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I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
Michael Jordan
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Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Saturday, December 12, 2009
10
Three leaves remained at the beginning of the day.
One of them is barely hanging on. When the rains come this evening this one may fall as well leaving only two. Likewise, Indiana fell today (90-73) as the Cats won their 10th and go 10-0 for this season. Two games remain with Austin Peay up next in a week. By then there may remain just the two leaves nearly ready to symbolize 2000. Thanks to Wendell, Eddie, Bossy and others.
One of them is barely hanging on. When the rains come this evening this one may fall as well leaving only two. Likewise, Indiana fell today (90-73) as the Cats won their 10th and go 10-0 for this season. Two games remain with Austin Peay up next in a week. By then there may remain just the two leaves nearly ready to symbolize 2000. Thanks to Wendell, Eddie, Bossy and others.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Too Eager?
Three leaves on the tree after the winds last night, but four games remain for UK, and the tree may have been too eager, as UK trails UConn by six at the half. This may be the learning experience Coach Cal's been looking for. Wouldn't be horrible if UK were to lose and might prevent the big head going into the SEC. Of course, a loss would postpone the 2000 win celebration, but it'll come eventually even if UNC were to pass them by. It's just a game, right? We need the guardian angel help for the second half from Walter, Eddie, and Bossy. Go Big Blue!
UK 64 - UConn 61 Whew!
UK 64 - UConn 61 Whew!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Struggle
Five leaves remain on the maple tree, struggling to hang on.
Five games remain for UK struggling to make it to 2000.
The following quote heard at a CME this morning:
"The most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."
-- Pierre De Coubertin, French historian and pedagogue, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and considered father of the modern Olympic Games.
Regardless of the outcome of the UK vs. UNC game now going on, UK will hopefully "fight well."
As it turned out, UK squeaked by 68-66 but it was a game of two halves with UNC showing the grit in the second and UK showing the brilliance in the first.
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Five games remain for UK struggling to make it to 2000.
The following quote heard at a CME this morning:
"The most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."
-- Pierre De Coubertin, French historian and pedagogue, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and considered father of the modern Olympic Games.
Regardless of the outcome of the UK vs. UNC game now going on, UK will hopefully "fight well."
As it turned out, UK squeaked by 68-66 but it was a game of two halves with UNC showing the grit in the second and UK showing the brilliance in the first.
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Monday, November 9, 2009
Creator god
As I have considered an “evolved god” in a parallel universe, one problem arises: How do you explain the miracles where various persons (Passover angel, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, Jesus, et al) acting as agents of god alter the “natural order” unless god is somehow in control of (rather than controlled by) the universe? I happen to believe the historical record that the miracles actually did occur, so I have to retreat from my “evolved god” position. Yet, there is a sense in which the “creator god” allows the spiritual “parallel universe” to be perceived and evolved by people in various cultures at successive times according to what (their needs, god’s interests, random events)? I guess, to proceed further, I’ll need to read some Karen Armstrong and others.
Obviously, I’m not a theologian.
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The year’s at the spring,
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hill-side’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in his Heaven –
(with the billions of innocents
who’ve died of hunger, poverty,
disease, and injustice)
All’s right with the world!
—Browning in Pippa Passes
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Obviously, I’m not a theologian.
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The year’s at the spring,
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hill-side’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in his Heaven –
(with the billions of innocents
who’ve died of hunger, poverty,
disease, and injustice)
All’s right with the world!
—Browning in Pippa Passes
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Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Parallel Universe -- imagine
“god” lives in a parallel universe not limited by time and space. Since there is no “time” in the way we think of it (in a linear manner), of course, “god” knows everything that has happened (since god began*) and “will happen” though “god” doesn’t think of it as something occuring in the future, since there is no future with “god”, only the eternal present. The question is not whether “god” knows but why the “loving god” we worship doesn’t intervene in the world as we know it when people do bad things. I don’t know the answer to that. Perhaps there is a tug of war going on in this parallel universe of which we only have fleeting glimpses.
*imagine the possibility that in the evolution of the world there evoved not only humankind with opposing thumb and large brain capable of planning and all the rest, but also there evolved a spiritual parallel world populated by the spirits of those who died and the phenomenon of gods with real power and the ability to communicate (even via real angels and a real Jesus “son of god”) with humankind (be they judaeo christian, muslim, hindu, buddhist, or animist.) This kind of thinking is almost science fiction. I’ve searched somewhat to see what kind of belief this is but haven’t come up with a name. I can still be thankful for the world as it is, whether created or not. It’s all a great mystery.
*imagine the possibility that in the evolution of the world there evoved not only humankind with opposing thumb and large brain capable of planning and all the rest, but also there evolved a spiritual parallel world populated by the spirits of those who died and the phenomenon of gods with real power and the ability to communicate (even via real angels and a real Jesus “son of god”) with humankind (be they judaeo christian, muslim, hindu, buddhist, or animist.) This kind of thinking is almost science fiction. I’ve searched somewhat to see what kind of belief this is but haven’t come up with a name. I can still be thankful for the world as it is, whether created or not. It’s all a great mystery.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Southern Fatalism
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While sweeping the floor this morning I had some thoughts on Southern fatalism after reading the first couple chapters of Pat Conroy’s new book last night:
Lee invoked God’s will the night before the third day of Gettysburg and the ill-fated Pickett’s charge but took blame for the bad outcome himself: “It’s all my fault.”
92 yo lady in West Virginia:
“If you’re destined to hang you’ll never drown, so let the big cat jump.”
“Just when you think it’s ok, that’s when it will happen.” – TV show in the 50’s about a terrorist warning a bomb had been placed on an airplane. After a frantic search for the bomb, the hero finally figured out the meaning of the terrorist’s quote: the bomb was attached to the landing wheels.
James 4:13-15
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.’ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.’” [Lord willing and the creek don’t rise]
Pat Conroy (South of Broad)
“…my mother’s world seemed disconsolate and tragic before she really knew how tragic life could be. Once she learned that no life could avoid the consequences of tragedy, she softened into an ascetic’s acknowledgment of the illusory nature of life. She became a true believer in the rude awakening.”
“Nothing happens by accident. I learned this the hard way…”
“..fate comes at you cat-footed, unavoidable, and bloodthirsty. The moment you are born your death is foretold by your newly minted cells…Death lives in each one of us and begins its countdown on our birthdays and makes its rough entrance at the last hour and the perfect time.”
“It would take a great portion of my time as an adult before I realized that tragedy was hurled freely into everyone’s life as though it were a cheap newspaper advertising porno shops an strip shows thrown into an overgrown yard.”
And this is just the first two chapters!
There is this positive sentence:
“But I had come back to Him, and that is part of my story.”
The book may have some hope after all, and, like Claypool, he may find some comfort in the gift of life.
Psalm 1
Happy the one who doesn’t sit around with the cynics….
He’s like the tree planted by the rivers of water….
Everything he does will prosper (because God is with him.)
Really? Unfortunately, our southern sense of fatalism seems to trump the optimistic side of life and leaves that for the tele-evangelists to promulgate.
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.
While sweeping the floor this morning I had some thoughts on Southern fatalism after reading the first couple chapters of Pat Conroy’s new book last night:
Lee invoked God’s will the night before the third day of Gettysburg and the ill-fated Pickett’s charge but took blame for the bad outcome himself: “It’s all my fault.”
92 yo lady in West Virginia:
“If you’re destined to hang you’ll never drown, so let the big cat jump.”
“Just when you think it’s ok, that’s when it will happen.” – TV show in the 50’s about a terrorist warning a bomb had been placed on an airplane. After a frantic search for the bomb, the hero finally figured out the meaning of the terrorist’s quote: the bomb was attached to the landing wheels.
James 4:13-15
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.’ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.’” [Lord willing and the creek don’t rise]
Pat Conroy (South of Broad)
“…my mother’s world seemed disconsolate and tragic before she really knew how tragic life could be. Once she learned that no life could avoid the consequences of tragedy, she softened into an ascetic’s acknowledgment of the illusory nature of life. She became a true believer in the rude awakening.”
“Nothing happens by accident. I learned this the hard way…”
“..fate comes at you cat-footed, unavoidable, and bloodthirsty. The moment you are born your death is foretold by your newly minted cells…Death lives in each one of us and begins its countdown on our birthdays and makes its rough entrance at the last hour and the perfect time.”
“It would take a great portion of my time as an adult before I realized that tragedy was hurled freely into everyone’s life as though it were a cheap newspaper advertising porno shops an strip shows thrown into an overgrown yard.”
And this is just the first two chapters!
There is this positive sentence:
“But I had come back to Him, and that is part of my story.”
The book may have some hope after all, and, like Claypool, he may find some comfort in the gift of life.
Psalm 1
Happy the one who doesn’t sit around with the cynics….
He’s like the tree planted by the rivers of water….
Everything he does will prosper (because God is with him.)
Really? Unfortunately, our southern sense of fatalism seems to trump the optimistic side of life and leaves that for the tele-evangelists to promulgate.
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.
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