RH Factors' Friday Digest

I don't have a specific thing to blog about today, so I'll use this opportunity to include a variety of things that I've been wanting to post about. As they say on Sesame Street, this "Reader's Digest" style edition is brought to you by the letter "B"

First a couple of pictures I don't think I've ever shared these "nature" pictures that I took a recently.

The beautiful butterfly landed on our carport while I was outside grilling dinner one evening earlier this month. 

A friend of mine who likes taking pictures of wildlife identified it for me through and exchange on Facebook. Unfortunately I don't remember the name he told me but it did have the word "Zebra" in it.  

This cardinal landed on the railing in front of my parking space as I was on my way to work one day back in May. The lighting on this picture isn't all that great because I was pretty far away. While the cardinal is the state bird of Kentucky, seeing them was a rarity in New Jersey where I grew up. So spotting one is still kinda special to me. 

Because I worked so hard and so long on building it I want to make sure that my Lego VW van is protected from coming apart again. So I now have it mounted, stabilized, and will keep it in this plastic display case. I plan on putting it on the shelf on the top of my new "rolltop" so that I can see every time I work at my desktop computer. 

I was going to decorate the case with stickers of peace signs and smiley faces like back in the 70's and a back ground picture simulating that the van was sitting in a campground. But I decided against it. 

Nevertheless in my research for a campsite scene to put in the background I found an interesting picture. 

  
I think it's so cool that I found an actual  red & white VW van camper parked at a campsite. 

There is something I want to mention about how modern technology has enhanced my experience of reading. For the last couple of year I've been buying and reading most of my books on a Kindle HD tablet. It's connected to the internet through WiFi. 

I like to read biographies. When I am reading specifically about a historic event or something that was part of a "public" forum, I no longer wait until later to find out more about it. 

I can actually stop and do a "Google" search to see what other resources say about what's mentioned in the book or go to You Tube to actually watch it.  

For example, I am currently reading about the life of Muppet creator, Jim Henson. In discussing the early stages of Henson's career, the book mentions the Muppets commercials for Wilkins coffee and the Ralston Purina dog food companies; Rowlf the dog's very popular appearances on The Jimmy Dean Show; and Henson's first live action film, "Time Piece."

Although the book did an adequate job of explaining what the all of these things were, I was able to understand them better by watching all of them on You Tube. 

Being able to do that makes reading so much more enjoyable and a memorable experience. 

Digital versions of new books are starting to take advantage of mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets, ability to access the internet. 

Lou Mongello's "102 Ways" book about planning and saving for and at Walt Disney World does a great job with this. It is jam packed with web address links that expands on the information the book.  

Of course, the internet has made nearly everything, for the most part, so much better. I mean it does have it's drawbacks; but being able to access information about almost anything at any time is just something that I still find amazing. 

That's about it for this Friday Digest edition of RHFactors. 

The weekend is coming up and I've got some things going on that will give me a couple of things that are a little more interesting to write about than butterflies, birds, buses, and books. So y'all come back now ya hear? :)