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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 / Week 4  Category 2 Prompt: What do you think of using blog prompts to get entries for creating a psychological profile of the blogger? This is a definition I found on Microsoft Edge with Bing: "A psychological profile is a tool that can help crime investigators by telling them the kind of perpetrator they are seeking. The development of psychological profiling began in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Behavioral Science Unit during the 1960s in an attempt to understand violent criminal behavior." Exactly what kind of violent criminal behavior have the bloggers committed? Research turned up this new word, psychographic. It is the study of personality, values, interests and lifestyles, focusing on interests, activities and opinions. In one descriptive word it equals people mapping. Are we writing a new mystery story? I don't watch Criminal Minds, too scary. I just found a new TV show I did not know about called Mindhunter. I bet that's an interesting show. We don't have cable, only antenna free TV. If this is a serious question, I guess it would be a good idea if it was about an investigative agency that was trying to find out about the habits and personality of a suspect. I also think they would have to have a very good reason for their suspicions about the blogger. Maybe they would have to have systematic evidence that the blogger was involved in criminal activities. Is this similar to the way countries like the USA, UK, France, Canada, Russia, etc. keep track of the ordinary habits of ordinary citizens for no apparent reason? As for using blog prompts to gain information how would that work? I've read some pretty wild blogs. If you are like me, you don't believe everything you read. I don't even believe everything, I think. Isn't it the Bible that says actions are stronger than words. I don't always believe the weather forecast until I get confirmation. So, prompts to gain information may or may not alert the perpetrator or cause a riot by not getting truthful answers. Even truth can take a beating for not being accurate. Guess the profiler better be really smart. I never met up with this particular subject before. It isn't just about psychological profiling. It consists of a lot of other words and their definitions. Other words like Behavior Analyst, Applied Behavior Analysis, Persuasion profiling, and geographic profiling. These are all part of profiling for different types of reasons. Dipping into other people's minds is something the USA will be making laws against sooner or later. Maybe they already have? As a journalist I should not attempt in one article to explain or get into Indepth reporting about such a large subject. And, as far as ABA I don't believe in Human or Animal experimentation, so the profiler better have a very good reason for attempting to get into someone else's mind without their permission. all word count on WDC: 493 |
Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar / Week 4 Category 1 prompt: What is more important to teach children and teenagers and why: life skills such as healthy lifestyle and finance, or history/civics/politics and sciences/maths? Who should determine what they get taught (teachers, school system, government, parents. etc.)? All of these subjects matter. Parents should take steps to begin teaching children life skills at an early age. If parents don't do this or can't do this, than whatever child care is envolved should be doing it. Healthy lifestyles, life skills, and finance are a basic in life. I read that the first 30 years of any new century are critical involving new technological and lifestyle changes. Reading has made a lot of difference in my life. When I was not taught life skills, I learned them reading books. Even though my mom died I could already read at the age of 5. I knew things from observing people. What are children learning when they observe people and situations in lifestyles? History is one of the most important things to learn. It encompasses the way people over the years have acted in different situations. Historical happenings repeat over and over. Even church history should be taught in Sunday school and sermons. Math should be taught as part of finance. A college Algebra teacher told me in a class, that Math should be one of the easiest things to learn because numbers never change. I was interested to find that math needs a math dictionary to go along with all the rules as you study. It isn't really that difficult a subject so, why is it considered difficult? Politics and Science both need to be taught. If people really want to have free choices in their government political knowledge is part of history. What will people do to control masses of people? Do you want life choices or to be controlled by someone who values put a crown on his head? Why do so many people think that the earth is not going through some basic weather changes? Because a certain age of people did not get to study environment in science in High School. I'm told that isn't true now. Children in some High Schools are getting a good dose of environmental studies. I'm for introducing geobiology, geography and biology to all students. Who should determine curriculum? How would I know? The ones who are concerned that it would be done properly, I guess. I'm giving my opinions from the view of someone who fought to get an education. People without a higher education cannot fight back or they fight an undervalued response to inadequate political overrule. We need leaders who value the people not the political system. And I mean value every single person no matter the standing within the community. We need to understand the situations presented to people within their lifestyles. Read, read, read, the answers to many questions have already been written by authors, who want to inform. All words counted on WDC:501 |
 For Blogging Circle of friendsWhat does the word adventure mean to you? I read all kinds of books. The best ones are adventures that I can stay in for a while. I read two different true stories last month and this month. One was "The immortal life of Henrietta Laikes " by Rebecca Skloot. The other was "What the ears can hear and can't" by Richard Mainwaring. I also watched an Amazon movie, "Wildcat." As far as today. It was an adventure to get bundled into winter wear and walk 30 feet in the snowstorm to fill the bird feeder. I had other kinds of adventures early in life when I was a lot younger. I rode and owned thoroughbreds. I trained horses, and taught people horsemanship. That was an adventure. Two separate adventures are I traveled to the Panama Canal Zone and gave birth to 4 children. All adventures. Now, it is sometimes an adventure to make it to WDC on a daily basis or get through a winter season. ![Merit Badge in Every Moment Matters
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| For BCoF WHILE WAITING FOR SPRING by Apondia The deer walk daintily into the yard. Their legs slip gracefully along in a one, two, three, four, movement. They pause to graze on tall grasses sticking out of the snow or look around for danger. As they test the air for scent and move their heads one way or another their fuzzy rounded ears are moving to and fro listening. We have experienced some days of quiet grey skies. Six inches of cold wet snow become sloppy with temperatures that keep the snow slightly thawing. The deer have not come to the bird feeder for several days. Today there are seven ringing the bird feeder. Two of them are small yearlings that show up often. When I look out the window they startle and run as a group toward the safety of the gully and the willows. One yearling stays put. He is too short to reach his muzzle into the bird feeder. He grazes up some left-over corn from the ground and wanders slowly away. The sun comes out in the afternoon. With bright sunshine, comes hope that winter weather advisories for our area are wrong. The small herd of deer visiting the bird feeder this early in the day prove the advisory should be heeded. The deer are filling up so they can find deep shelter to weather out the coming storm. I'm sure they will return in the night when they feel safer. Next morning the feeder is empty cleaned to the bottom. I replenish it for the birds that flit back and forth from a close apple tree. The birds will eat their share all day as the wind driven snow flings itself at us. This is the wildlife and us while waiting for Spring. |
| “Put your thoughts to sleep, do not let them cast a shadow over the moon of your heart. Let go of thinking.” Rumi What do you think of the above quote? And do you sleep well at night or so worries keeps you awake? Are your worries realistic? What can be done about such worries?  Some years ago, I took a free online course in mindfulness. I like the quote. Although I'm not sure if what I do is putting thoughts to sleep. It's more like kicking them out into space. I sleep well most nights. Except, I have some psychics who, try to bother my dreams. Mindfulness actually works. If you practice you can actually push thoughts out or make them, go away. Especially if you know they are not relevant to your life. The thing to be careful of is when you are too busy and don't stop to relax once in a while. I have had some sleep issues lately, then one day I found an email from an acquaintance who simplified my problem by reminding me to stop when mental crazy was hitting me and breathe several breaths. Just remembering to think about the breaths as I was doing it. This also works because it will focus your mind on breathing instead of other thoughts. I don't believe you can ever not have thought problems but, you can learn when they are most likely to assail you. I am a Christian. I believe in Jesus and the help of the Holy Spirit. Prayer and mindfulness are powerful problem solvers. ![Merit Badge in Blogging
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| For Andre the Blog Monkeys Banana Bar / Week 3 Category 3: "What living politician, scientist, or world figure do you think is most important as a role model? The key here is the word living. Since I consider Christ as a living individual my main answer to this has to be the One Living God. Never-the-less I do not intend to continue with this answer or make this a controversial answer to the question. Basically, role model means using someone else's life, example, or philosophy, as an example for your own actions. Dealing with this as a human question I quess I can't really say I have a role model within our present society. At least not a specific movie star, scientist, politician, or other more media prone person. Yet I do applaud persons who are doing research or working to establish laws to advance the living ability of free loving societies. I tried looking up various individuals I could be interested in who are doing things I admire; but don't necessarily want to copy. Judy Sheindlin on Judge Judy has an admirable record as a lawyer. There are lawyers working within our government, (the USA), that have a heart for the people they serve, that I admire. Also, found some other lawyers working worldwide to help people by meddling in governmental issues, that favor freedom, within societies in other countries. I cite human rights lawyer Amal Clooney here. I'm reading a book called "What the Ear Hears and Doesn't" by Richard Mainwaring which deals with the science of sound frequency. Mainwaring is a musician. He builds musical arrangements for various media situations. I haven't finished reading the book, but it reveals some interesting facts about sound. Doing some research about this subject I found two other people. Doing a study of the Neuroscience of Music are Daniel J. Levitin, PHD and Mona Lisa Chandra, PHD, at McGill University in Montreal. Levitin authored the book, "This is Your Brain on Music", which I have not read yet. I am more interested in knowledge put forth by scientists, politicians, and philosophers, than in the specific way they always live their life. In any event, I'm supposed to be personally involved in making sure I live my own life in a proper way. One Reference: Science Watch / Music as Medicine by Amy Novotney, Vol.44, No. 10. Word Count: 396 |
Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar / week 3 Category 2: Prompt: Should criminals be locked up, housed, fed, and clothed at the publics expense or something else? Criminals vs. the Public Lots of books are being written about this subject. How accurate are the movie stories about the condition of prisons? We have a women's prison in a town not far from us. Every once in a while, some news shows up about mistreatment by a prison guard to a prisoner. Usually, the guard is up on charges of some sort. Once I read about a group of people who were giving prisoners a chance to study the works of William Shakespeare. It was making a change in the way criminals were thinking. who took the study. You really have to make a change in the way people view the world mentally in order to make a complete change in the people or the system. Even though this particular program was actually changing the lives of men in prison. They lost their funding and had to stop the program. Unfortunately, there are people who won't change. Putting them back on the streets to commit more crimes against the public does not make sense. The money used to house them has to spread into plans to give them a better chance at life outside of a prison. The public has to be partly responsible for their own safety, with laws, funding, and other responses. The experience they receive inside of the prison system has to be so deeply like the outside world they will be let back into, that they can begin to understand right vs. wrong behavior. As a country our freedom in a peaceful way has to have responsibility attached. A minister got me into a writing program. Writing to prisoners. Pen pals in prison. It really was not a good time. Of the three or four I wrote to; only one seemed sincere. The others were interested in trying to have a mail order sexual relationship. I was younger and did not like the manipulative voice of some of the letters, so I did not continue. Some of them dropped the program when they found out they could not get out of the letters, what they wanted. You have to remember that these people did something bad to someone, either theft, or violence. We do have professional people who are trying to change bad kinds of experience in some prisons. My dad was against what he called vigilante rule. As I age, I begin to understand what he thought about taking the law into your own hands. The average person does not have enough ability to take time to research some types of problems and decide exactly how to deal with crime. We have narcissists and sociopaths living in our society. They often blame their own ways on innocent people. Police have a responsibility to look into crimes; to sincerely find the real perpetrator. That is why as a country. in the USA, the states have their laws and systems. Like any other system it has to grow and evolve until the punishment fits the crime. ![Merit Badge in Anon-Y-Monkey's Badge
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Andre the Bolg Monkey's Banana Bar / Week 3  Category 1: "Is commenting on blog entries a good idea? Do you comment or "like" on most blog entries you read? should there be a "Don't Like" option? Comments Yes, I think the comments or like on blogs is a good idea. I cannot say I comment on most entries I read. I'm always in a hurry online. It affects the way I handle comments. I try to hit at least 5 in a day. Lately, that has been less. My computer is not running so I'm working on K's. We have Hughes.net. They tell us monthly we are using too much Wi-Fi. They even raised our price a few months ago. Plus, if I could work online for cash, I would be able to have more Wi-Fi. Hughes net is prohibiting work online unless you have business Wi-Fi with them. When they put up the new satellite a few years ago I hoped the situation would get better. It didn't. I read a lot more blogs and articles, than I comment on. I probably should just hit Like if I'm short on time. Often, I don't think to do that, especially if I'm hurrying. Another thing I would like to do is more reviewing. I took the reviewing course offered a couple years ago, so I would feel more comfortable and get more done. I try to write blogs off-line and then upload them just so I stay off the internet. However, if I'm researching something it is difficult to do. This is truly a rural area. As a child we did not have a phone. Finally, when I was a teenager Gen Tel ran a line down our road. Everyone on the same line. Each house had its' own ring. It was like that for years. People complained because they could not have a private conversation without someone on the line picking up. All the rings for different houses rang into all the phones. You just picked up on your own to talk. I read a lot about G-5. It would be a great system, and everyone would have enough Wi-Fi. I wonder if it will be installed on this road before I hit the limit of my years? As far as a don't like option goes, it's a toss-up for me. I probably would not use it. At least in the USA I still feel entitled to my opinion. I also believe you are entitled to yours. Writers write. I read books I don't agree with. I don't sit down and write the news to the author. On the other hand, if there was a Don't LIke and someone sent it to me I would probably do the same thing I do when I get a poor review. Ignore it unless it appears to be sincerely relevant to what I'm writing. Opinions Matter word count:485 |
| For Andre the Blog Monkeys Banana Bar Week 2 / Category 3/ prompt: Have you ever gotten tipsy, inebriated or drunk? If you remember what happened tell us about it. If you don't remember make something up. If you never were tell us why you should not be banned from the banana bar? I'm confused. Do you Bann people from the Banana Bar? Does that mean if people don't drink alcohol, you are not friendly? As for the first part of the question Yes. I've been drunk once. Tipsy twice as I remember. It takes a great deal of Alcoholic drink to mess my system up. I like wine better than hard liquor, although probably Banana Daiquiri's would appeal to me if I still had an urge to imbibe. When I was first married, I was 18 with no experience with alcoholic drinks. My first husband was used to drinking and playing cards with friends. He was also unimpressed with my refusal to drink beer or other liquors. One time we went to his friend's house the other family suggested we play cards. Poker to be exact. Every time you lost a hand you had to have a shot of Tequila. I lost a lot. Richard had to lead me out the door and pour me into the car to get home. Truthfully, I always thought the group just wanted to see me get drunk for the sport of it. It was the only time the group ever drank alcohol when I was with them. Nothing much happened except we were living in an apartment over a farmhouse near the Air Force Base. Before, we entered the house Richard warned me not to make a scene since the family was entertaining guests. Of course, I had to yell Hi to everyone as soon as we entered the door and started up the staircase to our apartment. Yelling and waving as I was urge upward by my husband. I remember he said," I told you not to make a scene." Huh? Another time after we moved home, we delivered some Christmas cookies to my aunt and Uncle. Cookies which my uncle had delivered to our house earlier when I was not home. We had a Merry Christmas drink before we left home. Richard's idea, which I did not refuse. I was not really drunk but tipsy might describe it. My Aunt said with disgust. "They've both been drinking." The third and last time was the summer after Richard died. I went to visit a different Aunt. I had an aunt on my mother's side of the family that I liked. She took care of my brother and I summers when my dad was working. We would stay with her all week and go home for the weekends. She was a drinking person. After I had been in the house for about 10 minutes, she offered to mix me a drink. At first, I refused but, when she continued to press me, I said O.K. My uncle was by the counter where she was mixing the drink. I heard him as he leaned over and said, "Don't make it so strong." To which my aunt replied, "Mind your own business." Once again, I was not drunk but, the drink was strong enough to make me muddled. So, I left. And I never went back. I was careful to drive home slowly, it was all back country roads, so I never met anyone along the way. I stopped by the woods and cried for a while, because I felt my aunt was trying to get me drunk for some reason and I don't trust relatives on either side of my family. Since then, I have had a glass of wine or one mixed drink inside my home a few times, until I was about 30. The boys were growing up. I felt we should try to eliminate any kind of alcoholic problems before they finished growing. We had a wine dumping ceremony in the front yard and no alcohol in the house since. The grandparents of my two older sons were both recovering alcoholics at one time, Richard's parents. My mother-in-law told me they kept a beer in their refrigerator to remind them what alcohol was doing to their family. My first husband had stopped at a bar on his way home from work, before he died, when he fell asleep and hit a tree with my car. On my father's side of the family all the children were taught not to drink alcohol. However, at Christmases when families rotated to celebrate holidays; all my father's brother's homes had bottles of hard liquor, or wine stored under the beds in the master bedroom. Plus, there were always liquor bottles in the garbage when I stayed with my cousin over night for a school function. My dad did not drink but, once when he visited my aunt she offered him a beer, which he took and drank. I was not very old but, I asked him why he was drinking beer he said it was to be social. That social drinking was permissible. Every person has to choose in life. It isn't' up to me to tell you when or how much or what you should drink. I do wish it was that easy for some people to give up anything that can harm their life alcohol, or drugs, or any other problem of any kind. But it isn't. Blogging with the banana bar is fun. I have no criticizem about what others decide to do, but if you don't want me here to feel free to say so openly. I'll just go away. I also have coffee drinking relatives that don't believe in drinking tea. A hot cup of tea would be good right now. P.S. Cheers was one of my favorite programs at one time. The lyrics of the song mean more than the alcohol served at the bar. Sorry Andre' I know Banana Daiquiri are part of your health habits. Word Count:1011 all word counts are done on WDC blog |
| For Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar Week 2 / Category 2 prompt: If you won the lottery, raffle or a gamble (e.g, slot machine) what percentage would you give to Charity, if any what type of Charity would it be?  }As a child I was taught that I should give 10 percent. This was a teaching in the church I grew up in, I think. Pretty much as a teenager I earned some money baby-sitting once in a while and cleaned house and worked in the garden at my aunt's home. I lived almost all weekends and some weekdays with my aunt and uncle. They paid me for the work I did. My uncle tried to teach me the value of earning. They often took me roller skating and I wanted my own skates and skate box. My earnings from them went to the project of buying my own skates. With other earnings from a few babysitting jobs, I tried to give my tithe. In my wanderings through research for Journalism classes, I came across a statement, that a lot of wealthy people give 1 percent of their earnings to charity. One percent of one million is ten thousand. In any event at the time, I thought the percentage for a millionaire or billionaire was kind of stingy. During my first marriage. My husband gave from his salary through the Air force. Whatever the percentage was it was taken out when checks were issued. I only had one job at that time, and it lasted one week. When he died, I tried to tithe his life insurance money. I was criticized for the donations. I stopped going to church during a period of time burdened down with raising children on small salaries and running a farm without income. I forgot about tithing, just gave as I found places to give, which were the salvation Army Kettle on the street at Christmas, a dollar to a child collecting for a sport in school, just small amounts here and there. When we went to church again, I gave as the plate was passed during Sunday service and still the small places where people were asking for donations for some project. Some years ago, the local rural electric company started a program for people who get behind in their electric bills. It is rounding up. If your bill is 94. 15 dollars and you pay 95, the extra is put into the fund to help others who are having trouble paying. This happens at Walmart once in a while, when there is a drive for the food banks. If 50 people round up by 50 cents, you have collected 25.00 dollars for charity. Sometimes the post office collects canned goods for the local food bank. I put out some canned goods. I really like to use the rounding up programs. A small amount goes out without notice. It ends up in a bigger pot of contributions. One of the reasons I stopped giving was because of small salaries that did not reach our needs as a family. I gave the children growing up very small allowances. They did chores after school and always helped me with farm work. They never earned what, that help was worth in dollars. We struggled with home heating costs. I canned and froze supplies all summer to keep us eating healthy food. One of the reasons I quit giving out money because money coming in never changes and the needs inside of my family were never easy to meet. For a while If it meant us or them, I chose us. Now if I won a lottery or other monies, it would depend on how much after taxes I would get, and what my needs are. I am presently hoping before January to start a giving program in a very small way. I give at Christmas to St. Jude Children's research hospital. They don't seem to resent the small gifts I send. I am trying to start before the end of January to give small amounts to them 6 months of the year, and to the Anna Shelter. No guarantee I will be able to follow through on this plan. Anna Shelter is a no kill animal shelter. They have given care to several animals I took into my home. a large percentage of animals, cats, dogs, and birds I have taken in different times are someone else's cast offs. Two other places make me wish I could just give are the Wounded Warriors Project. Also, there is a group who collect money to drill wells in Africa. So, villages will have fresh water supplies. Giving is an interesting subject. Over the years I have watched news about big donations to different needs. Also, about the donations to large organizations being used improperly sometimes. When government has to step in to reorganize it is a shame. I believe by paying my bills and keeping us off the welfare rolls it is a help to society. Even if it means I am left with not enough to give a large amount. Our television is inundated with commercials about people collecting money for their organizations. Sometimes it is so impersonal. Word count: 872 |
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