Michael Perkins

Friday, April 30, 2010

The Mind's Worst Disease

7:01 PM |

Posted by Michael Perkins |

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If you want truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between for and against is the mind's worst disease.

-- Seng-ts'an

Labels: Buddhism, Living Well, Taoism |

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Thursday, April 29, 2010

Renee Fleming and Bill Frisell

10:09 PM |

Posted by Michael Perkins |

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Labels: Music |

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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Jane Hirschfield: The Adamantine Perfection of Desire

9:40 PM |

Posted by Michael Perkins |

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The Adamantine Perfection of Desire

Nothing more strong

than to be helpless before desire.

No reason,

the simplified heart whispers,

the argument over,

only This.

No longer choosing anything but assent.

Its bowl scraped clean to the bottom,

the skull-bone cup no longer horrifies,

but, rimmed in silver, shines.

A spotted dog follows a bitch in heat.

Gray geese flying past us, crying.

The living cannot help but love the world.

-- Jane Hirschfield

Labels: Buddhism, Living Well, Poetry |

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Tableau Public Data Visualization Service

10:52 PM |

Posted by Michael Perkins |

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Tableau Public is a free service for creating sophisticated, interactive data visualizations. The obesity data visualization below, created using Tableau Public by Rina Bongsu-Petersen, won first place in a data visualization contest sponsored by ReadWriteWeb and Tableau. Select a region, state or county to get started. Be patient. The performance leaves a little to be desired.