Darkstar

What VHS1 awards?

Free called me this morning saying that folks in SF were all talking about watching the VHS1 music awards. Close, it was the MTV music awards last night. I was lucky enough to get these links below sent to me as the highlighs.
Madonna's Kisses

Socially Conscious Scanner

A NYT article talks about a project my MIT grad student James Patten that creates a portable bar code reader that ties into a database to give the user information on the product being scanned.

What will they think of next?

Ok shoppers... get ready. Here's a sneak preview of Google's new merchandise search engine... oh my

Buddhism

This could be tough for me... to only focus on the now.
The Eightfold Path
The path to liberation from these miserable states of being, as taught by the Buddha, has eight points and is known as the eightfold path. The first point is called right view -- the right way to view the world. Wrong view occurs when we impose our expectations onto things; expectations about how we hope things will be, or about how we are afraid things might be. Right view occurs when we see things simply, as they are. It is an open and accommodating attitude. We abandon hope and fear and take joy in a simple straight-forward approach to life.

The second point of the path is called right intention. It proceeds from right view. If we are able to abandon our expectations, our hopes and fears, we no longer need to be manipulative. We don't have to try to con situations into our preconceived notions of how they should be. We work with what is. Our intentions are pure.

The third aspect of the path is right speech. Once our intentions are pure, we no longer have to be embarrassed about our speech. Since we aren't trying to manipulate people, we don't have to be hesitant about what we say, nor do we need to try bluff our way through a conversation with any sort of phoney confidence. We say what needs to be said, very simply in a genuine way.
The fourth point on the path, right discipline, involves a kind of renunciation. We need to give up our tendency to complicate issues. We practice simplicity. We have a simple straight-forward relationship with our dinner, our job, our house and our family. We give up all the unnecessary and frivolous complications that we usually try to cloud our relationships with.

Right livelihood is the fifth step on the path. It is only natural and right that we should earn our living. Often, many of us don't particularly enjoy our jobs. We can't wait to get home from work and begrudge the amount of time that our job takes away from our enjoyment of the good life. Perhaps, we might wish we had a more glamorous job. We don't feel that our job in a factory or office is in keeping with the image we want to project. The truth is, that we should be glad of our job, whatever it is. We should form a simple relationship with it. We need to perform it properly, with attention to detail.

The sixth aspect of the path is right effort. Wrong effort is struggle. We often approach a spiritual discipline as though we need to conquer our evil side and promote our good side. We are locked in combat with ourselves and try to obliterate the tiniest negative tendency. Right effort doesn't involve struggle at all. When we see things as they are, we can work with them, gently and without any kind of aggression whatsoever.

Right mindfulness, the seventh step, involves precision and clarity. We are mindful of the tiniest details of our experience. We are mindful of the way we talk, the way we perform our jobs, our posture, our attitude toward our friends and family, every detail.

Right concentration, or absorption is the eighth point of the path. Usually we are absorbed in absentmindedness. Our minds are completely captivated by all sorts of entertainment and speculations. Right absorption means that we are completely absorbed in nowness, in things as they are. This can only happen if we have some sort of discipline, such as sitting meditation. We might even say that without the discipline of sitting meditation, we can't walk the eightfold path at all. Sitting meditation cuts through our absentmindedness. It provides a space or gap in our preoccupation with ourselves

Microsoft ain't making pretty music

A fun read about Sterling Ball's guitar string company moving off Microsoft and singing a new tune.

All about RSS feeds

Great article by Chris Pirillo about all things RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

Weak ties and social software

Gideon Rosenblatt has a great short article discussing how weak and strong ties are being stretched by social software. A great primer read.

Bill's Southern Indian Dahl

Here's one of our favorite recipes for lentils. It originated from my Mom's friend Bill.
Ingrediants
2 tsp Coriander
1 tsp Tumeric
1 tsp Cumin
3/4 to 1 tsp Chili powder (depends on how hot your powder is)
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tbsp Vinegar
1 cup lentils
1/8 cup oil
1 tsp butter
1 onion
8 cloves garlics finely chopped
Broth
1 1/2 cup H2O
Taka
1 Tbsp Sesame Oil, Garlic finely chopped, 1 chili pepper. Saute until slightly brown

Add spices and Vinegar together to make a paste. Hampig likes to dry roast some mustard seeds also. Combine butter and oil to saute the onion and garlic. Add the paste, then add the lentils. Cook about 1 min. Add broth and bring to boil. Add water and simmer 30 mins. Add water as necessary to keep lentils covered until they are cooked. Add the taka to the lentils when you serve (on top). This is a great fast way to make dahl and is great to eat with chipata. Enjoy this great recipe and feel free to comment with additions/suggests below. Got a great recipe? Email it in!

Why the lights went out

Great article with some background information/opinions about deregulation of the power industry and what we have to look forward to.

Growing a Papaya tree

I have been in the growing mood lately. I planted a couple mango seeds from beautiful Haden magoes I got in Chinatown about a month ago and all three are growing very well. Hopefully I'll have a mango tree for our house someday. I also have wild avocado seeds in water using the toothpick method. Just put them in two days ago and will have to wait a couple of weeks for results. I just got information today from Ken at the Papaya Seed Company on how to grow Papayas from seeds. He also suggest contacting the aloha seed company.
Directions:
It is a good idea to wash the seeds in a kitchen strainer, and with light pressure from your finger, (use gloves if you do more then a few seeds because of the papain quality in thepapaya used as a meat tenderizer will tenderized your finger tips) gently pop the gelatinous bubble around each seed, to drain Off the liquid, as it is a growth inhibitor or retardant.
Rinse the seeds and then set out to dry the seeds a few days.  Thia ia to help them set the natural character, that will help to induce germination when they are next exposed to moisture.  Papaya seeds are well known for their dormancy qualities.
After two or three days, soak them in water four about 2 to 4 hours until they sink.  Then rinse them and set them between two wash clothes on a unused cookie rack, or a tray at an angle, to where the excess water can drain out of the wash cloth. (paper towels work but dry out to fast sometimes).  So you must make sure the towels do not dry out completely. The seeds will usually germinate in anywhere from seven  to fourteen days (1 to 2 weeks) in warm weather.
We generally recommend plantingseven to ten seeds for every seedling you want to germinate within a few weeks as some can take up to six months or more to germinate.