This spoken word video has been going around the social net­works. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, here it is:

…appar­ently, Discussing the Divine Comedy with Dante. [with Wikipedia Links & Mouse-over Tags]

It’s got 103 of the most inter­esting fig­ures of his­tory jux­ta­posed together, and in some cases, inter­acting with each other, in a time­less image. From Bill Gates to Plato, Bruce Lee to the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II, Margaret Thatcher to Audrey Hepburn, Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein, Sigmund Freud to Jack Kevorkian, Albert Einstein to Che Guevara, Charles Darwin dressed as Noah, to Osama Bin Laden and the 72 Houris. Check it out!

Originally painted by three Chinese artists: Dai Dudu, Li Tiezi, and Zhang An, in 2006; oil on canvas.

In the interest of embracing opti­mism, I decided to look up some quotes by famous and not-so-famous people that inspire me to approach life in a pos­i­tive, light-hearted manner. Yes, I know, quotes are some­times looked down upon, and quotes are not the only way to learn any­thing, the con­text mat­ters more in most cases. But a good quote is like a good song, a small morsel of wisdom or wit that can inspire great things in the observer’s mind. Here are some juicy ones from my ever-growing collection:

“Snatching the eternal out of the des­per­ately fleeting is the great mag­ical trick of human exis­tence.” ~Tennessee Williams

“When you per­ceive that an act done to another is done to your­self, you have under­stood the great truth.” ~Taoist saying

“Thousands of can­dles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be short­ened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” ~Buddha

“The most beau­tiful thing we can expe­ri­ence is the mys­te­rious. It is the source of all true art and sci­ence.” ~Albert Einstein

“To the out­side world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sis­ters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other’s hearts. We share pri­vate family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live out­side the touch of time.” ~Clara Ortega

“Nothing is so strong as gen­tle­ness, and nothing is so gentle as real strength.” ~Ralph Stockman

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ~T. Roosevelt

“Great spirits have always encoun­tered vio­lent oppo­si­tion from mediocre minds.” ~Albert Einstein

“Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind.” ~F. Scott Fitzgerald

“He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.” ~Voltaire

“True love sto­ries never have end­ings.” ~Richard Bach

“Anyone can be pas­sionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly.” ~Rose Franken

“What the world really needs is more love and less paper work.” ~Pearl Bailey

“To all of us the thought of heaven is dear–
Why not be sure of it and make it here?
No doubt there is a heaven yonder too,
But ’tis so far away–and you are near.”
~Omar Khayyam

“For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” ~Lily Tomlin

I’ve decided I’m going to par­tic­i­pate in the National Blog Posting Month exer­cise. It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on my blog, and I have missed it. I’ve been dealing with a very hectic schedule in my real life, between taking a full load of courses at the uni­ver­sity, and working, and home life, social life etc., I’ve ignored my blog for too long. I get these email alerts for NaBloPoMo, an off­shot of NaNoWriMo, and I always look at the monthly theme and think to myself, “oh that sounds inter­esting, I should write some­thing about that.” Then I forget all about it till the next email alert. But this time, I’ll make it a point to stick to it.

“Look up” invokes three basic con­cepts in my mind:

1: Optimism.

As in, looking up at the bright side of life… trying to find ways to look at things from a pos­i­tive per­spec­tive as much as pos­sible. This is hard for those of us who pay atten­tion to the news, to pol­i­tics, and the state of affairs in many, I’d say most, parts of the world. But as a won­derful vis­iting Professor told our Equity Studies class recently, “the greatest chal­lenge for those of us aware of the prob­lems of the world, is to learn how to love the world.” This really is the greatest chal­lenge and one I’m learning slowly how to handle. I will blog about some of the people and orga­ni­za­tions that have inspired me and are moti­vating me in the world today. I’m not sure if opti­mism is some­thing I really under­stand, on a bigger scale, but I will make a honest effort at it. More on this as the month pro­gresses, I’m sure.

2: Searching.

As in, searching for/looking up infor­ma­tion, or a person, or a resource, group, or any­thing else that isn’t readily or easily avail­able. It could also mean searching for answers, or at least, better ways of artic­u­lating the ques­tions. This month, I’ll blog about some uncanny, off-the-wall, and inter­esting bits of infor­ma­tion that I find, and also about how to search for things on the internet.

3: The Sky.

Halley’s Comet 1986

One of my ear­liest mem­o­ries is of my dad taking us out near the air­port to watch for Halley’s Comet as it came within viewing range from Earth in early 1986. He explained to me what a comet was, and that the next time this ancient one came around I’d be in my 80′s. It was a mind-blowing thing for a 7 year old to dis­cover. It made me appre­ciate from a very early age, the expanse of space and time, and how insignif­i­cant we really are in this grand, beau­tiful uni­verse. Since then, my love for astronomy and cos­mology has only increased. Some of my blog posts this month will revolve around this enduring pas­sion of mine.

So, if you’re reading this and you’d like to com­ment, please do so, and let me know what “Look up” means to you.

I’ve loved this song for a long time, just saw the video for the first time today. Amazing…

So many things to occupy time, so little time for them to occupy.

Here’s an inter­esting inter­view I came across with author Salman Rushdie

For the other geeks among us, you might find PC World’s list of the Top 50 Tech Visionaries inspiring.

Here, you can listen to an audio ver­sion of a Q&A between Stephen Colbert, Steve Carrell and Ann Hathaway (listen to the audio online by clicking on the link in the middle there).

Lastly, but def­i­nitely not leastly, here’s a tribute to the fun­niest guy who ever lived who died this past weekend, George Carlin. The world was fun­nier with ya, George, we’ll miss your sick, twisted, bril­liant brain. Here he is, in his own words…

My dad for­warded me this pic that just says it all…

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said “Stop! don’t do it!”

“Why shouldn’t I?” he said.

I said, “Well, there’s so much to live for!”

He said, “Like what?”

I said, “Well…are you reli­gious or atheist?”

He said, “Religious.”

I said, “Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?”

He said, “Christian.”

I said, “Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?”

He said, “Protestant.”

I said, “Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?”

He said, “Baptist!”

I said,”Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?”

He said, “Baptist Church of God!”

I said, “Me too! Are you orig­inal Baptist Church of God, or are you reformed Baptist Church of God?”

He said,”Reformed Baptist Church of God!”

I said, “Me too! Are you reformed Baptist Church of God, ref­or­ma­tion of 1879, or reformed Baptist Church of God, ref­or­ma­tion of 1915?”

He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God, ref­or­ma­tion of 1915!”

I said, “Die, heretic scum”, and pushed him off.

By Emo Phillips

I stum­bled across this little brain candy in Wired.com’s archives.

One of my favourites:

TIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!! … nobody there …
– Harry Harrison

…she’s the world’s oldest blogger: The Life of Riley