Go Out At The Light

Obama

2011-04-20T18:16:00.000-06:00

Press One For English

2010-07-31T13:18:00.000-06:00

The pattern behind self-deception

2010-06-15T13:32:00.000-06:00

The Story of Stuff

2010-05-16T17:43:00.005-06:00

Good Ole Rubber Cement Comes to the Rescue Once More

2010-05-07T16:25:00.000-06:00

Dean Kamen: The emotion behind invention

2010-04-07T01:54:00.002-06:00

Classic Relief For Haiti

2010-03-28T14:34:00.004-07:00

OMG!!!!!!!!

2010-03-19T00:08:00.000-07:00

A Little Mercy Now

2010-03-15T14:41:00.002-07:00

Did you know?

2010-02-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

Make It Fifty-Four

2009-12-24T11:07:00.002-07:00

Just a note for the record:
Vevah & I marked our 54th wedding anniversary with a big bag of popcorn & sodas at the movies. We toasted our enduring happiness back at home with a glass of "Whiskers Port". Perfect !!!

Dover Beach

2009-11-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

Bill Clinton singing in Israel

2009-09-28T16:45:00.000-06:00

Will Sing For Change

2009-09-13T20:12:00.003-06:00

A Journey Into The Unknown

2009-09-13T18:22:00.001-06:00

Large Hadron Collider Rap

2009-09-13T18:04:00.001-06:00

A Rare Mute Monk Order From Molalla Oregon Performing The Hallelujah Chorus.

2009-09-12T01:01:00.002-06:00

Global Warming...? watch this and comment Yes or No?

2009-09-08T13:25:00.000-06:00

A Theory of Everything

2009-08-09T11:25:00.006-06:00

I posted this video last month. To some it may seem too complex to follow and therefore beyond comprehension. To others it may seem threatening to the comfort of their belief systems, and defensively dismissed as drivel. Those who dare to challenge the completeness of meanings for which others have settled, will however, continue to enlighten... So I have jotted down my own reactions and re-posted this below to hopefully enliven the conversation:
This is a presentation recounting an adventure in science. There is a sense of beauty, wonder and awe in this quest for a more complete understanding.

It is the testing, the measurement of real things. Only by extension, of careful, honest observations of real world processes which have shaped the very stuff of existence, is he advancing a more comprehensive, BUT NOT COMPLETE theory. It's how we can account for what we already can measure, and organise it into a more comprehensive coherency. What this young man is doing is not just mathematical gobble-degook masqeurading as fact. He is trying to advance our understanding, by suggesting that with the upcoming experiments at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, further measurements of the action of real things (sub-atomic particles), more of our place in the universe will be better understood. If you poo pooh this you will have aligned yourself with those who would have been prepared to banish into exile those who put forth the proposition ( with careful measurement, I might add ) that the earth was NOT the center of the universe.

It is one attempt to describe what is at bottom genuinely unknowable. However,these methods of measuring the processes & physicality's of life are for the sake of a more meaningful existence on this earth.

What we all want is certainty about the origins and purpose of life. That is NOT achievable without constructing an edifice of meaning into which we can invest ourselves. Any such meaning does not provide certainty, only a problematically acceptable construct for getting on with the things life sends our way. Our history is that of constructing such meaning in thousands of mythological constructs. We will go on doing this into however long we exist as a species. And this is an okay thing with me.

It is another thing to strike off into an unexamined life. When we are so secure in the mythological constructs inherited from the past and pretend that we and our ancestors have told ourselves the complete and everlasting story. Because when we do that, are we endangering ourselves by investing our of lives in hardened meanings worn thin from the testing burdens of real life.
Please scroll back up and view what a remarkable presentation this is!!
JL

Hassan's table of differences between modernism and postmodernism

2009-07-27T12:49:00.002-06:00

Modernism	Postmodernism
Romanticism/Symbolism	Pataphysics/Dadaism
Form (conjunctive, closed)	Antiform (disjunctive, open)
Purpose	Play
Design	Chance
Hierarchy	Anarchy
Mastery/Logos	Exhaustion/Silence
Art Object / Finished Work	Process/Performance/Happening
Distance	Participation
Creation/Totalization	Decreation/Deconstruction
Synthesis	Antithesis
Presence	Absence
Centering	Dispersal
Genre/Boundary	Text/Intertext
Semantics	Rhetoric
Paradigm	Syntagm
Hypotaxis	Parataxis
Metaphor	Metonymy
Selection	Combination
Root/Depth	Rhizome/Surface
Interpretation/Reading	Against Interpretation / Misreading
Signified	Signifier
Lisible (Readerly)	Scriptable (Writerly)
Narrative / Grande Histoire	Anti-narrative / Petit Histoire
Master Code	Idiolect
Symptom	Desire
Type	Mutant
Genital/Phallic	Polymorphous/Androgynous
Paranoia	Schizophrenia
Origin / Cause	Difference-Difference / Trace
God the Father	The Holy Ghost
Metaphysics	Irony
Determinacy	Indeterminacy
Transcendence	Immanence

Hmmmm?What's this all about?

Answer may lie here

Elephant’s Migration Trail!

2009-07-10T00:20:00.005-06:00

click on the X to remove those darn pets

Elephants march through hotel lobby after it was built on their migration trail!

The Mfuwe Lodge in Zambia happens to have been built next to a mango grove that one family of elephants have always visited when the fruit ripens. When they returned one year and found the luxury accommodation in the way, they simply walked through the lobby to reach their beloved grove of trees.
The animals come in two-by-two. Hotel staff and visitors have gotten used to the elephants' impromptu strolls through the lobby. Now the family group, headed by matriarch Wonky Tusk, return every November and stay for four to six weeks to gorge on mangos - up to four times a day. Andy Hogg, 44, the lodge director, has lived in South Luangwa National Park since 1982. But in all his years of dealing with wild animals he has never seen such intimate interaction between humans and wild animals. "This is the only place in the world where elephants freely g et so close to humans," says Andy. "The elephants start coming through base camp in late November each year to eat the ripe mangos from our trees."
Living in the 5,000 square mile national park, the ten-strong elephant herd is led to the lodge each day by Wonky Tusk. The hotel was built directly in the path of the elephants' route to one of their favorite foods .... Mangos.
"The most interesting thing about these wild animals," explains Andy, "is that this is the only herd that comes through, and they come and go as they please."
Mfuwe Lodge consists of seven camps and the base camp where the elephants walk through. Employing 150 staff, the management of the lodge report that there have been no incidents involving the wild elephants to date. "The elephants get reasonably close to the staff, as you can see in the pictures of the elephants near the reception area," Andy explains. "But we do not allow the guests to get that close."
"Guests can stand in the lounge but only as long as there is a barrier between the elephants and the guests," he added."The elephants are not aggressive but you wouldn't want to tempt them. It is the elephant's choice to be here and they have been coming here for the last ten years. There are other wild mango trees around, but they prefer ours. The lodge was unwittingly built upon their path," Andy says, "so we had no idea they would do this. It wasn't a design error, we just didn't know. The lodge was built and the elephants started walking through afterward."
"We keep people at a safe distance, but allow them close enough to see what is going on. These are still wild anddangerous animals, so there must be enough time for people to get away." The hotel is set in an idyllic national parkland. Naturally, the lodge becomes busier for both elephants and guests during November. "We find that we get more people visiting us during the elephant migration because of the unique experience of being so close to wild animals in an unusual environment," says Andy. "But as I said this is a totally natural phenomenon, as the elephants come here of their own accord. It is certainly a rare but magnificent sight."

Riversimple, Less is More

2009-06-16T21:42:00.003-06:00

More than a concept car it's concept of transport utility and efficiency.

Born Again American?

2009-05-17T20:20:00.000-06:00

Hot Child In The City>>>Welcome to Mississauga

2009-05-16T10:51:00.001-06:00

The Man Behind the Curtain

2009-05-08T16:47:00.002-06:00

From the Charlie Rose Program

Augmented Reality Magic 1.0

2009-04-30T16:11:00.000-06:00

YouTube Symphony Orchestra: from idea to reality

2009-04-15T15:45:00.008-06:00

4/15/2009 09:41:00 AM

(Cross-posted from the YouTube Blog)

Today represents the final culmination of an idea many months in the making: a first-class global orchestra brought together by YouTube. This week, over 90 musicians from around the world -- including a Spanish guitarist, a Dutch harpist and a Lithuanian birbyne player — have gathered in New York City in preparation for tonight's historic YouTube Symphony Orchestra performance at Carnegie Hall. And today on YouTube's homepage, we are proud to present the world premiere of Tan Dun's composition "Internet Symphony, Eroica," as selected and mashed up from nearly 3,000 video submissions from around the globe.

DANCE OF 1000 HANDS

2009-04-13T11:05:00.001-06:00

There is an awesome dance, called the Thousand-Hand Guanyin, which
is making the rounds across the net. Considering the tight
coordination required, their accomplishment is nothing short of
amazing, even if they were not all deaf. Yes, you read
correctly. All 21 of the dancers are complete deaf-mutes. Relying
only on signals from trainers at the four corners of the stage,
these extraordinary dancers deliver a visual spectacle that is at
once intricate and stirring.

Its first major international debut was in Athens at the closing
ceremonies for the 2004 Paralympics. But it had long been in the
repertoire of the Chinese Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe
and had traveled to more than 40 countries.

Its lead dancer is 29 year old Tai Lihua, who has a BA from the
Hubei Fine Arts Institute. The video was recorded in Beijing during
the Spring Festival this year.

Making A Difference

2009-04-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

Library Of Dust

2009-04-01T16:41:00.013-07:00

The following is quoted from Photographer "David Maisel"

..."Library of Dust depicts individual copper canisters, each containing the cremated remains of patients from a state-run psychiatric hospital. The patients died at the hospital between 1883 (the year the facility opened, when it was called the Oregon State Insane Asylum) and the 1970’s; their bodies have remained unclaimed by their families."...

..."The copper canisters have a handmade quality; they are at turns burnished or dull; corrosion blooms wildly from the leaden seams and across the surfaces of many of the cans. Numbers are stamped into each lid; the lowest number is 01, and the highest is 5,118. The vestiges of paper labels with the names of the dead, the etching of the copper, and the intensely hued colors of the blooming minerals combine to individuate the canisters. These deformations sometimes evoke the celestial - the Northern Lights, the moons of some alien planet, or constellations in the night sky."...

It's That Time Again ...To Celebrate With Our Irish Citzens

2009-03-17T06:27:00.005-07:00

May the good Lord take a liking to you...But not too soon!

May the saddest day of your future
be no worse than the happiest day of your past!

May God grant you many years to live,

for sure he must be knowing,

the earth has angels all too few

and heaven is overflowing...

May the lilt of Irish laughter lighten every load.

May the mist of Irish magic shorten every road...

And may all your friends remember

all the favours you are owed!

Here's to the land of the shamrock so green,
Here's to each lad and his darlin colleen,
Here's to the ones we love dearest and most.
May God bless old Ireland... that's this* Irishman's toast!

*Irish.... at least on March 17th

The Future of Commuting???

2009-03-16T16:23:00.002-07:00

Rail Meets Road With the TriTrack EV

Joe's Favorite Video

2009-03-15T10:57:00.002-07:00

Prompt Plant

2009-03-02T11:39:00.010-07:00

Click to enlarge Photos

Banks Rose-March 1st 2009

The rear yard at Joe & Vevahs

Right on time, it blooms. Again, to remind us life has its own calendar. Through out its life, it may appear to have lost its "raison d'etre*" but faithfully returns to affirm its glory.

*in Englsh use, it also comes to suggest a degree of rationalization, as "The claimed reason for the existence of something or someone"

Tango At It's Best

2009-02-20T10:39:00.000-07:00

A Lesson For Us ALL

2009-02-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

My Sentiment for Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

How do I love thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

...Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

The quote in the "heart" is that of Robert Browning

Science Marches On

2009-01-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

The IQ Test

2009-01-27T11:41:00.013-07:00

Here's an interesting article on the desirability for broadening the parameters of what is already a good test... so as to to make it's measurements more meaningful. A new wrinkle on the old "Nature vs Nurture" conundrum.

Dysrationalia —The newly coined word to signify a "disorder," for "the inability to think and behave rationally despite adequate intelligence." ..... might afflict some of the smartest people you know.

2009-01-07T15:21:00.001-07:00

Anniversary Dance (52nd)

2008-12-24T15:58:00.001-07:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Happy Holidays (code for Merry Christmas)

2008-12-13T14:19:00.001-07:00

Creatures of Nature and Artifice

2008-11-27T13:52:00.001-07:00

I posted this in January of 2008...seems so pertinent today as we are experiencing this economic crisis. I repost it afresh today.

An excerpt from this article in the "Wilson Quarterly," The Lost Art of Cooperation by Benjamin R. Barber reminds us about our cultural proclivities, which may be putting us at serious risk of losing sight of the of civic balance our country's founders were seeking.

He begins with a quote meant to put our teeth on edge so as to garner maximum effect for a more reasoned approach to this direct rhetoric:

"Government and co-operation are in all things the laws of life; anarchy and competition the laws of death."
—John Ruskin, Unto This Last (1862)

..."Yet we need not be readers of Ruskin to know that competition also has a pejorative sense, even in American usage. It may be nature’s way, as Charles Darwin proposed, but only when we conceive of nature as a jungle. Whatever we make of it, today competition dominates our ideology, shapes our cultural attitudes, and sanctifies our market economy as never before. We are living in an age that prizes competition and demeans cooperation, an era more narcissistic than the Gilded Age, more hubristic than the age of Jackson. .
Competition rules."...

...."So what’s wrong with this? Plenty. Competition skews the balance, and threatens real democracy. More fundamentally, it fails to comprehend freedom’s true character. In the human balance, given that we are creatures of nature and artifice, of both rivalry and love, we normally live in parallel, mutually intersecting worlds of competition and cooperation, if not quite as grimly or definitively as Ruskin imagined. Competition may not be the law of death, but as the law of the marketplace and the radically individualistic people who populate it, it distorts and unhinges our common lives and slights the necessary role of cooperation and community in securing liberty. In construing ourselves exclusively as economic beings—what the old philosophers used to call homo economicus—we account for ourselves as producers and consumers but not as neighbors and citizens. We shortchange real liberty. ...."

Culture: A Library of Patternicity?

2008-11-27T10:13:00.008-07:00

Patternicity: Finding Meaningful Patterns in Meaningless Noise

Why the brain believes something is real when it is not.

Click here to read a short article by Michael Shermer, which reveals how erroneous discernment provides the evolutionary processes of natural selection with better short term paths to our species' long term survival.

So, aren't our cultures largely libraries of patternicity?"Thus the history contained therin pemits us to tease out from experience those beliefs which are likely to more accurately aid in long term survival.

Here's a tempting quote from the article:

" In my 2000 book How We Believe (Times Books), I argue that our brains are belief engines: evolved pattern-recognition machines that connect the dots and create meaning out of the patterns that we think we see in nature."

Red to Blue Vote Shifts in 08 National Election

2008-11-07T10:31:00.006-07:00

These maps printed in the New York Times are the most dramatic view of how the U.S. has shifted from RED to BLUE thoughout the whole of the country . See the incredible changes that have occured in the electorate.

IT IS A MUST SEE!

Click here to view

Select the "Voting Shifts" view.

Then use the slider to compare previous years.

An Idea Worth Spreading

2008-10-25T21:13:00.002-06:00

Bet On The Future

2008-10-23T17:03:00.004-06:00

The $58 Trillion Elephant in the Room

2008-10-16T17:53:00.004-06:00

A revealing article on Wall Streets journey into "Credit Default Swaps"(CDS) origins. showing how an "unregulated","listed on no exchange", "totaly opaque" finanacial instrument brought this nation to the brink of a total meltdown.

Italians Sing Their Way into Obama's Campaign

2008-09-26T11:09:00.002-06:00

Stephen Hawking unveils oddest clock ever

2008-09-21T17:42:00.001-06:00

Signs of the Times

2008-09-18T15:43:00.002-06:00

Did I read that sign right? TOILET OUT OF ORDER. PLEASE USE FLOOR BELOW

In a Laundromat: AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINES: PLEASE REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHES WHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUT

In a London department store: BARGAIN BASEMENT UPSTAIRS

In an office:WOULD THE PERSON WHO TOOK THE STEP LADDER YESTERDAY PLEASE BRING IT BACK OR FURTHER STEPS WILL BE TAKEN

In an office:AFTER TEA BREAK STAFF SHOULD EMPTY THE TEAPOT AND STAND UPSIDE DOWN ON THE DRAINING BOARD

Outside a secondhand shop: WE EXCHANGE ANYTHING - BICYCLES, WASHING MACHINES, ETC. WHY NOT BRING YOUR WIFE ALONG AND GET A WONDERFUL BARGAIN?

Notice in health food shop window: CLOSED DUE TO ILLNESS

Spotted in a safari park: ELEPHANTS PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR

Seen during a conference: FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDREN AND DOESN'T KNOW IT, THERE IS A DAY CARE ON THE 1ST FLOOR

Notice in a farmer's field: THE FARMER ALLOWS WALKERS TO CROSS THE FIELD FOR FREE, BUT THE BULL CHARGES.

Message on a leaflet: IF YOU CANNOT READ, THIS LEAFLET WILL TELL YOU HOW TO GET LESSONS

On a repair shop door: WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING. (PLEASE KNOCK HARD ON THE DOOR - THE BELL DOESN'T WORK)

Coming Soon

2008-09-07T11:17:00.003-06:00

McCain Speechwriter Trying To Write Lines That Don't Lead To Creepy Smile

2008-09-03T12:38:00.004-06:00

September 2, 2008 Issue 44•36 of The Onion

PHOENIX, AZ—According to campaign sources, Joseph Chappel,
a 38-year-old speechwriter for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), has spent the last two weeks attempting to combine words and phrases in such a way as to not provoke a tight-jawed, dead-eyed smile from the presidential hopeful. Dreading a repeat of last month's speech to a group of businesswomen in Ohio, during which McCain followed a mention of his wife with an awkward and eerie smirk,Chappel has avoided personal anecdotes for the new speech, omitted any mention of "God" or "this great nation," and cut several phrases that had the potential to draw the 72-year-old candidate's mouth open in a horrifying display of teeth and gums.
"I've managed to make two out of every three sentences a question, but I'm not sure that will help," Chappel said shortly after deleting an introductory paragraph in which McCain welcomes the crowd. "Jesus, that [smile] makes me feel cold inside."
Chappel told reporters that if he is not able to write an appropriate, smile-free speech in time for the Republican National Convention, he will resign his position and return to his previous job, taking photographs of abused children for police reports.

In Case You Missed It.

2008-09-01T15:44:00.001-06:00

A Cautionary Tale

2008-08-18T11:00:00.004-06:00

BOOK REVIEW
Blighted Hopes
An Excerpt
"Chestnut blight was caused by a fungus eventually determined to be Cryphonectria parasitica. It was probably imported to the United States on the Chinese or Japanese species of the tree, which both show resistance to it. The blight destroyed billions of American chestnut trees in the first half of the 20th century. The loss of the chestnut, in terms of the sheer number of trees killed, the size of its range before the blight, and the variety of habitats affected by its demise, is unrivaled in the history of human-wrought ecological disasters, even though epidemics such as Dutch elm disease have received more attention."....
by David Vandermast in American Scientist Magazine

The Last Lecture

2008-07-25T18:27:00.003-06:00

Update Note:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Randy Pausch, a university professor whose "last lecture" celebrating life in the face of terminal cancer became a book which made him a best-selling sensation, died on Friday at age 47.
Pausch died at home of complications from pancreatic cancer, Carnegie Mellon University, where he taught for 10 years, reported on its Web site.NEW YORK (Reuters)

2008-07-09T17:44:00.002-06:00

The Italian Loan
An Italian walked into a bank in New York City and asked for the loan officer.

He told the loan officer that he was going to Italy on business for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000 and that he was not a depositor of the bank.
The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan, so the Italian handed over the keys to a new Ferrari.

The car was parked on the street in front of the bank. The Italian produced the title and everything checked out.

The loan officer agreed to hold the car as collateral for the loan and apologized for having to charge 12% interest.
Later, the bank's president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at the Italian for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral for a $5,000 loan.

An employee of the bank then drove the Ferrari into the bank's underground garage and parked it.
Two weeks later, the Italian returned, repaid the$5,000 and the interest of $23.07.

The loan officer said, "Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled.

While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multimillionaire.

What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000?"
The Italian replied: "Minga, where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $23.07 and expect it to be there when I return?"

Lady Liberty Fireworks

2008-07-03T00:33:00.001-06:00

Make your own Fourth of July Fireworks Show

click here

Takes Two (seater) to Tango + an Electric Outlet

2008-05-28T19:50:00.001-06:00

Here's the Tango

Mars In Hi Resolution

2008-05-27T21:54:00.000-06:00

While the Mars Phoenix Lander does not have a true video camera, NASA scientists can pan around a very high resolution image to create a video like this one of the Martian arctic plain.

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T07:21:00.000-06:00

What can we say?

Just that...

We remember and honor all those who sacrificed

to protect what was valuable about their world.

Now it is ours to cherish and protect.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Arrives Safely

2008-05-25T22:43:00.002-06:00

The Surface Stereo Imager Right on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander acquired this image at 17:09:38 local solar time at the Phoenix site on the mission's Martian day, or Sol, 0. The camera pointing was elevation -1.12138 [deg] and azimuth 343.319 [deg] The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

My Grandfathers; Their Voices Speak

2008-05-24T14:58:00.003-06:00

Through an odd chain of circumstance, my deceased maternal Italian grandfather spoke to me today. He uttered a single word,"abbondanzsa". This occurred while I was listening on my mp3 player to an operatic piece from La Boheme. The simple fact that I was listening to opera was unique enough to get a rush of thoughts to start flowing.

First off, listening to opera was a relatively new thing to penetrate my consciousness especially since I understood little of the Italian language in which it was sung.. As I sat listening to the duet "O saove faniulla" with artists, Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon a question arose. Why was I enjoying this genre so much? When in the past I pretty much listened to it infrequently, dutifully, as part of my Italian heritage but without (pardon the pun) anything of note penetrating. Then I recalled, probably not very accurately, a quote attributed to the famed and revered Pavarotti, "opera singing is like soulful screaming with a certain artistry". So that is what I was into, listening to, some of that soulful screaming attenuating some mysterious angst which had befallen me. Apparently it was having the desired affect because at the moment when this artful screaming fell silent, I heard "abbondanzsa" spoken in his musical voice. So what was that all about?
This is one of two Italian grandfathers both who remain to this day as enigmatic strangers. For me, the experience of their "grandfatherliness" lay buried with them, raising up from their rest in just such odd moments as this.

They have been almost shadowy in my memories.

I could discern in my paternal grandpa some quiet authority, with the almost stately elegance of a humble worker in some vineyard. It was his quiet bearing that now speaks to me about "showing up", about remaining steadfast and devoted to the unspoken beauty and mystery of a humble life.

In my maternal grandpa there could be experienced a loud fun loving zestful opinionated business man, not vanquished from his terrible economic losses, facing the need to start over to feed his family of ten kids. He had a basement full of store fixtures, the remains of his very successful business lost in the Great Depression.
I knew this man better since we lived always in close proximity. He made wine and stored it in those huge oak barrels in that same basement permeated with a pungent musty odor He raised chickens and had two raw eggs each morning for breakfast. He supported Franklin Roosevelt loudly and often. He played poker with his sons-in law and bluffed with the best of them. He was a musician, and a canny marketing man who deployed his musician friend's at sessions around his store to relieve the anxieties of his customers as they faced the gathering economic storm. With trumpet in hand, loud with laughter, wine and music, he could be counted on to lift your spirits with a shout, "abbondanzsa". Abundance!!!

Wow! What do you think of this??

2008-05-23T18:10:00.001-06:00

Go Green -- Buy a Used Car.

2008-05-19T17:01:00.010-06:00

"Ditching your gas guzzler is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint, but if you really want to do something about global warming, get a used car.* You'll be putting less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
(Perhaps as pictured here a..........................................>1998 Toyota Tercel)

As Matt Power notes in this month's issue of Wired, hybrids like the Toyota Prius get great gas mileage but it takes 113 million BTUs of energy to make one. Since there are about 113,000 BTUs of energy in a gallon of gasoline, the Prius has consumed the equivalent of 1,000 gallons of gasoline before it reaches the showroom. Think of it as a carbon debt - one you won't pay off until the Prius has turned over 46,000 miles or so. "~ Wired Mag~By Chuck Squatriglia May 19, 2008 7:00:00

How to Pick a President...for anything

2008-05-18T11:55:00.002-06:00

When asked, who he thought would be a better candidate for the presidency;
Lee Iacoca's answer was believed to go something like this, "let the candidates tell me who will be on the their administration's team. Then I will be in a position to tell you who is more likely have a successful presidency.
So far, none of the candidates are willing to share that information. I just don't see how you can make an intelligent selection without that information; after all the president, no matter who he or she is, just can't effectuate his policies all by himself, without a competent and dynamic team to make things happen".
We have seen the results of what the selection of a mediocre administrative team can do to America and the USA.

Here's some links with a small clue along those lines. The Council on Foreign Relations has done profiles of the foreign policy and national security advisers for each of the candidates. Includes the people influencing international economic policy.

Obama: http://www.cfr.org/publication/16188/
McCain: http://www.cfr.org/publication/16194/
Clinton: http://www.cfr.org/publication/16204/

History of May Day; Or Not

2008-04-30T16:25:00.000-06:00

The Dangers of Sunbathing Topless

2008-04-15T12:14:00.002-06:00

Obama's Speech On Race

2008-03-18T09:32:00.001-07:00

Evernote: The next thing headed for ubiquity

2008-03-15T09:22:00.002-07:00

BumpTop desktop is a beautiful mess

2008-03-02T21:20:00.001-07:00

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Tannen's Magic Mystery Box

2008-02-19T14:22:00.002-07:00

Ya Gotta Love Us Seniors

2008-02-15T15:32:00.005-07:00

A Letter Written By An 86 Year Old Women

To Her Bank

"I am writing to thank you for bouncing my check with which I endeavored to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between presenting the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it.

I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire pension, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years.You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account $30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank. My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways.

I noticed that whereas I personally answer your telephone calls and letters, --- when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become.

From now on I choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan repayments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by check, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.

Be aware that it is an offense under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contract which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative.

Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Notary Public, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities ) must be accompanied by documented proof. In due course, at MY convenience, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me.

I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modeled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows: IMMEDIATELY AFTER DIALING, PRESS THE STAR (*) BUTTON FOR ENGLISH!
Then Press:
#1. To make an appointment to see me
#2. To query a missing payment.
#3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
#4. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
#5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
#6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home
#7. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. Password will be communicated to you at a later date to that Authorized Contact mentioned earlier.
#8. To return to the main menu and to listen again to options 1 through 7
#9. To make a general complaint or inquiry, the contact will then be placed on hold indefinitely.
# 10. This is a second reminder to press* for English. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, music noise will play for the duration on of the call interfering with the music of your choice you may already have playing.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.

Your Humble Client"

Wow...Remember:

This was written by a 86 year old woman
"YA JUST GOTTA LOVE US SENIORS" !!!

Tale of Two Brains

2008-02-15T12:53:00.001-07:00

Watch the audience for validation of this theory

Taking "Going Online" to the Extreme!!!

2008-02-12T21:47:00.004-07:00

I guess the TV is in the tv tuner in the computer!!

Against All Odds

2008-02-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

Living a Dream

2008-02-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

That one was so good I had to put up some more video on this wonderful father.

"I'm An Obama Baby"

2008-02-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

Wowee!

An Amazing Illusion

2008-01-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

If your brain works normally this is neat.

This is another example of an amazing illusion!!! The last sentence is so true.
If your eyes follow the movement of the rotating pink dot, the dots will remain only one color, pink.

However if you stare at the black " +" in the centre, the moving dot turns to green.
Now, concentrate on the black " + " in the centre of the picture. After a short period, all the pink dots will slowly disappear, and you will only see only a single green dot rotating.
It's amazing how our brain works. There really is no green dot, and the pink ones really don't disappear. This should be proof enough, we don't always see what we think we see.

Click on it to get it going

A Source of Great Journalism

2008-01-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

Center for Public Integrity
Here is their mission statement

"The mission of the Center for Public Integrity is to produce original investigative journalism about significant public issues to make institutional power more transparent and accountable.

To pursue its mission, the Center:

Generates high-quality, accessible investigative reports, databases and contextual analysis on issues of public importance.

Disseminates work to journalists, policymakers, scholars and citizens using a combination of digital, electronic and print media.

Educates, engages and empowers citizens with tools and skills they need to hold governments and other institutions accountable.

Organizes and supports investigative journalists around the world who apply the Center's goals and standards to cross-border projects.

Remains independent by building a strong and sustainable financial base of support, including a community of committed individuals and foundations.

The Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, non-advocacy, independent journalism organization based in Washington, D.C. "

Below is a great endorsement by the co-chairman

of the 9/11 commission, former congressman Lee Hamilton

for of the kind of work product they produce

Today, Jan. 27th Is Mozart's Birthday

2008-01-27T14:55:00.006-07:00

It is always a delight to listen to his music. If you're "out there", Wolfgang...Happy Birthday!!! We lift a glass in gratitude to the legacy of beautiful music you bestowed on the world.

The Mind's Theatre Of Simultaneous Possibilities

2008-01-26T10:57:00.001-07:00

This article by Robert Fulford, in the National Post, titled, "My church: the mind's 'theatre of simultaneous possibilities" is very much in accord with my own views (see "This I Believe" in the right hand column of this blog)

Below, from the article, is an excerpt.

..."So my faith, rather like Christianity, comes with no guarantees of virtue or enhanced intelligence.

What, then, does it guarantee?
Those who give it their time and love are offered the chance to live more expansive, more enjoyable and deeper lives. They can learn to care intimately about music, painting and books that have lasted for centuries or millennia. They can reach around the globe for the music, the images and the stories they want to make their own. At its best, art dissolves time; only through art can we catch a glimpse of what life was like in ancient Greece or medieval Spain or pre-modern Japan.
The human mind (according to William James, in Principles of Psychology) is "a theatre of simultaneous possibilities." The arts build the sets for that interior theatre and fill the stage with vivid, memorable characters who mingle in memory with the people of our lives. Even if we are otherwise lonely, we go through life in the company of this ever-expanding society of artists, characters and images, each of them chosen by us."...

Mature Human Embryos Created From Adult Skin Cells

2008-01-18T22:29:00.000-07:00

Scientists at Stemagen Corp. say they have cloned human embryos using adult skin cells and donated human eggs, shown above. (Stemagen Via Bloomberg News)

This article will explain

Here are a few excerpts:

..."No one knows whether those embryos were healthy enough to grow into babies. But the study leader, who is also the medical director of a fertility clinic, said they looked robust, even as he emphasized that he has no interest in cloning people. "...
..."...The closely held company hopes to make embryos that are clones, or genetic twins, of patients, then harvest stem cells from those embryos and grow them into replacement tissues. When transplanted into patients, the tissues would not be rejected because the immune system would see them as "self." ..."

Cost of the War and Other Issues

2008-01-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

Enough said??

click here to learn more

Beyond Belief

2007-12-27T12:27:00.005-07:00

Musa Al-Shaer/AFP/Getty Images

A Palestinian Christian touches an icon of the Virgin Mary during

a visit to the Church of Nativity, the alleged birthplace of Jesus Christ

The concept of the virgin birth seems like a big sticking point to many , even for the author of an article The Trouble With Mary. I think an post featured in my blog (go to the top upper left of this page and type in virgin to find it) demonstrates that such a process exists in nature.

Therefore, implicit for me, is the notion that the virgin birth in the nativity story could actually be more plausible from a scientific

stand point than the skeptics would admit to..

Cool isn't it?

A Christmas Tale

2007-12-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

I must finally be getting into the Christmas spirit!

Attending our grandchildrens Christmas production last night and their sweet singing of the carols, helped bring me back to the awesome simplicity of this faith, that there is a loving God.

Each year somewhere around this time I harken back to two events from my childhood. They both defined in some indelible way what the Christmas miracle means to me.

No, it wasn't the opening of presents on Christmas morning or my Dad driving us around with snow gently falling to see the light displays on houses in our neighborhood, or any of that joyful traditional stuff. And I had asked the question already,"Mom where was I before I was born?" and received a somehow immediately satisfying answer "you were in heaven with God". Satisfying immediately, because my native intellect needed a "first cause" and God, while totally mysterious, wasn't that hard to grasp as "Father of us all" and that cleared up that!!

It was none of those appealing things. What it truly was ....well, ....It was the music of the high mass wafting in soft tones from the church across the street from our home. I was curious about these sounds, which were almost muffled in the distance. So curious, that I climbed a chain link fence which was along the border of the church school grounds and dashed across the schoolyard to this massive edifice of dark red brick with spires and stained glass.

The entrance actually fronted on the next street from ours. As I opened the massive set of doors of this dark and towering structure I entered to a dazzling shower of light in a space filled with the chanting of the Latin mass. I stood, full of wonderment, in the back of the church and let the experience engulf me totally. Something was going on here that I wanted to experience over and over again. I was nine or ten years old.

I told my parents of this event and of my desire to repeat the experience. While my parents claimed the Catholic faith, they observed it more in the breach and not as regular attendees, honoring the traditions of their heritage on holy days of obligation, on a somewhat hit or miss basis. Of course there were serious reasons for their wayward approach to these matters but I would have to learn about them in adulthood, and not at this point.

I must have been bombarding them with questions, both out of the need for practical as well of metaphysical answers. This barrage quickly left them in over their heads.

And promptly, they enrolled me in catechism classes.
Where the second defining event took place. The setting was that of a classroom. The type of instructions where the teacher taught and the students learned or at best memorized and routinely regurgitated their rote knowledge. I had more questions than could be accommodated in the time allotted to this most earnest endeavor. Being a fly in the ointment of a smoothly oiled machine for imparting this most vital knowledge for the salvation of the soul, I was becoming a disruptive influence.

I was ever so gently told I could talk to Sister after class and would be given whatever time needed to satisfy me. And indeed, I was shown all the deference to my needs as could be asked for, by the sweetest nun , an obviously loving religious. She was all that any one could hope to encounter in a lifetime of dealing with an organized church.

She never strayed from faithfully dispensing the doctrines of her church. She did however, imbue them with a patient love that must have been embedded somewhere in those simple but rigid teachings. It just took her pure and gentle spirit to impart their truer meanings to a young and seeking soul. Faith in the supernatural must surely have been present there to emanate that love. I look back so fondly at her loving ways and realize now there was a sacred angelic nature nurturing me.

And I don't even remember her name.

Merry Christmas.
Joe

A Christmas Card to the Blogosphere

2007-12-22T12:04:00.001-07:00

Loving Father,

Help us remember the birth of Jesus,

that we may share in the song of the angels,

the gladness of the shepherds, and worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world.

Let kindness come with every gift

and good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings,

and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children,

and Christmas evening bring us to our beds

with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, forJesus' sake.
Amen

~Robert Louis Stevenson.
(Pause Background Music first)

Double Click Arrow

Medical Myths Laid to Rest

2007-12-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

I found this information to finally confirm my skeptical attitude towards my wife's admonishments about "facts" such as these that I am continually rejecting as "old wive's tales".

"Medical myths abound. For Aaron Carroll, a pediatrician at the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis. Carroll and a fellow pediatrician, Rachel Vreeman of the Indiana University School of Medicine, were prompted to start looking for other common, unsubstantiated beliefs. They found numerous examples and have just published a report in the British Medical Journal naming seven common medical misconceptions and laying out the evidence for why they're not true.

We Use Only 10 Percent of Our Brain. People have been spouting this "fact" since 1907, but numerous brain-imaging studies have shown that no area of the brain is completely inactive.

Drink at Least Eight Glasses of Water a Day. We've all heard that we're supposed to drink before we're thirsty and that our pee should be as clear as mineral water, but most of us get plenty of water from food and other drinks. Drinking water when you're thirsty makes sense, but eight glasses is setting the bar too high for many people.

Hair and Fingernails Continue to Grow After Death. Makes for creepy fiction, yes, but actually it's the retraction of desiccating skin that makes the nails or hair of a cadaver appear to be growing. Real growth requires complex hormonal regulation, which stops at death.

Shaving Hair Causes It to Grow Back Faster, Darker, and Coarser. No, no, and no. Newly sprouted hair looks dark because it has had minimal exposure to sun or chemicals, and it seems coarse because shaved hair lacks the finer taper seen at the ends of unshaven hair.

Reading in Dim Light Ruins Your Eyesight. Dim light may force you to strain or squint your eyes, most ophthalmologists say, but it does not cause any eye damage.

Eating Turkey Makes You Drowsy. Tryptophan, an amino acid that's linked to mood control and can cause drowsiness, is found in turkey meat. But chicken and ground beef contain similar amounts, and pork and Swiss cheese contain even more tryptophan per gram. Any large meal can induce sleepiness by decreasing blood flow to the brain.

Mobile Phones Are Dangerous in Hospitals. Not one death caused by the use of a cellphone in a hospital has ever been reported, according to Carroll and Vreeman, though equipment malfunctions occasionally have been. Research actually suggests that allowing physicians to use cellphones inside hospitals reduces the risk of medical error and injury.

Remember Pearl Harbor

2007-12-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

"a day that will live in infamy".... FDR
So many times, such days called us to step into the breach . There can never be enough gratitude towards those who put on the uniform and indeed preserved all of our liberties.

Click on any photo to enlarge(may take several clicks & a couple of windows)

Frank Caliendo as John Madden on the David Letterman Show

2007-11-24T19:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it is my kind of humor!

Ode to Plurals ......

2007-10-31T18:35:00.000-07:00

My wife emailed this to me...but she doesn't know from where she got it!!!

Ode to Plurals ......We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England.

We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
we find that quicksand can work slowly,
boxing rings are square,
and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends
and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
in which your house can burn up as it burns down,
in which you fill in a form by filling it out,
and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
And, in closing, if Father is Pop,
how come Mother's not Mop?

Defending a Tolerant Society...What We Should Understand

2007-09-30T20:13:00.000-06:00

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.

In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols.

We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal."
~ Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies

The Stone Grows Old

2007-09-29T11:05:00.000-06:00

The stone grows old.

Eternity is not for stones.

But I shall go down from this airy space,

this swift white peace,

this stinging exultation;

And time will come close about me,

and my soul stir to the rhythm of the daily round.

Yet, having known,

life will not press so close,

And always I shall feel time ravel thin about me.

For once I stood

In the white windy presence of eternity.
~ EUNICE TIETJENS

An Opportunity Squandered

2007-09-25T15:30:00.000-06:00

9/24/2007 3:56 PM

The Event:
The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's appearance at Columbia University by the invitation of President Lee C. Bollinger of the University

My thoughts on this event:
Today's invitation to dialogue by Columbia University president to the president of Iran was certainly an acceptable thing for a prestigious institution of higher learning to proffer. Provided of course the sender of the invitation was capable of engaging the invitee in a manor which promoted the give and take of ideas between two parties.

There is no doubt that each these two men, one a president of a highly respected university, the other a president of a soveriegn nation, come with those credentials. However, their respective and limited bona fides is, in reality, signified by the immense ability to gain the attention of large and powerful groups of actors on the Geo-political stage and to influence them .

That these participants, Bollinger & Ahmadinejad would resort to the tactics of insult by the former and obfuscation by the latter other was extremely disappointing to me as a TV onlooker.
At the risk of not joining in on the quintessential American reductionist quest for winners and losers in this affair, I will express my total abhorrence for the quality of intellectualism and leadership presented by both.

They each could have been offering to the perspectives of the other, a rejoinder process, of interrogatories focusing solely on the furtherance and advancement of practical solutions to better understanding and for a more peaceable world .
This is not what I saw and heard. Instead the president of Columbia University was a complete and utter ham handed embarrassment, engaging in insult after insult to his invited guest. I will grant that his barbs were well honed and to the mark. They could well have been better employed at the margins as rejoinders to the more idiotic or obtuse statements made by his guest, after whatever points Ahmadinejad was invited to make .
Instead,Bollinger went off on a tirade of insults even before giving his invited guest a chance to open is mouth. It was transparently defensive of the criticisms he was receiving for extending the invitation in the first place. The result was to permit the Iranian to be seen as a set-up victim, and gave him far more "street" credibility than this guest deserved. This display of narcissistic pomposity by Bollinger demonstrated a total lack of sensitivity to the strategic Geo-political consequences this event inevitably encapsulated.

A New Legal Specialty

2007-09-21T12:23:00.000-06:00

Here is a snip of a curious article from the Boston Globe...too bad we can't seem to display more of this advocacy interest in the struggle for human rights:

"A decade ago, the idea that a divorce would involve "custody" of a pet, much less that the decision would factor in the pet's own predilections, would have been dismissed by most lawyers as absurd. Pets were property, and not very valuable property at that, to be balanced against all of the other stuff that is split up in a divorce - nobody, after all, talks about joint custody of an armoire."
Click below for the full article:

Inside the booming field of animal law, in which animals have their own interests -- and their own lawyers.

CG Jung, Pioneer of The Unconcious

2007-09-16T21:34:00.002-06:00

I have been browsing again on that wacky website, You Tube. Trolling for videos of interest, for placement on my blog. I'm not sure if I can yet characterize my selections in that regard.
In many cases I will put the video directly up on this blog, as you can see. However, in the case of these Jung videos I will just put up a link to them as they each run about 50 minutes.

I could introduce them here with some remarks to help tantalise you to view them or I could attempt to express my own interest and fondness for the discoveries from this pioneer of the mind. Instead, suffice to say, this is a skillful use of cinematic techniques to present the processes he employed in his exploration. In it he shows how the creation of meaning is more than a conscious effort for both individuals as well as their societies. The unconscious plays as much, if not more of a role, in this extraordinary process.

"We focus on Jung's conception of archetypes--the stories and symbols that are shared by different cultures and that make up the collective unconscious. Analyst John Beebe identifies archetypes in science-fiction films such as Star Wars®. Rare footage traces Jung's travels to Africa, Britain, and New Mexico."

Sorrry to say, the Utube videos below have been pulled by Utube due to copyright concerns.

Approximately a 50 minutes video: "Wisdom of the Dream" for part 1"A Life of Dreams"

Approximately a 50 minute video: Wisdom of the Dream: Part2 "Inheritance of Dreams"

Dead Man In Taxi ???

2007-09-15T16:19:00.000-06:00

There Is No Mystery To Happiness.

2007-09-08T21:08:00.000-06:00

"There is no mystery to happiness.
Unhappy men are all alike. Some wound they suffered long ago, some wish denied, some blow to pride, some kindling spark of love put out by scorn--or worse indifference--cleaves to them, or they to it, and so they live each day within a shroud of yesterdays. The happy man does not look back. He doesn't look ahead.
But there's the rub. The present can never deliver one thing; meaning . The ways of happiness and meaning are not the same. To find happiness, a man need only live in the moment; he need only live for the moment. But if he wants meaning--the meaning of his dreams, of his secrets, of his life--a man must reinhabit the past, however dark, and live for the future, however uncertain. Thus nature dangles happiness and meaning before us all, insisting only that we choose between them.
For myself I have always chosen meaning." ***

~Quoted from the novel's opening page "The Interpretation Of Murder" by Jed Rubenfeld
*** for more on "meaning",
see my essay "This I Believe", in the right-hand column of this blog

Still the Best; R.I.P.

2007-09-07T06:27:00.000-06:00

"I think a life in music is beautifully spent

and this what I have devoted my life to."

Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007)

Here he is, singing "Nessun Dorma"

From the opera "Turandot"

CAUTION before you click on this...DO THIS FIRST!!

PAUSE the background music at the top of this column

To learn more about the aria,"Nessun Dorma" and this opera, "Turandot":

Click Here

Invitation Into A Journey

2007-09-06T20:28:00.000-06:00

"Transcending a cultural faith tradition in the name of a vision of a world religion is not easy. It demands that all religious systems sacrifice their claims to possess exclusive truth or to be the sole pathway to God. It invites people to live in the insecurity of uncertainty and to embrace the fact that we are creatures bound by time and space talking about a God who is not.. True religion is not about possessing the truth. No religion does that. It is rather an invitation into a journey that leads one toward the mystery of God. Idolatry is religion pretending that it has all the answers. " ~John Shelby Spong