News

Tibetan Monks Perform 2nd Sand Mandala Ceremony in Middle of US in 1 Week

Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence Kansas.

Not far from the geographical center of the contiguous United States which is located in Lebanon, Kansas, are Tibetan Buddhist monks.


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These monks are from the same monastery (Drepung Gomang Monastic College) in India who performed a sand mandala in Kansas City earlier this week.

Their intent is to release world peace.

The mandala depicts a deity or deities, by creating and releasing the mandala, they indicate that it honors the deity or deities which in turn blesses the region.

Two mandalas in a week in Kansas, in the center of the United States… lose dry close to the IHOP International House of Prayer Christian community.

Source Tibetan Cultural Events at KU | Programs | Spencer Museum of Art.

News

Fashion Week Parties Swarm New York City

If you weren’t at a fashion party last night, well, you missed out on all the fun. With New York Fashion Week kicking off today, every stylish guy and gal in the city seemed to be toasting, speechifying, air-kissing and posing for pictures at a slew of fashion fetes last night to inaugurate the big week ahead.

Du Jour, the latest glossy magazine to hit newsstands, feted its debut issue with a party hosted by cover star Christy Turlington and photographer Bruce Weber. Held at Capitale, the party drew the likes of Russell Simmons, Amar’e Stoudemire, Hoda Kotb and model Hilary Rhoda.

New York’s revamped The Cut, which officially debuted August 13, also threw itself a launch party on the rooftop of the NoMad Hotel, attended by Nigel Barker, Coco Rocha, Lindsay Ellingson and Yigal Azrouel.

Farther uptown, shoe designer Brian Atwood — recently reprimanded for his overly sexy shoe ads — threw a party celebrating the opening of his new Madison Avenue store, attended by pals Rachel Zoe, Michelle Trachtenberg, Heidi Klum, Ryan Lochte and Candice Swanepoel (star of the aforementioned ads).

There were also ceremonies honoring some of fashion’s greatest: the Fashion Institute of Technology presented Oscar de la Renta with the 2012 Couture Council Award for Artistry at a luncheon earlier in the day (Sarah Jessica Parker and Anna Wintour were by his side) and the 9th Annual Style Awards crowned Carolina Herrera the Designer Of The Year that evening at Lincoln Center (Katie Holmes did the honors).

And that doesn’t even include SPIN and Refinery29’s party across the river in Brooklyn, the launch of the latest fashion tome, “Antonio Lopez: Fashion, Art, Sex and Disco” (Lopez was a friend of Karl Largerfeld) and the splashy red carpet premiere of “Boardwalk Empire” which drew the Hollywood crowd.

It was hard to be in multiple places at once, but the most seasoned partygoers managed to hit several events each: Iman and Rachel Roy, for example, showed their faces at both the Style Awards and Brian Atwood’s fete and Kim Kardashian wowed in a dramatic cutout dress at both the Brian Atwood store and Du Jour’s launch.

As for us? We headed to Williamsburg for Refinery29’s bash and stayed put.

Check out last night’s party snaps… and just envision the hangovers everyone’s nursing today. Happy first day of Fashion Week, y’all!

via Fashion Week Parties Swarm New York City (PHOTOS)

Entertainment

Kanye West raps about Kim Kardashian’s sex tape

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How charming. Kanye West is proud of his “perfect bitch” Kim Kardashian and her sex tape.

TMZ has heard West’s new single “Clique,” in which he references his girlfriend’s infamous sex tape from 2007.

West raps: “Eat breakfast at Gucci. My girl a superstar all from a home movie.”

If there’s any doubt who Yeezy could be rapping about, consider the title of Kardashian’s sex tape: “Kim Kardashian Superstar.”

West is a “self-described porn connoisseur,” according to TMZ, which also notes that Kardashian credits her initial fame to the film.

What a perfect pair.

more at:  Kanye West raps about Kim Kardashian’s sex tape – NYPOST.com

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Alec Baldwin’s daughter Ireland discusses his infamous “little pig” voicemail

Alec Baldwin’s daughter Ireland has talked for the first time about his infamous 2007 voice mail in which he called her “a rude, thoughtless, little pig” — saying he often speaks like that “because he’s frustrated.”

Ireland, the 16-year-old daughter of Baldwin and Kim Basinger, thinks the incident — which created a viral scandal and prompted Baldwin to temporarily lose visitation rights — was blown wildly out of proportion.

“The only problem with that voice mail was that people made it out to be a way bigger deal than it was,” she tells Page Six Magazine, out today. “He’s said stuff like that before just because he’s frustrated.

more at Alec Baldwin’s daughter Ireland discusses his infamous “little pig” voicemail – NYPOST.com.

News

Christians fight for rights at work in European court – Home News – UK – The Independent

Christians fight for rights at work in European court – Home News – UK – The Independent.

Four Christians who faced disciplinary action in their respective jobs have taken their cases to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to argue their cases.

Two of the cases involve the right to wear crosses at work, another involves a marriage counsellor who lost his job after expressing reluctance at giving sex therapy to gay couples, and the final case, a registrar who would not perform civil partnerships for same-sex couples.

The four have delivered their cases to the court, arguing their right to religious freedom is a stake. The landmark case will have consequences for future cases in the UK, and Europe.

Furthermore, a top British QC has said that Christians should, “leave their beliefs at home or get another job”. However, some Christians feel there is a different set of standards for Muslims, with employers adapting dress codes to accommodate the headscarf for female employees, for example.

The European Court is expected to give it’s verdict shortly.

News

EU funding Orwellian artificial intelligence plan to monitor public for “abnormal behaviour” – Telegraph

EU funding Orwellian artificial intelligence plan to monitor public for “abnormal behaviour” – Telegraph.

The European Union has undertaken a five year research program to develop computer programmes which will be able to profile entire nations. “Project Indect” will use artificial intelligence to build “agents” capable of detecting “abnormal behaviour” on the internet.

Project Indect’s website says its main objectives include “to develop a platform for the registration and exchange of operational data, acquisition of multimedia content, intelligent processing of all information and automatic detection of threats and recognition of abnormal behaviour or violence”.

It talks of the “construction of agents assigned to continuous and automatic monitoring of public resources such as: web sites, discussion forums, usenet groups, file servers, p2p [peer-to-peer] networks as well as individual computer systems, building an internet-based intelligence gathering system, both active and passive”.

Project Indect has received nearly £10 million in funding from the British taxpayer, and has many civil liberty groups worried. With Shami Chakrabarti of the human rights group ‘Liberty’ describing such mass surveillance of a country a “sinister step”, but doing so on a European scale “positively chilling”.

News

Drepung Gomang Monks Release World Peace Sand Mandala in Kansas City

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Tibetan monks from Drepung Gomang performed a sand mandala in Kansas City this last Friday, August 31, 2012 at the Unity Temple on the Plaza.


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The intention is to create world peace.  As stated by a previous monk who performs mandala ceremonies, they pay homage to “gods of the underworld”.  This homage influences the region in which it is performed.

see Drepung Gomang Monks Create World Peace Sand Mandala | Unity Temple on the Plaza | WDAF^Jackson County | Kansas City Events at www.kctv5.com.

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Tibetan Monks do NYC Sand Mandala Ceremony in 1 Day

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New York, NY.  Welcoming the Tibetan Buddhist monks to perform their religious ceremony of a sand mandala is Baruch College.


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The event is sponsored by Baruch-Rubin Museum of Art Project.

Monks from the Namdroling Monastery located in Southern India will build the mandala in one day.  Usually the creation of this ceremony is 4-7 days.

A mandala represents some kind of deity or deities.  For instance the Kalachakra mandala contains 722 deities.  The mandala ceremony honors these deities which can also be known as or called gods.  It is intended that the ceremony will release a blessing into the region from these deities or gods.

Source TibetanMonksToBuildSandMandala.

News

Venice Film Festival: Hollywood shines a light on Scientology – Telegraph

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Venice Film Festival: Hollywood shines a light on Scientology – Telegraph.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s new movie “The Master”, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival tells the story of the early days of Scientology.

It has been revealed that Tom Crusie requested a private viewing of the movie before the premiere. Anderson would not disclose what Tom Cruise thought of the movie, saying only, “we are still friends”.

Tom Cruise is Scientology’s most famous follower. The movement has been called Hollywood’s cult with celebrities like John Travolta and Lisa Marie Presley also members.

The movie The Master is tipped as a potential winner of the Golden Lion, the Venice Festival’s most prestigious award.

Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s. Hubbard also came up with the idea of “Project Celebrity” to promote his ideas. He targeted the big names of Hollywood at the time: Greta Garbo, Howard Hughes and Orson Welles. Hubbard was unsuccesful at gaining their support, unlike modern day Hollywood.

Scientology are also planning on launching a broadcasting service from near their Hollywood headquarters, to promote the teachings of Scientology to a global audience.

News

Hurricane Isaac Hit’s New Orleans on Katrina Anniversary

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When the tropical storm, began to develop in the Gulf, which would become Hurricane Isaac, meterologists began to warn that they thought it would hit land in Florida, as a category 1 storm. However, the storm turned and began to head straight for New Orleans.

As Isaac travelled through the Gulf, it hitting Haiti and the Dominican Republic, killing 24 in Haiti and 2 in the Dominican Republic.

Hurricane Isaac hit land at New Orleans exactly 7 years after Hurricane Katina devastated the city.

Although Isaac did not cause the damage of Katrina the new multi-billion dollar levee protecting the New Orleans coast was breached.

Random Events, Free Will, Pre-destiny or Something Darker ?