August 9, 2010
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism (the larger of the two major traditions of Buddhism existing today, the other being Theravāda). The Japanese word zen is derived from the Chinese word chán, which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which means ‘meditation’ or ‘meditative state.’ Zen aims at enlightenment by direct intuition through meditation.
The emergence of Zen as a distinct school of Buddhism was first documented in China in the 7th century CE. From China, Zen spread south to Vietnam, and east to Korea and Japan. As a matter of tradition, the establishment of Zen is credited to the South Indian prince-turned-monk Bodhidharma, who came to China to teach a ‘special transmission outside scriptures, not founded on words or letters.’
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August 9, 2010
The Vedas [vey-duhs] (Sanskrit for ‘knowledge’) are a large body of texts originating in ancient India, which constitute the oldest Sanskrit literature (1500–1000 BCE) and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. The texts are aggregated around the four canonical Vedas:.Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda. Together they make up a sacred collection of hymns, incantations, and liturgical rites. The Atharva Veda is less predominant than other Vedas and is little used in solemn ritual. According to Hindu tradition, the Vedas are, ‘not of human agency.’ The individual verses contained in these compilations are known as mantras. Some selected Vedic mantras are still recited at prayers, religious functions and other auspicious occasions in contemporary Hinduism.
The various Indian philosophies and sects have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which cite them as their scriptural authority are classified as orthodox. Other traditions, notably Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, which did not regard the Vedas as authorities are referred to by traditional Hindu texts as heterodox schools.
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August 7, 2010
Klezmer [klez-mer] is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre consists largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations. Although the genre has its origins in Eastern Europe, the particular form now known as klezmer developed in the United States in the milieu of Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants who arrived between 1880 and 1924.
Of all the musical styles which influenced the traditional Klezmer musicians, the Romanian influence seems to be the strongest and most enduring. Traditional Romanian music was heard, adopted and adapted by Klezmer musicians. This fact is reflected in the dance forms found throughout the entire surviving Klezmer music repertoire (e.g., Horas).
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August 7, 2010
Zydeco [zahy-di-koh] is a form of American roots or folk music. It evolved in southwest Louisiana in the early 19th century from forms of Creole music. The rural black Creoles of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas still sing in Louisiana Creole French. The word is derived from the French word le zaricot, which means ‘green beans’ or ‘snap beans.’
Usually fast tempo and dominated by accordion and a form of a washboard known as a ‘rub-board’ or frottoir, zydeco music was originally created at house dances, where families and friends gathered for socializing. Sometimes the music moved to the Catholic Church community center, as Creoles were mostly Catholic. Later it moved to rural dance halls and nightclubs. As a result, the music integrated waltzes, shuffles, two-steps, blues, rock and roll, and most dance music forms of the era. Today, the tradition of change and evolution in the music continues. It stays current while integrating even more genres such as R&B, soul, brass band, reggae, urban hip, ska, rock, Afro-Caribbean and other styles, in addition to the traditional forms.
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August 7, 2010
Playing for Change is a multimedia music project created by the American producer and sound engineer Mark Johnson with his Timeless Media Group, that seeks to bring together musicians from around the world. Playing For Change also created a separate non-profit organization called the Playing For Change Foundation which builds music schools for children around the world.
The creators of the project, Mark Johnson and Enzo Buono, traveled around the world to places such as New Orleans, Barcelona, South Africa, India, Nepal, the Middle East and Ireland. Using a mobile recording equipment, the duo recorded local musicians performing the same song, interpreted into their own style.
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August 6, 2010
The sweeper is a position on a soccer team. It is versatile type of defender who ‘sweeps up’ the ball if an opponent manages to breach the defensive line. He is more fluid than other defenders who man-mark their designated opponents. Because of this, the position is sometimes referred to as libero; from the Italian word meaning ‘free.’
Though the sweeper may be expected to build counter-attacking moves, and as such requires better ball control and passing ability than a typical back, his or her talents are often confined to the defensive realm. In modern football, its usage has been fairly restricted, with few clubs in the biggest leagues using the position.
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August 5, 2010
Plumpy’nut is a peanut-based food for use in famine relief which was formulated in 1999 by André Briend, a French paediatric nutritionist. The product is a high protein and high energy peanut-based paste in a foil wrapper. It tastes slightly sweeter than peanut butter. It is categorized by the WHO as a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). Plumpy’nut requires no water preparation or refrigeration and has a 2 year shelf life making it easy to deploy in difficult conditions to treat severe acute malnutrition. It can be used as a replacement for infant formula for children who are at least 6 months old.
Plumpy‘nut was first used during the crisis in Darfur in western Sudan. There, it was fed to some 30,000 children and aid officials there say it has helped cut malnutrition rates in half. It has since been used by the UN and humanitarian organizations in Niger, Haiti, and many other countries.
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August 5, 2010
Blindekuh are two restaurants where patrons are served in the dark. The restaurants are located in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland. The name is derived from ‘Blinde Kuh’ (blind cow), the German name for blind man’s bluff. No lights are allowed inside a Blindekuh. Patrons are served by blind and visually impaired people. Both locations offer cultural events such as readings or concerts in the dark.
The first Blindekuh, opened on September 17, 1999 and is claimed to be the world’s first dark restaurant. The concept has subsequently been replicated elsewhere, including in London, Paris, Sydney, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv and Beijing as restaurants and multiple cities in the United States. Some dark restaurants supply night vision equipment to the wait staff.
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August 5, 2010
A silent disco is a disco where people dance to music listened to on headphones. Rather using than a speaker system, music is broadcast via an FM transmitter with the signal being picked up by wireless headphone receivers worn by the partygoers. Those without the headphones hear no music, giving the effect of a room full of people dancing to nothing. Often two DJs compete for listeners. Silent discos and silent gigs are popular at music festivals as they allow dancing to continue past noise curfews. Similar events are ‘mobile clubbing’ gatherings, where a group of people meet up, often on short notice, to dance to the music on their personal music players.
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August 4, 2010
Rule 34 is a generally accepted internet observation which states: ‘If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions.’ It implies that there is a sexual fetish for every conceivable subject matter. It originated from a 2003 webcomic drawn by Peter Morley-Souter to depict his shock at seeing Calvin and Hobbes parody porn. Morley-Souter posted his comic on the United Kingdom website ‘Zoom-Out in 2004,’ and it has been widely reproduced. ‘Boing Boing’ blogger Cory Doctorow writes of the meme: ‘Rule 34 can be thought of as a kind of indictment of the Web as a cesspit of freaks, geeks, and weirdos, but seen through the lens of cosmopolitanism,’ which ‘bespeaks a certain sophistication—a gourmet approach to life.’
The conundrum of finding an Internet pornographic exception to Rule 34’s ‘No exceptions’ led to Rule 35: ‘If no porn is found at the moment, it will be made.’
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August 4, 2010
Godwin’s law is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1990 which has become an Internet adage. It states: ‘As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.’ In other words, given enough time, all discussions —regardless of topic or scope —inevitably wind up being about Hitler and the Nazis. Also the poster who mentioned Nazis loses all debates/discussions they had in said topic, and their insults are nullified. Godwin’s law is often cited in online discussions as a deterrent against the use of arguments in the widespread reductio ad Hitlerum form.
The rule does not make any statement about whether any particular reference or comparison to Adolf Hitler or the Nazis might be appropriate, but only asserts that the likelihood of such a reference or comparison arising increases as the discussion progresses. It is precisely because such a comparison or reference may sometimes be appropriate, Godwin has argued that overuse of Nazi and Hitler comparisons should be avoided, because it robs the valid comparisons of their impact. Although in one of its early forms Godwin’s law referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions, the law is now applied to any threaded online discussion: electronic mailing lists, message boards, chat rooms, and more recently blog comment threads, wiki talk pages, and social networking sites.
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August 4, 2010
A pony bottle is a small diving cylinder, often of only a few litres capacity, which is filled from a main tank before a dive and fitted with its own independent regulator. In an emergency, such as exhaustion of the diver’s main air supply, it can be used as an alternate air source in place of a controlled emergency swimming ascent. By comparison a bailout bottle, which serves a similar purpose, is both smaller and has a regulator integrated into the cylinder. Since their introduction in the 1980s, bailout bottles have been the subject of debate within the diving community.
The argument against bailout bottles is that they do not have sufficient capacity to get a diver in many emergency situations back to the surface safely, and thus cause divers to feel a false sense of safety. A review carried out by Scuba Diving magazine attempted to give a sense of from what depth bailout bottles of various capacities could get divers to the surface under maximum safe ascent rates. The review found that a 1.7 cubic foot bottle had sufficient air to get the reviewing diver from 45 feet to the surface; a 3 cubic foot bottle from a depth of 70 feet; and a 6 cubic foot bottle from the maximum reviewed depth of 132 feet.
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