What does political corruption means?

A child asked his father "what does political corruption means?"
The father answered "see.. It's not easy to understand it at your age but I can give you an analogy.
I spend money on this family so let's call me capitalism.
Your mother governs the affairs of the house and takes care of you and your little sister, so we will call her the government.
You are under your mom's responsibility so we call you the people,
while your little sister is our hope so we consider her to be the future.
Finally, the maid that is working in the house between cleaning and cooking we call her the working class.
Now, go think about it, and you shall understand."

Later at night the boy could not sleep from his little sister's crying as she needed her diaper changed. So he got up and went to tell his mom, but found submerged in a deep sleep and did not wake up when he tried to wake her up. Then he noticed his dad was not in bed next to her!

He went looking for his dad around the house when he heard the whispers and laughter in the maid's room, he peeked through the key hole and saw his dad engaged with the maid.

The next day the boy told his father that he now understands the meaning of political corruption.

He explained "While capitalism is playing with the working class and the government is asleep, the people become worried and neglected as the future swims in deep shit."

Einstein and God

What did history’s greatest minds believe in? It is a question that many of us have asked. It is a question that has undoubtedly been tossed around when somebody comes out as an atheist. While the beliefs of most celebrities are irrelevant, the religious and philosophical ideas of those famed for their intellect is a more interesting topic.
Albert Einstein’s religious beliefs are chief among these inquiries. Many people know he was raised as a Jew, and some people remain convinced of his dedication to the God of Abraham. Atheists like to include him as being one their own, being able to say that one of the greatest geniuses in world history was on your side is a nice endorsement, so it is understandable why all sides want to claim him.

But what did he believe?

In January of 1936, Einstein received a letter from a young girl in the sixth grade. She had asked him, with the encouragement of her teacher, whether you could believe in science and religion.

My dear Dr. Einstein,

We have brought up the question: 'Do scientists pray?' in our Sunday school class. It began by asking whether we could believe in both science and religion. We are writing to scientists and other important men, to try and have our own question answered.

We will feel greatly honored if you will answer our question: Do scientists pray, and what do they pray for?
We are in the sixth grade, Miss Ellis's class.
Respectfully yours,

Phyllis

He was quick to reply few days later:

Dear Phyllis,

I will attempt to reply to your question as simply as I can. Here is my answer:
Scientists believe that every occurrence, including the affairs of human beings, is due to the laws of nature. Therefore a scientist cannot be inclined to believe that the course of events can be influenced by prayer, that is, by a supernaturally manifested wish.
However, we must concede that our actual knowledge of these forces is imperfect, so that in the end the belief in the existence of a final, ultimate spirit rests on a kind of faith. Such belief remains widespread even with the current achievements in science.

But also, everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that some spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe, one that is vastly superior to that of man. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is surely quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive.

With cordial greetings,

your A. Einstein

In his reply to Phyllis, Einstein hints at his pantheism; the idea that “God is everything”. 

Several times he expressed this view explicitly, telling the Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein:

“I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals himself in the harmony of all that exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.” 

He went further in telling an interviewer that he was, “fascinated by Spinoza's Pantheism.”

This pantheism would form the basis of his worldview, and even influence his ideas in physics.

Pantheism can be defined as a few similar ideas. In the simplest form, it is the belief that everything is identical to God. Holders of this view will often say that God is the universe, nature, the cosmos, or that everything is “one” with God. However, some holders of the view argue that it can also mean that the essence of the divine is in everything without everything “being part” of God.

The Pantheism of Spinoza, which Einstein was most interested in, holds that the universe is identical to God. This God is impersonal and uninterested in human affairs. Everything is made of the same fundamental substance, which is derivative of God. The laws of physics are absolute and causality leads to determinism in this cosmos. Everything which happens was the result of necessity and it was the will of God. For the individual, happiness follows from understanding the cosmos and our place in it rather than trying to pray for divine intervention. 

Einstein’s views of God, life, and the universe are more complicated than people who want him on their side make them out to be. His devotion to science and reason drove him to the rationalistic worldview of Spinoza, and to a detachment from organized religion. His ideas are worth studying, as are the worldviews of most geniuses. Especially for the next time a meme goes around trying to claim him as a member of one religion over another.

WHY ME?

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983.

From the world over, he received letters from his fan, one of them conveyed: "Why does God have to select you for such a bad disease?".

To this Arthur Ashe replied:

The world over 50,000,000 children start playing tennis, 5,000,000 learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach the Wimbledon, 4 to semi finals, 2 to finals. When I was the one holding the cup, I never asked god "Why me?".

And today in pain, I should not be asking GOD "why me?"

Ulay Oh..

Performance artist Marina Abramovic was doing a live art show that involved her sitting in silence for 1 minute opposite complete strangers. Lots of people took part, but one man in particular gave her goosebumps.

I’ll let you watch the video and then I will explain a little more further below as I think you will appreciate the back story more once you see what happens in the video.

The story behind the scene:

In 2010, Serbian artist Marina Abramović had the honor of being the subject of a popular retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Throughout the show, Abramović performed a 736 hours and 30 minutes grueling piece entitled “The Artist Is Present,” sitting in the museum’s atrium and inviting the swelling crowds of viewers to sit directly opposite her, in silent dialogue. Abramović was no stranger to challenging performances. By the time that MoMA staged the retrospective, the then 63 year old artist had engaged in countless taxing exhibitions, earning her self-given title, “the grandmother of performance art.”

In her first performance at 27, Abramović explored the idea of ritual by playing a knife game on camera, stabbing the surface between her splayed fingers with a knife and occasionally hurting herself; she would then watch a video recording of the violence, and attempt to replicate it. Subsequent performances included her explorations of consciousness through the ingestion of pills for catatonia and depression; another comprised a 1974 incarnation of her MoMA performance, where Abramović sat passively before a table littered with objects for six hours, inviting the audience to put them to use on her person (of this piece, Abramović says, “What I learned was that… if you leave it up to the audience, they can kill you… I felt really violated: they cut up my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach…”)

In 1976, Abramović met Ulay (Frank Uwe Laysiepen), a West German artist who would become her lover and collaborator for the next twelve years. The duo fell into an impersonal abyss, losing their self hoods and attempting to become a single entity through arresting performances such as Breathing In/Breathing Out, where they locked mouths and breathed each other’s exhaled breath, eventually filling their lungs with carbon monoxide and falling unconscious.

By 1988, their romance had run its course; in typically atypical fashion, the pair decided to part by walking from opposing ends of the Great Wall of China until they met in the middle, and then said goodbye.

On the opening night of Abramović’s retrospective in 2010, the erstwhile lovers were reunited. The video above shows Abramović, sitting and steeling herself for her next silent interlocutor. Ulay approaches, and Abramović, a veteran of such difficult performances, looks up to what may have been the single most unexpected sight of the night, jolting her dignified composure. Their reunion is a deeply tender scene.

Marina and Ulay

Ever since I saw the video on YouTube, I wanted to know more about Marina's personal life and most important about her relation with Ulay. I couldn't understand how a couple could do what they've done. It's not easy to decide to break up without no reason.

There is a  a biography by James Wescott "When Marina Abramovic Dies", that was published in March 2010 during her residence at MoMa. 

Wescott worked with Marina on the book, and it's undoubtedly slanted a bit in her favor.

Unfortunately I didn't read the entire book, but it is highly recommend by several websites as "a balanced look at her work and her private life". 

From what I've read on the web, Marina and Ulay's relationship is the center of the book and of Marina's life - they were together for nearly twelve years, living and working together in intense intimacy. They had originally planned to walk towards each other from the opposite ends of the Great Wall of China, meet in the middle, and get married. When they actually did it ten years later they walked to each other over the course of ninety days, embraced, and went their separate ways.

Ulay married his translator from the trip shortly thereafter, and Marina returned to New York. I can't imagine the heartbreak she must have felt (not to mention the exhaustion) on that plane ride home. As she wept when they met on the Wall Ulay told her, "Don't cry; we have accomplished so much." And Marina would go on to accomplish much more without Ulay.

At 71 years old she is still glowing.

How I Became the Bomb's 'Ulay, Oh'

The clip featured the story of  Marina and Ulay, by the band Adonis EP..

Several sites (like this one, this one and this one ) got hold of the video, posting it under headlines like "The Power of Love" and "She Sat With Many Strangers That Day, But When This Man Shows Up I Got Goosebumps", "Love Is Blind. Until You See Your Ex Again!"

At the time of this post's publication, "Ulay, Oh" has received more than 34 million views and still counting

“I was fortunate enough to wander into the MoMA just in time for "The Artist Is Present". Equal parts unsettling, absurd, and profound; I couldn't shake the experience. Later, I stumbled onto the video wherein Ulay and Marina reunite and was overwhelmed with only one sentiment: this is a song.”

- HIBTB frontman Jon Burr

The Lyrics

There she was like a picture
There she was, she was just the same

There she was, he just had to know that she had forgot his name
Ulay, ulay, oh

Thinking back to the last time
On the wall as they turned away
Walking back, was it just a dream or did he hear her say?
Ulay, ulay, oh

Trying his best to forget her
Trying his best to just keep his stride
Kept his word, but he knows he heard
Ulay, ulay, oh
Ulay, ulay, oh

There she was like a picture
There she was, she was just the same
There she was, he just had to know she had not forgot his name
Ulay, ulay, oh
Ulay, ulay, oh
Ulay, ulay, oh
Ulay, ulay, oh
Ulay, ulay, oh
Ulay, ulay, oh
Ulay, ulay, oh

There he was like his picture
There he was, he was just the same
There he was, he could never know she could never give his name
Ulay, ulay, oh

Thinking back to the last time
On the wall as he turned away
Turning back, did he even know?
Did he ever hear her say
Ulay, ulay, oh

Trying her best to forget him
Trying her best just to keep her stride
Ulay, ulay, oh
Ulay, ulay, oh

There they were like the picture
There they were, they were just the same
There they were, but he walked away and her eyes could only say
Ulay, ulay, oh

Bésame Mucho

Bésame Mucho	Kiss me a lot
Bésame, bésame mucho Como si fuera esta noche La última vez	Kiss me, kiss me a lot As if tonight were The last time
Bésame, bésame mucho Que tengo miedo a perderte Perderte otra vez	Kiss me, kiss me a lot I am afraid of losing you Losing you again
Bésame, bésame mucho Como si fuera esta noche La última vez	Kiss me, kiss me a lot As if tonight were The last time
Bésame, bésame mucho Que tengo miedo a perderte Perderte otra vez	Kiss me, kiss me a lot I am afraid of losing you Losing you again
Bésame, bésame mucho	Kiss me, kiss me a lot
Bésame, bésame mucho Que tengo miedo a perderte Perderte otra vez	Kiss me, kiss me a lot I am afraid of losing you Losing you again
Quiero tenerte muy cerca Mirarme en tus ojos Verte junto a mi Piensa que tal vez mañana Yo ya estaré lejos Tan lejos de ti	I want to have you close to me To see myself in your eyes To see you next to me Think that perhaps tomorrow I will be far So far away from you
Bésame, bésame mucho Como si fuera esta noche La última vez	Kiss me, kiss me a lot As if tonight were The last time
Bésame, bésame mucho Que tengo miedo a perderte Perderte otra vez	Kiss me, kiss me a lot I am afraid of losing you Losing you again

André Rieu & Laura Engel performing Bésame Mucho live in Maastricht.