This story will be hard to tell...

On April 10th, 2019, which was my birthday, scientists published the first-ever image of a real black hole.
I guess because it was my birthday, it felt very personal. Felt like the universe, for some reason, had given me a black hole as a birthday present. I became kind of obsessed with the image. I couldn’t explain why, but it felt extremely important.
I couldn’t stop looking at it. It felt like a window open to another dimension. There was some secret there.
https://t.co/MmsM7Zfnk5
The week before, a friend and I had visited a basilica I’d never been to. There was a man there who led us around the building. He was very small with a shriveled arm and blind in one eye. He insistently urged both of us to read the book of Revelation ASAP...
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It goes on to describe the locusts that arise from the smoke of the Abyss. They wear on their heads crowns of gold, coronae...  “They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon (that is, Destroyer).”
I became ecstatically obsessed with the Black Hole and was struck with this very urgent inspiration to create a religious icon featuring the 🕳.
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A few days later, Notre Dame Cathedral burned to the ground.
I watched the fire burn all day, mesmerized with horror.
Somehow I knew that there was a connection between the black hole and the cathedral fire. They were both windows into the same infernal Mystery. I’m usually a very upbeat, easygoing person. But I became overwhelmed with very apocalyptic vibes...
You won’t believe me, but around this time, a flock of vultures descended on my neighborhood, and for the next few months, every time I went outside they would cast their shadows over me as they circled in the sky...
I continued to feel doomed and be kinda aimlessly preoccupied with the black hole for a couple months.
Then I came across this image.
It rang all the same bells that the black hole and the obliterated cathedral did. I was buzzing with weird excitement. I somehow knew I was on the right track.
I started collecting as many “plague Christs” as I could.
They were made during the Black Death in Europe, and portrayed Jesus as suffering the same fate as all the countless people who died from the bubonic plague during that time.
(There’s kind of a lot more to this story, but I’m getting tired and need to wrap it up, so I’m gonna cut to the climax...)
Late July or early August, I was on my porch watering some hanging baskets. The sun was setting, I was facing west- there were thick low golden beams of sunlight cascading over me...
Suddenly, it felt like a giant knife came slicing out of another dimension, and cut me straight in half. Time literally stopped. I saw the droplets of water from my hose freeze in the air, reflecting the orange sunlight...
I was overcome by the most piercing and powerful sense of sadness I have ever, ever experienced. It took my breath away and stunned me.
Just unspeakably profound tragedy. Out of nowhere. Completely consumed by it. Tears streamed down my cheeks and I couldn’t move. With it came this unshakable knowledge, bathed in golden light, that things weren’t ever going to be the same again.
This was the last summer that life would be the way I’ve always known it.
I’m trying to include receipts here lest you think I’m making stuff up to seem special. At the time I didn’t know what it meant. I thought that maybe I was going to die. But in retrospect I think my instincts were just telling me what was coming for us all.
https://t.co/F3hLhyeiw5

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Microorganisms in biofilms are enclosed by an extracellular matrix that confers protection and improves survival. Previous studies have shown that viruses can secondarily colonize preexisting biofilms, and viral biofilms have also been described.


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Biofilms can also enhance virion viability in extracellular environments, such as on fomites and in aquatic sediments, allowing viral persistence and dissemination.
दधीचि ऋषि को मनाही थी कि वह अश्विनी कुमारों को किसी भी अवस्था में ब्रह्मविद्या का उपदेश नहीं दें। ये आदेश देवराज इन्द्र का था।वह नहीं चाहते थे कि उनके सिंहासन को प्रत्यक्ष या परोक्ष रुप से कोई भी खतरा हो।मगर जब अश्विनी कुमारों ने सहृदय प्रार्थना की तो महर्षि सहर्ष मान गए।


और उन्होनें ब्रह्मविद्या का ज्ञान अश्विनि कुमारों को दे दिया। गुप्तचरों के माध्यम से जब खबर इन्द्रदेव तक पहुंची तो वे क्रोध में खड़ग ले कर गए और महर्षि दधीचि का सर धड़ से अलग कर दिया।मगर अश्विनी कुमार भी कहां चुप बैठने वाले थे।उन्होने तुरंत एक अश्व का सिर महर्षि के धड़ पे...


...प्रत्यारोपित कर उन्हें जीवित रख लिया।उस दिन के पश्चात महर्षि दधीचि अश्वशिरा भी कहलाए जाने लगे।अब आगे सुनिये की किस प्रकार महर्षि दधीचि का सर काटने वाले इन्द्र कैसे अपनी रक्षा हेतु उनके आगे गिड़गिड़ाए ।

एक बार देवराज इन्द्र अपनी सभा में बैठे थे, तो उन्हे खुद पर अभिमान हो आया।


वे सोचने लगे कि हम तीनों लोकों के स्वामी हैं। ब्राह्मण हमें यज्ञ में आहुति देते हैं और हमारी उपासना करते हैं। फिर हम सामान्य ब्राह्मण बृहस्पति से क्यों डरते हैं ?उनके आने पर क्यों खड़े हो जाते हैं?वे तो हमारी जीविका से पलते हैं। देवर्षि बृहस्पति देवताओं के गुरु थे।

अभिमान के कारण ऋषि बृहस्पति के पधारने पर न तो इन्द्र ही खड़े हुए और न ही अन्य देवों को खड़े होने दिया।देवगुरु बृहस्पति इन्द्र का ये कठोर दुर्व्यवहार देख कर चुप चाप वहां से लौट गए।कुछ देर पश्चात जब देवराज का मद उतरा तो उन्हे अपनी गलती का एहसास हुआ।
First thread of the year because I have time during MCO. As requested, a thread on the gods and spirits of Malay folk religion. Some are indigenous, some are of Indian origin, some have Islamic


Before I begin, it might be worth explaining the Malay conception of the spirit world. At its deepest level, Malay religious belief is animist. All living beings and even certain objects are said to have a soul. Natural phenomena are either controlled by or personified as spirits

Although these beings had to be respected, not all of them were powerful enough to be considered gods. Offerings would be made to the spirits that had greater influence on human life. Spells and incantations would invoke their


Two known examples of such elemental spirits that had god-like status are Raja Angin (king of the wind) and Mambang Tali Arus (spirit of river currents). There were undoubtedly many more which have been lost to time

Contact with ancient India brought the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism to SEA. What we now call Hinduism similarly developed in India out of native animism and the more formal Vedic tradition. This can be seen in the multitude of sacred animals and location-specific Hindu gods