If only I lived in an area where this was practical! My 36-mile commute on I-95 is, unfortunately, a non-starter — especially in Florida weather.
…while choosing a hybrid and/or fuel-efficient vehicle is a positive step in a green direction, personally I’m more excited about skipping the purchase of a giant four-wheeled hunk of metal for something more streamlined and innovative….
In general, the Amish as a community are wary of technology creep. Even though the march of iPods and halogen lights may seem inevitable, the Amish worry that, if left unchecked, it would undermine their core beliefs and values.
“There are some who will always need everything,” explains one Amish shop owner doing transactions by the light of a large window in his store. He does not have solar. Like most Amish, he will speak only if not identified. Particularly on issues that could be divisive for the community, the Amish don’t comment publicly.
“The Amish are not trying to freeze things as they were 30 years ago,” says Stephen Scott, of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. “Each innovation is evaluated as to if it will affect the community, the church. Solar is considered very natural. It’s making use of an alternative energy that’s God-given.”The Amish go solar – in a simple way | csmonitor.com
In his first public appearance since undergoing gallbladder surgery earlier this month, the 73-year-old said, “as far as I’m concerned I have given up.”
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate said it is now up to the Tibetan people to decide how to take the dialogue forward.
The Dalai Lama has called a special meeting of Tibetan exiles next month to discuss the future of the Tibet movement.
VOA News – Dalai Lama Says He Has Lost Hope in China Talks
Commentary:
This is certainly disheartening news for Tibetans, and for their supporters, myself included, but it is probably the best course of action for His Holiness to retire from the fray and build the foundation that will support Tibetan Buddhism and the succession when he is no longer with us.
I have long believed that the dream of coming to terms with the Chinese, vis-a-vis Tibetan autonomy, was doomed to be dashed. The idea that the Chinese hierarchy would change sufficiently within the Dalai Lama’s lifetime to allow any progress was always remote, and the rise of a successor with the ability to influence the Chinese and the rest of the world as much as His Holiness is even more so.
His Holiness the Karmapa is a wonderful young man and fine teacher, but it will be decades before he approaches the stature of HHDL in the eyes of the rest of the world. This takes nothing away from him; the same must be said of any successor to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, should he choose to reincarnate again. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama occupies a singular place in world history. He could not have happened earlier, and it remains to be seen whether his influence can be approached by a future Buddhist leader.
The bare fact is, the world needs the Chinese far more than it needs the Tibetans, and states always act in their best interest. It is difficult to envision a set of circumstances that would make supporting Tibet an advantage to the few nations in a position to influence China in that regard (assuming that any are). To believe otherwise is to tilt at windmills.
That being the case, Tibetans in exile would be best served by our support in maintaining their culture and traditional ways to the greatest extent possible. Tibetans in Tibet, it is sad to say, will be best served by doing the same within the strictures put upon them, and by becoming good Chinese citizens.
This is not a happy solution, but it is the best for all concerned. Romance and regrets have no function in international relations.
Afterthought: We certainly hope that this announcement says nothing about His Holiness’ health, and that he enjoys many more years spreading the Dharma throughout the world. It is interesting to speculate if he might be considering the matter of a successor — perhaps even an election, as he has mentioned in the past.
Bodhipaksa has a video of a couple of McCain supporters confronting a racist at a rally. I can’t post that variety of video on this page without a lot of hassle, so you’ll have to give his blog a click to see it.
The important information about Iraqi Order 81 is that it was designed to have a major impact on the way farming is done in Iraq. This order prohibits Iraqi farmers from using the methods of agriculture that they have used for centuries. The practice of saving seeds from one year to the next is now illegal in Iraq. Order 81 wages war on Iraqi farmers. They have lost the freedom to choose their own methods of agriculture. The legalese in which the orders are written creates confusion about their exact meaning, but the desired result is obvious. Order 81 prohibits the farmers from using their own seeds, on their own farms, to grow their own crops.
Prior to the U.S. invasion, agriculture in Iraq was flourishing. The Fertile Crescent had developed a system of farming that was the envy of the world. Now, under Occupation, centuries of progress have been destroyed, almost overnight.
CorpWatch : IRAQ: CPA Order 81 Is Even Worse Than Originally Reported
What is amazingly ironic about this is the fact that Western preiminence in the world over the past centuries is directly the result of farming techniques and plant strains developed in the Fertile Crescent several millennia B.C.
The Cradle of Civilization and Agriculture is now under attack by its own beneficiaries.
Given that Evangelicals, among whose numbers Sara Palin happily counts herself, believe that it’s perfectly OK to help God along with His plans (and that those who disagree don’t get a vote), Lauren Sandler poses a question that the cowards in the mainstream press have staunchly “overlooked.”
As Palin herself joked on Saturday Night Live, she hasn’t been taking questions. But in those rare attempts to discover what happens under that immovable updo, no one has asked the one I would most like to hear Sarah Palin answer –as she may still hover a melanoma away from holding the most important office on the planet, at one of the most crucial moments in world history. Does Sarah Palin think we are living in the End Times?
Lauren Sandler: In The Last Days Of The Election: Apocalypse Now, Palin?
At colleges across the United States, the number of alcohol-related deaths is on the rise. But at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, no student has died from intoxication or an accident linked to drinking since 1998.
What’s UVA’s secret? It’s called “social norming,” and relies on peer counseling, social events and solid information to challenge misperceptions students have about drinking.
Photos of Refugee Life Taken by Tibetan Refugees
Abdi says he would sacrifice his life for the country he calls home.
The taxi driver taking me to the airport in Minneapolis is not referring to his birthplace, Somalia, but to the US – the place where he has lived for the last 13 years.
Abdi is part of a 44,000-strong Somali community in the liberal western state of Minnesota, most of who are Muslim.
My own adopted home, England, has an even larger Somali community, which has been settled for longer, but they do not tend to think of England as home.
But in Minnesota, Somalis – no less scarred or traumatised by their experiences – seem to have planted roots deeper and faster than any Somali community I have seen in the world.
They do not talk of returning home, they are home.
The Somali community’s sense of belonging in Minnesota runs contrary to the image many people may have of an irreconcilable conflict between America and Islam.…
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
~ Leo Tolstoy
