Deranged Minds

The human mind is a place where the greatest creations are made, but also where the darkest abyss hides. Nobody knows this better that artists, a special kind of people who are forced to live with their own visions and views of what we perceive as normal. The line between genius and madness has always been thin and can easily be crossed on the examples of five authors who have struggled with their demons their entire lives. Even though they have created works after which they will be remembered, in the end, they lost the battle and have disappeared in their own madness.
Jack Kerouac-One of the most respected writers of the New Continent, is famous for his cult novel On the Road, which is considered to be the pivotal book of the so called beat generation. Kerouac was a restless spirit who married three times, obsessively wrote and travelled across the USA. He ended his life in Florida in 1969. He arrived there a day earlier due to strong abdominal pain, brought on by internal bleeding and caused by liver cirrhosis. The urban legend states that he wrote On the Road in a three-week long session, with Kerouac not sleeping, but maniacally typing, haunted by amphetamines and vast amounts of coffee. Not to interrupt his writing with placing new sheets of paper, Kerouac thought to type on a large roll of paper, which reeled off over the course of these three weeks as he typed in new lines.
Marcel Proust-Although his novel In Search of Lost Time is one of the most respectable writings of the 20th century, the author himself was a great eccentric. Proust never worked because he had a huge inheritance, but he was troubled by great misfortunes in his personal life. He lost his brother and mother in a short period of time, he had no fulfilled romances and he started pining away towards the end. He had an incredible precision and sensitivity. Proust was a welcome guest in hotels because when he would like to stay in one, he would take five rooms. He would live alone in one of them, while the other four surrounding his would have to be empty in order for the writer to sleep peacefully, without any noise, heard by only him. He never left his bed in the final three years of his life, where he maniacally finished his epic work.
Robert E. Howard-US writer who invented the sword and sorcery genre, and is one of the authors whose work has become more famous than themselves. Howard is Conan the Barbarian`s father, embodied by a California governor on film. He wrote his work for various pulp magazines which boomed during the Great Depression. He suffered from a great depression himself and often contemplated suicide, but he wanted to end his life in a truly morbid fashion. After hearing about his mother being on her death bed, Howard stormed out of the house and got in the car. He took a borrowed gun from the glove compartment and shot himself in the head. Even though his father and a doctor rushed to help him, there was no saving him. He died eight hours later and his mother the next day.
Franz Kafka-The Metamorphosis and The Trial (Process) author lived in Prague, but spent his entire life writing in German. He was so fluent in the language that serves as a nightmare for translators to this very day. Not because of his ungainliness, but the craftsmanship which enabled his sentences to be a page long. His name went down in history and the term Kafkian situation is used today to describe an excruciating and unsolvable situation. Kafka was convinced he was not a good writer and before his death he requested all his work to be burned. He suffered from great depression and migraines his entire life and he tied many cures, including a novelty at the time called vegetarianism. He died of starvation and a poor condition caused by tuberculosis-devastated throat. He foresaw closed and rigid totalitarian systems in his work, which would kill his entire family in concentration camps several decades later.
Edgar Allan Poe-One of the most famous poetry writers, author of the famous The Raven is one of the most influential writers America has ever had. He pursued cryptography, journalism and mysticism. He suffered from depression and manic episodes. Poe foresaw black holes and various physics paradoxes, thus surpassing physicists for a good period of 80 years. His death is one of the most spectacular and mysterious examples in literature. When Poe appeared completely psychically lost in the streets of Baltimore in 1949, he was rushed into hospital. Still, he could not be rescued. What was surprising is that nobody could realise what the famous author died of and speculation included alcohol, a weak heart, cholera and many many others. The popular belief is that he has subcome to an apparition from his obscure stories.

Znanje - Nemanje

U istrazivanju Geographic Society (USA) na uzorku od 300 mladih Amerikanaca izmedju 18 i 24 godine, dobijeni su porazavajuci rezultati o njihovom geografskom znanju:
- 11% nije znalo obiljeziti podrucje na kojemu se nalaze SAD,
- 29% nije znalo pronaci Pacific ocean, - jedan od sedam nije znao na karti pronaci Irak,
- 35% zna da se ostrvo Marquesas iz emisije Survivor nalazi u Juznom Pacifiku
- 30% zna na karti pokazati gdje se nalazi New Jersey
- pri lociraju 10 bilo kojih drzava SAD-a, vecina (85%) je znala tacno locirati samo Californiju i Texas. Njih 51% znalo je pronaci New York.
- Na karti svijeta Amerikanci su uspjeli pronaci samo 7 od 16 trazenih drzava.
- 81 % ispitanika zna da je Bliski istok najveci svjetski proizvodjac nafte ali 24% njih zna na karti pronaci Saudijsku Arabiju.
-55% Amerikanaca znaju da je Sunce zvijezda, ali je 20% ubjedjenja da se Sunce okrece oko Zemlje.

Etta James

Ah, those names

*Convicted of murder in a home invasion, Mr. Andrew S. "Junebug" Warrior (the "S" stands for Sweetie)
*Discouraged by school officials from attending a Catholic school because of his name, the 5-year-old Max Hell (Melbourne, Australia)
*Arrested for stealing three rolls of toilet paper from a courthouse, Ms. Suzanne Marie Butts (Marshalltown, Iowa)
*Leading a fight in the Kenai Peninsula Borough (Alaska) Assembly to defeat a term-limit rule, Assemblyman Gary Superman

It's about time

Identity fraud is a crime in Canada, but gathering and trafficking identity information (credit card, banking and other personal data for the purposes of using it deceptively) generally is NOT. Finally, the government plans to criminalize identity theft to give police the ability to stop such activity before any fraud has actually been carried out.

National Day of Action

Anti-war demonstrators marched in a dozen U.S. cities on Saturday to call for an immediate end to the war in Iraq and a cut-off of funding by Congress. The National Day of Action, sponsored by the United for Peace and Justice coalition, attracted protesters in cities from Boston and New Orleans to Chicago and Los Angeles on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. Senate's vote authorizing the invasion of Iraq. Leslie Kielsen, a local UPAJ organizer, said the "half a trillion" dollars spent on the war was money that could have been used for education, housing and to feed the hungry. The demonstrators, who included labor unions activists, also spoke out on issues including nuclear weapons and what some see as the increasing likelihood of U.S. military intervention in Iran over its escalating nuclear program.
"This is across-the-country sentiment about ending the occupation, redirecting funds for needs in this country, our attempt to get Congress to stand up and have its prerogative to cut funding, to take charge. That's our hope."
Dum spiro spero...

Best Instrumentals

And the winner is....Booker T & the MG's
Just mentioning rock offers associations with loud singers, but some of rock`s cult bands have fantastic instrumentals which say it all – just with the help of their instruments, without a single word. The Rolling Stone magazine has formed a list of 25 favourite instrumentals, with the help of their readers.
In the very top are Pink Floyd, masters of instrumentals. When instrumentals are in question, Pink Floyd top the charts with One of These Days, taken from the 1971 Meddle album. The only line is: 'One of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces'. The song`s trademark are two bass lines, played by Waters and Gilmour. The only line in the song was spoken by Nick Mason and having in mind BBC Radio 2 host at the time, Jimmy Young as Pink Floyd members were not fans of his.
Led Zeppelin’s Moby Dick also found itself among the most famous instrumentals. The song was taken from the 1969 Led Zeppelin II album and was created by only three Zeppelin members – John Bonham, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. Page often listened to Bonham`s improvisations in the studio, recorded and edited them. It was allegedly called Moby Dick because Bonham`s son suggested his dad did a song as large as Moby.
In order for master of the industrial sound Trent Reznor not to be omitted, fans made an effort to enlist Just Like You Imagined from 1999. Mike Garson played the piano, who is famous for collaborating with David Bowie and the Smashing Pumpkins. The odd song was appenerly liked by many and it became the unofficial soundtrack to this year`s smash hit film “300”.
All instrumental performances from the list have their stories, while they are good concert breaks for fans, if nothing else, when you can get a beer and it is good material for the record label to complete singles.

Watch for this one!

Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal (Y Tu Mama Tambien (Alfonso Cuaron), Bad Education (Pedro Almodovar), Babel (Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu), The Motorcycle Diaries (Walter Salles)...) said he is not tempted to work in Hollywood, despite receiving many invitations. "The closest I got to Hollywood was a movie I did in Tijuana. And it is really close, about three hours,". He said when he selects a project he thinks about the industry it represents. Bernal is working mostly with Latin American directors. In the latest movie, Past (Hector Babenco), he plays a father whose son is kidnapped (set in Buenos Aires, which Gael considers his second home). His directorial debut, Deficit, depicts the clash of different social classes in Mexico. Bernal is now working on Blindness, with a Brazilian director, Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener) inspired by a Jose Saramago novel about a blindness epidemic that results in the collapse of society.

Big Sugar

Church Bulletins

*The Fasting and Prayer Conference includes meals.
*The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water."
*The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus."
*Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
*Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community.
*Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
*Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not come this way again," giving obvious pleasure to many in the congregation.
*Next Thursday there will be try outs for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
*Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
*A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.
*At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What Is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.
*Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
*Scouts are saving aluminium cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
*Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
*The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.
*Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.
*The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
*This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
*The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
*Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.
*Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
*The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
*Pastor Updyke unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday with the slogan: "I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours”.

Enigma

God's Will Be Done...

*Hindu government cracked down on the rustling of "sacred" cattle by issuing ID cards with photos of individual cows, to help guards at the Bangladesh border halt the illegal trade.
*In Atlanta, televangelist Thomas Weeks was arrested for allegedly beating up and threatening to kill his estranged wife, televangelist Juanita Bynum, in a hotel parking lot before a bellman rescued her. (Weeks blamed Satan for the incident.)
*Pastor Walter Steen pleaded guilty in Detroit to tax fraud and was sentenced to 15 months in prison. He had started the God Will Provide Tax Service in 2005, but prosecutors said 1,573 out of the 1,578 returns he prepared for clients claimed tax refunds.

How it all started

Q: Why are many coin banks shaped like pigs?
A: Long ago, dishes and cookware in Europe were made of a dense orange clay called "pygg". When people saved coins in jars made of this clay, the jars became known as "pygg banks." When an English potter misunderstood the word, he made a bank that resembled a pig. And it caught on.
Q: Why dimes, quarters and half dollars have notches, while pennies and nickels do not?
A: The US Mint began putting notches on the edges of coins containing gold and silver to discourage holders from shaving off small quantities of the precious metals Dimes, quarters and half dollars are notched because they used to contain silver. Pennies and nickels aren't notched because the metals they contain are not valuable enough to shave..
Q: Why do X's at the end of a letter signify kisses?
A: In the Middle ages people unable to read or write signed documents using an X. Kissing the X represented an oath to fulfill obligations specified in the document, The X and the kiss eventually became synonymous.
Q: Why is shifting responsibility to someone else called "passing the buck"?
A: In card games, it was once customary to pass an item, called a buck, from player to player to indicate whose turn it was to deal. If a player did not wish to assume the responsibility, he would "pass the buck" to the next player.
Q: Why do people clink their glasses before drinking a toast?
A: It used to be common for someone to try to kill an enemy by offering him a poisoned drink. To prove to a guest that a drink was safe, it became customary for a guest to pour a small amount of his drink into the glass of the host. Both men would drink it simultaneously. When a guest trusted his host, he would then just touch or clink the host's glass with his own.
Q: Why are people in the public eye said to be "in the limelight"?
A: Invented in 1825, limelight was used in lighthouses and stage lighting by burning a cylinder of lime which produced a brilliant light. In the theatre, performers on stage "in the limelight" were seen by the audience to be the center of attention.
Q: Why do ships and aircraft in trouble use "mayday"as their call for help?
A: This comes from the French word m'aidez -meaning "help me" -- and is pronounced "mayday,"
Q: Why is someone who is feeling great "on cloud nine"?
A: Types of clouds are numbered according to the altitudes they attain, with nine being the highest cloud If someone is said to be on cloud nine, that person is floating well above worldly cares..
Q: Why are zero scores in tennis called "love"?
A: In France , where tennis first became popular, a big, round zero on scoreboard looked like an egg and was called "l'oeuf," which is French for "egg." When tennis was introduced in the US, Americans pronounced it "love."

Good thing future is in our hands...right?

Najveca tajna na svijetu

Smijacu se svijetu.
Nijedno zivo bice ne moze da se smije osim covjeka. Drvece moze da krvari kad je ranjeno, i zivotinje placu od bola ili gladi, ali ja imam dar smijanja i mogu da ga koristim kad god zazelim. Ubuduce cu njegovati obicaj smijanja. Smijacu se i probava ce mi biti bolja; smijacu se i olaksacu sebi teret; smijacu se i zivot ce mi se produziti, jer je to tajna dugog zivota koju ja sada posjedujem.
Smijacu se svijetu.
Najvise od svega, smijacu se sebi, jer je covek najsmjesniji kad sebe uzima suvise ozbiljno. Nikada necu upasti u tu klopku uma. Jer iako sam ja najvece cudo prirode, zar nisam ipak samo obicno zrnce koje bacaju vjetrovi vremena? Da li ja stvarno znam odakle dolazim i kuda idem? Nece li moja briga za ovaj dan izgledati budalasta za deset godina? Zasto bih dozvolio da me danas uznemiravaju sitni dogadjaji? Sta moze da se do zalaska sunca desi sto ne bi izgledalo beznacajno po rijeci vijekova?
Smijacu se svijetu.
A kako da se smijem kad se suocim sa covjekom ili djelom koje me toliko vrijedja da mi tjera suze na oci ili mami psovke? Vjezbacu sebe da izgovaram cetiri rijeci sve dok one ne postanu navika tako jaka da ce se one javljati u mom umu kada god dobro raspolozenje prijeti da me napusti. Ove rijeci, prenosene od davnina, nosice me kroz svaku nevolju i odrzati mi zivot u ravnotezi. Ove cetiri rijeci jesu: "I to ce proci."
Smijacu se svijetu.
Sve zemaljske stvari ce proci. Kad mi srce oteza od patnje, tjesicu se da ce i to proci; kada sam ushicen uspjehom, upozoricu sebe da ce i to proci. Kad me davi neimastina, reci cu sebi da ce i to proci; kada me optereti bogatstvo, reci cu sebi da ce i to proci. Da, zacijelo, gde je onaj sto je
gradio piramide? Zar nije i on pokopan u njenom kamenju? Nece li i piramida jednog dana isto biti zakopana ispod pijeska? Ako sve stvari prolaze, zasto bih se ja brinuo za danasnji dan?
Smijacu se svijetu.
Obojicu ovaj dan smijehom, uramicu ovu noc pjesmom. Nikada necu raditi da bih bio srecan. Bolje da budem suvise zaposlen da bih imao vremena za tugu. Uzivacu danasnju srecu danas. To nije zrno da se drzi u kutiji. To nije vino da se cuva u flasi. Ona se ne moze sacuvati za sutra. Ona se mora sijati i ubrati istog dana, i ja cu to raditi, od danas pa nadalje.
Smijacu se svijetu.
Mojim smijehom sve ce stvari biti smanjene na svoju pravu velicinu. Smijacu se svojim neuspjesima i oni ce nestati u oblacima novih snova. Smijacu se svojim uspjesima i oni ce se skupiti do njihove tacne vrijednosti. Smijacu se zlu i ono ce umrijeti neoprobano. Smijacu se dobroti i ona ce uspijevati u izobilju. Svaki dan bice trijumf samo ako moji osmijesi izmame osmijehe od drugih, a ja to radim iz sebicnosti, jer oni na koje se mrstim jesu oni koji ne kupuju moju robu.
Smijacu se svijetu.
Od sada cu liti samo suze od znoja, jer suze od zalosti ili kajanja, ili razocarenja nemaju vrijednost na trzistu, dok svaki osmijeh moze da se zamijeni za zlato i svaka ljubazna rijec, izgovorena iz mog srca, moze da sagradi dvorac. Nikada necu dozvoliti sebi da postanem tako nestrpljiv, toliko mudar, toliko dostojanstven, toliko mocan, pa da zaboravim kako da se smijem sebi i svom svijetu. U ovome cu uvijek ostati kao dijete, jer jedino mi je kao djetetu data sposobnost da gledam navise u nekoga. Nikada necu prerasti svoj krevet.
Smijacu se svijetu.
I sve dok mogu da se smijem necu biti siromasan. Ovo je, dakle, jedan od najvecih poklona prirode, ja ga necu traciti. Samo smijehom i srecom mogu postati istinski uspijesan. Samo uz smijeh i srecu mogu da uzivam plodove svoga rada. Da nije tako, bolje bi bilo ne uspjeti, jer je sreca vino koje pojacava ukus jelu. Da bih uzivao u uspjehu moram imati srecu, a smijeh ce
biti djevojka koja me sluzi.
Bicu srecan.
Bicu uspijesan.

Og Mandino

Pearl Jam

Animal news

*Ada Barak's spa in the northern Israeli town of Talmey El'Azar features a "snake massage" for the equivalent of $70, for which six king snakes or milk snakes slither over the client's body (a therapy said not to be stress-increasing, but stress-reducing, according to a January Reuters dispatch).
*Veterinarians in Tallahassee, Fla., were enthralled in January when a duck, "killed" by a hunter and placed in his freezer for two days, suddenly sprang to life and was rushed into surgery at Goose Creek Wildlife Sanctuary to repair its leg and wing. Then, on the operating table, the duck (named "Perky" by that time) once again flat-lined, only to spring back to life a second time.
*American researchers in West Africa believe they've found the first instance of an animal (other than humans) building a multi-step weapon, after observing wild chimpanzees grab sticks from 1 to 4 feet long, sharpen the ends with their teeth, and murderously jab them into deep tree hollows where delicious bush babies may be nesting. Writing in the journal Current Biology, the team even reported observing the chimps tasting the tips after the stabs, to ascertain whether they had actually located a prey. (One of the researchers said the ferocity of the jabbing reminded her of the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho.")

Spirit

El Greco

Athens is hosting Exhibition El Greco and His Workshop.Museum visitors will be able to see 45 oil paintings of the great master of 17th ct Spanish art. Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco) works and woks of his students, son Manuel Theotocopouli, Luis Tristan and other unsigned works attributed to his workshop will be presented.

LEGENDE BH & EX-YU SPORTA, Part 17

Malo i one ruznije strane posredno (ili ne) vezano za nas sport:
*U pedesetim - otmica Milosa Milutinovica (Partizan)
*U sezdesetim - otmica Stevana Ostojica (Zveda)-with a little help from UDBA
*U devedesetim - u Banjaluci je u kafiću ranjen olimpijski šampion u boksu (LA 1984) Ante Josipović, koji je napustio Banjaluku tokom rata u B&H, a kada je došao u obilazak prijatelja umalo nije skupo platio.
*Otmica Stefana Živojinovića, sina Lepe Brene i Bobe Živojinovića završila se, naizgled, happy-endom: osmogodišnji Stefan vraćen je roditeljima koji su platili 2.5 miliona maraka, i sutradan spakovali stvari i otišli za Ameriku zauvijek.
*Haris Brkić je prvi sportista sa prostora cijele bivše Yu koji je ubijen od početka raspada nekada zajedničke države. Otac Idriz i majka Rada napustili su Sarajevo 1992 zeleci da njihov sin nastavi kosarkasku karijeru. Haris je dogurao i do kapitena Partizana,a i do reprezentacije, da bi ga ispred Pionira ubili nepoznati pocinioci...
*Ne-politicki su stradali Matija Ljubek (ubio ga je zet zbog svadje u porodici); Rok Petrovic (udavio se kod Korcule); Drazen Petrovic, Dragan Mance (saobracajne nesrece)...

Oldfield

It just never stops...

*Kenya, in addition to the usual problems of a developing African nation (poverty, tribal frictions), has recently endured the rise in power of the Mungiki, which is a secret society that is "part Sicilian Mafia, part Chicago street gang, with a little of the occult sprinkled in." Police say the members aim to destabilize the country in the midst of the current political campaign by devil-worshipping acts of violence (skinning heads, drinking human blood from jerrycans). A district commissioner in Nairobi said the Mungiki had threatened her with genital mutilation. The gang originated in the 1990s much as organized crime in the U.S. did, by taking over such urban enterprises as bus transit and garbage collection.
*Once-classified reports obtained by the Associated Press in May revealed that three times in late 2005 and early 2006, the U.S. Department of Defense issued espionage alerts regarding newly designed Canadian 25-cent pieces, which the Pentagon warned may contain embedded transmitters capable of eavesdropping, and which perhaps were given purposely to U.S. contractors working in Canada. Some time later, according to the reports, the Pentagon learned that the coin's coating was not a film-and-mesh transmitter but merely a covering to preserve the limited-issue coin's unique design.!!!!!

Nektar

Oh, my...

A blue diamond, artificially manufactured by the LifeGem company, perhaps would not be that interesting at first sight, apart from its price of a million dollars, if it were not made from Ludwig van Beethoven`s lock of hair. LifeGem specialises in producing artificial diamonds from carbon of a deceased person`s body and customers can wear it as decoration (!). They obtained hair from the dead composer through John Reznikoff, a collectionaire of celebrity locks of hair, who has the largest collection in the world, according to the Guinness book of records. Apart from Beethoven`s hair, Reznikoff possesses with hair which belonged to other celebrities, including Albert Einstein, George Harrison and many others.The blue diamond is placed on auction at eBay !!!

Student nije zapalio...

The Knights Templar, the medieval Christian military order accused of heresy and sexual misconduct, will soon be partly rehabilitated when the Vatican publishes trial documents it had closely guarded for 700 years.
The Templars, whose full name was Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, were founded in 1119 by knights sworn to protecting Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land after the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099. They amassed enormous wealth and helped finance wars of some European monarchs. Legends of their hidden treasures, secret rituals and power have figured over the years in films and bestsellers such as "The Da Vinci Code". The Knights have also been portrayed as guardians of the legendary Holy Grail, the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper before his crucifixion.
The Templars went into decline after Muslims re-conquered the Holy Land at the end of the 13th century and were accused of heresy by King Philip IV of France, their foremost persecutor. Their alleged offences included denying Christ and secretly worshipping idols. Templars were burned at the stake for heresy by King Philip's agents after they made confessions that most historians believe were given under duress. Templars helped Philip finance his wars, and getting rid of them was a convenient way of cancelling his debts.
Their initiation ceremony is believed to have included spitting on the cross, but Frale said they justified this as a ritual of obedience in preparation for possible capture by Muslims. They were also said to have practised sodomy.Despite his conviction that the Templars were not guilty of heresy, in 1312 Pope Clement ordered the Templars disbanded for what Frale called "the good of the Church" following his repeated clashes with the French king.

Vangelis

FASCINATING PEOPLE, Part 17.

Religious thinker, philosopher and reformer, Jan Hus was burned at the steak in 1415, in the German city of Konstanzi. The Catholic church pronounced Hus a heretic, and excommunicated him in 1411. After five centuries, Pope John Paul II voiced “a deep regret for his cruel death”, and proposed an investigation to see if Hus can be freed from the charge of being a heretic.
Hus played a key role in the Protestant movement, and his teachings strongly effected European countries, and especially Martin Luther. He is responsible for many written works of Czech literature. He implemented diacritic symbols into the Czech language, according to which one symbol is added to one letter in the aim of easier reading. Despite the secular trend in the Czech republic, Jan Hus is considered to be a national hero today.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

*A Japanese clothing manufacturer, Kochou-fuku, announced a line of air-conditioned shirts, with two tiny battery-operated fans inside to evaporate perspiration ($95). (One drawback: The shirt billows out, suggesting that the wearer is overweight.)
*New product - a $60,000 mattress from the Swedish manufacturer Hastens, introduced to the US for people who "might believe that they're so special that they're entitled to a luxuriously rejuvenating night's sleep"
*Wayne Enterprises of Linden, Calif., is selling Holy Drinking Water in half-liter bottles, which supposedly obtained blessings from Catholic and Anglican priests for the ordinary purified water.

Jimmy Dean

The annual James Dean memorial service brings people from all around the world to Back Creek Friends Church. During the service, more than 100 motorcycles passes by the church and cemetery where Dean is buried to visit his grave. The legendary Nicky Bazooka said he drives around on his 1950s motorcycle while dressed in a 1943 Harley-Davidson jacket, a scarf signed by Dean, black aviator sunglasses with a picture of Dean in the lenses and a black-and-white cap. Bazooka said he only celebrates two holidays: Elvis' birthday on Jan. 8, and the day Dean died, Sept. 30, 1955 in a car wreck in Cholame, Calif., at age 24. Dean did a road traffic commercial where they asked him if he had any advice for kids, and he said drive safely because the life you save could be mine. Then he died in a car crash.

Royal Flush

87-year-old British novelist Doris Lessing said she was delighted at winning the 2007 Nobel Prize for literature:"I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one. I'm delighted to win them all, the whole lot...It's a royal flush."
Her body of work delved into human relationships and inspired a generation of female writers. The academy called her an "epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny".
Lessing debuted as a novelist with "The Grass is Singing" in 1950, a book that examined the relationship between a white farmer's wife and her black servant.
Her 1962 novel "The Golden Notebook" was widely considered her breakthrough work.
She was born to British parents in what was then known as Persia and is now Iran.

Looking for a good excuse?

*British physician Stuart Brown, 37, was sentenced in August only to a small fine after a conviction for brutally beating his wife. Brown had explained the fight by saying that a "red mist" had descended on the room, causing him to lose control.
*Helene de Gier filed a lawsuit against the National Postcode Lottery of the Netherlands, claiming emotional distress from not winning, even though she never entered. That particular lottery picks a geographic postal code at random and awards prizes to all of its residents who have entered that lottery. Since so many of her neighbors were flaunting prizes, she felt particularly humiliated, she says. (Seven people on her street won the equivalent of about $18 million each.
*The largest school district in Montreal, Quebec, was ordered by an arbitrator to rehire a teacher whom it had fired in 2004 for illegally failing to disclose a conviction for killing his wife. The arbitrator ruled the firing improper, in that homicide is unrelated to the teacher's classroom work.

Floyd-less Gilmour

Worst Lyricists

Maybe Sting should start writing more instrumentals. The school teacher-turned-rock star topped list of the worst lyricists, thanks to lines that betray "mountainous pomposity (and) cloying spirituality,". Rush drummer Neil Peart is at No. 2, Creed frontman Scott Stapp at No. 3, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher at No. 4, and soft-rocker Dan Fogelberg at No. 5.
Sting is condemned for such sins as using name-dropping Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov in the Police tune "Don't Stand So Close to Me," quoting a Volvo bumper sticker ("If You Love Someone Set Them Free"), and co-opting the works of Chaucer, St. Augustine and Shakespeare. Canadian rocker Peart's lyrics are considered "richly awful tapestries of fantasy and science," and Gallagher "seemed incapable of following a metaphor through a single line, let alone a whole verse."
Further down the ranks, Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant (No. 23) was derided for his Tolkienesque musings on Gollum and Mordor in "Ramble On."
Carly Simon (No. 31) was mocked for rhyming "yacht," "apricot" and "gavotte" in "You're So Vain."
Paul McCartney made No. 38, thanks in part to "Ebony and Ivory," his socially conscious duet with Stevie Wonder.
Love statistics? Check out the Blender list of 50 Worst Songs Ever.

Oh, that Van Der Linden!

Rick van der Linden passed away in 2006. The Netherlands most leading keyboard player, source of inspiration to many was no more.Because of his fabulous technique; because of his fabulous knowledge of Bach’s music; because of his pioneering work of making classical music more accessible to a younger generation, during the late sixties, beginning of the seventies by combining it with Rock and Jazz. Reviled by the classical musicians later admired… Adored by many starting and more advanced pop keyboard players… Through him this occupation had become interesting… Rick, himself inspired by giants such as Keith Emerson, led the band Ekseption to great heights. Friends of Rick’s spontaneously played his music during his memorial service, unrehearsed, unprepared. Seldom shall the music of van der Linden be played with such love and passion. "AN EKSEPTIONAL TRIBUTE BAND” was erected with two original Ekseption members. The sounds of this legendary band are heard again. Not only will material of Ekseption be heard but also solo pieces of Rick.
Van der Linden lives on!

Aphrodite's Child

Do it yourself...or not!

Mike Harstad of Jamestown, Calif., attempting to eliminate a wasps' nest with a can of Pledge and a cigarette lighter, ultimately burned down his mobile home and contents and destroyed an outbuilding, a truck, a boat and a trailer.
A Whitehall, Pa., man, William Sekol, 82, attempting to destroy a yellow jackets' nest beneath a storm sewer grate in his front yard, put a dried tree over the grate, doused it with gasoline, and lit it (supposedly to suffocate the yellow jackets underneath). However, some gasoline ran into the sewer, where its fumes combusted. In the resulting explosion, Sekol's mustache and eyebrows were singed.

Blanka - European Queen in Sports

Blanka Vlasic, a Croatian high jumper is the winner of the “Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year”. She surely deserved this award because she lost only one out of 19 competitions. She jumped over 207 cm in Stockholm and she won the world league title in Osaka. In history, only the world record holder Stefka Kostadinova managed to jump higher than Blanka, and considering the young girl’s performance of this year, even this could change. The audience loves her because of the contagious enthusiasm she carries with herself on the competition, dancing after every jump.

Fela Kuti & Ian Anderson

World is taking yet another turn

*Oral-B's Triumph SmartGuide toothbrush, available in the United Kingdom for the equivalent of about $280, uses navigation technology to transmit the exact location of the toothbrush to a base unit so that the user can see which areas in his mouth the brush might have missed. The wireless LCD mouth display can be mounted on a mirror or held in the free hand.(!!!!!)
*The adolescent offspring of some well-to-do parents are serious art collectors, and their interest appears not to be motivated solely by parents' strategies to shield income from the tax collector. Ms. Dakota King, 9, for example, owns 40 pieces and specializes in animals and "happy colors." Ms. Shammiel Fleischer-Amoros, 10, who admitted, "I'm really scared, but Daddy told me I have to negotiate," succeeded in getting $200 knocked off of a $3,200 sculpture she really wanted. An 11-year-old last year "waved a paddle" to win a $352,000 Jeff Koons sculpture...
*Pentagon investigators discovered that a small South Carolina company fraudulently collected $20.5 million in shipping costs, including one invoice of $999,798 for sending two washers (cost: 19 cents each) to a base in Texas. According to Bloomberg News, the Defense Department was said to have a policy of automatically and unquestioningly paying shipping bills labeled "priority."

Robbie Williams

Call me...hmm

A Roman Catholic bishop in the Netherlands, Martinus Muskens, suggested that Christians start referring to God as "Allah" as a way of relieving world tensions. "Allah is a very beautiful word . ... What does God care what we call him? It is our problem."

A priest in Rome said Muskens' intentions were good, "but his theology needs a little fine-tuning." Muskens said he spent eight years in Indonesia, where Catholic priests used "Allah" during Mass...

Neobjasnjivi Fenomeni Uma

Povezanost tijela i uma
Medicina je tek nedavno započela sa istraživanjima koja pokušavaju doznati do koje mjere um utiče na tijelo i obratno. Placebo efekat ilustruje tu povezanost. Do njega dolazi kad osoba koja ima zdravstvene probleme nakon konzumacije lažnog lijeka ili nekakvog rituala izlječenja zbilja osjeti tjelesno poboljšanje. Kod ispitivanja placebo efekta, naucnici su pacijentima davali lažne tablete (npr. tabletice šećera), koje farmakološki nemaju nikakvog uticaja na zdravlje. Ipak, pacijenti zbog sugestije osjete poboljšanje. Suprotna je pojava nocebo efekt, kod kojeg je pacijent uvjeren da mu se zbog lijekova stanje pogoršava.

Iskustva blizu smrti

Ljudi koji su se našli blizu smrti često pričaju o neobičnim iskustvima do kojih ih je dovelo takvo iskustvo. Prolazak kroz tunel na čijem je kraju svjetlost, neobični glasovi, muzika, susret sa bližnjima ili Bogom. Naucnici tvrde da se takva iskustva najčešće događaju kad je mozak mrtav, ne funkcionise, ali ipak proizvodi ovakva neobjašnjiva iskustva...

Paranormalne moći

Većina ljudi vjeruje u ''paranormalno''. Jedno istraživanje u Velikoj Britaniji je pokazalo da je 43% ispitanika uvjereno kako mogu čitati tuđe misli ili da to drugi mogu činiti njima, vjeruju kako mogu sanjati događaje iz budućnosti i slično. Medjutim, mnoga istraživanja ljudi koji tvrde da imaju paranormalne moći su pokazala da ti ljudi nemaju nikakve moći. Misterija ostaje...

Deja Vu

Ili 'nešto već viđeno' se jos zove paramnesia, a označava iskustvo osjećaja da smo novu situaciju već iskusili. Ljudi najčešće opisuju ovaj pojam kao ''prisjećanje budućnosti''.Nekoliko je studija pokazalo da čak 70% ljudi tvrdi kako je barem jednom u životu iskusilo 'prisjećanje budućnosti'. U laboratorijskim istraživanjima naucnicima je veoma teško bilo izazvati deja vu efekt, ali su ga uspjeli postići hipnozom.

Intuicija, šeto čulo

Kada doživimo nešto za što smo znali/osjetili da će se dogoditi. Većina ljudi jako često može predvidjeti događaj 6-7 sekundi prije nego što se on dogodi. Takodje žene puno češće imaju razvijeno 'šesto čulo' od muškaraca. Naucnici vjeruju kako ljudi puno više informacija prikupljaju nesvjesno nego svjesno, te tako ponekad imaju utisak da su 'osjetili' što će se dogoditi, a zapravo im je ta informacija bila prenesena s nesvjesnog na svjesni nivo...

Nightwish (made in Finland)

Haiku of Modern Times

*A file that big?
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.
*Everything is gone;
Your life's work has been destroyed.
Squeeze trigger (yes/no)?
*First snow, then silence.
This thousand dollar screen dies
so beautifully.
*To have no errors
Would be life without meaning
No struggle, no joy.
*Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.
*The code was willing,
It considered your request,
But the chips were weak.
*Having been erased,
The document you're seeking
Must now be retyped.