A Message from Rev. Shawn Moninger at Unity Center for Practical Spirituality, Norwalk CT – Video

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A Message from Rev. Shawn Moninger at Unity Center for Practical Spirituality, Norwalk CT
http://www.unitycenterps.org/ A Message from Rev. Shawn Moninger at Unity Center for Practical Spirituality, Norwalk CT Welcome to Unity Center for Practical...

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A Message from Rev. Shawn Moninger at Unity Center for Practical Spirituality, Norwalk CT - Video

Book World: ‘The Empty Chair’ and ‘Vatican Waltz’

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Religion usually doesnt have a prayer in literary fiction. From novels, youd never suspect that tens of millions of Americans attend services every week and pray every day. Sure, there are lots of religious books published in the United States, from sacred texts to inspirational tracts and even sizzling Christian romances, but ascend into the heavenly realm of Serious Fiction, and youll find that Nietzsche was largely right about God. Marilynne Robinson, Alice McDermott, Bob Shacochis the authors who take matters of the spirit seriously could barely fill one pew.

Its striking then to find this month two very different novels that focus on spirituality and even more rare the challenges of devotion. They both dare to enter a sanctuary that few contemporary authors are willing to set foot in.

Bruce Wagner is a parishioner at the holy church of Hollywood. Hes written and directed screenplays, and his name-dropping novels, such as last years Dead Stars, sacrifice the Beautiful People on a glitzy altar of satire. Hes also long been drawn to mysticism, both for his own enlightenment (he was a disciple of the late Carlos Castaneda) and, weirdly, for his acidic comedies (see Still Holding).

The Empty Chair, his new book, has nothing to do with Clint Eastwoods speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention (although its easy to imagine that unhinged moment of our political history as something Wagner would dream up). Instead, The Empty Chair is a pair of thinly conjoined novellas presented as two long, unabridged interviews with practitioners of diet Buddhism seekers slouching toward spiritual redemption.

The first novella by far the better one is a monologue delivered by a 50-year-old gay man at a monastery in Big Sur. Wagner forces himself and us to adhere to the books fictive form: The interview wanders, skips and misfires in a way that reminds us that, in contrast, almost all the interviews we see on TV, hear on the radio or read in the newspaper have been trimmed and arranged as artfully as this Sundays floral display. For many pages, Wagners narrator chats around, offering up his mildly assuming patter of literary allusions and self-deprecating asides: If the Buddhists call sitting meditation zazen, I call my theosophy vanzen because I live in my van, he says. I cant conceive of a life without the ol Greater Vehicle.

Its the illusion of rambling that makes this section so remarkable. But what seems like witty digression about his beatnik idols is really self-conscious delay, the nervous stalling of a man skating around something too painful to approach headlong. Soon we learn that he was sexually abused as a child by a Catholic priest, an ordeal that sent him searching for peace in Buddhism. But even darker traumas lurk in this extraordinary confession. As he begins to describe the woman he married and the spiritually precocious little boy they raised together, the story slips into unimaginably tragic territory.

Wagners real subject here is spiritual pride among the devout struggling toward Nothingness to prove who shall be least. His narrator has a wry sense of humor about this world of competitive enlightenment, but theres no smirking when he finally arrives at what it costs a child to be infected with his parents metaphysical shtick. Can a young boy subsist on the wheatgrass and tofu of passive-aggressively homicidal Zen platitudes? No matter where you are in the 31 Realms of Existence, youll feel shaken by this devastating story.

Speaking of nothingness, dont bother with the second novella of The Empty Chair. Its the maundering tale of a woman recalling her affair with a wealthy criminal who was determined to find his guru in India. Tedious and convoluted, this story offers no emotional impact whatsoever, and, worse, its last-ditch effort to connect with the first novella feels like an act of desecration.

Vatican Waltz

Roland Merullos last few books have been gently comic novels about faith and spirituality, from Golfing With God to Lunch With Buddha. Although those cloying titles may sound like purgatory, the stories themselves are redeemed by Merullos winning sweetness. Of course, if you need your religious figures frozen in dark stained glass, you should probably pass by on the other side, but if youre hip to a little irreverence and humor in divine matters, you might like him very much.

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Book World: ‘The Empty Chair’ and ‘Vatican Waltz’

Space Station Gets New Pump for Christmas

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Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have received a gift just in time for Christmas: a new pump module to repair their ailing cooling system and to restore the outpost to full power.

NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins embarked on their second spacewalk together, setting out at 6:53 a.m. EST (1153 GMT) on Tuesday (Dec. 24) to complete the work they began Saturday to remove and replace an ammonia pump module with a faulty flow control valve.

"Houston from the airlock, we'd just like to say thanks to all the great folks doing all this hard work to get this space station back up and running," Mastracchio radioed at the end of the spacewalk, which concluded at 2:23 p.m. EST (1923 GMT), seven hours and 30 minutes after it began. [See photos from the Christmas Eve spacewalk]

"No, thank you guys," astronaut capcom Doug Wheelock replied from NASA's Mission Control in Houston. "It is the best Christmas ever. Thanks, guys."

"I'd just like to add to that," Hopkins said. "Fantastic work, merry Christmas to everybody. It took a couple of licks to get her done, but we got it."

The Christmas Eve EVA extravehicular activity, NASAs term for a spacewalk had the two astronauts retrieve a spare of the refrigerator-size cooling system device and install it on the space stations starboard, or right, side backbone truss. The 780-pound (355 kg) pump module replaced a faulty unit Mastracchio and Hopkins successfully and speedily removed three days ago.

The removal, which came just 10 days after a valve inside the module ceased working properly, was originally slated to be part of this second outing, but Mastracchio and Hopkins made quick work of disconnecting the degraded unit, allowing them the time to also remove and stow the module during the spacewalk Saturday.

Their get-ahead work negated the need for a planned third spacewalk.

Pump module in place

The failure of the flow control valve, which regulates the temperature of the ammonia coolant passing through the pump, resulted in restricting the space station to the use of just half of its cooling loop system needed to maintain equipment temperatures inside and outside of the outpost. Non-critical systems and science experiment hardware in two of the stations laboratories have been without power since the valve malfunctioned on Dec. 11.

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Space Station Gets New Pump for Christmas

Space station astronauts complete repairs to cooling system on Christmas Eve spacewalk

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CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.Space station astronauts repaired a crippled cooling system during a rare Christmas Eve spacewalk Tuesday, braving a mini blizzard of noxious ammonia as they popped in a new pump.

It was the second spacewalk in four days for U.S. astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Michael Hopkins, and only the second Christmas Eve spacewalk ever.

NASA ordered up the spacewalks to revive a critical cooling loop at the International Space Station. All nonessential equipment had to be turned off when the line conked out Dec. 11, and many science experiments halted.

With Tuesdays success, the cooling system should be restored and all equipment back up and running by this weekend, according to NASA.

Its the best Christmas ever, Mission Control radioed as the 7 -hour spacewalk came to a close.

Merry Christmas to everybody, replied Hopkins. It took a couple weeks to get her done, but we got it.

Mastracchio and Hopkins removed the faulty ammonia pump during Saturdays spacewalk. On Tuesday, they installed the fresh pump.

Standing on the end of the stations main robotic arm, Hopkins clutched the 780-pound (353.8-kilogram), refrigerator-size pump with both hands as he headed toward its installation spot, and then slid it in. An astronaut working inside, Japans Koichi Wakata, gingerly steered the arm and its precious load.

Mike Hopkins taking a special sleigh ride on this Christmas Eve, Mission Control commentator Rob Navias said as the space station soared over the Pacific.

It was slow going because of a balky ammonia fluid line that sent frozen flakes of the extremely toxic substance straight at the men a mini blizzard, as Mission Control called it. The spacewalkers reported being surrounded by big chunks of the stuff that bounced off equipment and, in all probability, their suits.

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Space station astronauts complete repairs to cooling system on Christmas Eve spacewalk

Spacewalkers finish crucial space station repairs in time for Christmas

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Cosmic Log

Alan Boyle, Science Editor NBC News

11 hours ago

Nearly two weeks after a faulty coolant valve crippled the International Space Station, two NASA astronauts took on a rare Christmas Eve spacewalk to get things back to normal.

During Tuesday's seven-hour, 30-minute repair operation, spacewalkers Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins installed a refrigerator-sized coolant pump module with an assist from Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who operated the 58-foot-long (18-meter-long) robotic arm from inside the space station.

NASA commentator Rob Navias said the new module passed an initial pressure test. "We have a pump that is alive and well," he reported on NASA TV.

The only other time NASA conducted a spacewalk on Christmas Eve was during a Hubble repair operation in 1999. The timing lent a holiday spirit to Tuesday's proceedings. "It's like Christmas morning, opening up a little present here," Mastracchio joked as he checked his tools.

PhotoBlog: Santa never had a view like this!

Two and a half hours into the job, Hopkins stood at the end of the robotic arm and steadied the 780-pound (355-kilogram) pump module as it was swung into position for installation. "Mike Hopkins taking a special sleigh ride on this Christmas Eve," Navias observed.

The spacewalk didn't always go as smoothly as Santa's rounds, however: After the astronauts slid the boxy apparatus into place and secured it with bolts, they had some trouble switching the cooling system's fluid lines. They had to tap and pry at one of the interim fluid-line connections to free it up, and in the process they set off a mini-blizzard of toxic ammonia "snowflakes."

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Spacewalkers finish crucial space station repairs in time for Christmas

What is Seasteading? – Marine Insight

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Regarded to be a major revolutionary spectacle, seasteading refers to development alternate nations and societies on the oceanic domain. The initiatives origins can be traced back to as early as the start of the 1980s though it was only during the early 21st century that firm steps were taken to bring this visualised fantasy to life.

The concept of sea steading originated as a means of relocating to other feasible geographies so as to evade the problems and threats caused by contemporary societal and inter and intra-national conflicts.

Seasteading thus also involves constructing viable and workable structures that will allow the new-age citizens to combine healthy lifestyles of both work and pleasures, just like any other land-based avenue. Such a structure that would house the citizens is thus referred to as a seastead.

Seasteading Institute

Founded in the year 2008, the Seasteading Institute has been developed as a unilateral establishment to assimilate all possible developmental avenues to come up with viable seastead models. Along with being pioneered by two exceptional visionaries, the Institute also possess the financial backing of a groundbreaking businessman Peter Thiel.

Based upon the Seasteading Institutes findings and analyses, the following have been highlighted to successfully bring the sea steading idea to realisation:

- Using ships as seastead colonies. Their hugeness of size and their optimum feasibility even otherwise makes them an ideal choice for seasteading.

- Using poles not dissimilar to drilling rigs in the high seas as sea steading colonies. The poles would provide the required base support required to maintain the colonies stability while on water.

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What is Seasteading? - Marine Insight

H.S. boys basketball: Cliffside Park feeling good

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CLIFFSIDE PARK Cliffside Park heads into the holiday break with two more reasons to celebrate than it did exactly one year ago.

The Red Raiders 60-50 victory over New Milford on Monday in non-league boys basketball means a 2-0 record, and that sure beats last seasons 0-5 start.

"Coming in 2-0 into the holiday season, were just happy, and we have that fire inside of us that we just want to come out and win," said sophomore swingman Roy Danis.

Danis is one of several sophomores playing key roles in a program that last season finished 5-21. Sophomore forward Gabriel Valerio scored a game-high 24 points to help the Red Raiders erase a 25-24 halftime deficit.

"It feels great, because losing last year was the worst thing ever," said Valerio. "But I knew eventually we were going to win because we have a good team, but we were young. But it was going to come, and now its coming. "

Cliffside Park opened the third quarter with an 11-0 run to gain control at 35-25. The Red Raiders steady pressure began to bear fruit as New Milford went scoreless for the first 4:32 of the third.

Cliffside Parks 11-0 run featured a put-back by Valerio, a driving three-point play by senior guard Al-Abah-Essola (nine points) and a three-pointer from the left corner by junior Shant Karajelian.

"I feel physically we have the ability to wear some people down a little bit," said Cliffside coach Sean MacIsaac, whose team upset Fort Lee on opening night. "And I think with the team that we played today, we were able to do that."

New Milford (1-1) played well in the first half. The Knights moved the ball quickly, and got six first-half points apiece from senior guard Bobby Blunt (11 points overall), junior guard Joe Poveromo (nine) and senior forward Elijah Cross (eight).

"I thought we played an excellent first half," New Milford coach Mike Mayer said.

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H.S. boys basketball: Cliffside Park feeling good

Holiday road trips for Red Devils, Hornets

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The holiday season brings with it festive family gatherings, wintry weather, and high school basketball tournaments. Hinsdale Central heads back to Proviso West while Hinsdale South heads west to compete at DeKalb.

Hinsdale Central

Tournament: Proviso West Holiday Tournament

Location: 4701 W. Harrison St., Hillside

First game: 5 p.m. Saturday, vs. Lincoln Park

What to watch: After dropping the season opener to rival Hinsdale South, the Red Devils have won six of their last seven games and moved into second place in the West Suburban Silver conference.

After topping Naperville Central 67-54 Saturday, the Red Devils had a week-long break from game action before the beginning of the Proviso West Holiday Tournament on Saturday. The Red Devils will open the 32-team tournament against Lincoln Park, which started the season with a 2-4 record. The competition gets even tougher in the second round as Central would face either St. Joes, undefeated to start the year, or a tough Nazareth team. The Red Devils have a size advantage few can match with 6-foot-7 forward Matt Rafferty.

The tournament championship, third place and consolation games will be played Dec. 31.

Hinsdale South

Tournament: Chuck Dayton Holiday Tournament

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Holiday road trips for Red Devils, Hornets