11.11.13 … “Lord, teach me to be grateful, for others, and to You. Uncover all I have not noticed, and nurture in me a thankful heart.” …

Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Thansgivukkah, holiday mashup: “Home cooks have been doing that for centuries, and this year’s supercollider is an invitation to make something new that lasts.”

But on Nov. 28, there will be three candles ready in the menorah by the time the turkey leaves the wood fire. (Hanukkah starts on Wednesday at sundown, so depending on how long this meal lasts, we’ll probably be lighting candles for the second night around the time the pie comes out.)

The challenge this year is to serve a meal that honors our traditions, makes room for fresh influences from our grown sons (both home cooks) and blends the best of both holiday menus into one epic feast. For help, we turned to the Dining section’s own Melissa Clark, who picked out the most promising notes in our family cookbooks and developed recipe combinations that pulled the meal together.

She suggested we add fresh horseradish to the matzo balls, a perfect nod to David’s grandfather, who liked to carve bits tableside from a huge, gnarly root. So festive. It was also Melissa’s idea to serve our Hanukkah brisket next to the turkey, as if she knew that David’s grandmother always served two kinds of meat at every holiday, a subconscious demonstration of abundance by a Holocaust survivor who understood privation.

…

We won’t be the only family crowding into the kitchen this year, mixing holiday flavors and inventing new customs on our feet. Home cooks have been doing that for centuries, and this year’s supercollider is an invitation to make something new that lasts. But not cranberry sauce with raisins.

via When Thanksgiving and Hanukkah Collide – NYTimes.com.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Audible, bookshelf: So I listened to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry on Audible and I really enjoyed it.  But I quickly realized that I needed a map.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

NANJING China, The Sifang Project, architecture, an architectural fantasy land in China:  This is really fascinating on many levels.

Wall Street Journal ‏@WSJ 39m

Take a multimedia trip to an architectural fantasy land in China: http://on.wsj.com/17dFayp

…

NANJING, China—China is famous for its warp speed of construction. The Sifang project near this ancient capital in southern China is a study in the opposite.

The construction of 24 uniquely designed buildings by various architects on 115 acres of land has been slow and extremely deliberate, even though 1 billion yuan (US$164 million) has been spent to date. So deliberate, in fact, that when this design fantasyland opens to visitors Saturday, only 11 of those 24 structures will be complete—a decade after the architects submitted their designs.

Scaffolding covers the recreation center, designed by late Italian architect Ettore Sottsass. Only foundations have been laid for a house by 2010 Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese duo Sanaa. Even some of the houses that are “finished” still appear to be missing details like electrical outlets.

Sifang Museum.

ENMESHED IN MID-AIR: THE NANJING SIFANG ART MUSEUM | 艺术界 LEAP.

…

China’s wealthy patrons like Mr. Lu’s family are underwriting a major cultural boom, spending billions of yuan on grand buildings to showcase impressive collections of art, antiques and other cultural rarities. Their largesse and ambitions echo American industrialists who sponsored the arts in the early years of the 20th century… — online.wsj.com

Recently in The Wall Street Journal, reporter Jason Chow interviewed real-estate developer Lu Jun and his son Lu Xun who finally opened the Sifang Art Museum for its first exhibition this past weekend in Nanjing, China after 10 years of construction.

Spearheaded by Lu Jun and curated by architects Liu Jiakun and Arato Isozaki, the $164 million project consists of 11 mixed-use buildings designed by an international mix of well-known architects including Wang Shu, SANAA, David Adjaye, Mathias Klotz, Steven Holl, and artist Ai Weiwei (the only non-architect). Three more buildings are expected to be completed within the next year.

During a rising cultural trend of private museums owned by China\’s wealthiest patrons, Lu Jun, his son, and some of the museum’s architects describe the doubts, challenges, and hopes in the construction and operation of the ambitious project.

via Sifang Art Museum – designed by 22 architects including Wang Shu, SANAA, Adjaye, Holl – opens its first exhibition | News | Archinect.

…

“Without money from the property development, how do you support the art? It’s unfair to judge us that way,” Mr. Lu said. “We’re not flipping art.”

U.K. art consultant Philip Dodd, who has organized private-museum forums in recent years to gather China’s budding patrons, says art museums have long been tied to the large egos and profits of businessmen, pointing to Andrew Mellon, the U.S. financier who died in 1937 and whose art collection was donated to establish the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

“I wouldn’t over-moralize this,” Mr. Dodd says. “Museums are often set up with sugar money.”

via Nanjing’s New Sifang Art Museum Illustrates China’s Cultural Boom – WSJ.com.

U.S. Postal Service,  Amazon packages , Sunday delivery,  latimes.com:  Interesting.  I’d like to see the numbers.

Giant online retailer Amazon.com Inc. is turning up the heat on rivals this holiday season and beyond under a new deal with the U.S. Postal Service for delivering packages on Sundays.

Starting this week, the postal service will bring Amazon packages on Sundays to shoppers’ doors in the Los Angeles and New York metropolitan areas at no extra charge. Next year, it plans to roll out year-round Sunday delivery to Dallas, New Orleans, Phoenix and other cities.

Getting packages on Sundays normally is expensive for customers. United Parcel Service Inc. doesn\’t deliver on Sundays, according to a spokeswoman. And FedEx Corp. said Sunday \”is not a regular delivery day,\” though limited options are available.

The deal could be a boon for the postal service, which has been struggling with mounting financial losses and has been pushing to limit general letter mail delivery to five days a week.

Spokeswoman Sue Brennan said that letter mail volume is declining “so extremely,” yet package volume is “increasing in double-digit percentages.”

The postal service’s Sunday package delivery business has been very small, but the arrangement with Amazon for two of the retailer’s larger markets, Los Angeles and New York, should boost work considerably.

To pull off Sunday delivery for Amazon, the postal service plans to use its flexible scheduling of employees, Brennan said. It doesn’t plan to add employees, she said.

Members of Amazon’s Prime program have free two-day shipping and, under the new deal, can order items Friday and receive them Sunday. Customers without Prime will pay the standard shipping costs associated with business day delivery.

via U.S. Postal Service to deliver Amazon packages on Sundays – latimes.com.

NASA, astronauts, Overview Effect:

Who would have thought traveling to outer space could be such a profound experience? OK, probably everybody, but these former astronauts really articulate it in a way that was just a little mind-blowing.

via Some Strange Things Are Happening To Astronauts Returning To Earth.

workforce, women in the workforce:

Why were women opting out, particularly the ones who looked like they should have the highest potential?”

via Mandy O’Neill: Why Do Highly Capable Women Not Always Realize Their Workforce Potential? | Stanford Graduate School of Business.

meditation, The Noble Eightfold Pat, bookshelf:  So I attended a intro session on meditation and this short book was recommended.

The Noble Eightfold Path: The Way to the End of Suffering by Bhikkhu Bodhi

via The Noble Eightfold Path: The Way to the End of Suffering.

labyrinths, Camus quote:

“Life’s work is nothing but the slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence one’s heart first opened.” ~ Albert Camus

On a recent trip to Serenbe, one of my favorite retreat spots in the Atlanta area, I walked the labyrinth. I remember feeling a paradoxical sense of peace and power, when I finally surrendered my need to ‘get’ some earth shattering insights.

Labyrinths are truly sacred places. The design itself is ancient, some say more than 4,000 years old. It combines the sacred geometry of the circle and the spiral into a meandering but purposeful path.

The ritual of walking the labyrinth silences the intellect and awakens your deep, intuitive nature. Walking a labyrinth is a metaphor for life’s journey, you will often discover parallels between your ‘walk’ and how you move about in the world.  As you navigate this sacred space, it awakens and activates your own sacred blueprint.

The labyrinth invokes your intuition, creativity, and imagination.  It is an invitation to adventure to the core of your Essence and come back to the world with an expanded experience of who you are.

via Walk the Labyrinth: Awaken Your Sacred Pattern, Activate Your Sacred Path – ADELA RUBIO.

Black Friday, Holiday shopping, Thanksgiving:  I would love to say I would do this, but even in the 70s I spent thanksgiving shopping. We would take all our holiday catalogs to Pineview and turn down the corners all afternoon. So, since I already shop on-line on Thanksgiving, I guess I can’t begrudge the brick and mortar stores for trying to get me back.  Well, I can, actually.

J.C. Penney now joining Macy’s and other stores that plan to open on Thanksgiving Day, prompting this pledge to circulate. No way do I want to shop that day – but maybe a lot of people will. What’s your position on this?

Add Macy’s to the list of retailers kicking off “Black Friday” and Thanksgiving Thursday.

Macy’s will open the doors at most of its 800 namesake department stores, at 8 p.m. on Nov. 28. The company said the shift was voluntary for workers and that the move was “consistent with what many rivals are doing.

Traditionally, retailers have waited until Black Friday, the day after the Thanksgiving, to start their end-of-the-year push for sales.

U.S. retailers have extended their hours on Black Friday, so named because it’s when most stroes go into the black, in recent years to get a jump on the holiday season sales.

via Macy’s latest retailer to open holiday shopping season on Thanksgiving – chicagotribune.com.

Georgia Bulldogs , 2012 College Football Team Valuations, Forbes, followup: Given my recent excerpt from an article on the highest paid officials in each state (11.4.13 … “When you raise a generation to believe that throwing a ball is more important than fulfilling their civic duty to make informed decisions, you allow charlatans to sell their lies to the public unchallenged.” … ), I thought this interesting.

5. Georgia Bulldogs

Current Value: $99 million

One-Year Change in Value: 10%

Football Revenue: $75 million

Football Profit: $52 million

Conference: SEC

Head Coach: Mark Richt

Georgia’s value to the SEC increased thanks to playing in the Outback Bowl, which brought $3.5 million in bowl revenue into the conference. The Bulldogs may see another bump in revenue next year thanks to hosting the Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate rivalry game against Georgia Tech and playing in the SEC Championship this season.

via Georgia Bulldogs – In Photos: 2012 College Football Team Valuations – Forbes.

6.18.13 … Odd Thomas …

Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas Series, kith/kin, bookshelf:  We now won the entire series.  I haven’t decided whether I will join my spouse in this marathon reading s.ession.

“Although I once resolved that I would never write a series character, I have now written six full-length novels and one short novel featuring Odd Thomas, a young fry cook who sees the spirits of the dead that are reluctant to pass over to the Other Side. I have also said that I 1 would not eat another cookie until I lose five pounds; 2 would never again buy magazines I dont want from cute neighborhood tykes selling them to raise money for a school trip; 3 would never tweet on Twitter; 4 would never wear a baseball cap with a funny message on it — but I have done all those things. The message on my baseball cap is “In dog years, Im dead.” I am as unlikely to keep a resolution as Wile E. Coyote is unlikely ever to catch the Road Runner.

via Dean Koontz – The Barnes & Noble Review

6.9.13 … Karen Armstrong: “I was completely unable to pray, which is a bit of a drawback for a nun.”

Karen Armstrong, prayer, shame, The History of God, bookshelf:  OK, Several of her books have been on my reading list  for quite a while, The History of God, in particular.   It appears she has a bit of a sense of humor, so I will move them up.

While at the convent, one of Armstrong’s struggles was almost unheard of for a nun, as she tells Oprah in this video from “Super Soul Sunday.” Armstrong says she developed an inability to pray and couldn’t seem to do anything to focus herself on prayer.

“I was completely unable to pray, which is a bit of a drawback for a nun,” Armstrong tells Oprah. “When I used to go in to make my meditation every morning, off my mind went, down every skittering kind of alley and byway. This was a source of terrible shame.”

When Armstrong told her superior that she could no longer pray, she was brushed off. “She said, ‘Oh, Sister, you’re always so dramatic. Everybody has an off day,'” Armstrong recalls.

But, for Armstrong, being a nun who couldn’t pray was much more than that. “A nun is nothing except the quality of her prayer,” she explains. “My prayer was so bad, it was off the charts.”

via Karen Armstrong, Religious Author And TED Prize Winner, Recalls Experience As A Catholic Nun (VIDEO).

6.8.13 … books that inspire … banned books …

books, bookshelf, education, comparative literature, TED Talks:  First thing she read: banned books!

Lisa Bu, Ph.D., the content distribution manager at TED, has become the first staff member to speak at the conference’s main stage, talking about “How Books Can Open Your Mind.”

via What Books Do You Read During a Personal Crisis? – GalleyCat.

5.24.13 … Happy Birthday, Brooklyn Bridge!

Brooklyn Bridge, NYC, architecture, icons: The Brooklyn Bridge turns 130 today!

The Brooklyn Bridge was opened for use on May 24, 1883. The opening ceremony was attended by several thousand people and many ships were present in the East Bay for the occasion. President Chester A. Arthur and New York Mayor Franklin Edson crossed the bridge to celebratory cannon fire and were greeted by Brooklyn Mayor Seth Low when they reached the Brooklyn-side tower. Arthur shook hands with Washington Roebling at the latter’s home, after the ceremony. Roebling was unable to attend the ceremony (and in fact rarely visited the site again), but held a celebratory banquet at his house on the day of the bridge opening. Further festivity included the performance of a band, gunfire from ships, and a fireworks display.[22]

via Brooklyn Bridge – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge, David G. McCullough, bookshelf:  I’ll add this to my bookshelf.

The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge (Paperback)

David G. McCullough

via The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge:Amazon:Books.

5.23.13 … On the road again …

Megabus, Spirit Air, Georgia Department of Public Safety,  How the Irish Saved Civilization, bookshelf: 

On the road again … And the seats are definitely more comfortable on the MegaBus than on Spirit Air!

Except for the 30 minute delay for a “random” Georgia Department of Public Safety inspection, this has been a delightful MegaBus ride. I am reading a Kindle book that I downloaded years ago, How the Irish Saved Civilization. It is way over my head.

How the Irish Saved Civilization, bookshelf, Kindle:  One of the great things about reading on Kindle is that you are able to electronically save your highlights … DENNARD shared from How the Irish Saved Civilization (Hinges of History) by Thomas Cahill

We did lose, at any rate, the spirit of classical civilization. “At certain epochs,” wrote Kenneth Clark in Civilisation, “man has felt conscious of something about himself—body and spirit—which was outside the day-to-day struggle for existence and the night-to-night struggle with fear; and he has felt the need to develop these qualities of thought and feeling so that they might approach as nearly as possible to an ideal of perfection—reason, justice, physical beauty, all of them in equilibrium.

…

From the fourth century on, instruction in Christianity could even serve as a shortcut to Romanization, as joining the Episcopalians was till recently a shortcut to respectability in America.

…

Roman Christians assumed this prejudice without examining it. Augustine, in his profundity, realized that the ahistorical Platonic ascent to Wisdom through knowledge and leisured contemplation was unaccomplishable and that it must be replaced by the biblical journey through time—through the life of each man and through the life of the

via Amazon Kindle: A Highlight and Note by DENNARD from How the Irish Saved Civilization Hinges of History.

5.7.13 … catching up … RIP, but I don’t know Antonia …

Antonia Larroux,  RIP, Obituary, NY, bookshelf, The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries:  An obit worth reading if you are into that sort of thing. I obviously am …

Antonia W. “Toni” Larroux Bay St. Louis, MS Waffle House lost a loyal customer on April 30, 2013. Antonia W. “Toni” Larroux died after a battle with multiple illnesses: lupus, rickets, scurvy,

…

Anyone wearing black will not be admitted to the memorial. She is not dead. She is alive.

via Antonia Larroux Obituary: View Antonia Larroux’s Obituary by New York Times.

And now I have a new book on my list: The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries. Thanks, Paul!

Brandon Plantation,  For Sale, Thomas Jefferson-Designed,  Virginia Manor House: If you buy it, I will come visit!  I like the style fine … but it looks remarkably similar to the Lawn at UVA. Oh, wait, Mr. Jefferson designed that one, too.

Brandon Plantation, a designated National Historic Landmark, hits the auction block June 26, only the third time it’s changed hands since the colonization of Jamestown in 1607.

The 4,487-acre property includes a 7-bed, 6.5-bath Palladian-style main house that was “substantially” designed by Jefferson (whose most famous architectural feat, Monticello, lies 120 miles away).

Fields at Brandon, the “oldest continuous agricultural operation in the U.S.,” continue to produce corn (189 bushels per acre in 2012), wheat (78 bushels) and soybeans (50 bushels). The property also includes six square formal gardens, a swimming pool, tennis courts and two river cottages.

via Brandon Plantation For Sale: Thomas Jefferson-Designed Virginia Manor House, Plantation Up For Auction (PHOTOS).

Ripe “Old” Age, NEXT Church, Katherine Kerr, FPC-Charlotte:

 Let me be clear that respecting younger generations does not have to come at the cost of disregarding the older generations.  As the church of Jesus Christ in twenty-first century America, we have enough challenges ahead of us, such as cultural, economic, and ecclesial battles to name a few. We do not need to add generational battles too.  We are all in this together, and we should start acting like it.  We may have differing ideas about worship styles and clerical garb, sermon prep practices and models for ministry, but when it comes down to it, we are all for the same thing – to worship and serve the Lord.  And there’s no minimum or maximum age for that.

via Ripe “Old” Age – NEXT Church.

John Kasay, retirement, Carolina Panther , CharlotteObserver.com:  A very nice and very deserved gesture!

John Kasay stands with members of his family as team owner Jerry Richardson speaks on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at Bank of America Stadium. Kasay a kicker signed a one-day contract with the Carolina Panthers so that he could retire as a Panther.

via Photos – John Kasay retires as a Panther – CharlotteObserver.com.

 

Mark Sanford, 1st Congressional District – SC, Jim Roberts @nycjim, twitter, Reuters Digital:  Jim Roberts @nycjim  (Jim Roberts is executive editor of Reuters Digital, a full-time student of the news) just tweeted:

Mark Sanford will now be able to watch the Super Bowl with his son in his Capitol Hill office.

3.2.13 … another reason to go back to Nottingham Road SA …

bookshelf: Fordoun Hotel & Spa, Nottingham Road, South Africa, bucket list:  I’ve actually been to Nottingham Road SA.  Our exchange daughter lived there.  It is on my list of places to return. 🙂

Fordoun Hotel & Spa, South Africa

An award-winning boutique hotel featuring 22 luxury suites and full-service spa, Fordoun Hotel & Spa — located on South Africa’s rural Nottingham Road in the Drakensberg Mountains — is consistently rated among the best in the country. Facilities also include an indoor pool, bar and lounge, and balconies with garden views.

via De-Stress At The World’s 15 Best (And Most Affordable) Destination Spas (PHOTOS).

 Downton Abbey:  Really … let’s wait til fall to discuss season 4 …

 

Downton Abbey series four finds Lady Mary mourning her husband Matthew, who died six months earlier in a tragic car crash.

 

Matthew had just visited his wife and new baby George in hospital and was returning to see his family when his car overturned killing the heir to Downton.

 

Will Mary find happiness again in the new series of Downton Abbey which will be back on our screen in the Autumn?

 

via Series four image – News – Downton Abbey – ITV Drama.

Veggie Omelet with Berries, Healthiest Breakfast, TIME.com:  Looks good to me …

Oz Garcia, celebrity nutritionist for stars like Hilary Swank and Naomi Campbell, never skips breakfast. His meal of choice: an omelet made with two organic egg whites, one egg yolk, spinach and tomatoes, with a half-cup of organic berries on the side. “This breakfast has a lot of protein and will help keep you feeling full throughout the day. The omelet contains a healthy serving of vegetables and the berries are a terrific antioxidant,” says Garcia.

via Veggie Omelet with Berries | What’s the Healthiest Breakfast? Here’s What the Experts Say | TIME.com.

quotations,  Daniel Pink:

“Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now.”

– Viktor Frankl

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”
– Steve Jobs

“Being a professional is doing the things you love to do — even on the days you don’t feel like doing it.”
– Julius Erving

via The 3 quotations I keep on my office wall | Daniel Pink.

bookshelf, short stories: Linda Pastan: “Fireflies” : The New Yorker.

2.27.13 … If I hate being late, why am I always late …

Van Cliburn, RIP,  Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor Op.30, YouTube:  What a life!  RIP, Van Cliburn.

Pianist Van Cliburn died Wednesday at the age of 78 in Forth Worth, after battling bone cancer.

In 1958, Van Cliburn won the first Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow — he became an international classical music star.

via Van Cliburn Dead at 78: His Great Performances (Video) – Speakeasy – WSJ.

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.3 (Van Cliburn) in D minor Op.30 – YouTube.

“Solvitur Ambulando” – It is solved by walking, 2013 Lenten labyrinth walks,  Avondale Presbyterian Church, 2013 FPC Charlotte Lenten Devotional, 2013  NAPC Lenten Devotional:

 

  

   

  

 

    

Beautiful day …  as I opened the car door I hear the chimes ringing softly in the wind.  What a great way to start my walk.

Things I thought about …

From FPC’s Wes Barry:

I had a professor in Seminary say that anytime the word “bread” shows up in scripture we should take notice, because it is by this earthly substance that we are told by our Lord to remember him.  So when God asks us “why spend money on what is not bread,” he is asking us why would we spend our resources on things that do not satisfy?  In the end, it is only Jesus Christ, his body broken for us, which satisfies our longings.

From NAPC’s devotional …

Life is like this; just a little seed of an evil desire can cause us to go down another path. James is encouraging us to endure temptation and to stand the test so that we will receive a blessing beyond our imagination.

And from Henri Nouwen …

Discipline in the spiritual life is the concentrated effort to create the space and time where God can become our master and where we can respond freely to God’s guidance.Thus, discipline is the creation of boundaries that keep time and space open for God. Solitude requires discipline, worship requires discipline, caring for others requires discipline. They all ask us to set apart a time and a place where God’s gracious presence can be acknowledged and responded to.

via Daily Meditation: Creating Space for God.

TED Talks, business, Harvard Business Review:

It’s happening right now.

Thousands of very lucky individuals are seated in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center are at TED 2013. TED has become a brand name as they have uploaded their archive of 18-minute presentations from their exclusive annual event to TED.com. Originally available only online, the speeches are now distributed and broadcasted on TV, radio, podcasts and even on Netflix. I have been fortunate to have attended the annual conference since 2008, and I’ve found TED an experience that helps businesspeople unlock a new way to think about the work that we do, where we are going as leaders, and our collective role in the evolution of the world. In the spirit of TED 2013, here are 10 amazing TED Talks that have helped me think differently about what business can be, how to be a better leader, and how to become a better global citizen

via 10 TED Talks to Help You Reimagine Your Business – Mitch Joel – Harvard Business Review.

The Cloisters, The Cloisters’ 75th Anniversary, WSJ.com:  I love it that my husband sent this to me. 🙂

Set on a hill overlooking the Hudson River in northern Manhattan, the Cloisters museum and gardens were designed to give visitors the impression they are stepping back in time, wandering through what feels like an old-world monastery.

But as America’s only medieval-art museum approaches its 75th anniversary this spring, its curators are stepping gingerly into the modern world.

This year, the Cloisters will for the first time present a contemporary-art installation. The museum, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is developing new digital content for visitors to view on iPods. And after decades of displaying the same permanent collection, the museum is making a bid to attract return visitors with more special exhibitions, made possible by climate-control improvements in recent years.

Change is a delicate issue at the Cloisters, where curators are looking to draw a broader audience without alienating those who cherish the spot’s timeless quality.

via The Cloisters Opens Up – WSJ.com.

 Vatican, Pope Benedict’s new title, CNN.com, fyi:

Pope Benedict XVI will keep the title “his holiness” once he retires and will be called “pontiff emeritus,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters at the Vatican on Tuesday.

via Vatican reveals Pope Benedict’s new title – CNN.com.

BofA,  Warren Buffett, Brian Moynihan, gaffes, Bloomberg:  Worth reading …

“Brian certainly doesn’t show up on anyone’s list of most- admired bankers,” Miller says. “If he’s successful, he will have a lot more stature than is now the case.”

Buffett, who stands to become Bank of America’s largest shareholder, says he has little doubt Moynihan will succeed.

“I’ve been around other companies that have great underlying strengths, where some huge event has gotten them into major trouble,” the 82-year-old billionaire says. “Sometimes, you can make a very good investment when that happens.”

via BofA Affirms Buffett Bet as Moynihan Recovers From Gaffes – Bloomberg.

Colm Toibin,  “Summer of ’38” , The New Yorker, bookshelf:  Colm Toibin: “Summer of ’38” : The New Yorker.

poems,  Rudyard Kipling, NPR:  I love lost works …

Fifty previously unpublished poems by Rudyard Kipling, the author of The Jungle Book and Just So Stories, were discovered by Thomas Pinney, an English professor at California State Polytechnic University. The lost works by Kipling, whose most famous poems include “If” and the notorious “White Man’s Burden,” are to be published next month. Kipling was widely derided as an apologist for British colonialism — George Orwell called him “a jingo imperialist” — though he was also a respected novelist who won the Literature Nobel in 1907.

via Book News: 50 Poems From Rudyard Kipling Discovered : The Two-Way : NPR.

Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren,   Martha Stewart, J.C. Penney, lawsuits:  Ah, intigue in retail …

Lundgren, 60, said Stewart sounded like she was reading from a document prepared by lawyers when they spoke, and that he cut off the conversation when the home goods doyenne claimed her deal with J.C. Penney would be good for Macy’s.

“I think that’s when I hung up,” said Lundgren. “The thought this was going to be good for Macy’s was so far from anything I could comprehend.”

Lundgren said that at the time he considered Stewart a friend, and he has not spoken to her since.

via Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren ‘Shocked And Blown Away’ Over Martha Stewart’s Alliance With J.C. Penney.

Swiss watchmakers, The Economist:  I met someone a few years back whose ex worked with a swiss watchmaker … very interesting …

No one buys a Swiss watch to find out what time it is. The allure is intangible: precise engineering, beautifully displayed. The art of fine watchmaking has all but died out elsewhere, but it thrives in Switzerland. “Swiss-made” has become one of the world’s most valuable brands.

In the popular imagination, Swiss watches are made by craftsmen at tiny firms nestled in Alpine villages. In fact, the industry is dominated by one big firm. The Swatch Group’s stable of brands Breguet, Blancpain, Omega and a dozen others generated watch and jewellery sales of SFr7.3 billion in 2012. That is up by 15.6% over the previous year and accounts for one-third of all sales of Swiss watches. In January Swatch announced the purchase of Harry Winston, an American jeweller which also makes watches in Geneva.

via Swiss watchmakers: Time is money | The Economist.

YMCA, ballene:  I attended my second ballene class in a month … I like it!

Ballene: A unique blend of core, strength and flexibility exercises using the stability ball

via Exercise Class

gay marriage, GOP, NYTimes.com:

Dozens of prominent Republicans — including top advisers to former President George W. Bush, four former governors and two members of Congress — have signed a legal brief arguing that gay people have a constitutional right to marry, a position that amounts to a direct challenge to Speaker John A. Boehner and reflects the civil war in the party since the November election.

The document will be submitted this week to the Supreme Court in support of a suit seeking to strike down Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative barring same-sex marriage, and all similar bans. The court will hear back-to-back arguments next month in that case and another pivotal gay rights case that challenges the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act.

The Proposition 8 case already has a powerful conservative supporter: Theodore B. Olson, the former solicitor general under Mr. Bush and one of the suit’s two lead lawyers. The amicus, or friend-of-the-court, brief is being filed with Mr. Olson’s blessing. It argues, as he does, that same-sex marriage promotes family values by allowing children of gay couples to grow up in two-parent homes, and that it advances conservative values of “limited government and maximizing individual freedom.”

Legal analysts said the brief had the potential to sway conservative justices as much for the prominent names attached to it as for its legal arguments. The list of signers includes a string of Republican officials and influential thinkers — 75 as of Monday evening — who are not ordinarily associated with gay rights advocacy, including some who are speaking out for the first time and others who have changed their previous positions.

via Prominent Republicans Sign Brief in Support of Gay Marriage – NYTimes.com.

Secretary of State John Kerry,  Free Speech, only in America, NYTimes.com: “In America, You Have a Right to Be Stupid.”  If you want to see the clip … Kerry Defends American Liberties.

In a robust defense of free speech during a meeting with young Germans in Berlin on Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry explained just how far the limits of tolerance extend in blunt terms. “In America,” the country’s top diplomat explained, “you have a right to be stupid.”

That remark, at a forum hosted by the United States Embassy in Berlin, went completely unmentioned in German newspaper and television reports on the event, but it was gleefully seized upon by Mr. Kerry’s critics back home, and bored journalists everywhere, hungry for a gaffe.

via ‘In America, You Have a Right to Be Stupid,’ Kerry Says in Defense of Free Speech – NYTimes.com.

North Avenue Presbyterian Church, Dr. Frank M. Eldridge:  I spent a day with Frank while my mother was having surgery in 2008.  What a blessing he is to NAPC … and what an accomplishment  … by title alone …

Name with titles: Hon. Rev. Dr. Frank M. Eldridge, Sr., JD, LL.M., M. Div., Th.M., Associate for Congregational Care, Senior Judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.

via North Avenue Presbyterian young adults, Who’s Who at NAPC?.

Ben Affleck’s Oscar Speech, marriage, truth:  I thought this deconstruction of his speech very interesting …

Did you see Ben Affleck’s speech accepting the Best Picture award last night? If not, he made a moving and authentic statement about marriage. Read more about it here.

The part that has people in a tizzy is this:

I want to thank you for working on our marriage for 10 Christmases. It’s good, it is work, but it’s the best kind of work, and there’s no one I’d rather work with.

The criticism centers around this statement as lacking in cuteness, and focusing on the negative. It wasn’t the “right forum” for this type of declaration, it was a possible indicator that “something is wrong” in the marriage, he should have just stuck to “I love you and adore you and you’re perfect” — basically whining that a major Hollywood star was uncomfortably honest about his relationship and said overly blunt things about marriage in one of the most public forums on the planet.

Anyone who actually agrees with the above criticism doesn’t get marriage.

A fundamental reality of human relationships is that two people are not meant to be in a single monogamous partnership for all eternity (or even until the end of their lives). Humans crave sexual novelty. We get bored. We lose interest after just two years. We find our intimacy crushed by the weight of daily routines. Marriage is a voluntary commitment that flies in the face of all scientific research and human evolution.

We enter this voluntary (some say insane, and they’re not entirely wrong) pact because we do a cost-benefit analysis and decide that the benefits of getting married (or otherwise partnering for life) outweigh the potential costs — breakups, emotional pain, financial disarray, the list goes on. We make just about the biggest emotional leap of faith a person can make, because we think, feel, and hope that the rewards will be great.

via Ben Affleck’s Oscar Speech Revealed A Truth About Marriage.

The Silver Linings Playbook, bookshelf, film/lit:  I need to read the book and see the movie!

Paper or Plastic, games, icebreakers, app:  There’s an app for that?

Paper or Plastic App | A Simple Game to Break the Ice.

Kayla loves the moon, YouTube: Endearing .. to the tune of 300,000 hits in the first week!

That doesn’t make her attempts any less endearing.

In this swoon-worthy YouTube video, the pink-clad, stuffed-animal-toting toddler converses with her dad, who encourages her to reach for the moon before eventually agreeing with her that it’s a lost cause, and she should say “goodbye.”

Since being uploaded on Friday, the clip — which denmoff77 posted alongside links to the Lunar and Planetary Institute and its moon-themed site, MyMoonspace.com — has racked up almost 300,000 views.

via Kayla Loves The Moon So Much, She Wants To Catch It (VIDEO).

@amandapalmer, human connection, mutual dignity of gift economies,  TED2013, Maria Popova ‏@brainpicker:  I can’t wait to watch this 2013 TEDTalk.

Maria Popova ‏@brainpicker

“Asking makes you vulnerable.” @amandapalmer makes a beautiful case for the human connection and mutual dignity of gift economies #TED2013

via (73) Twitter.

bikes, cycling, training, Bicycling Magazine: Indoor Bike Trainer Tips, Tricks & Strategies | Bicycling Magazine.

2.12.13 … Shrove Tuesday: With this pancake thing … do waffles count? … and WHO speaks Latin these days? …

Shrove Tuesday: With this pancake thing … do waffles count? Great dinner and early valentines celebration with the Molls … 🙂

Pope resignation, Latin, BBC News, twitter, @StephenAtHome, @dandrezner:  Who speaks Latin these days?  Amazing, but the one journalist in the room who ‘spoke” latin, got the scoop!

“One of the pleasures of Latin is that you don’t have to speak it and of course not many people do. It is charming that the Finns broadcast news in Latin. It doesn’t hurt. But it’s not why you learn Latin,” says Beard.

“You learn it so that you can read what the Romans wrote and what was written in Latin down to the 17th Century. You learn it to read Virgil.”

But can she and her classicist colleagues speak it?

“If you give us some nice claret, and as the claret goes down, we’ll drop our inhibitions and have a go.”

…

In Europe Latin was still important in the 16th and 17th Century but by the 18th it was already on the wane. It fell out of use first in France and England. “Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica (1687) was the last major work in England to be published in Latin,” says Ostler.

…

The reporter who broke the news of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation got the scoop because she understood his announcement in Latin. How much of it is spoken in the Vatican and elsewhere these days?

There are not many occasions when a reporter needs a grasp of Latin. But one came on Monday when the Pope made a short announcement.

Most of the reporters present had to wait for the Vatican’s official translations into Italian, English and languages that people actually speak.

But not Italian wire service reporter Giovanna Chirri, who had clearly been paying attention in secondary school. Her Latin was up to the job and she broke the story of the pope’s resignation to the world.

Giovanna Chirri, who covers the Vatican for Italian news agency ANSA and knows Latin, heard the Pope’s resignation speech to cardinals

After alerting her news desk, she tweeted in Italian “B16 si e’ dimesso. Lascia pontificato dal 28 febbraio”

Translates as “B16 [Benedict XVI] has resigned. Leaves pontificate from 28 February”

She later tweeted that his Latin was “very easy to understand”

Flurry in the Vatican newsroom

But beyond Chirri how widespread is Latin within the Roman Catholic Church? To what extent does it exist as a spoken language?

In his office at the Vatican, Father Reginald Foster says “we always spoke Latin”. It was Foster’s job to write the Latin for the Church’s official documents and encyclicals.

Now retired to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Foster continues to speak to friends in the Vatican on the phone in Latin. And he still has friends to whom he sends postcards in Latin.

But even while he was writing Latin for the Church he felt he was writing not for the present “but for history”. It is still important he argues that there is a single version of a text which people can consult in case of any doubts about meaning.

To keep Latin alive he has for many years run Aestiva Romae Latinitas in Rome – a two-month immersion course in Latin.

“Latin is a language,” Foster stresses. “It didn’t come down in a golden box from Heaven. You don’t have to be clever to speak it. In ancient Rome it was spoken by poor people, prostitutes and bums.”

via BBC News – Pope resignation: Who speaks Latin these days?.

So what exactly prompted him to resign …

The Vatican is acknowledging for the first time that Pope Benedict XVI has had a pacemaker for years and that its battery was replaced a few months ago in secret.

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said Benedict had the pacemaker installed “a long time” before he became pope in 2005. He called the latest medical procedure “routine.”

via Vatican acknowledges that pope had pacemaker – Chicago Sun-Times

Conclave: How cardinals elect a Pope …

via BBC News – Conclave: How cardinals elect a Pope.

and a few from twitter …

Stephen Colbert ‏@StephenAtHome

What’s the past tense of “Pope”? Puppe? Porpe?

…

Daniel Drezner ‏@dandrezner

In under ten minutes, @TheDailyShow managed to mash up the Pope’s resignation with Manti Te’o, the GOP, Nate Silver, and Leno/Conan. #funny

Bookshelf, The House Girl, Tara Conklin, Man in the Empty Suit, Sean Ferrell, Eighty Days, Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland:  I hate it hen I add 3 books to my list in one day …

The House Girl by Tara Conklin (Goodreads Author)

Alternating between centuries, this novel connects the lives of two women: a plantation house slave in 1852 Virginia and a modern-day New York lawyer who is tasked with finding a slave descendent willing to be the plaintiff in an enormous reparations lawsuit for African Americans. Kiki says, “Great writing, compelling storytelling, and lovely structure helped make an almost unbelievable story…absolutely unforgettable.”

via Goodreads | February 2013 Movers & Shakers.

…

Man in the Empty Suit by Sean Ferrell (Goodreads Author)

Every year for his birthday, a time traveler hops to 2071 Manhattan to celebrate with all the other versions of himself—the ultimate party with both his younger and older selves. But at age 39 in this mind-bending thriller, he discovers his 40-year-old self shot dead in the hotel elevator. Rita calls it “a lightning-paced, intricately woven take on the classic theme ‘man vs. himself’…this thoughtfully riveting story will make you question every decision you’ve ever made in your life.”

via Goodreads | February 2013 Movers & Shakers

…

Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World by Matthew Goodman

In November 1889, gutsy journalists Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland left New York City in opposite directions, each hoping to circumnavigate the globe in under 80 days. Their race, chronicled in this nonfiction adventure, pushed the limits of world travel as they defied Victorian mores and created a media frenzy. Jammies says, “Mr. Goodman writes as if he knew his heroines personally, and his fascination with their journeys is infectious…engrossing and satisfying and well worth a read.”

via Goodreads | February 2013 Movers & Shakers.

twitter, @StephenAtHome, @BONESonFOX, Jamie Dimon, @wsj: My source …

Jamie Dimon is the most powerful New Yorker in finance, according to our #NYIndex. Who’s up and who’s down: http://on.wsj.com/14OjKIc

…

BONES ‏@BONESonFOX

“Civilization is based on rational thought.” – Brennan.

…

Stephen Colbert ‏@StephenAtHome

Bush’s paintings are all over the internet. Yet we’re STILL waiting for his alt-folk album to drop. Release the tapes, Mr. President!

automation of work, meta-professioanls, Daniel Pink:  

In discussing the automation of work, the former Vice President writes:And robosourcing is beginning to have an impact on journalism. Narrative Science, a robot reporting company founded by two directors of Northwestern University’s Intelligent Information Laboratory, is now producing articles for newspapers and magazines with algorithms that analyze statistical data from sporting events, financial reports, and government studies. One of the cofounders, Kristian Hammond, who is also a professor at the Medill School of Journalism, told me that the business is expanding rapidly into many new fields of journalism. The CEO, Stuart Frankel, said the few human writers who work for the company have become “meta-journalists” who design the templates, frames, and angles into which the algorithm inserts the data.Are we all destined to become meta-journalists, meta-physicians, and meta-teachers? And is this a good thing, a bad thing, or more likely, just a thing?

via Anything you can do, I can do meta. | Daniel Pink.

poetry, The Laughing Heart, Charles Bukowski:  Just liked it …

The Laughing Heart

by Charles Bukowski

your life is your life

don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission

be on the watch.

there are ways out.

there is light somewhere.

it may not be much light but

it beats the darkness.

be on the watch.

the gods will offer you chances.

know them.

take them.

you can’t beat death but

you can beat death in life, sometimes.

and the more often you learn to do it,

the more light there will be.

your life is your life.

know it while you have it.

you are marvelous

the gods wait to delight

in you.

via Farrah Braniff Photoblog.

adventures, Madrid, kith/kin, technology, apps, flighttrack:  So I wake up and note the time … jack’s flight should be somewhere over the atlantic.  Then I pull the flighttracker app  and realize that Jack is indeed, crossing  the Pond … Almost halfway back … Apps can be amazing.

Condoleezza Rice, Immigration Reform Group,  Path To Citizenship:  Big issues … love it that Ms. Rice is on the task force.

WASHINGTON — A new bipartisan task force on immigration reform led by Republicans Condoleezza Rice and Haley Barbour and Democrats Henry Cisneros and Ed Rendell still has a number of issues to resolve, including what may be the most challenging: whether undocumented immigrants currently in the country should be given a pathway to citizenship.

“I come in with an open mind on this,” Rice, former secretary of state to President George W. Bush, told reporters on Monday. “I don’t actually have an exact answer at this point because I think this is actually the hardest and most vexing issue. So I look forward to sharing views with other members of the task force.”

Members’ lack of consensus on certain immigration issues is precisely what makes the group important, according to organizers from the Bipartisan Policy Center. Barbour is a former Republican governor of Mississippi; Cisneros was a Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Bill Clinton; and Ed Rendell is a former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania. They will join with about a dozen other members, yet to be announced, to advocate for immigration reform.

via Condoleezza Rice: Immigration Reform Group Will Discuss Path To Citizenship.

2013 Super Bowl, Ecard,  baseball, someecards.com:

via Super Bowl Power Outage Baseball Football Funny Ecard | Sports Ecard | someecards.com.

UNC, Class of 2017:  Largest pool ever …  seriously worries me about the state of our economy.

A total of 30,689 applications were received in all, surpassing last year’s total of 29,497. This marks the eighth consecutive record year for applications at UNC; during this period, applications to the first-year class have increased by 64 percent.

via UNC News – From 15 percent larger pool, Carolina offers admission to 5,393 in first round.

Atlanta, foodtrucks, Smiley’s Street Eats, po boys, Thrillist Atlanta:  i am a po boy snob … Henri’s or bust.  OK, I’ll track this truck down and give it a try.

One night, Mrs. Smiley had a dream. In it, she saw a food truck made out of blue jeans, and vowed to make one herself. But since even Destination XL doesn’t have Jordaches in large-automobile size, she and her husband Guy Smiley got a truck, painted it like denim, researched successful food rigs all over the country, and decided to laser-focus on creating 21 of the most ridiculous, delicious po’ boys ever.

via Smiley’s Street Eats – Eat – Thrillist Atlanta.

Daily Meditation: Words That Feed Us, Henri Nouwen: 

When we talk to one another, we often talk about what happened, what we are doing, or what we plan to do. Often we say, “What’s up?” and we encourage one another to share the details of our daily lives. But often we want to hear something else. We want to hear, “I’ve been thinking of you today,” or “I missed you,” or “I wish you were here,” or “I really love you.” It is not always easy to say these words, but such words can deepen our bonds with one another.

Telling someone “I love you” in whatever way is always delivering good news. Nobody will respond by saying, “Well, I knew that already, you don’t have to say it again”! Words of love and affirmation are like bread. We need them each day, over and over. They keep us alive inside.

via Daily Meditation: Words That Feed Us.

Apple, battery drain issue, iOS 6.1:

Rory Cellan-Jones @BBCRoryCJ

According to one source, Apple is preparing to release an update to iOS 6.1 tonight to deal with the battery draining issue

Bill Gates,  Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, AMA random:  AMA = Ask me anything …

What do you do for fun? I find it hard to fathom how someone like you can just disconnect. Disconnect from the emails, calls ,the media. All of it. What would be your definition of a chill and fun day? Edit-Thanks for the gold!

I love playing tennis. I am  an avid bridge player (a card game if you have not heard of it – it was more popular in the past!). I like to tour interesting things with my kids like power plants, garbage dumps, the Large Hadron Collider, Antarctica, missile Silos (Arizona),… I read a lot and watch courses (online or the Learning Company)..

Casually tours the LHC. The jealousy is strong.

…

Ask me anything.

via I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. AMA : IAmA.

Leonardo, ‘The British Library , The Atlantic:  pretty amazing …

The British Library has been digitizing some of its prize pieces and they announced a new round of six artifacts had been completed including Beowulf, a gold-ink penned Gospel, and one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks.

“Each of these six manuscripts is a true splendour, and has immense significance in its respective field, whether that be Anglo-Saxon literature, Carolingian or Flemish art, or Renaissance science and learning,” Julian Harrison, the library’s curator of medieval artifacts, blogged. “On Digitised Manuscripts you’ll be able to view every page in full and in colour, and to see the finer details using the deep zoom facility.”

All of these texts can be appreciated on a visual level, particularly because the scans are so good. Even the grain of the paper is fascinating.

via Leonardo’s Notebook Digitized in All Its Befuddling Glory – Alexis C. Madrigal – The Atlantic.

trees, FYI, Explore:  Very useful ..

A visual guide to trees. Complement with Herman Hesse’s poetic meditation on trees.

via Explore – A visual guide to trees. Complement with Herman….

Revit RPC Tree Guide from a Revit User « Archvision’s Blog.

Downton Abbey: A little Downton fun for you …

this is probably one of the most amazing pictures in history.via Pedro Hogan.