The Endless Knot

Life, Buddhism, and Me

21 February 2007

Tesla picks Albuquerque; Solar to eclipse fossil fuels, nuclear power

The news at Treehugger is that Tesla’s building their assembly plant in Albuquerque (said in my best Buggs Bunny voice). According to the New Mexico governor, anyway. This must mean that Tesla’s “White Star” sedan must be coming along quite well. (Lotus is building the Roadster in the UK.)

The huggers are also pointing to a story on the Telegraph site that says new thin-film solar panels are gonna spank fossil and nuclear power in 5 to 10 years, in terms of cost per watt. So there won’t be any good reason not to go solar before too long.

Your’s truly is imagining that the White Star will have those wonderful flexi-panels built into its roof. I can see it now — in 5 to 10 years, solar panels will be the new landau top!

lotus dingbat

20 February 2007

Poignant Prose

So, I'm re-reading why’s (poignant) guide to Ruby, trying to stay focussed on the code, but secretly waiting for each and every bizarrely delicious metaphor. Like:
[A code block is] like one of those little Hello Kitty boxes they sell at the mall that’s stuffed with tiny pencils and microscopic paper, all crammed into a glittery transparent case that can be concealed in your palm for covert stationery operations. Except that blocks don’t require so much squinting.
I can’t figure out this guy who calls himself “why.” Either he’s insane, or absolutely brilliant. I tend to think he’s the latter. If you are interested in programming, especially Ruby and Ruby on Rails, check out why’s stuff:

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lotus dingbat

05 February 2007

Cats possess the Buddha Nature

 I’m not sure what’s going on lately. I keep seeing these little things about cats and Buddhism. On Sunday, I was in a mall bookstore, and they had all their calendars on sale for a buck. So I got one for Mom, since she hadn’t gotten one for 2007 yet. It has illustrations of cats and pithy sayings about cats, and the one for June is, “Of all the animals, the cat alone attains to the contemplative life.”

Today I was getting my “Zen-a-Day” desk calendar up to date, and lo and behold, Sunday’s quote is:

Those who understand the Tao delight, like cats, in just sitting and watching without any goal or result in mind. But when a cat gets tired of sitting, it gets up and goes for a walk or hunts mice. It does not punish itself or compete with other cats in an endurance test as to how long it can remain immovable — unless there is some real reason for being still, such as catching a bird.
—Alan Watts

Funny, that was for Sunday as well. So Sunday was all about cats and Buddhism. I wonder if sometimes the universe plays with us, and drops things in front of us to challenge us or to encourage our studies. Is this something that Buddhists believe, too? Anyway, what does it mean? What should I contemplate?

Maybe I should contemplate nothing, but instead watch one of my cats as they sit calmly on the end table, like decorative knick-knacks, either totally absorbed in jhana or comepletely enlightened. Whatever, they seem to be content with just being.

Maybe the universe is saying, “Quit reading so much, quit worring about being a Buddhist, just be.”

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© 2006 Simon Nolan


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