Go Joe!

My amazing friend Joe Sangl is featured on the cover of this month's Money magazine.

Here's part of their story at Money.com

Vile

If you're interested, you can read more about Westboro Baptist Church's latest protest here.

-- -- --

When a king sits on his throne to judge,
he winnows out all evil with his eyes.

Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure;
I am clean and without sin"?

Differing weights and differing measures—
the LORD detests them both.
- Proverbs 20: 8-10

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
- John 8: 7


How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
- Luke 6: 42

License to Learn

I remember the Saturday morning I completed my oral exam and check ride and proudly showed Rob, the flying instructor, my brand new private pilot's license.

He glanced down at my license and handed it right back to me. "Remember, it says Pilot License - but it's actually a Learner's License."

-- -- --
Having a Pilot's License doesn't mean you've got the experience to have learned all there is to know about flying. A license doesn't keep you from crashing or making mistakes. Having a license doesn't entitle you to sit back in the cockpit and watch the clouds drift by under your wings.

Having a license has little to do with excellence or decision-making skills; only time and experience builds good judgment.

A license merely means you've met the minimum requirements ... and the best way to stay alive in the air is by applying what little you've learned.

And never stop learning.

Now is NOT the time to give up

Come to think of it, there's never a good time to quit.

Much less let go ... and throw your hands up in the air.

Oye Como Va

Almost immediately after this morning's post I was walking across the HH parking lot when a minivan pulled up beside me.

The driver, a middle-aged man in his late 30s, opened his door and asked me, "Habla Espanol?" The woman in the passenger seat seemed distracted and paid no attention.

I looked back and shrugged, "Poquito." His face broadened into a smile of relief that hinted Ah, finally!

-- --
They were lost. He knew his destination, but insisted upon driving a specific road neither of us could find on the map.

My Spanish is only what's left over from grade school ... but what if I'd told him, "Mi hermano, pero todos los caminos va a su destino!" My brother, but every road goes to your destination!

He woulda thought I was crazy.

Claro.

You sinners see what I got? Look who I am - and be impressed

"Hey waitress! Don't you know who I are!?"


My heart is not proud, O LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
-Psalm 131:1


Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
-Romans 12:16


The LORD detests all the proud of heart.
Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
-Proverbs 16:5

The Georgia Guidestones

Since they are, after all, located in Georgia, the Georgia Guidestones need one more message for future generations:


You Can't Get There From Here.

haw haw, ya'll

Calypso's new helm

OK jk.

The photo is actually from a MTI Series 39.

Dead Letter Faith: no forwarding address

Dead Letter:

1. A law, ordinance, etc., that has lost its force but has not been formally repealed or abolished.

2. A letter that cannot reach the addressee or be returned to the sender, usually because of incorrect address, and that is sent to and handled in a special division or department (dead-letter office) of a general post office.

Snittering (updated)

"The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." -Archilochus
Maybe, but the ridgeback doesn't know what Archilochus is talking about.

-- ---

What's Snittering? Snittering would be a blog post consisting of news snippets.

Snittering occurs when a blogger lists several topics of relevance or interest, and presents them with a minimum of discussion or further detail.

-- -- Thursday's Snitters:

Oxymorons include Military Intelligence. Jumbo Shrimp. Legally Drunk. Exact Estimate. New York Culture. Rap Music.
Can we finally add "Safe Sex"" to the list, please?


-from today's "Death by Plastic" Department:
"WASHINGTON — The credit crisis triggered by bad home loans is spreading to other areas, forcing banks to tighten credit and probably extending the credit crisis that's dragging down the economy well into next year, and perhaps beyond.

""In fact, we believe that what lies ahead will be worse than what is behind us," Whitney and colleagues at Oppenheimer & Co. wrote in a lengthy report last month about threats faced by big national banks, including Bank of America, Wachovia and others." - source


-from todays "Gas is Still Cheap, I'm tellin' ya!" Department:
Just read this.


I think my CD player has a bug:


No idea what it is, but I found this guy riding one of the speaker grilles in the helm the other morning. Poor thing looks like he evolved from a cotton swab and a toothpick; Darwin said it could happen.

Bless his heart.

Is it Wednesday already?

Ok, time to smile. Again. It won't hurt, I promise.

"There is not enough time to do all the nothing we want to do." - Bill Watterson "

Uh, like getting up at 4 AM and watching Miami Vice?

Whatcha watching?

Miami Vice (2006)



The HD-DVD version (not the theatrical release) from NetFlix came last week; I've probably watched the entire movie 8 times in the past 5 days. Here's someone else's review from epinions:

"Despite the snazzy previews and hottie stars Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, Miami Vice turned out to be heavy-handed, pretentious, and generally no fun. By taking itself too seriously, Miami Vice ruined a perfectly good series of action scenes. Cheesy lines of dialogue abound. Think: “Why do I get the feeling everyone knows we're here 15 blocks out?” “'Cause everyone knows we're here 15 blocks out.” The “love scenes” feel like low-budget porn or bad music videos. Mr_chelledun and I actually laughed out loud several times at the corniness and absurdity of it all."

Maybe the author was expecting either a corny send-off to the 80s TV show, or a fast & furious shoot-'em-up action film, which Miami Vice is definitely not. Unless lack of use has caused your brain to atrophy to the size of a wart, movies should be more than fun and a perfectly good series of action scenes.

So why have I watched so many times?

I had to watch Miami Vice four times just to start getting a handle on what was going on. Seriously. And each time I watched, I saw & learned things I'd totally missed the last time around. Things that, added together, made for a BIGGER picture. Subtleties that leave an impression you can still feel the morning after.

I'm just not a big fan of movies that show like a slap in the face & shout, "Here I am, sport. What you see is all there is ... take it or leave it."

The kind of movie you've forgotten before you leave the theater.



-- -- --
Best lines from Miami Vice, imho:

Isabella: Would you find me?
Det. James 'Sonny' Crockett: Yes, I would.


Det. James 'Sonny' Crockett: Hola, chica.
Isabella: Hola, chico.

Oh yeah, it's "THEIR GOD" again (updated)

Must be a fad; seems like hardly a week goes by without someone telling me that "Their God" is different. Meaning, "Their God" is better. Or that "Their God" is new and improved.

I think what they're trying to say is that "Their God" is custom-made ... with a new model coming out each fall of every year.

--
See, "Their God" is cooler than the old God because "Their God" approves of and smiles down on everything they (and their friends) do in their lives. Without any promise or hint of consequences.

"Their God" tells them it's OK to lie, cheat, steal, fornicate, lose their temper, get fall-down drunk, consult astrologers, commit adultery, smoke pot, curse, hate, watch porn ... the list of approved behavior is as large as "Their God" has the imagination to make it.

People who worship "Their God" believe "Their God" is all about feeling comfy and having fun, because "Their God" only wants them to be happy. That's why "Their God" exists, after all.

Folks who've discovered "Their God" never tire of explaining that believing in the old God wouldn't let them do all the things they really, really wanted in their lives.

Now, I don't doubt that one for a minute.

-- -- --
One day, maybe, someone will explain to me how they came to know so much about "Their God." Maybe their knowledge about "Their God" came from Oprah, Dr. Phil or the latest book on the New York Times Best Sellers List.

Maybe Uncle Rusty has a talking dog that reveals things to them in their dreams.

But one thing's certain and absolute: "Their God" sure doesn't have much at all to do with how God describes himself in scripture.

Tom Harpur: blindly falling

You can find out who Tom Harpur is somewhere else.

But I'll paraphrase one of Tom Harpur's critical points; you decide the merits of his argument for yourself.

"Look at all the things recorded in the gospels following Christ's crucifixion that are never mentioned in secular sources from the same period.

"Like, the temple curtain was allegedly ripped open. A solar eclipse took place. There was an earthquake that opened tombs, and dead people were walking around. Those should all be obvious things, yet somehow none of that is recorded or mentioned during those times anywhere outside of the gospels."

Ok, so the Isis/Horace myth allegedly pre-dates Christ's resurrection by 2500 years. That should be an obvious thing, yet somehow none of those well-known 2500-year old "similarities to Christ" were recorded or mentioned during that period by the Romans or the temple leaders, who woulda loved any excuse to discredit the thousands of pesky new Christians running around the countryside proclaiming "HE IS RISEN."

Just saying ... and neither could the Romans or the temple priests produce Christ's body to contradict the gospel accounts.

Too hard to handle

This morning I went shopping for a shirt & started thinking about how the material wealth American believers enjoy compares to what folks living in Third World countries can expect.

A majority of Americans expect a job with a 40-hour work week, a new car every 3 years, the chance to buy and own a house, safe food, prompt health care, a comfortable pension for retirement and a life expectancy approaching almost 80 years.

Third World Citizens work whatever job they can get, have never seen a new car or made a telephone call.

Seems hard to understand why we were born into so much, while believers in the Third World were born into so little.

Maybe we shrug and think, "Wow that's gotta be pretty hard, living with so little."

With so many blessings it's sometimes easy to forget where our wealth came from ... and what about the suggestion that we keep God's commandments and honor him with our offerings?

Naaaah that's just too hard, living with so much.

Isn't there one thing we can all agree on?

There are a few things we can all agree are true.

The sun is yellow.
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
The sun is directly overhead at noon.
The moon comes out at night.
The North Star is the brightest star in the nighttime sky.
A compass needle points north.
Heavy objects fall faster than light objects.
The shortest distance between two points is always a straight line.
Days get shorter in winter and longer in summer.
There is no gravity in outer space.


But all of those things are FALSE, so we'll have to agree on something else.

Blithering

What's Blithering? Blithering means "Blogging on Friday."

I'm still a big Gator fan ...
The SC Department of Natural Resources will issue 1000 alligator hunting permits for this year's Sept 13- Oct 11 season. Hunters will be allowed to kill just one gator, which must be more than 4 feet in length.
www.dnrsc.gov

Wow. Wish that could be incorporated into Fox's new Lake Hartwell reality TV show.


Pitcher this
Analogies are illustrations. Analogies are not postulates, facts or truths. Finding fault with an analogy only dismisses the analogy, not the point:

Let's say you're trying to explain the concept of "water pitcher" to a visitor from another planet. Since you're having trouble communicating in Xkrueg, it seems like a good idea to draw a picture of a water pitcher and suggest, "A water pitcher looks like this."

Then an earthly critic comes along and shrugs, "But YOUR picture doesn't hold water."

Moral: You can't prove (or disprove) a point using analogies. Duh.

Super Bowl Insider
You know the scenario: It's fourth and goal on the One with :06 left on the Super Bowl clock and your team is trailing by 5. So you grab your ball cap because twisting it around backward virtually guarantees victory.

Or you cross and un-cross your legs six times during the final time-out (because your team needs six points to win). Come on, we all do it. Don't we?

In the meantime, ever wondered what the QB is saying in the huddle? Probably something like this:

"OK guys, we trained in the off-season, sacrificed during spring training, played hard during the season and fought our hearts out during the play-offs to finally get to this point.

"Now let's all give 110% ... and just hope our lucky slob sitting in his recliner in Des Moines is watching and remembers to rub his belly counter-clockwise 3 times so we can take this one to the bank. OK on three, break."

I'm quite sure.

Any point asking why?
I woke up around 1:30 AM the other night and couldn't get back to sleep. So I turned on the TV and surfed through the satellite sky until I found a documentary that caught my attention.

In a nutshell, the show's premise was that Christ was a fictional creation and never actually existed: that everything we know about Christ from the gospels was "borrowed" directly from Egyptian myths (some dude named Horace) that have been traced back to 2500 BC.

Is it me, or does it seem like suddenly there's tons of documentaries and "scholarship" coming out to "prove" that either the gospels are fiction, or worse, that Christ himself was a liar.

Wonder why I haven't been seeing as much attention and "scholarship" devoted to Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius, Krishna, Joseph Smith, L. Ron Hubbard or the Dali Lama.

the largest number in the universe

-from Wiki:

"Graham's number, named after Ronald Graham, is a large number often described as the largest finite number that has ever been seriously used in a mathematical proof.

"Guinness World Records even listed Graham's number as the World Champion largest number. Graham's number is much larger than other well known large numbers such as a googol and a googolplex, and even larger than Skewes' number and Moser's number, other well-known large numbers.

"Indeed, there is no concise way to write Graham's number, or any reasonable approximation using conventional mathematical operators. Even power towers (of the form ) are useless for this purpose. It can be most easily notated by recursive means using Knuth's up-arrow notation or the Hyper operator.

G = g₆₄ where ,

-- --- --

Hmmm. Thought I'd seen several church covenants that tacked on enough man-made rules and legalisms to make Graham's Number pale in comparison.

Blittering?

Has anybody already come up with the idea of "Blittering"?

Blittering would be limiting blog posts to 140 words or less. Instead of 140 paragraphs (or pages) per post; guilty.

There, I did it in thirty-six. (104 remaining)

"... and Lord, please help all those other people, too."

"Lord, before I forget, please help all the Christians living in those poor other countries. Please help them not to die of diseases or starve to death or be killed in wars.

"Please help them have clothes and be strong in their suffering. And if it's your will, let please let their children be OK but if they get sick, please don't let them suffer too much before they die.

"Lord I know they don't speak English or look like I do, but that's not their fault. That doesn't make any difference to me so if you get a chance, please do what you can. It wouldn't take very much.

"I guess that's all I can think of for now. Amen.

"Oh PS. You already know this but please get our pastor straightened out. Make sure he keeps both feet on the ground and quits getting the church fathers riled up. Maybe it'd help if the deacons knocked him down a peg or two so he can see how we've always done things, I dunno.

"OK, that's it for me. Amen."

Likeable Quote

Jacob Bronowski - "The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation."

What is an Optimist?

-from today's Take Time to Laugh Department:

An optimist is someone who, regardless of their situation or circumstances, can't help but smile and announce to the world, "So far so good."

:-) Enjoy .....

Are you a Southern Baptist, or what?

My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? - 1 Corinthians 1:11-13

What's wrong with kids now days?

John King was the world's youngest pirate.

According to Wiki, King "joined the crew of Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy while still a juvenile, and is the youngest known pirate on record.

"On November 9, 1716, Bellamy and his crew, sailing the sloop Mary Anne (or Marianne), attacked and captured the Antiguan sloop Bonetta, which was then en route from Antigua to Jamaica. John King, then aged between eight and eleven, was a passenger on the Bonetta. According to Abijah Savage, the Bonetta's commander, the pirates looted the ship for 15 days, during which time King demanded to join Bellamy's crew. "(F)ar from being forced or compelled (to join)," Savage wrote in his report, "he declared he would kill himself if he was restrained, and even threatened his Mother, who was then on board as a passenger."

Related:
Remains Identified as a boy pirate - Boston.com
The Littlest Pirate - unmuseum.org

On Woooooo! Tube

-from Reuters.com

Underground Drinks Party Ends in Mayhem

By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - Police arrested 17 people and had to close six London Underground stations after a party involving thousands of revelers to mark the last day of drinking alcohol on the tube turned ugly.

Six assaults were reported on underground rail staff and police. Several damaged trains had to be withdrawn from service on a night of mayhem that had been dubbed "Last Round on the Underground" by revelers.

The festivities were at first good-natured with partygoers wearing fancy dress as they swigged beer and wine, dancing and singing in the railway carriages.

But police moved in when the mood turned sour and fighting erupted, spoiling what officers had called "a fun event."

The London transport ban on alcohol is designed to make buses, tubes and trains safer for the public but unions fear staff could be put in greater danger when they have to confront those breaking the ban.

tvitter

I tried twittering, really I did, but never managed to quite get a "feel" for what the essence of twittering is all about. (But then I felt supremely confident that HD DVD was gonna triumph all over Blu-Ray, and we see how that turned out. So there.)

-- -- --
But ... but when no one's twittering, don't you wonder what all your friends are watching- at that instant- on TV? See that's what we need tvitter for.

Here's my week at a glance:

Keen Eddie Today 2:30PM 307 SLTH
Faces of Earth Mon 6/2 8:00PM 284 SCI
Extreme Marksmen Mon 6/2 9:00PM 269 HIST
Ancient Asteroid Mon 6/2 11:00PM 276 NGC
Manual Tune Wed 6/4 9:00 PM 269 HIST




If tvitter really existed, I'd likely call mine Notes from the Blue Screen.

Why don't we get drunk and Woooooo!?

-Notes from Marina Life, Vol XIV; Saturday Night Edition


I can almost understand why 18 & 19 year old kids are intrigued by the idea of getting inebriated ... it's something new & untried. That's the superficial appeal.

But for Pete's sake. When you're 40+ years old isn't there something better to do with your time, i.e. your life, than stagger around drunk at 11:15PM with beer can in hand, yelling "Wooooooo!"?

Riled-up, or not?

Don't laugh, but I was a big wrestling fan when I was a kid.

With PPV TV wrestling being what it is now this may sound strange, but I remember being ringside on more than a couple of occasions when thousands of screaming folks were on their feet ... and things seemed seriously ready to get out of hand.

Here's an account from Wikipedia:

"After working in Stampede for a while The Fabulous Kangaroos started to travel across the United States, headlining shows wherever they went due to their ability to rile up crowds with their heel (bad guy) tactics.

"On one occasion in August 1958, The Kangaroos, or "Kangaroo Men" as they were billed, nearly caused a riot in Madison Square Garden during a match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez; the fans began to throw fruit and stones at them. [Remember this happened in New York City, not Belton]

"After the match ended without a decisive winner, the promoters stepped in, turned up the arena lights, and played the National Anthem to stop a potential riot. This was a common tactic used at the time by the New York promoters to prevent riots and help the heels leave the arena unharmed."

Doesn't that seem amazing ... since everybody knows wrestling is "fake"?

Of course, now days crowds are too "sophisticated" & "experienced" to get that excited ... about almost anything.

SD zen

-this post began as an email to a friend

Ba'as, what went wrong with SD cards? I mean,

1. Nobody's ever designed a really sex-e looking SD card (i.e. one that's either transparent, or glows neon-disco while operating)
2. Nobody carries SD cards around on their key rings
3. Nobody seems eager to show you their new SD card: 8 GB? Who cares?
4. Nobody offers to lend or share data from their SD card ... not even if it's in plain view
5. The hottest-sounding name for today's LnG* SD card is SDHC
In comparison, USB flash drives get groovy marketing tags like "DataTraveler" and "Crucial Gizmo!"

All told, it just seems like the poor SD card is, I dunno, kinda square.


* Latest and Greatest

Sacks Spiral; Beyond the Infinite

Note: Like a hurried frog trying to traverse a pond by haphazardly leaping from lily pad to lily pad until it finally misjudges the distance and falls short in water far over its head, too much googling can be a bad thing: after jumping around Wikipedia I landed on Sacks Spiral and promptly went Splash! over my head.
-- -- --

-from Wikipedia:

"The Ulam spiral, or prime spiral (in other languages also called the Ulam cloth) is a simple method of graphing the prime numbers that reveals a pattern which has never been fully explained. It was discovered by the mathematician Stanisław Ulam in 1963, while doodling on scratch paper at a scientific meeting. Ulam, bored that day, wrote down a regular grid of numbers, starting with 1 at the center, and spiraling out:

He then circled all of the prime numbers and he got the following picture:

To his surprise, the circled numbers tended to line up along diagonal lines."

-Then I clicked on Wiki's Sack's Spiral link:

"It differs from Ulam's in three ways: it places points on an Archimedean spiral rather than the square spiral used by Ulam, it places zero in the center of the spiral, and it makes a full rotation for each perfect square while the Ulam spiral places two squares per rotation. Certain curves originating from the origin appear to be unusually dense in prime numbers [...] The extent to which the number spiral's curves are predictive of large primes and composites remains unknown."


I don't understand anything of what they're talking about ... it's just that the Stargate effect in the "Beyond the Infinite" segment of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey kinda resembles Sack's Spiral, doesn't it?

Whatcha readin'?

Death by Black Hole: And other Cosmic Quandaries
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science
-Richard Preston

Moral Authority and "Leadership"

Just got back from dieseling up Black Thunder. Grab a seat, and run these numbers along with me:

21.2346 gallons x $4.659 =
The $98.93 Fill-up


Whoa. Still, fuel is cheap compared to what we're facing ahead.

--
Don't blame the oil companies, politicians (and think that an election will lower oil prices) or the speculator gnomes. And don't point fingers at India, China or anybody else.

Since World War II Americans have expected, or demanded, an extravagant standard of consumption that would be ecologically unsustainable if adopted by the rest of the world. Because we're "the greatest nation on earth and deserve it."

Now that Americans are facing the reality of a free market system that allows new players a seat at the pricing table, is it just coincidence that we're the ones hollering the loudest about the need for Conservation?

In other words, now we want the rest of the world (i.e. the developing nations we perceive as ruining our cheap gas holiday) to do what we never could make ourselves do ... stop consuming so much of the planet's resources.

Otherwise, Americans might not have gas at all for their boat and SUVs.

---
What's the best way to do get the world on board with conservation? US politicians argue we can "use our leadership to teach the world how to conserve." Wow. Talk about arrogance and bold-faced hubris.

If you lived in any other country besides the US, what country would you like assuming the self-appointed mantel of conservation Leadership? Brazil, maybe?

Nope; no matter what country you live in, you don't want any other country butting in and interfering with your internal affairs. Seems like we woulda learned that by now, doesn't it?

Doesn't it?

---
That our politicians would have the gall to suggest the US should appoint itself a "Leadership role" in Conservation is indicative that the same self-deluding mentality that's kept our consumption engine firing on all 12 cylinders for the last 50 years is still alive & remains integral to the national character.

Never mind that an election is just around the corner. Get Out and Vote- for cheap gas!

-- --
Americans like thinking of ourselves as Leaders because Leaders are #1. Leaders are smarter, brighter and more perceptive than the rest of the dummies, right? Doesn't everyone except us want to be led by Team America? Wasn't everyone else born to be followers?

So why do the followers seem to have so much trouble following our Leadership? What's wrong with those foreign guys, anyway? Go Team Go!

Just don't go broke going to the gas pump in the meantime.

-- --
Maybe having just a hint of familiarity and experience with the subject, as well as sharing the consequences of our decisions, would put a few more moral gallons of authority in our leadership tank.

In the meantime, we shouldn't be surprised if the rest of the world ignores us ... or just keeps on laughing.

Hey, gas is cheap!

Look what it costs in Europe:

Germany $8.55 (regular)

Great Britain $8.25

-source

Now think about this: a little while from now, as gasoline inches close to $7 a gallon, we'll look back fondly on the salad days ... when it seemed dirt cheap at just $3.86 a gallon.

Stiltsville

"Your cabin in the sea ..."

Can you imagine standing on the shore on Lake Hartwell, looking to the middle of a tiny inlet and nodding, "That's where I'm putting my house"?

My, how times have changed ... because in Miami during the 1930s, more than a few people did exactly the incredible, and began building houses on pilings along Biscayne Channel. Without having to consult bothersome building codes, zoning ordinances, or anything of the sort.


(above- Miami Springs Power Boat Club, 1950s)

Sadly, in 1992 Hurricane Andrew left just seven of the remaining fourteen houses standing.

Sources
Save Old Stiltsville
Stiltsville

Know Your Dog's (DNA) Pawprint

-from DoggieDNAprint.com

"The public availability of the dog genome has provided the basis for the development of cutting-edge tools and techniques for understanding canine genealogy. We can assess your dog's ancestry population (it's relationship to four ancient ancestral breeds) and display it's characteristics in comparison to a database of existing reference-breed dogs.

"We provide you a fifteen-digit proprietary score that allows you to compare your dog's score to our continually updated database of purebred and mixed breeds allowing increasingly accurate breed identification."

--
Hmmm, wonder how long before a similar service is available for cat owners?

thinking outside the pizza box

I couldn't believe this when I saw it: a 75mm recoilless rifle mounted to an Italian Vespa scooter.

It's for real, too. Roughly 800 AMCA Troupes Aeról Portées Mle. 5s were used by French Airborne Forces in Algeria and Indochina (Viet Nam).

-from Wikipedia

ps. That sure looks like a sub sandwich up front, doesn't it?

How does 2 million miles per gallon sound?

Today's "Live from Mars" Department

-from cnet.com:

"Come Sunday evening, NASA will have placed some new hardware on Mars. Whether the Phoenix spacecraft lands in one piece or ends up in a number of charred remnants remains to be seen.

"The Phoenix Mars Lander is the latest embodiment of humankind's quest to learn whether life might once have been sustainable on the Red Planet and to prepare for eventual human exploration there.

"In its approach to Mars, Phoenix has been traveling at about 12,750 miles per hour, or about 500 miles in 2 minutes and 22 seconds. Upon landing, it will be about 170 million miles from Earth--after having traveled about 422 million miles through space.

"Brent Shockley joked in his blog about the spacecraft's energy efficiency. "At a time when gas prices are soaring," he wrote, "Phoenix is getting good fuel economy at about 2 million miles per gallon."

--

Tonight's landing will be broadcast live tonight on the Science Channel 7-9 PM.

... meanwhile, in New York

(newser) – New York City officials warned people today to avoid a toad venom-based aphrodisiac that recently killed a man, the AP reports. The illegal love drug, often sold as Jamaican Stone or Chinese Rock, is harmful whether ingested or applied to the skin. "There is no definitely safe way to use it,” one official said. Similar drugs have killed at least five New Yorkers since the early 1990s.

Can you imagine what the headline woulda been if this had happened in Iva?

Psychosoulmatic

"Psychosomatic" doesn't mean the illness you're experiencing is "just all in your head."

Psychosomatic means involving both the mind and the body, or symptoms caused by mental or emotional disturbance. Psychosomatic illnesses are very real ... and often life-threatening as well.

-- --

"Still holding grudges? Check your pulse: research suggests that harboring feelings of betrayal may be linked to high blood pressure which can ultimately lead to stroke, kidney or heart failure, or even death."

That comes from an article, Forgive to Live. Let go of that grudge for your own well-being: The link between forgiveness and longevity in Psychology Today.

"A new study from Duke University Medical Center demonstrates that among people who have chronic back pain, those who have forgiven others experience lower levels of pain and less associated psychological problems like anger and depression than those who have not forgiven.

"Forgiveness in this context is understood as a person's act of deliberately giving up anger and resentment felt toward an offender, and fostering qualities of love, understanding, and compassion in their place." -Medical News Today

-- --
"In your anger do not sin" : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry"
-Ephesians 4:26

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice."
-Ephesians 4:31

"Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord." -Romans 12:19

Who knew this?

-from dictionary.com

aright \uh-RYT\, adverb:
Rightly; correctly; properly; in a right way or manner.

Manimony

-from CNN.com

(LifeWire) -- When Susan Harris divorced her husband of five and a half years last December, she got the apartment, extra closet space and the covers all to herself.

Her ex? He got $37,440.

That money is being doled out in 48 monthly alimony payments. Or, as it's called in some circles, "manimony."

Over the course of the couple's marriage, Harris, 31, who makes more than $100,000 working in ad sales in Alameda, California, brought in more than two-thirds of the household income, while her ex-husband (who declined to comment for this article) worked toward becoming a credentialed teacher.

The couple had no children or joint property other than a rental apartment. When things started getting rocky in the relationship around year two, Harris was loath to end things, partially because she was concerned that she'd be obligated to continue supporting him financially, even though he was employed.

Her concerns were well founded. Legally - under state laws - both women and men are entitled to alimony if there's a large discrepancy in spousal income.

However, that doesn't mean men seek alimony.

"Thirty-three percent of higher-earning spouses are women, but fewer than four percent of alimony payers are women," says Ned Holstein, president of Fathers & Families, a family-court reform organization in Boston, citing U.S. Census Bureau data.

'I'm a man! I can take care of myself'

Some husbands have settled for increased custody instead of going to the mat for money, says Holstein.

"I hear a lot of men say, 'She earns way more than I do, but I wasn't going to ask for alimony because I get the kids 40 percent of the time and I don't want to rock the boat.' Then there are a lot of men who are just ashamed to ask for it."

Changing times, changing attitudes

Not all women resent paying money to their exes -- and not all men feel uncomfortable being on the receiving end. As the number of alimony cases increases, attitudes are gradually beginning to change.

Zzzz ... UPDATED with F1 video link

Tried going to sleep too early tonight ... and woke up a little after midnight feeling like I'd just taken a nap.

So instead of counting sheep to fall back asleep, I started trying to decide which kind of athlete I'd rather be:

1. Downhill Skier
The idea of riding two plastic boards down a mountainside at 80mph with no steering wheel always had a certain appeal. But then, the appeal of unbroken bones and skull fracture avoidance is far greater.

2. Jai alai pelotare
Eh, this one deserves an entire post to itself. Maybe another time. (see Joey warming up)

3. Formula 1 Race Car Driver
Driving 160mph through downtown Monte Carlo this coming Sunday must be exhilarating. But surely not so much as this.

Religious debate

- from Contagion

"The Boston Smallpox Epidemic, 1721

Despite the promise that inoculation seemed to hold for controlling smallpox, the Boston smallpox epidemic of 1721 is known for the passionate controversy over inoculation that erupted in the city, most visibly between Reverend Cotton Mather and Boston physician William Douglass.


The religious debate was also important. Mather, who had lost his wife and three youngest children in a measles epidemic, argued that inoculation was a gift from God. Those opposed to inoculation argued that epidemic diseases afflicted the people for a divine reason, and that to attempt to prevent them was to oppose God’s will. Others argued that inoculation, with its roots in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, was a heathen practice not suitable for Christians."

Local News

"Here is Information for Actors

POSTED: 6:03 pm EDT May 19, 2008

UPDATED: 6:37 pm EDT May 19, 2008

ANDERSON, S.C. -- Fincannon & Associates, the Emmy Award-winning casting company announced Monday that they are on a search to discover talent and extras to be in a new FX Pilot called "Lake Hartwell." An open casting call will be conducted on Thursday, May 22, 2008 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The open call will take place at the Anderson County Arts Center in Anderson, S.C.The tenor of the show is one of a reality/slice of life. They are looking for people with a Southern or Rural quality about them; anything from bikini clad girls to local bass fisherman and everything in between the ages of 18-30 years old. No experience is necessary.If you are interested in being a part of "Lake Hartwell" please call ..."

http://www.foxcarolina.com/news/16332433/detail.html

Bass fishermen? There have to be bass fishermen?

Apply as necessary

a Blue Book re-run from Friday, June 29, 2007 ...


Fatigue is an enemy

"Fatigue makes cowards of us all."

Here's the dig:

"It is not whether you get knocked down. It's whether you get up."

"Dictionary is the only place where success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price."

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will."

Fatigue can turn tiny inconveniences and annoyances into what feels like overwhelming burdens. "I'm too tired," "I'm not excited any more," "I've already done my part," "I'm not sure that's really important" and "What are you telling me for?" are all symptoms.

We might even feel too fatigued to notice it's happening.

"The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender."

So long as we're feeling good and the dice are rolling our way we feel capable of facing and handling impossible challenges.

"Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing- the result."

"Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit."

We won't be defeated by obstacles or adversaries; we'll be defeated when we accept I Feel Tired as an excuse, and lose track of the most irreplaceable, precious thing we've got: time.

"We didn't lose the game. We just ran out of time."

If that's what we allow to happen, and let fatigue distract us or "modify" our goals toward what's easy, convenient and certain.

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection then we can catch excellence."

And isn't that worth working for?

-all quotes from Vince Lombardi, professional football coach

It's only one bull that fights the lions

National Geographic Channel "Battle at Kruger"
-Moral: Don't just accept what you see

Preparation K

"Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win."
-Bobby Knight

3 great words

Pernicious- causing insidious harm or ruin; ruinous; injurious; hurtful

Perspicacious- having keen mental perception and understanding; discerning

Pervicacious- extremely willful; obstinate; stubborn

When shore's safety finally seems in sight ...

"Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves. When our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little. When we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord." -Craig Groeschel

2 for Thursday

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former." - Matthew 23:23


"To do what is right and just
is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice." - Psalm 21:3



4 would be even better:

"For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." - Matthew 25:29

"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." - Galatians 5:25-26

Insomnia Pt. 5

"Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." - Acts 15:10-11

More than a Sound Bite

"With God, life is simple: Everything is possible."

-South African game ranger, after surviving simultaneous attack by two lions

So Who Knows Sumo? (updated)

-video of 580-lb Kanishiki, the largest rikishi ever.

No kidding, I used to be a Sumo afficionado.

But the matches are hard to find on US tv, even with DTV. And let's face it, most Americans think sumo wrestling is no more serious than two fat guys trying to grab each others' underwear.

They'd rather watch NASCAR (or college football) instead.*

Anyway, here's what sumo is all about: "Sumo (相撲, sumō) is a competitive contact sport where two wrestlers (rikishi) attempt to force one another out of a circular ring (dohyo) or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet."

Or paraphrased from a current Yokozuna, the key to to controlling your opponent is "To make his belt float."

---

* Formula 1 racing from Barcelona

More than a closets' worth

I was on the phone the other day with a friend who lives at a marina in another state.

She excitedly informed me that she'd just received an from a nationally-prominent designer announcing "Unprecedented SAVINGS!"

My friend told me she's "save" almost $150 per each pair of shoes she purchased. Then I asked her, "How many shoes would you have to buy to 'save' enough money to have for your retirement?"

Huh?

Well if you're "saving" $150 bucks per pair, and you bought 100 pairs, then you've "saved" $15,000 dollars, right? So call the bank, and ask them to let ya know when your "savings" have been credited to your account.

Moral: ya can't save money by spending money. Just ask Joe.

Live Eye Witness News

"What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
- Acts 4:16-20

hujambo

My missionary friends from Tanzania, Vernon and Mary Smith, dropped by for a visit yesterday afternoon while en route to a conference in Washington, DC. We had just enough time for lunch at Cracker Barrel, and a quick tour of the church.

Vernon brought me a gift of the bean:


Cori, a man I'd met during my visit to Vernon's church in 2005, sent me these awesome hand-made sandals, too:

Notice the soles are made with nails and real truck tires.

Insomnia Pt 3

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." - Acts 4:12

No matter what Oprah says.

--- ---

So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." - Acts 6:2-4

got one?

Mine is

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. - John 15:15

Not a cure for insomnia

Wow, insomnia came back ... the second event in the past 48 hours. Here's the verse that got me outta bed & reaching for the reading lamp:

They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us." - Acts 6:13-14

... and then:

When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."

Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. - Acts 8:18-22

Sure I'm saved ... just do the math

Salvation: the 51% solution

-51% Faith is all I need to feel like I'm saved
-51% Devotion is all I need to get God on MY side
-51% Forgiveness means I can still hold grudges and settle scores when I want to
-51% Obedience means I can keep my favorite sins intact & ready when I need them
-51% Involvement means my free time's not being wasted by volunteering at church
-51% Integrity means you can trust me, mostly. Really
-51% Commitment means I can walk out, quit or go church-shopping any time I feel like it
-51% Sacrifice means lots of cash leftover for BIG WEEKEND BLOW-OUT! sales
-51% of the way is as close to the cross as I'm willing to go

This is serious business

Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all.

This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
-Mark 2:8-12

Church by Committee

The Problem: "We need a bus to meet the needs of our membership living outside the local community."

The Prospectus: call the usual clique members and create a Church Bus Committee

"Church Bus Outreach Ministry" Progress Report:

Phase 1
1) Meeting #1: Bus Committee elects officers
2) Meeting #2: preliminary financial report; first motion to cancel project because "We never needed no bus before."
3) Meeting #3: Committee writes letter to pastor asking, "Do we really need a bus?" and suggests "Bus Alternatives." Two senior committee members resign, protesting the letter's "mealy-mouthed warning" that the pastor should "Stop day-dreaming in the pulpit."
4) Meeting #4: Committee stalls over issue of approving previous meetings' minutes as read, because a quorum doesn't exist
5) Meeting #5: Emergency meeting to discuss what color is "appropriate" for a church bus
6) Meeting #6: Committee dissolves itself after being unable to reach a consensus whether the bus should be available for Youth as well as Senior activities. Six families leave the church in protest

Phase 2
7) Deacons assume control; Deacons table motion to include "No Smoking" signs on board the bus
8) Pastor fired for suggesting John 3:16 could be painted on both sides of the bus ... using NIV text instead of KJV (authorized)

Phase 3
9) Deacons form Committee to replace pastor; Deacons debate withholding contributions to SBC pending confirmation of Presidential endorsement; Deacons vote to allow political bumper stickers on the bus for Presidential campaign only
10) Church splits over issue of honoring dismissed pastor's pension
11) Finance Committee proposes using previous pastor's pension to purchase the bus
12) Deacons vote not to buy a bus from any dealership open on Sundays
13) Congregation votes to amend Church Covenant to prohibit buying gasoline for the bus on Sundays, and to prohibit buying any bus using ethanol fuel (or other alcohol blend)

Phase 4
14) Recent, drastic decline in membership causes church to cancel Wednesday and Sunday night Prayer Meetings
15) Church purchases bus; congregation splits again over issue of whether women or divorced men should be allowed to drive the bus

Phase 5
16) Church bulletin declares Bus Program "Another overwhelming success for The Kingdom" in its last issue, after congregation votes to dissolve itself over "irreconcilable theological issues and objectives."

Now, let us laugh

A Lutheran minister and his wife, an Episcopal minister and his wife and a Baptist minister and his wife were all on a cruise together and the ship sank and all died. They approached the pearly gates when St. Peter stopped them with some bad news.

He told the Lutheran minister, "I can't let you in because you have an unhealthy lust for money. This is clear as you even married a woman named Penny".

He next told the Episcopal minister, "I cannot allow you in because you have had an unhealthy lust for drink. This is clear as you married a woman named Sherry.

At that point the Baptist minister turned to his wife and said, "let's go. There's no need for us to even try. His wife, Fanny, agreed.

Down for maintenance - UPDATED

Wow, I've got a chest cold.

Golly pops, I'm glad that's over.

That's one good thing about having ADD ... ya can't stay focused on anything for very long, not even on being sick.

Is science a superstition?

Well, until researchers apply the scientific method and start shooting galaxies from the end of a test tube ...

Flock Mentality

Church should make me fat n' happy. So pastor gimme something sweet n' easy to graze on, and lick my wounds to remind me who's your most favorite trophy of all.

And pastor doggone it, keep my flock small ... so your eyes stay focused on me. Otherwise I might wander off a cliff and blame you for falling ... or become prey to wolves in sheeps' clothing.

Because my own wool grows over my eyes, and keeps me from seeing around me.

Literal Translations

"My relationship with God is personal and private."
Translation: Preacher, only tell me things that make me feel good about myself.

"Well, that's just your interpretation of scripture."
Translation: I've never actually studied or even opened the Bible to find out for myself.

"There's not just one way to salvation."
Translation: I believe whatever's newest and coolest.

"It's up to each person to decide what's right for them."
Translation: I'm trapped in sin, and can't make myself stop.

are we having sex?

What's the distinction between "Sex" and "Not Actually Sex"?

Is oral sex really the same thing as "having sex"? And what about doing .... and then there's ... well, you get the idea. I mean, none of those things are really "having sex" so they're not technically sins, are they?

Who're we trying to fool?

If you were married, would you mind if your spouse did the same things, those things that "aren't actually having sex," with someone else? Would it be easy to look the other way and convince ourselves, "Well technically it's not adultery so it must be OK" ... and merrily go on about our business?

Or would "not actually having sex" start looking ... and feeling ... a lot like sin, after all? And then imagine how "We're not actually having sex" sounds from a Heavenly perspective.

Who're we trying to fool by playing sex word-games ... and who's being fooled?

Seen yesterday

I saw this unattributed quote while standing in line at the drug store:


"Education is an achievement, not an entitlement."

I simply must have an adjustable seat, or nothing at all.

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4
MSRP: $1,500,000 - $1,500,000 [that's $1.5 millions]

Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 8/14 mpg

Standard Features: Bluetooth, Navigation System, Heated Front Seats, Electronic Stability Control

Optional Equipment: Power Driver's Seat

Monkey Business

-from today's "Like, Duh" Department:

Boys Will Be Monkeys

"The notion that children's taste in toys might somehow be genetically determined has long been disparaged by psychologists -- pooh-poohed as unscientific, sexist or both.

But a study by researchers in the United States suggests that when it comes to choosing between trucks and cuddly stuffed animals, chromosomes could make a difference."- source here

What's wrong with people?

I mean, really.


Duck Gets Order of Protection After Attack

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A pet duck named Circles, shot and wounded by a neighbor with a pellet gun, has received an order of protection to keep it safe, the first duck in New York state's Suffolk County to benefit from such an order.

Circles was in its owner's backyard on Long Island -- long known as a habitat for wild waterfowl -- when it was shot by a neighbor through the neck, said Michelle Auletta, prosecutor at the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office.

Circles, a white, yellow-billed duck, was treated by a vet and survived, she said.

The neighbor was charged with animal cruelty. At the attacker's arraignment on Thursday, Circles' owners received an order of protection.

"It's the first case that I know of in this area where a duck got an order of protection," Auletta said. "And in Suffolk County, Long Island, it is the first case where an animal was included in an order of protection that was not a domestic violence case."

In 2006, former New York Governor George Pataki signed into law a provision to include pets in orders of protection.

(Reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Philip Barbara)

-original source here