Archive for April, 2005
April 29, 2005 at 6:49 pm · Filed under Personal
No!
But a collection of Beatles songs covered by various bands and singers. Its sure a fun set of music!
1. Oasis - Got to Hide Your Love Away (2:10)
2. Al Jarreau - She’s Leaving Home (7:38)
3. Roxette - Help (2:52)
4. James Taylor - Yesterday (Beatles cover) (2:41)
5. Tom Jones - Twist And Shout (1:09)
6. Our Lady Peace- Imagine (rare live cover) (3:58)
7. Lynden David Hall - All You Need Is Love (3:30)
8. Me First and The Gimme Gimmes - I Wanna Hold Your Hand (2:06)
9. Jimi Hendrix Experience - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts (1:33)
10. The Corrs - The Long And Winding Road (2:58)
11. Gregorian Chants - Hey Jude.mp3
12. Oingo Boingo - I Am The Walrus (4:09)
13. Meatloaf - Let it be (2:26)
14. Sting - Penny Lane (Live) (2:40)
15. Sumo - Day Tripper (2:58)
16. The Doors - Money (beatles cover) (2:48)
17. Paul Westerberg - Nowhere Man (3:30)
18. Billy Joel - Hard Day’s Night (2:25)
19. Rita Lee - A hard day’s night (3:42)
20. Grateful Dead - Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.mp3
21. Stereophonics - Revolution (3:00)
22. Motlëy Crue - Helter Skelter (3:13)
23. Los Tipitos - Eleonor Rigby.mp3
24. Grateful Dead - Hey Jude (Beatles Cover) (7:34)
25. Joe Cooker - Let it be.mp3
26. Pearl Jam - I Got A Feeling (Beatles Cover) (3:41)
27. Bruce Springsteen & Jon Bon Jovi - Come Together.MP3
28. Beck - A Day in the Life.mp3
29. Rod Stewart - Get Back.mp3
30. Depeche Mode. - Yesterday (Beetles Cover) (2:43)
31. Alison Krauss - I Will (4:03)
32. Blood, Sweat And Tears - Got To Get You In To My Life (3:22)
33. U2 - Help (2:14)
34. Soundgarden - Come Together (2:56)
35. QUEEN - Imagine (2:12)
36. Boys II Men - Yesterday (Acapella) (1).mp3
37. No Doubt - Ob la di, Ob la da.mp3
38. Paul Weller - sexy sadie.mp3
39. Kid Rock - Come Together (Beatles Cover).mp3
40. Nina Simone - Here Comes The Sun.mp3
April 29, 2005 at 12:03 pm · Filed under General
This morning as I grabbed my morning cup of tea, FOXNEWS was interviewing someone regarding government waste.
This was once an issue on the forefront of people’s minds and was also rather newsworthy, but you don’t hear much about it anymore. The interview made me realize this kind of waste still goes on, even though people don’t talk much about it anymore.
Here some examples:
$5,786,000 - wood utilization research (Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon and Tennessee)
$4,177,000 - shrimp aquiculture research (Arizona, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas)
$645,000 - alternative salmon products research (Alaska)
$250,000 - Vidalia onion research (Georgia)
$200,000 - barley food health benefits research
Onion research?
$3,000,000 - research on the Charleston Bump, an offshore bottom feature that attracts a large number of fish
mp is a dance? Fish need to know this.em>
$12,000,000 - shipyard apprentice program (Hawaii)
$1,000,000 - National Flag Foundation in Pittsburgh; the goal of the organization is “to inspire people everywhere, but especially young people, to be more dedicated, responsible citizens and have a greater respect for the flag,” according to the foundation’s director.
I suppose next is pork spending on how to BURN the flag, *sigh*
$1,500,000 - Vulcan Monument (Alabama)
$250,000 - Rice Museum
$1,250,000 - Aleutian Pribilof church repairs (Alaska)
$1,130,000 - wood utilization laboratory in Sitka (Alaska)
$300,000 - Point Retreat Lighthouse (Alaska)
$176,000 - Reinder Herder’s Association (Alaska)
A RICE Museum????
$6,390,000 - physical fitness center at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station; sources indicate that Miramar already has a gym with a high-tech fitness equipment such as a Stairmaster with Internet access.
A stairmaster? for 6 mil?
Here is a list for 2005
Amount
Recipient
$450,000
Baseball Hall of Fame
$97,000
Franco-American Heritage Center, Lewiston , Maine
$25,000
Develop curriculum to study mariachi music, Clark County School District , Nevada
$350,000
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland , Ohio
$150,000
Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program, Lady B Ranch, California
$950,000
Please Touch Museum , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
$250,000
Police Activities League Center , Anaheim California
$2,000,000
Kitchen Relocation, Fairbanks ( Alaska ) North Star Borough
$250,000
Alaska Statehood Celebration, University of Alaska
$250,000
Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville , Tennessee
$121,250
Demolition, Broadview Heights , Ohio
$99,000
Train students in the motorsports industry, Patrick Henry Community College
$50,000
Workforce development, Fashion Business, Inc., Los Angeles , California
$100,000
Municipal swimming pool, Ottawa , Kansas
$100,000
Amer-I-Can program for youth, Illinois
$300,000
Relocate the Waynesboro, Mississippi Police Department
$250,000
Camp Police Athletic League of New Jersey
$35,000
Alabama Sports Hall of Fame
$100,000
National Association of Promoting Success
$175,000
Love Social Services, Fairbanks, Alaska
$51,000
Robert E. Lee Community Center, Chase City, Virginia
$150,000
Grammy Foundation
$167,000
Horn Fly Research in Alabama
$72,750
Public swimming pool construction, Prescott, Alaska
$300,000
Revitalize downtown Council Bluffs, Iowa
$500,000
Beyond Missing
$75,000
Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame, New York
$100,000
High Falls Film Festival, Rochester, New York
$291,000
International Museum of Women, San Francisco, California
$300,000
Streetlights and salt dome, Markham, Illinois
$1,500,000
Transport naturally chilled water from Lake Ontario to Lake Onondaga
$250,000
City pool renovation and construction, Banning, California
$250,000
Construct the Great Falls Parking Garage, Auburn, Maine
$6,285,000
Wood utilization research across several states
$200,000
Aviation Hall of Fame
$500,000
Equipment purchases, KENW public radio station, Portales, New Mexico
$100,000
âNo Workshops, No Jumpshots,” Virginia
$200,000
Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum, Greenville, Texas
$275,000
National History Museum of the Adirondacks, Tupper Alaska
$150,000
Obscenity Crimes Project
$100,000
Breedlove Dehydrated Foods, Lubbock, Texas
$50,000
Feral hog control in Missouri
$250,000
Traffic calming, Windermere, Florida
$500,000
Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City
$250,000
North Creek Ski Bowl, North Creek, New York
$1,750,000
Parents Anonymous
$1,500,000
Wood products wastewater repairs Canton, North Carolina
$150,000
Fishing Rationalization Research in Alaska
$1,500,000
Anchorage Museum/Transit intermodal depot, Alaska
$250,000
Surplus federal property study, Walla Walla, Washington
$98,000
Alaska Sea Otter Commission
$200,000
Dennison Railroad Depot Museum, Ohio
$2,500,000
Horse Springs Ranch, New Mexico
$150,000
âParent Internâ program, Our House, Inc., Decatur, Georgia
$3,000,000
Center for Grape Genetics, Geneva, New York
$150,000
Coca-Cola Space Science Center, Columbus, Georgia
$100,000
Punxsutawney (Pennsylvania) Weather Museum
$280,000
Sidewalks, street furniture and façade improvements, Bakersfield, California
$1,000,000
B.B. King Museum Foundation, Indianola, Mississippi
$250,000
A day care center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
$268,000
Livestock waste research in Iowa
$350,000
Project Peacemaker, Turtle Mountain Community College, North Dakota
$200,000
Wallace State Center for Automotive Manufacturing and Plastics, Hanceville, Alabama
$160,000
Seafood waste in Alaska
$1,108,000
Alternative salmon products in Alaska
$796,000
Ice Age National Scientific Reserve
$42,124
Citrus waste utilization in Florida
$50,000
Wild rice research in Minnesota
$300,000
Wool research
$100,000
Trees Forever Program, Iowa
$1,800,000
Eider and sea otter recovery at Alaska Sea Life Center
$1,000,000
Trailways Station Revitalization and Visitors Center, Georgia
$3,500,000
Bus acquisition in Atlanta
$1,000,000
Clean fuel shuttle buses in Atlanta
$750,000
Broward/Palm Beach County buses, Florida
$2,000,000
Replace buses in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
$200,000
YMCA bus, Alabama
$25,000
Fitness equipment, YMCA of Bradford County, Pennsylvania
$921,000
Hardwood tree improvement and regeneration, Indiana
$350,000
Leafy spurge eradication in North Dakota
$10,000
Slickspot Peppergrass
$500,000
Chugach NF Valdez visitor center, Alaska
$2,300,000
Animal Waste Management Research Laboratory, Bowling Green, Kentucky
$515,000
Brown tree snake management in Guam
$3,000,000
Grape Genomics Research Center, Davis, California
$347,000
Grapefruit juice/drug interaction research, Florida
$63,000
Noxious Weed in the Desert Southwest, Las Cruces, New Mexico
$470,000
Swine and other animal waste management research, North Carolina
$150,000
âCheck âEm Outâ program
$750,000
Close Up Foundation
$100,000
Marine turtles program
$430,000
Automotive technology and repair workforce training, Excel Institute, Washington, D.C.
$100,000
Pennsylvania Hunting and Fishing Museum, Warren, Pennsylvania
$1,250,000
Train-to-Mountain, Washington
$500,000
Kincaid Park Soccer and Nordic Ski Center, Anchorage, Alaska
$100,000
National Railway Museum, Green Bay, Wisconsin
$900,000
Tongass Coast Aquarium, Ketchikan Alaska
Where does “pork-barrel” spending come from? JesseGordon gave this response on 5/4/2000:
“Representatives add the “crap” because they want their particular crap to pass. Big bills that are likely to pass are ripe for “amendments” for pork projects, which are added at every step of the way. Representatives won’t vote against the bill as a whole just because of some small pieces of “pork” added on, so the pork passes along with the whole bill.”
In other words, legitimate bills get voted on, and along with those our politicians add preposterous and expensive items to the bill. And where does the money go really?
- In the year 2001, Congress appropriated $340,000,000 in federal tax dollars to PBS (Public Broadcasting Services). I’m sure that Barney the purple dinosaur and Big Bird appreciate this generous gesture, but they are hardly worthy of our tax dollars! So the next time you turn on PBS (if you actually watch it) and see them asking for donations, remember that you are already a sponsor.
- The National Endowment for the Arts received $104,769,000 in the year 2001. This was an increase by $7,000,000 from the previous year. The NEA has long been a sore spot among most conservatives due to it’s sponsoring of such things as a painting of the Virgin Mary littered with elephant dung and pornographic clippings.
These few items alone (there are hundreds more similar to these) cost us $508,727,000 a year!
Section 8 of Article I opens with, “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.” This is very specific about the powers entrusted to Congress. Congress has clearly trampled all over these restrictions! They have gone beyond their authority.
I am not the only one bothered by these and other wasteful items: See Citizens Against Government Waste
CNN Money, where the article goes beyond describing the wasteful spending on the study of mariachi music in Nevada.
Sen. John McCain asked “Why does the U.S. taxpayer need to fund this `no shrimp left behind’ act?” He was speaking of the 1 million dollar initiative that the government must spend $1 million on “Wild American Shrimp Initiative”.
The U-Act is another group protesting against government waste.
With President Bush telling us how Social Security is in dire straits in last night’s speech, its hard to believe that American Citizens rest on our laurels while such waste continues and multiplies!
I am rather bothered. Are YOU?
April 28, 2005 at 5:02 pm · Filed under News Items
The ivory-billed woodpecker, a striking bird that once flourished in the forests of the Southeast but was thought to have become extinct, has reportedly been sighted in eastern Arkansas, a Cornell University researcher says in a paper released Thursday.
More to the story, from USA TODAY
April 28, 2005 at 4:31 pm · Filed under General
1. Canned Heat - Going Up the Country (2:51)
2. Counting Crows - Raining In Baltimore (4:41)
3. Nick Drake - Time has Told Me (4:27)
4. Nick Drake - I Was Made To Love Magic (3:27)
5. Hans Zimmer - And then I kissed him (5:35)
6. REM - Everybody Hurts (5:20)
7. REM-Michael Stipe/Natalie Merc - To Sir With Love (4:16)
8. Phil Keaggy - Love Broke Through (3:25)
9. Phil Keaggy - Time (Live).mp3
10. Hans Zimmer - Tennessee (3:39)
Time Has Told Me Lyrics
Time has told me
You’re a rare rare find
A troubled cure
For a troubled mind.
And time has told me
Not to ask for more
Someday our ocean
Will find its shore.
So I`ll leave the ways that are making me be
What I really don’t want to be
Leave the ways that are making me love
What I really don’t want to love.
Time has told me
You came with the dawn
A soul with no footprint
A rose with no thorn.
Your tears they tell me
There’s really no way
Of ending your troubles
With things you can say.
And time will tell you
To stay by my side
To keep on trying
’til there’s no more to hide.
So leave the ways that are making you be
What you really don’t want to be
Leave the ways that are making you love
What you really don’t want to love.
Time has told me
You’re a rare rare find
A troubled cure
For a troubled mind.
And time has told me
Not to ask for more
For some day our ocean
Will find its shore.
April 26, 2005 at 4:49 pm · Filed under News Items
If you’ve read my blog before, you know about our locusts, our weather, and so on. But have I mentioned our bufffalo??
Seems some buffalo escaped from a farm and some officers eventually rounded them up, of all places, in a tennis court!
I liked when the evening news had an on site reporter talking about the ordeal, and in the background was a lone clean up person.
News story » HERE
April 26, 2005 at 12:28 pm · Filed under News Items
At first glance one would wonder what the two of them could possibly have in common. According to Yahoo News, plenty!
According to the article, “When in Seattle, Bono Bunks with Bill Gates!”
Apparently, besides Bono of U2 staying with Bill Gates while in Seattle, they are both very concerned with developing countries causes.
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April 25, 2005 at 2:52 pm · Filed under General, Personal
While we get this spring bloom, to our close west they get 8 inches of snow!
April 25, 2005 at 2:03 pm · Filed under General
I seem to be aiding friends and family with frequency these days to help them get malware, adware, spyware off of their computers. (Common symtoms are pop-ups, hijacked home page, slow or sluggish computer).
I keep hearing mention of not using the IE browser to avoid getting spyware on your computer. One particular browser deemed very safe, and I can see by my stats is gaining in popularity is FIREFOX.
By the way, anyone using FIREFOX, get all the latest Add-Ons, HERE . There you can find anything from a bandwidth tester, Dictionary Search, or the old game, PONG!
April 25, 2005 at 10:18 am · Filed under News Items
April 20, 2005 at 3:30 pm · Filed under General
When Petra came, she brought along a book with her that she seemed to not be able to put down. She read consistantly turning page after page. I kept asking her, “A good book?” And she would sort of shrug and say it was OK.
After a few times of watching her really read the book I told her, “I am not convinced the book is only OK, you really seem to be reading it steady.”
She then said the writer was really good at writing a story.
While she was here I had work piling up, but when she finished with the book she asked,” Would you like me to leave it here for you to read?” And I told her if I ever got the time, yes I would like to.
I put the book on the shelf, and worked piled up even more, and I never got to touch it. Turns out the book was the very popular, “DaVinci Code” everyone had been talking about of late.
Then while Enric came, he said he had to do a report on the DaVinci Code, and was I familiar with it. I told him no, but that I had a copy of it, compliments of Petra. I told him he was welcome to borrow it for school, but he had to send me a copy of his report.
So, fresh from Northland Baptist Bible College, here is Enric’s take on The DaVinci Code:
The Da Vinci Code
Enric Lopez
This is in no way a total critique of the Dan Brownâs The Da Vinci Code . This is only an attempt at covering some of the issues that surround doctrine. There is much more study that could be done as it relates to the historical issues that Brown raises.
I. Attacks on the Word of God.
A. âThe Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven.â The Bible is a product of man. (Brown 312)
B. It was produced by man to have a historical record.
C. It has evolved through countless translations and revisions; thereforeâŠ
D. History has never had the word of God. There has never been a clear rendition of it.
E. Problems:
1. Perhaps the Word didnât fall from the clouds. What Brown ignores is that God spoke and interacted with his choice servants. He spoke to and through the prophets in the Old Testament.
2. II. Timothy 3:16 says that âAll Scripture is given by inspiration of GodâŠâ That sounds like our Bible is directly from God
3. To say that the Word has evolved through the ages is simply a fallacy. Yes there have been countless translations, but how else are people supposed to understand what the Bible says and teaches? The Bible remains unchanged through the centuries.
II. Skewed view of Constantine and surrounding History
A. The book declares that there were 80 gospels written about the life of Jesus.
B. We are told that Constantine was on a power trip to get his empire under control. The Christians were growing to sizable numbers to the point where they were warring against the pagans (which Constantine was one.) Therefore, as a business move, Constantine decided to unify the empire under the name of Christianity so Rome wouldnât be torn in two. Problems so far areâŠ
1. There werenât more than 40 gospels written by the time of Constantine. Most of which were the Coptic Gospels which were written in the 3rd century.
2. The book totally leaves out the historical fact on Constantineâs claim of seeing the chi and rho in the sky where he claims that he was told to conquer under this sign. It is obvious to the Christian that this revelation to Constantine was a hoax of some sort. My point though is not to defend Constantine in this way, but to explain what Brownâs book says about this time in history. So, with that it mind, history declares that Constantine was making this move sincerely, even if he was misled
3. There are no records of the Christians and pagans warring against each other. Unless of course, Brown is referring to the vicious onslaught that the Roman government had ensued to systematically exterminate the believers (which was failing miserably). Brown doesnât specify clearly what he is talking about in this point. But whatever he was speaking about, I donât believe the conflict was going to rip the empire in two. Throughout the entire novel the reader can find these twists in history so the story can fit what Brown is trying to get across.
(To give brown some credit. The infiltration of pagan symbols entering into Catholicism is probably true.) Now on to the next twist of history and doctrine
C. Council of Nicaea: According to Brown, Constantine held the Council of Nicaea in order to strengthen his new Christian belief system. Among the issues that were being dealt with, the divinity of Jesus was one or them. Brown then states that until the Council was held, Jesus was only viewed as a mere man. A prophet, and great teacher, but not divine. Constantine did this to strengthen his power and the power of the church/government. Brown states that by making Jesus God, the foundation for all beliefs and decisions made, are backed up by a deity, making it infallible. To question the Roman empire is to question God Himself. âIt was all about power,â Teabing continued, âChrist as Messiah was critical to the functioning of and state. Many scholars claim that the early church literally Jesus from his original followers, hijacking His human message, shrouding it in an impenetrable cloak of divinity, and using it to expand their own power.â (Brown 316) He then states that all educated Christians know the history of their faith. The facts are that Jesus influenced millions to better lives. And Constantine took advantage of His amazing influence and used it for his own gain.
D. Brown claims that the other main purpose of the Council was to get rid of all the writings on Jesus that focused on His human aspects, or, the Gnostic Gospels. By doing this, Constantine could rewrite the history books, and set his plan in motion.
E. The conclusion to these statements is that all we were taught about Jesus is false.
F. ProblemsâŠ
1. The purpose of the Council was not a result of Constantineâs power trip (which as discussed earlier, was not his intentions). It was held because of the rise of Arian heresy which, among other things, stated that Jesus was begotten of the Father, therefore had a beginning and was not God. So, the purpose was to refute this heresy, not make up doctrine.
2. The thought that says Jesusâ followers never believed He was God is absurd. Jn. 1:1, Jn. 10:30. When Thomas was doubtful, and said that the only way he would believe that Jesus rose from the dead was to see Him, and see the scars from the crucifixion. When Jesus showed the scars to him he said, â My Lord and my God.â ( Jn. 20:24-28). All the disciples believed that Christ was the Messiah, God incarnate. All the Church Fathers believed that Christ was God. He wasnât declared divine by a vote. If Jesus wasnât God, then who gave him the authority to do what He did? And why would Christians die a martyrâs death for 2 centuries before Christianity would be legalized? It doesnât make sense.
3. Without saying directly, Brown denies the deity of Christ.
a. By saying that His followers looked at Him as a good teacher and prophet.
b. By saying that he was looked at this way until the Council of Nicaea voted that he was divine⊠therefore
c. Jesus is not God. If no one viewed Him as God, and He had to be voted divine by a council, then that is the conclusion.
4. As far as the Gnostic gospels being thrown out so there would be no record of Jesusâ humanity; itâs ludicrous. The topic of the Gnostic Gospels wasnât even part of the Council of Nicaea.. As I said before, the council was held as the result of Arian heresy It wasnât debated then. The church Fathers had already rejected the Gnostic Gospels. They were written after the apostles walked the earth so their origin is unknown. The Gnostic Gospels were proven as false and heretical.
III. Skewed view of Jesus and His relationship with Mary Magdalene
A. Mary is viewed in the book as the Holy Grail âSan grealâ= Holy (Royal) Blood is supposed to be coded into the word âSang Realâ
1. Mary is from the Royal line of Benjamin and has a rite to the throne.
2. Not the possessed harlot that the Bible says that she is. That was put there by Constantine to erase her true history.
B. Jesus is her companion in the Da Vinci Code, which he says means wife.
1. Apparently Jesusâ had an agenda while he was on earth. Since Mary was of the tribe of Judah, marrying her would make a union of two royal lines. He wanted to form a political union to become king and she the queen.
2. Jesus was going to begin his church with Mary, and not the disciples as we were deceived.
3. Jesus also in marrying Mary, had children and began a Royal/Divine bloodline of whom is one of Brownâs characters in the book.
4. The people who know the âtrueâ history, believe that Mary is the Holy Grail or the Divine Feminine. Basically, Jesus made Mary divine by giving her divinity in her womb. In the book, she is worshipped by the people who know the âtruthâ in the form of goddess worship.
C. The only two sources that Brown actually uses for this claim areâŠ
(Brown altered these two texts. For the gospel of Mary so it would flow better. But for the Gospel of Philip, he altered completely; the following will show what the text really says)
1. The Gospel of Mary Magdalene:
âPeter answered and spoke concerning these same things. He questioned them about the Savior: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?… Levi answered and said to Peter, Peter you have always been hot tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well. That is why He loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed and put on the perfect Man, and separate as He commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying any other rule of other law beyond what the Savior said.â
2. The Gospel of Philip:
âAnd the companion of the [âŠ] Mary Magdalene [âŠloved] her more than [all] the disciples, [and used to ] kiss her [often] on her [âŠ]. The rest of the disciples⊠They said to him âWhy do you love her more than all of us?â The Savoir answered and said to them, âWhy do I not love you like her?ââ
D. Problems. The reality is that Brown rewrote the history books
1. Mary Magdaleneâs genealogy is non-existent. We donât know where she comes from. There is no record in the Biblical account. There is no historical account. Period.
2. Jesus never started His church with Mary Magdalene.
3. There is no record that Jesus had any type relationship with the woman.
4. The list could go on. The bottom line is that most of these concoctions are straight from Brownâs head. He meshes much of his beliefs from a few books that were written in the 1980s: The Gnostic Gospels; The Templar Revelation; Holy Blood, Holy Grail; The Goddess in the Gospels, And others.
5. I realize that we donât hold to the Gnostic gospels as inspired. But I thought that it was interesting that these are the only two sources that the author uses to back up what he claims. The only other thing that the book declares is that the marriage between Mary and Jesus is a matter of historical record. Which historical record? He doesnât say.
Conclusion: To conclude, I would like to point out an ironic conflict in what Brown says. If Jesus is not God, then what right does Christ have in making declarations of how the church should start. Therefore, this logic forces us to realize that if Christ is not God, then Mary Magdalene cannot be divine either. By taking away the foundation or premise, Brown takes away his result.
April 19, 2005 at 12:37 pm · Filed under News Items
Two weeks and 6 long outages later, I decide to investigate if I am alone in the bad service and rather snide telephone tech support as well as the supervisor I talked to.
I learned I wasn’t. I learned there was even a website where people were trying to take ‘fixes’ into their own hands in a forum dedicated to COMCAST.
Apparently the outages were due to “upgrades” and outages were not expected, but did happen. Or at least that is what I was told. That was before I was told there were no outages, must be my computer. Yeah, Right.
Forunately, the pen is mightier than the sword in many cases, and we can at least turn to the NEWS for information.
“Comcast says a “memory leak” caused the disruption that inconvenienced some of its 7 million high-speed Internet customers nationwide. The problem occurred sporadically… “
7 million customers. One hopes the ‘upgrade’ is finally here. I haven’t noticed yet.
April 17, 2005 at 12:31 pm · Filed under Personal
Today at our church we had a special guest speaker, Dr Sasha. Dr. Sasha and his wife came from Russia to tell us how their ministry was doing, and to outline to the church as supporters, how the funds were being used.
Our church supports various missionaries, and from time to time we will get visits from them to tell us how things are going “in the field”. Today, we were blessed with Dr. Sasha and his wife, Alia.
From the beginning you could tell they were a very special pair. He actually walks with a bounce in his step, an exhuberance in his movements and gestures, a smile at the ready and a twinkle in his eye. With all that, I still couldn’t keep my eyes from moving to his wife. A glowing face, a precious smile, and a countanence, that just seems to say she has seen God.
They brought with them a slide show and movies of the churches they had established in the St Petersburg area where they live. They showed us the various faces of the lovely children in the orphanages they support. They explained the very humble beginings, and how their work is being multiplied there.
They sung a hymm together, one familiar to us, but in their native Russian, and we were asked to join along in English.
We learned that Dr. Sasha was at one time a Naval medical doctor. He gave it all up to establish a church. It started with a few meeting in a home. We were shown a typical Russian apartment; two rooms, a bathroom and one other room which served as kitching, dining, living and bedroom. An average salary is $100 a month. We saw photos of a typical hospital, it wasn’t a very encouraging sight. He explained about the 80% drug use among the young people. The photos easily displayed the lack of luxuries we so easily take for granted.
Through an interpreter, Dr Sasha explained the church’s early days, when he felt called to start a building. He said it would need $52,000 to begin to build one. He said he would likely need 52 years to earn enough to start one, and that while HE was patient and could wait, the church couldn’t. He set out to the U.S., and went back home with every penny he needed to begin construction. He showed the various phases of the construction. And towards the end of the construction, he showed a man on a ladder starting to hammer a sign at the front door, with a cross above it. He got excited telling us, this was no ordinary sign. He began, “See that cross? It took me 3 and half months to get permission to post that cross.” One could tell in his expression that they hadn’t been an easy three and a half months. So, when it came time to post the sign. He decided to just nail it up without the permission. The sign was merely saying they were a Baptist Church. With a shaky voice, and part fear in his eyes, but a voice with laughter, he said, “I lost three nights sleep after that, and this very day, I call my deacon each night to ask, ‘Is the sign still there?’ ”
At the end of the service, I just wanted to meet them both, and I wanted to just express gratitude to their work. They represent our church, our Savior under conditions that are so difficult. One can see that they don’t live for the earth’s fading treasures, they store theirs in a place that is eternal, their heavenly home.
Now as Baptists, we are great handshakers. A very ordinary Sunday will find us shaking hands with everyone. Sometimes us ladies will hug, and that is what I felt I needed to do with Dr. Sasha’s wife. That smile, that glow, that face telling all of the hardships but loving and trusting the Lord anyway, required more than a handshake, I thought. But I worried, what if they don’t do that there?
Perhaps was a foolish thing to do, cultural differences and you just never know…but all that was in me said a handshake wouldn’t do. I shook Dr. Sasha’s hand and thanked him for coming. And then I turned to Alia, his wife, and our eyes met and I hugged her warmly. I don’t speak Russian. Words weren’t needed. She just hugged back in appreciation. I felt she understood me, and bless her heart, she shook Laura’s hands and told me in gestures to wait. She turned, then she came back to us and gave us gifts. Imagine, her giving US gifts. I had nothing to give her. She pressed into our hands, a button, a pen, and a card. “Thank you, ” I prayed silently, “for giving me the courage to hug her.” It was all I had to give that day.
April 16, 2005 at 1:47 pm · Filed under General
I love a good quote. It’s like someone put into words thoughts you have had inwardly, but then says it just right, and better than your jumbled thoughts can manage. Others, teach you something. Still others are like poetry. Then there are some, like many from Oscar Wilde with bite and wit, that really make you laugh yet feel cynical at the same time.
Here is one of my favorites:
“To be intelligent is to be open-minded, active, memoried,
and persistently experimental. ”
~Leopold Stein
*sigh*
Some might say I am TOO memoried.
April 16, 2005 at 7:56 am · Filed under Personal
I often post what I am listening to. I thought it could be befitting to also share what I read.
Right now I am reading THYROID POWER. Yes, I have thyroid disease.
In an effort to stop being a guinea pig to incompetant doctors who really know nothing about this disease (and I have been to many), I am going to try to take control of my own life and read up on the subject as much as I can. I can be my own guinea pig (for at least half the price or less) of those overpaid doctors. Apparently I have been on prescription medicine for the past 25 years only to find out it was only recently passed by the FDA for approval! Once learning the side affects of the medicine, one has to wonder which is worse, the side effects or the disease!
Important links:
About Thyroid
Yahoo Group to join regarding Thyroid disease; talk with others who suffer from thyroid disease, including hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, weight loss with thyroid disease, alternative therapies and treatments, the alternative thyroid drugs, and more…
April 14, 2005 at 3:37 pm · Filed under General
I thought I would update everyone as to my cable woes.
I did get to speak to a human being, somewhat knowledgeable, even. She informed me that the outages were due to an upgrade. I told her that other ISP’s that have maintenence work to do INFORM their customers ahead of time so they can plan accordingly. She explained that the upgrade work wasn’t supposed to cause an outage, and that we would all be receiving mails explaining what has happened. (that is kinda like a sign AFTER the speed bump, but okkkkkk).
I then mentioned to her a very practical (or so I thought) idea. Since COMCAST runs TV and INTERNET, why not dedicate a channel on the cable TV explaining such outages, a bulletin board, if you will.
Oh, that might make too much sense!
April 13, 2005 at 5:56 pm · Filed under General
Comcast has to be one of the biggest cable tv and internet providers in the US.
Not long after I blogged the speeds that cable is capable of, I am LUCKY to even connect!
I am working on 5 long outages in the span of 10 days and my productivity is falling way short of what I need it to be!
And you know what else bugs me? Not ONE darned explanation of what could be the problem. Nothing. Why should Comcast bother to provide its paying members anything? Where else do we have to go?
I will now make it my mission to speak to a real human (if there actually is any) at COMCAST CABLE and see if this is the kind of service we are to expect in the future, and see if they can make good on that quote I blogged from the news article.
*sigh*
If anyone knows if a real human exists at Comcast Cable and if there is someone who can actually give a person answers, let me know.
April 10, 2005 at 9:50 am · Filed under News Items
Coming from a one time owner of a Mustang Cobra II and a Camaro Iroc Z (with a corvette engine), I’ve always had a need for a little speed.
That goes even more for my internet connection. I mean, there is no chance for a ticket if it goes too fast, no risk of an accident…so, let me go as fast as possible!
So imagine my delight reading Tomorrow’s Net speeds could be up to 1,600% faster. My own ISP, Comcast was also quote in the following paragraph.
While cable operators now usually transmit broadband at 3 million bits per second (3MB), a download of “a billion bits per second is completely doable,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told the industry’s annual convention here this week. “The network could do this quite easily.”
Always exciting to improve on great technology!
April 9, 2005 at 4:31 pm · Filed under Personal
In line with my page of my MP3 Collection and my CD collection, I have started pages of the top hits of the decades. So far using Billboard Charts for the top songs, here are the new pages with the Top Hits of the 50’s, 60’s,70’s and the 80’s
More surely to come soon.
April 9, 2005 at 2:14 pm · Filed under General
I love my daughter, I do.
She can be, however, interesting to live with.
We went shopping and this was the shirt she just HAD to have. It seemed apropos
Here’s my princess, wearing, “Next Mood Swing. 6 Minutes”
We all agreed, that’s so HER.
She’s also a great sport to let me post this.
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