A

Apple : Apple Computer. They started the home computer revolution. They make the best unix-based operating system and the sexiest looking machines. I possessed once the Powerbook of Joy. Now I have the MacBook Pro of Joy.

Arete: Arete means ‘excellence’ in ancient Greek. Everything and every action had an arete of its own. The arete of a man was often disputed by the philosophers of the era. The arete of a soldier (or, soldiering) involved bravery, competition, and skill. For me arete is a state of mind. When doing a yoga pose you can put you hands in the air OR you can extend your hands into the air with arete - arching the back for every inch of length, relaxing your shoulders, reaching through to the very fingertips.

I’ve seen this term used in Eastern contexts under the name mindfulness.

I think you could argue that acting with mindfulness or arete is a way to cheat death, in living so completely you make the most of every moment until the inevitable hand takes hold.

D

Damocles: I believe that the essence of human existence is summarized by the Greek

story of Damocles. Damocles is a servant of a rich, but cruel tyrant named Dionysus. Damocles tells Dionysus that he envies his station, his food, his life. Dionysus offers a trade. Damocles enjoys the food, the wine, the comfort, and then notices a sharp sword suspended over his head, suspended by a single horsehair.

Realizing that something so thin and fragile is the only thing preserving him, Damocles cannot enjoy the food, wine, or comfort.

This story is, in fact, what human life is. We enjoy and jubilate but if we ever have occasion to look up and see that the sword is over us, we will be striken with, to borrow from Kierkergaard, fear and trembling.

I think it would be awesome if a series of Buddhist commentators were to coment on the story of Damocles and thus highlight some of the essential differences between the Western conception of spirituality (points of terminus) versus the Eastern conception of spirituality (points of change).

Imagine if Damocles had said: “The sword may fall but it cannot hit your servant” — that would be very Zen koan.

Descartes Underwater: In “The Meditations” Descartes ..describes a feeling of being tossed into cold water. I cite it fully here: >The Meditation of yesterday has filled my mind with so many doubts, that it is no longer in my power to forget them. Nor do I see, meanwhile, any principle on which they can be resolved; and, just as if I had fallen all of a sudden into very deep water, I am so greatly disconcerted as to be unable either to plant my feet firmly on the bottom or sustain myself by swimming on the surface. —Descartes, Meditation II.1

Descartes claims to have been tossed into this very deep and disconcerting water upon posing the premiss that God is a deceiver or that He has permitted an evil genius to orchestrate (what we today would call) a virtual reality falsehood (think: The Matrix) around him.

I alwas suspected that Descartes chose this deep water metaphor from his Catholic background where he would have been exposed to the litany: De Profundis clamo ad te Domine — out of the depths I cry to thee, O Lord.

In any case, I’m a sucker for this metaphor - mostly because philosophy was much more entertaining when its authors felt they had license to include melodrama.

E

Elle: My girlfriend.

I

iPod: You know it’s the ultimate toy of our age. I have a G3 G4 iPod Photo with 20GB 60GB .

J

Jeff: Jeff is a former neighbor and a capital guy. He has a sound system on his patio perfect for playing Tom Waits (esp. the CD “Mule Variations”).

K

King Cocoa : A state of mind. When one has understood Objective-C for Mac OS X’s Cocoa Engine, one becomes King Cocoa.

I once thought I had achieved King Cocoadom in October of 2004, and then in January 2005, and then in January 2006. The truth of the matter is that part of being King Cocoa is to realize that you’ve never finished. There’s always something new.

M

The Monkey’s Paw: Another essential story of the human condition (a la Damocles) is represented in W.W. Jacobs’ The Monkey’s Paw. In it simple folk are given a monkey’s paw wherewith they can make wishes - but every wish is fulfilled in a fashion such that something else they love is ruined.

P

Powerbook of joy : An Apple Computer 15” PowerBook G4. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

W

Waits, Tom: An excellent raconteur, artist, philosopher. He’s Big in Japan (or, at least that’s what the song of the same title proclaims)and can mesmerize the “NightHawks at the Diner”. His “Big Joe and Phantom 309” is the inspiration behind Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure with “Large Marge”. Waits keeps a low profile most of the time, appearing in the odd indie flick (“Coffee and Cigarettes” and the odder comedy “Mystery Men”).

Waits is best played on Jeff’s patio in the summer.

Waits, a seminal musician, could not get recognized at a guitar shop, but was instantly recognized by junkyard attendants.

Waits is just like that

Wikipedia: The wikipedia is a great place to find out about all sorts of stuff