The nick of time

The Persistence of Time, Salvador Dali.

Thoreau's Walden rambles all over the place, but it continually challenges the reader by returning to the topic of time, especially that part of it which is happening right now:

As if you could kill time without damaging eternity.

I guess one could say that this is a main theme of the book. Here's just one sample:

In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe the line

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It sounds easy, but it's one of the hardest things to do.

GULF DISASTER. Here's Jim Wallis on the BP mess. And by the way, Halliburton's political donations are up these days. Could there be a connection?

YOU PROBABLY REALLY DON'T WANT TO LOOK at these pictures of animals caught in the spill.

NOT THE BEST PR MOVE. Here's a statement by the American Friends Service Committee on the attack by Israel on a ship bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza. While we're at it, here's Kristof's NY Times op-ed on the subject.

PETS AND HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS. The way we deal with the former may not be bad for the latter.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED