Friday, December 20, 2019
Jake makes a commercial!
My 15-year-old grandson Jake and some friends recently made a commercial for a school project. Maybe they all have a future in the film business? [Jake is the star of the show.]
--Cat
Thursday, December 12, 2019
Monday, November 11, 2019
Remembrance day
In Flanders Fields
In
Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between
the crosses, row on row,
That
mark our place; and in the sky
The
larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce
heard amid the guns below.
We are
the Dead. Short days ago
We lived,
felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved
and were loved, and now we lie,
In
Flanders fields.
Take up
our quarrel with the foe:
To you
from failing hands we throw
The
torch; be yours to hold it high.
If
ye break faith with us who die
We shall
not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders
fields.
·
·
·
·
--Cat
·
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Observations
Wonderful to see so many young people demonstrating for the world. Kudos to Greta Thunberg, the amazing sixteen-year-old Swedish girl behind this climate change activism.
Her passionate speech before the UN Assembly calls out and rightly shames the culprits, the greedy industrialists, the science deniers who refuse to stop pillaging the earth and won't stop spewing harmful emissions into the air. Our air, the one we all must breathe.
The environmental concern of global warming got everyone's attention in 2006 -- 13 years ago! -- with Al Gore's book and documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Nearly a generation has passed since then, and things have only gotten worse. You wonder what is it going to take to spur people to action.
If Al Gore couldn't wake people up, then Greta Thunberg and her generation will. I want to believe this, so that the world I knew will still be there for my grandchildren.
Makes you wonder whatever happened to the Woodstock generation, the young people who protested against the Vietnam War. Fifty years older now, they seem to have lost their determination and passion. Aren't they worried about the future of the earth? Is it because now they're comfortable with their lives and don't want to rock the boat in case their gas and oil stocks lose value?
So the deniers, the investors, let's face it, the ignorant, would just let Doomsday happen.
Speaking of which, I was watching a repeat of Criminal Minds the other day. The team was investigating a doomsday cult, and one of the characters said people with vision problems need to get laser surgery because, well, it was doubtful LensCrafters would be in business after the apocalypse.
And that took me back many years to an episode of The Twilight Zone, where a meek character, reading in the vault of the bank he works at, survives a nuclear war that destroys the world. He searches the ruined city and discovers a library still standing. Bookworm that he is, he's thrilled that he'll be able to read for the rest of his life. Then the other shoe drops: his thick glasses shatter. He's nearly blind without them. The end. [Sad and cruel. Eager reader that I am, this story has haunted me for years.]
Makes me think of science fiction movies of the past and how many of them foretold the future, usually a sad, cruel future.
Right now hamburger meat is being replaced by vegetable matter. Can anyone else see where this is going? Does Soylent Green ring a bell?
And what about 1984? "Big brother is watching." Yep. It's already begun, hasn't it? We have Smart Houses. Smart TVs. Smart refrigerators. Smart phones. Wonderful conveniences that do everything for us, as they keep tabs on what we're doing and saying. Cameras on every street, in every building, in drones, etc. But what if you want privacy?
We rely so much on technology--our houses can be wired so that we only need to say, "Alexa, turn on my light. Play my music. Call my father. Turn up the heat. Close the door, open the window, yada yada yada…
Computers with artificial intelligence will run the world. Our brains will atrophy because we won't need to use them anymore. I think I'll call my computer assistant when I finally get one, "Hal."
Before I took this trip down TV and movie memory lane, I was applauding the girl who had the guts and brains to stand up for the future of the earth and its inhabitants. Greta Thurnberg is my kind of hero.
.
"...and a child shall lead..."
--Cat
Her passionate speech before the UN Assembly calls out and rightly shames the culprits, the greedy industrialists, the science deniers who refuse to stop pillaging the earth and won't stop spewing harmful emissions into the air. Our air, the one we all must breathe.
The environmental concern of global warming got everyone's attention in 2006 -- 13 years ago! -- with Al Gore's book and documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Nearly a generation has passed since then, and things have only gotten worse. You wonder what is it going to take to spur people to action.
If Al Gore couldn't wake people up, then Greta Thunberg and her generation will. I want to believe this, so that the world I knew will still be there for my grandchildren.
Makes you wonder whatever happened to the Woodstock generation, the young people who protested against the Vietnam War. Fifty years older now, they seem to have lost their determination and passion. Aren't they worried about the future of the earth? Is it because now they're comfortable with their lives and don't want to rock the boat in case their gas and oil stocks lose value?
So the deniers, the investors, let's face it, the ignorant, would just let Doomsday happen.
Speaking of which, I was watching a repeat of Criminal Minds the other day. The team was investigating a doomsday cult, and one of the characters said people with vision problems need to get laser surgery because, well, it was doubtful LensCrafters would be in business after the apocalypse.
And that took me back many years to an episode of The Twilight Zone, where a meek character, reading in the vault of the bank he works at, survives a nuclear war that destroys the world. He searches the ruined city and discovers a library still standing. Bookworm that he is, he's thrilled that he'll be able to read for the rest of his life. Then the other shoe drops: his thick glasses shatter. He's nearly blind without them. The end. [Sad and cruel. Eager reader that I am, this story has haunted me for years.]
Makes me think of science fiction movies of the past and how many of them foretold the future, usually a sad, cruel future.
Right now hamburger meat is being replaced by vegetable matter. Can anyone else see where this is going? Does Soylent Green ring a bell?
And what about 1984? "Big brother is watching." Yep. It's already begun, hasn't it? We have Smart Houses. Smart TVs. Smart refrigerators. Smart phones. Wonderful conveniences that do everything for us, as they keep tabs on what we're doing and saying. Cameras on every street, in every building, in drones, etc. But what if you want privacy?
We rely so much on technology--our houses can be wired so that we only need to say, "Alexa, turn on my light. Play my music. Call my father. Turn up the heat. Close the door, open the window, yada yada yada…
Computers with artificial intelligence will run the world. Our brains will atrophy because we won't need to use them anymore. I think I'll call my computer assistant when I finally get one, "Hal."
Before I took this trip down TV and movie memory lane, I was applauding the girl who had the guts and brains to stand up for the future of the earth and its inhabitants. Greta Thurnberg is my kind of hero.
.
"...and a child shall lead..."
--Cat
Saturday, September 07, 2019
One year old budding scientist
Today my one-year-old grandson discovered the properties of magnetism.
He found an eight or so inch diameter metal bull's-eye identical to those found in bars and taverns. He also found the dart that goes with the set, red plastic with a small magnet embedded in the tip.
He approached the bull's-eye with the dart, and when close enough the dart clamped on to the metal.
A small look of surprise, a chuckle. He tried again with another part of the bull's-eye and the same thing happened. This was his "Eureka" moment. He gave such a delighted laugh it just melted our hearts. And of course he continued proving that metal attracts magnets.
His new favorite pastime lasted till bedtime.
What will he discover tomorrow?
"Magnetism, as you recall from physics class, is a powerful force that causes certain items to be attracted to refrigerators.
--Dave Barry"
We have much refrigerator space available to test and prove the reality of magnetism. And dozens of magnetic letters, numbers, pictures, etc. to keep an inquisitive child busy for hours.
--Cat
He found an eight or so inch diameter metal bull's-eye identical to those found in bars and taverns. He also found the dart that goes with the set, red plastic with a small magnet embedded in the tip.
He approached the bull's-eye with the dart, and when close enough the dart clamped on to the metal.
A small look of surprise, a chuckle. He tried again with another part of the bull's-eye and the same thing happened. This was his "Eureka" moment. He gave such a delighted laugh it just melted our hearts. And of course he continued proving that metal attracts magnets.
His new favorite pastime lasted till bedtime.
What will he discover tomorrow?
"Magnetism, as you recall from physics class, is a powerful force that causes certain items to be attracted to refrigerators.
--Dave Barry"
We have much refrigerator space available to test and prove the reality of magnetism. And dozens of magnetic letters, numbers, pictures, etc. to keep an inquisitive child busy for hours.
--Cat
Friday, August 30, 2019
Wednesday, June 05, 2019
Musical Interlude
Yes, it has been a while!
I asked myself recently when was the last time I "discovered" a new singer/song/music?
And I realized it has been a few years, but here are some that I would put under the heading: the first time ever I heard your voice/your song/your music.
These all fit into the country genre. [I enjoy all genres of music, but country may be a little more prevalent in my playlist.]
Chris Stapleton Tennessee Whiskey
Maren Morris My Church
Keith Urban Blue Ain't Your Color --it's the song!
--Cat
I asked myself recently when was the last time I "discovered" a new singer/song/music?
And I realized it has been a few years, but here are some that I would put under the heading: the first time ever I heard your voice/your song/your music.
These all fit into the country genre. [I enjoy all genres of music, but country may be a little more prevalent in my playlist.]
Chris Stapleton Tennessee Whiskey
Maren Morris My Church
Keith Urban Blue Ain't Your Color --it's the song!
--Cat
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