Good morning. 🥬🥬🥬

11 February 2026

Money is a strange invention when you stop and think about it. We trade real things—our time, our labor, our needs—for little pieces of paper that we can then trade for something else. And these days, we don’t even touch the paper. Instead, we’re given digital credits in accounts held by financial institutions that promise to hand over the paper if we ever ask for it. Most of the time, though, we just swipe a little plastic card and the value moves from one place to another.

I’m not entirely sure where I’m going with this, except to say that most transactions now happen electronically. Maybe I’ve wandered into a subject that’s a bit bigger than I intended.

I can still remember the first ATM I ever used. Early ’80s, Las Cruces, New Mexico. Before that, if I wanted cash, I had to walk into the bank and write a check, or buy something with a check and write it for twenty dollars over—back when that was common. I think it still happens, but you don’t see many people writing checks in the supermarket anymore.

What really amazed me came around the turn of the century. My wife and I had just returned to the States after three years in Germany, and suddenly people were paying for gas right at the pump with credit cards. I thought that was wonderful. No more going inside, no more prepaying—which always annoyed me. You just slip in your card, pump your gas, and drive away.

I’m out of room now, but I was starting to think about the full‑service stations of years past. Another time, maybe.

“Money is a strange business. People who haven’t got it, worry about it. And people who have, are full of worries too.” — Alec Guinness

“We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.” — Marshall McLuhan

“You never step in the same river twice.” — Heraclitus

#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #nature #morning #plant #elephantear #technology #money

#FungiFriday 🍄‍🟫 8am＠JP
#菌曜日 おはようございます

Once upon a time, there was a #beechtree. Trees had no ears, so they knew no sound.

The beech tree became sad and shed sap. Then elephant ear mushrooms grew, and the beech noticed the sound of rain falling.

Look closely at the #mushrooms growing on the tree. They are ears, right? 🌲👂

　
あるところに #ブナの木 がありました、木には耳がありませんので音を知りませんでした

悲しくて樹液の涙を流していたところに #カンゾウタケ が生え、ブナはしとしと雨が降る音に気がつきました

木に生える #キノコ をよく見て下さい耳でしょう？🌲👂
#aiart #copilot #elephantear

#Colocasia gigantea

#ElephantEar #giant #Araceae #flower #leaf

Three years ago when my interest in houseplants took off, I bought an Alocasia Kuching Mask on sale. It was quite small and had a single leaf. It spends summers outside and the rest of the year inside, and it has grown into a giant - and this week it flowered for the first time! I did not expect that!

#alocasia #houseplants #tropicalplants #elephantear

Good morning. 🥬🥬🥬

20 August 2023

It will be another hot day today. It's supposed to reach 105 degrees Fahrenheit (~40 degrees Celius). The high humility will raise the "feels like temperature."

One of my quirks is that I will sometimes use the wrong word on purpose just to get a reaction. When out in a store with my wife in the perfume section, I can't help but to ask for some of that channel number five (instead of Chanel); Corny? Maybe, but I find it amusing. When we eat at a Chinese restaurant, and we get our fortune cookies, I always read mine out loud and say, "your wife is a very lucky woman." At which point my wife will say "it doesn't say that" and reach for my fortune. Hmmm ... another thing I like to do with my wife is to refer to all large leaf plants as elephant ears, I like to listen to her correct me.

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.” - Steve Martin

#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #morning #humor #ElephantEar