Here are comlete lists of support ribbons: http://hope4ever.hypermart.net/ribbons.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awareness_ribbons
Here are some of my favourites:
Support the Fight Against Ovarian Cancer
Support the Protection of Our Children
Support Heart Disease and Stroke
Support Sufferers of Alzheimer's Disease
Support the Prevention of Child Abuse
Supporting Cancer Awareness
Supporting Childhood Cancer Awareness
Supporting Leukemia Awareness
Supporting Lupus Awareness
Supporting Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The 50 State Quarters
Even if your not American you can appredciate how cool these quarters look.
Here's a link to the Quarters: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=State_quarters&redirect=no
Here's a link to the Quarters: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=State_quarters&redirect=no
Saturday, July 14, 2007
in 1904
The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.
Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub and only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California, which was only the 21st most populous state in the Union. The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30!
The average unskilled worker made between $200 and $450 per year. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home. Most U.S. physicians had no college degree. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."
Sugar cost four cents a pound, eggs were fourteen cents a dozen and coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at neighborhood drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health." (Shocking!)
Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time servant or domestic.
There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.
The first powered airplane flight took place the previous December and lasted only 3.5 seconds!
It only took me a few mouse clicks to post this to the Internet. Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years!
Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub and only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California, which was only the 21st most populous state in the Union. The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30!
The average unskilled worker made between $200 and $450 per year. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home. Most U.S. physicians had no college degree. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."
Sugar cost four cents a pound, eggs were fourteen cents a dozen and coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at neighborhood drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health." (Shocking!)
Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time servant or domestic.
There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.
The first powered airplane flight took place the previous December and lasted only 3.5 seconds!
It only took me a few mouse clicks to post this to the Internet. Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years!
Quotes
"All things being equal the simplest solution is usually the best."
—Occam's Razor
“Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do”
—Jean Piaget
If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.
Otto von Bismarck
—Occam's Razor
“Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do”
—Jean Piaget
If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.
Otto von Bismarck
Monday, July 09, 2007
Imperial guardian lions
Imperial guardian lions, also called Fu Dogs or Foo Dogs, and called Shi (獅) in Chinese, are powerful mythic protectors that have traditionally stood in front of Chinese Imperial palaces, temples, emperors' tombs, government offices, and the homes of government officials and the wealthy from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), until the end of the empire in 1911. In Greater Tibet, the guardian lion is known as a Snow Lion. Imperial guardian lions are still common decorative and symbolic elements at the entrances to restaurants, hotels, and other structures. In Myanmar they are called Chinthe and gave their name to the World War II Chindit soldiers.
The lions are traditionally carved from decorative stone such as marble and granite or cast in bronze or iron. Because of the high cost of these materials and the labor required to produce them, private use of Imperial guardian lions was traditionally reserved for wealthy or elite families. Indeed, a traditional symbol of a family's wealth or social status was the placement of Imperial guardian lions in front of the family home. However, in modern times less expensive lions, mass produced in concrete and resin, have become available and their use therefore no longer restricted to the elite.
The lions are generally present in pairs, with the male on the right and the female on the left. The male lion has his right paw on a globe, which represents his "feeling the pulse of the earth." The female is essentially identical, but has a single cub under her left paw. Symbolically, the male fu dog guards the structure, while the female protects those dwelling inside. Sometimes the male has his mouth open and the female closed. This symbolizes the enunciation of the sacred word "om." However, Japanese adaptions state that the male is inhaling, representing life, while the female exhales, representing death. Other styles have both lions with a single large pearl in each of their partially opened mouths. The pearl is carved so that it can roll about in the lion's mouth but sized just large enough so that it can never be removed.
Interestingly, the lion is not indigenous to China. When Buddhist travelers, probably out to trade, brought stories about lions to China, Chinese sculptors modeled statues of lions after the travelers' descriptions--and after native dogs, since no one in China had seen a lion with his or her own eyes. The mythic version of the animal was originally introduced to Han China as the Buddhist protector of dharma. Gradually they were transformed into guardians of the Imperial dharma, and some Qing realizations of them came to look more like the dogs of Fo. (Compare the Chow Chow, Pekingese, Shi Tzu, and Pug breeds.) These beasts have been found in art as early as 208 BC. In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the ruling Manchu derived their name from the Manjushri Buddha, who rides on a lion.
The beast is sometimes associated with feng shui or Buddhism. Fu means 'happiness' in Chinese; however, the term "Fu Dog" and its variants are not used in Chinese. Instead, they are known as Rui Shi (瑞獅) ("auspicious lions") or simply Shi ("lions").
There are various styles of imperial guardian lions reflecting influences from different time periods, imperial dynasties, and regions of China. These styles vary in their artistic detail and adornment as well as in the depiction of the lions from fierce to serene.
The lions are traditionally carved from decorative stone such as marble and granite or cast in bronze or iron. Because of the high cost of these materials and the labor required to produce them, private use of Imperial guardian lions was traditionally reserved for wealthy or elite families. Indeed, a traditional symbol of a family's wealth or social status was the placement of Imperial guardian lions in front of the family home. However, in modern times less expensive lions, mass produced in concrete and resin, have become available and their use therefore no longer restricted to the elite.
The lions are generally present in pairs, with the male on the right and the female on the left. The male lion has his right paw on a globe, which represents his "feeling the pulse of the earth." The female is essentially identical, but has a single cub under her left paw. Symbolically, the male fu dog guards the structure, while the female protects those dwelling inside. Sometimes the male has his mouth open and the female closed. This symbolizes the enunciation of the sacred word "om." However, Japanese adaptions state that the male is inhaling, representing life, while the female exhales, representing death. Other styles have both lions with a single large pearl in each of their partially opened mouths. The pearl is carved so that it can roll about in the lion's mouth but sized just large enough so that it can never be removed.
Interestingly, the lion is not indigenous to China. When Buddhist travelers, probably out to trade, brought stories about lions to China, Chinese sculptors modeled statues of lions after the travelers' descriptions--and after native dogs, since no one in China had seen a lion with his or her own eyes. The mythic version of the animal was originally introduced to Han China as the Buddhist protector of dharma. Gradually they were transformed into guardians of the Imperial dharma, and some Qing realizations of them came to look more like the dogs of Fo. (Compare the Chow Chow, Pekingese, Shi Tzu, and Pug breeds.) These beasts have been found in art as early as 208 BC. In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the ruling Manchu derived their name from the Manjushri Buddha, who rides on a lion.
The beast is sometimes associated with feng shui or Buddhism. Fu means 'happiness' in Chinese; however, the term "Fu Dog" and its variants are not used in Chinese. Instead, they are known as Rui Shi (瑞獅) ("auspicious lions") or simply Shi ("lions").
There are various styles of imperial guardian lions reflecting influences from different time periods, imperial dynasties, and regions of China. These styles vary in their artistic detail and adornment as well as in the depiction of the lions from fierce to serene.
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.
Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe,
Help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.
They know that Santa's on his way;
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
And every mother's child is going to spy,
To see if reindeer really know how to fly.
And so I'm offering this simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although its been said many times, many ways,
A very Merry Christmas to you
Jack Frost nipping on your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.
Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe,
Help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.
They know that Santa's on his way;
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
And every mother's child is going to spy,
To see if reindeer really know how to fly.
And so I'm offering this simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although its been said many times, many ways,
A very Merry Christmas to you
Friday, July 06, 2007
Schindler's List
The film begins with the relocation of the Jews to Krakow in September of 1939, shortly after the beginning of World War II. Oskar Schindler, an unsuccessful businessman, arrives from Czechoslovakia in hopes of using the abundant slave labor force of Jews to manufacture goods for the German Army. Schindler makes a very good impression early on, being a member of the Nazi Party, and lavishes bribes upon the army and SS officials in charge. His wife, Emilie, comes to visit him in his new home, and is shocked when another woman answers the door. Schindler tells her that if she wishes to stay, it is up to her. She offers to stay, provided there is no further philandering; Schindler waves goodbye to his wife at the train station.
Sponsored by the military, Schindler acquires a factory for the production of metal wares and gains a contact in Itzhak Stern, a functionary in the local Judenrat (Jewish Council) who in turn has contacts with the now underground Jewish business community in the Ghetto. They will loan him the money for the factory, and he will give them a small share of products produced for trade on the black market. Opening the factory, Schindler pleases the Nazis and enjoys his new-found wealth, while Stern handles all administration and uses his position to suggest to Schindler to hire Jews instead of Poles, because their labour is for free. Workers in Schindler's factory are allowed outside the ghetto, and are certified as "essential workers", guaranteeing that they will not be rounded up at night by the Gestapo. This last point is key, and Stern falsifies documents to ensure that as many people as possible are deemed "essential" by the Nazi bureaucracy. Schindler becomes aware of what is going on, but takes no action to stop it.
We are introduced to an SS officer named Amon Göth who arrives in Krakow to initiate construction of a labor camp, Płaszów. He eagerly appeals to Schindler that the Jewish population is a "virus". While surveying the construction of a new building at a concentration camp, a female Jewish engineer urges him to redo the improperly laid foundation for the barrack. Göth immediately mandates her murder and, in the next breath, Göth orders that everything she requested be done. In due course, Göth razes the Krakow ghetto, sending in hundreds of troops to clear the cramped rooms and shooting anyone who cannot or will not leave. Schindler watches the massacre from the hills overlooking the area, and is profoundly affected, especially when he spots a little girl in a red coat. He meets Göth during a dinner with other important SS officers, and is careful to befriend Göth, keeping his disturbances private, and patiently agreeing with Göth and other Nazis' rambling statements about Jews. Having earned his trust, Schindler convinces Göth to let him keep his workers for considerable bribes and pay-offs. Schindler, now reluctantly sheltering people who have very few skills, starts losing money.
In the labor camp, the Jewish prisoners are made to strip naked and to run around the camp's central square while being "physically examined" by physicans as useful laborers or not, with the clear purpose being to separate those capable of labor from those who are too old, too young, or too frail, and will be disposed of. To Amon Göth's considerable consternation, and to Schindler's horror, an order arrives from Berlin commanding Göth to exhume and destroy all bodies of those killed in the ghetto razing, dismantle Płaszów, and to ship the whole population to Auschwitz. He explains to Schindler that he is being asked to do this immediately, and it is the administrative burden that horrifies him, not the thought of having to destroy "every rag": saying to Schindler that, "the party is over". Schindler is further horrified when he observes the same little girl in the red coat seen during the ghetto massacre, her now lifeless body being wheeled to the pit to be consumed and destroyed by fire. He now realizes the abhorrent evil around him and reaches an epiphany. Schindler prevails upon Göth to let him keep his workers, so that he can move them to a factory in his old home of Zwittau-Brinnlitz, in Moravia, away from the Holocaust, now fully underway in Poland. Göth acquiesces, for a payoff of millions of Reichsmark. So that his workers can be kept off the trains to the killing centers, Schindler, with Stern, assembles a list of them.
Schindler rescues one of his workers
"Schindler's List" comprises these "skilled" inmates, and for many of those in Płaszów camp, being on it means the difference between life and death. Almost all of the people on Schindler's list arrive safely at the new site, with exception to the trains carrying the women, which is accidentally redirected to Auschwitz. Schindler rushes immediately to Auschwitz and stops their gassing. He bribes the camp commander, Rudolf Hoess, with a cache of diamonds. Hoess reluctantly agrees and the women are spared. As the women board the train to the site of the factory, several SS officers attempt to hold some children back and prevent them from leaving. However, Schindler, who is there to personally oversee the boarding, steps in and demands the officers release the children, giving as his reason that their small hands and fingers can clean the insides of small shell casings. Once the Schindler women arrive in Zwittau-Brinnlitz, Schindler institutes firm controls on the Nazi guards assigned to the factory, permits the Jews to observe the Sabbath, and spends the rest of his fortune bribing Nazi officials. In his home town, he surprises his wife while she's in church during mass, and tells her that she is the only woman in his life. She goes with him to the factory to help out with the inmates. He runs out of money just as the German army surrenders, ending the war in Europe.
As a German Nazi and self-described "profiteer of slave labor", Schindler must flee the oncoming Soviet Red Army. After dismissing the Nazi guards to return to their families, he packs a car in the night, and bids farewell to his workers. They give him a letter explaining his actions and that he is not a criminal, together with a ring engraved with the Talmudic quotation, "He who saves the life of one man, saves the world entire." Seeing his luxurious car, Schindler is consumed with guilt, realizing he could have bribed Göth for ten more Jews with it. Panged with the regret of not having done more, Schindler breaks down in front of his workers, then leaves with his wife. The Schindler Jews, having slept outside the factory gates through the night, are awakened by sunlight the next morning. A Soviet dragoon arrives and announces to the Jews that they have been liberated. The Jews walk to a nearby town in search of a place to go. As they walk abreast, the frame changes to another of the Schindler Jews in the present day at the grave of Oskar Schindler in Israel. In the ensuing epilogue the execution of an indifferent Göth by the Red Army for War Crimes is shown.
The film ends by showing a procession of now-aged Jews who worked in Schindler's factory, who reverently set a stone on his grave. The actors portraying the major characters walk hand-in-hand with the actual persons they portrayed, placing stones on Schindler's grave as they pass. The camera pans to the left, revealing a long line of people consisting of not only those portrayed in the film but also their families. Ben Kingsley walks to the grave holding the hand of Itzhak Stern's widow. The movie then imparts that the survivors and descendents of the approximately 1,100 Jews sheltered by Schindler now number over 6,000. It then mentions that the Jewish population of Poland, once numbering in the millions, was at the time of the film's release approximately 4,000. In a final scene, a man (the unseen face of Liam Neeson) places a rose on the grave, and stands contemplatively over it.
Sponsored by the military, Schindler acquires a factory for the production of metal wares and gains a contact in Itzhak Stern, a functionary in the local Judenrat (Jewish Council) who in turn has contacts with the now underground Jewish business community in the Ghetto. They will loan him the money for the factory, and he will give them a small share of products produced for trade on the black market. Opening the factory, Schindler pleases the Nazis and enjoys his new-found wealth, while Stern handles all administration and uses his position to suggest to Schindler to hire Jews instead of Poles, because their labour is for free. Workers in Schindler's factory are allowed outside the ghetto, and are certified as "essential workers", guaranteeing that they will not be rounded up at night by the Gestapo. This last point is key, and Stern falsifies documents to ensure that as many people as possible are deemed "essential" by the Nazi bureaucracy. Schindler becomes aware of what is going on, but takes no action to stop it.
We are introduced to an SS officer named Amon Göth who arrives in Krakow to initiate construction of a labor camp, Płaszów. He eagerly appeals to Schindler that the Jewish population is a "virus". While surveying the construction of a new building at a concentration camp, a female Jewish engineer urges him to redo the improperly laid foundation for the barrack. Göth immediately mandates her murder and, in the next breath, Göth orders that everything she requested be done. In due course, Göth razes the Krakow ghetto, sending in hundreds of troops to clear the cramped rooms and shooting anyone who cannot or will not leave. Schindler watches the massacre from the hills overlooking the area, and is profoundly affected, especially when he spots a little girl in a red coat. He meets Göth during a dinner with other important SS officers, and is careful to befriend Göth, keeping his disturbances private, and patiently agreeing with Göth and other Nazis' rambling statements about Jews. Having earned his trust, Schindler convinces Göth to let him keep his workers for considerable bribes and pay-offs. Schindler, now reluctantly sheltering people who have very few skills, starts losing money.
In the labor camp, the Jewish prisoners are made to strip naked and to run around the camp's central square while being "physically examined" by physicans as useful laborers or not, with the clear purpose being to separate those capable of labor from those who are too old, too young, or too frail, and will be disposed of. To Amon Göth's considerable consternation, and to Schindler's horror, an order arrives from Berlin commanding Göth to exhume and destroy all bodies of those killed in the ghetto razing, dismantle Płaszów, and to ship the whole population to Auschwitz. He explains to Schindler that he is being asked to do this immediately, and it is the administrative burden that horrifies him, not the thought of having to destroy "every rag": saying to Schindler that, "the party is over". Schindler is further horrified when he observes the same little girl in the red coat seen during the ghetto massacre, her now lifeless body being wheeled to the pit to be consumed and destroyed by fire. He now realizes the abhorrent evil around him and reaches an epiphany. Schindler prevails upon Göth to let him keep his workers, so that he can move them to a factory in his old home of Zwittau-Brinnlitz, in Moravia, away from the Holocaust, now fully underway in Poland. Göth acquiesces, for a payoff of millions of Reichsmark. So that his workers can be kept off the trains to the killing centers, Schindler, with Stern, assembles a list of them.
Schindler rescues one of his workers
"Schindler's List" comprises these "skilled" inmates, and for many of those in Płaszów camp, being on it means the difference between life and death. Almost all of the people on Schindler's list arrive safely at the new site, with exception to the trains carrying the women, which is accidentally redirected to Auschwitz. Schindler rushes immediately to Auschwitz and stops their gassing. He bribes the camp commander, Rudolf Hoess, with a cache of diamonds. Hoess reluctantly agrees and the women are spared. As the women board the train to the site of the factory, several SS officers attempt to hold some children back and prevent them from leaving. However, Schindler, who is there to personally oversee the boarding, steps in and demands the officers release the children, giving as his reason that their small hands and fingers can clean the insides of small shell casings. Once the Schindler women arrive in Zwittau-Brinnlitz, Schindler institutes firm controls on the Nazi guards assigned to the factory, permits the Jews to observe the Sabbath, and spends the rest of his fortune bribing Nazi officials. In his home town, he surprises his wife while she's in church during mass, and tells her that she is the only woman in his life. She goes with him to the factory to help out with the inmates. He runs out of money just as the German army surrenders, ending the war in Europe.
As a German Nazi and self-described "profiteer of slave labor", Schindler must flee the oncoming Soviet Red Army. After dismissing the Nazi guards to return to their families, he packs a car in the night, and bids farewell to his workers. They give him a letter explaining his actions and that he is not a criminal, together with a ring engraved with the Talmudic quotation, "He who saves the life of one man, saves the world entire." Seeing his luxurious car, Schindler is consumed with guilt, realizing he could have bribed Göth for ten more Jews with it. Panged with the regret of not having done more, Schindler breaks down in front of his workers, then leaves with his wife. The Schindler Jews, having slept outside the factory gates through the night, are awakened by sunlight the next morning. A Soviet dragoon arrives and announces to the Jews that they have been liberated. The Jews walk to a nearby town in search of a place to go. As they walk abreast, the frame changes to another of the Schindler Jews in the present day at the grave of Oskar Schindler in Israel. In the ensuing epilogue the execution of an indifferent Göth by the Red Army for War Crimes is shown.
The film ends by showing a procession of now-aged Jews who worked in Schindler's factory, who reverently set a stone on his grave. The actors portraying the major characters walk hand-in-hand with the actual persons they portrayed, placing stones on Schindler's grave as they pass. The camera pans to the left, revealing a long line of people consisting of not only those portrayed in the film but also their families. Ben Kingsley walks to the grave holding the hand of Itzhak Stern's widow. The movie then imparts that the survivors and descendents of the approximately 1,100 Jews sheltered by Schindler now number over 6,000. It then mentions that the Jewish population of Poland, once numbering in the millions, was at the time of the film's release approximately 4,000. In a final scene, a man (the unseen face of Liam Neeson) places a rose on the grave, and stands contemplatively over it.
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