Friday, September 30, 2005

Helpful Tips


This tips are from an email. I like the second one.
  • Tape a chocolate bar to the outside of your microwave. If the chocolate melts you will know that the microwaves are escaping and it is time to have the oven serviced.

  • A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep.

  • Old telephone books make ideal personal address books. Simply cross out the names and addresses of people you don't know.

  • Before attempting to remove stubborn stains from a garment always circle the stain in permanent ink pen so that when you remove the garment from the washing machine you can easily locate the area of the stain and check that it has gone.

  • Lose weight quickly by eating raw pork and rancid tuna. I found that the subsequent food poisoning enabled me to lose 12 pounds in only 2 days.

  • Avoid parking tickets by leaving your windshield wipers turned to fast wipe whenever you leave your car parked illegally.

  • High blood pressure sufferers: Simply cut yourself and bleed for a while, thus reducing the pressure in your veins.

  • Olympic athletes. Conceal the fact that you have taken performance enhancing drugs by simply running a little slower and letting someone else win.

  • Create instant designer stubble by sucking a magnet and dipping your chin in a bowl of iron fillings.

  • X File fans: Create the effect of being abducted by aliens by drinking two bottles of vodka. Yo'll invariably wake up in a strange place the following morning, having had your memory mysteriously 'erased'.

  • A sheet of sandpaper makes a cheap and effective substitute for costly maps when visiting the Sahara desert.

Watch Out For That ... Zebra?


Truck Hits Escaped Zebras Along Rural Road

A zebra? In Florida?

"It's going to sound crazy, man, but I ain't lying. I got zebras in the road," a caller to 9-1-1 said.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Float Free


Quicksand Myth Debunked: You Can Float Free

The researchers simulated a quicksand pit in the lab and placed an aluminum ball of greater density than the quicksand on top of the pit. The ball didn't sink until the researchers began to shake the pit, simulating movement and turning the mixture of sand and water more liquid. When they did this, the ball sank right to the bottom.

But when they used an aluminum ball with a density equal to the human body, which is less than the density of quicksand, they found it impossible to sink the ball, no matter how hard they shook the pit.


I'd feel a lot better about it if they had jumped in themselves and demonstrated how it is done, an aluminum ball doesn't do it for me.

If you ever get stuck in quicksand though, you might want to give their advise a try. Even if you don't (get stuck in quicksand), it's an interesting read.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

How Bizarre Is This?


Police Find Missing Man Driving Dead Deer In Ambulance

A man reported missing from a Florida hospital was found in North Carolina dressed like a doctor and driving a stolen ambulance with a dead deer wedged in the back, authorities said.

Opportunities for Re-investment in What Really Counts


I like this.

No More to Roam

From time to time in this world, God allows his people to suffer, in ways great and small. All these are trials of faith. They are times of dis-investment in one world, and investment in another. God has given us this great gift which he has not given to his other creatures. We know that we will die, and in our better moments, we know what Solomon learned and wrote for us: It is all vanity and a striving after wind.

Birthday Wishes


Happy Birthday Kathy! (My sister)

Check out what happened today in history and who else has a birthday today.

Monday, September 26, 2005

Sunday, September 25, 2005

That's Incredible!


Puppy Swallows 13-Inch Knife, Survives

How does a puppy, even a Saint Bernard puppy, swallow a 13 inch knife? It was 4 days before they operated to remove it. Ouch!

Friday, September 23, 2005

Watching Rita


Eventually, one of these reporters on the front line of these storms is going to be caught short and won't make it out. I've seen at least one reporting from Galveston and apparently there are other people who didn't evacuate that town. They might get lucky as Rita drifts eastward but in a direct hit they wouldn't have a prayer. The reporters in Port Arthur better watch it as well. They are staying in a new, strong building. OK, whatever. Man is no match for the natural forces at work here. One of these days you'll see an "I think we made a mistake" report form one of them. I hope not.

I also think if one of these storms comes towards Florida we would be screwed. After watching the evacuations in Texas I don't look forward to having to evacuate the peninsula of Florida. A Cat 5 storm so large would require evacuating most of Florida. After seeing the damage from the hurricanes in 2004, and the after effects (no gas, no power) I don't think I'd like to stick around through a Cat 5.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Not So Fast


Houston Residents Struggle to Get Inland

"Drivers ran out of gas in 14-hour traffic jams or looked in vain for a place to stay as hotels hundreds of miles in from the coast filled up. Others got tired of waiting in traffic and turned around and went home."


You're damned if you leave and you're damned if you stay. What do you do? Hurry up and wait. Don't wait for the government to save you, that's for sure.

What Do You Mean, Again?


Just heard on the morning news:

"Trouble at the pumps, it could start hurting again."

Again? It still hurts.

I think a buck a gallon is a nice round number, lets go back to that.

Get Outta Town


The morning that Katrina was making land fall, when Shepard Smith was calling the all clear in New Orleans, I asked the girl who relieved me if she had ever been to New Orleans. She said "No, why?" I said, "It's too late now." Little did I know how right I was.

I'm saying the same thing about Galveston now. If you live in Galveston, you better get out. They have learned some lessons from Katrina and are bussing people out who don't have another way. Good. If Rita keeps this course, anyone who stays in Galveston will have no excuse and I don't want to hear anything about the government blowing up the sea wall or the ethnic cleansing BS we're hearing from New Orleans. Take responsibility for your own mistakes. Better yet, don't make the mistake - get out of town.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

There Oughta Be A Law


Dennis Prager is absolutely right in this essay: First fight yourself, then society

Judeo-Christian values believe the road to a just society is paved by individual character development; the Left believes it is paved with action on a macro level.

That is one reason the Left is far more interested than the Right, i.e., religious Jews and Christians and secular conservatives, in passing laws, whether through legislation or through the actions of judges. That is how the Left believes you make a better society. There is, incidentally, a second reason the Left passes so many laws: As the Left breaks down the self-discipline of Judeo-Christian religions, more and more laws are needed simply to keep people from devouring each other

Refining this subject further, Ronald L. Dart has this to say while going through II Corinthians 3:14-16:

I don't know why some persist in misunderstanding this passage. "When Moses is read," which happened Sabbath by Sabbath in synagogues everywhere, the Jews do not see what lies within, behind and underneath the law. But, said Paul, when one turns his heart to the Lord, the veil, not the law, is taken away. Thus one can see the real spirit of the law behind the letter.

And on II Corinthians 3:17,18, he adds:

The law cannot ensure freedom if it does not reach men's hearts. As long as the law is external, it inexorably destroys liberty. Men break the law, and since there is no remedy except punishment, we send them to jail and pass more laws to plug loopholes in existing law. Law alone cannot hold back a moral landslide. Only the Spirit of the Lord can guarantee liberty.


I see this clearer now than I ever have in the past.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Channel Surfing


I was watching the news the other night and they said a face transplant operation was being planned, I know you've heard it, it's been on the news lately. I flipped through some channels and HBO was showing Face Off, the John Travolta/Nicholas Cage flick. Eerily coincidental.

Tonight I caught a mini marathon of DOG The Bounty Hunter on A&E. It was pretty good, better than the other bounty hunter show that was on Discovery Channel (I believe - may have been HBO) a while back. I hope I can catch it again.

I watched a movie the other night that kind of freaked me out. I don't care for horror movies but this one took place in Japan and I watched it just to hear the Japanese and see the sites. I don't know the name of the movie, but it was about a house where some murders took place and everyone who goes in the house is killed by the evil spirits - eventually, not right then and there. I saw it was on a couple of times since I watched it but I didn't care to see it again. I just looked up the name of the movie, it was The Grudge. It's hard to forget the imagery of that movie.

On a lighter note, I liked Taxi, with Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon. Very funny.

Germany Split


German election ends in deadlock

"Germany slid into political chaos on Sunday night as the election produced a hung parliament, with both chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his challenger Angela Merkel claiming victory and the right to form a new government."

Challenger narrowly wins election in Germany

"Conservative challenger Angela Merkel narrowly won German elections Sunday but fell short of a clear mandate to govern, as Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder staged a dramatic comeback and proclaimed that he should head the next government."

This all sounds so familiar. How long will it take to decide this election?

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Power Dressing?


Power-dressing man leaves trail of destruction

A guy in a fitted suit and red tie goes off in the office? No, not quite.

"An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building."


I don't know if I believe this. He's walking along, minding his business, burning the floor as he goes and completely unaware of any of it?

"Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woolen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together."


Yup. Oblivious.

"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited," Barton said.


They must have done this before. One more step and he's toast.

"Static electricity is a similar mechanism to lightning, where you have clouds rubbing together and then a spark generated by very dry air above them," said Gosden.


Really? Lightning is caused by clouds rubbing together? And thunder is caused by God bowling. Are you sure that's right?

Anyway, must have been cool to watch. It is pretty incredible.

Friday, September 16, 2005

Public Service Announcment


Katrina victims are eligible for up to 14 days free stay at a hotel - paid by FEMA and the American Red Cross. You must be from a qualifying zip code but, as a hotel, that is all we are required to check. I believe the hotel must be registered with FEMA first. Many hotels here in Kissimmee are advertising this but it must also be true of hotels throughout the country.

Cypress Gardens Adventure Park and Splash Island Water Park are offering free admission during the month of September to those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Proof of residency required.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

The World Holds It's Collective Breath


Bill Clinton as world saviour

"Clinton will open Thursday the inaugural meeting of his Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), aimed at wiping out poverty, ending conflict, rolling back climate change and promoting better governance worldwide."

Why not put him in charge of New Orleans? First save New Orleans, then the world.

And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown.
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone.
And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw around.
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone,
Dragged down by the stone. -- Pink Floyd


James wanted to wash my car for me. Good job James, clean but dented. He didn't really hurt the car.

James loves to help me paint! We're painting the porch. It's not the best picture but I love the look on his face.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Chips-Ahoy!


The other day I found whole grain Chips-Ahoy! cookies at Walmart. I looked on the Nabisco website but there was no mention of them. I don't know how much healthier they are than normal cookies, probably not much at all, but they taste good and I prefer whole grains in my food if I have a choice.

Another product I like is Barillo Plus pasta. I never tried a side by side taste test but I serve it to my family and they don't know the difference. It tastes good. If anything, it tastes better. I don't buy anything else anymore.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

9-11


I wish I could say we had learned the lessons of this tragic day but it is painfully obvious that this country - collectively - just doesn't get it. We don't have the backbone to do what it will take to put this threat down for good, at least not yet. I just hope the day we come to our senses it will not be too late.

"Last time I saw it all coming and cried aloud to my own fellow-countrymen and to the world, but no one paid any attention. Up till the year 1933 or even 1935, Germany might have been saved from the awful fate which has overtaken her and we might all have been spared the miseries Hitler let loose upon mankind. There never was a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action than the one which has just desolated such great areas of the globe. It could have been prevented in my belief without the firing of a single shot, and Germany might be powerful, prosperous and honored to-day; but no one would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool. We surely must not let that happen again."
--Sir Winston Churchill
Mar. 5, 1946 - Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri

Friday, September 09, 2005

Bush Derangement Syndrome


Craige McMillan hits it: Bush Derangement Syndrome - not!

"PC says some truth can never be investigated, because it might be found to be true. Thus in the realm of PC science, only a "correct" hypothesis may be investigated, lest some uncomfortable and politically unacceptable truth be discovered."


That about sums up political correctness and it's one of the reasons science cannot be trusted to find the truth. Science is a tool and it's only as good as the person using it.

"Bush Derangement Syndrome is the beginning of a very pure form of evil that the world has rarely seen - one that, like its forbearers, will destroy both those who are its victims - and those who are its perpetrators. This hatred is being channeled by some in power in this and other countries, for their own gain. As with their predecessors, they will find that they do not control it."


I wouldn't call it Bush Derangement Syndrome, the Bush hatred is a symptom of a much larger problem, but the evil he speaks of exists and seems to ebb and flow through the world like the sickness it is. It is in the beginning of an upswing now and the very people in it's grips truly believe they are free and not infected. Fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Some related articles: What New Orleans shows by Joseph Farah

He writes about our losing our ability to govern ourselves.

"The Founding Fathers knew that even the best designed government wouldn't work if the people were not righteous, moral and God-fearing - if they didn't love liberty and cherish it."


That is more true than you ever imagined. The closer the people adhere to The Perfect Law of Liberty, the more there will be true freedom. A lawless people must be governed with a heavy hand.

Also a good read: Too many takers in New Orleans

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Governor and Mayor Still Not In Gear


Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin don't agree on the mandatory evacuation of the city of New Orleans ordered by the Mayor. Maybe the Governor needs 24 hours to think about it. Of course, it's still Bush's fault.

Accurate Weather


I've been very impressed with the hurricane forecasting by Joe Bastardi from AccuWeather.com. He called Katrina accurately, including the flooding of New Orleans, on FoxNews before it hit and I watched him forecast Ophelia, also on FoxNews, before it was anything to speak of - now a tropical storm.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Gilligan is Off the Island


Bob Denver passed away September 2, 2005.

All the Fish in the Aquarium of the Americas are Dead


That's something I had not heard from anywhere else. Not that it's so important when compared to the human tragedy still playing out, but I visited that aquarium in New Orleans and it had some really nice fish. I heard the animals at the New Orleans Zoo are OK, but I forget where I heard it.

Where did I hear about the aquarium? Right here: The Interdictor. He's blogging from New Orleans.

Update: New Orleans' aquarium mostly killed off

He Knows


I bought James a set of Godzilla figures on eBay but I didn't tell him about it. It came in the mail yesterday and I hid it in my room so when he got home he wouldn't see it until I was ready to give it to him. When I went to pick him up he got in the car and said, "I know you got me a Godzilla." He kept saying it. Usually, he asks if I will get him one or asks if I did. This time he knew. I didn't let on and I asked him about some other things on the way home. When we got to the house I went to the kitchen and he went down the hall. A minute later he comes out with the box, proud as can be.

How did he know that?

Nouvelle Orleans


Here's an interesting little article about how New Orleans was created and why it sits so low.

The City Below Sea Level

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Tickets for Sale - Cheap


Everybody wants a deal. Where can I buy discount tickets? It's the most asked question in this area. Basically, you can't - not legally. There is no way to tell if the tickets you buy have been used or not and people get taken all the time. Buy only from a legitimate source.

Black Market For Park Tickets Is Dark Side Of Orlando Tourism

Friday, September 02, 2005

They Were Well Warned


Here's another article, Gone with the Water, that lays out precisely what happened to New Orleans during and after Katrina - written before the disaster. It was well known that it was only a matter of time before this happened. They should have had buses lined up to get people out of there before the hurricane. They also should not let people live in those low lying areas again. Name it Lake Orleans and leave it at that.


But rebuild they will.

Bible Verse of the Day


Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Ecclesiastes 8:11


My thoughts while watching coverage of the looting and violence going on in New Orleans. It's a symptom of underlying problems in society these days. One of which is not teaching kids right from wrong - they teach that there is no right or wrong to our children, it's all relative. Another is not executing justice and necessary vengeance against evil acts.



R.L. Burnside died September 1, 2005 at a hospital in Memphis.

"Blues artist R.L. Burnside, who redefined the blues genre by incorporating indie rock acts and hip-hop production, died September 1, 2005, at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Burnside was born November 21, 1926, in Harmontown, Mississippi, and spent most of his life in the north Mississippi hill country, where he worked as a sharecropper and a commercial fisherman and played guitar at weekend house parties. In 1968, noted folklorist George Mitchell recorded Burnside for the first time."

Thursday, September 01, 2005

The Lost City


I keep hearing they want to rebuild New Orleans and I can see preserving the French Quarter and around that area, which I believe is on higher ground than the rest of the city, but to have so many people living below sea level - essentially in the bottom of a drained lake - doesn't really make a lot of sense. Of course, people don't always make decisions based on sound judgement and who am I to say what they should do.

Here's an article from Dec. 2000 that looks at New Orleans from an insurance perspective: The Lost City of New Orleans?

Very interesting, especially considering it is from 2000.