Anti-Americanism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Heidegger wrote in 1935: 'Europe lies today in a great pincer, squeezed between Russia on the one side and America on the other. From a metaphysical point of view, Russia and America are the same, with the same dreary technological frenzy and the same unrestricted organization of the average man.'"
It is strange that these criticisms, while they don't ring completely true, still have some resonance. And yet I can't help but think that the Chinese, and perhaps even the Indians, will be even more breathless and hasty in their rush to organize the average man. And too, the sense I get is that the majority of Americans have grown lazy and complacent, delegating the hard work to immigrants, preferring to sit back and let the "passive income" roll in.
Flickr inappropriate use of "yay"
Flickr holds your pictures hostage if you don't pay up. They have the indecency to use their trademark cuteness in the pitch. At least real terrorists don't put smileys on their hostage demand notes.
Flickr holding my photos hostage
My pro account expired, and now I cannot find old photos (those past
200). I didn't realize this was Flickr's policy, and so I was using it
as an online archiving tool. Now, unless I fork over the $25, these
photos are gone. This seems disingenous at best.
Luckily, one way to get around this is to keep a URL for every photo you
upload. One easy way to do this is by blogging every single photoupload.
200). I didn't realize this was Flickr's policy, and so I was using it
as an online archiving tool. Now, unless I fork over the $25, these
photos are gone. This seems disingenous at best.
Luckily, one way to get around this is to keep a URL for every photo you
upload. One easy way to do this is by blogging every single photoupload.
Drew Curtis' FARK.com
Drew Curtis' FARK.com is a highly amusing way to waste time. It offers witty little summaries of random stories around the world, focusing on the funny ones. Some examples from today:
Credit card company charges man new card fee of $12.18 million
Toilet tank sink lets you wash your hands with tank water before you flush, drinking from the bowl optional
A very strange flash game from Japan
Credit card company charges man new card fee of $12.18 million
Toilet tank sink lets you wash your hands with tank water before you flush, drinking from the bowl optional
A very strange flash game from Japan
My public key
I was inspired to create a public key for myself so that if anyone wants to send encrypted messages to me, they can. I really like getting encrypted messages!
You can use the fingerprint to verify that the public key is correct. I registered my key with pgp.mit.edu and keyserver.veridis.com.
Here's the fingerprint:
Here's the public key itself:
You can use the fingerprint to verify that the public key is correct. I registered my key with pgp.mit.edu and keyserver.veridis.com.
Here's the fingerprint:
8CCC CD52 0451 0030 3164 4129 CEE3 B6CB 1809 CCCDHere's the public key itself:
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.3 (MingW32)
mQGiBERefloRBADwGuyzqVVfszVtf3HA0MQhgZ8iegjloXyV9B23hHLYoo+EzJb6
TZoW7fvoo1lNUPjSFStpExmh3sy88w2Cd52bD/uAx3VVMp83Npq7eK/TcuKhDsHA
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n9dFJZRzu8gOlmTTgQ9wXYMD/RXTam0JCHFEnJlFHBJEvEc5XcbeCjudfc5Eo60u
uhU5P3e73QggwxXNiYORW3zYP0iXLFCCP2ckx5ypOzvAy47asLVPnXbBypdTa70/
MwIRNGR3fd3LL9Rqc/b52JxjvNp4vOkuqktpnYsEsTRETFoRZiVm3N2jhkpreFe8
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PGpvc2hAam9zaHJlaG1hbi5jb20+iGYEExECACYFAkRefloCGyMFCQlmAYAGCwkI
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apu9f/HXPKzmt79zC0+I9p2DbISHiIwWnEOBEBtc8ycyyPa2du30h2Xqvy/5qfjb
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Who Moved My Cheese? and the nature of change.
Amazon.com: Who Moved My Cheese : An Amazing Way To Deal With Change In Your Work And In Your Life: Books: Spencer Johnson,Tony Roberts,Ken Blanchard
I've noticed during meditation that one's mind tends to create crutches to interpret the experience of just being. These crutches take many forms, and some last for seconds, others for minutes. Some of them are so interesting that it's tempting to get convinced that the crutch is itself something important. But to remember that, fundamentally, the crutch and the fact that you are aware of it indicates distraction. The only thing is awareness. Any interpretation of awareness is no awareness.
This is what is meant by "everything changes".
One may ask the (quite reasonable) question, "How does this state of awareness you describe differ from a vacant stare?" The best answer is simply "you'll know the difference when you get there." This is true, but not helpful.
Consider that, for short stretches, it is easy to think of nothing and be calm. It is hard to concentrate the mind on something and still not react. It's kind of like stretching because if you concentrate (stretch) too hard you cause too much pain and cannot maintain the stretch, but if you don't even try to stretch (concentrate) you'll never touch the toes (be more aware). The key is to know where you are, what you're capable of, and without ego do the best that you can. Progress is slow and steady.
It is an interesting question why the mind cannot naturally light on one thing and stay there. Most humans have a hard time concentrating on something for an extended period (in the sense of samadhi meditation). This inability to concentrate is an excellent indication that something is not right in the mind. To realize how uncontrolled the mind is is to realize how dangerous you are to others.
Another interesting question is: How much pressure does it take to unbalance the mind? This is an interesting question because it completely depends on your criteria. In non-meditation, it appears to take quite a lot to cause instability. In meditation, it takes hardly anything at all. As one goes deeper, the stability improves but the subtly of the pressure that can rock you also increases. The implication is that, in the non-meditative state, these small tremors are occuring all the time beneath concious thought. Somehow they are managed by the mind and do not overpower it to a degree which is grossly noticible. But the mind must work hard to prevent this, and eventually one of the tremors cannot be handled and grows.
These tremors all have at their base fear, anxiety, anger, hatred, or craving. If one can meditate properly, the black bubbles of anxiety are replaced by the golden bubbles of compassion and love. But all of this is just so much talk. The only thing that we can really talk about is objective reality, what our bodies sense. Anything past that is on shaky ground. The bubble metaphor will not be right for others, and it won't be right for me eventually, and indeed there should be no metaphor at all. The urge to describe and understand is strong, and one must weigh the benefit of caving in to that urge against the risk of suppressing the descriptive instinct.
It is hard indeed, when confronted with the physical reality of the moment, to not feel absurdly grateful that it can be experienced. There is a subtle but powerful joy in the mere fact of existence without commentary. While most easily sensed in mediation, we actually exist in every moment no matter what we're doing (like typing on a keyboard at a computer) and it is marvelous to feel it there, too.
I've noticed during meditation that one's mind tends to create crutches to interpret the experience of just being. These crutches take many forms, and some last for seconds, others for minutes. Some of them are so interesting that it's tempting to get convinced that the crutch is itself something important. But to remember that, fundamentally, the crutch and the fact that you are aware of it indicates distraction. The only thing is awareness. Any interpretation of awareness is no awareness.
This is what is meant by "everything changes".
One may ask the (quite reasonable) question, "How does this state of awareness you describe differ from a vacant stare?" The best answer is simply "you'll know the difference when you get there." This is true, but not helpful.
Consider that, for short stretches, it is easy to think of nothing and be calm. It is hard to concentrate the mind on something and still not react. It's kind of like stretching because if you concentrate (stretch) too hard you cause too much pain and cannot maintain the stretch, but if you don't even try to stretch (concentrate) you'll never touch the toes (be more aware). The key is to know where you are, what you're capable of, and without ego do the best that you can. Progress is slow and steady.
It is an interesting question why the mind cannot naturally light on one thing and stay there. Most humans have a hard time concentrating on something for an extended period (in the sense of samadhi meditation). This inability to concentrate is an excellent indication that something is not right in the mind. To realize how uncontrolled the mind is is to realize how dangerous you are to others.
Another interesting question is: How much pressure does it take to unbalance the mind? This is an interesting question because it completely depends on your criteria. In non-meditation, it appears to take quite a lot to cause instability. In meditation, it takes hardly anything at all. As one goes deeper, the stability improves but the subtly of the pressure that can rock you also increases. The implication is that, in the non-meditative state, these small tremors are occuring all the time beneath concious thought. Somehow they are managed by the mind and do not overpower it to a degree which is grossly noticible. But the mind must work hard to prevent this, and eventually one of the tremors cannot be handled and grows.
These tremors all have at their base fear, anxiety, anger, hatred, or craving. If one can meditate properly, the black bubbles of anxiety are replaced by the golden bubbles of compassion and love. But all of this is just so much talk. The only thing that we can really talk about is objective reality, what our bodies sense. Anything past that is on shaky ground. The bubble metaphor will not be right for others, and it won't be right for me eventually, and indeed there should be no metaphor at all. The urge to describe and understand is strong, and one must weigh the benefit of caving in to that urge against the risk of suppressing the descriptive instinct.
It is hard indeed, when confronted with the physical reality of the moment, to not feel absurdly grateful that it can be experienced. There is a subtle but powerful joy in the mere fact of existence without commentary. While most easily sensed in mediation, we actually exist in every moment no matter what we're doing (like typing on a keyboard at a computer) and it is marvelous to feel it there, too.
CNN.com - Car bombs rock Iraq, 14 dead - May 7, 2006
CNN.com - Car bombs rock Iraq, 14 dead - May 7, 2006
Maybe we should print out pamphlets about Gandhi and pass them out to the Iraqis?
What's strange to me is, if the Iraqis really want us out, why not just get in ship and leave? Maybe the Iraqis will suprise us and form a workable government.
Maybe we should print out pamphlets about Gandhi and pass them out to the Iraqis?
What's strange to me is, if the Iraqis really want us out, why not just get in ship and leave? Maybe the Iraqis will suprise us and form a workable government.
Spyware guy fined $4m
I'm glad the FTC went after this guy and got some blood. Score 1 for the good guys.
AXcessNews.com - FTC Fines Smartbot $4mil Over Spyware Use: "The ads try to bully users into buying anti-spyware products, Spy Wiper or Spy Deleter, for $30 a throw. Worse still, the products fail to clean up systems, the Register reports."
AXcessNews.com - FTC Fines Smartbot $4mil Over Spyware Use: "The ads try to bully users into buying anti-spyware products, Spy Wiper or Spy Deleter, for $30 a throw. Worse still, the products fail to clean up systems, the Register reports."
Productive Week - Connection Crash
The week began with my internet connection failing on an important call, and with me, not even as Administrator, being able to enable or disable the connections. I knew about this problem but had ignored it since my internet connection has been running solidly despite a few quirks.
This turned out to be a very deep error that could only be fixed by reinstalling Windows XP. Because I have an IBM Thinkpad T43, I did not get rescue disks with it, and had to burn 5 CDs. I also backed up my data to a USB drive. Reinstallation took many hours. But in the end, I gained many benefits:
1. Upgraded the hard drive. I purchased a 7200rpm 60G drive long ago for a different laptop and never got around to installing it. It is now installed in my Thinkpad, and it really is notacably faster. (One quirk is that on reboot I get a BIOS Error 2010 that tells me the harddrive firmware isn't compatible. So far I've ignored this error without issue.)
2. Discovered that Open Office is quite usable and on-par with MS Office. MS Office Basic was NOT installed by the rescue disks. At first I was angry because IBM's "Rescue and Recovery" utility states that "this will return your PC to the state it was in when it arrived from the factory". Not so! Because I was in a hurry, I installed Open Office 2.0 which is quite nice. It has improved tremendously from the last time I checked it out. (I also phoned IBM to get MS Office and they sent me a disk overnight - I still need this for Outlook).
3. Discovered that Mozilla Thunderbird is also quite usable. I needed an email thick client to interact comfortably with some mailing lists. This is another product that I've looked at in the past, and which has gotten much better.
4. Enjoying a game-free system. Counter-Strike:Source (CSS - a Half-Life 2 first-person shooter) has taken up a lot of my time for a few months now. I really like the teamwork and the thrill - didn't like the amount of time it was sucking from my life and the violence.
5. Enjoying stable, up-to-date editions of my favorite development software. (Sun Java SE 5, Eclipse 3.1, TextPad 4.0)
6. Enjoying connecting to the internet at coffee houses! Turns out that connection ownership issue was preventing Windows from renewing DHCP information.
7. Discovered the Google Desktop. Because I wanted to install so much of the software in Google Pack (which is a convenient single download that includes FireFox, AdAware, Adobe Reader, Picasa), I installed the whole thing. Turns out Google Desktop is a jaw-droppingly neat environment that programmers can use to enhance Windows with downloadable plugins. It is also responsible for keeping your software up-to-date. The Screensaver (which puts up photos) is nice, too.
This turned out to be a very deep error that could only be fixed by reinstalling Windows XP. Because I have an IBM Thinkpad T43, I did not get rescue disks with it, and had to burn 5 CDs. I also backed up my data to a USB drive. Reinstallation took many hours. But in the end, I gained many benefits:
1. Upgraded the hard drive. I purchased a 7200rpm 60G drive long ago for a different laptop and never got around to installing it. It is now installed in my Thinkpad, and it really is notacably faster. (One quirk is that on reboot I get a BIOS Error 2010 that tells me the harddrive firmware isn't compatible. So far I've ignored this error without issue.)
2. Discovered that Open Office is quite usable and on-par with MS Office. MS Office Basic was NOT installed by the rescue disks. At first I was angry because IBM's "Rescue and Recovery" utility states that "this will return your PC to the state it was in when it arrived from the factory". Not so! Because I was in a hurry, I installed Open Office 2.0 which is quite nice. It has improved tremendously from the last time I checked it out. (I also phoned IBM to get MS Office and they sent me a disk overnight - I still need this for Outlook).
3. Discovered that Mozilla Thunderbird is also quite usable. I needed an email thick client to interact comfortably with some mailing lists. This is another product that I've looked at in the past, and which has gotten much better.
4. Enjoying a game-free system. Counter-Strike:Source (CSS - a Half-Life 2 first-person shooter) has taken up a lot of my time for a few months now. I really like the teamwork and the thrill - didn't like the amount of time it was sucking from my life and the violence.
5. Enjoying stable, up-to-date editions of my favorite development software. (Sun Java SE 5, Eclipse 3.1, TextPad 4.0)
6. Enjoying connecting to the internet at coffee houses! Turns out that connection ownership issue was preventing Windows from renewing DHCP information.
7. Discovered the Google Desktop. Because I wanted to install so much of the software in Google Pack (which is a convenient single download that includes FireFox, AdAware, Adobe Reader, Picasa), I installed the whole thing. Turns out Google Desktop is a jaw-droppingly neat environment that programmers can use to enhance Windows with downloadable plugins. It is also responsible for keeping your software up-to-date. The Screensaver (which puts up photos) is nice, too.
The nature of morality
My recent Vipassana sit has inspired some thinking about morality and ethics. In particular, I have come to doubt the program of western thinkers attempting to pin down an algorithm for right action. If volition is considered to be the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong (as is held by Buddhists) then in fact no algorithm exists. Indeed, there is ultimately no way to say what is right and wrong from an external viewpoint. Only the actor can judge.
Of course, this is only at the highest levels of attainment. Before that level is reached, ethical judgements must, by necessity, undergo some convulsions. One must deal with apparent contradictions that the heart insists on ignoring
This is frankly a troubling thought, that right and wrong is NOT a matter of thought, and cannot really be understood. This undercuts so much venerable thinking in the west (and having studied philosophy extensively in college, I'm confident in saying this). And yet there is some solace in this - to be able to invoke a sense of peace, calm, even hope in the world without regard to outcome or circumstance strikes me as an ultimately fulfilling existance. But in the interim, we must appeal to objective, logical analysis our actions lest human behavior descend into chaos. And to do that one must elucidate principles of action which, while not True, are certainly useful.
Of course, this is only at the highest levels of attainment. Before that level is reached, ethical judgements must, by necessity, undergo some convulsions. One must deal with apparent contradictions that the heart insists on ignoring
This is frankly a troubling thought, that right and wrong is NOT a matter of thought, and cannot really be understood. This undercuts so much venerable thinking in the west (and having studied philosophy extensively in college, I'm confident in saying this). And yet there is some solace in this - to be able to invoke a sense of peace, calm, even hope in the world without regard to outcome or circumstance strikes me as an ultimately fulfilling existance. But in the interim, we must appeal to objective, logical analysis our actions lest human behavior descend into chaos. And to do that one must elucidate principles of action which, while not True, are certainly useful.
Brokeback Mountain - an unfortunate sexualization of an American icon.
Ang Lee's "Gay Cowboy Movie" has garnered a lot of critical acclaim. I just saw it, and I can't help but think that the acclaim is more political than anything.
This movie could be seen as an assault on American cultural values. It's not even an original kind of assault: Take a sacred image, do something with it that conventional culture finds abbhorant, stir well and enjoy the furor. Maplethorpe did it with Jesus and urine. Ang Lee is doing it with machismo cowboys and homosexuality.
And I don't like it, not one bit. I think there is a real downside to exploring outrageous sexual possibilities - the next time two buddies want to go camping, anyone who's seen this movie may raise their eyebrows. That's unfortunate - just as unfortunate as how innumerable movies about child abuse make a father or a friend spending time with young children a questionable thing. Movies like this strip away the audience's innocence just a little bit. And I for one resent that.
This target is particularly juicy this year because of Bush. Part of his appeal to mainstream America is his accent, his sublminal appeal to "good ol' boy" reliability (before that phrase was vilified). This movie, by attacking those underpinnings of Bush's popularity, attack Bush himself.
Mind you, it's not the homosexuality that bothers me (although I have to admire the extra sharpness that this gives the assault, especially given the target) but the sexualization of otherwise platonic relationships.
Ironically, these men are portrayed as tortured lovers, but tortured more by their cowardice than anything else. As lovers they are wonderfully without reserve about their feelings for each other. But they are, in equal measure, reproachable for not shifting earth and sky to make their love work. Instead, they hide and marry and lie to their wives. That is just plain wrong. One may be tempted to villify the culture that increased the barrier to happiness. But it would be wrong to claim that the barrier was insurmountable: it could have been transcended, and it would have required courage from both Jack and Enus.
Dramatically, this failure to overcome allows the pair to remain unhappy in every aspect of their lives save the gay part, increasing the effectiveness of the cultural attack.
I'm not sure if this was Ang Lee's intent in making this movie. But that's what causes squeemish audiences and even anger. Let us hope that there is no embassy burning because of it, though.
This movie could be seen as an assault on American cultural values. It's not even an original kind of assault: Take a sacred image, do something with it that conventional culture finds abbhorant, stir well and enjoy the furor. Maplethorpe did it with Jesus and urine. Ang Lee is doing it with machismo cowboys and homosexuality.
And I don't like it, not one bit. I think there is a real downside to exploring outrageous sexual possibilities - the next time two buddies want to go camping, anyone who's seen this movie may raise their eyebrows. That's unfortunate - just as unfortunate as how innumerable movies about child abuse make a father or a friend spending time with young children a questionable thing. Movies like this strip away the audience's innocence just a little bit. And I for one resent that.
This target is particularly juicy this year because of Bush. Part of his appeal to mainstream America is his accent, his sublminal appeal to "good ol' boy" reliability (before that phrase was vilified). This movie, by attacking those underpinnings of Bush's popularity, attack Bush himself.
Mind you, it's not the homosexuality that bothers me (although I have to admire the extra sharpness that this gives the assault, especially given the target) but the sexualization of otherwise platonic relationships.
Ironically, these men are portrayed as tortured lovers, but tortured more by their cowardice than anything else. As lovers they are wonderfully without reserve about their feelings for each other. But they are, in equal measure, reproachable for not shifting earth and sky to make their love work. Instead, they hide and marry and lie to their wives. That is just plain wrong. One may be tempted to villify the culture that increased the barrier to happiness. But it would be wrong to claim that the barrier was insurmountable: it could have been transcended, and it would have required courage from both Jack and Enus.
Dramatically, this failure to overcome allows the pair to remain unhappy in every aspect of their lives save the gay part, increasing the effectiveness of the cultural attack.
I'm not sure if this was Ang Lee's intent in making this movie. But that's what causes squeemish audiences and even anger. Let us hope that there is no embassy burning because of it, though.
Lines of Energy
Lines of Energy: "Every yoga posture is a combination of at least two lines of energy, each line radiating outward from your center; and depending on the shape of the posture...."
Yoga is good. I injured myself during meditation last year and got freaked out because of numbness in my leg. A nuerologist told me that it was almost certainly a lumbar spine problem, pinching the nerve. After doing yoga for a few months that problem has improved a lot.
And there's more. I feel better. In the past when I've gotten all screwed up to get in shape, I'd go to the gym and work intensely for a few weeks, and then get sick. The sickness would linger and I would either not go back to the gym at all, or I would go back without much enthusiasm. Finally I would cancel my membership.
This was always unfortunate because I *like* being in shape. I'm a happier person and more fun to be around. And yoga turns out to be a good way to get past that wierd fitness barrier.
That is not to say that I didn't get sick. Actually, I think I did. But it was the oddest experience I've ever had being sick. It was brief, intense, and while it kept me in bed for 24 hours I was not agitated at all. The body aches were just aches, and I got through them until one early morning I woke up in sweaty sheets feeling like a million bucks.
All is not a bed of roses. I have a natural resistance to claims of spirituality, or even claims that use spiritual language. Yoga folks tend to be rather hippy-ish and, in general, on average tend not to enjoy working with logic, math, science, or technology. The threshold for acceptance is much lower than in myself. It seems that if someone makes a statement that seems plausable, it is accepted without further probing or thought. Yogis tend to be a credulous group.
(As a specific example of this there was a period where some of the teachers and regular students were talking about some sun-gazing fellow who claimed to get all nutrition from the sun, not eating a bite. They were speaking as if this claim was true, rather than being skeptical and wondering why, if this technique works, is this man not teaching it to the starving of Africa to reduce their dependence on arable land.)
This credulity makes it very hard to communicate sometimes. Teachers talk about "lines of energy" and "chakras" and "bowing to the divine in you" and seem to think that these concepts are self-evident. To be completely frank, I believe that most yoga practitioners are mouthing the words of the wise without understanding that the words are mere shadows of an experience *they* have not had. This bothers me because words can get in the way of actual, inarticulatable experience. It also bothers me because it sounds like a subtle form of lie.
What motivation to lie is there? Collectively, there is a massive craving for meaning, for happiness, for a sense of spirituality percieved as missing from "Western Culture". This tendency to use unchecked language and exagerated credulity is a reaction to the spiritual wasteland that is the west. It is as if they see the world as a desert (but, romantically, it was once a paradise) and themselves as caretakers of tiny, precious oasis. And an oasis must have a particular look - it must have a vulgar sexuality and lushness to it, because that is what an oasis is to them in the imagination.
It angers and saddens me to see this. I can't get objective distance on it because my belief is too overpowering that this behavior strikes me as a harmful delusion just as poisinous as the delusion that the point of life is to make the most money.
The gold standard on whether a cultural artifact is harmful is how it affects the people who promote it. So what if people talk about these things? Does it do them harm? A feature of the yoga studio is that it is a social gathering. People talk. People date. People gossip about each other. Over all of this is a thin patina of constant smiles and, to my eyes, impossibly consistent good cheer. I find a plethora of smiles and very little communication at any depth. It is as if everyone wants to believe that yoga is the solution to every problem and that by coming to the studio and doing asana practice everything will be alright. And if we all keep repeating that mantra over and over it will be true. "Yoga is the panacea. Yoga is the panacea. Yoga is...."
I am grateful for Yoga asana practice. It has helped my body a *ton*, and so also the health of my mind as well. But I can neither blame nor credit yoga for every trial and tribulation of my life. Life is life. If I am busy connecting the dots between one experience and another all I get is a self-satisfied yet scientifically unsupported "Ah, so that's why that happened" without actually addressing reality as it is. But everyday yoga practictioners accept these stories as fact, and reenforce their believe with a constant drone of smiles.
I begin to appreciate more and more the common Buddhist prohibition of sharing specific spiritual experiences with fellow students. Of *course* there are lots of specific (and quite interesting) things going on in the mind and the body. But those facts are useless unless you actually discover them for yourself. The body is so complex that if one addresses an issue in ignorance then you might solve one problem but at the expense of creating many others.
What I'm really trying to say is, I like yoga, but could do without the gossiping, the superficial cheer, and the credulous reiteration of a spiritual language unqualifed as a shadow of reality.
Yoga is good. I injured myself during meditation last year and got freaked out because of numbness in my leg. A nuerologist told me that it was almost certainly a lumbar spine problem, pinching the nerve. After doing yoga for a few months that problem has improved a lot.
And there's more. I feel better. In the past when I've gotten all screwed up to get in shape, I'd go to the gym and work intensely for a few weeks, and then get sick. The sickness would linger and I would either not go back to the gym at all, or I would go back without much enthusiasm. Finally I would cancel my membership.
This was always unfortunate because I *like* being in shape. I'm a happier person and more fun to be around. And yoga turns out to be a good way to get past that wierd fitness barrier.
That is not to say that I didn't get sick. Actually, I think I did. But it was the oddest experience I've ever had being sick. It was brief, intense, and while it kept me in bed for 24 hours I was not agitated at all. The body aches were just aches, and I got through them until one early morning I woke up in sweaty sheets feeling like a million bucks.
All is not a bed of roses. I have a natural resistance to claims of spirituality, or even claims that use spiritual language. Yoga folks tend to be rather hippy-ish and, in general, on average tend not to enjoy working with logic, math, science, or technology. The threshold for acceptance is much lower than in myself. It seems that if someone makes a statement that seems plausable, it is accepted without further probing or thought. Yogis tend to be a credulous group.
(As a specific example of this there was a period where some of the teachers and regular students were talking about some sun-gazing fellow who claimed to get all nutrition from the sun, not eating a bite. They were speaking as if this claim was true, rather than being skeptical and wondering why, if this technique works, is this man not teaching it to the starving of Africa to reduce their dependence on arable land.)
This credulity makes it very hard to communicate sometimes. Teachers talk about "lines of energy" and "chakras" and "bowing to the divine in you" and seem to think that these concepts are self-evident. To be completely frank, I believe that most yoga practitioners are mouthing the words of the wise without understanding that the words are mere shadows of an experience *they* have not had. This bothers me because words can get in the way of actual, inarticulatable experience. It also bothers me because it sounds like a subtle form of lie.
What motivation to lie is there? Collectively, there is a massive craving for meaning, for happiness, for a sense of spirituality percieved as missing from "Western Culture". This tendency to use unchecked language and exagerated credulity is a reaction to the spiritual wasteland that is the west. It is as if they see the world as a desert (but, romantically, it was once a paradise) and themselves as caretakers of tiny, precious oasis. And an oasis must have a particular look - it must have a vulgar sexuality and lushness to it, because that is what an oasis is to them in the imagination.
It angers and saddens me to see this. I can't get objective distance on it because my belief is too overpowering that this behavior strikes me as a harmful delusion just as poisinous as the delusion that the point of life is to make the most money.
The gold standard on whether a cultural artifact is harmful is how it affects the people who promote it. So what if people talk about these things? Does it do them harm? A feature of the yoga studio is that it is a social gathering. People talk. People date. People gossip about each other. Over all of this is a thin patina of constant smiles and, to my eyes, impossibly consistent good cheer. I find a plethora of smiles and very little communication at any depth. It is as if everyone wants to believe that yoga is the solution to every problem and that by coming to the studio and doing asana practice everything will be alright. And if we all keep repeating that mantra over and over it will be true. "Yoga is the panacea. Yoga is the panacea. Yoga is...."
I am grateful for Yoga asana practice. It has helped my body a *ton*, and so also the health of my mind as well. But I can neither blame nor credit yoga for every trial and tribulation of my life. Life is life. If I am busy connecting the dots between one experience and another all I get is a self-satisfied yet scientifically unsupported "Ah, so that's why that happened" without actually addressing reality as it is. But everyday yoga practictioners accept these stories as fact, and reenforce their believe with a constant drone of smiles.
I begin to appreciate more and more the common Buddhist prohibition of sharing specific spiritual experiences with fellow students. Of *course* there are lots of specific (and quite interesting) things going on in the mind and the body. But those facts are useless unless you actually discover them for yourself. The body is so complex that if one addresses an issue in ignorance then you might solve one problem but at the expense of creating many others.
What I'm really trying to say is, I like yoga, but could do without the gossiping, the superficial cheer, and the credulous reiteration of a spiritual language unqualifed as a shadow of reality.
PhotoJournalism: Board frustration
PhotoJournalism: Board frustration
Quite a compelling picture for democracy. :)
Quite a compelling picture for democracy. :)
How Trackback Works
How Trackback Works is not very helpful. I will attempt to explain (and hence understand) a little more clearly, starting from first principles. Briefly a weblog is a stream of textual entries. The main blog page collects those entries chronologically with a cutoff. However, sometimes people might want to tell a friend about a particular entry. That's what "permalinks" are for.
There is no way for a blogger to know who's sharing permalinks, they just see a bunch of hits.
What if you want someone to know you're writing about them? One way is to leave a comment with a link to your own article. In fact, its not clear to me why this doesn't solve the problem. Trackbacks are often displayed right along with comments! The only difference I can see is that the Trackback interface is presented to you by your own blog, whereas leaving a comment uses various blog interfaces. Ah, there is one very powerful reason to do it - it presents a good way for you to leverage your effort for both your own blog and help others. A comment only appears "there" whereas Trackback appears here and there. It serves to collect your "output" in one place (e.g. everything I write on the web is collected in my blog.)
Aren't we just recreating Usenet.
There is no way for a blogger to know who's sharing permalinks, they just see a bunch of hits.
What if you want someone to know you're writing about them? One way is to leave a comment with a link to your own article. In fact, its not clear to me why this doesn't solve the problem. Trackbacks are often displayed right along with comments! The only difference I can see is that the Trackback interface is presented to you by your own blog, whereas leaving a comment uses various blog interfaces. Ah, there is one very powerful reason to do it - it presents a good way for you to leverage your effort for both your own blog and help others. A comment only appears "there" whereas Trackback appears here and there. It serves to collect your "output" in one place (e.g. everything I write on the web is collected in my blog.)
Aren't we just recreating Usenet.
Blogger Buzz
Blogger Buzz pointed out that there is a new Rich Text BlogThis! thingy available via the google toolbar. That's good. Now if only they supported categories...
HTTrak Website Copier - Handy!
Back in the day I used to use a tool called "page suck" (or something like that). Now there's a quite sophisticated tool to download sites (quite handy for reverse engineering) called HTTrack. Recommended
The Iranian president is an idiot
There really isn't any better way to put it. According to the BBC, he is hosting a debate on the holocaust. This is a little like hosting a debate on evolution - there is nothing to debate.
Luckily I am not the only person in the world who can put together 3 important facts to come up with a conclusion:
Conclusion: Iran wants to build a bomb to nuke Israel, and perhaps the US or Europe if it gets the chance. No-one is buying what Mahmoud is selling, thank God.
Luckily I am not the only person in the world who can put together 3 important facts to come up with a conclusion:
- Iran has huge oil reserves, and needs nuclear power like it needs more sand.
- Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hates Israel and the Jews.
- The timing of the statements and the nuclear ambitions is rather close.
Conclusion: Iran wants to build a bomb to nuke Israel, and perhaps the US or Europe if it gets the chance. No-one is buying what Mahmoud is selling, thank God.
Judge Jone's ID decision
For reference:
http://coop.www.uscourts.gov/pamd/kitzmiller_342.pdf
Most of the good stuff is in the middle 40 pages or so. Good reading! I got in a very annoying argument with some fundamentalists over ID. What made it worse was that a) I hadn't had a chance to prepare and was forced to think on my toes and b) no-one rose to argue with me. The latter was quite disheartening.
The worst thing were the negative arguments against evolution. I felt like I had to defend it, even though something bothered me. Reading this decision made me realize the false duality implicit in the attack.
Ironically I am more sympathetic than most to the ID argument, primarily as part of the question: if we are part of a virtual reality simulation, how would be find out? Messages from the container reality would be one way. But what sort of message would it look like? Could it be written in DNA? So in a way there *is* a test for Intelligent Design - do a SETI-like search on all DNA sequences!
So in a way the Christians have promoted the right thing for some very wrong reasons (I'm rather offended that creationists would stoop to a trojan horse tactic like ID, frankly - aren't they supose to be principled or something?).
http://coop.www.uscourts.gov/pamd/kitzmiller_342.pdf
Most of the good stuff is in the middle 40 pages or so. Good reading! I got in a very annoying argument with some fundamentalists over ID. What made it worse was that a) I hadn't had a chance to prepare and was forced to think on my toes and b) no-one rose to argue with me. The latter was quite disheartening.
The worst thing were the negative arguments against evolution. I felt like I had to defend it, even though something bothered me. Reading this decision made me realize the false duality implicit in the attack.
Ironically I am more sympathetic than most to the ID argument, primarily as part of the question: if we are part of a virtual reality simulation, how would be find out? Messages from the container reality would be one way. But what sort of message would it look like? Could it be written in DNA? So in a way there *is* a test for Intelligent Design - do a SETI-like search on all DNA sequences!
So in a way the Christians have promoted the right thing for some very wrong reasons (I'm rather offended that creationists would stoop to a trojan horse tactic like ID, frankly - aren't they supose to be principled or something?).
Dear ancestors
It may be that in the far future my ancestors will have invented time travel. I would also assume that the Internet will evolve, and all of this data will be available for your perusal. Therefore if I post this request to the public internet, it will be available to humanity long after I am gone.
Travel back in time and give me a message. I'd like to hear from you.
Travel back in time and give me a message. I'd like to hear from you.
30 times a traitor
The New York times reveales that President George Bush is a power-mad maniac intent on destroying the very country he is sworn to protect.
He has illegaly authorized the NSA to spy on American citizens as part of his "war on terror". That is, wiretaps WITHOUT court approval.
There is no possible reason why this would be required. Is the concern that the US court system has been inflitrated by Al Queda? Spying on Americans is bad enough WITH a court's oversight. But this isn't just bordering on KGB practice, this IS KGB practice.
If being misled into war wasn't a problem. If botching Katrina wasn't a problem. How about this latest revelation of unchecked power in the whitehouse? Bill Clinton was almost impeached for getting fellated. Why is Bush not being impeached?
When will the American people stand up and say that the threat of terrorism does not give the executive branch of our government carte blanche in its dealings? Bush already went too far with Iraq - and now we can only hope it turns out well. But he has gone way beyond the pale with this latest.
He has illegaly authorized the NSA to spy on American citizens as part of his "war on terror". That is, wiretaps WITHOUT court approval.
There is no possible reason why this would be required. Is the concern that the US court system has been inflitrated by Al Queda? Spying on Americans is bad enough WITH a court's oversight. But this isn't just bordering on KGB practice, this IS KGB practice.
If being misled into war wasn't a problem. If botching Katrina wasn't a problem. How about this latest revelation of unchecked power in the whitehouse? Bill Clinton was almost impeached for getting fellated. Why is Bush not being impeached?
When will the American people stand up and say that the threat of terrorism does not give the executive branch of our government carte blanche in its dealings? Bush already went too far with Iraq - and now we can only hope it turns out well. But he has gone way beyond the pale with this latest.
Instant Messaging
I'm installing an instant messanger. I understand that all the cool kids are doing this. I have accounts with AIM, MSN, ICQ, and Yahoo. I may have a Jabber account. In fact, I've been doing this for so long I have a 7 digit ICQ id. :)
My concern about IM is that it's fairly annoying and intrusive when you are working.
My concern about IM is that it's fairly annoying and intrusive when you are working.
Ubuntu buzz - what is it?
It's yet another Linux distribution (YALD) - and like so many of them, is based on Debian.
So how does it differ from Debian? I mean, why would I install Ubuntu rather than Debian?
A partial answer lies here. Basically Ubuntu releases every 6 months, does some package manipulation. As far as I can tell that's it.
(The hype I heard was that there was an argument on the TV show "Veronica Mars" about Ubuntu - which only goes to show that people are aware of Linux, not necessarily adopting it.)
A related question arises: what is the difference between the various Linux distributions? I *think* the answer lies in their installation, configuration, and package management tools. But actually the real answer lies in the community, the contributers and package maintainers.
So how does it differ from Debian? I mean, why would I install Ubuntu rather than Debian?
A partial answer lies here. Basically Ubuntu releases every 6 months, does some package manipulation. As far as I can tell that's it.
(The hype I heard was that there was an argument on the TV show "Veronica Mars" about Ubuntu - which only goes to show that people are aware of Linux, not necessarily adopting it.)
A related question arises: what is the difference between the various Linux distributions? I *think* the answer lies in their installation, configuration, and package management tools. But actually the real answer lies in the community, the contributers and package maintainers.
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