Scala, Java, Unix, MacOS tutorials (page 1)

In a previous post I wrote that True Christian Voters should trust the Bible, Jesus, and themselves, and today I want to get into a topic that has made me so upset that I’ve started writing about these things: That we — Christian voters — need to start voting for people who REALLY tell the truth, and SHOULD NOT vote for people who blatantly lie.

If you can’t tell from that paragraph, I’m sick and tired of politicians and television shows trying to co-opt Jesus’s message for their gain. I hope you agree that this needs to stop.

What Jesus said about telling the truth

To begin with, let’s look at what Jesus said about telling the truth, and how we should not lie.

Dear Fellow Christian Voters,

As what I call a True Christian Voter, it REALLY upsets me when politicians and so-called “news” networks distort Jesus’s messages for their own political gain. It obviously drives me crazy, because here I am writing this.

To help un-distort those false words, I’m asking you as a True Christian to base your 2024 votes on the FACTS. Don’t vote based on what politicians SAY, but on WHAT THEY DO.

Put another way, don’t let politicians and pollsters tell you how to vote: Vote based on your own knowledge and faith in the words of Jesus and The Bible.

Dear Fellow Christian Voters,

The 2024 voting season is upon us in the United States, and many politicians and news networks will try to make you believe they support Christian values.

Frankly, I’m fed up with all of them trying to use and distort Jesus’s message, and I’m here to ask you to ignore their WORDS and pay attention to their ACTIONS. As a Christian, just ask yourself:

Do the ACTIONS of this person really represent Christian values?

Scala 3 FAQ: What are opaque types in Scala?

Discussion

I previously wrote a little about Opaque Types in Scala 3, and today, as I’m working on a new video about opaque types, I thought I’d add some more information about them.

Mindfulness/meditation FAQ: What are the reasons, purposes, or motivations to practice mindfulness and meditation?

The motivations to meditate

I just took a little time to share some old notes from my meditation practice about “The purpose of mindfulness.” (This is also stated in other ways, like “Why bother being mindful?”, or, “What are the motivations for practicing mindfulness and meditation?”)

In the following sections I describe the purposes and motivations for practicing both mindfulness and meditation.

Before getting into my notes, I don’t know how many people know Ram Dass or have read his writings, but I updated the first motivation here based on his work, because if you really get into mindfulness and meditation, what he states is the end goal.

As I work more with ZIO 2, I also find myself thinking a lot about the ZIO 2 mental model, by which I partially mean “a way of thinking about your code” and also “ZIO 2 best practices.”

Here are my initial notes. Also, I hope that most of this code is mine, but several snippets are from other sources that I don’t remember, including the official ZIO 2 docs.

After my first-ever bought with diverticulitis, I wanted to make notes about what happened over the last five days.

Monday, April 7, 2015

On April 7, 2015, I woke up at 3:30am with pain and discomfort in my lower-left abdomen. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know what it was. It felt like a golf ball was lodged in there, and several hours later it was still there.

While many people know the famous Ram Dass book, Be Here Now — which is currently the #1 All-Time Best-Selling book in Spiritualism on Amazon — I’d argue that it’s not necessarily his best book.

For example, I have met a few people in my travels who were struggling to read and understand it it because of all the art and 1960s “hippie style” stuff — which I personally like — and it was at that time I realized that while Be Here Now is his most famous book, it may not be his best book. (The problem with the “hippie stuff” is that it’s also distracting.)

Ram Dass’s best books

IMHO, I think the following books are his best, where I believe best will also depend on (a) a person’s experience with his writings and teachings, and also (b) their own progress on the spiritual path. And in this case, I think it’s also about book’s that are more straight to the point.

When I first started meditating in the 1990s, I often had a hard time getting into the proper meditative state when I sat down on the meditation cushion. My “monkey mind” would be jumping all over the place, and it would take me a long time to get it to settle down. Many times I couldn’t even get it to settle down before my 30-minute timer went off.

Because of that, and because I really wanted to become better at meditating, I began experimenting with different ways to get into the meditative state faster.

As a result, this page is a summary of the best ways I know to help you get into a good meditation state when you take time to sit on the meditation cushion (or wherever else you sit). If you’re interested in getting into a deep state fast, these are the “best practices” I know, especially when you’re short on time.

In 2024 I watched the very emotional Elton John “Tiny Dancer” music video, and afterwards I wanted to do some research on how the music video was created, the story behind it, and what its meaning is. To that end, here’s a summary of what I found out about the “Tiny Dancer” music video.

The story and meaning of the Tiny Dancer song

The short story behind the Tiny Dancer song goes like this:

The song, “Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny),” by Elton John and Bernie Taupin is one of my favorite “sad” songs, and a great tribute to John Lennon, who was one of my “peaceful” inspirations when I was growing up. In the song, I think there are at least two interpretations of the lyrics, “It's funny how one insect can damage so much grain,” and I’d like to share those here.

Many websites seem to have the wrong lyrics for the Dave Matthews song, Grey Street, so to help correct that problem, here are the correct lyrics for the long version of Grey Street that Dave Matthews played with Tim Reynolds at “Live at Farm Aid 2021”:

Daniel Ingram was the first meditation teacher I ever heard who said that we should make meditation fun. He said something to the effect that when we sit down to meditate, we should try to sense vibrations as fast as possible — like playing a video game — and said, “Let’s bust some vibrations!”

Famous meditation teachers on staying mindful 24x7

As I think about trying to make meditation fun — and the use of mantras — I recall meditation teachers who have talked about the importance of staying mindful all day — 24x7 — to achieve enlightenment. For instance, here are just a few quotes: