Friday, June 26, 2015

The Consciousness Series: Animal Cruelty


“Do you know why most survivors of the Holocaust are vegan? It's because they know what it's like to be treated like an animal.” -Chuck Palahniuk

Prints available at http://www.jeremymannino.com/

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

The Consciousness Series: Dragonflies


The dragonfly has inhabited Earth for 300 million years and holds a spiritual meaning amongst different cultures. For the Mayan, the dragonfly is the emblematic animal of the goddess of creativity, Ix Chel. To the Japanese, it symbolizes summer and autumn and the Samurai use it as a symbol of power, agility and victory. In China, people associate the dragonfly with prosperity, harmony and as a good luck charm. Amongst Native Americans, it is a sign of happiness, speed and purity.

The dragonfly, in almost every part of the world, also symbolizes change and change in the perspective of self realization. Some cultures believe the dragonfly’s flight across water represents an act of going beyond what’s on the surface and looking into the deeper implications and aspects of life.

A dragonfly can move at up to 38 miles an hour, hover like a helicopter, fly backwards like a hummingbird, fly straight up, down and on either side. Its swiftness and flexibility allows it to fly in all six directions, exuding a sense of power and poise.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The Consciousness Series: GMOs




In more than 60 countries around the world, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMOs. By mixing genes from totally unrelated species, genetic engineering unleashes a host of unpredictable side effects like new toxins, allergens, carcinogens, and nutritional deficiencies.

Over 80% of all GMOs grown worldwide are engineered for herbicide tolerance. As a result, use of toxic herbicides like Roundup has ...increased 15 times since GMOs were introduced. Scientific studies have linked Roundup herbicide to cause birth defects and organ damage in animals, as well as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer's disease, autism and cancer in humans.

Because GMOs are novel life forms, biotechnology companies have been able to obtain patents with which to restrict their use. As a result, the companies that make GMOs now have the power to sue farmers whose fields are contaminated with GMOs, even when it is the result of inevitable drift from neighboring fields.

The FDA has legalized GMOs in the United States, does not mandate labeling of GMOs and allows companies to put their GM foods onto the market. Their justification was the claim that they had no information showing that GM foods were substantially different.

Scientists who have discovered problems with GMOs have been attacked, fired, threatened, and denied funding. Attempts by media to expose problems are also often censored by payoff.

Monsanto is the multi-billion dollar company behind many of the pesticides and genetically engineered seeds, found in 40 percent of US crops. Despite its various marketing incarnations over the years, Monsanto is a chemical company that got its start selling saccharin (an artificial sweetener about 300–400 times as sweet as sucrose or table sugar) to Coca-Cola, then Agent Orange to the U.S. military.

Buy organic foods from local farmers and green markets when possible, plant a vegetable garden, and become more self-sustainable.

Prints available at http://www.jeremymannino.com/

Monday, June 22, 2015

The Consciousness Series: Mushroom Forest


Psilocybin mushrooms, also known as psychedelic mushrooms, magic mushrooms and shrooms, are mushrooms that contain the psychedelic compounds psilocybin and psilocin.

The psychedelic drug in magic mushrooms may have lasting medical and spiritual benefits, according to new research by Ronald Griffiths from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Maryland.

A 2011 study involved 18 healthy adults, average age 46, who participated in five, eight-hour sessions with either psilocybin at varying doses or placebo. Nearly all the volunteers were college graduates and 78% participated regularly in religious activities; all were interested in spiritual experience.

Ultimately, Griffiths and his colleagues want to see if the same kind of psychedelic experience could help ease anxiety and fear over the long term in cancer patients or others facing death. Researchers are also studying whether transcendental experiences could help spur recovery from addiction and treat other psychological problems like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Fourteen months after participating in the study, 94% of those who received the drug said the experiment was one of the top five most meaningful experiences of their lives; 39% said it was the single most meaningful experience.


Prints available at http://www.jeremymannino.com/

Saturday, June 20, 2015

The Consciousness Series: Save the Bees


Since the late 1990s, beekeepers around the world have observed the mysterious and sudden disappearance of bees, and report unusually high rates of decline in honeybee colonies. Bees make more than honey, they are key to food production around the world because they pollinate crops. A third of the food that we eat depends on pollinating insects, including carrots, apricots, apples, avocados, blueberries, cherries, cucumbers, onion, grapefruit, orange, pumpkins, blackberries, cantaloupe, cranberries, peaches, watermelon, almonds, coriander, beans, plums, cotton, alfalfa and dozens more.

Over three million colonies in America and billions of bees worldwide have died since 2006. Scientists had struggled to find the trigger for so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that has wiped out an estimated 10 million beehives, worth $2 billion. The main reasons for global bees-decline are industrial agriculture, parasites/pathogens and climate change. The loss of biodiversity, destruction of habitat and lack of forage due to monocultures and bee-killing pesticides are particular threats for honeybees and wild pollinators. It is becoming increasingly evident that some insecticides, at concentrations applied routinely in the current chemical-intensive agriculture system, exert clear, negative effects on the health of pollinators, both individually and at the colony level.

A study issued by the Harvard School of Public Health found that two widely used neonicotinoids, a class of insecticide, appear to significantly harm honey bee colonies over the winter. Surveys found total colony losses averaged 30 percent over the last eight-year span.

Last year, the European Union banned neonicotinoids and GMO's used for corn and other crops, as well as on home lawns and gardens.

Monsanto and other agrichemical companies lay much of the blame for die-offs on the "varroa mite," an Asian bee parasite first found in the United States in 1987.

“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.” - Albert Einstein

Prints available at http://www.jeremymannino.com/

Friday, June 19, 2015

The Consciousness Series: Wish


Seeds are magic, potent vessels of nature. They hold entire intelligent blueprints for life. They can lie dormant for ages before the conditions are ripe for them to burst into life. As a beautiful metaphor for consciousness, a seed represents the divine design within all things. A symbol of creation.

The seed of life pattern is made of seven interlocking circles. Some beliefs see these seven circles as the seven days in which God created life. Once all seven circles were formed, the seed of life was born.

Prints available at http://www.jeremymannino.com/

 

Thursday, June 18, 2015

The Consciousness Series: Alien


The Milky Way Galaxy, the galaxy that contains our Solar System, is 100,000 light years (light year=186,000 miles a second) in diameter. The Milky Way contains over 100 billion planets and 300 billion stars. The Milky Way Galaxy is dwarfed by most galaxies, including M87, an elliptical galaxy 980,000 light years in diameter and Hercules, which is 1.5 million light year across. The Milky Way Galaxy houses our planet Earth (7,926 miles in diamete...r) is a single galaxy in a universe containing 100 billion galaxies with 100 billion stars in each galaxy.

Prints available at http://www.jeremymannino.com/

 

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

The Consciousness Series: Like a Dream


The Flower of Life is a name for a geometrical figure composed of seven or more evenly-spaced, overlapping circles. This figure, used as a decorative motif since ancient times, forms a flower-like pattern with the symmetrical structure of a hexagon.

The perfect form, proportion and harmony of the flower of life has been known to philosophers, architects and artist around the world, including Leonardo da Vinci.

One interesting feature of the Flower of Life is that evidence of its importance can be found in almost every major culture around the world. It can be seen in temples within the Forbidden City of China, synagogues in Israel, in the Buddhist temples of India and Japan, in the City of Ephesus in Turkey, carved into rock in Assyria, in Italian art from the 13th century, the Temple of Osiris in Abydos, Egypt and in the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, Spain originally dedicated to Saint Vincent.

 


Monday, June 15, 2015

The Consciousness Series: Mother Earth



The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. Scaling to 46 years, humans have been here 4 hours, the industrial revolution began 1 minute ago, and in that time we’ve destroyed more than half the world’s forests.

Unbelievably, more than 200,000 acres of rainforest are burned every day. That is more than 150 acres lost every minute of every day, and 78 million acres lost every year. More than 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest is already gone, and... much more is severely threatened as the destruction continues. The rain forest produces half of its own precipitation and about 20% of earth's oxygen is produced by the Amazon rainforest.

“Forests … are in fact the world’s air-conditioning system—the very lungs of the planet—and help to store the largest body of freshwater on the planet … essential to produce food for our planet’s growing population. The rainforests of the world also provide the livelihoods of more than a billion of the poorest people on this Earth… In simple terms, the rainforests, which encircle the world, are our very life-support system—and we are on the verge of switching it off.” -Prince Charles

Prints available at http://www.jeremymannino.com/

Sunday, June 14, 2015

The Consciousness Series: Toxins


It's no secret that almost all conventional household cleaners contain some toxic ingredients. Many contain carcinogens or suspected carcinogens, as well. When consumers buy commercial cleaning products, we expect them to do one thing, clean.

We use a wide array of scents, soaps, detergents, bleaching agents, softeners, polishes, and specialized cleaners for bathrooms, glass, drains, and ovens. But while the chemicals in cleaners foam, bleach..., and disinfect to make our dishes, bathtubs and countertops gleaming and germ-free, many also contribute to indoor air pollution, are poisonous if ingested and can be harmful if inhaled or touched. In fact, some cleaners are among the most toxic products found in the home. Some cause acute or immediate hazards, such as skin or respiratory irritation, watery eyes, or chemical burns, while others are associated with chronic, or long-term effects, such as cancer.

The most acutely dangerous cleaning products are corrosive drain cleaners, oven cleaners, and acidic toilet bowl cleaners, according to Philip Dickey of the Washington Toxics Coalition. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health has found that one-third of the substances used in the fragrance industry are toxic. But because the chemical formulas of fragrances are considered trade secrets, companies aren't required to list their ingredients but merely label them as containing "fragrance."

After cleaning liquids disappear down our drains, they are treated along with sewage and other waste water at municipal treatment plants, then discharged into nearby waterways. Most ingredients in chemical cleaners break down into harmless substances during treatment or soon afterward. Others, however, do not, threatening water quality or fish and other wildlife.

Another environmental concern with cleaning products is that many use chemicals that are petroleum-based, contributing to the depletion of this non-renewable resource and increasing our nation's dependence on imported oil.

 Prints available at http://www.jeremymannino.com/

Saturday, June 13, 2015

The Consciousness Series: Utopia


Cannabis is an extremely safe and effective medication for many patients with chronic pain. In stark contrast to opioids and other available pain medications, cannabis has the best safety record of any known pain medication (no deaths attributed to overdose or direct effects of medication).

Thankfully, marijuana is becoming more mainstream. In the United States, more than 20 states have legalized it in some form, and several others are mullin...g relaxing their pot laws. Four states and Washington, D.C. allow recreational marijuana. Nineteen states allow it for medical purposes, and 14 have decriminalized it.

Here are just a few of the medicinal powers of marijuana:

Weed can be used to treat Glaucoma. It can help control epileptic seizures. It also decreases the symptoms of a severe seizure disorder known as Dravet's Syndrome. A chemical found in marijuana stops cancer cells from spreading in the lab. THC may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease and decrease anxiety. The plant eases the pain of multiple sclerosis. It lessens side effects from treating hepatitis C and increases treatment effectiveness. Marijuana treats inflammatory bowel diseases, including Crohn's disease. It relieves arthritis discomfort. Pot soothes tremors for people with Parkinson's disease. Marijuana helps veterans suffering from PTSD. Naturally occurring cannabinoids, similar to THC, help regulate the system that causes fear and anxiety in the body and brain. Marijuana also protects the brain after a stroke, by reducing the size of the area affected by the stroke.

Prints available at http://www.jeremymannino.com/

Monday, June 8, 2015

Spacemov and Chill

I discovered an epic website a few weeks ago that plays free HD movies!

The website is http://www.spacemov.com/

I watch the movies on my phone, just to be on the safe, and they play perfectly!

I've caught up on some movies that I've been wanting to see for awhile now! Here's a list of the movies in order from my favorite to least favorite:

Kingsman: The Secret Service (R)
Ex Machina (R)
Spy (R)
Interstellar (PG-13)
Mad Max: Fury Road (R)
Gone Girl (R)
Nightcrawler (R)
Lucy (R)
Cinderella (PG)
The Duff (PG-13)
Maleficent (PG)
Fifty Shades of Grey (R)

If you haven't seen Fifty Shades of Grey, don't bother. I read the book and I honestly don't know which one I hate more. How on Earth did that book get so famous? It's utter garbage.

Enjoy the website and let me know what movies you guys are checking out this Summer. I'm always down for some recommendations as long as it's not a horror movie. :)

I have the ultimate crush on Taron Egerton from Kingsman. He is looking so good in the shirtless scene.

Mmmm