Drop Dead Gorgeous

another weird/funny site found by Yahoo!Picks. I think my favorite is the cotton candy tornado:

Drop Dead Gorgeous You think you've overindulged. At least you haven't succumbed to Slim-Fast, overdosed on M&M's, or been savaged by a flock of banana peels (at least we hope not). We all have food issues around the holidays, but the subjects of Daniela Edburg's lavishly posed, color-saturated photographs have more troubles than most. Hosted by The Morning News, this slide show and accompanying interview revels in the glamorous hedonism—and tragic consequences—of what happens when women's relationship to food is amped up one thousand percent. Pursued by cotton candy, smothered in Saran Wrap, betrayed by Live Savers, each vignette is beautiful and sly. Wander through the Mexican photographer's work now. Eye the Nutella and Gummi Bears later. (in Photographers)

my FL blog links

since my Florida blog entries have gotten lost in the "blog shuffle", here they are. I'm still referencing them regularly:

• Melbourne, FL
• thinking of relocating?

google earth

Just before (I think) the map search engines started including satellite pictures in their sites, Google Earth came out. You have to download an engine to run it. (and remember: double-clicking on the plus or minus sign zooms in or out as long as you don't click again, so it can be frustrating if you're not sure what the heck it is doing)

Anyway, I was just prompted to reload the engine yesterday (I'd loaded it when it was new, but the hard drive died and I had to get a new one, etc, etc) when Wikipedia showed me that it has a Google Earth link for a town that I was curious to know about (actually, curious to know if there was any more info that I didn't already know about it - it's a small place).

Well, as coincidences show, there is an interesting article I just found today. It talks about how scientific research is being doing on Google Earth. Pretty cool.

Google Earth Embraced by Geologists

Episcopal Church split

I am a participant in the Episcopal church traditions and fellowship of my home church. Our church is "libaral", in that we support all that has happened in recent years with the Episcopal Church (gay bishop, female presiding bishop).

Here's the latest in the split. It's so unfortunate. I would agree that the congregations and dioceses that have chosen to move under African leadership are no longer Episcopalian, since they're abdicating one of the basic reasons that the Episcopal church started: self-governance. Now that they're willing to be governed by another nation, they're not observing that basic tenant. :-(

I'm Comet

found this on the blog of my friend, Barbara. Who'da known this would be me?

You Are Comet

A total daredevil, you're the reindeer with an edge! Why You're Naughty: You almost gave Santa a heart attack when you took him sky diving Why You're Nice: You always make sure the sleigh is going warp speed

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

bad public speakers

As should be obvious from looking at this blog, I love to read. So when I get the opportunity to see a writer whose works I've read, I am excited to hear, live, some of the sentiment that goes into the general soul of each of the writer's books.

I've seen a few writers who are very nice to see live. They have entertaining anecdotes, and, if they repeat something that's in a book, there's usually a new, refreshing twist on the material that causes the knowing reader to smile.

Oh, but I've seen some authors who were at risk for causing me to not want to read something of theirs again because I wasn't impressed at their "presence".

One author was supposedly a comedian. But I hadn't been real excited by his comedy. Then he wrote a book that I thought was very entertaining. Soon after that I got to see him as the keynote speaker for a conference I went to. I was reminded of why I hadn't been impressed by his comedy.

Well, this week I had a similar experience. I've been going to this local lecture series. I am so happy that my friend organized several of us to sit near each other. I hadn't even known about the lecture series and she brought it to my attention.

The speaker for this week was really not worth going to see in a "large audience" format. I liked his book, but he repeated most of it in the lecture, even reading approximately 10 pages at a time from it. Atop of that he was a very quiet, bedroom slippers, kind of personality. I really wished I could be at home laying on the couch (reading something, perhaps). I'm sure he would be nice to talk to 1:1, and there was a reception afterwards that I could have gone to, but I was just too darn sleepy.

Better luck next time. I'm told the lecture before this one, that I missed, was great.

a little history of Florida

Like the Michener book on Texas I read in August, this book starts at about 500 years ago. The story is told, however, by a native north-Floridian at the time of the 2001 "hanging-chad" incident in Florida's capital. Like one of the reviews that is on the Amazon.com page for this book, it tells a history of not only Florida, but of her own family as well. So, there is history on aborigines vs Europeans as well as "slice-of-life" history of an old-South family in a part of Florida that is a little bit more like Georgia to the north than the rest of Florida.

I found the aboriginal history to be an ok starting place for where I'd want to go to get better information. There were many tribes of "American Indians" as well as an aboriginal Cuban influence.

When the Europeans started wanting to colonize, there were battles between the French and Spanish, as well as the challenges for those who came from non-tropics dealing with tropical weather.

One thing I found particularly interesting (it hadn't occurred to me before) is that, since Florida is such a great place to have zoos, with wildlife that is native to all parts of the globe (except, perhaps, polar bears and penguins), that when one of the many hurricanes comes around, the wildlife in Florida gets an influx of all kinds of weird species. It appears that no one knows what is native and what is not.

Which brings me to a thought that was not discussed in the book. There is a lot of consternation these days over saving the Manatees. This gentle beast is not too smart and apparently gets run over by motorboats very easily. It's endangered, I believe.

Well, a casual argument that I've heard when visiting Florida is that Manatees are not native anyway, so why worry; also, they eat all this native grass that messes up the ecosystem. But the other side of the argument says no, the grass is not native and cleaning it up helps the ecosystem.

But I digress. The book was worth reading. I really did not know anything about Florida except that I'd lived there (Orlando) for 6 months 20 years ago, it's flat and warm (with great waterways, including an ocean!), and has Disney and many other tourist areas.

I feel a little wiser now, when considering moving my family there. There are a lot of warts that come with the state. For instance, I read in the book it was late in understanding the need for civil rights among all Americans; still struggles today to get with the program.

Amy Tan, Khaled Hosseini

In October, I went to the first of a series of lectures being held by renound authors. The October lecture was given by Amy Tan. In preparation, I wanted to make sure I read one of her books. I hadn't read anything of hers before.

I chose The Hundred Secret Senses.

I am glad I chose this one. What she said in her lecture was very much part of this book. I could tell that her philosopies were very much like those of the American sister (the protagonist).

The general story involves two girls/women (they're half-sisters) of Chinese descent, and the story starts somewhere in the US (California, maybe?). There is an awful wrong that the American sister does to the Chinese sister when they are kids. When they are adults they end up in China, and there is much that the American sister learns while they are there.

I recommend this book for women. There is another book, The Kite Runner, that had the same flavor, that may have more universal appeal.

The Kite Runner is about a kid growing up in Afghanistan in the 60s or something where one fanatic group, then another, invaded and ruined life for the people who were living there. Basically created anarchy somewhat similar to the anarchy that reigns in Iraq today. I hear that it's getting better? (but I digress . . .)

The kid does something awful to his best friend, and his Dad escape Afghanistan and go to live in California. Everything happens in California, I guess. There are stories about culture shifts, adapting, etc.

The reason I compare these two books is because they both discuss confusion surrounding different cultures, plus there is a deep regret that the protagonist in each story has about a wrong they caused in someone who was very important to them.

trees

I was reading one of my many email newsletters today and saw the best picture of a tree. It inspired me to go searching for a tree in Yahoo. Here's one that was very cool:

Speaking of Faith radio show

This is a radio show I like to listen to every once and a while. A variety of religious topics is discussed, relating the topics to events that are happening today.

So I was happy to see a description of it on Yahoo!Picks. I recommend using the podcast option. I'm not a real fan of sitting and listening, unless I'm in the car. So I put the show on my iPod and listen if I'm taking a walk or something.

Speaking of Faith In this country, some people see religion as a debate between those who despise the theory of evolution and those who think God is a four-letter word. But Speaking of Faith, "public radio's conversation about religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas," takes a much-needed, more-nuanced approach. Hosted by Krista Tippett, who received a Masters of Divinity at Yale, the series ranges far and wide in examining different aspects of spirituality. While hot-button issues like gay marriage, religious fundamentalism, and "The Da Vinci Code" are not spared, the show also explores less-traveled areas like the challenge war poses to core religious tenets and the history of doubt. The program's archive goes back to 2001. Download each show in MP3 format, listen to it with RealPlayer, or subscribe to a podcast. And find yourself, possibly, thinking and speaking of faith with a broader perspective. (in Religion & Spirituality)