Top 10 psychoactives in religious ceremonies

Listverse.com

This is a list of entheogens. According to Wikipedia these chemicals are, in the strictest sense, psychoactive substances used in a religious or shamanic context. Plants and herbs have been used for many centuries in religious contexts due to their consciousness altering nature. In recent times many have been taken up by the "casual drug user" as a potentially harmful alternative to even more harmful synthetic chemical drugs.

10. "Heavenly Blue" Morning Glory

Ipomoea tricolor (Active constituents: Ergoline alkaloids)

This is a species of morning glory native to the New World tropics, and widely cultivated and naturalized elsewhere. The seeds have been used for centuries by many Mexican Native American cultures as an hallucinogen; they were known to the Aztecs as tlitliltzin, the Nahuatl word for "black." Their traditional use by Mexican Native Americans was first discovered in 1941, brought to light in a report documenting use going back to Aztec times. It was reported in 1960 that the seeds of Ipomoea tricolor were used as sacraments by certain Zapotecs, sometimes in conjunction with the seeds of Rivea corymbosa, another species which has a similar chemical composition. Hallucinations are the predominant effect after ingesting morning glory seeds. Vivid visual and tactile hallucinations, as well as increased awareness of colors have been described.

9. Fly Agaric Mushrooms

Amanita muscaria (Active constituents: Ibotenic acid)
The quintessential image of an hallucinogenic "toadstool," with its red cap and white spots. More>>

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Reference: http://wisdomquarterly.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-10-psychoactives-in-religious.html

Top 10 Sites for Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling is the practice of telling stories w/ computer tools. Wikipedia explains teachers use digital storytelling for several reasons such as,"1) to incorporate multimedia into their curriculum and 2) Teachers can also introduce storytelling in combination with social networking in order to increase global participation, collaboration, and communication skills. Moreover, digital storytelling is a way to incorporate and teach the twenty-first century student the twenty-first century technology skills such as information literacy, visual literacy, global awareness, communication and technology literacy."



Top 10 sites for Digital Storytelling

1. Digital Films - Quite simply one of the best digital storytelling sites around. This site is very user friendly w/ an iMovie HD feel and great for beginners!!



2. Myths & Legends - Excellent site for storytelling, can add characters, backgrounds, objects, etc. and great for education w/ an educational instance/portal.



3. Xtranormal - Very popular/fun site for digital storytelling. A very easy to use site where text is all that is needed to create an original story.



4. My StoryMaker - Great site for young readers to create a cartoon looking story.



5. Storybird - An excellent site for creating pictures books for storytelling.



6. Primary Access - Is a wonderful site for creating digital stories using historical stock footage.



7. Google Search Stories - A very easy site to use by selecting stock video/audio to create a digital story.



8. Zimmer Twins - A fun site where users select cartoon footage to create their very own digital story.



9. Zooburst - Is a brand new site for creating 3D/pop-up stories. A user can either upload their own image or use stock photos. Hopefully, audio/video integration will be coming soon!



10. Stage'D - A very impressive visual site where users choose their characters, backgrounds, and items to create their very own computer generated story.
    

Sphere: Related Content

Reference: http://cyber-kap.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-10-sites-for-digital-storytelling.html

The Tuesday Top 10: MORE Scary Paintings!

About a year and a half ago, I put together a list of the Top 10 Scariest Paintings which remains one of the most popular posts I've ever done, receiving daily visitors to this day. So, figured I, why not dig back into the mists of time once again for ten more deeply disturbing works of fine art with which to thoroughly creep you out for the day? Certainly beats writing for a living! So, I hope you enjoy this second twisted look inside the mind of man...



10. The Adoration of the Magi. Hieronymus Bosch, 1510



9. Journey of the Wounded Healer. Alex Gray, 1985



8. Reflection. Lucien Freud, 1985



7. Island of the Dead. Arnold Boecklin, 1883



6. Mask Still Life III. Emil Nolde, 1911



5. Masks as Ruins. Otto Dix, 1946



4. Jean Michel Basquiat. Riding with Death, 1988



3. The Smiling Spider. Odilon Redon, 1881



2. The Temptation of St. Anthony. Matthias Grunewald, 1515



1. Pope Innocent X. Francis Bacon, 1953

Reference: http://thevaultofhorror.blogspot.com/2010/05/tuesday-top-10-more-scary-paintings.html

Top 10 Dumbest Things Said About The Arizona Immigration Law

The last few days have seen an extraordinary outburst of criticism of Arizona's new immigration law. In the nation's elite media outlets, its most respected commentators are portraying the law as an act of police-state repression. Many, if not all, of the specific criticisms can be refuted simply by reading the law itself, but others are more generalized criticisms of immigration enforcement. In any event, it's hard to choose the most over-the-top and wrongheaded commentary on the law, but here are ten choices, in no particular order. (If you don't know why a particular statement is wrong, you can check here, and here, and here, and here.)

1. "The statute requires police officers to stop and question anyone who looks like an illegal immigrant."- New York Times editorial

2. "As the Arizona abomination makes clear, there is a desperate need for federal immigration action to stop the country from turning into a nation of vigilantes suspicious of anybody with dark skin."- Dana Milbank, Washington Post

3. "I can't imagine Arizonans now reverting to German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation."- Cardinal Roger Mahony

4. "This law creates a suspect class, based in part on ethnicity, considered guilty until they prove themselves innocent. It makes it harder for illegal immigrants to live without scrutiny - but it also makes it harder for some American citizens to live without suspicion and humiliation. Americans are not accustomed to the command 'Your papers, please,' however politely delivered. The distinctly American response to such a request would be 'Go to hell,' and then 'See you in court.'"-

Michael Gerson, Washington Post

5. "In case the phrase 'lawful contact' makes it appear as if the police are authorized to act only if they observe an undocumented-looking person actually committing a crime, another section strips the statute of even that fig leaf of reassurance. 'A person is guilty of trespassing,' the law provides, by being 'present on any public or private land in this state' while lacking authorization to be in the United States - a new crime of breathing while undocumented."-

Linda Greenhouse, New York Times

(Greenhouse's "trespassing" allegation was based on an early version of the Arizona bill that was not the bill that became law. Her mistake was later removed from the Times site.)

Read the rest at the Washington Examiner

Reference: http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-10-dumbest-things-said-about.html

Top 10 Dumbest Things Said About the Arizona Immigration Law

Byron York of the Washington Examiner has compiled this list of the hysteria on the Left to Arizona's new immigration law. York says it's hard to choose which one on the list is the most over-the-top.



What do you think?



From The Washington Examiner:



The last few days have seen an extraordinary outburst of criticism of Arizona's new immigration law.



In the nation's elite media outlets, its most respected commentators are portraying the law as an act of police-state repression. Many, if not all, of the specific criticisms can be refuted simply by reading the law itself, but others are more generalized criticisms of immigration enforcement. In any event, it's hard to choose the most over-the-top and wrongheaded commentary on the law, but here are ten choices, in no particular order.



(If you don't know why a particular statement is wrong, you can check here, and here, and here, and here.)



1. "The statute requires police officers to stop and question anyone who looks like an illegal immigrant."
- New York Times editorial



2. "As the Arizona abomination makes clear, there is a desperate need for federal immigration action to stop the country from turning into a nation of vigilantes suspicious of anybody with dark skin."
- Dana Milbank, Washington Post



3. "I can't imagine Arizonans now reverting to German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation."
- Cardinal Roger Mahony



4. "This law creates a suspect class, based in part on ethnicity, considered guilty until they prove themselves innocent. It makes it harder for illegal immigrants to live without scrutiny - but it also makes it harder for some American citizens to live without suspicion and humiliation. Americans are not accustomed to the command 'Your papers, please,' however politely delivered. The distinctly American response to such a request would be 'Go to hell,' and then 'See you in court.'"
- Michael Gerson, Washington Post



5. "In case the phrase 'lawful contact' makes it appear as if the police are authorized to act only if they observe an undocumented-looking person actually committing a crime, another section strips the statute of even that fig leaf of reassurance. 'A person is guilty of trespassing,' the law provides, by being 'present on any public or private land in this state' while lacking authorization to be in the United States - a new crime of breathing while undocumented."
- Linda Greenhouse, New York Times

(Greenhouse's "trespassing" allegation was based on an early version of the Arizona bill that was not the bill that became law. Her mistake was later removed from the Times site, but you can see original version here.)


6. "Federal law treats illegal immigration as a civil violation; Arizona law criminalizes it by using the legally dubious mechanism of equating the mere presence of undocumented immigrants with trespassing."
- Washington Post editorial

(This editorial makes the same mistake as Linda Greenhouse's "trespassing" column above.)



7. "I am saddened today at the prospect of a young Hispanic immigrant in Arizona going to the grocery store and forgetting to bring her passport and immigration documents with her. I cannot be dispassionate about the fact that the very act of her being in the grocery store will soon be a crime in the state she lives in�An immigrant who is charged with the crime of trespassing for simply being in a community without his papers on him is being told he is committing a crime by simply being."
- Bishop Desmond Tutu, Huffington Post

(Tutu is perhaps relying on the erroneous information in the New York Times and Washington Post above.)



8. "It harkens back to apartheid where all black people in South Africa were required to carry documents in order to move from one part of town to another."
- Cynthia Tucker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on ABC's "This Week"



9. "You can imagine, if you are a Hispanic American in Arizona�suddenly, if you don't have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you're going to be harassed."
- President Barack Obama



10. "This week, Arizona signed the toughest illegal immigration law in the country which will allow police to demand identification papers from anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. I know there's some people in Arizona worried that Obama is acting like Hitler, but could we all agree that there's nothing more Nazi than saying 'Show me your papers?' There's never been a World War II movie that didn't include the line 'show me your papers.' It's their catchphrase. Every time someone says 'show me your papers,' Hitler's family gets a residual check. So heads up, Arizona; that's fascism. I know, I know, it's a dry fascism, but it's still fascism."
- Seth Myers, "Saturday Night Live"



Via Washington Examiner



Via Memeorandum





The Last Tradition

Reference: http://thelasttradition.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-10-dumbest-things-said-about.html

Kristin's Top 10 Favourite Books of All Time

I will be running a feature over the coming weeks of my book reviewers all-time favourite books. Here are Kristin's Top 10 Picks:



#1





To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee



#2





Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck



#3






The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett



#4





The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks



#5

Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger



#6





God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours by Regina Brett



#7





A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers



#8





Running with Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs



#9





I Know This Much Is True: A Novel (P.S.) by Wally Lamb



#10





Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt



Have you read any of these books? Do you agree or disagree with Kristin's selections?

Reference: http://stacievaughansblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/kristins-top-10-favourite-books-of-all.html

Top 10 Stops along the BRP near Asheville

For the Blue Ridge Parkway's 75th Anniversary, the RomanticAsheville.com Travel Guide has selected the "Top 10 Places to See Along the Parkway" in the Asheville area.



Beginning north and traveling south, here is their list:



1) Grandfather Mountain: Drive to the top and enjoy beautiful vistas from a rocky summit and the famous Mile High Swinging Bridge, plus see impressive environmental habitats. Milepost 305



2) Linn Cove Viaduct: This 1243-foot concrete segmental bridge snakes around the slopes of Grandfather Mountain. After driving across, stop at the Visitor Center to read about the construction and hike underneath it. Milepost 304



3) Linville Falls: See five viewpoints of the most photographed waterfall in North Carolina via two trails that begin at the Visitors' Center. Milepost 316



4) Mt. Mitchell: Drive to the summit of the highest point east of the Rockies, and take a short paved trail to the observation deck for panoramic mountain views. Milepost 355



5) Craggy Gardens: Park at the visitor center here for great views to the east and to the west. Enjoy the crisp air, summer rhododendron, and easy to moderate hiking trails. Milepost 364



6) Folk Art Center: Discover the finest in traditional and contemporary craft of the Southern Appalachians with a wonderful craft shop and exhibitions in three galleries. Milepost 382



7) Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center: Learn about the entire 469 miles and 75-year history of the Parkway with high-tech interactive exhibits that includes a 22-foot interactive I-Wall map. Milepost 384



8) North Carolina Arboretum: Stroll through a variety of gardens, on peaceful hiking trails, or ride Segways. And don't miss the wonderful bonsai exhibit. Milepost 393



9) Pisgah Inn: Stop for lunch and enjoy the views from 5,000 feet at the only restaurant on this section of the Parkway. Milepost 408



10) Graveyard Fields: This very popular hiking spot features two waterfalls in a mile-high valley filled with wildflowers and surrounded by Blue Ridge Mountains with 6,000-foot peaks. Milepost 419



For more information on many of the hiking opportunities along the Blue Ridge Parkway, please click here.





Jeff

HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.

Reference: http://hikinginthesmokys.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-10-stops-along-brp-near-asheville.html