I love seeing the inventive Google logos for special occasions. And interestingly enough, a lady I work with has a daughter who was selected to represent Utah for her age group by creating a Google logo to a specific theme. Ultimately, she did not take the overall (national) competition, but she did a great job and had a wonderful experience.
Today's logo for me was absoultely amazing. All of the knobs and switches were adjustable and functional. You could actually play the virtual Moog synthesizer. And record and play back your recording. All this in about three square inches. The original synth was much larger (and heavier).
Maybe I'm so easily intrigued because when I was born there was only radio and black and white TV and man had never ventured further than a few thousand feet above the earth.
We have so much that is not just interesting, but a blessing. We take far too much for granted.
I don't have to walk anywhere unless I want to.
I think nothing of traveling over 50 miles a day to work and back. One hundred years ago people didn't even consider going so far each day, for most it would have taken them more than a day to go that far.
I can listen to a wide variety of music, spoken word, or even watch video on a device that fits in my pocket.
I'm writing this and with much less effort than it takes to post a letter (and at no cost) making it available to pretty much anyone on earth.

What To Do With a Brown Banana

It kind of grosses some people out, but I actually eat bananas that look like this (even without defiling them as I propose below). Frankly, the type of bananas I can't stand are the ones that crunch like apples, even mushy apples. Anyhow, I have a reputation for this perversion at work, so several people I work with, and who find it difficult to throw food away, even though they themselves will not eat it, bring me offerings of "overripe" bananas, as if I am some tropical island deity. 

So here is one way I consume these that enhances the already brown color, adds considerably to the calorie count, and very nearly succeeds in making a healthy, raw, fruit into a decadent  pleasure.

Take one banana of about the ripeness reflected in the accompanying picture, peel it, and place it on a plate.

Add 2 Tablespoons of Nutella.

Vigorously combine the two ingredients with a fork.

Spread the result on fresh homemade bread or waffles.

Buon Appetito!

... Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair! ...

Some more of Shelly's sonnet:

... Two vast and trunkless legs of stone,
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read ...

I recall visiting Jericho, which archaeologists believe is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. There was not much going on there when I visited, but perhaps since they lost the walls, it isn't much to speak of anymore. There was a snowy North wind when I visited Stonehenge, so most of my fellow tourists didn't even get out of the tour bus. The road through central Rome where Caesar paraded his war trophies would make some hiking trails I've been on look well cared for. And all this came to mind as I walked this morning through what was, when I moved into the neighborhood about 21 years ago, the vineyard and orchard of an ambitious older gentleman who still cared for them. The house and yard have been gone for four or five years now and the entire area has been razed awaiting some real estate developer's magic touch. That's the lesson of Ecclesiastes 1.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. That's the Lord in Matthew 24:35
As I look toward another new year, the 60th in my mortal experience, I find both Ecclesiastes 1 and Matthew 24:35 comforting. This too will pass.