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How an ISV uses "inbound" social media
Posted by Tom Grant on September 23, 2009
- 318 Recommendations
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In this week's Heretech podcast, I spoke with Alex Bender of Archer Technologies about the role the Archer community plays in the development process, all the way through the release. If you click the thumbnail shown below, you'll see their process in graphic detail. While Alex and I didn't get into all the specifics of how they do it, we did cover most of their "social product management" approach in the podcast.
Among other interesting aspects of how they use their community as a resource for innovation and adoption, the role of partners really stands out. Of course, in the governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) space, you have an ecology of partners who are experts in things like Sarbanes-Oxley and risk management best practices. They'll tell you in plenty of detail why your product isn't really doing the job it should as a GRC tool.
GRC implementers and advisers have a very explicit kind of domain knowledge. However, if you stop to think about it, almost any partner has domain knowledge that's valuable to ISVs. To cite an obvious example, how does the average organization implementing your technology define the project? What obstacles do you impose at the critical landmarks in the implementation?
We usually talk about communities as consisting of customers. However, I think it's worth including partners whenever you talk about your community strategy.
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Product Reference: 42522
High quality faux leather case offering all-round protection
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Made just for the Kindle HDX 7
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subset: commoncrawl


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Hey all,
I've already purchased a great theme: http://codecanyon.net/item/metric-music-band-responsive-wordpress-theme/5833652
The only thing I'd like to tweak is to have the ALBUMS page, which I think is custom post type archive, have a dynamic ajax filter.
As you can see, currently the page has a sidebar that simply links to category and refreshes the page: http://themes.grandpixels.com/metric/albums/
I'd like for it to have a dynamic filter, like here: http://themes.rascals.eu/eprom/dark/releases/
Does anyone know of a plugin that can achieve this? Or even a code snippet, I am very comfortable with theme alterations.
Thanks in advance
I am aware of that, but they can either develop an online tool, or promote integrating such a feature to the theme authors
Copied Thread from TF Forum / This is the proper category
Hey All,
I'm a freelance web-dude, I've purchased a lot of great themes for my clients on Themeforest. The thing is, when choosing a theme, you end up sending the client a link to the theme demo. This isn't an optimal solution, not all clients understand the versatility and customization options of themes today. I end up using a print screen and editing it on Photoshop to fit the clients branding.
So, I'm throwing Envato a feature suggestion: devise a way for us to play around a bit with the themes, customize several elements like background, header and menus – only on a visual level. And be able to save it as a JPG .
I think this will prove a great tool for trying out themes and client proposal, prior to purchase.
What you all think?
Copypaste Design
Hey everyone, I'm looking for a theme that resembles this website, both and design and functionality … any ideas? http://en-us.transitions.com/en/default.aspx Thank
Website Template with CMS needed for Musicians
Hey Geniuses,
I have a small music label with a couple of artists. I would like for each of the artists to have their own Wordpress site but for it to be Unique. All musicians require the same page Elements, but I would like to have control of the Deisgn of each of the pages.
Here are the common elements:
Regarding the Design, I would like to be able to edit the following:
- Background Image
- Fonts
- Table colors and borders
- Turning ON/OFF each of the above mentioned Elements
- Placement of these elements on a 3 column grid
- Control of a HOME PAGE that will display these
- Easy update of these elements for the artist to control
I have extensive web-knowledge and am familiar with HTML , JAVASCRIPT, XML , PHP, CSS & Photoshop, and will be admin-ing and updating these sites myself. I don't have the time to build this mysely, nor the necessary expertise. But I will understand what you're talking about and I will be open to any ideas.
I have chosen Wordpress as it is a common CMS with a pretty easy back-end and many available widgets. BUT , if any of you feel that it would be better to use a different CMS and custom build all these, I am open to suggestions.
All who are serious, capable and interested, please send me an email with a Portfolio link and a price quote to:
Looking forward to hearing from you all,
Hey Guys,
My email is:
Hello Friends,
I need a Flash MP3 player that when playing a song, activates an image. And alternatively, when the image is pressed, it plays that image's song.
The idea is that each song has an image thumbnail that expands to show that song's relevant artwork when that song is played.
Should be pretty simple to all of you who of already made MP3 players.
It needs to have basic player controls.
The player has already been designed, and needs to come out exactly as designed.
No XML is required, though I wouldn't mind if it had some customization …
I will need to embed the player within a site that I am building.
Here is an image of the player to be programmed: http://www.copypaste.co.il/temp/activeden.jpg
Please send me a reasonable price quote.
Thanks a bunch,
Copypaste Design


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Are you considering coming to the historic city of London in order to pursue your academic ambitions? You have made a great choice and you are sure to have plenty of cool and memorable experiences in this great metropolis. But first, let's make sure you're settled into a comfy place that you can call your own, such as this apartment in Tufnell Park. From here, you'll find University College London only a few minutes away by foot, and you'll be next to Tufnell Park tube station, as well as several refreshing gardens and parks!
The flat features three bedrooms, all of them bright and cosy, a bathroom, and a kitchen that comes nicely equipped to serve you on your daily cooking quests. This is a great opportunity to start your new academic adventure the right way, so make sure you don't miss out on it!
Find out more about this property's common areas in our photo gallery.
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At Uniplaces we make the process of booking an apartment as easy as possible for both tenant and landlord.
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Sbc V-belt Help Needed
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Originally Posted by
Chris Kemp
Don't want to hurt anyone's feelings here but anytime I see people give information on belts and pulleys I like for it to be correct. As I stated earlier it is not something to take for granted! I know of a young fellow that was killed by a fan blade that came off. In the picture that you have shown here it would create two different speeds on the belts and the reason is because you have two different size groove diameters on your water pump pulley. The size of the alternator pulley and the size of the power steering pump pulley has no variation of speed in the two belts as long as the two groove diameters in the crank pulley and the two groove diameters in the water pump pulley have the same diameter. The water pump pulley you have shown has two different size diameters on it. This type of pulley would not use a belt that also went over the crank it would only use one of the two belts over the crank shaft and not both of them. A pulley such as you have shown could be used to drive another accessory but the belt that drives the second accessory could only be put around the water pump and not over the crank or they would fight each other and squeal and one of the two belts would wear out real quick.
I have drawn a picture that shows how it works with two belts over the crank and water pump. In this picture the two grooves of the pulley on the water pump are of the same diameter and the two grooves of the crank pulley are of the same diameter. The fact that the power steering pump has a different size pulley then the one that is on the alternator has no effect on belt speed.
it wouldnt run 2 speeds because it wouldnt go 2 the water and crank so you may wana read all of the post before you say its not correct and by the way stock 2 belts dont even go to crank and water pump
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Kingston Rossdale
Capping a busy day off with a family dinner, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale and their boys headed off to Via Alloro Restaurant in Beverly Hills on Saturday (June 15).
Donning rolled black pants and a hounds-tooth blazer, the No Doubt darling and her rocker hubby escorted Zuma and Kingston inside the establishment for some grub.
Celebrating the Memorial Day holiday in style, film producer Joel Silver invited all of his famous friends to his Malibu Beach house for a swanky shindig yesterday (May 27).
Making for a family affair, Kate Beckinsale and Len Wiseman brought daughter Lily to the party, while Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale were joined by sons Kingston and Zuma.
Making the most of the Easter holiday, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale took their kiddos to Gwen's parents' house in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon (March 31).
The "Hella Good" hottie and her "Little Things" hubby were beaming as proud parents while little Kingston and Zuma frolicked around in their matching blue checked shirts with bowties, orange shorts, and plaid socks with snazzy shoes.
Bringing their holiday season in London to an end, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale left their UK home en route to Heathrow International Airport today (January 4).
Joined by their sons Kingston and Zuma, the rock star spouses looked to have their hands full as they loaded up a chauffeured Mercedes-Benz van.
Stepping out to run some errands with the whole brood, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale took their boys on a little trip to Petco in Studio City, CA on Saturday (October 13).
The No Doubt lead singer looked chic in an orange blazer and grey skinny pants, while her hubby played proud papa well, toting both Zuma and Kingston in his arms.
With her entire entourage in tow, Gwen Stefani was seen arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday (September 3).
Rocking a fashion forward ensemble, the "No Doubt" songstress donned checkered blazer, skinny jeans and red boots while her sons Kingston and Zuma and bandmate Tony Ashwin Kana made their way into the hectic terminal.
Getting a bit of fresh air, Gwen Stefani took her boys Kingston and Zuma out at a Los Angeles, CA park on Saturday afternoon (August 25).
The "No Doubt" songstress looked fashion forward in army green pants, a black tank top and her signature red lip while her adorable sons put on their protective gear for some fun on their scooters.
Adding a couple of furry friends to their famous family, Gwen Stefani took her sons Zuma and Kingston puppy shopping at a Corona, CA puppy mill on Saturday afternoon (August 11).
The blonde beauty donned cuffed jeans, a striped tank top and her signature red lip as she and her little ones were spotted making their way out with two adorable Pomeranian puppies.
Out getting in some Memorial Day weekend family fun, Gwen Stefani, her father, Zuma and Kingston were all spotted enjoying the activities at Moorpark Farm Center in Moorpark, CA on Saturday (May 26).
The "No Doubt" songstress looked rocker chic in baggy khaki pants, a white tank top and a plaid jacket while sporting her trademark red lip. While having a relaxing afternoon, the Hollywood fam was seen taking horse rides, riding bikes and even picking fresh veggies.
Stylish mom Gwen Stefani walked the red carpet with her eldest son Kingston Rossdale for the Story Time Celebration Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, CA on Sunday afternoon (April 15).
The No Doubt singer was all smiles as she posed for pictures wearing a simple outfit including a black blazer and high-heeled boots along with a pair of royal blue pants with a matching handbag.
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The accomplished politician in Jose Mourinho emerged this morning as the Football Association issued a statement from him lauding the English game, to which he is pledged to return.
"To say congratulations to the English FA," he declared, on the eve of the association's 150th birthday celebrations, "is to say congratulations to football."
He then proved himself a better diplomat than historian, however, by going on to claim that "they are most responsible for why football is what it is around the world".
No serious student of the game would accept that cliche.
In the FA's early years, a furious debate took place between those who favoured the English game — fighting over a ball, basically — and those who recognised that a more worthwhile form of football was developing in Scotland. Clubs then hired lots of Scottish players who were known as "professors" because of their role in teaching the value of sharing the ball instead of just chasing it until you ran into a brick wall.
Football "is what it is around the world" because the English pioneers, from Charles Alcock to Jimmy Hogan, favoured the style of the Scots.
This was what Lancashire-born Hogan, arguably the most influential coach of all time, took to Europe (Austria, Hungary, Switzerland and Germany) and, indirectly, South America. It included the magic ingredient of passing.
Pure English football would have died on its bruised and battered legs. It wouldn't have got as far as Calais, let alone Barcelona, Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro.
So why did the Scots get left behind in the refinement of their own game? That's a good question for another time. Meanwhile, Mourinho might remind himself that, when he took his coaching courses, it was to Scotland he went, on advice that has proved pretty good.
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Screenwriting Master Classes: Top Ten List What you are about to listen to is probably the equivalent of taking at least five years of screenwriting courses or classes at a top tier film school. BAFTA (The British Academy of Film and Television Arts) has an amazing collection of FREE screenwriting lectures from some of the…Read More
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Amitabha, Community and Ecology: A Retreat with Tarchin Hearn in Morin Heights, Quebec (June 21-26, 2014)
Tarchin Hearn, a great Buddhist writer and teacher from New Zealand will be teaching across Canada this summer, and he is kicking off his tour with a one-week retreat in Morin Heights. Tarchin's approach to dharma is non-sectarian and universal in nature, linking personal healing with a deep ecological perspective in ways that have inspired a wide range of people from a variety of diverse backgrounds and traditions. He has taught in many countries and has helped establish a number of centres for retreat and healing since 1997. For more than 40 years he has studied and practiced in both Theravadin and Mahayana schools of Buddhism with 12 of those years as an ordained monk (he was originally ordained by the Ven. Kalu Rinpoché, and received the full Gelong/Bhikkhu ordination from H.H. the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, and trained extensively with the Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche and the Ven. Sayadaw U Thila Wanta of Burma). Tarchin is a wonderful and compassionate teacher who rarely teaches in Canada so this is a great opportunity. There is more about Tarchin here.
All are welcome to attend this retreat; there are BnB's and camping possibilities in Morin Heights. The teaching is always offered for free; there will be a dana bowl for the teacher. Please contact Jane Marenghi for details at
More detailed info from Tarchin's website Green Dharma Treasury, is posted below. Sarva Mangalam.
June 21 – 26, 2014, Morin Heights, Quebec
The Meditation of Amitabha:
A Practice of Deep Ecology, Community, Boundless Wonderment and Love
– heart teachings of a modern buddhadharma –
Tarchin writes: "We are living in a time of great fragmentation where the seamless mystery of life has largely slipped from public view, replaced by a chaos of separated parts that often appear in conflict or competition with each other. Yet, from a biological perspective, and from a Buddhist perspective, every multi-celled creature is a symbiosis of myriad living beings. Inwardly, my body is composed, not only of human cells, but collaborating communities of micro beings that live in my gut, in my tissues and on my skin. Even a single cell is collaboration of myriad molecular communities! I am a 'we' and we together, make an 'I'. Outwardly, I mesh, breath by breath, with the photosynthesizing world, breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide. Uncountable societies, realms of responsive knowing – chemical, physical, emotional, conceptual and perceptual – are continuously dancing me into being and this is so for everyone. We live in and through each other with no absolute beginning or end.
Buddha Amitabha represents the wisdom of of simultaneously understanding the infinite diversity and profound unity of all that is. During this week we will use the Meditation of Amitabha to explore in a contemplative way, a path of deep ecology, community, boundless wonderment and love. This is a way of living that is totally inclusive yet radically ordinary; embracing birth and death, self and other, inner and outer, mundane and spiritual. These are heart teachings of a modern buddhadharma."
For more information contact Jane at
June 29 – July 6, 2014, Teaching in Ottawa, Ontario
Living Dharma, Reverence for Life
The Path of Natural Awakening
a week of contemplative exploration
In Buddhism, wisdom is not a knowledge of ultimate facts or truth but an ever deepening process of understanding, life enhancing connectivity, and communion.
We radically intermingle; cells and organs, minds and bodies, creatures and communities, beings and environments, the so called animate and the so called inanimate. This is a broad and all-encompassing view.
Learning the art of compassionately embracing this multi-leveled dynamic of interpenetrating realms and times, is to master the craft of meditation.
Maturing this craft, until the hint of wholeness permeates all our actions, and we discover a sense of utter at-homeness in the mist of everything we do, is the fruition of this work.
In the temple of this living world, we are deeply intermeshed with the lives of our families, friends, neighbours, strangers and adversaries, and the myriad other species and beings that we travel with from birth to death. Our bodies and minds are rivers of evolving life – landscapes of unfolding communities. What could it mean to be fully human?
During this week, Tarchin will outline a flow of caring enquiry that opens our bodies and minds into a place of understanding and experience that is immensely inclusive and rich with reverence and awe for this world in all its abundance.
for further information contact Samaya: bgordon [at] magma [dot] ca
July 11 – 27, 2014, Dharma Centre of Canada, Kinmount Ontario
Mahamudra, Deep Ecology and Natural Awakening
a residential retreat
Mahamudra is a name given to the Buddhist path of natural awakening. Although commonly associated with Tibetan teachings, its ancestry goes back to traditions of contemplative science and yoga found in ancient India, which themselves drew inspiration from a diversity of religious sources. Spacious and open, profoundly inclusive, and luminous with the recognition of the interdependence of all manifestation, mahamudra path and practice integrates myriad aspects of dharma exploration including investigations into mind, consciousness and perception while at the same time developing skilful and compassionate ways, of participating in the unfolding community of all life. This is deep ecology, in action. It is what I am. It is what you are. It is a path and practice of natural awakening in action.
During this mostly silent meditation retreat we will cultivate the ancient arts of loving-kindness and clear-seeing presence and enquiry. We will explore how bodies and minds of myriad species weave together a mystery suffused with nowful intelligence. We will draw on the mindfulness teachings of Buddhism and the wisdom teachings of radical wholeness found in the Avatamsaka Sutra, and mesh them with science, personal healing and social responsibility to find a way of living, that in this age of economic/ecological anxiety and uncertainty, is wondrously inclusive, joyously life affirming and profoundly freeing.
The retreat will involve much sitting and walking practice, group exploration, and body awareness work, punctuated with experimental exercises to cultivate inner and outer clarity, presence and compassion in action.
Tarchin has asked that participants come prepared to practice outdoors. It would be good to bring a magnifying glass and a notebook for jotting down observations.
for more information contact http://www.dharmacentre.org
or e-mail
Tarchin will also be teaching in Edmonton and Winnipeg this summer, check Green Dharma Treasury for details.
Cecilie Kwiat's Gifts
My first meditation teacher, Cecilie Kwiat, passed away yesterday. A few of us gathered to share stories of her joy and compassion and share prayers.
She was a living example of the exuberance and drive to awaken and help others awaken. Of the many teachings she gave, one line stands out as so so helpful.
One day Cecilie was teaching about the Buddha's 'earth touching mudra', which is when the Buddha, sitting in meditation, put his right hand down to touch the earth with the tips of his fingers. I've always thought of this as him plugging into the earth like an electric plug into a socket. Cecilie was taking about compassion and equanimity when she drew our attention to this image, and she said:
"There is an expression from the SouthWestern US, from the Navajo or Hopi people, and it perfectly describes what this experience is, it captures the embrace of the Buddha's compassion, an embrace which excludes no one and no thing. It is symbolized in the image of him touching the earth and it's what I think of when I sit in meditation and do this mudra.
The line is: 'He has given so fully of himself, there is no place that he is not.'"
Today, around the world, Cecilie's students will recite the Amitabha Sadhana, recall her wonderful gifts and share merit.
"She has given so fully of herself, there is no place that she is not."
New Year's Retreat on The Four Immeasurable Loves (Brahmaviharas)
The Buddha's favourite word for meditation was 'cultivation' (bhavana, in Pali); wouldn't it be great to start the New Year cultivating sympathetic joy, and the other boundless types of love? Please consider joining us in Morin Heights for a four day retreat on what in Buddhism are called the Four Immeasurables: friendliness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity (aka. the Brahmaviharas). The Teaching will be free.
RETREAT AT THE MORIN HEIGHTS DHARMA HOUSE January 2-5, 2014.
Retreat starts Thursday Jan. 2nd 10am till lunch Sunday, Jan. 5th, 2014.
All are welcome.
There is limited accommodation at the Dharma House (for a nominal fee $20/pers/night), and other accomodation like B+Bs close nearby. There are also two nice sauna/spas down the street. The retreat is open to newcomers and experienced meditators; it will be offered in 'social silence' (that is: silent without being oppressively so); meals and non-class time will be in silence.
Food should either be brought or prepared on site with the possibility of shared pot-luck style meals. Marche Vaillencourt, a lovely grocery store is a 1/2 block walk down the street.
Please contact Jane if you are planning to attend or if you have any questions:
Jane Marenghi (450) 226-6453
If you want to join us, it would be ideal if you can come at the beginning rather than part way through so as to get the benefit of easing into the experience with the group. However, if that is not possible, do not hesitate to come at the time that works in your schedule but be aware that social silence might then be well in progress and will need to be respected.
Classes in the Theravada (Burmese) and Tibetan Buddhist tradition will be offered by Derek. The Teaching is free.
Donations (dana) will be accepted according to tradition.
Chomsky: higher tuitions are about controlling students by trapping them in debt
An excerpt from an excellent interview Michael S. Wilson did with Noam Chomsky for Modern Success magazine. (posted here at AlterNet)
Chomsky: Well one of the main problems for students today — a huge problem — is sky-rocketing tuitions. Why do we have tuitions that are completely out-of-line with other countries, even with our own history? In the 1950s the United States was a much poorer country than it is today, and yet higher education was … pretty much free, or low fees or no fees for huge numbers of people. There hasn't been an economic change that's made it necessary, now, to have very high tuitions, far more than when we were a poor country. And to drive the point home even more clearly, if we look just across the borders, Mexico is a poor country yet has a good educational system with free tuition. There was an effort by the Mexican state to raise tuition, maybe some 15 years ago or so, and there was a national student strike which had a lot of popular support, and the government backed down. Now that's just happened recently in Quebec, on our other border. Go across the ocean: Germany is a rich country. Free tuition. Finland has the highest-ranked education system in the world. Free … virtually free. So I don't think you can give an argument that there are economic necessities behind the incredibly high increase in tuition. I think these are social and economic decisions made by the people who set policy. And [these hikes] are part of, in my view, part of a backlash that developed in the 1970s against the liberatory tendencies of the 1960s. Students became much freer, more open, they were pressing for opposition to the war, for civil rights, women's rights … and the country just got too free. In fact, liberal intellectuals condemned this, called it a "crisis of democracy:" we've got to have more moderation of democracy. They called, literally, for more commitment to indoctrination of the young, their phrase … we have to make sure that the institutions responsible for the indoctrination of the young do their work, so we don't have all this freedom and independence. And many developments took place after that. I don't think we have enough direct documentation to prove causal relations, but you can see what happened. One of the things that happened was controlling students — in fact, controlling students for the rest of their lives, by simply trapping them in debt. That's a very effective technique of control and indoctrination. And I suspect — I can't prove — but I suspect that that's a large part of the reason behind [high tuitions]. Many other parallel things happened. The whole economy changed in significant ways to concentrate power, to undermine workers' rights and freedom. In fact the economist who chaired the Federal Reserve around the Clinton years, Alan Greenspan — St. Alan as he was called then, the great genius of the economics profession who was running the economy, highly honored — he testified proudly before congress that the basis for the great economy that he was running was what he called "growing worker insecurity." If workers are more insecure, they won't do things, like asking for better wages and better benefits. And that's healthy for the economy from a certain point of view, a point of view that says workers ought to be oppressed and controlled, and that wealth ought to be concentrated in a very few pockets. So yeah, that's a healthy economy, and we need growing worker insecurity, and we need growing student insecurity, for similar reasons. I think all of these things line up together as part of a general reaction — a bipartisan reaction, incidentally — against liberatory tendencies which manifested themselves in the 60s and have continued since.
Wilson: [Finally, ]I'm wondering if you could [end with some advice for today's college students].
Chomsky: There are plenty of problems in the world today, and students face a number of them, including the ones I mentioned — the joblessness, insecurity and so on. Yet on the other hand, there has been progress. In a lot of respects things are a lot more free and advanced than they were … not many years ago. So many things that were really matters of struggle, in fact even some barely even mentionable, say, in the 1960s, are now … partially resolved. Things like women's rights. Gay rights. Opposition to aggression. Concern for the environment — which is nowhere near where it ought to be, but far beyond the 1960s. These victories for freedom didn't come from gifts from above. They came from people struggling under conditions that are harsher than they are now. There is state repression now. But it doesn't begin to compare with, say, Cointelpro in the 1960s. People that don't know about that ought to read and think to find out. And that leaves lots of opportunities. Students, you know, are relatively privileged as compared with the rest of the population. They are also in a period of their lives where they are relatively free. Well that provides for all sorts of opportunities. In the past, such opportunities have been taken by students who have often been in the forefront of progressive change, and they have many more opportunities now. It's never going to be easy. There's going to be repression. There's going to be backlash. But that's the way society moves forward.
Qallunology: First Cease to Do Evil; Then Learn to Do Good…
(A couple of recent posts I've written at Buddhist Peace Fellowship…)
"Indigenous people are at the front lines of some of the largest environmental battles of the current era, from tar sands in Alberta to rainforests in the Amazon. Naturally, some non-Indigenous people want to help out. The well-intentioned and progressive point of view seems often to be, "we need to understand Indigenous cultures better, and help them in their struggle."
But before we set out to help Indigenous people, maybe we should stop hurting them in the first place? "First, cease to do evil," said the Buddha, "then learn to do good, and then purify the mind." The order is important. Hippocrates reiterated it 100 years later with his oath: "First, do no harm."
The first step—"ceasing to do evil"—is understanding what one is currently doing. This is our 'Pedagogy for the Oppressor.' Before the non-Indigenous can act in a way that values Indigenous peoples and cultures, we need to better understand how Euro-Americans became non-Indigenous, and how we seem hell-bent on making everyone else do likewise."
Read More at Buddhist Peace Fellowship here.
Non-Indigenous studies
"Mature Indigenous civilizations are with us and around us now. They are not 'weird' or 'exotic.' The only reason they feel that way to us is because we see so little familiar or recognizable in their way of life. And that's not because they are aberrant; it's because we are.
We non-Indigenous are the weird, exotic ones.
Thanks to the external muscle of fossil fuels and our ideology of possessive individualism (in bulk you might call it 'capitalism'), we are the first civilization not enmeshed within networks of communities and relations with the land. We are the first to try to split ourselves off. This is a "stunning innovation in human affairs, the sociological equivalent of the splitting of the atom," according to anthropologist Wade Davis. "Ours is a new and original culture that celebrates the individual at the expense of family and community."
There has never been a non-Indigenous civilization on planet earth before."
Read More at Buddhist Peace Fellowship here.
"Land is something inside you"
Let me add this keen and important observation by John Amagoalik, known as the "Father of Nunavut" for his role in negotiating the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement (NLCA).
Tommy Akulukjuk and David Joanasie showed me an archived video of 'John A' (as he's known up north) one day when we were hangin out at the Nunavut Sivuniksavut 'college' in Ottawa. They emphasized how important John A's comments were, and we all wondered why no one had transcribed them before. So that afternoon we did. Here's an excerpt, 'John A' on CBC TV in 1976, explaining the difference between Inuit and Qallunaat (Euro-Canadian) views of land 'ownership':
John Amagoalik: "I think it's very important for people to remember the original intent of land claims. Over the past few years people seem to think that we're after money, that we're after services, but the original intent was, very simply, the survival of our people as a unique race in Canada; we want to save our language, our heritage, our philosophy—our whole way of life."
Gordon Sinclair: "Would you say John, would you say that perhaps your land isn't for sale?"
John Amagoalik: "Yes, that's very true. You know, you cannot really sell your heritage, you know. We don't look at land as something to be owned, something to be given away or to be sold. It's a heritage, it's something inside you."
CBC Front Page Challenge; Dec 13, 1976; http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/society/native-issues/the-battle-for-aboriginal-treaty-rights/deciphering-eskimo-land-claims.html
[For a Qallunaat approach to land-claiming, see the PinkyShow.org zine: "How To Get Free Land in Five Easy Steps."]
Summer 2013: The Compassionate Earth Walk and the Tar Sands Healing Walk
I hope many folks will be able to join or help out with the Compassionate Earth Walk this summer. This is a lovely endeavour initiated by Zen priest Shodo Spring. She and hopefully many others will be walking the the (mostly unbuilt) Keystone XL route through the Great Plains, from Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska. They'll walk from July to September, starting just after the 4th Annual TAR SANDS HEALING WALK, JULY 5- 6TH, 2013 – in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
As Shodo writes: "The ancient practice of pilgrimage responds to present and future environmental catastrophe, focusing on its causes in our own culture. We walk as a blessing to the earth and to those we meet, and as a prayer for all earth's children."
Upcoming Meditation Classes in Toronto, Ottawa
Upcoming Meditation classes with Derek
May 8 & 9, 2013 – Toronto
Dharma talks: Loving Kindness and Compassion Meditation
Often in social justice work, as in daily life, we experience fear, anger, loneliness or despair: how then do we nurture a seed of compassion?
Wed. May 8, at 7:30 pm
Thurs. May 9, at 7:30 pm.
In Parkdale near Sorauren Ave and Marion St.
ContactTracy for info: sherlap[at]sympatico.ca
Classes are free – all are welcome.
No prior meditation experience necessary.
May 15 & 17, 2013 – Ottawa
Wed. May 15. 10-11am
Meditation on Love
(The Buddha's teaching on the four types of love)
Fri. May 17. 10-11am
How to do Love and Compassion Meditation
(with a focus on doing walking loving-kindness meditation for your neighbourhood)
Classes At Dragantail Bookstore (Books)
107 FOURTH AVE – 2ND FLOOR, The Glebe,
Contact Dave at
or telephone at 613-565-2749
Classes are free – all are welcome.
No prior meditation experience necessary.
June 2013 -Morin Heights, Quebec
Dates to be announced
Contact Jane for more information: janemarenghi[at]hotmail.com
Classes in English and French.
Aug. 18-23, 2013 Retreat, Kinmount ON
Sunday PM Aug. 18 – Friday AM, Aug. 23
Dharma Centre of Canada – Kinmount, Ontario.
With Tracey Sheridan and Derek Rasmussen
5 nights, 4 full days on the 400 acre forested property of one of the first meditation centres in Canada (founded 1965). Traditional Buddhist meditation practice, plus yoga instruction each day, plus plenty of time to walk and explore the property.
$50 per night accommodation; we'll arrange food together, and the teaching (as per tradition) is free. Please come and join us. All are welcome.
No prior meditation experience necessary.
Contact Tracy for info: sherlap[at]sympatico.ca
or Derek: dharma_eh[at]yahoo.ca
Fall, 2013- Classes in British Columbia
More info soon.
Depression, meditation, friendship
One of my closest friends from Buddhist seminary school was telling me about being on retreat recently. In the group discussion that followed the end of the retreat she mentioned that she had been depressed. But she almost didn't mention it because as a long-term meditator she was so embarrassed to admit to being susceptible to depression. "We're all supposed to be past all that; all 'fixed' up; but that's not how I feel," she said. "And somehow this makes me feel like I've failed."
The teacher thanked her for her bravery in speaking up.
He admitted that he had also struggled with depression and that he'd found it extremely difficult to find dharma folks to talk to about it; because depression is one of the biggest taboos in dharma circles.
I was in the magazine store in Ottawa yesterday when this tiny article from the Spring 2013 issue of Buddhadharma Magazine jumped out at me. A short beautiful piece by Hozan Alan Senauke, called "In the Darkest Moments". Alan is a priest and vice-abbot at the Berkeley Zen Center, and he writes with naked honesty about depression and its antidotes: what works and what doesn't. Alan concludes that meditation works, but if meditation can't help, then friendship works best.
A slightly longer version of his piece appeared in the Fall 2012 issue of Inquiring Mind.
Here t'is….
"Tangled Up In Blue" by Hozan Alan Senauke
As for me, after nearly thirty years of meditation I have come to no great enlightenment. I haven't seen the cosmic light shows or transcendental visions of reality. This is not to say I do not feel changed or even free and joyful at times. But freedom is momentary. I appreciate it for what it is. I just don't stay there, and that is okay with me. That's a loaded word—"stay." In terms of the law of anicca or impermanence, one does not stay anywhere. But I digress.
What I mean to say is that I have come to think that given my propensity toward depression—biochemical, hereditary, or karmic—the settledness of meditation, the sense of relief in just sitting down, may be as good as it gets for me. There is a phrase I love from Eihei Dogen, in our Zen tradition: "When Dharma fills your body and mind, you realize that something is missing." That is, the very incompleteness of our being, actions, aspirations, is a manifestation of Buddhanature itself. Everything is broken. No regrets.
Over the years I have tried to 'deal with' (that means get rid of) depression in various ways. I have done talk therapy and acupuncture. I've sampled organic remedies like St John's wort, SAME-e, homeopathy, and most recently, Vitamin D. I have been on and off a modest amount of fluoxetine (Prozac). Actually, Prozac seemed to work for a while. When I began to take it—twenty years ago, on the advice of my therapist and in consultation with a psychiatrist—it was as if a dark cloud that had always circled my head just disappeared. It was a great and joyous relief. But the relief seemed to be only temporary.
So I return to what I trust, meditation—and to that other reliable remedy: friendship. Actually, the two are not unrelated. Meditation is not a cure, but if I can sit down in a quiet space and follow my breath, the weight of depression usually lifts while I am sitting. If sitting is not possible, I will take a long walk. Either way I have bridged the internal disconnect; I am, for this time, friendly toward myself.
The power of friendship multiplies when extended beyond oneself. I keep in mind E. M. Forster's famous epigraph to Howards End: "Only connect." In the darkest moments, when I feel least able to do so, I know this is necessary and true. So I leave my room and seek a friend. In depression, friendship is an alkahest—the alchemist's universal solvent that brings forth light and energy. It's the best remedy.
Thank you Alan.
Joan Tollifson has been writing recently on her facebook page about depression and dharma.
Wonderful posts and reflections.
She apparently stumbled onto Alan's piece too. Here's part of what she says…
"I found (Alan's) article deeply enlightening. Enlightening because it offers no big, splashy promises of a life filled with continuous bliss and flashing blue lights, but instead, something so simple and real. I loved Alan's honesty, his humility, and his settledness in the ordinary (which is truly the extraordinary). The Zen practice he embodies is about being right here with life as it is."
"It makes me very happy to see that more and more teachers seem willing to openly acknowledge and reveal their own humanness and brokenness—their on-going struggles with depression, anxiety, addiction, jealousy, anger, or whatever it might be. We tend to idolize and idealize spiritual teachers, wanting to believe that they are perfect and that maybe someday we will be perfect. Disillusionment is often a hard lesson, but it can be the greatest lesson of all, when we discover the teacher's imperfections and understand that no one else can save us. […]"
"I wish we could all get beyond the Final Enlightenment Mythology and the Awakened Person Mythology in which we imagine that we (or others) have crossed some finish line and arrived at some final place where all problems have been permanently solved. …"
Amen Sister.
And one more story….
Several years ago, I went down to Berea, Kentucky to a small Christian College, to meet Ivan Illich. Illich gave a public talk to maybe 200 students and activists from the area. Illich had abandoned the podium and climbed down from the stage. He said he refused to use the microphone because it privileged one voice above the many and thus this technology was inherently anti-democratic. Preferring instead to speak with his unamplified voice, he stood and spoke to us from the first row of seats in the auditorium. We all moved in closer to hear him.
After the hour-long talk, he said there was a time for a few questions…
An African-American woman in the third row stood up, "Given the difficulty of improving things in society, and given how often there is frustration and failure, how do we keep from despair? How do we keep going?" she asked.
Illich didn't have a pat answer.
There was a long pause while he considered her question. Time passed.
We all waited quietly.
Then Illich motioned to Lee Hoinecki, his best friend, who was sitting in the front row.
Lee got up and went to stand beside Ivan.
Ivan gently leaned into Lee and put an arm around his shoulders.
He smiled at the woman who had asked the question.
Then he said one word:
Valentine's Week Retreat at the Morin Heights Dharma House on the the Four Immeasurables
"The Most Contagious Activism is Linked to Celebration and Joy"–Alice Walker
"My activism – cultural, political, spiritual – is rooted in my love of nature and my delight in human beings. It is when people are at peace, content, full, that they are most likely to […] be a generous, joyous, even entertaining experience for me. I believe that people exist to be enjoyed, much as a restful or engaging view might be. As the ocean or drifting clouds might be. Or as if they were the human equivalent of melons, mangoes, or any other kind of attractive, seductive fruit. When I am in the presence of other human beings I want to revel in their creative and intellectual fullness, their uninhibited social warmth. I want their precious human radiance to wrap me in light. I do not want fear of war or starvation or bodily mutilation to steal both my pleasure in them and their own birthright. Everything I would like other people to be for me, I want to be for them."
That's Alice Walker writing in her book Anything We Love Can Be Saved. I can think of no better description for the emotion of 'sympathetic joy'–one of the four boundless emotions cultivated in Buddhism. Howard Zinn, commenting on Walker's book in 2006, wrote that Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr, Fannie Lou Hamer and Rosa Parks all "represent activism at its most contagious, because it is linked to celebration and joy." (Original Zinn, p. 103)
The Buddha's favourite word for meditation was 'cultivation' (bhavana, in Pali); wouldn't it be great to spend more time cultivating sympathetic joy, and the other boundless emotions together? The week after next is Valentine's Day, a time usually focused on our 'bounded' specific love–not a bad thing in and of itself–but why not try something new? Next week is also Losar, Tibetan New Year (Feb.11), a time for new beginnings, so what better time for a…
RETREAT AT THE MORIN HEIGHTS DHARMA HOUSE Feb. 10-Feb. 15.
I'll be leading a retreat at the Morin Heights Dharma House on the Boundless Emotions, aka the Four Immeasurables–friendliness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity (the Brahmaviharas) from noon Sunday Feb. 10, till the morning of Fri. Feb. 15.
All are welcome.
There is limited accommodation at the Dharma House (for a nominal fee $20/pers/night), and other accomodation like B+Bs close nearby. There is also a nice sauna+spa down the street. The retreat is open to newcomers and veterans; it will be offered in 'social silence' (that is: silent without being oppressively so).
Food should either be brought or prepared on site with the possibility of shared pot-luck style meals. Marche Vaillencourt, a lovely grocery store is a 1/2 block walk down the street.
Please contact Jane if you are planning to attend or if you have any questions:
Jane Marenghi (450) 226-6453
If you want to join us, it would be ideal if you can come at the beginning rather than part way through so as to get the benefit of easing into the experience with the group. However, if that is not possible, do not hesitate to come at the time that works in your schedule but be aware that social silence might then be well in progress and will need to be respected.
Classes in the Theravada (Burmese) and Tibetan Buddhist tradition will be offered by Derek. The Teaching is free.
Donations (dana) will be accepted according to tradition.
PS. here's a lovely post by Susan Kaiser Greenland describing Paul Simon's look of sympathetic joy during a Toronto concert when he spontaneously invited a shocked audience member on stage to play and sing a song.
The Science of Loving-Kindness Meditation
Let's talk about meditate on love…
It was a rare opportunity: one of the world's top brain researchers and one of the most esteemed Buddhist monks in the room at the same time, talking about the effects of loving-kindness and compassion meditation on the brain. Here's my report from this first-of-its kind course offered by the University of Minnesota last month, a summary of the latest findings on neuroscience and meditation.
Meditating on love and compassion leads to a sharp increase in brain gamma-waves, a significant decrease in inflammation, and a significant increase in immune system response.
These are just a few of the results that physiological tests and fMRI scans have revealed in long-term and beginner meditators who meditate on love and compassion for all beings. Dr. Richard Davidson ("Richie") from the University of Wisconsin shared these compelling findings from the rigorous peer-reviewed research done at their 'Centre for the Study of Healthy Minds'. He and his talented group of grad students use a functioning Magnetic Resonance Imaging system (fMRI) to take 'snapshots' of brain activity of veteran and novice meditators. One of the veteran test subjects (logging between 10,000-50,000 hours of meditation) is Tibetan Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, who was the other presenter for the course in Minneapolis, and the meditation leader for the 400 of us who attended. (BTW, I talked to over two dozen of these folks during breaks, and although hardly a representative sample, it's interesting to note that almost all were non-Buddhist, many were Catholic, and over half were health professionals—mostly nurses).
Science and meditation's shared goal: an unfabricated understanding of reality
Richie's opening comments set the theme:
"Science is dedicated to investigating reality in a radically honest way; Dharma uses different methods, but the aim is the same: an unfabricated understanding of reality."
"In our research lab in Madison, dedicated to contemplative neuroscience, we have a meditation space for 25 people where we do weekly sittings", said Davidson, while his projector showed us a slide of the lab's futuristic meditation pod that looked like something from Star Trek.
"We feel this type of meditation training should be available to scientists who wish to study the mind."
His senior researcher, Antoine Lutz, didn't attend the course, he was away on 6-week meditation retreat. It was cool to hear Davidson say, "we need a very different model for training grad students, one that allows them to do meditation as part of their school work". Davidson said retreat work should not be viewed as a luxury but as a necessity.
His co-presenter Matthieu Ricard, is no stranger to retreat work, having done over a decade of secluded practice in Nepal under the supervision of the esteemed meditation master Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Ricard reminded us that our motivation during the course should be to "above all, to gain the capacity to free beings from suffering".
"The Buddha's first talk after his enlightenment linked suffering to a distorted view of reality", said Ricard.
"So unfortunately, people think Buddhism is all about suffering – as if a doctor was a pessimist for looking at your illness."
"But the Buddha was not merely describing obvious suffering, he wasn't speaking about toothaches or war, we don't need the Buddha to figure that stuff out."
"What he really was referring to was the suffering of change; that if a situation is wonderful, we grasp at it and want it to be permanent and so really the most important invisible and deep cause of suffering is our distorted perception of reality."
"Wanting things to be permanent and thinking that reality is made up of independent autonomous entities, which leads us to reify reality, this causes us to suffer, because it leads us to hope, reject, fear, and so on."
Socioeconomic background can affect perception
Davidson then chimed in with an example from Jerome Bruner's earlier research on how socioeconomic background affects perception. Bruner had found that when asked to draw from memory five or ten cent pieces, children from poorer backgrounds judged them to be physically bigger than children from wealthy backgrounds.
"These distortions are potential targets for contemplative practice" said Ritchie.
"Meditation can help diminish these biases so that our perception is less confounded, or at least so we become aware of the bias."
At this point Ricard reminded us that although many of our projections and perceptions may distort reality, as Dharma practitioners the ones we must address are the distortions that cause suffering. We attach one of three view-points to every object we perceive: pleasant, unpleasant, neutral – these labels clearly do not belong to the object. But these viewpoints need not cause us suffering in and of themselves. They only cause us to suffer if we believe this quality to be permanent and if we try to grasp or reject the object because of the label.
"A physically beautiful person may be an object of attraction to another person," said Ricard, "but to a tiger they are a meal!" (laughter) "And to a bacterium, they are an entire environment!"
"The classic example is stepping on a rope in the dark: if your mind instantly jumps to label it 'Snake!', then you get the follow-on emotions of anxiety and fear."
"However, when you turn the light on, the distortion in your perception is removed and you relax, ahhh."
"But when you turned that light on, did you change the rope in some fundamental way? No. Turning the light on does not change the nature of the rope. You didn't get rid of some permanent identity of the rope nor did you get rid of some aspect of yourself, you just unmasked and resolved a distortion that you had superimposed on reality."
Not all distortions are problematic (cause suffering)
Davidson said, "From a Buddhist perspective, it's not necessary that we unmask every distortion in our perception because in some cases, these distortions are the optimal way the mind has for functioning in the world." "Think of parallel lines, of railway tracks, receding into the distance. We know they don't touch, but to our vision it looks like they do. But this distortion isn't causing us any suffering. In fact, some distortions may help you function in reality."
"So the only distortions we want to address are the ones that are obstacles to happiness."
"For example, cravings and aversions that emerge from our reification of reality. Buddhism doesn't pretend that our perception will ever be perfect. It is just concerned about valid cognition that removes suffering."
"Like with the parallel lines example, we can be aware that our perception is wrong but that needn't prevent us from still having valid cognition. We can interact with an object without thinking 'That thing (or person) is intrinsically mine and is permanent.'
OK, so that gives you a bit of a taste of the morning intro; after that, we moved on to the science.
A short crash-course on the human brain
Davidson began his crash-course on the geography of the brain illustrating why 'the human brain is the most complicated piece of matter on the planet."
It contains over 100,000 neuronal phenotypes (different types of cells). There are 85,000,000,000 neurons in the brain. The number of connections between these neurons is 10 to 14th power, a number Davidson challenged us to start writing out and see if we could finish before the end of the day. "This is an unfathomable complexity with a potentially unbounded number of mental states," he pointed out.
One cubic millimeter of brain contains 20,000 to 30,000 neurons.
1 cubic mm of brain contains 4 km of nerve fibers
This one floored me: "1 cubic millimeter contains 4 kilometers of axons (nerve fibers) and 10 to the 9th power synapses."
"But our best imaging so far only goes down to 5 cubic millimeters of brain."
"The white matter of our brains is largely made up of myelinated axons (myelin is the fatty tissue around the axon which insulates it from other axons and enables it fast and efficient connectivity – something found only in vertebrates).
"A lot of information in the brain is not fixed but is represented in this structural and functional connectivity and it's this connectivity which we constantly, wittingly or unwittingly, change thru our habitual mental patterns."
And this might worry you as much as cheer you up: "as little as two hours of repetitive activity changes connectivity in the brain."
Using powerpoint Davidson outlined the different lobes and parts of the brain and their functions. One area of great interest is a thin layer of brain right at our forehead, an area of the frontal polar cortex known as 'Broadman's area' which is the most dramatically increased part of the brain mass in humans, something that differentiates us from our primate cousins. It seems to be related to interpreting internal experience.
How does meditation change the brain?
Another area of interest to scientists and meditators is the amygdala, a small section in the center of the brain which seems to control the intensity and duration of how long a negative emotion like fear or anxiety can 'highjack' the brain. In one study that looked at mindfulness practice and altruism, after 8 weeks of mindfulness meditation, the physical volume of the amygdala shrank significantly in meditators, and the amygdala recovery time quickened. What this meant was meditators had less emotional stickiness. They recovered more quickly from the kinds of emotional reaction which spill over and color subsequent moments of experience.
But this wasn't the same for all types of meditation: compassion and loving-kindness meditation correlated with the biggest changes in the amygdala. When presented with images of human suffering, the anxiety or emotional stickiness signaled in the amygdala was lower in those who had done one full day of compassion or loving kindness meditation versus those who had done one full day of 'open awareness meditation'.
How does meditation change the body?
In another experiment, compassion meditation was taught to adolescents in a foster home for an increasing number of hours. The ones who did no practice showed no change but the ones who did at least 30 minutes a day showed a reduction in C-reactive protein and pro-reactive cytokines—protein indicators of inflammation and potential susceptibility to disease. And the teens who did more meditation experienced a greater reduction. So even for novice meditators living in a stressful situation, there was physiological improvement with as little as two weeks practice, 30 minutes a day.
In another test, university students were divided into two groups. One group did not meditate, while the other group was taught to do 30 minutes of meditation per day for two weeks, a period of time which happened to overlap with them getting their flu shots. When their blood was tested, the meditating students showed a statistically significant increase in flu antibodies over the non-meditators.
The science of meditating on love and compassion
I thought it was interesting that most of the research by Davidson and his colleagues focuses on the effects of meditating on love and compassion, two of the four positive states developed in the classic 'boundless' or 'divine abodes' meditations in Buddhism. These 4 'immeasurable' practices, also known as the 'Brahma Viharas', have not been given as much emphasis in the Western meditation community as 'mindfulness' and insight (vipassana) practices.
When it came to further areas of research yet to be developed, Davidson identified the third positive boundless state, sympathetic joy, as something he hoped would garner some attention. Sympathetic joy ('mudita' in Sanskrit) is the joy we feel when we perceive the happiness or success of others. Davidson felt sympathetic joy would be a great skill to cultivate among scientists working in a competitive research environment to replace their tendencies towards envy and jealousy when their colleagues make breakthroughs.
Meditating on compassion increases your readiness to act
The afternoon continued with reports on the results of f-MRI brain imaging of long-term meditators. Davidson's lab has built up a cohort of research subjects, monks, nuns, and lay people, 50% men and 50% women, with over 10,000 hours (3 years) of meditation experience (the average is 34,000 hours in formal practice: all have completed a minimum of one 3-year retreat).
When long-term practitioners meditate on compassion the main effect observed is a huge increase in gamma wave activity – higher than ever reported in any other study. Gamma waves are high frequency brain waves that indicate a huge number of neurons operating in a synchronized fashion. For those who had meditated for long term on compassion, there was dramatic increase in brain activity in the insula (responsible for emotion) and the temporoparietal junction (responsible for empathy). But what surprised Davidson and his colleagues were the fMRI scans that also showed a dramatic increase in the brain region responsible for planned movement. He and Ricard theorized that compassion meditation increases the brain's 'total readiness to act, to help' to jump into action to alleviate suffering. And the more compassion meditation a practitioner had done, the greater were the changes observable in the brain.
As little as 8 minutes produces a result
Davidson was then asked the obvious question, "OK—What's the lowest dose that produces a result?"
"8 minutes among non-practitioners was enough to produce significant physiological and mental changes" he answered. And what was most encouraging, is he said that it seems that at the beginning stages, among novice meditators, there's a very strong connection between the amount of meditation practice and the amount of biological change. In other words, especially when you first start meditating, that's when you make a lot of positive changes in the brain.
So how do we meditate on boundless loving-kindness?
And so now the attendees wanted to know: 'How do we do it? What is the simple prescription for this meditation?'
Here's an outline of the simple instruction for boundless loving kindness practice that they have been using in their research.
Start by cultivating a strong feeling of loving kindness in your own being. Feel this loving-kindness viscerally, tangibly, permeating your whole body. Once this feeling of loving kindness is strongly, emotionally and physically present, then imagine it radiating out to all beings without holding it back from anyone. So this feeling of loving kindness permeates all plants, animals, people in all directions, in front, to the sides, behind, above and below. If it diminishes, go back to the beginning, replenish the feeling in your own being and body and imagine it radiating out without limit. This is what the poet Rumi described as an ocean with no outer shore. (Eventually the experience broadens to a realization that there is no inner shore either.) This is the 'directional method.'
A second method works with 'categories of people'. It starts the same way, with a strong feeling of loving kindness permeating your own being; then you imagine it radiating out to your teachers and benefactors, your friends, family, and loved ones. Then to 'neutral people' (people you don't know very well); and then finally you visualize this loving-kindness radiating out to difficult people, people you may not get along with.
Do this for 30 minutes, or longer if you can (increased physiological and brain improvements are linked to increased practice time ).
What if you don't feel much love in your own being to start with?
Then start with a spiritual teacher, benefactor, parent or grandparent, or some source of unconditional love. Imagine their love flowing into you and filling you up until 'your cup overfloweth' and you feel that you can radiate this kindness out to others. (It's worth noting that Buddhist teachers Jack Kornfield , Pema Chodron, and Sharon Salzberg caution that some meditators–Westerners particularly–may need to do this 'self-generation' of loving-kindness for a year or more, before moving on the 'radiating outward' stage.).
It's unfortunately quite common for people to feel that they have no human being in their experience who represents this wellspring of love; then we are advised to start with a pet: many people report that they start by meditating on the love they feel from their dog. "Start with Fido," advises Pema Chodron in her retreat CD on the four immeasurables. And if you really feel that there is no person or animal you can refer to as a source of unconditional love, then the classic meditation object you reflect on is the sun: the warmth from the sun.
For those that are interested, there is a lot more about all this research in Davidson's book The Emotional Life of Your Brain (2012), particularly Chapter 10. Citations for the research above can be found here, and here.
Also check out the 45 minute presentation he gave at the Dalai Lama Centre in Vancouver earlier this year. Davidson and Ricard also previewed some of this material in 1 hour talks they gave at Google and at the Aspen Institute from 2007-2011; links here –
Prof. Richard Davidson: Transform Your Mind, Change Your Brain (2009)
Ven. Matthieu Ricard: Change your Mind Change your Brain (2007)
Prof. Richard Davidson et al: The Neuroscience of Happiness (2011)
Top US Scientist James Hansen in NY Times: Tar Sands = "Game Over for the Climate"
James Hansen, who heads the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, wrote an amazingly straightforward op-ed piece in the New York Times yesterday….surprisingly, when you google for it only 5 hits come up. It's hard to find the complete text, so in case you haven't seen it, here it is (below), unedited.
Meanwhile the day before, Canada's Anti-Environment minister Peter Kent, lied about "foreign" money dominating environmental groups (his comments were exposed as lies by Canadian Press —-while the tar sands are, in fact , effectively owned by foreign interests (who share in $1.4 billion a year of subsidies from Cdn taxpayers)
"71 per cent of the ownership of oilsands production was foreign, while the foreign-based companies controlled 24.2 per cent of the sector's production." Vancouver Sun, May 11, 2012
In a wonderful piece titled "Our Generation's Quiet Awakening must be Green and Red", the Youth Climate Coalition wrote this week: "We need to end the reign of oil in Ottawa, and its influence in Quebec city. The federal government now hands-out $1.4 billion a year to the world's richest and most polluting oil companies, when such a hand-out to students could begin a system of free education in Quebec and across Canada." (Just in case you think this sounds fanciful: Norway used its resource wealth to fund free university education for all….)
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Game Over for the Climate
By JAMES HANSEN
Published in the New York Times: May 9, 2012
GLOBAL warming isn't a prediction. It is happening. That is why I was so troubled to read a recent interview with President Obama in Rolling Stone in which he said that Canada would exploit the oil in its vast tar sands reserves "regardless of what we do."
If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for the climate.
Canada's tar sands, deposits of sand saturated with bitumen, contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our entire history. If we were to fully exploit this new oil source, and continue to burn our conventional oil, gas and coal supplies, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere eventually would reach levels higher than in the Pliocene era, more than 2.5 million years ago, when sea level was at least 50 feet higher than it is now. That level of heat-trapping gases would assure that the disintegration of the ice sheets would accelerate out of control. Sea levels would rise and destroy coastal cities. Global temperatures would become intolerable. Twenty to 50 percent of the planet's species would be driven to extinction. Civilization would be at risk. That is the long-term outlook.
But near-term, things will be bad enough. Over the next several decades, the Western United States and the semi-arid region from North Dakota to Texas will develop semi-permanent drought, with rain, when it does come, occurring in extreme events with heavy flooding. Economic losses would be incalculable. More and more of the Midwest would be a dust bowl. California's Central Valley could no longer be irrigated. Food prices would rise to unprecedented levels.
If this sounds apocalyptic, it is. This is why we need to reduce emissions dramatically. President Obama has the power not only to deny tar sands oil additional access to Gulf Coast refining, which Canada desires in part for export markets, but also to encourage economic incentives to leave tar sands and other dirty fuels in the ground.
The global warming signal is now louder than the noise of random weather, as I predicted would happen by now in the journal Science in 1981. Extremely hot summers have increased noticeably. We can say with high confidence that the recent heat waves in Texas and Russia, and the one in Europe in 2003, which killed tens of thousands, were not natural events — they were caused by human-induced climate change. We have known since the 1800s that carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere. The right amount keeps the climate conducive to human life. But add too much, as we are doing now, and temperatures will inevitably rise too high. This is not the result of natural variability, as some argue.
The earth is currently in the part of its long-term orbit cycle where temperatures would normally be cooling. But they are rising — and it's because we are forcing them higher with fossil fuel emissions.
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen from 280 parts per million to 393 p.p.m. over the last 150 years. The tar sands contain enough carbon — 240 gigatons — to add 120 p.p.m. Tar shale, a close cousin of tar sands found mainly in the United States, contains at least an additional 300 gigatons of carbon. If we turn to these dirtiest of fuels, instead of finding ways to phase out our addiction to fossil fuels, there is no hope of keeping carbon concentrations below 500 p.p.m. — a level that would, as earth's history shows, leave our children a climate system that is out of their control. We need to start reducing emissions significantly, not create new ways to increase them.
We should impose a gradually rising carbon fee, collected from fossil fuel companies, then distribute 100 percent of the collections to all Americans on a per-capita basis every month. The government would not get a penny. This market-based approach would stimulate innovation, jobs and economic growth, avoid enlarging government or having it pick winners or losers.
Most Americans, except the heaviest energy users, would get more back than they paid in increased prices. Not only that, the reduction in oil use resulting from the carbon price would be nearly six times as great as the oil supply from the proposed pipeline from Canada, rendering the pipeline superfluous, according to economic models driven by a slowly rising carbon price.
But instead of placing a rising fee on carbon emissions to make fossil fuels pay their true costs, leveling the energy playing field, the world's governments are forcing the public to subsidize fossil fuels with hundreds of billions of dollars per year. This encourages a frantic stampede to extract every fossil fuel through mountaintop removal, longwall mining, hydraulic fracturing, tar sands and tar shale extraction, and deep ocean and Arctic drilling. President Obama speaks of a "planet in peril," but he does not provide the leadership needed to change the world's course.
Our leaders must speak candidly to the public — which yearns for open, honest discussion — explaining that our continued technological leadership and economic well-being demand a reasoned change of our energy course. History has shown that the American public can rise to the challenge, but leadership is essential. The science of the situation is clear — it's time for the politics to follow. This is a plan that can unify conservatives and liberals, environmentalists and business.
Every major national science academy in the world has reported that global warming is real, caused mostly by humans, and requires urgent action. The cost of acting goes far higher the longer we wait — we can't wait any longer to avoid the worst and be judged immoral by coming generations.
James Hansen directs the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and is the author of "Storms of My Grandchildren."
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James Hansen : "game over pour le climat" (NYT)
9 mai 2012 | Pour James Hansen, directeur du Goddard institute for space studies, de la Nasa, la science est très claire : le changement climatique est déjà en train de se produire. Il est temps que les politiques suivent.
LE réchauffement climatique n'est pas une prédiction. Ce qui se passe. C'est pourquoi j'ai été tellement troublée lire un entretien récent avec le président Obama dans Rolling Stone, dans lequel il dit que le Canada serait exploiter l'huile dans ses sables bitumineux vastes réserves « indépendamment de ce que nous faisons. » Lire toute l'histoire : nytimes.com
- Amitabha, Community and Ecology: A Retreat with Tarchin Hearn in Morin Heights, Quebec (June 21-26, 2014)
- Cecilie Kwiat's Gifts
- New Year's Retreat on The Four Immeasurable Loves (Brahmaviharas)
- Chomsky: higher tuitions are about controlling students by trapping them in debt
- Qallunology: First Cease to Do Evil; Then Learn to Do Good…
- Upcoming Meditation Classes in Toronto, Ottawa
- Depression, meditation, friendship
- Valentine's Week Retreat at the Morin Heights Dharma House on the the Four Immeasurables
- The Science of Loving-Kindness Meditation
- Top US Scientist James Hansen in NY Times: Tar Sands = "Game Over for the Climate"
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[FRANCE] It began with three goals in the first 15 minutes and ended with both teams scoring their fifth goals in stoppage time. The 5-5 thriller between Lyon and Marseille is indicative of the resurgence of French league soccer -- better results in Europe and more goals in league play -- but, please, don't ask the respective coaches about the game. Both Lyon's Claude Puel and Marseille's Didier Deschamps had their complaints ...
Lyon-Marseille Highlights:
After going, 4-2, down, Lyon rallied on two goals from Argentine Lisandro Lopez, including a penalty, and one
from Michel Bastos in stoppage time put Lyon 5-4 ahead, but Cameroonian Stephane M'Bia deep into stoppage time finished
the scoring at the stade Gerland.
"It's a shame [to tie] after all the effort we put in, which we didn't get rewarded for," Puel said. "We are a little bit frustrated, even though at
4-2 down we would have settled for 4-4."
Added Deschamps, the 1998 French World Cup championship team captain, "It was a spectacular match. I think a lot of fans appreciated it. But as
a coach, I didn't. We gave a lot of gifts away. We were very passive, especially on the first two goals. If we have to score six goals to win away from home then, things will become very
The person who had the right to be the most concerned was French national team goalkeeper coach Bruno Martini watching in the
stands. The Bleus will have to choose between No. 1 goalkeeper Hugo Lloris of OL and No. 2 Steve Mandanda of OM for the
upcoming World Cup playoff series with Ireland Nov. 14 and Nov. 18.
Lyon has already qualified for the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League and Marseille beat FC Zurich, 6-1, to
remain in the hunt in its group, which also included AC Milan and Real Madrid.
Bordeaux leads Ligue 1, one ahead of Lyon, and two ahead of Auxerre. Marseille is eighth but has a game
in hand.
The 5-5 tie was the fifth in French league history. The others:
1957-1958: Nice-Lille : 5-5
1937-1938: Cannes-Red Star : 5-5
1932-1933: Club
Français-RC Paris : 5-5, Fives-Cannes : 5-5


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This former fishing town on Scotland's east coast likes to boast that it's the "Energy Capital of Europe." It's a claim threatened by mounting challenges in the prolific offshore oil fields of the North Sea.
Aberdeen has an ancient air with its centuries-old architecture and silver-hued, granite buildings, but today is humming as a key centre in the modern oil business. Its busy docklands echo with repair work while a small convoy of supply vessels sit anchored off its sandy beach waiting to secure a berth in the harbour.
Some 70 kilometres off the coast lies Golden Eagle, a $3.3-billion project operated by Calgary-based Nexen Energy ULC that will produce 70,000 barrels of oil a day for a Nexen-led consortium.
Nexen – now owned by China's CNOOC Ltd. – is in the vanguard of an investment boom in the North Sea, as global energy companies spend record amounts of capital to squeeze more oil and gas from the mature offshore fields that have long been a boon to the British, and indeed global, economy. Over the previous year and this, the industry is expected to invest a staggering $45.6-billion, mostly on developing new fields and rehabilitating old ones.
After years of struggling with the giant Buzzard field, Nexen now has that property producing efficiently and is in the process of commissioning Golden Eagle. The project is both on budget and on schedule, managing director Archie Kennedy said in an interview.
"The bottom line is certainly we at NexenCNOOC see the North Sea as attractive, and we are continuing to invest both in projects and in exploration," said Mr. Kennedy, a soft-spoken Scot who joined the company in early 2012 to lead its North Sea operations.
But despite the current buzz, there are big questions about the future of Britain's North Sea oil industry.
Production has plunged in the past decade to 1.4 million barrels a day from 3.5 million. Per-barrel operating costs have soared more than fourfold, to £18 ($32) from £4 a decade ago. And while companies are spending heavily on development, exploration drilling has declined to the lowest rate of activity over the past three years since production began on the U.K. continental shelf (UKCS) in the early 1970s. Just 15 exploration wells were completed last year.
There's also political risk. The Scottish independence referendum scheduled for September has thrown uncertainty into the equation as opposing politicians in London and Edinburgh trade warnings about impacts on the sector if the vote does not go their way.
Reviving North Sea production
Without dramatic efforts to reverse course, production from the UKCS will continue to fall. That would gut a sector that employs 450,000 people in Britain, supports a homegrown, globally active service industry, and paid the equivalent of $11.7-billion in direct taxes last year.
It would also deprive the world of an important source of non-OPEC oil at a time when growing Asian demand and ongoing conflict in the Middle East will keep pressure on prices for the foreseeable future. Norway's aging North Sea fields have also seen a steep drop in production – to 1.4 million barrels a day in 2013 from 3.4 million in 2001.
Several Calgary-based companies – Nexen, Suncor Energy Inc., Talisman Energy Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL) – have significant investments in the U.K. North Sea, and the profitability of those investments rests in part on the ability of government and industry to work together.
After being blamed for driving away investment by raising taxes, the Conservative government of Prime Minister David Cameron is now working hard to revive the sector, even as it fends off challenges from Scottish nationalists who accuse London of mismanaging the resource. Last year, the government appointed industry doyen Sir Ian Wood to study and make recommendations on how to maximize recovery. It is now conducting a fiscal review with an eye to a creating a more stable and competitive tax regime.Report Typo/Error
Follow @smccarthy55on Twitter:


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My name is Matthew Houston and i am the CEO of SturdyVPS - i'm based in the UK. I hope i will be able to share my knowledge in these forums.
Thanks for the welcome!
Welcome to WJ
enjoy your time
nice to meet you MattHouston
Welcome buddy
So kiss me and smile for me, say that you'll wait for me <'3


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Ag Use Notice
In 2001, the County Commission on a favorable recommendation of the Planning and Zoning Commission adopted the "Agriculture Use Notice", which is designed as a basic right-to-farm measure. Any building permit issued in the County requires the applicant to read and sign the "AG Use Notice". Through the use of the notice, the building public is made aware that generally accepted agriculture practices produce dust, noise, bulky traffic, odors, chemical applications, and other impacts on neighboring uses and the traveling public. Notifying the public of these effects prior to construction serves as a defense against nuisance lawsuits brought by rural residential land owners who more often than not are former urbanites seeking the bucolic ideal. While nuisance lawsuits against agriculture have not been an issue in Saline County, the County has activated this proactive measure in support of agriculture.
Agricultural Use Notice
Copyright Saline County Kansas © 2012. All Rights Reserved.


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Must be great to have a gas station down in Beverly Hills. I'm sure movie stars have no problem paying $10/gallon.
Goodbye M3, hello Prius
Seems there has been a oil crisis every ten years since the 60s. And people were told the same thing every time..."it's too scarce" Profits been higher than ever for oil though.
added for kick
Last edited by Rapid Decompression; 10-07-2012 at 11:54 PM.
Originally Posted by skin1488760
SCAMMER skin1488760 Christopher Heiser Escondido Ca951-756-5977 .http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...4-looks-SO-CALhttp://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...e-intake-socal
It wasn't a natural scarcity, thats for sure -- the major oil crises of the last 50 years were all because of geopolitical events, not geological. Sure, there have been minor disruptions as well, like Katrina or the current problems in California, but those are inconsequential and can be fixed quickly with enough manpower.
It's as easy to understand as this: America has been the target of pissy Muslims stopping the flow of crude as a power lever. Most of it was justified, too. You can trace damned near all of the BS America has gotten itself into since World War 2 -- The Iranian hostage crisis, the Kuwait invasion/liberation, hell, even the World Trade Center attacks -- back to American desire for Arab League oil.
This is why energy independence, "drill baby drill", wind turbines, pipelines across Canada etc. is such a hot topic amongst politicos in recent years. Yes, mass-scale oil production will run out someday, and yes, we are burning through the stuff we can get at faster than ever (thanks to better extraction tech), but that's not the reason why gas prices have gone up.
The answer is this: We ARE running out of oil and every statistician will tell you there hasn't been a significant oil discovery since the North Sea in the late 1960s. People thought they'd never pump Texas dry, but they did in a mere 40 years ... now, that doesn't play much into current prices and their rise and fall, but it does give those who have oil incentive to call all the shots they want. Because, like it or not, if OPEC decided tomorrow to embargo the US again, we'd be up **** creek faster than you can say $20/gallon gasoline.


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By Nick Teale
Robin van Persie showed just how much he had been missed when he returned from injury against Tottenham, according to Arsène Wenger.
The Dutchman made his first appearance in five months as a second-half substitute in Wednesday's North London derby after being sidelined with ankle ligament damage sustained while on international duty in November.
The striker was impressive on his return and forced a string of top-class saves from Heurelho Gomes.
His performance posed the question 'what-if he had been fit all season?' and Wenger responded to that point at his press conference on Friday morning.
"You could see that you missed this player when he came on," said the manager.
"He had not kicked the ball for five months, it was not even realistic to put him on the bench at the start but we have so many injuries that he has shown how much we missed him."