In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity. ~Titus 2:7
In a pregraduation service at Northland, they acknowledged the spouses of the graduates with towels and a single rose. This seemed so right to me. Enric had a few obstacles and as many do, and faced a few hardships along the journey. How much easier was it with the support and love of his wife, Miranda.
She is indeed, more precious than rubies.
And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. ~Isaiah 42:16
My son graduated from Northland Baptist Bible College today. He has worked hard for this moment. I was indeed blessed to go to Wisconsin and see him graduate.
I am blogging for the first time, away from home, at my hotel in Michigan.
This is fun!
Our trip went without any incident.
Here is Laura and Anna at BWI waiting for our flight with Midwest:
Flying over Lake Michigan is always exciting:
Miranda stopped to feed the baby on our way from Green Bay to Northland.
So, Laura and I investigated this old building from 1881 in Stiles, Wisconsin.
Then we got to see this fella with the dreamiest blue eyes ever….
Tomorrow is a big day. Enric, our graduate, has invited us to Northland’s spring concert and some other events all day!
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” — Robert Louis Stevenson
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain
“There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.” — Charles Dudley Warner
“When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.” — Susan Heller
“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” — Lao Tzu
“Two of the greatest gifts we can give our children are roots and wings.” –- Hodding Carter
“He who would travel happily must travel light.” — Antoine de St. Exupery
“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” — James Michener
“Let your memory be your travel bag.” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.” — Fitzhugh Mullan
I have already blogged on the dangers of fluoride, but more information on this toxic poison is continuing to pour in.
If I ever wondered why my thyroid doesn’t work properly, the mystery seems to be solved with the fluoride pills my dentist insisted to my mom that I take as a child, since we were using well water, and not fluoride treated city water.
In Port Huron, Mich., officials are considering a halt to fluoridation that began in 1974, as residents have argued the treatment poses health risks to newborns and infants, those with thyroid conditions and others. Mayor Pro-Tem Jim Fisher said: “Fluoride is cumulative in your body. … There’s a fairly large body of scientists that believe it’s not good for your health.”
In England, where most public drinking is not artificially fluoridated, Prime Minister Gordon Brown is pushing the practice by municipalities such as Southampton. Pushing back, however, is a strong effort by the country’s Green Party, which says adding the chemical to water supplies removes the people’s freedom to choose. Eric Hyland of the party said: “Fluoride is toxic waste. It is more toxic than lead and marginally less so than arsenic. This is what the government wants to put in your drinking water. It is illegal under the Poisons Act to administer poisonous or noxious substances to anyone, and the Green Party will continue to campaign against it.”
The anti-fluoride activists make their case effectively by telling consumers to read the U.S. government’s own warnings regarding toothpastes and mouthwashes containing fluoride. They include:
- “Keep out of reach of children under 6 years of age.”
- “If you swallow more than used for brushing, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away.”
- “If more than used for brushing is accidentally swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Centre right away.”
- “Never give fluoridated mouthwash or mouth rinses to children under six years of age, as they may swallow it.”
- “Use non-fluoridated toothpaste or no toothpaste for young children.”
While few would argue that topical application of minute amounts of fluoride on teeth would reduce cavities, deliberately ingesting it – even in trace amounts – is risky.
I think that when in doubt, DON’T is a safe rule here till this is solved, don’t you?
I have in my desk a jar of Vegemite.
Now, why some people would want to eat the stuff, I have no idea.
I couldn’t get it past my nose.
I keep it for sentimental reasons. 
However, in Australia, they do eat it, some like it, and there does seem to be some health benefits for those who like it.
However, this just in from my friend, Georgie, who told me that in China, games organisers have told Australia it must source all food from within China.
I find this a little odd, because as of February this year, I read that Americans will be taking it’s own food to the games, citing the Chinese food was so full of steroids, they would all test positive on a test for steroids.
To be fair now, I wonder if this rule only applies to Australians, based on the U.S. plans to take their own food. I can see this to be a problem, Australians and Americans are used to liberties. Being able to eat one’s steroid free food shouldn’t be a non option.
This makes me think about how different the upcoming Olympics are going to be, even if it [Tibet, their political prisoners, issues of control, pollution, and lets not forget tainted food they send us] mostly stays in the background.
I, for one, am less and less enchanted with the upcoming games. Articles of their hidden nuclear submarines base, how they treat their own people, and now, how they push their control onto other nations, is to wonder if the games are nothing compared to a global security?
Some of my regular visitors noticed that my blog was having issues, it was posting double. So once people would click on the comment link, they would go to a page where the blog post appeared twice, and there were two comment forms as well.
After searching forums and Wordpress expert pages, turning off all plug-ins, and changing the template with no results, I finally took the plunge and upgraded my Wordpress Blog.
Now to some, that doesn’t sound like something hard to do, but this was my first time trying it. I was afraid I would make a mistake and lose everything, so after practicing (with John’s OK) on Boz and Oz, my first step was to download all the contents of my blog folder. Next I looked for a way to download my database files, (a tad harder to understand how to do), and finally, following the short version of how to upgrade your wordpress blog, it was done.
The newest version of Wordpress sure has a different looking dashboard. It has taken some getting used to, but only around a short week since updating it, I love it.
So if you have a Wordpress blog, and you are having issues with posts showing up twice, try upgrading your Wordpress.
My grandmom used to feed the squirrels peanuts straight from her hand. I remember as a child watching with wonder as she would reach out and they would just come up to her and reach for the peanut.
I used to fuss at the squirrels always eating my bird food. I have decided not to fight them anymore.
Now, I have a few squirrels that come to my ledge of my bedroom window to get peanuts and eat on the bird food. These squirrels have been great fun to watch and “play” with. They especially make me laugh when I am not expecting to see them, peeking in, ever curious, or asking for food.
Laura decided for our pasta category on Ravioli.
I think I knew it was going to be difficult, but neither Laura nor I knew how involved homemade ravioli could be.
First you have to make the sauce, nearly 5 hours it took to cook!
Next was the homemade noodles, (the pasta around the filled ravioli). Then to cook the pasta with the filling.
It was a stressful meal, but in the end, it was a good dish with a great sauce (worth all 5 hours!)
Here is the recipe:
Ravioli
Tomato Meat Sauce (below)
3 cups ricotta
1 1/2 T Chopped Parsley
2 eggs, well beaten
1 T. grated parmesean cheese
salt
pepper
Basic Noodle dough (Below)
7 quarts water
2 T. Salt
Grated Parmesean or Romano Cheese
1. Prepare Tomato Meat Sauce (below)
2. Mix ricotta, parsley, eggs, 1 T Parmesean, salt, and pepper.
3. Prepare noodle dough (below). Divide dough in fourths. Lightly roll each forth 1/8 inch think to form a rectangle. Cut dough lengthwise with pastry cutter into strips 5 inches wide. Put 2 teaspoons filling 1-1/2 inchs from narrow end in center of each strip. Continuing along strip, put 2 teaspoons filling at 3-1/2 inch intervals.
4. Fold each strip in half lengthwise, covering mounds of filling. To seal, press the edges together with the tines of a fork. Press gently between mounds to form rectangles about 3-1/2 inches long. Cut apart with pastry cutter and press cut edges of rectangles with tines of fork to seal.
5. Bring water to boiling in large saucepot. Add 2 T. of salt. Add ravioli gradually. Boil uncovered, about 20 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and drain. Put on a warm platter and top with tomato meat sauce. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
MAKES ABOUT 3 DOZEN RAVIOLI
Tomato Meat Sauce
1/4 c. olive oil
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 pound beef chuck
1/2 pound pork shoulder
7 cups canned tomatoes with liquid, sieved
1 T salt
1 bay leaf
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1. Heat olive oil and add onion and cook until lightly browned. Add the meat and brown on all sides. Stir in tomatoes snd salt. Add bay leaf. Cover and simmer about 2 1/2 hours.
2. Stir in tomato paste into sauce. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 2 more hours.
3. Remove bay leaf.
Basic Noodle Dough
4 cups silfted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
6 T. cold water
1. Mix flour and salt in a bowl; make a well in center. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing slightly after each addition. Add water gradually, mixing to make a stiff dough.
2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.
Only a short while ago, mom noticed a birds nest being built on the front porch light of our house…
It’s been fun watching how the robins have added to the nest.
Now we get to see Mommy Robin sitting on it, both the parents tending to it, keeping watch and fussing at us as we leave through our front door.
Here, one of the parents sits on a nearby tree branch, keeping a sharp watch.
Stay, little cheerful Robin! stay,
And at my easement sing,
Though it should prove a farewell lay
And this our parting spring.
. . . .
Then, little Bird, this boon confer,
Come, and my requiem sing,
Nor fail to be the harbinger
Of everlasting spring.
- William Wordsworth
I was behind a lady in a line of cars at BJ’s the other day, we were at the gas pump. I looked at her as she was filling her car, and if I wasn’t mistaken, she looked close to crying. Watching the numbers roll around and accumulate was obviously adding to her stress level. I didn’t even have to TRY to imagine what had her so upset. I wondered what she couldn’t buy, so she could fuel her car with gas.
I tell this story as I read the headlines:
BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe’s two biggest oil producers, posted forecast-busting first-quarter earnings on Tuesday thanks to record crude oil prices that are expected to bolster profits across the industry.
Revenue at BP jumped 44 percent to $89.2 billion (57.1 billion euros), while sales at Shell soared 55 percent to $114 billion (72.95 billion euros).
In a recent survey, gas prices top the typical american’s lists of concerns:
About 44 percent of survey participants said paying for gasoline was a “serious problem” for them. Across all income levels, the cost of gas was the most frequently cited economic concern. The price of gas nationally averaged $3.60 a gallon on Monday, according to the Energy Department.
More than a quarter of households earning more than $75,000 a year described paying for gasoline as a serious problem. For those with incomes of less than $30,000, about 63 percent felt that way.
In a distant second and third place among participants’ economic concerns were: getting a good-paying job or raise, 29 percent; and paying for health care and health insurance, 28 percent.
Following in fourth place was difficulty paying rent or mortgage, 19 percent.
Now if I were a total optimist, I would be tempted to think that perhaps a solution to this mess was around the corner, and these oil companies was able to see the writing on the wall, and want to get their money now while they can.
However, I am a realist. I see it for what it is…greed.
With that thought, there is some projections that oil could hit $200 a barrel, pushing gas to $10.00 a gallon.
With the exception of Maryland winters, a bike is looking better all the time.
This excerpt from Britain’s version of American Idol really touched me.
A young boy with an exceptional voice even left Simon speechless.
I for one, can’t fathom why there would be a market for an Adolph Hitler Doll, but indeed they go on sale in the Ukraine, the very place where his regime killed around 3 million people.
The 16 inch doll will have clothes to change him in, with several outfits, including an “early-days Adolf,” and a “wartime Adolf.”
“It is like Barbie. Kids can undress führer, pin on medals, and there’s a spare head in the kit to give him a kinder expression on his face. He has glasses that are round, in the manner of pacifist John Lennon.”
According to the saleswoman, this may be only the beginning. The Hitler’s chancellery, toy concentration camps with barbed wire, barracks and even models of gas chambers and crematoriums will go on sale if the Hitler dolls sell well.
Can someone tell me the benefit of such a doll? I’m rather stunned after reading the news story.
If you read the news headlines at all, between the economy, housing crisis, and food issues, it’s all starting to sound like the Black horse of the Apocalypse.
But it’s this headline that I thought was a no-brainer even when this started:
When they started to grow corn for the sole purpose of fuel, and even though I am no rocket scientist, I saw that as trouble. Forgetting for a moment that not all environmentalists are even sure that growing corn for fuel doesn’t consume MORE energy in the long run, it just seemed unwise.
It’s one thing to use the wastes from corn for fuel, it’s quite another for it being the only purpose.
An estimated 30% of America’s corn crop now goes to fuel, not food.
“I don’t think anybody knows precisely how much ethanol contributes to the run-up in food prices, but the contribution is clearly substantial,” a professor of applied economics and law at the University of Minnesota, C. Ford Runge, said. A study by a Washington think tank, the International Food Policy Research Institute, indicated that between a quarter and a third of the recent hike in commodities prices is attributable to biofuels.
Last year, Mr. Runge and a colleague, Benjamin Senauer, wrote an article in Foreign Affairs, “How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor.”
“We were criticized for being alarmist at the time,” Mr. Runge said. “I think our views, looking back a year, were probably too conservative.”
“It takes around 400 pounds of corn to make 25 gallons of ethanol,” Mr. Senauer, also an applied economics professor at Minnesota, said.
Mr. Senauer said climate change advocates, such as Vice President Gore, need to distance themselves from ethanol to avoid tarnishing the effort against global warming. “Crop-based biofuels are not part of the solution. They, in fact, add to the problem. Whether Al Gore has caught up with that, somebody ought to ask him,” the professor said.
A Harvard professor of environmental studies who has advised Mr. Gore, Michael McElroy, warned in a November-December 2006 article in Harvard Magazine that “the production of ethanol from either corn or sugar cane presents a new dilemma: whether the feedstock should be devoted to food or fuel. With increasing use of corn and sugar cane for fuel, a rise in related food prices would seem inevitable.” The article, “The Ethanol Illusion” went so far as to praise Senator McCain for summing up the corn-ethanol energy initiative launched in the United States in 2003 as “highway robbery perpetrated on the American public by Congress.”
In Britain, some hunger-relief and environmental groups have turned sharply against biofuels. “Setting mandatory targets for biofuels before we are aware of their full impact is madness,” Philip Bloomer of Oxfam told the BBC.
The article goes on to discuss how in American stores like Walmart, Cosco, and other food warehouses, they are rationing rice. Still some other countries are having riots about the price and availability for rice.
Converting food to Biofuels is a “crime against humanity” so says UN Special Rapporteur for the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler.
Ken puts it well:
Extreme environmentalism and global warming hysteria is now having real impact on global food supplies. The cost of food continue to rise in part because of the demand by environmentalists that we use crops and land to produce fuel instead of using our own oil resources. The price of corn and wheat has skyrocketed which have caused the price of livestock, milk, and eggs to rise as well. In the United States we subsidize farmers to grow corn for ethanol. Many farmers have stopped growing other crops to get on the ethanol gravy train which has caused shortages of wheat. It is now more profitable to use corn for fuel than it is to feed people.
More deaths, more poverty, less freedom and liberty are going to be the real effects of global warming, and not because of any rise in temperature but the rise of big government policies, wealth redistribution schemes like carbon offsets, and extreme regulations on every aspect of human behavior. There has never been a time in this country’s history that our freedom were at risk and the scary thing is that so many people are willing to give our hard fought liberties away over the biggest fraud in the history of mankind, that of global warming which is a crime against humanity indeed.
Apparently, “Nanny” Pelosi made a promise to reduce gas prices:
In a press release dated April 24, 2006, Pelosi said, “Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices by cracking down on price gouging, rolling back the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, tax breaks and royalty relief given to big oil and gas companies, and increasing production of alternative fuels.”
I think it’s time that someone pointed out that the price of gasoline has spiked $1.18 since Democrats took over in January and stands at $3.51.
Indeed someone has. House Republicans.
House Republican leaders on Tuesday challenged Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to release a plan to lower gas prices that they say Democrats touted when they were in the minority.
“Two years ago this week, you stated that House Democrats had a ‘commonsense plan’ to ‘lower gas prices,’ ” the letter said. “In light of the skyrocketing gasoline prices affecting working families and every sector of our struggling economy, we are writing today to respectfully request that you reveal this ‘commonsense plan’ so we can begin work on responsible solutions to help ease this strain.”
Pelosi’s office did not respond immediately for comment, what a surprise.
McCain has called for a suspension of the gas tax to help consumers get through the summer months.
Ah, the differences between before elected, and after.
I thought I would share a few of my views of the new SimCity Societies.
Where the graphics and detail are amazing, there have been a few setbacks in my new Sim Journey.
But first the graphics. Here are a few screen shots: (you can click on the images for a larger view)
As you can see, it has day and night like SimCity 4 Deluxe, but also clouds…and rain!
Your rolling hills can even have morning fog. It’s adorable.
Some of the issues has been the announcement “Your Sim City has stopped working.”
There is an option to debug the issue, but that never works.
Also, there is a pop up on start up, which makes mention that I need to go to Microsofts webpage to update for the Video, and when I actually went through the few dozen steps to find the download, and figure which kind of computer I had (32bit), I downloaded it, and upon installation, I was told this was not for my computer.
I finally went to SimCity’s webpage, logged into the forum, and saw people had a thousand issues and I am actually one of the lucky ones who get a few minutes play before it crashes.
The good side of this program is that it does a regular save of the game every 5 minutes or so. So when the crashes do occur, you usually haven’t lost a whole lot.
One other item comparing it with the last version of SimCity, so far, it doesn’t seem as challenging. The actual attempts to earn money for your city doesn’t seem as difficult.
I am glad I have the game, but I am glad I didn’t have to pay the full price for it.
One more image before I go.
A skatepark at night.
Ok, many aggravations, but a lot of fun!
It’s nice to know in these difficult economic times, not everyone is suffering. Did you know that in the whole world there are 8 million millionaires?
The ranks of the world’s rich swelled to 8m during 2007 as the wealthy proved immune to the strains across global economies in the latter half of the year.
There was a 4.5 per cent increase last year in so-called “high net worth individuals”, those with investable assets of more than $1m excluding primary residence, according to the 2008 wealth report compiled by Citi Private Bank and Knight Frank, published on Monday.
No wonder the price of gas isn’t coming down, there are quite a few who can afford it.
Today is my mom and dad’s wedding anniversary.
Since I love looking at their old courtship and early marriage photos, I thought to make a slide show for this occasion.
I miss seeing them together now that dad is gone, but he sure is in our hearts in a big way. I know he is in mom’s.
My desktop PC is 5 years old. It’s not running 100%, but it has been very good to me and I still love it.
However, since a lot of what I do with running my sites, web & graphic design, homeschooling, photography, communications involves my computer, I felt it was time to get a new one before the old one potentially dies on me.
Since these days they make laptops as powerful as desktops, I decided to get a laptop.
So, here is my new toy:
HP Pavilion Laptop with AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-60
Another reason to buy a new computer?
To play my new game, Sim City Societies!
