The oldest camphor tree in Japan, in Saga Prefecture, at over 3000 years and still healthy.
Great News: Media trust hits new low (Axios)
Flowers are a true blessing
Cognitive Dissonance - "perception of contradictory information" - a popular sport of the 2020s
The Careerist vs The Craftsman
"The careerist only leases a part of the process, a specialist with no ownership. Compared to the craftsman, a generalist, who sees their creation through from start to finish, the craftsmen not only owns the creation but owns the entire process"
"True relaxation is always a dropping into ourselves, a movement toward our core and very center of self. In addition to distorting what we can see, hear, and feel, the inability to relax and release tension will inevitably fuel the involuntary internal monologue of the mind. As we become more enmeshed in the drama that our mind is scripting about ourselves, our ability to relate in a wholesome and relaxed manner with the current condition and circumstances of our lives becomes further distorted. ... The relaxation of tension in our bodies melts the armoring that keeps our bodies hard and inflexible. This hardening of the tissue creates a layer of numbness that keeps our awareness of the rich web of shimmering sensations concealed and contained. Relaxation allows the armoring to begin to soften and melt away. The inevitable result is a much greater awareness of sensational presence and a diminution of the ongoing involuntary monologue of the mind. Learning how to relax by surrendering the weight of the body to the pull of gravity and remaining standing at the same time significantly catalyzes the practice of mindfulness."
- Will Johnson, Aligned, Relaxed and Resilient, 2000, p. 55
"To be relaxed means to release tension, but not to let go of substance. There is a quality in-between stiff and loose which is stable, yet flexible, that has fullness without being rigid, that is calm in motion yet conveys a vigorous presence. For lack of an equivalent English word, I refer to this concept as flowing within firmness, firmness within flowing. Flowing and firmness do not gain support from a rigid skeletal posture or strength from muscular tension. Rather, their integrity comes from expansion. Expansion is the ability to spread out in all directions. This is the key to relaxing without collapsing." - Ting Kuo-Piao, Understanding Flowing and Firmness, 2000
"Relaxation of the whole body means the conscious relaxation of all the joints, and this organically links up all parts of the body in a better way. This does not mean softness. It requires a lot of practice in order to understand this point thoroughly. Relaxation also means the "stretching" of the limbs, which gives you a feeling of heaviness. (This feeling of heaviness or stiffness is a concrete reflection of strength.) This feeling is neither a feeling of softness nor stiffness, but somewhere in between. It should not be confined to a specific part, but involves the whole body. It is like molten iron under high temperature. So relaxation "dissolves" stiff strength in very much the same way. Stiff strength, also called "clumsy strength," undergoes a qualitative change after thousands of times of "dissolution" exercises. Just like iron which can be turned into steel, so "clumsy strength" can be turned into force, and relaxation is a means of gradually converting it into force. Our ancestors put it well: "Conscious relaxation will unconsciously produce force." There is truth in this statement." - Yang Zhenduo, "Yang Style Taijiquan", p 16
G7: Rich nations back deal to tax multinationals - Interesting Analysis by Gabriel Zucman
#Comment: Way too little way too late. The G7 is well beyond the point of no return - a transnational mafia state that is rapidly heading for total collapse. Reminder: WEIRD ("Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich & Democratic") make up only 12% of global population. As their economic and technological dominance fades (yet not the attached ego), incumbent non-weird players are more quickly meeting the needs of the next 4 billion coming online.
Related: China's bid for digital-yuan sphere raises red flags at G-7
Submerged stone structures lying just below the waters off Yonaguni Jima are actually the ruins of a Japanese Atlantis—an ancient city sunk by an earthquake about 2,000 years ago. That's the belief of Masaaki Kimura, a marine geologist at the University of the Ryukyus in Japan who has been diving at the site to measure and map its formations for more than 15 years. Each time he returns to the dive boat, Kimura said, he is more convinced than ever that below him rest the remains of a 5,000-year-old city. "
"Don't get distracted by abstraction. Connect with real people, in real places, and do good work with them." - John Thackara
Taj Mahal, Agra, India. Photograph Date: 1985 - Photographer: Raghu Rai.
Microsoft’s Irish subsidiary paid zero corporation tax on £220bn profit (Guardian)
An Irish subsidiary of Microsoft made a profit of $315bn (£222bn) last year but paid no corporation tax as it is “resident” for tax purposes in Bermuda. The profit generated by Microsoft Round Island One is equal to nearly three-quarters of Ireland’s gross domestic product – even though the company has no employees. The subsidiary, which collects licence fees for the use of copyrighted Microsoft software around the world, recorded an annual profit of $314.7bn in the year to the end of June 2020, according to accounts filed at the Irish Companies Registration Office. The company’s profits jumped from just under $10bn in the previous year and compare with Ireland’s 2020 GDP of €357bn ($433bn).
Noise pollution kills
Noise pollution is a very important topic, that is under-discussed and criminally neglected. I can personally attest to the horrendous impact of noise on health (mental & physical), as my previous home/district in Berlin was very loud. But i only truly appreciated this, once i moved into nature and experienced a more silent setting on a daily basis. Be aware of noise pollution & protect your ears.
Eating two mushrooms a day could lower cancer risk by 45 per cent, study finds (SCMP)
Mushrooms contain high levels of antioxidants, and chemical components believed to strengthen the immune system. A study touts their anti-cancer properties. Reviewing the study findings, scientists caution against the idea of ‘miracle foods’ and suggest mushrooms can be a component of a diet that lowers cancer risks.