A Quiet Watercourse » media

An apology for Alan Turing, good!

Richard — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:27:41 +0000

I’ve just heard in the last few minutes that the Prime Minister has issued an apology for the awful treatment of Alan Turing.

I’m very pleased as this just underlines the fact that treating someone like this is utterly unacceptable in any society that claims to be civilised.

The link to Number 10 website is here.

The Life of The Buddha

Richard — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:25:23 +0000

Well, I had an interesting experience in Secondlife last night, at a sim called “The Buddha Center” they showed a BBC video on the life of the Buddha. As aide from the odd technical hiccup it was an enjoyable experience and when I found the video on YouTube, I thought I’d share it with everybody!

It’s 50 minutes in length, so be sure you have a cup of Tea when you click play, and the DVD purchase notice will vanish after the first 30 seconds or so.

A day in history.

Richard — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:30:57 +0000

Well, today is going to be historic, Barack Obama’s inauguration changes things on so many levels. He has a huge task ahead of him and will need all of his fortitude and courage to face it, though to be fair, that’s going to be required of everyone in the months to come.

Some would say it’s historic because he’s America’s first African-American president, but I take the view that this runs a lot deeper than that. According to my understanding of the media coverage, this was an election where a whole new demographic of American voter made their voices heard.

Also, we stand at the beginning of a far reaching process of change. I’ve stated before my firm belief that continuing as we are is no longer a long term option.

So what to do? Well, I start re-reading the Tao Te Ching a few days ago, and I think Chapter 3 has some good advice for us, not just for our leaders.

Do not glorify the achievers
So the people will not squabble
Do not treasure goods that are hard to obtain
So the people will not become thieves
Do not show the desired things
So their hearts will not be confused

Thus the governance of the sage:
Empties their hearts
Fills their bellies
Weakens their ambitions
Strengthens their bones

Let the people have no cunning and no greed
So those who scheme will not dare to meddle

Act without contrivance
And nothing will be beyond control

Source: www.truetao.org

Here comes the bus.

Richard — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:56:40 +0000

You know, you can wait ages for a bus and then they all come at once.

The British Humanist Association has got a donation funded ad campaign running that has put an Athiest message on the side of numerous buses in London and other UK cities. The campaign has spread to other countries and has exceeed its original donation target by many many times over.

Speaking from my own perspective which is both Buddhist, Humanist and secular, I think the idea is a good one. We regularly get religious messages rammed down our throats overtly or otherwise, so it’s good to see a counter point.

This challenges people’s beliefs, and as such, many believers won’t welcome this. In fact many haven’t, but if you hold a belief then it’s important that you regularly challenge it and examine it. If you hold a belief from a desire to socially conform, or out of fear, then can you really be said to believe?

This is a question I’ve asked myself before, if many “believers” hold their beliefs for a desire to conform, or out of fear, then are the worlds organised religions as stong as they seem? Or does the house of cards have no bottom card?

Get it together

Richard — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:13:06 +0000

I’ve been watching what’s going on in South Ossetia and Georgia. Firstly with a sense of foreboding and then with a feeling of disbelief.

Let me sum up my understanding of what happened…. Georgia tried to retake a pro-Russian breakaway region by military force, Russia stepped in and Georgia got a kicking. The west is not happy because we have an investment in Georgia, namely a BP oil pipeline.

Now a few thoughts, what the hell were the Georgians thinking by using force? If the South Ossetians are that pro Russian, then the army is the last thing you need to use, by what I’ve read they dislike Georgia even more now and who can blame them?!

As far as the West goes, well, we’ve rampaged round the world dispensing democracy at gunpoint for too long. The bottom line is that our way of running things is unsustainable, in trying to desperately keep the old failing system going we’re going to wreck half the world. Our inability to recognise the simple truth that we need to change will wreck our own countries as well in short order.

Maybe we should put our own houses in order a little first. We need to find a new, sustainable way of living and we should recognise have little to no moral high ground left to preach to anyone from.

It’s time for change.

Worth a thousand words

Richard — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:59:55 +0000

I don’t usually like to do overly long posts, it’s a personal preference. So when I saw this picture on a forum and it pretty much summed up the way I feel about the whole Afghanistan & Iraq situation, I felt I had to share it.

Now this is amazing

Richard — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:51:13 +0000

In Taoist / Zen art, a large part of the pictures is the empty space, it’s the blank areas that give the rest meaning.

To my mind, this video is firmly in that vein, though granted they probably weren’t thinking that when they made it. Just one guy and some sand and I have to say this is one of the best things I’ve ever seen on the web.

An interesting meditation article

Richard — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:32:37 +0000

I came across this article on the web the other day and thought I’d share it.

This is an article by a gap year student who spent time in a Buddhist monastery entirely unplanned.

I’ve always emphasised the positive power of meditation and have an interesting project coming up that I hope will prove a hit with current SitQuietly users and Windows and Mac folks who haven’t been able to install it.

I’ve also recently started venturing into Chakra work as well, which I’m finding to be a source of positive results. I’ll write more about both of these things as they take shape.

Iran, Nukes and George Galloway

Richard — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:44:28 +0000

This is an eye opening YouTube video that a friend at work sent in my direction. It’s the MP George Galloway on a radio show tearing through a caller that supports the notion of attacking Iran.

This shows the level of credulous acceptance of media propoganda in Britain, Galloway does an excellent job of cutting through it. This video shows why it’s important to do our own research and not just rely on the media for our facts.

Skeptical, of course!

Richard — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:03:32 +0000

I’ve always been a skeptic at heart, this is the reason I moved to a very secular worldview and the reason I settled into Buddhism, it requires you to investigate. I think this an enormously important thing to have in our personal belief systems, that willingness to investigate our beliefs honestly and if we find it to be in error then to re-evaluate it.

So, after a heads up to a marvelous video from Peter over at The Buddha Diaries, being the nosy such and such that I am, I went hunting round.

I liked this video as well, it’s Michael Shermer from the Skeptical society, talking about them and a bit about what they do.

Enjoy!