We spend too much of our time teaching our children how to live in yesterday's world instead of tomorrows...
Or worse, we just fail to teach them how to live in any world at all...
Friday, September 16, 2011
Hoping for better times for humanity
How sad it is that the greedy, selfish, small minded and in-compassionate hate mongers seem to currently have the floor...
I hope that in a few years the pendulum will swing back to where intellect will be again honored, racism more deeply scowled at and being your brother's keeper will mean more in our society than something the bible thumpers use to pat themselves on the back with on Sunday morning. Note that I am not referring to the full spectrum of society but only to the loud mouthed, closed minded hypocrites who are supplying our world with huge abundances of hate and selfishness while constantly publicly bragging about what wonderful Christens they are. Jesus would be ashamed and embarrassed... Also note here that while I am not a conventionally religious person I do accept that Jesus was a person that existed historically and if accepted as presented would have nothing in common with those “Christens” who's hearts are so full of hate and selfishness today.
Even more sad perhaps is their total inability to recognize these failings in themselves. Small narrow minds are usually very weak at introspection. The kindest term I can use for them is “shallow”... I will attempt to refrain from expressing my deeper feelings.
As in most things education is the ultimate solution but even the term education has become corrupted to the point that to most people it only means having attended classes, taken some tests and having been given a piece of paper that says that you did so.
In my feeble brain education is not only the acquisition of useful knowledge but also includes acquiring the ability to understand that knowledge and to have a good grasp of the possible ramifications of the use of that knowledge. Not just the immediate results but the broad spectrum and long reaching effects of actions and how it will affect our fellow passengers residing in this universe both today and in the more distant future. In my mind if you acquired the piece of paper without learning to think broadly and philosophically then your are not qualified to be called “educated”. Good education can come from many places. Some of the wisest, most deeply thinking folks I have known were self educated.
Over the years I have become very weary of the phrase “real Americans”... There are no true Americans... Even the “first Americans” hiked in here from another continent and just made themselves at home. I became aware as I did a huge amount of genealogy work that my own paternal Robinson line (my parents were both named Robinson) were early migrants coming to Virginia from Northern England in 1666. They had much earlier been immigrants from the Scottish Highlands to Yorkshire England. Prior to that they were Norse Vikings known as Clan Gunn. As Vikings I suspect that the move from Norway to Scotland was possibly a little more violent than some later moves.
My wife's family were primarily of German origin but part of them had migrated to Switzerland for a few generations before coming here. Her maiden name was Briar. Her Briar great grand parents were both born in Germany and were more recent immigrants. That made her grandfather, who she remembers, a first generation American... Had they been blocked by laws inspired by hatred like we hear spouted today my wife and I might not have spent the last 50 years together (married 48). None of our children, grand children and many great-grand children would have ever been born. In our family we are all a mix of English, German, Scottish, Irish, French, Norse and plenty of others. A number of my great-grand children, who I love dearly, trace part of their heritage to Mexico. We are all of immigrant stock. America “IS” a land of immigrants. Don't waste my time talking to me about “real Americans”... “Real” Americans are loving and sharing and helping... Not hateful and bigoted... If they make it up the ladder a little they reach down to lend a helping hand. They do not spend their time trying to step on the fingers of those trying to climb up behind them
The hate mongers may currently have the floor but eventually broader more capable minds will prevail... I can hardly wait.
Chat later...
Monday, May 02, 2011
Osama Bin Laden
We know that Bin Laden is out of the picture... They could not claim that he is dead if he was not "out of the picture". If he was not out of the picture he would be liable to pop up out of a hole like one of those gopher carnival games.
While I try very hard to avoid being part of the tinfoil hat crowd I do have to wonder, is he really dead? Or is he in a concrete box somewhere connected to the output side of an electric fence charger being pumped for information?
If he had been taken alive and shown publicly as alive the logistics would have been absolutely horrendous. Even failed rescue attempts by his followers could cost thousands of good lives.
So... He could be alive in a hidden box, dead in a big jar of formaldehyde or maybe he is really just fish food exactly as claimed. In any case he is out of the picture as far as decision making is concerned...
I think the burial at sea is a good touch. We are not at war with Islam and there is no need to try to slap Islam in the face. We are at war with a bunch of extremest right wingers who's God would be embarrassed by them and their sick twisted beliefs. If we are honest we realize that we have plenty of such extreme nuts of our own...
Our own two major failures as a nation go back many many years. One was allowing international big business to have their way with the people of the Middle-east, plundering and stealing for a very long time. The second was a complete failure to provide basic secular education to the children of the area beginning about 50 years ago. Had they been given global secular knowledge starting 50 years ago they would not have been so easy to be led astray by the twisted lies of the radicals. It was not done because we as a nation we tend to be very globally selfish and short sighted. Of course we could say much the same thing about many of our own children. We spend our time teaching them how to live in yesterday's world instead of tomorrows... Or worse, we just fail to teach them how to live in any world at all...
We know that Bin Laden is out of the picture... They could not claim that he is dead if he was not "out of the picture". If he was not out of the picture he would be liable to pop up out of a hole like one of those gopher carnival games.
While I try very hard to avoid being part of the tinfoil hat crowd I do have to wonder, is he really dead? Or is he in a concrete box somewhere connected to the output side of an electric fence charger being pumped for information?
If he had been taken alive and shown publicly as alive the logistics would have been absolutely horrendous. Even failed rescue attempts by his followers could cost thousands of good lives.
So... He could be alive in a hidden box, dead in a big jar of formaldehyde or maybe he is really just fish food exactly as claimed. In any case he is out of the picture as far as decision making is concerned...
I think the burial at sea is a good touch. We are not at war with Islam and there is no need to try to slap Islam in the face. We are at war with a bunch of extremest right wingers who's God would be embarrassed by them and their sick twisted beliefs. If we are honest we realize that we have plenty of such extreme nuts of our own...
Our own two major failures as a nation go back many many years. One was allowing international big business to have their way with the people of the Middle-east, plundering and stealing for a very long time. The second was a complete failure to provide basic secular education to the children of the area beginning about 50 years ago. Had they been given global secular knowledge starting 50 years ago they would not have been so easy to be led astray by the twisted lies of the radicals. It was not done because we as a nation we tend to be very globally selfish and short sighted. Of course we could say much the same thing about many of our own children. We spend our time teaching them how to live in yesterday's world instead of tomorrows... Or worse, we just fail to teach them how to live in any world at all...
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Things I would rather have than a million dollars.
There are a lot of things I would rather have than a million dollars. Two million dollars jumps to mind for a start.
If I were to wish for wealth I would rather wish for a dollar every time I called one of the cats, dogs or horses by the wrong name. If I wanted to double my money I would wish for a dollar every time my wife did the same thing. I could do well financially if I had a dollar for every time I arrived at a destination and couldn't remember why I traveled there to begin with. I could also do well if I had a dollar for every time I completely lost my train of thought in mid sentence. What was I saying? Oh, yeah... I would like to have a dollar for every time that I misspell the same handful of simple words. I can easily type out “claustrophobia”. Why do I have so danged much trouble with “occasion”? I consistently try to spell it with one “c” and two “s”. I do on “occasion” have a bout of “claustrophobia”.
I would like to have a dollar for each time a car runs the stop sign at the “T” intersection that tees near the entry of our barnyard. Likewise I would like a dollar for every time that a passerby tosses their litter in my yard or along the mile of road ditches along our farm we try to keep clean.
Here is a side branch for you. If our government could collect a dollar for each spam email we would not have a national debt...
Chat later.
There are a lot of things I would rather have than a million dollars. Two million dollars jumps to mind for a start.
If I were to wish for wealth I would rather wish for a dollar every time I called one of the cats, dogs or horses by the wrong name. If I wanted to double my money I would wish for a dollar every time my wife did the same thing. I could do well financially if I had a dollar for every time I arrived at a destination and couldn't remember why I traveled there to begin with. I could also do well if I had a dollar for every time I completely lost my train of thought in mid sentence. What was I saying? Oh, yeah... I would like to have a dollar for every time that I misspell the same handful of simple words. I can easily type out “claustrophobia”. Why do I have so danged much trouble with “occasion”? I consistently try to spell it with one “c” and two “s”. I do on “occasion” have a bout of “claustrophobia”.
I would like to have a dollar for each time a car runs the stop sign at the “T” intersection that tees near the entry of our barnyard. Likewise I would like a dollar for every time that a passerby tosses their litter in my yard or along the mile of road ditches along our farm we try to keep clean.
Here is a side branch for you. If our government could collect a dollar for each spam email we would not have a national debt...
Chat later.
Sunday, April 03, 2011
The green thing.
I can't give proper credit for this item since it came in an email unidentified.
In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags
weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained,
"We didn't have the green thing back in my day.
That's right, they didn't have the green thing in her day. Back then, they
returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The
store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled,
using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But they didn't have the green thing back her day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in
every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't
climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks. But
she's right.
They didn't have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the
throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling
machine burning up 220 volts "wind and solar power" really did dry the clothes.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always
brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right,
They didn't have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house not a TV in every room. And
the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of
the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because
they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged
a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion
it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
But they didn't have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the
lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They
exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on
treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right,
They didn't have the green thing back then.
They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a
plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled pens with
ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor
instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But, they didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or
rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.
They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to
power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerized gadget to
receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to
find the nearest pizza joint. But that lady is right;
They didn't have the green thing back in her day.
Chat later
I can't give proper credit for this item since it came in an email unidentified.
In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags
weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained,
"We didn't have the green thing back in my day.
That's right, they didn't have the green thing in her day. Back then, they
returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The
store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled,
using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But they didn't have the green thing back her day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in
every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't
climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks. But
she's right.
They didn't have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the
throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling
machine burning up 220 volts "wind and solar power" really did dry the clothes.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always
brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right,
They didn't have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house not a TV in every room. And
the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of
the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because
they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged
a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion
it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
But they didn't have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the
lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They
exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on
treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right,
They didn't have the green thing back then.
They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a
plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled pens with
ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor
instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But, they didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or
rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.
They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to
power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerized gadget to
receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to
find the nearest pizza joint. But that lady is right;
They didn't have the green thing back in her day.
Chat later
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Woodworking Gods
One of the more expensive and time consuming of my plethora of hobbies is woodworking. Seldom has so much money and so much time ever produced so little productive return. I am going to have to build something quite large and fancy to ever get the average price of my projects down below $2000 each.
In this hobby there are several groups of us each worshiping different shop gods. I personally am forced to confess that I actually enjoy the tools and machinery more than making wooden items. I have always been a tool nut, attracted by wonderful mechanical devices of all kinds. While some are content to sit down with one knife and whittle a bit of wood into a piece of art I am more prone to keep enough tools and machinery to attack the wood using "shock and awe" to force it into shape. Many of us are never quite satisfied with machines as they come so we make a lot of modifications to them and of course that requires that we acquire even more machinery to make those modifications.
Then there are those "plan" worshipers who spend hours and hours studying , buying and drawing plans. Some would spend $100 and 100 hours coming up with a suitable "plan" for a project and after all of those dollars and hours they would then spend 20 minutes of shop time building and another 5 minutes of time hanging the new birdhouse in the back yard. At that point they walk away, never looking back, headed to the shop to plan their next project. They are not sure what it will be but they have heard of a new set of plans out for a different shaped napkin ring.
Another group are the "wood" guys (and gals) who don't much care what they make or how they make it. They only care about the wood they use. Yes, it is only a toothpick holder but it is made of "Co-whatsit Wood" from the south bank of a horseshoe bend in the Amazon River 300 miles up river. Even then they will only use a piece from the east branch of the tree where tree frogs have sat for 200 years and have worn a smooth spot.
There is one group that worships the "Chip and Shavings" god and to them the smooth rolling curl of the shavings out of their hand plane is far more important than the board they have removed it from. The item being made is definitely secondary. Nothing is more relaxing to them than to be standing ankle deep in sawdust, chips and shavings.
In an opposing camp there are the worshipers of the almighty dust collectors. To them most tools are unimportant. The wood is unimportant. The project is unimportant. The only thing that really matters is that not a single bit of dust, chips or shavings ever reaches the floor. They set up such huge dust collection systems that when they click the remote control they wear on their belt 24-7 and the high horsepower collection units kick on, all of the doors and windows in the shop bow inward from the massive vacuum formed. They also tend to have a brush, broom and dust pan at each work station ready to flash into action in the unlikely event that the collectors should ever permit a small particle of dust to settle on any shop surface.
You might think sandpaper worshipers would be next but that is not the case. Nobody worships sand paper... It is just a necessary evil (except for rustic projects) that everybody hates. Even the plan worshipers only make one word mention of it. The dust collection worshipers don't like it because it clogs their high dollar filters badly. Nobody likes the stuff.
There is a group of woodworkers that worship the gods of "finish". Not the end of the project, rather the varnish,paint or oil used to coat the surfaces of projects. All of the other work to this point has just been a prelude to the finishing for them. You will recognize one of them when you enter their shop. Their scrap wood box has 27 coats of hand rubbed tung oil finish on it. Their front door has so much varnish on it that you can barely get to the knob.
I almost forgot the scrap wood guys. Actually that applies to most of us in the hobby. Almost all of us are scrap savers. At times it gets so bad that part of the shop machinery has to be removed from the shop and new lumber stored outside under a tarp just so that there is room for another scrap wood box. About the only thing that saves many of us is that we tend to use woodstoves for shop heat.
Lastly is the group that worships the sharp cutting edge. They have thousands in sharpening equipment and absolutely must have the very newest unit out. They have 312 different kinds of oil stones and complicated equipment that would put NASA to shame. If you could gather all of the little tiny diamonds together from their diamond hones you could put together another Hope Diamond (a rather ugly piece of rock by the way). Tool makers love these guys since they wear out so much stuff. Some of them have to buy new wood chisels and lathe turning tools every year since they sharpen them out of existence. They grind and sharpen on about anything and everything including the light switches and flush handles. You dare not lean on anything in their shop for fear of cutting yourself.
We woodworkers are generally a friendly bunch and in most of the different groups mentioned above there are members of other groups as there tends to be a lot of overlap of ideals. I can highly recommend the hobby especially if you enjoy being out of money much of the time and don't mind shaking a little sawdust out of your shoes. Woodworkers do tend to have nicknames, I know of a couple named Dusty. Then there is One Eye, Three finger Jack, Stumpy, Scarface, Stitches and Gimpy.
Chat later.
One of the more expensive and time consuming of my plethora of hobbies is woodworking. Seldom has so much money and so much time ever produced so little productive return. I am going to have to build something quite large and fancy to ever get the average price of my projects down below $2000 each.
In this hobby there are several groups of us each worshiping different shop gods. I personally am forced to confess that I actually enjoy the tools and machinery more than making wooden items. I have always been a tool nut, attracted by wonderful mechanical devices of all kinds. While some are content to sit down with one knife and whittle a bit of wood into a piece of art I am more prone to keep enough tools and machinery to attack the wood using "shock and awe" to force it into shape. Many of us are never quite satisfied with machines as they come so we make a lot of modifications to them and of course that requires that we acquire even more machinery to make those modifications.
Then there are those "plan" worshipers who spend hours and hours studying , buying and drawing plans. Some would spend $100 and 100 hours coming up with a suitable "plan" for a project and after all of those dollars and hours they would then spend 20 minutes of shop time building and another 5 minutes of time hanging the new birdhouse in the back yard. At that point they walk away, never looking back, headed to the shop to plan their next project. They are not sure what it will be but they have heard of a new set of plans out for a different shaped napkin ring.
Another group are the "wood" guys (and gals) who don't much care what they make or how they make it. They only care about the wood they use. Yes, it is only a toothpick holder but it is made of "Co-whatsit Wood" from the south bank of a horseshoe bend in the Amazon River 300 miles up river. Even then they will only use a piece from the east branch of the tree where tree frogs have sat for 200 years and have worn a smooth spot.
There is one group that worships the "Chip and Shavings" god and to them the smooth rolling curl of the shavings out of their hand plane is far more important than the board they have removed it from. The item being made is definitely secondary. Nothing is more relaxing to them than to be standing ankle deep in sawdust, chips and shavings.
In an opposing camp there are the worshipers of the almighty dust collectors. To them most tools are unimportant. The wood is unimportant. The project is unimportant. The only thing that really matters is that not a single bit of dust, chips or shavings ever reaches the floor. They set up such huge dust collection systems that when they click the remote control they wear on their belt 24-7 and the high horsepower collection units kick on, all of the doors and windows in the shop bow inward from the massive vacuum formed. They also tend to have a brush, broom and dust pan at each work station ready to flash into action in the unlikely event that the collectors should ever permit a small particle of dust to settle on any shop surface.
You might think sandpaper worshipers would be next but that is not the case. Nobody worships sand paper... It is just a necessary evil (except for rustic projects) that everybody hates. Even the plan worshipers only make one word mention of it. The dust collection worshipers don't like it because it clogs their high dollar filters badly. Nobody likes the stuff.
There is a group of woodworkers that worship the gods of "finish". Not the end of the project, rather the varnish,paint or oil used to coat the surfaces of projects. All of the other work to this point has just been a prelude to the finishing for them. You will recognize one of them when you enter their shop. Their scrap wood box has 27 coats of hand rubbed tung oil finish on it. Their front door has so much varnish on it that you can barely get to the knob.
I almost forgot the scrap wood guys. Actually that applies to most of us in the hobby. Almost all of us are scrap savers. At times it gets so bad that part of the shop machinery has to be removed from the shop and new lumber stored outside under a tarp just so that there is room for another scrap wood box. About the only thing that saves many of us is that we tend to use woodstoves for shop heat.
Lastly is the group that worships the sharp cutting edge. They have thousands in sharpening equipment and absolutely must have the very newest unit out. They have 312 different kinds of oil stones and complicated equipment that would put NASA to shame. If you could gather all of the little tiny diamonds together from their diamond hones you could put together another Hope Diamond (a rather ugly piece of rock by the way). Tool makers love these guys since they wear out so much stuff. Some of them have to buy new wood chisels and lathe turning tools every year since they sharpen them out of existence. They grind and sharpen on about anything and everything including the light switches and flush handles. You dare not lean on anything in their shop for fear of cutting yourself.
We woodworkers are generally a friendly bunch and in most of the different groups mentioned above there are members of other groups as there tends to be a lot of overlap of ideals. I can highly recommend the hobby especially if you enjoy being out of money much of the time and don't mind shaking a little sawdust out of your shoes. Woodworkers do tend to have nicknames, I know of a couple named Dusty. Then there is One Eye, Three finger Jack, Stumpy, Scarface, Stitches and Gimpy.
Chat later.
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