Noah's Arc...

”The flood myth motif is widespread among many cultures as seen in the Mesopotamian flood stories, the Puranas, Deucalion in Greek mythology, the Genesis flood narrative, and in the lore of the K'iche' and Maya peoples of Central America, the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa tribe of Native Americans in North America, and the Muisca people in South America." - Wikipedia.

Could not easily find sources that indicated the Noah story as historical but do remember seeing a documentary theorizing a regional event in the Mediterranean. It proposed a series of events caused by a tsunami affecting the entire shoreline.  Even so - was there a Noah and or an Ark?

As I read the bible it makes more since to be viewed as examples of leadership. Examples of tribal leaders from Israelite's history that transition into a fulfilled  leadership style in Christ. It contains examples of men and women experiencing life and how they influenced the Jewish people through their work and spiritual reflections.

When the Church recently updated biblical translations with current linguistic studies, they began to look into a more gender neutral approach. It was soon realized that these prior stories of men and women developed a leadership style that was handed down through the cultural traditions. Eliminating the references to gender would remove the observed fulfilled links to Jesus and Mary.

People come together as families forming culture with leaders emerging who resolve issues in a complex human dynamic. If you look at the subject matter of the separate biblical books, this is the commonality. They then begin to reveal an even more interesting story - a story of hope, inspiration and solidarity.

I see Noah as an early leader who was driven to become a savior. He possessed an internal knowledge that he decided to act upon. To me it is a beautiful metaphor and includes the cultural thinking during the time it was composed and popularized. His knowledge is described in a supernatural way but his family trusted him and his knowledge skills.

However, others did not. His knowledge, either as a real person or if only a story showing a desire by his people, was extensive and seems almost impossible. Engineering and animal conservation - of course these are modern equivalents. These great skills would seem highly unlikely if not for the more recent  example of European Renaissance history. Where, as in the past, knowledge was seen as coming from God and there was a struggle with its power.

The Noah story is a favorite and I can't wait to see it. Sounds like the director had a life long desire to put it to film. I like the concept of the ark as a metaphor bringing together diverse sources of information (social and conservation) into a functional representation allowing for good leadership decisions. Its obvious that "my ark" is spelled with a "C".

Geography?

"To be a good geographer: one must have a basic understanding of the fundamental elements of both the natural and social sciences; we must know: how the various elements interact to create the differences that exist from place to place, the names of various features, processes, and conditions, and finally (this is where geography comes in) we must know where all of this is located, why it’s there, and of what importance is it to us and others." - Dr. Charles Gritzner

Creativity and a Cultural Reference...

As I walked into church today I immediately noticed the children's art imitating the "Stations of the Cross". The plastic lamination detracted from the childish intentions but I scanned the entire series. Wait a minute - one of these  is not like the others.

Being creative is less about art imitating life and more about mystery and expression. The child's picture was art and at such a young age. All the others could have been coloring book pictures but not "Jesus Meets His Mother". I even stayed after to see if I could get a picture but the lighting was too harsh.

It had swashes of color with some general shapes and a little detail. The only elements that led me to recognize Jesus or his Mother were the eyes. A single one for Jesus and a single one for Mary, excepting that Mary's had a tear. Of all the recent art I've seen this one moved me - would like to see it again and even get that picture.

Art is uniquely human and it means many things to many people. The northern European Renaissance developed highly detailed small symbolic compositions while the south did large scale murals whose detail could only be seen from a distance. The artist knows when its complete by an intuition born from mastering technique. Imitating life is a picture but when lifeless materials are made to contain mystery and hold individual attention - without any supporting dialog - then that's art.

Set my mood - then it happened. The Gospel was very symbolic too (MT 17:1-9) - "tents” - symbolic of the Tabernacle's of the old testament and clothing becoming "white as light". The Essenes Sect focused on writing while the the Pharisees and the Sadducees focused on the law and prophets. All different sources of knowledge that later became highly developed. However, a system of chapters and verses allowing for cross reference was not developed until the early 13th century (Archbishop Langton).

Earlier Jewish systems were less refined and relied heavily on a functional division based on scrolls and verse endings. Initially their was no book or canon and no chapters, however, writing was a highly developed part of the priestly tradition. They were not the only tradition either, included was an oral tradition and a ceremonial tradition.

The symbolic nature of the Jewish culture is apparent but without a method of cataloging there would have been an innate need to cross-reference the law, with the writing, with ceremony, and prophetic teaching. The stories used to perpetuate the culture included liberal references to historic symbols to explain how they changed. The importance was never historical or geospatial but a practical method of continuity so important to tribal survival and cult identity. Its symbols. And how they changed relative to their creators and influencers.

Exploring...

If you read theology and love science then this is a beautiful composition. It alludes to an intelligence that we DO NOT measure today but what brought together the elements if nature in such a unique way.

The mind illuminated in such a way that we did not migrate but explored. We did not scavenge but cultivated and we did not form packs but created space.

Created by I am Who am or a unique event in an infinite universe does it change who we are?  Does it change what we can be? How to explain the unexplainable except from the power of our space. How do we communicate through commands if not accompanied by question or a story?

As I moved through the morning the land matched the sky except for where the orange fire burned on the horizon. The grey fueled the brightness as it grew, changing from a spark into the light of the sky. On the dark side, where families made their homes, lights shown. Not as sparks but as small suns that could be contained. It was an illusion....

http://www.cogsci.ecs.soton.ac.uk/cgi/psyc/newpsy?10.002

New Android - Zopo ZP700 Cuppy...

Have been racking up more phone experience than I ever wanted to. Went through a couple of phones in a short period time. One of my Neobox phones lost its speaker so decided to splurge on a Samsung Mini. Then the Mini quite working too - dropped it really hard and it bounced under the moving truck.

Started getting gadget fever when I saw a cheap Chinese phone for $80 bucks. A flash deal that didn't flash - after ordering it they told me they were unavailable. WHAT? Chinese New Year? Oh well. Kept looking though and found a decent phone on Amazon - it was a Samsung imitation with decent specs for about $130 bucks. Didn't need one but decided to buy it
for my girlfriend.

It was pretty nice and it went up in price after I bought it before selling out. There was an issue with it not being rooted like advertised but Lisa liked it so we kept it. It was from a company called Lightahead selling on Amazon. They were quick to respond and said I could return it so when I began to look for a replacement for mine I started there.

Was trying to see how much phone I could get for a $100 dollars and they had a few that seemed to fit my bill. Read the specs on one but was concerned about what type of SIM card it used (regular, micro, nano) so I emailed them. Another quick response with the answer I was hunting for - regular - so I bought it. Everything went smooth.

Received it and began the process of checking out the features. Not too bad - uh oh! What do you mean its not a Samsung Galaxy? Wanted a Samsung imitation because of all the accessories. Although it looked like a Samsung Galaxy the guy at the mall assured me the case wouldn't work. That was just the beginning - on the way home I noticed that the 3G icon wasn't working so I started testing everything. In the end there was no 3G and it didn't even  have a GPS. I didn't know they made phones without a GPS.

Before receiving the refund, I  went ahead and purchased a Moto G with case. Was planning a trip and wanted it before l left - even splurged on fast delivery and big memory. So I was REALLY surprised when there was an issue. Couldn't believe I was having so much trouble with specifications. Had bought numerous phones with no problems but now two in a row. Went back to the Amazon web page and sure enough - nothing that said it didn't use a regular SIM card. Back it went - had to get out Lisa's old phone as a backup.

Bought my new Zopo ZP700 before I left on my trip. Had purchased two phones from DinoDirect and noticed they did not skimp on the specks but the unlocked phones on Amazon didn't match up. Decided to look else where for the best cheap phone I could find. After my past experience an imitation name brand accessories didn't concern me - would just have to make due with limited accessories. The THL brand of phones caught my attention but didn't want to wait six weeks to get it from China or Hong Kong. eBay to the rescue!!!:-) Didn't take long to find the Zopo - US only, buy now, top rated seller, etc. Complete list of specifications and it was sexy.

Actually had looked at the Zopo brand previously and it always scores high in reviews - $160 bucks seemed like a great buy. HiRes screen, 8mp camera, quad core, plenty of memory and compatible with Straight Talk SIM card for AT&T. One reason I do keep going back to the Chinese phones is that they always have the most recent version of Android and the ZP700 is no exception. Lots of nice features but not over done. The picture quality is great and its fast but one of the best features? - a huge speaker. Its visually bigger but the sound is the best I've heard on any phone.

I've had numerous phones but like this one the best so far. Android is polished and the Zopo ZP700 has the right balance of price and performance. It has a lot of features so find a web site and look them up. You won't be disappointed. Oh yeah - it has GPS and the network is awesomely fast. It even has an H+ icon that comes on frequently.

One more story about the phone: usually turn off my WiFi when leaving  the apartment in the morning, just to conserve battery during the day. As I was exiting into the lobby from the fifth floor I noticed that I was still connected. Can't be? How is this possible? Decided to ask Google Now about the weather to see if the WiFi was actually working. IT WAS:-) How could this be? I turned off the WiFi and tried to reconnect - nothing. It stayed connected from 5 floors down. Amazing phone....