OUR MR. SUN from the Bell Science Series

What is Class?

Class never runs scared. It is sure-footed and confident in the knowledge that you can meet life head on and handle whatever comes along. Jacob had it – Esau didn’t. Symbolically, we can look to Jacob’s wrestling match with the angel.

Those who have class have wrestled with their own personal ‘angel’ and have won a victory that marks them thereafter. Class never makes excuses. It takes its lumps and learns from past mistakes.

Class is considerate of others – it knows that good manners is nothing more than a series of petty sacrifices. Class bespeaks an aristocracy that has nothing to do with ancestors or money. The most affluent blue-blood can be totally without class while the descendant of a Welsh miner may ooze class from every pore.

Class never tries to build itself up by tearing others down. Class is ALREADY up and need not strive to look better by making others look worse. Class can “walk with kings and keep its virtue and talk with crowds and keep the common touch.” Everyone is comfortable with the person who has class – because he is comfortable with himself.

If you have class you don’t need much of anything else. If you don’t have it, no matter what else you have – it doesn’t make much difference.

Moscow FLASHMOB: Putting (or Putin) on the Ritz

Most emotional and touching performance on X Factor (Emmanuel)

If this handicapped 'kid' from a war zone orphanage can sing Paul McCartney's Imagine - imagine "peace forever" - with such heart and such courage on Australia's X Factor, I'm not sure there's much room let for any of us to complain very loudly when things don't otherwise go perfectly our way..

My personal shot at people whose education obviously sucks!

Most of my facebook friends are aware at how indignant I get when anyone has so little respect for themselves and for American History that they exhibit how stupid they are and how poor their education has been by reporting, citing, and otherwise repeating statements which either have no basis in history whatsoever (Michele Bachmann's statement that 9 year old John Quincy Adams was a founding father), or are total misrepresentations of fact (Sarah Palin's outrageous and laughable retelling of Paul Revere's ride to warn the British that the British were coming). The proof to me that their education has been without merit or effect is that they cannot even recognize how unlikely some statements would be coming out of the mouths of the founding fathers. Recently a friend posted the following:

“A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government"  

The alleged quote is ascribed to George Washington, sometimes as part of his First Annual Message to Congress (January 8, 1790). Good luck trying to find it anywhere in that message … or for that matter, in any legitimate source of Washington's notes, messages, thoughts, and so forth. The actual likely quote is from George Washington's First State of the Union, and it goes like this:

"A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies."

While I'm on a roll, here's another statement attributed to George Washington at the Second Session of the First Congress, and quoted as freely as the misquote above, but this one is amusing on several levels. The quote: (sometimes referred to as the “Liberty Teeth” speech):

“Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence. The church, the plow, the prairie wagon, and citizen's firearms are indelibly related. From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to insure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable. Every corner of this land knows firearms, and more than 99 99/100 percent of them by their silence indicate they are in safe and sane hands. The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference; they deserve a place with all that's good. When firearms go, all goes; we need them every hour.”

First, there is NO reference to it or anything like it in any of Washington's personal papers, notes, thoughts, and so forth. Second, the reference to “99 99/100ths” is a very unusual construct to find in any 18th Century comment – this may be the only one! Third, the reference to the “prairie wagon” is a most interesting anachronism; there was no American prairie as yet within the time frame of the 2nd session of the first Congress from February 16, 1790 to August 12, 1790 – the prairie in question belonged to the French.

KOREA'S GOT TALENT: Sung-Bong Choi

Just like Susan Boyle did on Britain's Got Talent, this young Korean boy brings an amazing talent to the Korean version of Korea's Got Talent with an amazing story to boot. The song he sings is Nella Fantasia - Here are the lyrics in Italian with the English translation.


Italian:
Nella fantasia io vedo un mondo giusto,
Lì tutti vivono in pace e in onestà.
Io sogno d'anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano,
Pien' d'umanità in fondo all'anima.

Nella fantasia io vedo un mondo chiaro,
Lì anche la notte è meno oscura.
Io sogno d'anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano.

Nella fantasia esiste un vento caldo,
Che soffia sulle città, come amico.
Io sogno d'anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano,
Pien' d'umanità in fondo all'anima.

English Translation:
In my fantasy I see a just world
Where everyone lives in peace and honesty
I dream of a place to live that is always free
Like a cloud that floats
Full of humanity in the depths of the soul

In my fantasy I see a bright world
Where each night there is less darkness
I dream of souls that are always free
Like the cloud that floats

In my fantasy exists a warm wind
That breathes into the city, like a friend
I dream of souls that are always free
Like the cloud that floats

Randy Pausch - Last Lecture

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 - July 25, 2008) gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving presentation, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.