What a week it has been!  I almost cut my fingers off with my mini-chainsaw, I’ve been running around like a maniac trying to get things done so I would have time to work on this issue.  I had a BUNCH of friends over on Sunday to cut down trees and scrub and they did SO MUCH MORE than I thought they were going to do (the same day I almost cut my fingers off).  Here’s the pile of scrap we have left over that is going to be chipped up the weekend of the 10th of August.

Yeah, the pictures don’t really do it justice.  It is HUGE!  I should’ve taken pictures along the way, but … well … there was blood and stuff.

Anyway, I DIDN’T cut off my fingers, I’m currently typing away with all ten of them, and all is well, so let’s not waste any more time since time is the one thing I don’t have right now and get right to the laughter and stuff!

There have been lots of requests for my email address, so I guess it’s something that I have to put in the issue more often, so very official like here you go.  The website is dragonlaffs.com and the best email to reach me is: impishdragon@dragonlaffs.com.  How’s that?

If you get it, you get it.

Okay, Jerry M. asked me to send pictures of the Tri-plane.  It’s really not much and it comes from a kit, but here you go…

It was fun to build.

There’s a hint to the last Pinto picture.

Yeah, this is one of those really weird ones that our dear Stephanie loves to send in.  It’s a goodie.

‘Robot suicide’ rocks South Korea, authorities investigate a ‘depressed’ cyborg’s sudden ‘death’ | World News – Hindustan Times

Now, AFTER you read the article, Stephanie has some questions for us:

If Robot Sophia was granted full Saudi Arabian citizenship, with all the privileges thereof, who decided to “deactivate” her? 

Why was she deactivated?

As a citizen, no one owned her, part of citizenship, right?

Did she decide to deactivate?

Would her deactivation not be classified as murder?

Why has no one been charged?

This next one is the newest purchase for my wall…

You might remember what the wall used to look like, this is what it looks like now…

Please don’t ride with me if you’re going to scream and grab the dash every time we run off the road. It makes me nervous.

Another weird one from Steph… this one is called the Tasselled Wobbegong.  Yeah, I got nuthin’!

Okay guys!  Meme this picture!!!!  Let’s hear it!

This one is from Vincent L.  I’m going to give you the email the same way that I got it.  Click on the title to follow the link.  I signed the petition and I urge you to as well.

Navy Veterans Face Radiation Peril — Demand Justice Now 1,682 signatures toward our 30,000 Goal

Not sure if you came across this article, once again our vets lack support from our elected officials. I don’t anyone who has been exposed but  I live in an area with a high percentage of vets.

Knowing that the minister was very fond of cherry brandy, one of the church elders offered to present him with a bottle on one consideration – that the pastor acknowledge receipt of the gift in the church paper.

“Gladly,” responded the good man.

When the church magazine came out a few days later, the elder turned at once to the “appreciation” column. There he read: “The minister extends his thanks to Elder Brown for his gift of fruit and for the spirit in which it was given.”

Yeah, if you are outdoors. 
If you’re indoors, it’s a more complicated process.  
Do I need it anymore?
If the answer is yes, is there a younger person whom I can get to pick it up for me?
If I don’t need it, if I leave it there, will the dogs chew it up and either:
a) Make a mess?
b) Hurt themselves?
If the answer to either a or b above is yes, is there a younger person whom I can get to pick it up for me?
Then you can even get into a whole scale of:
How much of a mess and how long until a younger person is likely to appear?

This next picture is what I came home to the other night from Jail Ministry:

That’s Izzy and Pepper.  And if you look to the left and just above Izzy’s head, you can just barely see Willow’s ear sticking out of her kennel.  All three of them were perfectly sound asleep.

A newlywed sailor was transferred to a remote island in the South Pacific for 2 years. He soon began to miss his new wife, so he wrote her a letter.

“My darling,” he wrote, “it looks like we’re going to be apart for a very long time. Already I’m starting to miss you and there’s really not much to do here in the evenings. Besides that, we’re constantly surrounded by attractive young native girls. Do you think if I had a hobby of some kind I would not be so tempted?”

So his wife sent him back a harmonica saying, “Why don’t you learn to play this?”

Eventually his tour of duty came to an end and he rushed back to his  wife. “Darling,” he said, “I can’t wait to get you into bed so that we can make passionate love!”

“First, let me see you play that harmonica!”

The other old joke I remember was, “Whenever you argue with a woman, you’re either right or you’re wrong.  And when you’re right, apologize immediately.”

A certain little girl, when asked her name, would reply, “I’m Mr. Sugarbrown’s daughter.”

Her mother told her this was wrong, she must say,  “I’m Jane Sugarbrown.”

The Vicar spoke to her in Sunday School and said, “Aren’t you Mr. Sugarbrown’s daughter?”

She replied, “I thought was, but mother says I’m not.”

A plumber was called to a woman’s apartment in New York to repair a leaking pipe.

When he arrived he was pleased to discover that the woman was quite a luscious, well-stacked babe, and during the course of the afternoon the two became extremely friendly.

About 4:30 p.m. the phone rang, disturbing their bedroom shenanigans.

“That was my husband,” she said, “He’s on his way home, but he’s going back to the office around 8.

Come back then, dear, and we can take up where we left off.”

The union plumber looked at the woman in disbelief. “What? On my own time??” 

Didn’t that place use to be a Dollar General?

Because of a lack of time, just taking them in the order they are in the folder, no theme intended.

So, I read today that while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress on Wednesday, “Iran’s Useful Idiots” were at work outside the Capitol protesting, burning flags, causing trouble, while in New York they were pulling down the American flag and putting up the Palestinian flag, and there were traitorous idiots INSIDE the Capitol sitting on their hands, boycotting his speech all together and there was even one unamerican witch (I may have misspelled that) Rashida Talib (D-Michigan) holding up a sign that said “war criminal”.  Not to mention, the Vice-president, who wants to be president, couldn’t even bother to be there, she was speaking at a sorority event in Indianapolis.  People, if that doesn’t tell you EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW about who to vote for in November, than you are either delusional, clueless, or completely out of touch with the real world. 

It was brought up that the burning or desecration of the American Flag should be punishable with 1 year in prison. If you can be punished with a hate crime for doing that to the stupid rainbow flag or just about anyone else’s flag as a hate crime, (it’s actually much WORSE than a year in prison) than it ought to be the same thing for the American Flag.

And if anything that I’ve said angers anyone out there, say your peace (piece?) and prove me wrong!

Leonardo da Vinci is among the most talented and insightful individuals to ever share our planet. His indelible legacy as a masterful painter persists to this day, as works such as the “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper” can attest.

In addition to being a prolific Renaissance artist, Leonardo was also a brilliant theorist. His views on the human condition were ahead of their time and remain as relevant today as they were more than 500 years ago.

Leonardo kept an extensive series of notebooks and journals to chronicle his thoughts on topics such as painting, anatomy, botany, and paleontology, to name just a few. These original sources provide us with an invaluable direct look into the mind of this great polymath, whose brilliant philosophical observations have inspired countless others over the centuries.

In honor of this incredible artist and thinker, here are 12 quotes that illustrate Leonardo da Vinci’s thoughts on life and that can be used as guiding principles on our own personal journeys.

Poor is the pupil that does not surpass his master.

Leonardo preached the importance of continually seeking out knowledge. According to his philosophy, an effective education involves taking the basics one learns as a student and using them to expand the mind even further.

Experience never errs; it is only your judgments that err by promising themselves effects such as are not caused by your experiments.

Ever the practical theorist, Leonardo believed trial and error to be the foundation of truth. In turn, he thought all fallacies arise from untested personal beliefs.

It is easier to contend with evil at the first than at the last.

It’s best to tackle the roots of evil when they first present themselves Leonardo posited. Waiting too long allows those bad influences to grow stronger and potentially become unmanageable.

Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but rather memory.

Leonardo believed all men are equal and that those who claim to have power tend to rely on perception rather than fact to maintain their control.

The knowledge of past times and of the places on the earth is both an ornament and nutriment to the human mind.

It’s important to remember the past, according to Leonardo, as those who choose to ignore history are doomed to repeat prior mistakes.

We ought not to desire the impossible.

When setting personal goals, Leonardo believed in the importance of remaining grounded and seeking out realistically achievable end results.

The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.

According to Leonardo, our own beliefs are often responsible for guiding us down the wrong path. The great thinker thought important decisions should be based on scientific methods rather than on gut feelings.

As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.

Leonardo believed that in order to leave this Earth feeling content, we must consciously live fulfilling lives while we’re here.

Necessity is the mistress and guide of nature.

Leonardo claimed that evolution arises out of necessity. It’s need, rather than want, that makes the world grow stronger and develop more fully.

To lie is so vile, that even if it were in speaking well of godly things it would take off something from God’s grace; and Truth is so excellent, that if it praises but small things they become noble.

To Leonardo (and surely to many of us), lying is a wholly reprehensible action, considering the destruction and chaos it’s sure to bring about . Telling the truth, on the other hand, can highlight the value and virtue of even the littlest things.

Avoid studies of which the result dies with the worker.

It’s imperative to leave behind a worthy legacy, per Leonardo. We should do what we can to ensure our work doesn’t die with us and that our pursuits continue to inspire others after we’re gone.

Just as iron rusts unless it is used, and water putrefies or, in cold, turns to ice, so our intellect spoils unless it is kept in use.

Leonardo was a huge proponent of staying eternally curious and constantly exercising one’s mind so it doesn’t become stale with disuse. As it happens, we’re big proponents of that as well.

I hate women because they always know where things are.

James Thurber (1894 – 1961)

Doctor, doctor, people tell me I’m a wheelbarrow.

Don’t let people push you around.

An american football coach walked into the locker room before a game, looked over to his star player and said, “I’m not supposed to let you play since you failed math, but we need you in there. So, what I have to do is ask you a math question, and if you get it right, you can play.”

The player agreed, so coach looked into his eyes intently and asked, “Okay, now concentrate hard and tell me the answer to this. What is two plus two?”

The player thought for a moment and then answered, “4?”

“Did you say 4?” the coach exclaimed, excited that he had got it right.

Suddenly all the other players on the team began screaming…, “Come on coach, give him another chance!”

The preacher was preaching with all his might. The subject was SIN, and he was most certainly ‘against’  sin.

A girl, with a wonderful figure, and not nearly enough clothes to hide much skin, came in late. She strode down the center aisle, close to the front, and sat down.

It was plain to the preacher that he had lost the men in his audience to this voluptuous sex-object.

He shook a fist at her and said, “You are the Jezebel the good book tells us about. You have got the mind of every man in this building on evil thoughts and not good thoughts. But I am a man of God! You don’t affect me, and right now up in Heaven, you fallen woman…..Saint Finger is shaking his Peter at you!!”

PETE: How’s your new pet fish doing? You told me he was really something special.

RONNY: To tell you the truth, I’m really disappointed in him. The guy who sold him to me said I could teach him to sing like a bird.

PETE: You bought a fish because you thought you could teach him to sing like a bird? I can’t believe it!

RONNY: Well, yeah. After all, he’s a parrot-fish.

PETE: I hate to tell you this, but while you might be able to teach a parrot-bird to sing, you’re never going to get anywhere with a parrot-fish.

RONNY: That’s what you think! He can sing all right. The thing is, he keeps singing off-key. It’s driving me crazy. . . . Do you know how hard it is to tuna fish?

Didn’t you just know that was coming? Couldn’t you just see it?  Anticipate it?  Oh well, with that, we’ll do just this last one…

And call it the end of another show.  Not that I still don’t have an awful lot I want to say, but there just isn’t any time to do things any more it seems.   I missed my Thursday deadline, as you all well know and now, if I don’t hurry, I’ll miss the Friday one as well.

So, my dear friends, until Monday (we can only hope), may our God truly bless you and keep you and smile upon your face.  My love to you all.

Cheers!

Impish Dragon