My mentor and friend, Jim Sansho Enen Gallagher, has asked me to become a monk under his lineage. I have accepted, and will be taking the vows of a Soto Zen Monk later this year under his instruction. I must admit I was surprised when he brought it up to me, only because I received layperson ordination just this last August, but apparently Jim has seen fit to usher me into the next step on this path and make me into his first ordained monk.
I am humbled and grateful. I accept his offer not for myself, but for the liberation of all beings.
On 16 March, another party of teabaggers demonstrated yet again on Capitol Hill (as they have every right to) against big government, lowering taxes, etc. Curious about how much accurate information these droves of protesters have, David Frum set to the streets and sidewalks to interview the protesters.
The first question that was asked concerned the size of government. Tea Partyers were asked how much the federal government gets in taxes as a percentage of the gross domestic product. According to Congressional Budget Office data, acceptable answers would be 6.4%, which is the percentage for federal income taxes; 12.7%, which would be for both income taxes and Social Security payroll taxes; or 14.8%, which would represent all federal taxes as a share of GDP in 2009.
Not everyone follows these numbers closely, and Tea Partyers may have been thinking of figures from a few years ago, before the recession when taxes were higher. According to the CBO, the highest figure for all federal taxes since 1970 came in the year 2000, when they reached 20.6% of GDP. As we know, after that George W. Bush and Republicans in Congress cut federal taxes; they fell to 18.5% of GDP in 2007, before the recession hit, and 17.5% in 2008.
Tuesday’s Tea Party crowd, however, thought that federal taxes were almost three times as high as they actually are. The average response was 42% of GDP and the median 40%. The highest figure recorded in all of American history was half those figures: 20.9% at the peak of World War II in 1944.
Other questions includes how much the government taxes individuals and families, and whether taxes are lower or higher under Obama vs. previous administrations. As the title of this post suggests, they are way off.
The full story and survey results can be found at Forbes Online.
A team of scientists has succeeded in putting an object large enough to be visible to the naked eye into a mixed quantum state of moving and not moving.
Andrew Cleland at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his team cooled a tiny metal paddle until it reached its quantum mechanical ‘ground state’ — the lowest-energy state permitted by quantum mechanics. They then used the weird rules of quantum mechanics to simultaneously set the paddle moving while leaving it standing still. The experiment shows that the principles of quantum mechanics can apply to everyday objects as well as as atomic-scale particles.
Parallel Lines is a series of five short films by five different directors with one thing in common: the dialogue. Each film has the exact same dialogue with no deviation, but the context was left entirely up to the directors.
Now on display in the Anglican Church of St. Peter, Great Limber, UK is a depiction of Christ (lord, savior, lamb of hosts, prince of heaven, Esq., etc.) appearing in 153 burnt pieces of toast.
The work is by artist Adam Sheldon. The reverend of the church thinks it’s delightful.
Of course, I’m sensationalizing the headline for comedic effect, but the possibility is still there, and and in terms of the age of the universe, it’s right around the corner.
Movement of an orange dwarf star with a mass of about half that of the Sun will eventually bring it right to the solar system, stellar data analysis indicates.
The article goes on to say that there is an 86% possibility that this traveler will pass through the Oort cloud, the hypothetical boundary of comets on the edges of our solar system.
To say that [drone warfare turns combat into a video game] is far too simplistic. We’re seeing a change in the very experience of war. The act of going to war used to entail you taking upon great risks. You might not come home one day. You might not see your family again. Now it’s different. I heard a drone pilot explain it this way: You’re going to war for one hour, and then you get in the car and drive home, and within two minutes you’re sitting at the dinner table talking about your kids’ homework. This is a very different experience of war.
Continue reading the interview with US Defense expert P.W. Singer from the Brookings Institution at Spiegel Online International.
(The Dalai Lama, Shepard Fairey and Don Farber, 2010)
Today marks Tibetan Independence Day, as well as His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 75th birthday. Recognizing both events, illustrator Shepard Fairey and photographer Don Farber have collaborated to produce a limited-edition print of Tenzin Gyatso going on sale today at noon EST. Proceeds will be split between Tibet House and LA Friends of Tibet.
