satori001

Interesting. You mean, their lives aren't sign posts to the true biblical God, but of other gods? But that's not what they say! How can their mouths say one thing and their lives something else? It's just not possible. Why, that would make them hypocritical! You'd think others would notice, wouldn't you? Then again, we did notice something like that.

So Rosie's witness = an unkempt and ineffectual almighty?

Craig's (amplified) version of God was an angry and spiteful deity indeed, if his life was the witness he claimed. What about Rosalie's almighty witness? Sneaky, maybe. Conniving. Not really the image most people might hold of the biblical God, but that's not what we're after. We're going back in our minds and memories to do a meet and greet with the Creator, as revealed by the sermons we saw (rather than heard) from those illustrious Way leaders. How did overall Way Corps behavior magnify the Lord, by the way? What sorta god (as revealed by their special form of "godliness") did the Corps present? What sort of god would make them (and we're referring to the stereotypical Corps here, not individuals who may have been exceptional) act that way? What sort of god fills the heart with arrogance, or cold-blooded indifference to others? Just wondering aloud, really. Who is the God of the Way, as revealed by the walk of Way leaders? Incestuous? Hmm. I think I know what you're driving at, but how did VP share that witness for his kids? No need to really get into it, unless you feel like it.

I've been thinking about Vic's God. Not the one he necessarily wrote about, but the God to whom Vic's own life was a witness. And it was a witness, for better or verse. Er, worse. And then, what of the Craiglodyte (compare with troglodyte, I dunno, it just works for me)? And the Roselodyte? Other "leadership?" (That word "leadership" sounds more and more fascist to me, as I get older - and of course, it oughta, because at its heart, TWI was a little fascist -Wayschist?- cult.) Who are the gods of whom their assorted, sordid lifestyles testify? Vic's God: 1. a respector of persons? definitely, with respect to TWI's spoiled-royal priesthood. 2. secretive? when it came to certain kinds of indiscretion, "lock box, baby!" 3. senses oriented? that depends - only if ego, booze and sex fall under that category 4. quick to anger? oh yeah, he could be more shrill than any drama queen 5. lecherous? he did love kids, didn't he? were they all "legal?" doesn't matter, this is the age of grace. What is the rest of His story, as our former "leaders" told it, that is, with their lives?

Snopes says coughing could do more harm than good. http://www.snopes.com/toxins/coughcpr.htm Having aspirin around is a good idea. --------------- Here is the text of a popular email: Aspirin and CPR on Yourself might save your life Don't forget the aspirin! Keep 3 adult aspirin in an easy, squeeze open container in our cars, on the sun visor. Grab them and chew and swallow.... aspirin is known to save lives in event of heart attacks; it acts similarly to the drug they give heart attack patients in the ER. I also have a label on the container saying "Aspirin 30 grains" so any Paramedic finding us would know what we have already taken, this is important. Do this and then start coughing to get the heart beating good and hard and the aspirin circulating. CPR on Yourself A prominent cardiologist says if everyone who gets this E-mail sends it to 10 people you can bet that we'll save at least one life. Read this....It could save your life!! Let's say it's 6:15 PM and you're driving home (alone of course), after an unusually hard day on the job. You're really tired, upset and frustrated. Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five kilometers from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far. You have been trained in CPR, but the guy that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself. HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.

I was born in New York City. Nobody remembers what time it was, and my father has always confused my birthday with the holiday I preceded by a day. Still does. I would rather stay up all night and sleep in the morning. I love to read, but find reading difficult. Could be a mild form of dyslexia, but it's never been diagnosed. I love a good, dark beer, but don't often drink it. I love a good, red wine, but, same. I regret the way I've treated some of the women in my life, but I've also been on the receiving end. It isn't poetic justice, just life. The only time I've ever hit a woman was my mother when she was still twice my size. It only happened once. On the other hand, she hit me quite often back then. There was too much of that in my family. I was especially punishing to my younger brother as we grew up. He developed anxiety attacks later in life, most likely the result of our fighting. I feel no guilt because I was a child, but I wish it could have been different. My expressions of enthusiasm or affection in public are somewhat reserved and self-conscious, except when it comes to my 3-year old daughter. If I read long threads at all, I often read them backwards, from the last post to the first. When I get to the first post I think, "Is that what all this was about?" My 3-year old has already learned (and now, apparently, forgotten) the alphabet, and how to count to twenty-five. She can sing several songs, start to finish, and performs them for appreciative audiences, family or strangers alike. She can be so moody at times, her mom wondered recently if we shouldn't have named her "Sybil." When she goes to bed, she almost always says "I love you daddy," followed by the sound of a kiss. She may do this twice, or twenty times. I had to buy an extra hard drive to store the pictures I've taken of her. My daughter makes me feel young, and old. I have low blood pressure. I sometimes eat Haagen Dazs out of the carton, and do other stuff like that, but I'm somehow within 15 pounds of what I weighed as a high school senior, although the weight has redistributed just a bit. Despite the occasional binge, my diet is 95% mostly kind of healthy. I attribute this to marriage. I hate to exercise, so I don't. I really should. I've made up my mind. I will. Eventually. My ears have a constant ringing, and they have all my life. The ringing is much louder than it used to be, on account of a fondess for loud music, and indulging same. I now worry about hearing loss. It ticks me off when a neighbor parks in front of my house instead of his own. This happens a lot. Fortunately, I have low blood pressure. I never get tired of hearing great music or seeing beautiful women. I'm lousy at writing letters. Goes for email too.

There is some hubbub about USB hubs. See here. Not sure how they got their Top 10 list, but annoyances.org is a respected site.

Wow, this is what becomes of a twisted, little sect when most of those "healthy" enough to escape have left it behind. It must be harder and harder to maintain the facade of wholesomeness when they dig in their heels to "stand" with a known child molester. You'd think they'd be a little embarrassed by the spectacle, rete-mantras and renewed mindlessness notwithstanding. There's a song called "The Smell," by Lynyrd Skynyrd - Here's the chorus: Ooh, ooh that smell Can't you smell that smell? Ooh, ooh that smell The smell of death surrounds you. Something sure "stinks." Lynyrd got it right. It's death. Rosalie should try to get an audience with the Pope. He could probably sympathize on the perv problem. She'd bring back a little something for Harve too. It would say, "The b*tch went to Vatican City and all I got was this lousy t-shirt?" Say Amen. See me, you actually did the right thing. A lot of us probably wish we could go back and do the same, on at least some of those occasions when we suddenly looked the devil in the eye, only to avert our own eyes. Oh well. No telling how many kids you protected by doing what had to be done. Gratitude isn't enough, but it has to do.

George, the last thing I'd want to do is add more aggravation to your account. If you can't stand Carrey's face, or you just wish he was dead, then steer clear. If it's his style of "humor" you don't like, this is (dramatically) more along the lines of The Truman Show, and there is nothing to worry about. Supporting actors get the few sight gags. You might enjoy the medical assistants. The title comes from an Alexander Pope couplet. A thoughtful flick by most standards. 207 How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! 208 The world forgetting, by the world forgot. 209 Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! 210 Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;

I rented ESotSM and saw it tonight. It's an elaborate riddle that draws you in through the middle and gives you a gift at the end, if you're willing to accept it. You may also feel as if you've been staring into something we all have in common, but I won't say what, as if I could. You may need to watch it more than once to follow the twists and doubling-back of the story line, but the lesson doesn't depend upon it. Hope you'll get to enjoy it. I liked Kate's character myself.

Here's another discussion of the "worst-case" scenario from the Canary Islands. Link And a completely different tsunami source threatens the east coast, from much closer by: Link The danger of these is they may not be triggered by an earth quake, meaning NO warning until the wave hits. Beach front property may be cheaper this season.

The next tsunami may hit the east coast of the US. Here is the story.

This extremely graphic picture of the tsunami's aftermath gives some inkling of the human cost. Life is fragile. You really shouldn't view this unless or until you're prepared, and that includes having a paper bag nearby. It's bad.

Videos of the tsunami in differnt locations, taken by tourists. Some better quality than others, but you get a sense of what an immense quantity of water was pushed ashore. The one of (I think) Thailand shows them really crashing ashore, but others remind me more of a flash flood.

You just can't say enough about innate animal wisdom. I heard today that crocodiles are eating the bodies of human victims. Maybe that's why there aren't many dead bunnies floating around.

This link provides a simulation of a tsunami striking southern California. Surf's up.

Paw, those servers must be pretty busy.

This "wobble" could mean twubble. Spinning things that suddenly wobble may return to a nice smooth spin, or the wobble may induce a further wobble, and a further, in arithmetic proportion to the prior. An inch off axis seems like little, but double it, say every year, and you'll get what I mean. 1 inch, 2 inches, 4 inches, 8 inches... It wouldn't be long before we wobbled ourselves kittywompus, to re-coin a phrase. Coming to a theater near you.

Maybe the thread should be called Redeeming Christmas. I'm liking it more having read these first few posts. Hope there's more to come. Of course, Christmas is an opportunity for some and a great emotional (and probably financial) imposition upon others. Why do you think there is such a range, among those of us who grew up in or around this ancient festival in its contemporary form? Does the fact that it is (by our standards) ancient give it more or less power to draw us in? So far, the redeeming factor is people, particularly family, gathering together to create and share a good time, and to make something memorable for all. I've forgotten a lot of Christmases. And a lot of other stuff. Intentionally, at some level, I think. I'm going to go back and try to recall them, if they're still there, knowing they weren't all good, or bad.

Paw, that's what I was wondering about. The Earth isn't a solid ball, but more like a mobile, only it's suspended outward from the core rather than down from the top. When one piece moves, the rest respond. Let's hope the West coast remains intact for a few more millenia.

Thanks Belle. Your family does it the way it ought to be done, in my opinion. There's no one right way, but there are right ways and wrong ways. Making the most of it, that's the right way.

Does Christmas bring home all the good things we've lost, like ghosts haunting us from the glitter? Is celebrating Christmas meaningless because we've cut the roots of our rich (if primitive) heritage of tradition? However you respond to "Christmas," is it the tradition, or the contemporary social phenomenon you think of? For some, especially children, Christmas in America is a festival like no other. For others, it's just another bitter disappointment, the unfulfillment of empty promises. I like the lights people put on their houses, if they're decorative. Don't like 'em if they're gaudy though. Whoever thought extruded, glowing, plastic snowmen powered by a 40 watt bulb was attractive? I dunno. Same goes for those cheesy Nativity scenes. You can get caught up in things though, and suddenly some of us have a yard full of inflatable, glowing Santas, elves, and reindeer, webworks of flickering lights, all surrounding the baby Jesus, who is seemingly born into some hellish, supernatural nightmare. I think people who enjoy Christmas the most are those who make it an opportunity to do what they want, and with whom they want. That's not always easy, what with family and its obligations. But why not? Christmas tends to remind me of all the things I wanted last year, and couldn't do for lack of time or money. The commercials help me there. Yeah, it would be nice to buy her a Jag, wouldn't it? I could probably swing the cheap one, the Ford that wears Jag clothing, but it's not really practical anyway. Christmas is a good time to be impractical, and a little impulsive. Then again, I bought no gifts at all for any adults this year. Got off cheap. We entertained. And entertain still. Christmas is nothing more than a set of expectations and a week or so to realize them, or try. If we are smart about it, we learn which expectations to keep, and which ones to lose. Christmas hasn't been about spiritual renewal for me for a long time. Peace on Earth? As if a holiday for "crusaders" could accomplish that in a world where 2 billion Muslims live. The Pope mutters about giving, and love, and sacrifice, from his house of gold, jewels and priceless art treasures. It's hard to take that old clown seriously, if you know what I mean, especially after he covered for the culture of child-abuse his house has fostered. Some "vicar" of Christ, he. Suffer the little children. So it's more about people setting time aside to enjoy one another's company, if such a thing is possible. And of course, it is, if you are with the right people. One guy I know of is five states away with his fiance. He came up for Christmas eve, to spend some time with his mom and dad, and his wife and daughter (mostly the daughter), and then he returned to spend the rest of the holiday with the new bride-to-be. The divorces (she's married too) should be finalized in time for next Christmas, when they can all figure out their schedules again. This guy is a being creep, but he's made himself and the new gal very happy. While he was still around, he made everyone else happy, but not himself, and that never lasts, so sometimes the apparent worst is still for the best. Time will tell. Tell us a story. What is your Christmas like? Does it work? If so, why? Does faith make it happen, or is it the people? Is it the near universal agreement to participate in this quasi-Christian festival, like a more subdued Mardi Gras? A chance to be foolish, together, in a good way? If nothing else, just take the poll, for ....s and grins, to see what we think. But I'm more interested in what makes a Christmas merry, or misery, for you. Merry Christmas

jen-0, do you know what a broken cistern is? It's one that has a crack in it. That's right.

The first death count I heard was a few hundred. Now it's above 20,000 and climbing. What do you do when you're standing on a beach and a wave two or three stories high comes up out of the surf? In most cases, you drown, along with everyone else in sight. Any geologists know if this tiny release of geological energy might precipitate others elsewhere in the world?

Sudo, You can pray until you're blue in the face because I've forgotten more about (Christmas) present truth than you'll ever know.