Best Of
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
I suppose the Buddha wouldn’t mind, but having thought about it some more I will pay for it as a way of honouring the amount of enjoyment I have gotten from those films.
Jeroen
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
We have three mustelid species in Aotearoa, ferrets, stoats, and weasels, all introduced to control rabbit plagues, but now they are seen as a significant threat to our native wildlife. a case of when biological control become out of control.
We also have a major possum problem. Possums were originally introduced from Australia back in the early 1850s for their skins/fur. now they are seen as a major threat to native fauna and flora. Last count there were around 70 million ...
All these introduced species have no natural predators or parasites to keep them in check.
Shoshin1
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
Our resident house weasel was seen on the kitchen counter for the first time. Cursed me shrilly when I surprised him/her - ( I hope her, and I hope for little weasels in the future ) The cursing was shrill and loud, like a smoke alarm but more resonant and irregularly timed. This weasel has been very shy, don't have much hope of ever getting a photograph.
Fosdick
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
Went for a skinny dip this morning. 
It's Autumn now, which is a nice time of year, the school holidays are over and most tourists/visitors have gone...Temperature's mid to low 20s during the day, cool first thing of a morning.
Shoshin1
Re: Quotes - discussion
Perhaps all we can do is talk about what helps us on our path, what has made us successful in striving for inner peace, clarity, and kindness. In the hope that perhaps we inspire someone else to try one of our techniques.
For me it began with reading Buddhist books, on the sutras by Edward Conze, on mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh and on the Dhamma by Ajahn Chah. These inspired me to pursue purity, awareness, knowing the mind. That and many beach walks started me on my path. It’s funny how something as normal as reading, when you slow it down, can become a meditation and a contemplation.
Abandoning negative mind states came a little later. It was an improved understanding of what was beneficial to me, that made me consider that negative mind states were, as is said about anger, “like holding a hot coal and expecting the other to get burnt.” They pervert the mind towards negative karma and are of little actual use. It is better to dwell in the Brahma Viharas as much as possible.
Then peace comes, and with peace and solitude clarity and kindness.
Jeroen
Re: What we are doing right?
A few things I have been doing yesterday and this morning…
- Gently tell visitors what can be done to improve communication
- Give people hugs and back rubs
- Send birthday wishes to elderly relatives
- Phone your dad who is sitting by himself in a flat
- Make coffee for house guests
- Write emails to distant friends
Jeroen
Re: What we are doing right?
Well said. Hard to fathom that one that is two...
- As Spring begins to flower, will be pruning and tidying and actually sitting in my garden, which I did over this warm weekend.
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/category/good-talks/good-gardening/
So my gardening includes death and destruction of 'weeds, insects, etc. I am not as skilful as @How more pragmatic. Maybe.
lobster
Re: Earthing
The Apollo astronauts left a Chuck Berry record on the moon (part of the “We came in peace for all mankind” message offering) which pretty much caused Carl Sagan’s head to explode. This dichotomy sums up my reaction to earthing to prevent/cure disease.
Humans (actually all animals) are indeed capacitors, capable of storing a charge; that is, a DC voltage potential. This can of course be discharged by grounding. Interesting, I suppose. And with modern technology, quite measurable whether interesting or not.
Prior to the 1800s, there were many explanations/superstitions about the cause of disease, and also a few actual hypotheses. But thanks to Koch, Pasteur, and others, we now understand the “Germ Theory of Disease “ which postulates that microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi) are the pathological agents responsible for infectious illness. Since then the corroboration has been massive, to say the least. So, if someone wants to persuade me that a lifted ground, besides curing 60 Hz hum in the PA, also somehow causes disease, I would like to hear an explanation of the pathophysiology involved.
On the other hand, there are things, a great great many things, which we experience to be true but that do not yet have a plausible/verifiable physical/chemical explanation. A barefoot connection to the earth is good for me. I can feel it. I can’t explain it but I’m not sure I need to. Breathing outdoor air, on the trail by the river with the dogs, is blissfully restorative. The dogs swim in the river, even in the bitter cold (northern Colorado). They know, at their level, what it is doing for them. I know too, but not in a way, in a realm, that coexists with words, or Internet forums.
I’d love to walk barefoot in the damp sand. But I’ll skip the grounding mat. Yes, if the panel is wired correctly it will ground the static charge; I know that at the physics level. But it’s not the same as being truly connected to the natural environment; I know that at the much higher natural level.
Steve_B
Re: What we are doing right?
When I do something wrong, I'm also doing something right,
For whatever I do at the time will always shed some light.
Right and wrong are relative, they shift with every clue,
In every stumble, I find grace, and learn something new.
Shoshin1