THURSDAY 19th NOVEMBER 2015 07:21 GMT

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
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1. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
19th November 1863
Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address  
It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Abraham Lincoln's carefully crafted address, secondary to other presentations that day, was one of the greatest and most influential statements of national purpose. In just over two minutes, Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis, with "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens. Lincoln also redefined the Civil War as a struggle not just for the Union, but also for the principle of human equality.

Beginning with the now-iconic phrase "Four score and seven years ago"—referring to the start of the American Revolution in 1776— Lincoln examined the founding principles of the United States as stated in the Declaration of Independence. In the context of the Civil War, Lincoln also memorialized the sacrifices of those who gave their lives at Gettysburg and extolled virtues for the listeners (and the nation) to ensure the survival of America's representative democracy: that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Despite the speech's prominent place in the history and popular culture of the United States, the exact wording and location of the speech are disputed. The five known manuscripts of the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln's hand differ in a number of details, and also differ from contemporary newspaper reprints of the speech. Of these varying versions, the "Bliss version", written for Colonel Alexander Bliss well after the speech as a favour for a friend, is viewed as the standard text. It is the only version to which Lincoln affixed his signature, and the last he is known to have written.

The wording of this version is:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
Business Promotional Work
Meditation
Me Time
Missus Time

Twitter Followers = 2,042 (down 3)
Non-followed eliminated = 6
All untraced, probably all corporate/spammers
Unfollowers eliminated = 0
-
New Followers followed back = 2
@runthelove, @ChevonneFermoy1
Spammers not followed back = 1
@letimyjesel, 

3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

If you're one of the dozen or so regular readers of this blog, you'll know that I'm not one to hide anything - "my life is an open book with illustrations" a phrase coined by Hugh Hefner. Unlike Hefner, most folks find that being completely open is bad for their career. Before I set out on this path, that was certainly true in my case, costing me my job at AH Marks at the beginning of the 90's and had me scuttling back to Croda for another 8 years.

On the other hand I keep the confidences of others who speak to me firmly and faithfully, an essential requirement of a therapist. I would probably tell you everything you'd request to know about me (with the exception of my passwords and PIN numbers!) but pass on nothing about you to any third party. 

I think it's fine to keep your true self hidden from others and is in many cases essential, but I find that people who are not honest with THEMSELVES are the ones who make themselves ill. People who don't meet their own expectations of themselves develop a stressful highly self-destructive self-loathing. 

This character has learned that it's OK, with all your flaws and weaknesses to be you. You are still of worth and value and can make a difference just as you are. Whatever your best is was not chosen by you, it was dealt. It is therefore no true reflection on you, whatever others may think of you. The true measure of your character is how you respond to what was dealt. Are you making the best possible difference with it? 

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Do you like yourself?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Dry start
Showers arrive by mid-morning and will be occasionally heavy
Rain will clear by early afternoon and it will be dry thereafter
A moderate to strong westerly will blow throughout
Max Temp = 8 degC at noon
Min Temp = 5 degC at midnight
Sunrise at 07:41
Sunset at 16:03
Moon: 

Weathertrack: Britain is in a run of cold arctic air with weather fronts to the far north and far south - there will be a dry zone between.

Air Pressure: 1006 millibars and rising slightly

6. TODAY'S ONELINER

I found someone very attractive on Tinder but couldn't find out how to download her :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!

Julie Bowen on the Late Late Show

8. TRIVIA

Several famous actors were decorated during WWII. For example, Henry Fonda won a Bronze Star in the Pacific, Walter Matthau was awarded six battle stars while serving on a B-17, and David Niven was awarded the U.S. Legion of Merit. Christopher Lee was a pilot in the Royal Air Force and also won a number of awards.

9. ZEN WISDOM

People shouldn’t hesitate to exert their all, in a way true to themselves. How can you possibly ever know how far or fast you can go if you’ve never run all-out? To give up even before you’ve begun is actually arrogance—an affront to the wondrous power of life within you and disrespectful to yourself.