thought for today

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”

Anatole France (1844-1924)

Eternal Sinshine of the spotless mind

Cool movie and concept but it occurs to me it is Ground Hog Day without the learning, less painful but ultimately meaningless.

Schrödinger's cat

What does it mean to change something by observing it. Is it there is you cannot see it, but it to look distroys it what then?

Kandinsky Cool - the path to abstraction

On Visiting the New Tate in London

On arrival my understanding of kandinsky was thin to say the least. What was behind him and his paintings? What famous stuff did he do? When did he leave and where and what was his influences?

What a well put together show. I it felt like a show, in all the good ways, with it neat media presentation of Dell Handhelds and well arranged plot.

Overall memories:

• Kandinsky heard colours
  

The new tate - what a great building, London is such a great city, a beautiful sunny day helped.

Thanks, Sue and kids for a great day.

The Catering Queen

Toronto Fringe Theatre Festival, 2006.

A bit awkwardly acted and some clunky dialogue in places but a nice story, really and believable and as the actors warmed the roles mellowed and the characters came to life. The comedy revealed itself slowly and pleasingly.

Overall an entertaining time.

3 out of 5.

An Inconvenient Truth

Just saw this moving movie...

Good parts:

• clean and easy to understand
• great to see the things that Gore has been doing
• interesting to see a bit about his background
  
• makes me realise I should do more

• the evidence is really clear, it is difficult to misinterprit if you are looking
• temperatures are out of the range they should be and is is changing fast
• weather patterns are changing, ice is melting,
• we can make a difference, but we need to change the way we do things.
  

Not so good parts:

• can't help thinking there is a bit of election positioning here
  
• "my friend" gets used a lot
• a bit irritating

Is it a movie about Al Gore or a movie about the environmental issues facings us? difficult to tell and perhaps it doesn't matter. Overall great way to spend a few hours.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inconvenient_truth/

great source of information

18,000 free books and counting -

http://www.gutenberg.org/

Cool place to hang out for a few hours.........

George Carlin

A free thinker and cool comedian of your time. Not always agreeing with him, but agreement is not required.

http://www.georgecarlin.com/home/home.html

Here is a summary of our time. I highlighted the ones that really reasonated with me.

The paradox of our time in history is that
we have taller buildings but shorter tempers,
wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less;
we buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families,
more conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees but less sense,
more knowledge, but less judgment,
more experts, yet more problems,
more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much,
spend too recklessly, laugh too little,
drive too fast, get too angry,
stay up too late, get up too tired,
read too little, watch TV too much,
and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions,
but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and
hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We've added years to life not life to years.
We've been all the way
to the moon and back,
but have trouble crossing the street
to meet a new neighbor.
We conquered outer space but not inner space.

We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less.

We plan more, but accomplish less.

We've learned to rush, but not to wait.
We build more computers to hold more information,
to produce more copies than ever,
but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion,
big men and small character,
steep profits and shallow relationships.
These are the days of two incomes but more divorce,
fancier houses, but broken homes.

These are days of quick trips,
disposable diapers, throwaway morality,
one night stands, overweight bodies,
and pills that do everything from cheer,
to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is
much in the showroom window
and nothing in the stockroom.
A time when technology
can bring this letter to you,
and a time when you can choose
either to share this insight,
or to just hit delete.

Remember; spend some time
with your loved ones,
because they are not going
to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe,
because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember to give a warm hug to
the one next to you because that is the only
treasure you can give with your heart
and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones,
but most of all mean it.
A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt
when it comes from deep
inside of you.
Remember to hold hands
and cherish the moment for someday
that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak
and give time to share the precious thoughts in your min

We NEED to exaggerate and that is no exaggeration

An artistic perspective.

From Ancient art to the height of Greek and roman sculpture exaggeration is inevitable.... That is the conclusion of a recent TVO program on art.

From early figures of pair shaped females to the height of Greek sculpture something inside us needs to exaggerate for effect and for realism. We see the world in an exaggerated way, this is who we are.

What does this mean for us? I am not sure, but it causes me to wonder what reality is.

Words that are missing from the English language

It has occurred to me that there are words missing from the language that combine the action and the intent. The more I examine life the intend for an action appears to hold the real value and the real reward and so what really needs to be communicated.

To buy a gift for someone to show them you care vs to buy a gift to win favor is completely different. Or less personally, to travel in order to tick the list is different that traveling to absorb a people and a place and a culture. Neither are wrong, just different and while the language can be used the describe the difference this difference is often missed and the use of language to describe is complex.

For example:

To question someone can be good, but can also be done with malice or with predetermined message as fake questioning to get to a specific point. It seems to easy to question without the intent being clear and to easy to try to hid the intent. I have often been given the advice to ask more questions, which seems good advice, but really the advice, I think, was listen carefully to others, be open to their ideas, question for honest understanding. So why not have a word that means all that. It seems perhaps that would be useful.


References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_language#The_nature_of_meaning

So this is Wisdom

So this is Wisdom

Knowing how people feel without having to ask
Knowing and having to Known all
Confirming thought processes after the door is open
Fake concern for others of the worst kind
Assumptions are made and later confirmed
The worst abuse of scientific research processes
Other feels are understood, anticipated, minimized, resolved and handled, fini.

NOT, please remember.