Saturday, September 29, 2012

COMING OR GOING

Guenter Wingerning—Newscom
Two camels sit on top of each other in their enclosure at the zoo in Braunschweig, Germany. It is not clear if the camels regular places in the enclosure have been taken over by other residents of the zoo.

Animal Magic: Captivating Creatures - LightBox


Thursday, September 20, 2012

The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever - HQ - Original Video - YouTube

 
Strawberry Fields Forever





The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever - HQ - Original Video - YouTube


Link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7uBrx5aJ20







The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever - HQ - Original Video - YouTube

Central Park, NYC - Strawberry Fields

 

Strawberry Fields

Strawberry Fields in Central Park

Strawberry Fields is a living memorial to the world-famous singer, songwriter and peace activist – John Lennon. During his career with the Beatles and in his solo work, Lennon's music gave hope and inspiration to people around the world. His campaign for peace lives on, symbolized at Strawberry Fields.

This tranquil section of Central Park was named after one of the Beatles' best-known songs, "Strawberry Fields Forever." Recorded in 1966, the song's title comes from an orphanage in Liverpool, England where Lennon used to go to play with the children. His aunt, who raised him, disapproved but he insisted it was, "nothing to get hung about." Hence, the song's famous lyric.

Strawberry Fields was officially dedicated on October 9, 1985 – the 45th anniversary of Lennon's birth. Yoko Ono worked with landscape architect Bruce Kelly and the Central Park Conservancy to create a meditative spot. The iconic black-and-white mosaic was created by Italian craftsmen and given as a gift by the city of Naples. 

Based on a Greco-Roman design, it bears the word of another of Lennon's songs: 

Imagine.


A designated Quiet Zone in the Park, the memorial is shaded by stately American elms and lined with benches. In the warmer months, flowers bloom all around the area. Along the path near the mosaic, you'll find a bronze plaque that lists the 121 countries that endorse Strawberry Fields as a Garden of Peace. Today visitors from around the world flock to Strawberry Fields.




The Official Website of Central Park - Strawberry Fields


 Link: http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/things-to-see/south-end/strawberry-fields.html


Strawberry Fields Forever


 Let me take you down
'cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hungabout
Strawberry Fields forever
Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It's getting hard to be someone
But it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me
Let me take you down
'cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hungabout
Strawberry Fields forever
No one I think is in my tree
I mean it must be high or low
That is you can't you know tune in
But it's all right
That is I think it's not too bad
Let me take you down
'cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hungabout
Strawberry Fields forever
Always, no sometimes, I think it's me
But you know I know when it's a dream
I think I know I mean a "Yes"
But it's all wrong
That is I think I disagree
Let me take you down
'cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hungabout
Strawberry Fields forever.



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Ken Kesey


[Ken Kesey’d come to New York to perform his Bear myth cantata at Lincoln Center, I visited at midnight his room Hotel Excelsior 81’st Street near Planetarium, he held still a second in lamplight, said he had second thoughts about his former Monotheist faith after bus-crash demise of his athlete son - December 14, 1989. (Ginsberg caption) c. Allen Ginsberg Estate]

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Not - Slide Show - NYTimes.com



Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Not

Brachypelma smithi (Mexican red knee spider)
Credit: R. Mickens/American Museum of Natural History
 
 

Dolomedes okefinokensis (Fishing spider)
Credit: D. Finnin/American Museum of Natural History
 
 
 
Phidippus regius (Regal jumping spider)



Credit: D. FInnin/American Museum of Natural History


 
    Grammostola rosea (Chilean rose tarantula)
    Credit: R. Mickens/American Museum of Natural History

     
      Poecilotheria regalis (Indian ornamental spider)
      Credit: R. M
       
        Sphodros abboti (Purse-web spider)
        Credit: D. Finnin/AmerAmerican Museum of Natural History
         
         

        Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Not

        Several varieties of scorpions will be included in the exhibit, including this Emperor scorpion.
        Credit: Librado Romero/The New York Times
         

         

        Related

        Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Not - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

        You are the master of your fate and you create your own happiness.


        If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?  And if I am only for myself, then what am I?  And if not now, when?

        - Hillel the Elder, 1st Century B.C.
         


         It's never the events that happen to us that make us disturbed, but our view of them.
        Epictetus, 1st Century A.D.


        Happiness and misery depend as much on temperament as on fortune.
        - Francois de la Rochefoucauld, 17th Century


        Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
        - Abe Lincoln


        Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them.
        - Leo Tolstoy


         To be in Hell is to drift; to be in Heaven is to steer.
        - Geo. B. Shaw


        .................

        It is not that someone else is preventing you from living happily;
        You yourself do not know what you want.  Rather than admit this,    
        you pretend that someone is keeping you from exercising your liberty.
        Who is this?  It is yourself.
        - Thomas Merton, 1961

        .................................


        I am resposible for the achievement of my desires.
        I am responsible for my choices and actions...
        I am responsible for my personal happiness.
        - Dr. Nathaniel Branden


         .....................................


        "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."

        - Thomas Jefferson

        ..................................

        If you think you're free, there's no escape possible.

        - Ram Dass

         ...............................

        Happiness is something you can work at.  It's a matter of identifying the things you do that get in the way of happiness,  and figuring out what positive activities you can do everyday to augment it.

        - David Lykken, U of Minnesota

         .....................................

        Depressed people are caught in a  feedback loop in which distorted thoughts cause negative feelings, which then distort feelings further.

        You can break the cycle by changing the thoughts.

        A big part of cognitive therapy is training clients to catch the thoughts and  distortions and then find alternative and more accurate ways of thinking.


        Over many weeks,the client's thoughts become more realistic.  The feedback loop is broken and the client's anxiety or depression abates.



        - Johnathan Haidt, Psychologist and Happiness Researcher


        .............................................