Die in love

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Michaela

You think you are alive
because you breathe air?
Shame on you, 
that you are alive in such a limited way.
Don’t be without Love, 
so you won’t feel dead.
Die in Love 
and stay alive forever.

˜ Rumi
Posted in All things Rumi | Leave a comment

Summer Night Concert

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Michaela

Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn 2011

Program

Continue reading →

Posted in Classical Music, Music & Movies | Leave a comment

Still

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Michaela

This is a small detail from E Manet’s painting ” The conservatory”

Posted in Arts & Crafts, God in the Detail | 1 Comment

Simple Buddhist Monk

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Michaela
His Holiness the Dalai Lama meets with members of the press in Tallinn, Estonia, on August 18, 2011. (www.dalailama.com)
Posted in Teacher & Teachings | Leave a comment

Listening

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Michaela

A tiny detail from Giovanni Bellini’s painting ” St Francis in the Desert”

Posted in Arts & Crafts, God in the Detail | Leave a comment

I don’t know

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Michaela
Japanese scientist Shunichi Yamashita is a leading expert on the effects of nuclear radiation. In a SPIEGEL interview, he discusses his work in communicating the potential dangers of exposure to residents living near the Fukushima nuclear plant. 

How dangerous are low doses of exposure to radioactivity to humans? This question is heatedly debated within the scientific community. But it is not an easy time to convey details of that debate to the people in Japan living near the Fukushima nuclear plant who have now been exposed to the dangers of radiation.

Radiation-protection specialist Shunichi Yamashita, 59, has made significant contributions to what is known about the effects of radioactive radiation. He has studied the survivors of the World War II atomic bombing of Nagasaki as well as the consequences of the 1986 reactor accident at Chernobyl, which he has visited nearly 100 times as part of a Japanese scientific envoy. He is currently researching the effects of the Fukushima catastrophe — though his efforts are meeting with much resistance from local residents.

Continue reading →

Posted in The world we live in Now | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Shortage

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Michaela

Federal officials and lawmakers, along with the drug industry and doctors’ groups, are rushing to find remedies for critical shortages of drugs to treat a number of life-threatening illnesses, including bacterial infection and several forms of cancer.

The proposed solutions, which include a national stockpile of cancer medicines and a nonprofit company that will import drugs and eventually make them, are still in the early or planning stages. But the sense of alarm is widespread.

“These shortages are just killing us,” said Dr. Michael Link, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the nation’s largest alliance of cancer doctors. “These drugs save lives, and it’s unconscionable that medicines that cost a couple of bucks a vial are unavailable.”

So far this year, at least 180 drugs that are crucial for treating childhood leukemia, breast and colon cancer, infections and other diseases have been declared in short supply — a record number.

Continue reading →

Posted in Breaking the mould, The world we live in Now | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Pontiff

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Michaela

Pope Benedict XVI  celebrates the World Youth Day’s opening ceremony on a vast white stage adorned with an image of Mary and Jesus at Cibeles square in Madrid on August 18, 2011. Pope Benedict XVI is heading to Madrid for a million-strong Catholic youth festival after Spanish riot police swung batons in clashes with anti-Church protesters over the cost of the six-day World Youth Day festival at a time of economic hardship. I found the symbolic language of the picture interesting…

Posted in Faces | 1 Comment

Irrationality

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Michaela

By Danny Schechter 

Thank you, Wikipedia, for this definition:

“Irrationality is cognition, thinking, talking or acting without inclusion of rationality. It is more specifically described as an action or opinion given through inadequate reasoning, emotional distress, or cognitive deficiency. The term is used, usually pejoratively, to describe thinking and actions that are, or appear to be, less useful or more illogical than other more rational alternatives.”

And what about the term — ‘Market Psychology’? It is defined in the Investopedia this way:

“The overall sentiment or feeling that the market is experiencing at any particular time. Greed, fear,       expectations and circumstances are all factors that contribute to the group’s overall investing mentality of  sentiment.”

Q: What do we have when we put the two together?

A: The current madness and market mayhem.

Continue reading →

Posted in Breaking the mould, The world we live in Now | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wrongheaded

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Michaela

From the New York Times

Nothing can justify or excuse the terrifying wave of violent lawlessness that swept through London and other British cities earlier this month. Hardworking people in struggling neighborhoods were its principal victims. Public support for racial and ethnic coexistence also suffered a damaging, and we fear lasting, blow.

The perpetrators must be punished, the police must improve their riot control techniques, and Prime Minister David Cameron’s government must do all it can to make such episodes less likely in the future. We are more confident about the first two happening than the third.

Mr. Cameron, a product of Britain’s upper classes and schools, has blamed the looting and burning on a compound of national moral decline, bad parenting and perverse inner-city subcultures.

Would he find similar blame — this time in the culture of the well housed and well off — for Britain’s recent tabloid phone hacking scandals or the egregious abuse of expense accounts by members of Parliament?

Continue reading →

Posted in The world we live in Now | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments