Rigor Vitae: Life Unyielding
This is what Life is about.
Life is not limited to actuality -- it arches across virtuality to that bridge of Art to a transcendence, that is not even merely alive. THAT is what life is about -- the sum that is more.
Monday, January 09, 2006
HEALTH is too important to be left to the Drug Companies
Billions of dollars are spent every year in the USA alone on over-the-counter cough syrups. Apparently, this cost is the result of false advertising. Most cough syrups do little if anything to relieve coughs, according to the chest physicians conducting studies quoted in the Monterey County Herald, picked up by FOX News - Scripps Howard News Service - Reuters.uk - Consumer Affairs.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
PRJ: Greatness of Cuba after the old guy dies
Fidel Castro still lives, but decent people are patient. Still it is sad to see not only what is lost because he stole it and suppressed it, but that so many of his victims are dying without having seen liberation Cuba.
Our Cervantes "... de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme"
I will try to post pictures of Cervantes, or at least cite to the ones that are most interesting. Of course, no one knows what he looked like--no paintings or drawings of him are contemporary.
Friday, January 06, 2006
PRJ - Singularity - the Last Big Thing
Remember when the Toflers came out with the idea of "future shock"? And what they described just kept coming on, and now we are in post-post-future shock and awe....
This Project (PRJ: Singularity) is to focus on the convergence of specialized fields resulting in amazing tools extending human capacity in a great leap into a qualitatively different "culture".
For example, the shift from H&G (hunting and gathering) to Agriculture, or the age of medieval chivalry into Guttenberg/Renaissance. As water reaches a boiling point, as the J-curve goes completely vertical...
This Project (PRJ: Singularity) is to focus on the convergence of specialized fields resulting in amazing tools extending human capacity in a great leap into a qualitatively different "culture".
For example, the shift from H&G (hunting and gathering) to Agriculture, or the age of medieval chivalry into Guttenberg/Renaissance. As water reaches a boiling point, as the J-curve goes completely vertical...
Sunday, January 01, 2006
The Renaissance
There was a time when centralized authority had collapsed, and all the institutions upon which society depended were shown to be fraudulent and misused. There were three Popes, two of whom had children, and they maintained private armies which lived off the land wandering between various "countries". Livelihoods were destroyed overnight by pirates, pillagers, and thugs parading as Princes.
At the same time, the Arts flourished. And students came from all over the world to study "law" and business management from famous scholars.
We now look back at this time as the Italian Renaissance.
Today, we have a high level of institutional collapse coupled with the same astounding scientific and creative achievement. The Sacred Cows of our society -- our political institutions and parties are fractured, hypocritical and impotent, our religious are not "believed", even our "juries" are suspect, and nothing is stable, regular, and secure. And yet, the "story" is being made in ever richer ways, and our science is bursting on the verge of a Singularity. That event is like the Italian Renaissance -- we are in the midst of a qualititative shift from our own past.
At the same time, the Arts flourished. And students came from all over the world to study "law" and business management from famous scholars.
We now look back at this time as the Italian Renaissance.
Today, we have a high level of institutional collapse coupled with the same astounding scientific and creative achievement. The Sacred Cows of our society -- our political institutions and parties are fractured, hypocritical and impotent, our religious are not "believed", even our "juries" are suspect, and nothing is stable, regular, and secure. And yet, the "story" is being made in ever richer ways, and our science is bursting on the verge of a Singularity. That event is like the Italian Renaissance -- we are in the midst of a qualititative shift from our own past.
Epic Stories
The Plots tell us nothing about the Story, but they are necessary to it. It is comforting, in an uncomfortable epic, to know there is a Plot. For examples....
GILGAMESH. Warrior-king of Uruk, terrorizes his own people, battles monsters, seeks immortality. Recorded in cuneiform by a Babylonian scribe named Sin-leqi-unninni on tablets found in the ruins of Ninevah, near Mosul.
ABRAHAM. Rises up with his gods (plural) out of the land of Ur to settle the Sinai and the Levant with his Semitic descendants. The migrants lived peaceably with each other and began worshiping One God -- under various names (Astarte, Jehovah, Yahweh, Baal, Zoroaster) -- for centuries. [Note: Occasionally outsiders persuade his children to fight each other, and indeed they do so intermittently and without any conviction -- most often only threatening to do their worst.] There were giants, chimera, child-slayers, and angels encountered in the land.
BEOWULF. A heroic youth saves a neighboring people from a monster, Grendel, eventually becomes the king of his own people, and dies defending them from a dragon.
HIAWATHA. Choctaw/Huron origins, rejected by his own tribe, accepted by Iroquiois as a great leader-warrior after defeating WitchDoctor.
YELLOW EMPEROR. Both the Taoists and the later Confucians strongly believed that the exemplars of earlier ages were wiser, more powerful and righteous.
LORD OF THE RINGS/ HOBBIT. Many critics now consider Lord of the Ringsto be one of the greatest fantasy novels ever written. It's the story of Bilbo Baggins, a lowly hobbit who sets out on a quest to destroy a magic ring so that it cannot fall into the hands of the evil Sauron. {Description clipped from Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac}
NARNIA. Aslan. In these stories, brotherly Love is woven into the adventures of children. The agape includes the talking animals, centaurs, and oddly revenant spirits.
HARRY POTTER.
GILGAMESH. Warrior-king of Uruk, terrorizes his own people, battles monsters, seeks immortality. Recorded in cuneiform by a Babylonian scribe named Sin-leqi-unninni on tablets found in the ruins of Ninevah, near Mosul.
ABRAHAM. Rises up with his gods (plural) out of the land of Ur to settle the Sinai and the Levant with his Semitic descendants. The migrants lived peaceably with each other and began worshiping One God -- under various names (Astarte, Jehovah, Yahweh, Baal, Zoroaster) -- for centuries. [Note: Occasionally outsiders persuade his children to fight each other, and indeed they do so intermittently and without any conviction -- most often only threatening to do their worst.] There were giants, chimera, child-slayers, and angels encountered in the land.
BEOWULF. A heroic youth saves a neighboring people from a monster, Grendel, eventually becomes the king of his own people, and dies defending them from a dragon.
HIAWATHA. Choctaw/Huron origins, rejected by his own tribe, accepted by Iroquiois as a great leader-warrior after defeating WitchDoctor.
YELLOW EMPEROR. Both the Taoists and the later Confucians strongly believed that the exemplars of earlier ages were wiser, more powerful and righteous.
LORD OF THE RINGS/ HOBBIT. Many critics now consider Lord of the Ringsto be one of the greatest fantasy novels ever written. It's the story of Bilbo Baggins, a lowly hobbit who sets out on a quest to destroy a magic ring so that it cannot fall into the hands of the evil Sauron. {Description clipped from Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac}
NARNIA. Aslan. In these stories, brotherly Love is woven into the adventures of children. The agape includes the talking animals, centaurs, and oddly revenant spirits.
HARRY POTTER.
The X PRIZE Foundation
Dr. Peter H. Diamandis made a personal wish with global implications. Founder and chairman of the X PRIZE FOUNDATION, he set up an organization that rewards tangible scientific achievements: For example, manned space flight (awarded Oct 4, 2004), fuel-efficient vehicles, rapid human genome sequencing, and nanotechnology.
Outlines of 13 Speeches
The 13 Essays -- Titles:
1. USING MORALITY AND MONEY TO MAKE BUSINESS DECISIONS 2
2. COOPERATION AND COMPETITION AS SYMBOLISM 2
3. BOTANY AND LESSONS FOR BUSINESS 2
4. YOUR FORTUNE IN PROVIDING WHAT PEOPLE WANT 3
5. MAKING THE MARKETPLACE YOUR OWN 3
6. DOING BUSINESS WITH THE HORIZONTAL GENERATION 4
7. “PLEASE SUCCEED IN BUSINESS, WITHOUT REALLY TRYING” 5
8. DIVERSITY ON YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS 7
9. A MODEST AMOUNT OF MONEY: How to Avoid Fraudulent Business “Deals” 7
10. PREDICTING THE FUTURE 8
11. SAILING THE SEVEN C’S OF GOOD BUSINESS 8
12. MILLION-DOLLAR IDEAS - forty six of them! 9
13. IMPLEMENTATION of BUSINESS PLANS, HOPES AND IDEAS 11
1. USING MORALITY AND MONEY TO MAKE BUSINESS DECISIONS 2
2. COOPERATION AND COMPETITION AS SYMBOLISM 2
3. BOTANY AND LESSONS FOR BUSINESS 2
4. YOUR FORTUNE IN PROVIDING WHAT PEOPLE WANT 3
5. MAKING THE MARKETPLACE YOUR OWN 3
6. DOING BUSINESS WITH THE HORIZONTAL GENERATION 4
7. “PLEASE SUCCEED IN BUSINESS, WITHOUT REALLY TRYING” 5
8. DIVERSITY ON YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS 7
9. A MODEST AMOUNT OF MONEY: How to Avoid Fraudulent Business “Deals” 7
10. PREDICTING THE FUTURE 8
11. SAILING THE SEVEN C’S OF GOOD BUSINESS 8
12. MILLION-DOLLAR IDEAS - forty six of them! 9
13. IMPLEMENTATION of BUSINESS PLANS, HOPES AND IDEAS 11
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