September Swan Song

It is the last day of September. I heard there was snow up near Vail and Breckenridge. You can tell it is fall here because we are not forecast to reach 100+ this whole week.

I did not load any of my archived photos last night, so here is the road on our way to Zion National Park in 2005. I saw the sun rays in front of the mountains and pulled over for a few shots.

Now, here is the entrance to the park. When you visit a place, do you take a picture of the entrance sign or some way to depict the place you are entering? I don't always, but it does make a nice addition to the photos from that locale.

And in the fall, there are beautiful leaves everywhere, even underfoot. Here is a shot of fallen leaves, minus the foot.

This is the last of the alleged corporate memos or quotes that could provide a touch of levity to today.
"Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule." - 3M Corp

Today's music downloads included songs from Michael Martin Murphey, Looking Glass, The Association, The Guess Who and Blues Image. I get five downloads per week from our local library. Nice, huh?

Let's not wait as late as we did yesterday for a new Clarity of Vision comic.

Hey, look at this headline from Drudge Report and tell me what it means.

I think it means he is only 40% as intelligent as he could be. You may choose to interpret it by what they mean instead of only based on the words they used.

Then, I see the next grouping of articles, but it is not the words or even intent that catches my eye. It is the accompanying photo. I think he is asking "You sure this will regrow hair?"

I don't know how many of you watch Family Guy. We sometimes do, but we did have to watch the Family Guy Visits Springfield episode. I was clever how they tied the two programs together. They, of course, had the regular actors provide the Simpsons' voices. You might want to catch it On Demand. Last night, we watched Gotham. I thought it was interesting, but I am not sure about the longer term prospects yet.

OK, one more picture of an article. Let's do the photo, and then I will reveal why I included it today.

Of course, the idea of caffeinated underwear is nothing new. Wait a minute! What!? Anyway, I saw this headline and my first thought was, "I think you CAN lose weight because I spilled coffee on my lap once and I was moving pretty quickly." That's exercise, right?

We only have two practices left in the Chorale before we record a new Christmas CD. Even though we have been practicing since June or so, there are a few songs where we still need more than two weeks of additional practice. We'll see how it goes.

Tuesday is breaking out all over, so I want to join in. Let's all celebrate together.

Marching to Zion

From right to left, the names of the peaks are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Do those names sound familiar? They should, and that is the name of this grouping in Zion National Park. The Three Patriarchs. The shot is from 2005.

When you are in a setting like a national park, familiar scenes take on a new meaning. For example, here we are in rush hour in Zion.

That guy was probably looking for the Virgin River which runs through Zion. Luckily, we found it.

Hey, y'all keep praying for CPA Cuz. He undergoes his final chemo beginning this next Wednesday and then they will do a CT to determine next steps. His daughter has added quinoa into his diet to assist with getting enough healthy protein. Yeah! Thanks, CPA's Daughter.

I finally finished copying all the archived songs (that I care about) onto the laptop. My final count is 10,423 songs, 875 albums, 636 hours of play, 93.7GB. I guess I'd better get started listening.

I also have a hard drive for my photo backup. I see it holds 11,047 items (that could include a few videos so they may not all be photos). So, once I go through the archive drive and pull over the photos I do not have on the laptop, I will let you know what the new count is. We are starting at 261.1MB (so my music takes up 360 times more space).

Look at this article from last Saturday. Did you see its topic? The last of the Saturday morning cartoons aired a couple of days ago. Does a change like that make you nostalgic? It did me, both because of my kids and even my own childhood. Of course, there are now channels that air them 24x7. There are online offerings where you can choose your own cartoons anytime. Still....

When was the last time you tried to break four pencils at once? If it was last week, then you already know the amount of effort it takes (80 lbs of pressure, BTW). And thanks to Consumer Reports, we know that is about the amount of pressure it takes to bend a new iPhone 6 or 6+. Luckily for us, someone tests these things so we can talk about it.

I looked through all of my normal sites and am finding nothing else to share for today. Do we have enough? Will you be OK until tomorrow? I hope so.

Oops. I forgot to add in today's CoV (since I created it last night). Here you go.

OK. Let's say goodbye again. Goodbye.

A Lack of Color

As I was searching for what photos to share today, I came across an intriguingly named file Yosemite Falls BW.jpg that I did not remember creating. I had been trying to stay with the UK theme, but this photo was my attempt to do an Ansel Adams-style black and white landscape shot. I think it is pretty good.

And I am sure you remember my attempt last year to recreate a photo I like of aspen trunks. It doesn't matter. I am sharing it again anyway. This one has just a touch of sepia in it.

Finally, a view of mountain foothills done completely in sepia. I felt it showed the highs against the clouds a little better than black and white.

I read a pretty funny review of someone considering purchasing an iPhone 6. I thought you'd like it, too. "I worry about the camera lens. I know it’s covered in space-age sapphire (?) which I believe is an indestructible material like adamantium or vibranium or a third made-up material. But it sticks out. It seems like a better thing would be for it to be sticking in, not out. Physics says this is impossible. This quandary keeps me up at night. I pace, sleepless for hours, arguing with physics in my mind. “Isn’t there anything you can do?” I ask physics. Physics says it will have to talk to its manager. It disappears into the back room. I hear voices. Physics returns, shaking its head. It says the best it can do is have the camera lens just stick out “a little”. I close my eyes and when I open them again, physics is gone. Somewhere a dog barks. Then the rain begins to fall. I am inconsolable."

This starts like an old-time western cowboy scene in a bar. However, their topics are decidedly 21st century.

Time for another of those allegedly real company quotes.
"This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it." - United Parcel Service

Time for another of those allegedly funny Clarity of Vision comics, this time with another molasses theme. Would you have imagined this bad joke could stretch over two comics?

I read an article in the Huffington Post that said there is no proof that Jesus ever existed. Since Josephus and 126 other Jewish writers from back then did not mention him, he must not have existed. Since I rarely mention Obama and an archive of this blog could exist in the future, could that mean he might not have existed, either? Anyway, the story was written by a guy that has a book out called Why Atheism Will Replace Religion. In 50-60 years, he is going to be quite surprised, isn't he?

I did not know that the house shown in the exterior shots of The Brady Bunch was a private residence. I assumed it was something on a studio backlot. Nope, you can go see it at 11222 Dilling Street in Hollywood. The interiors, though, were all sound stages. And was there a toilet in the bathroom set? Read this trivia and find out. Why is there Brady Bunch trivia? Because the first episode aired 45 years ago today.

You like trivia? Did you know that Darth Vader only has 12 minutes of screen time in the original Star Wars movie? I know! I was surprised, too. Hear 19 other facts in this Screen Crush video.

Before we part, let me place you into my thought process this morning. First, I read this story where the FBI is upset that Apple will encrypt messages so even law enforcement cannot read them. I then thought that, even though it could mean criminals could hide their plans, us normal folk could also be free from worrying about the government perusing every email and seeing that we cheated on taxes or stole a pen or something. Then, I remembered that someone had a quote about the law being an ass. So, I Googled it and found it was Mr. Bumble from Oliver Twist. Since he was talking about the law expecting that his wife follows his command, it reminded me there is a legal name for that.  I knew it was coverage or something like that. So, I Google "law marriage wife woman husband cover wiki" and found it is coverture. Now, I am not using any of this info for a purpose, but sometimes, I do go down a rabbit hole for arcane information.

I want to give you time for recovery after taking you down my 'law is an ass' rabbit hole, so let's end the blog on an uplifting note. No, we can't. I've got nothing. Still, have a great weekend. Recharge your batteries. Take a really long shower to rinse out the residue of our rabbit hole adventure and come back Monday. Agreed?

We Survived Another Survivor

It's baaaack. As you guessed from the the title, I am talking about another season of Survivor. On the first show last night, there are no teams yet and we do not know the people, so I had not favorites to root for. I did not have a problem with the person voted off first.

This guys thinks that Ticket to Ride is the best of all The Beatles songs. Do you agree? I understand his logic, and what he says makes sense for 1965 when the song was released. For me, I would more likely choose Hey Jude, which is his #7 choice. It is a song that tells a Beatles-related story, everyone knows it and most of the words. Yeah, I'll choose that one.

One of the unique animal breeds in Scotland is the Highland Cattle. Here are a couple of shots I caught as we passed a herd one day. They look like a long-haired Texas Longhorn.

Another interesting animal are the Scottish Blackface sheep. I think those are MBH's favorite.

An interesting animal whose origins started in Canada is Winnie the Pooh. I have no vacation photos of this, but I found it kinda cool. It turns out Winnipeg the bear is the inspiration for A.A.Milne's character. I won't spoil it, but the story is told here.

In my younger days, I would always wear a shirt and tie to work. Of course, back then, I was a manager. Nowadays, I wear slacks and a polo shirt.  Might I go back to the shirt and tie if I could put it on as a business onesie?

I mentioned yesterday that I had read a factoid about twist ties. Here you go.

The twist ties and plastic tags used to seal bread bags in the United States are color coded by the day of the week the bread was baked on (the color code is blue/Monday, green/Tuesday, red/Thursday, white/Friday, and yellow/Saturday); this visual cue is relatively useless to consumers but is very handy for harried stocking clerks filling the shelves every day.

How much longer do you think you will live? I can help you make the most of it by giving you a watch that counts down how much longer it calculates you will live. Do you really want to know this, even if it is not scientifically valid? For me...no thanks.

With time invariably marching on, each new generation is farther removed from either of the World Wars. I saw this article about German U-boats and enjoyed the read. Still, I would imagine that my kids and grandkids will be less curious about the time than I am. Someday, Even 9/11 will be a historical curiosity and not a strong memory.

My town does NOT have a beer pipeline? Does yours? Probably not, unless you live in Belgium.

Speaking of beer, Beer jelly, anyone? Would you just wash it down with Sweet Baby Jesus Peanut Butter Porter?

A story about jelly reminds me of a story about a big molasses spill in Hawaii last September. And I do have a couple of ideas for CoV comics based on that story. Come on, wouldn't you immediately try to think of a way to use that as humor?

You know what we're missing here in the US (at least as far as I know)? A Sewer Museum. After all, France has one. In it, you can see the giant balls they used to clean them. I just read about something like this happening recently, but I cannot find the story right now.

After descending to stories about sewers (get it? descending to sewers....because they are underground?), anyway, I don't know where else we would go. Let's end today's blog post and go have a Tremendous Thursday. Even if you are going to the dentist or doctor or IRS, there is always something good about today.

...but there's not much there

This could mean that the government knows what time I will be home for dinner and what the brand of quinoa I want to purchase is. After all, those are the last text and photo that I stored on my phone. Are you a conspiracy theorist? If so, you might be worried. Sure, it is disquieting, but I just resign myself to the fact that some level of intrusion is always likely. Pretty sad, isn't it?

Whoo hoo. They found a use for the Autobots in between movies.

Right now, it is looking like this will be a sparse blog update. I saw the above link in DrudgeReport, but nothing from Yahoo. Luckily, I found the next story in Facebook last night. Well, actually, MBH did (since you might know I rarely check Facebook).

How would you like to see John Malkovich recreating famous photos? I did not know I wanted to, either, until I looked at them. Hilarious. Please, go enjoy them.

Speaking of photos, I've got none. By the time I got home for Chorale practice last night, I did not think of getting today's blog post ready. I wanted to finish watching the most recent Hobbit movie. This was the second one. I knew there was a third one, but this one just ended with a dragon flying towards a town to destroy it. The first movie had a good place to break, but this one left me hanging. The interweb says the third one should be released this year. Well, I should hope so.

Updates: Fried Chicken Oreos are not a real thing. Pumpkin Spice condoms are not a real thing. Pumpkin Spice Four Loco is not a real thing. Pumpkin Spice dog treats are a real thing. Pumpkin Spice hummus is a real thing. Pumpkin Spice Extra gum is a real thing. Pumpkin Spice M&Ms are a real thing. Pumpkin Spice Whiskey is a real thing. Tacos with a side of meth was a real thing, for a while. Guinness-flavored latte is a real thing. A box of 2,400 Krispy Kreme donuts is even a real thing. OK, that's enough.

One real thing you already know about is Clarity of Vision (usually referred to as 'CoV'). Let's see today's comic, where we look back at the very first 'Naked and Afraid' episode.

I did find one interesting tidbit about the colors of twist ties, but I think I will save that for tomorrow. After all, I did promise a short post today. So, just a reminder that Survivor restarts tonight, so it'll be a pizza and wings meal for most of our party. Wild rice and lentil soup for the rest. OK, let's get outta here.

It's a Search Challenge. It's a Blog Post. It's Both!

I have a photo to share, but I am not going to tell you what you are seeing. I will share some verbiage that you can use to find the name of the place on the world wide web. I know that, normally, y'all just skim past any links and try to use contextual clues to understand what I am sharing. Today, you need to use the words to search and see WHERE I am sharing. (This first place) is located in Aberdeenshire, north-east Scotland. It lies about 1.5 miles north-west of Pitmedden, and 2 miles south of Tarves.

Next, let's go to (another castle) which sits beside Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland. The castle is on the A82 road, 21 kilometres south-west of Inverness and 2 kilometres east of the village of Drumnadrochit.

And finally, we will end our search with (one more ruin) that is a partly ruined monastery of the Cistercian order in Melrose, Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders.

Are the alleged company communications I have been publishing recently real? I don't know, but I find them mildly amusing. Here's today's email.
"This is to inform you that a memo will be issued today regarding the memo mentioned above." - Microsoft, Legal Affairs Division

Could anyone ever drink 117 beers in one sitting? Cary Elwes claims he heard it from the man himself. He starred with him in a movie I am sure you have seen, and if not, GET A COPY SOON.

Maybe this will actually give you the answers you want about Lost. I guess they are interesting, coming from one of the writers. And in Lost story #2, what happened to the careers of all the stars? Extra! Extra! Read all about it (caution: language)!

I know that I do not eat enough greens. Now, even Yahoo! is trying to shame me into it?

I don't know about you, but doesn't the idea of a movie about giant lava-breathing tarantulas capture your imagination. Plus, I bet they are so real looking, dontcha know. However, it will be mid-2015 before we get to enjoy it.

It is autumn.

Oh, you tried to make me forget, didn't you? Yes, there IS a Clarity of Vision for today. Yes, I DID come up with the idea because I had to create a RACI chart for one of my projects.

Did you say you need to get going? I understand. I probably should, too. See you soon. Hey, go look up the locations of my photos before you leave.

Two Weeks in a Row

For the second week in a row, the two teams that I most closely follow in the NFL have won their games. And one of them remains 3-0. Who are they? That's for me to know....

How was your weekend break? Nice? I think TD had a good b-day weekend. And it continues with a little party next weekend, too.

TD was not a T back when we went to the UK. However, she did get her own bedroom in the castle.

Here's the master suite that MBH and I occupied.

The room was fine, but the view to which we woke was very nice.

Another interesting view is presented in this video, which blends people and a 3D projection video. It will only take a few minutes and it is pretty cool.

Here is another alleged real-life corporate quote.
"We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees." - AT&T Long Lines Division

Here's another Disney-related blog that started off interesting, but I have only spent maybe five minutes in it. I thought I would go ahead and share it with you anyway.

I frequently ask you what you are planning to do with all that extra money you have laying around? This time, what about that $8,000 you tucked away? How about a flight between NYC and LAX? It includes shrimp scampi and cucumber-infused water and little cubicle bed. Go ahead. You know you want to.

I am NOT adding any jots or tittles when the daily CoV has Biblical-sounding themes. that's why today's title is Just Like Genesis 26. I debated using Heaven's Kitchen for the title, but I wanted a place to add a referenced to where the original story could be found.

What do you think? Are all of these images real? I probably will not try and look them up on Google Maps either way.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Fall is nice because we will only reach the low 100s. It also means we can go to cooler climes and see actual color changes in the leaves. Foliagettes, here we come.

Well, by 'here we come', I mean 'not today because we've got real work to do'. I had best get on with it so I will get paid again this week. Thank y'all for stopping by.

UK Remains UK (This is not pronounced 'Yuck Remains Yuck')

Before we get to breaking news, let's begin with a shout out to TD, who has a birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday, Teacher Daughter!

BBC is saying that Scotland will stay in the UK. Voter turnout was over 85%. I think I'm glad. I have no particular reason for my preference other than it has been that way for 300 years (actually, since 1707).

Birkhill Castle was our home in Scotland for one night back during our UK trip. Have you ever stayed in a castle? We really liked the place, and were even offered another night for free from Siobhan, the owner. However, we did not have any spare time to stay. I did capture a few photos around the place, though. Here is the front entrance and our Jaguar.

And here is the entry hall. Many of the furnishings are quite old, but not the dogs.

This is the sitting room (the den for us Colonists) with some busts on top of the shelves showing some of the family members who built the castle originally.

And all those bookshelves have a lot of old stuff. They said we could open and look at anything we wanted. SS and I were nervous that pages would fall out. I did look at a couple of them, though I do not remember what they were right now.

I saw that Warner Bros. is laying off 10% of their staff. Do you think they will have a pig say 'Bud-dee-yah, bud-dee-yah, that's all, folks'.

Have you ever thought about how to represent the primary ideas from a song as a data chart? I must admit...THAT'S JUST CRAZY. Then again, here I am sharing them with you, so maybe they are onto something. Songs are from all types of groups, from The Beatles to Taylor Swift.

Allegedly from a real-life company:
Quote from the Boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say." -Citrix Corporation

I see on my calendar that it is Talk Like a Pirate Day (TLAPD). Have you been practicing your 'Arrr's and your 'Ahoy, matey's? It has been a thing since sometime before 2002. I did read on the site that 'Wanna shiver me timbers?' is a poor pickup line.

I debated using TLAPD as the topic for a comic, but chose not to do so this year. Instead, I went with a Seuss theme since we had a Dr. Seuss discussion at work earlier this week. It took four panels to finish the different rhymes.

Did you watch Tyrant on FX this past year? We enjoyed it (as did 85% of the audience), and I just read that it has been renewed for a second season.. Whoo to the Hoo.

I just do not like the new look and feel of Yahoo!. Have you seen it?

Would you pay $2 extra to get the newspaper containing Black Friday ads? It sounds like a thing in some places. One paper does have a policy of making it free if the subscriber notices and complains. Details here.

Does this mean that you cannot lose 20 lbs by exercising 3 minutes per day? I am SHOCKED, I say. SHOCKED.

And Friday seems to have started when I wasn't looking. I will mosey on over to the desk and get something started. Have a good weekend.

I Missed Y'all

I have finished loading all the CDs I found into iTunes. Surprisingly, I only have 5,300 songs, 528 albums (it would take 13.3 days to play them all). I thought it would be more songs than that. How many do you have?

I did find some photo DVDs that I need to evaluate against iPhoto next, but not yet.

I worked from home yesterday waiting on the plumbers to show up. I had a couple of things they needed to fix, and MBH and I debated hiring a local handyman to work on them. However, I wanted a warrantied, permanent fix. The bad part of that is... getting that guarantee does not come cheap. Anyway, since I was home, I did not give y'all a post, nor did I create a Clarity of Vision. We are back on schedule today, though, and I will inflict you with both.

Here is my second digital photo ever, taken back in 2004. Almost looks like a nice place to visit, doesn't it?

Do you ever take photos of something that you want to remember to create your own version? I do, and here is a shot of a way to display a grouping of photos (here, the idea is to build on the blue hue of the three shots).

I also find other people's photos that make me want to take a similar one. Here is a photo of the stairs in a castle in Scotland from 2004. I have published a version of this before with the steps tinted different colors (no, I don't remember when I did that). I see these types of stair shots all the time, and when I saw this stairwell, I knew I could frame it similarly to those inspiration photos.

Do you know anyone using food stamps? Well, read this headline. Should we warn them? I guess only if they are in Illinois, huh?

And look at this one. I think John Kerry is saying "Mommy. They're being mean to me, and I'm the Secretary of State!".

Did you used to like Stefon on SNL? He always talked about these really weird places you could visit in NY. Anyway, Bill Hader, who played the character, says he believes Stefon was lying about all of that. Read the article for a little more insight. I liked reading this.

But I do not like the updated look of Yahoo! It was easier for me to scan through the headline stories in the old format. And I cannot find a way to switch back.

However, I do like the look of Clarity of Vision since I switched from Visio to Bitstrips. It takes a little longer to create them because now I must tweak the characters, but I can create situations and scenes to visually communicate something that required words in the old format.

I have told you in the past that I saw the original Star Wars film 19 times in the theater. back then, it was so new and original. As MBH can attest, though, I would always go into "light speed" on the way home after watching it. So, that was the idea I had in mind as I wrote this comic.

Thirty year old donuts, anyone? I ain't afraid of no donuts. Twenty-five year old Marty McFly sneakers, anyone? I ain't afraid of no hoverboardless shoes.

Wouldn't you think that working at KFC would be a safe environment? Apparently, not from this cake-throwing maniac. When will the madness end, my friends? When?

I cannot sit here and chew the fat with you all day. After all, it's not even on my diet. So, I'm going to do some work, and you can stay or go or whatever is in your plans. Speaking of plans, I "plan" to be here tomorrow.

CDs? Again?

Let's say you are giving a speech before 3,023 people and you come to a point where your speech notes change topics. So, you add in a little pause. Are you more likely to say 'um' or to say 'uh'? It turns out that the choice is fairly regional. Look at this map and see if your choice matches your geographical region.

Anyone in your family a philatelist? You know, a stamp collector? Architect Bro was when he was young (whereas I was a numismatist). Anyway, this is a funny story about Egypt wanting to celebrate a planned extension of the Suez canal, so they released a stamp. oops. They pictured the wrong canal (one not even in their country).

Do you remember yesterday when I said I did not upload any photos because I was working all night on ripping old CDs? Remember that (well, it HAS been 24 hours). Anyway, today's photos are...not here. See, I spent the evening ripping CDs. I found another stash. I only have one CD left, so maybe tomorrow. No, probably not. Tonight is Chorale practice.

A dude at work just dropped by to tell me that he has finished watching every Dark Shadows episode from the late 60s, all 1,225 shows. It is 131 DVDs worth of episodes. Even if I wanted to, I am not sure I could have kept with it. I struggled even with catching up on Lost episodes when I decided to watch the final two seasons.

I am also fairly certain I would not stay with the audiobook of the Bible. Do you listen to audiobooks in the car, or music, or talk radio, or even nothing? Just stay alert, my friends, so this doesn't happen to you.

Oh, but I have another TV-related story for you. How about a real-life version of the Simpsons intro? I thought this was pretty clever.

Hey, what do you think of this photograph? The artist stitched together 396 sunset shots into a single image. I saw it and thought it was really weird, and then knew why once I read what he had done. There were just too many colors for it to have been a single evening.

I do think this image is from a single shot. I have one close to that, but without the sun flare in the center of the photo. It is obviously Mesa Arch at Canyonlands near Moab, UT.

Did you look up the Disney-related blog I shared the other day? Well, here is another where the guy finds trivia and investigates. I cannot see the images at work, so I am sharing this without seeing the actual blog pages. The verbiage looks interesting, though, so I will look it up when I get home, just like I expect each of you to do.

The results of the driver's test for the Google driverless car are...just OK. You can read a little about it in this article.

Another thing I mentioned a few days ago was the surprise gift of U2 that Apple gave all iTunes users. They have since offered a way to remove it if you choose. The steps are documented here.

Tuesday is already underway, the rains from a hurricane are coming, and the Fall TV season is upon us. What do those things have to do with each other? I don't know. It was stream of consciousness sentence that revealed itself as I typed. All are true, but I don;t know why they came to mind. Well, each of the statements is true, but why did I think of TV after thinking about the rain? What can I say? You know me.

Marching To My Own Drummer

I cleaned out my closet yesterday, and what do you think came out? A bunch of old CDs, many of which I had not ripped to my computer. So, I was working on that last night, and the majority of those songs did include a drummer. However, I did not actually march. I found First Call, Chicago, James Taylor, NoFX, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and many others. I was trying to finish ripping them before I went to bed, but I didn't make it. I think I have about 10 more to evaluate (some may already be on my computer).

I saw this headline on a site this morning.

I don't believe it, though. Where would they hide it?

Also, in today's news, the most shocking story of the day. I think you know what I am talking about. Yes, the lack of breast implants in Venezuela.

What? Motorola still exists? Well, it does in some fashion. I read a review of the Moto 360 smartwatch this morning, and it looks like the early players on Saturday Night Live. Yep, it's Not Ready for Primetime.

It is nearing the season for foliagettes and us regular folks to start watching for the colors to change. This Yahoo! story lists a few favorite places, and we have even been to a couple of them. Where do you like to go?

Were there any Beatles songs where Paul McCartney was not involved in any way? That sounds plausible.

Why didn't any of you  tell me that 2013 was "The International Year of Quinoa"? It's no wonder, though, since it does have "quercetin and kaempferol" (whatever those are). In other food news, I also read about sneaky sugar sources that you might not recognize.

I think that one of the odder stories from the Bible is when Balaam's donkey talked to him. And Balaam then answered back as if this were normal behavior. You can read the details in Numbers 22. So, what if the donkey's descendants kept talking?

Yes, it's true that that was actually a horse in the comic. The tool did not offer a donkey. Good catch. It's also true that I used the character of King David from last week's comic as Balaam. He wasn't facing forward, so you cannot really tell. Another good catch.

Are you tired of the look of Google Maps? Have you ever even thought of that? I hadn't, but this site offers a lot of ways to prettify it. I actually like either the Subtle Grayscale, or Pale Dawn. You?

Well, nothing else catches my attention this morning. So, let's publish this baby and get on with today. BTW, when today is over, it'll be tomorrow and we can get back together again.

'Water' You Doing This Fine Friday?

Let's head over toward June Lake, CA, for our photos today. The first couple of shots are close-ups of a little waterfall on the hill behind our cabin. Which setting do you think highlights the waterfall better? The first is focused on just the waterfall, while the second shows the grand view of the hillside around the waterfall. If you want, listen to Chris Tomlin sing Waterfall while you read today's post.

Now we will move back and see even more of the setting around the waterfall.

The final view is of us in front of the cabin. You can see the waterfall in the background. How would you like to wake up to the view every morning? (I meant the waterfall, not the people, although they are pretty good looking)

Mel Brooks just got his hand and shoe prints in cement at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. He said (on Conan) that he wanted to leave a unique mark, and so he had a fake additional finger on his left hand. Apparently, no one noticed until afterward. Pretty funny, right?

Did Adam name alligators? I do not know the word in Hebrew, but our word actually came from Spanish explorers. According to the story I read, "16th century Spanish explorers referred to the large reptiles they found in the Americas as “el lagarto de Indias,” or “the lizard of the Indies.” Thanks to their phrase and a few phonetic shifts as it made the jump to English, we now refer to those same large reptiles as alligators."

Tortilla chip-encrusted chicken? Biscuit-encrusted chicken? OK, let's all go to The Bell.

Black cheese? Then you'll have to go to Burger King...in Japan.

Do you watch Shark Tank on ABC? We do and I enjoy it. I like seeing the products being offered, and to hear the Sharks talk about why they do or do not want to invest gives insight into viable business opportunities. Anyway, it sounds like they may spin one of my favorite parts into its own show. Beyond The Tank will talk about how past investments have fared. No premiere date set yet.

Let's check out a CoV BEFORE the end of today's post.

Do you have an iTunes account? Have you heard about the flap over the new U2 album Apple is giving us for free? It seems that there is a way to have purchased music automatically download to your iPhone. So, if it is already pretty full, this could totally fill it. And it sounds like it is difficult to remove. Read this to see what you might want (need?) to do about it.

"Break me off a piece of that Kit-Kat bar." Have you ever said that? I don't think I have. What company makes it? Do you know? Here is what I learned just this morning. "Due to licensing laws and contracts, all the Kit-Kat candy bars made in the USA are produced by Hershey’s and all the Kit-Kats made in the rest of the world are produced by Nestle."

Do you want to read everything there is to know about Disney's Haunted Mansion? This might be a good place to start.

I see sunlight outside. That must mean I should begin my workday. Have a great weekend and let's meet again on Monday.

Molasses to Run to Slaves

I did remember to load some photos last night. I will start with an establishing shot so you can see where we are.

One of the distinguishing features in the Park is Zabriskie Point. Here is a shot of the Amargosa Range from on top of the Point.

I had a photo of Dad holding the GPS earlier in the week. Here is where we were for that shot, in the Salt Flats in Badwater Basin. It looks kind of like snow, huh? Nope. It's a little warm for that.

Today's title is a song from the musical 1776. That is one of my all-time favorite musicals. I thought of it after I did the following. On some blog yesterday (actually, it was an xkcd comic about having all the money in the world), I read about a molasses storage tank failing and killing 21 people. Naturally, I had to do some research about that. There were a lot of hits in my Google search. I will just share the wiki article about it. It was moving at 35 mph and had a wave over 20 ft high. Go read the details.

So many generations have some touchstone moment where everyone remembers what they were doing when it happened. WW1 (The Great War, The War to End All Wars). WW2. The day Kennedy was shot. The day another Kennedy was shot. The day Martin Luther King was shot. The end of the Vietnam War. However, for me, those pale for us as a nation in comparison to 9/11/2001. I thought about using some reference to 9/11 as the title, but decided to stay with my first idea. I will mention here, though, my memories of that day. I was on an airplane on the way from Guadalajara, Mexico, to Phoenix, AZ. Suddenly, we landed in Hermosillo, Mexico, and were told the US asked us to not cross the border yet. That was weird. We went into the terminal and, at the only TV in the place, watched the amazing coverage. I knew we would not be entering the US that day. They eventually flew us back to GDL, where I stayed for a week until they let planes begin to fly again. I flew back on a plane with only 7 passengers the following Saturday. That whole week, I watched CNN everyday, waiting for clues as to what happened and why. Where were you? This article shares some then-and-now photos from the site(s).

Having worked many times in Scotland, I am following the upcoming vote for secession from the UK with interest. I am not sure it makes sense, but it would be kind of cool. Today, though, Yahoo! is floating a story saying Texas seceding from the US would actually make more sense. And remember, in 2009, Gov. Perry suggested just such a thing. That would be really weird, huh?

Once again, Clarity of Vision doesn't show up in a post until the very end. Maybe I should say I was saving the best for last? Maybe not. It just kind of happens. Everybody, have a great day.