Now, it’s not the Royal Baby ~ Although, I do have a BuzzFeed graph of what the internet might have looked like this afternoon …..
No – it’s a very important discovery …..
Those of you who’ve been around my blog know that I suffer from depression…sometimes serious, deep depression and that I have (according to the Doctors) probably suffered for as long as 60+ years.
Treatment/medication are fine. But this article from The Independent in England has given me tremendous hope.
I”ll link to the article, but this just might be the money quote:
Researchers used a particle accelerator called the Diamond Light Source to understand the structure of CRF1. The X-ray machine’s powerful beams illuminated the protein’s structure, according to the Sunday Times, including a crevice that could become a new target for drug therapy.
The information gained from this study will be used to design small molecule drugs that fit into this new pocket to treat depression.
This is wonderful news, and news that gives me hope for all of those (myself included) who suffer from this disease ….
There, now that I’ve gotten that out-of-the-way ….
Along the years, I’ve gotten to enjoy some really bizarre “conspiracy theories”. Some are in the category of >banging head on keyboard> while others actually make you stop and go “Hmm.” This is one of those.
In spite of what my Grand-kids might think, cell phones are a rather new invention … or are they?
[NOTE: the two videos that follow have NOT been doctored, they are as they were … ]
OK, let’s set the way back machine to the year – well close to the year – 1928 and Charlie Chaplin’s The Circus … watch and you might think that Dr. Who had been there ….
Really? A cell phone in 1928(ish) …. To quote the infomercials: “But wait there’s more…..”
Skip the record ahead just a few years to the somewhere toward 1938(ish) ….
Totally flummoxed? As always, there are some explanations….. I’m just not going to include them now. I’ll post about it tomorrow after you’ve dealt with them ….
There’s been a lot going on this week. I have a friend at Stage (end) cancer, another friend that is facing what could be heart failure. I’ve been strong and uplifting until last night …. that’s when I discovered that the well had run dry. I’ve been around long enough and through enough (look back through this history of the blog for those episodes that really revitalized my outlook) to know that it’s bound to happen.
Even counselors know that a sponge can only absorb so much, and then all that has to be squeezed out or the sponge becomes of no use.
Today, then – became a quiet and reflective day. However (comma) I really wanted a few things to possibly 1) kick me in the behind to make me move (LOL) or 2) make me laugh and/or 3) inspire me ….
Here’s the laugh factor …. as a preface – the Mouse House (AKA Disney Studio) is NOT known for their sense of humor in regards to what others might do with their material. I’ve been surprised at some of what on YouTube is allowed to remain and not so surprised at what they’ve wanted removed.
In this case, they took the recording outtakes/bloopers from The Lion King and animated them and included them (evidently) in The Lion King DVD … I’m still chuckling over parts – especially the last one. I have to admit when I saw the film the first time (and the stage show) a part of me wondered if that had ever happened.
And now – THIS video made my day just to be able to watch these folks fly … and what a rush it must have been for them …..
Let me quote:
Wingsuit flying is the sport of flying the human body through the air using a special jumpsuit, called a wingsuit, which adds surface area to the human body to enable a significant increase in lift. Modern wingsuits, first developed in the late 1990s, create the surface area with fabric between the legs and under the arms. A wingsuit may be referred to as a birdman suit, flying squirrel suit, or bat suit.
A wingsuit flight normally ends with a parachute opening, so a wingsuit can be flown from any point that provides sufficient altitude to glide through the air, such as skydiving aircraft or BASE jumping exit points, and to allow a parachute to deploy.
The wingsuit flier wears parachute equipment designed for skydiving or BASE jumping. The flier deploys the parachute at a planned altitude and releases the arm wings, if necessary, so they can reach up to the control toggles and fly to a normal parachute landing.
During the time I was teaching Speech, Theater and English in India, I sometimes had a bit of difficulty helping students “get” some of the Greek Classics in Theater. Face it, much like Shakespeare – some of the translations of the Greek Theater have about as much excitement in them as reading the day’s to-do list….but with “You Need To Know This” added on top of it.
There are fun(ish) games one can play with Shakespeare such as “What is the color and design of Desdemona’s handkerchief?” … which can only be ascertained by actually reading the text. The Greeks? Not so much. Several years ago, I ran across this video of Oedipus The Movie [“Warning ~ contains vegetable sensuality”] …. Something such as this would have made teaching Oedipus Rex easier with my high school students ….
Now, there’s no plays that I know of starring Medusa, but she certainly colors a lot of plays and literature … From this website http://cityofspeed.msn.com/article/detail/253303958 I found an amazing telling of Medusa and Facebook …
Fox 2000 Pictures
Here’s the article …
Maybe Posting Medusa’s Photo on Facebook Was a Mistake?
After a long journey with many adventures that will soon become legend, Jason and the Argonauts returned home. Like anyone just back from a trip, Jason was anxious to upload all of his pictures to Facebook, because as they say in this golden age of ancient Greece, “Pictures or it didn’t happen.”
Though he eluded the stone curse of the Gorgon called Medusa by looking at her with a mirror, having not reviewed his pictures, Jason had not yet learned that the curse also applies to high-definition digital photos of Medusa, of whom he took many.
While batch uploading pictures to Facebook, Jason didn’t notice that a photo of Medusa was included in the “Whoa!” album. The following is the comment thread after the picture auto-posted to Jason’s wall.
Heracles Hmm. That woman looks familiar. Does she run the inn on the Isle of Crab Legs? Hoowee! I must have eaten BLARRRR!
Polymede Son, I raised you to know better than to post pictures of the floozies you meet while on your odysseys. Things like this are better kept privateEEEP
Apollo Jason, what is this creature? I foresee a fortnight of nightmares with this face, haunting my dreams otherwise filled with rainbows, sunny fields and harps. Ergggg
Kevinacles Heyyy roomie. Nice pic. So, if you have time, could you do all the dishes you left out last night? It looks like a pack of boars got in here and GRRK
Achilles I have battled some of the most fearsome warriors and monsters known to man, but this is the first time I’ve ever spilt my drink at the sight offfffffffffffffffffffff
Pan Seeing this, I long to return to the fields for some peace and reflection, surrounded by my herd of goats, who, incidentally, are like 20 times more attractive than this womEERRRRRRGGG.
Aeole the Blind Oracle What? What’s everyone talking about? Someone DESCRIBE the picture please. Ay, I hate Facebook.
Ashleymede SO! THIS IS WHAT YOU DO ON THESE TRIPS OF YOURS?? TAKE WEIRD PICTURES OF STRANGE WOMEN? BOYFRIEND, I WILL DUMP YOU SO FAST YOUR HEAD WILL KI,K,IKMIJKKJIKJIKJKJKJKMKJJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Dale the Argonaut “Whoa” is right! I remember that day! That Medusa was a handful! If we hadn’t used that mirror trick, we’d have never AIIIIG!!!
Poseidon Jason! You fool! This is my ex! One look at her will literally turn you to stone! I’m reporting this picture before anyoneeeeeeerglgdho.i/tfv[p
Jason Wow, strange comments. Is there some kind of mass keyboard malfunction going on? Anyway, sorry. I didn’t mean to upload this one. But don’t worry, a photo of Medusa shouldn’teeeerk
I consider myself pretty computer savvy … I don’t fall for the Nigerian wealth scams (although I do sigh at all the money I’d missed out on) or phishing scams. Today, however, was almost the exception. This delightful missive showed up in my email, and I’m not going to redact much except the links …..
Nick H. – WordPress.com
Hi there,
We have received a DMCA Takedown Notice (http://automattic.com/dmca/) for the following material published on your WordPress.com site:
[redacted]
[redacted]
As such, we were legally required to remove the material from our servers.
If you wish to challenge this notice we will be happy to provide you with all of the appropriate details.
Thank you
Nick H.
WordPress.com | Automattic
First of all the two issues were posted in 2007 – I guess in June. I frankly couldn’t find where they were….I’m assuming the when I moved from Blogger to WordPress there might have been some missed pictures – but more likely videos as the two sites have different methods of embedding videos.
Then (foolish me, I know) I tried to find a link to contact someone at WordPress about all this … there doesn’t seem to be one.
This is why I’ve decided to turn to you folks here in ‘bloggerville” – have any of you gotten something such as this? According to the sight Atuomattic – someone is supposed to contact the blogger directly to request that the blogger remove the material. While I’ve not had a DMCA notification before, I have gotten requests to re-do my attribution on photos I’ve used. There is no way I’m going to reply the email, as I have no way to ascertain that this is valid …. Any suggestions?
Let us leave the world of children’s toys in space .. (AKA “Kid’s Toys In Space”) and enter another time-waster. This is titled Snake Squad. It’s an interesting combination of several game themes but just like Mario – remember to “gather” the money!! It’s totally controlled by your mouse …
Failure to remember to “collect” the money will result in a fairly low score ..,..
As always, I’m not responsible for time wasted, broken keyboards, or smashed objects (in frustration) .. ENJOY!!!!
This absolutely made my day ~ with thanks to the blog Towel Road …..
”
I’ve had this video for a few days but haven’t had a chance to post it. Ron Fugelseth wins a ‘Dad of the Year’ award imho:
On Aug 24th 2012 we sent my son’s favorite train “Stanley” to space in a weather balloon with a HD camera and an old cell phone for GPS. He was recovered 27 miles away in a corn field and we got some great footage of the trip. This video documents the journey from liftoff to landing.
My 4-year-old and Stanley are inseparable like Calvin and Hobbes. He’s been attached to him since he was two, and they play, sleep and do everything together. I animated Stanley’s face with After Effects and Photoshop to bring him to life how I imagine my son sees him. [added emphasis is mine]
Next to the Darwin Awards (for those who mercifully remove themselves from the gene pool), I love the Ig Noble Awards. Hosted by Improbable Research each year they award an Ig Nobel Award best described here :These come with little cash, but much cachet, and reward those research projects that ‘first make people laugh, and then make them think'” — Nature
I’m not totally sure about the thinking part, but the laugh part certainly is there. This year’s awards include a variety of subjects … each seeming somewhat ridiculous. I suppose there ARE those who need to know what happens when coffee sloshes when you walk, but right now I can’t think of anyone!!! Let me know if you do….
Envelope please ~ the 2012 winners of the coveted Ig Nobel (who received their awards in an actual ceremony yesterday) are:
PSYCHOLOGY PRIZE: Anita Eerland and Rolf Zwaan [THE NETHERLANDS] and Tulio Guadalupe [PERU, RUSSIA, and THE NETHERLANDS] for their study “Leaning to the Left Makes the Eiffel Tower Seem Smaller”
PEACE PRIZE: The SKN Company [RUSSIA], for converting old Russian ammunition into new diamonds.
ACOUSTICS PRIZE: Kazutaka Kurihara and Koji Tsukada [JAPAN] for creating the SpeechJammer — a machine that disrupts a person’s speech, by making them hear their own spoken words at a very slight delay.
NEUROSCIENCE PRIZE: Craig Bennett, Abigail Baird, Michael Miller, and George Wolford [USA], for demonstrating that brain researchers, by using complicated instruments and simple statistics, can see meaningful brain activity anywhere — even in a dead salmon.
CHEMISTRY PRIZE: Johan Pettersson [SWEDEN and RWANDA]. for solving the puzzle of why, in certain houses in the town of Anderslöv, Sweden, people’s hair turned green.
PHYSICS PRIZE: Joseph Keller [USA], and Raymond Goldstein [USA and UK], Patrick Warren, and Robin Ball [UK], for calculating the balance of forces that shape and move the hair in a human ponytail.
FLUID DYNAMICS PRIZE: Rouslan Krechetnikov [USA, RUSSIA, CANADA] and Hans Mayer [USA] for studying the dynamics of liquid-sloshing, to learn what happens when a person walks while carrying a cup of coffee.
ANATOMY PRIZE: Frans de Waal [The Netherlands and USA] and Jennifer Pokorny [USA] for discovering that chimpanzees can identify other chimpanzees individually from seeing photographs of their rear ends.
MEDICINE PRIZE: Emmanuel Ben-Soussan and Michel Antonietti [FRANCE] for advising doctors who perform colonoscopies how to minimize the chance that their patients will explode. [OK, I just HAD to add to this one … REFERENCE: “Colonic Gas Explosion During Therapeutic Colonoscopy with Electrocautery,” Spiros D Ladas, George Karamanolis, Emmanuel Ben-Soussan, World Journal of Gastroenterology, vol. 13, no. 40, October 2007, pp. 5295–8.]
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted one of these. I, personally, find Google fascinating … here’s some fun things to do with Goggle … load Google.com then type in one of the phrases into the search bar and then press I’m Feeling Lucky. Should you have it set to auto-search, then type in the phrase and click on the words … have fun!!!!
One of my personal favorites is Google Gothic …flames and all!!!
When I flew up to Montana several years ago to conduct my Mother’s memorial service, I stayed at her house. On the coffee table was a book whose title I believe was “Getting Old Isn’t For Sissies“. As I glanced through the book one statement struck me and has stayed with me since. Part of the statement is the title of this post:
“The day you think you are too old to do something, is exactly the day you should do it …”
That has governed a lot of my thinking over the past few years. I love the statement “I will get OLDER, there is nothing I can do about that. However, I refuse to get OLD.”
At my current … ahem …. age,, I know that I’m no longer 21, 31, 41 or even 51 … but I have developed a love for life and living that I pray I never lose. That’s why, when I saw this video today, it really struck a chord with me. I have admit I laughed and laughed while watching this. This fellow is amazing and so are those around encouraging him. He’s certainly not lost his love of life!!!
(sorry that it’s a link…for some reason it won’t embed!!!)
Which got me looking for some of my favorite quotations and some new ones…
Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough. Groucho Marx
The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been. Madeleine L’Engle
Part of getting older is realizing that you can integrate all these different areas of your life, rather than the adolescent mindset, which for me lasted a long time, which says, ‘It’s all or nothing.’ Chris Robinson
The minute you’re born, you’re getting older. Doris Roberts
This one is probably one of my favorites: Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. ~Author Unknown
The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball. Doug Larson
Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Samuel Ullman
I still have a full deck; I just shuffle slower now. Author Unknown
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