All Seeing Eye sees all, or at least it is translucent

Sometime in Fall of 2011, I was almost randomly driving around MetroWest-ish area of Massachusetts and ended up at this one museum that used to be a lodge of the Free Masons, in Lexington, MA.  At this building, there was this stain glass window with the All Seeing Eye as the focal point.

 


Look familiar to anyone? If you do a Google image search, you'll find this is not unique in topic for stain glass windows. However, this particular piece is interesting and beautiful in its own way. I serve the eye...I...i...I don't know what came over me there for a second. Oh, Hypnotoad is on. Catchya later!

Senseless Sunday: White House responds to Death Star petition

In this special edition of Senseless Sunday, we learn that plans to build a Death Star will not happen under the current U.S. Administration. On We The People, when a petition reaches 25K votes, the White House issues a formal response. The petition to build a Death Star got 34K+ votes in its first 30 days.  However, it was politely rejected by the White House recently. In short, the White House doesn't support the costs, nor do they support blowing up planets.

Tweeter comment: Top Bing search is "Google"

Even after all these years the number one thing searched in Bing is still 'Google'
— Bart Brejcha (@bartbrejcha) January 25, 2013

Some mistakes just don't matter. #ocd

https://www.instagram.com/p/U4QU9nhR0o/

Great time at Islands of Adventure

Allie, I and other friends had a great time at the SolidWorks World 2013 Special Event at Universal's Islands of Adventure at night. Even though time was short, we did a full circuit of the park, enjoying the Harry Potter ride, Jurassic Park ride, Spider-man ride, Mind Eraser ride and The Hulk rollercoaster. The food was great too!

SolidWorks World 2013 brief photographic overview

I have arrived and settled. #sww13 (at Walt Disney World Dolphin)

Walt Disney World Swan

Walt Disney World Dolphin

Good morning from the SolidWork World Pre-Day kick off #sww13 (at Walt Disney World Dolphin)

Will I fill this room in a few hours? (at Solidworks World 2013)

Lining up for General Sesion #ssw13 (at Solidworks World 2013)

Lining up for General Sesion #ssw13 (at Solidworks World 2013)

General Session of Monday of SolidWorks World 2013 filling up. #sww13 (at Solidworks World 2013)

General Session filled #sww13 (at Solidworks World 2013)

Filling in my session #sww13

#CSWE event location. (at Solidworks World 2013)

#SolidWorks World 2013 General Session Day 2 #sww13 (at Solidworks World 2013)

Standing room only at day two of #SolidWorks World 2013 General Session #sww13 (at Solidworks World 2013)

#SolidWorks World 2013 General Session Day Two in session #sww13 (at SolidWorks World 2013)

#CSWP Now 15 yrs #sww13 #SolidWorks (at Solidworks World 2013)

SolidWorks World 2013 general session day 3 filling up #sww13 (at SolidWorks World 2013)

#BertrandSicot closes up day 3 general session #sww13 #SolidWorks World 2013 (at SolidWorks World 2013)

Swan and Dolphin on a nice sunny day #SolidWorks World 2013 #sww13 (at SolidWorks World 2013)

Virtual fun, as opposed to actual fun? #downtowndisney (at La Nouba by Cirque du Soleil)

https://www.instagram.com/p/U2BczRhR-2/

There's so few clouds in the sky somebody thought they needed to create your own

https://www.instagram.com/p/U1dn8KBR4m/

Fake Geek Girls Vs. Real Geek Girls? Really, this??

An interesting meme is making its rounds on the Internet. There seems to be a bunch of hoopla about “fake geek girls”. What’s a fake geek girl? Apparently Urban Dictionary doesn’t have an entry for it yet (as of today, anyway). Umm, I did find a definition at some site called Geek Feminism Weekly (whatever that’s supposed to mean…kinda sounds like random words thrown together that only vaguely represent what it really is, similar to California Pizza Kitchen.) Anyway, their definition for fake geek girl is:

Fake geek girls - allegedly women who show up at geek events, possibly while hot, with not enough geek cred for you.

This all seems to have started with an article on Forbes (Really, Forbes? Yes, Forbes.) called Dear Fake Geek Girls: Please Go Away. In this article, the author talks about being a “geeky girl” growing up and how she now sees “pretentious females” now posing as geeks when they haven’t put the time in to justify the claim.

What’s with all the hate? In fact, why are girls singled out as being fake geeks (especially by other woman) for being posers? I think a commenter on a recent article by @Mikeynerd says it well (article: Fake Geek Girls),

The Fake Geek Girl thing bugs me. Because I do feel there is an underlying sexism at play.

If someone is a poser, then it doesn’t matter if they are a woman or man. But, is it even bad to be a poser? Isn’t a poser just someone whose trying to figure out what everyone else already knows? Aren’t they really an outcast too? As outcasts trying to fit it, doesn’t that make them more geeky (since being a social outcast is technically a major component of geekdom)? The answers to this series of rhetorical questions are as follows: no, yes, yes, and yes.
May your journey to higher geekdom find much success!

Senseless Sunday: Rolling space wax

• The inability to roll your tongue is a genetic trait that may involve more than one gene.¹
• American pronunciation of tt and dd in words like letter and bladder make the same tongue movement and similar sound as the rolled Spanish “r”.
• A person in orbit around the earth gets taller while in orbit.
• Sahara Desert is growing about 1/2 mile southward per year.
• Before an official name was chosen in Mandarin Chinese, one of many transliterations of the name Coca Cola was “bite the wax tadpole.”   Another was “female horse fastened with wax”.  Current official transliterate trademark is made up of the characters of K’o K’ou K’o Lê which translate as ”to all the mouth to be able to rejoice”.²

Who are we calling producers and who are those who refuse to produce?

One of the sad sign of our times is that we demonize those who produce, subsidize those who refuse to produce, and canonize those who complain. --Thomas Sowell

This is a particularly disgusting statement.  First, those who produce and those who do not is a matter of perspective.  What do you tell the father of 3 who has relied on a job for most of his life, who then lost his job because the company who he worked for was mismanaged by executives and had to shut down?  What do you tell that same father when the same guys that ran his company into the ground got huge bonuses "so they wouldn't leave" before operations were completely shut down?  If the father had stock in that company, he lost on two fronts because of those executives.

Given Sowell's statement above, I would ask, who is he calling the producer?  Who is he calling "those who refuse to produce"?  Would it be the executives that drove their company into the ground, not only losing value in the company, but also within the greater economy?  If anything, they are anti-producers.  This makes them worse than the supposed people who "refuse to produce", whoever they are.  The producer is the father who worked his entire life at his company, making the goods and services that found their way into homes all across America.

Fed has spent trillions to keep a dying financial industry on life support, who in turn gave huge bonuses to the very people the caused the last melt down of our economy.  What did those people do with the rest of the taxpayer's money?  Most of it is locked away, being kept out of the economy (likely for good).

Are we really all that worried about giving a few pennies (comparatively) to people who are likely already not putting enough food on the table because they believed in this very system that eventually let them down?  It's this kind of nonsense that makes communism start to look good to the starving masses.  We would not need to raise taxes had it not been for the massive problems that we, the voters, allowed in Wall Street by putting congresspersons in office that are more worried about the next big donor than they are about the solvency of our system.

How badly do we want to lower taxes?  Well, let's consider something.  Out of the last three crashes of our economy, two were caused by real estate financials games that started happening as a direct result of deregulation of particular financial institutions.  The games these institutions were playing eventually stopped working, but the corporations still needed to pretend they were making money (when, in fact, they were losing massive amounts of money).  So, they created paperwork fantasies to keep showing profits on Wall Street in order to convince everyone that nothing was going on until it was too late.  The third economic crash was caused by too much speculation on Wall Street. The common thread here is Wall Street and all the money that the taxpayer is continuously asked to pay to keep these guys rich when really they should be in jail.

Why these guys were at CES 2013 (Consumer Electronics Show) confused some people, but I get it. (Sourced from this article: Bad Dog Tools Demos Drill Bits That Cut Through Basically Everything There Is [Video].)

Just say NO to free bridges in Detroit!

Just say NO to free bridges in Detroit! (Daily Show report)

 

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-january-9-2013/bridge-to-canada?xrs=share_copy

Cavity causing bacteria, your days are numbered!

Gotta love the 21st Century! Now we know how cavity causing bacteria evolved and we can use that information against them!

Evolution of Cavities

When will the end be according to Jesus? Not when you've been told...and yes, it really is specified

When will the end come according to Jesus' speech in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21?  The prophesy in those scriptures is often quoted.  Jesus tells of earthquakes, wars, famine, etc as happening right before the end.  When did he prophesy the end would be?  In that speech, he states, 

But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

So far, that's a good argument for saying that we don't know when the end will come.  Except, it's taken out of context of the prophesy.  A few versus prior, Jesus states,

Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

Who is this generation?  Well, we get all kinds of arguments about "which" generation is being spoken about.  But, in context of the scripture itself, we know which generation.  It was the small group of people to which Jesus was speaking.  That group was his disciples who asked him privately about when the end would come.  (Actually, technically, according to Mark, they asked Jesus about the destruction of Jerusalem that he previously mentioned, but Jesus used the opportunity to talk about the end of everything, implying the destruction of Jerusalem was linked to the end of everything; in Matthew, they asked about the end and return of Jesus.)

How do we know that "this generation" applies to the one of which the disciples where apart?  Even within the same speech, Jesus is imploring his disciples to be watchful, that the end could come at any moment.  He doesn't say, "When that generation sees these things, then they should be watchful."  He tells his disciples that he's putting them in charge, and for them to keep alert.

Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come. It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert.  Therefore, be on the alert--for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning-- in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep.

Then Jesus says that all of his followers should be alert.  None of these statements were meant for some future unknown and unspecified generation.  It was a message intended for the disciples to which Jesus was directly speaking.  This prophesy was intended to be fulfilled before their generation passed on.  This means, according to his prophesy (taken in context), the world should have ended sometime in what we now call the 1st Century, just over 1900 years ago.  Well, Jerusalem was sacked (not really destroyed, though the Second Temple was destroyed) in 70 C.E., and the rest of the world is still here.  This isn't a prophesy about the future.  It is a failed prophesy about a time in ancient past.

All scripture quotes in this article are from Mark 13 of the New American Standard Bible via The Unbound Bible.

Burlington Mall oddities

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ti2n0NBR2g/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ti3Kn1BR29/

Poll link: What do you preferred to be called as a person of Earth?

I created a poll on my CAD website for a little fun today, called:

Which do you prefer to be called as a person of Earth?

Choices include Earthling, Earthmen, Earthers and several others!  You decide!  Vote now!

I found the #documentary section (look closely only if you are over 18)

https://www.instagram.com/p/TcHYq_BR-L/

Soccer Mom talks about Mental Illness in US

Here is a very touching and poignant telling of one mother's fears about her own child and how mental illness is being mishandling in America with our skewed sense of priorities.

In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness....A few weeks ago, Michael pulled a knife and threatened to kill me and then himself after I asked him to return his overdue library books. His 7 and 9 year old siblings knew the safety plan—they ran to the car and locked the doors before I even asked them to. I managed to get the knife from Michael..." con't to read whole article here.

Alice makes a friend with a Mastodon

https://www.instagram.com/p/TSCCDfhR0s/

Live Oaks Homes of Rivermark

On a recent and brief (mostly business) trip back to California, I was able to stop by my old community and take a photo of the Live Oaks homes within Rivermark.  I think these homes are iconic, representing a well  planned group of neighborhoods at the heart of Silicon Valley.

Many more great photos may be found on Flickr in the Rivermark group.

Related silly questions

1) They call them spiders, but what do they spide?  I originally asked this here, funny answers...

2) They are called fingers, but what so they fing?

3) What exactly do hammers ham?

4) When's the last time you've seen a grocer groce?

Update: This link wasn't the inspiration of my quick article, but something funny I found soon after: Do fingers fing?  And then Urban Dictionary has a say: fing (nsfw).

The Hobbit translated into what?

Fiscal Cliff | The Simpsons | Animation on FOX

Driving to work this morning, saved by the bell and other things

Commute today was very light into work. Of course, all the time I saved this morning will be taken back in holiday traffic on the drive home.

On a lighter side, since the traffic was so light, cars were moving above the speed limit.  Waze proved to be very valuable in noting locations where cops were waiting to catch speeders.

Quite Possibly the last PB and J I'll ever make with Wonder Bread

I'm about to make with the quite possibly be my last peanut butter jelly sandwich made with Wonder Bread

Possibly my last #sandwich made with #WonderBread with #PeanutButter and jelly piled high. I debated using the #Nutella but I decided with using peanut butter and #jelly instead for tradition sake.

R.I.P., Hostess

Mid Nov in Silicon Valley with Family (mostly not pictured)

The floor

Cascal

Santana Row Counter

Koi Palace

I've only been gone 18 months! #49ers Stadium

OK, so I've only been gone like 18 months!  The house that we owned is in the Rivermark area, practically in the shadow of the future home of the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, CA.  When we sold the home, there was nothing more than a proud sign and a parking lot at the site of the planned stadium.



Eighteen months later?



I don't think I've ever seen this much progress on a project in California in such a short time! Supposedly, the stadium is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2014 season, followed by opportunities for Super Bowls and other events.

Parking is a big weakness for this stadium.  There is almost no parking on the stadium property.  But let's not bother with details right now.

The jury is still out as to whether this will improve home values near the stadium.  Some say it will bolster values, and other say it will drag them down.  If this project is handled like AT&T Ballpark by the San Francisco Giants, values will soar due to ongoing redevelopment efforts nearby.  If the project is handled like the Oakland Colosseum, eh, watchout!  I already know the 49ers wanted to avoid the AT&T Ballpark model, so a bit of concern is appropriate.  It all depends on how Santa Clara City itself handles things.

Breakfast with my Father-in-law, and this giant donut

https://www.instagram.com/p/SECKpphR26/

Last movie I'm going to see at Winchester Century 22

[UPDATE: Time has finally caught up with this relic.  This gloriously aged structure was torn down recently to make way for shops and condos or something.  Work continues to protect her sister building, Century 21.]

https://www.instagram.com/p/SCBO2BBR6U/

Monterey Bay in November

Lunch with customer (no, I don't golf)

https://www.instagram.com/p/R--E9jBRy6/

My wife and I enjoyed a pleasant evening (on Alvarado St.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/R_cfdNBR_F/

Praying Mantis

Found this little guy on top of a trashcan in Wellesley.  Didn't seem to be doing much, but it did take notice when my wife and I took a few shots.  It's kinda creepy to have a bug watch you while you are watching it.