He did have a remarkable gift for aphorism — he once declared, “It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.” A hundred years after his death, Nietzsche retains his disturbing talent for turning a person’s worldview upside-down with one jarring remark.

Even today his words remain controversial. They hit nerves. Most of his views are completely at odds with the status quo.

Here are 40 unsympathetic statements from the man himself. Many you’ll agree with. Others you will resist, but these are the ones to pay the most attention to — your beliefs are being challenged. It’s either an opportunity to grow, or to insist that you already know better. If any of them hit a nerve in you, ask yourself why.

***

1. People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false, a gift confers no rights.

2. He that humbleth himself wishes to be exalted.

3. The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

4. There are no facts, only interpretations.

5. Morality is but the herd-instinct in the individual.

6. No one talks more passionately about his rights than he who in the depths of his soul doubts whether he has any.

7. Without music, life would be a mistake.

8. Anyone who has declared someone else to be an idiot, a bad apple, is annoyed when it turns out in the end that he isn’t.

9. In large states public education will always be mediocre, for the same reason that in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad.

10. The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.

11. A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.

12. We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the way in which it has been expressed is unsympathetic to us.

13. No victor believes in chance.

14. Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.

15. Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.

16. It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.

17. The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.

18. The future influences the present just as much as the past.

19. The most common lie is that which one tells himself; lying to others is relatively an exception.

20. I counsel you, my friends: Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.

21. Rejoicing in our joy, not suffering over our suffering, is what makes someone a friend.

22. God is a thought who makes crooked all that is straight.

23. Success has always been a great liar.

24. Nothing on earth consumes a man more quickly than the passion of resentment.

25. What do you regard as most humane? To spare someone shame.

26. Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil.

27. When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets another one.

28. When one has a great deal to put into it a day has a hundred pockets.

29. Whoever despises himself nonetheless respects himself as one who despises.

30. All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.

31. What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself. What is bad? All that is born of weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing, that resistance is overcome.

32. Fear is the mother of morality.

33. A politician divides mankind into two classes: tools and enemies.

34. Everyone who has ever built anywhere a new heaven first found the power thereto in his own hell.

35. There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.

36. The mother of excess is not joy but joylessness.

37. The Kingdom of Heaven is a condition of the heart — not something that comes upon the earth or after death.

38. What is the mark of liberation? No longer being ashamed in front of oneself.

39. Glance into the world just as though time were gone: and everything crooked will become straight to you.

40. We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.

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This is going to be a very expensive war, and Victory is not guaranteed–for anyone, and certainly not for a baffled little creep like George W. Bush. All he knows is that his father started the war a long time ago, and that he, the goofy child President, has been chosen by Fate and the global Oil industry to finish it off.”
— Hunter S. Thompson

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ySq0pnJI8

Bowersox, reportedly a diabetic, checked into a LA hospital on Tuesday just a few hours before she was scheduled to perform as one of 10 female semi-finalists.

As a result, the remaining male contestants were forced to sing for the judges a day earlier than expected.

The 24-year old mom is expected to return to the line-up when American Idol (NASDAQ:NWS) airs tonight.

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Crystal Bowerson was hospitalized for complications stemming from her diabetes. She will be back and well enough to perform by Thursday night.

The FOX representatives announced that American Idol had changed it’s schedule to accommodate Bowersox’s hospitalization but will return to it’s usual format by next week.

They said she would be back next week

but she is on! go Crystal

Vote for her text message: VOTE to 5701 for crystal bowerson

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The Magick of Thelema: A Handbook of the Rituals of Aleister Crowley

Liber Null & Psychonaut: An Introduction to Chaos Magic

Principia Discordia]

The Book of Black Magic

City Magick

Hermetic  Magic: The Postmodern Papyrus of Abaris

Greenes’ Guide to Educational Planning: Presenting Yourself Successfully To Colleges

Dark Water: Flood and Redemption in the City of Masterpieces

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Buying and Selling a Home (3rd Edition)

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Sharks

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Oceans

Bungalow 2

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

Feminisms in the Cinema

Effective Business Writing A Guide For Those who Write On the Job) 2nd Edition Revised And Updated

Helping Your Child Succeed in Public School

Getting Into Medical School

Personality Puzzle: Understanding the People You Work With

Dogbert’s Top Secret Management Handbook

The Nitric Oxide Revolution: Transform Your Physique in 21 Days

Ice (Andrews, V. C. Shooting Stars.)

The Bartender’s Bible: 1001 Mixed Drinks and Everything You Need to Know to Set Up Your Bar

The God Hunters

Get It? Got It? Good!: A Guide for Teenagers (Get It? Got It. Good!)

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book)

Any Advice? (Alloy Books)

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A  drunk man who smelled like beer sat down on a subway next to a
priest.  The man’s tie
was stained, his face was plastered  with red lipstick, a half-empty bottle of gin was sticking out  of his torn coat pocket.  He opened his newspaper and began  reading.  After a few minutes the man turned to the priest  and asked, ‘Say Father, what causes arthritis?’

The  priest replies, ‘My Son, it’s caused by loose living, being  with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol, contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes and lack of a bath.’

The drunk muttered in response, ‘Well, I’ll be  damned’, Then  returned to his paper.

The  priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. ‘I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean to come on so strong.  How long have you had arthritis?’

The  drunk answered, ‘I don’t have it Father, I
was just reading here that the Pope does.’

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9 – You feel insulted and “dehumanized” when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 – Your face turns purple when you hear of the “atrocities” attributed to Allah, but you don’t even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in “Exodus” and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in “Joshua” including women, children, and trees!

6 – You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 – You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 – You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs — though excluding those in all rival sects – will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering.  And yet consider your religion the most “tolerant” and “loving.”
3 – While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in “tongues” may be all the evidence you need to “prove” Christianity.

2 – You define 0.01% as a “high success rate” when it comes to answered prayers.  You consider that to be evidence that prayer works.  And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 – You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history – but still call yourself a Christian.

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Her solution was to scrounge up a steak knife and cut through the straps, eventually finding her way into the confusing world of the parking lot, still wielding the blade.

Virginia, an 84-year-old African American, has Alzheimer’s disease. Like many other sufferers, the responsibility for her care fell to her adult child. Her daughter, however, was inside the store.

It was only a short matter of time before the police were called.

As she wandered the parking lot calling her daughter’s name, she was approached by a white, female officer who clearly ordered her to drop the weapon. She did not.

What happened next was captured on video and uploaded that same night to YouTube by user “mainetaine187,” who says on camera as the scene escalates, “We gotta get real footage of this shit,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xW_-bSxTyI

A witness to the scene, one Tomya Beatty, quoted by the local NBC affiliate station, said: “She didn’t even ask her to drop the knife. The woman told her when the cop came charging at her. She said, ‘I’m not going to cut you. I’m not going to cut you.’ She was just calling her daughter’s name out.”

While the video contradicts Beatty’s statement that the officer said nothing about the knife, the use of force against an obviously frail woman is apparent. As the video progresses, a noisy scene develops around the officers as the confused old woman lays on the ground, bleeding.

Beatty, again quoted by NBC, said, “There was about to be a riot in front of Walmart…”

“Dotson’s daughter said her mother needed stitches to close the wounds and her hand may have been broken,” added NBC4i.

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________________________________________________________________

Interviewer:

Well, it’s been a few years since you changed theworld of
software design. How does it feel, looking back?

Stroustrup:

Actually, I was thinking about those days, just before you
arrived. Do you remember? Everyone was writing ‘C’ and,
the trouble was, they were pretty damn good at it.
Universities got pretty good at teaching it, too. They were
turning out competent – I stress the word ‘competent’ -
graduates at a phenomenal rate. That’s what caused the
problem.

Interviewer:

Problem?

Stroustrup:

Yes, problem. Remember when everyone wrote COBOL?

Interviewer:

Of course, I did, too.

Stroustrup:

Well, in the beginning, these guys were like
demi-gods. Their salaries were high, and they
were treated like royalty.

Interviewer:

Those were the days, eh?

Stroustrup:

Right. So what happened? IBM got sick of it,
and invested millions in training programmers, till
they were a dime a dozen.

Interviewer:

That’s why I got out. Salaries dropped within a
year, to the point where being a journalist actually
paid better.

Stroustrup:

Exactly. Well, the same happened with ‘C’ programmers.

Interviewer: I see, but what’s the point?

Stroustrup:

Well, one day, when I was sitting in my office, I
thought of this little scheme, which would redress
the balance a little. I thought ‘I wonder what
would happen, if there were a language so complicated,
so difficult to learn, that nobody would ever be able
to swamp the market with programmers?

Actually, I got some of the ideas from X10, you know,
X windows. That was such a bitch of a graphics system,
that it only just ran on those Sun 3/60 things. They
had all the ingredients for what I wanted. A really
ridiculously complex syntax, obscure functions, and
pseudo-OO structure. Even now, nobody writes raw X-windows
code. Motif is the only way to go if you want to retain
your sanity.

Interviewer:

You’re kidding…?

Stroustrup:

Not a bit of it. In fact, there was another problem.
Unix was written in ‘C’, which meant that any ‘C’
programmer could very easily become a systems programmer.
Remember what a mainframe systems programmer used to earn?

Interviewer:

You bet I do, that’s what I used to do.

Stroustrup:

OK, so this new language had to divorce itself from Unix,
by hiding all the system calls that bound the two together
so nicely. This would enable guys who only knew about DOS
to earn a decent living too.

Interviewer:

I don’t believe you said that…

Stroustrup:

Well, it’s been long enough, now, and I believe most people
have figured out for themselves that C++ is a waste of time but,
I must say, it’s taken them a lot longer than I thought it would.

Interviewer:

So how exactly did you do it?

Stroustrup:

It was only supposed to be a joke, I never thought people would
take the book seriously. Anyone with half a brain can see that
object-oriented programming is counter-intuitive, illogical and
inefficient.

Interviewer:

What?

Stroustrup:

And as for ‘re-useable code’ — when did you ever hear of a
company re-using its code?

Interviewer:

Well, never, actually, but…

Stroustrup:

There you are then. Mind you, a few tried, in the early days.
There was this Oregon company — Mentor Graphics, I think they
were called — really caught a cold trying to rewrite everything
in C++ in about ’90 or ’91. I felt sorry for them really, but
I thought people would learn from their mistakes.

Interviewer:

Obviously, they didn’t?

Stroustrup:

Not in the slightest. Trouble is, most companies hush-up all
their major blunders, and explaining a $30 million loss to the
shareholders would have been difficult. Give them their due,
though, they made it work in the end.

Interviewer:

They did? Well, there you are then, it proves O-O works.

Stroustrup:

Well, almost. The executable was so huge, it took five minutes
to load, on an HP workstation, with 128MB of RAM. Then it ran
like molasses. Actually, I thought this would be a major
stumbling-block, and I’d get found out within a week, but nobody
cared. Sun and HP were only too glad to sell enormously powerful
boxes, with huge resources just to run trivial programs. You
know, when we had our first C++ compiler, at AT&T, I compiled
‘Hello World’, and couldn’t believe the size of the executable:
2.1MB

Interviewer:

What? Well, compilers have come a long way, since then.

Stroustrup:

They have? Try it on the latest version of g++ – you won’t get
much change out of half a megabyte. Also, there are several quite
recent examples for you, from all over the world. British Tele-
com had a major disaster on their hands but, luckily, managed to
scrap the whole thing and start again. They were luckier than
Australian Telecom.

Now I hear that Siemens is building a dinosaur, and getting more
and more worried as the size of the hardware gets bigger, to
accommodate the executables. Isn’t multiple inheritance a joy?

Interviewer:

Yes, but C++ is basically a sound language.

Stroustrup:

You really believe that, don’t you? Have you ever sat down and
worked on a C++ project? Here’s what happens: First, I’ve put
in enough pitfalls to make sure that only the most trivial proj-
ects will work first time. Take operator overloading. At the
end of the project, almost every module has it, usually, because
guys feel they really should do it, as it was in their training
course. The same operator then means something totally different
in every module. Try pulling that lot together, when you have a
hundred or so modules. And as for data hiding, God, I sometimes
can’t help laughing when I hear about the problems companies
have making their modules talk to each other.

I think the word ‘synergistic’ was specially invented to twist
the knife in a project manager’s ribs.

Interviewer:

I have to say, I’m beginning to be quite appalled at all this.
You say you did it to raise programmers’ salaries? That’s ob-
scene.

Stroustrup:

Not really. Everyone has a choice. I didn’t expect the thing to
get so much out of hand. Anyway, I basically succeeded. C++ is
dying off now, but programmers still get high salaries, especial-
ly those poor devils who have to maintain all this crap. You do
realise, it’s impossible to maintain a large C++ software module
if you didn’t actually write it?

Interviewer:

How come?

Stroustrup:

You are out of touch, aren’t you? Remember the typedef?

Interviewer:

Yes, of course.

Stroustrup:

Remember how long it took to grope through the header files only
to find that ‘RoofRaised’ was a double precision number? Well,
imagine how long it takes to find all the implicit typedefs in
all the Classes in a major project.

Interviewer:

So how do you reckon you’ve succeeded?

Stroustrup:

The universities haven’t been teaching ‘C’ for such a long time,
there’s now a shortage of decent ‘C’ programmers. Especially
those who know anything about Unix systems programming. How many
guys would know what to do with ‘malloc’, when they’ve used ‘new’
all these years and never bothered to check the return code. In
fact, most C++ programmers throw away their return codes. What-
ever happened to good ol’ ‘-1′? At least you knew you had an
error, without bogging the thing down in all that ‘throw’ ‘catch’
‘try’ stuff.

Interviewer:

But, surely, inheritance does save a lot of time?

Stroustrup:

Does it? Have you ever noticed the difference between a ‘C’
project plan, and a C++ project plan? The planning stage for
a C++ project is three times as long. Precisely to make sure
that everything which should be inherited is, and what shouldn’t
isn’t. Then, they still get it wrong. Whoever heard of memory
leaks in a ‘C’ program? Now finding them is a major industry.
Most companies give up, and send the product out, knowing it
leaks like a sieve, simply to avoid the expense of tracking them
all down.

Interviewer:

There are tools….

Stroustrup:

…Most of which were written in C++.

Interviewer:

If we publish this, you’ll probably get lynched, you do realise
that?

Stroustrup:

I doubt it. As I said, C++ is way past its peak now, and no
company in its right mind would start a C++ project without a
pilot trial. That should convince them that it’s the road to
disaster. If not, they deserve all they get. You know, I tried
to convince Dennis Ritchie to rewrite Unix in C++.

Interviewer:

Oh my God. What did he say?

Stroustrup:

Well, luckily, he has a good sense of humor. I think both he
and Brian figured out what I was doing, in the early days, but
never let on. He said he’d help me write a C++ version of DOS,
if I was interested.

Interviewer:

Were you?

Stroustrup:

Actually, I did write DOS in C++, I’ll give you a demo when
we’re through. I have it running on a Sparc 20 in the computer
room. Goes like a rocket on 4 CPU’s, and only takes up 70 megs
of disk.

Interviewer:

What’s it like on a PC?

Stroustrup:

Now you’re kidding. Haven’t you ever seen Windows ’95? I think
of that as my biggest success. Nearly blew the game before I was
ready, though.

Interviewer:

You know, that idea of a Unix++ has really got me thinking.
Somewhere out there, there’s a guy going to try it.

Stroustrup:

Not after they read this interview.

Interviewer:

I’m sorry, but I don’t see us being able to publish any of this.

Stroustrup:

But it’s the story of the century. I only want to be remembered
by my fellow programmers, for what I’ve done for them. You know
how much a C++ guy can get these days?

Interviewer:

Last I heard, a really top guy is worth $80 – $90 an hour.

Stroustrup:

See? And I bet he earns it. Keeping track of all the gotchas I
put into C++ is no easy job. And, as I said before, every C++
programmer feels bound by some mystic promise to use every damn
element of the language on every project. Actually, that really
annoys me sometimes, even though it serves my original purpose.
I almost like the language after all this time.

Interviewer:

You mean you didn’t before?

Stroustrup:

Hated it. It even looks clumsy, don’t you agree? But when the
book royalties started to come in… well, you get the picture.

Interviewer:

Just a minute. What about references? You must admit, you
improved on ‘C’ pointers.

Stroustrup:

Hmm. I’ve always wondered about that. Originally, I thought I
had. Then, one day I was discussing this with a guy who’d written
C++ from the beginning. He said he could never remember whether
his variables were referenced or dereferenced, so he always used
pointers. He said the little asterisk always reminded him.

Interviewer:

Well, at this point, I usually say ‘thank you very much’ but it
hardly seems adequate.

Stroustrup:

Promise me you’ll publish this. My conscience is getting the
better of me these days.

Interviewer:

I’ll let you know, but I think I know what my editor will say.

Stroustrup:

Who’d believe it anyway? Although, can you send me a copy of that
tape?

Interviewer:

I can do that.

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For myself, I found that I was fitted for nothing so well as for the study of Truth; as having a mind nimble and versatile enough to catch the resemblances of things … and at the same time steady enough to fix and distinguish their subtler differences; as being gifted by nature with desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and as being a man that neither affects what is new nor admires what is old, and that hates every kind of imposture.

Or, more prosaically: critical thinking is the skillful application of a repertoire of validated general techniques for deciding the level of confidence you should have in a proposition in the light of the available evidence.

A shorter version is the art of being right.

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By
Spencer Bright

Woodstock, the most famous music festival in rock ‘n’ roll history,
took place 40 years ago on August 15-18, 1969. To celebrate, here are
40 things you didn’t know about it…

1.
Beatniks, hippies, flower children and rock legends gathered together
not in Woodstock, but in the little town of Bethel, rural New York
State.

2. The idea for the festival came from band
manager Michael Lang and Artie Kornfeld, a songwriter turned record
company executive. They wanted to raise money to build a recording
studio in Woodstock, upstate New York, a haven for artists including
Bob Dylan, The Band and Van Morrison.

3.
There was no suitable site in Woodstock, so organisers opted for
Wallkill, 40 miles away. But residents blocked their plans, so dairy
farmer Max Yasgur stepped in to offer his alfalfa field, in the
neighbouring hamlet of Bethel. A deal was struck for $75,000. 

Peace and love: Jimi Hendrix closed the festival with a rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner

4. Melanie Safka (remember ‘I’ve got a brand new pair of
rollerskates’?) failed to get a performer’s pass and had to sing her
song, Beautiful People, to the security guards to get backstage.

5.
Joni Mitchell wrote the festival’s eponymous song, with the lyrics ‘We
are stardust we are golden’, from what she heard of the event from
then-boyfriend Graham Nash, ex-Hollies and one quarter of Crosby,
Stills, Nash & Young. But she never made it to Woodstock. Taking
the advice of her manager, she chose to guest on the Dick Cavett Show
and then watched the festival unfold on TV, tears streaming down her
face.

6. Any decent flower child worth their name was there to protest against the Vietnam war abroad and racial tension at home.

7.
With storm clouds approaching, the crowd was urged: ‘Let’s think hard
to get rid of the rain.’ A chant went up: ‘No rain, no rain, no rain.’
But it didn’t stop the deluge and in three hours, five inches of rain
fell and the festival became a mudfest. Joan Baez famously sang ‘We
shall overcome’ during a full-on thunderstorm.

8.
During the downpour there were fears some artists would get
electrocuted. Alvin Lee, of Ten Years After, was warned of the risk as
it was still raining when his turn came to go on. ‘Oh come on, if I get
electrocuted at Woodstock we’ll sell lots of records,’ he said. 

Joe Cocker entertains the masses

9. The performance of The
Star-Spangled Banner by Jimi Hendrix that closed Woodstock was
described by the rock critic from the New York Post as ‘the single
greatest moment of the Sixties’. Yet it was witnessed by just a
fraction of the crowd. Most had gone home by the time Hendrix came on stage, at 9am on a Monday morning.

10.
British artists were represented by Ten Years After, The Who, The
Incredible String Band, the Keef Hartley Band, Graham Nash and Mitch
Mitchell, drummer in Jimi Hendrix’s band.

11.
The British artist who really made his mark was Joe Cocker, whose
soulful rendition of The Beatles song With A Little Help From My
Friends was one of the greatest performances.

12.
Thirty-two bands were listed to play, but Iron Butterfly got stuck at
the airport and didn’t make it because the helicopter booked to ferry
them to the site didn’t arrive. Organisers were, in fact, worried their
hippy heavy-metal music would incite violence.

13.
The Jeff Beck Group, featuring Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, were booked
to play, but they split acrimoniously on the eve of their Woodstock
appearance.

14. John Lennon told organisers he had
wanted to be a part of Woodstock, but he was in Canada and the U.S.
government had refused him an entry visa.

15. There were ten million yards of blue jeans and striped T-shirt material at Woodstock.

16.
The dove perched on a guitar neck in the famous poster announcing
‘Three Days of Peace and Music’ is really a catbird, an American
perching bird known for its catlike calls.

17.
Though Bob Dylan was one of the original inspirations for the festival,
and his backing group, The Band, played to the massive audience, the
great man never made it, as one of his children was hospitalised over
that weekend.

18. Scottish folk quartet The
Incredible String Band told writer Mark Ellen about appearing on the
Woodstock stage. ‘It was incredibly high and three out of the four of
us had vertigo. Little flimsy dresses on the girls, acoustic guitars
out of tune, the drums damp from the tent, it was like playing off the
Forth Bridge to this sea of people cooking beans in the mud.’

19.
Eight women suffered miscarriages, while there are varying reports of
babies born. John Sebastian, lead singer with Lovin’ Spoonful,
announced from
the
stage: ‘Some cat’s old lady just had a baby, a kid destined to be far
out!’ Reports suggest a birth at a local hospital to a mother flown
from the event by helicopter and another involving a woman in a car in
the nine-mile traffic jam.

20. ‘Hippy’ is derived
from ‘hipster’ and was used to describe beatniks who moved to San
Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district for the Summer of Love in 1967.
Yippies (the left-wing Youth International Party led by Abbie Hoffman)
were sufficiently motivated by money to demand $10,000 from Woodstock’s
organisers to avoid any unpleasant disruption of proceedings. 

A biker grabs a snooze in between acts

21. The organisers played down the
numbers they anticipated, telling the authorities they expected 50,000,
while selling 186,000 tickets in advance (costing six dollars for each
day) and planning for 200,000. In the end 500,000 attended. Another
million had to turn back because of traffic. It was originally
advertised as ‘A Weekend in the Country.’

22. As an
unknown and unproven business concern, the organisers, Woodstock
Ventures, had to pay inflated sums to get the top rockers to sign up.
Jefferson Airplane were the first, paid $12,000, double their usual
fee. Even hippy band The Grateful Dead demanded cash in hand before
they would play, as did Janis Joplin and The Who.

23.
Off-duty police officers were banned from providing security, so a New
Mexico commune known as the Hog Farm were hired to form a ‘Please
Force.’ The Hog Farmers were led by Wavy Gravy, a toothless former
beatnik comic, who put on a Smokey-the-Bear suit and warned
troublemakers they would be doused in fizzy water or hit with custard
pies.

24. About two dozen ticket booths should have
been in place to charge $24 admission, but they were never installed
because of the crush of festival-goers. Attempts to get people to pay
were abandoned on day one, the fences were torn down and Woodstock was
declared a free event.

25.
As well as forming the Please Force, The Hog Farm were in charge of
catering, ordering in bushels of brown rice, buying 160,000 paper
plates, forks, knives and spoons and 30,000 paper cups. They fed
between 160,000-190,000 people at the Hog Farm Free Kitchen, 5,000 at a
time.

26. The Food For Love concession was running
low on burgers so it raised prices from 25 cents to $1. Festival-goers
saw it as capitalist exploitation, against the spirit of the festival,
so burnt the stand down.

27.
Hearing there was a shortage of food, a Jewish community centre made
sandwiches with 200 loaves of bread, 40 pounds of meat cuts and two
gallons of pickles, which were distributed by nuns. 

The audience stand in the rain as the show goes on

28. Sweetwater, a psychedelic rock band scheduled to open the
festival, were stuck in traffic. Instead, the crowd was entertained by
one of the Hog Farmers, who led them through a series of yoga
exercises. Sweetwater were on fifth.

29.
With the festival start-time running over an hour late, there was panic
to find a performer ready. Tim Hardin, (who later died of a heroin
overdose), was too stoned, so Richie Havens went on. When Havens
finished his set he kept trying to leave but was told to do more
encores as the next band was not ready. His song Freedom was improvised
and became a worldwide hit.

30. Though the festival
mood was anti-war, ironically the festival would most likely have
turned to tragedy without the U.S. Army, who airlifted in food, medical
teams and performers. The hippy crowd was told: ‘They are with us man,
they are not against us. Forty five doctors or more are here without
pay because they dig what this is into.’

31.
John Sebastian’s performance was unexpected. Spotted visiting
backstage, he was urged to appear. He admitted he had smoked a joint
and taken LSD, which could explain his shambolic performance, shouting:
‘Far out! Far up! Far down! Far around! You’re really amazing, you’re a
whole city.’

32. The revolving stage was designed to
minimise wait-times, turning when one act finished with the equipment
in place for the next one. But it could not support the weight of so
many people on the side of the stage watching the performances, and the
wheels fell off. ‘Grace Slick and Janis Joplin and everybody were
standing on it and you can’t just sweep them off with a broom,’
explained one of the crew.

33. For those lost and confused
there were two wooden signposts nailed to a tree. Chalked on one was
‘Groovy Way’ with arrows in opposite directions. On the other was
‘Gentle Path’ and underneath ‘High Way’ pointing to the left.

34. Nine out of ten festival-goers smoked marijuana on site and 33 were arrested on drugs charges.

35.
Two people died at Woodstock  -  one man from a heroin overdose and a
teenager in a sleeping bag who was killed when a tractor ran over him.
The driver was never traced.

36. For the weekend of
the festival it had become the third largest city in New York State.
But due to lack of basic amenities, Governor Nelson Rockefeller
declared it a disaster area. The health department documented 5,162
medical cases, including 797 instances of drug abuse. But Time magazine
called it ‘The greatest peaceful event in history.’

37.
While most acts revelled in having appeared there, sitar player Ravi
Shankar found it a ‘terrifying experience’ and said the crowd in the
mud reminded him of the water buffaloes at home in India.

38.
Actor and country singer Roy Rogers  -  billed as King of the Cowboys
for his western movies  -  was asked to close the show, singing his
trademark song, Happy Trails To You. But Rogers’ manager vetoed it, and
years later Rogers admitted: ‘I would have been booed off stage by all
those goddam hippies.’

39.
There have been four attempts to recreate the festival on different
sites: in 1979, 1989, 1994, and the disastrous 1999 festival, which was
shut down amid riots and violence. Commemorative events are taking
place across America and Europe.

40. Organisers at
Woodstock Ventures were at least $1.3m in debt afterwards. It took more
than a decade for backers to recoup money, through audio and recording
rights. 

• THE 40th anniversary edition four-DVD set of the filmWoodstock: 3 Days Of Peace And Music is out now.

Sixties spirit: Melanie Safka

I was never a hippy, festival icon Melanie insists

If
the spirit of Woodstock still exists, then it is embodied in Melanie
Safka. The long, flowing robes  -  a 2009 version of her Sixties ethnic
gowns  -  and the welcoming hug comfort as if you’re in a time warp.

When
she walked on stage in front of 500,000 people at Woodstock 40 years
ago, she was an unknown 19-year-old folk singer. She sang Beautiful
People to the beautiful people, as the hippies of the time were called.
‘I was just about as unworldly as a girl could be,’ she recalls now. ‘I
had no experience  -  I just wanted to sing. But something clicked and
by the time I came off stage, I was a celebrity. It was an unbelievable
moment.’

Her dressing room was a small teepee. Hearing her
cough from a neighbouring tent, Joan Baez sent her a pot of herbal tea,
honey and lemon.

No one could have predicted that Melanie 
-  fragile, dry-mouthed and shaking with nerves  -  would become the
festival’s enduring icon. She gained worldwide fame thanks to songs
such as Lay Down (Candles In The Rain), about her Woodstock experience,
Beautiful People, Brand New Key, which reached number one in the U.S.
and number four in the UK, and a classic, emotional reworking of Mick
Jagger’s and Keith Richards’s song Ruby Tuesday.

She is 62
now and has two daughters and two grandchildren. However, she insists
she remains true to the cause of peace that Woodstock espoused. Melanie
has worked for the United Nations as a peace ambassador since the
Seventies.

‘But I’m not a hippy, never was,’ she insists.
‘I don’t like the word  -  it sounds so lightweight and ineffectual.
What am I, then? Just me.’ 

• MELANIE is appearing at Memories Of Woodstock, West Midlands Showground, Shrewsbury, on Sunday.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1204849/Forty-far-facts-knew-Woodstock.html#ixzz0Nf4N34Gc

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Do you know why you even get out of bed for other than hunger or use the bathroom?

Seriously, I got to thinking about this subject again today and I found it oddly scary to me that many people really don’t have a life’s aspiration or goals … something theya re working for..
Many people simply wake upo goto work and take care of odd and ends shit before going to bed and then start over…

How … why… many people do not know why they do what they are doing … many people simply wake up and say ..
Someday I will
or if only I had XYZ
or if I could get rid of PDQ…
they would

well seriously what are your dreams goals and aspirations.. just think about it
what motivates you to get out of bed in the morning…

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Anthony Wesley spotted the extraordinary impact on Sunday night while watching Jupiter from the backyard of his rural home in Murrumbateman, near Canberra, Australia. He nearly missed it because he was also watching the final rounds of the Open Championship on television.

Mr Wesley, 44, an IT consultant who designed his telescope himself, told The Times how he saw a strange black blob creep across the planet’s surface.

“About 11pm I went inside to have a break and watch the golf, and by the time I came back out at about 1am the impact point had rotated around into view,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. I thought, ‘That wasn’t there before’, and then I realized Jupiter had actually been hit by something.”

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00592/eclipse185_592265a.JPG

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Perhaps, the greatest reason as to why you should rate a YouTube video that you watched or even leave comments to the YouTube member that uploaded it is because it gives the YouTube member in question something to feel good about.  YouTube gives any internet user, someone just like you, the ability to make, upload, and share their videos.  There are some YouTube members who put a lot of thought, time, and hard work into making each and every one of their videos.  Hearing that someone liked their video, whether it be through positive comments or feedback ratings, is likely to make them feel good about themselves.  In a way, you could think of leaving YouTube comments or giving YouTube video ratings as doing your good deed for the day.

Another one of the many reasons as to why you should rate all YouTube videos that you watch or even leave comments is because it lets other YouTube members know what you like.  When it comes to making a YouTube video, there are many YouTube members who spend hours searching for videos that are highly rated or ones that are constantly being talked about.  They want to make a video that they know will be looked at or talked about, as it ups their exposure.  Therefore, rating YouTube videos can actually benefit you.  The more you rate your favorite YouTube videos or discuss them, the more likely you will be to find similar natured videos appear in the future, giving you a never ending source of entertainment.

To rate YouTube videos or to discuss them, you must be a member of the YouTube community.  This involves registering for a YouTube account.  The good news about doing so is that it is relatively easy to do, not to mention free.  All you need to do is enter in a little bit of personal information about yourself, like your name, location, birth date, and gender and create login information for yourself.  Once you do so you can start rating YouTube videos or discuss them with other YouTube members.

If you would like to rate any YouTube videos that you watch, whether you like them or not, you will need to register with YouTube, as stated above.  You do not need to register with YouTube to watch videos on the site, but you must have an account if you would like to rate movies that you watched or discuss them.  As previously mentioned, there are a number of reasons as to why you should do so, as well as a number of benefits to doing so.  That is why you will want to take a few minutes to register for a free YouTube account.  In addition to being able to rate or discuss videos, you will also find yourself gaining access to a number of other neat YouTube features.

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To be a quick PHP coder means that you have a thorough knowledge of the syntax and functions as well as library of code which you have created and testing on live websites and that you can bring into new web developments.

You’ll often read a reference to “clean code” amongst PHP heads (and all other code writers for that matter) and above is essentially what they mean by this term.

If you really want to learn PHP though I can guarantee one thing: that you will succeed if you have enough time and are determined enough.

PHP is the world’s most popular web development language. It is estimated that for every 100 PHP developers, there are 42 Perl developers, 12 Python developers and 4 Ruby developers – PHPs popularity is the central reason why you should consider learning it above all others.

PHP is the basis of Content Management Systems such as Drupal, Joomla and WordPress so gaining a knowledge of PHP would help you in using these scripts.

Presumably your are already proficient with CSS and HTML and want to take your web creativity to another level. If you aren’t, then stop right here. It’s unthinkable to tackle PHP without a firm grounding in HTML and a good knowledge of CSS would be extremely useful.
__________________

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Kidding of course, I believe someone should use the language they like
and that fits the purpose of the program they are writing. All
programming languages have their ups and downs. Brainfuck is just all
downs
– attribution: From comp.lang.python user named Deltantor

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As you can likely tell from the name and as it was mentioned above, TestTube is a program that was and is still being generated by YouTube.  TestTube is where YouTube is currently testing a wide variety of different things; things that will likely improve the way that you watch or share videos on YouTube. When you think about it, YouTube is absolutely amazing.  They are one of the largest online video sharing websites, as well as the most popular, yet they are still taking a number of steps to make the online video sharing experience even better.

Although the TestTube program isn’t necessarily referred to as a beta program, it can be considered one, as everything that is tested is still in the experimental phases.  As it was stated above, many of things being worked on in YouTube’s TestTube are improvements to make watching and sharing videos online easier.  To know if these ideas or improvements are actually working, they need other internet users to help test them out. This is where you could come in. If you were interested, you could request to join the YouTube TestTube program.  You will not only find doing so fun and exciting, but you may also get a firsthand look at many of the changes or improvements that the folks at YouTube are trying to make.

Although the improvements or ideas being worked on in YouTube’s TestTube are likely to vary, you will find that many improvements or ideas are centered on watching videos.  For instance, YouTube is currently working on an idea that allows you and other internet users, who are watching the same YouTube videos, to talk to each other, almost like a live, real-time chat. This is a little bit different then sending personal messages or leaving comments on a YouTube video page. Another unique idea currently being examined in YouTube’s TestTube, is the ability to add music to a video, as a watcher.  In YouTube’s TestTube, you have the ability to swap out audio from a YouTube video from a long list of licensed songs that YouTube has permission to use.

The decision as to whether or not you want to visit the TestTube section of YouTube is yours to make, but it is definitely something worth looking into.  You get to try out all of YouTube’s current ideas or improvements for free.  You are also encouraged to offer your suggestions as to whether or not you like them.  This, in turn, could help to make your YouTube experience even that more memorable. If you are interested in taking part in YouTube’s TestTube program, you can find more information about the program, by visiting the YouTube webpage.  In small print, at the bottom of each YouTube page, you will find a link with more information on TestTube.

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An old story speaks about a similar problem. A devoted meditator, after years concentrating on a particular mantra, had attained enough insight to begin teaching. The student’s humility was far from perfect, but the teachers at the monastery were not worried.

A few years of successful teaching left the meditator with no thoughts about learning from anyone; but upon hearing about a famous hermit living nearby, the opportunity was too exciting to be passed up.

The hermit lived alone on an island at the middle of a lake, so the meditator hired a man with a boat to row across to the island. The meditator was very respectful of the old hermit. As they shared some tea made with herbs the meditator asked him about his spiritual practice. The old man said he had no spiritual practice, except for a mantra which he repeated all the time to himself. The meditator was pleased: the hermit was using the same mantra he used himself — but when the hermit spoke the mantra aloud, the meditator was horrified!

“What’s wrong?” asked the hermit.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m afraid you’ve wasted your whole life! You are pronouncing the mantra incorrectly!”

“Oh, Dear! That is terrible. How should I say it?”

The meditator gave the correct pronunciation, and the old hermit was very grateful, asking to be left alone so he could get started right away. On the way back across the lake the meditator, now confirmed as an accomplished teacher, was pondering the sad fate of the hermit.

“It’s so fortunate that I came along. At least he will have a little time to practice correctly before he dies.” Just then, the meditator noticed that the boatman was looking quite shocked, and turned to see the hermit standing respectfully on the water, next to the boat.

“Excuse me, please. I hate to bother you, but I’ve forgotten the correct pronunciation again. Would you please repeat it for me?”

“You obviously don’t need it,” stammered the meditator; but the old man persisted in his polite request until the meditator relented and told him again the way he thought the mantra should be pronounced.

The old hermit was saying the mantra very carefully, slowly, over and over, as he walked across the surface of the water back to the island.

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Anyway while I was snooping around in my files and such for a way to edit the number of posts I noticed an Enormous error log file (79MB)
I haven’t seen one that huge since I crashed out four servers in one shot afew years ago with a script I wrote that took a data file and created html files (20K-50K ) across several domains nd servers… but I digress

the error log was filled with errors from a plug-in tweet this function calls not respnding .. specicially the URL shorting servcie I choose wasn’t responding… Had to make a desicion and well Tweet this is no longer on the site anymore I can not afford mywebsite to be dependant upon an exteranl service. when my bread and butter comes from my websites being able to load

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This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

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While H1N1 swine viruses have been known to circulate among pig populations since at least 1930, H3N2 influenza viruses did not begin circulating among US pigs until 1998. The H3N2 viruses initially were introduced into the pig population from humans. The current swine flu H3N2 viruses are closely related to human H3N2 viruses.

Reference: Facts come from the cdc.gov website on virus h1n1flu (swine flu)

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Reference: Facts come from the cdc.gov website on virus h1n1flu (swine flu)

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For all the folks with cell phones.
(This should be printed and kept in your car, purse, and /
or  wallet)
(Good information to have with you.)

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave
emergencies.

Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an
emergency tool for survival.
Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST – Emergency

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you
find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile
network and there is an Emergency, dial 112 and the mobile
will search any existing network to establish the emergency
number for you, and interestingly, this number 112 can be
dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND – Lost keys
Have you locked your keys in the car?

Does your car have remote keyless entry?
This may come in handy someday.
Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in
the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home
on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell
phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at
your home press the unlock button, holding it near the
mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock.
Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you.

Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away,
and if you can reach someone who has the other
‘remote’ for your car, you can unlock the doors (or
the trunk).

THIRD – Hidden Battery Power

Imagine your cell battery is very low.
To activate hidden battery power, press the keys *3370# .
Your cell phone will restart with this reserve and the
instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve
will get charged when you charge your cell phone next time.

FOURTH – How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

To check your Mobile phone’s serial number, key in the
following digits on your phone: *#06#. A 15-digit code will
appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset.
Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone
gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give
them this code. They will then be able to block your handset
so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will
be totally useless. You probably won’t get your phone
back, but at least   you know that whoever stole it
can’t use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there
would be no point in people stealing mobile p hones.

And Finally….

FIFTH – Free Directory Service for Cells

Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more
for 411 information calls when they don’t have to. Most
of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle,
which makes this situation even more of a problem.
When you need to use the 411 information option, simply
dial: (800)FREE411, or (800) 373-3411< Bwithout
incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell
phone now.

Pass it on to your family and friends.

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After a while when a monkey climbed on the ladder, it got beaten up by the others.

Later on, none of the monkeys climbed up the ladder to get the bananas, then the scientists replaced one of the monkeys.

The first thing the new monkey did was to climb up the ladder; the rest beat it up right away. After a few beatings, the new monkey did not climb on the ladder at all.

The same thing happened with a second new monkey. The first substitute participated gladly in the beatings. A third monkey was changed with the same results. The fourth and the last one were finally substituted.

Then the scientists had five monkeys that never had been hosed with cold water, yet, they beat up any monkey that tried to reach the bananas.

If we could ask them why they beat up anyone trying to reach the bananas, the answer would very probably be:

“I don’t know, things have always been like that…”

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Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.

Your best customers are worth far more than your average customers.

Share of wallet is easier, more profitable and ultimately more effective a measure than share of market.

Marketing begins before the product is created.

Advertising is just a symptom, a tactic. Marketing is about far more than that.

Low price is a great way to sell a commodity. That’s not marketing, though, that’s efficiency.

Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations.

Products that are remarkable get talked about.

Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills and your returns policy.

You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people, once unfooled, talk about the experience.

If you are marketing from a fairly static annual budget, you’re viewing marketing as an expense. Good marketers realize that it is an investment.

People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want.

You’re not in charge. And your prospects don’t care about you.

What people want is the extra, the emotional bonus they get when they buy something they love.

Business to business marketing is just marketing to consumers who happen to have a corporation to pay for what they buy.

Traditional ways of interrupting consumers (TV ads, trade show booths, junk mail) are losing their cost-effectiveness. At the same time, new ways of spreading ideas (blogs, permission-based RSS information, consumer fan clubs) are quickly proving how well they work.

People all over the world, and of every income level, respond to marketing that promises and delivers basic human wants.

Good marketers tell a story.

People are selfish, lazy, uninformed and impatient. Start with that and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.

Marketing that works is marketing that people choose to notice.

Effective stories match the worldview of the people you are telling the story to.

Choose your customers. Fire the ones that hurt your ability to deliver the right story to the others.

A product for everyone rarely reaches much of anyone.

Living and breathing an authentic story is the best way to survive in an conversation-rich world.

Marketers are responsible for the side effects their products cause.

Reminding the consumer of a story they know and trust is a powerful shortcut.

Good marketers measure.

Marketing is not an emergency. It’s a planned, thoughtful exercise that started a long time ago and doesn’t end until you’re done.

One disappointed customer is worth ten delighted ones.

Obviously, knowing what to do is very, very different than actually doing it.

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