WHEN YOUR COMPUTER ACTS SCHIZOPHRENIC

My computer decided it would translate text to voice and put up a tutorial to learn my voice.  This appeared to be an unasked for Microsoft product...one like no many others from MS that could not be turned off.  It also was nifty in that it took over the keyboard so I could not type out any emails or anything else for that matter.  Those of you for whom the computer through Google and other programs has become an accessory brain, will understand my panic. I was devastated.

As is my wont, I walked away from it to another computer of mine, newer but with hated Vista, only to find it had dropped its connections to the Internet and in-house network.  At this point I am happy I Was alone because I was surely a blithering idiot.  More time out.

Trying to remember when I last had changed anything, I recalled I had stupidly installed some Mozilla add-ons.  Past experience had taught me that is a no-no, to ever put more than one on, because there is no way of knowing which one was the culprit.  So my only alternative was to take out all that didn't look like I'd had it forever.  As you can readily see, I am now typing and was able to send e-mail. though I'm still having a spot of trouble with restart...it starts up with a blank screen but a cold boot gets everything back to normal

So those freebies often carry pestilence with them.  Downloader, beware!  It is far easier and more effective to prevent a virus or worm than to have to try to remove one.  Sometimes you just can't win, though.  Sometimes you get lucky!

RESEARCH SHOW BIRD BILLS GET SMALLER WITH COLDER TEMPS

From Science Daily, 6/24/10:  "The evolution of bird bills is related to climate according to latest research by the University of Melbourne, Australia and Brock University, Canada. By examining bill sizes of a diverse range of bird species around the world, researchers have found that birds with larger bills tend to be found in hot environments, whilst birds in colder environments have evolved smaller bills."

Naturally, I began to wonder if the same is true of humans.  Long, aquiline noses  tend to be stereotypically in northern Africa.  The few Nordic people I know do not have large noses.  I doubt that is enough sampling to prove any point and I wonder when, if such a premise is true, intermarriage and emigrations have altered genetics so they no longer reflect what was possibly true a few generations ago.  I will die of old age before anyone will answer that question for me just as the proof that there is a God or not will be found one way or another long after I am dead and cremated.

Ah!  So many unanswered questions but they will all be answered by someone, some day.  Many of us just might not be around as our forefathers were not around to see jets fly, robots, microscopic surgery, cameras on our insides, TV, iPhones, computers, and 'original' Cracker Jacks in boxes one third the size for 10 times the price,.with the recipe altered, just to name a very few..

AT LAST OBAMA TAKES FULL COMMAND

Obama has been turning the other cheek far too long.  It is about time he enforces his statement that he welcomes debate but not division.  The poor judgment that General McChrystal used in being interviewed by Rolling Stone seems a hangover of the disrespect the military has had for the Presidential authority.  It is also certainly time for Obama to bring together the divisive elements of his own inner circle.


General Petraeus has been appointed. to replace General McChrystal.. Hopefully, demanding McChrystal's resignation is only the beginning for Obama to force an end to the public divisiveness.  There will always be those who will disagree but they should not be given such a public platform, as far reaching as the media has been doing for some time now.  The media would do well to take Liz Cheney off panels.  She is, after all, not a media person but an activist for getting rid of Obama, or at least to make him ineffective.

If nothing better happens, we must hope for a climate in which people can share opinions but not pure gossip; where  the divisiveness of the Tea Party and the last administration will not longer bear attentiveness. Without intervention by Obama and the staff around him, we may be seeing attacks by the Militias soon.  Someone has to put a stop to the stirring of violence from Palin, Dick Armey, Michele Bachmann, the Tea Party, the Deniers, the Birthers, and all those who have been openly lying and threatening the President...which, unfortunately includes much of the Republican party and its leaders, as well..

WHY WITNESSES CAN'T BE TRUSTED

A few evenings ago as I was at my computer, my peripheral vision caught movement on the floor, running quickly along the baseboard.  I thought it was a very large mouse.  Later, I saw a similar or the same creature walk into the dining room from the room beyond and saunter under the dining room table into the kitchen.  By the time I could get up to look, it had gone, I thought, into my studio.  I shut the door so it would be trapped in there and put out a 'mouse hotel', baited.  The next day I heard paper crumbling and as I opened the door, I saw the same grayish critter with a thin tail run behind the chest.

I had to leave for two days so I entered the room and caught him running behind a large cabinet.  This time he looked to be about five inches long, round tummy (possibly a couple of inches in diameter) and decided he was too big to be a mouse and rather small to be a rat, probably was.a vole.

When a got back after the weekend, dirt had been scattered out of most of the flower pots on the sills on three sides of the room.  Dirt and pebbles were everywhere and there were holes in many of the pots.  The rodent had not tried to get into the kitchen where there might have been the usual rodent feast with a little effort.

Blessings on Mr. Google, after I bought some D-Con and a larger ultrasonic box guaranteed to give the critter a headache, all the plants were carried out of the room.  By now, the critter should have been hungry and thirsty.  We opened the back door and tried to flush him out but he wouldn't go, instead ripping by and hiding behind furniture.  Assuming he was sealing his own fate, after vacuuming up all the dirt that had been scattered and wiping up the sills, I stood at the glass in the door and saw him.  I had been convinced he was a vole but, there in front of me (I even got binoculars to make sure of what I was seeing, was a chipmunk!. How he got turned into a striped thing is beyond me.  Could there be a second critter?  Did the first escape?  Don't ever ask me to be a witness at a court hearing.  I am not to be trusted!. 

I maintain my firm rule: Iif you don't pay rent, you can't live here.

WHEN FACTS AND REALITY INTRUDE

On Christopher Hitchens, a book review from the NY Times.  Hitchens, as any of you might notice if you've seen him on a TV panel, loves to play 'bad boy'.  As brilliant as he is, he must get a few things wrong now and again.  For example, his position on being a global socialist has switched, his two marriages suggest he may not be as good at defining his needs in a relationship and finding a woman who can/will fulfill his needs.  Hitchens feels all wars in the world have been started over religion.  This is only partly true.  Many Catholics are, finally. allowing some of the facts about sexual abuse by supposedly celibate priests, out of the denial zone and into reality..  The truth is that wars are started by people in the name of religion, but the reality is the goal is power, not ideology that is usually behind them.

Senator Joe Barton from Texas called the escrow account.BP gave to Obama a 'shakedown'. While it is admirable for people in public office to be able to put themselves in everyone's position to understand them, it is wise to discriminate between those things bad for our country from those which are good.  I would say that Senator Barton  left our country out of his equation and simply decided what was good for him to have people believe...if, in fact, many must believe him since he is still in office,believe him.

This could easily have been named 'Beauty is in the Eyes of the Beholder'.  We see what we want to see much of the time.

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TOY STORY 3

Pixar is a magnet for me.  Generally, by the time Hollywood has regurgitated a third film in a series, it has failed to match the quality of the first two installments.  That was true of the Godfather, Spiderman, and many others.  However, the Pixar writer(s) managed to keep the same cast of characters with a completely new story line that one would have had to have hardening of the heart and sense of humor, failing to enjoy this 3D movie.

The story has moved forward to the year when Andy is off to college.  Some of the toys are to go to the attic storage and the Woody, the sheriff, is to go off to college with Andy.  But, there wouldn't be a movie if all went well, now would there?   So there is a great snafu and these anthropomorphized  toys do all the things a large group of humans might do to try to fulfill their obligations to being toys.  We see longing, rejection, cruelty, devotion, love, heroism, lack of self-confidence, revenge, fear, group cohesiveness, and much more in a touching film.

The story line is totally new and fun, the happy ending finally gets there, and children and adults can relate to the whole movie.  The 3D animation brings the whole thing over the top for a 'this-is-definitely-worth-seeing movie; for all ages.  It is what all movies should be...it keeps you in suspense but triumphs in the end with good over evil and warmth and loyalty being shared by all, leaving one feeling comfy inside as 3D glasses are tossed into the box on departing the theater.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Today we should show respect for all the fathers that once were, those who currently are, and all that will become so in the future.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO YOU ALL 

from someone whose father has been gone for many years and who will never forget him.