2008.10.06 13:00 - Insight Doesn't Depend on Time

Stim was the guardian for this session. He sent the chat log to me, Pema. I put it up and provided a title.

Wol Euler: the idea in English is called "paying forward"
Wol Euler: not "you do me something good so I pay you back"
Wol Euler: but "I will change the world by being good to a stranger"
Wol Euler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_it_forward
Wol Euler: hello Stim.
Stim Morane: Hi Wol and Nyah
Wol Euler: and that stranger helps another stranger, and ....
Wol Euler: :-)
Nyah Zanzibar: For me the only border in this play is not to hide behind this play
Wol Euler: well, it is not really a game, Nyah.
Wol Euler: there are no points, no score, no winning, no losing.
Nyah Zanzibar: yes not a game but not reallity too
Corvuscorva Nightfire: are you sure, Wol?
Wol Euler: heheheheh
Wol Euler sticks out her tongue.
Wol Euler: ok, it is possible to lose here, yes.

Stim Morane: Hi Corvuscorva
Wol Euler: people get emotionally attached here, strong attachments, true love.
Corvuscorva Nightfire tosses one of the pillows at Wol.
Wol Euler: and that can hurt you _just_ as much as in RL.
Nyah Zanzibar: i agree with you
Corvuscorva Nightfire nodsnods.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: Can win, too.
Flux Constantine: hi
Corvuscorva Nightfire: I've won quite a bit here.
Wol Euler: oh yse :-)
Stim Morane: Hi Flux

Corvuscorva Nightfire bumps Wol with her shoulder...mostly good friends.
Nyah Zanzibar: I'm sorry i must go (in the reale Life)
Corvuscorva Nightfire: awwww
Nyah Zanzibar: real*
Wol Euler: ok, take care.
Wol Euler: nice meeting you, Nyah. Enjoy your second life :-)
Stim Morane: Bye Nyah
Nyah Zanzibar: thanx
Nyah Zanzibar: Nice to meet you too
Nyah Zanzibar: and hope to see you soon
Wol Euler: I'll be here :-)
Nyah Zanzibar: Okay, thanx
Corvuscorva Nightfire: ah darn...I can't stay...
Wol Euler: awwww :-(
Wol Euler: hello flux, sorry I missed you earlier.
Flux Constantine: hi, no problem :)

Stim Morane: So is automatic recording in effect now, Wol?
Wol Euler: mmmm, not really.
Wol Euler: recording is happening, yes. And it fills a database, yes.
Wol Euler: but not yet posted to the blog.
Wol Euler: we are watching for a week, to ensure that it works properly before switching over.
Stim Morane: Oh, so I would still need to do the posting myself?
Stim Morane: For today, I mean.
Wol Euler: yes, afraid so.
Stim Morane: OK, thanks.
Wol Euler: I hope that it will be working by the time the Princeton meeting is finished.
Stim Morane: I see.
Wol Euler: it _seems_ to work OK, but I want ot be sure before releasing it.
Stim Morane: Sure.

Stim Morane: So, Wol and Flux, are there things you would like to chat about today?
Stim Morane: I don't recall what was emphasized in last week's meeting.
Wol Euler: actually, I may be silent for much of the time, I'm watching the database.
Stim Morane: Oh, OK.
Flux Constantine: nothing in particular. actually it's my first time here, although I've seen the web site
Wol Euler: last time we talked bout Adelene#s debate with the christian visitors :-)
Wol Euler: ah, welcome flux.
Flux Constantine: thanks
Stim Morane: I was wondering about that, Flux. Yes, I do recall the discussion with Adelene...

Wol Euler: has anyone given you the official welcome speech, Flux?
Flux Constantine: nope, not as such
Wol Euler: we do publish our meetings, as you saw, and we have to ask your permission to include your name and comments in the blog.
Flux Constantine: yes, that's fine
Wol Euler: ty :-)
Stim Morane: So you've seen the website on Play as Being, Flux?
Flux Constantine: yes
Stim Morane: If you read some of the chat logs from sessions, you probably got some sense of the range of topics we explore here.
Flux Constantine: yes, I've been following along there somewhat. wasn't sure my computer could handle SL too well, but it seems OK so far
Stim Morane: Yes, there seems to be no problem with your computer handling SL
Wol Euler: if in doubt, just turn your graphics settings down :-)
Wol Euler: there are aways to balance that for a good compromise between ugly and fast :-)
Flux Constantine: my network is slow, but I guess it doesn't matter if I'm here completely still :)
Stim Morane: we'll see
Stim Morane: the system is erratic for other reasons too.

Stim Morane: Anyway, do you have an interest in free-form ways of exploring basic issues of "reality", "Being" etc?
Flux Constantine: yes, the topic is interesting to me... and I've been trying the 9-second explorations a bit
Stim Morane: Would you be willing to describe what you've been trying, and with what results?
Flux Constantine: well, essentially just pausing for a few seconds, dropping to some extent whatever I'm engaged in, watching the breath, perhaps
Flux Constantine: as for results... not sure I can say exactly
Stim Morane: Of course. I'm sorry to put you on the spot.
Stim Morane: It's not as though we are hunting for particular results.
Stim Morane: But there probably is a benefit to grounding discussion in terms of an actual experiment of some sort.
Stim Morane: So from time to time you may find it useful to hear what people here are finding, and what discussion ensues re that.
Flux Constantine: yes
Stim Morane: It is a typical feature of the human situation that we blur past aspects of life that bear more attention and appreciation.
Stim Morane: The little 9-sec exercise is just intended to counter that tendency.
Wol Euler nods

Stim Morane: Admittedly, one can't claim too much for an exercise that may only involve seconds a day. But quantity is not the only issue.
Stim Morane: Insight doesn't depend on time, necessarily.
Stim Morane: One of the things I find myself valuing and emphasizing in my rl teaching is just the capacity for appreciation, appreciating life's basics. And contemplative traditions have found that the "basics" dimension includes quite a lot that isn't usually noticed.
Flux Constantine: sorry if I'm a bit silent... not sure what to say
Stim Morane: fine. I too may not have much to say, since I'm cheating (having my lunch while we are "present" here together).
Wol Euler: :-)
Wol Euler: silence is good too.
Stim Morane: Yes

Flux Constantine: actually I think I originally found the web site after seeing Stim's RL name on a blog by one of his students
{Here Flux mentioned the blog URL, which I’ve deleted}
Stim Morane: Yes, I know the person from my group that you're thinking of.
Wol Euler: (feel free to edit that out, Stim)
Stim Morane: OK, I may, Wol.
Wol Euler: :-)
Stim Morane: Obviously in this present context, I don't give talks about my own rl teachings.
Stim Morane: The idea of Play as Being is much more open and even unpredictable.
Wol Euler: SL is like the Fight club: What happens in RL stays in RL :-)
Stim Morane: :)
Stim Morane: I hadn't made that association, but it's an interesting one.
Wol Euler: heheheh

Flux Constantine: is there a way to keep the chat text from fading away so quickly?
Wol Euler: mmmm, sorta.
Wol Euler: you can set in the preferences the length of time it stays up
Wol Euler: or you can look in the chat history to review what was said
Flux Constantine: ah, ok, thanks
Stim Morane: I recommend the latter
Stim Morane: This involves clicking on the Local chat tab
Wol Euler: yes, it has other advantages too.
Flux Constantine: ah yes... this is much better :)
Stim Morane: you can resize the chat box, scroll up/down etc
Wol Euler nods.
Flux Constantine: although the font is kind of all crooked like it's part of a ransom note :)
Wol Euler: and URLs appear in that window as clickable links!
Wol Euler: oh? never seen that before.
Stim Morane: I am not sure about the crooked look.
Stim Morane: It sounds cool, but I understand that it could be disturbing or simply hard to read.
Flux Constantine: probably the graphics adapter on this old laptop
Wol Euler: ah, quite likely, alas.
Stim Morane: I'm amazed that a fairly old laptop could even handle SL.
Stim Morane: It must have come equipped with a "fast" graphics card for its time.
Flux Constantine: not really, but it seems to still be at about the bare minimum for SL (it's about two years old)
Stim Morane: oh, that's not too old.
Stim Morane: But I did have to buy a new laptop because my previous one was closer to 3.5 years ... definitely not up to the job
Flux Constantine: yeah, it doesn't seem that long, but around the 2-year mark it started to feel like it's getting about ready to fall apart
Stim Morane: :) ... I'm sure that's part of the plan.
Flux Constantine: I usually use Linux... but apparently the graphics requirements for SL in windows are lower, so it works if I reboot into windows

Stim Morane: Well anyway, I'm glad you decided to join us. Do you have any questions about the 9-sec practice or related things?
Stim Morane: oops brb
Flux Constantine: don't think I have any specific questions at the moment
Stim Morane: back ... sory about the interruption
Flux Constantine: np
Wol Euler: wb
Stim Morane: yeah, it seems we're in a tea-ceremony mode here

Stim Morane: Wol, is there a topic in recent meetings that you yourself are still pondering?
Wol Euler startles and looks up .
Stim Morane: sorry to spring that on you, Wol!
Wol Euler: lol
Wol Euler: sorry, I'm in geek mode here.
Stim Morane: Yeah, I realize
Wol Euler: finding it very hard to switch gears.
Stim Morane: that's ok.
Wol Euler: this is an illustration of why I didn't get on with the nine seconds.
Stim Morane: well, that was just one approach

Flux Constantine: so I guess we have little text buffers filling up above our heads?
Wol Euler: It takes me at least thirty seconds to change gear.
Wol Euler: right!
Stim Morane: yes, Flux
Wol Euler: they tick over when they get near to 1500
Wol Euler: and send the accumulation to a mysql datbase that will automatically publish thet wiki.
Wol Euler: the second number is the free memory, because I've been having stack/heap collisoins i.e. running out.
Stim Morane: so you could use sql to pull out various types of content?
Wol Euler: yes, we have set it up so that various kinds of analysis and datamining should be possible.
Stim Morane: good.
Stim Morane: I may try a bit of that myself.
Wol Euler: :-)
Flux Constantine: it sounds like a fairly complex system. I guess you are limited by the SL scripting language
Wol Euler: yes indeed, that is turning out to be the hard part of hte job, to eveyrone's surprise.
Wol Euler: it's very frustrating for someone used to working in C or graphics languages, LSL has a very small feature set.

Stim Morane: I'm sorry to duck out, but there's something I need to do for my family before it gets later in the afternoon. Yes, Wol, I can easily imagine that.
Stim Morane: I very much appreciate your efforts on the group's behalf.
Wol Euler: ok, Stim. we are near the hour anyway :-)
Wol Euler: have a good afternoon
Stim Morane: Yes.
Stim Morane: Well then, goodbye to both of you. I look forward to a further chat soon.
Flux Constantine: bye Stim