Stranger things

[Taomeow]

1 hour ago, Cobie said:

 

That’s not the Buddha in the picture, that’s Budai.

 

 

 

Budai, yes, aka "the fat Buddha" or "the laughing Buddha."  A Chan monk named Qici, later deified as the Future Buddha -- Maitreya.

 

Indeed, it was Lord Gautama the original Buddha who ODed on pork, but I wanted a picture of a fat buddha specifically to illustrate the point about overindulgence in food, not a passport photo ID of Lord Gautama. 

Contrary to a popular misconception, Gautama is not the only Buddha and the names "Gautama" and "Buddha" are not interchangeable.   

As a zen saying goes, "you walk knee deep in Buddhas."  

 

 

[Cobie]

Some people find it impossible to learn to graciously accept they got it wrong. 

 

 

Edited October 27 by Cobie

[Taomeow]

1 hour ago, Cobie said:

Some people find it impossible to learn to graciously accept they got it wrong. 

 

 

 

You need to graciously love yourself off.  

[Nungali]

22 hours ago, Taomeow said:

Lamb is OK, just don't eat pork on a hot day.  That's how the Buddha entered nirvana.  Or, in layman's terms, died.  Ate too much of an irresistible pork dish, Sukaramaddava, on a hot day.  That's the Mahayana tradition, by the way, whereas in Theravada they try to shy away from the fact by asserting it was a dish of special "trampled by pigs" mushrooms.  But the hot weather was the likely contributor in either case, since the Buddha, before entering nirvana, told his host, the blacksmith who served him that dish, to bury what's left of it, just in case.  Which hints at the possibility it was spoiled and he didn't want anyone else to get food poisoning.  Though it's more likely he was trying to play down his overeating habit...  which, coupled with hot weather, may be more perilous than it is in cold climates where one needs to burn extra calories to stay warm. 

 

  

 

Thanks for the info .    Now I can start an online 'how to enter Nirvana  easily'  course . Just   come to my place on one of those  39 degree C days  ... hand over the money and all your possessions ( as you will no longer need them )   and    stay for lunch ;

 

Edited October 27 by Nungali

[Nungali]

21 hours ago, Cobie said:

 

Imo it’s full speed ahead to disaster, this “high tech”.  Then again could be an age thing, grumpy old woman and all that.  

It’s a very good likeness. 
 

 

 

I'm sure you look better than that Cobie ?     I would not blame yourself  .... computers be causing difficulty everywhere ; 

 

Local store .... insert ..... nothing .... tap ..... nothing .... try again   ' Insufficient funds ' ... go to town  and try there ; same account $3600 +   ???     Produce agricultural store , Norco  ( northern co-operative  for farmers )  - notorious system ; slow, continued attempts  and fails . The other day they tell me  it doesnt do that anymore as it got foxed ... but now each time the sell an item , they are required to enter three more steps than before . 

 

So, armed with a pocket full of cash I go to the local store .... nope  ( computer runs the 'cash'  register       and 'its down '    )  

 

Full speed ahead tech disaster ; 

 

GO G1   ! Only $16,000   !! 

 

 

 

of course ... it will be ALL OK  !      Its just an old confused person that knows nothing and cannot see into the future   

 

- give 'em pork on a hot day , I reckon . 

[Nungali]

9 hours ago, Cobie said:

Some people find it impossible to learn to graciously accept they got it wrong. 

 

 

 

and some people seem to think someone said what they didnt say        A text followed by a picture with no link to them in the post ( although it was later explained why it was put there by the poster  ) 

 

Until Cobie  mutilated , cut and chopped and censored  a post by someone  else in a 'quote '  box , to try and make it look like what was said , she could 'validly' criticize  .... again !   

 

You might want to look at that proclivity at some stage ?  

 

[Nungali]

I have had this garden in this spot for pver 30 years and never seen this before :

This morning I am watering pot plants , I water a native tree fern in a pot , nothing different about it except on the surface of the pot dirt sits a small seed tray with some young lithop succulents ( 'stone plants ' ) , I watered it with a water can and steam rose up . Maybe the black pot was hot from the sun ? But no , as soon as I stopped poring water the 'steam stopped' . Looking closer there is a fungus on the top of the earth and next to the plastic seed tray , a cluster of little spheres that look like tiny 'puff balls' with a small open top . After a few experiments ( pouring water from water can and then stopping pouring, in cycles ) it seems that the soil around the fungus is bubbling and gassing with grey bubbles that burst open and release the steam / gas ? . It looks like steam as, as it rises, it vaporizes and is gone . Its 'boiling' pretty vigorously like a chemical reaction.

But as soon as I stop pouring, the bubbling stops , even though there is a pool of water around the fungus before it seeps into the ground . Pour water on it starts bubbling and gassing again . I went through 1/2 a watercan ( around 5 lt ) dousing it and stopping , refilled and used another half can on it over about 6 pours , 1 pour about 3 lt in one go . It gassed all the way through that as well . I assumed it was a spore release triggered by rain , but it does not seem so, the water on the soil is boiling vigorously .. but only when the water is being poured on it .

I filmed it .... no one seems to know what is going on.

Anyone know what this is ?

[bradley]

1 hour ago, Nungali said:

Anyone know what this is ?

 

 

There is an alien in your pot.  it is waiting for the right moment to emerge, at which point it will abruptly launch out and attach to your face.    I would call Sigourney Weaver ASAP. 

[Nungali]

Well at least ;  thankyou for not trying to convince me it is puffball fungus , like others have .  I am well familar with them and this is acting NOTHING like they do . 

 

Hmmm ... there is a visitor here that studies soil science  .... I might visit them  with my film . 

[Taomeow]

[Nungali]

Hmmmm ... after a converse with AI   .... and numerous corrections to it  and continually trying to make things clear and circumventing its circular arguments .... it seems to be suggesting that when water hits the puffballs and pools around them ( but NOT over the holes ) the agitation releases spores out of the holes into the air and the watering traps them and takes them into the pooled water , where they expand  ( or something, this part was unclear )  as a  ( gas? )  cloud , and form a bubble. The process can be so volatile that it appears the water is bubbling or boiling .  It seems to be suggesting that the spores themselves carry some sport of super dispersal mechanism and it isn't just the puff ball contracting  and squirting them out physically  ??? 

 

YET  , when I search  '' do puffball spores have a special dispersal mechanism AFTER they ejected from the puffball ? ''  the answer is no, its mechanical release and wind dispersal . 

 

 

Thats the thing about a garden or nature .....  60 years on , still observing 'new' phenomena      

Edited November 6 by Nungali

[Nungali]

Sudden 30C temperature rise over Antarctica upends Australia's spring outlook

 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-26/weather-pattern-could-disrupt-australia-for-months/105817572

 

.

Edited November 9 by Nungali

[Taomeow]

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Edited Wednesday at 04:39 AM by Taomeow

[Nungali]

Xpeng  Iron man   -  he can do tai chi !  

 

 

 

 

[ChiDragon]

First robot learned to fall.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/fox-news-tech/russias-first-ai-robot-faceplants-stage-humiliating-moscow-debut

[Nungali]

5 minutes ago, ChiDragon said:

First robot learned to fall.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/fox-news-tech/russias-first-ai-robot-faceplants-stage-humiliating-moscow-debut

 

 

 

VERY lifelike !       as   

 

 

..... that looks just like me coming home from the pub with two mates !

[Taomeow]

They had better success with robots that are not humanoid, first deployed for public use in 2020, during the pandemic, ISO contactless food and mail deliveries.  There's a couple hundred of them working in Moscow, delivering something like 10,000 food order per month.  Of course it's not a lot for such a large city, but they're getting more and more common in the streets.  When ordering food via an app, there's an option for robot delivery.  Robots pick up orders directly from partnered restaurants and cafes, then navigate sidewalks to deliver to customers. 

I've seen videos where they sometimes have trouble overcoming a snow drift.  They have wheels, not sled runners, so they can have the same trouble with snow drifts as cars.  Maybe they will equip them with snow tires or tire chains for  the snowy winter...  but right now, a friendly passer-by will typically just give them a push if they get stuck.  

 

[oak]

5 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 but right now, a friendly passer-by will typically just give them a push if they get stuck.  

 

 

Applying the golden rule to the machine 🤔 that's a thought!

[Taomeow]

1 hour ago, oak said:

 

Applying the golden rule to the machine 🤔 that's a thought!

 

When I was in my early teens we had a TV that responded better to some of The Art of War techniques though.  It was old and would attempt to conk out right when they were showing a Polish series that ran in the daytime after school, "everybody" in my class watched it and I had a crush on the main protagonist to boot.  So that TV acting up right when his pretty face showed up was infuriating.  I tried kindness but no go, so I would give it a beating.  It worked.  There was a particularly sensitive spot on its side and if you smacked it there, the pretty face reappeared and the TV behaved.  Different strokes...

 

 

    

[Nungali]

and the reverse ..... me coaxing a chainsaw to start and run perfectly after everyone else could not .... and swore and cursed at it .

 

I step in and '' Do you want me to do it for you ?''  amidst much eye raising and  huffing  ,  but not from my Indigenous teacher , he was laughing and - knowing me ' ' here we go !  ( meaning he is used to my 'antics' ) ....  < pat pat >  ''Awwwww ... poor little chainsaw, everyone being mean and abusing you, but I won;t I like you ! Good little chainsaw  < pat pat >  You will start for me won;t you . '' 

 

and the others are ''Fer Gawd's sake ... etc ''   .... went first pull and ran like a dream         

 

Spoiler

probably if I just gave it a moment without all that ferocious starting attempts and jerking it around ... and nothing else, and tried  starting it sensibly and calmly , it would have run anyway    

 

- but dont tell them that , they are a suspicious bunch and got exasperated by it       

 

[Nungali]

2 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

When I was in my early teens we had a TV that responded better to some of The Art of War techniques though.  It was old and would attempt to conk out right when they were showing a Polish series that ran in the daytime after school, "everybody" in my class watched it and I had a crush on the main protagonist to boot.  So that TV acting up right when his pretty face showed up was infuriating.  I tried kindness but no go, so I would give it a beating.  It worked.  There was a particularly sensitive spot on its side and if you smacked it there, the pretty face reappeared and the TV behaved.  Different strokes...

 

 

    

 

One can go to far  with that .... by smashing the bastard !   Or just do it your phone , now there is a 

 

stranger thing 

 

A DOP in the film industry had a habit of it ..... has a little temper tantie and smashes the phone ... HIS phone . Something didnt go his way or he got annoyed  , take his phone out and throw it against the wall , or something similar .  His PA would retrieve the card and relevant   bits and stick them in one of his 'spares '      

 

After a while the Aussie crew began to wonder how many he would smash and some betting went around .... but that meant some people were now trying to get him to smash his phone  - tricky business as  if you did something wrong  (or not ) it could be instant layoff . So one had to .... cover one's arse ' so speak *  . ( Eg  NOT telling him one of his brilliant ideas will not work , just sit back and watch the F up and  then  ....... phone smash !  

 

I cant remember the end tally  - certainly double figures , over twenty something I think  . 

 

 

[Taomeow]

20 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

One can go to far  with that .... by smashing the bastard !   Or just do it your phone , now there is a 

 

stranger thing 

 

A DOP in the film industry had a habit of it ..... has a little temper tantie and smashes the phone ... HIS phone . Something didnt go his way or he got annoyed  , take his phone out and throw it against the wall , or something similar .  His PA would retrieve the card and relevant   bits and stick them in one of his 'spares '      

 

After a while the Aussie crew began to wonder how many he would smash and some betting went around .... but that meant some people were now trying to get him to smash his phone  - tricky business as  if you did something wrong  (or not ) it could be instant layoff . So one had to .... cover one's arse ' so speak *  . ( Eg  NOT telling him one of his brilliant ideas will not work , just sit back and watch the F up and  then  ....... phone smash !  

 

I cant remember the end tally  - certainly double figures , over twenty something I think  . 

 

 

 

I wonder if he would still do it if he couldn't afford to change phones this often.

 

A friend of mine once told me about her mom smashing dishes when angry.  She found it pretty funny though because her mom would grab a plate, notice it's one of the nice ones, quickly put it down and smash a cheaper one.  If she ever smashed one of the nice ones her daughter would know she really means it...  otherwise it's just silly theatrics.  

[old3bob]

4 hours ago, Nungali said:

and the reverse ..... me coaxing a chainsaw to start and run perfectly after everyone else could not .... and swore and cursed at it .

 

I step in and '' Do you want me to do it for you ?''  amidst much eye raising and  huffing  ,  but not from my Indigenous teacher , he was laughing and - knowing me ' ' here we go !  ( meaning he is used to my 'antics' ) ....  < pat pat >  ''Awwwww ... poor little chainsaw, everyone being mean and abusing you, but I won;t I like you ! Good little chainsaw  < pat pat >  You will start for me won;t you . '' 

 

and the others are ''Fer Gawd's sake ... etc ''   .... went first pull and ran like a dream         

 

  Reveal hidden contents

probably if I just gave it a moment without all that ferocious starting attempts and jerking it around ... and nothing else, and tried  starting it sensibly and calmly , it would have run anyway    

 

- but dont tell them that , they are a suspicious bunch and got exasperated by it       

 

 

have had several older Fords thus have experienced the meaning of, "Fix Or Repair Daily..."  Newer vehicles aren't much fun either since one can't hardly DIY with them without tech. info and special tools.  (as for talking to them I don't think they respond as well compared to older ones?)  I have used the brute force method at times on some engines when nothing else worked, namely several shots of starter fluid down their throats which btw one doesn't want to get carried away with or risk them vomiting up flames!

Edited 5 hours ago by old3bob