Hapry New Wass

Errr, happy New Years. Strap yourselves in, this year is going to be a bumpy ride.

Google Goggles - Picture Recognition

I am going to provide a link to the Google website. They have developed an app that you can put on your phone. When you take a picture of something, the app will search the internet to find the building, cd, restaurant, artwork, whatever to find a match and information on the object.

Google Search app for your phone

If you follow the link, you will find a video for Google Goggles. I recommend that you watch the video.

I Love My Attorney

I go to court in March, it is to get my alimony reduced and it will be reduced. I contacted my attorney and asked her to represent me, she told me she already had it calendered. Pretty cool, huh? I love my attorney and my accountant. Simply the best. It is nice to have people you trust taking care of you.

Life has not been easy; but, I have the best in the world to help me through the rest of it. I have the best friends and assistants that one could hope for. Great people support me and I appreciate it.

Merry Christmas Dear Readers

Dearest Readers,

The Pimpernel wishes to thank all those who come and visit here. I hope the coming year is good for you all. The Pimpernel will spend much of Christmas alone; but, do not shed a tear. I had plenty of places to go. It is a choice.

It has been quite a year and next year is going to be even more interesting. As you go through the year, try and remember that everything is temporary. For me, this year has been a move in the right direction. I am settled in my new place; but, even prior to that I was already becoming accustomed to my new life and I like it, less pressure.

Lets have some Christmas cheer via Cheech and Chong. YouTube - Cheech & Chong - Santa Claus and his Old Lady.

A Passing

My ex-wife apparently had a dream. She had a dream about the mother of someone I grew up with. I knew her as a baby, her family and my family were very tight. Our fathers even went into business together. Her father played music at my wedding. She married someone famous and my wife got to meet her.

Anyways, one of my children told me that after dreaming about my friends mother, she searched on her and found out that my friend had died. I looked it up online and in fact it said that the young lady had died. It happened a little while ago and I had not heard about it.

I have been busy and time passes quickly. I had not checked up on her in a bit and was actually considering contacting her through their secretary. They invited me to one of his shows once and I attended. Afterwards we and the entourage went to dinner together. I only really wanted to talk to her and her mother. I don't claim to have gotten to know the husband, he was pleasant enough; but, not very engaging outside of his circle and I was good with that.

I remember this young lady as 6 years old, she was cute and fun. We had many good times together. I am very sorry for her family friends. This young lady was 6 years younger than me. I am glad that my ex-wife passed on this information to me, it is best to know.

Galazy S III - I saw one

After church today, one of the congregation stopped me to show me his new phone. He showed me how if it didn't recognize his face, you couldn't use it. He put it up next to my face and it didn't recognize me so I couldn't use the phone. I have been talking about this coming technology for some time and the member wanted me to see it in action. He basically said, "Hey, you said this was going to happen and it has".

We have news articles all over the internet discussing how passwords are no longer safe and technologies that allow us to use facial recognition to access our electronics, banking and the internet. That is the future, all transactions recorded and identified specifically to you.

Christmas Shopping and Sermons

I have to give a Christmas sermon. I don't like Christmas services, they are all the same. They don't even have a message or moral. Jesus was born, there were certain things that the Old Testament said that were fulfilled as proof that it was him. We do not know what month or day he was born because it is not stated in the bible. We know what day he died; but, not which day he was born.

Christmas trees, candy canes, giving presents, none of it has anything to do with Jesus. Don't get me wrong, I view Christmas as a nice holiday where you visit family and show your appreciation for them. It is a fun holiday for kids and a lovely tradition. I just don't see how it has anything to do with Christianity.

Every year my mother and I used to watch A Christmas Carol, my kids grew up on "A Christmas Story". Everybody grew up on "A Charlie Brown Christmas"; but, my favorite Christmas show was "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol". It was originally intended as a Broadway play. I am going to include two links to songs from it.

"All Alone in the World" from Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol

Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol - Bob Cratchit Dinner and Song

The last real Christmas celebration was 3 years ago for me. There was a young boy living in my house and we did it for him. It was also the last time I saw one of my aunts, she passed away not long after. Last year I celebrated by visiting a graveside and leaving some flowers and candy canes. I will probably do that again this year.

Today one of my daughters and I went Christmas shopping. Okay, she was getting presents and I just paid for them. It sort of put me in the Christmas spirit, memories of Christmas past.

Judy Garland - Have yourself a Merry little Christmas


One of my biggest problems with Christmas is that it is one of two days a year when a bunch of hypocrites go to church. There are people who go to church for Christmas and Easter and not any other time during the year. They listen to some singing, hear about how Jesus was born and even get dressed up for the occasion. It is the excuse they use for calling themselves Christians when they don't live it during the year. They might even chip in to buy someone a dinner on skid row. Doesn't change a life like participating year round does.

You don't have to go to church to be a Christian. Being a Christian is about how you live your life. Going to church is done in order to learn about Christianity and to share fellowship with other believers. What is the point in going if you already know the story of Jesus' birth and have no intention of having fellowship with other believers. At that point it is just a holiday tradition. As a consequence, my Christmas sermon is not going to be about his birth. It won't have anything to do with the holiday we celebrate as Christmas. Maybe I will give another sermon on sex and read through the Song of Solomon.

Christmas is a find holiday, I just we could take Christ out of it and keep it what it is and was. A time of celebrating that a new year is coming. 2013 is coming dear readers and it is going to be a very interesting year. There is not much we can do about that; but, we can celebrate with our loved ones and enjoy each others company over a nice meal and create memories.

UPDATE

So I gave the Christmas sermon. Basically, I said many of the things I said above.