Where there is nothing ... there is God!

I was forgetting, we cannot destroy the world (that is, our commitment to he material) with armies, it is inside our minds that it must be destroyed, it must be consumed in a moment inside our minds. God will accomplish his last judgment, first in one man's mind and then in another. He is always planning last judgments. And yet it takes a long time.

I was mistaken when I set out to destroy Church and Law. The battle we have to fight is fought out in our own mind. There is a fiery moment, perhaps once in a lifetime, and in that moment we see the only thing that matters. It is in that moment the great battles are lost and won, for in that moment we are a part of the host of Heaven ... [W]e shall not come to that joy, that battle, till we have put out the senses, everything that can be seen and handled, as I put out this candle. . . . We must put out the whole world as I put out this candle. . . . We must put out the light of the stars and the light of the sun and the light of the moon . . . till we have brought everything to nothing once again. I saw in a broken vision, but now all is clear to me. Where there is nothing, where there is nothing -- there is God! (W. B. Yeats, Where There is Nothing).

Truth quote

Most people who claim
to seek the truth really
only want confirmation
of those things which
they already believe.

Truth would require
that they abandon their
"comfort zones"
and do something
concrete - to make real
changes in their lives.
--Alan Watt

money quote

Henry David Thoreau said, "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to leave alone."

The truly rich person is the one who does not think about money. By this standard many billionaires are paupers. In fact, the more money a person has, the harder it is to think of anything else.

Word to the Wise: Acronym

An "acronym" (AK-ruh-nim) is a word formed by combining the initial letters (or parts) of several words. Some common words that you might not recognize as being acronyms include:

• laser (Lightwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)

• radar (RAdio Detecting And Ranging)

• scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus)

• sonar (SOund NAvigation Rangin)

• yuppie (Young Urban Professional)

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How to Get the Best Seat on an Airplane

This information is so good that I'm reluctant to give it out.

Other than knowing the differences among window, aisle, and bulkhead seats, most people have no clue as to whether one spot on a plane is better for them than any other. But now there are two websites that list the major carriers and the aircraft they use (e.g., DC10, 737, etc.) - and comment on the best and worst seats in each type of configuration. Some of their ratings are based on obscure criteria that you can't determine from a seating diagram, such as annoying bright lights, bothersome movie screens, small windows, etc.

See seatguru.com and seatexpert.com for details - and don't tell anyone else about this.

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This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

5 Things You Might Not Know You Can Do on Google

1. Enter "define" in the Google search box, then a colon, then a space, and then the word or expression you want defined.

2. Find out what Google thinks about just about anything or anyone (including you) at www.googlism.com.

3. Enter an airplane's tail number in the Google search box to find out the plane's service history.

4. Yankees or Red Sox? Heaven or hell? Pen or sword? Which one gets more Google hits? Find out this and much more at www.googlefight.com.

5. Enter a few key ingredients to get many recipes.

(Source: David Hochman in The New York Times)

quote

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it,

but that it is too low and we reach it."

- Michelangelo

Wishing Merry Christmas to Democrats and Republicans

Wishing Merry Christmas to Democrats and Republicans

A Typical Democrat

To My Democratic Friends:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wish.

A Typical Republican

To My Republican Friends:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

quote

"Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future,
and live in the only moment of time over which you have
any control: now."

- Denis Waitley

3,000 More Combat Robots Ordered

Submitted by MichaelVail on Thu, 2007-12-20 00:34.

Strategy Page
Posted at Thought Criminal: 2007-12-19 18:30:40

The U.S. Army has ordered another 3,000 Packbot combat robots. This is the second generation Packbot 510, which is lighter, faster, stronger, more rugged and reliable than the thousands of existing PackBots. The army already has about 4,000 of these small robots in Iraq and Afghanistan. While they are mainly used to deal with roadside bombs and booby traps, they are becoming more popular as infantry scouts and sentinels. In this role, the PackBot can explore caves or buildings suspected of containing enemy troops or booby traps, as well as stand guard in dangerous locations.

The PackBot 510 weighs 42 pounds, and can carry up to 46 pounds of equipment. It uses a new controller that looks, and operates, very much like a video game controller. This makes training, and use, of the PackBot much easier. Most troops have video game experience. The wireless controller can operate a PackBot at a distance of up to 1,000 meters. The battery lasts 2-12 hours, depending on mission. The longer time is for when you are using the PackBot as a sentinel, just sitting there with its camera on. It's a compact device (28 inches long, 16 wide and 8 high). It can be tossed through a window into a room, and quickly get to work. Top speed is about 2.5 meters a second, and it can climb stairs. It's waterproof and can travel up to ten kilometers on one charge. This model will cost about $90,000 each. Police departments are also big customers, using the PackBot for checking out bomb threats, and in SWAT type situations.

Robots help elderly when humans cannot

Cincinnati Enquirer Dec. 14, 2007
*************************
If you grow old in Japan, expect to be served food by a robot, ride a voice-recognition wheelchair or even possibly hire a nurse in a robotic suit--all examples of cutting-edge technology to care for the country's graying population. With nearly 22
percent of Japan's people aged 65 or older, businesses have been rolling out everything from ... continue

Quote

"Having kids has been a fantastic thing for me. It’s meant that I’m a little more balanced. In my twenties I worked massively, hardly took vacation at all. Now, with the help of my wife, I’m always making sure I’ve got a good balance of how I spend my time."

Bill Gates

The Way You Work Could Be Working Against You

By Michael Masterson

"If I had more time, I’d have more fun," we tell ourselves. Or, "If I had more time, I’d knit/ paint/ write a novel/ [fill in the blank]."

Time is an equal opportunity provider. Every one of us, regardless of age, sex, race, or religion, has the same 24 hours a day. How we use those hours determines our success.

On the one hand, we know that working long, hard hours is a characteristic of most successful people. On the other hand, we understand that working that way gives us little pleasure and less time to pay attention to family, friendship, intellectual stimulation, etc.

"Workaholism is an addiction," Julia Cameron says in The Artist’s Way, "and like all addictions, it blocks creative energy." Cameron’s concern in the book is to find time for creative writing. But her advice is useful for anyone who is fighting his or her workaholic streak.

You can be successful in business without sacrificing personal relationships. You can make money and art too. You can accomplish your major goals in all of life’s four most important dimensions:

1. Your health-building goals
2. Your wealth-building goals
3. Your social responsibilities
4. Your personal aspirations

To do so, you’ve got to follow a productivity plan that recognizes (1) achieving any important goal takes time, (2) at any specific period of time in your life you must establish priorities and give primary attention to your top goals, (3) many of the problems prioritizing may cause can be limited by respectful scheduling and thoughtful communication, and (4) as opportunities change, so must your objectives.

You must also recognize that the way you work right now may be working against you. A workaholic pattern might help you accomplish your primary goal, but will usually leave your other goals in a shattered heap.

Begin, today, with this self-administered evaluation - from Julia Cameron - to help you figure out if you have workaholic habits. Answer "seldom," "often," or "never" to the following:

• I work outside of office hours.
• I cancel dates with loved ones to do more work.
• I postpone outings until the deadline is over.
• I take work with me on vacations.
• I take work with me on weekends.
• I take vacations.
• My intimates complain that I always work.
• I try to do two things at once.
• I allow myself free time between projects.
• I allow myself to achieve closure on tasks.
• I procrastinate in finishing up the last loose ends.
• I set out to do one job and start on three more at the same time.
• I work in the evenings during family time.
• I allow calls to interrupt - and lengthen - my workday.
• I prioritize my day to include an hour of creative work/play.
• I place my creative dreams before my work.
• I fall in with others’ plans and fill my free time with their agendas.
• I allow myself down time to do nothing.
• I use the word "deadline" to describe and rationalize my workload.
• I go everywhere, even to dinner, with a notebook or my work numbers.

"There is a difference between zestful work toward a cherished goal and workaholism," says Cameron. "That difference lies less in the hours than it does in the emotional quality of the hours spent. There is a treadmill quality to workaholism. We depend on our addiction and we resent it. For a workaholic, work is synonymous with worth, and so we are hesitant to jettison any part of it."

Your answers to Julia Cameron’s self-evaluation questions will give you a quick sense of whether you have a problem with workaholism. But don’t just test yourself. Do what I did. Ask a few members of your family, or a few friends, to answer those questions for you. You may be surprised by what you find out.

It can be hard to make time for your personal life when you’re trying to prove to your boss that you deserve a raise… when you’re busy building your business… or when you just plain love what you do. But don’t work so hard or so long that you neglect your family and friends. If you do that, you will eventually regret it.

Here’s how I keep myself from falling into that trap:

• I don’t take work home at night. I put in my time at the office, and then I come home… without my laptop and papers.
• I don’t take work home on weekends. If I want to put in a few extra hours on Saturday, I clear it with my family in advance. But, again, I don’t pull out the computer or papers in front of them. It sends the wrong message.
• Away from work, I try my best to stay "in the present." For me, this was the hardest lesson to learn, because my mind is always jumping from one topic (the story someone is telling me) to another (something related that happened at work). When I feel myself drifting - and it happens frequently - I pull myself back.

When I follow these rules, I am happier twice - at work and at home. I recommend that you do the same.

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This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

IBM Reveals Five Innovations that Will Change Our Lives Over the Next Five Years

PhysOrg.com, Dec. 18, 2007 The second annual "IBM Next Five in Five" is a list of innovations with the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years: 1. It will be easy for you to be green and save money doing it. 2. The way you drive will be completely different. 3. You are what you eat, so you will know what you eat. 4. Your cell phone will be your wallet, your ticket broker, your concierge, your bank, your shopping buddy, and more. 5. Doctors will get enhanced "super senses" to better diagnose and treat you. Read Original Article>>

Hitting the Road for the Holidays

By Bonnie Caton

Websites and blogs are filled with advice on how to travel by air. Rarely, though, do you read anything about road travel. Yet, according to the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, at least 91 percent of holiday long-distance travel in the U.S. this year will be by car.

Before you pack up and hit the road, keep a few things in mind:

• You can easily steer clear of traffic and accidents with up-to-date traffic reports for anywhere in the U.S., free, on traffic.com. You can also call the website’s toll-free number, 1-866-MY-TRAFC. I tried it yesterday. A computer voice prompted me to answer questions, and then computed the traffic for the road I asked for.
• Scope out your potty breaks before you leave the house. thebathroomdiaries.com is a fun site that reviews public bathrooms in the U.S. and in over 120 countries. (Some of them look a little scary.) It will help you find bathrooms on your route that meet your standards.
• A good way to stay awake and keep everyone in the car entertained is to listen to audio books. You can download them for free at librivox.org - and there are about 1,000 titles to choose from. Download them to your computer and then burn them to CD or copy to an MP3 player that you can hook up to your car stereo.

[Ed. Note: Bonnie Caton is AWAI Travel’s Member Liaison. For 93 more time-saving, money-making travel tips, click here. Find deals, ensure a smoother trip, and even find out how to get paid for your travels.]

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.