Author: RJ Walters

I am an Independent thinking, highly functional person who is deaf and has some unique views and challenges in life. Like all of us, I am a person who is composed of all my life experiences and that is what I write about here.
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15 technologies we’ll still be using in 2030…

RJ Walters

source:  15 technologies of today we’ll still be using in 2030 – Gadgetbox on NBCNews.com. This is a very interesting article about what the author thinks will still be around in 18 years.  It is kind of risky making these types of predictions but since money is not on the line there isn’t much to be lost by the author. For the most part I agree with him but there are some items that I don’t think will make the cut. But like the author, I remember going to the World’s Fair of 1960 and believing as they showed there … Continue reading 15 technologies we’ll still be using in 2030…

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The Job Creators and the Bailout…

RJ Walters

I see that the outlying political super pacs otherwise known as the ultra-rich-radical-right are now hitting on Obama because it looks like the government might lose up to $40 billion in the bailout of General Motors.  They claim that it is typical of him to throw away all our tax dollars. But I look at the other side of the coin. We have lost more than $150 billion in revenues with the tax give-aways of the Bush administration. The main logic behind those tax breaks was that if we tax the “job creators” less they will have more money to … Continue reading The Job Creators and the Bailout…

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A Change of Heart…..

RJ Walters

I know in the introduction to this study I said I would not be following a timeline but instead be giving you a mosaic. But after thinking about it for a while now I have decided to do the timeline approach. In addition to a time line I have decided to try to interweave it with the history of the Roman Empire. I know this is a very ambitious undertaking and right now I just don’t know how successful I will be but I am never one to shrink from a challenge. Two things make me change direction here. One … Continue reading A Change of Heart…..

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Sea rise faster on East Coast than rest of globe – USATODAY.com

RJ Walters

Study: Sea rise faster on East Coast than rest of globe – USATODAY.com. From Cape Hatteras, N.C., to just north of Boston, sea levels are rising much faster than they are around the globe, putting one of the world’s most costly coasts in danger of flooding, government researchers report. U.S. Geological Survey scientists call the 600-mile swath a “hot spot” for climbing sea levels caused by global warming. Along the region, the Atlantic Ocean is rising at an annual rate three times to four times faster than the global average since 1990, according to the study published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change. … Continue reading Sea rise faster on East Coast than rest of globe – USATODAY.com

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America’s Small Businesses….

RJ Walters

I was a small business owner for six years after I retired from the big business corporate world. But being a sole proprietor with no employees I really don’t have a good view of just what small businesses are really about. The Republican political leaders say small businesses are the growth engine of our country and we shouldn’t tax them by taking away the Bush tax cuts for those making over $250,000 annually.

How many of the so-called small businesses were like mine just a guy in a shop building things for customers? How many hire more than a handful of employees? I decided to look into this.

Here is a link to a bunch of numbers in this area:  http://www.census.gov/econ/smallbus.html 

  • There are approximately 29 million business in this country
  • Of those 29 million about 22 million are business with no employees
  • Only one million firms have more than 9 employees
  • Only 90,000 (0.3% have more than 100 employees
  • Across the United States, small business failure rates rose by 40% between 2007 and 2010
  • Only about one if five small businesses will be in existence five years after its creation

Continue reading “America’s Small Businesses….”

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The Early Leaders – A Study Approach…

RJ Walters

This will be the beginning of I don’t know how many posts on the early leaders of the church. By early I mean after the Apostles but before Constantine (350 AD). Again I want to state very clearly up front that I am not a theologian or someone who is very learned in this area. I am just an ordinary guy who has questions about these sort of things. I am doing this study to try to learn how we got to where we are as a church today. In the beginning diversity was a celebrated part of the church … Continue reading The Early Leaders – A Study Approach…

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Taste…..

RJ Walters

Elections are a good deal like marriages, there’s no accounting for anyone’s taste. – May 10, 1925   Will Rogers You did it again Will. You perfectly described an election eighty-seven years in the future. There is just no accounting for the taste of the people who will be voting Republican this year.  But then again we will have to wait to see just how many actually vote for that yahoo who will face Obama this year.  He does seem pretty good at accumulating wealth but doesn’t seem to have a clue of how people live on less than $1 million … Continue reading Taste…..

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On The Job Training….

RJ Walters

From researching previous posts I know that most businesses no longer do much on-the-job training.  That is they don’t take a green horn and teach him the skills that are necessary to make him a valuable employee. It is said that they just don’t see the profit in doing that as many will just leave for a higher pay once they have been trained. This varies remarkably from America’s past where in apprenticeships were the norm. I enjoy watching TV shows about people who build and remodel cars and motorcycles. It is interesting to watch how they do it. It is … Continue reading On The Job Training….

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Begin At The End…..

RJ Walters

If you have anything to tell me of importance, for God’s sake begin at the end.    — Sara Jeannette Duncan,  1861-1922 I have never had any degree of patience in my life, especially now that I am in my senior years. So when I ran across this quote it got my immediate attention. I read quite a few fellow bloggers daily but I must admit some of them can get pretty long-winded. :)  I sometime find myself superficially skimming until I get to the last paragraph. My impatience with others is the reason I try to keep all my … Continue reading Begin At The End…..

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How Faith Changed….

RJ Walters

This will probably be my last post about the early christians for a while. Next time I will begin to concentrate on some of the early theologians,bishops/historians/leaders or whatever you want to call them, and how they influenced the direction of the church. Closing this chapter, at least for now, it is important for you to remember what “faith” was to the early Christians. Here are a couple of quotes from Harvey Cox in his book The Future of Faith that I think summarizes this important topic. At its outset “faith” meant a dynamic lifestyle sustained by fellowships that were … Continue reading How Faith Changed….

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The Closed Door….

RJ Walters

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.  — Helen Keller Helen Keller has always been someone who has inspired me in my life. I would dreadfully fear but can’t imagine being both deaf and blind. If anyone knows about closed doors I’m sure it is her.  Yeah, I must admit that I probably spend more time looking at closed doors than I do finding new open ones. That is just my, and probably most everyone else’s, … Continue reading The Closed Door….

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Official Christianity….

RJ Walters

I am going to jump ahead a little here so that I can put something into your mind before we tackle early church leaders. To illustrate my point I want to once again use a quote from The Future of Faith by Harvey Cox: Thus, it is now clear that the “official Christianity” that eventually emerged was only one among a range of “Christianities” that thrived during the earliest years. The distinction we still make today between “orthodox” and “heretical” movements did not exist. There was nothing inevitable or preordained about which version, if any, would predominate. It is very … Continue reading Official Christianity….

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About That Auto Insurance…

RJ Walters

Maybe you read here that I recently bought a new Chevy Sonic to replace my twenty year old truck. Of course that also meant getting insurance for it. It turns out that since it has such a high safety rating that the insurance is actually cheaper than our four-year old HHR. I was certainly pleasantly surprised by that! But getting insurance got me to thinking about all those commercials we see about them on TV.  It seems that every company claims that if you buy their insurance you will save $xxx a year in premiums. How can they all make … Continue reading About That Auto Insurance…

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I Hate Crunchy Grass….

RJ Walters

These very hot summer days are getting to me. In past years I have always rationalized having to endure the cold winter days so I could get some pleasant summer ones. I know last winter was probably the mildest one I have seen in at least twenty years so maybe these super hot summer days are in contrast to that. When I first rented a house in my bachelor days of the 1970s I hated having to mow the lawn. The lawn was no more than fifty by one hundred feet but it was the fact that I HAD to … Continue reading I Hate Crunchy Grass….

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Ambition in Our Senior Years??

RJ Walters

Should we still have ambition in our senior years or is this just a time to give that up?  That is a question that has been dogging me lately. My wife, for the most part, has not had much ambition, at least by my standards, for the last twenty-five years. She is totally content to live her daily life in exactly the same very passive manner day after day. She does not see the need or desire to become involved in much of anything; she does not dream of things outside her usual daily existence.  I on the other hand … Continue reading Ambition in Our Senior Years??

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Early Church Historians…

RJ Walters

The Future of Faith (Cox, Harvey) As we have seen, these early Christian “historians” were neither critical nor neutral. They were not even historians. They were churchmen who aspired to become the leaders of the next generation of Christians. They were anything but disinterested, and they had an agenda that was not particularly hidden. Looking for a potent way to establish their own authority, they seized upon a very compelling idea. A historian is supposed to be a person that is critical of stated history but remains neutral as to the results. Some of the early church  “historians” were as … Continue reading Early Church Historians…

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About That Meal….

RJ Walters

While on vacation recently we ate at a five-star restaurant at Mesa Verde.  When the meal came all the food was stacked in the middle of the plate. I know I frequently see that on the food cable channels but I never actually see people eat that food.  I know the stacking  is done because it is supposed to look better that way but how is it supposed to be eaten?  Are you supposed to un-assemble it so that it can be eaten or are you supposed to somehow pick through the layers to get what you want? I don’t … Continue reading About That Meal….

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It’s Hard To Make a Fine Wine When All You Have Is Sour Grapes….

RJ Walters

The title of this post came to me as I was recently reading the book Falling Upward by Richard Bohr.  In this book the author says each of us has two distinct parts of our lives. The first is making the container and the second is filling it with what we were meant to do.  Although I don’t necessarily agree with some parts of this book the thought of having two distinctive parts of your life is thought-provoking for me. It just makes sense. How much of your life you spend building the container and how much filling it with … Continue reading It’s Hard To Make a Fine Wine When All You Have Is Sour Grapes….