I'm looking out over wet pavement from a Portland coffee shop, somewhat nervous about the upgrade process going on in the background, taking me to Ubuntu 7.10, the next version. 1127 files are being downloaded at about 124 kb/s. Yes, I'm being a bandwidth hog, but there's only one other laptop sharing the connection, so I think we're OK.In addition to being on the receiving end of some upgrades, I'm also a source of same. Metaphorically speaking, we feed one another, but I won't say "to each according to his needs" or some such sugary slogan, because manifestly we go hungry sometimes, no sense denying the reality of suffering sentient beings.
Buddhism has a special image of the "hungry ghost": a being with a big appetite, but a pencil thin neck (like dial-up instead of DSL). Per usual, Google comes through with an image (above). Google feeds me, thank you Google, thank you Internet... thank you coffee shop, thank you Ubuntu, thank you PBS and Tibet House.
I'm still hungry though. Shall we call it a healthy appetite for life? Nothing wrong with that is there? We certainly could use some more upgrades around here (thinking of Planet Earth now, not just selfish me).
Feeding one another is both a priority and a necessity. Rampant poverty, starvation makes us all poorer, if only by lowering our self esteem as a species. The resulting misanthropy has us thinking "too many people" is the problem, but I've long assumed "too little intelligence" (i.e. ignorance) is the deeper ill.
Bringing electricity and mutually informative telecommun- ications to the "too many" (ourselves) is what will help make our numbers "just right." Our ability to share upgrades won't bottleneck so badly, as the generous among us share their art and their science, fueling our Be Do Have projects completion cycle.
OK, the upgrade to Gutsy Gibbon (Ubuntu 7.10) is complete. Yay.
