For instance, the texts at asianclassics.org are encoded in the TibetanMachineWeb font. This font relies on some arcane encoding to produce the proper stacks of consonants, etc. Because of this, the texts offered by that site cannot be used as-is if any kind of sensible information processing is going to be performed on [...]
A few minutes ago, I came across yet another AP news item about the current financial crisis in the US. The article reports that Barack Obama “said the final product must protect U.S. taxpayers and include a commitment to new regulatory reforms.” My first thought was “hell, yeah!” there has to be some [...]
A few random thoughts about my time at Dharma Drum Mountain…
Once in a while a meal at DDM turns out to be challenge. The only implements I use for eating are one metal bowl and one set of metal chopsticks. Now consider that all the food primarily goes into the bowl and that [...]
Sinlaku, sinlaku, you will always be my first! My first typhoon that is. Taiwan’s weather is going to be interesting. A few days ago I felt a small earthquake. I asked my room mate whether there really was an earthquake or whether I dreamed. He confirmed that there indeed had [...]
I’ve just started using VirtualBox. I quickly ran into a problem though. I quickly found that scim prevents VirtualBox from registering the “Host Key” (the right control key by default) which is used to prompt VirtualBox to stop grabbing the keyboard input. I’ve googled for solutions but all of them were either [...]
I am quite impressed with the degree of environmental awareness evident at Dharma Drum Mountain. Signs are displayed to remind people to turn off electric appliances which are not in use, to recycle, to minimize water consumption, etc. I was particularly happy to notice that rooms have independent heating and cooling controls. [...]
At Dharma Drum Mountain, communal meals are provided by the monastics. So the food is prepared in accordance with monastic rules. It’s two salient features are that it is vegetarian and does not contain ingredients likely to incite passions (like garlic or onions). I have mentioned before that people warned me that [...]
I’m going to be updating this site to the latest version of Wordpress. It is likely that the site will be down for a bit and also it is likely that the theme will change. Unfortunately, I do not believe that the theme I’m using is very convenient to use. I [...]
I’ve arrived at Dharma Drum Buddhist College (法鼓佛教學院) in Taipei County in Taiwan on September 2nd in the evening. After three days here I think I’m getting over the jet lag. Yesterday was the worst. I napped three times during the day, went to bed really early and got up really early [...]
