Eckhart Tolle - The Power of Now review by Brian Ó Broin

I really did not like this book, despite its positive message. I'd give it one star out of five. It gets that single star for its basic message, which is "Live in the Now, for you can do little or nothing about the past or the future."

I disliked this book for several reasons:

1) The prose is clunky and full of New Age jargon (e.g. "Your main task as a woman now is to transmute the pain-body so that it no longer comes between you and your true self, the essence of who you are.")

2) Tolle's tone is often disdainful. He frequently accuses his imaginary interlocutor (a stand-in for the reader) of not understanding him. How can he know this? And surely the fault of not being understandable lies with the author? He asks rhetorical questions that are often intended to make the reader feel foolish.

3) The message is too short for a book, so the book is dreadfully padded. By the end, it's become a slog, and you have learned little or nothing new that wasn't explained in chapter one or two.

Tolle seems to be repackaging Zen Buddhism (with a side order of superficial Christian quotables) but is doing so with that classic hippie-dippie new age jargon that is so off-putting. He keeps quoting from the bible, but rarely gives chapter and verse, and the reason for that is that most of his quotes are taken out of context or rephrased to suit his message.

One message that resonated, but that Tolle had clearly dug up from elsewhere, is that most human beings act out of fear and other basic emotions, and that their behaviour is therefore foolish, ill-considered, and illogical. Once you can distance yourself from those toxic emotions (and perhaps from those humans) you are free to view the world --the now-- as you want to. 

In the end, I wanted to learn more about how Tolle himself had put his philosophy into practice, but there's precious little about that, making me wonder how much of this book's message is "do as I say, not as I do." I understand his books and lectures and recordings and merchandise have made him a multi-millionaire, yet I see no evidence of his having redistributed that wealth in any meaningful way, and I see no personal anecdotes in this book that would persuade me that he actually practices what he preaches.

I came away from this book actually feeling a little bit anxious. What have I missed? Why haven't I experienced the revelation? Why am I not seeing the tree glow? Am I one of the unconscious human morons he disparages?

But fear not - he'll be speaking (or sitting on a stage) in Calgary next April, and front row seats are only $2000! Makes me wonder what Jesus charged for the Sermon on the Mount.

Dual Boot Ubuntu/Windows on an Acer Aspire ES1-512 RESOLVED

I literally spent years trying to get this to work - without success - until now.

Acer obviously put considerable thought into designing a BIOS that would not support Ubuntu or dual boot.

The secret to doing this is to install Ubuntu the old fashioned way (just use the defaults, and don't let it install over the Windows OS). Jump through the usual hoops to install off a USB drive, or off a CD-Rom, if you have one. It'll go through the usual installation process, but . . .

On reboot, the usual option window won't show up. The machine will simply boot into Windows again, and will completely ignore your Ubuntu installation.

So now you'll go into the BIOS again.

Under "Main" ensure that "F12 Boot Menu" is enabled.

Under "Security" set a supervisor password. This will open up the blanked-out options on this page. Once you have set that password, on the same page go to "Select an UEFI file as trusted for executing."

Choose HDD0, or whatever the option is (there should be only one).

Now choose "EFI"

Now choose "Ubuntu" (it *should* be there!).

Now choose "shimx64.efi"

Give it a good name.

Press F10.

On reboot, repeatedly press F12 until the boot options come up. One should be Windows Boot Manager, and the other should be the good name that you gave shimx64.efi.

Choose that name.

Ubuntu will boot.

I got most of this information from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD3JtoSbfOo

Hope this helps.

Duais sa Scéalaíocht in Oireachtas na Samhna 2024

 Bhuaigh mé an dara duais sa chomórtas scéalaíochta in Oireachtas na Samhna 2024 leis an scéal "Fionn Mac Cumhaill agus an Bhean Ruadh!

 I won second prize in Oireachtas na Samhna 2024 with the story "Fionn Mac Cumhaill and the Redheaded Woman"

 Seo nasc go dtí an scéal: https://sites.google.com/view/sgeal/home

 

An Chéad Chlosleabhar Gaeilge sa bhFearann Poiblí ar Fáil anois go hIdirnáisiúnta

 Tá ollamh le teangeolaíocht as Gaillimh, atá anois ag obair i gceantar Nua Eabhraic, tar éis an chéad chlosleabhar Gaeilge a chur ar fáil sa bhfearann poiblí. Bailiúchán béaloidis as 5 chontae in Iarthar na hÉireann atá sa leabhar, darb ainm An Sgéaluidhe Gaedhealach, a foilsíodh i 1901.

Thaifead an t-Ollamh Brian Ó Broin, a mhúineann teangeolaíocht ar William Paterson University, New Jersey, na 35 scéal thar thréimhse 18 mhí, ag tosú le fearas taifeadta simplí agus ag críochnú an tionscadail i stiúdeónna stáisiún raidió na hollscoile, WPSC-FM. B'éigean dó eagar a chur ar 40 uair a chloig de réamhthaifid, agus tá 13 uair a chloig sa táirge deireannach.

Is é Dubhghlas de hÍde, iar-uachtarán Éireann agus duine de bhunaitheoirí Conradh na Gaeilge, a chuir an bailiúchán le chéile sa bhliain 1901, tar éis dó na scealta a fhoilsiú i nGaeilge agus i bhFraincis in iris acadúil Bhriotáineach.

D'eascair An Sgéaluidhe Gaedhealach as tionscadal bailithe seanchais a thosaigh de hÍde agus é fós ina mhacléinn i gColáiste na Tríonóide sna 1880aí. Ba chuid lárnach é dá fheachtas leanúnach litríocht dúchasach na hÉireann a chur ar bhonn chomhionannais le litríocht ar bith eile san Eoraip. Bailíodh na 35 scéal ó sheanchaithe i gcúig chontae in Éirinn, agus is samplaí iontacha uad de scéalta traidisiúnta agus nua, ó eachtraithe fiannaíochta suas go dtí scéalta taibhsí, meirligh, draoithe, tiarnaí, agus seoid faoi thalamh.

Tá roinnt closleabhair Ghaeilge ar fáil cheana féin, ach is é seo an chéad chlosleabhar ariamh atá go hiomlán san fhearann poiblí, agus atá ar fáil saor in aisce le híoslódáil mar théacs agus mar thaifead. Tá teacht air ag www.librivox.org.

Tionscadal idirnáisiúnta is ea Librivox atá sé mar aidhm aige téacsanna atá san fhearann poiblí a chur ar fáil mar chlosleabhair. Bhunaigh an foilsitheoir agus gníomhaí Ceanádach Hugh McGuire é sa bhliain 2005, agus oibríonn an tionscadal lámh ar lámh leis an Internet Archive agus Project Gutenberg

Tá srian áirithe le closleabhair a bheith ar fáil as Gaeilge san fhearann poiblí mar gheall ar dhlí an chóipchirt. In Éirinn, ní théann téacsanna isteach san fhearann poiblí go ceann seachtó bliana i ndiaidh bhás an údair. Fágann sin nach mbeidh clasaicí mar Cré na Cille nó An Béal Bocht san fhearann poiblí go dtí na 2030aí nó na 2040aí, agus dá réir sin ní cheadaítear iad a chur ar fáil mar chlosleabhair saor in aisce.

Ní haon chúnamh é stair na foilsitheoireachta Gaeilge. Foilsíodh mórchuid na dtéacsanna atá san fhearann poiblí i gclófhoirne Gaelacha faoi chórais litrithe agus gramadaí atá tamall maith ó Ghaeilge chaighdeánaithe na linne seo, agus cothaíonn seo deacrachtaí móra do lucht an taifeadta agus léitheoirí araon. Ar ámharaí an tsaoil, foilsíodh an leabhar seo sa chló rómhánach, rud a chuir go mór lena inléiteacht.

Níos mó eolais: https://sites.google.com/view/sgeal/

Teagmháil: Professor Brian Ó Broin, brianeanna [ag] hotmail.com

Seol ríomhphost más mian leat teagmháil teileafóin, Zoom nó Skype a dhéanamh leis an Ollamh Ó Broin

First Public Domain Audiobook in Irish Launched

 

A NewYork-based linguistics professor from Galway, Ireland has released the first Irish-language public-domain audiobook, a 1901 collection of folklore from four West of Ireland counties entitled An Sgéaluidhe Gaedhealach (the Gaelic Storyteller).

Professor Brian Ó Broin, a linguistics professor at William Paterson University, New Jersey, recorded the 35 stories over a sixteen month period, beginning with a makeshift arrangement of midrange recording equipment and software before completing the project in the studios of his university's radio station, WPSC-FM. Over that period forty hours of raw recordings were edited down to thirteen hours in the final product.

The book, An Sgéaluidhe Gaedhealach, was compiled by Douglas Hyde, an important Gaelic Revival figure of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries who went on to become president of Ireland in 1938.

An Sgéaluidhe Gaedhaelach was the result of a folklore-collection project that Hyde began while still a university student at Trinity College, Dublin in the 1880s and was part of his lifelong campaign to demonstrate that Gaelic Ireland had a folk literature that was every bit as vigorous as any modern literature in Europe. The 35 stories, collected orally from accomplished storytellers in five Irish counties, provide an amazing cross-section of ancient and modern narrative, ranging from adventure stories from the first millennium to nearly-contemporary stories of ghosts, bandits, witches, lords, ladies, and buried treasure.

While several books in Irish have been recorded professionally, this is the first completely public-domain audiobook ever recorded in Irish, and is now available for free download in printed and recorded formats at www.librivox.org.

More Information: https://sites.google.com/view/sgeal/

Contact: Professor Brian Ó Broin, brianeanna [at] hotmail.com

Email professor for telephone number, whatsapp contact, Skype, Zoom, etc.

Léacht Bharra Uí Dhonnabháin, NYU Glucksman Ireland House, Aibreáin 2024 - Brian Ó Broin