"O LORD our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! who hast set Thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man, that Thou art mindful of Him? and the son of man, that Thou visits Him?
"For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have a dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the seas.
"O LORD our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth!"
"All nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto Him? The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? has it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
"It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; and stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in: that brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and He shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
"To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, and brings out their host by number: He calls them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one fails."
"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them has He set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof."
The following images, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, were posted here for educational, aesthetic, and informational purposes only.
Copyright Information and Notice: While the following images are in the public domain, yet none of the following materials can be used for the purpose of stating, suggesting, or implying that NASA, or any of its personnel, is endorsing any activities, services, or products of any commercial organization or individual. Any such use with the intent to mislead or misinform is expressly prohibited. NASA and STScl must always be lawfully acknowledged as the source of these materials. Details of the copyright notice is accessible by clicking here.
The classical (or Spanish) guitar was brought by the legendary master, Andres Segovia, to the limelight at the early 20th century. Having taught himself the arcane secrets of the the instrument through poring over the works of such old masters as Aguado, Sor, Tarrega, and others, as well as the application of painstaking self-discipline, devoted self-training, and tireless dedication, he was able deliver the guitar from the obscurity of the barber shop back to the concert stage!
What follows is a video sample of Andres Segovia playing Isaac Albeniz' Asturias, followed by solo video performances of Edgar Cruz, Wang Yameng, Roland Dyens, and great American virtuoso Christopher Parkening, representatives of a newer generation of guitar masters.
Andres Segovia Plays Isaac Albeniz' Asturias
Edgar Cruz plays Bohemian Rhapsody
Wang Yameng plays Brouwer's Sonata mov.3-La Tocata de Pasquini
Roland Dyens plays Dizzy Gillespie's A Night in Tunisia
Christopher Parkening plays J.S. Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring
The great Amazon River is home to a plethora of frightful creatures. Among these is the Candiru, or toothpick fish, which is a parasitic freshwater catfish. Watch the following video from the BBC to have a glimpse of Candiru's nightmarish evil...
Speed reading is a skill that has to do with text reading (books, newspapers, and any other written works) using a method, either learned through formal training or informally by experience, that's aimed at decreasing the time needed to finish the object of reading while at the same time increasing comprehension and info retention.
Some of the simple, but often overlooked, rudiments of speed reading are:
1. Be sure to choose a suitable and comfortable place where you will do your reading. The place should be well- lighted and well-ventilated. Make sure that the light is coming from behind or is focused directly on what you are reading and not on your eyes.
2. Unless your immediate aim for reading is to induce sleeping, as in bedtime story reading, it is always advisable to stay away from bed when reading, and ideal to sit on a chair or even under a tree with your book.
3. Always sit properly, assuming a good comfortable posture, while reading, and avoid the extremes of body positions that could lull to sleep, or, on the other hand, could bring uneasiness that distract concentration.
4. While this is not strictly the rule, it is ideal under normal situation to choose a quiet place for your reading pleasure. But, as already hinted, this is not the protocol for all booklovers, for there are surely some valiant souls that are able to defy noises of any kind (in a subway, bus, street, workplace, etc.) and go on with their reading enjoyment undistracted! Wow!
5. Finally, be sure to take care of your eyes by always keeping an appropriate distance between your eyesight and your book (or kindle or other reading gadget). Not too far or too close for either of these will surely overexert and damage the eyes. A distance of 12 to 16 inches is a commendable suggestion for most normal eyesight, but a good rule of thumb is to always maintain the distance where no feeling of strain on your eyes is experienced while reading.
The above are the ABCs of good reading habits in general, and promote speed reading skills in particular. We could then, from these basics, go on to proceed to the intricacies and details of the various methods and improve our skill further.
Below is an instructional video that offers a rather new alternative method to speed reading. View, learn and enjoy!
You Can Learn Speed Reading in Under 60 Seconds! by Daniel Herzner
One of the greatest scientific accomplishments of the past 20th century is the placing of the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit in April 1990. The positioning of this marvel of space age technology outside the earth's atmosphere gave mankind a fresh and new view, not only of the celestial sphere, but also of the universe we all live in.
The Hubble Space Telescope, which is named in honor of the American astronomer Edwin Hubble, provides us with a perspective of the celestial sphere that was not possible before. Telescopes and observatories here on earth, in a way, had already given us an inkling and glimpses of the measureless vastness of the heavens through their eyepieces. But the clouds and the earth's atmosphere, in general, have always served as a sort of screen that perverted and obscured our visions through earth's telescopes.
What a shocking and humbling revelation indeed it became when the Hubble Space Telescope began sending its first sight of the stellar and galactic regions, free from the blurring effects of the earth's atmosphere. Colors, patterns, and displays beyond the capabilities of any of earth's artists' brushes and canvases to portray began to unfold their long hidden mysteries.
The Most Important Image Ever Taken (by the Hubble Space Telescope)
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A Word of Advice on Reading
It is true that there is always something that we could learn from a book, yes, from any kind of books altogether. But Francis Bacon is also right when he said: "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."
Be careful therefore with what you swallow, or chew and digest. For there are kinds of books, many of them really, that are good only for tasting, but not advisable for consumption of the heart for they act as poison, when permitted to enter the mind, with the capacity to corrupt and destroy.
And there are books that are good only for kindling stoves and ovens!
While we don't agree for the reinstatement of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books) or any such tyranny against the individual conscience and the human will, yet it's good for us as responsible individuals to wisely exercise good discrimination in the books that we allow to have a place in our mind and heart.
If we are careful and exercise great caution and discretion in what we allow into our stomach, being vigilant that we don't harm ourselves by inattention and by wrong food choices. Should we be totally careless then when it comes to what we allow entrance to our thinking and will?
Wrong food choices harm only your physical body, and yet you won't allow that, if you can help it, for you give importance to your body. How much all the more of consequence is your heart, mind and soul that could be poisoned by perverted beliefs and opinions of foolish authors if you allow negligence to have its way while you read their works.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good; abstain from every form of evil." (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22)
"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." (Proverbs 4:23)
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