Celebrate! Celebrate! Dance to the music...

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.

~George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Happy Earth Day!

Eyjafjallajokull

I admit to being fed up with stories of [stoic/whiny/weary/frustrated]  [travellers/airline executives] whinging on about their fear, experiences, etc.
I'm tired are hourly updates on the skies - although admittedly I'm not waiting to travel (yet), nor do I have a loved one stranded..
I am at the eye rolling stage when yet another talking head spouts off about the economic impact to the airlines, businesses, and the economy.

But .... Daaaaaaaaayuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmm

I am awestruck, fascinated, and just a wee bit terrified.

These are some incredible photographs of the Icelandic Volcano.

More from Eyjafjallajokull

just sayin'....

Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different. Keep that in mind when you're licking something that doesn't belong to you...

Do I laugh? or cry?

this is so many kinds of wrong....

Would Anyone Like to Rep the Backtacular Gluteal Cleft Shield?

and while I'm channeling my disgust at ::ahem:: 'fashion' (I just threw up a little ...)
WTF is up with the deformed head look? Bumpits? for real?

mere mortals all...

April 9, 2010
Less Than Perfect
The Humanity Of Leaders

When we choose a leader, we often place our faith in that person to a degree that exceeds what is humanly possible.


When we recognize someone as a leader, we often place our faith in that person to a degree that exceeds what is humanly possible. In other words, we expect them to be beyond fault and to not make mistakes. This, of course, is neither realistic nor fair. Just like us, these people are living human lives, and part of the deal is learning through experience and working out our individual karmas. There will always be missteps and things they would do differently given a second chance. If we are to be fair, we must grant our leaders the same forgiveness, compassion, and understanding that we grant our closest friends as they navigate the complex challenges of this human life.

Leaders are special people in that they have the ability to guide and represent large groups of people. In this calling, they agree, to some degree, to be responsible for the well-being of others. Because of this, we hold them up to a higher standard of behavior, and in some ways this is fair. However, we will only be disappointed and disillusioned time and time again if we expect them to be perfect. If they were perfect, they would not be here on earth. Perhaps the most we can expect of our leaders is that they make it a practice to acknowledge their shortcomings and learn from their experiences. Beyond this, when our leaders let us down, it is up to us to forgive and move on. Dwelling on disappointment and negativity creates more of the same.

People who choose to lead are often extraordinary individuals blessed with vision, energy, and charisma. It is their path to inspire, guide, and represent us, but it is not possible for them to never let us down. Leaders are on a path of growth just as we are. Perhaps this is something to remember when we have the opportunity to choose somebody in a leadership role, or perhaps you are ready to step into a role of leadership yourself.

from DailyOM

I believe we should NEVER let a leader off the hook if they commit a crime - however we do need to remember that they are only human and WE need to be proactive and not place all our faith, all the responsability on them.

You're not the only one who's made mistakes, but they're the only things that you can truly call your own.

Billy Joel, You're Only Human (Second Wind)

A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner...

If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work but rather, teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

seasons greetings

Happy CH3-CH2-O-CH2-CH3!!

a dose of Reality

This morning you were awakened by your alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy. You then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, you turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. You watched this while eating your breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the vitamins which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time as regulated by the US Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory, you got into your National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank. On the way out the door, you deposited any mail you may have to be sent out via the US Postal Service and dropped the kids off at the public school.

After work, you drive your NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to a house which has not burned down in your absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

You then log on to the internet, which was developed by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Administration and post on freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because it's impossible for the government to do anything right.

-Anonymous

Would my beloved friends in the US of A please stop panicking? Please? Take a deep breath... a valium or two if need be... you're gonna be fine!

I'm getting old...

I get a kick out of my bird-feeders.

A) It provides hours of entertainment for my cat...

B) It provides hours of entertainment for me - although I'm in no way 'a Birder' yet - it's fun to see the different varieties of birders and their species personalities.

It’s also a hoot to watch the squirrel acrobatics as they try to raid the feeders.

I know that it's 'good' to feed the birds over the winter months when food is scarce. But it was really rewarding to see how much this actually helps

A few weeks ago I went out to slap another block of suet into the suet feeder. In the tree I noticed a small distinctive (lop-sided red cap) but sad looking woodpecker - its feathers were all scruffy looking and it didn't budge even when I got close, it looked exhausted. I'm not sure whether it was a juvenile or just some poor little guy who'd had a rough go of it.

I went back inside and made a point of watching it carefully just in case we had to do a woodpecker rescue.

Eventually it hopped onto the suet feeder and it was there for a "long-time". It hopped back into the tree and sat there for a time and then made another trip to the feeder, then back to the tree, and then back to the feeder... later in the day it had disappeared. I noticed it back at the feeder in the evening, and I’ve seen it fairly regularly over the past few weeks.

It is quite gratifying to see it now – it’s perky and alert and its feathers are healthy looking. It flits around just like all the others and it even “hangs out” with them now
*happy sigh*

Spring has sprung...

Spring Equinox, Vernal Equinox... equal day and night.
Enjoy...

Don't know about where you live, bust the last few days of Winter were warmer and sunnier than this first day of Spring.

Dear Internet,

I'm having an affair with the real world, but things should calm down soon...

in the meantime:

Shark-Bitten Crocodile Poop Fossils Found (No, Really)

Enjoy your weekend my darlings!

In the dark blue sky so deep ...

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The sun will come out tomorrow but until then yours is the night, with all her stars.

EPIC

GOLD!!!!!!!

Solar Storms Could Be Earth's Next Katrina

A massive solar storm could leave millions of people around the world without electricity, running water, or phone service... read more at NPR

Veritas vos liberabit

Veritas vos liberabit

According to Gloria Steinem, the truth will set us free. But first, it will piss us off.

I think we’re all guilty of it in some aspects - we tend to romanticize the past and history.

We think of the wholesomeness and clean living of the past. We think of how simple things used to be. We think of clean air, pure food, with none of the "evil" stresses of modern living - no cell phones, no traffic jams, no video games, no bad stuff at all.

However there was bad stuff... lots of it.

There was no "wholesomeness" - no refrigeration meant food rotted, sexually-transmitted diseases festered, you could die easily from things that are easily treated today.

There was no "clean living" - personal hygiene was non-existent (at least by 2010 standards) - face it until the 1970s many women only washed their hair once a week when they had it “done” at the hairdressers.

And indoor plumbing is a recent invention - wenches used to fling buckets full of urine and poop out windows into the street (and we think bus shelters smell bad)

Deodorant? Nope - sorry.
Smiling? Nope - your teeth, if there were any, were rotten so probably not...
And as the snow falls outside all I have to do is turn up the furnace and gaze outside my double-glazed-weather-blocking windows.

We're also guilty of putting figures on pedestals which aren't warranted. Napoleon, Amelia Earhart, Kennedy (even staunch party-faithful admit he hadn't really accomplished much at the time he was assassinated), etc

King Tut is one of those figures. He was a minor ruler from a relatively short-lived dynasty. He would probably have remained "unsung" had it not been for the fact that his tomb was forgotten about by everyone - including tomb-raiders.

He is famous because no-one bothered to rob him. His myth started with gold, and was popularized by "fantastical" (in the true sense of the word) rumours of a curse in the already occult-crazed upper-classes.

In short "The pharaoh who in life was one of the least esteemed of Egypt's kings has become in death the most renowned." (Unknown source)

We've all helped too... haven't we? We’ve stared in awe at the riches, we’ve gone to movies, and watched documentaries. Many Tut-fans bought into the "oh wow he had gorgeous stuff, he must have been murdered - ooooo the bust they made from his skull made him gorgoeus!! *fangirl squee* he looks like that guy who played Alexanders lover” *squee* and slashy fanfic about a long-dead Pharaoh flowed.

Thank science, or blame science, for the truth...

The poor little mite who ascended to the throne at 9 and died when he was 19 was a sickly teenager, with a cleft palate, a club foot, and weak bones resulting (probably) from the fact that his parents were full-brother and sister.

He was probably in pain for most of his life; he died of a broken leg and complications from severe malaria. Hardly romantic, eh?

I'm not sure whether I'm happy to find out the answer to a mystery, or whether I'm going to miss the mystery.

A family tree at last

King Tut felled by his feet, not his foes

Egypt reveals Tutankhamun's lineage, cause of death





On sober second thought - I'll keep my blackberry, my frantic schedule, my toothbrush, my 911 access,..

I won't stop loving history and fantasizing about clean water and air - but I will remember that I got it pretty good in 2010.

practice makes the world more fun..

"One can't believe impossible things," Alice said.

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

Lewis Carroll

Through the Looking Glass, Chapter V

No truer words...

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO-HOO, what a ride!!"

aren't kids cute?

A first grade girl handed in the drawing below for a homework assignment....



After it was graded and the child brought it home, she returned to school the next day with the following note:

Dear Ms. Davis,
I want to be very clear on my child's illustration. It is NOT of me on a dance pole on a stage in a strip joint I work at Home Depot and had commented to my daughter how much money we made in the recent snowstorm. This drawing is of me selling a shovel.

Mrs. Harrington

early to bed, early to rise.

The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep.
~Jalaluddin Rumi

I knew there was a reason I never sleep in.