Kung hei fat choi! This traditional Cantonese greeting means “May you have great wealth!” and is expressed at Chinese new year often followed by Lai see dow loi, meaning “Give me me lucky money” ;-). There are many new years celebrated around the world starting from October (eg Divali in India) to the ancient Babylonian …
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Category:8 Activities and Media
Unplanned and Unexpected – A Vision of the Future
Life’s journey has no beginning or end yet events, like seasons and birthdays, mark its progress. So, in anticipation of astraea turning 20, and to say “thank you” to all the people who had helped us along the way, we thought about having an exposition of our work and a party. Many people around the …
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Marching past paradise
The following piece comes from Media Lens. It combines the magic of legends with the reality of today. Perhaps it will help you look up from the rush to decadence and notice the paradise you can enjoy. To get a glimpse of paradise visit Ballin Temple where the air is fresh, the water clean and …
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A Vision of the Future
The live-stream video:
Fossil Free Food
There’s no such thing. Everyone knows that fuel is used to grow our food and that petrochemicals are used to feed and protect food. But it’s probably worse than we realise. Most food has more fossil fuel energy in it than natural, current energy. It takes about 10 fossil fuel calories to produce and transport …
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Spring Snow, Yoga, Fishing, and more …
Ballin Temple newsletter, here. A little bird said … The Beast from the East came and stopped spring for a few days. We treated it as a special occasion. We had to. We couldn’t drive out for a couple of days. So we fed and watered the animals, checked on guests in the cottages, thawed …
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Nature is the Teacher
After the opening hour of #edchatMENA “Nature vs Artificial Intelligence” on Saturday 24 March 2018 I went outside to my other “office”. A large branch from a cedar tree had fallen during recent snow and wind. We had cleared much of it in the past few days, but, because it was now looking a bit …
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Bounce, Wobble, Smile – Ballin Temple notes at solstice
Bounce, wobble, spin – the solstice is here. And so the cycle continues. Today is the day we’ve been looking forward to for a couple of months now. In the northern hemisphere, it’s the shortest day of the year and within a few days we’ll begin to notice the days lengthening again. Solstice is the …
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My excuse for being lazy …
My excuse for being lazy is thinking up new ideas. So why would I admit to laziness? Guilt. It’s increasingly clear that people are amazing. Not just celebrities on TV, also regular people. People who make our lives better,. People who work hard for family and friends and good causes. Shop owners, tradespeople, “employees”, and …
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Drawdown – a comprehensive plan to reverse global warming
Paul Hawken has edited Drawdown, a comprehensive review and analysis of tangible actions that can mitigate the destruction of the natural environment which is now being precipitated by anthropogenic pollution and is most visible in global warming. Drawdown is the work of many professionals collaborating to synthesise practical mitigation actions. Yesterday he collaborated with The …
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