4/9/07: It's springtime in the Rockies and I'm back in Boulder! So far, for the most part, it's been freezing cold with rain and snow. Where's global warming when you need it? Fortunately, the vibes are very warm here at home where I lived several years ago and where my former housemate, Kem Stralka, continues to live. This is the house where the Halbertcicles first started to grow with great regularity and glory three years ago. And Kem, bless his heart, had one in the freezer when I arrived. They initially started growing after a five year hiatus "in response" to a prayer for my son. Within two days after said request the biggest one (up to that point) grew to a height of one and three quarters inches. Now we're up to four inches. That's what I call progress. As the saying goes, "It's the little things that count."
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All due apologies to those who, based on the last Trail Tale, went to halbertcicles.com to read the text revisions that I said I had posted, only to be disappointed. Some gremlins got in the system and the changes didn't take. Or they did take and then disappeared. Or something like that. I was attempting to do some site updates myself instead of passing every little thing off to the webmaster. I guess now I know why they are called "webmaster." Anyway, the changes are there now, for sure; you won't be disappointed if you check it out again. But I haven't gotten any further than changing the text for the first three images. Nor have I given up on the project!
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As it stands right now though, we're less than a week away from a major step forward in Urantia community developments. A large number of leaders in the Urantia community are going to be in town soon and I want to get as much work done on the site as possible before a potluck and planetarium presentation on Saturday. So the halbertcicles.com will have to wait a little bit. Sort of. As you can see from the pictures, they continue to grow in the home where all this silliness started.
Just this morning I finished up a major revision to the Continental Drift Report, as you probably already noticed from the headlines. And next, as promised, I'll be getting to work on the inner ionosphere issue. This should be a very nice little zinger of a topic with some beautiful images to boot. From a conversation I recently had with Stan Hartman, I learned of some new research that supports The Urantia Book's depiction of space respiration. So we should have another nice astronomy topic coming soon.
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The last night I spent in Tucson was at the study group of Barbara Palmer and Don Poore. They were very gracious to let me stay the night before heading out of town. It was the second study group I attended at their home and it was a real pleasure on both occasions. There were a half dozen of us and a nice mix of old and new readers. There home has wonderful panoramic views of Tucson (sorry I didn't take any pictures for you of that) and it was nice to have that view in the morning before leaving the area.
Many thanks, of course, to Mike Fitzmorris for his hospitality over the last several months and for having a freezer that grew the most outrageous Halbertcicles ever! He's invited me to come back next winter for a visit and I just might take him up on the offer.
Traveling up to Colorado, I stopped in Santa Fe for a study group at the home of Charles Olivea. His group has met regularly for quite some time. Charles has done extensive work on the race/genetics issues in The Urantia Book and very graciously passed on some research materials that should prove valuable for future topics. Many thanks to him for that. Though the synapses were not firing quite well enough for a clear recollection, we are quite certain that he and I met some twenty plus years ago in the Boston area.
The first stop in Colorado was to have some coffee with Lynn Goodwin in Colorado Springs. Lynn has been wonderfully supportive and encouraging of my efforts with UBtheNEWS and so it was great to catch up with her at the end of the first quarter's adventure. Next, it was up to Castle Rock to spend the night at the home of Chris and Cydny Riggio, who were very kind allow me to store the rest of my belongings in their barn and in many other ways help me get and stay on the road.
Fortunately, I found the study group led by Chris Halvorson in Boulder to be covering the parts of The Urantia Book that I have recently been focusing on for the development of new material. Chris' insights into the early formation of the planet are, of course, top notch and I got some new insights into the discrepancies between The Urantia Book's dates and radiometric dating. These insights have already been incorporated into the recent overhaul of the Continental Drift topic, now called "Pangaea to Plate Tectonics."
And while I would like to go on about other adventures and developments, the inner ionosphere is calling me. . .
Namaste,
Halbert
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Springtime in the Rockies!
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4/18/07: As you can plainly see from the photo, being in Boulder for springtime is a beautiful thing. You can't get views like this from just anywhere, though. You need a tree house in the back yard of a single story neighborhood that's very close to the mountains. And this is exactly what I have at Kem's place, which used to be my place. Then it was Tom's and my place. Then it became Kem's, Tom's, and my place. And now it's just Kem's (and Joanna's) place.
Placement is everything. It's all about being in the right place at the right time. I am very blessed to be in the right place at the right time. Last week there was an historic meeting of the leadership of the Urantia Foundation and the Urantia Fellowship right here in Boulder. Saturday we had a wonderful potluck at the Fiske Planetarium, followed by a planetarium presentation that was prepared by Stan Hartman. Stan is a longtime reader from Boulder and he's a real champion for the cause. About 150 people were in attendance. Experiencing the statewide, nationwide, and worldwide aspects of this gathering was a tremendous pleasure and a wonderful opportunity to introduce some of the Urantia community's leadership to the UBtheNEWS project.
Also by way of being in the right place at the right time, it turns out that the Friday night study group led by Chris Halbertson, I mean Chris Halvorson, is right at the terra forming and life implantation section of the UB. So the next six weeks of study groups are going to be perfectly aligned with the work I'm doing on UBtheNEWS. If you haven't read the recent update to the Continental Drift topic, now called Pangaea to Plate Tectonics, the changes are quite pervasive and significant. The headline provides the heads up.
Progress is continuing on the Inner Ionosphere report. I had an enlightening (pun intended) conversation with Chris Halvorson (hey, I got it right that time ;-) last night after Mo Siegel's study group. This is going to be a very challenging report to present not only because this particular field of science is undeveloped, but also because we all have a lot to learn in general terms about electricity and electromagnetics. Understanding how to make use of electricity and actually understanding how it works are two different things. Andrea was at Mo's group with her fiancée and son. I had met her at Phil Calabrese's study group several months ago. They are all moving to this area and will be a wonderful addition to the community out here. My heartfelt condolences go out to the southern California UB community for your loss.
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I'm very much looking forward to attending a number of study groups in Colorado that I missed getting to when I left here in the midst of severe weather. A new one is getting off the ground in Boulder. I'm in the process of making plans with Lynn Goodwin to go to the one in Colorado Springs within the next couple weeks and I also plan to make it up to the one in Ft. Collins.
As you can see, the Halbertcicles are continuing to break on through to the other side. To the other side of what, I'm not exactly sure. Maybe they're reaching out to us. Maybe they are also part of the ascension scheme for attaining divine perfection and, for them, this is what it means to transcend humble origins and transform into what God really wants for all ice cubes.
Stay cool,
Halbert
4/30/07: "Life is an open book, but you still have to read it in order to get the benefit."
I said that.
But that doesn't mean I'm the first one or only one to have said that. Did I mention, after the reading comes the interpretation?
This Halbertcicle popped up yesterday, just in time for the last Trail Tale in April. I remembered seeing something like this just once before. Searching the archives, I found some shots from April of 2005, representing the more traditional "Ten Commandments" motif of the open book variety.
I call this one the Open Heart Open Mind sequence. I'm amazed. I think we're making progress. I sure hope so. Eventually, UBtheNEWS will be old news because so many confirmations will have been established that no one cares anymore. Then, the Halbertcicles will be all that is left. Art for art's sake lasts eternally. Halbertcicles will always be a good opportunity for pause and reflection.
This recent Halbertcicle was a wonderful way to cap off the month. Since the last Trail Tale I've twice attended a new study group in Boulder with a mix of about nine old and new readers. The tradition is to start the evening off with a raw food potluck. This is what I come back to Boulder for. You got to love a town that lives up to the reputation of being on the cutting edge. Of course, we read about Adam and Eve, the first to have a raw food diet as a lifestyle choice. And it all fits so well with some of the best confirmations of The Urantia Book relating to the story about Adam and Eve.
Matthew and Saskia were in Boulder Friday night and came to the study group led by Chris Halvorson. We had over thirty people in attendance! Thirty is getting to be a normal number at that group. The next step is going to be to simulcast it over the Internet. They already regularly have the speakerphone in use.
I had the supreme pleasure of spending the next day and evening with Saskia, Matthew, Maria, Nick, and Jerry. The weather was beautiful, so Matthew and I got to start out the morning with an awesome hike up the foothills directly overlooking Boulder.
He and I had not had a chance to just catch up with each other in many years. It's always nice to take a walk in the hills with a fellow truth-seeker. Thanks to Maria and Nick for hosting a wonderful time with Saskia and Matthew.
I've also been checking out the Urantia booth that Don Green sets up twice a week at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He encouraged me to make a brochure that he could use at the table. So soon I'll have something up that he can use. It will also be posted on the site so that those who want to can downloaded it.
Namaste,
Halbert
5/10/07: This first photo is called The One and Only because it is the one and only picture of the whole Halbertcicle. As you can see by the second photo, the top broke off. Then, when I checked the freezer again about ten minutes later, it had broken in half.
Out of respect, there are no photos of the severed remains.
I've heard it said that rare occurrences tend to group together. That tendency would be confirmed by this open-faced Halbertcicle. Last week, you regular readers may recall, I posted pictures of another example of this head expanding expression of a Halbertcicle. I even included the only other example I could find. After searching the entire archive I found that a similar thing occurred two years ago.
It takes something special for me to search through all the pictures. There are thousands of them at this point. I was going to say I felt it was that important to do so in this case, but somehow the word "important" does not quite fit into a sentence about Halbertcicles.
In any case, fortunately, I was there to photograph the thing before it turned into the shattered ruins of a bygone moment, the wilted flower of a previous spring, the broken dream of one destined to live a short life. . .
Good thing I got at least one photo. Tragedy narrowly averted. You heard it here first on UBtheNEWS.
For the third time I went to a new Study Group in Boulder. There were about eight of us, most new readers. Two of the other people had recently had Halbertcicles grow in their freezer. One of them took a picture, which I hope to get soon and will include it in the Trail Tales when I do. Indeed, the force was very strong in that group. I laughed harder in that night than I had in a long time. Hats off to Terry for pulling it all together!
I visited the Loveland/Ft. Collins group last week. John DeToy was there with many interesting stories about his recent visit to some South American readers. Apparently, heading south has some very nice advantages and intriguing opportunities.
Speaking of South America, there's a chance that some South American tribes, who are enjoying a 100% infusion of the microcephalin gene that is the headliner of the Adam and Eve Report, are going to have a close relationship to the Inca's. This would help corroborate the UB's assertion that 132 of Adam's descendents made it to South American and became the ancestors of the Inca rulers.
So far I'm just speculating and following clues based on some research that was done several years ago. Who knows where it will lead? I'll keep you posted. At this point, as with the Halbertcicles, there are many questions and few answers.
I look forward to being able to post a pamphlet soon. It will be a nice little tri-fold type thing with some images that show how incredible the Garden of Eden topic is, along with a quick overview of the Adam and Eve and Pangaea to Plate Tectonics topics, plus a general description of the service that UBtheNEWS is providing. I think you'll find it to be a very nice way to quickly create intrigue about The Urantia Book.
Look for that to be posted within the next week or so.
That's all for now.
Namaste,
Halbert
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5/23/07: As can plainly be seen from the big smiles, a great time was had by all when I spent a day several weeks ago with Saskia Raevouri, Matthew Block, Maria Downing, and Nick Tamm. Those of you who are following along will remember that I made mention of this in a previous Trail Tale. However, Saskia and Matthew needed to get off their whirlwind tour of the US and back to Europe before Saskia was going to find time to send along the photos. So. . .here we are again, reliving the wonderful experience. Nick and Maria have a wonderful flat screen integrated with their computer system which makes one's website look bigger than life itself. (I know this is a slight exaggeration, but I'm not allowed to exaggerate in the reports for UBtheNEWS, so the Trail Tales section will have to serve as an outlet. Not that I'm prone to exaggeration and need an outlet. But I do seem to have a literary romance going on with parenthetical statements and something has to go inside the parentheses. A simple overstatement in the body of the text serves as an excellent lead-in to a parenthetical statement, don't you think? ;-) Anyway, it's good to know that Saskia and Matthew have returned safely and are continuing with their enormous contributions to the UB community.
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Last Sunday evening I attended a study group in Pueblo, CO. There were about a dozen of us there. The gathering was a combination of two groups that meet in that area. Don and Lynn Chapman hosted the event. Many thanks to them for that. Buck and Arlene Weiner were in attendance. They were on their way down to South America (Argentina, if memory serves me well.) to meet with readers and support efforts to spread the UB in that part of the world. I was very happy to get a chance to speak with them about the work they are doing and to give them a little handful of UBtheNEWS business cards to take with them.
The next day was my birthday (45, in case you were wondering), so I headed to Cottonwood Hot Springs to do some serious soaking and be treated to lingering winter snow flurries. I found that soaking in communal hot springs pools is an excellent way of introducing people to The Urantia Book and UBtheNEWS, except for one thing. I did the cards myself on an inkjet printer, so I had to be careful about getting them wet.
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Tricky business at a hot springs. About ten people left with cards before I headed back to Boulder. And, of course, I didn't give a card to everyone I talked to (one per couple!). All in all, I told about twenty people what I was up to before leaving. Not bad for a day off. Four women from the Colorado Springs area- Maria, Laura Kim, Debbie, and Alice- were of particular interest. Maria is a sha(wo)man who has done extensive work in South America. Alice had some insights for me on the Adamson project with regard to getting myself prepared to look up my Iranian high school classmates later this summer.
Since coming back to Boulder last month I've taken a number of opportunities to visit Don Green and friends at the student center on the University of Colorado campus. Don sets up a UB booth twice a week during the school year. Bless his heart! Among other things, Don provides an assortment of tri-fold brochures on a number of UB topics. This inspired me to create one for the relationship between science and the UB, which Don said he would use at the booth. Work on this is almost finished and in very short order you will be able to download it off the site and use it as you like. One of its features is color-images that show the evolution of seafloor mapping and how this relates to the description of the Garden of Eden. I think people are going to find this pamphlet to be very useful for introducing the UB and I encourage everyone to consider the possibilities for where this can be placed and the different ways in which it can be used.
Coming back to Boulder has allowed me to handle a number of things that didn't get done before I left in January. This has been a good thing, but it has slowed down the process of getting the reports written a little bit. Not to worry though. We have a couple new topics in the works. One on the stability of large atoms and another regarding a gamma ray burst that has the signature of space respiration all over it. I'm very much looking forward to at least getting some summaries up for these topics soon. Because these issues are right on the edge of scientific discoveries, the reports will be rather short and have to be developed over time as more research and analysis emerges. Nonetheless, both of these issues look to be very nice corroborations of the UB even in these early stages.
(That's all for now.)
Namaste,
Halbert
5/31/07: You can't tell from looking at the photo, but it's pointing south toward Chris Riggio's place in Castle Rock. That's where I'll be headed today to help out a little and do some final repacking before heading east. My estimated date of departure is next Tuesday, but it could get pushed to Wednesday morning, bright and early, if need be.
It looks like things are getting suitably wired to broadcast Chris Halvorson's study groups live over the internet. Last week was the first time, thanks in large measure to David Kantor, that it went live over the net. Over seventy people tuned in, twelve of them for the entire time. I think Kristen Michaels was getting trained on how to keep it running now that David is leaving town again. I look forward to staying tuned to these groups as much as I can while I'm on the road. Tune in; tell your friends. These groups come highly recommended; that's why they're being broadcast (get it?). I believe the Fellowship website has information about how to listen online.
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If it is not up already, very soon you will see a headline about a new pamphlet. This pamphlet introduces the topic of science and The Urantia Book. It includes brief descriptions with illustrations topics such as the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, and Pangaea to Plate Tectonics. You can print it out and use it however you like. I think you'll find it very helpful in sharing The Urantia Book with other people. Try to think of places where these can be left for people to check out and then place them there! That's the whole point!
Because the images are in color and it's two-sided, the pamphlet is a bit expensive to print out. Or, at least, I could place far more pamphlets than I have money to spend on them. If anyone would like to contribute to a "pamphlet fund," you can make contributions online and then just drop me an email to let me know that it's for pamphlets.
I'm planning to start a new section on the home page called: What's the Point? Naturally, there will be a different Halbertcicle featured each week. Apparently, I don't have enough to do, so I'm going to start another section on the website. Meanwhile, there are about three more topic summaries and a report that need to be written. Not to mention . . . well, if I mention the other things it wouldn't make any sense to say "not to mention," now would it?
Anyway, welcome to summer!
Namaste,
Halbert
6/10/07: The Association of Light and Life (ALL) conference that I have been attending for the last four days has just ended. The conference was absolutely wonderful. Naturally, at a spiritual conference the spirit of fellowship lights-up everybody and I have come away from the experience feeling mightily uplifted. But I'm now I'm finding it is a little bit awkward to have a "news agency" where one is called on to report about oneself. (I mean, my, it's such a lovely opportunity for person growth to have a "news agency" where. . .)
ALL conferences are a wonderful thing for Urantia Book readers who want to have the benefit of an interfaith experience where most everyone has a deep love for The Urantia Book. Maybe I'm just ignorant, but I don't know of any other organizations that provide this flavor. Typically, to get an interfaith experience as a Urantia Book reader means going to an event where most people are unfamiliar with the UB. To have the combination of the spirit of openness to and acceptance of diverse beliefs and viewpoints that naturally comes with an interfaith event along with a predominance of appreciation for The Urantia Book was something I found to be a uniquely wonderful experience. Congratulations to the organizers and participants of ALL who provide this flavor of spiritual fellowship!
I want to apologize at the outset for not writing about everything and everybody. Everything that happened and everybody who was there deserves a paragraph. Fortunately, the good folks involved with ALL have it together to do their own newsletter, so I don't have to do all the reporting on this event. But even still, operating largely as a one-man show when it comes to writing reports (hint, hint), I'm going to the make the excuse that spending less time on this part of UBtheNEWS will allow me to get you more of the exciting corroborations of The Urantia Book that is what this site is really all about.
Thank God outreach is an import part of what I do! What a wonderful balance of social and solitary activities I seem to have found!
I very much appreciated the opportunities I was given to speak to the whole conference for fifteen minutes, to do a workshop, and to play a few tunes at the closing session. (Lord of the Starfields, by Bruce Cockburn to lead us into a mediation and a song I wrote about ten years ago for a Father's Day worship service in Boulder, called I'm a Father, Too.) Because the first song led into a silent mediation, I didn't have to "suffer" any applause after that song. I've had a tendency to be uncomfortable about doing things and then having people applaud. But after I'm a Father, Too there was no escaping the inevitable. I'm happy to report that this was the first time in my life that I was present enough to consciously let go of the discomfort and let the love in. Thanks to everyone for being the kind of people who opened me up letting in the love in a way that I never really experienced before!
Much thanks goes to Bob Divine and crew for giving me the chance to speak and play and for putting on such a wonderful event.
There were about 65 people at the conference. It was great during the presentation to the whole group to have had a projector with internet service so that everyone could see the site. Of course, a projected image is worth a thousand words, so it allowed me to inform people much more efficiently. (If anyone has a picture of that presentation, please email it to me.) As you can see from the picture, there were about ten people at the workshop where we went into a lot more detail regarding the status of UBtheNEWS and how to use the scientific credibility of The Urantia Book when sharing it with others.
I managed to get pamphlets printed up the day before I left for the conference. Lots of people took pamphlets with them. I wonder what kind of difference they will make in the world. Who will read them? How will it impact their lives? I'm looking forward to hearing a story someday about how someone read the pamphlet and then checked out the site and got interested in The Urantia Book. Eventually, it will happen.
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Barry Bartlett
from New Zealand
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I met a man at the conference from New Zealand by the name of Barry Bartlett. Barry does a radio show in New Zealand. He tape-recorded an interview with me that he intends to play it on his show. And he may put one of the Reports into a magazine called In Touch that he works with out there. Many thanks to Barry for his help in getting the word out in this way!
I'm now on my way to Iowa City, Iowa where I will meet up with a lone Urantia Book reader who posted her name and number on the Fellowship website hoping someone would call. She's very happy that I'll be meeting with her tomorrow but very sad that I'll just be passing through. Then it's off to Indianapolis, Indianapolis for a Tuesday night study group at Michael Painter's where I am looking forward to meeting up with Linda Buselli, who I know from past conversations is very interested in the science issues. (It may seem a bit redundant to put Iowa after Iowa City and Indiana after Indianapolis, but remember, I just came from Kansas City, Missouri.) Then I'll be making my way up to New England to begin the process of looking up my Iranian classmates from high school in order to promote the Adamson Project, which, as some of you may know, is what inspired the creation of UBtheNEWS!
Happy trails to me!
Namaste,
Halbert
6/22/07: Well, well, well, guess who is in Wellfleet, Massachusetts at the very end of Cape Cod. And life is good.
I've spent the last ten days getting here from that wonderful ALL conference that I went to (see previous Trail Tale) which ended on 6/10/07. This gave me plenty of time for a nice stroll to New England from Kansas City, Missouri. First stop was Iowa City, Iowa. There I met up with a friend from my college days, Lyone, who just finished up her PhD in Philosophy at the university there. She's landed herself a job teaching at Dennison University in Ohio.
Lyone teachrs Philosophy of Religion and Comparative Religion and is interested in having me come in as a guest lecturer to talk about Urantia Book related issues. She also may start using my first book, The Logic of Love, in her classes. Gotta love that! Thanks, Lyone!
She and I met with a lone reader in Iowa City, Gail, who was very happy to see us but very sad that we were not going to be there in the future to have study groups with her. She would very much like to find UB readers in that area and has her name on the Fellowship website for anyone in the area who wants to make contact.
Then it was on to Indianapolis, Indiana where I went to a wonderful study group at the Painter's residence. Linda Buselli was in attendance and we discussed my doing an article for the Fellowship Herald's next edition, "The Urantia Book Isn't What It Used To Be." This article will focus on how the credibility of The Urantia Book has transformed its natural appeal to people who are hearing about it for the first time.
After Indianapolis, it was on to Ohio where I stayed with a man, Nick Carson. We met in Ohio a couple of years ago. On that day we both ended up talking to a woman in Youngstown about The Urantia Book and the Garden Eden, which she though was very strange because she had never heard about the book before. The next thing you know I'm calling up Nick to see "What's up?" Turns out he had heard about the book decades ago, didn't have a copy, had talked about Atlantis without having any knowledge about the recent research correlating that tradition with the traditions related to the Garden of Eden, was very interested to get back in the loop, bought a book from me, and then two years later, just several days ago actually, gave me a very nice place to stay as I was making my way here to New England. (And if you think that run on sentence was bad, you should read The Urantia Book.)
The last three days before getting out to the Cape were spent with a couple college friends, Danny and Amy, who got married and now live in Springfield, Massachusetts. They are orthodox Jews. Danny and I always get into great philosophical discussions. Being a couple kindred-spirit truth-seekers, who each have taken a different and distinct direction, great things come out of our conversations. The second installment of What's The Point? was inspired by recent rounds of discussion.
Significant progress is getting made on the upcoming Inner Ionosphere Report. I'm convinced that by the time of the next Trail Tale posting I'll have an initial draft of that complete. I don't want to lose my one-report-a-month or better ratio.
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Ask and you shall receive
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Significant progress has also been made in locating and fixing the leak in the shower. Soon mobile hot showers will again be a reality!
If there are any study groups in the New England area that I should be visiting before I leave, that are not already posted on the Fellowship website, please let me know.
Those of you following along will notice the addition of the What's The Point? section. This new section will, for obvious reasons, become the new home for Halbertcicle pictures. Today's farewell Halbertcicle is the original one that set off this emerging pattern of regular, increasingly peculiar expressions of water going through a paradigm shift. You can read a little more about that at http://halbertcicles.com/gallery/halbert.htm.
Shifts happen.
Namaste,
Halbert
6/30/07: The wild weekend in Wellfleet has been followed up by a much more productive week in Boston. This last week I've been staying with an old friend, Lee, from my high school days at Phillips Exeter Academy. Yes, that's the school I got kicked out of. If you're not familiar with the story, I highly recommend it because it is intimately related to the work I'm doing with UBtheNEWS and the reason that I'm in New England right now. You can learn more about all of that by reading The Adamson Project: A Case Study in "Get a Clue; then FOLLOW IT!" Really, if you haven't read that yet, you should do it now. This Trail Tale, and the site as a whole, will be much more meaningful if you do.
Lee has a PhD in physics, so we have some pretty good conversations about the various science issues in the UB. But I wish he would have the conversations with Chris Halvorson. I'm sure Chris could provide him a much more interesting discussion about subatomic physics than what I'm able to provide. As you can see from the pictures, Lee has a very nice place with a roof top deck at the foot of Beacon Hill in Boston, right across the street from the Charles River. In the sunset picture, lower right hand corner, you can see the scaffolding for the PA system that will be used for the Boston Pops when they play at the Hatshell for the 4th of July. The music can be heard nicely from the roof and the fireworks from this location are spectacular. As the saying goes, "It's nice to have friends in high places."
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Prudential Building at Sunset
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Fortunately, I was able to get a parking permit at Brandeis University (last suburb heading west out of Boston), which is where I got my undergraduate degree in Philosophy of Religion. So I don't have to try to find safe parking for my home on wheels in downtown Boston. Lee's place has been a wonderful environment for getting work accomplished. Very comfy and a nice internet connection. As promised, the report on the Inner Ionosphere is complete, which means my average of one report per month this year still holds! (This average would be a lot easier to maintain, of course, if some other folks wanted to get in on this game. No need to leave all this service-work to me. There's far more work to be done on these reports than I can handle.)
A new Summary was also added this month on our sensitivity to the earth's magnetic forces. Interestingly, the inspiration for this report came from reading the Urantia page on wikipedia. Unfortunately, wikipedia is giving undue and inaccurate consideration to the critiques made by Martin Gardner regarding science in The Urantia Book. (This is starting to be addressed with the help of Phil Calabrese and Steffen Patrick.) Fortunately, Gardner does give credit to the UB for being prophetic regarding human sensitivity to the earth's magnetic field and wikipedia does reference some research published in 1980 that is cited by Gardner. Unfortunately and ironically, the report turned out to have serious credibility issues because other researchers who tried to reproduce the results were not able to do so. However, investigating this issue led to the discovery of a 1992 report that is excellent corroboration for the statement made in the UB on this subject. "Get a clue; then FOLLOW IT!"
I look forward to developing this into a report in the near future.
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Sailing at Sunset on the Charles
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Now that I've got the Inner Ionosphere Report finished up and some cosmetic upgrades put up on the site, I'm ready to go look up my high school classmates from Worcester Academy who may be able to help with the discovery of the vestiges of Adamson's civilization. Worcester is only about 45 minutes west from Boston.
Plans for meeting up with other UB readers in New England have been initiated and I look forward to informing people in this area about the UBtheNEWS project. Phil Taylor is going to try to put something together in the southern Vermont area. Polly Friedman and Paul Krups are working things out in the southern Massachusetts/Rhode Island area. Where are all the UB readers in Boston! I guess they have been waiting for more scientific corroboration. Probably to be expected from a city that has so many universities.
I still have not heard from anyone interested in carpooling in my motor home out to the conference near Chicago in July. The offer is still very much open. But at this point, not having heard from anyone this late in the game, I'm not so sure I'll be making it out to that conference :-( . I need to be back in Vermont for the last weekend of July, so unless I find someone who wants to make a quick trip of it and share the driving, I won't be heading out.
No doubt things will work out as they should. In fact, speaking of things working out, one fine UB reader from Boulder, Tom Pfeiffer, has encouraged me through his attitude and actions to make it possible for people to do automatic monthly contributions to UBtheNEWS. That is in the process of getting setup. Please consider supporting this effort in that way. It really wouldn't take very many people giving $5 or $10 per month to make sure that this project stays viable. As it stands, I have about enough to ensure that it keeps going for another year. Unless a significant amount of community support develops over the next year, after IC08 I'm going to have to seek some type of "regular" employment in order to continue funding this work myself.
Thanks for considering the opportunity.
Namaste,
Halbert
Monthly Contributions Now Possible
Archived Trail Tales:
2007: 3rd Quarter
2007: 1st Quarter
