Fabulous L . V. Desert Baked H.C.

Death 1

THE SECRET MEANING BEHIND DEATH:

Death is closely associated with the corruption of one’s own sexuality. Death, like perversity, changes a relationship (you cannot un-ring the bell). It is said that at the height of orgasm, we lose our conscious hold on reality and our ability to stop the inevitable. Like a roller-coaster reaching the point of no return at the apex before the plummet. What is inevitable is inevitable. So, we plunge downwards (out of control) into the world of perverted pleasure and feel its surge through us frenziedly. ‘La Petite Morte’ (French) translates literally to the ‘little death’ …. is it the brief loss or weakening of our restraint or is it beyond our ability to refuse its dark calling.

Death is the transformation, the end yet also the beginning. Death is the ultimate purifier. All things are reborn, but not necessarily purified. Death does not discern between age, race, gender, or sexual preference. Death is darkness and the absence of light. As the sun dies every night to be reborn every morning, it is the catalyst of a perpetual cycle. There can not be life without death. Death is ruled by Scorpio (the sign of sex and death) and the number thirteen, which is sacred to the Light Bringer as there are actually thirteen moons in every lunar year.

DEATH: CHAPTERS 1 TO 4 SYNOPSIS:

Samuel Montague is a young and impetuous university professor. He is an accomplished linguist and expert translator of ancient Sanskrit. He also harbors some proclivities toward sexual deviancies that he is yet to discover. Samuel finds himself in a difficult situation, as his university funding is being cut on account of his rather radical viewpoints. Meanwhile, in a remote monastery of the Dominican Brotherhood (and Sisterhood), they claim to have found the ‘Light Bringer’s Key to Divinity’ — through the unearthing of an ancient Sanskrit tablet. This tablet seems to defy chronology and the Dominican theologians believe that with the key that they will literally be able to open the ‘Doorway to Heaven’ itself.

Incredible Technology: How to See Inside the Mind

Human experience is defined by the brain, yet much about this 3-lb. organ remains a mystery. Even so, from brain imaging to brain-computer interfaces, scientists have made impressive strides in developing technologies to peer inside the mind.

Imaging the brain

Currently, scientists who study the brain can look at its structure or its function. In structural imaging, machines take snapshots of the brain’s large-scale anatomy that can be used to diagnose tumors or blood clots, for example. Functional imaging provides a dynamic view of the brain, showing which areas are active during thinking and perception.

Structural-imaging techniques include CAT scans, or computerized axial tomography, which takes images of slices through the brain by beaming X-rays at the head from many different angles. CAT, or CT, scans are often used to diagnose a brain injury, for example. Another method, positron emission tomography (PET), generates both 2D and 3D images of the brain: A radioactively labeled chemical injected into the blood emits gamma rays that a scanner detects. And magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides a view of the brain’s overall structure by measuring the magnetic spin of atoms inside a strong magnetic field.

“There’s no question that MRI is probably the best way to see the brain,” said Dr. Mauricio Castillo, a radiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Neuroradiology.

In the realm of functional imaging, the current gold standard is functional MRI (fMRI). This technique measures changes in blood flow to different brain areas as a proxy for which areas are active when someone performs a task like reading a word or viewing a picture.

“The emphasis nowadays is to try to merge how the brain is wired with the activation of the cortex [the brain’s outermost layer],” Castillo said.

Several methods can be combined to merge brain structure and function. For example, MRI and PET scanning can be performed simultaneously, and the images can be combined to show physiological activity superimposed on an anatomical map of the brain. The end result can be used to tell a surgeon the location of a brain lesion so it can be removed, Castillo said.

Recently, a new technique has been developed to literally see inside the brain. Called CLARITY (originally for Clear Lipid-exchanged Acrylamide-hybridized Rigid Imaging/Immunostaining/In situ hybridization-compatible Tissue-hYdrogel), it can make a (nonliving) brain transparent to light while keeping its structure intact. The technique has already been used to visualize the neurological wiring of an adult mouse brain.

Decoding thoughts

Some scientists want to see inside the brain more figuratively. Enter brain-computer interfaces (BCIs or BMIs, brain-machine interfaces), devices that connect brain signals to an external device, such as a computer or prosthetic limb. BCIs range from noninvasive systems that consist of electrodes placed on the scalp, to more invasive ones that require the electrodes to be implanted in the brain itself.

Noninvasive BCIs include scalp-based electroencephalography (EEG), which records the activity of many neurons over large brain areas. The advantage of EEG-based systems is that they don’t require surgery. On the other hand, these systems can only detect generalized brain activity, so the user must focus his or her thoughts on just a single task.

More invasive systems include electrocorticography (ECoG), in which electrodes are implanted on the surface of the brain to record EEG signals from the cortex. Since Wilder Penfield and Herbert Jasper pioneered the technique in the early 1950s, it has been used, among other purposes, to identify brain regions where epileptic seizures begin.

Some BCIs use electrodes implanted inside the brain’s cortex. Although these systems are more invasive, they have much better resolution and can pick up the signals sent by individual neurons. BCIs can now even allow humans with paraplegia (paralysis of all four limbs) to control a robotic arm through thought alone, or allow users to spell out words on a computer screen using just their mind.

Despite many advances, a lot remains unknown about the brain. To bridge this gap, American scientists are embarking on a new project to map the human brain, announced by President Barack Obama in April, called the BRAIN initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies).

Rare Albino Animals

The Southwestern Arm of M31: Andromeda Galaxy

Stills from The Velvet Underground Tarot Cards (1966) 16mm film, b/w, sound, 65 minutes.

Directed by Andy Warhol. Starring John Cale, Nico, Susan Bottomly, Mary Woronov, Ingrid Superstar, Eric Emerson, John Wilcock, Lou Reed, Angelina “Pepper” Davis, Maureen Tucker, Sterling Morrison, and Danny Williams.

(via hellaillatrilladope)

An even number of (at least 8) regular tetrahedra can be connected along their edges to form a ring in a way that allows them to be continuously rotated “inside-out” without disconnecting. Such configurations are commonly referred to as kaleidocycles. Shown above are kaleidocycles with 8, 10, and 12 tetrahedra exhibiting 4, 5, and 6-fold rotational symmetry, respectively. There has to be at least 8 regular tetrahedra, because any less would result in the tetrahedra colliding into each other at certain instances of the rotation. You can even make your own paper model using this guide.

Mathematica code: