sam harris is consistently re-emerging as a hero for me.
in 2006, when i started this blog, i heard people refer to him as the world's most prominent atheist. as i read the end of faith, i came to realize how important and urgent it is for people to turn to reason-based action and to free themselves from the chains of superstition.
letter to a christian nation was a succinct encore.
last month, the moral landscape helped me to better understand questions of ethical and moral existence.
i'm repeatedly impressed by harris' ability to concisely focus and shine stark light on the most complex issues we face today.
in his latest essay, harris again faces taboo issues head-on by proposing actions by the wealthiest among us to alleviate the tragic inequality our societies face. i could quote all of it... but
snip
we now live in a country in which the bottom 40 percent (120 million people) owns just 0.3 percent of the wealth. data of this kind make one feel that one is participating in a vast psychological experiment: just how much inequality can free people endure?
/snip
harris refers to the u.s. economy, but, in my mind, it can be expanded to encompass the globe.
the entire piece, a new year's resolution for the rich, is on the huffington post.
the candle flame gutters. its little pool of light trembles. darkness gathers. the demons begin to stir. - carl sagan
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
aperture

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i'm just messing around with an older shot, and inspired by a better photo editor than i.
here's a little video i made last year, when i shot this image, out of a series of stills running through the entire range of f-stops on my canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM macro:
final image:

©2010 helen sotiriadis
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
a year of pictures: 2010

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i hope everyone's having a wonderful end-of-year-holiday-whatever-that-may-be.
and i hope some of you have enjoyed viewing my pictures -- i certainly loved creating them.
i made a video of this year's images -- well, most of them -- as i did last year.
enjoy:
you can view the individual images here.
©2010 helen sotiriadis
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
a break from flickr

i'm going to take a break from daily postings on flickr... i might post something i find worthwhile once in a while, and i'll definitely be visiting my favorite photostreams. i need some time to get my bearings and find a new direction.
i'm deeply grateful for all i've learned and the friends i've made -- so many kind, talented people here with whom i hope i can retain enduring friendships.
my best wishes for a happy, hopeful new year.
1. pale blue solstice, 2. the christmas spirit, 3. this and every, 4. under wraps [ii], 5. holiday hints, 6. pixellated christmas: 362/365, 7. deck the fence: 259/365, 8. baubly: 356/365, 9. blue too: 352/365, 10. event horizon: 339/365, 11. pine away: 338/365, 12. candy canekeh: 335/365, 13. to catch a tree: 334/365, 14. flickr.com/photos/64469833@N00/4132853743/, 15. a different drum: 322/365, 16. unintoxicated: 204/365, 17. the spoils of christmas, 18. greek holiday boats - stylized, 19. jingle, 20. a place in the galaxy, 21. deer blue bokeh, 22. deer blue, 23. deer blue, 24. decorated souvlakerie, 25. mouse in da house
©2010 helen sotiriadis
Monday, December 20, 2010
pale blue solstice

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this time of year i have mixed feelings -- a sense of cold anxiety and loss but also of anticipation for the possibilities ahead. a pale blue dot helps me keep things in perspective.
that's here, that's home, that's us.
- carl sagan (november 9, 1934 - december 20, 1996)
happy holidays to all.
this is an ornament against christmas lights with star-shaped bokeh.
relevant sets: pale blue dot | carl sagan | custom shaped bokeh
©2010 helen sotiriadis
a holiday message from ricky gervais
on the wall street journal, why i'm an atheist.
'why don’t i believe in god? no, no no, why do YOU believe in god? surely the burden of proof is on the believer. you started all this. if i came up to you and said, “why don’t you believe i can fly?” you’d say, “why would i?” i’d reply, “because it’s a matter of faith”. if i then said, “prove i can’t fly. prove i can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” you’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, ‘’f—ing fly then you lunatic.”'
the entire piece here.
'why don’t i believe in god? no, no no, why do YOU believe in god? surely the burden of proof is on the believer. you started all this. if i came up to you and said, “why don’t you believe i can fly?” you’d say, “why would i?” i’d reply, “because it’s a matter of faith”. if i then said, “prove i can’t fly. prove i can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” you’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, ‘’f—ing fly then you lunatic.”'
the entire piece here.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
a mother's voice
at io9
'newborn babies have an instinctual need to hear their mother's voice...and nobody else's. For the first time ever, electrodes were placed on babies hours after their birth to probe the connection between the mother's voice and their newborn brains.'
abstract at cerebral cortex
'newborn babies have an instinctual need to hear their mother's voice...and nobody else's. For the first time ever, electrodes were placed on babies hours after their birth to probe the connection between the mother's voice and their newborn brains.'
abstract at cerebral cortex
christopher hitchens vs shmuley boteach
is there an afterlife?
christopher hitchens debated rabbi shmuley at cooper union, new york on thursday, september 16, 2010.
christopher hitchens debated rabbi shmuley at cooper union, new york on thursday, september 16, 2010.
I.P.P.O. bar

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a collage.
at intelligent picture project organization, 11 thiseos street, syntagma, athens, greece.
geotagged on flickr.
individual images:





©2010 helen sotiriadis
Saturday, December 18, 2010
christopher hitchens and sophie tarnowska
on the gazette:
'in a society in which individuals feed their opinions with news they know they'll concur with, his irreverence was like oxygen. i disagree with many of hitchens's opinions. but he defends his views intelligently and bases them on factual evidence, a knowledge of history and keen analysis. his method and its occasional accompanying madness demand that we examine our opinions and recognize them as just that - opinions, and not immutable fact. i'm tired of seeing blind faith pass for intelligent analysis.
hitchens summed up his raison d'etre when he was invited to make his final argument on the role of religion in society at the end of the munk debate. "no thank you," he said, and instead asked for one last question from the audience.
"i'd rather be provoked."'
the full piece here.
'in a society in which individuals feed their opinions with news they know they'll concur with, his irreverence was like oxygen. i disagree with many of hitchens's opinions. but he defends his views intelligently and bases them on factual evidence, a knowledge of history and keen analysis. his method and its occasional accompanying madness demand that we examine our opinions and recognize them as just that - opinions, and not immutable fact. i'm tired of seeing blind faith pass for intelligent analysis.
hitchens summed up his raison d'etre when he was invited to make his final argument on the role of religion in society at the end of the munk debate. "no thank you," he said, and instead asked for one last question from the audience.
"i'd rather be provoked."'
the full piece here.
the center of all things

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funny how, when i lived in america, i felt it was the center of the world -- and the same when i was in china and now, in greece. it's not easy to shake one's arrogance.
and, of course, we think we're the center of the universe, don't we?
'if we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. we make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.'
- carl sagan, cosmos
©2010 helen sotiriadis
what you are not allowed NOT to say anymore
says pz myers:
'sorry, fellow atheists, but if you thought you could just get away with sitting quietly and not making a noise, you're doomed. the situation is worse than simply some silly believers flying into a snit because horribly militant, aggressive, obnoxious atheists put up signs that say something offensive and vile, like "you can be good without god" — you thought if you just avoided confronting people with such criminal sentiments, you'd escape their notice and condemnation.
but soon, they'll be coming for you if you are insufficiently fervent in cheerleading for god.'
please read on...
'sorry, fellow atheists, but if you thought you could just get away with sitting quietly and not making a noise, you're doomed. the situation is worse than simply some silly believers flying into a snit because horribly militant, aggressive, obnoxious atheists put up signs that say something offensive and vile, like "you can be good without god" — you thought if you just avoided confronting people with such criminal sentiments, you'd escape their notice and condemnation.
but soon, they'll be coming for you if you are insufficiently fervent in cheerleading for god.'
please read on...
Friday, December 17, 2010
fence, revisited

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my favorite fence, from the archives.

thank gravity it's friday! woohoooo!
©2010 helen sotiriadis
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
richard dawkins: forgive me, spirit of science
on the RDFRS, richard dawkins celebrates the 400th anniversary of the king james bible:
'let’s celebrate the four-hundredth anniversary of this astonishing piece of english literature. warts and all – for i have deliberately refrained from mentioning the carnage, the smiting, the vindictive, genocidally racist, jealous monster god of the old testament. warts and all – for i have drawn a veil over the new testament misogyny of paul, the founder of christianity: or the pauline obscenity of every baby being born in sin, saved only by the divine scapegoat suffering on the cross because the creator of the universe couldn’t think of a better way to forgive everybody. warts and all, let’s encourage our schools to bring this precious english heritage to all our children, whatever their background, not as history, not as science and not (oh please not) as morality. but as literature.'
'let’s celebrate the four-hundredth anniversary of this astonishing piece of english literature. warts and all – for i have deliberately refrained from mentioning the carnage, the smiting, the vindictive, genocidally racist, jealous monster god of the old testament. warts and all – for i have drawn a veil over the new testament misogyny of paul, the founder of christianity: or the pauline obscenity of every baby being born in sin, saved only by the divine scapegoat suffering on the cross because the creator of the universe couldn’t think of a better way to forgive everybody. warts and all, let’s encourage our schools to bring this precious english heritage to all our children, whatever their background, not as history, not as science and not (oh please not) as morality. but as literature.'
dégradé

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secure enough to grant center stage.
also, en haut.
more paris.
©2010 helen sotiriadis
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
the christmas spirit

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trapped!
muhahahahaaahahaa
[title, idea and modeling by mourlegovits]
more christmas
©2010 helen sotiriadis
athens: the little great city
a tilt$shift time-lapse video that makes athens look practically sweet.
of course, it's an illusion, isn't it?
thanks, julia
of course, it's an illusion, isn't it?
thanks, julia
trolling for dummies
can't... help... it... must... link to... funny... satire...

they're having a field day over at crispian's.

they're having a field day over at crispian's.
Monday, December 13, 2010
this and every...

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...christmas, i'll give you my heart.
[don't drop it!]
more christmas
©2010 helen sotiriadis
Sunday, December 12, 2010
showoff: the enlightening
i just looked back on my first uploads on flickr, about three years ago. gasp -- they're pretty awful.
since then, i've carried my camera with me almost every single day, tried to find interesting things to capture and experimented with processing. shooting regularly has certainly helped me to improve. it's been quite a journey, so far.
along the way, i've shot a few images that have come to be my favorites... but they're getting lost in my photostream on flickr and within the thousands of posts on this blog.
... so i've decided to start reposting them, in a series i'm tentatively naming, showoff, along with a few thoughts for each one, on why they are special to me.
i'm going to start with this image which is probably my all-time favorite thus far.

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i like the intense antithesis of light and dark. i like how i suddenly felt inspired to depart from my tame preconceptions of what a picture should be, and, in a fit of freedom, flipped the image upside down, causing the figure, refracted within the sphere, to appear right-side-up.
most of all, i like the symbolism it holds for me: the mysteries of our cosmos becoming light and clear through science, as represented by the sphere of optical glass: in short, humanity's grasp for knowledge.
finally, i like that the model is my child, as i try to convey my love for science and rational thought to her.
on my original upload, i included the following quote:
'when you make the finding yourself -- even if you're the last person on earth to see the light -- you never forget it.'
-- carl sagan, the demon-haunted world
how ironic is it that, with all this meaning this holds for me, i received many comments about the supernatural and pseudioscience as prompted by what viewers perceive as a crystal ball. it seems that even a simple image like this can be received as completely conflicting content, depending on one's existing tendencies and world view.
this image is available for purchase as a print in the medium of your choice and it's also included in my photobook, ::50 bits to make you wonder::
©2010 helen sotiriadis
since then, i've carried my camera with me almost every single day, tried to find interesting things to capture and experimented with processing. shooting regularly has certainly helped me to improve. it's been quite a journey, so far.
along the way, i've shot a few images that have come to be my favorites... but they're getting lost in my photostream on flickr and within the thousands of posts on this blog.
... so i've decided to start reposting them, in a series i'm tentatively naming, showoff, along with a few thoughts for each one, on why they are special to me.
i'm going to start with this image which is probably my all-time favorite thus far.

embiggen
i like the intense antithesis of light and dark. i like how i suddenly felt inspired to depart from my tame preconceptions of what a picture should be, and, in a fit of freedom, flipped the image upside down, causing the figure, refracted within the sphere, to appear right-side-up.
most of all, i like the symbolism it holds for me: the mysteries of our cosmos becoming light and clear through science, as represented by the sphere of optical glass: in short, humanity's grasp for knowledge.
finally, i like that the model is my child, as i try to convey my love for science and rational thought to her.
on my original upload, i included the following quote:
'when you make the finding yourself -- even if you're the last person on earth to see the light -- you never forget it.'
-- carl sagan, the demon-haunted world
how ironic is it that, with all this meaning this holds for me, i received many comments about the supernatural and pseudioscience as prompted by what viewers perceive as a crystal ball. it seems that even a simple image like this can be received as completely conflicting content, depending on one's existing tendencies and world view.
this image is available for purchase as a print in the medium of your choice and it's also included in my photobook, ::50 bits to make you wonder::
©2010 helen sotiriadis
Saturday, December 11, 2010
a lock, no key

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flickr blog today has a feature on padlocks -- so i thought i'd share ours, at le pont de l'archevêché, behind notre dame, in paris.
geotagged on flickr.
©2010 helen sotiriadis
greenwalk on wikileaks
"whatever you think of wikileaks, they have not been charged with a crime, let alone indicted or convicted. yet look what has happened to them. they have been removed from internet … their funds have been frozen … media figures and politicians have called for their assassination and to be labeled a terrorist organization. what is really going on here is a war over control of the internet, and whether or not the internet can actually serve its ultimate purpose—which is to allow citizens to band together and democratize the checks on the world’s most powerful factions," – glenn greenwald.
at the daily dish
at the daily dish
Friday, December 10, 2010
convex

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in front of a kiosk in athens. i think the mirror was placed by the kiosk's owner so he could see who's approaching. i liked the lineup of greek newspapers and the 'the ministry of health warns that smoking can be hazardous to your health' warning on top.
i shot this with my 350D after i dropped off my 40D at the doctor's. you may be happy to know that it's back home and feeling fine.
©2010 helen sotiriadis
Thursday, December 09, 2010
under wraps [ii]

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you can't eat'em. it's not christmas yet.
more christmas
more candy
©2010 helen sotiriadis
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
holiday hints

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spotted outside my camera's doctor's office [hopefully today it'll be all better] and shot with my 350D.
in preparation for the celebration for the reason for the season.
here's a little yuletide fun...
and don't forget... it's time to get a new calendar!
©2010 helen sotiriadis
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
calendars!
yikes! it's almost 2011!
i've whipped up a few calendars. like'em?

go ahead and preview them:
greece, unconventionally | a year of architecture | macronaut
individual images can be purchased here.
i've whipped up a few calendars. like'em?

go ahead and preview them:
greece, unconventionally | a year of architecture | macronaut
individual images can be purchased here.
|@@@@@

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a detail spotted during my golden sunrise at sacré-cœur:

more paris
in the meantime, i'm temporarily departed from my beloved 40D as it's developed a problem with the shutter button -- it needs to be replaced. i found a relevant discussion here. people say it works ok after powering off, pressing and twisting, but since it seems that the problem inevitably reappears, i thought i'd take it to canon service to fix it entirely. i also asked them to count my clicks as i have no idea how far along i am on the body's life.
the good news is that i took it in today and i'm getting it back tomorrow (yay!) -- and in the meantime i have my old 350D with me, as i hate being out and about without a camera.
©2010 helen sotiriadis
Monday, December 06, 2010
souterraine

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the underground pass leading to the arc de triomphe. just a fleeting memory.
more paris
©2010 helen sotiriadis
the level of humility in scientific discourse
i finished listening to sam harris' the moral landscape audiobook last week. this bit really stuck in my memory and i'm glad butterlies and wheels is quoting it... so i'm adding it here for future reference:
“while it is a standard rhetorical move in such debates to accuse scientists of being ‘arrogant,’ the level of humility in scientific discourse is, in fact, one of its most striking characteristics. in my experience, arrogance is about as common at a scientific conference as nudity. at any scientific meeting you will find presenter after presenter couching his or her remarks with caveats and apologies. when asked to comment on something that lies to either side of the very knife edge of their special expertise, even nobel laureates will say things like, “well, this isn’t really my area, but i would suspect that x is…” or “i’m sure there are several people in this room who know more about this than i do, but as far as i know, x is…” the totality of scientific knowledge nowdoubles every few years. given how much there is to know, all scientists live with the constant awareness that whenever they open their mouths in the presence of other scientists, they are guaranteed to be speaking to someone who knows more about a specific topic than they do.” [p 124]
“while it is a standard rhetorical move in such debates to accuse scientists of being ‘arrogant,’ the level of humility in scientific discourse is, in fact, one of its most striking characteristics. in my experience, arrogance is about as common at a scientific conference as nudity. at any scientific meeting you will find presenter after presenter couching his or her remarks with caveats and apologies. when asked to comment on something that lies to either side of the very knife edge of their special expertise, even nobel laureates will say things like, “well, this isn’t really my area, but i would suspect that x is…” or “i’m sure there are several people in this room who know more about this than i do, but as far as i know, x is…” the totality of scientific knowledge nowdoubles every few years. given how much there is to know, all scientists live with the constant awareness that whenever they open their mouths in the presence of other scientists, they are guaranteed to be speaking to someone who knows more about a specific topic than they do.” [p 124]
Sunday, December 05, 2010
more to give

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at erato used bookstore in monastiraki, athens, greece.
i uploaded a bunch of images to redbubble! have a favorite image? get a print!
©2010 helen sotiriadis
evil
'i have told this to few people, gentlemen, and i suspect never will again, but one day when i was a young boy on holiday in uberwald i was walking along the bank of a stream when i saw a mother otter with her cubs. a very endearing sight, i'm sure you will agree, and even as i watched, the mother otter dived into the water and came up with a plump salmon, which she subdued and dragged on to a half-submerged log. as she ate it, while of course it was still alive, the body split and i remember to this day the sweet pinkness of its roes as they spilled out, much to the delight of the baby otters who scrambled over themselves to feed on the delicacy. one of nature's wonders, gentlemen: mother and children dining upon mother and children. and that's when i first learned about evil. it is built in to the very nature of the universe. every world spins in pain. if there is any kind of supreme being, i told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.'
-terry pratchett,
via pz myers
-terry pratchett,
via pz myers
Saturday, December 04, 2010
the center of all things
an homage to carl sagan's pale blue dot.
'if we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. we can make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.'
-carl sagan, cosmos
more pale blue dot
thanks, julia.
'if we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. we can make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.'
-carl sagan, cosmos
more pale blue dot
thanks, julia.
Friday, December 03, 2010
golden

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james brandon at digital photography school had an overview of using the fibonacci ratio in photography a couple of days ago. though i'm aware of the golden mean, i can't say i've been paying too much attention to crop my images with it in mind, although i have been aiming for the rule of thirds.
old wold, one of the commentators, offered a link to a nifty little online tool to crop with the curve and i used it to check out some of my images -- it looks like i've been naturally gravitating towards the spiral without really being aware of it (i've superimposed the spiral onto the above grid of images). btw, the image in the center of the grid, a BW of me, was shot by mr.G.
a more heavy-duty crop tool for photoshop can be found here.
i think i'm going to start paying more attention to the golden spiral, lines and triangles.
©2010 helen sotiriadis
Thursday, December 02, 2010
arsenophiles: life as we did not know it
well, well, well... i read and posted a link about this path to discovery in june in a shadow biosphere: life as we don't know it, about how 'dr wolfe-simon has theorised that there may be life that chose an “evolutionary pathway” to utilise arsenic'.
and here it is, at NASA:

GFAJ-1
click image to source
'dec. 2, 2010: NASA-supported researchers have discovered the first known microorganism on earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. the microorganism, which lives in california's mono lake, substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in the backbone of its DNA and other cellular components.
"the definition of life has just expanded," said ed weiler, NASA's associate administrator for the science mission directorate at the agency's headquarters in washington. "as we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know it."
this finding of an alternative biochemistry makeup will alter biology textbooks and expand the scope of the search for life beyond earth. the research is published in this week's edition of science express.'
-------------
carl, how i wish you were here with us today:
'when you look more generally at life on earth, you find that it is all the same kind of life. there are not many different kinds; there's only one kind.'
and
'this then raises interesting questions about whether we have any idea of the possible range of life, of what could be elsewhere.'
- carl sagan, 'the varieties of scientific experience'
along the same lines of research, a shadow biosphere.
EDIT: and here'sthe wet blanket pz myers.
and here it is, at NASA:

GFAJ-1
click image to source
'dec. 2, 2010: NASA-supported researchers have discovered the first known microorganism on earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. the microorganism, which lives in california's mono lake, substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in the backbone of its DNA and other cellular components.
"the definition of life has just expanded," said ed weiler, NASA's associate administrator for the science mission directorate at the agency's headquarters in washington. "as we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know it."
this finding of an alternative biochemistry makeup will alter biology textbooks and expand the scope of the search for life beyond earth. the research is published in this week's edition of science express.'
-------------
carl, how i wish you were here with us today:
'when you look more generally at life on earth, you find that it is all the same kind of life. there are not many different kinds; there's only one kind.'
and
'this then raises interesting questions about whether we have any idea of the possible range of life, of what could be elsewhere.'
- carl sagan, 'the varieties of scientific experience'
along the same lines of research, a shadow biosphere.
EDIT: and here's
holiday cheer in athens
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
christopher hitchens: richard dawkins' hero of 2010
on the guardian
snip
'eloquent, witty, literate, intelligent, knowledgeable, brave, erudite, hard-working, honest (who could forget his clean-through skewering of mother teresa's hypocrisy?), arguably the most formidable debater alive today yet at the same time the most gentlemanly, christopher hitchens is a giant of the mind and a model of courage. a lesser man would have seized the excuse of a mortal illness to duck responsibility and take it easy. not this soldier. he will not go gentle into that good night; but instead of a futile raging against the dying of the light he rages, with redoubled energy (and concentrated power in his vibrant, richard burton tones) against the same obscurantist, vicious or just plain silly targets as have long engaged him. but he never rants. his is a controlled, disciplined rage, and don't get on the wrong side of it.'
/snip
the full piece here.
via project reason
snip
'eloquent, witty, literate, intelligent, knowledgeable, brave, erudite, hard-working, honest (who could forget his clean-through skewering of mother teresa's hypocrisy?), arguably the most formidable debater alive today yet at the same time the most gentlemanly, christopher hitchens is a giant of the mind and a model of courage. a lesser man would have seized the excuse of a mortal illness to duck responsibility and take it easy. not this soldier. he will not go gentle into that good night; but instead of a futile raging against the dying of the light he rages, with redoubled energy (and concentrated power in his vibrant, richard burton tones) against the same obscurantist, vicious or just plain silly targets as have long engaged him. but he never rants. his is a controlled, disciplined rage, and don't get on the wrong side of it.'
/snip
the full piece here.
via project reason
ivan and olga

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as we left the eiffel tower and walked across le parc du camp de mars, we saw a beautiful newlywed couple having fun with pictures in front of the tower. they were sweet enough to pose for a quick shot.
we exchanged email addressed, and they even sent me pictures from the kremlin and the caribbean!
live long and prosper, ivan and olga.

©2010 helen sotiriadis
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