tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-299896592024-02-28T09:37:13.211-05:00Rethinking the world... and making it a better placecycling, sailing, programming, and insights into the human condition: psychology, humanism, usability, public transit, and generally a lot of thinking about the future.Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.comBlogger247125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-76943085175310180502017-11-11T01:00:00.000-05:002017-11-11T01:00:11.233-05:00Should we decimalize the calendar?<h3>
Simplified Measurements</h3>
As units of weights and measures have evolved in the course of time, each subdivision had their own specific use, each trade their own measurement. Food stuff were measured in pounds because a pound of potatoes, for example, is just how much one eats in a few days. Precious metals and medications were measured in ounces, because an ounce of silver could be a week's wage worth for a worker. An acre is the land surface one can plow with a horse in roughly a day. Two hundred square foot is the size of a comfortable family kitchen (at times when it was the only heated room in the house and families did not much space).<br />
As there was no much need to mix those different domains of life, there was also no pressure to force all measurements into a single system.<br />
However, with the advent of science and technology there were more and more connections between all the different things. How many pills can be made from a pound of base material? How many family homes can be build on one acre?<br />
<br />
This is just a very brief glimpse on the motivation behind introducing a decimal system where number conversions simply happen by shifting the comma. (Once the decimal system was used in a majority of places, many others followed not for its intrinsic practicality, but just to ease international trade.)<br />
<br />
<h3>
But what about time?</h3>
So now most of the world measures weights as 1 ton = 1'000 kg = 1'000'000 grams and lengths in meters with set of prefixes which in daily life go from 1 km = 1'000 m = 100'000 cm = 1'000'000 mm and in specialist industries can go much further up and down. Of the three physical base units, weight and space and time, however, time has escaped decimalization. It even has escaped twice, once with the small units of time which come in packs of 60 and 24, and even more radically on the calendrical level where the subdivisions are not only chaotic like having on one hand 52 weeks of 7 days, on the other hand 12 months of 28 to 31 days and years of either 365 or 366 days that need to be broken up! Now, we're looking at very different kinds of problems when trying to sort this out: on the one hand, days and years are given to us by the universe and each correspond to a different amount of time that does not provide an integer subdivision. When we think of "ending the year" on midnight December 31st, this is a calendrical illusion because the Earth will not be exactly at the same point around the sun as it was at the same time exactly 365 or 366 days before. This is a problem that we have to solve with good conventions and we can do so with some liberty because no human will notice the seasons shifting for a small number of days as long as those small numbers don't add up over the years.<br />
<br />
The other problem, however, is caused by the completely human set intervals of weeks and months which only increase the irregularity instead of decreasing it. Without even thinking of introducing decimal 10-day weeks like the French Revolution did (and the Soviet Revolution tried it again), let's look at the issues that are actually solvable:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Saying how many weekdays (working days) and how many weekend days are in any given year with not more than one extra bit of information. Today you need to know which year it is or at least with which day of week it starts and whether it is a leap year. In a simple calendar the answer should only depend on the leap year bit and optimally also not differ too much. </li>
<li>Saying how many workdays and non-workdays are in each month and each quarter.</li>
<li>Then, answer the above questions also taking public holidays into account which may or may not fall on a weekend, reducing the number of workdays only if they don't.</li>
<li>Saying how many days or weeks there are between two different dates in the same year or of a different year.</li>
<li>Saying what day of the week a specific day will we.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Currently, answer to the counting questions are: 5*52 plus zero, one, or two, that is, 260, 261, or 262 workdays per year, and 104, 105, or 106 weekend days per year. With public holidays it depends on the country and region (and sometimes, the city).</div>
<div>
For a quarter, there are currently 90, 91, or 92 days where two difference days can again be either weekends or workdays, so the relative uncertainty is even bigger.</div>
<div>
</div>
<h3>
A Simplified Calendar does not need change radically</h3>
<div>
Now, the surprise I want to explain here is that we can already simplify those questions and more by making two small changes to the current calendar! There is no need to change all months to be exactly 4 weeks long (thus getting 13 months per year and killing the concept of a quarter-year) and also no need to change any of the month's lengths at all except for the placement of the leap day (which is currently February 29th) and breaking of a two-thousand year old dogma.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let's start with the easier of the two and make good use of the fact that the 52 weeks in a year very neatly fall in 4 packs of 13. So a quarter-year as used by most business for accounting purposes could always have 13 full weeks and therefore a fixed number of 65 working days and 26 weekend days. In the Gregorian Calendar as we use it today, starting a quarter at the first day of January, April, July, and October, the length of the quarters is 92 in Q3 and Q4, 91 in Q2, and 90 or 91 in Q1 depending on it being a leap year or common year. So if we moved the leap day to Q3 or Q4 then each quarter would have 91 or 92 days, which means there will always be at least 13 full weeks plus optionally an extra day. If we could arrange for that extra day to always fall on a weekend, we would even get four quarters with exactly 65 working days and 26 or 27 non-working days! And all of that with a change that still keeps all the 366 dates of the Gregorian Calendar. (Only that February 29th will be there every year and some other day in Q3 or Q4 will only exists in leap years.)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now, did you get suspicious when you read the phrase "arrange for that extra day to always fall on a weekend" above? Any given date (that is month plus day-in-month) can of course fall on any day of the week. For example, Gregorian leap year 2012 had the very nice property of starting the first, second, and third quarter on a Sunday. And the common year 2017 had the nice property that the first and last quarter started with a Sunday while the year also ended with a Sunday. If we just took the calendars for those years and put them together we'd get a year in which each quarter starts with a Sunday and ends (if it has 91 days) on a Saturday, or if it has 92 days on a Sunday. This would automatically mean that the quarters all have exactly 65 working days! Ain't that great?!</div>
<div>
Do you see the problem yet? All quarters starting on a Sunday and ending on a Saturday means that the last day of each quarter, a Saturday, will be followed by the first day of the next quarter, a Sunday, which is what happend to all Saturdays in the 2000 year history of the Gregorian and Julian calendars! However, for those quarters which end in a Sunday, the next day –oh dogma!– would again be a Sunday so that each quarter can indeed start its rhythm in the same, fixed scheme. Note that I just chose Sunday for the sake of example, because it seemed practical to have an extra week-end day. If it seems less blasphemous to my reader, we can repeat the same argument with the common year 2016 and a suitably chosen leap year both starting on a Saturday and then get one or two extra Saturdays per year. We could also just call them Leap Day or Extra-Weekend-Day. Or give them any other name as if we were creating a public holiday. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As a side note: an average Gregorian year has 365.2425 * 5/7 = 260.8875 work days whereas the regular calendar described here always has only 260 working days. So that's almost one extra public holiday. (Since all other public holidays will now fall on fixed days of the week, governments will probably want to recount the net sum of public holidays on work days and shift some of those around, so that this additional day could also be dedicated to some higher meaning.)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you can hold the idea of having one extra long weekend every year (and two in leap years) then we can think a little about where in the year those extra long weekends should be! In fact, by suggesting that we simply repeat one of the good Gregorian years every year, I already arrived at the conclusion that the first and last day of the year would be the same day of the week, so there's an obvious place to put that extra long week-end: as in most countries 1st January is already a public holiday and 31st December is a big party. Of course that party would be easier to organize if it were on a weekend and that's exactly what we'll achieve! During a time where many people take vacation anyways, this does not interrupt the flow of society and rather helps people save up their vacation days for other times of the year.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
From what I wrote above, it is also clear that the other long week-end should be placed in the third quarter (July, August, or September). Since it is a leap day which will not be there in all of the years, it should be the last day of any of those months. Since with the proposed scheme of starting and ending the year and all quarters on week-ends, only the end of September is on a week-end, September 30th suggests itself as the leap day.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To sum up how this regularized calendar looks like: </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>All months keep their existing length, but February 29th is in every year and September, 30th is only in leap years.</li>
<li>The first days of each quarter, that is 1st of January, April, July, and October, as well as the last days of September and December will be a Sunday (or if you like that variant: a Saturday).</li>
<li>Each business quarter will have exactly 65 working days and 13 weekends with usually two days. All quarters start at the same day of the week.</li>
<li>The weekend which spans the new year has three days. (Either because December 31st and January 1st are the same day of the week or because December 31st is a special day of the week.)</li>
<li>In leap years, the weekend around September 30st also has three days.</li>
<li>Every date has the same day of week and week-number in every year. So if someone needs to make day-of-week calculations even easier, they can always switch between a week-based date (Q1, week 6, Monday) and a month-based date, because the conversion is the same in every year. </li>
<li>Years are the same as Gregorian into the past and into the future. Dates between the new leap day (Sept 30th) and the old leap day (Feb 29th) are also the same in all years. Other dates only differ by one day and only in common years.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
If you like all of this, you might also be interested to know:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>how would this calendar actually look like on paper or in your calendar app?</li>
<li>what would change about the plan if Feb 29th stayed as leap day (so that all dates would still be equivalent with Gregorian days in all years)? Could we arrange for Feb 29th to fall on a weekend and place the other extra day such that it does not disrupt the usual flow of work and non-work days? Could we then still achieve a fixed number of working days per quarter? (Having a four-day week or an only one-day weekend in all common years just doesn't sound as attractive as an occasional three-day weekend.)</li>
<li>what would be some really cool names to give to those non-septemiary extra days of the week? </li>
<li>what would be a practical arrangement of holidays in your country in the proposed regular calendar which keeps a regular distribution of working days in each quarter? (Maybe follow the Canadian example of spreading the public holidays such that there is more or less one in every month.)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
Join the discussion or stay tuned for my next post.</div>
<div>
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Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-19174968825597625742017-11-09T08:20:00.000-05:002017-11-09T11:39:39.251-05:00Der Berliner Flughafen-Express hat exponentiell viele Provisorien!Bei dieser Meldung handelt es sich um keinen Witz oder Übertreibung, sondern einfach um ein Zusammenspiel von vielen Bauprojekten und anderen Terminen, die in der Reihenfolge alle nicht so fest sind. Und je nachdem, was zuerst fertig wird oder zuerst passiert ergibt sich eine andere Situation. Zwar wird es letztendlich nicht so viele Kombinationen geben, aber da die Reihenfolge vorher noch nicht fest steht, müssen alle diese Kombinationen geplant werden!<br />
<br />
Ein Beispiel: der ursprüngliche Eröffnungstermin des Flughafens BER war im Frühjahr 2012. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt war die die östliche Eisenbahn-Anbindung noch nicht fertig. Es gab also ein provisorisches Fahrplankonzept für diese Zeit bis zur Fertigstellung der östlichen Anbindung. Wie wir alle wissen, wurde der Flughafen aber nicht 2012 eröffnet und das provisorische Konzept wurde nicht benötigt. Mittlerweile ist die östliche Anbindung auch fertig und wartet nun ihrerseits auf Eröffnung des Flughafens!<br />
<br />
Andere Dinge, die seit 2012 schon fertig wurden und höchstwahrscheinlich vor der Eröffnung des Flughafens noch fertig werden:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>seit 2011 gibt es einen Verkehrsvertrag des VBB in dem der Flughafenexpress schon ausgeschrieben war und wohl auch bestellt ist und der VBB sich wohl irgendwie mit dem Bahn-Unternehmen einigen musste, was die Züge stattdessen machen sollen. (Der existierende Flughafenexpress wird wahrscheinlich davon bezahlt, hat aber nicht so viele Zugfahrten.) Immerhin fahren Heute nach Schönefeld schon die neuen Flughafen-Express-Züge, die eigentlich für den BER bestellt waren. Man erkennt sie übrigens daran, dass sie teilweise Dreier-Sitze auf einer Seite haben und die andere Seite dafür frei für Gepäck.</li>
<li>im Jahr 2014 bis Ende 2015 wurde schon mal mit einem Regionalzug experimentiert, der stündlich vom Hauptbahnhof über Südkreuz zum Flughafen Schönefeld verkehrte und dadurch mit den anderen Zügen drei Verbindungen Hbf – SFX pro Stunde bot, statt nur zwei wie vorher und jetzt wieder.</li>
<li>seit Ende 2015 hat das Ostkreuz einen Ringbahnsteig für Regionalzüge und die direkte Strecke von dort über Schöneweide zum Flughafen ist nach großer Renovierung wieder befahrbar.</li>
<li>ab Ende 2017 hat das Ostkreuz dann auch unten einen Regionalbahnhalt und dieser wird ab dann auch schon für die heutigen Flughafenzüge genutzt werden.</li>
<li>seit Ende 2015 gibt die Schnellfahrstrecke Halle/Leipzig – Erfurt, die auf Berliner Seite dazu führt, dass mehr Fernverkehrszüge südlich von/nach Berlin fahren und hier kein Platz mehr für Züge zum Flughafen ist. (Daher unter anderem auch die Einstellung der o.g. Linie.)</li>
<li>ab Ende 2017 kommen im Süden von Berlin noch die Schnellfahrstrecke Erfurt – Nürnberg und Erfurt – Frankfurt hinzu. Erstere wird den Verkehr nach München stark ansteigen lassen, da sich die Fahrzeit von ca. sechs auf ca. vier Stunden reduziert! Richtung hingegen kommt es nur zu einer kleinen Fahrzeitverkürzung, aber dadurch wird die Fahrzeit von Berlin nach Frankfurt (und damit auch Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Straßburg, Zürich, ...) über Erfurt kürzer als über Braunschweig / Hildesheim, so dass auch deswegen mehr Züge von Berlin Richtung Halle und Leipzig fahren werden. Damit bleibt nun gar kein Platz mehr für den Flughafenexpress über Berlin Südkreuz. </li>
</ul>
<div>
Durch all diese Geschehnisse sind nun schon einige Provisorien überflüssig geworden und insbesondere, der ab 2012 als RE9 geplante Express vom Hauptbahnhof über Südkreuz zum BER ist nun auch unmöglich geworden.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Andererseits sind immer noch viele zukünftige Termine offen und unklar:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Die Eröffnung des Flughafens selbst: aktuelle Ansage heißt "ab Sommer 2018 ist alles fertig gebaut, wird noch ein Jahr lang getestet und geht dann (vielleicht? wahrscheinlich?) 2019 in Betrieb". Nicht ganz sicher eben.</li>
<li>Die Stilllegung des Terminals Schönefeld alt: diese wird erst "einige Jahre" nach der Eröffnung vom BER erfolgen, so dass auch dort noch Flughafenzüge hin fahren sollten.</li>
<li>Eher klar ist, dass ein neues Regional-Linienkonzept ab Dezember 2022 in Betrieb gehen soll, dass natürlich wieder mehrere Varianten für die Flughafenanbindung enthält. (<a href="http://ted.europa.eu/TED/notice/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:423803-2017:TEXT:DE:HTML">Technische Details dazu in der Ausschreibungsvorankündigungsberichtigung.</a>) Hierdurch wird sich für die Direkt-Anbindung des Flughafens von der Innenstadt (Stadtbahn und/oder Hauptbahnhof tief) nicht so viel ändern, aber es kommen neue Regionallinien hinzu, die von Norden her kommend über Lichtenberg und Ostkreuz zum Flughafen fahren und dann weiter in südliche Vororte. Diese werden wohl auch pünktlich starten und falls es dann noch keinen BER gibt, eben über den alten Flughafen Schönefeld fahren.</li>
<li>Auch eher klar ist, dass die Berliner Ringbahn nun auch zwischen Gesundbrunnen (BGS) und Ostkreuz (BOK) repariert, saniert und elektrifiziert werden soll, damit Züge vom Hauptbahnhof über GBS, BOK und Schöneweide zum BER fahren können. (<a href="https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/berlin/verkehr/baustelle-am-ostkreuz-airport-express-zum-ber-muss-bis-2019-umweg-fahren-24777874">Alter Artikel dazu von Sept. 2016.</a>) Für ein paar Jahre wird das die kürzeste und schnellste Verbindung sein! Das betroffene Teilstück der Ringbahn (parallel zur Friedrichshainer Gürtelstraße) ist nicht mal einen Kilometer lang, betrifft aber mindestens eine sehr marode Brücke, so dass hier wohl mit zwei Jahren Bauzeit zu rechnen ist, die hoffentlich schon in wenigen Monaten beginnen. Hier gibt es also wieder einen Wettlauf, ob nun der BER zuerst fertig wird oder diese provisorische Abkürzung der Flughafenanbindung. (Die übrigens auch als Betriebs- und Reserve-Strecke für andere Linien sehr nützlich sein wird!)</li>
<li>Ein ganz großes Fragezeichen gibt es noch bei der eigentlichen Flughafenexpress-Strecke, nämlich der so genannten (Berlin–)Dresdner Bahn in Lichtenrade. Diese gehört schon seit der Wiedervereinigung zum Großprojekt des Berliner Hauptbahnhofs, insbesondere seines Tiefbahnhofs, der bis Heute seine acht Tunnelbahnsteige nicht voll ausnutzen kann, weil nach Süden hin nur eine Bahnstrecke (nämlich die über Lichterfelde in Richtung Halle/Leipzig) wieder eröffnet wurde und die andere (nämlich über Lichtenrade nach Dresden) bis Heute nicht. Für diese Strecke besteht nun auf Berliner Gebiet endlich Baurecht und kleinere Bauarbeiten sind schon im Gange. Die Details werden einen eigenen Blog-Post füllen (den ich hiermit ankündige) und die früheste Inbetriebnahme 2024 wurde noch nicht offiziell verkündet, weil für den Brandenburger Abschnitt immer noch kein Baurecht besteht! (Und es ist leider so, dass man nicht teilweise in Betrieb nehmen kann, nur die gesamte Strecke ab Berlin Abzweig Priesterweg bis zum Berliner Außenring, wo die Strecken nach Dresden und zum Flughafen anschließen.)</li>
</ul>
<div>
Besonders kurios und kreativ ist das Provisorium für den Fall, dass BER schon 2018 eröffnen sollte (oder überhaupt vor Ferstigstellung der Ringbahn am Ostkreuz). Dafür hat sich die Bahn einen Kreisverkehr ausgedacht, der die Fahrgäste ab Hauptbahnhof über Südkreuz zum BER bringt, aber über Lichtenberg und Gesundbrunnen wieder zurück! (<a href="https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/berlin/fahrplan-airport-express--vom-ber-zum-hauptbahnhof-in-36-minuten-27878854">Quelle mit Bild bei der BZ.</a>) Ich kann mir gut vorstellen, dass dieses Provisorium zum Provisorium auch wieder nicht benötigt wird bevor der Flughafen eröffnet. Aber falls doch, dann gäbe es für ein paar Monate oder Jahre mal wieder etwas ganz einmaliges in Berlin, denn so eine Einbahnkreislinie hat eine andere Stadt auf der Welt für so einen großen Kreis.<br />
<br />
Zum Abschied Bilder der maroden Brücke am Wiesenweg (Gürtelstraße), die nun plötzlich so zentral zwischen Berlin und seinem neuen Flughafen steht:<br />
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Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-86302320769516890972017-10-31T12:49:00.001-04:002017-10-31T12:49:53.516-04:00Creative wheel building<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From building my new bike, I am left over with a 20-hole hub and from another old project, a 28 hole rim. (For readers who are already confused: those counts are normal in the 20 inch and folding bike world, where the typical 36 spokes are not needed to make a strong and lasting wheel.)</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While thinking how those could be combined, I came up with a new spoke pattern which I had never seen before:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="IMG_20170803_092232314.jpg" height="280" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/BQpIfzfxDEEm0mtzFQONWNyTZMTXKNzHsY0PcqiTUjLnvL4t_zEpCC0d4snfLwoh_hQn8WXfXEWqxNgPJ0AHHAqGA7Iimwpy4pOFQ4ge1sF8NcOcy6JYIl7HBbRN0Iha2Sxv2wLO" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="602" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Solid lines are spokes from the facing side of the hub, dashed is the other side. This pattern uses five spokes of three different lengths and is repeated four times around the hub for full twenty spokes. It has lots of nice properties:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unused holes on the rim (empty circles in the picture) are equally spaced with two and three spokes alternating in between.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every second spoke arriving on the rim will be from one side of the hub, every other from the other side.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spokes only need to be of three different lengths as opposed to seven different lengths when interleaving the non-used rim-holes with a regular 4-spoke pattern. </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To achieve this, every second instance of the pattern is laced with 3 spokes on one side and every other with two spokes on that side (pattern reversed). The left sketch shows how this leads to the proper alteration of left (dashed) and right (solid) spokes on the rim. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Note that the right picture shows only the facing ten holes of the hub, and only a quarter (one pattern instance) of the spoke and rim.</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-491c25d2-a71b-5279-4c1f-f654def5876e"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think that this would look quite intriguing in an actual wheel, especially if some of the spokes were of a different color. Either do the four radial spokes in white, rest in black; or do the eight single-crossed spokes in white, rest in black. In both cases, half the white spoke would emerge from each side of the hub and would form a cross when looking the wheel from the side. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">And the best thing I realized later: although designed for a 20/28 hub/rim recycling, this would work as well on straight 20/20 and even yield a quite durable front wheel(*)!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">(*) </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As long as no disc-brakes are involved.</span></div>
Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-72443944484185922712017-10-31T12:34:00.003-04:002017-10-31T12:49:20.835-04:00Hybrid-U-Bahn für BerlinAuch wenn es auf Webseiten wie "Linie Plus" und in diversen Eisenbahn- und Nahverkehrsforen schon zu hunderten Vorschläge für neue U-Bahn und Tramlinien in Berlin gibt, möchte ich hier doch noch einen hinzufügen, weil er ganz besonders zur aktuellen Verkehrslage und zur Stadt Berlin passt.<br />
<br />
Wie ist denn diese aktuelle Lage? Berlin hat Deutschlands größtes U-Bahn-Netz und dazu noch ein paar so genannte Vorleistungen, also Tunnelstationen die schon vor Jahrzehnten mit einer Linie errichtet wurden und bereits Platz für eine weitere bieten. Soweit ich weiß sind die ältesten Beispiele am Wittenbergplatz, wo Platz für ein sechstes Gleis zwar noch nicht gebaut, aber in der Planung berücksichtigt ist, damit die drei von Westen kommenden Linien auch wieder in drei verschiedenen Strecken nach Osten weiter fahren können, und am Alexanderplatz, wo in der Ebene der U5 bereits zwei zusätzliche Bahnsteigkanten vorhanden sind, die von einer Linie aus Weißensee genutzt werden sollten. Für diese Linie wurde jüngst sogar unter der neuen U5 Station am Roten Rathaus eine zweite Ebene eingebaut, in der Züge kehren und parken können.<br />
<br />
Andererseits hat Berlin auch Deutschlands größtes Straßenbahnnetz und die Stadtverwaltung hat schlau erkannt, dass angesichts hoher Baukosten für neue U-Bahnen bei der Straßenbahn für gleiches Geld ein viel höherer Nutzen erreicht werden kann.<br />
<br />
Wenn man diese aktuelle Lage unter den zeitlosen Aspekten der Verkehrsplanung betrachtet, so stehen auch U-Bahn und Straßenbahn oft überhaupt nicht in Konkurrenz: Die Tram zum Hauptbahnhof welche aus Osten von drei verschiedenen Strecken kommt bietet viele Direktverbindungen. Die U5 am Hauptbahnhof hingegen bindet die zentralsten Orte von Berlins alter Mitte und entfernte Wohngebiete an. Die nach der Wende gebaute Straßenbahn M13 transportiert täglich viele Menschen, aber nicht genug, dass hier eine U-Bahn benötigt würde. Dasselbe gilt für die neuen Straßenbahnstrecken in Adlershof.<br />
<br />
Zur Transportkapazität eine kleine Rechnung: es gilt hier einerseits die Fahrzeug-Größe als auch den Takt der Linien zu vergleichen. Berliner Straßenbahnen sind zwischen 2,30 m und 2,40 m breit und auf den wichtigen Linien 40 bis 60 m lang. (2,20 m breite Straßenbahnen waren bis vor kurzem auch im Linienverkehr, aber sind nun nur noch Reserve.) Lange 60 Meter Züge fahren zur Zeit übrigens nur auf den Linien M4, M5 und M6.<br />
U-Bahn-Züge sind 2,30 m bis 2,65 m breit, wobei 2,40 m wegen der Tunnelbreiten wohl das Maximum im Kleinprofil (Linien U1 bis U4) darstellt und auch nur von den <a href="https://www.wikiwand.com/de/BVG-Baureihe_IK">neusten Fahrzeugen</a> ausgenutzt wird, die erst im Jahr 2018 in Betrieb gehen. Zuglänge ca. 100m. Im Vergleich mit einer 60 m langen Tram passen also ca doppelt so viele Passagiere in einen U-Bahn-Zug!<br />
Beim Takt muss die Tram der U-Bahn theoretisch nicht nachstehen doch wird es einfach sehr teuer öfter als alle 5 Minuten auf einer Linie zu fahren, die nicht vom Straßenverkehr getrennt ist, weil durch die Wartezeiten an Kreuzungen auch mehr Fahrzeuge gebraucht werden als bei einer U-Bahn. An dieser Stelle macht sich schon der Vorteil einer Hybridlösung bemerkbar: fährt die Straßenbahn getrennt vom Straßenverkehr auf eigener Trasse, dann ist sie schon schneller und der Betrieb wird auch billiger. Kreuzt sie zudem noch verkehrsreiche Straßen durch kurze Tunnel, so kann die Kapazität noch einmal erhöht werden. (Nebenbei bemerkt sind diese Ausbauten der Strecken und Haltestellen auch Voraussetzungen, um überhaupt 60 m lange Fahrzeuge einsetzen zu können.)<br />
In Berlin fahren die meisten Metro-Trams zur Hauptverkehrszeit im 5 Minuten Takt. Die U-Bahn fährt auf einigen Linien noch häufiger, allerdings ergibt sich durch Bündelungen von Tram-Linien z.B. in der Landsberger Allee auch ein Takt von mehr als drei Fahrzeugen pro zehn Minuten. Den Vergleich auf einen festen Faktor zu bringen, wird hier der Sache nicht gerecht, jedoch zeigt ein Blick in andere Städte, dass gerade wenn mehrere Straßenbahnlinien in einem Tunnel gebündelt werden, der Takt auf der Bündelstrecke höher wird als er sich bei einer einzigen U-Bahn-Linie lohnen würde.<br />
<br />
Und hier sind wir bei einem grundsätzlichen Gegensatz des Verkehrswesens angekommen, der Heute in Berlin genau wie überall gilt: Einerseits ist Verkehr dichter in den Innenstädten als in den Vorstädten und Verkehrsmittel müssen nach dem Kapazitätsbedarf ausgewählt werden. Andererseits ist es im öffentlichen Verkehr wichtig umsteigefreie Verbindungen und dafür eben lange Linien eines Verkehrsmittels anzubieten. Eine U-Bahn ist für den Vorort zu teuer, eine Straßenbahn aber für die Innenstadt zu klein. Die Lösung, um trotzdem noch direkte Verbindungen anzubieten liegt daher in einer Straßenbahn, die innerstädtisch im Tunnel fährt und die kleinere Kapazität der Fahrzeuge durch höhere Takte im Tunnel ausgleicht!<br />
<br />
Was aber nun hat dieses allgemeine Prinzip mit Berlin zu tun? Hier sollen natürlich nicht U-Bahn und Tram zu einem großen ganzen vermischt werden, sondern am Einzelfall untersucht, wo ein kurzer Tram-Tunnel hohen Nutzen schaffen kann!<br />
<br />
Wenn wir uns einmal auf einer Karte anschauen, welche Verkehrsadern in Berlin zur Zeit die höchste Auslastung bewältigen, gibt das einige Hinweise für neue Linien:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg18yMAZC77YTs5Sw_bRma_M7YW54svX7ktHZbrxXezrjakyI5B92vi0CI4pOKVoHcZQPppraEEgUCJjvXHdPdGB-K_-MlugWCTkHwuyDYXFsOWrvzkKFw6xNeFInEZ3NA19OGVjg/s1600/Engp%25C3%25A4sse+Berliner+Verkehr.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="752" data-original-width="1024" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg18yMAZC77YTs5Sw_bRma_M7YW54svX7ktHZbrxXezrjakyI5B92vi0CI4pOKVoHcZQPppraEEgUCJjvXHdPdGB-K_-MlugWCTkHwuyDYXFsOWrvzkKFw6xNeFInEZ3NA19OGVjg/s640/Engp%25C3%25A4sse+Berliner+Verkehr.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Natürlich fällt zuerst auf, dass die S-Bahn (grün) und U-Bahn (blau) den Hauptanteil der Verkehrslast tragen. Außerdem sind die Buslinien (orange) in Ostberlin sehr dünn, weil dort die Tram (gelb) den Hauptteil des Verkehrs bewältigt!<br />
Anhand der am stärksten befahrenen Bus-Korridore lässt sich ablesen, wo das Fahrgastpotential für neue U-Bahn- und Straßenbahn-Strecken am höchsten ist. Wenn man sich die vom Berliner Senat (nicht nur in der aktuellen Koalition mit den Grünen, sondern auch schon vorher) geplanten Bau-Schwerpunkte mit der Blickwinkel von Fortführung der Linien anschaut, stellt man fest:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Die Tram vom Hauptbahnhof zur Turmstraße (Bild links oben) schließt an die bereits existierenden Linien an.</li>
<li>Die U5 vom Alex zum Hauptbahnhof auch.</li>
<li>Für die Tram in der Sonnenallee (Bild rechts unten) ist eine Fortführung über die Bülowstraße bis zum Potsdamer Platz vorgesehen, was auch sinnvoll ist und für viele Anwohner auch einen Vorteil gegenüber der U-Bahn bietet, die gerade der parallelen Buslinie die Fahrgäste entzieht.</li>
<li>Für die Tram nach Steglitz (Bild links unten) ist ebenso eine Fortführung zum Kulturforum und Potsdamer Platz vorgesehen und von dort eine Fortführung zum Alexanderplatz für die teilweise sogar schon Gleise verlegt wurden! Hierdurch sind die Ost- und Westberliner Tramnetze dann verbunden!</li>
<li>Auch die Verlängerung der U1 unter dem Kurfürstendamm ab Uhlandstraße (im Bild links Mitte, vermischt mit dem großen Verkehrsknoten am Bahnhof Zoo) bis zum Adenauerplatz (wo die oben schon erwähnte Station der U7 schon vorgebaut wurde) erscheint sehr schlüssig. Auch wenn U-Bahnbau sehr teuer ist, gibt es doch hier durchaus genug Verkehrsbedarf und die Umsteigemöglichkeiten scheinen den Bau eines Tunnels zu rechtfertigen. Doch was bedeutet der U-Bahnbau für im Sinne eines Linienkonzepts mit möglichst vielen Direktverbindungen?</li>
</ul>
<div>
Aktuell fahren auf dem Ku'damm 5 verschiedene Buslinien, die im Westen verschiedene Vororte direkt erschließen. Besonders erwähnenswert sind die beiden Metrobus-Linien aus Grunewald (M19 und M29) und natürlich der Umstand, dass auch am S-Bahnhof Halensee ein wichtiger Umsteigepunkt liegt. Andererseits sieht man auf der Auslastungskarte gut, dass trotz zwei dort verkehrender U-Bahn-Linien zwischen Zoo und Wittenbergplatz immer noch eine sehr starke Nutzung von Bussen besteht. Offensichtlich nutzen die Bus-Fahrgäste aus Grunewald und Schmargendorf die U-Bahn nicht, sondern bleiben im Bus sitzen, um direkt an ihr Ziel oder den nächsten Umstieg zur S-Bahn oder einer anderen U-Bahn zu kommen!</div>
<div>
Könnte man also den Busverkehr auf dem Ku'damm wirklich stark reduzieren, wenn die U1 dort um zwei Stationen verlängert wäre? Hier besteht genug Zweifel, um die Frage anders zu stellen: wie müsste man auf dem Ku'damm bauen, damit Direktverbindungen erhalten bleiben und sich noch verbessern?</div>
<div>
Es ist unwahrscheinlich und würde zumindest sehr lange dauern bis die U1 auch bis zum S-Bahn-Ring in Halensee verlängert wäre. Eine weitere Verlängerung der U-Bahn wäre ganz und gar unwirtschaftlich, aber als Tram würde es Sinn machen! Doch wie erreicht man mit der Tram eine Durchbindung ohne im Bereich Zoo und Wittenbergplatz neben Bus und U-Bahn noch zusätzlichen einen Parallelverkehr mit Straßenbahnen einzurichten? </div>
<div>
Hier kommt natürlich die Tunneltram ins Spiel und die schon oben gemachte Beobachtung, dass der U-Bahnhof Wittenbergplatz auch Platz für sechs Gleise und damit drei unabhängige Linien bietet. Hier können also U1 vom Ku'dam als Tram, U2 wie bisher und U3 (nach Westen weiter als U1) unabhängig und ohne sich gegenseitig in ihren verschiedenen Technologien zu stören verkehren.</div>
<div>
Wie sähe das im Detail aus?</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Eine Tunnelrampe westlich Adenauerplatz auf dem Mittelstreifen des Kurfürstendamms.</li>
<li>Von dort nach Süd-Westen eine Straßenbahntrasse auf dem Mittelstreifen mit entsprechenden Haltestellen. </li>
<li>Am Ende des Ku'damms verzweigt die Tram-Strecke in die beiden Strecken der heutigen Metrobusse nach S Grunewald und zum Roseneck.</li>
<li>Ein weiterer Abzweig schon vorher über die Holtzendorfstraße zur Messe/ICC/ZOB wäre auch möglich.</li>
<li>Ab Adenauerplatz bis Wittenbergplatz verkehren die Trams im Tunnel der heutigen U1. Am Wittenbergplatz gibt es durch die Anlage des Bahnhofs gute Umstiegsmöglichkeiten. Gebaut werden muss jedoch an der Ostseite noch eine Ausfädelung der Tramstrecke, damit die U3/U1 zum Nollendorfplatz nicht gekreuzt wird.</li>
<li>Auf dem wiederum sehr breiten Mittelstreifen der Straße an der Urania taucht die Tunnel-Tram wieder auf. Außerdem wird hier eine unterirdische Kehranlage gebaut, so dass Züge vom Ku'damm kommend auch am Wittenbergplatz enden können.</li>
<li>Über Kurfürstenstraße, Genthiner Straße, Magdeburger Platz und Stauffenbergstraße geht es dann zum Kulturforum und Potsdamer Platz. Dort besteht Anschluss an die bereits offiziell vom Senat geplanten Strecken über die Leipziger Straße (Richtung Alexanderplatz) und Stresemannstraße (Richtung Hermannplatz und Sonnenallee).</li>
<li>Ab der Urania ist auch eine weitere Strecke über Lützowplatz, großer Stern, Paulstraße, Invalidenstraße möglich, die Anschluss an den Hauptbahnhof und das dortige Netz bietet. Die Linie könnte dann zum Beispiel als M5, M8 oder (am wahrscheinlichsten) M10 weiter fahren.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Vor einiger Zeit beschrieb ich schon, wie auch der <a href="http://rethinktheworld.blogspot.de/2013/04/tunnel-vorhersage-fur-berlin-von-der-u.html">Tunnel der U4 für eine Tram genutzt</a> werden könnte. Das hier beschriebene ergänzt sich damit wunderbar:</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Ab Magdeburger Platz können beide Linien auf gemeinsamer Strecke zum Kulturforum und Potsdamer Platz verkehren. Ein Umstieg zwischen den Linien ist also weiterhin möglich auch wenn die Ku'damm-Linien nicht mehr zum Nollendorfplatz fahren.</li>
<li>Da die U3 nicht mehr hinter dem Nollendorfplatz endet, wird die dortige Abstellanlage frei und kann vom Tram-Tunnel der U-M4 genutzt werden.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
Hier eine Karte möglicher Linienverläufe:</div>
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<iframe height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1N4IdqbUgT8iaEUR9eFk9TI_bR80&hl=en" width="640"></iframe></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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Detailbemerkungen:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Wer sich beim Tunneln auskennt wird bemerken, dass die Ausfädelung der Tunneltram östlich vom Wittenbergplatz zur teuersten aller Baumaßnahmen dieses Vorschlags werde könnte. Aber genau hieran scheinen die Baumeister vor über hundert Jahren schon gedacht zu haben, denn wie man auf <a href="http://www.u-bahn-archiv.de/dokumente/1913_wilmersdorf_abb03.gif">dieser Skizze</a> erkennen kann, wurde dazu schon ein besonderes Fundament unter dem U-Bahn-Tunnel eingebaut. (<a href="http://www.u-bahn-archiv.de/dokumente/1926_bousset.html">Bild-Quelle 1</a>, <a href="http://www.u-bahn-archiv.de/dokumente/1913_wilmersdorf.html">Quelle 2</a>). <a href="http://www.gleisplanweb.eu/Berlin-blind-index.php">Und noch schönere Quelle</a>.</li>
<li>Genauso glücklich scheint die Situation Nord-Östlich vom Nollendorfplatz. Wenn man der <a href="http://www.bsisb.de/default_f.htm?/sb/u4/u4_p.htm">kleinen Skizze auf jener Webseite</a> glauben kann, liegt der Streckentunnel der U1 hier unter dem jetzigen Abstelltunnel, so dass ein Anschluss einer Rampe für Tunneltrams auf kürzerer Strecke erfolgen kann. (Andernfalls würde nur die Tram aus Richtung Urania am Magdeburger Platz eine Haltestelle bekommen und die Zusammenführung mit der U-M4 erst weiter nördlich erfolgen.)</li>
<li>Durch die Bündelung mindestens zweier Tram-Linien kann zwischen S Halensee und U Wittenbergplatz trotz der Zuglängen von nur 60 m eine hohe Kapazität erreicht werden. Falls das noch nicht ausreicht, ist auch der Einsatz von Verstärkerzügen zwischen Wittenbergplatz (dank Kehranlage an der Urania) und U Adenauerplatz oder S Halensee möglich. (Auch unter der Rampe auf dem Ku'damm ist eine Kehranlage dafür nützlich! So können z.B. auch im Störungsfall der Straßenstrecken die Trams im Tunnel noch in hohem Takt verkehren.)</li>
</ul>
</div>
Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-63182355335594053822015-08-29T09:29:00.000-04:002015-08-29T09:30:34.276-04:00Oral versus written company culturesI have noticed this thing a few years ago and it seemed like a very obvious concept to me. As usually when I invent something, I googled it, but unlike most times when I can read about others who already invented the same thing, I did not find any similar concept this time.<br />
So here is the idea: in some companies (or organisations in general) writing is used more than in others to pass information around and to discuss things. This is obviously a gradual concept: some things will always be in written form, some always in oral form, but for many things in between, there is a choice of sending an email, creating a wiki entry, drafting a design doc, or talking to your coworker, or talking to the entire team of people sitting in front of their computers, or calling a meeting to discuss things and take decisions.<br />
Let me just give one example out of many: a software team can come together in meeting to discuss requirements, specs (or acceptance criteria) for a new feature with one of them taking notes during the meeting and thereby complete the spec (or "user story"). Another possible way would be for one person to write a draft spec (no matter if that's a business analyst, product manager, lead developer, or just the person with the most interest and knowledge in that particular feature) and email it to others. (It's another question of culture not treated here, whether others can directly put their feedback into a shared document (wiki, issue tracker, whatever) or have to send it back to the responsible person.) In any case, the former way would be much more oral (keeping in mind that at a minimum meeting invitations are usually sent by email) while the latter is much more written (maybe with an oral part, when the document author reminds one or two coworkers to give their feedback while he crossing them in the company kitchen or hallway).<br />
I can easily come up with a pro/con list of oral and written communication. <b>Advantages for oral communication are:</b><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>an asker of a question can get an immediate answer (which is very important when the question blocks their current task)</li>
<li>people get a break from staring at their monitors</li>
<li>being able to see another's facial expression transmits information that is often hard to put in words</li>
<li>talking to just one person or a group of people all listening at once is faster than writing something. (this is even more true for people who aren't quick in formulating written speech; on the other hand, it's not true at all when the speaker makes notes for what they are going to say before saying it)</li>
</ol>
<div>
<b>Advantages for written communication are:</b></div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>reading something is much quicker than listening to the same information spoken aloud. this is even more true when not all of it is relevant, because each reader can skip parts as they like, independent on all others.</li>
<li>written information stays available for reading it again later. especially with modern computer's search capacity this can be very valuable.</li>
<li>it's asynchronous: readers do not need to occupy the same time spot as the writer. each reader can read at their own preferred time. </li>
<li>both points 2 and 3 make written communication scale up much better: it is both hard to find a meeting time for more than six people and keeping all of them engaged all the time.</li>
<li>writing something down helps clarify one's thoughts in a similar way that talking to someone does. but in writing the writer does not use another person's time and he or she can include their clarified thoughts into the communication that's sent out, possibly avoiding one loop of discussion.</li>
<li>Writing allows to convey more complex information in more detail than oral speech can. In particular, for rational decision taking, writing has been shown to be extremely helpful, aiding in fighting many human heuristic biases that stand in the way of rationality.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
Notice that text chat (such as via Skype, Jabber, SnapChat, etc.) is a form that combines advantages of both oral (it's instant) and written (it's silent and still somewhat asynchronous and can be looked up later) communication. Since it sits so neatly in between the two pure forms of oral and written, it can be used to differentiate company cultures on a single scale: a company has more written culture than an otherwise similar one if they use text chat in some places where the other uses talking. And the same goes for using email, a ticket system, or a wiki instead of text chat. (I would even argue that using a well structured wiki or task/project management system is more of a written culture than just using email all the time.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
While I see that both sides (and all the shades in between) have their respective advantages, I find that most teams in the company I am currently working for, hang way to much towards the oral side than I would like. In particular, I am often disturbed by conversations in the team area that go over my head and distract from my current task. I find it hard to decide whether I should take of my sound-blockers to listen or (often unsuccessfully) try to ignore it. I hate spending time in meetings discussing things which one person could prepare beforehand, not just saving everybody time, but also often creating a result of higher quality. I hate it when a group has agreed on something, but later acts differently because the details and reasons had not been written down. I hate it when I miss an important discussion or information just because I was absent for a moment. And although I am not completely sure of it, I think that a written culture can encourage people to take more responsibility, for example, by drafting up suggestions to be approved instead of asking others and by just sitting down with a problem and a piece of paper (or text editor) before getting other's advice.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In other words: while I value the ease, quickness, and naturalness of simply talking to people, I would like my work environment to keep much more to the written way. After all, writing is part of what made our higher culture and our computing technology possible in the first place. Companies who neglect the writing, might not be able to tackle really complex issues and stay at the cutting edge of industry.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I want more of a written culture in my work life.</div>
Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-41956966151562799282015-02-15T08:22:00.001-05:002015-08-29T09:29:44.381-04:00Book Review: "Waking up. Spirituality without Religion" by Sam HarrisAs usually, this is only partly a review and possibly for the larger part an account of the insights the book produced in myself.<br />
<br />
What I really liked about the book:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>the best part was the chapter on split brain experiments and observations. People whose right and left brains are less connected (for instance, due to an accident or surgery) seem to have two different personalities depending on which part of their brain one is interacting with. I found this hugely inspiring in understanding how some people like myself have trouble forming a steady opinion on things or trouble doing things which they have (not so long ago) firmly decided to do. Harris mentions that speech (although probably generated in both halves of the brain) can in most people not function without the left half of the brain. So in experiments, researchers had to use other ways (such as pointing their finger) of communicating with the right half of their subject's brains. This instantly reminded me of how much of my inner wisdom seems to be inaccessible to the verbalized thinking which I use to take decisions and solve problems. Although Harris doesn't mention this aspect of using more of one's inner resources, I still find his descriptions a powerful motivator to listen more to my body and to make more use of images and feelings when thinking about what I want to do or what I need to be happy.</li>
<li>another great motivator was his listing of many benefits of meditation (including some I didn't yet know). This is not a big part of the book and there is little advice on how to get those benefits if one doesn't want to spent entire weeks on silent retreats or travel the world to learn from dozens of spiritual teachers (such as Harris has done). The most practical manual which I can recommend for this is still "Search Inside Yourself". (And Harris' work motivated me to read SIY again! Or actually listen to it this time. I just bought the audiobook.)</li>
<li>I actually listened to the Audiobook of Waking Up, read by Harris himself. His voice and intonation is just as great as his choice of words and telling things as a story! I wish more authors would read their own books or at least get a really good and passionate voice actor to do the job.</li>
</ul>
<div>
What I found interesting, but not great:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Harris' view of what the purpose or end goal of Spirituality actually constitutes seems plausible and interesting to me, but not necessarily like something that would appeal to everybody. Just like all people share their very basic needs for food, air, sleep, socializing, and security, they diverge hugely on what they desire once the basics are met. One might see it as their goal to fly to Mars or at least prepare humanity to do this. Another might want to explore the ocean at thousands of meters of depth. Yet another might want to spread love and compassion to help the people around them, while again others (including some of my friends) see it as their goal to help as many people on earth as possible by earning a lot of money and wisely choosing to which altruist organisations to donate that. Similarly, Harris view of Spirituality (in a grossly abridged one-sentence summary) is that of an inquiry into the nature of consciousness and the self, followed (after long years of search) by the realization that consciousness is spotless like a mirror and there is no self. While I also find this realization quite comforting I am personally looking more towards how my meditation practice and my world view support my own well-being in the life outside the meditation hall. Others, again, are looking towards spirituality to find connection with other people or even with something that is more perpetual than us people. <br />My own search is similar to Harris' in some regards. For instance, the importance of curiosity and inquiry and how I value teachers for the knowledge they share either with accessible explanations or by their good example. But as I see the differences between Harris' and my own goals, I see that many people will be even more different and maybe even unable to understand Harris' points. When it comes to their life's purpose, people are just incredibly different. For instance, while someone like Harris and (to some extend) myself is perfectly happy being the pilot of one's own life, many others simply seem to crave being led by someone who takes some (or more) responsibility off their shoulders. For some people this is so strong that they become devout followers of a guru. For others it is as simple as being one of the reasons (instead of having their own business) to work for a company large or small, where their boss takes some of the hard decisions. But this craving for leadership seems to be so basic, that there will always be some people who will not follow such a route of open-minded inquiry. </li>
<li>His experiences with psychedelic drugs sound really fascinating and since I have heard similar stories from friends the book actually made me decide to try out some things myself – but that was just before Harris recounted his extra-ordinarily bad experiences with just the same drugs and how (as I understood it) he wasn't able to influence the outcome of his trips into the positive direction. And that was deterrent enough for me!<br />In the end he gave a wonderful picture comparing drug-induced with meditation-induced higher states of minds: the first is like being stripped to a rocket that goes off with a large fraction of light speed. It can be truly mind-boggling when it goes to some place nice, but a nightmare if it goes wrong. And it is unclear whether one can influence the direction. Meditation, on the other hand, is like sailing when you start with a raft on still water: you can raise and enlarge your sail very gradually and it takes a lot of time to reach the open ocean. You will face troubles one by one so that you can learn how to overcome the obstacles and keep learning and growing. I personally like this image a lot because it can explain how many people are satisfied using meditation on one level (for instance, to calm their minds, or to better understand other people), but are not motivated to sail further out. Again, this was a wonderful motivator for me to engage in meditation more seriously!</li>
</ul>
<div>
Finally one thing I found really annoying about the book: his harsh criticism of Religion. Although he is factually right with all his charges against all the large religions, small cults, and other forms of superstition and mysticism. And although religions really have created a lot of damage to humanity and will continue to do so if humanity doesn't transform them into more open, accepting, and compassionate organisations, I simply believe that as a matter of how psychological defenses in the human mind work, criticizing religion in such a harsh way will only make it stronger. I, too, believe that religion as it is now has to disappear, but that this has to happen as some kind of embrace and transform. Probably religions of the future will have much less followers than in societies where religion was a mandatory part of the culture. Hopefully they will be free from any unethical behavior and even encourage people to explore there own ethics and learn to be more aligned to what they think and feel is right. Probably some superstition will never be rooted out, simply because colorful and dramatic explanations and justifications for good rules of behavior just stick better in the human mind than the dry scientific explanation which will yield the same conclusion. (As I like to say: usefulness of knowledge often trumps truthfulness.) And finally, I can't see how to completely root out the phenomenon of obedience from the basic hard- and software of the human mind. All we can do is to make people more aware of it, less dependent of it, show them more choices, and finally, create better and more ethical leaders.</div>
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Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-59230731884807433352014-07-13T09:34:00.001-04:002014-07-14T12:51:51.859-04:00Besuch in der gläsernen Molkerei in Müncheberg<div dir="ltr">
Durch die Kampagne Kuh und Du bin ich wieder einmal auf das Thema Tier- und Umwelt-freundlicher Milchproduktion gestoßen. Zufällig habe ich mir dann auch mal eines der Heftchen “Bio in Berlin und Brandenburg“ im Biomarkt mitgenommen und habe dann dort von verschiedenen regionalen Molkereien gelesen. Dazu gehört übrigens nicht nur die <a href="http://www.glaeserne-meierei.de/glaserne-molkerei-munchehofe/ueberblick/">gläserne Molkerei in Münchehofe</a>, sondern auch die <a href="http://www.brodowin.de/__moderne_schaumolkerei.html">Hofmolkerei des Ökodorfs Brodowin</a>, sowie die <a href="http://lobetaler-bio.de/index.php/molkerei">Bio-Molkerei in Lobetal</a> und die <a href="http://www.bobalis.de/">Hofmolkerei des Büffelhofs Bobalis</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFelH9tDdBltZ4wUL0CkOAHPOBGdVRUhkrDIoM_883pQsTtZG20XhuN-gAMfD081z6I1y2GMVoWhN7bOHW2RtyAleo7yoQJNOU7o87zjuqDFLpNiajECU-OIdigZ8xEqy3cuZb1A/s1600/hdr_00004_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFelH9tDdBltZ4wUL0CkOAHPOBGdVRUhkrDIoM_883pQsTtZG20XhuN-gAMfD081z6I1y2GMVoWhN7bOHW2RtyAleo7yoQJNOU7o87zjuqDFLpNiajECU-OIdigZ8xEqy3cuZb1A/s1600/hdr_00004_0.jpg" height="207" width="400" /></a></div>
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Wie der Name schon sagt ist die gläserne Meierei am ehesten für Besichtigungen eingerichtet: man kann dort Montag bis Samstag zu jeweils zwei festen Terminen an einer Führung teilnehmen. Deswegen habe ich sie auch als erstes besichtigt. Hingefahren bin ich mit dem Rad ab Königswusterhausen und zurück mit dem Rad bis Halbe, wo auch eine Regionalbahn nach Berlin zurückfährt. (Das ist mit 10 km die kürzere Radfahr-Strecke. Ab KW ist es eher für Menschen, die gern auch mal 25 bis 30 km Rad fahren.)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHB0Hn0UDfiYdBpiKI0iZje2NFrVJ0l9z1SqxMNdc7Ry5VnLPdCO4XxJqvCNjgt3xpIAy9tXQ_BJqd2tXBQlfYKjTEi31mdL1H0QbU9OrN6FEj0TF8mZ0KgW2BtjabZkjwjaXjuw/s1600/IMG_20140712_123350979_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHB0Hn0UDfiYdBpiKI0iZje2NFrVJ0l9z1SqxMNdc7Ry5VnLPdCO4XxJqvCNjgt3xpIAy9tXQ_BJqd2tXBQlfYKjTEi31mdL1H0QbU9OrN6FEj0TF8mZ0KgW2BtjabZkjwjaXjuw/s1600/IMG_20140712_123350979_HDR.jpg" height="400" width="225" /></a></div>
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Hier ein paar Dinge, die ich besonders informativ für mich fand:</div>
<ul>
<li>Camembert wird an einem anderen Standort produziert als Schnittkäse, denn der weiße Schimmel des Camembert verträgt sich gar nicht mit der Rotschmiere der festen Käse. Die gläserne Molkerei hat für Camembert den Standort interessanterweise auf der Insel Rügen.</li>
<li>Roh-Milch wird bei Bauen durch Molkerei-Fahrzeug abgeholt. Verpackte Milch wird von Groß-Händler (Terra) abgeholt. Beides ist tatsächlich sehr lokal. Nur Käse wird Deutschlandweit vertrieben.</li>
<li>Rahm wird immer abgetrennt und für Vollmilch wieder beigemischt. Da auch fettarme Milch verkauft wird, bleibt noch Rahm für Butter-, Quark- und Käseproduktion übrig.</li>
<li>Milchpulver wird auf einem fremden Trockenturm produziert, der dafür periodisch gemietet wird.</li>
<li>Bio-Milch ist im Laden sogar günstiger als die Milch von bestimmten Marken, die sehr viel Werbung machen.</li>
<li>Frischmilch aus Münchehofe wird unter verschiedenen Handelsmarken vertrieben. </li>
<li>Die Molkerei hat ihre eigenen Marken Heu-Milch und Spreewald-Milch, wobei es sich um Milch von bestimmten Erzeugerhöfen handelt. Bei der Heumilch besteht die Ernährung der Kuh zu mindestens 60% aus Gras (im Sommer) und Heu (im Winter). (Für Neugierige gibt es die <a href="http://www.glaeserne-meierei.de/uploads/media/12-01-01_Bedingungen_fuer_die_Erzeugung_und_Lieferung_von_Heumilch.pdf">genaue Regeln hier</a>.)</li>
<li>Die regelmäßigen Salzbäder für die reifenden Käselaiber werden von einem Roboter verabreicht. Leider sind wir so schnell daran vorbei gelaufen, dass ich kein Video gemacht habe.</li>
<li>Die Maschinen zur Verarbeitung der Milch (Pasteurisieren, Entrahmen, ...) kommen von spezialisierten Betrieben aus Süddeutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz – eine Gegend, die so sehr darauf spezialisiert ist, dass sie ihre Maschinen in die ganze Welt exportiert. Mir gefällt dieser Kompromiss zwischen Globalisierung und regionaler Produktion: Bei den Maschinen profitieren wir alle von der Spezial-Kompetenz einer Region (und sie werden ja nur einmal transportiert und laufen dann viele Jahre), aber bei den landwirtschaftlichen Produkten bedienen wir uns bei den Schätzen aus unserer eigenen Region.</li>
<li>Der zur Molkerei gehörige Hofladen hat neben der Käse- und Milch-Theke aus lokaler Produktion parktischerweise noch ein gemischtes Bio-Sortiment und andere lokale Produkte. Damit dient er gleichzeitig als Lokalversorgung für die Dorfbevölkerung. Ich habe z.B. zwei Gläser speziellen Spreewaldsenf dort für mich gekauft. :))</li>
</ul>
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Noch mehr Infos in den Beschreibungen meiner <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/107848013689549887269/albums/6035525312288747905">Fotos vom Ausflug</a>.</div>
Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-40969129107975907442014-07-13T06:16:00.000-04:002014-07-13T10:33:22.882-04:00Drinking milk and eating cheese – is it natural, is it healthy, is it economic?<div>
The rise of factory farming of cows brings with it destruction of the environment and suffering of animals and people. There are two ways to react to this dilemma. The vegan way is to boycott all animal products including milk and all milk products. The "organic farming" way is to specifically support traditional, sustainable agriculture. I personally think that both ways are good and feasible for today's consumer since both vegan and organic products are available on the market. The question of which way to live brings up another question, namely: is it a good thing in general for people to consume animal milk and products made thereof? I find it interesting to shed light on different aspects of this question: the evolutionary, the biological, the medical, and the economic.</div>
<h3>
Nature and Evolution</h3>
<div>
Some adult humans are intolerant to lactose (a kind of sugar which naturally occurs in milk) and therefore can't consume any milk products (unless lactose has been removed in a technical process). This intolerance brings our attention to the fact that some ten thousands of years ago, the entire human race was lactose-intolerant during the adult life. This actually makes sense: mother's milk is a food for babies and infants. As soon as children can consume other food, they don't need to be able to digest milk any more. </div>
<div>
If we take a broader perspective, humans are just mammals and the function of milk, namely feeding babies, is not different in humans as it is for cats and dogs, or pigs and cows, or bats and kangaroos. From this viewpoint it makes sense to say that <b>nature has made milk for babies</b> and adults have no business drinking it. In other words, the vegan lifestyle (as it relates to milk) is quite natural!</div>
<div>
On the other hand, we can say that the relationship between human farmers and their dairy animals (cows, sheep, and goats) is also a product of evolution, since both humans and animals have adapted over a course of thousands of years: the animals produce more milk than they need to feed their small, while humans have adapted to be able to digest milk even as adults. Over time this co-evolution of humans and dairy animals has slowly turned into controlled breeding of animals, which we could see as a form of artificial evolution, but its historical beginnings still seem to have been a quite "natural" process. After all, <b>co-evolution and symbiosis of different species occurs in other places of nature, too</b>. In one case, the term "dairy farming" is even used by zoologists to describe <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphid#Ant_mutualism">how ants live with a certain kind of lice</a>.</div>
<h3>
Medicine and Health</h3>
<div>
If we start with what contemporary nutrition scientists label as "the Western diet" we find that it contains more saturated fats than would be optimal to maximize health and longevity. We can also see that most those saturated fats come from animal products such as meat on the one hand, but milk and dairy products on the other hand. <b>From a viewpoint of optimizing our fat consumption we'd be better of to consume plant fat such as olive oil, lin seed oil, many kinds of nuts, as well as soy bean products instead of animal fats.</b> (By the way, if the mention of "soy products" makes you think of soy milk, soy protein powder, and different kinds of soy-based meat replacements, it might seem that soy products are a kind of artificial/technical replacement for "natural" and "traditional" meat and dairy products. However, this is not so: different human cultures have developed many more different soy products over the course of history. Besides soy milk and tofu, there is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natto">Natto</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miso">Miso</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doenjang">Doenjang</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongnamul">Kongnamul</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edamame">Edamame</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempeh">Tempeh</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofu_skin">Tofu Skin</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermented_bean_curd">Tofuru</a>, one of my favorite desserts: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douhua">Douhua</a>, and propably many more that are only know in their cultures of origin. Also, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond_milk#History">almond milk has a long tradition as a food</a>.)</div>
<div>
On the other hand, animal products including dairy are the only "natural" dietary source of vitamin B12 for humans and they also contain some other vitamins in useful doses. So, if you want to optimize your own diet for health and longevity, it is possible to s<b>imply take factory-produced B12</b>. If you still want to be somewhat traditional, then some animal products are required.</div>
<h3>
Economics</h3>
<div>
The economic side of nutrition asks how can we feed a growing population of humans on a single planet of constant size? The argument brought forward by vegans is that contemporary factor farming uses a lot of high-value plant foods (such as soy beans, corn, and other grains) to quickly fatten animals at reduced cost for the farmer. Given this type of production, a lot of food that would be perfectly suited for human consumption is used up to produce much less of another food. For example, <b>from the wheat needed to produce one kilogram of beef, we could produce many kilograms of Seitan</b> and even do this with less adverse side-effects for the environment. Similarly, <b>one liter of cow milk from soy-fed cows, uses soy and water from which we could make several liters of soy milk</b> (healthier and more environment-friendly).</div>
<div>
For those reasons I think that even though factory-farming evolved under economic pressures of efficiency, its products are not at all resource efficient compared to plant-based alternatives. </div>
<div>
Now, if we look at traditional meat and dairy production, the picture looks very different: grass is not a very tasty food for humans, yet cows love it. <b>Cows grazing outside all day are tending the meadows better than any lawn mower could while at the same time fertilizing it with their dung.</b> Consuming milk and dairy products from those cows, therefore seems a very sustainable form of nutrition. The only thing we need to ask ourselves is if the large spaces and prairies used for grazing should better be used to produce crops with higher yields. In pre-industrial times, letting cows graze was efficient because it didn't take much work compared to planting, tending, and harvesting other crops. (Additionally, oxen were used for ploughing and pulling carriages even up to my grandfather's day!). But in our industrial times, machines do the hard work and it might be that agricultural space is becoming the limiting factor. So maybe, eating grass-fed meat will become obsolete except for nostalgic reasons? Or maybe, grazing will be restricted to places where more intensive crops are not feasible, such as mountains where only mountain goats can go?</div>
<h3>
Conclusion</h3>
<div>
I think that everybody has to find their own way of living and this short article only serves to weed out some contradictions that people might have in the rationalization for their own life style.</div>
<div>
My own way of living, at this point of my live is a mix of vegan and organic. I hardly eat any meat at all (except for very little quantities from small animals raised by my family). I avoid dairy ingredients in products where I think they are unnecessary (especially chocolate, cake, and pastries). My milk consumption is totally plant-based (mostly soy milk, some almond milk and others, as well as coconut milk to replace cream in cooking). For cheese and other dairy products, which I do occasionally consume, I am very conscious to buy products based on organic and animal-friendly farming. Preferably from creameries that I have personally visited to have a real sense of what their ethical guidelines are.<br />
Yesterday, for example, I did my first visit to a regional organic creamery and <a href="http://rethinktheworld.blogspot.de/2014/07/besuch-in-der-glasernen-molkerei-in.html">wrote about it on my blog (in German)</a>. But there are also <u><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/107848013689549887269/albums/6035525312288747905">pictures</a></u>!</div>
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Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-86003744759592559852014-06-01T07:44:00.000-04:002014-06-04T15:20:58.283-04:00hoaxes, opinions, but not many facts on nutritionNon-vegetarians like to point out, that the vegetarian or vegan lifestyle isn't that great for the environment either. For example, I heard several people cite to me "rain forests are being destroyed to make space for soy farming". And vegans/vegetarians eat a lot of soy products, so they part of the destruction.<br />
Now, my readers are probably aware that most of the world's soy production is actually for animal feed, not for human consumption. (Incidentally, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean">the US produces much more soy beans than China</a>, although China is has the largest human consumption of soy products because Tofu, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofu_skin">Topi</a>, Soymilk, and many other soy products already have a century-old tradition there.)<br />
<br />
So the cited argument is blatantly irrational and obviously self-serving. It doesn't make any sense as an argument other than giving non-vegetarians something to say when they have "an argument" with a vegetarian person.<br />
<br />
Now, I certainly don't want to say that non-vegetarian people are stupid. To the contrary I have heard this or similarly stupid arguments even from people who I otherwise respect for their opinion (in fields where they actually have expertise). What actually bothers me is that all kinds of people often carelessly come up with spurious arguments when defending their own position. Being smart to me, doesn't mean that I know better than other people. Being really smart actually means knowing that<br />
<br />
Sometimes (as in this case) those arguments can quickly be dismissed, but at other times, they are making claims which just can't be directly verified. When it comes to my own well-being I can make simple experiments (like eating completely vegan for six weeks in a row) to find out my personal truth. But when it comes to issues of like the effects of diets on life-expectancy and cancer-risk, or the heated topic of pregnant mothers and the diet of their unborn babies, self-run experiments can't be the solution.<br />
<br />
One question which is actually of practical importance to me is whether a purely vegan diet actually requires supplementing vitamins (B12 in particular). But a similar question is relevant for non-vegetarians, too: do humans in northern countries get enough vitamin D in winter? For both questions I have found all kinds of answers on the internet: yes, no, yesbut, nobut, and of course the always-valid answer: "it depends". (As a friend jokingly said: it depends on whether you want to rationally optimize your health and life-expectancy or just want to confirm to a certain lifestyle, for example, by eating no "artificial supplements".)<br />
<br />
I find that people tend to trust other people who they know more than they trust other sources of information. (After all, the internet can confirm or deny any claim depending what search terms you use. For instance, the query "<a href="https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=soy+healthy">soy healthy</a>" actually gives pros and cons alike in a way that left me more puzzling than I was before. But on second look on, for example, <a href="http://authoritynutrition.com/is-soy-bad-for-you-or-good/">this article</a>, it seems that a lot of actual definitive health benefits are quickly listed, followed by a much longer list of potential problems, but which are all prefixed by some "might" (harm) or "could" (have negative impact). It seems that in the desire to paint a complete and balanced picture, the actual benefits are all too liberally compared to the potential risks.)<br />
<br />
But as the stupid rain-forest-meme above has shown, people in your social circles (even if they are otherwise smart and reasonable) can't be trusted either. So how can I really know things?<br />
<br />
Let me leave this question open for you and instead conclude with a Zen-spirited motto: Often it is better to know that we don't know, than to have a wrong belief.Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-12972389897673578512014-06-01T06:34:00.000-04:002014-06-01T06:34:16.306-04:00make it simplerI just had the thought that we so often get into heated abstract discussions about design patterns, because in many cases (and especially in most small cases) the actual design doesn't matter: the code will work either way. It's only when a program becomes more complex that some designs make extensions easier than others.<br />
Simpler designs make the least assumptions and are therefore the most flexible. And here's the way to create designs that are as simple as possible:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>First, write all your code in a single method.</li>
<li>Then, extract repeated code into submethods (your IDE probably has a shortcut for this). The scope of local variables is also a great guide on what code to extract into a submethod. The number of local variables in a method is a great estimate for its complexity and coherence. (For example, if one variable is only used at the top and bottom of a method, but not in the middle, then maybe some of the middle code should be extracted.)</li>
<li>Once you have several methods which all use the same variables (either in their argument lists or by accessing a subset of the object's instance variables), then that's a good sign to extract all those methods into a new class.</li>
<li>Finally, use interfaces to capture common behavior and use superclasses to extract shared instance variables from different subclasses. In most cases, this will satisfy all your abstraction needs! Abstract classes, super() calls, all those features and almost never needed!</li>
</ul>
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Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-6665918325022597582014-05-31T10:09:00.001-04:002014-05-31T10:12:03.852-04:00The Template-Method-AntipatternI had been skeptical about the GOF pattern book ever since I read it many years ago. Many of the patterns in the book seemed so trivial that I was irritated by how much attention they are given. Others have examples that seem overly simplified and never quite fit what actually happens in practice. Looking back now, I find that the premise of the book seems to be the early OO memes of "avoiding repetition" and "finding the right design for the application domain". The latter relates also to graphical modeling and model-driven-design. While those ideas are doubtlessly important, I think that early OO philosophy over-optimizes in that one direction and forgets about another very important direction: keeping the code as simple as possible. Instead of over-designing and already including space for "later extensions", realize that there are usually unknown unknowns and the later extensions might go into quite a different direction. It is the new agile world where running code and automatic tests are more important than fancy diagrams and great designs.<br />
<br />
There are many guidelines which help us to write simpler (and thus more flexible) code. Before criticizing the template method even more, I want to remind you the two most powerful ones:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Number One law of procedural programming: <b>favor pure functions over mutators.</b> (And if you have mutators, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command%E2%80%93query_separation">separate them</a> from the pure functions.) Note that this law fully applies to object-oriented programming as well!</li>
<li>Number One law of OO programming: <b>favor composition over inheritance.</b> (And let most of your inheritance be implementations of pure interfaces.)</li>
</ul>
<br />
I have always had trouble explaining why certain patterns were bad (especially those which over-use inheritance), but it was nonetheless very clear to me. I always found it hard to describe succinctly and precisely what the template does without going into the details of inheritance and the subclasses. Other people just didn't need this kind of clarity it seems. But yet, every time I had a debate with someone over a particular and specific piece of code I could convince them that my simpler variant was better in that particular case. So I am right in all cases, but still couldn't give a generally convincing reasoning why this is so.<br />
<br />
Now recently I realized that rigorous unit-testing is a great way to validate a design: if it is hard to test, then that's a big smell and motivation to simplify! In a template method arrangement it is definitely hard (even though it's still possible) to test the template and its instantiations separately.<br />
<br />
But instead of going on explaining what I find hard to explain, let's hear what others have to say:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://lostechies.com/jimmybogard/2009/12/03/the-template-method-is-a-lie/">LosTechies: the Template Method is a lie.</a> Precisely points out how TM favors inheritance over composition, just the opposite of what we should strive for.</li>
<li><a href="http://tech.puredanger.com/2007/07/03/pattern-hate-template/">Pure Danger Tech: Patterns I Hate #2: Template Method</a> explains it much better than I could! </li>
<li><a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/308460/do-you-use-template-method-pattern-in-programming-languages-with-closures-delega">StackOverflow: Do you use Template Method Pattern in programming languages with closures/delegates/function pointers?</a> – the question already contains the best answer: keep your fingers off template methods!</li>
</ul>
Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-62981709780730184092014-05-02T07:58:00.002-04:002014-07-13T17:55:08.730-04:00The start of my virtuous lifeI recently finished working through the best self-help book that I have yet come across. "Ab Heute erfolgreich" (<i>Successful from Today on</i>) by German trainer and coach Alfred Stielau-Pallas. What makes the book so effective is the approach to read just one chapter per week (I usually did on Sunday) and then practice its teachings for an entire week. I liked this so much that sometimes I took a week off from the book to practice another important thing that I just had learned or been reminded of.<br />
One of the many great ideas the book contains is Benjamin Franklins concept of 13 virtues which he practices one week per virtue for his entire life. (Going through all of them four times a year.) When I read this chapter I instantly thought that this would be a great way to continue the "weekly focus" which I liked so much about the "success book" (as I like to call it). But I also realized that Franklin's virtues aren't just right for me and the success book's practices are better, but still not completely reflecting my own virtues. So I knew from the moment of reading that I would have to come up with my own list.<br />
Now, this actually wasn't easy and I procrastinated over it quite a bit. Fortunately I had already decided to go on sailing holidays for the May day long week-end and since sailing only takes a few hours each day, that's the prefect opportunity to do such kind of important work in the morning. (I only like be outside in the afternoon and evening anyways!)<br />
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So I came up with my own list of virtues and some practical exercises to go along with them, because I know too well, that just focusing on an abstract topic alone doesn't make it appear. It always needs concrete actions to take and finding those is not easy either. In fact, I plan to still spend at least one half-hour of focused thinking time per week to customize and concretify that week's virtue.<br />
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To start off, I wrote down some virtues which I think I already embody perfectly and which I don't want to practice in a focused way. Of course, I hope to still get better at those virtues, but I practice them spontaneously often anyway, so it doesn't feel just to give them even more weight. Those intrinsic virtues are Positive Outlook on life, Appreciation of small things, Gratefulness for what I have (and what I additionally get on each new day).<br />
<ul>
<li>Not criticizing myself or others and instead focus on what's great about myself and others.</li>
<li>Thriftiness, frugality, and humility.</li>
<li>Humor.</li>
<li>Curiosity.</li>
<li>Creativity.</li>
</ul>
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If you, dear Reader, now feel that I am at little arrogant and presumptuous here, praising myself so much, I can only reply that this is a simple exercise of my second virtue! While I hope to be well-aware of my shortcomings, I simply decided to focus on my strengths first! As the success book says: accept and love yourself as you are and only try to improve yourself one weakness at a time. I also want to add that this list is not set in stone. After each iteration through all my virtues (and especially after the first time through) I might decide to move any item from the "already perfect" list into the focus rotation list.</div>
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But now, let's get to my focus virtues. For each one, let me briefly call it out, define it, say why I want it, and sketch some actual concrete practice exercises.</div>
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<b>Mindfulness: </b>The full and untainted awareness of what I am doing, what I am thinking, and what I am feeling. Also the knowledge that my thoughts can be mistaken or can focus on entirely unimportant things. And the knowledge that all feelings are temporary and fleeting and most of them even go by without any action by myself. There's actually a lot more to say about mindfulness and there might be better definitions, but let me just explain why I intentionally put this in the number one spot. You might know the saying "what you can't measure, you can't manage." Obviously what you're not aware of is even harder to improve!</div>
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As with every other virtue I want to practice mindfulness every day (and in every moment) and specifically I want to keep up my daily sitting meditation practice and weekly visits to a meditation group. During the regular mindfulness focus week I might then do extra activities like trying out new kinds of meditation, doing longer stretches of meditation or on different times of the, or visit new practice groups, read or reread some books or articles on meditation, and finally try to plan the week <a href="http://rethinktheworld.blogspot.de/2013/10/a-stay-at-plum-village-mindfulness.html">so that every activity can be done in a mindful fashion</a>. </div>
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<b>Empathy and Listening to others</b>: Everybody loves talking and by listening we give the gift of our attention to the other person. It's a great way to become liked and also to learn a lot. For practice, revise some deep questions to ask others, don't be afraid of silence and long breaks to give them room to think and answer, and finally be aware of how much you are talking yourself and keep it to the minimum of things that the other person actually wants or needs to hear. </div>
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<b>Compassion and Listening to myself:</b> This is based on the idea of a silent retreat for one week, but still going to work. I will restrict myself to only professionally needed conversation, and spend my private life in complete isolation for this week. While that sounds really extreme, it is just one week after all and I don't have that many private interaction with people anyway. I think that by offsetting such a Silent Week with its opposite –a Connection Week– I might even get more socializing and certainly higher-quality socializing than by just floating along through life.</div>
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<b>Generosity: </b>You might have heard about that psychological study which showed that people actually become happier by spending money on others instead of spending it on themselves. So there's not much here to say: just do at least one good deed per day and don't let it just be tipping generously. Spend some quality-time to think creatively about possible gifts. When you buy something, think: who of my friends or acquaintances might like that, too? Sometimes I just buy two of a thing and later decide who to gift the spare one to! When you see some advertising, think: who of my friends might like this? or something like this? </div>
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Creativity is important here! Don't just dismiss an initial thought because you don't think any of your friends will like it. Just continue a theme with a chain of associations until you get to something that will actually be appreciated. For instance, when I see another beautiful Porsche car at the traffic light, I might think of a friend who's going on a road trip (be it by car or bike or by hitchhiking doesn't matter here!) Now I can think of anything that my friend might need for that trip, be it a map, a guidebook, a dictionary, a scarf, or some nice tires for the bike. </div>
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<b>Decisiveness: </b>Now we get to the core of self-improvement and to the harder stuff (at least for me). I grew up as a rather indecisive person and liked to go with the flow and with the opportunities that present themselves. One of the big things I have learned from the success book is that decisions just have to be made to get anywhere. <a href="http://rethinktheworld.blogspot.de/2014/01/from-better-decisions-to-better.html">Going with the flow only takes you where others want you to go or think or should go</a>, but finding your own way requires to make decisions! I was so very fortunate to have read a <a href="http://www.personaldecisions.net/pdm_3_secrets.htm">great (despite the cheesy title) book on decision making</a> just before starting the success book. I found it very helpful to have some decision-helpers (like simply sketching up a pros-and-cons list). It's also important for me to avoid procrastinating on decisions by asking myself "until when do I need to decide that? and what additional information do I really need to decide well?" I can also unblock my own undecidedness in a question by setting myself a timebox of five to 30 minutes (or more for harder decisions) and use that as quality thinking time just for this one decision. </div>
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But even with all those techniques (and many more in the decisions-book), I can still be in a circle of thoughts without realizing that a decision is needed. Therefore it is important to regularly practice explicit decision making in the hope that it will become more and more automated with time.</div>
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<b>Vision and Planning:</b> After a strategic decision is made, nothing will happen unless I have some concrete action-steps that I can follow. That's why setting aside quality time for planning things is so important. I also include "vision" in this point because planning becomes much more powerful if it's done for medium or long-term goals. If I plan a project for three months or even a year then I can include many more cool things in it, while still being in sight of a clear finish line. I am not sure, whether a focus week is the best way to practice this, but since the topic is so important, I just mention it here.</div>
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<b>Order and Finishing small projects:</b> This one is also very important and fits perfectly to be the end spot in the list. I enjoy creative chaos as much as I like some order and having one week per quarter year where I really clean up, sort through things, tie loose ends, and absolutely don't start anything new (unless it takes less than, say, thirty minutes) seems like a perfect compromise. This is also a great ime to decide what to do with projects that have been stagnating for a while. Do I want to finish something (and, if yes, to what degree?) or just archive it? Also it's great to have a "clean house" before starting off with new plans for a new era of my life...</div>
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Finally, there are some other virtues or focus which do not fit well with the weekly rotation, but I want to mention them anyways:</div>
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<li>Most importantly for me, there is <b>reading text books and writing my blog</b> (often inspired by what I have read). I try to read some pages of a book every week and write a blog post for at least every book that I've read.</li>
<li>Next, there is <b>learning new skills</b>.</li>
<li>And finally, there is <b>finding role models, mentors, and advisers </b>and spending quality time with them.</li>
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While reading and writing works well since I resolved to do it more regularly about a year ago, the other two items need some more thinking about how I'll go about them. But this post is long enough already, isn't it? Let me know in the comments if you are inspired by this or not. ;-)</div>
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Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-23021609950679641382014-01-30T06:15:00.003-05:002014-01-30T06:15:39.527-05:00Sky-borne urban transport: introducing the FlyWay and the FlyPod<a href="http://rethinktheworld.blogspot.de/search?q=sky">In a blog-post about one year ago</a> I wrote about how ridiculously expensive it is to build underground transport in existing high-density cities and how much better it would be to transport people and things in the airspace over existing streets and other free space. I also wrote that elevated railways (including monorails) and elevated roadways are unacceptable in people-friendly dense cities, because they create too much noise and remove precious daylight from the streets below.<br />
I have also discussed that hovering, flying, or floating in the air are all impractical for urban transit vehicles, so we have to find some kind of support structure to hold unto, but which takes up as little airspace as possible. Obviously, the smaller and lighter that structure is, the smaller and lighter all the vehicles have to be. This brings us to the question: how light can people-transportation vehicles possibly be? Here are some numbers:<br />
<ul>
<li>Bicycle: 10 to 15 kg</li>
<li>Velomobile (fully faired, recumbent bicycle): 30 kg</li>
<li>Motor Scooter (electric or combustion engine): 50 to 200 kg</li>
<li>SegWay: ca. 50 kg</li>
<li>Renault Twizy (faired two-seater, electric): 450 kg</li>
<li>Mercedes Smart (two-seater): 730 kg</li>
<li>ULTra PRT vehicles (Heathrow Aiport, 4 seats): 850 kg</li>
<li>SUV car: up to 2000 kg and more</li>
</ul>
As you can see, light vehicles like bicycles can transport up to ten times there own weight, while the heaviest ones often transport less than even a tenth of their own weight (because the usual load is much less than the permitted maximal payload).<br />
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Thinking of transit you'll probably think of large buses and train cars which weigh several tons a piece. Those will obviously be too heavy for a light-weight approach. But don't worry about getting enough transport capacity in our system: instead of big vehicles with big gaps in-between them, we'll just have to make sure that our small vehicles can draw really close and even form emergent trains without any coordination.</div>
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Using this idea we can design a vehicle, our FlyPod, to transport people together only if they really want to travel together, not (unlike buses or trains) if they just happen to travel in the same direction. The minimal payload would then be just one person with clothing and keys while other luggage could already be transported in a separate, trailing, vehicle. However, there is lots of convenience associated with having your luggage with yourself and furthermore, if the vehicle has enough space and the seating flexibility, this space could be used for either a second passenger or for some luggage! Taking this into account our design payload would be 200 to 300 kg depending on the country of usage. (People sizes and weights vary quite a bit in the different regions of the world.) The empty weight of the vehicle would then be between 50 and 150 kg depending on other factors of the design. </div>
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Note particularly that the resulting overall loaded weight is much less than that of typical areal lift vehicles (gondolas) which usually transport between 4 to 20 people per vehicle. And there we have the solution to our problem: just hang the vehicles on cables! Cables are so slim that they are almost invisible and small pedal-powered or electric vehicles running on those cables with less than 50 km/h will not make much noise. Supports will have to be spaced closer than for areal lifts (because vehicle density is higher), and they will have to be a bit sturdier than those built for streetcar overhead-wires, but otherwise they can be customized and integrated into the urban landscape adapting to whatever style is already present. And that's the FlyWay on which our FlyPods will travel!</div>
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FlyPods bring cycling to a whole new level</h4>
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I have to admit that I personally prefer the pedal-powered variant because I love bicycling myself. It actually has so many advantages compared to a regular bicycle that it becomes a whole new experience. The best thing for me is that a passenger does not need to stop at red lights and crossings, you don't even need to look out for traffic! You could be reading on your phone, playing on your tablet or just gazing out the window for the whole trip! Totally like in a taxi except that you have to pedal a bit. And the pedaling will be easier, too, since most of an ordinary urban cyclists power is used for accelerating themselves after a stop. But if you don't stop, you also never waste energy for braking and speeding up again! Also, even though the vehicle is a bit bigger than a normal bicycle the recumbent position and the fairing make for a very aerodynamic shape which doesn't need much more power than a bicycle to get moving. In fact, vehicle weight only matters when accelerating and we just need to do that one single time per trip. (And there's help for that too, as we'll see later.) The next advantage is that you are protected from rain and wind and even excess heat, since a simple yet effective cooling system could be powered by solar panels on the vehicle roof. (The sun creates the heat, so it's always available when we need energy for cooling!) Fleet management of the FlyPods is very similar to how public bicycles (like Paris' famous Velib and numerous others around the world) are managed except that empty FlyPods can be moved around in little trains along the wires itself without taking up any extra road space for maintenance vehicles. If a station has surplus empty vehicles which need to go somewhere else, these can even be just pushed onto the main FlyWay and then pushed around by other vehicles, but this leads us to the next exciting topic: emergent trains and smooth merging.<br />
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Emergent trains are very simple to explain: since we are dealing with slow vehicles that have no obstacles on their way except other vehicles of the same sort (which in turn have no obstacles in <i>their</i> way...), a train simply forms by a faster vehicle bumping into a slower one! This bump is cushioned of by springs in the vehicle ends which contract as the vehicles approach and slowly expand again as the front vehicle gets pushed and the rear one consequentially slowed down. The spring also compensates for the normal small variations in pedaling power which would otherwise result in repeated bumping into each other. The nice thing about those emergent trains is that the air resistance of two closely travelling vehicles is almost the same as for a single one. In other words, not only the front vehicle profits by being pushed, but the follower also profits because they now have less resistance to overcome.<br />
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Smooth merging is also simple and it is necessary to keep vehicles from stopping at intersections. But, of course, there won't be shared intersections in the usual sense. Instead, crossing FlyWays will be on different heights such that vehicles just pass above and below each other. Just like on grade-free highway crossings turning onto another FlyWay means merging out onto a ramp and then into the other main FlyWay. Therefore, the only traffic conflict possible in this system is two vehicles merging into one lane. And this is accomplished by an automatism which uses the kinetic energy of the vehicle which enters the merging zone last to speed up the vehicle which is ahead. The second vehicle will thereby lose speed such that the first one will clear the merging point safely ahead. Note that if the vehicle being slowed down is a train, then all the vehicles behind it will also be slowed down, while the vehicle being sped up is always pulled away from the train so that the other vehicle can sneak in. If two trains meet this results in vehicles being sped up from the front of the trains in alternation while the tails of the trains get slowed down more and more.<br />
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Flying Bicycles, so what?</h4>
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<a href="http://shweeb.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUJXfaz9sHmY1eWb3HLuYrCp3Q0eWC7yNefwU2dyFljYdQ5BVFgX7cO1RqsUgPp_o9EvdApkxKaWxMZB3bqgFZ5BRwHx0cc1QAjTVDQYPu3hLGo0e2mY4J103ind5xmi3FnEibg/s1600/Blue-Metro-ride.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Of course, this great invention of mine is not going to appear in reality very soon. I found one project, called <a href="http://shweeb.com/">Shweep</a>, which is very similar to what I described here (they use a very narrow metal rail instead of the cable) and which itself is still in the research stages, especially for the switching technology: how to merge in and out of lanes. I admit that my description is very fuzzy in this regard and while the rest of the system is pretty low-tech and could have been build 50 or 100 years ago, the best solution for switching might actually use quite a bit of high-tech.</div>
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While doing research into this topic I found a lot of information about "Personal Rapid Transit" (PRT) systems, a combination of mass transit and private vehicles (basically a transit system that never requires transfers and always takes you from your starting station directly to the destination station). Despite much research this never took off big and the above-mentioned ULTra system at Heathrow airport is probably the example which handles the most traffic. ULTra with its vehicles driving on normal asphalt also shows that PRT now becomes less like rail-based systems and more like ordinary cars. To me, it actually seems quite likely that self-driving cars will popularize enabling driverless taxis and thereby fulfill all of PRTs promises plus picking people up at their door without the need of any stations at all! Isn't it fun to think that SciFi also imagined flying cars which were driven by people, but now in reality we seem to be getting the boring old combustion-powered asphalt-rolling cars, but they will drive themselves?! (I know that burning fuel to drive might get out of fashion soon with electric cars, but that's not a point I want to argue here. Besides: (1) electric traction (in street-cars) was commonplace in big cities many years before cars arrived at the scene, so it's not really a new technology, and (2) there are ways to produce engine fuel from other than crude oil, so maybe combustion engines will stay with us for longer than it seems now. See <a href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/XtL-Kraftstoff">XtL</a> (sorry German), English: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_liquefaction">CtL</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomass_to_liquid">BtL</a>.)</div>
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Driverless cabs might make commutes much more relaxed and save a little space on crowed streets (for example, by separating the car into two compartments and taking two passengers on the same ride, or by taking a full four or more, for a cheaper rate than a bus and still end-to-end, with a minimal detour to drop off or pick up others), but they will not make obsolete the need to create higher capacity for transport in general as in new subway construction. The FlyWay, on the other hand, can take between 10% and 30% of inner city traffic which in itself might be just enough to considerably reduce congestion on the streets as well as in subways and buses. So the FlyWay isn't just a very relaxed, comfortable, and quick way to travel for those who use it, but it's also a great service to everybody else on the road.</div>
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Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-34940022447807356642014-01-28T11:57:00.000-05:002014-01-28T13:01:07.746-05:00I just donated eight percent of my 2013 net income to GiveDirectly, a charity that directly transfers this money to some of the poorest people in the world.I have learned about <a href="https://www.givedirectly.org/" target="_blank">GiveDirectly </a>the charity via <a href="http://www.givewell.org/" target="_blank">GiveWell</a>, a charity evaluation project founded by two people who wanted to donate heaps of money for good purposes, but didn't find good information on what best to invest in. I already donated a smaller amount to GiveDirectly twelve months ago. What I like about GiveDirectly that they are the first organisation who do a very simple and obviously good thing efficiently on a large scale: directly giving donations to people who need resources. By donating such a large amount to one single cause, I am not neglecting all the other important causes, but I am following <a href="http://www.givewell.org/international/top-charities/give-directly">GiveWell's detailed analysis</a> which says basically that most of the really good causes and efficient charities already get a lot of funding and sometimes even have trouble absorbing and using more funding with their existing staff.<br />
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Recently I read a lot of interesting articles on "effective altruism", the science of doing the most good with the little money that each of us can spare:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://blog.givewell.org/2013/08/08/passive-vs-rational-vs-quantified/">What is rational giving? (And why it is still emotional.)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwGEQcFo9RE">Video: Money can buy happiness</a>. Michael Norton at TEDxCambridge 2011 </li>
<li><a href="http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org/">Three Myths that block Progress for the Poor</a>. 2014 letter from the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. (If you read this after 2014, the content might be updated, but <a href="http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org/~/media/Annual%20Letter%202014/PDFs/2014_GatesAnnualLetter_ENGLISH_1.pdf">this PDF still original</a>.)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-giving-pledge-a-new-club-for-billionaires/">Video: The Giving Pledge - A new club for billionaires</a></li>
</ul>
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So Warren Buffet gives away 99% percent of his wealth during his lifetime or in his will. In the meantime he talks to other billionaires to convince them to give away at least half of their wealth and it seems he's quite successful at that. </div>
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There's also a more inclusive club for non-billionaires (like you and me) called <a href="http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/">Giving What We Can</a>. All you need to do to become a member is commit to regularly donate 10% of your regular income to any good altruistic cause. </div>
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Twice in a row, I have used my winter-holidays in January to decide on and make a yearly donation. This time I realized that I can make my giving much more social by doing it in the traditional holiday season. Then I can talk to others what and where they intend to give this year. This will be much more fun and probably also do more good. I am looking forward to a great year!</div>
Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-9303777487331690602014-01-07T08:21:00.000-05:002014-01-08T08:58:12.699-05:00my vegan cooking and meditation club<i>→ Deutsche Version des Artikels gibt's unten! ←<!-------><!-------></i><br />
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I am trying a mixed German/English post here and I am not a diligent translator, so only the key facts are the same in both versions and the narration/motivation is half English, half German. Feel free to read however much you understand or want to read. ;-)</div>
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I've participated in <a href="http://www.meetup.com/Berlin-Meditation-and-Introspection/" target="_blank">my friend's meditation meetups</a> every week since I came back to Berlin. (Today is the first time that I skip it, because of the parallel <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/400672563397589/" target="_blank">LYL Berlin meetup</a>.) I also feel the desire to contribute to the world by offering or organizing meditation or self-help groups. And additionally I have the desire to meet new people and cook together, and get to know each other to possibly do other stuff together. </div>
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So this week I decided to bring it all together and organize a combined cooking - meditation - dinner - socializing event. The idea is simple: I want to give myself and others an occasion to exchange in a relaxed and social manner, but also provide a common theme: we are all interested in cooking and meditation. Also, I find that meditating together creates a nice, tranquil atmosphere by making people more open for others. (This way, we don't need alcohol as an ice breaker ;-) We could even add a listening meditation in one of the later meetups. </div>
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Here's a sample schedule for such an event:</div>
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6 pm: people arrive and start cooking. if too many are in the kitchen, others can just sit on the couch and chat over tea.</div>
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around 7:30 pm: when the meal is prepared and the table is set, we keep the food warm and close the doors for 20 minutes of group meditation. Then we silently walk to the dining room, do some waiting meditation for people to fill their plates, and then 15 minutes of eating meditation. Then the social part of the evening begins!</div>
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<i>That's the end of the English part!</i><br />
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<i>Random picture of delicious vegan food to make this more viral on the social networks :-P</i></div>
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Also hier nochmal auf Deutsch, zuerst die Idee: nur wegen einer kurzen Meditation eine lange Reise durch Berlin zu einem Treffen zu machen, kostet vielen zu viel Zeit. Aber für eine lange Meditation am Abend bin ich persönlich meist zu müde. Deswegen habe ich mir einen Kompromiss ausgedacht: verbinden wir eine kurze Meditation mit einem Kochabend und zur Krönung des Ganzen noch einer Genuss-Meditation beim Essen! Danach sind wir dann nicht nur satt, sondern auch im Geiste erholt und können den Abend gemütlich ausklingen lassen.</div>
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Hier ist ein beispielhafter Terminvorschlag (je nach Wochentag/Wochenende bzw. den Teilnehmern anzupassen):</div>
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18:00 Uhr Gäste trudeln ein und wir beginnen zu kochen. Wer in der Küche nicht gebraucht wird, darf auch gern einfach bei einem Tee auf der Couch sitzen und mit anderen plauschen (die vielleicht ihren Teil des Essens schon fertig zubereitet haben). Dadurch muss niemand pünktlich sein und jeder kann kommen, wann er eben kommt.</div>
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so gegen 19:00 Uhr: wenn das Essen fertig ist und der Tisch gedeckt, stellen wir es warm und verschließen die Tür. (Jetzt kann niemand mehr hinzukommen, damit wir in Ruhe meditieren können.)</div>
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Wir machen ca. 20 Minuten Meditation in der Gruppe (z.B. zwei verschiedene Übungen à 10 Minuten). Gleich im Anschluss und ohne zwischendurch die Edle Stille zu verlassen, nehmen wir uns Essen, warten bis alle am Tisch sind und machen dann 15 Minuten Genuss-Meditation beim Essen. Dann können wir zu reden beginnen während wir fertig essen und fließend in den sozialen Teil übergehen.</div>
Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-78374940093998254152014-01-02T19:02:00.005-05:002014-01-02T19:02:59.039-05:00S-Bahn LeipzigDer neue S-Bahn-Tunnel in Leipzig ist fertig und hat Mitte Dezember den Betrieb aufgenommen. Ich war dort und habe mir vieles angesehen. Die Stationen sind wirklich beeindruckend. Große helle Räume, kurze Wege, Prunk nicht durch Dekoration sondern durch Eleganz und Größe. Ganz das Gegenteil der Pariser Metro, an die ich mich im letzten Sommer nicht gewöhnen konnte.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji1CSPrIk6GH3vAgbIkrCIK3Rx9Qu-ZU2jzilwmUtfyOF-9aYI1WsAvsDvKiKT4dn0SzcmZmQfGzhmfYH9beDS8it4S-DDs5Xjes7lcGIvQ2AlPPhXppPCw9Kn3kieLUiLBJF1cw/s1600/2013-12-23+13.00.49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji1CSPrIk6GH3vAgbIkrCIK3Rx9Qu-ZU2jzilwmUtfyOF-9aYI1WsAvsDvKiKT4dn0SzcmZmQfGzhmfYH9beDS8it4S-DDs5Xjes7lcGIvQ2AlPPhXppPCw9Kn3kieLUiLBJF1cw/s1600/2013-12-23+13.00.49.jpg" height="384" width="640" /></a></div>
Am Hauptbahnhof zum Beispiel kann man vom Tiefbahnsteig durch den nördlichen Eingangsbereich bis hoch zum großen Bahnhofsdach schauen. Am Markt und Wilhelm Leuschner Platz hat man die Tiefe von ca. 20 m genutzt, um die Decke entsprechend hoch zu machen, was beim Wilhelm Leuschner Platz dazu führt, dass man die Decke gar nicht mehr wahr nimmt. Schön einfach mutet es an, dass die S-Bahnsteige im Hauptbahnhof einfach als Gleis 1 und 2 bezeichnet werden. Tragisch ist dagegen, dass die alten Gleise 1 bis 5 allesamt stillgelegt wurden!<br />
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Andererseits gibt es neben all der Schönheit und dem Glanz auch andere Dinge zu beobachten, die das "Halle-Leipziger-S-Bahn-System" zu etwas Besonderem machen -- und zwar nicht nur im positiven Sinn. Alles in allem ähnelt es in vielerlei Hinsicht eher einem "Regionalbahntunnel" als einem eigenen Stadt-und-Vorort-Bahn-System wie wir es aus den größten deutschen Städten kennen. Es ist ja eigentlich das wichtigste Kennzeichen der Stadtschnellbahn oder Vorortbahn, dass sie den Stadt- und Vorort-Verkehr vom restlichen Eisenbahnverkehr trennt. So hat in Berlin und Hamburg die S-Bahn (fast) komplett eigene Gleise und Bahnsteige. In München, Frankfurt und Stuttgart hat sie zumindest eigene Bahnsteige und die meisten Stationen der S-Bahn werden auch nur von der S-Bahn und nicht von Regionalzügen bedient. Die S-Bahn bedient den nahen Einzugsbereich der Stadt mit maximal 30 Minuten Fahrzeit zum Zentrum und für den Rest gibt es eigene Linien. So sind S-Bahn-Züge auf kurze Fahrzeiten, häufige Halte und einen schnellen Fahrgastwechsel ausgelegt während die Regionalbahn zum Beispiel mehr Sitzplätze bietet und Toiletten im Zug. (Die S-Bahn Berlin hat ja nichtmal Mülleimer im Zug!) In Leipzig vermischen sich beide Verkehre total. S-Bahn-Züge von Leipzig nach Hoyerswerda sind zum Beispiel 2,5 Stunden in einer Richtung unterwegs und fahren nur alle zwei Stunden so weit. S-Bahn-Fahrgäste in den halbstündlich fahrenen Bahnen zwischen Leipzig und Eilenburg mischen sich also alle zwei Stunden mit den Regionalfahrern der längeren Strecke im selben Zug. Bei einer richtigen S-Bahn würde der Zug aus Hoyerswerda ab Eilenburg (oder ab Torgau) ohne Halt durchfahren.<br />
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<a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-Bahn_Mitteldeutschland" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/thumb/0/0b/Netzplan_S-Bahn_Mitteldeutschland_2013.svg/1000px-Netzplan_S-Bahn_Mitteldeutschland_2013.svg.png" /></a></div>
Am Hauptbahnhof steigen so viele Menschen ein und aus, dass in manchen Zügen kein Platz mehr ist. Ich stelle es mir etwas unschön vor, wenn der Zug nach Hoyerswerda voller Leipziger ist, die nur ein paar Stationen fahren wollen, und deswegen Reisende nach Hoyerswerda selbst keine Plätze mehr im Zug finden!<br />
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Auch die Transportkapazität liegt einer anderen Liga als die der großen S-Bahnen. Die Bahnsteige sind so lang wie in Berlin (140 m), aber die Züge fahren meist nur in halber Länge (meist 3 oder 4 von 7 möglichen Wagen). Die Taktfrequenz liegt aber mit 30 Minuten weit unter dem in Berlin zur Hauptverkehrszeit praktizierten Zehn-Minutentakt oder dem Hamburger System mit 5-Minutentakt pro Linie. Andererseits haben Systeme wie Frankfurt und Stuttgart zwar auch einen 30-Minuten-Basistakt, aber dort sind die Züge mit bis zu 210 m um 50% länger. (In München wird diese Zuglänge sogar teilweise im Zehn-Minuten-Takt gefahren.)<br />
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Das "Regionalbahngefühl" kommt nicht nur in den Zügen auf, die übrigens auch ganz im Gegensatz zur typischen S-Bahn alle mit Zugbegleitern fahren, sondern auch auf den Stationen, die ganz "wie auf dem Land" gestaltet sind: moderne Bahnsteige mit wenig Mobiliar, Automaten auf dem Bahnsteig und nicht wie bei S- und U-Bahn in einem Zwischengeschoss oder Empfangsgebäude. Selbst in der Haltestelle Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz mitten in der Innenstadt fühle ich mich ob der niedrigen Bahnsteige (55 cm), der DB-Regio-typischen Ausstattung und der kaum wahrnehmbaren Decke ganz wie auf einem dörflichen Regionalbahnsteig.<br />
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Aber das alles soll keine Kritik sein: die neuen Stationen machen den öffentlichen Verkehr sicher sehr attraktiv und verkürzen Reisezeiten für viele Menschen. Nicht zuletzt wurde hier eine Infrastruktur geschaffen, die über Jahrzehnte oder gar Jahrhunderte den Menschen dienen soll. (Die Berliner Stadt- und Vorortbahn ist ja schon 125 Jahre alt, der Nord-Süd-Tunnel 77 Jahre alt.) Durch die Auslegung für und Ausstattung mit ganz normaler Eisenbahntechnik ist das Bauwerk sicher flexibel genug, um sich auch zukünftigen Herausforderungen zu stellen. Vielleicht gibt es ja irgendwann einen getrennten S- und R-Verkehr und vielleicht fahren einige R-Bahnen trotzdem durch den Tunnel. Vielleicht sieht man irgendwann ja auch mal Doppelstockwagen im Tunnel.<br />
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<a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/107848013689549887269/albums/5964451255795807873" target="_blank">Hier noch mehr Photos von meinem Besuch.</a>Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-91823626108184603682014-01-02T10:04:00.000-05:002014-05-02T07:03:31.642-04:00from better decisions to better motivation to a better lifeTo prepare a training session on Rational Decision Making (<a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1X0KKn46yjKxm_gDbXXwnCWgeN1ej4tRETM6AfHDhD0s/edit" target="_blank">slides here</a>, if you are curious) I read really quickly through half of the book <a href="http://www.personaldecisions.net/pdm_3_secrets.htm" target="_blank">The Three Secrets of Wise Decision Making</a> and I also started applying it to my own decisions right away. To get more practice, I decided to also apply proper decision making to rather small decisions or things that one wouldn't normally call decisions -- I call it challenges to the status quo -- and I found something wonderful: there's a big flexibility in my life that I haven't seen before. Many things of which I thought they have to be this way or that are actually just decisions that I once made in a bad or biased way and if I look deeply at what I really want, I can choose to have it any way I want!<br />
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In the past, I often thought that I need to train my concentration or prop up my willpower to get things done that I had decided to do. But now I see that maybe all I was lacking was real deep motivation to do those things. Megan Hayes just <a href="http://www.trulymadlymegan.com/2013/12/more-important-than-your-resolutions.html" target="_blank">wrote a piece</a> that's talking about the same thing.<br />
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All to often we get our life goals (or nasty todo-items) just by looking at what others do (house, car, kids, career, ...) or by viewing ourselves as a specific type of person (hard-working, health-conscious, ...) or member of a specific group (vegans, bike fans, train spotters, ...) or we just internalize expectations that others (parents, bosses, spouses, ...) have for us.<br />
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I found that rational decision making helped to refocus on my values and what I really want. It helps me see objectively what is good for me individually. It helps gain perspective and set priorities better.<br />
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In a world where we have more and more options, more and more possible life styles, more and more choices, it's important to be able to sit back and find your own way. I have found that <a href="http://rethinktheworld.blogspot.de/2013/11/why-mindfulness-meditation-is-good.html">a certain mindfulness is important</a> to become aware how things affect me and what influences me. And explicit, creative decision making is the perfect counterpoint to design my response to life.Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-3470918338918229502013-12-31T07:37:00.000-05:002013-12-31T07:37:09.916-05:00inside intrinsic motivationThe distinction between so-called "intrinsic" and "extrinsic" motivation has been made in psychology several decades ago and the notions have become part of mainstream thinking. Especially as jobs become more demanding in creativity and flexibility of mind, often requiring some determination to overcome unexpected obstacles, it is a commonplace idea that money alone (the proverbial "extrinsic" reward for work) will not motivate people enough to achieve great things.<br />
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Companies from the smallest startup to large international cooperations are incorporating this knowledge into their staff management to make work more enjoyable and rewarding for their employees. Recently I have been thinking much about my spare-time activities and found that the different kinds of motivation apply here, too. Money is of course less important (unless I am building stuff for myself which I would otherwise have to pay), but that only makes it more evident how huge and diverse the other kinds of motivations are. For example, there is a social motivation which makes many kinds of activities fun as long as I do it with the right people. But more interestingly I found a distinction in the intrinsic motivation which seems to be very important.<br />
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I actually think that the term "intrinsic motivation" is quite misleading because it suggests that the activity itself is the reward and therefore just doing it will make the doer happy. Since I am using the word "happy" here, let's be conscious that "motivation" and "happiness" are intrinsically linked. Naively, people will be motivated to do things that make them happy either just by doing the thing or by the results it achieves. In practice, of course, there is the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=introspection+illusion" target="_blank">introspection illusion</a> and there is <a href="https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=miswanting" target="_blank">miswanting</a>. And that means that we might be motivated to do things which do not actually make us happy. This is why I think that learning more about motivation and choosing ones "wants" and "want to dos" wisely is the basis of a happy and deeply fulfilled life.<br />
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So, here are the two sides of intrinsic motivation which I found: one is doing the thing itself and it corresponds to what psychologists call "flow". The other is the intrinsic result of the thing itself and it is much harder to grasp. It can be meaning, it can be achievement, it can be doing something good, doing something useful, creating something that lasts. In my own life I just discovered that I was all too often looking for the flow as I knew it from childhood: playing with something or even programming something and forgetting about the rest of the world. In this mode of thinking, anything which interrupts the flow is a sign that what I am doing is maybe not the real thing, it's a sign that diminishes motivation and in the past often left me kind-of helpless, like a child whose favorite toy has been taken away.<br />
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It was only in the recent months, since I started meditation and while working at Google, that I learned to look for other, less child-like kinds of motivation. Meditation teaches to view distractions as positive challenges: an opportunity to notice the distraction and go back to the object of meditation. Likewise, if I have a higher goal (like programming a script or other program that I actually want to use) I can view a distraction (like some computer error or deficiency in the programming tool set) like just one piece that is part of the puzzle to be solved. Overcoming some pain can actually be a good experience if there is a clear gain. It then becomes a growing pain, that actually makes me stronger.<br />
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A great example for the two sides of intrinsic motivation is a recent lecture and exercise I prepared on the topic of "rational decision making" (based on Prof. Barry Anderson's free book) for Berlin's LessWrong fan club. My initial motivation was to contribute something to the group, so we can all learn a topic together and develop more of a practical common language. Later, when I started reading the book, preparing slides, making notes, I was in a great state of flow. But I also procrastinated on the design of the exercises, because I simply didn't have any ideas what to do. Had I done it all just for the fun, then I probably would have left it there and gone to work on something else. But instead, I had a set myself a deadline for doing the training with the group and I was convinced that the exercises were the most important part. (Otherwise we could just all read the book or watch lectures on the intertube.)<br />
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In the case of the lecture preparation, it was my results- or achievement motivation which first let me panic a bit because of the looming deadline and then let me to reserve a block of time to focus specifically on the exercises. Since my intuition didn't come up with anything by itself and so I took a moment to think about how to solve my dilemma. And I had a great idea: use the rational decision process itself to decide what exercise I want to do! And that worked: I got into flow again and felt even better than when doing the slides before.<br />
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I think that for living a fulfilled live, it is important to align the results one wants to achieve (in the above example: creating world peace and happiness) with skills that one has and enjoys doing (in the example: learning and teaching). Just "going with the flow" is not enough. Definitely isn't for me. But I have still a long way to go to discover my own skills and motivations and how they fit into the world.<br />
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Bottom line: the topic of motivation is much deeper than just intrinsic vs. extrinsic :-DRobert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-7647312936064956262013-12-17T07:01:00.000-05:002013-12-17T07:01:52.802-05:00Green Smoothies for the win!I learned about the concept of a "Green Smoothie" in Spring 2012 at a time when I was a bit unhappy with my way then current way of eating. Around the same time I went to a Raw Food Exibition and I read the great book "<a href="https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=eattolive" target="_blank">Eat to Live</a>" and one day I almost instantly switched my eating habits. I started cooking differently, ate much less bread and no "spreads" any more. But the biggest change was for breakfast which I made Smoothie-fest every day!<br />
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My typical breakfast now looks like this before it is blended:<br />
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Of course, banana, kiwi, and avocado are peeled before blending and I take the core out of the apple, but leave the skin on. Then I add about a cup of warm water and blend. And that's my healthy, tasty breakfast.<br />
I eat some variation of this almost every day with an exception maybe once a week. The most common variation is in the salad: today (as seen in the picture) I had rucola/arugula. Other favorites are various kinds of lettuce, spinach, or, rarely, field salad. Instead of an apple, I also often use a pear. If I don't have an avocado (or all my avocados are still to hard), I'll replace the water with some soy milk, so I have at least one source of fat in the drink. I'd also use linseed for this if I remembered where I could buy it already crushed.<br />
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A great breakfast makes a good start into the day and with already five small servings of raw fruit and leaves covered, I am primed for a healthy cooked lunch.Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-19438330833276000312013-11-30T18:01:00.001-05:002013-11-30T18:01:31.179-05:00The faculty fallacy -- how university education confounds pleasure and applicability and miseducates millionsWhenever I see a fresh university graduate struggle to find a job I feel sad. The choice of university program to take seems so easy and seamless for someone who just graduated from High School. Many students will just think of their grade school subject which they liked the most and study that. So easy back then! Such a nice transition.<br />
But once education is over and young people have to choose an actual career, things can be way harder for them. Of course, some university programs have a strong connection to practice and lead directly to a certain kind of job or group of jobs. But there are other programs where the mapping is harder and jobs often require a range of skills which are not covered by the university program at all. And then there are programs which could lead to a whole lot of different jobs and besides needing some decision or commitment to a certain area they also often need additional skills and training which the university program doesn't provide. Often students just have to learn really important things during internships because there is just no course on it. (And I am talking of skills that are actually teachable in courses. It's simply that academia is not interested in teaching those important skills.) Even worse, there are programs which lead to a certain group of jobs, but the number of jobs available in the area is consistently and gapingly smaller than the number of students educated in that field. The gap is sometimes and order of magnitude. And this has been so for decades without anybody fixing it.<br />
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Old universities still have structure that too much resembles their medieval (and pre-medieval!) roots than their presumed contemporary purpose. When the first universities were founded, their purpose was not prepare the majority of young people for their adult professional life, but they were educating a small minority of people of the upper classes who didn't need to work. Only later they started "professional education" for theologians and lawyers. But, on the other hand, "liberal arts" and the "humanities" in particular are still to a large extend based on an education ideal of the leisure class from two thousand years ago.<br />
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A <a href="http://mckinseyonsociety.com/downloads/reports/Education/UXC001%20Voice%20of%20the%20Graduate%20v7.pdf" target="_blank">recent McKinsey report</a> found that a large proportion of college graduates feel "<b>overqualified and underprepared" at the same time</b>. Many students even from the top 100 universities "couldn't get a job in their chosen field". For liberal arts graduates the report blandly states that "they fare worse than average in all measures". In my opinion the reason for this is very simple:<br />
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<ul>
<li>universities teach a lot of not-very-useful things</li>
<li>universities don't teach a lot of very important skills (especially soft skills like self-management, project management, interpersonal communication, holding meetings, ...)</li>
<li>the catalog of courses of a university mentions highly practicably applicable courses (like medicine, most or all kinds of engineering, marketing, law, ...) next to courses who don't have any direct (or even just not any) application in professional life. There is no warning sign for the latter kind of courses!</li>
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I think the fact of mixing professional classes like the ones mentioned with leisure-and-passion type classes like literature, fine arts, and music is not necessary a problem per se. Aesthetics and beauty are part of being human and there is nothing wrong with that kind of beauty flourishing at universities. But what would be fair towards all the hopeful young people who enter university is to tell them clearly which courses have professional value and which ones mainly serve the spirits. </div>
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Of course, it is possible to study music or literature and later make a living as a musician or a writer. But for the majority of music-making or fiction-writing people, this art will rather be a hobby than a profession. And it might all be fair and right that universities don't just prepare for the work life, but also prepare for a good human life by teaching some good hobbies and high-cultured pass-times. If you think that those intellectual subjects teach at least some critical thinking skills then that's wrong for about half of the students according to a studies explained in a book which is aptly called "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Academically-Adrift-Limited-Learning-Campuses/dp/0226028550" target="_blank">Academically Adrift</a>". </div>
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The problem with the current system is simply that those hobbies are listed right next to the professional courses with the effect that our society is in the double-crises of lacking professionals in fields like engineering, medicine, and leadership, while at the same time being confronted with tens of thousands of arts majors of whom only a fraction can actually make a living of their original education while most of the others (according to the Kinsey study) end up "in restaurants and retail".</div>
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PS: If you're interested in alternatives to the current broken system, <a href="http://www.uncollege.org/" target="_blank">UnCollege </a>seems to be a promising one. Forgo college until it is fixed ;-)</div>
Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-12437743617898519492013-11-30T16:53:00.001-05:002013-11-30T16:54:20.893-05:00shadow internships -- do nothing, learn moreEverybody knows the joke about the office intern who mostly makes coffee for people and copies and carries papers around because they're lacking the skills and the experience and knowledge about the specific company to do any real work. And nobody at the company wants to spend the time to teach them.<br />
Here's a proposed improvement to that situation: to train your intern just let them become your shadow. Don't let them do anything. Just let the watch and hear everything. There should be some occasional explaining, but not too much and always making use of the context to keep it short. If you keep your intern that way, without any expectations to accomplish anything except for learning and understanding, they will soon become helpful with real work tasks. For example, one great use for an intern trained in this way is as a discussion partner when you need to verbalize some thoughts in order to think them more effectively. Maybe the intern won't be able to contribute anything to the discussion. But it will still help you think. And it will help them learn.<br />
Even when your intern will be able to do real work by themselves, it will be very helpful to keep them shadowing you or someone else regularly. To learn new things. To keep up to date with the progress of the project. To be right there when the context enable to teach an important lesson with very few words.<br />
Let there be more shadow internships and less interns sitting in corners working on small independent projects!Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-13024961188179816762013-11-23T15:28:00.000-05:002014-02-11T11:55:37.765-05:00Why mindfulness meditation is goodThis summer I decided to read books more regularly and write a blog post about each book that I have read.<br />
Now I just finished reading the book "Mindfulness in Plain English" and I liked it a lot. It is written by a monk (H. Gunaratama) who has a lot of experience in meditating and in teaching meditation, and it is written in a very secular way with almost no mention of anything religious. The book is just right for someone like me who has regular meditation experience and wants to deepen his practice. I suppose that it would also be good for a beginner who really wants to have a solid basis for their practice.<br />
Since the book already has tens or even hundreds of <a href="https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mindfulness+in+plain+english+review" target="_blank">reviews</a> on-line, I don't want to write another one and instead write about what all this meditation is good for. And indeed there's a lot to say about the benefits of meditation. In fact, I think that there are so many benefits to meditation that I want to describe them in two categories. The first one is very practical. Those are benefits for each person who meditates. And they have been scientifically researched and confirmed. In that sense, meditation is basically a workout for your brain just as sports like running or doing weights are workouts for your body. The other category is harder to describe, it's about finding meaning in one's life, finding connection with nature and society, finding true peace and happiness. I think that this category is more subjective, simply because those words might not mean much to some people. To other people, however, especially to many who like to meditate in a group, those are much more powerful benefits than what can be objectively measured.<br />
<br />
Here are the scientifically proven benefits of mindfulness meditation:<br />
<ul>
<li>it boosts concentration</li>
<li>it reduces stress</li>
<li>it helps to sort out one's priorities towards more long-term goals</li>
<li>it's an approved therapy against depression and anxiety</li>
<li>it boosts the immune system has other beneficial effects on physical health which combine reduce the average number of days that people with regular meditation practice are sick.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Googling the term "benefits of meditation" brings up even more things, but for me the ones mentioned are the key benefits int that first, pragmatic, group.<br />
<br />
Now the second group of benefits is where things really get spiritual. I think that some readers might not believe this and are rather convinced by the first group only. But this second group also matters to me and therefore I want to share it, too, even though it is somewhat fuzzy and subjective. One phrase that comes to my mind is: "meditation makes life more enjoyable". Another: "meditation makes us really human because we can let go of our impulses and act according to our deeper aspirations and goals". It is actually a proven benefit of mindfulness meditation that it makes people behave more nicely and empathically. I did not list this in group one, however, because some people might be afraid that such a simple practice might change something so profound about their personality. I think the wish to be nicer towards others is stronger in some people than in others and it is probably that sort of person who is attracted by the spiritual aspect of meditation. Meditation reduces violence, both physical and verbal. Meditation creates peace and sharing. It is the way to world peace and world brotherhood. The way to a world where no one suffers from hunger, curable illness, or loneliness. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you want to join that world or if you just want to taste the more pragmatic benefits of meditation then you can start meditating right now. And if you want to learn about the subject in a deep, but written-for-beginners, way, then Gunaratana's <i>Mindfulness in plain English</i> will be a good book for you.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-9053471692040830722013-11-23T06:36:00.001-05:002013-11-23T06:36:55.319-05:00On the future of law and justice<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>The first paragraph is just an introductory summary of my previous post on <a href="http://rethinktheworld.blogspot.de/2013/09/peak-technology.html" target="_blank">Peak Technology</a>, skip to the second paragraph for my ideas about law and justice.</i></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">In our times, it is a commonly accepted belief that society evolves with the advent of technology. Technology is seen as progress. And when technology has some drawbacks and causes problems, then some more advanced technology is often seen as the solution. In general, it is assumed that much of the progress of societies is driven either directly or indirectly by technology. In many cases, this connection is obvious and in my opinion, the advance of medicine is one of the most obvious examples. Common belief, however, extends the notion of "technology as the cause of progress" even to areas of social progress which are not inherently driven by technology. As an example, consider the topic of free speech or the equal-rights movement for people of different sexual orientation. Proponents of technology claim that free speech is promoted a lot by information and communication technologies like the printing press, movable type, or --nowadays-- the Internet. They go on to say that those possibilities of communication encourage diversity in society, which in turn supports all kinds of equal-rights movements, be it for ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or some other dividing line. There is also the argument that the scarcity of resources in less technologically advanced societies leads to conflicts, while the abundance in modern society leaves something for everybody and thus encourages sharing. (But as of 2013, the social divide in some of the richest and most technologically advanced countries, such as the USA, is greater than in some technologically and economically less advanced countries, such as Norway and Finland. (Google “Gini coefficient” for info on that.) This is just one of many counter-examples that could be given to the hypothesis that "technology is the main driver of progress".)</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-6fd954a5-84bb-1d1c-d7db-4fdf9d54652f" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this article, however, I want to introduce one social improvement of society which offers huge gains for people and institutions while it is entirely independent of technology. I am proposing to improve the system of law and justice, whose modern roots go back two thousands years to the Roman empire whose laws are still studied any contemporary aspirant of the legal profession. I am referring to this historic legacy just because the improvement proposed is so independent of technology that it could as well have been introduced in classical Roman times. The idea is very simple: turn justice from a competitive into a cooperative profession. Replace questions of "who is right?" and "who's right (or obligation) is it?" with the quest for just and balanced compromises. Just imagine that instead of getting a lawyer to "fight for your right", you will get a lawyer to counsel you about the laws and customs of a specific domain and to help you take beneficial and sustainable decisions. Sustainable, here means that it will not infringe on other's rights in a way that will incite opposition to your actions. Further imagine that if two parties have a disagreement of high stakes they will not each assemble a team of highly paid and about to overwork lawyers to fight it out in front of a judge, but they will instead appeal to a highly reputed mediator which will align their interests and the tradition of the law and past similar cases to form a compromise which serves both their interests to the best possible and also sets an example of how similar disputes can be solved in the future. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the founding principles of the legal profession is that formalized law provides safety and freedom of action because parties with conflicting interests are able to prevent conflicts or to know the outcome if conflict happens. Another important principle is the balance of interests. Another one is that decisions should only be based on relevant facts of the matter and not incidental elements such as nobility, affluence, ethnicity, or other properties of the actors or the circumstances. (The latter is the famous "blindness of justice" to irrelevant matters.) All of those principles are preserved with the proposed improvement while many other aspects are changed.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I see a lot of advantages in such a reformed legal system:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">laws would be much simpler, since their purpose would not be to give a fixed solution for every possible case and instead leave some wiggle-room for the disputing parties and their legal counselors. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">legal conflicts would occur less often because counselors will advocate the way of consideration instead of the confrontational road.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">legal conflicts could be resolved much more timely and with much reduced cost</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all members of the legal profession would swear an oath of justice similar to the oath of Hippocrates in medicine. they will commit themselves to the principles of law and to working towards the goals of both parties in a conflict as well as the evolution of law which benefits society at large. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">parties which can afford more or better lawyers will not be advantaged any more.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So lawyers become consultants and mediators instead of being advocates and lobbyists. Wouldn’t that be much more in line with the original values and virtues of justice and more beneficial to our society and all its members?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-88483740006022465172013-11-23T06:34:00.000-05:002013-11-23T06:34:32.048-05:00Peak Technology<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Biking around Paris today I saw a poster similar to this one:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBKqTwLc0JQAt88SG2_1ZkOiAJrsC_rei8FJcdBZizHU6VARBmoEME9lyAkz65O9k0pfA0pjTs0fhFV3Ewjze2FUi5KENdEJKlU8Mux6d_FeQIatXEP4btOMFgL5WCgqXiS4fq2w/s1600/gentrification-petit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBKqTwLc0JQAt88SG2_1ZkOiAJrsC_rei8FJcdBZizHU6VARBmoEME9lyAkz65O9k0pfA0pjTs0fhFV3Ewjze2FUi5KENdEJKlU8Mux6d_FeQIatXEP4btOMFgL5WCgqXiS4fq2w/s400/gentrification-petit.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
One of the phrases on the poster I saw was saying something like "we don't want better and more modern housing here, because we cannot afford that".<br />
So I thought it's interesting that people are actually refusing something better than they already have.<br />
<br />
And then I thought about lots of modern inventions which people don't really need. Like displays with a resolution that's almost better than our eyes can notice. Or cars that can go faster than is permitted to go on public roads. I could go on and on and this makes we wonder whether the role of technology in society is changing now. Not long ago (and in a large part of the world still now), technology would benefit the rich more than the poor, but it would still benefit the poor so much that a modern poor person would have a better life than a king two hundred years ago. One of my favorite example is the modern sewage system introduced in our part of the world mainly in the 19th century. It makes life more comfortable and much safer for the rich and the poor alike. Public transit, including air transit is similar. Modern air (or high-speed rail) is a good example how rich and poor pay very different prices for basically the same service (getting somewhere) simply by selling tickets with different conditions like flexibility of travel time/date, space on board, and various premium services. So this technology benefits both rich and poor people and even makes rich people pay more for it. Another example are Android phones which cost between 100 and 400 € while offering basically the same functionality (email, maps, chat, phone, web, ...). This way rich customers automatically contribute more to the development of the software and basic infrastructure than the poor.<br />
<br />
Now, after seeing this writing on the Parisian wall... and after considering that my own highest high-tech are my bicycles and some not-so-new computer equipment. I really wonder if technology will really get us any much further as a society. Of course, the internet itself is probably the biggest thing in the tradition of technology which benefits rich and poor alike. And I think that the internet still has a lot of potential, especially in education. And, of course, self-driving cars will be a big relief. But still I think we might be nearing a peak where technology doesn't bring the most progress which universally helps all groups in society. We might soon get to a point where the bottleneck is somewhere else. Or maybe the bigger potential is already somewhere else and we just can't see it because we're all looking in the direction of technology waiting for it to rescue us.<br />
<br />
I was looking what this other field of progress could be and while reading about "social advance in society" I found the "Social Progress Imperative" which has published the "Social Progress Index" and I was happy to find this data... but only until I noticed how shallow it is. For instance "respect for women" is measured with a simple poll. Therefore, it is rather "perceived respect for women". Also, Germany is really bad on "percentage of people going into tertiary education", which is likely because Germany's great professional education system hasn't been counted as tertiary education. I understand that the SPI only uses data which had already been collected by various other organisations (as listed in their<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: proxima-nova, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px;"> </span><a href="http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/system/resources/W1siZiIsIjIwMTMvMDQvMTAvMjEvMjEvMDQvNTA1L1NvY2lhbFByb2dyZXNzSW5kZXgyMDEzXzAzX01ldGhvZG9sb2d5LnBkZiJdXQ/SocialProgressIndex2013_03_Methodology.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #00929f; font-family: proxima-nova, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/system/resources/W1siZiIsIjIwMTMvMDQvMTAvMjEvMjEvMDQvNTA1L1NvY2lhbFByb2dyZXNzSW5kZXgyMDEzXzAzX01ldGhvZG9sb2d5LnBkZiJdXQ/SocialProgressIndex2013_03_Methodology.pdf">Appendix</a>), but the result is simply a rating which does not tell as much as it seems.
So to sum up, I think that in the future social progress which happens independent of technology progress might be very important. And while technology progress can partly be measured in numbers like connection speeds, pixel rates, etc, there is less agreement and even less comparable data in the field of social progress. Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29989659.post-2572701196462083602013-10-20T05:40:00.000-04:002013-11-02T05:36:47.851-04:00A stay at Plum Village, Mindfulness Practice Center, off-season<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Already when I started meditating a little more than a year ago, I heard of the concept of "meditation retreat" or "going to a monastery" and I found it so fascinating that I also wanted to do it. Since I had hoped that my girl friend at the time would come with, I had delayed my trip, but this month I finally made it. During the last year, I had already found that meditation has helped me a lot, but I also sensed that there is a lot more there to attain. So I went to</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="http://plumvillage.org/retreats/visiting-us/" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plum Village</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> very enthusiastically last week: to deepen my practice, to find fellow practitioners, to meet monks and nuns and generally see what it's like. And it was wonderful!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since there’s a lot which happened inside and outside my mind, I’ll just focus on few topics here and describe them with a bit of detail. (The link above already contains a lot of the overall basic information…) One important thing to keep in mind is that during summer-retreat season there’s lot’s more people and also all the families with kids, so the atmosphere is probably quite different from what I experienced off-season: less people and more of them had previous experience with Plum Village or where staying for a longer period of time. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Daily Activities</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: the <a href="http://plumvillage.org/retreats/visiting-us/sample-schedule/" target="_blank">sample schedule</a> of a "normal day" applies only to three days out of four in the week, because </span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">there is a reduced schedule on arrivals and departure day (the monks do "mindful work" either receiving or seeing off guests or doing stuff around the village), </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">there are two "Days of Mindfulness" (Thursday and Sunday when I was there) where monastics and visitors all gather in one of the hamlets to hear a lecture (see below) together, share a formal lunch, and have mixed Dharma sharing (also see below). On Sundays there are also a lot of visitors coming just for the day (which I think is a really good way to spend a Sunday) and to my surprise even Thursday had a lot of external visitors. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">and finally there is one <a href="http://plumvillage.org/retreats/visiting-us/lazy-day/" target="_blank">lazy day</a>.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First of all, why people go to retreats like this:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to pick up positive energy</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> from nature, the calm and silence, mindful being (eating, walking, rituals, simple work), and all the wonderful people around (lay and monastic alike).</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to deal with specific or unspecific problems</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in their lives. Buddhists would call it “deal with suffering”, but the term really doesn’t matter.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to figure out what they want to do</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with their life. Instead of travelling around the world, travelling their inside world, so to say. Although I met several people who actually travelled Europe or the World and included one or more weeks at the monastery in their travels. Many of them had already done retreats in one of the Plum Village offspring practice centers (for example at EIAB in Germany, AIAB in Hongkong, or Plum Village Thailand) or retreats held by travelling monastics around the world (for example in Toronto or Malaysia).</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to develop their character</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, become more skillful, become a better person.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and again, do all this </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">learning and growing</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in an environment which is very relaxing, laid-back, and free from stress. Not just external big stress, but also all the small stresses of human interaction, especially if you decide to do it as a silent retreat.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During my last year of mindfulness I had known several “kinds” of meditation, but they were all basically sitting meditation only differing in what I do with my thoughts I what I focus my attention on. (Notable exception: cycling meditation where I focus on the movement of my feet in order to stop my thoughts going wild.)</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At Plum Village I discovered a whole lot of new meditation practices:</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first and most important practice is breathing</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with the mantra “I have arrived. I am truly home.” to remind ourselves to be in the present moment, to feel our feelings, whatever we do. This practice spans through all of our daily activities which we want to conduct mindfully, keeping in touch with our breathing. </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Walking meditation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: appreciate nature, appreciate our breathing of fresh air in nature, imagine to walk with someone holding their hand (ex: someone who has died, someone who is far away, someone who is in difficulty).</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sitting meditation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: enjoy sitting there! enjoy your breath. watch your thoughts, watch your feelings and you impermanent they are and how they disappear.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Working meditation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: do simple tasks around the village (like cleaning, picking up fruit or nuts, making jam, carry things around, …) and do them mindfully, that is work silently and with your attention going to your work or your breath whenever you notice that you’re thinking of something else.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mindful eating</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: recite the five contemplations (or your own katha). eat in silence for at least the first 20 minutes. concentrate on the taste of the food. (even if it becomes boring! overcome the boredom and start sensing something deeper!)</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Listening meditation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: one of the most important and difficult applications of mindfulness in practice! listen to someone without judging, without formulating your own answers, without reacting emotionally. instead just concentrate on listening. when you feel your own thoughts or feelings arising, just ask yourself: what kind of feeling is it? when did it start appearing? and then go back to listening. (or notice your breathing, if you need calming down.)</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Listening to the bell</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: whatever we are doing, the bell calls us back to feel our breath, our body, our feelings, and our purpose, so we don’t get distracted by what’s going on around us.</span></div>
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</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To close the circle, all those forms of meditation serve the purpose of bringing mindfulness from the pure (sitting) meditation sessions out into your life, especially when dealing with other people and the emotions caused by this.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think that during the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">themed retreats</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (up to three or four weeks, dates announced each year), which are led personally by Thich Nhat Hanh (“Thay”), all those kinds of meditations are explained in the Dharma talks. I came for stay in-between seasons and there was only short introduction to the village’s practices on Saturday morning (and a mini-short personal intro when I signed in on Friday). Those </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">non-themed stays</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are thus more for people who have some previous experience with mindfulness and meditation. If you need more info just ask any monk (or if you are female, any nun) during the not-completely-silent times of the retreat. When I was there, many of the lay guests where long-term stays (many of them aspiring to become monks) so I could also ask them. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dharma lectures</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (or Dharma talks) are giving by Thay himself when he is present at Plum Village. At my visit he was travelling on his North America Tour and holding a themed retreat on </span><a href="http://deerparkmonastery.org/events/tours-with-thich-nhat-hanh/teaching-tour-with-thich-nhat-hanh-in-north-america/finding-our-true-home" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Finding our true home”</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I think the retreat had a Dharma talk or Q&A by Thay every day, while the ordinary (non-themed) retreats only have Dharma talks on the Days of Mindfulness, that is, every Thursday and Saturdays, when there are also guests coming for just this one day. So during my stay, we viewed video-recordings of Thay’s sessions given the same week at Deer Park Park Monastery: one lecture and one Q&A.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the most transforming aspects of the practice are the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dharma Sharing</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> sessions. I don’t want to describe them in detail here and just say that they are a wonderful occasion to practice deep listening (or mindful listening meditation) and to connect profoundly with other participants of the retreat. (Links: </span><a href="http://plumvillage.org/mindfulness-practice/dharma-sharing/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Purpose of Dharma Sharing</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="http://www.orderofinterbeing.org/2011/07/dharma-sharing/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rules of Dharma Sharing</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="http://www.charlottemindfulness.org/discussion.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another list of Guidelines for Dharma Sharing</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, one aspect I want to shed more light on is the “Noble Silence” and the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Silent Retreats</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Generally, Plum Village is both a place to relax and have fun as well as practicing complete silence and I think that their house rules provide a very good compromise for that:</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Noble Silence for everybody</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is every day from the (silent) evening meditation (8pm in the Fall schedule) until after breakfast the next morning (7pm). This notably includes the morning meditation (except of course the chanting and reciting during the ceremony) and all the free time in between which people use to walk between meditation hall, bed room, wash room, and dining hall. Since the schedule is always quite stable there is really no need to talk to anybody else or even wait for anybody else. Everybody just silently goes their way. If you really want to say “Hello” or rather “Good Night” and “Good Morning” to someone then just silently fold your hands and bow. :-)</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have to admit that I sometimes broke this noble silence in the evening to ask if any of my six room mates needs to go to the wash room before I take one of my rather long showers. But otherwise, it worked quite well and especially in the morning I found it awesomely refreshing to be awake for two hours (5:30 to about 7:30) and be around nice people without need to talk to anybody.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Self-chosen Noble Silence</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was also practiced by some people to different degrees. For example, some people (including all the aspiring monks) did all their daily walking around as walking meditation in silence. If they wanted to talk to somebody on the way, they’d just stop walking and gave that person their full attention. Some others simply chose to not start conversations and stay away from group conversations so they’d get a lot of silence for themselves. </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One nice example</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was a long-term staying musician who answered all my questions on where to find the lines and notes of the breathing songs and then, when my questions became unspecific and chatty, he told me that he is “actually trying to do </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">three months of silence</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”. (For the curious: the songbook is </span><a href="http://www.parallax.org/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?preadd=action&key=BOOKBOPCD" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Basket of Plums</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and you can </span><a href="http://archive.org/details/ABasketOfPlums" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">listen to the songs online</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, too.)</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dharma Sharing and communal singing or of course exempt from noble silence, although someone could of course choose just not say anything during Dharma sharing and just use it to practice listening meditation!</span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-32625f00-d53b-f5fe-5848-898cc71f99c2"></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To sum up, my stay at Plum Village was awesome, relaxing, and inspiring. And I met some people for whom it was very healing, too! One thing the stay inspired me to do is to visit the German Plum Village spin-off before I start paid work again. The </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">European Institute of Applied Buddhism</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> also hosts some monastics and is located in an old hospital within a park in the small town of Waldbröl (which is between Cologne and Frankfurt, or in higher resolution for the Germans: between Bonn and Siegen). I also want to connect with Sanghas in Berlin and generally with practitioners in Germany. But I think that after a while I’ll probably enjoy going back to the original Plum Village because it still seems to be the original thing!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PS: Here's a very interesting <a href="http://adventuresoftheromahome.blogspot.fr/2011/08/plum-village-summer-retreat-2011-with.html" target="_blank">report of Plum Village during Summer Camp time</a> with 800 visitors staying there!</span></div>
Robert Jack Wildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161002355215820551noreply@blogger.com0