Assassin's Mace

This is an interesting commentary by Lev Navrozov which gives a brief history of the development of nuclear weapons.

How Easily Hitler Could Have Subjugated the World

Will It Work?

Andres Kello is trying to break the world record for most expensive internet domain name.

Crash!

Here's something you don't see everyday: Ouch!

Yesterday ...

... did not feel like Thanksgiving Day to me. We went to the inlaws and had dinner and all, I don't know why, it just didn't feel like thanksgiving.

I wanted to get a siphon to take the gas out of my car - because I want to trade it in and don't want to give them a full tank - but of course it works out I want to do it on Thanksgiving Day. I couldn't find one. More on this later, I don't want to say anything unless I can make this deal. If it works out I will be very happy with it, if not, it's back to car shopping. I just want it over with. I hate the car buying process.

We Can Rebuild It

Irma got used to using my laptop and started asking me to fix the Mac laptop (Powerbook Titanium) so she could use it while I was at work. The Mac crashed big time - the modem stopped working, the CD/DVD player broke, one of the memory cards went bad, and the hard drive started dying and I lost all the photos on it (had copies on the other computer). This all happened at the same time. Needless to say I was less than impressed with it, especially when I saw the cost of fixing it.

I bought my Gateway laptop, which I have been very happy with, and left the Mac in the closet for a while. When Irma asked me about it I searched out the parts on the internet and the prices have come down. I could actually fix it for a reasonable price. I ordered the hard drive, super drive (CD/DVD burner), and modem and replaced them all in about an hour. I also upgraded the operating system to OS X Tiger and the computer never worked better. I didn't get a memory card because it still has 512 megs but I still may get another to double it again.

I bought the hard drive, superdrive and OS X from Other World Computing and I am very happy with their service and products.

Now, the only thing I don't like about it is the WiFi is not very sensitive and I can pick up a signal on the Gateway while the Mac says there is no signal. It works if the signal is not weak but it should be better.

Indiana Kitty

Cat Survives Traffic, 70-Foot Fall From Bridge, 600-Foot Swim

The cat is resting up at an animal shelter in Washington state after leaping from a pickup, scampering through traffic, plunging 70 feet into the chilly Columbia River and swimming 600 feet to shore.

And now, for her next trick ...

Put It On eBay

1 Square Inch of Land for Sale at $1,500

You have to read this for the explanation. It's incredible that someone legally owned a plot of land that small.

Liberty

Liberty has consequences. Man wants freedom, and at the same time he wants to be free from the consequences of his actions. These two wants simply cannot be reconciled.

It is only recently that I have begun to truly understand what freedom is all about, what it costs, why people are so willing to lay it down and what it takes to get it back.

Man is conflicted about freedom. Freedom is good, but we will lay it down in a heartbeat once it becomes too heavy to bear. We are tempted to lay our freedom down if someone offers us food, shelter and clothing. People have actually accepted slavery in order to fill their empty bellies and to get a kind of security from those who would do them harm. History is full of stories like this.

Sounds a little too familiar.

They want to be taken care of, they want to lay their freedom down, they want to be slaves. They want to be servants because then, someone else can take care of them.

We are all like this to a certain extent, we all have our own tolerance level of freedom.

The quotes are from this essay by Ronald L. Dart. I've been following his evolving understanding of freedom and how to get out of the bondage we all get ourselves into. This is a must read.

If You Have a Secret ...

don't tell James. Yesterday was Irma's birthday and we got her a gliding exercise machine (cause that's what she wanted me to get her), along with flowers, cards and ice cream cake. We put the glider together in the living room and James decided he loved it so much, it should be his.

Well, we blew up some balloons and Joshua made balloon animals out of them (he is surprisingly good at it) and we put them on the machine for when she got home. I told James he couldn't ride on it anymore until Mommy got home. Irma called and James told her we opened her present and put it together. I grabbed the phone away from him and she didn't understand what he said anyway. I was going to tell her he meant the coffee maker her Mom got her.

When she came home James ran outside and told her that he wasn't allowed to ride her glider because there were a bunch of balloons on it, and on and on. She was cracking up.

He got to ride it again and Irma asked if she was ever going to get to use it. Maybe not.

Change of Plans

I was going to paint the porch last Sunday but had to put it off after I got in my car Saturday night to go to work, turned the key and heard a small bang, saw a flash of light, the car died and a burning smell permeated the air. What now?, I thought.

Upon investigation Sunday morning, it turns out the insulation pulled back on some wires attached to the starter and they shorted out - how, I don't know. How long had the insulation been pulled back and how did it manage to short out then? I thank God it happened in my driveway and not somewhere else.

I fixed it and the starter was still good. Still, I'm starting to get that itch for a new car.

Paristinians

Joseph Farrah has the solution for France in French solution: Paristinian state

James found this turtle outside the other day. He was so excited! He didn't want it to leave.

New Pictures!

I uploaded a photo album of our trip to Ft. Walton Beach and the Feast of Tabernacles. Click here or the Photos link on the left.

I Guess He Was Ready

Today, after I picked up the kids from school, I went out to work on my car. James wanted to ride his bike. OK, no problem. I went inside to get something and James had taken a wrench from my toolbox and started taking off his training wheels. I watched, curiously. He got them off no problem, got on his bike and, after a couple of false starts, started riding down the driveway!

I was amazed! He had previously shown no interest in taking off the training wheels. In fact, I did try to do it a while back and he resisted. He rode a few times with me holding the bike and walking with him and he even could ride (barely) if I let go but couldn't turn or stop. He asked me to put the training wheels back on. That was months ago, at least. Way to go James!