Sunday, January 10, 2010

Brrr, Baby, it's COLD outside!

Beautiful, intricately-formed ice crystals turn up on my windows this time of year.



And then there's that stack of ice cubes called the Trump Tower--at least, that's what it looked like the other day!

Pretty enough for a postcard, isn't it?

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Ballet Boyz?

Bendable AND Poseable

Gumby animator Art Clokey dies at 88

LOS OSOS, California (AP) — Animator Art Clokey, whose bendable creation Gumby became a pop culture phenomenon through decades of toys, revivals and satires, died Friday. He was 88.

The rest is here.

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Gumby and Pokey were 'fun toys' that sparked a child's imagination. Their 'clay-mation' adventures were truly entertaining. Thank you, Mr. Clokey, for your creativity with a couple lumps of clay.

Friday, January 8, 2010

A Winter's Day in Chicago

Leone Park-Beach is located in the Rogers Park neighborhood, about a half-mile south of the Chicago-Evanston border.

No children were playing here this afternoon.

Pylons from an old pier have become icy hulks.

The fishin'-or-just-thinkin' pier is almost undiscernible.

Lake Michigan is loaded with chunks of ice, and the turgidity level is quite high--as evidenced by the sandy ice on the pylons.

A 'snow drape' decorates the Junior Guards sign. If only Sam Leone could see this!

As I left, a Waste Management employee was cleaning off his truck. The Christmas bear is a nice touch, don't you think?

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Remember these?


Now, read this. Every CEO and/or business owner should send this to his employees.

A letter from an excellent boss

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Dear employees:

As the CEO of this organization, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama is our President and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way.

To compensate for these increases, our prices would have to increase by about 10%.

But since we cannot increase our prices right now due to the dismal state of the economy, we will have to lay off sixty of our employees instead.

This has really been bothering me, since I believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who would have to go.

So, this is what I did.

I walked through our parking lots and found sixty 'Obama' bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the ones to let go.

I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem.

They voted for change, they should get it.

I will see the rest of you at the annual company picnic.

THE BOSS

Utterly fascinating!

As I child, I used to lay on my back in the grass and watch clouds, sometimes for hours.

These 'older' days, I am still watching clouds, and occasionally paint them...or photograph them. None are more mysterious than the 'roll cloud'. When they're seen in multiples, they can seem quite terrifying.


Astronomy Picture of the Day

What kind of cloud is this?

A roll cloud.

These rare long clouds may form near advancing cold fronts. In particular, a downdraft from an advancing storm front can cause moist warm air to rise, cool below its dew point, and so form a cloud. When this happens uniformly along an extended front, a roll cloud may form.

Roll clouds may actually have air circulating along the long horizontal axis of the cloud. A roll cloud is not thought to be able to morph into a tornado.

Unlike a similar shelf cloud, a roll cloud, a type of Arcus cloud, is completely detached from their parent cumulonimbus cloud.

Pictured above, a roll cloud extends far into the distance in 2009 January above Las Olas Beach in Maldonado, Uruguay.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Social Strategy, Obama-style


Quote for any day

Henry David Thoreau

"Be true to your work, your word
and your friend."


Saturday, January 2, 2010

There's an old saying...

..."There is no rest for the wicked." Perhaps that applies here?

Obama: 'We will not rest' until air terror plotters caught

(AFP) – 4 days ago

KANEOHE, Hawaii — US President Barack Obama on Monday vowed an all-out pursuit of plotters of a failed Christmas Day bombing of a US-bound airliner, vowing "we will not rest" until they are captured and tried.

You know the rest!

Notice the huge amount of focus on the terrorist situation (it really shows in the body English, doesn't it?).

And taking the family to a private showing of PG-13 rated "Avatar"? That really demonstrates his focus on the terrorist situation. Well, doesn't it?

BTW, is this a photo of the 'real' Obama--a graying, rapidly aging man, wearing glasses--or was this a silly attempt to be incognito? Or, maybe, just a day off from wearing his tinted contacts?

Interestingly, Newsweek reports:

EXCLUSIVE: Obama Got Pre-Christmas Intelligence Briefing About Terror Threats to "Homeland"

He thinks he can go on doing as HE pleases because someone else will do the real work for him.

He was informed of the 'potential' terrorist situation before it occurred, and did NOTHING to keep Americans and others out of harms' way.

What a schlub!