Or, as a famous Zen proverb says it:

“Before Enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After Enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. That’s all.”

PS Also about work: do what you love and be happy just to do it, no matter the results.

Simple, eh? ;-)

(via #)

See the videoreport, dedicated to John Bramblitt (flash youtube video):

Amazing man, amazing spirit! :-)

Note: The video is uploaded to Youtube by the Texas Country Reporter.

My experiment is over – the week without coffee, black and green tea, beer, wine, chocolate and other things, which contain caffeine, tanine and alcohol:)

And here come the long-awaited results from this experiment:

1. I survived;-)
2. I feel good:-)
3. Everything is much tastier to me now:-)

I may repeat the experiment, one day. But now…

…I plan to have some crispy potato chips tonight (or fried potatos), together with some nice, cold beer, mmmmh;-)

First, happy St. Valentine’s day to everyone;-)

Sorry for the dark accompanying image, but I couldn’t restrain myself – this artist (a recent discovery of Ani’s, btw) brought me to tears from laughing with his black humour, but maybe my it’s just due to my fatigue (too much work lately), the tries of the French flu to get hold of me a second time this winter, and my slightly dark mood…

We exchanged already a couple of presents with Ani (including a very interesting book by Bernard Werber) and plan to have a great evening, supper and all and pondering upon the meaning of the Universe over a cup of orange juice (the reason being my recent vow for no caffeine/wine/tanine/beer for one week;-)

How this is done? And this?
Can a normal digital camera be used for this purpose?

Can the technique be reproduced using Macromedia Fireworks?

So, here’s the answer:

It could be done using a variety of methods.

Yes.

Yes.

The results are shown above [click on the thumbnail to see the image in full size]:-)

This is it – short and sweet. It’s me in the office today, shot by my small Pentax Optio S40 digital camera. And this is me, again… although, my second me is holding a knife and looks a bit evil;-)

If there’s interest, I may try to write a tutorial on it:-)

What is my balance at the moment?

The test was quickly made, I didn’t think much on every question, just followed my intuition. After 1 or two minutes the results appeared:

11 points. Great…

It’s good I didn’t get minus 11:-)

It reminds me somehow of the shortest article Dan Cederholm ever wrote (or, more exactly, painted).

Work:Life 1:0. Or close to.

Hmmm… I don’t think I have anything more to add.

It means, I made 17’628 km, or almost 11’000 miles, in approx. 4 years, since I own a bicycle.

Is this too much or too less?

I remember, I was very proud when I made my first 1’000 km. And even prouder after my first 10’000 km. But now that I think of it, I don’t even remember, when I made all of these thousands of kilometers. It somehow just happened without me ever noticing.

I cycled to work, everyday. I cycled sometimes in the evening after work, in the parks of Sofia and in-between them. I cycled sometimes during the week-ends, too, on longer or shorter distances. Some of my rides were short ones, some – quite long. I cycled during summer. And during winter. In rain and in snow. On ice and in the sun. I cycled when there was fog so dense you couldn’t see more than 10 meters ahead of you.

Jeff Veen explained it very well in his post On pain and cycling.

I always feel happy when riding my bike. It’s part of my life now. I can’t breathe without it. And I’m happy than Ani shared most of my bike rides:-)

I’ll keep the post short.

But also, I’ll just let this number 17’628 flow in the air and fill me with some (merited) pride:-)

Because I do not know, what else I could do, other than spread the word.

I will cite here the Nature Internationl Journal of Science, its article from January 3, 2007:

The six [Bulgarian] medical workers were sentenced to death on 19 December by the Benghazi Criminal Court for deliberately infecting more than 400 children with HIV at the Al-Fateh Hospital in Benghazi in 1998. Scientists around the world have argued that medical evidence shows unequivocally that the people were not infected deliberately.

According to diplomatic sources, the most optimistic outcome for the moment is that the six medical workers will remain condemned, but that a political solution will be found to have them freed. But the situation is increasingly volatile — and for the moment they remain in grave danger.

And also CNN.com from December 22, 2006:

The nurses arrived in February 1998 to take up jobs at a children’s hospital in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city. By August, children at the hospital tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The nurses said they were tortured into confessing they infected the blood supply.

International AIDS experts say the disease was present before the medics arrived and probably spread by contaminated needles.

And also Nevyana Hadjiyska from Newsvine, December 29, 2006:

The tensions intensified earlier this month [December 2006] when the nurses and doctor were sentenced to death despite scientific evidence the children had the virus before the medical workers arrived in Libya.

Bulgarian civil groups and media outlets have called for economic sanctions or the breaking of diplomatic relations with Tripoli. The EU and U.S. have also criticized the verdict.

The six plan to appeal their convictions and sentences before Libya’s Supreme Court.

These people will die in an alien country, in Libya, if the international community doesn’t exercise over the political regime there enough pressure.

I am no politician. I can’t influence world politics.

But I am scared – scared that 6 innocent people may die soon because of things we didn’t do in time.

I have just started my personal blog. It was my dream for months – to have a place, where I can express myself, publish articles on XHTML/CSS and on Life, the Universe and Everything, where I can share my thoughts with friends and strangers. I didn’t plan to make it a place for campaigns, or for re-publishing sad news. So I wasn’t sure that I want to start my second post with these words, why am I wearing this badge? But then, I realised, that Life, the Universe and Everything, are all bound together. And that one more voice in support for these people’s innocence may be of significance for them. They are awaiting their death in a prison far away, right now, while I am writing these words in the comfort of my place.

It’s obvious that no normal personal would deliberately poison children with AIDS and that the regime of Muammar Gaddafi simply needs a sin offering in this case. These people suit his needs perfectly, as the influence of Bulgaria in world politics is not as strong as those of USA, for example. But we shouldn’t let this happen.

So here I am. I can speak, at least.

I can also wear my badge and pray. You can do it, too.