Gym – pain in order to feel better. Same with “human dramas”. There is no point going through them if they do not serve any purpose. With gym the link between pain, suffering and feeling better as a result is very clear and straightforward. Not so with “human dramas”. Worse, it is very easy and natural to get “stuck”, “trapped” in a drama, like a light trapped by a black hole. And then our whole self becomes a drama, a dog chasing its own tail, there is “nobody outside” to pull us out of this bog we are totally immersed in.

Dramas are good, dramas are essential for personal growth but one always has to be on a lookout, one always has to ask oneself a simple question: am I progressing or am I stuck, running around in circles, like a moth circling around the light that will finally destroy it? One always has to aim for “progress”, for growth, one always has to see in a drama a spec of opportunity for personal improvement, a seed violently and painfully breaking apart in order to give a way to a new, wonderful and full of enthusiastic, vibrant energy sprout.

And it is important to split oneself into two entities: there is I, a participant, who is totally immersed in drama, pain and suffering and not capable to see anything outside it. And there is I, an observer, rational and compassionate observer who never looses the sight of the “bigger picture” and who can clearly see how the current drama can help to enrich one’s personal, emotional and spiritual well being.

This “personality split” can be achieved in many different ways: through meditation, contemplation, confirmations, affirmations, inspiring films, books, words, walking and observing nature, various therapies etc. etc…..

We are not moths. We circle around the light throughout our lives in order to be light-er rather than being destroyed. And hence it is vital, essential, critical that we crawl out of any black hole we fell in at any cost so we can progress on our journey.

culica mobile website: http://www.culica.com/product/culica-mobile/
twitter: http://twitter.com/iphonedevapps

What sparks those “other occasions” is unclear and surrounded by a cloak of mystery, but generally moving from one place to another, or even change in weather conditions seems to affect this feature in a nastily negative way.

So what is this wonderful and yet so annoyingly useless feature about? It is about posting pictures from your mobile phone directly to your blog, without having to create an email, or MMS message, simply take your picture, select “Send to Blog” from the menu – and the picture will appear in your blog on the web straight away.

Instead of sending MMS messages to go@blogger.com to post to a mobile blog, Sony Ericsson users post using the built-in BlogThis! feature. What does this difference mean? For regular mobile users, the mobile alias connects the user to the mobile blog. For Sony Ericsson users, each phone has a distinct device ID, which associates the device with the mobile blog.
Using Blogger with Your Sony Ericsson Mobile Device

To blog a picture you just took:
-) Take a picture and select ‘Send’ > To blog.
-) Add a title and text, and press ‘Publish’ to send the picture to your blog.
(Sony Ericsson support pages)

Now, what we have here is a 3-Tier level of responsibility, or, to be more precise, lack of it. 3 parties are involved: Google, Sony Ericsson and mobile phone network provider. Google and Sony Ericsson don’t seem to offer any help/support regarding persistent failures of this feature. My mobile phone network provider doesn’t even mention it. I assume this is because, as far as each of those parties is concerned – their “bit” is working perfectly: my mobile phone works without glitches, Google’s services are up and running, and all the services my mobile phone network provider supplies me with, including internet connection, are operational too. So the problem actually doesn’t exist, everything is groovy, dandy, hanky dory and all.

Potential solution to the problem: reboot your phone. This fixes the issue quite often, the downside is by rebooting your phone every hour or so You are substantially increasing the risk of damaging your mobbie all together. But what the heck, Live and Be Judged by amount of mobile devices you went through in this life.

The below method was derived by experimenting with various options and scenarios and, as such, is not complete yet. In particular – I have not tried any sound options yet.

Troubleshooting

Scenarios which fail:

• Starting VLC from the command prompt / terminal / Xterm with “screen://” argument – this seems to screw up the whole display
• Some codecs / encapsulation methods produce erors such as: “Streaming / Transcoding failed”, “VLC could not open the encoder”, “cannot open encoder”, “cannot find video encoder”, “cannot create video chain”, “cannot create packetizer output”
• Some codecs / encapsulation methods do not produce erors but don’t produce output either
• Some combinations of input parameters produce a video which deteriorates in quality, becomes distorted, full of pixelized squares etc

How To

Summary of all parameters which worked for me in the next section.

• Open VLC as you would do normally
• Window -> Errors and Warnings (this will warn you if encoding failed)
• File -> Open Capture Device -> Screen
• Try to limit the area You are recording by specifying Subscreen parameters – I didn’t have any luck with recording full screen
• Tick: “Streaming/Saving”
• Click on “Settings…”
• Select “File”, click on Browse, select dir where you want to save the file and give it some name
• Encapsulation Method: MPEG 4
• Transcoding options: tick “Video” and select mp4, Bitrate 512
• Untick “Audio” (just to test if it works without it)
• Click “OK”
• we are back to previous screen, click “Open”

Once You clicked “Open” the video / screencast will start recording. There won’t be any progress indicated on the VLC interface, so click on “stop” button in the VLC interface after a while and open the file to see if recording worked.

Additional info

VideoLAN Streaming formats – list of all streaming / container formats and their compatibilities.

Parameters that worked for me

MPEG-4, no sound, 00:29 seconds

Screen Capture Input:
Frames per second: 20
Subscreen left: 800, Subscreen width: 400
Subscreen top: 0, Subscreen height: 800
Follow the mouse: no
Streaming/Saving:
File: {filename}.mp4
Encapsulation Method: MPEG 4
Video: mp4, 512 kb/s, Scale 1
Audio: disabled

AVI, no sound, 00:14 seconds

Screen Capture Input:
Frames per second: 20
Subscreen left: 800, Subscreen width: 400
Subscreen top: 100, Subscreen height: 1000
Follow the mouse: no
Streaming/Saving:
File: {filename}.avid
Transcoding options: unticked
Comment: Great quality but 460MB for 14 seconds video

Human curiosity and free-thinking is being dumbed down, and it seems to me that this is quite a recent, distinct stage in human evolution, which Orwell documented so well. Democracy seems to be transformed into a sophisticated slavery – where slaves are responsible for enslaving themselves, accept it and take full responsibility for it. Dumbing down is good for the economy, the more narrow-minded a person, the more submissive and acceptive he will be, creative, caring and innovative doctor is just a burden on surgery’s or hospital finances – what those institutions need is a doctor who can follow the well established processes at the minimum cost.

But enuf of this rant. My main “no point in making points” point is that every area of our lives is affected by this commercialisation, and I absolutely see no reason why UFO should/would be excluded. Although obviously the link with UFOs is more subtle, not directly linked to “profitability”, politics, democracy, establishment or any mad conspiracy theories. I think two main reasons why UFOs get “affected” are: dumbing down and the fact that, due to commercialisation, anything that is not directly related to monetary value simply disappears from the field of personal interest of more and more people. Reading FSR magazine I got the impression that there are less sightings and UFO related experiences than in the, say, 60s. Is it because aliens lost interest in us? Or is it because people lost interest in them? It is perfectly possible that UFOs sightings are just not reported as often as before, for a fear of ridicule and worse, and because there is no money in it. It is not a topic of interest to respectable news media which can loose its profits as a result, and it is not in interest of Government for their subjects to be distracted and perhaps awakened from their materialistic and very down to earth tax-paying reality. Currently politicians openly laugh in our faces knowing that masses will helplessly resign to it, because they feel powerless to change anything, they are just resigned to the fact that things are as they are and always have been that way and always will be. Imagine a spark of hope that some “external” force or influence can actually help human kind to “straighten things up”. This could cause global upheaval, disorder and revolutions, even if such force didn’t actually exist – humans are perfectly capable to empower themselves on hope alone. So perhaps that is why any trace of potential alien visit, however vague and inconclusive, is better kept from public awareness, just like one should never keep matches close to the fire.

I liked “The Day the Earth Stood Still” film for this very reason, that, IMHO, it illustrates very well our current attitude to any potential alien being: keep it secret and subject it to torture rather than open dialogue, because the being is obviously more powerful and evolved than us. Duh! It is also a good analogy for the current state of our democratic system: the real, open dialogue between politicians and masses can only take place when masses are sufficiently ignorant and feeling hopelessly powerless. But that’s another rant….

We know that the main focus of today scientists is not truth and discovery, but prestige, money and power. Same applies to practically any other area of human existence, sport, healthcare, etc…etc… and UFOs too. One aspect of UFOs which fascinates me, for it is rarely mentioned, is the fact that it seems to be a “tabu” subject as far as establishment is concerned. Why? Based on skimpy observations we have one can easily deduct that much more must be known about the subject – but this knowledge is suppressed. What for? Our safety?

Orwell, Osho and now Zeitgeist Addendum movie explain sufficiently, IMHO, why things are the way they are and will continue to evolve that way. The evolution of human kind is an evolution of human slavery. Money and profit are the only real value and goal – even though they are not real at all. And establishment will suppress anything that is a threat to those profits, be it scientific discovery, cheap energy source, contact with aliens, or cure for some disease or addiction. Even admitting that some UFO remains have been found is dangerous, as far as Establishment is concerned – for it might give people “ideas”, a new perspective, distract them from their main purpose – which is “put your head down and keep filling pockets of politicians and tycoons”.

Zeitgeist Addendum movie does have an aura of “yet another conspiracy theory”. I also have no idea whether the facts presented there are true and I don’t care either. The view point, the model presented fits nicely with Orwell’s (experienced revolutionary) and Osho’s (spiritual guru) as well as many other areas of our lives: the current state of economy, corrupt politicians laughing in our faces, turning national healthcare system into “business” and so on. I also had an opportunity to observe JPMorgan’s “mentality” first hand by working there and come up with similar conclusions, which can be summed up in two points:
1. Banks, not politicians, rule the world
2. Big banks and corporations can never “lose” money because they hold all the cards. They are not interested in efficiency but in creating economical and political imbalances in order to maximize their profits.

The world economy is just one big casino where all the winnings are deposited back to casino for “safe keeping” and “profitability”.

Zeitgeist Addendum torrent
Zeitgeist, the Movie torrent

Below is my “skimpy” and purely personal contribution to “identity shaped by ’socialist communism’ in Poland”, ‘purely personal’ because different groups of people had entirely different , sometimes totally opposite experiences, depending on their age, family status, political or religious beliefs and so on….

My brief background: born in Poland in 1963, both parents very poor farming background who made it to the Big Town: Warsaw and managed to get higher education – I guess all thanks to ’socialism’ – they would have stood no chance in pre-WWII era. So here is first horrifying realization: I owe my identity, my “who I am” to ’socialism’ – because without it my parents would have never met as students and therefore I would not have been conceived, not to those parents anyway.

I found growing up in Poland a bizarre and surreal dual-reality – we were ’socialist’ country but our socialism did not conform to many obligatory principles of Communism. Everybody was poor – but many could afford “luxury” items such as cars or colour TVs – which were beyond their official earning potential. There was no food in the shops at certain times – but usually there was always food on the tables whomever one visited. Religion and Church were frowned upon by officialdom – yet not going to church was frowned upon probably even more socially. Most people went to “International Workers Day” 1st of May celebrations – yet most of them were just laughing their heads off at all this nonsense. The list could go on and on. It was, in a way, like playing some kind of kids “pretend” game – there were adults who would tell us what to think and how to behave (party officials) and there were kids who were nodding their heads while “misbehaving” – thinking and doing what suited them best. What made it even more bizarre was that most of the “adults” were “kids” as well – party officials who would condemn the church officially but secretly attend the mass every Sunday for example.

How did it shape the identity of myself and perhaps others of my age? This may sound very arrogant – but I believe this “dual-reality”, being “neither here nor there”, not having a straight, narrow line to follow made us very open-minded and resourceful. We had “polish socialism” dogma, we had Catholic dogma, we had Russian Communism dogma, we had “western capitalism“ dreams and we had most of the western and eastern art and philosophies freely accessible to us. Usually it was pretty difficult to obtain anything by means of a simple purchase or service – one always had to think of some schemes how to get the money, and if you had money – how to get the goods: how to get a car (5 year+ waiting queue otherwise), how to get food on the table which wasn’t in the shops, how to make alcohol when none was available, how to buy furniture, toilet paper, colour TV – having money did not equal with possession – one had to work hard, networking, joining some list-queues, giving right presents to the right people in order to obtain goods or service for those money. This may sound like corrupting environment but on the contrary: I think it strengthened one’s Ego’s and Soul’s integrity – there was black, there was white and everyday life happened in the spectrum of all colours in-between. “Networking” – “one hand washes another”; helping each other – was an essential way of living deeply embedded in our psyche – it is quite funny how the “western world” is trying to re-invent and “package” this simple basic human behaviour as some kind of “product”.

We also didn’t have much choice, if any at all: whether it was clothes, TV sets, cars, furniture, toilet paper, education, meat or accommodation – there was very limited variety of products and services – and I find it very liberating, educating and character building too – instead of wasting one’s mental energies on impossible decisions such as which car is the best buy, which energy company is cheapest, which mobile phone package is the most appropriate – one was free to spend this energy on other things, personal explorations, love and friendships, hobbies, learning or having fun time for example.

There was also another “dual reality” – social differences: we drove a car, my grandparents drove a cart and horses, we lived in a flat supplied with water, gas, electricity, bathroom and toilet – my grandparents lived in a house which only had electricity – the water came from the stream nearby, coal was used for cooking and heating, the toilet was a wooden shed outside, one had a quick wash using small basin in the kitchen. Those differences also forced one’s mind to realize that “things are never what they seem to be” – we were perhaps conformist but we weren’t uniform, my family’s town living with modern comforts wasn’t “better” – just “different” – it forced one to question what “being better off” really means, weakening judgemental nature of Ego. There was no strong class division or discrimination that I remember – we all came from more less the same poor background, we all had to struggle to make the ends meet, we all had the same oppressor – we were “all in it together”.

All in all – and I have to stress again that those are just my personal thoughts and experiences – the identity ’socialism’ shaped me, and perhaps others, into was “goły ale wesoły” – “naked/poor but happy” – focus is on enjoyment in life – material possessions serve to enhance it – but they can never provide it.

Cheerio!

This is a nasty temporary hack – not even close a temporary solution. It might cause other issues and side effects so use only if You know what You are doing and backup your database and plugin code first of all. Apparently Gengo is not compatible with WordPress 2.7+ yet, so even if the fix works without causing any damage – it might still be a drop of water in an ocean.

The issue

When submitting a comment to the page (as opposed to the post) the following PHP warnings and SQL syntax error occur:

Warning: implode() [function.implode]: Bad arguments. in …./wp-content/plugins/gengo/gengo.php on line 1484

Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at …./wp-content/plugins/gengo/gengo.php:1484) in …./wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 850

The Fix

Edit gengo.php and go to line 1484. Put following code above implode statement, so it looks like this (including implode statement):

if (! is_array ($ids) )
{
$ids[0] = '1';
}
$language_ids = implode(",", $ids);


In bourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is dependent and has no individuality.
Karl Marx

People confuse and associate Marx with Communism too much. Marx’s main subject was Capital – concentrating all the wealth in hands of the few. This is called “globalism” today. And it is still happening, more then ever because the process accelerates all the time – banks and global corporations keep amassing Capital and therefore power – while general populous is getting poorer and increasingly hopeless. Politicians are useless because they need money to do anything – compromising their ideals, dreams and promises in the process. At the end they realize that they are powerless but they hang on to their status for Ego trip money and power bring. With communism practically dead Marx’s theories are considered to be a lot of communist tosh. Not so – they are as valid today as when he wrote them – only more so.

Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
George Orwell

George Orwell wrote 2 famous books: “1984″ and “Animal Farm”. This is similar story to Marx. People thought the books were about communism. People think the “1984″ book was supposed to happen in year 1984. So they ignore those books as invalid while politicians treat them as “textbooks”. “Animal Farm” title says it all – we are a cattle horded by Capitalists – people with money and therefore power. We don’t have any freedom, we spend 90% of our time on things we don’t like doing or rather not do. When we have work and therefore money we don’t have time for ourselves and others. When we have time due to unemployment – we don’t have money to travel and visit others, to enjoy the “excess” of free time. We are in no-win situation and, to add the insult to injury, work is not supposed to be fun or pleasure – but something which buys us “freedom” and better quality of life. Does it really?

Orwell is very interesting figure and, sadly, a lot of people believe he was a communist. Not so. Orwell joined various Revolutions and yes, he was very excited about them – people, real people deciding about their future. But he soon discovered that people are just people – doesn’t matter whether they are “communists” or “capitalists” or “pink” or “religious” – there is always a power struggle, Ego battles and every revolution is manipulated by those who have power and money… so at the end he came to conclusion that any fight is absolutely useless – one can spend one’s time better lying in bed rather than trying to fight for one’s rights and personal freedom.

If you take the responsibility for your life you can start changing it. Slow will be the change, only in the course of time will you start; moving into the world of light and crystallization, but once you are crystallized you will know what real revolution is. Then share your revolution with others; it has to go that way, from heart to heart.
Osho

Osho was spiritual guru who is said to reach enlightenment in his 20-ties. He is considered “spiritual rebel”. He practically says the same things as Orwell – but from spiritual point of view. He is against churches and religion and establishment – and explains how they manipulate masses for their own benefit. He turns everything around by brilliantly noticing that every religion is about DEATH.. about after-life – not about LIVING!! And that every religion insists that one should suffer and get rid of all possessions in order to obtain a better afterlife – he reveals how we are being manipulated – miserable and unhappy people will resign themselves to work and slavery… happy people who want to enjoy life will not. It is a common perception that work shouldn’t be fun….that work shouldn’t be pleasure… that is a brilliant example how we are being mentally and socially engineered to become this dumb cattle who will just go through life hoping that there is something better after.

Osho offers sensible and practical solution to the issue – Marx strongly believed that only a Revolution – an effort of a collective group of people can change the world, Orwell proved him wrong that any group of people is powerless and cannot change anything. Osho exclaims the obvious and practical: the world can only change if enough of us change our perceptions and thinking. Each of us individually and alone. It is almost impossible – but it is still the ONLY solution and the only chance there is. And a lot of people are waking up to this truth again… and this economical crisis is actually a “blessing in disguise” – because it made a lot of people think about Capitalism and their own lives – totally wasted in order to fill pockets of few Executives. It also helped a lot of people to realize that amassing possessions and professional Ego-trips do not improve one’s “quality of life” one bit.

Marx: We can only succeed if we pull together and fight
Orwell: It’s hopeless. We are better off doing nothing
Osho: Meditation is the most productive way of doing nothing