Setting goals

Until you commit your goals to paper, you have intentions that are seeds without soil
-- Anonymous

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Origins

It might seem odd that I entitled this blog "Mountaineering" or go by the twitter handle mountaineer10 . I don't particularly like climbing mountains. Rather, the name came from a show I liked called  Alias where the heroine, Syndey Bristow, a double agent, went by the code name mountaineer. Initially I used the alias to set up a twitter account to play around with that doesn't have any obvious connections to me. But fast forward to present day, I actually like and use twitter now, so I've made my twitter identity known to the general public. Thus, the name has stuck. But maybe it's not a bad name. After all, life can be thought of as a constant journey uphill, like climbing a mountain, where we all are mountaineers. I'm just another one of them.
Read more

Legislation against free speech

About a week ago, I read on the  news  that the French senate has passed a bill making it illegal to deny the Armenian genocide that took place under Ottoman rule. Denial is now a crime punishable by a year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros. It is objectionable that in a democratic society in which one of the most fundamental pillars is free speech that such a law could even be passed. Never mind that this legislation seemed to come out of nowhere. What had prompted France to get in between this century-old conflict between the Turks and the Armenians at this time? History of all things is never black or white. "History is fables agreed upon" according Voltaire. France may have gained favour with its 500,000 or so resident Armenians, but this is a step back for free speech. The government should not be in the business of legislating people what to believe. Jan. 31, 2012 Latest update to this story:  France's Armenia genocide law put on hold
Read more

Complaining versus having an opinion

It's been brought to my attention lately that I complain a lot. Didn't really think of myself as much of a complainer, but hearing this from someone who knows me pretty well, I take stock. I do like to comment on a lot of things and I see how my negative comments can be taken as complaining. Like how the steak is overcooked, how google+ randomly inserts unsolicited posts in my stream, how cold it is in my house... In my view, I'm just voicing an opinion. Which got me thinking, is there a difference between giving a negative opinion and complaining? In both cases you are sharing a negative view about something, but I think the difference is that the latter is accompanied with a desire for recompense, whether from the subject or some unknown power. It is told as if someone owes you something. All the same, I will pay attention to what I say over the next few days to see if this is true. 
Read more