dpperez-blog

[dpperez-blog]

Entertainment

SAN DIEGO, California — Grab your fiber foam armors, because it’s that time of year again for San Diego Comic Con! No matter what you’re a fan of, there is always something for someone that comes out during this weekend. The highlight of the convention so far has been what Warner Brothers has in store for their fans for the the movies coming out under the production company.

As expected, they take their place at Hall H to showcase their upcoming filmings, which include Ready Player One, Blade Runner 2049, Justice League and Aquaman. There will be signings at both the Warner Brothers and DC booths, immediately following the panel. Want to know the line up? Of course you do! Here’s what we know:

Ready Player One, a science-fiction action movie based on the novel by Ernest Cline of the same name. The film is directed by Steven Spielberg. Stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, and T.J. Miller, author/co-screenwriter Cline, co-screenwriter Zak Penn and Speilberg, himself, are all on the panel.

The overdue and long-awaited Blake Runner 2049, the sequel to the cult classic takes the audience 30 more years into the future with Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford with support from Ana De Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Lennie James and Mackenzie Davis. The panel will features the respective actors alongside with writers Hampton Fancher and Michael Green and the director, Denis Villeneuve.

One of the most anticipated movies of Comic Con and the DC universe, Justice League takes to the big screen for the first time. Stars Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher lead the panel and will end with an early look at director James Wan’s Aquaman.

WB has always had an appearance at the convention when they have something big planned and this year, they seem to be pulling out some major stops for their fans.

Thursday-Sunday, those who are brave enough can hop on the creepiest school bus in town: an IT-inspired virtual reality installation that will have them skipping school for the foreseeable future. The bus and FLOAT: A Cinematic VR Experience will be located at the Interactive Zone across from Petco Park, and you don’t require a badge to attend.

If you’re looking for something more family-friendly, The LEGO Ninjago Movie in 6A, but what you might not know is just who is attending. Stop by for stars Dave Franco, Justin Theroux, Abbi Jacobson, Olivia Munn, Kumail Nanjiani, Michael Peña and Zach Woods and producer Dan Lin, in what is surely way too small of a room. Panel attendees will receive an exclusive, movie-themed giveaway as well.

Looking for more LEGO Ninjago goodness? At 10AM Thursday-Sunday, fans looking for a good stretch before standing in their next line can head to the lawn at the Omni Hotel to participate in “NINJOGA,” a tai chi/yoga-like workout for the ninja in everyone!

Are you excited for what Warner Brothers have in store for Comic Con? Leave a comment and let us know!

[dpperez-blog]

News

EVERYWHERE, World Wide Web — Do you have a favorite website or service that you can’t live without? Music, social media, news, porn, a news company that provides your favorite boring quizzes? Name it and they have probably joined the battle for net neutrality.

Google, Facebook, Spotify, and ThinkGeek announced on Friday that they’d join a “day of action” on July 12 to raise support and awareness for net neutrality. They’re joining commitments made by Netflix and more than 190 organizations supporting a free and open internet.

The inclusion of Facebook and Google was first reported by Inverse. A spokesperson for Good confirmed the statement, but would not give specifics about the planned protest. Facebook followed suit and confirmed to Motherboard that they will participate.

Organized by Fight for the Future, Free Press and Demand Progress, the protest if scheduled to happen five days before the first deadline for comments on the FCC’s proposal to remove the classifications of broadband as a telecommunications service. It’s part of the FCC chief and former Verizon executive Ajit Pai’s attempt to destroy what protects the internet from fast lanes and discrimination by monolithic internet service providers, like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon. Although Fight for the Future says it hasn’t had direct contact with Google and Facebook, the companies told Inverse that they are planning protest actions on the 12th.

"We've always planned to be part of it," a Google spokesperson told Inverse. Facebook's spokespeople had similar sentiments, saying it's "long been a supporter of strong net neutrality rules."

"In previous years these companies have often been on the sidelines of these fights, so we hope that they plan to do something meaningful in the spirit of the protest and educate their users about what's at stake if we lose net neutrality protections that protect our online free speech, and give them opportunities to take action," Evan Greer, campaign director of Fight for the Future, stated in a press release.

Each site is free to deliver its protest messaging differently, whether it's a prominent message on the site explaining the importance of net neutrality, or through notifications, videos, social media, or an intentional slowdown.

Wednesday is set to become an internet-wide rally to keep the internet just the way we like it: on a big, weird, level playing field.

[dpperez-blog]

Religion

Listen, I know it may seem crazy, but it’s not! There are more similarities between Catholicism and Buddhism than one may think! The Indian religion of Buddhism may not be so foreign to the customs and ways of believing than the Catholicism. In some particulars the parallel is so close that it is difficult to perceive any difference, except in names. Crazy, right? Strap in and we’ll tell you how.

Buddha Sakia (which means the Holy Sakia, or Saint Sakia) is respected by his numerous followers as Christians reverence Jesus Christ. The date of his birth is veiled in obscurity, and varies by many people. Mongolians recorded that it was 2134 years before the Christian era; but, according to Chinese records, it was 1029 years.

The Hindu Trinity consists of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; often represented by an image with one body and three heads. Some worship them as separate gods, but the prophets say: “There is but One First Cause, One Supreme Source of Being, who is invisible, infinite, and incomprehensible. We say Brahma creates, Vishnu preserves, and Siva destroys; but all these expressions denote but One Supreme Being.”

Buddha Sakia is believed to have been an incarnation of Vishnu. His advent upon this earth is thus described: “He who is omnipresent and everlastingly to be contemplated, the Supreme Being, the Eternal One, the Divinity worthy to be adored, appeared in this ocean of natural beings, with a portion of his divine nature.” He was born into a family of a kingly line. His mother is said to have been a Virgin named Maia, who conceived him by a ray of light. His birth was foretold by a miraculous dream, and when he was born, a marvellous light shone all around. A holy hermit in far-off forests received supernatural information that Vishnu had just become incarnated in a human form. He flew through the air to the place indicated, and said, “I come to see the new-born child.” As soon as he looked upon him, he pronounced him to be an incarnation of Vishnu, who had come into the world to introduce a new religion. The Buddhist Sacred Books describe him as having left the joys of Paradise and descended to this earth because he was filled with compassion for the sins and sufferings of mankind — It being a divine law that every sin must be atoned for by an ordained amount of suffering, he relinquished his princely rank, denied himself all worldly pleasures, and underwent severe penances, that he might thereby expiate the sins of mortals. So great was his tenderness, that he even descended into the hells to teach the souls in bondage there, and by his own sufferings abridge their period of punishment. By the perfect holiness of his life he was enabled to ascend to Paradise without dying. The rocks in various countries are covered with inscriptions and sculptures recording his sayings and doings. In some places he is represented as crushed a serpent under his heel. Many titles are bestowed upon him: such as “Lion of the Race of Sakia,” “Lord of the Earth,” “Son of Maia,” “Dispenser of Grace”; but his most common title is “The Saviour of the World.” The Buddhist Sacred ‘Writings describe him as “One with the Supreme from all eternity”; as “one substance and three images.” By prayers offered in his name, his followers expect to secure for themselves the rewards of Paradise, and to become one with him, as he was one with the Supreme Being. They believe he will again appear on earth to bring mankind into a state of order and happiness.

Buddhist priests exhibit many relics of saints, which are believed to have the same power of working miracles that the saints themselves had while living. The temples which contain the most celebrated relics attract the largest number of pilgrims, whose offerings become a great source of wealth. The richest of all is a temple in Ceylon, where is preserved a tooth of Buddha Sakia, said to have worked many wonderful miracles. It is enshrined within four golden cases, set with precious gems. A vast concourse of pilgrims continually resort thither, with the hope of being cured of “all the ills that flesh is heir to.” Roman Catholic churches abound with similar holy relics, to which miraculous power is ascribed. The cross on which Jesus was crucified was said to be dug up on Mount Calvary three centuries afterward. Small bits of the wood, set in gold and adorned with precious gems, were eagerly bought by the people and worn as a protection against dangers and all sorts of evil influences. The demand was so great it would have been impossible to supply it, had not the priests discovered that the holy wood was endowed with a miraculous power of reproducing itself as fast it was diminished. An immense amount of it is now extant. There are two entire skeletons of St. Denis, beside two other skulls of him, exhibited in different places, each having a papal certificate of genuineness. Samples of the Virgin’s hair are enshrined in various churches; some of it is flaxen, sonic brown, some red, and some black. The house where she lived is believed to have been brought in the night by an angel to Loretto in Italy, where a magnificent church was built over it. Thousands of pilgrims go there to deposit offerings, more or less costly, for the privilege of dipping their rosaries in a little mug from which it is supposed the infant Jesus was accustomed to drink. Volumes might be filled with accounts of Catholic relics and the miracles they are said to have performed. 

When Father Huc, a French Jesuit missionary, visited one of these Lamaseries, not many years ago, he was struck with the same resemblance. He says: “The reception given us recalled to our thoughts those monasteries raised by our own religious ancestors, in which travellers and the poor always found refreshment for the body and consolation for the soul.” The same missionary tells us that when he tried to persuade the Regent of Lassa to become a Roman Catholic, he listened courteously and replied, “Your religion is the same as ours.” 

Some of the Lamas do not live in communities, but lead a wandering life and subsist entirely by beggary. This class is numerous in China and very troublesome; the members being often as filthy in their persons and manners as are many of the mendicant monks in Italy and Spain. Some of the Buddhist priests are truly good, intelligent men, while others are licentious and knavish, and know no more about the meaning of the Sanskrit language, in which they repeat their prayers, than some Catholic priests do of the Latin they recite by rote.

Intelligent Catholics find spiritual significance in their various ceremonies, and are far from endorsing many of the superstitious observances of the ignorant multitude. The case is the same with the more enlightened among the Buddhists. When Father Huc spoke of the Lamas who claimed presents as the means of casting out devils from people who were possessed by them, a Superior of one of the Lamaseries replied: “That devils may possess rich persons is credible; but that they will depart in consequence of costly presents is a fiction invented by ignorant and deceiving Lamas, who seek to accumulate wealth at the expense of their brothers.” And the Regent of Lassa said to the same missionary: “You have doubtless seen and heard much to be blamed in Tartary and Thibet, but you must not forget that the numerous errors and superstitions you may have observed were introduced by ignorant Lamas, and are rejected by well — informed Buddhists.”

[dpperez-blog]

Political

HAMBURG, Germany — World leaders have decided to compromise on Saturday to move forward collectively on climate change without the United States. They declared the Paris accord “irreversible” while acknowledging President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the agreement.

In a final communique at the conclusion of the Group of 20 summit meeting in Hamburg, Germany, the nations took “note” of the President’s choice to abandon the pact and “immediately cease” efforts to enact former President Barack Obama’s pledge of curbing greenhouse gas emissions from 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.

However, the other 19 members of the groupe broke explicitly with Mr. Trump in their embrace of the international deal, signing off on a detailed policy blueprint outlining how their countries could meet their goals in the pact.

The statement and the adoption of the G20 Climate and Energy Action Plan for Growth caused the three days to be filled with intense negotiations, over how to characterize the world’s response to President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, and it came as this year’s meeting of major world economies here laid bare to stark divide between the United States and the rest.

“This is a clear indication that the U.S. has isolated itself on climate change once again, and is falling back while all other major economies step up and compete in the clean energy marketplace created by the Paris Agreement estimated to be worth over 20 trillion dollars,” said Andrew Light, a senior climate change adviser at the State Department under Mr. Obama.

The differences between the United States and other nations on climate, trade and migration made for a intricate summit meeting, which created large protests that sometimes turned violent, with several injured and demonstrators setting fire to cars and looting in the streets of the German city.

“Nothing’s easy,” Mr. Trump said of the gathering on Saturday as he complimented its host, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who has trudged to bridge the gap between the United States and other nations, for handling the challenge “so professionally.”

Hours later, at the start of a high-stakes meeting with President Xi Jinping of China, Mr. Trump vowed to confront the threat posed by North Korea “one way or the other,” and said he appreciated the Chinese leader’s efforts to respond to Pyongyang’s latest provocations.

“It may take longer than I’d like, it may take longer that you’d like, but there will be success in the end, one way or the other,” Mr. Trump responded.

Mr. Trump also confirmed that he would eventually make a state visit to Britain, but the dates continue to be unclear. Mrs. May conveyed the invitation from Queen Elizabeth II within days of Mr. Trump’s inauguration, but there are likely to be significant protests whenever he visits.

Also on Saturday, American officials said that Mr. Trump would direct the State Department to redirect $50 million from its foreign-aid budget to a new international public-private partnership to aid midsize businesses run by women, a group that his daughter Ivanka Trump helped create.

The partnership aims to “help women in developing countries gain increased access to the finance, markets and networks necessary to start and grow a business,” a spokesman for Ms. Trump relayed.

The contribution comes as the Trump administration considers a drastic scaling-back of foreign aid as part of Mr. Trump’s “America First” campaign pledge to target federal funding to create jobs at home.

His budget, released in April but largely ignored on Capitol Hill, would include deep cuts to the United States Agency for International Development, a major conduit for foreign assistance.