The 13 Virtues of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), from his Autobiography:

1. TEMPERANCE.
Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. SILENCE.
Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. ORDER.
Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. RESOLUTION.
Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. FRUGALITY.
Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. INDUSTRY.
Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. SINCERITY.
Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. JUSTICE.
Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. MODERATION.
Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. CLEANLINESS.
Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11. TRANQUILLITY.
Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. CHASTITY.
Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13. HUMILITY.
Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Notes on: Unblinking Witness to a Moody Town, New York Times, March 27, 2005, by Avis Berman, author of "Edward Hopper's New York" (Pomegranate Communications, 2005)

Edward Hopper (1882-1962): not a New York native; born in Nyack, 25 miles north of the city; came to New York in 1899 to study illustration; later enrolled in the New York School of Art to learn painting and took a studio on 14th Street.

Though New York remained his home base, he made several trips to Europe, living mainly in Paris, and he was struck by the differences between Manhattan and the City of Light. The Parisians, he wrote to his mother, "seem to live in the streets, which are alive from morning until night, not as they are in New York with that never-ending determination for the long-green - but with a pleasure-loving crowd that doesn't care what it does or where it goes, so that it has a good time."

As Hopper saw it, the grim business of living in New York encased people in themselves. He understood that New York was essentially a city of people intent on commerce. People become hardened by materialistic pressures, he concluded, and to survive, they grow indifferent or estranged from one another.

Hopper once described New York as "the American city that I know best and like most," and its physical face inspired seven decades' worth of paintings, drawings, watercolors and prints. Hopper, who lived in Manhattan, mainly in Greenwich Village, from about 1905 until his death in 1967, roamed the city with a passion and had a well-worn familiarity with the byways and corners off the tourist's map.

Ever the contrarian, Hopper offered an alternative to the New York that most other American artists of his day seized on - the city of the new, the gigantic, the technologically thrilling depicted, for example, in the paintings of Joseph Stella.


Snippets:
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Actress: Tilda Swinton played the lead role in the movie 'Orlando' (1992), after the novel by Virgina Woolfe. Also speaks as member of the 'Cannes' committee in the Special Features section of Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD.
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DVD: Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004). By Michael Moore. 122 min Documentary about George W. Bush, the invasion of Iraq, and his oil connections. Good idea to reveal Bush's ties and motifs, but por execution. One sided. Too much schmaltz, little facts. Poor entertaiment at best. Overall rating 5 out of 10.
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Life: Tete du Moine. A grated cheese with a special, circular rasper to cut it. History of over 800 years.
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Photography: Affordable digital camera: CardCam from Creative. Size of a credit card. 1.3 Megapixels (1280 x 960 resolution). 26 photos at 1280 x 960 resolutions (interpolated) or 101 photos at 640 x 480 resolutions. 8 MB memory. Mediocre picture quality, but cheap price.
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Technology: Steve Fossett flew around the world in the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer between Feb. 28 and Mar. 3, 2005. Fossett already held the record for flying solo around the globe in a balloon, as well as dozens of other aviation and sailing records.
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Geology: Predicted tsunami after an eruption of Cumbre Vieja volcano, La Palma, Canary Islands. Would also affect the United States with waves 30-75 ft high 6-9 h later. However, currently no volcanic activity reported.
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Phone: Country Calling Codes.
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Nature: Pulse of the Planet. 2 minute sound portaits of the planet earth as MP3 and transcripts. Dates back to 1996. Presented by the National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science.
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Food: Hediard. Delicatessen store in Paris and other French cities.
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Geography: Unalaska, an island in the Fox Islands group in the middle of the Aleutian Islands southwest of Alaska, is said to be the rainiest place within the territory of the United States. There, it rains about 250 days a year.
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Philosophy: The Skeptics Dictionary
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Philosophy: Edgar Cayce, a psychic with questionable success . Notes and transcripts on his sessions are now under the protection of the Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE). Cayce proclaimed that the star Arcturus is one of the most advanced civilizations in our galaxy. It is a fifth-dimensional civilization and the prototype for Earth's future. Oh well...
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