Laughter and Old Age

The Liveabililty Ranking and Overview February 2011

Vancouver (Canada) sits at the top of the Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Liveability Ranking, a position that can only have been cemented by the successful hosting of the 2010 winter Olympics and Paralympics, which provided a boost to the infrastructure and culture and environment categories. Harare (Zimbabwe) is the lowest-scoring city at just 37.5%. Despite hopes of elections in 2011, stability and healthcare scores of just 25% and 20.8% respectively highlight a bleak situation.

The Liveability Ranking and Overview assesses living conditions in 140 cities around the world. A rating of relative comfort for 30 indicators is assigned across five broad categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure. The survey gives an overall rating of 0-100, where 1 is intolerable and 100 is ideal.

The Economist Intelligence Unit helps business leaders prepare for opportunity, empowering them to act with confidence when making strategic decisions. We are renowned for our comprehensive global coverage and use the best analytical minds to examine markets, countries and industries with a level of insight you cannot find elsewhere. Uncompromising integrity, relentless rigour and precise communication underpin everything we do. We are meticulous with every analysis, every study, every projection and every commentary that carries the EIU brand. Our reputation for trusted business intelligence depends on it. Crystallise your thinking and see greater possibilities with business intelligence from the EIU–the most assured way to prepare for opportunity.

Jonathan Reed

I am part of a lost generation
and I refuse to believe that
I can change the world
I realize this may be a shock but
“Happiness comes from within.”
is a lie, and
“Money will make me happy.”
So in 30 years I will tell my children
they are not the most important thing in my life
My employer will know that
I have my priorities straight because
work
is more important than
family
I tell you this
Once upon a time
Families stayed together
but this will not be true in my era
This is a quick fix society
Experts tell me
30 years from now, I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce
I do not concede that
I will live in a country of my own making
In the future
Environmental destruction will be the norm
No longer can it be said that
My peers and I care about this earth
It will be evident that
My generation is apathetic and lethargic
It is foolish to presume that
There is hope.

Now read this from the bottom to the top.

- Jonathan Reed

Google’s mission

Google’s mission is to organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

La missione di Google è organizzare le informazioni a livello mondiale e renderle universalmente accessibili e fruibili.

Google a pour mission d'organiser les informations à l'échelle mondiale dans le but de les rendre accessibles et utiles à tous.

Het doel van Google is om alle informatie wereldwijd toegankelijk en bruikbaar te maken.

Das Ziel von Google besteht darin, die auf der Welt vorhandenen Informationen zu organisieren und allgemein zugänglich und nutzbar zu machen.

La misión de Google es organizar la información mundial para que resulte universalmente accesible y útil.

Google Corporate Overview
http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/

William Shakespeare -SONNET 116

William Shakespeare -SONNET 116 '
Studio production - Robert Nichol

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

C.S. Lewis Lectures on the Novels of Charles Williams

J.R.R. Tolkien reciting "Namárië"

This is a rare recording of J.R.R. Tolkien from 1952, in which he recites the Quenya poem "Namárië", famously sung by Galadriel in the chapter "Farewell to Lórien" in "The Lord of the Rings".

"Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen,
yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron!
Yéni ve lintë yuldar avánier
mi oromardi lisse-miruvóreva
Andúnë pella , Vardo tellumar
nu luini yassen tintilar i eleni
ómaryo airetári -lírinen.

Sí man i yulma nin enquantuva?

An sí Tintallë Varda Oiolossëo
ve fanyar máryat Elentári ortanë,
ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë;
ar sindanóriello caita mornië
i falmalinnar imbë met, ar hísië
untúpa Calaciryo míri oialë.
Sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar!

Namárië! Nai hiruvalyë Valimar.
Nai elyë hiruva. Namárië!"

"Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind,
long years numberless as the wings of trees!
The long years have passed like swift draughts
of the sweet mead in lofty halls
beyond the West, beneath the blue vaults of Varda
wherein the stars tremble
in the voice of her song, holy and queenly.

Who now shall refill the cup for me?

For now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the stars,
from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds
and all paths are drowned deep in shadow;
and out of a grey country darkness lies
on the foaming waves between us,
and mist covers the jewels of Calacirya for ever.
Now lost, lost to those of the East is Valimar!

Farewell! Maybe thou shalt find Valimar!
Maybe even thou shalt find it! Farewell!"

Brought to you by http://www.chamber-of-records.com

J.R.R. Tolkien reads a verse (very rare!)

T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland / Joy Division

T S Eliot Reading The Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock

Anthony Hopkins reads Dylan Thomas

Ulysses - Alfred, Lord Tennyson (by Sir John Gielgud)

Invictus - William Ernest Henley (by Alan Bates)

Tomorrow Never Comes

Tomorrow Never Comes by Norma Cornett Marek

If I knew it would be the last time

that I'd see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly,

and pray the Lord your soul to keep.
If I knew it would be the last time

that I'd see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and kiss,

and call you back for just one more.

If I knew it would be the last time

I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,
I would tape each word and action,　

and play them back throughout my days.
If I knew it would be the last time,

I would spare an extra minute or two,
To stop and say “I love you,”

instead of assuming you know I do.

So just in case tomorrow never comes,

and today is all I get,
I'd like to say how much I love you,

and I hope we never will forget.
Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,

young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance

you get to hold your loved one tight.

So if you're waiting for tomorrow,

why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,

you'll surely regret the day
That you didn't take that extra time

for a smile, a hug, or a kiss,
And you were too busy to grant someone,

what turned out to be their one last wish.

So hold your loved ones close today

and whisper in their ear
That you love them very much,

and you'll always hold them dear.
Take time to say "I'm sorry,"... "Please forgive me,"

... "thank you" or "it's okay".
And if tomorrow never comes,

you'll have no regrets about today. 

88" of therapy

Vivian
[sitting with Edward leaning against her in the bathtub] Did I mention, my leg is 44" from hip to toe. So basically we are talking about 88" of therapy, wrapped around you for the bargain price of $3000 dollars. 


Pretty Woman