About Earth

http://aboutearth.eyre.ca/

Where is the X

I have been offered interesting widgets or other amendments to the functioning of this blog. In the process I am offered code to copy and paste. I copy it and I paste it.
However, I paste it in the wrong place. I suspect that there is a specific spot or area related to this blog of mine whereat code is to be added. I have not been able to locate that spot or that area.

Movies

I like learning about movies to watch. I love hearing your reactions to ones that have impressed you. I watch a lot of film; mostly via NetFlix.

I just don't seem to have much to say about them. For example tonight I expect to watch "Waking Life" directed by Richard Linklater. Its and animated film about philosophical discussions. If you ask me about it I will probably say that it was pretty good and not know what else to say. By tomorrow mid-day it would become difficult to even remind me of the details of the film.

If we were watching the film together I'd be pleased to push 'pause' and stop the action and to discuss what had been occurring in the movie at length. If it were important enough to you I go back over the movie and take notes and lay out discussion points.

What can I say.

Lively Desert Sand

There are none of the well-grown desert iguanas to seen these days. They had been getting big enough to be a bit intimidating, if one didn't know that they are vegetarians.

I have seen a pair of elegant chipmunks heading to or from my patio these days. They are the largest I've seen in these regions. Their full curled tails have a bit more white near their nicely bushed ends. Their nicely marked fur fits their healthy bodies just right. They could be called regal. The little fox might call one of them a banquet.

There have been lots of lizards around, mostly very young ones. Those most in evidence these days are the very speedy ones, nearly white in color, with a set of black strips circling the upper part of their tails. Those tails curl upwards when these guys are showing off their speed. I guess that right now they are mostly of an age we could call pre-teen. I'm not sure, but do suspect that they are eating some of the small ants living in many colonies in a wide circle around my home. Many had been living in my house and their dispersion is a direct result of our wars. I have been trying to keep them from organizing a counter attack.

There has also been a solitary road runner close around the house. He is probably eating some of the little wiptailed lizards, He'll be working hard to earn those tiny mouths full. He'd eat better if the portly iguanas hadn't become cautious enough to spend their days under the sand.

Atmospheric Change

Why has the broadcast power of AM radio so radically diminished?

What do you remember about the availability of AM radio broadcasts?

What do you remember about the quality of AM Radio broadcasts?

To what do you attribute changes in AM radio broadcasts?

Politicians

This is why I have avoided adding pictures to my posts.

The three you see here are the only photos of successful republican representatives I have available.

Remember, my previous post was political.

I will try to add a visual or two to some future posts.

I've just been working on a post about air. ? ?

Carry Me

In the process of dropping out.


Being a citizen is a lot like being a parent. We say that it is a tough, dirty job,but that someone has to do it. There is some truth in that, isn't there?

It is also true that there are some compensations. It may be hard to remember those compensations when the job is upon us; but there are times when we can.

We have hear a parent, half jokingly, say, "I wish I could find a better operating manual for these kids" or "for this family."

We have a pretty good operating manual for government. It seems to be better than most relationship or child rearing books.

Congressmen are a lot like kids; presidents are too. They are like young, immature kids. Some are only 2, 4, or 6 years old in government years. In some ways they are better than kinds and in others, worse. For example, they are easier to get rid of when they don't work out.

Still it is not easy being a parent or a citizen; and usually we are both! When all, or most of ones kids kids go wrong, people begin to think that there may be something wrong with ones parenting skills. When many of ones Congressmen go wrong, people begin to think that there may be something wrong with ones citizenship skills.

Most of the basics are pretty simple. We organize so as to make sure that we know where they are and what they are doing. We make sure that they have food and shelter. We help them to understand our values. We encourage them to behave well and to follow the rules.

Luckily, most congressmen and presidents know how to read nearly as well as we do. Luckily our citizenship manual is shorter and clearer about the duties of our representatives than most child rearing books are about the duties of our children. Still, in our republic as in our families, it is you and I who have the main responsibility.


Our governance manual, the Constitution, is pretty clear that the president is not to make any decisions about money. Congress is to make the money. Congress is to specify exactly how the money is to be spent. Congress is to make sure that no money leaves the cookie jar (treasury) except by specific, written, and posted laws for each appropriation. Congress is to give us regular statements of how all of the money is used. Congress is to regularly provide us with an account of receipts and expenditures.

All we have to do is to arrange to see that they do so. It is up to us to see that they do it that way. We are not alone. We have our fellow citizens and the resources of the richest nation on earth.

Just as "bad' parents may have "bad" children and even lose their families: so, may "bad" citizens have "bad" government and even lose their country.


Tell me again about the compensations for being a good parent and a good citizen. Tell me again about my resources. Lead me. Carry me.

What Does Eating Have to do With Me?

You and I have received gifts. We have been grateful, but not always grateful enough to use our gifts well. For example, we have been provided with energetic minds and we have heard that "God helps those who help themselves. We have been told to "get understanding." We have been told that "knowledge is power" and yet we cry, "I don't know. I don't know." "I don't know" may be a good cry of humility and a good first step toward understanding, but we are not cry babies.

You have spoken of responsibility; me too. What is the nature of responsibility? Who has it? Who is responsible for our understanding? Who is responsible for our power?

My questions may seem a bit extreme, but I have often found them empowering. For example: Who do you think has the greatest power to keep me from eating poison? Who is best able to be responsible to keep me from eating poison? Who is most likely to take on that responsibility? I, for one, am willing to take prime responsibility for y eating.

Even though I seem willing to take some responsibility, I am often rather lazy and unfocused. As lazy and unfocused as I may be, I still have the power to cooperate. I have some ability to cooperate with the way of things, or God. I have some ability to cooperate with you.

I am not sure what it means to say, "You are what you eat." Still I have heard it often, occasionally from a person who seems wise. Even on my foolish level I know that if the baby has been given poison to eat, we may say she is poisoned.

I don't know anyone who wants to poison a the baby, but is the baby the only one responsible for its eating? Who is responsible for a baby's eating?

When it comes to making sure that food is safe to eat, knowledge is power.

www.foodandwaterwatch.org

Blogging Confusion!!

What is a "post feed redirect URL?"
What does "processing my feed" mean?
What is "my feed?"
What does it feed? Who to?
What is a "post feed footer?"
What is a "post feed?"
What kinds of feeds are there?

Blogging Help

How do I "configure settings" for this blog?
What is my "feed reader?"
How do I get "validated?"
What is "validated?"
What is "validation?"