Gone for a while..................

A little piano for a Thursday......

David Benoit......................Cast Your Fate To The Wind

More fun with the language............

As promised, here are more tidbits on the proper usage of the English language.  The source is Ambrose Bierce's Write It Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults (courtesy of the Newark Public Library).

Aggravate for Irritate.  "He aggravated me by his insolence."  To aggravate is to augment the disagreeableness of something already disagreeable, or the badness of something bad.  But a person cannot be aggravated, even if disagreeable or bad.

Anxious for Eager.   "I was anxious to go."  Anxious should not be followed by an infinitive.  Anxiety is contemplative; eagerness, alert for action.

Appropriated for Took.   "He appropriated his neighbor's horse to his own use."  To appropriate is to set apart, as a sum of money, for a special purpose.

Apt for Likely.   "One is apt to be mistaken."  Apt means facile, felicitous, ready, and the like; but even dictionary-makers cannot persuade a person of discriminating taste to accept it as synonymous with likely.

Kurt has joined the fun as well

Getting very close...................

Tenderly....................

thanks Nicole

This is not "politics as usual"..........

"Hiding spending does not reduce spending."

  \

Troy Senik's post on having An Adult Conversation is here.

The Sound..............................

Stan Getz..................................Autumn Leaves

Good luck remembering all of them............

Dave and Bebe..................

Dave Koz........................................The Dance

Following the lead...............

......of  the ever-generous Nicholas Bate, The Strategic Learner blog was visited.  The Intertunnel is so huge it helps to have handy guides to point out the really good stuff.  The Heartland indeed.  Do go visit John E. Smith.  A wee sample about the "messy middle" is here.

Unfortunately..........................

"Nothing comes merely by thinking about it"
-John Wanamaker

Revisionism................

 
                My Hero

Just as the hare is zipping across the finish line,
the tortoise has stopped once again
by the roadside,
this time to stick out his neck
and nibble a bit of sweet grass,
unlike the previous time
when he was distracted
by a bee humming in the heart of a wildflower.

-Billy Collins

Vote for the amateur?

"Men in a state of decadence employ professionals to fight for them, professionals to dance for them, and professionals to rule them."
-G. K. Chesterton

All those in favor of tax simplification say, "Aye".....

Hammarskjold again............

"When the morning's freshness has been replaced by the weariness of midday, when the leg muscles quiver under the strain, the climb seems endless, and, suddenly, nothing will go quite as you wish - it is then that you must not hesitate."

"Forgiveness is the answer to the child's dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean.  The dream explains why we need to be forgiven, and why we must forgive.  In the presence of God, nothing stands between Him and us - we are forgiven.  But we cannot feel His presence if anything is allowed to stand between ourselves and others."

"How humble the tool when praised for what the hand has done."

"Maturity:  among other things - not to hide one's strength out of fear, and consequently, live below one's best."

"Never, 'for sake of peace and quiet,' deny your own experience or convictions."

"Rumi:  The lovers of God have no religion but God alone."

"Thomas a Kempis:  Why do you seek rest?  You were only created to labor."

"The everlastingness of things - an ironic commentary upon your claims of ownership"

-Dag Hammarskjold, Markings
more here

Riding the wind...................

Craig Chaquico and Russ Freeman.......Riders of the Ancient Winds

Some good stuff..........................

Tom Asacker on fill-in-the-blanks mission statements:
       "Mission: Our aim is to provide happiness, well-being 
        and joy through ____________________"

View From the Ledge on strap-hanging and reading habits:
        "To this teenager’s eye, the newspaper readers seemed 
         to be divided along class and financial lines -  the NY 
         Times to the eyeglass wearing intellectuals, the the business-
         men in suits, ties, and fedoras. The Daily News, a working-
         man’s paper, could be found in less pretentious hands among 
         more casually dressed worker bees and sports fanatics......"

Ryan Holiday on being a "savage":
        "You don't have to be the best, you just have to be harder to 
        destroy.  You have to be relentless.  Indefatigable.  
        Sometimes, to get in the right position, you have to absorb a 
        lot of blows.  You've got to know you are taking hits for a 
        reason, and have the tolerance and endurance to bear it."

Nicholas Bate on paradoxical productivity: 1-26:
         "11:  Work Hard to Maintain the Relationship.  Productive 
         business needs trusting relationships."

Professor Green rates the Holmes/Watson actors over the years.

The KMC crew suggests it's not good or bad, it's just the news:
          "There will be challenges in every housing market. Those 
           challenges will also bring opportunities. Spend less time 
           trying to categorize the news and more time highlighting 
           the opportunities the market presents."

Stimulating.....................

thanks Mark

A caution................

"Beware of those who seek to take care of you lest your caretakers become your jailers."

"Tyranny knows no restraint of appetite."

-Jim Rohn

Take care...................

"We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has,
of course, powerful muscles, but no personality,"
-Albert Einstein

So much to look forward to..................

"There will be no shortage of thumb-suckers and chin strokers backing up the president’s talking points and demolishing Romney’s."
-Walter Russell Mead

How to have fun while being offended............

Ryan and Colin spar on Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Happy belated.........................

fifth anniversary to the blogger's blog, Cultural Offering.
He says he' s doing it just for his own amusement, but in
the process Kurt supports,  inspires and educates the rest of
us.  Plus, he has generously shared his little corner of the
Intertunnel, introducing us to some truly wonderful people.
Thanks for being there my friend.

Time to get a move on...............

Dave Clark 5..................................Catch Us If You Can

The paradox of freedom..................

     "The modern mind is a door with no house to it; a gigantic gate to nowhere.....The modern mind wishes to do away with such quaint ideas as right and wrong.  The modern mind thinks that freedom somehow means breaking the rules.  But here is where tradition is, as it generally is, on the side of truth.  Tradition tells us that the rules are right.  We cannot prove them to be right, except perhaps when we see the consequences of trying to do away with them.  The Ten Commandments, for instance.  Throughout history, men have certainly failed to live up to them.  But in modern times, men have more disastrously failed in trying to live without them.   But it is only in establishing and obeying certain rules that freedom is possible.  If we break the big laws, we do not get freedom.  We do not even get anarchy.  We get the small laws......."
-Dale Ahlquist, Common Sense 101:  Lessons from G. K. Chesterton

On giving...................

     "You often say, 'I would give, but only to the deserving.'
      The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
      They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.
      Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and nights, is worthy of all else from you.
     And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.
     And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving?
     And who are you that men should rent their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed.
     See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
     For in truth, it is life that gives unto life - while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness."

-Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

If aroused..........................

"Deep within humans dwell those slumbering powers;  powers that would astonish them, that they never dreamed of possessing;  forces that would revolutionize their lives if aroused and put into action."
-Orison Marden

Four pals messing around...........

Assumptions...............

"When learning about life and people, make no more assumptions than are absolutely necessary.  Ask and observe."
-William of Occam

Twin Sons of Different Mothers.......

Dan Fogelberg & Tim Weisberg..............The Power of Gold



thanks E

Simple and modest...................

Humanity grows  more and more
intelligent, yet there is clearly
more trouble and less
happiness daily.
How can this be so?
It is because intelligence is not the same
thing as wisdom.

When a society misuses partial
intelligence and ignores holistic
wisdom, its people forget the
benefits of plain and natural life.
Seduced by their desires, emotions, and
egos, they become slaves to bodily
demands, to luxuries, to power
and unbalanced religion
and psychological
excuses.
Then the reign of calamity and
confusion begins.

Nonetheless, superior people can awaken
during times of turmoil to lead
others out of the mire.
But how can the one liberate the many?
He does this not by elevating himself,
but by lowering himself.
He lowers himself to that which is simple,
modest, and true; integrating it into
himself, he bcomes a master of
simplicity, modesty and truth.

Completely emancipated from his former
false life, he discovers his orginal
pure nature, which is the pure
nature of the universe.
Freely and spontaneously releasinghis
divine energy, he constantly
transcends complicated
situations and draws
everything around
him back into an
integral oneness.
Because he is a living divinity, when
he acts, the universe acts.

-Brian Brown Walker
Hua Hu Ching:  The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu
Verse 77

Wonder..........................

"The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for
want of wonder."
-G. K. Chesterton

Well, maybe...........................

"An onion can make people cry, but there has never been a
vegetable invented to make them laugh."
-Will Rogers

Well lighted........................

"With all your science can you tell me how it is, and when it is, that light comes into the soul."
-Henry David Thoreau

Speaking of vacation..............

"I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they do their lives.  Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change."
-Jim Rohn

The song remains the same..............

"You find yourself in this transient, joyless world.  Turn from it, and take your delight in me.  Fill your heart and mind with me, bow down to me in self-surrender.  If you set your heart upon me thus, and take me for your ideal above all others, you will come into my Being."
-The Song of God:  Bhagavad-Gita
Prabhavananda and Isherwood

Good thinking..................

"We can all do good deeds, but very of us can think good thoughts."
-Cesare Pavese