I want to pencil in my first thoughts of the State of the Union address last night before I start reading what the pundits say. Overall it was a good address – He covered much of what I deem important to our country. I wish he had mentioned something about work to rein in healthcare costs.  Single payer system like much of the rest of the world has is the  most efficient. But since that is not yet possible here I wished he had targeted something to control our current system.  Education for the 21st Century – I liked what I … Continue reading First Thoughts….

This is my last post about fear at least for a little while. It has run its course in my mind. I want to finish up here with some personal thoughts about fear and the consequences of fear.  I will then close out with a fear that I just can’t seem to understand. I must say that I am generally not a fearful person. That is I don’t rise each day being in fear for what it will bring. I don’t anticipate the bad things that could happen to me each day.  Don’t get me wrong, I know fear has … Continue reading About Fear….. Some Closing Thoughts

    I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when I saw this cartoon. Thanks Gary Varvel for the laugh. And an Indiana guy at that. I know the GOP is desperate to rebrand their party into something with a broader appeal. But for some reason the Democrats just don’t seem to want to cooperate in that endeavor. :)   Continue reading LOL……..

This is a continuation of the topic of fear and how it drives so much of our country and world. I have been cruising some of the “gun rights” websites lately.  The reason I am paying attention to this group is to try to understand the thoughts and mentalities of the people in them and how fear appears to play such a strong part of their adamant refusal of any kind of gun regulation. It appears that many from this group have a basic fear of their fellow citizens. They just don’t trust anyone they don’t know. They see bad guys … Continue reading About Fear…. One of Many Manifestations of Fear

Source: TV icon Dick Van Dyke: ‘I don’t get the comedies today’ – TODAY Entertainment. “It seems to me that relationships are what’s missing. I think back to ‘All in the Family,’ when you knew what those relationships were and the comedy that came out of that. Today it’s just one line after another, and they seem to try to cover too much in the way of story in a short time. Then I think they signal when they’re trying to be funny, and the minute I catch someone trying to be funny, then I won’t laugh.” I am not one … Continue reading ‘I don’t get the comedies today’….

Fear is as engrained in us as any of our emotions. I guess it goes back to our caveman days of fearing for our lives in a very dangerous world. For some odd reason I have been thinking about fear lately and how it affects so many parts of our lives. So, I decided to spend three posts here talking about this subject. Lets start of with the basic definition of fear: 1. a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.  2.  a specific instance of propensity for such a feeling: an abnormal fear of heights. 3.  concern or anxiety; solicitude: a fear for someone’s safety. 4.  reverential awe, especially toward God: the fear of God.  In the first post I want to get into some recent history and current conditions that maybe foster this … Continue reading About Fear…. Its Causes??

  Source: Georgia man, 69, accused of fatally shooting 22-year-old who drove into wrong driveway – Crimesider – CBS News. (CBS/AP) LILBURN, Ga. – A 69-year-old suburban Atlanta man faces a murder charge after authorities say he shot and killed a 22-year-old man who had mistakenly driven into his driveway. An arrest warrant states that Rodrigo Abad Diaz of Duluth, Ga., was fatally shot in the head Saturday as he tried to drive away from Phillip Sailors’ home in Lilburn, northeast of Atlanta. According to Diaz’s friends, who were in the vehicle at the time of the incident, the 22-year-old had … Continue reading Defending His Property….

This is one of my favorite pictures from our Canada trip of 2011. My friend here was in an Acadian village in Nova Scotia (I think) Continue reading My Canadian Friend

Source: ‘Just us’ wedding trend: Couples ditch the guests – The Look. “We just wanted it to be about us,” said Eustice, a 29-year-old dental assistant from Orlando, Florida. “At big weddings, I noticed the bride and groom are entertaining the guests and don’t get to spend a lot of time with each other — we love spending time together. And, it’s really about [us] at the end of the day.” Weddings-for-two, as bridal planners call them, are a growing trend, says Kelly Karli, owner of Frosted Pink Weddings in Vail, Colorado. “It’s been popping up more and more,” I am … Continue reading ‘Just us’ wedding trend: Couples ditch the guests

I know I have a sizable percentage of women who follow this blog so I thought I would spend this post telling you about how guys bond. At least the guys I know.  I’m sure you all know and that guys bond differently than women.    When a woman feels emotional about something it is usually very obvious.  Not so much for us guys. I think I am more girly, as Arnold puts it, than most guys. I readily admit that I shed a few tears during some movies and such when something bad or even good happens to a … Continue reading Guys Bonding….

Source:  G.O.P. Pulls Back on Immigration, Not on Guns – NYTimes.com. Changes to gun laws, he said, have no such support. “They will have a rough row to hoe,” he said. “I have some donors who own gun stores who said they can’t keep stuff in the store.” According to gun rights people and the NRA that represents them there is no need to change anything. Everything is fine just the way it is.  Having a few kids killed in a class room and a few more killed in a movie theaters and shopping malls is just the collateral damage … Continue reading Everything Is Fine Just The Way It Is…..

  Source:  Most common travelers’ tipping mistakes – Travel Kit on NBCNews.com. The most ironic part of the story? McManus’ waiter likely wasn’t even expecting 2 cents—because in Australia, restaurant patrons rarely tip at all…. (Re: tipping in the U.S.) One Australian travel insurance agency has even decided that their clients need educating: “Since Australians don’t tip at home, there is great angst about it, and they have come to blows over it,” says Phil Sylvester of the Sydney-based World Nomads Group. “We finally decided it was a safety issue that needed addressing—as in, ‘Don’t get into a fight, learn to … Continue reading Tipping…..

  Source: Personal Tweets Costing Employers $650B – ABC News. When does twittering at work become frittering away your employer’s time — and money? When your tweets aren’t work-related. Business research firm Basex puts the productivity cost of workplace interruptions, including employee abuse and misuse of social media, at $650 billion a year. I don’t know of any tweets that would be work related as the above article mentions but then I am by no means a Tweeter expert. As a matter of fact I only very rarely visit that site.  It is hard to believe that it has been almost … Continue reading Personal Tweets Costing Employers $650B – ABC News

Source: What We Don’t Know Is Killing Us – NYTimes.com. That Mr. Obama had to make such a decree at all is a measure of the power of the gun lobby, which has effectively shut down government-financed research on gun violence for 17 years. Research on guns is crucial to any long-term effort to reduce death from guns. In other words, treat gun violence as a public health issue. But that is precisely what the National Rifle Association and other opponents of firearms regulation do not want. In the absence of reliable data and data-driven policy recommendations, talk about guns inevitably … Continue reading What We Don’t Know Is Killing Us

  Source: Page 2: Scientists Explain Why President Obama’s Calls for Cooperation Meet Resistance – ABC News. In this case, research suggests that how you ask someone to join a community effort may determine whether or not you are successful. Telling the world we need to work together sounds great, but may not be as effective as had been thought. Or as the study put it, “…the frequent and pressing calls for Americans to recognize their shared fate and think collectively may result in unintended consequences of undermining the very motivation they seek to inspire.” This quote is from an ABC … Continue reading Scientists Explain Why ….

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe. ~ Albert Einstein Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~ Albert Einstein If a cluttered desk is that of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk? ~ Albert Einstein Albert Einstein was one of my first heroes in life. His biography was one of the first “really long” books I read in my early life. I always felt an almost kindred relationship with him.  I think maybe I am an “ignorant” version of him. … Continue reading Stupidity, Insanity & Cluttered Desks……

I just read a news article about the grilling that Hillary Clinton got at congressional hearings lately. One of the questioner couldn’t understand why she did not respond to cable citing some staff level concern. In answer she stated that the State Department gets about 1.5 million cables a year and they are all addressed to her. I hope that answered the person’s question but I seriously doubt that it did. The article got me to thinking about the time we have to do things. There are about 0.5 million minutes in a year. If Hillary spent the entire year … Continue reading Just A Minute…..

  I thought I would use this Photo Saturday to show you some of the custom cabinets I made when I was in the business.   Continue reading Cabinet Shop Examples…

Source:  Whitney Houston’s mom ‘angry’ the star died alone – TODAY Entertainment. The Grammy-winning singer was found dead, face down in her bathtub, at the Beverly Hills Hilton on Feb. 11, 2012, the night before the Grammy Awards. The final coroner’s report listed the cause of death as accidental drowning and “effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use.” The document also indicated that Houston had cocaine, marijuana, Xanax, Benadryl and muscle relaxants in her system when she passed away. I know Whitney Houston’s death is old news but when I started to putting down some thoughts on drug use in … Continue reading Using Drugs….

For those of you who don’t know what Adobe Flash is it is an add-on to your web browser that allows you to view all the videos around now. But, it also is used to make many of those flashy things that distract you from reading content. Those just bug me to no end! Maybe being deaf I am more sensitive to that flashing than most people are?  To remove this pain I have purposely chosen to do without Flash.  I can tell you my web viewing life is simpler now. I used to have a large post-pad handy to cover up all those flashing ads; that did a pretty good job but it was cumbersome. Continue reading “I Don’t Have Adobe Flash….”

  Source: Republican Re-Branding: The ‘Happy Party’? – ABC News. “We want to build a massive party that’s exciting, that smiles, has a good message across America, and that’s what you’re going to see,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told reporters at a news conference on Friday shortly after he was re-elected to another two year term. Sharon Day, a GOP activist from Florida who serves as co-chair of the RNC, put the party’s new approach even more bluntly: “I will talk to a head of lettuce if I can get them to vote Republican.” I am glad to see … Continue reading It Is Not Just “All Talk”….

Source: Thomas Edison hologram chats at Detroit Auto Show – CBS News. Past met present at the auto show Monday when a holographic image of Thomas Edison was used to promote vehicles from electric truck and van maker VIA Motors. Bob Lutz, the retired General Motors executive who led development of the Chevy Volt, took to the stage at the North American International Auto Show to listen as a hologram of a person portraying the inventor gave advice about the potential for electric vehicles. “Thank you very much, Mr. Edison, and I assure you we will not let you down,” Lutz … Continue reading Thomas Edison hologram chats at Detroit Auto Show…

Source: Behind Inaugural Speeches, Meaningful Words | History & Archaeology | Smithsonian Magazine. Wordle is an application that takes text from any source and enlarges words that appear more frequently. Conversely, words that are smaller appear less frequently. Small words, like the or of, are not included in the Wordles above. (www.wordle.net) Wordle is a new word for me. I suspect it will be commonly used in the not too distant future.  When I came across this article in the Smithsonian Magazine – electronic edition it got my immediate attention. The article basically covers nineteen inaugural address ranging from Washington to … Continue reading Wordle….. Behind The Speeches….

When we moved into our 1925 farmhouse almost 13 years ago there was not much of its original charm left. The previous owner had pretty much stripped it out and did a pretty poor job of even that. Fortunately the porches around two sides of the house were still intact. It looked like there had been about three additions added since the house was originally built. The biggest addition, and probably the last one before our ownership, was obviously built by what is known in the trade as a hack. There were numerous areas around the perimeter that had no … Continue reading A Sign Of The Times….

Yesterday, Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation (S. 150) that offers a big step toward reducing gun violence in this country. Senator Feinstein’s bill, which already has 17 cosponsors, would renew and expand the ban on military style assault weapons. Despite the mass slayings of children in schools, moviegoers in theaters and students on college campuses, and the daily gun violence that plagues communities across our country, some lawmakers from both major political parties are expressing opposition. Please urge your senators today to cosponsor this legislation and work for final passage quickly. If your senators have already cosponsored the bill, then please … Continue reading Assault Weapons…

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. ~ Ben Franklin I have read several books about Ben Franklin. He is certainly a fascinating character  but he is generally not one of my favorite founding fathers. He led a pretty pretentious life and was probably one of the original “dirty old men” ;)  But his words above do inspire me. More importantly they help me keep my mouth shut on occasion. On this blog, and in life in general, I seek … Continue reading Leaving Some Things Unsaid….

via Gun control: Why the US military is fighting with the NRA – CSMonitor.com. US military commanders are trying to cope with an epidemic of suicides within the armed forces.  Officials say they are frustrated by a recent law, backed by the NRA, that makes it difficult to talk to soldiers about personally owned firearms. The NRA typically comes out in the full attack mode anytime they come across someone who disagrees with the total unfettered right of people to have as many and any type of weapon they might desire.  It is quite amazing that the NRA is picking a … Continue reading Why the US military is fighting with the NRA…

I got another of those wrenching emails from my friend Jim Wallis over at Sojourners. He sends out a weekly email entitled “Hearts & Minds”.  Here is part of the content: In the past 20 years, the world has witnessed the death of social contracts. We have seen a massive breakdown in trust between citizens, their economies, and their governments. In our own country, we can point to years of data painting a bleak picture of the confidence Americans have in any of our traditional institutions. Former assumptions and shared notions about fairness, agreements, reciprocity, mutual benefits, social values, and expected futures … Continue reading A Call for a New Social Covenant