A long time ...

It's been a long time since I posted to this blog. Ice storms, blizzards, and the usual rush of the Christmas season ... at least that's what I'm going to blame. It couldn't be laziness on my part, could it? No, I didn't think so.

I keep thinking of things I want to blog about. One of my ideas is "shower soap and shampoo", so you can imagine where I do my thinking. Someday, someday.

I also have a new blog-related project in mind. It's an idea I've had for years, and it occurred to me the other day that blogging technology might be just the way to go. If I get motivated and actually do something about it, you'll read about it here first!

Meantime, it's back to the day-to-day, now that Christmas is over.

They're changing the Book of Mormon again

One nice thing about having your doctrine "revealed" is that you can change it when it doesn't fit the facts. The LDS church is really good at this, and they've done it again.

This story in today's Deseret News tells all about it.

Difference a order word makes

This morning's Deseret News website has a story and a picture. The headline over the story reads:
Over 1/4 of US Homeless are Veterans
and the headline under the picture says:
Over 1/4 of Vets are Homeless

Of course, the story makes it clear that the former is correct. More than 25% of the homeless in the US are Veterans, while overall Veterans make up only 11% of the population.

Word order makes a difference!

Nancy Boyda spouts off again

An article in today's Topeka Capital-Journal tells how the National Guard at Forbes Field in Topeka has a dozen old jet airplanes (they'll turn 50 years old next month) that nobody flies anymore. In fact, there's nobody certified to fly the planes. They have been superseded by newer planes, and they're in the way. Unfortunately, an obscure little phrase in an old Federal law that will not allow the planes to be decommissioned without Congressional approval. As if that's not bad enough, the law requires that these planes be maintained, so somebody has to go out every week and start them up and tow them around so the tires don't get flat spots. The National Guard estimates that it costs $1.1 million a year to do this. And it's the same story at many other bases in the country. Total hit to our taxpayer wallets: $229 million annually.

Here's the article (at least until the C-J takes it down).

Enter Nancy Boyda. She says she wants to get that law off the books, and I have to agree with her (There's a first time for everything!). Her quote:

I believe that military leaders, not politicians, should decide when equipment has become hopelessly outdated.

One has to wonder if she believes that military leaders and not politicians should decide on the best course of action in Iraq?

I'd give a left lugnut to see her face if someone asked her that!

Clarence Thomas Quotes

In the latest issue of the Imprimis magazine is an interview with Hon. Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court. Here are some of my favorite quotes from him:

Today we've grown comfortable with programs and theories, whether it's affirmative action or something else. Centralized governments always have grand theories and five-year-plans. But no government program could have done what my grandfather did for me and for others who needed help. It's the golden rule -- do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The golden rule can't operate through a government program, it can only work between people.

I often say "I don't hire women law clerks." People are shocked. But I don't hire women law clerks -- I hire the best law clerks. And it turns out that 30 percent of them happen to be women. If a woman graduates from law school and I say I'm going to hire her because I need a woman, that seems to be dehumanizing, and the job would be tainted.

We're too focused on the benefits of a civil society and we think too little about the obligations we have -- the obligations to be civil, to learn about our history and our government, to conduct ourselves in a disciplined way, to help others, to take care of our homes. Too many conversations today have to do with rights and wants. There is not enough talk about responsibilities and duties.

Have you ever read Modern Times, by Paul Johnson? ... One point it makes clearly is the connection between relativism, nihilism, and Naziism. The common idea that you can do whatever you want to do, because truth and morality are relative, leads to the idea that if you are powerful enough you can kill people because of their race or faith. So ask your relativist friens sometime: What is to keep me from getting a gang of people together and beating the hell out of you because I think you deserve to be beaten? Too many people thing that life and liberty are about their frivolous pleasures. There is more to life.

Nancy Boyda shows her true stripes

Nancy Boyda and the Democrats took over Congress promising to do things differently, better. Did any of us believe it for a moment? Well, apparently the thousands of people who voted for her did. But she's a tax-and-spend Democrat, like they all are. And she's been caught. You have to read the story the story to believe it...

But it gets worse! Turns out she originally asked for FAR, FAR more money than the $100,000! Like $1,800,000. For a project that doesn't have a budget, a plan, or anything. She just asked for money (my money! your money!) because "the mayor of Lansing asked for it." Here's that story.

We can be thankful that US Representatives are elected every 2 years. It won't be long until we can have Jim Ryun back where he belongs ... in the US House of Representatives.

A major meterologist on global warming

I have long been a "fan" of Dr. William Gray. Well, OK. Not a fan, but at least I know who he is. He's recently spoken out about global warming and the effects humans have on it. A brief story about it appeared on Focus on the Family's Citizen Link website. Good reading, and good to hear that Dr. Gray has his head screwed on straight. I always thought he did.

That blurb on the FotF website references an organization called Cornwall Alliance. I had not heard of that group, but their website is worth a look, especially for Christians who care about God's creation but remain skeptical about how much damage we humans do to it. It's here.

Another venerable institution loses it's luster

It was bad enough when Focus on the Family's Dr. Dobson announced that he's willing to let radical liberals like those supported by moveon.org run our country. My respect for the man and the institution he built has moved down from 100% for the first time ever.

Now, hard on the heels of that shocker comes word that Al Gore is one of the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. What Gore's work has to do with peace is beyond me. What his work has to do with truth is an even deeper mystery.

The Nobel Peace Prize committee has made some stupid blunders in it's history, but this ranks right down there with the worst.

What is this world coming to?

More views on the US election

The BBC's Matt Frei always provides an interesting perspective on our political system, written to those who don't understand it. His latest post is here.

A couple of posts back he took a look at NASCAR and the election, so adding another American phenomenon that his readers don't understand well. It's here. Good reading, as always.

Dr. Dobson heads down a dangerous path

I could hardly believe it when I first heard it, but now Dr. James Dobson (founder of Focus on the Family has published his 2008 Presidential election plans in the New York Times.

Basically, he says that if the nominee from the Republican and Democrat parties are both not perfectly pro-life and pro-family, he'll vote for someone else. Can he not see that there are worse possibilities than having a President who doesn't line up squarely with one's position on a few issues? How about having one who lines up exactly opposite one's positions on a lot of issues?

Let's suppose that Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton are the nominees. So Rudy doesn't match Dr. Dobson point-for-point on abortion and family issues. He doesn't match me point-for-point, either. But refusing to vote for him simply gives her another vote. We must not allow her to become President, for that would be a far, far worse thing for this country than nearly any other alternative I can think of.

You can read Dr. Dobson's editorial here.

And you think you've got it bad ...

Idahoan struggling to prove he's very much alive

Water bottles

According to the October issue of Fast Company magazine (page 155:

Last year, Americans threw away 38 billion plastic water bottles, about $1 billion worth of plastic.(1) That's a huge waste, especially considering 1.5 million barrels of oil -- enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year -- were used to produce the bottles.(2) And that's not even including the oil used for transportation.

(1) Fishman, Charles: "Message in a Bottle?" Fast Company, July 2007.
(2) Arnold, Emily; Larsen, Janet: "Bottled Water: Pouring Resources Down the Drain," Earth Policy Institute, February 2, 2006: earth-policy.org/Updates/2006/Update51.htm

A motto for the UK?

Gordon Brown reportedly wants to come up with a motto for the UK. The ever-helpful BBC has asked readers to send in suggestions. My personal choice, "The UK - At least it's not France" is the first one listed.

Some of my other favorites:

Britain - All it needs is a coat of paint.
Si non confectus, reficiat (If it's not broke, fix it anyway)
UK: Obesité, Apathé, Hostilité
Bothering foreigners since 1066
It'll brighten up later
May contain nuts

Read the rest here.

More advice

Way back in May, I posted my Advice to Young Couples Part 1. My main (if ungrammatical) point was "Fight Fair".

On the Mormon Coffee blog today is a re-statement of what I said, this time directed at posters to that website. They say it so well, I'm quoting it here:

Consider these two fictional examples of comments:

“I disagree with your conclusion. I don’t think it makes any sense, and here’s why.”

This is a criticism directed at an argument; it is welcome on Mormon Coffee.

“Jason, you are an idiot. You only talk about this because you hate Mormons. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

This is a criticism directed at a person; it is not part of a respectful dialog.

Christian author and speaker Greg Koukl has pointed out,

“The minute one is labeled mean-spirited simply for raising an opposing view, it cuts off debate. This simply isn’t fair. We avoid what may be a legitimate discussion by simply calling names. Worse, we compromise our ability to know the truth.

“It’s absolutely imperative that we not silence dissent in this way. We ought to learn how to argue fairly, reasonably, and graciously. We need to cultivate the ability to disagree with civility and not take opposition personally. We also must have the grace to allow our own views to be challenged with evidence, reasoning, and Scripture. Those who refuse to dispute have a very poor chance of growing in truth.”

Sound advice for young couples, and the rest of us, too.

The real betrayers

Those foaming-at-the-mouth whiners at moveon.org published a newspaper ad the other day calling General David H. Petraeus, Commanding General of the Multi-National Foce-Iraq, "General Betray-us". They basically accused him of lying. More than that, they implicitly accused the whole military of lying. President Bush, for all his faults, called this one correctly when he said it was "disgusting". Agree with the President or the Democrats, agree with the war or disagree ... there's no reason to call into question the integrity or honesty of our military leaders without cause. Just because what they report isn't what you want to hear doesn't make them dishonest.

So, today, the US Senate considered an amendment to a bill. That amendment was "To express the sense of the Senate that [Petraeus] deserves the full support of the Senate and strongly condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces." Pretty cut-and-dried, right? Doesn't matter which side of the debate you fall on, surely you could support this one, right? Anyone who doesn't agree with this one is a traitor to the United States of America, right?

OK, here's the list, in all it's glory:

Akaka, Hawaii
Bingaman, New Mexico
Boxer, California
Brown, Ohio
Byrd, West Virginia
Clinton, New York
Dodd, Connecticut
Durbin, Illinois
Feingold, Wisconsin
Harkin, Iowa
Inouye, Hawaii
Kennedy, Massachusetts
Kerry, Massachusetts
Lautenberg, New Jersey
Levin, Michigan
Menendez, New Jersey
Murray, Washington
Reed, Rhode Island
Reid, Nevada
Rockefeller, West Virginia
Sanders, Vermont
Schumer, New York
Stabenow, Michigan
Whitehouse, Rhode Island
Wyden, Oregon

Notice the names of a few candidates for President in that list of traitors? Now, here's the real kicker: Mr. Biden of Delaware and Mr. Obama of Illinois simply failed to vote. They knew they couldn't go on record voting against this amendment, but they are so under the thumb of moveon.org that they couldn't vote for it. So skipping the vote saves their political careers for both the election and for the rabid left-wingnuts.

My respect for Ms. Clinton couldn't get any lower (except for that respect I have for a mastermind of crime ... how does she manage to get away with it, time after time?). But any shred of respect I had for the others on that list (Obama and Biden included) is now gone.

I was duped ... but I'm in good company

In an earlier post, I said that the LDS church had issued an "apology" for the events at Mountain Meadows 150 years ago this past September 11. Turns out that the LDS church never intended their message to be taken as any sort of apology, and is apparently quite upset that some people took it that way.

I was led on by the first news story I read about the event, on the Deseret Morning News website. Their reporter, along with the one from the Salt Lake Tribune, simply got it wrong. According to LDS spokesperson Mark Tuttle, “We don’t use the word ‘apology.’ We used ‘profound regret.’”

Read all about it at:

Mormon Coffee
Fox News

Kansas Weather

Norma's new car also has a readout of the outside temperature on the dash. As you may recall, Sunday's forecast was for sunny and 87, but it dawned rainy and stayed cool and wet all morning. We left Manhattan shortly after noon, and the temp was in the mid-60s. By the time we got to Salina, the readout said 79. We stopped for a fill-up of E85 (at $1.999 per gallon!), and headed for Hutchinson. By the time we arrived there, the temp read 95. I was sure glad I had brought a short-sleeved shirt!

Comedy on XM

Norma's new car has XM Satellite Radio, and I got quite a bit of windshield time this past weekend with a Saturday trip to Liberty, MO followed by a Sunday trip to Hutchinson, KS. Just like my TV, there's 150 channels, and quite often nothing to listen to.

No, that's not true. I can nearly always find something to listen to. When there's nothing else, I find myself drawn to channel 151, comedy. There are a couple of other comedy channels, especially 150, but 150 doesn't cut any language, and some comedians are very, very prolific users of untidy words. So 151 is it.

Some of the most memorable lines from this weekend on 151 included one guy talking about a blind date in college. "She looked like a test pilot at a broom factory."

Another was the old chestnut about the stammerer who got hired to sell Bibles door-to-door. At the end of the month, he had sold $17,000 worth. The boss called him in and said, "How in the world did you sell so many Bibles in one month? Our usual best salesman is lucky to do $2000!"

The guy replied, "W-w-w-w-well, I j-j-j-just kn-kn-kn-kn-knock on the d-d-d-door, and s-s-s-s-ay, 'W-w-w-w-w-ould you l-l-l-like t-t-t-t-to b-b-b-b-buy a B-B-B-B-Bibie, or w-w-w-would you l-l-l-l-like m-m-m-m-me to r-r-r-r-read it t-t-t-to you?"

San Franciscans and water

San Francisco is full of funny people, but I doubt if that catches you by surprise. They want to be so eco-friendly. They try hard, they really do. Until it comes to water, that is.

Just like most of the rest of the US, they're all caught up in the bottled water craze. During my week there, I was served water called Calistoga (or something like that). My mind immediately began to picture semi trucks coming down out of the mountains of California loaded with bottles of this stuff. As if water weren't heavy enough, they bottle it in glass. So you can imagine the diesel fumes that are spewed every day just to cart water into San Francisco.

Another day, I was served Fiji water. Yes, it's actually from Fiji. It's bottled at the source from an ancient aquifer. The source is sealed, and the water is never exposed to the atmosphere until you open the cap of the bottle you bought. And it's good water, I'll admit. But then I think about shipload after shipload of it being transported to the US from Fiji. And then I think about truckload after truckload of it going all over the US. (You can even buy Fiji water in Wamego!) And then I think about the tons of fuel being burned to move ... water. So when you do open it, the first atmosphere it's exposed to is full of diesel fumes!

The most amazing part of it all is that I found the San Francisco tap water (at least in my hotel room and at the drinking fountains I used) to have excellent flavor.

In the interest of fairness, I must admit to the occasional purchase of a bottle of water. Sometimes for convenience, but mostly it's because I don't like the taste of Manhattan water. So I buy a case of Wal-Mart's best about once a year. Then I use the bottles to carry water from my house to my office, using a handy canvas totebag. After a year or so, the bottles begin to show too much wear, so they get tossed and I buy another case.

Advertising

I heard it again on the radio yesterday. Some car dealer in Kansas City was having a sale (big surprise there, eh?), and the announcer said that they guaranteed 100% acceptance of all credit applications.

Sure enough, they'll accept your application. Whether or not they'll give you credit is still to be decided.

Innumeracy, part 2

Today's Wamego Smoke Signal has an interesting factoid on the front page:

Did you know Kansas produces 68 percent of the world's cattle? We are the second highest producer in the world; Texas came in first.

This is wrong in a couple of ways. The first is obvious, and I'm surprised that the reporter (or at least the Editor) didn't catch it. If you produce 68 percent of something, you cannot be the second largest producer. In fact, if you produce even the tiniest fraction over 50 percent of something, you're guaranteed to be the biggest producer of that thing. Second, I just don't see how it's possible for Kansas to produce 68 percent of the world's cattle. I'll admit we have a lot of them here, but just think of how many are in Nebraska, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, California, and a whole lot of other states. Then start thinking about how many are in all the other countries of the world.

If the article had said we produce even 6.8 percent of the world's cattle, I might have done a double-take, but I wouldn't have doubted it too long. That is on the order of a number that strikes me as reasonable ... and yet it's still somewhat larger than I might have expected.

The name of the reporter is a new one for the Smoke Signal, so let's give her the benefit of the doubt. She's probably very new to the job, fresh out of school, and not particularly polished at the art of taking notes at a meeting and then writing a story later. I hope she learns from her mistake. At the very least, Melissa took the paper to her Newspaper class at the High School today, so her fellow journalists could learn from it.

Update: According to the USDA Economic Research Service website, in 2006, Kansas produced $6.25 billion in Cattle and calves. This is 60.4 percent of the state's total receipts from agriculture, and 12.7 percent of the nation's. Our distant second most profitable agricultural activity was Wheat ($1.27 billion) followed by Corn, Soybeans and Hogs. As far as exports, Wheat was number 1 ($912 million), and we were number 1 in the nation in that commodity.

This blog is rated G.

Officially rated "G", that is, and here's the seal to prove it:



They said I used the word "crap" once, but I guess that wasn't enough to merit a "PG" rating. Frankly, I'm surprised I only used that word once, since there's so much crap around to talk about.

Oops. Now I've used it three times.

Breaking news ...

...that I'm still reading about. It appears that the LDS church has issued an apology for their part in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and the cover-up which occurred after that. The killing happened 150 years ago today, and was recently the topic of a movie called "September Dawn." Read along with me:

Deseret News Article

From the LDS website

Text of Elder Henry B. Eyring's remarks

More info later as I find it.

I knew it!

Sometimes I think I'm the only person in the world who doesn't like popcorn. It's mostly the smell, I think. Especially the microwave stuff. I always thought that the fumes from that were toxic, and now I have proof!

Read about the toxic fumes here!

Innumeracy

Over the lunch hour, I heard an old song (1986) on the radio. It is by Wang Chung, and it's called "Everybody Have Fun Tonight".

In the first line of the song, the lyrics say, "I'd drive a million miles to be with you tonight." It's a nice sentiment, but let's look at the reality.

Assume you could average 60 miles an hour. That's driving 75mph or more, with occasional breaks. A million miles at that speed would take a million minutes, which is 16,667 hours. Even driving 16 hours a day, that would take over 1041 days, or the better part of 3 years.

Love (lust?) is blind, and sometimes innumerate.

I still walk the earth...

... but I've been lax at posting lately. I just looked, and the last post I made was while I was in San Francisco. Bad.

I get a little magazine called "Imprimus" from Hillsdale College. It is on my "must-read-immediately" list when it comes in each month. It's only a single article, usually about 4 pages, on a topic of current interest. If you don't get it, you should. It's free. If you can't find out how to get it, let me know and I'll have them add you to the list.

This month's issue is on the Global Warming situation. I was going to write about it here, but my buddy Wes did such a good job that I'll just point you to his blog. I'm lazy that way. He even went to their website and got the entire article and quotes it!

Click here to read it!

San Francisco #3

Not much to report today. Monday was the first day of meetings. If the rest of the week is as good as Monday, the trip will be, um, "Worth Every Dollar". I learned more in one day than I could have learned in a month of reading. I'm really excited to get on the exhibit floor today. Now that I know some of the questions to ask, I'm ready to talk to vendors.

The weather is still beautiful. The announcers can't believe the heat. Yesterday it got into the low 70s. They are even saying that some people may need to turn on their air conditioners! Looking out over the bay bridge this morning, I don't see any significant fog, just some haze. It really is pretty here. I think I understand why people love to live here, but I'm sure the weather isn't like this all the time.

The Moscone Center, where my meetings are being held, is underground. According to their website, it was quite a challenge to meet fire codes. There have to be a lot of fire exits, and from underground that's a challenge. But they did it. Above it, they've built the Yerba Buena Gardens, a beautiful park. Every day, it's full of people laying out in the sun, doing exercises, or watching the ducks in the water. I'll try to get some pics today.

Morning Pun

On the news this morning, the announcer was talking about a tree that's a bit of a landmark in some town here in California. It's growing into the street and causing a bump, so the city is planning to cut it down. Many residents don't want it taken down. They've even named the tree "Tom".

According to the announcer, the city leaders have a name for the tree, too. They call it "Tim ... ber".

San Francisco #2

Sunday afternoon, I went over to the Convention Center and picked up my badge and conference materials. I'm glad I did ... they gave me a really nice jacket and all the proceedings for all four days. I was able to bring that stuff back to the hotel rather than lug it around all day today.

In the late afternoon, my Missouri buddies called. We got the car and my camera was safely in the back seat. They took me sightseeing. We drove down the crookedest street in the world, then up to Coit Tower. On the way, we took a few streets that are just too steep to be believed. And pictures don't show it ... they tend to flatten things.

Coit Tower is atop one of the mountians right in the middle of town. We got tickets to go to the top. While we were there, the fog started to roll in off the ocean. Earlier in the day I had been regretting packing nothing but long-sleeved shirts, but by that time of the afternoon I was glad for them and my jacket. I'm used to fog that occurs when it's mostly calm, but this fog came with a stiff cool breeze.

We headed to the italian district, passing dozens of restaurants that looked unbelievably yummy. Alas, we could not find any place to park. It doesn't take you long to figure out why most people don't drive here. If you want to go somewhere, public transport and your two feet are the best choices. We ended up back at the hotel and set out walking. Not more than a couple of blocks down, we came across a little bistro with live jazz. One of my buddies said he had eaten there before, so we went in. The jazz show was excellent, and the food was filling. I had my tastebuds set for italian and I got chicken cordon bleu, but it was OK.

Today I start the conference that I came out here for.

San Francisco Post #1

I arrived safely in SF.

Flight was on time. I met two guys on the plane who were going to the same convention, staying in the same hotel. They had a rental car reservation, so I rode with them to the hotel. Saved me lugging my suitcase on BART. They work for Shelter Insurance at the company HQ in Columbia.

We were driving up from the airport and passed Candlestick Park (where some team plays baseball). I grabbed the camera to get some pic for Norma (the baseball fan in the family). Just a bit ago, I went to get my camera to take some pics out my hotel room window, and it's not here. I have the darndest luck with cameras in California.

Anyway, I'm sure it's in the car, but all I know of the guys I rode in with is their first names. They're going to call me later and see if I want to get some supper, so I'll have them look in the car then. As long as the valet parker didn't steal it, I'm sure that is where it is.

I asked for the best view I could get, so they put me on the 17th floor. My window looks NE, and off to the side, I can just see one tower of the Bay Bridge between some buildings. Waay in the distance are the mountains on the far side of the bay. Mostly, all I can see are buildings, but they're all at least a block away, so it's not claustrophobic.

The weather is beautiful. Sunny and clear, and seems to be in the low 70s.

Things I think up while mowing the lawn

It's not well known, but at one time in our history, the English language had no letter "E". Of course, that made it the Nglish languag, didn't it? One day, a lexicologist (I'm sorry, "lxicologist") of some repute at the local University had the brilliant idea of adding the letter "e" to the language. As he pointed out, the way things stood when one read about "Lak Ri", one could never be sure if one were reading about a rather spooky pond, or that big body of water near Clvland. It was all just too confusing without a letter "e" for clarity's sake.

Of course, many progressive thinkers jumped on the bandwagon, and the letter began popping up with considerable frequency. The local prists didn't care for this change in the way things had always been. They enlisted the help of the local Constabl, and the lxicologist was promptly arrested and jailed.

Their punishments meted out to the man were not quite as cruel as we might imagine, this having taken place in that period of time between the dark ages and the not-quite-light-yet ages. While it is true that he was incarcerated, they did give him plenty of paper and some pencils for doodling, and they put him up for the night in a room with a nice bed. They also fed him a wonderful meal. As you can tell, he was subjected to drawing and quartering. When he touched his meat at suppertime, it was so hot that it caused him pain, so you could say he was also burned at the steak.

But perhaps the worst punishment suffered by the man was that during the night, at random times and quite frequently, the jailer (ummm... jailr) would tap on a metal pipe three times rapidly, then pause, then three more times, ad nauseum. Of course, as any boy who was in Mr. Cross' PE class in 7th grade knows, this is Morse code for the letter "S".

(Precisely why Mr. Cross thought it advisable to teach us Morse code in 7th grade gym escapes me. Perhaps he thought we were all destined to live our lives in solitary confinement in some prison, and felt that he was teaching us a survival skill. If so, I thank him for his attempt, if not for his assessment of me and my classmates.)

Anyway, as you can tell, the lxicologist was thoroughly and mercilessly "S"-communicated.

Now at the same time, certain bands of other Anti-E activists were roaming about the area, painting out any "E" that they found on any sign. One man in particular (a Mr. d la Cruz) was a rabid defacer of any sign brandishing the letter, and he had actually been so successful that it was quite unusual to see an "E" anywhere in the area where he operated. This is, of course, the opposite of today, when it is the most common letter in the language. Mr. d la Cruz and his assistants (the "Cruz-aidrs") roamed far and wide taking care of the offending letter wherever it was.

In time they heard of a merchant, that era's equivalent of Sam Walton, who had posted an enormous sign on a hillside. Think about the "HOLLYWOOD" sign in California, and you'll get an idea of the size of this thing. I assume the sign spelled out the name of the store, but that bit of information has been lost to history. There was, however, one huge letter "E" in the sign. This would never do. But painting over it was out of the question, so they knew they would have to actually tear the sign down, or at very least knock it over.

It was a long journey to the sign, so as they walked along they began to sing marching songs. And this is the one part of the whole ugly scene that has remained alive to this day. For the song they sang, as they trod off on their mission was, "It's a long way to tip a rare E."

And now you know.

It just keeps getting better!

A couple of days ago, I posted about an article on the Swedish news website "The Local" about the amount of money Sweden is making from people being fined for peeing in public. Today, although the story has moved off the front page, there's still a link to it. And the caption?

"Public peeing -- a golden shower for state coffers."

Don't Vote!

I've often said that these "Get out the vote" campaigns are a bad idea. If people care enough, and are educated enough, they'll vote. Those who don't care, don't vote, and that's a good thing.

So I was pleased to find this site:



You take a 30-question quiz, and it tells you whether you should consider voting or not, based on your cultural literacy.

I'll be honest, I didn't score very well. For one thing, it must be aimed at people who get their news from TV. The questions are simply a photograph of a person, and you are asked who it is and what his or her position is. It's multiple choice, so that helps. But to be honest, someone like me who gets most of his news from the websites (BBC, Google News, Deseret Morning News) hasn't got much of a chance. I know who Ehud Olmert is, but I don't know that I've ever seen a picture of him. Same with Mahmoud Amadinejad, Robert Gates, Nancy Pelosi. Actually, I got Pelosi wrong ... I mixed her up with Dianne Feinstein. I know who they both are, and I know the difference, but I couldn't tell you which one is which from a photograph.

They also put in some ringers. There were pictures of Paris Hilton and some other pop culture figures. I had no clue. I honestly think it was the first time I had seen a picture of Paris Hilton, and I didn't even know it was her until it gave me the answers at the end. As I was going through, I got a little mad ... after all, what does knowing who Paris Hilton is have to do with being able to vote? Turns out they've thought of that. If you get that one right, you get one point. It's nine points for knowing who Condoleezza Rice is, and ten for knowing George W. Bush.

And I found one mistake: It shows Tony Blair as the Prime Minister of the UK. It does say that the test was last updated in January, so it's almost forgivable, but they really ought to get their act together.

Anyway, if you watch a lot of TV, take the quiz. If you don't get your news from TV, take it anyway, but don't worry too much about the score.

A man with my kind of sense of humor

The story goes that Mark Gubin was sitting on the roof of a large building he owns in Milwaukee one day, having lunch with his assistant. She commented on the planes flying approaches to the nearby airport, and suggested that they paint a large sign welcoming people to Milwaukee. He said, "You know what would be even better?", and the result is this:

Google Sightseeing Story

In case you can't tell, the roof says "Welcome to Cleveland".

Read all about it in the newspaper column:

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=333812

There are days ...

There are days when the news reporters outdo themselves. From "The Local", Sweden's news in English:

"So far this year the Swedish state has earned 1.8 million kronor from people caught peeing in public. That's no piddling sum..."

An Abbyville Success Story

Abbyville, Kansas is a small town (2000 census: 128 people) on the wide, flat Arkansas River valley about 20 miles west of Hutchinson. Like many small towns in the western 2/3 of Kansas, it's not getting any bigger. Abbyville has kept it's population fairly steady in recent decades because of it's proximity to Hutchinson. People can live in Abbyville and still work, shop and worship in the city. From Hutchinson, a recently four-laned highway makes the trip to Wichita a breeze. So Abbyville has some things going for it, but things did not look so great for the two churches in town a decade or so ago.

Abbyville had a Methodist church and a Christian church, both of which were slowly but surely dying. I don't have a lot of information on the Methodist church, but the Christian church was Norma's home church, so I've been there several times. The congregation was aging, there were few young families coming, the building was beautiful but tired. I'm sure the situation down the block at the Methodist church was similar. It took some far-sighted people (and the help of God) to propose a solution. It took even more blood, sweat, toil and tears to make that solution come to fruition.

What they did was merge the two churches! I'm not privy to the actual workings of the merger, and I am sure there were more than a few ruffled feathers, but the merger stuck. The Methodist's building was in better shape than the Christian church building, so everyone met there for many years. The preacher, a man who grew up just down the road a couple of miles, is the sort of man you can't help but like. He's full of energy, but he keeps it easy-going enough that I don't see how anybody could feel pushed or railroaded. He melded the two styles of worship well. When I visited, I still saw vestiges of Methodist worship, but nothing that was off-putting to me. After all, the real differences between the two groups is mostly in worship style, not in substance. There were a few defections over the merger, I'm sure, but for the time being, Abbyville still had a congregation where the locals could worship and fellowship on Sundays.

Problem is, this didn't solve the aging congregant situation, nor did it attract young families. The attendance figures continued to drop into the 60s, then the 50s, then the 40s sometimes. So what did they do? They built a new building! Talk about stepping out on faith.

My brother-in-law didn't remember the exact numbers, but he believed the building cost around $400,000. The land appears to have been donated, and I'm sure there were other items and labor donated. The old buildings and land were sold, but a quick mental calculation shows that there's still a huge debt that's been taken on by this little church. And if the merger wasn't enough, my observations of human nature tell me that there were probably more than a few people unhappy about the building plan, so there may have been additional defections from the church.

All that aside, the physical facilities are stunning. The layout is practical and functional, and "form follows function". Beautiful, sturdy pews face a simple stage. The stage is equipped with a powered projection screen for the ceiling-mounted projector. A small booth at the back of the sanctuary contains all the sound and computer equipment. Sliding partitions block off additional space for a fellowship hall, which is also easily used as overflow for larger services. At the back of the hall is an ample kitchen. The kitchen is particularly impressive, with lots of cabinet space, an island with a mini-sink, three main sinks in stainless steel (three sinks meet state requirements in case the church wants to prepare food during the large rodeo that's held across the street every summer), two matching ranges and two matching microwave ovens. I'm told that in the original plan, everyone thought that the kitchen was too small, so it was expanded. One wall opens out to the fellowship hall, with a long counter perfect for potlucks. I could go on and on about the space, but I'll settle for a few pictures:

And the upshot? Attendance is UP! Way up. Average attendance is now over 100, with plenty of young families. The day we visited, a couple dedicated their baby. My sister-in-law told me that the minister keeps preaching that the church is NOT a building. But, like she says, the church needs a place to call "home", a base from which to operate, a focal point for the work in the community. And Abbyville has it!

Marriage License Hijinx

We attended Norma's niece's wedding this weekend. This afternoon, the preacher handed them the duplicate of the license that the county had given him. With it was a receipt for the fee, and another little slip of paper entitled, "Now you have your marriage licence ... what to do next."

It was generally agreed in the group that if the couple didn't know what to do next, it was time for somebody to have a long talk with them.

Whither the Environmentalists?

While I was enjoying the fireworks last Wednesday, I noticed how much smoke was in the air. It occured to me that the people of Wamego probably produced more air pollution in the first few days of July than they do during the entire remainder of the year. Perhaps not quite that much, but certainly there was a lot of it. Multiply that by cities and towns all over the country, and our pollution/particulate footprint for those few days was enormous.

Where were the environmentalists who are usually crying on TV about how dangerous humans are to the planet? Where was Al Gore -- watching fireworks somewhere?

Geographically challenged

Some people are geography-wise, some are other-wise.

On the radio this morning, the announcer was talking about the upcoming tour of the band Genesis. He announced that the tour will start in England, then continue in Canada. After that, he said, they "will move on to North America."

The Midnight Sun

It's one thing to know a fact. Sometimes, it's quite different to experience it.

Matt has just returned from Canada. He told a story about the first morning up there. He woke up to bright sunshine from outside. Looking over, he saw his friend Clifford sitting up on his sleeping bag with a confused look on his face. Clifford was staring at his watch. When Matt asked what was wrong, Clifford said something must be wrong with his watch, since it was indicating barely 5:00am, and it was light outside. As Matt and Clifford talked about it, one of the other guys on the trip (who had been up there on past trips) piped up and said, "Hey, guys! You're in Canada! It gets light early up here. Go back to sleep!"

I remember Vicki (a friend who lives in Anchorage) talking about playing ball games well into the late hours during the summer, since the sun doesn't go down until late. It makes sense, and I know how it happens, but it's still a jolt to really LOOK at the numbers. So, here are some sunrise/sunset times from yesterday, June 21:

Anchorage: Sunrise - 4:22am. Sunset - 11:43pm. That means that (if it's fairly clear) it won't get dark until well after midnight! But hold on, it gets more interesting ...

Fairbanks: Sunrise - 2:59am. Sunset - 12:48am. That's having the sun above the horizon for 21 hours and 49 minutes every day!

The real shocker was looking up the numbers for Barrow: Sunrise: None. Sunset: None. Daylight: 24 hours, 00 minutes. And, tacked onto the bottom of the climate report in a most matter-of-fact manner was this little note: "The next sunset is August 3rd."

(Just for the record, all times are from the National Weather Service's daily climate reports.)

Is "Bill Me Later" Safer Than Credit?

A little note appears on the sidebar of page 26 of Money magazine's July 2007 issue.

Apparently some websites have started offering a "Bill Me Later" option for those who don't want to put their credit card info online. The problem is that unless you read the fine print, you may not know that you're actually applying for a revolving line of credit when you select this option. This line of credit has an interest rate of 19.99% and late fees of up to $39.

To top it all off, less than 1% of ID theft cases begin with online transactions. Credit cards are also protected from fraud. But 8% of ID theft cases begin with stolen paper mail!

Asking for "Bill Me Later" really doesn't protect a thing, and could cost you big bucks.

"Let's be careful out there."

Stupidest Bumper Stickers

Here are my nominations for the stupidest bumper stickers, along with my comments.

"You cannot simultaneously prepare for war and prevent it." Actually, any country which values it's freedoms MUST simultaneously prepare for war while working diligently to prevent it.

"If you can't trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a child?" I'm sorry, but if your choice would be to destroy that child (born or unborn), we (as a society) cannot trust you with either the choice or the child, I'm afraid.

I'm sure there will be more. Stay tuned.

Gesundheit!

Am I the only person who objects to the practice of saying "Gesundheit!" or "Bless You!" when someone sneezes?

This common response to a sneeze is rooted in superstition. At one time, people believed that life was escaping through the nose, the soul was thrown out of the body during the sneeze and was susceptible to capture by Satan, or perhaps that the body was trying to cast off a demon in a sneeze. These ideas are patently absurd, and yet the blessing to ward off such events is still repeated.

Of the two, however, "Gesundheit" is marginally acceptable, since it translates more or less as "to your good health". Wishing someone who suffers from a cold or allergies "good health" is a pleasant thing to do, and I guess it doesn't matter that it's done in German.

But saying "Bless You!" after someone sneezes is just silly. Stop it!

The US minnows

An interesting take on the US Presidential campaign from the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6725393.stm

The Gravel road has some potholes ... or one big crackpot.

The new Gravel HQ is up and running in SL. Astro has been working hard, it's obvious. About the time the last HQ was taken down, he had me make a sign for "Mike ... on the 2nd Amendment". Of course, second amendment rights are important to me, so I stopped by the new HQ last night to get the scoop on Mike Gravel's stand on that topic. Here's the full text of the notecard that is dispensed:

==Senator Mike Gravel==
==On the Second Amendment==
* While Senator Gravel fully supports the 2nd Amendment, he believes that fundamental change must take place with regards to gun ownership.
** The senator advocates a licensing program where a potential gun owner must be licensed as well as properly trained with a firearm before they may own one.

I'm not sure how one reconciles "fully supports" with the restrictions in the second paragraph. Politicians don't seem to have trouble with obvious logical impossibilities, but I do. Especially when they're this obvious.

I want to ask the good people of Alaska where they dug up this loonie, but they would ask me where we got Mr. Brownback, and I don't have an answer.

Update: After doing some checking, I found out that the people of Alaska didn't raise this goofball, they failed to stop him at the border. Turns out he's from (yup, you guessed it) Massachusetts, and he moved to Alaska specifically to get himself elected to the US Senate. He's no longer an Alaskan, either. Once they kicked him out of office, he moved back to a place that suits him better ... Arlington County, Virginia.

Post on Mormon Coffee

Excellent post on the "Mormon Coffee" blog today, referencing an article in today's online version of Christianity Today.

Here's the link to the post, which contains a link to the article:
http://mormoncoffee.blogspot.com/2007/06/really-what-is-mormonism-most.html

Mitt Romney and I may disagree drastically theologically, but he's probably closer to my feelings politically, culturally, socially and values-wise than any other Presidential candidate out there. Those who might vote for someone else solely based on Mr. Romney's religious views, (or even worse follow Dr. Dobson in his attitude toward Rudy Giuliani and skip voting entirely) have automatically given impetus to people who want to take this country in a very, very bad direction.

I especially liked the quote from Marvin Olasky: "If he faces Hilary Clinton, I'll vote for him in a Utah minute."

Advice to young couples, Part 2

If you're already married, you can skip this one. If you're planning your honeymoon, read on.

Be careful with your honeymoon plans.

I strongly suggest you give careful consideration to where you go on your honeymoon. Please don't go somewhere you may never visit again. If the choices are Europe or Eureka Springs, please go to Eureka Springs. Put the money you save in a CD and visit Europe for your fifth or tenth anniversary.

Here's the reason. If you go to someplace you may never be able to visit again, you'll spend most of your honeymoon rushing around trying to see everything. After all, you'll probably never be back, so you have to see it now, right? Even worse is if you have a tour package that requires you to be in Paris on Tuesday and Berlin on Wednesday.

Go someplace nice for your honeymoon, but make it someplace that you can relax and enjoy. As odd as it sounds to you right now, you probably won't spend every minute of your honeymoon in bed. Go someplace where you can stroll down a street hand-in-hand, now and then popping into a quaint little shop. Or maybe a country inn with woodsy walking trails. Even go somplace with a few tourist attractions, but make sure that you aren't going to worry about whether you will ever see them again or not. Then, if you decide to take in an attraction on a lazy afternoon, you can do so. But if you decide to sit beside the hotel pool and talk, you can do that, too.

So what are my personal choices in this part of the country? Eureka Springs would be just about perfect. Consider the Denver or Colorado Springs area. Perhaps the Black Hills. If you like the shows, how about Branson? Las Vegas is a really inexpensive (and fun) destination if you don't gamble. Need to spend even less? Consider Omaha or Kansas City.

I hear you asking how well I followed this advice. Norma and I were married on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. My sister was home on leave from the Navy for our wedding. So, we spent one night in Hutchinson, a couple of nights at her apartment in Great Bend, a couple more at my apartment in Salina, then we went to my parents' house for the holiday. Some honeymoon, eh? And yes, we had two apartments. These days, couples move in together and then (sometimes) marry later. We had to be different. We married in November, then didn't move in together until Christmastime. Job reqirements kept us apart, but the weekends sure were a blast!

Advice for young couples, Part 1

I'm sure young couples (newly married or contemplating marriage) don't want my advice, but that's never stopped me from giving it. Herewith, my first bit of advice.

Fight Fair.

"But wait," you say. "We don't intend to ever fight." Of course you don't, but any two people are going to have differences of opinion at times. You and your mate won't always agree on everything, as impossible to believe as that is right now. When you do disagree, you have a choice to allow that to come to a knock-down-drag-out fight, or a simple bit of unpleasantness that you can get past ... and in the process become stronger in your union.

So how do you "Fight Fair"? (And yes, I know that's not good grammar. But it sounds better than "Fight Fairly".) Well, here are my rules.

1. Never make the disagreement personal. That means no name calling, no insults. Examples of illegal statements include:

• That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
• Only an idiot would think that way.
• You wouldn't say that if you had any brains.

2. Discuss only the issue on which you disagree. No bringing up of past disagreements. And especially avoid blanket statements such as, "You always ..." or "You never ...".

3. Keep your voice down, and disagree like adults. Sit down together, look each other in the eye, wait until the other person has finished a thought before you start talking, and do everything you can to make sure you're at least seeing the other person's viewpoint, even if you don't agree.

4. It's OK to let your kids see you disagree, IF you are able to do so properly. One of the great teaching moments I had with my kids was one time when my wife and I disagreed. We were sitting in the living room, discussing the matter with some enthusiasm, but not shouting. After a bit, I realized that my young children were sitting quietly, watching us with wide eyes. I realized that they hadn't ever seen us discuss something this animatedly. I turned to them, and we talked about it. I told them, "Grownups do sometimes disagree, and there's nothing wrong with that. The big thing is how they deal with it. Your mother and I love each other very much, and a disagreement isn't going to change that." We had a family "group hug", and I think they learned something that day. I hope they will remember it someday when they have a difference of opinion with a spouse.

Some couples are afraid of disagreements and avoid discussing them, fearing that they somehow mean they don't have a strong relationship. Other couples allow differences of opinion to blow way out of proportion, culminating in a shouting match, or perhaps physical violence. The proper course, in my opinion, is in the middle. Talk it out, but don't let it get out of hand.

On the lighter side, I often tell people that I handle the big decisions in our marriage, and Norma handles the little ones. Little ones: Where we should live, how we should spend our money, which jobs we have, etc.. Big ones: What to do about the war in Iraq, the illegal immigrants, Iran, the Federal deficit, etc..

Benjamin Franklin on arranged marriages

During a visit to a Moravian church at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Mr. Franklin inquired about their customs for arranging marriages. On being informed of how such things were handled, he says:

I objected, If the Matches are not made by the mutual Choice of the Parties, some of them may chance to be very unhappy. And so they may, answer’d my Informer, if you let the Parties choose for themselves.—Which indeed I could not deny.

Nor can I.

Benjamin Franklin again

Another quote I liked from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin:

...in walking thro' the Strand and Fleetstreet one Morning at 7 a Clock I observ'd there was not one shop open tho' it had been Daylight & the Sun up above three Hours. The Inhabitants of London choosing voluntarily to live much by Candle Light, and sleep by Sunshine; and yet often complain a little absurdly, of the Duty on Candles and the high Price of Tallow.

Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, Part 2

Another quote, then I promise I'm done for today.

...and upon other Occasions I was generally a Leader among the Boys, and sometimes led them into Scrapes, of which I will mention one Instance, as it shows an early projecting public Spirit, tho’not then justly conducted. There was a Salt Marsh that bounded part of the Mill Pond, on the Edge of which at Highwater, we us’d to stand to fish for Minews. By much Trampling, we had made it a mere Quagmire. My Proposal was to build a Wharf there fit for us to stand upon, and I show’d my Comrades a large Heap of Stones which were intended for a new House near the Marsh, and which would very well suit our Purpose. Accordingly in the Evening when the Workmen were gone, I assembled a Number of my Playfellows, and working with them diligently like so many Emmets, sometimes two or three to a Stone, we brought them all away and built our little Wharf. The next Morning the Workmen were surpris’d at Missing the Stones; which were found in our Wharf; Inquiry was made after the Removers; we were discovered & complain’d of; several of us were corrected by our Fathers; and tho’ I pleaded the Usefulness of the Work, mine convinc’d me that nothing was useful which was not honest.

Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography

I've just started reading the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I'm sure it will be a wonderful source of new quotes. Here, the first two of what will probably be many.

In the introduction, he talks about how God has blessed him greatly. He's "...gone so far through life with a consderable share of felicity..."

That Felicity, when I reflected on it, has induc’d me sometimes to say, that were it offer’d to my Choice, I should have no Objection to a Repetition of the same Life from its Beginning, only asking the Advantages Authors have in a second Edition to correct some Faults of the first. So would I if I might, besides correcting the Faults, change some sinister Accidents & Events of it for others more favourable, but tho’ this were deny’d, I should still accept the Offer.

In section 4, he relates a story passed down from his grandfather's day about the perils of being Protestant in a Catholic country:

This obscure Family of ours was early in the Reformation, and continu’d Protestants thro’ the Reign of Queen Mary, when they were sometimes in Danger of Trouble on Account of their Zeal against Popery. They had got an English Bible, & to conceal & secure it, it was fastened open with Tapes under & within the Frame of a Joint Stool. When my Great Great Grandfather read in it to his Family, he turn’d up the Joint Stool upon his Knees, turning over the Leaves then under the Tapes. One of the Children stood at the Door to give Notice if he saw the Apparitor coming, who was an Officer of the Spiritual Court. In that Case the Stool was turn’d down again upon its feet, when the Bible remain’d conceal’d under it as before.

There's little question that I will enjoy reading the rest of his work. Stay tuned for more quotes.

More on the Gravel road

I was in SL last night, and Astrophysicist McCallister (the leader of the Official Gravel HQ in SL) contacted me with urgent business. He said he hadn't paid me for the yard signs, and they were in fact using them, so he wanted to pay me. I allowed as how I'd price them using the same formula as I did for the t-shirts (i.e. X times the retail price), and he promptly paid me that exact amount. He said he'd spent the entire day doing damage control. After I read the post he referred me to, I understood why he was so anxious to pay me and why his day was so bad. You can read about it here:

http://secondchoices.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/has-mike-gravel-sold-out/

Apparently everything's OK with me doing work for him, since I've charged him (and he's paid) my "usual and customary" fee. It doesn't hurt that I'm a citizen of these United States. It all gets very complicated, but because this is an official presence in SL, it falls under the Federal Election laws, and they just aren't quite up-to-date on things like SL. Astro is breaking new ground, and I'm a part of it in my own little way. Who knew I'd be part of something so important?

A true description of Kansas ... from someone in Massachusetts!

From a speech delivered on the US Senate floor on May 18, 1856 by Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts:

"Take down your map, sir, and you will find that the Territory of Kansas, more than any other region, occupies the middle spot of North America, equally distant from the Atlantic on the east, and the Pacific on the west; from the frozen waters of Hudson's Bay on the north, and the tepid Gulf Stream on the south, constituting the precise territorial centre of the whole vast continent. To such advantages of situation, on the very highway between two oceans, are added a soil of unsurpassed richness, and a fascinating, undulating beauty of surface, with a healthgiving climate, calculated to nurture a powerful and generous people, worthy to be a central pivot of American institutions."

Michael Moore on my blog twice in one day?

Not ten minutes after I made a prior post that mentiond Michael Moore, I came across the following news story. Once again he's managed to shoot off at the mouth concerning something about which he is totally clueless. Imagine that.

http://www.thelocal.se/7363/20070521/

Counterfeit Christian Church? How to tell

A list called 8 Characteristics of a Counterfeit Christian Church is available at:

http://www.mrm.org/topics/introductory-issues/8-characteristics-counterfeit-christian-church

Check your church against that list.

Conservative inspiration from Michael Moore

An interesting article today in The Daily Standard.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/658rvful.asp

Academic freedom is in grave danger at most publicly-funded colleges and university.

On honesty

At a fast food place the other day, the guy ahead of me ordered water. The cup he was given is different from all the other cups, so I know that's what he ordered. When I got my food, I went over to the drink dispensers, and there he was, filling his "water" cup with Dr. Pepper.
In a small way, it's just the same as insurance fraud or lawsuit abuse. The big problem is that it raises the price of everything for everyone. One little cup of Dr. Pepper isn't going to break the restaurant, and that's certainly how his thinking went. But multiply it by a few thousand people across the chain, and it adds up to a "shrinkage" line on the books that has to be covered.
The one time our house was broken into, we ended up with nothing missing. Our TV had been disconnected, and was sitting in the middle of the living room floor, like the crooks had intended to take it. In a way, I wish they had. It was old, it was not working well, and we ended up replacing it within a few months of the break-in. Someone joked that I should have hauled it to the landfill and reported it as missing to the insurance company. At least I hope he was joking. Any time something is taken and not paid for, whenever an expense report is padded, any time an insurance claim is added to ... we all pay.
Come to think of it, we all pay in more ways than just the cost of the shrinkage, too. Have you seen the number of security cameras at the new Wal-Mart store? I once counted. When I'm in the parking lot, I can see 21 security cameras from one spot. And inside, there must be hundreds. It makes the place look like a prison. (And feel like one, too. Whenever I go in, I want to drag a tin cup across a set of bars, and yell "Let me out of here!") We've all paid for the cost of those cameras, their installation, and the salaries of all the people it takes to watch them. Every measure that has to be taken to prevent shrinkage and fraud costs us all money, too.
Just another rant about something I can't do anything about. Have a good Monday.

Patrick Henry

I've been reading Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" speech, from March 23, 1775. Here are some quotes I particularly like, especially in light of my comments in a previous post about Senator Gravel and his ilk.

• ...it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut out eyes against a painful truth -- and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts.
• And what have we to oppose them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find that have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we have done every thing that could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on.
• ...we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations; and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we are base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest.
• It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace -- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun!
• Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! -- I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

President Gravel?

From my Second Life work designing flags, yard signs and t-shirts for Presidential Campaigns, I was contacted by the man who is building the official Second Life campaign HQ for Mike Gravel, Democrat candidate for US President. I made some items for them, and was paid handsomely (although when it's converted to US dollars, it was a pittance). In the process of making these items, I had occasion to visit his website.

To put it bluntly, he's a nutcase.

Let's look at some of his stands on "issues":

• The War in Iraq: "Immediate and orderly withdrawal of troops followed by aggressive diplomacy." Does anyone believe that diplomacy will work with people who have the means to, and have vowed to give their lives to destroy the USA? Well, I suppose nutcases do.
• Iran: "Senator Gravel firmly opposes a military confrontation with Iran and advocates a diplomatic solution to the current situation." Instead, we must aggressively move to change the regime in Iran. Again, diplomacy (ala Chamberlain) will not work.
• A Fair Tax: "Eliminate the income tax and replace it with a progressive national sales tax." How, exactly, is a progressive tax "Fair"? A flat national sales tax (perhaps with a credit for those in poverty) is closer to fair, but there is no such thing as a fair progressive tax.
• Global Warming / Climate Change: "We must reduce America's carbon footprint in the world by passing legislation that caps emissions and improve [sic] energy efficiency while generating energy from low-carbon sources." Mr. Gravel has, like most other politicians, bought into the idea that global warming is some how the fault of humans, and can somehow be fixed by humans. It's a popular stance, and sure to get him lots of votes, but it's wrong-headed. Sure, we've got to protect our environment. On the other hand, it's wrong for humans to get so conceited as to think we have much to do with major climate change. The only good point in this statement is that he wants to promote the generation of energy from low-carbon sources. Guess what the best low-carbon source is? Nuclear. But he dare not say that word.
• Universal Healthcare Vouchers: "A National Health Care Voucher plan will provide health care for all Americans." This one is difficult for me, since I have excellent health care coverage at a minimal price. I do know that health care is a major problem for many Americans, but I'm not sure I want the federal government "fixing" it. Take a look at any program where the government has stepped in to "help". Agriculture, Welfare, Flood Control, Disaster Relief ... the list is nearly endless. You can count on the government to screw it up and then mire it in so many layers of bureaucracy and red-tape that it could never be "un-fixed". No thanks, nutcase.

Mike Gravel's big problem is name recognition. And that won't be fixed by him spouting the same crap as all the other Democrats.

When I was asked to do the signs for his HQ, the leader told me they would put up a sign acknowledging my help. I asked him not to. I pretended it was because I didn't want to give the impression that I was supporting any particular candidate while I'm trying to sell flags for all candidates. In reality, I didn't want to be seen as giving any support to Sen. Gravel's campaign. I don't mind making signs for a paying customer, but please don't let anyone think I agree with what the signs say!

UPDATE: I just got an e-mail from in-world that the Campaign HQ opens officially today. The note didn't include a SLURL, so I can't tell you where it is.

UPDATE again: Here's the SLURL for the Gravel HQ. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Digital%20Zion/112/110/26

James Dobson and the value of life

In the news this morning, it says that Dr. James Dobson has announced that he will not vote for Rudy Giuliani should Giuliani become the Republican nominee. Giuliani's stance on abortion is apparently so abhorrent to Dobson that he would rather vote for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, it seems. Dobson says he will actually abstain from voting if Giuliani is the nominee, but make no mistake: that is almost equivalent to voting for the Democrat.
I'm far from being ultra-right-wing, but I'm pretty much a conservative when it comes to fiscal matters. I'm fairly conservative on moral matters, but most true conservatives would consider me a raving liberal in that area, so I guess I come down in the middle somewhere. But I have a quirky point where I'm so right-wing as to deserve the title Dick Snyder used to hand out: "wing nut". That point is on the value of human life. I value human life so highly that I'm even opposed to the death penalty. So you can imagine how I feel about abortion.
Consequently, you might assume I'd be right behind Dobson, shouting, "Way to go!". But I realize that there are worse things than having a president who can't seem to make up his mind on abortion. And those worse things have names like "Obama" and "Clinton".
Quite often, in the voting booth, I'm figuratively holding my nose, and voting for the lesser of two evils. It happened in 2004. I didn't care for Mr. Bush, and I still don't. But I REALLY didn't care for Mr. Kerry. I still shudder to think what might have happened to this country if he had been elected. So, I held my nose and voted for Bush, and I'd do it again, if I had to.
I haven't decided who I'll vote for in November 2008, of course. I have a list of some people I won't vote for: Obama, Clinton, Gore, McCain, Brownback, Gravel (more about him in another post, coming soon), to name a few. And I may not particularly like who I finally do choose, but I plan to be there to cast a vote ... if not for a candidate, then certainly against one.

Picture from Spearville

This is my favorite picture from last Thursday's visit to the wind farm at Spearville. Looking west.

(Besides, it is an easy way for me to try embedding photos in my blog post.)

Vexillology

Did you know Kansas has two official flags? The traditional one is scorned as a "seal-on-a-bedsheet" by vexillologists. It ranked fourth from last in the 2001 survey of best state/provincial flags in North America. I've lived with it around me for nearly 48 years, and I must admit that it's not much of a flag. Those hardy pioneers were too busy surviving to bother with designing a decent seal or a flag, so it looks like something put together by a committee.
But hold the phone! On June 30, 1953, Kansas adopted a "banner", which is an official alternative to the State Flag. The link to a picture of it on the website of the North American Vexillolgical Association's website is below, if you're interested. Personally, I think it's beautiful, and I'm going to try to get my hands on a real one.
Here's the link. Enjoy!
http://www.nava.org/Flag%20Design/State&Provincial%20Survey%202001/surveywinners/kansas.htm

So this is blogging

If Wes (http://vagabondprofessor.blogspot.com) can do this, so can I!