An Easy-Peasy, Quick-n-Easy Meal in Under 30 minutes!

Jasmine rice w celery, onions, carrots, bell peppers, cooked in leftover beef broth, with… yup — it’s SHRIMP!

Altogether, including prep time, a meal in under 30 minutes.

Like I’ve said previously… Rachel Ray ain’t got NOTHIN’ on me!

A tasty, nutritious, easy-peasy, quick-n-easy meal in <30 minutes!

Okay… so, What DO you do to make this?

1.) Get your ingredients, i.e., go grocery shopping.

2.) Select the groceries.

3.) Purchase the groceries.

4.) Go home.

5.) Unload the groceries.

6.) Fix the meal.

7.) Eat the meal.

8.) Wash the dishes.

9.) Dry the dishes.

10.) Put away the dishes.

Seriously…

Volumes/quantity are up to you. If you wanna’ fix enough to feed a small army, go for it.

If it’s just you, that’s cool, too.

Perhaps some may ask something like, “How much shrimp should I use?”

The EASY answer is… how much do you want?

The rice? What about it? How much should I use? What kind?

For Pete’s sake, PLEASE DON’T buy rice in a cooking pouch. Seriously. Just don’t. It’s just not that difficult to cook rice. I mean, if illiterate folks in jungles and their kids can cook it perfectly, you can too.

Just remember: Rice requires

Quantum Hints Of God

In her book of devotions entitled Revelations of Divine Love, 14th-century mystic Julian of Norwich describes how she came to understand that God is light, Whom she described as, “our endless Day.” Seven centuries later, physicist Bernard Haisch came to the same understanding: “The solid, stable world of matter appears to be sustained at every instant by

How To: Make A Mediocre Picture Better

Admit it.

You’re not a Professional Photographer.

That is to say, you don’t make your living with a camera. And, probably never have.

That’s okay. It’s not a problem. But by the same token, you probably wouldn’t know The Rule of Thirds, backlighting, high-key, or the difference between an ƒ-stop and ISO/ASA. And, that’s okay too.

But… if you want to make better pictures, you’ll want to learn to a few tips and tricks to improve the images you do make.

The smartphone’s ubiquity has made picture-taking commonplace. And the democratization of photography via the iPhone, and other smartphones, has been a veritable dream come true for George Eastman, Kodak’s late founder, who wanted to put a camera into everyone’s hands. And to give credit where credit is due, Steve Jobs, late founder of Apple Computer, is probably the man who was actually able to do that.

Seen below, we have a snapshot taken indoors of a beloved pet dog named Bug, who is lying on his back on the sofa in a very cute state of repose.

Original image – Bug, the dog

It’s a good image, but could be made better.

Here’s how.

Overall, the image seems

Medical News You Can Use: Reset Button Edition – Circadian Rhythm Synchronizer Found

“Reset Button” For Internal Body Clock Discovered

Canadian scientists have discovered a type of molecular “reset button” for the body’s “internal clock.” In a study published in “Nature Neuroscience” they describe processes and proteins in the brain which play a role in synchronizing the circadian rhythm. They hope that their findings may contribute to treating disorders associated with a disruption of the body’s internal clock.

A team of researchers from McGill University and Concordia University in Montreal discovered that

Health News You Can Use: Fresh Air & Sunshine Edition – Pancreatic Cancer Linked To Low Amount Of Sunlight

Pancreatic Cancer Linked To Low Amount Of Sunlight

Researchers and scientists in the United States have found an association between sunlight deficiency and the occurrence of pancreatic cancer. The rates of pancreatic cancer are highest in countries with the least amount of sunshine (due to high altitude and heavy cloud coverage). Their findings were reported in a study published in “The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.”

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, analyzed data from

Medical News You Can Use: “Can I Please Get Some SLEEP!?!” Edition – Children’s Hospitals Lack Standards

As anyone who has been in a hospital – either as patient, or visitor – can attest, hospitals are NOT a place where rest occurs. And THAT! is a crying shame! For healing restoration can ONLY occur with proper rest, and that means SLEEP!

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Study Reveals An Absence Of Consistent Standards In Children’s Hospital Environments

The sound, light and temperature levels in European pediatric hospital wards often vary, highlighting the lack of consistent environmental standards, according to a new study presented at the Sleep and Breathing Conference held in April in Barcelona, Spain.

Quietude aids healing and restoration

Children and parents often suffer sleep deprivation when the environment on a ward is disruptive, which can affect disease recovery and quality of life in hospitalized children. There are no general consistent recommendations covering sound, light, and temperature levels to help guide hospitals across Europe.

Researchers measured these three factors in five pediatric wards in

#iPhoneography Tips & Tricks

The iPhone is a simple, though powerful tool. It’s ease of operation often belies the sophisticated mathematical and computer algorithms which undergird it’s operations. The integrated movie and still camera is one of the iPhone’s highlights, and Apple, Inc. makes every opportunity to improve the images the camera produces.

Quite honestly, the iPhone is perhaps my favorite creative imaging tool… as you may likely attest, if you’ve been following my photo stream for any time. There are very few things the iPhone can do that my Nikon DSLR cannot. There are a few features on the iPhone which the Nikon does not have, and vice versa. One is the Nikon’s ability to create RAW images, whereas the iPhone creates only JPEG images. By the same token, the iPhone has a “Burst” mode, whereas the Nikon does not. And I’ve been able to obtain images with my iPhone that my Nikon could never get, such as bluebird hatchlings in their nest box.

The diminutive size of the iPhone belies it’s strength, and the ubiquitous modern smartphone with integrated camera is now so commonplace that

Howard Baker 1925 – 2014: Photographer, United States Senator, Ambassador

Howard Baker, 18 years United States Senator from Tennessee, Republican Majority Leader, widely respected by Democrats & Republicans as “the quintessential mediator, negotiator and moderator,” Chief of Staff to President Ronald Reagan, Ambassador to Japan under President George W. Bush, and award-winning Photographer has died aged 88 in his Huntsville, Tennessee home of complications from a stroke Saturday, 21 June 2014.

He said of his photographic hobby that it “may be the only place where I can reasonably aspire to perfection.”

Mr. Baker began his photographic hobby as

Help Wanted: Wal-Mart Door Greeter

One of my fine friends had recently commented about the speed of thought. I was reminded of a recent story, apropos to his remark, and one told to me by a physician colleague.

It seems one of the local Wal-Marts had an opening for a Door Greeter job. The store manager published the help wanted notice & after receiving numerous applications, culled the job seekers to four.

Having thoroughly examined the applications, reviewed their resumes, and wanting to be as efficient as possible, he decided to conduct a group interview of the four sharpest candidates.

Because he wanted to see how they could think of their feet, he decided to ask them each a question and judge their response.

Turning to the first candidate, he said, “Young lady, what’s the fastest thing you can think of?”

She quickly replied saying, “A blink.”

“That’s good,” said the manager in response. “A blink is much less than a second, and the Scripture says Christ will come in the twinkling of an eye. That’s good.”

Turning to the second candidate, he asked

The ONLY digital camera that CANNOT shoot color is…

Huh?

You mean there’s a digital camera that CANNOT make color photographs?

Yup.

Not to worry.

You probably won’t buy it.

Besides… it’s nearly US$8000.

Unless you’re an artsy fartsy fancy schmancy pho-tograffer type… and in which case, you probably don’t have a lot of munny anyway. Fo-to-graffers don’t make a whole lot of munny.

You know… they’re the starving atisté kind.

But, on the upsid3… the REAL matter is the development of sensors, and how they perceive and are sensitive to light.

For all the bazillion-dollar cameras that can see in the dark, and blah, blah, blah… there has NEVER EVER been a camera that has EVER come close to the human eye.

Seriously.

Think about it.

Your $8000 Nikon or Canon, or Leica cannot in any way come close to accurately reproducing what your eye is capable of seeing.

Your eye can see detail in highlights AND in shadows… without PhotoShop.

Your Canon or Nikon or Leica cannot.

Try to take a “well-exposed” photograph in the dark.

Your camera needs a flash, doesn’t it?

Your eyes don’t.

Yeah, sure… digital cameras can see the infrared spectrum of light, whereas your eyes

At first glance, it’s shallow. Then, you realize… you’re in over your head.

You can’t go it alone.

We weren’t meant to go it alone.

We all need help.

So, here’s some help.

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I Thought I Understood About Men But I Didn’t

By Shaunti Feldhahn

Have you ever been totally confused by something the man in your life has said or done? Have you ever wondered, looking at his rapidly departing back, “Why did that make him so angry?”

Have you ever been perplexed by your husband‘s defensiveness when you ask him to stop working so much? Yeah? Me too.

But now, after conducting spoken and written interviews with more than one thousand men, I can tell you that the answers to those and dozens of other common perplexities are all related to what is going on in your man’s inner life.

Most are things he wishes you knew but doesn’t know how to tell you. In some cases, they’re things he has no idea you don’t know.

Light bulb On!

It turned out that these men shared some surprisingly common inner wiring. At their secret inner core, many had

This is where I’m supposed to cobble together some title that clues you in to what you’re about to read. Just so happens, you’re SOL. ;-)

As a kid, I recollect lying in bed one evening and thinking that nothing was something… that there was absolutely no such thing as “no thing” because “thing” was something, and that a void, or chasm were things which also existed because there was something before and after, and which may have surrounded the same void or chasm. I reasoned further, that the existence of a void, or chasm could only be identified first by the presence of another thing which was opposite. Those thoughts I had long before I’d heard of the names of the world’s great philosophers, or even read any of their thoughts. My questioning led me to suppose that, when I met the Almighty – I still aspire to that Beatific Vision – I would ask Him, “Where did you come from?”

For quite some time, I have also shared that we understand the things we do not now understand by comparing them to the things we do understand. We analogize. It was fascinating – indeed exciting – to recently hear a scientific researcher – an astrophysicist – say almost verbatim the exact same thing.

In much the same way, we use our brains to understand.

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs have Mercury!?!

Many folks don’t know it, but ALL Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulbs contain a small amount of mercury. And while using CFLs throughout the house can and does save a significant amount of money because they use less electricity and last longer, they are initially more costly than traditional incandescent bulbs. And yet, the overall cost difference is significant enough to warrant using CFLs over incandescents.

Make no mistake, mercury is a highly toxic element, though it

Good night, sleep tight; have pleasant dreams tonight.

America is like a Diamond

The issues facing the American people are myriad.

America is much like a diamond.

As a natural product, every genuine diamond has flaws – some more pronounced than others – which are their defining hallmarks. Yet like every diamond, no matter the size, its value is deemed high enough to expend whatever time, capital and effort necessary to manifest a hidden beauty that sparkles when exposed to even the dimmest light of a flickering candle.

America IS that city upon a hill, a light upon a basket set high as an example for other nations to follow. And try as some have to extinguish that light, to lower that standard- through whatever means – they have not succeeded, nor will they succeed.

The American spirit is indomitable.

Our form of governance, though perhaps the youngest among the nations of the world, is the most enduring. Smelted in tyranny’s crucible, cast in unity’s form, strengthened with justice, and ever-tempered with mercy, America is a light to the paths of the world’s people, shining brighter and brighter ’til the perfect day.