Now this is what I call mixing up the Kool-Aid and serving it Ice Cold!!!! Drink it deep boys and girls....drink it deep.
ksl.com - Have You Seen This? You can now buy the manliest of all boats
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Borrowed some things I found tonight on the news
ksl.com - Serious MomSense: How to win cool points at age 14
I really hope that my kids can grow up like this.
I really hope that my kids can grow up like this.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Sipping the Kool-Aid
Rhetoric...it's EVERYWHERE!!!! People will tell you that product X is good for you and has magical powers. Then you are told that if you use product X you will get cancer and die and so will your pet. Politicians use it all the time and call it a platform. This is how they convey the message of what they will "do for you" if you elect them to office. Some days the rhetoric is actually right (rare occasions for sure), most days it's not and sometimes, well, it really just doesn't mean a thing.
I have been offered my share of rhetoric and usually I don't swallow it. I might taste it for flavor and then spit it back out because, honestly, I am just stubborn like that. If you walk up and try to sell me something and you keep going on about how awesome it is and how the glow from it lights the streets of heaven then I hope you have your running shoes on because I am just gonna keep on walking. I really don't like it when (here's a hint for you political types) the only selling points you have is how the other choice sucks. Really? Is that the best thing you can give me, about how because something about the other choice is different from your choice that it is wrong? All you can do is to try and get me upset about the other choice by pointing out it's flaws? Any of you out there who shoot have run into this at least once about how all other makes of firearms suck as compared to (insert your flavor here). Normally, as I have said, I am not one to buy the hype. Actually, it makes me question and dig deeper to see what is really going on. That being said....
I have always thought that American racing cars, sports cars were right up there in the top of the class for driving machines. Well, I have been sipping some kool-aid thanks to the fine gentlemen at Top Gear (BBC) and found myself in an amusing position the other day. I was looking at shots of the newest offering from one of the automotive giants when I found myself thinking that something was wrong with the car. It finally dawned on me that I was drinking a lot of the Kool-aid about the superiority of European sports cars when I realized that the problem with the picture was the steering wheel was on the wrong side (left vs. right) of the cabin. Que laughter and head shaking.
I have been offered my share of rhetoric and usually I don't swallow it. I might taste it for flavor and then spit it back out because, honestly, I am just stubborn like that. If you walk up and try to sell me something and you keep going on about how awesome it is and how the glow from it lights the streets of heaven then I hope you have your running shoes on because I am just gonna keep on walking. I really don't like it when (here's a hint for you political types) the only selling points you have is how the other choice sucks. Really? Is that the best thing you can give me, about how because something about the other choice is different from your choice that it is wrong? All you can do is to try and get me upset about the other choice by pointing out it's flaws? Any of you out there who shoot have run into this at least once about how all other makes of firearms suck as compared to (insert your flavor here). Normally, as I have said, I am not one to buy the hype. Actually, it makes me question and dig deeper to see what is really going on. That being said....
I have always thought that American racing cars, sports cars were right up there in the top of the class for driving machines. Well, I have been sipping some kool-aid thanks to the fine gentlemen at Top Gear (BBC) and found myself in an amusing position the other day. I was looking at shots of the newest offering from one of the automotive giants when I found myself thinking that something was wrong with the car. It finally dawned on me that I was drinking a lot of the Kool-aid about the superiority of European sports cars when I realized that the problem with the picture was the steering wheel was on the wrong side (left vs. right) of the cabin. Que laughter and head shaking.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Red, White and Blue
It's funny you know, how you can fall in love with something before you even know what itis. I don't remember when it happened, but I know it did. Two primaries and a neutral. They became the basis of my favorite colors.
Later on I learned if the symbolism of those colors. The one that stands out to me is the one which has become my favorite color, blue. Not just any blue mind you, but the deep clear blue of the sky. That field of blue on our nations symbol that represents the unity that the Founding Fathers hoped would flourish, that is the blue I love. That field of blue, sprinkled with stars of white is a beautiful thing to me. It has inspired me to look up. To look beyond the here and now to see what might be. I love this land. I love this country, flawed though it may be.
Later on I learned if the symbolism of those colors. The one that stands out to me is the one which has become my favorite color, blue. Not just any blue mind you, but the deep clear blue of the sky. That field of blue on our nations symbol that represents the unity that the Founding Fathers hoped would flourish, that is the blue I love. That field of blue, sprinkled with stars of white is a beautiful thing to me. It has inspired me to look up. To look beyond the here and now to see what might be. I love this land. I love this country, flawed though it may be.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
My Country, please come back to me
Well, here we are again. The celebration of our nation's independence is upon us again. I have been reading in different news outlets about activities of government and citizenry that have caused me to wonder about how I feel about this country.
As far back as I can remember I have always loved this country. I have loved being a citizen of the United States of America. I have always cherished the beautiful Red, White and Blue of our flag and always been angered and saddened when seeing it desecrated or mishandled. The America I fell in love with from childhood was an America were things were not always fair. If you wanted to be a success then you had to work for it (assuming you had any sense of honor) and work hard. If you didn't like something, you could voice you mind over it. This didn't mean that the thing you didn't like would change but you could voice your opinion about it anyway. In the USA that I grew up in, people generally treated each other with honesty and they understood that the family was the core of how things worked. The family had to be strong, with Dad and Mom there raising the children, teaching them right from wrong, helping to keep the unity of the home. The country that I grew up had most folks going to church to worship the Almighty God in some way, remembering His commandments on how to be better people and giving a small restoration of a sense of order and balance in the universe.
The world I live in now...that my children will grow up in...saddens me because it has lost it's gleam and sparkle. The shine has become tarnished and too much wear is showing through the cracks. The unity that I once was felt in this nation is strained to the point of breaking and has begun to crumble. Many of the old touchstones have become reviled and ridiculed as being irrelevant and out of date. Honesty in the government is a joke. Faith in God above has dwindled and become ridiculed by those who are using their powerful access in the media to shame those who are firm believers. The family has been rendered impotent by those who are not willing to shoulder the responsibilities of parenthood that they took upon themselves and instead have demanded that the government and society at large be held accountable for the raising of their children. Those who wish to control every aspect of my life have even worked hard at trying to redefine basic rights that the men who founded this nation felt were beyond contestation, thus taking away those basic rights or altering them to suit their purposes only.
In some small ways I have lately found myself a little envious of persons living in other nations. Please do not misunderstand me and think that I love my country any less. It is more that in living in those countries, they have never had some of the rights and freedoms that I have had here. In so doing, they also have never had to watch those same rights and freedoms get slowly eroded and destroyed by the very same people that are protected by those very same freedoms.
In my family there is a strong heritage of defending this country and it's freedoms. I know that Freedom is never free and that the cost is always one paid in blood. The cost of bondage is cheap and is paid in gold and coins. I pray for my children, that they will not have to learn first hand the cost of Freedom. I pray for my family, those in service now and those who have served, that God will watch over them and bless them for their service. I pray for my community, that the good men among them will take up the public service call and act as leaders for a short period before laying down that mantle and try to restore the honor and integrity of our land. I pray for my Nation, that we might find a remembrance of the things which matter most before they are taken away and destroyed.
As far back as I can remember I have always loved this country. I have loved being a citizen of the United States of America. I have always cherished the beautiful Red, White and Blue of our flag and always been angered and saddened when seeing it desecrated or mishandled. The America I fell in love with from childhood was an America were things were not always fair. If you wanted to be a success then you had to work for it (assuming you had any sense of honor) and work hard. If you didn't like something, you could voice you mind over it. This didn't mean that the thing you didn't like would change but you could voice your opinion about it anyway. In the USA that I grew up in, people generally treated each other with honesty and they understood that the family was the core of how things worked. The family had to be strong, with Dad and Mom there raising the children, teaching them right from wrong, helping to keep the unity of the home. The country that I grew up had most folks going to church to worship the Almighty God in some way, remembering His commandments on how to be better people and giving a small restoration of a sense of order and balance in the universe.
The world I live in now...that my children will grow up in...saddens me because it has lost it's gleam and sparkle. The shine has become tarnished and too much wear is showing through the cracks. The unity that I once was felt in this nation is strained to the point of breaking and has begun to crumble. Many of the old touchstones have become reviled and ridiculed as being irrelevant and out of date. Honesty in the government is a joke. Faith in God above has dwindled and become ridiculed by those who are using their powerful access in the media to shame those who are firm believers. The family has been rendered impotent by those who are not willing to shoulder the responsibilities of parenthood that they took upon themselves and instead have demanded that the government and society at large be held accountable for the raising of their children. Those who wish to control every aspect of my life have even worked hard at trying to redefine basic rights that the men who founded this nation felt were beyond contestation, thus taking away those basic rights or altering them to suit their purposes only.
In some small ways I have lately found myself a little envious of persons living in other nations. Please do not misunderstand me and think that I love my country any less. It is more that in living in those countries, they have never had some of the rights and freedoms that I have had here. In so doing, they also have never had to watch those same rights and freedoms get slowly eroded and destroyed by the very same people that are protected by those very same freedoms.
In my family there is a strong heritage of defending this country and it's freedoms. I know that Freedom is never free and that the cost is always one paid in blood. The cost of bondage is cheap and is paid in gold and coins. I pray for my children, that they will not have to learn first hand the cost of Freedom. I pray for my family, those in service now and those who have served, that God will watch over them and bless them for their service. I pray for my community, that the good men among them will take up the public service call and act as leaders for a short period before laying down that mantle and try to restore the honor and integrity of our land. I pray for my Nation, that we might find a remembrance of the things which matter most before they are taken away and destroyed.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Maelstrom
The start is benign enough, some small movement on the surface. The movement coalesces into a depression which quickly opens up into the full vortex. It is possible to ride out a maelstrom by altering course to go around to whirlpool. It is even possible to skirt the edge of the terror and ride the outer edges of the swirl, but this is a fools path, taken by gamblers or those who already find themselves trapped inside the gripping terror and are attempting to escape. The most likely result of this risk taking is utter doom and failure as your path curves round in on itself until you sink into the abysmal darkness of the bitter end.
Now, the question is, how many times can you encounter a maelstrom and still survive?
Now, the question is, how many times can you encounter a maelstrom and still survive?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)