April 25, 2010

Quotes of the week

Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.

Alexander Pope

If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

~Benjamin Franklin~

Success is doing what you like and making a living at it.

~Proverb, (Greek)~

A man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong - acting the part of the good man or the bad.

Plato

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.

Francis Bacon

Meditation of the week

The video at the Collateral Murder website is violent and disturbing. Do not watch it if you are at all faint of heart.

For me, war is never necessary, partly because of events depicted. Judge for yourself.

The video is here: http://www.collateralmurder.com/

http://www.wikileaks.org/

http://notingodsname.com/

War is not the answer http://www.fcnl.org/index.htm

Where Do Our Income Tax Dollars Go? For each dollar of federal income tax we paid in 2009, the government spent: http://www.fcnl.org/budget/Taxes09coin_chart.pdf

Choices

The world can begin to change. All it takes is for a single fearful, angry person to shift her perception about a situation or a person, and then make a better choice about her own behavior. The idea that one person can make such a difference may seem far-fetched, but indeed, that is how any change, large or small, begins to materialize.
What this means is that every one of us, together and individually, can impact how the circumstances of the world continue to evolve. We can determine whether or not we will experience peace in our personal lives and, by our actions and example, bring about peaceful resolutions in the lives of others, near and far away.

Many will say it can't be done – there will always be cynics among us. But those who believe in the miracle of change live among us, too. Whenever any one of us recognizes someone else's anger for what it really is and responds with understanding and compassion, we all move closer to the peaceful existence that can be ours, here and now. "Nothing changes if nothing changes." We can be the change agents who will make a difference.

Poem of the Week

It's natchurl enugh, I guess,
When some gits more and some gits less,
Fer them-uns on the slimmest side
To claim it ain't a fare divide
And I've knowed some to lay and wait,
To git up soon, and set up late,
To ketch some feller they could hate
For goin' at a faster gait.

James Whitcomb Riley

Video of the week

Tina Fey is a genius

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/apr-10-tina-fey/1218033/

(Click on the second segment bar)

Playwrite of the week

It's the birthday of William Shakespeare, born in 1564. He wrote more than 30 plays, including A Midsummer Night's Dream (c. 1594), Romeo and Juliet (c. 1595), Twelfth Night (c. 1600), Hamlet (c. 1601), Othello (c. 1604), King Lear (c. 1605), Macbeth (c. 1605), and The Tempest (c. 1611). Only a few scattered facts are known about his life. He was born and raised in the picturesque market town of Stratford-on Avon, surrounded by woodlands. His father was a glover and a leather merchant; he and his wife had eight children, including William, but two of them died at birth and another at age seven. William probably left grammar school when he was 13 years old, but continued to study on his own. When he was 18, he married Anne Hathaway, who was already several months pregnant. Within two years, he was the father of three children. He went to London around 1588 to pursue his career in drama, and by 1592 he was a well-known actor.

Shakespeare joined the acting troupe the Lord Chamberlain's Men in 1594, and he wrote many plays for the group while continuing to act. The group performed often for Queen Elizabeth, and in 1598 Shakespeare helped to buy the Globe Theatre just south of London, which became the group's new home. They built the Globe from the timber of their old theater, wood that they transported across town on a summer's night.

Shakespeare was very popular late in life, becoming one of the first playwrights to sell editions of his plays to the public. He went into semi-retirement in 1611, after finishing The Tempest, and returned to Stratford to be with his family. He died on his birthday five years later.
From As You Like It:
And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe,
And then from hour to hour, we rot and rot:
And thereby hangs a tale.

You can’t make up such a thing as that, I dare you to even try

Hilarious screenshots from Chat Roulette

Websites of the week

Four Websites You Should Know About

Great advertisement campaigns

Number of doctors per inhabitants (thanks Rob-son)

What The Tea Party Movement Is Really About  

And finally, the culmination of millennia of scientific endeavor

NASA releases new images of our sun

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/first-light.html

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/glance/1043429/nasa-releases-stunning-sun-photos

April 18, 2010

Quotes of the week

Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals, seeks nothing but rational values and finds his joy in nothing but rational actions.

Aynn Rand

"Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing."  Thomas Jefferson

When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head and laugh at they sky.

Buddha

Poem of the Week

Weekly Poem: 'Nonessential Equipment'

By Jehanne Dubrow

The dog and I are first among those things
that will not be deployed with him. Forget
civilian clothes as well. He shouldn't bring
too many photographs, which might get wet,
the faces blurred. He only needs a set
of uniforms. Even his wedding ring
gives pause (what if it fell? -- he'd be upset
to dent or scratch away the gold engraving).
The seabag must be light enough to sling
across his shoulder, weigh almost nothing,
each canvas pocket emptied of regret.
The trick is packing less. No wife, no pet,
no perfumed letters dabbed with I-love-yous,
or anything he can't afford to lose.

Best of Craig’s List of the week

Tattooed Trouble- Rent-a-dude

Video of the week

A Farewell to Arms

Fox News wants you to decide if the Nuclear Security Summit logo looks similar to the flags representing Muslim nations.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
A Farewell to Arms
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

You can’t make up such a thing as that, I dare you to even try

Victim hit in face with snake, Rock Hill man charged

Websites of the week

www.Politifact.com

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/rulings/pants-fire/

Find that perfect electronics product with http://www.measy.com

7 Essential multimedia tools and their free alternatives

Elton John makes a song about an oven instruction manual on-the-spot.

And finally, the culmination of millennia of scientific endeavor

It was on April 12^th  in 1633 that Galileo Galilei (books by this author) stood trial before the Roman Inquisition, to defend the publication of his book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632).

It is commonly thought that Galileo was called to defend his scientific beliefs before the Church, who insisted on their own version of the universe. But the purpose of the trial was more complex than that, going back 17 years, to a technicality that occurred the first time that Galileo was officially chastised by the Church. The question was whether he was ordered to stop publishing or teaching anything about a Copernican view of the universe, or whether he was told that he could present it as a theory but not the absolute truth.

And really, it started 90 years earlier, when the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus published On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres (1543), laying out his revolutionary theory: that the earth and other celestial objects rotate around the sun, which is the fixed center of the universe. It was completely at odds with the accepted understanding — legitimized by the Church — that the Earth was at the center. There was a small stir, but Copernicus died at the same time he published his book, and his views were not particularly well publicized and sank into relative obscurity for decades.

But hearing those views from someone like Galileo was another story. Galileo was already famous, a respected scientist and lecturer, years before his involvement with any sort of controversial theory of the universe. After giving up the idea to become a monk, which his father opposed, he studied mathematics and medicine (his father's choice), but was more interested in math. He was one of the first scientists to show that math could be used to explain the laws of nature, and he used that understanding to conduct breakthrough experiments, including his work on accelerating objects. The story that he dropped cannon balls out of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is probably apocryphal, but he did show that falling objects accelerate at a uniform rate, and that this is true regardless of their weight.

At some point Galileo did become interested in the theory of the universe expressed by Copernicus, and then he discovered something that he thought would prove the theory beyond question: the telescope. A Dutch eyeglass maker is credited with inventing it in 1608, and as soon as he heard about it, Galileo set one up himself, and became the first person to use it to observe the sky. He deduced that the moon was illuminated by a reflection of the sun on the Earth, he saw that Jupiter was orbited by moons, and he studied Venus and realized that the only explanation for its changing phases was that it orbited the sun. He thought that, finally, no one could disagree that the planets orbited the sun, so he started talking openly about his ideas. He wrote and lectured for the educated public, figuring that they were a more receptive audience than scholars.

But of course people did disagree: The Church claimed it was at odds with the Bible, particularly a verse in the Book of Joshua that describes God stopping the sun in the sky, and one in Psalms that says Earth was put on its foundations and would not move. Galileo responded publicly by explaining that the truth of the Bible was not always literal, that it used metaphorical imagery. He wrote: "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason and intellect has intended us to forego their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them. He would not require us to deny sense and reason in physical matters which are set before our eyes and minds by direct experience or necessary demonstrations."

And on this day of April in 1533, Galileo was called before the Inquisition to be questioned. They did not give him a chance to defend his view of the universe, nor in fact did they argue with his beliefs at all. Instead, their argument centered on the first time Galileo had been officially reprimanded, 17 years earlier. Galileo was interrogated by the full Inquisition again on April 30th, and he offered to write a sequel in which he argued against Copernicusm. This was not good enough. Weeks later, on June 16th, the pope decreed: "Galileo being interrogated on his intention, even with the threat of torture ... he is to abjure in a plenary session of the Congregation of the Holy Office, then is to be condemned to imprisonment at the pleasure of the Holy Congregation, and ordered not to treat further, in whatever manner, either in words or in writing, on the mobility of the Earth and the stability of the Sun; otherwise he will incur the penalties of relapse. The book entitled Dialogue of Galileo Galilei the Lincean is to be prohibited."

Eventually, he was allowed to return home under house arrest, where he became blind a few years later, and died in 1642. In 1718, the Church lifted its ban on Galileo's work, with the exception of the Dialogues, which was banned until 1822.

Quotes of the week

Those who labor with their minds govern others; those who labor with their strength are governed by others.

Mencius

About 30,000 people showed up at the White House for the annual Easter egg roll. Or as Fox News called it, a “socialist free food giveaway.” My brudder

This is always true of those men who have surrendered themselves to an overruling purpose. It does not so much impel them from without, nor even operate as a motive power within, but grows incorporate with all that they think and feel, and finally converts them into little else save that one principle.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

There seemed to be endless obstacles preventing me from living with my eyes open, but as I gradually followed up clue after clue it seemed that the root cause of them all was fear.
--Joanna Field

"You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."  Anne Lamott

Meditation of the week

Talk doesn't cook rice.
--Chinese proverb

Some of us are crazy about self-help books, inspirational tapes, and personal improvement seminars. We'll buy or sign up for anything, whatever the price, if it promises revolutionary insights or a foolproof new system. We want relief in a day and deliverance in a weekend. And we want the expert of the hour to do it for us.

There's nothing wrong with wishing, of course. But there's a lot wrong with kidding ourselves as a way of life. Think about it: If progress could be bought, we wouldn't need to be meditating. If personal transformation resulted from collecting new ideas, we'd have been transformed long ago. Exploring is great. And looking for all the inspiration and wisdom we can find is necessary for growth. But changing is doing. All the plans and schemes for improvement put together won't change a thing if we don't put the principles into daily practice. Even catchy words are just words.

Today, I will take the best plan I have and put it into action. Today, I will say less and do more.

Poem of the Week

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who

Rudyard Kipling

Socialism of the Week

Obama Funds A Place For Veterans To Heal

by Alan Greenblatt

Best of Craig’s List of the week

the drudgery of adulthood for single, free-spirited life

Video of the week

SCIENTISTS TEACH GORILLA IT WILL DIE SOMEDAY

Scientists Teach Gorilla It Will Die Someday

You can’t make up such a thing as that, I dare you to even try

Your child will be born a

This made me think

For Online Gamers like you and me from Patriciojose on Vimeo.

April 4, 2010

Quotes of the week

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak
Hans Hofmann

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
Confucius

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
Leonardo da Vinci

The aspects of things that are most important to us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.
Ludwig Wittgenstein

Our life is frittered away by detail… Simplify, simplify.
Henry Thoreau

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
Lin Yutang

Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things.
Elise Boulding

Meditation of the week

4 Thoughts on Simplifying Your Life from the Last 2500 Years

person of the Week

It's the birthday of Rachel Maddow, who began hosting her own political television show on a Monday night in September 2008 and a week later had the most-watched MSNBC show of the night, with more than 1.8 million viewers. She doubled the audience for the station's 9 p.m. hour, and a large chunk of her viewers fall in the much-sought-after demographic of 25- to 54-year-olds.

She writes up essays of commentary for her nightly show, talks about news events that she feels haven't been covered enough (which she calls "Holy Mackerel" stories), announces a "cocktail moment" — a bit of trivia or witticism that can be used to impress friends — and does extensive reporting on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

She went to Stanford, studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar (the first openly gay Rhodes Scholar ever chosen), and while writing her graduate dissertation, entitled HIV/AIDS and Health Care Reform in British and American Prisons, she moved out to rural Massachusetts in the hopes of depriving herself of distractions and thereby forcing herself to sit down and write. She worked a number of odd jobs to survive, including, she lists, "waitress, bike messenger, bucket washer at a coffee-bean factory, yard help, landscaping laborer, and handyman." Before she appeared on MSNBC, she had her own very popular radio program, also called The Rachel Maddow Show. She still doesn't own a television.

She's at work on a book about the military and politics, and it's being edited by Rachel Klayman, who helped edit then-Senator Barack Obama's 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope.

Best of Craig’s List of the week

Video of the week

Watch my teeth grow

You can’t make up such a thing as that, I dare you to even try

Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, USA
The next best thing to pet salvation in a Post Rapture World 

You've committed your life to Jesus. You know you're saved.  But when the Rapture comes what's to become of your loving pets who are left behind?   Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind. 

Websites of the week

A complete college education is available, free, online.

http://www.ethics.harvard.edu/news-and-events/lectures-and-events

 http://web.mit.edu/

http://berkeley.edu/multimedia/index.php

And finally, the culmination of millennia of scientific endeavor

On this day in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. He was standing on the balcony of his room on the second floor at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis when, at 6:01 p.m., he was shot in the right jaw. The day before, he'd given a speech at the Mason Temple in Memphis. He was addressing a rally for the Memphis Sanitation Strike, which involved 1,300 black sanitation workers protesting dangerous working conditions and discrimination. He'd been delayed getting into Memphis because there was a bomb threat to his plane. Toward the end of his speech, he acknowledged the recent death threats and said:
"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."