California Wildfires Photos: Frightening and from Space too

From Denny: Check out this link to the British news article of the California wildfires.

The devastation is unbelievable for the land and the people. Just the other day I was reading an account from a psychologist that was posted on Digg about how they felt about this experience. Clearly, the psychologist was overwhelmed and stressed, talking about how this event has taken over their lives locally, fading into the dim background all other news in the country or the world.

Of course, in the back of my mind is the Hurricane Katrina experience after the storm, in my area of the country. I know how difficult it is going to be for the survivors of this California wildfire event to rebuild their lives. The insurance companies will not pay them the full amount for what their premiums have paid. The insurance companies will also drag their feet - for years - to finally pay up - and then only when the customer hires a lawyer to pursue them. All the while the customer may be basically homeless unless they have a friend or relative who can help.

Hopefully, with a responsible person in the White House, Obama may choose to slam the insurance companies into doing responsible and moral business practices. Baring that, the whole country needs to demand legislation from Congress with some strong teeth in it to curb bad dogs big business into submission.

The British news article has photos taken from aerial views as well as from space showing the fires raging and the aftermath of when the fire has passed. Incredible photos that are quite impressive, especially from space, go here.

Photo by mbtrama @ flickr

Libations Friday! over at The Social Poets

From Denny: It's Libations Friday! over at The Social Poets! Featured is a new poem that is rich with wonderful art photos: Soul Journey. If you are a blogger or writer you can place these wonderful photos in your posts and articles as they are from flickr's Creative Commons.

To read Soul Journey and enjoy its wonderful art photos, go here.

Photo by alicepopkorn @ flickr

Video: Smart Thinking Parrot

From Denny: Until I moved into this recent house near what we locally call a lake (but is really a large drainage pond in low-lying Louisiana to handle flooding - great place for wildlife!) did I discover birds and how smart some of them really are! Ran across this video over at Digg yesterday and found it incredible this parrot is a thinker and able to think logically. Take a look.

Blogger Followers and Google Connect Gadgets Erasing People

From Denny: I've contacted Blogger several times and no response for the past two almost three months this has been going on. Apparently, there are hundreds of bloggers on blogspot with the same issue and yet there are others who have no problems.

Thinking it might be the placement of ads on the sidebar, I moved them to other places on the blog. When that didn't work, I just removed many ads. That didn't work either. Tried other bright ideas and none of them worked.

In total frustration, just removed the offending gadgets that are not working right. Can I tell you that I'm not happy with Blogger and Google right now over what should be a simple fix? :) It's rude to allow the erasing of other people like they don't exist. People want that connection to you as a blogger and the free marketing feature of their sites connected too.

What's the temporary solution until these disappearing faces on the gadgets get resolved? The next best solution is that even if you are not a blogger you can have your face and site featured on my other gadgets that do seem to have their act together: MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog and FuelMyBlog. I'll try and get more featured gadgets by joining some more blog directories. Then there's Twitter Counter too for advancing your Twitter followers' count and marketing your site.

Thanks for your support, everyone, and sorry for this inconvenience.

Cheeky Quote Day! at The Social Poets 2 Sept 2009

From Denny: It's Cheeky Quote Day! over at The Social Poets! To enjoy some really great funny quotes and a short bio on one of America's funniest men in history, Will Rogers, go here.

3 Videos: How Its Made - Coffee, Car Clunkers Recycled, and Back to School Pencils

From Denny: Watched this yesterday and, as usual, was mesmerized with how they come up with how to mass produce items.

Since it's back to school time and we just finished up the popular program "Cash for Clunkers" to boost the auto industry sales, these videos were perfect companions to the latest news!

Of course, coffee videos are always interesting and this incredibly detailed process of how our coffee comes to us is nothing short of amazing.

How do people dream up and craft these machines? You really wonder how long it takes to perfect the machinery or fix it when something breaks down.

5 Funny Quotes That Spit on Death

From Denny: Death is a subject few people in America want to deal with and yet it happens to us all - well, almost all, maybe some of us are part of the Highlander's Immortal Clan. Time will tell on that one! :)

Death is like this celebrity no one wants to meet. (Hmmm... sounds like one of those quotable quotes your own spirit speaks out loud when you just know something is really true...)

This past week the news coverage has been heavy on the passing of a political American icon, Senator Ted Kennedy. He was fully prepared for death as he had his faith and relationship with God. People who are spiritually connected do well when their time comes.

People who are more connected only to religion and only on the mental, not heart, level don't do well. The heart really is the center of our spirits. Yet, it's amazing how easily we can hide the truth from ourselves - until a significant event like the passing of a celebrity or a beloved family member opens the door to our heart to take some inventory.

This has been a rough week of spiritual shake-up and awakening for millions of people in America. People are examining their own lives as to their current path and how they would like to alter their course to something far more positive. Observing Ted Kennedy's life in review from the shameful to the triumphant gives us all pause to say, "What's next?"

I thought folks might like a little emotional cool down from all the intensity this past week. Included today are some funny witty quotes about how others perceived Death, that unwelcome odious guy no one wants to invite to their house. To me, there is nothing better than putting your face into the wind and pushing forward into the scary unknown, only to discover incredible new wonders and be delightfully amazed at newly found spiritual awareness. It also helps to laugh a lot along the way.

Quotes

* Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it. - W. Somerset Maugham, British playwright, 1874 - 1965

* Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. - Susan Ertz, short story writer and novelist, 1894 - 1985

* I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it. - Mark Twain, writer and American humorist, 1835 - 1910

* I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure. - Clarence Darrow, American lawyer, 1857 - 1938

* Some men are alive simply because it is against the law to kill them. - Edward W. Howe, American writer