Silent Advent Calendar 2007 |
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December 25 Climbers view El Capitan's aptly named Nose -- the southwest butress -- with equal parts adrenalin and awe. Before 1957, many thought it couldn't be climbed. But then wild man Warren Harding and several others laid siege to the rock face. They climbed on the rock when they could; when they couldn't, they drilled expansion bolts into the rock, clipped webbing ladders onto those bolts, and stood on the ladders. After 48 days of prepatory work spread over 18 months, they finally climbed the Nose in November 1958. The event started a debate among climbers: Is the use of artificial aid "cheating"? If so, the Nose would have to be climbed free, using only the rock for support. Again, many thought it couldn't be done. In 1993, champion sport climber Lynn Hill became the first person to do it, making a 4-day free ascent. She returned in 1994 to become the first person to free-climb the Nose in a day.
December 24 'Twas The Night In The Casino 'Twas the night before Christmas, I hit the Casino, I went there to play, More than just Keno. The dealers were assigned to their tables with care. Chatting with patrons who were gambling there. I walked to the Slots and started to Play. I had a feeling this would be my Day. I put in my coins and gave the handle a Yank. As the coins started dropping I heard them go "Clank." The wheels started spinning, they whirled and they glowed. Alas! I saw three 7's, lined up in a row. The lights started flashing, the bells all were ringing, Out came the Jackpot with that old familiar jingling. I reached down and scooped up all of my winnings. I headed for the tables.. I couldn't stop grinning. A table was open so I sat for Blackjack, Put down money for chips and purchased a stack. The Dealer was smiling, I was having such Fun. Drew a Jack then an Ace, I had Twenty One! Now off to Roulette but which numbers to choose? The way things were going I just couldn't Lose. I watched the ball spinning, it clicked and it Popped. Right into my number, that little ball dropped. "Thirty five to One", the dealer pushed me my chips. Then she said, "Thanks!" for the toke that I flipped. Then out on the floor, I heard such a clatter I rushed to the Craps Table, to see what was the matter. There was this Fat Guy so lively and quick, I thought to myself, he looks like Saint Nick. I watched the dice as they flew from his hand. He made his point, ever time they'd Land. "Place the six and the eight and a dollar on YO! "He blew on the dice before letting them Go. "To some these dice are more fun than toys. I almost forgot, hard six for the Boys!" He handled the bones so smooth and so swift. The timing was right, to ask for a gift. "Oh Santa please share some of your lucky charm." He whispered to me, as he took my arm. "If you want to keep winning when rolling the Dice, Just listen to Santa and heed my advice." "I've learned from the Experts, Scoblete, Griffen and Wong. The secret of winning is PRACTICE hard and long." "You MUST use your head and this is no fable. If your Luck starts to turn, You must leave the table" In the Blink of an eye he was headed for the door. I pleaded with Santa, "Please, Tell me more!" He called back to me, as he flew out of sight. "Every day will be Christmas, If you learn to play the game right" I wish you all a Happy Holiday and a "Lucky" New Year!! Bill Burton
December 22 Dont worry about a thing, cause every little thing gonna be all right. dont worry about a thing, cause every little thing gonna be all right! Rise up this mornin, Smiled with the risin sun, Three little birds Pitch by my doorstep Singin sweet songs Of melodies pure and true, Sayin, (this is my message to you-ou-ou:) dont worry bout a thing, cause every little thing gonna be all right. dont worry (dont worry) bout a thing, cause every little thing gonna be all right! Rise up this mornin, Smiled with the risin sun, Three little birds Pitch by my doorstep Singin sweet songs Of melodies pure and true, Sayin, this is my message to you-ou-ou: dont worry about a thing, worry about a thing, oh! Every little thing gonna be all right. dont worry! dont worry about a thing - I wont worry! cause every little thing gonna be all right. dont worry about a thing, cause every little thing gonna be all right - I wont worry! Singin: dont worry about a thing, cause every little thing gonna be all right. dont worry about a thing, oh no! cause every little thing gonna be all right! Bob Marley Copy and paste into your browser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnDrbagYm24
December 21 Every mile is two in winter. ~George Herbert When the bold branches Bid farewell to rainbow leaves - Welcome wool sweaters. ~B. Cybrill I was just thinking, if it is really religion with these nudist colonies, they sure must turn atheists in the wintertime. ~Will Rogers Winter dies into the spring, to be born again in the autumn. ~Marche Blumenberg To shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring. ~W.J. Vogel Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home. ~Edith Sitwell Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat. ~Author Unknown One kind word can warm three winter months. ~Japanese Proverb In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy. ~William Blake
December 20 Today, I behold the beauty of God's own face. Reflected in beauty, glowing in time and space. And when the horizon bathes in the morning light, I'm thankful for one more day made for my delight. I am aware that there are more gifts for me If I will open up my eyes to see. Love and abundance given so generously My heart is open, accepting these gifts so free. I'm so glad I am free to live naturally. And to know that my very existence expresses God's love for me. I'm so glad I am free to live naturally. And to know that my very existence expresses God's love for me. Can be sung to the melody for "LaPaloma" by Yradier Words by Bob Scott
December 19 Most people spend their entire life imprisoned within the confines of their own thoughts. They never go beyond a narrow, mind-made, personalized sense of self that is conditioned by the past. In you, as in each human being, there is a dimension of consciousness far deeper than thought. It is the very essence of who you are. We may call it presence, awareness, the unconditioned consciousness. In the ancient teachings, it is the Christ within, or your Buddha nature. Finding that dimension frees you and the world from the suffering you inflict on yourself and others when the mind-made "little me" is all you know and runs your life. Love, joy, creative expansion, and lasting inner peace cannot come into your life except through that unconditioned dimension of consciousness. If you can recognize, even occasionally, the thoughts that go through your mind as simply thoughts, if you can witness your own mental-emotional reactive patterns as they happen, then that dimension is already emerging in you as the awareness in which thoughts and emotions happen - the timeless inner space in which the content of your life unfolds. Eckhart Tolle from the book Stillness Speaks
December 18 This certainly cannot be documented; but it is quite possible soap could have been discovered even in prehistoric times. Early people cooking their meats over fires might have noticed after a rainstorm there was a strange foam around the remains of the fire and its ashes. They might have even noticed when water was put in a pot that had been used for cooking meats and then got ashes in it, which often happens with outdoors cooking, also had this strange foamy substance. This women, most likely who was doing the washing, might have also observed the pot became cleaner or at least her hands became cleaner then usual. It is recorded that the Babylonians were making soap around 2800 B.C. and that it was known to the Phoenicians around 600 B.C. These early references to soap and soap making were for the use of soap in the cleaning of textile fibers such as wool and cotton in preparation for weaving into cloth. The Romans and Celtics The first definite and tangible proofs of soap making are found in the history of ancient Rome. Pliny, the Roman historian, described soap being made from goat's tallow and causticized wood ashes. He also wrote of common salt being added to make the soap hard. The ruins at Pompeii revealed a soap factory complete with finished bars. While the Romans are well known for their public baths, generally soap was not used for personal cleaning. To clean the body the Greeks and then the Romans would rub the body with olive oil and sand. A scraper, called a strigil, was then used to scrape off the sand and olive oil also removing dirt, grease, and dead cells from the skin leaving it clean. Afterwards the skin was rubbed down with salves prepared from herbs. Throughout history people were also known to take baths in herb waters and other additions to the bathing medium thought to be beneficial. It is well known that Cleopatra, who captivated the leaders of the Roman world, attributed her beauty to her baths in mare's milk. During the early century of the common era soap was used by physicians in the treatment of disease. Galen, a 2nd century physician, recommended bathing with soap would be beneficial for some skin conditions. Soap for personal washing became popular during the later centuries of the Roman era. The Celtic peoples are also though by some historians to have discovered soap making and were using it for bathing and washing. Maybe do to increased contact with the Celtics by the Romans, using soap for personal washing care became popular. It is also important to remember when writing a history of life styles there are no grand trends that get disseminated throughout the globe via mass communications such as we have today. Usage and knowledge of common skills and arts can vary from one locale to the next. When they are starting to use soap in the public baths in 3rd century A.D. in the major cities, the people in small villages are likely to be using the olive oil, sand, and strigil method. The Celtics might have been washing their faces daily with soap long before the Romans even went over the Italian Alps. Dates can be exact when dealing with events such as battles, births, and deaths. But not usage of every day items. "The state of the art" varies depending both on time and location. There is an interesting legend surrounding the discovery of soap making. This legend accords the discovery of soap to the Romans so it must be a Roman legend to confront the Celtic claim to soap making. Probably both of these inventive peoples discovered soap making independently. The legend says soap was first discovered by women washing clothes along the Tiber River at the bottom of Sapo Hill. The women noticed the clothes became cleaner with far less effort at that particular location. What was happening? The ashes and the grease of animals from the sacrificial fires of the temples situated on the top of Sapo Hill mixed with the rain, making soap which ran down the slope in the streams of rain water giving the women a wash day bonus. You can see at a glance saponification, the chemical name for the soap making reaction, bears the name of that hill in Rome long ago, which caused one Roman washer women to comment to another, "My wash is cleaner than yours".
December 16
December 15 Johnny's in the basement Mixing up the medicine I'm on the pavement Thinking about the government The man in the trench coat Badge out, laid off Says he's got a bad cough Wants to get it paid off Look out kid It's somethin' you did God knows when But you're doin' it again You better duck down the alley way Lookin' for a new friend The man in the coon-skin cap In the big pen Wants eleven dollar bills You only got ten Maggie comes fleet foot Face full of black soot Talkin' that the heat put Plants in the bed but The phone's tapped anyway Maggie says that many say They must bust in early May Orders from the D. A. Look out kid Don't matter what you did Walk on your tip toes Don't try "No Doz" Better stay away from those That carry around a fire hose Keep a clean nose Watch the plain clothes You don't need a weather man To know which way the wind blows Get sick, get well Hang around a ink well Ring bell, hard to tell If anything is goin' to sell Try hard, get barred Get back, write braille Get jailed, jump bail Join the army, if you fail Look out kid You're gonna get hit But users, cheaters Six-time losers Hang around the theaters Girl by the whirlpool Lookin' for a new fool Don't follow leaders Watch the parkin' meters Ah get born, keep warm Short pants, romance, learn to dance Get dressed, get blessed Try to be a success Please her, please him, buy gifts Don't steal, don't lift Twenty years of schoolin' And they put you on the day shift Look out kid They keep it all hid Better jump down a manhole Light yourself a candle Don't wear sandals Try to avoid the scandals Don't wanna be a bum You better chew gum The pump don't work 'Cause the vandals took the handles Subterranean Homesick Blues Bob Dylan 1965
December 14 
December 13 Weekend Edition Sunday, December 9, 2007. I believe in the power of redemption. I was an interrogator at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I don't have any torture stories to share. I think many people would be surprised at the civilized lifestyle I experienced in Guantanamo. The detainees I worked with were murderers and rapists. You never forgot for a moment that, given the chance, they'd kill you to get out. Some committed crimes so horrific that I lost sleep wondering what would happen if they were set free. But that is not the only reason I could not sleep; I had spent 18 months in Iraq just before my arrival in Cuba. First I served as a soldier for a year, and then returned as a civilian contractor because I felt I hadn't done enough to make a difference the first time. After the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, I left because I felt I could not make any difference anymore. Those events simply undermined all of our work. I felt defeated and frightened and tired, and I hoped I could redeem myself by making a difference in Guantanamo. Still, I couldn't sleep. I was plagued with dreams of explosions and screaming. After being sleepless for more than 48 hours, I began to hallucinate. I thought people were planting bombs outside my house in Guantanamo. That was the night my roommate brought me to the hospital. When I returned to work, I began to meet again with my clients, which is what I chose to call my detainees. We were all exhausted. Many of them came back from a war having lost friends, too. I wondered how many of them still heard screaming at night like I did. My job was to obtain information that would help keep U.S. soldiers safe. We'd meet, play dominoes, I'd bring chocolate and we'd talk a lot. There was one detainee, Mustafa, who joked that I was his favorite interrogator in the world, and I joked back that he was my favorite terrorist, and he was. He'd committed murders and did things we all wished he could take back. He asked me one day, suddenly serious, "You know everything about me, but still you do not hate me. Why?" His question stopped me cold. I said "Everyone has done things in their past that they're not proud of. I know I have, but I also know God still expects me to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. That means you." Mustafa started to cry. "That's what my God says, too," he said. Accepting Mustafa helped me accept myself again. My clients may never know this, but my year with them helped me to finally heal. My nightmares stopped. I don't know what kind of a difference I made to the mission in Guantanamo. But I found redemption in caring for my clients, and I believe it saved my life, or at least my sanity. People say, "Hate the sin, not the sinner." That is easier said than done, but I learned that there is true freedom in accepting others unconditionally. I believe we help to redeem each other through the power of acceptance. It is powerful to those who receive it and more powerful to those who give it. Independently produced for Weekend Edition Sunday by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman with John Gregory and Viki Merrick.
December 12 I was in a line at the supermarket the other day, and, I had all my things on the little conveyor belt there. And uh... there's a gal in front of me that is uh.. well, she's staring at me and I'm getting a little nervous and, she continues to stare at me. And I, I keep looking the other way. And then, finally she comes over closer to me and she says: "I apologize for staring, that must have been annoying. I, I... You look so much like my son, who died. I just can't take my eyes off you." And she precedes to go into her purse and she pulls out a photograph of her son who'd died. And, he looks absolutely nothing like me. In fact he's... Chinese. Anyway, we chatted a little bit. And uh, she says: "I'm sorry, I have to ask you. Would you mind, as I leave the supermarket here, would you mind saying "Goodbye mom" to me? I, I know it's a strange request but I haven't heard my son saying "Goodbye mom" to me, and "So long" and it would mean so much to me to hear it. And uh, if you don't mind I... " And I said: "Well, you know, okay, yeah, sure. I can say that." And, and so, she gets her groceries all checked out. And as she's going out the door she waves at me and she hollers across the store: "Goodbye son!" And I look up and I wave and I say: "Goodbye mom!" And then she goes. So I get my few things there, on the conveyor belt and the checker checks out my things. And he gives me the total and he says: "That'll be four hundred and seventy nine dollars." Uh... and I said: "Well, how is that possible! I've only got a little tuna fish, and uh some skimmed milk, and uh mustard and a loaf of bread..." He goes: "Well, well you're also paying for the groceries for your mother. She uh, told me you'd take care of the bill for her." And I said: "Well, wait a minute! That's not my mother!" And he says: "Well I distinctly heard her say as she left the store "Bye son!" and you said "Bye mom!" and so what are you trying to say here." I said: "Well, wait!" And I looked out into the parking lot and she was just getting into her car. And I ran out there. And she was just closing the door, and she had a little bit of her leg sticking out of the door and she was pulling away and I grabbed her leg and I started PULLING it! Just the way... I'm pulling yours... Tom Waits
December 11
December 9 The number 47. 47 is a prime number, it is also a safe prime which means that it can expressed as 2p+1, where p is also a prime. It is also a Thabit number which means it can be expressed by 3 times 2 raised to a power minus 1. It is also a Carol number, now this one gets a little more complicated. A Carol number is (2 raised to a power then minus 1) squared then minus 2. In this case 2 cubed minus 1, then squared and subtract 2. 47 is also the usual number of strings on a harp.
December 8 Per capita daily water consumption in Las Vegas is around 300 gallons an improvement over recent years, but still 50 percent higher than in Phoenix and 80 percent higher than Tucson. And though per capita use is declining, the city's total demands continue to rise with the city's swelling population, now approaching 2 million in the metropolitan area. Looking at the extravagant hotel water fountains, visitors to Las Vegas may conclude that water is abundant. But the city's average annual rainfall is less than 4 1/2 inches per year. That means that here, as elsewhere in the arid West, water wars are a fact of life. The city sucks its water from the Colorado River, which after several years of western drought is at record low levels. Plans are afoot to pump more water to the city from aquifers to the north. But conservationists are protesting, fearing the move will dry up springs, affect rural communities, and threaten wildlife.
December 7 I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose. ~Woody Allen At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities. ~Jean Houston Even if there is nothing to laugh about, laugh on credit. ~Author Unknown Mirth is God's medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it. ~Henry Ward Beecher The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. ~e.e. cummings Laughter is an instant vacation. ~Milton Berle Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. ~Victor Borge What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul. ~Yiddish Proverb When people are laughing, they're generally not killing each other. ~Alan Alda Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward. ~Kurt Vonnegut A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book. ~Irish Proverb Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on. ~Bob Newhart I've always thought that a big laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, "Ain't that the truth." ~Quincy Jones Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails. What puts man in a higher state of evolution is that he has got his laugh on the right end. ~Max Eastman A man isn't poor if he can still laugh. ~Raymond Hitchcock You can't deny laughter; when it comes, it plops down in your favorite chair and stays as long as it wants. ~Stephen King, Hearts in Atlantis Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing. ~Ken Kesey Seven days without laughter makes one weak. ~Mort Walker A laugh is a smile that bursts. ~Mary H. Waldrip Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face. ~Victor Hugo Laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life. ~Hugh Sidey Laughter is the sensation of feeling good all over and showing it principally in one place. ~Josh Billings Carry laughter with you wherever you go. ~Hugh Sidey Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects. ~Arnold Glasow
December 6 Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore, a warrior must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if he feels that he should not follow it, he must not stay with it under any conditions. His decision to keep on that path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. He must look at every path closely and deliberately. There is a question that a warrior has to ask: 'Does this path have a heart?' Do you know at this very moment you are surrounded by eternity? And do you know that you can use that eternity if you so desire? The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same. The internal dialogue is what grounds people in the daily world. The world is such and such or so and so, only because we talk to ourselves about its being such and such and so and so. The passageway into the world of shamans opens up after the warrior has learned to shut off his internal dialogue. We talk to ourselves incessantly about our world. In fact we maintain our world with our internal talk. And whenever we finish talking to ourselves about ourselves and our world, the world is always as it should be. We renew it, we rekindle it with life, we uphold it with our internal talk. Not only that, but we also choose our paths as we talk to ourselves. Thus we repeat the same choices over and over until the day we die, because we keep on repeating the same internal talk over and over until the day we die. A warrior is aware of this and strives to stop his internal talk. Inner silence works from the moment you begin to accrue it. What the old sorcerers were after was the final dramatic end result of reaching that individual threshold of silence. Some very talented practitioners need only a few minutes of silence to reach that coveted goal. Others, less talented, need long periods of silence, perhaps more than one hour of quietude,before they reach the desired result. The desired result is what the old sorcerers called "stopping the world", the moment when everything around us ceases to be what it's always been. This is the moment when sorcerers return to the TRUE nature of man. The old sorcerers always called it "total freedom" Carlos Castaneda
December 5 WHAT THE GULF STREAM TURBINE SYSTEM CAN DO What would you say if I told you about a new invention for producing a steady supply of electricity that would consume no fuel, produce no carbon dioxide or other harmful emissions, would be both silent and invisible, would make it possible to produce free hydrogen at distant locations, would be virtually impervious to earthquakes and tsunamis, would be immune from terrorist attacks, would require almost no maintenance, would require no site preparation or leasing of sites, would require capital investments no greater than those required for wind farms or modern coal-fired plants per kilowatt of generating capacity, and would if properly placed operate at capacity factors comparable to those of many fossil fuel plants while producing its steady power with virtually no operating costs? Most of the sources of renewable energy are inherently intermittent. This invention if placed in large numbers in the Gulf Stream off the coast of South Florida can generate huge amounts of steady, low cost electricity. The costs of that power can be as low as .9 of a cent per kilowatt-hour during the amortization period. After the amortization period ends, the costs would drop to virtually zero. The decline in the production of North American natural gas and world oil combined with the very real threat of catastrophic global warming have created an urgent need for mankind to switch from oil and gas to those energy sources that are sustainable and non-polluting. The installation of large numbers of Gulf Stream Turbines would be a major step toward reducing the potential horrific economic and social problems that the depletion of oil and gas can produce.
December 4 "If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work." Thich Nhat Hanh
December 3 in a coffee shop in a city which is every coffee shop in every city on a day which is every day i pick up a magazine which is every magazine and read a story then forgot it right away they say goldfish have no memory i guess their lives are much like mine the little plastic castle is a surprise every time it's hard to say if they are happy but they don't seem much to mind from the shape of your shaved head i recognized your silhouette as you walked out of the sun and sat down and the sight of your sleepy smile eclipsed all the other people as they paused to sneer at the girls from out of town i said, "look at you this morning you are by far the cutest be careful getting coffee i think these people want to shoot us maybe there's some kind of local competition here to see who can be the rudest" people talk about my image like i come in two dimensions like lipstick is a sign of my declining mind like what i happen to be wearing the day that someone takes my picture is my new statement for all womankind i wish they could see us now in leather bras and rubber shorts like some ridiculous team uniform for some ridiculous new sport quick someone call the girl police and file a report in a coffee shop in a city which is every coffee shop in every city on a day which is every day Ani DiFranco - Little Plastic Castle
December 1, 2007 Even the most gluttonous hummingbird consumes fewer than 8 calories a day. But hummingbirds weigh only 0.06 to .8 ounce, so relative to their body size they eat about seventy-seven times more than the average human.
From Sierra Club "Knowledge Cards" Text by Don Root |
