Jos's E-Mail Signature CornerWork in progress....

It's a time honoured tradition to conclude one's e-mail with a philosophical or humorous remark, the so called signatures. My signatures usually reflect how I feel at that time or contain some hidden reference to a major event that is going on in my life. I am pretty easy to decode if you just follow all my e-mail signatures. I have collected a sizeable chunk of the signatures I used in the last couple of years, and present them here together with some short remarks on why I used this signature...

--
Love is as undemocratic as money,
it clusters mostly around people who have enough already...
  from "How to be good", by Nick Hornby


--
Viel mehr als gestern liebe ich dich heute.
Doch weniger noch als Ich dich morgen lieben wird.
  from "Wie vor Jahr und Tag", by Reinhard Mey


--
ek is so lug jy vlieg deur my
sonder jou is ek sonder patroon
   "Breyten Breytenbach"


--
We should often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world
understood our motives.
  "Francois de La Rochefoucauld"


--
"As you well know, appearances can be deceiving, which brings me back 
to the reason why we're here. We're not here because we're free, we're 
here because we're not free. There's no escaping reason, no denying 
purpose - because as we both know, without purpose, we would not exist."
~ ex-Agent Smith in The Matrix Reloaded


--
You can not evade the inevitable.
But you can confront and overcome it....


--
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life 
stands explained.
  "Mark Twain"


--
Only those whose lives are brief can imagine that love is eternal. We
should embrace that remarkable illusion. It may be the greatest gift 
our race has ever received.


--
I hate it when cows are higher than me...
  "Armijn Hemel"


--
In the end, there can be only one...


--
Denk niet dat er maar 1 pad voor je weg is gelegd,
Want zwijgend denk je meer dan je ooit hebt gezegd.


--
Success and happiness can not be pursued; it must ensue as the 
unintended side-effect of one's personal dedication to a course greater 
than oneself.


--
With all the things you are losing,
You might as well resign yourself,
And try and make a change...


--
It's another off day, in an off year.
Let's just hope it's not an off century, or an off millenium.


--
You are in America now. Speak Spanish!!!


--
If you're going through hell, keep going...
A quote from Winston Churchill. What it means to me is that when you are going throug hell, you'd better keep going because otherwise (when you stop going) you stay there. So it's better to keep going and try and leave hell a soon as possible...


--
Life holds hostage all those we love
I read this in the book "Man and Wife" by Tony Parson. Mr. Parson's books to me are small wonders of perception, full of insights that could have been taken from my own life. The main character is too much like me for comfort... As a result I can only read a couple of pages at a time before I have to put the book away and ponder (and ponder some more).

To me the quote signifies the tragic truth of life that everyone you love can be taken away by life at any moment: accident, disease, heart failure, whatever. It also means that you got to live life as if the last day has arrived. It might well be. Don't postpone that date with friends, you might as well never see them again. Never fail to tell someone you love him/her; wouldn't it be sad if they go to meet their maker without you having parted with this important piece of information?

An absolute certainty like this also relieves me from fear. There is nothing to be afraid of. This is life, anything can happen. There is no reason to be scared since the danger is there for sure...


--
An entity is not the absence of a non-entity
This one's deep, isn't it? :-)

It comes from "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, one of the most gripping books I have ever read. It is best explained by an example: Taking away a threat is not a reward. Suppose someone comes around, puts a gun to your head and tries to pressure you into doing something for which the reward is the removal of the gun. Taking away the gun is not a reward, it is taking away the threat. An entity (a reward) is not the absence of a non-entity (the absence of reward's opposite). You might well be smart to give in (life is the absolute standard of things), but make sure that nobody lives under the impression that you were rewarded, you were pressured.

Although this example is somewhat concocted, it happens in real life much more often than you would imagine. The state (i.e. the anonymous body supposed to represent the will of the group) has a surprising array of powers and threats, the removal of which is supposed to be a reward...


--
Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose
Only if you have nothing left to lose, your freedom is absolute. Having nothing left to lose means that you are Consequence Free (also a very nice song by one of my favourite Newfoundland bands). If the consequences of your actions do not impact you in any way, then you are truly free to do what you want. In all other circumstances your freedom is restricted by your wish to not suffer some of the consequences. In the end, it is your own conscience that restricts your freedom...

Another lemma pretty close to this one is: "He who does not value his own life holds yours in his hand". If you don't value your life, you're pretty much Consequence Free (have you thought of the name of the band yet :-). The September 11th attack "proves" this...


--
And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and 
if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have 
love, I am nothing
Comes from the bible (Paulus' first letter to the Corinthians). It means what it says.


--
Hope is a waking dream
Don't hope. Achieve! Don't try. Do! If you're not out and about actively pursuing your goals, all hope is lost (pun intended).


--
El diablo sabe mas por viejo que por diablo
Spanish proverb: The devil knows more because he is old than because he is the devil. Needs no explanation does it....


--
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
A quote from Nelson Mandela...

If you perceive yourself without power, you fear that you will not be able to accomplish your goals. If you feel powerful (and you're in your right mind), you fear that your power is so large that it will inadvertently destroy what you are not carefully protecting (collateral damage :-). Also keep in mind the Wizard's Second Rule (the rule of unintentional results).


--
That what has happened, stays happened...
I really love this quote. It comes from "Thief of time" by Terry Pratchett, a Discworld novel where they are doing all sorts of wacky things with time. I am an avid science fiction reader and time travel tales have always captured my imagination. In "Thief of time" they're playing around with time in all sorts of ways, but whichever way they rewire history, that what has happened stays happened.

However, it has a deeper meaning for me as well. There is little or no point in denying your past or the events that took place. They have happened and their effects are visible until todo. If for nothing less, they made you who you are today...


--
Leave no regrets on the field...
I read this remark in the novel "The Fourth Hand" by John Irving. It is supposedly inscribed in the tombes of the Lambeau stadium of the Green Bay Packers. I really like it because it instructs one to do and not hesitate. Often the chance to do is now; once gone it will probably not return. If you feel the sudden urge to do something, do it! Leave no stone unturned...


--
A good hunter does not pursue, a good hunter waits
I read this somewhere and I liked the tranquility and control of the situation that this quote emits. It's also a kind of instruction to myself since mostly when I'm out on a hunt I am much to eager in the noble art of pursuit. I have sometimes in the past not been able to reach my objective because of this eagerness. But I keep hoping that one day I have enough internal restraint to let the prey do the work...


--
Love's the only thing that's free
It must be taken where it's found
Pretty soon it may be costly
This is one of the many signatures that deal with my emotions regarding love and The One. Like most people I am haunted by the fata morgana of ideal love, a match that is so perfect that it defies understanding and can only be experienced; a sort of Nirvana but then here on Earth.

Although a rational creature by nature, I am perfectly willing to let myself be led by my emotions. Emotions are very powerful. Most of the time what you feel you must do (even if it's only deep inside and heavily repressed) will be done in the end.

Love and the illusion of love (sometimes pretty hard to distinguish from one another; in fact, some people never manage it during their entire life) can be found in the most unlikely places and I am loth to just let it lie there.

The quote is from a Tracy Chapman song and it perfectly summarises my 'philosophy' on this part of life, the universe and everything... I also used this signature as a signal of my frustration when a sort of relationship I was in at that time failed because my beloved one was in full denial and evasion mode.

This is somewhat of a haphazard explanation....


--
You see things; and you say 'Why?'
But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?'
Where is your focus? On the problem? Or on the solution?

Do you gaze at what is and wonder why this is so? Or do you look for what is not and try and accomplish that. There are too many people around that ask only "why?" and never take the steps to move on. If you have children, you know what I mean :-)


--
Jos jos=new Jos(oldJos);
jos.getBrain().flush();
A piece of Java code to signify the coming about of The New Jos...

One of my collegues replied that the call to "flush()" would dump with a NullPointerException as a result of "jos.getBrain()" returning nothing... :-) I hit him over the head with my Java book, and he was thus enlightened...


--
Spread your wings, and FLY!
This comes from a song by Live (the band) from the album "Dolphin's cry" (a magnificent album I daresay). It's the ideal quote to augment the book "Jonathan Seagull" by Richard Bach. Flying gets you to places that are unreachable otherwise. Don't hesitate, don't stay stranded on the shores you don't want to be...


--
Getting control of life is never easy, and sometimes it can be
definitely painful
See http://exploreit.net/improvethought/flow1.htm
Go for the optimal experience...


--
True happiness cannot be found in things that change and pass away.
Pleasure and pain alternate inexorably. Happiness comes from the self
and can be found in the self only. Find your real self, and all else
will come with it.
I forgot where I stole this one, but it is obviously much too deep to have come from my own shallow thought processes. :-)

I once postulated that "happiness" is in fact more of an (innate?) trait of people than the result of external circumstances that people find themselves in. If you're a happy person, that happiness more often than not is capable of overcoming any bad luck you might run into. That observation suggests that happiness derives from factors within oneself, and not from external sensations or attributes.


--
If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you,
but your own judgment of them. And it is in your power to wipe out
that judgment now.
                                            -- Emperor Marcus Aurelius
This quote from Marcus Aurelius strengthens the points made by the previous quote. Marcus Aurelius was a well known Stoic (from stoicism, a school of philosophy). The stoicists argue that it is best to be indifferent to external circumstances since there is usually nothing you can do about it. Marcus Aurelius is considered one of the greatest Roman Emperors of all time. He wrote extensively on philosophical matters and his teachings are still considered among the greatest works of philosophy (at least by me :-).

Although I am not a full blood Stoic, I do see the truth in the central lemma as stated in the quote. Over the past years it has helped me to focus on my perception of things and in many situations I have been successful in changing my perspective and maintaining my mental "health"...


--
Experience is what you get when you were expecting something else.
Isn't this true? And nicely put too!


--
Poem of the day: 'A Lover's call', by Kahlil Gibran
See: http://josv.com/a_lovers_call.html

Please also see: Coins for Care at http://www.coinsforcare.nl
The poem is no longer there (it can now be found at http://www.josvisser.nl, but it is still beautiful.


--
assert(heaven.isMissing(anAngel));
A foolosh statement of my being in love at that time. If you understand Java or C++ this piece of code is easy to grok. An assertion is an invariant statement that must be true at this particular point in the program. This particular code also harks back to a stupid (but lovely) song...


--
Q: What is sin?
A: All that binds you...
This quote is the final Q&A of the book "I Am That" (Sri Nisargadetti). I truly and truly love it (the quote, also the book). It emits so much truth in so short an amount of letters...

My interpretation of these lines go back to earlier signatures on freedom, having nothing left to lose and being Consequence Free (the name of the band is "Great Big Sea" by the way). All that binds you deters you from doing, from attaining freedom...


--
I've got a darkness deep in my soul,
That still has got a purpose to serve...
This one comes from a song by Santana. I was instantly gripped by it because it radiates a dark and powerful truth. I am a person of near boundless energy (my own observation, but also from those around me) and over the years I have become able to differentiate between different forms of driving energies. Like everyone my soul also has a dark side and an accompanying dark energy. There are tasks in life that are easiest (not best!) accomplished using the dark energy. The quote struck me because it hinted at the possibility of allowing the dark energy inside oneself to exist, storing and nurturing it so as to be available for tasks yet to come. That possibility has an ominous feel to it...

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to the dark side... (from Star Wars).


--
Too many people confuse motion with progress...
A true observation. Not everything that moves goes forward. Most political systems are a prime example of this...


--
Today we lived a thousand years, all we have is now,
Run to the water, and find me there...
Another quote from a song by "Live". I have no clue what it means (not entirely true) but when my mind keeps going back to a quote like this that usually means that my subconscious is on the verge of breaking the code...


--
It's not difficult to see,
That my true name in C,
Currently is 'volatile float josv'.
A small rhyme from a time in my life that I felt really, really, bad. For the uninitiated: C is a popular and difficult programming language (that I happen to know really well). In C all variables have to be declared with a type. The type "float" means that it is a floating point variable, i.e. it can contain numbers with a decimal fractional part (e.g. 2.5, -4,6, 3.14). A "volatile" variable is one that can change at any time outside of the computer's immediate awareness (e.g. by an outside event like a change in a measurement device that is hooked to the computer). "Volatile" instructs the C compiler (the program that translates the C program into machine code) not to make any assumptions about the variable keeping the same value, even if it does not see an assignment to it. "josv" is the name of the variable (me).

So that's the perfectly legal C declaration "volatile float josv" explained. Interpreted outside the C context (by humans) it has another meaning too. You're probably getting it...


--
Which is worse: ignorance or apathy?  Who knows?  Who cares?
This one is funny, isn't it? :-)


-- 
Even scientists say, everything is just light,
Not created, destroyed, but eternally bright.
Another quote from a "Live" song... You know what, just buy the CD (Dolphin's cry) and listen to the songs yourself...


--
Public safety message: Dihydrogen Monoxide kills! 
Support a worldwide ban of Dihydrogen Monoxide. See http://www.dhmo.org
I'm not explaining this one. Go to the web site and try crack this for yourself...


--
I don't need anybody to be alone...
The worst place to be alone is in a place where there's a lot of people.


--
No one leaves you, when you live in their heart and mind.
No one dies, they just move to the other side.
[Steve Hogarth]
This quote comes from a Marillion song (Estonia). It's pretty clear...


--
I have no need for a spirituality which can not encompass my humanness.
Quite some time ago one of my best friends pointed me to the poem "The Invitation" (also see here). This brilliant poem turned out to be the first page of a book of the same name. It is truly one of the most helpful books I have ever read. It is a spiritual book, but one that is unbelievably down to Earth and rooted in real life (as I know it).

This quote comes from the book. It perfectly describes my own feeling with respect to a lot of spiritual systems that seem to be made for perfect people. I am not perfect! The simple fact that I am human brings with it all sorts of flaws (stemming from both nature and nurture). Trying to adhere to a set of "guidelines" that are impossible for me to follow only makes me depressed...


--
There is no hell, like an old hell...


--
Go for the Optimal Experience: http://exploreit.net/improvethought/flow1.htm


--
For every secret, there is a price you have to pay...


--
If you do what you've always done,
You get what you've always gotten...


--
Silly is a state of mind; Stupid is a way of life...


--
Don't look back. The lemmings are gaining on you...


--
Never underestimate the power of denial.


--
'If McDonald's would give three free Big Macs for a DNA sample, there
would be lines around the block'  [Bruce Schneier]


--
Do I contradict myself?
Very well, then I contradict myself!
(I am large, I contain multitudes)


--
The road to hell is paved with adverbs... (Stephen King)


--
Everything I've been through, all I've seen and heard,
I spent so much of my life, in the spiritual third world,
You came and brought the rains here, something waiting to happen.


--
Mea Culpa. Mea Maxima Culpa.


--
Poem of the day: 'Indian Serenade', by Percy Shelley
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/shelley4b.html


--
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I 
want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls 
away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you 
truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.


--
Love is like a snowmobile, racing across the tundra.
Suddenly, it flips over, pinning you underneath.
At night, the ice weasels come.


--
You can not evade the inevitable.
But you can confront and overcome it....


--
Nothing can be reasonable or beautiful unless it's been made by one 
central idea.


--
Only those whose lives are brief can imagine that love is eternal. We
should embrace that remarkable illusion. It may be the greatest gift 
our race has ever received.


--
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.


--
The InSANE quiz master is always right!
(or was it the other way round? :-)


--
I am Living without Windows! 
Check it out at http://www.osp.nl/~josv/lww.html


--
Im verzeihen des Unverzeihlichen ist der Mensch der gottlichen Liebe am 
naechtsten.


--
Denk niet dat er maar 1 pad voor je weg is gelegd,
Want zwijgend denk je meer dan je ooit hebt gezegd.


--
God gave us eyes so that we could watch and brains so we could see.
So use that grey mass and See!


--
Let this my epitaph be: 'Here lies one whose name was writ in water'.


--
We don't see things as they are, we see them as *we* are...


--
Are you game for the SANE 2000 edition of the InSANE quiz?
See http://www.nluug.nl/sane/.


--
Sometimes the best way,
Is with an old cliche.


--
Each betrayal begins with trust.


--
Note to Java programmers: Due to a public holiday there will be
no garbage collection on Monday.


--
Poem of the day: 'Bright Star, Would I were Steadfast as Thou Art' by John Keats
See: http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/John_Keats


--
Lisp Users: Due to the holiday, there will be no garbage collection on
Monday.


--
Geef je hand aan mij zo je verkiest
Ik ben geen mens die stil zal blijven staan
tot de liefde al haar glans verliest
Ik ben een mens die komen zal en gaan

Al vroeg weggelokt van huis en land
door muziek zo wonderschoon en driest
Ik ben een toevallige passant
Geef je hand aan mij zo je verkiest

'Hjamlar Gullberg'


--
We don't leave the past behind; we just accumulate....


--
'If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant
of all'


--
We shall fight on the beaches,
We shall fight on the landing grounds,
We shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
We shall fight in the hills;
WE SHALL NEVER SURRENDER!


--
I am not interested in a spirituality that can not encompass my 
humanness...


--
What's real, is worth it...


--
It's better to be hated for what you are, than to be loved for what
you're not...


--
People who go crazy are too sensitive....


--
'Everybody knows it; Repression is the way...'


--
Everybody is playing the game,
But nobody's rules are the same,
Nobody's on nobody's side.


--
With all the things you are losing,
You might as well resign yourself,
And try and make a change...


--
It's another off day, in an off year.
Let's just hope it's not an off century, or an off millenium.


--
In the blood of Eden,
We've done everything we can,
In the blood of Eden,
Saw the end as we began.


--
Ik heb geen principes, ik heb gevoelens....


--
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in the wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-- Robert Frost


--
Although I walk in the valley of Death, I fear no evil;
For I am the evilest motherfucker in the valley...


--
Klingon coding rule #12: 'Specifications are for the weak and timid!'


--
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto
the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.


--
Dynamic mood indicator: :-(



Generated from signatures.xml with the help of /xsl/josvwww.xsl (and Xalan).
Last updated Sat Jan 11 11:40:02 CET 2003 by josv@osp.nl.