text:
Tuesday, 12 August 2014
Never send to know.
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
But still, to find oneself weeping blindly in an ordinary kitchen, making an ordinary cup of coffee, on an ordinary, rainy Scottish morning, because of the death of a famous person, as if that person were a best beloved – that is quite strange.
And yet, perhaps it is entirely explicable. Many other people seem to have had the same reaction to the shocking loss of Robin Williams. I sat with a friend in the field in the rain, as the red mare listened, and tried to work it all out. It was not just the straight sadness of a bright spirit snuffed out too soon. It was not only the thought of the family and friends left bereft. It was, we thought, the terrible poignancy of a man who gave so much joy, who lifted up so many hearts, being unable to stop himself from sinking.
We came back to the same line: if Robin Williams could not make it, who could?
Perhaps too there was the contemplation of the power of those demons, which robbed him of hope. If they could overcome such a dazzling, inventive mind, such a good heart, such a glittering talent, they must have been almost supernatural in their agency. The thought of the long fight he must have waged with them was one of unimaginable terror.
Depression is a bastard, and it is a thief. It is random and it does not discriminate. It takes the brilliant and the beautiful, the kind and the good, the funny and the clever. It does not give a shit how much you are adored or how much joy you give or how many prizes you win. It is no respecter of money or class or fame.
As the affection and grief roll round the internet, my friend and I say, as one: if only he knew how much he was loved. There is the silent, melancholy rider: it would have made no difference. Depression does not count blessings. Blessings, ironically, may make the sufferer feel even worse. How dare I be afflicted when I have all this?
Out in the open prairies of the web, where so often the craziness of crowds lives, comes the wisdom of crowds. People are shining lights into those dark corners where debilitation and shame live. It's a condition, they are saying, as real and painful as a broken leg. You can't fix a shattered limb by the power of thought or will; you can't say to someone with a smashed femur, cheer up, butch up, man up. Don't be afraid to ask, people are saying; stretch out your hand for help. There is help, there are people who love you, you are not alone.
Ordinary people, touched by this extraordinary man, are remembering Captain, my Captain, and wanting to stand on their desks and be remarkable.
I met Robin Williams once. I was a waitress in a tiny café in a valley in Scotland, and I went over to a table and asked the new arrivals what they would like, and stared straight into that familiar, smiling, open face. I have an odd benchmark of character: I judge people very much on how they treat waiters. Williams was enchanting. He was gracious and polite and regular; he had no sense at all of the Big I Am. He was gentle and quiet, with no trace of that wild, manic, public persona. The other lovely thing, in that small highland village, was that everyone left him alone. Nobody pointed or stared or asked for his autograph. They gave him the courtesy of allowing him to be an ordinary man, just for one day.
I have a fantasy in my mind that he ordered the special lentil soup that I had made that morning. It was a long time ago. I think he probably did not have the soup. I think he just had a cup of coffee. I prided myself on my barista skills, newly learnt, and I made the hell out of that cup of coffee. I don't expect you can really judge someone on one brief transactional meeting, but I was left with the impression of a very, very nice man. A gentle goodness shone out of him like starlight. Perhaps that is why so many people, from the humblest waitress to the most storied Hollywood star, are so sad.
He did not belong to us. I think of the heartbreaking moment in Out of Africa, where Meryl Streep looks down bleakly on a mound of dry earth and says: 'Now take back the soul of Denys Finch-Hatton, whom you have shared with us. He brought us joy, and we loved him well. He was not ours, he was not mine.'
And yet, so many of my generation feel as if Robin Williams was stitched into the fabric of our lives, from Mork and Mindy in our youth, through Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poets' Society in our formative years, to the later, darker films of our middle age. He was so reliably present that perhaps many of us thought he would always be there.
There is something tragically democratic in his loss. Perhaps that too is what speaks to every bruised heart. He might have seemed to live up on that higher plane, where coruscating invention and wild talent and universal fame exist, in the troposphere where ordinary mortals may not go. Yet this kind, funny, haunted man was no more immune from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune than the most workaday amongst us.
I very rarely use the universal we. I don't like to speak for anyone else. But I'm not sure I have seen such an agreement on anything, in the rushing new age of the internet. There are no dissenting voices, no snide remarks, no cheap jokes. There is a collective sense of love and sadness, in their most authentic, unifying form.
In the end, there is not much point in trying to understand or dissect the extraordinary reaction to the death of one brilliant man. In the end, it is what it is. It is a shining light gone out, a brave soul lost, a fighting heart broken.
He gave us joy, and we loved him well.
Go free, now.
As I choose this picture, I think:
Tell someone you love how much you love them; take solace in the small things; be kind, because everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle; lift your eyes up to the hills. Those are my resolutions for today.
65 comments:
Beautifully said Tania, thank you.ReplyDeleteReplies
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I've been haunted by sadness today too. He was a man I always wanted to meet. Even though you knew he had demons, somehow you couldn't help but feel that if you could just meet him, touch his hand, look into his eyes, you could somehow help.Nonsense of course. I feel sure he must have known how much he was loved - though he may not have been able to believe he deserved it. It's a really sad loss and you're so right Tania. Depression is a bastard.ReplyDelete
I bought your book for my sister when it was first published, and, today, used the quote 'backwards, in high heels' in my column. And now, via facebook, I have stumbled upon this. So shiver-down-the-spine-y. And so beautifully put.ReplyDelete
Lynne Barrett-Lee
Thank you for this. I was still half-asleep when I heard the news, and found myself in tears without entirely knowing why. Now I know why.ReplyDelete
Exactly what Gilly has expressd. I wish so much I was able to meet him, I always dreamed of it as a kid, but who knows what was going on in his mind, we just have to hope he's better now, that he's not suffering any more. I hope.ReplyDelete
A wonderful sentiment and a beautiful recollection of character. Thank you for this. He will definitely be missed.ReplyDelete
- Debbie12 August 2014 at 22:24
Beautifully said...thank you.ReplyDelete
- Mairi Smith12 August 2014 at 22:27
There are no more words, except perhaps, Carpe Diem! xReplyDelete
"There is the silent, melancholy rider: it would have made no difference. Depression does not count blessings. Blessings, ironically, may make the sufferer feel even worse. How dare I be afflicted when I have all this?"ReplyDelete
^^^ So much truth. I used to feel so guilty for being depressed when I knew that my life was so much more "blessed" than so many other people's lives.
- Anonymous12 August 2014 at 22:32
I have lived for over 25 years with a husband who suffers from bi-polar and the depression part is indeed scary. While Robin Williams' death brings suicide and depression into global consciousness, you are right that people often miss the point. You can and should support but, in the end, your love can't save someone with severe depression. If they are fortunate, the sufferer can get through the worst and come out on the other side with professional help and medication. If you've never been there you can never fully comprehend the darkness, despair and guilt. I don't pretend to understand it, but I have certainly seen it.ReplyDelete
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and this beautiful bit of writing.Replies
- Anonymous19 December 2016 at 22:40
The only way to understand it is to live it or observe it from clinical viewpoint. Depression is not a bastard. Even bastards are loved, and according to Holy writ, we are all bastard sons and daughters.Delete
I live with the bi-polarity demons and I live despite them. I often embrace the illness as my muse because some of my best work comes in the midst or at the end of an embrace. When it grips me I try to grip back--not letting it win. Robin Williams had another illness to deal with as well, as if being bi-polar wasn't enough.
Your love is good medicine. Your husband is blessed to have found such a love as you.
Be well.
- Anonymous12 August 2014 at 22:32
Hard as it is to accept, he is at peace now. He doesn't need to feel the way he did any longer.ReplyDelete
Whilst we think typically; we look on death as a deep descent into the unknown. In Depression one looks across to death as a solution. Depression siezes and crushes. It distorts. We must be there for one another.
- Anonymous12 August 2014 at 22:36
Dear god,your eloquence is so poinient and beautiful that it made me cry.Think this is the best tribute I have ever read.xReplyDelete
- Anonymous12 August 2014 at 22:38
You said everything I could not say. I was numb; I cried on the spot when I heard the news; I cried bitterly and passionately. I cried again and again throughout the day that wrought such sad news... But reading your fine work here - you have done something really rather fine. You said it all, and you said it very well indeed. THANK YOU. xReplyDelete
Wow, this is so beautifully written, and so true. I wrote a piece this morning about depression and the loss of Robin Williams, would love it if you could read it. http://wishingforthevintagelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/robin-williams-in-memoriam.html?m=1ReplyDelete
- Anonymous12 August 2014 at 22:43
Beautiful simply beautiful. I have spent the day under a cloud of sadness at the passing of this wonderful man who touched so many. Today is my wedding anniversary but have felt no joy only sadness.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous12 August 2014 at 22:56
A wonderful tribute beautifully written about a brilliant and funny man.. a light gone out, so sad.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous12 August 2014 at 23:06
Thank you for this wonderful,eloquent,fitting,moving tribute,the finest I have read today.It has been a very difficult day here and around the world as we all mourn our loss.Depression is a bastard,an insidious illness with no light in the darkness.I pray Robin Williams is now bathed in light and at peaceReplyDelete
I wept in front of the TV tonight, listening to the messages of condolence and thought I must be hormonal (again), because I didn't know this famous person even though he had given me so many pleasurable moments. So thank you for your words, you put it so well. "It is what it is". HxReplyDelete
I think you summed up what so many of us are feeling/thinking.ReplyDelete
Today I woke up, drank my coffee and also cried for the loss of this lovely, wonderful soul I felt I knew, but never met.
It was so hard to believe someone so well loved and respected world over, could feel so crippled by sadness.
There will be just a little less laughter in the world without this lovely human being.
- Anonymous12 August 2014 at 23:08
Your beautiful words have me in tears again and this sums up completely everything I've felt today. Thank youReplyDelete
- Michelle Hatings12 August 2014 at 23:19
I have suffered with depression for over 25 years & at times I have considered the alternative to this agony. Not just my agony but the agony I put those closest to me through, It seems unfair that they should suffer my crazy illness too . However, i have already lost two close family members to suicide, my Dad & my brother & have felt the guilt, pain, stigma , torment & helplessness , the impact of suicide on those left behind never diminish. They got in first .......so how could I possibly , another family member put the rest of my family through suicide again. So I go on , not really enjoying life , missing my loved ones , wondering what If........ suicide is not the answer but understanding , empathy , proper diagnosis, continuous support & therapy is , unfortunately most don't get this until they have attempted & failed at suicide. I have never been offered proper psiciatric help , even after years of taking meds ...but still, some will slip through the net , the brain is complex , will we ever understand depressive illness ???ReplyDeleteReplies
- Anonymous13 August 2014 at 14:55
Hi, I don't know you.. But I feel your pain. I, too, have been suicidal almost all my teen and adult life.. There's a great pressure in thinking we're leaving our loved ones behind with this heavy question why we would do such a horrible thing. I learned to take one day at a time. I saw a doctor for 6 months or so.. I distracted myself by learning new things (YouTube taught me how to bake). Then I became a mother, and life has become more meaningful. Maybe these are things you already know or have in your life.. But one thing's for certain, it will only get better if you let it. Let the joy in. When you start thinking of something sad, look at the silver lining. It's never too late to step back from the ledge. One step at a time, my dear.. Be safe always.Delete
- Anonymous19 December 2016 at 22:48
Oh, dear God, Michelle. I am so sorry for your loss. Talk therapy should go hand in hand with medications. Psychiatrists prescribe but they are not good at the talk and listening parts of mental illness. Trained, licensed talk therapists help you understand your illness, help you deal with the symptoms and side effects of the medications, they take the burden of listening and support from the shoulders of family members, they are there in a crisis, they teach you how to survive and then . . . Hold on to your hair pins! They teach you how to thrive! We don't have to die by suicide or by being shot and killed by police. We don't have to drink ourselves to death or over dose on illegal drugs. Please, do a bit of research then find a talk therapist who works for you. And be well.Delete
- Anonymous12 August 2014 at 23:29
I too wept this morning at this news. My daughter is afflicted by the curse of depression. I see the signs but often feel powerless to halt her spiral into a dark place. I listen and offer hugs but I know that may not be enough. My heart goes out to Robin Williams family.ReplyDelete
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Such a beautiful article. Powerful and eloquent words. I could not have expressed it so well myself, but do share your emotions. I, too, wondered why I was so tearful last night on hearing the news, and all day today .. unable to get it out of my head. As the daughter of a suicide "victim" (my father), and the wife (for 24 years and counting) of a husband with clinical depression, I guess I have my own "experience" that makes this seem all too up close and personal. There, but for the grace of God, go so many more of us. We will never understand, but can only "live with" the consequences of mental ill-health, for better and worse, and hope to find a path through the pain. RIP Robin Williams, and peace to your family and friends.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous12 August 2014 at 23:53
Thank you for expressing everything I felt so beautifully..ReplyDelete
- Anonymous13 August 2014 at 00:04
Beautifully, beautifully said. Thank you.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous13 August 2014 at 00:15
Semper Fidelis..life goes on..farewellReplyDelete
I wasn't fond of Robin Williams as an artist. He frightened me, drove me into a corner where I could clearly see his pain and the threat of what has now occurred, and yet, like almost everyone I've spoken to, I felt this deep loss. I didn't cry. I cried when John Lennon was shot, and I think it was because it wasn't a shock. It must have been harder for him than any of us can imagine. Thank you for your eloquent tribute. You write beautifully. I too met Mr. Williams - payed pool against him in L.A. sndf he was 'on', turned up to eleven as I recall/ What a shame, and what can we do? Give out the Samaritans number and follow your sweet advice, Rick email@example.com
- Anonymous13 August 2014 at 01:06
Just like so many others here Williams' passing has deeply touched me, in a way I could not comprehend. I cried when I heard the news last night, I cried into my morning coffee and I blinked back tears on my commute as I was reading the tributes on Twitter. The girl sitting opposite me on the tube had tears in her eyes, the woman to her left looked sad too. Maybe they have their own stories, or maybe we were indeed three strangers mourning the loss of one wonderful human being that brought kindness into the world. I thought it was only my perception that made London seem quieter than usual today - having read this post, maybe it actually was.ReplyDelete
Thank you for this moving post. I felt a bit of a fool when I awoke to the news of Williams' death and promptly cried my eyes out. Crying for a stranger's passing felt so strange, and, yet, as you mentioned, I had watched Mork and Mindy in my childhood and kept on watching all his work well into middle age. His death did feel, somehow, like a personal loss.ReplyDelete
That was just so beautiful.ReplyDelete
My eyes are leaking.
Stephen Fry brought me here. Thank you for your eloquent tribute to Mr. Williams, a brilliantly talented human being.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous13 August 2014 at 04:26
This was beautiful. I feel so silly every time I breakdown thinking about him but at least I know I'm not alone. I grew up on his movies, so I feel like he's been with me my whole life. It truly feels like such a personal loss. My grief also stems from the realization that while he brought so much joy and laughter into so many lives, he was suffering so deeply and so hopelessly. It truly breaks my heart.ReplyDelete
I'll never forget roaming around San Francisco hoping to run into him. He was a legend, and more importantly, a decent human being. He will forever be missed. Rest easy, Robin. Thank you for everything.
- Anonymous13 August 2014 at 04:48
Thank you for finding such elegance and truth in describing your reaction to this loss. Robin Williams was an incredibly giving man and with such genius that he could see his fellow travelers very well. He cared for them while he pointed out their foibles -with lightening, and then a chuckle. Until he couldn't. Yes, depression prevented him from seeing the Robin Williams we less gifted ones could see. I have been crying for about 2 months now, when I haven't been numb. It's a depression, I have to admit. But I haven't done enough, and I've made promises -- and as tiny as my wee sphere is, especially compared to someone like Mr Williams, I don't want to be the one to make it sadder. Not if I can help it. This is not a gift I would ask for, but this is what Mr Williams has left to me.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous13 August 2014 at 06:37
Beautiful writing. Thank you for this.ReplyDelete
Well said and so what I needed to hear. All day I've been repeating "Captain, my captain" in my head and seeing Williams in various guises and roles and feeling a weird kind of mourning for someone I never really knew...you've done a good thing here and I appreciate it.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous13 August 2014 at 08:47
Thank you for putting in words what I feel.ReplyDelete
Exaclty my feeling, my thoughts, my mourning, my crying my eyes out over the loss of this beautiful soul. I asked myself the same questions and gave myself the same answers as you.ReplyDelete
I wish I could fly myself into a future where this horrible horrible disease is no more than a footnote in history books, long gone and unable to rip up hearts anymore.
Thank you for your words.Replies
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My Name is Sandra Maria from USA, I want to say thank you to PRIEST WISDOM for the good thing he has done for me,Though am not sure if this is the best forum to show my joy and happiness for what he has done for me but i cant hide happiness and my Joy so i have to share it with people, my marriage got crashed about two years ago and i tried all i could within my power but to no avail. i saw post and testimonial about the good things PRIEST WISDOM has been doing so i decided to give it a try. though he is always a busy man but when he responded back to my email, he gave me 48hours for my marriage to be restored really just like he said my marriage was restored since then I am happy and i am living happily i am so grateful, PRIEST WISDOM you can always email him here: firstname.lastname@example.com or WHATSAPP / cell phone +2348124644470 OR https://supernaturalspell1.blogspot.com/
What a beautiful tribute! Thanks for this post and thanks to Steohen Fry for taking me here. I also surprised myself bursting into tears after the shock and the struggle to convince myself that I had misread the name. I seem to have lost a close friend, even if I'd never met him. But, as you very eloquently put it, no one is really a stranger. Humani nihil a me alienum puto, and not just humans, every living being shares the same fate. He is now free and at peace, but I am haunted by just imagining the terrible pain that must have taken him to put an end to his life. Ample smile, sad eyes. Life in Peace now, dearest Robin.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous13 August 2014 at 10:22
Beautifully written and so, so true - I have tears in my eyes reading this, Bless you xReplyDelete
Thank you for your beautiful words and your understanding.ReplyDelete
I felt, feel, the same way... as if he were someone I knew.ReplyDelete
"... we defy augury. There's a special
providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now,
'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be
now; if it be not now, yet it will come:
the readiness is all..."
I am astonished by the response to this post, and very touched. Thank you all so much for coming here and generously sharing your own words.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous13 August 2014 at 15:46
A thoughtful piece of writing.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous13 August 2014 at 17:22
I also read your post because of Stephen Fry. I'm very impressed of your really wise words, thank you so much for that. Rest in peace, truly great Robin Williams.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous13 August 2014 at 18:22
Beautiful, insightful writing. Thank you.ReplyDelete
What a beautiful post! I cried my eyes out as if I'd known him. He was a rather big part of my life, even if he was just a man on a tv screen.ReplyDelete
Your post was shared on FB - think I have heard of you before. But your post about Robin was simply spot on - you managed to articulate exactly how I was feeling and help me understand why I was so so sad at this very sad news. I love Robin Williams - his work, talent, humour and just can't believe he has gone. His death as all deaths do - sharpened my senses yet again around the death of my beautiful daughter Ella just over 18 months ago - to cancer, a very different death - but a death. Thank you for writing so wellReplyDelete
- Anonymous13 August 2014 at 22:59
Beautiful words. Thank you for articulating what so many people are feeling right now!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous14 August 2014 at 09:46
This post is so very beautiful - thank you for that...ReplyDelete
Tania, this was incredibly beautiful as others have said. At a celebratory service recently I heard a mother speak of the death of her son (he was killed in action), to 200 fresh faced graduates, and the thing she said that really stuck with me is that everyone must keep talking and not bottle things up. She was so brave, to stand up and speak so honestly as a mother. She had become a central point for his friends and comrades to meet and talk, and provided so much support to others. Having a husband with PTSD who asked for help from his Service (and had it in spades) and an uncle who didn't, this is something very close to my heart. Thank you.ReplyDelete
Beautifully put, thank you for sharingReplyDelete
liz from Paris
Sweet, touching, honest, beautiful. Thank you for this.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous14 August 2014 at 19:17
I have laughed and I have cried with and at Robin Williams. He has reminded me of what it is to be be human. Human and humane - thank you with all my heart. My sorrow is with his wife and children, my deepest condolences to them at this time.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous24 August 2014 at 22:40
Lovely, simply lovely. Thank you.ReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Goldfields is a region in Victoria, Australia.
Other destinations[edit]
Get in[edit]
Get around[edit]
See[edit][add listing]
Ballarat to Skipton railtrail[edit]
A 46km route for cycling or horseriding from Ballarat to Skipton. A shuttle bus occasionally operates the return route, sponsored by Bicycle Victoria. [1]. Bicycle hire is available in Ballarat.
The trail has route markers every kilometre, to the next town and to the end of the trail. The surface is packed gravel, a road bike is probably unsuitable, but an urban or hybrid bike will be fine. There are shelters provided at regular intervals.
From Ballarat follow Gregory St to the north of Lake Wendouree onto Ring Rd. Gregory St is quiet, and there is a cycle path following the last sections of Gregory St and Ring Rd to the start of the trail.
The railtrail itself starts in the outskirts of Ballarat immediately south of the Ring Rd railway crossing.
Do[edit][add listing]
Eat[edit][add listing]
Drink[edit][add listing]
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text:
David Albert is a philosopher of Science at Columbia. His book "Time and Chance" includes this example (p 36).
A gas is confined on one side of a box with a removable wall. "Draw the wall out, slowly, and perpendicular to its surface, like a piston. Now it happens to be the case, it happens to be a consequence of the Newtonian laws of motion, that a billiard ball which bounces off a receding wall will move more slowly after the collision than before it. (Footnote. Proof: consider the fame of reference in which the wall is at rest.) And so gas particles that bounce off the wall as it it's being drawn out will have their kinetic energy somewhat depleted."
Why is that? We are assuming that an externally applied force is pulling the wall out. It's not the gas that is pushing the wall out. So why is energy lost. Why doesn't that violate conservation of energy.
Another way to look at it is to assume a series of walls very close to each other. Remove them one by one parallel to the surface. There will be no change in the total kinetic energy of the gas. Why is this different?


text:
I'm almost 30 and have never been in a relationship. I blame this on a number of circumstances, but let's be honest. At this point, half the problem is that I'm almost 30 and have never been in a relationship. Even if I think someone is attractive, mentally or physically, I can't seem to convey that I'm interested without saying something along the lines of "Me Jane, you cute." To make it even more fun, I'm active online the most, and while I seem to have flirting down there, finding people who aren't states away to flirt with in the real world is a gigantic hurdle. While I'm not opposed to online relationships or even long distance, I'd rather meet people in person before I invest time and emotion in a deeper connection with them. Any suggestions for portraying availability and interest without giving away my complete and utter lack of experience with the opposite sex and keeping it local?
—Late Bloomer
Well, let me first say that you're not a lost cause, not by a long shot. I think you might be psyching yourself out a bit, though I can see why your lack of experience would weigh on you as you try to navigate the cluster[beep] of dating. But, honestly, any man worth his salt isn't going to be put off by the fact that you've never argued with a long-term lover at an IKEA. So no more of that defeatism, OK? If the vibe you're giving off is, "Eh, I'm okay," then dudes are going to perceive that and behave accordingly. You're awesome sauce. Own it.
Let me also say that the "Me Jane, you cute" line is a totally viable tactic for expressing interest. Sure, it probably wouldn't work on Foucault or anything, but he's dead and gay, so who cares what he thinks? When approaching someone you like, I think simple and to the point is always a winner. I wish we could all be a little more direct when it comes to telling someone we want to see them naked. Like, really, what is with this evasive and vague bull[beep]? Are we playing Mafia, or are we gonna bone? Just tell me so I can stop ordering these expensive vodka gimlets already! Many of my man friends have indicated they are thrilled when women approach them. So you're not going to lose any points for being proactive in pursuing people.
This brings me to flirting, which is a skill like any other. No one comes out of the womb with a smoking jacket and cocked eyebrow. (Except maybe William Shatner, oddly.) The more you flirt, the better you'll be. You've already got the wits, since you can do it with people online, now you just need the practice. Flirt with your waiter, the UPS driver, the guy with the cute dog at the park—whomever! The more you get used to talking to strangers, the more at ease you'll be when it's time to do so with someone you actually like.
I have to express my bafflement that you can't find men who live anywhere near you. A few reasons as to why this would be the case come to mind, but they mostly involve religious cults, prison or trying to date people from World of Warcraft listservs. None of which apply to you, I'm fairly certain. Join an online dating site. (More on that biznass
). Many of them have convenient filters for finding people in your zip code. Or, if you want offline meeting spots, check out my recent post on
Want to ask Anna an anonymous question about love, sex or dating? Email your quandary to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Need to give your dating life a boost? Sign up for RedEye Dating. Pick dates, not people.


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Today is Independence Day here in America, the day we all get together to shoot things into the sky and celebrate the bravery of farmers turned soldiers who kicked an occupying force out of their adopted land. In a sense it's also a day we get together to celebrate a bigger picture, to celebrate soldiers who fought for what they believed in, who did something that most of us will never be able to comprehend.
Like a lot of you, I'll never experience what it's like to risk your life for something you believe in. Most of what I know about the military I learned from movies like Saving Private Ryan. Tom Hanks knew even less about the military than I do now, when he starred in Saving Private Ryan, having neither actually been in the military and not having had the benefit of seeing Saving Private Ryan. Most of us get everything we know about what it's like to be a soldier third hand at best, portrayals from people who often themselves have no idea of their reality, held up as examples to people who know even less. But not always.
This list is dedicated to real life fighters who went on to portray imaginary ones. Maybe in the process they brought a little of themselves to these roles, as men who played soldiers in real life who went on to play soldiers in fantasy, they had to know at least a little more about what they were doing than your average Bosom Buddy. These are our favorite movie military men who were played by real life, actual military men.
While the film starred John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Rod Steiger, Red Buttons and many, many more, Fonda's performance is a stand-out largely thanks to the real-life heroism of the character he played. The son of a former president and suffering from arthritis due to injuries sustained in World War I, Roosevelt actually petitioned to take part in the storming of Utah Beach on D-Day and was the only General sent in with the first wave. The Longest Day is one of the few examples of a true hero playing a true hero.
He did that for a few months, to great reviews, before returning to the front lines carrying more soldiers to and fro. It went well for awhile until a hurricane capsized his boat and mangled it against some rocks. No big deal. He just commandeered another one and went back to work. Ever wonder where Obi-Wan Kenobi got his incredible poise and confidence from? Just another adventure for a real life fucking war hero. Honestly, how the hell is Darth Vader (or death) going to scare a man when he's already bested Hitler and a hurricane?
Centered on a battalion of soldiers who break the chain of command when they refuse to go on a suicidal mission, Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory is one of the greatest war films ever made and one of Douglas's greatest roles. With the actor as Colonel Dax, an officer who comes to the defense of the court martialed soldiers, the audience believes that somehow everything will work out in the end because movie stars never lose. The movie only becomes more powerful when he does.
Eventually his study earned him work as a radio announcer, and that in turn gave way to a career in acting where he played more than a few great military men along the way to Crimson Tide. There the film is built on Hackman's powerful portrayal of arrogant sub commander Frank Ramsay. Set in his ways and suspicious of anyone who thinks differently, the story pits Ramsay against his second in command, in a battle of military protocol beneath the waves. At stake: global nuclear warfare and an increasingly unhinged Ramsay is only too willing to push the launch button.
Just look at Glory. At fifty-two, Freeman's John Rawlins, a ditchdigger turned soldier, may not be as physically imposing as his fellow fighters in the 54th, but that doesn't mean he can't use fiery rhetoric to rally the troops. He's willing to die, but as God as his witness, the rest of the world will know he died standing up and he did it for freedom.
On screen Arnold's military persona is and always has been that of a dedicated, viciously determined military man. In Predator you might say he plays the ultimate military man, the greatest soldier Earth has ever spawned pitted against the greatest killer the galaxy has ever known. That Arnold who skipped basic training to whip off his shirt and pose probably wouldn't last long against a fully grown Predator, but Dutch is the most unstoppable force America's military might has ever spawned.
Before principal photography began, Ermey put together some fake drill instructor footage to help with the dialogue. Kubrick was so impressed he hired his advisor on the spot and even gave him full improvisational power. The result remains one of the most brilliant, chilling and fucked-up performances in the history of war movies. Whether threatening to shit down people's neck holes or demanding to see war faces, R. Lee Ermey's Gunnery Sergeant Hartman not only stole every one of his scenes, he became the predominant image of a drill instructor in popular culture. Ruthless but fair, he hates everyone the same, except the honest ones. They're free to come over to his house and fuck his sister.
James joined the Royal Canadian Artillery at the start of World War II and was there on D-Day at the invasion of Normandy. Lieutenant Doohan was a real life, badass hero who stormed Juno Beach and shot two snipers. Then he lead his men through a field of land mines to high ground to take up defensive positions. During the night, James was shot eight-times by friendly fire, his life saved only by a cigarette case which stopped the bullet that impacted with his chest. He lost his middle finger that night, but it didn't stop Doohan from later training as a pilot, where he spent the rest of his military career flying support aircraft for the Canadian Artillery. There he was labeled the "craziest pilot" in the Canadian Air Force, known for risky flying stunts.
Playing the title character, Scott's turn as the legendary general is considered by many to be one of the greatest in the history of the genre. The film is truly incredible, from the opening speech against the giant flag backdrop to the brilliant score. Yet Patton has one of the most humbling Hollywood stories attached to it, as Scott refused his Oscar for the film on the grounds that he didn't agree with the idea of competition between actors.
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning." Duvall may have only been featured briefly in Francis Ford Coppola's war epic Apocalypse Now, but his performance is a standout. Playing the surf-loving, Civil War campaign hat-wearing, desensitized Col. Bill Killgore, Duvall was genius as a man clearly off the deep end, but normalized by his surroundings. If only he had gone on to win the Best Support Actor Oscar he was nominated for, I have could made a "smells like victory" pun.
Add to our list by telling us about your favorite movie characters, played by real life soldiers, in the comments section below.


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• March 18, 2005 |
9 p.m. ET
The high cost of calling E.T.: How much would you spend to send a message into outer space?
As we reported on Tuesday, more than 130,000 messages from Craigslist subscribers were beamed into space through a deal with Deep Space Communications Network costing more than $1,225. A spokesman for Deep Space said the company would offer its airtime to anyone at $99 for a five-minute transmission. Meanwhile, TalktoAliens.com is selling transmissions to outer space at $3.99 a minute via a 900-prefix toll line.
The idea is that you're paying for a chance to communicate with extraterrestrials, but most Cosmic Log readers were skeptical about the idea. Some thought such attempts to contact aliens had no chance of working. Others feared they'd work too well.
A few even managed to have a little fun with the concept. Here's a sampling of the feedback:
Matt, Robesonia, Pa.: "If the price was right, why not? It kind of gives you a sense of immortality knowing that your image or words are just out there in space for anyone to pick up. And on the odd chance that aliens would pick it up in, like, 3 million years from now, you'll always be known as a part of the ancient race of earthlings in some alien schoolbook."
Diana Kritsonis, Kirkland, Wash.: "Absolutely not. We probably look like idiots to extraterrestrials sending messages to outer space. They're far more advanced than we are and have the ability to communicate with us telepathically — the problem is, we just don't 'get it.'"
Chris Preston: "We are constantly broadcasting into space. Cell phones, TV signals, radio, anything that emits in the electromagnetic spectrum is being 'sent' into space. Now you can pay for what was previously free. Only in America!"
E. Garner, Santa Cruz, Calif.: "I am an enthusiastic supporter of the search for extraterrrestrial intelligence — but this ill-conceived fiasco mislabeled as an attempt to communicate with aliens is just another sophomoronic marketing prank created for the entertainment of members of our shallow, TV-addicted culture. Personally, I find it demonstrates no socially or scientific redeeming qualities whatsoever."
Jeremiah, St. Paul, Minn. "I like the idea. I really doubt that many people think they will actually communicate with other life forms, but for me, the reason to do so would be so at least there was a chance. It's your chance to say your message. It will likely never be heard, but if it were to be heard, you would have to ask if you would rather have not said anything, just so you didn't waste your time or money. I'm sure if anyone is listening, they will surely take our silence as just being reasonable beings rather than not having anything to say. Personally I'd rather not let them make a mistake on how I feel, and speak my mind, but hey ... I'm human."
William, Green Bay, Wis.: "Well, I think it is a neat idea to get people interested in space exploration and the idea of first contact. Beyond that, it is silly, as a 500-watt transmission wouldn't even escape our solar system intact."
Edward Reasor, Tampa, Fla.: "A 500-watt transmission would dissipate into nothing long before it even left our solar system. To send a transmission to even our nearest star, Alpha Centauri, you would need a 300,000-watt transmitter. These folks are wasting their money."
Conrad Paul: "Why would someone spend $99 for a phone call to oblivion? Feed a homeless family or donate to the cancer society, but don't line the pockets of the already-rich. My reason includes the fact that I can't spend $99 to chat with E.T. when I communicate with my family by email and we live in the same house! My buddies never phone — they 'Nudge' me (MSN Messenger) or 'Buzz' me (Yahoo Messenger). I have been a member of SETI @ home for a number of years and reason that any receiver out there that would deign to learn the message's content would quickly discover that we are years from anyone even collecting that message. Put a note in bottle and drop it into an unmarked and forgotten coal mine, then wait for the aliens to come here to find it and read it."
Lance Eldert, Scottsdale, Ariz.: "It is an exercise in futility that I wish I had thought of first. I may as well use a laser to transmit Morse Code ... hmm, now there's an idea. I could charge by the letter, too! Maybe I could just patent stupidity and collect royalties everytime someone comes up with ideas like these. I would never work again at this rate."
Ted: "While I assume that the messages that are broadcast will dissipate fairly close to Earth, within 100 light-years or so, I still think this is a foolish concept. Not foolish because it couldn't work, but foolish because it might.
"We have no idea what or who is out there, nor do we have any perspective on how they might react to messages from a place that is inhabited and that they might be unaware of. Further, there is no evidence that E.T. is there by earthly instrumentation ... that doesn't mean that he isn't there. ...
"When I was a kid on the farm, I used to look out on the pond in the morning. It was smooth and glassy, except for the fluttering of a moth who was trapped on the surface of the water and frantically beating its wings. As I recall, nothing good ever happened to those moths who announced their presence on the pond."
Rick: "That is a waste of energy and time in sending 'messages' into space. They should be using the technology for something more useful that spamming E.T. Haven't people had enough e-mail spamming already?"
Patrick Bishop, Caldwell, N.J.: "On my way to drop my kid off at school this morning, I overheard this startling transmission break into the Dr. Octavo mix of Emma's 'Free Me' on the radio.
"'Hi! This is E.T. Since you people (and I use the term loosely) are intentionally yammering at me I figured I'd yammer right back at you ... just this once!
"'Not only am I able to receive your intentional messages, but all your other broadcasts as well, and know more about you than you do about yourselves. My advice is stop spending $3.99 a minute on trying to get my attention and use it to put some shoes and coats on all those kids in rural Appalachia who have none — this was a long and hard winter for them.
"'The fact that you'd rather blow 99 bucks whispering in my ear for five minutes rather than taking care of your own problems just shows that you aren't the kind of creatures with whom nice extraterrestrials should associate. It's like my grandfather Goozelfritznoodling used to say, "You can take the H. sapiens out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the H. sapiens."
"'If you earthlings must intentionally broadcast messages at me, the only message content that is truly appropriate given your circumstances is, "Help, help! Somebody please come save us from ourselves!" In sending any message other than this, you send a much louder, if implicit, message as well: Human hubris refuses confinement to Earth. Let me know when you get things sorted out, and maybe I'll consider you worth engaging in a pleasant chat. Until then, Good Luck and Goodbye!'
"At first I was sure it was a hoax (given that the speaker sounded exactly like Elvis) but found myself returning again and again to the words themselves and how penetratingly, obviously true they were. Anyway, just figured I'd pass the message on to you."
• March 18, 2005 |
9 p.m. ET
The lighter side of dark energy: Cosmic Log readers were intrigued by Wednesday's item about the mysterious dark energy in our celestial neighborhood:
R.G. Williams, Anahuac, Texas: "Isn't it a hoot? About the time these non-believing smarty-pants scientists think they have God's creation figured out, He puts a cricket in their schnizzle."
Anonymous: "It could be large alien ships that are undetectable by the human senses. If this is not the case, then perhaps there really is 'The Force,' like in the movie, 'Star Wars.' Or maybe it is a little different (we can't control it like in the movie). Maybe this has to do with what the Chinese call 'chi.' Or maybe I am just rambling on about something that is way beyond my imagination."
• March 18, 2005 |
9 p.m. ET
Will planetary theory stick? Thursday's item about "sticky ice" as a super glue for the initial pieces of planets sparked some quick but thoughtful responses:
Rotimi Afesumeh, Ann Arbor, Mich: "I would have thought magnetism could have played a bigger role in the clumping together to form the planets. Is there any evidence to support the formation of our planets in the reverse order as proposed? If the core of the planets are hot and molten, then they could not have formed from ice only to warm up as they move away from the sun. This hypothesis may apply to the outer, colder planets, but sounds implausible for the inner warmer ones — and even then, not likely to play a major role in their formation."
Actually, planetary scientists are still debating how planets migrate during the formation process. One of the leading theories, advanced by theoreticians such as Alan Boss at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, proposes that most planets migrate inward as they settle into their orbits — as referred to in this report about extrasolar Neptune-size planets . That would fit well with the idea that even terrestrial planets got their start in colder celestial climates.
Milt Overall, Lansdale, Pa. "As a engineer in the earth science (metallurgy), it seems this article ignores the interaction of the dust particles. That is, for all the elements (of the ore deposits, ocean floor materials) that gave us Earth's present structure and the ability to "make" things from the eruptions of magma, yielding our ores and other materials, would it be right to assume those crucial materials were encased in such stuck-together ice particles, allowing planets to form and progress into what we see now. In short, how did the 'sticky ice' accommodate those materials so crucial to our civilization now?"
In their paper, the researchers say that a variety of minerals — including silica and silicates, iron and nickel — could take on an electrical charge such that they would more easily stick together, and also speculate that inner planets could take on "quite a lot of material" from the outer, icier regions of a planetary system.
They also note that once these dirty snowballs reach a kilometer (half-mile) in diameter, the widely accepted theories for planet formation can explain the process for building them up into the planets (and asteroids like Ceres) we know and love today. The issue is how they get to that stage. Cowin said that when the bits are tiny, you need some mechanism in addition to gravitational attraction to explain the stick-togetherness.
The sticky-ice scenario would help explain why the protoplanetary bits build up like Rice Krispies treats, rather than cracking against each other and rebounding like billiard balls. "These things won't fracture, because they're padded," Cowin said.
If the planet quest is what turns you on, don't forget to tune in next week's extrasolar planet briefing, scheduled at 1 p.m. ET Wednesday on NASA Television.
• March 18, 2005 |
9 p.m. ET
Weekend field trips on the World Wide Web:
• Animal Planet: "Dragons"
• The Economist: Dark messengers in astrophysics
• Technology Review: The giant who walks amongst us
• Wired.com: Divide undercuts efforts to ban cloning
• March 17, 2005 |
11 p.m. ET
Super glue for planets: Billions of years ago, what caused the planets to stick together? It's not as easy to answer that question as it might seem, considering that the bits of primordial ice and dust might have ended up blowin' in the solar wind. But scientists think they've found just the kind of glue that could have done it: a special form of plain old water.
According to the current thinking on planet formation, the disks of debris swirling around newborn stars had to coalesce into half-mile-wide (kilometer-wide) dirty snowballs within just a few million years, or else the opportunity for building planets would have been lost. The only problem is, the gravitational attraction between the primordial flecks wouldn't be strong enough to keep them clumped together.
Researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory report a possible solution to the puzzle in the Feb. 20 issue of the Astrophysical Journal: They propose that the dust grains were coated with a "sticky ice" that was unusually fluffy. What's more, these grains were electrically charged so that there was an attraction.
"As soon as you put a charge on these grains, it's like throwing little bar magnets at each other," explained James Cowin, the research fellow who led the PNNL team in Richland, Wash.
When two bits of this stuff came together, the stickiness of the ice kept them from bouncing off each other. In fact, there was an "anti-bounce" effect — like two balls of that fluffy, sticky Rice Krispies confection smashing into each other, Cowin said.
"That was a kind of a one-two punch," he told me. "The electric forces were big enough to allow these things to stick fast enough for even elastic hard ice, but on top of that, the fluffy ice was inelastic."
One of the keys to the research is that the ice was formed under extremely low-temperature conditions rather than the temperatures we see here on Earth. To find out just how sticky such ice can get, Cowin's colleagues grew ice from water vapor in a chamber that reproduced the primordial vacuum and temperature (40 degrees Kelvin, or 387 degrees below zero Fahrenheit). Then they measured the ice's anti-bounce characteristics by dropping tiny ceramic balls on the super-cold ice as well as on garden-variety earthly ice.
But what about the terrestrial planets, such as Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury? "In the inner region, silica dust can in fact behave similarly, at least in terms of the electrification," Cowin said.
Cowin also said it's possible that the inner planets got their start farther out, where the sticky ice would definitely come into play. Later in the process, those planets may have moved inward, "frying away" the ice, he said.
"The basic building blocks of our earth could have formed where it was colder," he said.
The other researchers on the PNNL team are Martin Iedema, Rich Bell, A.A. Tsekouras and Hanfu Wang. For additional perspectives on the research, check out the PNNL news release and today's report on sticky ice from the Why Files at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
• March 17, 2005 |
11 p.m. ET
Shuttle troubles: Glitches involving the international space station and space shuttle operations are clouding the picture a bit for the scheduled May 15 launch of the shuttle Discovery, as reported on Wednesday . NASA says it isn't so concerned about a balky gyroscope on the station, but this Associated Press report provides further detail on the problems that have cropped up in getting Discovery ready to roll toward its launch pad.
It turns out that fasteners for the wire-tray covers in the space shuttle's payload bay could rub against bundles of electrical wire and cause chafing. AP says the problem was first discovered this week in another shuttle, Endeavour, and workers are now taking off the covers in Discovery and padding the bottom of the fasteners.
The problem is reminiscent of an episode in 1999, when the discovery of frayed wiring in Columbia's payload bay forced NASA to ground the rest of the shuttle fleet for inspections. The current problem doesn't sound quite as serious, but it's still likely to delay Discovery's rollout to the pad until early April.
• March 17, 2005 |
10:45 p.m. ET
Corned beef and cabbage for the scientific palate:
• BBC: Lab fireball 'may be black hole'
• The Guardian: We are way past our 'extinct by' date
• Washington Post: Pentagon has spacecraft in the works
• National Geographic: Beneath Irish isles
• March 16, 2005 |
8:45 p.m. ET
Dark energy is near: For years, scientists have known that we don't know all that much about the universe. In fact, ordinary matter — the kind we can detect with telescopes and other observational tools — accounts for only about 5 percent of the universe's content. About 25 percent consists of "dark matter," which can be sensed only by its gravitational effect. The other 70 percent is tied up in "dark energy," a mysterious quality that is apparently speeding up the expansion of the universe.
Astronomers first picked up on dark energy's influence on the edges of the observable universe, but now they have found evidence closer to home, in the relative motions of the galaxies around our own. The research indicates that dark energy isn't just a way-out-there quirk, but is truly a property that permeates all of space, including our own galactic neighborhood.
"It's like traveling from Seattle to Portland, Ore., rather than from Seattle to New York, to measure the earth's curvature," said Fabio Governato, a professor at the University of Washington and a researcher at Italy's National Institute of Astrophysics.
Governato and his co-authors — the University of Zurich's Andrea Maccio and Cathy Horeliou at Sweden's Chalmers University of Technology — report their results in a paper to be published by the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (PDF file).
To look for dark energy's signature, the team ran a series of supercomputer simulations of the universe's evolution, varying the parameters to reflect situations with and without dark energy.
"The computer crunches models for a few weeks, and then we compare the properties of our virtual universe with those of the real ones," Governato told me today.
The researchers looked at the actual motions of the Local Group galaxies with respect to each other — a complex pattern that is influenced by the mutual gravitational attraction between the galaxies as well as the repulsion caused by the expansion of the universe. They found that the only way to explain the galaxies' motions with their computer model was by including an extra factor for cosmic expansion.
"If you leave out the dark energy, you miss the data by a factor of three or four," Governato said. "But if you include the dark energy, there's a match."
So what is dark energy? That's the 64,000-quatloo question — and one that researchers cannot yet answer. Some theorists say dark energy is simply an unchanging property of the universe, the so-called cosmological constant that Albert Einstein proposed, then rejected. Others say it may be "quintessence," a form of energy that changes over time.
If we had more precise data about the motions of galaxies, could Governato's model make more headway on such questions?
"In theory, yes," he said. "We could see how this 'flow' of galaxies is related to the properties of dark energy. ... The more accurate we are with this measure, the more precise we can be with our models."
Check out the University of Washington's news release about the research, as well as Science magazine's report on the dark side of the universe .
• March 17, 2005 |
Updated 12:30 p.m. ET
Dust devil in the details: The estimable science writer David Chandler notes that the dust devil spotted by NASA's Spirit rover last week was not really the first sighting from the Martian surface.
"The first image of a Mars dust devil was taken by Pathfinder," Chandler said in an e-mail Tuesday. "Some sources claim there were five images of dust devils taken that mission, but I talked to [Pathfinder mission scientist] Matt Golombek yesterday, and he said it was just one."
This Space Daily report from last year includes a Pathfinder image of a dust devil, so I was clearly mistaken in claiming that Spirit's spottings were the first. For setting me straight, Chandler richly deserves my thanks, as well as links to his New Scientist story on the subject and his brand-new blog, Cosmic Views.
• March 16, 2005 |
8:45 p.m. ET
Coming attractions: Next Wednesday, NASA will reveal new findings from the Spitzer Space Telescope about planets beyond our own solar system. "Researchers have discovered new capabilities of the infrared telescope to aid in the study of these planets," the space agency said today in an advisory about the upcoming briefing. Get up to speed on Spitzer and the search for extrasolar planets by spinning through this report on infrared astronomy and our "Other Worlds" interactive , then tune in to the 1 p.m. ET briefing via NASA Television.
• March 16, 2005 |
8:45 p.m. ET
Scientific smorgasbord on the World Wide Web:
• New Scientist: 13 things that do not make sense
• Nature: DNA gets a fake fifth base
• BBC: New row over climate 'hockey stick'
• Discovery.com: Dolphin shows off prosthetic tail
• March 15, 2005 |
4 a.m. ET
Hey, E.T.! You've got mail: Precisely 138,179 messages were beamed into space on Friday, inaugurating a pay-for-play transmission service targeting extraterrestrial eavesdroppers.
The chances were slim any aliens were listening in — but the organization picking up the toll charges, the Craigslist community forum, indicated that it was satisfied with the exercise and is planning to do it again. Craigslist paid for the 23-minute transmission by Florida-based Deep Space Communications Network after winning an online auction for the opportunity.
For the past two weeks, Craigslist has been letting its millions of members queue up words and pictures for the almost straight-up broadcast from Deep Space's TV-style uplink facility.
"The response from our terrestrial community wanting to take advantage of being able to communicate with the new Craigslist space community has really been out of this world," Craig Newmark, Craigslist's founder and customer service representative, said Monday in a slightly tongue-in-cheek news release. "With over 24 million words and pictures building up in our space blog, we were contacted by the Deep Space folks with the launch window, and we jumped at the opportunity to get the messages out there."
Friday's 500-watt transmission came right after the launch of an Atlas 5 rocket bearing a telecommunications satellite. Craigslist said it intended to upload some more space-directed data around the time of the space shuttle Discovery's launch , currently planned for May 15. Cost of the transmissions has not been made public, but it's reportedly more than the $1,225 online bid that Craigslist registered.
Doug Kohl, a spokesman for Deep Space, said the company is planning to transmit a musical score and a movie trailer into space under the terms of other deals. A rate sheet is being drawn up for the general public as well, starting at $99 for a five-minute transmission.
Yet another outfit, TalktoAliens.com, is offering to broadcast your 900-prefix telephone call into space for $3.99 a minute.
Now that you know the price tag, what do you think about the idea? Would you sign up to send a message out to E.T., even though it might get lost in the blare of other broadcasts? Or is this just cosmic spam?
• March 15, 2005 |
4 a.m. ET
Scientific smorgasbord on the World Wide Web:
• N.Y. Times (reg. req.): Mother culture, or only a sister?
• New Scientist: Charity begins at Homo sapiens
• National Geographic: The mind is what the brain does
• The Independent: The gender gap in dreaming
• March 14, 2005 |
3:14 p.m. ET
Happy birthday, dear Einstein: What would be on Albert Einstein's mind if he were still around today, on his 126th birthday?
He'd probably be fending off scores of interview requests, not only because of his amazing longevity , but also because this year marks the 100th anniversary of his "miracle year," when he came up with revolutionary theories on special relativity, the visible effects of moving atoms and the quantum nature of light.
He'd probably be shaking his head over the fact that the idea he once called the "greatest mistake" of his career — the addition of a fudge factor to general relativity — has been resurrected to explain why the expansion of the universe seems to be accelerating.
And he'd probably be speaking out about the way science and politics are being conducted nowadays, because that was a subject close to his heart in his latter years. He'd surely still be advocating nuclear disarmament, and he'd likely welcome measures to reduce the spread of weapons of mass destruction — but he wouldn't accept the idea that scientific inquiry had to be squelched to serve the cause of homeland security.
"If scientists were to refrain from investigation for fear of what bad people might do with the results, then all of us might as well refrain from living altogether," he told The New Yorker's Niccolo Tucci for a 1947 profile, recently reprinted online.
One thing is certain: If anything, Einstein is a bigger celebrity today than he was a half-century ago. Few other scientists have had their persona attached to an opera as well as a kids' show, educational toys and games, and multiple fictional movies.
Just last month, scientists launched the Einstein @ Home distributed-computing project, aimed at answering one of relativity's great unresolved questions: Can we detect gravitational waves? Today, the tally of the screensaver program's users is passing the 55,000 mark.
"I'm thrilled with the response we've gotten in such a short time," Einstein @ Home principal investigator Bruce Allen of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee said in a news release prepared for the occasion. "The growing number of participants increases the computing power available to us, and improves our odds of finding something. Were we to find a signal in this way, it would be an exceptional moment for both theoretical and experimental physics."
To delve more deeply into the birthday boy's legacy, check out the Einstein Archives Online, Encarta's encyclopedic Einstein entry, the American Institute of Physics' Web presentation on Einstein's image and impact, Time magazine's "Person of the Century" profile and Slate's relativity reality check.
• March 14, 2005 |
3:14 p.m. ET
Your daily dose of science on the Web:
• Celebrate Pi Day on 3/14
• ... And Brain Awareness Week as well
• BBC: Europe tells U.S., 'Come to Europa'
• Science News: The secret behind Renaissance palettes
• Discovery.com: Did Neanderthals sing at high pitch?
• Wired.com: Are nanobacteria making us ill?
The fine print: Looking for older items? Check the Cosmic Log archive. Share your perspective on cosmic subjects with Alan Boyle. If you link to this page, you can use http://cosmiclog.msnbc.com or http://www.cosmiclog.com as the address. MSNBC is not responsible for the content of Internet links.


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One or two, fishtail or French, there is nothing we love more than a beautiful braid, and we have a feeling that you feel the same. They're just so reliably classic and elegant — no matter how you do them.
Now that you've mastered most types of braids, it's time for something a little more advanced. If you're looking to take your hair to the next level, check out these new Fashion Week-birthed braids that we've been re-inspired by. So, warm up those arms and set out all the bobby pins you can find; these braids from fashion month are most definitely not for the fashion weak.
Like this post? There's more. Get tons of beauty tips, tutorials, and news on the Refinery29 Beauty Facebook page!


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2019 Dove Award Nominee: Traditional Gospel Song of the Year - "Deliver Me (This is My Exodus) (feat. Le'Andria Johnson)"
2019 Dove Award Nominee: Traditional Gospel Album of the Year
Genesis 45:10 (NIV) (God speaking to Israel) You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. Located in Egypt, Goshen as the place given to the Hebrews by one Pharaoh, but another Pharaoh arose, and felt they were becoming too powerful so he enslaved them. This land was blessed by God, it is stated Gods presence resonated high there. But for Lawrence, Goshen is more than a physical location-its a city set apart (Exodus 8:22-23). I think of Goshen as a spiritual zip code, he says, and those who reside there succeed against all odds. If we have a Goshen mindset, we have a position of faith that Gods hand of protection is always around us. Its a concept Lawrence has been mulling over since gospel songwriter-producer Jermaine Dabney brought him an early version of the single, Goshen, three years ago. I wanted to tell the story of Exodus in a unique way, Lawrence explains. I didnt want to focus necessarily on the Israelites departure, but the spiritual concept of Goshen. There were many years of plagues after the Exodus but Goshen was Gods protected place and those living there were oblivious (to the plagues) and prospered. The idea is that in these times of new plagues (gun violence, anger, hatred, fear), we need to pray that Gods Goshen follows us wherever we go, that our families and those connected to us will still experience supernatural peace and prosperity in these troubling times. This is a position of faith. Goshen includes many voices behind some of the Tri-City Singers biggest hits, including DeWayne Woods, Sher Jones Moffett, Ametta Murrill-Crooms, LeJune Thompson, as well as first time collaborations with Gospel powerhouse Jekalyn Carr, the genre-fluid Sir The Baptist, and more.
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- Publisher: Provident Distribution
- Release Date: February 1, 2019
- Language: English
- Binding: CD
- Height: 0.40 inches
- Width: 5.50 inches
- Length: 4.90 inches
- Weight: 0.20 pounds
About the Author
Donald Lawrence and the Tri-City Singers
One of the most popular gospel choirs of the 1990s, Donald Lawrence and the Tri-City Singers also managed to make waves with the secular media, similar to a handful of other Christian acts during the decade. Comprised of Lawrence plus 34 members -- from the "Tri-Cities" of Spartanburg, South Carolina plus Gastonia and Charlotte, North Carolina -- the choir debuted with the 1993 album A Songwriter's Point of View on the tiny GospoCentric label. The album eventually reached number two on the gospel charts. At the end of the year, the Tri-City Singers had become one of Billboard's Top Ten Gospel Groups, as well as the recipient of several Stellar Awards and a nomination for the NAACP's Image Award. Second album Bible Stories followed in 1995 on Crystal Rose/Chordant Records, and the choir released a holiday LP, Hello Christmas, in 1997. Lawrence and the Tri-City Singers signed to EMI Gospel in 2000, releasing the album tri-city4.com that same summer. Go Get Your Life Back followed in 2002. Restoring the Years, a greatest-hits album with two new tracks, appeared in 2003. The next year saw the release of Lawrence's first solo album, I Speak Life. The Tri-City Singers announced the group was calling it quits in the spring of 2006, and recorded one last concert, which was released that same year as two albums, Finalé: Act One and Finalé: Act Two. Lawrence's second solo album, The Law of Confession, Part I, arrived in February of 2009, with a second part rumored on the horizon. Lawrence's next release, however, was titled YRM (Your Righteous Mind), when it appeared in 2011.


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JOINT SWELLING and SomaPatientsVille
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A joint is where two or more bones come together, like the knee, hip, elbow, or shoulder. Joints can be damaged by many types of injuries or diseases, including
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Since arriving in North America, Europeans have admired authentic goods made by Native American artisans such as beaded tennis sneakers, prints of the Statue of Liberty and pottery picturing alcohol abuse.
Since arriving in North America, Europeans have admired authentic goods made by Native American artisans such as beaded tennis sneakers, prints of the Statue of Liberty and pottery picturing alcohol abuse.
Or maybe you'd rather see an ancient Iroquois pipe, pottery by Pueblo Indians or a razor-sharp Cheyenne knife in a fringed sheath.
If you'd like to view both kinds of Native American art, visit Fruitlands Museum to see "ReThink!,'' an intriguing exhibit that will make you do just that.
Juxtaposing traditional Native American artifacts from the Harvard museum's collection with work by six contemporary Native American artists across the country, this show invites visitors to compare objects from different eras in light of their own expectations.
And by confronting visitors with contrasting kinds of Native American objects across history, "ReThink!'' nudges them to reexamine their own ideas about their makers' identities, past and present.
Subtitled "American Indian Art,'' it was originally organized by the Berkshire Museum. Fruitlands' new executive director, Wyona Lynch-McWhite, brought the exhibit to the museum where she and chief curator Michael Volmar adapted it to include objects from their collection.
Reflecting the intentions of organizers from both museums, "ReThink!'' aims to do more than present "historic American Indian art … as artifacts of people now long gone.''
Volmar said visitors will encounter "a lot of really amazing Native American art that they don't often get to see.''
Volmar said he and Lynch-McWhite wanted to bring "ReThink!'' to Fruitlands because they were interested in how the exhibit "blended together historical and contemporary objects'' in ways that "let us highlight our small but significant collection of 1,100 Native American objects.''
Consider perfectly functional moccasins made from rawhide by Plains Indians and decorated with glass beads acquired from traders. Compare them with cool blue, high-top sneakers decorated with contemporary images made by Teri Greeves.
The real delight of "ReThink!'' is viewing such groupings, which nudges visitors to re-examine not just their own ideas of Native American art but of their own expectations.
Volmar, who has a PhD in anthropology with a concentration in Native American history, said people seeing Native American art tend "to believe the older objects are somehow more authentic'' than work by contemporary artists.
For a case in point, consider a strategically placed grouping of traditional and modern totem poles.
Entering the Main Gallery, visitors will first see a traditional totem pole from the Northwest made from a sperm whale's jawbone and intricately carved with stylized animal figures. It combines remarkable craftsmanship with the powerful aura of a Native American culture from long ago.
Contemporary artist Preston Singletary's clear glass "Eagle Bear Totem'' stands next to it, also covered with stylized images but instantly recognizable as a contemporary object.
Is the older object somehow more authentic than the contemporary piece? Could you say the same thing about 17th and 20th century paintings of the Madonna and child?
Volmar observed, "Sometimes it seems that people have the idea that Indians are supposed to live and make art like they did 200 years ago but the rest of us can have cell phones.''
While many traditional objects were originally made for daily use, or, sometimes, to be sold to Europeans, Volmar said most of the contemporary work was intentionally made as art even if it still had a practical use.
But Western viewers must ask themselves whether they can judge traditional objects by the same aesthetic values of beauty, harmony and proportion they'd apply to a painting by Cezanne or a Henry Moore sculpture.
For the Native American artists, traditional materials and subjects are something to build up and not be limited by.
Marcus Amerman stated, "What's truly Indian is always there.''
"It's not something that fades away with how you are dressed or what kind of car you're driving,'' he said. "But it's always there, living on even if the circumstances or the clothing may change. What's Indian is still Indian.''


text: ENG (an abbreviation which means Electronic News Gathering) was a Canadian soap opera that dealt with the personal lives of a group of newscasters in a newsroon at a fictitious Toronto news station. Sort of a soap opera version of Murphy Brown and Mary Tyler Moore. Ann Hildebrandt was the executive producer of the news at station CTLS-TV 10; and she was having a secret affair with Jake Antonelli, the young hotshot cameraman. Her world was rocked with the arrival of Mike Fennell, the new News Director who had eyes for ratings. Their opinions clashed, but they only had the best interests of the station and their workers in mind. Among the other characters in CTLS' newsroom were Kyle Copeland who was the station manager; Jane Oliver and Seth Miller were the anchors (Seth being so age-conscious that he was sure he was getting shoved aside); Bruce Foreman was a schemer; Marge Atherton was the motherly editor, a source of strength for all; JC was an assignment editor; and Da


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By Trevor Kuss, sports information assistant
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Georgia College women's cross country team made the trip to Charlotte, N.C. Saturday, Nov. 3 for the NCAA Southeast Regional 6K race. The Bobcats finished ninth of 27 competing teams.
Freshman Taylor Roeck (Cumming, Ga.) has led the team in all but one race and continued the trend at Regionals. Roeck finished with a time of 23:55 and came in 37th out of the 182 runners. Her time is the third fastest 6K finish in GC history. Roeck finished just 21 seconds behind the second fastest time, which she set at the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) Championship Oct. 20.
Fellow freshman Lena White (Smyrna, Ga.) finished the race with a time of 24:17, good for 47th place. Her race is the ninth fastest 6K finish in GC history. After walking on to the team earlier this season, White has competed in three races and has two of the top-10 fastest 6K finishes in GC history.
Junior Allison Lones (Kathleen, Ga.) finished 56th, with a time of 24:35. Competing in her last collegiate race senior Victoria Dobson (New Hamburg, Ontario) finished in 25:19, good for 82nd place. Sophomore Whitney Sweet (Roswell, Ga.) rounded out the scoring with a time of 25:42, finishing in 96th place.
The Southeast Regional brings the season to a close for the Bobcats. The year was highlighted by many new faces on the team, including freshman Roeck who put up the second and third fastest 6K finishes in her final two races, while also being named to the PBC All-Sportsmanship Team, and being named Bobcat Athlete of the Week twice.
The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 11 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at www.twitter.com/BobcatSports and www.facebook.com/gcbobcats for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit www.GCBobcats.com for more information, and to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GC Athletics Hall of Fame.


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I met Mirabel in 2011, four years after she had left her home in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, a city reputed to be the murder capital of the world. She, her sisters and mother were terrorized by an alcoholic father who abused them and stole the earnings from her mother's struggling grocery store to spend on liquor and women. The tipping point came when Mirabel, then 16, confronted her father after a drunken rampage, and he nearly killed her with a machete. When an uncle offered to pay for a smuggler to take Mirabel to the United States, her mother begged her not to go. "We all know the stories of women who get raped or die in the desert," Mirabel told me. "But I couldn't stay. I had no life there." She told her mother she loved her, boarded a bus with her teenage cousin and headed north, hoping for a better education and a better life in "El Norte."
But Mirabel's safe passage across the U.S. border 15 days later was just the beginning of another ordeal that came with its own terrors. Immediately after entering the United States, she was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Texas' Rio Grande Valley. "They were questioning me, and I was crying," she recalled to me. "I said, 'I can't go back.' I was 16, the only under-aged girl and little, but those officers put handcuffs on me just like I was a criminal." After spending a few days in jail, she was taken into federal custody at a shelter in Los Fresnos, Texas, for unaccompanied minors. It was clean, Mirabel says, and had a nice enough living room, but she soon realized she couldn't leave. "There was no life—life ended there," she says. "The shelter was near the main road and I could see cars going by, and I wanted to be in that car." It would be six months before an immigration judge in Texas granted her asylum petition and released her from federal custody to a foster family in Virginia.
Story Continued Below
Underage migrants like Mirabel, a vulnerable population that has been hidden from public scrutiny and absent from immigration debates for years, suddenly became breaking news this spring, when shocking pictures of kids in detention centers began circulating in the media. The number of children detained at the southwest border since October had reached 52,000, and was climbing rapidly. News reports since then have galvanized public attention, creating both sympathy and alarm: We have heard stories of Central American migrants as young as four or five packed into overcrowded holding cells and, on the other hand, witnessed anti-immigrant protesters banning these children from entering their communities by blocking buses or even passing resolutions. Facing what the president called an "urgent humanitarian crisis," the Obama administration is scrambling to set up additional shelters, and the president has promised to "stem the tide" of further migration, this week asking Congress for emergency funding of $3.7 billion to aid the effort.
But spending more money on short-term fixes won't solve a problem that has been building for years now—and one that ultimately must contend with a Kafkaesque legal system that offers these young detainees few viable options for relief. For my research on unaccompanied children in U.S. immigration custody, the Office of Refugee Resettlement—the Department of Health and Human Services agency that operates the custodial system—granted me rare access to 20 federal facilities and six foster-care facilities between 2009 and 2012. (As a condition for this access, I agreed not to reveal the names of the particular facilities I visited.) During that time, I also conducted in-depth interviews with 40 formerly detained young migrants. The story I heard from Mirabel (whose name, like those of the other interviewees in this article, has been changed for her protection) was typical of the experiences I encountered: children who had fled violence and poverty and, once in the United States, waged uphill and prolonged battles to stay here legally.
Thirty-eight of the 40 ended up winning legal relief, but only after several months of detention. And they are the lucky ones—those who managed to find excellent pro bono attorneys to represent them in immigration court. Here are the stories of those I met who were fortunate enough to get out—and what they saw while they were still inside.
Young Central American and Mexican migrants have been coming to the United States for decades in search of family, work and refuge. They do this knowing the journey north is perilous and that they could die en route: An analysis last year by the human rights group the Washington Office on Latin America found that there were at least 463 migrant deaths at the U.S. border in fiscal year 2012. And that's only counting those who make it that far. During the journey, migrants often witness or experience violence from ruthless smugglers, corrupt border guards and criminal gangs, not to mention hunger, illness and exposure to the elements. NGOs in the United States, Central America and Mexico have reported that many young migrants are kidnapped by cartels that extort money from their families or traffic them for sex and labor. Of the 40 young people I interviewed, nine—seven boys and two girls—told me they were captured by the Zetas cartel in Mexico on their way to the United States. Rape is so common that many migrant girls get birth-control injections before they leave home.


text: Fairs in Harrisburg are generally travelling shows consisting of several amusements for children, teenagers & adults. Thrill rides like Gravitation Booster, Freak Out, Miami, the Sizzler Twist, Roller coaster & Top spin are the major attractions of these fairs in Harrisburg. Sometimes there may be Sideshows, Side-stalls, Game stalls & Food courts as well to add to the amusement. While the festivals in Harrisburg, are the events that celebrate some unique local aspects of the local communities, mostly having a religious basis. These festivals essentially offer a sense of belonging for the community concerned as well as offer information on the cultural & ethnic issues of the community to its members. Festivals in Harrisburg are organized mainly on religious, seasonal & general occasions.


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Freezer Beef Price Increase
Everyone has seen it in the papers, TV news, and on the radio that food prices are rising. We here at Quiet Breeze Piedmontese Farm have tried to keep our prices stable and low. With our production costs continuing to rise, along with diesel fuel continued high price, we are increasing our Freezer Beef prices. Click on "Farm Fresh Freezer Beef" tab for full details.


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Premier League justice is worse than Sheriff Goodell's.
Wayne Rooney singlehandedly brough United back from 2-0 down, and all but cinched the Premiership. Now, because of some naughty words captured by onfield cameras, he stands to miss two games, including a big FA Cup match with Man City.
After scoring three goals, the last on a penalty, in the span of 14 minutes Saturday, cameras caught Rooney celebrating with teammates. What he said is up for debate, but it's some combination of "fucking what" "fuck off" and "fuck you." I know, I'm shocked he knows that much English.
Rooney apologized immediately after the match, but that wasn't enough. A 2-game ban, which he can appeal up until tomorrow and is expected to. Because why should he suffer for showing emotion just because the FA's all image-conscious lately?


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GPON in the Campus Network – A Misuse of Perfectly Good Technology?
What's wrong with running my campus network on Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology you ask?
Let me count the ways!
I was just reading a White Paper by Nick Lippis of the Lippis Report entitled, "GPON vs Gigabit Ethernet in Campus Networking" that lays out the issues pretty well in my opinion, and concludes up front that GPON is "suited to niche applications" and that "many GPON assertions and claims are overstated."
Nick does a nice job of contrasting the two approaches, a last mile SP technology (GPON) that might be a good choice for the home & kids, with a Highly Available Ethernet Design that should be used to run a real business.
I'll leave it to you to read the details, but he covers facts on all the key areas from power consumption and cabling costs to network scaling, single points of failure, and troubleshooting capabilites.
All this adds up to GPON being a poor choice in the Campus when you look at the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) even though the initial acquisition costs might be lower for the hardware itself. When you look under the covers, the real price is quite high for GPON in terms of a "lack of flexibility, greater power consumption (certainly not green), limited network capacity, upgrades are system-wide events, troubleshooting tools and skilled technicians are limited and lacking, and multiple single points of failure exist."
He goes on to say, with the Ethernet market being tens of billions of dollars, research and development is assured while competition privdes the motivation for innovation and feature enhancement. An Ethernet campus network is a safe investment."
Caveat emptor!
In an effort to keep conversations fresh, Cisco Blogs closes comments after 60 days. Please visit the Cisco Blogs hub page for the latest content.


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Editor's note: CNN.com has a business partnership with CareerBuilder.com, which serves as the exclusive provider of job listings and services to CNN.com.
Pay attention to your office apparel and your appearance, expert Stephen Viscusi suggests.
Recent news about the economy and the job market hasn't been encouraging. Companies are taking a much closer look at their operating expenses, especially their payrolls.
Writer Stephen Viscusi asserts that in this atmosphere, "You must understand that your job is your most valuable asset -- and your primary objective is to protect it."
That's just part of the advice Viscusi outlines in his book "Bulletproof Your Job: 4 Simple Strategies to Ride Out the Rough Times and Come Out on Top at Work." The book discusses tactics for being visible, easy, useful and ready in order to keep one's job.
Be visible
It's important to be a visible part of the team. "The invisible guy is the first to go," Viscusi observes. "What you need to do is create a perception that makes you more visible, more notable and ultimately more valuable to your company."
Among Viscusi's tips on increasing visibility:
• Arrive early and stay late. Let your boss see your commitment to work, rather than your clockwatching abilities.
• Pay attention to your apparel and your appearance. Make sure your office attire is appropriate. Take note of everything from your hair to your shoes, because everyone else in the office (including your boss) will.
• Develop an eye for the small details.
• Listen up and when appropriate, speak up. Introduce yourself. Prepare your 30-second personal pitch, or "elevator pitch," that explains who you are and what you're all about.
• Introduce yourself with eye contact and a strong handshake - - a personal, warm greeting that Viscusi calls the "Viagra handshake."
Be easy
Being an "easy" employee doesn't mean you need to be a passive nodding machine who does your manager's bidding. What Viscusi is suggesting is that employees be easy to communicate and interact with.
Workers can take the "easy" way by keeping these ideas in mind:
• Don't gripe, especially if the issue is inconsequential. If there is a serious challenge, communicate without complaining. Stay clear of personal gossip about co-workers and managers.
• Watch what you say and how you say it at work. Neutral language doesn't matter if it's delivered with a sarcastic tone.
• Avoid obvious touchy subjects (race, sex and religion) as well as the not-so-obvious (your salary). If you do talk with co-workers, Viscusi says "Discuss, don't argue."
Be useful
Every employee is expected to be useful, but as Viscusi notes, "You have to actively look for ways to do more." Exceeding expectations sometimes requires an investment of time and effort, but just as often you can impress the boss with creativity and efficiency.
Viscusi recommends these approaches to be "Mr. or Mrs. Above-and-Beyond" at work:
• Find ways to be a mentor at work. You can reach out to new workers, as well as share your knowledge with executives and CEOs. (They'll remember you for it.)
• Be a "utility player" -- the multifaceted worker who the "coach" (your boss) can pull off the bench and put in the game when another worker is injured (or quits without notice).
• At the same time, cultivate a role as a specialist on the job (or in some of the tasks that you perform).
• Add dollar value to the company by keeping customers happy and minimizing expenses.
Be ready
Viscusi suggests that being prepared for any outcome instills an air of confidence and calm that looks good on you.
"When you're ready for anything," he says, "you behave with a certainty that you'll succeed when all is well and land on your feet if you hit a bump in the road."
Viscusi suggests that workers can make these preparations:
• Have money in the bank.
• Keep your résumé current and establish a relationship with a recruiter in your field.
• Establish and enhance your network. Be a part of professional organizations and reach out to help the contacts in your professional circles.
• If possible, publish articles or make presentations on your specialized subject matter.
• Be aware of what your peers are doing.
• Avoid getting stuck in a rut. Continue your education, and strive to learn new skills at work.
Though Viscusi warns against indulging in personal gossip, "Company gossip is gold and can help you bulletproof your job." You can set alerts on Web sites like Technorati and Google with your company's name. He also suggests setting an Google alert with your boss's name (though these should be sent to your personal e-mail accounts).
And while you're busy building your professional networks online, see if your boss and co-workers have a profile. You can stay on top of what's happening with them, and stay informed if there's any problems or issues happening that might affect you at work.
Copyright CareerBuilder.com 2009. All rights reserved. The information contained in this article may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority
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