Please note that this is my old blog, to My New Blog is available at https://www.vanirsystems.com/blog

This blog is kept here for archival reasons as it has a lot of interesting old posts that I am sure people would find useful

Personal, religious @ 27 December 2006, “No Comments”

“the essence of the yogic practice of seeing the Divine within all of creation…Anjali mudra is used as a posture of composure, of returning to one’s heart, whether you are greeting someone or saying goodbye, initiating or completing an action. As you bring your hands together at your center, you are literally connecting the right and left hemispheres of your brain. This is the yogic process of unification, the yoking of our active and receptive natures. In the yogic view of the body, the energetic or spiritual heart is visualized as a lotus at the center of the chest. Anjali mudra nourishes this lotus heart with awareness, gently encouraging it to open as water and light do a flower.” - YogaJournal.com

I have been reading my Meditation book and watching the DVD that came with it, tis a very good book that focuses on Meditation with Buddhist Principles (It is a Hinkler Book Gift Box). The DVD is presented by a nice Australian man (but not too Australian sounding). You can sense his calm and contentedness just through his voice and posture - something definately good when learning Buddhist principles (and meditation). I would really recommend meditation, especially with Buddhist concepts, it is all very interesting - and you don’t have to convert to Buddhism to be able to understand it, in fact Buddhism was not created to be a religion, it was supposed to be a philosophy and has been laid over many other faiths since its creation.

In other news:

* I am going to Bekis tomorrow (ooh, which is actually today) - seeing Beki again :) Makes me happy :) Â - Got to give her Christmas andd Birthday presents, she is going to like ‘em :)

* Christmas has been pretty good, was good to spend it with the family again. Also have seen my cousins and aunties/uncles and grandparents too. Twas all good :)

* You’ll be noticing that my posts have been infested with Buddhist, Christian and Pagan things… I did promise a while ago to go deeper into them didn’t I!

Right, I need to be up at 7am tomorrow… so I am off to bed. (feel free to comment - except you spammers!)

Daniel

Personal, religious @ 25 December 2006, “No Comments”

We shall start with a poem by Gertrude Farwell - taken from A Homily for Christmas by Rev. Steven Marshall

Soft candle stars the gloom
About a single rose:
Flower and bough of pine perfume
The twilight hour; in flame that throws
A nimbus round the evergreen.
Whilst fragrance breathes the Living Name
Of Love Incarnate yet unseen,
Rising from petal, pine and thorn.
Mary the pure is kneeling fair,
Of Gabriel’s “Ave!” now aware,
Wondering if aright she’s heard
“Blessed art thou”—unsought acclaim,
Immaculate vessel that the Word
Made flesh may shine on Christmas morn.

The Christian Canonical Bible provides us with interpretations of the Nativity of Jesus, these can be found in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew:

she gave birth to an heir son and she wrapped him in strips of cloth and placed him in the manger, for they had no place of accommodation” - Gospel of St Luke 2 7

And they entered the house and saw the child with his mother Mary, and they fell down, worshipped him and opened their treasures and offered him gifts, gold and myrrh and frankincense.” Gospel of St Matthew 2 11

Not only is the Canonical Christian Bible useful for telling the story of the Nativity of Jesus, but we can also look to the apocrypha:
“there she brought forth a son, and the angels surrounded Him when He was being born… she began to cry aloud, and to tell the wonderful things which she had seen… And some shepherds also affirmed that they had seen angels singing a hymn at midnight, praising and blessing the God of heaven, and saying: There has been born the Saviour of all, who is Christ the Lord, in whom salvation shall be brought back to Israel… Moreover, a great star, larger than any that had been seen since the beginning of the world, shone over the cave from the evening till the morning. And the prophets who were in Jerusalem said that this star pointed out the birth of Christ, who should restore the promise not only to Israel, but to all nations.” Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (an apocryphal text)

“the wise men said: We saw a very great star shining among those stars and dimming them so that the stars appeared not: and thereby knew we that a king was born unto Israel, and we came to worship him” Gospel of James (an apocryphal text)


You do not have to be Christmas to understand the real meaning of Christmas, for example look at me — I am not sure what I am, I like Paganism, Buddhism and Christianity and I believe bits of all of them, I understand (or try to understand) where each of them are coming from. Here is how I see it:


Christmas is all about the world gaining spirituality, as Christianity describes it Jesus was put on Earth to help humanity, to try to fix badness and to promote goodness. Christianity suggests that Jesus is the Son of God, and in Christianity God is Love, Life and Power… is it not logical to say that Jesus was the embodiment of Love, Life and Power - here on Earth to help the human race get back on track and to become nice again?

So how can Paganism fit into this, well very basically Paganism has Yule on the 21st/22nd of December, Yule is related to the Birth of a Divine King (and has been since BC-times). This Divine King tends to be related to the Sun, the Sun is coming back into our lives, and we can look forward to warmer weather - new crops and harvests - better times. The Divine King has a mother (a goddess in paganism), could this mother be related to the Christian Mary or even the Gnostic-Christian Sophia? Who knows? But the concept is the same, a life/spirit has been brought to the Earth to help life on Earth.

From a Buddhist point of view, we must remember there has been many connections between Buddhist teachings and the teachings of Jesus Christ - it has even been claimed in the past that Jesus travelled around the further East. Jesus could have been a Buddha, a few non-Christian religions even say he was a prophet to them. The word “Buddha” means “Enlightened One”, fusing Buddhism and Christianity together for a second; Jesus was placed on Earch as an Enlightened one, to teach, to provide love and to help others become Enlightened.

Buddhist and Gnostic Christian thoughts often agree, knowledge and wisdom can be found within. A spark that is wholly good is within (Holy Spirit? Chakra?), so whether it was Jesus or Siddhartha Gautama or Krishna that brought some sort of goodness to the world can be seen as irrelevant. Because it is the fact that there is goodness in the world and in ourselves that is the important thing, and we must realise this.

So, I suggest everyone thinks about Love and Life on Christmas day, it doesn’t matter which religion you are… we all agree that Love and Life are important concepts, its not a time for conflicts, its not a time for war, its not a time for disagreements - its a time for new beginnings, its a time for thinking about other people, time to find your inner spark and time to do the best at caring for yourself and other people. It doesn’t matter what religion you are, truly it doesn’t.

Here is my tarot card for today (one card picked randomly):

Four of Swords, on this picture a young lad is sat in an arid environment with four swords overlapping (two crosses overlapping - Christian Cross and Buddhist Wheel come to mind). This young lad is sat in a meditative position, he looks a little lost and it feels like he is meditating for a direction to go in. This is an important time for us, we will find a direction, it is the start of a new path, there are going to be good times ahead.


I finish with the Prayer of Preperation in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God,
unto whom all hearts be open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hid:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love thee,
and worthily magnify thy holy name;
through Christ our Lord.
All Amen.

Â

and the Hymn of Jesus (slightly edited) from Gnostic Texts:
Glory to Thee, Father!
Amen!
Glory to Thee, Word (Logos)!
Amen!
Glory to Thee, Grace (Charis)!
Amen!
Glory to Thee, Spirit!
Glory to Thee, Holy One!
Glory to Thy Glory!
Amen!
We praise Thee, O Father;
We give Thanks to Thee, O light;
In Whom Darkness dwells not!
Amen!
I would be saved; and I would save.
Amen!
I would be loosed; and I would loose.
Amen!
I would be wounded; and I would wound.
Amen!
I would be begotten; and I would beget.
Amen!
I would eat; and I would be eaten.
Amen!
I would hear; and I would be heard.
Amen!
I would be washed; and I would wash.
Amen!
I would pipe; dance ye all.
Amen!
I would play a dirge; lament ye all.
Amen!
The one Eight (Ogdoad) sounds (or plays) with us.
Amen!
The Twelfth number above leadeth the dance.
Amen!
All whose nature is to dance [doth dance].
Amen!
Who danceth not, knows not what is being done.
Amen!
I would flee; and I would stay.
Amen!
I would be adorned; and I would adorn.
Amen!
I would be at-oned; and I would at-one.
Amen!
I have no dwelling; and I have dwellings.
Amen!
I have no place; and I have places.
Amen!
I have no temple; and I have temples.
Amen!
I am a lamp to thee who seest Me.
Amen!
I am a mirror to thee who understandest Me.
Amen!
I am a door to thee who knockest at Me.
Amen!
I am a way to thee a wayfarer.
Amen!
Now answer to My dancing!
See thyself in Me who speak;
And seeing what I do,
Keep silence on My Mysteries.
Understand by dancing, what I do;
For thine is the Passion of Man
That I am to suffer.
Thou couldst not at all be conscious
Of what thou dost suffer,
Were I not sent as thy Word by the Father.
Seeing what I suffer,
Thou sawest Me as suffering;
And seeing, thou didst not stand,
But wast moved wholly,
Moved to be wise.
Thou hast Me for a couch; rest thou upon Me.
Who I am thou shalt know when I depart.
What now I am seen to be, that I am not.
[But what I am] thou shalt see when thou comest.
If thou hadst known how to suffer,
Thou wouldst have power not to suffer.
Know [then] how to suffer, and thou hast power not to suffer.
That which thou knowest not, I Myself will teach thee.
I am thy God, not the Betrayer’s
I would be kept in time with holy souls.
In Me know thou the Word of Wisdom.
Say thou to Me again:
Glory to Thee, Father!
Glory to Thee, Word!
Glory to TheSe, Holy Spirit!
But as for Me, if thou wouldst know what I was:
In a word I am the Word who did play [or dance] all things, and was not shamed at all.
‘Twas I who leaped [and danced].
But do thou understand all, and, understanding, say:
Glory to Thee, Father!
Amen!

Â

Uncategorized @ 24 December 2006, “No Comments”

i am blogging from my o2 xda mini i am using the mozilla minimo browser. the only problem i am seeing at the mloment is a javascript problem in wordpress. but other than that it is fantastic. have a nice christmas everybody

Personal, religious @ 24 December 2006, “No Comments”

“For whatever you say in the dark, will be heard in the light. And that which you whisper in the ears, shall be preached from the rooftops.” Gospel of Luke 12 3

Jesus said, ‘Don’t lie, and don’t do what you hate, because all things are disclosed before heaven. After all, there is nothing hidden that won’t be revealed, and there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed.’” Gospel of Thomas 6

“You who were in silence, speak, for your mouth has been opened.” Odes of Solomon - Ode 8

“Lift up your eyes and look at the cloud and the light within it and the stars
surrounding it. The star that leads the way is your star” Gospel of Judas

“Speak of the truth with those who search for it, and (of) knowledge to those who have committed sin in their error” Gospel of Truth

“Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Pistis Sophia Book 1 Chapter 43

“Our tongues shall relate thy might, we will sing and praise thy wondrous works” Book Of Jasher 89 20
There we go. We must spread our knowledge, our beliefs, our perceptions… not just religious thoughts, but your other thoughts too. The books above are mostly Gnostic and/or Apocryphal and/or Pseudopigraphical Judeo/Christian (many thanks to the linked resources).

Tonight Channel 4 showed “The Lost Gospal of Judas”, I found the program quite inspirational. They made some very valid points about why Gnosticism was lost, mainly one person on the program said something like: “the Gnostics taught that knowledge can be found within, so the church fathers did not like this because followers could look inside themselves for answers”. I feel that Gnosticism should probably be looked at again, a modern perspective on this meditational and mystical denomination of Christianity cannot do harm.

A message to religions and religious denominations and believers: Please, please, please let yourself/your-followers read books of other religions and paths, even if they are considered apocryphal or gnostic or mystic or even blasphemic… sometimes there is value. Christians - pick up the apocryphal texts and the gnostic texts, Jews - pick up the Kabbalah, Pagans - carry on reading (including Christian texts), Buddhists - read about Taoism or Confusionism, and Non-believers - pick up something! (Windows users - use a Mac or Linux)
Really useful website is Sacred-Texts: https://www.sacred-texts.com/

For now, goodnight. Take it easy, think, relax… and if I don’t write a post before Christmas (Hannukah and Yule/Litha and Feast of Stephen and Hajj and Zarathosht Diso and Holy Innocents and any other holiday that is appearing around this time) - have a good one.

Daniel

Uncategorized @ 22 December 2006, “No Comments”

Music by Mike Patton:

  • With Rahzel
  • In Faith No More (Epic is such a classic!)
  • Fantomas (See Rosemary’s Baby if you want to be freaked-out a little, else Page 28 has quite a nice video that is comic style with thrash metal background, Page 11 is a video with stop motion)
  • Mr Bungle (who like to torment the Red Hot Chili Peppers)
  • Peeping Tom
  • Tomahawk

Programming Languages of the Week:

  • Objective-C
  • Java
  • Haskell

Poems written recently:

  • Hope and Knowledge
  • Festive Treats

So there we go, in quite a odd mood to. It is 2am, and I am in my flat going to go to Oxford City Centre for 9am, and then my parents are coming to pick me up for Christmas.

I get to go to Bekis house on the 27th, for the first time… I am not nervous, tis all good.

It is coming up to (Christian) Christmas, and tonight is the (Pagan) Yule Holiday :)

Anyways, I think that is all for tonight. Talk to you soon.

* I should probably explain who Beki is. Beki is my girlfriend. For those of you who don’t know I split up with Maria (who was my fiance) at the end of September 2006

Uncategorized @ 22 December 2006, “No Comments”

https://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2006/12/19/building-a-game-engine-with-cocoa.html?page=1

Just looking through the above Objective-C tutorial about how to make a Game Engine Using Cocoa…. and I am thinking: “Blimey! Objective-C has features that Java has only only just implemented like the new if-then-else syntax”

((int)p.x % 2 == (int)p.y % 2) ? boardColors[0] : boardColors[1]; 

Its really amazing. I am going to promote Objective-C more.

Uncategorized @ 21 December 2006, “No Comments”

I am going to write a book about Objective-C development, any suggestions would be of great help.

Uncategorized @ 20 December 2006, “No Comments”

Please use firefox, for the good of your own health

Firefox 2

If you are on facebook:

Click here

Another good thing is portable firefoxÂ

So at 9:15 today (18th December 2006) I have an exam for Agent Technology. I am reasonably confident, and the coffee+ginseng/Multi-vitamin+shower(withMintOriginalSource) is helping me stay alive. Beki has helped me with revision in the subject, and I really hope to get every mark on the paper!

Later on today I have an exam for Advanced Topics in Databases, of which I am confident in the Object-Relational Databases sub-topic, and yesterday became confident in the Functional Databases sub-topic. Between my exams I will be getting some more revision done for the ATinDB module, hopefully I can get some confidence for the internal workings of a DBMS (Database Management System).

I leave you with a quote of the day:

Sanity is a madness put to good use.
- George Santayana

Wish me luck!

Ciao for now.

As I might be going to Bristol next academic year (2007-2009 Part Time) for a Masters in Data Mining and Machine Learning I did a little look into their course structure and found which programming languages they use.

It seems to be mainly (for this particular masters):

  • C
  • Prolog (SWI-PROLOG)
  • Java with Weka (for machine learning)
  • Java
  • Matlab (a little bit)
  • Progol, TILDE, Tertius

I think it is all pretty good:-

In my open source projects and personal projects: Java, Ruby, JavaScript, PHP, Objective-C
At uni I have been using: Pascal/Delphi, C, Java, MATLAB, Prolog, Haskell(Hugs), CLIPS, SQL
At college I used: QBASIC, C++ and VisualBASIC

I found THIS RESOURCE to be really helpful to find the similarities and differences between languages