Nature of Mind » Misc

Editorial by a murdered Sri Lankan journalist

admin — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:00:22 +0000

A friend of a friend living in Sri Lanka sent this editorial by a murdered Sri Lankan journalist. He wrote the article titled ‘And then then came for me’ to be published if he was killed, and he was. It is a very powerful and moving article by a brilliant, courageous man. Here is an excerpt of him speaking to the current president.

In the wake of my death I know you will make all the usual sanctimonious noises and call upon the police to hold a swift and thorough inquiry. But like all the inquiries you have ordered in the past, nothing will come of this one, too. For truth be told, we both know who will be behind my death, but dare not call his name. Not just my life, but yours too, depends on it.

http://www.thesundayleader.lk/20090111/editorial-.htm

New blog default categories plus search and replace

admin — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:00:23 +0000

This plugin works fine with the latest version of WPMU: 2.8.6, and will probably work fine in future versions as it did not break going from 2.7 to 2.8. Another plugin: New Blog Defaults also offers default categories, and much more.

This plugin allows you to set default categories for new blogs. It also allows you to add these categories to existing blogs. Lastly, you can do a search and replace for category names. The search works with exact match only, and is case sensitive.

To activate the plugin, add it to the wp-content/mu-plugins/ folder. Go to Site Admin -> Category Defaults to set the number of default categories as well as set the categories themselves. Then when you create a new blog, the categories are automatically added.

Download the latest version of the plugin here (1.2): defaults-categories

Send any paypal donations to deryk@bluemandala.com. Thanks.

The real difference between liberals and conservatives

admin — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:08:40 +0000

This is an insightful TED Talks by Jonathan Haidt on what makes liberals and conservatives different. For me it was a real eye opener that helps boot me out of the rightous view that liberals are ‘more’ right. He show how 5 measures of morals (which I believe he should weight somehow) are valued differently by each group. Watching the video helps me to see that in order to move forward, one really needs to think of the other groups’ perspective. powerful helpful stuff. I wonder what the conservatives think about it. Interestingly, he uses eastern religions as a model for how to move forward out of this dualism.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html

Great undergraduate program for self-directed/mature students

admin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:23:31 +0000

I recently enrolled in the Independent Studies program at University Waterloo to complete my Bachelors degree so that I can attend a Masters program in the future. What is amazing about this program is it’s flexibility: you can literally create any program or course that you could imagine. For example, for this semester my self-created courses are as follows:

Bodhisattva Path – taken via Ngedon School online
Mahamudra – also via Ngedon School
Meditation Practicum – a 15 day solitary retreat
Spanish Intensive – self study, and local courses here in cusco, peru
ayahuasca cosmology – I plan to interview local shamans about their view on the nature of reality

Next semester, if I get more involved in conservation and sustainable development, I can create courses to reflect the work that I am doing in those areas.

The staff there are wonderful—very helpful and supportive. Too bad, at present it is only an undergraduate program. This small program really is a jewel. I would highly recommend it to anyone is has unique ideas they would like to explore that fall outside of the regular university curriculum.