On the 8 Spot

Christian tradition

A protestant priest, having started a family, no longer had any peace for his prayers. One night, when he knelt down, he was disturbed by the children in the living room.“Have the children keep quiet!” he shouted.His startled wife obeyed. Thereafter, whenever the priest came home, they all maintained silence during prayers. But he realized that God was no longer listening.One night, during his prayers, he asked the Lord: “what is going on? I have the necessary peace, and I cannot pray!”An angel replied: “He hears words, but no longer hears the laughter. He notices the devotion, but can no longer see the joy.”The priest stood and shouted once again to his wife: “Let the children play! They are part of praying!”And his words were heard by God once again.

via God and real life « Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

It is easy to understand the apprehension towards religion of a lot of people, It is in a sense because religion boxes what is intuitively boundless. FIND the JOY, FIND the LAUGHTER!

The U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy was trying to prove a point on its blog about the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries in California by noting that there are now more of them than there are Starbucks locations in downtown San Francisco. To bolster their point, the agency’s bloggers included this handy Google Maps mashup:

Tuesday Map: The drug czar’s epic fail | FP Passport.

Bravo Mr Paul Newman! A life well lived!

The movies are not kind to older actors and yet Mr. Newman walked away from this merciless business seemingly unscathed. During his second and third acts, he kept his dignity partly by playing men who seemed to have relinquished theirs through vanity or foolishness. Some of them were holding on to decency in an indecent world; others had nearly let it slip through their fingers.

Decency seems to have come easily to Mr. Newman himself, as evidenced by his philanthropic and political endeavors, which never devolved into self-promotion. It was easy to take his intelligence for granted as well as his talent, which survived even the occasional misstep. At the end of “The Drowning Pool,” a woman wistfully tells Mr. Newman, I wish you’d stay a while. I know how she feels.

An Appraisal – An Actor Whose Baby Blues Came in Shades of Gray – An Appraisal – NYTimes.com.

Will I Live To See 80 is much much too different than will I be alive when I am 80?

thanks to Angry Bear here:

Friday, August 15, 2008

Living to 80

Hat tip to CoRev

Will I Live to see 80?

Here’s something to think about.
I recently picked a new primary care doctor. After two visits and
exhaustive lab tests, he said I was doing ‘fairly well’ for my age.
A little concerned about that comment, I couldn’t resist asking him, ‘Do
you think I’ll live to be 80?’

He asked, ‘Do you smoke tobacco, or drink beer or wine?’
‘Oh no,’ I replied. ‘I’m not doing drugs, either!’
Then he asked, ‘Do you eat rib-eye steaks and barbecued ribs?
‘I said, ‘No, my former doctor said that all red meat is very unhealthy!’
Do you spend a lot of time in the sun, like playing golf, sailing, hiking,
or bicycling?’ ‘No, I don’t,’ I said.
He asked, ‘Do you gamble, drive fast cars, or have a lot of sex?’
‘No,’ I said

He looked at me and said,….
‘Then, why do you even give a shit?

Posted by rdan at 3:14 PM

I am a Angol, and this is on my first post. I am 24 years old. I recently graduated my undergraduate degree in EE. I am not where I want to be. I have seen where I would like to be. My mind is still finding a way to get there. I overanalyze things, always, till now.

I sense that analysis has become just another cover for inaction. That fear has if not always been the motivation of any change.

This must end. I can no longer wait for the formal proof for any action. I have seen where I would like to be.

Onthe8Spot is where I want to be.

Hello. I am Angol, and this is my first post.