Todays Thought

From everything that man erects and builds in his urge for living, nothing in my eyes is better and more valuable than bridges. They are more important than houses, more sacred than shrines. Belonging to everyone and being equal to everyone, useful, always built with a sense, on the spot where most human needs are crossing, they are more durable than other buildings and they do not serve for anything secret or bad. 

-Ivo Andric, novelist, Nobel laureate (9 Oct 1892-1975)

Todays Thought

When Alexander the Great visited Diogenes and asked whether he could do anything for the famed teacher, Diogenes replied: “Only stand out of my light.” Perhaps some day we shall know how to heighten creativity. Until then, one of the best things we can do for creative men and women is to stand out of their light.

 -John W. Gardner, author and educator (8 Oct 1912-2002)

Be Happy

The No. 1 key to a happier, longer life—'that younger people don't' know, according to the oldest and 'wisest' Americans

According to the older adults Pillemer interviewed, these are the most valuable things you can do with your time:

1. Say things now to people you care about — whether it's expressing gratitude, asking for forgiveness, or getting information.
2. Spend the maximum amount of time with your parents and children.
3. Savor daily pleasures instead of waiting for "big-ticket items" to make you happy.
4. Work in a job you love.
5. Choose your mate carefully; don't just rush in.

The list of things they believed weren't worth their time was just as revealing.

1. No one said that to be happy you should work as hard as you can to get money.
2. No one said it was important to be as wealthy as the people around you.
3. No one said you should choose your career based on its earning potential.
4. No one said they regretted not getting even with someone who slighted them.

Todays Question

 Q: When is chaos better than order?

A1:  A box full of k-cups works better for me than an under brewer storage drawer.

A2: ...

Saul Williams - List Of Demands(Reparations)

I want my money back.

I'm down here drowning in your fat.
You got me on my knees praying for everything you lack.
I ain't afraid of you.
I'm just a victim of your fears.
You cower in your tower praying that I'll disappear,

I got another plan, one that requires me to stand.
On the stage or in the street, don't need no microphone or beat.
And when you hear this song, if you ain't dead then sing along.
Bang and strum to these here drums til you get where you belong.

I got a list of demands written on the palm of my hands.
I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand.
We're living hand to mouth!

You wanna be somebody?
See somebody?
Try and free somebody?

I gotta list of demands written on the palm of my hands.
I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand.
We're living hand to mouth!
Hand to mouth!

I wrote a song for you today while I was sitting in my room.
I jumped up on my bed today and played it on a broom.
I didn't think that it would be a song that you would hear,
But when I played it in my head, I made you reappear.

I wrote a video for it and I acted out each part.
Then I took your picture out and taped it to my heart.
I've taped you to my heart dear girl, I've taped you to my
Heart and if you pull away from me you'll tear my life apart.

I got a list of demands written on the palm of my hands.
I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand.
We're living hand to mouth!

You wanna be somebody?
See somebody?
Try and free somebody?

I gotta list of demands written on the palm of my hands.
I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand.
We're living hand to mouth!
Hand to mouth!

Ecstacy, suffering, Echinacea, bufferin.
We aim to remember what we choose to forget.
God's just a baby and her diaper is wet.

Call the police!
I'm strapped to the teeth and liable to disregard your every belief.
Call on the law!
I'm fixin' to draw a line between what is and seems and call up a brawl.

Call'em up now!
'Cause it's about to go pow!
I'm standing on the threshold of the ups and the downs.

Call up a truce!
'Cause I'm about to bust loose.
Protect ya neck,'cause, son, I'm breaking out of my noose.

I got a list of demands written on the palm of my hands.
I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand.
We're living hand to mouth!

You wanna be somebody?
See somebody?
Try and free somebody?

I gotta list of demands written on the palm of my hands.
I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand.
We're living hand to mouth!
Hand to mouth!

Songwriters: Saul Williams

For non-commercial use only.

Data from:Musixmatch

Todays Thought

It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy. 

-George H. Lorimer, editor (6 Oct 1867-1937)

A Scientific Feud Breaks Out Into the Open

 A Scientific Feud Breaks Out Into the Open

For years now, Hakwan Lau has suffered from an inner torment. Lau is a neuroscientist who studies the sense of awareness that all of us experience during our every waking moment. How this awareness arises from ordinary matter is an ancient mystery. Several scientific theories purport to explain it, and Lau feels that one of them, called integrated information theory (IIT), has received a disproportionate amount of media attention. He’s annoyed that its proponents tout it as the dominant theory in the press. He’s disturbed by their apparent affinity with New Age figures, such as Deepak Chopra. Worst of all, he complains, the theory doesn’t even rise to the level of “science.”