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Monday, April 16, 2007

Cast Off Day It's been five years to the day that my cast was taken off after the long odyssey of tearing my achilles and having to undergo surgery.  Even though the details are becoming more vague in my memory, I think the experience really changed my life by becoming a line of demarcation between being "young" and being "old" in physical terms. It's a reminder to be happy that I can walk, fetch my own groceries, drive with my right foot, and experience life without asprin every two hours.  It's a reminder that health problems are much worse than job, people, or life stress because the problem is inside of you.  It's a reminder to be kind to the people I know that have an uncooperative body - the best relief in times like that for me were people who sympathized and helped. posted in [home], [snippets] 12:30:35 PM    comment []

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

4 Generations and a Waterbuffalo This is a short film by Robert Thompson about the web leading people to find ways to express compassion.  The story is told in the film so I won't be redundant but in the context of the present I wonder how often we spend our efforts trying to get poor people technology when we can give them something we consider plain and outdated, and yet completely change their lives. I posted on phoDak a while back about a world with idealists and this is what I meant; instead of being captive to a focus on the dark side of human nature, freeing ourselves to be optimists even when we know the odds might not be favorable.  Sometimes when I feel my inner curmudgeon taking control, I look to things like this to help me believe the best in people and the world around me. I guess that makes me an idealist of sorts, some of the time. posted in [home], [snippets] 12:44:02 PM    comment []

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Citizen Engineers Writing about Tim Berners-Lee together with the fact that today is the anniversary of the Wright brothers' inaugural flight conjures up this thought in my mind of the citizen engineer: a person who goes beyond the normal patterns and responsibility of life in order to build something, and although this sounds grandiose you can't come to any other conclusion when considereing things like air flight or the internet, for the betterment of people. Where would we be if everyone approached life with the minimalist attitude of doing the least amount necessary to get on?  Where there was no excitement of a new idea, a progression, of change? I have to admit that the wind is knocked out of my sails quite often but on days like this I am aware that the engineers always win: our world is malleable to their ideas, and the technology forces us to change. posted in [home], [snippets] 8:18:16 PM    comment []

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Have a Coke and a Smile No, really - keep smiling. As long as you have no idea what's really happening, it's all good. posted in [home], [snippets] 11:26:13 PM    comment []

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Blech I'm a huge Anglophile.  It must have developed in childhood with Enid Blyton, but is largely fostered by a love for castles, gray weather, BBC Radio One, Emma Thompson's accent, the medieval, pop music... let's just say there are a lot of things that make me fantasize about visiting the United Kingdom one day. For all those things, however, the food scares the Dickens out of me. posted in [home], [snippets] 7:40:15 AM    comment []

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

The Day is Done For a while I've wanted to post this poem. It's approaching midnight and Longfellow always echos my heart when I'm turning in: The day is done, and the darkness Falls from the wings of Night, As a feather is wafted downward From an eagle in his flight. I see the lights of the village Gleam through the rain and the mist, And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me That my soul cannot resist: A feeling of sadness and longing, That is not akin to pain, And resembles sorrow only As the mist resembles the rain. Come, read to me some poem, Some simple and heartfelt lay, That shall soothe this restless feeling, And banish the thoughts of day. Not from the grand old masters, Not from the bards sublime, Whose distant footsteps echo Through the corridors of Time. For, like strains of martial music, Their mighty thoughts suggest Life's endless toil and endeavor; And to-night I long for rest. Read from some humbler poet, Whose songs gushed from his heart, As showers from the clouds of summer, Or tears from the eyelids start; Who, through long days of labor, And nights devoid of ease, Still heard in his soul the music Of wonderful melodies. Such songs have power to quiet The restless pulse of care, And come like the benediction That follows after prayer. Then read from the treasured volume The poem of thy choice, And lend to the rhyme of the poet The beauty of thy voice. And the night shall be filled with music And the cares, that infest the day, Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, And as silently steal away. Good night. posted in [home], [snippets] 11:59:49 PM    comment []

Thursday, August 10, 2006

The Wonga Coup In January last year I wrote at length about a failed attempt at a coup d'etat in Equatorial Guinea. It's good to know something I thought was bookworthy was pursued to that end; a new book based on the events, The Wonga Coup, has been written by journalist Adam Roberts.  Adam was on the NPR program Fresh Air today being interviewed about his book - a nice short version if you don't have time for the entire book.  You can listen to the audio here. posted in [home], [snippets] 12:01:13 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2007 David Seruyange. Last update: 4/16/2007; 12:30:38 PM.