Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST for short) has launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana yesterday. It’s supposed to be the successor to Hubble, which made so many great images.
This morning I found this dead Huhu beetle, not sure how it died (maybe old age), anyhow when i picked it up and place on the deck rail, lots of ting brown ants (that's their common name) were crawling over its body and had hollowed it out, ( Mother Nature's little recyclers) more or less just leaving its shell......
They are quite a large longhorn beetle, Maori eat the huhu grubs, which are found in rotting tree trunks and branches...similar to the Aussie Witchetty Grub...
0
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
My daughter came over for the day, so we did a bit of sightseeing, including a couple of places on the island I haven't visited in a long while.. had pizza for lunch and ended with nice shady bush walk...
Had a nice day...
@Shoshin1 said:
Nice wheels @how .....But where are your gloves ?
Thanks Shoshin1.
My biking gloves were nice and warm in my jacket pockets because trying to
keep a skittish 1600W e bike upright in icy snow conditions while wearing gloves, might be like asking a tightrope walker why they aren't wearing army boots when doing their thing. I think I probably looked like a tightrope walker every time I tried to corner.
I only rode for about 10 minutes before getting the distinct feeling that at least in the weather conditions today, and despite the stimulation, another un necessary burden on our medical services was something that nobody needed.
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
It seems @how that the thick-tires-in-snow experiment was not entirely a success…
@Jeroen
Perhaps just not damaging myself or the bike was enough of a success.
I think that worn summer tires were a poor choice compared to tires with a good amount of tread or even better yet with specialty studded winter tires but sometimes ya just got to work with what you have. These tires also have have an internal foam liner that keeps the inner tube 3/4 of an inch away from the back of the tire which is great at preventing most flats but does make the efforts of swapping tires a real time consuming exercise.
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
More power to you @how I hadn’t pictured you as a bicycle riding man… you should come to my part of the Netherlands some time, there are many bike paths and bicycling is seen as a useful mode of transport for everybody (except the very old).
@Jeroen
Around here the Netherlands are held up as the example of a bicycle ideal for the environment but we are also quite perplexed at how many of your riders contentedly do so without so much as a thought for a helmet.
Perhaps you guys use your heads to stay attentive to the physiques in play while riding whereas the rest of us specialists in obliviousness need more to protect our heads from the consequences of our distractedness while riding.
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited December 2021
@how said: @Jeroen
Around here the Netherlands are held up as the example of a bicycle ideal for the environment but we are also quite perplexed at how many of your riders contentedly do so without so much as a thought for a helmet.
Perhaps you guys use your heads to stay attentive to the physiques in play while riding whereas the rest of us specialists in obliviousness need more to protect our heads from the consequences of our distractedness while riding.
Yeah it’s true that very few people here use bicycle helmets, but bicycle accidents are also a relative rarity… the country is flat, the paths are well tended and usually not shared with cars, and when there is a mix of traffic both drivers and bike riders are attentive and respectful. Of course most people on a bicycle here learned to ride as young kids and have kept up the habit.
In the last eight years I’ve been witness to two car accidents, and no bike accidents. Personally I haven’t fallen off a bicycle once in that time. Things like using a mobile phone while cycling are illegal, you can get a pretty stiff fine.
2
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Happy New Year, everyone. Thinking of you all, wherever you be.. with much love, this old crone sends hugs to all.
Wow yes that does sound somewhat chilly....
It's been in the low to mid 20s here....
I think the coldest I've experienced was -10 at Mt Ruapehu ski fields...
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
I cannot abide Jools Holland's Hootenanny every bloody New Year's Eve, it's just the worst programme ever... Recorded a month in advance!
And yesterday evening, my husband, flicking channels, exposed The Pipes and Drums of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards playing Auld Lang Syne - accompanied by a black American Soul Singer who frankly offended my Scottish sensibilities by mangling both the tune AND the lyrics!!
AND the amazing, great, pioneering, enduring and hugely entertaining Betty White, died!!
I'm heartbroken!"!
Things can only get better!!
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited January 2022
We have a programme here for the top 2000 best songs ever made, voted for by the public. You can send in a list, and then they transmit them in the runup to the new year, all the songs played from 2000 down to 1 at the change of the year. So I was listening to that. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen was the number one song.
As we know we are in a karmic bubble. We can expand it, pop it and generate best with present circumstances.
We had a great new year day. I started the day visiting the night singing birds, foxes sleeping in the middle of the road and calling the fire brigade. Fire in a wheely bin next to scout hall and mosque …
We had a great roast meal, zoom with relatives and watched Zootopia on BBC Iplayer …
@Shoshin1 said:
Woke up this morning looked out my bedroom window and was greeted by an "S" sign made by a cloud......
Well at lease somebody thinks I'm super
A super yacht in Owhanake Bay, it's been there since before new year...it dwarfs all the other yachts in the bay ...
I bought some mushrooms the other day and when I got home I took some out of the bag and found this weird shaped one ...What a cheek....
@Shoshin1 said:
Woke up this morning looked out my bedroom window and was greeted by an "S" sign made by a cloud......
Well at lease somebody thinks I'm super
Ajahn Jayasaro will never cease to impress me (referring to New Year's Video). Thank you @Bunks
Also.... nice wheels Mr @how . I'm thinking about getting an e-bike to move around the island, but my parents and sister insist I get a drivers license.
I'm in the middle of my pre-exams and I'm considering changing university for one that has a much more "modern" rather than scholastic training.
@Kotishka said:
Ajahn Jayasaro will never cease to impress me (referring to New Year's Video). Thank you @Bunks
Also.... nice wheels Mr @how . I'm thinking about getting an e-bike to move around the island, but my parents and sister insist I get a drivers license.
I'm in the middle of my pre-exams and I'm considering changing university for one that has a much more "modern" rather than scholastic training.
Apologies @Kotishka as you have probably already said but which island do you live on?
Kotishka Veteran
10:22AM
Also.... nice wheels Mr @how . I'm thinking about getting an e-bike to move around the island, but my parents and sister insist I get a drivers license.
Thanks! Your parents & sister's drivers license advice is good.
A drivers license will at least teach an e-bike rider what you and those behemoths beside you on the road are legally supposed to be doing. This, combined with the understanding that 80% of auto drivers believe their driving skills to be better than average, and that few things separate the average driver from reality as much as their own enclosed driving space, and whenever two vehicles end up occupying the same space at the same time, the laws of physics offer pretty poor outcomes for any e-biker in this equation.
Cheers
H
Lots of land and ocean, true. But what a great tool the internet then!
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Aha Lanzarote, I was on holiday there quite a few years ago. I remember doing a bit of a Cesar Manrique tour past statues on roundabouts, a cactus garden and his house. It seemed a slightly bleak but quite beautiful place…
Comments
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST for short) has launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana yesterday. It’s supposed to be the successor to Hubble, which made so many great images.
This morning I found this dead Huhu beetle, not sure how it died (maybe old age), anyhow when i picked it up and place on the deck rail, lots of ting brown ants (that's their common name) were crawling over its body and had hollowed it out, ( Mother Nature's little recyclers) more or less just leaving its shell......
They are quite a large longhorn beetle, Maori eat the huhu grubs, which are found in rotting tree trunks and branches...similar to the Aussie Witchetty Grub...
Nope. Not a damn flake.
I was thinking
@federica meant not even a flakey snow flake …
oops
Warm here and getting warmer.
23c today but expecting 37c on NYE.
Should be a nice night to watch the fireworks at the local waterfront.
My daughter came over for the day, so we did a bit of sightseeing, including a couple of places on the island I haven't visited in a long while.. had pizza for lunch and ended with nice shady bush walk...
Had a nice day...
4 inch wide tires with only 10 psi
Testing out my snowmobile today!
Nice wheels @how .....But where are your gloves ?
It doesn't rain on Southern California, it pours.
Thanks Shoshin1.
My biking gloves were nice and warm in my jacket pockets because trying to
keep a skittish 1600W e bike upright in icy snow conditions while wearing gloves, might be like asking a tightrope walker why they aren't wearing army boots when doing their thing. I think I probably looked like a tightrope walker every time I tried to corner.
I only rode for about 10 minutes before getting the distinct feeling that at least in the weather conditions today, and despite the stimulation, another un necessary burden on our medical services was something that nobody needed.
It seems @how that the thick-tires-in-snow experiment was not entirely a success…
@Jeroen
Perhaps just not damaging myself or the bike was enough of a success.
I think that worn summer tires were a poor choice compared to tires with a good amount of tread or even better yet with specialty studded winter tires but sometimes ya just got to work with what you have. These tires also have have an internal foam liner that keeps the inner tube 3/4 of an inch away from the back of the tire which is great at preventing most flats but does make the efforts of swapping tires a real time consuming exercise.
More power to you @how I hadn’t pictured you as a bicycle riding man… you should come to my part of the Netherlands some time, there are many bike paths and bicycling is seen as a useful mode of transport for everybody (except the very old).
My kids have forced me to stay up until midnight to see in the New Year.
Happy New Year to all my NB Dhamma friends!
Happy New Year to you @bunks!
Happy New Year everybody.
I hope you all have a safe and wonderful 2022.
@Jeroen
Around here the Netherlands are held up as the example of a bicycle ideal for the environment but we are also quite perplexed at how many of your riders contentedly do so without so much as a thought for a helmet.
Perhaps you guys use your heads to stay attentive to the physiques in play while riding whereas the rest of us specialists in obliviousness need more to protect our heads from the consequences of our distractedness while riding.
Happy New Year.
Yeah it’s true that very few people here use bicycle helmets, but bicycle accidents are also a relative rarity… the country is flat, the paths are well tended and usually not shared with cars, and when there is a mix of traffic both drivers and bike riders are attentive and respectful. Of course most people on a bicycle here learned to ride as young kids and have kept up the habit.
In the last eight years I’ve been witness to two car accidents, and no bike accidents. Personally I haven’t fallen off a bicycle once in that time. Things like using a mobile phone while cycling are illegal, you can get a pretty stiff fine.
Happy New Year, everyone. Thinking of you all, wherever you be.. with much love, this old crone sends hugs to all.
Happy soon to be New Year Northern Hemisphere folks....
Happy New Year's day Southerners
And when the clock struck 12 midnight...I was already soundo ....
We two have paddled in the stream, from morning sun till dine; But seas between us broad have roared since auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
New years day invasion...
More boats than the Spanish Armada....
2022 is beginning with a bloody cold night here. -34 (-45 with wind chill)
Brrrrr...
Had four days at the Monastery this week! Lovely break from the hustle and bustle.
Wow! That’s fresh.
Funnily enough it got to +34 here before a cool change has just arrived.
Wow yes that does sound somewhat chilly....
It's been in the low to mid 20s here....
I think the coldest I've experienced was -10 at Mt Ruapehu ski fields...
The coldest I recall was -22 in Denver CO
I cannot abide Jools Holland's Hootenanny every bloody New Year's Eve, it's just the worst programme ever... Recorded a month in advance!
And yesterday evening, my husband, flicking channels, exposed The Pipes and Drums of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards playing Auld Lang Syne - accompanied by a black American Soul Singer who frankly offended my Scottish sensibilities by mangling both the tune AND the lyrics!!
AND the amazing, great, pioneering, enduring and hugely entertaining Betty White, died!!
I'm heartbroken!"!
Things can only get better!!
We have a programme here for the top 2000 best songs ever made, voted for by the public. You can send in a list, and then they transmit them in the runup to the new year, all the songs played from 2000 down to 1 at the change of the year. So I was listening to that. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen was the number one song.
As we know we are in a karmic bubble. We can expand it, pop it and generate best with present circumstances.
We had a great new year day. I started the day visiting the night singing birds, foxes sleeping in the middle of the road and calling the fire brigade. Fire in a wheely bin next to scout hall and mosque …
We had a great roast meal, zoom with relatives and watched Zootopia on BBC Iplayer …
Hope you all get a chance to slow down and rest before the year gets going 🙏
Nice one @Bunks ....A different take on monkey mind....
Agree with @Shoshin1 about arrr resting the pirate monkey mind …
Be at peace where and when we can.
For example:
Woke up this morning looked out my bedroom window and was greeted by an "S" sign made by a cloud......
Well at lease somebody thinks I'm super
Maybe you suck?
New Year Blessings
A Dharma friend gave me a made in Aotearoa(NZ) fold up mediation knelling stool...
So the last couple of meditation sessions I've been knelling ...
A super yacht in Owhanake Bay, it's been there since before new year...it dwarfs all the other yachts in the bay ...
I bought some mushrooms the other day and when I got home I took some out of the bag and found this weird shaped one ...What a cheek....
Bummer! @Shoshin1
Rude.
What can I say.......Shit happens...
Found this random quote generator from the Pali Canon (Dhammapada only for now)
http://palicanon.codebuckets.com.au/
Ajahn Jayasaro will never cease to impress me (referring to New Year's Video). Thank you @Bunks
Also.... nice wheels Mr @how . I'm thinking about getting an e-bike to move around the island, but my parents and sister insist I get a drivers license.
I'm in the middle of my pre-exams and I'm considering changing university for one that has a much more "modern" rather than scholastic training.
Apologies @Kotishka as you have probably already said but which island do you live on?
@Bunks
No worries, Lanzarote
Wowee! Much ocean and land between us.....
Kotishka Veteran
10:22AM
Also.... nice wheels Mr @how . I'm thinking about getting an e-bike to move around the island, but my parents and sister insist I get a drivers license.
Thanks! Your parents & sister's drivers license advice is good.
A drivers license will at least teach an e-bike rider what you and those behemoths beside you on the road are legally supposed to be doing. This, combined with the understanding that 80% of auto drivers believe their driving skills to be better than average, and that few things separate the average driver from reality as much as their own enclosed driving space, and whenever two vehicles end up occupying the same space at the same time, the laws of physics offer pretty poor outcomes for any e-biker in this equation.
Cheers
H
@Bunks
Lots of land and ocean, true. But what a great tool the internet then!
Aha Lanzarote, I was on holiday there quite a few years ago. I remember doing a bit of a Cesar Manrique tour past statues on roundabouts, a cactus garden and his house. It seemed a slightly bleak but quite beautiful place…
Wow! Equal hottest day on record today in West Aussie.
