Barry Graham's Blog, page 4

In a Glasgow Street

two seagulls peck at dead pigeon
two pigeons stand watching
a few feet away

Why you should use Mozilla

UK ISP Association, spies, censorship organisation jointly condemn Mozilla for supporting secure DNS because it breaks UK internet censorship rules

Fleet-o, ya bas!

On a walk today, I noticed one of Maryhill's venerable institutions is apparently still operating.

Is the Dalai Lama senile?

About eight years ago, in a review of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's book Beyond Religion, I wrote:

The Dalai Lama is one of the most misunderstood public figures, and he is misunderstood in two major ways. His fame as a spiritual teacher, combined with the warmth of his huge personality, makes it possible for people to enjoy his presence without actually hearing what he says, and so many of his fans experience him as a cuddly enabler along the lines of Thich Nhat Hanh or Deepak Chopra. In act...

Zen: The end of the journey

When does our journey end? When we realise we were never on a journey. For as long as we are the protagonist of our own story, on our own journey or quest or search, there’s no peace, because we’re never where we are, always where we aren’t. The path of Zen takes us to where we are.

"Why did Bodhidharma come from the west?"

"The oak tree in the garden."

To Rosemary Goring, Scottish writers who're not white are "patchy and negligible"

In my previous post, I linked to a Twitter thread by Professor Claire Squires explaining the absurdity of Rosemary Goring's entitled rant against diversity in funding for Scottish literary publications. Squires expands on this in an essay published on Bella Caledonia.

Diddums! The Scottish Review of Books is having a tantrum

The dreary Scottish Review of Books got denied 45 grand from Creative Scotland, so Rosemary Goring is jumping and and down and blaming "diversity targets." 

Claire Squires explains how absurd Goring's fit is.

New RSS feed for Angry Tattooed Monk

Daishin, the Angry Tattooed Monk, has changed blog platforms, which has affected her RSS feed. The new feed is at:
https://angrytattooedmonk.org/rss

Just listen, and ask questions

I recently heard a man, with no therapeutic training, tell a woman, a therapist, that her understanding of therapy was wrong. She values being present and listening more than giving instruction, and the man told her the patient might as well be talking to a dummy.

It reminded me of a conversation I had with someone who wanted to tell me their story. I listened for more than an hour, occasionally asking a clarifying question. The person found it helpful and comforting — except for when I interr...

Lucid dream

I dreamed I was writing in my note-book so I could remember the dream. But, in the dream, things kept happening to prevent my note-taking.