Mostly snow covered now.................

The Brothers Four.................................................Greenfields

Only in America.......................................

      There was no incentive, then, to move higher.  And perhaps the office of governor of New York was high enough for one lifetime.  It already marked an extraordinary rise for a boy born in Queens, behind a shop, to immigrants from Italy who spoke no English;  for the son of a grocer in a stained overall who saved crusts for those even needier than he was.  The boy Mario had soared through baseball, law and politics, but to them he was still the lucky scamp, and he would test out his policy ideas on Momma later to get her earthy, tart reaction.  His ideal America was just this, a bickering, diverse family in which each member nonetheless worked for the enterprise and all were in it together;  and where almost no one, certainly not he, so indulged the sin of pride as to think themselves worthy of the very highest place.

-excerpted from this The Economist obituary for Mario Cuomo

Sides.......................................

“My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.” 
-Abraham Lincoln

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

Del Shannon.......................Keep Searching (Follow The Sun)

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

      The real way positive psychology got its start has been a secret until now.  When I was president-elect of the American Psychological Association in 1997, my e-mail tripled.  I rarely answer phone calls, and I never do snail mail anymore, but because there is a twenty-four-hour-a-day bridge game on the Internet, I answer my email swiftly and diligently.  My replies are just the length that fits the time it takes for my partner to play the hand when I am the dummy.  (I am seligman@psych.upenn.edu, and you should feel free to email me if you don't mind one-sentence answers.)

-Martin E. P. Seligman,  Flourish:  A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being

Last night was poker night.......................

The Little Things...................................

      There are five key relationships:  a relationship with God, a relationship with the members of our families, a relationship with others, a relationship with ourselves, and a relationship with things.  If we fail to follow this order, we can be certain that, sooner or later, problems will arise.
      After all, true happiness does not come from things themselves or from what we accumulate or achieve.  True happiness comes from the right relationship with God, others and things.  Things and achievements -- of course it is always good to have them -- may provide undeniable pleasure.  but it is the kind of a momentary and evanescent pleasure and can never provide the deep fulfillment one is looking for.  Favorable circumstances may produce enjoyment, but they are unable to provide fulfillment.
      If we were overly concerned about big things in life, we would usually miss the little things that make all the difference in the world.  Ironically, these little things can be more important than the big things because they embody, in one way or another, our relationship with God, with others, and with ourselves.  They tell the story of our subtle connections, exhibit our values, and define our very identity.  No mater what, we cannot escape this simple truth:  we do what we are.  Confucius put it this way:  "And remember, no matter where you go, there you are."

-Jean Maalouf,  Your New Adventure:  Make the Most of the Rest of Your Life

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

The McCoys...............................................................Fever

Turn out the lights......................................

The Doors.........................................When The Music's Over

Forty years ago.................................

Carl Douglas...............................................Kung Fu Fighting

Day by day.....................................

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

The Supremes...................................Stop! In The Name of Love

Good advice in unsteady times..................

Sixty years ago.....................................

Bill Haley & His Comets...........................Rock Around The Clock

What's with the Eggo............................?

Guess I'm slowing down.............................

The Beach Boys.................................................Disney Girls

Victor Davis Hanson..............................

..............................is not impressed by "multiculturalism."

If the Western establishment were truly moral, it would reject multiculturalism as a deductive, anti-empirical, and illiberal creed. It would demand that critics abroad first put their own house in order before blaming others for their own failures, and remind Western elites that their multicultural fantasies are cheap nostrums designed to deal with their own neuroses.

Finally, it would also not welcome in newcomers who seek to destroy the very institutions that make the West so unlike the homelands they have voted with their feet to utterly abandon.

Full essay is here.

Oops..................................................

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A question for today.................................

Is a hippopotamus a hippopotamus, or just a really cool Opotamus?

-Mitch Hedberg

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

The Temptations....................................................It's Growing

Set out.............................................

      In theory, there are said to be eighty-four thousand approaches, or entrance doors, in Buddhism.  The large number is to indicate that, in fact, anyone can start wherever they are.  To climb Mount Everest, you could set out from the traffic jams of a Parisian suburb or from the lush greenery of a Nepalese valley.  The goal is the same, but the ways you might travel are different.  In the same way, on the spiritual path we all have to start at the point where we find ourselves, each with a different character, set of dispositions, intellectual and belief structure.  Everyone can find the particular means tailored to their needs, allowing them to work on their thoughts, gradually set themselves free from the yoke of negative emotions, and finally to perceive the ultimate nature of the mind.
-Jean-Francois Revel and Matthieu Ricard,  The Monk and the Philosopher:  A Father and Son Discuss the Meaning of Life

Others.................................................

All the joy the world contains
Has come through wishing happiness for others.
All the misery the world contains
Has come through wanting pleasures for oneself.
Is there need for lengthy explanations?
Childish beings look our for themselves,
While Buddhas labor for the good of others.
See the difference that divides them?

-Shantideva

On faith and reason................................

"Faith becomes superstition when it parts from reason, and even more so when it goes against reason.  But when it is combined with reason, it prevents reason from remaining just an intellectual game."
-Andre Migot

Discovery............................................

Deep within ourselves, it's important to maintain invincible compassion and inexhaustible patience.  It's not a matter of either passively submitting to the mercy of anyone who attacks us, or trying to eliminate them by force (there'll always be more to come), but discovering that our major adversary is the desire to harm others - something we'll need to combat mercilessly.  That's what we have to understand and, as much as we can, get others to see, too.
-Jean-Francois Revel and Matthieu Ricard,  The Monk and the Philosopher:  A Father and Son Discuss the Meaning of Life

Flows to the source...............................

The Beach Boys..................................Long Promised Road




So hard to answer future's riddle
When ahead is seeming so far behind
So hard to laugh a child-like giggle
When the tears start to torture my mind
So hard to shed the life of before
To let my soul automatically soar

But I hit hard at the battle that's confronting me, yeah
Knock down all the roaddblocks a-stumbling me
Throw off all the shackles that are binding me down

Sew up the wounds of evolution
And the now starts to get in my way
So what if life's a revelation
If the mind speaks of only today
So real, the pain growing in my soul
Of climbing up to reality's goal

But I hit hard at the battle that's confronting me, yeah
Knock down all the roaddblocks a-stumbling me
Throw off all the shackles that are binding me down

Long promised road
Trail starts at dawn
Carries on to the season's ending
Long promised road
Flows to the source, gentle force, never ending, never ending

So hard to lift the jeweled sceptre
When the weight turns a smile to a frown
So hard to drink of passion nectar
When the taste of life's holding me down
So hard to plant the seed of reform
To set my sights on defeating the storm

So I hit hard at the battle that's confronting me, yeah
Knock down all the roaddblocks a-stumbling me
Throw off all the shackles that are binding me down

Oh, yeah-eah-eah-eah

Hit hard at the battle that's confronting me, yeah
Knock down all the roaddblocks a-stumbling me
Throw off all the shackles that are binding me down

Oh, yeah-eah-eah-eah

Hit hard at the battle that's confronting me, yeah
Knock down all the roaddblocks a-stumbling me
Throw off all the shackles that are binding me down

I'd love to see you

About the journey.................................

"Start today.  Do not expect blistering success every day.  Expect setback and anguish.  But that's life, growth and how we get really, really good:  sticking to the path and finding alternative routes."
-Nicholas Bate

Defying....................................

"There is always a God beyond our concept of God because our concept of God is a finite view within infinity, always  existing on one circumference of the infinite network of concentric circles.  At the center is the God beyond God, beyond knowing, transcendent, defying both control and description.  It is to this ultimate source that we all are tethered.  It is to this that all great traditions point, knowingly, or unknowingly, incompletely, with differing degrees of intensity or richness."
-Timothy Carson,  The Square Root of God

A Word About Transitions................

Moreover is not a good way to begin a poem
though many start somewhere in the middle.

Secondly should not be placed
at the opening of your second stanza.

Furthermore should be regarded
as a word to avoid.

Aforementioned is rarely found
in poems at all, and for good reason.

Most steer clear of notwithstanding,
and the same goes for

nevertheless, however,
as a consequence, in any event,

subsequently,
and as we have seen in the previous chapters.

Finally's appearance at the top
of the final stanza is not going to help.

All of which suggests (another no-no)
that poems don't need to tell us where we are

or what is soon to come.
For example, the white bowl of lemons

on a table by a window
is fine all by itself

and, in conclusion, so are
seven elephants standing in the rain.

-Billy Collins

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

“However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?” 
-Gautama Buddha

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

The McCoys..................................................Hang On Sloopy

Chilling...................................................

While us folk who borrow money to invest in real estate are pretty happy with the recent low interest rate environment, at least some of us tend to worry a bit about deflation.  We are not alone:

Putting it all together points to rising risks of deflation in the US. There is absolutely no way the Fed can raise rates in this environment. In fact some Fed officials are quite open about taking any 2015 rate hikes off the table.

Back story, with all sorts of charts, from the Sober Look blog.
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And a good day it is..................................

On forgiveness...................................

‘Even the stuff that forgiveness was supposed to be good for – stuff like murders … it’s so rare,’ he told me. ‘More important is can you forgive your brother-in-law for being annoying? Can you forgive traffic? Those things happen every day. Big things? They happen once in a lifetime, maybe twice. It’s a waste of forgiveness. That’s my perspective. But forgiveness is really important for smoothing over the normal, interpersonal things that rub everyone the wrong way.’
-as excerpted from this The Dish post

On my way back to you.............................

Kris Kristofferson...........................................Why Me Lord

Just saying.............................................

via

Proof (as if you needed any) that there is a God...

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

The Beatles.................................................Eight Days A Week

Zen Bagel............................................

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Testing............................................

1. Jack is looking at Anne, but Anne is looking at George. Jack is married, but George is not. Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?

• A) Yes
• B) No
• C) Cannot be determined

I will confess to answering too quickly and incorrectly.  Question (and answer) and back story, can be found here.