"Their forelimbs and shoulders are heavily muscled and the forepaws have long sharp retractile claws, enabling them to grab and hold prey once contact is made.. The skull is foreshortened, thus increasing the shearing leverage of the powerful jaws.. The tongue is coated with sharp-pointed papillae which retain and lacerate food and rip flesh off a carcass. Large canines are used to bring down and hold prey."
San Francisco Zoo Website

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the Ox that draws the cart.

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable.

How can a troubled mind understand the way?

Your worst enemy cannot harm you
As much as your own thoughts, unguarded.

But once mastered,
No one can help you as much,
Not even your father or your mother.

How joyful to look upon the awakened
And to keep company with the wise.

Follow then the shining ones,
The wise, the awakened, the loving,
For they know how to work and forbear.

But if you cannot find
Friend or master to go with you,
Travel on alone--
Like a king who has given away his kingdom,
Like an elephant in the forest.

If the traveler can find
A virtuous and wise companion
Let him go with him joyfully
And overcome the dangers of the way.
Follow them
As the moon follows the path of the stars.

~The Dhammapada

###

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.

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

Below are 9 GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader) splash images freely shared and a brief explanation of how I got GRUB configured to display them. (I dual boot Ubuntu and Windows Vista.)

Buddha	Face	Daisy
Skull	Space	Mandalas
Vase	Grass	Klimt

(image sources: TheMattrix, pscott, Metzgermeister, t_graye, stewie, firinel, e-things, Slayer)

We Are Not Crumbs;
We Must Not Accept Crumbs

By Larry Kramer

One day AIDS came along. It happened fast. Almost every man I was friendly with died. Eric still talks about his first boyfriend, 180 pounds, 28 years old, former college athlete, who became a 119 pound bag of bones covered in purple splotches in months. Many of us will always have memories like this that we can never escape.

Out of this came ACT UP. We grew to have chapters and affinity groups and spin-offs and affiliations all over the world. Hundreds of men and women once met weekly in New York City alone. Every single treatment against HIV is out there because of activists who forced these drugs out of the system, out of the labs, out of the pharmaceutical companies, out of the government, into the world. It is an achievement unlike any other in the history of the world. All gay men and women must let ourselves feel colossally proud of such an achievement. Hundreds of millions of people will be healthier because of us. Would that they could be grateful to us for saving their lives.

My frequent trips to the Ubuntu forums often bring me in contact with posts about the visual wonder that is the Beryl composite window manager (now known as Compiz Fusion). I decided to take the plunge and see if my experience lived up to all the hype. In short, it has. I now find working with a regular desktop window manager limiting. Though I love the Gnome desktop environment, 3D desktops are so freeing it's difficult to go back to anything less.

See for yourself!
(hat tip: BastionPL)

Installing XGL + Beryl on Ubuntu Edgy Eft with an ATI card is relatively easy once you get the fglrx video driver working properly (that can be the tricky part). By the way, I use Trevino's Beryl SVN repository. However, when I tried to enable the ANIMATED SKYDOME feature in Beryl-Manager under Desktop / Desktop Cube / Skydome, I had trouble. Browsing the Beryl forums led me to the realization that I needed to use a PNG image with a specific resolution ratio. I'm still at a loss as to the specifics beyond that but I have found a formula which works for me on my laptop with a screen resolution of 1280x800. The formula: a PNG image at a resolution of 4096x1024. That's it.

While we cannot absolutely disprove the existence of Unicorns, Gnomes, Mermaids, Zeus, Aphrodite, Santa, The Tooth Fairy, The Boogey Man, etc. and must remain technically Agnostic about them, it is okay to proclaim oneself an Atheist when discussing such things. Most people do so easily. Thus, it is intellectually okay to proclaim one's Atheism when it comes to any of the popular supernatural beliefs of today. Just do it.

Proclaiming one's Atheism is a statement about the importance of evidence in your thinking. We should not appease those who believe in the supernatural by being wishy-washy and identifying only as Agnostic if we would easily identify as Atheists about Mermaids, Unicorns and Talking Dogs.

Would you do the same if the Supernatural Set were to begin insisting that the world is flat based on an ancient text? Would you appease them by not insisting on evidence and reality in such matters? Would you appease them by calling yourself an Agnostic despite the overwhelming evidence?

It is irresponsible to tolerate nonsense especially in front of children. Naturalism (Atheism, Zoology, Geology, etc.) is to SuperNaturalism (Heaven, Gods, Curses, Withcraft, Hell) as the scientifically trained Medical Doctor is to the superstition based Witch Doctor. In both sets, one is easily and obviously discredited by the truthfulness (or lack thereof) of the information it gives us about reality. They ought not ever be equated.

God Beings are imaginary. Prayer is superstition like horseshoes or finger crossing. The Bible is repulsive, medieval, barbaric. Faith in the supernatural is bizarre and indefensible. An Afterlife is nothing more than wishful thinking. Sorry.

The Universe, just as we know it with our senses and with our technology, is more than enough for me. Its infinite awesome mystery, beauty and depth easily renders feeble and puny the various mythologies of man.

(Written in response to "Atheist groups are on the rise" from The Sun-Sentinel of South Florida.)

No. We don't need religion to make good decisions. And by religion, I mean that which differentiates it from other community organizations:

• belief in the supernatural and the superstitious (a god being, prayer, miracles) and
• faith in the infallibility of ancient texts or the authority of the priestly class (bible, koran, pope, preacher, etc.).

Decision making ought to be based on the best facts that one can surmise. Since we know that ancient texts are often filled with barbaric cruel immoral contradictory stories (see the Bible) written by a multitude of men for a multitude of ancient cultures, they cannot be the best source of wisdom when deciding things today.

These facts ought to based on reality or as close an approximation to reality that is currently available. The Scientific Method (and its handmaiden: Technology) is the best tool we have for investigating reality. With science, we separate fact from wishful thinking (an afterlife, angels, psychic power). With science, we separate fact from superstition (prayer, ghosts, curses, hell).

Reality ought to be based on evidence. Evidence is the foundation of science. And evidence ought to be the foundation for good decisions. Not supernatural beliefs, not superstitions, not faith in ancient texts, not adherence to dogma, not anything non-reality based.

Therefore, the best decision making from the minute (or individual) to the grand (or governmental) ought to be based on facts, based on reality, based on evidence.

And most people already live their lives in this way. People insist their transportation, medicine, food, buildings and utilities meet strict scientific standards. People insist their professionals: doctors, lawyers, engineers, technicians, and mechanics are trained according to strict scientific standards.

"There's a common misunderstanding among all the human beings who have ever been born on the earth that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain and just try to get comfortable. you can see this even in insects and animals and birds. All of us are the same.

A much more interesting, kind, adventurous, and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our inquisitiveness is bitter or sweet. To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passioante, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is, how we tick and how our world ticks, how the whole thing just is. If we're committed to comfort at any cost, as soon as we come up against the least edge of pain, we're going to run; we'll never know what's beyond that particular barrier or wall or fearful thing.

When people start to meditate or to work with any kind of spiritual discipline, they often think that somehow they're going to improve, which is a sort of subtle aggression against who they really are. ... But loving-kindness --- maitri --- toward ourselves doesn't mean getting rid of anything. Maitri means that we can still be crazy after all these years. We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is not to try to change ourselves. Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already. The ground of practice is you or me or whoever we are right now, just as we are. That's the ground, that's what we study, that's what we come to know with tremendous curiosity and interest."

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In this broadcast, I've assembled selections from the award winning Brokeback Mountain Soundtrack. Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla's evocative theme opens and closes this playlist. In between you'll hear music from Rufus Wainwright, Roger Miller, Bob Dylan, Teddy Thompson and Bernie Taupin with performances by Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris.

Download QVF Podcast Eleven (mp3) or
Subscribe to the QVF Podcast Feed (iTunes, MyYahoo, Odeo, etc.).

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In this broadcast, we'll be exploring a few variations on the Jerome Kern standard All The Things You Are. First, Sarah Vaughan uses her sultry voice to lay out the basics for us. Then, you'll hear the sax of Sonny Rollins, the trumpet of Chet Baker and the piano of Keith Jarrett. Can you identify the other perfomers? Who's the guitarist after Sarah and whose magnificent orchestra concludes this playlist?

Download QVF Podcast Ten (mp3) or
Subscribe to the QVF Podcast Feed (iTunes, MyYahoo, Odeo, etc.).

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In this broadcast, Latin Jazz is our theme. First up, three selections from Cal Tjader's album Soul Sauce: Guachi Guaro, Cuando Cuando Que Sera and Afro Blue. Next, a brilliant performance by guitarist Al Di Meola entitled Mediterranean Sundance. Then, the British Jazz Fusion group Acoustic Alchemy gives us the beautiful The Wind of Change.

Download QVF Podcast Nine (mp3) or
Subscribe to the QVF Podcast Feed (iTunes, MyYahoo, Odeo, etc.).

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In this broadcast, I present for your listening pleasure a few choice highlights from Sondheim's A Little Night Music. Selections include Now, Remember, You Must Meet My Wife, The Sun Won't Set and of course Send In The Clowns. The recording is from the Royal National Theatre's revival starring Judy Dench.

Download QVF Podcast Eight (mp3) or
Subscribe to the QVF Podcast Feed (iTunes, MyYahoo, Odeo, etc.).

...Only the atheist recognizes the boundless narcissism and self-deceit of the saved. Only the atheist realizes how morally objectionable it is for survivors of a catastrophe to believe themselves spared by a loving God while this same God drowned infants in their cribs. Because he refuses to cloak the reality of the world’s suffering in a cloying fantasy of eternal life, the atheist feels in his bones just how precious life is--and, indeed, how unfortunate it is that millions of human beings suffer the most harrowing abridgements of their happiness for no good reason at all.

One wonders just how vast and gratuitous a catastrophe would have to be to shake the world’s faith. The Holocaust did not do it. Neither did the genocide in Rwanda, even with machete-wielding priests among the perpetrators. Five hundred million people died of smallpox in the 20th Century, many of them infants. God’s ways are, indeed, inscrutable. It seems that any fact, no matter how infelicitous, can be rendered compatible with religious faith. In matters of faith, we have kicked ourselves loose of the Earth.

Of course, people of faith regularly assure one another that God is not responsible for human suffering. But how else can we understand the claim that God is both omniscient and omnipotent? There is no other way, and it is time for sane human beings to own up to this. This is the age-old problem of theodicy, of course, and we should consider it solved. If God exists, either he can do nothing to stop the most egregious calamities or he does not care to. God, therefore, is either impotent or evil. Pious readers will now execute the following pirouette: God cannot be judged by merely human standards of morality. But, of course, human standards of morality are precisely what the faithful use to establish God’s goodness in the first place. And any God who could concern himself with something as trivial as gay marriage, or the name by which he is addressed in prayer, is not as inscrutable as all that. If he exists, the God of Abraham is not merely unworthy of the immensity of creation; he is unworthy even of man... [more]