FYI April 28, 2020

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On This Day

1253 – Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō for the very first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō (南無妙法蓮華經; sometimes truncated phonetically as Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō)[1] (English: ”Devotion to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra” / “Glory to the Dharma of the Lotus Sutra”)[2][3] are religious words chanted within all forms of Nichiren Buddhism.

The words Myōhō Renge Kyō refer to the Japanese title of the Lotus Sūtra. The mantra is referred to as Daimoku (題目)[4] or, in honorific form, O-daimoku (お題目) meaning title and was first publicly declared by the Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren on 28 April 1253 atop of Mount Kiyosumi, now memorialized by Seichō-ji temple in Kamogawa, Chiba prefecture, Japan.[5][6]

The practice of prolonged chanting is referred to as Shōdai (唱題) while mainstream believers claim that the purpose of chanting is to reduce sufferings by eradicating negative karma along with reducing karmic punishments both from previous and present lifetimes,[7] with the goal to attain perfect and complete awakening.[8]

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Born On This Day

1912 – Odette Hallowes, French soldier and spy (d. 1995)
Odette Sansom GC, MBE (1912 – 1995), also known as Odette Churchill and Odette Hallowes, code named Lise, was an agent for the United Kingdom’s clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France during the Second World War. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers, especially Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Sansom was the first woman to be awarded the George Cross by the United Kingdom and was awarded the Légion d’honneur by France.

Sansom arrived in France on 2 November 1942 and worked as a courier with the Spindle network (or circuit) of SOE headed by Peter Churchill (who she later married). In January 1943, to evade arrest, Churchill and Sansom moved their operations to near Annecy in the French Alps. She and Churchill were arrested there on 16 April 1943 by spy-hunter Hugo Bleicher. She spent the rest of the war imprisoned in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp.

Her wartime experiences and endurance of a brutal interrogation and imprisonment, which were chronicled in books and a motion picture, made her one of the most celebrated members of the SOE and one of the few to survive Nazi imprisonment.

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FYI

Stephen Guise: My Favorite ONLINE Board Games to Play With Friends in Quarantine
Quarantine can present two big problems: boredom and loneliness.

Neither one is good, and I have a solution for both. If you feel cold and isolated from friends and family, but you like games, you’re in luck! I’ve recently discovered some amazing online game websites (which are almost all FREE) that you can play with others. I made a video explaining them, and no, it’s not sponsored. These are just games I enjoy!

The best way to do it is to start a video chat simultaneously, and chat as you play the game. If you have a big monitor or multiple monitors, simply put the game and chat on the same computer. Or you can put one on a phone or ipad and another on a laptop. The combinations are endless!

There are two recommendations in the video below. One recommendation is because the site works well and has a LOT of free games. The other is because it’s just a fantastic game, especially with a larger group of people. I recently played it with 10+ people! We all joined a zoom chat (zoom.us) and played the game together.

What are the two recommendations?

boardgamearena.com
horsepaste.com (the greatest website name in history)
 
 
 
 
Lisa from DebraLynnDadd.com: New Air Purifier Reviews: Air Doctor, Airpura and More!

 
 
 
 

Today’s email was written by Chase Purdy, edited by Whet Moser, and produced by Tori Smith. Quartz Daily Obsession: Voicemail: Leave a message
 
 
 
 

The Passive Voice: Quarantine
 
 
 
 
Michael Dexter Hankins: FAKE, SHAKE, ‘n BAKE “One day when she was at work, I grabbed some Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and ground them up along with a concoction of various herbs and spices.”
 
 
 
 

The Awesomer: Hipster Coffee Shop National Anthem
 
 
 
 

Ideas

By RefiningDesigning: How to Sculpt a Coral Reef Mermaid Crown
 
 
 
 

Recipes

Recipe Tin Eats: Pupcakes! (Dog cupcakes with “frosting”)
 
 
By Patty Catalano, The Kitchn: 5-Minute Banana Bread Mug Cake
 
 
By Sheela Prakash, The Kitchn: I Tried the Peanut Butter Bread That Reddit Is Obsessed With (and It’s Worth the Hype)
 
 
By Naomi Tomky, The Kitchn: People Were So Excited About Ina Garten’s Overnight Mac and Cheese Recipe That They Crashed Her Website
 
 
Michael’s Test Kitchen: Butternut Squash Soup – RV cooking
 
 
By Jodie Lawrence, Grandma’s Things: BAILEY’S IRISH CREAM MINI-CHEESECAKES