This isn’t the interesting, focussed blog you might have been looking for…

"Pica Pica" is replacing the DangZang blog at google, but without the dharma related material, which is going to the chagchen site under the DangZang title, and without the translation material, which will go to my work site.

Oh yes, it's by Alex Wilding

Archive

Categories

  • The Six Yogas of Naropa
    A quick tour through some of the books in which material on the famous Six Yogas of Naropa is presented in English […]
  • Broken bell thread – an omen?
    I was chanting away this evening: bop, bop, bop on the drum – ting, ting, ting on the bell, when suddenly something fell into my lap, and the bell went silent. Yes, the thread had broken. Is it an omen? Am I going to die soon? Win the lottery? […]
  • Old chestnuts about the Karmapa and the Dalai Lama
    My good friend Dave Lawson sent me a link to an article in the Times Online by Michael Binyon. Written some three or four weeks ago, it is entitled Disunity threatens the Dalai Lama’s timeless authority. It is full of tired old chestnuts, and the comments that have been added by others are sadly full [...] […]
  • Yet more links – part II
    I've moved the links to a Links Page […]
  • Links, links
    A "blogroll" of chosen links would be a good idea, but in the meantime here are some of the links I had on the old version of this site. […]
  • HH Karmapa’s birthday
    This Friday 26th June, is the 24th birthday of His Holiness 17th Karmapa, Orgen Trinley Dorje. […]
  • Four years of retreat over!
    Retreatants emerge after 4 years on the Isle of Arran. […]
  • Talking of phones…
    … and their use as meditation aids, as I did a couple of weeks ago, there is an iPhone app from apricle technologies – I think the company has just been formed for this product, but who knows where it will go. Me, I have a phone that is four years old and does its job, [...] […]
Wednesday July 1st, 2009. Posted by Alex:

Back lanes

People care enough to keep this kind of place passable and free, but they don’t particularly pride themselves on the back lane. Perhaps that’s why there is such a dreamy peace to be found there sometimes.

Behind Norton Street

Behind Norton Street

Sunday June 28th, 2009. Posted by Alex:

Pink elephant hunter

Sometimes when one sees a pink elephant, it is real. One may find one abandoned in the park and bring it home. Ones people may insist on washing it, but one is justifiably proud.Found elephant

Sunday June 21st, 2009. Posted by Alex:

The "One Nation" party is …

… a bunch of people who think that Australia’s national anthem is “Advance Fairskinned Australia”.

Or so it is said.

Saturday June 20th, 2009. Posted by Alex:

New-look site

I’ve not only been splitting the old blog into these two new ones, but also seriously refreshing my work site. I’m impressed, both by WordPress in general (they have prepared some really good documentation) but also by the highly customizable Atahualpa theme I’ve used there as well as for the blogs.

Wednesday June 17th, 2009. Posted by Alex:

Net-savvy Iranians

The media here are making much of the young, net-savvy Iranians using social networking sites to get the news out. Most people believe the Iranian presidential election to have been rigged, most outside journalists have had to leave Iran, but the Iranians are said to be twitter-ing and facebook-ing away about what is going on. And don’t we just love it, because it is the Iranian regime that is threatened by the net?

So good. Freedom of information really does work in favour of democracy! Our governments should be financing research to keep information free, and to protect those who publish it – software to keep government snoopers out of our e-conversations, and to provide security and privacy. The Great Firewall of China, the Australian plans for ISP-level filtering, plans to keep logs of all e-mail exchanges – these are toys that would have made Big Brother green with envy.

Underlines my point!

Sunday June 14th, 2009. Posted by Alex:

Global Free Information?

First off, a declaration that this thought started with an article by Gary Feuerberg in the Epoch Times; the article also refers to a site concerned with undermining democracy.

Feuerberg’s article summarizes a report entitled “Undermining Democracy: 21st Century Authoritarians,” released on Capitol Hill, June 4 – the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre – sponsored by Freedom House, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia. Its 80 pages find that four authoritarian states—China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela—are setting forth a new authoritarian model for countries to follow, and that they have the resources and sophistication to be highly influential in the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Continue reading Global Free Information?

Friday June 12th, 2009. Posted by Alex:

Recent birthday boy!

Robert – hope you had a good day!

Saturday June 6th, 2009. Posted by Alex:

Shame on doctors

A report in the SMH tells that the number of mental health patients forced to undergo electroconvulsive therapy in NSW has doubled in the past decade – the figure is now around 600 involuntary (yes) treatments a year – about one person in ten thousand. I call it barbaric.

Wednesday June 3rd, 2009. Posted by Alex:

Tiananmen Square

Let us not forget. 20 years ago tomorrow. Here is one article in the Wall Street Journal.

Tuesday June 2nd, 2009. Posted by Alex:

Lies, true lies, and advertising

There I was, watching Channel 10 at 20 past the hour, when an advertising slot started. Fair enough – that’s what pays for the film.
Don’t go away!“, they say, promising that the break will only last 60 seconds. Not bad, I thought. I believed them – I’ve even measured it in the past, and it’s true. Impressive.

But this time, I kept my eye on what happened. Yes, the break was only one minute long. Then we had four (yes, just four) minutes of program, followed by another ad-break. This time it lasted three-and-a-half minutes. The channel did not boast about the length of that spot!