Modest Thinker

sirmitchell: 10 Things I Hate About Commandments An amazing...

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:43:15 -0500

10 Things I Hate About Commandments

An amazing trailer re-edit.

"I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders’ faces. I saw the..."

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:29:13 -0400

“

I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders’ faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath. For one man, it was in the middle of a busy food court on a Saturday evening.

I say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing. So often I have found myself taking it for granted. Every hug from a family member. Every laugh we share with friends. Even the times of solitude are all blessings. Every second of every day is a gift. After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given.

I feel like I am overreacting about what I experienced. But I can’t help but be thankful for whatever caused me to make the choices that I made that day. My mind keeps replaying what I saw over in my head. I hope the victims make a full recovery. I wish I could shake this odd feeling from my chest. The feeling that’s reminding me how blessed I am. The same feeling that made me leave the Eaton Center. The feeling that may have potentially saved my life.

”

- Jessica Redfield was shot and killed last night at a midnight screening of ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ along with 11 others when a gunman opened fire in a theater. The above is from her blog, written in June, after she narrowly escaped another senseless shooting at a mall in Toronto. (via newsweek)
Surreal.

publicradiointernational: inothernews: upsettingshorts: inothe...

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:27:23 -0400

publicradiointernational:

inothernews:

upsettingshorts:

inothernews:

James Holmes, terrorist.

(via The New York Post)

Could we stop using “terrorist” to refer to anyone who kills a lot of people? There’s a difference between politically-motivated violence (Anders Breivik and Timothy McVeigh) and a crazy man going on a fucking killing spree (James Holmes, Seung-Hui Cho).

Terrorism is a specific kind of violence, and not simply a measure of scale.

If it turns out this guy has some political manifesto, then we can start throwing the word terrorist around, okay? As far as we know right now he’s just a crazy asshole.

Killed 12 people, wounded dozens of others. Victims included children. Booby-trapped his apartment. Seemed to be deliberate in the execution of his mass murder — reportedly rushing into the theater via an emergency exit, timing his attack to a part of the film when there as gunfire on the screen; deploying gas canisters before proceeding to shoot. All of this in a very public place that, absent motive, indicates he wanted the widest possible impact on the collective psyche. Sounds like terrorism to me.

I don’t care what his motives were — and such motives would be above and beyond the result, anyway, when defining exactly what happened here. Perhaps he was just unhappy with a pizza he ordered? Who gives a fuck? This was a teroristic act, and James Holmes is a fucking murdering terrorist.

We’re reblogging this because 1) it shows the face the person behind the horrific shooting that led to the deaths of 12 people in Colorado, and 2) it contains a debate that illustrates the human desire to label and categorize things in order to try to make sense of them.

onthemedia: Just one quick post that’s not about media, or...

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:22:55 -0400

onthemedia:

Just one quick post that’s not about media, or tragedy, or the stupid things politicians are saying in the wake of a tragedy. Here’s a picture of Hunter S. Thompson and Bill Murray on a boat.

winstonwolfe:

HST & Murray.

Pretty awesome.

'America has gotten very good at being very shocked by mass shootings'

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:12:21 -0400

'America has gotten very good at being very shocked by mass shootings':

This article gave me chills …

NPR: On July 19, 1957...

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:54:45 -0400

NPR: On July 19, 1957...:

npr:

“…five Air Force officers and one photographer stood together on a patch of ground about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. They’d marked the spot ‘Ground Zero. Population 5’ on a hand-lettered sign hammered into the soft ground right next to them.

As we watch, directly overhead, two F-89 jets roar…

Crazy stuff.

theatlantic: How the Dark Knight Became Dark Again Batman has...

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:47:35 -0400

theatlantic:

How the Dark Knight Became Dark Again

Batman has been so successfully remade in recent years that we scarcely remember how, for a generation, the Dark Knight lived in the public imagination as a pot-bellied caped crusader with a goofy sidekick. ABC’s live-action Batman TV series, which ran from 1966 to 1968, was deliberately campy (“To the Batpole!”) and created a long-enduring association between the superhero and the cartoonish onomopeias “Pow!” “Zap!” and “Wham!”

The story of how the farcical Batman of the ’60s transformed into the solemn one of today mirrors the elevation of the comic book in general from belittled kiddie fare to the subject of academic inquiry and box-office-breaking, R-rated action movies. It’s also a story of a 73-year-old franchise returning to its roots, reflecting its times, and helping build a multibillion dollar industry that churns out branded merchandise, video games, theme park attractions and annual conventions. And it’s the story of one fan named Michael Uslan, who, as an 8th grader in the ’60s, made a vow to save Batman.

Read more.

I’ve always been drawn to stories about the people who work behind the scenes.

america-abroad-media: Israel Deporting 150 Migrants to South...

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 16:22:58 -0400

america-abroad-media:

Israel Deporting 150 Migrants to South Sudan

(Via VOA) JERUSALEM — Israel is deporting a second planeload of African migrants as it continues a crackdown on what officials have described as “infiltrators.”

Israel says the deportation of 150 people back to their home country of South Sudan is aimed at curbing a flood of African migrants.

More than 60,000 Africans have illegally entered Israel from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula since 2005, most from Eritrea and Sudan. They claim to be refugees, but Israel says the vast majority are economic migrants seeking a higher standard of living.

Read more here http://bit.ly/Qc2Goh

Photo: AP (Anat, an Israeli teacher, center, comforts Victoria, a South Sudanese migrant student, just before leaving for Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, June 25, 2012.)

"$9.80"

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:42:11 -0400

“$9.80”

- That’s how much it cost for Ray Bradbury to write Fahrenheit 451. (via nprfreshair)

"If we listened to our intellect we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d..."

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:32:17 -0400

““If we listened to our intellect we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go in business because we’d be cynical: “It’s gonna go wrong.” Or “She’s going to hurt me.” Or, “I’ve had a couple of bad love affairs, so therefore …” Well, that’s nonsense. You’re going to miss life. You’ve got to jump off the cliff all the time and build your wings on the way down.””

- Ray Bradbury [Bradbury on Fresh Air] (via nprfreshair)

"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a..."

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:31:32 -0400

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.”

- Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Thank you for leaving behind what you did.
—Daisy

‘Fahrenheit 451’ Author Ray Bradbury Dies At 91
(via npr)

T & J (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 27 May 2012 18:35:13 -0400

T & J (Taken with instagram)

Royal Lake (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 27 May 2012 18:34:19 -0400

Royal Lake (Taken with instagram)

On Rooftops and What Not (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 27 May 2012 18:29:59 -0400

On Rooftops and What Not (Taken with instagram)

Taking in the Sights (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:45:36 -0400

Taking in the Sights (Taken with instagram)

“Home Grown” (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:43:40 -0400

“Home Grown” (Taken with instagram)

Winds (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:41:47 -0400

Winds (Taken with instagram)

Green Leaf (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:07:26 -0400

Green Leaf (Taken with instagram)

Sunrise #1 (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 26 May 2012 08:43:30 -0400

Sunrise #1 (Taken with instagram)

latimes: L.A. City Council approves ban on supermarket plastic...

Thu, 24 May 2012 21:17:04 -0400

latimes:

L.A. City Council approves ban on supermarket plastic bags: Los Angeles today became the largest city in the nation to adopt a ban on plastic bags at supermarket checkout lines, handing a major victory to clean-water advocates who sought to reduce the amount of trash clogging landfills, the region’s waterways and the ocean.

Photo: James Alamillo, playing the “Bag Monster” for Heal the Bay, gets into his role while he tries to work up the crowd before the city council voted to ban plastic bags Wednesday. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

What!?