James Schafer
San Francisco, California
jschafer@eternalknot.net




Random stuff...
The eternal knot is a Buddhist symbol which has many meanings:
  • eternal love
  • long life and happiness
  • the interconnectedness of all living things
  • the cycle of life and death
  • the unity of wisdom and compassion
  • the eternal law (the dharma)
  • the boundless and permanent awareness of a buddha
The best online time suck...
StumpleUpon is a great service that will let you list a bunch of areas you're interested in and then randomly take you to pages on those topics. I have found some great sites...

StumbleUpon
And here's a great video I found on StumbleUpon of "Torn" performed by Natalie Imbruglia (with Johan Lippowitz) at Amnesty International's "Secret Policeman's Ball" in 2006. It's great that she has a good sense of humor about her own music.

Music I've been listening to...
A pretty cool online music service is pandora.com which lets you build your own radio station by picking a starting song or group and then it starts picking music to play for you that it thinks you might like. It learns your taste as you give songs a thumbs up or down. I built this station by starting with a Pet Shop Boys song.
Books I've been reading that I recommend...
  • The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
  • The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett
  • Is Paris Burning? by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre
  • Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
  • Sky Burial by Xinran
  • Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
  • Into the Wild by John Krakauer
  • Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
  • Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
  • East of Eden by John Steinbeck
  • Muhammad: a Biography of the Prophet by Karen Armstrong
Where I get my news...
  • I check the BBC daily for international news since I think they do the best job of covering the story and providing the appropriate background info to put it into context.
  • I also check out The Morning News which has a great selection of cool articles from a variety of sources.
  • And I check out the SF Gate daily to get my local updates.
Favorite charities...
Here are some groups that I think deserve some attention (if not money -- since here is where my charity $'s go...)