"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me lay an invincible summer" - Albert Camus

Friday, July 26, 2013

Chasing Francis by Ian Morgan Cron


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After a tragic accident, Pastor Chase Falson has "lost his faith", & it was in front of his congregation to top it all off. After a meeting with the deacons it was decided Chase needed a break. So off to Italy he goes to see his Uncle Kenny. Along the way he meets Friars who would knock your socks off with laughter & he finds deep friendships he didn't realize he had. Through this whole journey he learns about St. Francis of Assisi & helps him understand the deep root of True Faith.

This book was amazing! I would recommend it to anyone who has at anytime questioned God & their faith. It's so good & so full of history that it sometimes feels as if your reading a memoir. I am so glad that I read this book & if you get it, you will be too!


*I recieved this book free from Booksneeze as a part of their Blogger Program*

Friday, July 19, 2013

Free Book Giveaway Coming Soon...

Within the Next month I will be giving away a Free book.. Check back to find out when & how this will go down...

Zimmerman Not Getting His Gun Back Just Yet...



I don't think the Man should be getting his gun back at all... Let alone being free but that's just me... Here's the article to read more..




http://news.yahoo.com/zimmerman-wont-gun-back-yet-per-justice-department-165138513.html

Two Rare Persian Cubs Born in Russia

Two Persian leopard cubs were born in a Russian national park last week for the first time in 50 years, according to a statement from the World Wildlife Fund. The species is endangered.

The Persian leopard is one of the largest leopard subspecies, and the beasts once heavily roamed southwest Russia's Caucasus Mountains and the surrounding region along the southern Caspian Sea.

But heavy poaching and habitat loss in the 20th century landed the animal on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's endangered species list, with only about 1,290 adults now believed to be alive in the wild.

The two newborns were bred at the Persian Leopard Breeding Rehabilitation Center in Sochi National Park, in an effort to help reintroduce the population to the wild. The cubs' parents joined the center in 2012 from Portugal's Lisbon Zoo.

The youngsters are about 6 inches long (15 centimeters), and probably weigh only about 1.5 pounds (700 grams), though the center staff has not yet handled the animals to avoid disturbing them, the head of the breeding center said in a statement.

Leopard cubs typically remain in their den for about two months, feeding on partially digested meat from their mother at first, and eventually developing their own hunting skills.

Those involved in the rehabilitation effort hope this birth could provide a small step forward for the species.

"They will be released into the wild after learning surviving skills, and will start a new population of leopards in the Caucasus Mountains," Natalia Dronova, the World Wildlife Fund's Russian species coordinator, said in a statement.

Nascar To Use Cable Camera Systems No More

NASCAR announced on Tuesday that cable camera systems will not be used at races as an investigation continues into an incident at the Coca-Cola 600 in May.

Several cars, including that of race leader Kyle Busch, sustained damage when the camera cable was run over, leading NASCAR officials to red-flag the Memorial Day weekend race at Charlotte Motor Speedway after 126 laps.

"Pending further investigation of the cable camera system incident during the NASCAR race in Concord, N.C. in May, NASCAR has decided, in collaboration with its broadcast partners, to suspend all media partner usage of aerial camera systems that hang over race tracks during its sanctioned events," NASCAR said in a statement. "The safety of our competitors and our fans remains NASCAR's number one priority, and until total evaluation and analysis have been completed, usage of this particular technology enhancement and any similar enhancements, has been suspended."

ESPN, which will televise the rest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season on its networks, including ABC, issued a statement of its own acknowledging the suspension of the cable camera systems.

"We have an excellent working relationship with NASCAR and totally understand their position," Rich Feinberg, ESPN vice president, motorsports, production, said. "We look forward to beginning our NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule at Indianapolis and televising 17 great weeks of racing."

NASCAR on ESPN will begin televising the final seven races of the regular season and the 10 races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup on ESPN Sunday, July 28 at 1 p.m. ET with the Crown Royal Presents the Samuel Deeds 400 at the Brickyard Powered by BigMachineRecords.com at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

DeSalvo Was "No Doubt" The Boston Strangler


Great article I just found.. Finally some Cold Cases being solved...





http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/19/19561874-authorities-dna-match-leaves-no-doubt-about-boston-strangler-final-victim?lite

Remembering Cory Monteith ♥

Glee Star Cory Monteith was found dead in his Vancouver Motel room, Saturday (7-13-13). He was found to have died from an overdose of Heroin & alcohol.  Many co-stars & celebrities are remembering Cory as a kind person, with a heart of gold.  Here are some of the Interviews...



Demi Lovato
The Conjuring Stars Remember
A Look Back on His Life
Remembered By Glee Co-stars



Rest In Peace Cory. All your fans will miss you! ♥

Seaworld's Backlash Over "Blackfish"

 
SAN DIEGO — Hollywood has just cast SeaWorld as a bad guy. But SeaWorld has decided to diverge from the story line.
 
 
 
 
In an unusual pre-emptive strike on the documentary “Blackfish,” set for release on Friday in New York and Los Angeles by Magnolia Pictures, SeaWorld Entertainment startled the film world last weekend by sending a detailed critique of the movie to about 50 critics who were presumably about to review it. It was among the first steps in an aggressive public pushback against the film, which makes the case, sometimes with disturbing film, that orca whales in captivity suffer physical and mental distress because of confinement.

Magnolia and the film’s director, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, shot back with a point-by-point rebuttal in defense of the movie.

The exchange is now promising to test just how far a business can, or should, go in trying to disrupt the powerful negative imagery that comes with the rollout of documentary exposés. That kind of dilemma has surfaced with previous documentaries like “The Queen of Versailles,” which last year portrayed the lavish lifestyle of the real estate moguls Jackie and David Siegel, and even with narrative films like “The Social Network,” which took an unflattering look at Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg in 2010.

Businesses accused of wrongdoing in films often choose to lie low, hoping the issues will remain out of the public mainstream and eventually fade away without much fuss. That’s especially true of documentaries, which generally have small audiences.

SeaWorld, advised by the communications firm 42West, which is better known for promoting films than punching back at them, is taking the opposite approach. By midweek, the company was providing top executives and animal caretakers for interviews about the movie and its purported flaws.

It was also deliberating possible further moves, which might conceivably include informational advertising, a Web-based countercampaign or perhaps a request for some sort of access to CNN, which picked up television rights to “Blackfish” through its CNN Films unit and plans to broadcast the movie on Oct. 24.

Among other things, SeaWorld claims that “Blackfish,” which focuses on the orca Tilikum’s fatal 2010 attack on a trainer, Dawn Brancheau, exceeded the bounds of fair use by incorporating training film and other video shot by the company. The company also contends that Ms. Cowperthwaite positioned some scenes to create what SeaWorld executives see as a false implication of trouble or wrongdoing.

Asked whether SeaWorld was contemplating legal action against the film, G. Anthony Taylor, the general counsel, said decisions about any such step would have to wait until executives were able to more closely assess the movie. “Blackfish” made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January and has since screened at other festivals in the United States and abroad.

In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Ms. Cowperthwaite said she stood by the film and described any quarrel with its construction as an evasion of her inescapable conclusion: “Killer whales are 100 percent not suitable to captivity.”

“For 40 years, they were the message,” she said, referring to SeaWorld. “I think it’s O.K. to let an 80-minute movie” have its moment.

Since 1965, SeaWorld has kept and displayed dozens of orcas in parks here, in Orlando, Fla., and elsewhere. According to Mr. Taylor and other executives, at least 10 million people a year view some of the 29 whales now held. SeaWorld executives say that without access to the whales — which are now bred at the parks, rather than captured wild — humans would be denied a connection to large, intelligent animals with which many feel a bond.

“We’re deeply transformed by them, the killer whale is an animal that does that,” said Dr. Christopher Dold, SeaWorld’s vice president of veterinary services, who spoke at the company’s San Diego park on Wednesday.

Dr. Dold, Mr. Taylor and others point out that only one trainer has died in a whale encounter at SeaWorld parks, though Tilikum has been associated with three deaths. One of those was at another park, and one involved a man who somehow wound up in his tank at night.

On watching “Blackfish,” Kelly Flaherty Clark, who works with Tilikum as the curator of trainers at SeaWorld’s Orlando park, said she was stunned by the presentation of her testimony at an Occupational Safety and Health Administration hearing, at which SeaWorld was cited for violating trainer safety — claiming it was selective in a way that did not accurately represent her views.

“We sleep and breathe care of animals,” said Ms. Clark.

(The company is appealing a ruling that bars in-water contact between trainers and orcas. Such contact was voluntarily suspended before the ruling. Mr. Taylor said it was unclear how such training would be revived should SeaWorld win an appeal of the ruling, but new procedures and technology would be used, he said.)

Ms. Clark said she was also bothered by the movie’s reliance on interviews with a number of former trainers, whose experience with Tilikum was either nonexistent or largely confined to the distant past.

Ms. Cowperthwaite, however, said she was very much a journalist in making “Blackfish.” She said she initiated the project, shortly after Ms. Brancheau’s death, with an open mind. Only slowly, she said, did she conclude that orcas like Tilikum may be driven to aberrational — or, in the words of one the film’s interviewees, “psychotic” — behavior by their captivity.

Ms. Cowperthwaite also said she was shocked that SeaWorld executives resisted her repeated pleas for interviews.

“I guess I naïvely expected them to say yes,” she said.

Mr. Taylor said executives had avoided interviews because they doubted the material would be used in good faith. But the question now becomes whether fighting back against “Blackfish” will actually help to promote a film that might normally be seen by only a small fraction of those who regularly show up at SeaWorld parks.

“It is hard to see this public relations attack as a good strategy,” said Martin Garbus, a lawyer who represents the director Lauren Greenfield in an arbitration dispute being pressed against her by the Siegels and their company over “The Queen of Versailles.”

Mr. Taylor and his associates, speaking jointly on Wednesday, said they recognized the risks but were motivated by a sense of outrage at a film that they said belittled their mission. They also say they feel a responsibility both to their workers and to the animals that often come through the SeaWorld parks as part of rescues that eventually return them to the wild.

“I don’t know if ‘reputation’ is the right word,” Mr. Taylor said when asked if that’s what SeaWorld was defending. “We need to protect our people.”

Eamonn Bowles, Magnolia’s president, said he was not unhappy that SeaWorld’s challenge — and particularly the letter to reviewers — was bringing attention to “Blackfish.”

“From a marketing standpoint, this is turning into the gift that keeps on giving,” said Mr. Bowles. “Frankly, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Still, Mr. Bowles said that the studio worried the controversy would overwhelm “the actual qualities of the film.”

“We don’t want the elemental nature of the film to be subservient to advocacy about SeaWorld,” he wrote in an e-mail, “although they are intertwined.”
 
 
 
*I found this article on The New York Times website. These are not my thoughts, opinions, or my writings*

Is Our President Responsible for Riots?

President Obama of course had to come out & make a special press conference after the Trayvon Martin Case came to a close. Of course Mr. President had to throw in the race card... Could his comments have been the spark that was needed to start these riots all over the U.S. It's bad enough that justice was not done for this poor boy, but now riots are going on because of this matter. Is our country going back in time? Will we revert back to the 60's & the Civil Rights movement, the riots that broke out then? Have African-Americans helped their case with their actions?


See for your self what our president said:Here

Simple Women's Daybook








~For Today ~

 

Outside my window: I don't know I can't see the windows...
 
I am thinking: how I'm excited for The 28th

I am thankful : For God & Friends & Family
 
From the learning rooms: I have no idea..
 
 
 
In the kitchen: Pizza tonight.. yummy!







I am wearing: My Fav Pink & white striped shirt, tan shorts & flip flops

I am creating: this blog.


I am going:  to die if it gets any hotter...

I am wondering:  if the cool front will really be that cool...


I am reading: 

Chasing Francis

 

I am hoping: for good health for all my family & friends.

I am looking: forward to Sunday

I am hearing: The clacking of keyboards...

Around the house: Don't know i'm not home right  now..

I am pondering: God's purpose for me


One of my favorite things: is making people smile


A few plans for the rest of the week: Church on Sunday, VBS on Tuesday... Counting down the Days till my Baptism
 
Here is picture for thought I am sharing ...
 
 

Protest This Issue





Seriously, What were the people of Rolling Stone magazine thinking? All of American needs to protest this Issue.. Don't buy it! I was disgusted to see it in my Public Library.. Seriously America it makes this Terrorist look like a freaking Rockstar... That's what we as a country are going to do... Put people who have torn our country's peace of mind apart on a pedestal. Why don't we just put every serial killer & lunatic on the cover of magazines & give them their own talkshows... I'm asking as an American citizen who loves my country.. PROTEST THIS ISSUE!!

Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach

July
 
 
 
"Lovely July... with the evocative murmur of honey bees on the wing and the smell of sun tan cream."  - Cynthia Wickham
 
 
 
Sultry, steaming, sweltering. July. Slow down. Or stop. It's time to shed ambition and expectation, along with commutes, clothing, cellular phones, calendars. Now our wants seem to diminish/ Is it because our needs are met? A shady nook, a cold drink, a cool breeze - whether indoors or out. A respite from the rigors of the day. Time off for good behavior. Summer is not so much a season as a melody, that tune of contentment we hum as the days begin to beautifully blur. The pursuit of happiness becomes our personal priority this month, as the sweet strains of the fourth Simple Abundance principle - Harmony - start to be heard in our hearts.
 
 
 
July 19th
 
 
 
"It is the soul's duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion." - Rebecca West