birthday present." He wouldn't

My Best Birthday Present - Timothy Leary My Best Birthday Present I haven't celebratedmy birthday in decades. Sure, when you're a kid it's exciting to add ayear to your age, have your parents gather your friends, blow out the candles,and get presents, but today I turn 49 and the last thing on earth I feellike doing is celebrating, much less blowing out a fire. Nothing very specialabout November 10th other than it is the day that Stanley found Livingston.Okay, I wouldn't mind a present or two, but that's more a matter of actuallyneeding stuff than thinking I deserve any sort of reward just for havingsurvived another year. I've always felt it was a wee bit egomaniacal tothrow yourself a big birthday party. Nothing wrong with celebrating others,but when it comes to celebrating yourself, it shouldn't be in public. Fifteen years ago todayit was also my birthday and, as normal, I was doing what I always do, whatI still do, what I'm doing right now, writing at my computer, with absolutelyno plans for the day. When you don't have a plan, there's nothing to deviatefrom. You can do whatever you want without fear of failure because howcan you fail when you don't have any goal in mind? Whatever happens, happens,and it's good or bad on its own terms. The higher you get your hopes up,the further you have to fall, so I never count on anything. If somethingbad happens, too bad. If something good happens, it's a gift. There was a knock atthe door. I opened it and there was Timothy Leary who said "Hi, I'm yourbirthday present." He wouldn't explain how or why this came to be, or whoin particular was bestowing him upon me. He was simply there, and he wouldhang out for at least an hour. All he would tell me was that he was toldI was someone he should meet. Whenever you meet someonefamous in a personal situation, it's hard to know how to behave, particularlyif they're enormous media stars. After all, you've spent hours gazing atthem, thinking about them, perhaps days or weeks staring at their image.Imagine the hundreds of hours you've spent with certain stars broadcastregularly into your living room. They feel like a friend, like you actuallyknow them. They're not and you don't, but it's a hard feeling to shakewhen they're standing right in front of you, coming into your house, sittingon your sofa, checking the place out while waiting for you to bring thema drink. No matter how many memories you have of them, they have none ofyou. To them, you are a total stranger. Treat them like a fan would andyou risk becoming part of their teeming crowd of lookie loos. Treat themlike you don't know who they are and they could get insulted. No way tomake a friend. Friendships deserve an even playing field, so it's hardto think of yourself as the friend of a celebrity until they know as muchabout you as you know about them. Which is why celebrities are SO interestedwhen you interrupt them somewhere in public and tell them about your uncleSid's gall bladder operation. I wanted to be friendswith Timothy Leary so he had a hell of a lot of catching up to do becausehe knew nothing about me and I knew a lot about him, or at least I thoughtI did. I shifted into show-and-tell mode, whipping out a book of Polaroidsfor him to peruse. He enjoyed my madness immensely and I proceeded to tellhim something I'm sure he heard a million times. My life was profoundlychanged by his research into psychedelia, combined with reading Tom Wolfe's"The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test," the Beatles, and meeting a guy namedMario in 1970 who claimed to be the husband of the actual Alice that ArloGuthrie sang about but who supported his acting habit by selling acid atLee Strasberg's studio where I happened to be studying at the time. But I digress. Thefirst and foremost influence that Timothy Leary had upon me was my art,which simply didn't exist. Before my first acid trip, I wasn't an artist.I had never played guitar, had certainly never created any impressionism,and hadn't written a single word other than school assignments. Maybe Iwould have discovered these talents on my own, but if my Polaroids remindyou of acid flashbacks, welcome to the club. On acid, what I do to my Polaroids,you can do to reality. Move it around a little. Make big things look small,small things look big, marvel at the infinite depths you're capable ofperceiving, as though reality were a 3D comic book and for the first timeyou were looking at it with the red-and-blue glasses. Pre-acid, I was onlyinterested in being an actor, moving to New York to study with Lee Strasberg,and getting in a Broadway play. On acid, I actually attempted to give aperformance from Spoon River Anthology in front of the man himself, a performancehe declared "interesting," a performance that convinced me that actingwas a very strange profession. While personally communicating with theinfinite miracles of the universe, I had a very hard time convincing myselfthat the most important thing I could be doing was pretending to be a fictionalcharacter while reciting dialogue written by a writer I'd never met. Post-acidI walked home from the Village to my boarding house at 39th and Park, pickedup my roommate's guitar and started playing. It wasn't long before I wasa better guitar player than actor, and I ended up composing music for severaloff-Broadway shows. Way off Broadway. The Company Theater at La Cienegaand Pico in Los Angeles to be precise. Other acid trips wereless eventful and I stopped taking it, but not before playing with my firstSX-70 Polaroid camera and discovering I didn't need acid to change realityto my own specifications. We talked and talked.He wasn't a drug addled guru and I wasn't an acid burnout. He was extremelyintelligent. My vision of Leary had been fogged by his media image, andI had forgotten that he was a Harvard professor. Luckily, some others forgottoo and that's how he escaped from prison. The most amazing story he toldme was this one... When he was bustedby the Feds for possession of one single joint of pot and sentenced to20 years in a Federal penitentiary, the prison officials did what theyalways did with new prisoners, they gave him a psychological test to determinewhether he would go to a minimum or maximum security prison. He passedthe test with flying colors and was sent to minimum security where he promptlyescaped. What the officials didn't know was that Leary himself wrote thepsychological test for the Federal prison system when still at Harvard,so he knew exactly what answers to give. After a couple hours,my birthday present had to leave, but in his new life as Hollywood gadflyI kept running into him over the years at video shows and art galleries.I'm glad he lived long enough to experience the Internet, and if you haven'tseen his site, it's still up at http://leary.com/ and well worth a peek. Excuse me, there'sthe door. Emulsional Problems

College Gift

Somerville College - Gift aid and deed of covenant for UK Tax Payers Somerville College Skip to Content The College | Prospective Students | Current Students | Former Students | Conferences | Notices | Contacts Home | Alumni and Friends Events | Degree Day | The Association of Senior Members | Missing Members | Development | Contact Us | Site Map Gift aid and deed of covenant for UK Tax Payers Deeds of Covenant have been superseded by the new Gift Aid scheme. However, if you have a covenanted gift to the College which was set up before 6 April 2000, you need take no action. Your donation will continue as before and will be tax effective under the Gift Aid scheme until the deed expires. If you set up a deed of covenant on or after the 6 April 2000, you will need to make a Gift Aid declaration to ensure that your gifts remain tax effective. Gift Aid is a scheme by which you can give a sum of money to charity and the charity can reclaim from the Inland Revenue the basic rate tax (currently 22%) on your gift, at no extra cost to you. That increases the value of the gift you make to the charity. Under current regulations for example, if you give £10 using Gift Aid, your gift would be worth £12.82 to Somerville. If you are a higher rate tax payer, you can claim relief on the difference between the basic rate and higher rate of tax on your annual tax return. Please note:You must pay at least as much tax as Somerville will reclaim on your gift(s) in the tax year in which you make them (tax credits on dividend income will count towards the tax paid). The tax year runs from 6 April in one year to 5 April in the next. If you have any queries about Gift Aid, please speak to the Development Office. You can make payments by cash, cheque, postal order, direct debit, standing order, debit or credit card or even in a foreign currency (including the euro). Subject to a few rules, you can give any amount, large or small, regular or one-off, and Somerville can reclaim the tax. In order for Somerville to claim Gift Aid on your gift, you need to make a declaration confirming that you want your gifts to be treated as Gift Aid donation. Please click here to access a Gift Aid declaration form or contact the Development Office. Accessibility Statement © Somerville College 2003. Last Modified: 2:27pm on the 28th of January 2005

wedding gift purchases has

Wedding Goers Shop Online for Gifts You are in the: ClickZ Network ClickZ Network Navigation ClickZ Network Home News News Blog Experts Stats Features Search Engine Watch Resources Stats Toolbox Web Worldwide Sectors - Advertising/Marketing - B2B - Broadband - Demographics - Education - E-Mail/Spam - Entertainment - Finance - Geographics - Government/Politics - Hardware - Healthcare - Professional - Retailing - Search Tools - Security Issues - Small/Medium Enterprises - Software/IT - Traffic Patterns - Travel - Wireless About Stats About Advertise Conferences Contact E-mail Offers FAQ Feedback Write for ClickZ Subscribe to ClickZ Stats Twice Weekly HTML Click for More Newsletters Search ClickZ Network News Experts Stats Features SEW Resources All of internet.com -- Trends & Statistics: The Web's Richest Source print this article | e-mail a colleague Wedding Goers Shop Online for Gifts › › › Retailing By Enid Burns | July 11, 2005 This wedding season, a growing number of gifts are being purchased online, according to a survey conducted by Feedback Research . Seventy-five percent of respondents in the survey plan to attend one to three weddings this year. Online wedding gift purchases has increased one percentage point since last year. Thirty-four percent of respondents have, or will, purchase wedding gifts through online retail channels. Gift registries remain strong, but experienced a six-point dip from results last year. "Consumer behavior indicates that the Web continues to be a popular channel for wedding gift shopping," said Marc Silverberg, Claria's senior director of marketing. "Analysis shows that more than a third of wedding site viewers purchased wedding gifts online with 80 percent buying their gifts from the bride and groom's registry." Retailers with the highest traffic were Target.com (39.6 percent); BedBathandBeyond.com (25.6 percent); and CrateandBarrel.com (13.9 percent). Sears.com had the highest number of repeat viewers to its registry, the average viewer returned to the site 4.1 times during a research period. Belk.com averaged 3.6 visits, and BedBathandBeyond.com visitors returned 3.1 times. Not all gift-givers are be wedding attendees. Sxty-five percent typically buy gifts for all couples who invite them to a wedding, 30 percent only purchase gifts for weddings they attend. Purchase price disclosed by 60 percent of respondents averaged $26 to $75. A group of 48 percent of respondents indicate they will personally purchase a wedding gift in the next three months. Of those, 43 percent say they will buy online, while 83 percent plan to purchase a gift requested in the bride and groom's gift registry. The survey group was selected from Feedback Research's parent company Claria's GAIN Network. The group consisted of users within the GAIN Network who viewed wedding-related sites, including e-tailers and gift registries. Traffic was recorded and analyzed from March 20 to June 20 of this year. A random sampling of in-market consumers was surveyed to find out how they were shopping and using the Internet for wedding-related activities. print this article | e-mail a colleague ClickZ ClickZ Stats Archives Don't miss the next ClickZ Stats column. Subscribe and receive full text columns in your inbox! Subscribe Unsubscribe Ebook: Search Engine Marketing: Maximizing Profit with Web Analytics Maximize your profits with Web analytics and SEM to drive substantial profit with minimal investment. Dramatically influence your success across all stages of the customer lifecycle-from awareness, interest, consideration, and ultimately through to purchase. > more Ebook: Maximize Multichannel Marketing ROI Measure and optimize cross-channel activity, improve multichannel marketing ROI, and measure overall customer lifetime value. In 2004, two-thirds of consumers researched a product online only to purchase it offline. This creates the need to understand and tie together all customer activity a critical success factor for most businesses. > more Ebook: Measure What Matters: Defining KPI's to Drive Business Performance Define metrics that support your business goals and create a strategy to benchmark, monitor and improve these key indicators. Tie Web analytic information to strategic corporate objectives—revenue, growth, profitability, market expansion, cost reduction, etc.—to continually refine processes and enhance business performance. > more Case Study: Wine.com Makes $15,000 after 10 Minutes of SiteCatalyst™ Analysis Leading online wine retailer used SiteCatalyst to identify low-performing site metrics and gain thousands of dollars in incremental sales through slight adjustments in their marketing strategies. > more Case Study: Veritas Software "Clones" Staff with SiteCatalyst Veritas increased the number of Web analytics users in their organization by 1,600% and, at the same time, reduced the manpower required to acquire, report, and distribute relevant site performance analysis. > more

Gift Ideas, Unique Baby

Baby Gift: Baby Gift Ideas, Baby Shower Gifts, Gifts For Baby, Baby Shower Favors, Baby Gift Baskets, Baby Gifts Personalized, Baby Shower Gift Ideas, Unique Baby Gifts, Baby Names, Baby Showers Area Rugs Baby Shower Goods Birth Announcements Blankets Clothing/Layette Dcor Diaper Cakes Family Gifts First Birthday Gift Baskets/Sets Gift Certificates Holiday Jewelry Multiples Noah's Ark Personalized Play Religious/Christening Silver/Pewter affiliate program store policies testimonials gift wrapping gift certificates specials & discounts wholesale/drop-shipping links & resources Gifts for Baby, Easy for You! BabyGiftIdea.com offers personalized and unique baby gifts and baby shower party goods to commemorate the special new baby in your life. Simply choose your unique baby gifts, and we will add a free baby gift card, package the gifts with care, and send them anywhere, without a receipt in the gift box! Little Princess Gift Basket Welcome the regal little one in style. "Your highness" will love the many unique and coordinating "Little Princess" themed gifts presented in this dazzling new basket. SAME DAY SHIPPING if ordered by 12pm eastern time. $84.50 each click for details Personalized Ornament These charming 6" ornaments come in 3 styles and are personalized and hand-finished with your child's name. The artwork is heat-sealed into each tile, ensuring a high quality finish. This adorable item takes 2-3 weeks to make, so order early! $31.95 each click for details space Personalized Baby Blankets Choose from 19 unique designs. Personalization included in the price. Satisfaction guaranteed. $44.50 each click for styles Site map space 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Baby Gift Idea Home page and border designs: Roger Hsiao Illustrations: Pam McNay

Birthday present I got

Relevant History: Birthday present -- Relevant History "I link, therefore I am." (William Mitchell, Me++) My Online Status AIM: askpang About Me I'm a research director at the Institute for the Future , a think tank in Silicon Valley, and a Senior Research Scholar in the Science Technology and Society Program at Stanford University . I started life as an historian of Victorian science; my first book, Empire and the Sun: Victorian Solar Eclipse Expeditions , was published by Stanford University Press in 2002. Being an historian and a futurist might seem contradictory, but they're not. Both use the same intellectual instruments , just pointed in different directions. In addition to this site, I'm the lead blogger on Future Now , the Institute for the Future's blog on emerging technologies and their social and cultural implications. search [Searches with Google] I'm Blogging This! Recent Comments Ken on Yeek! Ken on Easy as riding a bicycle? Ken on New favorite playlist Ken on Discussion board spam? Bob on Trying to add search Alex Soojung-Kim Pang on The mysteries of fashion Horace Jeffery Hodges on The mysteries of fashion Alex Soojung-Kim Pang on Unintended consequences of technology on Super Nanny on Super Nanny September 2005 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Recent Posts I thought typos in student papers were bad Discussion board spam? The day just got a little better The kind of thing that you know is significant, but... Fun with signs Quote of the day New favorite playlist Editorial genius The mysteries of fashion How time flies Archives September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 Categories Best of blog Books Culture / Society Current Affairs Domebook Emergence Fieldwork Film Future Gadgets History of science / STS Information revolutions Music My so-called life Noise Parenting Peninsula School Postacademic Science Travel Weblogs Web/Tech Work Zoom Colophon Powered by: Best blog editor: Flickr tool: Where is this? « In Colorado | Main | First Class » September 05, 2004 Birthday present I got a new digital camera for my birthday (which technically is Wednesday): a Sony 4 megapixel, which thanks to it being new makes it about 100 times better than the one I got for my birthday three years ago. I love it. I'd call it my new child, but I wouldn't know whether to name it Madison or Conor, which is the law now. September 05, 2004 at 05:08 PM in My so-called life | Permalink TrackBack TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/1092428 Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Birthday present : Comments Post a comment Comments are moderated, and will not appear on this weblog until the author has approved them. If you have a TypeKey or TypePad account, please Sign In You are currently signed in as (nobody) . Sign Out Name: Email Address: URL: Remember personal info? Comments: The Outside World! Cafe Barrone, 2004 My Flickr www. flick r .com This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from askpang . Make your own badge here . Recently on Future Now Recently on del.icio.us Blogdex Other blogs of mine Elizabeth and Daniel [access restricted] [Managed with Blogrolling ] Academics / Postacademics Interesting People Digital culture Design Pervasive computing Distraction Other links Technorati Shameless Self-Promotion /lists?__mode=quickpost&is_qp=1&type=1&qp_href= Like what you read? Here, I mean, not somewhere else. Yes? Yes, right? Then add me to your TypePad People list. I haven't actually read up on what this feature is, but it sounds kind of social software-ish, so it must be good, right? index.rdf"Of course, you can also syndicate this site (XML). Today's Terror Alert Level Powered by TypePad Member since 12/2003