Saturday, November 30, 2013
Saturday, November 16, 2013
TENTH BRIDGID NOREEN FIFE MEMORIAL LUNCHEON, We need everyone's support
TENTH BRIDGID NOREEN FIFE MEMORIAL LUNCHEON
Benefiting the Visiting Nurse Association of Long Island’s
Maternal Child Health Program
Maternal Child Health Program
~ Honoring ~
Stephanie E. Dawson
Acting Chief Operating Officer
The Port Authority of NY&NJ
and
Jim Bliku
Airport Manager - JFK
Qantas Airways Limited
President, Kennedy Airport Airlines Management Council (KAAMCO)
December 10, 2013
12 Noon
Antunʼs Queens Village, New York
Visiting Nurse Association of Long Island, Inc.
100 Garden City Plaza, Suite 100 • Garden City, NY 11530
PH: 516 739-1270 • FAX: 516 739-3864
Our home care makes all the difference.
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Payment questions? Call Debbie Nilsson at 516 739-1270.
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Sunday, September 29, 2013
Bruce Lee's Philosophy as stated in an old Black Belt Mag, Article, I ask for another look.
Bruce Lee's article in Black Belt - Kung Fu Magazine Forums
Bruce Lee's Philosophy as stated in an old Black Belt Mag, Article, I ask for another look. If you can, in your mind take this article on Martial Art's or even Karate and reference it as a very interesting look at Religion, and more importantly our use of Religion to start wars, kill others, alienate whole classes of people.
Mr. Lee was a student of Philosophy, and spent both formal Educational Time at it in University, and in reading and discussing it with many people claiming a level of wisdom in it. I think this article is more a thesis of the philosophy of Martial Arts, which to many was or is a religion or at minimum a religious experience.
LIBERATE YOURSELF FROM CLASSICAL KARATE (Religion)
by Bruce Lee
--------------------------------------------------
HE TEACHES AND EXPLAINS WHAT IS JEET KUNE DO
I am the first to admit that any attempt to crystalize Jeet Kune Do into a written article is no easy task. Perhaps to avoid making a 'thing' out of a 'process'. I have not until now personally written an article on JKD. Indeed, it is difficult to explain what Jeet Kune Do is, although it may be easier to explain what it is not.
Let me begin with a Zen story. The story might be familiar to some, but I repeat it for it's appropriateness. Look upon this story as a means of limbering up one's senses, one's attitude and one's mind to make them pliable and receptive. You need that to understand this article, otherwise you might as well forget reading any further.
A learned man once went to a Zen teacher to inquire about Zen. As the Zen teacher explained, the learned man would frequently interrupt him with remarks like, "Oh, yes, we have that too...." and so on.
Finally the Zen teacher stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured the cup full, and then kept pouring until the cup overflowed.
"Enough!" the learned man once more interrupted. "No more can go into the cup!"
"Indeed, I see," answered the Zen teacher. "If you do not first empty the cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?"
I hope my comrades in the martial arts (religion) will read the following paragraphs with open-mindedness leaving all the burdens of preconceived opinions and conclusions behind. This act, by the way, has in itself liberating power. After all, the usefulness of the cup is in it's emptiness.
Make this article relate to yourself, because though it is on JKD, it is primarily concerned with the blossoming of a martial artist---not a "Chinese" martial artist, a "Japanese" martial artist, etc,(religion). A martial artist (Spiritual Person) is a human being first. Just as nationalities have nothing to do with one's humanity, so they have nothing to do with martial arts (Religion). Leave your protective shell of isolation and relate 'directly' to what is being said. Return to your senses by ceasing all the intervening intellectual mumbo jumbo. Remember that life is a constant process of relating. Remember too, that I seek neither your approval nor to influence you towards my way of thinking. I will be more than satisfied if, as a result of this article, you begin to investigate everything for yourself and cease to uncritically accept prescribed formulas that dictate "this is this" and "that is that".
ON CHOICELESS OBSERVATION
Suppose several persons who are trained in different styles of (religion) combative arts witness an all out street fight. I am sure that we would hear different versions from each of these stylists. This is quite understandable for one cannot see a fight (or anything else) "as is" as long as he is blinded by his chosen point of view, i.e. style, and he will view the fight through the lens of his particular conditioning. Fighting, "as is," is simple and total. It is not limited to your perspective conditioning as a Chinese martial artist. True observation begins when one sheds set patterns and true freedom of expression occurs when one is beyond systems.
Before we examine Jeet Kune Do, let's consider exactly what a "classical" martial art style really is. To begin with, we must recognize the incontrovertible fact that regardless of their many colorful origins (by a wise, mysterious monk, by a special messenger in a dream, in a holy revelation, etc.) styles are created by men. A style should never be considered gospel truth, the laws and principles of which can never be violated. Man, the living, creating individual, is always more important than any established style.
It is conceivable that a long time ago a certain (spiritual person) martial artist discovered some partial truth. During his lifetime, the man resisted the temptation to organize this partial truth, although this is a common tendency in a man's search for security and certainty in life. After his death, his students took "his" hypotheses, "his" postulates, "his" method and turned them into law. Impressive creeds were then invented, solemn reinforcing ceremonies prescribed, rigid philosophy and patterns formulated, and so on, until finally an institution was erected. So, what originated as one man's intuition of some sort of personal fluidity has been transformed into solidified, fixed knowledge, complete with organized classified responses presented in a logical order. In so doing, the well-meaning, loyal followers have not only made this knowledge a holy shrine, but also a tomb in which they have buried the founder's wisdom.
But distortion does not necessarily end here. In reaction to "the other truth," another (spiritual person) martial artist, or possible a dissatisfied disciple, organizes an opposite approach--such as the "soft" style versus the "hard" style, the "internal" school versus the "external" school, and all these separate nonsenses. Soon this opposite faction also becomes a large organization, with its own laws and patterns. A rivalry begins, with each style claiming to possess the "truth" to the exclusions of all others.
At best, styles are merely parts dissected from a unitary whole. All styles require adjustment, partiality, denials, condemnation and a lot of self- justification. The solutions they purport to provide are the very cause of the problem, because they limit and interfere with our natural growth and obstruct the way to genuine understanding. Divisive by nature, styles keep men 'apart' from each other rather than 'unite' them.
TRUTH CANNOT BE STRUCTURED OR DEFINED
One cannot express himself fully when imprisoned by a confining style. Combat (Life) "as is" is total, and it includes all the "is" as well as "is not," without favorite lines or angles. Lacking boundaries, combat is always fresh, alive and constantly changing. Your particular style, your personal inclinations and your physical makeup are all 'parts' of combat, but they do not constitute the 'whole' of combat. Should your responses become dependent upon any single part, you will react in terms of what "should be" rather than to the reality of the ever-changing "what is." Remember that while the whole is evidenced in all its parts, an isolated part, efficient or not, does not constitute the whole.
Prolonged repetitious drillings will certainly yield mechanical precision and security of that kind comes from any routine. However, it is exactly this kind of "selective" security or "crutch" which limits or blocks the total growth of a martial artist. In fact, quite a few practitioners develop such a liking for and dependence on their "crutch" that they can no longer walk without it. Thus, anyone special technique, however cleverly designed is actually a hinderance.
Let it be understood once and for all that I have NOT invented a new style, composite, or modification. I have in no way set Jeet Kune Do within a distinct form governed by laws that distinguish it from "this" style or "that" method. On the contrary, I hope to free my comrades from bondage to styles, patterns and doctrines.
What, then, is Jeet Kune Do? Literally, "jeet" means to intercept or to stop; "kune" is the fist; and "do" is the way, the ultimate reality---the way of the intercepting fist. Do remember, however, that "Jeet Kune Do" is merely a convenient name. I am not interested with the term itself; I am interested in its effect of liberation when JKD is used as a mirror for self-examination.
Unlike a "classical" martial art, there is no series of rules or classification of technique that constitutes a distinct "Jeet Kune Do" method of fighting. JKD is not a form of special conditioning with its own rigid philosophy. It looks at combat not from a single angle, but from all possible angles. While JKD utilizes all the ways and means to serve its end (after all, efficiency is anything that scores), it is bound by none and is therefore free. In other words, JKD possesses everything, but is in itself possessed by nothing.
Therefore, to try and define JKD in terms of a distinct style---be it gung-fu, karate, street fighting, Bruce Lee's martial art, etc.---is to completely miss its meaning. It's teaching simply cannot be confined with a system. Since JKD is at once "this" and "not this", it neither opposes nor adheres to any style. To understand this fully, one must transcend from the duality of "for" and "against" into one organic unity which is without distinctions. Understanding of JKD is direct intuition of this unity.
There are no prearranged sets or "kata" in the teaching of JKD, nor are they necessary. Consider the subtle difference between "having no form" and having "no form"; the first is ignorance, the second is transcendence. Through instinctive body feeling, each of us 'knows' our own most efficient and dynamic manner of achieving effective leverage, balance in motion, economical use of energy, etc. Patterns, techniques or forms touch only the fringe of genuine understanding. The core of understanding lies in the individual mind, and until that is touched, everything is uncertain and superficial. Truth cannot be perceived until we come to fully understand ourselves and our potentials. After all, 'knowledge in the martial arts (religion) ultimately means self-knowledge.'
At this point you may ask, "How do I gain this knowledge?" That you will have to find out all by yourself. You must accept the fact that there is in help but self-help. For the same reason I cannot tell you how to "gain" freedom, since freedom exists within you. I cannot tell you what 'not' to do, I cannot tell you what you 'should' do, since that would be confining you to a particular approach. Formulas can only inhibit freedom, externally dictated prescriptions only squelch creativity and assure mediocrity. Bear in mind that the freedom that accrues from self-knowledge cannot be acquired through strict adherence to a formula; we do not suddenly "become" free, we simply "are" free.
Learning is definitely not mere imitation, nor is it the ability to accumulate and regurgitate fixed knowledge. Learning is a constant process of discovery, a process without end. In JKD we begin not by accumulation but by discovering the cause of our ignorance, a discovery that involves a shedding process.
Unfortunately, most students in the martial arts are conformists. Instead of learning to depend on themselves for expression, they blindly follow their instructors, no longer feeling alone, and finding security in mass imitation. The product of this imitation is a dependent mind. Independent inquiry, which is essential to genuine understanding, is sacrificed. Look around the martial arts (Religions) and witness the assortment of routine performers, trick artists, desensitized robots, glorifiers of the past and so on---- all followers or exponents of organized despair.
How often are we told by different "sensei" of "masters" that the martial arts are life itself? But how many of them truly understand what they are saying? Life is a constant movement---rhythmic as well as random; life is a constant change and not stagnation. Instead of choicelessly flowing with this process of change, many of these "masters", past and present, have built an illusion of fixed forms, rigidly subscribing to traditional concepts and techniques of the art, solidifying the ever-flowing, dissecting the totality.
The most pitiful sight is to see sincere students earnestly repeating those imitative drills, listening to their own screams and spiritual yells. In most cases, the means these "sensei" offer their students are so elaborate that the student must give tremendous attention to them, until gradually he loses sight of the end. The students end up performing their methodical routines as a mere conditioned response, rather than 'responding to' "what is." They no longer "listen" to circumstances; they "recite" their circumstances. These pour souls have unwittingly become trapped in the miasma of classical martial arts training.
A teacher, a really good sensei, is never a 'giver' of "truth"; he is a guide, a 'pointer' to the truth that the student must discover for himself. A good teacher, therefore, studies each student individually and encourages the student to explore himself, both internally and externally, until, ultimately, the student is integrated with his being. For example, a skillful teacher might spur his student's growth by confronting him with certain frustrations. A good teacher is a catalyst. Besides possessing a deep understanding, he must also have a responsive mind with great flexibility and sensitivity.
A FINGER POINTING TO THE MOON
There is no standard in total combat (life), and expression must be free. this liberating truth is a reality only in so far as it is 'experienced and lived' by the individual himself; it is a truth that transcends styles or disciplines. Remember, too, that Jeet Kune Do is merely a term, a label to be used as a boat to get one across; once across, it is to be discarded and not carried on one's back.
These few paragraphs are, at best, a "finger pointing to the moon." Please do not take the finger to be the moon or fix your gaze so intently on the finger as to miss all the beautiful sights of heaven. After all, the usefulness of the finger is in pointing away from itself to the light which illumines finger and all. ---
Bruce Lee's Philosophy as stated in an old Black Belt Mag, Article, I ask for another look. If you can, in your mind take this article on Martial Art's or even Karate and reference it as a very interesting look at Religion, and more importantly our use of Religion to start wars, kill others, alienate whole classes of people.
Mr. Lee was a student of Philosophy, and spent both formal Educational Time at it in University, and in reading and discussing it with many people claiming a level of wisdom in it. I think this article is more a thesis of the philosophy of Martial Arts, which to many was or is a religion or at minimum a religious experience.
LIBERATE YOURSELF FROM CLASSICAL KARATE (Religion)
by Bruce Lee
--------------------------------------------------
HE TEACHES AND EXPLAINS WHAT IS JEET KUNE DO
I am the first to admit that any attempt to crystalize Jeet Kune Do into a written article is no easy task. Perhaps to avoid making a 'thing' out of a 'process'. I have not until now personally written an article on JKD. Indeed, it is difficult to explain what Jeet Kune Do is, although it may be easier to explain what it is not.
Let me begin with a Zen story. The story might be familiar to some, but I repeat it for it's appropriateness. Look upon this story as a means of limbering up one's senses, one's attitude and one's mind to make them pliable and receptive. You need that to understand this article, otherwise you might as well forget reading any further.
A learned man once went to a Zen teacher to inquire about Zen. As the Zen teacher explained, the learned man would frequently interrupt him with remarks like, "Oh, yes, we have that too...." and so on.
Finally the Zen teacher stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured the cup full, and then kept pouring until the cup overflowed.
"Enough!" the learned man once more interrupted. "No more can go into the cup!"
"Indeed, I see," answered the Zen teacher. "If you do not first empty the cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?"
I hope my comrades in the martial arts (religion) will read the following paragraphs with open-mindedness leaving all the burdens of preconceived opinions and conclusions behind. This act, by the way, has in itself liberating power. After all, the usefulness of the cup is in it's emptiness.
Make this article relate to yourself, because though it is on JKD, it is primarily concerned with the blossoming of a martial artist---not a "Chinese" martial artist, a "Japanese" martial artist, etc,(religion). A martial artist (Spiritual Person) is a human being first. Just as nationalities have nothing to do with one's humanity, so they have nothing to do with martial arts (Religion). Leave your protective shell of isolation and relate 'directly' to what is being said. Return to your senses by ceasing all the intervening intellectual mumbo jumbo. Remember that life is a constant process of relating. Remember too, that I seek neither your approval nor to influence you towards my way of thinking. I will be more than satisfied if, as a result of this article, you begin to investigate everything for yourself and cease to uncritically accept prescribed formulas that dictate "this is this" and "that is that".
ON CHOICELESS OBSERVATION
Suppose several persons who are trained in different styles of (religion) combative arts witness an all out street fight. I am sure that we would hear different versions from each of these stylists. This is quite understandable for one cannot see a fight (or anything else) "as is" as long as he is blinded by his chosen point of view, i.e. style, and he will view the fight through the lens of his particular conditioning. Fighting, "as is," is simple and total. It is not limited to your perspective conditioning as a Chinese martial artist. True observation begins when one sheds set patterns and true freedom of expression occurs when one is beyond systems.
Before we examine Jeet Kune Do, let's consider exactly what a "classical" martial art style really is. To begin with, we must recognize the incontrovertible fact that regardless of their many colorful origins (by a wise, mysterious monk, by a special messenger in a dream, in a holy revelation, etc.) styles are created by men. A style should never be considered gospel truth, the laws and principles of which can never be violated. Man, the living, creating individual, is always more important than any established style.
It is conceivable that a long time ago a certain (spiritual person) martial artist discovered some partial truth. During his lifetime, the man resisted the temptation to organize this partial truth, although this is a common tendency in a man's search for security and certainty in life. After his death, his students took "his" hypotheses, "his" postulates, "his" method and turned them into law. Impressive creeds were then invented, solemn reinforcing ceremonies prescribed, rigid philosophy and patterns formulated, and so on, until finally an institution was erected. So, what originated as one man's intuition of some sort of personal fluidity has been transformed into solidified, fixed knowledge, complete with organized classified responses presented in a logical order. In so doing, the well-meaning, loyal followers have not only made this knowledge a holy shrine, but also a tomb in which they have buried the founder's wisdom.
But distortion does not necessarily end here. In reaction to "the other truth," another (spiritual person) martial artist, or possible a dissatisfied disciple, organizes an opposite approach--such as the "soft" style versus the "hard" style, the "internal" school versus the "external" school, and all these separate nonsenses. Soon this opposite faction also becomes a large organization, with its own laws and patterns. A rivalry begins, with each style claiming to possess the "truth" to the exclusions of all others.
At best, styles are merely parts dissected from a unitary whole. All styles require adjustment, partiality, denials, condemnation and a lot of self- justification. The solutions they purport to provide are the very cause of the problem, because they limit and interfere with our natural growth and obstruct the way to genuine understanding. Divisive by nature, styles keep men 'apart' from each other rather than 'unite' them.
TRUTH CANNOT BE STRUCTURED OR DEFINED
One cannot express himself fully when imprisoned by a confining style. Combat (Life) "as is" is total, and it includes all the "is" as well as "is not," without favorite lines or angles. Lacking boundaries, combat is always fresh, alive and constantly changing. Your particular style, your personal inclinations and your physical makeup are all 'parts' of combat, but they do not constitute the 'whole' of combat. Should your responses become dependent upon any single part, you will react in terms of what "should be" rather than to the reality of the ever-changing "what is." Remember that while the whole is evidenced in all its parts, an isolated part, efficient or not, does not constitute the whole.
Prolonged repetitious drillings will certainly yield mechanical precision and security of that kind comes from any routine. However, it is exactly this kind of "selective" security or "crutch" which limits or blocks the total growth of a martial artist. In fact, quite a few practitioners develop such a liking for and dependence on their "crutch" that they can no longer walk without it. Thus, anyone special technique, however cleverly designed is actually a hinderance.
Let it be understood once and for all that I have NOT invented a new style, composite, or modification. I have in no way set Jeet Kune Do within a distinct form governed by laws that distinguish it from "this" style or "that" method. On the contrary, I hope to free my comrades from bondage to styles, patterns and doctrines.
What, then, is Jeet Kune Do? Literally, "jeet" means to intercept or to stop; "kune" is the fist; and "do" is the way, the ultimate reality---the way of the intercepting fist. Do remember, however, that "Jeet Kune Do" is merely a convenient name. I am not interested with the term itself; I am interested in its effect of liberation when JKD is used as a mirror for self-examination.
Unlike a "classical" martial art, there is no series of rules or classification of technique that constitutes a distinct "Jeet Kune Do" method of fighting. JKD is not a form of special conditioning with its own rigid philosophy. It looks at combat not from a single angle, but from all possible angles. While JKD utilizes all the ways and means to serve its end (after all, efficiency is anything that scores), it is bound by none and is therefore free. In other words, JKD possesses everything, but is in itself possessed by nothing.
Therefore, to try and define JKD in terms of a distinct style---be it gung-fu, karate, street fighting, Bruce Lee's martial art, etc.---is to completely miss its meaning. It's teaching simply cannot be confined with a system. Since JKD is at once "this" and "not this", it neither opposes nor adheres to any style. To understand this fully, one must transcend from the duality of "for" and "against" into one organic unity which is without distinctions. Understanding of JKD is direct intuition of this unity.
There are no prearranged sets or "kata" in the teaching of JKD, nor are they necessary. Consider the subtle difference between "having no form" and having "no form"; the first is ignorance, the second is transcendence. Through instinctive body feeling, each of us 'knows' our own most efficient and dynamic manner of achieving effective leverage, balance in motion, economical use of energy, etc. Patterns, techniques or forms touch only the fringe of genuine understanding. The core of understanding lies in the individual mind, and until that is touched, everything is uncertain and superficial. Truth cannot be perceived until we come to fully understand ourselves and our potentials. After all, 'knowledge in the martial arts (religion) ultimately means self-knowledge.'
At this point you may ask, "How do I gain this knowledge?" That you will have to find out all by yourself. You must accept the fact that there is in help but self-help. For the same reason I cannot tell you how to "gain" freedom, since freedom exists within you. I cannot tell you what 'not' to do, I cannot tell you what you 'should' do, since that would be confining you to a particular approach. Formulas can only inhibit freedom, externally dictated prescriptions only squelch creativity and assure mediocrity. Bear in mind that the freedom that accrues from self-knowledge cannot be acquired through strict adherence to a formula; we do not suddenly "become" free, we simply "are" free.
Learning is definitely not mere imitation, nor is it the ability to accumulate and regurgitate fixed knowledge. Learning is a constant process of discovery, a process without end. In JKD we begin not by accumulation but by discovering the cause of our ignorance, a discovery that involves a shedding process.
Unfortunately, most students in the martial arts are conformists. Instead of learning to depend on themselves for expression, they blindly follow their instructors, no longer feeling alone, and finding security in mass imitation. The product of this imitation is a dependent mind. Independent inquiry, which is essential to genuine understanding, is sacrificed. Look around the martial arts (Religions) and witness the assortment of routine performers, trick artists, desensitized robots, glorifiers of the past and so on---- all followers or exponents of organized despair.
How often are we told by different "sensei" of "masters" that the martial arts are life itself? But how many of them truly understand what they are saying? Life is a constant movement---rhythmic as well as random; life is a constant change and not stagnation. Instead of choicelessly flowing with this process of change, many of these "masters", past and present, have built an illusion of fixed forms, rigidly subscribing to traditional concepts and techniques of the art, solidifying the ever-flowing, dissecting the totality.
The most pitiful sight is to see sincere students earnestly repeating those imitative drills, listening to their own screams and spiritual yells. In most cases, the means these "sensei" offer their students are so elaborate that the student must give tremendous attention to them, until gradually he loses sight of the end. The students end up performing their methodical routines as a mere conditioned response, rather than 'responding to' "what is." They no longer "listen" to circumstances; they "recite" their circumstances. These pour souls have unwittingly become trapped in the miasma of classical martial arts training.
A teacher, a really good sensei, is never a 'giver' of "truth"; he is a guide, a 'pointer' to the truth that the student must discover for himself. A good teacher, therefore, studies each student individually and encourages the student to explore himself, both internally and externally, until, ultimately, the student is integrated with his being. For example, a skillful teacher might spur his student's growth by confronting him with certain frustrations. A good teacher is a catalyst. Besides possessing a deep understanding, he must also have a responsive mind with great flexibility and sensitivity.
A FINGER POINTING TO THE MOON
There is no standard in total combat (life), and expression must be free. this liberating truth is a reality only in so far as it is 'experienced and lived' by the individual himself; it is a truth that transcends styles or disciplines. Remember, too, that Jeet Kune Do is merely a term, a label to be used as a boat to get one across; once across, it is to be discarded and not carried on one's back.
These few paragraphs are, at best, a "finger pointing to the moon." Please do not take the finger to be the moon or fix your gaze so intently on the finger as to miss all the beautiful sights of heaven. After all, the usefulness of the finger is in pointing away from itself to the light which illumines finger and all. ---
Sunday, April 8, 2012
A little back pain relief, be easy with it.
There is a number of stretches that really help me, but I will leave that for the pro's to talk to you about.
Try this: Stand with your back next to a wall with your shoulders and hips gently touching it. Now, gently, everything should be done very gently, and slow with purpose.
In your minds eye, visualize that gap between your lower back and the wall, just visualize it. Now, as you take in a long deep breath, feel your back gently being sucked into the wall, like your breath is causing a vacuum drawing the back in toward the wall. Don't press or move your back at all, just pretend it is being sucked gently in. Do this for a few deep breaths, as many as you feel comfortable with.
What is happening is a easy relaxation is settling into the lower back muscles, the deep breaths will calm you down, and that always relaxes muscles, the pretending of the suction, just allows the back to comfortably align itself, and the wall takes the stress off the back just slightly.
Try this: Stand with your back next to a wall with your shoulders and hips gently touching it. Now, gently, everything should be done very gently, and slow with purpose.
In your minds eye, visualize that gap between your lower back and the wall, just visualize it. Now, as you take in a long deep breath, feel your back gently being sucked into the wall, like your breath is causing a vacuum drawing the back in toward the wall. Don't press or move your back at all, just pretend it is being sucked gently in. Do this for a few deep breaths, as many as you feel comfortable with.
What is happening is a easy relaxation is settling into the lower back muscles, the deep breaths will calm you down, and that always relaxes muscles, the pretending of the suction, just allows the back to comfortably align itself, and the wall takes the stress off the back just slightly.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Linear students learn leadership skills | Shreveporttimes | shreveporttimes.com
Linear students learn leadership skills | Shreveporttimes | shreveporttimes.com
Rich Notes: This is the third time I have seen working results of what Jay helps children find in themselves. He is amazing, but the kids, are the real winners here. If any of you can find some folks that would like to see Jay work at a school in your area, please let me know. By the way, some of you will recognize the bald head showing at the bottom of the picture.
Rich
Linear students learn leadership skills
Chaelyn Newton, an eight-grader, speaks with other students from Linear Leadership Academy during the Leaders for the Future student service learning leadership development program conducted by Bonsting/Leadership Development, headquartered in Columbia, Maryland. / Jim Hudelson/The Times
Leadership is more than just a part of Linear Leadership Academy's name.
Principal Sheryl Nix said that's one of the many reasons she was so excited her school is the first in Louisiana chosen to participate in the nationally recognized Bonstingl Leaders for the Future program, a service-learning program designed to create tomorrow's leaders in communities around the country.
Through a grant from State Farm Insurance, John Jay Bonstingl, creator of the program, spent Monday and Tuesday at the middle school training about 80 students on what it takes to be a true leader and arming them with the tools and skills to create their own projects designed to make their schools and communities better.
"This gives kids the opportunity to experience something they may have never done before and to play a proactive part in the bettering of their school and the community in which they live," Bonstingl said. "Amid all of the concerns about testing and standards, that's really the missing piece in much of American education."
During the activity, students divided into teams and made plans for projects ranging from early morning tutoring on campus to beautification ventures.
"As adults, so often we assume kids will be looking for ways to increase recreational time or are thinking of how to better their time outside of school, but so many of the kids I've seen over the last two days have wanted to do things to better their education and improve their school," Rep. Patrick Williams said. "This proves our students are actively thinking about their future and how to make their community and their school a better place if given the chance."
Justice Mitchell, an eighth-grader at Linear, said she enjoyed getting to work in her group and think of ways to improve student achievement in her school.
"We want to make our school better, so our project is to create a study hall for each grade during the day to give the kids with better grades a chance to tutor students that aren't doing so well," she said.
Bonstingl will be back at the school in four weeks to check on the progress the students have made on their projects and offer any additional advice students may need to make their projects a reality.Rich Notes: This is the third time I have seen working results of what Jay helps children find in themselves. He is amazing, but the kids, are the real winners here. If any of you can find some folks that would like to see Jay work at a school in your area, please let me know. By the way, some of you will recognize the bald head showing at the bottom of the picture.
Rich
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The Great Courses
The Great Courses
If you are looking for a great way to advance yourself, this is it. Collage based lectures on many subjects, in audio format, for your MP-3, DVD format, or even down loadable video format. I think at last count I had taken 87 courses from these folks. I listen while I walk, drive to work, even sitting on airplanes, or riding on buses. You can bone up on areas you are already familiar with, or broaden your horizons with new areas. I have taken courses on speaking, writing, history, physics, even jazz and classical music. I think you can safely say I have taken every course they have on philosophy, and psychiatry.
If you are in between jobs, or just want to be ready for the next big opportunity, this is a great way to prepare.
If you are looking for a great way to advance yourself, this is it. Collage based lectures on many subjects, in audio format, for your MP-3, DVD format, or even down loadable video format. I think at last count I had taken 87 courses from these folks. I listen while I walk, drive to work, even sitting on airplanes, or riding on buses. You can bone up on areas you are already familiar with, or broaden your horizons with new areas. I have taken courses on speaking, writing, history, physics, even jazz and classical music. I think you can safely say I have taken every course they have on philosophy, and psychiatry.
If you are in between jobs, or just want to be ready for the next big opportunity, this is a great way to prepare.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Solyndra – Illuminating Energy Funding Flaws? | Plugged In, Scientific American Blog Network
Solyndra – Illuminating Energy Funding Flaws? | Plugged In, Scientific American Blog Network
Government funding of new energy innovation, is often a good idea, but funding an energy business is not. Japan tried this to get out of there financial crisis, much like ours. It really started with a housing price bubble, but then Japan tried to buy their way out. Part of buying there way out was to first invest in High Definition TV innovation. Then like our Solyndra problem, they financed the promotion and factories for High Definition TV. They spend billions, just to find that the free market chose another version of High Definition TV. Virtually all the Government money went down the tube (as they say).
The key is financing new innovation is great, in fact most of what NASA actually did was test and try new technology, but when it was time to go to market, NASA have a technology transfer program, as does DOD, and other Government programs. This is where the idea is often given or licensed to private industry for them to go out and get financing , based mainly on the business plan of the company. If it looks like a profit center, then venture capitalists put up their money for manufacture, and go to market. Some times it works sometimes it does not, but it is not government money. The risk is all on the companies involved, which means they keep a critical eye on the business, and cut losses if it does not look like it will work. There was very little risk in the Solyndra deal, in fact virtually none, if it had worked those same people taking the 5th would be multi millionaires, if fact it is still to be seen if they are millionaires anyhow since they used the Government money to pay their salaries for the time the company was running.
Risk, makes people pay a lot more attention to what the company is doing, venture capitalists do a lot of study on how much risk they are taking for the investment. They still make mistakes, but that is part of the risk, which is part of why the tax rate in lower on them, since they are taking risks. In fact if you want to add jobs reduce the tax rate these folks pay, and let them invest more.
It is coming out that a lot of people knew this company had problems, even before the money was given to them, just the fact they could not get non government funding tells you it was flawed. If it was a good business plan, investors would have been all over it, trying to get a part of the company to make money. Parts of the problem, had nothing to do with the development of the factory, even thou it looks like even this was not done with risk of profit in mind, it was the market. Someone else could make it cheaper, and so much cheaper that even if this process was better, it could not compete in the market.
But this is not the first time, we are spending a fortune on some bio fuel process, that never will be profitable, in some cases it takes more energy to make the fuel than it will provide.
I think we will go green, and it will happen faster and faster, but not because the government funded in, it will be because it is where the market will take it. I think any reasonable engineer will tell you combustion engines have almost reached the end of there capabilities. Any device that uses one type of movement like the up and down of a piston then coverts it to another movement like rotation driving gears and wheels in inefficient. Electric motors develop only one type of movement, rotation, and can even use rotation to conserve energy as well. It has to win in the end, how it get the electricity is the only question. The market knows this and will take care of it in its own way.
Rich
Government funding of new energy innovation, is often a good idea, but funding an energy business is not. Japan tried this to get out of there financial crisis, much like ours. It really started with a housing price bubble, but then Japan tried to buy their way out. Part of buying there way out was to first invest in High Definition TV innovation. Then like our Solyndra problem, they financed the promotion and factories for High Definition TV. They spend billions, just to find that the free market chose another version of High Definition TV. Virtually all the Government money went down the tube (as they say).
The key is financing new innovation is great, in fact most of what NASA actually did was test and try new technology, but when it was time to go to market, NASA have a technology transfer program, as does DOD, and other Government programs. This is where the idea is often given or licensed to private industry for them to go out and get financing , based mainly on the business plan of the company. If it looks like a profit center, then venture capitalists put up their money for manufacture, and go to market. Some times it works sometimes it does not, but it is not government money. The risk is all on the companies involved, which means they keep a critical eye on the business, and cut losses if it does not look like it will work. There was very little risk in the Solyndra deal, in fact virtually none, if it had worked those same people taking the 5th would be multi millionaires, if fact it is still to be seen if they are millionaires anyhow since they used the Government money to pay their salaries for the time the company was running.
Risk, makes people pay a lot more attention to what the company is doing, venture capitalists do a lot of study on how much risk they are taking for the investment. They still make mistakes, but that is part of the risk, which is part of why the tax rate in lower on them, since they are taking risks. In fact if you want to add jobs reduce the tax rate these folks pay, and let them invest more.
It is coming out that a lot of people knew this company had problems, even before the money was given to them, just the fact they could not get non government funding tells you it was flawed. If it was a good business plan, investors would have been all over it, trying to get a part of the company to make money. Parts of the problem, had nothing to do with the development of the factory, even thou it looks like even this was not done with risk of profit in mind, it was the market. Someone else could make it cheaper, and so much cheaper that even if this process was better, it could not compete in the market.
But this is not the first time, we are spending a fortune on some bio fuel process, that never will be profitable, in some cases it takes more energy to make the fuel than it will provide.
I think we will go green, and it will happen faster and faster, but not because the government funded in, it will be because it is where the market will take it. I think any reasonable engineer will tell you combustion engines have almost reached the end of there capabilities. Any device that uses one type of movement like the up and down of a piston then coverts it to another movement like rotation driving gears and wheels in inefficient. Electric motors develop only one type of movement, rotation, and can even use rotation to conserve energy as well. It has to win in the end, how it get the electricity is the only question. The market knows this and will take care of it in its own way.
Rich
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