Opinions are not the same thing as facts… (or); Some things are true, and some things aren’t… a guide to some common misconceptions… part 6…



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Thinking that you can beat up any Asian you see on the street because they are responsible for the virus is an opinion, not a fact. In fact, this is a stupid, evil and racist opinion. That is my opinion, but I like to think they are facts. Another fact is that beating up people is against the law.

Let’s break this down. Aside from the fact that you do not have the right to attack people physically because they did something you don’t like or they disagree with you, according to this logic, any Native American should be able to assault any Caucasian person. Because that is where Smallpox came from, right?

Also, here is another fact for you. Not all people of Asian heritage are Chinese. And even if the virus actually did start in a lab on purpose, this is the act of a few people in the Chinese government, not every person who can trace their roots back to anywhere in Asia

.And as long as we are on the subject of attacking people because you are unhappy, this goes for everybody. Stop doing that. Protest peacefully. Express your opinions. But you can’t storm the Capitol just because things aren’t going your way, not an you hang Mike Pence. I know, who hasn’t thought of doing that once or twice, but still, don’t do it.

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Flowers, birds, and stuff… the final chapter…

More flowers.

An Acorn Woodpecker, if I am not mistaken.

And more flowers, I am pretty sure.

Not really in focus, but it is a nice photo of a hummingbird in flight.

And, for our ‘stuff’ category, I give you, a lizard.

Man those are hard to get good pictures of.

At least flowers don’t fly around at the speed of light.

Bird butt.

That is such subtle coloring.

Waterfalls are stuff, right?

Oh, nature.

I love the color purple.

Luke, come over to the dark side.

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Opinions are not the same thing as facts… (or); Some things are true, and some things aren’t… a guide to some common misconceptions… part 5…

Global warming is a fact. Once again, feel free to have a differing opinion… but you are wrong.

Our first mistake was calling it ‘global warming’ instead of the more accurate ‘climate change’. This allows people to go outside, see snow falling and say that global warming must be a hoax. That is like saying that you feel okay at the moment, therefore you can’t have cancer. It ignores the way that climate works, a complex series of events within the closed system of our planet’s ecology.

Now, even if you dispute the fact that the vast majority of scientists say that our world is in trouble and refuse to buy into the whole climate change thing, at least be honest enough to admit that we are destroying the air and water on this planet. We are poisoning the world, and with it, ourselves. Think of the world as a fish bowl. We are the gold fish. There is only so much clean water in the bowl. There is only so much clean oxygen around our world.

Now, start dumping small amounts of chemicals and motor oil and ground-up plastic and stuff from your garbage into the fish bowl. The fish might seem okay right now. But if you keep adding stuff, the fish will be in trouble. If you stop adding stuff, and maybe add some plants to the water, and a filter, you might save the fish.

Once again, we are the fish.

PLEASE DO NOT do this with a real fish in a real fish bowl to prove me wrong. Because I am not.

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Droning on… part 7…



This is almost the last video I took on that first magical morning two years ago at Christmas, outside my mom’s house in the Bay Are where I grew up, when I first had the ability to send a camera up into the air. San Francisco is out there across the bay somewhere. The sun is rising over the hills of the little town of Kensington, where it nestles amid the oak tress and eucalyptus.

Thanks again to my family for this awesome Christmas gift… but you know I am leading up to a big ending, right?

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Flowers, birds, and stuff… part 3…

More flowers.

More birds.

When will the madness end???

I shot all these photos within yards of one another. In one yard. So, in one yard within a few yards… uh… so to speak.

And I did it all within the space of a couple hours.

Because that is what early Spring is like in Southern California. I would still rather live in the Bay Area in Northern California where I grew up, but it does have some perks.

If you like flowers…

And birds… and beaches, and palm trees, and boats, and sunsets, and good weather.

And stuff… I promised you stuff.

That ‘stuff’ just happens to be a Japanese maple tree, just so you know.

But yeah, flowers.

And birds.

But if you don’t like them, there is only one more of these posts, so hang in there.

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Opinions are not the same thing as facts… (or); Some things are true, and some things aren’t… a guide to some common misconceptions… part 4…

Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. I will be honest enough to admit that this peculiar belief, while obviously an opinion and not a fact, does fall somewhere in the murky middle ground. But it is not a fact. I mean, it is, sort of, but it is really a misstated opinion, and therefore my ‘opinion’ that it is an opinion and not a fact stands.

Yes, guns rarely kill people without the help of a person. But the ‘guns don’t kill people’ wording is misleading. Hammers don’t hammer nails. People hammer nails. Right. But they use hammers to do it. Does anyone ever say that land mines or bombs or knives don’t kill people? Cars don’t kill people, it is drivers that kill people.

By this logic, nothing kills people but other people. Also, when it comes to guns killing people, nobody disagrees that the guns have help from people. The problem is that the guns are too good at helping people kill other people. Lots of people.

The other argument is that if people didn’t have guns, they would kill people some other way. I will grant you that that is also a fact. But nobody ever threw knives from a hotel window and killed dozens of people across the street.

It is also argued that the best defense against a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun. Yes… in cowboy movies and action thrillers. The number of times where a trained, armed civilian stopped a mass shooting is more rare than alien anal probing. You hear about it, myth-like, but have you ever seen it happen? If this was going on all the time, then there wouldn’t be a day that goes by that it wasn’t mentioned in the news in all those states where people carry guns.

The ‘fact’ is that a lot of those bad people get guns by stealing them from good people. And it is these same good people who keep fighting the laws that would require more background checks, longer wait times, less loopholes, and refusal to allow people with mental conditions to buy guns.

So you know what? I will let you have this one. Call your false argument a fact and not an opinion. Just keep flooding American streets with guns. And someday, someone you know will get shot. That is an opinion. I hope it does not become a fact.

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Flowers, birds, and stuff… part 2…

More birds…

More flowers…

Whatever man.

I guess this series of posts is okay… you know… if you like flowers…

And/or birds.

But I like both.

And it is my blog. Oh, wait, I believe I promised you ‘stuff’ also.

How about a small babbling brook?

Go ahead, try to capture some pictures of hummingbirds in flight. We will wait.

Japanese Maple. I think that falls in the ‘stuff’ category.

So that about covers it.

Until next time.

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Flowers, birds, and stuff… part 1…

So yeah, flowers…

And birds.

Early Spring in Southern California.

I had a birthday, got some cool stuff, and will post about it… whenever….

But first, flowers…

Lots of flowers.

All kinds of flowers. I mean, not all kinds, but a lot of kinds.

And birds. Incoming!!!!

And I promised you stuff, so how about some little cars made of cookies and Twinkies.

With little bunny drivers!

See you soon for part 2… or whatever else I do.

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Another art project begins…

This post used to be the top of a taller post, and on that base on the bottom, which used to be the top, there was an owl box – a house for owls. Owls never used it. It had been there for a few years, so we – that is to say Mollie’s boyfriend Ben – took it down and cut up the post.

I flipped it over to use the base as a stand… or the stand as a base?

I am making a leafy vine design. Sort of a Lord Of The Rings Elf kind of a thing. I don’t know how far down I will carve, how intricate it will be, or how it will turn out. I don’t plan these things that far ahead.

But I will keep you posted. HA! See what I did there? Because this is a post about a post.

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When your wife surprises you with bacon!!!

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