tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16370822472127603822024-03-22T02:44:19.580+00:00Bobur Komilov Online!Everything I ever thought....Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-52435825238690823762014-03-14T17:32:00.001+00:002014-03-14T17:33:21.788+00:00Thought on a pillow<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">There are times when the simple thing we want to hear or be told is the assurance that you are loved not despite your vulnerabilities, but because of all your imperfections. When the time comes to look into the reality we've created, it's t</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">he beauty and perfection entirely made up of little things like insecurities, longing for assurances and our most basic human need to be loved. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Remembering words of a friend far far away now.. You were so right when you said this and I think of you everyday when I pass by your window facing the road and the small cafe right under your flat that has heard so many precious things we spoke of on the brink of unconditionality.. Unconditionality.. such a rarity to dream of these days.</span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-19797071676633187502013-09-02T20:05:00.000+01:002013-09-02T20:05:26.751+01:00Ertaning taraddudi..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yugurganing sari, qayerga degan savoldan imkon qadar uzoqlarga ketib qolsang. Gohida tafakkuringni ozgina bo'lsada toza havo bilan "shamollatib" turish lozim ekan. Bu juda uzoq vaqt esimdan chiqib qolibdi, endi bilsam.<br />
<br />
O'pkalasa, o'pkalar o'sha insonlar.. Hafa bo'lsalar ham mayli.. Nega endi buguning endigina yaraqlay boshlaganida, so'lg'in o'tmishingni eslatadiganlar ko'payadi?!<br />
<br />
Bugundan sevinib, ertaning orzusida yashaganga nima yetsin? Orzular o'lmasin..<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-17861583084476983132013-01-08T12:01:00.000+00:002013-01-08T12:01:01.302+00:00Rostdanmi?:)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Har qanday holatda, chuqur va zamirida aniq maqsdalar yotgan harakat bugunga kelib shunchaki shakli ommalashib, shamoyili borgan sari yo'qolib borayotgandek go'yo. Nimadir qilish uchun maqsad emas, balki qilindimi - qilindi qabilida ish tutish juda ommalashdi. Aslida bu bilan kimnidir aldayotgan bo'lsak, bu alaoqibat faqat o'zimiz ekani esa esdan chiqib qolmayotganmikin..</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-36692015870487919202013-01-05T20:26:00.001+00:002013-01-05T20:26:15.811+00:00Thoughts in the margin<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
All of us, sooner or later come to the point in our lives when something extraordinary happens and we realize all the relationships we have been in and the people we allowed to walk into our lives and indulge themselves with abundance of our heart-felt feelings and child-like purity were not what we thought they were. They were all wrong.. At least most of them. But this is only the beginning of what I call, a personality switch, that hits most of us as we enter the world of post 20s.. Is this the end or the beginning of our real values unfolding before our eyes as we grow old? Or rather, oldER.. This is where I have a problem with an age-old philosophy of ageing - that tends to claim we are supposed to get slower, blinder and less ambitious. My counter-argument to that is almost the same as another age-old approach which says practice makes perfect. I wonder what happens when alongside our tendency to hone our skills and capabilities to earn, collect, increase and destroy - we also hone our ability to build, improve and constantly revive our inborn wish for ... feeling good and wanting to do more and more of it to others. Everyday. Really. Every single day.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-29034837894234432742012-09-19T22:19:00.003+01:002012-09-19T22:19:56.645+01:00...birov ko'rmaydi.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Yillar bag’riga
otilgan hissiyotlar hazon fasli qahridan bekingan kapalak misol, yana osudalik
yeli esishini kutib yashayveradi.. Bu holatning ilohiy jihati – tabiiylikdan o’ta
mustasnoligida. Oyna ortidagi qahraton izg’irin va jazirama issiqni qanchalik
uzoq kuzatmang, bu kuzatuv sizga ularning tig’iga bardosh bo’la oladigan na
chidam va na subut beradi. Men aytayotgan hislarning ilohiyligi esa nigohlar
ortidagi sukunatdan kuch olib, vaqt o’tgani sari uqubat, og’riq va umidsizlik
yomg’iri – achchiq ko’z yoshlar panohidan tobora uzoqlashib borishida.. Ruhiy savlatimiz
shunday yuksalib boradiki, endi ularsiz – ko’z yoshlarisiz ham bemalol oh
chekaveramiz, yig’layveramiz.. Faqat buni boshqa birov ko’rmaydi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-44606464446976858522012-07-30T13:06:00.001+01:002012-07-30T13:06:46.500+01:00Lahzada umr<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lahza betakror.
Hayotimizning deyarli asosiy qismini o’z hukmiga osonlikcha bo’ysundirgan har
qanday vaqt oralig’ini bu his bilan izohlash menimcha – jinoyat. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Umrimiz
keluvchi va ketuvchi tuyg’ular, kelguvchi va abadiy qoluvchi taassurotlar bilan
o’tib borar ekan, uning fojeali darajadagi kichik zarrasinigini lahzaga
tenglashtirish mumkin. Bu vaqt mas, bu tiriklik belgisi bo’lgan iztirob va yoki
sog’inch ham emas. Bu shunchaki favqulotda shuurimizda jonlanadigan va uni
astoydil anglab yetgunimizga qadar yana sarob misol g’oyib bo’ladigan oniy
borliq. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Qanchadan qancha yuraklarni, millionlab umrlarni qattiq dovul zulmiga
uchragan qum zarralari kabi har tomon kun payakun qilishga qodir vaqt uning
oldida bosh egadi. Uning oldida o’ta ojiz. U shunchalik qudratliki, uning
oldida yuraklar ham, zulmat bag’ridan kelgan dard va nurli sayyora elchisi –
sog’inch ham sukut saqlaydi. Hamma gap – u paydo bo’lgan oniy nafasda uni imkon
qadar ilg’ab qolishda. Ulgurish kerak. Umrning choragi faqat u haqdagi
o’y-hayollar bilan o’tdi-ketdi. Muhimi, bu yog’iga – uning borligiga hech
bo’lmasa iymon keltirish uchun idrok va yorug’lik hissini anglab ulgursam,
bo’lgani. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-53799437782484869012012-05-16T16:16:00.001+01:002012-05-16T16:16:20.018+01:00Dogs, hands, and humans<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text" style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;">If your dog bites your hand while feeding, dont punish it as it will come back for more food again. It can then only look at your hands, but cant look up your eyes. This is how you know it regrets the bite. Just like us humans)</span>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-40426395265623561862012-05-09T09:54:00.000+01:002012-05-09T09:54:01.957+01:00Unga quloq soling... yurakka<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Uzoq vaqt
qo’limga qalam ola olmadim. Hozir ham yozsammi, yozmasammi qabilida oppoq
sahifaga tikilib o’tiribman. Kechagina o’qigan bir yozuvchimning yon
daftaridagi bir kichik eslatmaga ko’zim tushib ketdi. Unda katta harflar bilan
“Tafakkurdagi tiniqlikka intil” deb yoz\ib qo’yilgan ekan. Tafakkurdagi
tiniqlik haqida falsafa so’qishdan avval hammasidan eng oddiyi – tiniqlik
haqida o’ylab ketdim. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Unchalik
oson emas ekan u haqda o’ylash. Nima o’zi u? Hamma haqida hukm chiqarish
illatidan qochib, o’zimning o’ta jo’n bo’lsa ham, shaxsiy tasavvurimga murojaat
qilaman. Tiniqlik bu – moviy osmon, ezgu hislar, bezavol tabiat, siniqlik
belgisi tushib ulgurmagan tabassum, ona mehri, og’ir damingda suyanganing
do’stingning yelkasi, qo’rqib ketganda qo’lingdan mahkam ushlab, “Men
yoningdaman” deya qulog’ingga shivirlab aytilgan xitob.. Xullas, adoqsiz davom ettirish mumkin bu
yog’ini. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Sizning
tasavvuringizda mana shu tiniqlik yana yuzlab boshqa timsollarda shakllanishi
mumkin. Muhimi – endi asosiy vazifa. O’sha o’zimiz o’ylab, chizib, bo’yab yoki
bo’yab ulgurmaganimiz – tiniqlik, yoki u deb o’ylaganimiz, va u deb
nomlaganimizni tafakkurga ko’chirish. Hamma gap ana shunda, menimcha.
Tasavvurda buning hammasi oson. Lekin, huddi tiniqlikni ko’chirmoqchi
bo’lganimiz o’sha tafakkurning o’zida ham tiniqlikka qarama qarshi bo’lgan
boshqa bir kuch yastanib yotadi. Uni yengib o’tish, uni o’z joyidan siljitib,
tiniqlikka yo’l ochish – juda mushkul.. Biroq adolat tarozusini teng qo’yish
kerak. Siz unga ham quloq solib ko’rsangiz, uning ham dardi bor. Bu – aldangan damlarimiz, armonga aylanib qolgan
ozrular, yolg’onchi marazlar, sotqin do’stlar, ko’kraging bilan himoya
qilganingda orqangdan pichoq sanchgan masxaraboz yaqinlar, kungaboqar
birodarlar… bularning hammasi misli bir yara, va eng muhimi, gohida hattoki
tiniqlikdan ham katta og’irlikka ega. Xushyor bo’lmasak, tortib ketadi.. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Kafka bunga
yechim taklif etadi. Uning aytishicha, miyada va tafakkurda qanchalik dahshat
hukmron bo’lmasin, uning bizga real bir
havf solishi uchun yurakdan miyaga quyiladigan qon va tiriklik bongi ham unga
hizmat qilishi kerak. Demak, kalit bizning qo’limizda. Yurakni har doim ham
miyaga tobe’ qilib qo’ymasak, bo’lgani. Yurak chaqirig’iga tez-tez quloq solib
turish kerak ekan.. Achinarlisi, tafakkurga tomon intilayotgan
bechora tiniqlikning yolg’iz posboni ham shu – yurak. Qaniydi uni tinglash va anglash baxti hammaga birdek nasib etsa... <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-76346919759044682722012-02-10T20:36:00.003+00:002012-02-10T20:55:20.365+00:00When all else failsTeamwork is tricky. Anyone who has seen The Apprentice has witnessed how the teams react in the ‘board room’ when it’s time for someone to get fired. When they defend themselves, no one wants to take responsibility for their actions and they try to pin the blame on a convenient scapegoat. The candidates tend to sell each other out in a bid to survive. The rivalry, the bickering and the back-biting make TV ratings soar, but there are lessons to be learned here as well. It’s a snapshot of the kind of things that can go wrong in office teams. It's mainly factors such as poor judgment, egos, mistrust or losing sight of key objective that become apparent.<br /><br />If trust and a shared vision to succeed are in place in the team then failure is the successful result of debunking a shared mythology. Learning that How we think things work and How things actually work are the real lessons to success.<br /><br />The great lament of any reporter is what to do with the jewels that routinely get left on the cutting room floor after a really great interview. Enter the <a href="http://www.30secondmba.com/question/working-through-team-failure">30-Second MBA</a>, an ongoing video “curriculum” of really good advice from the trenches, directly from people who are making news happen.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-39335893278273216072011-10-03T09:44:00.001+01:002011-10-03T09:47:24.460+01:00The Story of an empty BackbackHow much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you're carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life... you start with the little things. The shelves, the drawers, the knickknacks, then you start adding larger stuff. Clothes, tabletop appliances, lamps, your TV... the backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. You go bigger. Your couch, your car, your home... I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office... and then you move into the people you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your brothers, your sisters, your children, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. You get them into that backpack, feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises. The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. But we are definitely not swans.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-85604499287611396552010-11-29T16:54:00.002+00:002010-11-29T17:15:17.152+00:00Have trouble with Anger? Don't<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.methodsofhealing.com/files/2009/07/anger-management.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://www.methodsofhealing.com/files/2009/07/anger-management.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />A friend and I picked up a big fight couple of years ago over a simple matter of who is who and what is what. We departed each other, haven't talked ever since. The matter has lost its relation to the time, and to us. What it has caused is a temporary feeling of re-empowerment and self-righteousness. <br /><br />Here we are now, she still has my pictures that she hasn't sent me yet (probably keeping them still or has deleted them), and I still hold to the feeling of missing her, but can't let go of the anger our fight has left in me. <br /><br />She is a gentle girl, very nice personality with bits and pieces of selfishness that sometimes transcends her relationship with others. I am not being judgemental, the same perhaps is true about myself. But the thing is, I have forgiven her and even forgotten the case, but don't seem to get round the idea of her still keeping her anger and whatever she believes is true about what actually happened. Here I am. Angry. Again.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-56600503295002333422010-11-26T20:02:00.004+00:002010-11-26T21:04:18.643+00:00Crossroads 2. Or on how I have come to realize the need to "edit" my life<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:iPUFGaCmX0JzCM:http://educationworksonline.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/freedom.jpg&t=1"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 192px; height: 262px;" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:iPUFGaCmX0JzCM:http://educationworksonline.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/freedom.jpg&t=1" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Many would probably argue that decisions we make are the overall outcome of our sole inclinations. You wake up, have a cup of coffee and are struck by an idea and then you go and turn that idea into reality. Oops, only your own reality. Well, however painful it is to acknowledge, this is how it is. At least, most of the time. <br /><br />We can not always withstand the opposition. And ironically, most of it comes from within. A bit tough to realize, but this is not the only case. When I was just a living and practising journalist (this is how I like to think) most of my decisions stemmed from my inner drive to excel and be different. The first English language show on the National TV is an example. A very humble one, if you like:) I colleague of mine came up to me the other day and told me a very interesting story. The story about how I invited her over to my studio and interviewed her for my show. Looked strange to me because I remember literally every single person I had in the show and this one seemed quite out of the blue. And she said she was quite happy to show me the recorded programme with her in the studio. <br /><br />And when she finally brought the DVD with the record, I felt uneasy. Really. The whole story seemed uneasy, and the way it made me feel. No no, it wasn't all about me being unable to remember her or whatever it was that I asked her. It was the difference and a clear discrepancy between me THEN and THE me, NOW:) A very sloppy look on the background with a very poor design of the studio and the accent and the manner and the posture and my weird confidence! Oh Gosh, it all made me blush:) Was there nobody to tell me how silly I looked and how silly the whole idea of doing an English show in the country where it wasn't the major language of communication? Or could anybody not dare tell me to brush my hair and have it cut shorter? The suit and the tie looked simply ridiculous! Ugh, and lots more! <br /><br />I stood silent there for a moment and suddenly realised something I have long forgotten. And to me, it is the feeling that I never seemed to appreciate. All I did was to enjoy and do what I enjoyed doing most. I was sure I was doing the thing I did best. Well, clearly it was the best thing I could ever do all my life, but not the best way it could ever be done. I realised it upon my arrival in the UK and the first three auditions I screwed... And the marvellous Christabel King who told me that my nationality and the fact that I was not an English lad would always be the problem with my performance and success in doing the thing I love doing most. Another "confidence boost"! I completely have grown to believe it only did me a world of good in being objective in assessing my capabilities and come to terms with who I am and what I can do to either embrace this truth and/or change it altogether. <br /><br />Well now. Back to the truth I neglected. Decisions. Certainly the whole experience with the show and all other things I did as a journalist was approved and never criticised. And the only reason thanks to which it all became a reality was .... freedom. The Freedom. I was free to do what I thought best and all. The decisions I made my sole responsibility. Dilnoza Mamadaliyeva who finally made it to the relatively big stage on and off the screen, and Gulsanem Allambergenova, who quit it first for education abroad, then for marriage. Good for her, it is always good to be able to choose and prioritise, isn't it? Something I always lacked. They were the two starkly contrasting outcomes of that responsibility. And surprisingly, Dilnoza is a mild example of how ambitious I can sometimes be and Gulsanem, the perfect example of how lazy and irregular I find myself at times. <br /><br />I also had an opportunity to work with a large organization in the past.A very large one, almost international. They have branches almost in half of the developed world. And I had two bosses. Well, two excellent personalities. Excellent in all ways. Diplomacy, devilish reputation, perfect relationships - all in one (both of them). Looking at them and closely observing, I seem to have understood excellence in personality comes with limitations. You are great to people and your co-workers, when you feel deep inside you are not you. You are someone that somebody else would like you to be. And this is exactly how it is. You are someone. Not yourself. And that someone is visible in every single thing you do. To be honest, you lack the simplest thing. Freedom. Freedom to be you. When I think about it, I can see it would be very uneasy and difficult to have to depend on someone or be lead by someone who admires you inside, but can not approve or support you because it wouldn't match with the type of personality they are "programmed" to be. This is where decisions acquire a painfully complicated upturn. You can but are not allowed to do things you are best at doing, either for your personal growth or that of the organization you work for. You have a bunch of procedures, moods, approaches and a very very very complex relationships to go through for the simplest little thing you want to do to make yourself a happy life... <br /><br />I am not feeling nostalgic of old times, since I have grown considerably ever since. I think all that I have learnt now (and I have learnt a LOT) boils down to the most banal fact.. that I am not as free as I used to be. Having wasted a lifetime of freedom, we come to appreciate small bits and pieces of it, scattered all around, and squeezed between minutes, hours and occasional days without work. I see the world and myself changing in the background of crazy schedule and sleepless nights. What I also see .. is the world of opportunities.. in the breaks of tiny bits of free time and sour restrictions.. Hope I am not too late to have come to this.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-69256801232653747582010-11-02T12:29:00.006+00:002010-11-02T13:18:11.819+00:00O'ylarim...Men Sardor Rahimxonning ashaddiy muxlisi emasman. Ming afsus. Har xolda, ko'p narsalarga beetiborroq bo'larmidim.. Uning "Hayot" deb nomlangan bir qo'shig'i meni o'yga toldirdi. Ohang juda yengil va quloqqa yoqimli, eshitimli... <br /><br />Qo'shiq matni hayot mazmuni, undagi do'stlik, muhabbat, ishonch va sadoqat kabi yuksak tuyg'ular Sardorning yoshiga mos bo'lmagan, maslahatomuz ohangda tarannum etiladi... Muhimi bu emas... Meni o'ylantirgan narsa qo'shiq matnidagi boshqa jihat.<br /><br />Bevafo yorlar, sevgi qadrini bilmaganlar, do'stlik rishtalarini oyoqosti qilganlar ketidan minglab, millionlab she'rlar, kitoblar, asarlar, kuylar va qo'shiqlar yaraladi.. <br /><br />Sevib, sevilmaganimiz uchun bizni seva olmagan yurakdan hafa bo'lamiz, biz qattiq e'zozlab, ko'klarga ko'targan insonlardan munosib javob ololmagach, yanada kuyunamiz... qarzini qaytarishdan qochib, telefon raqamlarini bir zumda o'zgartirib yuborgan "qadrdon" oshnalar, ishlaring yurishmaganda, "Balodan nari" qabilida yashagan kishilar... Hmm, bu ketma ketlikni beadad davom ettirish mumkin... To'g'rimi? Eng qiziqarlisi, kimga ahamiyati bor bu insonlarning... va ulardan qolgan og'riqli xotiralarning...? <br /><br />Inson qalbi mutlaq baxtni ko'tara olmasligi haqidagi aqidaga juda ko'p amal qilib yashadim... Iztirobsiz hayotdan qochdim, o'zimni ozgina daxldor deb bilgan ijod olamiga intilish va uni faqat o'zimga xos tarzda talqin etish (gohida qanchalik bema'ni tuyulmasin)va o'zim haqiqiy deb bilgan qadriyatlar evaziga qurilgan poydevorga sodiq qolishni muhim deb bildim... Munosabatalrimdagi ahamiyatli va ahamiyatsiz odamlar... yoxud hayotimga ahamiyatli bo'lib kirib, o'z ahamiyatini yo'qotib, yalang'och chiqib ketgan yuraklardan hafa bo'lardim... Va uzoq vaqt kek saqlab yurardim... Juda uzoq... <br /><br />Bugunning falsafasi biroz o'zgargandek go'yo, men adashayotgan bo'lishim mumkin... Bizga berilgan og'riq yuki uchun norozilik hissi bor vujudimizni qamrab olganda, gina-qudrat yordamga shoshadi, do'stlarimizdan o'pkalab, o'zimizdan qahramon yasab, bo'lgan voqeani yana birovlarga uzundan uzoq hikoyalar qilib beramiz... <br /><br />Aslida oqayotgan suv qanchalik ko'p toshga urilsa, shunchalik toza bo'ladi, deyishgan ekan. Bizga otilgan har bir toshdan qolgan og'riq - o'ziga bas kela oladigan choraga zamin yaratarkan. Bu chora esa, yangi kuch manbaiga aylanadi.. Ana o'shandan keyin, har bir sinovli damdan orttirayotganimiz sabr, matonat va iroda astoydil mustahkamlanib boraveradi. <br /><br />Endi o'zingiz o'ylang, biz hozirgacha yuragimizda ko'tarib yurgan ginaning og'ir yukidan qanchalik voz kechmas ekanmiz, uning o'rniga kelishi lozim bo'lgan xayrli fazilatlar shunchalik kechikaverarkan. <br /><br />Shu o'rinda, sevimli qahramonim Askanio aytgan mana bu gapni eslayman:"- Do'stim, qo'ying endi, Yurakniyam ezg'ilab yubordingizku?! Uni qiynamang, u ham o'sishga, sizning bechora va xunukkina siyratingizdan yaxshiroq va teranroq, hech bo'lmaganda nisbatan baxtliroq inson suratini chizishga haqli..."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-60905435725708768182010-10-19T11:11:00.005+01:002010-10-19T11:19:00.284+01:00Loneliness - a hunger of a soul<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wheelerroad.org/files/loneliness.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 700px; height: 560px;" src="http://wheelerroad.org/files/loneliness.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Loneliness is often caused by a lack of fit between the self and the world, based on values that do not mesh. Rather than reflecting a lack in the self, loneliness may be viewed as interactive, having to do as much with the world as with the self.<br />Many people are lonely. Some, more often than they admit to themselves. Some, more often than they admit to others. For loneliness is often considered to be a deficit of the self and its capacity to relate to others, rather than an interactive phenomenon that involves lack of fit between the values of the self and the values of the world. This lack of fit may not be a personal deficit, but rather a sign of spiritual growth that has taken place in oneself to which the world has not yet caught up. This may be true even if there are associated with it, emotional difficulties and limitations within the self that are in need of healing.<br /><br />Although there are many practical and often tragic reasons for loneliness – loss of family or loved ones through death or catastrophe, loss of friends through relocating physically or through growing apart emotionally, feeling different from others based on early childhood experiences within or beyond the family – although all of these contribute to the feeling of loneliness, there is, beneath each of these, a problem of relationship between the self and the world . This problem can manifest as a feeling of estrangement between one's self and one's environment or social context, where, without family or close friends nearby, and sometimes even if they are nearby, one can feel like an outsider with no way of moving 'in'.<br /><br />Feelings of loneliness often come to individuals who are more spiritually awake than those around them, often without knowing that this is the cause of their painful feelings. For greater 'awakeness' gives one a sense of how things might be if the world were different. It creates an inner aspiration toward an ideal of kindness, welcoming, and love that people would display toward each other whether they knew one another intimately or not. In some societies, this welcoming toward others who are not personally known is still a part of tradition and practice. But very often within contemporary society, despite religious principles to the contrary, others who pass us by during the day feel and act like strangers, not like those whom we might relate to with open-heartedness and trust.<br /><br />To be lonely often reflects the hunger of a soul that is yearning for a different way of being with others - for a different way of life than seems possible, given the way the world. At present, there exists a level of fear and mistrust in the world that still causes people to erect defenses of self-protection, even when they are not needed. For those who are more awake, there is an aspiration for a world in which fear and self-protection is not present – in which people embrace each other because of their intrinsic humanity, not because of their status or role in life or what they can do for each other. This yearning for what has not yet arrived is often the source of great loneliness.<br /><br />The soul that is hungry looks around for relationships that it feels compatible with. It seeks greater intimacy and love, and often does not know how to create these in situations where others define relationships in a different way. While it is true that many can find solace for loneliness in the company of like-minded individuals, often, the process of locating these others is a difficult one, taking a length of time and involving many experiences before the right 'fit' is found. It is also true that even within spiritually-focused groups, sometimes the values of the larger society impinge upon even these, so that less is possible than might otherwise be the case.<br /><br />Loneliness is part of the time we are in – a time of transition from one way of life to another, from one set of values to another. For the consciousness that we have lived with for millennia has kept each person separate and apart, both from God and from others. This consciousness is changing now, but it has not yet eliminated the tendency to view others as 'other', and to protect oneself from unknown eventualities that might be hurtful to the self. Loneliness is still part of humanity's common language, because the bridge has not yet been crossed to the new values of love and oneness that will make it a thing of the past.<br /><br />In the face of this, and avoiding self-blame and judgment of ohers, one can make choices about how to approach the phenomenon of loneliness. <br /><br />One can wait patiently for the time to come in which the world will be different and people more open and receptive. <br /><br />One can seek out the smaller associations with others who have similar values with whom one resonates. <br /><br />And one can try, wherever possible, to take the risk of extending one's own values and ways of relating into the world, with the idea of giving what one would like to receive, and also of offering an opportunity of growth to others that they may not yet be able to offer to themselves. This gesture, though it may not be reciprocated outwardly, will nevertheless create an opportunity for someone else to awaken further, if they choose to. The extension of spiritual values into a context that is different from these often feels like a risk to the mind and heart that fears rejection, but it is an important way of helping to create the world that we wish to live in. <br /><br />For today, all of the above options may prove useful in dealing with loneliness - waiting patiently, finding a small group of others whose values one resonates with, and becoming more willing to take risks so that others may be offered a greater degree of love than may be ordinarily expressed. These are all ways of moving through a time of transition.<br /><br />Loneliness, as both a hunger of the soul and a pain within the heart can generate its own reward for the person who waits. It can strengthen the heart in its own values, even while it perceives itself as different from the world. It can create a stronger aspiration for a world of love and light, thereby contributing energy and intention to humanity's consciousness. And it can enable one to walk with God with a greater degree of commitment, even while it remains difficult to walk within the world as a part of it. <br /><br />In all of these ways, if the desire for greater love can produce more lovingness on the part of the self, the experience of loneliness will allow the heart to grow larger, and will enable the world to become more whole as well.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-8994126429309276862010-06-04T21:26:00.003+01:002010-06-04T21:40:59.745+01:00"No man is an island"Sometimes I feel that the person who said this was very wrong. There are so many people i know of, so many people who go through life, being by themselves with no one to help them. The truth is, we are all islands. We are all lonely in some point in life or another.<br /><br />We are all islands even if we are part of a huge family. Sometimes, the bigger the family, the more isolated we can feel.<br /><br />We can have significant others and still feel like an island.<br /><br />We can have the best friends in the world and still feel like an island.<br /><br />We can have all the power in the world, we can be a king, queen, prince, princess and still feel like an island.<br /><br />We can know all the answers to all the 'why' questions. We can have the key to unlocking the secrets of how the world works, and still feel like an island.<br /><br />We can smile all the time, we can laugh all the time, we can say we are alright all the time, and still feel like an island.<br /><br />Maybe the simple fact is that no man should be an island. No one should be lonely, no one should be sad. No one should face things by themselves.<br /><br />In times of need, if someone has a hand to hold, he might find a lot of strength that he himself did not know that he had withnin him. Sometimes any form of human contact or touch can make the difference between surviving through a crisis or falling flat to the ground.<br /><br />There are a lot of times however, in a person's life, where it is just impossible to have a hand to hold, impossible to want or crave support. That is when he realises that he truly is an island and no matter how lonely he feels, and how much he longs and craves for that support, he can never get it.<br /><br />So instead of falling due to the lack of support, he has to search withnin that island of his, gain support from withnin. Learn to hold his own hand, learn to pat his own back, learn to be an island. When he achieves this, he would become a stronger person though it would not mean that he would stop longing for a hand to hold.<br /><br />When those moments come crawling to his mind, he would be able to slap them away, and be strong, be an island and deal with loneliness without longing for that hand to hold.<br /><br />However, we don't have to live with loneliness. While feeling lonely is an inevitable part of life, living with loneliness is not. Many require other to make them feel complete and happy. I am here to tell you it just is not so. When you find all the happiness you need inside yourself you attract like individuals. You become the beacon calling out to others and filling your own space with joy.<br /><br /><br />I by no means feel this is an easy task. Searching the depths of your soul to find the courage to become the best version of yourself takes tremendous courage. You feel as though you are putting yourself out in the world to be slayed by all the unhappy people. For every ounce of joy you will find a ton of sorrow. Perspective becomes essential. By finding the joy, relishing in it, experiencing it, soaking it up, you can dim the pain and suffering.<br /><br />I know this sounds like little miss Molly Sunshine garbage, but it isn't. Our choices make our circumstance. No matter what we do we cannot control those around us, so it remains impractical to wrap your entire happiness around another person. When and if we do find a person to walk with, if we become too obsessed with them we often times are the very reason they leave us miserable. Trying too hard and not finding our own way makes a weight. Cliche as it is, being happy with yourself is the best way to ward off loneliness.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-1138261765828766152010-04-23T14:25:00.002+01:002010-04-23T18:06:24.223+01:00Crossroads…(To my NG)You never know what life has got in store for you. When you came along my way, I could never have guessed what way you were headed and that you could spare no pains in sweeping me off my feet. I never ever imagined and believed in the nature of feelings and their capability of taking you through a U-Turn when you are just to pull off far far away from the focal crossroad of your life. So, when the hopes started fading, I remember the last time I dreamt of anything like that. Not because have had a bad luck in love or anything, just because the permanent failure of feelings over pragmatic behaviour and the scattered visions of so many people I have met and the scattering effect those very visions have had on mine seemed to be telling me to get my feet off the water and start walking. But yeah, then you came. ..<br /><br />And I suddenly lost the need to chase my crossroads and made my own U-Turn. As I opened my eyes every morning, I could surprisingly see those crossroads and the traffic lights of feelings and emotional bursts …. all those things you apparently are either allowed or prohibited to feel and do found themselves lifted up and flying over the clouds… literally pulling me off the depth I had fallen deep into. <br />You are a story. A brand new story. The one that wipes off all the lines written on the pages of my life. Funny, isn’t it? We meet, we talk, we hug, we kiss and when we do, the whole story gets a new ending, completely ignoring the way it began. Oftentimes I find your scent lingering around the house… but there is never a time I could rest in peace after you leave. An old saying keeps coming back… “Too good to be true”… well, I take myself good enough to disperse the tantalising effect this saying has on me… the one which keeps saying you don’t deserve this. In a sense, I think it is a good one. Keeps you moving. But funnily enough, every time one moves, you have a sense of destination. But the move I have with you seems to have no destination whatsoever. Headed nowhere… endless road with no direction… <br /><br />All the things I feel on the go, all the things I find on the road, and all the things you show and I discover, just keep coming and pushing me higher and higher… or the distressing minutes we both feel also seem to just add up to these countless impressions with an intangible lesson we learn. This is the point when I discover the unknown thirst and inclination to go further and further, farther and farther… longer and … forever… I have not thought about whether I would have found strength and will to do the same with anybody else, but with you, all seems like an emotional rhetoric. A rhetoric to be followed. Not questioned.<br />YoursUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-8592510902515115492009-12-01T10:07:00.002+00:002009-12-01T10:19:48.114+00:00Bad Mood Makes us Careful...?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKy7ZSFy2qmVnhM2ghs1Ex5PQXDbhnp-LlJ2D_sGw_2prQEt6i2IiCxJ-X3y-rqPVOVdJ4_ArgZ961pVxI6i9iaB9D5f-Il8-84puGUXw4t0SKyOKCbphqAonIUkG6V9v4dkwtQ2wNDPU/s1600/bad+mood.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKy7ZSFy2qmVnhM2ghs1Ex5PQXDbhnp-LlJ2D_sGw_2prQEt6i2IiCxJ-X3y-rqPVOVdJ4_ArgZ961pVxI6i9iaB9D5f-Il8-84puGUXw4t0SKyOKCbphqAonIUkG6V9v4dkwtQ2wNDPU/s400/bad+mood.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410208109179252290" /></a><br />Well, maybe my reign of misery isn’t all bad: It turns out that “low-intensity” negative moods are linked to better writing than happy moods. As shown in the research of University of New South Wales Psychology Professor Joe Forgas, when we’re not walking on clouds or doing a happy dance, we tend to be more careful and mindful of details.<br /><br />Forgas has worked extensively on the effects of mood, and his most in-depth work with writing was described in the 2006 article “When sad is better than happy: Negative affect can improve the quality and effectiveness of persuasive messages and social influence strategies.” In one experiment, Forgas’s guinea pigs—humans, in this case—watched either a comedy or a film on cancer before being asked to write persuasively. Others wrote emails after a similar “mood induction.” In all cases, the sad folks produced arguments that were more concrete and therefore more persuasive than the happy campers. Just by being in a bad mood, Forgas’s subjects unconsciously followed the advice I constantly give students: “Details matter,” “Give me an example,” “Back up what you’re saying,” and “Be more specific.”<br /><br />Writing is just the tip of the mood-berg for Forgas, who recently gave a broad overview of his work in an article for Australian Science called “Think Negative! Can a bad mood make us think more clearly?” He found that people in a negative mood have a better bullshit detector when it came to urban legends, false trivia statements, and even the sincerity of facial expressions. They are more reliable eyewitnesses. They even overcome stereotypes better, as Forgas found in a disturbing yet revealing test, which revealed that those in a good mood had “...a significantly greater tendency overall to shoot at Muslims rather than non-Muslims... Conversely, negative mood reduced stereotype-based aggressive responses to Muslims.” Of course, no real shooting was involved, but those results are alarming: Being happy really does seem to make us dumb and dangerous.<br /><br />One huge disclaimer: A “slightly negative mood” produced sharper thinking than a happy mood, but there’s no evidence to suggest that a really awful mood might do the same. Watching a sad movie with your spouse might do the trick; being left by your spouse probably would not. As Forgas said by email, “...we were basically producing mild negative moods, the kind of feeling state people have after watching 10 minutes of a sad movie, or learning that they did less well than they hoped on a test, or thinking about a sad episode in the past. The moods are mild and temporary, just the kinds of mood fluctuations people experience in everyday life. More intense or enduring negative moods may well have more debilitating effects.”<br /><br />So why do crappy moods have such un-crappy consequences? Forgas said, “The most likely explanation is based on evolutionary theorising—affective states serve an adaptive purpose, subconsciously alerting us to apply the most useful information processing strategy to the task at hand. A negative mood is like an alarm signal, indicating that the situation is problematic, and requires more attentive, careful and vigilant processing—hence the greater attention to concrete information.”<br /><br />I asked Forgas if there’s anything people can do when they feel the effects of affect surging through their mood ring. He said, “Direct conscious attempts to change/control moods usually do not work well—otherwise we would presumably be happy all the time, which is clearly not the case... The effects we found occur without people being aware of them, and as you note, instructions to control these effects are not very effective.”<br /><br />That makes me kind of sad. Well, all the better for this column. As Dennis Baron wrote on his Web of Language site about Forgas’s work: “It isn't surprising to discover that in order to improve, writers first have to become more unhappy. After all, lemons make great lemonade, and the literary canon is full of authors who are depressed.”Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-62631040475699897942009-10-24T16:36:00.003+01:002009-10-24T16:59:33.484+01:00When your nerves hurt...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhN17ZtlrXs2j1pOR3hrpRA1MqC3j4sMaebrXV4wnlXi5QyY9XuNISE2JAgLRDg8t4vNUPG83naCsm9NiB1GFH3oKsUNvQgGRglDkOzH1SeoVq6BBPmhml4AyybiK2qoYRAcGLOd9bIc/s1600-h/CIMG5852.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhN17ZtlrXs2j1pOR3hrpRA1MqC3j4sMaebrXV4wnlXi5QyY9XuNISE2JAgLRDg8t4vNUPG83naCsm9NiB1GFH3oKsUNvQgGRglDkOzH1SeoVq6BBPmhml4AyybiK2qoYRAcGLOd9bIc/s400/CIMG5852.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396196450532664514" /></a><br />I do not feel nervous breakdown very often. But when I do, I seem lucky enough to just bump into someone who cares and can say something to take the pain away. Rakhima is one of those friends who you would have no problem turning to, for help:)<br /><br />Bless you, Rakhishka:)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-23520884882095257532009-07-15T02:09:00.000+01:002009-07-15T02:11:38.545+01:00Nothing To Think AboutNot content with writing a book about nothingness, Anthony Gottlieb has been teaching a seminar about it to students in New York ...<br /><br />From INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine, Spring 2009<br /><br />There is a priceless exchange in the 20th episode of “The Sopranos”—the soap-opera about a New Jersey mobster whose stressful career brings him to the couch of a psychotherapist, Jennifer Melfi. Tony Soprano is annoyed with his teenage son, who has been moaning about the ultimate absurdity of life:<br /><br />Melfii: Sounds to me like Anthony junior may have stumbled onto existentialism.<br />Tony: Fuckin’ internet!<br />Melfi: No, no, no. It’s a European philosophy.<br /><br />Quite so; one cannot blame the internet for everything. Existentialism has roots in the 19th-century thought of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, but it is most famously linked with restless French students in the 1960s and the writings of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Sure enough, Anthony junior has been assigned Camus’s novel “L’Etranger” in class. It also doesn’t help his precarious state of mind when his grandmother bitterly tells him “in the end, you die in your own arms… It’s all a big Nothing.”<br /><br />Well, plus ça change. It is not only on television that nihilist strains of existentialism continue to tempt young minds, and no doubt the minds of some grandmothers. Last autumn I taught a seminar about ideas of nothingness at the New School, a university in New York. Most of the students were already keen on Sartre and Camus, and among the many facets of nothingness that we looked at in science, literature, art and philosophy, it was death and the pointlessness of life that most gripped them. They showed a polite interest in the role of vacuum in 17th-century physics and in the development of the concept of zero. But existentialist angst was the real draw.<br /><br />Existentialism may have flourished in the 1960s, but its themes are the oldest in the world—indeed, one puzzle about existentialism is why it took so long to come into existence. The eponymous hero of the Mesopotamian “Epic of Gilgamesh”, which was written in the second millennium BC, is plunged into gloomy thoughts of his own mortality after his beloved friend Enkidu expires. Gilgamesh belatedly realises that he, too, must die, and this fact makes all of life seem empty to him:<br /><br />The river rises, flows over its banks<br />and carries us all away, like mayflies<br />floating downstream: they stare at the sun,<br />then all at once there is nothing.<br /><br />Emptiness, void, the abyss: synonyms for nothingness provide the most popular metaphorical images for death. Winston Churchill liked to refer to it as “black velvet”. And just as morbid fears make people think of nothingness, the reverse is also true. In the 17th century, contemplating the empty vastness of the heavens, Pascal recorded in his “Pensées” that “the eternal silence of these infinite spaces fills me with dread.” It is also terrifying, he wrote, to consider the “new abyss” freshly revealed in the minutest parts of nature. Pascal, it seems, found nothingness everywhere, though he noted that on the whole man is, perhaps fortunately, “incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges.” <br /><br />How anything can emerge from nothingness is a question which the ancient Greeks answered by saying that it can’t. There must, they reasoned, have always been something. But that seems to raise a further question, which was given its most concise formulation by Leibniz at the end of the 17th century: why is there something rather than nothing? Another German philosopher, Martin Heidegger, who died in 1976, argued that this puzzle was the most important question of all, though he never quite got round to answering it. Heidegger was infamous for his bizarre neologisms and contorted language, which were especially evident when he wrestled with nothingness. He even invented a verb to describe what nothingness does: in the English translation, it “noths”. Well, maybe it doth, but this does not get us very far. <br /><br />One might think that science will eventually be able to explain the matter; certainly many cosmologists have said so. But there is an eternal snag, because any answer to the question of why there is something rather than nothing will end up chasing its own tail. Any law of nature or mathematics, any purported set of physical conditions, indeed any fact at all counts as “something”, and is thus itself part of what is supposed to be explained. Every explanation must start somewhere. But there is not, and never could be, anywhere left for this one to start. <br /><br />Faced with the apparent impossibility of making much headway with nothingness, poets have resorted to cracking jokes about it, many of which are abominable puns. Most of these revolve around the double meaning exemplified in the title of a memoir on death by the novelist Julian Barnes, published last year: “Nothing to be Frightened of”. His readers may find some comfort in the fact that, however broodingly terrified they are by their own mortality, Barnes has an even worse case of the disease.<br /><br />Shakespeare, too, made much merry play with the word “nothing”, and not only in “Much Ado”. Whether or not something may come of nothing is a recurring theme in “King Lear”, and there is a particularly convoluted verbal joust between Hamlet and Ophelia—some of which escapes contemporary readers unaware that in Elizabethan slang “nothing” can mean “vagina”. One verbally agile philosopher remarked in an encyclopedia entry that it is perhaps not Nothing that has been worrying existentialists, but they who have been worrying it. One wonders what Tony Soprano would have had to say about that.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-75945379879401841122009-07-12T22:57:00.001+01:002009-07-12T23:00:19.364+01:00"I think "Critically", therefore I am"<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 18px; font-family:Verdana;font-size:12px;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">We all think, but may not think well. Critical thinking, however, is a reflective process that is clear, precise and purposeful.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">While critical thinking is often considered an allied asset of the VIA strength Open-mindedness, Socratic logic shows that open-minded thinkers are not necessarily critical thinkers. Consummate critical thinking is a rich and complex strength that is comprised of a constellation of many other strengths, including open-mindedness, curiosity, love of learning, persistence, integrity, and self-regulation. Stanovich claims that one must have knowledge of a person’s overall thinking process in order to qualify an individual’s open-mindedness as general and persistent strength. <a href="http://positivepsychologynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/jy-critical-thinking-cover.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 204); "><img src="http://positivepsychologynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/jy-critical-thinking-cover.jpg" alt="jy critical thinking cover" width="165" class="alignright size-full wp-image-3254" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; float: right; clear: right; " /></a><a href="http://www.insightassessment.com/pdf_files/DEXadobe.PDF" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 204); "><em style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The following definition of critical thinking comes from The Delphi Report on Critical Thinking</em></a>, a qualitative research model produced by a panel of forty-six experts from philosophy, education, ocial sciences and physical sciences:</p><blockquote style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238) !important; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2px; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "><span><span>The ideal critical thinker is habitually inquisitive, well-informed, trustful of reason, open-minded, flexible, fair-minded in evaluation, honest in facing personal biases, prudent in making judgments, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in complex matters, diligent in seeking relevant information, reasonable in the selection of criteria, focused in inquiry, and persistent in seeking results which are as precise as the subject and the circumstances permit. (p.3)</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The Foundations of Critical Thinking</strong><br /></p><div id="attachment_3252" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; float: left; clear: left; width: 230px; "><a href="http://positivepsychologynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/jy-gentleman-and-scholar.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 204); "><img src="http://positivepsychologynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/jy-gentleman-and-scholar-300x199.jpg" alt="Gentleman and Scholar" width="210" class="size-medium wp-image-3252" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a><p class="wp-caption-text" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">Gentleman and Scholar</p></div>The intellectual foundations of critical thinking go back to the Greek root word “kritike,” which means the art of judgment. Socrates has been anointed in many circles as the antecedent of critical thinking (i.e. the Socratic Method). Plato and Aristotle emphasized the examination of words and actions of others, along with individual thoughts and actions. Lao-Tzu, Confucius, Thomas Aquinas and Charles Darwin all subscribed to critical thinking as an essential systematic process to navigate the world.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Gender and Critical Thinking</strong></p><table style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><tbody style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><tr style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><td style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Women’s voices were marginalized in the area of critical thinking until the late 20th century.<a href="http://lfkkb.tripod.com/eng24/gilliganstheory.html" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 204); ">Carol Gilligan</a> (1993) posited that women may structure their thought processes a bit differently than men do. In her book, <em style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674445449?ie=UTF8&tag=positivecom0b-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0674445449" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 204); ">In a Different Voice</a></em>, she claims that men tend to work on a hierarchical ordering of thinking, rather than a relational, connected pathway of thought more commonly attributed to women. Other notable voices include Nel Noddings and Mary Field Belenky. <a href="http://www.infibeam.com/Books/info/Nel-Noddings/Caring/0520238648.html" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 204); ">Noddings </a>(2003) focused on a moral approach to critical thinking as a prerequisite to a foundation of “logical consistency.”</td><td style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "><a href="http://www.ferris.edu/fctl/Teaching_and_Learning_Tips/Gender/SummaryofWomensWaysofKnowing.htm" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 204); ">Belenky</a> considered four different ways that women tend to think critically in asserting their authority and capabilities: silent knowing, received knowledge, subjective knowledge, procedural knowledge and constructed knowledge. They have enriched the trait of critical thinking from a perspective that has strong implications for men and women alike.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">Contemporary theorists such as Richard Paul and Robert Ennis (1982) emphasized two senses of critical thinking. In the <em style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">weak sense</em>, the critical thinker adequately sees his or her own and as well as others’ positions. The <em style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">strong sense</em> enhances the capacity of the weak sense with a deeper understanding and more encompassing worldview.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The Criteria for Critical Thinking as a Persistent Strength</strong></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">Critical Thinking passes muster as it satisfies all ten criteria for a character strength. Some of the criteria are described below:</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Criterion 1:</strong> It is <strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">fulfilling</strong>, because it leads to greater and more complex understanding and the respect for differing points of view.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Criterion 2:</strong>It is <strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">morally valued</strong>, in that it systematically examines differing points of view of self, and the consonant and dissonant attitudes of others.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Criterion 4: Non-felicitous opposites</strong> include wishful or magical thinking, mistrust of reason, as well as disinterested, indifferent, and uninterested thinking.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Criterion 6:</strong> Critical thinking cannot be <strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">decomposed into other strengths</strong>. However, the strengths of open-mindedness, curiosity, love of learning, persistence, integrity, and self-regulation are all essential ingredients that make up critical thinking.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Criterion 10:</strong> From an <strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">institutional perspective</strong>, the development of critical thinking rubrics in American high schools and colleges is a strong reflection on the importance of critical thinking and the future of education (Facione et al., 1995).</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Summary</strong><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “I would not give a fig (care) for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.” Consummate critical thinking is simplicity on the other side of complexity, a constellation of components that are systematically employed to function as the 25th strength of character.</p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-11120261737932064572009-06-21T22:21:00.001+01:002009-06-21T22:23:54.787+01:00САМОЕ КОРОТКОЕ ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 28.35pt; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background- background-position: initial initial; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;color:white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic; font-size:19px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 28.35pt; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background- background-position: initial initial; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;color:white;"><i><span lang="RU" style=" ;font-size:14pt;"></span></i></p><span><span> Всякое свидетельство о трудностях и страшных временах нашей жизни, особенно, когда это касается отдельных людей и человеческих чувств — не столько художественная литература, сколько документальный снимок, более или менее четкий, того, какими были люди в этом времени. </span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span><span> Это, в конце концов, частица большой общей истории.Есть великие свидетельства, есть маленькие находки, но все они лежат в одном музее.Сколько раз этот простой и страшный сюжет был в рассказах и на экране. Но литература как вымысел — это все-таки сказка. Конечно, важно, что за этими придуманными героями в «Журавлях». </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span><span> Другое — когда за этим стоит живая судьба.Именно по этим причинам, мне кажется, грустная и светлая повесть Анны Гудзенко (Блиновой) — это частичка чего-то важного в общей копилке настоящего.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span><span>Алексей Баталов</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span><span>Народный артист СССР</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span><span>18 июля 1997 г.</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 28.35pt; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background- background-position: initial initial; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;color:white;"><span lang="RU" style=" ;font-size:14pt;"></span></p></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-2907701004522638092009-05-28T09:51:00.002+01:002009-05-28T10:05:33.707+01:00Facebook recieves an Uzbek back up<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4QnWwo5XD5CiG0YpEVyHK_N0r4rPfUx2SkROiSkQd9bSvwMh4E2IslFlvgouRkHN1yItYSqZ2mpc9eRUTwXPYXtSR5EliF1Eb_vkTaHVZHjet0QmdfNjsR23AgjpFLV45dVGxfxZ2_WQ/s1600-h/usmanov.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 383px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4QnWwo5XD5CiG0YpEVyHK_N0r4rPfUx2SkROiSkQd9bSvwMh4E2IslFlvgouRkHN1yItYSqZ2mpc9eRUTwXPYXtSR5EliF1Eb_vkTaHVZHjet0QmdfNjsR23AgjpFLV45dVGxfxZ2_WQ/s400/usmanov.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340796748750806738" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 17px; font-family:Arial;font-size:12px;"><p class="leadin" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; font-size: 1.17em; line-height: 1.354em; font-weight: bold; clear: both; ">Facebook Inc., the high-profile Silicon Valley start-up, looked far and wide before landing an investment this week from Digital Sky Technologies, and with it, indirect backing from controversial Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov.</p><p face="inherit" size="1.167em" color="initial" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">Facebook disclosed Tuesday it has received a $200 million investment from Moscow-based Digital Sky, valuing the closely-held, Palo Alto, Calif.-based company at roughly $10 billion. <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebook-takes-200-mln-from-russian-internet-firm" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 100%; font-family: inherit; color: rgb(0, 65, 118); text-decoration: none; ">See story about Digital Sky's investment in Facebook.</a></p><p face="inherit" size="1.167em" color="initial" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">Usmanov, listed by Forbes as the world's 450th-richest individual with a net worth estimated at $1.6 billion, is a significant stakeholder in Digital Sky.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.167em; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">Though he now receives most of his public attention as a result of his ownership stake in British soccer club Arsenal, Usmanov also owns stakes in iron ore and steel producer Metalloinvest, telecommunications company Megafon and daily business publication Kommersant.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.167em; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">Kommersant reported Tuesday that Usmanov raised his ownership in Digital Sky to 32% from 30%, by purchasing a portion of the stake owned by investment fund Renaissance Partners.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.167em; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">A representative of Renaissance Partners was not immediately available for comment, nor was a spokeswoman for Usmanov. But a Facebook spokesman said that Usmanov's stake in Digital Sky came up during the due diligence process, but wasn't considered a factor.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.167em; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">"With any type of significant deal, there is a lot of due diligence that takes place," spokesman Larry Yu said. "Assuming all goes well with that process, the deal will proceed."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.167em; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">In addition to interests acquired through his backing of Digital Sky, Usmanov, who was born in Uzbekistan, owns other Internet properties including a stake in SUP, which bought blogging service LiveJournal from Six Apart in 2007, and in online video service Newstube.ru.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.167em; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">Usmanov has attracted a great deal of media attention as a foreign owner of Arsenal, one of Britain's most high-profile soccer clubs. In addition, he's drawn widespread questions in the news media about his personal connections and his past.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.167em; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">In an interview with the Guardian published in November, 2007, Usmanov fielded questions about his six-year imprisonment at a penal colony in the 1980s, and about his relationship with Uzbek businessman and boxing official Gafur Rakhimov. Rakhimov was denied entry to Australia for the 2000 Olympics, and later reportedly won a defamation case against author Andrew Jennings, who had linked Rakhimov to organized crime in his book "The Great Olympic Swindle."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.167em; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">Usmanov called the fraud charges that led to his imprisonment false, and noted that a "rehabilitation order" from the Uzbekistan Supreme Court has since cleared him of any wrongdoing. He acknowledged in the interview that he knows Rakhimov, though only "since he was a neighbor of my parents." <a href="http://www.gafurrakhimov.uz/english" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 100%; font-family: inherit; color: rgb(0, 65, 118); text-decoration: none; ">See Rakhimov's personal Web site.</a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.167em; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">Still, Usmanov continues to draw criticism. Former U.K. Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray, for example, has persisted in questioning Usmanov's character on his Web site.<a href="http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/index.html" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 100%; font-family: inherit; color: rgb(0, 65, 118); text-decoration: none; ">See Craig Murray's Web site.</a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.167em; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">In addition to its $200 million investment, Digital Sky has also agreed at a future date to purchase $100 million worth of current and former Facebook employees' shares in the company.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.167em; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">Facebook has long been seeking out a means to allow employees to cash in their shares, in hopes of rewarding and retaining them.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.167em; line-height: 1.354em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 6px; ">Digital Sky joins a roster of Facebook investors that includes Microsoft Corp.<span id="quote37009960" class="quotepeekbase bgQuote down" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; position: relative; display: inline-block; font-family:inherit;font-size:100%;color:initial;">(<span class="symbol" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family:inherit;font-size:0.92em;color:initial;"><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/MSFT" title="Microsoft Corporation" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 100%; font-family: inherit; color: rgb(0, 65, 118); text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(224, 241, 242); ">MSFT</a></span> <b><span class="data bgLast symbol" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family:inherit;font-size:0.92em;color:initial;">20.13</span></b>, <span class="data bgChange symbol" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; color: rgb(181, 0, 0); font-family:inherit;font-size:0.92em;">-0.21</span>, <span class="data bgPercentChange symbol" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; color: rgb(181, 0, 0); font-family:inherit;font-size:0.92em;">-1.03%</span>)</span>, hedge fund manager Peter Thiel and venture capital firm Accel Partners. </p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-46243606438525881072009-05-16T00:15:00.000+01:002009-05-16T00:17:18.694+01:00BBC Presenter is attacked by a Labour Peer on air<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">A Labour peer turned on a BBC presenter demanding to know how much she was paid during a live interview on MP expenses.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Lord Foulkes clashed with Carrie Gracie on the BBC News Channel after she asked if MPs who had abused their expenses should pay the money back.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">He accused the media of ignoring the good work MPs did and demanded to know how much she was paid.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Told it was £92,000 a year, he said she was being paid "nearly twice as much an MP - to come on and talk nonsense".<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">He added that BBC presenters such as John Humphrys and Jeremy Paxman were paid hundreds of thousands of pounds "to come on TV and sneer at democracy and undermine democracy. The vast majority of MPs are being undermined by you."<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Lord Foulkes was appearing on the BBC News channel to defend Commons Speaker Michael Martin's role in the ongoing row about MPs' expenses.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">He said there were "far more important things going on in the world" - but became agitated when Ms Gracie asked why Mr Martin had tried to block the publication of expenses.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">"The intention always has been to publish this. Perhaps one of these days you'll do a thing about how much the BBC is being paid. We're paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for presenters who come on three days a week."<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Ms Gracie tried to ask another question and apologised for interrupting, prompting the Labour peer to tell her: "You're not at all sorry to interrupt me - every time an MP comes on you constantly harass them. How much are you being paid?"<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Lord Foulkes, a former Scotland Office minster, is the only member of the House of Lords to also sit in the Scottish Parliament. He stood down as an MP in 2005.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Watch the video <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8045371.stm">here</a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-75222905101327868142009-05-15T23:01:00.007+01:002009-05-15T23:22:34.121+01:00Your arrogance is so annoying<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><p class="article-p" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 100%; line-height: 125%; text-indent: 3em; ">I am not a big philosophy fan! But sometimes, simple observations help so much. And there are so many annoying things around thinking of which will do you no good. But observing them, I have discovered, is rather helpful. Arrogance! Jesus, I never was that annoyed before. Those to whom much has been given sometimes suffer from arrogance; or rather the people around them suffer. Arrogance is doubly a pity, because the talents of the arrogant serve primarily themselves. The arrogant assumes his views and opinions are The Truth. </p><p class="article-p" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 100%; line-height: 125%; text-indent: 3em; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkNEc0qrirB7KnhdZ8fciCXLxB3F1WGq3npEfOclGzT0pz8NfBPCJqw6ivAF9s7JpEq7v-aVPy-7WDyaGy1y2eWRyWTW6maQYPNJCcoJK7ydAUJh0nviAITL3JI_eImkChYdmGOUvlkNs/s400/arrogant.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 233px; height: 350px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336179358498371522" /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="article-p" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 100%; line-height: 125%; text-indent: 3em; ">In arrogance, natural confidence goes sadly awry. Rather than the self-assurance born of knowing his own strengths and limitations, arrogance admits no limits. The arrogant brooks no weakness in himself and may even secretly rejoice to find flaws in others. But imperfections are inherent in being human, so the arrogant, like everyone else, always has feet of clay, however well hidden they may be. Fearing exposure, haughtiness forms a hard shell masking inner emptiness.</p><p class="article-p" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 100%; line-height: 125%; text-indent: 3em; ">The arrogant sees first himself. Rather than offering <a href="http://www.innerfrontier.org/Practices/Respect.htm">respect</a> to all, arrogance demands respect from all. Dismissive, arrogance poisons all relationships: with himself, with others, and with the spiritual depths. Worshipping the grand but empty edifice of ego, the self-important sees others as less human, as cardboard cutouts, relating as I-It rather than as I-Thou, in Martin Buber’s apt phrase.</p><p class="article-p" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 100%; line-height: 125%; text-indent: 3em; ">Like so many self-centered traits, arrogance in others activates the arrogance in us, or its opposite of timidity and self-doubt. Confronted with arrogance, we might erupt indignantly or we might lapse into dwelling piteously on our own limitations. We then infect others and the vicious cycle continues.</p><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1TRYsowQL-lOKMWyfXVRvY-xY7GLvMy63V0GA-MiFj17Hzm4EDSkI7nFdtySlX1Bg08-Nzdx-Dsedm8EFfjrGgk9Deaf45S05Dz9wQNaNcHnNPH_TrQ6d_-3HT6zSaNvxkLODFZaWwzs/s400/n642812276_541047_599.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 153px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336177335589318050" /><p class="article-p" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 100%; line-height: 125%; text-indent: 3em; ">A subspecies of arrogance, spiritual arrogance, takes at least two forms. In the first, the victim concludes that he has made progress, perhaps due to having a few deep experiences. Or he prides himself for being part of the in-crowd, or for being friendly with the teacher, or for being the teacher. Whatever the reason, the spiritually arrogant mistakenly determines that he or she is special and then vaunts that assumed eminence over other people. This may be explicit in his outward behavior or implicit in his inward self-image. When a spiritual teacher contracts a case of spiritual arrogance, hubris typically leads to abuses of his unfortunate students.</p><p class="article-p" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 100%; line-height: 125%; text-indent: 3em; ">In another form of spiritual arrogance, the true believer aggressively proselytizes, pushing his own path as the one and only way, browbeating people by claiming that they will not be saved without the chosen path, or that they are misguided. In actuality, this wide Earth harbors many valid and effective paths. The appropriate path for any particular person is a highly individual discovery, and cannot be decided by anyone else. It sometimes happens that when people first enter a path, an obsessive infatuation sets in. They may see their path as the one true way and attempt to convert others, even over protests of disinterest. Maturity brings respect for and acceptance of the validity of other paths.</p><p class="article-p" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 100%; line-height: 125%; text-indent: 3em; ">All forms of arrogance lie well beyond the pale of true spirituality. Freedom from arrogance begins with <a href="http://www.innerfrontier.org/Practices/Seeing.htm">seeing</a>. At first we may only receive hints from how our behavior affects those around us. Then we might glimpse, in action, our overwrought and inflated assumptions about ourselves. Gradually, we learn to allow ourselves, in our own estimation, to be at the same level of importance as others: not higher, despite our gifts, and not lower, despite our defects - just ordinary. This is the antidote to arrogance and its second greatest fear: to be an ordinary person. How bloody marvelous!?</p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1637082247212760382.post-26288933926209931552009-05-01T23:54:00.003+01:002009-05-02T00:02:59.611+01:00Are you Cocky? Or do you have Balls?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 20px; font-family:verdana;font-size:12px;"><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; ">Uncocky people don’t like cocky people. This is likely because you are both jealous of them and repulsed by them at the same time. They represent both what you hate and what you aspire to be and have. You want their confidence, their swagger. You also want their jobs. But how do you get what they have without turning the asses that they are?</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">You need balls.</strong></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; ">Having balls is an unappreciated strength. Having balls can open doors and create opportunities like you could never imagine. Having balls will change your life.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; ">There is a person I know very well. He is taking something related to computers in school. The school sucks. They are not providing the education he paid for. This is a concern.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; ">One of the classes he’s taking has to do with databases. His teacher, hereafter referred to as “Database Dude”, is not actually a teacher but a database administrator at a very big company nearby. He didn’t think it was necessary to provide his students with a textbook or tutoring or even open office hours. He comes, he babbles, he leaves.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; ">This person is concerned because many people are failing this class and he doesn’t want to be one of them. Database Dude is being unhelpful, as is the college’s administration. This person does not know what to do.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; ">His class is divided into three types of people.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Group One</strong> does not worry because they are certain they will be fine. They are smart and if they fail this course, f*ck the college, they don’t care.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Group Two</strong> is generally hysterical. “OhmygodwhatamIgoingtodo?” whines Group Two. “I’mgoingtofailandIwon’tgetmydegree! ThenI’llnevergetajob! I’llnevergetlaidagain!”</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Group Three</strong> consists of one man, the very person we started talking about in the beginning of this post. He’s calling in favors from every nerd he knows. He’s asking his brother-in-law, his neighbor, some guy his wife met on the internet - everybody. He’s going to figure this out if it kills him. He’s close to knowing more about databases than Database Dude.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; ">Pretend you’re in this situation. You want to be in Group Three.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Cocky people</strong> are in Group One. <strong style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Wimpy people</strong> are in Group Two. <strong style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">People with balls</strong> are in Group Three.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; ">I’m not going to give you a nice, handy list of ways to get balls, but you need them to run a <a href="http://ittybiz.com/" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-decoration: underline; ">home business</a>. Balls is not something you can Google. (Well, you could, but I’m guessing you wouldn’t get the kind of results you were looking for.) You just need to be conscious of balls. You need to channel balls. You need to look your life in the eye and say, “I have balls.” (This is very different from looking your life in the balls and saying, “I have eyes.”)</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; ">Christine at <a href="http://www.selfmadechick.com/" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-decoration: underline; ">Self Made Chick</a> has a post called <a href="http://selfmadechick.com/2007/11/05/closed-mouth-doesnt-get-fed/" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-decoration: underline; ">The Closed Mouth Doesn’t Get Fed</a> (or something like that). When I read it, I was thinking of writing a post about asking for what you want, but I’ve decided not to bother. Hers is better. This is a tremendous tutorial on one of the most important aspects of balls. Please go and read it. Seriously, this is one of the most important things you can do for your career.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; ">When you’re done, can someone figure out how to get a keyword density on how many times I’ve said “sucks,” “cocky”, “balls”, and “ass” in this post?</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; ">And they ask me why I didn’t run a picture.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0