Man is a gregarious creature. People will go to remarkable lengths to connect with others like themselves, who share interests, passions, beliefs and hopes. The internet, that magical tool of connectivity that compresses time and geography, can be used for generative purposes, as this video I'd like to share with you demonstrates. Composer Eric Whitacre …
Category: Observations on Life
See It Through!
See It Through by Edgar Albert Guest When you’re up against a trouble, Meet it squarely, face to face; Lift your chin and set your shoulders, Plant your feet and take a brace. When it’s vain to try to dodge it, Do the best that you can do; You may fail but you may conquer, …
You are well-endowed!
"At bottom, every man knows perfectly well that he is a unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put together a second time." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche Having had the good fortune to travel to foreign …
Vivifying Petrichor
On this sweet bank your head thrice sweet and dear I lay, and spread your hair on either side, And see the newborn woodflowers bashful-eyed Look through the golden tresses here and there. On these debateable borders of the year Spring's foot half falters; scarce she yet may know The leafless blackthorn-blossom from the snow; And …
The Golden Mean: Cognitive Brilliance!
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," -- that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." ~ Aristotle David Brooks does it again with his thought-provoking summary of edge.org's "The Edge Question 2011." The event organizers asked participants: "What scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit?"and what came back was fascinating. According …
What the internet is doing to our brains…
I stumbled upon an old article in The Atlantic written by Nicholas Carr called "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" The author points to the fact that various inventions over time have not only changed the way we communicate, they have also altered the way we think. The inventions of writing, the printing press and now …
Ancient Gladness
Awake, thou wintry earth - Fling off thy sadness! Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth Your ancient gladness! ~ Thomas Blackburn I am bewitched by the transformative spirit of spring this year and cannot help but behold the changes I see at every turn with reverence and delight. The seasonal metamorphoses in the natural world - …
Reunion
Last evening I had the rare pleasure of being reunited with an old and dear friend from my university years. Our friendship was forged not just at school, in fact he and a few friends and I went on a volunteer vacation in West Virginia where we spent our holiday renovating a poverty-stricken neighborhood. We …
And Spring Arose
My brother-in-law and I spent the better part of yesterday morning clearing a dam that had formed in the drain that separates our upper pond from the pond below. The dam, likely the product of an ambitious beaver, blocked both the front of the drain and the middle of the 25 foot long corrugated pipe …
Your Tomorrows
"Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?" ~ Benjamin Franklin How successful have you been at employing your talents in relation to your friends, family, associates and beyond? No matter what you have or haven't done in your life, what you've completed or left undone, you still …
Gregory Hake 