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Thursday, September 11, 2003

Regrets...
I've had a few.
But then again,
Too few to mention!
--"My Way",
written by Paul Anka
When I hear that song, I think of Frank Sinatra, and sometimes Elvis or Sid Vicious -- all of whom have been known to perform, in their own unique manner, that wonderful song. Wonderful because -- though I don't always enjoy hearing it, I've heard it so much -- the song is a wonderful personal anthem. That's something we all need: a personal anthem. A song that praises our individuality; a mark of devotion to oneself. After all, they say you're going to have a helluva time loving anyone else unless you've first learned to love yourself, right?

This is not to replace your love for your God, or your spouse, or your family. I'm simply saying that we all need to give ourselves a bit more self-love at this time of year. (No, not that type of self-love !) Too many of us beat up on ourselves throughout the year, and then nearly destroy ourselves at year's end. No wonder there are so many suicides during the Holidays; the messages bombarding us are to Buy Buy Buy and to Give Give Give -- but what if you have nothing to give but love? If you have a dearth of that good stuff, then you'll have a bitch of a time spreading it around to your neighbors.

So be good to yourself, whether you're Christian, Pagan, Wiccan, Athiest, Hindu, Islamic, Mormon, Podcastin, or otherwise. Don't take the pills, they won't do you or anyone else any good; you'll simply miss out on the Next Big Thing (which may turn out to be Your Next Big Thing). Just do things your own way, singing that little hymn as you do so:
For what is a man,
What has he got?
If not himself,
Then he has naught.
To say the things,
He truly feels,
And not the words,
Of one who kneels.
The record shows,
I took the blows
And did it my way!

Monday, March 22, 2004

Did you know that an asteroid nearly smashed into Earth in January? I just finished reading a book fictionalizing an event such as this, The Hammer of God, by Arthur C. Clarke. You're probably familiar with the premise, especially after Hollywood's attention to the matter a few years ago in the films Armageddon and Deep Impact: A large object is discovered hurtling toward Earth at a velocity that will assuredly destroy the planet. In Mr. Clarke's narrative, which is set in the future, a group of space explorers attempts to deviate the object's path of destruction through a simple mechanical process: by pushing it. They use a very powerful spacecraft to accomplish this task.

Yet we don't have the powerful spacecraft described in Arthur C.'s book. Not yet, anyway. So what would we do if just such an object were to careen toward our home? NASA's Spaceguard Survey, named after one of Mr. Clarke's concepts, keeps an eye on our solar system, watching for any large object that could be a threat to our planet. Spaceguard, however, simply reports sightings; it doesn't include a plan to actually do anything should we ever find an object on a collision course with our little blue home. In fact, the folks who spotted January's asteroid didn't even know who to contact, which is why those concerned are once again bringing up the issue of what to do when we spot an object hurtling toward Earth. Read more about this issue here, and take a look at an animated image of another asteroid that just missed us last week here. [Thanks to Benefitsblog for telling us about the image.]
posted by Harold  3/22/2004 06:04:00 PM
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I once posted, in this space (this right column), the following:

If I had friends they would be listed here

That particular bit o' text, that silly and idiotic phrase, was repeated a dozen or two dozen or so times and was intended to be temporary. I had been working on a project -- a new layout for this blog -- and had intended for that text to be placeholder content. That is, the text was supposed to temporarily replace the content that had previously occupied this column (which was a list of links to friends -- that is, other blogs and web sites I linked to). I didn't know what content I was going to place into that (this) space, so I placed a bunch of duplicate phrases here as a placeholder so that I would remember to fill in this space again later.

At the same time, I thought I was being cute with the heading:

NEW & IMPROVED FRIENDS!

The fact remains: I still don't know what content to put here, in this column. Links again? Pictures? Video? Audio? Ads? Oh, hell no! It hasn't come to me yet, but I'm sure it will eventually, and when it does it'll come quick and (as usual) with consequences.