The Future of Human Beings is Looking Rather Bright

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpv6aGTcCl8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The Sage of Omaha, Warren Buffett, Says Reagan Was Wrong: Trickle Down Economics Doesn't Work

Warren Buffett, one of the most celebrated businessmen and investors in history said this recently: "I think that people at the high end should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we’ve ever had it.“

Regarding the notion that tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires will help spur the economy, Buffett had this to say:  "The rich are always going to say 'just give us more money & we’ll go out & spend more & then it will all trickle down to rest.'  That has not worked the last 10 years, & I hope the American public is catching on.”



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The Generation After the Greatest Generation Has Another Chance at Greatness

Excellent cover article in Atlantic Monthly on the cool opportunity available to Baby Boomers: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/10/the-least-we-can-do/8228/

Incredible video - The Black Keys - "Lengths"

If you get a chance, check this out. If you watch all the way through (3 minutes), you'll be glad you did :). Simply splendid! Poetic even :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87G8rIZramM&sns=em

FAVORITE QUOTES

Albert Einstein:

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


Gandhi: "With non-violence, first they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then you win."



Goethe:

"Until one is committed, there is a hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth - the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manor of unforseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you cab, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."


Daniel Burnham (Chicago architect):

"Make no small plans. They have no magic to stir people's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that your work will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our children and grandchildren are going to do things that would stagger us. Think big."


Henry James: "Connect. Only Connect."



Gandhi: "Genuine laughter is more effective than speech."



Martin Luther King, Jr.: "The moral arc of the universe bends towards justice."




Breyton Breytonbach:: "Whether we win or whether we die, freedom will rise in Africa like the sun through the morning clouds."



Benjamin Franklin: "Energy and persistence conquer all."



Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Truth crushed to earth rises up."



Cornel West: "if you're going to be a long distance runner, you're going to have to have a blues mentality."



Anonymous: "It's all raw energy, including the resistance, ESPECIALLY the resistance. The trick is to calmly smile and use that furnace within you to alchemize that raw energy into gold. In that way, you don't just survive resistance. You thrive on it."



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When IDEAS have sex: A British researcher offers a perfect diagnosis of what's holding York back & a solution to unleash our collaborative potential

Here's one positive solution for York!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLHh9E5ilZ4&feature=youtube_gdata_player .  This is a brilliant presentation by acclaimed British researcher and author Matt Ridley at the 2010 World TED conference. It offers a precise and fascinating solution that will result in economic prosperity and a socially dynamic FUN community in York, PA!

This totally meshes with what David Rusk has said: The disadvantage of our little municipal and educational boxes not just the financial inefficiency but the stifling of the creative process and collaboration that make for a socially dynamic and economically prosperous community.  Henry James said it best:  "Connect.  Only connect."

In this provocative TED presentation, Ridley mentions a society in Tasmania that was cut off from the world by natural events that made their community a literal island.  Not only did their society not progress.  It regressed.  Sound familiar to the situation with our 72 municipality boxes and 16 school district boxes?  Ridley clearly outlines the real scientific and economic benefits of "the free flow of ideas." 

I think this guy has us nailed.  His main conclusion after much research is that societies progress when ideas are able to have sex with each other.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLHh9E5ilZ4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Cornel West Says It All

part 1 of 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjZydhfUxqs (start at 4:38 to skip introductions)

part 2 of 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTOfjle-fK4&feature=related

part 3 of 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH1uxEMoBMY&feature=related

Descartes and Other Obstacles to Feeling at Home in Your Own Skin

Disclaimer: This is not a scientific, religious or geographic post but it does mention Einstein, Descartes, God and Michigan . To read more, please click here: