January 2010
56 posts
“The constant struggle in mature life, I think, is to accept the necessity of...”
– Sylvia Plath
“From this point on in our lives, she had whispered to him earlier, we will...”
– Michael Ondaatje
“Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out...”
– François Duc de La Rochefoucauld
1 tag
'Great foods you're probably missing' →
1. Beets
2. Pumpkin
5. (Fresh) Mint
6. Salsa
7. Coconut
“I can’t convey it and he can’t see it; there’s nothing to be...”
– Kay Jamison, An Unquiet Mind
“We accept the love we think we deserve.”
– Stephen Chbosky
'The Coming Fury of an Angry America' →
In the distant future, historians will consider the rise, fall, and collapse of the great American Dream and conclude that was the cause of all that followed. None will be surprised at the all too human response of anger, frustration, and action in the teeth of injustice and inequality. After all, history is full of angry people who just weren’t going to take it anymore. They will wonder only how...
“De-emphasizing who you are on the level of form is another way of generating...”
– Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
'To be or not to be?' →
Take the phrase, “My brother is lazy.” It seems clear, but Korzybski and Bourland would say it deceives: it implies certainty and objectivity, when in reality it expresses an opinion. Even, “The sky is blue” papers over the details: I really mean, “The sky appears blue to me.” “Our judgments can only be probabilistic,” wrote Allen Walker Read, a...
'Humanitarian aid or military occupation?' →
In a puff piece meant to support this occupation, Time magazine perhaps unintentionally revealed the colonial nature of the operation. ‘Haiti,’ they write, ‘for all intents and purposes, became the 51st state at 4:53 p.m. Tuesday in the wake of its deadly earthquake. If not a state, then at least a ward of the state.’ The US is using its position of power to impose its...
'Love Life, Not Stuff' →
Realize that life, not stuff, is what matters. Objects are just objects —if you lose them, if they get stolen or destroyed … it’s not a big deal. They’re just objects —not your life. Your life is the series of moments that is steaming through your consciousness right now, and how you use those moments and what you fill them with is what truly matters, not what you fill your home with. At the end...
'Monopolies control health insurance' →
‘Although the overwhelming majority of the American people support it, there’s no public option, no end of the anti-trust exemption for the health insurance industry, no option for people over 55 to buy into Medicare, no ability of the government to negotiate drug prices or import cheaper drugs from Canada, and no real regulation of health insurance premiums,’ said Zack Kaldveer,...
'Too Little Too Late for Haiti?' →
Take hundreds of thousands of people. Shock them with a major earthquake and dozens of aftershocks. Take away their homes and put them out in the open. Take away all water and food and medical care. Sit them out in the open for days with scorching temperatures. Surround them with tens of thousands of decaying bodies. People have to drink. So they are drinking bad water. They are getting sick....
'Hell Pizza in unholy row' →
New Zealand Church has condemned the opening of a Hell Pizza outlet, claiming the chain is making dough out of the devil. Hell Pizza’s advertising in Springfield features slogans such as ‘Kids are evil, feed them’, while their pizzas feature names like Hot as Hell, Underworld, Purgatory, and Damned.
“Each morning, we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.”
– Buddha
'US Army prosecutes single mother for refusing to... →
Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, a 21-year-old Army cook, refused to deploy to Afghanistan in November because she had no one to take care of her 10-month-old son. Hutchinson said when she brought her situation to her superiors’ attention, they told her that she would have to deploy anyway and place the child in foster care. […] Today, the Army filed charges against her and, if convicted in a...
'Unconventional ways to de-stress' →
1. Massage your ears
3. Learn the art of Minimalism
4. Learn the power of laughter
6. Be brutally honest
7. Dance in the rain
“Now, if I, whose name is Peace, am a personage glorified by the united praise of...”
– Erasmus, The Complaint of Peace
The Age of Rockets —Avada Kedavra
E-mails from an Asshole →
This website is Genius; here’s a gem to wet your whistle …
“But in the end, back she comes. There’s no use resisting. She goes to him...”
– Margaret Atwood
'FB doesn't understand the meaning of privacy' →
Facebook is trapped by its own conventions, too. It’s a social networking site, a goldmine of private information. Like a Middle Eastern country sitting on top of an ocean of oil, Facebook feels a business-driven pressure to let outsiders (ad companies) drill deep into their reserves, so they can shove Coldplay tickets in front of Coldplay fans and job listings in front of college seniors,...