stop stealing dreams

http://www.squidoo.com/stop-stealing-dreams

school and education. what could be more important?

a Tablet of love

I was reading Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh this morning, and came upon this beautiful Tablet, addressed to 'Abdu'l-Bahá. and it's just the most beautiful thing:

PRAISE be to Him Who hath honoured the Land of Bá[1] through the presence of Him round Whom all names revolve. All the atoms of the earth have announced unto all created things that from behind the gate of the Prison-city there hath appeared and above its horizon there hath shone forth the Orb of the beauty of the great, the Most Mighty Branch of God—His ancient and immutable Mystery—proceeding on its way to another land. Sorrow, thereby, hath enveloped this Prison-city, whilst another land rejoiceth. Exalted, immeasurably exalted is our Lord, the Fashioner of the heavens and the Creator of all things, He through Whose sovereignty the doors of the prison were opened, thereby causing what was promised aforetime in the Tablets to be fulfilled. He is verily potent over what He willeth, and in His grasp is the dominion of the entire creation. He is the All-Powerful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Blessed, doubly blessed, is the ground which His footsteps have trodden, the eye that hath been cheered by the beauty of His countenance, the ear that hath been honoured by hearkening to His call, the heart that hath tasted the sweetness of His love, the breast that hath dilated through 228 His remembrance, the pen that hath voiced His praise, the scroll that hath borne the testimony of His writings. We beseech God—blessed and exalted be He—that He may honour us with meeting Him soon. He is, in truth, the All-Hearing, the All-Powerful, He Who is ready to answer.

[1] This Tablet is ‘a letter dictated by Bahá’u’lláh and addressed by Mírzá Áqá Ján, His amanuensis, to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá while the latter was on a visit to Beirut.’

fire and rain

combined.





(play both at the same time)

going offline

Three Powerful Lessons I Learned When I Got Offline - a very good article about how to have a properly balanced life when it comes to online access. this is surely also something that can be applied at the workplace; how often don't we waste time by checking this and that without really needing to?

could slow typing be good?

I am wondering if it could be beneficial to be a slow typer - otherwise there might be the risk of typing faster than the thought can be formulated, which can either cause total nonsense to come out, or, in the worst case, a not-so-well-thought-out statement. obviously there needs to be a balance as being too slow might cause you to lose your train of thought. is there perhaps an optimal words per minute to thought ratio? that would be interesting to investigate...

I love this shot

it's just gorgeous:

(taken by Carmen B)

overnight success

from things we forget

I have wakened...

I have awakened in Thy shelter, O my God,
and it becometh him that seeketh that shelter
to abide within the Sanctuary of Thy Protection
and the Stronghold of Thy defense.
Illumine my inner being, O my Lord,
with the splendors of the Dayspring of Thy Revelation,
even as Thou didst illumine my outer being
with the morning light of Thy favor.
- Bahá'u'lláh

do smartphones reduce productivity?

the idea behind smartphones is to give people access to more data at their fingertips and allow them to do more things while on the road. but it seems that all they do is to... play angry birds?

there's great potential in the concept of having so much data and applications available, being able to write on the go, check news, mail, etc. but we get caught in the simple things that grab our attention.

I wonder if there's been any research on whether smartphones actually increase or decrease productivity, especially if they have free data...

me, me, me, me version 2012

it's time for my annual wiki-borna check! let's see if anything has changed this year :)
same as last year:

Borna, a town in Saxony, Germany

A part of Bahretal in the Sächsische Schweiz district, Saxony, Germany

Borna disease, an infectious neurological syndrome caused by the Borna virus

The Rabha name of Borna snakehead - an extremely rare species of snakehead

updated:

Borna of Croatia, a Medieval Slavic Prince of Dalmatia. This one has been updated to refer to Croatian given names, as there is also a Borna Rendulić, a Croatian hockey player.

removed:

A Persian word meaning "young." Can also be used as a name. The Persian diction is "بر نا"

new:

Borna language in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - which apparently might just be a misspelling of the language Boma

Borna language in Ethiopia - which goes by the names Shinasha or Boro