On Just About Everything
Not all things creative are visual. Some are simple unsaid words and thoughts. Like most kids I read Huckleberry Finn at an early age. It was not one of my favorite books, I was more into Steinbeck and London at the time. But when we visited Mark Twain’s home in Hannibal Missouri I discovered that his legacy goes way beyond his most popular books. I have come to very much appreciate his words above… Continue reading I Recognize It But…
Originally posted on RedLetterLiving:
What About The Bible… ? (Chapter 2) I know that from all the rhetoric about this topic you are expecting the next word in the title to be “Clear” but actually for me it is “Fuzzy”. I don’t know how many times in my life I have heard the phrase “just study the bible for the answer to your problems. When a child dies from a fall in the bathtub the Christian answer to our total devastation is to “read the Bible”. It is as if we can just randomly open a page and then the… Continue reading I Read The Bible And Everything Became….
I must admit that I do quite a bit of my shopping now on Amazon. I go to the mall on maybe a monthly basis but that is more for the exercise than for shopping. But then again most of the shops in our college town mall are clothing stores and since my total repertoire in that area can be fitted in a two foot space in my closet there is really not much there for me. Things are changing for all us consumers. Netflix is causing a big shift in the video market, Apple tunes and such have taken over … Continue reading Going Out Of Business Sale….
Living in a rural area of Indiana and surrounded by forests the sight of a turkey is a fairly common event. But recently a young herd (or whatever you call a group of turkeys) wandered across our back property. There were … Continue reading A herd of Turkeys…
I see in the headlines that a New Jersey Senator is in trouble for passing out favors to his rich friends. The photo above was taken at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library a few years ago. President Wilson started out his political career as governor of NJ. It is obvious from this shot that they had similar problems one-hundred years ago. Continue reading What's Old Is New….
In order to assure his victory Netanyahu flatly said there would be no Palestinian State while he was prime minister. Those words just might result in some tough love for US/Israeli relations. Bibi might finally realize that his actions have consequences. The current day Israel was at least partially created by a United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 back in 1947 which mandated a two state solution for the Palestinian territory. There have been several attempts in recent years for the UN to once again declare a two state solution to the problem but the U.S. has threatened a veto each time … Continue reading Tough Love… The Consequences Of Your Actions…
The Palestinian problem is the primary driver for so much of what happens in the Middle East. To see a solution taken off the table by Israel is tragic for all the world. Give peace a chance….. Continue reading A Sad Day For The Possibility of Peace In The Middle East…
I started thinking about this post after I saw a PBS Special about Gunner Myrdal entitled “American Denial”. Myrdal was a famous Swedish sociologist that in the 1940s was asked by the Carnegie Foundation to study the “negro problem” in the U.S. He had a long and deep admiration of the United States and particularly the American creeds of equal chance, equal opportunity and equal justice. He spent several years investigating before he published his foundational report. Here is a little from Wiki about the man and his work: Myrdal believed he saw a vicious cycle in which whites oppressed negroes, and … Continue reading The American Creed..
This Land Is Your Land Song by Woody Guthrie This land is your land This land is my land From California to the New York island From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made … Continue reading This Land Is Your Land…
I’m not sure what this piece of equipment is but I think it is a seeder. Whenever I look at these century old things I now marvel at the American ingenuity that it took to create it. Continue reading American Ingenuity…
What the world needs now is love, sweet love It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No, not just for some but for everyone I love the song lyrics above. They give me hope that someday, probably in the very distant future the world will turn to love but we got a long ways to go before that can even remotely become reality. In the interim I am just praying that the world has a little less spite tomorrow than it does today. Spite is such a destructive … Continue reading What The World Needs Now Is a Lot Less Spite….
I’ve heard it said the best way for Washington to create peace in the Middle East is to stop providing U.N. cover for Israel and eliminate the U.S. money that fuels Israel’s defiant behavior (more than $20.5 billion given just during the Obama administration). In effect, it’s Parenting 101: Make Israel responsible for its actions…. Toward the end of his diatribe to the GOP, Bibi offered up a simple remedy:“If Iran wants to be treated like a normal country, let it act like a normal country.”Presumably, that would include following international law. Great plan, Bibi. Heed it. SOURCE: War, War, and More War … Continue reading Parenting 101
I enjoy most historic sites I have visited around the country but I enjoy the ones with the reenactors the most. Most of these folks do it on a voluntary basis just for the fun of doing it. They, especially … Continue reading Ode To The Reenactors
Today is James Madison’s birthday. I have made it clear here on RJsCorner that he is my favorite political figure in history. He was a short and hard-working and modest guy. This country would be very different if he had not lived. Here is a quote of the ten things about him that many probably don’t know. Click on the source below to see the entire article. Madison really was the Father of the Constitution. He arrived 11 days early for the event, presented his Virginia plan of checks and balances as the foundation of the Constitution, and then worked … Continue reading Happy Birthday James Madison..
I have been blogging for about eight months now over at InSearchOfAmerica. It is quite different from this one in that it is dedicated to looking at all the great things about this country that I have discovered throughout my many years. Over there I talk about what is right about America. I continue to be amazed by how great this country is in so many ways. I am now in the process of putting in somewhat detailed travelogues documenting my many trips around this great country. It is fun posting there even if my visit count is only 10% of … Continue reading It's All A Game….
I know jelly fish in the wild is something you don’t want to tangle with but those I encountered in the San Francisco Aquarium were very surreal… Continue reading Surreal..
Originally posted on RedLetterLiving:
What About The Bible… ? (Chapter 1) I have been spending quite a bit of time lately thinking about the Bible and my experiences with it over the last decade or so. Around 2003 I decided to take up a serious study of theology and in particularly those around the words of Jesus. I naively thought I could get some clear directions for my spiritual life if I just understood why the Bible seems to mean so many different things to so many people. What I have discovered over this period of time awakened me. I… Continue reading The Thing Is…..
Iowa is pretty much known as corn to many of us so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to see this very large picture of corn in the State House in Des Moines. I am not making fun of Iowa as my home state of Indiana is known for much the same thing. In fact Iowa is one of my favorite states and Mount Vernon Iowa is the most picturesque town I have ever visited. Continue reading Corn….
Originally posted on RJ's Corner – Old Version:
I know I have a sizable percentage of women who follow this blog so I thought I would spend this post telling you about how guys bond. At least the guys I know. I’m sure you all know and that guys bond differently than women. When a woman feels emotional about something it is usually very obvious. Not so much for us guys. I think I am more girly, as Arnold puts it, than most guys. I readily admit that I shed a few tears during some movies and such… Continue reading Guys Bonding….
I am having another symmetry attack and need to get it out of my system. This picture of symmetry was taken at the Des Moines Iowa State Museum a few years ago. It is a very interesting place to visit. Continue reading Symmetry Attack…
I have seen two vastly different examples of American justice in the last few months. Example 1 – Five months ago it was discovered that an elected official in our county has been stealing funds from us for the last ten years. Since that time she has been free to do whatever she want while the evidence has been gathered. It seems that over the last ten years she has stolen about $400,000 in our very small county mainly by charging totally personal things like food, vacations, TVs to a county credit card. She was finally indicted this week and the trial … Continue reading The Inequality of the Current Justice System…
Those GOP yahoos have tried 50+ times to repeal it. I kinda of think it is just too late for that. They will have to put it along side Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid as one of the”socialist” things to eliminate in the future. That is if they ever have a friend in the White House again. Continue reading Hurry, Hurry Repeal It….
Take Action: Urge your member of Congress to close the Pentagon’s Overseas Contingency Operations account and to require all funds spent by the Pentagon to be part of its regular budget. Since 2011, almost the whole federal government has been operating under tight spending limits. Pentagon contractors (weapons manufacturers) were concerned about how these limits might affect their profits. Then their trade association leaders reminded them that the OCO account provides them a “cushion.” The Pentagon can use the OCO account to get around budget caps — and military contractors are pushing for even more money in this account. According … Continue reading The War Slush Fund….
One thing I like about my lifetime study of American history is that as Solomon said “there is nothing new under the sun”. Almost everything happening today has some corollary in the past. The John Kennedy quotes from more than fifty years ago could have just as easily been made today. It is hard for me to imagine that Kennedy was born almost a century ago. As standards go he was a very young president much like our current one. I, like so many of my generation, will always remember him as a young man cut down in … Continue reading Looking Back to See a Path Forward…
I came across a couple of very interesting John F. Kennedy quotes while browsing my photo library recently that are very applicable to our times. Continue reading Kennedy Quotes…
Creativity is not limited to museums and such. I found this work of art on the side of a barn in a State park along the Ohio River. Continue reading Creativity in the Simplest Places
There are those, too many in my mind, that are adamant in taking away affordable healthcare to 10 million of our citizens. Without offering any viable alternative they insist that those ten million go back into the uninsured pile whose only access to healthcare is an emergency room and a band-aid. It is widely acknowledged that when the ACA was written it was NOT the framers intent to give subsidies to some areas of the country and not others. The Framers themselves have loudly come out with those facts. So why is this challenge even in front of the Supreme … Continue reading Declaring The Supreme Court Unconstitutional…
If Fox New is famous for anything it is about putting themselves in the center of the news. It seems that this behavior is getting one of its stars Mr. O’Reilly in hot water recently. He is getting caught with too many personal embellishments lately. When Brian Williams did that recently he got a six-month non-paid vacation, but I’m sure Mr. O’Reilly won’t even get a slap on his wrist. After all if Fox News were to put him on forced hiatus they would probably have to do the same with almost their entire staff. But that is not the saddest … Continue reading A Snippet Here…. When You Put Yourself In The Center Of The News..
We’re still pretending that we’re inventing a brain when all we’ve come up with is a giant mash-up of real brains. We don’t yet understand how brains work, so we can’t build one. We bolded that last sentence because it pretty much explains the predicament for AI. Until we more fundamentally understand that which we’re trying to clone, everything else is an impressive attempt up Everest that never totally summits. This jibes with a sentiment that renowned author and cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter posed earlier this year. He calls current prominent pursuits in the artificial intelligence arena “vacuous” [IBM’s “Jeopardy!”-winning … Continue reading Why We Can't Yet Build True Artificial Intelligence…
I often talk about how Teddy Roosevelt is one of my heroes because he broke up many of the robber baron’s empires almost a century ago. But since Teddy was a Republican he had to work inside that organization to … Continue reading The Reformers…
Recently someone requested that I be his new “friend” on Facebook. I’m not sure I even know him but I think he is a sibling of one of my high school classmates. One thing that Facebook is good at is to give you a long lists of “friends of your friends” to entice to add more. I guess they get more revenue that way but I don’t know for sure. Anyway I went ahead and accepted the request and within a day or two that person’s Facebook page appeared on my screen. The first post was him passing along someone else’s post. It … Continue reading Fifty Years From Now…
The Milwaukee Art Museum is a very unique and stimulating place. It is made of glass and steel. We found this creation in the lobby the first time we entered. I thought it was meant to be a centerpiece but in reality it is for cleaning the glass windows. This proves that creative art does not have to be only for art’s sake :) Continue reading Milwaukee Art Museum
In some way or another we are all damaged goods. Yes, we have been enhanced by some life experiences but we are also tainted by others. Whether we will personally admit it or not we all have dark sides. We all have things in our past that we would do differently if we had the chance. In other words we have all had experiences that affected how we look at life. Too many of my Christian brothers use this fact as a reason to do nothing. The clergy in their pulpits constantly remind them that they are nothing but miserable sinners and … Continue reading We Are All Damaged Goods…
Frank Lloyd Wright is very much what America is about. He was a famous architect in the late 19th century. He designed that is known as a “praire house” which was a very distinctive style. This one in Springfield Illinois is … Continue reading Frank Lloyd Wright
Downtown Milwaukee is an interesting place to take a stroll. The small sculptures above were found on one of the many mini-bridges in the city. Click on the picture to see a larger more readable version of the plaque. Only in Midwestern America would you stop construction of a bridge to wait for a duck to hatch her young… Continue reading Downtown Milwaukee..
Makes sense to me now if they would only add it to the GOP political platform…. Continue reading A Man Deserting a Woman…
One of the things I enjoy doing is taking pictures of reflections off glass buildings. When I was in Ottawa a few years ago those opportunities were abundant but this one was taken at the 911 Memorial Plaza in NYC. Notice the WTC footprint water wall in the foreground. Continue reading NYC Reflections..
I found this plaque in the State Capital in Des Moines Iowa. It says a lot about what the heart of America really means. It is a quote form St. Francis os Assisi in memory John F. Kennedy. Continue reading Be a Giver, Not a Taker….
Here we go again! America is running true to form, fixing some other country’s business for ’em just as we always do. We mean well but will wind up in the wrong as usual. When some nation wants us to help ’em out, they use the same old “gag” that we should exert our “Moral Leadership: and, like a yap, we believe it when as a matter of truth, no nations wants any other nation exerting “Moral Leadership” over ’em, even if they had one. If we ever pass out as a great nation we ought to put on our … Continue reading America Died From a Delusion…
This is a picture of a worker clocking in at a Youngstown steel mill about one hundred years ago. Of course the original is black and white. I know that I am supposed to appreciate b/w photography but somehow it just lacks depth to me. This pic need some focus so I gave the worker an orange coat and a slight halo. He is now without a doubt the focus of the shot. Continue reading Needs Focus…
Geniuses think productively, not reproductively. When confronted with a problem, they ask themselves how many different ways they can look the problem, how they can rethink it, and how many different ways they can solve it, instead of asking how they have been taught to solve it…. Leonardo da Vinci believed that to gain knowledge about the form of a problem, you began by learning how to restructure it to see it in many different ways. He felt the first way he looked at a problem was too biased toward his usual way of seeing things. He would look at … Continue reading Cracking Creativity – What If….
Just a quick snippet to add some info to this morning’s post. Why Bibi and Barack Can’t Get Along But the real challenge the two have faced is their different policies in the Middle East. Obama came to office reaching out to Iran and pushing for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Netanyahu opposed warming ties with the militantly anti-Israel theocrats in Tehran and refused in early meetings with Obama publicly to embrace the possibility of a Palestinian state. The outcome of their latest confrontation remains to be seen. Netanyahu faces a tough election this month and the White House’s increasingly public criticism may … Continue reading A Snippet Here….
The pic above is of Merv (uRV). He is my truck of almost 25 years that I have been repurposing into a micro-RV for travels around the Midwest in the coming years in my own version of “Travels with Charley”. I have spent two years turning what was once a delivery truck for my past furniture business into a quite comfortable 5×8 foot living quarters. This spring I will start with the exterior design which will include advertising this blog and the travelogue over at InSearchOfAmerica. In the mean time here sits uRV up to his wheels in the most recent … Continue reading Snowbound…
It seems this picture could have been taken in some third-world country but it is not what it seems. It was actually taken in a southern Indiana State park a couple of weeks ago. That is not slavic milk maid, … Continue reading Slavic Milk Maid ???
Of course the title of this post came from the Sermon on the Mount found in the Christian Bible. Many, if not most Christians, believe that these teaching called the Beatitudes are fundamental to their faith. They are one of the primary lessons that Jesus left us on how he wants us to act. Here are all eight: Blessed are.. ….the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. ….those who mourn: for they will be comforted. ….the meek: for they will inherit the earth. ….those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they will be filled. ….the merciful: for they … Continue reading Blessed Are The Peacemakers….
