Lawrence R. Spencer's Blog, page 70

BEAUTY HAIKU

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DUNBAR’S NUMBER

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HOW MANY FACEBOOK “FRIENDS” IS TOO MANY?

CLICK THE LINK TO SEE THE ANSWER:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8360wVLtEuk&feature=player_embedded

HOW WINGS ARE ATTACHED TO THE BACKS OF ANGELS

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The main protagonist of this short, surreal film is a man obsessed with control. In an automated world drained of all emotion, he is tortured by vague longings. Will he transcend his obsessions, fears and mortality?

How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels by Craig Welch

Koko Gets a Kitty Visit

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YouTube – Koko Gets a Kitty Visit.

Reversed Time Spiral Syndrome

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Minith-Nur-Voth, of the Order of Omega Chapter on the 2nd Moon of the planet Amin-Amath-Arma in the 12th Galaxy of the Thrall-TumaTura sector in the Earth year 12,756, 345 BCE, will be the guest lecturer at the weekly meeting of the Tulsa, OK Chapter. The lecture is hosted by the Ladies Intergalactic Auxilliary.

The topic Ms. Miniths' talk will the "Reversed Time Spiral Syndrome and Their Effect Upon Personal Memory Recall".

Admission is Free for Members. (Non-Members will not be able attend as the meeting will be held on February 29th, 1836 C.E. at the main auditorium of the Veterans Memorial Civic Center.)

Refreshments will be served. RSVP to Miss Natalie Forsythe, Chapter Secretary.

THE STATE OF AMERICAN TELEVISION

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What ever happened to TV shows like “The Andy Griffith Show”?  “I Love Lucy”, where are you?  Where have good taste and common decency gone?  There are 900 cable TV channels and yet there are only a handful of shows being broadcast that my parents would have let me watch when I was growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s.  There are only a  tiny number of Cable Networks that show programs suitable for children or adults.  Nearly all of these are supported by public donations:  PBS, LINK TV, OVATION and a few others. Since the advent of television broadcasting in the mid-1950s, New York and Hollywood program producers and TV Network executives have sold our good taste, moral codes, cultural values, literacy levels and common sense to the lowest bidder:  The American Public.

If you’re sick and tired of watching BULLSHIT on TV, just do two simple things:  1) Turn it off 2) Stop paying for it.  3) Stop buying products advertised on it.

FLUNG AT RANDOM

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“The greatest mystery is not that we have been flung at random between the profusion of matter and of the stars, but that within this prison we can draw from ourselves images powerful enough to deny our nothingness.” — Andre Malraux

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André Malraux (3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French adventurer, award-winning author, and statesman. Having traveled extensively in Indochina and China, Malraux was noted especially for his novel entitled La Condition Humaine (Man’s Fate) (1933), which won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed by General Charles de Gaulle as Minister of Information (1945–1946), then as Minister of State (1958–1959), and the first Minister of Cultural Affairs, serving during De Gaulle’s entire presidency (1959–1969).

DIOGENES THE CYNIC

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Diogenes of Sinope  was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy.  The term “Cynic” itself derives from the Greek word κυνικός, “dog-like”. Later Cynics also sought to turn the word to their advantage, as a later commentator explained:

There are four reasons why the Cynics are so named. First because of the indifference of their way of life, for they make a cult of indifference and, like dogs, eat and make love in public, go barefoot, and sleep in tubs and at crossroads. The second reason is that the dog is a shameless animal, and they make a cult of shamelessness, not as being beneath modesty, but as superior to it. The third reason is that the dog is a good guard, and they guard the tenets of their philosophy. The fourth reason is that the dog is a discriminating animal which can distinguish between its friends and enemies. So do they recognize as friends those who are suited to philosophy, and receive them kindly, while those unfitted they drive away, like dogs, by barking at them.

Diogenes of Sinope he was born in Sinope (modern-day Sinop, Turkey), an Ionian colony on the Black Sea, in 412 or 404 BCE and died at Corinth in 323 BCE.  He was a controversial figure. His father minted coins for a living, and when Diogenes took to debasement of currency, he was banished from Sinope. 

After being exiled, he moved to Athens and criticized many cultural conventions of the city.  He believed that virtue was better revealed in action than in theory. He used his simple lifestyle and behavior (which arguably resembled poverty) to criticize the social values and institutions of what he saw as a corrupt or at least confused society. In a highly non-traditional fashion, he had a reputation of sleeping and eating wherever he chose and took to toughening himself against nature.

He declared himself a cosmopolitan and a citizen of the world rather than claiming allegiance to just one place.  Diogenes made a virtue of poverty. He begged for a living and often slept in a large ceramic jar in the marketplace. He became notorious for his philosophical stunts such as carrying a lamp in the daytime, claiming to be looking for an honest man. He criticized and embarrassed Plato, disputed his interpretation of Socrates and sabotaged his lectures, sometimes distracting attendees by bringing food and eating during the discussions.

Diogenes was also noted for having publicly mocked Alexander the Great: 

“Alexander the Great found the philosopher looking attentively at a pile of human bones. Diogenes explained, “I am searching for the bones of your father but cannot distinguish them from those of a slave.”

VERMEER ON iTUNES

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[image error] This book is available on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iBooks and on your computer with iTunes.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/vermeer/id443800993?mt=11#

“Vermeer: Portraits of A Lifetime” is a revolutionary re-examination of the mystique and mythology surrounding the 17th Century Dutch Master painter, Johannes Vermeer. For the first time in over 300 years names of people who posed for his paintings are identified. An unknown portrait of Vermeer, painted by his friend, Gerard ter Borch, is exposed. This book is an empathetic retrospective, built on observations that reveal answers to dozens of speculations about his paintings, his wife, his daughters, and contemporaries who were the subjects of his art, and with whom he shared his brief life in Delft.

 

EXISTENTIAL QUESTIONS BABIES ASK THEMSELVES

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