In 1803, while "overwhelmed with other business," Thomas Jefferson cut from the evangelists such passages as Mr. Jefferson believed would best present the ethical teaching of Jesus. Thomas Jefferson "arranged them, on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time or subject." He called it "The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth, extracted from the account of his life and doctrines, as given by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; being an abridgment of the New Testament for the use of the Indians, unembarrassed with matters of fact or faith beyond the level of their comprehension." In a letter to his friend, Mr. Charles Thompson, after describing this work, he said:
"If had time I would add to my little book the Greek, Latin and French texts in columns, side by side."
Some time afterwards he carried out the design thus expressed, giving the texts in the four languages, "in a handsome morocco-bound volume, labeled on the back 'Morals of Jesus.'" This is the volume called "The Jefferson Bible," which is now owned by the Government, and the publication of which has been recently ,ordered by Congress. While this volume was still in the possession of Mr. Jefferson's oldest grandson, Colonel Thomas Jefferson Randolph, an accurate copy of its table of contents was made, and from that copy the English text is reproduced. As a fit introduction to it, a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, and a comparison of the doctrines of Jesus with those of others, are published, giving, perhaps, the fullest expression of his religious views ever made by Mr. Jefferson himself.
Iconocast, An Internet News System Of Check, Expand, Fair, and Balance?
Most News Agencies boast Fair and Balance; in addition Iconocast truly goes two steps further to add, and to justify Check and Expand!
If it's in Iconocast, it is either expanded, updated, validated or refuted, not just in English, but in Spanish, Portuguese, German, Japanese, French, Italian,......
What does Iconocast do? We receive health and science press releases from major research institutes, government agencies, and universities daily. These are articles and press releases that are sent to all publishers regularly. Do we also borrow news from other publishers? Yes, we do and so do many other major Internet publishers such as SeattleTimes.com (from almost all publishers), Washingtonpost.com (from all publishers) and CBS News (from WebMD.com and many other websites and blogs). However, contrary to these publishers, Iconocast adds value to the content presented. The new Iconocast technology provides the most accurate updates on important and valuable health and science news inside a (green-border) table (Google News). Are past news or articles worth searching? Yes, we believe past articles are still valuable if they are effectively updated. Majority of these articles are truly timeless.
How does it work for today's article? Before showcasing today's article, the new Iconocast algorithm also presents links to substantially more views, articles, and news inside a Green Border Table in regards to the article on the page. In most cases the first or second links provided by Google News inside the table is to the original source of the article. Most people click on those links and land on the page where the original article is located. Websites that participate in Google news and their articles show up in Iconocast have experienced an increase in traffic (also from the back-links or the link popularity that Iconocast provides). If you are not participating in Google news, Google will be happy to consider your site. We also strongly believe the more views and news about the same article, the more information, intelligence, and much more trustworthy is that article. This is an effective way for the reader to expand on the information and make sure that the article has validity and is reliable. Let us examine some examples. Take a look at this article: The Associated Press : Ad gives hot dogs a bum rap, experts say. If you examine both Google News and Google Scholar results, you get much more important news on what really causes colon cancer, what might help, what prevents, and what is more risky than the poor Hot Dogs. Of course we can never compete with a company as larger as the The Associated Press, however, we strongly believe we have justifiably added value over what they are presenting. Take a look at this one: Teaching breast health early to reduce breast cancer mortality in D.C. This article is mainly about early breast health education in Washington, D.C., which has the highest rates in the country. Now if you examine the Google news at the top, you get a vast amount of knowledge about reducing the breast cancer risk and Canola oil during pregnancy, depression and breast cancer, Vitamin C and E, Smoking, and a vast array of information from Google Scholar. The original article is also linked at the top in case you prefer to see where the article is originating from.
Here is another example: Sarah Jessica Parker Removes Trademark Mole. Notice there are more than 100 articles that validate the news about the mole disappearance. After seeing the links to all these 100 article, don't you feel a bit more confident that the mole is really gone? Or check out this one : Miley Cyrus Without Clothes On in the Shower ; is this true? Fake? If you examine the information and news inside the Green Border Table on the page, you will quickly realize they are fake. These two examples and many, many other examples we can bring justify a system of check and balances to examine the validity of what people actually put out on the Internet. One can confidently say that Iconocast is based on our correct system of "Check (- the article) and Balances (- Google News)". No other News Agency provides the same service as Iconocast does.
What is the significance of our system? To do a quick search in Google News on the relevant keywords of the article, we are able to identify what each article is about by just examining the title of the article. How reliable is our system? Look at this example : How much risk can you handle? Making better investment decisions. The system correctly identifies the keywords: "you + risk + investment" right at the top of the Green Border Table. This is not an easy task. There are just too many other words in that title such as: How + much + can + handle + Making + better + decision. All these words were correctly eliminated. We strongly believe we have achieved something substantial here.
In addition, Iconocast is the very first International Multimedia News Library, providing updated archived news translated to more than 7 languages.

The Man who has not Music in his Soul,
Or is not touch'd with Concord of sweet Sounds
Is fit for Treasons, Strategems, and Spoils,
The Motions of his Mind are dull as Night,
And his Affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such Man be trusted
(The Merchant of Venice)
Music may be used to treat heart attack and stroke victims after Italian
scientists found it can affect blood pressure. Researchers found that music with faster tempos increased blood pressure and
heart rate, whereas slower music reduced them. The same affect was also achieved
by slowly changing the volume of the music. By combining slow and fast music it was possible to control the
cardiovascular system and eventually help its rehabilitation. The findings were reported in the Journal of the American Heart
Association by Professor Luciano Bernardi at the University of Pavia, in
Italy. They found that swelling crescendos induced moderate arousal while the
lowering volume of decrescendos induce relaxation. When the music was paused, breathing, heart rate and blood pressure
decreased, sometimes below the beginning rate. Slower music caused declines in
heart rates. Study participants were fitted with headphones and were attached to
electrocardiogram (ECG) and monitors to measure blood pressure, cerebral artery
flow, respiration and narrowing of blood vessels on the skin.
Our philosophy parallels of Mr. Jefferson as we noted above. What we have here is not the Bible, however, why not translate our good values (healthy living, healthy eating, quality arts, book reviews, green living, ..... ) in the western free society for everyone in the world? Compared to racy, or violent television programs that are translated today (e.g. Bachelorette, Lipstick Jungle, Kingpin, 24, Shield, all wrestling tv shows), isn't this a better representation of the western values? It is also interesting to note: Teen pregnancies linked to racy TV shows.
Iconocast main focus are health, science, technology, and arts. In some cases we have also collected business, real estate, books review, entertainment, gossip, and
movie review.
Iconocast acts only as a library for these collections. What does it mean by library? It means we do not present these articles on daily basis (contrary to the news we receive from Universities and research institutes; there is no gossip news on today.htm page). We only save them for future reference and of course these articles can always be searched inside Iconocast by using the Google Search below on this page. In reality we recycle the past content (gossips and entertainment news) with today Google News. We do not intend to violate any copyright laws. If we have missed a link to the original article, we will correct this error. Iconocast is the very first Internet Library that is capable of recycling (value added) the past content. Just not too long ago there was a news (gossip) regarding the iPod effect on Heart Pacemaker. Two weeks later it was known that iPod has absolutely no effect on Pacemaker. Iconocast is the only Internet Library that corrected this content (gossip and rumors) by providing recent Google News at the top of the mentioned article which refuted the iPod harm on pacemaker. I wish someone could have calculated the loss to Apple computer for that period of doubt and more important the loss to the society for temporarily losing its trust on one of the best gadgets ever invented. Take a look at this one: Leaked Document Shows Verizon's Psyops Anti-iPhone Propagands. Now if you examine the Google News Table, you get a better, fair and expanded view on iPhone and all the neat things it can do. Isn't this more fair? You also get competitive analysis, and news on future Google Cell Phone Android. This is what we call check, expand, fair, and balance. Because there are so many wild and unchecked information on the Internet, some people joke that WWW stand for Wild Wild Web. We just like to hopefully remove the sarcasms.
I personally love the music of Amy Winehouse. It is a shame how much garbage is written on the Internet about Amy (e.g.:Amy Winehouse's hair extentions harvested from corpse). It is just as if we love to destroy and tear apart personalities and characters if they are famous or talented. We should wait another 100 years until someone with her talents give us enjoyment.
We strongly believe there is a justified opportunity for correcting gossips and false accusations, and it is to the advantage of the society for a healthy rule of mass communication and intelligence. Iconocast can also be used as an instrument that can remove burden of the liability of the shoulders of those who distribute false news and gossips unknowingly. How important is this effort? Recent article such as "Lawsuits Against Bloggers Seen Rising; Since 2004, 159 Court Actions Have Targeted Citizen Journalists for Libel and Other Charges" is a good indication.
In summary, there is really no difference between Iconocast and your city library with one unique advantage that Iconocast adds value by recycling the news with today's content.
And finally, I like to dedicate this website to the loving memory and honor of my own father for his tremendous energy, love of music, love of jasmines, poetry, kind, generous, affectionate personality, humongous belief and adherence to his faith, and inspiring attitude and also Mr. Tim Russert and his inspiring legacy. Just like us, Tim loved the News. He used to say if it's Sunday, it's meet the press. We like to say, if it's in Iconocast, it is either expanded, updated, validated or refuted, not just in English, but in Spanish, Portuguese, German, Japanese, Italian, ......
Your Feedback
Hello,
Just a short email to let you know that I happened across your website when I "googled" information on branding and I am pleased to say that I have just spent the last hour and a half lost and enthralled by motivationbook.com. Are you published and where could I purchase a hard copy ?
Your research and writing is nothing less than astounding, and I only wish I had the intellect to say something profound and meaningful here but I don't. All I really wanted to say is thank you and that I am grateful for what I just read.
Regards Jennifer H
Carlton VIC 3053, Australia
I have often thought about the passage about Gramsci in Finding Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi but hadn't even remembered the name of the book accurately. You quoted it on your site so I can go on from here; I just wanted to say thank you.
Dear Iconoclast,
Thank you for providing your extensive list of links to excellent materials, articles and sites. You make life easier for kids, educators, and researchers (like myself) - I have been visiting your website for a while.
Let me reciprocate by suggesting you take a look at this new site and blog, which I found very helpful and stimulating: Sharp Brains <http://www.sharpbrains.com/> covers a wide variety of brain and cognitive topics, and offers great resources.
Specifically, I thought you would enjoy articles such as
Brain plasticity, neuroplasticity, and neurogenesis
http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/08/07/neurogenesis-and-brain-plasticity-in-adult-brains/
10 tips for top brain performance
http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2007/08/22/10-habits-of-highly-effective-brains/
Sincerely,
Manny Gonot
Researcher
Thank you for adding my articles to www.iconocast.com/
Hi there,
I was looking at the Iconocast website and think it gives really great information on skin bacteria. We have created a public interest website at www.typesofbacteria.co.uk/home.htm focused on extensive information and guidance on good and bad bacteria, which I thought may be of interest to your visitors.
We don't make any profit from the site but we'd like to spread the word and get the information out to as many people as possible. Links from sites like www.iconocast.com are really valuable to us and I was wondering if you could place a link to TypesOfBacteria?
Please let me know if you'd like any more information about our site, or if there is someone else I need to speak to about this.
Thanks in advance.
Annie Barber
TypesOfBacteria