Technology without limits

I am at severe risk of saying the same things again about the incredible advances in technology that I have seen during the brief course of my working life (circa 40 years). However today I splashed out on a small Jawbone Jambox speaker with which to amplify my iPod .... and all the while going through my head was that what I really wanted was an amplifier to play the music from the cloud rather than any particular music player.

Fast forward two hours of extremely impressive amplified music from the iPod - and I decide to pair the Jawbone Jambox with my iPad (which has no music stored physically on it) to see if I could access the music from the cloud.

Of course I could! That is such a blindingly obvious use of it that none of the Apple assistants I spoke to thought it important enough to mention ... and it being such a preposterous idea anyway I naturally didn't dare to ask!

So now from the comfort of my 19th century campaign desk I can access the internet, listen to music playing from the cloud and when finished, put the tiny little ghetto blaster that the Jawbone most certainly is, iPad and remote keyboard away in one of the drawers: much as a general might have had his staff do in the field before breaking camp - though then it would have been charts, a field log, nib pen and bottle of Indian ink. And of course because all this is operated either over the internet by wifi or Bluetooth ... there isn't a cable in site!

Forty years ago I recall planning to spend the money I had saved while on National Service (Rhodesian Army) on a portable cassette tape recorder and player, that I would eventually build a huge library of classical music and hold musical soirees in my rooms (I was always a little camp in my ideas ...). I did buy that tape machine and over the years it has been replaced with others - a Sony Walkman, a portable CD player, a mini CD player and at least two iPods. Jeff and I got rid of our vinyl record collections some years ago but do still have an impressive collection of CDs to play on the Bang and Olufsen (another great British invention by the way!) that is 'plumbed' into the house.

Of course we don't know where it will end ... and I hope it never does. Future generations will look back on our current technology and wonder how on earth we managed with it; however I am starting to wonder how on earth we managed without it!

Miharu-koma

Today two young people (twelve year olds) visited from Fukushima to see the garden in Holland Park that was created to commemorate the Japanese gratitude for the assistance provided by the British last year after the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.

They are the second party that has brought with them a traditional toy from the Fukushima region: the first gift was an Akabeko (red ox) and today's was a very handsome black Miharu-koma (horse).

I love the stories behind these toys which are not just given as playthings but also as a talisman against misfortune and (if cared for) source of good luck. The first is obviously tao in origin but the latter more confucian and a method of teaching children to care for their worldly goods.

I admire the simplicity of their toys and as I look at these two with their unblemished lacquer and paintwork, my mind is cast back to the exhibition I saw last year that had on display a small collection of very simple wooden dolls that had been found in the rubble left behind by the tsunami waters. In their utter simplicity there was a discernible poverty that told much of the dolls' creator and child or children who must have loved them as only a child can.

Buddhism attaches great importance to the wealth that is to be found in worldly poverty and 'original mind'. In a simple child's toy there is a reminder that we can find enlightenment by adopting a child's mind.

More thoughts on technology

I always buy a fresh notebook before starting on my holiday: the thin, iconic, Moleskin type being best suited to my needs. This trip that tradition was repeated, but, no sooner had I placed it on the ledge beside me (seat 3K) than I thought: that's daft - what do I need that for? I've an iPad now - what do I need that for? Time will tell no doubt over the next fortnight in Palm Springs.

I remember some years ago amazing myself with the ability of the Apple iPod to let me listen to music and write blogs … flying over the Atlantic - and last year I purchased perhaps rather too quickly, a BlackBerry PlayBook. Today, I feel as if things have finally come together. The iPad is the ideal size for my largish fingers and the notebook software removes the need for pen and paper to accompany me for scribbling my thoughts.

Artistically though, I doubt that the iPad or similar will ever trump or upstage the tactile and rounded feel of pen and paper when writing creatively. I play with Haiku and yet enjoy to turn pages of the same haiku in its various stages of creation as thoughts and emotions combine with words - only to be struck out and re-phrased.
In work I still take one of many Moleskin notebooks to meetings and am known for my fairly diligent note taking in dealings with colleagues. I like a record and to be able to quickly flick back through my scrawls for reference.

As something of a techno-phile I am still absolutely in awe of the iPad (3rd generation) and can only re-iterate my previously blogged thoughts on how technology has changed my world quite apart from anyone else's: in one very slim little machine (though it has no moving parts) I have a library of books, gallery of photographs, catalogue of music, ability to converse by email or other social media with people all over the world - instantly - and a host of other benefits.

Looking around the Concorde lounge in Terminal 5 this morning I was struck by just how many people were either using or had beside them an Apple iPad or similar.

I used to wonder where it would all end and the impact on people but now I just take for granted the fact that technology will continue to change and move on … benefiting many and confusing some (myself included). It is the new reality and if there is one fact worth observing from this blog, it is that children born today will not only grow up benefiting from this technology, but will themselves probably take it all for granted in the same way that my generation (as opposed to my grand-parents') have accepted aircraft travel.

How short a time ago it was that we considered a mobile phone to be cutting edge ...

The Olympics legacy

Standing in line in the Apple Store yesterday I found myself next to a former Olympics swimmer of considerable repute and height. A timely reminder that I had meant to comment upon the Olympics legacy some weeks ago.
London excelled itself with the arrangements and Team GB's amazing success in both the Olympics and the Paralympic Games that followed. The former put my scepticism to route - none of my doom and gloom occurred apart from an embarrassing loss of some American athletes at the start of the games (using a beta version of Apple Maps?). The latter has to be one of the most amazing transformations of public perception ever recorded.
We are used to seeing people with disabilities as objects of pity and deserving our sympathy. In my nearly 60 years that has always been the case. Selling copies of the Big Issue has replaced selling matches. An expectation that they all live on benefits and are best kept out of view. Extreme maybe - but I fear not actually to far off the mark.
London 2012 changed all that!
Setting aside the compassionate journalism that preceded the games, within the first few days of the Paralympics it became clear that here was a group of people who we don't see or hear about - not because they need to eek out some miserable benefit- supported existence - but because they are in the swimming pools and athletics academies training day after day to build their strength and skills. We (and I include myself very much in this statement) very quickly realised that we were watching some extraordinary individuals achieving some frankly incredible results.
These people are not objects to pity or apologise for; they are though very real heroes and heroines who have in many cases overcome incalculable difficulties to achieve their places in their various national teams. To then win an award is doubly excellent … but for many just getting there is and was a personal victory that the rest of us should find genuinely humbling.
Looking ahead - what needs to change as a Paralympics legacy?
Public parks and town centres need to be more accommodating of the needs of people with disabilities (changing places lavatories must not be shared as nappy changing areas, pavements need adjusting, signs need lowering … ). Paralympic models need to walk the catwalk, take part in the reality television shows, quizzes etc. In short we need to reappraise the world from the artificial handicap of a wheelchair, blacked out spectacles or limited limb ability and then based upon our likely failure to achieve anything, make a genuine effort to reintegrate these hidden heroes and heroines into our playgrounds, onto our streets and into our hearts.
After 2012 there must be no return to the perception of people with disabilities needing hand-outs. They must be able to take their place alongside the rest of us and be allowed to play their part in our society. That they want to and that they can was proved beyond any doubt at these Games!
And that really is a legacy.

The new Ipad

Tweated on Twitter by the newest convert to the iPad - how my frustration with RIM and the Blackberry PlayBook have finally driven me to the new iPad.
The iPhone 4S that I purchased earlier this year arguably set the wheels turning; however looking back through my blogs I detect that this was an eventuality predicted some years ago when I blogged on my iPod Touch from the skies over the Atlantic Ocean.




I chose the PlayBook because of its size and because it came from the same stable as both my personal and work mobile phones. Label Queen perhaps. The latter reason was a purely emotional attachment: the former I thought borne of practicality. The reality - and this did cause me to think about awaiting the arrival of the iPad mini - is that the former works for a reader - but not a writer. I need an email and blogging keyboard capable of dealing with stubby fingers …  not possible unfortunately on a smaller screen!
However the very biggest frustration was the time it takes to start up the PlayBook after shutdown. Operationally it needs to be shut down on a regular basis (the first one sits in a drawer unloved and unusable on account of my failure to do that). Having to do that each day / week ... whatever … drove me back to paper and pen.
Less than twenty four hours later: yes I am impressed by the iPad and the capabilities it offers.
Oh - and one more point to make: as all of my Apple products currently use the 30 pin connector, waiting for the new iPad with a new type of connector would be akin to condemning myself to 3 or 4 years of duplicate cables or connector adapters everywhere! Why oh why can we not have one cable and adapter for everything? We've nationally agreed plug sockets …

Fukushima - the story of a new garden

THE FUKUSHIMA GARDEN IN HOLLAND PARK

On11^th March 2011 a massive earthquake caused a tsunami to strike theeastern seaboard of Japan – particularly the Fukushima Prefecture. This naturaldisaster and consequent human tragedy led to a near cataclysmic melt-down ofnuclear power stations in the Fukushima region. Although nearly 2,000 peopleare known to have died, millions of people across Japan were directly andindirectly affected. Offers of assistance poured in from around the world – butamongst the first were those from the United Kingdom.

On17^th May 2012 their Majesties, the Emperor and Empress of Japan madea private visit to Holland Park prior to officially thanking the British peopleat a diplomatic reception in the Japanese Embassy for their compassion andpractical support in response to the disaster.

Somedays later, the embassy’s First Secretary, Kita Katsuhiko put the problem to me– where to plant some Rhododendrons and specifically R. brachycarpum – in Holland Park as an expression of gratitude forthe assistance rendered to the Japanese people. This particular Rhododendron iscommon in the Fukushima region. I balked at the idea of adding to the KyotoGarden so soon after last year’s major refurbishment and suggested an areabehind the black bamboos. As Yasuo Kitayama was expected to return shortly fromKyoto, we agreed to put the proposal to him - and dually did. However he wasnot particularly enthused by the idea.

Earlyon the second day of his visit we again discussed the idea. Was I sure I wantedthese planted “at the back of the bamboos?” he asked.

“Yes”,I replied, unless of course he had any other better idea.

“Aback garden?” he asked somewhatincredulously.  

“Oh!No!” I replied before asking if perhaps he would rather design a small gardenor border to show off the Rhododendrons.

Hesmiled, and having made his catch, told me to return that afternoon after he’dgiven it some more thought.

I returnedas instructed to find the normally composed Kitayama-san in full creative flow:he wanted steps over here, this tree moved over there, rocks – lots of rocks,and grass. “Yes! More hydrangeas and, please, extend that hedge ....” The list was demanding and the trees no soonerplanted than they were being up-rooted and moved again!

Overthe following days his three assistants, the gardeners and fitters worked like Trojansas he remodelled the site of the original works yard into a fitting memorialgarden under the working title of the “Fukushima Extension”.

Visitorsfrom the embassy were quickly followed by others from the Fukushima PrefecturalAssociation, the Fukushima Minpo, and former residents of the region. A fewdays into the build, Kitayama and his team had to return home. However he left veryprecise descriptions of what he had intended the garden to look and feel likeand departed with the ominous warning: “I’ll be back in November to see howyou’ve done!” Work continued . . .

OnTuesday 24^th July two 2012 Olympic athletes (Izumi Kato – a swimmer andKatsuaki Susa – fly weight boxer), an agricultural worker (Koushi Fujita) andtwo school children (Kanami Ajima and Miyu Matsubara) from the FukushimaPrefecture plus the Head Gardener of Holland Park and two local school childrenofficially opened the garden in the presence of a very distinguished audiencethat included: the His Excellency, the Japanese Ambassador; Mr Masato Abe,  Director of the Fukushima Prefecture Government;Cllr. Lady Borwick, the Deputy Mayor); Mr Yoshio Mitsuyama (Chairman of theFukushima Prefectural Association in the UK), Mr Seiich Nihei (Senior ManagingDirector, Fukushima Minpo) as well as senior officers from the Japanese Embassy,the Friends and Members of the Council.

Thegarden is probably best entered from the south. The left hand gate post has acalligraphic plaque (donated by the artist Kashuu) that reads Fukushima Garden.The garden is walked through via a footpath that evokes a dry river bed (hencethe pebbles) - tumbling in the north - west over the rapids (or steps) from theKyoto pond and in the east, from the hills and mountains beyond.

TheRhododendrons currently planted are R. x hybridus‘Cunningham’s White’, which is the closest variety that we could find to R. brachycarpum – the white floweringnative of the region. We did manage to find seven rather poorly specimens ofthe latter being grown by a Scottish nursery and these have been temporarilyplanted behind the screen further up the hillside. In future years it should bepossible to replace the 2012 hybrids. The flowers are interesting because thebuds are pink at first before giving way to white.

Themotto of the Fukushima Prefecture is “Never give up” and that is perhaps bestevoked at the entrance by the three “growing stones” that rise up from theground. The benches that were also donated by the Prefecture have beendeliberately placed on the grass to make the most of the various views acrossthe garden - including the shakkei orborrowed landscapes beyond its immediate boundaries. We will put more permanentbases in place in time.

Visitorsare being currently permitted to enjoy the garden in contact with the lawn. Wewill review this from time to time, but to date it appears to have beensuccessful; it has also helped the security guard who now has an alternative areaoutside of – but near - the Kyoto Garden to direct people towards.

Thecrack underneath one of the benches looking over the Kyoto pond has been enlargedand painted blood red to evoke an earthquake ... not too many people seemcomfortable sitting astride it!

Finalthoughts: the Fukushima Garden has been designed as a commemorative garden tomark the gratitude of the Japanese people for the support of the British peoplein an hour of great need. There is much to gain from compassionate responses tonatural events and accordingly the bonds with the people of Fukushima that bindall of us associated with this garden will indeed grow stronger.

“Together, we make the world” (Thich Nhat Hanh)

An iPhone finally …

Having previously blogged from my iPod Touch … very successfully and been constantly frustrated trying to use a BlackBerry for the same purpose, I have finally succumbed and purchased an iPhone.

The rest of the world already knows what an incredibly clever piece of equipment these are… I did too but was more drawn to the style and feel of the BlackBerry. Delaying the purchase has had its benefits: there is unlikely to be a better phone for a couple of years.

I am not completely anti-BlackBerry and as tweeted recently, believe the PlayBook to be an excellent innovation in terms of its size and ability. I am though frustrated continually by the arrogance of its Canadian developers: RIM. We had to wait nearly a year for basic applications.

So where to now? I remain hopeful of being able to link my phone by Blue-tooth to the PlayBook but am not optimistic of that happening soon. In the immediate future I can see the smaller of my two "pocket" computers keeping me happy.

One day Apple might just produce an iPad of the same size as the PlayBook - on present customer service I have to say that I'd switch overnight. A challenge therefore to both for my loyalty?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Town Hall prayers debate: an opportunity for greater compassion.

In response to the High Court judgement outlawing acts of Christian prayer from town and city halls, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, commented: “it does look as though the Christian voice is being silenced and I am very worried by the dangers of a creeping secularisation. The marginalisation of Christianity is hollowing out our value system and our culture and this worries me more than anything else.”

The Archbishop, it seems, is more concerned by a shift in values and change in our culture than in faith and the 'good news' that the Christian gospel is held by Christians to convey - the spreading of which is meant to be a principle objective.

The reasons that this religion – and by that I mean the set of rules set down by clerics such as the former Archbishop, the plethora of Popes and other religious figures over the millennia – is being over-taken by “creeping” secularisation are not hard to find. The established church has deliberately marginalised itself from a rising tide of compassion that unites not just Christians, but Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and people of other great Faiths. This compassion I would argue is at the heart of a more tolerant global society and reflects greater dependence upon democracy than theocracy. Witness how many more junior clerics in the Church of England are now supported by the current Bishop of London in their quest for more inclusive and tolerant policies.

Many churches are reputedly located on the sites of former temples or sites of special religious significance to followers of the druids and other pre-Christian faiths. Britons today are more numerous, and diverse in terms of colour, culture, ethnicity and open about their sexuality than at any other point in our history and yet churches that were once filled are now empty, converted into houses and theatres or being filled by people of other faiths.  Small, verging upon extremist, factions of evangelical Christianity are probably the most constant visitors to today's still open Protestant churches.

There is documentary evidence (such as the story of Saint Issa) that suggests Christ spent much of his life outside of the Holy Land living in India where he was able to study the ancient Buddhist scriptures and learn from other non-Judaic religions. There are aphorisms in the Dhammapada (probably best read as a Buddhist Book of Proverbs written in Pali) that are believed to be the actual teachings of Buddha, and which bear a remarkable similarity in imagery and sentiment to those ascribed to Christ in the New Testament; this is of course quite apart from the instructions and observations we now associate with Lao Tse and Confucius who lived even further to the east and indeed  earlier than Buddha or Christ. That ideas and faiths have travelled vast distances is not surprising given the time between these great scriptural testaments being recorded and later written down. Zen Buddhists are possibly unique in their open acknowledgement of the origins of some of their ideas and practices. That the inclusive image we might wish to have of Christ should be associated with the compassionate and profound ideas and teaching of Buddha is also not surprising.

History is full of examples of cultures evolving and others disappearing as new ideas and traditions arrived either peacefully - or at the point of a sword.

The Christian response to slavery, and then women clerics, gay people and other minority groups in the late Twentieth century and early years of this, sadly emulate its previous responses to the challenges presented by people of colour and indeed its historically held perception of its own superiority over other faiths. It took decades to change the church’s view on race, to appoint people of colour as junior clerics and eventually appoint its first black Bishop. The Creator must have shuddered in amazement at that momentous event.

My message to Lord Carey, the current Archbishops of Canterbury and York - Messrs. Williams and Sentamu and their apologists: stop blaming secularism for all that has gone wrong; acknowledge that it may be the church's complacency and historical complicity with wealth and political influence at the expense of our wider society that have caused people to turn their backs on your leadership and organised religion.

The judgemental description “creeping” attached to secularisation by Lord Carey will not stop people rioting on the streets, bankers 'stealing' millions to put into their bonuses or politicians defrauding the electorate. Instead it will build even taller walls between the established church and its former followers - language and sentiment such as this are no longer a credible response. In short people don't care what the Bishops think.

People no longer believe the Church will or can “save” them. In fact, if they are gay and they have to look to Archbishop Sentamu for direction, they must question what the salvation is from or indeed if they want to be 'saved'. Religious bigotry and intolerance is from the same disordered mind as the racism Sentamu has regrettably faced in recent days. He could, however, learn much by listening to former Archbishop Tutu of Cape Town and the current Bishop Charteris of London before attacking gay people and the 'divine' right to a meaningful relationship within the context of a chosen faith. 

The real casualty in the rise in secularism will be people losing faith not so much in the organised religions and churches, but in faith itself. If people cease to see in their hearts that there may be a purpose for them, that there may be something far greater than ego and physical self, the stop watch on the present human world will start to tick a great deal faster. Secularism without a system of values does not offer anything but a void. Equally, however, religion without a realistic, rather than just an ethereal, purpose loses validity to its claim to link to a higher cause.

I do not believe that we should be enslaved to the established wishes of the Church of England, a quaint Town Hall tradition that feigns devotion or indeed to  Canterbury’s current view of the rules.  I do, however, believe that faith in a greater order, power or purpose than us (God if you will), should be preserved and encouraged. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, observed in a Credo article recently published in the Saturday Times, “There is only one God but there may be more than one path to his presence”. 

A few minutes reflection, at the start of a democratic meeting, upon words drawn from any of the scriptures that inform the varied, yet compassionate, faiths in Britain today, will encourage greater humanity from our elected leaders. The proposed demise of solely Christian prayers – perhaps an imposed imperialist Victorian tradition – is not something I think we should mourn.

“We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts we make the world.” (Buddha)

The closeness and vulnerability of modern communications

A weekend upon which to reflect my links over the past twenty-four hours with people literally all over the world.

I have commented upon a photograph posted in Australia, exchanged plans to meet up with friends in California and New Jersey, discussed details of a pamphlet I have finally completed this week with my contacts in Kyoto and today arranged accommodation in South Africa for a visit in March. Add to that just now a Skype call to a friend in Reading (I am finally getting the hang of it - I think) and conventional telephone calls, mobile phone calls and texts through the day.

I remember vividly twiddling the dials of HF radios during late night radio watches whilst serving in the Rhodesian army in the 1970's and listening in absolute awe at the ease with which civilian radio hams spoke over the air waves to each other. The world seemed a great deal bigger then and yet, in the stillness of the night, we were all so close - they chatting, me listening.

I am constantly amazed by the progress of information technology and how we seem to so quickly take it all for granted. Where would I be without my iPod - my BlackBerry - my laptop or PlayBook (which I am learning to re-love)?

The World Wide Web - that takes me back to my first Apple computer in the 1990's ... now we have Wikipedia in place of the Encyclopedia Britannica (or is it alongside?).

At what point will we or should we stop evolving these electronic communications systems, I wonder? Are we the better for them? Luddites step forward ... I guess so long as we don't forget how to multiply or divide, a desk calculator can't hinder progress; it will be when we lose the ability to communicate without access to electronic power or gadgetry that the problem will begin. Taught as a cub, I at least, can still use semaphore flags!

The space between two pine trees

Researching the different features of the Kyoto Garden in Holland Park, I discovered the unusual significance of two, as opposed to three, pine trees. One represents the future and the other the past. Looking through them we see the present. 

Two objects linked together is unusual in the Buddhist faith as three - representing the Trinity or one of the Trinities (for there seem to be a number of interpretations) is the norm. 

A recent television film I watched described the departing aliens as disappearing 'into spaces between time'. What a wonderful concept I thought - not the future and not the past nor even the present.

This had me thinking this morning about the present and the past and how they are linked. We describe the present as 'now' - but then add the descriptive word 'just' for to it to mean both the future - just now - and the past - just now. 

Two old pine trees, I thought, that carry a tapestry of sadness and past joys in the one and a barrel load of hopes and dreams in the other. Linking them is 'now': the present - the space between which only we can fill (or empty) with Mindfulness. 

Now there is something upon which to meditate!

Is that so?

In his inspiring little book "Writings from the Zen Masters" (Penguin paperback), Paul Reps quotes the story of the Zen master Hakuin which goes as this:

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbours as one living a pure life.

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.

This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.

In great anger the parents went to the master. "Is that so?" was all he would say.

After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbours and everything else the little one needed.

A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth - that the real father of the child was a young man who worked at the fishmarket.

The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back again.

Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: "Is that so?"

Mindful of that story (meditation does work!), I replied today to an email from an uncomplimentary, 'serial' critic, of the work of one of my teams in a most unlikely manner - for me that is. "Thank you" I wrote and wondered if Hakuin would have approved.