Birthday to the Land of Oz

The card for her birthday had invited her to a special showing of "The Wizard of Oz," along with a trip to the Museum in Wamego, where she would enjoy the opportunity to choose her own birthday gifts. 

And so, the adventure began a few weeks later for the oldest of the youngest generation, on Friday evening at dinner with family, then back to the grandparent's house for a night of coloring, video games, hot chocolate, and lounging about.

Cinnamon Rolls kicked off the following morning, quickly finding our way to the car for the trip to Wamego.  The journey proved only a little long, softened by a pause for hot chocolate in Topeka and a little wandering about downtown.

She seemed to enjoy darting about the small Oz Museum, pausing to peek in on the movie, the daring about a little more.   Undoubtedly, she proved more than excited about choosing her own birthday gift there from the gift shop, walking away with a pair of her very own ruby slippers, a stuffed Toto, a lollipop nearly the size of her head.

Lingering a bit longer, we followed the Yellow Brick Road over to Wamego City Park.  She met a few new acquaintances there, though it was much too cold and muddy to stand being out too long.  The yellow bricks led us back to where we started and a delicious lunch at Toto's Tacos, where she gobbled down all of her taco, nachos and an entire Jarritos Fruit Punch.

The journey home took on a quieter tone, where the munchkin savored napping throughout the entire trip.  She woke in plenty of time to issue a decision on a side-trip to the local swimming hole, where she overcame her fear and took on the giant waterslide.  

Celebrating the achievement and the day with Pizza, we headed back to our house to end things with a repeat of activities from the night before, to include a round of dominoes this time.

The next day took on a slower tone, taking time to cook a good breakfast that included snowflake-shaped waffles, filling out coloring pages, gathering things for the return home, and patiently waiting for the arrival of cousins.  A special one-time viewing of "The Wizard of Oz" on the big screen of the local theater was planned for all involved, which they all enjoyed immensely.

Some time at local park allowed them all to get rid of the wiggles that had crept up on the oldest two of the three, during the movie.  After that, we dropped off the two youngest and began the journey to the other side of the northland, and home for the oldest. 

She chose to hold on a little longer and remained with us for dinner at a local spot.  Chattering about all of the events of the special birthday weekend, she concluded quickly and decisively, when asked about her favorite part, "Getting to spend time with you!"

Out of the mouths of babes!  Who would have thought that would have been the singular choice after all that transpired over the weekend.

Words to Live By

An acquaintance made a post on LinkedIn today, with the most perfect and profound statement that matches my own life goals.  Good words to live by... 

My goals in working for a company is to elevate knowledge and methodology in my cohorts, and have my knowledge and methodology elevated by my cohorts. I want to be remembered and I want to remember you. - Paul Pasika

All Trails enables Copyright Infringement

Only just now made aware of the use of the above photograph on a click-bait site, I was a bit annoyed.  It was not so much that the photo was used, but done so wholly without permission. When folks ask, I usually give the go-ahead, with a few conditions.  One of the conditions was met here, but the other was not.  I was credited, but permission was neither asked for or received. 

Some might argue "Fair Use."  However, I am not so sure that extends to wholesale scraping of photographs from another web source, leveraging as if it is their personal outlet for stock photography.  That is exactly what their writer did.  Every single photograph in this article was scraped from All Trails.

This brings up another point for consideration.  All Trails really needs to begin making serious efforts to protect content uploaded by its users; photographs, GPS tracks, reviews, etc; especially in this age of AI.  In the case of photographs, it is a relatively simple code task to prohibit users from downloading photos.

They should have been doing this all along.  This type of scraping has been happening since the formation of the internet.  The difference is that people, more specifically writers, have grown to feel that they are entitled to do whatever they please and use whatever they please.

This is the third time now that a photograph of mine was taken and used without authorization, in violation of copyright.  I understand the risk and made adjustments after the first instance.  

Why did All Trails not make an adjustment?

Snowy Hike with the Parkville Girls

Weather finally broke out of the deep freeze, lurching upwards to one full degree Celsius, enabling an afternoon out on the trail.  The girls in Parkville jumped at the opportunity, telling their mother in no uncertain terms that they were ready, willing, able, and would not be denied.  They had been couped up long enough and were anxious to get out and about for a snowy survey of the Old Kate Trail at Parkville Nature Sanctuary.  An hour later, they were more anxious for hot chocolate and home, but enjoyed the brief journey none-the-less.

Glass Crystallization

A look out the window at the crystallization process and recrystallization underway on the window over a period of days in subzero temperatures with very little melting.

Chicken Fried Chicken Goodness

There is just something about Chicken Fried Chicken.  It is a special treat, and when served with a bit mashed potatoes and gravy, the perfect comfort food.  In this case, it is the perfect celebratory food.  The urge to make it once again struck me this afternoon.  Dragging out the electric skillet and a few random modifications later, related to a recipe from The Food Network later, we were soon enjoying this tasty treat.

Too Cold for Man but not Beast

I would say that it is too cold for man or beast on this date, but I saw these two (actually three) out wandering around.  We are officially in the depths of the polar vortex.  

Ice Design

Ice always makes the most interesting art.

Don't Mess with My Folders

Some need to learn to be a little more considerate of others in Teams.  If a developer creates a certain folder structure, there is a reason.  You really do not have any right to question that reasoning, much less go in and just start rearranging things to suit your own desires.

Just because you do not like where the oil pump is in a car, does not enable you to move it wherever you like, whenever you like.

Just another Snow Day

The latest addition to the 500px collection displays a view of the snow-covered trees across the field. While I am not particularly fond of the cold, snow is always creates a beautiful scene.

This whole COVID Thing

Not Happy.

This is not even remotely funny.

Whomever engineered this should be shot.

The water is so muddy now that nobody will ever know for certain.

Quality over Quantity

Accidentally read an article today that is one of the things that bothers me most about my alternative platform.

What Happened When I Wrote an Article Every Day for 300 Days Straight | by Nimish Jalan | Dec, 2023 | The Taoist Online

The story is like just about every other bit of click-bait out there, different only that it is singing the praises of another writer on Medium that offers nothing more than clickbait.

Initially, I replied, 

I am truly curious to know by what standard you are making this evaluation. What are your measures? Followers? The ridiculous "claps" count? Time Read? Engagement? Your essay fails to support your thesis. Indeed, I could find very little to support your thesis. 66K followers do not make one popular. 1000+ click-bait listicle articles do not make one popular. What is it exactly that you are using to measure this popularity? 

Indeed, I was truly curious.  I could find nothing indicating that Eve Arnold – Medium was anything more than a hack, churning out click-bait on a daily basis, regurgitating many of the same topics over and over again.  Her profile undoubtedly exemplifies that.

The writer later replied, 

I find her work and story interesting enough. I find her dedication to the craft impressive. I’ve laid out my reasons if you pay attention. I don’t know a lot of authors who’ve written 1000 plus pieces. To me this is dedication, hard work and intelligence.  She doesn’t have to be a part of any list.

I started to reply to that, but then remembered I was breaking my own rule about responding anything on the internet.  It is a lost cause after all, and mostly unproductive.  The internet is full of pointless nonsense and calling it out is equally pointless nonsense.  It will eventually wither away and die.  You just have to wait a little while.

I am no better a writer than those and do admire their efforts to write daily.  I try to do that myself, here, where very few can see the pointless nonsense and generally bad writing.  I am definitely not trying to sell it as worthy of the next Nobel Prize.

Folks should think more about this sort of thing before they offer their unnecessarily redundant opinion about the 3 Best Ways to Get Ahead of The Game.  It makes the internet bloated and unhealthy.  Not everyone is an expert.

Don't Encourage Questions

And he said to me, "Don't leave that page in the report."

I asked, "Does it really make a difference.  It continually updates on its own."

"Do you want more questions about it?"

Honestly, it really makes no difference.  

The data was pretty straightforward.

Is he trying to hide something?

Girls First Day Hike

After a good breakfast that included mini waffles, we took care of the popcorn disaster from the night before, then headed out onto our trail in the maple woods.  The usual leader blazed the path for us, while her colleague took up her position in the rear so as to keep an eye on the younger of the three.

Jumping over the fallen trees, stretching across bridges, climbing rocks, and filling the creek with rocks was more than the fourth, and youngest of all, could keep up with though. He still did not quite have the sea legs for all that.  He remained at the homestead enjoying an afternoon siesta, later celebrating our safe return with us and the hot chocolate.