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Napoleon Hill
“Who said it could not be done? And tell me what great victories does he have to his credit which qualifies him to judge what can and can’t be accomplished.” –Napoleon Hill….
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Obama Approval UP!
President Obama’s approval rating climbed to it’s highest level in the weeks at 51%. This is a 6 point gain from just 7 days ago when his rating was 46%.
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Great Quote From Plato
“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.”— Plato, (427 BC – 347 BC)
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Health Clubs Turning Gray
What’s the fastest growing segment of health club members? It’s baby boomers. Membership at health clubs among adults 55 and older rose to 10 million from 1.5 back in 1987. “For the first time, we have a cohort of people who are just getting ready to retire and have an expectation of being physically active,” …
In case you’re thinking about hiring Sarah Palin to speak at your next event, make sure you provide the following per Palin’s recent contract at a previous speaking event. A published story talks about the Palin contract:
“The contract detailed the former Alaska governor’s requirements for her visit, including first-class flights from Anchorage to California — if she flies commercial. If not, “the private aircraft MUST BE a Lear 60 or larger …,” the contract specifies.
Palin also must be provided with a suite and two single rooms in a deluxe hotel. During her speech, her lectern must be stocked with two water bottles and bendable straws.”
And don’t forget the $100,000 speaking fee she routinely charges.
By Federica Rabiolo
“Why does it bother you so much when I bring up that you’re Italian?” – “I absolutely hate being the center of attention.” What at the time I thought was an honest answer to a question I get asked frequently, I later realized was a spurious statement. Honestly, I am simply concerned by the flood of questions that arise when people finally learn that it was not my great-grandfather who immigrated here, but that I actually stepped off a plane less than six years ago. Then, with patience, I explain that my family does not own an Italian restaurant, I am not in any way associated with the mafia, and while it is true that I love pasta and pizza, I prefer not to eat the two for breakfast. Most of the time people are not trying to be offensive, but are simply trying to learn more about a culture, which they find charming and fascinating. Yet it makes me wonder where the naïve characterizations of Italian people come from, and why the stereotypes that arise persist over time. Americans often choose to accept Italian culture through the lens of the media. Movies, such as “The Godfather”, which outwardly appear to be about Italian culture, allow people to accept a fictitious picture of the Italian people. Yet how is it possible for individuals to look past the typical “Mafioso” stereotype and acknowledge a purer form of the Italian culture?
A raspy, heavy Italian accent, a dark exchange between two men. One seeks revenge, the other is willing to use his corrupted, crime-filled ways for justice in exchange for respect. The opening scene of “The Godfather” shows that the popularity of such movies is solely based on a violent, thrilling and intricate image of the “mafia lifestyle”, which some mistake to be a symbol of Italian culture. Ben Lawton,[i] a professor at Purdue University and Graziella Parati from Northwestern University, conducted separate yet equal studies at each institution centered on the question:”Do Mafia movies and television shows such as “The Godfather” affect the image of Italian Americans?” In a part of the survey subjects were asked to write down the first three words they would use to describe Italian people. Mafia, hairy, good food, greedy, sneaky were all words written down. These words are not much different than the ideas that the media is portraying with the opening scene of “The Godfather (Part I)”. Lawton’s and Parati’s research illustrates the weight of the media in impacting society’s views of Italians and further validate the theory that views depicted through movies are often adopted by viewers.
In the 1990s producers spent 75 million dollars on the production and promotion of “The Godfather Part III”. In addition to this viewers have spent over $800 million dollars on idealizing the Godfather through both movie theater showings and TV. Further validating the success of the film were ten Academy Award nominations and three Oscars; these figures all validate how far producers, critics and audiences alike were willing to go to endorse a featured film filled with presumptuous labels about Italians. There are almost no individuals in support of lashing out against the outrageous representations of Italians. Why would anybody do so? The movie is regarded as a classic, a favorite and even one of the best movies ever made. Impeccable acting, ominous characters and a suspenseful plot are regarded with more importance than the realistic preservation of the true charms of Italian culture.
In an interview with Larry King,[ii] Mario Puzo -the creator of “The Godfather”- admitted his primary intention was to make money; he was looking to create a work that would appeal to the masses. Puzo did not have to look too far for an audience enthused by his book. In fact he found one right where he was born and raised, New York City. Puzo’s statement confirms that it is unlikely that factual images of Italians could attract a crowd as big as the fictional images of the Godfather did over 30 years. During his lifetime Puzo repeatedly admitted that he had never met a single “Italian gangster” before writing the book. However it’s understandable why Puzo would write such a novel. Stereotypical attributes such as the ones incorporated into his saga, and later into “The Godfather” trilogy, are far more thrilling for viewers and readers to accept and promote than everyday characteristics of true Italians. Essentially like the Godfather himself, Mario Puzo and filmmakers made viewers “an offer they could not refuse”.
“And…Action”: no one is kissing anybody’s hand. That would actually be very strange. Instead I walk into my grandmother’s house and she pulls me closer and kisses me on both cheeks. Her house is filled with familiar smells of my favorite dishes: roasted lamb and potatoes and, of course, crostata, a typical pie with blackberry jam. Spaghetti with meatballs and tiramisu’ are nowhere in sight. Upon entering, all the women attempt to gather in the kitchen, yet my grandfather is putting the finishing touches on the lamb and shushes everybody out of his kitchen. My grandmother is not allowed to do much more than set the table for these meals. Finally the family gathers at the table and because we’re not a large family we fit around it perfectly. There is always talk of politics at these Sunday gatherings, but the mafia is never mentioned. No one isa talkinga likea thiss either. I turn to settle a conflict between my blond-hair blue-eyed little cousins who are bickering about something. At the end of the meal grandpa asks: “Did you take care of that thing?” – he’s obviously talking about his espresso being done. “And…Scene”.
When we accept big stereotypical pictures thrown at us by the media, we fail to find the few true unique aspects that make it truly charming. Sometimes the beauty of a culture foreign to our own is the small truths we find when digging deeper than an image on a screen. The truths of Italian culture can be so much more fascinating and rewarding than the misconceptions fed to us by the media. My hopes are that one day authentic scenes, such as the one out of “My Godfather”, will attract audiences interested in immersing themselves into a culture different than their own.
[i] “Sicilian Culture.” September 5th, 2009. Cristaldi Communications Video, Web Design, Hosting & Promotion, Web. 5 Oct 2009
[ii] “The official Mario Puzo Library.” 2nd of August 1996. Web. 5 Oct 2009.
In this article from the New York Times we find out what iPad users are downloading:
A quick spin through the charts of the best-selling applications available in iTunes illuminates the most popular selections.
Currently, the top three paid iPad applications belong to a suite of applications intended to give the iPad more heft as a machine for productivity. They are adaptations of Apple’s iWork tools and include Pages, a word processing application, Keynote, which allows users to create visually rich presentations, and Numbers, a spreadsheet application. Each sells for $9.99.
But perhaps the most interesting application on the top 10 list is one called Star Walk, a $2.99 astronomy application that morphs the iPad into a star chart. Pointing the tablet at the sky activates an internal digital compass, instantly locating stars, planets and other celestial bodies. Tapping on an object reveals more information about it.
GoodReader, which costs 99 cents and is hovering in the fourth most downloaded slot, is a documents reader for the iPad that can handle a range of formats, including PDF files and high-resolution images. SketchBookPro, $8.99, a sophisticated drawing application that lets users craft paintings with their hands, is also on the list.
Games, of course, have been a big draw. Real Racing HD ($9.99), a driving game that transforms the iPad into a steering wheel, and Flight Control ($4.99), an air traffic simulator that includes a level in 3-D, are both on the top 10 list. Scrabble ($9.99) turns the iPad’s glossy screen into a vivid playing board where multiple players can use their iPhones as their letter trays and “flick” tiles down to the main board for game play.
Tom Friedman talks about the need for a third party that will represent the “Radical Center”
A Tea Party Without Nuts
Published: March 23, 2010
President Obama’s winning passage of national health care is both exhilarating and sobering. Covering so many uninsured Americans is a historic achievement. But the president had to postpone trips, buy off companies and cut every conceivable side deal to just barely make it happen, without a single Republican vote. If the Democrats now lose seats in the midterm elections, we’re headed for even worse gridlock, even though we still have so much more nation-building for America to do — from education to energy to environment to innovation to tax policy. That is why I want my own Tea Party. I want a Tea Party of the radical center.
Say what? I write often about innovation in energy and education. But I’ve come to realize that none of these innovations will emerge at scale until we get the most important innovation of all — political innovation that will empower independents and centrists, which describes a lot of the country.
Larry Diamond, a Stanford University democracy expert, put it best: “If you don’t get governance right, it is very hard to get anything else right that government needs to deal with. We have to rethink in some basic ways how our political institutions work, because they are increasingly incapable of delivering effective solutions any longer.”
My definition of broken is simple. It is a system in which Republicans will be voted out for doing the right thing (raising taxes when needed) and Democrats will be voted out for doing the right thing (cutting services when needed). When your political system punishes lawmakers for the doing the right things, it is broken. That is why we need political innovation that takes America’s disempowered radical center and enables it to act in proportion to its true size, unconstrained by the two parties, interest groups and orthodoxies that have tied our politics in knots.
Maureen Dowd talks about the just passed Health Care bill and what it meant for the Democratic Party and the Administration to finally Win something Big.
Hail the Conquering Professor
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: March 23, 2010
WASHINGTON
The Democrats were walking around in a state of shock.
Holy cow, they were saying to themselves. We’re not total wimps! We don’t have to sit around and let ourselves be slapped silly by Republican bullies and Tea Party scaremongers. We can actually get something done if we suck it up and find a way to pull together.
One minute they were legislative losers, squabbling and scrambling for the off-ramps. The next they were history-makers, sharing chest bumps and goose bumps at the White House. How had the lofty president and the wily speaker suddenly steered them off Jimmy Carter Highway and onto F.D.R. Drive?
One gleeful and relieved White House aide called the bill-signing ceremony in the East Room, packed with Democratic lawmakers snapping pictures and acting like obstreperous children, “an Old Spice moment.”
“You could see it in their faces,” he said. “It was kind of like that Old Spice ad where the guy smacked himself on the cheeks and said, ‘Wow, that feels good!’ It was like they smacked themselves on the cheeks and said, ‘You are a member of Congress and now you can start doing things. Wow, that feels good!’ ”
Since the demise of the Concorde in 2003, only fighter jet crews and astronauts have had the pleasure of supersonic flight. The Russians are currently testing a new fifth generation PAK-FA T-50 supersonic stealth fighter that will be in direct competition with the world’s only current fifth generation supersonic jet, the new US F-22 Raptor. Even India is on the supersonic bandwagon, participating with Russia in the development of the new jet.
But commercial aviation remains subsonic.
This could change soon.
Aerion Supersonic Business Jet concept
Aerion Corporation of Nevada, which “was formed for the purpose of developing and commercializing a fundamental breakthrough in supersonic transportation,” has set 2015 as the year it will launch its new Supersonic Business Jet (SSBJ). The company has already taken orders worth $4 billion for the $80 million jet—one of the first orders came from the ruler of Dubai in 2007—but has not yet made a decision on a manufacturing partner. Once that is done, it will enter a pre-launch phase with the OEM to confirm the Aerion SSBJ performance, costs and market. Thereafter a five-year program is planned so that the Aerion SSBJ could be flying in 2013 and certified by late 2015.
An 11 year-old boy Dubai buys real estate for $44 million. Who paid for this? We did by continuing to buy oil from the Middle East at $75 a barrel. Millions of barrels everyday. When will we figure this out? Soon I hope, but I won’t hold my breath. As experts have said, this is the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world. And we’re the ones losing. Wake up America:
“DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – Even by the standards of a city that celebrates extravagance, it was a spectacular shopping spree: In just two weeks early last year, an 11-year-old boy from Azerbaijan became the owner of nine waterfront mansions.
The total price tag: about $44 million — or roughly 10,000 years’ worth of salary for the average citizen of Azerbaijan. But the preteen who owns a big chunk of some of Dubai’s priciest real estate seems to be anything but average.”
Italian Newscast............
- CORY on “My Godfather”
- eec111 on Throngs Line Up to Buy Sarah Palin’s New Book
- eec111 on LeMond and Trek Move On
- eec111 on Oprah Leaving Talk Show
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Avatar -
The Blind Side -
District 9 -
An Education -
The Hurt Locker -
Inglourious Basterds -
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire -
A Serious Man -
Up -
Up in the Air