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I can't think of any topics for d... Oh dear D:
Perhaps dinosaurs or dragons... I've just looked an encyclopaedia and nothing... nada...
To Google...
Haha Didgeridoo is a funny word =P We'll have look at that...A Didgeridoo (LOL) is a wooden wind instrument used by Indigenous people in Australia. It was created over 1500 years ago in the north of the country. They tend to be made from Eucalyptus, which is a native tree to the region. Didgeridoos (even typing that's fun xD). It was traditionally made with the trees that had been hollowed out by termites... how odd. According to wikipedia, the modern didgeridoos can be sized between 1 and 3m. Can you imagine playing that?
Okay I'm bored now xD so I'll just leave you with some pictures and send my apologies (:
Woah... just found this article... Apparently Nicole Kidman angered some aboriginal groups when she attempted to play a didgeridoo (that never gets old hehe) on a German TV show. She was playing it since she'd been filming 'Australia'. However, in most areas, Women are not allowed to play the instrument and it's against their culture. They believe it'll make them barren and one of the interviewees said "People are going to see Nicole playing it and think it's all right. It bastardises our culture. I will guarantee she has no more children." and they are now worried that women will also try it because she has. I don't know whether it does but I don't think it's been proven medically.ℓєттєя ¢
Why hello chaps, the weekend was rather busy... so it looks like today I shall be doing letter C =D
Costa Rica seems like a nice enough topic (: It looks so pretty! Look at all the rainforest... Now, who wouldn't want to go to a rainforest and camp out? I mean, I know there's lots of crazy creatures that could bite and kill you, but it's an absolutely wonderful place. I'm thinking there's gonna be quite a few photos in this blog entry xD
So first for some background information. If you didn't know already, Costa Rica is located in central America. On its west coast is the Pacific ocean and on its east coast is the Caribbean sea. The country has been marked as the greenest country in the world - not only because of its vast rainforest but also because it's ranked the 3rd most environmental friendly country. It's also said to contain 5% of the world's biodiversity! Yet it only has a landmass of 0.25% of the world. That's a lot.
I would love love love to go to Costa Rica. It's perhaps one of the best places for adventure. It's so diverse in landscape; forest, hot springs, volcanoes, valleys, waterfalls, beaches... Then you have such a big range of activities; whitewater rafting, climbing, venturing, watching wildlife, surfing, snorkelling... fighting of alligators (if they have those xD) and so on. If I had the funds, I would totally go there... probably on a rainforest conservation volunteer project. Wow, that must have been the 5th time I've said rainforest. I do love rainforests though... I also love those tree houses in the picture above. Wouldn't it be amazing to live in a tree house village? I'm moving in!Ooo and just found out that they do these adventure excursion things that take you to do rapelling. Now that's a cool word.. awh, it's just abseiling :( That's not as fun as I hoped... oh well. Still wanna do it, along with canyoning!!! =D Woah.. this country is my kinda place (: So anyway to facts.
How about a little History lesson? For over 10000 years the Costa Rican rainforests have been inhabited by humans. It's estimated that there were 20 small tribes that each had a permanent leader. In 1522, Costa Rica began as a settlement. It was discovered by Christopher Columbus twenty years previously (whom i'm sure you've heard of). Then the Spanish began to search for gold like they had many other Latin American countries. When they first arrived they gave Costa Rica its name, meaning 'rich coast'. However, they couldn't find any gold so instead they used agriculture to make their fortune because of it's lush climate and landscape. The capital city, San Jose, is ranked as the fourth best quality of life in the LEDC world which quite an achievement. The country is democratically run and in 1949 permanently abolished their army. Anyhow, Costa Rica seems like a pretty amazing place. You should check it out more (:
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Today, I've decided to have a look at Buddhism. I'm not a religious person, but I am open-minded and love learning about different cultures, etc. For months I've looked at religions, hoping that I'd find one that I could commit to. Unfortunately I couldn't find one, there wasn't one that I could put faith into... oh well, at least I tried. On the other hand, Buddhism is one of the few religions I can actually grasp. The theory seems much more easier to believe. From what I know already.. They have one deity - Buddha - but what makes it different from others is that he was actually a real person originally rather than an actual 'god' which, personally, I think makes it easier to cope with the idea. Also, Buddhism has some really good beliefs. However, I haven't looked into these in detail before so that's what I'll do now (:
It's a religion based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama who was alive 26 centuries ago. "The Buddha" translates to mean "The awakened one". It's been debated whether or not Buddhism is an actual religion since there is no god(s) in the beliefs and is sometimes referred to as being more a philosophy which may be a reason why Buddhism is more understandable for me (I love Philosophy xD). The idea of the religion is to move along the path to enlightenment through morality, meditation and wisdom. The whole point is go through self discovery. There are four noble truths - which are known as Dhama meaning "truth" - ;
- The truth of suffering (Dukkha)
- The truth of the origin of suffering (Samudāya)
- The truth of the cessation of suffering (Nirodha)
- The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)
All those truths are relative and I actually believe in them which is something (: Buddhists also follow the idea of reincarnation, which I also happen to believe in just differently to the religion, and there are 6 realms in which a soul can be reborn; heaven, humanity, titans, hungry ghosts, animal and hell.
There's also 5 precepts, which are like the ten commandments:
- Do not kill.
- Do not steal.
- Do not lie.
- Do not misuse sex. For monks and nuns, this means any departure from complete celibacy. For the laity, adultery is forbidden, along with any sexual harassment or exploitation, including that within marriage. They also disagree with homosexuality.
- Do not consume alcohol or other drugs.
Then there's the eightfold path which I'd go into detail about but there's a lot to it hehe. Here's a diagram to show the basic meaning - sort of.
Well, that's pretty much the basics...
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Well the choice was between Archaeology, Alchemy and Astral Projection. There was also Ancient History, but that seemed like such an obvious choice =P So, I'm going to look up more about alchemy despite loving archaeology and astral projection... You know, I'll probably end up finding out about all of them xD
All I know about alchemy is that there are people that try to turn to things to gold, or along those lines. There's also meant to be an elixir of life that supposedly Nicholas Flamel (whom I'd heard of before Harry Potter btw) had invented although it is a rumour, not necessarily true. Actually I think I'll look at that first, I think I've got a book somewhere that mentions it. It's this book if you should ever want to read it; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alchemy-Alchemists-Sean-Martin/dp/0785822313/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280350245&sr=1-3 . Ooo cool, it mentions the Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling blows mind. It's supposed to have been the holy grail of alchemy, maybe even the Holy Grail itself. According to the Arthurian alchemist Parzival 'It is a stone of the purest kind... called lapsit exillas' which I presume is Latin. Oh maybe not, I translated it and it became 'fall thin'... Okay different language, maybe I should find out more about this Parzival guy. Well Parzival is Percival in English. He was one of the King Arthur's knights of the round table. Hmm Google is no help... it just finds the poem by Wolfram (A German poet) about Percival rather than the actual person. Ah well, shall look at Nicholas Flamel for now. He was a French Alchemist. Nicholas supposed to be have been born in 1330, although it's not entirely known, then was thought to have died in 1417. According to the story, an angel visited him one night and showed him a book in a dream. He reached out to touch the book but the book and angel vanished. However, he later recognised the book - It was by someone called Abraham Eleazer who, in the book, described trasmuting metals into gold. He didn't understand the book well so he travelled, experimented and so on for years but then the guy (called Canches) that was trying to help him died at Orleans (there's a relatively long story which doesn't seem entirely appropriate so I won't bore you more with it). So Flamel returned to Paris and worked alone for apparently 3 whole years and was said to have completed his work on 17/1/1382 with his wife, Perenelle, as his one witness. A few months after that they started to acquire a large wealth and used it too donate to churches, hospitals, etc. When Flamel died years later, a mob ransacked his house to look for the gold but none was found and Flamel + his wife's tomb was found empty. Wow, chills! They were later sighted in India near the year of 1700 then again in an opera house in Paris in 1761. Well well well, how strange.
There's been a lot of sources that have said Alchemists live longer lives than average humans, including Isaac Newton, particularly for their eras. I've flicked through the rest of the book and there doesn't seem that much that I'd like to expand on for you so lets see what else I can find.
Wow there are so many symbols. They remind of the Egyptian Hieroglyphics. They represent all the metals and compounds used in alchemy, up until the 18th century according to wikipedia...
Well there's a lot more to the subject but this post is so unbelievably long already =P so if you'd like to learn more then research it yourself or you can mail me for my research if that'd be better (:
Letter B tomorrow.. This is fun =D
wonderғυl new projecт
The Summer Holidays is finally here and I'm conducting myself to a new project.. it's quite big and there may be quite a few mini projects within it too. Anyhow, I've always loved learning - looking at new information, feeding my mind knowledge, making something out of the things I've learnt. It's just amazing. So I'm going to be looking at a new topic a day, I may have heard of it before... However, I'll know very little about the subject which means I'll be able to research it far and wide. My interests are tremendously diverse so there could be some very 'interesting' things for you to read.
Everyday I shall be posting the best parts of the research so hopefully you'll enjoy reading it =D . First up letter A... I wonder what I'll find... Dun-dun-dunnn
∂αу тωσ && тняєє ♠♠
Okayyyy so I never got round to moving any furniture but oh well. So far there's been no improvement. In fact my life just seems to have gotten worst. I felt quite stressed out over the weekend but oh well. Maybe I need to overlook the direction of my room and whether I actually did my room plan right.... knowing me I probably did it completely wrong way. So today I'll be checking my plan and hopefully moving some furniture but things are pretty hectic in my life already and I'll probably be doing revision for my a level exams this month. Ahh come on feng shui, work your magic please =D
I thought I do a quick search to see why things still don't seem to be right and I came across this website: http://using-feng-shui.suite101.com/article.cfm/feng_shui_in_the_bedroom . It states "Windows should not be positioned so that the only place one can put the bed is against them or directly underneath them because such placement results in feelings of insecurity and restlessness in sleepers." So that explains why I always feel so insecure plus I really don't sleep well. Wow, the website awesome. I don't know where to put my bed now though =/ I'm limited to where it can go. I'm sure I'll think of something. I know I promised to make this post better... sorry :P.
∂αу σиє ♠♠
Research \\*
Since i'm not the owner of my house (i'm 16), i can only feng shui my bedroom... which is fine cos i spend most of time in here anyway. I could always do my part of the home office too =P. After browsing around a LOT of websites, These are the most useful pages i've found;
- there were quite a few more but these were my favourites (:
Okay, so i sketched out the plan my room >>
(Sorry that it's so blurred xD)
Action \\*
So I'll be having to move some furniture around tomorrow hopefully. Today, I decided to work on clutter... I can't believe how much i have D: there's like tons of school work from the past couple of years that i now don't need. I've cleared out loads of stuff, unfortunately it wasn't good enough to give away to charity but i've recycled a lot of it (: We'll just to see if there are any changes to how i feel tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed that some good happens x =P I promise my next entry will be less boring xD thanks for reading!
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