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Showing posts from 2019

Mucho gracioso (funny)

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You may remember Gonzales Gonzales from John Wayne movies.  He provided comedy in Rio Bravo, Hellfighters, and several other John Wayne movies. This video shows where he got his start. He innocently appeared as a contestant on 'You Bet Your Life' with Groucho Marx. As the questioning continued, it got funnier and funnier.   Groucho took advantage of the situation based upon audience laughter. John Wayne happened to be watching the show and contacted him after the event.  John Wayne insisted he played himself in the movies.   Gonzalez became a popular character in JW movies. source www.chonday.com

authoritarian leaders

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Limitations in free speech are guaranteed by leaders who have a grasp on power without an end in sight

The first president

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Isn't it time that our lawmakers fought for our best interest rather than their own  Elections are important  So are the people who elected and empowered legislators to do a job of keeping our country safe and worth living in  We do not live in a monarchy  We do not live in a dictatorship  We do behave as though the only choices we have are the ones we are dictated to and how to bow down America is freedom  Don't forget  If you need to remember read the history books that tell us what the true intent of our leaders was

My son Chris the wise a guy

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  Age 50  Resident of Parc Center Apartments   “I don’t care how close you are: in the end, your friends are gonna let you down. Family. They’re the only ones you can depend on.” —Tony Soprano   Photo editing    Steve my brother the other wise a guy - grazzi

Back by popular demand - mine and others

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The music is hip hop, the dance is ballet  In this offering they work together when form and timing become one The realities of ballet Source The Realities  https://goo.gl/Hnoaw3  

Free news paper owner wanted

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I was attracted to this Guardian article by the photograph.  The sun is setting on this small town of 1000 that needs an editor/owner to continue the circulation that will keep local residents up to date on activities  Continue to read for details source:   www.theguardian.com/us-news The Guardian

Artificial Photosynthesis

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Novel ways of producing light-sensitive material with a yen toward economy newatlas.com New Atlas

US builds global dominance in natural gas sector

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"Experts point to Mexico as an example of how transformative gas can be in a matter of only a few years. As the American shale boom accelerated, producing more gas than its northern neighbor could consume, Mexico decided to import as much cheap gas as possible. Mexico replaced its dirtier burning coal and petroleum products, and now more than a quarter of the country’s electricity is powered by American gas ." Source article  www.nytimes.com  New York Times

Boris Boris wherefore art thou

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Even prime ministers have rights even if those who are less fortunate do not

Can you read music

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  Try this piece  It will sound disconnected at first  It eventually comes together    Please respect my rights to intellectual property  Music notation software  https://musescore.org/en

Won't you be my neighbor

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" Zanaka when the walls fell "  They did fall to code enforcement -assumed- The fence is less unsightly today Zanaka when the wall fell  If you don't follow the link to the video and Star Trek isn't your thing you might find this entry a bit peculiar at best

Impeachment proceedings

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House speaker says, " The president ‘abused his power for his own personal political benefit ." Disliking the president as a person does not warrant impeachment  His actions while the leader of this country does invite scrutiny the likes of which are not a matter for pardon - blogger Source  www.wsj.com  The Wall Street Journal

Which planet is this

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An inverted aerial view of planet earth at sunset

Gorbachev sells pizza

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St. Petersburg USA

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Landing approach

Happy Thanksgiving

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T' is for Turkey not for Trump.  Ok, there is a lot of similarities.  Egret:   Where are you spending Thanksgiving?  Buzzard:   With family. 

Birds Remember the movie

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A fish kill in the backyard pond caused by a sudden drop in temperature invites birds both big and small to feast.  At first, it was a marvelous sight, but the stench is something only nature could cope with.

How to feel less bad

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“I recognized in myself a long time ago that I don’t instill fear in anybody , ” Hanks said. “Now, that’s different than being nice, you know? I think I have a cache of mystery. But it’s not one of malevolence.”Credit...Daniel Dorsa for The New York Times Each man makes himself the person he would be when his body and mind become one.  Yes, the body we are arranged with is a crapshoot.  The mind will or will not approve and the outcome will be one of a fairy tale or a criminal disaster with the majority of us falling somewhere in between.  This is a reblog from a New York Times article.  The comment above is my own.

Forgot something

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Walking is only half the battle  Forgetting how you got there is the other half

Where's the cat

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Technology is what makes life possible to an extent or a living hell in the hands of those with an agenda who have no vision of the consequences.    Personal opinion 

What's up doc

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Lolita came from a chic to the fifty-year-old you see here  Since her sex has never been confirmed her name could be Sam as well  She is a yellow nape Amazon parrot with beautiful green feathers  Her best quality is her ability to associate sounds  The hidden rumble of peanuts will alert her to food  Lolita is smart    persistent  and very loud   Ask any of my neighbors

My favorite medium

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Actually, I am large, but when it comes to art I like the 32-bit program that should be updated to 64 bit  That program is Bryce  Here is an early vision that was easy to reproduce  It's all in the interface  This site may have a 64 bit version  I have not tried to install the program yet  Links to vendors are not recommendations Treat as all untested sites Apologies  I didn't know this was a Russian language version - It may be worth the effort to work with it

Welcome to Pinellas Park

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Got Wheel  Modes of transportation evolve successfully or become an interesting past time.  The destination is not where you go but how you got there.

Nothing changes

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Once there was a pier here Now fishers wade in water Rocks and beams are all that’s left The fish still look for slaughter

iPad therefore I am

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Steve Jobs, the inventor of the iPad did not allow his children to become dependent on technology - no phones at the dinner table, etc..  I made a living understanding the operating systems of an array of different computers and found myself engulfed with the idea that they would improve my life.  What they did was provide me with a way to support my family while losing them to the hours required to acquire skills.   The antithesis of technology is its contrived derivation: tech no logy - technical without logic.  That's right the computer is just a machine without emotions and the inability to draw on conclusions without the use of the man-made sophisticated algorithms. The human brain is your first computer.  For serious work and other essentials like spell checking, use a machine.  It has its place but certainly not at the dinner table and probably not even to tell the world your daughter cut her first tooth. 

The president who thought he thought

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  "Whether we call it gut feelings, a 'sixth sense,' or something else, we have all experienced intuition at one time or another. Of course, gut feelings are often wrong (how many times during aircraft turbulence have you been sure your plane was going down?), but they do seem to be right much of the time. Psychologists note that people subconsciously pick up information about the world around us, leading us to seemingly sense or know information without knowing exactly how or why we know it. But cases of intuition are difficult to prove or study, and psychology may only be part of the answer." He does things his way.  So did Fidel Castro and Joseph Stalin to name a few. The only difference is that the United States is a Democratic Republic, whereas the others were dictatorships.  source article   www.livescience.com  photo-internet

Boeing X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle

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X-37B  Autonomous reusable spacecraft launched from the Falcon 9 rocket or other platforms as required.  Capable of extended orbits, science experiments and payload deployments.    We are in the Wright Brothers period of space flight.  Propulsion and purpose remain the visions and challenges for future NASA flights.  Before we can expect to expand the reaches of this planet, we must conquer earth's challenges.  Advancement at home and in space are all based on the same accomplishments.  Boeing T-X at 2019 Paris Air Show the maned version of the above. Source  Boeing corp., NASA

Ancestral knowledge

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source   text Philip Gardiner   " Gnosis: The Secrets of Solomon's Temple Revealed "  graphic artist unknown

The town of Scientolgy

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Senseless Opened Paradise The church of Scientology has progressively populated downtown Clearwater in the past two years.  They offer two, up to four times the value of a commercial property and leave it vacant to ensure privacy and to keep outsiders away.  This invasive organization is at odds with the city council and its reputation keeps other businesses from locating in Downtown Clearwater. senseless opened paradise is a Russian music link this is a reblog of a Tampa Times (tampabay.com) newspaper article Tracey McManus Scientology, Pinellas County, and Clearwater Reporter

UNICEF

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29 million babies born into conflict in 2018   UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to protect the rights of every child. UNICEF has spent 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. Source  unicef.org

Humility

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We kill ourselves expecting recognition or remuneration for our efforts. Some continue going forward when they are absolutely wrong and the balance quit before a good idea bears fruit. If you must have a judgment from your peers as some do, they may commit a crime, or walk-in space, invent the internet and generally do what a few in their field are able to do.  The rest of us must accept what crumbs the humble life offers and be grateful. God bless the child that's got his own.

What is this

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This eight-inch floppy disk controls today's minuteman missile - early 90's technology  The people who handle this older technology are younger than the systems that protect our country The vulnerability of pre-90's operating systems can be safer than internet-dependent modern code

First class only

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Mostly flying above weather and other aircraft for seven thousand miles   This corporate jet provides luxury transportation without the shoulder rub

Who are we living for

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" Oligarchy rules the United States : the republic has been ransacked, its commonwealth privatised, and rentierism runs amok." Unfortunately all the evidence is in and the facts are true - America is in the hands of the few and the many pay dearly for what is left.  Will a change in government make a difference?   Source article   theguardian.com Or, Lets Face the Music and Dance Music video by Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra performing Let's Face The Music And Dance (Audio). © 2019 Universal Music Operations Limited  

My blog

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is a loose collection of items that interest me  If you find them worth the time to take a peek then I welcome you  This is a picture from the past  The words and scene have changed and so have we Never to return  Never to know what we live with today

"God gave you a life. What are you going to do with that life?"

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Retirement is just another word for nothing left to lose  So you hang on to your health the best you can  Conversations with peers are full of medical anecdotes  That hobby may turn into a job  You parcel out your time to those who can use it  Overall watching television is not a life  This article from National Public Radio is a positive look at living without retirement  living with purpose NPR

Left holding the ball

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Who would that be

Free books from the Gutenberg Press (gutenberg.org)

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Winesburg, Ohio, by Sherwood Anderson

1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair

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Worlds' Fairs prompted the theme parks we enjoy today Jessie Tarbox Beals / Missouri Historical Society Alan Taylor   Sep 9, 2019  42 Photos  In Focus  www.theatlantic.com

Welcome to the party

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An American Tradition NYtimes.com

Night on the town

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Night on the townhouses overlooking a golf course in Seminole Florida on Friday the 13th.  If you're still around in thirty years you'll see this same moon on this same date.  Photo  self

Got class

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Sleeping Eyes will stop for you Know cars   This one is four years old 

Life in Henry Ford's time

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A repost of early 20th-century life in America.  Henry Ford documented everything that moved with the new motion picture camera.  Mechanization was just beginning to be a part of everyday life.   Source US National Archives

Arial view of China

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They know how to grow food.  So do we (us) .

The beauty of intelligence

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Could it be a fractal, an expensive work of art or something found in the back of a refrigerator?  None of these.  Slime molds are able to select direction, maintain themselves by rejecting what is not beneficial and reshape themselves. They behave as though they have intelligence .  Article source Quanta Magazine

Depression - a vague explanatiuon

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Depression is something you live with, not by choice, an uninvited guest who visits unannounced and makes you wish you were dead!  Be it chemical, or social, self imposed or impossible to ignore, it lingers on with no permanent cure.  Suicide is not a cure it is a way out with a high price.  Think of going to a theater and watching a performance you think a waste of  your time.  You leave before it is finished.  Have you not missed anything? Was it worth staying for?  I watched The Last Picture Show when it appeared in theaters in 1971.  I was so disillusioned with the movie I left, then came back, and I was glad I returned.  The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards.  I was looking at a slice of life I felt uncomfortable with.  Real life, the one you live everyday, is no different. If you leave before the end you might miss something terrific. 

St. Petersburgh beach from on high

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South view North view