Here's a little video I threw together last night. Nothing fancy, just having some fun with some pictures. The sound track gets a little monotonous - not enough to make your ears bleed, I hope - but feel free to turn it down if you want to.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Fried News Day
Just one story today, but it's a good one, I think:
Sept. 25, 2009 07:12 AM Associated Press
BANGKOK - A gecko with leopard-like spots on its body and a fanged frog that eats birds are among 163 new species discovered last year in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia, an environmental group said Friday.
Lee Grismer, of La Sierra University in California reported, "We were engrossed in trying to catch a new species of gecko when my son pointed out that my hand was on a rock mere inches away from the head of a pit viper."
Grismer's careless actions, and the fact that he came to no harm because of them, caused a great stir in the scientific community, with many researchers questioning, for the first time, the widely-accepted scientific doctrine of "survival of the fittest."
Just a few of the animals discovered include:
1) A baldheaded song bird in Laos called the barefaced Bulbul Pycnonotus hualon.
Is it just me, or does that sound like something Gabby Hayes would call the crooked land baron in a John Wayne movie - a barefaced Bulbul Pycnonotus hualon?
2) A new bird species called the Nonggang babbler that favors walking to flying.
Researchers discovered the bird by following the males' unusual cry -"If God had meant for birds to fly, He'd have given them...oh...right." When they got closer, the team heard the females' response - "Shut up, you old buzzard - you're babbling again."
3) A tube-nosed bat named Murina harpioloides.
Not a new species at all, but previously unknown in Southeast Asia. Formerly the only specimen known to science was found in a third-grade classroom in a small Arizona town. Colleagues and acquaintances almost never used her given name, "Murina," opting instead for the more formal "Miss Harpioloides." Kids got in big trouble if they were ever caught calling her a tube-nosed bat. She threatened to sic her fanged frog on us ... I mean them ...
Sept. 25, 2009 07:12 AM Associated Press
BANGKOK - A gecko with leopard-like spots on its body and a fanged frog that eats birds are among 163 new species discovered last year in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia, an environmental group said Friday.
Lee Grismer, of La Sierra University in California reported, "We were engrossed in trying to catch a new species of gecko when my son pointed out that my hand was on a rock mere inches away from the head of a pit viper."
Grismer's careless actions, and the fact that he came to no harm because of them, caused a great stir in the scientific community, with many researchers questioning, for the first time, the widely-accepted scientific doctrine of "survival of the fittest."
Just a few of the animals discovered include:
1) A baldheaded song bird in Laos called the barefaced Bulbul Pycnonotus hualon.
Is it just me, or does that sound like something Gabby Hayes would call the crooked land baron in a John Wayne movie - a barefaced Bulbul Pycnonotus hualon?
2) A new bird species called the Nonggang babbler that favors walking to flying.
Researchers discovered the bird by following the males' unusual cry -"If God had meant for birds to fly, He'd have given them...oh...right." When they got closer, the team heard the females' response - "Shut up, you old buzzard - you're babbling again."
3) A tube-nosed bat named Murina harpioloides.
Not a new species at all, but previously unknown in Southeast Asia. Formerly the only specimen known to science was found in a third-grade classroom in a small Arizona town. Colleagues and acquaintances almost never used her given name, "Murina," opting instead for the more formal "Miss Harpioloides." Kids got in big trouble if they were ever caught calling her a tube-nosed bat. She threatened to sic her fanged frog on us ... I mean them ...
Friday, September 18, 2009
Fried News Day
Well, at last the news-makers are off their diets!
But first, a quick stop in the Random House Unabridged Dictionary for a word of the week:
Coca-colonize - to bring (a foreign country) under the influence of U.S. trade, popular culture, and attitudes.
Which is all very interesting, of course, but right now we have bigger news to fry...
Sept. 18, 2009 09:21 AM Associated Press
ITHACA, N.Y. - A group of upstate New York dog owners plans to compost the tons of dog doo deposited by the roughly 50,000 canines that use the city's dog park annually. If their pilot project is successful, the Tompkins County Dog Owners Group and Cayuga Compost hope to market usable compost within the next two or three years.
Just think - this means that Fido can fertilize the plants before he digs them up...
______________________________________________________
Sept. 17, 2009 03:08 PM Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Astronomers have found the coldest spot in our solar system - at the moon's south pole. The area is inside craters that are permanently shadowed so they never see sun, and it's colder by one degree Fahrenheit than far away Pluto.
First of all, let me just say that I have officially scratched that place off my vacation list.
And what's up with poor Pluto? First it gets demoted from planet status to dwarf planet, and then it gets bumped into second place for coldest spot in the solar system. Don't be surprised if it just packs up its moon and goes home...
______________________________________________________
Sept. 17, 2009 11:10 AM Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. – A 16-year-old girl has bagged a 10-foot alligator in a South Carolina swamp. In the middle of the night. With a crossbow. Her family has 40 pounds of alligator steak in the freezer now.
Not to mention a nice pair of shoes and a killer custom bag for that crossbow...
______________________________________________________
Sept. 17, 2009 02:30 PM Associated Press - Dominican agents find cocaine in dictionaries
I checked. Sure enough, I found cocaine in my dictionary, too. Right after Coca-colonize...
But first, a quick stop in the Random House Unabridged Dictionary for a word of the week:
Coca-colonize - to bring (a foreign country) under the influence of U.S. trade, popular culture, and attitudes.
Which is all very interesting, of course, but right now we have bigger news to fry...
Sept. 18, 2009 09:21 AM Associated Press
ITHACA, N.Y. - A group of upstate New York dog owners plans to compost the tons of dog doo deposited by the roughly 50,000 canines that use the city's dog park annually. If their pilot project is successful, the Tompkins County Dog Owners Group and Cayuga Compost hope to market usable compost within the next two or three years.
Just think - this means that Fido can fertilize the plants before he digs them up...
______________________________________________________
Sept. 17, 2009 03:08 PM Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Astronomers have found the coldest spot in our solar system - at the moon's south pole. The area is inside craters that are permanently shadowed so they never see sun, and it's colder by one degree Fahrenheit than far away Pluto.
First of all, let me just say that I have officially scratched that place off my vacation list.
And what's up with poor Pluto? First it gets demoted from planet status to dwarf planet, and then it gets bumped into second place for coldest spot in the solar system. Don't be surprised if it just packs up its moon and goes home...
______________________________________________________
Sept. 17, 2009 11:10 AM Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. – A 16-year-old girl has bagged a 10-foot alligator in a South Carolina swamp. In the middle of the night. With a crossbow. Her family has 40 pounds of alligator steak in the freezer now.
Not to mention a nice pair of shoes and a killer custom bag for that crossbow...
______________________________________________________
Sept. 17, 2009 02:30 PM Associated Press - Dominican agents find cocaine in dictionaries
I checked. Sure enough, I found cocaine in my dictionary, too. Right after Coca-colonize...
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Cyberdoodling with Grace
When I was a kid I would doodle. I know that doesn't distinguish me as any sort of prodigy; pretty much all kids doodle (OK, I confess - I still doodle!). Nor have I ever been noticeably better than average as a doodler. But, like probably anyone who has ever doodled, I have occasionally experienced that thrill when a few lines and curves and squiggles suddenly align themselves into a really cool drawing.
Of course, the only time that ever happens is when you're doodling on the most tattered, dirty, useless scrap of something that might once have been paper. Try to reproduce your creation on a real surface, and it just won't work. On the throw-away fragment it's an amazing interpretation of a mako shark torpedoing through the mysterious deep. On good paper it vaguely resembles an old, almost shapeless house-slipper.
That's the beauty of the blogosphere. Here you can doodle with words until some of them magically arrange themselves into a real thought. Everything is throwaway and everything is preserved, so all your mako sharks hang out with your old slippers. In fact, I'm pretty sure that somewhere around here I have a lovely sketch of a mako shark wearing an old slipper...
The other day, while responding to someone's response to someone else's comment on another person's original post in connection with some news item, I accidentally said something that made sense. Thanks to Blogdom, my scribble on a multiply-used post-it note with all the corners torn off can be easily transferred to the fine stationery you see before you now.
It's always easier to extend grace to people we think don't really need it...
We all seem to have an internal scale by which we grade other people's faults. We grade their actions based upon execution and degree of atrocity. It's like we're judges at a sin-nastics meet. But our scoring is pretty much arbitrary, and personal. We each judge based on a different set of criteria, which we, ourselves, choose.
But we are rarely balanced in our application of standards, either. What we see as a horror in one person is nothing more than a misstep when done by another. Well, within certain bounds, of course. But those bounds can stretch a lot further than most of us would ever think, or care to believe.
I'm not talking about whether or not we should be happy to meet Idi Amin in heaven, as compared to overlooking a poor choice of words about AIDS from the lips of Billy Graham. On the other hand, I could just as well be comparing a man known as the "Butcher of Uganda," to one once voted the "Greatest Living American," because really, if it isn't equally administered, is it truly grace?
But let's forget about extremes. Grace, in order to be gracious, must be given without degree or favoritism. That isn't easy. It's just so natural to wish for, trust in, and see God's grace the most in people who offend us the least.
It's always easier to extend grace to people we think don't really need it...
Of course, the only time that ever happens is when you're doodling on the most tattered, dirty, useless scrap of something that might once have been paper. Try to reproduce your creation on a real surface, and it just won't work. On the throw-away fragment it's an amazing interpretation of a mako shark torpedoing through the mysterious deep. On good paper it vaguely resembles an old, almost shapeless house-slipper.
That's the beauty of the blogosphere. Here you can doodle with words until some of them magically arrange themselves into a real thought. Everything is throwaway and everything is preserved, so all your mako sharks hang out with your old slippers. In fact, I'm pretty sure that somewhere around here I have a lovely sketch of a mako shark wearing an old slipper...
The other day, while responding to someone's response to someone else's comment on another person's original post in connection with some news item, I accidentally said something that made sense. Thanks to Blogdom, my scribble on a multiply-used post-it note with all the corners torn off can be easily transferred to the fine stationery you see before you now.
It's always easier to extend grace to people we think don't really need it...
We all seem to have an internal scale by which we grade other people's faults. We grade their actions based upon execution and degree of atrocity. It's like we're judges at a sin-nastics meet. But our scoring is pretty much arbitrary, and personal. We each judge based on a different set of criteria, which we, ourselves, choose.
But we are rarely balanced in our application of standards, either. What we see as a horror in one person is nothing more than a misstep when done by another. Well, within certain bounds, of course. But those bounds can stretch a lot further than most of us would ever think, or care to believe.
I'm not talking about whether or not we should be happy to meet Idi Amin in heaven, as compared to overlooking a poor choice of words about AIDS from the lips of Billy Graham. On the other hand, I could just as well be comparing a man known as the "Butcher of Uganda," to one once voted the "Greatest Living American," because really, if it isn't equally administered, is it truly grace?
But let's forget about extremes. Grace, in order to be gracious, must be given without degree or favoritism. That isn't easy. It's just so natural to wish for, trust in, and see God's grace the most in people who offend us the least.
It's always easier to extend grace to people we think don't really need it...
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Joining A Hero
A little over a year-and-a-half ago, my friend, Rex Miller, shot me an e-mail describing the work that Steve Peifer is doing in Kenya. It's work that earned him recognition as a CNN Hero in 2007. In brief, he establishes computer-training centers for children, and provides meals for them while they are at school. It turns out that one of the biggest obstacles for children staying in school is that they need to find food during the day.
Check out some of the videos on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=steve+peifer&search_type=&aq=f
You can also read about his work at this site:
http://kenyakidscan.org/
His passion and mission moved Pam and me to add our financial support - in an admittedly modest amount - to the contributions of others to his work.
Steve sends out regular e-mail updates. Here's an excerpt from a recent letter:
The rains haven't come and it has gotten more desperate here. The term ended with most schools running out of food 10-15 days before the end of the term; we just didn't have the money to buy enough.
One sentence stopped me in my tracks; my heart sank; tears ran down my cheeks:
We had a meeting with all of our computer teachers, and they reported that the biggest challenge for them was to teach when students were crying because they were so hungry.
On the website above - http://kenyakidscan.org/ - you can click the tab labeled "How You Can Help," and there are links that allow you to add your own support to the lunch program, the computer labs, and/or the Peifer family directly. Let me just say that I don't remember any of Steve's e-mails talking about his personal finances, so I don't really know how much he might need in that area. But I do know that children are crying with hunger when they could be learning computer skills. And we all have the chance to help one person who is doing something to change that.
Check out some of the videos on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=steve+peifer&search_type=&aq=f
You can also read about his work at this site:
http://kenyakidscan.org/
His passion and mission moved Pam and me to add our financial support - in an admittedly modest amount - to the contributions of others to his work.
Steve sends out regular e-mail updates. Here's an excerpt from a recent letter:
The rains haven't come and it has gotten more desperate here. The term ended with most schools running out of food 10-15 days before the end of the term; we just didn't have the money to buy enough.
One sentence stopped me in my tracks; my heart sank; tears ran down my cheeks:
We had a meeting with all of our computer teachers, and they reported that the biggest challenge for them was to teach when students were crying because they were so hungry.
On the website above - http://kenyakidscan.org/ - you can click the tab labeled "How You Can Help," and there are links that allow you to add your own support to the lunch program, the computer labs, and/or the Peifer family directly. Let me just say that I don't remember any of Steve's e-mails talking about his personal finances, so I don't really know how much he might need in that area. But I do know that children are crying with hunger when they could be learning computer skills. And we all have the chance to help one person who is doing something to change that.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Rest of the Story...
I almost didn't post the previous post that I posted. It wasn't really happy happenstance that led to my discovery that my sister's stepson's girlfriend's mom's boyfriend's ex-wife is my boss' sister.
It all started with a trip to Tucson to stay with my sister and brother-in-law. Together, we then made a journey to spread my parents' ashes (along with the cremated remains of two dogs) in an undisclosed location in the Chiricahua Mountains. On the way back to Tucson from the mountains, my brother-in-law got a phone call from his son. It was bad news about his (the son's, not the brother-in-law's) girlfriend's mother.
The following Monday, my boss dropped by my office and gave me an update about her trying weekend, which involved a story that ended with the same sad news that my brother-in-law received in the car on Saturday.
Finding out that my boss' sister's ex-husband's girlfriend (whom I had never met) was also my sister's stepson's girlfriend's mom, meant finding out that this young woman died tragically of complications from back surgery. A blood clot that lodged in her brain.
So, I was a little afraid it might seem disrespectful to post a humorous take on an overall tragic situation.
But then I heard about the plans for Becky's memorial, including a cocktail party. A fancy, dress-to-the-nines, and don't-even-think-about-wearing-black, cocktail party. It was something Becky always wanted to do while alive, but she just hadn't quite pulled it off, yet. And from what I've heard from everyone who knew her, Becky was a lover of life and living, a really joyful person and a joy to know.
And so I decided that she would probably get a really good laugh out of our six degrees of separation. And she would want others to share in her merriment.
It just wouldn't have been right to keep it to myself.
It all started with a trip to Tucson to stay with my sister and brother-in-law. Together, we then made a journey to spread my parents' ashes (along with the cremated remains of two dogs) in an undisclosed location in the Chiricahua Mountains. On the way back to Tucson from the mountains, my brother-in-law got a phone call from his son. It was bad news about his (the son's, not the brother-in-law's) girlfriend's mother.
The following Monday, my boss dropped by my office and gave me an update about her trying weekend, which involved a story that ended with the same sad news that my brother-in-law received in the car on Saturday.
Finding out that my boss' sister's ex-husband's girlfriend (whom I had never met) was also my sister's stepson's girlfriend's mom, meant finding out that this young woman died tragically of complications from back surgery. A blood clot that lodged in her brain.
So, I was a little afraid it might seem disrespectful to post a humorous take on an overall tragic situation.
But then I heard about the plans for Becky's memorial, including a cocktail party. A fancy, dress-to-the-nines, and don't-even-think-about-wearing-black, cocktail party. It was something Becky always wanted to do while alive, but she just hadn't quite pulled it off, yet. And from what I've heard from everyone who knew her, Becky was a lover of life and living, a really joyful person and a joy to know.
And so I decided that she would probably get a really good laugh out of our six degrees of separation. And she would want others to share in her merriment.
It just wouldn't have been right to keep it to myself.
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