# Life in the slow lane



## LeeC

Thought I’d start a thread for, by, and about those of us in our twilight years.

One idea is to share advice on maintaining a positive mindset, which is where I’ll start.

Another is sharing experiences, funny or not.



A couple points that came to mind are:


1) Never get ahead of your canes.

2) Serenity being a desirable state, focus on the nonmaterialistic aspects of life, especially positive interactions.




Your turn


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## midnightpoet

Never lose a chance to take a nap

If someone wants to argue, let them win 

If you don't want to answer a question, pretend you're asleep

I've discovered riding those electric carts in the supermarkets is fun, and it keeps those fat slobs off of them


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## Firemajic

OR... or you could do what my Dad used to do... He could never" hear" Mom when she asked him to do something... 
And he conveniently "FORGOT" to do anything he did not want to do...


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## midnightpoet

Firemajic said:


> OR... or you could do what my Dad used to do... He could never" hear" Mom when she asked him to do something...
> And he conveniently "FORGOT" to do anything he did not want to do...



Have you been spying on us?


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## Firemajic

midnightpoet said:


> Have you been spying on us?





Yes..:nonchalance:


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## LeeC

My wife can be the sweetest thing, but when she gets angry at something it's best to take a nap. I do believe that the success of our marriage is due in part to my losing the upper range of my hearing back in the '60s

The wife is a half inch short of five feet, and puts up a big front to compensate. Once, coming back from visiting her family in Mass. the warning light came on for a tire pressure. We pulled off the freeway, into a gas station to add air to the tire, and another car pulled in just ahead of us. Three guys got out and were taking their time at the air station. I was content to wait, but oh no she walked over to them and asked how many men it takes to inflate a tire ;-) Luckily they only laughed.


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## LeeC

The week is going quickly as hoped, awaiting my grandson's visit this coming weekend. Adding realistic human figures to some illustrations is focused work.

Heard something that had a ring of insight, "Never seek advice from a person who's TV is larger than their bookshelf." 

Another friend passed away lately. Not unexpected in my circle, but saddening. Got me to thinking about past artists I've enjoyed.

Édith Piaf
https://youtu.be/Oc1O6gB8F7M


Dalida
https://youtu.be/HIcv5k-wTh4


Roger Whittaker (hanging in here)
https://youtu.be/gNkh-Pd0oNI?list=PL8rJWRBFYbMdOxC_ofbdIyQoDqQfiKo18

and many more, especially jazz and classical artists.


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## midnightpoet

Some quotes from Satchel Paige, that great baseball philosopher, applies here:

"Don't eat fried foods, it angries up the blood."
"Don't look back.  Something might be gaining on you."
"Age is a question of mind over matter.  If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."
"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?"

:icon_joker:


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## LeeC

May you reach that point in life where you break through the human intelligence barrier. That is when by the time you remember what you were going to do you’ve already done it.

---------------


A couple more artists at the top of my list:


Leonard Cohen
Who really expressed the twilight years
https://youtu.be/oqma53tyjQ4?list=PLJXCuQB5jjiuWgy-LIvD4xzt_QDAjIOmz


Leonard Bernstein
Rhapsody in Blue being one of my all time favorites
https://youtu.be/cH2PH0auTUU


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## Firemajic

LeeC said:


> May you reach that point in life where you break through the human intelligence barrier. ***That is when by the time you remember what you were going to do you’ve already done it.





OR... or it does not matter now...


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## LeeC

Firemajic said:


> OR... or it does not matter now...


It's when your autopilot is ahead of your conscious self. As to memories, I recall childhood times on the reservation when the natural world seemed well, but can't remember if I wiped five minutes ago.


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## Firemajic

:nightmare:   ....


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## LeeC

When you're looking for something to go/be wrong, life will accommodate.


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## LeeC

Needing to get out, last summer I headed down the road to visit a friend. I didn't get halfway before I was pulled over. The cop, a local boy, said I could get killed being on the road in a wheelchair. He didn't like it when I said less people would get hurt if they weren't always in such a hurry to go nowhere, and we'd all get along better if we possessed any real consideration. 

What I find most abhorrent is how some steer to intentionally hit wildlife. "How dare that wild turkey trespass on my road," is a prime example of why our liminal thread in the web of life is shortening at an accelerated rate.


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## escorial

the other day on the radio they had a phone in about the good side of getting old and the bad...it was so funny to listen to..stuff like appreciating a sunset was a plus and having to sit down to put your socks on was a minus....


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## sas

escorial said:


> the other day on the radio they had a phone in about the good side of getting old and the bad...it was so funny to listen to..stuff like appreciating a sunset was a plus and having to sit down to put your socks on was a minus....



Sock story reminded me that I lift my foot up to edge of countertop to tie my laces. At 72, I know I can kick even a tall person's ass. I'm 5 ft. Ha.


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## escorial

you remind of mrs nailer who use to play the spoons in the local pub on a sunday afternoon and finish of with a cartwheel..she was a good age


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## LeeC

escorial said:


> the other day on the radio they had a phone in about the good side of getting old and the bad...it was so funny to listen to..stuff like appreciating a sunset was a plus and having to sit down to put your socks on was a minus....


It gets even funnier when you have to ask others to put your socks on. Most of the time I go without socks. I've got a hooked stick I can get my pants on with. I guess when I can't do that I won't wear pants ;-)


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## LeeC

Got a DM on Twitter where the person said they'd posted a review of my book, and would appreciate my doing the same for them. On the surface, if one is honest in their review, there's nothing wrong with the person asking me to do the same. Here though, it was posted as anonymous, and said "someone" had given their boys the book and they liked it. I doubt very seriously whether they even read the preview. Seems to me another circumvent in tallying up reviews to get Amazon to "feature" a book.

Way too many go about life competing to be the criminal rather than the victim [Bertrand Russell quote], which is blatantly exemplified in today's goings on. I'm thankful I was reared in the culture I was, where respectful coexistence with all life forms was the foundation. I asked Amazon to take the review down, and will sleep better having done so.

On another note, when my daughter and grandson visited last weekend, she told me it's amazing to be getting beyond the dense stage of life, and begin to really understand just how little we really know. Made me very proud, especially in her getting there quicker than I did. Also, I not only got my grandson "Snugs The Snow Bear," but also his own copy of "The Hobbit" which he was even happier with. It surprises and pleases me to see his level of reading and comprehension in a seven year old.


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## LeeC

This weekend the wife's away at a hookin' and prayin' retreat (rug making workshop that uses a religious retreat facilities). Found I like texting with the wife better than direct conversation. At least this way I get in a full sentence ;-)


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## escorial

well man what you gonna do with yourself......


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## LeeC

escorial said:


> well man what you gonna do with yourself......


Same thing everyone does, keep on truckin' till I crash ;-)


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## LeeC

I remember my mom telling me to look both ways before crossing a women. Proof in the pudding when the wife got annoyed with me last fall. She wheeled me out by the road with a For Sale sign, only relenting when the dog wouldn't leave my side.


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## PiP

Oh.... I am so tempted to stick a 'For Sale' notice to my husband's back when he is not looking!


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## Schrody

LeeC said:


> I remember my mom telling me to look both ways before crossing a women. Proof in the pudding when the wife got annoyed with me last fall. She wheeled me out by the road with a For Sale sign, only relenting when the dog wouldn't leave my side.
> 
> View attachment 17614



That's both sad and funny...


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## LeeC

Schrody said:


> That's both sad and funny...



"_Life does not cease to be funny when people die_
_anymore than it ceases to be serious when people laugh._"
  ~  George Bernard Shaw


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## bobo

LeeC said:


> ...She wheeled me out by the road with a For Sale sign, only relenting when the dog wouldn't leave my side.



Why don't you put her up for sale on the facebook  - 'good wife only a little used' ??
(the strategy is called: paying back in the same valuta - and that can be necessary for the other party to feel what they did in the first place  )


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## escorial

Be careful you don't get sex trafficked when your sold...


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## bobo

btw, how much was the asking price ??


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## LeeC

escorial said:


> Be careful you don't get sex trafficked when your sold...


Alas, in my dreams. Ummm, a lass, Shame on you for taking my mind there.

One time in the grocery store, back when I could get around on my own, I was looking over the the yogurt selection. An older woman (to you) stopped beside me noticing the key-lime flavor and said, "Oh, I'd do anything for a key-lime pie."  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a younger woman, several steps away, break out a broad smile. 

Live with no excuses, and love with no regrets.


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## LeeC

bobo said:


> btw, how much was the asking price ??


Probably in her mind, the pricing aspect was relative to recouping the cost of the wheelchair ;-)


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## bobo




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## LeeC

At a routine visit the doc wrote out a prescription and handed it to the wife to fill for me. Remembering there was something else I needed, I told her that as long as she was going to the pharmacy I needed more rubbers. When the doc looked at me incredulously I showed him the worn rubber caps on the bottom of my canes.  Strikes me that we're only simple animals, with our minds usually on our stomach, or between our legs ;-)


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## bobo




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## bobo

See here, could you do that  ??


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## LeeC

My take on life is everything is better with real maple syrup on it.


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## JustRob

bobo said:


> See here, could you do that  ??
> 
> View attachment 17785



Nope. My fingers are so short that they barely reach my hands. I can't even snap my fingers, not that my angel would take any notice if I could. I hate it when people say "you can't make it happen just by snapping your fingers" because I know that all too well. If only I could snap my fingers; then I'd prove them wrong.

EDIT: Gosh, my brain really is in the slow lane this morning. The ability isn't just in the contortions but in taking the photograph. I should have realised that sooner.



LeeC said:


> At a routine visit the doc wrote out a prescription and handed it to the wife to fill for me. Remembering there was something else I needed, I told her that as long as she was going to the pharmacy I needed more rubbers. When the doc looked at me incredulously I showed him the worn rubber caps on the bottom of my canes.  Strikes me that we're only simple animals, with our minds usually on our stomach, or between our legs ;-)



A long time ago my angel related to me a story told by the manager of the chemist's shop where she used to work. A man came in and asked for "crotch rubbers" or maybe "crutch rubbers" and had to clarify that what he wanted was "rubbers for my crutches."


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## LeeC

Noticed an apt explanation, "Yoga isn't about firming up your ass, but rather getting your head out of it."


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## JustRob

We saw a surreal sight while walking home from the shops today, real weeds growing in an artificial lawn. So much for low maintenance gardens. Accept it, you can't beat nature.


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## LeeC

I'm a bit slow, but when I opened my iPad today I noticed that with the time of day it also tells me what the weather outside is. What, have we gotten to the point where we don't even look out the window anymore? 

Felt lately like I'm losing it, but my mind must be working after a fashion because I had the insight that I've never had it ;-) One of those things one may eventually realize if they're not too subjective. 

Knowledge is knowing that tomatoes are a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put them in a fruit salad.


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## aj47

This is really intended for the [strike]drones[/strike] folks in cubes in the middle of office buildings.... No, they may not even have windows.


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## aj47

LeeC said:


> Knowledge is knowing that tomatoes are a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put them in a fruit salad.



Chutzpah is calling that fruit salad "artisan salsa" and selling it for $6/jar.


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## LeeC

astroannie said:


> This is really intended for the [strike]drones[/strike] folks in cubes in the middle of office buildings.... No, they may not even have windows.



Been there, but still went outside every chance I got. There was a sign I left on my desk, "I'm in my other office."



astroannie said:


> Chutzpah is calling that fruit salad "artisan salsa" and selling it for $6/jar.



My idea of salsa is serrano peppers, with tomatillos, onions, garlic, and basil, which I make myself. Liberally spread on my morning huevos rancheros, it keeps my blood flowing


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## LeeC

Ran across this, and thought how true it is if one has had enough life to realize.


“_One of the things that draws writers to writing is that they can get things right that they got wrong in real life._” ~ Tobias Wolff


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## midnightpoet

Yeah, making villains of former bosses and various co-workers I didn't like is fun as hell.  Even knocked off a few in print (of course, they wouldn't have recognized themselves).  I realize now if I had just kissed a few (bleep) I would have gotten more promotions.  Oh well.  A lot of them got their comeuppance when the company downsized, then sold out to the highest bidder.


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## LeeC

On being thrifty and cautious. My old iMac got to the point where it wouldn't even boot up before I had a chance to wipe the disk. I didn't want to take the chance of identity theft, or whatever, so I inquired at the Genius Bar and one other outfit about having the disk wiped and recycling the iMac. They both wanted a tidy sum, so I pulled the hard drive out of the iMac (a tricky task) and drilled it so full of holes that no one will get anything off it. Then I packed up the parts and took it to our local "Transfer Station" (recycling center) where they charged me only $5 to accept it. 

On another note, the following is a social media post I just started putting up.

Will our children be able to say the same?
[David Attenborough's What A wonderful World]
https://youtu.be/auSo1MyWf8g


** I can never get the BB code right to embed the video.


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## sas

Lee...How wonderful this world is depends entirely upon where you are on the food chain. More are at the bottom. Real wealth is now in the hands of a few. 
I read the (non-political) book, Coming Apart in America, a couple of years ago. It foresaw this dangerous mess coming. The planet has come apart.


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## LeeC

Done so many things wrong and trampled on so many feet in my three quarters of a century, that I’m grateful for what I have, especially those that have stuck by my side. The wife being within weeks of retirement, and our watching expenses more, I was genuinely surprised today when she came home with an early birthday present.

I’ve mentioned before that lightening took out a utility pole across the road, and our old iMac started dying soon after. To replace it I sold a few things and got a new 15” MacBook Pro that could handle not only my writing, but the more demanding illustration work I’m doing for my book. I wanted a laptop so I could easily use it in the hospital also, and the MacBook has all the power I need, but even the 15” screen is tiring when I’m working at my desk. 

Anyway, the present the wife got me is a 27” LG HDMI display. I simply plugged it into my MacBook and presto I had a a much larger additional display. [MacOS is plug and play, not needing additional drivers and fooling around like some other OSs]  

In the pic below you can see the relative size, though the screen image is a little washed and bluish because of the brightness of the display. The additional bluetooth keyboard I salvaged from the iMac. The app that’s running is GIMP, that I use for my illustration work. That’s a gray wolf, not blue, that I’m working on at the moment. 

I think what amazes me in part is the capacity and power of the MacBook. The first computer I worked on was an IBM 1130, with 16K (16 bit words) hardwired ferrite core memory, and a large pizza sized 512K disk. It took up more space than my desk does now. Oh, and the little black object behind my MacBook is a 500 gigabyte SS disk that Time Machine on the MacBook uses for automatic incremental backups. 

By the way, my bedroom/office is the in the marryin’ and buryin’ room of this 1780’s farmhouse ;-)

Maybe the moral is, be thankful for what you’ve got and maybe more will follow


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## Kevin

Business insider magazine has a story that the gall -darn'd m'lenials are putting mom & pop Applebee's, TGIF, and other assorted 'sit-down experience ' ilk outta business by going with different options. How is poor Mrs. Applebee's going to afford all those kids,  and that dog, and that old shoe or boot or whatever she was living in?! Bare cupboards i tell ya. Dang it.


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## bobo

Kevin said:


> Business insider magazine has a story that the gall -darn'd m'lenials are putting mom & pop Applebee's, TGIF, and other assorted 'sit-down experience ' ilk outta business by going with different options. How is poor Mrs. Applebee's going to afford all those kids,  and that dog, and that old shoe or boot or whatever she was living in?! Bare cupboards i tell ya. Dang it.



Gasp 
Anybody care to translate ??


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## am_hammy

bobo said:


> Gasp
> Anybody care to translate ??




Basically, these chains have been around forever, have failed to recreate themselves (in a phrase, they suck) and are being replaced by new chains and restaurants with a more eclectic combination of food selections that cater to adventurous tastebuds. =p


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## Kevin

bobo said:


> Gasp
> Anybody care to translate ??


 well... I read this article bemoaning the decline of what over here has
 standard business model : the industrial sit down food chain restaurant. I listed some the names but I understand if you never heard of them. Over here they are everywhere ( unless you're somewhere very rural). Why post this here? Well, this an age related thread, being generally geared toward the more aged,and in contrast to the younger crowd, and the general gist of this article was that the reason for this decline in the American standby was that younger people, the Millenials, were not patrons. The article could very easily be taken as a criticism of their eating habits.

Anyway...  So Applebee's is one of the restauants. The name itself I think is a piece brilliant marketing , at least it was, sort of bringing to mind homey, home cooked food, which they don't sell. Its corporate,and it's s chain. I don't personally care for the food, but, it definitely was a success; was. I was sort of making a joke about poor Mrs Applebee', and whatever will she do? I don't know if there ever was an Applebee person but if there was they must be very wealthy, and not a very good cook, or someone just got the/came up with the name. I was hoping to sort of elicit old mother Hubbard, which was a traditional nursery rhyme back when.


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## LeeC

Some things not to say. The wife and I have long since entered that stage where there is only trust and friendship to rely on, or if you romantics insist, non-physical love. We're very different personality types so things are generally lively. Unless you have a very solid relationship, don't mimic this conversation snippet we had today.

The wife is always trying to get me moving doing something or other**. When I'm tired or have other things to do, at first I often don't hear, but when she persists I answer, "Yes dear."

After she's heard enough "Yes dears" in a day, she sometimes gets a little more vocal.

Wore out today from trying to do a few chores, I replied, "Ladies and gentlemen, with no apologies I present Donna Rickles."

You might say it kept the conversation lively ;-)


** She means well, actually trying to keep my blood circulating.


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On another note, I noticed this collage of news clippings today. Seems to me these "journalists" would have learned more interacting on WF than from whatever college they went to.


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## bobo

Kevin said:


> well... I read this article bemoaning the decline of what over here has ...
> ..... but if there was they must be very wealthy, and not a very good cook, or someone just got the/came up with the name. I was hopping to sort of elicit old mother Hubbard, which was a traditional nursery rhyme back when.



Whou, no I even understand the short, coded version !! 
- good the chain is broken, food should be eatable :topsy_turvy:


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## LeeC

If your wife has her own career, try to get her interested in numerous other things before she retires. For most of my wife's career she managed major implementation projects for a large corporation. Now that she's retired, aside from golf I'm the only "project" she has to manage.


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## Kevin

I am reminded of a sheep dog without a flock. I say! Since she's so good at things...Perhaps you could get her to work on procuring you a single occupant mini off-road vehicle... sort of an 'escape pod'.http://www.actiontrackchair.com/Default.aspx#.WTlRYsRHanM


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## LeeC

Great idea Kev  I put one on my list for when I win the lottery. That way I could get out in the woods when the "sports" hunters come around, to throw firecrackers to scare off the wild turkeys, grouse, bears, and deer.


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## am_hammy

I don't know if this will count, but maybe I can get away with being young and connecting with this experience. For the first time ever today on my lunch break I discovered the TV show Bonanza. The seasons are on Hulu and I'm going to watch every single episode.  I'm quite excited about it. I have a feeling at least one of you will have recalled a time watching this show ^_^


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## LeeC

med induced dumbness erased, or are meds an excuse ;-)


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## Kevin

Bonanza? Neverheardofit...Hoss.


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## JustRob

Bonanza? Yes, I remember seeing the trailers for it before it started ... er ... back around the 1960s I think. Has it started yet then? Don't say I missed it. Not much point in watching the latest episodes now then, is there?


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## am_hammy

JustRob said:


> Bonanza? Yes, I remember seeing the trailers for it before it started ... er ... back around the 1960s I think. Has it started yet then? Don't say I missed it. Not much point in watching the latest episodes now then, is there?



There's a tv channel that has reruns I believe and when I looked it up they had the old seasons on hulu.


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## LeeC

am_hammy said:


> There's a tv channel that has reruns I believe and when I looked it up they had the old seasons on hulu.


If you're looking for "relatively" old TV shows, here is something I noticed.
https://youtu.be/1O6IGz5NqD8

What I enjoyed as a child was The Shadow and Gunsmoke on the radio. They didn't have TV in Wyoming at the time.


--------

I skimmed through the video and noticed one of the shows introduced was The Rat Patrol. One I used to watch later on. Haven't watched TV in years so I wouldn't know what's playing nowadays.


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## plawrence

When you're retired, every day is Saturday—unless you don't like Saturday. Then it's whatever day you _do_ like.


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## Kevin

Watched three coyotes tumbling around on a hillside. They were watching me and then went back to playing. Birds of prey were squawking; not near the coyotes, but just in general; the peacocks were still at it as I got closer back to town. They live in the houses, but right near the edge. The little pond at the top of the stagecoach trail was nearly gone. Baby toads were all over the cracked mud flats, and there were still plenty of tadpoles. I'd say they got maybe two weeks, and then the water will be all gone.


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## Winston

"I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got"
Sinead O'Connor  

At the shipyard, I overheard I guy talking about purchasing a $70,000 pick-up truck.  
I kinda like my 40 year old truck I spent $1700 on.
I just hope buying that trucks makes that guy happy.  I really do.


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## LeeC

Kevin said:


> Watched three coyotes tumbling around on a hillside. They were watching me and then went back to playing. Birds of prey were squawking; not near the coyotes, but just in general; the peacocks were still at it as I got closer back to town. They live in the houses, but right near the edge. The little pond at the top of the stagecoach trail was nearly gone. Baby toads were all over the cracked mud flats, and there were still plenty of tadpoles. I'd say they got maybe two weeks, and then the water will be all gone.



The vagaries of Nature. Scares the s**t out of most folks, so they pretend we're superior with some divinity watching over us ;-)



Winston said:


> "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got"
> Sinead O'Connor
> 
> At the shipyard, I overheard I guy talking about purchasing a $70,000 pick-up truck.
> I kinda like my 40 year old truck I spent $1700 on.
> I just hope buying that trucks makes that guy happy.  I really do.



Ride on  I bet you'll find more serenity at the end of the rainbow than the materialistic dude.


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## LeeC

Ran across a meme of an angry duck saying, "Whatever you do don't call be Donald!"

I like when people show some imagination


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## LeeC

Old age (or whenever a biobot breaks down) crap is for the birds, sorry birds. I spent the last few days in the hospital because predominate culture medicine jumps to focus on what they believe the core problem is.  I was taken in because I blacked out. They did identify the reason I blacked out as water in the lungs. That being relatively simple to alleviate though, they kept me in the hospital because my heart rate was below forty. What they refused to accept is that my guardian spirit is Brown Bear, which can slow it’s heart rate to match metabolism processes.

Now before you scoff at such thinking [remember I’m a student of natural history], compare it with predominate culture beliefs where for the most part they seemingly believe they can destroy habitat and biodiversity in excess without affecting the quality of life their children will experience. My construction of points is no where as farfetched as a lot of what I see and read to make outselves feel better ;-)

“_Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible Nature, unaware that this Nature he’s destroying is this God he’s worshipping._” ~ Hubert Reeves


Somewhat related, is that the wife stayed with me the whole time. That even though she missed out on two golf tournaments she was supposed to play in. She made up for it by berating me for not having gotten the lawn mowed first  


------------------

With my mind on the misdirection of human intelligence, I remembered a video I watched some time back. I wonder how many truly understand and appreciate what is said. Surly our current directions are showing that not enough care. 

One of my favorite Carl Sagan videos
https://youtu.be/MrZ4197C1I0


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## LeeC

On a followup visit to my doctor, after my hospitalization, he made arrangements for further visits with other specialists. Life is coming full circle and I can rest easy in having done my little bit for the world my grandson will have to get by in. If only I can finish illustrating my book in the hope of reaching the crowd that might in time benefit from it.

Anyway, for one of the specialist areas I interjected that he not send me to a particular practice that has walnut paneling throughout their office, because I wasn't going to benefit the Mr. Avarice crowd. I was pleased when he said he wouldn't think of it. His words, "I understand as I have a problem with corporate medicine also, and that group will cut anybody when there's a profit to be made." 

I mention this because it renewed my appreciation of the potential of humankind. Professional or laborer, comfortable or hand to mouth, there are those that understand where our ignorance, hubris, and greed are taking us. 

Gotta go, I hear the wife coming to shut me down for the night. 

Take care all.


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## midnightpoet

Hang in there, Lee.  I don't trust the medical community either, but sometimes a necessary evil - and I know a lot of people go to church to worship God but really are worshiping gold, they just won't admit it.


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## LeeC

midnightpoet said:


> Hang in there, Lee.  I don't trust the medical community either, but sometimes a necessary evil - and I know a lot of people go to church to worship God but really are worshiping gold, they just won't admit it.


Thank you, but I'm doing fine. My reference to medicine was how even those with "advanced education" reflect the disparities in our culture. 

The wife showed me an article in the newspaper this morning about our "live free or die" state now having a school choice law. Cracks me up that people are finding ways to get their fantasies, justifications, and manipulation into the class room. If there was material profit to be made from the Earth being flat, it would be included in the curriculum. 

Hope your wife is doing better.


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## Jack of all trades

LeeC said:


> The wife showed me an article in the newspaper this morning about our "live free or die" state now having a school choice law. Cracks me up that people are finding ways to get their fantasies, justifications, and manipulation into the class room. If there was material profit to be made from the Earth being flat, it would be included in the curriculum.




Are you saying that anyone who wants to choose which school to use is a flat Earth believer? An idiot?  Because that's how your remarks come across, at least to me.

Here's an article about that bill. http://www.schoolchoicenh.org/2017/06/29/governor-signs-town-tuitioning/

I don't see anything about flat Earth believers.

Montessori schools, for those who may not be familiar with them, are more or less child led learning centers. Materials for various subjects are around the room for the children to use and learn from. There is generally some "class" time, when the teacher covers specific information.  I have never known anyone being taught that the Earth is flat at a Montessori school.


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## LeeC

Right wing media. I notice you didn't also note the opposing viewpoints for balance. Everybody's vying for children's minds. So far humans have managed to destroy much of habitat and biodiversity that in essence sustains us. Human intelligence, like military intelligence, is an oxymoron. Nature's way of moving on to correct an imbalance, so blame it, not me.

"_It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled._" ~ Mark Twain

“_Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible Nature, unaware that this Nature he’s destroying is this God he’s worshipping._” ~ Hubert Reeves

Read "The Sixth Extinction, An Unnatural History" by Elizabeth Kolbert, for a balanced presentation of the good and bad of humanity. A significant portion of the population wouldn't chose a school that had such as required reading. While at it, think about how big business tried to destroy Rachel Carson because of her book Silent Spring. The fact that they didn't succeed buoys my hope in the human potential manifesting in our thinking and behavior.


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## Kevin

I don't know how it is out there, but here it takes a 4.50 grade point average to get into UCLA. I know because our friend's daughter didn't make it; she only had a 4.25. He said he felt so bad for her, that she's been working so hard, 16 hr days, up til midnight sometimes, studying for the last four years. 

I bring this up to emphasize the extreme competition now it takes to get into a state university, and the pressure felt by parents to make they tried and done everything possible to allow their children the best opportunity. 

 So here, when you're not wealthy, you have to judge the place you're going to live, the property values, the price you pay for your home, and factor in private school costs versus paying more monthly mortgage and being able to send your child to a decent public school. I believe it was up until last year that the rankings were published, but then our leader, Moonbeam, with all his higher learning, loftier plane awareness decided (along with the other cadres in charge) that we don't need that information. 

So then, considering that we only get once chance, should you just leave your kid in there and sacrifice for the good of all the proletariat and brotherhood of mankind, or, should you ask for your money back so you too might have a chance at the loftier planes of existence ( that is trying to give your child the opportunity to have that)? The voucher drive here has two forces: one is concerned parents. The other are private school interests. Granted the second one is corrupt. The first however consists of all types and classes. Flat earth are kooks out on the edge. As I see it they are for less education and basically  irrelevant... except as a red herring.


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## LeeC

Yes Kev, I knew you'd understand my comments on the disparities of the human condition. To me schools are a place to at least gain an awareness of the reality of the human condition and our little blue canoe at a minimum, since such is paramount to our continued existence. In reality they are more a place for producing worker bees. The latter isn't so bad if a wide range of subjects are at least available for the critical thinking students. What I have a problem with is curriculum being dictated by the Alternate Reality Coalition.  

Even with the public schools we don't go far enough. Take history for example where students memorize occasions and date, but seldom get into in-depth reality and the lessons we might learn from such. I had a more complete education in a one-room reservation schoolhouse, because it included history that the predominate culture leaves out of their teaching. 

Something that might be learned is how down through history the cultural pyramid scheme failed because it benefited only a few. 

Oh well, we are what we are, and Nature will deal with the problem in moving on to new life forms. What saddens me is how we're diminishing the quality of life of our children.


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## Jack of all trades

LeeC said:


> Right wing media. I notice you didn't also note the opposing viewpoints for balance. Everybody's vying for children's minds. So far humans have managed to destroy much of habitat and biodiversity that in essence sustains us. Human intelligence, like military intelligence, is an oxymoron. Nature's way of moving on to correct an imbalance, so blame it, not me.
> 
> "_It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled._" ~ Mark Twain
> 
> “_Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible Nature, unaware that this Nature he’s destroying is this God he’s worshipping._” ~ Hubert Reeves
> 
> Read "The Sixth Extinction, An Unnatural History" by Elizabeth Kolbert, for a balanced presentation of the good and bad of humanity. A significant portion of the population wouldn't chose a school that had such as required reading. While at it, think about how big business tried to destroy Rachel Carson because of her book Silent Spring. The fact that they didn't succeed buoys my hope in the human potential manifesting in our thinking and behavior.




Whoa! So much faulty info!

1. I was responding to your remarks, which has nothing to do with media, right wing or otherwise.

2. I notice you didn't provide anything to support your remarks. That burden lies with you not me.

3. The school choice enables families to have more control over WHERE to send their children. It does NOT give them control over curriculum, which was your original implication. 

4. Being in favor of school choice does not mean ANY of the other garbage you are projecting onto me! If you knew my ACTUAL views on subjects, you would most likely be surprised.


To clarify, I objected, and still object to, disparaging comments being made that are unsubstantiated. That is the limit of my point.

There is nothing in the bill that allows for flat Earth style curriculum. School choice would, possibly, address some of Kevin's points, too.

For that matter, keeping families tied to the school of the home location allows for more control over curriculum by whatever powers that be that concern you.

While the current system is malfunctioning, it takes time and change to put a new one in place. One does not go from the desk to the door without walking across the floor. 


I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this issue.


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## Plasticweld

Lee I couldn't disagree more with you on your assessment of todays schools.  "my opinion"  Teachers seldom have a grasp on reality, they are in a safe environment where they can't be fired for  poor performance.  They have done little to actually experience life except go to other schools taught by others who have escaped the reality of the real world, and what it takes to actually get things done.   I only wished they turned out worker bees who understood how to get things done.  I wish critical thinking was actually taught, that would truly pay off in an environment where a wide range of topics are taught and even more missed.  You mention history, I couldn't agree more with you there. 

I would love for you to explain how a white kid ended up in a one room school house on a reservation, that sounds like a true story all in itself.


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## Kevin

Oh shit, Lee... Now you've done it. Lol. 

I've met some teachers that really knew a hole in the ground. Hereabouts they are caught up in the union finagling whether they complain or not. On the other hand, well...on the other hand I really don't know because I haven't taken a pole, analyzed any data , or done any other comprehensive anything to support whatever. I would just be going off of assumptions... 

Choice of curiculum... How bout a learning environment superior to the one to be had at the local public school? That's what the whole choice thing is here, whether it's public or private it breaks down into money. You pay more to live near the better public- , or you pay more to send them to a private, or you pay more to transport the pupil to the desired 'free' location. And by the way, I live in the largest single school district ( or is it the second?)in the country, so my opinion really carries more weight... Probably more than your combined. Lol


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## LeeC

Thanks Bob and Kev. I think you both have reasonable assessments of our education system. Basically it's like all of our institutions, with incompetence abounding, and many of the teachers furthering what they received. There are a minority of really good teachers, that are critical thinkers themselves. That they might choose the highest bidder, and a private school employer, is not surprising. I don't know of a solution for that given population growth and a material pursuit culture. So, granted many public schools are doing a piss poor job, and being the animals we are I doubt that can be fixed. But my thought is letting the alternate reality believers take the lead in change will only make things worse. 

This was a continuation of my comments about my doctor. You won't find many like him, steering me away from the whatever-it-takes-to-increase-profits crowd.

My points of reference are the public school district my daughter teaches in, where many of the students chose environmental projects as a senior project requirement (Maine's school districts are dwarfed by California's Kev), and the other side of the coin around here and noted in more reliable news media than Fox News. The latter being attempts to integrate such as ID, one religion's bible studies, denial of our accelerating global warming, and other alternate realities in school curriculum, regardless of how subtle their attempts are. The examples are so numerous that mentioning a few would only give those supporting the agenda something to distract with. My problem with such subjects is seeing where it has gotten us. As Carl Sager and others have said, we're still thinking like we did when we lived in caves. Such is amply evidenced by the avarice and atrocities of more recent times. Where I'm coming from is instead of cramming our children's heads with the thinking that has and is causing so many problems, we should be trying to improve their objectivity and broaden their perspective so that we might continue as a species. 

Just so you know, I'm neither a right or left politico, but a naturalist that holds out hope for the human potential, even when we're shooting ourselves in the foot. It galled me greatly to vote as I did in the last election, but I wasn't ready to jump off a cliff.

Oh, and Bob, a Shoshone family was the only one that would take in this troublesome and rebellious child when needed. I'm very thankful they did as, being an outsider to their culture and estranged from my own, I learned to look more objectively at human culture, and it was the beginning of better understanding the natural world. I also appreciate your comments about workers. Two summers ago I hired two young men (30s) to cut and split a pile of logs I couldn't anymore, paying them fairly as I knew how much work was involved. They took almost three weeks to do what I did alone in a week when I was seventy. They seemed to always be on their cell phones or breaks ;-)

This all reminds me of your comments Kev, about the tadpoles in the drying pond. The vagaries of Nature scare the crap out of our insecure species. Even so, we know deep down there is something wrong with how we're handling physical life. Look at all the apocalyptic stories that are written ;-)

I think Albert Einstein summed it up best.

"_A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and ...to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty._" - Albert Einstein


PS: I would love to hear both your comments about the book "The Sixth Extinction, An Unnatural History" by Elizabeth Kolbert. I haven't seen where anyone here has even cracked the cover. Maybe they're afraid of what they'll read


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## LeeC

Don't we all


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## LeeC

An example in the Miami Herald of my earlier stated concern about the alternate reality crowd making inroads in the public classroom. Anybody can believe whatever they wish, but I see it as shortsighted to indoctrinate one’s own children with alternate realities, and downright criminal to try to indoctrinate other’s children with their manipulative  fantasies. 

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fred-grimm/article160012514.html?utm_campaign=crowdfire&utm_content=crowdfire&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter#350509998-tw#1499456664311

There is a huge difference between hard science and alternate realities, regardless of how well-meaning. It seems though, that many would rather hide their head in the sand than care about the world their children will need to get by in. I say this for humanities sake, as Nature is content to move on to new life forms. 

On a site where extensive reading is known to be a prerequisite to better writing, I’m surprised to not be aware of anyone that has even cracked the cover of “The Sixth Extinction, An Unnatural History” by Elizabeth Kolbert. One might learn how to make a dry subject interesting at the least.


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## Jack of all trades

More jumping to conclusions.

Query : Who do you believe is capable of deciding what ALL children should be taught?

Query : Why should people, whose tax money is PAYING FOR the school and its teachers have ZERO say in what is taught?


The purpose of public school in the USA was to create an educated voting population. That mission has failed. Many drop out or graduate still barely able to read. Few graduates have critical thinking skills.

Schools, both public and private, are not teaching the importance of living in harmony with Nature. If you lived in Florida, that law would give YOU the right to influence the curriculum in the ways YOU believe are important. OK. Maybe the odd one who wants global warming to be removed would also be trying to enact change. But think of how much worse it would be if the school board decided to remove global warming -- AND THERE WAS NO RECOURSE FOR PARENTS.

Think about it. It cuts both ways. Very little is all good or all evil.


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## LeeC

Seems to me some are missing the whole point as might be expected (not a dig, simply a demonstrated fact as addressed below). We humans are simply a variation of physical life forms, with inherent behavioral tendencies similar to all life forms, occupying a liminal thread in the web of life. Our thread has and end even with background mutation evolutionary change. The overall issue is that humankind's progress thus far has been to severely shorten our liminal thread by increasingly diminishing the habitat and biodiversity that are essential to our very existence. 

All that is hard science, and if one has an objective curiosity about the details, a quick course in natural history might be had by reading the book “The Sixth Extinction, An Unnatural History” by Elizabeth Kolbert. There are many other hard science books with which to expand one's understanding, but the one I mention is the best starting point I've come across. 

The exasperating thing to me is that I believe we have the potential to understand the reality of natural life, and live in respectful coexistence with all life forms. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of many outstanding authors such as Elizabeth Kolbert, Aldo Leopold,  Rachel Carson, and on and on, too many choose alternate realities, either because they don't know better or other reasons I won't speculate on. 

One of those outstanding authors is ​William Stolzenburg, and a couple pertinent snippets from his book “Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cat's Walk Across America” follow.
"From the first teetering steps to the inimitable cocky stride in humanity’s six-million-year journey— from tree-dwelling, knuckle-walking offshoot of an African ape, to bipedal globe-trotting pedestrian of the world— had come uncounted sidetracks and detours through the bellies of big cats. Being hunted was a fact of early life that forever shaped the growing brains and bodies of the people who would come to be."
​​
“Researchers from around the world were returning with disquieting reports of forests dying, coral reefs collapsing, pests and plagues irrupting. Beyond the bulldozers and the polluters and the usual cast of suspects, a more insidious factor had entered the equation. It was becoming ever more apparent that the extermination of the earth’s apex predators— the lions and wolves of the land, the great sharks and big fish of the sea, all so vehemently swept aside in humanity’s global swarming— had triggered a cascade of ecological consequences. Where the predators no longer hunted, their prey had run amok, amassing at freakish densities, crowding out competing species, denuding landscapes and seascapes as they went."​

With a careful reading of the above it's easy to see how we got on this destructive path, but with our supposedly increasing mental capabilities it's not so easy to understand our continuing on the same path. The opposition to reality is formidable though, from coming up with explanations that have no scientific basis, to distracting from and putting their own spin on real science. Distracting from what I've been trying to say is an example. Are we humans so full of ourselves that caring for the world our children will have to get by in is overly inconvenient? I hate to think what our children and grandchildren will come to think of us, having had the opportunity to do something meaningful for their quality of life and not doing so. 

So the overall question is, do we really have the potential to recognize the reality of natural life and work towards a better quality of life for our children, or are we steadfast in hiding behind alternate realities and believe it's more important to indoctrinate our children in such?

I for one truly care for my grandson and have worked towards caring for the world he will have to get by in.  You might understand why I find introducing alternate realities into the public classroom abhorrent. That's not to say that public schools are great, but introducing alternate realities will make things worse. 

There's much more that I could say, being a lifetime student of natural history, but I've said enough to explain my stance, and there's no point in my explaining further to those that don't want to understand.


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## bdcharles

Jack of all trades said:


> Query : Who do you believe is capable of deciding what ALL children should be taught?



As you say it's rarely all or nothing (nor reducible to a single set of people to solve the problem) so your question is a little leading, but to bring it back a bit, in the main I would say educators and people in the education field are best placed to decide that. Certainly not politicians or the general public. What do they know about it? What interest do they have? The powers that be here in the UK have reduced a once-leading educational system to a political football that is subject to nonsense like the vagaries of the property market, and every teacher I know is constantly pushing for less of that type of external control.



Jack of all trades said:


> Query : Why should people, whose tax money is PAYING FOR the school and its teachers have ZERO say in what is taught?



Because they don't know enough about it and/or because they can't be trusted not to push their own agendas via the medium of policy-influencing amounts of cash. Just because someone pays money to something doesn't mean they should have any say about it. If anything the opposite applies - you spend that money to fund the people who have the knowledge and experience to make a thing work, or you save money and do it yourself and become one of those people. The idea that money carries the final say or some sort of majority input to public services is toxic. If you want that set up a private institution. I don't want the general public having any kind of influence in my kids' educations without my say-so. They're not accountable, they don't have the expertise and too many of their ideas have historically been bad ones.


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## Kevin

I suppose b.d. , that _might_ be a difference between the u.k. and the u.s.: we _do_ think we are capable of deciding. As long as all the information is available... On 911 our operators told everyone to remain calm and stay at there desks till 'help' arrived. Some people went to the roof, which was a big mistake because the helicopters are never coming to any roof, (unless you're the President, or Donald Trump).All that heat, the wind, the smoke. It's way too risky. If only they'd known, they might've..

The survivors... well, you see? That's how you survive. They used their own feelings of self-interest and made a choice. They weren't experts, didn't have every detail, but as it turned out, they had enough: _the building is on fire and get the hell out_; which was counter to what they were being told by the 'experts': _stay_ i_n your seats._ 

As as far as school choice, we see that collectivist idea that the whole should be held back to accommodate or counter the deficiencies of the low median as ... repugnant. That's like riding the building down.  We know it's a farce, propping up the wealthy because for them, those rules don't apply. Freedom of choice...


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## Jack of all trades

> I don't want the general public having any kind of influence in my kids' educations without my say-so.



How many other parents feel the same way? And about important issues, not "flat Earth" theories!

Common core was a hot issue a couple years ago. Parents and teachers, both, were against it. But "experts" had pushed that agenda. Is it really in the best interest of future generations to push the agenda of a single educator, a so-called expert? Or should parents have the right, and the means, to fight poor choices when the "experts" make them? 

Or are you saying that those judged to be experts are infallible? Completely incapable of making even the smallest mistakes?

You are part of the general population. We all are. That includes doctors, physicists, criminologists, astronomers, enviromentalists, and many others who care, just as deeply, about our children receiving quality education.

I think the biggest problem with the educational system, and how it got so bad, is LACK of parental involvement. Too many busy, two income families have relied on "experts" to choose what is taught without parents keeping an eye on the selections. 

Parents are not corporations. Only a small portion of the population rises to CEO or other high level positions. Those in the lower ranks don't care about the corporate goals. They aren't really going to push such agendas in school systems.

Politicians, on the other hand, are frequently influenced by lobbyists. And politicians have already been given the power to influence education. Giving power to the people will reduce the political influence, or at least has the potential to do so.

I am offended by the implication that because I chose a field other than education that I'm irresponsible or in some other way incapable of making an important and positive influence on the public school system.

And the only way to have complete say-so over what your child is taught is to do all the teaching yourself! But homeschooling is another debate altogether.


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## LeeC

It seems the difference is, what are important issues? Are they the longevity of the human species, or some alternate reality? We can all agree that the education of our children can be improved, but is indoctrinating them with alternate realities appropriate to that goal? Flat Earth theories was a satirical analogy to alternate realities, such as denying global warming and our role in such, believing a single religion is best rather than respecting the commonality of all religions, wanting to privatize wilderness areas with complete disregard to altering the ecology our existence depends on, denying that untold amounts of agrochemicals are destroying the soil we depend on, and along with all our other pollutants fouling waters that are the fluid of life, and on and on. Indoctrinating our children with such would be furthering our destructive course, and diminishing the quality of life they have a right to. 

So who decides what the important issues are in our pyramid scheme culture? We've certainly made a lot of poor choices so far. Areas where I do see improvement are Europe being way ahead of us with such as renewable energy, banning toxic substances, protecting more forests, promoting ecology, and so on.

Read Elizabeth Kolbert's book on the sixth extinction, and tell me point by point what are not the most important issues, given they affect our very existence. Distracting tangents and shifting the onus are a dime a dozen, employed to avoid real issues.


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## Jack of all trades

The "alternate realities" have been going on already, with "experts" in charge of curriculums. The so-called amateurs, the parents, might actually do better.

I agree that environmental issues, living in harmony with nature instead of trying to control (alter) it, global warming and human contributions to it are all important things to teach. And I'm not an education "expert". 

It might surprise you, but most of the twenty-somethings I've talked with all think global warming is largely man-made. Most have serious concerns about this world and the future of humans. They are not crackpots treating everything as disposable.

It was the arrogance of the prior generations that created global warming, not those who are stepping into adulthood now.

I'm done with this. Like a belief in a flat Earth, some people hold onto erroneous ideas despite the mounting evidence to the contrary. It's not worth my time.


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## LeeC

Out of respect for the wife's concern, this Wednesday I'm letting the doc wire me up with an external monitor. I know it'll be a PITA though. All I ever wanted was a natural life, which allows for a meteor strike or the like. It better not get in the way of me illustrating my book though, or out the window it goes ;-) I'm hell bent on finishing this illustration project.


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## bdcharles

Kevin said:


> I suppose b.d. , that _might_ be a difference between the u.k. and the u.s.: we _do_ think we are capable of deciding. As long as all the information is available... On 911 our operators told everyone to remain calm and stay at there desks till 'help' arrived. Some people went to the roof, which was a big mistake because the helicopters are never coming to any roof, (unless you're the President, or Donald Trump).All that heat, the wind, the smoke. It's way too risky. If only they'd known, they might've..
> 
> The survivors... well, you see? That's how you survive. They used their own feelings of self-interest and made a choice. They weren't experts, didn't have every detail, but as it turned out, they had enough: _the building is on fire and get the hell out_; which was counter to what they were being told by the 'experts': _stay_ i_n your seats._
> 
> As as far as school choice, we see that collectivist idea that the whole should be held back to accommodate or counter the deficiencies of the low median as ... repugnant. That's like riding the building down.  We know it's a farce, propping up the wealthy because for them, those rules don't apply. Freedom of choice...



Sure, but 9/11 is a particular case due to the scale and intensity of it. In the main, when something goes wrong, people call the emergency services because those are the people equipped, trained and prepared to assist. True there may be some in the general public (by that I mean the non-experts in the situation, whatever it may be) who have the presence of mind or the training or whatever else to be of genuine use but most people bolt and panic. That's not a judgment on theiur character; that's typical behaviour. So it is in many other instances where people leave a job to the people whose job it is to so it. Can you imagine the organisational nightmare if every member of the public tried to step in to orchestrate every thing - emergency, schools, war, any skill or trade. It'd be a nightmare. Have an interface, a liaison, sure, but while the notion of anybody being able to spring into action and save the day is a compelling idea - I've entertained it myself on many occasions - it suggests a certain distrust, a certain dysfunction that is, in my opinion, more at the core of the problem.

Regarding the accommodating of the low median, I'm not sure what that has to do with this - other than it has been with that in mind, certainly here in the UK, that the national curriculum has been messed about with so much as to render it almost worthless, precisely because politicians gained too much influence in schools where they should have left it to educators. Ditto the abolition of grammar schools.



Jack of all trades said:


> How many other parents feel the same way? And about important issues, not "flat Earth" theories!



EDIT: All the ones I've spoken to. The only people, from what I have observed, who feel the opposite are people who either have something unrelated to gain from it personally or who don't have kids. Not the nost reliable sources of authority on the subject.




Jack of all trades said:


> Common core was a hot issue a couple years ago. Parents and teachers, both, were against it. But "experts" had pushed that agenda. Is it really in the best interest of future generations to push the agenda of a single educator, a so-called expert? Or should parents have the right, and the means, to fight poor choices when the "experts" make them?



I admit I dont' know what common core is. It sounds like the national curriculum, acc. Wikipedia - but from what you say that sounds like an example where non-educators fiddled around with the system. Who are these "experts" who pushed it forward? Let's see; the NGA (a political body) and a coalition of professors. Okay - that could go either way. What are the issues with it? It creates a culture of mediocrity. Was there any influencing factor? Yes there was - the awarding of grants. That right there is a red flag, isn't it, because would a well-funded school leap to this policy? Would their teachers be so easy to buy? Probably not, because it doesn't need that cash and can continue in the way that the people running it want, where it works. The solution? Fund the scoools better, and smarter. As with many things, the problem comes down to money and the squandering thereof.



Jack of all trades said:


> Or are you saying that those judged to be experts are infallible? Completely incapable of making even the smallest mistakes?



Lol if I was saying that I would have - well, I would said it! It's a little more complex than those kinds of false dichotomies suggest. Good idea if you want to get a debate rumbling though  Let's move on.



Jack of all trades said:


> You are part of the general population. We all are. That includes doctors, physicists, criminologists, astronomers, enviromentalists, and many others who care, just as deeply, about our children receiving quality education.



Indeed. And that's why I leave it to the teachers themselves to do the actual teaching (and they leave me to my job), and why I bemoan it when external influence is too great - be it from politicians or busybody parents. That said, parents do have inroads - elected school governors, PTAs, all of that sort of thing. And there's no reason that parents cannot talk direct to the teachers. Many's the time I've knocked on my daughters' headmistresses door and had a frank chat with her about things (and I have seen them yeild results; like an issue of head louse - when I was at school if you got nits the nit nurse came, you got your head shaved and everybody knew; for a long time they tried to heep it hush-hush as they chased ratings, with the impact being lots of nits and some kids having allergic reactions; now, as the result of our actions, they send the kids home to get sorted out), but going back to my chats with the headteacher, I wouldn't see the point in telling her what to teach and how because she knows more about it than I do and if she doesn't, the governors and LEA are there to address that. What would that achieve? To give everybody the sense that I know what's best. My self esteem isn't _that _fragile that I need to point score off primary school kids ... I get my ego boosts in other ways entirely.



Jack of all trades said:


> I think the biggest problem with the educational system, and how it got so bad, is LACK of parental involvement. Too many busy, two income families have relied on "experts" to choose what is taught without parents keeping an eye on the selections.



Well, I would disagree that it's the biggest problem - though I guess there is always room for improvement - but I am conscious that I am really talking about the UK system. I think the US system is a little more devolved (as it should be) so that may be the case in the US. But think about it. You say that parents are too busy. They have to both work to make ends meet. And that's true, so what's the alternative? Starve? Stuff is expensiveand living standards (the income to expenditure ratio) has dropped, particularly around property. And there is the problem. It's not so easy to sack off work and go and petition the schools. And quite honestly we shouldn't have to. Otherwise what - we citizers all march in to theatres of war and tell the generals how to soldier? Ludicrous. If that's the state a society is at, where people cannot trust people to do their job, then that is the very definition of dysfunction and hardly a model for anything.



Jack of all trades said:


> Parents are not corporations. Only a small portion of the population rises to CEO or other high level positions. Those in the lower ranks don't care about the corporate goals. They aren't really going to push such agendas in school systems.
> 
> 
> Politicians, on the other hand, are frequently influenced by lobbyists. And politicians have already been given the power to influence education. Giving power to the people will reduce the political influence, or at least has the potential to do so.



Well that's true about politicians, but an army of parents descending on the schools is not the answer. It's the opposite. It'd be like herding cats. Fund the schools, fund the educators, have some parent liaisons as governors and work with the schools rather than in spite of them and giving them unreachable and pointless targets. Everybody wants control of the school system but it shouldn't be everybody's to control on a whim. It should be in the hands of those that care about education such that they have invested the time to know the most about it.



Jack of all trades said:


> I am offended by the implication that because I chose a field other than education that I'm irresponsible or in some other way incapable of making an important and positive influence on the public school system.



Pfft. You're not offended. I have confidence that you are made of more robust stuff than that even if you don't. No, if I said that in spite of your chosen work field, you are not in a position to advise on said field, that would be me being offensive. You can have some input via the mechanisms, but why should you have some sort of controlling stake until you have proved yourself? Why should anyone? Why should I? We shouldn't, and if that means that we don't get to do what we want when we want to , well, that's the way it is.



Jack of all trades said:


> And the only way to have complete say-so over what your child is taught is to do all the teaching yourself! But homeschooling is another debate altogether.



That sounds like a one way route to total destitution unless one has significant cash reserves. Maybe you do. I don't. But it all belies, as I said, a lack of trust and accountability and that is the kiss of death to a functioning society. Like it or not we are all part of a system. If you want to go it alone then more power to you - and hey, you may be so successful that other people sign you up to manage numerous aspects of their lives - schooling, what-have-you, at which point you become one of the "experts" you decry, plugged straight back into the system and neatly proving my point. Boom.


----------



## Jack of all trades

LeeC said:


> Out of respect for the wife's concern, this Wednesday I'm letting the doc wire me up with an external monitor. I know it'll be a PITA though. All I ever wanted was a natural life, which allows for a meteor strike or the like. It better not get in the way of me illustrating my book though, or out the window it goes ;-) I'm hell bent on finishing this illustration project.



Wishing you all the best with this situation.


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## Jack of all trades

bdcharles-- Once again you are contradicting yourself, twisting things and otherwise digging yourself deeper and deeper.

I, and only I, know when I am offended. I resent your feeble attempt at undermining my confidence. If you truly felt I was made of strong stuff, you wouldn't have wasted the keystrokes.  

As it is, I have made my points clearly, without resorting to insults or insinuations. I'll not be making them again. There is nothing to be gained by continuing this discussion, and I have more important things to do with my time. I only logged in to wish LeeC well, no matter how much I may disagree with certain posts.


----------



## Jack of all trades

To all the usual posters on this thread -- 

I apologize for the hijacking of this thread. I'm going now.


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## LeeC

Thanks for the well-wishes  It's no big deal, I'll just be carting around extra electronics meant more to further the economy.

While I'm responding, something you mentioned tickled my funny bone. My kind of humor anyway, not meant to further the disagreement. 



Jack of all trades said:


> It might surprise you, but most of the twenty-somethings I've talked with all think global warming is largely man-made. Most have serious concerns about this world and the future of humans. They are not crackpots treating everything as disposable.



This must scare the crap out of the alternate reality crowd  Remember #43, changed the term "global warming" to "climate change" thinking it'd be less alarming, but still never would accept being descended from a common ancestor with apes, chimpanzees, and gorillas. 

You're correct in saying it's my generation and before that created the situation we're in. My seven year old grandson has much more environmental awareness than I did at that age.

We still can't understand simple logic such as:

"_We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them._" ~ Albert Einstein


----------



## midnightpoet

Yeah, and I  guess it's the pedant in me that they throw around "climate change" and "global warming" as if it's the same thing, which it's not - ignoring the obvious that "climate change" can be "global cooling."  Just once I'd like to hear an honest answer - as "we don't give a shit about science, this is about money."


----------



## SilverMoon

> Just once I'd like to hear an honest answer - as "we don't give a shit about science, this is about money."



I did notice on the news that the White House lawn had mega water sprinklers going on. Never saw those "shower works" before. And Trump AKA "Mr.-" as Michael Moore refers to him, has seawalls built around all of his golf courses.

Yep. About :greedy_dollars:.  In the end he will be generous and give us a penny for our plots. OK, I'm off to bed now. :sleeping:


----------



## LeeC

Why we should live in respectful coexistence with all life forms


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## LeeC

A glimmer of maturity. I think of profound things to say, and jot them down for a lucid moment


----------



## LeeC

SilverMoon said:


> I did notice on the news that the White House lawn had mega water sprinklers going on. Never saw those "shower works" before. And Trump AKA "Mr.-" as Michael Moore refers to him, has seawalls built around all of his golf courses.
> 
> Yep. About :greedy_dollars:.  In the end he will be generous and give us a penny for our plots. OK, I'm off to bed now. :sleeping:


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## bobo

Hi Lee,
How are you making those little parchment-like fields, where you're planting your wise words ??


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## ppsage

bobo said:


> Hi Lee,
> How are you making those little parchment-like fields, where you're planting your wise words ??


BS naturally colors everything brown?


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## LeeC

bobo said:


> Hi Lee,
> How are you making those little parchment-like fields, where you're planting your wise words ??



If you mean the burnt canvas background, it's something I created with GIMP. Basically I applied a canvas pattern to a layer, made the edges irregular, and underlaid darker colors, all with a bit of feathering.



ppsage said:


> BS naturally colors everything brown?



A nice distracting spin old friend, I love it  Actually brown is a shade of decay, which is the foundation of new life, hopefully with more objective understanding. As with the waters we are poisoning for our progeny, we're also killing what's necessary in the "brown" soil for our species existence. Of course, in our headlong pursuit of material gain we don't stop to consider such trivialities as the world our grandchildren will have to get by in ;-) Another contradiction, relative to the true nature of our "caring" side. 

My apologies to France bobo, which was one of the first countries to find fault with the likes of Monsanto. 


“_I am just a leaf. Just a leaf falling from the tree so that a new bud may grow._” ~ Gemma Malley, The Legacy


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## ppsage

Thought you might like the composting aspect.


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## LeeC

Out this morning to do a bit more at putting up firewood, and thought I’d show off a shirt the wife made me. A woman of many talents. 

Wanted to get in more of what needed doing, before the doc chides me again tomorrow not to be doing anything that hurts. My usual reply is, you mean like life?



[click to enlarge]

The wife takes a lot of pictures, but is camera shy herself. Years back when the state had me demonstrating wood carving at the Big E (New England states fair) a TV camera crew came around, and she vanished like a ghost.


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## LeeC

Found myself in the predicament of needing to turn around to get my canes, but not able to turn around without my canes. Don't suppose it matters much though, in a world where our dedicated politicians are rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic ;-)

Brings to mind all the emphasis on good grammar, in a world where few say what needs to be said for the sake of the world our children will have to get by in, and few want to hear it.


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## escorial

Citizen cane  the future is rosebud


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## escorial

LeeC said:


> Out this morning to do a bit more at putting up firewood, and thought I’d show off a shirt the wife made me. A woman of many talents.
> 
> Wanted to get in more of what needed doing, before the doc chides me again tomorrow not to be doing anything that hurts. My usual reply is, you mean like life?
> 
> View attachment 18940
> [click to enlarge]
> 
> The wife takes a lot of pictures, but is camera shy herself. Years back when the state had me demonstrating wood carving at the Big E (New England states fair) a TV camera crew came around, and she vanished like a ghost.



Cool shirt man....camera shy people are rare these days..has she had her fifteen minutes of fame yet...


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## LeeC

escorial said:


> Cool shirt man....camera shy people are rare these days..has she had her fifteen minutes of fame yet...


She's often in seniors golf tournaments these days, and likes seeing her name in the newspaper as a top finisher, but won't allow any pictures of herself. Not as if she's anything to hide. Way back when we first met I had a hard time focusing on her as a person, and to me she hasn't aged ;-) Well maybe ... her tongue has sharpened a smidgin


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## Kevin

Some guy told me to buy the 6th extinction so I did. It came a couple days ago.    I feel lucky that the local amphibians are still around. Hope they stay. 

The new batch of frogs made it to my house, the 3/4 mile from the pond about two weeks ago. I'm going to say it took them about two months from polliwog- outward concentric circles in search of territory. Like ripples from a pond. No - they are ripples from a pond. 

They got to have moisture, too. My potted natives have attracted one, at least. Not the toads, though. The toads can go just about anywhere. They travel at night. Find a moist hidey-spot in the day. Probably that's what the frogs do, too - travel at night.


----------



## LeeC

Kevin said:


> Some guy told me to buy the 6th extinction so I did. It came a couple days ago.    I feel lucky that the local amphibians are still around. Hope they stay.
> 
> The new batch of frogs made it to my house, the 3/4 mile from the pond about two weeks ago. I'm going to say it took them about two months from polliwog- outward concentric circles in search of territory. Like ripples from a pond. No - they are ripples from a pond.
> 
> They got to have moisture, too. My potted natives have attracted one, at least. Not the toads, though. The toads can go just about anywhere. They travel at night. Find a moist hidey-spot in the day. Probably that's what the frogs do, too - travel at night.


It heartens me to know someone here picked up the book. I thought it was above average writing to make a hard science book interesting. Of course I've been reading such books most of my life to broaden my understanding of the natural world, so I'm not the best judge of the writing. I'd be interested in what you think once you've read all you care to of it. 

I'd bet many don't know the concept of extinction wasn't known till around 1700, and it took until the last several decades to realize how much we're contributing to a sixth great extinction. 

Anyway, thank you for picking it up to have a look-see.


PS: We've had a good deal of rain this year here in NE, so the pond in my natural garden is overflowing with amphibians, which in turn helps other critters fare better.


----------



## sas

I assume mankind is the sixth great extinction. If not, the book is wrong.


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## Kevin

Mass extinction... It involves many species


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## LeeC

sas said:


> I assume mankind is the sixth great extinction. If not, the book is wrong.


Over the span of life on Earth there have been numerous extinction events which altered evolution's path to varying degrees. Of those, there have been five major extinction events that altered evolution's path profoundly, and we are currently in the midst of a sixth great extinction, the Holocene extinction, otherwise referred to as the Anthropocene extinction because it is mainly due to human activity. The current rate of extinction of species is estimated at 100 to 1,000 times higher than natural background rates. 

The other five major extinction events are:
The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event, also known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) extinction, was a mass extinction of some three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth that occurred over a geologically short period of time approximately 66 million years ago. With the exception of some ectothermic species like the leatherback sea turtle and crocodiles, no tetrapods weighing more than 25 kilograms (55 lb) survived. It marked the end of the Cretaceous period and with it, the entire Mesozoic Era, opening the Cenozoic Era that continues today.  It is estimated that 75% or more of all species on Earth vanished. 

The Triassic–Jurassic extinction event marks the boundary between the Triassic and Jurassic periods, 201.3 million years ago. At least half of the species now known to have been living on Earth at that time became extinct. This event vacated terrestrial ecological niches, allowing the dinosaurs to assume the dominant roles in the Jurassic period. 

The Permian–Triassic (P–Tr or P–T) extinction event, colloquially known as the Great Dying, the End-Permian Extinction or the Great Permian Extinction, occurred about 252 million years ago, forming the boundary between the Permian and Triassic geologic periods, as well as the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. It is the Earth's most severe known extinction event, with up to 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species becoming extinct. It is the only known mass extinction of insects. Because so much biodiversity was lost, the recovery of life on Earth took significantly longer than after any other extinction event, possibly up to 10 million years.

The Late Devonian extinction occurred about 375–360 million years ago. Overall, 19% of all families and 50% of all genera became extinct. Some consider this extinction to actually be as many as seven distinct events, spread over about 25 million years.

The Ordovician–Silurian extinction events combined, ending around 430 million years ago, are the second-largest of the five major extinction events in Earth's history in terms of percentage of genera that became extinct. Almost all major taxonomic groups were affected during this global extinction event.​

When you stop to think about it, it's amazing how much we've learned, and how little we've learned from such ;-)


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## Jack of all trades

The word "extinction" gets used too often, in my opinion. I was taught that "extinction" means "died out". That fits the dodo bird. It is, however, also used to describe the Neanderthals, yet all but Africans have 70+% Neanderthal genes. I would describe that as merging with another species, much like the polar bears are starting to merge with the grizzlies. And did dinosaurs "die out"? Now it is fairly common knowledge that birds are descended from dinosaurs. That is evolving, not going extinct.

To avoid another argument, I won't be posting on this topic again.


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## LeeC

Jack of all trades said:


> The word "extinction" gets used too often, in my opinion. I was taught that "extinction" means "died out". That fits the dodo bird. It is, however, also used to describe the Neanderthals, yet all but Africans have 70+% Neanderthal genes. I would describe that as merging with another species, much like the polar bears are starting to merge with the grizzlies. And did dinosaurs "die out"? Now it is fairly common knowledge that birds are descended from dinosaurs. That is evolving, not going extinct.
> 
> To avoid another argument, I won't be posting on this topic again.



No opinionated argument here, but the naiveté of the statements distracts from the facts, so needs to be addressed for the sake of others that might read this. Don't mean to pull an Olly  but language is a two edged sword. 

1) Extinction and evolution are two distinctly different aspects of the natural world. 

In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms (taxon), normally a species (such as ourselves). The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. From what we've been able to determine with scientific objectivity, more than 99 percent of all species that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct.

Evolution on the other hand is where species arise through the process of speciation. That is, new varieties of organisms arise and thrive when they are able to find and exploit an ecological niche. Species become extinct when they are no longer able to survive in changing conditions or against superior competition. The relationship between animals and their ecological niches has been firmly established.

Objective consideration of these two aspects leads to understanding how in avariciously decimating the habitat and biodiversity (collectively ecology) we evolved with we are hastening our extinction.

2) The dodo didn't "die out" as the statement might imply in lessening the impact of the event. The extinction of the dodo within less than a century of its discovery called attention to the previously unrecognized problem of human involvement in the disappearance of entire species. Not to imply intent, but this is an example of the spins we put on facts, like #43 changing references of global warming to climate change, to lessen the importance of such. It's sad that we can't seem to get beyond our avariciousness for our own good, and especially for the good of our children who will have to live with the sins of their fathers.

3) I don't know where the statement of "all but Africans have 70+% Neanderthal genes" came from, but in actuality the proportion of Neanderthal-derived ancestry has been estimated to be 1–4% of the Eurasian genome. Prüfer et al. (2013) revised the proportion to an estimated 1.5–2.1%, but Lohse and Frantz (2014) infer an even higher rate of 3.4–7.3%, all nowhere near 70+%. Nor can I see it's relevance, as it's an example of hybird-breeding across species where possible. In any case this has more to do with the evolutionary branching of Homo erectus into Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. One might see relevance in Neanderthals becoming extinct between 40,000 and 24,000 years ago, due in good part to Homo erectus ;-)

4) "... polar bears are starting to merge with the grizzlies" is a distracting spin on understanding the distinctions of extinction and evolution. Polar and brown bears diverged about 400,000 years ago, however, the two species have mated intermittently for all that time, most likely coming into contact with each other during warming periods (like the present), when polar bears were driven onto land and brown bears migrated northward. Polar bears can breed with brown bears to produce fertile grizzly–polar bear hybrids, but rather than indicating that they have only recently diverged, the new evidence suggests more frequent mating has continued over a longer period of time, and thus the two bears remain genetically similar. 

5) Another spin is noting the fact that the evolution of birds began in the Jurassic Period, with the earliest birds derived from a clade of theropoda dinosaurs named Paraves. Of course crocodiles and alligators have a similar lineage, which are both relevant to evolution. However, the point that is diminished is that commonly extinction is a harbinger of evolution. Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria that first appeared during the Triassic period between 231 and 243 million years ago. They became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event 201 million years ago. Their dominance continued through the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and ended when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of most dinosaur groups 66 million years ago. 

To follow such reasoning one might note humans and many other mammals descended from a common ancestor about the size of a small rat from 75 to 125 million years ago. While mice and humans certainly don't look much the same these days, their genetic blueprints are startlingly similar with over 90% correlative genes. Something I was thinking when I quoted a snippet from "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History" by Elizabeth Kolbert:

"The Sixth Extinction will continue to determine the course of life long after everything people have written and painted and built has been ground into dust and giant rats have— or have not— inherited the earth."

Maybe reading this book at a minimum to understand the hard science better would help one get their ducks (or rats) in a row ;-)


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## bazz cargo

When you write 'Life In the Slow Lane,' you really mean it, sixty million year old news. Wow!\\/


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## LeeC

bazz cargo said:


> When you write 'Life In the Slow Lane,' you really mean it, sixty million year old news. Wow!\\/


Yes BC, you could say it’s sixty million year (plus) old news, but the irony is that the intelligent species we claim to be only started putting the pieces together correctly in the last two hundred years ;-)

The concept of extinction (which every child supposedly now knows in playing with their dinosaur figures) didn’t arise until April of 1796, when it was put forth in a public lecture by Jean-Léopold-Nicolas-Frédéric Cuvier, a naturalist at Paris’s Museum of Natural History. 

The word “fossil” was perviously used to describe anything dug up from the ground. When Carl Linnaeus introduced his system of binomial nomenclature (around 1735 I believe), he made no distinction between the living and the dead  (extant and extinct) because, in his view, none was required.

I find it humorous that it took someone in revolutionary France to put forth the obvious. One might see the event as part of the age old struggle between the alternate reality crowd and objective scientific discovery. There was resistance to the idea in the UK and elsewhere, given religious influence and dogmatic education. Even today, with exponentially more evidence and more objective scientists, there is obviously still resistance, especially from the excessively materialistic inculcated. 

Gotta get back to my illustrating.


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## JustRob

Actually intelligence, in the form of a brain and central nervous system, was already around six _hundred_ million years ago, not just sixty. That's why it amuses me that in those last two hundred years mankind has also pretty much decided that the brain cannot break the time barrier even though neurons have had hundreds of millions of years to work out how to do it. Evolution experiments with every form of survival technique and has tried many apparently bizarre things that have failed over that vast period. For scientists to believe that they have it all worked out in a blink of the universe's eye seems laughable. When a few humans try things that seem bizarre nowadays other more conformist types laugh at them, but maybe the joke is on them. Whatever mankind tries, it usually finds that nature has already done it. Therefore it seems likely that there are still things that nature does that mankind hasn't tried with any success yet. 

Some science doesn't have immediately obvious applications, so isn't pursued by mankind, especially if the chance of success seems remote. In contrast evolution has always indulged in slow lane science, long term experiments with low probabilities of success, such as species that have survived for much longer than humans but then become extinct. Evolutionary superiority may only need a tiny advantage that can't be assessed in a short time. In comparison human science has been a hasty process, cherry picking the more obvious benefits. 

For example, I find it frustrating that researchers have identified that human thought processes are _analogous_ to processes in quantum computing, but neuroscientists are still reticent to investigate whether they actually _are_ quantum computational mechanisms. They are still deterred by the risks regarding reputation, success and application that our hasty human society avoids. Instead scientists are focussing on developing electronic quantum computers, which could possibly become superior to humans and make our fears of the future a reality. Personally I would prefer to verify that evolution has already incorporated the same abilities into human brains to make that situation unlikely before giving them to machines.

What I find amusing about quantum computers is that it has been noticed that sometimes they perform no faster than conventional ones. I think this makes sense as they apparently consider _every_ possibility while looking for the answer to a problem. In that case they must consider the possibility that they aren't capable of quantum computing, so must work conventionally. In other words they may prove to be as susceptible to self-doubt as humans are, so the analogy between quantum computers and their human equivalents continues. How ironic (and reassuring) that the ultimate computer could be as unaware of its true potential as we humans may be of ours. So, even quantum computers may spend part of their lives in the slow lane.


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## escorial

I'm thinking of building an ark and put two of everything I like in it....if you would like to donate any from the list please pm me before extinction

Ferrari
Gold bath taps
moet champagne(magnum size)

fill in rest later


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## JustRob

Er, Esc, if you're going to have two of everything, why not two arks?


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## escorial

JustRob said:


> Er, Esc, if you're going to have two of everything, why not two arks?



God makes the rules man...


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## JustRob

escorial said:


> God makes the rules man...



But wouldn't yours be at least the second ark anyway, so who's counting?

It's not that I need to be typing this as such. It's only that I've just finished reassembling my wireless mouse after doing some surgery with a soldering iron to fix its malfunctions and I needed something to test it with. Of course I do have a second mouse, two of everything being very much a necessity, but that one isn't wireless. It must be a gender thing I suppose.

P.S.
God said that you could have _two_ Ferraris? Really?


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## LeeC

In the vein of “much of what is said has already been said,” all this reminds me of the contradictions of human intelligence.

“_Life moved, as inconstant and fickle as Wind Baby, frolicking, sleeping, weeping, but never truly still. Never solid or finished. Always like water flowing from one place to the next. Seed and fruit. Rain and drought, everything traveled in a gigantic circle, an eternal process of becoming something new. But we rarely saw it. Humans tended to see only frozen moments, not the flow of things._” ~ Kathleen O'Neal Gear, Bone Walker

Sadly, one of the aspects our horse-blinkers obscure is:
"_Nature facilitates but does not excuse the ignorance of excesses._" ~ L. G. Cullens

Why we ignore this likely has something to do with:
"_When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion._" ~ Dale Carnegie

Thus, we have the situation:
"_It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so._" ~  Mark Twain

leading to:
"_Ultimate hubris is trashing our little blue canoe._
_ Fundamental insecurity is turning a blind eye._" ~ L. G. Cullens

So as a much missed WF member noted:
"_With all those brains we paved paradise and put up a parking lot._" ~ R. Hal Watson

And we are left knowing but not comprehending:
"_If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them._" ~ Isaac Asimov

Back to my illustrating


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## LeeC

*More natural garden*

Couldn’t get around well today to take pics of individual plants, but this from the deck is my natural garden (forest edge ecosystem) this year. My idea of walking the walk versus only talking the talk.

In the lower right is one of many American Plum trees which is fruiting for the first time this year. An example of teenage experimentation  Peeping out just above the plum tree is a Shagbark Hickory, They don’t get mature enough to begin to fruit for around forty years. Lower center its one of many hazelnut bushes that are fruiting for the second year. I’d try to identify more of the hundreds of plants for you, but would likely bore you. You’d be surprised though, at how stimulating it can be to have an idea of all the ecological processes that are going on. 

It saddens me I can’t get out there more, as the plants and my canine companion are the best company one could ask for. In the fall though, the deck is the safest place to be, with everything ripened and the black bears coming in to fatten up. 

I’ve left instructions that my ashes be spread here, so I can haunt anyone that thinks of clearing the land ;-) 

[click to enlarge]


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## Kevin

Natural garden ... mmm. I have one of those. I'm on the edge of one the greatest-excuse me- largest human infestations on the planet. The steel blade of the cat has scraped and obliterated everything; but not here. Lack of affluence.. poor property values and a wonderous glitch in zoning left this little portion which at one time was known as Dogpatch ( lil' Abner you Americaphiles) inhibiting standard tract-building. I have nature ( not  the unnatural) in my yard. No Austrailian , South African, European mediteraeneans or other parts unknown exotic sub-tropicals for me. And I'm spreading like a virus. I wish to infect the minds of my kind to bring back what was here. Slaughter the invaders. Kill the intruders. Go native, grab your machete, hack them whack them, tear them out. Go to the hills and gather seed. Restore the habitat. Nature is where it's at...


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## LeeC

^ and at the same time, make a living eh  So many contradictions in life.


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## LeeC

Hey Kev, something to rankle your day  Our “Live Free or Die” esteemed governor, in trying to distance the stare from the Paris Climate Agreement, stated that the two most polluting states are California and New York. Rankings vary by source of course, but I don’t know of any halfway reliable source and criteria where either are even in the top ten. 

More fodder for the sheep, like the school choice bit. At least that had some merit in challenging public schools to do better, but given who’s pushing the agenda it’s obvious there’s chicanery afoot. 


“_Progress is measured by the speed at which we destroy the conditions that sustain life._”  ~  George Monbiot


Or to put it in a more positive way:


“_Ecological awareness expands the context of life; it also enlarges who we are as a person._”  ~   Richard J. Borden


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## LeeC




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## haribol

Whenever I have anxieties the place I choose to relax is a forest. The reason is only in the forest and nowhere else can I slow my pace and relax. Even if I slow my pace in my house or in the city something outside compels me to speed up and as a result my fatigues grow tenfold. In the forest I can breathe in a lot of oxygen that revitalizes my deadened organs and freshens my exhausted body and refreshes my mental conditions. There alone can I find my presence and feel what is these days popularly called a state of mindfulness.


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## JustRob

Time to mention my novel, of course. Readers regard it as primarily a science fiction story but we all need to spend some time in the slow lane. Here's a relevant extract.



> ‘Any sign of John yet?’ came Adrian’s voice on the intercom.
> 
> Graham checked the monitors. ‘No boss. His car’s outside but he’s probably talking to the trees. It could be another sprint finish this morning.’
> 
> John Charman wasn’t talking to anything. He was standing silently with his binoculars to his eyes watching a bird on the edge of the woodland near the security fence. It was a wryneck, not a rare bird but uncommon enough and so well camouflaged that it could easily be missed with its habit of staying quite still and relying on its patterned plumage to hide it. He hadn’t seen one in the wood before, so it was probably just a visitor passing through on its way to Africa. He lowered the binoculars and looked at the trees by the fence. The finances were suffering from cutbacks but apparently the trees weren’t. Some branches were reaching over the fence and could be a security risk. No doubt the fairies would report the problem sometime. Although the wood seemed to be typically English it wasn’t. In some parts there were cedars and other imported species amongst the ancient oak and beech. In the past someone must have laid it out as ornamental rides for some great estate and now nature had taken it back, imposing a greater reality on it. That was why he walked there in the morning, to air his soul in that reality before entering the unreal world of office work. He turned and headed back towards the Pumpkin in the depth of the wood. To one side a mature tree which had been felled by a storm years before lay rotting slowly in the deep leaf litter, but it hadn’t died. Enough roots remained in the ground to sustain some of the branches, which now grew vertically up from the trunk like a row of new saplings. The grim reaper harvested this deciduous landscape regularly, but compared to animals plants had a different attitude to death and an ambiguous view of individuality. With no-one to tend the trees in what had once been someone’s impression of Eden they were ignoring all the conventional boundaries.
> 
> He moved quietly for a large man, but not so silently that the creatures around weren’t aware of him. He noticed the head of a green woodpecker peering round the trunk of a tree at him. As he walked the wary bird edged around the tree to stay out of sight. Everything in this wood had secrets to keep, the animals and birds, the fairies outside the Pumpkin and the staff inside.



In fact this episode is very reminiscent of my own activities when I worked in an office in Tunbridge Wells. The local common there reaches well into the centre of town and I would drive to work, park my car in the office car park and then walk out around the wooded common with my binoculars for maybe an hour. At that time in the morning while most people were busy beginning their everyday activities I would see the wildlife still about its own, foxes trotting along the woodland rides and once a group of rarely seen bullfinches in the trees. Those morning excursions gave me exercise and a reminder of reality,  setting me up for another dose of the unreality of office life and the abstract world of computer software creation. 

Our office was next to the hospital and very close to the nurses' residence there, which had its own open air swimming pool visible from the windows of our top floor. Some of our staff did wonder why I carried a pair of Zeiss miniature folding binoculars in my jacket pocket, but that wasn't actually the reason at all. There are many sorts of wildlife in the world.


----------



## LeeC

Did esc put up this sign?


----------



## LeeC

*Missing the point*

One of my most retweeted posts on Twitter follows. There are some that miss the point though. One person responded "My God is visible, and provides nature for our enjoyment. You are just plain silly Hubert."

I didn't respond in turn because everybody has a right to whatever belief system helps them deal with life. It saddens me greatly though, when some bury their head in the sand so far they can't see how we are trashing the world our children will have to get by in. What I care about is reality, and seeing the reality of what we are doing to our little blue canoe makes me wonder how much we really care for our children. That's the point for anyone that might take exception to some of the words.


----------



## LeeC

I noticed a post on social media where they were talking about rising water levels in the UK. They included the following image as an example. Good gosh, is this accurate?


----------



## JustRob

LeeC said:


> I noticed a post on social media where they were talking about rising water levels in the UK. They included the following image as an example. Good gosh, is this accurate?
> 
> View attachment 19085



Yes, it is, and for the many poor souls whose homes have been repeatedly flooded it is not something that they can smile about. Much money is being spent on flood defences all over the country, but they often prove inadequate.


----------



## LeeC

JustRob said:


> Yes, it is, and for the many poor souls whose homes have been repeatedly flooded it is not something that they can smile about. Much money is being spent on flood defences all over the country, but they often prove inadequate.


Wasn't trying to make lite of anyone's misfortune, but was rather humorously referring to the great white in the image.


----------



## LeeC

Today the wife dragged me down to Massachusetts for a "surprise" birthday party. Attending were a few of us long in the tooth, some with sharp tongues, a slew of intermediate in-laws, and an uncountable hoard of screaming great grandchildren. Not to mention that what I saw of Massachusetts after all these years was a far cry from the peacefulness of the woods where I live. I'd have rather spent the day with my daughter and grandson in the quiet Maine woods. 

Wasn't a total loss though as some old friends were there, and the wife clearly put a lot of loving effort into the occasion. Also, though there is a deep divide among the in-laws, not a single political reference was uttered. ￼

I did enjoy seeing the wife's parents agin, who are in their nineties. A picture of me with them follows:



The wife did surprise me with my favorite cake, carrot cake with real cream cheese icing, not that mostly sugar blend.


----------



## LeeC

Oh, and I almost forgot. This is the birthday card the wife gave me:



and this is the inside:



I guess I'll always be young


----------



## JustRob

LeeC said:


> The wife did surprise me with my favorite cake, carrot cake with real cream cheese icing, not that mostly sugar blend.
> 
> View attachment 19103



Now you're talking.

You remembered the cake but forgot the card? Are you sure you passed that test?


----------



## sas

LeeC said:


> I noticed a post on social media where they were talking about rising water levels in the UK. They included the following image as an example. Good gosh, is this accurate?
> 
> View attachment 19085




Well, I noticed the shark right off.  LOL


----------



## JustRob

sas said:


> Well, I noticed the shark right off.  LOL



I still can't laugh. Too many lives devastated.


----------



## LeeC

Saw another specialist today. He didn't impress me when he said, "It's almost like rigor mortis, but there's a conflicting precondition with that."


----------



## sas

LeeC said:


> Saw another specialist today. He didn't impress me when he said, "It's almost like rigor mortis, but there's a conflicting precondition with that."



Your physician is a poster child for "poor bedside manners."  I must share with my physician daughter. Ho-Ho!


----------



## LeeC

It's getting worse  A man had a heart attack in the hospital and the doctors shouted "Somebody call an ambulance."


----------



## sas

LeeC said:


> It's getting worse  A man had a heart attack in the hospital and the doctors shouted "Somebody call an ambulance."



Well, I asked for an ambulance to pick my partner up from emergency in shit Florida hospital. He was having stroke symptoms while driving on vacation. I was told a hospital was 5 minutes away so drove there. They put him in a packed waiting room! I know that if you are having stroke, if they do an MRI, they can determine what kind. If not hemorrhagic kind, administering drug pTA within THREE hours of symptoms can greatly reduce brain damage. I was loud and insistent he be taken back to doctor. Hospital sent two cops out to threaten me with arrest.  So I ask for ambulance to go elsewhere. My partner slumped over and said he didn't think he could make it elsewhere. I called my physician daughter in Michigan to have her call emergency room doctor there in Florida!  He was then taken back 

note: I found out later this hospital was in poverty area. Of course I had noted waiting room was overflowing with Hispanics. This is how the the poor are treated, in America, folks. Luckily, I had connections and was white.


----------



## LeeC

sas said:


> Well, I asked for an ambulance to pick my partner up from emergency in shit Florida hospital. He was having stroke symptoms while driving on vacation. I was told a hospital was 5 minutes away so drove there. They put him in a packed waiting room! I know that if you are having stroke, if they do an MRI, they can determine what kind. If not hemorrhagic kind, administering drug pTA within THREE hours of symptoms can greatly reduce brain damage. I was loud and insistent he be taken back to doctor. Hospital sent two cops out to threaten me with arrest.  So I ask for ambulance to go elsewhere. My partner slumped over and said he didn't think he could make it elsewhere. I called my physician daughter in Michigan to have her call emergency room doctor there in Florida!  He was then taken back
> 
> note: I found out later this hospital was in poverty area. Of course I had noted waiting room was overflowing with Hispanics. This is how the the poor are treated, in America, folks. Luckily, I had connections and was white.




"Life does not cease to be funny when people die
anymore than it ceases to be serious when people
laugh."         ~  George Bernard Shaw


Though I understand what lurks in the heart of man (like The Shadow  ), being the dominate predator now turned on ourselves, I try in my declining years to focus on the humorous aspect of such. It’s also easier for those that have their head in the sand to swallow ;-)


----------



## sas

Lee,  

The Shadow scared me. I laid in bed with my parents listening to it on large, floor type radio. It had what looked like a green eye ball that lit when on. I have it in my basement. I love to look at it now. A time when parents and children snuggled in bed, at the end of the day. Now they go to separate rooms. I worry the children are watching real monsters who are luring them.


----------



## Freethesea

Here's a quote from Lavern Bardy in the Huffington Post. It's as good as the 'New York Times' right?  

"How do you know when you’re old? None of my peers seem to know they’re old. Even after they see their wrinkles and gray hair, whine about arthritic pain and celebrate another monumental birthday, all I ever hear them say is, “I’m_ getting_ old.” They don’t get the connection between those old age signs and actually _being_ old."


----------



## LeeC

Freethesea said:


> Here's a quote from Lavern Bardy in the Huffington Post. It's as good as the 'New York Times' right?
> 
> "How do you know when you’re old? None of my peers seem to know they’re old. Even after they see their wrinkles and gray hair, whine about arthritic pain and celebrate another monumental birthday, all I ever hear them say is, “I’m_ getting_ old.” They don’t get the connection between those old age signs and actually _being_ old."



And why should we? Inside every elder person is a young person trying to escape


----------



## jenthepen

LeeC said:


> Inside every elder person is a young person trying to escape



And some of us leave the door unlocked and let the kid loose. 

Talking of kids -     just came across this and had to share. My granddaughter, Louisa, wrote this poem when she was just eight.The apology at the end always makes me laugh out loud! She is 14 now and still writing

*A Postcard from Henry VIII*

Dearest Anne Boleyn
It’s me, King Henry VIII
The Tudor King, oh so great.
I really wasn’t all that mean
I just couldn’t find the right Queen.
I know I am big and hairy
I tried not to be too scary
I gave you flowers,
I locked you in the towers.
When I get out of bed
I’ll chop off your head.
Sorry,

love from Henry VIII


----------



## LeeC

In my social media branding activity, I came across a couple of these this evening. I try not to waste my time arguing with tree stumps, so I just moved on quietly. Worst thing about it is they remind me of an earlier self. Makes me angry we don't understand how little we know, until maybe there's too little time left to better enjoy the beauties of life ;-)


----------



## LeeC

Don't mean to bore anyone with reality, but with all the alternate reality pushed in our faces I thought a dose was appropriate. Of course, it's only one aspect of a much larger problem ;-) 

----------
Unless you’re in complete denial, this should be shocking to you.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6fHA9R2cKI


----------



## LeeC




----------



## escorial

Do people shout when there explaining something to you LC....


----------



## LeeC

Whenever I smell smoke I take a deep breath. If I don't get high I call 911.


----------



## JustRob

Looking for something to watch on TV tonight I checked the reviews on the Internet for the film _Alien Resurrection. _Well, the choice on TV always gets slim during the summer months. I said to my angel that there were mixed opinions there regarding the film, mainly about just how bad it was, and that got a hearty laugh out of her. It's nice to know that after so many years together I can still do that. It's probably what made us both realise that we should never part during our very first evening together back in 1970. No matter how mediocre things in life may be, if you can laugh about them then you're probably on top of them, always.


----------



## LeeC

A few facts you might find interesting:


In Dyersburg, Tennessee it is illegal for a woman to call a man for a date.

The cheetah is the only cat in the world that can't retract its claws.

A pound of grasshoppers is three times as nutritious as a pound of beef.

When the moon is directly over your head, you weigh slightly less.


And a thought:
Imagine a world where we had a choice of leaders with integrity. That is, leaders that lead by truthful example, not manipulating others through deception. Is it possible?

---------

Oh, and I almost forgot. I'm coming across more and more ecolit writing attempts. A Twitter follower put this up. I haven't checked out the book yet, so I have no idea of the storyline.


----------



## JustRob

LeeC said:


> In Dyersburg, Tennessee it is illegal for a woman to call a man for a date.



What if only one of them is in Dyersburg?


----------



## LeeC

JustRob said:


> What if only one of them is in Dyersburg?


There’s always someone trying to get around the rules. Don’t you know that [insecure] leaders are trying to protect us from women taking over. 




Another fact:


My home state, Wyoming, put women’s right to vote, serve on juries, and hold public office into law way back in 1869. A comment at the time by Susan B. Anthony was, “Wyoming is the first place on God’s green earth which could consistently claim to be the land of the free!”


----------



## LeeC

Why is it I don't remember what I was doing till I move on to something else? I've got an excuse today though. With all the scraping, burning, and freezing the doc did today, my head is numb.


----------



## LeeC

If we understood this, instead of dumping a shitload of alternate reality in their heads, we might begin to alleviate the increasing problems facing humankind. They are the future, and they deserve a better world than we’re leaving them.





"_We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them._" ~ Albert Einstein


----------



## LeeC

When you get old enough, you have to have something interesting to do. 



Also, I came across the difference between a poet and a story writer. While the story writer bangs away on their typewriter, the poet contemplates a fly on the window pane.


----------



## TuesdayEve

At 63 now, I wonder sometimes, when I was younger, why no one ever told me:
Your nose is going to run while you're eating...or
Snapping your fingers will be almost impossible during winter....or
Leg cramps will become a nightmare and Calcium-Magnesium your new best friend 
Also, your taste buds will change, urinate less, sit more, then you'll forget why you got up
But....on the bright side...Mmm I forgot


----------



## PiP

TuesdayEve said:


> sit more, then you'll forget why you got up
> But....on the bright side...Mmm I forgot



:rofl:

Yesterday we met up with some friends (that's a good start, I remembered that much) Every other sentence we started ended as... errmmm what was his name...? er what day was that... ? Did I ask you about x, y, z... have you tried that new restaurant... er.. it's name is...er... you know where I mean... it became so bad at one put the conversation just ground to a halt and we got a fit of the giggles....

As you get older it is wise not to take yourself too seriously and laugh often.


----------



## LeeC

A pic of backpackers taking advantage of pleasant weather to watch sunrise from their campsite on the he Appalachian Trail in Beans Purchase, New Hampshire. Been there, done that, beautiful 




Also, came across this music video. To me it begs the question of when enough are going to wake up to the manipulation of the materialistic parasites in our society, and think seriously and realistically about our children's future.

https://youtu.be/oXo6G5mfmro


----------



## LeeC

We idealize all manner of individuals that are in essence little more than distractions. But what of those that work towards a better quality of life for our children, in trying to slow the disruptive changes we as a culture are wreaking on our little blue canoe?

It’s not as if there aren’t any such individuals. Many come to mind, but I thought I’d make more aware of one individual that’s left behind one of history’s greatest land-conservation legacies by using his fortune to buy large tracts of farmland in Patagonia. That person is Douglas Tompkins, the founder of outdoor apparel brand North Face, and a BBC article about his accomplishments can be found at:
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20161115-the-man-who-spent-his-fortune-on-a-park

Never heard of him or his accomplishments, not surprising. Beyond the diehard materialists, far too many, left and right, are aware of little more than their human bubble for various reasons. Of course, broadening one’s perspective is in many cases going against our culture’s grain, but in this case affects the world our children and grandchildren will have to get by in. As George Orwell said, “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.”

If you’re one that believes you truly care for your progenies well being, then I’d ask if you’d seen/read the following:

A good place to start is asking yourself how our children might react to this David Attenborough video:
https://youtu.be/auSo1MyWf8g
Not to mentions his many other documentaries at:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=David+Attenborough+documentaries

Then reading the following gives rise to my questioning:

“The Sixth Extinction, An Unnatural History” by Elizabeth Kolbert, nonfiction.

“Heart Of A Lion, A Lone Cat’s Walk Across America” by William Stolzenburg, nonfiction.

And to increase your understanding of contributing factors see/read the following:

Bill Moyers interview with economist Paul Krugman on how the United States is becoming an oligarchy - the very system our founders revolted against.
https://youtu.be/QzQYA9Qjsi0

And as a sideline, if you wanted to know how fracking creates rainbows:
[A blatant example of the manipulation heaped on us.]

https://youtu.be/1eI-Ae3snm0

Neither of which is complete without a basic understanding of human proclivities:

“The Water Knife” by Paolo Bacigalupi, fiction.

“Democracy In Chains, The Deep History Of The Radical Right’s Stealth Plan For America” by Nancy MacLean, nonfiction.

“Animal Farm” by George Orwell, fiction. (Timeless in it’s insights)

We pride ourselves on being an intelligent species, yet by and large demonstrate less wisdom than basic animals. If you know of anything else this primer list would be incomplete without, please let me know.

“_It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield._” ~ W.B. Yeats




Take care all
Live with no excuses, Love with no regrets.


----------



## Plasticweld

I know I'm getting old when those that wanted  me dead at one time and those that would have died for me, have passed away and there is a sadness for each of them


----------



## Olly Buckle

Firemajic said:


> OR... or you could do what my Dad used to do... He could never" hear" Mom when she asked him to do something...
> And he conveniently "FORGOT" to do anything he did not want to do...



This can lead to a 'discussion', better to do the job willingly and enthusiastically, but so badly you are never asked again. I am actually forbidden to touch the washing machine (most unfairly, everyone needs to get to know a machine and practice).


----------



## midnightpoet

Well, now that my wife is confined to bed until she recovers from hospital stays, I'm doing everything including the laundry - you might ask your wife, Olly, how she would like dirty laundry piled to the ceiling.:-D


----------



## LeeC

Yes this is harsh, but how does one get through to a population that in large part prefers alternate realities. This ain't your Fox News version.

America's money grubbing leadership with their billionaire support strikes again. I just found out I'll have to stay on cheap rat poison the rest of my life, because my doctor recommended (much safer) Eliquis is not a generic drug — the cost up in the range of a choice between eating and medications. I choose to be able to have healthy food on the table in my remaining time, being adverse to providing drug corporation executives and big stock holders the means to buy their spoiled brats a new Porsche each year. 

I can understand fair profit and reasonable wages, but as an example an Epipen (also prescribed but told them to stuff it) that costs $2US to manufacture would cost me $600US. Now that's capitalism beyond excess in our supposed democracy. Corporations have been externalizing their costs with cheap labor relying on medicare which our bought and paid for politicians (right and left) have facilitated  — that which I paid my full share into all my working career. You can guess where the excess profits go. As Regan coined it, it's "trickle down" economics, well piss on them that believe in such. 

What really aggravates me though, is how the power hungry, insecure fools think nothing of trashing the world my grandson (and all our children) will have to get by in. 

Someone here mentioned once that they thought eco-fiction was written by Native Americans (actually a very small number of such authors) to shame the rest of us for what we are doing to "their" world. An example of literacy today. When it comes to standing up for such as clean water though, who supported the peaceful, respectful and solemn struggle by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, or cried out when they were met with rubber bullets. This all for the sake of an oil billionaire, when we should be getting on the sustainable energy bandwagon like other countries, especially Europe, are. Of course we also pulled out of participating in the climate accord effort, which is clear evidence of how little we care for our children's future quality of life. 

I could go on and on, even at length in how we're accelerating the ongoing sixth great extinction (more complex life forms like ourselves affected the most, because we can't vary our chemistry to the extent microorganisms can), but these points are best kept bite sized ;-) So, I'll end with a poem I once posted here.


*Rat's Ass*
by L. G. Cullens


Sadly, too few of us give a rat's ass
about selling our children's future
in a dime on the dollar stupor,
slaves of cupidity that we are.

Our trashing sustaining habitat
and reducing essential biodiversity,
is a garbage dump mentality
we leave our children as a legacy. 

Our educational institutions
fervently serving up cultural dogma.
Their focus to empower young minds,
in an artificial human bubble.

Alas, not even Nature gives a rat's ass,
content to move on with new life forms.
Driven by consequences,
it's unconcerned who is affected.



PS: Presently getting into the book "Night of the Animals" by Bill Broun. So far it's a great read, also something you Brits might like (setting is London). Also for those that read to improve their own writing, as to my mind the writing is exceptional.


----------



## LeeC

I posted this so that maybe some would reflect on our obsession with material gain, and how that is leaving a trash dump for our children to get by in. I didn't say grandchildren, because if you're still a thirty something or younger, your grandchildren may not see much of life, given the rate we're diminishing the environment that sustains our being. Yes, we're likely that close to a tipping point in many respects, ecologically and environmentally. 

Sorry to poke holes in the human bubble.


----------



## LeeC

Think about where this has gotten us ;-)


----------



## LeeC

A few days ago on Twitter I posted the book blurb for "Democracy In Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America” by Nancy MacLean. It seems to have stirred up a bit of controversy — surprise, surprise ;-) 

The adverse reactions remind me of the special interest ploys re Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” back in the '60s. We don't change much do we


----------



## ppsage

LeeC said:


> View attachment 19911
> 
> Think about where this has gotten us ;-)


I would have to do some studying to back up my bald assertion (and we all know that's not going to happen) but I believe the existentialists smashed that particular Cartesian paradigm.


----------



## LeeC

ppsage said:


> I would have to do some studying to back up my bald assertion (and we all know that's not going to happen) but I believe the existentialists smashed that particular Cartesian paradigm.


They may well have old friend, but to me such exemplifies the theory of our being on the whole free and responsible agents determining our development through acts of will. That is, within the many choices in life that are thrust upon us. Think of it in practice, with our culturally dogmatic pleonexia exemplifying our denial of responsibility for the trash dump we're leaving our children. And to distract any conscience we may allegedly have, we develop a myriad of alternate realities. "I believe therefore I'm right"


----------



## LeeC

For some reason I recalled today that I entered the Army during the old brown boot days. That is, not long before they changed to black boots. They issued everyone black boot dye instead of new boots. For years afterwards new soldiers were issued brown boots with a bottle of black dye.  Doubt there are few here that are familiar with the term, "the brown boot days."


----------



## ismith

LeeC said:


> May you reach that point in life where you break through the human intelligence barrier. That is when by the time you remember what you were going to do you’ve already done it.
> 
> ---------------
> 
> 
> A couple more artists at the top of my list:
> 
> 
> Leonard Cohen
> Who really expressed the twilight years
> https://youtu.be/oqma53tyjQ4?list=PLJXCuQB5jjiuWgy-LIvD4xzt_QDAjIOmz


 Pennyroyal Tea?


----------



## LeeC




----------



## LeeC




----------



## LeeC

Or worse yet, buy into the profit at any cost mentality and follow blindly.


----------



## LeeC

To put it as delicately as possible, if you don’t read extensively, your writing is going to suck regardless. Evidence of this is the many fast-track writers that flood the market with substandard books.

With extensive reading, enough practice, and enough real life experience, maybe one can develop enough writing skill to entice others to think and possibly broaden their perspectives. 

I’m still working on getting there.


----------



## Theglasshouse

Very true leec. Should be quoted. But looking for the books that interest you that you want to write.


----------



## Kevin

Today was slow as... I finished the Quiet American a week ago and am back to John Muir's 1st summer in Yosemite journal. He's a more of a tree humper than a hugger, but as least it's not the sheep he's tending.   Anyway, it's pretty cool to me. His word-paintings are as good as Paul Bunyan., if a bit loftier. I once did an 18 mile-r down Yosemite creek to the Valley by accident when I was 14, so it's sort of a familiar place to me. He uses a lot of scientific plant names which is also good with me, though I have to use my phone to look them up sometimes to get just the right picture. There are some particularly good poetic passages, brilliant really, nature/spiritual stuff that puts man not above anything. Mostly it leaves him out except for his ( John's) commenting befuddlement at our ...inability to see. 
Someday when I'm about 100 I think I'll have it all figured out, and then I'd like another 100 to make good practice of it...


----------



## LeeC

Hey Kev, happy to hear you’ve read The Quiet American. One of the few realistic books to come out of that era, and of course not written by an American ;-)

Also like your tree humper [sic] take of John Muir, though I respect the man’s work. I’ve heard a similar comment about Edward Abbey re The Monkey Wrench Gang  I’m more of an Aldo Leopold fan myself. 

Not sure about the longer life span for most though, as many never seem to progress


----------



## LeeC

Writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives. The English reading public explains the reason why.
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
—James Joyce, letter to Fanny Guillermet


----------



## LeeC

I think this Australian stand-up comedian is hilarious. He certainly tackles all the hot issues, and has pissed more than a few off. Pick your poison ;-)

Geoffrey James Nugent (born 14 February 1977), known professionally as Jim Jefferies (and previously Jim Jeffries), is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Born in Perth, Western Australia as Geoff James Nugent, he initially took the stage name Jim Jeffries but amended the last name to Jefferies to avoid confusion with a similarly named American performer.




https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jim+jefferies+


----------



## LeeC

What? Do they sit up nights thinking this stuff up? 

'What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world, remains immortal.' - Gideon, Criminal Minds


Observe and reflect and become a little wiser every day.


----------



## Firemajic

LeeC said:


> 'What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world, remains immortal.' - Gideon, Criminal Minds




Sounds like something my mom would say....she of course never said it.... but that was how she lived her life..


----------



## Kevin

The neighb came over. He'd been living solo for the last twenty- his ex and he had divorced 40 years-ago. The last time they lived together was briefly around 10 years-ago. It didn't go well. She moved back in about 6 mos ago. He said this is their last chance, that the cards are all on table, flipped; no more games. She's changed. He's changed.


----------



## LeeC

Kevin said:


> The neighb came over. He'd been living solo for the last twenty- his ex and he had divorced 40 years-ago. The last time they lived together was briefly around 10 years-ago. It didn't go well. She moved back in about 6 mos ago. He said this is their last chance, that the cards are all on table, flipped; no more games. She's changed. He's changed.


Hopefully both have gotten a bit wiser ;-)


----------



## LeeC

I’d mentioned before that I found the Australia comedian Jim Jefferies hilarious, and today watched
Drugs: Fun, But Not Always - The Jim Jefferies Show
https://youtu.be/eM9pvO-hBHg

I’d also previously watched Jim Jefferies’ skit Gun Control (Part 1) from BARE 
https://youtu.be/0rR9IaXH1M0
and today also watched Feeling More American by the Minute - Jim Goes to a Gun Range 
https://youtu.be/DFgCXeqa7YM

In the former, part of his skit is responsible gun ownership, where he asks an intruder to wait while he opens his safe to get his gun 

One of the things I like about him, is he’s not shy about speaking with brutal honesty about the most taboo subjects, and he does so in an entertaining way. Whatever one thinks of his subject matter, he's good writer and presenter.


----------



## LeeC

While doing the Twitter branding two-step this evening, I came across a writer that described their books as erotic/spiritual. :scratch: Different strokes and all that.


Also came across a chimichanga recipe that had a chocolate and banana filling, what blaspheme.


----------



## Kevin

[FONT=.SF UI Display][FONT=.SFUIDisplay-Semibold]As with the place where we reside, we think ourselves higher or lower. The lights of other similar are seen through glass at night across in elevation, while  the lowly cars pass below, and there are lights of homes there, too, that line the road, as it always must have been , or might have been, though those that were here before when there was only light by fire at night are long driven out or were gathered and slaved till gone by others that came long before us. What were their names, and did they leave their ghosts? There are many things that I shall never know, and things that no one seems to ever ask with this among them. Who were they? Through the glass I see the lights of higher or lower homes across the canyon. The rest is dark. [/FONT]
[/FONT]


----------



## LeeC

Kevin said:


> [FONT=.SF UI Display][FONT=.SFUIDisplay-Semibold]As with the place where we reside, we think ourselves higher or lower. The lights of other similar are seen through glass at night across in elevation, while  the lowly cars pass below, and there are lights of homes there, too, that line the road, as it always must have been , or might have been, though those that were here before when there was only light by fire at night are long driven out or were gathered and slaved till gone by others that came long before us. What were their names, and did they leave their ghosts? There are many things that I shall never know, and things that no one seems to ever ask with this among them. Who were they? Through the glass I see the lights of higher or lower homes across the canyon. The rest is dark. [/FONT]
> [/FONT]


As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, true knowledge is elusive


----------



## LeeC

*Paper is not dead* (39 seconds)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/V_gOZDWQj3Q?rel=0


----------



## LeeC

*My wife hosted a dinner party for all our friends, some of whom*
*we hadn't seen for ages and everyone was encouraged to bring*
*their children along as well.

**All  throughout dinner my wife's best friend's four-year-old*
*daughter stared at me as I sat opposite her.

*


*The girl could hardly eat her food for staring.*

*I checked my shirt for spots, felt my face for food, and patted*
*my hair in place, but nothing stopped her from staring at me. **
Finally I asked her, "Why are you staring at me?"*

*Everyone at the table had noticed her behavior, and the table*
*went quiet, waiting for her response.*

*The  little girl said, *_*"I'm*_ *just waiting to see how you drink like a fish."*


----------



## LeeC

♪ It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas [FONT=&Verdana]♫
Snowed all day [/FONT]yesterday, and now it's drizzling, creating a coating of ice. I was waiting till this morning to clear the driveway, but had to stay up all night taking care of the wife. Payback she says  Don't have the energy now to clear the driveway, so I called a friend that does plowing to work us in. 

♪ Just two old folks looking after each other [FONT=&Verdana]♫
and some friends that pitch in when needed. 

That's really what the spirit of these holidays [/FONT]is, wouldn't you say. Leastways it is for me, having a lot to be thankful for. What more could one ask for, than experiencing the real connectedness of life 

My best to you and yours


----------



## Kevin

By the way... Are you fully re-perambulated now? You know, since your ball-joint replacement? Can you burn rubber?


----------



## LeeC

Getting there Kevin. With the back and hip operations I've graduated from a wheel chair, to a walker, to a single cane. Still have a knee to go, and I'm wondering how they'll do the scheduled MRI given my metal parts. I'm bringing firewood in from the woodshed now, but my wife still has to take the ashes out. This time of year the emphasis is on keeping warm in this drafty old farmhouse (circa 1870). She's anxious for me to pick up all the chores I did before, so there's pressure 

Last night, taking my wife to the ER, was the first time I've driven in a good while. Still needed a step stool to get into the pickup, which I had to use for the 4x4 in this weather. And yes, my wife is doing better now, as evidenced by her resumed nitpicking 

Hope all is well with you and yours. 


PS: Something to be aware of. I think I mentioned previously that sometime back I mowed over a ground bee's nest, and they swarmed out covering my legs. I probably mentioned it in relation to the money-grubbing, quasi legal American drug cartel price tag for an EpiPen. Anyway, at the time they administered Prednisone. I learned later from the orthopedic surgeon that the Prednisone was likely a major factor in the increased problems I've had since. Now that's capitalism at it's best, seemingly helping the patient with an immediate problem, and promoting increased future problems to profit from. But hey, it's the holiday season, where we give thanks


----------



## sas

Kevin said:


> [FONT=.SF UI Display][FONT=.SFUIDisplay-Semibold]As with the place where we reside, we think ourselves higher or lower. The lights of other similar are seen through glass at night across in elevation, while  the lowly cars pass below, and there are lights of homes there, too, that line the road, as it always must have been , or might have been, though those that were here before when there was only light by fire at night are long driven out or were gathered and slaved till gone by others that came long before us. What were their names, and did they leave their ghosts? There are many things that I shall never know, and things that no one seems to ever ask with this among them. Who were they? Through the glass I see the lights of higher or lower homes across the canyon. The rest is dark. [/FONT]
> [/FONT]




Loved this.


----------



## Olly Buckle

LeeC said:


> Something to be aware of. I think I mentioned previously that sometime back I mowed over a ground bee's nest, and they swarmed out covering my legs. I probably mentioned it in relation to the money-grubbing, quasi legal American drug cartel price tag for an EpiPen. Anyway, at the time they administered Prednisone. I learned later from the orthopedic surgeon that the Prednisone was likely a major factor in the increased problems I've had since. Now that's capitalism at it's best, seemingly helping the patient with an immediate problem, and promoting increased future problems to profit from. But hey, it's the holiday season, where we give thanks


Prednisolone is something I have been taking since about 1991 since first diagnosed with immune disease. It works as an immuno suppressant, some people have problems from it, I never have, in fact I probably would not be here without it. When the other drugs fail and my immune system flares they have me in and give me a couple of grams intraveinously, that is a huge amount, but the only bad effects I have noticed are a terrible short temper and a round 'moon' face.


----------



## LeeC

Thanks Olly. More evidence we all differ in various ways. I'm happy it keeps you going. With me it apparently has an adverse affect on bone joints like back, hip, and knee, so the doc put a red flag in my medical records.


----------



## sas

LeeC said:


> Thanks Olly. More evidence we all differ in various ways. I'm happy it keeps you going. With me it apparently has an adverse affect on bone joints like back, hip, and knee, so the doc put a red flag in my medical records.



My daughter has been on Prednisone for 30 years. Has kept her alive, along with many other drugs. She could not function without it. A miracle medication, but it does have its negative side-effects like every med. She has osteoporosis, in her 40s, as result. I did my bone scan this month. Mine scan out as if age 30. I'd gladly trade with her. Gladly.


----------



## Olly Buckle

I had a slight drop in bone density last time I had a bone scan, but alendronic acid and calcium supplements seem to be working even though I amnot as regular with them as the doctor would like. I do make a point of eating calcium rich foods like apricots and almonds, and a fair bit of dairy as we are veggie at home.


----------



## LeeC

I made Xmas ornaments of suet and seeds, and hung them on trees outside the kitchen window. Some low for the wild turkeys and grouse, and others higher for the smaller birds. Makes for something pleasant to watch, and benefits all life.


----------



## LeeC

[FONT=&Verdana]Huddled by the wood stove keeping warm. It’s so damn cold outside I just farted snowflakes.

----

Almost forgot. I came across this and thought it the real beauty in art. All the people [/FONT]gathering around to see and hear something beautiful.

https://youtu.be/fj6r3-sQr58


----------



## sas

Lee,

I never teared up much when young. I must have been saving it for my older years. Thanks for reminding there is still beauty to be found within people. Sas


----------



## Olly Buckle

LeeC said:


> [FONT=&]
> Almost forgot. I came across this and thought it the real beauty in art. All the people [/FONT]gathering around to see and hear something beautiful.
> 
> https://youtu.be/fj6r3-sQr58



Love the way the little girl is still standing there in all the long shots, bet she doesn't forget that!


----------



## LeeC

Don't know where to post this, so here it is until a moderator moves it. 

Are you building an ebook that includes images? I've been rewriting and illustrating my book, and in doing some epub build testing came on a bugger of a problem. It seems Apple has a different idea of handling images (interpreting html and css) in iBook than Adobe does in Adobe Digital Editions 4.5. Adobe and other ebook readers tend to follow more the conventional HTML and CSS, where Apple handles image inclusion a little differently. I don't know the real reasoning behind such, but there's a slew of opinions and bad/incomplete workarounds on the web. 

I don't want to create two or more ebook versions for different eReaders, so I've been wrestling with how to include images so that all (at least newer) eReaders would handle them as intended. It would take too much time here to note my trials that didn't work, but thought I could note what seems to work as intended in all the different eReaders I've tested the results in. Digging through the W3 material, I noticed I could also handle raster graphics as well as scalable vector graphics with the <svg> element, and using such the results looked the same in all the eReaders I tested. 

The example I'm showing below is for the first illustration in the opening chapter (Early Trials) I posted in the PWW. The image I included is 600 px wide by 525 px high. It's a reduced version of the illustration I created, because there's no point in including huge images only to have them scaled down in the eReader. I say "no point" because such would only bloat the ebook file.

<p><br /></p>

  <div style="text-align: center; padding: 0pt; margin: 0pt;">
    <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="450" preserveAspectRatio="xMidYMid meet" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 600 450" width="100%"  xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><image height="450" width="600" xlink:href="../Images/C01Ilus02.png" /></svg>
  </div>

  <p><br /></p>

So what I've done is insert the above html where intended in the flow, wrapping the <svg> element in a <div>. Note that the first occurrence of height="450" is the actual image height instead of height="100%" that's shown in examples, because otherwise <svg> would inherit the height of the <div> (i.e. the page) creating a lot of unintended whitespace. Also note that the viewBox="0 0 600 450" delimiter is the image size, and the following width="100%" is intended to show the image at the same width as the text (what the <div> defines). The <image> element is common html. 

The whole point of this is to have the image scale for different sized screens, and when a reader resizes their eReader window.

No doubt this is gobbledygook to some, but to others that might run across the issue in building ebooks I hope it saves some head scratching.

Yeah, I know that as time progresses things will change, but this should buy me time until I can afford to have my book printed. The world's a lot different now than when I was young — heck, when I was born they hadn't yet invented the first digital computer, ENIAC. [That aside from the special purpose effort by Atanasoff.] Did you know that when completed ENIAC occupied about 1,800 square feet and used about 18,000 vacuum tubes, weighing almost 50 tons? And it couldn't do near as much as my MacBook can today.

After all the typing, it occurred to me that this maybe could have posted in Olly's Interesting Things thread. Oh well, night all.


----------



## LeeC

Hey, the temperature reached 30F today.

One good thing about this frigid weather is that if I'm outside and fall, I'll keep well until someone eventually finds me


----------



## sas

Astroannie might be able to advise you on this image insertion problem, Lee. Send her a pm.


----------



## LeeC

sas said:


> Astroannie might be able to advise you on this image insertion problem, Lee. Send her a pm.


I posted the bit about images in an ePub file as information on getting around the foibles of different eBook readers. If Annie or anyone sees a problem with the solution I found, or has alternate solutions, they should post such in response to the post so that all might benefit


----------



## LeeC

Important facts. to remember as you grow older.


----------



## LeeC

Found Poetry
——————


Regardless of where you stand politically, this poet cuts to the essence of gun reform issues with a powerful spoken word piece.


This is an example of what I think meaningful poetry is all about.
What is life if all we do is hide behind the fanciful and trivial?

https://www.facebook.com/NowThisPolitics/videos/1773679265996889/


----------



## LeeC




----------



## LeeC

An idea for a story that may scare the crap out of you. Instead of a zombie apocalypse, write about a beancounter apocalypse 

I went to the medical center today for my usual two minute rat poison (Coumadin) clinic test, and had to check in three times, wasting a half hour, to get there. First at the front desk, then at admissions, then at the upstairs waiting room. In the waiting room they had a TV on, tuned to some dumbing channel like Fox News, which didn't help my demeanor (Orwell would have approved). After the test, I had to wait for another beancounter in check-out to schedule the next test the nurse requested. 

In the waiting room I donned my noise canceling earphones, and read some on my iPad. Been through that part before.

Throughout it all I let each and every person I came in contact with know that Kafka would approve of their brilliant system. And to those that didn't 't know who Kafka was (all but the nurse), I noted that such was one of the shortcomings of our educational system.

Ok, that's off my chest, I can get back to my illustrating now. Hope you all are having a better day


----------



## midnightpoet

Ah, beancounters.  They're the one who go in after the battle is over and bayonet the wounded.:icon_cheesygrin:

Actually my wife was one back in the day, now she just shakes her head in disbelief and wonder if any passed grade school.  Rx's, yeah.  One my wife needed was like $1500/month.  Couldn't afford it, but the Dr gave her a sample.  Didn't work. I feel for ya, guy.


----------



## LeeC

MP mentioned something about a senior moment in another thread. 

I get so involved in my illustrating that I have trouble switching gears back to everyday awareness. For instance, I went to the kitchen and found myself trying to move a mouse pointer to the light switch to turn a light on. Another time I got up to go to another room, and stood at the door to my workroom at least a moment wondering how to open it. 

Scares the hell out of me that I might end up mostly in a befuddled state. Umm ... no comments from the peanut gallery.

Hey though, at the medical center today I took the stairs up to my appointment. First time up, but the third time going down, and I practice on the one flight of stairs at home. Pretty soon I'll be chasing cars.


----------



## midnightpoet

Let's see...this morning I put a whole cup of oatmeal in the pot rather than the usual 1/2 cup to make one serving, now I'm eating wallpaper paste.  I'm always losing my coffee cup, I'll wander around drinking it while working up my morning action, lay it down and forget where I put it.  Once I looked in the fridge for it (?).

Had some painful cysts on the bottom of my feet, the foot dr burned them off now maybe I can walk without pain.  We lost our big blue heeler, Jud, last year and he loved walking.  He would sit at the back door giving me the evil eye until I picked up the leash.
Haven't took a walk since he passed.  Need to get back into that, but miss my buddy.


----------



## Kevin

Okay... This is going to sound very judgmental, but... I think walking is good. No, okay, I'm gonna make a definite statement here so brace yourselves: Walking... is ... good. Shit! I know-I'm sorry! I did it! Probably lost some friends, but i'm doin it. Yah, I did it *whew*.


----------



## midnightpoet

I actually admit I'm a white male heterosexual (sounds evil when you put in words, don't it?):evil:


----------



## sas

midnightpoet said:


> I actually admit I'm a white male heterosexual (sounds evil when you put in words, don't it?):evil:



Only if you are young and American. Then I'd keep an eye out for your AR-15. It's part of their get-up. They used to use cars to show off like a penis. Dick heads are everywhere here.


----------



## Kevin

Melanin challenged breeder. Yes. Ghastly.


----------



## Kevin

I almost feel like arguing. Luckily, I forgot what I was gonna say. Say... Coffee sounds good right now. Oh, I did brew a pot. Damn, good thing I don't smoke pot, because then I'd really be... what was I gonna say? Never mind. I sure could use a cup a --


----------



## Kevin

Was listening to that Jordan Peterson. He started off well and then started making all these extrapalatory pronouncements. "...Zie, zur, zim..." They do sound kinda Nazi to me, but, what the hell- young people are wiser and more evolved, I guess I could go with it. From now on I'm Emperor Zit. Call me that or else. That's my identity. Any jokes about popping and you'll get popped.


----------



## JustRob

We went to a garden centre today, the weather being more spring-like now after the passing of "the Beast" that brought much of the country to a standstill last week. Among the items that we bought was a pair of lawn edging shears. As they were sharp cutting equipment the assistant at the checkout asked me half jokingly whether I was over age twenty-five, a sign of the times in which we live. When we went out into the car park we stepped over a long hose which was supplying water to some industrious youths just around the corner providing a "car wash while you park" service. With the long-handled shears over my shoulder I mentioned, hopefully more than half jokingly, to my angel that I was tempted to cut the hose, it not even being necessary to bend down to do so. Are such thoughts expected to vanish magically when one reaches age twenty-five then? I must be a slow developer then, now being in my seventies. I didn't do it of course. Times are hard for young people trying to earn a living now. I was that young once in far easier times.


----------



## LeeC

JustRob said:


> We went to a garden centre today, the weather being more spring-like now after the passing of "the Beast" that brought much of the country to a standstill last week. Among the items that we bought was a pair of lawn edging shears. As they were sharp cutting equipment the assistant at the checkout asked me half jokingly whether I was over age twenty-five, a sign of the times in which we live. When we went out into the car park we stepped over a long hose which was supplying water to some industrious youths just around the corner providing a "car wash while you park" service. With the long-handled shears over my shoulder I mentioned, hopefully more than half jokingly, to my angel that I was tempted to cut the hose, it not even being necessary to bend down to do so. Are such thoughts expected to vanish magically when one reaches age twenty-five then? I must be a slow developer then, now being in my seventies. I didn't do it of course. Times are hard for young people trying to earn a living now. I was that young once in far easier times.



Judging by the limits we're being pushed, such thoughts don't diminish, but rather hopefully become more reasoned. You caught me at a bad time. I was thinking about how much our current administration is dismantling what little progress we've made in caring for the world our children will have to get by in. I'm tempted to take up arms if that would help, but the reasoned side of me says they're digging their own grave. Continuing on this path of excesses of so-called pleasure and profit now, screw our children's future, is going to bring about either an uprising or extinction. 

It's not only our political leadership, but a good many of the populace when one includes the sheep with their head in the sand. This whole myth of human intelligence is an obvious joke when one goes to the grocery store to buy organic foods in plastic bags. Heck, add enough sugar and the sheep will eat anything. Show me how that exemplifies intelligence.

There is hope to get us through our few remaining years though. Your post brought to mind that I've gotten a lot of thoughtful positive feedback on social media relative to my piece The Book Of Passing, especially from younger people that will suffer the consequences.


And we wonder the whys with horse blinkers on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Book of Passing
By L. G. Cullens 2017

Yet again in the cycles of rebirth a new nation was born,
a phoenix of aristocratical oppression in a new land.
Intent on the ideals of freedom and equality for all,
oblivious to the seeds of discordance in native genocide.

Lo in attendance was a great and mighty God.
One whose words written by man allow exegesis.
So defended, the colonizers actions intensified,
propelling the new nation towards divined greatness. 

Thusly ancient tenets were new abroached,
nourishing crops with the blood of enemies.
And as the populace vanquishing foes were attainted,
divisions arose within as to equality for who.

A great war was waged within, brother-on-brother,
with the leader of the nation championing equality.
The majority’s conscience was abated in victory,
albeit in part by blanking out a less noble genocidal role.

The struggle great with resources hard won,
the populace prospered to ever greater heights.
Equality and freedom the bywords of choice,
applying to ever narrowing distinctions as want. 

Inevitably the few acquiring extremes of material gain,
flexed their influence with ever increasing tenacity. 
And like a cancer, filthy lucre grew amongst the populace,
speeding the spoil, and hastening the plunder.

The excesses of resources plundered for profit, 
paradoxically diminishing quality of life for all.
Tenets of ever increasing gain a double paradox,
in the closed loop means of our natural world. 

Will our great nation at an apex of pleonexia
cause the upheaval of societal norms yet agin,
or will it be the last in a long succession,
with humankind given over to Charon?

Our natural instincts, taken to overindulgence,
trigger accelerated change in the natural world.
Existing only in a void of reason and conscience,
they evidence the base nature of the beast.


----------



## LeeC

A little something I thought you might like escorial.

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/962626380776267776



Oh, and re my previous post this is one of the responses I received today:
“When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you – you know your nation is doomed.”     ―     Ayn Rand


And on the lighter side, my wife cracked up over a meme showing a woman saying, "I feel safer now after extensive reading, learning that serial killers only go after women with matching bra and panty sets."


----------



## LeeC

I told my wife that I wanted to be cremated. She made an appointment for next Tuesday.


----------



## Olly Buckle

JustRob said:


> We went to a garden centre today, the weather being more spring-like now after the passing of "the Beast" that brought much of the country to a standstill last week. Among the items that we bought was a pair of lawn edging shears. As they were sharp cutting equipment the assistant at the checkout asked me half jokingly whether I was over age twenty-five, a sign of the times in which we live. When we went out into the car park we stepped over a long hose which was supplying water to some industrious youths just around the corner providing a "car wash while you park" service. With the long-handled shears over my shoulder I mentioned, hopefully more than half jokingly, to my angel that I was tempted to cut the hose, it not even being necessary to bend down to do so. Are such thoughts expected to vanish magically when one reaches age twenty-five then? I must be a slow developer then, now being in my seventies. I didn't do it of course. Times are hard for young people trying to earn a living now. I was that young once in far easier times.



Not  the thoughts, one is supposed to be responsible enough to restrain oneself. I really don't understand why '25' though, the Kray twins were older than that. Equally I can remember when I was a boy we all wanted to join the scouts because you got a sheath knife, they were going to teach us to be responsible with it. That, surely, is the key, educating people and including them in society, I am told Iceland and Switzerland have the highest rates of gun availability and among the lowest rates of murder in the world. 

I see no point in banning something if the people who want it are  out to kill with it, fat lot of notice people like that are going to take, education, education, education, one of Tony's more sensible ideas. 

BTW Go back to the 1400's and the law required every Englishman to have a sword or large blade for use in timeof war. Not quite so far back men attending Handel's Messiah were asked to leave swords at home because of the crowds, 'If it did not inconvenience them'. Imagine a circumstance where one is 'inconvenienced' by not having the means to kill handy


----------



## sas

Olly, please feel free to relocate to The States, and bring your grandkids. Our kids are more likely to die from gun fire than anything else. Local grandmother on Sunday accidentally blew away her grandchild, barely missing another below when bullets went through the floor. I had that happen visiting friend who pulled hand gun out of drawer. Shot went through floor. A highly trained county sheriff, no less. Had to check condo unit below to make sure no one dead. Yep, we need more guns. Oh, and teacher last week accidentally hit two kids in another State. Last Thursday, my high school granddaughter spent hour at school in a closet when threat phoned in. Here nothing is thought a prank, cause we get the real deal. Come on over. Back to The Wild West, only now men are boys. Bang, bang...your kid is dead. Or, actually, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.....in seconds. Gotta love the efficiency of an AR-15.


----------



## LeeC

"Intelligence must be cultivated from one generation to the next. The enabling of the slaughter of children by America points to a gross failure to do so." ~ J.R. MacLean (a Canadian author)

"The consequences of alternate realities ignorance are that we can't even act on our children being murdered in school, let alone care enough for them to care for the world they will have to get by in." ~ L. G. Cullens (not of this world)

Give a big Aaaamen for Dickhead's Triumph. 

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” ~ Albert Einstein
“Stupidity and greed will kill off humans.” ~ Stephen Hawking


Rat's Ass
by L. G. Cullens


Sadly, too few of us give a rat's ass
about selling our children's future
in a dime on the dollar stupor,
slaves of cupidity that we are.


Our trashing sustaining habitat
and reducing essential biodiversity,
is a garbage dump mentality
we leave our children as a legacy. 


Our educational institutions
fervently serve up cultural dogma.
Their focus to empower young minds,
in an artificial human bubble.


Alas, not even Nature gives a rat's ass,
content to move on with new life forms.
It's driven by consequences,
regardless of who is affected. 



My apologies to those who employ objective reasoning. 


PS Olly and Rob: Have you by chance read the April NG? A fair look at what divides us. We're wired at birth to tell Us from Them and to favor our own kind — a natural world mechanism in a life fueled by life model. Objective science though, tells us perceived differences are nothing more than a very few slightly different genes (adaptive mutations). Except for identical twins, we are all "different." It's a very close race between the differences in human genes, and the differences between human and rat genes (rats and humans share 99% of their genes). Of course we also share 70% of our genes with slugs, and 50% with bananas. As a naturalist I see the same correlation among all life forms — each filling their niche for paradoxically the good of all. 

How many read to expand their perspective. The evidence doesn't favor that many.


----------



## Kevin

Shit! I was hoping this was a thread about twilight. Fuck, I love those glowy sparkly vampires! They're so sparkly.


----------



## LeeC




----------



## LeeC

OMG! I ran across this image that's purportedly LA traffic (on the 405(?) I think they said).

I get annoyed when more than a couple cars pass me on my daily local walk. I'd go out of my mind anyplace like the one pictured.


----------



## LeeC

I forgot to add congrats to PiP, or at least Portugal. They produced more energy that they needed in March, all from renewable sources, and they're phasing out their coal powered plants. Meanwhile, here in the US the fossil fuel barons are still leading the electorate by the nose.

On another note, I apparently have another medical condition:


----------



## Kevin

LeeC said:


> OMG! I ran across this image that's purportedly LA traffic (on the 405(?) I think they said).
> 
> I get annoyed when more than a couple cars pass me on my daily local walk. I'd go out of my mind anyplace like the one pictured.
> 
> View attachment 21557


Yes, 405 looking north,  at Sepulveda Pass... like some people here ( okay, women) that photo has been enhanced. The photo is compressed ( that merge in the right lanes forground is about two miles earlier) and  they've added lanes. But it does give a true 'feel' of things ( I drove that yesterday, which wasn't so bad, but the day before? Sheesh! Nightmare...)Off to the left you can see the real Getty Museum tram. It's electric. The tram, that is. The Getty Museum is world class. The buildings align with the mountains (the Santa Monicas) J.Paul aligned himself with oil (which only seems appropriate, given all cars) . The museum  entrance fee is free. Three days is about what it takes to take it all in. Worth it.


----------



## midnightpoet

Actually reminds me of Stemmons Frwy in Dallas - five lanes north, five south.  Of course, if you know a city well enough there are always alternate routes.  I always managed to avoid the freeways.  I've got a solution though - everyone work from home (applies mainly to office workers).  No more your boss looking over your shoulder or going through your desk after you leave.  Meetings will be video conferences and you can sip bourbon (or whatever) to take your mind off the mind-numbing idiocy.


----------



## dither

LeeC said:


> View attachment 21235



You've made a very good point there LeeC.

Learn to love and appreciate what you have eh?
Maybe I just need to gain/cultivate, whatever, a more realistic perspective.


----------



## dither

sas said:


> Olly, please feel free to relocate to The States, and bring your grandkids. Our kids are more likely to die from gun fire than anything else. Local grandmother on Sunday accidentally blew away her grandchild, barely missing another below when bullets went through the floor. I had that happen visiting friend who pulled hand gun out of drawer. Shot went through floor. A highly trained county sheriff, no less. Had to check condo unit below to make sure no one dead. Yep, we need more guns. Oh, and teacher last week accidentally hit two kids in another State. Last Thursday, my high school granddaughter spent hour at school in a closet when threat phoned in. Here nothing is thought a prank, cause we get the real deal. Come on over. Back to The Wild West, only now men are boys. Bang, bang...your kid is dead. Or, actually, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.....in seconds. Gotta love the efficiency of an AR-15.



Shocked and amazed.


----------



## Kevin

dither said:


> Shocked and amazed.


dont believe the hype. I heard maniacs with knives or in vans are everywhere, somewhere.


----------



## Olly Buckle

sas said:


> Olly, please feel free to relocate to The States, and bring your grandkids. Our kids are more likely to die from gun fire than anything else. Local grandmother on Sunday accidentally blew away her grandchild, barely missing another below when bullets went through the floor. I had that happen visiting friend who pulled hand gun out of drawer. Shot went through floor. A highly trained county sheriff, no less. Had to check condo unit below to make sure no one dead. Yep, we need more guns. Oh, and teacher last week accidentally hit two kids in another State. Last Thursday, my high school granddaughter spent hour at school in a closet when threat phoned in. Here nothing is thought a prank, cause we get the real deal. Come on over. Back to The Wild West, only now men are boys. Bang, bang...your kid is dead. Or, actually, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.....in seconds. Gotta love the efficiency of an AR-15.



I have thought it might be good to visit relatives in rural Arizona, my cousin Elma was a secretaty at the US embassy in London when I was a little boy and a firm friend of the family. Apart from that I have never fancied any sort of visit to America, there is some lovely natural country, but so is there lots of places. There are probably people I have no desire to meet everywhere, the disadvantage of America is they speak English.


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## LeeC

dither said:


> You've made a very good point there LeeC.
> 
> Learn to love and appreciate what you have eh?
> Maybe I just need to gain/cultivate, whatever, a more realistic perspective.




One way of putting it  I got there slowly by assessing what I valued, and appreciating the real value that I found. Maybe it was easier for me, introduced to a different way of thinking in my childhood. At my present point in life, my residence is an 1870s farmhouse that I'm hoping will hold out another few years, or decade, until I pass, and living simply on a meager social security income. At the same time I have a wonderful wife, canine companions that keep me grounded in the real world, and enough land for sizable organic and natural gardens, not to mention being able to observe all the wildlife that the natural garden attracts. Though it's been a long struggle, I'm also back to walking a mile a day so far, and the woods around me are a real pleasure. Yes, my cup has a few cracks in it, but it holds all the joy I need 

Also, though I see so much hate and ignorance around me, I see youth catching on to how little a good many adults care about their future, and trying to break the downward cycle of humanity. There were a lot of songs and free love in the '60s, then so many sold out and became part of the problem. The kids today though are learning a harsher truth, and I hope they can break the downward cycle.

Take care dither, there's still beauty in this world


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## Olly Buckle

Ah yes, the wildlife that visits the garden, the pigeons that tear up the brassicas, the woodlice and badger that  eat the strawberries, the birds that pull up onion sets to see what they are, the mice that eat peas before they get the chance to germinate, and so on, and on.
Mind you there was also a charm of goldfinches the other week, eating the seeds on the rudbeccia that had stood over winter, and robin and blackbird are quite keen on keeping things like leatherjuackets under control. I need something tht would fancy the blackfly I know will come on my broad beans, save me getting out there with the shaving brush and soap to see the wildlife off


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## LeeC

In that vein Olly, you could always use Roundup and help increase Monsanto’s profits, the corporation our US government has exempted from environmental lawsuits ;-) But the tip of the glyphosate** iceberg is a 90% decline of Monarch butterflies in the last twenty years. Who needs them anyway?

Seriously though, in my organic garden I include beer trays and old rusty nails, a little chalk dust, cucumber slices when I have an excess, and plant such as petunias, marigolds, chrysanthemums, lavender, and mints like catnip. The mints do add to "weeding" though, because they spread quickly. Spice/food plants also help, like basil, rosemary, and alliums. None of this is 100% effective, but hey, without insect biodiversity the biosphere that sustains us would crash. So share the wealth of abundance and be thankful 


** As a side note, my wife attended a "wellness" seminar where they had a door prize she won. The prize was a bottle of California wine, all of which have been found to contain glyphosate despite the vineyards not using Roundup. I think of it as Nature's version of "what comes around goes around."


The argument for our "green revolution" artificial agrochemicals and -cides is that we're feeding a starving world. That's as lame as the NRA's manipulation,  because we only feed those that can pay. 


You should know better than to get me started Olly


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## Olly Buckle

There is an element of truth in that the world is mostly getting fed, despite huge population increases, but I think it has more to do with plant breeding and genetic manipulation than chemicals, things like wheat that bears three ears.

nudge nudge.


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## LeeC

@ Olly
I'm wondering what your take is on the book Our Place by Mark Cocker, and how accurate it might be in your view? There's a Guardian review of it at:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/17/our-place-review-mark-cocker-blistering-attack-britain-conservation-failures?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other


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## LeeC

At my point in life, the circle of friends and acquaintances is diminishing faster than I can make new ones.

A friend and next door neighbor has passed on. Marilyn J. Ziffrin, Aug. 7, 1926 - Mar. 16, 2018. May she rest in peace. There was always a melody in the woods when she was around. If her name doesn't ring a bell, see: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_J._Ziffrin


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## Olly Buckle

I don't know the book, but it looks interesting. The missus works at the library so I will get her to order it, ecologically sound to share these things


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## sas

LeeC said:


> At my point in life, the circle of friends and acquaintances is diminishing faster than I can make new ones.
> 
> A friend and next door neighbor has passed on. Marilyn J. Ziffrin, Aug. 7, 1926 - Mar. 16, 2018. May she rest in peace. There was always a melody in the woods when she was around. If her name doesn't ring a bell, see:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_J._Ziffrin




I often avoid reading the news now, but cannot miss the obituaries. A certain age requires it, if we care at all about those who occupied our lives. I read your friend’s bio. So accomplished. And, it lays to rest the notion that first cousins should not marry, as it impairs their children. Sorry for your loss.


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## Olly Buckle

> And, it lays to rest the notion that first cousins should not marry, as it impairs their children.



I don't think anyone serious suggests this is an inevitable consequence, but the chances of two individuals sharing the same recessive gene increase with cosanguinity. There must be a small number of close relatives who share no detrimental genes. The odds are long, but it is all chance.


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## Kevin

We have some inbreds in my neighborhood. No, seriously... these three families been here since the dust bowl. And they're all intermarried. I've been here for twenty-eight years and I'm still a newcomer. We outnumber them, though.


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## escorial

Kevin said:


> We have some inbreds in my neighborhood. No, seriously... these three families been here since the dust bowl. And they're all intermarried. I've been here for twenty-eight years and I'm still a newcomer. We outnumber them, though.




royal families were well into it until the bloodlines started going a bit of...you can't have a sick royal...hopefully the new american blood will help our royal family to get rid of baldness,no chins an bad teeth....


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## LeeC

Too late esc.

Headline: Entire UK to be deported for not keeping all their paperwork.
From the UK site, the Daily Mash. 

“EVERYONE is being deported to the Caribbean because they cannot produce an insane amount of paperwork proving they are British.”

“Anyone without detailed information about jobs they did in 1975 or who cannot find their birth certificate is being rounded up by the authorities, who will deport themselves later on.”


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## escorial

wish someone would ask me to produce my lost passport so i could be deported to the carribean


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## Olly Buckle

Kevin said:


> We have some inbreds in my neighborhood. No, seriously... these three families been here since the dust bowl. And they're all intermarried. I've been here for twenty-eight years and I'm still a newcomer. We outnumber them, though.



Round here they would call  you 'blowins'. There was a conversation with an old boy in the last village we were in 35 years ago.
"You ever had a proper job?"
"I've had a few proper jobs"
Laughs, "How can you have a few? No,I mean a proper job,like me joining the butcher's as appretice when I left schoolat 14 and worked there 'til I was 65." 

I didn't have an answer to that. Times change, I don't think the village has a butcher's shop any more.


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## LeeC

escorial said:


> wish someone would ask me to produce my lost passport so i could be deported to the carribean


Another excerpt from the story:
“Millions of Britons are currently being herded onto ships bound for the Caribbean despite concern about where they will live, how they will survive and whether it is ‘really hot and sticky’.”


There’s also an “article” about a man that said he’d make any sacrifice for Brexit. That from a man who gets upset if his boiled egg isn’t just right 




I’m not picking on the UK esc. It’s just that the hate, selfishness, ignorance, and their many shills here are beyond funny anymore. We have an epidemic of evolutionary regressive mutations here. Hope you understand


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## escorial

LeeC said:


> Another excerpt from the story:
> “Millions of Britons are currently being herded onto ships bound for the Caribbean despite concern about where they will live, how they will survive and whether it is ‘really hot and sticky’.”
> 
> 
> There’s also an “article” about a man that said he’d make any sacrifice for Brexit. That from a man who gets upset if his boiled egg isn’t just right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I’m not picking on the UK esc. It’s just that the hate, selfishness, ignorance, and their many shills here are beyond funny anymore. We have an epidemic of evolutionary regressive mutations here. Hope you understand



this is why we drink tea an eat cucumber sandwiches so we can ponder why other people don't play cricket....our queen is ordained by god and all his portraits make him look very english in appearence..an the king james bible is a hit so we can forgive our sins an all the rest of the worlds..i forgive you LC


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## Olly Buckle

Waited over an hour at The Prince of Kent in Hawkhurst for two curries and rice last night, talk about slow lane, you could die of starvation in there while the takeaways fly out of the door. Enough to give you indigestion.

Amber Rudd is the MP for Hastings just down the road, fifty years since I ws involved in politics, but she has me angry enough to give the labour party time for handing out leaflets for the up-coming council elections. She had a majority of only a bit over 400 last time, she will look at the council results and know she is on a loser next time, if she doesn't have to go for lying through her teeth.


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## escorial

the revolution will be televised from hastings


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## JustRob

LeeC said:


> Another excerpt from the story:
> “Millions of Britons are currently being herded onto ships bound for the Caribbean despite concern about where they will live, how they will survive and whether it is ‘really hot and sticky’.”



Actually the process has been called off on account of a technical problem. The requirement is to deport the said people back to where they came from, but nobody knows how to send them back to 1948. (However, the full story can of course be found in my perennial novel _Never Upon A Time _about a secret time travel project funded by the British government. That actually resulted in immigrants arriving from the future though, which would make some sort of sense if the practice were to continue for any length of time, so apparently things can only be getting worse there.)

Britain has a long history of deporting unwanted people to its colonies. It's why English speakers are spread around the globe as we are. At one time North America used to be the standard destination for this purpose until the communities there had independent ideas about it, so then Australia became the place to send undesirables. In the nineteenth century a new idea was conceived to encourage people to go there voluntarily, so the free land of South Australia was created and people rushed off in great numbers to found Adelaide (or rather find it as they weren't sure where the best place to put it was at first). The plan was evidently too successful though as back in Britain people were complaining that they couldn't find any decent craftsmen such as carpenters to do work for them as the good ones were all in South Australia building Adelaide. So, when we asked people from the Caribbean to come and help us rebuild Britain after WWII we obviously hadn't thought that plan through entirely either. If any of our former colonies ever contemplated sending people back to our little island in a similar manner it would get very crowded here.

A while back it was suggested that all British nationals should have identity cards, but that idea was rejected for many strange reasons. Hence proving one's identity here is a hit and miss process with many different methods involved. Those of us born here have no direct means of proving that we actually are the people who were born here apart from the fact that we're here without evidently having come here in any other way. 

My angel and I used to have a joint passport because a wife was permitted to travel with her husband on his passport. That passport lapsed as we didn't go abroad for many years and when we applied for new passports the rules had changed and we had to have one each. In my case that was a simple process but for my angel it was more difficult because she had to prove somehow that she was the same woman who had been named in my previous passport as my wife, having never had a passport of her own. She was particularly irate when she was told that she would have to attend an interview to assess whether she really was British by birth as all passport applicants were now treated in exactly the same way. The funny part was that her family tree is British back into the distant past while mine vanishes into mystery with my grandfather, who simply appeared out of nowhere in London in the late nineteenth century with a clearly foreign accent. The new interview procedures had only just been introduced, so the woman who interviewed my angel was equally bemused by having to talk at length to someone who was quite evidently British to the core. Of course, if she had decided that my wife wasn't originally British then the authorities might have decided to deport her back to where she came from which, as she undoubtedly is an angel, can only be heaven, the place from which she was clearly born here, or even borne here. I imagine that the authorities in heaven might react as strongly to that as the authorities in the Caribbean did to the recent Windrush fiasco. Given its own strict immigration policy I assume that heaven is also a relatively small island.


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## LeeC

Enough of all that. If one posts simple facts on social media, like the foreboding increasing reduction/extinction of wildlife, how fossil fuels and -cides are destroying our children's future, or god forbid that the recent nine mass shootings were committed by white men using AR-15s (umm, where's the commonality?), the shills and their sheep jump on it like white on rice to distract from the facts and disparage your character. This country is truly an oligarchy/plutocracy.

I shared a post about all the Stanford and Harvard cognitive studies that evidence how human reasoning is weighted in favor of impressions over facts, even after the impressions have proved false. Ninety percent, more or less, of the responses were to the effect that the studies were in error and I had shit for brains. Their bolstering the evidence in favor of the studies enforces why playing chess with pigeons is a waste of time.

It all makes me appreciate why seemingly so many authors give up on branding.

Still using social media in branding efforts, I'm trying to adopt your lead esc (sans the cucumber sandwiches). Mostly I skip over all the inane BS and share things like:
https://www.facebook.com/DJMATTEW1/videos/1646229592080214/?hc_ref=ARRH3NqKqVg92jqBn3vQXb2NPzul8iUiU46RQZyzXzoQmpVg5PTElq500kQOKk5EU-s

I'm getting too old for all this.


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## escorial

i'm gettin older with you man..it's a team sport


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## JustRob

LeeC said:


> I shared a post about all the Stanford and Harvard cognitive studies that evidence how human reasoning is weighted in favor of impressions over facts, even after the impressions have proved false. Ninety percent, more or less, of the responses were to the effect that the studies were in error and I had shit for brains. Their bolstering the evidence in favor of the studies enforces why playing chess with pigeons is a waste of time.
> 
> It all makes me appreciate why seemingly so many authors give up on branding.



I've always had a great respect for Bayesian logic. Conventional logic is based on the idea that evidence directly leads to absolute truths, but Thomas Bayes proposed something different, that evidence merely modifies whatever people already believe without ever actually replacing it. 

A classic example of Bayesian logic would be a typical Sherlock Holmes story. Inspector Lestrade's job is catching criminals, so to achieve this on a regular basis he must assume that they are less intelligent than himself. On the other hand Holmes is an amateur detective hoping occasionally to discover criminals whose intelligence matches his own. It follows therefore that when additional evidence points to a suspect already identified Lestrade will take this as proof of their guilt while Holmes will take it as proof that they have been framed by a far more adept criminal. Therefore the same evidence actually causes their beliefs to diverge instead of converge as conventional logic might suggest. It is a common device used in crime stories.


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## LeeC

escorial said:


> i'm gettin older with you man..it's a team sport


You're right of course. We're all in this little blue canoe together, paddling our way through life. It gets to me though when those that want to steer the canoe are so dense they head for the rocks. Of course, it's Nature's way of dealing with life forms that get out of hand, letting them do theirselves in and evolving new life forms that can adapt to the altered conditions. Speaks to our human intelligence myth.

One reason why I'm so involved in illustrating my book. The work demands so much detailed concentration that it keeps my mind off other things.

Take care.


@ JustRob. I understand what you said, but it brought to mind that in real life Inspector Lestrade is usually spot on.


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## Olly Buckle

> Of course, it's Nature's way of dealing with life forms that get out of hand, letting them do theirselves in and evolving new life forms that can adapt to the altered conditions.



That is over millions of years, in the short term you get populations that become hugely dominant and then crash and almost disappear before building up again from the few individuals left, think lemmings, or plants like stinging nettles that take over for a short while when there is a manure dump and a lot of nitrogen, then give way to other things as the rainfall changes the chemistry. Even if all the big cities went and most of the people in 'civilised' nations there would still be enough people to  repopulate in well under 10,000 years, and that is nothing in evolutionary terms.


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## Theglasshouse

My mother told me today about the dyslexia association which exists which I hope I pay a visit to soon close to where she got an eye exam. Apple's technology is something I have liked of their software ecosystem. It is much cheaper to buy speech to text programs on an ipad or a macbook. Which is why I want to buy a keyboard for an ipad. But the conversation came up when I insisted I need to try as many programs that are text to speech possible. To see if I can proofread faster. Each program costs 20 or 30 that I have seen for dyslexia. My mom has always hesitated on getting a diagnosis. My dad ignores it. It's tough talking about it. People would think it is my fault. But I try to bring the topic up. My family's health problems are always the most talked about the topic because of deadly sicknesses. Anyways I will make slow progress but will. Given my limitations, and the situation of not wanting to work. That is the kind of problem that sometimes tests me. 

Hopefully, I will update with something positive sometime this week about this since I have been pestering my family about this.


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## LeeC

Olly Buckle said:


> That is over millions of years, in the short term you get populations that become hugely dominant and then crash and almost disappear before building up again from the few individuals left, think lemmings, or plants like stinging nettles that take over for a short while when there is a manure dump and a lot of nitrogen, then give way to other things as the rainfall changes the chemistry. Even if all the big cities went and most of the people in 'civilised' nations there would still be enough people to  repopulate in well under 10,000 years, and that is nothing in evolutionary terms.


True enough as far as it goes Olly, but what you're noting are cycles in an environment that will support a life form. 

Maintaining our present course, at the rate we're "progressing" the tipping point of global warming could be only decades away, and there's enough carbon sink in the tundra to dramatically accelerate global warming. That together with ocean acidification, toxic pollution of fresh waters, steadily decreasing fresh air, and inevitable ecological crashes, are all leading to an environment that won't sustain current higher life forms like ourselves. 

We humans aren't farting around with population bottlenecks. We're going whole hog with the pedal to the metal as the brick wall looms, and there're a passel of innocents we're dragging along.

The following is an illustration I did for a paper I wrote some years back.


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## Olly Buckle

I reckon the social structure causing the problem crashes before the environment becomes completely hostile to 'higher' life forms. People especially are amazingly adaptable, they manage using available natural rescources from the Kalahari to the Arctic. I don't know how much CO2 is trapped in the tundra, but it must have got there post carboniferous age so I doubt that it would be enough to raise the percentage in the atmosphere from almost nothing to the 4 or 5 % needed to make it hostile to mammals, and as soon as the temperature goes up and human activity decreases there will be more plant life absorbing it. I am not saying it will be pleasant or easy, but the human population could reduce to a single small tribal group and still make a comeback to screw it up all over again.


----------



## LeeC

Tundra permafrost is frozen soil and dead plants that extend over 400 meters under the surface. It’s estimated that about fourteen percent of the Earth’s carbon is tied up in permafrost. Melting of permafrost increases plant life in the warm season, which uses much of the CO2 released. But, the increased plant life captures more snow which insulates the ground during the cold seasons, allowing considerably more carbon release. The increasing carbon dioxide and methane releases, if unchecked are significant enough to lead to runaway global warming.


There are of course many cascading effects from this and other changes we’ve initiated. One of the more worrisome effects is ocean acidification, the big nasty one coming down. No single mechanism explains all the mass extinctions in the record, and yet changes in ocean chemistry seem to be a pretty good predictor. Ocean acidification played a significant role in at least two of the Big Five extinctions (the end-Permian and the end-Triassic) and quite possibly it was a major factor in a third (the end-Cretaceous). There’s also strong evidence of ocean acidification playing a significant role during an extinction event that occurred 183 million years ago, and another 55 million years ago. 


The increasing CO2 in the atmosphere is in good part absorbed by the ocean (roughly one-third of the CO2 that humans have so far pumped into the air has been absorbed by the oceans), increasing the acidity of the oceans in decreasing pH. Like the Richter scale, the pH scale is logarithmic, so even a small numerical difference represents a very large real-world change. The decline of .1 means that the oceans are now thirty percent more acidic than they were in 1800. Why ocean acidification is so dangerous is tough to answer only because the list of reasons is so long. Of the myriad possible impacts, probably the most significant involves the effects on calcification. As with most aspects of the Anthropocene, it’s not only the scale of the transfer but also the speed that’s significant. A comparison might be made to alcohol. Just as it makes a big difference to your blood chemistry whether you take a month to go through a six-pack or an hour, it makes a big difference to marine chemistry whether carbon dioxide is added over the course of a million years or a hundred.


The point of all this is that we are acting like children playing with matches, and obviously aren’t intelligent enough on the whole to care about our children’s future.


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## LeeC

And, as if we didn’t have enough problems.

One of the consequences of the US  becoming a plutocracy in letting big money take over our government.

*US has regressed to developing nation status, MIT economist warns.*
Peter Temin says 80 per cent of the population is burdened with debt and anxious about job security.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-developing-nation-regressing-economy-poverty-donald-trump-mit-economist-peter-temin-a7694726.html

And now I'm going for a walk in the woods to temper my mood, and get back to my absorbing illustrating.  Take care all.


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## LeeC

And now a break from the discordance that surrounds us.
https://www.mymusicandmusings.com/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening.html


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## LeeC

In case you haven't seen this Olly.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/23/one-in-eight-birds-is-threatened-with-extinction-global-study-finds


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## LeeC

For another break, and you kids think seniors are stale.

https://www.facebook.com/100010815634729/videos/559529784417538/UzpfSTU0ODk2NDMzMDoxMDE1NTkxMjg4MDUyOTMzMQ/?stype=lo&jlou=Afdbg7hL1VM8YvXKRXsyt3MUJMAd4SKwyETGvbuxBMOk4cvCJfGYfpns4IBGg2kOHfcyqPetca7fPHWnLOcM-9p-HrEqVqw6E-0lnC2HhYYVxA&smuh=47304&lh=Ac_feC98Tb8Vwx2S


----------



## LeeC




----------



## escorial

Cool pics...exceptional pics


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## sas

Is your grandson surfing the rock? Hope so. I love pretend. I pretend to be grown-up.


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## Olly Buckle

When I was his age that would have been a Spitfire coming in, 'tack-a-tack-a-tack'.


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## LeeC

sas said:


> Is your grandson surfing the rock? Hope so. I love pretend. I pretend to be grown-up.


He was imitating the birds.


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## LeeC

To demonstrate a point that someone didn't listen to what was being said I asked, "Are you the type of person that wouldn't go to someone's funeral because they hadn't gone to yours?"


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## escorial

Who put the word fun in funeral man


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## LeeC

escorial said:


> Who put the word fun in funeral man


When you get to my point in life, you might see the relevance ;-)


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## LeeC

Olly Buckle said:


> When I was his age that would have been a Spitfire coming in, 'tack-a-tack-a-tack'.


Maybe that had something to do with memories at the time?


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## LeeC

It's now black fly season in NH. We call them flying jaws. Soon the gunships (dragonflies) will be out to lessen their numbers.


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## Olly Buckle

LeeC said:


> Maybe that had something to do with memories at the time?


Not direct memories, I was born in '44. My big brother told me stories about picking up ammo clips the morning after an air raid, it was his 80th birthday today.


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## midnightpoet

'44 was a good year - Olly, sas, and me (at least) on the site.  Both my elder brothers were drafted by then, off to Europe and war.  They managed to survive and come back.  I was born Jan 1st, my 15 year old sister built-in babysitter.


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## LeeC

My sentiments exactly. I remember when I was young (1940s) being in the county seat with a Shoshone friend, and seeing a sign in a number of business windows that said, "No Dogs, No Injuns."


----------



## Olly Buckle

LeeC said:


> My sentiments exactly. I remember when I was young (1940s) being in the county seat with a Shoshone friend, and seeing a sign in a number of business windows that said, "No Dogs, No Injuns."



When I first left home and went looking for a bedsit it was frequent to see 'No dogs, no Irish' in the window. Prejudices vary and change, but they still seem fairly universal. When Christians say the virtues are 'Faith Hope and Charity, and the greatest of these is charity.' I always think that should not be 'charity' in the sense of 'giving', but charity in the sense of 'tolerance'.


----------



## Kevin

Perhaps I am prejudiced, but among the Christians, it seems that faith, hope , charity only applied to those that were convertible. All your hard-tops with their own beliefs were excluded. I know that there were shining examples, individuals, but the organizations, like the Papacy, and here where I live, not the organizations, but the general identity groups of 'born-' individuals make it a point to limit interaction with those not a part of their identity group. Some of the soft-hearted looked upon those others as poor, ignorant savages, or more like beasts doomed by their beliefs (or lack thereof), and as such undeserving the level of compassion they might hold for their own. Beasts are to be used or avoided. 

I think this is a 'Universal-' , this mental separating of ( to borrow a Christian-) wheat from chafe, as I do it myself. For instance, I pity the lager masses, so ignorant are they of the bountiful lingual experience of a good stout or porter. But you see, that's what makes us better- this superiority of ( enter choice here), setting us above. We just know it. Bigotry indeed.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Kevin said:


> Perhaps I am prejudiced, but among the Christians, it seems that faith, hope , charity only applied to those that were convertible. All your hard-tops with their own beliefs were excluded. I know that there were shining examples, individuals, but the organizations, like the Papacy, and here where I live, not the organizations, but the general identity groups of 'born-' individuals make it a point to limit interaction with those not a part of their identity group.



My family religious background was The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). To their credit they were not like this, but worked with people of all religions and races equally. My mother was a great correspondant, she wrote half a dozen letters every day to people all over the world, she was a teacher had a couple of favourite stories from teachers she corresponded with.
A master called into a dormitory in an orphanage school in Lebanon found a boy terrified at the end of his bed with a spider crawling up it. 
'Don'tbe daft, knock it off, kill it with your slipper.'
'I can't kill it Sir, I 'm a Bhuddist.'
The boy in the next bed put his hand up eagerly,
'Please Sir, I'll kill it, I'm a Christian.'

The other was from New Zealand where a Friends school had had the children from the local Maori village to their Christmas party. The teacher driving the bus taking them home overheard one of the mothers ask her daughter if there were many white people there, "No, none, only Friends.'

Sorry Kevin, but the world is like that, just when you think you have found a universal rule, you find it isn't


----------



## LeeC

It's so calming and pleasing to be physically able to get out in my natural garden again. Took a couple pics today. 

Young American plum trees just outside my natural garden are blossoming.



And this is one of a half dozen oriental pear trees in bloom. There are also apple, peach (one is rear right that hasn't leafed out yet), cherry (already blossomed), and Nannyberry (one juvenile left front) trees, among blueberry, high bush cranberry, and hazelnut bushes [to name a few]. The Black walnut and Shagbark hickory trees are leafing out now also. 



“I am too rich already, for my eyes mint gold.” ― Mervyn Peake

“Gold is man's idea of religious wealth.” ― Anthony T. Hincks

“If gold has been prized because it is the most inert element, changeless and incorruptible, water is prized for the opposite reason -- its fluidity, mobility, changeability that make it a necessity and a metaphor for life itself. To value gold over water is to value economy over ecology, that which can be locked up over that which connects all things.” ― Rebecca Solnit


----------



## Theglasshouse

Been thinking I need a long break, half a year long. Becuase my dyslexia has made my writing too hard to fix. So I will save up money for 4-5-6 months. I'll be waiting until I have enough since I need 500 dollars and it won't come easily to me. In the meantime been thinking of playing videogames, to make sure I have something not to bore my mind. Writing use to be my therapy. But my mom and dad are apathetic towards giving me that much money. My oldest brother usually cooperates. I plan to give feedback even though it mostly will be on reactions to a work and where it could go based on what I read. This is so boring. 5 to 6 months of walking, I will feel like a hamster on a wheel inside a cage. But if I want my dreams to come true I must travel the path less traveled, and do what few have done in my situation.


----------



## Theglasshouse

Actually, this will be a double post. I am thinking of subscribing to the dyslexia software at the rate they ask (ghotit). For a period of 3 months (30) and then buying it. Then I should not be bored for the duration of time I need to save for it. So taking back my words for the time being.


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## Olly Buckle

I wonder about dyslexia quite often. Is it maybe a bit like 'Consumption' a couple of hundred years ago? We don't use the word nowadays because it covered a group of diseases like lung cancer, pneumonia, emphacema and T B. that all had similar symptoms. It seems when I look awriting by dyslexics it is not all the same, sometimes it is concepts that get mixed up, sometimes sounds within words,  for example.

The other thing I wonder is if some dyslexics are very tactile, audial people. If a memory is retrieved it is done one of three ways, visually, audialy, or by feeling, including scent and taste. So, remembering my mother I might make a picture of her, hear her voice, or feel her hugging me and smell her scent. When I taught my daughter her spellings it was all visual, I would show her flash cards then ask her to spell the word she had just seen. I know when I am editing and come across a  spelling mistake it 'looks wrong', and other people talk about spelling in visual terms, this is what makes me wonder if those who have trouble with spelling have been taught to  'sound it out', or something similar, and being the sort who incline naturally to tactile/audial never take the visual aspect on board? That would not account for other aspects though, which brings me back to my first thought, is it really more than one thing?


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## Theglasshouse

Depends what you are learning in regard to the senses termed as learning styles. Math is learned best visually with the added feedback of a teacher. Learning by experience is kinesthetic. Woman are usually auditory learners. Males are mostly visual. Capitalizing on a learning style is different. Schools preferably deal with kinesthetic. It's the best way to learn for me. Of course how the brain processes things also varies with age. At college expect lectures. For kids expect them to learn visually and by experience, and subsequently, it seems if I am not mistaken that, the school system doesn't expect to teach people who are kinesthetic even though most people learn faster this way. As for spelling, I am a bad speller. According to my mom I learned to read first that my brother oldest brother, but had a speech delay. Not to mention accidents could account for part of the reason I perceive differently. I have invisible disabilities. Which make my life more difficult if I go back to school. But I realize that whatever I have can be treated by a software hopefully where I function independently. It was recently said that dyslexics have different eyes and brains, and I  dont know if I have a processing disorder. I have many disabilities. According to a speech therapist who tried helping me once. But I want to see how far I go, before my luck runs out on this. I rather not live a life of regrets. My father is somewhat cold-hearted with the way he thinks like an accountant. We are not poor we could have bought a house in united states but my dad was having an affair. I have a sister in law I didn't know for 6-7 years. I'd rather not think negatively, pessimism is the worst evil like a dragon staring at treasure (for unknown reasons). Anyways my brother youngest was an overachiever but doesn't deserve to be handed everything he asks others. If I ask my dad for a psychologist I get a blank look. He believes in lobotomy for schizophrenics, but then I corrected him. Then I constantly correct him on schizophrenia when it pops up as a topic. It is frustrating which is why when they sell something I hope to study psychology to manage my emotions.

Early times had their atrocities no doubt. (there are 3 types of dyslexia as well)(but I'll spare the details since I need to see a professional and have only been promised).


----------



## Olly Buckle

"I can and I will, I can and I will" as the little engine said puffing up the hill, I love your attitude, Glasshouse. People tend to say 'a positive attitude is everything', it's not, there are other factors, but it sure helps!

"As for spelling, I am a bad speller. According to my mom I learned to read first that my brother oldest brother, but had a speech delay. "
This made me think of Milton Erickson, a hypnotherapist who they say changed the life of almost everyone he talked to. He sais that he did not learn to talk until he was nearly three, and people worried. His mother would say "Don't worry, he'll talk when he is ready", and they would point to his sister who, "Has been talking since before she was eighteen months, hasn't stopped since, and still hasn't said anything." That always makes me smile.

Interesting there are three types recognised, I realise I know very little about it, must do some reading up.

Virginia Satir was a conjoint family therapist, moving into disfunctional families and living with them, brave lady. She describes different disfunctional personality types, placator, computer man, and blamer, I have always thought visuals tend to be 'it's all your fault' blamers, audial people isolationist 'computer man', and tactile people 'I am so sorry' placators. Of course there are no perfect matches, people are all individual, we don't fall into such perfect groups in reality, but it is true that if you adopt the preffered predicates of a person they respond better. There is a great description of Satir with a husband and wife, a visual and a kinesthetic and a row is just kicking off; she turned to one and held up a fist, saying 'Hold it!' and showed a flat palm tothe other saying 'Stop!', and they did!

I don't suppose it will be easy, life rarely is, but the very best of luck to you in your endeavours.


Edit: Sorry about the side track folks, back to the slow lane.


----------



## Kevin

How's it goin', boss?

Still breathin'.

Pretty morning...

Y'ep. 

Coffee?

Y'ep. - _excerpt from Me to me, a continuous epic..._


----------



## LeeC

This brought back some memories 

https://youtu.be/XfyEpmQM7bw


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## LeeC




----------



## dither

Glasshouse,
I once thought I'd like to learn psychology but I found the thought of being able to understand myself a little better a bit scary. Not sure that I'd like to go there. Certainly not now.

Kevin, if I had a scene like that close to home I'd make cleaning it up a major part of my life. That would be my mission I think. Could be my reason for living.


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## Theglasshouse

To correct my earlier post oily buckle there are 3 kinds of dsygraphia. I got confused there. Not sure how many types of dyslexia. Some people think I have both.

To dither: understanding yourself is a way to create coping mechanisms. A Harvard study found that people who had psychologists in family lived ten years longer (parents). It became a famous study, I don't know in what newspaper it came out.


----------



## LeeC

Do you like magic?
https://youtu.be/x9KbD3XQIJk


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## dither

Theglasshouse said:


> To correct my earlier post oily buckle there are 3 kinds of dsygraphia. I got confused there. Not sure how many types of dyslexia. Some people think I have both.
> 
> To dither: understanding yourself is a way to create coping mechanisms. A Harvard study found that people who had psychologists in family lived ten years longer (parents). It became a famous study, I don't know in what newspaper it came out.



Interesting.

I DO wonder if I might have found the subject interesting, had I been able to learn it to any degree. Having said that, I also wonder if I might have ended up more screwed up than I am now, getting involved with so many other.. how can I put this? Less stable types.

There is a magazine, a monthly I think, on one of the shelves at my local newsagent's entitled "psychologies", I keep meaning to give that a look but a little information can be dangerous I think.


----------



## LeeC

There is  beauty where you least expect to find it.

https://youtu.be/vJJONpQiQZ4


https://youtu.be/KkM71JPHfjk


----------



## LeeC

Can you identify with this. Number 10 really hit home for me.


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## Olly Buckle

Number five for me.
Number ten reminds me of the story of the woman diagnosed with early stage Alzheimers. Unwilling to put up  with the long term consequences she made up a suicide kit, hid it in the bedroom and left herself a note in her favourite poetry book. Coming across the unfamiliar note months later she realised the time had come, went up to the bedroom, and thought 'Now, why did I come up here?'.


----------



## dither

I can relate to just about all of those. As for number 5, I don't try to kid myself. There are always " notes to self " laying around.


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## midnightpoet

#1, I do talk to myself mainly because I need someone to agree with me.:grin:
#2, when my wife rolls her eyes behind my back, I can feel it.
#3, if I had a dollar for every time some jerk pissed me off...
#4, if it weren't for the idiots, we wouldn't need the Darwin awards (don't you just want to cheer when they do something stupid and become a statistic?)
#5 what did I come in this room for?
#6 sometimes I pretend I'm asleep in the middle of a wife-lecture
#7 (burp)
#8 duct tape will stick to anything except when I really need it to
#9 maybe, but what would I do with al that anti-wrinkle cream?
#10 for me, getting action on the morning throne


----------



## LeeC

#6 is a given. I sleep about 6 hours (at most) at night, and take a couple hours nap in the afternoon. I do my best artwork late at night.

#10 struck a chord with me because I get so wrapped up in my writing and artwork that I forget what else I doing. Also, several times in the last year I've stood at the door to my room not knowing how to open it, and found myself trying to turn on a light by clicking an imaginary mouse. My wife acts like it's funny, but I can hear the edge of concern in her voice. 

All good I suppose, because maybe I won't know when I'm gone 


Oh and re #3, with the regressive evolution these days there's more than enough to upset me. I never read the newspaper or watch TV, but I'm exposed to it (the worst of it) in my branding effort on social media.


On another note, I'm getting much more exercise now that I can walk (shuffle maybe) again. I've got half the firewood I'll need for next winter put up so far. A young man stoped by to ask if I'd hire him to do the work. In the middle of his pitch he answered his mobil phone, and when he was done with his other conversation I told him I ain't dead yet ;-)


----------



## Olly Buckle

LeeC said:


> On another note, I'm getting much more exercise now that I can walk (shuffle maybe) again. I've got half the firewood I'll need for next winter put up so far. A young man stoped by to ask if I'd hire him to do the work. In the middle of his pitch he answered his mobil phone, and when he was done with his other conversation I told him I ain't dead yet ;-)



Grumpy old git  At least he is out there looking, not just sitting around moaning about how life is not fair. Don't know if you know this one:-

Lord Edgeware was killed one night
whilst trying to fix the electric light.
And serve him right.
It is the business of the wealthy man
to give employment to the artisan.


----------



## Rhymetravilla

It can end in an instant. I'm 26 and just survived a major car wreck and 7 day coma. I was hit in a crosswalk as a pedestrian, I was missing 24 hours, and they told my family I was going to die. Even the nurses thought I was basically done. I shattered a jaw, the teeth in it, 3 ribs, broke a leg, sustained brain injury, and lost a month of memory.


----------



## Kevin

Took it easy/took it as it came/lived a little last night and accepted junior's offer to go to the Tuesday $5 special movie night. Don't get to hang out much so... We saw Deadpool II . Strange, because all the references were 1980's including and mostly the music. Nice theater, those seats that are wide apart, reclining. 
Back in my day Dollar Movie Night Tuesday involved crowds of youngsters not really there to watch the movie, fights outside, sounds of empty beer bottles rolling underneath your seats from higher up...
or really way back in the day, like 1970's, the discount movie theater you checked to make sure you didn't sit in something, and your shoes stuck and unstuck noisily in the never-been-cleaned-up 'reduced' cola coating finish on the concrete. Saw some great horror/slasher flicks. Legend of Boggy Creek ( think proto-pseudo-docu-hand held Blair Witch-risqué), Black Christmas, Hacksaw ( not Saw). 
Did you know there's an R-rated Muppet movie coming? Decline of western civilization... Or a new beginning? 5am I am up drinking coffee before work.


----------



## midnightpoet

End times!
Men becoming women!
women becoming men!
Living together!
R-rated muppet movies!
Minorities taking over!

Kidding, of course.  Fear rising among old white men.  Change can be hard to take.:icon_cheesygrin:


----------



## LeeC

Kevin said:


> Took it easy/took it as it came/lived a little last night and accepted junior's offer to go to the Tuesday $5 special movie night. Don't get to hang out much so... We saw Deadpool II . Strange, because all the references were 1980's including and mostly the music. Nice theater, those seats that are wide apart, reclining.
> Back in my day Dollar Movie Night Tuesday involved crowds of youngsters not really there to watch the movie, fights outside, sounds of empty beer bottles rolling underneath your seats from higher up...
> or really way back in the day, like 1970's, the discount movie theater you checked to make sure you didn't sit in something, and your shoes stuck and unstuck noisily in the never-been-cleaned-up 'reduced' cola coating finish on the concrete. Saw some great horror/slasher flicks. Legend of Boggy Creek ( think proto-pseudo-docu-hand held Blair Witch-risqué), Black Christmas, Hacksaw ( not Saw).
> Did you know there's an R-rated Muppet movie coming? Decline of western civilization... Or a new beginning? 5am I am up drinking coffee before work.



Hey, I remember the Legend of Boggy Creek. My daughter asked me to take her to see it when she was young. She laughed all the way through it.

Found out today your state has some benefits I wish we had in NH. I came across a topical Hemp cream for arthritic joints that was supposedly more effective than what I use, but on investigating found that I'd have to travel to your state to buy it, bummers.

Just put my illustrating aside as it's 2AM and I need to go to bed. Not sure what I'll do tomorrow, more things need attention than I have time left. Enjoy your day at work ;-)


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## escorial

Went in the newly opened cat Cafe an sat down an while drinking a coffee an surrounded by cats an mostly older people I felt the years pile on..love the ethos of the place but I felt like this is life in the slow Lane and prefer my pensioners with a bit more zest an that is why I'm looking forward to The Rolling Stones gig Tuesday....


----------



## Kevin

LeeC said:


> Hey, I remember the Legend of Boggy Creek. My daughter asked me to take her to see it when she was young. She laughed all the way through it.
> 
> Found out today your state has some benefits I wish we had in NH. I came across a topical Hemp cream for arthritic joints that was supposedly more effective than what I use, but on investigating found that I'd have to travel to your state to buy it, bummers.
> 
> Just put my illustrating aside as it's 2AM and I need to go to bed. Not sure what I'll do tomorrow, more things need attention than I have time left. Enjoy your day at work ;-)


those places are everywhere. Anyone could've started one back when but I thought the risk of time in a federal pokey ( hooskow) wasn't  worth it ( seize all your assets/property and make you prove how you got it )who knew? Now them licenses are 2 mil each.

e-man- it is  that time of year again, last weekend I had to turn my head until my darkness goes at the community picnic - 20-somethings that could in bikini thongs... it's not any thoughts just my creepy eyes that I turned down or away, thoughts limited to generic loud wordless exclamations in my head. I was thinking how them alt. fab four/five didn't, even marrying those teeny-boppers too young for me at 18.


----------



## Olly Buckle

!950's, Saturday morning movies, sixpence to get in, riot inside. A cowboy movie and a war movie, everyone cheered the white hats and booed the black hats, you couldn't hear the dialogue, then there was Davey Crockett and the River Pirates.

They talk about knife crime and are really heavy on kids carrying knives nowadays, we joined the Scouts because you could have a sheath knife to wear. Nobody got stabbed though, knives don't stab by themselves, it is the culture and ethos of the people holding them and they got that bit right, teach them responsibility young. Nowadays reaching adult hood seems to consist of getting drunk and a driving licence.


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## escorial

K I've never heard a story of a beautiful young woman fall in love with a binman or traffic warden or WF member but as you remain aloof to your endeavors I can only assume you have no need for sexual conquest to prove your varility as a man who rides a bike up and down mountains without the aid of stabilizers...if you must ride something then ride  a pennyfarthing


----------



## Kevin

Our mass shooting craze I heard explained as 'mob action' where 'normal people in a riot behave abnormally, becoming inspired to take actions they nomally wouldn't. I don't know if I buy it, because , well, the thing is that when you're in a mass, you figure that since everyone is doing it you might as well, too, because you won't get caught. These shooters, they seem suicidal, not just rampaging. People in mob actions- window smashers, car flippers, looters- don't want to get caught. They want to get away with it. So the best explanation I've heard falls flat. It remains one of those Why would anyone do that? things, a mystery ( considering the personal consequences) like first-time shooting heroin, staying with a beating boyfriend, jumping off a cliff 'cause Billy did it...

i wonder- did they have all that stuff over there like in quadrephenia ( movie)? Greasers and mods, an then later, the skinheads,and whatever else that was not pacifist longhairs? That was like 50 years ago or more, right? Like my growing up experiences were 35-40 years ago. We were pretty 'pacifist' until the 80's. Cept for the bikers ( like hells angel types)They were stabbers. We're still pacifists mostly. Just the bad stands out. One incident can ruin it all. Now you have to take your shoes of at the airport. Because of that one silly shoe bomber the whole of the United States has to now take their shoes off at the airport.


----------



## LeeC

Kevin said:


> Our mass shooting craze I heard explained as 'mob action' where 'normal people in a riot behave abnormally, becoming inspired to take actions they nomally wouldn't. I don't know if I buy it, because , well, the thing is that when you're in a mass, you figure that since everyone is doing it you might as well, too, because you won't get caught. These shooters, they seem suicidal, not just rampaging. People in mob actions- window smashers, car flippers, looters- don't want to get caught. They want to get away with it. So the best explanation I've heard falls flat. It remains one of those Why would anyone do that? things, a mystery ( considering the personal consequences) like first-time shooting heroin, staying with a beating boyfriend, jumping off a cliff 'cause Billy did it...
> 
> i wonder- did they have all that stuff over there like in quadrephenia ( movie)? Greasers and mods, an then later, the skinheads,and whatever else that was not pacifist longhairs? That was like 50 years ago or more, right? Like my growing up experiences were 35-40 years ago. We were pretty 'pacifist' until the 80's. Cept for the bikers ( like hells angel types)They were stabbers. We're still pacifists mostly. Just the bad stands out. One incident can ruin it all. Now you have to take your shoes of at the airport. Because of that one silly shoe bomber the whole of the United States has to now take their shoes off at the airport.



What I see in all this is the hypocrisy, heartlessness, and selfishness in our culture. Yes, everyone has to take their shoes off at the airport, but too few care enough for our children to try to curtail their mass murders.


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## LeeC

Don’t know how many of you remember the 1960s, but this lady, one of the greats, sure brings back memories for me.

Joan Baez ~ 500 Miles
https://youtu.be/B_K6z3HiRAs

The Green Green Grass of Home
https://youtu.be/aQhKqlOccHE

House of The Rising Sun
https://youtu.be/NkyYHYUcGgo


----------



## SueC

Thank you, Lee. Have always been a fan. Her voice will remain with me all of my days as one of the most beautiful. The versions you shared were lovely.


----------



## Olly Buckle

LeeC said:


> Don’t know how many of you remember the 1960s




One of my favourite quotes "Anyone who remembers the 60's wasn't really there".


----------



## Kevin

I wasn't allowed to go see Silent Running because Joan Baez had sung music in it.  My mother didn't agree with her anti-war stance. Not sure if she was a Cossack or Catalan but I guess she loved war. Best I can remember it (see escorial's post about memory). I think I was 9 or 10. Pops overruled and said yes, he can go. 
I wasn't allowed to call him Pops. 
Being more of a Rock'n'roll fan I did like her music, therefor I was not converted by it to commie.


----------



## escorial

Kevin said:


> Our mass shooting craze I heard explained as 'mob action' where 'normal people in a riot behave abnormally, becoming inspired to take actions they nomally wouldn't. I don't know if I buy it, because , well, the thing is that when you're in a mass, you figure that since everyone is doing it you might as well, too, because you won't get caught. These shooters, they seem suicidal, not just rampaging. People in mob actions- window smashers, car flippers, looters- don't want to get caught. They want to get away with it. So the best explanation I've heard falls flat. It remains one of those Why would anyone do that? things, a mystery ( considering the personal consequences) like first-time shooting heroin, staying with a beating boyfriend, jumping off a cliff 'cause Billy did it...
> 
> i wonder- did they have all that stuff over there like in quadrephenia ( movie)? Greasers and mods, an then later, the skinheads,and whatever else that was not pacifist longhairs? That was like 50 years ago or more, right? Like my growing up experiences were 35-40 years ago. We were pretty 'pacifist' until the 80's. Cept for the bikers ( like hells angel types)They were stabbers. We're still pacifists mostly. Just the bad stands out. One incident can ruin it all. Now you have to take your shoes of at the airport. Because of that one silly shoe bomber the whole of the United States has to now take their shoes off at the airport.



K..one thinks you may be hitting the male menopause and your testicales are shrinking and your voice has probably gone up an octave or two...I recormend crouching over a lukewarm bowl of water...placacing tesicles or testicle in and drinking a cup of beef oxo(dried bulls blood) and put a video or beata max tape of butch Cassidy and the sundance kid and whatch it..try to talk slower and don't hail cabs on the street as your voice will revert back to a high pitch squeak...hope this helps and one day if either of us cross the pond we could meet up but this being the internet you could live a street away but regardless if we do meet please refrain from wearing perfume and buy a bootle of cheap aftershave as I'm elergic to the stuff..after pleasentries an my cultural exchange of a black pudding we could discus our struggle with the menopause and man boobs...


----------



## Kevin

E-man...I surrendered my * ehem* years ago. They reside in a little locked box on her side- nightstand ( key around her neck or hidden). On occasion ( rare occasion; parties an sech) she allows me one ( just one) as long as (caveat) I don't get too out of hand. 
Such is the life of the ShaoLin monk and marital bliss without the ShaoLin part. Sometimes you get a little more than you wish for...


----------



## escorial

unics are the new hipsters


----------



## LeeC

Maybe?

https://youtu.be/byQrdnq7_H0


----------



## LeeC




----------



## LeeC

I haven't a clue if this is appropriate here, but I thought it funny.


----------



## LeeC

Taking a break from my illustrating, enjoying going back over some of Janis Joplin’s music, I came across a music video that brought back memories I thought I’d locked away in a dark place. My initiation to adulthood with all its contradictions.

I’m not posting it here to glorify the experience, but rather to hopefully shake the reality of those that don’t have the experience or objective reasoning to know better. Watch and listen carefully. [/FONT]With the deep divisions being propagated currently[FONT=&Verdana], we’re being led down the path yet again to repeating the cycles of the worst of humanity. I have the greatest respect for those that served, but this isn’t honor, it’s an apt example of the stain of ignorance on the human soul, that will extinguish us if we don’t learn to live in respectful coexistence with all life. 

https://youtu.be/KnnLrmboOYE


----------



## LeeC

Who can see the barely perceptible line between the person who can’t read and the person who doesn’t read? Reading extensively broadens one’s knowledge and perspective. Something that would help our children’s future if you care.

A sampling of what I’ve recently read, or am reading.

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/06/28/hitlers-rise-it-can-happen-here/

https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/1101980974/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1529085793&sr=1-1&keywords=Democracy+In+Chains+by+Nancy+MacLean&dpID=51i8aMhNSlL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

https://www.amazon.com/Sixth-Extinction-Unnatural-History/dp/1250062187/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1529085722&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Sixth+Extinction+by+Elizabeth+Kolbert&dpID=513qCLaP5sL&preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

https://www.amazon.com/Animal-farm-Fairy-George-Orwell/dp/0451526341/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1529085481&sr=1-2&keywords=The+Animal+Farm

https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Lion-Lone-Across-America/dp/1620405520/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1529085392&sr=1-1&keywords=Heart+of+a+Lion%3A+A+Lone+Cat%27s+Walk+Across+America+by+William+Stolzenburg&dpID=41hRgd05b9L&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

https://www.amazon.com/Water-Knife-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/080417153X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1529085316&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Water+Knife+by+Paolo+Bacigalupi&dpID=51zDV2EbV6L&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0399183388/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=bi0e7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0399183388&linkId=45864c6bd8e6ce98e66886e7ede04aaf

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250074312/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=bi0e7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1250074312&linkId=e249c2a57075cfaaa5ea465eeaeb0d04

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062802186/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=bi0e7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0062802186&linkId=79ec64158ed0418addc58638281c211c

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316556475/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=bi0e7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0316556475&linkId=f64fbdd4850d85763b745610068760dc

There’s a wealth of better understanding to be found in books.


----------



## LeeC

A couple more books that look interesting, that I haven't started yet:
A not very flattering history of the rise of Christianity
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544800885/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=bi0e7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0544800885&linkId=4cbbbbcbf47ad9b09a71fa451f88c20a
and a true account of our rapacity and the implications
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/110198161X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=bi0e7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=110198161X&linkId=9468a6d20fc3fc8f622fac1a8d95ead4


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## LeeC

*The Italian-American FB Page  (March 7)*


Mrs. Esposito comes to visit her son Anthony for dinner. 
He lives with a female roommate, Maria.
During the course of the meal, his mother couldn't help but notice how pretty Anthony's roommate is.
Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between Anthony and his roommate than meet the eye.
Reading his mom's thoughts, Anthony volunteered, "I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you, Maria and I are just roommates.''
About a week later, Maria came to Anthony saying, "Ever since your mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the silver sugar bowl. You don't suppose she took it, do you?"
"Well, I doubt it, but I'll email her, just to be sure." So he sat down and wrote an email:
Dear Mama,
I'm not saying that you "did" take the sugar bowl from my house; I'm not saying that you "did not" take it. But the fact remains that it has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.
Your Loving Son,
Anthony
A few days later, Anthony received a response email from his Mama which read:
Dear son,
I'm not saying that you "do" sleep with Maria, and I'm not saying that you "do not" sleep with her. But the fact remains that if she was sleeping in her OWN bed, she would have found the sugar bowl by now.
Your Loving Mama 
Moral:
Never Bulla Shita you Mama


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## LeeC

My wife's parents celebrate their 69th wedding anniversary tomorrow


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## TuesdayEve

Wow that’s quite an accomplishment, a lifetime I can
only imagine, God Bless


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## LeeC

Love this guy
https://youtu.be/yRxx8pen6JY

separating logic and truth from belief
https://youtu.be/2thihF9HLCI


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## Kevin

A person stopped at a yellow light right in front of me. I had a lot of weight in the back and was doing 45 . We all were doing 45. I skidded and steered to the side. I didn't say anything, didn't even cuss. I could explain about driving and do it or don't, the waves caused by an obstruction in flow, but never mind. I drove on when the light was green. It wasn't okay but it had to be okay. Is what it is thing...


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## Plasticweld

Kevin said:


> A person stopped at a yellow light right in front of me. I had a lot of weight in the back and was doing 45 . We all were doing 45. I skidded and steered to the side. I didn't say anything, didn't even cuss. I could explain about driving and do it or don't, the waves caused by an obstruction in flow, but never mind. I drove on when the light was green. It wasn't okay but it had to be okay. Is what it is thing...




Driving is a lot like life.   How you drive says much about who you are.  Some drive as if they are the only ones on the road. Some are courteous and not only wait their turn but often yield just to be nice.  Some drive way over the speed  limit, some drive, just a little over, very few the exact.  There is the person with a line of cars behind them, holding them up content to barely move forward, happy to be holding everyone up behind them.  Some drive trucks for getting stuff done, other cars for hauling people, others that seat only two people.  Some have room in their lives for others, others not. Some have things to do and places to go, other are just out for the ride. 

I race everywhere I go, I am always going some place in hurry, I look for a place to pass...I am not following you...you follow me.  I drive a modded diesel pickup with an extra 100 hp, if think that your going to set the pace, you will have a good idea of what the front of my grill looks like.   I will pass legally if I can, any place safe if not.  If you want to go faster than me I will pull over and let you by, thinking it's great that you want to push the limits. If your a loaded truck I will give you tons of room, to brake and turn and do whatever you need. If your a Harley rider going 5 under the limit holding up traffic asking the world to notice you...I will probably cut you off. 


I am that jerk...get out of my way :}


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## Darren White

Plasticweld said:


> I am that jerk...get out of my way :}


Try to figure out how to cut off my wheelchair... it's a racing one


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## TuesdayEve

Dear Plasticweld, 
I have also thought of driving as a metaphor of life.
Imagining peoples driving habits and choices onthe 
road as reflections of their their choices in life. 
Some are in a hurry or impatient and scurry weaving 
in and out of traffic.
Others stay in one lane consistantly at one speed 
playing it safe as the world drives past them. And
still others are oblivious to the world around them
yet maintain a herd mentality safety in the pack.
It’s interesting....I wonder if it’s true... 
As for my self...Im all of the above. Depends on my 
mood or if I’m working. If I’m poeming, I maintain
the herd. Get behind a semi and cruise the speed 
limit. At work all the rules apply. Going to work in 
the morning.... a little faster.


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## Kevin

At the end of it, the end of the day, eight or ten, or twelve hours after the coffee (...has long since peed out) I'm driving, and I feel sleepy. The punk rock, or the classic rock, or the Jazz, classical blasting are not enough to keep me from nodding. But I don't completely nod yet. I still have to get home where there's more stuff to do. Like eat, and sleep, get up, and go to work.


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## LeeC

Kevin said:


> At the end of it, the end of the day, eight or ten, or twelve hours after the coffee (...has long since peed out) I'm driving, and I feel sleepy. The punk rock, or the classic rock, or the Jazz, classical blasting are not enough to keep me from nodding. But I don't completely nod yet. I still have to get home where there's more stuff to do. Like eat, and sleep, get up, and go to work.


Not to diminish what you have to do, but I remember all that with a mix of sadness and irony. Getting by on six hours sleep, commuting ninety miles to Boston, several times a month then catching a flight to NYC, always watching your back in the corporate jungles I interacted with. Looking back it seems like such a waste of time. Something I realized just after I turned fifty, and retired from it all to pursue my woodworking, artwork, and natural gardening. A hand to mouth existence, but much more peaceful.

Hey, I practiced riding a bicycle today in preparation for getting my own again. I practiced with my wife's bicycle (she's 4'11") and my knees kept hitting me in the chin 

My best wishes to you.


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## LeeC

Bits and pieces:


“If time travel is possible, where are the tourists from the future?” ~ Stephen Hawking
I might question that maybe they’ve learned to learn from history, and have no desire to see our mistakes first hand ;-) 


A couple oldies:


"The Lady From Shanghai" Funhouse mirrors 1947 HD
https://youtu.be/F-BqDWG72iM


They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Official Trailer #1 - Bruce Dern Movie (1969) HD
https://youtu.be/ke-sWMXspNA


A couple of books that have jumped to the top of my reading list. 


An interesting book to read in these challenging times.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250163757/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=bi0e7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1250163757&linkId=45b57a09e7da754f1996a88c4f7eee1a


And this
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451497899/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=bi0e7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0451497899&linkId=3b2e1f1501da37e5d6fc268333ab8bd8


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## Kevin

LeeC said:


> Bits and pieces:
> 
> 
> “If time travel is possible, where are the tourists from the future?” ~ Stephen Hawking
> I might question that maybe they’ve learned to learn from history, and have no desire to see our mistakes first hand ;-)
> 
> 
> A couple oldies:
> 
> 
> "The Lady From Shanghai" Funhouse mirrors 1947 HD
> https://youtu.be/F-BqDWG72iM
> 
> 
> They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Official Trailer #1 - Bruce Dern Movie (1969) HD
> https://youtu.be/ke-sWMXspNA
> 
> 
> A couple of books that have jumped to the top of my reading list.
> 
> 
> An interesting book to read in these challenging times.
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250163757/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=bi0e7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1250163757&linkId=45b57a09e7da754f1996a88c4f7eee1a
> 
> 
> And this
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451497899/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=bi0e7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0451497899&linkId=3b2e1f1501da37e5d6fc268333ab8bd8


 hadn't heard of lady from Shanghai. My first reaction was wow, who's that actress? Beautiful... 
I remember they shoot horses.


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## LeeC

Kevin said:


> hadn't heard of lady from Shanghai. My first reaction was wow, who's that actress? Beautiful...
> I remember they shoot horses.


You've probably already looked it up, and maybe even recognized Orson Wells in his younger days, but how could you not know Rita Hayworth, dubbed "The Love Goddess." Her first film role was in the 1920s, but her last film role was in 1972 (a very forgettable western).

Glenn Ford and Hayworth in Gilda (1946)


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## Kevin

I watched a YouTube interview that came up right after of director Peter Bogdonavich discussing the movie, as well as  Orsin Wells ( whom he knew/was friends with), Wells' marriage to Hayworth, and proffesional status ( blacklisted by W. R. Hearst), Wells' unique take on things ( camera angle) and how Wells just shot things how he saw them, not even being aware that others found those angles odd. Unique voice I guess describes him, and something like David Lynch to my mind, but different, of course. I know of Bogdonavich because he directed the Last Picture Show, which I think is great movie (so many elements I find so good). He shot it in black and white! Anyway...


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## LeeC

I get up from my computer and start towards the kitchen. Odd how my path is so blurry. A moment’s hesitation . . . Damn, I’ve got the wrong glasses on again.


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## LeeC

Thoughts like these blow on the winds like dust,
lodging in the eyes of those that don’t wear horse blinkers.
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
Fatigue
In the wake
of hatred
A calm marred
by remorse
A past that's 
been rewritten
A future
far off course.
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
 Jeffrey F. Barken
*@*JeffreyFBarken


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## LeeC

Those that entice you to think and broaden your perspective are my kind of writers.

“The most common, and without fail the most frustrating, question asked of any writer is, ‘Where do you get your ideas?’ The image here explains much. 

[FONT=&Verdana]We write what we know. Or those of us who carry the true passion for our work, do at least. “ ~ R. Lee Tipton

[/FONT]


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## cacian

take a deep breath and remember life without you is  a wreck.
be the hero that saves it from becoming a zero. :encouragement:


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## LeeC




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## LeeC

*Runs in the family ...*

The latest painting my daughter has done this summer. It's of Sand Beach in Acadia National Park.


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## TuesdayEve

She’s immortalized a unique, exact, image in time. 
And the waters movement is seen and felt.


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## LeeC

Say what you will, this is what I consider exquisite performance art. It really rouses the soul.


https://youtu.be/R9KkbU4yStM


https://youtu.be/y9ZCIJEBNFY


https://youtu.be/IljlsoHW-e0


More at:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=riverdance


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## Theglasshouse

Added it to my spotify playlist the group of riverdancing.


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## LeeC

In the summer of 2017, there was a porcupine family (among other critters) residing in my natural garden. The mother wandered out to the road and was run over by some excuse for a human (clear daylight on a long straight stretch with a 30mph speed limit). I worried about the young ones getting on, but didn’t interfere.


Happily, this 2018 summer there was another porcupine family in residence. Likely the mother is one of the youngsters from the previous family. Following is a picture I took today of one of the new youngsters. There are other critters of course, but I don’t get close to skunks or the occasional black bear, and others understandably shy away from me. As it should be.


Am I sentimental — maybe a little. The real point, is that as a naturalist I understand that our own existence is dependent on Nature’s biodiversity.

[click to enlarge]


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## LeeC

First snow of the season. If it snows as much this winter as it has rained the latter half of the summer and fall, we’ll be buried before February.
The tracks in the snow this morning are from an adult porcupine, headed back to its burrow underneath the woodshed.


Thankfully we’re not having the problems California is.


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## LeeC

I don't know the correct place to post this, so I'm posting it here.

RIP
Mary Oliver, the poet who saw the wilderness in humanity, has passed on which saddens me.
Few poets have had the ability to so beautifully articulate their love of nature as well as Mary Oliver.

https://grist.org/article/mary-oliver-the-poet-who-saw-the-wilderness-in-humanity/


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