links for 2007-07-31
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there are some excellent points to friendship in this post derrived from Tom Rath
Archive for July, 2007
links for 2007-07-27
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It is about time that Microsoft came up with a PDF competitor. Now when are they going to embed spell check in IE forms feilds?
Journey to Ixtlan, The Lessons of Don Juan
Journey to Ixtlan, The Lessons of Don Juan
Shaun Hoggan
Diablo Valley College
Humanities 115
Instructor: James Wetzel
July 23, 2007
Journey to Ixtlan, The Lessons of Don Juan
Carlos Castaneda’s book Journey to Ixtlan The lessons of Don is about a professionally educated person, Carlos Castaneda, and his unpredictable interactions with Don Juan Matus, a self proclaimed Yaqui Indian Sorcerer whose viewpoint on life is seen through nontraditional means. Some would argue the un-seeming reality painted by Castaneda would indicate the character of Don Juan to be fictional, since his approach seems so foreign to the normalcy of most readers. When dissecting the book for meaning, Don Juan’s intent can be believable and even provides insights into the human psyche, which can be significant to the extent of changing the readers viewpoint on life and how to view and react to external forces around them, but does Castaneda embrace the beliefs of Don Juan? This paper will argue that despite copious amounts of time invested into Don Juan’s way of thinking, Castaneda does not fully subscribe to what is being taught to him by a genuinely sincere man, Don Juan.
Carlos Castaneda, in the first chapter, indicates his intent in seeking greater knowledge from Don Juan regarding the medicinal impacts of peyote and offers payment for Don Juan’s time. Upon rejection of Castaneda’s money, the reader begins to understand that something more exists to Don Juan than what meets the eye. Don Juan is portrayed as friendly, yet strange with cryptic, emotional cues when dialoging with Castaneda. Don Juan is also obstinate when it comes to choosing which choices are made and ensures they are consistent with his own belief system. The reader finds themselves trying to determine if something more exists to Don Juan than a simple Arizona desert living Indian.
Don Juan believes in forces which cannot be seen by natural human eyes, which include the human soul and the soul of all living things including plants, the wind, and the gurgling of a coffee pot. He is intelligent enough to understand that much of the human race is not aware of this and the knowledge, understanding, and ability to handle this information is power. A person can gain power by observing and practicing against these beliefs. The book surrounds the entire premise of Don Juan training Castaneda these beliefs and the new viewpoint on the world they will hold for Castaneda.
One of the crowning moments in gaining the power which Don Juan proselytes, is the moment when meeting one’s own personal ally. This is a time when the student or individual who has been prepared over an extended time is ready to meet a significant being who will be their individual aid, after a significant struggle with his or her ally. At the end of the book, Castaneda is faced with an opportunity of meeting his own ally after months of being trained in the ways of gaining power and having many experiences which could not be explained by any other means than the truthfulness of Don Juan’s words. It was certain that Castaneda had been challenged to his greatest extent and that he was able to identify and see firsthand what Don Juan had been teaching him was believable.
In the beginning, Castaneda had to be coerced into doing any action which was requested by Don Juan. As time passed, Castaneda became more trusting to Don Juan’s teachings, and more readily did as he was instructed without external verbal or internal complaint. The instructions provided to Castaneda, although noteworthy, seemed greatly sacred. Not to be confused with secret, these sacred principles and teachings provided to Castaneda are proven sacred in chapter 1 as Castaneda, when discussing the recording of their meetings, asks Don Juan if he can record their conversations, Castaneda writes regarding Don Juan’s reaction:
I … asked him if he would mind my bringing a camera with me to take pictures of him and his house.
“That’s out of the Question,” he said with a frown.
“How about a tape recorder? Would you mind that?”
“I’m afraid there’s no possibility of that either.”
I became annoyed and began to fret. I said I saw no logical reason for this refusal.
Don Juan shook his head negatively.
“Forget it,” he said forcefully. “And if you still want to see me don’t’ ever mention it again.” (Castaneda, 1972)
This event indicates that Don Juan considers these teachings important enough to not put them onto a recorded or acoustic imagery medium which can be left to interpretation and dispute from external sources. Don Juan intends to deliver his message through the spirit of meaning, intent and personal interpretation to a directed audience, not external sources other than those intended.
Castaneda has the reader hook line and sinker considering that he has fully adopted Don Juan’s teachings until the very last paragraph of the book. After being invited to see his ally for the first time, Castaneda chooses to get in his car and drive away from the opportunity from meeting his ally. He does this after Don Juan has left his presence. He excuses his reasoning with a brief explanation of not being ready.
Readers should consider that Castaneda, with his copious amount of notes taken during this surreal experience, had plans to turn this work into something for his own personal benefit. Castaneda writes eight books related to the subject matter of Don Juan. He used the experience to further his opportunity on the world and not to pay homage on the valuable lessons taught by Don Juan.
References:
New York, NY: Pocket Books.
links for 2007-07-23
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This is a necessary step in expanding the size of of a hard drive in Parallels
links for 2007-07-18
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Entrepreneurs, after all, typically don’t do well once processes become more important than innovation, so when the adult supervision is in place, they either move into the chairman chair or depart entirely.
The Stars
After arriving back from LA today around 11:30 PM, a sudden urge to run a few miles hit after realizing the 6 candy bars I ate earlier in the day (to stay awake from an early start today) were weighing me down physically and emotionally. When leaving the home, Amber won the coveted “best wife in the world award” for performing as the loving mother which she exemplifies. While walking out the front door, I could hear her laughing with my kids on the back lawn while looking up at the stars. First of all, the number of moms who would allow their children to stay up past 11:00PM are few and far between. Second of all, a woman with 3 boys under the age of 8 who just spent the day painting the house among other duteous chores around the home and can laugh like she was at that late hour deserves an award.
Running seems like such a chore while at home. The pain of leaving my family, considering the little time I spend with them already, is difficult to face and frequently prevents me from venturing out on the community streets seeking better health. Despite the pain in leaving my happy family behind I discovered the DVC track which is walking distance from where we live. While reflecting on how much I enjoyed running around the newly discovered soft padded rubber track, I truly missed my family and considered inviting them to run around the track the next evening. I think it will be difficult to get them to come but I don’t see any reason why we cannot make running a family activity. The track was super close to our home, fantastically soft to run on and was completely empty of all unknown strangers. The moment made me appreciate where I lived and how happy I was to be back home after many years abroad.
On the topic of wondering if moving back home was the best choice, I stumbled across Amber’s blog and saw this photo:
http://www.asistersvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/gold.jpg
I had realized when seeing this great shot that we could only get this living where we do. Life is good!
links for 2007-07-17
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The SunRocket Is Down For The Count
Cultural Taboo Skit, Third Draft
- Skit practice on the 18th of July
- Acting it out for class on the 23rd of July!!!
Scene 1, covers values VIII
Charlie Telling Madeline how to prep for meeting the family. They are driving in the car She should wear a black shirt.
Charlie is nervous; Madeline seems fine and feels confident that all will go well. How strange can the family be anyway?
Charlie and Madeline exit on one side of stage
Scene 2, covers values I, II, III, IV
The rest of the team enter on the other side of the stage as Charlie and Madeline exit.
Team starts chanting 3.14 equals PI….
Charlie and Madeline enter scene
Introductions are made and eye contact is avoided at all costs with Madeline. Madeline attempts to make eye contact….
Audible background conversations compare and contrast how different Charlie is and strange abnormalities with Madeline.
Scene 2.1 covers values II
In preparation for eating dinner group with sanitize their hands with hand sanitizer.
Scene 3 covers values I, II, IV, VI, VIII
Every one gathers around in circle or ground and start eating with dinner conversations regarding current news events. Belinda who is the one with the longest hair is considered the most wise. Comments are made by short haired people and group consensus is not achieved. Belinda says the same things and automatically everyone agrees with applause.
Scene 4 covers values V
Night hike with natural torches Madeline pulls out flash light which sends entire group into frenzy because of the artificial light
Scene 5 covers values III, IV, VII
Evening hike. Round sphere is encountered and entire groups starts to worship the sphere while Madeline discovers it is an ordinary ball and begins to play with it.
Entire group in disgust throws Melinda down a cliff to the dismay of Charlie who recalls the last time he brought a girl to meet his family that something similar happened.
Team member character development:
Cheryl is married to Shaun
Charlie son of Cheryl and Shaun is dating Madeline
Denise, Phoebe, Azeeta, are sisters to Charlie
Balinda possesses great wisdom
Joanne
Allie
Margaret
Sherrie
Kristtina
Assignments and Props:
Circle earrings, Pencils, black shirts and math tools: All
Torches and sign that Says CLIFF: Sherrie
Square basket: Joanne
Twinkies: Belinda
Beach ball, round plates: Denise
Flashlight, black shirt, and extra shirt: Madeline
Table cloth, and paper cups: Cheryl
Bagels: Allie
Grapes, apples, oranges: Shaun, Phoebe
Characteristics of characters:
Family:
- Mumble and avoids eye contact
- Obsessed with cleanness
- Don’t talk about politics
- Obsessed with natural light and color white
- Carry math related objects
Outline:
1) The Drive up to the campsite for a family reunion
a) Basic introduction to the family
i) Explanation of idiosyncrasies
ii) Family practices multiplication tables
iii) Round of applause for Charlies’s arrival
iv) Parents meet mom rest leave to do chores
2) Eating and community discussion
a) Madeline eats package food while family eats natural food
b) Madeline spills food and family immediately goes into clean mode
3) Hike
a) More questions
b) Family reacts to flashlight
c) Charlie’s parents counsel with him about his choice of girlfriend.
c) “Alien” beach ball appears and Charlie breaks up with Madeline and pushes her off the cliff
links for 2007-07-14
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I know of several companies who would love to see Pac West just go away. I personally am not one of them. Pac-West is an important player in a competitive market place. I look forward to when they can come out of this.
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AT&T’s iPhone fees don’t make sense. This is a highly debated topic.
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Engadget, meanwhile, points to one man’s quest to sign up for the $10 offer, which for him included more than a dozen steps and a lot of time on the phone with AT&T. There is no money in selling 10.00 DSL unless the access is subsidized with other produc
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July 13, 2007 - (TopHosts News Brief) - IKANO Communications and Covad Communications Group, Inc. (AMEX: DVW) announced an expanded strategic partnership. The agreement allows IKANO to offer competitively-priced,
higher speed broadband packages to meet g -
Yet another post
Telecom expert secretly plotting to change the world one phone bill at a time