Saturday Morning Musings ...

Make Time for Small Reflections

NaBloPoMo-Day22

Photo Hunt-Reflection,
Sky Watch #21 & Haiku Friday #92 ...
are at Sacred Ruminatons.
Haiku Friday #91 is below this post.

An excellent holiday idea for your consideration
In case you missed it the first time around, there's still time to participate in the Holiday Mail for Heroes program sponsored by the American Red Cross. Click the link for specific & important guidelines to ensure your cards can be passed along to service members, veterans, and their families rather than being returned to sender.

The goal is to collect and distribute one million holiday cards to spread holiday cheer and facilitate thanks to these brave individuals and families. Please send signed cards to the address below, postmarked no later than Wednesday December 10th.

Holiday Mail for Heroes
PO Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Additional things on my mind today ...
Today is Billie Jean King's birthday. She was born in Long Beach, California in 1943 & started playing tennis at the age of 11. Over the course of her career she won 20 Wimbledon titles and four
US Lawn Tennis women's singles matches. In 1973 she defeated Bobby Riggs in 'a battle of the sexes' and remains a inspirational force to many.

Others born on this date include novelist George Eliot (born Mary Ann Evans 1819-1880), comedian Rodney Dangerfield, actress & author Jamie Lee Curtis, tennis star Boris Becker, and actor Mark Ruffalo.

On this date in 1963, I was on the campus of East Los Angeles Junior College when I learned that JFK had been assassinated ... and over the course of the next few days, the nation mourned.
No radio or television stations were covering the motorcade through Dallas so the only film record came from an amateur camera man named Abraham Zapruder who recorded the 26.6 seconds before, during, and immediately afterwards on 8mm film.

What stark contrast to the restraint exercised by the media in those days as compared with the daily visual bombardment of violence on news programs & in TV programming (with the notable exception of violent footage from Iraq and/or coverage of wounded & dead soldiers returning to the US) ... and the violent images in films, on MTV, and in video games.

I'm reminded of what Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) predicted in his 1964 book UNDERSTANDING MEDIA: The Extensions of Man resulting in the famous slogan, 'the medium is the message' ... in which he suggested television would alter the structure & working of the human mind forever.

Reminding myself there's good & bad in everything ... I do sometimes wonder about the minds of adults who as infants spent hours entertained by television images from their infant seats rather than exploring their environment first hand with real objects.

I'm planning to plant
these two flats of pansies this weekend ...

A little humor from Comedy Central
... just because ;--)

Death Row in a Women's Prison Three women are about to be executed. One''s a brunette, one''s a redhead, and one''s a blonde. The guard brings the brunette forward and the executioner asks if she has any last requests. She says no, and the executioner shouts, "Ready! Aim!"

Suddenly the brunette yells, "EARTHQUAKE!!!"

Everyone is startled and throws themselves on the ground while she escapes.

The guard brings the redhead forward and the executioner asks if she has any last requests. She say no, and the executioner shouts, "Ready! Aim!"

Suddenly the redhead yells, "TORNADO!!!"

Everyone is startled and looks around for cover while she escapes.

By now the blonde has it all figured out. The guard brings her forward and the executioner asks if she has any last requests. She says no, and the executioner shouts, "Ready! Aim!"

And the blonde yells, "FIRE!!!"

Small Reflections, Smile Back

Thought for Today
"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages." Thomas A. Edison