There are three quick announcements I wanted to make: Hi Isa! One successful week without an alarm clock! I'm working at a craftshow near Indiana this coming week!
In other exciting, though not so quickly said, announcements - the west coast family reunion is a little more than three weeks away! I'm flying out a bit early so I can visit Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jerry, and also get my teeth checked and cleaned and possibly whitened in Mexico. I'm not really sure of the schedule after I travel down. I'll spend two or three days in Yuma and then the three of us will drive straight to the timeshares in California where we're having the reunion.
I'm really looking forward to seeing all the cousins!
My nephew is nearby for the weekend and I'm going to see if he wants to wash the car this afternoon. It's a do-it-yourself spraying and I think he'll enjoy that.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Game Guru
I'm trying to figure out what a good job title would be. Gamemaster has too much history behind it. Software Developer is too plain. Game Guru is a bit on the recreational side. "L33t Gamecoder"? "Universe Manipulator"? "Instancer of Reality"?
I'm working with a start-up company "Nothing is Impossible Studio". I'm the main programmer for the game engine that we're working with. Just trying to figure out how to use the features available take about 95% of the work day. One other programmer is working, and he is developing some of the logic of the creation system. Two writers and John are the only other employees.
The company seems to be very dynamic and has a definite goal in mind. I have high hopes for a booming business!
In other news, perhaps the more important news, is the tapes I've been listening to and the encouragement I get from them. Andrew Wommack seems to have a definite blessing on him and I find encouragement and new insight on every sermon/teaching I listen to. What Andrew Wommack presents is not that earth shattering - it is all the basics of Christianity, but he covers topics that pastors don't preach on (at least in the churches I've gone to), and the conclusions he draws and how they should be affecting our walk in life are earthshaking.
One of the points that Andrew Wommack pushes a lot is that studying and searching out the Bible is not just a nice thing to do, but a necessity. It's encouraged me to read the Bible a lot more. A lot of my Bible reading is going over chapters and books that are mentioned in sermons, because I've read the same passages that are used to 'prove' a point, but I completely missed the conclusions that Andrew Wommack draws. I can't wait until I start seeing new insights on my own. It's exciting!
I'm working with a start-up company "Nothing is Impossible Studio". I'm the main programmer for the game engine that we're working with. Just trying to figure out how to use the features available take about 95% of the work day. One other programmer is working, and he is developing some of the logic of the creation system. Two writers and John are the only other employees.
The company seems to be very dynamic and has a definite goal in mind. I have high hopes for a booming business!
In other news, perhaps the more important news, is the tapes I've been listening to and the encouragement I get from them. Andrew Wommack seems to have a definite blessing on him and I find encouragement and new insight on every sermon/teaching I listen to. What Andrew Wommack presents is not that earth shattering - it is all the basics of Christianity, but he covers topics that pastors don't preach on (at least in the churches I've gone to), and the conclusions he draws and how they should be affecting our walk in life are earthshaking.
One of the points that Andrew Wommack pushes a lot is that studying and searching out the Bible is not just a nice thing to do, but a necessity. It's encouraged me to read the Bible a lot more. A lot of my Bible reading is going over chapters and books that are mentioned in sermons, because I've read the same passages that are used to 'prove' a point, but I completely missed the conclusions that Andrew Wommack draws. I can't wait until I start seeing new insights on my own. It's exciting!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Living in Virginia
I have moved to Virginia, near where my brother bought his new townhouse. I am currently looking for a job - a few interviews so far. Family is visiting periodically. My mom is currently here for another week or so. My room is comfortable and larger than my Florida bedroom so I can put up shelves, an entertainment stand, computer, bed and still have room for my moms bags and projects when she comes down.
Well, that's enough with where I live. Mom is going to be helping me with taxes today. She encouraged me to apply at some local stores yesterday. Tomorrow will probably involve a few more applications, although I keep thinking that the best path available to me would be to start my own business. The only problem is that my business-starting-creativity is a little lacking so I'm a bit short on ideas. Oh well. That never stopped me before. :-)
On a completely different topic, I was reading some basic literature on mass, weight, and the speed of light and had a question for anyone who might read this post. As an object's speed reaches the speed of light relative to another observer, the object's mass (let us say the object is a space ship) increases. A big problem with acceleration at near-light speeds is that the acceleration provided by rocket fuels is not related to mass. Nuclear powered acceleration IS related to mass though. My question on e=mc^2, does the mass in that equation equal the intrinsic 'prime mass' of an object at rest relative to another object, or does the mass equal the updated mass at the near-light speeds?
If we were to chain a nuclear reactor to an stationary object accelerate a nuclear reactor to near light speeds as it circled... let us say the new mass is 1000 times what it would be at rest. If we manage to pipe the output energy from the nuclear reactor into our power grids, do we have a 1000 times more energy than the NR produces at rest? As a thought experiment - what do you think the result would be?
Well, that's enough with where I live. Mom is going to be helping me with taxes today. She encouraged me to apply at some local stores yesterday. Tomorrow will probably involve a few more applications, although I keep thinking that the best path available to me would be to start my own business. The only problem is that my business-starting-creativity is a little lacking so I'm a bit short on ideas. Oh well. That never stopped me before. :-)
On a completely different topic, I was reading some basic literature on mass, weight, and the speed of light and had a question for anyone who might read this post. As an object's speed reaches the speed of light relative to another observer, the object's mass (let us say the object is a space ship) increases. A big problem with acceleration at near-light speeds is that the acceleration provided by rocket fuels is not related to mass. Nuclear powered acceleration IS related to mass though. My question on e=mc^2, does the mass in that equation equal the intrinsic 'prime mass' of an object at rest relative to another object, or does the mass equal the updated mass at the near-light speeds?
If we were to chain a nuclear reactor to an stationary object accelerate a nuclear reactor to near light speeds as it circled... let us say the new mass is 1000 times what it would be at rest. If we manage to pipe the output energy from the nuclear reactor into our power grids, do we have a 1000 times more energy than the NR produces at rest? As a thought experiment - what do you think the result would be?
Sunday, December 07, 2008
New Hairdo
To celebrate a new job/I was asked to cut it, I place the fate of my hair and head into the capable hands of my lovely sister Katie - who did a wonderful job. Since my lovely sister Margaret didn't get a chance to see my before and after pictures, I put a few of them up to show her what the new hairdo looks like.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Pleasant Weekend
I had a very pleasant Thursday at GCC. I had gone there in the afternoon for a speech at the president and a professor were giving on the future of American politics after this recent election. When I signed up, I hadn't recognized the location the meeting was being held, the "Founder's Room". The first thing that I did when I arrived was to go to the security office and have them point me in the right direction. Turns out that the meeting was being held in Pittsburgh and not at the college, so I hung around until Orchesis that evening and visited with some old students that still attended the college.
It was fun seeing old friends. If I had went to visit, I would have arrived earlier in the morning than I did. Later afternoon, midweek, was not a very good time to see old commuters; they usually leave directly after classes. Even with the poor timing I managed to see Brittney (!who is now engaged to Daniel!), Rebecca, Theresa (just passed by), Dr. Jones, Will (Whoo!), and Andrew (with a beard now).
Just as much fun was the speech tournament held in Franklin on Saturday. Just as college was a "blast from the past" (as said by Jacqueline), the tournament was a great time to re-connect. I saw a lot of faces that are still competing, one of the old competitors that is now married since May (congrats!), and several of my mom's friends that I keep in touch with through my mom. :-)
One more week and we'll be seeing the Romines in Ohio. Lots of fun again!
It was fun seeing old friends. If I had went to visit, I would have arrived earlier in the morning than I did. Later afternoon, midweek, was not a very good time to see old commuters; they usually leave directly after classes. Even with the poor timing I managed to see Brittney (!who is now engaged to Daniel!), Rebecca, Theresa (just passed by), Dr. Jones, Will (Whoo!), and Andrew (with a beard now).
Just as much fun was the speech tournament held in Franklin on Saturday. Just as college was a "blast from the past" (as said by Jacqueline), the tournament was a great time to re-connect. I saw a lot of faces that are still competing, one of the old competitors that is now married since May (congrats!), and several of my mom's friends that I keep in touch with through my mom. :-)
One more week and we'll be seeing the Romines in Ohio. Lots of fun again!
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Ahhh....
Today was an average day lately. I got up around 8:00, ate, read the newspaper, sat, put away cloths, made my bed... etc. Since the craft shows have been down, I haven't been doing much of anything. The most exciting things I did today was moving our flatscreen TV into the position of prominence and putting the old TV where it would be available for Dad to cart into the shop for use or parts.
I have my resume all polished and updated. I had lost my virtual and hardcopy versions of my last resume so I had to restart and put it together. (Actually, I salvaged an old copy of Jesse's I had saved, so I didn't quite start from zero)
That's enough for tonight. Margaret, Mom and I ran the dogs this evening and I'm looking forward to a good night's rest.
I have my resume all polished and updated. I had lost my virtual and hardcopy versions of my last resume so I had to restart and put it together. (Actually, I salvaged an old copy of Jesse's I had saved, so I didn't quite start from zero)
That's enough for tonight. Margaret, Mom and I ran the dogs this evening and I'm looking forward to a good night's rest.
Friday, August 29, 2008
I'm Home
After a long and grueling drive, I arrived at my parents house at 7:30 AM. I had very little hope of surprising them since the dogs bark whenever a strange car drives up to the house. Our lovely dog Cody did bark, but not much, and apparently my mom assumed Cody was barking at something random in the yard. I came into the house very quietly and said hi to my OLD sis at the computer and we both went into Mom's room. She heard us coming and did a double take when she saw me. Mission accomplished!
This is just a short post put up in a hurry. I'm going to be busy for the next month or so, but I hope to find time to share some of the sites I saw along the day. Ooops. Mom and Jesse needs use of the computer. I'll see ya'll later!
This is just a short post put up in a hurry. I'm going to be busy for the next month or so, but I hope to find time to share some of the sites I saw along the day. Ooops. Mom and Jesse needs use of the computer. I'll see ya'll later!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
David's Second Day of Traveling
We last left David starting into Nashville, TN last night. When he called this morning, he seemed to have a very strong impression of the center for country music - loud, live musicians. There was approx 6 square blocks of drinking bars that were full of people listening to live musicians. There couldn't have been much talking going on because the music was so loud even out on the sidewalks! He left there about 10:30 at night and drove on to a restful night at his wigwam. :^) Next morning he was ready for spelunking at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. For the long 6 hour tour he needed different shoes and clothing than he was wearing so he took a somewhat shorter but enjoyable tour. His impression of Mammoth Cave was - big! Abraham Lincoln was his nest stop - birthplace that is. He enjoyed this piece of history, especially the Lincoln Memorial. There was not a lot of documentation available here, something on which the Helen Keller museum had been strong. Driving through Elizabethtown was the next stop and this appeared to be a small version of a typical midwast town. Finding a night's stopping place in West Virginia is the next hurdle at which we left him. He ate Subway once yesterday and once today, but has otherwise subsisted on a box of miscellaneous snacks - a thoughtful gift from Florida friends.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
David's 1st day and night of traveling
Hello! This is Margaret, my baby brother, David's, OLDer sister. I was asked to write a short story about his first day (Monday) being on the road. He had a great time driving around and sightseeing the places he stopped at along the way. At the end of the day, he decided to spend the night in the parking lot of a church and sleep in his car. What he didn't know was the church had recently been burglarized, so people driving by were watching the church for any suspicious activity. Now enter David. (SCREAMING SIRENS) Hours later, before he realized what was happening, he was rousted out by police with a few police lights around David's car. The police told David (through the police car's horn) to get out of the car immediately. They patted him down while he stood with palms on the car and fired some questions at him. Still heavy with sleep, he answered the question about his social security numbers WRONG TWICE!!! Gasp! He was about to be arrested. WAIT!!! On his third try, he gave the police the correct SSN. WHEW!!! It did not help that his car was full of stuff. The police did not know if these were things he had just removed from the church. Eventually they decided he was okay and told him to keep driving. All the fuss because of a person's wild imagination when he or she saw David and his car full of stuff in the parking lot and thought he was stealing stuff from the church. So the person called the police on my poooorrr baby brother. What is the sad part is that I was not there to bask in the excitment. Hopefully I get to have my turn someday. :) David was in Montgomery, Alabama this morning ready to see more sights. As of 9:00 PM Tues, he was just parking in Nashville, Tenn, ready to see some new sights. He has reservations for the night at a motel where the rooms are a big teepee or wigwam. We will find out tomorrow morning about Nashville and the wigwam.
Monday, August 25, 2008
My trip - edited as I travel.
Google Map of the path I take.
edit: 8:36AM August 25th: last blog before I leave. Should be off in 10. Wish me luck!
For those new to my wonderful world of blogging, welcome to my wonderful and wild blog. I'm hoping I get a few new readers while I'm on my trip home. Mostly because I'll tell people to check. :-P
I've finally opted to just do this post myself and I'm going to give the job of updating this list to my super-great-sister. Well, they both are, but my OLDer sister will be the one helping me out.
Alabama Shakespeare festival - unfortunately, the appearances that are put on ended the 22nd during my recheck Sunday night, so I think I'll be passing that by. It's not too far out of the way. so I may hit it yet.
First White House of the Confederacy - Montgomery Alabama - Jefferson Davis first residence as President of the Confederacy.
Unfortunately, I can't see any more of Alabama without adding a few hundred more miles to my trip home, so I'll hit other sites along my route that have more sites to see. Onto Tennessee!
First stop - Chatanooga. Why? Because it sounds cool. :-)
The next stop in Tennessee is Nashville, home of Country music. I'm going to see how I feel when I roll through this little burg. There is a lot to see in Kentucky, so I may just pick one or two quick sites to see and then roll on. I'll let ya'll know!
Unfortunately, we've had an all too short trip through Tennissee, but we'll make up for it in... tum tum tum.... Kentucky!
First stop Mammoth Cave. I'm planning a full day stop here. Apparently one of the trips into the cave can lasts a full working day - WOOT - 150 foot ceilings - 200 foot long caverns - I'll bring extra batteries and film.
Hodgenville is home of the Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln and civil war memorabilia reside in this lovely area along with other random historical memorabilia.
North another 2 or three miles and I'll hit Elizabethtown. What are the big attractions there? Not much. It bills itself as a traditional town with residents such as Abraham lincoln and his father, and tours with authentically garbed guides. Mostly, I just like the movie with the same name, so I'll stop by so I can satisfy my own personal quirk that has driven me to visit this town.
My travel book has a few other places I might hit such as Maysville with the National Underground Railroad Museum and the Cumberland gap, the Tuskeegee institute. Mostly, I'm just going to see what comes up along the way and plan the side trips according to my time schedule. I have educational CDs on Swing and Jazz, Japanese language CDs, Korean language CDs, and all the sermons and audio books on my computer, merely one download-to-a-personal-listening-device away. I have lots to occupy my brain, family to be inquisitive, friends to be updated. It will be a relaxing trip. Not quite as relaxing as canoeing in Canada for a week - nothing has EVER been that relaxing, but close.
edit: 8:36AM August 25th: last blog before I leave. Should be off in 10. Wish me luck!
For those new to my wonderful world of blogging, welcome to my wonderful and wild blog. I'm hoping I get a few new readers while I'm on my trip home. Mostly because I'll tell people to check. :-P
I've finally opted to just do this post myself and I'm going to give the job of updating this list to my super-great-sister. Well, they both are, but my OLDer sister will be the one helping me out.
Alabama Shakespeare festival - unfortunately, the appearances that are put on ended the 22nd during my recheck Sunday night, so I think I'll be passing that by. It's not too far out of the way. so I may hit it yet.
First White House of the Confederacy - Montgomery Alabama - Jefferson Davis first residence as President of the Confederacy.
Unfortunately, I can't see any more of Alabama without adding a few hundred more miles to my trip home, so I'll hit other sites along my route that have more sites to see. Onto Tennessee!
First stop - Chatanooga. Why? Because it sounds cool. :-)
The next stop in Tennessee is Nashville, home of Country music. I'm going to see how I feel when I roll through this little burg. There is a lot to see in Kentucky, so I may just pick one or two quick sites to see and then roll on. I'll let ya'll know!
Unfortunately, we've had an all too short trip through Tennissee, but we'll make up for it in... tum tum tum.... Kentucky!
First stop Mammoth Cave. I'm planning a full day stop here. Apparently one of the trips into the cave can lasts a full working day - WOOT - 150 foot ceilings - 200 foot long caverns - I'll bring extra batteries and film.
Hodgenville is home of the Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln and civil war memorabilia reside in this lovely area along with other random historical memorabilia.
North another 2 or three miles and I'll hit Elizabethtown. What are the big attractions there? Not much. It bills itself as a traditional town with residents such as Abraham lincoln and his father, and tours with authentically garbed guides. Mostly, I just like the movie with the same name, so I'll stop by so I can satisfy my own personal quirk that has driven me to visit this town.
My travel book has a few other places I might hit such as Maysville with the National Underground Railroad Museum and the Cumberland gap, the Tuskeegee institute. Mostly, I'm just going to see what comes up along the way and plan the side trips according to my time schedule. I have educational CDs on Swing and Jazz, Japanese language CDs, Korean language CDs, and all the sermons and audio books on my computer, merely one download-to-a-personal-listening-device away. I have lots to occupy my brain, family to be inquisitive, friends to be updated. It will be a relaxing trip. Not quite as relaxing as canoeing in Canada for a week - nothing has EVER been that relaxing, but close.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Welcome Wyatt!
I would like to announce that my sister has birthed a lovely baby called.... drumroll please.... Wyatt! He is Seven pounds 7 ounces and very healthy. After Katie arrived at the hospital, it was only a two hour wait for the grand arrival. My mom said Kate is doing fine and that she (my mom) will keep me updated.
Friday, August 08, 2008
Key Largo Trip Pictures
No underwater pictures will be posted yet - not that I'm in that big of a hurry to get them up. The pictures don't do the fish and coral any justice.
First picture is one of my lovely sister's shoulder... and Christina! I snapped this while I was home during the end of July
We went through some rain but there were some beautiful clouds before the rain hit.
A friend of my scuba partner met us for dinner.
Uhg... horrors that was the motel room the first night. At least the water worked and flowed quite strongly.
The Marriott had a much better room.
Half the skyline of Miami. The towers are quite spread out, so you go about 10 miles before you skyscrapers aren't nearby. Most of the skyscrapers on the shore are motels.
A picture looking down from 19 stories up. Our motel room had a lovely view. In fact, the horizontal space by the shore is so expensive, that the swimming pool, jacuzi, bar, workout rooms, were all on top of the fifth story. The camera lens got something smudged on the lens so all my morning short have a haze in the middle.
The church roof the workers are on is around five stories up.... way down there. :-)
First picture is one of my lovely sister's shoulder... and Christina! I snapped this while I was home during the end of July
We went through some rain but there were some beautiful clouds before the rain hit.
A friend of my scuba partner met us for dinner.
Uhg... horrors that was the motel room the first night. At least the water worked and flowed quite strongly.
The Marriott had a much better room.
Half the skyline of Miami. The towers are quite spread out, so you go about 10 miles before you skyscrapers aren't nearby. Most of the skyscrapers on the shore are motels.
A picture looking down from 19 stories up. Our motel room had a lovely view. In fact, the horizontal space by the shore is so expensive, that the swimming pool, jacuzi, bar, workout rooms, were all on top of the fifth story. The camera lens got something smudged on the lens so all my morning short have a haze in the middle.
The church roof the workers are on is around five stories up.... way down there. :-)
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Priceless
It is the most beautifully accurate list of game laws in the world: http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html
For other fun reading, go to the Evil Overlords lists of do's and don'ts.
For other fun reading, go to the Evil Overlords lists of do's and don'ts.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Thanks Bro
I don't think I ever said thank you for the external hard drive you got me. It has been a lifesaver. I keep all my valuable pictures and memorabilia from the very beginning of college to now. The files could do with a good cleanup, but saving them in the first place was most important. I have 5 gigs just in college pictures alone.
Mom and Dad just finished with Twin Lakes. They said it was a pretty good year. Ryan, Katie and Margaret arrived for Saturday and Sunday. Margaret brought one of her calmest Siberians and people LOVED the dog. She got an offer for $1000 to buy they young dog, but my sis didn't want to sell to a person who wanted to buy it today on a whim and perhaps give it to a pound tomorrow on a different whim.
From what I hear, Ryan did a lot of demonstrating while Katie and Mom sold. Margaret and the rest of the clan traded off on watching Kristina. I hope they all arrived home safely.
On a final note: If while walking through the woods you see all the animals running in the same direction - follow them.
Mom and Dad just finished with Twin Lakes. They said it was a pretty good year. Ryan, Katie and Margaret arrived for Saturday and Sunday. Margaret brought one of her calmest Siberians and people LOVED the dog. She got an offer for $1000 to buy they young dog, but my sis didn't want to sell to a person who wanted to buy it today on a whim and perhaps give it to a pound tomorrow on a different whim.
From what I hear, Ryan did a lot of demonstrating while Katie and Mom sold. Margaret and the rest of the clan traded off on watching Kristina. I hope they all arrived home safely.
On a final note: If while walking through the woods you see all the animals running in the same direction - follow them.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Hancock
After seeing a lot of negative reviews on Hancock, I wasn't really sure I wanted to see the movie. After all, superhero movies are usually fun because they are action packed, somewhat lighthearted, and pit the forces of good against evil in a final pitched battle.
After seeing Hancock, I can confirm that the movie switches tone quite a bit from the beginning to the end. It starts out somewhat lighthearted and ends on a serious note, there is no major physical fight between good and evil, and there isn't as much action as one suspects from a superhero movie. Hancock is a study of a mostly nice but grumpy immortal that has no memory who is alone on the earth and despised because no one appreciates him for what he does (mostly because he tends to break stuff while half drunk because he's lonely.)
I won't give away any major plot points, although it wouldn't matter if I did because my family loves spoilers! Suffice it to say that it is an OK movie, and if they would just take out all the swearing I would give a 6 out of 10 and probably suggest people see it.
One reviewer whose revew I read must have been quite high while watching the movie. All the blatant errors and unconnected events he mentioned were explained in conversations and conclusions one could/should draw from statements made. I doubt he'll read my blog, but if he does: they call it plot developments and you have to pay attention to the conversation to follow along.
After seeing Hancock, I can confirm that the movie switches tone quite a bit from the beginning to the end. It starts out somewhat lighthearted and ends on a serious note, there is no major physical fight between good and evil, and there isn't as much action as one suspects from a superhero movie. Hancock is a study of a mostly nice but grumpy immortal that has no memory who is alone on the earth and despised because no one appreciates him for what he does (mostly because he tends to break stuff while half drunk because he's lonely.)
I won't give away any major plot points, although it wouldn't matter if I did because my family loves spoilers! Suffice it to say that it is an OK movie, and if they would just take out all the swearing I would give a 6 out of 10 and probably suggest people see it.
One reviewer whose revew I read must have been quite high while watching the movie. All the blatant errors and unconnected events he mentioned were explained in conversations and conclusions one could/should draw from statements made. I doubt he'll read my blog, but if he does: they call it plot developments and you have to pay attention to the conversation to follow along.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
I Held Boards for Breaking
I've done my first Tae Kwon Do test yesterday. I'll find out Thursday if I am no longer a white belt! It's pretty similar to Shotokan karate, but not quite a serious as when I and my brother trained in PA. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to get my white belt quite grungy. It wouldn't normally be a problem because I have no problem washing my belt, but because this school puts strips of tape as an indicator of skills you've passed, I can't wash without ruining their setup. But I must persevere just another four days and then I'll get a pretty new belt!
Over the last week, I've seen an abnormal number of ads for semi-interesting science fictions shows. Well, at this point, I've decided to share the wisdom found in viewing those shows.
1. If you walk alone and are not the hero, you will die... quickly... but not before screaming or firing a gun to alert others that there is a problem, but not giving enough information to be helpful.
2. If you walk in groups and hear a noise, there is a mysterious compulsion to break up into groups of two or three which then quickly break up into singles for mysterious reasons. The only exception are the heroes who !surprise! stay in a single group.
3. When a mythological, deadly creature, that can't open doors is wandering, no-one ever follows instructions to keep the door closed and locked; instead opening doors because... um... becau... hmm... apparently reason or emotion plays no role.
4. If you are a bad guy, and it's the end of the show, your reaction speed is slowed by somewhere between 520 to 565 percent.
5. Where do you hire security guards who are willing to kill at the request of the smallest evil peon? Do they ask on the hiring form? "Please check if you will kill without reason and sacrifice yourself to hide the boss's insecurity?"
6. If there is a line of walking, anonymous, walking bio hazard suits, the last person in the line wilw ALWAYS stop at the entrance of an alleyway and look the other direction while the hero/villain/dinosaur knocks him out without a sound.
7. Hands are not important. A small T-Rex can drop down out of a roof 2/3rds of it's body length and pull a person up into the roof within 2 seconds.... all while hanging by it's feet.
8. A minor hero can kill a monster in one shot to save the girl while two US black-ops members with full automatic weapons only make it retreat without any apparent wounds.
9. A king kong 300 feet tall can swat F-16's out of the air.
10. All scientists are really stupid. always. no exceptions. If the hero is a scientist, he is useful only because he is luck or he is bending the laws of physics.
Conclusions:
1. If my girlfriends starts growing hair as I watch, run.
2. Not remembering where I've been for over 12 hours ..repeatedly... is a matter for concern. I should mention it to a doctor instead of assuming it is an everyday occurrence.
3. If I'm on a wilderness trip, and all the guides have semi-automatic automatic guns, I can be pro-active and leave *before* getting stuck in whatever is going down. Optionally, it should be a law that I can be proactive by legally killing the guides. After all, the guides would have died anyway. :-D
4. A 15 foot cliff is NOT an absolute barrier, especially when I have rope and there are handholds all across the cliff face.
Over the last week, I've seen an abnormal number of ads for semi-interesting science fictions shows. Well, at this point, I've decided to share the wisdom found in viewing those shows.
1. If you walk alone and are not the hero, you will die... quickly... but not before screaming or firing a gun to alert others that there is a problem, but not giving enough information to be helpful.
2. If you walk in groups and hear a noise, there is a mysterious compulsion to break up into groups of two or three which then quickly break up into singles for mysterious reasons. The only exception are the heroes who !surprise! stay in a single group.
3. When a mythological, deadly creature, that can't open doors is wandering, no-one ever follows instructions to keep the door closed and locked; instead opening doors because... um... becau... hmm... apparently reason or emotion plays no role.
4. If you are a bad guy, and it's the end of the show, your reaction speed is slowed by somewhere between 520 to 565 percent.
5. Where do you hire security guards who are willing to kill at the request of the smallest evil peon? Do they ask on the hiring form? "Please check if you will kill without reason and sacrifice yourself to hide the boss's insecurity?"
6. If there is a line of walking, anonymous, walking bio hazard suits, the last person in the line wilw ALWAYS stop at the entrance of an alleyway and look the other direction while the hero/villain/dinosaur knocks him out without a sound.
7. Hands are not important. A small T-Rex can drop down out of a roof 2/3rds of it's body length and pull a person up into the roof within 2 seconds.... all while hanging by it's feet.
8. A minor hero can kill a monster in one shot to save the girl while two US black-ops members with full automatic weapons only make it retreat without any apparent wounds.
9. A king kong 300 feet tall can swat F-16's out of the air.
10. All scientists are really stupid. always. no exceptions. If the hero is a scientist, he is useful only because he is luck or he is bending the laws of physics.
Conclusions:
1. If my girlfriends starts growing hair as I watch, run.
2. Not remembering where I've been for over 12 hours ..repeatedly... is a matter for concern. I should mention it to a doctor instead of assuming it is an everyday occurrence.
3. If I'm on a wilderness trip, and all the guides have semi-automatic automatic guns, I can be pro-active and leave *before* getting stuck in whatever is going down. Optionally, it should be a law that I can be proactive by legally killing the guides. After all, the guides would have died anyway. :-D
4. A 15 foot cliff is NOT an absolute barrier, especially when I have rope and there are handholds all across the cliff face.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Vacation... Or Maybe Not?
Whoohoo! I'm going home for the third weekend of July. I'll be in PA for 5 days, taking it easy, being pampered by mom, eating delicious cold cereal, and sleeping until noon. Yeah.... not going to happen.
I am going home, but to help out Mom and Dad with a craft show over Saturday and Sunday. We'll probably be spending half the day Friday and Monday driving. Since we're going to be using a new vehicle to pull stuff, it may take a bit longer if we have any breakdowns. I think Craft shows are a great way to visit home. Sure there is a lot of work, long hours, and long drives, but the value helping out at home is definately worth the work, and for the long hours and long drives, there is a lot of time to catch up on what people are doing, discuss life plans, figure out Sudokus... you know, fun stuff.
I am going home, but to help out Mom and Dad with a craft show over Saturday and Sunday. We'll probably be spending half the day Friday and Monday driving. Since we're going to be using a new vehicle to pull stuff, it may take a bit longer if we have any breakdowns. I think Craft shows are a great way to visit home. Sure there is a lot of work, long hours, and long drives, but the value helping out at home is definately worth the work, and for the long hours and long drives, there is a lot of time to catch up on what people are doing, discuss life plans, figure out Sudokus... you know, fun stuff.
Monday, June 02, 2008
FLDS Final Post - probably
At this point, I'm not predicting any major challenges to the legal situation in Texas concerning the CPS. Judge Walther has rescinded her emergency order at the order of the Texas Supreme Court after the appeals court then supreme court of Texas found that CPS and Judge Walther had overstepped their respective authorities. As typical of such an order from a higher court, there were no details of how the order should be rescinded, so Judge Walther has ordered all the children to return if the FLDS clarified their age of marrying at 18, the parents agree to attend parenting classes, notice is to be given if the families travel more than 100 miles away from their home, and Texas CPS can have full access to homes for inspections. One young lady won't be returned because of "identified sexual abuse *edit(14 hours after orginal post): the CPS went ahead and agreed to release the final child* , but at this point all the other children are heading home. Everyone has agree to the terms.
Sadly, because of this rushed judgement in the first place, the children are now victims of known, undisputed, serious psychological scarring of taking kids away from their parents at a young age (which occurs even if the parents are innocent and the children are quickly returned); the tripled rate of future incarceration that comes from being in foster homes for any period of time; and likely sexual abuse that occurs in foster homes (such abuse is 4 times more likely in foster homes than in the general population... especially when the foster homes some of these kids have already been reprimanded because of KNOWN sexual abuse at the homes ). Uhg. Researching the effects of child welfare actions is a very sobering process. There are no "exemplar" states where Child Protective Services is concerned, which brings to my mind the idea that the very concept of CPS is broken.
It is wonderful that the children have finally been returned to the parents. All the newspaper articles are reporting that this is a good change. In fact, all the articles are reporting the exact same thing, just with the occasional word substitutions - what happened to original reporting? All the newspapers seem to act as one big marionette. Individual thought or independent analysis seems to be a foreign concept. Go ahead and try searching for "FLDS" in google news and organize by date. All the articles, which includes big newspapers like the USA Today, are nearly word perfect copies of each other. *edit: It took about 3 days before most of the articles started being original. The turnaround is vastly improved over when this started. After the first raid, it took almost 2 weeks for wide variation to occur*
There are still problems with the new situation and the problems are the same as before. Its the exact same problem that I brought up in the first post. The problem with the current situation, which probably won't be settled quickly, is the idea that the judge has any right to set conditions on the parents for getting their children back. The whole process of taking the children away was invalidated by the upper court, so why does the judge have the right to put conditions on giving the children back, especially when the parents are not charged with anything except for being under a general cloud of suspicion by the CPS? Judge Walther's new order is essentially what would happen if the CPS brought a suspicion of sexual abuse toward a specific individual before a court. If that is the way the state sets it up then so be it, but Judge Walther has set aside the standard legal steps that the Texas CPS must go through in order to gain the right to unlimited inspections. Judge Walther, in the interest of the children, has usurped the legal right of the parent and set aside the legislated restrictions on the CPS. It goes back to Judge Walther's apparent philosophy that the government can get involved on suspicion alone when child abuse is involved.... ah... here I go again.
I'll quit right here, since I would only start repeating previous points. My hope is that the massive expenditures by the CPS will bankrupt it for this year or next year, but government doesn't quite work like that. I hope this whole situation will lead to a re-examination of child protective services country wide, because as far as I can tell, it is a terrible system where the cure is worse than the bite.
And just to see if anyone reads these... The next few posts will be personal info posts (which I'm sure my mom will enjoy reading more), but no more posts will be posted until I get thought out comments from two separate people. replies to comments by myself will not count. :-)
Sadly, because of this rushed judgement in the first place, the children are now victims of known, undisputed, serious psychological scarring of taking kids away from their parents at a young age (which occurs even if the parents are innocent and the children are quickly returned); the tripled rate of future incarceration that comes from being in foster homes for any period of time; and likely sexual abuse that occurs in foster homes (such abuse is 4 times more likely in foster homes than in the general population... especially when the foster homes some of these kids have already been reprimanded because of KNOWN sexual abuse at the homes ). Uhg. Researching the effects of child welfare actions is a very sobering process. There are no "exemplar" states where Child Protective Services is concerned, which brings to my mind the idea that the very concept of CPS is broken.
It is wonderful that the children have finally been returned to the parents. All the newspaper articles are reporting that this is a good change. In fact, all the articles are reporting the exact same thing, just with the occasional word substitutions - what happened to original reporting? All the newspapers seem to act as one big marionette. Individual thought or independent analysis seems to be a foreign concept. Go ahead and try searching for "FLDS" in google news and organize by date. All the articles, which includes big newspapers like the USA Today, are nearly word perfect copies of each other. *edit: It took about 3 days before most of the articles started being original. The turnaround is vastly improved over when this started. After the first raid, it took almost 2 weeks for wide variation to occur*
There are still problems with the new situation and the problems are the same as before. Its the exact same problem that I brought up in the first post. The problem with the current situation, which probably won't be settled quickly, is the idea that the judge has any right to set conditions on the parents for getting their children back. The whole process of taking the children away was invalidated by the upper court, so why does the judge have the right to put conditions on giving the children back, especially when the parents are not charged with anything except for being under a general cloud of suspicion by the CPS? Judge Walther's new order is essentially what would happen if the CPS brought a suspicion of sexual abuse toward a specific individual before a court. If that is the way the state sets it up then so be it, but Judge Walther has set aside the standard legal steps that the Texas CPS must go through in order to gain the right to unlimited inspections. Judge Walther, in the interest of the children, has usurped the legal right of the parent and set aside the legislated restrictions on the CPS. It goes back to Judge Walther's apparent philosophy that the government can get involved on suspicion alone when child abuse is involved.... ah... here I go again.
I'll quit right here, since I would only start repeating previous points. My hope is that the massive expenditures by the CPS will bankrupt it for this year or next year, but government doesn't quite work like that. I hope this whole situation will lead to a re-examination of child protective services country wide, because as far as I can tell, it is a terrible system where the cure is worse than the bite.
And just to see if anyone reads these... The next few posts will be personal info posts (which I'm sure my mom will enjoy reading more), but no more posts will be posted until I get thought out comments from two separate people. replies to comments by myself will not count. :-)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Updated info
Briefer update on yesterday's post:
update May-22-09, 8:36 AM: Of the 31 FLDS children 14-17 years old and pregnant as claimed by the CPS, 11 have been found to be 18 or older and their youngest, the 14 year old, is not pregnant. the total was 9 adults when I was posted last night. Keep in mind that these updated numbers are not the final total. All the children's hearings for this stage of the legal proceedings will conclude on June 2nd, at which point we'll get a better, though not necessarily completely accurate, picture of which of the accusations of the CPS still stands. Outside the just mentioned less-than-31 pregnant minors, no specific allegations of abuse have been pointed out, just general statements of widespread abuse. (All specifics are being withheld by the CPS to protect the children)
update May-22-09, 8:36 AM: Of the 31 FLDS children 14-17 years old and pregnant as claimed by the CPS, 11 have been found to be 18 or older and their youngest, the 14 year old, is not pregnant. the total was 9 adults when I was posted last night. Keep in mind that these updated numbers are not the final total. All the children's hearings for this stage of the legal proceedings will conclude on June 2nd, at which point we'll get a better, though not necessarily completely accurate, picture of which of the accusations of the CPS still stands. Outside the just mentioned less-than-31 pregnant minors, no specific allegations of abuse have been pointed out, just general statements of widespread abuse. (All specifics are being withheld by the CPS to protect the children)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Brief ? FLDS Update
I know I haven't posted any more information on the Texas raid on the FLDS ranch lately, so I thought I would do a quick update. I haven't decreased my reading on the news articles, but after the last post on the FLDS, there didn't seem to be much point to posting until something started to change, which could only happen if the CPS started returning children, or the court cases started to be heard. This Monday was the start of the one group of court hearings.
Since the last post, the CPS figures for the number of children in custody by Texas Child Protective Services continued to rise. The number has been staying steadier for longer and the popular figure seems to be 463, with only one number jump in the last week.
Mom, since you wanted me to keep you updated on what I was seeing, I'll try to post at least one article for each point. Over the last three weeks, I've seen at least a dozen or more articles outlining each point, so if you search on google news, you should find more. Call if you have questions. :-)
First (not so recent) development. All the children have been placed into foster homes at this point. As stated earlier and research further, foster care seems to be universally, across the US, a TERRIBLE situation when compared with the general public (which isn't a stellar example in the first place). And what does the CPS, put these children into foster homes that would normally not be allowed to host foster children again because of physical, sexual, or verbal abuse. My suggestion is to not look much further into this, because it gets very depressing, very fast. These children have been ripped from loving homes (more on this later) into a culture that is far worse than the national average.
Second development. The CPS keeps being surprised when these children just keep being found to be older than they look! Both of the underage "children" who gave birth while in custody, were declared adults within hours of giving birth. From what I can pick up from the newspaper articles, I think the CPS accepted their birth certificates at that point just so they could take they children away, which was attempted... also within hours of giving birth. Apparently the mothers were generously given a few months to wean the children after a judge slapped one of the requests down. A lot of these "underage" pregnant children have already presented birth certificates, but as I said a few weeks ago, the CPS is ignoring evidence in favor of a "looks like" policy. This week, the oldest one to be cleared as an adult is almost 28 (as declared by a judge, not the CPS who still insisted that the "looks like" policy is the valid way to go... after all, birth certificates can be faked on a very short noticeway (that was sarcasm guys))
Mental Health professions that were present during the initial raid and care of children (by the police and CPS mostly) blasted the CPS for their poor conduct, lack of care for the children, and dishonesty in their monthly report to their board. This what was said all along by the women taken by the CPS. (1) No-one believed them when the raid took place; (2) the FLDS had their cell phones removed after a few videos of living conditions were sent by cell phone; (3) so far nothing the FLDS has said has been disproved.
According to the CPS, the whole reason this raid took place in the first place was because the CPS workers saw a broad base, a culture, of underage marriages. The number of those "underaged children" who are married or pregnant and underage has been dropping steadily, mostly due to the fact that now there are outsides in this loop determining the fate of these children: specifically, there are judges that accepts birth certificates as a reasonable indication of age!
Consider this: If the count of the number of children started out in the high 300's and has steadily risen to over 460 almost two months later, what recourse does a family have if children disappear? The CPS never kept records. The count is still not constant. Who knows if children were kidnapped, killed, abused, or tried to run away from their new situations? Only the parents will bear the burden of knowing they will not see their child again. Almost two MONTHS later, and children are still unaccounted for. Yeah. Not a pleasant thought.
In one instance, one of the husbands who has one wife ( 5 children by the same wife ), was not charged or accused of anything by the CPS, and was willing to move away from the ranch to regain his children but was denied his request. ( Mostly because he was appealing to a wrong court ) The sad part of this story is that he, his wife, and his lawer has only been able to find three of his children in state custody. Two of them are lost in the system somewhere.
Moving onto my final two points, I don't want to say that all the FLDS members are innocent, but I will say that even if all the CPS is still claiming at this point remains true, the FLDS ranch is a haven of peace and tranquility when compared to the rest of the world. Go ahead. Do some work for yourself and compare the claimed rate of underage/unmarried pregnancies in the general population to what the numbers of children the CPS is claiming to have gotten pregnant while under 18 (while married) at the FLDS ranch.
My second point is this: the legal age for marriage in texas is under 18. The numbers the CPS throws around is a smoke screen. The lowest age of marriage In Texas is 16 years of age with parental consent. The big problem that the FLDS members will have is that marriages are religious and not civil, so that if any man married a girl at 16, he could be legally charged with rape because the state does not recognize the marriage, even if he only has one wife. This is the issue that got Jeffs (the FLDS prophet) put in jail. The lowest legal age in Utah to marry IS 14, but it has to be a civil union, not a religious one, so when Jeffs helped arrange a marriage for a 19 year old and a 14 year old (yeah... that is really young), he was held responsible for accomplice to rape because it was not a civil union.
The violations perpetrated by Texas' child care services is not unique to the FLDS. Do a bit of searching on CPS, Child Protective Services, foster care, and the number of innocent lives broken and destroyed is too long and to painful to consider. Pray for children taken unjustly from their parents whether in Texas, Maine, or any other state of the union. The best therapy for the harms against children is the protection and healing available through the Grace of God.
Since the last post, the CPS figures for the number of children in custody by Texas Child Protective Services continued to rise. The number has been staying steadier for longer and the popular figure seems to be 463, with only one number jump in the last week.
Mom, since you wanted me to keep you updated on what I was seeing, I'll try to post at least one article for each point. Over the last three weeks, I've seen at least a dozen or more articles outlining each point, so if you search on google news, you should find more. Call if you have questions. :-)
First (not so recent) development. All the children have been placed into foster homes at this point. As stated earlier and research further, foster care seems to be universally, across the US, a TERRIBLE situation when compared with the general public (which isn't a stellar example in the first place). And what does the CPS, put these children into foster homes that would normally not be allowed to host foster children again because of physical, sexual, or verbal abuse. My suggestion is to not look much further into this, because it gets very depressing, very fast. These children have been ripped from loving homes (more on this later) into a culture that is far worse than the national average.
Second development. The CPS keeps being surprised when these children just keep being found to be older than they look! Both of the underage "children" who gave birth while in custody, were declared adults within hours of giving birth. From what I can pick up from the newspaper articles, I think the CPS accepted their birth certificates at that point just so they could take they children away, which was attempted... also within hours of giving birth. Apparently the mothers were generously given a few months to wean the children after a judge slapped one of the requests down. A lot of these "underage" pregnant children have already presented birth certificates, but as I said a few weeks ago, the CPS is ignoring evidence in favor of a "looks like" policy. This week, the oldest one to be cleared as an adult is almost 28 (as declared by a judge, not the CPS who still insisted that the "looks like" policy is the valid way to go... after all, birth certificates can be faked on a very short noticeway (that was sarcasm guys))
Mental Health professions that were present during the initial raid and care of children (by the police and CPS mostly) blasted the CPS for their poor conduct, lack of care for the children, and dishonesty in their monthly report to their board. This what was said all along by the women taken by the CPS. (1) No-one believed them when the raid took place; (2) the FLDS had their cell phones removed after a few videos of living conditions were sent by cell phone; (3) so far nothing the FLDS has said has been disproved.
According to the CPS, the whole reason this raid took place in the first place was because the CPS workers saw a broad base, a culture, of underage marriages. The number of those "underaged children" who are married or pregnant and underage has been dropping steadily, mostly due to the fact that now there are outsides in this loop determining the fate of these children: specifically, there are judges that accepts birth certificates as a reasonable indication of age!
Consider this: If the count of the number of children started out in the high 300's and has steadily risen to over 460 almost two months later, what recourse does a family have if children disappear? The CPS never kept records. The count is still not constant. Who knows if children were kidnapped, killed, abused, or tried to run away from their new situations? Only the parents will bear the burden of knowing they will not see their child again. Almost two MONTHS later, and children are still unaccounted for. Yeah. Not a pleasant thought.
In one instance, one of the husbands who has one wife ( 5 children by the same wife ), was not charged or accused of anything by the CPS, and was willing to move away from the ranch to regain his children but was denied his request. ( Mostly because he was appealing to a wrong court ) The sad part of this story is that he, his wife, and his lawer has only been able to find three of his children in state custody. Two of them are lost in the system somewhere.
Moving onto my final two points, I don't want to say that all the FLDS members are innocent, but I will say that even if all the CPS is still claiming at this point remains true, the FLDS ranch is a haven of peace and tranquility when compared to the rest of the world. Go ahead. Do some work for yourself and compare the claimed rate of underage/unmarried pregnancies in the general population to what the numbers of children the CPS is claiming to have gotten pregnant while under 18 (while married) at the FLDS ranch.
My second point is this: the legal age for marriage in texas is under 18. The numbers the CPS throws around is a smoke screen. The lowest age of marriage In Texas is 16 years of age with parental consent. The big problem that the FLDS members will have is that marriages are religious and not civil, so that if any man married a girl at 16, he could be legally charged with rape because the state does not recognize the marriage, even if he only has one wife. This is the issue that got Jeffs (the FLDS prophet) put in jail. The lowest legal age in Utah to marry IS 14, but it has to be a civil union, not a religious one, so when Jeffs helped arrange a marriage for a 19 year old and a 14 year old (yeah... that is really young), he was held responsible for accomplice to rape because it was not a civil union.
The violations perpetrated by Texas' child care services is not unique to the FLDS. Do a bit of searching on CPS, Child Protective Services, foster care, and the number of innocent lives broken and destroyed is too long and to painful to consider. Pray for children taken unjustly from their parents whether in Texas, Maine, or any other state of the union. The best therapy for the harms against children is the protection and healing available through the Grace of God.
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