Oh...oh...I've been thinking of this for quite a while now...waiting until we lift those champagne glasses... to start my new year of promises to myself. This usually lasts about 2 weeks, but I'm trying for an all time high of 365 days...Here goes:
1) Watch your mouth...don't let any unkind things pass your lips (this is most difficult, especially when I've spent the better part of my life putting one foot in my mouth while extracting the other.)
2) DO ART!!! (this means no more procrastinating...do SOMETHING artistic every day, even if it is to cut pictures out of a magazine and put them in your art journal...SOMETHING!!!!!
3) Meditate Regularly (what happened to the Zen monk who for 30 plus years spent each day meditating for at least two hours? Wait...I just found her...hiding behind her stack of books.)
4) Watch your mouth!! especially in school where the kids push you to the limit.
5) WRITE!!! there is no excuse...just get some words on paper every day, even if they are crap!
6) Finish your book Out of the Cauldron so you can submit it for publication (sometime before 2016, I hope)
7) Watch what you say!!
8) Practice loving kindness every moment of every day!
9) See your cup half full instead of half empty!
10) WRITE Poems again!!
Well, I guess that is enough...too much and I'll forget everything before the day is out.
Happy New Year!!
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Monday, October 6, 2014
Speaking of DNA and the science of our bodies...Don't miss the latest documentary (link below) on cannabis as a basic cure-all for a plethora of dreaded diseases that humans are subject to.
This is an intelligent documentary which explains how our bodies make use of the cannabis that is already in our brains, to heal our bodies and how, due to the toxins, etc of our modern way of life, the level of natural cannabis has declined tremendously. The movie also talks to doctors and researchers who are doing incredible research in the healing effects of this natural drug and shows how pharma companies are setting up manufacturing plants (all under the radar) to grow thousands of the cannabis plants themselves, in the hope of selling it, in various forms, in the future.
Let me be clear, that I was never a druggie...always had a stigma against recreational drugs like pot...was horrified if I heard of any people in my family or friends, who used it regularly...so I was really profoundly influenced after seeing this movie. IF, the claims of scientists and doctors are true, this could be the most important medical discovery since aspirin and penicillin! And it's natural to our planet....if you get my meaning.
Link: Please Watch This: Very Important
This is an intelligent documentary which explains how our bodies make use of the cannabis that is already in our brains, to heal our bodies and how, due to the toxins, etc of our modern way of life, the level of natural cannabis has declined tremendously. The movie also talks to doctors and researchers who are doing incredible research in the healing effects of this natural drug and shows how pharma companies are setting up manufacturing plants (all under the radar) to grow thousands of the cannabis plants themselves, in the hope of selling it, in various forms, in the future.
Let me be clear, that I was never a druggie...always had a stigma against recreational drugs like pot...was horrified if I heard of any people in my family or friends, who used it regularly...so I was really profoundly influenced after seeing this movie. IF, the claims of scientists and doctors are true, this could be the most important medical discovery since aspirin and penicillin! And it's natural to our planet....if you get my meaning.
Link: Please Watch This: Very Important
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Another Romanov Tidbit
DNA Testing Lays Romanov Murder Mystery to Rest
Bodies found near rest of Tsar Nicholas II's family identified
as 2 missing children
March 11, 2009 US
WEDNESDAY,
March 11 (HealthDay News) -- An enduring mystery has been laid to rest with the
DNA identification of the bodies of two children of the last Tsar of Russia.
The
bones of the siblings, Tsarevich Alexei and a sister, were discovered in a
grave outside Yekaterinburg in 2007. The remains of their father, Tsar Nicholas
II, the Tsarina Alexandra and their three other daughters were found in 1991
about 70 meters away and were subsequently identified.
"The
DNA evidence is strong, but if you if you look at the entire evidence, it's
very convincing that this was, in fact, the Romanovs," said Michael Coble,
lead author of a study published in the March 11 online issue ofPLoS One and research section chief of the
Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory.
Other
evidence included three silver amalgam fillings on the crowns of two molars which
undoubtedly belonged to an aristocrat.
The
U.S. researchers worked with
the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian
Federation
"In
many ways, it's not unlike a lot of missing person and unidentified cases where
we have no bodies," said study co-author Anthony B. Falsetti, a forensic
anthropologist with the University of Florida in Gainesville
Over
the years, skeptics have argued that the remains had not definitively been
identified as those of the ill-fated Romanovs.
The
Tsar, his entire family and four staff members were killed by a Bolshevik
firing squad early on the morning of July 17, 1918.
Apparently,
the executioners had attempted to destroy the bodies of Alexei and his sister
(either Maria or Anastasia).
"The
historical record is that when the Bolsheviks were disposing of the bodies,
they took two of the remains and tried to cremate them to try to get rid of all
of the evidence. They did a test [on the recently discovered two bodies] to see
how it worked, and it didn't work that well. It took them all night," said
Coble. "It takes a very high temperature to cremate a body, and when
you're out in the woods, you don't necessarily get that kind of heat. The
executioner had actually brought in an expert on cremation, but apparently, the
guy broke his leg. It was a ridiculous sequence of events."
The
end result was that these two bodies were buried in one grave and the rest of
the bodies in another, a fact that had fueled speculation that two of the
children had managed to elude the bullets and escape.
Based
on DNA technology available in the 1990s, the first five bodies were positively
identified as the Tsar, the Tsarina and three of their children.
The
second set yielded 44 bone fragments and teeth which were subjected to three
types of genetic testing: mitochondrial DNA, autosomal STR and Y-STR testing.
The
mitochondrial tests (mitochondria are passed through the mother) confirmed that
the bodies were children of the Tsarina. Confirmation was done with a living
maternal relative, HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
The
autosomal STR test was basically a paternity test, Coble said, revealing that
the newer remains are 4.3 trillion times more likely to be related to the Tsar
and Tsarina than two random individuals. Skeletal remains from the three
daughters found in the first grave also matched up.
"It's
as strong as evidence you're going to find as far as nuclear DNA goes,"
Coble said.
The
Y-STR testing, done only on the remains of Alexei, matched the STR profile of
the Tsar and also a living relative, Prince Andrew Romanov, a cousin of the
Tsar.
The
STR and Y-STR findings were confirmed by testing blood on a shirt that Nicholas
had worn on a trip to Japan Hermitage Museum
The
results were confirmed, reconfirmed and confirmed again by independent labs.
One
mystery remains however: the identity of the daughter found in the later grave.
Russian forensic anthropologists have insisted and continue to insist that it
is Maria. American experts assert it is Anastasia.
"For
about 80 years, no one knew the real truth of where the bodies were taken, and
you always had the romantic mythology of Anastasia, the youngest daughter, who
was beautiful and adored and able to survive, because she charmed her captors
into letting her go," said Coble. "Since 1918, over 200 different
people have claimed to be one of the children. This truly now ends the case.
You can no longer say, 'You never found the two children.' "
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Nine skeletons found in a shallow grave in Ekaterinburg , Russia
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
My Kindle Countdown Deals promotion for "Anastasia's Diary" is set to begin on November 6, 2013 at 8:00:00 AM PST. The book will be discounted at $0.99.
She was the sixteen-year-old Duchess of Russia living on a
palatial estate with everything she could want. Then the people decided that
they had had enough of the Tsar and his family, and they devised a murderous
plan to end his rule forever.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Recently came upon this tidbit:
The Execution of Tsar Nicholas II, 1918
| ||
| The mounting pressures of World War I, combined with years of injustice, toppled the rule of Tsar Nicholas II in March 1917. Forced to abdicate, he was replaced by a Provisional Government committed to continuing the war.
Increasing losses at the front and the fear of a German advance on Moscow eroded what little support remained for the war and undermined the Provisional Government's authority. Capitalizing on this situation, the Germans secretly transported the exiled Vladimir Lenin in a sealed train from Switzerland to Russia in the hope he would enflame the turmoil. German expectations were realized on the night of November 6-7 when Lenin led the Bolsheviks in a successful attempt to grab the reigns of power in St. Petersburg. Anti-Bolshevik forces (the White Russians) immediately took up arms to oust the Communist regime and Russia was plunged into a brutal civil war. The following March the Communist regime signed a treaty with the Germans ending Russia's participation in World War I.
Against this backdrop of political chaos, the Tsar and his family were initially kept as prisoners near St. Petersburg and then transported beyond the Ural Mountains finally ending up in the town of Ekaterinburg in the Spring of 1918. The seven members of the imperial family and their small retinue were confined to the house of a successful local merchant, N. N. Ipatiev, which had been commandeered by the Bolshevik's for this purpose.
By mid-July a Czech contingent of the White Army was approaching Ekaterinburg and the sounds of gun fire could be heard in the distance by the royal prisoners and their Bolshevik captors. The arrival of their potential liberators sealed the fate of the Tsar and his family.
During the early morning hours of July 17 the Tsar, his wife, children and servants were herded into the cellar of their prison house and executed.
"We must shoot them all tonight."
Pavel Medvedev was a member of the squad of soldiers guarding the royal family. He describes what happened:
"In the evening of 16 July, between seven and eight p.m., when the time or my duty 'had just begun; Commandant Yurovsky, [the head of the execution squad] ordered me to take all the Nagan revolvers from the guards and to bring them to him. I took twelve revolvers from the sentries as well as from some other of the guards and brought them to the commandant's office.
Yurovsky said to me, 'We must shoot them all tonight; so notify the guards not to be alarmed if they hear shots.' I understood, therefore, that Yurovsky had it in his mind to shoot the whole of the Tsar's family, as well as the doctor and the servants who lived with them, but I did not ask him where or by whom the decision had been made... At about ten o'clock in the evening in accordance with Yurovsky's order I informed the guards not to be alarmed if they should hear firing.
About midnight Yurovsky woke up the Tsar's family. I do not know if he told them the reason they had been awakened and where they were to be taken, but I positively affirm that it was Yurovsky who entered the room occupied by the Tsar's family. In about an hour the whole of the family, the doctor, the maid and the waiters got up, washed and dressed themselves.
Just before Yurovsky went to awaken the family, two members of the Extraordinary Commission [of the Ekaterinburg Soviet] arrived at Ipatiev's house. Shortly after one o'clock a.m., the Tsar, the Tsaritsa, their four daughters, the maid, the doctor, the cook and the waiters left their rooms. The Tsar carried the heir in his arms. The Emperor and the heir were dressed in gimnasterkas [soldiers' shirts] and wore caps. The Empress, her daughters and the others followed him. Yurovsky, his assistant and the two above-mentioned members of the Extraordinary Commission accompanied them. I was also present.
During my presence none of the Tsar's family asked any questions. They did not weep or cry. Having descended the stairs to the first floor, we went out into the court, and from there to the second door (counting from the gate) we entered the ground floor of the house. When the room (which adjoins the store room with a sealed door) was reached, Yurovsky ordered chairs to be brought, and his assistant brought three chairs. One chair was given to the Emperor, one to the Empress, and the third to the heir.
The Empress sat by the wall by the window, near the black pillar of the arch. Behind her stood three of her daughters (I knew their faces very well, because I had seen them every day when they walked in the garden, but I didn't know their names). The heir and the Emperor sat side by side almost in the middle of the room. Doctor Botkin stood behind the heir. The maid, a very tall woman, stood at the left of the door leading to the store room; by her side stood one of the Tsar's daughters (the fourth). Two servants stood against the wall on the left from the entrance of the room.
The maid carried a pillow. The Tsar's daughters also brought small pillows with them. One pillow was put on the Empress's chair; another on the heir's chair. It seemed as if all of them guessed their fate, but not one of them uttered a single sound. At this moment eleven men entered the room: Yurovsky, his assistant, two members of the Extraordinary Commission, and seven Letts (operatives of the infamous Cheka or Secret Police)..
Yurovsky ordered me to leave, saying, 'Go on to the street, see if there is anybody there, and wait to see whether the shots have been heard.' I went out to the court, which was enclosed by a fence, but before I got to the street I heard the firing. I returned to the house immediately (only two or three minutes having elapsed) and upon entering the room where the execution had taken place, I saw that all the members of the Tsar's family were lying on the floor with many wounds in their bodies. The blood was running in streams. The doctor, the maid and two waiters had also been shot. When I entered the heir was still alive and moaned a little. Yurovsky went up and fired two or three more times at him. Then the heir was still."
"The Execution of Tsar Nicholas II, 1918," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2005). | ||
Monday, October 14, 2013
Moving on....
Anastasia's Diary has done quite well, considering the fact that my marketing was limited. Now I'm ready to move on.
My next book (with a publication date of 2014) is titled Out of the Cauldron. It is a YA non-fiction book that tells the stories of the witch trials in Europe during the 14th - 16th centuries. Quite a fascinating time, but very very frightening. It was a time when neighbor turned on neighbor and even family members turned on each other.
I have copies of woodcuts for the book too, which make it more interesting, but don't know if I'll be able to get them into the book. So...look for my "witch" book in January....will post when it's finished and published and remember...
YA books are a great read for adults, too! I've read many YA books and enjoyed them tremendously. I recently read "Code Name Verity" and "Rose Under Fire"...both books by Elizabeth Wein.
Anastasia's Diary has done quite well, considering the fact that my marketing was limited. Now I'm ready to move on.
My next book (with a publication date of 2014) is titled Out of the Cauldron. It is a YA non-fiction book that tells the stories of the witch trials in Europe during the 14th - 16th centuries. Quite a fascinating time, but very very frightening. It was a time when neighbor turned on neighbor and even family members turned on each other.
I have copies of woodcuts for the book too, which make it more interesting, but don't know if I'll be able to get them into the book. So...look for my "witch" book in January....will post when it's finished and published and remember...
YA books are a great read for adults, too! I've read many YA books and enjoyed them tremendously. I recently read "Code Name Verity" and "Rose Under Fire"...both books by Elizabeth Wein.
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