As we enter this season of holidays, it is easy to be carried away with trappings and commercialization and, in the process, lose the deep historical, religious or heart-centered meaning of this time of year. Our already busy calendars just get busier as our ‘to-do’ lists grow longer and longer. There is food to prepare, presents to buy, and parties to attend. Or perhaps this is a season where our thoughts are dominated by ‘what used to be’ or ‘what we hoped would be different this year....

In this last blog of 2017, I’d like to leave you with some of both. I’d like to emphasize the “some” because the two lists are way too long to detail here, and for everyone one that I include I’m sure I’ll leave another two out. Our Gratitude First and foremost, I’m grateful for the indomitable mindful spirit in us all—the intelligence that seeks insight and awareness, that yearns for a more inclusive way to see and a more healthy way to be—both alone and in relationship....

On a day like this you might see red, yellow, or green traffic lights reflected on wet pavement. You might see raindrops running down a window pane or hanging from a railing or overhead wire. You might see two people walking under a bright green umbrella. You might see a dull gray sky or a wet red truck. Inside, there will be soft shadows and muted colors. You might even look through the drops on a window and see the landscape distorted by odd-shaped raindrop lenses....

There is research suggesting that using cell phones for only a half hour a day for ten years doubles one’s risk of brain cancer.The soreness in our fingers and wrists from texting too much is so prevalent that the term “text claw” has entered our lexicon.“Problematic Internet Use” (PIU) is now considered a behavioral addiction, with almost half (48 %) of participants in one study considered “Internet addicts.”In her remarkable book, Reclaiming Conversation (2015), MIT professor Sherry Turkle discusses research pointing to how a quarter of teens in the US are connected to a device within five minutes of waking up each morning, and that most teens send at least one hundred text messages per day....

Android 13 is the latest version of Android that was just released by the company. However, Google is always one step ahead, and it’s not developing Android 14. Each version of Android brings its own requirements, and Android 14 is reportedly focused on AV1 codec and 64-bit-only apps. Satellite connectivity was already confirmed for the OS. According to Android Police (via Mishaal Rahman), the AV1 codec support is codified in the Android Open Source Project Gerrit....