A damn good question................................

"With rare exceptions, there is no reason why we cannot be more noble, spiritual, generous, learned, perceptive, caring, patient, kind, and vigorous.  Why should we settle for being mediocre in any of those virtues?"
-Michael Wade

One Art............................................

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent

to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day.  Accept the fluster

of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.

The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:

places, and names, and where it was you meant

to travel.  None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch.  And look! my last, or

next-to-last, of three loved houses went.

The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,

some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.

I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture

I love) I shan’t have lied.  It’s evident

the art of losing’s not too hard to master

though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

-Elizabeth Bishop

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

The Blue Rondos......................................................a twofer

Seems about right...............................

When.................................................

"When peace is more valued than the entertainment of the insatiable ego, it will be discovered to be ever present and available."
-David Hawkins

Dual mandate..............................

Merle Hazard

Head out......................................

     Don't yearn, act.  Take fifteen minutes of each day to visualize, as though granted, the condition or circumstance you want.  Create a mental setting, see yourself with the object of your desire.  Become a part of it, let it become a part of you.  Allow it to be you.  Then rise, head out, and do something that moves you toward your dream - something powerful and positive.

     Remember, you have to travel toward your dream.  It is very unlikely that, unaided, your dream will find you.

-Stuart Wilde

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

The Beach Boys................................................Hushabye

So I bought this book............................

...............titled Dr. Seuss and Philosophy:  Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!    I've noticed over the years that philosophers tend to confuse me.  Perhaps I was hoping that my old friend Dr. Seuss would help me sort things out.   The first chapter, an essay by Benjamin Rider, was based on Oh, the Places You'll Go (to save you the trouble of rummaging around your attic trying to find your old copy, the complete text is posted below.).  Rider concludes his essay like this:

The ending of Oh, the Places You'll Go! is thoroughly positive.  Dr. Seuss assures us that, if we take his advice and set off boldly along the journey of life, we'll do great things.  But how can Seuss be so confident of success?  Aren't some setbacks and slumps just too much to overcome?  Don't even the best choices sometimes fail to work out?

     Once again, I thing Dr. Seuss's answer to these questions is similar to the ones Socrates and other ancient philosophers would give.  Socrates and most ancient philosophers argued that, in the final reckoning, the external events of life aren't what matter most.  If you don't actually fly ahead of other people or win games or manage to move a mountain, that's not important.  What matters is the attitude you have about life, the choices you make in the face of what life gives you.  Seuss and the ancient philosophers agree that someone who has the courage to question and find her own path and the wisdom to face problems and challenges with equanimity, who develops rational abilities to make good decisions about her life, will almost certainly succeed in life.

Enjoy the rest of Dr.Seuss's story, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Any direction you choose......................

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.  And you know what you know.
An YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

I don't choose to go there.............................

You'll look up and down streets.  Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Don't stew......................................

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy 
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don't worry.  Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

Soar to great heights...........................

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't.
Because, sometimes, you won't.

An unpleasant bump................................

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

Do you dare.........................................

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted.  But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out?  Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose?  How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right ...
or right-and-three-quarters?  Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
                                              The Waiting Place ...

Escape...........................................

... for people just waiting.
     Waiting for a train to go
     or a bus to come, or a plane to go
     or the mail to come, or the rain to go
     or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
     or waiting around for a Yes or No
     or waiting for their hair to grow.
     Everyone is just waiting.

     Waiting for the fish to bite
     or waiting for wind to fly a kite
     or waiting around for Friday night
     or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
     or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
     or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
     or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
     Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!
          Somehow you'll escape
          all that waiting and staying.
          You'll find the bright places
          where Boom Bands are playing.

'cause you'll play against you.......................

With banner flip-flapping
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of guy!

Oh, the places you'll go!  There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored.  There are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame!  You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't
Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul.
On you will go
though your enemies prowl.
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl.
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

A Great Balancing Act...........................

On and on you will hike,
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step,
Step with great care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft,
and never mix up your right foot with your left.

98.75% guaranteed.................................

And will you succeed?
Yes!  You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

        KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So ...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So ... get on your way!

Songs from the War To End All Wars.........................

Armistice Day....................................

Gethsemane.....................................

The Garden called Gethsemane   

In Picardy it was,   

And there the people came to see   

The English soldiers pass.

We used to pass - we used to pass   

Or halt, as it might be,

And ship our masks in case of gas   

Beyond Gethsemane.

The Garden called Gethsemane,   

It held a pretty lass,

But all the time she talked to me

I prayed my cup might pass.   

The officer sat on the chair,

The men lay on the grass,   

And all the time we halted there

I prayed my cup might pass.

It didn’t pass - it didn’t pass -

It didn’t pass from me.

I drank it when we met the gas   

Beyond Gethsemane.

-Rudyard Kipling

Kipling's only son died fighting in the First World War. 

 His story is here.

Let there be light.....................................

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
-Martin Luther King Jr.

image via

The Best...............................................

    Many times we insist on having all the best things because that's the only way we can ensure "quality of life" for ourselves.  I can neglect myself in every other way, but if I have the best watch or pocketbook or car or square footage, I get to tell myself I'm the best and how much I deserve to have even more of the best.
     What I know for sure:  Having the best things is no substitute for having the best life.  When you can let go of the desire to acquire, you know you are really on your way.
-Oprah Winfrey,  What I Know For Sure

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

On the TV:  Andy Williams/Julie Andrews......Language of Love

Now is the time...................

.....................................................to unshackle your mind.

If a problem seems insoluble:
     break the rules.
Challenge your assumptions.
Change your viewpoint.
Change the questions.
Construct absurd scenarios.
Let your mind roam free.

-Patrick Lindsay,  Now Is The Time: 170 Ways To Seize the Moment

Instructions...........................................

via

Today.............................................

A thousand stars......................................

Michael Stanley Band................................................Lover



#12 on this list

What we want...............................

In a poem
people want
something fancy,

but even more
they want something
inexplicable
made plain,

easy to swallow -
not unlike a suddenly
harmonic passage

in an otherwise
difficult and sometimes dissonant
symphony -

even if it is only
for the moment
of hearing it.

-Mary Oliver

Meanwhile, three thousand light years away.......

“We are an impossibility in an impossible universe.” 
-Ray Bradbury

photo (enlargable and explained) courtesy of

Making music...............................

Serendipitously, just last week, after a rather long hiatus, I pulled out the old saxophone and started practicing making those fun squeaking noises on it again.

Creating a life style.................................

“I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business. I do it because I like this kind of life.” 
-Warren Buffett

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

The Drifters............................................He's Just A Playboy

Mark me down as a contrarian..................

I’m a contrarian. I’m all for contrarian investing, but there are so many opinions out there today that it’s nearly impossible to be a true contrarian anymore. You will always be able to find someone that disagrees with you these days. As James Osbourne (@BasonAsset) put it on Twitter last week: “I don’t know” may be the last true contrarian investment strategy.

via

I don't even know where to begin...............

"Honest accounting is worth a lot in the long-run, even if the market won’t pay up for it in the short-run."
-David Merkel, as excerpted from here

Every.............................................

"The inner worth of every human being is infinite."
-David Hawkins

Yep.............................................

thanks

The extended version..............................

Buffalo Springfield.................................................Bluebird



#38 on this list

At the core............................................

 "At the core of all well-founded belief, lies belief that is unfounded."
-Ludwig Wittgenstein

Verse................................................

8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?

10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words th at I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

11  Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

12  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

13  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

The Holy Bible
King James Version
John 14:8-15

So sorry...........................

....................................Apologizing for a lack of sensitivity.

Otherwise known as a "win-win"....................

Via Meadia looks again at falling oil prices: 
In the meantime, the world’s petrostates, which require a much higher price of oil just to balance their national budgets, are feeling the pinch, while American oil continues to flow and the U.S. economy reaps the benefits.

Neither science nor art...........................

I know I am getting old and I say so,
but I don’t think of myself as an old man.
I think of myself as a young man
with unforeseen debilities.  Time is neither
young nor old, but simply new, always
counting, the only apocalypse.  And the clouds
— no mere measure or geometry, no cubism,
can account for clouds or, satisfactorily, for bodies.
There is no science for this, or art either.
Even the old body is new — who has known it
before? — and no sooner new than gone, to be
replaced by a body yet older and again new.
The clouds are rarely absent from our sky
over this humid valley, and there is a sycamore
that I watch as, growing on the river bank,
it forecloses the horizon, like the years
of an old man.  And you, who are as old
almost as I am, I love as I loved you
young, except that, old, I am astonished
at such a possibility, and am duly grateful.

-Wendell Berry
Sabbaths,   2005  VII

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

On the TV:  Ginger Rogers visits Hugh O'Brien on Hollywood Palace

Verse.............................................

18.  The followers said to Jesus, "Tell us how our end will be."
       Jesus said, "Have you discovered the beginning, then, so that you are seeking the end?  For where the beginning is, the end will be.  Fortunate is one who stands at the beginning:  That one will know the end and will not taste death."

-The Gospel of Thomas

back story here

On habits...........................................

"Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time."

-Mark Twain

“The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits.” 

-Albert Camus

“The fixity of a habit is generally in direct proportion to its absurdity.” 
-Marcel Proust

“The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” 

-Samuel Johnson

“I won’t pick up your bad habits. They look heavy and I’ve got a bad back.  Plus, I have my own bad habits already.” 

-Jarod Kintz

“Bad habits are like having a sumo wrestler in the back of your canoe rowing the opposite direction.” 
-J Loren Norris

“The best way to stop a bad habit is to never begin it” 
-J. C. Penney

“A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit.” 
-Desiderius Erasmus

“Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you.” 
-Elbert Hubbard

On and on...................................

16.  Once when the Master was standing by a stream, he said, Could one but go on and on like this, never ceasing day or night!
-The Analects of Confucius
Book IX

If hanging around.....................................

................with Kurt Harden doesn't make you a better person, well, you're just not trying.   Thanks Kurt.

What I know.....................................

George Harrison..................................................What Is Life




#3 on this list

Comes about...........................................

"What you think about, talk about, and get off your ass and do something about comes about."
-Larry Winget

Focus..............................................

"I live in the space of thankfulness - and for that, I have been rewarded a million times over.  I started out giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased.  That's because - for sure - what you focus on expands.  When you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it."
-Oprah Winfrey

On understanding..................................

From the conclusion to this Arnold Kling post:

"I think that economists should be very modest and humble in claiming to understand inflation."

Your faithful editor thinks we should all be very modest and humble in claiming to understand just about anything.  Just saying,

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

At the movies.............................................Cheyenne Autumn

Too loud.............................................?

Jarod and Leslie Anderson have published a new book, 100 Prompts for Science Fiction Writers.  Prompt # 16 goes like this:

"Psychically sensitive aliens show up and complain that Earth is being too loud.  The are obviously more technologically advanced than us and more than a little intimidating.
    What is the discussion on Earth?  Do we meet their demands and try to be more neighborly?  What major changes would have to happen in society?  Are Zen Buddhists recruited to help quiet noisy minds?  Do people fight back to retain their freedom of thought?  What are the consequences if Earth doesn't quiet down?

If you struggle to "think outside the box,"  you might take a peek at this dandy little book.  It will get you thinking.

Hmmm..................................

"Thirty-five years have passed since a senior American official last visited Iran.  It has changed.  Our special report in this issue describes a country whose revolutionary fire has been extinguished."

"Iran is not a straightforward dictatorship.  The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has the last word.  But his role is to adjudicate between the claims of an elite made up of thousands of politicians, clerics, generals, academics and business people.  They from a confusing and ever shifting pattern of competing factions and coalitions.  Although this hardly amounts to a democracy, it is a political marketplace and, as Mr. Ahmadinejad discovered, politics that tack away from the consensus do not last.  That is why last year Iran elected a president, Hassan Rohani, who wants to open up to the world and who has reined in the hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.  Mr. Rohani belongs to the establishment, naturally but it says a lot about today's Iran that his cabinet contains more doctorates from American universities than Barack Obama's."

-as excerpted from this The Economist essay

At this moment.....................................

"He who has gotten rid of the disease of 'tomorrow' has a chance of achieving what he is here for."
-George Gurdjieff

and as you shine on me..............................

Cream.....................................................................I Feel Free




#22 on this list

Quite an accomplishment.............

Mark Perry makes the case for capitalism as the ultimate anti-poverty program.  Full post is here.  Chart here:

Overlaying a chart on the relative decline of the American "middle class"  might be interesting.  That is, if you think there might be a correlation between the decline of both world poverty and the American middle class.  Do you?  Just wondering.

Speaking of correlations.........................

Let's all remember now that causation and correlation have very little to do with each other.  For instance, check out Tyler Vigen's Spurious Correlations.  In the installment pictured above, the rate of U. S. spending on science, space, and technology between 1999 and 2009 is highly correlated with the number of suicides by hanging, strangulation, and suffocation over the same time period.  Makes perfect sense to me.

Say what?.......................................

via

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

The Beatles......................................................Honey Don't

About truth.....................................................

"There's more to the truth than just the facts."
-Anon

cartoon via

In defense.............................................

..............................................................of a worthy idea.

Invictus.......................................

Out of the night that covers me,

      Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

      For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

      I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

      My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

      Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

      Finds and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

      How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

      I am the captain of my soul.

-William Ernest Henley

A measure of success................................

"You've achieved success in your field when you don't know whether what you're doing is work or play."
-Warren Beatty

cartoon via

Works every time...................................

via

She carries the key......................................

Sarah Vaughan..............................Someone To Watch Over Me



#15 on this list

Stand................................................

Donnie McClurkin.......................................................Stand




     During difficult times I often turn to a gospel song called "Stand."  In it, songwriter Donnie McClurkin sings, "What do you do when you've done all you can, and it seems like it's never enough?  What do you give when you've given your all, and it seems like you can't make it through?"  The answer lies in McClurkin's simple refrain:  "You just stand."
     That's where strength comes from - our ability to face resistance and walk through it.
-Oprah Winfrey

The Troggs.......................................

..................................................................get 'em here.

The one..................................................

I am not I.
                     I am this one
Walking beside me whom I do not see,
Whom at times I manage to visit,
And at other times I forget.
The one who remains silent when I talk,
The one who forgives, sweet, when I hate,
The one who takes a walk when I am indoors,
The one who will remain standing when I die.

-Juan Ramón Jiménez

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

    The story that Jonathan Swift told is that he came into the world on November 30, 1667, in the house of his uncle Godwin Swift, in a little Dublin alley known as Hoey's Court.  He was born there because his father had recently died at the age of twenty-seven, and his mother, Abigail, had moved in with her Swift relatives.  The baby was named Jonathan, after his father.  Abigail also had an eighteen-month-old daughter, Jane, and hardly any money.
-Leo Damrosch,  Jonathan Swift:  His Life and His World

This isn't a view you get every day..................

larger image and back story here

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

The Beach Boys and the American Invasion.....................

Out damn spot.....................................!

Too busy to blog......................................?

................not really, but here's a story on competitive busyness.  You can go ahead and win.  It's alright by me.

Of note.................................................

Not sure...............................................

.....................................................how I missed this one.

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

Cliff Richards on stage.....................................................

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

Dave Berry................................................The Crying Game

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

Lyndon Baines Johnson swamps Barry Goldwater:

Ordered..........................................

"The ordered spinning of the planets in space, the arrangements of solar systems in the universe, the design of the atom, the deep and inscrutable mystery of animation;  surely we are blind if we fail to recognize the working of a supreme intelligence, guiding, molding, directing with purpose."
-U. S. Andersen

image via apod

Me either...............................

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

The Beach Boys in concert...................................................