Puerto Rican Parrots

These beautiful Puerto Rican Parrots are endangered but have been making a comeback (it is possible the birds we’re seeing aren’t exactly the PR Parrots but they could be a variation) CORRECTION: These are Red-masked Parakeets. They only live in Puerto Rico. Every now and then when we visit we’ll see a flock flying around. Today a group of about 7 landed close. I hate that the photos a bit blurry, but I maxed out my zoom and still had to crop tight. A couple more…

2 Puerto Rican Parrots

And there are, believe it or not, 5 parrots in this one. You may need to see the large version to find them. Can you spot the 5?

Can You Find All 5?

Also got to see a huge iguana sunning himself.

Iguana Sunning Himself

Sunrise over El Yunque

Moonset in the Morning

Since we’re going to PR for a week, maybe we’ll get to meet the storm there.

Sigh.

I mean, Trinidad even made some crazy list of safe islands to visit in regards to storms like this.

Hopefully this will not become anything significant.

Of the 11 members, Angie is from Orlando. Jerry is 75 years old. Keesha works at Hooters. Libra had twins: one white, one black.

The more things change the more they stay the same.

Weather Underground’s tropical weather page is a good one to monitor for stuff like this.

My favorite shot from our Star Wars Weekend adventure at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

You can see the full set of photos here.

Ever wonder what her story is? NPR published her essay:

I was 9 years old but I still remember my thoughts at that moment: I would be ugly and people would treat me in a different way. My picture was taken in that moment on Road No. 1 from Saigon to Phnom Penh. After a soldier gave me some drink and poured water over my body, I lost my consciousness.

Several days after, I realized that I was in the hospital, where I spent 14 months and had 17 operations.

But there is a happy ending. You can listen or read her essay on NPR.

Dear King,

Our Congress here in the thirteen united States of America are declaring today that we are separating political ties with you. We believe that it’s only fair that we tell you why.

First of all, there are a few rights that we believe are plainly obvious:

1. All men are created equal
2. God has given us rights that can’t be taken away by man: life, liberty, and our pursuit of happiness.

Although God gives these rights, man creates Government to secure these rights. If a Government isn’t protecting these rights then it is the right of the people to make changes to the Government — or make a new one. This new Government should be organized and based on these principles to ensure Safety and Happiness.

Making changes to long established Government isn’t to be taken lightly. We know the risks and that things may get worse for the people. However, when these rights are taken away and abused under a single authority, it is the people’s right and duty to rid themselves of that authority and defend themselves.

We, the Thirteen Colonies, have been patient under your governance, dear King, but it’s time to alter our relationship. You have a history of causing us harm and interfering with our God-given rights. We’ve endured long enough. Your tyranny over us is over.

Dear world, below is a list of facts that you need to understand about this King:

• He has refused to uphold agreements.
• He has forbidden Governors to pass important and timely laws and he utterly neglects his review of the proposed laws.
• He has refused to allow representation for large districts of people — obviously a position an insecure tyrant would take.
• He has called meetings in unusual and uncomfortable places far away from the places we keep the public records in an attempt to tire us out and comply with him.
• He has dissolved some of our Houses of Representation when we oppose his tyranny.
• He has fixed our elections to keep our States in poor official leadership.
• He has made it difficult for Internationals to settle in our states.
• He has not allowed us to enforce our laws without his meddling.
• He has made our judges totally dependent on him for their salary and tenure.
• He has sent his officers here to harass and pillage our people — and created new offices to facilitate it.
• He has kept his armies on patrol in our neighborhoods even during times of peace.
• He has tried to make the military superior to our civil power.
• He has ignored our own laws.
• He has split up armed troops among us.
• He has performed mock murder trials for his people here.
• He has cut off our trade with parts of the world.
• He has imposed taxes on us without our consent.
• He has denied us a fair trial by jury on several occasions.
• He has taken us overseas to be tried for made-up offenses.
• He has helped a neighboring Province grow and strengthen itself to become a threat to our states.
• He has cut our legal foundations out from under us by taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering our fundamental governmental system.
• He has suspended our Legislatures and given his men that power to rule us.
• He has waged war against us.
• He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
• He has (and is) sending foreign mercenary armies to continually barrage our homes.
• He has captured our citizens at sea and forced them to join his army against us.
• He has caused insurrections among our people and has encouraged native savages to attack us.

Throughout this repeated oppression we have humbly requested relief from the king but he has returned our requests with injury. This Tyrant is unworthy to be a ruler of free people.

Our trouble isn’t just with the king but also with our British brothers. They are well aware of the oppression and unfair acts against us. We’ve reminded them of why we came here in the first place. We’ve made appeals to their good conscious to disassociate themselves with the Crown’s tyranny. But because they chose to ignore our warnings, we must treat them as we treat the rest of the world: in war they are enemies, in peace they are friends.

Therefore, we the Representatives of the good people of these united States of America, have come together before God and the world to declare that these Colonies have the right to be free and independent states. We declare ourselves free of the rule of the British crown and all political connection to Great Britain. As free and independent states it is our right to align with whomever we wish, establish commerce, wage war and bring peace.

We rely on God’s protection and we pledge to each other our lives, fortunes, and honor.

Signed from New Hampshire:
~ Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Signed from Massachusetts:
~ John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Signed from Rhode Island:
~ Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Signed from Connecticut:
~ Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

Signed from New York:
~ William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

Signed from New Jersey:
~ Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Signed from Pennsylvania:
~ Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Signed from Delaware:
~ Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Signed from Maryland:
~ Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Signed from Virginia:
~ George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

Signed from North Carolina:
~ William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

Signed from South Carolina:
~ Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Signed from Georgia:
~ Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Now this looks like the site for me
So everybody just follow me
‘Cause we need a little controversy
It feels so empty without me

Just wanted you to know that I’ve got a special July 4th post scheduled to post just after midnight. I did a little research and wrote it up this morning. Wanted to let you so you can check it out Friday. I’m proud of it!

More photos to come from our visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekend…

Perhaps you’ve heard about Social Media but haven’t signed up to participate on any of the sites yet thinking they are all for kids with too much time on their hands. Well let me share with you one of the more useful websites you can start with for your entry into social media: LinkedIN.

LinkedIN is a professional network. It’s like a networking event you attend but this is all online.

I encourage you to create an account and play around.  Feel free to invite me to be one of your connections by requesting from my LinkedIN profile.

So it seems there is this cool and nifty Firefox plugin called ScribeFire that allows me to blog faster. So I’m testing it. It was easy to pull in a Flick photo from above, now for a YouTube video below.

Green Tree Frog Jumping

So it seems easy to post from those sites, but haven’t figured out how to post a particular photo or video I want (I had to search for these, not pick a previous one).

So far, not so bad.

Recently:

• Credit Card Myths
• Guy legally changes his name to “In God We Trust”
• Two poachers in Kenya arrested
• Kudzu is a potential biofuel

I’m finding it so much easier to share an item and make a quick comment on it on my share blog.  Hop on over or subscribe!

Firefox 3 will be released tomorrow (Tuesday) and they want to set a world record.  I’m in.

What changes can you expect?  Check out the Field Guide to Firefox 3

It looks like FF3 is gonna be fun.  I’ll probably have to spend all week playing and tweaking it!

Star Wars Weekends Podcast and Dance Off | The Disney Blog

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