Sunday, April 23, 2017

Where Were You When You Died


“To do great work a man must be very idle as well as very industrious.” Samuel Butler, Further Extracts from the Note-Books of Samuel Butler ... read more

Jervis Bay sign "Drink Between the Flags"



Watch Bruce Springsteen's surprise appearance at a covers-filled gig in New Jersey - NME

Bruce Springsteen joined a covers-filled jam session on stage at the Asbury Park Music and Film Festival in New Jersey last night (April 21) – watch footage of ...


Fearing fear itself: Kim Jong-un's most powerful weapon



North Korea threatens nuclear strike against Australia if it doesn't stop 'blindly toeing US line'


Viral overdose video 'saved my life'






Patient privacy breached as over 1,400 medical letters found dumped in Sydney bin


I’M STILL ENJOYING MY YOUTH: Middle age begins at 60, say researchers


MACHINE LEARNING: Self-taught artificial intelligence beats doctors at predicting heart attacks

Staying Hot For My Husband Is ESSENTIAL To A Successful Marriage 

They seem satisfied just looking out of the window at the rest of the world and wondering what is really going on out there. Then there are a few of us that would rather be “in” the adventure than just watching it go by. I like watching it snow, but I would much rather be out playing in it. I enjoy watching a good hunting movie, but I would much rather be out there doing it for myself. I never have been much of a “spectator”, when I could be in the game.


Just because I turned 61 this year, doesn’t mean that I have to slow down on my activities. I will slow down when they scatter my ashes in the Alaskan outback. Some of us will never be satisfied unless we are in the thick of it. I guess I’m a bit different than most folks. My priorities have been born in the mountains, my Soul belongs to my God, my Heart belongs to my Family, and my Spirit belongs to the Wind and the Wilderness.



A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King,
But God be with the Clown—

Who ponders this tremendous scene—
This whole Experiment of Green—
As if it were his own!




Jim Dandy


In hardened veins, the life that was you
coagulates, thickens with each missed
breath. The chill of death is upon you.

Bacteria feast on what is left of you and I
think what were you thinking when you said
don’t embalm me, no autopsy, just put me
in a box.

You were a dandy dresser, everything was just
right. As tough as you were, your nails were

always manicured. The undertaker is not happy

as no matter how much makeup he applies you

my old friend are green.



There you lay, a rotting corpse in a box, a nicely

dressed rotting corpse, but rotting with eyes

beginning to bulge and your swollen tongue

pressing against the stitched lips of your mouth.



As they carry you out to the hearse the smell of

rotten eggs wafts about. You wanted to be one

with nature when you departed, you have succeeded.
At the cemetery they lower you down, throw the dirt
on your box.

No one will know those final hours your body
vanishes, nails and hair fall out, the organs that
gave life liquefy and finally you swell and swell
bursting open, your skeleton resting in the muck
of what once was you.




::::::
“Fathers are…
The teeth on a saw,
The head of a nail,
The blades on a mower.

Fathers are…
The grit in a tumbler,
The cement in the pit,
The coin for the machine.

Fathers are…
The air in the tires,
The spring in the suspension,
The key to the ignition.

Fathers are...
the confidence in a dare,
The energy of a command,
The boots for the trail.

Tis true you might make things work without them,
but not at all like they were meant to.”
― Richelle E. GoodrichMaking Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year





Why Email Will Never Replace The Handwritten Letter


“It can be hard to pin down what makes a personal letter, along with what makes for its individuality and authenticity. Connection is the most basic ‘reassurance that I am not floating out there alone in the universe’, as Nina Sankovitch writes in Signed, Sealed, Delivered. A letter links two particular persons, even when its words are handed round and read to others. And while we’re more connected than ever now, our connections can be less specific – we post a lot of ‘personal’ updates to a varied or unknown audience who has no responsibility to respond.”




Five Ways Reading Fiction Can Help You In Your Job


“To run a business, you have to be deeply involved in all the minutiae, from strategy to product to hiring. Diving into the story, identifying with the characters, and trying to solve the mystery has two effects on me. First, it is a very efficient way to disconnect from all the problems I face in the business. Second, it immediately unlocks my creativity. My mind has no limits while I’m reading, and it shouldn’t while I’m conducting business.” 





History Pulitzer Goes To Heather Ann Thompson’s ‘Blood In The Water’; Tyehimba Jess’s ‘Olio’ Takes Pulitzer For Poetry


“Thompson’s book explores an infamous [1971] riot at the Attica Correctional Facility [in New York state] that involved 1,300 prisoners and ultimately led to the deaths of 39 people. … [Jess’s volume] tells the stories behind America’s blues, work songs and church hymns.”





Pulitzer Prize For Biography Goes To Hisham Matar’s ‘The Return’


“Matar’s latest book details his return to Libya in 2012 as he sought the truth [of] his father’s fate, decades after he was kidnapped by Colonel Qaddafi’s secret security [forces]. … His first novel, In the Country of Men, was nominated for the 2006 Man Booker Prize.” 


What do Leonid Brezhnev and the guy who invented the slinky have in common? Nothing, besides being dead. Each also warranted an obituary in America’s paper of record, the New York Times. They earned that spot—although, of course, no obituarized person is around to enjoy that particular honor—through the nebulous idea of impactOBIT, the new documentary from director Vanessa Gould, lingers at the newspaper’s death-desk to think through the meaning of remembrance, and to show the workday of these uncommon journalists.  The Art of the  NYT obituary