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 |   A Journal to impart knowledge and facts |
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July 22, 2015 I'm going to start today to record on a daily basis whatever happens to strike my fancy. So, it is a very cool breezy day. I just posted 5 short book reviews to The Monthly Reading Challenge. I'm suppose to put away some winter wood today from the woodpile outside but I'm playing hookey from work to write so starting this blog will get done. I'm having a daily fight with a flock of English Sparrows that are trying to take over my barn. They are making a terrible mess so they have to go. I have destroyed several nests so far they don't leave but they get out of the barn when I am around. I'm just starting the fight so I guess I don't know how far I have to go to discourage them. I'm trying not to spread myself to thin on WDC because I find so many things that are interesting here and I am trying to work on a new story. I really enjoy sitting at my desk with a cup of tea and reading blogs on WDC. |
Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar / Share the Love Event February 2023 part 2 ![Merit Badge in The Blogging Banana Bar
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Congratulations & Thank You
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For competing the full four weeks of the Non-Judgmental Blogging Event in January 2023.
Please show your badge when entering the Banana Bar and join others in the Banana Bloggers' Lounge .
Your blogging is always welcome at [Link To Item #1985857] .](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-The_Blogging_Banana_Bar-2246010_9.gif) P:18: UFO'S What's the truth in your opinion. Dear Public or To Whom It May Concern: Whenever I read about a new UFO sighting, I wait for the explanation. There is always an explanation. Sometimes it's fake camera shots. Sometimes, rays from the sun are making odd atmospheric shows. Once in Pennsylvania it was some type of air ship being tested by someone. Crop circles in the UK had a reasonable explaination. I guess I don't remember what it was at the time. I saw a picture a few weeks ago supposed to be an alien ship, which looked to me like a kite someone was flying. Another odd thing is: All these sightings are often a different shape from one or another within separate sighting. If they are alien ships, they sure have a lot of different styles of ships. Or are we the zoo that they are visiting with their families? NO. I won't believe in aliens until a ship lands and the inhabitants make face to face confrontation. Right now, there are too many variables. This is a group of people preying on superstition to keep the public on edge. I can't see how much of the news about aliens and even war is true. A lot of it seems to be hyped to keep the public, even worldwide public on edge. The war between Russia and the Ukraine is real. If people from off this planet are watching, will they step in to stop Nuclear War? The alien question is not new. We have space observatories. Are the people watching outer space tracking ships that fly in and out of our atmosphere? Or are they intimating that the ships are not coming from outer space but coming through some wormhole within our atmosphere? The alien hype does not ever, no not ever give any rational answers. Just give out more questions without answers. Nor have they proved Loch Ness monsters or Big Foot creations. RESULTS FROM BING: Yet science does identify: A number of New Species Discovered Each Year. Each year scientists record another 18,000 new species of plants and animals. In recent years they added about 70 new reptiles and 400 new fishes annually to the world's databases of species. www.currentresults.com/Environment-Facts/Plants-Animals/number-of-undiscovered-species-living-on-earth.php With all our technology we can identify new species each year. We can track species going extinct each year. We can clone animals. We can't make contact or prove aliens consistently running in and out of our atmosphere. Get real. Show me the proof. Skeptically Yours, Apondia All Word Count on WDC:437 |
| Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar / Share the Love Event P34: Have you read any bloggers other than writings besides the blog? Were you surprised or disappointed? I have read other parts of Blogger's portfolios. I'm not necessarily surprised about anything people write. Bloggers tend to write about things that are tweaking their curiosity or happening in their minds or lives at any given time. I was never disappointed. Just interested about how many subjects can be written about on a writing site like WDC. Some bloggers are writing nonfiction or fiction besides their blog. After all, just because you are a blogger does not mean you are not a serious writer in some realm. I wonder if a writer who also blogs has more than one muse? One blogger I have read is also a traveler. Some of their other writings are about travel. For a while in my life, I was blogging and also reading. I wrote a lot of reviews of the books I read for a reading challenge on WDC. I continue to be an avid reader. I don't review a lot of the books I am currently reading. I just got tired of posting reviews on Goodreads and meeting all the reading challenges. Before the technology took hold, reading on kindles, etc. I had a difficult time using the local library because libraries made the townships pay for people to use the town libraries. Now, it is easier to get library cards. Plus, reading books downloaded online from libraries has become a normal part of life. I treasure the ability to download and read books. I also sometimes get a yen to write a short story or a poem. WRITE ON! All Word Count on WDC:266 |
Prompt: What items offline or online do you read every day?   I read every day. I download books and audio books from the local library. Sometimes I get books from Amazon. Especially books about some subject I may be researching. Or look up recipes for cooking. If you read 3 chapters from the Bible a day you can complete the Bible in one year. I read 3 chapters a day from the Old Testament and 3 chapters a day from the New Testament. If I miss a day, I play catch up with 6 chapters from either book. I do this every year now. Did you know most of the things taught by Jesus originated in Old Testament writings? I think reading Church History and historical spiritual writings is important. I also read nonfiction or fiction from my kindle most days. Although we do play the TV. It is not always on. Sometimes it is not on at all since we read more than we watch the TV. I can listen audio books while I do other household chores. My most recent story was The Golden House by Salman Rushdie. I wanted to see why he always has to have a bodyguard. Now I understand. I have another of his books on hold in my local library. I often follow a really intense book by a mystery or lighter interest fiction. It keeps my brain from frying. I have a daily bible study book I read from a couple times a week. It is called the Daily Study Bible Series, revised edition, volume 2 of the Gospel of John. By William Barclay. I finished volume I in December sometime. I used to play Township on Kindle. I don't give enough money to kindle games so, they will often stop downloading if I don't pay them enough. (Their loss)  . Only a zillionaire could contribute enough to keep them satisfied.Several times a week I also read my email and try to get onto WDC to read and write. I used to do this daily when I had my own computer but, someone hacked mine so I'm using K's. It curtails the time I can use online. yeah. I'm the kind of person that reads the labels on things in the grocery store. Have a great day. |
 Day 5635: February 22, 2023 Prompt: “You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert What do you think? Can you describe something beautiful in your life? I have lots of beauty in my life. Right now, there is a new snowstorm moving across the area. The snow is coming down in a peaceful way. Large fluffy flakes covering the ground at a slow rate. I have a group of pets that keep me company every day. They have sweet souls that take their naps near me, as I do online things or listen when I play music. It's a beautiful thing to know creatures other than people want a human's companionship. Just before Christmas I restrung my guitar with new strings. The old ones were about 20 years old. I have not played in several years so, I wanted to find out if I still could. It took me almost a month to season and tune the new strings. Now I am practicing old tunes and it is really a pleasure to remind myself of playing faults and learn new tunes. We really never forget things we learn. Sometimes we have to take out old brain cells, shake them off like a dusty, old quilt and use them again. Memories can be beautiful, sights out a window can be beautiful, reading new books can be beautiful, I guess it's true. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. ![Merit Badge in Every Moment Matters
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Happy 21 Birthday Site Week. Thanks for all you do. Love: Megan](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/Kudos-Every_Moment_Matters.gif) |
"Invalid Item"  Request to Share the color pink for Valentines Day with BCoF and WDC Happy Valentines Day. Share the Love with Pink Mary decided to help herself to something special for Valentine's Day. She jumped onto the internet to research some dishes for a party and invite the friends she knew would not have dates for the day. wow! Look at these recipes: Chocolate filled ice cream cones, Chocolate layer cake with cream filling between the layers, and Allrecipes.com has a how to for cream filling. Look at this, old fashioned creme drops. Yum, chocolate creme pie. Oh, vanilla butter cremes. Then Mary found the chocolate wonder in her research. She found the website listings for buying chocolate in bulk. By February 14, the dining area was decorated with red hearts, party favors of red cinnamon heart candies, streamers across the ceiling of white and red. Most of all 20 platters of chocolate creme foods were layed out on the table. Each platter held a different kind of chocolate creme candy or food. When the guests arrived the types of food available all-in chocolate and creme, even Ice cream was the main conversation. Mary had a hit for this year's Valentine's Day. Every guest left with their own box of homemade chocolate cremes in flavor varieties. THE END OF A VERY SHORT SWEET STORY. |
| “February is a suitable month for dying. Everything around is dead, the trees black and frozen so that the appearance of green shoots two months hence seems preposterous, the ground hard and cold, the snow dirty, the winter hateful, hanging on too long.” ― Anna Quindlen For BCoF:  Just not true for where I live. The days are getting longer. The sun is going to be able to reach us each day after the winter equinox with more rays. Not only that but, I was born in Florida, and I spent 9 years in Texas. When I came back to Pa., we were having long winters starting in November and snow then would last until end of March. I could not get use to the cold. Then, one day in January I found clumps of grass growing behind a piece of plywood that was leaned up against a building outside. I began to look around. I got a reality check. There was living greenery everywhere it could find to steal a ray of sun. Pollywogs under the ice on the pond, grass in the oddest spots sheltered from the ice and snow. Even flowers will rise out of the ground after a snowstorm melts and begin to grow even if they freeze and have to start again when snow melts again. Buds on the trees get larger a little at a time just don't burst into leaves until a certain time of spring is reached. There are always things growing around us we have to open our eyes and search them out. |
| “Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry.” ― Cassandra Clare For Blog City. If weak-minded means lacking emotional strength, determination, or intellectual ability I think there are other reasons some people resist reading, or a desire to learn. literature and poetry influence both. Plus, sometimes reading is influenced by what you like to read about. Poetry is an amazing visual of emotion. Again, what do you see when you read it? I think of lacking emotional strength as people who have been broken by abuse. Determination has to be taught by backing up people, who learn to handle the problems forced into being by society. Intellectual ability is only nurtured by the niche we live in. The use of the words weak-minded does not reveal the behind-the-scenes actuality of human mental formation. |
| Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar / Share the Love Event Personal Prompt 2: Highlights of Salman Rushdie I first heard about Salman Rushdie in the news, when there was a contract put out on his life for writing "The Satanic Verses". Just recently news about Rushdie is, he is still healing from the latest attack on his life. Even though "The Satanic Verses" is a fiction story it was considered an embarrassment by some Muslims who put out a contract on his life in 1989. On August 12,2023 Rushdie was attacked when about to start a speech in Chautauqua, New York. The attacker Hadi Matar was arrested and charged with assault and attempted murder. Rushdi was seriously injured. He is recovering from the attack. Rushdie's writing is historical fiction and magical realism. He has written 26 books, 5 of them are nonfiction. His writings also contain short stories and musical lyrics. Rushdie was born into a Muslim family in India. He is a citizen of the United Kingdom and holds a degree from King's College, Cambridge. Awards to Rushdie's books are many. "Midnight's Children" won, Best of the Bookers/ "Shame" 1983 awarded from France, Best Foreign Book/ St. Louis Literary Award, as well as 10 Best Books of the year, and a Commonwealth award of Distinguished Service. Personal comments: I read the story about Salmon Rushdie's recovery from a news site online. It made me realize I have read other stories about him being in danger from terrorists. I've never read any of his books, so I looked him up online. I was interested to find out how diverse and well known his work really is, but I've never read any of his writings. Off to the library I went on my kindle. sure enough, there are copies of some of Rushdie's books in the library I use. "The Satanic Verses" is there. Even though it shows two copies, you still have to put it on hold to get it, and it is a 3 month wait before my turn would come up. I was able to start reading "The Golden House" which gained an Andrew Carnagie Medal Nominee in 2018. The book was published in 2017. Different reviews of this book say it deals with American lifestyle and culture. I'm through the second chapter. The character descriptions paint pictures. Which means, this is my book for the weekend. Read On! All word count on WDC:396 References: Bing information look up. www.wikipedia.org. www.salmanrushdie.com |
| Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar / Share the Love Event MY CHOICE 1: An example of Artificial Intelligence on the move. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a technology moving toward machines, that process large amounts of data,and are able to do tasks that people normally do. Programmed to think like humans and immtate the actions of humans these machines will be able to step into places humans now fill in the job market. It is considered a fact that these machines will create new jobs. Some of the relevant categories of software for machines, are Narrow AI, Artificial Super AI (ASI), and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). In the world of computer searches Google has reigned at the top for many years. Bing, used with Microsoft Edge is going to make a try to gain some respect in the field of information searches. Microsoft is trying out a new OPEN AI's ChatGPT tool. The new Bing presents written summaries of the search results along with references. The search can be extended with a chat to ask questions. You can ask the chatbot to shop for a new appliance or write an email for you. It may be able to plan meals and menus. Other types of information to make life easier will be available as you learn to ask the right question and rely on the AGI Tool. If this is a competition, Google is still in the game. Their Chatbot is named Bard. Like ChatGPT, BARD is going to chat about the searches being made. Both Chatbots will use your specific language to respond to questions. Presently, a new Bing will be released from Microsoft. It will contain the new OPEN AI CHATGPT TOOL. You will pay to get it. When Google releases Bard it will be free and integrated into the Google system. Bard uses LaMDA technology. Presently, Bard is only being used by testers trusted by Google. All Word Count by WDC:340 . References: Definition of Artificial Intelligence from Bing www.cnn.com: article about Microsoft's new OPEN AI CHATGPT TOOL www. tomsguide.com: article about Googles Bard |
| Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar / Share the Love Event P14: Should education always require learning a second language? My opinion, the word require is the point. I'm not a trained teacher so I don't know how students are scored to pass or fail any given class or year in school. Languages are easy for some people and not so easy for others. To require someone to learn a second or third language may be pushing on their freedom and rights. Some parent is bound to object. To offer language at an early age is a good idea. It might kick their minds into a second gear. so they would see the value of education. As society becomes more diversified, a second more common language like Spanish would be an asset as the child grows, I don't think schools today are afraid to offer higher education at an earlier age. I've seen how society easily grabbed on to tech toys. I'm thinking job markets are going to involve more advanced technology as years go on. Computers, software, automobiles, farm equipment, transportation, surveillance, heating, pets; I can see parts of all these subjects becoming a part of higher technological job markets. The job market is already. changing. I can hope for a day when education will be affordable or free. If I had the money, I would go back to school. Someday, taking a class will be as easy as having communication tech. This is already true in part. Covid was a bad scene, one of the changes it produced was the drive to communicate through technology. Diversified societies will live more peacefully together, individual languages could become part of a diversified society. If your new neighbors speak Swahili, will you learn to communicate. Or maybe just keep a handy tech translator around. All Word Count on WDC:302 |
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