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Archives For Eschatology

crackers-and-grape-juice-beer-camp-editionWe never tire of working for you at Crackers & Grape Juice, and before you complain about the audio quality in #60 just remember we do this for you gratis in our spare time.

We’ve got two episodes that dropped early this week.

For Episode #60, the C&GJ posse got together to argue about Advent and my assertion that we’d be better off focusing on the second coming not during Advent but as part of the Ascension.

For Episode #61, Morgan spoke with Ana Yelsi Sanchez and Alicia Crosby about their experience as women of color at the Standing Rock protest.

Just a reminder:

The Cracker & Grape Juice team will be part of Home-brewed Christianity’s Theology Beer Camp this January in L.A..

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Be on the lookout for future episodes with Father James Martin and Mandy Smith.

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HBC_Covers_EndTimes_FINAL_2.25.16Teer and I recently had the privilege of interviewing Jeff Pugh on his new book The Home-brewed Christianity Guide to the End Times: Theology After You’ve Been Left Behind

I first “met” Jeff through his book Religionless Christianity: Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Troubled Times. If you’ve been duped into reading that crap Eric Metaxas book on Bonhoeffer then here’s an alternative.

Jeff is an ordained United Methodist Elder in Virginia and teaches Religious Studies at Elon College. If I have anything to say about it, he’s going to be a Crackers and Grape Juice Regular as we seek to develop an East Coast flavor for Tripp Fuller’s Home-brewed Christianity family.

Everyone knows someone who subscribes to what Jeff likes to call “batshit crazy” theology about the eschaton. Take a listen so you can learn to understand your sister-in-law, co-worker, or neighbor.

You can download the episode and subscribe to future ones in the iTunes store here.

We’re up to 15K listeners now.

We’ve got more listeners per episode than the average UMC has on Sunday am.

In fact, if podcasts were churches, we’d be the pastors of one of the largest United Methodist Churches in the world.

Even better, we do this s#$% gratis, in our own free time just because we think ordinary people in and out of the church need conversations about God, faith, and life without stained-glass language.

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It’ll make it more likely more strangers and pilgrims will happen upon our meager podcast. ‘Like’ our Facebook Page too. You can find it here.

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image001This past Sunday for our Leaving Left Behind Behind series we thought through the ‘rapture,’ the (un)biblical notion when the Risen Christ comes again believers will ‘meet him in the air’ and then…go somewhere else.

The problem with the rapture isn’t only that it’s a willful misreading of 1 Thessalonians 4 on which the idea is purportedly based, the problem is with its understanding of the someplace else to which we’ll be raptured.

The bigger problem with the rapture is heaven.

Our everyday notions of heaven do not come close to the hope the bible gives us.

Heaven it should be said straight away is not a place.

Heaven merely names God’s presence in its fullness.

So heaven isn’t a place because God isn’t a place.

When it comes to heaven there’s no ‘there’ there to which we can be raptured.

So the Christian hope is not of heaven as a destination of souls; it’s for the consummated reign of God. The God who made us to desire God and God’s Kingdom ultimately gets what God wants.

The Christian hope is for the creation declared ‘good’ to be renewed (Rev 21). This New Creation is finally what the Garden of Eden could not be: a place where God and God’s creatures dwell together. It’s as if what God wants is for us to join him in the life of the Trinity but there’s not enough room- New Creation is the space required for God’s desire.

     The Christian hope then is not for the rescue of the few worthy souls left after Armageddon.

It’s not escape from a swiftly sinking planet.

It’s the fulfillment of God’s original creative intent.

It’s the completion of Cross and Empty Tomb: the reconciliation of all things.

For ‘Heaven’ as in God’s fullness to come once and for all to Earth.

All things; so that, what was done at Eden is forever undone.

Communion with God is restored. Communion with one another is restored. Communion with creation is restored.

For this reason, all the imagery scripture uses to speak of heaven is profoundly communal: a new heaven and earth, a new Jerusalem, a marriage feast, a choir of countless people from every language.

Again, the Risen Jesus is our grammatical rule when speaking of eternal life. Whatever eternal life is it’s like what we find in the Easter Jesus. His bodily self is somehow restored. His life in the goodness of creation is renewed. His communion with the Father is consummated. His broken relationships (with Peter and the disciples) is reconciled.

As John Polkinghorne says, the old creation contained sacraments in it (ie, signs pointing to God). The New Creation is a sacrament. As Paul says, God will be ‘all in all.’

     As Robert Jenson says, ‘the End is music.’

To summarize:

Heaven = God’s presence in its fullness

Therefore in the immortal and slightly redacted words of Belinda Carlisle: Heaven is not now but will one day, on the Last Day, be a place on Earth.

Which makes this bit from comedian Louis CK all the more prescient:

Warning, his language makes me sound like Rev Dimmesdale.

image001I continued our Leaving Left Behind Behind series this weekend by talking about the rapture. Since the rapture is a topic over which many Christians disagree I thought a faux debate would be appropriate so this sermon follows our Au Contraire Mon Frere format.

I had friends of a theological bent send us eschatological assertions. We spun a carnival wheel and whatever number we landed on we took a pro/con position on the statement.

Facing off against for au contraire was Marco Santangelo, the chief librarian at the George Washington Presidential Library and Princeton Seminary grad. My lemming, Teer Hardy, MC’d the event.

If you like what you hear here, check out Pub Theology this Thursday night at Forge Brew Works when Marco will be our special guest for ‘How Do We Live in American When We have a King?’

You can listen to the rapture edition of Au Contraire below or on the sidebar to the right.

You can download it in iTunes or through the free mobile app.

image001We’re continuing our Leaving Left Behind Behind series this Sunday by talking about the rapture.

One of the dangerous delusions suffered by biblical literalists is the fantasy that their reading of scripture is one shared by the historic Church.

In case you’ve been spared the straight-to-video, Kirk Cameron Left Behind films, the rapture is the belief that prior to the last judgment the saved will be taken up in to heaven by Christ, leaving all the other unlucky bastards behind to deal with the mess that the PO’d returning Messiah will dole out.

Unknown-1Kirk Cameron’s not the only reason the Left Behind movies are terrible. As far biblical doctrines go, the rapture is thin, ridiculous and contrary to the larger biblical narrative.  The rapture might make for good pulp fiction but it’s antithetical to the greatest story ever told. After all, scripture begins with God declaring his creation ‘very good.’ It continues with God promising to Abraham to make it so again. Israel, Christ and Church are all links in the scriptural chain the ends, in Revelation, where it all began: in a Garden. New Creation.

Escape from creation doesn’t fit the story.

Worse, the rapture is a belief premised exclusively upon an almost willful misreading of a solitary text:

For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord for ever.”

– 1 Thessalonians 4.16-17

The allusion St Paul makes here is to the arrival of a victorious, conquering military leader. Those who wished to celebrate the victory would rush out beyond the city to greet the coming hero. Think: Palm Sunday.

This would not have been unsubtle allusion to the Thessalonians who in Paul’s lifetime had experienced such entrances (invasions) by Pompey and Augustus.

The rapture mistakenly supposes that the coming Jesus has some other destination in mind.

Another leg of the journey.  A connecting flight.

But the ‘cloud’ imagery is a clear echo of Daniel’s vision in which the Son of Man comes on the clouds when God has given him dominion- not of heaven- but the Earth. Christ returns not to whisk souls away to heaven but to rule the New Creation.

On earth as it is in heaven.

As Brian Zahnd points out to read this text as a rapture of believers to heaven is like waiting at the airport terminal for a returning soldier- waiting with your own bags packed as though as soon the solider arrives home you will all be hopping on another plane for another destination.

UnknownNot only is the rapture of biblical literalists a willful misreading of the text, it’s an unhistoric reading of the text. Credited to John Nelson Darby, the rapture dates only to the mid-19th century.

It’s a modern belief.

Guess what else dates to the same approximate time period?

Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species.

Contrary to popular belief, Christians did not initially have a problem with evolution. Few Christians in the historic tradition ever held to a literal reading of the creation story. That God would use evolutionary means for the process to which Genesis gives poetic expression wasn’t a hard pill to swallow.

Natural selection was a different animal. The notion that violence and suffering was woven into the very fabric of existence seemed to contradict the most basic conception of God as Love. No longer was it axiomatic for believers to see the world as a sacrament to God’s loving glory.

‘Creation’ thus became ‘nature.’

Nature that was, Darwin had pointed out, red in claw and tooth.

No longer charged with God’s grace, the world came to be seen in the 19th century as a closed-system of purely mechanical, material processes.

It was in this new zeitgeist that Darby’s rapture theology took off in American Protestantism. Around the same time God had been vacated from the earth, Protestants started looking for the day when they would be evacuated for heaven. The core biblical theme that God through Christ will redeem this world gets lost when you no longer see this world as ‘creation.’

So not only is the rapture unbiblical and unhistoric, it turns out that the rapture is also a ‘liberal’ belief.

Rapture theology accepts the basic assumption of liberal modernism:

God is fundamentally absent from the present world.

Of course, by ‘creation’ the ancient Christians never meant the processes behind the world’s beginnings. Rather Creator is our answer to the question ‘Why is there something instead of nothing?’ A question no species’ origin can ever answer.

The rapture may be bulls$% as theology, but it does point out one needful lesson: the bible’s primary plot of creation-redemption-new creation falls apart once you stop seeing the world around you- even the reddened claws and teeth- as charged with the glory of God.

IMG_1411One of the happy accidents of this blog is that I know have ‘friends’ whom I’ve never met save this space here.

One of the downsides of making such friends- the same downside that comes with working for or belonging to any congregation- is that I find myself mourning with or for such friends.

A friend of this blog recently lost her young son in a car accident. Her brother is a real-life, flesh-and-blood friend of mine, whose faith I admire- though his character is such he’d insist it should be the other way ’round.

Her brother, my friend, ‘Ben’s Uncle,’ wrote this reflection about his nephew’s funeral service. It’s a beautiful (made me weep) testimony to grace and our ultimate hope.

Mike had the grace to share it with me and the trust to let me share it with you. If you do me any favors in the back end of ’13, let it be this:

Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written.  But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets their heart on seeking God—the Lord, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.”  And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.  2 Chronicles 30:18-20

The Gathering Place in the church was bright—lots of windows.  There was a beautiful arrangement of flowers prominently displayed, sent from out of town, and bearing the condolences of family in a distant location.  The mood was subdued—not somber—just subdued.  The immediate family had gathered, and then the friends began to arrive—two groups of friends.  The friends of the family tended to be older—though not exclusively so.  Many had known Ben as he was growing up.

Many were members of the church where Ben’s parents were long-time members.  Some were members at the church where Ben’s grandparents were members and where Ben had participated in youth activities.  The other group—Ben’s friends—seemed youngish to me.  But then most people seem youngish to me these days.

My sense was that they were vaguely ill at ease, worried about being out of place in an unfamiliar environment, wondering, perhaps, how the Ben they knew fit in with these family friends who were right at home in church.  As you would expect, the two groups tended to cluster with their own in the large, open room: the respectable, pillar-of-the-community folks in small groups; and small groups of 21st century James Dean types, both men and women.  They were all well dressed for this memorial service for someone they all knew and loved.  But peeking out from under the sleeves or above the necklines of the young friends was a moving gallery of art.  And some of the ink wasn’t peeking; it was right out there, expansive, striking even.

I have to admit that I find tattoos off-putting.  A long-engrained prejudice.  I tried hard not to judge but could hardly help it.  As I was standing in the receiving line, a young woman held out her hand to me, and my eyes were immediately drawn to the extensive tattoo on her upper arm and shoulder.  But as she said her name—Elise—my eyes snapped to hers.  I knew the name, but not the person.

Just a few days earlier, Elise had gone to the place where her friend, Ben had been killed.  She went looking—looking for a license plate that she hoped had survived the crash.  She knew that little piece of metal had special meaning for Ben—and for Ben’s grandfather.  After a long search, and as she was about to give up, she looked down at her feet, and there it was.  She took it away with her, framed it, and gave it to Ben’s grandfather.  The awkwardness of the moment, there in the line, faded.  We hugged each other, and she moved down the line.

We spent an hour and a half in the Gathering Place, but it was that few seconds with Elise that I was thinking of when the doors of the sanctuary opened up, and the family went in to take our seats.  Those few seconds are prominent in my thinking now, weeks later.  The sanctuary was packed—about evenly split between the two groups.

We sat and listened to a wonderful service—beautiful music, readings from scripture, words of comfort and assurance from the pastors.  All the while, the two groups sat behind us—each person, no doubt, with their own thoughts of Ben.  With their own thoughts of what it meant to be in that place—a place of worship.

Looking back now, I marvel at these two groups, mingled in the pews.  The “good” people and the “maybe not so good” people.  The establishment people, easy to spot in their manicured neatness.  And the renegades, a little rough around the edges and sporting a bunch of body art.  But every one of them was there to remember Ben.

And Elise has become something of an emblem of that day for me.

I don’t know her.

I don’t know what kind of life she lives.

I do know that I judged her when I saw her in that receiving line—once in the negative, and seconds later, very differently.

What a heart!  What a sense of kindness and love!

I very nearly didn’t see that.  It was hidden to my eyes, hidden behind some ink.

And if her goodness was hidden to me, surely everyone in that room—including me—was concealed by some form of camouflage.

But we serve a God who sees through it all—the first time.  A God who knows full well who he created us to be.  And a God who has promised to finish the good work he started in us.  My prayer is that every time we open our eyes, we will see people though his eyes.

That’s our best hope.

For Ben, who was at home with everyone in those pews….

“Because I don’t have to be the old man inside of me;
His day is long dead and gone….”

If you’re one of those millions out there convinced that if Barack Obama/Mitt Romney gets elected in November all is lost, your way of life is jeopardized, and the future is surely dim then you have what we call a…

Need an explanation?

Here’s a great post by Peter Enns:

Before we get going here, let’s be clear on what

and what

This is not a cynical, “I’m above it all,” anti-political rant.

I am not telling you both candidates are the same.

I am not telling you not to vote.

I am not telling you to stop arguing about politics and coming to strong convictions. Have at it.

I am saying that if you get so worked up about it that you become really angry, or you actually “fear for our country,” or are thinking of moving to Greenland or freezing yourself if “that guy” gets elected, you may need to step back and think about what’s happening inside of you.

You can and should be genuinely concerned about health care, our economy, and many other issues–there are issues of justice and compassion.

But, listen for the rhetoric in others and in yourself.

If you fear for your way of life, that if the wrong person gets elected all is lost and you simply don’t have any hope for your future or the future of your children, you have accepted what we like to call in the industry a “rival eschatology.”

I’ve just lost half of you, but hang with me.

All political regimes are utopian. Communist, socialist, fascist, monarchic, and democratic. All of them. They all make promises to be the ones who will deliver the goods. They all promise that, without them, you are lost. They all claim to have “arrived,” to represent the culmination of the human drama, to be the true light, a city on a hill, that which bring you and all humanity true peace and security.

That is what “eschatology” means. It doesn’t mean “end of the world” in some video game apocalyptic scenario.

Eschatology means: “We have brought you to where things are as they should be. You are at the place where you can now–finally–have reason to hope. Trust in us. Fear not.” Eschatology means the pinacle of true humanity, where wrongs are righted, all is at peace, and the human drame comes to its fullest expression.

They all say that.

When we fear, or rage, or are depressed about politics, it means we have invested something of our deep selves into an “eschatology”–into a promise that all will be well, provided you come with us.

Christians can’t go there, because Christianity is an eschatology.

And I’m not talking about going to heaven or escaping the world we live in. Many Christians on both sides of the aisle work hard in the world of politics to bring about justice and with deep conviction (even if Christians disagree strongly on how that should be done). This is good and right.

But Christians should not adopt the rival eschatology that this or any political system or politician is of such fundamental importance that the thought of an election turning sour or the wrong laws being passed mean that all hope is lost.

There is a huge difference between saying, “That person would make a horrible president for the following reasons,” and “If he is elected, I just don’t know what I will do, where I will go–how we can carry on.”

The Christian never says the latter, because, regardless of where things play out politically, we know that no political system can actually deliver the goods, try as they might.

This is what the first Christians were taught about the Roman Empire, which promised its citizens peace, grace, justice, protection from enemies–all of which was called “salvation” (that’s the word that was used at the time). The Gospel offered an “alternate eschatology,” where the goods were delivered, not though the power of the state but through suffering and enthronement of King Jesus.

Hence, the rhetoric of the book of Revelation, the paradox of the slain lamb of God (Jesus) exalted above every earthly power. Hence, St. Paul’s claim that our “citizenship is in heaven”–not “up there somewhere” but the kingdom of God come to earth in the crucified and risen messiah, which is never caught up in political systems, but stands ready to work with them or deeply critique them depending on what is happening at the moment.

This entire line of thought goes back to the Old Testament prophets. They preached, harassed, and annoyed Israel’s leaders not to fear the nations around them, nor to trust that the any of them will make things right and give Israel lasting peace. They were much more critical of  Israel’s own leaders when they set up a “rival eschatology,” by promising to deliver the goods through military strength or savvy political alliances rather than following God’s path. The prophets said, “hope is elsewhere.”

If you are watching political ads, speeches, debates, and you find yourself growing fearful, angry, or depressed (the latter two are often rooted in deep fear), remember that your true trust is elsewhere.

Remember your eschatology.

Here’s the post

I’m sitting at the pool near the diving well. I’ve got a book on my lap and my laptop open in the front of me. I look like I’m working probably but really I’m watching my boys. I like to watch when they don’t think I’m watching. They’re freer and less self-conscious then.

They’re doing silly dives. Alexander is encouraging Gabriel not to be afraid. Gabriel is belly laughing at himself. The pool, as its late August, is quiet and slow. It is, it would take little effort to prove to you, a perfect moment. It’s moments like these, ordinary graced moments that convince me that anyone not convinced by God is willfully blind. Any God worth believing in, I think, has to be a God who can make the mundane- not just the holy- redemptive.

In Christian theology, ‘eschatology’ means literally ‘to talk about the end things.’ If you’re a fan of the Left Behind series (I’m not) you’re familiar with eschatology. Its where theologians group our beliefs about heaven, hell, eternity and what future we have in God.

One very important aspect of eschatology is that with Jesus inaugurating the Kingdom in his earthly ministry, there are pockets of our heavenly future available to us in the present. Indeed this is what we say in the Great Thanksgiving when we celebrate the eucharist- that our feasting is foretaste of our future at God’s wedding banquet.

But I don’t think such moments are only available to us at the communion table or even at church. After all if God really took flesh in Jesus then, on some level, all of the created world is charged with grace, all of it participates in some way in God and any moment, like this one now here at the pool, can be connected as surely as ligament to whatever future God has in store.


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December 12, 2009

We walk together,

in this rain,

hand held in hand,

with smiles of joy;

exchanging glances,

that maintain,

this unity will not be cloyed.

So calm we feel,

so full of grace;

but our embrace,

is soon replaced,

by mournful grief,

brought upon,

so suddenly,

by streaks of light,

a truly blinding,

magnificent sight,

of lighting that

with curious aim,

strikes my head,

and as it splats,

I fall in shivers,

beneath your feet,

soon to part,

into eternal sleep,

while sweetest lover,

You kick my corpse,

into the gutter,

and walk on by

in silence.

No comments:

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text:
February 16, 2010

Your Tears

In the last winters,
When you were here,
I can't forget,
The time we shared.
The little fights, more joys,
The chocolate cake, and gifts of toys.
Laughing together till our tears fall,
Then getting a hug from you leaned to the wall.
The words were three,
But they meant lot to me.
The kisses in the air,
I thought were fair.
Coming to your home,
Meeting to your mom.
The moments were high,
And I don't lie.

Now the year has past,
Another winter is about to last.
The time can't be recalled,
I tried but I failed.
I know I ditched you,
You said 'I know you'.
My mistake is unforgivable,
Still I think you are lovable.
But I can't come back for sure,
I have taken a wrong path though.

Your love was I treasured the most,
I know I can't repair the loss.
But I'm happy as you can see,
The same I want you to be.
Don't fall your tears for me,
I beg to you on my knee.

The poem may not be rhyming to perfection,
But that is how I can show my affection.

Smile always, for you look beautiful when you do,
And I wish the life gives the best to you.

No comments:


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Friday, 31 March 2017

Provornov's Light Tank: T-34 in Miniature

Hundreds of tank-themed proposals were sent to the Main Automobile and Armour Directorate of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. There was a wide spectrum of ideas and inventors. There were workers, scientists, engineers, ordinary citizens. A significant percentage was made up of military men of all ranks and branches. One of these men was Lieutenant Provornov, who proposed a light tank in July of 1942 with a number of original solutions. It was never built in metal, but fans of World of Tanks know it as LTP.

Thursday, 30 March 2017

Soviet Mega Tanks

The Americans seem to know something I don't, digging up some pretty sketchy looking tank data following perfectly legitimate information about the KV-85.

These beasties sound pretty similar to what the Germans saw on the Eastern Front, but the Americans manage to outdo even their rich imagination. Behold, the Soviet Mother Tank!

Wednesday, 29 March 2017

Tractor Tanks and SPGs

"Minutes from a technical meeting at Comintern factory #183 regarding producing SPGs at factory #183
August 27th, 1941

  • Factory director, Y.E.Maksarev
  • Chief engineer, P.M. Krivich
  • Chief designer, A.A. Morozov
  • 52nd Department Chief, N.G. Zubarev
  • GABTU regional engineer, D.M. Kozyrev
  • Military Engineer 2nd Class R.E. Sorkin
  • Senior GAU military representative, G.P. Lozbinev
The following topics were discussed:
  • Installation of an 85 mm AA gun designed by factory #8 in an SPG designed on the T-34 chassis.
  • Installation of a 76 mm F-34 tank gun designed by factory #92 in an SPG designed on the Vorozhilovets tractor chassis.
  • Installation of an 85 mm AA gun designed by factory #8 in an SPG designed on the Vorozhilovets tractor chassis.

Tuesday, 28 March 2017

"Lightened 76 mm SPG OSA-76

Factory #38 designed a draft project of a lightened 76 mm SPG (factory designation OSA-76) with a ZIS-3 gun on their own initiative.

The draft project was presented to the GBTU USA for review.

Experimental prototypes of the SPG are being build.

Monday, 27 March 2017

Cheating at Statistics 17: Leaving Leningrad

In early 1944, the German forces around Leningrad weren't doing so well. The blockade around Leningrad had ruptured, Sinyavino heights were lost, and Army Group North was beginning to slink back westward. Introduction of the hyped up Tiger tank failed to make a difference here. Now these Tigers, namely s.Pz.Abt 502, were holding back the Red Army while the rest of the Germans escaped. Forczyk describes the situation: "The remaining Tigers of the s.Pz.Abt.502 assisted the AOK 18 in its withdrawal by turning to ambush the Soviet spearheads; on 25 January they claimed 41 Soviet tanks destroyed at Voyskovitskiy, 5 km southwest of Gatchina."

Anyone who's been keeping up with this long running series will have recognized the perfect storm: the Tiger crews know for a fact that the battlefield will remain in Soviet hands and that their claims will not be checked. There was also incentive to make up for the Tiger tank's rather dismal performance on the Leningrad front. Let's take a look at just what happened at Voyskovitsy on January 25th.

Saturday, 25 March 2017

LPP-25: Light, Simple, and Unwanted

The light LPP-25 anti-tank gun was built as an answer to the German s.Pz.B.41 anti-tank rifle. As a result of information that reached Soviet designers from the front lines, a weapon was born that did not lose out to the German gun, but without the complex and short-lived conical barrel. What was this LPP-25 like?

Friday, 24 March 2017

First Soviet Tanks

The first tank built in the young Soviet Republic was the "Russian Renault", a poor copy of the most numerous and probably best tank of WWI. It is also known as "Freedom Fighter Comrade Lenin", after the name of the first tank of the batch. There were 15 Russian Renaults built in total at the Krasnoye Sormovo factory in Nizhniy Novgorod under the supervision of visiting engineers from the Putilov and Izhor factories. This group was headed by Sergei Petrovich Shukalov. The Putilov and Obukhov factories were pioneers of the Russian Empire when it came to mastering complicated machinery, and the Izhor factory specialized in producing armoured plates and parts for the Imperial army.

Thursday, 23 March 2017

SU-122-2 in Combat

The CIA has a tendency of detecting all sorts of armoured vehicles that are as interesting as they are fictional, but this time they might have hit the mark.

Two guns, like a SU-122, but larger. There can be only one answer!

Wednesday, 22 March 2017

"Mounting of a 57 mm mod. 1943 gun on a SU-76M SPG

This project is being designed according to an order from the Artillery Committee and consists of the installation of a 57 mm mod. 1943 ZIS-2 anti-tank gun barrel on the mount from the 76 mm mod. 1942 ZIS-3 gun on the SU-76M SPG chassis.

The ZIS-2 and ZIS-3 have identical semi-automatic systems and breeches.

The main characteristics of the prototype are shown in the table next to those of the SU-76M:

Tuesday, 21 March 2017

Light Tanks, 1944, Part 2

"To the Chief Engineer of factory #174, comrade Demyanovich
January 26th, 1944

Regarding your inquiry relating to tactical-technical requirements for a light tank, here are the possible changes to requirements:

Monday, 20 March 2017

Light Tanks, 1944, Part 1

"To the Chief of the GBTU Tank Directorate, Major-General comrade Afonin
January 5th, 1944

The preliminary tactical-technical requirements for a light tank that you sent were examined by a small circle of design and technology managers. Having studied your requirements in detail, we came to the following conclusions:
  1. In general, the requirements are realistic and such a tank can be designed and built at our factory.
  2. A number of issues you presented require special investigation and only then can they be implemented in a production vehicle.
Based on the above, we ask you to consider the following wishes of the factory when composing the revised tactical-technical requirements.

Saturday, 18 March 2017

Light Tank M3A1: Basket into Battle

History knows many instances when an attempt to improve a design led to, if not a worse one, then at least an equivalent. The American M3A1 light tank is one such example. Even though its modernization improved some characteristics, the well-intentioned modifications had some unintended consequences. Let us go through them in order.

Friday, 17 March 2017

Sweden's Autoloaders

Sweden's tank industry was in crisis in the second half of the 1940s. On one hand, the middle of this decade was a time when Swedish self propelled artillery thrived. That is when the Swedish army finally received assault guns, tank destroyers, and SPAAGs. However, the tank program lagged behind. Sweden's luck ran out with the Strv m/42. Pricken, LS 46, Leo, all of these projects remained on paper. Attempts to build a new tank weighing between 25 and 30 tons encountered various problems. A way out of this dead end appeared in the early 1950s, which led to two interesting heavy tank projects: the EMIL and the KRV.

Turtle Tank

Continuing the theme of sketchy intel on the Soviets the CIA got from the Germans, a phantom tank appears on the Volkhov Front, completely unknown to the Soviets, but apparently common enough in German eyes to even earn a nickname.

Wednesday, 15 March 2017

"Installation of a 203 mm mod. 1931 howitzer (B-4) on a KV-1S chassis (factory index S-51)

Produced by NKV TsAKB by order of the GAU Artkom.

The self propelled S-51 howitzer consists of the oscillating part of the 203 mm mod. 1931 howitzer (B-4) installed on a KV-1S. The installation is done in the following way:

The turret and turret ring are removed from the KV-1S. Instead of the turret, a plate is installed above the driver's head and the 203 mm mod. 1931 howitzer (B-4) is installed on it.

The fighting compartment remains free and is used to house the recoiling parts of the howitzer at high gun elevations.

Tuesday, 14 March 2017

Under Pressure, Part 2

In Part 1, we saw what happens to a tank crew when it's hit with a HEAT shell, whether that shell penetrates or not. However, getting hit with a kinetic penetrator has consequences too! Let's take a look.

"To compare, a table of measurements inside armoured compartments on impact from armour piercing and high explosive 76, 85, 100, and 122 mm shells with sensors positioned 200-1000 mm from armour, under the condition that the armour integrity was not compromised."

Monday, 13 March 2017

Under Pressure

HEAT is a much more complicated armour penetration mechanism than traditional kinetic penetrators, and thus leads to more interesting experiments. For example, in this one, the objective of the test was to determine how effective ERA was at disabling the heat blast, but more importantly, what an ERA block detonation would do to the crew.

The trials were performed on a model simulating a tank with ERA. Rabbits inside the model simulated crew.

Fig. 29. Overall view of model #2 with a U-5TS gun barrel installed.

Friday, 10 March 2017

CKD Export Tanks: An Offer You Can't Refuse

Czechoslovakian tank manufacturing caught up to world standards in the mid-1930s. The P-II, CKD's first light tank and the first mass produced domestically designed tank, was close to the world's leading designs. The LT vz. 35 that won the tender for a new cavalry tank caught up with the rest of the world's leaders. It's not surprising that Czechoslovakian tanks were considered for purchase in countries without a domestic tank design program. This caused the design of the CKD TNH and LTP (Tanque 39); excellent tanks that became the backbone of the Iranian and Peruvian tank fleets.

Thursday, 9 March 2017

SU-85 Light

"Installation of an 85 mm D-5 gun in a light SPG

The Gorky Automotive Factory is building an experimental 85 mm SPG using T-70 tank and SU-76M SPG components

Tactical technical characteristics of the prototype:
  1. Mass: 12,000 kg
  2. Full length with the barrel: 5500 mm
  3. Bore axis height: 1670 mm
  4. Maximum speed: 35 kph
  5. Muzzle velocity: 782 m/s
  6. Armour piercing shell mass: 9.2 kg
  7. Vertical range: -5° to +15°
  8. Horizontal range: +/- 12°
  9. Sights:
    1. Mechanical with Hertz panorama: 1
    2. TSh-15 telescopic: 1
  10. Ammunition capacity: 40 shells
  11. GAZ-203F engines: 2
  12. Total engine power: 170 hp"

Wednesday, 8 March 2017

D-10 CIA Intel

The following are penetration and ballistics tables for the D-10 gun mounted in a T-54 tank recovered by the CIA from a Soviet manual.

Tuesday, 7 March 2017

PzI Trials

After concluding trials of tank #1, it's possible to make the following conclusions:
  1. The tank has the following mobility characteristics:
    1. Maximum speed on a paved highway in packed snow: 39.96 kph
    2. Average speed:
      1. On paved highway in packed snow: 25 kph
      2. On dirt road covered in loose snow, 200-300 mm deep: 9-10 kph
      3. Off road with snow 300-450 mm deep: 6-7 kph
    3. The dirt road and off-road performance of the tank in 200-450 mm of snow is satisfactory.

Monday, 6 March 2017

American Ergonomics

Ergonomics in tanks is an important factor, one that I touched on previously in some detail. It turns out that despite certain prevalent stereotypes, the ergonomics of various tank schools are more complicated than many people believe. Having already applied Soviet ergonomics standards to a German design, let us hop across the pond and see what the Americans thought about the topic.

Thankfully, this time, the Fort Knox Medical Research Laboratory report "Adequate Head Room in Tanks" provides us proper measurements, which makes my job a lot easier. The adequate head room for a sitting crewman, excluding the upper and lower 5% of men, is stated as 34" to 38.25", or 86-97 cm. The Soviet "dimensions of an average man" define the same measurement to be 90 cm (35.4"), which falls pretty well in the middle of that range. The American tank helmet adds a whole 1.5" to the height of a tanker by his crash helmet, a thickness that is found to be excessive. At the time of the study (November 27th, 1942), a thinner helmet was already being tested.

Let's see how well average people could fit into American tanks.

Sunday, 5 March 2017

Pz.Sfl.IVb: Halfway to the Hummel

German wartime SPGs are well known. However, it took some time to develop the "selbstfahrlafette" concept of a large open casemate, like the one used on the Hummel. Initially, the idea was to built medium SPGs instead of light ones, and their layout differed noticeably from the vehicles that showed up on the battlefield in 1943. Even though German SPGs developed along a different path, the Pz.Sfl.IVb was built and even got to fight.

Saturday, 4 March 2017

02SS Aerosan: A Tank in the Snow

The history of the aerosan in Russia and then the USSR is old and varied. The first mass produced aerosans were built in 1912, were actively used in WWI and then the Russian Civil War. Development of aerosans received great attention due to the geographical features of our country. It was not surprising that the Red Army had the largest aerosan fleet in the world during the Great Patriotic War. Meanwhile, the widely used NKL-26 reconnaissance aerosan was a pale shadow of what was initially planned for production. The wishes of the Soviet military materialized as the 02SS battle aerosan which had no equivalent in any country in the world.

Thursday, 2 March 2017

New KV-2 Turret

On May 6th, 1940, the deputy chief of Kirov factory's SKB-4 design bureau proposed a modernized turret for the KV-2 tank.

This new turret was 2000 kg lighter than the old one due to reducing the height by 370 mm and length by 300 mm. The turret would retain 360 degree rotation with a gun elevation of 15 degrees and gun depression of 7 degrees. However, this turret could not be used until the gun recoil length was decreased from 900 mm to 650-750 mm. This was considered unacceptable and the turret was not produced.

Wednesday, 1 March 2017

Tank Costs, 1943

"To the Deputy Chair of the Council of People's Commissars, comrade Malyshev

I present to you a report on the cost of KV-1S, KV-8S, T-34, and T-70 tanks, their armament and optics.

Cost w/o armament or optics
Cost of armament and optics
Cost of radio
Cost of hull and turret
Cost of engine
Cost of track links
Link: 105
Pin: 8
Link: 105
Pin: 8
135,000 (#183)
162,000 (##112, 174, UZTM, Kirov)
25,589.09 with PT-K
25,614.07 with PT-4-7
With tooth: 51.75
W/out tooth: 36.80
Grousers: 18.60
Pin: 2.40
T-34 (radio)
139,500 (#183)
166,500 (##112, 174, UZTM, Kirov)
25,589.09 with PT-K
25,614.07 with PT-4-7
T-34 (flame-thrower)
139,500 (#183)
166,500 (##112, 174)
31,711.84 with PT-K
31,836.82 with PT-4-7
Link: 22
Pin: 1
T-70 (radio)


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Friday, September 28, 2007

My New Theme Song

Not much going on! We are going to look at a house tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. Now take a minute to watch this video...becuase this is my life now and for the next 20 years. This is my new theme song. HA HA HA !!!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Never a Dull Moment!

Today has been a roller coaster. I took Jackson and Ella to go meet some new friends at the Book Store. We had coffee, looked at some books, and played with the train table. It would have been fun, except Jackson didn't want to be nice to anyone. So, as punishment for acting so ugly, he had to take a nap when we got home.
He wasn't in his room five minutes when I heard a blood curdling scream. I thought one of the dogs had bitten him. He cam running out, clutching his silky in one hand and holding the back of his head with the other. I felt his head and there was already a knot on it. I tried to get him to tell me what happened. All he managed to whimper was that he hit it on the window. I felt his head again and the knot was bigger. I tried to calm him down, but I was freaking out myself. The knot was getting bigger by the minute.
I frantically called he could do anything at work. Then I loaded the kids in the car and set out to find an Urgent Care Clinic. Thank goodness there is one only about 10 minutes from our house. The Doctor checked out Jackson's head and said that he should be fine. We have to watch for all the typical stuff like nausea, slurred speech, etc. We also have to wake him up every two hours tonight. He should be fine though. The Doctor did say we should watch for strange behavior. What do you this strange:

Friday, September 21, 2007

Well what a Friday it has been! Chance had an early release day, so he was done with school before lunch. Gary also gets off around lunch on Fridays. So this afternoon, we split up. The boys went to the park and the girls went...where else? SHOPPING!

We had a nice surprise tonight. Our neighborhood was having its last gathering of the summer. The had a huge screen set up on the lawn of the park and played "Cars". I took the boys. They had so much fun. We sat on a blanket, ate some popcorn, and visited with neighbors. Gary stayed home to put Ella to bed and watch ESPN!

Tomorrow, I think we may go try to get some hiking in, but we're not sure yet. The news this week showed that Breckenridge got their first snow, which means we can't be that far behind. We figure we better go enjoy the mountains before it is too cold to get out. We'll let you know how our adventure goes!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

A Day at the Zoo

Yesterday, Jackson, Ella, and I went to the zoo. We were supposed to meet some other stay-at-home moms, but only one showed up. We ended up splitting up from her. My kids were just a tad more lively than her daughter, so we moved a little faster. We had a great time though. Both kids were well behaved (A Miracle!) It was nice for us to get out of the apartment.

We have been to a ton of zoos over the years and this was one of the most interactive ones we've been too.They had lots of things out for the kids to touch. When we first arrived Jackson got to pet a snake and an alligator. We took a picture with the alligator, but I just couldn't bring myself to photograph the snake. I did touch it though, believe it or not. The things we do for our kids.

The kids other favorite thing
was a life size picture of a
polar bear. They look so tiny
standing next to it.

Monday night, I finished making one of Ella's outfits I was working on. Of course she had to wear it to the zoo, but not without giving a little fashion show and photo shoot first. What do you think? Do we have a future model in the family?

All in all we had a great day! Of course the kids were exhausted. But for some reason, they weren't the ones who crashed last night...But look who did:
I am working on getting all of our pictures put in an online album so y'all can see them all. As soon as I do, I'll let everybody know where to find them.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

New Cars for a New Life!

Well, I am no longer one of "those people" as Jake says! We got rid of the van and Gary's "Pimp My Ride Monster Truck!"

We used the equity in Gary's truck to help lower what we owed on the van. We decreased our monthly payments and lowered our overall debt by almost $11,000.

Gary is now driving a red, 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee! (Chance loves it b/c it is red). I have a silver, 2004 Saturn Vue. Both are all wheel drive (Good for the mountains and snow). We gave up some of the space we had in the van, but in all honesty, it was just more space to junk up.

The house is still for sale! Everyone keep praying! God has a plan, we know that! We just wish he would let us in on it! HA! Too bad it doesn't work that way! We are considering the possibility that we might have to lease it for a year. Tammy, our realtor, suggested waiting until the end of October and if it hasn't sold, putting it up for lease. We are thinking about it and praying about it! There are a lot of risks, but also a lot of benefits.

This week should be much of the same: homework,! We love hearing from all of you! Talk to you soon!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Another Day, Another Dollar!

Not too much going on here! I am being a little lazy with the pictures. We really haven't taken any more good ones! The kids are good! Ella is talking up a storm. We just wish she would say something besides "Mama" & "Daddy" Who would have thought you could hate that word so much?

Chance is doing great in school! We should have Parent/Teacher conferences next month. He is making friends with the kids in his class, but nobody special! Right now everybody is his friend!

Then there is my Jackson! What can I say...He's just Jackson! Wild as ever! He is getting better at listening though.

I have found a stay at home mom group that gets together with the kids and does different kinds of things around Denver! So, next week are going to our first outing at the Zoo!

That's it for now! BYE

Monday, September 10, 2007

Quick Hello

Just wanted to let you all know we are well! I've had a few complaints about not writing enough, so here I am again. Not much going on here. School, homework, laundry. Same old Same Old! I have bought the cutest material to make Ella a X-mas dress. As soon as we get it made, I will post a picture.

This weekend we went to a harvest festival. The kids had so much fun riding the ponies, petting the animals, and doing a reverse bungee jump. I will try and post some of those pictures later this week.
I will talk to all of you soon.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Great Labor Day!

I hope everyone had a marvelous Labor Day! We had so much fun with my parents here. The kids were so excited to see family and I think it set mama and daddy's minds at ease that we really are okay!

Saturday morning we all met in Colorado Springs for the day! We took the kids to "The North Pole" which is an amusement park geared directly at small kids. They had so much fun!

Even Ella got to experience some of the rides! We learned that she is going to be a little dare devil! She wanted to go on every ride we saw. The good thing is we didn't have to say "no" too much.
After the amusement park we went to Pikes Peak! You can't go to Colorado Springs without seeing Pikes Peak. The kids loved the train ride up.

They were exhausted by the time we headed back down.

Sunday brought a whole lot more to do. We decided to split up the boys and the girls. The guys went to Estes Park to hike. However, if you ask the boys, their favorite part was feeding the chipmunks. Mama and I took Ella shopping. She was in Heaven (So were mama and I for that matter)!

Sunday night we all met back up at Trail Dust. For those of you who don't know, it is a steak house that has a 2 story slide for the kids.

And if that wasn't enough, there was also a band. So, needless to say the Tanksley kids danced the night away!
Monday morning Joel and Lawanna left early. We decided to spend the day riding around Evergreen, which is in the mountains right outside of Denver. This is where we have decided to look for a house (as soon as the other one sells!) We didn't find a house, but look what we did find:

These are just a few of the 11 elk we saw that day. I don't know who was more excited, the kids or Gary! It was a great way to end the weekend. It reminded us why we opted for this move. And it convinced us even more that Evergreen is where we want to live!

I guess that's it for now! Thanks for keeping up with this blog and for keeping us in your prayers. If y'all ever want any of these pictures, just let me know! I can e-mail them in a heartbeat! We miss you all! Talk to you soon!


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Saturday, February 28, 2009

You Are What You Eat!

You know how they say one day you look in the mirror and you realize that you have become your mother, well that has happened at our house. However, it is not the mirror where we are seeing the is the calendar.
Chance had his last Basketball game Friday night and we are already getting ready for baseball. We bought a new batting helmet yesterday, we have paid our fees, now we are just waiting on the coaches to call.
I remember growing up: that our years were measured by sport seasons and it seems I am headed down that pathway again. I hated baseball growing up. It is such a long a boring game to watch, but somehow, miraculously it is infinitely more interesting when your own child is on the field. I will never understand people like my Daddy who go to watch Little League even when they know no one on the team, but I am slowing coming to grasp the mind of the parents who wear the shirts bragging "My child is #19"
So if you happen to see me cheering like crazy as Jackson is running the bases or Chance is catching a fly ball, please be kind. Don't take the opportunity to rub it in my face that I am turning into everything I swore I wouldn't become. Just know that I am a MAMA and everything changes when you have kids!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Spontaneous Sale-A-Bration

Join me for my Spontaneous Sale-A-Bration! What is this you say? Let me tell you!

Right now Premier is offering an AWESOME Gift with Purchase Promotion that ends on Friday. I want YOU, my friends to get in on this GREAT deal. So, just because you can’t come to a show doesn’t mean you have to miss out.

This is a relaxed, friendly event with a come-and-go, open house feel. Come see the Spring Line. Take advantage of the Promotion…Oh and don’t for get Prizes!

Since there won’t be a hostess and SOMEONE has to get ALL the FREE Jewelry…That someone might as well be you!

Anyone who places an order during the Sale-A-Bration will be entered into a drawing for the hostess benefits…aka FREE jewelry!!!

You can also earn tickets by bringing a friend that I have not already invited and by booking a show between now and July! Could this get any more fun!
All you have to do is come, shop, eat, and visit and you could get TONS of FREE Bling!!!

I am so excited! I can’t wait to see all of you! Stop by, bring the kids (because you know mine will be here) and check out the jewelry!

Come Shop on Tuesday between 4pm and 8pm or Wednesday between 10am and 3pm!

Monday, February 16, 2009

It's me...AGAIN

Okay! So I don't post for a week or so and then BOOM...twice in one day! I can't sleep! There is nothing on tv. I really don't feel like reading! And I have had all the facebook I can take for one night. So here I am, babbling on like a sleep deprived lunatic!
I realize it has been a LONG while since I actually just sat down and told it like it is. I always give little bits here and there about our life in Madison "The City" but I never really say much.
I know sometimes I sound a bit blunt and slightly passive, but in reality are life is ROCKIN'! Homeschooling really is going well for all of you skeptics out there. We are using the Abeka curriculum plus a wonderful website, My kids (yes...I have already started teaching Jackson) love the lessons on the computer. They can do all of it by themselves and I can print out a detailed report on their progress. I am so much more aware of what they are learning than I was.
And yes...I will admit it: I LIKE having them home. We truly have a good time together. Not that all the stress is gone, by no means, but we are more relaxed. I have a good schedule planned for once Jackson and Ella are home full time,m but until then we are just winging it.
Jewelry sales are moving along as well. I have another show tomorrow night. Gary and I went to Dallas to a conference and now we are truly in this together. He sees the value in what I am doing and the possibilities for success. I won't bore you with all of the details, but I have set a number of goals for myself and we are steadily working toward those...TOGETHER!
I guess I have rambled enough for now. I may go track down an advil pm or something. If I don't get to sleep soon I won't have anytime to enjoy my bed before the boys take it over...a WHOLE other post! I hope this gets you caught up our little family. We are plowing through life one day at time...but we are doing as a FAMILY!

In Sickness and in Health!

Sorry it has been a while. Ella had the flu all last week. She is finally feeling better and back to her old self. Tonight at dinner...we had salad...she asked for some "more dress up please" instead of dressing. Oh the things they say.
Gary and I have decided that after Feb. Jackson and Ella will be joining Chance at home full time. The homeschooling is going tremendously well and I really feel led that this is what God wants from me at this time. I appreciate all of your support. Thanks for all you concerns over Ella. So far no one else is showing symptoms and we hope to keep it that way.
Sorry if this is rambling, that's how it is in my head. No wonder I feel like I am running in circle half the time!

Friday, February 6, 2009

All Together Now...AAAAAAWWWWW!

Can I just say that being an aunt is ALMOST as awesome as being a mom! Tell me she is not one of the cutest babies you have ever seen. For those of you that have not had the pleasure of an introduction...This is MY niece, Ann Coleman Pettit. She will be four months old on the tenth of February.


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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Saffron and Ginseng Can Spice Up Your Sex Life

Aphrodisiacs have been used all around the world for thousands of years. Now a new study has proven that at least some of them really work.
People looking to spice up their love life should try adding saffron and ginseng to their diet, according to a new study.

Both are proven to increase sexual desire, according to the latest scientific review of natural aphrodisiacs.

Saffron, which is produced from the dried stigmas of the Crocus sativus flower, is a spice commonly used in Spanish, Italian and Indian cuisine. Gingseng is a root which is also reupted to boost memory and stamina. Read more

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The 3 Basic Tantric Sex Practices

The purpose of Tantric sex is not to maximize your erotic pleasure or achieve a more intense orgasm, though it usually does both. Rather,Tantric sex is aimed at bringing about a unity of spirit through the sexual encounter. To achieve this, various Tantric sex techniques are used in three basic practices.

1) Raising Sexual Energy
This practice aims at extending your pleasures from sex for a longer time so that you can take it to a higher spiritual plane. They stress is on building up the pleasure so that you can continue enjoying a pre-orgasmic period for a longer amount of time. This practice uses massage, oral sex, and sexual intercourse to raise sexual energy.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

5 Explosive Tantric Sex Techniques

For those interested in Tantric sex, but who don't want to convert to a Tantric lifestyle, here are five explosive techniques you can try.
This isn't Philosophy 101. There won't be any debates or unearthing and dissecting of the secrets of tantric sex. You're not interested in converting to a tantric lifestyle, but you would like to try some techniques that will enable you to last longer, orgasm harder and leap tall buildings. Okay, so you won't be able to leap tall buildings, but you will be able to keep your pleasure at its precipice while you take her over the edge again and again. If you're interested in giving her a good time that she won't soon forget, read on. With these tips, you won't succumb to sexual pleasures until you're both gasping and you decide to take that plunge. It's all in your control.

PC Muscle Contractions
You may notice that it is difficult to keep going or even to stay awake after you've ejaculated; in tantra, it is believed that ejaculation depletes your energy. This belief has led to new practices that train the man and his muscles to recognize energy flows and release them without losing his own vitality. Read more

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Meditation for Beginners: 20 Practical Tips for Quieting the Mind

You may know that meditation is beneficial, but establishing a practice is another thing..If you're having trouble meditating, these twenty practical tips for quieting the mind may help.
Meditation is the art of focusing 100% of your attention in one area. The practice comes with a myriad of well-publicized health benefits including increased concentration, decreased anxiety, and a general feeling of happiness.

Although a great number of people try meditation at some point in their lives, a small percentage actually stick with it for the long-term. This is unfortunate, and a possible reason is that many beginners do not begin with a mindset needed to make the practice sustainable.

The purpose of this article is to provide 20 practical recommendations to help beginners get past the initial hurdles and integrate meditation over the long term: Read more

Saturday, March 5, 2011

John F. Kennedy Jr. Loved Tantric Sex

John F. Kennedy Jr. was among the celebrities who was interested in Tantric sex, according to an ex-girlfriend's memoir.
John F Kennedy Jr smoked marijuana and took a book about tantric sex on a holiday to Jamaica, according to a former girlfriend.

Christina Haag said the pair were offered an ‘enormous spliff’ by some islanders after they almost drowned at sea while kayaking.

The actress makes the disclosures in her forthcoming memoir about her five years of dating JFK’s tragic eldest son in the 1980s. Read more

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Tantric Sex: The Road To Ecstasy

Dr. Judy couples seven tips for achieving more bliss and  intimacy with Tantric sex.
My boyfriend knows how to bring me to a fantastic orgasm, but he says he would like to feel more closeness between us. Something more than "just sex." How can we make this happen?

You can reach new excitement, bliss and intimacy through ancient techniques of tantric sex. This originated in India, China and Nepal and is being revived and adapted in the West. Using breath, intention, sounds, meditations, movements and rituals you can relax, arouse and exchange love energy. Follow these steps for sacred and spiritual sex: Read more

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

5 Health Benefits of Practicing Tantra

Many, if not most, people explore Tantra to improve their sex lives, but there is so much more you can gain from Tantra, including health benefits, says Laurie Handlers.
When people hear the word Tantra, they usually think of kinky sex, the Kama Sutra, something they saw on HBO or on Sex & the City. That’s if they’ve heard of it at all.

I have found many unexpected health benefits from practicing this ancient form of meditation and related breath practices.

I began Tantra like anybody else thinking it would enhance sex making it hotter and maybe even wilder. I had no idea back then how powerful Tantra was to become in every aspect of my life.

Very soon, after embarking on this path, I became aware of a quieting down in the mind, something I had been trying to accomplish for years to no avail. This alone helped me to reduce my stress levels. But that’s not all; that was only the beginning.

Now, after 10 years of practicing Tantra, I am aware that I am not suffering  Read more


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