A Banana Republican

Thoughts on Global Warming

2011-12-26T12:39:00.001-06:00

If increased release of green house gasses into the atmosphere is the cause of the planet warming up then why have we not seen a constant temperature increase over the last 400,000 years since man started to introduce additional CO2 into the atmosphere? I agree at first the increase would be small. But since fire was first used by man,we have been adding more and more CO2 into the atmosphere than would of been introduced otherwise and since increased levels of CO2 raise the temp then we should be seeing a steady rise in temperature from that point forward. But that is not the case.

From 1910 to 1940 the global emissions of CO2 increased from 500,000 tons per year to 1 billion tons per year and global temps went up about 0.9F Yet from 1940 to 1980 global CO2 emissions went from 1b tons to 5b tons, and global temperatures went down about 0.9F. If CO2 emissions are to blame, why the drop in temperature when emissions were increasing faster? Of course from 1977 to 2000 we again experienced another warming. But since 2000 temperatures seem to be dropping again. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution we have had periods of warming and cooling. If increasing CO2 was the cause of warming and with the increase of CO2 pumped out since the beginning then there should not be any cooling periods since there were no periods of decreasing CO2 output.

Isn't it more plausible that the sun with a mass a million times that of the earth that is responsible for almost all of the thermal energy on this planet could through uneven emissions of radiation cause the global temperature to fluctuate? Isn't that a more plausible option? That along with the "wobble" in the earth's orbit seems to be a much more plausible explanation of the climate change that went on long before we started adding CO2 to the atmosphere?

The history of climate change over the last 1000 or even 500 years does not indicate that humans have that much control over climate. We have had cool periods and warm periods and all the time we have been polluting the atmosphere. I think that the wobble in the earth's orbit and the changes in the thermal output of the sun are more likely the cause of global temperature changes. We have massive evidence of climate change on this planet on scales that dwarf what has happened over the last 100 years. Yet humans were not even here for most of these changes.

Taking Christ out of Christmas?? How did he get in there to begin with?

2011-11-29T15:20:00.001-06:00

Christmas is a holiday that many Christians celebrate as the birthday of Jesus. However all of the origins and symbols of Christmas are pagan. Early Christians merely hijacked the pagan celebrations for their own use and to ease the “conversion shock” of the pagans. Most all of the customs we associate with Christmas pre date the birth of Christ and are taken from any different early religions.

Dec 25 before the calendar adjustment on the 18^th Century was also the day that the Winter Solstice took place. Ancient Romans celebrated the god Saturn and the rebirth of the sun god. Associating 25 Dec (Winter Solstice) with the birth of gods is very popular from Ireland to India.

When the Romans paraded to celebrate Saturn they carried wreaths made from the branches of evergreen trees as a symbol of Saturn. Holly with its red berries was used to represent female fertility where mistletoe with its white berries represent male fertility and hanging it above doorways invoked the powers of fertility of those who kissed beneath it. The evergreen tree is a Germanic pagan symbol of fertility also. Also the Babylonian god Tammuz was said to be reborn every year from an evergreen tree. This happened of course on December the 25^th the Winter Solstice.

All basis for celebrating Christ’s birthday on the 25^th of December is of pagan origin. NOTHING in the bible indicates a date and the evidence in the scriptures seems to indicate that it was most definitely NOT the 25^th of December and not even in the month of December. After all what would the shepherds be doing out in the fields with their sheep IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER??

Can we figure out with scripture approximately when Jesus was born? I have done some studying on this and I think I can get close. Closer anyway than everyone that insists it is 25 Dec.

Our first clue is looking at John the Baptist and his father Zacharias.

Luke 1:5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

Luke 1:8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, ...

Luke 1:23 And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.
Luke 1:24 And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived,

The clue given to us here is that Zacharias was of the "course" of Abia.

Luke 1:23 And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.
Luke 1:24 And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived,

Beginning with the first month, Nisan, in the spring (March-April), the schedule of the priest's courses would result with Zacharias serving during the 10th week of the year. This is because he was a member of the course of Abia (Abijah), the 8th course, and both the Feast of Unleavened Bread (15-21 Nisan) and Pentecost (6 Sivan) would have occurred before his scheduled duty. This places Zacharias' administration in the Temple as beginning on the second Sabbath of the third month, Sivan (May-June).

So he completed his Temple service on the third Sabbath of Sivan. Zacharias went back home and soon conceived his son John. The date of John’s conception is important because it gives us a benchmark to calculate when Jesus was conceived.

Time for bible quotes….

Luke 1:24 And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,
Luke 1:25 Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.
Luke 1:26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
Luke 1:27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

Verse 26 refers to the sixth month of Elisabeth’s (John’s mother) pregnancy, not Elul, the sixth month of the Hebrew calendar and this is obvious by reading the context of verse 24 and again in verse 36.

Luke 1:36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

Since Jesus was conceived six months after John the Baptist, and we have established a likely date for John's birth, we need only move six months farther down the Jewish calendar to arrive at a likely date for the birth of Jesus. From the 15th day of the 1st month, Nisan, we go to the 15th day of the 7th month, Tishri. And what do we find on that date? The 15th day of Tishri begins the third and last festival of the year to which all the men of Israel were to gather in Jerusalem for Temple services. (Lev 23:34) This explains why the inns were full. There was no census in Judea in the time period in question. That bit of info was probably added to Luke 500 years after the fact.

The 15^th day of Tishri usually falls in Sep or Oct . So there you have it. Using the bible and a little knowledge of the Hebrew calendar I have calculated the approximate date of Jesus’s birth. I could be wrong but at least it was an educated guess and not established by hijacking a pagan holiday and turning it into a Christian one. So next time someone says, “Don’t take Christ out of Christmas!!” Just tell them, “Well he never should have been in there in the first place.”

Raiders of the Lost Ark.....Hey wait... what was that?

2011-11-27T18:49:00.004-06:00

I was watching Raiders of the Lost Ark for the umpteenth time the other day. It is a great movie. In my book it is one of the top 5 films in the action adventure genre. The action is great. Harrison Ford is, of course, awesome as Indiana Jones. He has a great supporting cast and a good lineup of villains. It has all the makings of a great film with excellent direction, cinematography, and special effects. This movie has it all including some glaring plot holes and historical errors that we overlook because the film is so damned good.

I am not so much talking about historical inaccuracies although a few do play directly into the plot holes. As the map follows Indy around the world as he travels some of the countries have the wrong names. Thailand should be Siam. Iran should be Persia. Jordan should be Trans-Jordan. This was of course changed for the "great unwashed" and those of use worth a sense for historical geography.

A huge point of discussion is the pistol that Indy uses in the Nepal shoot out. It is a Browning Hi-Power. The movie is set in 1936 and the Hi-Power was introduced for military service in 1935. It is unclear and debatable whether or not Indy could have put his hands on one. And if he could, why did he only use this in this scene when it would of been very helpful in some of the shoot outs to come? Instead he goes back to his old reliable wheel gun. Also in the Nepal shoot out the Nazis are using the Walther P-38 and the MP 38/40. Neither weapon would of been in service in 1936.

Airplane nit picking....The Pan American plane Indiana Jones boards in San Francisco looks similar to (but has noticeable differences from) the Boeing 314 Pan Am used for transpacific flights. This plane did however not fly until 1938 and at the time of the story the company only flew transpacific with Sikorsky S-42s, an plane with a completely different body than the one used in the scene. And don't get me started on that flying wing thingy. Why not use a Ju-52? Now that's a cool looking bird for sure.

Now for the plot holes. First of all that giant stone ball. If you look just as the ball starts to roll, if Indy would run TOWARDS the ball instead of running away from it would of rolled right over him with no damage what so ever. Then he could just follow the path it has made and he is home free. Well until he meet the natives with their fun but deadly stone age weapons.

Now the biggest most obvious plot hole of them all. In 1936 Egypt was an independent country, in name only. Effectively it was part of the British Empire. For the Nazis to be involved in a dig with uniformed and armed soldiers of the Third Reich would be like seeing a Russian dig in the Philippines in 1979 complete with KGB and Soviet troops in uniform and armed with AK-74s etc...

Transporting The Ark... Ok, once Indy has it, he just cannot ship it back to the University of Whatever. This item is stolen and properly belongs to the Kingdom of Egypt. This means he has to get it out of the country by the age old art of smuggling. That means loading it on a less then reputable ship captained by an unsavory individual. After this the only problem should of been to get it to the US or a US territory. Odd to me that the US government would sanctioned this operation and not offer any logistical help getting The Ark out of Egypt once Indy had it in his possession. In the 30's there were lots of US flagged cargo vessels arriving and leaving Egyptian ports all the time not to mention the US Navy. While it might of been rare at the time for a US Navy ship to be in the Mediterranean (I have no sources at this time) the sailing time from Norfolk to the Easter Mediterranean is less than the time Indy spent getting to Egypt by his route and adventures. A heavy cruiser could leave Norfolk and be off the coast of Egypt in 6-12 days depending on its ability to refuel. Also chances are the Navy may already have a ship or 6 in the Med.

This brings us to the German U-Boat. You can see that it is U-26 a Type I-A U-Boat. These were commissioned in 1936 and do have the range to get off the coast of Egypt. However this was not a normal patrol area for the German Navy let alone for a U-Boat. If there was going to be a German ship off the coast to provide logistical support for this sort of operation, a U-Boat would be the last choice. First of all, submarines are slow. Secondly, how do you plan on shipping that big crate on a sub? On the Type I-A boats shown in the movie as well as the type VII-B which is similar, the largest hatch only measures about 22 inches in diameter. A better idea would be one of the many armed merchant cruisers that the Kreigsmarine had at its disposal. Not only would you have cargo space but you would have stealth and the ability to intercept any other ship that might make off with The Ark should a foreign power recover it first. The crews of these ships were trained for this exact type of clandestine warfare.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is a damned good movie. I continue to enjoy it every time I see it. However, I am not sure why movies are made with such factual errors and plot holes. One would think that Lucas and Spielberg would have noticed most of the issues I have described. At the same time they modify the a truck to look like a pre war Mercedes truck. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to what they try to insure is period and what is not. It has nothing to do with how obvious it might be or how prominent the prop might be. Take the example of Indy’s satchel is a Mk VII gas mask bag. These were not manufactured until 1942. It should be a Mk V. It seems that they would rather just make the movie with the guns, props, and planes they have on hand and not worry about making sure what they are using are correct.

I need to start posting more.....

2011-07-30T18:31:00.002-06:00

So is this the start of a novel? a short story? a screen play? Probably will just end up being a file on the bottom of my documents folder but check it out.

It is hard to pick a starting point for this story. Do you start with a quick bio of how you got to be where you were when the action actually started? Or do you just jump in at the moment that you sort got pulled into what will be the major theme of this story? Maybe I should start with some background on where it happened and tell you a little about the other people in the story. Maybe I should go for a cliché beginning like “It was the best of times it was the worst of times.” or “On a dark and stormy night”?

I am going to start with me. I have no idea what the hell I am actually. You see I am 3000 years old. Well not really. I have lived many lives and I am born and I die like anyone else but in every new body at about age 13 when so many other changes are happening I suddenly know who I really am and I can remember everything about my past lives..

Yeah I guess we will see what happens.

Famous movie quotes as if written by a proper Englishman

2010-08-01T09:46:00.000-06:00

Famous movie quotes as if written by a proper Englishman

“We must acquire a larger vessel.”
- Jaws

“I’m growing impatient with these malevolent slithering reptiles on this bloody aircraft.”
- Snakes on a Plane

“Toodeloo you ghastly miscreant.”
- Die Hard 1,2,3,4

“Please remove your simian appendages from my person, you unwashed gorilla man-thing.”
- Planet of the Apes

“There is a herptile in my western footwear!”
- Toy Story

“I shall return.”
- Every Arnold Schwarzenegger movie

“I am now fully versed in the combat stylings of “Kung Fu.”
- The Matrix

“I do wish I could cease committing acts of sodomy unto your delightful buttocks.”
- Brokeback Mountain

“My dearest apologies Captain, I have configured this vessel to it’s maximum efficiency. Alas, if you wish me to attempt to defy the laws of physics, I shall increase my efforts.”
- various Star Trek movies and episodes

“Does Marsellus Wallace match the appearance of a female canine? Then why is it, good sir, that you are attempting to have coital relations with him, as if he were a female canine?”
- Pulp Fiction

“I do not believe that is an orbiting planetary body, but in fact a massive facility constructed exclusively for use in space.”
-Star Wars: A New Hope

“Oh dear. I do believe that when we dined on this soylent green, the main ingredient was in fact human beings. In its defense, twas better than English food.”
- Soylent Green

“I say to thee honestly milady, I am an indifferent.”
- Gone With the Wind

“It’s an elaborate ruse!”
- Return of the Jedi

“Miss Scarlett, I regret to inform you that I am uneducated in the field of obstetrics.”
- Gone With the Wind

“Fare thee well, infant.”
- Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Mysterious Object Sighted 90 Million miles away

2010-02-03T09:14:00.005-06:00

Scientist are baffled as to what this object might be. It was spotted 90 million miles from Earth adn moving at about 15k mph.

Using 256 supercomputers magnifying and enhancing the image I have been able to determine what this actually is a picture of.
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The Current Pope is a Nazi Flak Gunner. . . .

2009-11-18T08:46:00.002-06:00

But John Paul II was one hell of a human being and in my book "A Man of God". Ya'll read this while I am "Surfing Nicaragua".

To the Reverend George V. Coyne SJ
Director of the Vatican Observatory

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1, 2).

As you prepare to publish the papers presented at the Study Week held at Castel Gandolfo on 21-26 September 1987, I take the occasion to express my gratitude to you and through you to all who contributed to that important initiative. I am confident that the publication of these papers will ensure that the fruits of that endeavour will be further enriched.

The three hundredth anniversary of the publication of Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica provided an appropriate occasion for the Holy See to sponsor a Study Week that investigated the multiple relationships among theology, philosophy and the natural sciences. The man so honoured, Sir Isaac Newton, had himself devoted much of his life to these same issues, and his reflections upon them can be found throughout his major works, his unfinished manuscripts and his vast correspondence. The publication of your own papers from this Study Week, taking up again some of the same questions which this great genius explored, affords me the opportunity to thank you for the efforts you devoted to a subject of such paramount importance. The theme of your conference, “Our Knowledge of God and Nature: Physics, Philosophy and Theology”, is assuredly a crucial one for the contemporary world. Because of its importance, I should like to address some issues which the interactions among natural science, philosophy, and theology present to the Church and to human society in general.

The Church and the Academy engage one another as two very different but major institutions within human civilization and world culture. We bear before God enormous responsibilities for the human condition because historically we have had and continue to have a major influence on the development of ideas and values and on the course of human action. We both have histories stretching back over thousands of years: the learned, academic community dating back to the origins of culture, to the city and the library and the school, and the Church with her historical roots in ancient Israel. We have come into contact often during these centuries, sometimes in mutual support, at other times in those needless conflicts which have marred both our histories. In your conference we met again, and it was altogether fitting that as we approach the close of this millennium we initiated a series of reflections together upon the world as we touch it and as it shapes and challenges our actions.

So much of our world seems to be in fragments, in disjointed pieces. So much of human life is passed in isolation or in hostility. The division between rich nations and poor nations continues to grow; the contrast between northern and southern regions of our planet becomes ever more marked and intolerable. The antagonism between races and religions splits countries into warring camps; historical animosities show no signs of abating. Even within the academic community, the separation between truth and values persists, and the isolation of their several cultures – scientific, humanistic and religious – makes common discourse difficult if not at times impossible.

But at the same time we see in large sectors of the human community a growing critical openness towards people of different cultures and backgrounds, different competencies and viewpoints. More and more frequently, people are seeking intellectual coherence and collaboration, and are discovering values and experiences they have in common even within their diversities. This openness, this dynamic interchange, is a notable feature of the international scientific communities themselves, and is based on common interests, common goals and a common enterprise, along with a deep awareness that the insights and attainments of one are often important for the progress of the other. In a similar but more subtle way this has occurred and is continuing to occur among more diverse group – among the communities that make up the Church, and even between the scientific community and the Church herself. This drive is essentially a movement towards the kind of unity which resist homogenization and relishes diversity. Such community is determined by a common meaning and by a shared understanding that evokes a sense of mutual involvement. Two groups which may seem initially to have nothing in common can begin to enter into community with one another by discovering a common goal, and this in turn can lead to broader areas of shared understanding and concern.

As never before in her history, the Church has entered into the movement for the union of all Christians, fostering common study, prayer, and discussions that “all may be one” (Io. 17, 20). She has attempted to rid herself of every vestige of antisemitism and to emphasize her origins in and her religious debt to Judaism. In reflection and prayer, she has reached out to the great world religions, recognizing the values we all hold in common and our universal and utter dependence upon God.

Within the Church herself, there is a growing sense of “world church”, so much in evidence at the last Ecumenical Council in which bishops native to every continent – no longer predominantly of European or even Western origin – assumed for the first time their common responsibility for the entire Church. The documents from that Council and of the magisterium have reflected this new world-consciousness both in their content and in their attempt to address all people of good will. During this century, we have witnessed a dynamic tendency to reconciliation and unity that has taken many forms within the Church.

Nor should such a development be surprising. The Christian community in moving so emphatically in this direction is realizing in greater intensity the activity of Christ within her: “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself” (2Cor. 5, 19). We ourselves are called to be a continuation of the reconciliation of human beings, one with another and all with God. Our very nature as Church entails this commitment to unity.

Turning to the relationship between religion and science, there has been a definite, though still fragile and provisional, movement towards a new and more nuanced interchange. We have begun to talk to one another on deeper levels than before, and with greater openness towards one another’s perspectives. We have begun to search together for a more thorough understanding of one another’s disciplines, with their competencies and their limitations, and especially for areas of common ground. In doing so we have uncovered important questions which concern both of us, and which are vital to the larger human community we both serve. It is crucial that this common search based on critical openness and interchange should not only continue but also grow and deepen in its quality and scope.

For the impact each has, and will continue to have, on the course of civilization and on the world itself, cannot be overestimated, and there is so much that each can offer the other. There is, of course, the vision of the unity of all things and all peoples in Christ, who is active and present with us in our daily lives – in our struggles, our sufferings, our joys and in our searchings – and who is the focus of the Church’s life and witness. This vision carries with it into the larger community a deep reverence for all that is, a hope and assurance that the fragile goodness, beauty and life we see in the universe is moving towards a completion and fulfilment which will not be over-whelmed by the forces of dissolution and death. This vision also provides a strong support for the values which are emerging both from our knowledge and appreciation of creation and of ourselves as the products, knowers and stewards of creation.

The scientific disciplines too, as is obvious, are endowing us with an understanding and appreciation of our universe as a whole and of the incredibly rich variety of intricately related processes and structures which constitute its animate and inanimate components. This knowledge has given us a more thorough understanding of ourselves and of our humble yet unique role within creation. Through technology it also has given us the capacity to travel, to communicate, to build, to cure, and to probe in ways which would have been almost unimaginable to our ancestors. Such knowledge and power, as we have discovered, can be used greatly to enhance and improve our lives or they can be exploited to diminish and destroy human life and the environment even on a global scale.

The unity we perceive in creation on the basis of our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord of the universe, and the correlative unity for which we strive in our human communities, seems to be reflected and even reinforced in what contemporary science is revealing to us. As we behold the incredible development of scientific research we detect an underlying movement towards the discovery of levels of law and process which unify created reality and which at the same time have given rise to the vast diversity of structures and organisms which constitute the physical and biological, and even the psychological and sociological, worlds.

Contemporary physics furnishes a striking example. The quest for the unification of all four fundamental physical forces – gravitation, electromagnetism, the strong and weak nuclear interactions – has met with increasing success. This unification may well combine discoveries from the sub-atomic and the cosmological domains and shed light both on the origin of the universe and, eventually, on the origin of the laws and constants which govern its evolution. Physicists possess a detailed though incomplete and provisional knowledge of elementary particles and of the fundamental forces through which they interact at low and intermediate energies. They now have an acceptable theory unifying the electro-magnetic and weak nuclear forces, along with much less adequate but still promising grand unified field theories which attempt to incorporate the strong nuclear interaction as well. Further in the fine of this same development, there are already several detailed suggestions for the final stage, superunification, that is, the unification of all four fundamental forces, including gravity. Is it not important for us to note that in a world of such detailed specialization as contemporary physics there exists this drive towards convergence?

In the life sciences, too, something similar has happened. Molecular biologists have probed the structure of living material, its functions and its processes of replication. They have discovered that the same underlying constituents serve in the make-up of all living organisms on earth and constitute both the genes and the proteins which these genes code. This is another impressive manifestation of the unity of nature.

By encouraging openness between the Church and the scientific communities, we are not envisioning a disciplinary unity between theology and science like that which exists within a given scientific field or within theology proper. As dialogue and common searching continue, there will be grow towards mutual understanding and a gradual uncovering of common concerns which will provide the basis for further research and discussion. Exactly what form that will take must be left to the future. What is important, as we have already stressed, is that the dialogue should continue and grow in depth and scope. In the process we must overcome every regressive tendency to a unilateral reductionism, to fear, and to self-imposed isolation. What is critically important is that each discipline should continue to enrich, nourish and challenge the other to be more fully what it can be and to contribute to our vision of who we are and who we are becoming.

We might ask whether or not we are ready for this crucial endeavour. Is the community of world religions, including the Church, ready to enter into a more thorough-going dialogue with the scientific community, a dialogue in which the integrity of both religion and science is supported and the advance of each is fostered? Is the scientific community now prepared to open itself to Christianity, and indeed to all the great world religions, working with us all to build a culture that is more humane and in that way more divine? Do we dare to risk the honesty and the courage that this task demands? We must ask ourselves whether both science and religion will contribute to the integration of human culture or to its fragmentation. It is a single choice and it confronts us all.

For a simple neutrality is no longer acceptable. If they are to grow and mature, peoples cannot continue to live in separate compartments, pursuing totally divergent interests from which they evaluate and judge their world. A divided community fosters a fragmented vision of the world; a community of interchange encourages its members to expand their partial perspectives and form a new unified vision.

Yet the unity that we seek, as we have already stressed, is not identity. The Church does not propose that science should become religion or religion science. On the contrary, unity always presupposes the diversity and the integrity of its elements. Each of these members should become not less itself but more itself in a dynamic interchange, for a unity in which one of the elements is reduced to the other is destructive, false in its promises of harmony, and ruinous of the integrity of its components. We are asked to become one. We are not asked to become each other.

To be more specific, both religion and science must preserve their autonomy and their distinctiveness. Religion is not founded on science nor is science an extension of religion. Each should possess its own principles, its pattern of procedures, its diversities of interpretation and its own conclusions. Christianity possesses the source of its justification within itself and does not expect science to constitute its primary apologetic. Science must bear witness to its own worth. While each can and should support the other as distinct dimensions of a common human culture, neither ought to assume that it forms a necessary premise for the other. The unprecedented opportunity we have today is for a common interactive relationship in which each discipline retains its integrity and yet is radically open to the discoveries and insights of the other.

But why is critical openness and mutual interchange a value for both of us? Unity involves the drive of the human mind towards understanding and the desire of the human spirit for love. When human beings seek to understand the multiplicities that surround them, when they seek to make sense of experience, they do so by bringing many factors into a common vision. Understanding is achieved when many data are unified by a common structure. The one illuminates the many: it makes sense of the whole. Simple multiplicity is chaos; an insight, a single model, can give that chaos structure and draw it into intelligibility. We move towards unity as we move towards meaning in our lives. Unity is also the consequence of love. If love is genuine, it moves not towards the assimilation of the other but towards union with the other. Human community begins in desire when that union has not been achieved, and it is completed in joy when those who have been apart are now united.

In the Church’s earliest documents, the realization of community, in the radical sense of that word, was seen as the promise and goal of the Gospel: “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing this that our joy may be complete” (1Io. 1, 3-4). Later the Church reached out to the sciences and to the arts, founding great universities and building monuments of surpassing beauty so that all things might be recapitulated in Christ (Cfr. Eph. 1, 10).

What, then, does the Church encourage in this relational unity between science and religion? First and foremost that they should come to understand one another. For too long a time they have been at arm’s length. Theology has been defined as an effort of faith to achieve understanding, as fides quaerens intellectum. As such, it must be in vital interchange today with science just as it always has been with philosophy and other forms of learning. Theology will have to call on the findings of science to one degree or another as it pursues its primary concern for the human person, the reaches of freedom, the possibilities of Christian community, the nature of belief and the intelligibility of nature and history. The vitality and significance of theology for humanity will in a profound way be reflected in its ability to incorporate these findings.

Now this is a point of delicate importance, and it has to be carefully qualified. Theology is not to incorporate indifferently each new philosophical or scientific theory. As these findings become part of the intellectual culture of the time, however, theologians must understand them and test their value in bringing out from Christian belief some of the possibilities which have not yet been realized. The hylomorphism of Aristotelian natural philosophy, for example, was adopted by the medieval theologians to help them explore the nature of the sacraments and the hypostatic union. This did not mean that the Church adjudicated the truth or falsity of the Aristotelian insight, since that is not her concern. It did mean that this was one of the rich insights offered by Greek culture, that it needed to be understood and taken seriously and tested for its value in illuminating various areas of theology. Theologians might well ask, with respect to contemporary science, philosophy and the other areas of human knowing, if they have accomplished this extraordinarily difficult process as well as did these medieval masters.

If the cosmologies of the ancient Near Eastern world could be purified and assimilated into the first chapters of Genesis, might not contemporary cosmology have something to offer to our reflections upon creation? Does an evolutionary perspective bring any light to bear upon theological anthropology, the meaning of the human person as the imago Dei, the problem of Christology – and even upon the development of doctrine itself? What, it any, are the eschatological implications of contemporary cosmology, especially in light of the vast future of our universe? Can theological method fruitfully appropriate insights from scientific methodology and the philosophy of science?

Questions of this kind can be suggested in abundance. Pursuing them further would require the sort of intense dialogue with contemporary science that has, on the whole, been lacking among those engaged in theological research and teaching. It would entail that some theologians, at least, should be sufficiently wellversed in the sciences to make authentic and creative use of the resources that the best-established theories may offer them. Such an expertise would prevent them from making uncritical and overhasty use for apologetic purposes of such recent theories as that of the “Big Bang” in cosmology. Yet it would equally keep them from discounting altogether the potential relevance of such theories to the deepening of understanding in traditional areas of theological inquiry.

In this process of mutual learning, those members of the Church who are themselves either active scientists or, in some special cases, both scientists and theologians could serve as a key resource. They can also provide a much-needed ministry to others struggling to integrate the worlds of science and religion in their own intellectual and spiritual lives, as well as to those who face difficult moral decisions in matters of technological research and application. Such bridging ministries must be nurtured and encouraged. The Church long ago recognized the importance of such links by establishing the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, in which some of the world’s leading scientists meet together regularly to discuss their researches and to convey to the larger community where the directions of discovery are tending. But much more is needed.

The matter is urgent. Contemporary developments in science challenge theology far more deeply than did the introduction of Aristotle into Western Europe in the thirteenth century. Yet these developments also offer to theology a potentially important resource. Just as Aristotelian philosophy, trough the ministry of such great scholars as St Thomas Aquinas, ultimately came to shape some of the most profound expressions of theological doctrine, so can we not hope that the sciences of today, along with all forms of human knowing, may invigorate and inform those parts of the theological enterprise that bear on the relation of nature, humanity and God?

Can science also benefit from this interchange? It would seem that it should. For science develops best when its concepts and conclusions are integrated into the broader human culture and its concerns for ultimate meaning and value. Scientists cannot, therefore, hold themselves entirely aloof from the sorts of issues dealt with by philosophers and theologians. By devoting to these issues something of the energy and care they give to their research in science, they can help others realize more fully the human potentialities of their discoveries. They can also come to appreciate for themselves that these discoveries cannot be a genuine substitute for knowledge of the truly ultimate. Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish.

For the truth of the matter is that the Church and the scientific community will inevitably interact; their options do not include isolation. Christians will inevitably assimilate the prevailing ideas about the world, and today these are deeply shaped by science. The only question is whether they will do this critically or unreflectively, with depth and nuance or with a shallowness that debases the Gospel and leaves us ashamed before history. Scientists, like all human beings, will make decisions upon what ultimately gives meaning and value to their lives and to their work. This they will do well or poorly, with the reflective depth that theological wisdom can help them attain, or with an unconsidered absolutizing of their results beyond their reasonable and proper limits.

Both the Church and the scientific community are faced with such inescapable alternatives. We shall make our choices much better of we live in a collaborative interaction in which we are called continually to be more. Only a dynamic relationship between theology and science can reveal those limits which support the integrity of either discipline, so that theology does not profess a pseudo-science and science does not become an unconscious theology. Our knowledge of each other can lead us to be more authentically ourselves. No one can read the history of the past century and not realize that crisis is upon us both. The uses of science have on more than one occasion proved massively destructive, and the reflections on religion have too often been sterile. We need each other to be what we must be, what we are called to be.

And so on this occasion of the Newton Tercentennial, the Church speaking through my ministry calls upon herself and the scientific community to intensify their constructive relations of interchange through unity. You are called to learn from one another, to renew the context in which science is done and to nourish the inculturation which vital theology demands. Each of you has everything to gain from such an interaction, and the human community which we both serve has a right to demand it from us.

Upon all who participated in the Study Week sponsored by the Holy See and upon all who will read and study the papers herein published I invoke wisdom and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ and cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 1 June, 1988.

IOANNES PAULUS PP. II

Like my Dad used to Say.

2009-10-07T11:28:00.003-06:00

"Give them two generations and they will all be living in mud huts and eating each other." (commenting on post colonial Africa)

Here is more proof the old man was right.

Bet the trip back up was not as fun

2009-09-25T20:27:00.002-06:00

110 Years Ago

2009-09-14T05:43:00.000-06:00

Henry H. Bliss stepped off a streetcar West 74th Street and Central Park West and was struck by an electric powered taxi cab. The next day Sept 15, 1899 he died of his injuries, placing him in the history books as the first person in the Western Hemisphere to be killed in an automobile accident.

Identify this Plane

2009-09-13T17:40:00.003-06:00

You don't have to get the designation completly corre2ct. For instance if it is a MiG21F MiG21 would be a good enough answer. Winner gets a free 2 wk vacation in Costa Rica, that is if they can find someone to pay their way.

If That Ain't Country Redeux

2009-09-12T10:36:00.001-06:00

Dude Looks like a Lady.

2009-09-10T15:47:00.002-06:00

South African runner ,and Crocodile Dundee test subject if there ever was one, Castor Semenya is according to one IAAF unnamed source a hermaphrodite. She looks like a man, runs like a man, wears long shorts like a man.

The report states that she has both sets of genitalia. She has no womb and no ovaries and has testicles that are internal rather that in their usual carry position. Having testicles and no ovaries will get you convicted of "possession of manhood" in all 50 states. According to another expert, when asked "What makes a man?' The Dude answered, "Yeah that and a pair of testicles." He is NOT a female and while he might wear dresses and makeup for the cameras so did Flip Wilson.

He is NOT a woman. That is not a racist or sexist opinion. Stuff it ANC you pack of crybaby commie bast@rd$.

Jack Webb schools B. Hussein Obama

2009-09-09T22:23:00.001-06:00

Remembering the 1900 Galveston Hurricane

2009-09-08T04:21:00.002-06:00

109 years ago the deadliest storm to ever hit the US struck Galveston TX. There are many estimates as to the number of dead. Usually totals from 6000 to 12000 and bandied about. The most agreed upon number is 8000.

With the highest point on the island only about 8.7 ft and the storm surge of over 15 ft the city was nearly destroyed. The highest measured wind speed was 100mph and that was from the Weather Bureau’s anemometer just before it was blown away in the storm. Estimations of winds of over 120mph and with the barometric pressure reading 28.48 inHg make is a high Cat 4 or Low Cat 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

The first telegram to reach the outside world stated "News from Galveston just received by train which could get no closer to the bay shore than six miles where Prairie was strewn with debris and dead bodies. About 200 corpses counted from train. Large Steamship stranded two miles inland. Nothing could be seen of Galveston. Loss of life and property undoubtedly most appalling. Weather clear and bright here with gentle southeast wind."

In the days before sitting on asses and waiting for the government to do something, as soon as word reached Houston the citizens mobilized and set out to do what they could. With the stunned survivors of the storm they began to dig trapped people out of the rubble and set up tents for the estimated 30,000 homeless. Funeral pyres burned day and night as there were too many dead to bury. Houses were rebuilt out of the scrap lumber left over from the destruction. People did what they could. Never waiting for the government to help them, because they realized that they the people were the government.

In 1902 construction began on the Galveston Island Seawall. The most dramatic effort to protect the city was its raising. Dredged sand was used to raise the city of Galveston by as much as 17 feet above its previous elevation. Over 2,100 buildings were raised in the process, including the 3,000-ton St. Patrick’s Church. The seawall and raising of the island were jointly named a National Historical Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2001.(wikipedia.org)

In 1915 a nearly powerful storm hit the island. While still devastating to the town only 53 people died. More people died in the 1900 storm that in all of the other tropical cyclones to strike the US combined.

Giant Toad Attacks Barrio San Francisco

2009-08-29T23:59:00.004-06:00

It was a Saturday. We had taken the wrong bus and were trying to find our way to where we were going. Then we spotted it. A giant blue eyed toad preparing to attack the barrio(neighborhood in Spanish) he was huge for a toad weighed about a pound or more and was over a foot long, (see 20oz Hunts Ketchup bottle next to him or her for scale.)

Fortunately for the denizens of Barrio San Francisco "el sapo" was discouraged by our harassment of him and he headed off into the grass to find some bugs.

Killer Dies 41 Years After Getting Away With Crime

2009-08-25T23:34:00.002-06:00

Anti-American, pro terrorist communist sympathizer and killer Ted Kennedy died today of brain cancer. Never elected President due to being a lying hack with too many skelotons in the closet and on the floor and under the bridge. He will not be missed here.

Damn shame Mary Jo Kopechne never had the chance to retire from teaching grow old and die of brain cancer surrounded by her family. She would be 69 if Ted hadn't killed her.

Another special place in hell turns on its "No Vacancy" sign.

My how big the Universe is...

2009-08-23T00:26:00.000-06:00

The universe is a big place. So big our slightly advanced ape brains cannot really conceive. Below are the specs for a scale model of our solar system where our sun is 12ft in diameter.

Mercury would be about 0.50 inches in diameter and orbit at an average distance of 499ft from the sun.

Venus would be about 1.25 inches in diameter and orbit at average distance of 932ft from the sun.

Earth would be about 1.32 inches in diameter and orbit at average distance of 1289.5ft from the sun.

Mars would be about 0.70 inches in diameter and orbit at average distance of 1964ft from the sun.

Jupiter would be about 14.43 inches in diameter and orbit at average distance of 6708ft from the sun.

Saturn would be about 12.05 inches in diameter and orbit at average distance of 12302ft from the sun.

Uranus would be about 4.86 inches in diameter and orbit at average distance of 24745.75ft from the sun.

Neptune would be about 4.70 inches in diameter and orbit at average distance of 38795ft from the sun.

Pluto would be about 0.24 inches in diameter and orbit at average distance of 50977ft from the sun.

A light year would be 15447.3miles

To Alpha Centauri 65960.1 miles

To Sirius 133465 miles

To Deneb 21657120 miles

To Galactic Center 428046359.1 miles

Size of some other stars

Hottest star 108ft dia
(Type 05)

Coolest star 23.04in dia
(Type M5)

Red giant 4500ft dia
(Betelgeuse)

White dwarf 1.44in dia
(Sirius B)

Neutron star 0.002069in dia

And your average human being would be 0.000000001351 inches tall

Yeah we are definitely causing all that climate change in the solar system.

Before NASA there was NASSA

2009-08-14T23:29:00.002-06:00

Those Got-Dammed Idiots in DC (on both sides of the aisle)

2009-08-11T00:24:00.002-06:00

Jesus H. Christ on a Popsicle stick!!

People need to quit expecting the government to take care of them from cradle to grave. don't have health insurance? Get it. Job doesn't offer it? Buy your own plan or get another job that does offer it. Can't pay your mortgage? Move into a place you can afford. Can't pay your credit cards? File bankruptcy. Maybe you shouldn't have charged em up in the first place.

I for one am damned tired of my taxes going to bail out people for their stupid mistakes. I am also damned tired of my taxes being used to prop up failing companies. Let em go broke. If half of the banks and GM and Dodge went under, other companies, other people seeing opportunity would step in take up the slack and go forward. To sum it up. (too late) The Government needs to quit subsidizing failure. I don't care which side of the aisle they are on, vote to subsidize failure and I wont vote for you for dog catcher.

Goodness sakes the USA is the most prosperous country on the face of the earth. Quit sitting around bitching and whining about the fact that the rich people don't pay enough taxes to give you what you want for free. Get your ass off the couch and work hard. Hell in America a half idiot spend thrift can disguise himself as a conservative and be President. Even a Jew hating, pro terrorist Naval Academy grad can get in for one term.

Just take all the time that you spend whining and bitching about not having what you want and do something about your situation. Get a better job. Network to see what is out there. Take on a part time job. Start a home business. Bake a mean apple pie? Bake five and go to the local bus station and sell em. Make sure to put your phone number and email address on a card and include it. Maybe next time you will have to bake ten.

Stop hating people for being rich and successful and envy them instead. Learn from them. Read about them, talk to the owner of your company, or the guy down the street that owns his own business. Try to build your wealth instead of insisting that the government take someone's and give it to you.

And I Thought Vikings Could Navigate (or Common Sense Is Not All That Common)

2009-07-28T11:30:00.003-06:00

It seems that a Swedish couple typed their destination into the GPS unit in their car wrong. Instead of ending up at the Island of Capri in Italy they ended up in Carpi Italy some 400 miles away. I think Leif Erickson would be ashamed. Story here.

San Pedro Church

2009-07-26T13:20:00.004-06:00

This is the main church in San Pedro. Right on the main drag and very busy place on Sundays as well as on other days of the week. There is a mall across the street and less than a block from City Hall.

Another shot showing the steeple. Taken in the afternoon and yes it is getting ready to rain.

Better look at the statue on the roof.

Store hours.

Pic of the front doors. One fo the best features of this church.

Left door.

Right door.

Close up of the detail on the door.

Weekly Call Center Funnies

2009-07-25T02:17:00.002-06:00

I work in a call center monitoring calls for a certain American car company that has a strong following in the UK. Some things said on the phone will make you laugh.

Best comeback by an agent.
Agent: "This call may be monitored or recorded for quality control purposes."

Caller: "So that means I can't cuss?"

Agent: "No sir it means I can't."

Funniest Little old lady. Agent: So ma'am this is c as in Charlie and d as in delta?"

LoL: "No, that is not d as in delta it is b as in bomb."

Funniest name that should be rated R. Well I thought it was gonna be a tie between M. Schwakoff and Lester Morrass. But late on Friday there was a late entry (so to speak) Bill Dickovick. Clearly the winner by a um length.

Funniest name PG or better. Again the Brits run away with this on. You have to think his dad either had a sense of humor or knew what he would be doing the first 2 years or so of his life. The best name this week is .................Phil Diaper.

Best simile by an Englishman........ "That is as daft as a mission statement."

One Small Step...

2009-07-20T07:31:00.004-06:00

40 years ago tonight my mom got me out of bed and plopped me down in front of the black and white tv and made me watch Neil and Buzz walk on the moon. This is probably the single greatest event in the history of man so far.

Then some moron in Congress, Sen Walter Mondale to be exact, made sure that Apollo 18, 19, and 20 were canceled. To top it off some genius at NASA decided that our next step was to build a shuttle that could get into Earth orbit and then build a space station so that this shuttle would have some place to go. Looks like it will be private enterprise that will finally get man to Mars and beyond. Hell, we are gonna have to hitch rides to the space station from the Russians in a couple of years. I am sure John Kennedy would be proud.

US Government Recognizes Texas as Independant Country!

2009-07-19T08:45:00.000-06:00

It is official. From the State Department web site.

Another Church in Cartago

2009-07-18T09:45:00.001-06:00

Church of the Covenant of St Francis in Cartago Costa Rica. Note "guy with no legs" in foreground. Most churches have at least one on the steps every Sunday. These pics were taken on a Sunday.

Better shot of the tower.

Historical marker for church. Surprisingly it is in both Spanish and English.

Part Two

Part three.

Statue of St Francis petting a wolf. (Children, do not try this at home.)

Statue in alcove just to the right of the entrance to the church.

Hideous 1970's Elvis chic light fixture just above the door to the church.

The Giant Cone of Cartago

2009-07-17T17:58:00.002-06:00

I have no clue what it is doing there in the park next to the ruins I posted a few days ago. It is tall, solid concrete appears to have been built in sections and assembled on site.

Better look at the base. It is about 4 to 5 ft in diameter and about 30 to 40 ft tall. Note the use of igneous aggregate in the concrete instead of the limestone you usually see in most concrete.

Socialism and other EEEEVIL Things in Costa Rica

2009-07-16T22:07:00.004-06:00

There was a comment left on my blog the other day. And I am not one to edit or moderate comments. Say what you want. I also tend to join in the discussion there as well as answer questions posed by readers.

A reader made a comment that I will quote here and try not to take out of context. If you want to read it in context just look at Saturday's Pic post. It read "As much as I want to visit Costa Rica, it is a socialist country" I guess that would depend on how you define socialism. Webster says " a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole." I don' think that defines Costa Rica. Lots of capitalism going on here. On my less than 1/2 mile bus ride to work I regularly pass a guy selling strawberries off his three wheeled bike/wagon contraption, a family run fruit stand and about 4 people selling jewelry they made. Then 2 different guys selling vegetables and fruit out of the back of their trucks. Not to mention the guy with the station wagon full of eggs and a loudspeaker on the roof announcing "Huevos!!!" at 6am in some sort of twisted homage to The Blues Brothers.

There is socialized medicine here. It is kinda wrapped into social security and you are taxed on it out of your paycheck. Hmm just like in the USA. All legal residents and citizens can use them. . And there are also private hospitals and private medical programs. Where I work there are a lot of Gringos and others that do not qualify for the free public hospitals. But in our building there is a doctor, a dentist, a psychologist, and a pharmacy. All free to employees. And you can add your family for a small fee a month. Even private health care is cheap. I had to get an eye exam and new lenses in my old frames (ok I like em a lot) cost me a grand total for exam and lenses $24. Polycarbonate lenses with scratch proof coating. Custom cut to fit my frames. All while I waited. A mammogram (I dont need one) will set you back about $20 if that. I pay less for medical services here than I would my co-pay in the US.

I am not an advocate of socialized anything. And every country has to come up with its own solutions to its problems. Differences in culture will prevent one solution from working everywhere. What they have here works. Everyone gets 10% off the top of their check. And that is it.

Costa Rica has freedoms here that Americans have decided that they will give up one way or another. Paint your house like you want, if your neighbors don't like the color they might talk bad about you, but they wont sue you nor will they sic that petty bunch of busy bodies known as the home owner's association on you. Want to add a room to your house? Add a floor, build some apartments on the vacant lot you just bought? Well do it. No need to get any permits and no need for that washed up general contractor turned building inspector to come by and look at your handiwork. Do buildings fall down? Yes. Do they catch fire? Yes. In the US where there are laws to prevent shoddy building practices, buildings fall over, buildings catch fire and people die but there are no petty govt types getting in your business, unless your new apartment building falls over onto your neighbors new bedroom. Want to leave a junk car in front of your house? A pile of bricks you don't need?Not into the whole landscaping thing? Just let it grow to be 3 ft tall if you want. No one will say anything so just do it. Someone might take the bricks. Lock the junk car or you might find a bum sleeping in the back seat in the morning. Traffic laws got you down? Ignore them. There are no cops here that specifically enforce traffic laws. Does it make for interesting driving? Damn right it does. Then again ever been on LBJ Freeway in Dallas?

There is a sense of freedom from regulation and government bs and red tape that I cannot recall in the US. I like it. People just doing their own thing, making money, raising babies and watching soccer. Can't imagine what the egg guy would say if he were told he would need a permit from the health department to sell his eggs. He has a good product, he knows if he sells bad eggs his customers will spend a day in the john and then find a new guy to buy their eggs from. Profit is the motivation here not regulation.

Ruinas de la Parroquia Cartago Costa Rica

2009-07-15T23:07:00.006-06:00

Roughly Translated this plaque reads: Location of the first Church of Cartogo Parish dedicated to Saint James the Apostle, Patron Saint of Spain in 1575. Rebuilt various times during the Colonial Period (15XX to 1820) Totally destroyed during the San Antolin Earthquake on 2 Sep 1841. Rebuilt and then left in this state after the earthquake of 4 May 1910.

View of ruins looking East. Note that like all churches here the main entrance faces West.

Another view of the West face of the ruins

This Plaque has the names of the Signers of the Costa Rican Declaration of Independence that were from the Cartago area.

Southwest corner of ruins.

Ruins of a staircase in SW corner of ruins.

Interior of ruins. If I were a vampire I would hide my coffin in here.

People relaxing near the West wall south side of entrance.

Main Tower. Note my "tour guide" for size comparison. He is about 5'10"

A close up of my "tour guide/interpreter". Legend has it that this location is cursed. Shortly before the first destruction of the church, a priest at the church was involved in a love triangle with a local woman. And then either the priest murdered his lover's husband or the husband murdered the priest. Either way shortly after that the earthquake struck. When the church was rebuilt and then shortly destroyed again by another earthquake, people decided that God did not want a church here. So they built a new church a few blocks away. It is a nice legend, but doubt it is true. A Catholic priest and a woman? PLEASE!!!

Pics from Saturday.

2009-07-13T22:14:00.003-06:00

Shun Fa, My favorite Chinese resturant. Next door to Lourdes Church.

Kids and dad feeding pigeons in Plaza de Cultura in downtown San Jose.

Most houses here look more like this.....

than this. Although both house photos were taken from the same spot. I just turned
90 degrees to the right to take this photo.

Now He Belongs to the Ages. . .

2009-07-11T10:12:00.002-06:00

Ted Kenna, who died on July 8 aged 90, was the last surviving Australian Victoria Cross recipient of the Second World War.

Here is the citation for his award:

War Office, 6th September, 1945.

The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the VICTORIA CROSS to: No. VX. 102142 Private Edward KENNA, 2/4 Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian Military Forces.

In the South West Pacific at Wewak on 15th May, 1945, during the attack on the Wirui Mission features, Private Kenna's company had the task of capturing certain enemy positions. The only position from which observation for supporting fire could be obtained was continuously swept by enemy heavy machine gun fire and it was not possible to bring Artillery or Mortars into action.

Private Kenna's platoon was ordered forward to deal with the enemy machine gun post, so that the company operation could proceed. His section moved as close as possible to the bunker in order to harass any enemy seen, so that the remainder of the platoon could attack from the flank. When the attacking sections came into view of the enemy they were immediately engaged at very close range by heavy automatic fire from a position not previously disclosed. Casualties were suffered and the attackers could not move further forward.

Private Kenna endeavoured to put his Bren gun into a position where he could engage the bunker, but was unable to do so because of the nature of the ground. On his own initiative and without orders Private Kenna immediately stood up in full view of the enemy less than fifty yards away and engaged the bunker, firing his Bren gun from the hip. The enemy machine gun immediately returned Private Kenna's fire and with such accuracy that bullets actually passed between his arms and his body. Undeterred, he remained completely exposed and continued to fire at the enemy until his magazine was exhausted. Still making a target of himself, Private Kenna discarded his Bren gun and called for a rifle. Despite the intense machine gun fire, he seized the rifle and, with amazing coolness, killed the gunner with his first round.

A second automatic opened fire on Private Kenna from a different position and another of the enemy immediately tried to move into position behind the first machine gun, but Private Kenna remained standing and killed him with his next round.

The result of Private Kenna's magnificent bravery in the face of concentrated fire, was that the bunker was captured without further loss, and the company attack proceeded to a successful conclusion, many enemy being killed and numerous automatic weapons captured.

There is no doubt that the success of the company attack would have been seriously endangered and many casualties sustained but for Private Kenna's magnificent courage and complete disregard for his own safety. His action was an outstanding example of the highest degree of bravery.

To Sit or Not to Sit.

2009-07-08T23:30:00.002-06:00

Reprinted from http://www.thenakedscientists.com A damned fine article by John Gamel. See Dems and liberal reporters...it is easy not to plagiarize. Just give credit where it is due.

Why men should stand to pee...

Western Europe is abuzz with the latest flare-up in the war between the sexes, and for the moment, the Amazons seem to be winning. If outrage continues to mount, it will soon be not just uncool and politically incorrect for a man to urinate while standing up, but out-and-out ILLEGAL. Yes, the liberated women of France and Germany and Holland have vowed to put their men down – on the toilet. They carry placards showing a huge red X scrawled across a man standing to urinate. They shout: “Laissez tomber votre pantalon, et asseyez vous! (Drop your trousers and sit)!” “Behalte deine Tropfen fuer dich (Keep your drips to yourself)!” “Toch niet weer een vieze plas op MIJN badkamer vloer (Not another filthy puddle on MY bathroom floor)!”

Their motives, or so they insist, have nothing to do with penis envy and everything to do with hygiene. On the face of it, their argument seems to, uh, hold water. No one enjoys stepping in a puddle of urine. Given the distance between the toilet bowl and the penis of an upright man (approximately two feet, depending on anatomic variations), and factoring in the width of the bowl itself (approximately twelve inches), it becomes clear that only the sharpest aim can hit the target every time. In such a precarious setting, even a moment’s loss of focus will scatter errant drops on the floor. On the other hand, if every man sits to urinate, the bathroom floors of Europe will remain pristine. Or so goes the logic of the Amazons.

Forgive me, madams, but I beg to differ. Before joining the fray, let me establish my credentials: during my life, I have urinated approximately 118,000 times (five times a day for sixty-five years) and on countless occasions have watched other males urinate in public restrooms. (I am not a voyeur, of course; all of these glimpses were caught from corner of my eye, with no intention to invade the privacy of others.) Furthermore, during medical school, I spent four years studying the human body. Combining my knowledge from these sources, I must warn the mothers and wives and cohabitees of Europe that their efforts to sustain the purity of their bathroom floors will surely come to naught, defeated by the anatomy and physiology of the male genitourinary tract.

The first fact to be faced: most of the stray “sprinkles” that so enrage European women occur not during the act of urination itself, but immediately afterward, during a ritual men learn as part of their potty training. By “ritual” I refer to the various maneuvers required to discharge the urine remaining in the urethra (the muscular tube that delivers urine to the tip of the penis) once the bladder is empty. Nor is the act merely symbolic or recreational. A man who tucks away his penis without performing these maneuvers will dribble half an ounce of urine into his underwear, causing an embarrassing stain in the crotch of his trousers, or an even more embarrassing streak down his trouser leg. To avoid this debacle, every sentient male, after every urination, carefully squeezes or “milks” his member to assure that no stray drops remain within the urethra.

Unfortunately, some men pursue this goal with excessive vigor, indulging in what can only be described as “shaking off the last drop.” It is precisely these movements – and not the free-falling stream itself – that deposit most of the unwanted urine on lavatory floors throughout the world. And sometimes, given a sufficiently vigorous shake, on the walls, or even on the ceiling.

Let me interrupt my argument for a moment to address the mortified gasps from some female readers. I know your “drying off” ritual is far more civilized than the one described above, but this difference derives only in part from the inherent uncouthness of men. We must also consider anatomy: the female urethra spans only a minuscule length in comparison to that of the male, and as a result, it harbors only a tiny dollop of urine. The male ritual seems barbaric to women because they need only daub themselves with a tissue to remove the few drops remaining on the external genitalia. Granted, their method is more aesthetic, but it’s not our fault that a discrete little wipe doesn’t serve our needs. We can’t help it. No one decides to be a man instead of a woman.

To reiterate my point, men scatter urine not so much during the actual urination as during the “shaking off” that follows. As a result, forcing men to sit while emptying their bladders will serve little purpose, since no man wants to shake himself off while remaining seated on the toilet. To do so he must run the risk – a great risk indeed for the famously well-endowed men of Western Europe – that his instrument will bash against the toilet seat, or dip into a bowl teeming with coliform bacteria. Because of this reasonable and compelling reluctance, all the obedient men who sit to void their bladders will inevitably defeat the purpose of sitting by rising to scatter their offensive droplets on the floor.

But all is not lost. Eons ago, a hydraulic genius designed the perfect instrument for receiving urine from the male organ with a minimum of mess and bother. I speak here of the lowly urinal, the gleaming porcelain icon that adorns public toilets throughout the western world. For those female readers who have never visited a men’s restroom, let me describe this icon: its bowl is broad as a toilet bowl but sits much higher from the floor, at just the right level to encourage a direct hit from a majority of the men who stand before it. Better yet, the urinal comes with a back-splash to catch any misguided drops, while the push of a button flushes all its surfaces with a cleansing gush of water. Voila! What more could a man or woman ask?

Any nation that bans urinals will pay for this folly with an increase in floor soiling when millions of men stand up to shake off their drops over a toilet located two feet below their penis. Let us remember that the toilet was designed for defecation rather than urination, and, as noted above, it serves the latter purpose rather poorly, while for the urinal, the very opposite is true.

Unfortunately, urinals give no help on the family front, since few of them are installed in private homes. But we must not lose hope – the solution is at hand. In fact, every home already contains the solution, and it rests only a few feet from the toilet itself. Let us consider the sink, a porcelain instrument whose opening spans a greater width than the toilet, and whose height above the floor brings it much closer to the average male instrument. The short-legged among us must stand on our toes, while midgets and children will need to use a stool, but this is a small price to pay for urine-free floors. By my calculation, considering only the physics of hydraulic trajectory, urine aimed at a sink by a man of normal height is eight and one-half times less likely to go astray than when aimed at a toilet. Furthermore, this logic applies equally to both urination and to the drip-dispersing ritual that follows.

Yes, I can hear the howls of protest: urine in the sink – yuck! Indeed, our culture is replete with disparaging references – “piss on it,” “filthy as piss,” “I don’t give a piss” – but rest assured that such prejudice is for the most part misguided. Which is to say, urine has long suffered a bum rap. To quote Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary:

Urine: liquid to semisolid matter that is produced in the kidney and discharged through the urinary organs, that is typically (as in normal man) a clear transparent amber-colored slightly acid fluid which is essentially a watery solution of end products (as urea, uric acid, and creatinine) of protein metabolism, inorganic salts, and complex pigments, and that constitutes the major true excretion of the vertebrate body.

What Merriam-Webster leaves out is the most important fact of all: urine from a normal male is also sterile – completely free of bacterial contamination. In fact, as any soldier trained in desert warfare will attest, this warm, salty liquid serves as an excellent wound cleanser, provided contamination is avoided by delivering the stream directly from its source. In my paean to urine, however, I will not go so far as to advocate urophagia – drinking ones own urine. Though the habit is unlikely to cause serious harm, those “alternative” practitioners who insist it will cure a variety of ills can offer not one jot of scientific evidence to support this idiocy.

Despite urine’s innocuous nature, when contaminated it provokes an aesthetic and hygienic disaster by offering an excellent growth medium for bacteria. After an hour or two in a warm environment, these organisms produce breakdown products that stink to high heaven. This problem is easily avoided, however, by the simple expedient of washing away the urine soon after it is voided.

So at last we have the solution to our excretory dilemma. First, encourage men to continue using the urinals in public toilets, while at home insist they both urinate and squeeze their last dribbles into the sink rather than into the toilet, then rinse the sink with a generous splash of water. To facilitate this splash, the wise hostess will keep a plastic cup nearby. Let me close my argument by noting that this procedure offers a spectacular bonus: even the most efficient modern toilet consumes more than a gallon of water with each flush, while a sink can be rinsed with only a few ounces. Thus if every man on earth pursues this excellent regimen, we will save billions of gallons of water every day, thereby preserving the environment for future generations.

Make your woman happy.

Be clean and green.

Piss in the sink!

Cleaning out funny pic folder.....

2009-07-07T08:52:00.002-06:00

Local flavor.

2009-07-04T12:15:00.003-06:00

Had my first experience with Costa Rican sausage this week. I found mine in one of the many places where sausages are offered for consumption. Or you can take them home and consume them in the comfort of your own home. Having never had Costa Rican Sausage before I was curious to try one, or maybe even two or three at the same setting.

After studying several packages, handling them, squeezing and feeling the weight I selected the package that I thought would best suit my needs.

The sausages here are about that same length on average but tend to be a bit darker. also they are a bit thinner than I prefer. But I was determined to enjoy them, because if I want sausage while I am down here I need to get used to the local brands. You can get some American brands but they are hard to find and expensive.

It was not until I got my local sausage out of the package and started to heat it up for consumption that I noticed that there was an extra skin covering my sausage and by the time I noticed it it was too late. The sausage exploded from all the internal pressure of trying to expand through this outer skin. I was left with a mess to clean up. but now I know better.

Peel the outer skin off your hot dogs before you microwave them. What did you think I was talking about?

Its Getting Weird out There

2009-07-03T09:45:00.001-06:00

This just in from the AP

MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities say two professional wrestlers found dead in a low-rent hotel in the capital may have been drugged to death by female robbers.

Autopsies are being performed on the two midget wrestlers, one of whom went by the name "La Parkita" — or "Little Death" — and wore a skeleton costume in the ring. The other was known as "Espectrito Jr."

Authorities say two women were seen leaving the men's hotel room before the bodies were discovered.

Prosecutor Miguel Angel Mancera said Wednesday that gangs of female robbers are experienced at using drugs to knock men out and rob them, but they may have used too strong a dose.

That may have been because of the wrestlers' small stature, although larger men have also died in similar crimes.

The image projected into the mind's eye... Is this sad or funny?

Mrs Slocum, Are you free?

2009-07-01T23:40:00.004-06:00

Mollie Sugden, the actress that played Mrs Slocum on Are You Being Served passed away today at the age of 86. Amazing woman and a damned fine actress. The world is just a little less funny now. I wonder what will become of her "pussy"?

Places (Here and There)

2009-06-25T00:14:00.005-06:00

This is Banco Nacional. One of the state owned banks in Costa Rica. This is the main branch in San Pedro. When open an armed guard stands our front with what looks like an R-4.

The bandstand at Parque San Pedro. (Actually across the street from the above bank.) On weekends sometimes there is live music here. On weekdays, bums sleep out of the rain.

Typical Costa Rican sidewalk. this one is actually better than most.

Another government owned bank.

People (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)

2009-06-24T11:43:00.003-06:00

This is the "Fresca Man"(straw hat) . He sells strawberries (frescas) down the street from where I live. As the sign says you can get three baskets for 1000 colones ($1.75). He is a nice guy and always waves at the buses and cars that go by. I buy my frescas from him.

Here is one of the local cops. Not the Federal police, they usually have on Kevlar vests and are a bit better armed. I took this picture because he is talking to a guy that is breaking the law. Selling stuff on the street is illegal, but no one cares.

Download and enlarge this pic to understand all I will explain. The guy in the black and white velour track suit and white shoes has on the worst rug I have ever seen in the Western Hemisphere. My shot was just a fraction of a second too soon to capture his leering and attempted pickup of the tica in the pink blouse. If you have enlarged the pic (sorry my camera sux) you will notice a small patch of black on his upper lip. I first thought it was a mustache, but when I moved closer to check out the hottie on the far right wearing the blue shirt with the backpack.(He is standing in a McDonalds next door) I realized it is actually very long nose hairs forming a sort of Hitler stach.

Driving in Costa Rica

2009-06-19T19:32:00.006-06:00

I was checking my stats for the day and there was quite a spike in readership. That can mean only one of two things, either ElCapitan or Army of Mom plugged me in their blog post of the day.

It was El Cap. Once again railing about the driving habits of Los hispanicos de Tejas. He asked a question that I am now going to answer. How are the Drivers in Latin America, well in Costa Rica anyway?

There are only 2 things more dangerous than driving in Costa Rica. They are in no particular order; jaguar testicle thumping and French kissing a Fer-De_Lance. There are traffic laws here, but no police are assigned to enforce them. People speed, pass on the right, on the left, on the sidewalk. They never stop for stop signs and rarely for stop lights. There seem to be no rules on what size vehicle can be on what kind of road. I have seen 18 wheelers go down my street (residential). they were no doubt lost. I have nicknames for the bus drivers that work the routes I ride regularly. Parnelli Jones, Slowpoke Rodiguez, Middle of the Road Manuel, and the most dangerous one... Foster Brooks Cuervo.

Examples of crazy stuff I have witnessed:

A bus stops on a two lane road to let off passengers. cars coming both in front of and behind the bus will try and use that other lane to get by. Other cars will try and pass on the sidewalk if there is room and no open storm sewer.

Two male drivers will not under any circumstances yeild to one another. I was on a bus and another bus was beside us. There was a car double parked making only enough room for one bus to pass at a time. We sit there for (I timed it) 8 minutes until the driver of the double parked car moved because neither driver would let the other one go first. And the whole time both bus drivers were blowing their horns and so were about 300 cars behind us.

Add to this that the street maintence here is nonexistent. Down the street from where I live that is a pot hole that has been there so long there is now a 10ft tree growing out of it. Diameter of the trunk at the base is about 6-8 inches at least. People just go around it None of the streets are named and none of the houses have numbers on them. So no one really knows for sure where they are going half the time.

Let's say there is a wreck. Law requires that neither car can be moved, not even off the Auto Pista (freeway) until the police investigate and all the involved insurance companies adjusters finish all the paper work.

That is why I ride the bus and will never own a car here. And you are not even safe in a parking lot or your garage. The major pastimes in Costa Rica are soccer and car theft.

La Sabanna Park

2009-06-18T22:47:00.004-06:00

La Sabanna Park is one of the largest if not the largest municipal parks in the Central Valley in Costa Rica. Here is a nice view of the lake with the mountains in the background.

The park has large areas of these very tall (40+ft) trees. Very tall and very straight.

More of the trees here.

Here is one of the roads that wind through the park. One must watch out for cars because no one obeys the traffic laws here and they will run over you.

A large art thing in the park. Not sure what it is or what it means. Notice the lack of "manicured" landscaping. Grass is allowed to grow here and not much edging on the sidewalks either.

This work is called "Stack those defective bridge beams over there and paint them red".

Bamboo grows very tall here. This buch is probably 35 or more feet tall.

Here are a few pics that will make you think this is a park just about anywhere in the USA. Momma duck out with the little ones for a late morning swim.

Pigeons, they are truly everywhere we are.

Chinese man fishing in water too dirty to fight fires with.

And last but certainly not least. Mutant Duck!!!

Another Top Ten List

2009-06-16T11:38:00.000-06:00

Top Ten Things You Will NEVER Hear in a John Wayne Movie.

10. "Free Range Organic corn-dodger?"

9. "Maybe if I had sat down and tried to talk to Lucky Ned Pepper I could of avoided this violent and probably illegal confrontation?"

8. "I feel your pain!"

7. As Genghis Khan "Feel free to loot and burn but do it in a way that respects their culture."

6." I wonder if our campfire is contributing to global warming?"

5. "Fill your hand you person of suspect birth!"

4. "I think changing your name from Black Bart to The Emo Kid might help your image."

3. "Today my jurisdiction ends....Here!"

2. "What we need out here in the West is more government oversight and regulation."

1. "We should offer them a chance to surrender before we open fire."

True Grit, Then and Now

2009-06-14T18:04:00.004-06:00

True Grit is,in my opinion, the best western of all time. And it seems that I am not alone in that opinion. It was filmed in and around Ridgeway Colorado and one of the locals did this bang up job of looking at the locations from the film. Enjoy.

USAF Test New All Weather Interceptor.

2009-06-12T11:26:00.004-06:00

(AP)The USAF, facing severe budget cuts, unveiled their new cost cutting F-7.5 also known as "The Appeaser" Manufactured by Chamberlin Aeronautics in the Czech Republic. It is able to "project force without frightening our enemies.

According to Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor "the enemies of our country should be free of the oppressive fear of our military, they should fear our strongly worded letters and UN Resolutions instead." She also affirmed that the US Constitution affirms the right of our enemies to be free of such oppression. When asked where in the Constitution does it grant that right, she shrugged her shoulders and said "Its there, any woman of color can see it in a minute."

President B. Hussein Obama added that "Treaties with dangerous regimes be less costly than fighting them, and we can trust them to honor their agreements, if they didn't plan to honor them why uh , um uh, um ,(teleprompter malfunction) why would they take the time to forge the agreement in the first place?"

Next month the Army will unveil its new Nerf Tank.

Things I have done. Another meme from El Capitan

2009-06-09T20:29:00.002-06:00

Things I have done are in bold.

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars
Many many times….

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower
I try not to miss em

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain
Baldy Peak, NM, 12,441 ft.

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris TX

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning
Twice

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables
Yep every year

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

Cant remember on what charges

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse
Lunar yes, solar no.

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo's David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

Not fun at all.

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check
check? No checks yes

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

From what?

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

Got a piece on a quilt though.

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone
arm twice. Leg 4 times, collarbone.

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible
The devil did it..
86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
Fish, fowl and beast.

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit
Sued an insurance company. I won!!!!!

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Read an entire book in one day

Top Ten Oddities About Costa Rica

2009-06-08T20:04:00.006-06:00

Here are the top ten odd things about this country that indicate you are no longer in the States.

10. Hardly any buildings have air-conditioning. Actually most are open to the outside with a roof just to keep the rain out.

9. Bus stops on the side of the freeway. Not on the access road ON THE FREEWAY. Right on the shoulder. If you need a bus just stand on the shoulder of the freeway and whether or not there is a stop there just flag down the bus you need. It will stop in the right lane and let you on.

8. Every sidewalk here just like in the States has to have those disabled ramps. But the sidewalks are so bad here that all the wheelchair bound types go right down the road and avoid the sidewalks.

7. I estimate that taxi cabs make up 10 to 20% of cars in this country. You can never look at a street without seeing at least one and I have counted 28 parked on one block.

6. The grocery store comes to you. Every morning a guy drives buy and sells eggs out of his truck, later here comes the fruit and veg guy, then the milk guy and lastly the meat guy. I just sit outside and buy what comes down the street. And the prices are cheaper than going to the store and the produce and eggs are fresher.

5. When two cars collide, law requires that neither vehicle can be moved at all until the police and insurance adjusters are at the scene and have completed all the paperwork. Can you say 5 hour traffic jams?

4. The word for pedestrian and target are the same in this country. Personas a la pie are fair game here.

3. The doors to the public restroom are open so people walking by have a clear view of the urinals. And the cleaning lady (always seem to be a female) that is cleaning the bathroom will just come in and start cleaning even if there are guys in there "availing themselves of the facilities.

2. McDonalds tastes worse than the States, KFC is better, All pizza sux cause no one knows you are supposed to use high gluten flour to make the crust, Quiznos is about the same. See here for info on Taco Bell.

1. At 7am every morning, all Costa Rican radio stations play the National Anthem, and many play it again at night. Why did we stop doing this in our country?

Thanks to all the Grampas out there. . . .

2009-06-06T17:08:00.003-06:00

That started the ugly job of liberating Europe 65 years ago. And remembering all of their friends that never came home to marry and have children and grandchildren.

How Nature Says "Do not Touch!"

2009-06-05T08:44:00.002-06:00

100 things pt. 4

2009-06-04T13:07:00.002-06:00

Finally the last installment.

76. Hunting a hippo with a handgun, maybe going after a bear with a few spears and a bow and arrow(need more practice). That would be fun.

77. I only own two flavors of socks. That way I have an easier time mating them up.

78. I do not like eating recognizable body parts. I prefer my chicken off the bone. Nuggets, tenders and the like are the only way I eat it.

79. As far as book trilogy's go I cannot decide if I like Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien or Foundation by Isaac Asimov better.

80. I hate when the frigate birds swoop down and eat all the baby turtles as they try to make it to the sea. Win Mod 12 28bbl mod choke and a butt load of ammo. I would make a pile of dead frigate birds like the world has never seen.

81. Now that I am in Central America I am close to a lot of countries that might be fun to visit and don't require a lot of extra paperwork, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, El Salvador, Cuba all come to mind.

82. I like my steak medium, with just a little pink in the middle.

83. I share a birthday with Lou Brock, Roger Ebert, Sir Paul McCartney, and Bruiser Brody.

84. I don’t trust people who hold their arms so stiff that their elbows don’t bend, and their arms don’t sway when they walk.

85. I like my bacon very crispy.

86. I love pickles all kinds all the time.

87. I've never been skiing or snowboarding. But I would like to go waterboarding.

88. I like Dr. Pepper hot. Not room temp but hot with lemon juice.

89. I have a very sarcastic sense of humor.

90. You cannot find a more loyal friend or dedicated enemy.

91. I believe in miracles--like sausage, bacon, and ham all coming from the same animal.

92. I can't automatically tell the difference between left and right - I've got to think about it for a second first. But I can always find north.

93. Although I try very hard to fight it, I'm a Mac snob.

94. My favorite Sesame Street character is the Count.

95. No one believes I made a 1530 on the SAT (1600pt scale). BUT I DID!!!!!!

96. I have memorized both Monty Python's Holy Grail and The Blues Brothers. I love watching them alone and reciting all the lines.

97. I want this certain Jaguar that I know I will never get. But it’s the car I most lust after.

98. Believe Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, and Ray Charles were the voices of the 20th Century.

99. My middle name is Albert.

100. I am single because it just never seems to work out.

More Pics for Your Pleasure.

2009-06-03T10:21:00.002-06:00

This was taken up the street from Soda San Bosco. You can see the Coke sign on the right side of the road. And I just noticed the year on the date is wrong, these were taken in 2009.
Another small store. This one sells soft drinks fairly cheap. Still have not found Dr. Pepper down here yet. If you turn left at the white house in the background and walk about two blocks you will find my house.
Just your average street in my neighborhood. Always a hill to walk up or down.
Above is my favorite place to dine out in Costa Rica. So far. Soda San Bosco. You can get enough food to choke a wood chipper for less that $5 The grey POS in front of the place belongs to the owner.
Costa Rica's version of the corner store. They have good prices here and very fresh produce.
Love comes in all variety here in CR. Yep that's two guys walking very close together

100 Things About Me Pt 3.

2009-06-02T01:44:00.005-06:00

51. I masterminded something that helped bring down a university president. Maybe one day this
story can be told.

52. I spend more on books each year than John Edwards spends on hairspray.

53. I believe in the right to bear arms. I think people should be allowed to own just about any weapon they want to own and can afford to own. Pistols, rifles, sawed off shotguns, assault rifles, machine guns,sub-machine guns, heavy machine guns, crew served weapons, artillery, heavy artillery,anti-aircraft artillery, SAM batteries, hand held SAMs, anti-tank missiles, anti-tank and anti-personal mines, air or sea launched torpedoes. In 1789 the average citizen was able to purchase and posses EVERY weapon that was available to the Army and Navy and yet no one saw fit to pass any laws restricting their possession by citizens. Our constitution is the same as now so why should today be any different?

54. I notice all too many times how women use their sexuality to control men. I get very amused when one tries it on me and it fails to work.

55. I think just about any dish can be improved with the addition of onions.

56. No matter how hard I try I cannot keep my bedroom uncluttered. Now I have a housekeeper and it is still cluttered.

57. I have never met a bowl of beans I didn't like.

58. When I see couples touch each other, I always wonder how they decided to do it at that particular time and place, and whether they really feel like it or are contriving it.

59. I walk rather slow and usually get left behind to fend for myself.

60. A good lunch; grilled cheese sandwich, dill pickle spears and tomato soup.

61. The hospital I was born in was demolished and now there is a grocery store there.

62. I do not like having my picture taken

63. My first pets were a pair of turtles that lived in an aquarium. I had to leave them in VA when we moved back from there.

64. I don’t like to be late and will usually be at least 15 minutes early to events or meetings.

65. I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate.

66. I tried shaving my head once. But I have a pronounced sagittal crest so I appear more Klingon than human with my skull exposed.

67. I sometimes have a dream that I am back in college and with only one week until finals I suddenly realize that I have totally forgotten about a class. I showed up the first day but not since. The rest of the dream is about my desperate scramble to at least get a B in the class.

68. I have a great recipe for ice.

69. I have a large capacity to store useless information in my brain making me a formidable competitor in Trivial Pursuit

70. I hate reality TV. But would love to produce my own reality series called, "Tied to a Cape Buffalo".

71. If you ask me a question, you know I’ll give you the honest to God truth. If you don’t want to know, don’t ask.

72. I have no problem with the designated hitter rule. What's so great about having a 90% guaranteed strikeout every nine batters? However, I'm less impressed with people who make a career of only being a designated hitter, like Edgar Martinez. He was a great hitter, but hitting is only a part of baseball.

73. I try not to sleep under the covers. I sleep on top with a blanket. That way it’s easier and quicker to make the bed in the morning. Plus, even though I don’t like to be cold, I prefer it be a bit on the cool side when I’m sleeping.

74. Mosquitoes and other blood sucking insects avoid me. On the rare occasion that a mosquito will attempt to feed on my it dies. I know not why.

75. When I'm old I WILL be strange, angry and unpredictable - While I laugh inside

Enjoy

2009-06-01T11:39:00.001-06:00

I always did like a little pineapple in my spaghetti. Been busy today. My Newfie housemate was making clam chowder and I was forced to help him eat it. So a light posting day for Monday

100 things about me Pt 2

2009-05-31T13:10:00.002-06:00

See my earlier post for 1-25.

26. My earliest memory is watching Neil and Buzz on the moon. I was 25 months old.

27. When I was a kid, John Wayne was my hero. I still think he was a hell of a guy.

28. I weigh about 100 lbs more than I want to weigh.

29. Politically I am conservative but do not blindly follow the Republicans. I have issues with them as well. Usually involving them caving in to the liberals

30. I can tie a bow tie. I can tie a regular tie and I never wear clip ons.

31. Musically and concerning pop culture, I always seem to be behind the curve.

32. I am an Eagle Scout but not active with the BSA. Too many issues with current policies.

33. Dr. Pepper is my soft drink of choice and I will not dine where it is not sold. And NO Mr. Pibb is not the same thing.

34. Don’t have any tattoos, don’t plan on getting any. But I think they are hot on other guys.

35. I prefer thin crust pizzas with damn near anything on it. Until I had a tomato pie, the ultimate thin crust pizza.

36. If given 10,000 acres I would stock it with wolves and bison. Let em fight it out.

37. They would both have to watch out for me in one of my many vintage armored vehicles.

38. At 41 I still have all my hair, but my eyes are starting to give out.

39. Never watched an episode of Seinfeld when it was on. But now I have all of it on DVD. One of the funniest shows ever.

40. I have an uncanny knack of running into famous people on commercial airline flights. About half the time I sit across the aisle from someone famous or semi famous.

41. Despite being close friends with El Capitan, I have not eaten squid.

42. I prefer my pistols traditional with blue steel and wood grips

43. I like dogs, not cats. And I do prefer hounds and currently have a very adorable but spoiled Beagle.(Update: Sweetpea has since dug a hole under the fence of mortality and headed for the great beyond.)

44. I have the unique ability to guess the expiration date of dairy products by smell alone.

45. I believe that Humphrey Bogart is the greatest actor ever. Period.

46. If I won over $100 million in the Mega Millions Lottery, I would be in the news at least weekly and my poll numbers would be lower than Congress’.

47. If I could live in another period of time. I would have been born about 1600 and been a pirate, or I would like to be born in 2467 and be a pirate.

48. I nearly died from pneumonia Memorial Day 2008.

49. Though I have never dipped snuff, watched more than 5 minutes of a NASCAR race,

or owned a 4 wheel drive truck; most people would consider me a redneck.

50. Too bad the midget sports craze did not spread beyond wrestling. I would love to see Midget Golf, Midget Football, Midget Bowling. I could go on for pages.

100 Things about me Pt. 1

2009-05-30T21:02:00.002-06:00

Well after much procrastination I have finally this 2 yr project. I thought that since I appear to actually have a readership now I will go ahead and re post this meme in its entirety.

Got this idea from El Capitan. Sounded like fun so here are the first 25.

100 Things About Me

1. I have brown hair, but it used to be blonde.

2. I can play most any brass or woodwind instrument, but the guitar and piano still elude me.

3. I was once stabbed by an improvised spear thrown by a friend of mine.

4. I never ate at McDonalds until I was 13.

5. I have NEVER consumed any coffee or dishes with coffee in them and I never will.

6. Some say “I bat for the other team”, others would say I “putt from the rough” I prefer to say “I like em flat chested.”

7. I am definitely a Reagan/Goldwater conservative.

8. I have no extra fingers or toes.

9. While I have been on many dates and the love bug has only bitten seriously once.

10. El Capitan and I have been good friends for so long that we always will be. We know where the other has the bodies buried.

11. I can back any trailer anywhere.(as long as it will fit.)

12. I am the best rifle shot I know.

13. I read at least one book a week and have a massive library.

14. While I do believe the Christian view on the supernatural. I detest organized religion.

15. While I am not too New York for Texas, I am definitely too Texas for L.A.

16. Other than LBJ I have met every other President that has served since I have been alive. Yes even Carter and Clinton. I did refuse to shake Bill’s hand. (I was just not sure where it had been.)

17. I speak enough Spanish.(I thought I did anyway)

18. While I did graduate third in my class, I did not graduate in the top 10%.

19. I love my job.

20. Boxers

21. My favorite class in grade school was reading, in high school it was math and in college it was history.

22. I am over 6 ft tall but only have a 28 inch inseam. Or “inside leg” as Mr. Granger would say.

23. I don’t fight fair and prefer to avoid rather than look for trouble.

24. I should write more.

25. I was severely injured by a thrown rock within minutes of Hinckley’s assassination attempt on President Reagan.

Name this Place

2009-05-29T11:47:00.002-06:00

Hints.
In the Western Hemisphere.
Not in Texas
Taken in late Spring

Emergency? I report, you decide.

2009-05-28T12:46:00.004-06:00

Another tale of misspent youth.

Way back in the last century El Capitan and I worked at a boy scout camp. We worked long hard hours to ensure that the scouts that visited that camp had fun and had lots of stories to tell their buddies. And maybe a few of those friends joined their troop and went the next summer just to see what all the fun was about.

We played hard also. Sometimes the long hours we put in were a threat to our playtime. But we always seemed to make the best of it. An average day would see us busy from 6am to 7pm or later. At least 3 nights a week we were busy until 9 or 10pm. Due to the fact that we are not good at planning ahead and liquor stores in Texas close at 9pm, we had a couple of close calls concerning our nocturnal outings.

All of the roads in this camp were narrow and unpaved. In many places there was only room for one vehicle to pass at a time. Because of this a pecking order of sorts was established for who had the right of way. Bottom of the list was staff members in personal cars,and going upward then official camp vehicles. (the two white trucks, the Sub-Urban and the phantom wagon)., then scoutmasters in their personal cars and lastly the camp ranger not so affectionately called “The Green Lizard”. Of course if it was an emergency you could turn on your headlights and flashers and you had right of way over everyone.

It was somebody’s birthday and we had had to work late. El Capitan and I were sitting at the picnic table in the staff area talking about our party plans when we suddenly realize that it is 830pm and 35mins to the closest liquor store. Legal scholars are still debating whether this constitutes enough of an emergency for what actions follow next.

Lights on flashers going, we tear out of the parking lot at more than 3 times the suggested speed limit on these back roads. As we weave and bob and dodge potholes, roadrunners and the Great Oil Pan Killing Rock. We encounter no traffic and finally we are only one more intersection from the main gate and the highway. But that intersection leads to the Lair of the Green Lizard. We round a corner and see him heading towards us in his truck. But we have our lights on and flashers going., BUT HE IS THE GREEN LIZARD!!!! Who will flinch in this game of chicken? The Green Lizard heads for the ditch on the side of the road in such a way he must of thought we had a boy scout on board who had got crossways with an axe. We zoom past him and make the liquor with 5 minutes to spare.

Trunk full of libations we return at a leisurely pace to the parking lot. There is a low hum about the staff area. Whispers of “The Green Lizard was run off the road” and I wonder what the emergency was? One has to understand that the Green Lizard is more myth than man. No one dare cross him, He was immune to all the rules and regulations. On occasion we would run across one of his many hunting blinds he used to keep the white tail population under control. He went everywhere armed and was known for his prowess at killing snakes with his “twenny tu” And someone had run him off the road. Who would have the nerve? Even ambulances and fire trucks yield to the Green Lizard. It would take a huge set of huevos and a lot of what the British call cheek to even think about such a caper. Yet it had been done. And the Lizard was on the warpath.

Luckily for us when he rounded the corner he only saw the headlights and the flashers and was not able to identify the make and model of the car. He got the color right but I had been asleep in my tent at the time of the crime. Well that was my story and I was sticking to it. Like any good caper 2 and 2 were finally put together and the answer they got was 3.9. they knew it was us, but they couldn’t prove it.

As for the Cap and me? Well we were heroes, held in almost as high esteem as “The Guy that Keeps Adjusting the Hot Water Heater.” But his or her identity still remains a mystery.

Photos of American Troops Torturing Iraqi Civilians

2009-05-27T18:59:00.006-06:00

American soldier caught using Bush Administration approved tickle torture on Iraqi children.

Local children forced to preform labor against their will.

"Talk or I will toss you into the air until you can't giggle any more."

American soldier tries to eat a baby.

CIA approved "hang by the finger" torture.

Iraqi child bites soldier in self defense as he is being forcibly
removed from his father's arms.

"You're not coming down until we know the truth!

A Hometown Hero.

2009-05-26T23:45:00.002-06:00

This was my original post for Memorial Day. But I decided to hold it until I had a day I was so busy I could not post.

While my pedigree in Texas goes back to the original Austin's 300, I did spend most of my yoot in a small town in western Oklahoma. And I do mean small. Population less than 500 and then no other towns for 15 miles in any direction. The closest McDonalds was and still is 45 miles away. If I were guessing I would say that between 1927 and 2007 there were maybe 1750 graduates of my high school. And that estimate is high.

What are the chances of a grad from my HS earning the Congressional Medal of Honor ? Regardless of the odds it did happen. Donald J. Gott who probably graduated from AHS in 1941 or maybe 1942 was that hero. On Nov 9, 1944 First Lt. Donald J. Gott USA Air Corps and about 7 months from his 22nd birthday distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States."

Here is the official citation:

On a bombing run upon the marshaling yards at Saarbrucken a B-17 aircraft piloted by 1st. Lt. Gott was seriously damaged by antiaircraft fire. Three of the aircraft's engines were damaged beyond control and on fire; dangerous flames from the No. 4 engine were leaping back as far as the tail assembly. Flares in the cockpit were ignited and a fire raged therein, which was further increased by free-flowing fluid from damaged hydraulic lines. The interphone system was rendered useless. In addition to these serious mechanical difficulties the engineer was wounded in the leg and the radio operator's arm was severed below the elbow. Suffering from intense pain, despite the application of a tourniquet, the radio operator fell unconscious. Faced with the imminent explosion of his aircraft, and death to his entire crew, mere seconds before bombs away on the target, 1st. Lt. Gott and his copilot conferred. Something had to be done immediately to save the life of the wounded radio operator. The lack of a static line and the thought that his unconscious body striking the ground in unknown territory would not bring immediate medical attention forced a quick decision. 1st. Lt. Gott and his copilot decided to fly the flaming aircraft to friendly territory and then attempt to crash land. Bombs were released on the target and the crippled aircraft proceeded alone to Allied-controlled territory. When that had been reached, 1st. Lt. Gott had the copilot personally inform all crewmembers to bail out. The copilot chose to remain with 1st. Lt. Gott in order to assist in landing the bomber. With only one normally functioning engine, and with the danger of explosion much greater, the aircraft banked into an open field, and when it was at an altitude of 100 feet it exploded, crashed, exploded again and then disintegrated. All 3 crewmembers were instantly killed. 1st. Lt. Gott's loyalty to his crew, his determination to accomplish the task set forth to him, and his deed of knowingly performing what may have been his last service to his country was an example of valor at its highest.

Sad part is....... I never knew about him until I found this on the web about 3 months ago. Now there is a memorial in the Ellis County Courthouse. Hopefully he get mentioned in the schools. After all not only was he the only graduate of Arnett Schools to receive the CMOH, he was the first from Oklahoma to receive it in WW2.

Cinco de Mayo???

2009-05-25T23:25:00.009-06:00

I went to San Jose today with a buddy and he said he knew a place that had good Mexican food and free refills(a phenomenon as rare here as all 9 oops I mean 8 planets lining up). OK I said, after all it is his town and he is buying. The next thing I know we are standing in front of Taco Bell. Good Mexican food? Taco Bell is one of those places that everyone eats at but no one will ever plead guilty to the fact. Well by now it is too late to argue so in we go.

I order combo numero cinco. Which I ala grande'd it and got a bigger drink and.......Fries!!!! Fries with chili, cheese, onions, maters and sour cream. Basically nachos with fries instead of chips. Of course you can put the above ingredients on darn near anything and render it edible. The taco was really good. Had REAL grated cheddar cheese on it and lots of onions. Just like I like em.

Now to the chicken quesodilla. Me and Mayonnaise have had a running feud going on now for about 35 years. I thought we had reached a truce. Details follow:

I will tolerate you in my egg, tuna, and tater salad. You are permitted in my deviled eggs, but if you are to appear in anything else I eat, you are required to give notice.

This armistice has worked well for me and for Mayo. Until today. In a sneak attack that would make a Cylon envious there was Mayo on my quesodilla de pollo . Good thing the fries and the taco were tasty. My buddy Armond the Tico asked me, "Something wrong with your quesodilla?" His English is much better than my Spanish.

I say , "Yeah there is Mayo on my quesodilla."

He says, " Of course there is." in a tone that suggested I had stated an observation as universally accepted as the sky being blue.

I proceed to explain to him that only 60% of the people on death row in Texas are there for murder. 30% are there for making mild chili with beans and 10% are there for 1st Degree serving of a Tex/Mex --Mexican food product containing Mayo.

"IF you don't want it, I'll eat it." he says and proceeds to consume this abomination with gusto.

Next time, I pick the restaurant.

That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion

2009-05-25T00:49:00.006-06:00

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived." Gen George S Patton Jr.

Today in American History.

2009-05-23T18:14:00.002-06:00

Without googling the following names do you recognize any of them?

John W Bucher
Eugene C. Moore
Harry L McGinnis
J.W. Harryman
Holt Coffey
Joe Crowson
H.D Murphy
Edward Bryan Wheeler
William Campbell
Howard Hall
Doyle Johnson
Malcolm Davis

Unless they were your grandfather's brother or cousin, or another distant relative you probably do not recognize any of them. All were regular people who lived as best they could and tried to do right by their families. So what do they all have in common?

All were murdered by Bonnie and Clyde and their gang. We all know who they are. Yet none of us know the victims. In all honesty, I only knew two of the names on the list before researching this article. DPS Troopers Edward B Wheeler and William Campbell. They had the misfortune of stopping on Dove Rd in SouthLake TX to assist in what they thought was a "motorist in distress" situation on Easter Sunday 1934. But instead they had rolled up on the Barrow gang. They were murdered and their bodies left in the road. This happened about 15 miles from my home in Saginaw TX. I have seen the memorial stone that marks the spot.

Today marks the anniversary of Bonnie and Clyde finally getting what they had coming. Four Texas law officers and 2 Louisiana cops riddled their car with over 100 bullets and thus ensured that the above list would grow no larger.

Maybe if our society remembered the victims more and the victimizers less there would be a bit less motivation for mass murders and spree killings?

Bonnie and Clyde: marking 75 years of burning in Hell today.

Ever wonder why.......

2009-05-22T09:09:00.003-06:00

Democrat women seem so angry. Why they are always hating on the Republican women? If you are Republican and a woman you have no first amendment right to voice your views. Just ask Miss California. After her comments on gay marriage the Liberal Taliban(thanks Ann Coulter) issued a Fatwa against her. Maybe this pic will help us understand more why women on the left hate women on the right so much. I think it is starting to make sense.

Mall San Pedro

2009-05-21T08:41:00.003-06:00

The Mall in San Pedro is a lot like the malls in the states with a few differences. Instead of sprawling out it goes up. I think there are 5 floors of shops and offices but I am not sure as there are no maps to show you where you are. I did discover the 5th floor by accident. If there is a sixth or a sub basement I have not found it yet.

The food court is at one end and one 2 separate floors instead of just on one floor. Most of the stores that you would find in a mall in the states are here. Plus there are tons of shoe stores here. The number of shoe stores per km sq is about the same as Starbucks in the States. One company has a different store on every floor of the mall. Even with all these shoe stores, shoes are freaking expensive. Lots of Kiosk type stores selling everything from cell phones to cheap watches to bootleg DVD's. San Pedro mall also has three full service banks and a 10 screen movie theatre. And a ticket to the movies here will only set you back about $3 or$4.

I dont buy much there. The prices are still a bit high at all the stores and there are places where you can buy most everything you need at much lower prices.

Stuff

2009-05-20T11:05:00.001-06:00

Networking is starting to pay off. After emailing my resume around for a week and asking some newly made friends/coworkers to walk it in to their full time places of employment, I have two interviews next week with higher paying firms. I am making enough now to pay the bills and a bit more. But of course you can never make too much money. (After all I am the Banana Republican not the Banana Socialist) Both of these jobs require a further commute but not that much farther. I think I can get to both places with only one bus switch. Right now the bus that stops on the corner drops me off at work.

I bought some eggs out of a van that drives down the street every morning at 6am with its loud speaker blaring "Huevos!!". Oddly eggs are not sold here by the dozen or "by the each" they are sold by weight. I paid about half what I would in the states. Brown shells and nice dark yellow yolks. These eggs did not come from fat yellow chickens. These chickens are free range, half wild and have lived the good life. You can taste it in the eggs.

Don't ask someone on the street for directions. If they don't know they will tell you something just to prevent being embarrassed by the fact that they do not know. And if they do know, the directions are most likely wrong. The best bet is to stop in one of the many little "quik marts" that seem to be on every street. Buy a bottle of water or something and 90% of the time the directions are correct.

The cops down here seem to get their side arms from "The Central American Museum of Firearms." Lots of Colt Police Positives, Old Hi-Powers with tangent sights, I did see one cop with what looked like a Python but not sure. In the mall the other day were two Federal Police one carrying an Uzi with the wood stock and the other carrying a possible FAMAE SAF. I did not get a good look at it. And yesterday I saw another cop in San Jose carrying what might of been a P-38 but was most likely a P-1.(see bottom of P-38 Wikipedia page).

Traditional Costa Rican Lunch

2009-05-19T11:22:00.000-06:00

It is called a Casado. It is usually served with rice, black beans, fried plantains, a salad and a meat usually either pork, fish, chicken or beef. The best place to find this rather filling, delicious and best of all cheap meal is in one of your neighborhood "Sodas" These Sodas are very small restaurants some no more than permanently parked roach coaches with a tin awning and some tables. A casado for lunch with drink will set you back about 1500-2000 colones or about $2.50 to $3.00 depending on where you buy it. At my favorite place Soda San Bosco, you are looking at 1500 colones for a darn good lunch.

Monday Movie Stuff.

2009-05-18T05:00:00.001-06:00

Found this chart somewhere. I mean I find a funny jpg and I download it and then forget where I got it. Well since it's Monday I am gonna post something movie related. Movies are so full of the same basic plot elements. Ever notice how in every cop movie it is essential to the plot to visit a strip club? And how about the required "outrun the explosion" scene?
Well Things That Happen in Underground Parking Garages in the Movies is another good example.
Can you name 10 movies with a fight in a parking garage?

Mi Hogar

2009-05-17T14:39:00.004-06:00

Here is a picture of the house where I am staying. The high fence with gate and bars on windows is standard fare here. This leads to a comment amongst Gringos when walking through a neighborhood. "Don't Feed the Ticans!" Every building and school has these tall fences with gates and sometimes razor wire as well.

Ticans as they call themselves are a very security conscious lot. Most houses also have big dogs. And it seems if you have a firearms permit you can own damn near anything you want. I have seen MP5's and G3's for sale. Crime is a bit high here. I have had no problems but then again I try not to flash a lot of cash or easily liquidated items. Nor do I walk the streets much after dark. A little common sense goes a long way.

Dodging Earthquakes

2009-05-16T17:56:00.000-06:00

I moved from one of the most seismically quiet parts of the Western Hemisphere to one of the busiest. So what happens 10 days after I move? EARTHQUAKE in Ft Worth!!!! Go figure. I have not even felt so much as a wiggle down here, except for the gravel trucks hauling arse down the street at 2am. No such thing as a no truck zone down here. If your vehicle will fit on the road then drive down it, if not use one of both sidewalks as needed.

Another thing I cant seem to get used to yet. THE FREAKING SUN COMES UP AT 5AM. What is up with that? Then again it goes down about 5pm and rumor has it with little or no seasonal variability. Well that is life at 9 degrees north of the Equator.

On the food front I have found Dr. Pepper so all is well. Those of you that know me know that that is my crack and I was starting to get the shakes. But my habit of one bottle a week has been satisfied and I have a reserve stock on hand.

All for now.

A New Location

2009-05-12T21:19:00.000-06:00

I was Rockhauler but alas I haul rocks no more. I have moved to Costa Rica. Been here a week and I like it a lot. Nice to be in a country with a white guy in charge again. No opinion one way or another. But I did see an MP5 for sale in a tienda de arma next door to my favorite resturant. Also hanging there beside it was a very nice G3 with a rather short barrel. So a guy that will let guns like that hang in the window to be sold cant be all that bad.