Sunday, July 25, 2010

July 25th 2010


Quotes of the week

"We the willing, lead by the unknowing, are doing the impossible, for the ungrateful.  We have done so much, for so long, with so little, that we are now qualified to do anything, with nothing." (thanks Ann!)

Meditation of the week

One day a father and his rich family took his son to a trip to the country with the firm purpose to show him how poor people can be. They spent a day and a night in the farm of a very poor family. When they got back from their trip the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "Very good Dad!" "Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked. "Yeah!" "And what did you learn?"
The son answered, "I saw that we have a dog at home, and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden, they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lamps in the garden, they have the stars.
Our patio reaches to the front yard, they have a whole horizon."
When the little boy was finishing, his father was speechless.
His son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are!"
Isn't it true that it all depends on the way you look at things? If you have love, friends, family, health, good humor and a positive attitude towards life you've got everything! You can't buy any of these things, but still you can have all the material possessions you can imagine, provisions for the future, etc., but if you are poor of spirit, you have nothing!

Poem of the Week

Why I am Not a Vegetarian

It's not that I love animals less,
a case could be made I love them more—
and it's not that I love vegetables less,
I love them rare,
nothing more savory than raw celery
clawing and kicking its way down the gullet.

What I find hard to stomach is vegetarians.
If there is a vegetarian at the table, we all
get called in to be witnesses at a police lineup.
Cheese, eggs, fish,
each suspect paraded for identification—
pronounced innocent, guilty,
please take two steps forward.

And it's not like there is just one canon
for the good hose to worry about.
Each vegetarian comes with a different menu.
Most won't eat anything that had legs,
though many eat fish, a fin nothing like a leg,
And eat shrimp, that have legs
which count as fins since they come from the sea
and taste so good in a Newburg sauce.
Oysters are problematic, without legs and from the sea,
but mostly eaten alive, like carrots.
A few pass on eggs because of the latent leg potential,
though pasta is usually okay,
the potential hard to realize under the marinara.

One friend doesn't drink milk
but asks for extra
au jus
for his mashed potatoes. I haven't the heart
to explain what kind of vegetable the "au" is
or how many get squeezed to make a cup of "jus."

Don't misunderstand,
I admire those who stand on principle,
however vague, who doesn't admire
the resolve of, say, a Jerry Falwell,
to bear the weight of so much conviction
he can hardly walk to church.
Praise the Lord for limousines.
As my mother would say,
"Live and let live—
Just keep the details to yourself,
And pass the ketchup, please."

Video of the week

Hard times come again no more
August 8, 2006: Crude Awakening Daily Show report

Websites of the week

http://www.stereomood.com/ free music for any mood

Sunday, July 18, 2010

July 18th, 2010


Quotes of the week

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.
—Theodore Roosevelt, from an address called "Citizenship in a Republic" given at the Sorbonne, April 23, 1910.
'I arise in  the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy  the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.'  E.B. White 
I can't promise that I'll do it, and I can't even promise that I'll try. But I'll try to try.
—Bart Simpson

Poem of the Week

The finger  by Charles Bukowski

the drivers of automobiles
have very little recourse or
originality.
when upset with
another
driver
they often give him the
FINGER.

I have seen two adult
men
florid of face
driving along
giving each other the
FINGER.

well, we all know what
this means, it's no
secret.

still, this gesture is
so overused it has
lost most of its
impact.

some of the men who give
the FINGER are captains of
industry, city councilmen,
insurance adjusters,
accountants and/or the just plain
unemployed.
no matter.
it is their favorite
response.

people will never admit
that they drive
badly.

the FINGER is their
reply.

I see grown men
FINGERING each other
throughout the day.

it gives me pause.
when I consider
the state of our cities,
the state of our states,
the state of our country,
I begin to
understand.

the FINGER is a mind-
set.
we are the FINGERERS.
we give it
to each other.
we give it coming and
going.
we don't know how
else to respond.

what a hell of a way
to not
live.

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

And finally, the culmination of millennia of scientific endeavor

Sunday, July 11, 2010

July 11th 2010


Quotes of the week

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The second best time is today.
~Proverb, (Chinese)~
Hold to nothing too violently. Every fool stands convinced; and everyone convinced is a fool; and the faultier a man's judgement, the firmer his conviction.

Baltasar Gracian (15?? - 1658)

Meditation of the week

And if not now, when?
--The Talmud

It's so easy to put things off. Sometimes we're like Scarlet O'Hara, who hoped and dreamed for a better life by saying, "There's always tomorrow." But is there always a tomorrow? If we live too many of our days counting on tomorrows, we may find ourselves putting off achievements and growth now.

What if tomorrow never came? What if all of our time to do what we wanted was put in the hours left in today? We'd be scurrying around like mice trying to cram as much as we could into this short period of time. But today, not having such a deadline, we believe our time is endless and no goal or task is so important that it can't be put off.

The time to achieve is now. The time to live is now. For as long as we believe tomorrow will come, we'll be living for tomorrow. If we don't believe today is the greatest gift we could receive, we'll never know how to live for today. Everything we want to achieve, to learn, to share can begin today. If we don't live the best we can right now, then when?

Poem of the Week

You Are There

You are there.
You have always been
there.
Even when you thought
you were climbing
you had already arrived.
Even when you were
breathing hard,
you were at rest.
Even then it was clear
you were there.

Not in our nature
to know what
is journey and what
arrival.
Even if we knew
we would not admit.
Even if we lived
we would think
we were just
germinating.

To live is to be
uncertain.
Certainty comes
at the end.

Video of the week

sixty years on
Who'll walk me down to church when I'm sixty years of age
When the ragged dog they gave me has been ten years in the grave
And seƱorita play guitar, play it just for you
My rosary has broken and my beads have all slipped through
You've hung up your great coat and you've laid down your gun
You know the war you fought in wasn't too much fun
And the future you're giving me holds nothing for a gun
I've no wish to be living sixty years on
Yes I'll sit with you and talk let your eyes relive again
I know my vintage prayers would be very much the same
And Magdalena plays the organ, plays it just for you
Your choral lamp that burns so low when you are passing through
And the future you're giving me holds nothing for a gun
I've no wish to be living sixty years on

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


Websites of the week

Top 100 books downloaded from project Gutenberg- http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top
Good evening gentleman/ladies.
  1. Get out your drink of choice.
  2. Open 3 tabs on your favorite browser.
  3. On the first tab
  4. On another tab
  5. On the last

And finally, the culmination of millennia of scientific endeavor

Saturday, July 3, 2010

July 4th, 2010


Quotes of the week

Honesty is the best policy.
--David Tuvill
To see what is right and not to do it, is want of courage.  -Confucius Analects.
~Confucius Analects
Smell a rat.
~Samuel Butler 1, Hudibras (pt. I, canto I, l. 821)~

Meditation of the week

Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
--Oscar Wilde

According to a Japanese legend, two monks were walking down the road when they saw a finely dressed young woman standing before a large mud puddle. She explained that she had no way of crossing the water without ruining her clothes. Without saying a word, the first monk picked her up in his arms and lifted her safely across the obstacle.

A few hours later the second monk said in an accusatory tone, "How could you have picked up that lady? Don't you know that the rules strictly forbid us to touch a member of the opposite sex?" His friend smiled and then replied, "I put the woman down back at the puddle. Are you still carrying her?"

Like the second monk, many of us are still carrying old hurts, resentments, and lost opportunities that we picked up many mud puddles ago. As long as we remain stuck in the past, we cannot fully hear the inner voice, which speaks to us in the present. Thus, in order to tap our intuition, we need to release and heal our unfinished business.

By following the example of the first monk, we can put the past down and walk on. See your past experiences as teachings that have guided you to this present moment.  An endless array of opportunities and possibilities lie before you. Immerse yourself in this good, and the old hurts will have no place left to make their home.

Poem of the Week

No Signs of Getting Better by Hal Sirowitz
You went into therapy looking depressed
Father said. After going a full year
you look even worse. Yet, your therapist
had the audacity to tell me that you've
been making great progress. At least after
you get a haircut your hair looks better,
but after seeing her you're lucky if you
look the same. The only area where
you've improved is in your cheeks.
You put on a little weight. They
look less bony. But she wasn't
the one feeding you.

Websites of the week


And finally, the culmination of millennia of scientific endeavor