Here's a little look at our Christmas decorations, and a very happy holiday season to all of you. For those of you who observe Christmas, have a Very Merry One!

Just over 24 hours ago, +Bob Singletary created a Google+ "How to" document in Google Docs. (Link below), and posted a link to it in his stream. Since then, his post has been shared 1000 times, and referenced in other ways who-knows-how-many times. People are adding content so often that it is often locked for editing, due to traffic.

Think about that for a minute. Users were informed of the content using a Google product. Users collaborated on that content using a Google product. No Microsoft. No Facebook. No Skype. No Twitter. And Google+ is only 11 days old. As +pablo chuken said earlier, "the future resides within this network". +Joshua Gans, +AJ Kohn even at this early stage, I think this is the value proposition Google+ provides that no other social networking platform has.

Not a bad setting for football watching.

"....the nutrition crisis costing us billions in unnecessary healthcare costs is more about public policy and powerful special interests than it is about epicurean snobs and affluent tastes. Indeed, this is a problem not of individual proclivities or of agricultural biology that supposedly makes nutrition naturally unaffordable -- it is a problem of rigged economics and corrupt policymaking."

From the link at http://www.openculture.com/2011/07/billie_holiday_sings_strange_fruit_.html

"Only 44 years old, Holiday exited the world all too young. The years of drug and alcohol abuse, resulting in liver and heart disease, finally took their toll. And although she earned $1,000 per week at the high point of her career, she passed with a mere 70 cents in her bank account. But all of that doesn’t obscure her musical legacy."

Direct video link below:

Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Glenn and I were engaged at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Tonight, at our 13th anniversary dinner, he arranged for the server to bring out this candle with our fabulous crepe dessert. He's awesome!

This place will be full of about 200 players competing in 8 and 9-ball for several slots to the APA National Finals in Las Vegas next April. Wish me luck, and here's a big ol' +1 for all the awesome posts I may miss!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled technology and photography posts for this important personal announcement...

In 2005, my husband Glenn wanted to get back into playing pool, so he joined the local American Pool Players Assn. league. As my pool-playing experience consisted of a few 8-ball racks after several potables at the local bar back in my younger days, I passed. But, the team he joined fell apart, and our league operators convinced me to join. (Hey, it's a handicapped league, all skill levels can play, it'll be fun). Despite not being quite sure how to even hold a cue stick, I agreed.

Fast-forward to 2012. I am very active in league, improved my game enough to place in the money at the National Singles Finals (in my skill level, did I mention this was a handicapped league with really generous rules?) and it is one of my favorite pastimes. Therefore I am really proud of this:

(and if you can't read the cursive, the inscription says:

In recognition of 500+ matches played with the APA of Austin. Staci Thompson

You may now return to your scrolling.

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Precious! (via +tox med)

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Yikes!

If you remember this from 2002, you spend too much time online. But you should take it again, share your results.

Just a reminder: (thanks to +Michael Kelly on FB)

"To hear the religious right tell it, men like George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were 18th-century versions of Jerry Falwell in powdered wigs and stockings. Nothing could be further from the truth."

You just never know where that missing jewelry will turn up. What a great story!

Sunrise at 25000 feet, above Dallas, Texas. Good morning!

Birthday dinner...was...excellent. We had to save dessert for tomorrow.

(Center-cut filets, accompanied by fresh blanched green beans, grilled shrimp and a bib lettuce/endive lump crab meat salad with avocados, walnuts, water chestnuts and tossed with a mix of vinaigrette and honey mustard dressing.)

Just about 30 miles from us, and not coming our way, but it's 16 miles long, and has burned over 10,000 acres in the last few hours.

A lovely end to a beautifully cool June day. Bonus points for embiggening to see the contrail.

People just can't take a joke...

Impractical, yes. But many, many points for coolness!

Photo by +Opal Jarrett.

In case you wondered what to do with that IBM Selectric you have sitting around...

"With the advent of the personal computer, typewriters became obsolete fast. Even the most loyal typewriter user have probably by now switched to a computer. Still, though hardly used, typewriters are still around, even if they’re only gathering dust in attics, basements and offices.So, what to do with the millions of old machines? Oakland, CA-based artist Jeremy Mayer has found a solution: He turns them into incredible sculptures."

The sea in the sky. Enjoy your evening, or your day ahead!

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Cool idea!

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Tank-O-Lanterns

The thunderstorm that wasn't.

It's that time again, APA Regional tournament - playing 8 and 9 for a chance to get to the National Singles Finals in Las Vegas. Wish me luck, good shooting, and you all have a great weekend!

Where we will be this week, celebrating the US Thanksgiving holiday with family. All of us are together this week, so it should be a fun, goofy time. You all have a great week, and for those of you in the US, Happy Thanksgiving!

An Unexpected Blessing

Many of you know I am a volunteer narrator with the Texas State Library Talking Book program - and right now I am narrating "What Difference do it make", the follow-on to "Same Kind of Different as Me" (You should read both books, you really should).

Anyway, while I am guilty of often ignoring the homeless, it's really hard to do that after a narration session of a book about helping the homeless. So no matter how hypocritical I am on other days, when driving past homeless folks with their signs, I usually stop and give some money or chat with the homeless gentleman who is usually at the light where I exit the highway to turn on to my street. Today the light turned red just as I pulled up, so I had a little time to chat.

We talked about the weather, (it's cooling off here), and I asked his name - it's Daniel - and gave him mine. He said he'd been here for 12-13 years, and they way he said it led me to believe he'd been homeless for that time. Then he looked at me and said:

"But my spirit is ok". He had a look of sorrowful peace on his face as he said it, as if he had lost so much, but was at peace with himself at the same time. The light changed, we exchanged good byes, good day wishes, and I drove away in tears.

I woke up today in a frustrated mood, I got back home grateful for my life, and blessed by an encounter with a man who has found peace in a situation I cannot even imagine.

Being from Texas, High School football is a big deal. I may not twirl at halftime any more, but I can still listen to the games. All Hail the Internet. And gotta love those announcers. They are a treat.

http://kxit.com/

Good Saturday morning (or Sunday) G+! This picture of the sunset in Austin was taken by a friend of mine, Mr. M Fackler. Just had to share.

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I had heard of these, had not seen the pictures. The speculative economy is alive and well in China.

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You have to see this!

China's "ghost cities". Brand new...and empty. (lots of images).

Good evening from Austin.

So...out we went to watch the eclipse this evening. By the time the sun set, we would be about 50% covered. So we walked out to the street, and had our chairs and our pinhole paper, ready to go.

A lovely lady stopped by to give us a pair of glasses that were designed for eclipse viewing. So nice! So, as other cars stopped on our hill, we shared out the glasses, had an excellent community experience. A gentleman with a camera and lenses was taking pictures, he was nice enough to send these on.

He said there will likely be better pictures posted. Maybe, but they won't be from our hill, from our encounter. Thanks to +David Wolfson, for the shots!

How it began:

"On August 1st of 1966, just weeks before NBC's season premiere of the original Star Trek series, two of the programme's producers — Bob Justman and John Black — contacted Gene Roddenberry and asked him to quickly write the show's now-famous opening monologue, to be recorded by William Shatner. For the next week or so the three men exchanged drafts by memo, a couple of which can be seen below; Roddenberry came up with the final draft on August 10th, an hour before it was recorded."

By the time I got downstairs, the winds were blowing and rain I'd falling. Whoo hoo!

Yay, Austin!

Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals on their 11th World Series win. Not a bad way to end a season that relied on making the playoffs on the last day.

And Congratulations to the Texas Rangers for their repeat appearance. Maybe the third time will be a charm.

So, how was the view at your happy hour?

After the rain. Do you see the shark?

Enjoy your evening!

Sunrise in the Texas Panhandle. Have a good one, everyone!

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Run run away.

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A quick get away...

Adopted from a neighbor's discards, see how they bloom- the only bright spot in this part of the canyon right now, thanks to Glenn's loving care.

Happy one-week birthday to Google+! Can you believe it? But keep in mind...

This is still a field trial. Be sure you continue to provide feedback to the Google+ team on anything you like.

Is there an aspect of Google+ you haven't used yet? Go use it, test it out and get that feedback in.

Thar's rain in them thar clouds!

When a friend of mine posted this several months ago, on Buzz, I said the music made me want to crawl through the screen and join them at the table.

Herb project update - The basil and parsley are coming along nicely, and the mint (purchased already sprouted) is growing well. The cilantro came up but promptly failed to root - possibly too much care and feeding by the gardener, so started a do-over pot today. The spearmint failed to sprout and I decided to let it be, since I have the peppermint.

"This is a big deal," said Cohen. "It's the first federal appeals court to strike down the federal law, and it did so unanimously with two Republican appointees ruling that the statute unconstitutionally violates the equal protection rights of same-sex couples."

One benefit of a mild winter...

I would love to see this. "There the headstones persist. Time and the elements have destroyed almost every indication of whose mortal remains these headstones once stood over. Yet as a sign of deference to the vast throngs that have circled in and around London through the centuries this arrangement seems an unquestionably appropriate memento mori."

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The glorious magic of morning (taken by +Jason Bennett in New Brunswick Canada)

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New Brunswick Canada

Sunset in Austin. Good to be home!

She's a little smaller this year, but in a little while she will be dressed in all her glory!

+Mark Richards, I guess this is what you all saw last night. Via +David Colvin on Facebook.

More rain on the way!

We have a beautiful friend who stopped by this morning.

""From the earliest days of contact with the native peoples of North America, European artists made images illustrating their customs, dress and living spaces. Some of the drawings showed the natives as curious specimens from another world, with peculiar habits and clothing. Others emphasized their skill at hunting or their ferocity as warriors. While some images accompanied sensationalist accounts of Indian raids on white settlers, others attempted to expose cruelties that whites had inflicted on native peoples.

This selection of illustrations from books, maps and serials shows some of the variety of approaches that European and European-American artists took in depicting the Indians of North America, from the 16th to the 19th century."

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Awesome. Or, as I like to think of it, the best decision tree published on this subject. Read ALL the panels.

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Should you +1 or share this post??
a tutorial written by +Ryan Estrada and illustrated by +Inder Singh

Hey there Google+ Nation. A pool-playing friend of mine has just self-published his first novel, rather than wait for their positive feedback to turn into "space on their list". I've read it, and found it entertaining, fun and a good twist on a classic theme. If you have folks in your circles who might like to check it out, reshare, this, will you?

Synopsis: Trent Hawkins survived a 30,000-foot fall from a jetliner and became an overnight sensation -- the Luckiest Man Alive. For years, his strange and unnatural luck made him the king of the Las Vegas poker scene.

After years on the blacklist, despised by every high roller, he finds himself returning, with his wife, Susan, to his former stomping ground, only to be caught between a serial kidnapper, vengeful angels, poker-playing demons, and a magic-wielding thirteen year-old girl who stands unwittingly at the center of a fallen angel's plot to end all of mankind in an unholy blizzard. As Las Vegas grinds to a halt, Trent is forced to make terrible sacrifices and must ultimately choose his role in the coming War, or watch our world fall to ruin beneath a blanket of shadow and ice."

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Why yes. Courtesy of +Trudy Connor

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We had quite a round of thunderstorms Saturday night. This absolutely fabulous shot was taken by Marco Gutierrez of Austin, and posted on the local ABC affiliate's FB page. This is our area of town - thankfully it didn't strike us!

Every year I mean to start some herbs, and every year I forget. +jenella herring, I decided not to use the egg carton trick, because I had all these starter pots lying around and I won't have to transplant as early. Spearmint, Peppermint (already growing), curly parsley, Italian parsley, cilantro, basil and lemon basil. These are the herbs we use most often, so we'll see how it goes!

Good evening, Texas Hill Country. (Flat Creek Vineyard and Winery).

One month in to Google+ - we've gone from commenting to posting. Yes? No? Why?

Our young cardinal is just fascinated with this house. He's not whacking the window quite so much, now he is peering in the window on the top deck, then flitting down to the bottom deck to look around, then he'll drop back by and give the south window a love tap or two. We have a groupie!

2 oz club soda
2 oz fresh-squeezed orange juice
1 oz Absolut Kurant vodka
1 oz mango-infused rum
Mix with ice in cocktail mixer, strain into glass.

Happy Friday!

Only a drop of rain, but a nice sky!

Good day, G+ nation! It's been a crazy week and another crazy day is beginning in Austin. So here's a big 'ol like for all the posts that are passing me by. At least I have this view to keep me sane through 9 straight hours of conference calls!

Commemorative baby shoes, baby spoons and cups were a typical gift when I was born. Interesting how the lines etched into metal fade over time. Too bad the reverse is true for those lines on our faces!

I'm still here, so is the canyon. I'll catch up soon, til then, enjoy!

Gives new meaning to the phrase "out!"

I love large-scale art like this. Thanks to Soroor on Buzz for the lead.

No, not from Dallas. This awesome shot was taken on April 3rd in College Station, Texas, by a FB friend of mine, Peter Rocha, who gave me permission to share. Thunderstorms were abundant earlier this week!

Some excellent advice from one of my favorite authors.

"In writing. Don't use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was "terrible," describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't say it was "delightful"; make us say "delightful" when we've read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, "Please will you do my job for me.""

Anyone visited here?

"Inside, some of the abandoned buildings and houses remain in good condition. In one, a simple yet elegantly tiled fire place, surrounded by more decorative tiling, remains relatively intact. Elsewhere, a broken plastic doll is an eerie reminder of ghost town’s former occupants, many of whom likely perished in the earthquake.

I truly never thought about a shipbreaking industry. What a life.

"Under a monsoon rain of sparks blowtorches tear through the thick steel skin of a ship. As they are cut lose, swaths of metal crash to the ground with thunder. This is the ship graveyard, final destination for most of the world’s shipping fleet, a place soaked in hazardous material and void of all natural life save a few men in need of subsistence and the crows that make nests from pieces of iron wire."

I did not take this and couldn't find the name of photographer from the FB post where I saw it, on the mobile. But this is what the sunset photo I shared earlier looked like from downtown Austin.

When aliens attack.

After the rain.

Fascinating and eerie. I had not heard of this mystery before.

"You may think horror films are creepy, but sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. In 1959, ten normal, healthy cross-country skiers set off on a camping trip in Russia’s Ural Mountains. Nine never returned. When their bodies were finally found, many elements of eerie mystery hung heavily in the air. Three of the individuals had fallen victim to inexplicable crushing injuries. The tongue of one of the others was missing."

Ah, this explains why I didn't stay in the Journalism field:

"In December of 1888, shortly before becoming editor of the Ladies' Home Journal, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward Bok visited Mark Twain at his home to conduct an interview, the intention being to publish the resulting write-up in Bok's weekly syndicated column. The chat went well; the next day he wrote the piece, and sent a copy to Twain for approval.

That piece never appeared in print. Instead, Bok became the owner of the following letter from Twain, in which he explains the uselessness of interviews."

Somehow, the death masks look even more "real" to me than a photograph does. Some interesting ones here.

"Modern sensibilities may find them rather morbid but before the age of photography there was a limit to the amount of visual mementoes available to those left behind after the decease of a loved one (such as that of Blaise Pascal, left). They were also used for other purposes, such as to record the features of unknown corpses or in burgeoning scientific methodologies.

It was usually the wealthier who would have a death mask created and as such we are left with a surprising record of famous faces from the past. As expensive as they were, the death mask remains an intriguing testament to the time post mortem of many of the world’s famous people."

Spooky.

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I love the combination of simplicity and complexity in this photo. +Victor Bezrukov, do take a look.

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View it full size, feel your heart skip a beat at the joy.

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Coming home...

And here we go for 9-ball. Here's to a fun day full of good shooting!

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Love these. Can't you hear the air crack?

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Some pictures of lightning from tonight. Took these from inside my car (no tripod) so they're a bit blurry.

What an excellent letter.

"The kernel, the soul—let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances—is plagiarism. For substantially all ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources, and daily use by the garnerer with a pride and satisfaction born of the superstition that he originated them; whereas there is not a rag of originality about them anywhere except the little discoloration they get from his mental and moral calibre and his temperament, and which is revealed in characteristics of phrasing. "

Once again, regionals is upon us. 1st round at 11:15!

I love American football. Even preseason professional football. (I likely need to create a football circle so I can target my posts to people who may care.) But I especially like American football when the Cowboys are playing, and after their touchdown, the television network cuts to a commercial with Def Leppard.

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Right on the money. It's long but excellent.

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My raw unedited thoughts and impressions of G+ after one week of usage.

Feedback and discussion is greatly appreciated and encouraged.

One would think rain would fall out if these, but not so far.

Some parts of Texas do get snow. From Amarillo, Tx, this morning, courtesy of +Matt B on Facebook.

Regionals is over for me - couldn't play well enough to get wins last night. Sigh. But, Glenn is still going in both 8 and 9 so it's time to cheer him on. Thanks for all of the well wishes! Regional updates will resume in March, til then we'll go back to your regularly scheduled random posts.

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Ladies and gentlemen, Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline. A treasure.

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That should read "Jim Reeves & Patsy Cline"...

Today I have watched the tributes to 9/11 with pride and sorrow. I read this a few days after 9/11, and it remains one of the most eloquent, fitting articles I saw. Leonard Pitts is so well-spoken, and this is one of his best.

"You see, there is steel beneath this velvet. That aspect of our character is seldom understood by people who don’t know us well. On this day, the family’s bickering is put on hold. As Americans, we will weep; as Americans, we will mourn; and as Americans, we will rise in defense of all that we cherish."

His article today is also worth reading: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/10/2400166/pitts-10-years-after-911-reasons.html

Anyone visited here? I'd love to see these.

Woof!

Because in Texas, we go gold, or go home.

An excellent billiards illustration from the 1800s, via peacay. If you access the site, click the Display option at the top left and view full screen. Just excellent!

From:

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b53015763q

Sailing for home. Hope you all have had an excellent couple of weeks. We have!

I just tried to +1 an e-mail, rather than reply. Oh dear.