Delete Me First: Apr 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.