Puttin' On the Ritz

Run along the island shore. Soak up the early morning sunshine. Lunch on the beach. Fun in the sun. Relax poolside. Mild Florida winter temps. Fresh seafood, vegetables, prepared by the french chef. Tomorrow replay the whole day.

Relatively speaking---

I want a president with good judgement. The president doesn't have to have be the smartest person on the planet because the president has a steady stream of advisors with lots of information, numbers, and plans. The president needs to have good judgement in order to sift through all the muck and make the right choice.

Has Hillary Clinton forgotten that we all know she married Bill Clinton? That does not show good judgement. And we remember his presidency and the endless stream of media attention that distracted from governing our nation with reagrd to his sexual exploits. Definitely a lack of good judgement in the whole family.

Is it too much to ask that we have a choice to elect someone who is not related to anyone who has ever been president? I'm tired of Kennedy relations, Bush relations, and Clinton relations. I think I might be tired of Arkansas, Texas, and the North Eastern states, as well. Californian is a weary topic, too. Maybe Indiana or Illinois or Kansas are states that breed people who have good judgement and have no genetic relation to anyone who has ever been president. We can only hope.

Another Shade of Pale: the Other White Meat

I think I'll pass on those juicy BBQ ribs. After reading the Smithfield article my taste buds are still numb. I didn't need the photo they show, either.

I hear Australian cattle ranchers give red wine to their beefy herd. If red wine tastes good with a steak, they thought WHY not go double or nothing. Like free range chickens, these will be HAPPY cows.

[via: Boing site; Mirabilis, respectively]

Don't Delay Happiness

Reliving childhood memories is sweet. Here's a clip from a movie I watched over and over and over as a child. Shirley's feet barely move. I thought she was always dancing.

this post has been edited to direct you to a new ST movie

Hello Mudder,

These are photos taken with the new camera, explained below. But FIRST!!!

Everyone say hello to Muzzy. C'mon. Just click on "comment" below. Muzzy has found this blog and enjoys reading it. She says I should write a book. As long as I don't write it about her--but she didn't say that! To see the comments, Mum, just click on comments and they should pop up. To add your own, follow the directions.

I have a new camera. A Fujifilm V10. There is nearly NO delay time when you snap a photo. Here's a sample of the first pictures. The new foosball table is awesome. The little winter village is quaint, and that is the Great Wall of China behind the houses. Nice effect.

I can't wait to go out and take s'more pictures. The old digital Kodak is finding a new home with a graduate art student in Minneapolis. The fuji V10 has a 3" display screen--that's the same size as the camera itself. It's just the size of a a deck of cards. The Cnet link is a keeper; they review all kinds of stuff. Aaaaanyway, the V10 only has x3 zoom and I wanted x6 or more, but those are pricey and large. So, I went for FAST, excellent photos, and orange. Mine's orange. Nice.

Just When...

Just when I've figured out most of the idiosyncracies of Blogger and posting, they invite me to RE-up with the NEW and IMPROVED version. One click and they do all the work. I'm looking for differences on this build a post menu....no, don't see any. Looks the same. Well, now, there's a post options icon to click on which allows or disallows backlinks and comments. Ok. And a place to change the date and time. A place for labeling the post--in addition to the title.

I'll check the template.

What's Next? St. Oscar (Wilde)?

I hear Catholics warning others about one author or another, some condemned by the church or some who have written things opposed to Church teaching. Take for example Fr. Anthony DeMellow S.J., whose books and lectures were banned from local Catholic bookstores a few years ago. Too Eastern in his thought, the Vatican judged.

What about the "poet, playwright, gay icon and deathbed convert to Catholicism," who " has been paid a rare tribute by the Vatican"?

"Wilde [as in Oscar] (1854-1900) had long been regarded with distaste by the Vatican — a dissolute and disgraced homosexual who was sentenced for acts of gross indecency over his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas." And now, one of the pope's closest aids has included quotations from Wilde in a new book. "Father Sapienza said that he had devoted the lion’s share of Provocations: Aphorisms for an Anti-conformist Christianity to Wilde because he was a 'writer who lived perilously and somewhat scandalously but who has left us some razor-sharp maxims with a moral.'"

In contrast, the congragation for the Doctrine of the Faith condemned Fr. DeMello, stating, "But already in certain passages in these early works and to a greater degree in his later publications, one notices a progressive distancing from the essential contents of the Christian faith."

The final statement of the documet regarding Fr. De Mello warns: "With the present Notification, in order to protect the good of the Christian faithful, this Congregation declares that the above-mentioned positions are incompatible with the Catholic faith and can cause grave harm." Have they read Fr. Sapienza's new book? Have they read any biography of Oscar Wilde?

Mr. Wilde was, however, not a Jesuit. And we all know how dangerous those Ignation warriors can be. While the Church later lifted the ban on Fr. De Mello's work, they did issue a word of caution to readers who may not understand the full context of his lectures and teachings. And now they have lightened their opinion of dear Oscar, a gay rascal, albeit a deathbed Catholic.