Special effects

Enjoy these extra special effects!


 


--Cat

Musical interlude

Discovered on the Internet:

Remember Mama Mia by ABBA?
Here's a timely take on the song by a group of New Zealand singers, The Starlets:







And although I don't like to get political, this is another timely song,









A great rendition of Lean On Me by many terrific Canadians!





--Cat

Mother Earth Speaks

Okay, listen up Earth People.

Stop blaming one country or another for this latest disaster.

Seven billion of you. Yeah, I feel you stomping, running, tapping, pounding, drilling, hacking, blasting… Seeking what? My heart? My soul? No.

It's all about greed. The shiny stuff: gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, precious metals and precious stones. And of course, Oil.

I'm so tired of it all.

And when Mother Earth gets weary, she gives back as good as she gets.

Why do you think there are Volcanoes? Earthquakes? Oil spills? Cave-ins?

[Don't ask me about hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, droughts, floods, heat waves – talk to Mother Nature about those. She has a completely different agenda.]

See what I'm getting at? I have so many people-created drill holes and mine shafts it's a wonder I don't collapse like a punctured balloon.

How many toxic dumps have been created for the excess waste?

How many once pristine lakes and rivers have been fouled?

How many people can light candles whenever they turn on a faucet?

How much plastic has entered my ocean to be ingested by sea creatures and ultimately by you people? One day you're going to bleed plastic.

How about that air? You think it was always polluted and brown?

Think about it. How many cities are seeing a clear sky for the first time in years? How many urban rivers are enjoying a resurgence of fish and other river dwellers. Some rarely seen birds have returned to the cities.

I hear more bees and butterflies have been sighted, when both have been severely depleted these last few years. And what's this about wild animals reclaiming their turf? It's about time isn't it?

Maybe these animals, birds, insects etc. are all laughing, or at least smiling because so many Earth People are in a lockup situation, not unlike the zoos, cages, and aquariums that confined them for centuries.

So, all right, Mother Earth and Mother Nature are finally taking a breath. Or two. And sharing a chuckle. After all, isn't it true that those greedy oil producers are now paying out money [instead of raking it in] to get rid of their surplus "black gold"?

Isn't it ironic?


**
 
 
 Someone speculated that a tablespoonful of tainted cosmic dust from a galaxy
far, far away swirled through space and spilled onto the earth, scattering Corona particles like a fine mist. Earthlings, having no immunity, picked up, or breathed in these particles and ran with them. Or I should say flew all over the world, scattering them to friends and enemies alike.

**

--Cat

Video discovery

I came across this video, "The Evolution of Dance." Great music and great dancing. Almost like the story of my life.




-- Cat

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

Another magic moment

Here it is: 12/12 12:12

Remembrance day

In Flanders Fields

BY JOHN MCCRAE

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

·         

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

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

Joanne G

d. August 29, 2019

Goodbye, my friend.

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

Time sprouts wings and soars across the sky...

– Yes, time flies – even when you're not having fun.



The three-month-old was fussing. The big sister, now four years old, observed, "He wants the boob."

Spoken without a giggle, just a matter of fact statement.

She had a show and tell at school and wanted to take one of her toy figures. She couldn't decide between "Tyrannosaurus Rex or Triceratops," her words. 

When did little ones grow up so fast?  



On a completely unrelated topic, we have a new national anthem:





Long may she reign!

What, that's a different song?


--Cat

Dancing On the Planet

Let's have a little fun!

Something to remember. And enjoy.




 



--Cat

Dedication to Lynne

My cyber friend  of 12 years Lynn Sears Williams, [1956-2018], died on September 12.

We never met face-to-face but discovered we had a lot in common. At one time we both lived in Alberta, even the same city [she went on to live in the States]; we both had two daughters and one son – named Luke [hers] Lucas [mine]; we loved reading, loved writing, and edited each other's work; and we both shared the same nasty disease.

She was a wonderful writer. After publishing one novel, The Comrades, she wanted to write more, but couldn't get back into it. And although our latest contacts were less frequent, we stayed in touch through Facebook, where she had a large following and posted many beautiful pictures.

One of the beauties of the Internet is having the ability to meet people from far and wide, or close as the case may be, learning about them, liking them, then sadly losing them. Memory can be a good thing; saved emails even better. 

Rest well, Lynne. See you on the other side.


— Cat

Remembering Burt [1936-2018]

Burt Reynolds died today at the age of 82. 

Besides his movies, I will always have a fun memory about a time in my life when he was THE MAN!

In 1972  [really?]  my girlfriends from work and I anticipated his epic centerfold in Cosmopolitan magazine. The day it was due to come out we traipsed to the smoke and magazine shop on our lunch hour. The three of us put our hot little hands on the magazines, paid quickly, and dashed out of the shop. 

In no time, we all flipped to the middle section and opened the centerfold. There he was in all his glory – well almost all. And one of my friends, who has the loudest laugh, stood there in the middle of the sidewalk and laughed and laughed. [I think she had never seen a nearly naked man before.]

I know that he later said he regretted posing for that picture, but I believe he made the day for millions of women. And if I remember correctly, that picture spawned the advent of other magazines for women – Playgirl, etc. where the centerfolds were not shy. No, not shy at all.

I won't forget you, Burt Reynolds. Rest in peace.

  

 – Cat

Childhood Games

We were talking the other day, husband and I, about how we spent our summers when we were kids.
Forget TV. There was only one channel for the longest time. And one TV in the house.      
Forget computers. The stuff of science fiction.
Forget cell phones. These existed only in the comics and in science fiction.
Forget any kind of on-screen games. Truly science fiction!

We didn't need any kind of gadgets that could get you hooked and hold you hostage. No, we spent pretty well every waking moment outside. And what did we do outside? We ran, jumped, skipped, and played team games.

– Red Rover – The more players, the more fun. Two equal numbered teams [minimum three players each] inked arms and faced each other. One team yelled, "Red Rover, Red Rover send [usually who they perceived the weakest], Cathy over!" Cathy ran toward what she thought was the weakest link in the opposite team and tried to break through. If she succeeded, she took one of the players and returned to her team. If she didn't, the usual case for Cathy, she joined the team she tried to break through. The object of the game was to get all the players on one side, which became the winning team.

Because there were so many kids in the neighborhood, we always had 6 to 8 member teams. And we played on the front lawn of our house, certainly trampling and killing what grass there was. My parents weren't fussy about the landscaping [not with six kids] so we did a lot of playing there.

–Eevy Ivy Over , also known as Eevy I over or Anny I over, or any number of other names.
Again, two teams of players, one on each side of the house. Team one hollered "Eevy Ivy Over" and threw the ball over the roof of the house. Players from team two, on the other side of the house tried to catch the ball before it hit the ground. If they did, they raced around to the other side and threw the ball at a player from team one. If the player was hit, he had to join team two. If not, the player who missed had to now stay with team one. However if no one caught the ball when it was thrown over the roof, then that team threw it back over, hollering the words again. And again, the object of the game was to get all the players on one side.

– The block one street over was undeveloped and grassy. We called it "The Field" and got our friends together to play baseball there. Fewer players – we played scrub. Lots of players – we made teams and played softball. We had permanent bases and paths to run. Every once in a while someone would hit a homerun and the outfielders, usually Cathy among them, had to hunt through high grass and shrubs to find the ball. If we lost the ball – game over. And someone was in trouble with their parents. Usually only one person had a bat and a ball. Most everyone else had baseball mitts, often borrowed from their brothers.

If we couldn't make it to The Field, and there were only three or four of us, we played scrub on an empty lot four houses away from mine. Handy and quick, within earshot of parents, it was a great place to play on an early summer evening before dark. When it got dark, and if the sky was clear, we would sit on a hill there and watch the stars, looking for constellations, for shooting stars, and for Sputnik to orbit past. It seemed we could see the Milky Way from one and to the other. A most thrilling sight, which I'm sad to say I haven't seen in years because of all the light pollution surrounding us.

Time marches on, things changed. We kids grew older, found different interests, went to junior high, then high school and on. The Field was developed. As was the lot at the end of our block – the hill was flattened, a church was built. 

Olden days, my kids would call it. Did any of them play the games we played when we were young? I'll be asking.

– Cat

Happy Canada Day!

Happy 151 to the best country in, if not the world, then North America!

Thank you Mom and Dad for choosing Canada as our home.


— Cat

Bring on the robots –

Sex robots. I guess those inflatable dolls aren't good enough. Too much one-sided action.

I couldn't find anything on Snopes, but I did find the article that was on the news about it. Even so, I'm still a huge skeptic.

So, is this someone's fantasy to fill a void in their life? Husband and I asked each other a number of questions pertaining to such a robot. Does she talk? [Or just moan?] Is she warm to the touch? Is she interactive, that is, is her response aggressive, passive, hot to trot? Surely she can be programmed to play different personas?

We had other questions, and comments, not fit for public viewing.

I imagine they would come in all colors – hair, eyes, skin. And all sizes, because some men prefer petite, others curvy.

And my big question – do they make a man sex robot? Now I grant you, many women already have a small sex robot that works fine. But some might prefer to cuddle with a handsome, lifeless, souless bot who will listen but never comment, who follows every order, who exists to please.

And yes I discovered they do have them. Interesting article in GQ about their skills and how good they can be for a marriage.

Watch them fly off the shelves. Both sexes. That is, if they're real. And if not, it was a good joke. [Can't believe anything on the news – it's all likely fake, given us by Russians or maybe North Koreans.] 

In an age where there are so many problems, isn't it nice to see that researchers are tackling all the important issues first?
  
— Cat   [the articles I referred to may not show that they are linked, but they are. Just click the word 'article'above, there are two of them, if you want to read further.]

Stephen Hawking – 1942 – 2018

                                                      RIP Stephen Hawking

                        

                                                                January 8,1942 –  March 14 2018

                                                                      
                                                          You are my hero!



– Cat

Oh that fun computer!

A series of blunders


A few weeks ago I succeeded in deleting an important folder from my desktop. I don't know how it happened, only that it did. Could not find the folder in the recycle bin or anywhere on the computer.  Wasn't worried at first because I have an external hard drive backup system. Should be no problem restoring the missing folder. Right?

And now I'm ashamed to admit that in the four or so years I've had this backup I never learned how to use it. I didn't have a reason. So it was a complete mystery to me.

It took me three days to find the folder. Just getting into the external drive was hard enough. Then, I could not find my folder, or anything else in fact, because the stupid thing only backed up my C drive. Programs and settings. The D drive, all my data, was not getting backed up. For a whole year!

Last year, on February 2, 2017, a computer geek brought me a new computer and used the external backup to transfer everything from my old computer. I paid no attention to how it was done and only knew that it did the trick. Everything was transferred, and the geek set up the external hard drive to backup my new computer. [So it was his fault, right?]

Thankfully, my old computer data until February 2, 2017 was still on the external backup drive,  And there was my missing folder [minus, of course, anything I added and 2017].  Just as I was ready to grab that folder the lights on the external drive began flashing like crazy.  Then the flashing stopped. And it seemed the drive no longer existed, no longer showing on the computer.

Before I could get through cussing, the power suddenly went out, the house, the neighborhood, were totally dark. Great. Just what I needed!

I read by candlelight for about an hour, and then like magic the lights came back on. And the external drive was back, lights and all, intact. That missing folder is now on my desktop again!

I downloaded a recommended recovery program to search for any 2017 files from the folder, but because I didn't know that I should not have used my computer until I recovered the files, they were overwritten and unrecoverable.

Learn something new every day.

I decided I had better figure out how to setup the external drive to back up all my data.  More bad news. Clickfree, the maker of the external drive, was no longer in business. I could find no information, no help, no support, only a bunch of dissatisfied customers.

Doing some research on which external hard drive/backup is easy to use and comes with support.

So there went 3 to 4 to 5 days of aggravation and worry. And then the other shoe dropped.

A day or two later my speech recognition program suddenly stopped working. Not a problem, I thought. This happened before. Uninstall the program. Reinstall from a disk. It took about 45 minutes, and everything was humming, then a message popped up that setup failed due to corrupt registry keys or drivers.

I may try to fix it myself, or I may just hire a tech expert to do it for me. In the meantime, I'm using windows speech recognition, which works OK, but is not really user friendly. And because I'm still running on windows 7, it's about eight years old and needs an update badly. Which will never happen.

I'll need to throw in the towel and get windows 10.
But not before making sure everything is backed up!

--Cat