A few more photos from years ago...
An adult who helped David when he was just a young’un invited our family to an Orioles game at Camden Yards. We decided to make a whole day of it so we headed to Baltimore early in the day and spent hours enjoying the sites around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. This picture of a very young David brings back wonderful memories. He was such fun!
So... I need to post some pictures. I was going through some of my older pictures and found a few I should probably share. These are pictures I really enjoyed. I hope you do as well.
Thirty years later, I still hold that belief. Thirty additional years and thousands of new bands have not changed the fact (not merely my belief... FACT) that Led Zeppelin is the best band in the history of the world.
When a band puts out music written with outstanding musicianship, that music stands the test of time and works even in different genres. Have you ever considered what Led Zeppelin would sound like if played by a symphony orchestra, an easy listening group, or perhaps by a bluegrass band? That’s difficult to think of, unless you actually listen to it. Led Zeppelin has been translated into every imaginable musical genre and comes out sounding great no matter what! It’s quite simply phenomenal music that is appreciated by people from every background—well, with the single exception of those who think they are too holy to appreciate God given talent when God gave that talent to someone from a different philosophical stripe.
My office in D.C. is directly across the Potomac River from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Two months ago the American Music Association honored Led Zeppelin, and the venue for this event was the Kennedy Center. And here is that event:
Wow!!! What a great band!
Thank you Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and Jason Bonham!
UPDATE — I have just listened to this incredible performance of Led Zeppelin songs again. Oh my goodness! Oh my! Oh! Can music be more wonderful? Oh ... Led Zeppelin!!! Wow !!!!!
I LOVE MUSIC!!!!
Hi Lydia
There are patterns on the internet that have been prepared for seamless repetition. You could quite likely use these without even having to upload the graphic file to your web site. All you would need to do is point your HTML/CSS code for the background to the proper location on the web.
Here's an example in which I will apply a seamless repeatable image to the background of a CSS (Cascading Styles Sheets) element. CSS/HTML elements are always blocks, so it’s relatively easy to create a callout box or other rectangular element with a background fill.
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
The graphic for this is already on the internet at http://www.unsigneddesign.com/Seamless_background_textures/thumbs/seamlesstexture21_1200.jpg. In order to create the seamless background I used the HTML paragraph tag (<p>) and applied CSS code to create the background effect. The CSS code is as follows:
padding: 24px;
background-image: url('http://www.unsigneddesign.com/Seamless_background_textures/thumbs/seamlesstexture21_1200.jpg');
background-repeat: repeat
In order to make that work inside the HTML, you would code it as follows:
<p style="padding 24px;
background-image: url('http://www.unsigneddesign.com/Seamless_background_textures/thumbs/seamlesstexture21_1200.jpg');
background-repeat: repeat;">
That’s it. Let me know if that makes sense or is completely confusing.
“When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
—Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
ime for a revolution? I have never seen such a concerted effort to remove liberties from the American people as we are seeing from our president and congress right now. It is quite clear that the president has turned his back on his oath to defend and uphold the Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson once said, every generation needs its own revolution. He, better than any of our other founding fathers, understood the tendency for governments to get out of control and turn to tyranny. Our nation has seen generation after generation come and go and, thanks to the clear thinking of our founders, it took quite a while to fall into the danger of rank tyranny we are now facing. But... here we are.
Perhaps it’s time for a revolution.
Tyranny usually needs to silence the church because God tells us how to live as free men. Christ purchased the chains of our slavery and set us free. Just as Tyranny demands silence from the Christians, freedom demands holy living as taught in the Scriptures. When the church’s voice is silenced our freedom is lost.
In 1835 the French philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville, wrote Democracy in America [read it for free here!]. Based on what he had learned from visiting the United States and studying her government and social constructs, de Tocqueville wrote, “Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot.... How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie is not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is relaxed? And what can be done with a people who are their own masters if they are not submissive to the Deity?”
Whenever the forces of evil have held the church under their thumb, heroes have arisen. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these heroes have refused to bow to the authority of a ruler who opposed and despised God. These men and women of character and principle have spoken the truth when tyrannical rulers attempted to suppress that truth.
In America we have grown so accustomed to our freedoms that recent generations have forgotten that these freedoms were won by supreme sacrifice and commitment. That which the forces of tyranny have failed to accomplish in the past has been accomplished in the United States by generation after generation living under the freedoms provided by our forefathers. Each successive generation has grown more complacent and has increasingly taken for granted the freedoms our ancestors enjoyed because they worshiped and served God. The voice of the church has been silenced.
We are no longer a Christian nation. But in the midst of increasing sinfulness the churches of our nation have chosen to remain silent. Within the walls of the Church we repeat the old doctrines and creeds but we do not live holy lives—we do not stand when the enemy says "bow." We do not lay our lives on the line to save the life of another. The legal community uses a phrase that would be good for us to understand and inculcate in our daily lives—“He who is silent is understood to consent.”
The Christian songwriter Keith Green wrote, “The world is sleeping in the dark that the church just can’t fight because it’s asleep in the light.” We know the truth but we have ceased to proclaim it.
This is a call to our religious leaders and to each of us who knows the truth of Jesus Christ. We must proclaim the truth with a loud voice. We cannot let our society continue down the path of destruction known as abortion, euthanasia and infanticide... and, frankly, gun control. While God’s little ones are being slaughtered in the streets we cannot sit inside our pristine cathedrals and congratulate one another with prayers such as "God, I thank you, that I am not as other men are" as the Pharisee did in Luke 18. We must shout from the pulpits and then from the streets, "God be merciful to us—we are sinners." We must proclaim the truth that human life is sacred. We must become the "salt of the earth" so that God can use us in His war against evil.
Although this post is aimed at our church leaders, we all need to do our part in this battle. God has called us to be heroes. As the apostle Paul said in Romans 10:14–15 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?
Let’s determine right now to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the pulpits of this land, and in so doing send the people of our churches to preach this truth in the streets. Our voices must not be silenced any longer.
Our future depends on it.
I’ve often said that liberalism is evidence of severe brain damage. I think Piers Morgan thought I needed an example to help bolster my claim.
love photography. I guess if you read this blog even only once a year you already know that. But here is another reminder to me of why I love photography so much.
This past Saturday we did a road trip to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, to see what it’s like during the Christmas season. It was beautiful, as always. And the crisp weather and rapidly approaching holiday cleared the streets of tourists, allowing us to stroll the streets in relative privacy. The serenity that covered the town paralleled the beautiful Christmas decorations that lined the avenues. When the bells on the church began ringing the hour, the scene was almost complete. The only thing remaining to make this the perfect scene was falling snow. But in West Virginia in early December, that’s not a common thing. Maybe we can go back when the next snow storm hits. After all, it’s less than 30 miles from our house.
But back to photography... The day was beautiful, with clear skies and light, wispy clouds. And most of my photos from the day show that. But when I wanted to take pictures of the grand Catholic church in Harpers Ferry, there was a family taking a great amount of time take family portraits on the steps of the church. I don’t blame them—it’s a beautiful place for portraits. But, it meant that there were people in the way of what could have been a beautiful picture of the church from where I was standing. So I lowered the exposure to cast the church as a silhouette and discovered that increasing the exposure just slightly past the point of silhoette allowed me to get some detail in the picture while rendering the people somewhat dark so they would not be a distraction.
I added these first three pictures to give you an idea about the way the day actually looked. Later in the day, the shadows were long and made the streets a little dimmer, but overall the day was quite bright and sunny. In the early afternoon, some wonderful clouds rolled in behind the church. The were not dark at all, but gave a great texture to the sky. It was quite beautiful. But as I underexposed the picture of the church to eliminate the distraction, I found that the clouds became wonderfully ominous.
Then, in keeping with the somewhat ominous look of the underexposed clouds, I reduced the color saturation in one of the resulting photos and ended up with a wonderfully ominous and other-worldly scene. Not Christmassy at all... but very cool.
