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Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
Simple tips for reducing negative thought patterns, which cause anxiety, fear and stress...
According to some "neuroscientists lateral eye movements" back and forth (left to right) helps to quiet/supress the threat detection centre of the amygdala ....
So by moving your eyes from side to side, stops negative thoughts taking the mind for a ride....
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
A few people here might enjoy this when it comes out…
Investing / Trading / Stocks online brokers. I'm trying to get into this world and studying finances, but I wanted to find someone who has some experience and could tell me a bit about their "dark" side like hidden fees, dangers, and so on. I'm trying to invest 5-10% of my income per month but I don't want to go in like a teenager expecting to get all rich and die trying and then end up with 0 haha.
Well I'm at Auckland international airport.. arrived quite early ...I've got around 3 hours before take off ..I left home at 11.45, my neighbour drove me to the 12noon ferry, caught the train around 1pm then airport bus around 1.30 , reached the airport at 1.50... and just this minute had a message flight's been delayed one hour forty minutes... fortunately I brought Zen Mind Beginner's Mind with me to read ..
🙏🙏🙏
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Well arrived in San Francisco, tired, seat uncomfortable to really sleep, so watched a couple of movies, nodded off a few times, but not for long ...Due to the delay leaving Auckland, didn't have as long as I would have like to do a bit of sightseeing , ended up hanging around the airport...Now in the departure lounge waiting to board my flight to London...The temperature here in San Francisco was similar to when I left Auckland...I was expecting it to be much warmer, considering it's Winter in NZ and Summer time here... Mind you we did have a lovely sunny warm winter's day when I left yesterday...
@Shoshin1 That is an EPIC journey to the Old Continent. Crossing the Pacific, then the entire of North American to then (finally) venture off through one last ocean!
@federica In 1878...if I recall correctly...a boat from Japan to the Netherlands would take around two months. I hope it helps you to reach an estimate !
Up until the mid nineteen sixties most £10 poms travelled by P&O ships from Southampton to Sydney and Auckland which took around 3 weeks...by the time I left (1969) most £10 poms were travelling by plane...The flight I was on took 36 hours with many stops along the way.. Zurich, Beirut, New Delhi, Rangoon, Hong Kong, Darwin, Sydney...
Well so far I've been to Ipswich to visit an old Pommy friend who I first met in Australia back in the early 1970s ( another £10 pom) .. I've never been to Ipswich before, it's quite a nice town...
Yesterday my son and his wife took me to a lavender farm in Surry not too far from where they live, after there we drove to Cristal Palace park ( haven't been there since the sixties) ..
Going to be catching up with a couple of nieces today for lunch, then tomorrow I'm heading to Bermondsey ( or as some locals call it Berm On Sea 😉 ) to visit my brothers and sisters...
On Wednesday a couple more of
my nieces are taking me out to lunch , and on Thursday I fly to Alicante to visit my sister.
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Yeah diesel engine ships are faster than coal steam ships, and coal steamers are faster than sailing ships.
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
edited August 2022
I don't know what a £10 Pom is...
It's ok, I looked it up... Migration scheme, post WWII era...
How the scheme worked was the Oz & UK governments paid for the flight/ship to Australia....however you had to stay in Oz for two years, after two years you could leave Oz and wouldn't have to pay back the fare it cost the governments to get you out there...If you left within the two year period you have to pay your normal fare back plus the money it cost the governments to get you there...Quite a few migrants who were not comfortable with the Aussie life style, and wanted to leave before the two years, just hopped on a plane or ship to New Zealand ...you didn't need a passport to travel between the two countries back then...Many stayed in New Zealand...
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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 ex-nephew worked for John Deere and went on an exchange training period to NZ, a good few years back now... he said at the time it was just like the UK, but in the 40's and 50's... that's how the life felt, anyway, according to him...
That would be about right...Kiwi were in no rush to catch up....How are you for meeting up in the city @federica ? I'm free tomorrow...or may be when I get back from Spain on the 23rd
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Oh, you have to be kidding me....!
Tomorrow, I have a long-awaited hospital appointment to model a new calliper for me; the 23rd, I already have a lunch date with someone I haven't seen for 30 years!!
Of all the dates!!!
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
@Shoshin1 said:
That would be about right...Kiwi were in no rush to catch up....How are you for meeting up in the city @federica ? I'm free tomorrow...or may be when I get back from Spain on the 23rd
Damn... tomorrow for you, was today. I see you actually posted on the 8th, so In any case, I messed up!
No worries...maybe if we have time when I'm back in London... I'm meant to be visiting a friend in Halifax for a couple of nights but at the moment not sure which days though...
So I got a call from one of these scammers.... and really...the story was so stupid and props for the scammer/worker for learning it so well. The dialogue was really polite and well, saying how much money I was losing! She said they were now officially in charge from Las Palmas of making sure all customers were compensated for this mistake on the bill and how the prices have fluctuated so irregulary, blablabla... AND how I would be rewarded 25% of the costs of my electricity bill if I just provided the following:
Full name
Phone
Email
Bank Account details...
And agreeing verbally to the purchase of Power something....
And then I chuckled, the woman I think noticed something was off...
"So please Sir, if you could so kindly provide me with the details I asked for, I will immediately begin to generate the exact amount to be rewarded with, as it will be 25% of the bill! "
On a phone, the call company will be announced. No announcement, no answer.
My sister let's them talk for a while and does something else. How polite to the scammers, who are people after all …
I have had one scammer on my phone (so far) conversation:
Scammer: Hello
Lobster: pause … Hello (bad mistake)
Scammer: Hello … this is (indistinct) from (indistinct)
Lobster: (realising it is scammer) cancels call immediately …
From people working in scam call centres we know any form of interaction will be followed up in some way.
It is like @federica's response to trolls. Zero tolerance.
What worries me is how did they get the house number and how could I prevent this.
My grandmother says she gets these calls often and she simply pretends to be very old (lol..she is 92 almost) like: "Im......sorry....im very old....i dont...understand" and hangs...haha
Funny thing how admonishment and persuasion are not always skilful means. We have to become the better (no gambling implied).
How?
Well one way is good company. Sangha. Supportive, friendly, wise, metta of fact buddhas (if available). If not available which is rare these connected days then books, symbols or even good people from other or no traditions. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_irreligious_organizations
It was quite overcast this morning...I was going to go for a swim, but sadly lots of plastic bags and other bits of plastic floating around, so gave it a miss...
I guess it's to be expected, lots of tourists and boaties...
I saw a guy dragging a large piece of plastic sleet from the water...
Didn't seem to be as much plastic around yesterday...
Finally after almost fifty years, I had a dip in the Mediterranean ( the last time I was in the south of Spain was 1973/4 )....not use to having to wear a swim suit though...
A bit different from my normal jolk along the beach on the island. (It's like the entire population of Waiheke all decided to head to the beach 😉😉 ) Well I haven't jolked since I've been here , it's bloody hot, so it's a nice casual stroll of a morning in my new pair of Sliders...
Taken from the root top of where my eldest son and his wife are staying ( they are over from London for the weekend)
The Pink Lake, where pink flamingoes get their colour by feeding on the algae which grows on the lake..
This evening we are going to watch the setting of the sun over the lake...
Mindfulness is an advanced form of awareness and attention in many Buddhist schools. in Zen shikantaza practitioners "just sit" in a state of conscious awareness. In Vajrayana dzogchen and mahamudra practice, abiding in the non-dual state of rigpa is constant mindfulness.
Comments
Simple tips for reducing negative thought patterns, which cause anxiety, fear and stress...
According to some "neuroscientists lateral eye movements" back and forth (left to right) helps to quiet/supress the threat detection centre of the amygdala ....
So by moving your eyes from side to side, stops negative thoughts taking the mind for a ride....
A few people here might enjoy this when it comes out…
Look left and right to escape monkey mind … great tip @Shoshin
Any NBs into Degiro / eToro??
Who or what is Degiro/eToro ?
Investing / Trading / Stocks online brokers. I'm trying to get into this world and studying finances, but I wanted to find someone who has some experience and could tell me a bit about their "dark" side like hidden fees, dangers, and so on. I'm trying to invest 5-10% of my income per month but I don't want to go in like a teenager expecting to get all rich and die trying and then end up with 0 haha.
@Shoshin1 Times are getting hard!
Food for thought..
Well maybe the second to last jolk in the Southern Hemisphere...for a while...I'm missing it already ...
Well I'm at Auckland international airport.. arrived quite early ...I've got around 3 hours before take off ..I left home at 11.45, my neighbour drove me to the 12noon ferry, caught the train around 1pm then airport bus around 1.30 , reached the airport at 1.50... and just this minute had a message flight's been delayed one hour forty minutes... fortunately I brought Zen Mind Beginner's Mind with me to read ..
🙏🙏🙏
Hope you have a good journey @Shoshin1!
Thanks @Jeroen
Boarding in 10 minutes... it's been a long day....
We will miss your jolking videos. Maybe you will send us a few pics from the European holiday?
The gruesome results of me having a little fat bobble in the corner of my eye removed…
Modern surgery is a wonderful thing. You'll heal in no time!
Well arrived in San Francisco, tired, seat uncomfortable to really sleep, so watched a couple of movies, nodded off a few times, but not for long ...Due to the delay leaving Auckland, didn't have as long as I would have like to do a bit of sightseeing , ended up hanging around the airport...Now in the departure lounge waiting to board my flight to London...The temperature here in San Francisco was similar to when I left Auckland...I was expecting it to be much warmer, considering it's Winter in NZ and Summer time here... Mind you we did have a lovely sunny warm winter's day when I left yesterday...
@Shoshin1 That is an EPIC journey to the Old Continent. Crossing the Pacific, then the entire of North American to then (finally) venture off through one last ocean!
Yes it's a long flight, halfway around the world...
Imagine doing it by boat! Assuming you were travelling before the era of the airplane, how long would that have taken, I wonder?
@federica In 1878...if I recall correctly...a boat from Japan to the Netherlands would take around two months. I hope it helps you to reach an estimate !
Up until the mid nineteen sixties most £10 poms travelled by P&O ships from Southampton to Sydney and Auckland which took around 3 weeks...by the time I left (1969) most £10 poms were travelling by plane...The flight I was on took 36 hours with many stops along the way.. Zurich, Beirut, New Delhi, Rangoon, Hong Kong, Darwin, Sydney...
Well so far I've been to Ipswich to visit an old Pommy friend who I first met in Australia back in the early 1970s ( another £10 pom) .. I've never been to Ipswich before, it's quite a nice town...
Yesterday my son and his wife took me to a lavender farm in Surry not too far from where they live, after there we drove to Cristal Palace park ( haven't been there since the sixties) ..
Going to be catching up with a couple of nieces today for lunch, then tomorrow I'm heading to Bermondsey ( or as some locals call it Berm On Sea 😉 ) to visit my brothers and sisters...
On Wednesday a couple more of
my nieces are taking me out to lunch , and on Thursday I fly to Alicante to visit my sister.
Yeah diesel engine ships are faster than coal steam ships, and coal steamers are faster than sailing ships.
I don't know what a £10 Pom is...
It's ok, I looked it up... Migration scheme, post WWII era...
How the scheme worked was the Oz & UK governments paid for the flight/ship to Australia....however you had to stay in Oz for two years, after two years you could leave Oz and wouldn't have to pay back the fare it cost the governments to get you out there...If you left within the two year period you have to pay your normal fare back plus the money it cost the governments to get you there...Quite a few migrants who were not comfortable with the Aussie life style, and wanted to leave before the two years, just hopped on a plane or ship to New Zealand ...you didn't need a passport to travel between the two countries back then...Many stayed in New Zealand...
my ex-nephew worked for John Deere and went on an exchange training period to NZ, a good few years back now... he said at the time it was just like the UK, but in the 40's and 50's... that's how the life felt, anyway, according to him...
That would be about right...Kiwi were in no rush to catch up....How are you for meeting up in the city @federica ? I'm free tomorrow...or may be when I get back from Spain on the 23rd
Oh, you have to be kidding me....!
Tomorrow, I have a long-awaited hospital appointment to model a new calliper for me; the 23rd, I already have a lunch date with someone I haven't seen for 30 years!!
Of all the dates!!!
Damn... tomorrow for you, was today. I see you actually posted on the 8th, so In any case, I messed up!
No worries...maybe if we have time when I'm back in London... I'm meant to be visiting a friend in Halifax for a couple of nights but at the moment not sure which days though...
So I got a call from one of these scammers.... and really...the story was so stupid and props for the scammer/worker for learning it so well. The dialogue was really polite and well, saying how much money I was losing! She said they were now officially in charge from Las Palmas of making sure all customers were compensated for this mistake on the bill and how the prices have fluctuated so irregulary, blablabla... AND how I would be rewarded 25% of the costs of my electricity bill if I just provided the following:
Full name
Phone
Email
Bank Account details...
And agreeing verbally to the purchase of Power something....
And then I chuckled, the woman I think noticed something was off...
"
"So please Sir, if you could so kindly provide me with the details I asked for, I will immediately begin to generate the exact amount to be rewarded with, as it will be 25% of the bill!
"No, no...thank you. Have a good day." BEEEEEP...
@Kotishka
How wrathful can one be with phone scammers?
Scammer: Hello
Lobster: pause … Hello (bad mistake)
Scammer: Hello … this is (indistinct) from (indistinct)
Lobster: (realising it is scammer) cancels call immediately …
From people working in scam call centres we know any form of interaction will be followed up in some way.
It is like @federica's response to trolls. Zero tolerance.
What worries me is how did they get the house number and how could I prevent this.
My grandmother says she gets these calls often and she simply pretends to be very old (lol..she is 92 almost) like: "Im......sorry....im very old....i dont...understand" and hangs...haha
Hola ! I've just arrived in Torrevieja at my sister's place... it's hot humid and sticky...
From my sister's balcony...
I once tried to talk a phone scammer into giving up his life of crime, but he hung up on me. An entertaining technique, but a sorry waste of time.
@Fosdick tee hee,
Funny thing how admonishment and persuasion are not always skilful means. We have to become the better (no gambling implied).
How?
Well one way is good company. Sangha. Supportive, friendly, wise, metta of fact buddhas (if available). If not available which is rare these connected days then books, symbols or even good people from other or no traditions.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_irreligious_organizations
It was quite overcast this morning...I was going to go for a swim, but sadly lots of plastic bags and other bits of plastic floating around, so gave it a miss...
I guess it's to be expected, lots of tourists and boaties...
I saw a guy dragging a large piece of plastic sleet from the water...
Didn't seem to be as much plastic around yesterday...
Parrots nesting...in the bird sanctuary..
Beach/water aerobics...I was gonna join in but didn't want to show them up😉😉
Finally after almost fifty years, I had a dip in the Mediterranean ( the last time I was in the south of Spain was 1973/4 )....not use to having to wear a swim suit though...
@Jeroen
I've just seen a tour bus called JEROEN. I thought it would be full of Dutch people and they were English...and Spanish...
What a scam!
Maybe it was the driver @kotishka
wether covered in a suit, sea, skin, shell or aged body
… we are just a bag of bones, eventually just grains of sand/dust
Which always makes me laugh …
I feel a song coming on...
"We are stardust we are golden, we are billion year old carbon"
A bit different from my normal jolk along the beach on the island. (It's like the entire population of Waiheke all decided to head to the beach 😉😉 ) Well I haven't jolked since I've been here , it's bloody hot, so it's a nice casual stroll of a morning in my new pair of Sliders...
Taken from the root top of where my eldest son and his wife are staying ( they are over from London for the weekend)
The Pink Lake, where pink flamingoes get their colour by feeding on the algae which grows on the lake..
This evening we are going to watch the setting of the sun over the lake...
Mindfulness is an advanced form of awareness and attention in many Buddhist schools. in Zen shikantaza practitioners "just sit" in a state of conscious awareness. In Vajrayana dzogchen and mahamudra practice, abiding in the non-dual state of rigpa is constant mindfulness.
Added the above to this collaborative text book
https://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Buddhist_Philosophy/Meditation
every little helps (Bodhi Asda)
I tend to think that monks that misbehave or show excessive arrogance become hedgehogs...which is great...more hedgehogs to feed!
I'm at Kings Cross station on my way to Halifax...crazy busy...
Do ex monk hedgehogs become monks again if humble in the presence of sangha?
Enquiring minds need to know …
This is a good question. I think the hedgehog can "recover" former merits through listening to chanting or being treated fairly.
They say you can't transmit merit to hedgehog, but you can practice generosity by feeding him.
may all hedgehogs find a kindly slug/food and mantra chanting well wishers to reinstate/start their monkdom
OM MANI PADME HUM HRIH HED GEE HO G