Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to use the internet and he won’t bother you for weeks, months, maybe years 😅

  Mainline Florida: Link to Mainline Florida. 

I am making more use of links, music and visual. Click on them and then you might have a second link to search. Some locations, such as YouTube generate revenue for your "free" viewing by running ads, so be patient. On occasion there is a "skip ad" button. Sometimes it will load and start when you go there, sometimes you need to click on the white arrow in the red box.

I hope you enjoy the updates to my art and life as presented in this blog. IF you don't like the political stuff and don't want to receive future blogs just say so, no hard feelings. So far, only five have taken me up on the offer. With that in mind, remember: BELOW THE FOLD is where (most) of the controversial stuff is placed. Sometimes stuff is a hybrid, say humor and political. Nevertheless, I do this blog for me, it clears my mind and then I do it to share stuff I think is interesting, fun, needed to be considered, etc. I like, also, the feedback I receive, either on a specific article or the concept in general. Right now there are about 70 of you who receive this directly. Claude

   For a better experience, click on the “view web version” then you can go to the archive for prior published editions. 

ART:

12” x 16” oil on wrapped canvass Apotheosis of Saint Louis (Louis IX King of France)

OTHER’S ART:

Congratulations to the winners of the September 2022 PleinAir Salon! First place will receive a cash prize, plus all winners will be entered into the judging for the annual cash prizes, including the $15,000 grand prize for the best painting of the year, and they’ll see their painting on the cover of PleinAir Magazine. Could you be the next winner? “The three paintings I’ve chosen begin to transcend the components of shape, color, and finish,” Bill said. Keep reading to see what he had to say about the top three winners and his advice for those who plan to enter their work in the future. PleinAir Salon, September 2022 Winners Preview: 1st Place Overall: “Late Afternoon in Spain”

Luis Azon, “Late Afternoon in Spain,” 52 x 52 in., oil

“This painting allows me to be quietly lost in a space while I hear activity all around,” Bill said of ‘Late Afternoon in Spain.’ “I’m able to separate from viewing a surface to sensing a feeling of atmosphere while mentally passing in and among groups of people engaged in their individual worlds as they become part of a unified environment.”

FLORIDA:

Hurricane map of destruction as the top arrow pulled water out of the rivers and offshore, then the bottom arrow pushed the surge back on shore. Fort Myers is in the center circle.

THE GOOD AND THE BAD: The surge lifted all size of boats; then on a later day I sat for a luncheon with a friend downtown near the marina.

`t

Meanwhile, Comic Cure held a benefit concert in the form of a comedy contest in Naples.

ANOTHER DAY IN MY POOL….

HUMOR;

“Old age comes at a bad time.”  - San Banducci

Jennifer Yang: “Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened?”

And, “I’m so old that my blood type is discontinued.” - Bill Dane

                                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    

Babylon Bee Parody headlines, go to their website for full “articles”.

            

LISTENING:

 Read the last column on the right for fun info

Remember you can pinch open for a better read. The royalty mention is educational.

Recently, I listened to an enjoyable but stunning debut sound for a long-time popular band and one of rock’s great guitarist and his buddy frontman. The guitar solo and the engineering are primo. 

Link to original album cut

YouTube episode - What Makes This Song Great

Link to the first known recording of their live show and, yes, even at this early point in their stage presence, it has the recognizable guitar solo.

THINGS OF WHICH INTEREST ME:

Wonderful success story in STL, a leader and benefactor.

 From The Smithsonian: On the left is Methuselah, a date palm on the grounds of Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel. Scientists raised the tree from a 2,000-year-old seed excavated near the Dead Sea. 

     On the right or below it shows the 1967 mission in the Sinai desert to recover the remains of Avshalom Feinberg, a Jewish spy killed in 1917. The palm tree was a clue to the body’s whereabouts; it had sprouted from a date in his pocket. 

                 

**************

Thomas Merton says: All that you can do with any spiritual discipline is produce within ourselves something of the silence, humility, the detachment, the purity of heart, and the indifference which are required if the inner self is to make some predictable manifestation of HIS Presence. Then my experience is that I need to put myself in a place where God can/will talk to my soul.

*************

Double Down? They gave him 2 more years even though, at best, he’ll probably end up with a record similar to Barry…

BELOW THE FOLD: WARNING:

The state of The United States of America today?

Religion, with its connection to God and with the aura of its rituals, can motivate us to pursue wisdom and virtue more effectively than laws can do on their own power.

Our Founding Fathers were keenly aware of this fact. George Washington, in his farewell address, reminded our nascent nation that “[o]f all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. . . . [R]eason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

John Adams, in his inaugural address, praised the propagation of “knowledge, virtue, and religion among all classes of the people, not only for their benign influence on the happiness of life in all its stages and classes, and of society in all its forms, but as the only means of preserving our Constitution from its natural enemies.”

And, as if there were any doubt as to what religion Adams meant, he felt “it be my duty to add” that “a veneration for the religion of a people who profess and call themselves Christians, and a fixed resolution to consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for the public service.”

The Founders knew that to survive, our republic required virtuous citizens. Ordered liberty was the end; religion was the means.

Flash forward to today, when the goal of ordered liberty has been replaced by expressive individualism. The individual is now greater than the republic, which is to cater to each person’s every whim. The individual maximizes his clout by declaring his most coveted desires “rights” over which no person or entity may trespass.

                 **********************

 The voters in Illinois have only themselves to blame. 

Again, the press ignores the will of the people. DeSantis is up by at least 12 points in polls. Moreover, there is no comparison between the good DeSantis does and the wishy washy, flip flopper Crist who is in the race only for himself, not Florida. Calling DeSantis a bully is sooooo incorrect, just a way for the liberal press to smear a very popular gov. There is no reason to endorse Crist so they go low on DeSantis. 

   

REAL World…

No Democratic congressional candidates brag about the 3 million people who illegally crossed an open border.

 

None boast that they helped cancel key pipelines, reduced federal leasing of gas and oil and shut down the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. None take credit for hammering investments in fossil fuels. 

 

None preen over the no-bail and defund-the-police policies of left-wing, big-city prosecutors and mayors who have spiked crime.

 

None insist that an annual 8-9 percent inflation rate is a desirable spreading of wealth.

 

And yet odder still, no Democratic candidate, state or national—and most certainly not Joe Biden—offers to alter these toxic policies.

 

If they won’t defend what they have done, they apparently will not even undo what they have wrought.

 

No Democratic gubernatorial candidate wants one foot built of a new border wall. No Democratic House candidate demands that the Keystone pipeline be finished. No Democratic senatorial candidate calls for fiscal discipline to lower inflation.

 

Instead, they stay mute.

                        ****************************

MEMORIAL OF SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO, BISHOP

LUKE 16:1–8

Friends, like the steward in today’s Gospel, we must regularly take a hard took at ourselves. What are our strengths and our weaknesses? Where do we need improvement? Where are we not in particularly good shape? Is our prayer life strong? Do we frequent the sacraments? Do we participate in the Mass? Are our lives focused around the corporal and spiritual works of mercy? Do we speak out against injustices and moral evils? And, like the steward, we must act with cleverness, firmness of purpose, and boldness. Enough wishy-washiness in the spiritual life! The time for action is now. Today, commit to making Jesus Christ and his demands the undisputed center of your life.

                         ***************************

When I see the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you arranged, what is man that you should keep him in mind, mortal man that you care for him?

  Mainline Florida: Link to Mainline Florida. 

I am making more use of links, music and visual. Click on them and then you might have a second link to search. Some locations, such as YouTube generate revenue for your "free" viewing by running ads, so be patient. On occasion there is a "skip ad" button. Sometimes it will load and start when you go there, sometimes you need to click on the white arrow in the red box.

I hope you enjoy the updates to my art and life as presented in this blog. IF you don't like the political stuff and don't want to receive future blogs just say so, no hard feelings. So far, only five have taken me up on the offer. With that in mind, remember: BELOW THE FOLD is where (most) of the controversial stuff is placed. Sometimes stuff is a hybrid, say humor and political. Nevertheless, I do this blog for me, it clears my mind and then I do it to share stuff I think is interesting, fun, needed to be considered, etc. I like, also, the feedback I receive, either on a specific article or the concept in general. Right now there are about 70 of you who receive this directly. Claude

ART:

Draw session 10/23/22

Arthur:

 The upper left is a drawing in charcoal onto a canvas board which will let me finish later as an oil painting. 

ART PURCHASED:

Just a simple small engraving: City Fountain, from a consignment shop in Naples

                    

OTHER’S ART:

 Local, Gordon France, acrylics formerly of Chicago, I believe.

   With a palette knife

FLORIDA CARS:

 ‘87

OLD FLORIDA:

1954 Naples 5th Ave South

NEW FLORIDA:

 I absolutely love the design. In fact, I submitted one just like it in design class at MIZZOU. The teacher said “But it looks like a building”

POOL MYSTERIES:

(Aka 1st world problems)

   If you ever need cloud cover, call me…sunny when I enter my pool and within 5 minutes there is a long cloud throwing shade, never fails😎

 There it is!

Humor:

Reader’s Digest edition

I am teaching my kids to read to help them succeed in school. I’m teaching my kids to read because it’s quality time spent together. But most of all I’m teaching my kids to read so they won’t ask “what does XJ49PB2 spell? every time we pass another car on the road.

                   **************

A teenager brings her new boyfriend home to meet her parents. They are appalled by his piercings, the vulgar slogan on his T-shirt, and his constant cursing.

Later, the girl asked her mother, “So, what did you think?”

 “He doesn’t seem very nice.”

“Oh, please, mom! says the daughter.

If he wasn’t nice, would he be doing 500 hours of community service?” 

                               ********************

My dating not going well…I FaceTimed my date and I heard someone whisper “Eww, that’s him?”

Then there was the time I was ZOMBIED😬 It’s like ghosting but then the woman comes back from the dead a couple of months later and hits me up.

                                         **********************

Kippah, skull cap, or just a skull????????? Photographers…always check what is behind your subject in the lense before snapping that picture.

                             

And, my laundry world…

“To get back to my youth I would do anything in the world, except exercise, get up early, or be respectable” - Oscar Wilde

Will Rogers: “The older I get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.”

And, “We must recognize that, as we grow older, we become like old cars - more and more repairs and replacements are necessary.” C.S. Lewis

LISTENING:

Beware of the SKIN DEEP by the Stranglers 1984

Link to the video, might have an ad, on YouTube

YouTube link of Tom Rush singing Joni Mitchell’s “Urge for Going” in 2010

Masterful song covered by many artists

fun music Gimmie Shelter with U2, Fergie, and a surprise guest.

Also will.i.am, Link

THING OF WHICH I FIND INTERESTING:

I love Psalm 8. Take a second and read the short message. 

                                     ****************

     What do these countries have in common, and exclusive? Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Uruguay.

                  ANSWER at the end of this section, before Below The Fold

                    =======================

  Interesting for two reason…Lucianne and her son

FROM WSJ Letters…

Letters…

I find this next piece really interesting. Think about all of the youth in this country - your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, neighbors, someone somewhere in obscurity. She, as a teenager, wrote some songs on her acoustic guitar, figured out how to have them recorded. Then marketed. Then performed on stage. Stumbled into a few romantic relationships. Built a team. Figured out how to grow the franchise… She traveled with her mother at age eleven to visit Nashville record labels and submitted demo tapes of Dolly Parton and The Chicks karaoke covers. She was rejected, however, because "everyone in that town wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, I kept thinking to myself, I need to figure out a way to be different."

When Swift was around 12 years old, computer repairman and local musician Ronnie Cremer taught her to play guitar. He helped with her first efforts as a songwriter, leading her to write "Lucky You".    Now, over 200 million albums sold…just that at, at say $2 per to her…plus her merchandise, performance tickets and fees, endorsements, publishing earnings, and on and on and on. Why her?    Why not another child/teenager? In a way, it happens all the time in the United States of America. All races, genders, family circumstances, locals. 

 For example….         

CLIMATE:

Volcano Facts: The Evils Of Carbon Dioxide                                                         

By:Professor Ian Rutherford Plimer :
An Australian geologist, professor emeritus of earth sciences at the University of Melbourne,professor of mining geology at the University of Adelaide, and the director of multiple mineral exploration and mining companies. He has published 130 scientific papers, six books, and edited the Encyclopedia of Geology.
 
These are his extensive credentials:
Born: 12  February 1946
Residence: Australia
Nationality: Australian
Fields of Study: Earth Science, Geology,
 
Mining Engineering Institutions:
University of New England,
University of Newcastle,
University of Melbourne,
University of Adelaide
 
Alma Maters: University of New South Wales, Macquarie University
Thesis: The pipe deposits of tungsten-molybdenum-bismuth in eastern Australia (1976)
Notable awards; Eureka Prize (1995, 2002), Centenary Medal(2003), Clarke Medal (2004)
 
A few excerpts from Professor Plimer's newest book.
               Where Does Carbon Dioxide Really Come From?
 
PLIMER : "Okay, here's the bombshell -- the 2016 volcanic eruption in Iceland. Since its first spewing of volcanic ash,  in just four days it NEGATED every single effort you have made in the past five years to control CO2 emissions on our planet - all of you.
 
Of course, you know about this evil carbon dioxide that we are trying to suppress. It's that vital chemical compound that every plant requires to live and grow, and to synthesize into oxygen for us humans and all animal life.
 
I know....  it's very disheartening to realize that all of the carbon emission savings you have accomplished while suffering the inconvenience and expense of driving Prius hybrids, buying fabric grocery bags, sitting up till midnightto finish your kids "The Green Revolution" science project, throwing out all of your non-green cleaning supplies, using only two squares of toilet paper, putting a brick in your toilet tank reservoir, selling your SUV and speedboat, vacationing at home instead of abroad, nearly getting hit every day on your bicycle, replacing all of your 50-cent light bulbs with $10.00 light bulbs.....well, all of those things you have done went down the tubes in just four days!
 
The volcanic ash emitted into the Earth's atmosphere by that volcano in Iceland totally erased every single effort made worldwide to reduce the evil beast, carbon. And there are around 200 active volcanoes on the planet spewing out this crud at any one time - EVERY DAY.
 
I don't really want to rain on your parade too much,  but I should mention that when Mt. Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991, it spewed more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire human race had emitted in all its years on earth.
 
Yes, folks, Mt Pinatubo was active for over one year - think about it.
 
Of course, I shouldn't spoil this 'touchy-feely -save-the-Earth' moment and mention the effect of natural solar and cosmic activity, and the well-recognized 800-year global heating and cooling cycle, which keeps happening despite our completely insignificant efforts to affect climate change.
 
And I do wish I had a silver lining to this volcanic ash cloud, but the fact is that the wildfire season across the western USA and Australia in 2019  alone negated efforts to reduce carbon in our world over the following two to three years. And these types of events happen every year somewhere on the planet.
 
So just remember if your government imposes a whopping carbon tax on you, on the basis of the BOGUS 'human-caused' climate-change scenario, it won't stop any volcanoes from erupting, that's for sure. Is it really so hard to understand that Mother Nature massively dominates any human efforts on climate?
 
Hey, isn't it interesting how they don't mention 'Global Warming' anymore, but have labeled it 'Climate Change'? It's because the planet has COOLED by 0.7 degrees in the past century as measured in 2010, and global warming advocates got caught with their pants down.
 
21st century climate alarmism is a mental disorder, whipped along for its own purposes by the UN Climate Change Panel of scientific "experts".

If you do not take an interest
in the affairs of your government,
then you are doomed to live under
the rule of fools.
Plato

********************************

**********************

We’ll not better climate news, but better, more honest coverage in liberal press is starting to emerge…a different climate, so to speak.

*********************

************************

++++++++++++++++++++++++

ANSWER:  to above: Only teams to have won men’s division soccer World Cup in its 92-year history.

BELOW THE FOLD: WARNING: