Dreaming...........................

Everly Brothers......................All I Have To Do Is Dream

Bowlines........................

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
-Mark Twain

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Ask......................

“Some people see things that are and ask, Why? 
Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? 
Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that.” 
-George Carlin

Be...............................

“I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours” 

-Bob Dylan

Lookout..........................

“Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.”
-Lao Tzu

Act....................................

“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake up in the day to find it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.” 
-T. E. Lawrence

Crazy............................

“Dreams, if they're any good, are always a little bit crazy. ”
-Ray Charles

Later....................................

“You know, I'm sick of following my dreams, man. I'm just going to ask where they're going and hook up with 'em later."
-Mitch Hedberg

God love Dick Clark........................

Little Anthony & The Imperials..........Tears On My Pillow

Slingshot................................

"There is no step more uplifting, more momentous in the history of mind design, than the invention of language.  When Homo sapiens became the beneficiary of this invention, the species stepped into a slingshot that has launched it far beyond all other earthly species."
-Daniel Dennett (as quoted in Kevin Kelly's What Technology Wants)

Singing.........................

via

Science..............................

In the name of being fair and balanced, check this link for information about the Flat Earth Society.  Interesting excerpt here:

"We maintain that what is called 'Science' today and 'scientists' consist of the same old gang of witch doctors, sorcerers, tellers of tales, the 'Priest-Entertainers' for the common people. 'Science' consists of a weird, way-out occult concoction of gibberish theory-theology...unrelated to the real world of facts, technology and inventions, tall buildings and fast cars, airplanes and other Real and Good things in life; technology is not in any way related to the web of idiotic scientific theory. ALL inventors have been anti-science. The Wright brothers said: "Science theory held us up for years. When we threw out all science, started from experiment and experience, then we invented the airplane." By the way, airplanes all fly level on this Plane earth."  (Source)

thanks jonco

It's never too early........................

...........to start thinking about a summer vacation.

Here is the information if you plan on visiting.   Seriously.

I'm confused alright..................

"Until you are willing to be confused about what you already know, what you know will never grow bigger, better, or more useful."   
-Milton Erickson

Thrill...............................

Rod Steward and Dolly Parton..............Baby It's Cold Outside

Gaining ground.................slowly

Faithful readers will know that Calculated Risk is one of our favorite intertunnel destinations.  We especially like the charts; useful information, easily understood.  Those of us who care about the construction industry are well pleased with the trend on this one (go here for background information and an enlargeable chart):

 

2013 should see a significant up-tick in new housing construction.  Get an early start, and don't forget, we have fabulous wooded building sites available.   Thank thee kindly.

Mirror, mirror........................

Threefer.........................

The Four Seasons.........................................

Big Girls Don't Cry....................




Dawn, Go Away................................................




Walk Like a Man...........................(Love the dancing)

Marching orders....................

Finer Minds points to this video that will help us "train our brains" to increase willpower - "the queen of all virtues."  Hey, invest  this 11:27 minutes in yourself.

Let's blame the intellectuals...............

WRM is unimpressed with the media circus about the "fiscal cliff."  In fact, he thinks they are covering the wrong story:

Ultimately, the deficit is a consequence rather than a cause of America’s troubles; the politicians have been behaving like doctors quarreling over how to alleviate a symptom with neither group thinking clearly about curing the actual disease.

We think the critical deficits in America are policy deficits rather than fiscal deficits.   There are three big policy failures in modern America that are causing most of our pain. They are connected, and they are solvable, but so far the political system hasn’t really engaged with them, in part because America’s intellectuals as a group haven’t done the kind of creative thinking and research that could point the way forward.

As always, it is recommended to read the whole Mead essay - it can be found here.  For those who can't handle the suspense, his three policy deficits are:

The health care policy deficit. 
The ‘transition from blue’ policy deficit.
The demographic transition policy deficit.

Responsibility lays close at hand..............

"It's a rotten deal, filled with precisely the sort of sad-sack posturing that we've come to expect and maybe even demand from our elected officials. "

So says Nick Gillespie in this recent post about the latest deal from Washington.

Political truth......................

Fifty years ago......................

The Dovells................................You Can't Sit Down

Do...............................

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
 -Theodore Roosevelt

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Prayer................................

"Begin today. Declare out loud to the universe that you are willing to let go of struggle and eager to learn through joy."
-Sarah Ban Breathnach

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OK, Coach...............................

"Good seasons start with good beginnings."
-Sparky Anderson 


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From now...............................

“Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” 
-Carl Bard

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Muddling............................

"Life is not so much about beginnings and endings as it is about going on and on and on. It is about muddling through the middle."
-Anna Quindlen 


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New leaf................................

“The chief beauty about time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your life.  You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose.” 
-Arnold Bennett

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Along the road.........................

“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth...not going all the way, and not starting.”
-Buddha

Opals..........................

“There are as many worlds as there are kinds of days, and as an opal changes its colors and its fire to match the nature of a day, so do I.” 
-John Steinbeck

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Easier..............................

“Rather than turning the page, it's much easier to just throw the book away.” 
-Anthony Liccione

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Awake.....................................

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”
-Seneca

Full.............................

“And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.” 
-Rainer Maria Rilke

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Only 8,453,725 blogs will post this today..........

......................and for good reason.

U2............................................New Year's Day

Uh-oh........................

File this under the heading, "That which cannot continue, won't."  A scary chart for a whole host of reasons.  To read what smart people are saying about it, visit Marginal Revolution and follow the links.

Why am I not surprised...............

"On November 3, 2009, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway announced it would acquire the remaining 77.4 percent of BNSF it did not already own for $100 per share in cash and stock - a deal valued at $44 billion. The company is investing an estimated $34 billion in BNSF and acquiring $10 billion in debt. On February 12, 2010, shareholders of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation voted in favor of the acquisition."
-Wikipedia


Burlington Northern Sante Fe rail routes..............

 From Mark Perry.  Full post here.............

Use.......................................

via John from the Heartland

Resolutions, etc............................

From the pages of the New Yorker:

New year re-runs.............................

Happy New Year....................

thanks jonco

We were all a lot younger then..............

Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians welcome in 1958

Longer than always...................

Frank Sinatra/Count Bassie.........................More

The 100 best lists of all time...............

........................is right here.  A wee sampling right here:

99. Satchel Paige’s “How to Keep Young”

95. Maxim’s “Hot 100”

90. McDonald’s Big Mac-ingredients commercial

81. Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”

72. The Economist’s “Big Mac Index”

71. Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40”

70. William the Conqueror’s “The Domesday Book”

49. 1927 Yankees’ opening-day lineup

42. Mr. Blackwell’s worst-dressed list

39. Richard Nixon’s “Enemies List”

35. The Beatles' set list, Majestic Ballroom concert in Luton, U.K., April 17, 1963

24. Warren Buffett’s “Investment Criteria Checklist”

16. Hasbro’s “2-Letter Scrabble Words List”

10. Robert’s Rules of Order

6. Martin Luther’s "95 Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences"

1. The Periodic Table of Elements*

The link will take you to Gary Belsky's post at the New Yorker.  Each list on his list is linked to the actual list.  You can spend fun-filled hours reading all this stuff.  Just in case you're curious, names are actually named on Nixon's "enemies list" and there are over one hundred two letter Scrabble words (including Qi) on Hasbro's list.

thanks

Liberty..........................

"Liberty means responsibility.  That is why most men dread it."
-George Bernard Shaw

Truth....................

thanks Jessica

Uh-oh.........................

via

Opening paragraphs........................

Though the stranger did not know it, two disparate series of events were by that night already conspiring to lure him back onto the field of battle.  One was being played out behind the locked doors of the world's secret intelligence services while the other was the subject of a global media frenzy.  The newspapers had dubbed it "the summer of theft,"  the worst epidemic of art heists to sweep Europe in a generation.  Across the Continent, priceless paintings were disappearing like postcards plucked from the rack of a sidewalk kiosk.  The anguished masters of the art universe had professed shock over the rash of robberies, though the true professionals inside law enforcement admitted it was small wonder there were any paintings left to steal.  "If you nail a hundred million dollars to a poorly guarded wall," said one beleaguered official from Interpol, "it's only a matter of time before a determined thief will try to walk away with it."
-Daniel Silva, The Rembrandt Affair