This weekend Colin Powell, retired 4-star General and former Secretary of State, gave his clear endorsement of Barack Obama as our next president. This should sway some of those undecided voters who may have worried that Obama wouldn’t be the best for our national security. If anyone knows national security and Middle Eastern affairs in the contemporary world, it is Colin Powell. But just as important as his endorsement were these words – pointing to the heart of the hate... Read more

Remind you of anything? Yet another reminder that there are ‘many Buddhisms’ out there and not all are quite like what we would expect here in the West. Also a reminder that while it may look corrupt, it is important to examine the motives of the monks/temple(s?) that perform these services. For years there has been a Japanese “Jizo” service for women who have had abortions or miscarriages where women would donate to a temple, sometimes large amounts, for the... Read more

Just a few more shots of Glacier from my last trip; more to come I’m sure after this weekend. Read more

For those of you with an SLR camera, or a higher-end point-and-shoot, there is a great tool you can use to capture a fuller range of light than you would normally expect with your camera. According to the brilliant Tim Cooper, the human eye can take in about 11 stops of light (meaning we can see things from a wide range of brightness and darkness) whereas a camera can only capture about 5 stops worth. (I should note that I... Read more

fMRI scans from the USA Today story. According to new research on aging people, surfing the net could be a way to keep the brain fresh and fleshy, while less techno-savvy elders risk sooner slides into dementia. All of the volunteers showed significant brain activity during the reading task, which stimulated brain regions that control language, reading, memory and visual abilities. But during Internet searches, major differences flared up between the two groups, Small says. Only those who had previous... Read more

Many thanks to miss Vesper at Vesper’s Escape for nominating/awarding me as a loved blog. It is not only a great honor, but indeed a bit daunting to see the company I share amongst her favorites (excellent blogs all of them). Accordingly, here are the rules: 1 – Add the logo to your blog.2 – Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.3 – Nominate at least 7 other bloggers.4 – Add links to their blogs.5 –... Read more

It is an ideal October evening in Montana, and I find myself settling further in to ‘normal’. I’ve had people ruffle their brow at me when I mention ‘normal’ (as if I am invoking Holy Spirit itself or some such thing), but others know. They, like me, have seen the other side of ‘normal’ and likewise gleefully welcome it back. We are all a little bit screwed up; mental illness is a spectrum, yes. But any sudden movement from one... Read more

Oh, sweet Glacier. And in five short days, I’ll be back. Odd numbers. “bold” composition. Odds again. Read more

Does Buddhism have an ontology or metaphysics? This past week we at the Center for Ethics at UM hosted David Webster from the University of Gloucestershire. Dave is a philosopher of ethics, religion, and contemporary society and learning. His ph.d. work focused on the nature of desire in the Pali Canon (early Buddhism), stemming from the often asserted and erroneous notion that Buddhism teaches the elimination of desires. In his second talk at the University he described Buddhism in the... Read more

I’m back from Glacier now (as of 6 days ago). The trip was amazing (many thanks to the organizers and Tim Cooper, photographer extraordinaire. Eleven of us camped, hiked, drove, and shared two and a half days photographing just one tiny part of this great National Park. Wonderful people, all of them, and excellent photographers (even those who were just beginners). I will post a link to our flickr group once images come streaming in. The only downside of it... Read more