Thinking about this prompt, I thought I might want to take a bunch of people from the past and put them all at the dinner table and see where it went. One would think that it might get awkward putting Jesus Christ at the same dinner table as Thomas Jefferson, but actually, I think those two might get along fairly well.
So then, how might I get a better mix of people to create the ultimate awkward dinner party. Then it hit me. Just pick some random people off of the Internet from a social media site and have them come together for just one night. The only requirement would be, I get to set the dinner conversations. That would work.
All I'd have to do is throw out one political or social football, like abortion, or Obamacare or the death penalty the rest would be just entertaining to watch. See? That's where the problem lies. I'm sorry if this is becoming redundant, but it just seems like people forget common decency and societal norms when they get on social media.
Even though my parents didn't outright tell me, I knew about the three things that you just didn't discuss in polite society: Religion, Sex, and Politics, or any combination of those, which might be all three sometimes. Granted, I'm speaking in generalities here, but we seem to have lost our moral and social filters when it comes to social media. We feel we can just post whatever we want and we don't care who the hell we piss off.
And the sad part is, when most people post stuff, either they're looking for someone to troll, so they can pontificate their side more and bring in other like thinking people, or they actually think they're going to convince the other side to change their own though process.
Newsflash. You're not going to convert anyone and all it's going to accomplish is to get every one just madder at the other side. And for what purpose? As far as I can see, there is not real purpose that's going to have any positive outcome. It's probably one of the reasons that I try not to get pulled into political discussions. Notice that I said try, because sometimes I don't succeed in avoiding the discussion.
However, from now on, I'm just going to avoid them all together. It's not worth my blood pressure and I have better things to do than to validate someone else's viewpoint that I already agree with, or argue with someone who's not going to change their opinion just because I think I can convince them that they're wrong. I already know the answer to that one. I'm not.
Dear friends,
I posted this back in May 2012. I still think it's appropriate today and so I'm repeating it for today. I doubt it will make a difference, but I'll feel better after posting it, so that's what counts right now.
I have many friends, due to the social media giant Facebook, plus other sites.
In fact, any site where there's a discussion board, you can learn about people that share similar interests. I've also been able to connect with a lot of long lost friends because of these social networks.
One thing I've found through the years is that people like to spout off on discussion boards about their political leanings. This, in my opinion, is a bad thing. Mainly because most of the time, all those political discussions do is cause arguments to start. And although a good flame war can be very entertaining from time to time, it's not something that I relish, nor something that I seek out.
I like you as a friend. I liked you when we were in school together. We talked about a lot of different things, but we really didn't talk about religion or politics. Those were the things we were told as kids that we shouldn't talk about. Hmmmm. Maybe our parents were right.
I would prefer to maintain these friendships in the coming years. Talking politics makes that more difficult. Social media has brought many of us closer together and helped us reconnect with our past friendships that we let drift apart over the years. I would really love it if I didn't know the political affiliations of my friends. I just want to be friends with them. Now, that might make me appear to be like an ostrich with its head buried in the sand. At the moment, that's OK with me.
So here's my plea to all of my friends and I fully expect to be flamed for this, but I'm going to say it anyway. Please keep your politics to yourself. Think about what you're posting. There's too much vitriol out there to add to it. Your position on almost any political or religious subject is not going to convince anyone on the other side to change their position on the given subject. All it's going to do is cause an argument where everyone will believe they're right and the other person is wrong.
Yesterday's post originally was entitled Thanksgiving. I changed it after I started writing, so since today is the actual day this year, I'll be posting some of my thoughts on what I'm thankful for. You may not agree with all of them, but that's your right.
This will not be a post about being thankful for friends, family, etc. I'm always thankful for them. I want to show some thanks for other things that I think many of us take for granted. And while it's true, we may take our family for granted, I hope that I don't.
First off, I am going to say I'm thankful for our health care we have here. My dad was an "orphan" by the time he was 27, my mom was "orphaned" before she turned 40. Both of my parents are still alive as is my father-in-law. Without advances in medicine that we've had in the last 50 years, it's very likely that they might not be around to enjoy their grandchildren. While it weirds me out a little to realize that I'm now the father of three adult children, my parents have seven adult grandchildren. I don't believe my dad's parents even got to enjoy one adult grandchild.
I'm thankful that I can get up in the middle of the night and get a drink of water if I want. Nearly one billion (yes, you read that right, billion with a B) people don't have access to safe water on a regular basis. According to water.org website, 3.4 million people die each year from a water related illness. The majority of those illnesses are caused by fecal material (still hungry for that turkey dinner?). More people have a cell phone than have safe water to drink. Those are some sobering statistics.
I'm also thankful that I live in a country that allows me to worship, or not worship as I please. Can you imagine living in a country where you could only worship via one religion? What if you didn't agree with that religious philosophy? Think about that the next time you kneel down to pray. Our country might not be perfect in many ways, but it's a lot better than many other areas out there.
Lastly, I'm thankful that we can all share in discourse about what we think is right and wrong with our country and with the way some businesses choose to run their business, which is what I'm going to do right now.
Over the past week, I've seen many posts on Facebook from people voicing their displeasure over certain stores opening for business today. The business of the company is to make money for the company. They don't make money when they're closed. If they believe this will bring in more money for them, then more power to them.
You don't have to go. Yes, I respect your right to voice your displeasure, however, I believe you're wrong. If you don't like it, don't go. When I worked as seasonal help at Disneyland back in college, I never worked on a holiday. Why? Not because Disneyland was closed, but because the permanent employees all wanted to work. They got paid time and a half. Granted some stores might not do that because they aren't unionized, but the employees might need that extra money down the road for Christmas presents.
I also find it interesting that all this complaining has been directed at stores opened on Thanksgiving Day. How many of you watched the Macy's Thanksgiving parade? Do you think Macy's produced that out of the goodness of their heart? Why are there no complaints about the people holding onto the tethers of the balloons at the parade? In fact, why is there no complaints about the NFL playing football on TV? All those poor football players, and referees and stadium employees away from their families on Thanksgiving Day? What a travesty. I think we should boycott that too.
Tongue in cheek aside, I hope all of my readers have a happy Thanksgiving, no matter how you choose to celebrate it. As for me, my plan is to watch the Lions win on Thanksgiving for the first time since 2003, then drive with my wife and boys to my sister's house to gather around the table with the family that's here in Southern California. My thoughts will be with family members (especially my daughter who will be celebrating with her boyfriend and family in San Mateo) who weren't able to make it down. I know we shall be seeing them at Christmas.
When I saw this challenge show up at the beginning of the month, I really didn't give it much thought. I haven't participated in a couple of months of the blogger's challenge and I actually feel quite badly about that. I made a commitment to the group that I would participate and I feel like I've dropped the ball, so here's my five entries for this month's challenge of Outdoors.
1. Veteran's Memorial
I found this Veteran's Memorial maintained by the city of Burbank on Labor Day while out geocaching. Once again, this silly game takes me to a very memorable spot. In fact, four of the five shots taken for this month's theme were taken while I was out geocaching, either by myself or with a friend.
Memorials were set in stone around this eternal flame obelisk for the various wars in which the United States has participated. Plaques honoring Bob Hope, as well as the different branches of service were there, including the Coast Guard.
My friend and I were on a mission on Labor Day to find at least 10 multi-caches in one day as part of a geocaching challenge that's been set up in my area. The challenge is to find at least 10 of a particular type of cache in a day. However, there are seven different types of caches (icons) you have to find before you can claim the challenge cache. I already have a day with at least 10 Unknown finds and also another day with at least 10 traditional finds, so this day was dedicated to Multi-cache finds. Believe me when I say it's harder than it appears. We had 17 multi-cache finds that we attempted and we got exactly 10 that day and spent most of the day doing it.
2. Fire fighting 101
Usually, when people think about forest fires, or brush fires, they think disaster. In most cases they're correct, but only because we have had about a century and a half of fire suppression that has resulted in areas that are supposed to be open, now densely foliated and ripe for huge fires like we've seen burn across the western United States over the past couple of years. Only in recent decades have we learned the benefits that smaller fires have on the ecology of any region. Giant Sequoias have those burn marks on their bark for a reason.
Several weeks ago, a small fire started about 2 miles west of my house in the Claremont College's Robert J. Bernard Field Station. Local fire fighters, including this water dropping plane, one other just like it and several helicopters quickly were able to get the fire under control and the fire only burned 17 acres of the 86 acres of what is mostly coastal sage scrub, a plant ecosystem that is becoming increasingly rare due to suburban expansion in Los Angeles County. The Claremont Colleges are excited about observing how the area regenerates itself over the coming months and years.
3. Zen
Another geocaching trip yielded this shot of a large cement Buddha. I had been out geocaching in the local area and I found myself close to this virtual cache called Bronze Carriages. The answers I needed took me inside the Hsi Lai Buddhist temple, one of the largest Buddhist temples in the area.
Once I got the needed information for the geocache, I wandered around the gardens. They are immaculate and very calming to the soul. There were several signs as I entered the temple forbidding photography, so I honored the request and kept my camera shuttered. This photo was taken outside the grounds in the parking lot where photography is allowed. It's really too bad they don't allow photography as I think the place would be a Mecca for some photographers. Still, it was nice just to enjoy the scenery without having to worry about "getting the shot."
I decided to process this in monotone because I think it brought out more of the texture of the figure than did color. I was able to up the contrast quite a bit which really helped accent it. The only think different I would do with this shot would be to PhotoShop out the chain in the lower part of the photo.
4. Lemon Creek Egret
On the same day as I visited the Buddhist temple, I also found myself in a small park hunting for a geocache. As I walked along the trail next to this small creek, I spotted this four foot tall egret wading in the waters. I think it was casually waiting for small fish to swim by. I missed several attempts it made, but got several nice shots, including this one just after water had dripped off its bill and created splash rings in the water.
My wife and I visited Yellowstone National Park on our honeymoon and something a ranger said at one of their ranger talks has always stuck with me. He said, "If you cause an animal to move, you're too close." That's good advice to heed, especially in that neck of the woods since getting too close to a bison, elk, moose, or grizzly bear could be fatal.
This encounter didn't endanger my health at all, but I got to experience that proximity rule. The egret was perfectly happy to be wading along with me on the bank at a certain distance. But at some point, I crossed that invisible barrier and the egret then quickly moved away from me to get me out of its proximity circle. We were almost playing a little game of cat and mouse as I was trying to see how close I could get before it would move. Invariably, it always seemed to be the same distance before it would move away. I guess what this really tells me is I need a longer lens for these kinds of shots. I can get closer with the lens yet still let the animal enjoy its solitude.
5. Spruce Needles
Finally, here's a shot I don't normally take. This past weekend, I went out hiking in the Deukmejian Wilderness Park with a caching buddy of mine. This would be the first hike I'd been on since May because of the heat buildup from summer. It's not fun to hike in extreme temperatures, so the fall, winter, and spring are really good times out here to enjoy good hikes.
Neither of us had been to this park before, so it was going to be a new experience for both of us. The city of Glendale, CA has developed several trails in this park and placed benches in strategic spots long the trail for hikers to relax. We enjoyed a 2.75 mile loop, found 7 caches in the park and had a great time.
But back to the photo. As I noted above, I don't normally take photos of tree branches or needles. However, there was something about the needles the light in the background that look intriguing so I fired off several shots, getting this one that I really liked. I guess I just need to retrain myself to look at the smaller things and not concentrate on the pretty flowers all of the time. There's beauty all around us, even if it's not pink or yellow and blooming.
Well, there you go. My five photos for September's challenge of Outdoors. Please stop by P.J.'s blog page to view other like minded individuals and their interpretations of Outdoors.
I have many friends, due to the social media giant Facebook, plus other sites. In fact, any site where there's a discussion board, you can learn about people that share similar interests. I've also been able to connect with a lot of long lost friends because of these social networks.
One thing I've found through the years is that people like to spout off on discussion boards about their political leanings. This, in my opinion, is a bad thing. Mainly because most of the time, all those political discussions do is cause arguments to start. And although a good flame war can be very entertaining from time to time, it's not something that I relish, nor something that I seek out.
So here's my plea to all of my friends and I fully expect to be flamed for this, but I'm going to say it anyway. Please keep your politics to yourself. Think about what you're posting. There's too much vitriol out there to add to it. Your position on almost any political or religious subject is not going to convince anyone on the other side to change their position on the given subject. All it's going to do is cause an argument where everyone will believe they're right and the other person is wrong.
I like you as a friend. I liked you when we were in school together. We talked about a lot of different things, but we really didn't talk about religion or politics. Those were the things we were told as kids that we shouldn't talk about. Hmmmm. Maybe our parents were right.
I would prefer to maintain these friendships in the coming years. Talking politics makes that more difficult. Social media has brought many of us closer together and helped us reconnect with our past friendships that we let drift apart over the years. I would really love it if I didn't know the political affiliations of my friends. I just want to be friends with them. Now, that might make me appear to be like an ostrich with its head buried in the sand. At the moment, that's OK with me.
