trientalis

That would be Neverwhere. It was also made into a miniseries broadcast in the US on PBS.
Personally, I rather liked them both.

sighhswolf

It is amazing to me how quickly immigrants become
"Americanized" in thought patterns and take full advantage of capitalism.
They bring old established religious thoughts and practices with them, but once they have had the time to grow accustomed to living in the USA, those old established religious practices usually
aquire distinctly "American" flavors.
Orthodox practices are quickly modified in many cases to make them compatable with a new life in a free and open society.
I worked with Cambodian refugees who were relocated to the US, some were receiving payment
for their support of American activities in their home countries and some had just been displaced by
the political power base.
They were sponsored by religious orders in most cases, but the traditional and ancient practices
that dominated their lives in Cambodia were junked
rather quickly upon arrival in the US.

What I observed was not a total disregard of tradition, but a "modified version" of tradition
that allowed them to blend into the American culture, without calling undue amounts of attention to themselves.
The situation you describe Hinduwoman, is very different from what I was a part of.

These people did not establish shrines, and were very happy to rid themselves of ancient traditions.
Many of those with whom I had a great deal of interaction, viewed traditional practices as part
of an existence they left behind coming from a war torn and oppressive political climate.
They wanted very much to become "Americans" and the religious sponsors knew this and played upon those desires, in an effort to convert as many as possible to christianity.
So they came here hoping to escape forced adherence to tradition, and found instead a christian plot to convert them all.
A sad commentary.
Not all went through this but many had no choice
but to convert in order to receive passage out of Cambodia and into the US.
Wolf

wildhoneypie

Is there an article about this?

hinduwoman

Sighswolf, many second-generation hindus, particualry students living at campus, away from their families, have converted to Christianity to become one with the mainstream. How far they have succeded is another matter. But this have resulted in a number of more 'born-again' Hindu organizations.

Could not find the news item, but there is a research paper on this ---

<a href="http://web.religion.ufl.edu/narayanan/sacralizing.pdf" target="_blank">http://web.religion.ufl.edu/narayanan/sacralizing.pdf</a>

Apparently this has been going on for the last twenty years. some samples ---

They mirror the old Sanskrit hymns exactly.
apparently in Hawaii, they have decided that the standing stone of Hawaii religion are actually Shiva-lingams locally manifested.

This is like watching sacred history being made.

nixon

Hey Corwin...let me nitpick some more

"Oh, and by the way... salt generally doesn't do a whole lot to sterilize much of anything. Seawater is biotically rich. Increased salinity CAN sterilize things.... but organisms like e. Coli (which typically lives in the extremely salty, highly acidic mammalian gut) aren't among them."

Mammalian guts cannot be both extremely salty AND highly acidic. Just doesn't work that way, the two are opposites and would neutralize each other...Probably with a major foaming-at-the-mouth

One of the last sane

Yoou seem to be confused.
The opposite of an acid is a base, not a salt. A neutralization reaction is one in which you mix an acid and a base, and you get a salt plus water. This tends to be an exothermic reaction which is where you may be getting the idea of "foaming at the mouth".
Chemically, you most certainly can have a mixture of an acid and its salt.
As far as the mammalian gastrointestinal tract is concerned, the pH varies from part to part, the stomach being highly acidic and other parts considerably less so.

Corwin

Hydrochloric acid is hydrogen chloride, a highly acidic metal salt. Silver nitrate falls into the same category. Sodium Hydroxide (drain cleaner) is an alkaline salt if I remember right. Acid and salt are not mutually exclusive.

[ July 09, 2002: Message edited by: Corwin ]</p>