April Fools' Day is upon us, and whether you're pouring salt in the sugar bowl or tasting some suspiciously salty cereal yourself, the day's developments are worth taking with, well, a grain of salt. So, how did this springtime foolery begin?
Stories of April Fools' Day's origin are as riddled with tricksters as the holiday itself, but the most credible explanations involve the transition from the Julian calendar (in which the New Year coincided roughly with the celebration of the vernal equinox from March 22nd to April 2nd) to the Gregorian calendar we use today. Those who opposed or had simply not yet heard of the New Year's change, became fodder for the faux New Year's pranks that ultimately begat today's April hoaxes.
By this explanation, April Fools' Day traditions first appeared in France, where Charles IX decreed January 1st as the New Year in 1564 - 18 years before the official transition to the Gregorian calendar. In France, the fooled fellow was known as an April fish or poisson d'Avril, in a nod to Pisces, the recently completed zodiac sign, and a popular French prank involved placing dead fish on the backs of friends. Sound suspiciously unsubtle? French children now attach paper, fish-shaped stickies to their friends' backs, while French bakeries offer fish-shaped sweets in April celebration.
In the United States, what we lack in April Fools' history, we make up for in large-scale modern pranks. In 1988 physicist Mark Boslough published an article claiming the Alabama Legislature had changed the value of Pi to 3.0. Ten years later, Burger King claimed, via an ad in USA Today, to have developed a "Left-Handed Whopper" whose condiments dripped out the right side. Amusingly, not only did customers order said burger, but some requested a traditional "right-handed burger" as well.
The definitive American pop culture prank, however, may be the full-page ad placed in the New York Times in 1996, claiming Taco Bell had purchased the Liberty Bell to reduce our nation's debt, renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Without missing a beat, then White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry responded that a similar arrangement had renamed the Lincoln Memorial as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.
Perhaps Mark Twain said it best, "The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year." We at Daily Mantra hope you enjoy!
Pictured is a laundry label sewn inside an item of clothing that was manufactured by a boutique American company for sale in France. When translated, the label says:
Wash with warm water
Use mild soap
Dry flat
Do not use bleach
Do not dry in the dryer
Do not iron
We are sorry that our president is an idiot.
We did not vote for him.
According to new statistics released by The Vatican, there are now more Muslims in the world than Catholics. "For the first time in history we are no longer at the top: the Muslims have overtaken us," said Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who compiled the figures for the church's 2008 yearbook.
The Vatican estimates there are around 1.13 billion Catholics worldwide, while United Nations figures put the number of Muslims at around 1.3 billion. However if all denominations of Christianity are clumped together, Jesus still tops the charts, with an estimated 2.1 billion followers in total.
Formenti noted that while the number of Catholics in proportion to the world's population remains stable, Islam's popularity was increasing due to higher birth rates. In an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Formenti said, "While Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer."
Despite The Vatican's no waste policy when it comes to sperm, it seems that Catholics have some serious shagging to do if they're to regain the top spot. Certainly it seems Gabriel Archangel, the patron Saint of Conception, needs to pull more weight. In light of his obvious slacking on the job, perhaps The Vatican might think about relaxing its attitude to IVF?
The Daily Mantra would like to applaud pop star George Michael for his appearance on Eli Stone, (which stars Johnny Lee Miller as a lawyer with a higher calling in the title role). In the past, the publicity shy singer/songwriter has even refused to promote his own records, so when he stepped into the limelight for a cameo appearance on last week's installment of the hit ABC spiritually-charged legal drama, we knew it was for reasons beyond mere music and ticket sales, for Michael is a man who knows how to use his fame wisely.
In the episode in question, Stone represents a girl who was expelled from school for protesting about its abstinence-only sex education program by playing Michael's 1987 hit "I Want Your Sex" over the speaker system during assembly. In the show, Michael comes to her rescue, and funds her legal challenge to the expulsion; In reality, the singer used the high-profile TV appearance to challenge America's hypocritical, and highly misleading, policy of abstinence only 'sex education.'
"An abstinence only 'sex education' program is an oxymoron," said Michael from the witness box. "Abstinence can only be a choice if you have all the facts." One fact that's glaringly absent from such programs is that condom use is an effective option to protect against both pregnancy and disease. The silence is deafening, not just in our schools, but in the third world, where the poorest people on our planet have paid dearly, many with their lives, thanks to the deadly combination of AIDS and our no-sex dogma, which comes hand-in-hand with all U.S. government funded sexual health programs.
The AIDS issue is very close to Michael's heart. Michael's lover, Anselmo Feleppa, died of an AIDS-related cerebral hemorrhage in March 1993. "I Want Your Sex" was released in 1987, when Michael was still firmly in the closet (the singer came out to his parents shortly after Feleppa's death, and to the public in 1998). To dispel misconceptions about the anti-promiscuity but pro-sex song, which was banned by many radio stations due to its explicit lyrics, Michael recorded a prologue for the video in which he stated "this song is not about casual sex." During one of the scenes in the steamy video, which featured celebrity make-up artist Kathy Jeung, Michael is seen writing "explore monogamy" on her body in lipstick.
"It was inspired by a relationship. Like most of my work it was autobiographical," said Michael in response to a question posed by Stone's boss and trial colleague Jordan Wethersby (played by Victor Gaber) during cross-examination about the origins of the song. When asked if the song encouraged promiscuity, Michael responded by saying, "It's just the opposite. Ironically I wrote the song about abstinence and I was very much in love with someone at the time."
"When I wrote it we were in year six of the AIDS crises, a crisis that Ronald Reagan did not even address publicly until there were over 21,000 people dead, and what the government is doing right now, funding federal programs that tell children that condoms don't work, is killing people all over again."
To quote Mr. Wethersby, "Thank you, Mr. Michael." We rest our case. How many more of us will be caught 'praying for time' with HIV-infected loved ones before the state gets the church-infected dogma out our publicly-funded education programs and lets pragmatism take its course.
What's the secret to a long and happy marriage? We can look to the sky for a clue. As an astrologer one of the biggest questions I get is "when will I find the right person and how do I know if he/she is right for me?" Most people just look at their sun sign and wonder if they can be compatible with another person. Unfortunately, or hopefully luckily, there's more to finding a successful, lasting relationship than just knowing a person's sun sign.
When I do relationship readings for couples I compare several planets in a person's chart and how they interact. I am big on a person's sun and moon sign comparison and what houses they fall into in the others person's chart. The moon represents our emotions and how we feel about things plus it's a very karmic point. If your moon sign falls in your partners' 12th house and/or is near their ascendant that typically tells me that this isn't the first lifetime you've have shared together. It doesn't necessarily mean you will live happily ever after, but it does show that there is purpose and meaning and even some unfinished business that must be addressed in this lifetime.
Beyond the moon sign I compare a person's lunar node and how that may interact with the other person's sun or moon sign, since, again, the node is another indication of past life experiences together. Knowing your time of birth is very important when it comes to knowing if a relationship has staying power, because where your planets line up in your partners natal houses further shows how the energy of that planet will be expressed.
Of course we want to compare our Venus' (the planet of love) and Mars (the planet that rules our sexuality and drive). If these planets are compatible in air signs it may show that you have a great ability to communicate well with each other. In fire signs, it may indicate your relationship is very sexually driven with a lot of excitement. In water signs, you feel very intuitive with this person.
As far as longevity for the relationship, it's always important to compare the person's Saturn and Venus because these two planets together represent our karma and our love. If we look at charts of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, who are one of Hollywood's longest lasting marriages we will see that his Venus is conjunct her Saturn in Capricorn in her 12th house and his Saturn makes a trine to her Venus in water signs.
No one knows for certain how long a relationship will endure, but having the right planet alignment is essential for any potential compatibility and longevity. Click HERE for a quick (and FREE) compatibility check, and find out if your relationship is destined to be love or lust, a fun fling or for life.
Just a reminder that tomorrow (March 29) at 8 p.m. the folks from the World Wildlife Fund are asking us all to switch off our lights for 60 minutes to mark Earth Hour.
Earth Hour began last year in Sydney, Australia. This year the event is going global. Participating cities around the world include Adelaide, Bangkok, Brisbane, Canberra, Montreal, Ottawa, Perth, Copenhagen, Dublin, Manila, Melbourne, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Toronto, and Vancouver.
Here in the U.S. the flagship event is being held in Chicago, with Atlanta, Phoenix and San Francisco also officially jumping on board for the great turn off. Regardless of whether you reside in one of the designated cities, it’s easy to make a stand for Earth Hour. Just turn off, tune out, and drop out…of the power grid that is.
What can you do with the lights off? If the obvious isn't an option, and you’ve already maxed out your meditation quota for the day, the Daily Mantra recommends getting together with your environmentally sound friends for a few rounds of our favorite party game: Murder In The Dark. The prize for the winners? A low energy light bulb of course.
Breast cancer survivor Olivia Newton John is planning a 21-day walk along the Great Wall of China to raise money for a brand new, state of the art, treatment and research cancer center. Her journey begins on April 7th, and, if all goes to plan, will end in Beijing on April 29th. Fellow cancer survivor Sharon Osbourne is one of the many celebrities planning to join Olivia on her 228 km trek.
“The walk on the Great Wall symbolizes the cancer journey," said Olivia in an interview with ET. "It's long and arduous, but we'll triumph in the end." Click HERE if you’d like to sponsor Olivia and her team, which includes Joan Rivers, Leeza Gibbons, Scott Wolf (Party of Five), Sir Cliff Richard, Toyah Willcox, and Danni Minogue (Kylie’s sister).
Scientists have developed a computer game that students of the Law of Attraction may find helpful. The Mind Habits game trains players' brains to focus on the positive rather than the negative, and has been proven to reduce stress in trials.
During his research, Professor Mark Baldwin, a specialist in social cognition from McGill University in Montreal, found that our attention tends to be grabbed by social threats. This makes sense from an evolutionary point of view, since being able to quickly identify threats is a key survival skill, but it does mean we're predisposed to focus on the negative rather than the positive, which has an adverse affect on our stress levels and overall mental health.
Baldwin and his team therefore set out to create a computer game to retrain the brain. In one Mind Habits exercise, players are asked to find the single smiling/approving face hidden amongst a crown of fifteen curmudgeons. Baldwin hypothesizes that, "by doing this repeatedly and as quickly as possible, this trains an automatic response of looking for acceptance and ignoring rejection."
Baldwin and his colleagues tested their game on a team of telemarketers, whom they figured had high levels of stress and disapproval (how many times have you slammed the phone down on a telemarketer?). Before the shift they had one group play the game with faces for five minutes, while a control group played a modified version that required them to find a five-petalled flower in a field of seven-petalled flowers. After their shift, the group that was asked to search for the smiling faces was found to have higher levels self-esteem. Furthermore, blood tests showed this group had lowered their level of the stress hormone cortisol by 17% when compared to the control group. "Just 5 minutes of game-play per day had a significant effect," said Balwin in an interview with New Scientist.
If you'd like to retrain your brain, go to the Mind Habits website to play a free demo of the game. You can also download a free trial version from the site, or buy the full version, which features 100 game levels, for just $19.99.
PETA is no fan of Aretha Franklin. She upset the animal rights organization by wearing a full-length fur coat to a Grammy event last month. But after the TMZ gossip site reported that ‘The Empress of All Music’ (as she's now calling herself post-Beyoncégate) was about to lose her home due to an IRS claim for approximately $19,000 in back taxes, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk offered to bury the hatchet, and help out the troubled singer.
PETA has pledged to pay Franklin's tax bill on condition that the pelt-loving diva promises never to wear fur again. They are also asking Franklin to donate her furs to the organization as Mariah Carey and Kim Cattrall have done. "Our offer is a win-win situation," says Newkirk in an open letter. "You get to keep your home, and animals get to keep their lives. We are rooting for you to please give animals the R-E-S-P-E-C-T that they deserve by giving up fur." Sounds like a no-brainer to us.
Al Gore and The Alliance for Climate Protection, a nonpartisan, non-profit founded by the Should-A-Been President, are asking you to stop ignoring the very large herd of elephants in the room (see video), and take a stand against global warming.
The organization, which is committed to educating people, and governments, around the world that the climate crisis is both urgent and solvable is looking to sign up a million would-be eco warriors to help get the point across. So far they've recruited over 900,000 green-minded folks. Help them hit the magic number by clicking HERE.
"By coming together, we're showing overwhelming support for leadership on this critical issue. Add your voice now and help make climate change a priority."
Regardless of whether you're a man, woman or beast, it seems fame at an early age is not good for your mental health. The Daily Mail is reporting that Berlin Zoo's most famous resident, Knut, the once über cuddly polar bear cub, has grown up to become a "publicity-addicted psycho."
Knut and his twin brother were born in December 2006. Their mother, 20-year old Tosca, caught a serious case of post-partum depression, and rejected the cubs, who were subsequently rescued by zoo workers. Sadly Knut's brother died after just 4 days, but Knut survived, spending 44 days in an incubator before being hand reared by zookeeper Thomas Dörflein.
In March 2007 the German tabloid Bild-Zeitung carried a quote from Frank Albrecht, a radical animal rights activist, who claimed it would be better for Knut to die than be raised by humans "as a domestic pet." A massive public outcry ensued, and Knut shot to fame worldwide. 400 journalists showed up for his public debut, and the bear became the zoo's superstar poster child. Visitors increased by 30% after Knut graced the covers of newspapers and glossy magazines, such as the German edition of Vanity Fair, and merchandising, book and film deals followed. But fame took its toll on the impressionable cub.
"He is addicted to the whole show, the human adulation. It is not healthy," said Markus Roebke, who is a key member of Knut's human entourage. Roebke would like to see Knut enter rehab far away from the glare of the public spotlight. "Knut must go, and the sooner the better."
"We are not allowed to have contact with him any more and have received letters that if we breach this order our jobs are on the line. He is too unpredictable to play with now,' Roebke continued. "He actually cries out or whimpers if he sees that there is not a spectator outside his enclosure ready to ooh and aah at him...When the zoo had to shut because of black ice everywhere he howled until staff members stood before him and calmed him down."
It is estimated that Knut has earned his zoo over $12 million since his birth. That may seem like a lot, but Knut has a lot of catching up to do if he is to rival the earning power of fellow child star Britney Spears, whose economy is estimated by Porfolio.com to be worth $110 million to $120 million annually. Like Britney, Knut's dad is trying to get in on the action, with Neumünster Zoo (the conservators of Knut's father) threatening to file a lawsuit demanding a share of the spoils. Sadly, Knut and Britney have far too much in common. Perhaps they should hit group therapy together before they both turn into Gary Coleman (it'd break our heart to see Knut doing infomercials).
Demi Moore shared one of her unauthodox beauty secrets with David Letterman on his show last night. The eternally youthful star revealed that she recently traveled to a clinic in Austria for some leech therapy to help her get in shape before embarking on promotion for her new movie, ironically entitled Flawless.
"I feel like I've always been someone looking for the cutting edge of things that optimize your health and healing," said Moore. "These aren't just swamp leeches, we're talking about highly trained medical leeches. These aren't just some low level scavengers. These are high level blood suckers."
"It detoxifies your blood. They have a little enzyme, that when they're biting down on you, it gets released into your blood. And generally you bleed quite a bit, and your health is optimized. It detoxifies your blood. I'm feeling very detoxified right now."
"They start in a spot for me that is a horrible spot, which is my belly button. They test it out. They're in a little jar...and they pull it out, and they have to stick it in my belly button. Now I'm telling you, my belly button, if somebody just touches it, I want to literally just punch them."
"So we have the little sampler first, which is in the belly button. It crawls in, and you feel it bite down on you, and you want to go you 'bastard'. And then you relax, you work on your Lemaze breathing just to kind of relax, and then you just watch it swell up and get fatter and fatter. Then when it's super drunk on your blood it just rolls over like it's stumbling out of a bar."
According to Wikipedia, "large adults can consume up to 15 grams of blood in a single meal." Vampires could learn a lot from these little creatures. Before feasting, the hermaphrodite bloodsuckers release an anesthetic, and a powerful anti-coagulant (Hirudin), which stops the blood from clotting and allows unhindered feasting.
Medicinal leech therapy has been popular throughout history, and is still used in hospitals today. The creatures have been used to treat numerous conditions including tonsillitis and piles. They can help reduce swelling, and are therefore commonly used after surgery, and have also been used successfully to treat varicose veins. Hmnn, perhaps Moore's not so flawless after all.
I recently saw a show on the National Geographic Channel about the Shroud of Turin in which they presented many theories about how it came to exist, and speculated on the authenticity of the supposed burial cloth of Jesus. But the idea that excited me the most, which is also explored in the book The Jesus Conspiracy, is that Jesus didn't die on the cross, and that the Shroud of Turin serves a proof that he lived on after his crucifixion, which, in itself, is uncomfortable (to say the least) but not necessarily deadly.
Controversy has surrounded the Shroud of Turin since it appeared on the scene in 1357, when the widow of a French knight put it on display in a church. It wasn't until 1898, after the shroud had been photographed, that the image of a face was clearly seen in a negative. Radiocarbon dating done in 1988 declared the cloth to be from the Middle Ages, approximately 1300 years after Jesus lived.
This is the basis of The Jesus Conspiracy theory. The authors propose that the Roman Catholic Church substituted another cloth during the testing, because they knew that if the Shroud of Turin was shown to be real, and the method of its making revealed, it would prove that Jesus didn't die on the cross, and that knowledge could destroy the church entirely.
The authors believe the image was made after medicine put on Jesus' body after his crucifixion to heal his many wounds seeped into the cloth that covered him to keep the wounds clean. As Jesus lay motionless in a coma in the cave where the "resurrection" is said to have taken place, sunlight shone upon him from an opening above, allowing the image to burn into the cloth like a photograph. Coincidentally, followers of the Islamic faith believe that Jesus lived through the crucifixion before ascending to heaven. Interesting, isn't it?
Does this negate the celebration of Easter? I don't think it needs to. As the renowned academic and author Joseph Campbell said, "Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble."
During an interview with writer Tom Collins, Campbell explained further, "... the imagery that has to be used in order to tell what can't be told, symbolic imagery, is then understood or interpreted not symbolically but factually, empirically. It's a natural thing, but that's the whole problem with Western religion. All of the symbols are interpreted as if they were historical references. They're not. And if they are, then so what?"
The Bible is the mythology of our day. It's nice to know the historical accuracy of the text, but it's not the most important thing. It is our personal faith and belief that is truly important. The stories give us concepts to discuss and share as a culture. It is their familiarity and the connection to the themes and greater possibilities that stir and inspire.
Since everyone really just believes what they want to believe whether they've got carbon-14 dating equipment, revolutionary new image scanners or a Bible, I'm choosing to believe that Jesus met up with Mary in France, a la The Da Vinci Code, and they went on to live a peaceful life together. I have French ancestry, maybe I am one of their descendants. What an interesting possibility!
British visionary and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke died on March 19, 2008 at the age of 90. Clarke, who has lived in Sri Lanka since 1956, was buried in his adopted country on March 22. His request not to have any sort of state funeral from either of his island nations sounded just like the man I've come to know through anecdotes told by people around Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital city.
My Sri Lankan father used to go spear fishing with him, and almost anyone would tell you that he could often be found at Otter's Swimming Club, at least in his healthier days. On one trip to visit my Sri Lankan family, I made it my mission to get Sir Clarke's autograph for my author friend, Jeff Gelb. Luckily, my cousin happened to run into him, and was able to just ask him and get it for me, because although he was listed in the phone book, being from L.A., I was too keenly aware of violations of celebrity privacy to just call or drop by.
Following Sri Lankan tradition, his body was kept for viewing at his home in Colombo 7, (Sri Lanka's equivalent to '90210'). With elephant tusks creating an arch over his body, and white gloves on his folded hands, loved ones could look onto his peacefully resting face to say their final farewells. According to his close family friend, he wanted written on his tombstone the following: 'Here lies Arthur Clarke. He never grew up, but didn't stop growing'.
Though they observed his wishes and did not hold a state funeral, the government did ask for a minute of silence to be held throughout the island at the same time that their most famous expatriate was being buried. Police and security personnel led the way while a mix of politicians, ever-present saffron-robed Buddhist monks and a Catholic priest joined the procession of mourners as they walked to the cemetery and watched as the sci-fi guru's body was laid to rest.
Sri Lanka offered the backdrop for at least one of Sir Arthur C. Clarke's books: The Fountains of Paradise. "He always loved it here -- the warm climate and the friendly people," his younger brother, Fred Clarke, told AFP. "He said he had managed to escape 40 British winters and had no regrets."
On his 90th birthday in December, he expressed a wish for lasting peace in his adopted homeland, which has been torn by more than 35 years of fighting between government troops and Tamil separatists. Knowing that many of his ideas have become reality, I can only hope that this one will as well.
His foundation (www.clarkefoundation.org) plans to keep up his visionary work so that his legacy can continue to enrich the lives of those of us he's left behind.
Image courtesy of the Clarke Foundation.
Daily Mantra contributor Malayna Dawn splits her time between Los Angeles and Sri Lanka.
From Ostara to Easter, the holiday weekend is upon us. For some, this means Easter services at their favorite church, for others it means a Pagan springtime ritual, and for still more it's just a great excuse for baked ham and some pretty strange candy. I mean, chocolate rabbits? Marshmallow Peeps? The bizarre candied yolks of a Cadbury Egg? If only there were some way to tie it all together...
Fortunately, the Paganism hostess over at About.com has crafted this delightful (and delightfully absurd) union of rituals, symbols, and heavily sugared tradition: All you'll need to partake is a bag of jellybeans, some Marshmallow Peeps, and a chocolate rabbit and a glass of milk for each participant. Mix in a sense of humor, about twenty minutes of your time, and enjoy! Click HERE for full details.
Crucifixion, resurrection... chocolate-bearing bunny rabbits? In the immortal words of Eddie Izzard (from his "Church of England Fundamentals" rant in Dress To Kill), "Kids eat chocolate eggs [at Easter] because of the color of the chocolate and the... color of the wood on the cross? Well, you tell me!" Agreed, Mr. Izzard, it's a quandary, but the following background may shed some light.
To ancient Pagans, the Vernal Equinox (or Ostara, later "Easter") celebrated the fertility and rebirth inherent to the coming spring. As an obvious symbol of fertility, eggs were a significant part of this celebration. In France, decorated eggs were given to new brides in the hope of a fertile marriage, while Pagan Celts incorporated eggs into their magical fertility rituals. In Germany, farmers' wives distributed bowls of eggs among the field workers to attract a rich harvest, while in Russia eggs were decorated to symbolize abundance and good fortune. The coloring of these eggs can be traced as far back as ancient Greece, where red eggs symbolized rebirth, and green eggs represented the budding plants and flowers.
So how did the eggs and the bunnies intertwine? (I mean, beyond the amazingly fertile sex-lives-of-rabbits thing.) According to legend, the Pagan goddess Ostara, for whom the Vernal Equinox is named, saved the life of a bird with frozen wings by turning the bird into a rabbit. Having once been a bird, however, the rabbit continued to lay eggs, which he decorated and presented to Ostara in gratitude.
As perhaps Eddie Izzard said best, "Bunny rabbits are for shagging, eggs are for fertility, it's the spring festival!" We at Daily Mantra, hope you enjoy.
A study, published in this week's Science Magazine, has found that spending money on others makes you happy. Following a series of experiments the research team, headed by Professor Elizabeth Dunn of the University of Columbia, concluded that it's not how much you earn, but how you spend what you have that counts, with modest amounts of altruistic spending making a big difference to perceived levels of personal happiness.
"Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not," said Dunn. "This work suggests that even making small alterations in how we spend money on a daily basis can make a difference in happiness."
The team initially surveyed 632 people, asking them questions on income, spending, and general happiness. The subjects were asked to breakdown their budgets into bills, gifts for themselves, gifts for others and donations to charity, the latter two categories being deemed "prosocial" spending. The team found that "personal spending was unrelated to happiness," but that "higher prosocial spending was associated with significantly greater happiness."
In a follow-up experiment, researchers followed 16 employees from a firm in Boston, tracking and rating their happiness both before and after they received bonuses ranging from $3,000 to $8,000. They found that it wasn't the size of the bonus that mattered, but how the recipients spent it, with those spending more on gifts and charity consistently reporting that they were happier.
In a third experiment, the team gave subjects between $5 and $20 to spend in an afternoon. Half were asked to spend the money on themselves, and the other half asked to spend the money on others. At the end of the day, irrespective of the amount, those that spent the cash on others were found to be happier.
"This study provides initial evidence that how people spend their money may be as important for their happiness as how much money they earn," said Dunn. "Spending money on others might represent a more effective route to happiness than spending money on oneself."
If that's the case, George Clooney should be feeling pretty pleased with himself right now, since the charity he heads with pals Don Cheadle and Matt Damon has just given $500,000 to the United Nations World Food Program. And Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie should be feeling positively ecstatic, since it's being reported that the duo donated over $8 million in total to various charities.
If you'd like to make yourself happy, but are on a tighter budget, the Daily Mantra suggests you give The Generosity Game a whirl (see previous post). The stealth-giving sport can be played on any budget, and as a bonus encourages recipients of your guerrilla giving to pay-it-forward, spreading happiness like an infectious disease. Just think, catching happiness could almost be as easy as catching a cold (click HERE if you're confused).
Michael Stipe, frontman of the alt. rock band R.E.M., made a surprising statement today during a video news conference (click HERE to view). It seems that, after years of speculation, his fellow band mates, Mike Mills and Peter Buck, have confirmed they are indeed heterosexual. The duo hope their announcement will encourage more straight people to come out of the closet.
Police in Italy are looking for a man who's been hypnotizing grocery store checkout clerks into handing over all the cash from their tills. In every case, that last thing staff remember is a man leaning over them saying, "look into my eyes."
The talented thief was also caught on tape making an unconventional withdrawal from a bank in Ancona in Northern Italy. He hypnotized a female bank teller into handing over $1,200 in cash, before calmly walking out. The bank employee involved in the incident had no recollection of it, and only knew something had happened after she realized that money was missing. Bank security footage subsequently shed light on the unauthorized transaction.
This is not the first time hypnotherapy has been used as a tool for robbery. In 2005, Moldavian police were on the hunt for a bank robber who employed similar tactics. The man, named Vladimir Kozak, persuaded one teller at a bank in Chisinau to hand over $12,000, and is thought to have grossed at least $40,000 from his mind-bending crime spree.
Don't try this at home. Devout Catholics in the Philippines are marking Good Friday with ritual flagellation and voluntary crucifixions. At least a dozen people from two villages in the North of the former American colony were crucified with "nails the size of pencils," including a 15-year old boy and an 18-year old girl. Scores more flogged themselves with bamboo whips and paddles tipped with broken glass.
The tradition began in the village of Cutud in the early 1960's. The local passion play has since mushroomed into a major tourist attraction, and has spawned copy-cat productions in nearby villages. At the behest of the country's health minister, participants were urged to have Tetanus injections, and use sterilized whips and nails. "If we can't stop flagellants from whipping their own flesh, the best thing these penitents can do is ensure that their whips are clean and well maintained," said Health Secretary Francisco Duque.
Though the proceedings are officially frowned upon by the Roman Catholic Church, thousands came out to watch the extreme devotional spectacle. In Cutud, the Reuters news agency reports that, "the atmosphere was festive, with hawkers selling beer, ice-cream and souvenir whips." VIPs were able to watch the proceedings, which were the hottest ticket in town, from a "specially elevated viewing platform.”
Our clocks are adjusted, and we're enjoying the perfectly balanced day and night of the spring equinox. Total coincidence that Easter is just around the corner, right? Well, not entirely...
While to Christians this weekend is most closely associated with Jesus' resurrection (well, that and chocolate-bearing rabbits, but more on them in a couple days), Easter traditions, like many contemporary religious holidays, have a rich Pagan history. Specifically, the struggles of various figures to return from the Underworld, be they Greek Mythology's Orpheus or Persephone, the Norse Odin, or Jesus Christ, have long been intertwined with the seasonal rebirth of trees and flowers at the Vernal Equinox, known to Pagans as Ostara.
Ostara gets its name from "Oestre" (which also morphs into "Easter"), the Teutonic Goddess of spring and dawn. Within the Pagan Wheel of the Year, in which the Goddess and God figures transition through the stages of life with each holiday, Ostara marks the Goddess in her maiden bloom, as she's courted by the now virile young God.
In ancient Greece and Rome, where seasonal lilies adorned the Ostara altar, young men mirrored their lusty springtime God by presenting the lilies to young women in courtship, which served as a symbol of commitment tantamount to an engagement ring today. Even the Easter bonnet is steeped in Ostara lore, as ancient Pagans considered it bad luck to wear new clothes before the Equinox. They therefore worked secretly through the winter months on the elegant finery they could parade on Ostara day.
Ostara isn't purely a springtime holiday, however, it is also inextricably tied with the Equinox, as represented by the Sun Wheel in its perfect balance of a cross within a circle. Having trouble drawing a mental image? Just think of the pattern atop a traditional Anglo hot cross bun, long a symbol of the Easter holiday.
So now that you have a sense of Ostara's history, how best to honor this year's Equinox? One ritual is to burn a list of Ostara aspirations, hopes you wish to birth in the coming season, by the light of a purple candle. Then bury the ashes in the ground with the springtime seeds, so your dreams may bloom with the flowers. Too much effort for your liking? There's always that proud tradition about new clothes and hats...
Deepak Chopra is perhaps the world’s most popular spiritual guru. He is certainly one of the planet's most prolific authors. But there’s a confusing array of books strewn about on the path to enlightenment. Chopra offers a handy shortcut to the spiritual road Buddha mapped out, selecting ten of the best guides to get you on the fast track to Nirvana.
“These are my favorite books because they explain the philosophy of Buddhism in a very easy and practical way,” says Chopra. “In addition, they clearly show that Buddha's message was no different from the universal message of great beings such as Jesus, Confucius, and Socrates. The essence of all these teachings that have their roots in the wisdom traditions is that at a deep level consciousness is inseparably one, that the world that we inhabit is a projection of our elective consciousness, that everything interdependently co-arises. Unlike other religious teachers, however, Buddha defers in that he does not advocate a belief system, an ideology or a dogma. Like a great physician he identifies the problem: the human condition. He then identifies causes of suffering and follows with the prescription. In my view the following books explain the four noble truths and the eightfold noble paths in the simplest and most practical way.”
A new study has concluded that religious people are happier, and better able to cope with bumps in the road of life. Professor Andrew Clark from the Paris School of Economics and Dr Orsolya Lelkes from the European Centre f
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A new study has concluded that religious people are happier, and better able to cope with bumps in the road of life. Professor Andrew Clark from the Paris School of Economics and Dr Orsolya Lelkes from the European Centre f