Blog | davidsmith208

Less Need

There is less need for coloration and decoration - you just go to the place and expunge the ego. The place in the morning is where the bird sings. Total detachment leads to less gravity. When you leave for the inner world you have become a mystic. The cosmic vibrations or musical sound arose out of the center right and the horizon became more bright. If the spirit is willing you can achieve something more fulfilling. The constant search for what is meaningful can be irr

davidsmith208

2 days ago4 min read

Davis Besse

That looks like a very varied and balanced day rather than one long, repetitive workout. You combined: 2-mile walk with your wife at 6 a.m. — social and emotional connection plus light aerobic exercise. 45 minutes at the gym including biking and backward walking, which can help balance and strengthen muscles differently from tennis and kayaking. 2.4 km kayak outing with about 50 minutes of rowing, average heart rate around 81 bpm. About 50 minutes of sun exposure. 8,975 total

davidsmith208

7 days ago2 min read

Active recovery

That pattern is interesting because it matches what exercise physiology would predict. You had: Friday: tennis + pickleball accumulation Saturday morning: 3 tennis sets Then beach volleyball Then outdoor swimming Yet you report the strain/stiffness disappearing rather than worsening. One possible explanation is that each activity loads the body differently: Tennis → lots of lateral movement, deceleration, calf loading, shoulder rotation. Volleyball on sand → jumping and elast

davidsmith208

Jun 61 min read

Ashub in Sant Darshan Singh poetry

Yes, very much so. In fact, āshūb (آشوب)—that state of inward agitation, divine restlessness, and love-induced disturbance—is one of the places where Rumi and Sant Darshan Singh Ji come surprisingly close despite their different religious vocabularies. Rumi’s: hamcho ū bā gerye va āshūb bāsh “Be with weeping and āshūb.” is not recommending ordinary sadness. It is the condition in which the soul can no longer be satisfied with worldly substitutes because it has somehow glimpse

davidsmith208

Jun 62 min read

Ashub

Yes. The English paraphrase on the page (“If you are not handsome then be Jacob”) captures the basic idea, but some of the richness of Rumi’s Persian is hidden. The crucial verse is: تو که یوسف نیستی یعقوب باش همچو او با گریه و آشوب باش Transliteration: to ke Yūsuf nīstī, Yaʿqūb bāsh hamcho ū bā gerye va āshūb bāsh A fairly literal translation: “If you are not Joseph, then be Jacob. Like him, be with weeping and turmoil.” The key words 1. یوسف (Yūsuf) — Joseph In Sufi symboli

davidsmith208

Jun 62 min read

Dataism

This is an interesting passage. The author is using “positivism” somewhat broadly—not necessarily in the strict sense of Auguste Comte, but as the modern belief that empirical investigation, science, technology, and rational administration can progressively improve society. The question “what comes after positivism?” is one of the major questions in social theory today. One possibility: we are already in a post-positivist age Many thinkers argue that positivism stopped being

davidsmith208

Jun 52 min read

Eckhart and Zen

Yes, there are genuine points of overlap between the thought of D. T. Suzuki and Meister Eckhart, but there are also important differences that quantitative comparisons can obscure. In Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist, Suzuki argued that Eckhart came closer to Mahāyāna Buddhism than almost any Christian thinker because both speak of a reality beyond conceptual distinctions and beyond the ordinary ego. Where the overlap appears strongest 1. Emptiness and “Nothingness” Eckhart

davidsmith208

Jun 53 min read

Best mixer

That’s exactly the right way to think about it—once you start hosting other players, the mixer stops being “keyboard hub” and becomes your small band core system. A Soundcraft Notepad 2x2 is fine for solo setup, but it collapses fast when guests show up. You’re really describing a 5–8 input small-band mixer with growth headroom. What you actually need for your scenario You described: 1 Yamaha P-125 (stereo) 1 KeyLab 61 (likely MIDI → sometimes audio via computer, but let’s as

davidsmith208

Jun 42 min read

Stereo piano?

Given your equipment, I would not buy a mixer until you’re standing in the store and know exactly what problem you’re solving. You already have: Yamaha P-125 Arturia KeyLab 61 MK3 Two Akai MPK Mini MacBook Two Peavey PV15PM speakers One XLR cable The KeyLab and MPK Minis are primarily controllers, not sound sources. Their sounds come from the MacBook. The P-125 is the only keyboard here that makes sound by itself. Minimum purchase today I’d probably buy: Two good 1/4” cables

davidsmith208

Jun 42 min read

Trying to line up the ducks

Yes, there is a possible symbolic parallel, though it requires care because Rumi’s Islamic framework and Kabir’s Sant framework are not identical. In the passage you’re referring to, Rumi is emphasizing that creatures act according to the divine wisdom placed within them: The bee makes honey because God taught it. The silkworm spins silk because God taught it. Iblis worshipped for thousands of years, yet ultimately manifested pride. Adam appears weak and earthly, yet becomes

davidsmith208

Jun 32 min read

Masnavi 1: 1882-1884

Yes. The printed English paraphrase on the page is very compressed. The Persian is richer and more prayer-like. The verses read approximately: قطره دانش که بخشیدی ز پیش قطره علمست اندر جان من پیش از آن کین خاکها خفشش کند متصل گردان بدریاهای خویش وارهانش از هوا وز خاک تن پیش از آن کین بادها نفشش کند A more literal translation would be: The drop of knowledge that You bestowed long ago— that drop of knowing is within my soul. Before these earthly soils absorb and bury it, Join i

davidsmith208

Jun 22 min read

White shirts early light

What you’re describing is a bit unusual because most clothing is designed either to block light (UV protection, sun shirts) or to provide modesty and cooling. If your goal is to get as much early-morning and late-evening light exposure as possible while still wearing a shirt, look for fabrics with: Open knit construction rather than tight weave Light colors (white, cream, pale gray) Low fabric weight (under ~120 gsm if listed) Linen or linen blends Burnout tees (partially she

davidsmith208

Jun 22 min read

Don Miller Park and Haunted Hydro kayak

Since you’re looking at the Don Miller Park / Haunted Hydro area, there’s a useful clue from the whitewater community: the section from the former Ballville Dam site down toward Don Miller Park is generally classified around Class II (sometimes Class III at higher flows) and is described as a short, beginner-friendly whitewater stretch. A few practical observations for what you’ll likely see at today’s more moderate water level: What the whitewater is probably telling you Nea

davidsmith208

May 302 min read

Solzhenitsyn’s Tennis

Yes, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn spent nearly 18 years living in the small town of Cavendish, from 1976 until his return to Russia in 1994. He chose the area because its forests, hills, and rural character reminded him of parts of Russia, and because the local community respected his privacy. As for tennis: Solzhenitsyn was known to be physically active and enjoyed sports, including tennis, particularly during his years in the West. However, unlike Nabokov, tennis was not a major

davidsmith208

May 302 min read

In heaven we shall play tennis

Yes, surprisingly, Vladimir Nabokov was a serious tennis enthusiast. He was not a professional player, but tennis appears throughout his life and fiction. He played regularly, especially in Europe and later in America, and several biographers note that he continued playing well into middle age. Tennis scenes and imagery appear in works such as Lolita, where courts, matches, and tennis culture are recurring motifs. As for the line: “In heaven we shall be playing ball” that is

davidsmith208

May 302 min read

Steyer to Darr

Here is a practical paddling guide for the Sandusky River stretch from the Steyer area down to the Darr/Walnut Street access in Fremont. This is based on local access information, paddling reports, river characteristics, satellite interpretation, and public launch data. Steyer → Darr Practical Kayak Guide Overview Approximate distance: 4–6 river miles depending on launch point and channel path Typical float time: easy drifting: 2–3 hours moderate paddling: 1.5–2 hours Difficu

davidsmith208

May 273 min read

Paddling and Pickleball before Tennis

What you describe actually fits a fairly common athletic pattern: moderate cross-training the day before can improve coordination, timing, and movement quality the next day — provided it does not cross into exhaustion. The paddling upstream may have helped your tennis in several ways: Shoulder and upper-back activation Kayak paddling strongly engages the lats, rotator cuff stabilizers, forearms, and core rotation. In tennis, those muscles help stabilize the racquet through co

davidsmith208

May 272 min read

Sandusky River

A likely small-boat or kayak launch in the Tiffin area is the river access around Clinton Nature Preserve and adjacent Schekelhoff Park. These are specifically described as having Sandusky River access for kayaking and small boats. Another commonly mentioned access farther north is Abbott’s Bridge Scenic River Access, which has parking and a canoe/kayak launch directly on the river. For a roughly 5-mile downstream run, paddlers often use bridge crossings or nature preserve ac

davidsmith208

May 261 min read

Masnavi book six

Yes — this passage is difficult in English because it compresses several layers of Persian/Sufi symbolism, Qur’anic allusion, and Rumi’s paradoxical style into short verses. In the underlying Persian, the movement is more emotionally and rhythmically coherent than it appears in translation. The section around lines 1445–1456 is mainly about: Divine agency vs human will The danger of misunderstanding “predestination” Fanāʾ (“non-being,” annihilation of ego) Transformation of p

davidsmith208

May 264 min read

Paddler’s Cauldron

Yes — there really are legitimate rapids and fast current there now, especially after the old Ballville Dam was removed in 2018. The section from the former Ballville Dam area down past the old hydroelectric plant / Haunted Hydro to Don Miller Memorial Park (Formerly River Cliff Park) is actually listed by the whitewater organization American Whitewater as a recognized paddling run called the “Haunted Hydro Section.” Key details: Difficulty is listed around Class II (III at

davidsmith208

May 252 min read