Belief Systems By Kanta Jacob Katz Ph.D Guest Writer for Wake Up World Our belief systems are thoughts that have become our habits that determine what we think, what we feel and how we react to life. In our everyday life when we talk about “beliefs” we usually refer to the values we adopt consciously in our life, to our social, political and religious ‘beliefs’ according to which we act and behave. What does all that mean to us? Where does it all come from? Let’s look at these two words together and their meaning, to get a picture of how they interact in our life. The definition of ‘belief’ is: (1) A thought or feeling that something exists or is true, without proof. (2) A vague or specific idea on which some confidence is placed. (3) A religious doctrine that is proclaimed as true. The definition of ‘system’ is: (1) A combination of interrelated interacting elements designed to work as a coherent unit. (2) A group of interrelated elements comprising a unified whole. Do you live in an energy jail?
Top 100 Tuesday: 100 Best Movies of the Decade EmailEmail Since we first published our 100 Best Movies of the Decade in 2009, films have continued to get bigger and better. Here’s an update to the original list. Here’s what we originally wrote five years ago. We are leaving Kubrick behind and fast approaching Hyams. Quick Year-to-Year by the Numbers: 2009 – 11 2008 – 11 2007 – 7 2006 – 14 2005 – 12 2004 – 8 2003 – 7 2002 – 12 2001 – 10 2000 – 8 100. 99. 98. 97. 96. 95. 94. 93. 92. 91. 90. 89. 88. 87. 86. 85. 84. 83. 82. 81. 28 DAYS LATER… (2002) – Danny Boyle 80. 79. 78. 77. 76. 75. 74. 73. 72. 71. 70. 69. 68. 67. 66. 65. 64. 63. 62. 61. 60. 59. 58. 57. 56. 55. 54. 53. 52. 51. 50. 49. 48. 47. 46. 45. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER (2009) – Marc Webb 44. 43. 42. 41. 40. 25th HOUR (2002) – Spike Lee 39. 38. 37. 36. 35. 34. 33. 32. 31. 30. 29. 28. 27. 26. 25. 24. 23. 22. 21. 20. WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? 19. 18. “My name is Gladiator.” 17. 16. 15. LOST IN TRANSLATION is one of my favorite films of all time. 14. 13. 12. 11. 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4.
Lover Boys - Witness Filmmakers: Julia Rooke and Caroline Pare This is the story of Ibrahim, a courageous Dutch-Moroccan social worker in the Netherlands who is tackling the high incidences of sex-trafficking of young Dutch girls by their so-called 'boyfriends' - the Lover Boys - the majority of whom are Dutch-Moroccan. It is a taboo subject, but Ibrahim and his allies, including a local sheikh, are determined to remove this stain from their community. This raw and often graphic film introduces us to both perpetrators and victims of this branch of internal sex-trafficking. Ibrahim does preventative work with vulnerable young men in youth clubs as well as political lobbying to get the matter addressed in his local authority. The complications of working in a country where prostitution is legal for over 18s, as well as cultural taboos within his own community, make for many challenges - and he is only too aware that right-wing elements thrive on any vulnerabilities among immigrant groups.
Guide for Writers: Latin Phrases It’s a matter of taste and style, but not long ago American writers attempted to demonstrate their credentials to the world by including Latin and French phrases within works. A dash of Latin was expected of the moderately educated throughout the Western world. annus mirabilis - wonderful year arbiter elegantiae - judge of the elegant; one who knows the good things in life bona fides - good faith; credentials carpe diem - sieze the day; enjoy the present casus belli - cause justifying a war caveat emptor - buyer beware cui bono? caeteris paribus - all things being equal de facto - of fact; it is de gustibus non est disputandum - no disputing tastes; there is no accounting for taste Dei gratia - by the grace of God Deo gratias - thanks to God Deo volente - God willing dis aliter visum - it seemed otherwise to the gods Dominus vobiscum - Lord be with you dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - sweet and seemly it is to die for one’s country ecce homo - behold man ex cathedra - with authority
current status: Icy Finger of Death Filmed for the First Time Like a lightning bolt hurled down from Mount Olympus, an icy “finger of death” strikes at sea life beneath the Antarctic ice shelf in what is surely one of the most jaw-dropping natural history sequences ever filmed. Called a brinicle, or brine icicle, this sinister tube of ice grows over a matter of hours as super-salty brine leeches from the forming sea ice above. This video — a scene from Frozen Planet, premiering on Discovery Channel on March 18 — illustrates how this happens, as well as the deadly consequences for the slow-moving marine invertebrates in its path. The brinicle was filmed in 2009 by underwater cameramen Doug Anderson and Hugh Miller. Their mission in Antarctica was to film the diverse underwater communities beneath the sea ice, but on arriving in McMurdo Sound, they began to hear improbable tales from local scientists about ice stalactites that grow with amazing speed. Luckily, Hugh Miller had with him a kit of spare camera parts.
[ wu :: riddles(easy) ] So, an eccentric entrepreneur by the name of Alphonse Null has sent out a press release about his new, mind-blowing hotel: The Hotel Infinity. Null informs the world that this hotel has an infinite number of rooms (specifically, an infinity equal to the cardinality of the integers). A quick tour puts skeptics' claims to rest; as far as anyone can tell, this hotel has infinite rooms. The consequences are mind-boggling, and Null sets up a press conference to answer questions... "So, Mr. "The elevators have an ingenious formula device instead of buttons... simply input the formula for your room number, with Ackermann numbers or somesuch... your room formula can be picked up at the front desk. "How do you produce the power and water for this hotel?" "I have infinite generators and wells, of course. "What about costs? "That's the beauty of it! "But, Mr. "Oh?" The reporter then mentioned something which made Mr. "Oh... oh goodness... So with what simple assumption did Mr.
25 Things You Should Know About Character Previous iterations of the “25 Things” series: 25 Things Every Writer Should Know 25 Things You Should Know About Storytelling And now… Here you’ll find the many things I believe — at this moment! 1. Without character, you have nothing. 2. A great character can be the line between narrative life and story death. 3. Don’t believe that all those other aspects are separate from the character. 4. The audience will do anything to spend time with a great character. 5. It is critical to know what a character wants from the start. 6. It doesn’t matter if we “like” your character, or in the parlance of junior high whether we even “like-like” your character. 7. It is critical to smack the audience in the crotchal region with an undeniable reason to give a fuck. 8. You must prove this thesis: “This character is worth the audience’s time.” 9. Don’t let the character be a dingleberry stuck to the ass of a toad as he floats downriver on a bumpy log. 10. 11. 12. 13. The law of threes. 15. 16. 17. 18.
Jake Reilly's 'Amish Project:' 90 Days Without a Cell Phone, Email and Social Media Could you live without daily electronic conveniences—Twitter, Facebook, email, texting and more—for 90 days? Jake P. Reilly, a 24-year-old copywriting student at the Chicago Portfolio School, did just that. From October to December, he unplugged from social media, email, texts, and cell phones because he felt that we spend more quality time with gadgets and keyboards than we do with the people we really care about. During his social experiment, he found that some people he counted among his close friends really weren't that close after all. I spoke with Reilly over the phone this weekend about his 90-day project, what he learned from living without electronic leashes and how it changed his life. You say you spent three months completely cut-off from the virtual world. Reilly: I called Verizon and suspended service for my cell phone. Did you ever cheat and check to see what messages came in? Reilly: I never went back on any of the social stuff. Reilly: It was pretty bad. Reilly: Ha!