Congratulations!

Yesterday was one of those Indian Summer days that winter's cold and summer's heat envy. It was shirtsleeve warm and perspiration-free. We were sitting on the front porch languidly enjoying the wind playing on the color contrast between the red oaks, yellow maples and cedar trees when I decided to get out my guitar and play a tune or two. It just seemed a perfect moment to do so. I tuned my Fender Tele-Acoustic and started to play a soft, minor chord progression when I noticed that Jasper, one of the horses, had ambled up to where the pasture abuts the front yard. I didn't think much of it because the water trough is in that area. He wasn't drinking though, he was listening. Next Dolly, Sugarbuns, Misty and Alphie joined Jasper and all of them were intently watching me and listening. They were a very polite audience. The longer I played, the more horses joined in. They even showed preferences to certain songs. They really like Neil Young and James Taylor. I tried out a few new songs I've written and they seem to approve.

We humans can never know what is going through an animal's mind, but it's nice to know that we can touch each other in an emotional way. This was maybe the best audience I've ever had. All they wanted was the music. Yes, I really enjoyed this concert for Equis.Tom Vickers

[Richard Feynman: Image Source, Wikipedia Commons]

I never thought about it seriously on why he became so popular as he did, I mean there have been many physicists who did fundamental work but people have hardly heard of them. Take for example Poincaré and Einstein, Poincaré worked on the same things as Einstein and did very fundamental work, but people today have hardly heard of him but everybody knows Einstein. However the reasons for Einstein becoming popular are not very difficult to understand.

I had been provoked to think about it a few times after some discussions on a forum on Feynman that I own, a brief discussion in comments on Reasonable Deviations and once with a professor of mine. However I never thought about it beyond a point.

I have not read anything related to Feynman over the past year or so, but last week I just took out Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track from my own personal library and just read some letters that I had marked in my first reading a couple of years back as very incisive and insightful. I came across the foreword to the book by Timothy Ferris again and also a couple of reviews by Freeman Dyson on books on Feynman in Scientist as Rebel. I entirely agree with the analysis these two gentlemen give. And I would like to share it and add my own ideas and thoughts.

Being a great scientist and being famous are two separate things, like Ferris rightly points out that for every great scientist who became a public figure like Albert Einstein, Marie Curie and Werner Heisenberg there are others who have done fantastic work like Subramanyam Chandrashekar, Linus Pauling etc who did not.

Let's take a case from the above: Werner Heisenberg.

After the first world war, the dominant mood in Germany and in most of Europe was of doom. Dyson mentions in a review of the book "Weimar Culture, Causality, and Quantum Theory, 1918-1927: Adaptation by German Physicists and Mathematicians to a Hostile Intellectual Environment" that a theme song that represented this mood was Der Untergang des Abendlandes or Decline of the West by Oswald Spengle, after the German defeat on the eastern front the book took Germany by storm and within some years almost everybody had read it and everybody talked about it. Even people who strongly thought that Spengler was indulging in false rhetoric were highly influenced by his work.  He said that the decay of the western civilization must bring with it a destruction of the rigid ideas in Classical Physics and Mathematics. Quoting him:

Each culture has its own new possibilities of self expression which arise, ripen, decay and never return. There is not one sculpture, one painting, one mathematics, one physics, but many, each in its deepest essence different from the other, each limited in duration and self contained...Western European physics let no-one deceive himself has reached the limit of its possibilities. This is the origin of the sudden and annihilating doubt that has arisen about things that even yesterday were the unchallenged foundation of physical theory, about the meaning of the energy principle, the concepts of mass, space, absolute time, and causal laws generally.

There were many similar works to follow up by other authors that build upon this environment. At about this time Hermann Weyl and Schroedinger were highly influenced by Spengler's work and the mood in the country and the rest of Europe that was of revolutionary expectation. So, when Heisenberg actually came up with his theory it at that time was seen to challenge the primacy of causality in Physics. It was revolutionary.

[Werner Heisenberg]

The point being that Heisenberg became famous for reasons that largely were extraneous to his actual work. His work came in a period of great intellectual and philosophical turmoil and expectation. And hence he became as famous as he did.

Feynman worked with the Manhattan project and gained some notoriety from it but seldom made any headlines otherwise, and his work was not "revolutionary" in the broad sense above so again it is not clear what made him famous.

Actually that way Feynman was not a "revolutionary" at all. Quoting from Scientist as Rebel:

Great scientists come in two varieties, which Isaiah Berlin, quoting the seventh-century-BC poet Archilochus, called foxes and Hedgehogs. Foxes know many tricks, hedgehogs only one. Foxes are interested in everything, and move easily from one problem to another. Hedgehogs are interested only in a few problems which they consider fundamental and stick with them for years or decades. Most of the great discoveries are made by hedgehogs. most of the little discoveries by foxes. Science needs both hedgehogs and foxes for its healthy growth, hedgehogs to dig deep into the nature of things and foxes to explore the complicated details of our marvelous universe. Albert Einstein was a hedgehog, Richard Feynman was a fox

Feynman was a great storyteller as is apparent from "Surely You are Joking.." and "What do you care What other people think". People of all ages always like storytellers. And his stories were very very spicy, very funny and very interesting. And through this his personality came to be known. Feynman's appeal as Timothy Ferris rightly points out was more in his core conduct as a working scientist. His enthusiasm, freedom and integrity, reflected the spirit of science in action.

Feynman loved his freedom. He wrote home while on the Rogers Commission probing the Challenger Space Shuttle crash:

"I am completely free, and there are no lovers that can be used to influence me"

He always advocated in his own style freedom of choice for his students. Something that resonates with almost all of us when we look around at the rigid ideas about what is right and wrong and loads of bureaucracy. Most of us sometime or the other are harried by the "politically correct" ideas that infest social structure and academia. Feynman embodies a welcome change that finds favor with most people. As Dave Brooks wrote about him:

Feynman is the person that every geek wants to be: very smart, honored by the establishment even as he won't play by its rules, admired by people of both the sexes, arrogant without being envied and humble without being pitied. In other words he is young Elvis, with earth shaking talent transferred from the larynx to the brain cells and enough sense to have avoided the fat Vegas phase. Is such celebritification of such scientists good? I think so, even if people do have a tendency to go overboard. Anything that gets us thinking about science is something to be admired, whether it comes in the form of an algorithm or an anecdote.

Another thing about Feynman was his integrity and humility. As Ferris rightly puts it and I agree with him from my own personal experience, once someone gets in a position of power he or she starts wielding that to defend their own views. As Einstein himself once remarked:

To punish me for my contempt for authority, Fate made me an authority myself.

[Source: American Physical Society]

Such use of position though in a psychological way understandable, can be extremely irritating for the newbie, which everyone is at some point right? Feynman never got into that business. Again quoting Ferris:

He remained the instinctive rebel who sympathized with the students in the hall than the sage on the stage

He was a great authority himself. However he always preferred clarity of thought than anything else. He extremely disliked authority and honors. He thought they had no point and it was a rotten system in which a group of individuals would decide who is "good enough" to get an honor. He nearly declined the Nobel prize but later decided to take it at the insistence of his wife Gweneth. He said this when asked if it was worth winning the Nobel:

I don't know anything about the Nobel prize. I don't understand what it is all about and what's worth what. And if the people in the Swedish academy decide that X,Y or Z should win a Nobel prize then so be it. I won't have anything to do with it. It's a pain in the neck. I don't like honors, I appreciate it for the work I did and for people who appreciate it. I notice that other physicists use my work. I don't need anything else. I don't think there is any sense to anything else. I don't see any point that some one in the Swedish academy decides that this is work is noble enough to receive a prize. I have already got my prize. The prize is the pleasure of finding things out, the kick in the discovery, the observation that other people use it. Those are the real things. The honors are unreal to me. I don't believe in honors. It bothers me, honors bother me, honors as epaulets, honors as uniforms. My pappa brought me up this way, I can't stand it, it hurts me.

Feynman was always willing to admit his ignorance. Most of the times people around us talk in a way that is "clearer than they ACTUALLY think", he never got into the trap. If he did not know anything then be it. He was never afraid of being uncertain and admitting that he did not know something. Look at the video below and let him talk about it himself (05:00 onwards)

A lot of people have read "Surely You are Joking.." but few have read the great Feynman Lectures in Physics. He was a great teacher, always taught in a racy non-linear style which was as if he was thinking out aloud instead of reading from notes prepared in advance. I still read some chapters from the Feynman lectures whenever there is the time. If you have such a teacher in your lifetime, it would be one of your greatest achievements. We are only lucky that we can have access to such books. Also one thing to note is that Feynman never really wrote a book, all the books that bear his name are actually compilations edited by somebody else, mostly from his audio-tapes.

In fact his seminal paper on the famous Feynman diagrams would have never been published had it not been for coaxing by friends. There is a funny anecdote regarding that, but let's not get into that. For about a year after his work on Feynman diagrams he refused to publish it. He said he was just too lazy to do it, he could talk to anybody who wanted to listen about it. But he would not publish it. He frequently said he was a fool and extremely lazy. People avoid saying that, but he was just reflecting on human condition. Again something that strikes a chord equally amongst the less gifted and the well gifted.

The world has known him as a great scientist, a great teacher and a great clown. But in Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track we see another side of him. That of a wise counselor. He is not trying to be smart in any of the letters, just trying to be clear. He never spoke of his research or what he wanted to do in those letters, but they were only meant to help those who wanted to learn. The letters are a pleasure to read. Do read them if you have not.

And to think that people around us have SOME work and they start cribbing that they are just too busy to reply to a letter or even a text message, and here you had a great scientist, a Nobel laureate, a great teacher writing personally to the letters he used to get from all parts of the world, doesn't it sound too good to be true? Every single letter in the collection is personal.

As Dyson writes:

I described him in a a letter to my parents as "half genius and half buffon". Here in the letters he is neither a genius nor a buffon, but a wise counselor, interested in all kinds of people, answering their questions, and trying to help them the best he can.

He wrote letters to Kings, scientists, politicians, students, fans and just about anybody. Amongst these letters are some letters to his first wife Arline. Which describe day to day difficulty they had between their marriage and her death from TB. For most of these years Feynman was at the Manhattan project and Arline was at a nursing home some sixty miles away.

His letters to his second wife, Gweneth are full of anecdote about his travels. Some writing about the stupidity and snobbery of kings and some writing about the wonderful things in life.

He is famous as a great joker who played to the crowd. The prankster who found it was cool to break safes at Los Alamos or when it comes to trying to decode the Mayan Hieroglyphics or talking about adventures in topless bars. Feynman admired people with practical skill and said philosophers had no use. He controversially maintained that it was only through science that one could admire the true beauty of nature. He was a person of strong opinions.

But inspite of being a joker, a regular guy the general public could connect to and a genius he was a wise man.  When people came to him for help or wrote to him about problems, he spoke truth. His answers to most problems made a lot of sense and they still do. Be it concerning freedom, life, government etc. He mostly made great sense. I liked this part by Dyson most,

Like Einstein and Hawking he had come through times of great suffering, nursing Arline through her illness and watching her die, and emerged stronger. Behind his enormous zest and enjoyment of life was an awareness of tragedy, a knowledge that our time on Earth is short and precarious. The public made him into an icon because he was not only a great scientist and a great clown but also a great human being and a guide in time of trouble.

---

Recommended Reads and References:

1. Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track

2. Surely you must be joking Mr Feynman

3. What do you care what other people think

4. No Ordinary Genius

5. The Scientist as Rebel

---

Onionesque Reality Home >>

We were staying immediately opposite the field where they were playing at Lochranza, and wondered what all the excitement was about. Spouse wandered across to join the huge crowd of four supporters on the sideline, where he witnessed history being made as the team snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat.

"Aye, pitch is a bit slippery this week; we hadn't had time to sweep up all the sheep muck after the rain..."

Quite. The small pile of fag ends reflected the high tension of the team manager as the match lurched towards it's final score....

There's no problem with half time refreshments as the local whiskey distillery is just over the fence.

After match analysis of the match with Arran South End - "They missed the penalty by that much!"

Next day the triumphant draw was being discussed at great length in the sandwich shop at the Lochranza Ferry terminal over mugs of steaming hot tea and slabs of local lavender cake. On this shot you can see distillery, football pitch, Lochranza Castle, and the ferry to the mainland waiting at the jetty.

A night to remember.

1. 100 Great Obscure Rap Songs, 2. Large Professor Discusses Main Source, Nas, New Album (Video), 3. The Sample From Nas’s “Life Is Like A Dice Game” Revealed, 4. Junior Mafia “Player’s Anthem” Beat Deconstructed, 5. A Buyer’s Guide For Out Of Print Rap Albums, 6. Pete Rock Discusses Sampling Techniques (Video), 7. The Entire Fondle ‘Em Discography Available For Download, 8. A Guide To Assessing Vinyl Rarity, 9. Seven Volumes Of KRS-One Songs Not Included On His Albums, 10. RZA Breaks Down The Science of “Bong Bong” (Video), 11. 4 Hours Of Biggie Songs Mixed By Mr. Cee, 12. DJ Clark Kent Discusses Crate Digging, Sneakers, Jay-Z, 13. Large Professor Interviews @ Cocaine Blunts, 14. Latin Party Starters Selected By O-Dub, 15. Cypress Hill Temples Of Boom Reviewed Track By Track, 16. An Audio History of NYC Hip Hop Radio, 17. DJ Evil Dee “Pure Dope Mixtape” (Podcast), 18. Illmatic Promo (Video), 19. Rosenberg Radio – De La Soul mix & Interview, Large Pro Interview, 20. Source March 1995 Issue w/ Slick Rick (downloadable .pdf)

Picknett and Prince are the authors of controversial and provocative works, including The Templar Revelation and The Turin Shroud, that challenge popular assumptions and bring into question much of what many consider truth. In their newest volume, the authors strike boldly and unreservedly against what they see as the mythos that transformed the historical Jesus into a God, namely, the Christ. Studying the traditions and tensions that surrounded the early Christians and filtering these through the lens of skepticism, they create a picture that is both challenging and disturbing. If they are correct, then the Christ of today's Christianity is a corruption of the mission of the rabbi Jesus of Nazareth. In the end, they conclude that “it seems that even Jesus himself would once have agreed that Christians have been worshipping the wrong Christ for two millenia.” Tough words. Readers will decide for themselves whether the authors prove their case. (Nov.)

Personally, I think Picknett and Prince are themselves mostly conspiracy theory authors, whose evidence is mostly motives and circumstance, sometimes real and sometimes imagined. You should read their books to see how incoherent their theories are.

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He had it tied to his tent. In time it became tame and gentle and he let it follow him around camp. It obeyed his orders—it came when he called and walked off when he told it to leave. Somehow it didn't mind all the uproar of camp, all the thousands of soldiers. It listened only to Sertorius.

He was astute. Not for nothing was he known as the Roman Hannibal. Probably already as soon as the white deer began following him around he had the idea to say it came from heaven, from the goddess Diana, and that it talked to him and revealed her secrets. The Lusitani were all superstitious—it was easy to get them to believe a story like that.

Whenever he received secret information, he said the deer had whispered it to him. If news came to him that the enemy had made an incursion into his territory he told his men to arm themselves, that the doe had warned him in a dream of an imminent attack. When he heard of or suspected some mutiny or treachery among his soldiers, he said the fawn told him to be on the lookout. And when news reached him of the victory of one of his generals, he hushed the messenger and brought out the doe all covered in garlands. “Good news,” he announced to his soldiers. “Blessed news. Let us offer sacrifice to the gods because good fortune has come our way. I've been told.” And he turned to the fawn, who looked back at him with great, loving eyes.

“By these devices,” says Plutarch, “he made the people tractable, and so found them more serviceable for all his plans; they believed that they were led, not by the mortal wisdom of a foreigner, but by a god.”

Meanwhile, everything began to go well for Sertorius and his army of Lusitani barbarians. His power grew and grew. He had started out with only a handful of real Roman soldiers and a motley band of Libyans from Africa. In Lusitania (modern Portugal) he picked up four thousand targeteers and a few hundred horsemen. That was all—that was his army.
With that he waged war against four Roman generals and one hundred and twenty thousand foot-soldiers, six thousand horsemen, and two thousand archers and slingers. Most of the cities in Spain were hostile too and closed their gates to him.
“But nevertheless, from so weak and slender a beginning,” says Plutarch, “he not only subdued great nations and took many cities, but was also victorious over the generals sent against him.”

And he goes on to list them:
“Cotta he defeated in a sea-fight in the straits near Mellaria; Fufidius, the governor of Baetica, he routed on the banks of the Baetis with the slaughter of two thousand Roman soldiers; Lucius Domitius, the pro-consul, was defeated at the hands of his quaestor; Thoranius, another of the commanders sent out by Metellus with an army, he slew; and on Metellus himself, the greatest Roman of the time and held in highest repute, he inflicted many defeats and reduced him to so great straits that Lucius Manlius came from Gallia Narbonensis to help him, and Pompey the Great was hurriedly dispatched from Rome with an army.” Could he take on Pompey?

Who was this Sertorius anyway—and what was he doing fighting on the side of the barbarians against the Romans, his own people?

There was a civil war going on in Italy. A general named Sulla, after winning a great victory in the East, had come back to Rome with his army and started killing his adversaries. He was on the side of the senate and the old patrician families. Sertorius was a leader of the other side—the people's party. He had to flee or be murdered. For months he was on the run all over the Mediterranean and Africa. Finally he accepted the call of the Lusitani to be their leader and he began organizing an army.

He began organizing a second Rome, a more just Rome, from Spain. His reputation as a fearless soldier and a great leader had already spread over Hispania. He knew how to win the confidence of his men with shows of clemency and also frequent victories. Yet his situation was always very precarious. Now the greatest Roman general of all had come to Hispania with a vast army to end his revolt.

And just when Sertorius needed all the help he could get to keep his army confident, an aide announced that the doe was gone. No one had seen it for days.
Yet Sertorius was lucky one more time. Some men found the doe wandering in the hills at night and brought it to him. “Keep this quiet,” he told the men, and paid them good money.

He hid the doe and allowed a few days to pass. Then one morning he came out of his tent with strange cheerfulness and strode to the tribunal, where he did his daily business. “I've had a wonderful dream,” he told the barbarian leaders. “Great good fortune is on the way.”
Then he climbed up onto the tribunal and began to work.

“And now,” says Plutarch, “the doe was released by her keepers at a point close by. She spied Sertorius and bounded joyfully towards the tribunal, stood by his side and put her head in his lap and licked his hand as she had always done before. Sertorius returned her caresses appropriately and even shed a few tears, whereupon the bystanders were struck with amazement. Convinced that Sertorius was a marvellous man and dear to the gods, they escorted him with shouts and clapping of hands to his home, and were full of confidence and good hopes.”

He beat Pompey.

..

Opportunities for language training are excellent, and students may include study in Lviv as part of their training. Courses in related fields include humanities computing, anthropology, museum studies, and ethnomusicology, along with a wide range of choices in other departments. Our degrees prepare students for a variety of interesting jobs and recent graduates have found employment in academe, in museums and historical preservation facilities, in archives, as creative artists, and in the public sector.

Graduate support is generous and students typically work as teaching assistants and/or research assistants. Research assistantships include database and archival work and thus contribute to training and employability.

For more information, contact Andriy Nahachewsky, Huculak Chair and Centre Director at andriyn@ualberta.ca or Natalie Kononenko, Kule Chair of Ukrainian Ethnography at nataliek@ualberta.ca

Andriy Nahachewsky
Huculak Chair and Centre Director
Kule Folklore Centre
andriyn@ualberta.ca
Email: andriyn@ualberta.ca
Visit the website at http://ukrfolk.ca

You can watch a part of the dvd here:

Liked it: go to our catalogue (www.nhtv.nl/mediatheek) and see where you can find this dvd

    They have been married for 50 years now, and they affirm that their remarkable story is true. 

     What is more remarkable to me is Mr. Rosenblat's attitude about his oppressors:

"Not to hate and to love — that's what I am lecturing about," he said. "Not to hold a grudge and to tolerate everybody, to love people, to be tolerant of people, no matter who they are or what they are."

The anger of the death camps, Herman says, has gone away. He forgave. And his life has been filled with love.

The Pentateuch by Joseph Blenkinsopp

The World of Ancient Israel: Sociological, Anthropological and Political Perspective by Ronald E Clements

Introducing the Old Testament by Richard Coggins

History and ideology in Ancient Israel by Giovanni Gabini

The Origin Tradition of Ancient Israel by Thomas L Thompson

The Making of the Pentateuch by Roger Norman Whybray

Texans ratify a state constitution and approve annexation

On this day in 1845, a majority of the citizens of the independent Republic of Texas approve a proposed constitution, that when accepted by the Congress, will make Texas the 28th American state.

Despite having fought a war to win their independence from their old colonial master, Mexico, the people of Texas had long been eager to become part of the United States. Under the leadership of the Republic's first president, Sam Houston, Texas had proclaimed its independence from Mexico in 1836, while simultaneously indicating a desire to be annexed to the United States. But while many Americans were willing to see the massive Texan Republic join their nation, Congress refused at the urging of influential northern abolitionists who claimed that Texas was controlled by a "slaveocracy conspiracy" of southerners.

The political climate shifted in the favor of Texas with the presidential election of 1844, when the victory of James K. Polk was widely seen as a mandate from the people to bring Texas into the American fold. But before Polk could take office, President John Tyler beat him to the punch by securing a congressional resolution calling for annexation. With the strong approval of most Texans, Polk signed the legislation making Texas an American state on December 29, 1845. Ominously, the Mexican minister had meanwhile warned the U.S. that his nation would consider annexation an act of war and demanded his passport in preparation for departure. Mexico and the United States would be at war within a year.

"Texans ratify a state constitution and approve annexation." 2008. The History Channel website. 12 Oct 2008, 04:50 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=4305.

On This Day

54 A.D. - The Roman emperor Claudius I died after being poisoned by his wife, Agrippina.

1775 - The U.S. Continental Congress ordered the construction of a naval fleet.

1792 - The cornerstone of the Executive Mansion was laid in Washington, DC. The building became known as the White House in 1818.

1812 - American forces were defeated at the Battle of Queenstown Heights. The British victory effectively ended an further U.S. invasion of Canada.

1943 - During World War II, Italy signed an armistice with the Allies and declared war on Germany.

1944 - During World War II, British and Greek advance units landed at Piraeus.

1977 - Four Palestinians hijacked an Lufthansa airliner to Somalia. They demanded the release of members of the Red Army Faction.

1981 - Egyptian voters elected Vice President Hosni Mubarak as the new president one week after Anwar Sadat was assassinated.

1990 - Le Duc Tho died at the age of 79. He was a co-founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party.

October 13, 1843

B'nai B'rith founded

B'nai B'rith, the oldest Jewish service organization in the world, is founded in New York City by Henry Jones and 11 others. B'nai B'rith, meaning "Sons of the Covenant," organized its first lodge in November, and Isaac Dittenhoefer was elected the first president. The fraternal organization went on to become a national leader in charity work and disaster relief, and in 1913 it formed the Anti-Defamation League to combat anti-Semitism. Today, some 500,000 men and women are members of B'nai B'rith.

"B'nai B'rith founded." 2008. The History Channel website. 12 Oct 2008, 05:00 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5433.

Happy Columbus Day.

The second Monday in October is celebrated as Columbus Day, a federal holiday (though not widely honored in private enterprise).  Columbus made landfall in the Americas for the first time on October 12, 1492, 516 years ago.

Creeds, Councils and Controversies: Documents illustrating the history of the Church AD 337-461 by James Stevenson.

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1638763&w=425&h=350&fv=]

My supervisor tells me that he believes such ignorance highlights a major failure in the Australian school system. He lamented that most kids don't know shit about geography and history - stuff like communism and the world wars - because it's so important, even in the present, such as with the Russia/Georgia conflict for example. And I, of course, wholeheartedly agree.

Anyway, he turns to this poor new, TAFE student who is doing work experience in our lab and the following conversation takes place:

Him: "Do you know what communism is?"

Her: "No." (Seriously?! Have you not seen the Smurfs?)

Him: "Hm. Have you at least heard of Lenin?"

Her: "You mean, like, John Lennon from The Beatles?"

Fuck. Me. There was something rather disturbing about the way in which she phrased that question that made me just... stop. But after a moment, I have to confess I laughed, along with my supervisor. Then, because I felt guilty for doing so, I tried to defend her. It was only the poor girl's second day, after all.

Me: "Okay, not everyone knows Lenin but everyone knows of, say, Hitler." (Though I am told a certain someone *cough-Isaac-cough* thought he was Russian!? Seems like MHS is failing just like the other schools).

Him: "Yes, but I spoke to someone the other day that couldn't tell me which of the world wars involved Hitler!!" [Turns to the TAFE girl, questioningly]

Her: "Yea, no. I couldn't tell you either."

Sigh.

And she is Polish.

Double sigh.

Time to move to Africa. I hear it's a nice country...

21 of the first decade of hegemony ：
O'Neal in the Lakers the next commander in chief has consecutive 3 BR (2000-2002), best reflects the hegemony of the shark is his claim: the rule of the most power players. O'Neal received in 2000 regular season MVP, and that all data fields, he nearly 30 points and 14 rebounds! 3 consecutive championships, the 2006 champion, entered the finals in 1995, lost the 2004 Motor City, 6, Sharks 4 into the championship finals.

As long as Tim Duncan led the Spurs to break into the finals, he will not let devolution championship. 1998-1999,2002-2003,2004-2005,2006-2007, this is Tim Duncan led the Spurs to win the year. 9 season won the championship 4 times from the rookie season in a row since 10 years selected in the first NBA team Duncan illustrates the hegemony of the times.