Very large storms on Sun

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/15/great-eruption-solar-explosion_n_796744.html

Intense storms apparently covering half the sun's surface.  Solar flares 400,000 miles high.  Not human-friendly on the surface of the sun!

http://www.bing.com/videos/?FORM=MFEVID&publ=86A2F0DB-6F41-42B4-B28F-215BE6F24A97&crea=STND_MFEVID_core_HuffPoQ2FY2011_CustomVidLink_1x1&q=sun+eruption&docid=305760240838&FORM=HUFPST#

More (yet more) on the Science-Religion debate, again

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-alan-lurie/can-the-existence-of-god-_b_794308.html

This debate will never be proved either for or against, or this I believe.  But it is interesting.  I think it is a valuable debate merely because we need to think about the points raised.  Persons of faith should not blindly accept what they are told.  Scientists should be open to new ideas and not accept that because something cannot be proven (God) it cannot exist.

Hidden Code in Mona Lisa's Eyes?

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/301426

Checked Snopes but no information about this.  Did Da Vinci hide some information in the eyes of the Mona Lisa?  I wouldn't be surprised.

Robert Bateman's Web-Site

http://www.robertbateman.ca/
 

http://www.robertbateman.ca/

This web-site is full of treasures by Mr. Bateman:  his art, his address to Royal Roads University in Victoria upon recieving an honourary doctorate, a feature for children. . .He wants to share his love of the planet we all live on through his art and essays.
 
The painting above is one of my personal favourites:  called "Midnight:  Black Wolf".  The wolf is hiding and yet is in plain sight. 

Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, by Celtic Woman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPeVIuRjUi4&feature=related

I love music like this.  Sublime, elegant, meaningful.  Perfect harmony and pure voices.

Robert Bateman turns 80

http://www.bcmag.ca/issue/article/?id=3016

One of our best treasures, the great Robert Bateman, who paints pictures of nature so well that they look like photographs, lives on Saltspring Island in British Colombia.  He turned 80 recently, looks 60 and feels like 40.  His paintings are every one masterpieces.

Celtic Woman: "You Raise Me Up"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-17NWRddUk&feature=related

This is a song that we sing at church and it does indeed raise me up.  It raises my spirits when I am down and makes me glad I'm alive.  These ladies perform it wonderfully with amazing harmony and pure voices.

Christmas

Once again it's nearly Christmas, all the running around decorating, the Tree, the buying of presents, advertising over-kill.  We got recently a catalogue from an electronics store full of gift ideas on glossy paper--hundreds of wonderful toys but doubtless very expensive; there was not one price quoted.  I think the store want people to rush in and max out their credit cards without paying much attention to the costs and this really disturbs me.  We as a society already overspend seriously on just about everything and we get so stressed out on trying to keep our heads above water.  People lose control of their personal finances so easily because there is so much demand on what they want  versus what they need.  Ergo the need--ever increasing--for food banks, soup kitchens, bankrupcy firms.  Charities ask for our attention as well.  Christmas kettles appear every year with people ringing bells, and we try to smile at strangers, try to remember what it's supposed to be all about.  We Christians have a special mission at Christmas.  It is our duty to keep the real meaning of Christmas front and foremost. 

Christmas is really Christ-mass.  It is to celebrate the birth of Christ, the coming of God to take on human form that his people might find eternal salvation because of his love for us, his people.  This is his gift for us.  Yes, we can remember to give to others that special gift and buy decorations and all the fixings for a big Christmas supper with our loved ones but let us not lose sight of the central meaning.  Otherwise it's all meaning-less and empty and just leaves us broke and stressed.  God bless us, every one.

Spider-Scorpion discovered

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/06/post_605_n_792672.html

Very interesting piece about a tiny creature found in a cave.  Scientists think that it had been evolving there for thousands of years.  It makes my already confused mind even more confused.

Old Barns and Old People

http://www.dc2net.com/Old-Barns.htm

I have a few years left but I do admit that most of my life has past.  Still, sometimes we need a new way of looking at things, and this is one of those ways.  We get weathered as we age, much like the old barns  in these pictures, with the hot summer sun and the cold winter storms.    And eventually, when we come to the end of our days, we move on to new lives in heaven, or, like one old barn, in someone's new house because of the quality of our old wood, or the quality of our old souls.

Bacteria that likes arsenic

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/02/nasa.extraterrestrial.life/index.html?hpt=T1

This is very strange.  Bacteria that likes arsenic?  Getting so that nothing surprises me any more.  I checked Snopes but couldn't find anything about it there.