Wise Words for You

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 1, 2017 is The Founding Ceremony of the Nation . The Founding Ceremony of the Nation is a 1953 oil painting by Chinese artist Dong Xiwen. It depicts Mao Zedong and other Communist officials inaugurating the People's Republic of China at Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949. A prominent example of socialist realism, it is one of the most celebrated works of official Chinese art. After the Communists took control of China, they sought to memorialize their achievements through artworks. Dong was commissioned, and completed the oil painting in three months in a folk art style, drawing on historical Chinese art. The success of the painting was assured when Mao viewed it and liked it, and it was reproduced in large numbers for display in homes. Dong was ordered to remove Gao Gang from the painting in 1954 and Liu Shaoqi in 1967, after government purges. In 1972 a reproduction was painted by other artists to accommodate another deletion. After ...

The first all-electric public buses to serve Scotland's capital have been unveiled as part of efforts to cut emissions and improve air quality in the city. Six Wrightbus StreetAir vehicles will take on a route serving much of central Edinburgh, between Clermiston in the west and Easter Road in Leith. Lothian Buses has invested more than £2.7m in the service. The first batch of new buses will enter service from Sunday 1st October Once a further five single-deck vehicles are added to the fleet in 2018, it will become the first fully-electric route in the city. Lothian Buses managing director Richard Hall said his company fully supported the strategies of the Scottish government and City of Edinburgh Council on improving local air quality. He said: "These buses are not only fitted with zero emission technology, they are also quieter and smoother, offering a better customer experience for the thousands of customers who travel with us every day. "Elect...

Determination is an essential quality to nurture if I am to continue on my spiritual journey. No matter how much enthusiasm I have or how clear my aim is, without determination I will give up sooner or later. In times of challenge, I take care that determination does not lead to stubbornness; then I can let go of resistance and not oppose anyone or anything with my mind. Instead I take time for meditation, reflect on the most compassionate way to deal with the situation and quietly wait for an approach to present itself.

If South Wales is synonymous with coal or 'black gold', then North Wales has been equally blessed and cursed with its equivalent - slate. Slate is formed when mud with high levels of clay was compacted and squeezed at high temperature during continental shifts some 300-400 million years ago. Depending on the specific content and age of the slate, it is assigned grades of quality, and the seams of slate around Dinorwig, Llanberis, Bethesda and Blaenau Ffestiniog are some of the highest quality in the world. It was the Romans who first took slate from the area to use for buildings at Segontium, or Caernarfon as it's known today, and the material was also used by the English castle builders of the medieval period. It was at the end of the 18th century, however, that demand for the material exploded, changing the look and life of North West Wales forever. Welsh slate was in demand not only in Britain but also in North America and mainland Europe as industrialisat...

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 30, 2017 is Washington v. Texas . Washington v. Texas (1967) is a US Supreme Court case about the right of criminal defendants to have witnesses testify on their behalf. The Court decided that the Compulsory Process Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution applied in state courts as well as federal courts. At his trial Jackie Washington had attempted to call his co-defendant as a witness but was blocked because state law prevented co-defendants from testifying for each other, under the theory that they might lie for each other on the stand. The Supreme Court reasoned that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment gives defendants the right to fair proceedings, including the right to compel defense witnesses to testify. In previous cases, the Supreme Court had ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment, which was adopted after the Civil War, makes many federal guarantees in the Bill of Rights applicable to the states. The impact...

Passengers travelling between London Bridge, Gatwick Airport and Brighton now have brand new Class 700 Thameslink trains that are up to three times longer giving more space and more seats. Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has withdrawn the last of its older trains from this off-peak service, replacing them with cutting-edge Siemens Class 700 carriages. Carl Edwards, Station Manager at Brighton and Paul Bradley (Driver Manager) give a thumbs up with train driver Alan Stacey at Brighton Station before the new 12-carriage Thameslink Class 700 departs Brighton Station The 12-carriage trains replace the mostly four-carriage (weekdays) and eight-carriage (Saturdays) twice-hourly service, creating 9,000 extra seats each weekday and much more space for passengers at Gatwick and families heading for the coast. All the trains across Thameslink’s entire network are now new Class 700s. These travel between Brighton, St Albans and Bedford, Sevenoaks, Wimbledon and Sutton crossing central...

In the moment of shaking the hand of another, not only are we participating in a universal greeting, but we are acknowledging we are all connected in the game of life together. For what is life but a series of meetings, a gentle sequence of connectings! The touch of hands is a reminder of our unity, the squeeze of a hand says we care, and the shaking of hands says we are celebrating being together. What are we saying when our touch is too cold, our squeeze too firm or too soft, or our shake too limp? Sometimes words are inadequate, or just too difficult. Which is why we can always say with our hand what is in our heart. If you are not ready to look directly into your heart, but you’d like an idea of what’s there, be aware of your hand when you next put it forward for a shake!

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 29, 2017 is Michael Francis Egan . Michael Francis Egan (September 29, 1761 – July 22, 1814) was a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Born in Ireland, he joined the Franciscan Order at a young age. He was ordained a priest, probably in Prague, in 1785 or 1786. He advanced rapidly to positions of responsibility in the Franciscan order, becoming custos (guardian) in the province of Munster in Ireland, then at the Pontifical College at the home of Irish Franciscans in Rome, and later at Ennis in Ireland. Egan arrived in the United States in January 1802 to serve as an assistant pastor near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His reputation as a gifted preacher secured him a position in 1803 as a pastor at St. Mary's Church in Philadelphia. In 1808, he was appointed the first Bishop of Philadelphia, holding that position until his death in 1814. His tenure as bishop saw the construction of new churches and the expansion of the Catholic Church mem...

PLANS to run a full electric train service on the flagship Edinburgh to Glasgow line have been delayed again, ScotRail bosses have admitted. The new trains were meant to running by December after the £795 million project was dogged by a series of delays and cost overruns. But now ScotRail boss Alex Hynes has revealed manufacturer Hitachi has said they can’t deliver the 21 trains needed to run a full service by the end of the year. In a letter to Transport Minister Humza Yousaf, obtained by The Sunday Post, the new ScotRail boss insists he is pressing the Japanese firm to deliver but fails to say when the full service will start. Scottish Conservative transport spokesman, Jamie Greene, said: “We’re in a situation where we don’t even have a final date on a project which has already been marred by delays, and commuter patience is running thin.” The £370 million fleet of Hitachi Class 385 trains was meant to be up and running a full timetable by autumn this year. This was th...

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 28, 2017 is Gods' Man . Gods' Man is a wordless novel by American artist Lynd Ward (1905–1985) published in 1929. In 139 captionless woodblock prints it tells the Faustian story of an artist who signs away his soul for a magic paintbrush. It was the first American wordless novel, and is seen as a precursor of, and influence on, the graphic novel. Ward first encountered the wordless novel with Frans Masereel's The Sun (1919) while studying art in Germany in 1926. He returned to the United States in 1927 and established a career for himself as an illustrator. He found Otto Nückel's wordless novel Destiny (1926) in New York City, and it inspired him to create a similar work. Gods' Man appeared a week before the Wall Street Crash of 1929; it nevertheless enjoyed strong sales and remains the best-selling American wordless novel. Its success inspired other Americans to experiment with the medium, including cartoonist Milt Gr...

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 27, 2017 is Spotted green pigeon . The spotted green pigeon is a species of pigeon which is most likely extinct. It was first mentioned and described in 1783 by John Latham, who claimed to have seen two specimens and a drawing depicting the bird. Today, the species is only known from a specimen kept in World Museum, Liverpool. Overlooked for much of the 20th century, it was only recognised as a valid extinct species by the IUCN Red List in 2008. In 2014 a genetic study confirmed it as a distinct species related to the Nicobar pigeon, and showed that the two were the closest relatives of the extinct dodo and Rodrigues solitaire. The remaining specimen is 32 cm (12.5 in) long, and has very dark, brownish plumage with a green gloss. The neck-feathers are elongated, and most of the feathers on the upperparts and wings have a yellowish spot on their tips. It has a black bill with a yellow tip, and the end of the tail has a pale band. ...

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 26, 2017 is St Botolph's Church, Quarrington . St Botolph's Church is an Anglican place of worship in the village of Quarrington, part of the civil parish of Sleaford in Lincolnshire, England. By the time Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, a church in Quarrington was part of Ramsey Abbey's fee, and around 1165 it was granted to Haverholme Priory. The right to present the rector was claimed by the Abbey in the 13th century, by the Bishop of Lincoln in the early 16th century, and by Robert Carre and his descendants after Carre acquired a manor at Quarrington. The oldest parts of the current building date to the 13th century, although substantial rebuilding took place over the following century. Renovations followed and the local architect Charles Kirk the Younger carried out restoration work in 1862 and 1863, when he added a chancel in his parents' memory. The church consists of a tower and spire with a nave and north aisle...

A wise sea captain caught in a tropical storm knows that if he holds his vessel on the periphery it will get hurled from one side to the other. If he can reach the eye of the storm, he will enter a place of stillness. The storm will then subside and the ship can continue its journey. Similarly, when everything around me is changing in a very intense way, the best place for me to seek shelter and refuge is not on the outside, but deep within the self, where I can get in touch with my own inner being, find strength and stability, then come out and do whatever it is I need to.

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 25, 2017 is Catherine Zeta-Jones . Catherine Zeta-Jones (born 25 September 1969) is a film and stage actress. Raised in Swansea, Wales, she studied musical theatre at the Arts Educational Schools, London, and made her adult stage breakthrough with a leading role in 1987 in 42nd Street. She found great success as a regular in the British television series The Darling Buds of May (1991–93). Dismayed at being typecast as the token pretty girl in British films, Zeta-Jones relocated to Los Angeles. Critics praised her portrayal of a vengeful pregnant woman in Traffic (2000) and a murderous singer in the musical film Chicago (2002), winning her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She continued to star in high-profile films for much of the 2000s, including the black comedy Intolerable Cruelty (2003), the heist film Ocean's Twelve (2004), the comedy The Terminal (2004), and the romantic comedy No Reservations (2007). During a decre...

Going into silence enables you to manage your thoughts better. You will find there is no need to think so much, that most of the answers you are looking for will come to you, without much effort on your part.

Walk quickly today, not because you are in a hurry, but because you value the exercise for legs and heart. As you walk, allow your thoughts to visit you, but not stay. Let them come to pass, and you will be surprised how quickly they become positive, and filled with creative ideas. And paradoxically, if you stay internally aware, you may notice that the quicker you walk, the more your thinking slows down and deepens. Walking briskly and positive thinking – that’s the simplest way to take care of body and mind. And life was meant to be simple…wasn’t it?

Virgin Trains’ Pendolino is sporting a new look as part of a fleet repaint programme. The first train came off the depot earlier this week, and following testing, re-entered service with a run down from Liverpool Lime Street. The new livery is a similar design to that on the new Azuma trains which will be introduced on to East Coast services from 2018. The unique new livery is named ‘flowing silk’ and builds on the iconic Virgin brand, adding curves, shapes and dynamism, with the flow across the train taking its main inspiration from the natural world… the wind. Peter Broadley, Executive Director for Customer, Operations and Safety on the west coast, said: “The Pendolino is widely regarded as the UK’s hardest working train, and has clocked up over 300million miles in the last 15 years. They have been given a fresh lick of paint and will continue to speed customers along the west coast mainline in record time.” The work was undertaken by the original builders of the t...

Ignorance makes you believe that life happens haphazardly. Wisdom teaches you that everything that happens in this theatre of life has profound significance. What you see today is not the fruit of chance but a fruit from a seed planted in the past. Plant seeds of peace now and you will create a life of peace in the future.

Real honesty means being true to the best that is within you. This is more honest than simply speaking your mind.

The launch of the original  Apple iPhone  in early January sent shockwaves through the industry. Even with all its flaws, the iPhone was clearly a more polished device than anything on the market and the massive consumer interest in it indicated that touchscreen devices could well be the next big thing. Apple suddenly because the company to beat, and also quite suddenly everything even vaguely like an iPhone became a potential " iPhone Kille r".  The L G KE850 "PRADA Phone"  was probably the first handset to earn such a moniker, launched just days after Steve Jobs showed off the actual iPhone. Of course, the PRADA Phone wasn't a response to Apple at all. LG had independently come up with the idea of a sleek, stylish touchscreen phone a long time before they announced it. Given that there was only a month between the announcement of the PRADA and it shipping, it's clear that it was already ready to go and it beat the iPhone to market by months. You can i...

Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Hate less, love more and all good things are yours.

Take a modern smartphone. What sort of things would you expect to find? A big, hi-resolution touchscreen? Tick. A brilliant still and video camera? Tick. Fast cellular data and WiFi? Tick? A powerful operating system? Tick. Lots of applications? Tick. Stylish design? Tick. And.. errr.. NFC? Well yes.. that's a tick too. It might surprise you that in the same month that Apple launched its fledgling and frankly deeply flawed original  iPhone , Nokia also launched a set of products with those features that we just mentioned. But not all in one device. As with  other manufacturers , Nokia seemed to be wrong-footed by Apple's move. Where Apple came up with a single model with as many features as they could manage, Nokia spread the technology over three different products. You couldn't have everything in the one device. The  Nokia N93i  (a more polished version of the 2006  N93 ) was a Symbian smartphone with a remarkable camera. This 3.2 megapixel unit had a 3X optic...

How can we serve others around us? By making our lives inspirational and interacting with tact and wisdom. We should be so cheerful, and our lives such examples, that they say ‘Here is an angel.’

In 2007, Motorola's strategy seemed to be a "throw it at the wall and see what sticks" approach. To this end, we saw several very different devices being launched by Motorola ten years ago. The most notable were a range of handsets falling under the Motorola RIZR, KRZR and MOTO Q names. Technically perhaps the most interesting was the  Motorola RIZR Z8  (sometimes called the MOTO Z8). A curved slider phone running the Symbian operating system with the UIQ interface, the Z8 was one of those Symbian phones that tried to out-do Nokia on its own turf. It was an unusual device even within Motorola's own line-up, but in fact much of the development of this had come from  ex-Sendo staffers from the UK  who had been  absorbed into Motorola back in 2005 . In the end, the Z8 probably didn't get the market push that it deserved but it was an interesting and quirky design in its own right. Rather more predictable was the  Motorola KRZR K3  feature phone. Motorola ...

Every thought creates vibrations. Vibrations are like sound waves or radiations. No obstacles, no hurdles can stop them. Start each day by creating and nurturing good vibrations within, this will then silently touch everyone I come into contact with.

February 2012 saw the end of an era with the launch of the  Nokia 808 PureView  - the final Symbian phone to be launched by Nokia. Marking the end of nearly ten years of handsets, starting with the  Nokia 7650 , Symbian dominated the smartphone market in the later noughties with devices from Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and other manufacturers taking up to two-thirds of the market. One year before the launch of the 808, the current Nokia CEO Stephen Elop announced a switch from Symbian to Windows with the result that Symbian sales fell off a cliff. To be fair, Symbian was struggling against Android and iOS in any case and the 808 was actually something of a surprise given that Nokia had launched the  Windows-based Lumia  range just a few months before. But the  Nokia 808 PureView  was no sad swansong as it was, and remains, one of the most awesome camera phones ever made. Stuck in a prominent lump on the back of the 808 is an astoundi...

When the soul goes deep into silence, easiness emerges. The deeper I go into silence, the greater will be my power of tolerance. It is in very deep, extreme silence that the soul becomes elevated. It is in deep, deep silence that God can come in front of the soul.

By the beginning of 2007 the smartphone wars were entering a new phase, ushered in by the original  Apple iPhone  announced in January. Nokia had its own idea of what should go into a phone, but for some frustrating reason  you couldn't have it all in one device . The Nokia E90 Communicator continued this frustrating tradition. Nokia E90 Communicator The latest (and indeed last) in the long line of Communicator devices, the E90 was a brick-like beast that was a bit of a monster when it came to specifications. Outwardly, the E90 looked like an old-fashioned brick phone. Measuring 132 x 57 x 20mm and weighing a stonking 210 grams, it looked like a relic from the past. But as will all Communicator devices, it opened up to reveal a big screen and full QWERTY keyboard  hidden inside. The 4.0" 800 x 352 pixel display thrashed most of the competition when it came to both size and resolution, and the E90's feature list was impressively long including 3.5G support, WiFi,...