“Rhodes Scholars named for 2010 - Newsday” plus 4 more

Rhodes Scholars named for 2010 - Newsday
Home Spirituality Philosophy Life after Death - Aish
New concept offers market’s back-to-basics philosophy for sellers ... - ReporterHerald.com
St. Louisian among 2010 Rhodes Scholars - KMOV
Honda’s design philosophy stresses function - KIVI-TV

Rhodes Scholars named for 2010 - Newsday

Posted: 22 Nov 2009 02:20 PM PST

November 22, 2009 By The Associated Press

Quick Summary

32 US men and women named winners of 2010 Rhodes Scholars for studies at Oxford University

WASHINGTON - WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior at Truman State University is among 32 men and women from across the U.S. have been selected as Rhodes Scholars for 2010.

Andrew McCall of St. Louis is the first Rhodes Scholar to be elected from Truman State.

He is studying philosophy and religion at the Kirksville school, which has about 6,000 students. He also is captain of the swimming team and a violinist in the university symphony.

McCall also has taken courses in Vienna, Austria, and the University of Colorado.

The scholarships announced early Sunday provide all expenses for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England. The 32 winners were selected from 805 applicants endorsed by 326 different colleges and universities.

McCall plans to study philosophy.

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On the Net: www.rhodesscholar.org

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Home Spirituality Philosophy Life after Death - Aish

Posted: 22 Nov 2009 03:07 AM PST

Recently there's been a spate of new books presenting what the authors consider an unshakable case for the survival of consciousness beyond death, drawn from quantum mechanics, neuroscience and moral philosophy.

But I have to confess that having the inside information Judaism gave me -- long before the publication of these new findings that claim to know what happens after our "full life of 120" -- is far more satisfying than the most compelling and supposedly scientific validity for belief in an afterlife.

True, Jewish tradition never emphasized or even went into great detail about the specifics of the World to Come. It was simply a given, a fact rooted, as biblical commentators explained, in the notion that we are created "in the image of God." Since God is eternal, there is something within every one of us -- the Divine essence that represents our identity and that we refer to as our souls -- that must of necessity be equally eternal and immortal.

Our souls accompany us in our journey through life and do not forsake us with the end of our physical beings

Our bodies, as material creations, came from the dust of the earth and have to return to their source; they disintegrate when they are buried. But our souls are the gift of "Himself" that the Almighty breathed into us. They accompany us in our journey through life and do not forsake us with the end of our physical beings.

Judaism did not dwell on the obvious. Sure there is life after death; without it life would be rendered a transient flash in the pan, perhaps fun while it lasted but ultimately devoid of meaning. The Torah recorded the past as history; it chose to leave the future as mystery. Its purpose was primarily to be a "tree of life" concerned with teaching us how to improve ourselves and our world while we inhabit it. The details of our post-terrestrial existence were in the main left unrecorded. There will be time enough for us to discover the Divine master plan for the World to Come -- once we get there.

But if we are to lead our lives with the proper sense of responsibility and purpose, there are some things that the Sages realized we have to know about. So they did give us a peek into the future after our deaths.

At the moment of death, we catch a glimpse of God. The Torah teaches us that God decreed, "No man can see me and live" (Exodus 33:20). The implication is clear: with the end of life we are granted the gift of a minute vision of the Almighty. That is the reason, many commentators suggest, that we are obligated to close the eyes of the deceased. The eyes that have now beheld God Himself must be shut off from any further contact with the profane.

And it is this momentary meeting that serves to give meaning to all of our lives. We suddenly grasp that everything we have ever done or said was in the presence of a Higher Power. Everything we accomplished or failed to do was judged by the One Who created us. "Know before whom you are destined to give a final accounting" is the language of the Talmud. Can there be a greater incentive to do good and not evil than the knowledge that in the end it is God Who will pass judgment on whether we were a success or a failure?

In Kabbalah, the mystics add a small piece to the story. It is not only God who judges us. As we bid farewell to the world, we are shown a film that contains scenes of our entire lives. We are witnesses to every moment of our days on Earth as they pass before us with incredible rapidity. And as we watch our own story unfold, there are times when we cringe with embarrassment; others when we smile with glee. Our past moral lapses cause us to shudder in pain; our victories over our evil inclinations provide us with a keen sense of spiritual triumph. It is then that we realize in retrospect that we alone are the greatest judges of our own lives. What happens after death is that we gain the wisdom to evaluate our own life by the standards of Heaven -- because we have finally glimpsed an eternal perspective.

The Eternal, Here and Now

There is a synagogue in Jerusalem with a most unusual architectural feature. Built into one of the walls facing the congregants is a coffin. When I visited and remarked upon this seemingly morbid addition, one of the elders explained to me that this was a tradition their community maintained for many centuries. It had its roots in an effort to remind everyone of the cardinal truth that, being mortal, we are all destined someday to face our Maker. No one is exempt from the final judgment. To place this in the forefront of our consciousness every day, he smilingly said to me, is not morbid but surely a mitzvah.

No, we do not need to know the details of the World to Come. But we must constantly be aware of the reality that our days will be scrutinized by a Higher Authority -- and that we ourselves will be forced to join in the Divine judgment.

There is no clear picture painted for us of Heaven and Hell. While belief in reward and punishment after death is, according to Maimonides, one of the 13 major principles of our faith, we have no way of knowing exactly what is meant by this concept. But we can hazard a guess. Since our entry into the next world is preceded by the obligation for every one of us to watch the film record of our lives, what greater Hell can there be than for us to have to acknowledge our shameful actions and our unconscionable failings unto all eternity? And what greater Heaven can there be than the ability to look back forever on personal acts of goodness, of charity, and of noble and pious behavior that made us find favor in the eyes of God?

That's why it's so important for us to affirm that death isn't the end. And even if we don't know exactly how our souls will be treated either above or below, we have been assured that the righteous are guaranteed rewards commensurate with their good deeds, and the wicked will rue the evil they perpetrated.

Hell is the deepest realization that we have squandered part of our life.

What is Hell? Remember when you were in eighth grade and something utterly embarrassing happened? The shame you felt and how you just wanted the ground to open up so you could disappear. That is Hell. It is the deepest realization that our life (or part of it) has been squandered, which creates a deep regret and shame in our soul.

The good news is that God -- in His infinite kindness – established this as a cleansing process, where after one year (or less), all the negativity has been forever washed away.

Closing the Curtain

So why think about what happens after death while we're still here? The answer is simple and at the same time most profound: Whatever actions we take on Earth must be with a sense of their eternal ramification.

Perhaps it's best reflected in the following story. A very wealthy man not known for his piety stood in a long line of those waiting to have their lives assessed by the heavenly court. He listened attentively as those who were being judged before him recounted both their spiritual failings and achievements. A number of them seemed to have the scales weighted against them until they suddenly remembered acts of charity they had performed, which dramatically tipped the scales in their favor. The rich man took it all in and smiled to himself.

When it was his turn, he confidently said, "I may have committed many sins during my lifetime, but I realize now what has the power to override them. I am a very wealthy man and I will be happy to write out a very large check to whatever charity you recommend."

To which the court replied, "We are truly sorry, but here we do not accept checks -- only receipts."

The choices we make today create our portion in the Next World. For eternity.

The true tragedy of death is that it represents the closing curtain on our ability to do anymore mitzvot. We no longer have the free will to do good (or evil). It is only what we bring to that moment that can earn us entry into a state of eternal bliss. It's what we do here and now that truly matters. The choices we make today create our portion in the Next World. For eternity.

Death isn't a destroyer; it's a transition. As the chassidic Rabbi Mendel of Kotzk put it, "Death is just a matter of going from one room to another. And if we live our lives in accord with the will of God, we are certain that the place we are going to is ultimately the more beautiful area."

Yes, there is life after death. But the greatest afterlife is achieved by focusing on how we can maximize our life before death.

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New concept offers market’s back-to-basics philosophy for sellers ... - ReporterHerald.com

Posted: 22 Nov 2009 05:02 AM PST

Loveland chef Channing Meyer handed out bite-size samples of flourless tortes Nov. 14 at the Fort Collins Winter Farmers Market.

Meyer wanted the customers who stopped at his booth in the Opera Galleria in downtown Fort Collins to try the new sauces, jams and other products that he debuted that day.

"People can give us good feedback right here," Meyer said.

Meyer is expanding his Loveland-based catering business, Satori Grill, which he co-owns with his wife, Mary Bahus-Meyer, by adding a retail line.

"We think it's a way to make gourmet affordable … for foodies to try without going to a catered event," Bahus-Meyer said.

The Meyers were among the more than 45 Northern Colorado businesses that had booths set up at the Fort Collins Winter Farmers Market, which is held twice a month from November through March.

"We're intermingling with other
businesses that are local that have the same values that we do," said Susan Jessup, owner of Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch in Loveland, a participant in the farmers market. "The values are back to basics, more of an organic lifestyle close to the land."

The winter farmers market is co-hosted by the Northern Colorado Food Incubator, a nonprofit organization that supports and assists food-related businesses and entrepreneurs in the region.

The organization provides free consultation services to help independent businesses get started or expand, along with giving those that need it access to local commercial kitchens.

The market, which was initiated in 2006, features late-season produce, grass-fed beef and buffalo products, confections and baked goods, meats and cheeses and handcrafted products.

"It's an opportunity to meet and get to know over time the growers and producers of your food," said Hill Grimmett, director of the Northern Colorado Food Incubator and co-director of Be Local Northern Colorado, the parent organization of the food incubator and co-host of the market.

The market connects local producers of homegrown and homemade products with community buyers, a way to support the local economy, Grimmett said.

The market has space for 45 vendors — or more if they share a booth space — and will feature 65 different vendors over the winter season, Grimmett said. The initial market had 25 vendors, he said.

"The place will be jam-packed every time," he said.

Last year, the average turnout for the market was 1,400 to 1,800 people, Grimmett said.

The food incubator is planning a community marketplace that will open in spring 2012 to offer a year-round market at a yet-to-be-determined location — likely near Old Town Square in Fort Collins, Grimmett said.

"In some sense, the winter farmers market is a test bed for the year-round farmers market," Grimmett said.

The community marketplace will consist of two interconnected structures, that of a market hall and the upper floors. The market hall will feature indoor stalls for specialty vendors and retail shops, while the upper floors will be reserved for an event space, community meeting rooms, offices and a rooftop deck.

"It's a European-style market," Grimmett said. "The vision here is a food system that works year-round."

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St. Louisian among 2010 Rhodes Scholars - KMOV

Posted: 22 Nov 2009 02:06 PM PST

by The Associated Press

Posted on November 22, 2009 at 4:01 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A senior at Truman State University is among 32 men and women from across the U.S. have been selected as Rhodes Scholars for 2010.

Andrew McCall of St. Louis is the first Rhodes Scholar to be elected from Truman State.

He is studying philosophy and religion at the Kirksville school, which has about 6,000 students. He also is captain of the swimming team and a violinist in the university symphony.

McCall also has taken courses in Vienna, Austria, and the University of Colorado.

McCall plans to study philosophy.

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Honda’s design philosophy stresses function - KIVI-TV

Posted: 22 Nov 2009 02:38 AM PST

Honda isn't typically singled out for its design expertise. Instead, it is the fun-to-drive and rock-solid aspects of Honda vehicles that usually get top billing. But quietly, Honda has been capturing more and more international kudos for its leading-edge design work, and we were pleased to have the opportunity to meet with Nobuki Ebisawa, the corporate managing director and general manager of styling and design development, to talk about it.

Ebisawa stressed two simple and overarching themes for Honda design: dynamism and functionality. He said the company's designers still draw inspiration from the functional designs of the first-generation Civic and first-generation Accord that were drawn in the same nondescript design studio in which Ebisawa and his crew work today. And at the same time, they look back all the way to the 1963 S500 sports car to channel the dynamism that helps set the brand apart.

Ebisawa is proud of what he calls "an unbroken chain of dynamism and functionality" that stretches from those earliest models through the legendary Acura NSX sports coupe of the '90s to the Honda Odyssey minivan that transformed its segment. He expects that the upcoming hybrid Honda CR-Z, which was shown in concept form at the recent Tokyo Motor Show, will draw on both aspects of the Honda personality. Functionality will be characterized by the fuel-efficient hybrid drivetrain, and dynamism will be expressed by the car's style and fun-to-drive nature.

While the exterior design of Honda vehicles has not always been highly praised, the interior of its vehicles -- and especially their instruments and controls -- have routinely been lauded around the globe. Ebisawa cites his group's intense study of the "man-machine interface" for this, noting that Honda has long relied on the philosophy "Man maximum, machine minimum" in its designs. This means that Honda's controls are intended to be intuitive, not intrusive: to help the driver, not to challenge the driver or to make a design statement for design's sake.

An example of this effort is the bi-level instrument panel seen on the current Honda Civic. Intuitive operation and instant recognition were keys in the design, and Ebisawa said that in the "layered construction," perceived space is enhanced and line of sight movement minimized to prioritize information. Special effort goes into achieving natural hand position and create buttons that are easily understood. Ebisawa believes that voice support is the next frontier in making things simpler and more functional.

Since 2000, said Ebisawa, Honda design execs made the conscious decision to add emotional appeal to the company's vehicles without compromising functionality. In keeping with the "man maximum, machine minimum" philosophy, space has been intentionally reduced for mechanical components, and interior space with long rooflines has been increased to maximize usable roominess.

The Honda CR-Z, which will be launched next year, will encapsulate all these ideas in a vehicle that is functional and emotional, dynamic yet pragmatic. It draws on Honda's long heritage while at the same time presenting a new face and a new heart. The CR-Z will also be the harbinger of even more fascinating products from the carmaker that was once best known for its motorcycles.

Tom Ripley Driving Today Contributing Editor Tom Ripley writes frequently about the auto industry and the human condition from his home in Villeperce, France. He is a big fan of the art world.

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Philosophy

Sunday, November 22, 2009