Dispatches from the Eccentric Frontier
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Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the “Max Kaehn” journal:| ⇐ Previous 10 entries |
14:06 ※ It’s a good thing I’m in engineering rather than public relations
So my sangha has become a 501(c)(3) organization, looking to accomplish more in the community and perhaps get some permanent quarters for meditation. One of my fellow Zen practitioners was remarking on the difficulty of finding a place in Sunnyvale, due to the high property prices there. My suggestions for avoiding the problem:
Current Mood:  creative |
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| Tags: zen ⁎ | |
11:27 ※ Modern iconography
If you meet the Buddha on the road and he can remain in Earth’s atmosphere for more than three minutes, kill him.
(Via Toy Karma.)
Current Mood:  amused |
(My 2¢) |
| Tags: wild weird world ⁎, zen ⁎ | |
23:50 ※ Metropolitan is back in (virtual) print!
Most fantasy worlds manage to sustain a roughly medieval level of development for thousands of years at a stretch. (I blame hyperconservative nigh-immortal elves for quietly holding back technological progress.) Walter Jon Williams’ Metropolitan takes that restriction off and follows it to its logical conclusion, with geomantic public works and the essence of magic on tap as a utility; it’s a great read for gamers and anyone who likes to play with the idea of technomagic. The author discusses the worldbuilding and where to find the ebook.
I’m hoping there will be enough interest in this (and the sequel, City On Fire, when it comes out soon) that we can talk WJW into holding a Kickstarter for writing the third book that answers some of the questions raised in City On Fire.
(My 2¢) | |
| Tags: inside of a cat it’s too dark to read ⁎ | |
14:25 ※ Future shock
The Old Republic’s servers had to be taken down for emergency patching today, and the announcement that they’re back up stated:
All servers are now back up and running! Please note that you will download a small patch upon login (approx. 200MB). Thank you for your patience. As a reminder, due to today's unexpected maintenance, all active subscribers will receive a full day of game time as compensation.
200 megabytes is a small patch by modern standards. I can remember using a 300 baud modem, and how upgrading to 1200 baud meant that my computer could finally download text faster than I could read it.
| Current Location: Electric Cloud | Current Mood:  bemused |
Current Music: Tangerine Dream – Canyon Dreams | |
| Tags: tech ⁎ | |||
00:03 ※ I had some free time.
| Current Mood: creative |
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| Tags: demented visions ⁎ | |
18:59 ※ Light bulbs I’d like to see
LED lights give a lot of light for the amount of electricity (enough that there are problems in snowy areas where LED traffic lights don’t melt accumulated snow the way the incandescents used to), but the spectrum they give off doesn’t look much like natural light; a “white” light is usually just a mix of yellow and blue. There are solutions coming up with quantum dot lighting that should make it possible to produce lights that approximate the visible portion of the blackbody spectrum, giving a true daylight look.
The next step after bulbs that provide a good approximation of natural light (i.e. a color rendering index near 100) would be ones that can dynamically shift to a specified color temperature, making it possible to have your house lights be bright and sunny on a winter morning, but dimming and cooling to be more like candlelight in the evening. This would help provide cues that it’s getting closer to bedtime. (You can already do this with your computer monitor using f.lux.)
Current Mood:  tired |
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| Tags: where's my venture capital? ⁎ | |
21:45 ※ Department of Zen Corrections, continued
Current Mood:  weird |
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| Tags: zen ⁎ | |
00:00 ※ Forty-one
The handy thing about going grey is that I can dye my beard interesting colors without going to the trouble of bleaching it first.
| Current Mood: calm |
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| Tags: time ⁎ | |
10:31 ※ I probably need to make a userpic for this idea
“My body is a temple... of Bacchus!”| Current Mood: amused |
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| Tags: random thoughts ⁎ | |
15:30 ※ Why I have trouble keeping a straight face in sutra study
So we’re covering Bodhidharma’s Bloodstream Sermon and hit a passage:
People who don’t understand and think they can do so without study are no different from those deluded souls who can’t tell white from black. Falsely proclaiming the Buddha-Dharma, such persons in fact blaspheme the Buddha and subvert the Dharma. They preach as if they were bringing rain. But theirs is the preaching of devils not of Buddhas. Their teacher is the King of Devils and their disciples are the Devil’s minions. Deluded people who follow such instruction unwittingly sink deeper in the Sea of Birth and Death. Unless they see their nature, how can people call themselves Buddhas? They’re liars who deceive others into entering the realm of devils. Unless they see their nature, their preaching of the Twelvefold Canon is nothing but the preaching of devils. Their allegiance is to Mara, not to the Buddha.
I remarked: “The allegiance of devils isn’t very useful. My wife can’t even get them to help out with the housework.” (She’s named after the Biblical Mara, not the demon, but it’s just too funny when the name pops up in the scripture.)
| Current Mood: amused |
Current Music: A State of Trance 2009 | |
| Tags: zen ⁎ | ||
| ⇐ Previous 10 entries |
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