A daily dose of odds and sods, some interesting, some bizarre, some funny, some thought provoking items which I have stumbled across the web. All to be taken with a grain of daily salt!!
So which ones did you like? I think i am a pluviophile, Gynotikolobomassophile, turophile, pogonophile, ailurophile, cynophile, ergophile, zoophile and clinophile.
Love is patient. Love is kind. And often, love is denoted by the Greek root -phile.
1. Pluviophile
Love a rainy day? You're a pluviophile.
2. Gynotikolobomassophile
This one's easier to do than to pronounce: A gynotikolobomassophile enjoys nibbling on women's earlobes.
3. Turophile
Turophiles have never met a cheese plate they didn't like. They pair well with wine-loving oenophiles.
4. Pogonophile
Someone who loves beards and possibly 2/3 of ZZ Top.
5. Ailurophile
Cat lovers are technically called ailurophiles.
6. Cynophile
Cynophiles prefer dogs and are not to be confused with movie-loving cinephiles.
7. Coulrophile
Look out, Ronald McDonald. Coulrophiles don't just find clowns, jesters, and mimes amusing. They're sexually attracted to them.
8. Ergophile
Don't call them workaholics. Ergophiles just love being productive.
9. Arctophile
A 30-year-old who collects teddy bears isn't weird. He or she's an arctophile.
10. Stigmatophile
Someone who's obsessed with tattoos or branding.
11. Zoophiles
Lots of people love animals, but zoophiles want to really love animals, if you know what we mean.
12. Peristerophile
A peristerophile would never call a pigeon a "flying rat." They adore the birds.
13. Stegophile
Alain Robert, known as the French Spider-Man, is a world famous stegophile. He's climbed the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, and the New York Times Building just for fun.
14. Clinophile
Clinophile literally translates to a person who loves beds. Psychiatrists associate the word with sleep disorders and the desire to stay in a reclining position.
15. Chrysophile
File this one under "Words We'd Like To Hear In A Rap Song." Chrysophiles have a thing for bling, specifically gold.
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you remember the sign on the back of the car? tiny person on board? see here are some benefits of being a tiny person, specially when the tiny person is you :) you do all that, remember when you hid in my suitcase? :)
Sent from my iPad
I shared Steinbeck's letter to his son about falling in love with you earlier. Anyway if you've forgotten no worries, the link is given here :)
But I really loved his description of the creative spirit son. The description is brilliant. And the feeling strikes you any time during weirdass times. When I've done 100 miles on the bike. Or after a long trek. Or when I cracked the models during my PhD. Or when I've written a good letter to you. Or when I've done a good piece of explaining something to somebody. Or when I've done a good lecture. It feels good. You may think this might be endomorphins or something. Or adrenalin. Or whatever. But it's something to look forward to son. I went to see my goddess Ishtar yesterday at the British museum. And felt a bit like what Steinbeck described. 3000 years old terracotta baked clay high relief plaque. And she spoke to me across the ages. And I felt so energised. I'll send you more information on her soon. Found a good essay on her recently and very coincidentally.
If you ask me how does this happen? Or what do I do that allows me to feel energised like this? I would say son that one needs two things. 1. Insatiable curiosity. Einstein said son that genius and children share one quality, curiosity. So I guess I'm still a child. :)
2. Would be the ability to absorb son. See the second point whichc Steinbeck mentions. The issue of mass production. And technology. And smartphones. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying don't use technology. Heck I'm an early and rapid and fill adopter of technology but also to let things percolate. Way too many people have told me that I need to slow down to let things percolate and absorb but hey my rate of absorption is also different. And my dimensions are different as well.
If I see a good image or view or thing I click it. Capture the feelings. Then research it. And study it. And dream about it. And write about it and feel it. So different ways of absorption.
I've banged on enough son. Just a small idea. When you're on your ski trip, try to get away and walk into a quiet corner of the mountain where there's nobody there with you. Or maybe a good girl who can be quiet. Avoid them who prattle on. (Heh). But just watch and see and feel the mountains and snow and ice and wind. It's very quiet in the mountains and snow. The sound is absorbed son. And then you're with your own thoughts. And freeze your toes off. :) but some of those moments are precious. It can really energise you. And then when you're describing your skiing trip to people, that magical moment will come alive and you'll remember that trip forever.
"The free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world."
A decade before he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, John Steinbeck (February 27, 1902–December 20, 1968) wrote East of Eden (public library), which was eventually adapted into the 1955 film of the same title starring James Dean and which Steinbeck originally addressed to his two young sons. (The elder one, Thom, later became the recipient of Steinbeck's magnificent letter of advice on falling in love.)
The thirteenth chapter of the novel features some of the most beautiful, poignant, and timelessly transcendent prose ever written — a gorgeous meditation on the meaning of life and the essence of the creative spirit:
Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens to nearly everyone. You can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning toward dynamite. It is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms. The skin tastes the air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet. Its beginning has the pleasure of a great stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and the whole world glows outside your eyes. A man may have lived all of his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber. The events, even the important ones, may have trooped by faceless and pale. And then — the glory — so that a cricket song sweetens his ears, the smell of the earth rises chanting to his nose, and dappling light under a tree blesses his eyes. Then a man pours outward, a torrent of him, and yet he is not diminished. And I guess a man's importance in the world can be measured by the quality and number of his glories. It is a lonely thing but it relates us to the world. It is the mother of all creativeness, and it sets each man separate from all other men.
Writing in 1952, and writing for his two young sons, Steinbeck peers into the future, perhaps our present, with a concerned and prescient eye:
Old mark twain was my childhood friend. Having had grown up in a similar small town like described in Tom Sawyer and huckleberry Finn he used to describe me. And believe you me I was very naughty indeed. Seriously. Not that I've stopped being naughty, I'm the bane of all the women in my life.
But fun times. You've read some of his works son. And see? They praise his mustache :) a mustache has to have a life of its own. I've seen many which are limp affairs son. They lie tiredly across the philtum. Some droop like a flower. Some bristle like a toilet brush. Some are as patchy as a scabied dog. Some look so unhappy that you feel like feeding it a muffin. Some people shouldn't have a mustache. It's like God has reserved them for braver things than to hold the awesome responsibility of a mustache.
A mustache son is a friend. It accompanies me everywhere. I stroke it when I'm thinking. Rodin couldn't have imagined the power of a mustache to help thinking when he sculpted the thinker. I chew on it when puzzled. I blow through it when I'm miffed. It's a nice way to blow off steam son. I comb it sideways when ive got a rebellious phase. I make it bristle when I need to add weight to my words. It's perfect when I'm trying to gauge the heat coefficient of tea.
But like all good things son it has its price. Scuba diving is a pain as the face mask doesn't sit well in a watertight seal with the mustache. I've got to slather Vaseline on it. It has a distressing tendency to shed hair at inconvenient moments. The last thing you want while kissing a girl is for her to choke on your mustache hairball. It can make the girl sneeze. But used properly a mustache is great for girls. Without going into details, a mustache adds much value. Like you have lubricating strips above a shaving blade, a mustache helps to sensitise skin before you're kissing :) but not many people know how to wield a mustache properly.
And then you can twirl it. Ah. That's the Fun part of it son :) twirling a mustache. In a land of facial hairless men, one can stand out proudly.
Try it out sometime :) and ask your mum and girl friend if they like it. If not, well. Something's aren't in your destiny son. :)
Can't wait to see you tomorrow. Be prepared for a big hug and squish!
Twain in 1907/ Photo (c) Underwood & Underwood/Creative Commons
Biographile's This Week in History remembers events of the past, and the icons that set them in motion. If you're stirred by the words below, read on for more inspiring author quotes.
Mark Twain, father of American humor writing, was a man of prodigious intellect, perfect wit, and an enviable mustache.
Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835 -- this week in history -- Twain spent his early life in a bustling river town that afforded as much opportunity for education and entertainment as exposure to violence and degradation. This town, and all of its peaks and valleys, would become a setting for many of his works, most notably The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
His early life set the stage for an insatiable curiosity, soon fed by his extensive travels across the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Armed with an open mind, an affable aura, a writer's keen observational skills, and the broad perspective his travels afforded him, Twain captured the social and technological changes of America better than any of his peers, all with a wink and a smile.
Though most famous for his political commentary, Twain wrote about nearly every topic under the sun. As a novelist, journalist, and dabbling inventor, no topic was too 'off limits' to dodge the subject of his acerbic pen. In honor of his birthday, we've assembled a few of his driest, most chuckle-worthy opinions.
1. When angry, count four; when very angry, swear .(The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson, 1894)
3. Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed. (Extracts From Adam's Diary, 1906)
4. There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress. (Following the Equator, 1897)
5. "Classic." A book which people praise and don't read. (Following the Equator, 1897)
6. Do not put off till tomorrow what can be put off till day-after-tomorrow just as well. (Mark Twain's Notebook, 1835)
7. Golf is a good walk spoiled. (Greatly Exaggerated: The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain, ed. Alex Ayres, 1988)
8. Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society. (Mark Twain's Notebook, 1835)
9. Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. (Editorial in the Hartford Courant, Aug. 24, 1897)
10. Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet. (Mark Twain's Notebook, 1835)
11. Its name is Public Opinion. It is held in reverence. It settles everything. Some think it is the voice of God. (Europe and Elsewhere, 1923)
12. A gifted person ought to learn English (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, French in thirty days, and German in thirty years. (A Tramp Abroad ,1880)
13. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand. (The Mysterious Stranger, 1908)
Whilst we were doing your spring week work assessments and questions over the past couple of days, you mentioned networking…Coincidentally, I was at a networking dinner yesterday and met Luca uncle there. And there picked up this little leaflet on networking skills class. Well, don't think I need to do this, but thought of dropping you a line about my thoughts on this.
It's a strange thing and I am a bit schizoid about it all. In one way, I hate the waste of time and on the other hand, I love meeting new people and discussing various elements to this. But it can take up loads of time, son. And whenever I mentor people, I tell them that they have to be brutal and honest about how much time you spend on networking as a significant amount of networking is wasted. Most of it is because people don't know how to network. And wasting time is criminal.
As the picture shows, how you prepare for the networking is crucial. You have to pick and choose the events you go to, don't go to ones just because, but to ones which really will make a difference in the next 6 months, if not, ignore them. You have to be dressed appropriately. Just like you will not wear a suit to a networking event which is in the marshes, you shouldn't wear a pair of jeans when going to a bankers session. And be comfortable son, people can make out very easily if you are comfortable in your skin. Shoes, very important, they allow you to be comfortable and stand around for a long time.
Rest of the points you can take a look, fairly straightforward. Approach people straight off, don't be shy or embarrassed. Go up and talk quickly. But remember names, have a little pad and pencil handy or use your smartphone to make a note of the name, connect with them on LinkedIn or email, and then drop them a note the day after so that they remember. After a month or so, if you find them of value, ask to meet up for a coffee to further explore something that they said. People love to talk about their work and their ideas, and there's nothing like a little 1-2-1 with some flatteryJ. Linked in is a very powerful tool so do use thatJ
Think of these points whilst you are at the ski trip son, you are meeting peers who will be your network in the future, understand what they do, where are they coming from, where are they going. Oh! And start helping them. Remember the godfather, son, collect favours as many as possible. Don't worry about repayment, just collect favours as many as possible. They will pay off son.
Yesterday I was talking with a police commissioner who wanted to know how to improve policing and we got into a discussion on how to generate new ideas. Few years back, I helped a little charity get off the ground in Africa and India in a tiny way and that helps school teachers come up with good ideas and with a tiny bit of funding helps to increase the impact of those ideas. So I could bring that idea to the police commissioner and we are going to speak more about this to see if we can adapt that idea for the police here in England. Small thing, son, but you never know where your favours end up..J
Ive told you before son. I don't like wars. Seriously don't like wars. I wander churches and graveyards and war memorials and trace the dead soldiers names on the stone walls and plaques.
In South Africa, where the British had the dubious honour of creating the first concentration camp during the boer war, I saw graves of young Britishers. Young soldiers who died now decades and decades back. And I stood in front of those graves and watched the full grey pitted stone under the pitiless Southern African sun in the cerulean skies. There was no sound other than a bit of susurrations of the wind through the grasses. And looked at the graveyard full of silent gravestones and bodies buried in there. We sent these young boys and officers there to be eviscrated and disembowelled by the upward stabbing assegai of the Zulu warriors. For what? They are silent but I asked the question and didn't get a good answer.
That's not to say that you don't protect yourself and your state. If attacked, yes I'll sign up but we went too far son. And the army start having some real psychotic bastards in the ranks. See this story for example.
People who are all gung-ho about the military do not think about these aspects. They aren't good things to know. People are very happy to send them off to the wars. But they are distasteful when they come back. If you go to the museum of london, there are two paintings. One showing soldiers and sailors going off to fight in the Indian mutiny in 1857. Another one shows them disembarking after the mutiny was squelched. The treatment is amazing.
But that's besides the point. Men do get raped son. And it's the weak that get picked on. It's specially when people get drunk. Or are in dark places. Or people get together in groups and gang up on others. I don't need to tell you that you shouldn't do this.
But how do you avoid it son? How can you avoid being a victim? First know this can happen. And it does happen. And it can really screw up people's lives. Second beware of people's motivations when they are in positions of power. Power gives people delusions son. And drink. I wouldn't drink. Never to the extent that my faculties are compromised. When I was young I used to drink. But now no. I don't have a reason to drink. But most importantly you don't lose control son. Specially when you're around other s who can take advantage. And finally, you have to walk tall. It's in the walk. A solid grounded confident walk. Look people into the eye and shake hands firmly. Walk into a room as if you own that room. Confidence. Body language son.
Stay safe Kannu.
Can't wait to see you this Friday. Haven't seen you for months and i missed you :)
Love you so much
Baba
"Son, Men Don't Get Raped"
GQ LongformSexual assault is alarmingly common in the U.S. military, and more than half of the victims are men. According to the Pentagon, thirty-eight military men are sexually assaulted every single day. These are the stories you never hear—because the culprits almost always go free, the survivors rarely speak, and no one in the military or Congress has done enough to stop it Nathaniel Penn PlatonA warshipis like a city—sprawling, vital, crowded with purposeful men and women. But on a warship, as in a city, there are people who will see you not as their friend or their neighbor but rather as their prey.After turning 25, Steve Stovey joined the Navy to see the world: Malaysia, Australia, Japan, Fiji, the Persian Gulf. His first year and a half as a signalman on the USS Gary was "the greatest time of my life," he says.In late September 1999, Stovey was sailing to Hawaii, where he'd be joined by his father on a Tiger Cruise, a beloved Navy tradition in which family members accompany sailors on the final leg of a deployment. Parents and kids get to see how sailors live and work; they watch the crew test air and sea weapons. The Disney Channel even made a movie about a Tiger Cruise, with Bill Pullman and Hayden Panettiere. The West Coast itinerary is usually Pearl Harbor to San Diego.On the morning of September 20, two weeks before the warship was due in port, three men ambushed Stovey in a remote storage area of the ship, where he'd been sent to get supplies. They threw a black hood over his head, strangled and sodomized him, then left him for dead on a stack of boxes. Stovey told no one. He was certain that his attackers, whose faces he hadn't glimpsed, would kill him if he did. He hid in a bathroom until he could contain his panic and tolerate the pain. Then he quietly returned to his post.Stovey says he might have killed himself were it not for his father's imminent arrival. The timing of the visit was "almost a miracle," he says. "When I saw him, it was the most safe feeling I'd ever felt in my whole life."Father and son spent the next five days on board ship, almost certainly being watched by the three attackers. "I just kept it inside," Stovey says in a low voice. "I couldn't tell him."I."You will not make a noise"
See this review of a book which is on my list of to be read books. I've spoken to you before about the threats of the state. Besides the wars that states wage son, they also kill and maim their own people with great enthusiasm. The United Kingdom was responsible for millions of deaths in the great Bengal famine. Something that Salil uncle and j discussed recently in Singapore. The USA is going through some of its ructions over race and locks up a disproportionate number of black citizens.
But they have to start somewhere. Just like hitler did son. See how they worked out. And then there's the entire issue of collaborators. What do you do when a man forces you to act immorally? Difficult philosophical question at the best of times. Bloody question of survival when you're in a death camp.
Read and weep son. This is where the final solution started for tens of millions of people in Europe.
Love
Baba
Patrick Montague. Chelmno and the Holocaust: A History of Hitler's First Death Camp. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011. 416 pp. $75.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8078-3527-2.
Reviewed by Richards O. Plavnieks (Stetson University)
Published on H-German (September, 2014)
Commissioned by Chad Ross
An In-depth Inquiry into Hitler's First Death Camp: Chelmno
Twenty years in the making, Patrick Montague's chronicle, Chelmno and the Holocaust, does not disappoint. The book's first chapter, titled "Prologue," is not the book's prologue, but in fact explains the "prologue" to Chelmno—and in turn, situates Chelmno as an opening chapter of the Holocaust. It is in this regard that the book makes its finest contribution to scholarship: a detailed history of Adolf Hitler's least-known death camp. Moreover, the illumination of the camp's key role as a pioneer of the Nazi death camp model suggests a place for Montague's work in the library of indispensable scholarship on the Holocaust.
We have spoken about religion quite often, well I have emailed to you :) not sure if you have read them but then that's what Baba's do, lecture to their kids. Dadu does that to me. I noticed he doesnt do that to you! :) but then the link between a grandfather and grandchild is different. Anyway
Here's a fascinating article, son.
Religious Market Structure, Religious Participation, and Outcomes: Is Religion Good for You? Jonathan Gruber NBER Working Paper No. 11377 Religion plays an important role in the lives of many Americans, but there is relatively little study by economists of the implications of religiosity for economic outcomes. This likely reflects the enormous difficulty inherent in separating the causal effects of religiosity from other factors that are correlated with outcomes. In this paper, I propose a potential solution to this long standing problem, by noting that a major determinant of religious participation is religious market density, or the share of the population in an area which is of an individual's religion. I make use of the fact that exogenous predictions of market density can be formed based on area ancestral mix. That is, I relate religious participation and economic outcomes to the correlation of the religious preference of one's own heritage with the religious preference of other heritages that share one's area. I use the General Social Survey (GSS) to model the impact of market density on church attendance, and micro-data from the 1990 Census to model the impact on economic outcomes. I find that a higher market density leads to a significantly increased level of religious participation, and as well to better outcomes according to several key economic indicators: higher levels of education and income, lower levels of welfare receipt and disability, higher levels of marriage, and lower levels of divorce.
You can read the article if/when you are free or interested. But this was a curious antidote to my usual comments about religion being a pain in the backside. It still is, but as you can see from this article, people who are religious and live next to each other in the same religion are better educated, richer, more married and presumably more happy. Now how do you square the circle? The way I see it, peer pressure is a big big thing, son. If the religion keeps on telling you that you have to obey god and then your group shows off its religiousity by doing well, then the group will self pressure each to be better. Note that in the article, its mainly jews and christians who are researched. I wonder what would have been the result if we had other religious groups involved? Then that would be funny, then we could say that if you are a christian and live in a christian area, then you are better off than a hindu or a muslim.
Still, stay away, son, you dont need peer pressure or God to tell you to be good and happy and be nice. End of :)
I'm sitting just outside Changi prison and museum. It was a very emotional journey darling. But first a bit of history as you like history. You're such an amazingly unique little girl. Most other girls are pining over ponies and dolls while my wonderful girl sits in the corner and quietly reads about history.
The Japanese invaded Malaysia and Singapore. There were a ton of British and commonwealth soldiers who slowly withdrew down the spine of Malaysia and then went into Singapore. The Japanese kept coming down and then defeated them. The British and allies then fought back in world war 2 and 4 years later after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and the second on Nagasaki the Japanese surrendered.
During the war years, Changi prison was where all the commonwealth and allied soldiers were imprisoned, tortured and killed in their thousands. So when you get a chance sweetheart, do visit here. You will see evidence of how men can be cruel to each other. You can see evidence of how men can be brave and help each other. You can see how women saved their children despite being tortured. Very emotional and history coming alive.
But when I was just exiting the museum, I saw this poster. And that nearly made me cry. Had lumps in my throat.
The philosophy which you're reading son in oxford is the Greco Roman European tradition. It's the judeo Christian one. Quite a fascinating and quite powerful one.
Of course there are other schools son. There's the Buddhist one. There's the jain one. There's the huge number of variants from the Muslim Islamic Arabic side. You have the Shinto perspective. The animist perspective. The shamanism angle. You have the Druidic or even the Wiccan one. And then there's the Hindu one. From where this text of Gita emerges son.
So the first point is, which one should you read? Well based upon the quote, good people learn from their mistakes and great people from others, you need to read all of them.
Which one should you follow? Ah there my wonderful son, you have to decide yourself which makes sense to you. Me? I take a broad based approach and consider all of them valid. Needless to say, Hinduism has a richness in thought productivity, breadth, concepts, metaphysical thought that I haven't come across anywhere else frankly. Not surprising. It's so old. Oldest as a matter of fact still in existence. Then again that's no great claim to fame. The Catholic Church claims to be the oldest organised religious organisation and it still has faults. But I digress.
The philosophical framework which you are reading has slowly moved away from the divine to the individual. Saint acquinas or reading the work of Jeremiah in the Old Testament or Luke or john in the New Testament will give you a perspective that God is omnipotent and you've got to follow him and the rules in the book to be happy. Obedience. But now the philosophy from Paine to Adam smith to Hegel to Voltaire and down to Hayek and Zizek and and all say that you've got to follow your heart. Sod God.
Same with Islam. What started with the gates of itijihad open and people like the brethren of purity being open and honest has come down to people quoting ibn tammiya while chopping off somebody's head. Buddhists too a very functionally beautiful set of Buddha's teachings religion and converted it into a mumble feat of mindnumbingly boring set of rituals and prayers. Every time I see a prayer wheel or a prayer flag, I just wonder at the thought process behind the philosophy which links a circular motion of an object to God. Jainism is slowly heading that way.
But the Gita is strange son. Every year I read it and I think of it in different ways. Last time I read it, it made me feel that I have the godhead in me. At one time I felt like dying because I felt so insignificant and meaningless. There was no point to life if everything was a giant deterministic multi regression based engine. Then one time it made it cry wanting to be with God. Strange son. Everytime I've met God I feel like crying. I guess it's because there's just so much emotion welling up that normal means of expression die and I end up standing there like a complete idiot and crying silently. Well there's your idiot dad for you.
I don't have to tell you about the stupidities of the caste system son. You're far too intelligent to believe in it but take the Gita with you to the mountains son. You can download an electronic copy and just read bits of it when you can. Keeps your mind challenged :) not now I think your current course is challenging you anyway. But I think you'll face and hit the problem I have son. You start running out of things to challenge yourself with and that's where the ultimate challenge is to know yourself, God, etc etc. Never ending fun and games and confusion and frustration.
Have a lovely weekend Kannu
Love and miss you. Can't wait to see you in 2 weeks. I'm feeling very tired. It's been near 4 weeks that I've been doing two shifts constantly under some pretty hairy office conditions and it's starting to make me look forward to the holidays :)
A decade before he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, John Steinbeck (February 27, 1902–December 20, 1968) wrote East of Eden (public library), which was eventually adapted into the 1955 film of the same title starring James Dean and which Steinbeck originally addressed to his two young sons. (The elder one, Thom, later became the recipient of Steinbeck's magnificent letter of advice on falling in love.)
The thirteenth chapter of the novel features some of the most beautiful, poignant, and timelessly transcendent prose ever written — a gorgeous meditation on the meaning of life and the essence of the creative spirit:Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens to nearly everyone. You can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning toward dynamite. It is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms. The skin tastes the air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet. Its beginning has the pleasure of a great stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and the whole world glows outside your eyes. A man may have lived all of his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber. The events, even the important ones, may have trooped by faceless and pale. And then — the glory — so that a cricket song sweetens his ears, the smell of the earth rises chanting to his nose, and dappling light under a tree blesses his eyes. Then a man pours outward, a torrent of him, and yet he is not diminished. And I guess a man's importance in the world can be measured by the quality and number of his glories. It is a lonely thing but it relates us to the world. It is the mother of all creativeness, and it sets each man separate from all other men.Writing in 1952, and writing for his two young sons, Steinbeck peers into the future, perhaps our present, with a concerned and prescient eye:
