Dec 19th tidbits & quotes

"Knowledge of what is possible is the beginning of happiness." - George Santayana

The Wright brothers first flight was a mere 12 seconds.

The driest places on Earth are a series of valleys near Ross Island in Antarctica where, for the past 2 million years at least, no rain has ever fallen.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." - Ian MacLaren

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." - Reinhold Niebuhr

"For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something." - Steve Jobs

When Jean-Marc Ayrault, France's prime minister, contemptuously called him "a pathetic loser", Depardieu shot back with an open letter published on Sunday. "I was born in 1948," he wrote, "I started working aged 14, as a printer, as a warehouseman, then as an actor, and I've always paid my taxes." Over 45 years, Depardieu said, he had paid 145 million euros in tax, and to this day employs 80 people. Last year he paid taxes amounting to 85 per cent of his income. "I am neither worthy of pity nor admirable, but I shall not be called 'pathetic'," he concluded, saying that he was sending back his French passport. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9750510/France-warms-to-Gerard-Depardieu-the-heroic-exile.html