TFTD - 20/08/2012

Thought for the day

Everyone thinks of changing the world,

but no one thinks of changing himself. - Leo Tolstoy

Take home – Nelson Rodrigues

Nelson Rodrigues was a Brazilian playwright, journalist and novelist. In 1943, he helped usher in a new era in Brazilian theater with his play Vestido de Noiva (The Wedding Dress), considered revolutionary for the complex exploration of its characters' psychology and its use of colloquial dialog. He went on to write many other seminal plays and today is widely regarded as Brazil's greatest playwright.

As a playwright, Rodrigues is frequently considered a realist, mostly on account of the self-acknowledged influence exerted on him by the dramatic work of Eugene O'Neill.It was this petit-bourgeois, almost lumpen viewpoint, that explained Rodrigues' antipathy towards the higher middle-class intelligentsia that made much of the political Left of the period ("I'm not moved by marches of the ruling classes", was he to say before a march of protesters against the military dictatorship)

A fervent, spontaneous anticommunist already before the military coup d'etat of 1964, Rodrigues was generally regarded as apolitical before the dictatorship, during which he was to engage in constant clashes and running feuds with the Left. During much of the 1960s and early 1970s, he included incendiary attacks in his newspaper column against various opponents of the dictatorship—a list that ranged from leaders of leftist movements and guerrilla organizations to the bishop of Olinda Helder Câmara and the Catholic literary critic Alceu de Amoroso Lima, eventually leading charges of being an apologist for the dictatorship. One of his collections of articles - where he offered, in an almost daily basis, an exquisite mix of adulation for the dictatorship and denunciation of allegedly communist plots-he proudly titled O Reacionário (The Reactionary).

"I am a child who sees love through a keyhole. That's all I've ever been. I was born a child, and am bound to die a child, and the keyhole is my lens as a writer. I am, and have always been, a pornographic angel."

"Man finds happiness only in the superfluous. Under communism, he has only the essentials. How abominable and ridiculous!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Rodrigues

Picture for the day – Goatherd, Somalia

A little girl who walks two to three hours to the well to get water for her goats and her family

Website for the day

PRB informs people around the world about population, health and the environment and empowers them to use that information to advance the well-being of current and future generations.

http://www.prb.org/

Article for the day – Brazil, a racial paradise

http://unexploredbrazil.blogspot.com.br/2012/08/brazil-racial-paradise.html

TFTD - 13/08/2012

Thought for the day

“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged:

condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned:

forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.” – Jesus of Nazareth

Take home – Ray Kroc, the McDonald man

How do you create a restaurant empire and become an overnight success at the age of 52? As Ray Kroc said, “I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night.”

Ray Kroc wanted to build a restaurant system that would be famous for food of consistently high quality and uniform methods of preparation. He wanted to serve burgers, buns, fries and beverages that tasted just the same in Alaska as they did in Alabama.

In 1954 he was surprised by a huge order for 8 multi-mixers from a restaurant in San Bernardino, California. There he found a small but successful restaurant run by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, and was stunned by the effectiveness of their operation.  They produced a limited menu, concentrating on just a few items—burgers, fries and beverages—which allowed them to focus on quality at every step.

Kroc pitched his vision of creating McDonald’s restaurants all over the U.S. to the brothers. In 1955 he founded the McDonald’s Corporation, and 5 years later bought the exclusive rights to the McDonald’s name. By 1958, McDonald’s had sold its 100 millionth hamburger.

In 1961, Ray launched a training program, later called Hamburger University, at a new restaurant in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. There, franchisees and operators were trained in the scientific methods of running a successful McDonald’s. Hamburger U also had a research and development laboratory to develop new cooking, freezing, storing and serving methods. Today, more than 80,000 people have graduated from the program

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kroc

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197544

http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/our_story/our_history/the_ray_kroc_story.html

Picture for the day

The symmetry of the bird and its reflection are what first drew me to this image. I also love the energy captured in the forward movement of the bird as it races across the frame

Wisdom Message

Schooling is not merely for food and delight, for earning a living and to enjoy leisure. Its true purpose should be to activate the qualities of wisdom in action, non-attachment and discriminatory power (Viveka, Vairaagya and Vichakshana). The root is education and the fruit should be virtues. Every school must shape its students into citizens, worthy of the country’s precious heritage and spiritual wealth. Otherwise, all schooling is a waste of time and money. Schools are the temples of the Goddess of Wisdom who grants to each child the wisdom to grasp the Ultimate Truth and acquire knowledge that will dispel ignorance forever. The school must facilitate this and ensure stability in all the students to practice the virtues of Truth, Righteousness and Peace, through the blossoming of Love. – Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Soup for the week – English onion soup with sage and cheddar

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/english-onion-soup-with-sage-cheddar

Article for the day – 10 trends driving big data in financial services

http://www.networkworld.com/slideshow/52214

TFTD - 06/08/2012

Thought for the day

“Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. Either the host dies, or the virus dies, or both die.” – Gore Vidal

Take home- The Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida

The Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida is a prominent Roman Catholic Latin-rite Basilica located in Aparecida, Brazil. It is dedicated to the Our Lady of Aparecida, (a variant of the Immaculate Conception) as the principal Patroness of Brazil. Its official title in Portuguese is Nossa Senhora da Conceição Aparecida, roughly translated as Our Lady of Conception who Appeared. As of 2011, it enjoys the greatest Marian pilgrimage in the world, ranking above Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Lourdes.

 In 1717 three fishermen were sent to catch fish in the Paraoba River for the governor of São Paulo because it was a religious day of abstinence and he wasn't allowed to eat meat. The three companions tried and tried, but no fish were entering their nets. When they were at the point of giving up, they caught in their net the headless body of a statue of the Blessed Mother. Bewildered they continued fishing and rowing down the stream. Soon they also caught the head of Our Lady. Now that the Mother of God was on board with them, they caught so many fish that their boat almost sank. This was reminiscent of the story in Luke 5, where the disciples couldn't catch any fish until Jesus appeared and told them where to cast their nets. Soon their boats filled almost to the point of sinking.

                                                                                                   

According to China Galland on the other hand, all the efforts of the Divine Mother in Brazil accomplished little to end slavery, though it did ensure her a great following among the oppressed to whom she is a symbol of liberation. Galland also retells a traditional story: "One day a slave was traveling with his master near the small shrine that had been constructed for Aparecida. The man entreated his master to stop the wagons and let him pray at the door of the shrine. As soon as he knelt down in the doorway, the heavy chains he wore fell off his hands and feet, and the wide iron collar around his neck broke apart. His master declared him free: the Virgin herself seemed to command it."

Galland paraphrases Archbishop Dom Aloysius Lorscheider's explanation of the Virgin's title 'Mother of the Excluded of Brazil': "All who have been marginalized by conventional society are upheld and revered in the figure of this Virgin - the poor, the broken, and the dark. She is their champion. She is black because she is the Mother of All." Brazilians call her Mari-ama. Ama to them is the black wet nurse who nurses black and white children without discriminating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_the_National_Shrine_of_Our_Lady_of_Aparecida

Picture of the day – River House, Serbia

A house in the middle of the Drina River near the town of Bajina Basta, Serbia.  The long exposure and autumn colors make for a beautiful scene, but, of course, it’s the house that captures my imagination. I want to know more about this dwelling with the little red kayak: 

 

Website for the day – Pinterest

A content sharing service that allows members to "pin" images, videos and other objects to their pinboard.

 www.pinterest.com

Soup for the day – Creamy Asparagus soup with poached egg on toast

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/creamy-asparagus-soup-with-a-poached-egg