Miscellaneous Blog Stuff

The opinions expressed in this web log are just that, opinions (This is not a true blog; it's just my rants and raves!) - a short list of some of the things that "wind me up." [If you want the real blog, go here]. One definition of opinion: "A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof." The information in this web log is provided "AS IS" and confers no 'rights' except for your right to disagree with me. What is here is solely an opinion. There are no cookies, no advertisements, no pop-ups or redirects, no spy ware or annoying animated banners, and nothing is for sale - but PayPal donations are accepted.

About:
I like to write, but I am not a writer. I enjoy putting words on paper and then reading and re-reading them, switching words, 'playing' with parts of speech and sentence structure and discerning how the message that I write will be interpreted. I'm hopeful that it will be read and understood as I meant it to be. I've learned that my writing is too passive and I need to make it active - I'm working on that.

For Fun or Thought-Provoking Stuff : - Click here!  Please note that this page is no longer updated.

Get Nitrogen!
Don't feel pressured to do this, but if you have not yet purged the air from your car tires and switched to nitrogen, now's the time. There are many advantages including: more consistent tire pressure, reduced wheel corrosion, reduced rubber deterioration, tires run cooler, better fuel mileage, and reduced tire wear. The tires on the big jets - and they really take a beating - have had nitrogen in them for years, as have race cars - get "nitrogenized" today! Don't forget to do the "donut" in your trunk, too. Go here to learn more. I asked my dealer where to find nitrogen locally, and he said (quote) "You're nuts - the air is already 80% nitrogen." You decide. Update 2010 - I decided to go ahead anyway with nitrogen when installing new tires - it made a PHENOMENAL difference - easier steering, more stable vehicle, and virtually no change in tire pressure from summer (hot tires) to winter (cold tires). Plus - you get green valve caps so service facilities will know to never check your tire pressure - because it never changes. Go for it!

Six Wonderful Things I've Done That Everyone Should do Once:
1. Lie on your stomach in the grass and dig some up with your fingers. Carefully take it apart. Study it. Examine it and you'll see every blade of grass has it's own root system.
2. Own a dog. Take it in the woods or in the open field and let it run free. Watch it. Enjoy it.
3. Get close. Very close, and stare into the eyes of your best friend.
4. Pick a flower. Any flower. Touch it. Smell it. Examine its intricacies with a magnifying glass.
5. Stand on the ground among tall pine trees when a storm is brewing. Look up and watch them sway. Feel the wind. Listen to the amazing sound of the wind whistle through the trees.
6. Walk in the woods during a rain and lightning storm. Be soaked by the rain. Hope lightning hits close-by - but not too close. Be stunned and blinded temporarily. Realize you are still alive. Thank God for life.

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) - aka The Microsoft Police
It was bound to come to this... a company so desperate to boost revenues, it is now - according to the Dallas Law firm Scott and Scott - offering corporate employee's substantial cash bounties to snitch on their employers. And not only for piracy, but also if the employers engage in "corporate overuse." This allows the Microsoft rogues to pump-up their piracy numbers. It's an old tactic - secretly manufacture an emergency and then propose your solution - it works every time!  The BSA is launching onerous audits, say Scott and Scott - and enforcing stiff fines. If Microsoft spent less time with their nickel-and-dime licensing attitude and started fixing bugs and security issues, they wouldn't have so many pirates to worry about. Watch for more and more companies to abandon Microsoft and embrace open-source software!

The Dr. Phil Show
The Dr. Phil Show - and make no mistake it is a show - stays on the air because of ratings. This program is not about the doc helping people. While the good doctors advice is often right on target, what is disturbing is that we watch the doc referee folks who seem bent on destruction and we call it entertainment. Imagine how long your family doctor would stay on national television while people watched him (or her) write prescriptions for 500 Mg. doses of streptococci penicillin! How exciting! Day after day after day. It's a sad commentary on our generation that we watch the difficulties folks are in - however caused - and we call it entertainment. Heaven help us!

On Belinda Stronach:
Never having had a great interest in politics (their constant, public bickering makes me sick) I'm shocked to find - at my age - I have some strong views about certain politicians. Some, of course, are honest, sincere public servants (I can say that because I know them personally). Others are just blatantly ignorant, some are totally enamored with their own importance, and others have a pensive, almost brooding interest in their expense accounts.  At times, you get all three features wrapped up in the same package. Speaking of Belinda Stronach bolting from the Conservative Party, Bob Runciman, former Ontario Conservative Cabinet Minister had this to say "She defined herself as a dipstick - an attractive one, but a dipstick with what's she done today." Well, it's true: Birds of a feather flock together... scroll down and you can read about her gentleman friend.

Methuselah 4723 Years Old:
No, I'm not referring to the old chap mentioned in Genesis 5 - we know he lived 969 years. This is another Methuselah - this one a tree - apparently has been accurately dated by the American Forestry Association at 4723 years. It's the oldest living thing known. A bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva aristata), it was found in the White Mountains of California in the White-Inyo Range at an altitude of 10,000 to 11,000 feet - apparently there are other trees there where they have flourished despite extreme hardships. Similar trees were found, all in the 3000 to 4000 year age. If the date is even reasonably close, it must have started growing just after the great Flood of Noah's day - generally believed to have been about 5000 to 4300 years ago.  If only trees could talk...

Internet Hijack:
U.S. phone companies ("telcos") have $$ signs in their eyes, and will hijack the Internet if the FCC agrees to their latest antics. New voice over IP (VoIP) technology will use the Internet to transport phone messages from A to B and major telcos such as AT&T, BellSouth, and Verizon (the old Bell Atlantic behemoth), are petitioning the FCC to allow them to charge accordingly. A new generation of routers will permit "deep-packet analysis" so telcos can not just transfer data, but determine the nature of the data and charge accordingly. How'd you like your local public utility to charge you more for water to flush the toilet or boil your potatoes than for water to water the lawn or wash the car? Isn't water, water? Data is data! Want to read more about where this is all headed? Go here.

Changing Telephone Network:
(Read above report, Internet Hijack first) - One thing for sure - all phone calls will soon be IP driven: the new VoIP technology is developing fast! Telephone switching (such as DMS-100 or #5 ESS) is based upon common control and network congestion and call-failures occur whenever the switch becomes incapacitated for any reason. In a properly designed IP network the intelligence is moved into the network's routers. When the network detects a problem it just routes the packets around it. It becomes a self-healing network with deferrable maintenance, which is virtually transparent to end-users.

Gasoline prices are amazing - but even at $3 or more U.S. per gallon, gasoline is still one of the cheapest fluids you can buy. Think about this (using all U.S. figures): Gasoline, $3.00/gallon; Starbucks coffee, (8 oz. cup at $1.25) = $20/gallon; Tropicana Premium Pure Orange Juice (64 oz. carton for $3.69) = $7.38/gallon; Pure Vermont Maple Syrup, (14 oz. size, $5.69) = $52/gallon; Coca Cola ("Coke" 12 oz. can, about 75¢) = $7.50/gallon;  WOW! - How about this one: Ink for your inkjet printer (black ink cartridge, 42 ml. size cost $29.95) = $3,800/gallon! [Now you know why they give ink jet printers away free]! Calculate your own costs, using these liquid measurements, 1 U.S. gallon = 128 ounces. If you live in the U.S. and you want to find the cheapest gas in your area, go here and enter your ZIP code. Footnote: Our enemies only need to cut off our oil supply, and they will bring us to our knees in about 10 to 15 days!

SHOCKING Iraq Pictures:
Never in history until this generation have we been able to watch war on television. In Desert Storm, we saw the battle begin live on TV as those first missiles were launched. We saw Scud missiles being launched against Israel. Now, in Iraq, we see more images of war, and they are graphic and disturbing. Many of the images are simply too shocking for the media to show. Here are eleven SHOCKING PICTURES you will never see in the mainstream media. Click here for the photo sheet and be shocked!

Think About This:
There are five major religions in the world: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam. When is the last time you heard of a Buddhist hijacking an airliner and crashing it into a building? When is the last time you heard of a Christian hijacking an airliner and crashing it into a building? When is the last time you heard of a Hindu hijacking an airliner and crashing it into a building? When is the last time you heard of a Jew hijacking an airliner and crashing it into a building?  When is the last time you heard of a Muslim hijacking an airliner and crashing it into a building? Think about it.

SUV Mentality:
According to New York Times reporter Keith Bradsher's new book, "High and Mighty," the Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) is the car of choice for the nation's most self-centered people; and the bigger the SUV, the more of a jerk its driver is likely to be (his words - I agree). What a relief! I thought it was just me that disdained those gas-guzzling monsters you see rocketing past you on the highway. (Although it's also not uncommon to see them rolled over in the ditch). If you drive an SUV for "safety reasons," better go back to the drawing board - the occupant death rate in SUVs is 6 to 8% higher than it is in cars. Many SUVs are now being manufactured with vehicle stability systems. Every vehicle needs a stability system, but SUVs really need one - and a stable driver would be a start! If you drive any kind of vehicle you ought to read this article on SUV safety as it will dispel a lot of myths! Better yet, read the book. Get it here.

Free Relocation Service + Cash to Boot:
Uncle Sam wants to give you a free house-move, and cash spending money of $25,000,000 - all you have to do is tell them where Osama bin Laden is located. Here's the deal: You provide the tip that gets results and "those providing information may be eligible for the reward and relocation with their family." Here's another tip: blow your money while you last - it's a neat deal, really: Uncle Sam gets their man, then 'they' get you, and in death taxes Uncle Sam takes his money back. At least you can get a free book of matches to fire up the BBQ (see pic). Details at www.rewardsforjustice.net

"Rotten" Tomatoes!
Have you noticed how tasteless tomatoes are in the last few years? It's impossible to get a decent-tasting tomato from the grocery store. Can we blame anyone for this disgraceful situation? We certainly can - including ourselves! Here's why you're getting tasteless tomatoes. First of all, they are picked green, stacked in flats and gassed. Yes, gassed! These rock-hard green blobs are stacked in crates and ethylene gas - a petroleum derivative (C₂H₄) - is pumped into the sealed chamber. The ethylene triggers the creation of enzymes that cause the tomatoes to ripen and it turns starches into sugars. (Hello? They also ripen if you leave them on the vine)! But the big advantage is the ethylene forces the tomatoes to ripen simultaneously - a great advantage to shippers because by controlling the ethylene concentration they now can predict precisely when the tomatoes will turn red. Here's another big flavor killer - the enzymes that change starches into sugars - giving your tomato that sweet taste - stop working if the temperature of the tomato falls below about 50°F - and it is irreversible. No point in warming them up again, as you've already zapped the enzymes. Shippers bring the tomatoes to the grocery store in refrigerated trucks that are maintained at exactly 37°F - and then guess where we store our tomatoes? Home gardening, anyone?

Taking Any Train Rides Soon?
There is a poem I heard years ago called The Hell-Bound Train; the devil himself is the engineer!  It's a great poem conjuring up fiery images of a runaway train, gathering speed and hurtling on to hell.  How does it all end? Find out!  ... click here to read the poem in a new window.

Pursued by The Hound?:
As long as we're looking at poems, check this one out: It's called The Hound of Heaven, and it's absolutely fabulous. It's lengthy, but every word is incredibly descriptive ... check it out right here, opens a new window.

A CONSULTANT is someone who shows up in your workplace, often unannounced, and charges you an exorbitant fee to tell you things you already know.

Astrology, Anyone? Check this out:
Each day, millions of people check their horoscopes... they want to know what "the stars" have in store for them. This is nothing new. Since the beginning of time, people have yearned to know the future, to know what is ahead in this life and the next. Is there a message in the stars? Yes, there is! But since the Fall of man it has been corrupted. God 'sprinkled the stars across the heavens' as a testimony - they tell of redemption, a pictorial  representation of the first promise of the Gospel - what theologians call the protoevangelium. The Bible expressly, explicitly, and repeatedly condemns the practice of astrology. If you want to know the real meaning of the 12 signs of the zodiac, click here.

Brokeback Mountain, The Movie:
Not surprisingly, Hollywood continues to push the gay agenda with a disturbing movie that is not even popular among movie-goers but - thanks to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - is getting top-billing; for what, I have no idea - other than a blatant push for the gay lifestyle. No, I will not see the movie but I've read enough about it to have an opinion. Click here to see the letter I sent - and you can send one too. Stand up and make your voice heard - it's your responsibility as a Christian! From all the reviews I have read, every actor and actress in the movie needs a massive dose of the love that only comes from Jesus Christ. Let's not be too hard on these folks just because it is a gay movie... Christians have no business heaping scorn, ridicule, and shame on the unsaved of this world. We too were once unsaved! The people all around us need to be prayed for, so that God in His Mercy might reveal Himself to them. Jesus wept over Jerusalem; we ought to weep over the state of our country!

Poor Henry Bliss:
It was Tuesday, September 13th, 1899, and Henry Bliss stepped off a tram onto 74th Street in New York at Central Park West - perhaps he was going for his evening stroll in the park - and was hit by a car. At the time, there were less than 8,000 cars in all of the United States. No surprise to New Yorkers: the car that hit Mr. Bliss was a speeding NYC taxicab! The first recorded traffic death in the Western Hemisphere, Henry has the dubious distinction of starting a new trend... in 2004, there were 42,636 traffic deaths in the U.S. - 117 every day!

Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again:
Every school child learned that - unless of course you live in the U.K. Then it would be Look Right, Look Left... The British National Archives, in the late '40s and early 50s, produced some bizarre short films on life in the U.K. ... here, "Mr. A" learns to cross the street... Click here to watch this weird film (time 2:04, .wmv format, 3.7 Mb., new window). Give it time to download. If you want to see a list of all the available films, go here. A couple of interesting films at the archive site: 'How to behave on a public bus,' and 'How to blow your nose in public to prevent the spread of germs.' Taxpayer dollars (or pounds) actually funded these films! I suppose government waste is nothing new.

God said, "Let there be light."
I'm interested in the speed of light! Strange, you say? Perhaps, but I've always enjoyed physics. I know of course that light moves at 186,284 miles per second (if you prefer metric: 2.99792458·10⁸ m/s) and that physicists use the symbol c to represent the speed of light, such as in Albert Einstein's famous equation E=mc² where energy is equal to mass times the speed of light squared. To a physicist, c is sacred. To even suggest it may be changing is heresy. Like many other 'atomic' measurements, it is a "physical constant."  But is it?  New evidence suggests that since the Fall of man the speed of light may be deteriorating. The Bible does say the universe is winding down (The Second Law of Thermodynamics). It is possible the speed of light prior to the Fall - some physicists suggest - may have been more than 13,000,000 miles per second. In fact, many of the "constants" are now being questioned. Carbon 14 dating - based on the half-life of residual radiation - is used by evolutionists to "prove" the age of the universe. If it also is deteriorating, then the universe is not nearly as old as they think; in fact, it may be less than 10,000 years of age. Wouldn't that sink the ship of modern physics and blow the evolutionist boat right out of the water - at the speed of light, of course! If you want to check out some of these 'constants,' here's a link: Fundamental Physical Constants. If you want to read more about the speed of light, go here: Barry Setterfield Papers. It's an enLIGHTening subject.

Corporate America:
The U.S. has some absolutely brilliant corporate minds. Unfortunately some of the brilliant minds are not smart enough to conduct their business with honesty and integrity. They have tarnished the image of big business. Now we wonder, how many other crooks are in the boardroom? Power corrupts. Who said character doesn't matter? Was it Bill Clinton?

Benny Hinn: - He's a fraud, deceiving needy people, and he has - like most, (but not all) televangelists - turned God's house into a den of thieves. A man with almost no Bible training, yet claims in his "Good Morning, Holy Spirit" book that Jesus died "spiritually."  If Jesus never died then we are of all men most miserable, because our faith would then rest on a false hope. The prayer of faith (James 5) may heal some, but Benny Hinn won't. I believe in miracles, but I don't believe in Benny Hinn. Come with me, Benny, to the local crippled children's center, or the local chapter of the institute for the blind, or the local cancer center and do your work there... open invitation.

George Bush and the Iraq War:
One good thing about President George W. Bush: he understands what few Americans and even fewer global leaders understand - where we are in history from God's perspective. Because of this, he understands the future and knows what is at stake. It is a Christian's responsibility to expose wrong and stand-up against evil. al Qaeda must be stopped. Unfortunately, the CIA and other intelligence agencies completely failed the President by offering flawed evidence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that in fact, it now seems, were not there. (That's because they were moved to Iran). Then-director of the CIA George Tenet apparently told the president finding WMD in Iraq would be a slam dunk: oops! Suffice it to say that Saddam Hussein himself was the weapon of mass destruction. Nevertheless, this war is SO SERIOUS, the very future of the West is at stake. Read what else you ought to know about this war right here!

Paul Martin:
Probably one of the greatest Canadian Finance Ministers that ever held the purse strings - and one of the most useless and ineffective Prime Ministers ever. No one can remember one good thing he did during his thankfully short term as Prime Minister. Remember your management theory? - People get promoted to their highest level of incompetence. You saw it in action first in Canada! He was elected - makes you wonder about Canadians, doesn't it?  - Eh?  Rather like Bill Clinton, elected by the Americans. Twice! Go figure!

Albert Einstein:
Noted to have said that "the possibility of the universe originating by chance is about the same as a dictionary resulting from an explosion in a printing shop."  Well said, Albert! Which leads me to say that evolutionists have it made! Just deny the truth, woops, I mean Truth, make some wild claim about everything evolving - a claim that can never be substantiated using [their own] 'scientific method' - and you can just completely avoid having to be accountable to a kind and loving God (for a while, anyway). Science it is not! I would have thought that a keen mind such as Charles Darwin could have come up with something better!

The Da Vinci Code:
The book, by author Dan Brown may be intriguing, but it is garbage. Save your money. Full of untruths and innuendos that cause people - sincere people seeking truth - to doubt. Now Mr. Brown is in court for plagiarism - though later cleared of the charges. Christianity has been under attack for a long, long time so this is nothing new. Jesus said "I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Cheer up! Isn't it amazing that despite thousands of years of attack in one form or another, the church is doing great! Not the prostitute church, but the real, invisible church Jesus died for (we know who we are)!

The Software Developer's Rule:
Faster - Better - Cheaper. Pick two; you can never have all three.

The $300 PC:
Think you're getting a bargain on that el-cheapo PC? How about that PS-2 mouse that sells retail for $19.95? It cost the manufacturer 42¢ (in quantities of 10,000) to make. They sold it to the PC-builder for $4.80, and to the retailer for $7.04. We'll, I suppose there isn't a 4700% markup on all the parts. At any price, you're getting ripped off, folks. At least make sure all the stuff you paid for is in the beige (now black with flashing LEDs) steel box. That great video card you paid mega-bucks for may be nothing more than a 73¢ chip on the motherboard! Go here for details.

Dick Cheney the Hunter:
Dear CNN Talking Heads: Try and find something worthwhile - or uplifting - to talk about. Of course there are causes - every accident has them, but accidents do happen. There was no conspiracy here. It wasn't al Qaeda. Nor was it engineered by the Dems trying to undermine the VP. It was an accident, that's all. Now move on. Sincerely, Sick of CNN rhetoric. Oh, I almost forgot.  PS: it would be enlightening if you could drop your obvious pro-gay, anti-Israel, anti-Christian BIAS and report the truth. Take a lesson from Dragnet - as Joe Friday used to say, "Just the facts Ma'am, just the facts."

Oops, Bill; Another Security Vulnerability?
I would have thought that after all this time (Windows Timeline, new window, click here) you'd be able to get it right. As the chief architect, whose responsibility is it to fix flaws in the operating system - or for that matter, all of the flaws in Office that you ignore, release after release? Now, I wouldn't want to seem presumptuous or anything, but could it be because there are fundamental flaws in the underlying code that make a permanent, enduring fix impossible? I guess you're aware of the old adage that says "embedded in every solution is the next problem." Technical geniuses you guys are not - masters of marketing - absolutely!  "MMMM" - The Mighty Microsoft Marketing Machine. It's the reason people pay big bucks for Office when there is a free alternative!

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