This and That.

So much for my ‘post a day’ I promised. By the time I’m able to do something I’m too tired to concentrate and when you consider I was out before seven this morning shoveling snow it isn’t too surprising. It was -18C too, I shoulda emigrated to Australia. Too bad we only have one life to try things out with.

Something amusing. I got one of those Panettone cakes at Christmas with actual instructions!

Serve the Panettone with ambient temperature.
Before cutting remove the paper that winds it.
To cut the Panettone use classical bread knife.
You cut the slices and gently serve.

These instructions came with an LED flashlight.

Instruction for power operation.
1. Press once, 3LEDs light’s on.
2. Press twice, 3LEDs light’s off.
3. Repeat the above steps for the function you wish to operate.

Well I thought it was quite funny.

This came with a calendar from the real estate person who will be finding us a house.

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee.

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee…..

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it wiht golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook hte jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it inot the ar. Of course, the sand filled up every thing else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous yes.

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. ‘Now’ said the professor, as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.’

‘The golf balls are the important things – your God, your family, your children, your health, your friend, and your favourite passions – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. The sand is everything else, the small stuff.’

‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.’

‘Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf ballls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. ‘I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.’

So it’s a bit ‘Oprah-ish’ but it’s good to be reminded once in a while.

For any opera fans out there, I found this battle of the sopranos singing The Bell Song from Delibes’ Lakme.

The high note in this is E natural, but in this next one, Ingeborg Hallstein goes to high G, just get any dogs out of earshot.

So that’s a bit what I’m up to at present, I wanted to comment on the Gaza ‘war’, but so much is being said and written, it seems superfluous for me to comment, I just can’t believe that so many don’t ‘get it’, that there will be no peace until Hamas and Hezbollah and all the other Hell’s Agents in the middle east are destroyed, the way the US Military did Al Qaida in Iraq. There is an interesting take on it from Wretchard at Belmont Club commenting on one of his own posts:

Maybe the root of this conflict isn’t “land” or “statehood” or even religion. Maybe its about preserving fighting and terrorism as a way of life; as a business. Palestine is an alibi for anything, but mostly it is the justification for a mode of employment, a whole series of professions, a whole raft of contractors, a self-sustaining funding network that could not exist without continuous and never-ending war. This monster has already consumed the Palestinians; stolen their future, made a mockery of their hopes.

But sometimes I wonder if the West is any better off. How much “aid”, how many diplomatic jobs, how many tenured positions in universities, how many activist’s careers, how much research and development, weapons manufacturing, military training programs — how many jobs depend on keeping this abomination going.

This is too much of a good thing for everyone except the ordinary Israeli and Arab for the music to stop. Sometimes I wonder whether it is any more feasible to finish this war than it is to stop illegal immigration. Maybe nobody really wants either a fence or victory to happen. That would be too simple. One thing seems certain: whatever the UN or the diplomats propose isn’t going to make a dime’s worth of difference. One can’t read the drivel coming from the UN without wondering whether they are joking, mad or moronic. And no, Obama’s not going to fix it. We are in the real world equivalent of Groundhog Day. What worries me is the suspicion that some people want us to stay there.

There is something worse than war. It is war without end masquerading as a “peace process”.

H/T American Digest.

Happy New Year everyone!

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