net127

Satellite Cafe Reaches New Heights

From the SkyREPORT:

Satellite has taken its reach to 16,000 feet, supporting climbers on this spring's climb of the world's highest peak.

The first-ever Internet cafe at the Mt. Everest base camp went live last week using space segment on Americom Asia-Pacific's AAP-1 satellite. Americom Asia-Pacific, a 50/50 joint venture between Lockheed Martin and SES Americom, donated bandwidth on the satellite to help make the cafe possible.

The path consists of a Wi-Fi connection between the base camp and a satellite earth station installed within two miles of the camp at a height of 16,000 feet. The AAP-1 satellite then connects the earth station to a teleport in Taipei, which in turn, is connected to the Internet backbone via fiber.

Librarians Use Shredders to Counter New F.B.I. Powers

A Proud American (via kuro5hin.org) writes:

"It used to be a librarian would be pictured with a book," said Ms. Snider, the branch manager, slightly exasperated as she hunched over the wastebasket. "Now it is a librarian with a shredder."

Librarians in America, specifically those in Santa Cruz, California, have resorted to shredding nearly all documents or records of any sort in order to counter the United States' new Patriot Act _{(EFF critique)}, a law passed after 9/11 which significantly broadened the federal authorities' ability to tap into public information in the name of anti-terrorism.

Many libraries have begun distributing leaflets to visitors which detail their objections to the increased F.B.I. power and explain that librarians are in the process of reviewing their files to ensure that any and all data they have about borrowing and computer usage histories is absolutely necessary to their operation.

(Mon Apr 7th, 2003 at 02:30:40 PM EST)

InterSat Teleport

Inkjet printer technology will slash price of DNA chips

The INQUIRER staff writes, "PRINTER COMPANY Canon has unveiled a technique based on its inkjet technology that will allow for cheap mass production of DNA chips.

DNA chips are used to trace diseases and, according to a report on Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the technology, likely to be ready in two years' time, will cut the price of production by 90 per cent.

The technology uses a solution of DNA rather than ink and sprays that onto glass in a precise way.

Canon has already demonstrated a prototype that produced some hundreds of DNA chips, which currently are being made using expensive semiconductor tech.

Prices of these current chips are around one million yen, the newspaper reports.

Friday 04 April 2003, 09:51

"Bombing for Peace is Like Fucking for Virginity"

From the reverse cow girl's blog, "Bombing for Peace is Like Fucking for Virginity."

Groundhog Day

A movie review by Peter Hata

In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays a wisecracking and sarcastic TV weatherman who is sent on assignment to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvannia. He is accompanied by a sweet and cheery producer, played by actress Andie MacDowell, and a smart-aleck cameraman, played by Chris Elliott. The Bill Murray character covers the news story in his usual arrogant and condescending way, but then things start to go wrong. First, on his way out of town, he and his crew get stuck in Punxsutawney due to a giant snowstorm--which as a weatherman, he had failed to predict. Second, he awakens the next morning to discover it’s Groundhog Day all over again...and again...and again. Being stuck in a time warp might not be so bad, but for the Bill Murray character, who sees himself as a "bigshot" and looks down on the entire town and the small town mindset of its people, having to repeat day after day here is pure hell. At one point, he even tries to commit suicide, only to awake the next morning to find that yes, it’s still Groundhog Day!

Eventually, the Bill Murray character begins to "see the light." He begins to realize that maybe, just maybe, it is he himself that is "the real problem." In one key scene, he says to the Andie MacDowell character, whom he is starting to fall in love with, that he doesn’t believe he deserves someone as nice as she. Because she is so much the antithesis of him, it's as if her genuine sweetness acts as a "mirror" to show him how selfish, rude and downright mean-spirited he is. Almost immediately, once he begins to really see himself, he also begins to change.

I believe Groundhog Day is a Buddhist movie because of this "transformation" of the Bill Murray character. He becomes, as we would say in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, "a true human being," as opposed to the self-centered and arrogant person he started out as. What is important to note is that the transformation occurs not through the action of some external supreme being, or through the action of the Bill Murray character himself (i.e., through his own self-power). It occurs because he encounters a difficulty in his life that is greater than himself.

In Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, we are taught that, even if we are aware that our ego-self is the problem, we cannot simply decide to become a "good person." The self cannot correct itself. What is required is a power much greater than the self, which essentially "negates" or "challenges" the self. In Buddhism, we call this power the Dharma. One way that we encounter this power in our lives is in the general form of difficulties, or "things that don't go our way." One obvious example of such a difficulty is that we all inevitably grow older and eventually must die. In Groundhog Day, the difficulty is that the same day keeps repeating, which of course, really infuriates the Bill Murray character. However, he finally begins to understand that "the point" all along has been that he has to "get it right," and treat those around him with true respect and compassion. In Buddhist terms, we would say that when he finally sees himself as he really is, he is humbled, and he no longer puts himself above others. Suddenly, he has a new view of life and begins to go out of his way to be kind and to help all the people he meets, even those that had most annoyed him before. When he does so, the date finally changes, and when he awakens the next morning, it's now the day after Groundhog Day. Now, with his new, more humble attitude and genuine appreciation of everything around him, he is "allowed" to go on and truly enjoy his life.

Peter Hata
The Living Dharma Website
West Covina Buddhist Temple