I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work… I want to achieve it through not dying.
Woody Allen
US movie actor, comedian, & director (1935 – )
Category: philosophy
Steve Jobs – the crazy one
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
A lot of people like best his 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech. (VIDEO)
It’s a simple, humble, narrative-driven speech, touching on his adoption, his decision to drop out of Reed College, getting fired from and then returning to Apple, and being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004
t.c moore – Artist
My cousin t.c moore is an Artist and instructor out of Petaluma, California. She’s just launched a website showcasing her work.
… Using an array of natural materials, particularly nature’s detritus – horse hair, hoof clippings, wood shavings, teeth, egg shells, feathers, spider webs – I create work which celebrates the organic unity of all living things. My work is inspired by the Biophilia hypothesis, a term coined by E.O. Wilson which states that humans as a species have a universal love for the natural world. I feel we suffer from “nature deficit disorder” and one goal for my work is to translate my feelings of wonder and awe of the materials, cycles and processes of nature. …
Check her Portfolio online.
Rick McCharles – outstanding in his field
I’m pretty much the very best in the world in my field. 🙂
I’m finishing up Idaho Expedition Race. Flying to Vancouver Thursday for the BC Gymnastics Congress. From there back to Calgary the following week. I’ve got to stay one step ahead of the competition in my field.
… What is it I do, again?
in defense of Ayn Rand
“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
The other, of course, involves orcs.”
– Attributed to Paul Krugman.
Atlas Shrugged had that effect on me.
… explores a dystopian United States where leading innovators, ranging from industrialists to artists, refuse to be exploited by society.
The protagonist, Dagny Taggart, sees society collapse around her as the government increasingly asserts control over all industry (including Taggart Transcontinental, the once mighty transcontinental railroad for which she serves as the Vice President of Operations), while society’s most productive citizens, led by the mysterious John Galt, progressively disappear. …
I’ve given Atlas Shrugged to a number of teens. It’s an important book …
Kids need to learn that all men are not created equal, rather that all men should have equal opportunity.
Kids need to learn that we should promote and encourage greatness.
Kids need to learn that authority organizations can ruin their lives ... OK, they already know that.
Now I find myself defending Ayn Rand alongside fans as odious as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. That does hurt.
The new Ayn Rand movie adaptation Atlas Shrugged Part 1 got nuked and ridiculed on the Slate Culture Gabfest audiocast.
Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.
I’m going to see it. Unfortunately the producer of the Ayn Rand adaptation said:
… that he is reconsidering his plans to make Parts 2 and 3 because of scathing reviews and flagging box office returns for the film.
“Critics, you won,” …
I hope he joins Gault and makes the two sequels.
Rick’s END OF THE WORLD poems
Back in High School we were very worried about Nuclear War. I even recall missing school, taking the bus downtown to an anti-Nuke Rally.
(We ended up at Jaffee’s comic book store and the pool hall.)
Here are a couple of my first poems:
____________
The many people I have known
Were scattered in that blast and blown
Up to the sky and on beyond,
Up to the God that looked and yawned
And turned away, not the other cheek,
But turned away the mild and meek,
The good, the bad, the young and old;
He turned away the strong and bold,
The rich, the poor, the black the white,
All were equal in His vast sight.
They stood together in a crowd.
He shock His fist and spoke aloud.
“I want no part of you damn men,
I’ll simply go and start again.”
____________
quite remarkable
indeed they are
and finished in less than a week
they say
it really is amazing what modern Science can do
these days
i know what you mean
imitations so identical like that
they are good
very good
perfect in fact
at least right now
but they say that they are created in Our own image
exactly
no
maybe someday
when they are filled perhaps
but not now
i wish i could start over too
____________
I wrote those in 1973-74, a Language Arts option High School class. Teacher Ms Gloria Dalton.
Voluntary Simplicity – Burning Down the House
Rob Paradis’ house burned down. He and his wife were devastated.
… Soon after, however, they felt oddly relieved. This was a chance for renewal. A fresh start.
My personal philosophy over the past 20yrs is Voluntary Simplicity. … :
Do more with less.
– Bucky Fuller
Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
– John Ruskin
He who knows he has enough is rich.
– Lao-tzu
… Nod now in sage agreement
Yet, embarrassingly, I’ve had for decades a garbage dump of STUFF in storage.
Finally, I’ve burned down my own house, … or about 60% of it.
I shed possessions in these categories:
• paper
• clothing
• STUFF
• electronics
I’ll never get on the TV show Hoarders, now.
Most difficult to donate to charity was clothing. Though I’m not a nostalgic person, I was nearly brought to tears dumping a t-shirt I hadn’t worn since High School.
What about YOU. … Ready to do some ‘Spring Cleaning’ at your place?
P.S.
… Dana will be pleased to hear that my “Underwear Box” survived the fire. (But it’s been combined into the “Underwear / Socks Box”.)
Say No to Stuff, Yes to Trips
My favourite blog these days is philosophical adventurer, Alastair Humphreys.
Can money buy you happiness? asked Stephanie Rosenbloom in The New York Times. That depends. Several different studies point to the conclusion:
“Spending money for an experience–concert tickets, French lessons, sushi-rolling classes, a hotel room in Monaco–produce longer-lasting satisfaction than spending money on plain old stuff.” …
details – Say No to Stuff, Yes to Trips
If you are a Shaw Cable subscriber, you can pay your monthly bill knowing that titular Jim Shaw is getting a $16,000-a-day pension.
He can say Yes to Stuff, Yes to Trips.
fast and dirty …
But good enough for me.
My personal philosophy is Voluntary Simplicity.
This about sums up my success, so far.
Posted by Avi Abrams on Facebook. He edits the excellent Dark Roasted Blend photo blog out of Calgary.
what if you had only 5min to live?
I’ve been following Alastair Humphreys‘ adventure blog closely for many months.
Check out one of his posts:
What Would You Say If You Had Only 5 Minutes Left To Live?
Life is precious. It is short. It is wonderful. It is fun. It is filled with limitless possibility.
Do good things for other people. You don’t have to do this all the time, for we are not saints. But do it more often than you have previously done. And you may be surprised how good it makes you feel.
Stop caring about stuff. With just one minute left before I die I cannot believe I wasted hours and days earning extra money to buy a bigger car, a bigger telly, and jeans with a fancy brand badge sewn on to them.
In all the spare time saved by not needing to buy expensive stuff I would encourage myself to spend more time outdoors, climbing up hills, sledging down them, jumping into rivers, walking the streets of my home town talking to people. Read more books, listen to more music, watch less lazy TV.
Laugh more, whinge less.
Run more, eat less.
Take time now and then to stop and watch the sunrise or set, watch the power of a summer thunderstorm, look up at the full moon, or kick your feet through a pile of crunchy autumn leaves. The world is a wild and beautiful place. And it is easy to forget that when we spend so much time indoors.
Don’t settle for “good enough”. Make your life as interesting, varied, exciting and challenging as possible. You will regret it if you do not.
Strive to live each minute as though you had but five more minutes to live.
Rick McCharles 