Today it is interntional yoga day, the shortest/longest day of the year and the first solstice full moon in more than 50 years!
The early Native Americans did not record time by using the months of the Julian or Gregorian calendar. Many tribes kept track of time by observing the seasons and lunar months. http://www.almanac.com/content/full-moon-names
The mid summer full moon was named by the indigenous American Algonquin people as the ‘strawberry’ moon as it was seen at the best time to pick ripening fruit. (The ‘harvest moon’ that many people are familiar with occurs in autumn…the time for harvesting grain, corn, pumpkins etc- this was known as the ‘Full Corn Moon’ by the Algonquin tribes).
But I am more of a Gregorian calendar kind of animal, and that means…
*Drumroll* It is also the equal halfway week mark of 52charities52weeks!
My, my. Haven’t the pages grown up quickly, I can hardly recognise them.
Lots of big news events coming up in the remainder of this calendar, and it brings to mind a regular rant that my partner is sick of hearing so I will purge now…
Why are paid ‘psychics’ not liable the same scrutiny of standard as any other business?
Surely they should be able to at least predict the outcome of Brexit, new Aussie pm and new U.S. president…I leave it to you to look up and see if you can find a convincing answer to these if you are interested. Suffice it to say that I can see why agencies still take bets on such thing since the predictions seem no more consistent than anybody’s guess…so here are my unadventurous guesses : Remain, Turnbull, Clinton.
John Edward was on The Project the same week as the MH370 disappeared. Steve Price asked him about it and he had N.F.I., just like the rest of us. And why did it take so long to find what happened to poor Daniel Morecombe, and more recently to find out that Daniel O’Keefe wasn’t missing, but was unfortunately deceased and under his parents house the whole time – in spite of approaches to the family by many self proclaimed ‘psychics’.
Even if someone is uncannily right 50% of the time and utterly wrong the other 50%, it isn’t the kind of surgeon or pilot you would trust, is it? I wonder how many believers would trust a psychic enough to play Russian Roulette under their guidance?
People will come up with excuses for outright untruths (‘maybe the ‘universe’ didn’t want such and such to be known’), selectively remember ‘hits’, no matter how open to interpretation (‘you’re going to have an incident involving a car’) while quickly forgetting all the trivial waffle and non-starters that fill out the paid time in between (I see someone, it could be your grandmother, giving you flowers’). FFS Show me the sherry instead, grandma, if it was really you, you know what I’d prefer.
Mmm …imaginary cream sherry from a dead person…yum yum!
Houdini despised ‘vultures who prey on the bereaved’. Derren Brown is another showman who is out to debunk claims of the paranormal, though people are skeptical about his claims to the power of psychologial mastery too.
Nobody ever claimed the $1million prize offered in the Randi Paranomal challenge (begun in 1964 and terminated without payment in 2015), or as yet, the $100,000 Australian Skeptics prize, offered since 1980.
I am not saying it’s not possible that some claims to psychic powers may be true, but like any other industry, particularly one that appeals so much to people at vulnerable times in their lives, how about some oversight of ‘insights’?
…and if I seem like just an ignorant muggle being harsh…just ask any psychic you meet if they think there are frauds out there! 🙂
I have rambled this far down without any mention of animals. So here is a Pete Helliar-worthy segue… What this boils down to is disappointment at people getting free money, adulation and a trust, free from independant enquiry.
We should all ask questions about everything – including why the hell are so many people, who would NEVER buy a carton of cage eggs, more than happy to buy them in other guises – at a restaurant, in desserts, in packaged foods?
RSPCA “Choose Wisely” – humane food campaign
My crystal ball is P.E.T., the ley lines around here are all wrong and there must be a disbeliever in the vicinity blocking my qi, cos I still have no idea of this week’s charity…I will leave it to the Google gods….
Ok Google gods,lets go…
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Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016: China Summer Solstice Event Is Still Happeing …
Jun 8, 2016 – In the face of continuing inaction from officials in southern China, activists and animal welfare groups around the world are still struggling to put …
In the face of continuing inaction from officials in southern China, activists and animal welfare groups around the world are still struggling to put an end to a summer solstice celebration that is said to result in the slaughter of thousands of dogs every year. The Yulin Dog Meat Festival, in Guangxi province, has been the focus of an intense international awareness campaign for a number of years, with activists hoping to pressure Chinese officials to put a stop to it, but the annual event is reportedly still taking place later this month.
Each year for the festival, an estimated 10,000 dogs are shipped to Yulin, where they are killed for their meat and served in restaurants, according to media reports and animal rights groups. Most of the animals are either strays or pets that are stolen off the streets and sold into the dog meat trade. While other countries in Asia have banned the sale and consumption of dog meat, the practice remains legal in China.
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The Chinese calendar names each year after and animal.And each year Chinese businesses get fat/a fat from profits of sales of cutesy paraphenalia, but what is anyone doing to help the real animals? I can’t stand this hypocritical taking of an animal’s image in vain.
Don’t worry about taking God’s name in vain, he is big enough to look after himself. What about taking away dogs’ pain?
I just found out that 2018 is the year of the dog. Let’s hope that it really is. And not just for the sake of selling some cheap disposable crap…at least it will be locally made though…!
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Who We Are
Founded in 1998, Animals Asia promotes compassion and respect for all animals and works to bring about long-term change. We work to end the barbaric bear bile trade, which sees over 10,000 bears kept on bile farms in China, and, according to official figures, about 1,200 suffering the same fate in Vietnam.
Animals Asia has rescued over 500 bears, caring for them at its award-winning bear sanctuaries in China and Vietnam.
Animals Asia also works to end the trade in dogs and cats for food in China and Vietnam, and lobbies to improve the welfare of companion animals, promote humane population management and prevent the cross border export of “meat dogs” in Asia.
In addition, Animals Asia campaigns for an end to abusive animal practices in zoos and safari parks in Asia, and works closely with governing authorities to improve animal management and increase awareness of the welfare needs of captive animals.
https://www.animalsasia.org/au/donate/
Payroll giving
I greatly support the work of Animals Asia and have supported them through pre-tax payroll deducted workplace giving for about 12 years. If you are interested, you should be able to ask any workplace with a modern payroll system to set it up and promote it amongst employees…the employer can use their participation as a promotion tool to make them look good too! https://www.cafonline.org/
Here is another US based charity which is also trying to bring an end to the suffering:
The moral of this week is…if you’ve got a fortune burning a hole in your pocket, a reliable charity may be a better recipient of it than a spurious teller of fortunes 🙂
52 charities - 52 weeks 