Monday, October 13, 2025
'Partying is down. That's worrisome' (BBC)
Friday, September 5, 2025
Hunchback of Instagram, A.I. insanity

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| I'm a hot influencer for $$$! |
- pale, patchy skin
- a hunchback and
- chronic neck pain.
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| Future social media influencers |
- In the past, when kids read, they would know there was a book and movies titled The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
- InsideAI; New York Post, 9/3/25; Sheldon S., Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Trump's Christian nationalists: Ziklag exposed
- [As Trump is speaking, he clearly adds, "I'm not Christian." Some say he lies and says, out of context, "I'm a Christian," inserting it because he just referred to them as, "my beautiful Christians" as if he were othering them.]
- Trump tries to explain why he told crowd of [Apocalyptic] Christians they will NOT have to vote after this election, and he makes it sound worse
- “Unprecedented in the history of American Republicanism”: Historian on Trump verdict and GOP Extremism
- CARTOONS: Opinion: The latest political comics
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| This is our country. We will not be replaced! |
- Steeplechase, which uses churches to get out the vote;
- Watchtower, which aims to rally voters around opposition to transgender rights; and
- Checkmate, which is focused on funding so-called election integrity groups,
- Democracy Now! on YouTube, 7/30/24; Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Happiness Poison — and the Antidote (video)
| Zen, is it Zen? It's Zen Buddhism, isn't it? - No. |
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- Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► @bigthink Up next, Master anxiety. Unleash genius
Saturday, September 16, 2023
Why men's testosterone is so low (video)
- 0:00 - Our brains love social dynamics
- 1:17 - Status and Testosterone
- 2:50 - Instagram and Mental Health
- 3:03 - Why raise Testosterone and How?
- 4:16 - Testosterone changes your behavior
- 5:48 - Social Anxiety and Testosterone
- 8:00 - Are you depressed or just low status?
- 8:53 - Does Instagram teach you you are low status?
- 9:37 - How many people should we be comparing ourselves to?
- 11:52 - Testosterone is a positive feedback loop
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Racist Japan? Japanese against Japanese
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| Hey, f*ck, this happened to me in the USA! |
- Instagram: instagram.com/rareearthseries
- Francesco: instagram.com/frapetitti
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Why do introverts tend to be highly spiritual?
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| A Manifest for Introverts (in5d.com) |
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| You know what's good about Buddhism? Viveka, mental and physical withdrawal to strive. |
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(1) bodily detachment (kāya-viveka), that is, abiding in solitude free
from alluring sensuous objects;
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(2) mental detachment (citta-viveka), that is, the inner detachment from sensuous things;
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(3) detachment from the Five Aggregates of Clinging (upadhi-viveka).
-
the words "detached from sensuous things" refer,
according to the Path of Purification (Vis.M. IV), to "bodily detachment";
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the words "detached from karmically unwholesome things" refer to "mental detachment";
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the words "born of detachment," to the absence of the Five Hindrances to meditation.
Monday, December 29, 2014
"I'm tired of life," punk (video)
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| Long enough, long enough, it has been long enough! (shutterstock/rawstory.com) |
Sutra: Tears
Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven based on Ven. Thanissaro (trans.), Assu Sutra (SN 15.3)
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| The Buddha knows (Saara Arkiharha/flickr). |
"No beginning is evident when beings first became hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving wandering on [in search of sensual pleasures, supersensual pleasures, continued wandering, or annihilation].
"As we understand the Dharma taught to us by the Blessed One, the tears we shed while being reborn wandering on this long, long time is greater -- crying and weeping from being in contact with what is displeasing and separated from what is pleasing -- rather than the water in the four great oceans."
"Excellent, meditators, excellent! It is excellent that you thus understand the Dharma as taught by me.
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| It's sad, so incredibly sad! (BodhiPunx) |
- "Long have you (repeatedly) experienced the death of a mother. The tears you have shed over the death of a mother while being reborn wandering on this long, long time -- crying and weeping from being in contact with what is displeasing and being separated from what is pleasing -- are greater than the water in the four great oceans.
- Long have you (repeatedly) experienced the death of a father...
- the death of a brother...
- the death of a sister...
- the death of a son...
- the death of a daughter...
- the loss of relatives...
- the loss of wealth...
- loss due to disease. The tears you have shed due to loss by disease while being reborn wandering on this long, long time -- crying and weeping from being in contact with what is displeasing and being separated from what is pleasing -- are greater than the water in the four great oceans.
"Long have you thus experienced suffering (dukkha, disappointment, dissatisfaction), experienced pain, experienced loss, swelled the cemeteries -- long enough to become disenchanted with all formations, long enough to become dispassionate, long enough to be released."
The Stick
- See also SN 15.13

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| Growing up in America is all about being in an indie rock or punk band. Pass it on. |
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| Punk Barbie & Spiky |
"Life is so easy when you're told what to do/ Where to work and how to be you/ But the jokes wears off and you're still laughing/ Caught in your own trap and you're all happy!//
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| Learn your history (School of Rock) |
"Because of the process, because of the system,/ Because you're still laughing, because you don't listen,/ Because of the process, because of the system,/ Because you're still laughing, because you don't listen."
(Rudimentary Peni) "Tower of Strength" from the second EP
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| Towers (Micky75017) |
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| Hardcore Punk Scenes from 1980's SoCal (We Got Power! magazine/bazillionpoints) |
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| WGP!: "We survived the pit" with David Markey, Jordan Schwartz (TRACK16.com). |
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Suu Kyi's Engaged Buddhism (audio)
Burmese opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is getting an honorary
doctorate from Oxford Wednesday. Last week, she formally accepted the
1991 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. As she tours Europe, Suu Kyi is being
honored for her nonviolent political protest against a military junta
that kept her under house arrest [and continues to operate as dictators
of Burma] for most of the last 20 years. But her philosophy of civil
disobedience might have to change to fit her new role as a politician
back home.- A Life Beyond Money
- Closer look at Daw Suu Kyi and ethnic turmoil
- Sonali Kolhatkar welcomed a thoughtful guest to explore what's really going on in Burma -- from new "freedoms" within an impoverished police state to its government-fomented turmoil between Buddhists and extremely marginalized non-Buddhist ethnic minorities like the Rohingyas. The audio is archived for 90 days (Uprising! Wednesday, June 20, 2012 8:00 am).
- Aung San Suu Kyi finally gets honorary doctorate
- Oxford to honor Suu Kyi after years of house arrest
- Burma's Suu Kyi visits London, Oxford on UK tour
- Burmese journalists win battles, but war not over
- Suu Kyi walks on with "star-struck" Bono
- PHOTOS: Bono's many brushes with greatness (AP)
- Suu Kyi' bittersweet return to her alma mater Oxford
Friday, May 25, 2012
OC87: Obsessive Compulsive Asperger's (film)
Can you make a movie while experiencing mental illness? [Is there any other way?] Bud Clayman is doing it. Will making a documentary about one's mental illness change one's life?Mental illness interrupted Bud’s dream of a filmmaking career. Thirty years later, he’s making the movie of his life. Bud Clayman is one of films’ most unlikely heroes. This is a personal story with universal relevance -- a wildly original documentary of pain and vulnerability, empowerment, and Bud’s quest for belonging.
Throughout his youth, Bud’s future was filmmaking. After college in Philadelphia, he headed to Hollywood in search of a break.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Escape? The seclusion illusion

Sick of modern life? You're not Robinson Crusoe. But withdrawing from the world only makes things worse.
It has been almost 20 years since an idealistic drifter called Christopher McCandless trekked into the Alaskan wilderness and died. Seeking a period of contemplation and driven by a contempt for civilization, the young American gave away his savings and abandoned his possessions before embarking on what he saw as a noble odyssey.
Desperately ill-prepared, his quest lasted barely a few months before he perished from starvation.
His journey may have been doomed, but our fascination with it and the abundance of websites, books, and films that have immortalized his memory all speak to our longing for solitude.
The impulse is familiar to anyone who has felt overwhelmed by modern life. When disaster, over-information, or financial stress become too much, we retreat to soothing distractions and bunker down in personal affairs.
Instead of escaping to the wilderness, however, we usually seek solace in the cinema, in the meditation hall, or at a bolthole by the beach.
In many cases it's no more than a healthy diversion. No one could sensibly argue that an occasional break is anything other than good for our well-being.
But for some, seclusion can morph into long-term withdrawal. Solitude can tip into loneliness. Cocooning, it's often called. Or its close relation -- escapism. As inviting as both may seem, they rarely bring contentment. More
Monday, September 1, 2008
Americans who lose Jobs become Hermits
[It's the opposite in Asia; see below.] Layoffs can turn social butterflies into near hermits who shun such outlets as book clubs and even church groups, finds a new study.
Workers who experienced just one layoff or involuntary loss of a job were 35% less likely to be involved in their communities than their always-employed counterparts, according to the survey that will be published in the September issue of the journal Social Forces.
The researchers suggest the reason could come down to tit for tat, or an attitude of "you don't scratch my back, why should I scratch yours?" "Social engagement often involves an element of social trust and a sense that things are reciprocal -- that you give some support if you get some support, and you benefit from society if society benefits from you," said lead researcher Jennie Brand, a sociologist at UCLA. "When workers are displaced, the tendency is to feel as though the social contract has been violated, and we found that they are less likely to reciprocate."
Dirt on downsizing
The results were based on data on nearly 4,400 participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, which has tracked a group of 1957
Wisconsin high school graduates for more than 45 years. Born between 1939 and 1940, the participants are of an American age group that is inclined to participate in community and social groups, the researchers say.Of the six forms of involvement, youth and community groups experienced the strongest exodus by displaced workers followed by church and church groups, charitable organizations, and leisurely activities. Professional and political groups remained just as popular on average in displaced and non-displaced workers. "Displaced workers may be more likely to keep up with professional groups than other groups because they're trying to make up for lost ground with respect to their careers," Brand said.
Workers who got flung out of their jobs during their peak earning years, between the ages of 35 and 53, were the most likely to withdraw from the social buzz throughout their lives. Employees who got the boot between 53 and 64 years of age, at the tail end of their careers, were just as likely to participate in social and community groups as their non-displaced counterparts.
"Being laid off doesn't appear to be as socially damaging for older workers as younger ones," Brand said. "The shame factor of downsizing your lifestyle just isn't there, because your peers may be downsizing as well and you can play off your displacement as an early retirement even though it may be forced retirement."
Double whammy
The latest findings have considerable ramifications, Brand said. "Whether citizens participate is important for the effective functioning of neighborhoods, schools, communities, and democracies," Brand said. In addition, such withdrawals from society can cause a vicious cycle of unemployment. "If workers withdraw socially after being laid off, then they're experiencing double-jeopardy," Brand said. "They're losing their jobs, and then they're not participating in society, so they're not keeping up with social contacts that might help them find a new job."
- Original Story: People Who Lose Jobs Become Hermits
Asians with good Jobs were Hermits
Richard Barrow (thaibuddhist.com)
Over a one-month period, Barrow documented the life of a newly ordained hermit. The time for Nattawud's ordination as a bhikkhu ("hermit") has come. Most Thai men do this once they come of age. Nattawud isn't actually 20 yet. However, they are, apparently, allowed to also count the time spent in their mother's womb! [This is customary in Asia, so that one is nine months old pospartum.]
Thai men are not considered mature adults until they have become monastics for a period of time. Thai people call them "unripe." Once they have ordained and disrobed, they are called thit. Thai men in government jobs are legally allowed to take a three month leave of absence to ordain as a hermit.
Most do this during [the Rains Retreat (Vas) the monsoon season in Asia used for intensive practice since the bad weather doesn't allow for much else, sometimes called] "Buddhist lent," which starts in July. During Vas or lent people do not wander but stay in their hermitage. As Nattawud's birthday is in July, his family decided to bring the ceremony forward. More >>
- Bangladesh ordinations (Planet Pilgrim)
- Women fully ordaining (Sri Lanka)
- Cool Himalayan ordination (Nepal)
- A mountain of your own (Bhutan)
- Into the hot zone (Burmese ordination)

















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