Source: In Memoriam: 9 Tech Titans Who Died in 2012 | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com. He was just one of several tech titans who died over the past year. None had the name recognition of a Steve Jobs — who passed in 2011 — but they may have moved our world in bigger ways. Among those that passed in 2013 are the IBMer who invented the … Continue reading Techie Titans …
Dexter, our cat has been chasing a mouse around the house for the last few winter days. When he does he gets Beulah our sixty pound basset hound all excited and involved in the chase. It is funny to see Beulah with her tail wagging a mile a minute sitting next to Dexter staring at the bottom of the refrigerator where a mouse is currently hiding. When I started this post that picture came to mind but that is really not the topic at hand. Instead it is about giving up my computer mouse.
I started out my computer life with a Radio Shack TRS-80 computer in the 1980s. It had no mouse or graphical user interface (GUI for all you techies). Everything had to be typed in on a keyboard and I spent hundreds of hours on doing just that. I was hooked from the very beginning.
Some time ago I came across a blog from a Romanian blogger named Cristian Mihai that got my attention. On many of his posts he seems much too mature for his twenty-two years. But then other times he seems to fit right in to that bracket. He is an ambitious young man who has totally conquered English as his second language. He is also … Continue reading You Either Write or Live
You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger. Let a person overcome anger by love. Hate is never ended by hatred but by love. — Buddha — These words could just as easily come from the mouth of Jesus as from Buddha. But in reality Buddha lived on this earth several hundred years before Jesus. It amazes … Continue reading You Are Punished By Your Anger, Not For Your Anger…
You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger. Let a person overcome anger by love. Hate is never ended by hatred but by love. — Buddha — These words could just as easily come from the mouth of Jesus as from Buddha. But in reality Buddha lived on this earth several hundred years before Jesus. It amazes me … Continue reading You Are Punished By Your Anger, Not For Your Anger…
It seems we hear a lot about how the Republicans say they can’t vote for this or for that because they must “follow their principles”. The trouble with all this is that they don’t want any government so blowing up the system IS following their principles.
Their hero told them that “government is the problem”. But what is a country without government? That condition is called “everyone for themselves”. Is that what we want for our country? I think not; at least for 99% of us.
Is there really anything except shutting down government that can pass through a GOP controlled house of representatives now days? Are they really so head strong on eliminating their own jobs? That would be a first for any government employee wouldn’t it?
This is one of my favorite shots from the recent blizzard. When snow covers the ground the cardinals and a few bluejays are frequent visitors to our old apple tree in the back. They await their turn at the winter bird feeder. Continue reading Christmas Birds
Source: Home for the holidays: Fewer US troops are absent this year – CSMonitor.com. When President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama issued a special holiday greeting over the weekend to US troops fighting overseas, they were addressing the smallest deployment of combat troops in at least five years…. Then, as Mrs. Obama emphasized in the video greeting, there are the 2.4 million veterans of … Continue reading Home for the holidays: Fewer US troops are absent this year…
Source: Norquist: Tea party resurgence if no “fiscal cliff” deal – Political Eye – CBS News. Grover Norquist is predicting that President Obama will be the political target of tea partiers if a deal on averting the “fiscal cliff” fails to materialize. No this quote from the article is not a joke. But it sure should be. As if the tea partiers will suddenly love the … Continue reading Grover Predicts….. And So Do I….
I am a regular reader of a Quaker blog called Quaker Quaker. On a recent posting by Mac Lemann I learned a little about Mary Dyer. Here are some of his words from that post: I had recently re-learned, at Pendle Hill from Marcelle Martin, the story of Mary Dyer and the other Quaker martyrs hung on Boston Common. Mary was a follower of Anne Hutchinson … Continue reading Mary Dyer….. Heretic… Quaker….
I am a tool guy. I have had many of them throughout my life. My barn is stuffed with specialized tools I purchased when I had a cabinet making business. I am also a firm believer in the old phrase The Right Tool for the Job That is you don’t use pliers when the job really calls for a socket wrench. In that regard when … Continue reading The Right Tool….
Being that we are coming upon the end of another year I am in a self-reflections mode. I admit that much of what I post about is the result of reading a post or article about something and thinking that there is more to the story than is written. Sometimes it deserves an alternate view. Sometimes it needs expanding to attain its full meaning. And … Continue reading Being A Contrarian….
We have a white out here at the homestead so I will be hunkering down with a picture puzzle and a keyboard today but not at the same time, I don’t believe in multitasking. 🙂 We knew it was coming but don’t really believe it until we see it. We are kind of like our Missouri neighbors in that regard. I stayed late after … Continue reading White Out in Indiana….
I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow. — Woodrow Wilson I know Ben Franklin said to be neither a lender or a borrower but simply speaking he was just plain wrong about that when you put it in context to the Woodrow Wilson quote above. When you borrow wisdom from others it is definitely not a … Continue reading Borrowing….
Merry Christmas Everyone Continue reading Merry Christmas
Being a Christian I was taught to be very much offended when I ran across the words “Happy Holidays” as that somehow diminished the real meaning of the season. But after I came across a blog post recently I have changed my opinion on those words. I wish I had kept the explanation as I’m sure the original author explained it much better then I can but since I can no longer find it I will have to do the best I can in justifying his idea.
Source: Conservatives urge GOP leaders to be bold, prepare to go over cliff – The Hill’s On The Money. “I think Obama is very mindful of his legacy and is horrified of going over the cliff,” said Andy Roth of the Club for Growth. “Going over the cliff might be a signal that needs to be sent to the president, that he needs to play … Continue reading The Pro-Scrooge Christmas Story….
“We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.” — C.S. Lewis C.S. Lewis is my favorite non-theologian theologian. That is he like me was not trained in a seminary or such place. But his book Mere … Continue reading Turning back….
Source: NRA press conference: Put armed guards in schools (+video) – CSMonitor.com. Mr. LaPierre offered the NRA’s assistance in putting together safety programs in schools that include arming security personnel. Very the long-awaited response from the NRA relative to the Newton Conn. massacre is more guns. With the American flag on one side and the NRA flag on the other the NRA’s executive vice … Continue reading NRA Solution to Gun Violence — More Guns
Island House Hotel – A nice place to stay while visiting Mackinac Island. Continue reading Mackinac Island
This is a continuation of the previous post about the words of Jesus taking front and center in Christian living. Last time we talked about how the red letters came about in our Christian bibles and about an organization dedicated to putting them back in their proper place in Christianity. This time I want to tell you about a couple of books that put the … Continue reading The Words of Jesus….
Source: What counts as a tax hike? Not Boehner ‘fallback’ plan, says antitax group – CSMonitor.com. The keeper of the GOP’s antitax oath has rendered judgment on House Speaker John Boehner’s fallback “fiscal cliff” plan that would allow Bush-era tax cuts to expire only for millionaires: It is not a tax increase. So decrees Americans for Tax Reform, the conservative advocacy group led by antitax activist … Continue reading It Is, But It Isn’t…..
This is a continuation of my previous post about boredom and apathy. In high school not much changed as far as a lack of a challenge. One of the things I did enjoy there was writing essays. That activity gave me free rein to say what I wanted and I always easily got A’s for my work. Unfortunately I was never guided toward an avocation that would have exercised that talent I definitely showed even in my early days.
After high school college came. That is where I came upon the first real challenges in thinking. Again I excelled in English Comp classes without much effort and the electrical engineering classes I took were challenging but not particularly enjoyable to me. That should have given me a clue that I was in the wrong major but being a naive farm kid that I was that just didn’t occur to me that I had options.
“The devil is in the details” is a well-known quote that definitely applies in all this “fiscal cliff” talk going on recently. The congress in our version of government has the power of the purse. They determine where the money is spent and where it is cut. So, I find it strange that Mr. Boehner insists that the president and not him is responsible … Continue reading Good At Complaining But Not Good At Solutions….
Here are some words from a fellow blogger’s page that I kind of borrowed. Thanks Syd for the idea: York University professor John Eastwood explains that boredom is just “wanting to, but being unable to engage in satisfying activity.” He goes on to distinguish boredom from apathy. “The [bored] person is not engaged but wants to be. With apathy, he said, there is no urge … Continue reading Boredom, My Personal Journey — Part 1
I think its time to revisit a little history of the red letters and some of the people besides me who concentrated on them. Who started putting the words of Jesus in red letters? Here is what Wikipedia says about that: The term red letter edition is used to describe Bibles in which words spoken by Jesus, commonly only while he was on the Earth, … Continue reading About The Red Letters….
Source: The “fiscal cliff” isn’t a cliff at all – CBS News. Here is an interesting article that explains why the “fiscal cliff” is so falsely named. If you are still not clear about this I would encourage you to click on the source above. By the way, the article mentions that if nothing is done the “average” additional expenses will be $3,200 per family. … Continue reading The Fiscal Slope….
The more ignorant you are the quicker you fight. 12 August 1929 Will Rogers I must admit that I am a wimp when it comes to fighting. The last time I had a physical fight was when I was about seven years old. I punched my best friend Johnny Gallagher in the nose. I don’t really remember the circumstance behind the fight but I think … Continue reading Ignorance and Fighting….
According to news reports, sales of the AR-15 are up dramatically in the last few days. How pitiful is that!!!! Continue reading The Balance????
This is a continuation of the previous post about heresy and why it has contaminated the church. We all have our opinions of what God wants us to do and believe and we are for the most part not at all tolerant of those who might think differently than we do. It seems when someone has the inherent power to do something about those who … Continue reading The Effects of Heresy….
I am totally sick of the “slippery slope” that my conservative friends so often cling to!!
If I hear another person give me a slippery slope story I just might punch them. The idea of the slippery slope consumes so much of their lives. It is the center point for their current stands against gun regulation. It is the center point for their current stands of excluding anyone from their religious circles who don’t totally align with them. It is the center point of their current stands on taxes.
I am a lifelong U.S. history nut so of course Thomas Jefferson is one of my heroes. I have read quite extensively about him over the years and have accumulated quite a library of quotes. I will admit that when it comes to slavery he has a dark side but don’t we all to one degree or another. I treat my heroes as human and … Continue reading About Thomas Jefferson….
I don’t care who you are, you just can’t reach middle life without having done and said a whole lot of foolish things. 29 December 1934 Will Rogers I have to admit that I have done some pretty foolish things in life, especially in my high school years. Things that I am not particularly proud of but I own up to them. Don’t get me wrong, nothing I … Continue reading The Foolish Things We Do….
I know I said I wouldn’t post today but I want to tell you I just saw Michael Bloomberg on Meet the Press. He gave a very compassionate plea for gun regulations in this country. He very much impressed me with his words and the actions he has already taken in that regard. I hope he can push President Obama off his laissez-faire attitude on … Continue reading A Must See….
Many people throughout church history have been put to death because of heresy. But, just what is heresy? That is what this post will be about. Many church leaders have charged others with heresy many times in its history. The most recognizable instances are the inquisitions, post-Constantine period, the Crusades, and of course Galileo and Joan of Arc. Of this list I am the most … Continue reading What is Heresy??
Due to the totally stupid tragedy that took place in Connecticut on Friday I will not be posting here again until Monday morning. My prayers are yet again with the families of the victims of this latest event. Why do we let it happen over and over again? Continue reading Tragedy…..
RJ's Corner 