Cacti

Here are a few pictures of some of my cacti. Unfortunately, most cactus flowers only last one day and I missed a few plants in full bloom yesterday.

Anyway, enjoy! And, as always, clicking on the pictures at left right should bring up a larger image.

Fried News Day

Word for the day: Triptych: a picture or carving in three panels side by side; something composed or presented in three parts or sections
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Associated Press SAN DIEGO - Officials in San Diego who want to prevent seals from taking over a popular beach plan to seek court approval next week to use recordings of barking dogs scare the seals away. Critics of the scheme say the seals will simply get used to the noise and come right back.

Hey - anyone need some good, used cds of barking dogs?
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Associated Press RANKIN INLET, Nunavut - Canada's governor general ate a slaughtered seal's raw heart in a show of support to Canada's seal hunters. Governor General Michaelle Jean, the representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as Canada's head of state, gutted the seal and swallowed a slice of the mammal's organ late Monday after an EU vote earlier this month to impose a ban on seal products on grounds that the seal hunt is cruel.

Maybe when the seals in San Diego get used to the barking noise, officials can play movies of Ms. Jean eating a seal's heart. That should scare them off.
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Associated Press HOLDEN, Maine - A project involving conservationists and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists is looking for a few dozen people willing to howl like wolves in Maine's North Woods. The Wolf Inquiry Project plans to conduct "howling surveys" in several areas this summer in hopes of discovering whether wolves are resettling in Maine. The Bangor Daily News said coordinators are seeking individuals willing to spend a night howling in the woods and who won't be scared off if they get a response.

You know, if the people don't work out, there may be some dog-barking recordings available from San Diego pretty soon...
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Fried News Day

Recently I have noticed an alarming dearth of interesting news items, resulting in a sad lack of Fried News Day posts. This week, however, that has all changed ...

Beginning with breakfast, we have this from the Associated Press:

Police say a Needham, Massachusetts man who was stopped for erratic driving on Central Avenue last week was eating a bowl of cereal and milk while he drove. He told officers he was hungry. Police didn't know what kind of cereal the driver was eating.

Does it make a difference?
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Moving to international news from the Associated Press:

MADRID - A new study has found the air in Madrid and Barcelona contains not only the expected pollutants, but is also laced with at least five drugs - most prominently cocaine.

On the heels of this report, Spain has observed a sudden upswing in tourism...
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In other "strange-things-in-the-air" news, the Associated Press reports:

Police in Clinton, Maine say a 500-pound moose fell 18 feet to its death when it apparently leaped a guardrail on an Interstate 95 overpass and landed on Hinckley Road. Officials learned of the incident when a motorist called the town office shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday and told assistant town clerk Shirley Bailey that "a moose just fell out of the sky."

Last time, you remember, our friends Rocky the Squirrel and Bullwinkle the Flying Moose were ... what? It's the squirrel that flies, not the moose?

Wait, Bullwinkle! Don't try to...

Dang.
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More out-of-the-blue news from the Associated Press:

GENEVA - A rare 7.03-carat blue diamond sold for more than $8.4 million Tuesday, the highest price ever for a gem of its kind, according to auctioneers Sotheby's. The successful bidder will have the privilege of naming the gem.

I would name it "Steve." "Steve" is a nice name.

Or maybe Blue Diamond Phillips...
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And having more-or-less mentioned celebrities, let's add this item:

Dolly Parton was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

I'm not sure, but I heard a rumor that it was a Ph-Double-D...
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And speaking of well-endowed female forms:

Associated Press READING, Ohio - A sexy mannequin can keep her spot outside a Cincinnati area barbecue joint, but local officials want her to cover up a bit more. The life-size figure stands as a busty beacon outside a restaurant in suburban Reading, wearing a bikini top and tight short-shorts. According to the owner of the restaurant, the advertising gimmick has boosted business 40 percent. Members of the Design and Review Board indicated they were concerned about "community norms."

This is weird. Just plain weird. Has the Design and Review Board ever walked through a mall?
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And finally, in the oxymoronic world of archaeological news:

Associated Press BERLIN – A 35,000-year-old ivory carving of a busty woman found in a German cave was unveiled Wednesday by archaeologists who believe it is the oldest known sculpture of the human form. The carving, apparently intended to hang from a cord, was found in six fragments in Germany's Hohle Fels cave. It depicts a woman with a swollen belly, wide-set thighs and large, protruding breasts. "It's very sexually charged," said University of Tuebingen archaeologist Nicholas Conard, whose team discovered the figure in September.

It originally hung in front of an ancient barbecue joint, increasing the owner's business by a reported 40%. But the local cave council got together and decided it was too racy, so they broke it into pieces. As a result, the restaurant went out of business, and Neanderthals, lacking a place to find good mammoth ribs, starved into extinction.

“Sunday Setlists” blog carnival at FredMcKinnon.Com

OK - I'm going to give this weekly blogging exercise a go.

Check it out at http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/05/03/sunday-setlists-41/

Of course, I won't participate weekly for the following reasons:

1) I don't lead worship weekly.
2) I don't show up for church meetings every week.
3) I don't blog regularly.

So, yesterday (Sunday) afternoon I was catching up on some recorded Leno episodes from last week, and caught Ziggy Marley singing a catchy little tune - "Family Time" I think - with a chorus that went like this (you'll have to imagine the melody, but I'll bet you can find it on YouTube if you want):

Lift up your heart with a smile
Lift up your feet with a dance
Lift up your spirit with a song
It's family time, it's family time.

So, I sang that a couple of times to get folks' attention at our church meeting last evening. It worked for maybe half the gang.

Then we broke into smaller groups and talked about what we would boast about that God has done for us in the past week, year and lifetime; read some Scriptures about praising Him to others; and prayed for freedom to do so.

4 Songs:

1) Majesty is Your Name (song from within our community - we've been singing it for a couple of years

2) You Are So Good To Me (Ben Pasley, Robin Pasley, Don Chaffer - it's on one of the Worship Circle recordings - chorus goes "You are beautiful, my sweet, sweet, song...")

3) First Song (song from within our community - new to the larger gathering last night, has been done before in one house church)

4) Revelation Song - Jennie Lee Riddle

I turned the volume down on my (acoustic) guitar between practice time and singing time, and forgot to turn it back up again when we sang. Yes, I should have noticed, but I don't always really hear the room sound - depending on where we decide to set up the players. So, all I heard was acoustic anyway, and that didn't change, so I didn't notice until afterward when I went to turn the volume off and found it was already there. Oh, well. Small room - people could hear, just not as well as if I was boosted. Sound man had to go home to sick wife and injured child after setting up, so didn't have him there to come over and check out what was wrong.

As usual we had bread and cup available in the middle of the room for folks to take as and when they wished. Also as usual, there was a steady trickle of people during the singing time.

A few people prayed together here and there, off and on.

After singing we spent a little while waiting in silence, then a few people shared words and thoughts that came to them during our singing time. Then we, as a group, shared scriptures and praises and crises and all manner of things that were on our hearts, discussing and, in Malachi 3:16 style ("Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.") prayed for each other.

At the end, someone wanted to sing another song - a song that would make us stand up for God - and someone else suggested "How Great Is Our God." I don't know it well enough without a chart, so we sang it archipelago.