Mac — SSH on OS X Leopard

I’m trying to compile my notes on getting SSH working with Leopard. Most of the stuff I found online were for versions of OS X that pre-dated Leopard. It took some doing to get it working properly with Leopard. Of course, there were many helpful bloggers out there who got me through it. There was no brilliance on my part.

OBE — On the Horizon

Other books I’ll talk about:

Between the Gates: Lucid Dreaming, Astral Projection, and the Body of Light in Western Esotericism

The Art and Practice of Astral Projection

Astral Projection and Psychic Empowerment : Techniques for Mastering the Out-Of-Body Experience

Soul Flight: Astral Projection and the Magical Universe

The Mentalist’s Handbook: An Explorer’s Guide to Astral, Spirit, and Psychic Worlds

Ancient Teachings for Beginners

Not sure how quickly, but these are all on the pile. In addition, I’ve read the books by Fox, Muldoon, Carrington, Yram, Crookall. These were many years ago and each had its intrigue but all failed on the practical level. The more modern books provide much more useful information.

OBE — Buhlman

William Buhlman provides value in many ways. His first book is a gem. You can find useful audio of him on Youtube. He has a Yahoo Group that is very interesting.

Adventures Beyond the Body: How to Experience Out-of-Body Travel

This is a very intriguing book. If you were to put William Buhlman and Robert Bruce on a spectrum, they would not be close to each other. It wouldn’t be fair to say they are on opposite ends of the spectrum but they aren’t neighbors. Bruce is very focused on energy and how to use that energy for healing and for astral travel. He’s the mystic but he doesn’t fall into the trap of spouting endless new-age-speak. For all his mystical tendencies, he’s still very grounded (makes sense from an energy perspective…) and accessible.

William Buhlman is very different. There is no hint of the mystic about him. He’s just a regular Joe that stumbled upon an unexpected ability. In this regard, he is much closer to Robert Peterson. However, Mr. Buhlman just seems more focused and methodical to me than Peterson is. His examples tend to be more relevant to what he’s trying to say and he usually has a point. He never really strays into the realm of new age, never goes nearly psychedelic like Moen or the later Monroe, and yet he provides some very interesting theories (just as interesting as those of Mr. Bruce but from a different perspective). He provides a wealth of techniques and insights.

For people looking for success, it’s my opinion that the Buhlman and Bruce books are your best tools to get there. Next up is the Yuschak book with some Dreamamins. Also check out Mr. Buhlman’s Yahoo Group.

OBE — Peterson

Here is a book that just didn’t gel for me.

Out of Body Experiences: How to Have Them and What to Expect

Mr. Peterson’s intentions are good and he writes well enough. The problem, for me, is that it’s mostly disjointed experiences from his journal. Fear seems to be a big piece of his experience. When you finally get to the techniques, there isn’t much there. There are interesting elements here but the book just isn’t useful for me. Unlike the Bruce and Buhlman books, it just didn’t move me forward or provide a path to results.

Beer — Roxy Rolles

This will be brief. I can’t describe the color of this one because I drained it from the bottle.

I haven’t been a huge fan of Magic Hat beers. They are good but they haven’t wowed me. Tonight, I found this beer at a local grocery store. It is described as a hoppy amber. I like amber. I really like hoppy. Seemed like a natural fit so I had to buy a six pack.

It has a very nice hop aroma. It’s a forward scent but it isn’t overpowering.  The beer is medium bodied (to me) and you definitely get that smooth taste of an amber. The malty sweetness is very subdued. Then the hops hits. The hops is pronounced but not overly bitter. It also isn’t overwhelmingly citrus, like many of the west coast beers. Very tasty. Very nice. Very much worth trying.

OBE — Bruce Moen

One of the things I find fascinating about OBE books is how different they can be. In some respects, this makes perfect sense, since the area into which you “project” seems to be highly responsive to thought. If this is the case, it seems reasonable to expect that different people will have different experiences.

What I find even more fascinating is how the books in a series seem to change as they progress. If you’ve read the Robert Monroe books, you know that they get more and more odd as the books go along. This has always troubled me a bit. Do they get more and more strange because the person writing them is continuing to increase their level of vibration and progressing “higher” (or, perhaps, continuing to loosen this reality’s hold on them), or is it all the sign of a person going deeper into madness?

There is another series that seems to progress in a similar fashion. It is the afterlife series by Bruce Moen:

Voyages Into the Unknown (Exploring the Afterlife Series, Vol. 1)

Voyage Beyond Doubt (Exploring the Afterlife Series , Vol 2)

Voyages Into the Afterlife: Charting Unknown Territory (Exploring the Afterlife Series, Vol. 3)

The first book was compelling reading. You won’t get OBE technique in this series but reading about Moen’s early OBE experiences and his work with Robert Monroe was very interesting. It gives insight into Monroe and his institute and it wet my appetite for the Gateway CD’s. Plus, you get to follow Moen as he learns to project and moves from passive projector to active soul retriever. Watching his exploits as he learns to effectively gather people who are trapped in death is truly a unique read. His descriptions of the world beyond is quite consistent with some of Monroe’s descriptions, which shouldn’t be surprising if he’s a protege of Mr. Monroe. It’s hard to completely discount such a wild, yet coherent and congruent tale.

The problem, for me, is that the other two books get progressively stranger. The soul saving drops off as Moen begins to encounter “alien” beings. The encounters get more and more odd and the explanations for things also begin to veer more and more toward the bizarre. By the end of the third book, I was beginning to wonder if what I had read in the first book was just the beginnings of psychosis. To be fair, I don’t believe that’s the case (Moen seems a very sincere–and mostly sane–guy) but it certainly doesn’t seem out of the question.

Moen does provide techniques for finding and assisting the dead. Since Moen insists the techniques do not require you to leave your body at all, they are surprisingly simple. After several attempts, I had two interesting experiences. Were they “real?” I have no idea. They seemed real, but without the amazing clarity of an OBE. They were much more of a mental experience but it was a mental experience that I felt was too fluid and unexpected to be under my own control. I have no way of knowing if I was just following the NLP maxim of “fake it until you make it” or if I really experienced what I think I did.

In any case, they are interesting reading, particularly the first book. Still curious to me is how the books are congruent with the writings of Monroe but very different from the writings of Bruce or Buhlman. It leads me to believe that if we each wrote a book about our experiences, they would all be much more unique than the typical travel books that one can find related to travel on earth. Does this mean we are all having different hallucinations or is there really something to all this?

Having had a number of OBE’s, I certainly have an opinion  on this. How about you?

OBE — Astral Dynamics

My first successes with OBE’s began after reading “Astral Dynamics” by Robert Bruce.

Astral Dynamics: A New Approach to Out-of-Body Experiences

Mr. Bruce has taken great care to write a book that is logical and usable. It’s a large book but is filled to the brim with useful information. It provides this information in a very straight forward way, without going too deeply off any new age tangents.

A focus of the book is ‘raising energy.” Mr. Bruce maintains that you can improve your success by drawing energy into your body. This energy, as it builds up in your astral body, helps to raise the energy level of that body, helping it to separate from the physical body. The exercises are relaxing and, when done on a daily basis, the results are impressive.

The book is also a tour book of the astral planes. He describes many different experiences at many different energy levels and helps you to prepare for the experience.

If I have a complaint about the book, it’s in the discussion of negative entities. It’s clear why he has done it, since it is something you might encounter. However, I believe that you can create what you expect while traversing the planes and that by describing possibilities in detail, the chances are increased that you will experience just such an event. For my part, I have opted out of reading the negative entities topic on his forum because I would prefer not to begin creating possibilities for myself.

An extremely worthy read by a true pioneer.

ConceptDraw Office — Some Negatives

I’ve already gone on record as really liking ConceptOffice (especially the combination of Project and MindMap). However, there are a few annoying shortcomings:

- On a Windows PC, it can be a resource hog. My laptop will occasionally crawl to a near stop. This may be due to the fact that my main file has 12 projects and a master project that combines them all (of course, on the Mac, this is not an issue at all).

- On a Mac, you cannot export to Excel or Numbers.

- Although you can combine multiple projects, shared resources are treated as separate instances. I have found no way to summarize resource usage across the multiple projects without pulling a report into Excel and doing a lot of manipulating.

- There aren’t enough fields available on the resource sheet and I haven’t been able to find a way to add them. It would be nice to be able to classify tasks and then summarize or cost by task type. It would also be nice to have fields for resource cost AND resource billing rate so that margins can be calculated.

OBE – My Next OBE

The follow-up to my first OBE was this one. It’s interesting to me because I had sensations/sounds that are “typical” for an OBE. It may be a false belief and there could certainly be physiological factors that lead up to a totally internal experience. However, based on the nature of the experience, the vividness of the experience, the sense of total control, and the fact that I had all my waking memories, I now believe these were OBEs.

OK, this morning I think I projected again. I woke up and decided to try it. Started using the rope method and as I pulled up, the vibrations increased. Finally, I slid out. At first my vision was obscured, like looking through gauze. I willed my vision to improve and saw my comforter as I was leaving. Exited the house and it felt really wild to go through the wall. The texture of the wall was very different.

Thought I would check out my neighborhood but, of course, I found myself in a neighborhood I didn’t recognize. I saw movement in this house and decided to go in. There was a woman wrapped in a white shawl (including her head). As I entered the house, she came toward me. The shawl dropped away and she (it) had this undersized deformed head with wispy hair and very big eyes. “She” had 3 teeth on the top and 3 on the bottom but they were long and curved, like the teeth on a warthog. Her eyes lit up, she smiled, and she grabbed me, wrapping her arms and legs around me. I couldn’t get away, so I willed myself back into my body.

When I got back into my body (if that’s what really happened), there was kind of a thump and I “woke” up. What really seemed to happen, though, is that I joined a dream already in progress. After a few minutes of that dream, I truly woke up.

After this experience, nothing happened again until this morning. Perhaps it was because I was so freaked out by that experience. Not even a hint.

Last night, I woke up around 3:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep. I was doing all kinds of relaxation stuff and probably did fall back asleep. Around 5:30, I realized that my body was totally relaxed and nearly paralyzed, so I decided to try to astral project. For some reason, I decided to try to “shift” my non-physical body. I shifted a little to the left, shifted a little to the right and BANG!, the vibration started.

This time, instead of the loud mechanical sound, I heard the wind. The vibration was much less violent than the previous experiences. Instead of moving out sideways, I dropped out of my body backwards, almost like a scuba diver dropping backward out of a boat. Then, I was falling for a while. Several times, I almost brought myself out of it and had to push back into the vibration. Also, while I was falling, I had no vision (I had forgotten about fact that sometimes you have to “will” your vision and thought maybe I had failed to project). Next thing I know, I’m in a very nice neighborhood that I don’t recognize. I decided I wanted to fly. Up into the air I flew. It was about the right level of darkness for 5:30 in the morning but there were a lot of white birds flying about. For a few moments, I flew above the birds. As I swooped up and down, I could almost feel my gut drop (that elevator feeling).

Then, I swooped down past a lady walking on the street and over to a person and two girls walking into a house. I followed them into the house (flew right through the door). They walked into a pantry area that was kind of tight. I followed them into the pantry, then turned around and headed out again. The “mom” had been by the door when I entered. I touched her as I left and she looked right at me and smiled at me.

Then I was back in my body and I couldn’t do it again. It was very wild and the most “realistic” experience so far. This really seemed like the real world.

Beer

Disclaimer: I am not a beer expert. I have not been trained in the mysterious ways of beer judging. Anything said here should be considered the ramblings of a madman.

Quite some time ago (probably around 12-13 years ago), there was a brew pub in Lawton, MI called Duster’s. The story of that brew pub is tenuous in my brain, so my history may be more mythical than reality. As I recall, it was started by a man who was a crop duster. There was a crop dusting motif within the pub that gave it a true pub atmosphere. They really didn’t have much in the way of food at the time and the staff were downright surly. More than once, I had an argument with the waiter over what they charged me.

The lack of food didn’t matter. The pissy attitudes of the waitstaff didn’t matter. They had a good red (I think) and this remarkable IPA. To be fair, they may be one and the same beer, I can’t remember. Whatever their attitudes, they knew how to make beer. This was back when micro-breweries were just beginning to form (at least in Michigan). It was an exciting time for anyone who despised Budweiser.

This beer that we liked was the most aggressively hopped beer we had ever tasted. We were convinced that it would take the paint off your car and straighten pubic hair (sorry…). My drinking buddy has a bit of a reaction to hops. When he had this Duster’s beer, he would begin to sneeze uncontrollably. After a few minutes, he would get himself under control and happily finish off his beer. It was that good. Note: there is now a beer that may be close in hop aggressiveness. It is Huma-Lupa-Licious, by Short’s Brewing in Bellaire, MI. It’s another mega-hopped beer that you will hate if you don’t love hops. Short’s is another brewery worth visiting but that is outside the scope of this posting.

Duster’s was then purchased by Larry Bell (of Bell’s Beer fame). Our favorite beer disappeared and we stopped heading out to Lawton. Arcadia, Bell’s and Kraftbrau were closer and there were just no compelling beers to be found there anymore. It appears that The Old Hat has since been purchased by the brewmaster that Larry had put in charge of the brewery. They now serve food (good bar food) and sometimes have live music.

Tonight there was a bluesy band. They were good. The food was good. The beer…interesting. The Old Hat seems to trend toward maltier beers, which I like, but which aren’t my favorites. I got a sampler of all their beers and wrote quick notes about each. If you know how to evaluate beer, you won’t like my descriptions. My ignorance knows no bounds. The beers were all tasted in small sampling glasses, so it was harder for me to get the scent. Having said that…

Station 1300 — This is their “light” beer. I’m not fond of light beers but I enjoyed this one. It has a light body and a good color. There is a nice hint of hops that gives it character but it isn’t a hoppy beer; you get the sense of hops but not the bitterness. This would be a good quaffing beer. 4.5 out of 5.

Pumpkin Ale — One of my rules is, keep fruit out of my beer. I’m sure there are good examples of beer with fruit in them, but aside from the Belgian ales, I’ve not found them. This beer has the spices associated with pumpkin pie. To be honest, it was better than I expected. It wouldn’t be my favorite and would have to be saved for special occasions, but it was drinkable. It has a light body and the nutmeg/cinnamon taste is prominent. 3 out of 5.

Hefe Weizen — It definitely has the unfiltered look you expect from a hefe weizen. It also has a light body. There is a pronounced banana taste to it. There is a hint of the yeast flavor that I associate with the wheat beers I’ve had in Germany but that taste yields to the banana. My drinking buddy for the evening loves wheat beers. He liked this but felt it was stronger in taste than either Oberon or Whitsun (he preferred Whitsun but liked them all). To me, it was pleasant; another quaffing beer. 3.5 out of 5.

Red Lager — This was light red in color and bitter. It is bitter but not hoppy. It seemed like a more carbonated, lighter IPA. The malt keeps the bitterness from being overwhelming. It isn’t sweet like some of the other reds I’ve had (but they were probably ales). 3.5 out of 5.

Pale Ale — This beer is copper colored. It has a more balanced hop/bitterness that makes it fairly smooth. 3 out of 5.

Cherry Baby — (cherry weizen ale). This beer is more coppery colored and is clearly unfiltered. You get your nose near this one and it screams cherry. The cherry overpowers in the scent and in the taste. It was like drinking bitter maraschino cherry juice. I’m sure there is an audience for it but I hated this one. The overpowering cherry essence probably hit me the way my favorite hoppy beers hit others. 1 out of 5.

Lug Nut Brown Ale — This is a dark beer. Possibly Porter dark. It is light-bodied, smooth and malty. If I had to describe it, I would call it a Porter Light. It’s a good beer but not one I would drink often. 3.5 out of 5.

Billy Bock — This was also coppery colored and appeared unfiltered. It is light bodied with a hint of fruit. It is not sweet or as full-bodied as other bock’s I’ve had. In fact, it’s not very sweet at all, which is good. To me, it just didn’t have a lot of taste or character. 2.5 out of 5.

Scotch Ale — This is reddish in color and medium bodied. It has a definite bitterness to it. Again, it is not as sweet as I would expect but it is more bitter than I would expect. There is a definite hint of the roasted malt to it. It doesn’t have that strong sense of alcohol that may Scotch Ales seem to have. Without that and the sweetness, it’s a more refreshing version of a Scotch Ale. 4 out of 5.

Coffee Porter — This has a good, dark color. It is fairly light-bodied with a medium roasted malt taste. The hint of coffee plays well with the malt and keeps it pretty smooth. 4 out of 5.

Stubbin Stout — This has the expected color. It is smooth. It has less body than the Porter and a smoother roasted malt taste. Another easy drinking beer. It isn’t Guinness but I don’t think it’s trying to be. 4 out of 5.

All in all, I enjoyed the beers. The maltiness without a pronounced sweetness was refreshing for me. It made the beers more drinkable. The waitstaff is now MUCH more pleasant also…