via
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Monday, March 3, 2014
With Sahan Arzruni sitting in.....
Victor Borge.............................................Hungarian Rhapsody
Wiki on Sahan Arzruni is here
Wiki on Sahan Arzruni is here
Something to remember...................
Stuart Schneiderman takes a look at "democracy":
"Of course, Benjamin Franklin declared that the Constitutional Convention had created a 'republic.' And a republic is not quite the same as a democracy. It is fair to emphasize that in the early days of the American Republic, very few people had the right to vote. Since only property-owning males could vote, in the first elections between 3% and 4% of the population participated.
"To call the results democratic stretches the meaning of the term."
Unintended consequences of history......
This sounds really familiar:
Ukraine isn’t a country: it’s a Frankenstein monster composed of pieces of dead empires, stitched together by Stalin. It has never had a government in the Western sense of the term after the collapse of the Soviet Union gave it independence, just the equivalent of the family offices for one predatory oligarch after another...
-Spengler, as excerpted from here
Ukraine isn’t a country: it’s a Frankenstein monster composed of pieces of dead empires, stitched together by Stalin. It has never had a government in the Western sense of the term after the collapse of the Soviet Union gave it independence, just the equivalent of the family offices for one predatory oligarch after another...
-Spengler, as excerpted from here
Pick.................................
"When you have a choice to be right or to be kind, always pick kind."
-Wayne W. Dyer
-Wayne W. Dyer
Fifty years ago...................
Shangri-Las........................................Leader of the Pack
thine own....................................
"If therefore it be a thing external that causes thy grief, know that it is not that properly that doth cause it, but thine own conceit and opinion concerning the thing: which thou mayest rid thyself of, when thou wilt."
-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book VIII, Article XLV
-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book VIII, Article XLV
The art of stringing words together in a most interesting fashion.........
From The Epicurean Dealmaker:
Apparently the editor of our culture’s preeminent forum for snark and sarcasm was so outraged by Forbes’ annual encomium to the highest-earning hedge fund managers that he burst a gasket. I guess the shock was so great Mr. Nolan dropped a slice of gluten-free artisanal toast buttered with the tears of free range lambs raised on an anarchosyndicalist commune in Vermont face down on a rug woven by one-armed Peruvian orphans from the frayed fibers of their broken dreams. Or so I presume, given the fulsomeness of his resulting vitriol. Unfortunately for this forum, at least, Mr. Nolan’s righteous indignation was not matched by a similar zeal to get the most basic facts about the situation correct.
Full blog post is here
Apparently the editor of our culture’s preeminent forum for snark and sarcasm was so outraged by Forbes’ annual encomium to the highest-earning hedge fund managers that he burst a gasket. I guess the shock was so great Mr. Nolan dropped a slice of gluten-free artisanal toast buttered with the tears of free range lambs raised on an anarchosyndicalist commune in Vermont face down on a rug woven by one-armed Peruvian orphans from the frayed fibers of their broken dreams. Or so I presume, given the fulsomeness of his resulting vitriol. Unfortunately for this forum, at least, Mr. Nolan’s righteous indignation was not matched by a similar zeal to get the most basic facts about the situation correct.
Full blog post is here
Fusion...................
Walter Russell Mead's blog points to this article by Raffi Khatchadourian about fusion, saying it's:
...a layman’s explanation of what scientists hope fusion can actually do.
Good enough for me. As they say, read the whole thing.
...a layman’s explanation of what scientists hope fusion can actually do.
Good enough for me. As they say, read the whole thing.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
People are crazy and times are strange....
Bob Dylan.........................................Things Have Changed
Thrive....................
I have become a fan of, and a regular visitor to, David Kanigan's Tumblr. Here of late, it has become apparent that David has been deeply dipping into Florida Scott-Maxwell's Measure of My Days. Not being familiar with that work, the Colossus Amazon was consulted. Since the spot price on a new hardback copy was $77.10, I did the next best thing and (sorry Jeff) Kindleized it. Here is the opening paragraph:
We who are old know that age is more than a disability. It is an intense and varied experience, almost beyond our capacity at times, but something to be carried high. If it is a long defeat, it is also a victory, meaningful for the initiates of time, if not for those who have come less far.
Expect more.
We who are old know that age is more than a disability. It is an intense and varied experience, almost beyond our capacity at times, but something to be carried high. If it is a long defeat, it is also a victory, meaningful for the initiates of time, if not for those who have come less far.
Expect more.
Life its ownself.....................
5 Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;
6 Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.
7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
-Jeremiah 29:5-7
The Holy Bible
King James Version
Interesting paragraphs.........................
Geni was in the engineering school at the university. He had a great love of science. Through circumstances that I do not now recall, two years before he had managed to come upon a Scientific American magazine. He explained how much he treasured every page. The most significant article was on quasars. I am a scientific illiterate, so he took his time. It was clear that he wanted me to understand the details of his story. He explained to me that quasars are among the largest and most luminous objects we have ever discovered. "They are ultimately huge," he exclaimed.
"I could not stop thinking about quasars," Geni continued. He was no longer looking me in the eye, but was lost in the memory. "Compared to a quasar, our galaxy is nothing. It is only a piece of sand. Just a piece of sand." He rubbed his thumb and finger together to illustrate just how small that was. "Then if you compare our solar system to our galaxy, it is only a piece of sand. Then you have planet Earth. Earth is only a piece of sand in our sun system. That is a piece of sand inside a piece of sand inside a piece of sand." This mathematical drama was clearly inspiring to him. He continued, "Albania is a very small country. Albania is only a piece of sand on the earth and ..." Geni now looked me straight in the eye. "Tony, I am only a piece of sand inside my piece-of-sand country. I ask you, what could be more insignificant than me? Can you see that I am the smallest piece of nothing in the whole universe."
Geni's words were so simple; his logic so perfect. I was now the one lost in his telescoping imagination.
"But Tony," he went on, "the words of the magazine were speaking to me so clearly. They reminded me that I am in fact significant. How could this be? God was speaking to me through the pages of my magazine. He was telling me that even though I was ultimately small, I was also valuable, and I knew God was right."
-Tony Kriz, Neighbors and Wise Men: Sacred Encounters in a Portland Pub and Other Unexpected Places
"I could not stop thinking about quasars," Geni continued. He was no longer looking me in the eye, but was lost in the memory. "Compared to a quasar, our galaxy is nothing. It is only a piece of sand. Just a piece of sand." He rubbed his thumb and finger together to illustrate just how small that was. "Then if you compare our solar system to our galaxy, it is only a piece of sand. Then you have planet Earth. Earth is only a piece of sand in our sun system. That is a piece of sand inside a piece of sand inside a piece of sand." This mathematical drama was clearly inspiring to him. He continued, "Albania is a very small country. Albania is only a piece of sand on the earth and ..." Geni now looked me straight in the eye. "Tony, I am only a piece of sand inside my piece-of-sand country. I ask you, what could be more insignificant than me? Can you see that I am the smallest piece of nothing in the whole universe."
Geni's words were so simple; his logic so perfect. I was now the one lost in his telescoping imagination.
"But Tony," he went on, "the words of the magazine were speaking to me so clearly. They reminded me that I am in fact significant. How could this be? God was speaking to me through the pages of my magazine. He was telling me that even though I was ultimately small, I was also valuable, and I knew God was right."
-Tony Kriz, Neighbors and Wise Men: Sacred Encounters in a Portland Pub and Other Unexpected Places
Fifty years ago...................................
On Broadway..........................................Fiddler On The Roof
Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway in 1964, and stayed there for 3,242 shows. Zero Mostel was the original Tevye. Beatrice Arthur opened as Yente the Matchmaker.
Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway in 1964, and stayed there for 3,242 shows. Zero Mostel was the original Tevye. Beatrice Arthur opened as Yente the Matchmaker.
Realpolitik.........................
Walter Russell Mead weighs in on the latest Putin/Obama dance:
"At AI, our concern has always been that Putin sees the United States as an opponent in a zero sum contest, not a partner in a quest for win-win. Putin sees the American faith in win-win solutions as a long line of Russian negotiators back to czarist times have done: as an irritating though occasionally useful blend of hypocrisy and fecklessness. We worry that Putin sees Obama’s effort to keep bargaining in good faith over Syria, Iran and now perhaps Crimea as a weakness to be exploited, not a foundation for mutual trust and cooperation. Putin, we suspect, wants President Obama’s prestige damaged, and for American foreign policy to endure one setback and humiliation after another. He will happily play Lucy as long as President Obama is willing to play Charlie Brown and run at the football Lucy holds."
We live in interesting times.
"At AI, our concern has always been that Putin sees the United States as an opponent in a zero sum contest, not a partner in a quest for win-win. Putin sees the American faith in win-win solutions as a long line of Russian negotiators back to czarist times have done: as an irritating though occasionally useful blend of hypocrisy and fecklessness. We worry that Putin sees Obama’s effort to keep bargaining in good faith over Syria, Iran and now perhaps Crimea as a weakness to be exploited, not a foundation for mutual trust and cooperation. Putin, we suspect, wants President Obama’s prestige damaged, and for American foreign policy to endure one setback and humiliation after another. He will happily play Lucy as long as President Obama is willing to play Charlie Brown and run at the football Lucy holds."
We live in interesting times.
Explaining..................................
RELIGION, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.
-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
Lots of years and lots of miles.......
Jetboy shares a clip with Buddy Guy and Ronnie Wood messing around with an old Stones classic. If you want to see how a pro handles a broken guitar string, hang around until the 3:40 minute mark. Good stuff.
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