john deere's riding mower

this gem saves the backbreaking work that a push mower requires.

any riding mower will do that, but i've only tried a few and the john deere riding mower is my winner hands down.

as a ninth and tenth grader, my chore was mowing several acres of grass, in which a small apple orchard grew. when apples fell from the trees, i first had to pick them up and cart them away in a wheelbarrow. then i hand mowed around the tree trunks.

finally the fun part. firing up the riding deere, i would spend about two hours cutting the lawn from atop the mighty chair. the mower cut even swaths and the grass, newly cut, smelled delicious.

the quality of the finished job was a direct result of the craftmanship of the riding mower.

for more information, see www.deere.com/.

for a story on a man named john deere, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Deere.

thank you and have a nice day.

here's a borrowed youtube video:

the inventor of coffee

probably one of the most important inventors in creation was the inventor of coffee.

i'm drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee as i write.

where would we be without someone taking the coffee bean from the coffee tree and coming up with product like starbucks ready brew via? did the inventor of coffee know the instant portion of his invention would be a $22 billion business annually?

probably there was no patent protection for the happy lad who first stumbled upon the idea of steaming hot joe.

if i weren't so busy drinking the stuff, i'd google 'coffee inventor' and write more deeply about the subject. as it is, i did google images of 'the inventor of coffee' and left you with the selection above.

if you enjoy coffee, you can always learn more about it and about ways to make it. i say 'why bother?' have a cup now and do your favorite thing.

thank you and have a nice day.

the wizard of oz

sixty years ago the movie the wizard of oz debuted. it drew little attention among theatre goers.

is the wizard, pictured above, or has he ever been, creation's idol?

in our family the five children huddled around our black and white tv and shuddered when the wizard spoke. if the lion was a coward, so were we children. the wizard was no idol for us.

years later, upon reflection, maybe the wizard of oz is creation's idol (at least on this day). he wasn't so frightening as this picture after all. as i remember it, he had a kind, if nervous, disposition.

whatever the case, i'll tune the film in again this year. the wizard of oz is a classic movie. it is worth watching again and again. sixty years after its debut, movie buffs think much higher of the production.

thank you and have a nice day.

The First Family's new pet, "Bo"

to learn more about this portuguese water dog

see:http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-04-12-obamas-dog_N.htm

www.hulu.com

"Hulu.com is a free online video service that offers hit TV shows including Family Guy, 30 Rock, and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, etc." says google hit #1.

check out this growing site for tv shows and movies and see what you think.

it is competing against youtube. however content on the two sites is much different.

www.hulu.com

holden caulfield

'the catcher in the rye,' by j.d. salinger, continues to have influence on me. i was a freshman in high school when i read it. the story often had me laughing out loud in the school's library. i didn't get in trouble because almost everyone who did read salinger's marvel did the same thing.

since the times changed for me, from age 15 to age 23, (now i am 53), i can sit back and deeply relate to the life of the protagonist in the novel, holden caulfield.

holden is creation's idol today.

holden ends up in a psychiatric ward at the end of the novel. i have had the same bad luck in my life. the question could be framed "is holden caulfield a negative or positive figure?" i argue that he is positive.

holden wanted to scratch out all the f___ you's in the world. he wanted to protect his sister, phoebe. he wanted to keep anyone from falling off the edge of the rye field. he was the catcher in the rye.

perhaps holden was bipolar and might have developed a liking for rye whiskey. maybe j.d. salinger was like this himself. following is a short video you will like.

for more information on holden's author, follow this link to learn more about j.d. salinger: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._Salinger.

thank you and have a nice day.

johnny carson

johnny carson was funny.

any night i watched him i laughed out loud.

his straight man, ed mcMahon, was the perfect comic foil allowing johnny to operate at his comedic best. the team produced their humor night after night for a lot of years. the show was a great way to relieve me of the day's pressure. i had a difficult job during the day. afterward i commuted to night law school classes. it was a real grind for me. johnny made me laugh and his show was maybe the best of all time. today my vote for creation's idol goes to johnny carson.

when johnny died i was stricken with 'funny grief.' i called it 'carsonitis,' a disorder or a disease. when i wanted to grieve or pay some kind of personal homage i couldn't get the episode with the monkey crawling all over johnny's head and taking a wee out of my mind.

read more about johnny here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Carson

thank you and have a good laugh sometime this week.

NASA

• maybe NASA is creation's idol. the national aeronautics and space administration is conducting all kinds of super cool missions in addition to our shuttle program.
  
  
• NASA has touched down on the moon and on mars. they have sent a data collector around saturn.
  
  
• the hubble space telescope has given us great views of faraway stars and even galaxies.
  
  
• one of the easiest ways to learn about NASA is to visit their website at : http://www.nasa,gov/.

dad

my dad taught me all there is to be a good man in this society. he also had my mom in a supporting role. more about my mom in a different post.

honesty, loyalty, honor, steadfastness, determination, etc., and going the extra mile, of course. he taught me to quickly admit being corrected if i were wrong.

dad didn' talk much about his work. i decided not to be too curious. it was only later in life when i was able to appreciate his career.

we lost dad (i have three siblings) about four years ago. i miss him dearly but i am still learning certain lessons he gave me. i am sure he crossed the divide in good shape, mom in tow, and sometime there will be a huge family reunion.

father's day is not until june. i was thinking about dad today because i am on day 6 without a cigarette and also because yesterday was 'earth day.'

some fathers are not loved. i have empathy for those families. my family was lucky. it is fortunate to have some good luck.

good luck to you and have a nice day.

deepak chopra??? or you???

dr. chopra explains in one of his books exactly how you, the reader, are the center of the universe.

using the x-y-z axis above, just suppose you are located at the point where the three lines meet.

just pretend no matter which way you point, and matter no consequence, the lines you think extend endlessly. up. down. north. south. east. west. into space and beyond. through planets, the sun, and other stars.

can you see deepak chopra's point?

you are the center of the universe. once you become assertive and confident, people will notice.

you can be creation's idol. like a rock star or a politician or any other celebrity.

however a wise man said one day, 'be careful what you wish for.'

please have a good day.

Creation', by James Weldon Johnson

The Creation

by James Weldon Johnson


And God stepped out on space,
And he looked around and said:
I'm lonely--
I'll make me a world.

And far as the eye of God could see
Darkness covered everything,
Blacker than a hundred midnights
Down in a cypress swamp.

Then God smiled,
And the light broke,
And the darkness rolled up on one side,
And the light stood shining on the other,
And God said: That's good!

Then God reached out and took the light in his hands,
And God rolled the light around in his hands
Until he made the sun;
And he set that sun a-blazing in the heavens.
And the light that was left from making the sun
God gathered it up in a shining ball
And flung it against the darkness,
Spangling the night with the moon and stars.
Then down between
The darkness and the light
He hurled the world;
And God said: That's good!

Then God himself stepped down--
And the sun was on his right hand,
And the moon was on his left;
The stars were clustered about his head,
And the earth was under his feet.
And God walked, and where he trod
His footsteps hollowed the valleys out
And bulged the mountains up.

Then he stopped and looked and saw
That the earth was hot and barren.
So God stepped over to the edge of the world
And he spat out the seven seas--
He batted his eyes, and the lightnings flashed--
He clapped his hands, and the thunders rolled--
And the waters above the earth came down,
The cooling waters came down.

Then the green grass sprouted,
And the little red flowers blossomed,
The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky,
And the oak spread out his arms,
The lakes cuddled down in the hollows of the ground,
And the rivers ran down to the sea;
And God smiled again,
And the rainbow appeared,
And curled itself around his shoulder.

Then God raised his arm and he waved his hand
Over the sea and over the land,
And he said: Bring forth! Bring forth!
And quicker than God could drop his hand,
Fishes and fowls
And beasts and birds
Swam the rivers and the seas,
Roamed the forests and the woods,
And split the air with their wings.
And God said: That's good!

Then God walked around,
And God looked around
On all that he had made.
He looked at his sun,
And he looked at his moon,
And he looked at his little stars;
He looked on his world
With all its living things,
And God said: I'm lonely still.

Then God sat down--
On the side of a hill where he could think;
By a deep, wide river he sat down;
With his head in his hands,
God thought and thought,
Till he thought: I'll make me a man!

Up from the bed of the river
God scooped the clay;
And by the bank of the river
He kneeled him down;
And there the great God Almighty
Who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky,
Who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night,
Who rounded the earth in the middle of his hand;
This great God,
Like a mammy bending over her baby,
Kneeled down in the dust
Toiling over a lump of clay
Till he shaped it in is his own image;

Then into it he blew the breath of life,
And man became a living soul.
Amen. Amen.

before the big bang

is creation's idol sir roger penrose? this video is not the best quality but it is the lesson that counts.

see: http://sciencestage.com/v/970/roger-penrose-before-the-big-bang-part1.html