a "happiness buddy", like a workout buddy.

Happy for No Reason materials feature a PARALIMINAL CD - One of the big buzzwords in Men's Rites of Passage and in Father Rohr's books is "liminal space". It's a reference to edges, places of spiritual openness and learning, or transitional spaces. Being in liminal space makes possible being able to receive or see the sacred, even in the ordinary.

Links:

JW Sportcars - http://www.jwsportcars.com

3SX Performance - http://3sx.com

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DVD 6 Extreme Engineering 4.11 GB

List

• Tokyo’s Sky City
• Subways in America OR American Subways
• Tunneling Under the Alps
• Building Hong Kong’s Airport
• Turning Torso
• Venice Flood Gates
• Dubai’s Ski Resort
• Kuala Lumpur Mega Tunnel
• Hallandsas Ridge Tunnel: Sweeden

EXTRA

• Discovery Channel - Extreme Machines - Nuclear Submarines
• Discovery Channel - Super Structures - International Space Station
• Discovery Channel -Extreme Machines -Million Dollars Motors Cars
• Discovery Channel -Science -Passport To Pluto
• Discovery Channel -The Lost Temples of India
• Mysteries of Egypt

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DVD 1 Megastructures-National Geographic

List

• High Tech Prison
• Hoover Dam
• Itaipú Dam
• Petroleum mine / Oil Mines
• Petronas Towers
• South Pole Station
• Tau Tona - City Of Gold
• The Worlds Biggest Shredder
• Worlds Busiest Port

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DVD 2 Megastructures-National Geographic

List

• Akasha Chronicles ‘Future Trains’
• Future Trains - MagLev
• China Beijing Water Cube
• Airbus A380
• Ice Hotel
• Kansai International Airport
• Super. pipeline
• Sea Launch
• Super Helicopters,
• U.S. Navy Submarine “Virginia”
• Super Submarine - U.S.S Texas

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WILD LIFE DVD 1 4.35 GB

List

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WILD LIFE DVD 2 4.35 GB

List

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WILD LIFE DVD 3 3.99 GB

List

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WILD LIFE DVD 4 4.00 GB

List

• Wild life 04 2.86 GB

Extra

• Austin Stevens Snakemaster in Cambodia
• The 11th hour

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BIRDS DVD 1 3.97 GB

List

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BIRDS DVD 2 3.97 GB

List

Extra

• Inner world & outer world of Shahrukh Khan(SRK)1.39 GB

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BBC DVD 1 4.13 GB

List

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BBC DVD 2 4.08 GB

List

• dragon's world
• egypt

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BBC DVD 3 4.10 GB

List

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BBC DVD 4 3.81 GB

List

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Today we drove to Columbus, Ohio. It was a grey day, but we got there on time to meet with Tony Sebony, founder of the American Pie Party. Despite my early hopes that this was a new political party centered on delicious baked goods it turned out to be an interesting spin on an old idea for fundraising - taking a pie in the face for some dough for a good cause. Now this was a place where we knew we weren't going to be able to do good works today, but we are all signed up to take a pie in the face to battle cancer this coming October, so start saving your pennies now!

After that we headed to Equality Ohio, an organization who advocates for people of all genders and orientations. I was very surprised to hear that in Ohio there is no legislation protecting the rights of workers to be themselves, in fact you can be fired for your orientation. We were honored to lend a hand in their FIRED campaign, a signature drive that will remind Ohio's lawmakers that there needs to be legislation protecting the equality of all people. We helped mark signed postcards by looking up representatives in a database... Sound boring? Not when you have fellow volunteers who are ready to tell stories and listen to yours. We had a great time there, and got to interview some very passionate people.

It seems like home is just around the bend, lets hope this weather lightens up! A huge thanks to Deborah for opening up her home to us. Tomorrow Pittsburgh, which as far as distance has been concerned on this trip is a stones throw away from home.

Peace,

Tim