I recently watched the documentary Tukdam: Between Worlds. This explored the phenomenon in Tibetan Buddhism where experienced practitioners can remain in a state of meditation after the body has shown all physical signs of having died - no breathing, the heart has stopped. In this state the body can support itself, the skin looks healthy, there is no sign of decomposition of the body (even in the heat of India where many of the exiled Tibetan community now live), and a feeling of warmth remains around the heart.
It’s that time of year, actually it could happen any time of year, when I start reassessing what app I use to manage my calendar. I wonder if anyone has any preferences…and why?
March 2023 Hello and welcome to the March 2023 newsletter. I am hoping that I can get this months’ newsletter out on time. Time will be a crunch. Because of how Micro.blog, the host for my blog and newsletter, is structured, I will have a small window of opportunity to do the final editing and add this letter before jumping on a airplane to San Francisco. I shall probably be doing that editing sitting at the departure gate at Maui airport.
Rows of Parmesan cheese mirror each other as they wait their turn to be cleaned - each cheese is picked out, polished, put back, and then the machine moves onto the next one. Scandiano, Italy.
I look out on this scene every time that I step outside of my front door. Yet it was someone’s words a couple of years back that changed what I see when I step out. This friend mentioned that it was possible to see the curvature of the Earth by looking out to the horizon. Sure enough, he was right. The expanse of the view allows one to see the Earth curving away off to the right. Maybe not in the photo that I linked to, but for sure when you are standing at the door on a clear day. That’s what I see now.
We watched The Swimmers on Netflix a few night’s ago, and enjoyed it - even if the delayed review suggests otherwise. A true story, about two sisters who were coached as swimmers by their father. One in particular was driven to swim in the Olympics representing her country, Syria. Based on a true story, it shows the challenges and dangers that refugees go to, to escape their troubled countries in an attempt to live the life that has been denied them. Recommended. 🍿
A couple of days ago I replaced a metal bar that held up a small solar panel. The panel has been sitting on our gate post for around five years, quietly doing its job - charging a battery, and when that is fully charged, operating a gate.
The metal bar had also quietly been doing its job. Holding up the panel, making sure that it captures as much sunlight as it can as the sun traverses the sky.
I’ve just been scrolling through the new Apple Classical app. I can’t speak to how good the app is, but I see that there is a lot of potential for me to learn about music here.
I am constantly amazed at the number of times that I don’t really delve into what is on offer with MacOS or iOS. The same could go for pieces of software. Yes, I can competently find my way around, but then I discover a feature that I have just ignored exploring, possibly due to habits formed with earlier iterations of the OS….or laziness.
Although I use the Control Center on iOS, I have ignored it on MacOS. Today, with the new OS update, I righted that wrong and because of it feel that I no longer need Bartender to manage my menu bar items. Don’t get me wrong, I still think that Bartender is a worth while purchase if you are suffering from menu bar clutter, but for me now things appear to be under control without it. Some pruning of what didn’t need to be up there, together with moving a couple of other things over to the Control Center, have done the trick.
A detail of the support that the Japanese give to long branches on trees. A long wooden pole, tied in place by rope. This photo was taken in the Gyoen National Garden in Kyoto.
