Posts Tagged ‘Understanding’

19 items.

Death Cap (Amanita phalloides)

by Seraphine Khorana on March 5th, 2011
Posted In: Comics
Death Cap (Amanita phalloides)

Tonight, I’m at the top of the proverbial mountain. I’ve arrived at the pinnacle.
This is it. Ta-da.
Tomorrow is my birthday, the one that changes everything. It’s the big four-oh.
No, I’m not Sisyphus. There is no huge boulder to roll back downhill, allowing me to start over. My punishment reward is to keep going.
Here’s what I’m blessed with: I’m comfortable in my own skin; I have a strong sense of self; Being 40 is 10 times easier than being 20.
I’ll get through this, even if it kills me.

Only good girls keep diaries. Bad girls don’t have time.
Quotation from Tallulah Bankhead

“I was blackballed by seven Pizza joints.” (Sarah Colonna on Youtube)

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.
Quotation from Maya Angelou

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Blueberries

by Seraphine Khorana on October 11th, 2010
Posted In: Comics
Blueberries

Blueberries are still in season and I’m finished with finals.

It is better to travel well than to arrive.
Quotation from Buddha

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
Quotation from Mother Teresa

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Mistaken

by Seraphine Khorana on September 14th, 2010
Posted In: Comics
Mistaken

I’m trying a new image format for today’s comic– a format that employs lossless data compression called png (portable network graphics) instead of my usual jpeg graphic. I think almost everyone can view the png format, unless you are using an obscure or very old browser. Let me know how you like it. Do you have any trouble seeing my comic? Does it take too long to load? Can you tell the difference?

PNG is considered a better choice than JPEG for storing images that contain text, line art, or other images with sharp transitions. Where an image contains both sharp transitions and photographic parts, a choice must be made between the large but sharp PNG and a small JPEG with artifacts around sharp transitions.
Quotation from Wikipedia.

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Ground Zero

by Seraphine Khorana on August 21st, 2010
Posted In: Comics
Ground Zero

The United States Constitution established freedom of religion in America in 1791. The right is guaranteed in the First Amendment, along with freedom of the press and freedom of expression. Specifically, it says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Even though 60% of Americans currently oppose an Islamic Cultural Center near the World Trade Center site, freedom of religion is what makes America different from many other countries. If we deny some people the right to worship the way they please, then the nature of our society will change and none of us will truly be free again.

But let me be clear. As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are.
Quotation from President Barack Obama

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Shouldering all the World’s Problems

by Seraphine Khorana on July 24th, 2010
Posted In: Comics
Shouldering all the World’s Problems

I can’t do it alone. The poor can’t, the rich can’t. What’s needed is universal agreement on basic needs such as education, healthcare, housing, justice, resource management, fairness and human rights. We can no longer afford the hatreds of war, racism, sexism, intolerance and other inequities. It has been 65 years since the formation of the United Nations to promote economic development, social progress and world peace. Nothing of cooperative substance has happened since. Perhaps it is time to move the United Nations from New York City to East Jerusalem, making Jerusalem an international city accessable to all. If we put our minds together, even the most vexxing world problems could be solved.

“Freedom from fear” could be said to sum up the whole philosophy of human rights.
Quotation from Dag Hammarskjold

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In Excel, Space is a Character

by Seraphine Khorana on July 2nd, 2010
Posted In: Comics
In Excel, Space is a Character

They say the universe is endless. They say the universe is expanding. These are the same people that tell you “If you want to know how something works, follow the money.” I’m certain some genius has designed a spreadsheet to explain how this is possible.

Expressed in the usual variables of general relativity, it may appear that our usual space and time are disappearing. However, viewed with the proper variables, our usual space dimensions actually remain infinite and time runs continuously. The transition from big crunch to big bang is due, instead, to the collapse, bounce and re-expansion of one of the extra dimensions.
Quotation from Paul J. Steinhardt, The Endless Universe: Introduction to the Cyclic Universe

School is going well. Casual observation, however, suggests the universe is neither endless nor expanding. The universe is a box and I am trapped inside. In Excel, the spreadsheet software from Microsoft, this is called absolute cell referencing. It is the reason why Encore Seraphine updates have become as rare as refracted rings around a summer moon.

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The Shadows On The Wall

by Seraphine Khorana on June 22nd, 2010
Posted In: Comics
The Shadows On The Wall

It is permissible to enjoy moments of not understanding? Do we suffer when we understand too much?

The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.
Quotation from Carl Sagan

There is no more lively sensation than that of pain; its impressions are certain and dependable. They never deceive as may those of the pleasure women perpetually feign and almost never experience.
Quotation from Marquis de Sade

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Top of the Food Chain

by Seraphine Khorana on March 24th, 2010
Posted In: Comics
Top of the Food Chain

If you think fats and oils are at the top of the food chain, you deserve at least partial credit for a correct answer. But bacteria breaks down oil in this rock-paper-scissors game we call Life.

For the first half of geological time, our ancestors were bacteria. Most creatures still are bacteria, and each one of our trillions of cells is a colony of bacteria.
Quotation from Richard Dawkins

Salad bars are like a restaurant’s lungs. They soak up the impurities and bacteria in the environment, leaving you with much cleaner air to enjoy.
Quotation from Doug Coupland

If you don’t change, then what’s the point of anything happening to you?
Another quotation from Doug Coupland

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Mot du jour: Contiguous

by Seraphine Khorana on March 22nd, 2010
Posted In: Comics
Mot du jour: Contiguous

Word of the Day: Contiguous. It means to have contact with, or to be adjacent. It is the opposite of being fragmented or scattered.
When all of your thoughts are touching, it is called Logic. The problem is thoughts jump all over; we don’t have contiguous thoughts. Therefore, we mentally reorder our thoughts until they begin to make sense. In this manner, we build a reasonable case for ourselves based on a kind of false logic. Tragically, the result is we don’t know how stupid, or average, we really are. We can only guess.
In a moment of clarity, everything (and nothing) is readily apparent.

The cathedral towers and the full gables of the quaint old houses were just beginning to blush in the sunrise. There had been no rest for her that night. She was still in her pretty ball-dress, her fair hair hanging somewhat out of curl on her neck, and the circles round her eyes dark with watching. “What a fright I seem,” she said, examining herself in the glass, “and how pale this pink makes one look!” So she divested herself of this pink raiment; in doing which a note fell out from her corsage, which she picked up with a smile, and locked into her dressing-box. And then she put her bouquet of the ball into a glass of water, and went to bed, and slept very comfortably.
Quotation from William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair

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No Sympathy

by Seraphine Khorana on February 8th, 2010
Posted In: Comics
No Sympathy

I am sick. I’ve been in bed all weekend. Since we’re both sick, I don’t get any sympathy.

The sick grapes on the chair by the bed lie prone; at the window
The tassel of the blind swings gently, tapping the pane,
As a little wind comes in.
The room is the hollow rind of a fruit, a gourd
Scooped out and dry, where a spider,
Folded in its legs as in a bed,
Lies on the dust, watching where is nothing to see but twilight and walls.
Poem by D.H. Lawrence, Malade

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Metta Metta

by Seraphine Khorana on February 3rd, 2010
Posted In: Comics
Metta Metta

3) The unexamined life is not worth living.
2) Be mindful of the questions you ask.
1) All questions ultimately have the same answer.

Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Quotation from Sutta Nipata

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You Have A Good One

by Seraphine Khorana on January 11th, 2010
Posted In: Comics
You Have A Good One

“You have a good one” is akin to saying “Have a Nice Day.”
Isn’t it ironic that “A Good One” is also a congratulatory phrase used when someone tells a “Good Joke?”

Men are most apt to believe what they least understand.
Quotation from Michel Eyquem, Of Cripples

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30 Comments

Sugarcoating

by Seraphine Khorana on January 9th, 2010
Posted In: Comics
Sugarcoating

A reader left a comment here yesterday: “Yeah, yeah. Let’s shower each other with compliments. You scratch my back, I will scratch yours. All are happy. I’m fed up with the over-sugarness in the photo-blogosphere. “Brilliant!”, “Incredible!”, “Great!” … blah.”
Having grown up in a negative household, I prefer having my back scratched. Too much sugar is preferable to sourness and the occasional bitter taste that life insists on feeding us. But, dear reader, I appreciate the honest comment. Thanks!

They loved my friend Adam
But he always got caught.
Man, that kid made fucking up look cool.
Aren’t we all so cool now? No.
Lyrics from Something Corporate, Cavanaugh Park

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My Story (and I’m sticking to it)

by Seraphine Khorana on November 17th, 2009
Posted In: Comics
My Story (and I’m sticking to it)

I sometimes can’t remember what I did yesterday, much less a week ago. Somebody in a crosswalk walked in front of me as I was driving- what was he wearing? What did I eat for lunch? Where did I lay my glasses? I don’t consider myself stupid, but why can’t I remember?

People are overly optimistic about the accuracy of their retrieved memories, probably because most errors have little practical consequence and go unnoticed. Given the confidence in their own memory accuracy, people have too much faith in the accuracy of eyewitnesses. Memory has a multitude of quirks and inaccuracies that creep into its everyday operation.
Quotation from Marc Green, Phd, Eyewitness Memory is Unreliable

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Avoiding the Crash Wall

by Seraphine Khorana on October 21st, 2009
Posted In: Comics
Avoiding the Crash Wall

President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Let us wish him well for all our sakes.

I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that. I have said repeatedly that America doesn’t torture. And I’m gonna make sure that we don’t torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America’s moral stature in the world.
Quotation from President Barack Obama

If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.
Another Quotation from President Obama

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The Emo Berry

by Seraphine Khorana on October 17th, 2009
Posted In: Comics
The Emo Berry

A life without pain offers no opportunity for self-examination or spiritual fulfillment. Everything that is perceived to be worthwhile and good would become meaningless without suffering and resolution. Accept your pain, but don’t passively accept the pain of others. And remember: Pain is never cool when one person inflicts it on another.

Pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Quotation from Kahlil Gibran

The pain passes, but the beauty remains.
Quotation from Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Phemie Alcott’s MySpace Page I love her music!

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Another One of Life’s Shining Moments

by Seraphine Khorana on October 15th, 2009
Posted In: Comics
Another One of Life’s Shining Moments

I’m on my way out, she said,
like she was picking up keys
after finishing the grocery list
and buttoning her coat
before quietly closing
the door after her.
Poem for Aunt Lucille, recently diagnosed with incurable liver cancer.

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Comic #700

by Seraphine Khorana on October 7th, 2009
Posted In: Comics
Comic #700

Grace is loving those who don’t deserve to be loved. It’s giving an undeserved gift.

Grace in women gains the affections sooner, and secures them longer, than any thing else. It is an outward and visible sign of an inward harmony of soul.
Quotation from William Hazlitt

Grace is available for each of us every day- our spiritual daily bread- but we’ve got to remember to ask for it with a grateful heart and not worry about whether there will be enough for tomorrow.
Quotation from Sarah Ban Breathnach

This is comic #700. I am grateful for every comment, every kind word, given over the last 2 1/2 years. Thank you so much for overlooking my faults and petty mistakes. I am blessed because of you.

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Words Words Words (and still we do it)

by Seraphine Khorana on February 12th, 2009
Posted In: Comics
Words Words Words (and still we do it)

Everything I understand, I understand with words, though there are words beyond words and more misunderstandings than understandings.

Were you thinking that those were the words—
those upright lines? those curves, angles, dots?
No, those are not the words—the substantial words are in the ground and sea,
They are in the air— they are in you.
Quotation from Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Poem by Maya Angelou, Still I Rise

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