Sharings #1

☆ Intro

Hello and good tidings ~ This is the first in a series of recurring “newsletters” in which I will share some fun cosmic & terrestrial facts, highlight organizations doing good work for people & planet, share some news & events in the #regen world, shill some helpful software I like, spread inspiring quotes & uplifting memes, sing vicariously through a favorite song, and muse about what I’ve been up to.

Instead of focusing on just one thing per others’ advice, I’m exploring how I may express my myriad self in coherent & constructive ways. With this project — and this Starlove name that just sorta emerged on this quest — I aim to spark a sense of awe & wonder, help seek & spread regenerative solutions, curate truth amidst the chaos, and instill hope in a harrowing world. Also: to improve various skills, amplify the voices of next generation leaders & creators, connect with other optimistic visionaries & change-makers, attend & speak at more events, and build momentum for all the other wild things I yearn to do.

☆ Cosmic Clue

Did you know stars can quake?

Well, certain stars: neutron stars, and especially the sub-classification of magnetars. At least as far as we know today!

A starquake occurs when the crust of a neutron star undergoes a sudden adjustment, similar to earthquakes, but way more intense as imagined via this Wikipedia excerpt:

As the neutron star loses linear velocity …, the crust develops an enormous amount of stress. Once that exceeds a certain level, it adjusts itself to a shape closer to non-rotating equilibrium: a perfect sphere. The actual change is believed to be on the order of micrometers or less, and occurs in less than a millionth of a second.

Basically, the atoms of the neutron star are so densely packed that they’re effectively in a sheet. A starquake is when the sheets “adjust” and pack themselves more densely down. The entire surface of a huge star snapping into place, moving only a micrometer in a millionth of a second, unleashing as much energy as our Sun in 150,000 years…

In 2004, one was detected, which was so powerful that if the star was located within 10 light years of Earth, it would have likely caused a mass extinction.

The magnetar released more energy in one-tenth of a second than the Sun releases in 150,000 years.

Such a burst is thought to be the largest explosion observed in this galaxy by humans since the SN 1604 supernova observed by Johannes Kepler in 1604. The gamma rays struck Earth’s ionosphere and created more ionization, which briefly expanded the ionosphere. The quake was equivalent to a magnitude 32 on the Richter scale.

A similar blast within 3 parsecs (10 light years) of Earth would severely affect the atmosphere, by destroying the ozone layer and causing mass extinction, and be similar in effect to a 12-kiloton nuclear blast at 7.5 kilometres (4.7 mi). The nearest known magnetar to Earth is 1E 1048.1-5937, located 9,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina.

For comparison it is estimated a magnitude 18.4 would completely destroy the Earth, a magnitude 25 would destroy our Sun.

Bruh.

☆ Terrestrial Fact

The most powerful earthquake ever recorded

Might as well, right? Well, let’s tell a story about it.

Imagine a seismic beast, its slumber disturbed deep beneath the earth’s crust. This is the story of the Great Chilean Earthquake of 1960, a cataclysmic event that roared with unbridled fury on May 22, 1960. This colossal quake, the most powerful ever recorded, measured a staggering 9.5 on the Richter scale, shaking the very foundations of our planet with an almost supernatural force.

The ground convulsed as if possessed, entire landscapes twisting and contorting in agonizing tremors. In the coastal town of Valdivia, buildings crumbled like fragile sandcastles, swallowed by the earth’s insatiable hunger. The sea, not to be outdone, summoned a monstrous tsunami, its waves towering as high as 25 meters, crashing upon the shores with a vengeance that seemed almost personal.

Villages vanished in the blink of an eye, swept away by torrents of water and debris. The human toll was heartbreaking: thousands perished, lives and homes obliterated in mere moments. Survivors clung to remnants of their world, their eyes wide with the horror of what they had witnessed, their ears ringing with the echo of nature’s wrath.

Yet, amid the devastation, stories of extraordinary resilience emerged. Communities banded together, forging bonds in the crucible of catastrophe. They rebuilt, brick by brick, heart by heart, transforming sorrow into a testament of human endurance and spirit.

The Great Chilean Earthquake of 1960 is not just a chapter in the annals of geological history; it is a powerful reminder of the earth’s might and the indomitable will of its people. The memory of that day lingers, a haunting symphony of destruction and rebirth, etched into the soul of Chile and the world.

☆ Regenerative Organization Highlight

Protopia (& Protopian Convergence)

Earlier this year, after traveling strange roads in a foreign land (and roads so rough that I literally could not ascend in my poor two-wheel drive compact rental car and had to walk the remaining mile straight up-hill), I found myself in a dream-like off-grid community.

Nestled in the mountains north of Lake Arenal, Costa Rica, there exists a permaculture farm and social innovation project called Protopia aiming at empowering people to redesign societal paradigms towards an equitable world. It is a hub for pro-equality and regenerative social-technological innovation, oriented towards topics like alternative economics, participative governance, positive technology and novel trains of thought in general.

And in March, I attended their second annual event Protopian Convergence, which brought together a community of change-makers to “foster cross-disciplinary collaboration and co-create new evolutionary systems, cultures, tools and technologies to develop proactive solutions for a thriving civilization and the regeneration of our planet.” I had such a good time. Workshops, presentations, the most delicious & healthiest food I may’ve ever had… I met powerful, inspiring people, most of whom presented their passionate, regenerative work. I learned about organizations such as MycelliumHub, Lila and her GaiaProtection, SoilDAO, DaniBelle and the Diamante Bridge Collective, and more — which I will share about in future newsletters. I aim to go again, and to share about what I’ll have in place by then 🙂

Here’s the after-movie of the event. You can also read about my wild trip in my previous post.

Protopia.community Website

Protopia Instagram

☆ #Regen News

Gitcoin Grants #21 begins soon!

Applications are to be submitted by August 6, then funding runs from August 7 – 21.

In case you didn’t know, Gitcoin and their Grants program are refreshingly innovative and super successful for crowdfunding early-stage projects and builders in the web3 ecosystem — many of which are regenerative in nature! In a world where governments and corporations drag their feet to support genuinely impactful initiatives (or don’t support at all), we the people can have our small contributions amplified through the Quadratic Funding mechanism.

1. It is more democratic, allowing everyday community members to designate where the funding goes by funding themselves.
2. It scales, a QF instance can review hundreds of grants per quarter as opposed to just a small handful with a centralized grants team.
3. It allows communities to co-fund projects along with those holding the matching funds.
4. It allows influencers to market and talk about the projects they care about, without being able to sway a single point of authority to fund. The community still decides if the grant is worth funding.
5. It allows projects to separate signal from noise, and see what the surrounding community really cares about.

It still feels like a lot to take in and navigate, and setting up an account to begin donating to projects is still a bit of a hurdle, but I sincerely encourage you to check it out! Read more about the 2024 Grants Strategy here, and for a #regen focus check out the Climate Coordination Network and their community round!

☆ Useful Software

Proton

So yeah, I love Proton’s software so much that I’m impelled to shill them. I’m very stringent on subscription services, but I’m genuinely happy paying for their highest Business Suite tier. Their email service is the bomb (and I can have 15 custom email domains), Calendar is great though I still rely on Google Calendar for team coordination, the VPN runs so well, the Drive is everything I need, and I finally have started using a Password Manager only because of them and how seamless its cross-device functionality (and auth codes)!

I don’t have a referral link, I just want people to use good software which respects both privacy and desire for a great user experience

☆ Inspiring Quote

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

R. Buckminster Fuller

☆ A Favorite Song

One of my all-time favorite artists, Jellyfish Brigade, is extremely unknown. Probably because they don’t bother marketing much — they just make good music. I somehow stumbled upon them 15 years ago and have been listening every month since.

They (Lucas Dix with beloved producer The Great Mundane) dropped a new song this year titled ‘All We Got’, a sort-of “depressing and dense” track, but one which brings a hopeful edge to the misanthropic trope around the seemingly-impending planetary cataclysm. A couple months ago while listening to this song I began to imagine creating a music video, wherein I’m recorded doing moves in front of a green screen which could be taken in a number of different directions. I recorded this little montage as just a little preview of what could be.

And today, I decided to stitch together a lyric video for the song using visualizers created by some dude I randomly discovered through Neocities. I want to create much richer videos in the future. Enjoy:

☆ A Meme

“Who is running the United States right now, at this very moment?” -@sailaunderscore and everyone else

☆ Events Attended (July 2024)

• Students of Spiritual Science Symposium 2024, which I organized and hosted. It was so good, really. Become a member and check out the recordings 🙂
• SMN-Galileo Commission webinar July 16 – Mark Anthony and The Electromagnetic Soul & The Afterlife Frequency. Wow. I should later edit this to explain how expansive and captivating this presentation was.
• SMN Wednesday webinar July 17 – Rex Barker on The Role of Enculturation in Shaping our Reality
• SMN Wednesday webinar July 31st – Helen White Wolf sharing her personal journey and gnosis of the soul, in a webinar titled The Soul’s Journey towards Transcendence
• SMN Friday Aug 2nd – watched 44 minute movie The Myth of Death by Tim Wyatt, followed by him fielding questions for an hour

☆ Consumed & Considered

• “17 Signs Someone Is NOT Yet Enlightened (Even if They Behave Like One)” by Ruchi Thalwal, which confirms that I am definitely not Enlightened but may be on the path but also won’t try to keep making it a thing. I’ll just keep living & learning & integrating to whatever end.

• Finished listening to Think And Grow Rich. Most of it seems very true and helpful – everything from how to influence the subconscious mind through emotionalized thought, to the various lists including ‘The 10 Mind Stimuli’ ranked in order (for back then based on whatever research), to the idea that men often don’t hit stride of success until 40s because of immature sexual expression. Looking up the author, he apparently was a fraud and crook and poor husband for much of his life before writing this book, which therefore many call into question his ideas. Well, hardship really teaches you a thing or two! But did he meet with Carnegie?
• Sitting in Negative Capability – “that is when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason” (https://interestingliterature.com/2021/06/keats-beauty-is-truth-truth-beauty-meaning-analysis/)
• Chapter 1 of David Bohm’s “Wholeness and the Implicate Order”, entitled “Fragmentation and Wholeness”, in which he beautifully illustrates that our history of dividing things has caused so much internal and external destruction. I read only this chapter as required reading for this container I’m in https://www.arabellathais.com/templeoftruth which is so incredibly thought-provoking and aligned with my soul.
• NeroKnowledge video about manifesting as a “good” vs “bad” person – that what often keeps “good” people from manifesting their life is their attachment to the love of the people aligned with their current self, and thus the fear of hearing “you’ve changed bro”

• Joseph Rodrigues’ ‘Stop Thinking’ – make Flow (and Bliss) a priority (which was the final straw that broke my lazy back to start this!)
• Dan Koe’s delineation of “Mind, Body, Business, Connection” and his hour-long “Life Is A Video Game” video. I’ve been thinking about how to gamify my life for a while, and this video catalyzed an idea of how I might design an app (for the third time) that can really pull game-addicted people into improving themselves. I spent several hours on this (maybe wasted time, maybe a good creative workout), and am taking a new approach where I play the game in my head and on paper, seeing if I stick to it myself and how it could be pragmatic or not.

• Patricia Mou’s “why everything feels off: evolving past individualism”. Just a big “agree” from me. I will be highlighting these ideas through New Paradigm Navigators.
• Charlie Morgan – “first principles: how billionaires think” – some takeaways: the more your subjective understanding of reality overlaps with objective, the easier it is to be successful. analyze the core components of a system to shift the paradigm. the first principle of psychology, per Freud and Charlie’s deep consideration, is pain avoidance.
• This thread of nature photography just blows me away… Mother Nature is the greatest artist, I am in awe of the Beauty
• Neville Goddard – Feeling is the Secret (short book, incredibly powerful, practicing every night). The basis for so much of the “manifestation mindset” type content seen across the ‘net, but for good reason (my favorite being Joseph Rodrigues, really great stuff that’s profoundly impacted me over the last couple years).
• Felix Delong’s On Being the Change You Want to See in the World (and a few more)

And this was just in the last couple weeks, though usually while walking, driving or at the gym. I aim to be more intentional with consuming the content and repackaging the good bits for you, my dear reader.

Thank you. And I hope you are inspired to take some action. We got this.

In æther,
Bruce Starlove
New Moon Leo 2024

On a quest to evolve into the best version of myself —
and to inspire, connect and coordinate people to regenerative action.