Reformation Day

Yes I know today is All Hallow's Eve and I intend to celebrate. But it is also Reformation Day, the day when Martin Luther started a revolution...kind of a big deal. Hammertime!

Keep Calm and Drink Green Tea

I have a cold. So I am drinking lots of green tea. I drink two cups of green tea every day but when I'm sick I up the dose to six or seven cups. Only way I make it.

Flags

Here is an interesting perspective on why you need to think twice about displaying the Confederate flag. Hint: It's not just about racism.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/25/opinion/obeidallah-confederate-flag/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

Brazza

Today is a Brazzaville kind of day. I am listening to nothing but Brazzaville.

photo: Brazzaville playing Uzbekistan

thought

For those who think they've got it all figured out...

"Our logic, itself a construction of language, is surely not capable of exhausting the infinite abundance of experience. Life is larger than thought."

- Roland Stromberg

Perspective from another Perspective

The same people who are throwing fits about the concept of Universal Healthcare are the same type of people who:

in Ireland rioted for a week after the release of the play The Playboy of the Western World by J.M. Synge.

rejected the art of Van Gogh, Picasso and Matisse as ridiculous.

as members of the Paris Academy ejected Maurice Ravel in 1903.

scorned the music of Gustav Mahler, Wagner, Debussy and Schoenberg.

rioted in the streets of Paris following the release of Igor Stravinksy's Rites of Spring.

declared that Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys was un-listenable.


They will be on the wrong side of history when all is said and done. There are serious flaws with "Obamacare." But don't obfuscate the issue with flaws in the Obamacare Website roll-out. Flaws there will be but I applaud the first efforts in a revolution to provide affordable healthcare for ALL people. First efforts are often sloppy but you have to take the first step. Outlawing pre-existing condition clauses and raising the age children can remain on their parent's insurance, allowing someone who works 40 hours a week on minimum wage access to affordable healthcare...these are bad things? 

Enabling people to get preventive screenings and visits that potentially ward off more expensive health issues...these are bad things? Giving insurance companies more competition for health care? I thought competition was a conservative and capitalist value.

Overreach? We require students to get an education until their mid-teens. We regulate food and drugs. We require protection against workplace abuses. We require drivers to carry insurance. Overreach? Or prudent governance?

This is tyranny?

Please.

Decades from now our children will be amazed that this was even a debate. 


painting: Riot in the Galleria. Umberto Boccioni. 1910

Perspective

Perspective.

If you earn over $50,000 annually you are in the top 1% of the world’s earners.

If you have $2,200 in assets like your home, car and clothes then you are among the top 50% of the world’s wealthiest people.

If you made $1,500 in income last year, then you are in the top 20% income earners in the world. You are richer than 80% of the world’s people.

If you have $61,000 in assets or $25,000 in income you’re in the top 10% of the world's richest people.

Source: MSN Money

Warrior

He has averaged an assist a game. He's become the best dribbler on the team. This was his breakout season. Four seasons just running around. Fifth season he becomes a player. Even picked up his first ever foul for pushing back the other team's biggest player and bully. Rarely have I been so proud than when he committed that foul. 

We Build Tomorrow

I was stunned when I first saw the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona on a college band trip in 1995. I had never seen a building like it. When I returned to Barcelona to live for a year in 1996-97 I often visited the cathedral because it was a never ending source of inspiration. I found myself becoming more creative just by being in proximity to Antoni Gaudi's famous work.

They have been working on the cathedral since 1883 and it is still not finished. But real progress is being made and some project that construction will be completed by 2026. It almost makes me sad to think that someday the whole thing will be finished. The never-ending work was part of it's mystique.

The firm that is overseeing construction has released this amazing video of what the finished project will look like upon completion. I love this building and have a poster of it hanging in my home. I would love to visit it when it is finally finished.

HERE is an excellent article about this miraculous church that appeared in Slate recently.

I miss Netscape

A few months ago I finally ditched Internet Explorer. IE would not open a lot of my favorite websites at my workstation. At home IE caused problems with YouTube and Adobe Flash. Although I felt like a tech adulterer, I began to mess around with Chrome and Firefox. Both browsers are so much more superior in so many ways. They're faster, less buggy, and much more secure against viruses. Personally I'm diggin' Firefox the most. But whenever I'm using Google products like Google Drive, Search, YouTube, etc I use Chrome. 

By habit I still find my mouse hovering over the e at the beginning of a browsing session but quickly head over to the fox that looks like he's on fire. 

Here's an article that gives even more reasons why you should ditch Explorer.

Bey Blade Madness!

BeyBlade Madness at the Morgan's. 

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

I can't believe I just discovered this amazing song from 1998. I can't stop listening to it. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel.

DIY

We were bored with The Moms out of the house for the afternoon. So we made a DIY pencil holder in the form of an upright piano. Look at all the things created out of boredom: Buddhism, Islam and DIY piano pencil holders made out of an Apple Jack cereal box. 

Malala

Malala Yousafzai is one of my heroes. Malala is the young Pakistani girl who as a fourteen-year old girl was shot by the Taliban on her school bus simply because she is an outspoken proponent of girls having the right to an education. She miraculously survived. She has a wisdom and courage beyond her years. She should be given the Nobel Peace Prize, there is no one more deserving. This short video clip of her interview with Jon Stewart will leave you speechless. Gives me chills.

 

No Privacy

No privacy. I lay on the floor for like 10 seconds and I'm already being judged. 

Fair Day

Life's not fair, except for one day a year: Fair Day. This year was cool and rainy. But we were prepared and the rain kept the crowds low. No lines and cool weather made for a perfect day at the Texas State Fair. The new Big Tex looked great. 

Serious Affairs

Weddings are serious affairs. We really should be paying attention. 

Ted Hearts Miley

Has Ted Cruz become the Miley Cyrus of the United States Senate. This article makes a convincing case. Please Ted, no twerking.

Cultural and Intellectual History

On the menu: Mozart, Beethoven, Darwin, Flaubert, Dostoevsky with a little Comte thrown in just to spice things up. 

Class Heathens

Me listening to my SMU prof discuss Marx, Darwin and Hegel. How dare they discuss such heathens at a Methodist institution!