The following titles have been received at the library, and are available for checkout:

Skinny Taste, Fast and Slow by Gina Homolka, non-fiction

USAs National Parks by Christopher Pitts, non-fiction

Fodors 2016 Las Vegas, New York City, Walt Disney, non-fiction

Order to Kill by Vince Flynn, large print fiction

Reluctant Bride by Kathleen Fuller, large print fiction

The Midnight Bell by Jack Higgans, large print fiction

Dreamweaver Trail by Emily March, large print fiction

Truevine by Beth Macy, large print non-fiction

*****

Please continue to browse our new Friends of the Mount Airy Public Library used bookshop, Between the Covers, on Main Street. The shop is run by volunteers, and we depend on book donations for our stock. Your purchases benefit the library, so shop with a good cause in mind! The stores now has gift certificates for sale, and old record albums and 45s have been added to the stock. The phone number is 336-648-8176, if you have questions.

*****

The annual Northwestern Regional Library Photography Contest is under way again, and the deadline will be March 17 to submit entries. The theme for this years contest is Transformation. Brochures with guidelines and entry forms are available at the front desk of member libraries.

*****

The Magic Tree House Book Club for kids has begun meeting at the Mount Airy Public Library on Wednesdays at 4 p.m. with reading books and doing activities from the beloved series by Mary Pope Osborne. Please note, this is a change from the former Monday meeting time.

*****

Preschool story times are held on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 a.m. for 2- and 3-year-olds, and on Thursday mornings at 10:30 a.m. for 4-and 5-year-olds.

*****

Baby Storytime, for babies from birth to 24 months, will meet on Thursday mornings at 9:30 a.m.

*****

Wednesday at 4 p.m. we are here to help you get started using ancestry.com to track your genealogy. Stop by the front desk to ask for help in beginning your search.

*****

A Basic Spanish Class for adults will now be offered at the library on Monday afternoons at 5 p.m., led by instructor Maria Luisa Saldarriaga.

*****

Pajama Story time for kids takes place each Thursday night at 7 p.m. The kids are welcome to wear their pajamas, and bring their cuddle toys. Well hear a couple of stories, and do an activity that goes with the story.

*****

The library has an Adult Coloring Class on Thursday nights, at 6 p.m. till 8 p.m. The library supplies coloring sheets, colored pencils, and markers, but are are welcome to bring their own supplies as well. The library plays relaxing music, and those participating enjoy hot drinks for those whod like coffee or tea.

*****

Tai Chi is offered each Friday morning at 10 a.m. This class is for everyone, but especially for those with limited mobility, due to conditions such as arthritis.

*****

The Community Book Club meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month, at 1 p.m. New members are always welcome.

*****

Teens, aged 12-19 years old, are invited to a new club at the library, called Choices, where well discuss books, movies, music, art, whatever interests them. We will meet on the first Thursday of each month, at 4 p.m.

*****

Our Young Actors Workshops will take place on every Tuesday in January, at 4 p.m., for kids aged 7-19 years old. We will be rehearsing the play, Frozen Hearts, to be performed on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 11 a.m.

*****

Questions? Call the library at 336-789-5108. Find us on Facebook at Friends of the Mount Airy Public Library.

Go to our website to view our events and catalog online at nwrl.org.

Library hours:

Monday through Thursday 8:30 a.m. until 8 p.m.

Friday 8:30 a.m. till 5 p.m.

Saturday 10 a.m. till 1 p.m.

.

See the original post:

Booksmarts - Mount Airy News

Monday, 13 February 2017 14:03 GMT By Alex Donaldson

Taro Yoko is a bit of a game design hero of mine. Hes a game design punk; he makes what he wants, and the end result is often weird and wonderful all at once. Hes best known for his work on weird, outlandish JRPG titles Drakengard and Nier, bizarre games that beneath their quirk usually have something real to say too.

Dont worry. That really crass, really odd, weird shit you expect from Nier is still in there. Were quite confident in creating content like that!

Hes made a reputation of his unique style. In public appearances, he dons a mask. When I sit down to interview him alongside Nier Automata producer Yosuke Saito and game designer Takahisa Taura, he seems all too gleefully happy to lean into that reputation.

I do want to reassure everyone, he chuckles when I ask if Automata will live up to his trademark style, Dont worry. That really crass, really odd, weird shit you expect from Nier is still in there. Were quite confident in creating content like that!

As I touched on in my previous hands-on its something of a shocker that Automata exists at all. The original Nier was the very definition of a low-selling cult hit, but Automata appears to be finding a new audience, especially in the wake of an impressive downloadable demo. Yoko puts this down to the addition of action aficionados Platinum Games as a development partner.

Weve got this real feeling coming out of Japan and seeing the markets overseas, Yoko says. Platinum Games has this great brand recognition; a great reputation abroad. Its really thanks to us partnering with them and them being involved with the project that weve got this recognition for Nier now, I think.

Putting Automatas sudden surge in interest down to Platinum fits in with a theme about Yoko; hes self-deprecating. Niers weirdness comes due to him not having the mainstream pressures of other games rather than him having a stand-out vision, he says. I thought well, its Nier, its not going to sell very well whatever, he laughs when asked about a specific decision.

The original Nier was in a sense the best six out of ten Ive ever given. The game was rough around the edges in a way that displayed its limited budget, but it was bursting with mad, subversive ideas and an ambition at the time not on display in even Squares big-budget efforts. The exciting thing about Nier Automata is that it pairs Yokos crazy vision with Platinum, a development house skilled at delivering tightly-wound experiences.

Or, as Automata producer Yosuke Saito puts it: I had a feeling that when I managed to finalise the contract for the partnership 99 percent of my work was out of the way!

I personally dont think its just down to Platinum Games, Platinum employee Takahisa Taura offers. I think what people are interested in is this sort of almost impossible to expect collaboration between Square Enix and Platinum, or Yoko Taro and Platinum. That really weird and quite great potential from that collaboration is what people are watching.

Before I go in for the interview I have some time to play an extended build of Nier Automata. It opens up with a bad ass segment that leads into the demo content and features well, theres a lot of stuff I cant talk about. Its a long bullet-point list and its easier to just say: look, its pretty good. Combat feels good. Its narrative intrigues, and though I have concerns about how repetitive certain content will be Im pumped to play the final thing.

In areas we can talk about, Automata seems an interesting mix of Platinum-brand action, Square brand RPG and Yoko-brand madness. At one point I end up in a wide open area, a city partially reclaimed by nature in the post-apocalypse. Here I have a surprising amount of freedom for an action-based game: I can take on side quests, I can buy items to tame a deer and ride it, I can dabble in combat or I can seamlessly walk into a town where beautiful and relaxing music swells as an indicator of your seamless transition into a safe zone free of potentially violent wildlife or definitely violent robots.

Thats something I really want people to experience Platinum arent just about the action, but their RPG stuff is really good, too.

When you die, you mysteriously leave behind a corpse like a Dark Souls bloodstain. When you reach it you can either retrieve some lost stuff from your fallen body or revive it to fight alongside you as an NPC. You can even leave bloodstain-style messages that curiously take on a haiku-style 5-7-5 syllable format alongside corpses, though Square, who arent yet talking about online features, wouldnt explain what for.

If you want you can take time out to go fishing, where in a cute touch your little robot pod buddy is also your tackle. If you buy the right stuff from a store, you can tame the local deer and ride them, or you can just kill them for resources. Basically: its a proper RPG as well as a Platinum game.

The guys at Platinum, they really love RPGs as well, Taro notes. They came up with loads of great ideas and elements for out-there character development growth systems and all kinds of really cool aspects for the game. They put a lot of effort into that. Thats something I really want people to experience Platinum arent just about the action, but their RPG stuff is really good, too.

Enter Takahisa Taura, game designer on Automata from the Platinum side. With the likes of Madworld and Metal Gear Rising on his resume, he clearly has the chops. Taro teases him throughout the interview by repeatedly telling me hell be the next Hideo Kojima, which Taura vehemently and humbly rejects, embarrassed. Taura Productions! Yoko gleefully yells out after the younger developer finishes an interview answer.

I think people will obviously expect the action from us and expect that everything will be completely action focused, but there are a lot of really cool other RPG elements in there too, Taura says, following on from Yoko.

Theres stuff like collecting money to upgrade your weapons, collecting materials, the ability to customise your characters those proper, classic RPG elements you expect. People may think thats not very us, that it doesnt reflect on what Platinum Games is known for, but we think that people will have a lot of fun with those elements, so I really hope people pay attention to those as well.

Platinum Games has this great brand recognition; a great reputation abroad. Its really thanks to us partnering with them and them being involved with the project that weve got this recognition for Nier now, I think.

One of the interesting facts about Automatas development partnership with Platinum is that the game is largely coming from a new, younger team within the studio. Its a team perhaps less shackled by past experiences, and as a result theyve been able to lean into the crass, weird shit Taro is known for and boasted of earlier all while retaining the tight feel of a Platinum action game.

The OS Chip item that fans found in the demo that when unequipped causes your character to instantly die without warning (how can an android survive without an operating system?) was, for instance, a Platinum pull that Yoko merely approved of.

Through this and other comments its clear that Platinum has fully embraced what made Taros vision of the original Nier so special, but theyre combining it with much more exciting gameplay mechanics. The hands-on drives this home too, with even a two hour slice bursting with ideas clearly inspired by a wide variety of Niers peers.

Broad as it may be, Nier still proudly clings to its niche credentials. The good thing about [more niche] games is that you kind of go deep, says Saito. You go deep and have a good core, loyal following rather than trying to spread out too widely.

The Nier series is unlikely to set the world ablaze and I remain curious in how its mechanics will hold up over 20-plus hours, but already Nier Automata looks like a cult classic in the making. Thats hard to complain about. Indeed, that focus on its niche might even be its greatest strength.

Nier Automata is out in Japan on February 23, while the game will be available in Europe and North America on March 7 for PS4. A PC version is coming, but that doesnt yet have a release date.

View original post here:

Nier Automata: That really crass, really odd, weird shit you expect is still there - VG247

Even though transitioning from traditional to organic farming methods can be costly, Colorado farmers are increasingly doing so in order to meet rising demand for organic produce.

As The Denver Post reports, Colorados organic agricultural industry has more than doubled in sales from $66.2 million in 2012 to $155.2 million in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultures annual Certified Organic Survey.

Organic farmland currently covers more than 155,000 acres statewide, up from 100,000 acres in 2011, according to the U.S.D.A.

Making the transition from conventional farming methods to organic ones can be costly and obtaining organic certification takes about three years and comes with its own expenses. These factors have given organic farming a reputation for being expensive, so many farmers transition slowly, but producers say that technological innovations have helped them grow and protect their crops more efficiently and less expensively than in previous years, even while using certified organic methods.

Produce that carries the U.S.D.A.s certified organic stickers goes a long way to ensuring financial success, said Becca Jablonski, an assistant professor and food systems extension economist at Colorado State University.

As more and more research is done, we can use products on the plant that arent chemical, said Kaylee Armstrong of Abundant Life Organic Farms in Hotchkiss, Colo. People complain about costs and say organic is so much more expensive. We actually increase our prices to meet with conventional growers.

Jordan Hungenberg, co-owner of the Hungenberg farm in Greeley, said market trends for organic produce isnt going anywhere.

People buy organic a lot, so we decided we were behind the eight ball and decided to try it, Hungenberg said.

Hungenberg Produce dedicated about 60 acres to growing carrots using organic farming methods last year and plans to triple its planting of organically grown carrots next season.

Jablonski said there are programs available to assist farmers with the costs involved in transitioning to certified organic methods.

According to the U.S.D.A., this includes a crop insurance option to allow producers to purchase insurance coverage that better reflects the products actual value.

Read more:

Colorado farmers increasingly going organic to meet rising demand - HPPR

Yoga On Main instructors Denise Lyon, Kelly Dougherty and James Swaim.

Submitted photo

Yoga on Main, located in the lower level of The Liberty in downtown Elkin, will now be offering courses in meditation as well as welcoming back a former yoga instructor.

I feel so grateful that Yoga on Main is offering more classes, styles and teachers for the community in Elkin, said owner Kelly Dougherty. My true passion is teaching and sharing the practice of yoga with my students but I am only one person, each teacher weaves their own experience, insight and wisdom into their classes. I feel honored to be a part of this growing community of well being and cant wait to see where it takes us in the future!

Dougherty began her own yoga practice about 10 years ago when she took a free class offered at York College in Pennsylvania, where she was a student. She said she fell in love with yoga and it all evolved from there. After moving to North Carolina a few years ago, Dougherty completed a year-long training with Sunrise Yoga Studio in Clemmons. She has been teaching at Yoga On Main, located in the lower level of The Liberty, for three years now. She also teaches yoga at the Yadkin Family YMCA.

James Swaim (RYT 200) has recently returned to teaching after a two-year break in which he underwent a successful bone marrow stem cell transplant. He looks forward to regaining full strength as he helps others with the practice of yoga. His first yoga experience came in 2002 when his wife Jennifer dragged him to a yoga class at Yoga on Main, operated at the time by Elizabeth Barr. It was love at first downward facing dog and he was hooked, he said. He subsequently practiced in Winston-Salem and surrounding areas and earned his 200 hour certification at Sunrise Yoga in Clemmons.

In 2012, Swaim retired from Triad Medical Services, Inc. after 25 years in the healthcare industry. He began teaching shortly thereafter with the goal of sharing the mental, physical and spiritual benefits he has found in the practice of yoga. As a senior citizen, Swaim is especially aware of the needs for flexibility, balance and retaining muscle mass and bone density as the body ages. He added Silver Age Yoga Certification, A Healthy Aging with Yoga Project in 2014. He offers encouragement to all who want to maintain or improve their health. In addition to his yoga practice and teaching, Swaim enjoys reading, working in his yard, biking, hiking, and traveling.

Denise Lyon has recently joined the Yoga on Main staff and is a certified meditation and mindfulness instructor. Lyon has been in the healing arts for over twenty years and is also a licensed massage and bodywork therapist.

I meditated pretty lazily for several years, but about five years ago I began to be more disciplined and saw pretty wonderful results, said Lyon. I knew that it wasnt easy to make it a priority, so I wanted to learn how to do it right.

This started an exploration of meditation that began with a course in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and the beginning of an ongoing learning relationship with Bhante Gunaratana, the renown Buddhist monk and author of Mindfulness in Plain English at Bhavana Society Buddhist Monastery.

Lyon spent the last year on a 200-hour course of study with Sarah McLean, founder of McLean Meditation Institute and former educational director for the Deepak Chopra Center.

Now it is my hearts desire to teach peace and to share what I have learned and experienced with others. I believe that a meditation practice and living a mindful life can change the way you see things in a very basic way. Learning to live in awareness is one of the most awesome things that meditation teaches us, and that naturally leads to a life of peace and compassion and a richer experience all the way around, she said.

Lyon grew up in Elkin, but lived elsewhere for 25 years until deciding to come back home.

I thought for awhile that I would have to move to a larger city to be able to transition into teaching meditation, but I am starting to see that teachers who live in smaller areas might have an advantage. There are so many people yearning for a deeper experience of life and they are coming out of the woodwork in Elkin. Im so happy about that. We can form our own tribe of people who want to create peace.

Lyon will be teaching day-long classes and weekend retreats in the near future, as well as classes at Yoga on Main. For more information, contact her at [emailprotected] Lyons other interest is being a trail advocate. She believes that being outdoors and on a trail is a great way to find your peace and wellness. She is a founding board member of the Elkin Valley Trails.

For more information on classes and programs at Yoga On Main, visit http://www.yoga-on-main.com.

Kitsey Burns Harrison may be reached at 336-679-2341 or on Twitter and Instagram @RippleReporterK.

Yoga On Main instructors Denise Lyon, Kelly Dougherty and James Swaim.

http://elkintribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_PHOTO_20170201_164131.jpgYoga On Main instructors Denise Lyon, Kelly Dougherty and James Swaim. Submitted photo

.

See more here:

Meditation courses coming to Yoga On Main - Elkin Jonesville Tribune

Forbes

Mindfulness Meditation Helps Quell Negative Thoughts, 'Monkey Mind' Forbes Our brains do a lot of chattering without our permission. When left to its own devices, the mind tends to ad lib for extended periods, and the reality of this is that much of the chatter is negative, usually revolving around fear and worry-based ...

Read the original post:

Mindfulness Meditation Helps Quell Negative Thoughts, 'Monkey Mind' - Forbes

Monday, February 13, 2017 at 6 a.m.

Lo Moon took a different route than other bands coming up in the age of the Internet. Rather than share musical ideas and songs immediately through social media or a digital platform like Bandcamp, the Los Angeles group worked on its music for four and a half years before releasing debut single Loveless in 2016.

Band founder Matt Lowell started playing music in New York City. Around 2010, he was lured to Los Angeles by friends who had moved to the West Coast and the promise of more space. Through other friends, he met bassist Crisanta Banker, who is originally from Denver, and Sam Stewart, the son ofthe Eurythmics' Dave Stewart, from England. The trio became friends and then formed Lo Moon.

The three allowed their music to develop naturally, at first recording in studios in their homes, around Los Angeles, but mostly at the Hall of Justice, in Seattle, with Chris Walla, who played in Death Cab for Cutie and Tetaz. The Hall of Justice had been home to Recriprocal Audio, the studio where many of Seattle's best grunge-scene albums were recorded.

We recently spoke with Lowell about his band's evolution, the impact of more ambitious pop bands like Talk Talk on Lo Moon, and the importance of meditation.

Westword: Loveless might be misconstrued as a kind of dream-pop song, in the vein of what's been going on in Los Angeles in recent years. But on repeated listens, it has a depth of detail and richness of composition that is reminiscent of Talk Talk.

Matt Lowell: They were a weird band, because [the albums] Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock were the end of that band but also the beginning of every other band that wanted to explore that realm. I was interested how they made something so vast and experimental, but also how they made something so pop and refined and refreshing and mainstream. That's the thing I love about Talk Talk. Obviously Mark Hollis's writing is amazing, but that band had such a scope. My favorite bands have a scope. They didn't pigeonhole themselves. Probably nobody but people in bands cared about Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, but tons of people heard stuff like Happiness Is Easy.

When I heard Spirit of Eden in particular, it stopped me like, what the fuck is this? That's any band's goal.... There are beacons for Lo Moon, and I think Talk Talk is, definitely.

On your website, there's a picture of a book, Turn Your Mind Into an Ally, by Sakyong Mipham. It struck me as being like the Buddhist version of Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill. It's the book that inspired Bad Brains and that whole Positive Mental Attitude" thing and the concept of reorienting your mind to accomplish what you want.

Yes, 100 percent. I posted that shortly after the New Year. It's weird, because it's the book that I just go for when it's like January 3. I have to sit down again and meditate, because I dropped off the four months of the last year. I had a lot on my plate coming up, and I needed to get my mind ready. I've read that book so many times, and I think it's basically a handbook for me. I need to remember why meditating was working.

Why is meditating so important?

It centers me. It helps me deal with my anxiety and the perils of fucking everything. I'm a really easygoing person, but I get ahead of myself. The one thing about that is that even if you're sitting and thinking and you can't focus on your breath the whole time, you can after twenty minutes, you realize you didn't let anything from the outside world distract you. [When] you're focusing on your breathing, even if you're not succeeding at it, you're stopping your day for twenty minutes. I try to make that as part of my [daily] routine.

Lo Moon plays with Muna, Tuesday, February 14, at the Larimer Lounge. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8; tickets are $15. For more information, call 303-291-1007.

Read more:

Lo Moon's Arresting Pop Songs Come From Patience and Meditation - Westword

Silhouettes of Saint statues are seen during the Pope Francis' Sunday Angelus prayer on February 12, 2017 at the Vatican - AFP

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis prayed the Angelus with pilgrims and tourists gathered in St. Peters Square on Sunday. In remarks ahead of the traditional prayer of Marian devotion, the Holy Father offered a meditation on the Gospel reading for this Sunday, taken from the 5th chapter of Gospel according to St. Matthew, in which Our Lord says:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.

Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Reflecting on the passage, Pope Francis said:

Today's liturgy presents us with another page of the Sermon on the Mount, which we find in the Gospel of Matthew (cf. 5:17-37). In this passage, Jesus wants to help his listeners to achieve a reinterpretation of the Mosaic law. What was said in the Old Covenant was true, but it was not all: Jesus came to fulfill and to enact definitively the law of God, down to the last iota (cf. Mt. 5:18). He manifests the Laws original purposes and He fulfills its authentic aspects and He does all this by His preaching and even more by offering Himself on the Cross. So, Jesus teaches how to do the will of God fully and He uses this expression: with a justice superior to that of the scribes and Pharisees (cf. Mt. 5: 20) a justice animated by love, charity, mercy, and therefore capable of realizing the substance of the commandments, avoiding the risk of formalism.

Formalism, continued Pope Francis, departing from his prepared text. This I can do, that I cannot: up to here I can, up to here, I cannot.

No, said Pope Francis, more, more.

The second moment of Pope Francis reflection concerned the second part of the Gospel reading again from the 5th Chapter of St. Matthews Gospel, in which Jesus says to His disciples:

You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; and whoever says to his brother, Raqa, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin; and whoever says, You fool, will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.

You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.

It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife - unless the marriage is unlawful - causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your 'Yes' mean Yes, and your No mean No. Anything more is from the evil one.

Pope Francis continued his reflection, saying:

In particular, in [this Sundays] Gospel, Jesus examines three aspects, three commandments: murder, adultery and oath-swearing.

With regard to the commandment, Thou shalt not kill, He affirms that it is violated not only by actual homicide, but also by those behaviors, which offend the dignity of the human person, including insulting words (cf. Mt. 5:22). Certainly, these injurious words do not have the same gravity and sinfulness of killing, but they are placed on the same line, because they are the premises of the more serious acts and they reveal the same malevolence. Jesus invites us not to establish a schedule [It. graduatoria] of offenses, but to consider them all harmful, insofar as they are all moved by the intention to do harm to ones neighbor.

Jesus gives the example, Pope Francis went on to say, once again departing from his prepared text. Insulting: we are used to insulting, it is like saying, Good morning. And that is on the same line as killing. Anyone who insults his brother kills his brother in his heart. Please, do not insult! We earn nothing by doing so. Pope Francis then returned to his prepared text, and continued with his reflection:

Another fulfillment is made to marriage law. Adultery was considered a violation of a mans property right over [his] woman. Jesus, however, goes to the root of the evil. Just as one comes to murder through injuries, offenses, and insults, so one comes to adultery through intentions of possession with respect to a woman other than ones wife.

Adultery, like theft, corruption and all other sins, are first conceived in our hearts and, once the wrong choice is made in the heart, they are actuated in concrete behavior. And Jesus says:

Again departing from his prepared text, Pope Francis continued, He who looks with a possessing spirit at a woman who is not his own is an adulterer in his heart, he has begun to go down the road to adultery. Let us think a little on this: on the bad thoughts that are in this line.

The Holy Father then turned his attention to the swearing of oaths:

Jesus then tells his disciples not to swear oaths, because the oath is a sign of insecurity and duplicity with which human relations are conducted. Oath-swearing exploits the authority of God to give assurance to our human affairs. Rather we are called to establish among ourselves, in our families and in our communities, a climate of clarity and mutual trust, so that we can be considered honest without resorting to higher interventions in order to be believed. Mistrust and mutual suspicion always threaten serenity!

Before leading the faithful in the Angelus, Pope Francis prayed that Our Lady a woman of docile listening and obedience might help us all to pause and spend more time with the Gospel, that we might be Christians not merely in appearance but in substance. This, said Francis, is possible with the grace of the Holy Spirit, who permits us to do everything with love, and so to fulfil the will of God.

Read more:

Pope Francis at Angelus: meditation on fulfilment of the Law - Vatican Radio

Mondays get a bad rap. Its the beginning of the work week, which means emails to respond to, reports to write, clients to meet, etc. The compounding of menial tasks with only so many hoursin the day spawns stress.

Butsometimes it helps to put that existence in perspective. The video above hints at the geological processes that unfolded over millions of years to form the Hawaiian islands we know today.

And thats not to say that theyre a finished product. Lava continues to flow from the Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island, eventually spilling into the sea.

Taking the time to appreciate Hawaiis beauty, and how slowly the Earth continues to change, is instructive. It shows how the tasks on which we place so much importance are simply not so pressing after all.

So give yourself four minutes this Monday, full screen the video above, and let your mind wander.

You can also check out a 360 version here.

Originally posted here:

This Video About the Formation of the Hawaiian Islands Is Like a Monday Meditation - TheInertia.com

LAKE OF BAYS Almost nothing can stop you from exercising at the Dorset Community Centre.

Paula McIsaac will be offering a free 10-week Nia Technique, known as non-impact aerobics, at the Dorset Health Hub, beginning the week of March 27. Advanced registration is required as minimum numbers are necessary for classes to run.

Nia Technique is an approach to fitness that embraces dance movement, martial arts and the healing arts. Nia is kind on the joints and adaptable to every age, type of body or level of fitness.

Nia started in the mid-1980s when exercise business owner, Debbie Rosas, was forced to find an alternative method of exercise after a series of sports related injuries. Rosas, alongside her trainer, Carlos AyaRosas, researched and developed an alternative method of aerobic exercise and strength training aiming for safe, non-impact and body-mind based movement.

At the same time, Debbie Rosas called a friend who was a martial artist. It was at her first lesson that she realized she could incorporate new energy patterns and movements into class.

Nia with Paula McIssac will be offered at three locations this spring: the Dorset Recreation Centre, the MacTier Memorial Arena and the Ryde Community Co-op. Registration opens March 6. Call 705-645-2100 extension 199 to reserve your spot.

Go here to read the rest:

Non-impact aerobics to be offered at Dorset Community Centre - http://www.muskokaregion.com/

Calling animal-free food "plant-based" is simple and factual, but a bit bland, echoing the outmoded stereotype of vegan food as such. Instead, Rip Esselstyn, who was in Philly this week, works to spread the "plant-strong" message.

Unlike the neutral and somewhat ambiguous "based" (after all, cheese fries could be called plant-based, couldn't they?), "plant-strong" expresses a positive value judgment with oomph, and subtly implies its opposite, "animal[-based]-weak." Esselstyn calls animal foods "a dirty fuel." In speaking to fellow Austin firefighters at Engine 2, many of whom wound up cutting out meat and dairy, with measurable health gains.: "If you're eating animal foods, that's a dirty fuel, your engine is going to clog up."

This is more than a motor-based, er, motor-strong metaphor. Slowly, Americans (and Westerners more generally) are beginning to deal with the fact that a whole-foods plant-based diet is not just adequate, but a better diet to live on than the standard American meat-and-dairy meals. Esselstyn said cancer and many other common ailments are "all manifestations of eating weak, problematic, destructive food," while plants, on the other hand, "have 64 times the antioxidants of animal foods, there's over 25,000 phytonutrients, there's fiber to scrub out your system, to sweep away toxins," of which, by the way, animal fats are a rich source due to the phenomenon of bioaccumulation.

"Real men eat plants" was the slogan at Engine 2, though of course "real people of all kinds eat plants" is also true. But is vegan really, literally stronger? More, say, manly than otherwise? Well, vegan men have been found to have "significantly higher testosterone levels than both vegetarians and meateaters," so there's that. I'm not saying it will turn you into, say, Mr. Universe or, you know, the strongest man in the word... OR AM I?

Actually, those guys aren't alone; many weightlifters, bodybuilders and football players are adding to the ranks of ultramarathoners, ice skaters and tennis players (e.g. the Williams sisters) who have excelled at top levels on a plant-charged diet. That's part of the reason Esselstyn was in town, talking "Plant-Based Health & Athleticism" along with Joe Holder for the Penn Vegan Society. He cites the most recent high-profile example, 300-lb NFL Defensive End David Carter, who thought vegan eating was for 'weaklings' until he tried it out himself - and stuck with it.

It might look like Esselstyn is riding the recent "vegans can be macho" mainstream-media trend, but actually he's the original macho vegan, a former firefighter and triathlete who was using his brawn to back up his bran more than a decade ago, and who has continued to speak out about healthful food as a source of strength, becoming a #1 New York Times Bestselling Author in the process. So if (and it's a big if) men in general are finally moving away from macho myth and toward the facts of plant-strong advantage, he's one of the people to thank.

Esselstyn said he's working now on a documentary to be released at the beginning of next year, called 'Game-changers.' Could be an apt term for Rip himself, no? But he demurred: "If you want to be a true hero, for your health, for the planet, for animals, you'll start eating a plant-based diet - that's what I tell everyone I talk to."

The trigger for the NFL's Carter was seeing the film Forks Over Knives, which features the work of Rip's father, Caldwell Esselstyn, who did the science proving that heart disease can be reversed with a rigorously healthy diet. Another scientist featured in that documentary, T. Colin Campbell, also laid much of the groundwork in this area with his long-term, large-scale work that culminated in The China Study.

Campbell's son Nelson established PlantPure (after the film PlantPure Nation), a national group working to put the health benefits of whole-foods plant-based eating into practice, and its first affiliated restaurant, the PlantPure Caf, has its grand opening today, Saturday, Feb. 11.

The ambitious new healthy vegan fast-food joint run by Fernando Peralta of VGE Caf is at 1115 Walnut Street, in the space where Maoz used to be, but with a fresh, updated look. Having soft-opened in December, PlantPure is now ready for its crunchy, yummy closeup. As the Caf's page put it, "It's a moment to celebrate the plant-based lifestyle and taste some delicious food!"

Stop by from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and enjoy a Seitan Reuben or a Groothie alongside Nelson Campbell himself, along with his wife Kim Campbell, who will sign her PlantPure Nation Cookbook. (UPDATE: She is also signing copies of her newest cookbook, PlantPure Kitchen.) Get a copy or two to help you go plant-pure, or plant-strong, or plant-charged yourself!

Along with many others, we'll be watching the progress of the PlantPure pioneers, but the indications are sunny. The food is good and the science is strong. And though it's not an Esselstyn project (family friends with the Campbells, but they're not affiliated) it's safe to say that this little green plant-forward eatery could turn out to be a game-changer.

Published: February 11, 2017 6:37 AM EST | Updated: February 11, 2017 1:36 PM EST Philadelphia Daily News

Originally posted here:

Vegan science getting stronger, and so are vegan eaters - Philly.com (blog)