October, 2007


22
Oct 07

AWN (Avant Window Navigator) Themes

For those of you who have installed the fantastic AWN (Avant Window Navigator) animated dock to add that last extra Wow! to your desktop, I give you the following AWN Themes. Remember you will need to first enable a composite window manager for AWN to display properly (Compiz Fusion is included by default in the new Ubuntu). For help installing AWN in Ubuntu, see this thread in the Ubuntu Forums.

To install AWN themes…

  1. Pick a theme below and download by clicking the theme title.
  2. Open up AWN Manager via System/Preferences or by right-clicking the AWN dock.
  3. Drag the downloaded theme package into the themes window (or use the ADD button).
  4. Choose the theme, hit apply and then use the refresh button at the bottom left. Sometimes you will need to restart AWN before your new theme applies itself fully.
  5. All themes below can be switched from the Flat Bar style to the 3D Look style (and vice versa) in the Bar Appearance tab.

Click on the images below to see a complete desktop with the particular AWN Theme in use.

Invisible Transparent Glass 3D
Shadow Black Milky
Ubuntu Camouflage Blue
Green Swirls Ancient Brick
Blue Flowers Pink Floral Stained Glass

If you wish, you may download all 15 themes here.


11
Oct 07

If You Meet The Buddha, Kill Him

“No meaning that comes from outside of ourselves is real. The Buddhahood of each of us has already been obtained. We need only recognize it. Thus the Zen Master warns his disciple: If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!”
The following is the eschatological laundry list excerpt from Sheldon Kopp’s If you Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him:
If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him! The Pilgrimage of Psychotherapy Patients
1. This is it.
2. There are no hidden meanings.
3. You can’t get there from here, and besides there is no place to go.
4. We are already dying, and we’ll be dead a long time.
5. Nothing lasts!
6. There is no way of getting all you want.
7. You can’t have anything unless you let go of it.
8. You only get to keep what you give away.
9. There is no particular reason why you lost out on some things.
10. The world is not necessarily just. Being good often does not pay off and there’s no compensation for misfortune.
11. You have the responsibility to do your best nonetheless.
12. It’s a random universe to which we bring meaning.
13. You really don’t control anything.
14. You can’t make anyone love you.
15. No one is any stronger or any weaker than anyone else.
16. Everyone is, in his own way, vulnerable.
17. There are no great men.
18. If you have a hero, look again; you have diminished yourself in some way.
19. Everyone lies, cheats, pretends. (yes, you too, and most certainly myself.)
20. All evil is potentially vitality in need of transformation.
21. All of you is worth something if you will only own it.
22. Progress is an illusion.
23. Evil can be displaced but never eradicated, as all solutions breed new problems.
24. Yet it is necessary to keep struggling toward solution.
25. Childhood is a nightmare.
26. But it is so very hard to be an on-your-own, take-care-of-yourself-cause-there-is-no-one-else-to-do-it-for-you grown-up.
27. Each of us is ultimately alone.
28. The most important things each man must do for himself.
29. Love is not enough, but it sure helps.
30. We have only ourselves, and one another. That may not be much, but that’s all there is.
31. How strange, that so often, it all seems worth it.
32. We must live within the ambiguity of partial freedom, partial power, and partial knowledge.
33. All important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficient data.
34. Yet we are responsible for everything we do.
35. No excuses will be accepted.
36. You can run, but you can’t hide.
37. It is most important to run out of scapegoats.
38. We must learn the power of living with our helplessness.
39. The only victory lies is in surrender to oneself.
40. All of the significant battles are waged within the self.
41. You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences.
42. What do you know for sure…anyway?
43. Learn to forgive yourself, again and again and again and again.