[copsewood]

“A long time ago there is a green and pleasant land nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas. The queen’s name is Mahamaya, which means the Great Dream of the World. One year, during the midsummer festival, Mahamaya herself has a dream: The Guardians of the Four Quarters lift her up and carry her high into the mountains. They bathe her in a lake and lay her on a couch in a golden palace on a silver hill. A beautiful white elephant, carrying a white lotus in his trunk, approaches from the north and enters her right side, melting into her womb. When she awakens, she knows that she has conceived. The priests interpret her dream to mean that if her child follows the householder’s life, he will become a great king, but if he follows the spiritual life he will become a buddha.”

[gerders104]

We’re awfully lucky that life isn’t a monologue. There is so much that is unexpected and unplanned for, and those are the things that can make all the difference: raising a child you didn’t give birth to, helping an elderly neighbor as she’s dying, spending time in a foreign country because you fell in love with someone who lives there. Sometimes these things fall like grace from some unanticipated cloud, and sometimes it’s more like a meteor plowing into us. But the world is filled with stories of how hardships and difficulties can pull us deeper into life, if we let them; they can bring us heart and soul in a way the easy life never could. [links]

[Hiro Protagonist]

This world we are born into—this complicated, difficult, hauntingly touching world—is the one whole thing. It is the world we awaken in, and awaken to. Our awakening is made of this world, just as it is. It doesn’t come from some other realm like a bolt from the blue, and you don’t go to someplace else when you awaken. Awakening is not a destination, and meditation is not a bus ride. Awakening is the unfolding of an ability to see what has always been here. To see, more and more reliably, what is actually in front of you. more

[Mimaia1982]

For a while, the skyline looked hardly more imposing than the blurry outlines of Jersey City off to the left and Brooklyn to the right. But then those two seemed to dwindle as Manhattan swelled to dominate the view. Glass and steel crowned in a milky mist towered above us. The ferry eased into its slip, the gangways slid into place. I stumbled off, waking again from the dream.

[tddert]

Of course it is possible to live in New York -- a city of islands, conceived as a port -- and rarely experience New York from the water. Living in canyons, traveling underground, people go for long stretches barely focusing on the rivers, bays and harbor. We are rarely out there, gazing back.

[mgoodn2244]

Farther up near the Triborough, men sat slumped in lawn chairs beside the river, fishing. The sightseeing from the ferry markedly changed: an old concrete factory, a recycling plant, parking lots ringed with razor ribbon. Bridges came quickly now: Willis Avenue, Third Avenue, 145th Street. Then Yankee Stadium slid into view. We docked and filed down the gangway, through a parking lot, over a footbridge. Forty minutes after departing, we were there.

[bit-numismatist]

Contemplating New York in that way is a little like dreaming. The observer has the illusion of stillness while moving forward; the city seems to move while staying in place. The million insistent details that clamor for your attention on the sidewalks recede, fading into something more abstract.

[kobutoenen5]

There were just two other passengers that morning, noses buried in work. I stood on the sliver of deck at the stern, watching the skyline flatten and the waterway widen as we rounded the northwestern flank of Queens, past sewage treatment and power plants, tank farms and cormorant-crowded markers. A single gull followed us up the East River. Ducks flapped low over the glistening bay. more

[Quantumplation]

This seemed to be the plan: We would sit inside for most of two hours eating chicken teriyaki and potato salad and drinking margaritas that were Windex blue. I balked and fled to the upper deck. But the theme from ''Hawaii 5-0'' was blasting out of the public address system. The city was dazzling from up there. But the ship felt outsize and noisy. Dreaming, out of the question. more

[infraspace]

The price of oil fell below zero for May delivery, a sign that little space exists to store crude. U.S. stocks fell. President Trump said he plans to sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration into the U.S., saying he was doing so to protect American jobs. Australia’s second biggest airline, Virgin Australia Holdings, is…

[dammy09]

“These homes are special. There’s limited supply and there will never be more,” said Compass agent Steve Sekhon of an enclave of nearly 500 floating homes in Sausalito, Calif. Local environmental regulations prohibit more of these homes, which are at a marina that is a short drive to San Francisco. “It’s a nice combination to… [links]

[fabianhjr]

Antonios Valamontes is a serial entrepreneur and investor.

[birddump]

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[qqvfredc]

There are two types of water-based homes. A houseboat, or live-aboard, is technically a boat that is navigable. A floating home is not. Floating… [links]

[torservers]

How to see Comet NEOWISE | Space – EarthSky more

[anarchy]

Members of Thomaston’s Fire Department were on hand the whole day, making sure everyone was safe. If there were some adult beverages in the cooler, there wasn’t a big stink about it, which made it super cool. But then, this wasn’t a mad free-for-all that Saco River seems to attract. On that note, the rafters were extremely careful not to let trash float in the river. “Pack it in, pack it out” seems to be the Maine way, which is something you can’t fully appreciate unless you’ve been down a trash-strewn river in Baltimore.

[jacobpayne]

“The tide kicks up just around the bend!” said the guys in the Thomaston fire department as they zipped on by with their outboard motor. [links]

[GeorgeH]

I thought I was coming to the party with a big two-person flotation device with a built-in cooler. But, when I got to Warren’s boat landing this past Saturday for a loosely organized rafting/tubing party down the St. George River, Roy Schneider’s famous line in Jaws came to mind, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

[kingandrew]

A lot of people didn’t think to bring paddles (and were envious of the ones who did.) There was a lot of “Next year, I’m going to bring a paddle” conversations overheard. In between, people just laughed and talked with their floating neighbors, ate their snacks, drank some beers, and watched the day just slowly slip by against the pristine and undeveloped banks of The St. George River. When we seemed mired in a non-moving area, we took turns saying “Here, hold my beer” and swimming, pulling the floaty behind us. Others developed systems by using their Tevas as paddles or coaxing kayakers to tow them along. more