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Solitude

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:39:23 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Great things are done when men and mountains met.
This is not done by jostling in the street.
--William Blake

You do not need to leave your room.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
Do not even listen, simply wait,
be quiet, still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked,
it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
—Franz Kafka, Senses

Hell is other people.
--Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit

It is necessary not to be "myself," still less to be "ourselves."
--Simone Weil, Decreation

I have never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.
--Henry David Thoreau, Walden

We live as we dream -- alone.
--Joseph Conrad

the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe.
-- Tao Te Ching,

Tags: solitude

In India's north, the worst place to be born a girl

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:56:07 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.iht.com

MACHRIHWA, India: The birth of a boy in Machrihwa is celebrated with the purchase of sweetmeats, distributed with joy to fellow villagers.

The birth of a girl is, for the most part, not celebrated at all.

Women in this village are not eager to dwell on the subject, but many of those with daughters grudgingly admit that worse than the pain of childbirth was the misery of realizing that they had delivered a girl.

Juganti Prasad, 30, remembers the reproachful silence that settled over the room where she gave birth to her third daughter. Her mother-in-law handed her the child, and said curtly, "It's a girl, again," before leaving her.

"There was no one even to give me a glass of water," Prasad said. "No one bothered to look after me or feed me because it was a girl."

As she lay recovering, she could hear relatives in the next-door hut lamenting the calamity. A few weeks afterward, her husband threw her and their three daughters out of his home.

Tags: india, girls

Monks make the best Beer

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:29:05 GMT

clipped by: boozich
clipper's remarks: I've gotta get a hold of some!!

Clip Source: muzich.blogspot.com

Monks make the Best Beer

The Trappist monks at St. Sixtus monastery WESTVLETEREN, Belgium

have been brewing Westvleteren beer at this remote spot near the French border since 1839. Their brew, offered in strengths up to 10.2% alcohol by volume, is among the most highly prized in the world.

They haven't increased production since 1946. They sell only from their front gate. You have to make an appointment and there's a limit: two, 24-bottle cases a month.

"We sell beer to live, and not vice versa," says Brother Joris

Rate Beer and Beer Advocate, rank the strongest of Westvleteren's three products, a dark creamy beer known as "the 12," best in the world, ahead of beers including Sweden's Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter and Minnesota's Surly Darkness. "No question, it is the holy grail of beers,"

using a recipe they've kept to themselves for around 170 years. The result is a brew with a slightly sweet, heavily alcoholic, fruity aftertaste.

Tags: best, beer, monks

Definition of LIfe

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 09:47:32 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.thedailystar.net

What is life ? I wanted to get a unique definition of life from different persons like day-labourers, rickshaw-pullers, friends, colleagues, students, teachers, celebrities, domestic helps, high officials etc. Every person puzzled me. I am not satisfied with their definitions!

According to a rickshaw-puller, " Life is a dustbin of unbearable woes and sufferings". A student expressed his opinion this way, "Life is full of struggles and new challenges. An American- born 25-year old Bangladeshi defined ," Life is dollars . If there is no dollar in life , life is meaningless. Dollars have a miraculous power

A day labourer gave the definition as," Being unfed and unclothed is life. I never thought about life." A famous teacher told, “Life is colourless. there is no unique definition of life , surviving by adjusting to all things is life.” A well known celebrity said, " Life is full of rhythm, dreams, enthusiasm, affection , feeling and music. SUV, BMW, LCD Plasma are essential items of life."

Thought for the Day

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:09:23 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: www.city-data.com

Handle every situation like a dog.

If you can't Eat it or Chew it.

Pee on it and Walk Away.

Tags: humor, dog

The Genius of Photography

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:50:09 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: See more including credits and comments on site which looks at recent BBC series, 'The Genius of Photography"

Clip Source: callmesig.wordpress.com

This elegant, studious documentary - the first of a six-part series - leads us from ancient Rome to the Great War. Taking as its starting point the baffling natural phenomenon of camera obscura, it reveals how mathematician Henry Fox Talbot’s inability to draw led him to pioneer photographic methods, and how the new discovery made a big impression on painter Edgar Degas. The early tussle to see which photographic process would gain the upper hand is a fascinating one. Though occasionally dry and prone to pseudobabble, it covers a lot of territory, and Denis Lawson’s arch narration is the perfect accompaniment to some unforgettable images.
Source: Review in the Radio Times

Tags: photography, history of photography

Layers of Time

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:37:13 GMT

clipped by: shunyax

Clip Source: www.kk.org

This is an extreme closeup scan (2400 dpi) of a paint chip retrieved from the ruins of Belmont Art Park by Amy McKenzie earlier this year. The fragment is about 1cm thick, and appears to consist of about 150-200 layers of paint. (For a sense of scale, note the ridges of my fingerprint in the lower right.) This should give you an idea of the staggering number of pieces painted in this spot over the decades. The park used to be surrounded by one long wall covered with artwork, but that wall was illegally demolished by real estate developers earlier this year.

Tags: patterns

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:07:33 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: it's not your talent it's your mind set

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Many people assume that superior intelligence or ability is a key to success. But more than three decades of research shows that an overemphasis on intellect or talent—and the implication that such traits are innate and fixed—leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unmotivated to learn.

Teaching people to have a “growth mind-set,” which encourages a focus on effort rather than on intelligence or talent, produces high achievers in school and in life.

Parents and teachers can engender a growth mind-set in children by praising them for their effort or persistence (rather than for their intelligence), by telling success stories that emphasize hard work and love of learning, and by teaching them about the brain as a learning machine.

Our society worships talent, and many people assume that possessing superior intelligence or ability—along with confidence in that ability—is a recipe for success

Tags: science, research, talent, learning, brain, mind set

Daredevil Evel Knievel dead at 69

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:48:20 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator

Clip Source: sportsillustrated.cnn.com

Daredevil Evel Knievel dead at 69

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) -- Evel Knievel, the red-white-and-blue-spangled motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho's Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Knievel's death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs.

He steadily increased the length of the jumps until, on New Year's Day 1968, he was nearly killed when he jumped 151 feet across the fountains in front of Caesar's Palace. He cleared the fountains but the crash landing put him in the hospital in a coma for a month.

Robbie Knievel followed in his father's footsteps as a daredevil, jumping a moving locomotive in a 200-foot, ramp-to-ramp motorcycle stunt on live television in 2000. He also jumped a 200-foot-wide chasm of the Grand Canyon.

Tags: daredevil, evel knievel, dead, motorcycle, news

A Splash of Color! Totally awsome picture! Won 11 awards

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 23:58:44 GMT

clipped by: Jessbluebear

Clip Source: www.dpchallenge.com

A Splash of Color

Tags: splash, of, color, waterdrop, rainbow, calm, peace, serenity

My love, I cannot live without you

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:13:18 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: entertainment.timesonline.co.uk

French philosopher Andre Gorz wrote his terminally ill wife a moving letter before their joint suicide last month. Here we publish it in Britain for the first time

The joint suicide of André Gorz, the French philosopher and founder of the magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, and his British-born wife Dorine, who was suffering from a fatal disease, has turned the love letter that he wrote to her into a surprise bestseller.

Gorz, 84, a friend of Jean-Paul Sartre, and Dorine, 83, committed suicide by lethal injection at their home in the village of Vosnon, east of Paris, on September 22. Two days later a friend found them lying side-by-side in their bedroom.

Tags: love

Santa Train Takes Toddlers On Sex Tour.

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:48:35 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Hahaha, oh my goodness. I do NOT know which Victoria's Secret outlet they are talking about, but it sure sounds like a whole lot more fun, than the one I know!! Geeeez!

Watch your kids folks! We ALL know how subversive and dangerous a bra can be!! Cover their eyes!! Ugh.

Clip Source: www.wnd.com

Santa train takes kids to sexy Victoria's Secret

Toddler attraction features lingerie display

The kids' Santa train at the White Flint shopping mall in Bethesda, Md., is giving the tots an eyeful, taking them past a storefront display of "SEXY" lingerie, according to a consumer who complained to the shopping plaza's owners.

Rebecca McMurry called the situation, "Marketing of Evil, Washington suburban style,"

referring to "The Marketing of Evil" book by David Kupelian, WND's managing editor, which outlines the campaigns responsible for selling sex and violence agendas to the American public.

I am shocked!

we were greeted by a sleazy display of near pornographic sado-masochistic sexist mannequins in the display windows of Victoria's Secret

It was bad enough for me to be humiliated by the scene, but what about the children

things have reached a disastrous low when you have a 'porn shop' on the main level.

This is just so awful

"I told them I wasn't going to go back to the mall,"

they don't care.

Tags: porn, santa, kids, xmas, killer underwear, terrorist thongs, subversive bras, v for victoria, s for stupidity

Self Improvement advice from the Devil

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:48:09 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: retiredat21.com

1 - Borrow money from pessimists — they don’t expect it back.

2 - Half the people you know are below average.

3 - 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.

4 - 82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

5 - A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

6 - A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

8 - If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

9 - Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

11 - Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.

12 - Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

13 - I intend to live forever……so far, so good.

14 - Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.

15 - If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

16 - A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

17 - Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.

19 - The sooner you fall behind, the more time you’ll have to catch up.

Tags: funny

Books Ahoy!

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:04:15 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: www.bookcrossing.com

Welcome to BookCrossing, where 612,950 people in over 130 countries come to share their passion for books with the world. How? It’s easy.

Simply click on the link below and sign up for free in less than 1 minute-- that's it!

At BookCrossing, you can register any book you have on the site, and then set the book free to travel the world and find new readers.

Leave it on a park bench, at a coffee shop, at a hotel on vacation. Share it with a friend or tuck it onto a bookshelf at the gym -- anywhere it might find a new reader! What happens next is up to fate, and we never know where our books might travel next. Track the book's journey around the world as it is passed on from person to person.

Join hundreds of thousands of active BookCrossers daily in our many forums to discuss your favorite authors, characters and books in every genre throughout history right up through current releases.

Tags: books, cool ideas

Should Spanking Be Illegal?

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 13:36:25 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

Massachusetts lawmakers say a proposed measure that would ban parents from spanking their children, even in their own homes, is a way to protect kids from abuse. But many parents believe it's an example of government run amok.

In all 50 states, parents are legally allowed to spank their children. But in 29 states it's illegal for a teacher to practice corporal punishment, including spanking.

A Massachusetts nurse is hoping to change that and make the state the first in the nation to ban corporal punishment at home.

"I think it's ironic that domestic violence applies to everyone except the most vulnerable — children," said Kathleen Wolf, who wrote the bill.

And one mother echoed the sentiments of many, saying, "I don't want the government telling me how to raise my children."

Nineteen countries have banned corporal punishment, and some child-rearing experts believe one day the United States will do so as well.

Tags: my, parents, would, still, be, in, jail