Brighter side of web - December 2006

"I do solemnly declare that henceforth and without further procastinations or delay, I will no longer self indulgently and with a due sense of punctiliousness to the aforementioned resolutions, no longer put off doing, what really I could have done 5 minutes ago. Furthermore I will stop showing off by using unnecessary and supefluous words just to show my vocabulary."

More Funny New Year Resolutions

Mediteranean Sea

I never know how to spend "mediterenean"

• never mind. I read this from my good friend Mahiruha.

"There are many words I can't spell. I don't know how to spell "embarrassed", for example- I'm too lazy to use my Word for Windows spell checker- and I don't give a damn that I'm typing all of this in Safari and that tihs artice will feature crazy word wraps or that the word "tihs" does not exist in the English language and should have been "this" but I don't feel like correcting it and if you don't like it, well that's not my problem, you can read any of the other posts.

And I realize, dear friends, that this post is already too long and has not yet begun to make the slightest sense, and probably will never make sense. Oh, well..."

Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper

The Last Supper was painted onto the walls of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie near Milan. Leonardo spent three years painting the work, and much of that time was spent searching the streets of Milan for models of Christ and Judas. It is said that only Leonardo's threats to paint the Prior of the convent as Judas bought him the time he needed to finish.

The Last supper and other paintings of Leonardo.

I wrote a biography of Leonardo da Vinci at Biography online

First training ride of December. Photo by John - Paul Gillespie

after 3 weeks off the bike in Turkey. I had my first bike ride yesterday. I feel slow. THe only training I did while on holiday was running up the hotel steps several times.At least the weather is not too bad here in UK. I shall try to get back into riding 5 times a week, even if it is only for 2 hours a day.

“Is one bovered”. Catherine Tate is said to have said this to Queen at a Royal Variety Performance. In the Royal box one of the queens attendents was sleeping. She siad

” she is bing, but the old fella next to her is asleep!" –

Catherine Tate article

"One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice; and it is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however much we have suffered from him."

"I am not an Athenian, or a Greek, but a citizen of the world."

• Socrates

Socrates was one of the greatest philosophers of the ancient world. He never wrote anything down but his discourses were recorded by his students.

Leonardo's flying machine.

Admist his numerous projects Leonardo had a long standing interest in Flying. He designed several flying machines and drew detailed diagrams. This included a protype of a helicopter which became a reality many centuries later.

This is from Universal Leonardo

"In his fascination with flying, Leonardo attempts to combine the dynamic potential of the human body with an imitation of natural flight. In his notes, he cites the bats, the kite and other birds as models to imitate. He refers to his flying machine as the “great bird” . "

TALKING TURKEYS

by: Benjamin Zephaniah

Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas
Cos' turkeys just wanna hav fun
Turkeys are cool, turkeys are wicked
An every turkey has a Mum.
Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas,
Don't eat it, keep it alive,
It could be yu mate, an not on your plate
Say, Yo! Turkey I'm on your side.

continued...

New Record for Balancing 50 Foot Pole.

Ashrita Furman broke one more Guinness World Record in South Turkey recently. This record was for holding up a pole 50 feet in length. Ashrita balanced the pole on his chin for 15 seconds. This was sufficient for a new record, subject to confirmation from Guinness. Ashrita set the record in an ancient Roman amphitheatre in Aspendos. The amphitheatre was built in AD 162 by the Roman architect Zeno. It was built to fit 12,000 spectators and even 2000 years later the ruins make a very impressive venue.

(photo coming soon)

Have A Nice Day

"Help, help, ' said a man. 'I'm drowning.'
'Hang on, ' said a man from the shore.
'Help, help, ' said the man. 'I'm not clowning.'
'Yes, I know, I heard you before.
Be patient dear man who is drowning,
You, see I've got a disease.
I'm waiting for a Doctor J. Browning.
So do be patient please.'

• Spike Milligan

When the Life of Brian was brought out ın 1979 it apparantely caused alot of controversy because of its subject material. I'm not sure why because it is just a good satire on human behaviour. But nevertheless it upset many people because of its theme. There was even one town councıl ın Surrey whıch went to the trouble of banning the film even though the town didn't have a cinema. Any way I guess its the thought that counts.

New: "Romans Go Home" - Quotes from scene "Romanes Eunt Domus"

These are some of the funniest Quotes from Life of Brian.

[The audience has trouble hearing Jesus' sermon on the mount.]

Guy: I think it was, "Blessed are the cheesemakers."
Other Guy: Ahh, what's so special about cheesemakers?
Guy: Well, obviously this is not meant to be taken
  literally.  It refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.

There is a “new age” joke which runs along the lines of.

“My son used to sit around doing nothing, but now he has taken up meditation.

I think this joke is funny. Well at least its better than the joke about the meditator who told his dentist that he didn’t want any painkillers because he wished to “transcend dental medication” (*) Real meditation though is quite different from just sitting quietly for 5-10 minutes.

Often people have a nostalgic view of the past. Just talk to an old person and they will say how much better things were in "my day". It is true some problems are more pronounced, but it is also the case that perhaps things are not getting as bad as we may imagine. In some regards things are getting better.

Nevertheless I'll know I'm old when I starting talking like this:

"Well when I were a lad, of course things were much better..." - or maybe I will become like one of the 4 yorkshire men.

Anyway this is a question and answer from Sri Chinmoy Library

Question: Why are people getting worse instead of better?

Sri Chinmoy: I hear this question often from elderly people, but I have to be very frank. Has there been any time on earth when there was no conflict, no fighting, no war? From the very beginning of civilisation there has been fighting. At the start of the Mahabharata period they were fighting and later, in the time of the Greek and Roman civilisations, there was also constant fighting. Conflict has always existed on earth.

...

This is the kind of film I usually don't particularly like, but to be honest I really enjoyed it. It has a real charm and good sense of humour. Audrey Hepburn deservedly received an Oscar for her performance of a complex character, with an underlying innocence. The film was directed by Blake Edwards who also produced the very popular Pink Panther series. There is definitely some kind of link between the 2 films although its hard to put my finger on it.

The Oscar-nominated screenplay was written by George Axelrod, loosely based on the novel by Truman Capote. George Peppard plays Paul 'Fred' Varjak

Breakfast at Tiffany's at Amazon.com

Breakfast at Tiffany's at IMDB

See also the Nuns Tale with Audrey Hepburn featuring as a nun. Very good film

The Sphinx, Egypt

Photo By Anjan

Ashrita setting a new record for the spinning top.

In a record breaking year, Ashrita set another Guinnes world record. This time the record was for keeping a spinning top going for the longest time period. The previous record was two hours, 52 minutes and 11 seconds. Ashrita increased this to 7 hours and 1 minute.

Ashrita has been dubbed "Mr Versatility" for his tremendous array of breaking records. This year he has set record for upside down juggling, fastest mile whilst crawling and in the past he has set records such as underwater pogo sticking in the Amazon for 3 hours.

When Ashrita is not breaking records he studies meditation with Sri Chinmoy and runs a health food store in Jamaica, NY.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I thought this was the best book in the series, surpassing all the previous books. There are intriguing subplots in the book. I particularly like the way the ministry of magic and Proffessor Umbridge (played by Imelda Staunton) try to infiltrate and influence Hogwarts. The story is no longer a children's story but a very well worked plot and characterisation.

Long live J.K.Rowling!

looking forward to the film - Harry Potter and order of Phoenix