Clipmarks |

Life Is A Test, Graded On A Curve

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:14:52 GMT

clipped by: carrerinyes

At age 4, success is...not peeing in your pants.
   At age 12, success is...having friends.
     At age 16, success is...having a driver's license.
       At age 20, success is...having sex.
        At age 35, success is...having money.
        At age 50, success is...having money.
       At age 60, success is...having sex.
     At age 70, success is...having a driver's license.
   At age 75, success is...having friends.
At age 90, success is...not peeing in your pants.

A-Z of English words with surprising origins

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:35:30 GMT

clipped by: Fast T friend
clipper's remarks: Did you know for instance that Sabotage is supposed to derive from the tendency of striking workers to damage machinery by throwing shoes into it? - sabot being an old French word for a wooden shoe.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Award-winning etymologist Henry Hitchings thought he did, until he studied the origins of English

When I set out to write a study of the history of words, I thought I had a decent grasp of where even the most curious English ones originate. Those with the prefix al- - as in alchemy and alcohol - often have Arabic roots, and many seafaring terms - skipper, schooner, land-lubber - are Dutch.

Many words in common usage, like dachshund, flamenco and tattoo, have foreign origins

But there were plenty of surprises. Who knew that marmalade, for instance, while eternally associated in my mind with Paddington Bear, is in fact Portuguese? So here is an A-to-Z of some of my favourite English words that have been absorbed from and inspired by other languages.

A is for…

Avocado, which comes from Nahuatl, a language spoken by the Aztecs. Their name for it, ahuacatl, also meant ''testicle".

B is for…

Bonsai. Although we think the tree-cultivating art is Japanese, it originated in China.

Tags: words, origin, etymology, english

T. Jefferson: religious freedom is for "Jews, Gentiles, Christians, Mahometans, Hindoos, & infidels"

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:17:40 GMT

clipped by: Lexica
clipper's remarks: If you want to know whether the Founding Fathers intended this to be a "Christian nation", all you have to do is look at their own words. These are from Thomas Jefferson's autobiography.

Also, remember that in 1797 the Treaty of Tripoli stated that "the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion".

Clip Source: www.mahablog.com

Thomas Jefferson wrote about this in his autobiography, discussing the adoption of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom:

The bill for establishing religious freedom, the principles of which had, to a certain degree, been enacted before, I had drawn in all the latitude of reason & right. It still met with opposition; but, with some mutilations in the preamble, it was finally passed; and a singular proposition proved that it’s protection of opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word “Jesus Christ,” so that it should read “a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion.” The insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of it’s protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.

Tags: history, thomas-jefferson, religion, religious-freedom, first-amendment

"Astounding Futuristic Pyramid In Kazakhstan"

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:40:55 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly

Clip Source: mysterytopia.com

Since 2006, Kazakhstan's new capital city of Astana, itself an enormous hub of construction since it inherited the title in 1997, has been home to one of the world's most impressive and visually futuristic pyramids, known as the palace of peace and reconciliation. it was designed by british super-architects foster + partners, cost 8.74 billion kazakh tenge and was built to accommodate the triennial 'congress of world and traditional religions'. if there was ever a positive to be found for the existence of the idiocy we know and love as religion, this building could be it, as after an impressively rapid 2 years of design and construction, the end product is a masterpiece.

below: the visible 5-storey pyramid section of the palace is as high as its base is wide (203ft) and is to be the centrepiece of the country's 'presidential park'.

below: the dove-covered stained glass of the congress chamber.

Underwater Sculptures by Jason de Caires Taylor

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:47:26 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.underwatersculpture.com

Jason de Caires Taylor’s underwater sculptures create a unique, absorbing and expansive visual seascape. Highlighting natural ecological processes Taylor’s interventions explore the intricate relationships that exist between art and environment. His works become artificial reefs, attracting marine life, while offering the viewer privileged temporal encounters, as the shifting sand of the ocean floor, and the works change from moment to moment.

Clip Source: www.underwatersculpture.com

Vicissitudes

Vicissitudes depicts a circle of figures, all linked through holding hands. These are life-size casts taken from a group of children of diverse ethnic background. Circular in structure and located five meters below the surface, the work both withstands strong currents and replicates one of the primary geometric shapes, evoking ideas of unity and continuum.

Clip Source: www.underwatersculpture.com

The Un-Still Life

Clip Source: www.underwatersculpture.com

The Lost Correspondent

Clip Source: www.underwatersculpture.com

Grace Reef

Clip Source: www.underwatersculpture.com

Sienna

Clip Source: www.underwatersculpture.com

La Diablesse

Clip Source: 66.102.9.104

Happy Thanksgiving Clipmarkonians

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:27:13 GMT

clipped by: carrerinyes

Clip Source: sniffles.stumbleupon.com

Upon Return, Jesus Taken For Pussy Liberal

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:14:18 GMT

clipped by: lifecyce1898

Clip Source: www.bigfib.com

Jesus Christ made his grand return Friday but apparently has been taken for a "pussy commie liberal" by most of the townspeople he's encountered.

Jesus told reporters that all weekend he wandered around town trying to help those in need of salvation however he was told by countless citizens to "cut [his] f**kin' hair," or "put on some real man's clothes." He was reportedly called everything from a "pinko latte-sipping liberal peace-freak" to a "queer ball-less God-hating elitist fairy."

When Jesus told one man that the man's Hummer was not good for the environment and contributing to war waged for oil, the man accused him of being a troop-hating terrorist. Mary Spurns, 43, claimed Jesus was an illegal immigrant who was trying to take her job. Even though the Lord's child said he had no interest in Spurns' position as a cashier at the Fashion Bug, the woman still alerted the authorities who soon learned Christ had no identification cards and was therefore in the country illegally.