8:04:55 PM    

22nd Basle psi-days: 7th world congress for spiritual healing One of the most important world congress for spiritual healing presented by the 22nd Basle Psi-Days in a charming environment.

26th-29th November, 2004 at the Basle Convention Centre

I come back from Basel always very excited and positively charged with optimism. To live 3 days in company of some 10'000 people attending this event is quiet an experience, it opens my mind and my hearth like no other places. Dozen of meditations guided by many different interesting people coming from around the world, debates on spiritual and healing subjects, various point of view from Doctors and from talented Healers, demonstrations, music, dance... lot of love around!

I started to identify a "common sense" everywhere, in every book presented, every philosophy, every belief every techniques. It is the ultimate goal of this weblog to show this common ground and help human's journey toward awarness.

I had also another mission to accomplish: I was looking for as many info as possible on my spiritual guide, a healer called Tom Johanson that died on 2002 and that I met for the first time early 2004 through a medium in Lugano. I was so happy being able to talk with dear friends of him and being able to explain them the real reasons of my curiosity. We all live an amazing time of change!

>home:maxlog.ch >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, publishing, swisspresence, exhibit, culture >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Maxlog: the common sense in spiritual matters.Maxlog: il comune senso della ricerca spirituale.]


11:24:41 PM    

RTSI - Mondi Vicini A rich collection of audio and visual streaming media based on the work of Werner Weick (on picture) and his spiritual path: the Monte Verità, Hermann Hesse, Raimon Panikkar, among other very interesting documentaries. All in Italian and promoted by the local public television, RTSI.

>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]


10:55:18 PM    

Trekkies' support for 'Enterprise' is out of this world! - By Gary Levin, USA TODAY

Never underestimate the passion of a Trekkie.

"Can that contraption do anything to keep us on the air?" : Enterprise was the top vote-getter on USA TODAY's Save Our Shows poll.

Paramount

Star Trek: Enterprise won enormous support in USA TODAY's seventh annual Save Our Shows survey, as a record 70% of respondents (in part reflecting a coordinated effort) urged UPN to keep the latest edition of the long-running franchise, which next month completes its third season. Fox's Arrested Development - a critics' favorite but a ratings laggard - also won solid backing: 36.5% of voters wanted to save it. It was followed by Fox's Tru Calling with 28%. More than 43,200 ballots were cast in the survey, most of them online. This year's total is down from last year's record 57,000. The lower turnout might reflect the fact that of 12 shows hovering "on the bubble" between renewal and cancellation - the smallest group yet - most elicited tepid support. Just four (Star Trek, Arrested Development, Tru Calling and CBS' The District) won more votes to support than to dismiss them. The majority of voters said they didn't care what happened to nine of the 12. And fewer than 10% of voters were eager to see four comedies return for second seasons, including NBC's Happy Family and ABC's It's All Relative, another sign of the cooled interest in TV sitcoms. The shows readers most want dropped? NBC's Whoopi, which was given the thumbs-down by one-third of respondents, followed closely by UPN's Rock Me Baby. The Save Our Shows survey asked viewers to vote for those that actually have a shot at being renewed when the networks unveil their fall lineups May 17-20 in New York. The survey results rarely determine the fate of the shows, though they do indicate pockets of loyal support. Far more important are Nielsen ratings and creative, scheduling or financial concerns. But that didn't stop readers from offering eloquent, though futile, appeals for other series, apparently through organized campaigns.

Continuing a long tradition of get-out-the-vote efforts for sci-fi/fantasy series, a large group backed Angel, though WB has steadfastly maintained it has no plans for renewal. "Just because the WB has said that it isn't going to change its mind doesn't mean that the question of 'wanting' it back isn't relevant," wrote Kathy McLaren of Chicago.

>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]


9:40:22 AM    

It looks like a size-XXXL chicken egg and glows in colors that change and waver in intensity as it tracks qualitative shifts in financial data from the Internet.

But the white plastic Orb was designed to be far more than a barometer of the Dow Jones Industrial average, its programmed out-of-the-box function.

Adherents see the glowing $150 device as pioneering a movement in which data generated by computers will be increasingly expressed not on video displays but in objects that fit more naturally into our lives.

Ambient Devices of Cambridge, Massachusetts, began selling the Orb a year ago. If the Dow average is up for the day, it glows green. On a down day, the Orb reddens. The colors' intensity reflects the extent of the swing; yellow means the market is stable.

Provided with that basic information, an Orb owner can decide whether to go online for more detail.

Ambient users have programmed Orbs for a remarkable array of tasks: tracking job openings in Atlanta, measuring the flow of visitors to a Boston-based interactive design agency's website, gauging energy use in a New York City apartment, tracking eBay auctions, notifying someone when a particular person is online or a certain number of e-mails have filled their inbox.

"When you think about the magic of the Orb, it's a thermometer for the rest of your life," said author Seth Godin, who writes on business and social trends. Godin hopes to program his Orb to track sales of his books on Amazon.com to save time and "increase my peace of mind."

The Orb's power lies in how it can reflect the ease with which humans process basic visual information.

"It's based on our brain's natural ability to process many streams of information in parallel," said David Rose, the president of Ambient Devices, which says it has sold about 20,000 to date. "Our perceptual system is great at multiprocessing hundreds of peripheral cues every second. We do it without even trying. Today's computer interfaces completely ignore this."

Rose envisions Orbs and related products being scattered throughout people's offices, homes and cars, "dedicated to information they care about."

The idea behind Orb came out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, where "Tangible Bits" research led by professor Hiroshi Ishii aims to replace computers' graphical user interface with tangible representations of the data they produce -- giving physical form to information.

Paul Saffo, research director at the Institute for the Future, calls the Orb and similar objects "calm computing devices" and believes they augur future relief from information overload.

They reflect the "ubiquitous computing" concept pioneered by the late Mark Weiser, former chief technologist at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, he said. In 1998, Weiser built a water fountain outside his office whose flow and height mimicked the volume and price trend of the stock market.

"Ubiquitous computing is roughly the opposite of virtual reality," Weiser wrote in his research. "Where virtual reality puts people inside a computer-generated world, ubiquitous computing forces the computer to live out here in the world with people."

Ambient's Rose thinks a huge market awaits the Orb and its descendants: "Once people are aware how easy and delightful it is to have these information devices in their lives, it will become second nature."

Ambient Devices delivers information to its products through a nationwide wireless network that the company says reaches more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. Users can register and customize the information their Orbs reflect from the Internet. The Orbs can even be "tuned" to several different data streams.

Ambient isn't stopping with the Orb.

Spinoffs in development include interactive, color-changing picture frames that let people inform loved ones far away when they are "thinking about them." Each frame has a "proximity monitor" that lets users know how close the person at the other end is.

Other inventions include an Ambient-equipped watch, on which prescription-related icons light up at doctor-recommended medication times. An Ambient key-chain fob shifts colors based on user-specified traffic information (congestion, accidents and so on) requested by the user, and the Ambient Pinwheel spins to show users that "they've got (e-)mail."

Ambient's newest product, the Dashboard, uses an old-fashioned needle -- like those once found on stereo receivers -- to track information such as a futures market that weighs President Bush's re-election prospects.

At MIT, Ishii's group has a project that, like the Ambient Frame, explores the possibilities of interpersonal communication -- but through touch. Using force-feedback technology, its "inTouch" devices let users separated by distance interact through networked physical objects.

Other applications of tangible computing include health care, where it's being considered as a way of monitoring weight, daily exercise or depression symptoms from a distance.

For now, the challenge companies like Ambient Devices face is persuading non-geeks to buy the technology, Rose acknowledged. The Orb originally cost $300.

"The price needs to get down to sort of like the clock range before people would have more than a few around their house," he said.

>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]


6:56:23 PM    




5:27:05 PM    

Chanting has been an integral part of all religions through the ages. Sound is a form of energy. Each sound has a discrete energy pattern associated with it. Chanting creates energy patterns that soothe and purify the nervous system.

Our minds chatter constantly. It is not so bad to have thoughts, but each thought has a pattern of emotions associated with it. Some we like; some we don't like. A pattern of aversion and resistance arises. The more a thought is resisted, the more it persists. Each persistent thought becomes a worry. Singing helps to eliminates such thoughts.

Singing allows all the other senses to dissolve into one, and in so doing, it allows the mind to sink into itself.

A wonderful meditation exercise is creating a circle and sing all together, improvising without caring about singing "wrong or off key" there is no such a thing, any sound we are producing is a valid energy and comes directly from our 5th Chackra!

As we sit together in one place, we all have different thoughts running through our heads. Find an appropriate place, where everyone can feel free of express him/herself and start with an introductory exercise like laughing all-together very loud... force it as a start, then let it groove! As we start to sing, there is but one thought, one rhythm, in all our minds. All minds become one. This oneness creates a profound energy that purifies and enlivens us, for the whole creation is connected and we are all but one.

When singing, become fully immersed in the singing. If you feel like dancing or moving, get up and dance, movements helps the sound taking shapes and meaning!

As the singing stops, a deep silence dawns. Sink into the silence, and you will hear the music of silence. This is an eternal sound that has been with us through life and death.

The purpose of music is to return to the music of silence... to return to the self.

One of the best example of the power of chanting and moving accordingly comes from the tibetan Mantras, and soon it will be possible to follow a seminar focused on this in Lugano.

Thusday, April 29, 2004 @Studio Dominique Hort, Via Tesserete 51, 6900 Lugano. From 8PM, CHF 50.-- RSVP 079-6512353 snowlionclub@hotmail.com (more info clicking on the title of this blog)

I strongly recommend to participate to this exceptional event with Dechen. I had the chance of discovering her the last time she came to Lugano, last November, please read the appropriate blogs under the Tibet House Switzerland Foundation's chapter.

Massimo D'Onofrio

>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]



5:40:01 PM    

The VRWAY GENESIS - a perspective from one of the creators of the project

As co-creator of the original VRWAY concept, I want to express a personal opinion on this project that I consider a little like a "son". That means that although it is growing in size and approaching maturity and independence from my original contribution and vision, I feel that it is time for it (and for the people that are nowadays contributing from the inside to its growth) to step back a little and take into serious consideration the suggestions coming from a genitor who wish only the best for its own child.

The conception of this project has been a little problematic, like every most beloved thing should be! On its embryonic version VRWAY was in fact a simple one-dimension "VirtualTicino" vitual tour with a potential tragic destiny of extinction by the end of 1999 following the imminent bankruptcy of the Co. funded by Marco Trezzini and Marco Lüthi. But destiny was that I was involved as Board member in this Co. and I really believed in the potential of the idea. I convinced therefore the 2 Marcos in following my vision and adapt the original concept to a larger scale and a multi-level thickness, preparing a business plan appealing the business world and the capital market of that peculiar moment in history.

From the hashes of VirtualTicino a brand new concept was born: an utopia that stimulated and attracted the necessary venture capital for starting a great new dot com startup, called Virtual-Reality-Way abbreviated into VRWAY.

It was like living in a dream for a certain time: we dedicated all our energies and time into the project thinking it was the best way of doing and respectful towards the angel's money invested into our idea.

Unfortunately we started understanding that VRWAY was not our idea anymore and dozen of people were involved by the angel for "protecting" his interests and deciding what way was best for the all project to follow in order to achieve the IPO stage as soon as possible.

As an example I can take the organizational model chosen by the angel and his expensive consultants that pushed VRWAY in opening subsidiaries in countries where internet was not developed in year 2000 like Spain. In addition to that, all those subsidiaries where owned at 100% by the mother Co. and millions of $ were so sent out from the windows instead of following the original business plan that wanted to develop the international growth using the Franchising. My idea was to convert all european "analogic" photographers into digital-photomasters under the VRWAY brand. But unfortunately for the all project and all the persons involved into it, this concept is still something the Angel is not ready to accept! Even today, after all the money costed him the other choices!

It is now clear what was the real problem of all that: personal power and control, EGO if you want, on many levels. It all started from the choice of the angel. I always tried to make my 2 partners part of the choice of the "right" investor, even if they were completely ignorant and unprepared to that kind of deal. But they were representing the technical knowledge underneath the VRWAY concept and therefore they were the most important factor in the eyes of the investor/angel. The only problem is that the angel wanted to make VRWAY its own creation, and started refusing systematically all my ideas just because they were more into his field of knowledge. He and his consultants could not understand the technical advise provided by the 2 Marcos, but they certainly could find better ways than what I was proposing... that is what I call "Ego clash" instead of good management!

Finally, those continuous fights pushed my partners to bind our promises of mutual faith and unity set at the beginning of this adventure and they passed to the side of the angel. Power and money won over friendship and unity. The utopia started to blow, like the all New Economy. Many downsizing stages after, VRWAY has today almost the original size and problems VirtualTicino had: a lack of vision and a lack of a mission that could make the difference. Ego and strive for power can't appeal the masses, and money without a soul it has no future in the long run.

I wish to all my partners the wisdom necessary in accepting their responsibilities but I am not optimistic about it because I know Ego is the worst dark-side of one personality to fight against. (s. other blogs on this subject)

But times have changed: in today's world VRWAY needs a real soul in order to survive and prosper, and this is possible only going back to some basic rules of unity and fraternity, leaving Ego outside the equation.

Massimo D'Onofrio,
VRWAY concept co-creator


3:44:02 PM    

Stephen VanDyke analyzes how news travels on the Internet. He uses a a self-explanatory graphic, and in the process of doing this, VanDyke's post becomes a textbook example of how news travels ... smart!

I suggest to visit his blog and read the comments on the bottom of the page: many interesting ones.

max ;-)

Link

>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]

11:39:12 AM    

Tra Oriente e Occidente: dialoghi con Raimon Panikkar, Ragunath Manet, Emanuele Severino. Mercoledì 3 Marzo alle ore 20.30 presso il Teatro di Chiasso: "La spiritualità cosmoteandrica", prima serata del ciclo organizzato dall' Associazione HOLOS International

Tra Oriente e Occidente è il titolo di un ciclo articolato in tre incontri che si propone di far luce attorno a alcuni dilemmi che attraversano il nostro contesto "globale", che qualcuno, il filosofo Heidegger, aveva chiamato età della tecnica e che oggi è tristemente percepito come età della paura.

- Sappiamo troppo, e siamo convinti di troppo poco. La nostra letteratura è un sostituto della religione. E lo stesso si dica della nostra religione - scriveva Thomas Stearns Eliot in Dialoghi sulla poesia drammatica. Attraversato da una crisi profonda, afflitto da un sentimento di angoscia di fronte al niente, di nostalgia, di bisogno dell'essere,  di delusione per il fallimento delle grandi ideologie, di perdita della dimensione etica, l'uomo contemporaneo procede senza meta, perennemente in bilico tra misticismo e nichilismo, che sono probabilmente i due volti della medesima inquietudine. C'è chi ha certezza nella fede; chi nella scienza; chi crede a niente; e chi, divorato dal dubbio, ricerca, avendo la percezione di essere lontano da ogni esperienza religiosa.

Questo ciclo di incontri - dialoghi con due grandi filosofi del nostro tempo, Raimon Panikkar e Emanuele Severino; e con un guru della danza sacra indiana Ragunath Manet, considerato il Nureyev indiano - vuole tentare di tracciare un percorso verso un'etica dialogica, condivisa, frutto di un disarmo dell'Occidente e dell'incontro con le culture dell'Oriente e le religioni "altre".

Mercoledì 3 Marzo alle ore 20.30 presso il Teatro di Chiasso
Dialoghi con il teologo e filosofo Raimon Panikkar - La spiritualità cosmoteandrica.

Intervengono: Jiso Giuseppe Forzani - Monaco Zen; dal 1979 al 1987 ha vissuto nel monastero Antaiji in Giappone, uno dei centri più importanti del buddismo giapponese. Oggi è missionario dello Zen Soto in Italia. Ermis Segatti - Professore Storia del Cristianesimo Facoltà Teologica di Torino. Selene Calloni - Studiosa di Yoga, saggista. Giuseppe Baronetto - Studioso del Buddhismo Tibetano, saggista. 

Orario apertura sportelli: La biglietteria del Teatro è aperta al pubblico per informazioni, prenotazioni, acquisto biglietti, e abbonamenti: da mercoledì a sabato dalle ore 17.00 alle ore 19.30. Telefono 0041.91.6950916

>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]

10:53:30 AM    

Elmore Leonard's 10 rules for writing. Brilliant!

10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

A rule that came to mind in 1983. Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them. What the writer is doing, he's writing, perpetrating hooptedoodle, perhaps taking another shot at the weather, or has gone into the character's head, and the reader either knows what the guy's thinking or doesn't care. I'll bet you don't skip dialogue.

Link
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]

2:49:42 PM    

Tongue-mounted vibrators.

TongueJoy sells tongue-mounted mini-vibrators (which are, according to the FAQ, not sex toys), and accessories, including a kit for mounting them on your tongue piercing (the unpierced can use rubber bands) and an external "turbo pack."

Link

(via Fleshbot)

[Boing Boing Blog]
10:18:26 AM    

Stop-motion captures of body language on public transit.

Stop-Motion Studies is a series of dozens little five-or-six-frame Flash movies of people on subways in NYC, Boston, London, Tokyo, Paris and elsewhere. The movies are run-together stop-motion flickers shot with a digital camera, intended to illustrate the in-motion body language of people in public spaces. The subtle, darting movements captured are hypnotically cool.

Link

(via Geisha Asobi)

[Boing Boing Blog]
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]

10:17:17 AM    

Pano 180 degrees ALPS - VALAIS - SWITZERLAND

Shot taken on January 1st, 2004 from Marco Benini's apartment in Thyon, Valais, Switzerland.
Click on title for a QTVR (plugin needed). max ;-)

>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]

3:17:56 PM    

Lost Treasures of Tibet homepage

It wasn't until 1950 that the first European set foot in Mustang, a hidden Tibetan kingdom in the northwest of Nepal, and it was officially closed to other foreigners until 1992. In the map at left, click on #1 to begin a self-guided tour of this fascinating realm high in the Himalayas. All photos were shot in fall 2000 and summer 2001. (Note: Some of the photos in this tour are panoramas that require the QuickTime plug-in.)

>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
2:47:16 PM    

Bollywood gambles on P2P. In the UK Guardian today:

Bollywood movie fans will soon be able to download full-length features with the file-sharing software Kazaa. A deal struck between a partner of Sharman Networks Ltd, the company which owns Kazaa, and IndiaFM.com, a popular entertainment site, will allow Indian film producers to distribute movies, music and other large, rich media files online to an estimated 60 million international Kazaa users. The move follows a pilot scheme in November when Bollywood thriller Supari was offered for sale at US $2.99 and promoted through Kazaa prior to its release in India. The file was designed to self destruct after being watched and could not be copied.

Link >home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
11:56:27 AM    

Futuro House: better living from the Gernsback Continuum.

Amazing gallery of photos and video clips from the Futuro House, a UFO-shaped concept dwelling designed by a Finnish architect in 1968. This is Jetpack Futurism at its finest. 20 of these houses were built!

Link

(via MeFi)

[Boing Boing Blog]
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
6:02:37 PM    

AROUNDER WEBSITE LAUNCHES WITH LUGANO, SWITZERLAND. New travel and tourism site launches with sixty 360-degree panoramas of Lugano, Switzerland, complete with city and area information, maps directories and fullscreen In-mages.

VRWAY Communication is proud to announce the launch of AROUNDER, a concept that combines 360-degree panoramas with television promotion on the EuroNews channel. The first feature is the beautiful lakeside city of Lugano, Switzerland, featuring panoramas of this lovely city nestled against a lake and surrounded by mountains.

The essence of AROUNDER is the panorama, or In-mage. AROUNDER plans to produce 39 features per year distributed on the Internet, and broadcast on TV by the EuroNews broadcast channel. Customers can also have their In-mages printed in magazine format and DVDs

AROUNDER, published on the Internet and broadcast on television, epitomizes the old axiom that a picture speaks a thousand words. Take the city of Lugano: What better way to promote this picturesque jewel in the Italian canton of Ticino than through 60 panoramas, many in fullscreen and linked with internal hotspots for seamless navigation? Potential visitors to this lovely area can read about the attractions while browsing the panoramas through directories and maps.

]We are incredibly excited about AROUNDER and the feedback we've received, says Marco Trezzini, VRWAY founder and Head of R&D. We've signed several contracts already, with more in the pipeline. It's the perfect vehicle for tourism, bringing the beauty and special features of a city or region to a wide audience in a very evocative and attention-getting fashion. I'm thrilled that our hometown of Lugano, Switzerland will be the focus of the first AROUNDER issue as I'm well-acquainted with its renowned charms.

AROUNDER will publish each of its 39 issues on the Internet via the AROUNDER.com website with interactive and immersive In-mages and maps, along with relevant stories and descriptions that provide all information pertinent to the region or city of subject. It also connects viewers, via an html link, to further related sites where the viewer may book travel arrangements, find more product information or explore related subjects. The main content is based upon the In-mages, shot by AROUNDER's in-house professional photographer, Giuseppe Pennisi.

EuroNews, the leading pan-European news channel, reaches 3.9 million cable and satellite viewers every day, and an additional 1.4 million through terrestrial windows. It reaches 124 million households in 77 countries. EuroNews can be viewed in the most prestigious European hotels, at airports, railway stations, on PDS's, onboard leading airlines and around the world on it's companion website, EuroNews.net. Arounder has secured primetime commercial spots that will broadcast each issue in a distinctive and visually arresting way -- with panorama In-mages. [3z's log: The Ultimate Virtual Reality linksite.]
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
8:47:17 PM    

THE TAJ MAHAL. The Taj truly is a poem... It is not only a pure architectural type, but also a creation, which satisfies the imagination, because its characteristic is Beauty. Did you ever build a Castle in the Air? Here is one, brought down to earth, and fixed for the wonder of ages; yet so light it seems, so airy, and when seen from a distance, so like a fabric of mist and sunbeams, with its great dome soaring up, a silvery bubble, about to burst in the sun, that, even after you have touched it, and climbed to its summit, you almost doubt its reality.[per thou] Bayard Taylor, journalist and novelist, after his visit to the Taj Mahal in 1850.

In December 1631, the fifth Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan commenced the construction of one of the greatest monuments of all time, the Taj Mahal. It is a mausoleum built in the memory of his beloved and favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, fulfilling one of the promises that he made to her as she lay on her deathbed. The first was never to father another child, and the second was to erect a monument to match her beauty.[per thou] So begins one of the narratives on the truly one-of-a-kind interactive website, Explore The Taj-Mahal, developed by the Armchair Travel Company .

The site is a feast for the senses: 360-degree panoramas capture the beauty and architecture of this world wonder; short narratives give the viewer perspective and context; movies and text add depth for those hungry for deeper knowledge -- learn about preservation efforts, Islamic decorative schemes, even Princess Diana's visit in 1992. The amount of information available on the site is extensive, yet not overwhelming, because it is so well organized and offered in a thoughtful manner. The deeper one digs, the more information one finds, offered in a choice of delivery.

Upon entering the site, viewers are greeted with a colored map of the structure and grounds. Red dots represent interactive panoramas and rolling over one brings up the title of the pano. Clicking on the dot opens the pano within the same window and as one scrolls left or right, a blue circle with an arrow around the red dot simultaneously displays the viewer's perspective within the map. Hotspots within the panos allow the viewer to jump to another pano.

Panoramas are available in QuickTime or Java. Each panorama has an option to listen to a narrative of the scene or read the short transcript. Each panorama is also accompanied by several movies that delve deeper into some aspect of the architecture or history. For instance, the Cenotaph pano has six accompanying movies, one of which describes the doubled skin architecture of the main dome, complete with drawings and close up photographs. Another movie, for the same pano, is about the calligraphy and inscriptions in the main cenotaph, while yet another discusses Lord Curzon's Brass Lamp, which hangs above the tombs in the mausoleum.

The image of the Taj Mahal is perfectly reflected in the central water tank, which is also known as the 'celestial pool of abundance'. The Taj Mahal is split into three sections and the forecourt is the second in importance. The other two sections are; the main mausoleum area, or Taj proper; and the bustling Taj Ganj, which actually lies outside of the smaller gate. The imposing sandstone gateway is the main entrance into the mausoleum and the Qur'anic calligraphic inscriptions around the doorframe are inviting the visitor into the gardens of Paradise. Two royal tombs are situated here including that of Satti-a-Nisa-Khurram, a favorite lady-in-waiting of Mumtaz Mahal, in the southwest corner,[per thou] one of the movies informs me.

The site is a must-visit for tourists and anyone interested in this historic structure; students, in particular, will enjoy the site and the ability to learn interactively. In fact, the website has won numerous awards and accolades from teachers' groups and London newspapers and architecture magazines. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching calls it inspirational, and The Daily Mail, London calls it "THE most sophisticated virtual tour... You can almost hear your footsteps reverberate around the rooms." William Beckett, Armchair Travel's director of business and marketing claims that to see and hear everything on the Web site would take over two hours.

Although a couple of free panoramas are available, viewing of the complete site requires payment of a US $3.00 charge, which allows lifetime access to both the Taj Mahal and Kew Gardens site. (Schools are charged $10 for the entire school.) All major credit cards are accepted as well as BT[base ']s [OE]Click and Buy[base ']. I paid by credit card and the whole process, including receipt of my password, took about one minute. The Web site is now available in English, French, Japanese and Hindi, and will soon offer a Chat and Tour function where members can chat to others online while they tour the site.

Related Articles: An Interview with Armchair Travel. Armchair Travel's Experience with Micropayments. [3z's log: The Ultimate Virtual Reality linksite.]
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
8:41:38 PM    

Have a virtual tour of the Vatican's most beautiful places visiting the latest VRWAG issue. Great job!

>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
3:53:38 PM    

A wonderful concert in favor of Colombia, performed by the Zorayda Ensemble on December 7, 2003 in Lugano, Switzerland.
Click on the title and see the photos I have taken during the show!

>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
1:37:20 PM    



Massimo D'Onofrio, "This is just amazing -- the authors manipulated images from the Bayeux Tapestry and created a Flash-based kit (v.6 required) where you can make your own medieval comic strip. Images are scalable, type can be colored. You can send your images as ecards to the medievalists of your acquaintance." HAPPY XMAS TO ALL! Link (Thanks, max!)
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
10:32:24 AM    

Spirituality may include belief in supernatural powers, as in religion, but the emphasis is on experience. What is referred to as "religion" and what is referred to as "spirituality" are often the same. In recent years, "spirituality" has often carried connotations of the believer's faith being more personal, less dogmatic, more open to new ideas and myriad influences, and more pluralistic than the faiths of established religions. Those given to speaking of "spirituality" rather than "religion" are apt to believe that there are many "spiritual paths" and that there is no objective truth about which is the best path to follow. Others hold that spirituality is not religion, per se, but the active and vital connection to a force, power, or sense of the deep self. Some proponents of spirituality believe that the goal of 'being spiritual' is to simultaneously improve one's wisdom, willpower and communion with God/universe, which necessitates the removal of illusions at the sensory, feeling and thinking aspectes of a person. The 'Plato's cave' analogy in book VII of The Republic is one of the most well known descriptions of the spiritual development process. Other spiritual proponents point out that that spirituality is a two-stroke process. The upward stroke relates to inner growth and the downward stroke relates towards manifesting improvements in the world/reality around us as a result of the inward change. The rule of thumb when evaluating any spiritual approach is that six months of dilligent, proper practice should manifest noticeable improvement in one's life. If not, then the usual advice is to pick an approach that is more likely to assist you in achieving your specific goals. Some spiritual communities who might be considered to be more spiritual than religious include New Age, Neopaganism, Feminism, Subud,Unitarian Universalism, The Dances of Universal Peace

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
12:59:17 AM    

I must admit that I hardly new anything about this great mexican painter, until I saw the movie 'Frida'. Frida Kahlos is certainly one of the most famous and most important female painters. Her style is unique. Her topics... [orangeguru // art, spirituality & world affairs]
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
2:54:43 PM    

[SPIRITUALITA']
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
10:35:13 AM    

Open Source Takes on Hardware Biz. A group of open-source hardware developers unveils a system-on-chip microprocessor built without patented technology. Advocates say the development shows that the open-source movement isn't just about software anymore. By Amit Asaravala. [Wired News]
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
10:33:57 AM    

[SPIRITUALITA']
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
10:31:34 AM    

[SPIRITUALITA']
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
10:30:36 AM    

It wasn't until 1950 that the first European set foot in Mustang, a remote Tibetan kingdom in northwest Nepal. Closed to foreigners until 1992, this formerly forbidden realm hidden high in the Himalayas is now open for worldwide exploration without so much as a passport or plane ticket. Just use this website map and QuickTime VR.Published by WGBH's Nova.
>home:3z's VR links >keywords: quicktime, virtual, tour, mustang, tibet, >submit by: 3z [3z's log: The Ultimate Virtual Reality linksite.]
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
10:28:41 AM    

Link (Thanks, Kate!)
[Boing Boing Blog]
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
10:23:26 AM    

Enjoy the restored Winter Garden - virtual tour, LMDC's Plans in Progress exhibit - virtual tour, and the present day view from the World Financial Center
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
3:59:56 PM    

The column by Stephen Canale talks about why virtual tours make sense for realtors.
[VRlog] [3z's log: The Ultimate Virtual Reality linksite.]

>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
3:52:51 PM    

Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech is still in copyright (as is almost everything else familiar in our lives), and Dr King's heirs strictly enforce the copyright. Wendy Seltzer points out what this means for free expression and political commentary.

You can always quote a few lines without asking permission, but that's likely to be the same few lines that have become cliched with repetition. Quote the whole speech to make a more substantial point, and you face thousand-dollar license fee claims from the estate. Quote them to make a point critical of King, and you may be denied a license entirely.

Link [Boing Boing Blog]
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
12:02:36 PM    

As debate over the legality of online file trading rages on, a University of Maine department takes a contrarian approach to copyright protection, creating a network where content is open to all. By Michelle Delio. [Wired News]
>home:chezmax.com >keywords: soul, spiritual, spirituality, exploration, holistic, healing, jung, lugano, switzerland, virtual, swisspresence, vrway, venue, exhibit >submit by: Massimo D'Onofrio [Max's log: the ultimate spiritual exploration linksite.]
11:57:44 AM    

God version 6.0. Been a long while since I saw something this funny and yet so totally on the mark.
11:52:30 AM