Coincidence or Miracle

There was a women in Taiwan that find out that her temporary boss wound up being her missing father. Some would say this is a miracle, and others think it is a crazy coincidence, or that she planned it. Sometimes I want it to be that she planned it. Other times I see the beauty in these happy coincidences, and I notice the pessimism in stripping the name 'miracle' away. What's wrong with little miracles in the world? Sometimes they are all that people have for hope, to prove that a God exists. But if someone is happy and they don't need miracles, then I guess a happy coincidence is better. I guess this is more of a rant on the pessimistic viewpoint vs. the positive viewpoint. I know so many people that are pessimistic it's rather depressing to be around. But on the flip side there is a negativity to being too optimistic, it borders on irrationality. Of course the philosophical side of me wants to go into fate, but that is a totally different rant. Did i make a point?

Excerpts from "The World as I see It"- Einstein

"How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving...

"I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts -- possessions, outward success, luxury -- have always seemed to me contemptible.

"My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude..."

La Gioconda

It is official. They know who she is. She isn't Leonardo in drag, she isn't some lover (maybe.) She is the wife of a merchant. Her name is Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant. This would make sense upon analysis. The dangerous terrain in the background, the veil on her head.

How'd they figure it out?
Dated notes scribbled in the margins of a book by its owner in October 1503. The notes were made by a Florentine city official Agostino Vespucci, an acquaintance of the artist, in a collection of letters by the Roman orator Cicero.

The comments compare Leonardo to the ancient Greek artist Apelles and say he was working on three paintings at the time, one of them a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo.

The painting, which hangs in the Louvre in Paris, is also known as "La Gioconda" meaning the happy or joyful woman in Italian, a title which also suggests the woman's married name.

Neato. Yet, anti-climatic.

For Geoff

Craziest Shoes from around the world. I hope to never see these in your closest!

Harbin Snow and Ice Festival

This image is from a snow festival in Harbin, China. This city reaches forty below zeroand stays below freezing nearly half the year. Rather than suffer the cold, they celebrate it ith their festival that runs from January 5 through February 15, but often opens a week early and runs into March, since it’s usually still cold enough. This is a place I'd love to go and see, maybe one day when I graduate college I'll travel. There is nothing like shedding a perspective on the reality of your life like traveling does. For more info and pics go to R. Todd King.com.

Sweetness

A friend helped me recently discovered StumbleUpon. It's a search thingie that takes you to suggested websites. I found this image from a webpage I can't remember (sorry) I just thought it was an awesome piece of art. it's what I think of when I think of hidden places in nature.