100 Greatest Songs of the 90's

1. Nirvana - "Smells Like Te-en Spirit" (1991, #6 US)
   
2. U2 - "One" (1991, #10 US)
   
3. Backstreet Boys - "I Want It That Way" (1999, #6 US)
   
4. Whitney Houston - "I Will Always Love You" (1992, #1 US)
   
5. Madonna - "Vogue" (1990, #1 US)
   
6. Sir Mix-A-Lot - "Baby Got Back" (1992, #1 US)
   
7. Britney Spears - "...Baby One More Time" (1999, #1 US)
   
8. TLC - "Waterfalls" (1994, #1 US)
   
9. R.E.M. - "Losing My Religion" (1991, #4 US)
   
10. Sinéad O'Connor - "Nothing Compares 2 U" (1990, #1 US)
    
11. Pearl Jam - "Jeremy" (1991, #79 US)
    
12. Alanis Morissette - "You Oughta Know" (1995)
    
13. Dr. Dre (featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg) - "Nuthin' but a "G" Thang" (1992, #2 US)
    
14. Mariah Carey - "Vision of Love" (1990, #1 US)
    
15. Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Under the Bridge" (1991, #2 US)
    
16. MC Hammer - "U Can't Touch This" (1990, #8 US)
    
17. Destiny's Child - "Say My Name" (1999, #1 US)
    
18. Metallica - "Enter Sandman" (1991, #16 US)
    
19. Beastie Boys - "Sabotage" (1994)
    
20. Hanson - "MMMBop" (1997, #1 US)
    
21. Celine Dion - "My Heart Will Go On" (1997, #1 US)
    
22. Beck - "Loser" (1994, #10 US)
    
23. Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue - "Whatta Man" (1993, #3 US)
    
24. House of Pain - "Jump Around" (1992, #3 US)
    
25. Soundgarden - "Black Hole Sun" (1994)
    
26. Eminem - "My Name Is" (1999, #26 US)
    
27. Counting Crows - "Mr. Jones" (1993)
    
28. Ricky Martin - "Livin' la Vida Loca" (1999, #1 US)
    
29. Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice Baby" (1990, #1 US)
    
30. *NSYNC - "Tearin' Up My Heart" (1998)
    
31. Radiohead - "Creep" (1993)
    
32. BLACKstreet - "No Diggity" (1996, #1 US)
    
33. Spice Girls - "Wannabe" (1997, #1 US)
    
34. Third Eye Blind - "Semi-Charmed Life" (1997, #4 US)
    
35. Oasis - "Wonderwall" (1995, #8 US)
    
36. C+C Music Factory - "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" (1991, #1 US)
    
37. Green Day - "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" (1998)
    
38. Christina Aguilera - "Genie In A Bottle" (1999, #1 US)
    
39. Goo Goo Dolls - "Iris" (1998)
    
40. Color Me Badd - "I Wanna Se-x You Up" (1991, #2 US)
    
41. Spin Doctors - "Two Princes" (1993, #7 US)
    
42. Collective Soul - "Shine" (1994, #11 US)
    
43. En Vogue - "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" (1992, #2 US)
    
44. The Fugees - "Killing Me Softly With His Song" (1996)
    
45. Hootie & the Bl-owfish - "Only Wanna Be With You" (1995, #6 US)
    
46. Shania Twain - "You're Still the One" (1998, #2 US)
    
47. Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch - "Good Vibrations" (1991, #1 US)
    
48. Matchbox Twenty - "3 A.M." (1997)
    
49. Jewel - "Who Will Save Your Soul" (1996, #11 US)
    
50. Alice in Chains - "Man in the Box" (1990)
    
51. 2Pac (featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman) - "California Love" (1996, #6 US)
    
52. Sugar Ray - "Fly" (1997)
    
53. Naughty by Nature - "O.P.P." (1991, #6 US)
    
54. Joan Osborne - "One of Us" (1995, #4 US)
    
55. Fiona Apple - "Criminal" (1996, #21 US)
    
56. L.L. Cool J - "Mama Said Knock You Out" (1990, #17 US)
    
57. Jay-Z featuring Amil and Ja Rule - "Can I Get A..." (1998)
    
58. Sophie B. Hawkins - "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover" (1992, #5 US)
    
59. Weezer - "Buddy Holly" (1994)
    
60. Bell Biv DeVoe - "Poison" (1990, #2 US)
    
61. Sheryl Crow - "All I Wanna Do" (1993, #2 US)
    
62. Live - "I Alone" (1994)
    
63. The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Mase & Puff Daddy - "Mo Money Mo Problems" (1997, #1 US)
    
64. The Presidents of the United States of America - "Peaches" (1995)
    
65. Digital Underground - "The Humpty Dance" (1990, #11 US)
    
66. Edwin McCain - "I'll Be" (1998, #5 US)
    
67. Deee-Lite - "Groove Is In The Heart" (1990, #4 US)
    
68. Will Smith - "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" (1998, #1 US)
    
69. Korn - "Freak on a Leash" (1998)
    
70. Jamiroquai - "Virtual Insanity" (1997)
    
71. Arrested Development - "Tennessee" (1992, #6 US)
    
72. Barenak-ed Ladies - "One Week" (1998, #1 US)
    
73. Marcy Playground - "S-ex and Candy" (1998, #5 US)
    
74. Cher - "Believe" (1999, #1 US)
    
75. Kris Kross - "Jump" (1992, #1 US)
    
76. Blues Traveler - "Run-around" (1995, #8 US)
    
77. Ice Cube - "It Was a Good Day" (1992, #15 US)
    
78. Lenny Kravitz - "Are You Gonna Go My Way" (1993)
    
79. Meredith Brooks - "Bitch" (1997, #2 US)
    
80. Right Said Fred - "I'm Too S-exy" (1992, #1 US)
    
81. Paula Cole - "I Don't Want to Wait" (1997, #11 US)
    
82. Geto Boys - "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" (1991, #23 US)
    
83. The Breeders - "Cannonball" (1993)
    
84. Snow - "Informer" (1993, #1 US)
    
85. Cypress Hill - "Insane In The Brain" (1993, #19 US)
    
86. The Cranberries - "Linger" (1993, #8 US)
    
87. Billy Ray Cyrus - "Achy Breaky Heart" (1992, #4 US)
    
88. Duncan Sheik - "Barely Breathing" (1997, #16 US)
    
89. Liz Phair - "Never Said" (1993)
    
90. New Radicals - "You Get What You Give" (1998, #37 US)
    
91. Sarah McLachlan - "Building a Mystery" (1997, #13 US)
    
92. Public Enemy - "911 Is a Joke" (1990)
    
93. Lisa Loeb - "Stay (I Missed You)" (1994, #1 US)
    
94. Fastball - "The Way" (1998)
    
95. Montell Jordan - "This Is How We Do It" (1995, #1 US)
    
96. Nelson - "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection" (1990, #1 US)
    
97. Prince & The New Power Generation - "Gett Off" (1991, #27 US)
    
98. EMF - "Unbelievable" (1991, #1 US)
    
99. Missy Elliott - "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" (1997)
    
100. Gerardo - "Rico Suave" (1991, #7 US)

Source: vh1

AI's Winning Songs

Season 8: No Boundaries by Kris Allen


Season 7: Time of My Life by David Cook


Season 6: This is My Now by Jordin Sparks


Season 5: Do I Make You Proud by Taylor Hicks


Season 4: Inside Your Heaven by Carrie Underwood


Season 3: I Believe by Fantasia


Season 2: Flying without Wings by Ruben Studdards


Season 1: A Moment Like This by Kelly Clarkson

Life Explained

On the first day God created the cow. God said,"You must go to the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer. I will give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said, "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. Let me have twenty and I'll give back the other forty." And God agreed.

On the second day God created the dog. God said, "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. I will give you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said, "That's too long to be barking. Give me ten years and I'll give you back the other ten" So God agreed.

On the third day God created the monkey. God said, "Entertain people, do monkey tricks, make them laugh. I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said, "How boring, monkey tricks for twenty years? I don't think so. Dog gave you back ten, so that's what I'll do too, okay?" And God agreed again.

On the fourth day God created man. God said, "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. I'll give you twenty years."

Man said, "What? Only twenty years! Tell you what, I'll take my twenty, and the forty the cow gave back, and the ten the dog gave back and the ten the monkey gave back, that makes eighty, okay?"

"Okay," said God, "you've got a deal."

So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play, and enjoy ourselves; for the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family; for the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren; and for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained.

-Author unknown
Found circulating around the internet.

The Spread of Happiness on Social Networks

"Happiness of an individual is associated with the happiness of people...up to three degrees removed from them in the social network.

So your happiness depends not just on the happiness of the people you know but also on the happiness of the people that they know and also in turn in the happiness of the people that they know...

There is a spread of happpiness in the network. And we also find that happy people have higher network centrality. That means they tend to be more likely in the middle of the network, have larger networks, and are located in larger clusters of happy people.

So it's not just you know more people if you are happy but you know more people who are happy if you are happy."

Nicholas Christakis
One of Time's 100 Most influential People for 2009

Daydreaming

Daydreaming helps brain tackle problems: Study
TORONTO: Daydreaming might not be such a bad thing after all. It helps the brain tackle life's more complex problems, a new study has found.

"Mind wandering is typically associated with negative things like laziness or inattentiveness," said study co-author, Kalina Christoff, psychologist at the University of British Columbia (UBC), who led the research.

"But this study shows our brains are very active when we daydream - much more active than when we focus on routine tasks," she added.

"When you daydream, you may not be achieving your immediate goal - say reading a book or paying attention in class - but your mind may be taking that time to address more important questions in your life, such as advancing your career or personal relationships," said Christoff.

The quantity and quality of brain activity suggests that people struggling to solve complicated problems might be better off switching to a simpler task and letting their mind wander.

For the study, subjects were placed inside an MRI scanner, where they performed the simple routine task of pushing a button when numbers appear on a screen.

Researchers tracked subjects' attentiveness moment-to-moment through brain scans, subjective reports from participants and by tracking their performance.

The findings suggest that daydreaming - which can occupy as much as a third of our waking lives - is an important cognitive state where we may unconsciously turn our attention from immediate tasks to sort through important problems in our lives.

Until now, the brain's "default network" - which is linked to easy, routine mental activity was the only part of the brain thought to be active when our minds wander, said an UBC release.

However, the study finds that the brain's "executive network" - associated with high-level, complex problem-solving, also becomes activated when we daydream.

"This is a surprising finding, that these two brain networks are activated in parallel," said Christoff. "Until now, scientists have thought they operated on an either-or basis - when one was activated, the other was thought to be dormant," said Christoff.

The less subjects were aware that their mind was wandering, the more both networks were activated.

These findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: The Times of India

Related Article:Daydreaming improves thinking

Truest Friend

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."

Washington Irving

Mothers Day Comments

Popular Names

Based on 2008 statistics, these are the Top 10 names for baby girls in the US:

1. Emma
   
2. Isabella
   
3. Emily
   
4. Madison
   
5. Ava
   
6. Olivia
   
7. Sophia
   
8. Abigail
   
9. Elizabeth
   
10. Chloe

The Top 10 names for baby boys:

1. Jacob
   
2. Michael
   
3. Ethan
   
4. Joshua
   
5. Daniel
   
6. Alexander
   
7. Anthony
   
8. William
   
9. Christopher
   
10. Matthew

Read the full article HERE.

Missing Poet

Craig Arnold Reads "Asunder"



Craig Arnold Reads "Incubus"

---

Craig Arnold (born November 16, 1967) is an American poet. His first book of poems, Shells (1999), was selected by W. S. Merwin for the Yale Series of Younger Poets. In 2005, he was awarded the Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize Fellowship in literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.He teaches poetry at the University of Wyoming.

As of April 30, 2009, Craig Arnold is missing on the small volcanic island of Kuchinoerabujima, Japan. He went for a solo hike to explore an active volcano on the island and never returned to the inn where he was staying. While Japanese law limits government-backed searches to three days, on April 30, 2009, the government agreed to extend the search an additional three days. Arnold was not found, and the search has now been picked up by the international NGO 1st Special Response Group.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Arnold

---

From the Associated Press (5/7/09):
Team to look 1 more day for missing poet in Japan

CHEYENNE, Wyo. » A search and rescue team is preparing to look one last day for Craig Arnold, an acclaimed poet with Utah ties who's been missing on a small Japanese island for more than 10 days.

Arnold, an award-winning poet who earned his doctorate at the University of Utah, is a University of Wyoming assistant professor who's been working on a book about volcanoes. The 41-year-old went missing April 26 while hiking on a volcano on the island.

A handful of Japanese are still looking for him, along with four Americans from a nonprofit search-and-rescue organization called 1st Special Response Group. The Americans joined the search this week.

David Kovar with the organization says the team picked up Arnold's trail near a crater at the top of the volcano and followed it to an area with deep ravines.

He says the searchers on Friday -- Japanese time -- will use ropes to get into the rugged terrain.

Math Humor

DEFINITIONS OF TERMS COMMONLY USED IN MATH
CLEARLY: I don't want to write down all the in-between steps.

TRIVIAL: If I have to show you how to do this, you're in the wrong class.

OBVIOUSLY: I hope you weren't sleeping when we discussed this earlier, because I refuse to repeat it.

RECALL: I shouldn't have to tell you this, but for those of you who erase your memory tapes after every test, here it is again.

WITHOUT LOSS OF GENERALITY: I'm not about to do all the possible cases, so I'll do one and let you figure out the rest.

ONE MAY SHOW: One did, his name was Gauss.

IT IS WELL KNOWN: See "Mathematische Zeitschrift'', vol XXXVI, 1892.

CHECK FOR YOURSELF: This is the boring part of the proof, so you can do it on your own time.

SKETCH OF A PROOF: I couldn't verify the details, so I'll break it down into parts I couldn't prove.

HINT: The hardest of several possible ways to do a proof.

BRUTE FORCE: Four special cases, three counting arguments, two long inductions, and a partridge in a pair tree.

SOFT PROOF: One third less filling (of the page) than your regular proof, but it requires two extra years of course work just to understand the terms.

ELEGANT PROOF: Requires no previous knowledge of the subject, and is less than ten lines long.

SIMILARLY: At least one line of the proof of this case is the same as before.

CANONICAL FORM: 4 out of 5 mathematicians surveyed recommended this as the final form for the answer.

THE FOLLOWING ARE EQUIVALENT: If I say this it means that, and if I say that it means the other thing, and if I say the other thing...

BY A PREVIOUS THEOREM: I don't remember how it goes (come to think of it, I'm not really sure we did this at all), but if I stated it right, then the rest of this follows.

TWO LINE PROOF: I'll leave out everything but the conclusion.

BRIEFLY: I'm running out of time, so I'll just write and talk faster.

LET'S TALK THROUGH IT: I don't want to write it on the board because I'll make a mistake.

PROCEED FORMALLY: Manipulate symbols by the rules without any hint of their true meaning.

QUANTIFY: I can't find anything wrong with your proof except that it won't work if x is 0.

FINALLY: Only ten more steps to go...

Q.E.D. : T.G.I.F.

PROOF OMITTED: Trust me, it's true.

Source: http://www.stetson.edu/~efriedma/mathhumor.html

Duffy's Poem

Here's a poem by Carol Ann Duffy, Britain's first female Poet Laureate:

Talent

This is the word tightrope. Now imagine
a man, inching across it in the space
between our thoughts. He holds our breath.

There is no word net.

You want him to fall, don't you?
I guessed as much; he teeters but succeeds.
The word applause is written all over him.

---

Last year, her poem "Education for Leisure" was removed from the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) syllabus in the United Kingdom upon the request of Assessment and Qualification Alliance (AQA) board.

On Boxing

"Boxing should be banned in civilized countries. So trumpeted The Journal of the American Medical Association on January 14, 1983, capturing the attention of a vast worldwide audience of supporters and critics. It was a stiff opening jab, but not a knockout punch. Was boxing banned? No. Was it intensely scrutinized? You bet, even including hearings in the United States Congress. The AMA and dozens of other national and specialty medical societies fell into line, demanding a ban. Even the Olympic Committees reexamined the activity. What is wrong with boxing? In addition to a host of sociologic concerns, boxing is wrong medically, since it not only kills some participants, it inflicts objectively proven chronic brain damage in as many as 80% of fighters who have had a substantial number of fights. It is wrong morally, because the intent of the sport is to harm the opponent in order to win, preferably by knockout brain damage by definition. These 2 objections, medical and moral, separate boxing from all other risk sports. What did improve? Shorter fights, referees stopping fights earlier, better medical exams by better trained doctors albeit of questionable ethics before fights. Fighters blinded by previous boxing injuries are now usually prevented from fighting. But blows to the head still damage the brain, whether acutely or long term, whether the fighter whose fist inflicts the blow is paid or not, and whether the head in which the brain resides is or is not clad with protective headgear."

                    -George D. Lundberg, M.D.

I don't eat that!

When asked about the "H1N1 flu", Paris Hilton answered: "I don't eat that."

Work is Love Made Visible

"Then a ploughman said, "Speak to us of Work."

And he answered, saying:

You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.

For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.

Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?

Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune.

But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born,

And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,

And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life's inmost secret.

But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written.

You have been told also life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.

And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,

And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,

And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,

And all work is empty save when there is love;

And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.

And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,

And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.

Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, "he who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is a nobler than he who ploughs the soil.

And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet."

But I say, not in sleep but in the over-wakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass;

And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.

Work is love made visible.

And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.

And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.

And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.


(From Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet")