Owner: Eclectic Commons URL:www.eclecticcommons.com Join Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2007 16:52:03 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: The most important outlook on life is to remain curious. Curiosity is the key to all knowledge and wisdom.
This Blog provides a starting point to bring to light and discuss relevant issues from eclectic subjects that we encounter in the course of our l Site statistics:Click here
iPhone finds new T-Beau - AT&T patents fuming 2007-08-26 23:48:52
I honestly have no technical savvy, but all this talk about unlocking the Iphone hardware by an “enterprising teenager” was big news to me. RealTechNews reported in August 25th, 2007, “It’s high noon, Apple and AT&T - we really hate to break it to you, but the jig is up. Last night the impossible was made possible: right in front of our very eyes we witnessed a full SIM unlock of our iPhone
with a small piece of software. It’s all over, guys.”
MSNBC reported a day earlier that “George Hotz, 17, confirmed he had unlocked an iPhone and was using it on T-Mobile’s network, the only major U.S. carrier apart from AT&T that is compatible with the iPhone’s cellular technology.
Like Duh… This sounds more like someone with a key that has unlocked a chastity belt, bypassing all the safeguards set to prevent this very protected “hole” from being penetrated. The violation of this virginity will open up the iPhone fo
Juanita Bynum - Beyond Your Control is In Your Control 2007-08-26 17:46:32 My awareness of Juanita Bynum was non-existent until she was attacked at about 4:00 am this past week in an Atlanta airport hotel parking lot by her estranged husband Bishop Thomas W. Weeks III in a meeting that was intended to be one of reconciliation. According to police “they got into an argument and (in the parking lot) he turned around and began beating and choking her.” Police Officer Campbell reported that “he pushed her onto the ground and began to stomp on her.” Bynum, who was bruised around her neck and torso, met with authorities on August 23, 2007 to press charges. The story was reported in Newsday.com on August 26, 2007.
Amy Malone, a publicist for Bynum, said “she was not in a fight with her husband, but was attacked by him.” Weeks, also a Minister, founded Global Destiny Churches. Officer Campbell said police have obtained warrants against Weeks on aggravated assault and terrorist threat charges, both felonies.
Bynum, who preaches at N Read more:Control
Photo Set 1 2007-08-25 11:00:54 Click HERE to view Pictures from my walks in and around my neighborhood in New York City… It’s the beginning of my visual journal/blog… who knows?
Comments and suggestions are encouraged…
Read more:Photo
Lethal NYC 2007-08-24 20:39:56 While passing a store window, on 59th Street between Park and Madison Avenues, I noticed this… Click here for a map to the location.
Maybe you’ll do like me and mark it as a No Man’s Land and warn others… Only in my crib’s neighborhood!
Read more:Lethal
How To Handle Your Meat 2007-08-23 11:05:21 I recently went into a Gristedes (supermarket) the other day to get a “ham and swiss on rye with mayo” and was horrified that the person handling the deli section had no gloves on. He also laid the “edibles” directly on the contaminated counter. He tried to be slick by standing in front of the food , so I couldn’t see it being contaminated. I never- the- less refused the sandwich.
This happens all the time, even in the prestigious Food Emporium. When they wear gloves, notice how many times they touch a handle to open up the door to the refrigerated meats so beautifully displayed. Open and closing it to retrieve the food, or scratching unmentionable bodily areas, then man-handling your food when you’re not looking. Perhaps even touching the floor….
When I filed a complaint to NYC’s inspectors, I was told that using gloves applies only to cooked food. This ensures that you contract nothing from the hands of the person making your lunch s Read more:Handle
On Getting Older 2007-08-20 11:01:53 I used to think that getting older meant getting wiser. How easy it is to delude oneself into thinking that more years means more experience, and better choices. The truth is that getting older only means that I have been here longer than those who are younger.
It is so easy to view aging as an opportunity for understanding the complexities of life better, yet it simply reveals the folly of that notion. If I were wiser now than I was when I was younger, wouldn’t I have actually found the answers to more of the problems I have now? Or is it more likely that more time has simply shown my failure to find those answers and led me to accept that I have failed to cut the puppet strings that extend from my childhood? Those puppet strings, Ah that’s the rub.
I have come to the conclusion that getting older only provides the chance to resolve issues that led me down the path I now find myself. It may give me greater opportunity to succeed, but it also gives me a greater likelihood
A Credible Look At Presidential Impeachment 2007-08-16 11:01:37 During Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings, Gerald R. Ford was asked: “what is an impeachable offense?” His response was essentially: “It’s whatever the Congress thinks it is at any given moment in history.”
This response was not from the 38th president of the US, or the constitutionally elected person to succeed Spiro Agnew as Richard Nixon’s Vice-President in the first application of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment in 1973. Mr. Ford responded as a member of the House of Representatives, Republican Majority Leader for 8 years, and who was first elected as the Rep. from Michigan’s Fifth Congressional District in 1948. Rep. Ford certainly had the credentials to be considered an expert to interpret the constitutional meaning of impeachment, from a legislative perspective at the very least.
He was also a major player in the second presidential impeachment proceedings in the United States’ history. He ascended to leadership as a result o Read more:Credible
, Presidential
, Impeachment
On Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2007-08-13 11:02:03
As the release of the final installment of JK Rowling’s compelling seven-part novel on HarryPotter
, who as a child was the only person to survive a Voltermort attack, fulfills his destiny with the help of his closest friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley and some of the unexpected peripheral characters like Neville Longbottom, who is responsible for destroying the final Horcrux.
Rowling ends the series well, but this installment had some problems, mostly in too many loose ends left hanging from numerous plot diversions, without resolution. However, the main themes were completed. Realistically, it would have been impossible for her to have tied up everything in this last installment and, such as life, loose ends often occur. Part of their resolution is recognition they won’t ever be resolved.
Part of the problem was that she introduced new plot lines in the last book when The DeathlyHallows
was meant to resolve the things that occurred in the six previous installme Read more:Deathly Hallows
Minneapolis’ Bridge Of Reality And America’s Wake Up Call 2007-08-10 11:11:25
I have never felt comfortable flying. It’s not that I feel flying is unsafe. My discomfort is based on not trusting the mechanics to properly maintain airplanes, or builders to properly construct them without fundamental flaws. Airplanes in the United States can be kept in active use for twenty five years or more. Are the proper stress tests being performed by competent mechanics, using up to date machinery?
New York City has underground pipes that are more than a century old. The subway system was completed in the very early part of the Twentieth Century. The water supply and sewer systems have not met with the increasing demands of the Tri-State area.
In the South West, the need for water is putting enhanced demands on the Colorado river. Not enough attention is being paid to finding the resources that increased growth brings. Inspections of both foreign and domestic food is not being performed adequately or as often as it should. That’s why we are being told to cook mea Read more:Minneapolis
, America
The Crib 2007-08-09 11:08:34 Until recently, when someone referred to “the crib“, I thought they meant the thing that infants and babies are put in to sleep. My “street” vernacular was quite limited to “hey dude, what’s up”. Little knowing that in “proper” street talk, it’s a cool look in the eye followed by “That’s what’s up.” A most efficient way to communicate with someone that what they have really been saying is “what’s up”. Although the meaning of the word “that” still eludes me.
All these p’s and q’s are so confusing for someone who grew up with “Jive Turkey“, “Neat“, “Groovy” and “I hear ya“. Even the word “Randy” is met with a polite, yet confusingly suspicious look:”Oh, it’s been a long time since I have heard that one used”, with a chuckle that begs the question: “Like dude, what planet are you f
Paper, Plastic Or Rubber(s)? Let’s Do Melmac 2007-08-30 11:03:51 Which of the following answer(s) is/are true?
MELMAC is:
a) The name of Mork’s home planet.
b) The nickname for director, “master d’humor”, Mel Brooks.
c) Those really tacky cheap, reusable plates sold at the supermarkets for $1.
d) Camlem spelled backwards.
e) One of Horcruxes’ “penetrated” by a fragment of Lord Voldermort’s soul.
f) Ron Weasly, looking toward Hermione and asking in a cockn’y accent: “What t’ang did ya say?”, grinning at Harry.
g) Hermione’s response, “Ron Weasly, for your information, Melmac is mentioned as one of the main ingredients in the first edition of “Love Potions For All Ages, a user’s guide for inducing prolific lust in the obnoxious and hopelessly inept. By the late Contessa Llwaxanna Loveless Von Bralispth, from a province of Romania, in 1619 .”
h) Ron to Hermione, ” Hey, I got a bone to add to the ingredients.”
i) Hermione responding, “Where?, I& Read more:Plastic
, Rubber
On What’s It All About? 2007-08-28 15:09:38
What’s it all about, Alfie,
Is it just for the moment we live?
What’s it all about, when you sort it out?
Are we meant to take more than we give,
Or are we meant to be kind?
And if only fools are kind,
Then I guess it is wise to be cruel.
And if life belongs only to the strong,
What will you lend on an old golden rule?
As sure as I believe, there’s a heaven above,
I know there is something much more,
Something even non believers can believe in.
Alfie - Burt Bacharach/Hal David
Sometimes life appears as if it’s a series of cliches strung together with the translucent appearance of things that look comprehensible but are often quite complex, apprehending or articulating. The questions that all roads to Oz lead to is “What’s it all about?”
At times I feel as if my waking state is really a repetitive dream, and my “dream state” is the real me, but I don’t remember enough of it when I “wake up”, and that makes it les
On Left Upper-Cut Responsibility - A Juanita Bynum Update 2007-08-27 21:00:31 According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, in its article today, Bishop Weeks took the pulpit two days after his surrender to authorities in connection with the alleged attack on Bynum (see previous post for background information). His remarks included appreciation for the prayers and support that he said have come in for him and his wife and thanks to those in attendance in spite of the controversy. Weeks, wearing a dark suit and his customary bow tie, blamed “the devil” for the accusation that has him facing two felony charges.
Is he saying “the devil made him do it” or is he simply suggesting that Byrnum is the devil and it’s her fault that these charges have been brought against him? Now doesn’t that sound like something Eddie Murphy or Chris Rock might say in a Saturday Night Live comedy skit?
We are all responsible for our own behavior, and how we conduct ourselves in life. It’s time to stop finding excuses or blaming the devil for t Read more:Upper
, Responsibility
, Update
Who Was Contessa Llwaxanna Loveless Von Bralispth? 2007-08-27 17:30:03 I have received numerous emails asking me who this woman was. To be perfectly honest, I had no idea. A Google search had no information on her, so I went to the Forty-Second Street Library, in NYC, the rare books collection, and was astonished to find her life and times chronicled in a little known book “Notable Movers and Shakers Of Midevil Times”, by Viscount Erasmas-Haul Von Stubbenboorg. Written in the Eighteenth Century in Stockholm, Sweden, by a little known Philologist who specialized in Mid-Evil European history, specializing in Prussia and the surrounding area. His extensive research led me to the conclusion that the life of this remarkable women needed to be revealed to the world.
I decided at that time to write a series of articles on her life and times. The first has been prepared for posting on October 4th of this year and will be followed up by a series of papers on her extraordinary career and impact on European and World history. I felt it necessary to prepa Read more:Loveless
Which Came First: Mascara Or The Eye? 2007-09-03 11:03:21 Sometimes, as I walk in the street, I like to look at faces, as I wonder what their lives are like. I’m always struck by those little old ladies with the purple-tinted hair and the base so thick it cracks, with bright roughed cheeks, long, thick curved mascara-laden eyelashes and lipstick so thick it reminds me of Lucy Ricardo. I’m not making light of them, as much as noticing them with a sense of humor.
The place to find the best variety of people and faces is Central Park on a Sunday morning, walking among every kind of dog you can imagine. One thing I also notice is how women wear make-up. It reminds me of a cable TV show a number of years ago, with a “make-up artist of the stars.” His name was Del Russo. He would have women, and some men, to a lesser degree, on the show for one half-hour, and show them how to apply make-up to their face. His philosophy was “Treat your face like it’s a painting; less is best. Learn how to focus on your unique str Read more:First
, Mascara
Photo Essay 2 2007-08-31 22:14:21 As I am getting more and more comfortable with my Sony Cybershot camera, I am sharing here another set of 11 pictures taken in New York City during my regular daily walks. Leave your comments here and share with us some of your best NYC shots.
Read more:Photo
When Animals Get Attacked! 2007-09-27 11:06:29 The case of Michael Vick, who pleaded guilty to charges for his role in running a dog fighting operation, has left his defenders wondering. Although the Atlanta Falcons has had other misfortunes in its 41 year history, this particular incident has hit a particularly sensitive nerve. Now that he has been suspended indefinitely by the NFL and is likely to spend a year in prison, the question of what this all means in the grander scale of things must, over time, be reflected.
Animals
are cherished by many and, by some, are treated as children. People who have pets of all sorts tend to live longer, better lives. They make people more aware and sensitive to the fact that although humans are on the high end of the intelligence scale, sometimes homo sapiens act worse than animals when it comes to respect for life in other forms than our own.
Animal abuse isn’t just about abusing pets, such as cats or dogs, but the destruction of natural habitats simply because the power of our mechaniz Read more:Attacked
Redemption and Forgiveness Portrayed 2007-09-24 11:01:37 In the past, I have usually been drawn to characters who have exhibited the need for redemption and forgiveness. Three of the most interesting have been portrayed on television to varying degrees.
Angel from “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”, was introduced as the mysterious “good” vampire with a soul, who develops an unrequited love for Buffy while seeking forgiveness and redemption for past deeds until we learned of the gypsy curse - that if he reaches a state of fulfillment, he would lose his soul. The inevitable happens, when he and Buffy have sex on her seventeenth birthday (Surprise , Innocence). Angel loses his soul, becomes evil and torments her by killing those closest to her until the season finale where she sends him into a Hell dimension, but not before Willow discovers the curse and restores his soul, using her ever increasing powers as a “good witch”.
Seven Of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of UniMatrix 01, “Star Trek Voyager”, a former Bo Read more:Forgiveness
The Poet Of Silence - Marcel Marceau (1923-2007) 2007-09-23 13:51:59 Marcel Marceau
, one of the great poetic masters of mime who became the symbol for its rebirth following the devastation of WWII, died in Paris on Saturday surrounded by his family and friends at the age of 84.
Art historians, who often compared him to Charlie Chaplin, said that he alone resurrected the art form that benefited many performers including Michael Jackson by expressing emotion that went beyond the bounds of spoken language. No details of his death were reported by his daughter, Camille Marceau, as plans are being made for his burial in Pere-Lachaise cemetery in Central Paris.
A fan of silent movies, Chaplin, Keaton and the Marx Brothers were his idols and inspiration when he enrolled in the Dullin’s School of Dramatic Art, studying under the renowned mime Etienne Decroux, at the end of WWII.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France expressed his “emotion, admiration and respect” for a man who “took the stage arts to a peak of perfection,” while Cult Read more:Marcel
Serial Rapist Bobby James Allen Castrated In Florida Plea Deal 2007-09-21 15:04:11 According to Newsherald.com in Panama City, Florida
, criminal rapist BobbyJamesAllen
was castrated as part of a plea deal. “Serial
rapist Bobby James Allen went through with the terms of his plea agreement and had his testicles removed. In exchange, Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet on Thursday sentenced Allen to 25 years in prison followed by 10 years on sexual predator probation. Allen, 35, pleaded guilty Sept. 10 to four counts of armed burglary, three counts of armed sexual battery, resisting an officer with violence and attempted sexual battery. The burglary and rape charges are both punishable by life in prison. The charges stem from a series of attacks in 1998 and 1999. Allen agreed to be castrated as a part of a plea that would allow him the chance of leaving prison. The procedure was the first of its kind in a Florida criminal case.”
Whether one agrees with this course of action or not, moral issues must be considered. Do we as a society want to take this roa
On Trust and Vulnerability 2007-09-21 11:00:45 If any relationship is to proceed beyond the point of acquaintance, there needs to be a moment which one of the persons risks making themselves vulnerable . This is the place a friendship will develop , proceed and deepen, stay the same, or fall apart. If the other person accepts the “risk offering” and is supportive regardless of the “insecurities”, then the relationship begins its movement towards a friendship. The other person will hopefully, reciprocate and share some of their vulnerabilities and the bonds of trust will strengthen. This all depends if the person taking the risk has enough trust to take the first step toward the other and “expose” some of their defenses.
In a previous essay, I suggested the first perception about the world comes from the first few days of life. If the infant gets the notion that the world is not a trust-able place, then all future perceptions will be filtered through it . Much of his/her
Buon Compleanno! - Sofia Villiani Scicolone Ponti-Loren 2007-09-19 16:00:39
On September 20th, 1934, the world was gifted with one of its most intelligent, interesting and witty woman for any generation. Elegent, beautiful and who navigated through life with openness, practicality and wisdom. On this day, her seventy-third birthday, all of us at Eclectic Commons wanted to take the time to wish Ms. Sofia
Villiani Scicolone Ponti-Loren a very Happy Birthday.
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* more on Sofia Loren can be found on this blog by clicking here.
author’s note: We are publishing this post on September 19th at 5pm EST which is the 20th at midnight in Italy where Sofia was born.
On The 2008 Presidential Nutcracker 2007-09-18 11:03:30
As I was surfing the net, by sheer happenstance, I came across a truly “ball crunching” item: the Hillary Clinton Presidential
(contender ) Nutcracker. An inventive concept. As a gift, perhaps for Xmas this year to one of the many lobbyists as they pound on the doors of the congressional offices yelling “Let me in, Let me in,” or “I will huff and puff and blow your house (of Reps) down by the hair of your chimney chin chin (from that old nursery rhyme), The Three Little Pigs, as one sits by the fireplace contemplating “roasting chestnuts” on an open fire, that old song by the late great Nat King Cole.
My choice for oink oink pig lobbyist to be gifted with the “Hillary Cracker” is the top heavy PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY LOBBYIST. Which one is yours?
The “Pork Barrel Politics” of adding partisan gooble-dee-gook spending to bills to slip them by for passage with important legislation is so appropriately represented by the
On Originality 2007-09-17 11:05:09
“Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. We quote not only books and proverbs, but arts, sciences, religion, customs, and laws; nay, we quote temples and houses, tables and chairs by imitation.
The nobler the truth or sentiment, the less imports the question of authorship. It never troubles the simple seeker from whom he derived such or such a sentiment. Whoever expresses to us a just thought makes ridiculous the pains of the critic who should tell him where such a word had been said before… In fact, it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others, as it is to invent”
Quotation and Originality - Emerson
I used to be under the impression that for something to be original, its creation had to be something new and never before conceived by anyone else. My reasoning would follow, that if something were thought of at some previ
Historia, Cultura Y Futuro del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico 2007-09-16 11:00:37 Although Puerto
Rico (”rich port“), with a current population of 4 million and comprising the main island and several smaller islands, has a complex and “rich” history, very little is known about it prior to Columbus’s arrival. It’s not surprising since the history of North America, as taught by schools in the United States, “began with Columbus.”
The island has been known by several names before it was called Puerto Rico
. When Columbus arrived on his second expedition to the New World in 1493, he named it San Juan Bautista in honor of John the Baptist. The Tainos called the island “Boriken (Boriquen)“. It’s unclear where its current name came from, but it was known as Puerto Rico soon after Ponce de Leon became its first governor in 1508.
According to Wikipedia, the first attempt to uncover Puerto Rico’s origins is described by Fray Inigo Abbad y Lasierra in 1786, three hundred years after the first Spaniards arri Read more:Historia
, Estado
, Libre
On Technology and Imperialism 2007-09-13 11:01:15 Although technology has been of great benefit to the world, how the effects have played out are varied depending on what part of the globe you’re referring to. If the American Indians had developed guns before the Europeans, the face of North America would be very different.
Countries that have developed more advanced technology first, are the ones that have dominated on the world scene. Whether you’re talking about the development of the slave trade to the more sea-faring ships in Great Britain and Spain, imperialism has been the direct result of this aggressive technology.
Today, the world is vastly different because most areas of the world have also benefited from the technology that created the imbalance which made past imperialistic endeavors possible. In the early Twentieth Century, vast areas of Africa were still uncharted jungle. Today, we see modern cities with transportation and communication as common as is in the Northern Hemisphere.
Unfortunately, the tec Read more:Technology
ECG101 - The Eclectic Commons Giveaway 2007-10-01 01:00:47 To celebrate our first year anniversary (October 1st), we are having a free giveaway! Up for grabs is a fresh newly minted Eclectic Commons
hooded sweatshirt with our logo on the pocket, in either Large or Extra-Large (your choosing - click picture for details). Entries will be received from October 1st up until November 16th 2007.
The rules are simple (yes, there are always rules)
1) Leave a comment below. Saying something nice about this blog gets your brownie points but have no weight on the final decision.
2) Only validated comments on this post will be considered. Make sure your email address is correct. We are not responsible for errors.
3) You may only enter once. Posting more then one comment, although encouraged, will have no impact on the final outcome.
4) Contest is open to anyone worldwide. Yes, we’ll pay to ship the prize to you.
5) Winner will be chosen randomly at the end of the entry period. The winner will be contacted for his size of choice.
6) Good luck
My Incredible Adventure 2007-10-01 00:00:26 On October 1st, 2006, I posted Revelations Of My Shadow, the first essay I had written since my attempt at papers in college. Although I graduated, it was due to those black and yellow pamphlets called Cliff Notes; a necessary tool since I never had a visual sense of what I was reading, unable to ’see’ in my mind’s eye the concepts sequentially and be able to integrate them as an image, making it difficult to focus un-distracted. My tendency is to read word for word, which is slower then reading concept to concept. As a result, literature and geographical descriptions are two dimensional for me, while content is incomplete. Only by going back and re-reading, although time consuming, do I recognize how much I initially missed.
Prompted by a friend, but really by myself, I considered essays. They are short, a few paragraphs, offering me an opportunity to discipline my thoughts and pen on paper all those “things” that roamed around in my mind. Learning how to Read more:Incredible
, Adventure
Stardate 41153.7 - On The Voyages Of The Enterprise NCC 1701-D 2007-09-28 11:00:32
On September 28th, 1987, Gene Roddenberry’s second major venture into television, Star Trek - The Next Generation premiered on syndicated channels throughout the United States and some foreign countries.
I touched on the legacy of ST-TNG and its importance to the evolution of TV by becoming the most popular syndicated series of all time, but also by changing the television landscape and giving impetus for emergent syndicated series. It also affected the kinds of shows that were to come. Creative risks were taken, inspiring a new genre as a result of its success, that led to shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Heroes and Smallville, to name just a few.
There have been a number of articles that have appeared decrying TNG and the other Trek series as over-simplistic, and not reflective of reality such as, Why I hate Star Trek, And Why it sucks: “Star Trek, especially the newest incarnations, is void of all of the things that make for entertaining, adult-minded science fiction. T
Elizabeth - The Golden Age 2007-10-13 17:35:36
Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth
, The Golden
Age, directed by Shekhar Kapur, puts an interesting take on the virgin Queen this time around. She presents Elizabeth as a woman struggling with the forces around her as she approaches her mid fifties. Although Blanchett played her aptly and with a great deal of depth in both films, playing the Queen in the second film although well done, was a stretch for the thirty eight year old actress. She did bring a great deal of dimension to the character by interpreting Elizabeth as struggling with increasing isolation, loneliness, and fear of the ongoing reality of her failure to provide an heir, avoiding it at every mention by her close advisor, Sir Francis Walsingham, played well by Geoffrey Rush.
Blanchett is mesmerizing, focusing on the Monarch who appears to be more controlled by the calculating actions of those surrounding her rather than the self assured, confident defender of the faith who is herself calculating. She also presents Elizabeth
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