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 |   A Journal to impart knowledge and facts |
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July 22, 2015 I'm going to start today to record on a daily basis whatever happens to strike my fancy. So, it is a very cool breezy day. I just posted 5 short book reviews to The Monthly Reading Challenge. I'm suppose to put away some winter wood today from the woodpile outside but I'm playing hookey from work to write so starting this blog will get done. I'm having a daily fight with a flock of English Sparrows that are trying to take over my barn. They are making a terrible mess so they have to go. I have destroyed several nests so far they don't leave but they get out of the barn when I am around. I'm just starting the fight so I guess I don't know how far I have to go to discourage them. I'm trying not to spread myself to thin on WDC because I find so many things that are interesting here and I am trying to work on a new story. I really enjoy sitting at my desk with a cup of tea and reading blogs on WDC. |
Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar / Share the Love Event Part 2![Merit Badge in The Blogging Banana Bar
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Congratulations & Thank You
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For competing the full four weeks of the Non-Judgmental Blogging Event in January 2023.
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Your blogging is always welcome at [Link To Item #1985857] .](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-The_Blogging_Banana_Bar-2246010_9.gif)  Personal Prompt 2: A find on a Japanese Beach A woman, on a beach in Japan, reported an object on the beach. Police and bomb squads found a 5 foot in diameter steel ball resting on Hamamatsu beach. Japanese personnel were not sure how to respond. You can understand their caution when you take into consideration WWII Hiroshima and recent threats from North Korea. North Korea has been hurling armed rockets into the sea near Japan. Under the circumstances what would you think? The large rusty steel ball was one more problem Japan doesn't need. Authorities examined the ball and x-rayed it. They soon decided it wasn't dangerous to the public and carted it off to a storage place to rest. I wonder if anyone will claim it? If you look close at pictures of the object it seems as if there might be a hatch and a handle on one side. After reading several articles about this object I still wonder what is inside? In one article Professor Mark Inall, an Oceanographer at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, voiced his opinion, that the ball may be a foreign made buoy. He asserted that they may be used as anchoring for instruments to keep them floating in the ocean. The buoys often break free from ocean mooring and wash up on other shores as well as Japan's. Wet metal, and saltwater account for the scrubby rustic look of the ball in photographs. Of course, other suggestions include the Aliens are among us version of this story. If there really is a hatch in the object maybe it should be opened. Could be a message to eartlings inside. Or just more rust. THE END All Word Count by WDC:301 |
| Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar/Share the Love Event, February part 2 P23: When did you last go re-read items you wrote over 2 years ago. Go read one and tell us about what you thought of your writing from back then. I chose "Mushrooms On the Trail" to reread. It was first entered into my portfolio on September. 29, 2015. Then it was modified September 2nd, 2017. After I read the story, I thought it would be good to go back and re-edit it. I would be more specific in some sentences. One explanatory paragraph should be aimed at the reason for it being there. It seems to bounce from the characters of the story to the narrator in an odd way. I do like the story content. It was supposed to have a small adventure while presenting wild mushroom facts as purposeful as possible. Then there are words to put in and words to take out. I think anything I write would need editing after a couple of years. I rely on the editing tool a lot for spelling and commas. I know a lot about grammar but always ignore specifics until I finish writing a piece. The older I get the less it seems to matter although, as a reader I know that isn't true. I was in a local writing club in the early 1970's. The leader was experienced in selling some of her work. She told the club you should lay your writing aside for a week or so then reread and edit it again. Even if you do what she advised, I think you should do it after a couple months. Editing is an ongoing purpose for any writing, and it is the job that doesn't get done often enough. I should review some of my own reviews. The ones I wrote about books I have read. They are the oldest and probably need a lot of work. Recently, someone reviewed a poem I wrote in 2021. "Future Knowledge," is an ok poem. I just don't remember writing it and posting it. I don't consider myself a poet either. I have another story line about a horse stable in the portfolio. I wrote the first stable story when I took my course with WDC about fiction short stories. I took two of the stable stories out of the portfolio that had the same characters and setting. I'm not sure they are still where I put them. Sometimes, what I write comes up missing here. If anyone had offered to pay me for my writing it would probably make a more subjective need to me. Since, that does not happen I guess it still doesn't worry me much. One time someone took a story I wrote and rewrote it their way. The grammar was perfect in the way they submitted the story The story had lost the mystery and character I had put into it. When I review others on WDC, I keep what happened to my story by the other writer, in mind. It is nice to have good grammar. A written piece also has to have something special presented by the writer. Grammar is important but, the story has to have that special something from the personality of the writer. All words count by WDC:554 WRITE ON! |
| Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar/Share the Love Event February Part 2 Personal prompt 1: Spring Events The weather temperatures are bouncing up and down like a weightless rubber ball. Friday it snowed enough to cover the ground and build up an inch across the top. Then is rained ice. The ice covered the outside of the house windows. Before dusk everything had melted. We could see green grass and dead leaves. All these up and down temperatures in one day. We are experiencing winds of 16 and above on a regular basis. The last few days we have had low temperatures at night and climbing temperatures during the day. The first day of March will arrive this week. Which means, the weather isn't all that unusual. Snow geese are moving out of Pennsylvania headed North to their nesting grounds. One morning I was outside early this week and heard a flock of Canada Geese on the beaver dam outback. Then a Canada Drake flew over the pond checking out the territory. It's nice to hear them setting up on the Beaver Dam for summer. One particular night last week when the temperatures were really high, 50 degrees or so, I heard peepers on the pond singing their spring song. Peepers are small frogs. The males sing together in a chorus to attract the females. It's a sure sign that spring is on its way. When the weather turns cold for a few days they are quiet. As soon as Temperatures start to rise, they take up their song again. Although people often speak of the return of robins as the herald of spring bird migration. We get red-winged black birds before robins. There was a small flock, maybe 30 at the feeder yesterday. Soon we will be seeing Eastern Bluebirds and Robins. Many doves stay all winter and start nesting in late February and early March. I'm watching the buds on the trees. When they start to grow, I will know the weather will stabilize. These are the ways spring makes itself known to us. All Words count on WDC: 347 ![Merit Badge in Fancy
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To a very deserving,fancy member of the WDC community.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Fancy.gif) apondia#1781748 |
| Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar / Share the Love Event Part 2 P21:Will the AI"chatGpt" eliminate the need for authors or learning to write well? Bing research: Reference: https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2020.00054 Absolutely not, is the answer to the P21 above. If you cannot use your brain for new learning experience it will slow down. The Chat GPT will cause you to have new learning experiences. You will have reasons to use the 85 billion neurons encased in your brain. If you want to stay alive keep learning new ideas. Because it is basically a machine it will take its' ideas from humans. When using the software, it will still be necessary to know what you are doing and how the software should be responding. The neurons of the brain need to keep active in order for your body to run smoothly as you age. Every new learning experience, as you age, prevents loss of mental abilities. Try learning math, or reading nonfiction books about something you were always curious about or learn to use a new machine to cook with or clean your house. Computers brought in so many learning opportunities. Take a course in writing. How to write fiction or nonfiction is two different systems. Each has their own way of developing a story. Even though the Bot will be able to write something for you; you will have to edit and put your stamp of approval on the content. Stories are written with a certain age bracket in mind and other necessary criteria. It will be up to the writer to make sure the story is what you intended. Editing is not the easiest job because you will have to understand what is needed to be presented in each written work. When a writer writes, they usually have something in their own mind, that they desire to present to the reader. Can the bot get it just exactly the way a writer would present it without the writers help? As this technology developes it won't be long until the bots are being used to present courses of study to students. Those writing courses have to be designed by writing teachers. This type of thinking has different paths to follow. The Chat GPT is just the beginning of an extension of the information age. Have you ever read somewhere that we only use a small part of our brains? Well progressing technology like the Chat Bots is going to wake up parts of the brain that have never been used before. WRITE ON! All Word Count by WDC:428 |
| Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar / Share the Love Event part 2 P22: Spy Balloon? Your opinion on actions, threat, retaliation. Bing results: Reference: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/02/ufos-spy-balloon-norad-sensors-milit... https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/blinken-chinese-surveillance-balloon-program-spr... www.Newyorktimes.com/ an article by Amanda Holpuch published Feb3,2023 I suggest if you want to form an opinion you should consider accessing the above references. I never heard of slate before, but the article was thorough and well written. My opinion about the whole scene is the actions taken by the USA were well founded. According to references above we never caught this type of surveillance before, because our sensors were not programed to revel this type of outdated surveillance. The USA first used surveillance balloons during the civil war. Both sides had such surveillance. And, in the 1940s and 1950s the USA floated surveillance balloons over Russia and China. Also, in an article by Amanda Holpuch published in the New York Times on February 3.2023 a picture was run of a USA spy balloon stationed in a military base in Kabul in 2012. So, in some instances not such an outdated use of spy equipment. There is also some possibility that China's President did not have any particular knowledge of the balloons presently floating around in the world to spy on other countries. Do we know that for sure? Sources state that the Chinese balloons have quietly traveled over approximately 40 different countries. The USA has alerted different countries that the balloons are in the air. The FBI is apparently in charge of processing the information gained from the Balloon shot down over the sea near South Carolina. Since many countries now have spy satellites and spy planes this is just another piece of surveillance fluff, that all these countries including the USA are involved in. The USA and China recently sent representatives to a meeting about the balloons. We continue to have diplomatic relations with China. China and the USA are also talking about the war in the Ukraine. Knowledge poised with diplomatic understanding has been conveyed to China concerning the USA sovereign rights. My own opinion is no country in the world will gain from nuclear missiles being used against anyone. If the authorities in charge of major players such as USA, Canada, UK, China, Germany, Russia and others remain mentally sound they will not allow a threat to go any further than a threat. If someone actually uses a nuclear weapon against someone. Whoever gave the order. should be removed from their posistion by underlings who have better judgement. All Word Count on WDC:421 Just My Opinion |
| Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar / Share the Love Event February 2023 part 2 P:18: UFO'S What's the truth in your opinion. Dear Public or To Whom It May Concern: Whenever I read about a new UFO sighting, I wait for the explanation. There is always an explanation. Sometimes it's fake camera shots. Sometimes, rays from the sun are making odd atmospheric shows. Once in Pennsylvania it was some type of air ship being tested by someone. Crop circles in the UK had a reasonable explaination. I guess I don't remember what it was at the time. I saw a picture a few weeks ago supposed to be an alien ship, which looked to me like a kite someone was flying. Another odd thing is: All these sightings are often a different shape from one or another within separate sighting. If they are alien ships, they sure have a lot of different styles of ships. Or are we the zoo that they are visiting with their families? NO. I won't believe in aliens until a ship lands and the inhabitants make face to face confrontation. Right now, there are too many variables. This is a group of people preying on superstition to keep the public on edge. I can't see how much of the news about aliens and even war is true. A lot of it seems to be hyped to keep the public, even worldwide public on edge. The war between Russia and the Ukraine is real. If people from off this planet are watching, will they step in to stop Nuclear War? The alien question is not new. We have space observatories. Are the people watching outer space tracking ships that fly in and out of our atmosphere? Or are they intimating that the ships are not coming from outer space but coming through some wormhole within our atmosphere? The alien hype does not ever, no not ever give any rational answers. Just give out more questions without answers. Nor have they proved Loch Ness monsters or Big Foot creations. RESULTS FROM BING: Yet science does identify: A number of New Species Discovered Each Year. Each year scientists record another 18,000 new species of plants and animals. In recent years they added about 70 new reptiles and 400 new fishes annually to the world's databases of species. www.currentresults.com/Environment-Facts/Plants-Animals/number-of-undiscovered-species-living-on-earth.php With all our technology we can identify new species each year. We can track species going extinct each year. We can clone animals. We can't make contact or prove aliens consistently running in and out of our atmosphere. Get real. Show me the proof. Skeptically Yours, Apondia All Word Count on WDC:437 |
| Andre the Blog Monkey's Banana Bar / Share the Love Event P34: Have you read any bloggers other than writings besides the blog? Were you surprised or disappointed? I have read other parts of Blogger's portfolios. I'm not necessarily surprised about anything people write. Bloggers tend to write about things that are tweaking their curiosity or happening in their minds or lives at any given time. I was never disappointed. Just interested about how many subjects can be written about on a writing site like WDC. Some bloggers are writing nonfiction or fiction besides their blog. After all, just because you are a blogger does not mean you are not a serious writer in some realm. I wonder if a writer who also blogs has more than one muse? One blogger I have read is also a traveler. Some of their other writings are about travel. For a while in my life, I was blogging and also reading. I wrote a lot of reviews of the books I read for a reading challenge on WDC. I continue to be an avid reader. I don't review a lot of the books I am currently reading. I just got tired of posting reviews on Goodreads and meeting all the reading challenges. Before the technology took hold, reading on kindles, etc. I had a difficult time using the local library because libraries made the townships pay for people to use the town libraries. Now, it is easier to get library cards. Plus, reading books downloaded online from libraries has become a normal part of life. I treasure the ability to download and read books. I also sometimes get a yen to write a short story or a poem. WRITE ON! All Word Count on WDC:266 |
Prompt: What items offline or online do you read every day?   I read every day. I download books and audio books from the local library. Sometimes I get books from Amazon. Especially books about some subject I may be researching. Or look up recipes for cooking. If you read 3 chapters from the Bible a day you can complete the Bible in one year. I read 3 chapters a day from the Old Testament and 3 chapters a day from the New Testament. If I miss a day, I play catch up with 6 chapters from either book. I do this every year now. Did you know most of the things taught by Jesus originated in Old Testament writings? I think reading Church History and historical spiritual writings is important. I also read nonfiction or fiction from my kindle most days. Although we do play the TV. It is not always on. Sometimes it is not on at all since we read more than we watch the TV. I can listen audio books while I do other household chores. My most recent story was The Golden House by Salman Rushdie. I wanted to see why he always has to have a bodyguard. Now I understand. I have another of his books on hold in my local library. I often follow a really intense book by a mystery or lighter interest fiction. It keeps my brain from frying. I have a daily bible study book I read from a couple times a week. It is called the Daily Study Bible Series, revised edition, volume 2 of the Gospel of John. By William Barclay. I finished volume I in December sometime. I used to play Township on Kindle. I don't give enough money to kindle games so, they will often stop downloading if I don't pay them enough. (Their loss)  . Only a zillionaire could contribute enough to keep them satisfied.Several times a week I also read my email and try to get onto WDC to read and write. I used to do this daily when I had my own computer but, someone hacked mine so I'm using K's. It curtails the time I can use online. yeah. I'm the kind of person that reads the labels on things in the grocery store. Have a great day. |
 Day 5635: February 22, 2023 Prompt: “You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert What do you think? Can you describe something beautiful in your life? I have lots of beauty in my life. Right now, there is a new snowstorm moving across the area. The snow is coming down in a peaceful way. Large fluffy flakes covering the ground at a slow rate. I have a group of pets that keep me company every day. They have sweet souls that take their naps near me, as I do online things or listen when I play music. It's a beautiful thing to know creatures other than people want a human's companionship. Just before Christmas I restrung my guitar with new strings. The old ones were about 20 years old. I have not played in several years so, I wanted to find out if I still could. It took me almost a month to season and tune the new strings. Now I am practicing old tunes and it is really a pleasure to remind myself of playing faults and learn new tunes. We really never forget things we learn. Sometimes we have to take out old brain cells, shake them off like a dusty, old quilt and use them again. Memories can be beautiful, sights out a window can be beautiful, reading new books can be beautiful, I guess it's true. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. ![Merit Badge in Every Moment Matters
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Happy 21 Birthday Site Week. Thanks for all you do. Love: Megan](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/Kudos-Every_Moment_Matters.gif) |
"Invalid Item"  Request to Share the color pink for Valentines Day with BCoF and WDC Happy Valentines Day. Share the Love with Pink Mary decided to help herself to something special for Valentine's Day. She jumped onto the internet to research some dishes for a party and invite the friends she knew would not have dates for the day. wow! Look at these recipes: Chocolate filled ice cream cones, Chocolate layer cake with cream filling between the layers, and Allrecipes.com has a how to for cream filling. Look at this, old fashioned creme drops. Yum, chocolate creme pie. Oh, vanilla butter cremes. Then Mary found the chocolate wonder in her research. She found the website listings for buying chocolate in bulk. By February 14, the dining area was decorated with red hearts, party favors of red cinnamon heart candies, streamers across the ceiling of white and red. Most of all 20 platters of chocolate creme foods were layed out on the table. Each platter held a different kind of chocolate creme candy or food. When the guests arrived the types of food available all-in chocolate and creme, even Ice cream was the main conversation. Mary had a hit for this year's Valentine's Day. Every guest left with their own box of homemade chocolate cremes in flavor varieties. THE END OF A VERY SHORT SWEET STORY. |
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