Clean Up Your Computer!

This is a tutorial to help you organize your computer. I have Windows Vista as my operating system so this explains how to do it for Vista but the basic principles can be applied to most operating systems. This tutorial will clear your desktop of icons and files then re-tool the taskbar as your new place to launch applications. I will also give tips on how to tidy up your files and folders so you can find what you need faster. My hope is by the end you will have a less stressful place to do your computing.

Desktop

Clear your desktop. You don't need files and links to programmes on your desktop. It's just depressing to have a confusing bunch of icons and files all mixed together as the first thing you see when logging on to your computer.

Put the files in their place, like in the Documents folder. For your launch/shortcut icons (the ones used to open iTunes, your web browser, ect.) drag the important ones to the Quick Launch part on your taskbar (Quick Launch is your new desktop) and delete the rest.

Pick a nice desktop background picture. Now that your desktop is all clean put up a nice picture, it will help you feel at home. Pick a picture that is beautiful, relaxing, and inspiring. You will now want to keep your desktop clear (to show off your picture), plus when you get flustered you can just minimize your windows and chill for a minute.

This is my desktop

Taskbar

Now that you will be using the task bar more often we have to optimize it. In your taskbar's properties check off all options.

Quick Lauch

We need to focus in on the Quick Launch part of your taskbar. The Quick Launch is located on the left next to the Windows Start button. Follow these steps to make your taskbar your “computer hub”:

1. Unlock your taskbar
2. There are now dotted bars separating the different parts of your taskbar
3. Grab the right side of the Quick Launch boundary and move it to the right as far as it will go
4. Right click in the Quick Launch section and go to view, select large icons
5. Lock your taskbar

Now your taskbar is ready to replace what your desktop did, with less clutter. You'll have noticed that your windows are all smushed over to the left side. I don't mind this because I usually only have two or three windows open at a time. Furthermore I use alt-tab to pick what window I want to focus on.

Star Menu

Go to the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties for this. Same idea here get rid of what you don't use, organize what you do. Customize your start menu by clicking the customize button under the Start Menu tab. 

Go down the list and choose “don't display this item” or un-check anything you don't use often. If you choose to display recent programs (which I do) display less that 9 (I do 5). 

There is one more thing you can do here if you have decent eyesight. You can un-check “Use large icons” it makes you Star Menu smaller. That option gives more space if you don't have a large display.

Big Icons

Small Icons

Files and Folders

Best practise is to know where all your things are. Lets say you need a photo of your dog when it was just a puppy, how long would it take you to find it? Even looking for your resume should be a simple task, but you need to know where to look.

Cascading Folders

Make folders in folders so you can take a logical path through folders to your file. Your file path should look something like this:

    Pictures/2010/hike_to_falls/img_102.jpg

So, when I want a picture of a waterfall I would: click on Pictures folder, then 2010 folder (because I know I have been to a waterfall in 2010), click folder named hike_to_falls and finally find the picture I like.

You can use a program like Picasa 3 to help you tag your photos. Picasa also has a face recognition feature and search. If you spend some time tagging and labelling faces of people in Picasa you can do a quick search to find what you are looking for.

For your Documents folder you might want to separate by category like this:

    Documents/Ryerson/FND/FND_101/final_paper.rtf

Here instead of just throwing all text documents into one folder, I use cascading folder structure as a logical path to the information I want.

When Finished, Back Up

Now that you know where everything is, back it up. Use an external hard drive, an online solution or both.

Now you will have no worries when working on your computer, you'll have a nice place to go to when its time to think, work or play.

A Mini Photography Studio

I dabbled in stock photography a few weeks ago and made a little studio. I ended up not really liking the idea of stock photos but having a mini studio is great practice. If you haven't learnt about three point lighting look it up and then practise it with a small studio, when you get good bring it full scale.

Practise Making your subject standout from the background. Along with three point lighting use different light temperatures for the foreground and background. Do some manual focusing as well, set your frame how you like it, zoom in and focus then zoom back out (don't move the camera body), the camera will keep its sharp focus.

My Setup

• Old chair
• Camera
• Flash
• Tripod
• 2 lamps
• Ceiling lights
• 2 black t-shirts
• Wood boards
• Extension cord

Cartman Pic

It literally cost me no money to make this studio, because I had everything. Use your imagination and be creative. When you know the basic rules of photography you don't need the best equipment. Because I was taking pictures of still objects I could use a low ISO (100), a high aperture (around 13), long shutter speeds and mirror lockup. The settings gave me, low noise, sharp images and minimal camera-shake. If you didn't understand that then learn basic photography theory so you can get the most out of your equipment.

Buddhism Explained to Christians

I grew up Catholic and now find a great joy in practising Buddhism. So, I think this puts me in a fairly good position to compare the two (at least in my own way). Now, I 'm not a scalar in either of the religions but I have a laymen understanding of both. Since this is directed to laypersons I think it will at least make an interesting read.

Do you Believe in Buddha?

Christianity has core beliefs that would be true for every branch of Christianity so does Buddhism. I think most people think that worshiping Buddha as some kind of god or demigod is a part of that. This simply is  not true. There are small branches of Buddhist that do treat him like a god but that is the exception. 

Buddhism at its core is about The Four Noble Truths and The Noble Eightfold Path.  They are lists of what Buddha found to be true and how to live a good life and end suffering. There are also the 3 Jewels: Buddha, The Dharma, The Sangha. 

Statues of Buddha are not for worship like one would worship a god [1]. They are symbols meant for practice, inspiration and  artistic expression and some times decoration. It's just like a crucifix. Even when Jesus is on the cross it is not that you are worshiping the wood or metal. When you bow your head you are bowing to Jesus not the cross. 

If you want to ask a person if they are Buddhist ask them “Do you practice Buddhism?” This is the most accurate way to ask because it is not entirely about believing in Buddha. You can believe in God and sill practice Buddhism. “Do you believe in Buddha?” is like asking “Do you believe in the Pope” It's not quite a matter of belief.  

Will God get angry at me for finding an interest In Buddhism?

Obviously I don't think so. Buddha teaches that anger is an emotion of the ignorant. It is very unlikely that God gets angry at anything at all. It's just not the nature of an all knowing being. God wants you to know him and be with his glory. That does not mean he wants you to be uneducated about the world. It doesn't mean you can't find beauty in a religion that is not Christian. 

I believe it was C.S. Lewis who made the argument that the similarities other religions have to Christianity was because God had influenced all religions. That being the case It would be understandable to find things of interest in other religions.

 Isn't Buddha just like a knock off Jesus?

Well there are some similarities between the two:

• Their good kind nature
• They were both teachers
• Had followings
• Head figures of religions 

Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism is just one of many Buddhas. Were Jesus will come to earth only one more time a Buddha can show up at any time (because people become a Buddha). Furthermore Zen teaches that we all have Buddha nature and we just have to realize it. My point being that Buddha is a very important person but he was a person who realized his full potential, he is not a god. Jesus was God from day-one and died for our sins.

Okay, but Buddhism is sill evil right?

That is for you to decide. Many Buddhists are atheist and Buddhism in a whole does not worry about God. Then again gymnasiums do not worry about God either. It's up to an individual person to to make their mind up about what they believe and how they will live. A gym is not about God it's about having a healthy body. Both an atheist and a theist can go there and benefit from it. Some people will over do it some will not do it enough

What about the afterlife?

The Bible and Buddhist text state some strange unbelievable things that make it hard to be a rational person and religious simultaneously. I don't take things like miracles and heavenly mythology literally. I don't see the point in believing Buddha walk right after he was born and flowers were left where he stepped [2] or that Jesus physically assented to heaven on a cloud [3]. It is silly to believe these things literally, they are metaphors. It helps you remember the stories and communicates to you on an emotional level. If you take out the miracles in both the morals still remain. Witch suggests that belief in the supernatural is not essential to the teachings. 

Great stories teach us using emotion and symbolism. I love the movie Finding Nemo but I don't have to believe fish and other animals can talk English for it to effect how I live my life. If a story makes you laugh or cry or whatever, then that is real.  Nemo is real, just not the kind of real we expect. Thought is the only reality.

My point being I don't no about the afterlife. Buddhism and Christianity have different afterlives but I don't care because it's something I can't know until I know. I just want to be a good person and Buddhism helps me do that. If I have to suspend my disbelief then I will. If that works for me then I don't see a problem with it. 

I will end this post with a quote from The Dali Lama [4] that I find to perfectly describe Buddhism and Christianity very well. 

      

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”[5]

References 
Note: I'm not sure if it was the 13th or 14th  Dali Lama because no Dali Lama was born on 1935 [4,5]
[1] http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/dharmadata/fdd35.htm
[2] http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/lifebuddha/2lbud.htm
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_of_Jesus#Biblical_accounts
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_Lama#List_of_Dalai_Lamas
[5] http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dalai_lama.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism 

Reason I Love Reading Things in List Form

10. The Count Down
The count down is an exciting and promises that things will get better as I read.

9. They're Easy to Read
All good instructions are in list form. The best instructions have pictures so I don't have to read at all but still understand what's going on.

8. Skippable
I don't have time to read, even if I have gone to a website to read an article. With a list I can just read the title of the list item, if it sounds interesting I will read more. I wish my computer and my head had a “The Matrix” plug.

7. Food
Cereal always puts things in list form. What does that mean? It means you can eat at the same time as reading and still keep track of what you have read.

6. God Approved
Every important thing is in list form:

1. The 10 Commandments 
2. Grocery list 
3. CPR instructions 
4. Frozen Dinner instructions
5. People's Top 100 
6. How to get rid of a dead body  

Mainly every thing you need to live. And yes, that is a list in a list.


5. You Can Sing Them
What's the best song you have ever heard? I'll take a guess and say either Brian McKnight - Your Like A Dream Come True or The Fray - How To Save A Life. What do these two songs have in common? That's right they both have a list.

4. Solid Feeling Numbers
A good list is an even number and a multiple of 5. Wait, 5 is not an even number. And you believed me, you're so stupid. Oh, this is not a reason why I like lists; I needed to fill in some space.

3. Shamwow
I don't have time to read, even if I have gone to a website to read an article. With a list I can just read the title, if it sounds interesting I will read more. I wish my computer and my head had a “The Matrix” plug

2. Assimilation
Know your place. Everything has a spot on The List. If you change; We'll just make a new The List and in it list the ways you have changed. And yes, that was a list in a list. And yes, the new The List will be a list in a list.

1. 1
Congratulations you made it all the way to 10. Now get out there and make some sexy quick readin' lists for the world to ignore. As you sit there, alone on your computer; Desperately try to think of something interesting to write on twitter, but I depress, I mean digress. No... I mean depress.

Movies That You Need to See to better Understand Me

Stepbrothers   
Trailer
 

Review
This movie inspires me to live life happily, even from viewing the trailer. IMO Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly's best movie to date. Always makes me laugh and has a great fun-loving spirit.

Further Viewing: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby 



Magnolia
 The powerful opening scene from the movie:


Review
Mind-blowingly beautiful. If there is one movie you should see from this list I would have to choose this one. It's not my favourite movie but it has a relatively wide appeal and this movie speaks to the harts of its' viewers.   



 300
Trailer:


Review
Definition of “Bad Ass”. The movie does not have much to offer in character or story but the action and visuals are satisfying. Good ol' eye candy. For a deeper dramatic version of the film see The Last Samurai.

Further Viewing: The Last Samurai   



Akira
Trailer: I have looked there are none that do this movie justice. Rent this movie and play it on the best screen you have. Wiki

Review
Don't go into this expecting a Hollywood blockbuster. This is anime at its finest. The movie is creepy, beautiful and intriguing. Expect something truly original.

There Will Be Blood
Trailer:


Review
If you are interested in politics, corporations, religion or humanity you should watch this film. It's hard to find a better shot or acted film.




Requiem for a Dream
Trailer:


Review: A look at medicated America. This is a classic film. It's tragically realistic, while being in the minds of people uprooted from reality.

The International
Trailer:


Review
I was surprised by how much I like this film. I have only seen it one time but it has stuck with me. It's a thriller at its' core but it has an amazing action sequence near the end that “put the icing on the cake” as they say.

Further Viewing: Heaven

Koyaanisqatsi
Trailer:


Review
There is no narrator there is no lead actor. The power of film making is present in every moment of this documentary. It shows how our lives are moving faster and faster. You see how much we miss, how we have become cattle-like in the movements of our modern lives. It made me just want to stop and be in every breath.

2001: A Space Odyssey
Video Review:


Review
2001 is a slow burn. It was made at the beginnings of space exploration, so you'll have to forgive it on some parts - although it is vary accurate when you take that into consideration. - The movie is shot perfectly and says some deep things about the human experience. There is a kind of Zen you get while watching it. I know it will be hard for most, but I hope some people will give it a chance, it is truly a movie worth watching.

Further Viewing: Anything Kubrick. He was a master film maker

Wedding

 I am getting married in the summer and I thought we should share our journey with everyone.  So, check out the flickr set to see all the photo updates as we go.

 Maria just bought her shoes today for  $29.99 at Crystal's Shoe Store in Hamilton. We also bought a pair of earrings from She's So Beautiful  for $27. Oh, and we checked out cakes at Sweet Paradise today with a quote of $190. I think we might go with them but I still have some shopping around to do.

Introspection Diptych 3

Introspection Diptych 3, originally uploaded by markbiasutti.

I'm trying to explore view of my self through photography. In these photos I use the camera to represent a being. I wanted a contrast of what we see and seeing our selfs at the same time. How we perceive what is in front of us as reality and how when we look at ourselves our view of reality changes. Are view of self changes.

Meditation

I was asked about meditation and I thought I would explain how I meditate. I'm not an authority on meditation or on anything really.  I would like to show that you don't have to be a monk to receive the benefits of meditation.

You can really choose any reason to meditate. I see it as a tool to help us accomplish whatever it is we want to accomplish. It's like prayer or exercise; as long as you do it properly you can benefit from it.

My reasons for meditation
I meditate to practise concentration and to calm me so I can revert to my natural state of being. meditation is a good time to deal with thoughts you avoid in daily life. It's like you are an unfinished puzzle and mediation lets the pieces fall into place. The pieces of the puzzle can be disturbed through the way we live life so, living a good life is just as important as practising meditation. Meditation helps me live the way I aspire to live.

How: A (Very) Basic Meditation Guide

Sit down. Have a strait back. I like to sit on a pillow in the half lotus posture. Beginner meditation should be from 5-30 minutes, I like 15 minutes.

Give a set amount of time for meditation. Make sure you have the time and don't convince yourself to stop early if you have started mediating.

This is your time to heal and learn. If you feel this is selfish you can dedicate the other 1425 minutes of your day to helping others.


Pick something to focus on: breath, a small statue, your hart beating, a glass of water. I use breath. Try to pick something that moves or is bright with lost of detail. I do not recommend fire/light because it may contribute to cataracts.

While focusing on the object you will loose concentration.

Realize you have lost concentration. Look at what took your concentration. What does that thing tell you about yourself?

Let go of that thought no matter how important it seems at the moment.

Return to the object of concentration. This is your home, you can always comeback to this when you need to (even when you're not meditating).

That is it.

There are many different types of meditation. If this interests you study it. There are hundreds of sites online.

Here is one of the first videos I watched that help me start meditating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4gTXjg1g1s

Be Nice

I was having a discussion with co-workers about how it seems that mean people always get the upper hand. This may be true in a basic sense but mean people don't have to hurt us. It depends on your understanding of the situation.
Some general traits of a “Mean Person”:

• Attacks you in some form physical or emotional
• Takes something or blocks you from something
• Disregards your point of view
• Disregards your feelings
• Selfish

How To Survive a Mean Person

Self

I have been contemplating the nature of self, my self, for a while now. I just finished listening to a pod cast from The Meeting House about living in the now. Although I understand how that message can be helpful to people, I did disagree with some parts. The main part I  disagree with  is with the Christian view of self.

My view of self started out as, I exist in and of my self. I was born grew and keep growing.- I almost forget how I saw my self as I write this. - I just saw my self as a singular independent creation. Then I discovered mediation.

Meditation clocked me into truths I never noticed before. Truths that can be seen in every moment of life. The more I meditate the more I came to understand my self and how I really am.

The First Truth

I found great interest in world-religions and would regularly read articles and such of different religions. I found a video, this one actually. In the video a man asked me to do a quick meditation. He said to still my mind and think of nothing for three minutes.

I did it, you can try now if you like. The lesson in doing this is that you learn you have little control of your thoughts. This was a very strange thing to think of but it's true; my brain is a though machine. It's in a sense out of my control, I am out of my control.  

The Second Truth

I wanted to learn more, so I went on learning about how Buddhism could teach me about myself. I picked up a book called “How to See Yourself as You Really Are .” The book teaches many things on how to live and love.

The most powerful thing I got out of the book is that I don't exist in and of myself. This is because everything is made up of parts and relies on its parts to be its self.  This concept is called interdependency, witch I have talk about before.

Look at it like this. A latte: steamed milk, espresso, foam.  Pick what part of a latte is the latte without its' parts. One thing that can prove that this creation exits in and of its self. You can't, it relies on its parts to be its self. It's humbling to see yourself as a part, your ego shrinks, it is actually freeing.

Where I am Now

I'm learning about the illusion of ego and its destructive nature. Also emptiness and how I fit into it.  

The rabbit whole goes deeper but the post is getting long. Please ask questions so I can fill in the spots left by my brief explanations.

Anger

It seems every so often I hear someone say, when they get angry, that they just can't help what they do or say. That there actions are justified because anger is a real and powerful emotion. Not that they physically attack people; it's mostly with words or passive aggressive actions.  I think we have a wrong view on anger and how to deal with it.

First our mind tells us it's okay and we identify with the emotion. Then society or some sub-society normalizes our actions/thoughts.  Then a sense of separation directs the anger. I find that there is a general idea in our society that there is such a thing as justified anger. I'm sure you can think of an example, father avenging daughters death is a big one in Hollywood right now.

According to my understanding of Buddha's' teachings, anger is harmful to the practitioner:

 “All that we are is the result of what we have thought.” --Buddha 

 “I am angry because I think that I am angry.” When we allow anger to make decisions we become it. You stop making the choices and anger takes control.

"The origin of suffering is attachment" –Buddha

We become attached to anger and the idea that anger must be acted on. This brings suffering in the form of regret, grief, punishment and many other ways.

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." - Buddha 

Acting in anger never leaves you untouched. The evidence of the self destruction is clear after the fact.


How I Stop Anger

Step 1: You don't stop anger. It's a natural process, your brain is doing what it's built to do.

Real Step 1: See your anger. Notice how it affects you, body and mind.

Step 2:  Become compassionate and calm by concentrating on breathing. Compassion toward your anger helps you deal with it properly.  Say something like “I see you anger, I will care for you.”  This bypasses a build up of anger; you deal with it this way instead of acting on it.

Step 3: Do not attach yourself to the anger. You don't have to act on a though, it will pass in time.

Step 4: You have watched your anger come and go, move on with life.

That is what I do anyways. It might not be right for all but I hope it helps some.

Non-Duality

A few days ago I got some comments on my blog. The commenter(s) called me a retard and told me I should learn how to spell.  I thought that this could be a good time to talk about my struggle with reading and writing. Hopefully I can inspire some people to face there challenges in life as well.

I've been a poor speller and reader for as long as I can remember. I have gone to special classes and schools to help me learn. I have no problems in any other subject. But,  not being able to spell brought down my marks in all my classes. So, for whatever reason I can't spell well.

As you can imagine it can be very embarrassing to have troubles reading. Remember in class when the teacher asked you to read out loud? That would cause me anxiety to the point that I couldn't listen to what was being read. Don't ask me to spell ether. This blog would literally not exist if it weren't for spell check.

Why then, do I write when I know I can't? Well, it's for the same reason we all choose to accomplish seemingly impossible feats.  As J.F.K said,

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

I choose to write not because it is easy but because it is hard. Making fun of me is easy, but I am stronger from it. By making fun of me and other people like me, you just show your weakness.

I know I am a poor writer but I also know that my ideas can still get across and touch people. I know that there are people who have been told, in some way, that they are inadequate. To those people, I promise you with every particle of my being, you are not inadequate.  It is an illusion. Do what you love. You have the ability to make things grow, to change them. At some point in your life some one convinced you that you were bad at something or that you're ugly, unworthy or stupid... The fact is, that you are a part of a system that needs you.

Think about it. You do not make fun of a flower for not being able to walk? You are not a flower but you are the planter of the flower. Because a flower can not move on it's own, we move them. In return The flower gives us its' beauty, nourishment, herbs. This is called Interdependence.

“Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. Without interrelation with society he cannot realize his oneness with the universe or suppress his egotism. His social interdependence enables him to test his faith and to prove himself on the touchstone of reality."
                                                                              --Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, March 21, 1929, p. 93

To the people who hate:

Some have this idea that we are separate. That some how we exists in and of our selves and if the universe collapsed we would still be here. Until we realize that everything is interdependent, we can never achieve the greatness we are capable of. Every religion, every culture, every person and every being has a place. A right to live and grow with the world. Things should not die because we kill them. Things should die because they have fulfilled a purpose. When you use hate you hurt yourself because all things affect you. By hating you fill our system with it and it will eventual come back to you.

When you notice that I can't spell, realize that I know that you notice this. Then notice I continue to write.

Just made up a Moral Dilemma

Imagen the night before your birthday you have an interesting dream. In the dream you hear a voice. The voice tells you that you are about to see your last day alive. In this vision you are in a hospital on a bed. 6 of your closest loved ones are not there and you have a feeling that they died in a car crash. A person you have never seen before  is sitting right beside you. You have a feeling that you know this person very well. You feel a great love for this person.  The person speaks;

“I have some thing to tell you. I don't know why I never said anything before, but now I want you to know;  I had a dream about  the day we met, before it happened. In the dream I saw you for the first time. Then, right after I looked at you I was hit by a speeding car and died.
 I can't help but think that your family would still be alive if I got hit instead. But thats how I met you and we have had wonderful moments together. I just need to know before you die. If you could go back in time and choose between saving me or the people in the car witch would you choose?”

After that speech you wake up. Later that day you find yourself outside by a busy street, you are reminded of the dream. From the side walk you see a vehicle full of your loved ones making a left turn to a building behind you.  Just then you see the person from your dream walking down the street. The person drops a paper that flies toward the road. You are in arms reach to and able to grab this person as he/she runs to grab the paper. What do you do?