Twenty Spark

And then they ask why

2011-09-28T03:57:00.001-05:00

The LDS Church teaches to seek after truth where ever it may be found. When some find a truth and profess that truth, they are scorned and ridiculed. The lucky few make it out unscathed.

Amplify’d from kgpgandalf.blogspot.com

There are a couple ideas very heavily engrained into a Mormon's head through all of the structure and doctrine of the church. The first is to seek truth (wherever it is to be found--from scripture and from secular knowledge as well) and the second is to proclaim that truth--in particular, the gospel truth. I feel that both of these are very noble pursuits. I was taught to do that while I was a Mormon and even now I view both as wise things to do. There is so much falsehood out there in the world--so much fraud and dishonesty--that the truth is a welcome breath of fresh air whenever it is encountered. Also, the truth empowers the mind and enlightens the soul. It brings lasting happiness. This is why Mormons are taught to (and desire to) teach the truth that they have learned to anyone who will listen.
Read more at kgpgandalf.blogspot.com

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The rich keep getting richer...

2011-09-25T10:05:00.001-05:00

...and the poor keep getting poorer.

Amplify’d from www.commondreams.org

As background, it helps to know what has been happening to incomes over the past three decades. Detailed estimates from the Congressional Budget Office — which only go up to 2005, but the basic picture surely hasn’t changed — show that between 1979 and 2005 the inflation-adjusted income of families in the middle of the income distribution rose 21 percent. That’s growth, but it’s slow, especially compared with the 100 percent rise in median income over a generation after World War II.

Meanwhile, over the same period, the income of the very rich, the top 100th of 1 percent of the income distribution, rose by 480 percent. No, that isn’t a misprint. In 2005 dollars, the average annual income of that group rose from $4.2 million to $24.3 million.
Read more at www.commondreams.org

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Faith dictating policy?

2011-09-20T15:09:00.001-05:00

Is that what we should expect from this politician if he is elected?

Amplify’d from www.washingtonpost.com

Rick Perry: ‘As a Christian . . . I stand with Israel’

“I also as a Christian have a clear directive to support Israel, so from my perspective it’s pretty easy,” Perry said when a reporter asked if Perry’s faith was driving his views, according to the Associated Press. “Both as an American and as a Christian, I am going to stand with Israel.”
Read more at www.washingtonpost.com

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The future of privacy...a different view

2011-09-09T17:13:00.001-05:00

URL: http://io9.com/5822919/welcome-to-privacy-club

Really interesting ideas in this one. A bit long, but worth a read.

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Hate the hate...

2011-09-09T09:42:00.001-05:00

Sure wish we'd ban their filth in the United States.

Amplify’d from www.examiner.com

The infamous “God Hates Fags’ crowd will be protesting at Ground Zero in New York on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, according to one of their most recent press releases.

Their freedom to incite hatred is protected in the US under free speech laws, while in Canada it's not. In 2008 Phelps and his crew were denied entry into Canada to protest a funeral in Winnipeg after the Canadian federal government alerted border officials. Canadians from coast to coast applauded the government's action.

“You should be so happy we are here,” they say on their website. “We're spreading the good news that not everyone will go to Hell. You should be happy that we're here to preach at all, since all you get from the countless so-called preachers, priests, rabbis, imams, and other spiritual leaders in this nation is a bunch of syrupy, unscriptural psycho-babble. We tell the truth. We aren't interested in persuading you to change – that's God's business.”
Read more at www.examiner.com

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Some myths about blogging shattered

2011-09-09T00:31:00.001-05:00

If you are just starting out in the blogging world, this article is well worth reading. Just see what they have to say about posting daily.

Amplify’d from www.dailyblogtips.com

Post Daily

Not when you are starting out.

There is no point is spending hours on creating content when nobody’s looking -nobody’s reading.

Also remember you are learning yourself in the early days; you are bound to make mistakes. You need to spend more time educating yourself about all aspects of blogging; design, content, promotion, marketing, SEO, basic technical stuff etc, instead of freaking out about creating content on a daily basis.

Spend 30% of your time writing posts; even twice a week is good. Spend the rest of the time learning about what it takes to write a successful blog, connecting with other bloggers in your niche and writing guest posts.

The correct advice: Post regularly, doing the best you can. Keep to a schedule so people know what to expect. Spend your energies on educating yourself.
Read more at www.dailyblogtips.com

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The Star Wars -- Dune Connection

2011-09-04T15:38:00.001-05:00

http://moongadget.com/origins/dune.html

Shows links between Dune and Star Wars and what influenced Dune.

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Technology's Impact on Families

2011-01-23T11:31:00.001-06:00

For my family, meaning my older half-siblings and their kids, are mostly scattered all over the country. We have found that social networks like Facebook have allowed us to reconnect and interact with each other. Most of these people I have not seen for nearly 15 years.

So, to me it is a very positive thing.

Interesting hypothesis

2011-01-07T06:09:00.001-06:00

Mr. Sitchin had some rather interesting ideas about the early history of our planet. The idea that humans are here because of Aliens seems a little out there, but still could be possible. What he points out about religious writings of the Sumerians and Hebrews makes sense. Who knows, it might have happened.

in reference to: The Official Web Site of Zecharia Sitchin (view on Google Sidewiki)

Some great non-alcohol drinks...

2010-12-31T20:10:00.001-06:00

I have been trying to find a good Virgin Mojito, I might have found one.

Amplify’d from www.csmonitor.com

Virgin Mojito
Serves 12
3 bunches of mint leaves (about 20 leaves per bunch)
1-1/2 cups fresh lime juice
3/4 cup simple syrup (see recipe above)
48 ounces chilled ginger ale
Lime slices, for garnish
With a mortar and pestle, gently mash mint leaves. Set aside. In a large pitcher, stir together the lime juice and simple syrup. Add mint, ice, and ginger ale. Stir and pour into festive glasses. Garnish with whole mint leaves and lime slices.*
Read more at www.csmonitor.com

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Honey, fire up the outboard, I'm tired of the neighborhood.

2010-11-19T13:39:00.000-06:00

Image via WikipediaThe Seasteading Institue, whose goal is to establish permanent, autonomous ocean communities to enable experimentation and innovation with diverse social, political, and legal systems, stated Tuesday that they might be able to accomplish their goal in as little as three years.

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage Should Not Be Allowed

2010-01-30T20:52:00.001-06:00

01) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning. If it does not make children, it can't be natural and therefor, can't be allowed.

02) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

03) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

04) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

05) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

06) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

07) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

08) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

09) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans

Christmas Memories

2009-12-25T13:54:00.001-06:00

This time of year always stirs up memories of my childhood.
One Christmas, I was given a Coast King 10-Speed bike. This was a great gift, except one thing. We had over three feet of snow on the ground. Kind of hard to get the hang of a new bike when you could not even ride it. But, I loved my parents for it anyway.

Another year, my brother and I got a new sled. This was great, because up til then we had been using one that my mother had used as a kid and it was beginning to show some signs of where and tear. It had a broken board on it and the steering was a little messed up from rust. It was fun though. I remember not wanting to let my brother use the new one and making him use the old, broken down one. Most of the time we used the sleds like wagons, we never did master the art of riding them down the hill.

But, I think the biggest thing I remember from my childhood Christmas experience was spending time with the family. It was one day a year that everyone that could make it was there. It was great seeing the older kids and when they could not be around, it was just nice to have mom and dad to ourselves.

Some want us to focus on the person behind the holiday, but I think it is just as important to focus on our family and friends at this time of year. So, merry Christmas or Happy Whatever Holiday you observe!!!

This will rock you!

2009-07-18T21:41:00.002-05:00

NIckleback just plain rocks!!!

Game Fuel

2009-06-13T18:34:00.000-05:00

Get your game fuel on! This stuff is great. I am a little addicted to the Blue. ;)

Home of the Throwed Roll

2009-06-06T01:02:00.000-05:00

Image by pickles_pics via Flickr

I'm on an extended weekend right now, during which the better half is bowling and I'm along to get the hell out of town for a few days. The first thing we did was hit this resturaunt called "Lambert's Cafe". The one we visitted is located between Springfield and Branson, MO.

The experience:
First off, the wait is well worth it. If you have a group going, call ahead of time, it helps cut the wait. Some people have been known to wait for two hours just to eat here. Once you get inside, the atmosphere reminds you of a cross between "Cracker Barrel" and "TGI Fridays". As you are lead to your seat, you realize, this is not going to be your run of the mill dinner. There are wait-staff wandering about offering black-eyed peas, fried potatos, fried okra, and tomato mac.

Now, the gimmick that put the place on the map. From the far side of the room, you hear "HOT ROLLS!" and see a guy on the far side of the room. Someone at the table next to you holds up a hand and a dinner roll is tossed across the room. Let me tell you, this makes for interesting dining, because this happens all the time. You have to watch out for incoming bread stuffs. The added bonus, after you get your roll, is they offer sorgum molasses (sticky, sweet, and gooey, just like it is supposed to be.). Now you know why they are called the Home of the Throwed Roll.

Okay, now the main course, after you get 52 oz of your favorite family type beverage. They have a good selection on the menu from fish to pork and everything in between. I ordered a 16 oz chicken fried steak with baby carrots and cuccumber & onions on the side. It already had mashed taters with it. Andie ordered a salmon steak with the carrots and mashcd taters.

The presentation: For those of us who ordered a typical dinner, it was served in a skillet. My chicken fried steak about covers the entire bottom of a 12 inch skillete. You get average servings of your sides, but with the other food that is being passed around, you won't go away hungry. By the way, my chicken fried steak was the rooster size, they have a hen size that is 10-12 ounces. A buddy of ours ordered that size and could not finish his. I did not finish mine either, that is a lot of food. But, I did it justice. I think I had less than a third of it left when all was said and done.

The quality. If you like a down home, country style meal, then this is for you. It has that grandma's cooking feel and taste about it. I was very impressed with the food and the service. And the touch of topping it off with a small slice of cheese cake (if you have room) is just the trick.

Summary. Good food, fun enviroment, and very reasonable prices gives this place a four out of five gold fork rating from me. If you are ever in the Springfield or Branson, MO area, look this place up. Or check out the other two locations that can be found on their website at http://www.throwedrolls.com.

I'm still stuffed six hours later, time for another nap. Long day ahead of us tomorrow.

Geek Pride Day

2009-05-25T18:40:00.000-05:00

Live Long and Prosper, my fellow geeks!

STAY FOR AWHILE!

If you cannot do DOS, then you cannot be a Geek

2009-05-19T09:04:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

When I first started mucking around with a 286 machine, Window$ was just getting off the ground, so the only way you could really do anything was to know a few typed commands to get around you computer. Today, you can still use most of these commands after launching the "DOS Shell". And if you do not know your way around DOS, you can not possibly call yourself a Geek.

Here are seven commands you should commit to memory and you will be able to wear you Geek Badge with pride.

cd - Change directory: the most fundamental command for getting around in DOS.

dir - This will show you everything that is in the current directory. If you have a lot of stuff stashed there, you might want to use dir /p as this will pause the output every so many lines. Using dir /w/p will cause only the names of the files to be outputted in columns and will pause every so many lines.

copy - Just as the word suggests, this will copy your file. The proper format for this would be copy [filename] [destination filepath and filename].

mkdir - Create a directory. You should use this syntax when using this command: mkdir [directoryname].

move - Move a file using the same syntax as you would for copy.

del - Delete a specified file, ie del [filename].

rd - Delete a specified empy directory. If you want to delete a directory with contents, use rd /s/q which will delete the entire directory tree.

Knowing these commands can be useful and shows you are a true Geek. One caution, be careful what you do with the commands and do not muck around with files you do not understand.

Missing in Action

2009-05-13T05:04:00.000-05:00

Okay, I was a little slow on updating all last month. I think I hit writer's block or something. Hell, I didn't even use Twitter as much as I normally do. I think the only thing that got a lot of use was my LastFM account along with my World of Warcraft Account. Yup, they got a work out.

What's going on right now?
1) Have about three web projects brewing. These will be updated as time permits
2) I'm supposed to practice driving this month. I really want to do this, I need my driver's liscense before the end of July, August at the outside. My better half would like me to have it much sooner, but, we'll see how that goes.
3) Short stories. I'm writing a series of short stories that I hope to publish to the web sometime soon. Yeah, they are a bit lame, but not bad for my first go.

Well, thought I'd let everyone know what hath become of me.
Be Seeing You!

Sexting, part of the modern age, deal.

2009-04-27T19:09:00.000-05:00

clipped from www.humaniststudies.org

We’re told there’s an epidemic of teens sending nude photos of themselves to a friend or lover, who then sends it to every other teen on the planet. The original kid then responds with naive surprise and deeply hurt feelings. Adults typically respond with predictions of the end of civilization as we know it.

Logan represents "The American Way": turning her child’s death into an industry, calling it a social problem, demanding we recognize this as a crisis. If she spends enough time developing her new brand, she’ll never have to come to terms with Jesse’s death and get on with her own life.

I agree with this article 100%. Yes, some tragedies have occurred because of this practice, but there are better ways of dealing with it.

Some people shouldn't drive.

2009-04-11T18:46:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

clipped from news.yahoo.com

BERLIN (Reuters) –
A German woman was involved in three car accidents in less than an hour that left a total of seven vehicles damaged but she suffered only slight injuries from the series of mishaps, police said Tuesday.

Now, I know I've not much room to talk since I don't drive, but come on, this is a little much.

David Arneson, Master Geek, dead at 61

2009-04-11T15:59:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

David Arneson, one of the masterminds who created the original version of the award-winning fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, died Tuesday in St. Paul following a two-year battle with cancer. He was 61.

David Arneson created Blackmoor, probably one of the most important contributions to the D&D universe. It was a fantasy world in which the earliest adventures took place.

He was preceded in death by Gary Gygax, with whom he created the game that changed the lives of millions of geeks everywhere. Both will be missed.

Hair Club for Women

2009-03-27T18:02:00.000-05:00

Tasteless Humor to follow..................

Had to Do It.

2009-03-26T15:04:00.001-05:00

Dumpster Diving

2009-03-22T18:58:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

There is a bit of swelling pride that fills my soul when I admit, freely, that I have been a dumpster diver. I think it can all be linked back to memories of my first bicycle. My dad brought it home with him after he had been to the local landfill. It wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, but after a little work, my dad presented it to me. The first thing he did was tell me to get on and gave me a push down the hill and that is how I learned to ride a bike!

I can say that I am guilty of getting quite a few things out of the dumpster. Among the items I 've gleaned from the waste of others are: computers, furniture, books, movies, collectable magazines, and even a radio. I guess I caught the bug from my father and it was nutured by my older brother. Any way you look at it, it's in my blood.

One of the drawbacks of being a dumpster diver is that it also leads to being a pack rat. This quality makes my better half cringe. She doesn't understand the whole hording thing. I don't blame her. When I moved in with her, I had to leave behind a lot of stuff in a storage shed. Now, I just need to find the time to go through all of it and maybe have a yard sell or something.

Well, that about wraps this up for now, and if you have any 1970's FisherPrise "Little People", you might want keep them out of my sight. I've been looking for the doggie for a few years. ;)

Twenty Spark

And then they ask why

The rich keep getting richer...

Faith dictating policy?

The future of privacy...a different view

Hate the hate...

Some myths about blogging shattered

Post Daily

The Star Wars -- Dune Connection

Technology's Impact on Families

Interesting hypothesis

Some great non-alcohol drinks...

Honey, fire up the outboard, I'm tired of the neighborhood.

Related articles

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage Should Not Be Allowed

Christmas Memories

This will rock you!

Game Fuel

Home of the Throwed Roll

Geek Pride Day

If you cannot do DOS, then you cannot be a Geek

Missing in Action

Sexting, part of the modern age, deal.

Some people shouldn't drive.

David Arneson, Master Geek, dead at 61

Hair Club for Women

Had to Do It.

Dumpster Diving