Ameneh Bahrami

Iranian sentenced to blinding for acid attack pardoned

An Iranian man who was ordered to be blinded for carrying out an acid attack on a woman has been pardoned by his victim, state television has said.

Ameneh Bahrami had demanded qisas, a rarely used retributive justice under Sharia law, but the report said she had forgone that right at the last minute.

A court had backed Ms Bahrami's demand in 2008 that Majid Movahedi be blinded.

He attacked Ms Bahrami in 2004 after she had refused his offer of marriage, leaving her severely disfigured.

Rights group Amnesty International had lobbied against the sentence, calling it "cruel and inhuman punishment amounting to torture".

Mother's praise
The state television website reported: "With the request of Ameneh Bahrami, the acid attack victim, Majid (Movahedi) who was sentenced for 'qisas' was pardoned at the last minute."Continue reading the main story“Start QuoteI had no intention of taking his eyes from him,” Ameneh Bahrami. The Isna news agency quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying: "Today in hospital the blinding of Majid Movahedi was to have been carried out in the presence of an eye specialist and judiciary representative, when Ameneh pardoned him."

Isna quoted Ms Bahrami as saying: "I struggled for seven years with this verdict to prove to people that the person who hurls acid should be punished through 'qisas', but today I pardoned him because it was my right.

"I did it for my country, since all other countries were looking to see what we would do."

Ms Bahrami was quoted on Iranian TV as saying: "I never wanted to have revenge on him. I just wanted the sentence to be issued for retribution. But I would not have carried it out. I had no intention of taking his eyes from him."

Mr Dolatabadi told Isna that Ms Bahrami had demanded "blood money", or compensation, for her injuries.

He praised her "courageous act" of pardon, adding: "The judiciary was serious about implementing the verdict."

Ms Bahrami said she had never received any money from the man's family, saying she was seeking only compensation for medical fees, which she put at 150,000 euros ($216,000: £131,000).

She said: "He won't be freed. He has a sentence, which he has to serve for 10-12 years of which he has done seven. Unless the full compensation is paid, he won't be freed."

Isna quoted Ms Bahrami's mother as saying: "I am proud of my daughter... Ameneh had the strength to forgive Majid. This forgiveness will calm Ameneh and our family."

Source: BBC

Like a Rolling Stone

by Bob Dylan
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you ?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone ?

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but know you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone ?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone ?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you'd better take your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone ?

Why saying "shit" is a no-no, and saying "poop" is okay.

by  intoto

[Editor's note: I didn't write this, but I thought it was a pretty interesting.]

It's called "It Hits the Fan" and was originally on in Season 5.
It offers a realistic explanation of the origin of the swear word. Shit did become a "cursed" word at about the time of the plague, and the Pope did send out his soldiers (Knights) to figure out why God was cursing the people. The area around London was a hotbed of language at the time and various words for shit ... poop, feces, dung, manure, scheisse, shite, skite ... were being incorporated into the language. Contemporaries of Geoffrey Chaucer and Chaucer himself wrote essays on how the language was being corrupted by these new words. Basically the complaint was a common one in history ... "all these God-damned foreignors! Speak English!" When speaking English meant speaking like this:
[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE0MtENfOMU&feature=relatedThere was also a strong class system in place. Because the incorporation of new words was often by people of the lowest classes, that by proximity were forced to incorporate new words into the working language to be able to communicate with one another, the people of the upper class considered these new words "vulgar," just as they considered the people of the lowest classes vulgar. In fact, the word vulgar at the time meant "lacking in good breeding" although the origin of the Latin word meant "common."
Whether or not there was ever a Papal edict declaring certain words "cursed" by God, and therefore anyone uttering those words would be also be cursed or damned by God, and that saying those words was ever a crime punishable by death ... is not really known. However, there was definitely a sense of urgency about the plague. When half the people die in a relatively short period of time, and disease is not understood, the survivors put a special emphasis on not repeating the behaviors of those who got sick and died. Probably among those behaviors was avoiding rats and fleas, and that was a good thing, but when the people didn't know for sure what to avoid, they surely avoided many things that were "wrong" to avoid because they had nothing to do with the plague.
Many "traditions" become rote after time and the origin or original purpose for those "traditional" behaviors becomes lost on subsequent generations ... often because the "reasons" why something was done were not included in the explanation for doing or performing an act.
The Catholic Church and surely other churches gave sermons in front of congregations of people that had a foul stench because for hundreds of years, bathing appears to have been "optional" ... rancid breath and body odors were common among the common people and so the clergy incorporated incense into many of the rituals and ceremonies they performed for the people. To not offend the paying customers by telling them that we are doing this because 'you people stink', they probably told them that God wanted the incense as an offering. Well, after the people started bathing, the incense part of the rituals stayed in the ceremonies ... despite the fact that is served no useful purpose anymore. The stupid lie to cover up the truth became "the reason" and no one questioned it, because it was God's will, and you don't question God's will.
My favorite modern update on this phenomenon goes like this:
A woman wants help from and wants to teach her teenage daughter to prepare the family's traditional Christmas meal. Part of that process is to cook a large ham the day before Xmas. So, as the mother is showing and telling her daughter what to do, she gets to a certain step that baffles the daughter. The mother tells the daughter to cut off the two ends of the ham. The daughter sees the big chunks of meat cut off that the mother lays on the side of the ham and asks, "Why are you cutting off the two ends of the ham?"
The mother stops for a second and thinks about it. It definitely increases the surface area (more space to glaze) and reduces the mass of the ham so that it probably cooks a little faster, but it also increases the probability of losing internal moisture. But these explanations won't do. The mother remembers and tells her daughter, "You know, I'm not quite sure why we cut off the ends of the ham. That's the way my mom taught me how to do it when I was your age, and I just figured it made the ham somehow better. I never asked her 'Why'."
The daughter then says, "Well, why don't we give grandma a call and ask?" So, with a sense of glee, they do just that.
But grandma doesn't have the answer. "It is funny that you ask that, because I remember wondering that myself when my mother taught me how to prepare the Xmas ham."
The grand-daughter chimes in ... "Grandma, do you have great-grandma's number? I can conference her in to this call and we can ask her."
So, they do that, and after exchanging pleasantries for a minute or so, the mother, daughter and grandmother reveal the purpose of their call. The grandmother relays to her mother, "You know mom, the girls are preparing the Xmas ham and they got to the point where they cut off the ends of the ham, and Brittany asked Liza why we cut off the ends of the ham, and since Liza didn't know, they called me and asked. But I didn't know either. All I know is that is how you taught me how to prepare it. So, mom, why do we cut off the ends of the Xmas ham?"
Great-grandma chuckles and laughs for a few seconds. "Oh, this is precious. Honey, do you remember that little stove we used to have?"
And fortunately, for this little bit of tradition, great-grandma was still alive. Unfortunately, for humanity, the contrary is often the case. The reasons why rote behaviors get passed down from generation to generation long after they have lost their original meaning is that events and circumstances conspire to lose that original justification. Then it just becomes "tradition" ... and we keep doing it because we have always done it.
And that is the story of cursed words, generically. The specific reasons for segregating certain specific words is lost. Some can be generally understood. People don't want to introduce sexual terminology to children before they are ready to take on that reality. And, for a long time, keeping children ignorant of their sexuality did seem to work to keep children from experimenting at too young of an age. A young girl who gets pregnant before her hips have grown to the point where she can give birth could very well die in childbirth ... and they often did. So, the warnings and even condemnations did serve some purpose.
But the "cursed" words involving other body functions ... well, differentiation between words like "poop," which is deemed OK, and "shit," which is not OK ... is basically a load of bull. It is that way because of tradition.
So, I told my sons those kinds of explanations, and said that even though there is no logical reason for why some words are bad and some are good, society still accepts the basic idea that there are bad and good words. So, you can be judged harshly for saying those words in the wrong context or around the wrong people. In fact, you can even be arrested and fined. Because people are stupid.
And because, "Well, we've always done it that way", or "It just is that way" ... is often, really, the answer. And even though that is stupid, you still have live on this planet with billions of other people and try to eek out a happy life. So, you should choose your battles wisely.

 intoto (_) 70 points 2 hours ago*  (86|16)

My Farewell Letter to Facebook (posted my last week on Facebook)

Dear friends,

Some of you may have wondered why I’m leaving Facebook.

It took me a while to articulate the reasons, but this is why:

1)     I am tired of feeling slightly jealous.
2)     I don’t like not being able to control what I see on my wall.
3)     I am tired of too much information
4)     I don’t like Facebook’s encroachment on my real life

1)     Some of you lead incredibly amazing lives, and I’m happy for those of you who do. What happened is that since so many of you have incredible lives, my brain stopped processing each of you as individuals and lumped you into a group. Unconsciously, you became an abstraction- albeit one of a person leading an incredible life.
Listen, I like you people with incredible lives, I really do. And I want to keep liking you, so the best thing I can do is to turn off that abstraction by leaving Facebook. I look forward to the stories we can share in person.


2)     I’ll be blunt. I really really don’t care if you’re now friends with someone, or if you joined such and such group, or if you like something. Again, this isn’t personal. If you told me in person, I would go, “Oh, really? That’s cool! You know it reminds me of…” or some such. But there are over 600 of you doing the same thing, so it’s not just you. It’s 600 of you.

3)     I think this point ties up the previous two points. What I look at is information on Facebook. I see 600 “avatars” of you, each doing the same thing. You all have become a mass to me, one with familiar names and faces. Because there’s no room in my life for a mass of people, I need to collectively shut you off. Remember though, that individually, I love you all.


4)     I hate thinking that something would make a good wall post or that this would make a good profile picture. Nothing sucks more than being on vacation somewhere in the rainforest trying to get away from it all, and thinking about posting something to Facebook. 

I think that I’m lucky to have been connected to you through Facebook, but now I realize that Facebook is in some way, dangerous. We’ve accepted its presence in our lives without question, and we’ve changed our habits to accommodate it, and not the other way around. I think I now understand celebrities who fight to live their lives away from everyone’s prying eyes. The only difference is that with Facebook, we willingly become celebrities of our own familiar audiences and give up our privacy as a result.

If any of these reasons don’t work for you, try this one: I’m keeping it simple, peeps. Facebook doesn’t make it simple for me because I’m a complicated man, and no one understands me but my women. ;)

Peace

Monkey business

I think that monkeys know what they do when they steal from us.

To them, we're big scary monkeys.

We aren't exactly the most friendly of species, at least not in relation to other species.

So the smartest thing they can do is to take our stuff.

Picture this: Boy and girl are out on vacation somewhere tropical. Boy sets camera down and monkey comes by and takes it. Boy and girl are distressed because their camera goes away.

Little monkeys aren't going to mess with big monkeys. Would you mess with a gorilla? I didn't think so. But if there were a big gorilla you didn't like and was bothering you (which isn't true because gorillas like to be left alone and rarely bother anyone), what would you do to keep the gorilla from bothering you? Now, if you're a monkey, all you really know is that if you hurt another animal enough, then it will stay away from you. If you can get the big monkeys to stay away from you, then you have succeeded in establishing your territory.

That's the primer on monkey business with humans. Human monkey business on the other hand is extremely complex, but what it comes down to is that some (human) monkeys want to be left alone from other (human) monkeys.

photo:  appurupai

Google is the Borg

Love for Google+
Google+ is very robust. It hasn't crashed and it already has 10 million visitors. Let me repeat: 10 million users. Google+ accomplished in two weeks what took Facebook about two years, and it's still invite-only. This is where the real social network is at. Even Mark Zuckerberg seems to think so. After all, he was one of the early adopters, along with Sergey Brin and Larry Page. But those are just objective facts.

My subjective opinion is that Google+ is amazing. It is one of the good things in life, like the fact that an African-American can become President of the United States. It truly feels like a social network for our age and our age group because it's done right: the interface is clean, simple, and useful. Also, the level of freedom and privacy Google+ provides is amazing. It's like real life, where you can share racist jokes with one group of friends, and support equal rights for all with another. The one thing I would like is the option of hiding chatty people. This is one of the reasons I left Facebook. I *really* don't need to know every detail of your life. It's *your* life, and please don't make me live it; I have my own to live. Google+ is in Beta, which is a little scary, but it constantly surprises me with how much everything works. It feels like a brand new machine.

The difference between Direct and Indirect Evidence

Jurors of Casey Anthony's murder trial found no direct evidence linking Casey Anthony to the murder of her daughter. There was plenty of circumstantial evidence though. But how can you tell the difference. Unless you are a juror in a trial, you probably won't see the instructions. Below, I post model instructions from Connecticut.

There are, generally speaking, two kinds of evidence, direct and circumstantial. Direct evidence is testimony by a witness about what that witness personally saw or heard or did. Circumstantial evidence is indirect evidence, that is, evidence from which you could find that another fact exists, even though it has not been proved directly. There is no legal distinction between direct and circumstantial evidence as far as probative value; the law permits you to give equal weight to both, but it is for you to decide how much weight to give to any particular evidence. 

Circumstantial evidence of an event is the testimony of witnesses as to the existence of certain facts or evidence or the happening of other events from which you may logically conclude that the event in question did happen. ***Assume that it is a December night, the weather is clear, there is no snow on the ground, and you retire for the evening. You wake up the next morning, you look out the window and you see snow on the ground and footprints across your lawn. The evidence that the night before there was no snow on the ground and the next morning there was snow on the ground and footprints across your lawn is direct evidence. That direct evidence, however, is circumstantial evidence of the fact that some time during the night it snowed and that some time thereafter someone walked across your lawn. 

There is no reason to be prejudiced against evidence simply because it is circumstantial evidence. You make decisions on the basis of circumstantial evidence in the everyday affairs of life. There is no reason why decisions based on circumstantial evidence should not be made in the courtroom. In fact, proof by circumstantial evidence may be as conclusive as would be the testimony of witnesses speaking on the basis of their own observation. Circumstantial evidence, therefore, is offered to prove a certain fact from which you are asked to infer the existence of another fact or set of facts. Before you decide that a fact has been proved by circumstantial evidence, you must consider all of the evidence in light of reason, experience and common sense.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/judge-h-lee-sarokin/casey-anthony-jury_b_898550.html

Things that amazed me this weekend

- 3D Televisions

I'm not kidding. Have you seen these things? The picture quality is so clear and so good, it jumps out right at you... in 3D! Unbelievable!

Seriously, after at staring in awe at a 54" Samsung screen, I felt I absolutely needed to be immersed in High Definition glory from then on or I'd feel like I'd be living a pale shadow world. Anyway, the experience impressed me. Here's why: 

- I went to the store to see what was new in consumer electronics, and I saw a television capable of reproducing 3D images (with user glasses). I seriously had no idea these things existed 

- I experienced a part of history. I have something in common with the people who first saw heard about the radio, or television, or color television. 

- I usually don't get excited by newer television models. I still have the old television I found in the I-House laundry room when everyone was moving away. That was four years ago. I really don't watch TV. But really, I think 3D televisions are something different.

- It's because 3D televisions are from the future. It's one of those things like flying cars, but that actually came true. (Flying cars are too impractical, by the way. We have flying buses [airplanes] and I think that's all we need.)

- The power shakeup in the News Corp. empire

It's incredible how fast things can go wrong for powerful people. It's humbling to watch and gratifying to be reminded that there are consequences for bad behavior. For those who don't know, an old London tabloid called "News of the World" was caught having hacked into the phone accounts of private citizens in the UK and possibly in New York in order to gain information for publishing purposes. (News of the World belonged to News Corporation, which owns Fox. "News of the World" was shut down because of the hacking case.) So the editor of "News of the World" when all the hacking was going on became the CEO of the publisher of all the News Corp. papers in the UK. (The publisher is called "News International" and the CEO, "Rebekah Brooks".) She resigned and was arrested today for her role in the hacking scandal. 

- Japan winning the women's World Cup

I'm almost sorry I had written off Japan in the second extra time. Japan doesn't disappoint when they play. The heartbreaking Paraguay/Japan match in the men's World Cup 2010 also comes to mind. Japan lost that one, but they played with such spirit. This is a team to watch. 

Test post for the mailing list II

Hello!

You are receiving this message because you know or have known me personally, or know someone in my family personally.

I have deleted my Facebook account and am no longer using that service. Before I left, I was able to gather all your e-mails.

You are receiving this because I would like to stay in touch with you somehow. I will not sell you anything or ask you for money: I'm doing fine, thank you. I am just exploring new ways to stay connected using technology. Please bear with me as I make a few adjustments. You might receive a few extra e-mails here and there, but I promise that should be the extent of it. Afterward, you will receive an e-mail any time I update my blog found here: www.flordelapalabra.com . Please be aware that you may encounter the occasional swear word; musing about religion, philosophy and life; and attempts at writing. I hope you understand at least one Romance language (meaning I hope you paid attention in Spanish class) because hey, I speak Spanish. Tampoco me voy a quedar callado. (Translator's note: "And it would be a shame for me not to use it".) (Editor's note: The translator, being the author, can take certain liberties a professional translator doesn't.) (Nota del traductor: El editor es un chiflado.)

If you are frantic and cannot bear to receive one more e-mail from anyone, feel free to remove yourself from this list. If you do not like me and do not wish to hear from me directly ever again, please let me know so I can remove your name and contact information from all my records. I will also disavow any knowledge I may or may not have had of you. You will cease to be in my mind and be one with the universe. Or you can just mark these and related messages as spam. No one has to be the wiser.

If you've read this far, thank you for reading.

Happiness,

Jonathan

Test post for the mailing list

Google is providing great services for people interested in controlling how their content is published to an online audience. Basically, you can now be your very own social network. By being able to visualize your contacts and how they are related to you, you can take control over the content you publish. This means that Grandma doesn't have to see you holding a red cup in every picture, but she can see the pictures of your funny cats.

Either way, it's interesting to note what is being served out there. Makes me realize that Facebook has serious problems. One is that there is no internal privacy control that's easy to use; anyone can see anything. Two is that the numbers have grown too large for individual users; it takes skill and effort to manage 500 individual "friends", but it's much easier to manage 5 large groups. Three, Facebook is too big. Google+ gives the impression that it's small. At most it seems that there are about 10 people on at any one time on the Stream. Finally, Facebook became a corporation. Think about it. It sold out, literally, on everyone. 

Anyway, consider me sold on Google+. At some point, they'll have to leave it alone, though and let the users figure it out. 

An observation on language

You know when you know you're right and you think the other person's an idiot, and you call them that?

Well, I don't think Jesus ever talked to the Pharisees in anger. He didn't call them idiots. No, he spoke the truth, and he condemned, which itself is a process of evaluating, considering, and judging. So Jesus seemed like a man who was always aware of what he was saying while keeping it classy.

There was no vulgarity in his language. At least not that we know.

So it should be like that. If you are ignorant and vulgar, just speak with conviction, as strong as possible-not as loud as possible- as much as you can. Make yourself heard and hopefully someone will correct you. If you are not vulgar, don't let it be known that you are just from the way you speak. It's unbecoming.

Also, a good thing to remember is that ideas have a language of their own, so it's best to mind the type of language that comes out of your mouth.

Regarding Radical Christians

There's a book these guys should read that has a part about a guy who everyone thinks is going to be a religious and political leader and overthrow the government to establish a righteous political regime, but it turns out he doesn't care at all about the government and just teaches people to be good to each other and to not get caught up with criticizing others about their sins, while simultaneously criticizing professional clergy and the religious establishment. I can't remember what it's called, though. If I remember, I'll be sure to follow up.

posted by The World Famous at 3:53 PM on July 14 [115 favorites]

Source:
http://www.metafilter.com/105548/Rick-Perrys-Army-of-God#3814562

This is one of the most sophisticated pieces of spam I've ever received

Giveaways:
"...seeking for..." - English is not this person's first language
" must be able to afford reporting and data statement per instructed timeframe." - What kind of job makes you buy things? Couldn't they just take it from your pay? Why should this even be in the description? It smells fishy.
The entire "Duties:" paragraph - If your resume sounds like this in real life, please go back to school.

And now the text:

from	Luanne Berryhill BerrydyhilqelLuanne@hotmail.com
sender-time		Sent at 9:28 PM (UTC). Current time there: 4:43 AM. ✆

If you are seeking for a unique career with variety and potential for progress, Trade & Marketing Services GmbH (TMS) has an unfilled position of Purchasing Specialist vacancy with challenges and extraordinary compensations. The firm's items and services are designed to climb productivity and profit levels, while offering great quality, safety and general customer's satisfaction. 
This job is an anew opened function for a dynamic and creative team. The post signifies a progression, team partnership, fast paced environment and a incentive work load. 

Duties: 
- Superintend appointed vendors, ensuring permanent quality, saleable pricing, sufficient help and well-timed dispatch of products and services toobtain company's requirements. 
- Review and assent purchase requests to secure its accuracy, i.e. qualified sales, bid, specification, dispatch method, prior to purchase order.
- Expedite and carry out the indispensable follow-up to secure the dispatch of materials, items or services, to obtain the Company's inventory. 
- Negotiate supplier scheduling programs with company's Receiving department. 
- Ordering, within the time sheet allocate. 
- Trace personal progression toward company and personal achievement. 
- Agree with shipping department for dispatch of staff from store to distribution division. 
- Supervise and notify store implementation for shipping, amounts, cost management and other measurements as defined. 
- Direct and fulfill all other projects as instructed. 
- Accept entrusted job at the time the chief's absence. 

To pass candidates: 
- Have to be able to operate through the computer and on the telephone to be contacted. 
- Have to be outgoing, accurate and responsible team player with high math and communication skills. 
- Have to be knowledgeable in the work of Microsoft Office programs. 
- Have to be high-grade verbal and written communication knowledge. 
- Must be able to afford reporting and data statement per instructed timeframe. 
- Have to own experience of creating valuable initiatives. 

All applicants for this post must be a U.S. Person. Full or Part Time positions are accessible. This is a biweekly salary post. 
To get a career opportunity that will give you to demonstrate your skills and experience simply get back to this e-mail. 


<EOM>

Mike Tyson

Dicen por ahí que su estilo era muy defensivo y constaba en aguantar unos cuantos golpes con fin de acercarse para dar unos golpes con una fuerza sobrehumana. El video a continuación muestra su técnica defensiva.



Y sus golpes devastadores...



Su primera pelea fue porque un niño más grande le rompió el cuello al pichón favorito del pequeño Mike. Otra muerte, la de su entrenador Cus D'Amato, impactó la vida del boxeador, ya que D'Amato fue como un padre para Tyson. Fue él quien le impuso disciplina y le dio dirección y permitió que sacara esa bestia que traía en su espíritu sin olvidarse de que también tenía corazón. En sus primeras peleas todavía se ve cómo Tyson ayuda a parar a los boxeadores que hace unos segundos casi los mata. Ésta entrevista en inglés proporciona una viñeta del hombre multidimensional qué es Mike Tyson.

Celebremos a Mike Tyson, el hombre, el deportista, el ser humano. Deseemosle paz interna.

Small Farmers Journal Spring Vol.32 No. 2

"Here is a poem I wrote for the people. It is not copywrited, but it needs to be said. Thank you for what you do".

Who will carry the heavy things.

Who will scrape, who will pull.

Who will pick up, who will dig

Who has the will.

When some things will never show

Many will never know.

Many may never care.  For

Those who carry, Those who lift,

Those who pack and look for space.

For those who worry

Those that love

Those who have learned to wait.

Who will carry the heavy things?

Many have no concern.

But my heartfelt thanks to those

Who never ask, never question, always humble

Just carry the heavy things.

- John Cooley

Rivendell Farm

Delta, CO

My dad sent me this poem on June 30, 2011. He had found it at Powell's Technical Bookstore a few years ago.

He is no fool...

He is no fool who gains what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

- Jim Elliott
martyred missionary

Independence Day

Hi Jonathan,

We have received a request to permanently delete your account. Your account has been deactivated from the site and will be permanently deleted within 14 days.

If you did not request to permanently delete your account, please login to Facebook to cancel this request:

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

El Fúa

El Fúa significa dar el extra.

Fúa en español
Narrador: ...sin embargo, esta persona, que a continuación le presentamos, se considera un viajero errante aparte de asegurar poder ver el futuro y revivir a los muertos.

Julio César (0:13): Tú... tú quieres ser chingón pero le avientas tierras a los demás.

JC (0:23): Este güey va vivir más años que tú y que yo juntos.

JC (0:31): ¡Ya no puedo! pero voy a sacar el Fúa. Y lo voy a sacar. ¿Por qué? Porque tengo que dar el extra. ¡FÚA! ¡Caracter! ¡Voy y saco!

JC (0:50): El Fúa significa cuando sacas el carácter del estómago y... lo voy a hacer: "Es que ya no puedo. Ya no puedo. Ya no puedo." ¡Cómo no! ¡FÚUAA! ¡FÚUUAAA! y saco el carácter y saco la fuerza y saco el poder. Eso es el Fúa.

JC (1:22): No importa lo que hagas. No importa lo que realices. Lo más importante es dar el extra, ¡el Fúa! ¡FÚUAA! significa dar el extra.

JC (1:43): Lo...lo...lo...¡lo que se proyecta hacia el universo! Eso es el Fúa.

JC (1:56): Cuando la persona ya está muerta y... "No, ya déjalo muerto" ¡NO! ¡No! ¡No! ¡No! ¡No! ¡No! ¡No! ¡FÚA! ¡FÚA! ¡FÚA! Y lo revives y cuando esa persona le sirve a la sociedad es cuando tú das el Fúa. ¡FÚUUAAA!

JC (2:28): Cuando tú haces el ¡FÚUAA! eso es el verdadero Fúa.

Narrador (2:37): Situaciones inusuales que ocurren mientras usted duerme y que afortunadamente algunas historias terminan con un final sin lamento.

~~~
Fua in EnglishNarrator: …when in fact this person who we are presenting considers himself a globetrotter, and also assures us that he can see the future and bring the dead back to life.

Fua Guy (0:15): You, you want to be a badass, but you try to sink others for yourself.

Fua Guy (0:25): This guy will live more years than you or me combined.

Fua Guy (0:31): I can’t do it, I can’t do it! But I’m going to take out the Fua! And I will take it out. Why? Because I have to give the extra FUA strong character. I go and I take it out.

Fua Guy (0:50): The FUA means when you extract the character/discipline from your stomach and you say, “I will do it". “But I can’t, I can’t, I can’t”. How can you not? FUA! FUA! And then I take out the charater and I take out the strength and power as well. That is the Fua.

Fua Guy (1:22): It doesn’t matter what you do or have, the most important thing is to give extra, the FUA. FUA means to give extra. The, the thing that projects TO the universe, that’s what it is.

Fua Guy (1:56): When a person is dead and you’re told: “THAT’S IT, leave him he’s dead”…NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! FUA! FUA! FUA! and you will revive him. And WHEN that person is of service to society, that is when you give the FUA.

Fua Guy (2:28): When you give Fua, that is the real Fua.

Narrator: These unusual situations are what goes on while you’re sleeping, and fortunately some of these stories end with nothing to lament.

El Fúa

El Fúa significa dar el extra.

Fúa en español
Narrador: ...sin embargo, esta persona, que a continuación le presentamos, se considera un viajero errante aparte de asegurar poder ver el futuro y revivir a los muertos.

Julio César (0:13): Tú... tú quieres ser chingón pero le avientas tierras a los demás.

JC (0:23): Este güey va vivir más años que tú y que yo juntos.

JC (0:31): ¡Ya no puedo! pero voy a sacar el Fúa. Y lo voy a sacar. ¿Por qué? Porque tengo que dar el extra. ¡FÚA! ¡Caracter! ¡Voy y saco!

JC (0:50): El Fúa significa cuando sacas el carácter del estómago y... lo voy a hacer: "Es que ya no puedo. Ya no puedo. Ya no puedo." ¡Cómo no! ¡FÚUAA! ¡FÚUUAAA! y saco el carácter y saco la fuerza y saco el poder. Eso es el Fúa.

JC (1:22): No importa lo que hagas. No importa lo que realices. Lo más importante es dar el extra, ¡el Fúa! ¡FÚUAA! significa dar el extra.

JC (1:43): Lo...lo...lo...¡lo que se proyecta hacia el universo! Eso es el Fúa.

JC (1:56): Cuando la persona ya está muerta y... "No, ya déjalo muerto" ¡NO! ¡No! ¡No! ¡No! ¡No! ¡No! ¡No! ¡FÚA! ¡FÚA! ¡FÚA! Y lo revives y cuando esa persona le sirve a la sociedad es cuando tú das el Fúa. ¡FÚUUAAA!

JC (2:28): Cuando tú haces el ¡FÚUAA! eso es el verdadero Fúa.

Narrador (2:37): Situaciones inusuales que ocurren mientras usted duerme y que afortunadamente algunas historias terminan con un final sin lamento.

~~~
Fua in EnglishNarrator: …when in fact this person who we are presenting considers himself a globetrotter, and also assures us that he can see the future and bring the dead back to life.

Fua Guy (0:15): You, you want to be a badass, but you try to sink others for yourself.

Fua Guy (0:25): This guy will live more years than you or me combined.

Fua Guy (0:31): I can’t do it, I can’t do it! But I’m going to take out the Fua! And I will take it out. Why? Because I have to give the extra FUA strong character. I go and I take it out.

Fua Guy (0:50): The FUA means when you extract the character/discipline from your stomach and you say, “I will do it". “But I can’t, I can’t, I can’t”. How can you not? FUA! FUA! And then I take out the charater and I take out the strength and power as well. That is the Fua.

Fua Guy (1:22): It doesn’t matter what you do or have, the most important thing is to give extra, the FUA. FUA means to give extra. The, the thing that projects TO the universe, that’s what it is.

Fua Guy (1:56): When a person is dead and you’re told: “THAT’S IT, leave him he’s dead”…NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! FUA! FUA! FUA! and you will revive him. And WHEN that person is of service to society, that is when you give the FUA.

Fua Guy (2:28): When you give Fua, that is the real Fua.

Narrator: These unusual situations are what goes on while you’re sleeping, and fortunately some of these stories end with nothing to lament.

The Day the Beatles came Back [fiction]

There was one day in the history of humanity when the fact that the Beatles could never get back together and play was no longer true.

It was a day when people understood each other, and talked to each other about things that weren't on or about television or Facebook. But still, people found out that the Beatles, the best band in- I mean, the best band in the entire World, would come out of retirement, get together and play all of their songs in their entirety featuring John, Paul, George and Ringo, but not Pete Best.

It was a day when Mexico hadn't yet been invaded by the United States. (It was like something out of a Cantinflas movie, where then-President Obama, who had gone golfing multiple times, his games not been broadcast or published, Mexican drug cartels taking advantage of the media blackout, was replaced with a mute Mexican lookalike and suddenly all hell broke loose and before long, war with Mexico was new normal.) The world was in a state of limbo, where nothing really bad was happening, but nothing really good was, either.

For example,iIt was a day where somewhere in Monaco someone was heard saying defensively, "I don't mind the fascists, as long as they have good style!" And they did. The fascists had wonderful style, and fabulous sense of fashion, and the oppressed were all the more secretly grateful that the mandatory uniforms looked so well on anyone. People were still sent to secret prisons and tortured, but at least they looked great while they suffered.

But still, it was a day when men could do things like this in public.

Anyway, that day when the Beatles played, and everyone knew that it had once been impossible, was when everything was the same as usual, but it didn't feel as bad, and everyone was actually happy to be alive, even Pete Best, because he had seen the Beatles had gone out and play several dazzling shows that would be talked about for the next few years until a Mexican presidential impostor absentmindedly says "¡Salud!" with a perfect accent to a sneezing Secretary of State. There's nothing quite like going to see a Beatles show.

The End.

La vida es suerte. No importa si somos príncipes o méndigos, el espíritu se palpa