Chuang Tzu (Master Chuang) was a witty and profound writer – and a bit of a curmudgeon sometimes. I love his parables, and his humor, and his mystical – yet very pragmatic – approach to attunement and freedom from conventional obsessions. He lived in China sometime around the 4th century B.C.E. He’s my favorite. You may run across different spellings of his name. This is how I saw it when I first started reading, but you will also see Zhuangzi,…
Republican senator John Warner of Virginia has announced that he is retiring and won’t seek re-election. I wonder if that has anything to do with his recent comments about Iraq. Here’s him trying to clarify/backtrack/whatever – maybe that wasn’t good enough. White House Spokesman Tony Snow is resigning in September – “I feel terrific. It’s not a health matter. It’s purely financial.” I’ve told people when my money runs out, then I’ve got to go.” Only $168,000 a year just…
No End in Sight, looks like it deserved the special jury documentary prize it received at Sundance. I’m looking forward to seeing the film, if it shows in Atlanta. Here’s the trailer (or see it on the home page of the movie site) : From the director: “But I had no idea how incompetently the occupation was being planned, and with what degree of ideological rigidity and arrogance and callousness and stupidity,†he said. “I just had no idea.†NPR…
Be curious, and encourage curiosity in others – especially children. Curiosity should never be discouraged. “I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.†– Eleanor Roosevelt Kudos for a great post: 10 Reasons Why You Should Be Curious | Marc and Angel Here are my additions to the list: You will be better educated. Your knowledge will mean more to you….
I’ve been awarded the “Thoughtful Blogger Award” by Jolly Roger at Reconstitution 2.0. JR said the most lovely thing: Virus Head is one of the most gracious people I’ve encountered in my years of blogging. She has a gentle patience that almost makes me feel bad for the chainsaw approach I take to some of my more notable commenters. I DON’T feel bad, of course, but seeing her way stops me dead in my tracks from time to time. For…
The semaphore (four rotating disks of light) atop the Adobe tower in downtown San Jose is indeed transmitting a message. Never heard of a semaphore? There are multiple meanings. In programming, it concerns methodology for mutual exclusion (see “excluded middles” below), parallel processing, and synchronization. Predating the electrical telegraph, the semaphore was defined as an optical telegraph that conveyed information via visual signals – towers with blades, shutters, flags and so on. semaphore I wonder to what extent the Adobe…