Documentary - Stuck in Traffick (Child Sex Trafficking from Survivors' Perspective)

I don't like "trigger warnings" in general, but this feels like an exception. This documentary is likely to be triggering to anyone who has been through childhood sexual abuse. Please be aware of your own feelings and avoid this if necessary.

This documentary is based in Phoenix, AZ, a couple of hours north of Tucson. In Arizona, child sex trafficking in the fastest growing criminal activity, as it is in the U.S. and the rest of the world (it is the 2nd largest criminal activity in the world now).

Part of the problem in AZ is that the drug cartels, who straddle the U.S.-Mexico border, have realized that they can only sell drugs once, but they can sell a child over and over and over again.

According to Sold No More, a Tucson-based anti-trafficking group:

Trafficking FAQs

• Human trafficking is now the 2nd largest and fastest growing illegal trafficking activity in the world.  (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2008)
• The annual market value of human trafficking is $32+ billion. (Ibid.)  80% of victims  are women and 50% are children.  (Trafficking in Persons Report 2007, U.S. Department of State)
• Globally, one million children are forced to work in the sex industry every year.   (Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 2007)
• Among the millions trafficked each year, hundreds of thousands are teenage girls, some as young as five years of age. (Ibid)
• In the U.S., handlers, “pimps,” can make $100,000 a year, per child. 
• Child pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry and among the fastest growing criminal segments on the Internet.  Child pornography fuels the child sex trade.   (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)
• 450,000 children run away from home each year in the U.S..  A third of those lured into sex slavery are taken within 48 hours of leaving home. (Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 2007)
• The average age a child is first commercially sexually exploited in the U.S. is 13 years of age.  (Ibid)
• Fewer than 1,000 minor sex trafficking victims in the U.S. have been assisted by  federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies since 2001.  (Ibid)
• 10% of trafficked children were kidnapped.  (Karla Dial, “Reaching Into the Dark,” Citizen Magazine, March 2010, 5)

Here is a striking graphic of the situation:

This is tough to watch - but awareness breeds action. We need to put an end to this form of slavery.

Stuck in Traffick

Prostitute. Hooker. Floozy. Call girl. Lady of the Night. Streetwalker.

Society stamps a negative label on the women of this dangerous criminal industry. However, a fine line must be drawn between those women doing it by choice and the victims who have no choice.

Sex trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. There are more than 100,000 minors forced into the sex trade every year in the U.S., with an average age of only 13. They are first recruited, forced, coerced, or abducted by a pimp or his workers. Then they are beaten, raped, brainwashed, and treated as commodities. Some of these victimized women can bring in $15,000 a week. The pimp usually receives every penny.

There are more slaves today than at any other time in our history. Slavery in the form of sex trafficking is among us in a hidden and quiet fashion. It’s in our neighborhoods and in our malls. It’s in our suburbs, it's leaking into our schools, and it's all over the Internet. Education and awareness are the best tools we have at stopping this heinous crime.

Stuck in Traffick is a documentary that brings light to the underground world of sex trafficking and what can be done to help these victims.

Toward a Science of Consciousness Conference - Tucson, April 21-26, 2014 (20th Anniversary)

 

Looks like an excellent conference this year - with some seriously cool plenary speakers. Among the names announced so far: John Searle, Daniel Dennett, David Eagleman, Christof Koch, Ned Block, Susan Blackmore, and Rebecca Goldstein (among others).

I hope to attend as much of it this year as my hectic schedule allows.

Toward a Science of Consciousness

The Tucson Conference - 20th Anniversary

April 21-26, 2014

It was 20 years ago today......

Plenary Speakers TSC 2014 bios / photos including:

• Susan Blackmore
• Karl Deisseroth
• Rebecca Goldstein
• Henry Markram
• Petra Stoerig
• Ned Block
• Daniel Dennett
• Stuart Hameroff
• George Mashour
• Giulio Tononi
• David Chalmers
• David Eagleman
• Christof Koch
• John Searle
• and many more....

Toward a Science of Consciousness - 20th Anniversary
The Tucson Conference - April 21-26 2014

Scientists, philosophers, researchers, scholars, artists and humanists are invited to the 20th Anniversary of the first Tucson conference “Toward a Science of Consciousness” held in 1994. The 2014 conference will reflect on 20 years of progress, present understanding and future directions in the science of consciousness.

On-Line Registration - NOW OPEN ! | click here

Submit your Abstracts
Submission Deadline: December 15

Please review the taxonomy and general abstract guidelines

You do not have to make payment in order to open a registration record and to submit an abstract for consideration

Workshops - Pre-Conference Workshop Proposals
Please review the workshop proposal guidelines

email to: center@u.arizona.edu

Workshop Proposal Deadline: September 15 | Notifications by Oct 1

Additional Conference Information:

• Program Outline and Updates 
• Conference Flyer

How interesting that the TED folks allowed Hameroff to give his talk but took down Sheldrake and Hancock, and then canceled the whole TEDx West Hollywood program. Hameroff is just as speculative as the others, and was featured in a film (the inane What the Bleep Do We Know!?) about Ramtha, "a Lemurian warrior who fought the Atlanteans over 35,000 years ago," and is channeled by JZ Knight in her 12,800-square-foot French chateau-style home in Yelm, Washington.

Yeah, no woo here.

The attacks on Sheldrake and Hancock are political - they challenged the existing system in ways it cannot defend against short of silencing them. But Hameroff is within the system, claiming to use quantum physics to support his claims.

The Future of Consciousness: Stuart Hameroff at TEDx Tucson

Stuart Hameroff is an anesthesiologist and professor at the University of Arizona known for his studies of consciousness. For nearly forty years, Dr. Hameroff's research is centered on how the pinkish gray meat between our ars produces the richness of experiential awareness. A clinical anesthesiologist, Hameroff has studied how anesthetic gas molecules selectively erase consciousness via delicate quantum effects on protein dynamics. Following a longstanding interest in the computational capacity of microtubules inside neurons, Hameroff teamed with the eminent British physicist Sir Roger Penrose to develop a controversial quantum theory of consciousness called orchestrated objective reduction (Orch OR) which connects brain processes to fundamental spacetime geometry. Recently Hameroff has explored the theoretical implications of Orch OR for consciousness to exist independent of the body, distributed in deeper, lower, faster scales in non-local, holographic spacetime, raising possible scientific approaches to the soul and spirituality.

Toward a Science of Consciousness Conference Announcement and Call for Abstracts

The 2012 Toward a Science of Consciousness Conference is back in Tucson - and they have just issued the call for abstracts. Here are the details.

Conference Announcement and Call for Abstracts


TOWARD A SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
April 9-14, 2012
Loews Ventana Canyon Resort Hotel
Tucson, Arizona


Sponsored by:
The Center for Consciousness Studies,
The University of Arizona
http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu


Toward a Science of Consciousness (TSC) conferences have been held annually since 1994, alternating between Tucson, Arizona and other locations around the world. The tenth biennial 'Tucson Conference', Toward a Science of Consciousness will take place April 9-14, 2012.


Known for rigorous and leading edge approaches to all aspects of the study of conscious experience, TSC includes neuroscience, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, psychology, philosophy, neurobiology, medicine, quantum physics and cosmology as well as art, mind technology and experiential and contemplative approaches. TSC is the largest interdisciplinary gathering probing fundamental questions related to conscious experience. An estimated 500 scientists, philosophers, psychologists, experientialists, artists and students from over 60 countries are due to take part.


For the first time, Toward a Science of Consciousness will be held at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort Hotel in the Catalina Foothills above Tucson, Arizona (with a special conference rate of 99 dollars/room/night). See: http://www.loewshotels.com/en/Ventana-Canyon-Resort


Plenary/Keynote Session themes will include:
HOT or NOT: Debate on higher-order theories of consciousness
War of the Worldviews: Chopra and Mlodinow on consciousness
Consciousness and Echolocation
Fractal consciousness: Scale-free brain structure and dynamics
Retrocausality and consciousness
Searching for consciousness in coma and anesthesia


Speakers will include:
Daryl Bem
Ned Block
Melanie Boly
Deepak Chopra
Biyu Jade He
Daniel Kish
Victor Lamme
Hakwan Lau
George Mashour
Leonard Mlodinow
David Rosenthal
...and others


As in previous conferences, program sessions will include Plenary and Keynote talks, Concurrent talks, Posters, Art/Science demos and exhibits, Pre-Conference workshops, Side trips and Social events in the Tucson conference tradition. For Information see: http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu/


Abstract Submission
TSC 2012 Conference Abstract Submission System is now open. Abstracts considered for Plenary, Concurrent, Poster and Art/Tech Demo sessions.
See: http://sbs.arizona.edu/project/consciousness/index.php


Schedule of Deadlines -- Tentative
December 10 Abstracts Due
January 5 Decisions
January 15 Early Registration Due
March 1 Final Abstract Edits Due


Call for Pre-Conference Workshop proposals
Toward a Science of Consciousness 2012
April 9-14, 2012
http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu


Proposals for pre-conference workshops are invited in all areas related to understanding conscious experience. Workshops provide in depth, detailed treatments of various methodologies, perspectives, reviews and approaches. Workshops may be solo presentations, or include two or more presenters. Attendance fees are $60 for 4 hour workshops and $80 for full day workshops, split evenly between presenter(s) and the conference which provides the room, A-V, promotion/advertisement and refreshments. A minimum number of registrants will be required.


The conference Plenary program opens Tuesday April 10 at 1:45 pm.
The pre-conference workshops will be held in three 4 hour sessions
1) Monday April 9th, 9 am to 1 pm
2) Monday April 9th, 2 pm to 6 pm
3) Tuesday April 10th, 9 am to 1 pm


Workshop presenters (up to 2 per workshop) also receive free registration for the conference. Please submit a 500 word (or less) abstract/summary and presenter information by email directly to center@email.arizona.edu


Deadline for Workshop proposals is November 1
Submitters will be notified by November 15


On behalf of the Program Committee - Toward a Science of Consciousness 2012.
David Chalmers, Australian National University, Co-Chair
Stuart Hameroff, University of Arizona, Co-Chair
Uriah Kriegel, University of Arizona
Hakwan Lau, Columbia University
Marilyn Schlitz, Institute of Noetic Sciences
Heather Berlin, Mount Sinai Medical Center
Jonathan Schooler, University of California, Santa Barbara
Melanie Boly, University of Liege
Moran Cerf, UCLA/NYU
Abi Behar-Montefiore, conference manager, center@u.arizona.edu


Contact:
Abi Behar-Montefiore, Manager, Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona - center@u.arizona.edu


CONFERENCE LINKS
CCS WEBSITE www.consciousness.arizona.edu
CCS /TSC CONFERENCE REGISTRATION and ABSTRACT SUBMISSION
http://sbs.arizona.edu/project/consciousness/index.php
CONFERENCE HOTEL BOOKING http://www.loewshotels.com/en/Ventana-Canyon-Resort/GroupPages/Consciousness


Follow us:
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Center-for-Consciousness-Studies/221542854531534
Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/brainyday

Seven Cups Teahouse - Chinese Tea Ceremony (Oolong) History

Jami and I just came home from the Seven Cups Tea House, in Tucson, where we participated in a Chinese Oolong Tea Ceremony (the name “Oolong” or “Wu Long” meaning “Black Dragon”). I have never been a huge tea fan - sure, I like some good green tea, but I have never really gotten into the depth of variety in flavors and the Chinese associations of various teas and their health benefits.

Chinese Tea Ceremony History

The evolution of the Chinese Tea Ceremony mirrors the growth and importance of tea within Chinese culture. In the beginning, tea was cultivated and used solely as herbal medicine mostly within temples. Monks began to use tea to teach a respect for nature, humility and an overall sense of peace and calm. In fact, the spirit of the Chinese Tea Ceremony is described as he, jing, yi, zhen which translates to peace, quiet, enjoyment and truth. Monks felt they could illustrate deep philosophical concepts through tea service. It is for that reason that the underlying philosophies of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism blend together through the Chinese Tea Ceremony. Over time, people recognized the health benefits of tea but also its overall enjoyment. Tea ceremonies could be seen in memorial celebrations for both emperors and family ancestors.

The first written account of tea ceremonies was during the Tang Dynasty over 1200 years ago. The term to describe the serving of tea was initially called cha dao or the way of tea. Japanese monks traveling through China during this period began to learn tea and tea culture. After bringing this knowledge back to Japan, tea ceremonies evolved in Japan as it blended with Japanese culture resulting in the well-known Japanese Tea Ceremony and is still called cha dao. Although cha dao originated in China, many felt a new term was needed to distinguish between Japanese and Chinese tea ceremonies. In 1970, a Taiwanese tea master Lu Zi Kuang coined the term cha yi or art of tea, to represent current Chinese tea ceremonies.

There are six major aspects to consider when performing a Chinese Tea Ceremony. The following is a summary of both the technical knowledge and subtle skills for a successful ceremony.

1. Attitude – The attitude of the person performing the ceremony should reflect both a happy and confident demeanor. The performer should exude a calm and relaxed manner to create a peaceful and enjoyable tea ceremony.
2. Tea Selection – There are many considerations when selecting the right tea. In addition to fragrance, shape and taste, the tea should have a beautiful story and name.
3. Water Selection – The best quality tea leaves will have poor taste if bad quality water is used. Therefore, select pure, light and clean water to ensure a wonderful tasting tea.
4. Teaware Selection – It is important to select the correct teaware for brewing your tea leaves. In addition, allow your participants to fully appreciate the teaware by selecting both useful and beautiful items.
5. Ambiance – A peaceful and calm environment can be created with a clean, comfortable and quiet room. Artwork can be used to enhance the overall atmosphere of the space.
6. Technique – The basic skills for brewing tea are needed but also a graceful manner reflected through hand movements, facial expressions and clothing.

After speaking with Rene (our wonderful host - the Chinese Tea Ceremony is much less formal than the Japanese Tea Ritual), I bought some Rock Oolong tea, which is supposed to be good for people who exercise a lot. Wow, how perfect.

A famous culinary grease cutter in its own right, Rock Oolong tea also offers nutrients from the mineral rich soil of Wu Yi Shan, which are popularly believed to benefit joint health, to relieve muscle aches and are considerably popular in Japan as an aid to liver health.

And it's called Iron Arhat - seems like a good name for a Buddhist gym.

Tags: he, jing, yi, zhen, peace, quiet, enjoyment, truth, Seven Cups, Tea house, Chinese Tea Ceremony, Oolong, History, China, culture, Health, Tucson, tea, Iron Arhat

Downtown Tucson

A good friend and I both played hooky from work today and spent the day downtown (in Tucson) taking some photos. It was too sunny to get good pictures, but it was fun. And here's a tip - if you want to know where the cool stuff is in a town, ask the homeless guys hanging out in the shade.

These first two images are from a mural that documents the history of the local natives' history. These two scenes are from the creation scene.




This next series of images are form a shrine (The El Tiradito Shrine: The Castaway) dedicated to a person who died a sinner (purportedly as a result of a love triangle) -- it is the only shrine in the US dedicated to a sinner who is buried on unconsecrated ground. Many people leave prayers, light candles, and get married at this shrine. It seems to be an important site for the Hispanic population in the city.










These images are from the same neighborhood, just some things that caught my eye.

Tags: Downtown, Tucson, photography, El Tiradito Shrine, The Castaway