+

"Before the crisis, if I had been a narrow-minded economist, I would have been very pleased to see that academics had a big impact on policy. But unfortunately that was bad for the world. After the crisis, you would have hoped that the academic profession had changed and that policy-making had changed with it and would become more skeptical and cautious. You would have expected that after all the wrong predictions of the past, politics would have demanded from academics a rethinking of their theories. I am broadly disappointed on all accounts."

{Hugo Stiglitz | Austerity and a New Recession? | The New European Magazine}

You Can Fly

+

At Oregon, there is a long tradition of players policing themselves. Several Ducks reference a "code" followed by teammates who handle weed-related matters in-house on a case-to-case basis. "Some guys who use marijuana go out and ball because they're relaxed," says former QB Akili Smith, "but if it affects his play, you sit him down and tell him, 'Yo, it's not for you.'?" Today, that code still stands. "If you're not hurting the team, everyone's cool with it," says a current Ducks player....


Recently, the researchers of a study in Sports Medicine wrote that athletes claim "smoking cannabis before play helps them focus better" and increases their creativity, and prior studies have found use among athletes to decrease anxiety, fear, depression and tension...


One senior NFL executive who interviewed players at the combine says about 70 percent confessed to smoking pot, likely on the advice of their agents. Their reasoning? Given the drug's popularity, if players deny having used weed, NFL teams will simply assume they're lying. One agent goes so far as to say that teams don't care about marijuana as much as character and integrity....


To ensure that one of college football's powerhouse programs stays on top, these Ducks will have to put in some work, starting in a few days when they play host to the nation's best prospects on their official recruiting visits. Then, after winter conditioning, there will be another reprieve and, this Duck hopes, more hazy, team- bonding sessions. "Some of us smoke," he says, "and then we went out and won the Rose Bowl. Know what I mean?"

+

{Marijuana and Oregon go together like laces on a football | ESPN | Continue}

Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.....

+

        Yvonne: Where were you last night?

Rick: That's so long ago, I don't remember.

Yvonne: Will I see you tonight?

Rick: I never make plans that far ahead. 

+

+

Major Strasser: What is your nationality? 

Rick: I'm a drunkard. 

Captain Renault: That makes Rick a citizen of the world. [all laugh] "

+

Captain Renault: I've often speculated why you don't return to America. 

Did you abscond with the church funds? Run off with a senator's wife? 

I like to think you killed a man. It's the Romantic in me.

Rick: It was a combination of all three. 

+

Ilsa Hello Sam
Sam: Hello Ms. Ilsa. Never expect to see you again.
Ilsa It's been a long time.
Sam: Yes ma'am. Lot of water under the bridge.
Ilsa Play some of the old songs, Sam.
Sam: Yes ma'am.
(Nervously begins to play a number.)
Ilsa Where is Rick?
Sam: (evading) I don't know, I ain't seen him all night.
Ilsa: When will he be back?
Sam: Not tonight no more. He ain't coming-uh, he went home.
Ilsa: Does he always leave so early?
Sam: Oh, he never... well...(desperately) He's got a girl up at the Blue Parrot, goes up there all the time. 
Ilsa: You used to be a much better liar, Sam.
Sam: Leave him alone Ms. Ilsa. You're bad luck to him.
Ilsa: Play it once, Sam. For old times' sake.
Sam: [lying] I don't know what you mean, Miss Ilsa.
Ilsa: Play it, Sam. Play "As Time Goes By."
Sam: [lying] Oh, I can't remember it, Miss Ilsa. I'm a little rusty on it.
Ilsa: I'll hum it for you. Da-dy-da-dy-da-dum.....
[Sam begins playing]
Ilsa: Sing it, Sam.
Sam: [singing] You must remember this / A kiss is still a kiss / A sigh is just a sigh / The fundamental things apply / As time goes by. / And when two lovers woo, / They still say, "I love you" / On that you can rely / No matter what the future brings-...
Rick: [rushing up] Sam, I thought I told you never to play-...
[Sees Ilsa. Sam closes the piano &; roll it away] 

+

Sam: Boss, ain't you going to bed? 

Rick: Not right now.

Sam: Ain't you planning on going to bed in the near future?

Rick: No.

Sam: You ever going to bed?

Rick: No!

Sam: Well, I ain't sleepy either. 

+

"Ilsa: Who is Rick?
Captain Renault: Mamoiselle, you are in Rick's! And Rick is...
Ilsa: Who is he?
Captain Renault: Well, Rick is the kind of man that... well, if I were a woman, and I were not around, I should be in love with Rick. 

But what a fool I am talking to a beautiful woman about another man.

+

Rick: Don't you sometimes wonder if it's worth all this? I mean what you're fighting for.
Victor Laszlo: You might as well question why we breathe. If we stop breathing, we'll die. If we stop fighting our enemies, the world will die.
Rick: Well, what of it? It'll be out of its misery.
Victor Laszlo: You know how you sound, Mr. Blaine? 

Like a man who's trying to convince himself of something he doesn't believe in his heart. 

+

Has the world lost it's class?

Take My Picture Cuz I Won't Remember

 +

{Jonathan Lipkin | Continue}

Good Morning

+

"I had one resident that barely opened her eyes, she didn't respond...No matter what I tried, nothing worked. But when we got introduced to the iPods and the family told me the things that she liked, it was amazing. She started shaking her feet, moving her head. Her son was amazed...."

"When we'd first see Henry, innert, maybe depressed, unresponsive and almost unalive....Then he is given an iPod containing his favorite music.... and immediately he lights up. His face assumes expression, his eyes open wide, he starts to sing, to rock, to move his arms....."

"Once the music is taken away, the effect of this doesn't stop. When the headphones are taken off, Henry, normally mute and unable to answer the simplest yes or no questions, is quite voluble..."

"Do you like music?"

"I'm crazy about music. You play beautiful music. Beautiful sounds."

"Did you play music when you were young?"

"Yes, yes.. I went to big dances and things."

"So in some sense Henry is restored to himself. He has remembered who he is.... and he has acquired his identity again, through music....."

"Henry, what does music do to you?"

"It gives me the feeling of love. I figure right now the world needs to come into music...I feel the band of love, dreams. The Lord came to me and made me holy. I'm a holy man so he gave me these sounds...."

How Far Can You See

+

John Marks Templeton was an investor and mutual fund pioneer. He was born in the town of Winchester, Tennessee, and attended Yale University and was selected for membership in the Elihu society. He financed a portion of his tuition by playing poker, a game at which he excelled. He graduated in 1934 near the top of his class. He attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and earned an M.A. in law.....

Templeton married Judith Folk in 1937, and the couple had three children: John Jr., Anne, and Christopher. Judith died in February 1951 in a motorbike accident. He remarried, to Irene Reynolds Butler in 1958; she died in 1993....

He was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church. He served as an elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Englewood (NJ). He was a trustee on the board of Princeton Theological Seminary, the largest Presbyterian seminary, for 42 years and served as its chair for 12 years.....

Templeton became a billionaire by pioneering the use of globally diversified mutual funds. His Templeton Growth, Ltd. (investment fund), established in 1954, was among the first who invested in Japan in the middle of the 1960s. He is noted for buying 100 shares of each company for less than $1 ($17 today) a share in 1939 and making many times the money back in a 4 year period.....

In 2006 he was listed in a 7-way tie for 129th place on the Sunday Times's "Rich List". He rejected technical analysis for stock trading, preferring instead to use fundamental analysis. Money magazine in 1999 called him "arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century”.

Templeton renounced his U.S. citizenship in 1964, thus avoiding U.S. over $100 million in income taxes when he sold his international investment fund. He had dual naturalized Bahamian and British citizenship and lived in the Bahamas.....

His philanthropic activities had been estimated at over 1 billion US dollars in total.... 
In 2007, Templeton was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People under the category of "Power Givers." Templeton was given this honor for his "pursuit of spiritual understanding, often through scientific research" through his establishment of the John Templeton Foundation....


Templeton became known for his "avoiding the herd" and "buy when there's blood in the streets" philosophy. He also was known for taking profits when values and expectations were high. Templeton attributed much of his success to his ability to maintain an elevated mood, avoid anxiety and stay disciplined. Uninterested in consumerism, he drove his own car, never flew first class and lived year-round in the Bahamas....

In 2005, he wrote a brief memorandum predicting that within five years there would be financial chaos in the world. It was eventually made public in 2010.....

As a member of the Presbyterian Church, Templeton was dedicated to his faith. However, Templeton remained open to the benefits and values of other faiths. Commenting on his commitment to what he called spiritual progress, “But why shouldn't I try to learn more? Why shouldn't I go to Hindu services? Why shouldn't I go to Muslim services? If you are not egotistical, you will welcome the opportunity to learn more." Similarly, one of the major goals of the Templeton Foundation is to proliferate the monetary support of spiritual discoveries. The Templeton Foundation encourages research into "big questions" by awarding philanthropic aid to institutions and people who pursue the answers to such questions through "explorations into the laws of nature and the universe, to questions on the nature of love, gratitude, forgiveness, and creativity." Templeton asserts that the purpose of the Templeton Foundation is as follows.....

We are trying to persuade people that no human has yet grasped 1% of what can be known about spiritual realities. So we are encouraging people to start using the same methods of science that have been so productive in other areas, in order to discover spiritual realities. 

{Wikipedia | John Templeton} 

Blue Nation

"Uh, we have a partially nude male with a propane tank."

"Shotguns fired in the air several times."

"Subject is down by the pool, wearing UK shorts and shirt, gash behind ear."

"On these little fires in the street we're just going to let them burn."

"We just had a flash mob and everybody said they were going to shoot everybody."

"Let them light off the fireworks as long as they're not lighting at somebody else."

"Couch is no longer on fire but has melted on the road."

"This fire isn't going out, they're using cooking oil or something."

"We have two males subjects running naked with torches, yelling 'Wildcats' proceed with caution."

"30 year old man, blue and white shirt wearing khakis, climbing an apple tree."

+

#lexingtonpolicescanner

+

Paradox is thus a much deeper and universal concept than the ancients would have dreamed. Rather than an oddity, it is a mainstay of the philosophy of science.

-William Poundstone

{List of Paradoxes | Wikipedia}