Are You Ready For US Rooftop Geocoding?

 Well, the good news is that it's coming soon. The bad news is it's been around for a few years but the public seems to be demanding it so much currently, that Texas A&M has a full program nicknamed geocoding 101. 

It's going to be great for the new age of grocery delivery and restaurant food delivery as well as making anyone who needs directions to you will like it. Currently, it is reported to cost up to $25,000 annually. 

The hazard risk is being reported as that of, insurance companies will be better at determine if you live close to a chemical plant or a refinery and most likely, if you do, you see an increase in your rates. One of the three major risk factors is human error.The second major risk factor is that "you don't know what you don't know."

The company says in one of their ads to,"give us the geocodes, we'll give you the corresponding, valid addresses.Super fast,Crazy accurate."

 

Businesses that use the airport, like taxi services,

will also benefit as package delivery services that service cargo depots at the airport.

This company will benefit from the rooftop geocoding of addresses, zipcodes for more accurate delivery.

An Angle Abides

"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so some people have entertained angels without knowing it."  ~  Hebrews  13:2

Thomas Carlyle wrote that,"Music is well said to be the speech of angles. 

Long have I known the verse from the Christian bible. It has in some way always stuck with me and a deeper understanding has grown over the years. Since I have let loose of my car, I really do not have trouble filling my day. I cook more, I read more, I listen to WRR's classical programing as I edit pictures and most of all, I set aside a bit of time--not long periods-- but little breaks throughout my workday in which to think.

When I was driving, just prior to the Corona Virus meltdown, on one leg of my Shoot Wheel, as  I parked my car, a man waved at me. I did not know him. Unpacking my camera, I started shooting some wild flowers that the city of Richardson had planted. They were in full bloom. As I walked about the flower bed shooting, the  man  came over to me and was asking about photography. In talking to him. He was most interested in music. I said to the man that," music and photography go together like peanut butter and bread. It sticks with you forever. Or, it can stand alone nicely, as well"  He laughed and said that he was just out taking a stroll. I continued shooting some flowers along an alley fence and as I came out from the alley to go to my car, giving the little park a glance to wave at him upon leaving, he was no where to be seen. Making a mental note of how strange it felt for some reason, I got into my car to continue my shoot route. 

This past week I remembered that scripture verse and pulled down my Arthur Gordon from the shelf. As good as his book is, there wasn't anything about angels there. Then, I turned to my little library and came across my old copy of the Chicken Soup series. There popped out a brief story on angles. I reread the story again submitted by Rosemary Goodwin. There it was in a category named, Angles Among Us. The story was very much like I had experienced with the man that ask about photography.

 That got me to thinking even more and I can recall at least two other experiences like that over the years. It was like the person appeared out of no where and then was gone with no trace of them again after a short  period of time. It was not a fluke. It had a veil of mystery about it that stuck with me over time. 

When the summer's heat breaks and I am able to get out and walk for periods of time, I will be more entertaining than I have been in the past.There was just something that felt different-- not in a threatening way of sorts but just some kind of void that allowed me to respond to his question about photography and not really entertain him with a lot of questions.  

Since I was a kid,  I have believed in Angles. I have shot statues of them in cemeteries to museums. They have their own mystery about their beings While I have lots of unanswered questions about the mysteries of faith, doubting any of it is just not going to happen. There are to many other things where I have resolved questions about life that were answered in my thoughts some years later. 

Curia Ailments Steven Hawkins and Albert Einstein

Curia, from old Latin:  Coviria, meaning "a gathering of men" (co-, "together" =vir, "man") Any assembly, public or private, could be called a curia. Having explained the context of the first word of the title moving forward comes the word ailments. Now, the meat of the word means pain and suffering. (Coming back to this in a bit.)

Dr. Steven Hawkins, said: "Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet."

"Try to make sense of what you see and about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succed at. It matters that you don't just give up."

It is interesting that both these great minds were both European. 

The LIGO, or Large Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory discovered (captured) the signal on September 14,2015 that confirmed Einstein's prediction of gravity waves in the fabric of space and time. 

 What is interesting in that is that Steven Hawkins never received a Nobel Prize for Science because no one has ever proven his ideals. The thing about that is that Albert Einstein's proof and validation came as resent as 2015. Hawkins, like Einstein, most likely will have many more years, like Einstein, to be elevated in having the world know that he was right about so many things. 

Coming back to the opening paragraph about the meaning of Curia, It is well noted that the largest Curia today is in fact, the Catholic Church at Vatican City. 

After his installation as Pope, Pope Francis, in an interview with the Argentine newspaper LA NACION,  (12/07/2014) said," Together with all Christians, theologians must open their eyes and ears to the signs of the times."

At the International Theological Commission, Pope Francis had also stated, "that they ( all Christians and theologians) must "humbly listen " to what God tells the church by understanding Scripture but also by taking into account how ordinary Catholics live out their faith."

Bringing the two,  'gathering of men'-'man' together, with the universe of theology you begin to see more of what Dr. Hawkins ( who said he didn't believe in God) was implying  that as a scientist he could not prove that their was a God, so he declined to say that there was a God personally. But in doing so, he set the tone that if he wasn't a scientist, which works with only scientific proof, that he would believe in God when he said not to look at your feet but to look at the stars.

"And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succed at. It matters that you don't just give up." Hawkins said. Steven, because he was a scientist was so many light years ahead that he spent his entire life trying to prove in a scientific way, rather than a personal way, that the answer was in the stars and the wonderment of what God had created. That, as a scientist, he must prove rather than state what he knew to be true. It would have been counter to his professional life as a scientist.

That was the ailments of the curia. Theology and Nobel awards.

A Little About Our New Banner for August

This month's banner features a Bard Owl. The tree is the typical type tree that Bards like. Lots of big branches and in the mix a few smaller ones where they can hide and sleep during the day.

If you got this far and you didn't notice the Bard Owl sitting in the tree looking down at the photographers that were all around the tree, then go back to the banner page with our name and mission statement. Then, page down slowly, but not to much. You'll see the owl. It's gonna be here all month and into the first couple of days into September.

So, enjoy the image of the owl in his native habitat and tell your friends if they are animal lovers to check it out.

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There Are Things That Exist Because They Do

While it is pretty much know that I post images on my blog that are a bit less in quality than those that I submit to my editors there is a reason for it. Unfortunately, there are those that will copy an image without getting a proper license to use a first quality images. It is just one of those things about human nature.

Occasionally, I run across things that just exist because they do. There isn't any clear reason for them. Yet, there they are! Some are even comically. I have just such an image and the quality is less than perfect, but it does convey the point outstandingly.

                                                                                                                                                                             Alright! Who gets their mail delivered on Interstate I-35E?

Click anywhere in the image to enlarge.

I'm Not Sure I Know Where This Balloon Lands

There are so many things up in the air right now. School Openings, Corona Virus, Economy, Health Care, and Government Handouts that found the lawmakers leaving Washington with plenty on the table while they take their August leave. I made a T-shirt that reads: My hobby is watching Congress. There are  little eyes in some letters. It really does seem that congress does take advantage of the American people by not really doing their job.

Doing as much research as I can while the summer heat and no car has me pretty much landlocked in the house while the Corona has its way with the world. There is some good to that.  I have discovered why my Walgreens runs out of meds more often and seems to have some problems with certain merchandise that never was a problem before.

When I started ordering on line it was between me and my retail store. When I switched to  online ordering with free shipping, I found out that I was talking to Boots Alliance. Boots Alliance is the Holding Company. Now, by reason of common sense, it must be another pharmacy in the picture some where. Well, as it would end up, yes, there is one.

Boots is the largest pharmacy in Great Britian. To make a long story shorter, The leverage buyout private equity firm known as KKR or Kohlberg Kravis and Roberts, love to acquire businesses and toss the enormous debt onto one of the companies. In this case, it was Boots. Such is the case with Boots when KKR structured the deal between Boots and Walgreens with Rite Aid in the mix. Rite Aid bought out all the Lane Drugs in the Great Lakes.  I don't even want to know any more about how Rite Aid got there but it was through a buyout somewhere else. Not to mention the Eckerds (a subsidiary of J.C. Penny's ) buy out of their 1269 stores in Florida, Louisiana and Texas by CVS. Eckerds was the 4th largest pharmacy in the US at the time of the deal which also included Eckerds 1.3 Billion mail order business. The original company was worth $4.3Billion.

Yes, Rite Aid worked out a deal with Walgreens as a alternative to a merger by allowing Walgreens to purchase their 1900 stores except 8 states for a cool $4.4 billion that included 3 distribution centers.

Now, enter Amazon and Albertsons. Because of a government break up, Amazon bought on-line Pill Pak giving Rite Aid to grow its left over pickings it still owns. Albertsons is working with Amazon.com in the deal, it seems. This is, of course, old new...very old news, like two years ago.

What is even more surprising is that Blackstone and Carlyle and Bain Capital and Silver Lake Partners are all like KKR now. I can remember when KKR took Owens-Illinois, the glass maker, private and wrecked the company that was Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio. A lot of the employees have less to live on today as a result. But, as they say in mid-town New York, "You'll have that from time-to-time".  Yes, you will, I guess. Yes, you will.

Some still call this American capitalization. I call it pure greed and greed never wins in the end.

What Kids Really Think T-Shirt
by sam6372

Where Its Gonna Land Is Still Up In The Air!!!

Men's Large T-shirt
by sam6372

♫♫ There Is A Song In My Head ♫♫

♪♥Charlie Puth♥♪ might be a Jersey boy, but I like his music. If I could download this song I have in my head, I'd give his record company the first chance to produce it for the ever hot music industry. My music interest goes from classical to Jazz to R&B to Hip Hop to Operatic to Classical and Classical pipe organ, of note, Widor's Tocatta, from the 5th Symphony, to English Choral. I will listen to all forms of music, period. I even like some Country!!

One of the most interesting that I cherish to this day is when Paul Winters of the Paul Winters' Consort took a trip to the Grand Canyon and boated down the Colorado River creating one of the most interesting recordings that I have ever heard. They used natural sound echo's of the canyon, bird's

An A-typical photographer

with nice cameras,though.

chirps, as Paul Winters' saxophone comes in with his typical, but not all typical, sounds with mixed sounds added on another track. There is an African drum in one piece that the beat still echos in my head some 25 years later. There is a solo with a native American as he sings in his native language and finally, a song mix in improvisational form with the great organ in St. John the Divine in New York City. It is truly, an amazing accomplishment and I can only hope that ♪♥Charlie Puth♥♪ will produce something like these two examples in his lifetime. It must be that my brain is writing a symphony is the only reason I can think of why I can't download that song at this point.

To this day, I still not only think Out of Africa was a great movie, but the song and the photographic scenes of a bi-plane flying over the terrain made my top-of-the list. The fact that music and photography work together or apart in my world is just something I like to say, I have two pocket on these pants!

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