Bible Before Business

I have some lyrics for you. I was thinking about this song as I got ready this morning. Can you tell me who sang it?
Toil and labour on the Ark, Noah, God meant it.
Scorn and pity's all the world around, you'll ever know.
Rain and thunder in the dark, Noah, God sent it.
Sing redemption everywhere you go.
Praise the Lord, he has led you, Noah.
Thirst and hunger on the rock, Moses, God gave you.
Pain and sorrows all the world around, you'll ever know.
Fire and fury in the cloud, Moses, God save you.
Sing redemption everywhere you go.
Praise the Lord, he has led you, Moses.
Cold and hungry in the ground, Joseph, God left you.
Greed and hatred's all the world around, you'll ever know.
Pull your coat of colours round, Joseph, God blessed you.
Sing redemption everywhere you go.
Praise the Lord, he has led you, Joseph.

Those words sounded like Bible names, right? Yup, but this is by an old rock band called Blood, Sweat & Tears. It is from their fourth album, called BS&T4. Clever, right? You can listen to the song here.

I don't know how many of you were reading National Review magazine back in 1995, but they published the following Bible stories, allegedly written by real students and presented as genuine, authentic and unretouched. Here are a couple:
In the first book of the Bible, Guinness's, God got tired of creating the world, so He took the Sabbath off. Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark. Noah built an ark, which the animals came on to in pears. Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day, but a ball of fire by night.

The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with the unsympathetic Genitals. Samson was a strongman who let himself be led astray by a Jezebel like Delilah. Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the apostles.

I cannot remember if I shared the article about the iPotty before. Yes, it is a real thing. Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like. I cannot judge if it is effective. I will leave that to those of you trying to potty train your child right now.

Speaking of children, check out JV looking at the billiard balls falling into the return hold on our trip up north. Of course, the next step was that he interrupted our game so he could drop balls into each different pocket and watch as they made their way through the return mechanism.

Here's the view from his vantage point.

How many of you check out the sales brochures in your daily newspaper? We used to, although that is primarily replaced now by online opportunities. Anyway, I read last year about the exclusions page for Dick's Sporting Goods. Check the page out and notice that it seems like every product they sell can be excluded from any promotion or sale. And in an additional explanatory paragraph, they also exclude some whole product categories.

Feeling fat today? Well, take solace in the fact that, overall, America is not getting fatter anymore. Adult daily calorie consumption is “in the midst of [its] first sustained decline” since the feds began tracking it more than 40 years ago, per the Times. American children are cutting back even more on calories, by an average of roughly 9 percent since 2004. Non-diet soda consumption is down a whopping 25 percent since the new millennium. It is still not necessarily pretty, though, Read more details in the article.

If you decide to watch your own eating, you might decide to limit carb intake.

You didn't think I would let a birthday pass without mention, did you? Bugs Bunny turned 75 this year. I don't know the actual date, but I guess at that age, it doesn't really matter. Anyway, Happy Birthday, Bug. Hopefully, that's not all, folks.

On your birthday, calories are magically immaterial. Well, I think I heard that once. Anyway, I saw a graphic illustration of the amount of sugar in a Red Bull. I have never tried one, but I know many around me use it. You know Red Bull energy drink, right?

Here's the sugar in a 12oz can.

As so often happens, I share a few things and then leave you wanting more. Well, you will just have to wait. I am through for today.

Painting and Pen and Ink and Programs

I did not find any personal photos that I haven't shared yes, so it's time for the "which art do you like most?" quiz. Personally, I would choose #1, and then, #2.

Have you seen the story about the street cleaner and the street painter? I will share several of the photos that tell the tale. You will have to go to the story to see all the photos, but it is worth going through to the end. One of them concedes.

I have always like a nice pen-and-ink drawing. I remember that someone once gave a friend in Mexico a nice drawing of the entry to their house as a housewarming gift. It was a little bit like these in that it was only on part of the paper, leaving the majority of it blank, really pulling the eye to the details of the drawing.

Do you remember a TV program called The Beverly Hillbillies? They lived in a gorgeous mansion in Beverly Hills, and the external scenes were shot at a real house. The Kirkeby Mansion is located at 750 Bel Air Drive in the Bel Air neighborhood. And one time in the fifth season, John Wayne appeared on the program, and his only compensation was a fifth of bourbon. More factoids here.

Work is intruding on our time again, and I can only ignore it for so long. Let's CoV it and get busy.

Have a magnificent Monday.

Lots of Sizes Mentioned Today

Do you know the names of all the continents? In alphabetical order, they are Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. How did you do? I missed Australia. Anyway, I saw an infographic the other day depicting how large Africa really is.

OK, since you looked at that last map, I have one for you that's really far out. Far out in space, that is. A map of Mars built from images sent by the Rover.

Do you like the musical Les Miserables? I do, although maybe not as much as our oldest GRAND. Do you like parodies of Les Miserables? Some are very clever. We found one by the Sesame Street characters called Les Mousserables. They did a good job of it.

I don't think that I shared the photos from last month's page in my Ouray calendar. First is a shot of some mine parts rusting in the mountains above Silverton, CO.

And the next is conveniently labeled for your viewing pleasure.

Has anyone besides me noticed that computers have gotten smaller over the years? I suppose you can guess that the answer is yes. Here is a brief reminder.

Now, Intel has released the world's smallest Windows computer, the Intel Compute Stick.

It plugs in the HDMI slot on your TV or monitor. You can read the pluses and minuses in this article.

I have run out of material for the week. Let's close today with a reminder of why John Rambo, the Sylvester Stallone character from the 80s, would be a good role model for project managers.

Alright, alright, alright. Y'all have a great weekend and a Fabulous Friday.

Gabbing About Going Green and Greenery

Dad is doing very well, everyone. He experienced almost no pain and the eyepatch has been removed. He told me last night that he was watching TV and almost forgot that he had the surgery the day before. That is great news and thanks for all your prayers. We can all praise the Lord together for that.

I do enjoy the challenge of capturing nice photos. However, not so much that i want to spend the price for a full-frame DSLR (at least not yet). As you know, they say that it is really the 'glass' that makes a good camera great. Sorry for the photographer's lingo. That means good pictures can be better with a better lens. So, I found an article talking about interesting lenses. First, here is the world's most expensive lens. It sold for just over $2 million dollars.

More in my price range is one that was on sale for only $45,000 a few years ago. It has a minimum focus range of 400 ft (so whatever you want to take a picture of must be almost a football-field-and-a-half away), and is targeted for capturing those photos 18-32 miles away. Oh yeah, it weighs 200 lbs, so I would need a bigger camera case.

I do not have an Android phone with Cortana on it. Do you? If so, you might see what her response is to these various commands/comments. For example, when asked if she is beautiful, she responds, "I come from an attractive lineage of ones and zeroes. Though more from the one's side."

In China, it seems that there are occasionally bootleg copies of movies available for sale on the street. Not surprisingly, they package it up nicely to get a better price. However, they do not copy that packaging graphics and verbiage from the US version. They create new cases and art work. I am guessing they created this blurb on a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in English, but not using native English speakers.
"Jackson Pollock is the Greatest living fainter in the united states always well known what if you are a little boy, you must like the film. Become the film is very beautiful and very funny. Hope everybody can watch this film quick, since that you maybe find a different file, another world, let's go to see quickly!"

I have NOT seen Sharknado 3 yet. I know it just premiered last night, so that is my official excuse. Unofficially, I do not plan to see it. Well, maybe that is not true after reading about it for today's blog. It sounds like it has some funny stuff. Mark Cuban as the President? He IS on Shark Tank, you know.
“Nobody attacks my house. This time, it’s personal!” — Cuban, while cocking his gun and preparing to go shark hunting through the halls of the White House.

Another in the Going Green series from Clarity of Vision.

We are now in the middle of a hot summer, which makes remembering trips to cooler places a very pleasant memory. Here are the GRANDS dancing as we listen to a local band during our mini-vacay a couple of weeks ago. The girls are even wearing light jackets.

The little park area where we were listening included some landscaping, allowing me to look around for pretty flowers. I found a couple of spots that looked picturesque.

Wow, time is flying by this morning. It is already time to get to work. No more 'burning daylight'. What's today? Thrilling Thursday, my friends.

Names, But No Faces

I don't think I mentioned (actually, I know that I didn't) that on our family reunion trip, we passed near where Bonnie and Clyde were killed. We did not sight-see in the area. We were passing through. Anyway, another couple of pieces of trivia about them. Both are buried in the Dallas area (although not together). The car in which they were killed is in Whisky Pete's Casino south of Las Vegas. I learned both of those as I researched them this morning.

While I am name dropping, let me drop Scotland Yard. I have been to Scotland many times, but never seen this place. Why? Because it is in London, not Scotland. Wait. Then why is it called that? Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard), the colloquial name for the Metropolitan Police Service headquarters in London, is named such because the rear entrance (which subsequently became the public entrance) for the original police headquarters was located on the street Great Scotland Yard and the street name became synonymous with the station. Now, you know.

Naming consumer products is an interesting art. For example, the hand soap in our bathroom is called Pacific Coral Reef. I don't know exactly what the scent is, but I am very sure it does not smell like a coral reef. That would be stinky, fishy smelling. I imagine calling it Stinky Fish Smell wouldn't foster the same number of sales.

I also am glad they renamed Fatty, Fried Artery-Clogging Dough Circles to Donuts, aren't you?

Dad had some kind of retina surgery yesterday (actually, macular pucker) , but is doing very well. As of last night, well aft6er the anesthesia should have worn off, he said he was not in pain. He goes to his regular eye doctor today to get the eyepatch off and see how things look. Unfortunately, it will be 3-6 months before he knows exactly how successful the surgery was.

Speaking of seeing, nothing that I can see was lost from my computer while getting repaired. Yes, my computer is back home after a trip to TX. They had to replace the main logic board. While this repair was at no charge to me, the power cable for it has been broken for a while, so I picked up a new one. $85 later, I was on my way home. Yes. $85 for a power cable.

I have already shared a lot of words, and you have not seen any pictures. Yes, I do have my computer back. Yes, all my photos are on there. However, since it was Tuesday, I had Chorale last night and got back too late to search through for any to share. OK, I will grab a couple of the shots from my smartphone. Just a moment.

We will start with a shot of my shadow while I was waiting for a group photo on our recent trip up north. Yes, just like the picture shows, I am 3/4 legs.

No, that is not just a stone wall. I just thought it was a good shot of my camera sitting their waiting to capture the group shot. It almost blends in.

I missed my music downloads last week. This week, I grabbed some Loggins & Messina from their 1974 Mother Lode album. I already have most of the others, including Sittin' In, Loggins & Messina, Full Sail, So Fine, Native Sons, and Sittin' In Again.

Time's Up! I cannot take any more time writing today's blog post. One, I need to get to work. Two, I want to save some material for tomorrow. Three, there is no three. Two should be enough. See you in 23 hours.

Six Points For Finishing Today's Post

I am starting this post on Sunday night using our older machine. My Macbook Pro is, of course, still in the shop. It means that my photos are also off in a shop in TX or TN. It means that my music on my phone cannot be changed until the laptop returns. It means that I am using a web browser last updated in 2010. An operating system last updated in 2007. A 2 GHz speed processor. Oh well.

I really, really needed to work this weekend, but instead chose to spend time with the GRANDS. It really puts me behind at work, but I wouldn't trade the work for time with the grandkids. Actually, we only had the two younger ones, so that was a change. We had the oldest girl a couple of weeks ago. Now, there is one thing that I WOULD trade: 24x7 of Disney Channel and Nickolodeon. I know WAY too many characters on those shows.

I might have shared this before, but I came across it again last week, and it truly is an amazing demonstration of what Excel is capable of. The actual code can be found at the link, but you can see the image below.

Are you biased about anything? You know you are, even if you will not admit it to me or maybe even to yourself. Check out the lede for the article below. Only 1 out of 661 surveyed felt they were more biased than average. That is amazing.

People are more biased than they think, researchers say One person out of 661 responding to a survey said they believe themselves to be more biased than the average person. The researchers who conducted the survey argue that "bias blind spots" should be addressed by HR departments through training and other strategies.

Are you a skeptic or a believer (or even a Belieber)? I am not talking about a teen pop star. I am talking about whether or not people have ever actually visited the moon. I do believe it. So, you can celebrate today, July 20, 1969, as the day the astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, or as the day a hugely elaborate hoax was concocted.

I don't think I shared this shot of the evening sky from our recent trip up north. I tried for a panorama shot, but it did not catch the top of the clouds. So, instead, here are two shots of a side-by-side scene.

Here's the puzzler presented to University of Maryland psychology students. They could select to have either 2 points or 6 points added to their final paper grade. However, if more that 10% of the class selects 6 points, no one gets any extra credit. What would you do? The instructor said that, so far, since 2008, only one group has gotten extra credit.

Do you like gladiator movies? Hmm, wrong question. Do you like reading stories about the recording of famous albums? If so, and you like Pink Floyd, you should read this article about recording Dark Side of the Moon. Quite revealing.

September 27, 2015. A day that will live in .... No, it's not really that big of a day, although CBS will be airing a 2-hour series finale for CSI. Grissom WILL be back. Stokes will not. I will be checking it out, though. How about you?

You do NOT need a CSI technician to determine who writes Clarity of Vision. I will admit it.

You also do not need a CSI person to know when the blog post of the day is over. While I may not always call it out, I usually add some salutation that gives you a hint. You know, something like, "Go out and have a Marvelous Monday" or something like that. So, go do it.

I Have Looked Everywhere, But It Is Lost

By now, you have certainly guessed that I am talking about my mind. I think I lost it Wednesday night, but since it is not here, I cannot be sure. Well, then how do I know that it was Wednesday? That was the night that the laptop wouldn't boot. How bad is that, you ask? It holds my photos, my music, my tax returns. It hooks me up to the interweb. Yes, I should have backed up more frequently. Let's not dwell in the past, though. Let's look ahead. I took it to the Apple Store last night for a 6:30 appointment at the Genius Bar. Whoo to the Hoo, my favorite kind of bar. They diagnosed that the problem was related to the video card. The repair cost is $310 and it has to be sent to a third party. I pondered my options. While cogitating, they announced that this is a common problem with this computer, and even though warranty was over long ago, they are fixing these for free. As I said above, Whoo to the Hoo. They warned me there is a risk I could lose my data, but I cannot access it right now anyway. I said, "Let's do it."

No photos does make it a challenge to share pictures with you. I grabbed a couple on my phone last night. First is from a book I have about lighthouses. You know I enjoy them. Here is one of Portland Head Light in Portland, ME. Of course we have been there. Otherwise, I would not have shared it, silly.

And I noticed these plates sitting on our table as I was packing to leave home. Our daughter-in-love made them a couple of years ago and I often overlook them. This one features lyrics from "When I'm Sixty-Four" by The Beatles.

OK, so I am computerless. I am also carless since having that T-Bone accident a couple of weeks ago. If problems really do run in threes, I still have one to go. I will worry about that some other day.

Maybe the other problem is a sale I saw on Groupon this morning. Check it out below. Notice the pricing of the second deal. Not much of a savings, is it?

I found this story on Yahoo today about a 22-year-old in GA who blew through a $90K college fund in three years and cannot fund her Senior year now. She went on the radio there in Atlanta and shared her story. However, it has generated a lot of comments. Listen to a couple of things this lady says:

Years ago my grandparents set up a college fund for me, which was amazing, and I haven’t been very good with my budget for school. The first payment for my senior year just arrived and I don’t have the money basically. I’ve just been avoiding it. I knew the bill was coming.”

“I used it to budget for school clothes and college break money. I probably should have not done that. I took a trip to Europe. The Europe thing I thought was part of my education and that’s how I tried to justify that.”

“Maybe [my parents] should have taught me to budget or something. They never sat me down and had a real serious talk about it.”

“[My parents] said there was nothing they could do for me. They’re not being honest with me saying they don't have [money] because my dad has worked for like a million years and they have a retirement account.”

“Then my parents suggested I go take out a loan at a credit union and I’m, like, how am I supposed to do that?"

Yes, all of the above is real. You might want to read the whole article, which I linked above.

Do you have any NFL-branded merchandise in your home? I imagine most of us do. Which franchise do you think has had the most logo changes? The Boston Braves/Boston Redskins/Washington Redskins franchise has seemingly had the most, using 10 different primary logos over the years. And the Least? Dallas has had only two, with the last (adding a white band around the edge of the star) occurring in 1964.

Do you have any spaghetti-branded merchandise in your home? No, I suppose not. Still, there is a story on Yahoo that will be of interest to anyone who makes their own spaghetti. Use a frying pan to cook the noodles. It saves time and money. There is an article and a video (with oh-so-snazzy music) here.

Do you have any Star Trek-branded merchandise in your home? Maybe. What if you could have something like the ship's computer in your home? According to David Pogue, Echo from Amazon is as close to it as there as anything right now. He makes a case that it is a great deal at $180. Check it out. She can even tell jokes. “Why don’t bicycles wake up early? They’re two-tired” “How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to hold the giraffe, and the other to fill the bathtub with brightly colored machine tools.”She also has some witty responses programmed in. “How much is that doggie in the window?” (”That one’s not for sale. But the one with the fluffy tail is really nice, too.”) “I want the truth.” (“You can’t handle the truth!”) “Inconceivable!” (”You keep using that word. I do not think that word means what you think it means.”) “Open the pod bay doors.” (“I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that. I’m not Hal, and you’re not in space.”) “What do you want to be when you grow up?” (”I want to be the computer from Star Trek!”)

I also saw an article about how weird the English language can be. We all know that is true, but some sentences are more challenging than others. How about this one?
Read rhymes with lead, and read rhymes with lead, but read and lead don’t rhyme, and neither do read and lead.

And another oddity of our language is this next sentence. My boss' boss' boss just came by, so I need to get on a task he assigned. Let me first share a CoV with you.

OK, I found one more item to share today. We all know about the various pronunciations of the "-ough" ending on words.
A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.

No, I really am done now. Have a great weekend.

Space, Spice and Saints

Who's a genius? Well, I am hoping someone at the Apple Store is because I have an appointment to see one tonight. My Macbook Pro won't boot. That's where all my music is (no, not backed up that recently) and all of my recent photos (also not backed up that recently). Bummer, right? Oh, and my past tax returns are on that machine, and also, as you might guess, not backed up. You would think that I should know better.

And now, a bit of a trick. Which one is the real Pluto? This one? The whole article about New Horizons reaching the dwarf planet can be read on NY Times here.

Or this one?

Well, if you combine them, is it still Pluto?

Well, time for some bacon and eggs. No, wait. Seaweed and eggs, please. Scientists have found that smoking red algae makes it taste like bacon and it is more healthy than kale. So, interested?

Since we are talking about eating things, I wonder if you like some spice in your food? Spiciness is measured in Scoville Heat Units. Banana peppers run 100-900 SHU. Jalapeno can be up to 10,000 SHU. Getting pretty spicy, right? Habanero can get up to 350,000 SHU. Of course, you have heard of the famous ghost pepper, which can reach about 1 million SHU. Is that hot enough for ya? However, the Carolina Reaper reaches 2 million. Watch this video of people trying it. For me, no thinks.

And more eating news broke yesterday when Lay's announced the finalists for the potato chip 'Do Us a Flavor' competition. They were not then ones predicted a week or two ago. Early guesses were for “Thanksgiving Stuffing,” “Sushi,” “Cheeseburger,” and “Truffle Parmesan.” However, the chosen flavors included “Southern Biscuits and Gravy,” “Kettle Cooked Greektown Gyro,” “New York Reuben,” and “Wavy West Coast Truffle Fries.” You can read details about them here.

There is NO WAY there can be more food news in today's post. Wrong. It seems smoked gouda is now available in some McDonald's restaurants. This follows the offering of kale. For now, though, it will probably not become my 'go-to' dining choice.

Wait. I ran out of food news and I ran out of time. So, let's run out of here with an almost-humorous comic strip on our minds.

Have a Thankful Thursday and I'll be back soon.

Wet and Wild (Except for the Wild Part)

Did you have any summer rains pass by your house last night? We did. A whole lot of wind and rain. I think I have had to clean my pool every night this week. Anyway, that reminded me that I have some inclement weather photos from our trip last weekend. Here is a view from our front porch.

And the rain falling on the mini-golf course in the middle of the campus.

This is always fun for kids...getting all wet in the rain.

And also from our porch, you could see this young aspen.

Speaking of water falling down and getting us wet, do you shower in the morning or the evening? For me, showering in the morning is a necessity. It is what kickstarts me into the day. Well, someone has analyzed whether morning or evening is better for you based on a few circumstances. It confirms that morning is the best time for my daily showers.

I weighed this morning and I am up 1/2 lb since Monday. SINCE MONDAY! What is going on? As you know, I eat fairly healthily. This article may give some clue. I have been eating a quinoa salad and black beans for lunch each day. As you can see in the story, A cup of quinoa contains the same amount of calories as 17 Doritos. And a cup of black beans has the calorie equivalent of a slice of the Carvel Celebration ice cream cake you can find in most grocery stores. I don't measure how much of each I eat, so I am sure I don't stop at one cup. I have GOT to get back to the gym. And it sounds like I should get back to unhealthy fast foods, right?

Did you hear that we had a spacecraft pass by Pluto yesterday? Yup, photos coming soon. How far away is that? I saw this graphic showing just how far away that really is, and it is excellent. They started by setting the size of the moon as 1 pixel and then put in the rest of the planets. As you scroll, read the comments between planets. Funny and interesting stuff. You really ought to look at it. I thought it was excellent.

Now, did you learn anything from that? Yes, there is a lot of empty space in the solar system. Just think how much there is between stars. Anyway, I saw a link for 37 websites that help you learn more things. Languages. Computer languages. Coding. Chess. Piano. Guitar. Get going and learn something new everyday.

Let's check in on some of my Bitstrips characters. As you may or may not know, I have to create each of my people by selecting the various features that make them up. Things like hair color, eye shape, body build, clothing, glasses, are all selected when I create them. The challenge comes when I am trying to make them look like someone I know. I think MBH came out quite well. So did many others. Let's see what those wacky people are up to today.

And we are almost at the halfway point for the week. Make it a good one.