It used to be fear of global cooling

Newsweek, April 28, 1975, Warning of global cooling! [Link]

Way back in 1975 Newsweek published this story warning of global cooling. Yes. Cooling.

Resolutions bedamned! Full speed ahead.

Если хочешь изменить мир, сначала изменись сам. (If you want to change the world, change yourself first.) as my Russian grandmother used to say. I'm kidding! I'm taking the word of the Moscow Times [Link] and Michele A. Berdy, in a piece on resolutions for the new year, The Year of the Flying Pig . It is something to consider though as we are about to dive headlong into a brand, spanking new year.


Calvin and Hobbs, today. [Link]

The Washington Post : Summer Camp: It's Getting too Late Early. This is National Sign Up for Summer Camp month. [Link]

"In many places today, kids don't come home and jump into their play clothes and run out and play...so camp has become the neighborhood playground."


I do not believe in astrology. Not me. However. I do like to read them sometimes when they're entertaining, such as this, from The Village Voice, is. I'm not a Scorpio, but this seems like pretty good advice from Abe Lincoln. Free Will Astrology [Link] Rob Brezsney.


SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21): In 2007, you'll need to find power to do the half-right thing when it's impossible to do the totally right thing. To help you do that, remember this advice from Abraham Lincoln: "The true rule, in determining to embrace or reject anything, is not whether it have any evil in it; but whether it have more of evil than of good. There are few things wholly evil, or wholly good. Almost every thing is an inseparable compound of the two; so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded."

The Wilhelm Scream (AHHHHHHHHHHH!)

If you watch movies or television--you've heard the Wilhelm Scream . It's been used hundreds of times by sound designers since the early 50s. This YouTube amalgamation illustrates it's use in everything from Indiana Jones to Walt Disney's Aladdin. George Lucas used it many times.



Want to know more about Wilhelm? Then listen to this (Link) audio feature from WNYC, NY and On the Media. (10 minutes)

According to legend, the scream was first used in a western and the character from whom the scream originated was named Wilhelm. You'd scream too with an arrow in your leg.

non-decisional (We couldn't decide.)

Press Gaggle by Scott Stanzel
Aboard Air Force One
En route Waco, Texas

11:47 A.M. CST

.... And, as you know, he'll be meeting with members of his National Security Council on Thursday to continue to talk about this option.

Q Scott, on the meeting on Thursday, how do we characterize the importance of this meeting? Is this, like, the final one before he's going to actually make up his mind?

MR. STANZEL: You know, I think we characterized it yesterday anons a non-decisional meeting, but --

Q That's how you characterized it Friday, too. (Laughter.)


I tried, without success, to find the "non-decisional " in three different dictionaries.
Does "non-decisional" mean the same thing as "couldn't decide"?

Blogging can be beautiful

I made that first cup and sat down on this spot where I sit now. I began to wander around, looking for truth, beauty or whatever I could find of value in the vast world of blogging.

I've spent the past hour now, reading blog entries from all over the world, blogs I've never visited before and may never have the privilege of visiting again. I've discovered that there is a great deal of beauty in the blog world, as odd as that may seem. The vast majority isn't. Blog and beauty are two words that seem not to look right in the same sentence. Blog beauty. No. I go back to what I've said before.
The word "blog" is so...well, it sounds like an old man clearing his throat. It certainly doesn't sound like something of beauty or worthy of note. And to be called a blogger. I can't imagine anything more insulting. I'm not being truthful. Of course I can. But I'm not going to say.

I started to say, before I interrupted myself, that I wanted to take some of the more beautiful passages that I've read from these blogs, and post them here. But, I just can't. I feel as if I've come upon someone's personal journal in an old chest of drawers I've purchased from a flea market. It's bad enough that I open it. Worse still that I read the pages. This is not my business! Shame on me. But I read it anyway. I will compound the crime by sharing with you the my most intimate findings of the morning.

There are probably millions of blogs on the naked web that are worth spending time some time with. I encourage you to put on some sound shoes and a warm scarf and go on
a hunt for truth, beauty, love and adventure.

Two hours have elapsed since I made that first, delicious, hot cup of coffee. My cup is now cold and empty. I must go. I'll probably be back.

"Jerry Ford was, simply put, one of the most decent and capable men I ever met. ... George H. W. Bush

"I remember in his inaugural speech he said, 'You have not elected me as your president by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your president with your prayers' ... God certainly answered those prayers. President Ford was the great healer, and brought us together. We owe a great debt to him for how he put principle over politics at a crucial time in the life of or nation." - the Rev. Billy Graham.



"The American people will always admire Gerald Ford's devotion to duty, his personal character and the honorable conduct of his administration." - President George W. Bush.

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"An outstanding statesman, he wisely chose the path of healing during a deeply divisive time in our nation's history. He frequently rose above politics by emphasizing the need for bipartisanship and seeking common ground on issues critical to our nation." - Former President Jimmy Carter.

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"The nation's appreciation for the contributions that President Ford made throughout his long and well-lived life are more than we could ever have anticipated. These kindnesses have made this difficult time more bearable." - Former first lady Betty Ford.

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"Jerry Ford was, simply put, one of the most decent and capable men I ever met. ... Most of all, I will remember him as a devoted family man and a man of honor who never stopped serving this country he loved so deeply." - Former President George H.W. Bush.

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"He was a friend to everyone who met him. He had no enemies." - Former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., Ford's 1976 running mate.

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diamonds and passport lost and found and luggage just plain lost

It's nice to see a story like this, and I sincerely hope that somebody over at Best Western corporate will take notice and reward this good deed.

My wife left a text book in a hotel room once. We phoned the hotel when we realized the book was missing but they weren't able to find it. It was a text book, expensive but of little value to most people. The hotel, btw was a very well known resort hotel that you probably have heard of.

Keep paying it forward!
Who knows, you or I could be a recipient.

Wytheville Enterprise

Wythe County, Va.
Lost and found: diamonds and passport returned

MARY BETH JACKSON/Staff
The Wytheville Enterprise
Thursday, December 21, 2006

When Donna Russell entered room 115 to start cleaning Dec. 11 at Best Western, she found a small brown suitcase and reported it to her supervisor, thinking the guests had not yet checked out.

But they had.

Russell opened the suitcase to see if there was any contact information. She found a lovely diamond necklace in a box with a bow. "Woman probably have a fit if she don't get it," she said.

Then she saw a passport.

"I said, 'oh no, these people can't get into Canada!" said Russell, who has worked nearly three months with the hotel.

Meanwhile, Hattie Bolsby and her husband, Clare, were making the 11-hour drive from Wytheville to their Ontario home, miserable and distraught with severe colds. They'd cut short a visit to see Clare's sister in Florida to avoid spreading their illness to family.

Feeling so wretched, they never realized a piece of their luggage was missing ? one with their checkbook, bank records, Canadian and U.S. money for tolls, and other valuables. Upon arriving in Ontario, they dragged into their home and checked their messages.

"It was a shock when the machine said, 'we have found your suitcase here,'" Bolsby said.

Bolsby added, "We hadn't even missed it. We wouldn't have until the next morning because we were ill and weren't going to unpack the car."

She was delighted when the suitcases arrived Tuesday, missing nothing.

"We could have had identity theft," she said. "That was the most important suitcase we had."

If she had known it was missing, she said, she wouldn't have expected to get everything back.

"I've worked in the service industry and I know how things can drop," she said. "It is so easy for people to pick up things when they are in the service industry."

For Bolsby, it might have been a blessing that returned to her. She says she once returned a lost money clip and diamond rings to their rightful owners.

She says she's sent thank you notes to Russell and her supervisors at Best Western and plans to stop in on her next visit to give her thanks in person. "People around here are saying there are angels down there, and some are saying 'Santa visited you,'" she said.

Russell says it's all in a day's work.

"I tried to do the right thing," she said. "I'm thankful they got it, too."


And before we leave the lost and found, here's one to think about as you travel the airways and fairways. It comes to us courtesy of Billingsgazette.com.

Airline luggage found near Houston store


HOUSTON (AP) -- Authorities were trying Tuesday to figure out how dozens of pieces of luggage belonging to air travelers ended up in a trash bin behind a Houston pet store. The store's owners discovered .... link

Vladamir Horowitz playing - Liszt Deuxieme Annee V; Sonetto 104 del Petrarca

YouTube can not only be a great resource for the trivial and inconsequential--which is OK--but one can also find stuff like this.

Once in a while one must take time out to smell the flowers and listen to music. Ladies and gentlemen---Vladamir Horowitz, one hell of a piano player.

Jibjab Year in Review

We mustn't forget to laugh now and then.


Nuckin' Futs! The JibJab Year in Review |

Recycling: There is life is dead trees

There's more than one good way to recycle a tree. This link tells the story of one good example.



Using Christmas trees to help restore Louisiana coastal marshes.

Parable of Our Times, Bill Moyers

From a Parable For Our Times, Bill Moyers, at TomPaine.common sense:

Ronald Reagan once described a particular man he knew who was good steward of resources in the biblical sense. “This is a man,” Reagan said, “who in his own business, before he entered politics, instituted a profit-sharing plan, before unions had ever thought of it. He put in health and medical insurance for all his employees. He took 50 percent of the profits before taxes and set up a retirement program, a pension plan for all his employees. He sent checks for life to an employee who was ill and couldn’t work. He provided nursing care for the children of mothers who worked in the stores.”

That man was Barry Goldwater, a businessman before he entered politics. It’s incredible how far we have deviated from even the most conservative understanding of social responsibility. For a generation now Goldwater’s children have done everything they could to destroy the social compact between workers and employers, and to discredit, defame, and even destroy anyone who said their course was wrong. Principled conservatism was turned into an ideological caricature whose cardinal tenet was of taxation as a form of theft, or, as the libertarian icon Robert Nozick called it, “force labor.” What has happened to us that such anti-democratic ideas could become a governing theory?

George Bush, the cutup (I mean cutout)

I find this video disturbing and am hesitant to put it here. So I'll give you a link to YouTube. Oh, it isn't violent or pornographic. It just makes me feel uneasy. Especially, following Mr. Gingrich's version of One Nation Under God. It reminds me of other times and other countries.

The YouTube description, in part:

Children directed to talk to a cardboard cutout of George W. Bush and asked to pray for him. Kids touch the picture of the president and then yell, "One Nation Under God."

Newt Gingrich's Nation Under God

Yesterday, Fox News channel presented a special titled, One Nation Under God: Religion and History in Washington, D.C. It was hosted by Newt Gingrich, and poses the question, "Why are classrooms, courtrooms and even our government fighting to force God out of public life?"


Melissa Rogers suggests that quite the opposite has occurred, and in June 2004, she testified before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing, "Beyond the Pledge of Allegiance: hostility to religious expression in the public square". In her testimony she said that she believes,

"...religion can and should play a vital role in American public life...."

She adds that she also believes,

"...that the constitutional prohibition on governmental establishment of religion plays an equally important role in protecting religious freedom".

This is a link to that testimony.

From Ms. Rogers bio at her website, Melissa Rogers,Thoughts on and news about religion's intersection with public affairs

Rogers earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was a member of the National Moot Court Team and a legal writing instructor. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Baylor University.

Melissa Rogers currently serves as visiting professor of religion and public policy at Wake Forest University Divinity School. She is the founder and director of Wake Forest’s Center for Religion and Public Affairs.

Rogers has appeared on numerous radio and television broadcasts, including NBC Nightly News, CNN, Court TV and NPR, and her opinion-editorials have been published in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Fort-Worth Star Telegram, Legal Times, Religion News Service and other publications.

Rogers earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was a member of the National Moot Court Team and a legal writing instructor. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Baylor University.

Eric Kleefeld at TPM Cafe has the video promo for the special produced by Fox.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham's reaction to Virgil Goode's comments

Transcript of remarks made by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham this morning on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me turn to a domestic issue, Senator Graham. A Republican congressman from Virginia this week, Virgil Goode of Virginia, raised a lot of controversy with a letter he wrote in response to the idea that the newly elected Democrat from Minnesota, Keith Ellison, the first Muslim in Congress, was going to take the oath, the ceremonial oath, on the Koran.

He wrote to his constituents saying -- "If American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran."

Now, Democrats have risen up and said that Republicans ought to denounce Congressman Goode. Do you find anything wrong with what he said, and will you denounce him?

GRAHAM: I don't think that's the appropriate line for a congressman to take when it comes time for another congressman to take the oath. Why would you swear allegiance to a document outside your faith? In our legal system, people can take the oath in a variety of ways.

Religious diversity is a strength, not a weakness in this country.

We need immigration reform, but not for the reasons that Mr. Goode cited. What would happen in this country if a Christian were elected in Lebanon and he had to swear allegiance to the Koran when it came time for them to take office? There would be an outcry in this country.

So I embrace religious diversity. I welcome this new member of Congress. I'm glad he's swearing allegiance to a document that is consistent with his faith.

And what I would like America to do in 2007 is understand that the war on terror is about intolerance, that Syria is a dictatorship that has no interest in seeing a representative democracy in Iraq, that Iran, the president of Iran hosted a conference denying the Holocaust in December 2006, has avowed to destroy the state of Israel. We don't need to be talking to these people. We need to be standing up to their agendas and bringing them in line with the world, a world of tolerance. And Iran and Syria are not tolerant states, and the statements by Virgil Goode do not represent the best of who we are as a nation.

Wiccans want recognition as a nature-based religion

Selena Fox, a Wiccan priestess and founder of Circle Sanctuary, sits alongside the buried remains of a Korean War soldier near Barneveld, Wis. She and others sued the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs over its ban on graveside pentacles at national cemeteries.

ANDY MANIS: AP

VA faces lawsuit over its refusal to place the pentacle on veterans' graves.

Houston Chronicle, December 24