Unless this image is photoshopped, it apparently shows poor fact checking, or how little CNN knows about the region. It shows the US saying Zelaya is still the president of Guatemala. I bet that’s news to Álvaro Colom, President of Guatemala since January of last year!
Thanks to Rodrigo Lopez for twittering this.
I never suspected automatic advertisements could have such eerie irony. The Dow Jones Industrial Average punctured the 7000 point today, the last thing I would want to do is “Invest with confidence” as this Google ad suggests.
Image from Google Finance, 3:27 pm Eastern Time
“Barack Hussein Obama” can be transposed into “Bush: a macabre soak-in”
According to Wikipedia, “the collective noun for baboons is commonly troop or congress”. Not very flattering to the military or legislators ain’t it?
Image from the Wikimedia Commons, used with a Creative Commons license<7p>
An old, now unused, password of mine is an anagram of my name. Inspired by this and boredom, I googled anagrams and found an online anagram generator that’s worth hours of fun. Some of the funnier results are:
Of the name “Aaron Ernesto Ortiz”
The more words one uses, the more the possibilities. Here are some for my full legal name, “Aaron Ernesto Ortiz López”:
I can barely suppress my giggles as I type.
Image by Marc van der Chijs, used with a Creative Commons license
EepyBird’s Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.
The guys who brought us the magnificent fountains of Mentos and Diet coke, Eepy Bird, have put together this dream of an office amusement. Enjoy!
It’s been a long time since a cartoon makes me cry tears of laughter! Please enjoy this gem from Scott Meyer, Basic Instructions
Ever since I have memory, I’ve dealt with depression. While this is not the biggest challenge in my life, it’s certainly something I can give much insight about, having fought it for many years.
I read a book when I was in my pre-teens, that addresses this issue with an easy to remember formula:
ANGER + SELF PITY = DEPRESSION
I was amused yesterday, when I was praying anxiously about something or other, when my brain started playing “Carmina Burana” in my head. I almost started laughing outright; it was a self-pity alarm. Carmina Burana, together with the “Dies Irae” sections of the medieval requiem mass, are some of the most diabolical sounds ever set to music. Self pity is like the opening strains of Carmina Burana, a lament of helplessness, of things that cannot be changed. It is a refusal to “take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them.” (Shakespeare’s Hamlet)
Consider the lyrics, and their translation:
O Fortuna, velut Luna statu variabilis,
semper crescis aut decrescis; vita detestabilis
nunc obdurat et tunc curat ludo mentis aciem;
egestatem, potestatem, dissolvit ut glaciem.Sors immanis et inanis, rota tu volubilis,
status malus, vana salus semper dissolubilis;
obumbrata et velata mihi quoque niteris;
nunc per ludum dorsum nudum fero tui sceleris.Sors salutis et virtutis mihi nunc contraria;
est affectus et defectus semper in angaria.
hac in hora sine mora cordae pulsum tangite!
quod per sortem sternit fortem, mecum omnes plangite!TRANSLATION (courtesy this page)
O Fortune, like the moon of ever changing state,
you are always waxing or waning; hateful life now is brutal,
now pampers our feelings with its game;
poverty, power, it melts them like ice.Fate, savage and empty, you are a turning wheel,
your position is uncertain, your favour is idle and always likely to disappear;
covered in shadows and veiled you bear upon me too;
now my back is naked through the sport of your wickedness.The chance of prosperity and of virtue is not now mine;
whether willing or not, a man is always liable for Fortune’s service.
At this hour without delay touch the strings!
Because through luck she lays low the brave, all join with me in lamentation!
Anger is a fact of life. “Hateful life now is brutal, now pampers our feelings with its game”. There are many things we are powerless to change. But the solution is not to drown in oceans of self pity, but to find a boat.
I thought I had found mine, but a wave of misfortune capsized it and I’m in the water. I hope to find my boat again…or another.
I found Terry Border’s blog almost randomly, by following the “blogs of note” link in Blogger. I was instantly hooked by his creativity, his wonderful artistry, and his slightly disturbing, hilarious and emotional food art. This is one for the blogroll folks. Add it.
The movie The Italian Job popularized the acronym FINE, which stands for:
Curiosity sparked me to take a personality test (groan, not another!) because of persistent negative thoughts I’ve been having in the mornings. Once you get to Friday feeling like the week has been a long string of Mondays, you should, trust me.
Here are the results of taking the shortened version of the IPIP-NEO:
Yes, you read it right; Cheerfulness is 0%!! But the next section is less of a downer.
Guess I could take over for the agreeable snowman (Watch Monsters Inc. if you didn’t catch that one). Oh and BTW, my modesty score is 82%, nothing overt.
I’m beginning to have doubts about posting this, potential employers might be reading. But, of course, they’d be subjecting me to a psychometric test themselves before hiring me, so maybe it’s ok. Self-efficacy might be better described as “self-confidence”. At least it wasn’t a zero, like self-discipline!
Ok so here’s the problem, definitely. At least my anger score is low. but the rest are off the charts!
This is my redeeming virtue. I might be a neurotic freak, but also an artiste. I guess there is room for me in the world after all, even when Friday feels like Monday, and breathing like a waste of good oxygen.
I’m curious about your personalities, so if you feel up to the challenge, post your results in the comments section. That way we could all get to know each other better.
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