. . .Something To Think About. .. .

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition..

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

The questions raised:

*In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

*Do we stop to appreciate it?

*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.

How many other things are we missing?

How many special persons pass us by and we do not MAKE ANY EFFORT TO get to know them?

http://www.google.be/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Joshua+Bell+playing+incognito+in+the+metro

Hellmann’s – It’s Time for Real from CRUSH on Vimeo.

found through :
http://infosthetics.com/archives/2009/07/eat_local_eat_real_video.html

In French :

Shots in the Dark,

a documentary produced by the National Film Board of Canada, as of yet unreleased.

The delicate subject of vaccinations and its dangers is approached in a very revealing documentary film. Scientists, doctors, patients, and parents from Canada, France and the US all get their say.

Perhaps this film is the reason why the arts in Canada had their budget slashed in the last years by the Conservative government.

It was NEVER released or published.

http://groups.google.com/group/openmanufacturing/

note : thankfully alternatives are emerging… ( such as open source peer production … http://p2pfoundation.net )

excerpt :

<< if "Demand" is ultimately limited once most people meet their basic
needs for food, water, shelter, information, and some consumer items ("the
best things in life are free or cheap"), or at least "Demand" is rising less
quickly than improvements in productivity "(Automation * Good_Design)", then
the number of paying "Jobs" will go towards zero. And as there are less
"Jobs", and so more competition for them, the remaining "Jobs" will get paid
less and have worse working conditions.

The absence of good "Jobs" creates a crisis in a society that only allows
people with jobs to direct the market and take goods from it (thus, the
unemployed will starve, or riot, or be on unrelated small and depressing
welfare payments, see Marshall Brain's Manna or described in the Triple
Revolution memorandum).
"War" can increase jobs by destroying any stockpiled goods or existing
infrastructure, requiring more goods and infrastructure, or vast stockpiles
of military might intended to never be used, but "War" has become too
terrible to contemplate even as stockpiles of war materials begged to be used,
and in any case, building a *need* for "War" into an economic system seems
inelegant and unethical, especially when "War" can so easily mean Armageddon
these days. >>

When I Came Home is a documentary which follows the lives and struggles of several homeless veterans, including those who have recently returned home from the war in Iraq. The film examines the factors which led over 150,000 Vietnam veterans from the battlefield to the street and asks the question: Will what happened to Vietnam veterans happen to a new generation of soldiers? The film also focuses on the veteran-led movement which is fighting to end this national disgrace.

When I Came Home is a work-in-progress. You can follow the making of the film on director Dan Lohous GNN blog: http://www.gnn.tv/users/user.php?id=5199

This movie is part of the collection: News & Public Affairs

Director: Dan Lohaus
Producer: Dan Lohaus
Sponsor: GNN.tv
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: Iraq; Homeless; Veterans
Contact Information: TVTRUCK@yahoo.com

http://dante.ecobytes.net/2008/07/16/recurrent-transition-point/

” doing what I am passionnate about ” ?

July 2009 , Dante :

There have been developments since last year …

Its very much about nurturing long term friendships, and friendships between friendships…
which enables a feeling of meaning through sharing,
creates value through non direct reciprocal economics,
yet builds potential within networks of friends and grows new fruits that feed the networks on the long term ,
and enable such synergies on a broad international scale,
but very importantly also “on a local scale” …
building up a sense of belonging… and a potential lager integral view point… understanding what one “can”,
participating by enabling potential… and “empowering oneself by empowering others”…

I feel it is very fulfilling to build up intentional environments with whom there is mutual empowerment.

For a long time, I felt alone, trying to bring together some pieces of the puzzle,
but I feel its accelerating, and various nodes of interconnected friends are emerging… and creating life dynamics… being mirrors to each other… enabling the manifestation of the consciousness we re-membered within ourselves, into prototypes out of our own body, and together with others…

The recurrent transition point I mentioned last year,
can evolve when such mutually inspiring, mutually empowering dynamics of trans-connections enable outlets for further synergies according to our own potential, according to what I can to allow others to develop what they can…

The Jewish Barber (Charlie Chaplin’s character): Hope… I’m sorry but I don’t want to be an Emperor – that’s not my business – I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that.

We all want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful.

But we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls – has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.

We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say “Do not despair”.

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die [now] liberty will never perish…

Soldiers – don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you – who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder.

Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate – only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers – don’t fight for slavery, fight for liberty.

In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written ” the kingdom of God is within man ” – not one man, nor a group of men – but in all men – in you, the people.

You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let’s use that power – let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfil their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfil that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.

Soldiers – in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

Look up! Look up! The clouds are lifting – the sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world. A kind new world where men will rise above their hate and brutality.

The soul of man has been given wings – and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow – into the light of hope – into the future, that glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up. Look up.”

http://www.clown-ministry.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj0JAfq4esk

“Fed Vice Chair Donald Kohn testified before the Financial Services Committee today, along with John Bovenzi of the FDIC. The Fed’s balance sheet has expanded by $1.2 trillion since September 1. Where did the money go? Kohn wouldn’t say.”

and a news report on the same hearing, with better sound quality :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxuqmPyKqcs&feature=related

“So, you know about the Treasury’s $700 billion bailout plan. But you probably don’t know that the Federal Reserve has lent out about $2 trillion since September. Few do. And that is what’s irritating bulldog Congressman Alan Grayson. Will he be able to shed a light on the Fed’s secret spending?”

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