plantimals.org

In the Eighties, we all stayed away from grease fires and old refrigerators, because G.I. Joe taught us that knowing is half the battle. Twenty years later, those of us that are interested in the bigger picture find ourself stuck — not aware of that essential other half. By using SCIENCE, The Nerduo discovered the answer. And then, they had it hand screened by a team of Ohio-based black ops, in four (four!) patriotic colors on top a heavyweight Anvil Metro Blue T-shirt.

Always wondered what the other half was? Find out and order the shirt on the Nerduo site.

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In the Eighties, we all stayed away from grease fires and old refrigerators, because G.I. Joe taught us that knowing is half the battle. Twenty years later, those of us that are interested in the bigger picture find ourself stuck — not aware of that essential other half. By using SCIENCE, The Nerduo discovered the answer. And then, they had it hand screened by a team of Ohio-based black ops, in four (four!) patriotic colors on top a heavyweight Anvil Metro Blue T-shirt.

Always wondered what the other half was? Find out and order the shirt on the Nerduo site.

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Hurricane activity peaks in September.

Figure 1 NOAA’s historic tropical cyclone frequency chart

A very cool interactive graph from the NY Times showing how people age 15 and over spend their day.

There’s a more detailed article here.

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Summarizing this article from TIME, there are three main reasons why the Flu is (mostly) seasonal:

1. The virus is more stable and can remain airborne longer in cold, dry air.
2. People stay inside more when it’s cold, where they quickly become vitamin-D deficient.
3. When people are inside more, they are in closer and more regular contact with other infected people.

Countries with a perpetually tropical climate have consistent rates of infection all year long.

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Although the actual release-date hasn’t been announced yet, Amazon is already accepting pre-orders for the next version of Mac OS X, aka Snow Leopard. If you use this link to place the order (rather than, say, Gruber’s or Kottke’s links to the same), I’ll get a small kickback from Amazon and you will be helping to directly support this site and my work.

If you have more than one machine, check out the Snow Leopard family-pack.

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Seth Godin:

Putting a sophisticated queue management system into the Department of Motor Vehicles so that people waiting in line feel like it’s less of a mob. This is bear shaving. The productive approach would be to redefine what actually happens in that building so the line itself disappears.

I love this term.

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If you want to make some tea eggs like the ones Andy Ihnatko just made, check out the recipe from Steamy Kitchen. Lots of other interesting recipes to try there as well.

Here’s an alternative recipe.

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The Advanced Command Line is the latest PeepCode screencast in a series focused on helping you demystify and take charge of the UNIX underpinnings beneath systems like Mac OS X and Linux.

This screencast contains advanced tips, customizations, guidelines, and shortcuts you can use to improve your daily workflow. It builds upon the skills we covered in the first Command Line screencast, so if you’re unfamiliar with the Terminal, you might want to view that first.

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With each generation, women are becoming more beautiful, while men remain “as aesthetically unappealing as their caveman ancestors.”

The researchers have found beautiful women have more children than their plainer counterparts and that a higher proportion of those children are female. Those daughters, once adult, also tend to be attractive and so repeat the pattern.

Fortunately for us guys, although we’re not getting any better looking, it doesn’t seem to matter:

In men, by contrast, good looks appear to count for little, with handsome men being no more successful than others in terms of numbers of children. This means there has been little pressure for men’s appearance to evolve.

Scientists explain that this is because women look for men who can provide for them when they are “vulnerable to predators” during the child rearing process, rather than just seeking out good looks.

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This week’s RSS Feed Sponsor is the Exploded Phone Poster. Like the T-Shirt, this hand-pulled screenprint depicts our favorite phone, floating in its fully disassembled, exploded glory. Printed on 100lb. French Speckletone (Kraft) paper, the poster measures 18 inches x 24 inches and ships in a sturdy 4-inch x 20 inch mailing tube.

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A detailed list of steps you can take to secure access to your server via SSH (secure shell).

Modern Linux installations ship with many of these security options enabled by default, but there are a lot of tips and tools worth investigating, like DenyHosts.

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In a previous article entitled An Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation, I wrote about my daily meditation routine, offering some links to serve as a jumping-off point. In this article, I’d like to go one step further and provide a how-to for beginning your own meditation practice. With a few exceptions (like the books in-print), everything I’ve written about below, like the recordings of guided meditations, electronic books, guides, and podcasts are available for free.

In my next article, I’ll go into more detail about establishing a routine, creating a good environment, and setting the stage for a meditation practice. I’ll also talk about meditation gear (yes, there is such a thing).

A note about meditation

Although I spent some time in my previous article offering a definition for meditation, it’s worth revisiting here for the sake of clarity. When I write or talk about meditation, I mean:

A practice in which one works to maintain mindful attention and concentration on a single object, usually the sensations of breathing, as a focus for developing awareness in and of the present moment. This type of meditation is called Vipassana or “Insight” meditation, and its goal is to cultivate an inner peace and a lasting happiness.

Over the years, a daily meditation practice has completely transformed my life, helping me to be happier, more effective and productive, and less reactive to daily difficulties.

Regarding meditation, Gil Fronsdal, the primary teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California, has said (I’m paraphrasing): I’ve heard people say that their minds are too distracted to meditate, which is like saying you’re too sick to go to a doctor.

No matter how old or young you are, no matter what’s going on in your life, or how little time you may have to devote to it, it’s likely that a meditation practice will be of great benefit to you.

Here’s how you can get started.

Books and articles

There’s a tremendous amount of written information available about meditation, so much so that it can be difficult to determine where to start. I’ve compiled a list of the books and articles that were the most useful in my practice.

With a few exceptions (printed books sold on Amazon, noted in parenthesis after the link), these writings are are all free.

Mindfulness in Plain English, Bhante Gunaratana

This book is a step-by-step guide to Buddhist meditation, written in a practical and direct style. I consider this to be the definitive book on Mindfulness practice, and it’s a great starting point for anybody interested in this topic.

• Mindfulness in Plain English (Amazon)
• Mindfulness in Plain English (free, online version)

Keeping the Breath in Mind, Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Keeping the Breath in Mind is a “how to” book. It teaches the liberation of the mind, not as a mind-boggling theory, but as a very basic skill that starts with keeping the breath in mind.

The Steps of Breath Meditation, also by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, provides an incredibly straight forward explanation of the basic steps in this guided breath meditation.

Starting Out Small, Ajaan Lee

Starting Out Small is written from Ajaan Lee’s lifetime of direct experience with students. He answers many basic questions: Why meditate? How should I meditate? And why in that particular way? He provides clear, concise answers to these questions with clear analogies to help explain sometimes complicated concepts.

Audio instruction

Many people prefer to start a meditation practice by listening to audio instruction. It is and has been invaluable to me as I started and further developed my own practice.

Gil Fronsdal, Insight Meditation Center

My favorite beginning meditation series is offered by The Insight Meditation Center, where Gil Fronsdal teaches a 5 or 6 session instructional series for beginning meditators, providing an overview of insight meditation practice and guided meditation. These lessons are very helpful in teaching beginning meditators how to establish and sustain a daily meditation practice.

I recommend starting out with the Introduction to Mindfulness audio instruction linked below, and then as you’re ready, listen to the subsequent sessions to grow your practice.

• Introduction to Mindfulness
• The Five Hindrances
• Intermediate Mindfulness
• Buddhist Meditation

IMC also publishes a frequently updated podcast (see the Podcasts section below).

Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Watt Metta Forest Monastary

I’ve found the Downloadable Dhamma Talks of Thanissaro Bhikkhu, a senior monk in the Thai Forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism, to be invaluable. Many of the talks are geared for someone who has already established a basic practice. They’re are a great place to go to continue to develop your practice once you’ve listened to the IMC introduction course. There are hundreds of recorded meditation related talks available here, and I listen daily.

In addition to the main listing of talks, there are two groupings of talks organized for the beginning meditator:

• Starter Sets
• Basics Collection

It’s worth noting that Thanissaro Bhikkhu (or Than Geoff as he is known informally) has an amazing voice that is incredibly relaxing and easy to listen to, yet authoritative.

Podcasts

I think meditation-related podcasts are a great way to learn, and help put you in touch with a group of other meditators, even if you can’t be there in person for the talks.

Audio Dharma

The Audio Dharma Podcast is produced by the Insight Meditation Center, and features talks by Gil Fronsdal, the resident IMC teachers, and many visiting teachers and guest speakers.

This is one of my favorite podcasts, and I really enjoy the question-and-answer sessions from the audience.

Bhavana Society Podcast

The Bhavana Society was created to preserve the Theravada forest meditation tradition within the context of Western culture. The Bhavana Society Podcast features talks from Bhante Gunaratana, the founding abbot, and other senior monks.

Dharma Seed

The Dharma Seed Podcast is a collection of talks by teachers about meditation. New recordings are being added from both well- and lesser-known contemporary dharma teachers in the Mindfulness tradition.

What next?

I hope that these articles, books, and audio recordings will be helpful to you in establishing a meditation practice.

As I mentioned at the start of this article, my next article will go into more detail about creating a meditation routine, setting up the right environment, and the gear you’ll need to develop your practice.

I’m often amused when people ask me why the Buddha statues I have (or the pictures I’ve taken of them) aren’t fat.

Generally speaking, there are two types of Buddha statues, representing two completely different people. In the Western world, they are often confused, probably because the term “Buddha” can be used to refer to either of them. The difference, though, is that one of them is the Buddha, and the other is a Buddha.

Hopefully the pictures and descriptions below will help clear up any confusion.

The Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) Figure 1 Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha). Photograph by Dan Benjamin.

This is a statue of Siddhartha Gautama, known as The Buddha, a spiritual teacher in the northern region of India. He lived 2600 years ago, and his collective teachings became the foundation of Buddhism.

When Buddhists refer to the Buddha, this is who they are talking about. Gautama Buddha is often depicted in several different poses, including seated in meditation (with various hand positions or mudras), standing or walking, and lying down on his side, representing the different stages of his life and teachings.

Trivia: The Buddha called the religion he founded Dhamma-vinaya, meaning “the doctrine and discipline.”

Hotei, The Laughing Buddha (a.k.a. Budai, Angida, Qieci, etc.) Figure 2 The Laughing Buddha. Photograph by Wm Jas.

This is a statue of Hotei, the Laughing Buddha. Hotei is a character based on an eccentric monk who lived in the time of the Liang Dynasty, and who has become associate with luck and good fortune in many Asian cultures. In Buddhism, the term Buddha is sometimes used to refer to a person who has attained enlightenment through practice (Theravada Buddhists would refer to him as an Arhat rather than a Buddha). He is usually depicted as smiling or laughing, earning him the name “the Laughing Buddha.”

Now you know the difference.

Scientists have engineered bacteria that can solve complex mathematical problems faster than the most advanced CPUs made from silicon. The bacteria can even solve Hamiltonian Path Problem.

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An excellent, light, and beautifully designed guide from Twitter itself explaining the service and walking the reader through the lingo, best practices, and more, including slides in PDF format.

An invaluable read for anybody interested in using Twitter for personal or business purposes. I wish I’d had this write-up and slides over the weekend when I was explaining Twitter to my family.

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You write good code, but sometimes bad things happen. How fast can you detect application performance issues and their root causes? Unfortunately, Rails log files aren’t always enough to resolve tough performance problems. New Relic RPM monitors your application 24x7. This allows you to detect problems in real-time, drill down to find their causes, and continuously tune for better performance. You can use the standard dashboards, or you can customize and create your own. There’s no limit on system users, and installation only takes 2 minutes.

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Brian Hoff:

Building your own design contracts isn’t always easy—there’s much to include, but once it’s written and out of the way it’s as easy as hitting ‘attach’ and ‘send’ in your email. Often at times, client’s ask specific requests so I can easily tailor mine to fit their project if need be.

Good advice.

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Open Atrium looks interesting: a “team portal starter package” that’s designed to be extensible and customizable, allowing end-users to built their own modules, change and re-skin the app, and tweak the workflow.

The built-in set of features is impressive, including a blogging engine and iCal sharing. Also worth noting, the source code is GPL 2b, built on top of Drupal.

(via Girl Friday)

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Computer scientists at the University of Washington have developed a way to make emails, web-based documents, calendars, and other electronic documents self-destruct after after a pre-designated period of time.

They call the technology Vanish. I love that.

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