it’s not literal, but it suggests that we GIVE TREMENDOUSLY to the poor. again, Christ said, "when you do this for the least of my brother, you do it for me."

My fear of black helicopters didn’t cause a single drop of blood to be shed.

Fearing no-fly-zones is tragically different and likely to earn such people honorary doctorates in psychiatry and pharmacy!

Hey, they have to have something to fall back on as a reason for killing millions of innocent Iraqis. Bush already admitted there were no WMDs, no connection to 9-11, and we all know there won’t be a democracy there.

"Parallel play (or parallel activity) is a term that was introduced by Mildred Parten in 1932 to refer to a developmental stage of social activity in which children play with toys like those the children around them are using but are absorbed in their own activity and usually play beside rather than with one another. Children in this stage may comment on what they are doing or imitate what another child does, but they rarely cooperate in a task or engage in dramatic play or formal games with others. This stage occurs after solitary and onlooker play and before associated and cooperative play when children engage in more complex social interactions. Preschool children of all ages engage in parallel play, particularly when using sand, water, blocks, and art materials; this type of play appears to serve as a bridge to more complex cooperative activities."

First, you are right. When a guitar is tuned to an open or full chord, it is easier to play. I’ve read that originally, guitars were commonly tuned that way. One of the most popular open tunings, DGDGBD, is sometimes referred to as "Spanish Tuning". If you know your guitar history, you know that much of the guitars’ roots are in Spain.

When guitar is played as a solo instrument, as it originally was, it’s sometimes easier to have fuller chord voicings in an open tuning, because tuning to a chord provides more open and complementary harmony– a bigger sound, than in standard tuning. The disadvantage is the ability to change keys. Open tunings usually favor playing in one key.

It’s seems like the standard tuning was developed to make the guitar more versatile within an ensemble context– playing with a band or an orchestra. Standard tuning also assists playing in all keys. Notice however that many solo blues guitar tunes in standard tuning are in the key of E. Notice also that standard tuning includes two open E notes (strings #1 & 6). This is why the key of E is often used to play solo blues in standard tuning. The dominance of E provides opportunity for bigger chord voicings and bass tones by way of open drone notes.

Open full chord tunings are also favored by slide players, because more notes are in harmony straight across the fretboard– and as we all know, slides are straight.

So to summarize, standard tuning makes the guitar more versatile within a band context and allows greater key flexability. It also provides a single "standard" from which to begin learning, and for which standard sheet music and learning materials can be developed. If the standard tuning were an open chord tuning, it would also be less likely to be the correct key of everyone wanting to use the guitar to accompany their vocal range.

Open full chord tunings allow the guitar a richer fuller sound in a solo performance within tighter key boundaries. However, there are dozens of valid open tunings.

I hope this helps you. Feel free to experiment tuning your guitar in different ways. Many players start by de-tuning their low E to D. There are many books & diagrams for tunings. Just remember to log what tuning you’re in when you create a cool tune, because keeping track of which songs use which tunings can get pretty crazy.

I once read that Joni Mitchell has used around 90 different tunings throughout her song catalogue. Ani DiFranco and Ben Harper also use various open tunings. Keith Richards of The Stones usually plays in an open tuning too, which is why whenever you hear a bar band playing a Stones tune, the guitar chords usually don’t sound right. That’s because Keith’s tuning creates different chord voicings than standard tuning.

I hope this helps. As you can see, I’ve probably thought about this too much actually. It’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it.

Sensori-motor Stage (Birth-2 years)
A child in this stage begins to understand cause and effect.During this stage a child’s knowledge of the world is limited because it is based on physical interaction with the environment. Children first learn to differentiate themselves from other objects. They then recognize that they are able to cause actions and act intentionally, such as shaking a rattle to cause a noise or pushing a button to cause music to play. At around seven months of age, a child will understand object permanence, meaning he understands objects still exist even when he is not observing them.

Pre-operational Stage (2-7 years)
The pre-operations stage is marked by egocentric thought.In this stage, a child learns to use language, memory and imagination and is able to classify objects by one characteristic. The child’s thinking at this stage is illogical, non-reversible and egocentric. Egocentric thought means the child believes she is the center of the universe, has difficulty understanding others’ points of view and lacks empathy.

Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
Children in the concrete operational stage begin to think logically.Children in this stage of development will be able to understand and have conversations about concepts like quantity, length, liquid, mass, weight, area, and volume. The child can think logically, classify objects by different characteristics and order the objects in a series. For example, a child will be able to order objects from smallest to largest. This stage also marks the reduction of egocentric thought.

Formal Operational (11 years and up)
Many teenages do not obtain formal operations.The beginning of this stage is marked by the return of egocentric thought. Intelligence is shown through logical thought associated with abstract concepts. A person in this stage is concerned about the future, as well as hypothetical and ideological problems. The skills in this stage are the hardest to acquire. Only 35 percent of high school graduates achieve this stage and many people do not think formally even in adulthood.

So this theory grew out of the 60s – when a lot of people were doing hallucinogenic drugs, and therefore believed that only another druggie could come up with such a bizarre story. The truth of the matter is, Dodgson was an Aquarian. And as a fellow Aquarian, I can safely say – we’re all as mad as hatters (ie we don’t need drugs).