hackercurious

There used to be a time when the free world looked to authoritarian states like Russia and reprimanded them for large prison populations. The gulag was a symbol of oppression and a loss of human freedom. I find it strange we have surpassed the incarceration rates of these nations and even stranger that mass incarceration is seen as something to be proud of.

This may answer why the banks get off easy-

Eric Holder, Wall Street Double Agent, Comes in From the Cold.

Barack Obama's former top cop cashes in after six years of letting banks run wild.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/eric-holder-wall-s...

I wanted to add that there are several forms/types of Vipassana and several different types of centers that conduct retreats. Many people get confused and think that there is only one type of Vipassana. Take a look into The Insight Meditation Society located near Boston. They also have a large center near San Francisco, and various groups around the country. I think you may find the instruction less 'cultish'. Insight Meditation Society (IMS) uses a sliding scale to charge for its retreats and I have found them to be my favorite center for going on a retreat. Another thing to keep in mind is that it is not necessary to do a ten day retreat. You can start with a 2-3 day and work up from there.

This should read, 'Why you should delete your emails immediately after reading.'

For comments follow link- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9721212

The author forgot to mention what happens when large quantities of alcohol is involved. When everyone is drunk they are quite chatty.

I am an American and have lived in Europe (Northern Europe) for over four years. I don’t fear awkward silences anymore either, but, what I do miss is an easy going relationship with conversation. It seems to me as if Europeans can be socially awkward and I am not sure if I will ever entirely warm up to the idea of “the culture of comfortable silence.” Perhaps a balance between insentient chattering and enforced silence would be nice. I believe conversation is an art, it is important, and it is part of what makes us human.

For comments follow link- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9721212

For comments follow link-

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9721212

This is an interesting angle to further understand the Stanford Prison Experiment.

IwasA Guard in the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment. AMA!

Quote-

"I felt that Zimbardo had a conclusion and he constructed "an experiment" to demonstrate it. That was my belief at the time and now."

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2y5sbt/iwasa_guard_in_...

Thanks for the tip on Hugo, it looks good will check it out. There are so many static s. gens.

https://www.staticgen.com/

I was trying to want to build a simple kind-of normal non-blog website also. Thanks for the tip on Middleman.

>It really boils down to your language preference:

I was looking for the easiest-setup, operation, posting on web, updating content etc.

In this way I have only the preference of simple use.

Is it a coincidence that the presenter Mark Passio looks like and has the same interests and persona as Gilfoyle on Silicon Valley (TV series)?

One thing I have always pondered concerning western buddhist practice is the context which it is taught and the idea that a monastic tradition/practice can successfully be integrated into modern western culture.

"McMahan suggests that we approach the subject by considering a monk in ancient India. “He has left his family behind; he is celibate; he doesn’t eat after noon; he studies texts that give him a skeptical view of the phenomenal world and its value. Is his practice really exactly the same,” McMahan asks, “as that of a contemporary secular mindfulness practitioner who is meditating to excel at work or to be more compassionate to her children?”

Can Buddhist practice liberate us from the prison of physical pain?

"How can meditation help when medicine falls short? Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., professor emeritus of medicine at the University of Massachusetts medical School, speaks to these questions as a long-time practitioner of Buddhist meditation and hatha yoga, and as a pioneer in the use of mindfulness to treat chronic pain and illness. More than 13,000 people have visited the world-renowned Stress Reduction Clinic that Kabat-Zinn established in 1979 at the UMass medical Center, and the eight-week program- described in Kabat-Zinn’s bestseller “Full Catastrophe Living”- is now also offered at some two hundred medical facilities worldwide."

http://www.bemindful.org/kabatzinnart.htm

This is a double post- see the first thread for comments.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9677305

I wanted to add that there are several forms/types of Vipassana and several different types of centers that conduct retreats. Many people get confused and think that there is only one type of Vipassana.

The Insight Meditation Society (IMS) is located near Boston and is the most extensive center in the US.

“IMS offers Buddhist meditation retreats at two facilities – the Retreat Center and The Forest Refuge – in rural central Massachusetts. The Retreat Center is one of the two IMS centers in the United States. However, all Buddhist centers teach vipassana/vispashyana. It offers a full yearly schedule of more than 25 meditation courses, ranging in duration from a weekend to three months. Most retreats run for 7–9 days.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insight_Meditation_Society

Insight Meditation Society (IMS) uses a sliding scale to charge for its retreats and I have found them to be my favorite center for going on a retreat.

Here are a few links to start out with.

Zen Buddhism and Alan Watts (aeon.co) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8411762

The Wisdom of Alan Watts in Four Thought-Provoking Animations - http://www.openculture.com/2014/11/the-wisdom-of-alan-watts-...

Well done, I see the error in the question itself. I was trying to ask it how it is most often asked, but, as you have pointed out these are emotion-based terms. I did give the option for something else in the question. How would you rephrase the question?

If we follow that logic there are a few large players that are missing from your line of thought-

Ulbrich is a small fish in huge pond when compared to the large unnamed players who get of with small reprimands and fines.

How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico's murderous drug gangs

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-...

Good point... this trial will not stop anything, just the nature of how things move forward from here... Perhaps in the future, these markets will be even more decentralized, like torrents have changed sharing sites. There is now a huge incentive to run these markets from places like Russia or Mexico.

ROSS ULBRICHT has been sentenced to life in jail for his role in the Silk Road.

This article shows what a waste of resources this trail was. Online markets for illegal substances are going to follow the path of file sharing, both are nearly impossible to stop.

"Closing down the web’s biggest drug shop has simply cleared the way for competitors."

ROSS ULBRICHT has been sentenced to life in jail for his role in the Silk Road. This article shows what a waste of resources this trail was. Online markets for illegal substances are going to follow the path of file sharing, both are nearly impossible to stop.

"Closing down the web’s biggest drug shop has simply cleared the way for competitors."

By the way,

"SPUTNIK online media is registered with the federal service for supervision of communications, information technology and mass media."

Has anyone ever heard of SPUTNIK News before?

Be the stress.

This looks like the best design I have seen for protecting bike riders in intersections. This innovative approach truly protects the pedestrian/cyclist in the intersection from turning vehicles.

The State of New Mexico has just banned asset forfeiture.

HB 560, introduced by New Mexico Rep. Zachary Cook and passed unanimously in the legislature, replaces civil asset forfeiture with criminal forfeiture, which requires a conviction of a person as a prerequisite to losing property tied to a crime. The new law means that New Mexico now has the strongest protections against wrongful asset seizures in the country.

Link to the bill:

http://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/15%20Regular/final/HB0560.pd...

I am not quite sure what all the implications of this link are about, but the puppy photo is sure cute. German Shepard with American flags for ears and a German flag tongue.

There does not seem to be any incentive for government to self-police or act within the scope and bounds of the constitution. It seems if we are going to have any sort of chance at pre 9/11 level of freedoms there needs to be more push back from citizens and non-profits. This reminds me of the American Civil Liberties Union slogan. 'Because Freedom Can't Protect Itself.' I am cautiously optimistic and giving monthly to those who are on the front lines of this protracted struggle.