Thursday, January 31, 2008

hallowe'en 2008, perhaps

"pretty soon i knew the tune, i sat and sang under the moon"



Song: "Jungle" by ELO/Jeff Lynne (1977)

Video: This guy

conspiracy theory well worth support

"And I am working on being more grateful. I'm aiming my thanks at the thousand of things we take for granted, things that would be a miracle if they only happened once. I noticed a pigeon the other day. It had fantastical colors, incredible bearing, and shimmering feathers. I feel sure that if there were only one of these specimens alive in the world, we would all agree it would be the most beautiful bird in the world. We'd push and shove to see it. Almost every moment in our lives is a pigeon overlooked. "

-Kevin Kelly

Listen to his essay "The Universe is Conspiring to Help Us" for NPR's series This I Believe

37 day countdown


seems so obvious

You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.

-Albert Einstein

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

sixty years without you

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
10/2/1869 - 1/30/1948

“I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and non-violence are as old as the hills.”


















See: Ghandi (1982) winner of Best Picture, Actor, Screenplay and Director

menthol gum will wake you up


Tuesday, January 29, 2008

if airport security seems inconvenient


Swedish American Line - Gothenburg Direct, New Yok & Canada
1950

sf 1999


ding ding, round 2 (of 5)


"The name comes from Middle English Twisday, from Old English Tiwes dæg, named after the Nordic god Tyr, who was the equivalent of the Roman war god Mars, and Greek god Ares/Aries.
Tyr is the god of single combat and heroic glory in Norse mythology, portrayed as a one-handed man."
Text copied from Wikipedia

Monday, January 28, 2008

unnecessary needs


"The cultivation and expansion of needs is the antithesis of wisdom. It is also the antithesis of freedom and peace. Every increase of needs tends to increase one's dependence on outside forces...only by a reduction of needs can one promote a genuine reduction in those tensions which are the ultimate causes of strife and war."


-E.F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered 1973



watch out world


The Magic Power of Emotional Appeal by Roy Garn, 1960

say what, cookie?

"You will enjoy razor-sharp spiritual vision today."

Learn Chinese: Boyfriend "nan-pun-yau"

Lucky Numbers: 42, 37, 29, 12, 36, 25

fat tuesday - 8 day countdown











it's only monday?

Friday, January 25, 2008

nice to see "plain vanilla" getting so much use



A Spiral of Losses by a ‘Plain Vanilla’ Trader

By Nelson D Scwartz Published: January 25, 2008


PARIS
— On the elite trading floors here, where France’s brightest minds devise some of the most complex instruments in global finance, few people noticed Jérôme Kerviel.

He was lucky to be there at all. Many of his colleagues had been plucked from the prestigious Grandes Ecoles — the Harvards and
M.I.T.’s of France — and wielded advanced degrees in math or engineering. Mr. Kerviel arrived from business school and started out shuffling paper in the back office....



who doesn't love peanut brittle?

Microwave Peanut Brittle - A Quick How To

Ingredients:
1-1.5 cups of dry roasted peanuts
1 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tbsp of butter
1 tsp of vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt (or less)

Tools:
Micorowave safe bowl - Large
Hard plastic or metal mixing spoon
Measuring cups & spoons
Cookie sheet, large caserole dish or tin foil for spreading mixture
Airtight container for leftovers (if any)

Method:

  1. Mix peanuts, sugar, cornsyrup & salt in the microwave safe bowl
  2. Microwave on high for 4 minutes, stir mixture and quickly return to the microwave for another 4 minutes
  3. Quickly stir in butter and vanilla and return to the micorwave for the final 2 minutes
  4. Add the baking soda and stir quickly until the mix is light and foamy
  5. Immediately pour the mixture onto a lightly-greased baking sheet, caserole dish or tin foil spreading it out as thinly as possible.
  6. Allow the mix to cool - then break it into small pieces and store in an airtight container.

CleanUp:

Use a flexible plastic bowl for the microwave steps. To clean, just run cold water in the bowl to harden any leftover brittle. As you bend and move the bowl, the brittle will just pop off.

Use a hard plastic spoon for mixing. Clean it by knocking it against the sink. The brittle should pop right off.

"traveling among women is so much more pleasant"

Mexicans ride women-only bus to detour sex harassment
3 days ago


MEXICO CITY (AFP) — "Traveling among women is so much more pleasant," says Alejandra Lugo as she takes a seat on the women's only bus that began circulating earlier this month in Mexico City.

"Otherwise, I have men sticking to me," she says of her past days on the mixed-sex buses. "And here I am, 58 years old. Imagine how they treat the younger girls."

The just-for-women city bus began on Monday as part of an experimental program aimed at protecting female passengers who are frequently exposed to sexual harassment on public transportation, where officials say 14 percent of rapes, sexual harassment and abuse took place in 2007...

Wednesday, January 23, 2008