Some Interesting Statements Made By Some Famous Persons.

By Sodium

While cruising the Internet, trying to find reasonable prices for couple of books I wished to review, I had stumbled upon the following sayings which at once felt that they were worth publishing at this website for the benefits of those who are dedicated readers of this site:

By Cicero:
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" A room without a book is like a body without a soul. "

My Comment:
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I may add, such a room is also without a mind and heart. before it has lost its soul.

By Frank Zappa:
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" So many books, so little time. "

My Comment:
====================
No need to complain. Just use the little time you have, as efficiently as humanly possible, because that is the only alternative available.

By Friedrich Nietzche:
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" Without music, life would be a mistake. "

My Comment:
====================
Not so for the deaf, excluding Ludwig van Beethoven.

By Oscar Wilde:
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" Always forgive your enemy, nothing annoys them more. "

My Comment:
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Jesus Christ said, indeed, to forgive your enemy, but not for the sole purpose of annoying them.

By Oscar Wilde:
=====================
"  To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. "

My comment:
=====================
Perhaps, Oscar Wilde had experienced both " to live" and " to exist " and as a result he was able to know the difference between " living " and " existing. "  And I wonder how many people of the world's population of almost Seven Billion human beings enjoy the pleasure of  living and how many just exist-perhaps in misery.

By Robert Frost:
======================
" In three words, I can sum up everything I have learned about life: it goes on.

My Comment:
======================
Yes, indeed, life keeps going on, except Robert Frost has perhaps forgotten to add another three additional words: with constant changes. Proofs: birth itself is a change, death itself is a change and what happens in the period between them is also a change.

By Mahatma Gandhi:
======================
" Be the change you wish to see in the world. "

My Comment:
=======================
What Gandhi was saying to his listeners: stop your lousy bad habits and start doing some good for your own sake and the sake of humanity.

By Mahatma Gandhi:
========================
" Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever. "

My Comment:
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I have been living by the second part of  Gandhi advice, but I have failed to live by the first part of  his advice, made of pure gold.

By Martin Luther King, Jr.:
========================
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. "

My Comment:
=========================
And yet, Martin Luther King, was assassinated in the early1960's, in the city of Memphis of the State of Tennessee of the United States of America, because he was active in preaching his beautiful thoughts.

End

Away From Politics And Religions, For A Change.

By Sodium

As I reviewed a monthly newspaper called " Profile News " dated January 2014, published in Ohio, U.S.A. I was struck by some unusual human behaviors which at once appeared to me as colorful and complex as a mosaic I saw more than 30 years ago on one of the floors of an old church, in the city of Madaba, located not too far, south of Amman, capital city of the The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. And I have felt that it is worth publishing such unusual human events here, to remain as a reminder about the complexity of the human behaviors, at least, for some of the times:

From India:
================
Because the bride-groom had failed to show-up for his own wedding, the bride picked up one man to be her husband from the huge crowd, made up of relatives and friends who were mere guests for the wedding.

My Comment:
================
The bride must have a lot of daring and spirit of gambling, or at least, a spirit of adventurism. Wish her a lot of luck. she needs it. That is for certain.

From Russia:
================
A passenger airplane was forced to land in Siberia, because of a fight between two men over the usage of the Rest Room, ( Toilet ) in the airplane.

My Comment:
===============
Perhaps, both men had suffered from an illness called diarrhea, or both men suffered from frequent urination, or both men had suffered from diarrhea and frequent urination. If so, they both deserve my empathy, because I had experienced both problems. I would not wish my enemy, if I have one, to go through either the diarrhea or the frequent urination.

From Italy:
================
An Italian man Put On Fire the bank which had refused to lend him money.

My Comment:
===============
It seems to me it was a vengeance, Italian style.

From Turkey:
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Arab travelers to Turkey are not allowed to enter Turkey, each accompanied with several wives. Only Arab travelers, each one of them is accompanied with only one wife, are allowed to enter Turkey.

My Comment:
================
Perhaps, and just perhaps, Turkey is trying to tell the European Union something, not all people can guess what it is.

From Kenya:
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A 28 year old young man has committed suicide in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, because Manchester United team was beaten, in a soccer game, by New Castle United team.

My Comment:
================
President George Washington was correct when he warned, in his farewell speech, his fellow Americans of the danger of " Passionate Attachment " to any foreign country. I wish he warned them also, excluding their loved ones, against a " Passionate Attachment " to everything else, including soccer's teams..

From Japan:
==================
The Japanese Police Arrest A Woman For Calling Them 15,000 times.
The official police said: " She did not make up story that required us to respond-it was just total nonsense. We visited her place about 60 times before arresting her, trying to persuade her not to call us again. I wonder if she was just lonely."

My Comment:
=================
Even " if she was just lonely " it is crazy to call anybody 15,000 times regardless of how important the reasons were behind such thousands of calls-that was 15,000 of them. Crazy acts done 15,000 times.

From China:
=================
A restaurant called,  " Five Loaves and Two fish , " named for the story of Jesus feeding five thousand people by so little loaves of bread and fish, lost in the first two months of its opening 250,000 yen equivalent to $ 41,000. Its big sign says: " Pay-What-You-Like. "  It seems that so many people LIKED NOT to pay anything for the food offered in good faith. One of the rules in this restaurant was that every customer must wash the dishes and silverware he or she had used in eating their hot meals.

My Comment
================
Perhaps, washing the dishes and silverware they used in eating their meals was considered by the stingy customers who did not pay for their meals, as the pay-off for their meals.

I wonder as to how many millions, or even billions, of people who like to get something without paying some kind of price for. Just wonder !!

END.                                                 



    

Five Arrogant Lies In A Speech By Netanyahu Of Israel.

By Sodium

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, ( known as AIPAC for short ), a Zionist political pressure group ( Lobby ) had held its annual convention in early March, 2014, in Washington DC. In such a convention, one may amazingly and amusingly witness a hoard of American Congressmen who are willing to bend too much down to this pressure group in order to win its approval and money needed for their re-election campaign. So, one may be astonished at the wave after wave of American politicians, making speech after speech, all expressing their phony loyalty to, and dishonest praises for Israel which is, in the real world, has been isolated politically because of its disregards to international laws and international norms in Palestine.

How all those American Congressmen and politicians can maintain self respect, after cheapening themselves to AIPAC, is beyond my ability to comprehend !!

In this year AIPAC's convention, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, addressed the conventioneers by a lofty speech full of arrogance and sheer lies. It has happened that one free soul by the name of Dale Sprusansky of " The Washington Report On Middle East Affairs " a highly respected magazine of its kind in the United States, has recorded the speech and responded to the five lies embodied in it, with real facts on the ground, in the May 2014 issue of the magazine. An outline of the five lies and the corresponding responses are given below:

Lie Number One:
===================
" In the Middle East bludgeoned by butchery and barbarism, Israel is humane; Israel is compassionate. Israel is a force for good."

Fact Number One:
===================
"If you are facing persecution in your homeland, Israel cares deeply about your plight and wants you to seek refuge within its borders-assuming of course you are a Jew.

The 50,000 to 60,000 non-Jewish African migrants who have come to Israel fleeing violence in Sudan and Eritrea since 2006 have learned the painful lesson that they are not welcome in Netanyahu's " humane " and " compassionate "  Israel.

Netanyahu has called the beleaguered asylum-seeking Africans " infiltrators "and warned that yhey threaten Israel Jewish identity."

Lie Number Two:
===================
" [ Israel has ] values that moves us to treat sick Palestinians, thousands of them from Gaza. They come to our hospitals. We treat them despite the fact that terrorists from Gaza hurl thousands of rockets at our cities. "

Fact Number Two:
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" An estimated 9,000 rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza in the last seven years,   while in 2005 and 2006 alone, Israel fired more than 15,000 shells at Gaza-one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Israel military bombardment of Gaza has had predictable results. Since 2008, Israel has killed 1,867 Gazans. During the same time period, 30 Israeli civilians have been killed by Palestinians. "

" Bottom Line: offering medical care to a small number of people you have bombed, blockaded and poisoned makes you [ Netanyahu ] no hero."

Lie Number Three"
====================
" Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, where the civil rights of all citizens, Jews and non-Jews alike are guaranteed.

Fact Number Three:
=====================
" Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, offers ample evidence on its website to refute this claim.The organization has documented more than 50 Israeli laws that " discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel in all areas of life, including their rights to political participation, access to land, education, state budget and criminal procedures." "

Lie Number Four:
=====================
" Israel, the one country in the Middle East that protects Christians and protect the right of worship for everyone. "

Fact Number Four:
=====================
" This statement would have been accurate if Netanyahu ended it with "except Palestinians. "  Both Muslim and Christian residents of the West Bank cannot travel to the holy sites in Jerusalem unless they receive a permit from Israeli authorities. Even if they are successful, they must endure humiliation and long lines at the separation wall. Invasive Israeli security measures turn a Palestinian pilgrim's seven mile journey to Jerusalem into a seven-hour trip."

Lie Number Five:
====================="
" [ Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon ] would open up a Pandora's box of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and around the world. "

Fact Number Five:
=====================
Israel has long been the sole nuclear power in the Middle East. Israeli American scholar Avner Cohen has described Israel;s nuclear weapons program as " the worst kept secret. " In other words, it is  not a secret at all.

 "It must also be noted that- unlike Iran- Israel has refused to sign the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty ( NPT ) and does not allow international inspections of its nuclear facilities. This further delegitimizes its ability to cretize other nations nuclear program. "

Final Words:
====================
The above quoted facts are only the tip of the iceberg of so many facts that Dale Sprusansky has embodied in his outstanding responses to Netanyahu's contemptuous lies. Any reader who is interested in reading the full details provided by Dale Sprusansky, in responses to the five lies of Netanyahu, should read pages 36 and 37 of March 2014 issue of the Washington Report On Middle East Affairs magazine. You may find a copy of May 2014 issue of the magazine in your local public library. If you wish to subscribe to the magazine or you wish to request for sample copies, you can contact the subscriptions, sample copies and donation department of the magazine at the following address:

Washington Report On Middle East Affairs
P. O. Box  91056
Long Beach, CA 90809- 1056
U.S.A.

Telephone:  ( 888 ) 5861
Fax: ( 714 ) 226- 9733

Should you need to contact the magazine's Editorial Office and Bookstore, you can do so at the following address:

Washington Report On Middle East Affairs
P. O. Box 53062
Washington, DC 20009- 9062
U. S. A.

Telephones: ( 202 ) 939- 6050  or  ( 800 ) 368- 5788    

 Fax: ( 202 ) 265- 4574

E- Mail: wrmea@wrmea.org

Website: http://www.wrmea.org

Good Luck.

END.









:   

Two Unusual Book Titles.

By Sodium

I lately have come across two books whose titles have attracted my attention to a point I had found myself being compelled to purchase them both. The titles of the two books are as follows:

The Book of Useless Information, ( Hard Cover )
Published by
Publication International, Ltd.

The Book of Unusual Knowledge, ( Hard Cover )
Published By
Publication International, Ltd.

Each book contains more than 700 pages of the regular size. Because of shortage of time and possible interruption due to poor health, it is not convenient to me to provide a full and complete reviews to the two books. What I can do is to provide a selection of topics I may find interesting to read, and at the same time, hoping that the dedicated readers of this website will find interesting to read too.

Samples From The Book Of Useless Information:
===========================================
" Earth is the only planet not named after a god."

" It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information "  By Oscar Wilde.

" Twelve Best Selling Books Repeatedly Rejected By Publishers. "  The twelve books are specifically named and briefly discussed and some were translated to foreign languages.

Samples From The Book Of Unusual Knowledge:
===========================================
" It took thirty million hours for Stone-Age workers to build Stonehenge. "

" There is no desire more natural than the desire for knowledge."  By Michel de Montaigne.

" The average life span of a rat is less than three years, but one pair can produce 2,000 offspring in a year."

Some of the knowledge in this book, are so hilarious which had compelled me to laugh loudly, such as the following newspaper headlines:

"Absentee Votes Can Be Made in Person."
Or,
"Man Found Dead in Cemetery."
Or,
" Deaf College Opens Doors to Hearing."

Final Words:
===============
Stay tune for occasional selections which will be made, in the future, from each one of those amazing and amusing two books. You may be just as surprised as myself, when I provide you with some of the information / knowledge embodied in the content of those two books. The idea behind the occasional selection of topics from the two books is to stay away from politics and religions, for a change. It is good for the soul and mind to do so, once in a while.

END.