The Zen Master is at it again.

Phil Jackson, who introduced his players to tai chi, yoga and meditation while coaching the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers to a National Basketball Association-record 11 titles, is bringing some of those techniques to the New York Knicks.

Jackson, 69, who became president of the Knicks in March, has changed coaches and traded away two starting players from the team that finished 37-45 last season and missed the playoffs by one game.

Now hes working on his players mental strength, hiring a mindfulness trainer to work with team members.

Mindfulness is the intention to pay attention to each and every moment of our life, non-judgmentally, according to the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

It is one of the central practices of Buddhism, though the mindfulness preached by Jackson is more secular in nature. He explained its value to NBA players in a television interview with Oprah Winfrey in June 2013.

As much as we pump iron, and we run and build our strength up, we need to build our mental strength up, Jackson said. We need to build our mental strength so we can focus, so that we can be in concert with one another in times of need.

Jackson told Winfrey that he taught his players how to hold their hands properly while meditating, and how to sit upright so they wont fall asleep.

When you come off the court, you had a bad call, things going wrong for you, you sit on the bench, he said. You take a breath and you reset yourself, and you do that through this mindfulness, you just come right back in and collect yourself.

Lets see if mindfulness brings out the mellow in Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks scoring leader.

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Zen Master Phil Jackson Brings Mindfulness to NBA Knicks

Zen MobilesFirefox U105 has been launched in India exclusively throughHomeShop18. Running the Firefox OS, theFirefox U105 is coming with a price tag ofRs. 1,999 only.

According to the retailer, 15,000 units of the device were sold on the first day alone and it seems that the device is out of stock at the moment. If those numbers are correct, its a pretty good start for a device that is coming with ancient specs. It featuresa 3.5-inch HVGA 320480 screen, a1GHz processor (could be the Spreadtrum 6821),256MB ofstorage with support formicroSD cards up to 16GB,a 2MP rear camera with flash,a 0.3MP front shooter, and a1200mAh battery. The devicefeatures2G (GPRS/ EDGE) connectivity only, but it is coming with dual-SIM support. Available in black, the device comespreloaded with Marketplace.

Just in case you are interested in looking at other Firefox-running smartphones in the country, there is theAlcatel OneTouch Fire C (costs Rs. 1,990), theIntex Cloud FX (Rs. 1,999), and theSpice Fire One Mi-FX 1 (Rs. 1,999).

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Zen Firefox U105 Smartphone Launched In India; Costs Rs. 1,999

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

In a strong bid to encourage Catholics to participate in secular issues, two open-minded church leaders ask Catholics to make peace in the world and foster patriotism, human rights and solidarity in their own country.

Living under the communist government's religious limitations for decades, most of Vietnamese Catholics tend to avoid facing persecution from government authorities by restricting their religious life within homes and churches. They also ignore burning issues damaging their nation and its place in the international community.

Recent months have been seeing changes in their attitudes to their faith life.

Marking the 97th anniversary of Mother Mary's appearances reportedly experienced by three shepherd children on Sept. 13, 1917, at Fatima, Portugal, the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Vietnam issued a message drawing up practical guidelines on faith practices and evangelization in the world during this period of insecurity and amid challenges and dangers.

"As Vietnamese citizens, we have responsibility for the destiny of our Fatherland and mankind's peace and prosperity," said the message posted on the commission's site.

The commission, led by Bishop Paul Nguyen Thai Hop, briefed Catholics on issues ranging from the current bloody wars in Gaza, Ukraine, Syria and Iraq and the political conflicts between Russia and Western countries, to territorial disputes between China and India, Japan and some Asian Southeast nations, including Vietnam.

The commission also condemned China for its ambitions of controlling whole East Sea (internationally known South China Sea) by flagrantly building military facilities and carrying out land reclamation on hotly disputed Spratly and Paracel archipelagoes that Vietnam also claims.

Regarding national issues, the message said Vietnam suffers from an economic downturn, moral decadence, social unrest, increasing violence and violation of human rights. It also accused the Vietnamese government of continuing to hold secret meetings with its northern great neighbor, ignoring warnings about dangers facing the country issued by intellectuals and patriots.

The message urged Catholics to "uphold patriotism and bravely take on the obligation to protect and build the nation in justice, truth, freedom and solidarity."

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Vietnam church gets involved in national and international issues

The Dark Enlightenment Part 1 The Dark Enlightenment Part 2 The Dark Enlightenment Part 3 The Dark Enlightenment Part 4 The Dark Enlightenment Part 4a The Dark Enlightenment Part 4b The Dark Enlightenment Part 4c The Dark Enlightenment Part 4d The Dark Enlightenment Part 4e The Dark Enlightenment Part 4f(inal)

Part 1: Neo-reactionaries head for the exit

Enlightenment is not only a state, but an event, and a process. As the designation for an historical episode, concentrated in northern Europe during the 18th century, it is a leading candidate for the true name of modernity, capturing its origin and essence (Renaissance and Industrial Revolution are others). Between enlightenment and progressive enlightenment there is only an elusive difference, because illumination takes time and feeds on itself, because enlightenment is self-confirming, its revelations self-evident, and because a retrograde, or reactionary, dark enlightenment amounts almost to intrinsic contradiction. To become enlightened, in this historical sense, is to recognize, and then to pursue, a guiding light.

There were ages of darkness, and then enlightenment came. Clearly, advance has demonstrated itself, offering not only improvement, but also a model. Furthermore, unlike a renaissance, there is no need for an enlightenment to recall what was lost, or to emphasize the attractions of return. The elementary acknowledgement of enlightenment is already Whig history in miniature.

Once certain enlightened truths have been found self-evident, there can be no turning back, and conservatism is pre-emptively condemned predestined to paradox. F. A. Hayek, who refused to describe himself as a conservative, famously settled instead upon the term Old Whig, which like classical liberal (or the still more melancholy remnant) accepts that progress isnt what it used to be. What could an Old Whig be, if not a reactionary progressive? And what on earth is that?

Of course, plenty of people already think they know what reactionary modernism looks like, and amidst the current collapse back into the 1930s their concerns are only likely to grow. Basically, its what the F word is for, at least in its progressive usage. A flight from democracy under these circumstances conforms so perfectly to expectations that it eludes specific recognition, appearing merely as an atavism, or confirmation of dire repetition.

Still, something is happening, and it is at least in part something else. One milestone was the April 2009 discussion hosted at Cato Unbound among libertarian thinkers (including Patri Friedman and Peter Thiel) in which disillusionment with the direction and possibilities of democratic politics was expressed with unusual forthrightness. Thiel summarized the trend bluntly: I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.

In August 2011, Michael Lind posted a democratic riposte at Salon, digging up some impressively malodorous dirt, and concluding:

The dread of democracy by libertarians and classical liberals is justified. Libertarianism really is incompatible with democracy. Most libertarians have made it clear which of the two they prefer. The only question that remains to be settled is why anyone should pay attention to libertarians.

Lind and the neo-reactionaries seem to be in broad agreement that democracy is not only (or even) a system, but rather a vector, with an unmistakable direction. Democracy and progressive democracy are synonymous, and indistinguishable from the expansion of the state. Whilst extreme right wing governments have, on rare occasions, momentarily arrested this process, its reversal lies beyond the bounds of democratic possibility. Since winning elections is overwhelmingly a matter of vote buying, and societys informational organs (education and media) are no more resistant to bribery than the electorate, a thrifty politician is simply an incompetent politician, and the democratic variant of Darwinism quickly eliminates such misfits from the gene pool. This is a reality that the left applauds, the establishment right grumpily accepts, and the libertarian right has ineffectively railed against. Increasingly, however, libertarians have ceased to care whether anyone is pay[ing them] attention they have been looking for something else entirely: an exit.

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The Dark Enlightenment, by Nick Land | The Dark Enlightenment