Difference between revisions of "Personal Interests"

Astrophysics
Camping
Chemistry
Contemplation of personal, inter-personal, and society behavior
Fantasy role playing games
Hiking (mountain, forest)
History of science
History of technology
Military history
Military technology
Music (listening)
Muses
Mythology
Parenting
Philosophy
Physics
Reading
Science
Science fiction
Sociology
Writing

Achilles
Captain Ahab
Hannes Alfven
Mr. Bean
Charlie Benante
Jack Black
Tycho Brahe
Winston Churchill
Carl von Clausewitz
Les Claypool
Romeo Dallaire
Charles Darwin
Data
Leonardo da Vinci
Edsger Dijkstra
Paul Erdos
Galileo Galilei
Heinz Guderian
Forrest Gump
James Hetfield
Scott Ian
Johannes Kepler
Dave Lombardo
Jim Morrison
Jesus of Nazareth
Isaac Newton
Don Quixote
Maurice Richard
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Tom Sawyer
Ernest Shackleton
Long John Silver
Temujin
The Terminator
Mark Twain
William Wallace
Oscar Wilde

Paul Anderson. Event Horizon. 1997.
Michael Apted. Nell. 1994.
Jean Becker. Effroyables jardins. 2003.
Luc Besson. Le Grand Bleu. 1988.
Luc Besson. Léon. 1994.
Luc Besson. Nikita. 1990.
Luc Besson. The Fifth Element. 1997.
Charles Binamé. Maurice Richard. 2005.
John Boorman. Deliverance. 1972.
Danny Boyle. The Beach. 2001.
Erik Canuel. La Loi du Cochon. 2001.
James Cameron. The Terminator. 1984.
John Carpenter. The Thing. 1982.
Michael Cimino. The Deer Hunter. 1978.
Alfonso Cuarón. A Little Princess. 1995.
Frank Darabont. The Shawshank Redemption. 1994.
Jean-Philippe Duval. Matroni et Moi. 1999.
Pierre Falardeau, Julien Poulin. Elvis Gratton. 1981.
David Fincher. Fight Club. 1999.
Francis Ford Coppola. Apocalypse Now. 1979.
Mel Gibson. Braveheart. 1995.
Terry Gilliam. Twelve Monkeys. 1995.
Patrick Gilmore. Tim Johnson. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. 2003.
Taylor Hackford. The Devil’s Advocate. 2002.
Joel Hershman. Greenfingers. 2000.
Ron Howard. A Beautiful Mind. 2001.
Peter Jackson. The Lord of the Rings I, II, III. 2001-2003.
Rian Johnson. Looper. 2012.
Ted Kotcheff. First Blood. 1982.
Stanley Kubrick. A Clockwork Orange. 1971.
Stanley Kubrick. Full Metal Jacket. 1987.
Stanley Kubrick. The Shining. 1980.
Stanley Kubrick. Dr. Strangelove. 1963.
Liam Lynch. Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. 2006.
Adrian Lyne. Jacob's Ladder. 1990.
John McTiernan. Last Action Hero. 1993.
Roger Michell. Changing Lanes. 2002.
Jessie Nelson. I Am Sam. 2001.
Wolfgang Petersen. Das Boot. 1981.
Wolfgang Petersen. Troy. 2004.
Harold Ramis. Groudhog Day. 1993.
Guy Ritchie. Snatch. 2001.
Tom Shadyac. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. 1994.
Martin Scorcese. Taxi Driver. 1976.
Ridley Scott. Alien. 1979.
Tony Scott. Top Gun. 1986.
Tony Scott. True Romance. 1993.
Tony Scott. Enemy of the State. 1998.
Bryan Singer. The Usual Suspects. 1995.
Steven Speilberg. Minority Report. 2002.
Steven Speilberg. Saving Private Ryan. 1998.
Steven Speilberg. Schindler's List. 1993.
Ben Stiller. The Cable Guy. 1996.
Oliver Stone. The Doors. 1991.
Quentin Tarantino. Reservoir Dogs. 1992.
Quentin Tarantino. Pulp Fiction. 1994.
Julie Taymor. Frida. 2002.
Francis Veber. Le diner de cons. 1998.
Paul Verhoeven. Total Recall. 1990.
King Vidor. War and Peace. 1956.
Robert Zemeckis. Forrest Gump. 1994.
Robert Zemeckis. Cast Away. 2000.
Edward Zwick. Legends of the Fall. 1994.

AC/DC. Back in black. 1980.
Alice in Chains. Unplugged. 1996.
Creedence Clearwater Revival. Chronicle, volume 1. 1990.
Iron Maiden. Seventh son of a seventh son. 1988.
Jimi Hendrix. Electric ladyland. 1968.
Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin III. 1970.
Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin II. 1969.
Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin I. 1969.
Limp Bizkit. Three dollar bill y’all. 1997.
Limp Bizkit. Significant other. 1999.
Limp Bizkit. Results may vary. 2003.
Megadeth. So far, so good...so what! 1988.
Megadeth. Rust in peace. 1990.
Megadeth. Countdown to extinction. 1992.
Metallica. St-Anger. 2003.
Metallica. (with San Francisco Orchestra). S&M. 1999.
Metallica. Garage days re-revisited. 1987.
Metallica. Master of puppets. 1986.
Metallica. Death Magnetic. 2008.
Nirvana. MTV unplugged in New-York. 1994.
Nirvana. Nevermind. 1991.
Peter Gabriel. So. 1986.
Peter Gabriel. Peter Gabriel 3 - Melt. 1980.
Pink Floyd. The Wall. 1979.
Pink Floyd. Delicate Sound of Thunder. 1988.
Primus. Tales from the punchbowl. 1996.
Primus. Sailing the seas of cheese. 1991.
Primus. Frizzle fry. 1990.
Primus. Suck on this. 1989.
Red Hot Chili Peppers. Californication. 1999.
Red Hot Chili Peppers. Blood, sugar, sex, magic. 1991.
Rush. Chronicles. 1990.
Rush. Moving pictures. 1981.
Sepultura. Roots. 1996.
Slayer. South of heaven. 1988.
Slayer. Christ illusion. 2006.
Slayer. Reign in blood. 1986.
Slayer. Seasons in the abyss. 1990.
S.O.D. Bigger than the Devil. 1999.
Suicidal Tendencies Lights.. Camera... Revolution! 1990.
Suicidal Tendencies The art of rebellion. 1992.
System of Down. Toxicity. 2001.
The Doors. L.A. woman. 1971.
The Doors. An American Prayer. 1978.
Voivod. Dimension Hatross. 1988.

By endurance we conquer.
[Ernest Shackleton's family motto]

Courage is when duty overcomes.

carpe diem quam minimum credula postero.
["Odes", Horace, 23BC]

Experience is not what happens to a man;
it is what a man does with what happens to him.
[Aldous Huxley]

Life is not a journey where you arrive in heaven in a well-preserved body,
but rather where you skid in sideways saying, "Wow! That was one hell of a ride!"
[Captain Andy Hillstrand, Alaskan Crab Fisherman]

A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what a ship is built for.
[Grace Hopper]

Une civilisation repose sur ce qui est exigé des hommes,
non sur ce qui leur est fourni.

Forces-les de bâtir ensemble une tour et tu les changeras en frères.
Mais si tu veux qu'ils se haïssent, jette-leur du grain.

Du sommet de ta montagne tu ne jouiras plus du paysage
quand il ne sera plus victoire de tes muscles et satisfaction de ta chair.
["Citadelle", Saint-Exupery, 1948]

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order.
[Alfred North Whitehead]

There are things known and there are things unknown,
and in between are the doors of perception.
[Aldous Huxley]

Few men's courage is proof against protracted meditation unrelieved by action.
["Moby-Dick", Herman Melville]

They are in front of us, behind us, and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29:1. They can't get away from us now!
[Colonel Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC]

Everybody got to deviate from the norm.
Everybody got to elevate from the norm.
["Vital Signs", Rush]

Changes aren't permanent.
But change is.
["Tom Sawyer", Rush]

A child of five could understand this.
Fetch me a child of five!
[Groucho Marx]

Work is the curse of the drinking classes.
[Oscar Wilde]

Des chercheurs qui cherchent, on en trouve,
mais des chercheurs qui trouvent, on en cherche.
[Charles de Gaulle]

Il y a des gens qui ont une bibliotheque
Comme des eunuques ont un harem.
[Victor Hugo]

To learn something new, take the path today that you took yesterday.
[John Burroughs]

[Ayrton Senna]

[Edsger W. Dijkstra]

[attributed to Edsger W. Dijkstra]

[attributed to Edsger W. Dijkstra]

[Robert Burns (1759-1796), Scottish poet]

[Erich Hartmann, WWII German fighter pilot, claimed 352 aerial victories]

[Texan proverb]

“NYU Application Essay”, Hugh Gallagher

Applicants to NYU are asked to write an essay: "In order for the admissions staff of our college to get to know you, the applicant, better, we ask that you answer the following question: are there any significant experiences you have had, or accomplishments you have realized, that have helped to define you as a person?" Hugh Gallagher was accepted to NYU on the basis of this essay:

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently.

Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400.

My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven.

I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet gone to college.

“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen R. Covey

Be Proactive. Change starts from within, and highly effective people make the decision to improve their lives through the things that they can influence rather than by simply reacting to external forces.

Begin with the End in Mind. Develop a principle-centered personal mission statement. Extend the mission statement into long-term goals based on personal principles.

Put First Things First. Spend time doing what fits into your personal mission, observing the proper balance between production and building production capacity. Identify the key roles that you take on in life, and make time for each of them.

Think Win/Win. Seek agreements and relationships that are mutually beneficial. In cases where a "win/win" deal cannot be achieved, accept the fact that agreeing to make "no deal" may be the best alternative. In developing an organizational culture, be sure to reward win/win behavior among employees and avoid inadvertantly rewarding win/lose behavior.

Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood. First seek to understand the other person, and only then try to be understood. This habit is the most important principle of interpersonal relations. Effective listening is not simply echoing what the other person has said through the lens of one's own experience. Rather, it is putting oneself in the perspective of the other person, listening emphatically for both feeling and meaning.

Synergize. Through trustful communication, find ways to leverage individual differences to create a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Through mutual trust and understanding, one often can solve conflicts and find a better solution than would have been obtained through either person's own solution.

Sharpen the Saw. Take time out from production to build production capacity through personal renewal of the physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual dimensions. Maintain a balance among these dimensions.

"The History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less", Eric Schulman

Quantum fluctuation. Inflation. Expansion. Strong nuclear interaction. Particle-antiparticle annihilation. Deuterium and helium production. Density perturbations. Recombination. Blackbody radiation. Local contraction. Cluster formation. Reionization? Violent relaxation. Virialization. Biased galaxy formation? Turbulent fragmentation. Contraction. Ionization. Compression. Opaque hydrogen. Massive star formation. Deuterium ignition. Hydrogen fusion. Hydrogen depletion. Core contraction. Envelope expansion. Helium fusion. Carbon, oxygen, and silicon fusion. Iron production. Implosion. Supernova explosion. Metals injection. Star formation. Supernova explosions. Star formation. Condensation. Planetesimal accretion. Planetary differentiation. Crust solidification. Volatile gas expulsion. Water condensation. Water dissociation. Ozone production. Ultraviolet absorption. Photosynthetic unicellular organisms. Oxidation. Mutation. Natural selection and evolution. Respiration. Cell differentiation. Sexual reproduction. Fossilization. Land exploration. Dinosaur extinction. Mammal expansion. Glaciation. Homo sapiens manifestation. Animal domestication. Food surplus production. Civilization! Innovation. Exploration. Religion. Warring nations. Empire creation and destruction. Exploration. Colonization. Taxation without representation. Revolution. Constitution. Election. Expansion. Industrialization. Rebellion. Emancipation Proclamation. Invention. Mass production. Urbanization. Immigration. World conflagration. League of Nations. Suffrage extension. Depression. World conflagration. Fission explosions. United Nations. Space exploration. Assassinations. Lunar excursions. Resignation. Computerization. World Trade Organization. Terrorism. Internet expansion. Reunification. Dissolution. World-Wide Web creation. Composition. Extrapolation?

Copyright 1996-1997 by Eric Schulman. This piece was the inspiration for the book A Briefer History of Time and led to the Annals of Improbable Research Universal History Translation Project. Reprinted from the AIR , Volume III, Number 1, January/February 1997, page 27.