‘Can you give it to them, Frodo?’….

Gandalf[about Gollum] Smeagol’s life is a sad story. Yes, Smeagol he was once called… before the Ring came to him. Before it drove him mad.
Frodo: It’s a pity Bilbo didn’t kill him when he had the chance.
Gandalf: Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand. Many that live deserve death, and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play, for good or ill, before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.
Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times; but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil.

[Din superba intelepciunea a lui Gandalf]

Prin extensie, faceti abstractie de numele de Frodo si Bilbo si Smeagol. Ganditi-va si reflectati, pentru o clipa,  la cat adevar graieste Gandalf

Dragii mei, sa aveti sarbatori binecuvantate

 

 

Dragostea nu cade niciodata

 

1. De aş grăi în limbile oamenilor şi ale îngerilor, iar dragoste nu am, făcutu-m-am aramă sunătoare şi chimval răsunător.
2. Şi de aş avea darul proorociei şi tainele toate le-aş cunoaşte şi orice ştiinţă, şi de aş avea atâta credinţă încât să mut şi munţii, iar dragoste nu am, nimic nu sunt.
3. Şi de aş împărţi toată avuţia mea şi de aş da trupul meu ca să fie ars, iar dragoste nu am, nimic nu-mi foloseşte.
4. Dragostea îndelung rabdă; dragostea este binevoitoare, dragostea nu pizmuieşte, nu se laudă, nu se trufeşte.
5. Dragostea nu se poartă cu necuviinţă, nu caută ale sale, nu se aprinde de mânie, nu gândeşte răul.
6. Nu se bucură de nedreptate, ci se bucură de adevăr.
7. Toate le suferă, toate le crede, toate le nădăjduieşte, toate le rabdă.
8. Dragostea nu cade niciodată. Cât despre proorocii – se vor desfiinţa; darul limbilor va înceta; ştiinţa se va sfârşi;
………………………………………………………………..
13. Şi acum rămân acestea trei: credinţa, nădejdea şi dragostea. Iar mai mare dintre acestea este dragostea.

Epistola catre Corinteni a Sf Apostol Pavel (Corinteni, 13)

 

 

Adormirea Maicii Domnului

O ora un picut cam tarzie, dar: La multi ani tuturor Mariilor si Marianelor si Marinilor (sunteti peste 2 milioane). Adormirea Maicii Domnului este una dintre cele mai importante sarbatori ale crestinismului.

Va dedic un cantec mult prea frumos

Cea mai frumoasa melodie

Am ascultat multa muzica de-alungul anilor (multa, prea multa) dar nimic, i mean nimic nu se compara cu asta. Pentru mine e cel mai frumos cantec/cantare pe care l-am auzit/am auzit-o vreodata [cantat btw  de Corul Byzantion], depaseste cu mult  toti Robbie Williams-ii si Pink Floyd-sii etc pe care i-am ascultat. Mind-blowing and heartwarming. Cat de extraordinar de superba poate fi:

Mai jos  este varianta cantata de Parintele Iosif de la Putna. E fff frumoasa si  varianta asta pentru ca glasul e mai tanguios si suna ffff frumos

 

Viata parintelui Arsenie Boca

Un mini-documentar superb:

Extrase:

“…am ramas orfan de tata, care era cizmar de mserie si foarte bun pedagog cu fiul sau. Stiu pana atunci ca m-a batut odata pentru ca sa nu mai pierd timpul ceea ce am fagaduit cu lacrimi si nu am uitat pana acum si de multe ori mi-a folosit in viata

“deprindeam pe mama cat mai fara mine  si cat mai fara corespondeta  care oarecum sa ma uite  si sa nu ii vie greu cand va afla ca m-am calugarit”

“parintele intra in biserica si daca se mai misca stalpul se mai misca si el “

“Am stat de vorba chiar cu colonelul care l-a arestat. Colonelul zice: ‘Parinte, eu din momentul acela mi-am bagat demisia cand am vazut ce minune a facut parintele. Primisem ordin de la general de la brasov sa ma duc sa il arestez pe parintele Arsenie. 3 lacate  au pus ca a doua zi sa vina generalul sa il interogheze[..] Cand se duce a doua zi  sa il scoata pe parintele de acolo scoate-l ca nu-i nicaieri. Ne ducem la manastire. Parintele era in timpul liturghiei. L-am lasat  de a terminat Sfanta Liturghie si dupa ce o terminat zice: Ce-ati crezut, ca am fugit? Nu, am venit sa fac Sfanta Liturghie ca n-are cine face ca sunt singurul preot. Ma duceam inapoi.

[La canal] Lipsea unu. Scandal mare, pe unde a plecat. Cauta toate ingradirile tot, era intact. Iar se face numaratoarea si e exact nu lipseste nimeni. Si il vede  pe parintele Arsenie. Dumneata unde ai fost? Zice: ‘am fost la inmormantare la mama. O murit mama si atata l-am rugat pe Dumnezeu sa imi deie voie  sa ma duc la inmormantare la mama. Si m-am intors inapoi’. Cand s-o dus, cand o ajuns nimenea nu stia. A disparut exact in timpul prohodului, cat a propovaduit-o pe mama lui”

“Au dat telefoane si au vorbit cu seful de post de la Vata de sus si il intreaba ce s-a intamplat. A fost inmormantarea si a fost un preot, fiul batranei care a murit. Au facut un consiliu  al lor si au spus: Dom’le, n-are rost  daca asta pleaca cand vrea si vine cand vrea si l-au eliberat.”

“Asta imi este toata misiunea si rostul pe pamant, pentru care m-a inzestrat cu daruri desi eu sunt nevrednic. Pentru asta sunt solicitat in toate partile  ca sa propovaduiesc iubirea lui Dumnezeu  si sfintirea oamenilor  prin iubire. De alte ganduri si rosturi  sunt strain’”

“Asa m-am vazut silit sa primesc preotia si misiunea majora a propovaduirii lui Hristos, Dumnezeu adevarat si om adevarat precum si a sfintirii omului  ca sa aiba pacea  lui Dumnezeu in sine  absolut  in orice imprejurari s-ar afla  in viata.  I-am invatat  sa fie curati fata de oameni  si fata de Dumnezeu, sa dea Cezarului ce este a Cezarului si lui Dumnezeu ce este a lui Dumnezeu

The great quality of Bill Gates

EVERYONE should  read this.   The great quality of Bill Gates.

Quote

One telephone conversation with Gates in 1993 sticks in [Larry] Ellison [Oracle's CEO]’s mind. “It was the most interesting conversation i’ve ever had with Bill, and the most revealing. it was around eleven o’clock in the morning, and we were on the phone discussing some technical issue, i don’t remember what it was. Anyway, i didn’t agree with him on some point and i explained my reasoning.

Bill says: ‘I’ll have to think about that, I’ll call you back’. Then i get this call at four in the afternoon and it’s Bill continuing the conversation with ‘Yeah, i think you are right about that, but what about A and B and C?’ I said, ‘Bill, have you been thinking about this for the last five hours?’ He said,  yes, he had, it was an important issue and he wanted to get it right. Now Bill wanted to continue the discussion and analyze the implications of it all. I was just stunned. He had taken the time and effort to think it all through  and had decided i was right and he was wrong.

Now, most people hate to admit they’re wrong, but it didn’t bother Bill one bit. All he cared about was what was right, not who was right. That’s what makes Bill very, very dangerous.

Most people are so in love with their own ideas that it confines their thinking – creates boundaries and limits  their ability to solve problems. Bill, however, has this Asian-like  ability to manage his intellectual vanity and take ideas, regardless of where they come from, and put them to work for Microsoft. The terrifying thing about Bill is that he’s smart enough to understand what ideas are good – what’s worth replicating – and he has the discipline and resources to get on with it and make it just a little bit better. That’s very Japanese. That’s very scary. Add that to Bill’s ruthless perseverance and the fact that Microsoft has more money than God, and you get the most formidable foe – the ultimate foe, the perfect enemy”

End quote.

Source:  Softwar, 2004

Please keep in mind that this appreciation  doesn’t come from a friend of Bill Gates, but from one of  the most ruthless  competitors, Oracle[world second largest software company]’s CEO Larry Ellison

And remember, Bill Gates is the richest  man on the planet[officially], the dude that built the biggest software empire on the planet and one of the smartest man on the planet.

It’s  true. Most people hate to admit they are wrong. Why? First off, cognitive dissonance. It’s  one of the most powerful forces inside ourselves that few understand to what degree  dictates  human’s behavior. It’s the engine that drives self-justification.  Second, as   Larry rightly points out, people are very much in love with their own ideas. And third, as i pointed out here,  i quote from Sir Ken Robinson:

“Kids  will take a chance. And if they don’t know, they will have a go.[...] By the time they become adults, most kids have lost this capacity. They become frightened of being wrong

Think about it, people. Learn from Gates.

Note:  the first time i read this “you get the most formidable foe – the ultimate foe, the perfect enemy” i got shivers down my spine. Literally



Carlos Ghosn


Meet Carlos Ghosn, CEO and president  of both Renault and Nissan, running two giant automakers located on 2  continents.

So he is the  man who is in charge of Dacia, from high above :D

Here are a couple  of things that i found interesting from the man  who runs our little national car company:

On himself:

By inclination, i’m a literary person. But my education  was in math and engineering, and i operate in the business world. My tastes run more toward languages, history and geography. I’m fascinated by linguistic and cultural connections. But i was educated as a scientist. I’m and engineer who’s worked very little in engineering. It may seem that there is a big difference between my  tastes, my education and my professional experience, but i see them as  part of a pretty harmonious whole

On management:

Management is an art, not a science. It is especially not an exact science. You have to have a feel for the company and for its customers. Thats what you base your decisions on

My notion of management is that you start from facts and move toward theory, not vice versa

On innovation:

I’m convinced that innovation comes out of dealing with unusual situations. When you are faced with a different reality, when you are surprised, you innovate, provided you have a capacity for self criticism. When  different cultures and different approaches come together, that’s a favorable situation for innovation

On China-Japan:

“The threat of Chinese competition  has become a national obsession in Japan. Entire sectors of traditional Japanese industry  have been swept away by imports from China. One affected sector is textiles. Japan’s electronics firms have transferred more and more of their sophisticated  production to China” Yeah, ups

On advertising: this is for another separate post

He is also the reason  Renault took  control of Nissan in 1999:

In fact, Louis Schweitzer[President of Renault at the time] declared that he would cancel the alliance if i refused to go. Schweitzer was quite clear about that. He told me: ‘I’ve got only one candidate for this job. And that means that if you won’t go, i won’t sign‘  Nissan  was Louis Schweitzer’s decision.

Nissan, in 1999,  was in  dire straits. The reason can be tracked back  to the Japanese culture. Carlos Ghosn writes:

Nissan, the number-two Japanese carmaker, had exhausted  its resources in a vain effort  to keep up with the leader, Toyota

As i wrote in this post about the Japanese culture,

Each of the major rivals in a market mirrors one or two others, matching their every move and trying to do the same thing

So,  Nissan gets into trouble trying to mirror Toyota, this being  a Japanese cultural trait. Then Renault steps in and takes control of the company. But only because there is this guy that can run it. Ghosn proves his skill by beautifully reviving Nissan. The Japanese are so impressed that they add him to the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame (the only foreigner to get into that list, though Ghosn indeed speaks Japanese fluently) and in 2002, his life is turned into a comic book series in Japan.  Then, a few years later, he’s  also named CEO and President of Renault.

Interesting how, at a global scale, everything is beautifully connected and everything makes sense.

Source of quotes: Shift. Inside Nissan historic revival, written by Ghosn himself which  it’s  actually his superb autobiography

Steve Jobs

Some people love him, others hate him.

But you gotta show the man some respect.

While i for one have a deep appreciation for this dude and especially his way of life[he's vegan, he's private and a couple of others i would not disclose :D ], i ‘d like to share some of the  not so cool things about the young Steve Jobs that few people know.

The cool things about him everyone mostly knows by now.

Here we go:

Quotes:

[Jobs] would try to push himself into everything. No matter what you were doing, he had to have something to do with it. Nobody at Apple wanted him involved with their projects. I had started the Macintosh team and we didn’t want him either” Jef Raskin

“Steve jobs began rubbing Jef Raksin the wrong way not long after muscling his  way  into the Mac project in January 1981. On February 19, 1981, a year before he resigned from Apple, Raskin sent a confidential, four page memo to president Mike Scott detailing the specific problems he had working with Jobs:

1. Jobs regularly misses appointments

2. He acts without thinking  and with bad judgement

3.He does not give credit where due

4. Jobs often reacts ad hominem

5. He makes absurd and wasteful decisions by trying to be paternal

6. He interrupts and does not listen

7. He does not keep promises or meet commitments

8. He makes decisions ex cathedra [ie. says something in an official way as if it must be obeyed or accepted]

9. Optimistic estimates

10. Jobs is often irresponsible and inconsiderate

11. He is a bad manager of software projects

“He would have made an excellent king of France” Jef Raskin  :D

The standard  way [Jobs] operated was picking your brain. He would dimmediately poo-poo the idea, then a week later, he’d come  back and say ‘Hey, i’ve got a great idea!’. The idea that he gave back to you was your own. We called him the Reality Distortion Field” Jef Raskin

With Steve [Jobs] you never knew exactly where an idea comes from” Steve Wozniak

I kept asking Steve about stock options and he would always put me off saying that i had to talk to my supervisors. I found out a couple of years later that Jobs was the head of the Compensation Committee in charge of distributing options”  Apple employee #12 Dan Kottke

People think I’m an asshole, don’t they? Steve Jobs

Source: Apple Confidential

This is a very ugly picture of young Steve Jobs. All of the above quotes describe Jobs  before 1985.

Is it of any wonder then that he was “forced” to leave (he resigned as a result of him being  stripped of operational responsibilities) the company he founded???? No, is not.

Now, to clear things out,  speaking of older Jobs, in  this recent documentary about Steve Jobs, Robert Cringely, former Apple employee says that

“Because he is such a polarizing character, we have a tendency to try to freeze him, to say  ’he’s like this’ when in fact he has changed a lot “

And indeed he changed. Leaving Apple was very traumatic for him and forced him to soul search.  Floyd Norman said that at Pixar, Jobs was a “mature, mellow individual” and never interfered with the creative process of the filmmakers.

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Indisputably, he remains a creative genius. Among the best that ever lived.

 

Snail Montage

Love it. Nicely made. Neat music


Spontaneus – Snail Montage
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