A couple other things I did this weekend
So I finally saw Pump Up the Volume this weekend. It came out when I was in high school, but I never saw it. I was generally impressed, though there was a lot of smoking (I have a raging, nigh-irrational dislike of smoking). But afterwards I was thinking about how dated it is, in that its prayers were answered right away. SPOILERS (yah for a fourteen year old movie) You remember how at the end Mark calls for everyone to start their own pirate radio station, and say whatever they felt like. Well, now we have the internet. And more specifically we have Livejournal. The internet is the biggest private radio station there ever was, and with Livejournal we can all say whatever we want. Its pretty cool. I guess it impresses me more because I've always been a Lurker, regarding the internet as a research tome, rather than a soapbox. Maybe I'll rant more now. Hmm.
The other thing I did this weekend was see the Dalai Lama. He was great. He was just a regular guy, but he was so fun and friendly. You could tell that he meant what he said about compassion and global responsibility. Also he was introduced by Archbishop Desmond Tutu (yes, two famous Nobel Peace Laureates on stage together). The two of them are great friends and Archbishop Tutu hung around for the talk. The Dalai Lama would keep joking with him, and the funniest part was during the question period, when, in response to the question 'What do you think should be done about Terrorism?' the DL referred the question to His Grace. Everyone laughed because it seemed like good-natured buck-passing, but His Holiness was serious because he regards Archbishop Tutu as his elder, not only in age, but as someone who won the Nobel Peace Prize before him. Another funny moment came at the asking of the last question which was 'Why have none of the Dalai Lamas been female?' Everyone laughed at that. But His Holiness's answer was good. First he said that the institution of the Dalai Lama had originated in a male-dominated society, then that the Tibetan people were free to choose the next Dalai Lama however they wished, and then that the Dalai Lama chooses to reincarnate in whatever form will be the most useful for getting out the message of compassion, and if, in the future, a female form would be more useful, then that is how he will reincarnate. It was a pleasure and an honour to be in the room with those two men.
The other thing I did this weekend was see the Dalai Lama. He was great. He was just a regular guy, but he was so fun and friendly. You could tell that he meant what he said about compassion and global responsibility. Also he was introduced by Archbishop Desmond Tutu (yes, two famous Nobel Peace Laureates on stage together). The two of them are great friends and Archbishop Tutu hung around for the talk. The Dalai Lama would keep joking with him, and the funniest part was during the question period, when, in response to the question 'What do you think should be done about Terrorism?' the DL referred the question to His Grace. Everyone laughed because it seemed like good-natured buck-passing, but His Holiness was serious because he regards Archbishop Tutu as his elder, not only in age, but as someone who won the Nobel Peace Prize before him. Another funny moment came at the asking of the last question which was 'Why have none of the Dalai Lamas been female?' Everyone laughed at that. But His Holiness's answer was good. First he said that the institution of the Dalai Lama had originated in a male-dominated society, then that the Tibetan people were free to choose the next Dalai Lama however they wished, and then that the Dalai Lama chooses to reincarnate in whatever form will be the most useful for getting out the message of compassion, and if, in the future, a female form would be more useful, then that is how he will reincarnate. It was a pleasure and an honour to be in the room with those two men.