andre previn

85 yrs in age

The man had a PBS series in late 70's with the Pittsburgh Orchestra. Some 27 episodes in which an invited performer and his orchestra joined  in a classical work to be followed by Previn interviewing his guest. It was the most popular series of it kind on TV. This void was never really filled.

His personal life is just as episodic; 5 failed marriages, and 9 children including his adopted daughter Soon-Yi (married to Woody Allen).

the health of Pope Francis

1. He has one lung,
2. He suffers from sciatica,
3. He is prone to extreme fatigue,
4. He is over weight,
5. He has trouble breathing.
6. He is suspected to have heart disease.

hence his statement: 'I only have two to three years left to live': Pope Francis
UK news PUBLISHED: 05:29 EST, 19 August 2014 | 

One Strange Hiker?

Stephen Gough is a hiker, rambler, travelin man who wanders all over the UK.  But the 55 year old does so in the nude.  Since 2003 he has been arrested and convicted dozens of times for being naked in public,  with his sentences increased each time.  Between May 2006 and October 2012 he enjoyed a total of seven days' liberty and spent most of his detention in segregation because he refused to wear clothes.  Recently he was rearrested on leaving prison.  He was wearing only boots and earned an additional 2 years.  His legal appeal that the law denies his basic human rights to nude were rejected.

The Zombie Squad

'We make dead things deader'

Zombie Squad is a non-profit community service and disaster preparedness organization that uses the metaphor of a "Zombie Apocalypse" for any natural or man-made disaster (hurricane, terrorism, earthquake, etc.).  Created by Zombie horror film fans in St Louis, it describes itself as an "elite zombie suppression task force ready to defend your neighborhood from the shambling hordes of the walking dead.” Originally, a group of friends discussing how they would prepare for a zombie epidemic, their interests led them to develop and present disaster preparedness programs while maintaining a sense of humor.  Chapters are found around the world and are active in wide range of charity work and disaster preparedness programs.

https://www.zombiehunters.org/

Is the candy worth it?

The Jedi: A New Religion

  

In the last British census, .07% of the population, 309,000 people, reported their religion as Jedism. Originally thought to be a joke, the Divinity School at Cambridge University now recognizes the movement as an emerging religion.  The belief system combines principles of Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, and Samurai, is non-theistic, and removed from the Star Wars movies.  They have no real places of worship. The 200,00 members interact primarily online and follow 3 tenants, 16 teachings and 21 ‘maximums’ drawn from  the fictional Jedi, i.e. ‘fear is the pathway to the dark side.’  The web site ww.templeofthejediorder.org makes an excellant presentation.

pumpkin hipster want to be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4IC7qaNr7I

jpr: "E" for effort. "B" for bold, "D" for don't wan to be him!

hey, can you tell me

what the heck hipsterism is...I think i've understood at least somewhat, every cultural and generational paradigm except that of the hipster.  i haven't a clue other than they drink PBR which i drank 40 years ago.  serious, what is the deal?

fall in the meadow

The wind of heaven is that which blows between a horse's ears.  ~Arabian Proverb

fall leaf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxKObDBwWts

    Autumn Song

     BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI

         Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf

         How the heart feels a languid grief

         Laid on it for a covering,

         And how sleep seems a goodly thing

         In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

         And how the swift beat of the brain

         Falters because it is in vain,

         In Autumn at the fall of the leaf

         Knowest thou not? and how the chief

         Of joys seems—not to suffer pain?

        Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf

        How the soul feels like a dried sheaf

         Bound up at length for harvesting,

         And how death seems a comely thing

        In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

The Jedi Come To Ireland

 

A small rocky island off the coast of Ireland is the scene of some of Star Wars: Episode VII was being filmed there.  Skellig Michael, site of a 8th century monastery and almost inaccessible, provides exceptional natural beauty.  Ireland features in many famous films : Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, key scenes were filmed at Lemon Rock in County Kerry and in County Clare;  Saving Private Ryan, Ballinesker beach in County Wexford stood in for Omaha beach in Normandy and Irish soldiers were used as extras; Braveheart, County Meath played the part of London and York, while the Battle of Stirling Bridge was filmed in County Kildare using Irish soldiers again, The Italian Job the prison scenes, starring Michael Caine, were filmed at Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin - just to name a few.

Funny, Funny, Funny

Classic actors Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi  star as an elderly gay couple in Vicious, a TV comedy series found occasionally on PBS.  They have lived together in the same Covent Garden flat for nearly 50 years.  McKellen plays Freddie, once a budding actor, while Jacobi is Stuart, who was a barman when the pair first met. Now their lives consist of reading books, walking their dog and bickering.  The groundbreaking comedy is hysterical. Catch it when you can.

A Fourth Human Species: The Hobbit

Ten years ago scientists discovered the full skeleton of an unknown human group distinct in their physical type notably by their height of 3 ft and otherwise primitive physical characteristics.  Additional partial skeletal finds on an Indonesian Island affirm the group's existence. 'The Hobbit' lends support to the argument that many human 'species' once roamed the earth. 

short editorial

why did the bishops not back Pope Francis? simple, they got it POSH as it is and don't want to offend their right wing old terd moneybags.  

fall in mountain valley

This valley will be alive with hunters in a few weeks!

“Hunting, fishing, drawing, and music occupied my every moment. Cares I knew not, and cared naught about them.”  John James Audubon

Boo?

Samhain is popularly known today as Halloween, a contraction of the words "Hallowed Evening", and it retains much of the original form and meaning it had long ago in Celtic lands. It has nothing to do with Satan or evil, marks the last harvest, the beginning of winter, a time to reaffirm our belief in the oneness of all spirits, and that physical death is not the final act of existence.  The barrier between the physical and spiritual worlds is thinnest at this time, and spirits can enter the physical world.  Our ancestors protected themselves on this night by carving faces in vegetables, lighting candles near windows to guide the wanderers, and  leaving plates of food for wandering spirits, a common practice in Ireland today.  

Is There No Shame?

Fr Mathew Rosebotham sued his ex-lover, the former Fr. Hugo Crawford, in a dispute over the home they once lived in together.  The Irish priests began their relationship more than 20 years ago when they were both Franciscans  in Dublin.  The pair went their separate ways when their relationship ended in 2002, but the priest claimed he had contributed to mortgage payments and other household bills.  Crawford eventually left the priesthood but Rosebotham is currently a parish priest.  The court awarded Rosebotham 25% of the house value.  Papa Francisco help us.

a Halloween sky

All Souls
Edith Wharton (1903) 

A thin moon faints in the sky o’erhead,
And dumb in the churchyard lie the dead.
Walk we not, Sweet, by garden ways,
Where the late rose hangs and the phlox delays,
But forth of the gate and down the road,
Past the church and the yews, to their dim abode.
For it’s turn of the year and All Souls’ night,
When the dead can hear and the dead have sight.


jpr: Boo!

pumkin carving

Young girl wanted to do something fun (not the common scary face) and ended up deciding on this emoticon: :-P

jpr: This a case where less is less but gooder!

Meet Blossom, The World's Tallest Cow.

Blossom, a resident of Illinois, has just been named the world's tallest cow.  At 6'4" and 2,000 pounds, she's a lot of cow.

Francis' Synod

“Woe also to you scholars of the law!
You impose on people burdens hard to carry,
but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”
~Luke


jpr:  The Pope's appeal is that of the gospels. Good for him and us!

the Ebola River, Congo

The deadly disease was named after this river by french scientists nearly forty years ago when the plague was first discovered in a village in the area.

autumn moon in appalachia

Mid-Autumn Moon by Su Shi 

The sunset clouds are gathered far away, it's clear and cold,
The Milky Way is silent, I turn to the jade plate.
The goodness of this life and of this night will not last for long,
Next year where will I watch the bright moon?

jpr: That Shi boy  been born in Appalachia seems like..

autumn in England

Snow and cold in Durham, 19 F. Once in a century occurrence.

some advice

For all who depend on works of the law (of man) are under a curse;
for it is written, Cursed be everyone
who does not persevere in doing all the things
written in the book of the law (of Moses).

~ St. Paul

leaves of fall are for everyone

“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house."

― Nathaniel Hawthorne, 

Kids Say The Funniest Things?

I have read all those articles, seen the videos etc about "kids say the funniest things" but have never been impressed. Other than my nephew John's efforts to learn to say 'fire truck,' everything else seems staged.  But yesterday I had an epiphany.  My son, 9, and I drove home from school and he had an urgent need to relieve himself.  As his Uncle Jay taught him, he jumped out of the car, found a bush and peed. Returning, he looked at his father and said matter of factly, "The best thing about the outdoors is that you don't have to flush."   Am I still laughing?

laws of Moses

Content

The content of the Law is spread among the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and then reiterated and added to in Deuteronomy. This includes:

·                    the Ten Commandments

·                    Moral laws - on murder, theft, honesty, adultery, etc.

·                    Social laws - on property, inheritance, marriage and divorce,

·                    Food laws  

·                    Purity laws

·                    Feast days

·                    Sacrifices and offerings

·                    Instructions for the priesthood and tithes

·                    Instructions regarding the Tabernacle

·                    Forward looking instructions for time when Israel would demand a king.

jpr: It is said "there was no sin before Moses",  and it is also declared that Christ died as a faithful Jew.  These are the truths for Christian leaders to reconcile with each genegration

sam again

If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it.

Mark Twain 

When It Comes to My Age?

I am old as hell and still don't need glasses… drink right out of the bottle.

I am so old… I used to baby-sit Jesus.

I am so old… my social security number is 6.

I am so old… when I was in school they didn't teach history!

I am so old.... When I was a boy the Dead Sea was only sick.

I am in the prime of senility.

     Benjamin Franklin

Middle age is when you go to bed at night and hope you feel better in the morning; old age is when you go to bed at night and hope you wake up in the morning.

     Groucho Marx

factum est

Who owns the PATENT on EBOLA?
answer: The US Government.

Pope Francis' Synod On Family Life

Pope Francis opened a major church synod today.  More than 200 senior bishops, orthodox church leaders and lay people will debate marriage, divorce, homosexuality, etc and the Church.  Papa, in opening remarks, urged them not to impose " intolerable moral burdens" on believers 'and to stop infighting.'  Finally some hope.

.

tree art

Psychedelic is not dead!

improve your memory

Within a couple hours on the internet I can find a hundred or more articles to help me improve my memory.  That's nice and I hope it helps some people but truthfully I've spent a large part of my life trying to forget some of the stupid ?hit that I've done.  Teach me how to forget!  - Autredamus

growing old(er) is similar to...

the little nubs on the f and j keys on your keyboard wearing down after much use,  so you frequently have trouble finding the "home" row and before you realize you're not on the home row you've typed a bunch of crazy crap and mistakes.   - Autredamus

have trouble understanding the previous?  then the nubs on the home row in your brain have worn out!

insight

"A good friend will always stab you in the front." 

— Oscar Wilde

Ali Ferzat...my hero section

In August 2011, shortly after this last cartoon was published, Ferzat was seized on the streets of Damascus by a militia group loyal to Assad. They beat him savagely and shattered both of his hands. Pictures of Ferzat lying black-eyed and bloodied on a hospital bed shocked the world. In 2011 he was awarded the Sakharov prize for peace and in 2012 he was named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2012/jun/21/drawing-syria-revolution-ali-farzat-video

quantum tunneling compound

These spiky metal  balls are nano dimensions and held held in a special polymer so they do not touch one another. Them come in a pill size.  They are  used as pressure sensors. They utilize quantum tunneling: without pressure, the conductive elements are too far apart to conduct electricity; when pressure is applied, they move closer and electrons can tunnel through the insulator. 

jpr: You can buy one for 28c but they are made in England and available in Canada only this side of the "pond".

Sherlock's Mini Book

The Sherlock Holmes’ creator Conan Doyle hand wrote a miniature book called ‘How Watson Learned The Trick’ for Queen Mary's dolls' house at Windsor Castle.  The 24-page book measures 1.52 inches by 1.18 inches and has been republished.  The original work was among over 200 tiny books produced for the dolls' house library by some of the most famous authors of the early 20th century, including Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling and Sir James Barrie.

mystery island on Titan

http://www.space.com/26325-cassini-titan-waves-magic-island.html

For years, scientists have puzzled over an anomalous feature in radar imagery of Ligeia Mare, a hydrocarbon-filled lake on the Saturnian moon Titan. A bright, seemingly solid spot appeared out of nowhere in July 2013, in an image from the Cassini orbiter's Synthetic Aperture Radar — but it failed to show up during subsequent flybys. That led some scientists to nickname the feature "Magic Island."

jpr: Looks like tidal action to me!