Misconceptions spread by K-6 Grade School Textbooks

CORRECTED: For every action, there is not an equal and opposite reaction.

Newton originally published his laws of motion in Latin, and in the English translation, the word "action" was used in a different way than it's usually used today. It was not used to suggest motion. Instead it was used to mean "an acting upon." It was used in much the same way that the word "force" is used today. What Newton's third law of motion means is this:

For every "acting upon", there must be an equal "acting upon" in the opposite direction.

Or in modern terms...

For every FORCE applied, there must be an equal FORCE in the opposite direction.

So while it's true that a skateboard does fly backwards when the rider steps off it, these motions of "action" and "reaction" are not what Newton was investigating. Newton was actually referring to the fact that when you push on something, it pushes back upon you equally, even if it does not move. When a bowling ball pushes down on the Earth, the Earth pushes up on the bowling ball by the same amount. That is a good illustration of Newton's third Law. Newton's Third Law can be rewritten to say:

For every force there is an equal and opposite force.

Or "you cannot touch without being touched."

Or even simpler: Forces always exist in pairs.

http://www.amasci.com/miscon/miscon4.html#newt

http://www.usatoday.com/educate/college/careers/rtn/odonnell.htm
"It's not always going to be upbeat and it's okay to be frightened. You are going to be scared, I certainly was. You can't see the light at the end of the tunnel and you want to know what the outcome is going to be. You want that security blanket. I say, go without it, every now and then, it will work out. The real security blanket is your values and your visions and that is what you come back to all the time."

As I sit here, I drink my chocolate soy beverage mixed with rice protein. And I enjoy the taste. And that's my story.

This reminds me of one time in highschool English class. As a journalling exercise, my teacher wanted the class to, "continue writing the story from where the author ended it." So, I wrote a few more paragraphs, stopped writing, and handed it in.

The teacher commented, "Sonya, it appears there is no conclusion -- perhaps you had some time constraints?"

I wrote back, "Nope."

What is a poet? He is a man of religious experience whose creative gift enables him to communicate spiritual truths to men. His poetry can bring deliverance from spiritual death, bringing his hearers to a new knowledge of their divine Creator, who gave him this special power. In this way souls that have been disordered can be healed, and the human relation with God may be restored when it has been impaired...This is the fruit and indeed the purpose of music and poetry, direct gifts from God to mankind.

-- Elizabeth Henry, Orpheus and His Lute

Wealthy nations hold the keys to happiness

See the Map of World Happiness.

More on Money and Happiness

Observation, then, is what shows facts; experiment is what teaches about facts and gives experience in relation to anything. But as this teaching can come through comparison and judgment only, i.e., by sequence of reasoning, it follows that man alone is capable of gaining experience and perfecting himself by it.

"Experience," says Goethe, "disciplines man every day." But this is because man reasons accurately and experimentally about what he observes; otherwise he could not correct himself. The [38] insane, who have lost their reason, no longer learn from experience; they no longer reason experimentally. Experience, then, is the privilege of reason. "Only man may verify his thoughts and set them in order; only man may correct, rectify, improve, perfect and so make himself every day more skillful, wise and fortunate. Finally for man alone does the art exist, that supreme art of which most vaunted arts are mere tools and raw material: the art of reason, reasoning."¹

In experimental medicine, we shall use the word experience in the same general sense in which it is still everywhere used. Men of science learn every day from experience; by experience they constantly correct their scientific ideas, their theories; rectify them, bring them into harmony with more and more facts, and so come nearer and nearer to the truth.

- Claude Bernard

(Integrity, to me, entails aligning my actions with the purpose of all of existence. I am Choice. I collect information, perceive events through senses; I use reason to decide what information is relevant to my chosen purpose. And I act in accordance with what I deem useful, important, valuable, enjoyable, alive. What is most like me, I like.)

apply in all areas of life : invest in long-term

"The secret of wealth is buying once for all. When we buy, we should buy a thing which will last; buy something good even though it costs considerably more than a similar article which is perishable. Real economy consists of building a house that will last for generations, buying furni*ture that will last a lifetime, selecting clothing that is good for more than a fleeting season, choos*ing carpets that can be used by our children's children and then, having bought these good things, economy demands that we take care of them." Leigh Everett