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 |  Sometimes it is Dark before the Dawn |
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** No one should Laugh at Life! That's Life's Job - Laughing at us. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** According to Chinese Horoscopes it is the YEAR OF THE TIGER! G-R-R-R Here's a writer that will make you laugh! I swear she is Erma Brombeck reincarnated! Take a look!
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** So, last entry I covered the Urban Legands around the upcoming holiday. I never made it to the why we keep it around, aside from a day off work (*sigh*), a long weekend, many football games and too much food and drink. I think the Thankfullernesses should be gone over as well. What do you think people in today's modern society are thankfuller for? Let's go investigate shall we? Hm. Strange. 1) Zippers (foils pickpockets) 2) Contact lenses 3) Waxed dental floss 4) Girls' bikinis 5) Gravity 6) Pauly Shore has stopped making movies 7) The long distance between me and my closest relative 8) Anne Rice and her novels 9) Non-acid rain 10) The platypus As to number 4, well I have seen some females who should NOT have ever tried to go that route. We all know the horrors of Speedos don't we? Number eight - well personally I think Anne could be flipping burgers to contribute to society better. Number ten was contributed because it made that person laugh. I like laughter, laughing and all that surrounds it. Aside from breathing, I believe laughter would be high on my list of thankfullernesses. What's high on your list?  |
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I asked an eleven year old what caused us to celebrate Thanksgiving every year. She had no idea. I asked this of a twenty-two year old and then a seventy-five year old. The youngest gave a garbled story of pilgrims eating, the seventy-five year old told me it was to celebrate harvest and survival. So I searched for why this up-coming celebration is still revered after all these centuries. Myth: “The First Thanksgiving” occurred in 1621. Fact: No one knows when the “first” thanksgiving occurred.     Myth: The people who came across the ocean on the Mayflower were called Pilgrims. Fact: The Plymouth settlers did not refer to themselves as “Pilgrims.” Most of those who arrived here from England were religious dissidents who had broken away from the Church of England. Myth: The Pilgrims invited the Indians to celebrate the First Thanksgiving. Fact: According to oral accounts from the Wampanoag people, when the Native people nearby first heard the gunshots of the hunting colonists, they thought that the colonists were preparing for war and that Massasoit needed to be informed. When Massasoit showed up with 90 men and no women or children, it can be assumed that he was being cautious. When he saw there was a party going on, his men then went out and brought back five deer and lots of turkeys. Myth: The Pilgrims and Indians feasted on turkey, potatoes, berries, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and popcorn. Fact: Both written and oral evidence show that what was actually consumed at the harvest festival in 1621 included venison (since Massasoit and his people brought five deer), wild fowl, and quite possibly nasaump—dried corn pounded and boiled into a thick porridge, and pompion—cooked, mashed pumpkin. Among the other food that would have been available, fresh fruits such as plums, grapes, berries and melons would have been out of season. It would have been too cold to dig for clams or fish for eels or small fish. There were no boats to fish for lobsters in rough water that was about 60 fathoms deep. There was not enough of the barley crop to make a batch of beer, nor was there a wheat crop. Potatoes and sweet potatoes didn’t get from the south up to New England until the 18th century, nor did sweet corn. Cranberries would have been too tart to eat without sugar to sweeten them, and that’s probably why they wouldn’t have had pumpkin pie, either. Since the corn of the time could not be successfully popped, there was no popcorn. Myth: Black Friday was started after that first Thanksgiving with trading between the settlers and the Indians. Fact: Although there have been special sales the day after Thanksgiving for a long time, it's believe that using the term "Black Friday" started way back in the 1970's, but didn't become as big of a sensation until 2002. So you can now inform your guests, or if you are a guest yourself this Thanksgiving, you may provide lively discussion about the whys and wherefores of this celebation. That is if you can get their attention off the television viewing of those football games!  |
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I just finished reading Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance". I actually had to start a list of vocabulary to look up definitions and pronunciations. For instance: mendicant sycophantic parallax apologue antinomianism amelioration Nope not gonna fill you in on their meanings. You can go do it! HA!. While I get the major points of his essay, there were parts that left me wondering just what he was trying to say to his reading audience. "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart, is true for all men, - that is genius." Now, while I do understand different people believe different things, have differing concepts of reality, does it necessarily mean genius? If someone has a mental disease, say schizophrenia, are their musings also genius? He doesn't qualify his remarks to any significant degree so it is difficult to know what he means. "Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company in which the members agree for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater." Again, huh? Taken out of context it looks even more unfathomable. I had to read the section four times just to come to any sense of what he was talking about. He wants to warn against imitating anyone, anything, any idea - yet can we actually do that? Is originality that easy to maintain? Do all of us have original, brand new ideas and thoughts? Somehow I disagree with that. We are bound by our physical DNA to achieve a sameness expressed in varied ways perhaps but how can all be original? Now that I've managed to stump myself, I am going to find an on-line source that evaluates this piece of literature. For those interested in ancient, old, documents and books, the link to Google's library is: http://books.google.com/books Check out some of the philosophers and writers of eras gone by. By the way, spell check saw every one of those words I had to look up as being misspelled but had no alternatives for them. *sigh* Forgotten language - English. |
| ...don't they? Of course you all do! So I have investigated the best advisory out there and look who I found! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** BENJAMAN ALFREDO BUSH Now, while there be septics out in the world who will not believe me without some sort of bribe - I mean background information [ya that's it] I will personally ask Mr Bush a question. Oh, Mr. Bush or may I call you Ben? "Hi everyone of leafy persuasion and those who have lost them. My name is Benjaman but most people call me Benjaman." Okay then Benjaman, ready to answer some questions? The important question is how many answers have I forgot!" How many? As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two... What advice, we'll move on now, would you give our reading audience? Did you know humans are the only creature who is capable of having sex while on a phone, typing at a keyboard at the same time? Well Benjaman we'll leave our readers with that little piece of wisdom and the link where they can go and ask you anything at all okay? Never kick a fresh dog turd on a hot day, especially around me! The link is:
     I think I shall never see anything as grand as a talking bush |
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** From the President's speech at Fort Hood's Memorial to those killed: We come together filled with sorrow for the thirteen Americans that we have lost; with gratitude for the lives that they led; and with a determination to honor them through the work we carry on. This is a time of war. And yet these Americans did not die on a foreign field of battle. They were killed here, on American soil, in the heart of this great American community. It is this fact that makes the tragedy even more painful and even more incomprehensible. For those families who have lost a loved one, no words can fill the void that has been left. We knew these men and women as soldiers and caregivers. You knew them as mothers and fathers; sons and daughters; sisters and brothers. But here is what you must also know: your loved ones endure through the life of our nation. Their memory will be honored in the places they lived and by the people they touched. Their life's work is our security, and the freedom that we too often take for granted. Every evening that the sun sets on a tranquil town; every dawn that a flag is unfurled; every moment that an American enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – that is their legacy. ******************************************************************************************************************************************** "The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disentrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country." Abraham Lincoln --December 1, 1862 ******************************************************************************************************************************************** “The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure.” Albert Einstein ********************************************************************************************************************************************* We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us. - George Orwell ********************************************************************************************************************************************* Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons. - General MacArthur ********************************************************************************************************************************************* No matter your stance on war, politics, the Armed Forces - today was a day to pay tribute to men and women who gave to their country and the payment was high. |
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** What is the definition of a Hero? All writers should know it, as they create them when they write. In case you have forgotten, however, here is the dictionary definition: A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life  Kimberly MunleyThat mother of two girls living in a small suburban area of Texas, holding down a nine to five job while her husband is away fits that definition doesn't she? And the most noted quote everyone by now should recognize is: "I live a good life...a hard one, but I go to sleep peacefully at night knowing that I may have made a difference in someones life." What does it take for an every day sort of person to become a hero? Is it recommended by one out of five dentists? Will it tighten those gluts or make your teeth whiter? What score do you get for reaching HERO status? In today's world of instant gratification, we are grateful instantly that Kimberly Munley didn't care what it took to be one, she is our HERO even if she won't accept that. Be a hero to someone in some small way today. |
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** And it came to pass that the people gathered. Where tears were shed, there were also shared hugs. Anger and confusion reigned, and no one had any answers. Then a flame lit the night of sorrow. The flame was passed, from one to another and finally there was light in the dark. Fathers, mothers, children, weeping for an act that went unexplained. Those in charge falter in providing more information. Fobbing off the questions from around the world these same leaders look to the people to take charge of the situation and hold together. Leaders looking to the masses for assistance. Now, once again, a religion becomes the focus of the anger. Once again a people are targeted. The candlelight flickers and perhaps one by one they too will falter and die off. Something good must come out of this act of brutality and insanity. Keep the candles lit. Keep faith with what is good and right. |
| Today, after the horror and confusion of yesterday, the military base in Killeen Texas mourns. The communities surrounding the Fort, Temple included, pulled together to assist those who were in need. Mother's ,whose children were in a locked down situation, are reunited with their children. Imagine a mother's terror. Husband in Iraq and they are at work. The child in day care at Fort Hood. It was insane. Initial bad reporting stated that there were three shooters. There was only one. Reports stated the shooter was in psychiatric care - the shooter had his degree in psychiatry. Jumping the gun (sorry, bad expression huh) news across the country mis-stated what had happened. Thirteen people dead. Is that not bad enough? My neighbors rushed to Scott and White Hospital to give blood, overhead helicopters kept flying in to the hospital, the largest in the area. S&W is huge but this emergency taxed it's doctors and nurses. What were people saying? "In our own community, one of our own killed our soldiers!" "What is wrong with the military that they didn't know about this guy?" "Thank God my son/daughter wasn't on base today!" The rest of the country - the U.S of A. - reads a Twitter about it in 140 characters, shrugs and goes on. We have gotten too indifferent to violence. I pray for the families who face Thanksgiving with little to be thankful for. |
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** The setting is the Heavens and the scene is set at a small cafe that serves only the best cappuccino, and at reasonable prices. A lone figure seated at an outdoor table sips her drink and watches the passersby. A tall authoritarian figure is seen marching up to the woman. "Mother?" "Yup. But please call me Mama T. All my boys do up here!" The tall male figure shakes his head hard, side to side, just hoping he had not heard her call him one of her 'boys'. "Um, Mother listen, there has been a development I'm afraid..." His voice trails off wondering how on Earth he is going to explain this situation to the holy woman. "Bub, just spit it out plain and you will feel so much better." The woman giggles and sips. Now she called him 'Bub'? If this got out, Gab would never let him live it down. It would be "Bub, there's someone knock, knock, knocking on Heaven's Door!" or "Hey Bub! I think this call is for you!" He really needed that with the stress of his job. "Sit. Sit down. You want me to get a crick in my neck staring up at you? Sit, boy, sit!" She sounded like she was training a Springer Spaniel. Maybe if he asked Noah to talk to her. He had a way with unruly women. Must have been living on that ship so long with them. Taking a seat, tentatively, the Big Guy didn't appreciate slouchers on this job, he began again, modulating his voice to a deeper more serious tone. "Mother, there has been a development down there, about you, rather, about your remains." He hoped he had put it delicately enough. "Oh, you mean my dust? My ash? My ash and dust? Sounds like a tune my boys would play doesn't it? Ash and Dust. Kinda like the sound of that. I'll see if they like it when we get down later on. Oh, simmer down, I know all about it. Calcutta versus Albania. Both of em want squatters rights to my dust. Hmpf. Silly fight seems to me. I am dead you know?" Since that seemed a rhetorical question, her companion let it slide. "Yes, well the Big Guy isn't thrilled about out-house squabbles, so to speak. He would rather this all blew over. Wouldn't make good press if you understand me? Some others might use this as a wedge to get more, um, voters. I just wondered if you had any ideas on how we could eliminate this embarrassing situation?" "Hm. You just gave me an idea. How's ole Ben doing on that wind machine he was working on?" The woman chuckled at an image of her last remains being blown away by unseen forces. The man sighed, stood and knew that the report back to his Boss was not going to be an easy one to give. Maybe there was an opening for a barista here at Celestial Coffee Brew.   I couldn't believe the story I had read. Two countries are currently claiming ownership of Mother T's remains. The country she was born in, Albania and the country that benefited for so long from her good works, India, Calcutta precisely. Tsk Tsk Tsk. |
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Well I think (emphasis on that verb) I have the Java invaders conquered. However, not to tempt the JavaGods, I will not use special fonts, emoticons etc. in my blog. I wrote the Powers That Be on this site and was given - *gasp* - advice on what a virus is, on how to fix it? No. Not so much. I was given the link to go READ about what a virus is. I wrote back about knowing that, having protected my baby and I also am aware of what Java and HTML is. Whatever. I am still investigating that weirdness with Google's techies. At least THEY are willing to read what I write and correspond in a non-timely manner! HA! Moving on. Being out of work for longer than 30 days affects certain parts of the human anatomy, economy and pyschology let me inform you! My rabid search for work has lasted longer than the Swine Flu, Republican's search for sterling reputations and the Lassie television show put together. That Republican thing is ongoing so that tells ya a lot. Anyway, the search gets old and boring. Hence I lose focus on job hunting and wander here and there looking for amusing stuff - just to share with you all! That's it. Whew. I DO have a reason for this. Okay, so I'm a sucker for lists. When someone puts a header up on a web page and it states: "10 Most Brilliant Products of 2009" - I am gonna be drawn in. I mean, my gosh, whatever can these awesome products be? We are such an innovative species and our technology is so unreal isn't it? You ready for number one? Mmhm... #1 = A WIND TURBINE. That's right number one is a machine used to suck James Bond, Superman and Wolverine into huge blades slicing and dicing them. But this is no ORDINARY wind turbine. Oh no. It's for the FRICKIN' HOME OWNER. Now you can get this contraption, plug it in and do away with your yappy neighbor's dog. One flick of the switch - instant mulch from all those leaves on your lawn. I can't even begin to list uses for this macho fan-type chewing machine. There probably is some inept warning on it: "Do not let anyone under four feet high stand anywhere near the input or output." Right. Okay. Number two - a friggin cell phone of course! SHEESH, like they don't make enough of them to keep the population on the roads down right now? Okay enough said on that product. Sometimes humans amaze even me. Just when you think they set the "Stupid" bar low enough for an ant to run under, they just drop it again, killing that ant. Why would an ant....nevermind. Now after being educated so wonderfully about new products on the market (after number 2 I quit that list) I found another list that offered me humor. "The Funniest People on Twitter: A Top 10". I don't Twit myself as being able to communciate in 140-character limit, just is not me. However, I do appreciate short and sweet (don't go there guys!) so went to take a look. OMG. Number one is some of the FUNNIEST shorts I have seen since....since.....well none of them blog anymore so I won't take anyones name in vain. You gotta go get some of this humor people! http://tech.msn.com/products/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=22123667 The language is noted as being over the top. But give this Twit a try! You will laugh. I guarantee it. Some of the stuff, I wish I had thought up. It makes getting old and crochety attractive if one can be so witty at that man's age! Go read. At this point I would insert my emoticon hearts with witty saying but like I said - I ain't tempting those Java gods. |
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