There is a storm brewing in the blog world, with controversy revolving around 9rules decision to prune their network, resulting in elimination of a few blogs from the network. Looks like, some of the eliminations have been because of explicit content and others due to conflict of interest. It’s blog drama at its best, and makes for good blogging!
short, simple, and leaves you laughing everytime you think about it!
via – forum.24-7media.de
“The most lively thought is still inferior to the dullest sensation”
I wonder what Archimedes would have said to Hume about the above assumption? It is very puzzling that such a statement would come from a philosopher! Did Hume ever have a “Eureka Moment“, an idea or thought which would have made him want to jump out of his tub and run down the street naked? I wondered more about what made Hume make such a conclusion, as I read–“of the origin of ideas” in Hume’s “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding“, for this weeks reading session over at 9rules philosophy reading group.
“It has been one of the great errors of our time to think that by thinking about thinking, and then talking about it, we could possibly straighten out and tidy up our minds. There is no delusion more damaging that to get the idea in your head that you understand the functioning of your own brain. Once you acquire such a notion, you run the danger of moving in to take charge, guiding your thoughts, shepherding your mind from place to place. Controlling it, making lists of regulations. The human mind is not meant to be governed, certainly not by any book of rules yet written; it is supposed to run itself, and we are obliged to follow it along, trying to keep up with it as best we can. It is all very well to be aware of your awareness, even proud of it, but never try to operate it. You are not up to the job.”
Shiva Keshavan, the lone Indian luger to have represented India in the last two winter Olympic games, is back again for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. This time, he is not alone, there are three other Indian athletes who have qualified: Neha Ahuja (ladies’ giant slalom), Bahadur Gupta (men’s sprint), and Hira Lal (men’s giant slalom).
“languages are the repositories of culture”
– U R Anantmurthy
In, localization as a movement in India, Rajesh Rajan at Red Hat, addresses the importance of conserving languages in the digital domain. He points out how free and open software is empowering people in India to preserve their languages in the digital landscape.
LOST, a new meme based on Zork, an old interactive fiction computer game.
It’s dark and raining, you are standing at an intersection on a muddy road. There is a small alley way running east-west, intersecting the muddy road. Its pitch dark all around, except for the dimly lit intersection.
You are carrying:
1. A jar of worms
If I were to ask a person with normal vision, the question, “What is seeing?�� I probably would hear something like, “The ability to perceive through the eyes.�
Enter Esref Armagan, a blind painter form Turkey, and one look at his paintings of houses, fruits, mountains, butterflies, and faces — would make you wonder, “How does he see?â€Â? His painting of things, he has never seen, is both puzzling and intriguing. These paintings raise questions like how the mind actually sees things, constructs them, and remembers them as images? How does the Mind’s Eye really work?
New Scientist article–art of seeing without sight–provides an insight into seeing and the Mind’s Eye, as they dredge deep into the intriguing mind of Esref Armagan.
Today, the first time harvest of my worm box provided an unexpectedly sublime moment. After just four months, the kitchen scraps of my small vegetarian household had been turned into fluffy deep dark matter, damp and fragrant like a forest floor. It is one thing to read about composting but to run the precious handfuls through your fingers, to put it around the peas and lettuces, to see them feast and grow! This moment challenged the whole concept of “trash”, the terrible guilt of being a wasteful consumer (I still am of course) suddenly there was the tangible possibility of being part of the cycle of life. In essence it was a step “a leap rather” from the moral concepts of giving and taking to the concept of transformation.
*** Vermicomposting is a very easy, and effective way of composting kitchen waste. It can be done on a balcony in the city using a standard plastic bin and recyclables like newspapers and cardboard. The resulting compost is first class fertilizer for house plants, flower patches or vegetable gardens. Many community recycling programs offer workshops to make your own worm box.
