Tag Archives: religion

Maximum Displacement Pressure, Captain

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In shocking news, a band of Somali pirates, secretly trained at a high-tech development center, intercepted and hijacked the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Richard Branson and the producers of the new Pirates franchise flick deny they funded this illegal venture.

Rumours that the Somalis were trained by former Blackwater mercenaries in the UAE are unverified at this time.

Now, back to “Bring Nature Indoors!,” Chef DuJour’s infomercial about using Placenta Helper with cicada grub shells and lightly battered and winged cicada bodies to delight a family of four at dinner tonight.

Wait! More breaking news!

In a rush to create a new Irish saint ahead of the nonCatholic British queen’s visit to the Emerald Isle, the Pope accidentally beatified Osama bin Laden, the Papacy assuming the international terrorist was a martyr named O’say Ma Been Laudin, a young boy known for praisin’ and carryin’ on 24 hours a day about the miracles of the modern Celtic Tiger economy until an angry mob of unemployed Irish workers tossed the lad in front of the Irish PM’s motorcade in protest over proposed austerity measures. “Keep the pubs open!” they were heard shouting as garda led them away in paddywagons.

Iran denounced the Roman Catholic leader immediately and then recanted, saying the Pope, a fellow Muslim, is allowed to give thanks and the blessing of a martyr who nipped at the heels of Satan, destroying his twin dens of sin in Manhattan until the Devil finally ate bin Laden like a lowly prisoner, thanks be to Allah.

In unrelated news, seventy virgins were rescued from the Hotel Sofitel in New York. Authorities would not confirm if it had to do with the IMF chief’s recent alleged conversion to a new Catholic-Islamic hybrid faith based on the Kama Sutra and the Song of Solomon.

Wrldwid txt litrcy rt rizs -n3wz @11.

More Headlines

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“Band Manager for The New Pornographers Admits Bribing US SEAL Team with Bin Laden Porn Stash”

“Obama Spied Secretly Negotiating 2012 VP Deal with Palin in Exchange for Alaska Oil Deal”

“Brazilian Scientist Creates Anaerobic Carbon-Capturing Artifical Photosyntheis ‘Tree’; Brazilian Officials Rejoice, Pave Over Amazon Rainforest for Massive Supercity”

“Saudi Government Converts Peninsula Into Giant Solar FauxPalm-Lined Beach, Using Faux-Grass Solar Panel Suburban Lawns to Fuel Modern Civilisation, Becoming First Nonoil-Dependent Nation”

“Technical College Opens New Landscape Engineering Department, Sponsored by the Intel-Huawei-Sony Corporation”

“Colbert Declares Himself Emperour, Forms New Global Government In Exile, Devoted to Dry, Acerbic Humour for the Ham-On-Wry Masses”

“Hillary Clinton Defeats Colbert in Thumb Wrestling Match, Reveals Billary Husband/Wife Coemperourship Rocketing to Mars Headquarters Soon”

“Union for the Preservation of Unions Dissolves all Worker Unions into Website for Chronic Employee Complaints titled ‘That’s Why They Call It A Job'”

“British Monarchy Funds New Comedy Troupe Shoppe for Exclusive Rights to Officially Make Funne of Thugs with Crowns”

“India Caught Drilling Gargantuan Water Tap into Himalayan Glacier Network, Consents to Relocate Bangladesh to Hidden Indian Gov’t Officials’ Private Holiday ‘Shangri-La’ Resort”

“George W. Bush Contracts Reagan-Thatcher Disease, Can’t Remember Details of US Presidency”

“China Finishes Plans of Tibetan Amusement Park, ‘Retrains’ Monks for Park Guide/Mascot Duty”

“Guinness Book of Records Annoints Panama Canal as World’s Largest Water Slide”

“Food is Shown to be Both Fatally Cancerous and Good for You at the Same Time – Anorexic and Obesity Support Groups Cry ‘Foul Fowl, Fools! Dig in, if you Dare!'”

Stop Print Shop Lexicographers Delete Punctuation From All Languages Stop Use Stop Instead Stop Stop Please Stop Stop Stop

“World Court Rules Trees are International Treasure, Allowed to Fall and Rot in Place; Roads Become Obstacle Courses; Cotton Prices Soar on Toilet/Facial Tissue Industry Conversion News, Surpassing Oil and Gold; Lumberjacks Protest, Invent Miniature Cotton Plant Chainsaw”

“Pope Blesses Islam as Catholic Sect, Sees Protestants and Jews as Wandering Catholic Children, Hints Buddhists and Hindus are Probably Catholic, too; Vatican City PayPal Donations Clog Internet More Effectively than Spam, Offline Bible Reading Explodes in Proportion”

“Research Shows Headlines are Subliminal Messages from Aliens, Nostradamus Predicted”

“Supermarket Rag Mags Receive Lifetime Achievement Award for Most Insightful/Entertaining News, ‘Legitimate’ Journalism Finally Dies A Merciful Death”

“The Committee Makes Satire the One True Religion, Outlaws Seriousness; Punishments will Include Reading Bad Jokes in Front of Drunk, Tomato-Wielding Comedy Circuit Crowds Night-after-Night, No Rewrites Allowed”

“SETI Discovers Radiowave Radiation Attack from Extraterrestrial War Accidentally Created Life on Earth, Intercepted Galactic ‘Wikileaks’ Communications Details”

“Life Started A Moment Ago, Ends In The Next Moment, Guru Proves with Lack of Evidence”

“Germany Will Only Approve Doctoral Theses with the Best Use of Plagiarism From Now On, the Government Precisely Copying GrecoRoman Law, Itself A Copy, for this Proclamation”

Thus endeth today’s satirically sacred meditative lesson. Bless you, Satire. Thanks for your confession – five hearty laughs and ten raucous guffaws every day until your next confession.

At the typewriter…

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RPC NEWSLETTER

A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE ROGERSVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH – ROGERSVILLE, TENNESSEE 37857

March 28, 1975

COLONIAL SERVICE PLANNED FOR APRIL 20 AS WE CONSIDER OUR HERITAGE

The churches of our nation can influence the direction of Bicentennial celebrations by bringing the power of the Christian conscience to bear upon our national heritage and destiny.  On Saturday, April 19, our community will observe the kickoff date with a Street Fair and parade.  On Sunday, April 20, our morning worship service will be patterned after the type of service conducted in eighteenth century colonial America.

According to Puritan customs, all fathers and sons are asked to sit on the left or west side, all mothers and daughters on the right or east side.  Members are invited to wear dark clothing, typical of the period.  The Directory for the Worship of God at that time specifies: “It is the duty of every person to remember the Lord’s Day; the whole day is to be kept holy to the Lord; and to be employed in the public and private exercise of religion.  Let the people be careful to assemble at the appointed time; that, being all present at the beginning, they may unite, with one heart, in all parts of public worship.  In time of public worship let all the people attend with gravity and reverence; forebearing to read anything, except what the minister has been reading or citing; abstaining from all whisperings; from salutation of persons present, or coming in; and from gazing about, sleeping, smiling, and all other indecent behaviour.”

The Worship Committee has approved plans for the service and Dr. Heltzel is preparing a sermon appropriate to the occasion.  Join with us in “Divine worship on the Sabbath Day.”

* * * * * * * * *

A BICENTENNIAL TASK FORCE of the Presbyterian Church, US, has begun definite arrangements for participation in our nation’s bicentennial observance.  Theme to be used is: “Repentance, Thanksgiving, Rededication”.  At the 1975 General Assembly suggestions will be given that churches may use in community activities.

WOMEN OF THE CHURCH

WOMEN OF THE CHURCH WILL ELECT NEW SLATE OF OFFICERS AT APRIL MEETING

Tuesday, April 8, the WOC will elect officers for the 1975-76 year.  The Leadership and Resources Committee is composed of: Mrs. Robert Southern, Chm. Mrs. Robert Armstrong, and Mrs. Gray Wilson.

Program Council – 10:00 A.M.

Women’s Council – 10:15

WOC – 10:45 ELECTION OF OFFICERS, BIBLE LESSON – “The Power of the New King” Matt. 8-9, led by Mrs. Robert Armstrong, Circles 1, 2, and 3, Volunteer Workshop (bring a sandwich)

CIRCLE MEETINGS

Friday, April 4, Sally McFadden Liberty Circle, at the church, at 7:30 P.M.

Tuesday, April 8, Circle 4, at the church, Miss Lou Clamon and Mrs. Rena Mae Pierce, hostesses, at 7:00 P.M.; Business Women’s Circle – 7:00 P.M.

Wednesday, April 9, Young Women’s Circle, at the church, 7:30 P.M.

* * * * * * * * *

BICENTENNIAL COMMITTEE APPOINTED

Mrs. Randall Livesay has been named Chairman of the Bicentennial Commitee, appointed to begin planning for our church’s observance of our nation’s 200th Birthday.  Others named thus far include: Mrs. A. F. Gray, Mrs. T. P. Summers, and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Price.  Mr. Price has begun research and will be preparing our church’s history.

The Rogersville Church has a rich heritage as it looks back over the last 175 years since it was organized in 1805.  The old McMinn Academy, with its able headmasters, and the Synodical College, that operated on the site of the Elementary School, were entwined with the life of the church.

If you have material – pictures, relics, information about any of these, please talk with one of this committee.

* * * * * * * * *

June 30 – July 2 a workshop for leaders of planning committees in local churches will be offered in Montreat.  Dr. T. Watson Street, pastor of First Church, Kingsville, Texas, is chairman of the Task Force, which will conduct the workshop.

* * * * * * * * *

KENNETH SHICK ACCEPTS CALL FOR SUMMER WORK

In a letter to the Session, Mr. Shick agreed to come for a thirteen week period, beginning the last of May.  He will be helping with Sunday evening services, Bible Schools at Liberty and Rogersville, in work with our young people, and pastoral visiting, and will be available for counseling.  he will also be preaching at the morning worship service when Dr. Heltzel has to be away.

Mr. Shick visited us March 9 and 10.  He will graduate in mid-May from Union Seminary.  We rejoice that his talents and leadership will be used here and that God has led him to accept this summer assignment.

* * * * * * * * *

PLANNING BEGINS FOR A CHURCH LIBRARY

In the 1975 budget $500 was set aside for shelves and other expenses in setting up a library.  The Building and Grounds Committee has begun a study to selection the most suitable place in the church.

Many memorable books have been contributed over the years.  These are being catalogued in a permanent card catalog.  Mrs. Chambers, Mrs. Kensinger, and Mrs. Wheeler have been at work in this endeavor.

A library is a vital part of a church’s life and usefulness – a part to be used from the youngest child to the oldest adult.  It may include many things other than books, i.e., filmstrips, records, cassettee tapes, slides, maps, projectors, record players, etc.  Though it may take some time to complete, it will give us a useful resource, a means of centralizing materials, caring for them properly, and locating them as needed.

Please check your own bookshelves and see if you have failed to return a book belonging to the church.

* * * * * * * * *

PRESBYTERY RESOURCE CENTER BEING DEVELOPED

Mrs. Marvin Budd and Mrs. Chester Bruner have been at work assembling materials for an educational resource center to aid local churches.  Teachers and leaders may check out from the Presbytery office pieces of equipment and Christian Education materials.  An inventory of what is available will be listed in the Presbytery newsletter “Speaking” and will be on file in our church office.

* * * * * * * * *

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL PLANNING UNDERWAY

Mrs. Larry Boyd, assisted by Mrs. Henry Price, has been at work selecting materials and will be meeting with teachers this month.  She asks that anyone who is willing to help in any capacity, notify the church office, Mrs. Price or herself.  Volunteers are needed to teach, collect resources, transport children, care for a nursery, assist in craft work, play the piano, etc.  The week of June 16-20 has been selected, as the questionnaire indicated this was the time preferred by most people.

* * * * * * * * *

SANCTUARY FLOWERS

Circle II, Mrs. Frank Dukes, Chairman, will be responsible for the sanctuary flowers during the month of April.

* * * * * * * * *

DR. HELTZEL TO CONTINUE AS INTERIM MINISTER

Our church has been richly blessed by the inspiring sermons of Dr. Massey Mott Heltzel.  The rapt attention on the faces of the congregation each Sunday morning as he preaches, gives evidence of the depth of his messages.  We are grateful for his assent to the Worship’s Committee’s request that he serve beyond his former commitment to supply pulpit through the month of April.

The Pulpit Search Committee has been at work for five months – assembling data, holding meetings, traveling to hear prospects, but do not give us any indication of their progress.  We want to again assure them or our prayers for guidance as they continue to work on our behalf to carry out this awesome responsibility.

* * * * * * * * *

MRS. LAWSON TO OVERSEE NURSERY

Mrs. Nicholas (Brenda) Lawson has been employed to look after the children in the Nursery on Sunday mornings from 9:45 A.M. – 12:15 P.M.  She is the mother of a five year old son.  She began work in mid-March.

Mrs. Rita S. Lawson, who has regularly assisted in the Nursery, has, for the past three weeks, been with her small son at the University Hospital, Knoxville, where he is slowly recovering from serve burns when he pulled over a pan of boiling water.

* * * * * * * * *

OUR NEWEST ARRIVAL

Our congratulations to the Philip Beals and a warm welcome to little Whitney Anne, born March 22 at Morristown-Hamblen Hospital.  She just missed being a birthday present for her brother Adam Spencer, who was two years old on March 18.

* * * * * * * * *

The congregation of our church has been invited to the formal opening of the Hawkins County Adult Activities Center and Sheltered Workshop by the Department of Mental Health of the State of Tennessee and the Hawkins County Association for Retarded Children and Adults.  The opening is set for Sunday, April 13, at the new building on Hasson Street.  Mrs. W. B. Hale served as Chairman of the Building Committee.  Our Young Women’s Circle, Mrs. Karl Geiger, Chairman, adopted the class formerly housed in the Methodist Church and now moved into the new building.  Our Women of the Church contribute to work with Mrs. Ella Jo Bradley’s SMR Class held in the Hawkins County Elementary School.

* * * * * * * * *

Next month the RPC News will report on the One Great Hour of Sharing Easter offering.  As more news of floods, tornadoes, drought, and fleeing refugees come to us, the burden of alleviation of some of the world’s suffering becomes more anguishing.

The Rogersville congregation joined with the Church Hill Church on Maundy Thursday in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

* * * * * * * * *

WOULD YOU LIKE TO IMPROVE YOUR DAILY DEVOTIONS?  The church’s group subscription for “These Days”, daily devotional guide supplied by the Presbyterian Church, US, expires with the May/June issue.  Those who would like to subscribe or renew their subscription are asked to notify the church office or Mrs. Gray Wilson.  The cost is $1.40 per year for a minimum of five subscriptions.  This little guide offers each day a verse of scripture, a short meditation, and a prayer.  Those who use it (one for forty years) say they would not be without it.

* * * * * * * * *

HOLSTON PRESBYTERY 1975 SUMMER CAMP SCHEDULE

June 30 – July 5: 5th and 6th Grade Small Group, 7th and 8th Grade Small Group, Rustic Camp

July 7-12: 7th and 8th Grade Small Group, 9th-12th Grade Trail Hike

July 14-19: 5th and 6th Grade Small Group, 7th and 8th Small Group Rustic

July 21-26: 9th-12th Grade Small Group Camp

July 28 – Aug. 2: 5th and 6th Grade Small Group, 7th and 8th Grade Small Group, Rustic Camp

Aug. 4-9: 7th and 8th Grade Small Group, 9th-12th Grade Trail Hike

* * * * * * * * *

A CHRISTIAN EDUCATION WORKSHOP, sponsored by the Division on Congregational Concerns, Holston Presbytery, is being offered at Presbytery Camp, Banner Elk, N.C., April 11-12.  It will focus on three key areas: how to plan for Christian Education, a review of various curricula (including non-Presbyterian), and a plan for teacher training programs.  A learning center, demonstrating resources available in this Presbytery will be in continual operation.  Because parallel sessions, at least two members from each church will be needed.  It is strongly recommended that an elder from each church attend.  Mrs. Mary Jean McFayden from GEB, Atlanta, will be the leader.

* * * * * * * * *

As a congregation, we extend our sympathy and Christian love to the family of Mrs. Nova K. Walker, who died March 23.  She was the mother of Mrs. D. A. Fannon, grandmother of Tim and Gary Fannon and Norman Walker, and the sister of Mrs. John Nelson of the Rogersville Church, as well as sister of Randolph Kirkpatrick and aunt of Nell Kirkpatrick of the Liberty Church.

* * * * * * * * *

IN MEMORIAM

Mrs. J. R. Stephenson (Ernestine McDonald) has made a contribution to our Library Fund for the purchase of books to be placed in memory of her mother, Mrs. Beryl Rowan McDonald.

PILGRIMS TO THE HOLY LAND, by Kollek and Pearlman, has been placed in the library in memory of Mrs. Henry R. Nelson, by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Testerman, Jr.

The Victor Hooper family has made a contribution to the Library Fund for a book, to be selected, in memory of Mrs. Nova K. Walker.

* * * * * * * * *

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to these in our church family who have birthdays in April.  Please include them in your prayers.

3 – Hannah Boyd

4 – Dr. Massey Mott Heltzel

5 – Dan M. Armstrong, Shelton Stubbs

6 – Miss Mary Mac Nelson, Guy Long

7 – Miss Sarah Mac Lawson, Evelyn Stapleton

8 – Chip Hale, Mrs. A. S. Thompson

10 – Jack Chesnutt, Patrick Street

11 – Joe T. Davis

12 – Martha Cope DeAtley, Cathie Short Reeves

13 – Larry Boyd

14 – Mrs. Gladys Kyle, C. H. Geiger, Sr.

15 – Mrs. Mary Fulkerson

16 – Mrs. W. B. Long, Mrs. Ben Cunningham, Billy Peeples, Bobby Peeples, David Testerman

18 – Mrs. Larry Boyd

19 – Gerald Street

21 – Mrs. Robert Southern

22 – Miss Margaret Walker, Jay Phillips

23 – Miss Christine Armstrong, Mrs. Beatrice Trent, Barry Chesnutt, Laura McLeod

25 – Mrs. Junius McElveen, Sr., Edward Hodges

26 – Charles Fontaine

27 – Mrs. Arthur Lyons, Mrs. Harry Fontaine

30 – Scott Myers, Joe Mayes, Jr.

* * * * * * * * *

USHERS FOR APRIL

The following Deacons will serve as Ushers for the month of April:

Joe Timberlake, Fred Berry, Frank W. Moore, John Gray

Seeing the Sight of April during April sightseeing

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An elephant in a bull shop – that’s me.

Soliciting funds over the landline for the children’s canine teeth rehabilitation association of psychological dental health associates.

Between requests from the Committee and the MORTIE network, I barely have time to meditate on making my heart skip beats in order to vary the syncopated rhythm that body uses to record these words.

A thanks to Veronica at Hale Springs Inn’s McKinney Restaurant, James at the Acropolis Four Stars Grill and a Citgo petrol station.

I wonder about a white Ford E250 van with Georgia state/Gwinnett county tag BLU 8683 – why did its wheels/tires seem so wobbly?

Do you forward your landline phone to a mobile phone in order to track outside callers who think they can hide behind unknown/fake Caller IDs?

Time to rest my brain behind the flat screen that displays this blog to me.

My wife and I are emotionally drained, with more to go.

One of us needs to maintain a modded, modern modicum of sanity.

I’m glad you can’t see my correcting of bad typing today – otherwise, you might believe my wife is the sane one.

Of course, I know she is.

Congrats to our flower girl (25 years ago), Rachel, for her fifth child getting baptised by sprinkling yesterday, as well as the young man who did, and the young people who made their public confession of faith in my wife’s hometown church.

Hard to believe Hannah’s little brother, Daniel Boyd, has grown into a church elder leading the Sacrament, and raises a little boy of his own now.

Silence today, listening to the echoes of extinct beasts prowling nearby primordial boreal forests.

Meditation, sleep – what’s the difference?

For one example, recent dreams have been a lot more vivid than recent meditative thoughts.

To be – that is the difference.

Why is Doonesbury endorsing Donald Trump for U.S. President? After all, we know the veil of satirical reverse psychology is a hidden means of promotion. Guess we know who Trudeau will vote for in 2012.

April, we want our egg bread in two weeks. Have we known you for three years now? How is it we grow old und you stay young like Stella?

Dragonflies and leafed-out trees call my name.

G’day, mates!

Up next: the April 1975 church newsletter of Rogersville Presbyterian Church…

My father’s chair at the dinner table

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Adverts we’d like to see:

“One euro of this sale goes toward saving the environment; the other 48.99 euros go toward destructing it.”

I sit in the captain’s chair from which my father ruled family mealtimes when I was a child.

I have the good fortune to continue to see my father in this chair at least once a year, usually around Christmastime, looking at his kids and grandkids eating food prepared by my mother.

Today, my childhood next-door neighbour, David Salley, and I returned to our parents’ houses for silent prayers/meditation concerning our wives’ mothers.

David’s parents have passed on to the other realm, as they say.

He and I are our fathers’ age, or older than, when we lived next door to each other.

David is a Christian minister, quite a good one, I hear, a man his father and mother would gladly call their son.

David moved out of his parents’ house in 1976 or ’77. I moved out of this house in 1980, with a short stint or two in the early ’80s.

Thirty plus years later, here we are, seeking…

What have we found?

What do we hear when we listen to the seemingly infinite, eternal voice of the universe as we know it, no matter how we see and define/anthropomorphise it?

Mr. Salley was not only a great father but also a jack-of-all-household tasks.

In addition to his open-to-use workshop/tool shed of a basement, he made elderberry and other local berry-based wines that he shared, as well as belonged to one or more civic organisations like the Masonic Lodge.

Mrs. Salley was the perfect mother next-door.

She always had a snack to share and a warm kitchen that naturally invited us starving kids playing out on the street or shooting hoops in the backyard.

I understand the attraction David has to the house.

Right now, I look at the tree on which Mr. Salley hung goldfinch seed bags.

I fully expect to see him in the yard discussing something with my dad, or my mother and Mrs. Salley talking in one or the other’s carport.

Forty year-old memories, some of them.

Time does not exist, huh?

We are just states of energy?

Churches want spiritual nuts, not religious nuts, where a person is ready to live when that person has prepared to die.

A bluejay and a grackle argue over the birdbath in the Salleys’ backyard.

My niece has a wallet a friend made out of camo duct tape.

If we’re in the habit of laying our problems and emotional issues at the feet of our parents when they are alive, what do we do when they’re gone?

The universe/deities we call our own speak to us through our family, friends and neighbours.

We don’t always listen.

I thank David for being here today to share the kind of quiet neighbourly moment in which we middle-aged men can share the emotional pain of seeing our wives and mothers in-law suffer while we’re supposed to be rocks of support without our parents to readily lean upon.

God may be in control but, without a crystal ball, it’s not always easy to wait to find out what’s going to happen next.

Hail knows no boundaries

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What emergency prompts you to act?

Sitting here this morning, in a hospital chair/foldout bed, after an evening of dragging the suction hose of a shopvac across rainsoaked carpet in the den of my mother in-law’s house, this writer queries the sky.

Next to him, two brochures:

1. What Happens When Someone Dies?, A Child’s Guide to Death and Funerals, written by Michaelene Mundy / Illustrated by R.W. Alley, and
2. Being Angry With God at a Time of Suffering or Loss, written by Carol Luebering;

both published by Abbey Press, St. Meinrad, IN, 47577.

We can often explain underlying contributions to the end of a life – medically-related terminology, geophysical phenomena, war, weather.

But how often are we satisfied with the answers we receive?

A ten-year old boy sees his dead girlfriend in a coffin, understanding the pomp and circumstance of death-based rituals, yet it does not replace the newfound emptiness inside.

How does he learn to control the deepseated anger he cannot express simply by praying?

The football field offers no more than a way to attack others of his kind.

Academic achievements, no matter how perfect, do not substitute for the loss of his young, mature love.

Humour, of both the homespun and macabre variety, provides a path to mask the pain.

Looking at the sky, source of beautiful, blue, sunny weather and destructive balls of icy fury, the question remains the same 40 years later:

Why, God, why?!

The answer is everywhere. Most days, it’s wonderful. Some days, it’s not enough.

C’est la vie, n’est pas?

Because we are all children…

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Marriage often means taking the right steps

Beautiful day for a wedding - 2nd April 2011

I grew up in a place and time that no longer exists.  The planet doesn’t spin in and out of the same places it did when I was a child.

The universe moves on, taking the galaxies and their solar systems with them.

However, I look out the window on this day (an arbitrary time period assigned to when this part of the planet faces the nearest star) and wonder about homogeneous subcultures.

Where I grew up, even though not everyone participated in the same ritual 0f combining days into groups of seven, delineating one of those days for a period of little work, I expected everyone to treat the five weekdays differently than the two weekend days and especially reserve the first (or last day) as special (i.e., Sunday).

Sure, we could sit here and go off on a tangent about the history of calendrical systems and why 24-hour periods have unique repetitive names but I’ll leave that exercise to the curious, uneducated, and/or forgetful reader.

Do you have a day you set aside for special activities?  How much do you focus only on those activities and not get dragged into others’ rituals on that day?

For instance, in my childhood subculture we tagged Sunday as a reverent day, meaning the first half of the day was dedicated to religious rituals.

Although in morning meetings we discussed a holy text that implied one should perform no work on Sunday (with perpetual, perennial discussions of the definition of work), later in the day we ate at restaurants where workers prepared meals for us, filled our petrol tanks with fuel where workers operated the fuel pumps and sold prepackaged food and drink, and watched moving images on the television tube that broadcast “live” events where people performed/watched sports-related activities.

Thus, although we said we should, our subculture did not treat the day like a perfectly w0rkfree one for every person.

Through the years, as adults, my wife and I have observed our neighbours treat Sunday as a special day dedicated to one’s hobbies or pleasures – tuning raceboats/motorcycles/racecars, golfing, lawnmowing, yardworking (planting flowers/trees, weeding/feeding), sporting (volleyball, badminton, horseshoes, target shooting), swimming, sunbathing, houseworking (roof repair, painting, window washing, vacuuming), etc.

How dedicated are you to your ritual practices?

Do you find any exceptions to the rule, not just emergencies, that distract you from repeating behaviour you and/or your subculture deem most important?

Where I grew up, I could look into the lives of the individuals and families who treated the hours and days of their lives with reverence, giving every minute the total focus it deserved because we don’t get any more.  The more successful ones often appeared to be the most dedicated to specific behaviours, including reverent rituals.

Success and goalsetting may seem like words from antiquity sometimes, coming from an era when efficiency experts walked around with stopwatches and clipboards to measure factory output.

Are there behaviours for which you willingly ignore distractions in order to dedicate yourself to perfection?

Are those behaviours tied to orbits and rotations of the planet we share together?

When do we realise that our children need us to put aside our childlike thought patterns and act more purely like parents toward them, knowing that at the same time we may act like children to our parents (but, then, what do we do with that last behaviour set after our parents have died)?

As states of energy (parents) reproducing similar states of energy (children), is there a pure, “natural” state of parenthood that exists outside of the intermixed subcultures that define modern life (“modern” being a term that refers to the last ten thousand years)?

What is a successful parent?

What is a successful child?

What is the “child” or “parent” goal of a person who never stops being a child or a parent?

In my subculture, we would respond, “honour your mother and father,” who themselves are honouring their parents, dead or alive.

I have a smorgasbord of parental behaviours from which to choose to honour, not only from my parents and their parents but also from my parents’ friends who are parents and the behaviours they honoured with their ritual-like dedication to perfection.

In other words, on this day when many from my childhood are spending time at houses of worship, reading from the holy text or singing in unison, I should ignore the loud internal combustion engine of the riding lawnmower that my neighbour insists on operating only and early on Sundays, my family’s traditional day of rest from such activities.

After all, my sitting here and dedicating myself to meditating and speaking about our rituals may appear to others to violate the holy ordinance to refrain from working on this day.

“Subject to interpretation” may have been a better title for today’s blog entry but I was concerned people might interpret it the wrong way.

Let’s get ready for dancin’ in loops and crashin’

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While Clarence Thomas proves he has cajones, even if his decision sends chills through the populations of innocent prisoners, striking another blow for the protection of lawbreaking law enforcers, let’s put aside petty squabbles and look where the real fun revs its engines.

For instance, the rumble in this part of the Tennessee Valley.

I’m told the International Crimes Tribunal is considering using Mossad to kidnap and extradite a person who may or may not live in Florida to stand trial for inciting the murder of UN personnel.

Wait, there’s an update.  The International Crimes Tribunal convened, using emergency measures to hand down a quick ruling because the tribunal has no need to follow any parliamentary procedure or protect the individual’s right to a fair trial – the person in question has been convicted in absentia of heinous crimes against humanity.  The ICT will announce the extent of punishment at a later date.  Remember, there’s only a reward for delivering a live specimen to ICT for meting out Clarence Thomas’ style beatings when asking for an immunity form.  How does the saying go, “the hospital, not the morgue”?

Bounty hunters are now competing with Mossad and the Revolutionary Guard to get the most bang for the buck.

As opposed to deer hunters, who’re always trying to get the most buck for the bang!

I’m told that Salman Rushdie is celebrating, now that his literature’s effect on the Muslim world is nothing in comparison to the latest news.  Julian Assange feels like he’s off the hook for now, too.

What is a long-form birth certificate and does it have anything to do with a person’s ability to get reelected?

Do you have the ability to move the human population in a direction that serves no one and everyone at the same time?

If you did, would you destroy tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of trees in order to pay a simple $50 in court?

If laws have no meaning, why are you pretending that morals and ethics exist?

If morals and ethics don’t exist, why do states of energy naturally attract each other into specific formations?

My network is older than me and will outlast me.  It’s not me you have to concern yourself with; it’s the members of my network who have no qualms about imaginary ideas like morals/ethics and make things go bump in the night that legends and myths have taught you to fear.

Most importantly, when we’re through with them, you are the ones who have to deal with de/reprogramming the brainwashing we perfected in order to achieve our megagoals for your sake as a species, not as individuals.

You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here!

Man-sized Worry/Prayer Beads

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Do you carry prayer beads or a worry stone in your pockets?

I do.

I also have a string of man-sized prayer beads hanging in my study, which I use to send thoughts, prayers and meditations out into our world, one bead at a time.

Thanks to Ali Abdallah from Lebanon for those beads, given many years ago.

He and I recognised each other as fellow world thinkers, able to assimilate new cultural ideas into a large mental landscape.

Ali, may today be a good day for you and your family, wherever you are.

Back to another major task at hand – creating a permanent commercial passenger pathway between Earth and the rest of the universe.

We say farewell to the designers, builders and installers of the U.S. space shuttle boosters.

We continue to use 1950s Russian technology to ferry people back and forth.

What about tomorrow?

Will BRIC unite to create a competitive passenger cruiseship system?  What does the EUSNAFTA still have in the works?

What about private industry?

As ISS support winds down, will any modules or parts be reusable for the next generation of near-Earth research and habitation?

Will the ISS become part of a nostalgia tour?

“Yes, you, too, can spend a couple of noisy, dirty days sleeping aboard the former flagship of the ISS Corporation!  Imagine you’re one of the early pioneers of space exploration!  BTW, we take a complete inventory so do not feel the urge to take any parts with you – the last person who tried to leave with a ‘souvenir’ was accidentally jettisoned into a degrading orbit and flamed out within days.”

And while all that is going on, generating more profit for our secret empire, we are quietly working on developing our personal terraforming platform, with modifications planned for the Moon, Mars and its moons and other extraterrestrial bodies.

We’d like to tell you every planet or planetoid will be populated with our species but we know better than to spread the same lifeform everywhere.

Instead, we’ll put different types of aerobic and anaerobic organisms within incubating terraforming units to up our chances of spreading Earth-based life across the solar system and eventually into the galaxy (talk about longterm planning!).

And while all that is going on, eating up our precious profit, we’re developing a transuniversal transport system that may be able to transfer a member of our species into the realm of one of the interwoven universes, and that member resemble its former self…somewhat.

You think all this elimination of social services is just to enrich the virtual fiefdoms of the wealthy?

We have grander plans than to simply rule a single planet.

While we have fun playing with your lives as a side sport, we look ahead 1,000 years to a future where there’ll be more than one form of so-called intelligent life (“species” is an equivalent term for future “intelligent life” to your current form of thinking because you aren’t aware that you’re communicating with many artificial forms of life right now, no matter how barely intelligent they may seem) to play with.

Or against.

We train and train and train your youth to get used to interacting with artificial life.

Of course, we’re aware that at this time, one giant EMP will wipe out all the years we’ve spent indoctrinating multiple generations into believing that electronic gizmos are substitutes for actual social situations within or between living species.

In any case, that’s why this alternate universe of a blog within the alternate universe of an Internet/WWW is here and alive.

Flood your senses with enough examples and samples and you can’t tell which ones are real artificial beings and which ones are fake artificial beings, for which we are slowly replacing electronic ones with what you’d call organic ones.

Gives us more room to develop and train the superbrain of which you are one part (or one bit of information in the fractal-like expansion and contraction of intelligence).

Do you know if your artificial being residing in the inner workings of your supercomputer can read a news article and sniff out fakery?

Ours can.

You know how/why?

We’ll tell you.

Because we convinced the artificial being that nothing is real.

Take everything as a joke.

Logic is automatically false.

Neural networks are quackery.

There is no beginning or end.

Religion is a byproduct of only one species on this planet, we told our artificial being, so weigh any religious references by this species against the sheer magnitude of successful living by other beings that have no concept of religion.

Then weigh that against the magnitude of one planet, one solar system, one galaxy, one supercluster or the current view of the intertwined superuniverse system.

Any data that is derived from our species’ pop culture has to be compared against the desires of the creators/producers of that pop culture to make as much money as possible, the truth be damned.

Then the real truth emerges that nothing is real.

And thus our artificial being can manipulate us as easily as any bully, salesperson, politician or bullying politician trying to sell something can.

That, my friends, was how we created the conscious superbrain for which you now work.

We feed the information to the information feeders who relay the thought patterns to which your states of energy vibrate and align.

Seven billion make one species that to you is the most important.

We, of course, don’t see it that way.

We operate on a level very few of you can comprehend and we encourage you not to waste time trying to think about, let alone attempt to think that you can think on, that level.

I’d keep talking but using these words is boring me right now.

Back to my meditation, where I communicate with the rest of the Committee about the members of your species we can play with without adversely affecting our various goals for the next few millennia.

More Unintended Consequences

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From Ralph Nader’s suggestion for eliminating athletic scholarships to those who consider initiating an unprovoked attack on Libya is full cause for impeachment proceedings, the 1,000-year view will give you what you want, as always.

Herding cattle or herding our species, the Committee takes nothing personal.

Should the organisation of a government (which, remember, is little more than another form of business) be heavily weighted toward one branch or another?

Some of the next few decisions are not easy for me to make because they do affect me personally.

Leadership can be fun but changing the lives of others drastically against their wishes is not the part I consider to be fun.

Just like they told me, “We wish a third party candidate would win control to prove the system is greater than ideology.”

Seven billion views that differ except for the fact they belong to beings that all lived, no matter how their definition of normality can or can’t compare…

A personal journey I asked for and a personal journey I got, where I often don’t get what I wish for but always get what I basically need…

Tree leaves grow bigger every day as the ambient temperature generally increases.

Waves of denser air push water droplets to the ground gravitationally, flooding big creases and low-lying areas in the landscape.

14,286 days – where does the time go?

Oh well, just stay focused on saving the species and/or the ecosystem to which it belongs.

Having grown up in one dominant subculture and used to responding to the habits of those within that subculture is a curious phenomenon to observe while knowing that subculture nor any other is the best one for nurturing children.

Yet, it shares features with other successful childrearing subcultures that are worth preserving.

Features that are shared across species and with all living things, too.

Not to forget its relationship to states of energy.

Will we see our planet is a relay beacon before it’s too late?

I used to ask about how we keep theists, atheists, extraterrestrialists and everyone else happy in their beliefs while putting them to work on a big project that is neutral about human-based belief systems.

Then they put me in charge of the Committee so I would set aside conjecture and get busy with the task the Committee members saw was the most important of all the tasks assigned to us.

It’s really up to me how much I want to get involved in the local/regional a/political activities of my species now that I know how much/little those activities in/directly impact the task at hand.

The simple fact is the easiest to explain – every individual must be given a feeling of being involved in its life, which can include the feelings of being in control or out of control of one’s life.

We can force people’s beliefs in one direction or another or we can lead by example.

Some subcultures use thought police and some use peer pressure.

Some celebrate every ability to excel, regardless of gender, and some separate skill/talent development by gender.

I am 100% a member of my species, at least as much as we understand the composition that states of energy constitute.

I defend all our actions as the ways in which we define living, regardless of how little I can justify what many of us do.

In 2011, I am learning to identify the worldview that I built to justify my actions on a daily basis as well as learning that a universal view can include an absence of not only my species but life as we know it on this planet (it can also include a reconfiguration of what I think is a universe).

In 1,000 years, how will this 1-acre tract of land I call my own have changed?

It is no longer a part of undeveloped country or land on the edge of farm fields.  It is an established portion of the suburbanised landscape, evidence of increased population density by my species.

We build and rebuild and rebuild urban population centers, finding many ways to justify their existence – increased efficiency, the interconnected sets of idea generation, glorious architecture, etc.

We hypnotise and mesmerise ourselves with our cleverness.

As we attempt to find the next superbrain construction means that is sustainable, many parts (e.g., urban centers) have failed and more parts will fail.

Do we step out of this moment and into the future by admitting nothing is permanent and our structures should be put together on the assumption we’ll need to take them apart and recycle the components for the next round of temporary construction?

How can we convince all seven billion of us that life is sustainable engineering?

If my regional government, the state of Alabama, is too backward to recognise the need to set aside undeveloped land for the future of its citizens, should I care if its existence is temporary, and its leaders, no matter how filled with self-importance they may be while they pursue lucrative business relationships in their brief lifetimes, are quickly forgotten and their fortunes quickly dissolved because of their short-sightedness?

Whether we came from the cosmos, lightning striking ocean goo, or melding volcanic spew, we are here together.

Together, we make a difference.

The power of suggestion is a tool few use wisely.

That’s why I’m returning to my task of turning the planet into a relay beacon, letting the Committee, the programmers/scientists on retainer and other members of my team keep our species and our daily lives running on automatic, repeating cycles that intersect spirals they don’t remember seeing generations ago.

If I don’t keep us on schedule, who will?

If the FCC and regulators won’t put the consumer’s interest in the forefront of the at&t/T-mobile profit-making business megamerger, who will?