Tuesday, March 31, 2009

One Hundred

"'O sole mio" is a globally known Neapolitan song written in 1898. It has been performed and covered by many artists, including such stalwarts of opera as Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, Mario Lanza, Andrea Bocelli, The Three Tenors, as well as rock/pop artists such Bryan Adams and Elvis Presley. The lyrics were written by Giovanni Capurro, and the melody was composed by Eduardo di Capua. Though there are versions in other languages, 'O sole mio is usually sung in the original Neapolitan language. 'O sole mio is the Neapolitan equivalent of Standard Italian Il sole mio and translates literally as "My Sun" (not "Oh My Sun").

In 1915 Charles W. Harrison recorded the first English translation of "O Sole Mio." In 1921, William E. Booth-Clibborn wrote lyrics for a hymn using the music, titled Down From His Glory.

In 1949, U.S. singer Tony Martin recorded "There's No Tomorrow", which used the melody of "O Sole Mio." About ten years later, while stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army, Elvis Presley heard the recording, and put to tape a private version of the song. Upon his discharge, he requested that new lyrics be written especially for him, a job that was undertaken by the songwriting duo of Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold, with a demo by David Hill. The rewritten version was titled "It's Now or Never" and was a worldwide hit for Presley.

In October 2002 a judge in Turin declared that Alfredo Mazzucchi (1878-1972), previously considered only as a music transcriber, was actually a legitimate third author. The song is protected at least in Italy until 2022.



It's now or never,
come hold me tight
Kiss me my darling,
be mine tonight
Tomorrow will be too late,
it's now or never
My love won't wait.

When I first saw you
with your smile so tender
My heart was captured,
my soul surrendered
I'd spend a lifetime
waiting for the right time
Now that your near
the time is here at last.

It's now or never,
come hold me tight
Kiss me my darling,
be mine tonight
Tomorrow will be too late,
it's now or never
My love won't wait.

Just like a willow,
we would cry an ocean
If we lost true love
and sweet devotion
Your lips excite me,
let your arms invite me
For who knows when
we'll meet again this way

It's now or never,
come hold me tight
Kiss me my darling,
be mine tonight
Tomorrow will be too late,
it's now or never
My love won't wait.

VOLARE

"Nel blu dipinto di blu" ("In the blue painted blue"), popularly known as "Volare" (Italian for the infinitive form of the verb "to fly"), is Domenico Modugno's signature song.

It is the only song ever by an Italian artist to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Domenico Modugno's recording of this song was the first Grammy winner for Record of the Year (1958). It is also the only foreign-language recording (sung entirely in Italian) to take this top honor. In addition, the song was Billboard's #1 single for 1958. It is one of only three "one-hit wonders" to become single of the year in the history of Billboard's Hot 100 (followed by 1962's "Stranger On The Shore" by Mr. Acker Bilk; and, 2006's "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter).

------------------------------

The song became widely known as "Volare," from its refrain, and reached the top of the charts all over the world through translations into various languages: "Воларе (Volare)" in Russian by Sofia Rotaru[1]; "Dans le bleu du ciel bleu," France (translated by Jacques Larue in 1958); "En el azul del cielo," Spain; "Jouw ogen," Belgium; "Taivaan sinessä," Finland; "Azul pintado de azul," Mexico, Argentina, Brazil.

A year after the Eurovision the first Grammy Awards ceremony was held, and Modugno received awards for both Song of the Year and Record of the Year. Billboard magazine also awarded Modugno a prize for best song of the year, and he received three gold records from the recording industry: best singer, best song, best-seller album.

The song's popularity endures, and it was voted as the second favourite entry in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest at the 50th anniversary concert in Copenhagen, Denmark, 2005.

-------------------------

When ABBA’s "Waterloo," was voted as the "all time favourite song of the Eurovision Song Contest" (Volare came second), the creators Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, said when they received the prize

I myself voted for "Volare" but I am pleased that so many people voted for us.

-------------------------

Volare, oh oh, cantare, oh oh oh oh
Let's fly way up to the clouds, away from the maddening crowds
We can sing in the glow of a star that i know of
Where lovers enjoy peace of mind
Let us leave the confusion and all disillusion behind
Just like bird of a feather, a rainbow together we'll find
Volare, oh oh, e contare, oh oh oh oh
No wonder my happy heart sings
Your love has given me wings
Penso che un sogno cosi non ritorni mai piu
Mi dipingevo le mani e la faccia di blu
Poi d'improvviso venivo dal vento rapito
E incominciavo a volare nel cielo infinito

Volare, oh oh, e contare, oh oh oh oh
Nel blu, dipinto di blu, felice di stare lassu
E volavo, volavo felice piu in alto del sole ed ancora piu su
Mentre il mondo pian piano spariva lontano laggiu
Una musica dolce suonava soltanto per me
Volare, oh oh, e cantare, oh oh oh oh
No wonder my happy heart sings, your love has given me wings
Nel blu, dipinto di blu, felice di stare lassu

(this is the english version)
Sometimes the world is a valley of heartaches and tears,
And in the hustle and bustle, no sunshine appears,
But you and i have our love always there to remind us
There is a way we can leave all the shadows behind us.
Volare, oh, oh! cantare, oh, oh, oh, oh!
Let's fly way up in the clouds,away from the maddening crowds
We can sing in the glow of a star that i know of
Where lovers enjoy peace of mind
Let us leave the confusion and all disillusion behind
Just like birds of a feather, a rainbow together we'll find
Volare, oh, oh! cantare, oh, oh, oh, oh!
No wonder my happy heart sings, your love has given me wings
Your love has given me wings, your love has given me wings

(this is the italian version)
Penso che un sogno cosþ non ritorni mai pi-
Mi dipingevo le mani e la faccia di blu
Poi d'improvviso venivo dal vento rapito
E incominciavo a volare nel cielo infinito
Volare, oh, oh! cantare, oh, oh, oh, oh!
Nel blu, dipinto di blu, felice di stare lass-
E volavo, volavo felice pi- in alto del sole ed ancora pi- su
Mentre il mondo pian piano spariva lontano laggi-
Una musica dolce suonava soltanto per me
Volare, oh, oh! cantare, oh, oh, oh, oh!
Nel blu, dipinto di blu, felice di stare lass-
Nel biu, dipinto di blu, felice di stare lass

early USA History and Harvard

1400s

1492 - Christopher Columbus lands on one of the Bahamas Islands.
1497 - John Cabot lands in Newfoundland, begins the British presence in N.America.

1500s

1513 - Vasco Núñez de Balboa crosses isthmus of Panama, sees Pacific Ocean.
1513 - Juan Ponce de León defeats Tlaxcala, a small state near the Aztec empire.
1520s - Spanish begin conquest of Maya civilization.
1521 - Hernán Cortés destroys the Aztec empire.
1524 - Giovanni da Verrazzano, working for France, explores coastline from present-day Maine to North Carolina.
1542 - Hernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River, strengthening Spanish claims to the interior of North America.
1565 - Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founds St. Augustine, Florida the first Spanish settlement in the New World, and is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the continental United States.
1570s - Iroquois Confederacy founded.
1587 - Sir Walter Raleigh founds Roanoke Colony, the first English settlement in the New World, in the Virginia Colony.
1590 - Roanoke Colony found deserted.

1600s

1603 - Queen Elizabeth I dies, is succeeded by James VI of Scotland as James I.
1607 - Jamestown Settlement is founded by English gold seekers.
1607 - Colony of Virginia founded.
1614 - Dutch claim New Netherland.
1620 - Mayflower Compact signed.
1628 - Massachusetts Bay Colony founded.
1624 - Foundation of New York City as New Amsterdam.
1630 - Winthrop Fleet travels to Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1630 - Rensselaerwyck founded.
1634 - Province of Maryland founded.
1634 - Theologian Roger Williams banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1635 - Connecticut Colony founded by Thomas Hooker.
1636 - Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations founded by Roger Williams.
1636 - Harvard College founded.

John married Ann Sadler (1614-1655), of Ringmer, Sussex, in April, 1636, daughter of the Rev. John Sadler and sister of Harvard's contemporary, John Sadler, the lawyer and orientalist.

In May 1637 he emigrated with his wife to New England and settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts, where many of his classmates had arrived before him. Charlestown made him the minister of the Church, but within the following year he contracted tuberculosis and died on September 14, 1638. He is buried at the Phipps Street Cemetery in Charlestown.

Childless, Harvard bequeathed £779 (half of his estate) and his library of around 400volumes to the New College at nearby Cambridge, which had been founded on September 8, 1636, and to his friend, the first schoolmaster of this college, Nathaniel Eaton. Eaton's Records indicate that the building of the new college began immediately in 1638 with the assistance of the carpenter Thomas Meakins and/or his son, Thomas Meakins, Jr. of Charlestown. It was completely constructed of wood, with a stone foundation and cellar, had its own apple orchard, and was apparently equipped with live-in accommodations for some 30 students, as there were at least that many attendant within the first year.

The school renamed itself "Harvard College" on March 13, 1639, and Harvard was first referred to as a university rather than a college by the new Massachusetts constitution of 1780.

No records or illustrations remain of the earliest college, which burnt to the ground in 1764 along with all but one of Harvard's original 400 volume donation.

Singularity and ORIGINS...

I was thinking about fishing or hunting. When you catch the first fish, do you think to yourself, "well, I might as well quit and go home... that was the only one in here..."

No... I was just think how strange it is that we never accept one of anything... no matter what you are hunting for... rabbits, gold, diamonds etc... if you find one of anything, you always figure there are more where that came from...

what made me think of it was the idea of FIRST CAUSE... of course, the concept of FIRST CAUSE makes no sense philosophically, because it is a misuse... if everything has a cause then the first cause has a cause etc...

but anyway, I was thinking about how early humans cultures had multiple gods... isn't that what you'd expect... multiple gods to explain multiple unknown things in nature...

which made me research monotheism in the posts below... I thought it was a Hebrew invention, but from what little I read seems to suggest it wasn't...

so I was thinking about the idea of just one god... and then also thinking about the concept of false gods...

why wouldn't there be multiple gods... I mean if there can be a god, wouldn't expect where you find one, there are others???

certainly the mother of god wouldn't create just one god...

can you imagine if suddenly we could start all human memory over from scratch... erase all history, but let human intelligence etc. be what it is today...

what if there was no oral or written history and no historical records but we could all read and write and had computers etc... but all historical information was deleted...

what would each culture cook up as to origins... AND, even within cultures, wouldn't you expect a tremendous diversity...

maybe it would have about the same diversity we have today??? or would it???

and what would the different cultures say about the other cultures explanations of origins???

Mono

The word monotheism is derived from the Greek μόνος meaning "single" and θεός meaning "God". The English term was first used by Henry More in the 17th century.

The first monotheist in history seems to be the penultimate Hyksos King of Avaris, named Apophis, who took Sutheck (Set) to be his sole deity, and enforced this god on the population by means of banning worship of all other gods, and allowing the sacred animals of the Egyptians to be killed.[citation needed] Following the second intermediate period, Akhnaton replicated the monotheism of Apothis but with the Aten disk as the one-god of monotheism.

The concept sees a gradual development out of notions of henotheism and monolatrism. In the Ancient Near East, each city had a local patron deity, such as Shamash at Larsa or Sin at Ur. The first claims of global supremacy of a specific god date to the Late Bronze Age, with Akhenaten's Great Hymn to the Aten (connected to Judaism by Sigmund Freud in his Moses and Monotheism), and, depending on dating issues, Zoroaster's Gathas to Ahura Mazda.[citation needed] Currents of monism or monotheism emerge in Vedic India in the same period, with e.g. the Nasadiya Sukta. Philosophical monotheism and the associated concept of absolute good and evil emerges in Classical Antiquity, notably with Plato (c.f. Euthyphro dilemma), elaborated into the idea of The One in Neoplatonism, later culminating in the doctrines of Christology in Early Christianity and finally (by the 7th century) in the radical tawhid in Islam.

Torah

The Torah is the most holy of the sacred writings in Judaism. It is the first of three sections in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), the founding religious document of Judaism, and is divided into five books, whose names in English are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, in reference to their themes.

wikipedia says:

Academic analysis

Many contemporary secular biblical scholars date the completion of the Torah, as well as the prophets and the historical books, no earlier than the Persian period (539 to 334 BCE). Scholarly discussion for much of the 20th century was principally couched in terms of the documentary hypothesis, according to which the Torah is a synthesis of documents from a small number of originally independent sources.

According to the most influential version of the hypothesis, as formulated by Julius Wellhausen (1844 - 1918), the Pentateuch is composed of four separate and identifiable texts, dating roughly from the period of Solomon up until exilic priests and scribes. These various texts were brought together as one document (the Five Books of Moses of the Torah) by scribes after the exile.

The Jahwist (or J) - written c 950 BCE. The southern kingdom's (i.e. Judah) interpretation. It is named according to the prolific use of the name "Yahweh" (or Jaweh, in German, the divine name or Tetragrammaton) in its text.

The Elohist (or E) - written c 850 BCE. The northern kingdom's (i.e. Israel) interpretation. As above, it is named because of its preferred use of "Elohim" (Generic name any heathen god or deity in Hebrew).

The Deuteronomist (or D) - written c 650-621 BCE. Dating specifically from the time of King Josiah of Judah and responsible for the book of Deuteronomy as well as Joshua and most of the subsequent books up to 2 Kings.

The Priestly source (or P) - written during or after the exile, c 550-400 BCE. So named because of its focus on Levitical laws.

The documentary hypothesis has been increasingly challenged since the 1970s, and alternative views now see the Torah as having been compiled from a multitude of small fragments rather than a handful of large coherent source texts, or as having gradually accreted over many centuries and through many hands. The shorthand Yahwist, Priestly and Deuteronomistic is still used nevertheless to characterise identifiable and differentiable content and style.

The 19th century dating of the final form of Genesis and the Pentateuch to c. 500-450 BCE continues to be widely accepted irrespective of the model adopted, although a minority of scholars known as biblical minimalists argue for a date largely or entirely within the last two centuries BCE.

Kali Munro dot com

All I Really Need To Know
I Learned In Kindergarten
by Robert Fulghum

- an excerpt from the book, All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten




All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW about how to live and what to do
and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not
at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the
sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:



Share everything.

Play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life - learn some and think some
and draw and paint and sing and dance and play
and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic,
hold hands, and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup:
The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody
really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even
the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die.
So do we.

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books
and the first word you learned - the biggest
word of all - LOOK.



Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.
Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any of those items and extrapolate it into
sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your
family life or your work or your government or
your world and it holds true and clear and firm.
Think what a better world it would be if
all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about
three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with
our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments
had a basic policy to always put thing back where
they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you
are - when you go out into the world, it is best
to hold hands and stick together.



© Robert Fulghum, 1990.
Found in Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, Villard Books: New York, 1990, page 6-7.

Monday, March 30, 2009

1960's themes

Theatre writer Scott Miller explained why the hippie movement embraced these themes:

The youth of America, especially those on college campuses, started protesting all the things that they saw wrong with America: racism, environmental destruction, poverty, sexism and sexual repression, violence at home and the war in Vietnam, depersonalization from new technologies, and corruption in politics.... Contrary to popular opinion, the hippies had great respect for America and believed that they were the true patriots, the only ones who genuinely wanted to save our country and make it the best it could be once again.... Long hair was the hippies' flag—their... symbol not only of rebellion but also of new possibilities, a symbol of the rejection of discrimination and restrictive gender roles (a philosophy celebrated in the song "My Conviction"). It symbolized equality between men and women. In addition... the hippies' chosen clothing also made statements. Drab work clothes (jeans, work shirts, pea coats) were a rejection of materialism. Clothing from other cultures, particularly the Third World and native Americans, represented their awareness of the global community and their rejection of U.S. imperialism and selfishness. Simple cotton dresses and other natural fabrics were a rejection of synthetics, a return to natural things and simpler times. Some hippies wore old World War II or Civil War jackets as way of co-opting the symbols of war into their newfound philosophy of nonviolence.

HAIR

Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. The musical's profanity, its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment of sexuality, its irreverence for the American flag, and its nude scene caused much comment and controversy. The musical broke new ground in musical theatre by defining the genre of the "rock musical", utilizing a racially-integrated cast and inviting the audience onstage for a "Be-in" finale.

Hair tells the story of the "tribe", a group of politically active, long-haired "Hippies of the Age of Aquarius" fighting against conscription to the Vietnam War and living a bohemian life together in New York City. Claude, his good friend Berger, their roommate Sheila and all their friends struggle to balance their young lives, loves and the sexual revolution with their pacifist rebellion against the war and the conservative impulses of their parents and society. Ultimately Claude must decide whether or not to resist the draft, as his friends have done.

After an off-Broadway debut in October 1967 at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and another run in a midtown discothèque space, the show opened on Broadway in April 1968 and ran for 1,750 performances, followed by a successful London production, which ran for 1,997 performances. Numerous productions have been staged around the world since then, and numerous recordings of the musical have been released. Several of the songs from its score became Top 40 hits, and a feature film adaptation was released in 1979. A Broadway revival began previews on March 6, 2009 and is scheduled to open on March 31.

Rebellion

just thinking about what makes acting "rebellious" so much fun... and how it is expressed...

made me listen to some of the original songs from HAIR...

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Obama/Notre Dame

sad to see the direction the Catholic Church has taken the last 50 years...

my thesis has always been the technological progress has so far outstipped the pace of cultural progress and that because of the lag, humanity fails to solve so many of it's problems...

James Burke

Ariadne, in Greek mythology, was daughter of King Minos of Crete and his queen, Pasiphaë, daughter of Helios, the Sun-titan.

Since ancient Greek legends were passed down through oral tradition, many variations of this and other myths exist. According to one version of the legend, Minos attacked Athens after his son was killed there. The Athenians asked for terms, and were required to sacrifice seven young men and seven maidens every nine years to the Minotaur. One year, the sacrificial party included Theseus, a young man who volunteered to come and kill the Minotaur. Ariadne fell in love at first sight, and helped him by giving him a sword and a ball of red fleece thread that she was spinning, so that he could unroll the ball of thread and find his way out of the Minotaur's labyrinth.

Ariadne's thread, named for the legend of Ariadne, is the term used to describe the solving of a problem with multiple apparent means of proceeding - such as a physical maze, a logic puzzle, or an ethical dilemma - through an exhaustive application of logic to all available routes. It is the particular method used that is able to follow completely through to trace steps or take point by point a series of found truths in a contingent, ordered search that reaches a desired end position. This process can take the form of a mental record, a physical marking, or even a philosophical debate; it is the process itself that assumes the name.

I lot of things I write have common threads that I'm afraid are missed or misunderstood...

the TWINKIE defense

watched part of Harvey Milk...

frenchmen , books, and humans

I wrote Lucy about Henri Bergson and his ideas about the sources of morality... then yesterday I bought a copy of THE GOD WITHIN by Rene Dubos...

Rene won the Pulitzer Prize for SO HUMAN AN ANIMAL in 1969... that is so long ago for today's generations... I assume no one has read it... I think it is the book where he says "think globally, act locally..."

makes me think in terms of how human behavior is are part HARD WIRED and part ACQUIRED... makes me think again how we are in such DENIAL of who and what mankind is...

still thinking of the other idea I read about last week... how GOD left us a book... but he didn't tell us which one it is... I think that is so cute...

and lastly, the Harvard philosopher Santayana... the atheist Catholic who said, "there is no GOD, but Mary is his mother..."

bacteria/virus

wow, sick for several days... it does take a few days... the first recognition not feeling well day... the next feeling worse day... the feeling bad day but turning the corner with the worst over... the day of improvement where you feel you are heading back to normal... kind of a four day mini illness...

felt like I was poisoned... guess my immune system was just fighting "things"... nice to have an immune system that works...

Thursday, March 26, 2009

THE MAN IN THE MOON

was made ten years before LEGALLY BLONDE... Reese Witherspoon was really young... sappy movie but I really enjoyed it... guess it was the first movie she was in...

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Sun morn 6am

Peaceful mornings always make me think.

LOOKING BACKWARD... made me think by decade by state...

:)

trying to decide if three things create the peaceful feeling... age... time to think and reflect... and lack of stress...

it is really partly age but mostly having non stress time because of no schedule...

time is such a luxury...

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Sat morn 6am

just felt like eating Brussels cookies... ate almost a whole bag... finised reading a really dumb Orson Scott Card book... not sure what I'll read next...

seemed like a fast and strange week... wondering what next week will bring...

Friday, March 20, 2009

Obama on Leno

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ksxlpGhgX8

Friday 6am

seems like so much going on...

read Lucy's blogs...

reminded me of the old story, called GRANDFATHERS ROCK... it is about a family who could no longer care for the grandfather... so the father carried him on his back and walked with the little grandson and granddaughter along the path to the old folks home...

everyone hated the idea of putting the grandfather into the nursing home... but there seemed to be no alternative... well, it was a hot and long walk in the sun... up and down hills with no shade... finally on the last hill, there was a big rock under a shade tree... the father said, "Let's stop here for just a little bit and then we can make it the rest of the way."

as they were all getting up to finish the journey, the little girl said to her brother, "This is a nice cool place to rest. We'll have to remember this spot when we take Daddy to the old folks home!"

without saying a word, the father carrying the grandfather, abruptly turned around and started back in the direction they came from...

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Thursday 4am

kind of distracted following Nadal playing Nalbandian on the live scoreboard... sure wish the match had been televised... Nalbandian served the match and had a match point and now it is 5-5 in the second set...

anyway, picked Marilyn up at the airport yesterday... Chic-Fil-A...

took Riz for an early am walk...

thinking about what to snack on... and what to think about... maybe I'll read...

:)

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Lucy

don't forget to read my comments below yours... :)

still more overnight

but it isn't a long term equilibrium...

I'll do something today... but I don't know what all... the usual suspects...

:)

but nice to feel the stillness until I move...

more overnight

very VERY peaceful and quiet again overnight...

was reading about apples... pink lady, fuji and gala... pink lady's are hard to find... apples seem expensive... I also like jonagold... anyway, fuji's have been on sale... they are pretty good...

such a mellow time... the ides of march 2009... hard to believe... the last 40 years have flown by... makes me think life has been about 40 years... younger than that doesn't count... I mean when we are young we don't know what is going on really... don't really know what reality really is... but, even when we do know reality, day to day living and working is "different"... we really are too busy to think and reflect...

it almost seems like this is REALLY the first time in my life to really think... that isn't quite fair... but it seems that way...

reminds me of a quote... "When you see everything, you see nothing."

which means to me that if you have too much knowledge or too much information, you really have no knowledge or no information... because you are past or beyond or outside of "normal" perception... and then we don't see things "normally" and normal is real...

I was thinking I could turn that around... "When you see nothing, you see everything."

which is kind of how I feel now... just relaxing into nothingness makes you see and feel everything... a fullness and richness of just being in and enjoying the moment...

no agenda, no plan, no anxiety...

I think it is the luxury of CONTROL... absolute control over everything... not in a power sense... but in a flexibility sense...

it is nice to just look around and see... to absorb... but it is the lack of effort or need for effort that is so nice... no worry or concern...

no desire yet every possibility...

I think that is the key... to have such choice AND control WITHOUT necessity or urgency...

overnight

there was something exhilarating about peddling last evening before sunset... wonder how fast I was going... surely I hit 20mph... seems FAST... and a little dangerous if one would crash...

I remember several years ago... riding a friends really nice and fast roadbike with a speedometer... I can't remember the fastest I went... seems like it was 24 or 25 miles per hour... I remember hitting a wall... by that I mean I felt my legs could have peddled much faster etc. but the wind resistance was too much to overcome...

anyway, today I counted my peddling... I was thinking there must be a way to estimate my speed...

I tried to watch my breathing and my peddling... I think I was peddling about two revolutions a second... that is probably close... just now I went to my bike and measured distance... I estimate that a 1/4 peddle is 7 feet... that is 28 feet per peddle... and at 2 peddle revolutions per second, that is 56 feet per second... which, comes out to about 19 mile per hour... that is probably close...

I mean it is in the ballpark... the math is right... it was a complete estimate for me to say I was peddling at 2 revolutions per second... I know it was a lot faster than 1 rev/sec, but to say it was 2 revs/sec is just a guess... but with that I get 19mph... so it is close...

interesting...

Monday, March 16, 2009

6am

traded comments with Lucy while she updated her blog... made me think about coffee shops and cafes and snack bars... me thinks places like Great Harvest Bread stores are better values for one's dollar... probably by the pound buffets would be the way to go... with snacks or sandwiches etc... maybe a supervised build your own buffet line... then weigh the finished snack at the end of the line/cashier...

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Triple Trouble

Wow, so sobering jogging...

made it two miles... thinking I've never been so old... never been so heavy... and never been so out of shape...

not that I'm in bad shape... I'm in pretty good shape... it is just that age and weight and fitness all add up...

it is just hard to cut back on calories and increase exercise...

makes me think of Skip... people just don't complain about age as much as I feel like complaining about getting old... Skip had said for years... "I'm getting too old for my lifestyle..."

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Fridays fotos at St Pete Pier







the ship was originally used in Mutiny on the Bounty and then much later in Pirates of the Caribbean... we didnt' go on it... cost $5... instead we went inside to the Aquarium which cost $5 adults and $4 students... and the Aquarium was LAME.... the Aquarium is really small and used to be free... really a rip off...

Thursdays fotos at home




Friday, March 13, 2009

Gone but not forgotten

funny scene saying bye to Woody and Collin at the airport... Lilly and I didn't get boarding passes but walked with them thru a LONG line at Allegiant Air until they got to the screening point... the security man checked them in and I asked him if they'd be okay without their parents... and in front of everyone he said, "YES!" then we said bye and as they turned to walk away I made Woody come back and give me a "reluctant" hug... and then Collin too!!! and then as they were walking away I called out and asked Woody to call me to let me know everything was okay... and then with everyone still watching and listening and Woody turning every shade of red, I did my Peter Falk COLUMBO thing and said, "Oh, Woody, just one more thing..." and everyone started smiling and chuckling and poor Woody and Collin were just dying and then I asked if anyone there was interested in acquiring a couple of teenage boys...

What made me think

of the book below was that today I bought a very early book written by Margarat Atwood long before she was famous.

Quiz

Nikos Kazantzakis lost the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature to Albert Camus by one vote.

Camus claimed that Kazantzakis deserved the honour "a hundred times more" than himself.

Can you name the book?

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

the "IT" that thinks in me

someone wrote and asked me to explain...

I wrote them and asked who/what thinks in you??? what/who are you???

partly you are genetic... partly generic... humans have the ability to imagine... to think... we are physically endowed with certain abilities...

this ability is then made personal by what you have experienced AND the decisions you make/made...

also, my idea comes from a correction to Rene Descartes who said, "I think therefore I am!" The correction says that humans can think apart from being a self... that the ability to think is one thing and the concept of the "I" is another thing... so that the thinking is really an "it"... other literature refers to ourselves as the "ghost" in the machine... our bodies, the machine... our concept of self, the ghost... in that sense the ghost would be the "it"...

lastly, everything is information, AND the "it" comes from a "bit" of info...

====

just thinking how there are such human "universals"... such common feelings and understandings that we all have and all experience...

and that we build walls up around ourselves and privatize not just our possessions but our feelings...

so that "it" as the common humanity in us all gets pushed aside to the narrower and more specific ego...

and I don't mean it is bad to be an individual or build up private property and private net worth... but that it is a choice we make...

reminds me of the lyrics to John Lennon's IMAGINE... thinking about how far humanity is from "living as one"...

THE THING

rented the 1982 remake of the classic THE THING, starring Kurt Russell... Woody and I laughed and laughed and laughed in this one scene that wasn't supposed to be funny...

you could tell it was an old movie from the quality of the special effects... next time we want to watch a movie like that, I think I'll get ALIEN for us to watch...

the days go by so quickly... we've used 30 sunscreen and I'm afraid Woody hasn't gotten a good tan... should have probably used 15 to 20 sunscreen part of the time...

anyway, fun fun times... the weather has just been so AWESOME... warm and sunshiny but not hot... warm in the sun, but such a nice cool breeze off the gulf here...

that is the way Florida winters are...

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Ideal Gas Laws




still thinking about how I showed this to Colin and Woody and encouraged them to take chemistry and physics in their junior and senior year...

and that just makes me think about education...

rather than Ideal Gas Laws, I think if Charles and Boyles Law... or the relationship between pressure, temperature and volume...

and kind of telling Colin and Woody how so much of our knowledge is the last 100 years... but is it... or is it the application of 19th century science???

if you were to drop names... Copernicus, Newton, then I don't think it is fair to drop just say one name a century... whose name would you drop... Lavoisier/Priestly, Pasteur, Dalton, Darwin, Mendel, Maxwell and finally Thomson discovering the electron...

that brings you up to the 20th Century...

makes me think the 19th century was the real explosion that took us from animal power and cave men to all kinds of technology... I don't think of Einstein as really changing technology...

it was 19th century chemisty, genetics and the electron really changed the world... I think of the 20th century as one of accuracy... precision manufacturing...

20th century computers are speed... but day in day out pasteurization saved lives... I mean the discovery of bacteria etc... and I think we'd still have computers etc. without Einstein... we just maybe wouldn't have nuclear weapons...

that would be an interesting novel or thesis... stop scientific knowledge at 1899... unlike the book by Edward Bellamy... LOOKING BACKWARD... just take what we know in 1899 and refined it without the 20th century theoretical additions... how much is
19th century... maybe we wouldn't have anti-lock brakes, but we'd have good brakes...

what if we stopped all scientific knowledge and all theory at 1899... but we could use everything known then in a technological sense... does DNA and cloning really matter to us??? do we use our knowledge of DNA in everyday medicine???

I'm not trying to be a Luddite...

anyway, just superfluous thoughts... just thinking maybe so much is superfluous...

but then again, that is to be human... to be above survival... animals don't have superfluous thoughts or activities... altho I think they do have "play"...

Lilly and I talked about that... that Colin and Woody "play"...

:)


well, maybe I'm off the subject...

feeling my age





Colin hopes that he and Woody will both go to college at UK...

cause thay are young and they make me think about the meaning of life... not that I don't think about it all the time... I do... but then if Woody plays tennis for another 40 years, he'll still be younger than I am now...

it isn't that I am so sad or regret being so old, but I sure do feel physically old now...

I didn't feel old at 50... actually, it kind of crept up on me the last three years... maybe mid 50's was the real decline... I could feel it before my kidney operation in Aug '07...

I could go back and outline a lot of steps toward old age... but I won't... was just thinking of them... but I do wonder if my diet could change things... guess the worst part of my diet is sugar... cookies and cokes... I should substitute fruits and juices...

anyway, just hard not to think about it... and hard not to feel like I have THREE lives... OH, KY and FL...

nice to have Woody here for a week to kind of make life seem a little more "continuous" for lack of a better word...

I guess maybe it is nice to tie things together... people, places and things...

and thinking about Sarah and Lucy... this is quite a year... with Lucy in Europe and Sarah getting married... is a big and busy year for everyone... 2009...

Tuesday




time sure flies...

Colin, Woody, Lilly and I had another fun filled day...

Woody played tennis for an hour with some really really good 25 year old boy we met at the Venice tennis courts... this guy and Woody were just crushing balls back and forth to each other... older players kind of sat around and watched in amazement... you cold hear the older tennis players talking... they'd say, "yeah, those boys must be from Bolleterries..."

we went to the beach to cool off afterwords... then we came home for a chicken breast spaghetti and center slice of ham dinner... Colin liked the spaghetti best and Woody the ham... Lilly took the boys to BLOCKBUSTER to rent a couple movies and fixed brownies for a snack... while they were out getting the movies, I called and talked to Nana for half an hour...

so the day just seemed to fly by...

hope everyone reading this is having fun...

my love...

Monday, March 9, 2009

Old

wow, after looking at the photos I posted, I am feeling old... it is tempting to take the photos down... feeling like THE OLD MAN IN THE SEA...

what to eat




still can't decide what I'm hungry for, but after looking at Lucy's photos, I thought I'd post a couple more from today...

off to snack...

more diet

after being up a couple of hours I was about to write how I am struggling not to go into the kitchen and get COOKIES !!! then, I got distracted by awesome photos posted by Lucy on her blog...

so, I brushed my teeth... do I make Sunflower seed bread toast, pancakes or just eat cookies??? wow, I didn't even consider an apple...

still can't get over Lucy's pictures from Berne...

and was just thinking how wild life is... Nana was telling me how much she enjoyed Sarah's call and hearing all about Sarah's wedding plans etc... and Woody is here... and now reading Lucy's blog... it is all so wild and wonderful...

diet

oh, I woke up thinking my diet has slipped away from me...

eating too many cookies and sweets and junk food... instead of healthier fruits and veggies... I kind of see the pattern... for a couple weeks I ate more apples and orange juice etc... but now I've slipped back to cookies and cokes etc... I can feel the difference... need to exercise a little willpower...

so, I'll see what I can do... by writing this maybe I can shift back to better eating... I'll report back in a week and see if I have made progress...

Sunday, March 8, 2009

the Beach


seems like the day just flew by... we were up til 3 am Friday night or Sat morning... just snacking and getting settled in... didn't get back from the airport til around 12:30am...

then we got up early on Sat... played tennis and then went to the beach... we were all tired but you would have never really know it...

we had boneless chicken breasts AND center sliced ham for dinner with a baked potato... the favorite drink seems to be something Lilly picked out... Canada Dry GREEN TEA GINGER ALE...

then Woody and Colin played games and read til bed time... Woody started and finished Dan Brown's DIGITAL FORTRESS... couldn't tell if Woody thought it was any good or not... it was Brown's first novel from 1998... didn't realize he has another one coming out called THE SOLOMON KEY... consensus is that ANGELS n DEMONS is the best...

anyway, Woody wants to play more tennis and basketball on Sunday... after tennis yesterday we stopped by a yard sale and picked up a basketball...

so will the boys play tennis and basketball, Lilly and I might do the Venice Arts Festival today...

http://artfestival.com/events/visitorsShow/79/1




Friday, March 6, 2009

Friday morn

peddled on the Legacy Trail for half an hour yesterday... that was fun... did a lot of housework with Lilly... busy day again... getting ready for Woody...

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Overnight

a busy day yesterday getting ready for Woody... then I jogged a couple miles right at sunset... and feel like I pigged out for dinner and dessert...

made a bag Martha White muffin mix into one huge choc chip muffin in a round cake pan dish... topped with powdered sugar... it is really good...

just now looking up the Legacy Bike Trail... nice project... don't know how much of it is completed...

http://scg.co.sarasota.fl.us/rails-to-trails/TrailMaps.asp

http://scg.co.sarasota.fl.us/rails-to-trails/documents/Legacy_Trail_under_const.pdf

more Mom

I think Mom will be okay... we kind of figured out that she is taking too much blood pressure medicine... don't know why her doctor increased the dosage so much... but now I think her blood pressure is too low and that is why she fell so much... need to get her to reduce the dosage...

Monday, March 2, 2009

Mom on Monday

Wow, mom fell three times on Monday... she is sore and wonders how she will feel when she gets up on Tuesday... wondering if she is just bruised and scraped up or if she's worse and has to go to the hospital???

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Woody n Colin

we're all excited... they are coming for Spring Break...

LIVES and Time Passes

Al Stewart & Peter White

It was late in December, the sky turned to snow
All round the day was going down slow
Night like a river beginning to flow
I felt the beat of my mind go
Drifting into time passages
Years go falling in the fading light
Time passages
Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight

----

Feb is gone and so are other things...

just read about Siegfried n Roy taking a final bow and then the Obits of Paul n Angel Harvey... and the some baseball history including Cornelius McGillicuddy, Sr.
and yesterday there was a story about Ed McMahon being sick and hospitalized and there were a couple funny/sick comments people wrote in like:

I hope you practicing, " Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Jehovah!!!"

And another, "See you soon, Ed." Johnny Carson

and all this ties into watching the OSCARS again this year... time passes... everyone is getting OLDER...

:)

but I got onto McGillicuddy by reading about the IV's political activity... CPAC had about 9,000 people talking about the future of the Republican Party etc...

it is all interesting cause I think everyone likes PUBLIC SCHOOLS and many other things...

----

thinking that the work and future is up to the ENERGETIC !!! and that how to do things is influenced by how people think... how people acquire thinking patterns is part rational and partly irrational... and it takes a lot of EDUCATION to know the difference... and a lot of EDUCATION to overcome acquired habits of thought and action... it is very hard to overcome ones birth...