Facebook Users and Their "News"

We are the reason we got into this problem in the first place: we made it easy for the Russians because we, as a general population, are stupid. 

If you are considering sharing or posting a "News " article, make sure it is from an actual News Agency or Source.  Not something like "The Daily Mail", or "The Daily Caller", or "Huffington Post" etc. Did you know that such "News" sources, are not even really that?  They are predominantly opinion blogs with a host of contributors.  They are the Equivalent of the National Enquirer that you see in grocery store check out news displays. The majority of "News" that facebook friends are sharing and re-posting is this sort of crap.  It is BS people. Not news.  

When you are "Sharing News" please make sure that it IS actual news.  Most of it is just opinions. The kind that you agree with.  And it is perfectly fine to share your opinions.  But please do not share it as "News". Please double check the source and if it is not knowably legit, then state that it is merely an opinion that you agree with. These so-called "News" stories are presented to you on facebook as though they are legit and they are not. Please don't spread this stuff  on the rest of social media as though it were "News". It's not. Please do your research before posting this stuff.  It just makes you look like an imbecile and it stirs up strife between other imbeciles on facebook who WANT to believe these stories are true, for what ever reason.

If your "News" has an inflammatory title or subject matter, and is not reflected on other, more legitimate news resources, then odds are great that it is not actually news.
More legitimate news resources would be things like NBC, CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS or your local affiliate - granted they are not perfect either.  We as a population, are such lazy thinkers.  We happily gobble up any tittilating bit of data that piques our interest or speaks to our biases and opinions, with out ever questioning the validity of the report.

We gobble up what ever crappy pablum someone wants to feed us. 

They don't even have to cram it down our throats.
We gorge ourselves on it of our own accord.
We are stupid.

We are the problem.

Example: Why would I blame MacDonalds.
If I get fat because I choose to eat there so often?
This is the same concept.
Maybe we would all be better off if we paid as much attention to what we are putting in our heads, as we do to what we are putting into our bodies?





400W

Flying Back From Providence

Flying back from Providence.
In the dark, waiting for dawn.
Below. In the underneath.
Darkened neighborhoods, districts
Outlined by faint street light perimeters.
Occasional mist obscures.
Peaceful.
Then out of the sweet, quiet dark of predawn
It juts out
Like an ice pick in the eye.
Seering.
What the HELL is that.
Red, severing light.
Oh, the neighbors must hate THAT.
It can be seen, viewed with PAIN, from over 13,000 feet.
It can be seen from bloody outer space.
It looks like some one's back patio sliding door.
Two brazen glowing red rectangles
Lying flat.
Staring boldly upward.
Hell's patio door.

The cities.
And out of the dark
Looms a giant spider.
Exoskeleton intersections,  wreathed in light, delicate and fragile.
Like wisps of spun, gold light.
She is attended by her mates
Who gaze upon her from the outskirts of her web.
She slowly creeps toward them.
Expanding.
Until she swallows each one. Slowly.

First hub.
First landing of the day
Soon to come.
The dawn reveals the Quintessential Symbol of Winter's Comfort:
The Mitten.
Not pale with snow, yet.
But green, dotted with villages. Tree lines and fences
I look down on a motherboard of agriculture.
And now, the clouds.
Descent.

Turbulence.
How the hell does it stay in the sky.
This culvert pipe with wings.
God only knows.
And for THAT
I am thankful.

Dip Cone

I smell a dip cone.
Smell it?
How the hell can anybody SMELL a dip cone?
They have no smell!

I think this means that I am meant to go and get one, now that a Dairy Queen has been constructed in our small town.





-

Go Read David Thorne

For those who have to hire new employees.

You will appreciate this:  Ten Stupid Questions

Stuff

You are my friend.
I rarely see you.
I invite you to go do things like kayak, or go to the coast or to come up to the campsite for a day or even to stay over if you wish.
There is always an excuse.
I understand that you are busy.
With your family.
With your elderly parents.
I know how that is because I have gone through all of that myself.

So I guess I never really thought that much about it other than it was always a big massive bummer.
Until now.
But now, I see how things are:

All the times of your saying, "Yes. Lets go do this," only to have you change your mind at the last minute, leaving me holding the bag, to go and do the adventure alone. Again and again and again.

It seems that you can go camping with a mutual friend at the drop of a hat, but not when I invite you.
It seems that you can go hang out at the lake or go fishing at the drop of a hat, but not when I invite you.

Even so, it was a bit of a wake up call for me.
Let me just say, it didn't start with the Civil War.
But that was kind of the Last Straw.

I suddenly realized:  It is me.
I don't know what I ever did.  I don't know what I do.
It must just be how I am.

And now it feels like you know,
that what transpired has come down to the equivalent of an assault on our friendship.
And you are back peddling.
Trying to make it up, as if to say, "See? Everything is good, right? We're all good...?"
And you are trying to save face in order to keep some semblance of peace.
You have recently taken to inviting me to go here, or do this and have a beer.
Even though we've been friends for many many years,
that's not something you normally do:
Call me, to arrange to hang out.
Not unless it's with the group.

I never really thought about that fact before. Until just now.

I know that you are a peacable person, and would even throw someone under the bus to maintain some concept of unity. But ultimately that doesn't work. Because some one got thrown under the bus. I've been that person before, and I've watched you do it to some one else.  Just to keep the peace.  To avoid confrontation.

In the things that have transpired above, I can sadly say that, unfortunately, there has been a breach of trust. For me anyway.

The words you say, I no longer know if they are legit or just trying to maintain the peace.

And I don't like how this has felt.  I've tried for years to not take it personally when ever there is an excuse.  And I never did take it personally.  But now, after what has transpired, indicated above, it makes me wonder, retro-actively.

I don't like feeling this way, and I fear for the possible loss of what I thought was an excellent friendship.

Sadly, all of the "trying to make it up" out of the blue, suddenly, only makes it worse.

I need to have a foundation for trust and that foundation has been put to serious question.

Don't push me.  I need time to get over this hurt.

Alone.

Rendering the life changing into insignificance

Imagine you are in  your house, in your yard, driving to work, or on errands.  Doing mundane daily things.  You begin to have these thoughts - alarming thoughts - that come in to your head more and more frequenlty as the days go on. Thoughts with such strength and undeniable force that you finally recognise it as the voice of God.

This voice is telling you CRAZY things!  The world sucks.  It tells you it is finished with humanity.
tTe voice tells you that all of creation is going to be destroyed in a cataclysm...well, except for you.

Uhm,  right there,  that's kind of a big life meddling issue all by itself.  Just deal with that concept.
How do you live your life wondering, "is this real?",  "Am I crazy?"

But now add to that, a growing, unshakeable sense that these things are actually true.
And now... deal with that revelation.

If this weren't enough to put you in the rubber room by now, let's ponder this:

In addition to all of the above, imagine that voice that you have finally come to identify as the voice of God, telling you to build a big-ass boat and fill it with food and every kind of animal that he sends to you.

Imagine going through your days, with the mail man laughing at "the weird shed" you've built in your yard.  You neighbor trying to casually ask, "so, what's this project I see you working on? Some kinda ADU or something?"

You tell him the truth.

People who know you are suddenly staying the heck away from you, ya freak.

Now...

Funny that we, as humanity, have relegated this extremely stressful situation down to a simple children's bible story.

This is how we are.

Ireland

I'll never get there.
But thank you that you gave my kids such a great time.
I find great comfort in looking at their photos.

One Act Plays: Now You're Talking

So we had the one acts last month. They were originally supposed to have happened in February however with all the snow, they were postponed until April.

Photos courtesy of Jerry Baldock of Outlaws Photography.

This is the play I directed "The Kindness of Strangers" which was a one woman show starring Vicki Kouns -  although in these photos, it was dress rehearsal and my actress had not gotten back from her Florida trip yet, so I stood in for her.

The next round of photos is from the play I was in, "All Sales are  Final" written by local playwright Larry Anderson.  Cast mates are Shawn O'Hearn, Rhonda Townsend Schantz and Dyut Fetrow.

Civil War photos: Round Two

Local photographer Jerry Baldock took several photos up at the event.

His watermark is so STRONG though, its almost difficult to even see the images.
Even so, you can find them at this link:

https://outlawsphotography.smugmug.com/Events/Community/Civil-War-Reenactment-The-House-On-The-Metolius5-21-2017/

Civil War Pics - Round One

This past weekend we all went up to participate in the Civil War Reenactment held by the North West Civil War Council at the House on the Metolius in Camp Sherman.

By "we all" I mean, myself, Kristi, Patti Jo, Scout and Scout.

Here are the first round of pics, courtesy of Kristi:

Scout.  ¥ou can see the Union Encampment in the background.

 Scout and Victoria watching the dancers.

 Scout doing something on the way back from the dance.

 Again Scout does something.

 Scout rolling around on the ground.

 Scout being inappropriate as usual.

 Scout Miller, asleep.

 Scout lays on the ground, calling for Steven or Heidi to pick her up in the shuttle.

 More of Scout being inappropriate.

 Scout and Scout walking that beastly long road.

Patti Jo helps a family looking for some personal effects of their missing soldier.

More to follow, I'm sure.

Drowning - it's quiet. No splashing

Drowning is a quiet affair. Most of the time people don't even know that some one near them is drowning. It only takes 20-60 seconds to drown. For an adult. Less time for children.

The Instinctive Drowning Response kicks in automatically. The drowning person has no ability to do anything else.


It looks like this:

1 “Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled before speech occurs.

2 Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.

3 Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.

4 Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.


From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.”


This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble—they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the Instinctive Drowning Response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long—but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.


Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

5 Head low in the water, mouth at water level

6 Head tilted back with mouth open

7 Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus

8 Eyes closed

9 Hair over forehead or eyes

10 Not using legs—vertical

11 Hyperventilating or gasping

12 Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway

13 Trying to roll over on the back

14 Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder

So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK—don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, “Are you all right?” If they can answer at all—they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them.

And parents—children playing in the water make noise.
When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

Click here to watch a brief VIDEO on this.

Pics of my mom.

As a child growing up, I only recall ever seeing one photo of my mother when she wa a child.
I had many from my dad's side of the family as his grandmother was an avid "Kodaker"

The one my mother showed me was of her, sitting on a lawn in a plaid skirt with one of those little Tam-o-shanter hats on over chin length hair.  I don't even know where that photo went or where we were when she showed it to me.  She was probably about 10 yrs old so this would possibly have been around mid to late 1930's.

Anyway, many thanks to my cousing Karen, pictured below: bottom row, second from the right, for finding a bunch of photos in my aunt Becky's photo album and sending them to me.  The are a little bit grainy, but I am very happy to have them.  Thanks Karen!

So in this photo starting at the top left: Uncle Glen, Uncle Dick, Aunt Mary, Aunt Ella,  my dad and in front of him is my mom.  In front of my mom is Grampa Irl. J. Walker, and Gramma Ethel Alta Ready Walker. Beside Gramma is my Aunt Becky.  Kids in the bottom row starting at the left are Billy, me (why a I always doing SOMETHING with my face?!) my cousin Karen and my cousin Dale. ("Deli Bread") This was taken on the front porch of the house on 65th and Foster.

In this photo starting left: Grampa Walker, Uncle Dick, Uncle Glen, Uncle Myron (who died young), my mom and Gramma Walker.

Starting at the top, left : Uncle Dick, Grampa Walker, Uncle Myron.
My mom (look how crazy tall she was!!), Gramma Walker, and the little boy is my Uncle Ed (Karen's dad).  This was taken on the front porch of the house on 65th and Foster.

Left to right: Uncle Dick, Grampa Walker, Gramma Walker, Uncle Glen, my mom, Uncle Ed.
This was taken in the front room of the house on 65th and Foster.

I *think* this is, starting at left: Uncle Dick, mom, Uncle Glen, Gramma, Grampa, Uncle Ed.
Circa 1970's

Starting at the left: Aunt Becky (Karen's mom), Aunt Mary (Uncle Glen's wife) Aunt Ella (Uncle Dick's wife, and my mom.  This was taken on the front porch of the house on 65th and Foster.

From left: My brother, my mom, me, my dad.  This was taken on the front porch of the house on 65th and Foster.

John 14:1-14

Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. 

Believe in God, believe also in me. 

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. 

If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, 

so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place
where I am going.” 

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know
where you are going.
How can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father
except through me.



If you know me,
you will know myFather also.
From now on you do know him
and have seen him.” 

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you
 still do not know me?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. 

How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.
I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for
anything, I will do it.”

The 30 second Gospel

The 30 second Gospel:

Well, this is only me clocking in here. I'm not the end-all be-all, know-it-all bible scholar, but as I understand it:

God gave us the 10 commandments so that we could learn that it is utterly impossible for humans to keep them all. (If any of them, half the time). ;o)

In our coming to such a conclusion, we would recognize our failure and consequently, our need for help.

Since God is perfect then, and humans not, God would have a big problem.

Since God is perfect, He can't be surrounded by that which is imperfect.

Imperfection must be utterly destroyed.  

God also desperately loves His creation and most profoundly, the humans which He created in His own image.  

So God has a problem.

He has to destroy imperfection, which we all are, but He also loves us all desperately.

Hence His need to come to earth.  

He came into this world as both God and Man, and was born to a Virgin.

He lived a perfect life, as only God can, while undergoing all of the trials and temptations, troubles, pain and experiences and general crappy stuff that we suffer through as humans.

Then He allowed Himself to be destroyed on our behalf, even though he did not earn the destruction, we did. 

Taking upon Himself the destruction that God the Father required of the offending items (us).

So God basically solved His own problem by starting with the 10 Commandments and ending with Jesus Christ.

That's the most basic, bare-bones gist of it.

It is a gigantic theological question that has plagued and confused people for millennia. :o)

Sometimes Jesus moved the signs.

He sometimes sent them God-knows-where, 

just for the heck of it.

Just for the craic.

Portland Days

It has been my very great privilege lately to get to spend many weekends with my kids in Portland this past month. Three weekends out of four.

Today, on my drive in to work, this song came up on a CD. It was perfect, because this morning is one of those wonderful "Portland" spring days (even though I am currently in Central OR). It's that rare "Portland" feel.

Everything is green.
The sky is green, the sun is green.
People are green.
And bright.
And this song fits that sensibility perfectly if you know Portland as your home town.

So here is a link, and the best greeting I can give you today is, have a Portland Day:

Recycle because it's the law (punishable by jail time).
Wear your beanie and flannel shirt.
Drink green drinks.  (Or your intense coffee)
Be weird.

Can't wait to go back up to PDX next weekend.

Art Gallery Update

The Art Blog , Nude Descending an Umbrella, has been updated 

with a couple of new colored pencil bits,
or you can go straight to my GALLERY

The Irish Pub Official Trailer

This is a wonderful little film.  Blake and Scout recognized a couple of the pubs, one being Coynes.

Happy St. Pats.

Enjoy.

The Bad Fridge Lives Again.

Gluten Free Irish Soda Bread

So it turned out fairly well, I think.
The recipe is as follows:

- Grease your loaf pan
Mix together:

-  2 cups 1-1 gluten free flour.
- 1 cups sugar (optional amount)
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups milk or butter milk. (I sometimes do 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of another liquid such as beer etc.)

Mix dry ingredients.
Beat eggs and combine with liquid.
Create a well in the center of the dry mixture and add liquid mixture.
Mix until combined. Don't over mix.
Pour into greased loaf pan. And bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 min.
(for more traditional Irish Soda Bread, 1/2 this recipe and bake it in a round pan. Add raisins or currants if desired.)

I bake mine in a loaf pan because I want to use it for sandwiches.

Todays Highlights

Volcanoes and the Cascadia Subduction Zone

I have long wondered about the relationship between the colliding plates and when "Old Shakey" arrives, how it will affect our volcanoes.

In this image you can see how the San Juan de Fuca plate grinds down under the North American plate. When it reaches a certain level, it begins to heat up and liquify. Which is why we have volcanoes in the areas that we do.

According to Wiki:

The Juan de Fuca plate moves toward, and eventually is shoved beneath, the continent (North American plate).  Here, the oceanic crust of the Pacific Ocean has been sinking beneath the continent for about 200 million years, and currently does so at a rate of approximately 40 mm/yr.

At depths shallower than 30 km (19 mi) or so, the CSZ (Cascadia Subduction Zone) is locked by friction while strain slowly builds up as the subduction forces act, until the fault's frictional strength is exceeded and the rocks slip past each other along the fault in a megathrust earthquake. Below 30 km (19 mi) the plate interface exhibits episodic tremor and slip.

The width of the Cascadia subduction zone varies along its length, depending on the angle of the subducted oceanic plate, which heats up as it is pushed deeper beneath the continent. As it becomes hotter and more molten, it eventually loses the ability to store mechanical stress and generate earthquakes. 

So my question was: will "Old Shakey" suddenly waken our sleeping volcanoes again?
KTVZ had a timely and interesting special report on the subject here.

You can also get associated seismic updates here, at the Cascades Volcano Observatory.

And in other news:

 

This is what my month has felt like

I leave you with this final thought for the day:
 
As I ponder things and people it occurred to me that when we become obsessed with the utter destruction of a thing/idea/person/company we hate, far too often we end up becoming a carbon copy of that thing we hate.

Dog dish black hole

I don't know what it is this morning but everything I drop in the kitchen manages to bounce and land magically in the dog's water dish as though it were drawn there by some invisible force.

Frosty Aspens

Trees across from the Cop Shop

the Invisi-Baker

The Streep Thing.

I agreed with her.

Here is why I thought it was the wrong time and place to air such sentiments - no matter how much I agreed with her:

Sometimes people want to get away and have a break form all the BS.
Back in the 40's, it was the movie theaters. Even though they did have news reels running before each film played, it was still a way to take a break.

Isn't that partly what the arts are for?
To help us rest from the daily BS all around us?
Yes the arts are there to educate and challenge us as well.
But right in the middle of an event that is meant to, recognise people for their achievements, and to encourage and entertain others in an uplifting manner, why is it necessary to throw cold water on everyone suddenly.

Yes, Meryl, we love you to death, but thank you for interrupting all these good feelings of the evening to remind us how ugly is the national situation we go back to deal with, after we turn the tv off.

This is the same reason I felt it was VERY inappropriate for the cast of Hamilton to  make the political comments they did when Pence attended. It is kinda like breaking the fourth wall.

Suddenly this lovely time, this experience, was unexpectedly torn apart, and the ugly was allowed to seep back in. While in the midst of enjoying a performance, someone just poked a hole in the fourth wall and poked everybody in the heart, for just a minute. Why was THAT necessary?

And because Meryl Streep IS such a valuable and rightfully respected person, she could have used any venue she wanted.

It didn't HAVE to be the golden globes.

It makes me sad to hear when things like this happen. It is like punching an innocent audience in the stomach.

Leave the fourth wall alone when it comes to politics, imho.

The Good Snow Year

Every few years we get a wonderful snow year.

The church where I work sits fairly far back into the woods off the road.

Since the lot hadn't been plowed yet, I ended up hiking through the snow to get the rest of the way in.

It wasn't bad. It was only about a foot deep in the areas plowed from the previous snow storm so it was an easy hike. Glad I didn't have to hike through the 4 foot drifts!

My poor little tree!

I felt compelled to take some pics of the snow for posterity's sake.

Who knows when we will get this good a snow fall again. It may not be for another 3-5 years.

(Which would be sad.)

Ok, it's only been one week...

And I am going to just say, it's REALLY hard for me to stay off FB. Although it has also been good to pull away from it. It is forcing me to take time to be more creative. But I do miss seeing what my friends are up to as frequently. I had to break the rule the other day in order to wish a friend happy birthday and also to post an alert about a dog I picked up in our neighborhood. But other than that, I've been fairly good at limiting it.

New Years 2017

The morning after the festive hooplah, fireworks, food and beverages. The snow falls steadily while every one reads, plays games, toys with the new kittens and eats breakfast.

Yard? What yard?

We've gotten at LEAST another 6-8 inches since this photo was taken.

And now the freezing rain has begun.

Not complaining mind you. I love the snow.

Snow Removal from Roof and the Guillotine

So there is a LOT of snow accumulated on the roof.
My landlord/roomate went to buy a snow removal device but they were all sold out.
So she invented one of her own.
It actually worked.
Quite well.
In this video you will see the proof of it, with myself recording the auspicious event and shouting encouragements (aka heckling). An annoying 5 min long commentary on almost daily life around here.

One thing you won't see in this video, is Patti Jo scraping a large wad of snow so that it would strategically land on me while I was shoveling off the walk way. Also not seen is when the device slipped from the roof, narrowly missing me as I shoveled off the walk below. It would have been a most effective guillotine. I suppose that would have been the Darwin Award part.

In other news, Ika who has been away from the Central Oregon snow and cold for a long while, seems to be re-acclimating after 6 days of single digit and sub-zero temperatures.

Looking Cat Looks

Sitting inside the warm glow of the mouth of my house.
Peering between the luminous teeth,
Looking Cat looks,
out into the dark winter night.

Gotta love the snow!

Despite the single digit and sub-zero temps lately, I still love the snow. I don't really shovel it, but instead drive over it and mash it down with my car when ever possible. 

Even so, I prefer it outside, rather than in however. 

A rolled up towel serves as a baffle next to the floor and perhaps I can keep out winter's chill by hanging the Norwegian coat (aka Blake's "Kringle Coat") on the door knob.

The patio has accumulated a couple of feet.

Not in the mood to dig out the fire pit, though.