Owner: Karma URL:http://karma-action.blogspot.com Join Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 18:15:33 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: Personal blog reflecting on events, mostly from a Buddhist point of view. Also includes some reflections on politics, home improvements and anything else that takes my fancy. Links to my other blogs where I record poems, essays, short-stories and money Site statistics:Click here
It's a calculator Jim, but not as we know it. 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I was clearing out a drawer this morning and came across an old, pre-electronic calculator. It works in very much the same way as an abacus. The one I found I think came from my late father-in-law, but I remember having one myself (red and slightly smaller than this splendid object). It claims the full four functions, but as I recall anything other than addition and subtraction was really a bit of a pain. When I fished it out of the drawer it took me a couple of minutes to remember how to use it. As I recall doing division on one of the beasts was a painful process. The secondary school I went to had an electro-mechanical calculator which was much loved my our statistic teacher (Mr Neville Richards). When you got it doing long multiplications it made about as much noise as a modern washing machine as the gears whirred round. Anybody else still harbouring (and even using) one of these?(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Struggling with Hawking 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I've been trying to read 'The Universe in a Nutshell' this evening. Ok, so it didn't help that half my attention was on CSI, but it does seem to get hard to follow somewhere in chapter 3. I'm not sure if it's me or the book but something things seem very clear and something things seem really hard. I guess that probably means it is me.I think it is the measure of a first rate mind like Hawking
that he grasps the subject well enough to explain its complexities in a relatively straightforward way (most of the time), whereas other bright people, but not first rate, can only work within the complexity.It is also interesting to see a scientist plainly state his philosophical position. Hawking states that he is a positivist. Ontology is of no interest to him. Human knowledge is limited to the field of epistemology. He admits that he is distrustful of certain ideas, but then dismisses that distrust as neither here nor there. He has a measure of the use of ideas - not that they describe
Amita Dhiri 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I've been enjoying watching the re-run of This Life. Sometimes when you watch a program that you remember with affection the second viewing spoils things. The program can turn out not to be as good as you remember. Not so with This Life. Its just as fresh and entertaining and it was the first time.I particularly enjoyed watching Milly (Amita Dhiri
) for no better reason than that I thought and still think she is gorgeous.I just discovered today that she was born in Brighton in 1968. I lived in Brighton from 1974-76. I wonder if I ever walked passed her when she was a very young school girl. Its a curious thought.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Hawaiian State Flag 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I was listening to a radio quiz program last week. The questions are about geography and travel. One of the panel mentioned that the state flag of Hawaii was based on the Union Jack. I wondered if this was really true. I knew that Hawaii had had very good relations with Great Britain (despite a rather shakey start when the islanders killed Captain Cook) so it was not completely beyond belief.And sure enough. There it is. The British Flag occuping a large chunk of state flag, and flying in the middle of the Pacific.(c) Hal Westhead 2005 Read more:Hawaiian
, State
Eagleton flails over Dawkins 1970-01-01 00:59:59 My eye was caught by a headline on Gmail. 'Lunging, Flailing, Mispunching - Eagleton lambasts Dawkins
'. Well I thought it was written by somebody interesting, like Senator Eagleton. No, it turns out it is just an English Literature professor from Manchester University writing for the London Review of Books (and proudly announcing at the end that his latest book is How to read a poem). I must admit I didn't read the whole review. It starts off from quite a reasonable point of view. If somebody were to embark on the mission of providing a critique of evolutionary theory or logical positivism, you might well expect them to familiarise themselves with the subject. Equally so you might expect somebody providing a critique of belief in god to become familiar with the territory they are about to explore. At this point the logical flaws creep in ... no, they flood in. Well it is only written by an English professor with an interest in poetry, so one can't set particularly high stan
Atsuo Nakamura - who? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Maybe its not the most familiar name in the world, but Atsuo Nakamura
was on UK TV for a long time, and with the re-runs now taking place is there again.He played the part of the hero Lin Chung in the 1970s Japanese version of The Water Margin.Since then, besides doing a lot of work in Japanese films, he's been active in Japanese politics and was a member of the House of Councilors from 1998 to 2004, representing "The Green Party".(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Lord of the Rings and Mortality 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I've been watching the second part of Lord of the Rings
on channel 4 this evening. I have the luxury of an eye-trek unit, so its almost as good as being at the cinema. The whole set of films is terrific - incredibly good conception of the Tolkien world. For me one of the brilliant and very moving parts of the film is Elrond creating a picture for his daughter of the reality of mortality. Whether by the sword or the passing of years Aragorn will die. And then the image of Arwen wandering through the leafless forest. Brilliant. Sure its fantasy, but the message is real for almost any couple. One or other of them will die first. Which is worse? To be the survivor who experiences the pain of loss, or the one who dies first.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Respect for Ted Haggard 1970-01-01 00:59:59 As you may have seen from my previous posts, my small exposure to Ted Haggard
on TV has not impressed me. However I have been impressed by his conduct over the immorality allegations. So many high profile preachers go into highly televised convulsions of emotion about how they were tempted and failed in their battle with evil. They make themselves out to be victims in some kind of cosmic struggle. By contrast Ted Haggard
seems to be saying in his letter to his ex-congregation that he has failed in a battle with himself. Essentially he is taking responsibility for his own actions, both good and bad. So credit where it is due, Ted Haggard has made a good example of accepting his own human frailty and his own choice of actions.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Beating the rush 1970-01-01 00:59:59 In my last three paid jobs I seem to have just missed the axe falling. Not a personal axe - not being individually sacked while all around retained their jobs - but the collective scythe of redundancy. Three jobs ago I missed the redundancy notices by one week. Two jobs ago I missed the redundancy notices by about a month. One job ago I missed the redundancy notices by about three months - and since I was the local manager then, I would have had the unenviable task of handling the whole thing.This week I got what could be seen as the most efficient redundancy - being made redundant before even being recruited. I'd just had an interview and got a call a couple of days later to say that I would have been invited back for second and final interview ('the good news') but unfortunately the directors of the company had just put a freeze on all recruiting ('the bad news'). Life is full of surprises. Just when you start thinking there are only two outcomes of a first interview, a third
The Duties of Brotherhood in Islam 1970-01-01 00:59:59 There is a fairly well-known and significant Islam
ic text by Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali, (1058 - 1111 C.E.) outlining ideal attitude of one Muslim towards another: brotherhood. In this text 'brotherhood' isn't the squabbling rivalry of siblings, but a relationship of mutual respect and material support. It is described as having different levels, but one could summarise much of the teaching in one particular line:The Muslim is a brother to the Muslim. He does not do wrong tohim, does not forsake him, and does not betray him.I was watching a TV interview last night with a couple of young Muslims (in the UK). One was expressing this brotherhood by saying that it was like they were all one body: if you hurt the foot in Iraq would not the hand in England want to protect it? The main problem I find with this argument is the fact that Shi'ites and Sunnis are attacking each other so enthusiastically in Iraq. It would seem that certain hands are more intent on blowing off their own feet than Read more:Brotherhood
Kibbutz Afek - again 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I was looking through some old photos and postcards a couple of days ago, looking for some pictures I took of the view from my lounge window. Instead what I found was a collection of postcards I forgotten about from Israel. One in particular caught my eye since it is a picture of the building I stayed in at Kibbutz Afek.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Rumsfeldt and the Johari Window 1970-01-01 00:59:59 People poke fun at Donald Rumsfeldt impenetrable utterances, but if you listen carefully and think about what he is saying what he says has far more truth in it than the plausible but logically flawed cliches that the media dish up (and second rate politicians then echo).I was listening to Broadcasting House yesterday on BBC Radio 4. At the end of the program it had a collection of Rumsfeldtiana. I found myself agreeing with most of what he said - that it made a lot of sense. But then they came to the cherry on top of the cake. At a press briefing somebody asked the assembled press if they had one last question for the Defense Secretary. A journalist with a thick east European accent asked what he thought of the situation in Georgia. After about second or two of painful silence, the first voice simply said, 'Ok, any more questions.' Maybe his silence was a profound statement, or maybe he didn't realise there was a Georgia outside the USA.The classic Rumsfeldtism about the things we Read more:Window
Peaceful Earth Moving 1970-01-01 00:59:59 There is almost no limit to the range of things you can come across on the internet.On Friday December 22nd there is going to be a global orgasm for world peace - for details see http://www.globalorgasm.org/.While some people might find this a fairly pointless exercise, I guess you have to compare it with the alternatives. How much more pointless is it than the latest (or the next) resolution in the security council?At least for the people taking part the fingers on the triggers won't be firing bullets.The whole thing is being organised (so tempting to make a dreadful pun at this point) by BaringWitness.org (thanks to whom for the picture).(c) Hal Westhead 2005 Read more:Earth
, Moving
, Peaceful
Litvinenko and Polonium-210 trail. 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The news reports I've heard recently about Mr. Alexander Litvinenko
's death seem to assume that if was deliberately poisoned with polonium-210 then the assassins are not very smart. Why? Because they have been leaving an easily detected trail wherever they go. Polonium-210 has a half-life of a little over 138 days, so although more short-lived than other significant isotopes of Polonium it certainly doesn't vanish overnight. Maybe they figured that since its radiation is mostly alpha radiation it wouldn't be detected at a distance (alpha radiation is readily absorbed and does not travel far).On the other hand suppose the assassins know all about polonium. Suppose that they are smart enough to drag a stinking Polonium red herring right across the trail. Tiny amounts of polonium are all it takes to leave a radio-active trail. So you could put a little here, a little there and soon you have it turning up all over the place. One bag going through an airport with a little poloniu
"Sooner or later you are going to die" 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I was listening to the Broadcasting House program on BBC Radio 4 this morning. One of the contributors (in a discussion about carbon emissions and 'green taxation') made the comment, "If you smoke you know that sooner or later
you are going to die." Needless to say the program got an email pointing out that this insight ('you are going to die') ought to be obvious to anyone, smoker or not. It's just one of those meaningless phrases that people say. You could just as well (and equally truthfully) replace it by, "If you are born you know that sooner or later you are going to die." However in the first version (the smoking one) the people saying it often are proposing some kind of restriction on smoking, but I wonder if they would use the same logic to propose a restriction on birth. Birth is clearly the fundamental and greatest cause of death!What people mean (I suppose) is that certain activities reduced life expectancy. Looked at from that perspective, failing to be born clearly h
Family History Research - hanging by a thread 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Since my mother died 5 years ago I've been tracking down my family tree. Initially I had a quite obsessive interest to fill in all the blanks as far back as I could get, but now I've quietened down to just the ocassional hour or two looking into unresolved gaps. The trail goes cold with Nathaniel, my Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather, born in 1767.Unfortunately I have a lot of unskilled labourers in my ancestors, and they are not the kind of people to leave a lot of records behind (no wills for instance). On the other hand I have a fairly unusual surname and my Victorian ancestors had a love of Old Testament names, so that makes the search easier and the likelihood of mistaking records less.However a slightly unusual pattern of births, deaths, marriages and re-marriages did confuse me for a while in sorting out the mid-19th century but I think I've now got it sorted out.My Great-Great-Great-Grandfather, John, has several sons two of whom were Nathaniel and Jeremiah. (Just to ke Read more:Family
, History
, Research
Clinton - 'The First Man' 1970-01-01 00:59:59 If Hilary Clinton
(or even another woman candidate) becomes the first female US President at the next presidential election, the etiquette and protocol squad will be faced with the interesting question of what to call the husband of the President. I imagine there is a title or list of possibilities in a filing cabinet somewhere.Can you imagine William J. Clinton being called the 'the first gentleman' without the announcer smirking?Or Consort Clinton?Or even the straight-from-genesis title 'the First
Man'.It seems to me that referring to him as 'Ex-President Clinton' would detract from Hilary Clinton, but the far more pedestrian 'President`s husband' does not parallel the status given by the title 'First Lady'.Ah well - we can just wait and see.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
It's another calculator Jim, but not as we know it. 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The picture is of a CBM model C110 pocket calculator. CBM, alias Commodore Business Machine Inc of Santa Clara, California got into the electronic calculator business early. I bought this in 1972. It is 3cm thick (so if you actually kept it in a pocket it would make a fairly unsightly bulge), weighs enough to make a very decent paper-weight, and has just four functions: +, -, x, / . One of the attractions of this model was its sophistication: it has a constant function. What this means is that you could store a number in a 'constant memory' and then perform repeated operations using that same number. This is most useful for doing repeated multiplications (scaling up or scaling down a set of readings for instance). I found out by accident that it was possible to store zero in the constant memory and then ask the calculator to divide by the constant. Trying to simply divide by zero, the calculator tells you that the operation is an error, but there must be some kind of design f
Another week over 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Wow. Just realised that I've not posted on here since Tuesday. What have I been doing all week?Well one thing is watching episodes of This Life.Also I've found this great site for collectors of coins, cards, stamps ... and anything else collectable: Delcampe. So I've been listing postcards there.And I've been working through my stock of books without ISBNs to find Amazon codes for them so that they would appear on the Amazon listings.Had an interview for a job at Cheshire Peaks and Plains Housing Trust yesterday. Unfortunately did not get it. Shame - it's a great opportunity with a new organization with ethical values.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
More of Amita Dhiri 1970-01-01 00:59:59 It's amazing how many people are looking for Amita Dhiri
. Well, no, it's not really amazing. This Life is being screened again on BBC2 and the delectable Amita (as Milly) is there in the thick of it. Tempted by O'Donnell, wanting to scratch out the eyes of Rachel, and terminally unable to express her feelings. Yet absolutely delectable.I think the only character who appears to be a well-rounded human being is Kira. It's an interesting piece of writing. Kira is the person who has probably been least successful academically, is possibly the youngest character (not sure about that) and is working as a general 'goffer' in a solicitor's office, yet she has the most mature humanity.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Water Margin - Lin Chung 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Just posting a picture of Atsuo Nakamura as he looked when playing Lin Chung
.(Courtesy of VLC Media Player)(c) Hal Westhead 2005 Read more:Margin
Sign the petition - keep religious doctrine out of school 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The Brights have organized an online petition
with the following wording:We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ban within government-funded schools the promotion or practice of any particular faith or religion.Faith-based or sect schools encourage and propagate divisions within our society.Schools should be places where our children are taught to think about the world around them and come to their own conclusions. In short, they should be taught, not only about the profusion of religions and faiths but also about how moral and socially responsible lives can be led without them; rather than, at a time before they have sufficiently developed critical faculties, being indoctrinated.I would urge you to sign this petition (only available to UK citizens). There is nothing wrong with the presentation of religious
information, and teaching about the cultural significance of religions. However, having one particular stance presented as irrefutable, established fact in the sort of au Read more:doctrine
Izzy Lane - what a splendid picture 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I received an advertising leaflet for Izzy Lane clothing. Just loved the picture.The text on it seemed to be textile equivalent of a Nigella Lawson recipe (or maybe the famous spoof featuring phoenix eggs). We are using the last remaining of 51 spinners in Calderdale, one of the last dyers and the last mother-of-pearl button maker in Britain. the cloth is being woven by an ancient woollen mill in Selkirk whose looms have been running for over 100 years. The only omission seems to be mention of the sheep being descended directly from those on the ark with Noah.(c) Hal Westhead 2005 Read more:splendid
Karma, Soul and Epiphenomena 1970-01-01 00:59:59 A couple of days ago I received an email giving a long discussion of souls and karma from the Jain point of view. It arrived at the email address I use exclusively for notifying me of comments to this blog. In truth, I was surprised since I hadn't written anything on this subject for a while, and the email didn't seem to be a blog comment. Then I realised that the email address it had been sent to had been simply harvested and it wasn't in response to anything specific I'd written.To summarise, it was a discussion about the relationship of the nature of karma to that of soul and whether they were of the same nature, and how karma affects the soul. The view presented was rather like karma was 'dew' which fell on the soul but was not of the same nature.From a Buddhist point of view this interpretation is unacceptable. Most fundamentally it is unacceptable because souls don't really exist. This is not to say that 'soul' is an unhelpful notion sometimes in discussing particu
Last chance to see Amita Dhiri for a while 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Ok well it's not really the last chance
. It's not so hard to get This Life on DVD. But it was the series finale tonight on BBC2. It really is hard to believe that it was 10 years ago when the series was first screened. I've enjoyed watching again just as much as the first time.I'd forgotten the details of the ending. I could remember some aspects of the wedding reception, but I'd completely forgotten about Milly flattening the scheming Rachel. She so reminds me of a couple of people I used to work with (one in particular) that there is, I'm slightly ashamed to say, a certain vicarious pleasure in see Rachel decked.I'm a little dubious about watching the 2nd January 'get together'. Christmas specials are often dire - over sentimental, nostalgic and saccharine sweet. Shows - like Ally McBeal - with a witty quirkyness descend into maudlin sentimentality just because its Xmas. Will they avoid the sentiment trap? Time will tell.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Posting Cards overseas 1970-01-01 00:59:59 We never get our American and Australian cards in the post early enough to go by surface mail. In part this is due to me refusing to have anything to do with Christmas preparations before the 1st December. My one exception to this rule is the Christmas Cake. A good cake should be made well in advance and allowed to mature. This means it has to be made some time in November. Other than that 1st December is my siege barrier against the invading forces of Christmas commercialism.I've gradually come to realize that since so many religions hang a celebration off the time of the Winter Solstice, it is patently of psychological importance. It really doesn't matter what religious fairy story you attach to the event, it is the fact of the event itself that really matters. So it can be Yule, Christmas, Saturnalia or simply Solstice - if they were all swept away I suspect humans would re-invent something in mid-Winter.(c) Hal Westhead 2005 Read more:Cards
, overseas
, Posting
An Interesting but profoundly depressing comment 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Blogger user Ish left the following comment against one of the entries on my 'poetry' blog:If there is "no one home in the universe" (we are castaways on planet earthwithout a God to love and communicate with) then Buddhism is a reasonablepalliative care alternative to ease the pain of that. But Buddhism also comes asa religion with several versions, each with their own set of hoops to jumpthrough.Quite why he left it there is an interesting mystery in itself - he clearly read far more into the poem than I wrote. I guess that is why poetry can be so personally interesting. It can be a verbal Roschach allowing the reader to project all sorts of inner turmoil onto an all embracing vacuity.How sad, how utterly deeply depressing
that he dismisses humans and all other forms of sentient life so lightly - that is you and me who are tossed aside as 'no one home'. Actually it seems his knowledge of Buddhism is clearly insufficient or distorted by the tight corset of the rather shallow '
John F Kennedy 1970-01-01 00:59:59 There's a documentary on UK TV this week about JFK and his sexual appetite. On the trailer for it somebody who (I think) knew JFK makes the comment:Where sex was concerned JFK thought he could walk on waterIt's a nice line, and I guess we all know what he's trying to say, but does it make any sense at all?(c) Hal Westhead 2005 Read more:Kennedy
English - blessed by phonemic irregularities 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Consider the sentence:"Through a thorough search a tough trough was found."Four completely different pronunciations of 'ough at the end of a word.So you change the 't' sound at the start of 'trough' (rhyming with 'off') in to 'th' and suddenly the whole word now rhymes with 'screw'. In the above example just one letter is added in each of the series of '-ough' words:toughtroughthroughthoroughYou could equally well start the series with 'rough', which amazingly does actually rhyme with 'tough'.If you allow yourself the full play of the '-ough' sound then you can get the sentence:A thoughtful ploughman strode through the rough streets of Scarborough; afterfalling into a slough while eating dough, he coughed and hiccoughed.which contains 8 different pronunciations. (Courtesy of Henk's Page ).Zamenhof must be turning in his grave that this general purpose, mongrel natural language is achieving world dominance in favour of his pure, regular but constructed creation, Espe Read more:English
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