insights via monkey money



©2010 toomanytribbles

bottomless wonders spring from simple rules... repeated without end.

by theodora sutton, on vimeo.

julia, you're getting good at finding these :-]

©2010 toomanytribbles

by garret keizer, on (A)theologies.

of all the nonsense that's being written by theists and atheists alike, this essay was more to the point for me, ending with:

'... there is an ancient petition expansive enough to cover every case i’ve mentioned and brief enough for tweeting: kyrie eleison, “lord have mercy.” lord have mercy on us who wander like sheep without a shepherd, harassed and helpless, fleeced at every turn, bleating and blogging about the existence of god and the curse of the vuvuzela and the passion of lindsay lohan and the sweet christ knows what else while children starve and are blown to pieces by bombs dropped in our name, while the skies and seas and the future itself are blighted by our waste, arrogance, and frivolity. lord have mercy on us, because on top of all that, a man in the prime of his life and at the height of his powers and in the full confidence of having hit his stride can be slapped with something like cancer of the esophagus, as any of us might likewise be slapped with brain cancer, bone cancer, colon cancer, rendering us even more stupid, spineless, and full of crap than we already are, which is not fair, or if fair, not funny at all.

lord have mercy. it covers a multitude of sins and an even greater multitude of creatures, including poor christopher hitchens, poor me, and—unless you happen to be a bodhisattva or one of the lamed vov or the lamb of god that taketh away the sins of the world—poor you, and even then, poor you.'


my suggested reading for today.


©2010 toomanytribbles

like it? click it!
this is from a few weeks ago. i didn't have time to do any celebrating as my classes would run till 10pm, with only a few short breaks for a breather.

i didn't expect mr.G to drop by with these and save the day.

i took a rushed picture of the cake because, for several years, i'd been insisting that a birthday cake should have a candle for EVERY year -- and not a representative one or two -- and there they were... all 48.

i took another quick shot the flowers after the class, which were already succumbing to their vaseless ordeal.



©2010 toomanytribbles

click to the gallery!

memories are so.
so sharp they rip through our well-planned pace

but others
blurred in motion, dissolved in time
the bits we neglected
but they set the stage
and conveyed the substance

we discovered tiny wonders
became one with a color
floated into a flavor
tingled with words and art
scampered with best friends,
long lost

now conclusions
in a memoir, yearning to be written
merged with paper
... or denied

theresa's work speaks for itself, but it made me want to say something, too.
such is art, especially from one who is so multi-talented, it flows through her life like a strand... or a thread of wool.


for the insatiable:
her photostream on flickr: t does wool
and her blog of wonderful creations

©2010 toomanytribbles

rachel maddow presents the world's first peer reviewed rap, featuring lots of the dawk.

one of my life's highlights was seeing randy newman live in athens. just listen to the man:



©2010 toomanytribbles

you. must. read. it. all.

here's a generous snip:

"
the cosmic perspective flows from fundamental knowledge. but it's more than just what you know. it's also about having the wisdom and insight to apply that knowledge to assessing our place in the universe. and its attributes are clear:

the cosmic perspective comes from the frontiers of science, yet it's not solely the province of the scientist. the cosmic perspective belongs to everyone.

the cosmic perspective is humble.

the cosmic perspective is spiritual—even redemptive—but not religious.

the cosmic perspective enables us to grasp, in the same thought, the large and the small.

the cosmic perspective opens our minds to extraordinary ideas but does not leave them so open that our brains spill out, making us susceptible to believing anything we're told.

the cosmic perspective opens our eyes to the universe, not as a benevolent cradle designed to nurture life but as a cold, lonely, hazardous place.

the cosmic perspective shows earth to be a mote, but a precious mote and, for the moment, the only home we have.

the cosmic perspective finds beauty in the images of planets, moons, stars, and nebulae but also celebrates the laws of physics that shape them.

the cosmic perspective enables us to see beyond our circumstances, allowing us to transcend the primal search for food, shelter, and sex.

the cosmic perspective reminds us that in space, where there is no air, a flag will not wave—an indication that perhaps flag waving and space exploration do not mix.

the cosmic perspective not only embraces our genetic kinship with all life on earth but also values our chemical kinship with any yet-to-be discovered life in the universe, as well as our atomic kinship with the universe itself.by neil degrasse tyson
from natural history magazine, april 2007