Today we are at Day 1 of the April 2013 AtoZ Challenge… join us, if you’d like… it’s free and fun!!!
A is for…. Apophysis – a FREE fractal generating application Art – digital and/or fractal, that is Abstract – most of my fractal art is abstract, and so is the art of many other fractalists
Arianna (6ish) and Aiden (2ish), my grandkids live in upper North Dakota, which is way north of me, here in Minneapolis…
Because of the distance, I have yet to meet Aiden, but Arianna I have met back when she was just a kid (you know – a LITTLE kid)…
Anywho, I’ve been thinking about them lately and since I selected a different fractal to represent the letter “A” in the April 2013 Challenge, which begins in a few days, I decided to feature them in their full fractalness, like early, before the challenge starts… So’s you can look at them for a few days, before the FridayFractalFeature and the blog hop…
So, I present to you, in all their youthfulness…
ARIANNA
and
AIDEN
They probably have spring fever and are driving their parents crazy, right about now!
Today is the day (like ANY other day) when GRATITUDE will be at the top of our list of feelings.
Whether we’re grateful for a big hot meal cooked by and shared with family members, or a big hot meal cooked by and shared with volunteers. Or for a friend sharing their “wealth” so we can fill up our tank. Or some new and distant friends that have come and gone (MOSTLY come!) over that past some time. Or for having a roof over our head, be it for one night or many. Or many choices in our life, or even a few.
Or maybe it is 12 straight hours of football with another sport or two during commercials. Or belonging to a network or many of wonderful folks who have come together for usually a common purpose. Or perhaps that Black Friday comes early this year (let’s be sure to thank those who are working so we can shop)!
All of the above involve folks, friends that will stay with us through thick and thin. Folks, friends that we will be there for us no matter what for.
This is my big gratitude. I have met so many wonderful folks, friends, many that have touched my heart in a far deeper way than I ever expected. So much so that when one does leave this world, it hurts so hard, I am surprised someone I never met in person has became so close.
And, like Woody, I think life is just like Alice’s Restaurant. Where strange things happen and we keep on truckin’ and we meet new friends and get confused at times and even wonder what it’s all about. Well, I’m here to tell you, for me it is about all of you! Each and every one of you who are reading this message. Those I have come to know a little or a lot. Those of you who have come to know me a little or a lot.
Whether you knew me way before I began this blog, or have just now stopped in for the first time to see what this blog is. For and to all of you I am forever grateful for the opening of your hearts, minds, ears and time. For sharing your self with me, allowing me to share myself with you. That is my GRATITUDE today and every day.
But since I don’t often say or show it, today is the day I SHOUT it out to all who can hear, that my friends are the MOST important thing to me. What a sad life I would have, without the wealth of your caring, of your acceptance, of your giving spirit, of your understanding nature.
Of course, family comes under that same umbrella, or maybe it is the other way around. Mayhaps friends are now additions to family. All of us giving, sharing, caring and being.
So, this is my wish for you. That you will always have the love of friends, the friends who will love you in spite of your weaknesses. And in spite of your strengths! They just love you, because you are who you are. Sharing the memories, the dreams, the feelings, the joy, the passion, the sadness and the struggles that make up our lives.
From our home to you, Mama, Mimi and I send Thanksgiving greetings and love. (Mama and Mimi gave me permission to speak for them today, as they are busy celebrating Thanksgiving in their own special – sleeping – way.) May you always have the grace to understand, the will to share and the luxury of choices.
This goes out to all of you. Those celebrating their Day of Thanks today. Those who have recently celebrated their own Thanksgiving. And those of you who have yet to celebrate yours.
Whether then or now, whether right or wrong, whether won or lost, many have given their lives for their country and beliefs. We, the fortunate, enjoy the fruits of your sacrifice. We shall not forget.
… the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month…
Q: Where can men over the ageof 60 find younger women who are interestedin them?
A: Try a bookstore under fiction.
Q: What can a man do while his wife is going throughmenopause?
A: Keep busy. If you’re handy withtools, you can finish the basement.When you’re done you’ll have aplace to live.
Q: How can you increase theheart rate of your 60-plusyear old husband?
A: Tell him you’re pregnant.
Q: How can you avoid thatterrible curse of the elderlywrinkles?
A: Take off your glasses.
Q: Why should 60-plus year old people use valet parking?
A: Valets don’t forget where theypark your car.
Q: Is it common for 60-plus year olds to have problems withshort term memory storage?
A: Storing memory is not a problem, Retrieving it is the problem.
Q: As people age, do they sleep more soundly?
A: Yes, but usually in the afternoon.
Q: Where should 60-plus yearolds look for eye glasses?
A: On their foreheads.
Q: What is the most common remark made by 60-plusyear olds when they enterantique stores?
A: “Gosh, I remember these!”
Q:GOT
A:ANY
Q:SUGGESTIONS?
A:ADD COMMENT
SMILE, You’ve still got your sense of humor!
Some of what comprises this post has been extracted from a recursive email (email I got from a friend who got it from a friend who got it from a friend who got…). All links and attributions are from my own due diligence (ie surfing and searching, with TinEye and without). Not that I want a pat on the back or anything. I just want it clear I didn’t (I wish!!) create any of these pieces and I attributed where possible. I am the Curator. Then I thought it would be fun to add related articles, etc. So I did.
As It Seems by Lily Kershaw (I think she’s from “Glee” and there’s a Glenn Kershaw who’s a producer on “Criminal Minds”)
Final song of the season 7 finale of “Criminal Minds”, which aired on 5/16/2012. Song was released on 5/11/2012. It is available as an MP3 $0.99 download on Amazon
Beautiful song, lovely voice, moving finale…
and then for some chuckles…
Izaak Mak over at I want ice water posted the lyrics to the song, if you’re interested!!! (Sure were a lot of searches for that song and it’s lyrics today!!!)
In WI, the “Equal Rights” Bill was quietly repealed by Gov. Scott Walker. This is a bill that would facilitate those NOT getting equal pay filing lawsuits to address this incongruity.
MN legislature is also currently debating the same issue, as well as right to work legislation, which, in effect is union busting.
And a top former GOP congressman, Pete Hoekstra, now running against a DFL’r in MI, says the equal rights issue “is a nuisance”. HuffPost 4/13/2012
Remember Leona Helmsley? She is alleged to have stated “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.” Apparently she was referring to the “royal” “we”.
Unfortunately, her disdainful remark was pretty much right on. Well, sort of. See, 1% of the richest people have paid about approc 32% of all INCOME TAX paid by all Americans. However, due to continued tax cuts and other wealthy friendly lobbying and lawmaking, their tax burden has decreased.
The facts: 400 taxpayers with highest incomes from 1997 – 2007. Their income has increased by 392% and their average tax liability rate has declined by about 37%. In other words, over ten years, the 400 richest taxpayers made 392% more income and paid 37% less taxes. Mother Jones, 4/18/2011
Of course, we must also take into account capital gains, money earned from long term investments. Capital gains earnings comprise a much higher level of actual income for the super rich than they do for the majority of taxpayers. For example, in 2010, the income taax rate for those with incomes of $350, 000 or more was 33%, whereas, capital gains tax rates for the same amounts earned were 0%. In addition, all of the money withheld for Medicare, Social Seucrity and unemployment insurance taken plus income tax is paid by the bottom 90% of earnings/earners subject to income tax. Mother Jones, 4/18/2011.
Now, just for the moment, let’s switch from talking about individuals to companies. Ten of the richest companies in America with profits starting at $3.1 billion ALL have effective tax rates in the negative up to -11.3%. Does this means these companies get refunds every year after filing their corporate taxes?
Of these ten, seven are utility providers, like ConEd, Pacific G&E, Centrepoint. The others, Verizon, General Electric and Boeing have the top profit margins of these top elite companies of $19.8 billion, $19.6 billion and $14.8 billion, respectively. Mother Jones, 4/13/2012
Yes, it is no accident that I have these thoughts on the day our individual income taxes are due. This is what makes all the above seem so ludicrous, as most of us pay a large chunk of our yearly income to the government that is also trying to tell us what to believe and how we may care for the health of our own bodies, as women.
This is purposely NOT a rant. I want to be someone who brings light into these dark areas, that it would seem many want us may want to be in the dark about. NOW is the time to be learning about these things, not next December, after we have made half baked choices with highly spun “information” to guide us.
I’d like to recommend a post I read yesterday, “They’re Preparing Us for Another War” which speaks to these and the many other things all intermingled and entwined such that it just seems like a big old knot that we don’t or won’t take the time to try to un-knot, so we can see it clearly. But, you know what? We ARE running out of time.
We hardly had any winter at all, this year, in MN. What does this mean to our planet’s sustainability? Always looking for more and more fossil fuel, there is much “fracking” going on, must we even ask, is this the cause of the Eastern US earthquakes? How can we be so stupid as to think our digging and blowing and huffing and puffing won’t have some consequences that we might not have really thought through all that well? (Or, maybe “we” did, and decided that the corollary damage is “within acceptable parameters?”) Bloomberg 4/12/2012
I encourage each and every thinking person to rev up their critical thinking engine. It is NOT too late, but we can’t wait much longer.
Leaving you with some words of wisdom from those whom time has shown to be wise…
“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”
― C.G. Jung
“Imagination means nothing without doing.”
― Charles Chaplin
“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”
― Edward Everett Hale
The ongoing debate over birth control took a particularly nasty turn recently when conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and “prostitute” for speaking out about the issue.
Fluke, a birth control activist, spoke with TODAY’s Matt Lauer about Limbaugh’s comments and the failure of a GOP-sponsored amendment that would have allowed employers at religious institutions to opt out of providing contraception in health plans.
Fluke told Lauer that she expected some backlash, especially from someone like Limbaugh. Still, the comments stung — especially since they were made on the first day of Women’s History Month.
“I think my reaction was the reaction a lot of women have had historically when they’ve been called these types of names: Initially to be stunned by it, and then to quickly feel outraged and very upset,” she told Lauer.
Limbaugh’s comments came on the heels of heated congressional debate over the so-called “Blunt Amendment,” a measure that ultimately failed in the Senate and would have nixed the Obama administration’s mandate on contraception. Lawmakers evoked Fluke’s name during the debate as someone who testified during an unofficial democratic committee hearing headed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., about how a friend needed birth control to shrink ovarian cysts and help preserve her fertility.
Fluke had been previously blocked from testifying before a Republican-led, all-male congressional panel on contraception and religious freedom.
Limbaugh said Fluke was just trying to promote casual sex.
The ongoing debate over birth control took a particularly nasty turn recently when conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and “prostitute” for speaking out about the issue.
Fluke, a birth control activist, spoke with TODAY’s Matt Lauer about Limbaugh’s comments and the failure of a GOP-sponsored amendment that would have allowed employers at religious institutions to opt out of providing contraception in health plans.
Fluke told Lauer that she expected some backlash, especially from someone like Limbaugh. Still, the comments stung — especially since they were made on the first day of Women’s History Month.
“I think my reaction was the reaction a lot of women have had historically when they’ve been called these types of names: Initially to be stunned by it, and then to quickly feel outraged and very upset,” she told Lauer.
Limbaugh’s comments came on the heels of heated congressional debate over the so-called “Blunt Amendment,” a measure that ultimately failed in the Senate and would have nixed the Obama administration’s mandate on contraception. Lawmakers evoked Fluke’s name during the debate as someone who testified during an unofficial democratic committee hearing headed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., about how a friend needed birth control to shrink ovarian cysts and help preserve her fertility.
Fluke had been previously blocked from testifying before a Republican-led, all-male congressional panel on contraception and religious freedom.
Limbaugh said Fluke was just trying to promote casual sex.
“What does it say about the college co-ed Susan Fluke (sic) who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex — what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute.”
Limbaugh on Wednesday had referred to student Sandra Fluke as a “slut” for supporting a requirement that health insurance cover contraception. On his radio show Thursday, Limbaugh went a little further:
“So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis, here’s the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex. We want something for it. We want you post the videos online so we can all watch.”
Ladies… a little gag with your morning news and blogs and coffee ‽‽‽‽‽ And he gets PAID to be an asshole like this ‽‽‽
And, I wonder who pays for this asshole’s Viagra ‽‽‽‽‽ I mean he’d need something besides a video, I’m certain.
My gag reflex is working overtime this AM…
Later, for brainwash along with your mouthwash… the FUN part of Friday: FRACTALS!!!
I always think of myself as a number, and that number is always nine. I am nine. Now, this is very simple, yet quite profound…
Take nine, add it to any other number, say 8… ok that’s seventeen… ok then add the two digits of 17 and you get… eight. Try it. Over and over, as often as you want. Anytime you add any other number to nine, the result will be that other number (I continue adding until I reach a single digit number). There’s a lot more to this, but we’re just going with this one little idea for now.
So, 9 + 5 is 14, 1 + 4, is 5.
9 + 1 is 10, 1 + 0 is 1.
2 + 9 is 11, 1 + 1 is 2.
What happens to 9? It is gone, it seems. But, in reality, it is not. It has co-mingled with the other number to, in essence, become one with it. Hence, 9 is better able to understand 1, or 4, 0r 8 because it can actually become that number, when the two are added together.
For the longest time, I didn’t realize what this meant to me in my life, specifically, in my relationships. No matter what type of relationship. Platonic. Intimate. Emotional. Associative. In every relationship I enter into, I must be strong and vigilant, or I can lose myself in that relationship. Instead of standing tall and proud and being me – 9, I can become anything the other soul in the relationship desires, up to and including, them.
So I am psychically sensitive. If I don’t take care, keep alert and be cautious, I can be overtaken by the power of just about any soul that chooses to exercise such control. Do you know how scary that is? Have you ever once, been afraid that you might lose your own identity, will, self such that you are no longer you?
And so many of my S/O (significant other) type relationships would fail, because, after a time, there were no longer 2 souls in the relationship, there was one. Because I didn’t know how to keep us separate and unique. I don’t think, when we think about it, that is what many of us really want. We already have a relationship with ourselves, hopefully one that is strong, full of respect and love and encouragement. Hopefully one that is kind, supportive, as eager and enthusiastic as I am to grow, to express, to be, to learn, to share. But, I didn’t always have that, because I was always in relationships, living, working, being, eating, feeling in the midst of others, and I had no idea how their mere existence affected me. So often, what I thought was me, my thoughts, my strengths, my desires were usually some of mine, but also some of anyone else who might be in the vicinity of me. No wonder I was confused.
I always wondered how can I know what is right (for me). Or, the best option (for me). Or, even, what I most wanted (for me). I could never understand how someone could know themselves so well, that while still in their teens, they KNEW what they wanted to do with their life. Or what they wanted to BE when they grew up. Because all along, it was them and only them who was exerting any influence on them, even if someone would externally try to convince or get them to feel anything but their own feelings, thoughts and stuff.
No wonder I was confused.
Now, I have to figure out what I’m going to do about it. I really don’t want to live the life of a hermit, though, for the most part, I am happy doing that. But I feel like I miss out on so much. So much joy and inspiration and all that other great stuff that comes from serendipitous interactions. I’m good, but I want more than me, dammit.
I do feel like it’s a big step, becoming aware of how this all works – at least I’m not at the mercy of every whim and urge that passes me by. And it has seemed to make a difference in how I seek knowledge. I am eager, voracious, in fact for information, opinions, perspectives and all sorts of stuff. On just about any subject, there are so many in which I have more than just a passing interest. Now that I have defined (finally) my own identity, boundaries, interests (for today, anyway) I just can’t get enough. Add to that how much joy I get out of looking on my own for info and knowledge that is way deeper than what I normally would be exposed to… well, let’s just say, I’m havin’ a ball!!!
Almost as important to me as the seeking, is the sharing of what tidbits or volumes I find that somehow fit into some little corner of my growth. Another thing I have learned along the way is the serenditpty of it all is just as valuable as the directed search or contact. What I mean by that is, I can’t tell you how often I have found just the gem of knowledge that clicks a gazillion things into place for me in my vast internal information banks. It could be just the subject that I haven’t quite been able to identify, or the very answer to a simple question that I’ve been dealing with for god knows how long. And all that happened because someone, somewhere, somewhen decided they wanted to share.
So I have my purposely placed goals, paths of inquiry, perhaps even some results I might be able to create out of all this intellectual (and emotional and whatever other curiosities I’m driven by) information and further resources for information.
So, I’m off to seek and find and seek and find and seek and find and share… until the next time I just have to ask…
