Comedian celebrities share insights on taking risks

Both of these men are sharing their epiphanies on stepping out of their comfort zones.  Having been conditioned for years by the Navy to avoid risks (ironic, I know), their ideas are now more valuable to me than ever before in order to live a more fulfilled life.

Jim Carrey explains that it's better to take a risk on something that may seem improbable than to go with a low-risk option and end up getting burned.






"I never stopped believing in who I was... we kept striving... we don't back up for anybody, and never ever back up from the dreams we have - ever." -Andrew "Dice" Clay

Scars and gold

QOTD

Limbaugh on 25 years of radio success (and failures) execerpted from CNS News:

“Love and passion for what you do” is the key to overcoming those who seek to bring you down, said Limbaugh.

“It’s easy to be seduced by failure. It’s much easier than you think,” he said.

Limbaugh said it was inevitable to slip up a few times on the way up--and to expect people to go after you when you get to the top.

“It’s perfectly fine to have a couple slips off the ladder. It’s perfectly fine to have a failure here or there. It’s perfectly fine,” he said.

“And when you’re on your way up, nobody’s gunning for you.

“But when you get to where you’re going and if others perceive where you are to be the pinnacle, then the whole focus changes and everybody’s after you,” Limbaugh said.

“That makes staying where you are harder than getting there ever was.”

-

See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/limbaugh-celebrates-25th-anniversary-pinnacle-talk-radio#sthash.kB5pqzZH.dpuf

Poem: "I Will Arise and Go Now"

"I Will Arise and Go Now", by Ogden Nash, 1948. 
Click to embiggen.
From an old, old book from my Grandma's house.

Cagey's listening to

Depeche Mode - Judas - Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993)




Depeche Mode - Damaged People - Playing the Angel (2005)

Everything I ever wanted

Butter dish: check
Blue pisser water: check
Automatic garage door opener: check
Co-ed tennis partner: hopefully

Becarac/'ganga' conquers the space

Given my musical tastes, what you're about to see will probably seems quite off-kilter; I caught this clip of a Bosnian becarac on a learning channel, also called a "polyphonic ganga" it's a song (of lament?) with a mesmerizing dissonant quality --- its appeal to me is in that it is used to communicate folklore, it is rooted in the traditions of the people, it is passionate, impromptu and authentic. It made me also think about the younger, teenage 'critical me' that would point and laugh at this sort of thing and not open myself enough to find beauty in uniqueness. Glad that's long gone.

Additional resources:

http://www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=1237

(At 11:45) “Ganga” a genre sung outdoors in groups, reflects the culture of the Bosnian highlander community. “Conquering the space with your voice - characterized by very close harmony, and they somehow acoustically clash, which enables the sound to travel further. ...It’s absolutely astonishing.”

http://www.learner.org/resources/series105.html?pop=yes&pid=1237

Flotsam and jetsam

I.  Is the use of the "bCC" or "blind carbon copy block unethical?  Is it duplicity?

A quick note:  "To" indicates you desire action or attention from the listed person; "Cc" indicates "carbon copy" (from the days when carbon paper was sandwiched between typing sheets to generate copies, and shows that the recipient is not desired to act, but is invited to weigh-in, or added for his own situational awareness.  That brings us to "bCC."

I don't necessarily think bCC is bad.  If you're trying to document something, and want to copy a manager who seeks insight into your activities, or could benefit from subtle reminders of things that should be, but maybe aren't on his radar, then it's o.k.  This would prevent alarming your action ("To") recipient.  However, I resisted the urge to use it for years before I decided it was o.k.

II.  Dogs have feelings.  Dogs admire and love their masters.  Amazing how we pick up on the subtle things they communicate even in their eyes - concern, a need for attention, etc.  Most everyone likes dog talk, but my thought for today is:  "If a 5 year-old thinks he is the center of the universe, a dog probably does too.  But this doesn't last forever for the 5 year-old.  So when we graduate from that kind of thinking and view ourselves as relative to everyone else, and realize that we're not at the center, and control so little, then at that point isn't it a good time to reflect and acknowledge the supremacy of God?

III. I am starting to feel guilty when I go out for chicken wings.  Or turkey legs, delicious in a traditional snowladen outdoor bbq.  A lot of fowl passed away to provide your meal (count up them wings when you're done at the table - 'Oh, the humanity!').  I do love my bbq'd turkey, though.

"The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

"The scales of a moth" by David Kirkpatrick

http://davidkirkpatrick.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/beautiful-nature-image-the-scales-of-a-moth/#comment-5113

Awe-inspiring.

Cagey's listening to

The Fixx - The Flow (Calm Animals)

Article: "The Scapegoating of Michael Savage," by Robin of Berkeley

Precis:  This is what happens when people mature: they shed ideas that are self-destructive, and embrace what humanity's achieved.  Modern liberalism's changing, and tearing down the individual through demonizing and scapegoating (such as with Michael Savage, currently banned from the U.K.) is its primary tactic.  We see this far too often.  In another article, writer Robin of Berkeley writes this defining quote:

"I'm in my 50's and liberalism has changed so much since I was young. It used to be about free speech and now it's about controlling speech."

Excerpt:

Everything that came out of Savage's mouth offended me. He blared on about feminized men; borders, language and culture; and other alien concepts.

To my tender, politically correct ears, Savage seemed like a mad man. But in time, I realized that he was crazy like a fox.

Twain wrote that when he was a teenager, his father didn't know what he was talking about. When Twain became a young adult, suddenly his old man made sense. Twain quipped that he couldn't believe how much his dad had learned in a few short years. Like Twain, I was finally growing up.
 
If you've ever been scapegoated at work or at home, you know what it's like; it's psychologically eviscerating. Scapegoating is designed to wipe out another person's humanity.


Full article: http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/the_scapegoating_of_michael_sa.html

Don't end up in "the welfare line of the mind"

The headline quote comes from my mentor. Sage advice on the new year from nationally renowned radio host Michael Savage, America's philosopher.

January 1, 2010

Memories Dreams and Reflections was written by Jung of course… And good radio is good radio, provided that the personality… the variety of the personality, it depends on the personality. You could do politics until you were blue in the face, and people would not listen to you or they would listen to you depending on who you are and the delivery. If I were only to do politics, I would’ve left this job a long time ago. I am a communicator and I’ve been brought up to taught to admit what’s going on inside of me. And certainly not everything. If I told you everything, that would be the mark of insanity. But I admit doubt, I admit pain, I admit grief, I admit failure. I don’t think failure is dirty, like a disease. I admit failure in my life.

But I remember being taught as a young boy…

How many times have I told you this story about this guy, the bartender… the guy all the boys loved the most… He was a good man, everyone in the constellation of my father’s friends were decent men. No one “touched anyone” inappropriately.

This guy was a standout because he was unlike the rest of them, a tough guy, very unusual… A street-fighter wound up owning a bar, unusual. Quiet, soft-spoken, the nicest man on earth – the boys gravitated to him.

And I remember what he told us about what to expect in life. You can only wear one suit at a time; he used to tell us things like that… you don’t have to struggle to be rich. And then he would tell us things like, “Do you know how many times my rich friend has been down and had nothing? Three or four times and come back. He used to say things like, “He knew how to bounce back.” As a kid, you don’t know what bounce back means, but when you get older and you’ve been kicked a few times and you’re in the gutter of your soul, you have to learn to rise again like a phoenix. That’s a very tricky thing to do.
Most people get knocked down once and they never come back from it, do you know that? But what I’m saying to you – is a lot of things – and I don’t want to summarize with a quick jab at the end.

-Transcribed from a radio broadcast by the blog author

"She's So Gone" by Cause and Effect

With a bottle of wine
and two friends of mine

We could head to the hills

There's no need for those pills

Under fractal trees and a fractal sky

we are everything

All she needed was,

was a push from us

Now she's learning to fly

She's so gone

but so am I

Both of us been learning to fly

She's so gone

she'll touch the sky

And now I don't know what I'm feeling

Can't remember feeling this high

-

C&E interview here:

http://www.westnet.com/consumable/1997/12.16/intcande.html

The Most Inspirational Stories of 2009

This extraordinary video documents the story of General Petraeus rousing a soldier from a coma.



Major Phil Packer begins the London Marathon after surviving wounds from an insurgent rocket attack in Iraq.

"There are no formulas for love, courage, sacrifice or compassion"

Quote of the day

I'll keep my guns, money and freedom.

You can keep your change.

Red Pill or Blue Pill?

Great essay by author Dave Droar conceived around the existential decision the protagonist Neo faced in the Matrix movies:

http://www.arrod.co.uk/essays/matrix.php

Excerpt:

The central character of the film, Neo, is presented to us in the opening part of the film as a loner who is searching for a mysterious character called Morpheus (named after the Greek god of dreams and sleep). He is also trying to discover the answer to the question "What is the Matrix?"
Morpheus contacts Neo just as the machines (posing as sinister 'agents') are trying to keep Neo from finding out any more. When Morpheus and Neo meet, Morpheus offers Neo two pills. The red pill will answer the question "what is the Matrix?" (by removing him from it) and the blue pill simply for life to carry on as before. As Neo reaches for the red pill Morpheus warns Neo, "Remember, all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more."

It's a celebration with Cagey: "After The Fire" - Roger Daltrey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YyCS4Xn7Dc

Update 9/09: original video is down - I have to use this duet with Sinead O' Connor instead :(

Regarding the incredible good news which beset my current tempest, I want to say to everyone that I have never forgotten where I came from (Thanks, N.S.) and now I have a fighting chance! A few quotes which keep me going:

"There is no shame in failure, there is only shame in quitting."
"Success is in the attempt."
"Fear is conquered by perfect love."
"Ad astra per aspera."

Only one thing is left to do: rocking out with 80s legend Roger Daltrey. (If the video would ever load.) It's always great to celebrate high times with 80s tributes.

Certain doors closed for me but others were opened. Meanwhile for this bit of good news, there has been an outpouring of emotion from around the globe. In the meantime, I'm pouring a small glass of Yamazaki 18 year. Thank you everyone... I'll keep you posted...