Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Mascot of the Month Nominated for a Tony!

Well, it's nice for a change for Nincompoopery not to be the Bad Luck Charm....
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Watching The Following with Friends

So last night, Sam and Valerie came over to watch the last episode of The Following.
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This was Sam's first season in the show and Valerie's second.  So we had some champagne, ate some dinner and watched the show.  We were going to take a picture, but then Ed snapped this as the show surprised us all.
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Funny.
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Saturday, April 26, 2014

Today at St. John the Devine

So Eddie and I were on a walk-about today and stopped by St. John the Devine.
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The Phoenix (s) in the Main part of the church.

We hadn't ever been in, but we heard about it, so we stopped by.  The Cathedral of St. John the Devine is one of the two largest Anglican / Episcopal churches in the world (apparently, this and the Liverpool Cathedral are neck and neck.
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So, the cathedral had an amazing art display by Chinese Artist of Phoenix (s).  We went to get tickets and they were about to start a "vertical" tour.  So we took it.
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Amazing.
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Look at these pictures.
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So I start with this picture because it shows where we were.  If you look on the wall between the low and high stained glass, there is a walkway with windows.  This is the "Bishop's Walk".  We stopped there first.  Then we climbed to that bridge that spans the two columns under the rose cutout. Then we went to the Rose Cut-out!
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So Cool.
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Looking from our bridge to another.
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Look from our Rose Cut-out to the others.
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Me at the tippy top with the stained glass of Jesus as a law giver.

Eddie at the same height with the Cutouts behind in.
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After I thought we were all done, we actually went up higher and saw the roof.  I had no idea.  The roof is suspended from the actual roof.  It is all vaulted tile, and hung from the pitched roof.  Apparently the same thing is done in ancient Cathedrals, but the supports are all wood.
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The vaulted ceiling hung from the roof.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Don't Mess with Moms

Moms Demand Action is trying to make an intelligent argument for reasonable gun Control. The are modeling themselves after Moms Against Drunk Driving.  I am not sure you want to mess with Moms.
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Death Valley Post Earth Day Pictures


 For this post post Earth day I thought I would share some Death Valley shots.  If you ever want to see some very very cool landscapes (almost moonscapes) Death Valley is it.

One Bright Side of Global Climate Change: Cheaper Solar Power

On the bright side of the Global Climate change debacle, it has spurred some advances in alternative energy.  Solar Energy has fallen to near parity with fossil fuel energy.  It is actually a very good investment if you live n sunny climes.  And a great investment if you are allowed to sell your energy back to the grid when you are not using it.
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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Happy Earth Day

It is Earth Day... So some Happy Earth Day pictures....  (these are from Maine)



Monday, April 21, 2014

It's not famous, but it very cool

We were walking back from Central Park last Sunday and we saw this building at 1469 Lexington.
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It isn't anything famous, but it is a gorgeous building.  Or at least could be with some work.
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It is a rental property, owned by the 1469 Lexington property company.  It must be reasonably nice, as they have no vacancies right now.
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I like it.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Easter in Central Park

Eddie and I took a toodle around Central Park today.  It was glorious.
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I don't feel 55



A Sunny Day with my Honey

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Spring

my talisman for the week.
It is Spring - a time for renewal and love.  Eater and Passover.  The religious and the pagen joyous festivals of Spring.
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An for me, this year, a week of a positive spin on things.
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Look, it's easy to look for disagreements and anger.  I figure for a week I can find agreements amongst our arguments.  There is a common and communal joy in being alive and healthy and happy and in a community of friends and family.
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So for a week I will be positive.
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I start soon, but start you in the right mood with this picture of Lynn and Jane many years ago in the High Desert after a truly wet winter.
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Friday, April 18, 2014

Happy Good Friday

Happy Good Friday - Courtesy of Leah Harris (Laura's daughter)
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Ladies & Germs: Neil Patrick Harris Owned that show

I didn't see the original on off-Broadway.  But Neil Patrick Harris owned the revival of the show.  Given that the original Hedwig was the writer creator (and I saw the movie) - yeah,  it is a different experience.  But it was rich, full, funny and touching.
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Really Funny. And ultimately moving.
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And NPH is 90 minutes of amazing energy, voice and humor.
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Wednesday, April 16, 2014

The Rise of Gothic Fantasy

I am surprised by the fairly recent massive rise of vampire, angel, magician, shapeshifting fiction in books, TV and movies.
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Or was.
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I think about it and I remember a quote from Arthur C. Clarke that said (paraphrased of course) Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
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I am reminded of that because in many ways our world has progressed into sufficiently advanced to
Wolfman, Ghost and  Vampire from SyFy
seem magical.
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For instance, you could speak into a phone to make dinner reservations for tomorrow in Vienna and, depending if you phrased it correctly, it could do it.
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Now, I can explain how the internet message travels to a name server, how it parses and finds the server in Vienna.  How it is traded at a transport hub for the trip from New York to Vienna (assuming the restaurant's server is in Vienna) and gets to the server.
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But I have no idea how a voice command is parsed into code.  I have no idea how the reservation ap works in Vienna.  And I could take a healthy stab at how the Viennese Server is set up and loaded, but the smart phone construction might as well be Sumerian hieroglyphics.
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Through this prism of impossible things happening every moment, the possibility of Vampires and Werewolves seems less out there.
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I don't believe in them, but I get it.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Go Pro Ad - You Could NOT Plan This Better

This is a Go Pro Camera ad that shows amazing footage of a giraffe waling from just in front and then underneath.
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So Cool!
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Dr. Kathrine Hayhoe; Climate Scientist, Evangelical Christian & My Hero

So we watched the first episode of "Years of Living Dangerously" last night (tivo'ed from Sunday).  It was, at first, a little squirm inducing, but then great.
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Here is the thing.  It follows what is happening to the planet with Climate Change.  And it followed 3 very interesting story lines, cut and merged so as to keep everyone's attention.  In the first, Harrison Ford is looking at Indonesia's Deforestation tragedy (and I did not realize how much of an carbon sink peat was).  Second Thomas Friedman was investigating the impact of a severe drought on the origins of the Syrian Civil War. Finally Don Cheadle was visiting a West Texas town, devastated by drought, and  denying climate warning and saying it was the work of God.
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The third story was - I was sure - going to be cringe-worthy, even though everyone was treated with respect.  The town's folk were portrayed as anti-scientist religious zealots and Don Cheadle was the black, LA atheist who knew better.  No one was going to come out of this well, I figured.
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I was so wrong.  The leading expert in climate change in North West Texas (Lubbock at Texas Tech) is Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, a Climate Scientist and Evangelical Christian.  She explained, in simple terms, why climate change is man made.  And explained to Don Cheadle how easy that is to marry with her Christianity.
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I paraphrase but, in essence, it was that God gave man this fabulous mind and the ability to understand, to impact and to decide right from wrong.  And it is her mind, a gift from God, that allows her to see that much of what we have been doing to the environment lately is wrong.
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Don Cheadle's hope, expressed at the beginning of the show, was to find a way to get these two very different groups of people (LA Agnostics who believe in Climate Change, and West Texas Christians that don't) to talk.  Dr. Hayhoe defined a bridge of discussion.  She gave a speech to the city and spoke honestly and simply about what was happening, her background and how this affect the community.
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After a church talk, Cheadle was discussing climate change with a big white rancher (Monte Best) and the conversation went something like this:
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Monte Best - "It makes a lot more sense when someone who shares your background and your beliefs explains in a way that you understand.  It means that I can believe in Climate Change and want to do something about it and that doesn't mean ... (searching for words..)"
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Don Cheadle - "... doesn't mean you have to vote for Barack Obama."
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Monte Best - "Exactly."
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Exactly.  Who we vote for doesn't stop us all from being in this together.  The episode is online (not sure if it by the story or the entire episode) - but if you have a good connection and an hour - it is a great show.
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Don Chealde, Dr. Hayhoe and her husband, a Minister

Monday, April 14, 2014

Bringith to Me the Articles of Incorporation and Devotion (trademark pending)

(In which our hero mocks the Supreme Court, not Religion)
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So, the Supreme Court has already found that Corporations have the Right of Free Speech.  And there is a law before the court to grant them Right of Worship – which would allow corporate entities to deny insurance access to female employees for any contraception as it violates their Right of Freedom of Religion.  Oddly enough, the contraception doesn’t have to actually cause abortions, just the “truly held belief that it does”.  Well kids, if that bad boy clears the court, Daddy wants a cut.
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Hallelujah - Corporate Religion is the future.
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And so I have devised been blessed with God’s plan in the form of the divine Miracle of the True Church of the Articles of Incorporation and Devotion (trademark pending).
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The Christians defined their truth in the Second Book of the Bible as the New Testament.
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The Latter Day Saints have defined their truth in the Third Book (or so) of the Bible as the Book of Mormon.
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The True Church of the Articles of Incorporation and Devotion (hereafter referred to as TCAID (trademark pending)) has defined the Truth via a set of marks up and appendixes re: King James Bible (content use – public domain).  
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Note: All references to gender are based on the Open Source King James Version and do not imply an endorsement of this obvious sexism.
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TCAID Appendix ONE.

Insert into Genesis Chapter 9:17 (hereafter known as article of the Rainbow Covenant) item 9:17:a – 9:17:f

9:17:a And Noah took the covenant in good faith back to his household.  And yet his wife said untoith Noah, “A Rainbow?  We are in mud up to our asses, both literally and figuratively, and you get a postcard in the sky every now and then.  I have two monkeys that could negotiate a better deal than that.
9:17:a:1 And Donald Rumsfeld smiled and said, “I’m using that later.”
9:17:b For Noah’s wife was not a nice woman, and litigious.
9:17:c And the Lord God looked upon the mankind he had just blessed and saw the signs of remorse at a deal done badly.
9:17:d And the Lord God said, “Let me ensure the covenant, to which Noah so warmly received shall stand us in good stead the long years ahead.  And so I will incorporate into an LLC”
9:17:e And the LLC, the Limited Liability Corporation was created.  And the Lord God looked upon it an all was good.
9:18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.

Update Exodus 20 as noted (hereafter known as Yearly Goals and Metrics)
1 And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the Lord thy God, which haue brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage:
20:2:a And this shall be the contract for those of which I have saved.  This shall be considered as binding and self-renewing until canceled in writing 30 days before the annual renewal date – which shall be the date of birth or the nearest day of feast in the birth month (Note: This has been interrupted by later scholars as the first month of any New Year given the appalling state of record keeping in the Sinai at the time.  New Year being further defined as January 1 of common calendar.  Jewish, Chinese, Lunar and Zoorastiag Calendars are valued, but not used in this, purely record-keeping, context.)
3 Thou shalt haue no other Gods before me.
20:3:a And upon termination of services, any and all previous tithings, intellectual property and work product shall remain the property of Our Lord (LLC) covered under this covenant.**
4 Thou shalt not make vnto thee any grauen Image, or any likenesse of any thing that is in heauen aboue, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water vnder the earth.  (ie. Don’t screw off on company time)
5 Thou shalt not bow downe thy selfe to them, nor serue them: For I the Lord thy God am a iealous God, visiting the iniquitie of the fathers vpon the children, vnto the thirde and fourth generation of them that hate me: (ie. intellectual theft will be prosecuted)
6 And shewing mercy vnto thousands of them that loue mee, and keepe my Commandements.
20:6:a Except as noted in line 20:2:a above, and therein with 30-day’s notice
7 Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vaine: for the Lord will not holde him guiltlesse, that taketh his Name in vaine.
20:7:a Except when thy teamith lose in a bowl game.  Then Our Lord (LLC) gives you two free ones.
8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keepe it holy.
9 Sixe dayes shalt thou labour, and doe all thy worke:
10 But the seuenth day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not doe any worke, thou, nor thy sonne, nor thy daughter, thy man seruant, nor thy mayd seruant, nor thy cattell, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in sixe dayes the Lord made heauen and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seuenth day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and halowed it ***
12  Honour thy father and thy mother [ADD] and thy managerial team at all levels [END ADD]: that thy dayes may bee long vpon the land, which the Lord thy God giueth thee.
20:12:a But expectith not a pension for Our Lord (LLC) is not madeith of money.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steale.
16 Thou shalt not beare false witnes against thy neighbour.
20:16:a Exceptith within the courts of man, which are not the vessels of truth.  Therein, a little white false witness mayest be forgiven if it advances thy good of the LLC, increased thy bonus or getest thy board of directors off the hot poker.
17 Thou shalt not couet thy neighbours house, thou shalt not couet thy neighbours wife, nor his man seruant, nor his maid seruant, nor his oxe, nor his asse, nor any thing that is thy neighbours.
20:17:a And thou shalt not point out the Board of Directors’ couet of thy things.  Thy trumpetting of same shall be known as “whistleblowing” and subject to immediate termination of thy covenants.
18 And all the people saw the thundrings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountaine smoking: and when the people saw it, they remooued, and stood a farre off.
19 And they saide vnto Moses, Speake thou with vs, and wee will heare: But let not God speake with vs, lest we die.
20 And Moses said vnto the people, Feare not: for God is come to prooue you, and that his feare may bee before your faces, that ye sinne not.
20:20:a And Moses said vnto the people, “And thy covenant will be bound for the period of a year and renewed annually.  But they works shall anyforth be subject to laws hereafter known as AT WILL.”
20:20:b And all was good.  And in thy period of ONE YEAR, Our Lord God LLC renewed thy covenant.  And the LLC covenant givith, consistent with the rate of CORE inflation minus housing, a great increase of 1.275% (1.35% for high potential candidates).
20:20:c And thus the children of Israel were hired.

**Sometimes referred to as “The Joseph Smith” codicil

*** Our Lord God LLC gives a day off, how many of your previous employers did that.