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VirtuBene on BBC Online – Radio4!

VirtuBene on BBC Online – Radio4!

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How did I miss this? The only reason I found it, almost exactly a year later, is that someone clicked on the link this morning and I saw it in my stats.

Last November 21, the “Something Understood” Show of Religion and Ethics on Radio 4 BBC used my collected quotations of the Compassionate Buddha on their “For What We Give Thanks” show, hosted by Fergal Keane.

This is one page from the Virtual Church of Benevolent Deities Inc subsite of VirusHead – a semi-satirical project, still in progress.

Here are the details:

BBC Radio 4
PROGRAMME DETAILS
21 November 2004
“For What We Give Thanks”

Writer and broadcaster Fergal Keane presents this week’s programme.

Reading 1: A letter written by Edward Winslow, December 1621 – an extract from Chapter 1 “Partakers of Our Plenty”. From the book ‘The Times of Their Lives – Life, Love and Death in Plymouth Colony’ by James Deetz and Patricia Scott Deetz. Published by WM Freeman & Co, 2000. ISBN: 0716738309.

Music 1: Thanksgiving and Forefathers’ Day composed by Charles Ives. From the CD ‘Ives: Three Places/New England Holidays’. Performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony Chorus, conducted by David Zinman. Published by The Decca Record Company Ltd, London and released on Argo: 444 860-2.

Reading 2: Words of the Buddah. From the Compassionate Prophet Buddha page on the Virtual Church of Benevolent Deities, Inc.

Music 2: Offering Chant composed by Jean-Philippe Rykiel. From the CD ‘Rain of Blessings.’ Performed by Lama Gyurme and Jean-Philippe Rykiel. Published by and released on Real World Records Ltd.: CDRW 85.

Reading 3: Excerpt from the memoir ‘Running in the Family’ by Michael Ondaatje. Published by Picador, 1993. ISBN: 0330699040.

Music 3: Shepherd’s Song: Happy and Thankful Feelings after the Storm – Fifth movement of Symphony no. 6 in F major, op. 68 ‘Pastoral'” composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. From the CD ‘Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 & No. 6 ‘Pastoral’, performed by The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Published by Polydor International GmbH and released on Deutsche Grammophon: 423 203-2.

Reading 4: Gift by Czeslaw Milosz. From the poetry anthology ‘Being Alive: The Sequel to ‘Staying Alive”, edited by Neil Astley. Published by Bloodaxe Books. ISBN: 1852246758.

Reading 5: The Gift by Raymond Carver. From his poetry anthology ‘All of Us: The Collected Poems’. Published by Vintage Books USA. ISBN: 0375703802.

Reading 6: Extract from “An Old Woman’s Reflections” by Peig Sayers. From the book ‘The Virago Book of Spirituality: Of Women and Angels’ edited by Sarah Anderson. Published by Virago Press. ISBN: 1860490409.

Music 4: Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn (We Bring the Summer With Us), (Traditional) arranged by Horslips. From the LP ‘Horslips: Dancehall Sweethearts’. Performed by Horslips. Published by Sunbury Music Ltd and released on RCA Records: APLI 0709.

Reading 7: The Joy of Thanks by Robert A. Emmons. From ‘Sprituality & Health: The Soul/Body Connection Issue: Winter 2002‘.

Music 5: What a Wonderful World written by George Wiess and Bob Thiele. From the CD ‘More Stars of Las Vegas’. Performed by Louis Armstrong. Published by Carlin Music Corp. Released by Connoisseur Collection: VSOP CD 201.

Reading 8: Great Hymn of Thanksgiving by Bertolt Brecht. From his poetry collection ‘Poems 1913 – 1956’ edited by Ralph Manheim and John Willett. Published by Methuen Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 0413152103.

Music 6: “Violin Concerto – I. Allegro” composed by Samuel Barber. From the CD ‘Barber / Walton: Violin Concertos’. Performed by Joshua Bell, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and conducted by David Zinman. Published by and released on The Decca Record Company Ltd, London: 452 851-2.

Reading 9: Extract from The Book of Twos: Katannu Sutta – Gratitude. From the Buddhist collection of discourses ‘Anguttara Nikaya’.

Reading 10: A Thanksgiving Prayer From the Iroquois (Seneca) People (Traditional), translated by Chuck Larsen.

Music 7: Sisters of Mercy composed by Leonard Cohen. From the CD ‘The Essential Leonard Cohen’. Performed by Leonard Cohen. Published by Sony Music Entertainment Inc. Released on Columbia: 497995 2.

I think it’s a little bit funny that I was used as a source on the Buddha. A long-ago ex-love (an American/British Buddhist who turned out to be a little too attached to nonattachment – to me anyway) would be appalled. There are so many other, much more authoritative, sources.

Still, it’s a very fun thing. Thank you!! It would be great to have a copy of the show – I wonder if they would let me have one?

Would you like to pick up your share of stock in Benevolent Deities Inc?

Annular Solar Eclipse Today

Annular Solar Eclipse Today

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Eclipse maps courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC are here at Annular Solar Eclipse of 2005 October 03.

… an annular eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor which traverses the Iberian Peninsula and stretches across the African continent. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon’s penumbral shadow, which includes Europe, western Asia, the Middle East, India and most of Africa.
…
An annular eclipse differs from a total eclipse in that the Moon appears too small to completely cover the Sun. As a result, the Moon is surrounded by an intensely brilliant ring or annulus formed by the uneclipsed outer perimeter of the Sun’s disk. The solar corona is not visible during annular eclipses.

Disturbing Search Requests

Disturbing Search Requests

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Disturbing Search Requests

Check your stats and add your own to this site. There are always a few wowsers in there…

Just today I had

free baby eating animation
better than a nursing home cruise ship

I’ll post more on this entry as I see truly strange ones again.

9-27 give your friend a funny virus

10-5 Results 21 – 50 of about 53,200 for how to smoke meth with house hold appliances
+ VirusHead.Net ~+ ~+ ~+ Virus Jokes
… beer on Friday night, memory chips go for a smoke behind your computer when
you hit pause. … “Free Money” can infect even minor household appliances. …

10-12 #1 in MSN Results for “resume styles for Christian Executives”
Eek! It goes to my curriculum vitae /resume!
+ VirusHead.Net ~+ ~+ ~+ Resume – Curriculum Vitae

Fun Blog Thingies

Fun Blog Thingies

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Just got this great online visitor display by country! Hover over the flag of each and see a wee map!


And my Cyborg names for VirusHead and Heidi:

I’m not sure how I feel about being more “boyish” than “girlish.” I have conflicting thoughts on the matter.


You Are 60% Boyish and 40% Girlish
You are pretty evenly split down the middle – a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don’t actively fight them. You’re just you. You don’t try to be what people expect you to be.
Beauty from Skin of Executed Prisoners

Beauty from Skin of Executed Prisoners

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A Chinese cosmetics company is using skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop collagen for beauty products to sell in Europe. It’s traditional – but I’m sorry, it’s too much ick for me. Maybe time to hold up on scheduling that swollen lip look, ladies.

I began to wonder where US collagen comes from? A brief look says “bovine dermal” – cowskin? – as well as human. Ok, do they test for mad cow? Where do they get the human? Is someone donating skin? Is collagen used only for injections and other medical applications? It seems to me I’ve seen it as an ingredient in skin cream and even shampoo. I don’t think I really want to smear smooshed dermal layers of anything else on me. Correct me if my initial impression is mistaken.

I’ll also skip the tortured St. Bernard entree or, for that matter, veal (when I was a kid, I wondered where all the veals lived). I’m even going to have to re-evaluate yummy duck and goose foie gras.

I’m not a vegetarian, but I agree with most of the arguments. Once I tried cutting out all meat, but then I had dreams of veggies screaming. Now I simply recognize and am thankful for the sacrifices that uphold my continued existence, and I try not to be greedy. I’m not entirely comfortable with it, but in my selfishness I do love ribs and steak. I’m thinking that maybe I should eat them now, while we still can.

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself where certain things come from? As a former Jehovah’s Witness, I was still a bit leery of the blood transfusion that helped to save my life a few years ago, but I had taken a Rhogam shot to counteract an RH incompatibility without thinking about it. My mom, the former nurse, had to tell me that actually Rhogam is a human blood product too. Of course. It just never occurred to me. How about insulin? Is that a human product and if so, where do they get it? I have no idea.

My husband’s insurance company told him that they wouldn’t pay for emergency blood, but the hospital sure charged for it. When I was pregnant, a now-defunct company tried to get me to store the cord for stem cells. When I said no, the hospital just took it away. I would have been more comfortable if they’d given it to me, along with the placenta. It’s mine. Was it sold, and if so, who made a profit on the primal connector between me and my son?

I am sure that there are bioethicists considering these and other related questions. I’ve been thinking about these kinds of topics since we saw The Constant Gardener the other night. Guess I’ll add another topic to my reading list.