Make a list of 43 things I know very little about, & then learn at least 3 things about each of them

• Based on the teachings of Zoroaster, whose birth was forecasted (like Jesus, legend says there were attempts to kill him as a child)

• Most followers live in Iran and India; There are only about 200,000 worldwide.

• It is considered one of the oldest (if not the oldest) relgions in the world (Was founded aroun 1500 BCE)

• Was probably the first monotheistic religion.

• Had a great impact upon Judaism and Christianity.

• Beliefs include: one god, freedom of choice, satan type demon named Angra Mainyu, and concept of a savior who will raise the dead and judge everyone in a final judgment.

Seven Principles of Anthroposophical Medicine

• Spirit manifests both within the human organism and outside of it in the substances of the kingdoms of nature. Knowledge of this has been cultivated for centuries within the Western esoteric stream: Monastics, Alchymists, Rosicrucians, Paracelsus, Hahnemann.
  Anthroposophical Spiritual Science is a modern continuation of these traditions.

• The wisdom that created nature is also at work within the human being. Every substance and process in the nature kingdoms relates correspondingly to a substance or process within the human being. Man is a summary of nature and nature represents the forces and substances within the human being.

• Anthroposophical Medicine is a leading holistic health movement throughout Europe and has been on the cutting edge of preserving therapeutic freedom in the public and legal realm.

• Man has a divinely guided individual destiny which includes individual freedom with the potential for error and illness. Overriding principles, like the seven year cycle, govern the evolution of an individual over a lifetime. Illnesses are also opportunities for personal growth and overcoming of unfruitful conflicts in the patient’s life.

• Art is an indispensible part of human life. Skillful artistic therapies subtly but strongly affect disease processes and help people grow through their illness. Out of Anthroposophical Medicine, specialized disciplines of Therapeutic Eurythmy, Rhythmical Massage, clay modelling, painting and music therapy have evolved.

• Remedies are derived from substances of the mineral, plant or animal kingdom. They can be prepared homeopathically, alchymically or as whole substance. They can be given orally, by injection or through external application.

• Every treatment aims to enhance the life force of the patient as a basis for improved health and deepened self-knowledge.

from the Physicians’ Association for Anthroposophical Medicine website

• Born 2/27/1861 in Hungary, Steiner was a scholar, architect, and philosopher

• Steiner was the creator of Anthroposophy (meaning human wisdom). He founded the Anthroposophical Society in 1912.

• Steiner believed “Anthroposophy is a path of knowledge, to guide the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the universe… Anthroposophists are those who experience, as an essential need of life, certain questions on the nature of the human being and the universe, just as one experiences hunger and thirst.“

• Anthroposophy involves “soul-observations using scientific methodology”

• Steiner (like Cayce) claimed to have experiences with the Akashic Records

• Steiner is considered one of the founders of the organic farming movement

• He was also at the forefront of holistic medicine.

Inspired by Kaatya, my Moldovan pen pal. She sends me depressing iron curtain era postcards of landmarks in her country with notes about the cold depressing winter.

• The Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country between Romania and the Ukraine

• It used to be part of Romania but was then taken by the USSR through force in 1945

• Moldova declared its independence from the USSR on 8/27/91

• Moldova hopes to become part of the EU in 2010

• The currency of Moldova is the leu, which means lion

• Moldova is the poorest country in Europe. The average GDP per capita is $1900 vs $43.550 in the US

• 98% of the people in Moldova are Eastern Orthodox

• an exhibition and a full-contact sport based off new approaches to traditional chinese martial arts

• Created in China in 1949.

• Jet Li is one of the most famous Wushu followers. He uses Wushu in his movies

• Today, “Baywatch” is viewed in 140 countries by over one billion viewers each week.

• David Hasselhoff is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as “The Most Watched TV Star in the World”

• Why the Germans love him: “His remarkable musical career took off in the late 1980s when he recorded the album, Looking for Freedom, at the end of the Cold War. The song became an anthem for the German people and remained at the top of their charts for eight weeks. The album went triple platinum in Europe, and Hasselhoff was named “Most Popular and Best Selling Artist of the Year” in Germany. He sang “Looking for Freedom” from atop the Berlin Wall during the German reunification celebration.”

_{courtesty of the official website (go there—you can hear his sweet voice)}

from the FAQ on the official groundhog site:

• The celebration of Groundhog Day began with Pennsylvania’s earliest settlers. They brought with them the legend of Candlemas Day, which states, “For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May…”

• Punxsutawney held its first Groundhog Day in the 1800s. The first official trek to Gobbler’s Knob was made on February 2, 1887.

• So the story goes, Punxsutawney Phil was named after King Phillip. Prior to being called Phil, he was called Br’er Groundhog.

• The Caltech scientists who discovered the planet nicknamed it Xena after the warrior princess, and the moon around it, Gabrielle.

• Its current name is 2003 UB313. It won’t receive a name until it is officially deemed a planet (which isn’t completely certain).

• One possible name for the new planet is Persephone

• It is 1.5 times the size of Pluto and is similar in composition to Pluto. Whether or not Pluto is a planet is under debate which affects the outcome of 2003 UB313.

• It has a 560 year orbit.

• It is visible late summer, fall, early winter.

• There are actually two other objects near the 2003 UB313 that could potentially be planets.

I had to look up my collection schedule and found this

New York collects:

• Between 366,000 and 423,000 tons per year of mixed paper recyclables
• Between 250,000 and 331,000 tons per year of metal, glass, and plastic recyclables

Paper is barged to five or six different mills to be processed. Metal, Glass, and Plastic are processed at Hugo Neu. Still trying to find stats on what percentage of collected recyclables are reused in new products…

1. Zoroastrianism
2. Iran pre-shah->post ayatollah
3. What’s After Descartes? (aka I’m not a cog)
4. World War II battles in Alaska
5. Biblical Scriptures that support homophobia
6. Tie between geography and culture
7. Appalachia
8. qigong
9. How Ink is made
10. Where my NYC recyclables go
11. Understand How an A-Bomb works (why were shadows left?)
12. Ancient Greek use of Music to elicit emotion
13. iChing
14. Persian Rugs
15. the Northern Lights
16. Arc of the Covenant
17. 10th Planet
18. Discover the appeal of Hegel and Wittengenstein
19. Moldova
20. How an infant is able to breathe seconds after being in the womb.
21. How groundhog day started
22. Hasselhoff
23. Bhutan
24. Where my NYC Water comes from
25. Knitting
26. Rudolf Steiner
27. New_Puritans
28. Dogme95
29. Wushu
30. Sunni-Shiite Conflict
31. Discardia
32. Geocaching
33. New Zealand
34. Anthroposophical Medicine
35. Theosophy
36. Madame Blavatsky
37. The Genographic Project
38. Mitochondria
39. JT LeRoy
40. Robert Anton Wilson