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Our Daily Thread 8-18-14

Good Morning!

On this day in 1227 the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan died. 

In 1587 Virginia Dare became the first child to be born on American soil of English parents. The colony that is now Roanoke Island, NC, mysteriously vanished. 

In 1846 Gen. Stephen W. Kearney and his U.S. forces captured Santa Fe, NM. 

In 1894 the Bureau of Immigration was established by the U.S. Congress. 

And in 1966 the first pictures of earth taken from moon orbit were sent back to the U.S. 

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Quote of the Day

“Right or wrong, the customer is always right.”

Marshall Field

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 Today is Benjamin Louis Paul Godard’s birthday.

And it’s Antonio Salieri’s birthday.

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Anyone have a QoD?

44 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 8-18-14”

  4. We started packing yesterday. All of Mr. P’s mother’s china and silver are packed. My every day cups, saucers, and fruit bowls are packed. Large platters and serving trays are packed. The shells (from various dives) are packed. I had already packed up a lot of photos and things that belong to Baby Girl. ( her dad is going to store that).
    Mr. P is going to the liquor store this morning to get boxes- they are great for packing glasses and crystal.
    I have finally convinced him to get rid of some stuff. I am going to have to have a garage sale, because he thinks these items have value. Me? I would just haul it to Ecumenical Ministries and take the tax write off.

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  6. Lovely music to begin the day, and it fits so well with the tranquil header picture. Thank you, AJ.

    Chas @ 9:33 — I thought of the same thing. 😉

    Good evening, Jo and good morning, everyone else. (Or is Tychicus no longer stateside, but rather somewhere that it’s afternoon?)

    I wanted to share a link to an article I read yesterday that I found very interesting, albeit lengthy. I understand if you don’t find the subject matter compelling, or the article length prohibitively long, but if any of you is currently or has in the past been on Facebook, I would love to hear your take on it.

    The article is older, from a couple years ago, so maybe it has been shared here or at WMB before, but it’s new to me, so I bring it up. Any comments on the author’s thoughts or conclusions?

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  10. Anon, It does look like that, doesn’t it. But I hadn’t thought of it that way. I guess the foliage made a reference point. Was this taken from a helicopter?

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  11. 6 arrows: Yes, I’m already back in the CR, where it’s already after four in the afternoon.

    Thanks for the link to the article. I’ve never actually had Facebook, but I’d like to use the loneliness aspect that’s central to the article in a sermon sometime.

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  12. Kim, I wanted to donate/give away all our ‘junk’ when we moved 7 years ago. Husband said let’s have a garage sale. We had to haul everything into town to our pastor’s house, but I was amazed at the stuff that actually sold and we made quite a bit of money. People buy the strangest things. (Oh, and he was the one in charge – I made sure to stay far, far away) 🙂

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  13. Happy Monday everyone. Busy week ahead for me with covering a tall ships festival coming to town Wednesday and other stories to find and finish before that. The festival is going to be crazy, they’re expecting more than 300,000 people to come into town over the course of 5 days.

    Today I’m hoping to do something on some pups that were born at our marine mammal rehab center — they where they were born to a female sea lion taken in several days ago. Awww.

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  14. You can often find good bargains at yard sales. We had a yard sale when we moved from Annandale.
    Elvera used to have a hobby of collecting sale & pepper shakers. I haven’t seen any lately, but it used to be that every souvenir place, I call them “Junk stores”, would have salt & pepper shakers of different sorts. She collected them and had them on a shelf.
    When we had the yard sale, she sold them. Some guy came along and bought the entire collection. I don’t remember how much we got. But he seemed to know what he was doing.

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  15. Facebook is fine as long as you use it to share with real friends. What happened was that somehow your professional life migrated over there. It hasn’t been the same. Now your potential employers check out your social media accounts so if you don’t want your business opportunities to know about your penchant for attending Star Trek conventions dressed as Worf, then don’t post it on FB.
    I hardly ever post anything too personal or political or religious on mine anymore. I am connected to real estate agents all over the country through FB but I know they aren’t my real friends. They are acquaintances.

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  16. And yet, in the publishing world, your “platform” is part of how a publisher decides if they’ll publish your books. They want to know how many twitter followers you have, friends on FB, newsletter recipients, etc.

    I treat FB like a newspaper page with some personal asides. Engagement is the key–you wouldn’t believe how much advice writers get on this sort of thing with not exactly demands, but heavy suggestions.

    I like to write though, so I enjoy my blog even though my readership numbers are not good ROI for the publishing world. I’m about to launch a newsletter and will have to beg everyone I know to subscribe just to try to impress a publisher–and because I hope they’re interested in what I’m working on. You poor people already pretty much get a newsletter from me in the comments I make here.

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  17. I scanned your article, 6 Arrows, and asked my husband if he was lonely (never hurts to check in with the spouse; see: confidant) and he laughed. “How could I feel lonely when I spent the entire weekend with relatives?”

    Well . . . .

    I see lots of things to comment on. Loneliness can often be the result of choices and it can be hard to make a new friend if you’re not as outgoing as I am, or more private, or if your circumstances keep you so busy you don’t have the time and opportunity to nurture a relationship. Our Navy training taught us to go deep quickly, because we didn’t live anywhere long enough to stay shallow. The fact we often were dealing with crises because the boat was in or out, means we had to depend upon relative strangers pretty quickly.

    For example, I spent the night with the toddlers next door three weeks after they moved in because mom and dad went to the hospital to deliver another baby and they didn’t know anyone else.

    FB could magnify that loneliness if you don’t realize most people who post personally are trying to impress or put a good face on themselves, rather than show weakness. Our society goes like wolves to the kill if you suggest weakness; you have to be careful.

    Like Kim, I’m conscious that strangers are reading my posts and I rarely touch on politics or religion or anything controversial because I have to be careful. I have to be careful here as well because I’m outed–you can find me easily on the Internet and I don’t feel so safe anymore.

    Perhaps I should adopt an alter ego? 🙂

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  18. I have recommended fb to acquaintances who I know cannot get out and about very often. It connects them with others. I would think they would be less lonely, but won’t speak for them.

    Facebook has given me a glimpse of several people that I would prefer not to have. OTOH, I have seen others in a new, more positive light. Just like in ‘real’ life, people can surprise us. It is good to take many posts with a grain of salt, but that is another thing we need to do with face to face (or phone) conversations.

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  19. michelle’s right — at the newspaper we’re under strong orders to “engage” with our readers/community and be very active via social media. And I’d say the majority of my FB posts (and now probably next to all of my twitter posts) are related to what I or my colleagues are covering for the newspaper.

    Now as a writer I also enjoy social media. It operates (in my world) as something of a community bulletin board.

    People learn about issues they should know about (local and otherwise), lost dogs are reunited with their owners, old friends reconnect. That’s mostly what I see going on at any rate. With a few good laughs thrown in. 🙂

    I’m currently tracking plans to launch a new dog park in town, for example, which I may write about if it looks like it’s getting enough traction. I also learned about a couple other stories just over the weekend that I’ll be doing this week. So for us in journalism it’s really a great way to know what’s going on.

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  20. Here’s another thought.

    Back in the dark ages when I was a budget counselor, we used to talk about the financial expectations of our clients. They had ideas WAY above their budgets and/or even needs and we wondered why.

    It occurred to me that television plants an image of what a young person can expect life to look like. At that time, if they were watching TV, their idea of what they needed easily could swell. Even Happy Days had nice furniture, for example.

    If you get ideas about friendship from the media, they’re going to be distorted from your reality. Some of that is because of story telling, some of it is because FB lets you see what your friends are doing when they’re not with you–and some of mine are going sailing with each other, or wine tasting or really having a lot of fun.

    Even I feel a pang of “hey, why wasn’t I invited?” but they I look at the rich events I was invited to (out to dinner Friday night, dinner with in-laws Saturday night, spaghetti with the wild adorable grandchildren last night) and I think, no worries they didn’t invite me.

    But another friend gets very bitter these people didn’t invite her, and what I do I say to her unhappiness?

    Scripture tells us not to compare ourselves. Sit tight with Jesus and he’ll give you plenty to do other than read FB!

    Oswald Chambers was talking about that this morning on http://www.utmost.org Here’s the last paragraph:

    I can be so rich in my own poverty, or in the awareness of the fact that I am nobody, that I will never be a disciple of Jesus. Or I can be so rich in the awareness that I am somebody that I will never be a disciple. Am I willing to be destitute and poor even in my sense of awareness of my destitution and poverty? If not, that is why I become discouraged. Discouragement is disillusioned self-love, and self-love may be love for my devotion to Jesus— not love for Jesus Himself.

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  21. Looks like rain just when I was going to think seriously about mowing the grass. Ah, shucks, as they say in the corn fiields of life.

    Michelle, I am amazed at how you keep up your blog and write books, too. And now a newsletter, too? I am looking forward to subscribing. 🙂

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  22. michelle, no joke about alter ego. I’ve wondered about changing my name here. 🙂 I generally try to be careful with what I post, but sometimes I probably am not as careful as I should be, especially with regard to political issues.

    OK, I’m going to stay away from the political thread — for now. 😮

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  24. The photo….

    No, it’s not me.

    And no, I wasn’t in a helicopter. 🙂

    But I was up high so it’s deceptive. I didn’t really notice the clouds on the water until I looked at it at home on a big screen. Sometimes you just get lucky. 🙂

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  25. I’m not on FB. My siblings tried it, and from what I saw from their pages, it wasn’t worth it. Perhaps because people are self-conscious about their public image – but there was not a lot of substantial discussion, just posts about what they had for dinner, etc. The kind of chats you used to have with your neighbour over the fence or at the checkout in the grocery store. I was just thinking this morning that the type of community we have developed here is more like the practice of pen pals, strangers who have become acquainted through the words each has written. People used to write very substantial letters to one another, discussing an amazing variety of subjects, from everyday events to philosophy, often in the same letter. Many of those letters have been published – I doubt very much if anyone will publish an e-book of a typical FB page.

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  26. It really irritates me when I watch the evening news and they tell me if I would like more information on a news story to go to their FB page and read all about it.
    What if I don’t want to get my news from FB.
    There was a murder trial here several years ago where a married city/county commissioner killed his girlfriend.
    The news stations kept asking us (the public) to log on to FB and tell what we thought.
    Oh and by the way, he walked.

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  27. For you Johnny Cash fans:

    http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/entertainment/music/2014/08/18/johnny-cash-boyhood-home/14238913/

    DYESS, Ark. — Money and memorabilia from Johnny Cash’s family and friends have helped historians restore a significant part of the Historic Dyess Colony, a government collective built to pull Depression-era families out of poverty.

    The country music icon’s boyhood home, along with the colony’s former headquarters, has just opened to the public, reflecting everyday life in a northeast Arkansas community built on once-sunken land.

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  28. roscuro, I never see: “what they had for dinner, etc. The kind of chats you used to have with your neighbour over the fence or at the checkout in the grocery store” 🙂

    Our pastor and a couple of our elders have very substantial discussions going on for days on end.

    Kim, they’re probably just trying to get more FB followers for the station’s page. Those posts then link to the station or publication, bringing people directly onto their website.

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  30. If it wasn’t for the cat videos, what would be the point? 🙂

    I understand the necessity for some to do so for employment purposes, and I respect that. Most keep their pages professional, respectful, and clean of nonsense. Most of my friends keep their pages that way, whether personal or professional. I appreciate that.

    I guess it’s fine for some stuff, but many people turn it into their own personal advertisements or bully pulpits, that have nothing to do with their employment. It’s all about them, and their need for self-promotion. They provide way TMI in many cases about their lives. On my page, that gets you gone.

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  31. And then there are those who post cryptic status updates (like I did today) and everyone not in the know wonders what in the world is going on. 🙂 You guys all know, but not all my FB friends.

    My son often puts strange things on his status, we just ignore those 🙂
    My daughter often puts lyrics, either to songs she likes, or songs she’s written.

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  33. It did not rain earlier so I thought I would wait until the yard got a bit more shaded before mowing. I put on my lawn mowing clothes which means protection from bug bites on my ankles, jeans and socks work for that. I checked all the passion fower plants growing in the yard and did not find baby caterpillars on them. That means I can mow them down without guilt. So guess what? It just came a rain shower. It is one of those where it sunshines through the rain. Again, I have to say, ah, shucks, I’m all dressed up and have a wet lawn I can’t mow. At least Bosley will be glad about me being inside rather than out. She’s been a very good cat today. 🙂

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  34. I joined Facebook for a few months before I married, largely because of a teen niece who was struggling and her father asked if I could friend her on Facebook, so I joined to do so. I enjoyed some of it, largely seeing photos and posts by my nieces and nephews and good article links from some men in my church. AN\nd I enjoyed being able to post photos. But I found that too often I’d check World, Facebook, and e-mail (in random order), and once I’d checked all three and written e-mails or posts of my own, it would be time to check them again. It was, in other words, a big time-waster for me. I knew I had a choice, World or Facebook. (I’d actually already made that choice, but I did join FB for a while out of love for family.) When World was shutting down its blog, I thought about joining Facebook, but then this blog was successful, so I didn’t.

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  35. Kare, thanks for humoring me @ 9:53. 😉

    Tychicus, glad the article link was/will be useful. BTW, I’ve never been on Facebook, either.

    Lots of good thoughts shared here about Facebook/social media. Thank you, all!

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  36. It really irritates me when I watch the evening news and they tell me if I would like more information on a news story to go to their FB page and read all about it.

    I agree. Facebook is getting too ubiquitous.

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  38. Preparations for piano students are coming along well. Last week I sent out a letter to the parents of the students who were studying with me at the time I resigned, to announce that I am returning to piano teaching. Most of those students have grown up and left home, as it’s been eleven years since I closed my studio, but I invited back any students who still live in the area, or younger siblings that might still be at home.

    I heard back from two families, both of whom are the parents of former students of mine who do not live around here anymore. However, they said they would recommend my services to anyone they heard of who was inquiring about piano lessons. Also, one of them, my good friend S, who is a teacher in the district in which I was formerly employed, passed along my contact information to the general music teachers in the district, who often get asked if they know of any private piano teachers with whom their children can study. Both S and the other parent who contacted me after receiving my letter were excited to hear I was getting back into piano teaching, which is nice, because I am too!

    I finished writing and revising my lesson policy, and tonight I printed it out. Now to just get some students!

    In other music news, I found an old composition notebook with five brief piano miniatures I composed 9-10 years ago, so I’ve had fun playing those again. Also, this week I will be going to the piano teacher’s workshop that is held in our area every August, put on by a nationally-known composer of student piano literature who lives around here. That is always a fun tradition, going to her New Music Revue each year.

    And… I’ve been invited to play in another piano show! That will be in November, most likely. It’s been fun looking through music in my library, thinking about what I might want to play this time. And, of course, with the workshop coming up on Thursday, I know I will be hearing lots of new arrangements (they’re not all easy pieces, suitable for young students, but also include advanced music and things appropriate for adults who perform or play in church and the like). I am hoping to find a good arrangement of We Gather Together for solo piano or duet, or a similar work, as the piano show will probably be a little before Thanksgiving.

    A lot of excitement for me lately on the music front. 🙂

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  39. FB is ubiquitous simply because that’s where most everyone is. So many people use it now that in order to reach media ‘audiences,’ that’s where one goes (along with twitter).

    Digitally, everything is always evolving so quickly — platforms that people used to rely on to communicate (like email) have dropped by the wayside or into the background in favor of communication that is faster, more immediate & more engaging.

    Email has become the landline of the computer world. It’s still useful but generally is slow in terms of getting a response (unless you have an instant notification system on your smart phone).

    FB will probably either evolve more or be replaced by something else as well (Instagram is now the preferred social media site for the younger people I know).

    It’s crazy, but as they say, it is what it is.

    I really feel for older people who don’t have computers, they call us (they’re our older print readers) and they feel very frustrated that everything now revolves around digital communications. (I think I mentioned the lady I talked to last week who had no computer, no telephone answering machine & an old TV that she couldn’t turn the volume down on 🙂 )

    I still say that, as much as possible, it’s good to try to generally keep up with the technological changes since they become so essential so quickly. At the very least they make life a whole lot easier.

    Personal computers may have seemed like a fad to some people when they took off so quickly in the 1990s. Few of us realized how completely they would change everything we do. Without computer access now, just taking care of basic personal business is a lot more difficult.

    Of course the Amish have somehow managed … 🙂

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  41. 6 Arrows, sounds great on the music front!

    I’m working away at investigating some options for things I can do for pleasure and ideally for some profit too.

    I’m learning some new features on my camera. (I didn’t even try to learn everything at once. It has about a couple dozen modes that one can take photos in, including “sleeping child.” I’ve learned two new ones the last couple weeks.) And I got a really great shot of a flying downy woodpecker this afternoon. I had two goldfinches on one of our feeders, one on each side, and the downy was in the tree looking at the feeder. I knew he would be flying in, and depending on which side he chose to land on, one goldfinch would be leaving. My camera was on rapid-fire mode, which takes ten photos in a second or two, so I aimed it at the bird feeder but watched the tree. After the downy left the branch, I pushed the shutter. I got two photos of just the goldfinches, then one of the downy entering the frame, then the one I’m posting here (cropped to show just the downy), and then the downy landing . . . but the goldfinch sees that he’s landing at the edge of the feeder, not in the middle, so he turns around in midair to come back. I don’t know if he landed again, because my ten shots were up before that and I wasn’t watching to see what happened next, but it was quite a bit of action.

    But hopefully the downy will go ahead and post.

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  42. Cheryl, yep, the music front — I’m really pumped!

    I enjoy reading about your bird sightings/camera shots. Great avatar pic of that downy! Third and Sixth Arrows came over and looked at the enlarged Gravatar, and said, “Ooh!!” The older one commented, “That’s gotta be a good camera to get a picture like that!”

    I’d say a good photographer, too. 😉

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