Woodpeckers for the Wise

“A woodpecker can tap twenty times on a thousand trees and get nowhere, but stay busy. Or he can tap twenty-thousand times on one tree and get dinner.” - Seth Godin

Lesson learned: Don’t to peck at a thousand trees if you really want to find results. Peck at one, and peck with all you’ve got. You may find dinner, or you may not. But odds are, all you ever wanted was a reason to peck with all you’ve got.

Pill inventor slams … pill

a few quotes from the article:

Eighty five year old Carl Djerassi the Austrian chemist who helped invent the contraceptive pill now says that his co-creation has led to a “demographic catastrophe.”

 

The fall in the birth rate, he said, was an “epidemic” far worse, but given less attention, than obesity. Young Austrians, he said, were committing national suicide if they failed to procreate. And if it were not possible to reverse the population decline they would have to understand the necessity of an “intelligent immigration policy.”

A moment with mary

 

Mary is the Path to Jesus

 

The Blessed Virgin speaks about Jesus Christ in her apparitions from four main perspectives: (1) as the Sorrowful Mother; (2) as an educator; (3) as a messenger; (4) as an evangelizer.

Mary is the Sorrowful Mother who is distraught by the sufferings of her Son. She asks us to make atonement for the wounds inflicted to him.

As an educator, Mary is the mother of her Son’s brothers and sisters whom she must educate in the faith and holiness.

Mary is also her Son’s messenger in every age applying his teaching in that period in history (cf. Fatima, July 17, 1917).

Last, but not least, Mary is an evangelizer leading to her Son those who do not know him. Mary is truly the path to Jesus if we look at her different roles in this way. Historians believe that through Mary’s apparitions in nineteenth-century France alone, she did more to preserve the faith than any apologist.

I wonder what she is thinking.

Paradox of the paid designer

I ran across this and i usually don’t like to quote posts this long but its a good one for everyone in any kind of design field. 

 

Sometimes I think it would be best if I didn’t get paid to design.

“Well that’s it. The guy’s mad! Consider thy bløg unsubscriblified!”

No no, I promise, this does make a lot of sense. You see, I think any form ofdesign is art (one could argue that all work someone takes passion in doing is art). I also believe that while creating art, staying on budget is not something one should have to worry about, as the result will most surely be lacking because of it.

When I design a site, I never feel as if I’m finished. There’s always more I can do, things to tweak, features to add. In short, the site could always be better. Of course, I know this for myself, that some products I’ve spewed out doesn’t reflect what I actually am capable of doing. But nobody else knows.

Imagine someone reviewing your portfolio. They see that you’ve got talent, but that you apparently don’t have an eye for those important little details. Because of that, they will value your services lower than what they are actually worth, and of course pay you accordingly. You then have to design under even more constraints, producing even less optimal results. It’s an evil circle it is!

Hence, the paradox. If you don’t watch your step, the quality of your work may degrade if you start charging for it.

“Aye, he makes sense indeed! Let me just tumble over this ledge here!”

No no, there’s a solution too. Actually more than one. The most obvious one is to limit your portfolio, and only display works that represent your true capacities. Referring to what I’ve said, this is more justifiable than showing every site you’ve ever made.

Another option is to always have side projects, like a blog, a community site, or any other site that you can keep designing for yourself, so that when time approaches infinite, the sites quality does the same (yeah, I’ve got a lot of math in school).

Either way, make sure most of the work you display as “your finest” actually is just that. If not, don’t worry! The problem will eventually solve it self, because you might not get paid to design ever again.

courtesy of http://blog.bjorkoy.com/ Bravo bjorkoy.com, this is an excellent post.

 

The Replacement Reveille

I received an email from the Vice President of Student Affairs here at TAMU regarding the selection of a new Reveille and this is an excerpt from it…

Essential Characteristics

First, regardless of the type of dog selected to serve as the University mascot, she should possess the following characteristics:

1.        Medium to large size – This body type is more consistent with the symbolism of a University mascot and is more suitable to her ability to perform the duties associated with the role.
2.        Healthy – Even at a reduced level of activity, the demands of the position require that the mascot be in good physical condition. Furthermore, any genetically related health concerns should be properly prescreened by a veterinarian.
3.        Outgoing personality (upbeat) – One of the endearing qualities of a mascot is its approachability and positive demeanor.
4.        Likes people and is at ease in crowds – It is important that the University mascot portrays a genuine affection for people of varying ages in one-on-one and large group settings.
5.        Not afraid of noise – Loud and frequent sounds are associated with a number of the University’s traditions; therefore, it is critical that the mascot be at ease in these environments.
6.        Not highly reactive – Given the nature and frequency of interaction with the mascot, it is important that she not respond in a defensive or aggressive manner when faced with quick movements or sudden motion.
7.        Positively motivated – The mascot should respond to instruction based on affirmation and encouragement.

 

i just thought that it’s humorous that were looking for a mascot with such outstanding credentials… Positively motivated, Outgoing, Medium to large size… it is interesting that we choose a new mascot based on our observations of him/her … what if we only got a job based on what other people observe about us and not by what we tell them, or if we didn’t have the option of notifying them of qualities we had … we just had to do them (i suppose that is already partly true).

imagine going into an interview and being asked if you had these 3 qualities? … Positively motivated, Outgoing, Medium to large size..

and for an altogether different mental image… now imagine your a dog going into an interview… ha 

 

whose going to be the replacement?

what thoughts become

Watch your thoughts; they become words.  Watch your words; they become actions.Watch your actions; they become habits.  Watch your habits; they become character.Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

on simplicity

technical skill is mastery of complexity, while creativity is mastery of simplicity.

the simplest things are often the truest.

simplicity is the final achievement. after one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.

as you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.

who is rich?  he who rejoices in his portion. 

you have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need. 

be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are.  when you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. 

 

Time

Here is a comment that a friend recently left on one of the many videos that I uploaded last week. [it has nothing to do with the video] [disclaimer: this is mainly meant to be a conversation between two people who have similar understandings and beliefs and wordings such as "this would have to", or "this means", or any wording suggesting a necessary truth which comes from observance of the writing is more conversational than actually proving something as a factual reality. Though parts could still could at times be true this is at its' nature a musing and a conversation.]

“(on that note does time ever actually end, perhaps the way we measure time ends but in eternity time would continue to move forward unless we are simply in a perpetual state then the argument can be made that time has stop since we are in a static state and the argument can be made that time is independent of our state and the fact that nothing changes does not affect the passage of time, but I digress…)”

I will go sentence by sentence… or perhaps phrase by phrase.

“(on that note does time ever actually end,” -

First we must define time and the “end” of this “time”. And we must also notice that time or the observance thereof depends on the point of observance. I am sure this will be answered here later.

“perhaps the way we measure time ends” -

Yes, I believe this to be true. Assuming that measuring and observing time mean close to the same thing here then yes. Measuring time is like a step beyond observing time. To note that there is a presence of time, or to note that events occur before or after other events is a bit different from actually measuring time.

When our bodies and souls will be unified with God in Heaven, since our bodies are temporal will we be able to experience time? There will be no suffering and no need for it in Heaven because we will already be in the place that suffering is a means of being granted the grace to enter. Thus time as a construct through which we experience suffering for the purpose of salvation will no longer be needed once in heaven. This is not time’s only purpose of course, and it is just a thought but none the less…

“but in eternity time would continue to move forward unless we are simply in a perpetual state” -

I will assume that you mean eternity to be from now to infinity. Time affects directly things that exist within it. Time affects our bodies, and thus our souls, even though our souls are eternal, because of the intrinsic bond of unity between the body and the soul. For example if we sin with our bodies, if we die in a state of mortal sin, and if we go to hell, our soul is greatly affected by it even though our soul is eternal. The “perpetual state” is, I am again assuming, eternal unity with God, not just the eternal nature of our souls. Thus “we” is our body and soul. [ if any of the assumptions are wrong or perhaps not as right as they could be let me know - most of this set up you already know but for the sake of all readers who may come across this I am being more thorough than normal ]
In eternity we would continue to move forward, as our ability to observe or perceive time is still within us. So I suppose we would move forward in that sense. But I wonder how we would perceive time once we are either in Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell. And then how we would perceive time once we are reunited with our bodies. Thats the real interesting one because of the introduction of the body into the mix. Perhaps our perpetual state would render us so far removed from the construct of time that “time” as we know it is no longer.

“then the argument can be made that time has stop since we are in a static state” -

Time as we know it to be would indeed stop if this were the case, or so I would think. What do you mean by static? Is it simply the death of the body and the soul having been judged and no longer having the chance to change?

“and the argument can be made that time is independent of our state and the fact that nothing changes does not affect the passage of time, but I digress…)” -

It may sound like I am repeating myself a bit. Time as we perceive it is what it is, but as others perceive it may be different. Thus time, being relative to the point of perception, it seems, is independent of a generalized rule of accordance, but still adheres to individuals existence. So in a sense it is, and it is not independent or our state. Again no answer but more questions…

Perhaps we should choose a place to stand when speaking of time. It may help answers come a bit easier.
All comments, questions, and corrections welcome.
We are all armatures.