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Mar 28, 2009 | 6:13 AM PST
Tags: Earth Hour , Green , Environment , Climate Change
THIS SATURDAY 28 MARCH AT 8.30PM YOU CAN VOTE FOR EARTH BY SWITCHING OFF YOUR LIGHTS FOR ONE HOUR - EARTH HOUR.
Earthhour is asking you to document your vote and participation by taking a photo, making a short video, blogging, etc... "Make your vote count by recording your participation in Earth Hour and posting it to the web." You can....
- Take a photo on the night and add it to Earth Hour’s flickr group
- Make a video of your event and add it to our YouTube group
- Write a live blog post during the event tag it earthhour or voteearth
- Update your Twitter status on the night and tag it #earthhour or #voteearth
Feb 26, 2009 | 7:42 AM PST
Tags: green , environment , social action , EPA , Sierra Club
Have a digital camera and a set of car keys? Join this Sierra Club action:
Fourteen other states have adopted California's standards and are also waiting for the green light. These states cover 40 percent of the U.S. auto market. Implementing clean-car standards would make a huge dent in our global-warming emissions
Can you attend via photo? Just take a picture of yourself, your family and friends, holding car keys and email it to us. At the hearing we'll present thousands of photos with this message: EPA Holds the Key to Clean Cars!
1. Send an email to: sierraclubcleancars@gmail.com
2. Take a moment to customize the subject line and body of the message:
Subject Line: EPA Holds the Key to Clean Cars
Message: First name, last initial, your state. Feel free to add a comment in your message!
3. Attach the image of yourself holding up your keys -- and send!
* See who's already signed: http://www.flickr.com/photos /sierraclub/sets/7215761438484 3260/
Jan 10, 2009 | 11:13 PM PST
Tags: china , chinese , birth , defect , pollution , environment , environmental , protection , green , earth
China's horrific pollution has been firmly linked to a staggering increase in birth defects according to a major scientific survey. This is why we have ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION LAWS, kittens. An article by Malcolm Moore.
The number of Chinese children with birth defects rose by 40 per cent between 2001 and 2006, according to the National Population and Family Planning Commission.
Around four to six per cent of all children born in China each year have physical defects, including congenital heart disease, cleft palates and water on the brain. Of those, around 30 per cent die and 40 per cent are disabled. The World Health Organisation estimates about three to five per cent of children worldwide are born with birth defects.
In the first large-scale Chinese survey on the topic, Professor Hu Yali of Nanjing University linked one-tenth of all birth defects in Jiangsu to pollution. Jiangsu is one of China's richest provinces and the heart of the country's manufacturing hub. Professor Hu tracked more than 26,000 pregnant women between 2001 and 2005.
"Birth defects are now the single biggest killer of infants on the mainland," she told the Nanjing Morning Post. More than a million babies are born in China with "visible defects" every year.
Researchers believe that the figures from Jiangsu may be far lower than the national average. Shanxi, a coal-rich province in the north of China, has the highest rate of defects at 18 per cent and is notorious for the noxious emissions of its huge coke and chemical industries.
"Statistics show that birth defects in Shanxi's eight large coal-mining regions are far above the national average," said An Huanxiao, the director of Shanxi's provincial family planning agency.
Nov 11, 2008 | 1:40 PM PST
Tags: Green , Climate Change , Al Gore , Obama Administration
Did you see Al Gores letter in the NY TIMES? He presented a plan to repower America with 100% renewable energy within ten years. You can read his letter here. Repower America, part of the WE CAMPAIGN, has a great tool for submitting letters to the editor in your area. If you've been meaning to write, write your letter then go to their web tool for submitting to multiple papers. Very cool...
Need an incentive to write a letter to the editor regarding climate change? How about this. My wife and I are about to have our first baby. I really want to get this EARTH situation under control before she is old enough to comprehend the state we got her planet in. Do a new dad a favor, write a letter. If she's as smart as her mom we only have a few years.
Reality check. As I write this it is striking me as absurd that we ALL haven't written letters to the editor... Not sure what we're waiting for.
http://www.repoweramerica.org /
Oct 8, 2008 | 3:47 PM PST
Tags: we campaign , green
According to the WE CAMPAIGN ABC refused to air their advertisement calling for energy reform - our ad if you're part of the WE like me and many other UUs. WE points out that all the major networks had oil and coal adds following the debate. According to WE:
"ABC had Chevron. CBS had Exxon. CNN had the coal lobby. But you know what happened last week? ABC refused to run our Repower America ad -- the ad that takes on this same oil and coal lobby."
You can help air this ad by clicking this link and sending a messge to ABC.
http://www.wecansolveit.org/p age/s/ABC
Amazon.com Widgets
Jun 20, 2008 | 4:45 PM PST
Tags: OSIRIS , Phoenix , Reincarnation , Mauna Kea , Lake Waiau , 2112 , 444 , 1144 , Heart , Green , 432 Hz , 11 , Eye Of The Pyramid , RA , KA , AMARAKA
Osiris From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Osiris (disambiguation).
Osiris, lord of the dead. His green skin symbolizes rejuvenation.
Osirisin hieroglyphs
Osiris (Greek language, also Usiris; the Egyptian language name is variously transliterated Asar, Aser, Ausar, Ausir, Wesir, or Ausare) is the Egyptian god of life, death, and fertility.
Osiris is one of the oldest gods for whom records have been found and first appears in the Pyramid Texts around 2400 BC, when his cult is already well established. He was widely worshipped until the forcible suppression of paganism in the Christian era.[1][2] The information we have on the myths of Osiris is derived from allusions contained in the pyramid texts, and, much later, in narrative style from the writings of Plutarch[3] and Diodorus Siculus.[4]
Osiris was not only the redeemer and merciful judge of the dead in the afterlife, but also the underworld agency that granted all life, including sprouting vegetation and the fertile flooding of the Nile River. The Kings of Egypt were associated with Osiris in death — as Osiris rose from the dead they would, in union with him, inherit eternal life through a process of imitative magic. By the New Kingdom all people, not just pharaohs, were believed to be associated with Osiris at death if they incurred the costs of the assimilation rituals.[5]
Osiris is the oldest son of the Earth god, Geb,[6] and the sky goddess, Nut as well as being brother and husband of Isis, with Horus being considered his posthumously begotten son.[6]
Osiris is later associated with the name Khenti-Amentiu, which means 'Foremost of the Westerners' a reference to his kingship in the land of the dead.
Contents [hide] //The name was first recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs only as ws-ir or os-ir because the Egyptian writing system omitted vowels. It is reconstructed to have been pronounced Us-iri (oos-ee-ree) meaning 'Throne of the Eye' and survives into the Coptic language as Ousire.
[edit] AppearanceOsiris is usually depicted as a green-skinned (green was the color of rebirth) pharaoh wearing the Atef crown, a form of the white crown of upper Egypt with a plume of feathers to either side. Typically he is also depicted holding the crook and flail which signify divine authority in Egyptian pharaohs, but which were originally unique to Osiris and his own origin-gods (see below), and his feet and lower body are wrapped, as though already partly mummified.
[edit] Early mythologyWhen the Ennead and Ogdoad cosmogenies became merged, with the identification of Ra as Atum (Atum-Ra), gradually Anubis (Ogdoad system) was replaced by Osiris, whose cult had become more significant, Anubis was said to have given way to Osiris out of respect, and, as an underworld deity. Anubis was Set's son in some versions, but because Set became god of evil, he was subsequently identified as being Osiris' son. Abydos, which had been a strong centre of the cult of Anubis, became a centre of the cult of Osiris.
Because Isis, Osiris' wife and sister, represented life in the Ennead, it was considered somewhat inappropriate for her to be the mother of a god associated with death such as Anubis, and so instead, it was usually said that Nephthys, the other of the two female children of Geb and Nut, was his mother.
[edit] Father of HorusLater, when Hathor's identity (from the Ogdoad) was assimilated into that of Isis, Horus, who had been Isis' husband (in the Ogdoad), became considered her son, and thus, since Osiris was Isis' husband (in the Ennead), Osiris also became considered Horus' father. Attempts to explain how Osiris, a god of the dead, could give rise to someone so definitely alive as Horus, lead to the development of the Legend of Osiris and Isis, which became the greatest myth in Egyptian mythology.
The myth described Osiris as having been killed by his brother Set who wanted Osiris' throne. Isis briefly brought Osiris back to life by use of a spell that she learned from her father. This spell gave her time to become pregnant by Osiris before he again died. Isis later gave birth to Horus. As such, since Horus was born after Osiris' resurrection, Horus became thought of as representing new beginnings and vanquished Set. This combination, Osiris-Horus, was therefore a life-death-rebirth deity, and thus associated with the new harvest each year. Afterward, Osiris became known as the Egyptian god of the dead, Isis became known as the Egyptian goddess of the children, and Horus became known as the Egyptian god of the sky.
Ptah-Seker (who resulted from the identification of Ptah as Seker), who was god of re-incarnation, thus gradually became identified with Osiris, the two becoming Ptah-Seker-Osiris (rarely known as Ptah-Seker-Atum, although this was just the name, and involved Osiris rather than Atum). As the sun was thought to spend the night in the underworld, and subsequently be re-incarnated, as both king of the underworld, and god of reincarnation, Ptah-Seker-Osiris was identified.
[edit] Ram god Banebdjed (b3-nb-?d)in hieroglyphs
Since Osiris was considered dead, as god of the dead, Osiris' soul, or rather his Ba, was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god, especially so in the Delta city of Mendes. This aspect of Osiris was referred to as Banebdjed (also spelt Banebded or Banebdjedet, which is technically feminine) which literally means The ba of the lord of the djed, which roughly means The soul of the lord of the pillar of stability. The djed, a type of pillar, was usually understood as the backbone of Osiris, and, at the same time, as the Nile, the backbone of Egypt. The Nile, supplying water, and Osiris (strongly connected to the vegetation) who died only to be resurrected represented continuity and therefore stability. As Banebdjed, Osiris was given epithets such as Lord of the Sky and Life of the (sun god) Ra, since Ra, when he had become identified with Atum, was considered Osiris' ancestor, from whom his regal authority was inherited.
Ba does not, however, quite mean soul in the western sense, and also has to do with power, reputation, force of character, especially in the case of a god. Since the ba was associated with power, and also happened to be a word for ram in Egyptian, Banebdjed was depicted as a ram, or as Ram-headed. A living, sacred ram, was even kept at Mendes and worshipped as the incarnation of the god, and upon death, the rams were mummified and buried in a ram-specific necropolis.
As regards the association of Osiris with the ram, the god's traditional crook and flail are of course the instruments of the shepherd, which has suggested to some scholars also an Osiris' origin in herding tribes of the upper Nile. The crook and flail were originally symbols of the minor agricultural deity Anedijti, and passed to Osiris later. From Osiris they eventually passed to Egyptian kings in general as symbols of divine authority. [7]
In Mendes, they had considered Hatmehit, a local fish-goddess, as the most important god/goddess, and so when the cult of Osiris became more significant, Banebdjed was identified in Mendes as deriving his authority from being married to Hatmehit. Later, when Horus became identified as the child of Osiris (in this form Horus is known as Harpocrates in Greek and Har-pa-khered in Egyptian), Banebdjed was consequently said to be Horus' father, as Banebdjed is an aspect of Osiris.
In occult writings, Banebdjed is often called the goat of Mendes, and identified with Baphomet; the fact that Banebdjed was a ram (sheep), not a goat, is apparently overlooked.
[edit] Mythology
A shaven-headed priest of Osiris holding a canopic vase of Osiris with the hems of his robe. Ptolemaic Egypt. 1st century CE.
The cult of Osiris had a particularly strong interest towards the concept of immortality. Plutarch recounts one version of the myth surrounding the cult in which Set (Osiris's brother) fooled Osiris into getting into a box, which he then shut, had sealed with lead and threw into the Nile (sarcophaguses were based on the box in this myth). Osiris's wife, Isis, searched for his remains until she finally found him embedded in a tree trunk, which was holding up the roof of a palace in Byblos on the Phoenician coast. She managed to remove the coffin and open it, but Osiris was already dead. She used a spell she had learned from her father and brought him back to life so he could impregnate her. After they finished, he died again, so she hid his body in the desert. Months later, she gave birth to Horus. While she was off raising him, Set had been out hunting one night and he came across the body of Osiris. Enraged, he tore the body into fourteen pieces and scattered them throughout the land. Isis gathered up all the parts of the body, less the phallus which was eaten by a fish thereafter considered taboo by the Egyptians, and bandaged them together for a proper burial. The gods were impressed by the devotion of Isis and thus restored Osiris to life[clarify] in the form of a different kind of existence as the god of the underworld. Because of his death and resurrection, Osiris is associated with the flooding and retreating of the Nile and thus with the crops along the Nile valley.
Diodorus Siculus gives another version of the myth in which Osiris is described as an ancient king who taught the Egyptians the arts of civilization, including agriculture. Osiris is murdered by his evil brother Set, whom Diodorus associates with the evil Typhon ("Typhonian Beast") of Greek mythology. Typhon divides the body into twenty six pieces which he distributes amongst his fellow conspirators in order to implicate them in the murder. Isis and Horus avenge the death of Osiris and slay Typhon. Isis recovers all the parts of Osiris body, less the phallus, and secretly buries them. She made replicas of them and distributed them to several locations which then became centres of Osiris worship.[7][8]
The tale of Osiris losing his manhood to fish (becoming fish like) is cognate with the story the Greek shepherd god Pan becoming fish like from the waist down in the same river Nile after being attacked by Typhon (see Capricornus). This attack was part of a generational feud in which both Zeus and Dionysus were dismembered by Typhon, in a similar manner as Osiris was by Set in Egypt.[citations needed]
Horus, the son of Osiris
[edit] Passion and resurrection
Plutarch and others have noted that the sacrifices to Osiris were “gloomy, solemn, and mournful...” (Isis and Osiris, 69) and that the great mystery festival, celebrated in two phases, began at Abydos on the 17th of Athyr[9] (November 13) commemorating the death of the god, which is also the same day that grain was planted in the ground. “The death of the grain and the death of the god were one and the same: the cereal was identified with the god who came from heaven; he was the bread by which man lives. The resurrection of the God symbolized the rebirth of the grain.” (Larson 17) The annual festival involved the construction of “Osiris Beds” formed in shape of Osiris, filled with soil and sown with seed.[10] The germinating seed symbolized Osiris rising from the dead. An almost pristine example was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter.[11]
The first phase of the festival was a public drama depicting the murder and dismemberment of Osiris, the search of his body by Isis, his triumphal return as the resurrected god, and the battle in which Horus defeated Set. This was all presented by skilled actors as a literary history, and was the main method of recruiting cult membership. According to Julius Firmicus Maternus of the fourth century, this play was re-enacted each year by worshippers who “beat their breasts and gashed their shoulders.... When they pretend that the mutilated remains of the god have been found and rejoined...they turn from mourning to rejoicing.” (De Errore Profanorum).
Some scholars have suggested possible connections or parallels of Osiris's resurrection story with those found in other religions. According to Anthony Aveni, The Russell B. Colgate Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology at Colgate University, Osiris
was done in by a conspiratorial brother who nailed him alive in a lead-lined cross and tossed into the Nile. Isis spent her life searching for Osiris, but once again her brother-in-law managed to recover the coffin and, for good measure, dismembered his brother's corpse and scattered it about the land. Undeterred, the faithful spouse collected all the body parts (minus the penis, which has been devoured by fish, thus necessitating a wax replacement) and reassembled them by constructing the first mummy. She dedicated one part each to the lands over which he had spread his teachings. Out of pity the jilted sun god revived Osiris, but confined him to rule over the dead in the underworld. Thus his worshippers acquire the promise of everlasting and bountiful life once they pass beyond the grave through the mummification process. Minus the mummy, doesn't this resurrection story have a familiar ring?[12]
[edit] I-Kher-Nefert steleMuch of the extant information about the Passion of Osiris can be found on a stele at Abydos erected in the 12th Dynasty by I-Kher-Nefert (also Ikhernefert), possibly a priest of Osiris or other official during the reign of Senwosret III (Pharaoh Sesostris, about 1875 BC).
The Passion Plays were held in the last month of the inundation (the annual Nile flood), coinciding with Spring, and held at Abydos/Abedjou which was the traditional place where the body of Osiris/Wesir drifted ashore after having been drowned in the Nile.[13] The part of the myth recounting the chopping up of the body into 14 pieces by Set is not recorded until later by Plutarch. Some elements of the ceremony were held in the temple, while others involved public participation in a form of theatre. The Stela of I-Kher-Nefert recounts the programme of events of the public elements over the five days of the Festival:
- The First Day, The Procession of Wepwawet: A mock battle is enacted during which the enemies of Osiris are defeated. A procession is led by the god Wepwawet ("opener of the way").
- The Second Day, The Great Procession of Osiris: The body of Osiris is taken from his temple to his tomb. The boat he is transported in, the "Neshmet" bark, has to be defended against his enemies.
- The Third Day, Osiris is Mourned and the Enemies of the Land are Destroyed.
- The Fourth Day, Night Vigil: Prayers and recitations are made and funeral rites performed.
- The Fifth Day, Osiris is Reborn: Osiris is reborn at dawn and crowned with the crown of Ma'at. A statue of Osiris is brought to the temple.[13]
Contrasting with the public "theatrical" ceremonies sourced from the I-Kher-Nefert stele, more esoteric ceremonies were performed inside the temples by priests witnessed only by initiates. Plutarch mentions that two days after the beginning of the festival “the priests bring forth sacred chest containing a small golden coffer, into which they pour some potable water...and a great shout arises from the company for joy that Osiris is found (or resurrected). Then they knead some fertile soil with the water...and fashion therefrom a crescent-shaped figure, which they cloth and adorn, this indicating that they regard these gods as the substance of Earth and Water.” (Isis and Osiris, 39). Yet even he was obscure, for he also wrote, “I pass over the cutting of the wood” opting to not describe it since he considered it most sacred (Ibid. 21).
In the Osirian temple at Denderah, an inscription (translated by Budge, Chapter XV, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection) describes in detail the making of wheat paste models of each dismembered piece of Osiris to be sent out to the town where each piece was discovered by Isis. At the temple of Mendes, figures of Osiris are made from wheat and paste placed in a trough on the day of the murder, then water added for several days, when finally the mixture was kneaded into a mold of Osiris and taken to the temple and buried (the sacred grain for these cakes only grown in the temple fields). Molds are made from wood of a red tree in the forms of the sixteen dismembered parts of Osiris, cakes of divine bread made from each mold, placed in a silver chest and set near the head of the god, the inward parts of Osiris as described in the Book of the Dead (XVII). On the first day of the Festival of Ploughing, where the goddess Isis appears in her shrine where she is stripped naked, Paste made from the grain is placed in her bed and moistened with water, representing the fecund earth. All of these sacred rituals were climaxed by the eating of sacramental god, the eucharist by which the celebrants were transformed, in their persuasion, into replicas of their god-man (Larson 20).
[edit] Osirian sacramentSince the ancient Nilotics believed that humans were whatever they eat, this sacrament was, by extension, able to make them celestial and immortal. The doctrine of the eucharist ultimately has its roots in prehistoric (symbolic) cannibalism, whose practitioners believed that the virtues and powers of the eaten would thus be absorbed by the eater. This phenomenon has been described throughout the world.
One of the oldest of the Pyramid Texts is the Unas[14] from the 6th Dynasty (circa 2500 BC). It shows that the original ideology of Egypt commingled with Osirian concepts. Although ultimately given a high place in heaven by order of Osiris, Unas is at first an enemy of the gods and his ancestors, whom he hunts, lassoes, kills, cooks, and eats so that their powers may become his own. This was written at a time when the eating of parents and gods was a laudable ceremony, and this emphasizes how hard it must have been to stamp out the older order of cannibalism. “He eats men, he feeds on the gods...he cooks them in his fiery cauldrons. He eats their words of power, he swallows their spirits.... He eats the wisdom of every god, his period of life is eternity.... Their soul is in his body, their spirits are within him.” A parallel passage is found in the Pyramid Text of Pepi II, who is said to have “seizeth those who are a follower of Set...he breaketh their heads, he cutteth off their haunches, he teareth out their intestines, he diggeth out their hearts, he drinketh copiously of their blood!” (line 531, ff). Although crude, this was a core concept, the conviction that one could receive immortality by eating the flesh and blood of a god who had died became a dominating obsession in the ancient world. Although the cult of Osiris forbade cannibalism, it did not outlaw dismemberment and eating of enemies, and practiced the ritual rending and eating of the sacred bull, symbolizing Osiris.
Although this sacramental concept only originated once in history, it spread throughout the Mediterranean area and became the dynamic force in every mystery cult. It was only by this sacerdotal means that the corruptible deceased could be clothed in incorruption and this idea appears again and again in infinite variety. The scribe Nebseni implores: “And there in the celestial mansions of heaven which my divine father Tem hath established, let my hands lay hold upon the wheat and the barley which shall be given unto me therein in abundant measure” (Ibid. LXXII). Nu corroborates that this is the eucharist by saying: “I am established, and the divine Sekhet-hetep is before me, I have eaten therein, I have become a spirit therein, I have abundance therein.” (Ibid. LXXVII) Again Nu states: “I am the divine soul of Ra...which is god...I am the divine food which is not corrupted” (Ibid. LXXXV). The ancientness of the concept is again reaffirmed in the Pyramid Text of Teta (2600 BC) where the Osiris Teta “receivest thy bread which decayeth not, and thy beer which perisheth not” In the Text of Pepi I we read: “All the gods give thee their flesh and their blood.... Thou shalt not die.” In the Text of Pepi II the aspirant prays for “thy bread of eternity, and thy beer of everlastingness” (Line 390).
[edit] Osiris-DionysusBy the Hellenic era, Greek awareness of Osiris had grown, and attempts had been made to merge Greek philosophy, such as Platonism, and the cult of Osiris (especially the myth of his resurrection), resulting in a new mystery religion. Gradually, this became more popular, and was exported to other parts of the Greek sphere of influence. However, these mystery religions valued the change in wisdom, personality, and knowledge of fundamental truth, rather than the exact details of the acknowledged myths on which their teachings were superimposed. Thus in each region that it was exported to, the myth was changed to be about a similar local god, resulting in a series of gods, who had originally been quite distinct, but who were now syncretisms with Osiris. These gods became known as Osiris-Dionysus.
[edit] SerapisEventually, in Egypt, the Hellenic pharaohs decided to produce a deity that would be acceptable to both the local Egyptian population, and the influx of Hellenic visitors, to bring the two groups together, rather than allow a source of rebellion to grow. Thus Osiris was identified explicitly with Apis, really an aspect of Ptah, who had already been identified as Osiris by this point, and a syncretism of the two was created, known as Serapis, and depicted as a standard Greek god.
[edit] DestructionOsiris-worship continued up until the 6th century AD on the island of Philae in Upper Nile. The Theodosian decree (in about 380 AD) to destroy all pagan temples and force worshippers to accept Christianity was ignored there. However, Justinian dispatched a General Narses to Philae, who destroyed the Osirian temples and sanctuaries, threw the priests into prison, and carted the sacred images off to Constantinople. However, by that time, the soteriology of Osiris had assumed various forms which had long spread far and wide in the ancient world.
[edit] See also [edit] Notes- ^ "Theodosius I", The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912.[1]
- ^ "Man, Myth and Magic", Osiris, Vol 5 p2086, S.G.F Brandon, BPC Publishing, 1971.
- ^ "Isis and Osiris", Plutarch, translated by Frank Cole Babbitt, 1936, Vol 5 Loeb Classical Library.[2]
- ^ "The Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus", Vol 1, translated by G. Booth, 1814.[3]
- ^ "Man, Myth and Magic", Osiris, Vol 5 p2087-88, S.G.F Brandon, BPC Publishing, 1971.
- ^ a b Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). The complete gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 105. ISBN 0-500-05120-8.
- ^ "Osiris", Man, Myth and Magic, S.G.F Brandon, Vol5 P2088, BPC Publishing.
- ^ "The Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus", translated by George Booth 1814. retrieved 3 June 2007.[4]
- ^ Plutarch. "Section 13", Isis and Osiris, 356C-D. Retrieved on 2007-01-21.
- ^ Britannica Ultimate Edition 2003 DVD
- ^ Osiris Bed, Burton photograph p2024, The Griffith Institute.[5]
- ^ Anthony Aveni, "Happy New Year! But Why Now?" in The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 21-22.
- ^ a b ancientworlds.net - the passion plays of osiris
- ^ "The Complete Pyramid Text of UNAS", Wim van den Dungen.[6]
- Martin A. Larson, The Story of Christian Origins (1977, 711 pp. ISBN 0883310902 ).
Architecture · Art · Burial customs · Chronology · Cuisine · Dynasties · Geography · History · Mathematics · Medicine · Religion · Pharaohs · People · Language · Sites · Technology · Writing
Egyptology · Egyptologists · Egyptian Museum · Ancient Egypt port
May 31, 2008 | 5:09 AM PST
Tags: Masdar , City , Initiative , Carbon , Free , Community , Sustainable , Green , Cycle , Regenerative , Pollution
100% carbon free community! Yes, it can be done!
Abu Dhabi is creating a 100% carbon
free community to house 47.5K people using solar and wind engergy,
desalination of sea water, recycling of waste water and 100% recycling
of all waste products!
An amazing, inspiring video! May all of Earth's future communities be carbon free!
May 31, 2008 | 4:36 AM PST
Tags: Green , Abu , Dhabi , Energy , Project , Al , Gharbia , Al Gharbia , UAE , Conservation , Oil , Field
Abu Dhabi Energy Project -- New 'greener' energy technologies are coming to Abu Dhabi and Al Gharbia.
More than any other place in the world, the United Arab Emirates are committed to creating a new standard of living based on sustainable, non-polluting energy sources.
May 26, 2008 | 4:26 PM PST
Tags: survival , survivalist , green , crisis , fears , peak , oil
If you've ever wondered what your life will be like during an energy crisis, you are not alone. Many Americans are worried about what may be. What's even more worriesome is that many more aren't even aware of the possibility of a crisis. They don't even own a bike, let alone a pair of inline skates.
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Attached is an interesting article you might like to read. It may be time you start thinking about what you can do to prepare yourself.
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http://apnews.myway.com/a rticle/20080524/D90S5MLG0.html
May 23, 2008 | 1:52 PM PST
Tags: Green , Building , Sustainable , Marine AGency , Roads , Transport
DUBAI — The Marine Agency at Roads and
Transport Authority (RTA) announced that Green Building Standards will
be adopted at marine transport stations.
Mohammed Obaid Al Mulla, CEO of RTA Marine Agency, stated that the application of Green Building Standards at marine transport stations will contribute to realising the principles of sustained development in RTA projects. According to international classifications, Green Buildings are classified into four categories — Platinum, Golden, Silver Category and Identification Certificate, he said.
He added that the implementation of Green Building techniques at marine transport stations is still in the initial stages and covers the City Centre Station, Union Square Station, Al Ghubaiba Station and Gold Souq Station.
May 16, 2008 | 12:23 PM PST
Tags: Keo , Khalifa , City , Abu Dhabi , Green
Abu Dhabi Municipality has unveiled its plans to
transform Khalifa City in Abu Dhabi into one of the cities most green
and walkable areas.
The masterplan, which has been
developed by KEO, sees the development of the area's landscape strategy
to introduce 26 new neighbourhood parks, four new community parks, and
a district park.
The project for Khalifa City, which is located 25 km from Downtown Abu Dhabi, also plans for a tree-lined streetscape that will connect the disparate areas and create a pedestrian friendly walkway.
KEO was commissioned by Abu Dhabi to produce the master plan after
conducting a study to enhance the amount of green space in the city.
"The study was initiated by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed who
asked that the city include more services, and provide as many parks
and walkable opportunities as possible for its citizens," a
representative of the department said.
The government of Abu Dhabi says it expects to spend US$502.4 million on required infrastructure services and extensive landscaping in the first phases of the city's upgrades.
May 9, 2008 | 12:46 PM PST
Tags: Green , Building , Save , Electricity , Power , Design , Efficiency
ABU DHABI - Contracting companies and
property developers from Dubai and Abu Dhabi recently attended an
explanatory seminar on green building projects and design and debated
the various efficiency aspects of the technology.
The local contractors, who attended the seminar, lauded the exclusivity of the green building design and project, said, "It might prove efficient in the coming years when the prices of fuel and other materials go up."
Engineer Andrea Lazzari, General Manager of an Italian company Al Engineering, said, "The UAE is acknowledged globally as a superior area having huge amount of solar energy and fertile land for big projects for green building technologies. By using the green building designs and technologies we precisely can save up to 70 per cent electrical energy and meet 90 per cent air-conditioning demand."
"As compared to traditional buildings, the green building could be costlier but in the next five years you will get more than 100 per cent benefits. Overall it will be environmentally friendly," he said.
The green building will be completely ecologically compatible and help lower the environmental impact during all the seasons. Moreover, the green building can be used for residential purposes, offices, hotels, tourism and sports activities as well, he pointed out.
An Emirati participant, Farooq Bahelwan from Al Ruyah International Engineering Consultancy, said, "I think achieving the target of saving 90 per cent energy would depend not only on solar energy but also other factors in the construction of the building. It would depend on what kind of efficiency crystals you are going to use in the building."
"The green building's cost may be high, at present, but you will save money by conserving energy. In the long term, however, when fuel prices soar up it will be benefiting," Bahelwan emphasised.
Apr 24, 2008 | 4:11 PM PST
Tags: diesel , vegetable oil , vegoil , veg-oil , vegoildiesel , conversion , kit , generator , clean , green , engine , svo , ppo , wvo , wmvo , biodiesel , fitting , uk , alternative , fuel
Agriveg provides high quality kits and components for the conversion of diesel engines to use 100% vegetable oil as fuel without chemical processing or addition of harmful chemicals. We all know that climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our age. Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" has brought this reality to the attention of millions. It is now widely accepted that the carbon dioxide released from our cars and trucks is one of the main contributors to climate change. Renewable vegetable oil fuels in an efficient diesel engine offer one of the only currently affordable and viable carbon-neutral fuel solutions! Phone for help: 07859 988916 or email info@agrifit.co.uk
Veggie Power
Our Ford Transits Td have a two tank kit. (click here for pictures)
With a two tank system you start the Van on diesel, or bio-diesel, and switch over to veggie via valve system/
When the van has warmed up, This allows the veggie oil to be heated up via a heat exchanger which uses the coolant water to heat the veggie oil.
Performance
Generally the van runs the same, with slightly less engine noise and indeed using veggie oil is supposed to give extra lubricity that protects the engine. We have noticed roughly 100miles more in a tank on SVO than Deisel since we started.
No difference in starting in the morning - remember I start on diesel. And of course there is that strange aroma that reminds me of a mobile chippy that wafts pleasantly up your nose when you walk on by.
New Government Laws:
At the moment this concept is quite new in the UK but has been used in Europe and the USA for some time.
We however in the UK are subject to various blocks of red tape and until the government sort their policies out.
Earlier this year Revenue & Customs proposed:
A de minimis production level of 2,500 litres per annum below which producers would not need to enter premises, submit returns or pay duty, and
Reducing the frequency of returns for all but the largest producers (defined as those producing over 450,000 litres per annum) from monthly to quarterly.
Apr 9, 2008 | 5:51 AM PST
Tags: Green , Earth , Humor , Global Warming , Climate Change
Friends,
Last night I attended a free film series put on by our local Step It Up team. We watched the movie "Everything's Cool." After the discussion someone mentioned the following video. It is an animated short about the Earth getting 'humans' as if it were a disease. A little humor, but we have a lot of work to do!
Update: A note on violence in this video. A couple of people commented that this video has some violence in it. Yes, it is true that lopping off the heads of some cartoon animals is a little gross. However, please note that this is nothing compared to the violence on the average children's cable network (sad) and nightly news (horrifying) and it does make a point. We'll be sure to keep content on uuplanet.tv appropriate for all ages.
Mar 31, 2008 | 7:20 PM PST
Tags: Dynamic , Building , Architecture , Green , Da Vinci , Tower
The
Da Vinci Tower (also known as Dynamic Architecture Building) is a proposed
313 m (1,027 ft), 68-floor tower in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates.
The tower is expected to be architecturally innovative for
several reasons. Uniquely, each floor will be able to rotate
independently. This will result in a constantly changing shape of the
tower. Each floor will rotate a maximum of one full rotation in 90 minutes.
The entire tower will be powered from turbines and solar panels, and five other buildings in the
vicinity will also be provided with electricity. The turbines will be located between each of the rotating floors.
They will generate 1,200,000 kilowatt-hours of energy from the movement
of the floors, and the solar panels will be located on the roof.
Construction of the Da Vinci Tower is expected to be completed in 2009.
Mar 31, 2008 | 7:11 PM PST
Tags: Earth Hour , Power , Dubai , Energy , Green , Savings , Conservation
The city's residents and businesses saved
the equivalent of 60,000kg of carbon dioxide emission when
non-essential lighting was turned off for Earth Hour from 8pm to 9pm on
Saturday.
However,
the 100,000kWh (kilowatts per hour) of electricity saved only
represents a 2.4 per cent reduction in electricity use during the
previous hour.
The event organisers had hoped for 20 per cent energy savings.
"Although
this is the first time Dubai has taken part in this initiative, the
savings in power which were achieved indicate we can do without some of
the energy we use. We hope to achieve higher savings next year, with
larger participation," said Saeed M. Al Tayer, CEO of Dubai Electricity
and Water Authority (DEWA).
Earth
Hour was launched in Dubai when the exterior lights of the Burj Al Arab
and its neighbouring hotels — Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Madinat Jumeirah
and Al Qasr — were switched off. The power down also signalled the
start of a lantern parade involving up to 5,000 people along a section
of the Jumeirah Beach road.
"We
are really happy with the result, but Earth Hour wasn't ever going to
be about the (electricity) results," said Kamal Dimachkie from the
Dubai office of Leo Burnett, the creative agency behind the initial
Earth Hour in Sydney.
"It's about getting people committed to be more energy efficient all year round."
The initiative was led by Dubai Holding and Dubai Municipality and garnered the support of many businesses and even malls.
Majid Al Futtaim Group Shopping Malls, including Mall of the Emirates, also participated by turning off exterior lights.
Dubai
was the first Arab city to declare support for Earth Hour. It joined
more than 380 towns and cities and 3,500 businesses in 35 countries
that had signed up for the campaign that is in its second year after it
began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia's largest city.
Up
to 30 million people across the globe were expected to have turned off
their lights for 60 minutes by the time the climate change initiative —
which started in Suva in Fiji and Christchurch in New Zealand on
Saturday — completed its cycle westward.
Mar 26, 2008 | 7:47 PM PST
Tags: Earth Hour , Dubai , March 29 , Lighting , Off , Electricity , Green , Environment
The city's residents are being encouraged to turn their lights off for an hour on March 29 as support grows for climate change initiative Earth Hour.
Dubai Municipality on March 26 announced it has launched an extensive media and awareness campaign to support Earth Hour, which calls for non-essential lighting to be turned off for an hour on March 29 at 8pm "to send a message across the world that we have the power to take action against global warming."
Municipality Environment and Public Health Affairs Assistant Director-General Abdullah Raffia said extensive advertising has been done and notices in Arabic and English distributed in government offices and shopping malls.
"We have already issued an internal circular urging more than 10,000 staff members of Dubai Municipality to participate in the campaign by switching off non-essential lights as well as electrical and electronic appliances in their houses. The circular also urges the staff to personally sign up on the website: www.earthhour.org to show their support," he said.
Hilton Hotels Middle East and Africa announced it would support the cause by turning off non-essential lighting and appliances in 44 hotels across 14 countries for the hour.
Hilton Dubai Jumeirah Resort is championing the light-saving drive with candlelit dinners in its restaurants.
Jean-Paul Herzog, President, Hilton Hotels, Middle East & Africa, commented, "We whole-heartedly support Dubai's call for action on global warming as an extension of our dedication to the communities in which we work, operate and live."
Dubai, with 1.3 million residents, is the first Arab city to declare its support for Earth Hour, which will be led by Dubai Holding and the Dubai Water and Electricity Authority (DEWA) and has the support of Dubai International Financial Centre, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Dubai World Trade Centre, Nakheel, Emaar and Leo Burnett.
The WWF-supported initiative, which began in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, is now a worldwide environmental movement that will see millions of people turn off non-essential lighting. Earth Hour will roll through 14 time zones and more than 25 cities, starting in New Zealand and ending in the Pacific Time Zone.
Mar 24, 2008 | 5:24 PM PST
Tags: Emirates , Green , Climate
When it comes to squandering the earth’s natural resources, the United States, was once the greatest uncontested offenders of the environment. And today the land of in-door ski resorts, air conditioned malls, and giant 4x4’s, is taking the initiative to reverse a potentially devastating ecological footprint
THE PROBLEM
The average person in the Emirates puts more demand on the global ecosystem than any other, giving the country the world’s largest per-capita “ecological footprint,” World Wildlife Fund (WWF) data shows. The United States runs a close second.
The
WWF rankings are measured in “global hectares”, the area of
biologically productive land and sea needed to provide the resources
consumed by an average person. The Emirates’ ecological footprint measured 11.9 global 
hectares per person, compared to 9.6 hectares per person for the United States and a global average of 2.2 hectares a person.
What this means essentially is that each citizen of the UAE is contributing to an unsustainable renewal process that is exhausting the environmental turnaround needed to maintain a harmonic balance between earth and humanity.
Chilled swimming pools, lush desert greenery, and poor fuel emissions have created wasteful water practices. More than 80 per cent of all clean drinking water comes from some of the largest desalination plants in the world. These plants require an immense amount of energy to run, but in a petrol rich nation like the UAE, water costs more than oil.
With
rapid development comes a need for environmentally conscious
initiatives. The plan to make ‘Dubai Green’ is no longer a luxury, but
a necessity.
Solutions through green building
Just as quickly as the city has risen from the sand, so too have the initiatives to rectify what has already been damaged, and promote smart ecologically adherent building standards.
On the 28th of October 2007, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and and Ruler of Dubai issued a new resolution to adopt the ‘Green Building’ model in Dubai to ensure a healthy and environment-friendly city. As per the new resolution, effective January 2008, all residential and commercial buildings in Dubai must now comply with these green standards.
Shaikh
Mohammed states, “Environmental awareness should become part of our
lives and behaviour. We have to incorporate it in our educational
curricula, and modify all specifications and standards of tools,
equipment and means of transportation to become environment-friendly.”
Boualem Tiliouine, technical advisor to the Dubai Municipality Building Permits and Regulation Section, says, “We are determined to convince the real estate industry that going green can save money. Right now, contractors have the attitude of ‘tomorrow I’m not here’, but if we can just convince owners that a higher initial outlay will decrease operating costs by up to 50 per cent, we will be in business.”
Nakheel, one of the world’s largest privately-held property developers, has launched a Dh200 million Blue Communities sustainability programme.
Viewed
by some experts as one of the single biggest offenders to the UAE’s
marine life, Nakheel is striking back to change this image. Over the
next three years, they will be investing the funds into research and
development on construction, management, and governance of coastal
communities.
Projects like Dubai Recycling Park, which intends to recycle the millions of tons of waste produced by Dubai’s industrial expansion, could not come at a more pertinent time.
By going in and retro-fitting factories and buildings with energy efficient fixtures that allow the capture of savings in energy consumption, companies essentially pay for the capital cost and therefore not only become more responsible in usage but also provide additional resources to weaker logistical sectors.
Neighbouring emirate Abu Dhabi is also competing with Dubai on the ‘Green Scene’. Through a Dh55 billion project known as ‘Masdar’, it will be the worlds first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city and expects to attract the worlds top educationalists who will utilise the latest in solar and hydro powers and technology.
Water canals will be designed to encourage people to walk, while driving will be banned. With a completion date of 2016, ‘Masdar’ will host more than 50,000 residents.
The projects chief executive, Sultan Al Jaber, admits the city involves a “paradigm shift” in thinking. “We will have to take some people through a learning curve for them to understand the concept,” Jaber says.
Even conferences are on the rise, as academics and experts are coming together to address the nation’s environmentalism.
The American University of Dubai recently hosted a ‘Green Dubai’ seminar, attracting more than 500 guests and seven international speakers from a myriad of fields. Environmentalists gave insight on how best the emirates should use and renew resources, citing a general lack of awareness for ‘green appreciation’ as one of the greatest hindrances of today’s society.
Dr Linda Nubani from the American University in Dubai commented, “The enthusiasm represented by the sheer number that turned out to participate at this event is a promising departure point for a better future and is in itself green. I believe that we should not be waiting for the environment to turn green, as the behaviour of every individual impacts our environment the same way our environment impacts ours.”
Robert W. Marans, Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, even conducted a case study on his own campus in order to track progress among participants in becoming more environmentally conscious and deciphering their level on environmental knowledge.
“The problem is that we don’t know enough about what people do and think about energy conservation, and we don’t know enough about modifying behaviour,” he says.
“But what we found was through awareness, participants begin taking measures to reduce energy costs at home and reduce their transportation costs,” he adds.
More so, engineering consultancy firms like WS Atkins are helping to put Dubai on the environmental map when, in conjunction with the British University in Dubai, it set up the Enabling Sustainability Raising Awareness initiative to promote green design. The initiative has since been rolled out worldwide. “Sustainability design is a complex issue but we’ve commercialised it,” says Atkins’ Middle East technical director Richard Smith.
Smith explains, “Passive design, better insulation, cleverly shaped windows and well positioned buildings is our initial message, because relatively speaking it doesn’t cost anything. Fortunately clients are easily persuaded.”
BECOMING AWARE
It is never too late to make a change. With awareness comes action, and as the Emirates rapidly become more aware of the impact of industrial and civil developments, there is a growing movement that recognises that the majestic deserts and blue seas are not immune to damage, but are in fact hosts to fragile ecosystems in need of protection.
The UAE understands this and is stepping up their role on the international stage as leaders in ‘Green Building.’ There is an evolution of the corporate thought process to go green.
Ethical profits are becoming a priority for major corporations in the region, and this in turn creates a more sustainable environment and use of resources. The success of every organisation in its capability to adapt to a dynamic environment has become essential if the UAE looks to expand as the most forward-thinking nation on earth, so as the sand turns green, so must we.
Mar 13, 2008 | 8:10 PM PST
Tags: UAE , Dubai , Green , Sustainable , City
The UAE has an advantage in becoming a city based on sustainable design because of the small size of the country and the political will, according to an expert in the field.
Professor
Phillip Jones said the UAE was paving the way for industry to take
action by showing its support for buildings with a low carbon
footprint, including through initiatives such as green buildings, the
sustainable city Masdar and investment in energy research.
The
sustainable design expert, a professor from the Welsh School of
Architecture at Cardiff University who has studied research projects in
the Middle East, presented a seminar on “Policy and practice for a Low
Carbon-built Environment” at Raffles Hotel, Dubai, on Wednesday night.
“The signs are very positive,” Jones said. “The government is starting to take the lead now which is good.”
Jones
said small countries like the UAE had a distinct advantage in being
able to instigate change and move quicker than other countries.
“The political will is there (in the UAE) and it’s growing,” he said. “Industry needs to see how it can make sustainable design profitable.”
However, he said the correct expertise was vital and cited the expansion of consultancies in the country as a good sign.
“The problem is the development is so abstract and enormous it makes it difficult to begin to implement,” he said.
“They
have the political will — it’s really working out how to put that into
practice and not to wait — anything you do is better than nothing,
rather than waiting for the whole solution.”
Speaking
on the occasion, Dr Mohammed Al Dulaimi, Awareness Programmes
Coordinator, said, “This seminar implements the federal strategy
objectives to promote a zero-carbon emission environment and supports
the national environment improvement programmes. It aims to increase
awareness of the necessity of rationalising energy and adopting
national standards for developing real estate projects that promote
environment-friendly buildings and the use of garbage recycling, for
example.”
The seminar was part of a series being held by Emirates Energy Award, one of Dubai Quality Group initiatives.
Mar 13, 2008 | 7:07 PM PST
Tags: Snoop Dogg , Pot , Marijuana , Smoke , Green , 420 , High , Natural , Happy , Medicated
Cough, cough!!! Fo' shizzle, wizzle!!!
Rap legend SNOOP DOGG stays calm by smoking marijuana and vacuuming his home.
The laid-back star insists the two hobbies are the reason for his permanently laid-back demeanour.
He tells talk show host Conan O'Brien, "If I had a vacuum in my hotel, I'd be vacuuming. I find it relaxing. I like to be clean.
"(And) I'm medicated. Not Aspirin, vegetation.... greenery."
Dayum, dog!!!
