Maya Angelou
via nihilnoetia
Goethe in The Sorrows of Young Werther
via booklover
This picture is composed of a SOHO image of the Sun in extreme ultraviolet light for each year of the last solar cycle, with images picked to illustrate the relative activity of the Sun.
[Nasa.gov]
Scientists have recently observed the golden ratio in full display on the quantum level in chains of magnetically linked atoms spaced one atom apart that behave as if they were a nanoscale guitar string when “plucked” (quantum uncertainty). In sum, there is a perfect relationship between the first two notes of the overtone system. Their frequencies amount to a ratio of 1.618: the oft-cited golden ratio that can be observed throughout nature in our everyday world.
The universe is an ordered place with patterns that can be seen throughout the smallest and largest systems. That order is what comprises our entire identity as humans. When we venture from it we feel disconnected and so we work to tap into it. Music, art, empirical study, religion. They all speak the same truth.
George Bernard Shaw
Chicago’s 2,000 year old monument to fascism. Even more bizarre - one of the only structures to remain from the historic 1930s Century of Progress fair. The inscription:
This column, twenty centuries old, was erected on the beach of Ostia, the port of Imperial Rome, to watch over the fortunes and victories of the Roman triremes. Fascist Italy, with the sponsorship of Benito Mussolini, presents to Chicago a symbol and memorial in honor of the Atlantic Squadron led by Balbo, which with Roman daring, flew across the ocean in the 11th year of the Fascist era.
Dear Mr. Mussolini - Chicago thanks you! We take your gift as it stands lonely and thankfully, forgotten by most.
Robert Bird’s essay on it is here.
Congressman Kucinich’s Response to President Obama’s “Just War” Doctrine
“We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth: We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations — acting individually or in concert — will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.
I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King Jr. said in this same ceremony years ago: “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.” As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King’s life work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there’s nothing weak — nothing passive — nothing naïve — in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.
But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism — it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.” - President Obama’s Nobel acceptance speech
via kateoplis
