Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Shiffft

Hi ya'll, I've moved!
http://thisoldman.wordpress.com/

Posted at 10:25 AM

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

new interest

I have recently taken interest in a new hobby. I have been reading up on it quite a bit and realise that it requires time, patience and a lot of practice. So well, I haven't really tried it out but I will, as soon as I get my hands on erm... you might call it an accessory.

But here's the thing, it isn't exactly easy to find, especially the right brand and type. Most that I've found at shops are Japanese, which are either too big or too small and simply will not fit.

Upon asking, the aunties at most shops will reply with haste, "we don't sell that type". I'm almost embarrassed to ask anymore.

All I'm asking is for just ONE small blue box to start off, as they come in 10s, which is quite enough. And what makes it worst is that each of them can only be used once. They just aren't reusable. But it will give instant pleasure and gratification each time(depending on your skill, of course).

Where can I find my Polaroid film!?

Posted at 12:43 PM

Monday, June 02, 2008

al sez...

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."

"I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."

"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

"The only real valuable thing is intuition."

"A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."

"I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."

"God is subtle but he is not malicious."

"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."

"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."

"The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."

"Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing."

"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

"Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it."

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."

"God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically."

"The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking."

"Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."

"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."

"The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible."

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."

"Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater."

"Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity."

"If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."

"As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."

"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

"In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep."

"The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead."

"Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves."

"Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!"

"No, this trick won't work...How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"

"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."

"Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever."

"The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."

"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."

"Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."

"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."

"One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year."

"...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought."

"He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

- Albert Einstein

Posted at 12:30 AM

Sunday, June 01, 2008

connie sez...

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

- Confucius

Posted at 11:46 PM

Friday, May 30, 2008

philippe sez...

“We have to replace beauty, which is a cultural concept, with goodness, which is a humanist concept.”

- Philippe Starck

Posted at 10:31 AM

Thursday, April 24, 2008

musings #002

I was on the bus to school this morning. But when it came to my stop, I realised I just didn't really feel like getting off. So I didn't.

Having practically lived in school for the past couple a weeks working my ass off, I figured I was a bit sick of the place and it was time for a break, even if it just meant for a day. With no plan or any idea where on earth the bus would go, I got off at a place where my world once revolved around.

It was raining monkeys and donkeys so I just sat at the bus stop for a good hour odd, and began reading Tuesdays with Morrie for the twelve thousandth time. It felt strangely liberating and peaceful. With the rest of the world caged in their offices like circus chimps, the area was deserted. All mine.

I then gave myself a little challenge - not look at the time. This might sound really stupid, but its DAMN hard. With no plans made, nobody to meet, no meetings to attend, no work to do, time seems to move like a snail. Or a snail with a limp. I found this rather amusing. Bemusing.

Then the rain settled. I shifted. And continued reading. Repeated. Twice. Thrice. Then settled down with a cuppa and finished the book. Its such a strange thing when just sitting and reading a book becomes such a luxury.

Not having anything to do today gave me a bit of time for thinking. Not exactly a good thing cos I tend to think ALOT. Watching the world float by, often one thing leads to another and they go in circles till they end up at the thought I started with. But just with a whole lot more depressing questions now. So I try not to think so much nowadays.

Anyway enough twaddle. Pffft.

"How will you give when you can no longer speak?" Koppel asked.

Morrie shrugged. "Maybe I'll have to ask everyone to ask me yes or no questions."

It was such a simple answer that Koppel had to smile. He asked Morrie about silence. He mentioned a dear friend Morrie had, Maurice Stein, who was going deaf. Koppel imagined the two men together one day, one unable to speak, one unable to hear. What would that be like?

"We will hold hands," Morrie said. "And there will be a lot of love passing though us. We've had thirty-five years of friendship. You don't need speech or hearing to feel that."

Posted at 5:39 PM

Sunday, April 20, 2008

wouldn't it be nice?

Sometimes the best thing that could happen on a lazy Sunday afternoon is good old fashioned radio. And every so often, a streak of really nice songs magically takes place.

The radio was on 90.5FM in that limbo after my nap. Then mum was having her caffeine fix. Now coffee whiff/good radio/lazy Sunday - that's one damn SOLID combination. But trying to avoid coffee, I had my new(since last night) favourite comfort slurp to keep me company.

Annie Lennox - Why
Michael Damian - Was It Nothing At all
Captain & Tennile - Do That To Me One More Time
Michael McDonald - Walk On By
Chris De Burgh - Lady In Red
Dan England & John Ford Coley - Just Tell Me You Love Me
The Beatles - Yesterday
Stephen Bishop - On And On
Carpenters - We've Only Just Begun

Spandau Ballet - True

Now I'm sure this Sunday could be more perfect, we'll see.
(=

Posted at 6:39 PM