Sunday Funnies

A  L   O  H   A  !

Friends meet in Waikiki

Graces Three

(& a helper in the back)

Girl Scouts? We don't need no Girl Scouts!

Yes, it was a nice Sunday;

Hope yours was too!

                        Fondly, cloudia

My Secret - The REAL X-Factor

A   L   O   H   A  !

Click for the 'POW"

" -when you are Black

White People often don't see

YOU-

they look right through you,

at the dark & scary face

that lurks in the open windows

of their vivid

imaginations. "

Leonard Pitts Jr.

" The more theatrical

the story you hear

and the more it divides

the world into

"Goodies" vs. "Baddies,"

the less reliable

that story

is going to be. "

Felix Salmon

 

" There are no hopeless situations;

There are only those

 who have grown

helpless

about them. "

Claire Boothe Luce

" It is one of the most beautiful compensations

of this life,

that no one can sincerely

try to help another

without helping

himself. "

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 >< } } ( ° >

For a few years

 I had the privilege

of facilitating an after-school group

for at risk kids.

If they could feel some belonging,

some caring,

and get some basic information

about protecting themselves

it would all be for the good.

I knew that the activities,

and the food I brought,

didn't matter as much

as being there 

every time,

on time.

In time

the kids blossomed.

When they were home sick,
or skipping class,

they would sneak INTO school
to attend!

In time
they started to talk

about real stuff.

We got beyond
 High School posturing.

Eventually,
 my boss wanted me to write

a 'curriculum'

so we could share

what was evidently
working.

I knew that I could write

everything we did,

but what we did

was not the essence of it.

The secret began

when each kid 
entered the room.

I smiled at them
sincerely

[a big smile]

to show them

that seeing them

made me HAPPY.

They saw that they

mattered;

and in at least one place

they were always celebrated.

It couldn't be artificial.

That smile,

and the heart behind it

had to be

sincere.

How could I write

that?

One time

I met with a school principal (a PhD)

and a psychologist

to conference on one of my kids.

After we talked for a while,

the kid was sent in.

Realizing in that moment

that 3 adults

were sitting in a row

 waiting,

I jumped up 
to take her hand

and pulled up a chair

to sit beside her

FACING the authorities
together.

Together

we accomplished

what had to be done.

Later the Principal told me:

"You are the consummate youth worker!"

Sometimes

on a bad day

when I wonder where all my

promise

went,

I think back on the kids.

No one got AIDS,

though several were subsistence

sex workers.

They ALL Graduated High School.

 

Several went on to college!

One of the 'kids'

is now an on-line editor

for People Magazine!

The real X-Factor

is treating people

( sincerely

and simply )

as if you are
 HAPPY

to see them!

And here's the strange

and wonderful part:

In time

you WILL be happy

to see every person.

They will feel it.
And so will you.

 

Your life will change.

And You will be
[even more of]

an influence

for

GOOD!

What do YOU think?
Join us in comments


                              Warmly, cloudia

Past?

A L O H A!

Subime or Ridiculous

Ridicu-Blime

A   L  O   H   A  !

click to enlarge these shots

But Dr. Freud,

Sometimes a tall building

surrounded by miasma

is just a tall building !

You GOTTA click on THIS one

Are you looking at the traffic

or the mountains?

The sky kisses

 Hawaii.

We found him,

or what was left of him,

in that bright, alien world

devoid of live-giving

sea water.

He was 

clutching the strange 

vegetation,

as if to make sense 

of it all.

We couldn't stay long;

This is hard to say,

but I think they

ate him.

Sorry for your loss-

 ><}}(°>

< ° ) } } > <   

YOUR VISIT

is a gift.

Your Comment,

a TREASURE !

                         Warmly, cloudia

Your Music

A   L   O   H   A !

Click for best luck

" Each morning

 I gaze at the eastern horizon,

 and if the sun keeps its promise, 

I keep mine.  "

Robert Brault

Oahu Hawaii, Ko`olau Mts, Windward Side

" On the mountains of truth 

you can never climb in vain - "

                                                               Friedrich Nietzsche



" My father considered a walk
 among the mountains 

as the equivalent of churchgoing. "

Aldous Huxley

“If you don't think

 every day is a good day, 

just try missing one.”

 Cavett Robert

>< } } ( ° >

The brass band

can't ALWAYS be in your parade,

but

I promise that

if you listen for it,

 music is always

accompanying 

Y  O  U

 all day long.

So get out there

and make your own kind of 

music;

even if nobody else sings 

along.

Sing out in comments :-)

                        Warmly, cloudia 

" Music is not man's invention, 

but his heritage

 from the blessed spirits. "

Tomas Luis de Victoria
 

Old Friends and Hermits

A   L   O   H   A  !

“ Why give in

 to rudeness,

 when you can fight back

 with kindness. ”

 Donna A. Favors

 The Moana Hotel opened on March 11, 1901 (LINK)

“It takes a long time

 to grow an old friend.”

 John Leonard

" What a wee little part 

of a person's life 

are his acts and his words!
 His real life is led in his head,

 and is known to none 

but himself. "

 
Mark Twain

YOUr Comments

are currency

in my world

                         WARMLY, cloudia

QWERTY

A   L   O   H   A  !

Click on the photos, Yo

Sand replenishment in Waikiki doesn't stop the surfers (or stand-up paddlers)

" Long lives aren't natural.

 We forget that senior citizens 

are as much an invention 

as toasters 

or penicillin.  "

Doug Coupland

 " No amount of skillful invention

 can replace the essential element 

of imagination.  "

Edward Hopper

"  An invention has to make sense

 in the world it finishes in, 

not in the world

 it started.  "

Tim O'Reilly

 >< } } ( ° >

  "QWERTY?"

Doesn't ring the bell?

Look down-

It's the first six letters

 in the top alphabet row

 of your keyboard!

[ just below the numbers ]

This so-called
 "Universal" Keyboard

  was invented by C. L. Sholes,

 who developed prototypes 
of the first commercial typewriter

 in a Milwaukee machine shop 

all the way back 

in the 1860's.

  A study of letter-pair frequency

 was conducted by educator
 Amos Densmore,

 [who just happened to be brother 

of James Densmore,

  Sholes' chief financial backer.]

So QWERTY it was!

The intention of the layout

was speed-

based on the frequency 

with which each letter is used-

and preventing problems
in the mechanical action

of those early machines.

The QWERTY keyboard arrangement
 was considered important enough
 to be included on Sholes' patent 
granted in 1878.


Sholes and Densmore
 took their machine to
 arms manufacturer
REMINGTON,
 and the first
 Type-Writer

 was sold to the public
 in 1874.

 The Remington No. 2

 of 1878

 included a major modification

 producing the keyboard
  we know today:

 The familiar upper
 and lower case
 letters!

Enter the shift key.

 Originally, it was called a "shift"

 because the machine physically

"shifted" 

Yes,
other keyboard layouts 
have come

and gone,

but  a U.S. government study

 published in 1953 

 found that keyboard layout

 really didn't matter;

If you are a quick typist,

you will type fast.

Thus QWERTY lives on!

We know

that challenging your brain

by learning new competencies

builds new mental capabilities.

Suddenly,

just over 100 years ago,

many, many of us

learned to "type"

or as we call it today:

"keyboarding."

All that time spent

 in that dextrous activity

may have prepared us

for the detail-work,
partnership
 with personal machines,

and mechanical-interface

that led to the developments

of the 20th Century.

Today we use QWERTY

to create

Bits & Bites

of information.

Lead Type

is consigned to the past,

[and special

limited editions.]

What are we using today

that will be common

-but used a whole new way-

a hundred years from now?

Join us in Comments!

Thanks for hanging out here with us!

                                   Warmly, cloudia