Welcome to the ezine produced by SGI Buddhists that prompts the positive, kindles the constructive, highlights the hopeful and leaves you feeling - well, up!
Published on Friday, 05 December 2008 15:09 | | 
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Good news for those of us who have already begun preparing for the festive season – uncorking a bottle of wine revives the spirits while protecting some of the world’s rarest forests.
Ancient trees that provide 15 billion corks a year and are home to some of the world’s rarest creatures including black storks and the Iberian lynx, could soon be destroyed by a single enemy – the metal screw-top cap. Sometimes the simplest choices we make in our everyday lives can have a huge impact on the natural world.
And be honest, how can a scrawny screw-top cap ever match the soft pop of real cork?
Published on Wednesday, 03 December 2008 19:00 | | |
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Recently in my local library I came across a refreshing memoir, Loose Girl, by an American called Kerry Cohen. I read it in one sitting, writes Clea Myers.
The true story about her promiscuity was unsettling yet strangely empowering, as the narrator finally recognises that her desperate attempts at intimacy, via boys and sex, are driving her further into isolation and self-hatred.
No quick fix solutions or trips to rehab, but a burgeoning awareness that a healthy self-identity can emerge through the most unlikely of channels.
Published on Tuesday, 02 December 2008 19:00 | | |
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Journalist, author and practising Buddhist Mariane Pearl came to international attention when her husband, Wall Street Journal
reporter Daniel Pearl, was kidnapped and beheaded by Islamic militants
in Pakistan in 2002. She was five months pregnant at the time.
Currently based in Paris, Mariane Pearl reports on women working for social change as well as culture, science, immigration, and politics.
Published on Monday, 01 December 2008 19:00 | | |
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With giant Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering Cassini from the sun's blinding glare, the spacecraft viewed the rings as never before.
This marvelous panoramic view was created by combining a 165 images taken by the Cassini wide-angle camera over nearly three hours on Sept. 15, 2006. The mosaic images were acquired as the spacecraft drifted in the darkness of Saturn's shadow for about 12 hours, allowing a multitude of unique observations of the microscopic particles that comprise Saturn's faint rings.
Published on Saturday, 29 November 2008 13:19 | | |
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Last year's Climate Change March was the biggest environmental gathering in British and world history, forcing governments to legislate on climate change, writes Julia Stephenson.
When I heard that tens of thousands will gather again this year to call for meaningful action from world governments I must confess I thought, 'Not another march! There are plenty of other things I’d rather be doing.'
But when I thought about it some more I decided to turn up, show my face and shuffle along at the back. I’ve called a few friends I haven’t seen for a while so we’re planning a catch up while we do our bit.
Published on Thursday, 27 November 2008 09:34 | | |
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New research is proving that music has a powerful healing effect, helping with a range of conditions from high blood pressure to acute pain.
A surgeon in Hawaii recently tested the effects of playing the piano while his patients were prepared for surgery, monitoring changes in vital signs such as heart and breathing rates. While teams of researchers around the world have conducted numerous experiments to record the different effects of music on our health, finding that certain types of music affect hormone production and can boost the immune system.
Published on Tuesday, 25 November 2008 19:00 | | |
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OK, OK - it's just a series of vegetable puns but it makes a point
First, plant three rows of Peas
Peas of
mind, peas of heart, peas of soul...