February 9, 2011
Where once I loved my flesh,
That social fellow,
Now I want security of bone
And cherish the silence of my skeleton.
Where once I walked the world
Hunting the devil,
Now I find the darkness and the void
Within my side.
First to be good, then to be happy I
Worked and prayed.
Before the midnight, like the foul fiend,
I killed my dear friend.
Hope unto hope, dream beyond monstrous dream
I sought the world.
Now, at the black pitch and midnight of despair,
I find it was always here.
February 8, 2011
Here is a big techno breakthrough for … book distribution, working prasadam booths at fairs, accepting donations at off campus fund raising events?
Twitter co-founder makes card reader for the iPhone.
Jack Dorsey revolutionized online socializing by co-founding Twitter in 2006. Now he wants to transform the way people exchange money.
Dorsey is leading a new startup called Square. Its first product resembles a cube: a tiny credit card terminal that plugs into the headphone jack of an iPhone.
The goal is to make it easier to complete a credit card transaction, whether you’re a street vendor selling T-shirts or an individual settling a lunch tab with a friend.
Dorsey, who was Twitter’s CEO until October 2008 and remains the social network’s chairman, said he came up with the idea for Square nearly a year ago with Jim McKelvey, a glass artist who was frustrated after losing out on a $2,000 sale because he was unable to accept a credit card.
The two started brainstorming about how businesses and individuals could quickly start accepting credit, debit and prepaid cards over the iPhone and other small electronics and had the idea for a credit card reader that connects to a cell phone.
Eventually, McKelvey and a group of engineers decided they should build a gizmo that hooks up to a standard audio jack, which is common on all sorts of consumer electronics from iPhones to BlackBerrys to laptops.
In January, electronic payment services company VeriFone Holdings Inc. plans to release a service similar to Square’s.
That service, PayWare Mobile, is aimed at small businesses and fits a credit card terminal and small stylus (for signatures) into an iPhone case.
A business often needs to have its own merchant account with a credit card company to use one of these methods, though. Square Inc. takes a different tack: It has its own merchant account, so it takes on the responsibility for minimizing risk and fraud, Dorsey said.
February 7, 2011
31-25 :-(
“What I am saying is this: the score is not what matters. Life does not have to be
regarded as a game in which scores are kept and somebody wins. If you are too intent
on winning, you will never enjoy playing. If you are too obsessed with success,
you will forget to live. If you have learned only how to be a success, your life
has probably been wasted.”
Thomas Merton. Love and Living. (New York: Harcourt) p. 12
“A person in Krsna consciousness is always transcendental to the material modes of nature. He has no expectations for the result of the work entrusted to him, because he is above false ego and pride. Still, he is always enthusiastic till the completion of such work. He does not worry about the distress undertaken; he is always enthusiastic. He does not care for success or failure; he is equal in both distress and happiness. Such a worker is situated in the mode of goodness. “
Bhagavad Gita 18.26
February 4, 2011
“What Is Green Building?
“Green building integrates natural resource, human health, and community concerns into building design, construction, and operation that significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impact on the environment and occupants by addressing energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality, waste reduction and occupant productivity and health.”
Anyone doing any long range planning in ISKCON (or outside it for that matter) should watch this DVD.
“Green Builders, a one-hour high definition special, profiles a cast of green building pioneers who have taken the leap into making their part of the “built environment” a more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly place.
“There is no single way to build green. Green Builders takes a wide-ranging look at a variety of approaches and levels of commitment and at the individuals who have helped turn green building theory into reality. These individuals are not just builders and designers; they’re teachers and homeowners, corporate leaders and academic specialists, leaders of institutions and universities as well as renegade inventors. From The Willow School to PNC Bank to the first solar-hydrogen home called The Hopewell Project, people talk about why they made the move to go green, what the challenges were, and how their project has fared.
“In most cases, one finds that a green building project has more to do with smart planning and a mindset change about energy use than expensive technologies or consumer sacrifice. Innovation helps, and there are plenty of innovations included in Green Builders that are making green technology effective and affordable. Geothermal storage, wind farms and extensive solar array systems are examined in the program. As the stories in the documentary demonstrate, it is crucial for us to change our perspective on how we build, recognizing the wasteful impacts of the traditional mode of building and operating our structures, and realizing the environmental and economic benefits of building green. Only then will the green building movement be successful.
“The individuals in Green Builders have made the move to building green without suffering, sacrificing, or experimenting with a wispy might-happen. These are real projects on the ground, working businesses and college campuses that prove you can change your carbon footprint once you change your way of looking at how a structure operates. Collectively, the green builders are building the foundation for a more widespread movement toward making America’s built environment less harmful to the dwindling supply of healthy natural resources and even less expensive to operate. Their homes and offices are the proving grounds for green building, and their personal experiences reveal that building greener is less complicated and expensive than you probably thought, and more rewarding in the long run.”
February 3, 2011
Columbia, MD – February 1, 2011 – – New Energy Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: NENE), today announced that researchers have successfully developed a first-generation 12”x12” working prototype of the Company’s SolarWindow™ technology, capable of generating electricity on see-thru glass. Compared with its 4”x4” predecessor, unveiled in September 2010, today’s debut marks a significant achievement for the Company as it continues to work towards producing a commercially marketable product.
Today’s prototype achievement marks a 300% increase in size over its predecessor, and is the first-ever working SolarWindow™ of its dimension. Researchers fabricated this prototype using New Energy’s patent-pending process for ‘spraying’ the Company’s electricity-generating coatings directly onto glass, eliminating expensive and often cumbersome high-temperature or high-vacuum production methods typically used by current solar manufacturers.
“This important milestone event brings our SolarWindow™ technology yet another step closer to the residential and commercial end-user,” stated Mr. John Conklin, President and CEO of New Energy Technologies, Inc. “We continue to pursue an aggressive product development program, working to improve, among other things, solar cell efficiency, power output, durability, manufacturability, and further scale-up.”
The Company’s latest ‘scale-up’ accomplishment follows on the heels of several important business and scientific achievements, including:
There are nearly 5 million commercial buildings in America, according to the Energy Information Administration, and more than 80 million single detached homes. New Energy’s SolarWindow™ technology is under development for commercial application in such buildings.
February 2, 2011
(courtesy of Bhakta Ed)
Our Head Coach, who Art in Hall of Fame
Hallowed be Thy game plan
Thy touchdowns come
Thy will be done
On Offense
As it is on Defense
Give us this game our time of possession
And forgive us our fumbles
As we scoop up the fumbles before us
And lead us not into the loser’s locker room
But deliver us from Rogers
For Thine is the Division
The Lamar Hunt and the Lombardi Trophies
NFL without end
Amen
February 1, 2011
From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
The Terrible Turban, or ‘Here we go, thin-jabis, here we go!’ or Slumdog Steel-ionaire
Polka, rap, classic rock, country, folk, blues — name a musical genre, and there is a Steelers song to go with it. So why not some good old-fashioned Punjabi-influenced Bhangra-infused hip-hop?
Uh … come again?
BlackMahal, a San Francisco band, has created possibly the most unique Steelers song to come down the pike, ever, called Black, Gold and Silver — the ‘silver’ is a reference to the Lombardi Trophy (which must come as relief to the small percentage of you worked up about Wiz Khalifa’s use of “Yellow” rather than “Gold”) — and comes up with a interesting new moniker for the team — the thin-jabis.
According to a release from the band:
“”Steelers Nation is a worldwide community so it’s time for the rest of the world, like us, to express our love for the Steelers in local flavors,” says BlackMahal rapper and executive producer Vijay Chattha, a native of Weirton, WV, just 45 minutes from Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field stadium.
“”The new colors of the Pittsburgh Steelers are black, gold and silver,” continues Chattha. “The Lombardi trophy and its silver sheen has become a standard of success in the team’s historic franchise, so we wanted to celebrate our colors on the song.”
“”The song takes the classic black and gold colors of the Pittsburgh Steelers and adds the silver of the storied Lombardi Trophy, given to the winner of NFL Super Bowl. First there was ‘Here We Go” by Roger Wood then “Black and Yellow” from Wiz Khalifa. Now BlackMahal unveils the first bhangra-infused anthem for football fans, “Black, Gold and Silver.”
“”The song features some dedications and samples of the late Steelers broadcaster and icon, Myron Cope as the band re-invents the, “Yoi, Yoi, and Double Yoi” catchphrase.
[The song] also introduces a new name for the team that sits at the confluence of the Monongahela, Alleghany and Ohio Rivers, translating them into ‘thin-jabis’ or “those from the three rivers.”
Part P-Funk, part Punjabi-Funk, BlackMahal is a 10-piece live music experience complete with drums, DJs, horns, hip-hop MCs, and the godfather of Punjabi-American music – Ustad Lal Singh Bhatti.
BlackMahal’s lead vocalist, Lal ‘Blitz-Singh’ Bhatti, is regarded as the godfather of Punjabi-American music. Bhatti has collaborated with the Black Eyed Peas, The Doors and has performed for nearly every U.S. President since Gerald Ford as well has being honored at the opening of the Smithsonian Sikh Gallery in 2005.
You can download the song here.
Reclaiming scripture from the empirical and dogmatic analyzers. Scripture is poetry, not a collection of essays.
"Use common sense and if you have none then consult with others." SP letter 10/25/76
The Yoga Of Ecology
