resiliency amidst adversity

It is humbling to witness the generosity of the nations who have helped the Philippines recover from the adverse effects of typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda.  Support of any kind means a lot to the simple people of our country, and that equates to a big "Thank You".  Moreover, I thank Anderson Cooper for his inspiring and insightful words about the Filipino people:

"When everything else is taken away, broken, battered, soaked, raw, stripped, bare, you see things; you see people as they really are.  This week in Tacloban, Samar and Cebu, amidst the hunger and thirst, the chaos and confusion, we've seen the best in the Filipino people -- their strength, their courage.  I can't get it out of my mind.  Imagine the strength it takes for a mother to search alone for her missing kids, the strength to sleep on the street near the body of her child. 

We've seen people with every reason to despair, every right to be angry, instead find ways to laugh, to love, to stand up, to move forward. 

A storm breaks wood and bone, brings hurt and heartbreak.  In the end, the wind, the water, the horror it brings is not the end of the story.

With aid and assistance, compassion and care, this place, these people... they will make it through.  They already survived the worst.  They're bowed, perhaps tired and traumatized, but they are not broken.

Mabuhay Philippines!  Maraming salamat for all you've shown us.  Maraming salamat for showing us all how to live." 

from: "Typhoon Haiyan: Ruin and Rescue", Anderson Cooper 360° (AC 360), CNN, November 15, 2013

Probably, Filipinos are naturally resilient, but I think it's also about the unwavering faith in God.

“The lotus is the most beautiful flower, whose petals open one by one.  But it will only grow in the mud.  In order to grow and gain wisdom, first you must have the mud -- the obstacles of life and its suffering. ... The mud speaks of the common ground that humans share, no matter what our stations in life. ... Whether we have it all or we have nothing, we are all faced with the same obstacles: sadness, loss, illness, dying and death.  If we are to strive as human beings to gain more wisdom, more kindness and more compassion, we must have the intention to grow as a lotus and open each petal one by one.”

-- Goldie Hawn

quote and quote and square brackets

Image Credit: Pietro Bellini (via flickr)

“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
-- Isaac Newton



 

 

Image Credit: Sarah Ross (via flickr)

Image Credit: Lori Rielly (via flickr)

“No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.”
-- Isaac Newton

Image Credit: Daniel Doan (via flickr)

"Science is knowledge which we understand so well that we can teach it to a computer; and if we don't fully understand something, it is an art to deal with it. "
-- Donald Knuth

Image Credit: Paul Savala

"If you find that you're spending almost all your time on theory, start turning some attention to practical things; it will improve your theories. If you find that you're spending almost all your time on practice, start turning some attention to theoretical things; it will improve your practice."

-- Donald Knuth

Image Credit: Thomas Hawk

"The major cause [of the software crisis] is that the machines have become several orders of magnitude more powerful! To put it quite bluntly: as long as there were no machines, programming was no problem at all; when we had a few weak computers, programming became a mild problem, and now we have gigantic computers, programming has become an equally gigantic problem. In this sense the electronic industry has not solved a single problem, it has only created them, it has created the problem of using its products."

-- Edsger Dijkstra

"One of the most frequently mentioned equations was Euler's equation:

Respondents called it 'the most profound mathematical statement ever written'; 'uncanny and sublime'; 'filled with cosmic beauty'; and 'mind-blowing'. Another asked: 'What could be more mystical than an imaginary number interacting with real numbers to produce nothing?' The equation contains nine basic concepts of mathematics — once and only once — in a single expression. These are: e (the base of natural logarithms); the exponent operation; π; plus (or minus, depending on how you write it); multiplication; imaginary numbers; equals; one; and zero."

-- Robert P. Crease on "Euler's identity"

when many things turn out well

... that's what we also get from getting the best out of the situation

Photo credit: Triangle Workshop (via flickr)

... the art of victory lies on the struggle that has taken place

Photo credit: Jeffrey Pott

Photo credit: Jeffrey Pott

... it is valued according to the quality of the struggle

Photo credit: Triangle Workshop (via flickr)

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”

-- Mahatma Gandhi

the serious and the not so serious

Got some quotes from the animated films...

photo credit: Isaac Mao

the serious:
 
"I know this sounds insane, but... Well, the truth sounds insane sometimes. But that doesn't mean it's not the truth." 
-- Linguini (Ratatouille)

"When you first become an artist, you’re like that rock. You’re in a raw, unnatural state, with hidden gems inside.  You need to dig down deep and find the emeralds tucked away inside you.  And that’s just the beginning. Once you’ve found your gems, you have to polish them. It takes a lot of hard work." 
-- Nishi (Whisper of the Heart)

"I'm such a big coward, all I do is hide. All of this magic is to keep everybody away. I can't stand how scared I am." 
-- Howl (Howl's Moving Castle)

 "With this hand I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never be empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle, I will light your way into darkness. With this ring, I ask you to be mine." 
-- Victor (Corpse Bride)

"In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere..." 
-- Anton Ego (Ratatouille)

"But no matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach." 
-- Oogway (Kung Fu Panda)

"Nothing that happens is ever forgotten, even if you can't remember it." 
-- Zeniba (Spirited Away)


the not so serious:
 
Ginger: "Listen. We'll either die free chickens or we die trying."
Babs: "Are those the only choices?" 
(Chicken Run)

Mr. Incredible: "No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again. Sometimes I just want it to stay saved! You know, for a little bit? I feel like the maid; I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for... for ten minutes!"  
(The Incredibles)

[a dragon has a crush on Donkey]
Donkey: "I don't want to rush into a... physical relationship... I'm not that emotionally ready for a... uh... commitment of this... uh... magnitude! Really, that's the word I'm looking for, magnitude... Huh! Hey, that is unwanted physical contact! Hey! What're you doing? Okay, okay, okay... let's just back up a little and take this one step at a time... I mean, we should really get to know each other first, you know, as friends or maybe even as pen pals, you know, coz I'm on the road a lot, but I just love to get a card... Hey, hey, hey, don't do that, that's my TAIL, that's my personal tail, you gonna tear it off! I don't give permission to... Hey, what're you gonna do with that? Oh, no, no, no, no... no!" 
(Shrek)

photo credit: Damien du Toit

Pumbaa: "Hey, Timon, ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?"
Timon: "Pumbaa, I don't wonder; I know."
Pumbaa: "Oh. What are they?"
Timon: "They're fireflies. Fireflies that, uh... got stuck up on that big bluish-black thing."
Pumbaa: "Oh, gee. I always thought they were balls of gas burning billions of miles away."
Timon: "Pumbaa, with you, everything's gas."
 (The Lion King)

on machines and finding purpose

photo credit: Davide Dellacasa

     This is a quote from the child protagonist of the movie "Hugo".  It's simple, but striking enough to make a person think about purpose.


     I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine.  Machines never come with any extra parts, you know.  They always come with the exact amount they need.  So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part.  I had to be here for some reason.
     -- Hugo Cabret (from the film "Hugo" by Martin Scorsese)


     The machines being referred to here are machines with lots of gears in the early 20th century.  The setting is Paris, France after World War I.  The film "Hugo" is visually remarkable, and it makes use of the 3D well in the artistic sense.  It is essentially a tribute to the early days of cinema, so I think this can get a lot of attention from organizations dedicated to film-making.

photo credit: Alessandro Prada

machines from the first half of the 20th century vs. machines from the second half of the 20th century -- this is an example of what we call as big difference