Tag: study

The Re-Arranged Family Shrine - 2026

UK: The Family Shrine Re-Arranged for the Passing of My Father! (18.6.2026)

Even if no member of a Chinese family has not trained in a formal spiritual order – incense will be regularly lit, and fresh flowers and fruit will be added every so many days. Of course, some shrines are kept-up at a greater degree than others – but this does not matter in the end. A family shrine is a door-way between one plane and another. It is a two-way structure that permits a solemn respect to traverse from the material realm into the immaterial realm – and allows a positive spiritual reality to emanate from the immaterial plane to the material realm. Today, I talked to my deceased father – and I did this via a photograph that my mother took and printed-out for me probably around 2010. The photograph was taken in the front garden of our old home at 2 Torbay Road, Torquay Road, Torquay, Devon (the shyster landlord took over a hundred thousand pounds in rent between 2002-2018 before applying a no-fault eviction because we requested a repair be made). As this was 16-years ago – my father would have been around 68-years old at the time. I suppose my father was at the peak of his power as an elderly person! Tomorrow we will collectively lit incense. It is the next stage of respectful mourning.

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On Retreat for A Week!

Tilford: A “Red-Week” in a Country Retreat! (22.5.2026)

It is a quaint area free off the stresses of the city – and a big sign reads “No Flags on the Exterior of the Building” – so in-doors it is! Even rebelling must be measured and inaccordance with circumstances. There is a nearby river and families of ducks wandering around. My Taijiquan practice will be particularly enhanced in this environment. Thank you to my mother – Diane Wyles! Gee has just driven to the next village to purchase some chips for our supper! We have basically infiltrated the conservative rump of the Home Counties. We are the enemy within – and the Reds Under the Beds – except we have paid to also lie in these beds. The capitalist railroaders are happy – so we let them continue to think that way.

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My New English Translation of the Yijing!

UK: Honouring Richard Hunn – My Finished Translation of the Book of Change! (4.5.2026)

I was studying the reading (interpretation) of ancient and traditional Chinese ideograms with my teacher – Richard Hunn (1949-2006) – between 1989 and 2006 (as a private student). An offshoot of this was the mastering of the modern (simplified) Chinese text and its corresponding “pinyin” (spell-hear) phonetic alphabet. Since 1949, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has worked wonders reversing the 90% illiteracy-rate and turning it completely around. Today, throughout the entirety of China (a big place) around 90% of the people are literate with some elderly and/or disabled people suffering various (understandable) barriers to being able to read and write. In these cases, various literate citizens are tasked with reading and writing for these individuals – so as to ensure that all their rights are fully pursued and applied under the 1956 Socialist Constitution (and its various updates and improvements).

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The explosion of complex life may have occurred four million years earlier than previously thought. © Xiaodong Wang

China: The Origins of Complex Life Pushed Back to Before the Cambrian! (6.4.2026)

Associate Professor Fan Wei, a leader of the group, says, “After years of fieldwork, we finally found several sites with the right conditions where animal fossils are preserved together with abundant algae.”

Unlike most Ediacaran sites, where organisms are preserved as impressions in sandstone, the Jianchuan fossils are preserved as thin carbon-rich films. This is type of preservation is more typical of famous Cambrian sites such as the Burgess Shale in Canada.

This exceptional preservation reveals anatomical details rarely seen in Ediacaran fossils, including feeding structures, digestive systems and organs used for movement.

Associate Professor Ross Anderson, a co-author of the study from the Oxford Universities Museum of Natural History, says, “Our results indicate that the apparent absence of these complex animal groups from other Ediacaran sites may reflect differences in preservation rather than true biological absence.”

“Carbonaceous compressions like those at Jiangchuan are rare in rocks of this age, meaning that similar communities may simply not have been preserved elsewhere.”

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Ancient Seafaring Scaffolding from the Time of Henry VIII!

Brixham: “What’s this Scaffolding? It’s a Feature”! (29.3.2029)

Of course, as The Beatles once reminded us “Nothing is Real!” – in the hyper-extension of capitalism that is “the holiday”. It is a time of no work (unless you are on a working holiday – we’ve all been there – labour in exchange for ten-minutes on a beach), no struggle, and comfortable living – but this week or two takes around 50-weeks of hard graft just to raise the deposit. When I was in Spain, I once witnessed an Englishman arrive with his case at our holiday resort – returning after just two or three weeks after his last visit. His previous sojourn had been “magical” in his own words and he had gone home, re-mortgaged the house, and rebooked in exactly the same Benidorm hotel! The problem was that no one else he had stayed with had rebooked – and none of the staff could remember who he was!

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Illustration showing Archaeopteryx in life, including its tertial feathers that would have helped it fly. Credit: Michael Rothman. Click image to enlarge.

US: Ongoing Analysis of – Archaeopteryx Fossil – Continues to Proves Darwin Right! (21.3.2026)

Differences in modern birds

Modern birds evolved shorter upper arm bones and specialized tertial feathers to close this gap.

Remarkably, the Chicago specimen of Archaeopteryx shows it had long tertial feathers too – something unseen in its flightless dinosaur relatives.

“Our specimen is the first Archaeopteryx that was preserved and prepared in such a way that we can see its long tertial feathers,” she noted.

These feathers, absent in closely related non-avian dinosaurs, suggest those creatures couldn’t fly.

“That tells us… Archaeopteryx could,” O’Connor added. “This also adds to evidence that suggests dinosaurs evolved flight more than once – which I think is super exciting.”

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