Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Famous last words: Dwight D Eisenhower

"I have always loved my wife, my children, and my grandchildren, and I've always loved by country. I want to go. God, take me."

Last words of Dwight D Eisenhower

And the master said:

"Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is."

C. S. Lewis -- Mere Christianity

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Famous last words: Thomas Edison

"It is very beautiful over there."

- Thomas Edison

And the master said:

"Facts are stupid things."

- Ronald Reagan

Monday, February 14, 2005

To my one true love:

Reflections on Love and Luck
- jt

You are the winter's icy breath,
The springtime's sweetest rain,
The summer's shimmering heat,
And the Autumn's bountious beauty...

A whole year given
In a few sweet motions,
And now I see
How lucky I am.


You are a child's selfish needs,
A woman's gentle caress,
A boy's energetic orneriness,
A friend's hard, calm advice.

Everyone I've ever known given
In one personality,
And I do see
How lucky I am.


You are a daisy's brightest color,
A rose's deepest red,
A lilie's most delicate pastel,
An orchid's exotic shape.

A whole garden given
In a few un-noticed looks,
And it tells me
How lucky I am.


You are the sun's bright furnace,
The moon's clear answering glow,
The milky-way's delicate majesty,
The earth's perfect cradle below.

A whole universe given
In the few short years we've had,
And all to me...
How lucky I am.

I love you, M.
Happy Valentine's Day.

Famous last words: John Jacob Astor IV

"The ladies have to go first. Get in the lifeboat to please me. Goodbye dearie. I'll see you later."

Last recorded words of John Jacob Astor IV. The richest man in the world at the time, helped his pregnant wife onto a lifeboat and went down with the Titanic.

Happy Valentines Day!

And the master said:

"Don't be afraid to see what you see."

- Ronald Reagan

Saturday, February 12, 2005

In the news: Can a single death make a difference?

Hamas, Islamic Jihad Agree to Halt Attacks

Famous last words: Queen Elizabeth I

"All my possessions...for a moment of time."

- Queen Elizabeth I

And the master said:

"Coersion, after all, merely captures man. Freedom captivates him."

- Ronald Reagan

Friday, February 11, 2005

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Poetry: The Voice

The Voice
- JT

By the waterside I heard your name
Spoken sweetly
Lingering quietly
Freshening the air beneath the trees
With it's bubbly sound

I bowed my head in silent thanks
Barely said
Hardly heard
Envisioning a face to place beside it
A face that would be found

I closed my eyes to hear still more
Within the structure
Within the name
I listened more intently than ever before
To the bubbly sound

Inside the name I found a rhythm
Found a song
A melody
That shed new light on the rest of nature
On the world around

Inside this song I heard my name
Spoken tenderly
Sung lovingly
As I'd never heard it before
Tears on the ground

By the waterside I heard your name
Spoken sweetly
Lingering quietly
And there beside the springtime forest brook
Within that beautiful sound

God Spoke.

Just plain not-so-funny: Kim Jong Il, WMF Blowout Sale!

JabTV.com - Kim Jung IL's Weapons of mass Destruction Blowout Sale

In the news: You've got mail!

Microsoft and pharmaceutical company Pfizer, Inc. sue spammers over Viagra-related sperm...er...spam.

And the master said:

"We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it's there for emergencies but he hopes he'll never have to use it."

C. S. Lewis -- In Religion

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

And the master said:

I Do.

"Feels like a Saturday, feels just like anyday
Feels like a moment suspended in time
Laughter in somebody's yard, I pull the wild card
It looks like another day everything's fine

I've got a good life
I do

My friend sees differently, or maybe he doesn't see
And he digs deeper with every blind turn
On one hand he understands the other hand's the other hand
Sometimes he tells me he wishes he'd die

But I've got a good life
I do

On one fine Sunday we sat in the gym
With our friends and the cheers and the team that would win
I saw you over there and I pulled your long hair
And it happened for life I would make you my wife

I've got a good life
I do"

- Ty Tabor

Rhymes with "sabre" - look him up.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Hmm: Mysterious Streak Above Hawaii

Interesting article about a strange site in the night sky above Hawaii.

APOD: 2005 February 8 - A Mysterious Streak Above Hawaii

Just plain dumb: Rugby fan mutilates self over game.

A Welsh rugby fan cut off both his own testicles to celebrate a rugby win.

Ouch!

In the news: Can a single death make a difference?

Israeli PM Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas met face-to-face at a Mideast summit Tuesday to announce an end to four years of violence and offer goodwill gestures they hope will start a new era of peace talks.

Sunday, February 06, 2005

And the master said:

"If you are really a product of a materialistic universe, how is it that you don't feel at home there?"

C. S. Lewis -- Encounter with Light

Friday, February 04, 2005

Poetry: Away

Away (Sans Irony)

I'm thinking about you there,
(Praying you'll be strong enough to love again someday)
and the sights flowing into those dark eyes
(And hating the thought of you going away).

I'm thinking about me here,
(Praying I'll be strong enough to lie to you someday)
holding these children and watching them grow
(And hating the thought of you going away).

- JT

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Just for musicians: Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini

"It tells the legend of Paganini's dealings with the devil, his love of a woman, his troubles with the church, and his final defeat."

Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini

I think I know why I love Paganini...

And the master said:

"I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings."

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

And the master said:

'The preservation of society, and of the species itself, are ends that do not hang on the precarious thread of Reason: they are given by Instinct.'

C. S. Lewis -- The Abolition of Man