Like a quasar . . .

Photo

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:08:57 -0500

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Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:08:33 -0500

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Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:07:58 -0500

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Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:07:39 -0500

quasar - I am, and … I was

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 02:04:57 -0500

quasar -
I am, and … I was

Very pretty.

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 02:12:00 -0500

Very pretty.

Photo

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 02:05:00 -0500

Heart & Soul ~

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 23:28:00 -0500

My empathy is through the roof.

Stronger than it’s ever been.

Ever.

For animals.

For the underdogs.

For this planet.

For this universe.

quasar -
I am, and … I was

Classic tv is . . . classic

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 23:24:00 -0500

An article was published today in the financial section as follows:

CBS is pinning high hopes on a new lineup of shows out this fall, but “I Love Lucy” is still one of the network’s stalwarts.

The company’s CEO, Leslie Moonves, said Thursday that “I love Lucy” still brings the company about $20 million a year in revenue. Cable and local channels broadcast runs of the show.

Is “I Love Lucy” seeing a resurgence more than 60 years after it debuted? This year, the sitcom was voted the best television show of all time in a survey by ABC News and People magazine, beating out “Seinfeld” and “Cheers.”

“I Love Lucy” had a relatively short life, running from 1951 to 1957, but it topped the ratings charts in most of those years. It morphed into a comedy starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

___________

After reading the article, I curiously read the comments posted by readers, and it was very telling that so many wrote about how funny Lucy was/is, good acting, clean show, good entertainment … and how utterly fed up they are with all the blatant, in-your-face content of today’s shows.

I really do love Lucy, even if she could be a bit self-centered and sometimes dictatorial in her treatment of poor Ethel, but overall the show was cute and clean and fun. I guess for many, it’s one of the tv equivalents of comfort food.

I’m a fan of classic tv, from comedies and dramas, to westerns and mysteries. Give me a good Magnum P.I. episode or the brilliant intellect of Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote ANY day over the disturbing, dark crime dramas today that focus on ultra-deviant criminal minds and screwed-up lives of the investigators. And old sitcoms never had to rely on graphic sexual references or strings of obscenities to get laughs; the fact that shows today do, illustrates very well their lack of real substance.

Classic tv isn’t just confined to the fifties and sixties, there were some very funny and entertaining shows in the 70s, through the 80s, and going into the 90s, but somewhere along the way, lines got crossed … so far over the line that the concept of comedy and mystery and entertainment became muddied and then lost.

I don’t know about the younger demographic because they didn’t grow up with the oldies, but I’d be willing to bet that if you polled all tv viewers over somewhere around age 40, and certainly over 50, they’d tell you they’re tired of the trash, tired of dark, depressing, gloomy shows, perverted topics, and reality scum.

One poster in the aforementioned article made an insightful statement: Mentally/emotionally well-balanced individuals are not entertained by gore and darkness, mystery, yes, brutality and angst, no.

I believe that poster is right.

So here’s to Lucy and Ricky and Fred and Ethel and the bit of comfort we feel when we go back in time to that brownstone at 623 East 68th Street ~

quasar -
I am, and … I was

When you’re weary Feeling small When tears are in your...

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 22:28:00 -0500

When you’re weary
Feeling small
When tears are in your eyes
I will dry them all

I’m on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can’t be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

…

Sail on Silver Girl,
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine

If you need a friend
I’m sailing right behind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind

A Waste of Time

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 23:24:00 -0500

One of THE worst things any human being can do is … waste time.

I sometimes seem to be a magnet for bland, boring, self-centered, uninteresting humans who only want to tell me their troubles (which really aren’t troubles at all as measured by a sensible standard of what troubles really are) and they don’t care about who I am or what’s going on in the universe.

You probably know at least one do-nothing/know-nothing. They’re the ones who live, think, act, and talk in the most narrow-minded of terms and don’t want to know much about anything. They are generally quite capable, physically and mentally, but choose not to employ those never-to-be-taken-for-granted abilities. They have no hobby, don’t want to get a hobby, and wouldn’t know a constructive or creative thought or idea if it knocked them down. They stare blankly back at you when you try to engage them in a conversation about, well, ANYTHING interesting. They carry out the minimum of what has to be done in their lives, aimlessly browse through stores, have three-hour lunches dominated by fluff-talk, spend hours on their cell phones chatting about nothing much with other know-nothings, oh, … they also tend to bitch a lot about being bored.

Huh.

As I listen to these kinds of people and I think, well then, get the hell up and do something worthwhile!

NEVER WASTE GOOD TIME.

Get a hobby.

Write a letter.

Start a cause.

Change this screwed-up country for the better.

Exchange your ‘gossip energy’ for a worthwhile pursuit.

Create something abundantly beautiful or useful.

Learn, educate yourself.

Watch something other than Dr. Phil or the Kardashians.

Read something that will enlighten and motivate.

Talk about something other than your mother-in-law.

Sing at least one song every day.

Dance to one song every day.

Teach yourself to count to 10 in ten languages.

Learn how to play an instrument.

Do something wonderful for animals.

Plant a flower or tree.

Gather and preserve beautiful leaves.

Pull some weeds.

Feed some birds.

Support a cause for nature conservation.

Write a piece of poetry.

Write a song.

Write a novel.

Get some crayons and a coloring book - and color.

Watch an old cartoon.

Bring out your childhood innocence.

Laugh because something is truly funny.

Stay away from people mucking up your life.

Reject spiritual vampires.

Stop thinking you have to do what others do all the time.

Put down your frigging cell phone for five minutes.

Close your Facebook account.

Understand the importance of every second of life.

Understand the sheer tragedy of every second LOST.

Learn to be less self-centered.

Learn who YOU really are.

quasar -
I am, and … I was

TV show floor plans

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 02:31:00 -0500

One of my all-time favorite sitcoms is The Mary Tyler Moore Show … and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her apartment floor plan.

I had one of the very earliest episodes on tonight while I was working and thought how cool it would be to find a similar place or have one custom built, and that … lo and behold! led me to a very interesting site … Fantasy Floorplans.

This is owned by a woman, Brandi Roberts, who’s an artist and has a degree in interior design. She’s also a big tv fan, and had the idea to offer - as works of art/conversation pieces - hand-drafted floorplans of houses and apartments from tv shows, (which she signs and dates).

She says that while taking a few liberties, she has done her best to “preserve the most televised parts” in her drawings.

She’s very talented, and what a great concept!

So I suppose that anyone who wanted to recreate their favorite set could use these in working with a builder.

There are over 100 offered from the Taylor home in Mayberry to The Brady Bunch house to Frasier’s high rise apartment to Ricky and Lucy’s brownstone to Carrie Bradshaw’s NY dwelling to yes! Mary Richard’s retro-cool apartment!

Here ‘tis:

http://www.fantasyfloorplans.com/

Questions, decisions, searching

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 17:07:00 -0500

There is no yellow brick road . . .

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 04:37:00 -0500

Despite my

home is where the heart is notion,

and

the gypsy in my soul,

sometimes …

like Dorothy,

I’m lost and longing for home.

But mine’s not in Kansas.

At least she knew where hers was.

quasar -
I am, and … I was

zeusismydad: ☼ Be Yourself ☼ THIS … THIS … THIS

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 22:14:37 -0500

zeusismydad:

☼ Be Yourself ☼

THIS … THIS … THIS

The Ize Have It

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 16:24:00 -0500

Utilize minds.

Equalize conflicts.

Sensitize emotions.

Civilize manners.

Exorcize demons.

Poetize dreams.

Finalize deals.

Eulogize losses.

Neutralize fears.

Prioritize lives.

Energize spirits.

Realize truths.

quasar -
I am, and … I was

How cool is this little collection of tiny houses? Click each...

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 04:11:00 -0500

A white picket fence cottage - needs flower boxes beneath windows

Old-fashioned, charming

Love the simplicity, symmetry

Great windows and deck

Love this - would be a great workspace for artist or writer, nap in the loft

A cottage in the country

Would love to see the interior - no idea what it looks like, but very cute

This I envision as being an artist studio in the woods

How cool is this little collection of tiny houses?

Click each photo

quasar ~

If you are a citizen of the United States of America, you must...

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 00:31:00 -0500

If you are a citizen of the United States of America, you must watch these two videos and listen to what these three guys say.

The NSA is, imo, one of our greatest enemies.

And check out the link below to learn more about the facility in Utah.

_________________________________________

National Security Agency whistle-blowers Thomas Drake, former senior official, Kirk Wiebe, former senior analyst, and William Binney, former technical director, return to “Viewpoint” to talk about their allegations that the NSA has conducted illegal domestic surveillance. All three men are providing evidence in a lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against the NSA.

Drake says the spying affects “the entire country,” citing a “key decision made shortly after 9/11 which began to rapidly turn the United States of America into the equivalent of a foreign nation for dragnet blanket electronic surveillance.”

“It’s hard to believe that your government’s gonna actually do it,” Wiebe says. “That was the shocker.”

Binney mentions an NSA facility currently under construction in Bluffdale, Utah. That facility alone can probably hold somewhere close to a hundred years’ worth of the communications of the world.” Binney continues, “Once you accumulate that kind of data — they’re accumulating against everybody — [it’s] resident in programs that can pull it together in timelines and things like that and let them see into your life.”

lunahorizon: steamlord313: edscutechibigirl: xbren-bread: ith...

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 00:25:27 -0500

lunahorizon:

steamlord313:

edscutechibigirl:

xbren-bread:

ithankyoukindly:

This is too beautiful, to not be on my page.

This is … unbelievable … lovely.

quasar ~

Bad news for those not obsessed with social media

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 22:24:00 -0500

If you’ve followed some of my posts, you know my position on Facebook and the concept of constant socialization. I’ve learned many valuable lessons over the years, especially just in the past few, one being that it is not just important, but rather necessary, for humans to not depend on others for every facet of their daily existences, and that it’s ok, even healthy, to spend time alone, away from the crazy crowds and social pressures. It’s also ok to live alone, without human companionship … no one has to be in a relationship or be married to prove their worth as a human being, and spending time alone, with yourself, with the sweet company of a pet, engaging in a creative endeavor, communing with nature, etc. is truly time well spent.

Apart from being online for business or research, (which is essential), I try to allocate what I call ”daily fluff time” … that’s about thirty minutes, maybe an hour spent reading a little news, catching up on tumblr and some other interesting and artsy blogs, and posting the occasional commentary which I hope makes sense and reaches some people who care. And then, I get back to real life … because when you get right down to it, while those aforementioned activities keep me informed about world happenings or open inspirational doors for creativity, it’s still “fluff time”, not absolutely necessary in the overall scheme of things.

So you can imagine that I don’t understand the hours and hours spent on social media, the obsession. I don’t do FB and I don’t tweet. I don’t want to locate a classmate from elementary school or some guy I had one date with three decades ago. And I have zero interest in accumulating 1,000 “friends” - many of whom could be anything from an obsessed freak to a psychopathic murderer hiding behind a fraudulent account.

Social media has it’s place, no argument there. If you’re starting or running a business, it’s a great way to advertise and network. If you’re wanting to promote your writing, be a commentator, connect with others who have like-minded views and similar interests, or you want to get the word out about a worthy cause, then social media is the tool.

What I don’t get is the mindless sheeple-like willingness to bombard FB and Twitter with personal stories and photos and intimate details of their lives. “It’s the only way I can stay in touch with kids and grandkids and friends who live around the country”, they so predictably will say. Silly me, if I need to stay in touch with someone across country, I send an email, I pick up the phone. And I don’t happen to believe that everyone you know should automatically be given the same information at the same time … it’s the equivalent of the distribution of a mass-copied, inter-office memo. Likewise, I’ve no compulsion whatsoever to tweet my every move and thought.

Moderation.

Use common sense and moderation and understand that anything and everything you post, especially with data-miners like FB, is theirs … it becomes THEIR property and you can’t take it back - not ever.

Now … to the greater point of my post …

It seems that as a society, we have “evolved” (ahem!) to a point where we all, but especially you twenty-somethings out there, are being judged not so much by the content of our social media, but rather by the LACK of a social media presence.

In other words, if photos and personally detailed information about your life are not plastered all over the internet … if you don’t tweet your every move … if you don’t mindlessly join the sheeple and go along to get along … well! get this: You’re more likely to be judged a weirdo-loner, labeled as having the profile of a criminal, and just maybe you’re a psycho killer accumulating huge arsenals of weapons, just waiting to pounce and attack.

Good to know, huh?

How does that make you feel?

I think it’s creepy and degrading.

Below you will find a bit of writing from a woman named Pamela Rutledge, Ph.D., M.B.A., Director of the Media Psychology Research Center, and her assessment of the Aurora shooter and those lacking a presence in social media. Sadly, hers is just one of many of the same “expert opinions” discussed and written about in the media since that terrible event.

Wonder if Freud would have relied on “OMG” and “duh” in his assessment of character and psychological behavior …

quasar rolls eyes …

From Ms. Rutledge:

Holmes has no web presence, no social media profiles. How weird is that? It’s a testimony to how normal participating in the social media world is when we look at the lack of presence as an anomaly. What’s wrong with this guy that he’s not at least on Facebook? This assumption of web presence is creating an avalanche of unpleasant activity for all the other “James Holmes” out there. It also is an indication of our search for answers — the assumption that the perpetrator of such a random act of violence must have at least left a digital trail of his downward spiral.

If someone said that Holmes was a loner with no friends, we would find that fits our mental model of a potentially disturbed person. But since we’ve been demonizing the use of social media, we now have to do a cognitive shift and recognize that social media is a way of connecting and having friends and that it is, OMG, normal. We obviously don’t know whether or not Holmes was participating, either benignly or maliciously, in chat rooms or forums under a screen name. But we’re looking for something to blame and since we’ve hit a dead end on getting insight due to his lack of web presence. Therefore, we’re using that lack to describe his pathology.

We can ask the same questions about the lack of web presence that we ask for anyone who isolates themselves in other ways. Was Holmes socially isolated in all senses? We know that social isolation can amplify the negative consequences of stress and increase the risk of developing psychopathology. Some research results have shown that social isolation actually delays the positive effects of activities found to be emotionally beneficial, such as exercise. We also know that social isolation increases loneliness (duh), fear of others, and negative self-esteem.

So there you have it …

To all those lacking a well-defined and identifiable “social media presence”, you’re now considered, by our oh-so-progressive societal standards, a pathological loner with negative self-esteem. And if you’re labeled a “loner” - that means you have NO friends!

I guess that would come as a big surprise to all the people who live alone, are self-sufficient and interesting characters who spend extended periods writing or painting or communing with nature, who are loathe to the company of shallow people, who would prefer sitting with their dog star-gazing anytime over attending a party of loud and obnoxious drunks, and who never analyze why they are alone or why they actually like being alone, they just ARE and they just DO.

I’ve known such people, very individual types. They socialize if they feel like it, they have one, maybe a couple of friends they see from time to time but wouldn’t be considered as having “friends” (as in groups, plural), they’re smartly discriminating, outgoing, but are basically low-key and simply prefer their own company and yes, would be considered “loners”. I guess we should tell them and anyone currently who fits that “profile” that they really aren’t as happy and content as they believe themselves to be.

And I suppose we should belittle them all as societal outcasts who are one step away from committing murder in a movie theater.

quasar rolls eyes again …

and sighs.

quasar -
I am, and … I was