From My Humble Perspective

The Law at DC Auto in Clearfield Utah Noon 11-14-2011

2011-11-14T12:21:00.000-05:00

November 14, 2011 12:10pm

I just saw four law enforcement vehicles at D C Auto in Clearfield, Utah. I think they were David County Sheriffs. At least one of the vehicles had their emergency lights on. They were behind the building and appeared to be doing something with a black pickup truck and a man and a woman. I saw something on the ground behind they truck. It could have been a car seat, but it appeared to be bigger with blankets or something on or around it.

There was a tow truck next to the black pickup truck, but I could not determine if it was part of the situation or if it was just one that was at D C Auto, because they do towing.

I do not have any information on if there was an arrest being made or something else. It just caught my eye that there were four law enforcement vehicles there with emergency lights on.

I would be interested if anyone knows what was happening.

Below are some pictures of the scene.

Amish Shunning

2011-10-18T09:03:00.000-04:00

My wife mentioned some movie on Amish and their practice of shunning, that she wanted to watch. It made me remember back to when I was a kid and my parents rented a house on this farm property surrounded by other farm properties.

There was a couple of sisters that lived up at the top of the hill from us. They had chosen to have electricity installed in their house, due to the fact that one of the sisters had a medical condition that required some sort of electric machinery in order to survive. I had been told that the Amish community had shunned them. From what I was told that meant that they weren’t supposed to talk to them or give them support of any kind.

I don't know if all the facts are accurate, but that is how I remember it from when I was very young.

I also remember being told about an Amish guy that would go borrow his neighbor's telephone. We were on a party line, which meant that everyone shared on line, even though we had different numbers. If someone was on the phone no one else could use the phone.

This Amish guy would pick up the phone and someone would be on it. He would bang the phone and make a bunch of noise until you got off.

Glass on the Ipod/Iphone

2011-10-10T13:13:00.000-04:00

I am listening to the commentary on Steve Jobs and Apple after his death. One point they keep beating on is that Steve Job could not live with plastic on the IPod/IPhone. Steve Job wanted glass. They are saying they would not want an IPhone at this point without the glass.

I, on the other hand, find this to be a failing of my IPod. I see a big market for companies that replace the glass as it gets smashed as it gets bumped or dropped. I recently got a replacement for a broken IPod. The problem was with the power or the battery or something, not the glass, but it had little fractures in and scratch on the glass.

I also have seen many people walking around with smashed screen glass. I don't know if plastic is what I want, but there needs to be something more durable for the screens on these devices. They are carried in our pockets. They are used in our hands. They are carried in our hands, while we are holding other things.

Cutting in Line

2011-09-28T10:08:00.000-04:00

In American society, it is unacceptable to cut in front of people who got there before you and have been waiting in line for things like the grocery store or the theater. How is it that we find it acceptable to cut in front of people waiting in line at a traffic light?

The Gambling Lane
There are many places where there are two lanes at a light and one is clearly ending within a few car lengths past the light. In these situations I often find cars lined up in the lane that is not ending and a car or two with slide ahead of that line into the lane that is ending. Then at the light cut in front of those in line. Many times just to go slowly in front of them due to traffic, thus making those who have waited in line wait even longer.

If there is someone in the lane that is ending and they can't get out in front of everyone they try to slide to the second or third spot. When the person in the second or third spot refuses to let them in, the person trying to cut will often get angry with them, as if they have the right of way. Let me repeat this, the person who is trying to cut in line; a behavior, if done in a store, would likely result in an altercation; is upset because someone is saying no they will not tolerate their rude behavior. This sounds very much like when a smoker gets mad at a no smoking sign. The person that wants to be rude is mad that the people around them have said no to the rude behavior.

I admit, I have fallen tot he temptation to use that lane to get ahead of traffic I assessed that would be slow to get moving, but it is a gamble. When I use that lane and I get cut off by the people I am cutting ahead of that is the price I have to pay. I gambled and lost.

Two Single Opposite Lanes to Two Lane Running Together
Another situation I have noticed with cutting in line is where you have a single lane on one side of an intersection that has a left turn arrow and a single right hand turn lane with a red light on the other. This is in a state where you may turn right on red after coming to a stop. These two single lanes converge into two lanes going in the same direction. If I understand traffic law correctly, when you make a turn you are to stay in the lane closest to you and then if you need the other lane, signal and change lanes, once you have completed the turn.

What I have noticed at one particular intersection is that the left turn arrow people mostly swing to the right hand lane, thus cutting off the right turners from the other direction. They do this because they want to get on the interstate which entrance is on the right. The right turners just sit there and wait for the light to change, as if the left turners have the right of way in the right hand lane. Some of this is fear of collision and some of it is because most of them want to get on the interstate via the entrance on the left. Neither of them seem interested in getting out there and negotiating a lane change after they turn. They both want to change lanes while they are turning, which I am almost certain is illegal. I don't believe you are allowed to change lanes in an intersection.

When I have been the right hand turner I have nudged my nose out there showing my intent to go and the left turners stay over and I proceed. So long as they see the behavior that everyone is going to yield to them, they are going to keep cutting in front of the right turners.

There is much behavior that comes about when driving that would never be tolerated and no one would ever consider doing if they were secluded inside a vehicle.

The Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T13:01:00.000-04:00

The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was today. In America it was the wee hours of the morning and still I saw several people got up to watch it on their televisions here. To what end? What is the allure? We don't know these people. We probably even know them less well than we know our own leaders or celebrities.

Are people so unhappy with their own lives that they have to live through a royal family.

There is a movement to continually give to the American Indians because of the wrongs done to them by certain people in this country many many years ago. The entire nation is called to pay for those things. The British Empire also did vile things to the American people many many years ago. They sent troops over here to kill our nation in its infancy. Yet, we hold the family of the man that did it to us up to such high respect and esteem?

I do not feel the British Empire or the royal family owes us anything, but I am using this as an illustration to give some perspective.

Now let's set that soapbox behind us and look at the people involved. Put the pomp and circumstance aside. This is two people trying to start their life together. They want to celebrate their love. This goes beyond a celebration and is well into a spectacle. Do we not remember what this young man's mother went through with being in the spot light.

When you get married you should be able to invite YOUR friends and YOUR family and not have to invite whoever is needed to to make a statement. Nor should your guest list make anyone think that you are making a statement by not inviting them.

Let's leave the fairy tales and carriages and big dresses in the story books. Let's let Prince William and Kate Middleton have their own life and let us have ours.

Be happy with who you are. Live your own life to the fullest possibly can and set the distractions and unimportant things aside.

Facebook Shared Accounts

2011-04-28T10:37:00.001-04:00

I was involved in a discussion with some friends on Facebook. One friend posted that they wanted to add their spouse's name to their Facebook account. I had seen one or two doing this previously and I didn't like it. I now see the trend of people changing their name to something like Myrtle AndOscar Jenkins. This is slightly better than a husband opening a Facebook account with his name and then the wife taking over the account and doing most, if not all the posting.

Reasons they do it

My friend was expressing that their spouse wasn't on Facebook and had no desire to have anything to do with computers, so they wanted to have their friends have a way to see stuff about them.
My friend also said that their high school reunion was coming up and they thought it would be easier to contact them both that way.
Another friend expressed that if someone says something to one of them that they can say it to both.

Reasons I don't like it

I don't want to see all of the junk from people my wife wants to have as friends.
You can not search for Oscar Jenkins, because Facebook sees AndOscar, not Oscar. So if I am searching for old friends I have to search for them and parse through all of the Oscar Jenkins and then all of the AndOscar Jenkins. It is hard enough to determine if it is your old friend since people put profile pictures of everything except themselves, but when you have to search crazy names it is even harder. This means that the point of making it easier for high school friends to find them for a high school reunion actually makes it harder.
A better use of the name field is to use maiden and married names. So if I search for Myrtle Jenkins or Myrtle Yoder, which was her maiden name and the name I knew her by, I will still find her.
When I see someone online in chat I don't know if I am getting Myrtle or Oscar?
If I want to plan a surprise for Myrtle with Oscar, then that makes it hard since Myrtle can see everything.
Update 7-28-2011 - Today I had a friend pop up as having a birthday. They have a shared account. Whose birthday is it? How will I know when it is the other persons birthday?

Zeppelins

2011-04-28T09:31:00.000-04:00

I have seen several TV shows that revolve around time travel or alternate Earths or alternate realities where they show Zeppelins being widely used. If it were not for the Hindenburg and the evils the Germans did with the Zeppelins, would they have ever been a viable form of transportation?

To me Zeppelins seem unstable, bulky, and costly. The majority of the space in them is filled with gas and appears to be unusable for anything else.

Thoughts?

Buy American

2011-03-31T23:08:00.003-04:00

This is a difficult subject for me to address, because I want American to be strong. Unfortunately I seem to be arriving at the opinion that buying American because a product says "Made in America" on it is not the way. I will detail some of the reason I feel that way below and I welcome respectful and thoughtfully worded discussion in the comments.

Just because a product says "Made in America" does not mean that all of the money paid for that product stays in America. It could have been made by a foreign company, which has a manufacturing plant in America.. It could have been made by an American company that outsources much of it work to foreign countries, but manufactured the item in America.

Just because a product says "Made in China" or whatever other non-American country it might be does not mean there aren't American jobs that rely on that product. I think we often just look at the manufacturing jobs that are gained or lost and forget that a company has other jobs that they pay for. Those jobs might be being performed by Americans.

Sometimes I hear people complain about how little people in other countries make to produce our cheap clothing. If we take the position that we don't buy those products to show that we don't want them paying low wages to people then those people make the equivalent to $0 instead of just what ever they were making before that was more than $0. Saying to only buy things made in America has the same effect. I do believe that we have to take care of those closest to us first, but still something to think about.

What about vacations? Should we only vacation in The United States. Tourism is a big industry and if we vacation outside The United States we are giving tourism jobs to other countries and taking work away from Americans.

As said at the beginning of this post, I want a strong America. I think that taking the position that people must buy "American" just because it is American or says "Made in America" on it does not make us stronger. American is stronger when we compete. If we do it better then we will be strong. If American companies only can make sales by virtue of being an American company and not from innovating, then America is weaker. The Declaration of Independence tells us that we have the right to the pursuit of happiness. It does not say we have the right to happiness. We have to pursue and catch it ourselves.

One area where I do think we need to "Buy American" is in private charitable contributions. I think we as individuals spend too much money on causes overseas rather than establishing private programs to educate our own people. We spend a ton on building schools in far off places. How about privatize the school system and then the American people donate money to support it?

If our population is well educated, then we will be competitive in the market place.

Stop Moving My Keys

2011-03-31T16:21:00.000-04:00

Anybody else irritated that every keyboard is configured slightly and sometimes considerably different. Delete, ins, home, end, pg up, pg down, and such just thrown on willy nilly where ever they can fit them.

Some of them have even removed the Pause/Break key entirely. When doing software development every so often I have to use Pause/Break to more precisely break into the code than just pausing the IDE.

If I Can't See Your Face I Can't Tell It Is You

2011-03-24T10:31:00.000-04:00

People are locking down their profiles on Facebook, which I think is mostly a good thing, it helps against identity theft and deters creeps from finding them. Unfortunately it also keeps long lost friends from finding them. If I search for Steve Jones (names has been changed to protect the innocent) I am going to get a long list of Facebook users, likely. If the Steve Jones I am looking for has hidden all of his information, I can't tell he is the one I am looking for. Many times this isn't an issue, since there is a profile picture and even though it has been years I can still see that it is good ol' Steve Jones. So long as old Steve hasn't had major plastic surgery or something.

Unfortunately people seem to be using their profile picture for anything bu their face. We get cute pictures of their kids or pets or even their spouse. Many times they are in the photo, but because it is a thumbnail on Facebook, it is hard to make out their face since they are not the focus of the picture, but the couple or group is.

Please Steve, change your profile picture to your face. We miss you so much and we can't find you.

Utahans and Turn Signals

2011-03-04T18:14:00.077-05:00

Almost everywhere I have lived, there is a small, frustrating percentage of people that don't use their turn signals to indicate what they are doing, so as to keep traffic flowing well and prevent accidents.

Here is Weber County, Utah there is an epidemic of folks that don't use their turn signals. No signal for lane change, merging, or turning.

This morning was the ultimate example. Two cars were at a stop light in the straight/left turn lane. Neither of them were signaling. The light turns green and they both sit there for twenty seconds looking at each other. Then both of their left turn signals come on and they proceed with their left turns.

It would've been a little humorous, if I was not stuck behind one of them, waiting to make a left turn myself. I shook my head in disbelief of what I had just witnessed.

Usually the people I see not using their signal are people whose lane is ending and they are merging into traffic. They appear to either be oblivious to the fact that it is their lane that is ending and not the lane they are merging into or they assume that people are so courteous here that they will just back away and let them in.

There may be some validity to their assumption, if they are indeed counting on the courtesy of others, but it is a dangerous assumption to make. Many around here do extend "courtesy" to those that are in front of them, regardless of how rude they are being to those behind them or what the law is. One should still signal and look before merging, in spite of this.

I saw a similar phenomenon is Indiana. People generally wanted to be courteous and would stop and let people into the flow of traffic. That is great except for in the case where one stops where they have no stop sign to let a person with a stop sign go, because the one at the stop sign is not getting a break to come out. This confuses everyone. The person stopped know they have a stop sign and yet are being motioned to move out into traffic. The people behind the "courteous" person are confused because they may not see what charitable act they are trying to perform, thus they might trying to go around them and then crash into the person that was let out when it was not their right of way.

It also isn't great when a "courteous" person let's multiple people merge out in front of them, while the line of cars that has been patiently waiting for a very long time get delayed longer and longer. If everyone let's in one car, traffic in both lanes with flow.

Another traffic thing I see here, which is either courtesy or the fear of being hit is letting a left turner with a green arrow turn into the far right lane, while a line of right turners coming from the other way sits and waits on them. The person at the front of the line generally just sits there and waits for the green arrow from the other way to go away, even though there are two lanes and the left turners should stay in the left and the right turner in the right. If they need the other lane once they turn, they should signal and keep the traffic flowing.

Instead what happens is that a line of right turners back up and it takes forever to clear them out, because there are too many of them to make it through the next light after they turn. In the meantime all of the left turners that drifted in to the right lane have cleared out because they are making a subsequent right turn.

If both would stay in their own lane, then the left turners want to make a subsequent right would still move out and the right turners making a subsequent left turn would be able to trickle through the next light and not back up.

Even though folks around here generally don't use their turn signals, they do make turns. Left turners often cut their turn short, drifting into the left lane of on coming traffic after the turn. If there are two turn lanes the right most lane will drift into the left lane and further encourage the left lane to head into oncoming traffic.

Gas Leak?

2010-12-26T11:44:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I smelled a strong gas smell on the back porch. The only I could figure was the grill. I checked and it was off. I turned off the tank in case it was leaking. The next time I went out the smell was gone. A few days ago I was at the fridge and smelled a little bit again. Since all of our kitchen appliances are electric I blew it off after a little bit of investigating.

After doing all the stuff with the kids on Christmas I showered around 1 or 2. When I walked out of the bathroom, I smelled the gas smell again. The bathroom is across the hall from the furnace room. I sniffed around the furnace room and it was a little here and there, but I could find nothing and it went away quickly.

I crowd sourced the problem a little by posting the problem on Twitter and Facebook. I also texted a couple of friends. I didn’t know if you called the fire department or the gas company or what. One friend said to try soapy water on the joints of the gas pipes, but I didn’t know what I was doing and it all just looked like soapy water. Others said crack two windows for cross ventilation. Others said call the gas company, but had no idea of charges or if they could do anything about it.

I finally called the gas company to find out what to do. They sent a guy out. Neither the lady on the phone or the guy that came out mentioned a charge, so we will see. Why does this stuff seem to generally happen on weekends and holidays?

The guy came out and was very nice. He found no leaks. He said the water heater vent was loose and he tightened that. It looks like that is an open hole with a dome over it that leads to the outside pipe. I wonder how that isn’t always leaking exhaust into the house.

He said that the chimney looked in bad shape and I should maybe have it inspected and cleaned. I didn’t figure with gas heat their would be anything to clean, but he said dirt and stuff get in there. He opened a little door at the bottom of the chimney and it was packed with dirt. He put a mirror in the door and could not see up the chimney. Does that mean it is clogged or that they sealed around the gas exhaust pipe when they put it in?

Free Shipping

2010-12-08T16:42:00.000-05:00

Will we ever get to a point where there will just be a cost for a product and shipping charges will go away?

I remember a time where folks would either charge you extra to use a credit card or not take credit cards at all because of the fees credit card companies charge the vendor. I also seem to recall certain vendors only allowing credit cards if you purchased a minimum amount.

This rings very similar to the model we have now where vendors charge the shipping charges back to their customer. When I go to a brick and mortar store there is obviously a cost to them to move the product between the manufacturer and the warehouse and the store, but I never see a separate charge on my receipt for those shipping charges.

We are to the point with credit cards where I can spend a few cents on my credit card at a store and have no penalty. Certainly it is possible to have shipping be a cost of business, spread across everything a vendor sells.

On the subject of reducing those costs, some of it might could be done by shipping to the customer directly from the manufacturer. Another thing could be to have a shipping co-op where multiple vendors can leverage lower shipping charges. If I order something from Amazon and Tiger Direct and some other place and somehow the shipping co-op can group things going to the same address together.

Even if none of these cost reductions are possible, I don't believe a vendor should hide the total cost of the product by splitting it into separate charges. Then again the phone companies do it all the time with all the various fees and taxes. Even stores do this with a separate line for sales tax. It seems like that should be a cost of business too. Tax is going to be charged, so account for it in the cost of the product without hiding it from the customer at the bottom line.

Who Says Facebook Can't Make a Difference

2010-12-07T10:36:00.001-05:00

I saw this post on Facebook come through, apparently commenting on the ridiculousness of copy other people's statuses into your own to cure the world's problems, while not doing anything more.

"Copy this text and put it in your status if you know someone or have heard of someone who knows someone. If you don't know anyone or even if you've just heard of someone who doesn't know anyone then do still copy this. It's important to spread the message. And the hearts! ♥♥♥♥♥ For goodness sake, don't forget the hearts! ♥♥♥♥♥"

I am actually considering posting this, even though I don't generally do the copy status thing. Additionally I am considering adding my own commentary, included below.

"You may think this is absolutely worthless, since I did nothing more than copy this from someone else's status and not a thing more. What you don't realize is that if I get a bunch of others to post this, it makes me feel like I am a good person and that people like me. It is all about me anyway."

Facebook Eliminates Violence Against Children.

2010-12-03T09:09:00.000-05:00

I have started to see the following being posted to "friends" statuses on Facebook.

"Change your facebook profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. Until Monday, there should be no human faces on facebook, but a stash of memories. This is for eliminating violence against children."

Well if it will eliminate violence again children, of course I will change my Facebook profile picture to a cartoon character.

Why Can't the Most Influential Woman Wear Pant to the Office?

2010-11-15T13:11:00.000-05:00

I was watching This Week in Tech episode 274 today. They were talking about some list of the most influential people. Leo Laporte threw it over to Xeni Jardin to give her opinion of the list. At first she just blew the list off as unimportant and then she started commenting about the female representation on the list. She was disputing why the female representation on the list were Sarah Palin and Lady Gaga. I agree with her to that point. There are tons of women that are better influences than them, but just as the panel talked about earlier in the episode it isn't about being a good or positive influence, just most influential.

The thing that struck me was that Xeni made this comment, "Why can't we have one woman that wears pants to the office and does something interesting with science and technology."

Why does a woman have to wear pants, as opposed to a dress, to be influential. I agree that there needs to be more to a woman than her body, but wearing a dress does not make a woman less competent, nor does wearing a dress have to be flaunting. There are plenty of women wearing pants who try to use their femininity rather than their talent to advance themselves.

Why does a woman have to go to the office to be influential? I think Mother Teresa wore a dress and did not go to the office and is often referred to as one of the more important women ever. Women do more influential and important thing when they don't have to go to the office and chase power and money all day long and work for the interests of some corporation.

Why does working in science and technology make a woman more influential than other pursuits?

Breast Cancer Awareness

2010-10-09T21:06:00.001-04:00

I have been very concerned over the years on the focus on Breast Cancer "Awareness". I think the amount of talking about it and the way it is being talked about is making people aware, but it is making them aware that they are annoyed, offended, or wearied by the conversation.

I'm not sure what raising awareness means. I think most people we very aware of breast cancer and that it kills people or make it necessary to remove a breast surgically. This is likely because it is widespread and they likely know or have heard of someone who has had it.

Because of the over publicizing of it and the vulgar way that breast cancer awareness is being promoted, I am less likely to contribute to the cause or participate in events the cause is organizing.

Perhaps everyone passionate about curing brain cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, or cancer anywhere in the body should unite their resources, rather than having their own private battles.

Our Bodies and Sexuality are Sacred

Even if a good cause is being promoted, doing it by speaking irreverently about our body and sexuality is inappropriate.

Focusing on Our Bodies Diminishes Our Self Worth

This is likely why many are so devastated after a mastectomy. They have tied a too much of who they are to their breasts. It is also likely why many girls and women or so self conscious about their breasts being "too big" or "too small". When our "sex appeal" is what defines or is our biggest too to stay ahead in life then we are devaluing ourselves.

Hey Joe. What Do You Mean Joe? I Don't Even Know You.

2010-06-20T10:29:00.000-04:00

When did it become acceptable for service people to call you by your first name rather than by Mr. Lastname? It appears that this is even part of the training by the business owners or managers. I seem to recall, years ago, when I worked as a cashier at Wal-Mart that they instructed up that if the customer used a check or credit card we were to address them by first name.

I admit, I have allowed my children to be much more informal with adults in their life than I think is healthy.

How have we come to this point. I think that kids are much more well behaved when adults are treated as not just another one of the kids in there class at school or whatever. I have noticed neighborhood kids that don't even know me being very surly with me. I have also noticed kids that I teach using phrases like, "You're not my dad. You can't tell me what to do."

I recognize that there are adults that have done horrible things to kids and kids should be educated and protected on how to deal with those situations. Kids can be cautious and yet still be respectful.

Service workers can show me respect without being familiar.

Utahans and Crosswalks

2010-06-20T09:59:00.000-04:00

I have commented on the obliviousness I have noticed with regard to traffic since I have moved to Utah. Both from drivers and pedestrians.

Quite often pedestrians will just walk out into a crosswalk, without looking. Today there was a mother with a new born in a stroller with kids following behind her. A car is approaching and she steps out and the children follow her out. When the driver notices that they have stepped out he slams on his brakes, almost hitting them. He begins yelling at her. She begins yelling back that she is in the crosswalk.

It should be noted that this was not a crosswalk at a stop light or even a stop sign. It was just a crosswalk in the middle of a road where driver's would not normally stop and where they likely will be traveling at non-neighborhood speeds.

I couldn't help but wonder if the fact that you had the right of way is a consolation when you are holding your dead baby in you arms because a car, that was unable to stop, smashed into you stroller.

I have seen billboard frequently that put the responsibility on the drivers and guilt them into not running over pedestrians. Where's the billboard for, "Stop, look, and listen before you cross the street"?

She's Not in the Refrigerator

2010-06-06T10:38:00.000-04:00

I was watching the movie What Women Want with my wife the other day. The character being played by Mel Gibson is fretting over his behavior and trying to make it right, but he can't get in contact with the woman he is enamored with to continue to try to do so.

At one point he is pacing around his apartment trying to figure out what to do. He then opens the refrigerator door and does the refrigerator gaze, not knowing what he he wants to eat. He comes to the conclusion that he isn't looking for something to eat at all. He closes the door and says, "What am I doing? She's not in the refrigerator."

I have seen the movie a time or two before, but this time this line struck me as profound. How often have we done the refrigerator stare not knowing what we wanted to eat, but in reality we didn't want anything. We were either bored, stressed, or antsy.

How many other things in life do we do that are little more that the refrigerator stare? What are we doing? What we are looking for is not in the refrigerator.

VS

2010-05-03T16:25:00.001-04:00

I keep seeing this idea of pitting two things against each other that are not mutually exclusive as if they are.

Republicans vs Democrats
As far as I can see, we do not have a two party system. We are to believe the two parties are in disagreement and that there is a big difference between the two. I believe that the differences are concocted to distract from the acts of greed both parties perpetrate together.

This is not to say that we shouldn't be involved in our government and that we shouldn't vote. We should be aware that there are bipartisan things happening, but they are generally not seen by the public and they have to do with greed.

When bills are produced and one party opposes it and they debate pieces of it, I wonder about the pieces that are in it that are no good that they are not talking about. Are the debates on certain issues just a distraction so we don't notice the rest of the garbage that is in it?

Church vs State
Our government was founded on religion by Christians. "In God We Trust" "One Nation Under God" This nation thrives when both work together.

Religion vs Science
This infers that there is not thought in religion. Yes there are those that seem to just move through their religion with no thought, but I would argue that religion is a branch of science. It is something you study to understand how the world works. You don't do this without science. You use the two to understand each of them.

Government vs Business
There is this theater that goes on trying to pit business and government against each other. All the while the two are working together to get rich by draining the people. When I hear a debate that pits business against government I have to look for what else is going on. There is generally something they are trying to cover up or push through and make it look like there is a choice in the matter cause you can choose business or government. The people lose either way.

How to Get It Done

2010-04-30T23:33:00.000-04:00

I heard something while watching The Amazing Race the other day that I thought was one of those catching sayings about how to live life that people like so much.

They had a task to perform where they had to put together a huge puzzle with great big pieces. A member of the team with two models on it and a member of the brothers/cowboys team had a good bit of their puzzles done. The wind picked up and tossed the pieces all over. The model guy started stomping around and pitching a fit and behaving like he might quit, as he did several times during the race when things went badly for them. The cowboy used his clothing and some folding chairs that were in the lower spectator level of the stadium and kept working. In one of the shots where they ask the player to comment on the tasks they were doing after the fact, Cord McCoy, the cowboy, said, “throwing a fit and kicking and screaming wudn’t goin’ to help get my puzzle done.”

As we run into things where life hands us a trial, perhaps it might be useful to consider that throwing a fit and kicking and screaming likely won't help us get our puzzle done.

Temporarily Blinded by Smoking

2010-03-04T10:06:00.001-05:00

Early in the pre-dawn hours I'm cruising down I-15 at 70 or so and see the flash of sparks and ash bounce off my windshield. Startling me and momentarily blinding me, which are both great at highway speeds.

I have often seen sparks bounce under my gas tank from a careless cigarette, smoke fill my car from someone smoking next to me at a stop light, and the piles of littered cigarette butts in the median, but a flaming cig bouncing off my windshield is a new one for me.

The world is your ash tray.

Rafiki Wisdom

2010-03-04T09:34:00.002-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SCFNbyamY8

Rafiki Wisdom. I love that monkey. "It means you are a baboon and I am not." "You don't even know who you are."

Yes, the past hurts. It is to remind us that we don't want to go there again.

So long as we hang out with wart hogs and let them convince us that eating bugs is the way to be happy, we will never find true happiness. Once we stop eating bugs and embrace who we are, we will find that we will find what we have been seeking.

We must leave the party and pay attention to what is important. We are royalty and we must act like it and stop trying to find happiness in filth.

We are children of a king, our Heavenly Father. We can embrace our heritage and be happy or we can live below our potential and keep trying to find something else that will forever be escaping us.

Facebook Status "I got Nothing"

2010-01-26T16:42:00.000-05:00

I find that there are a lot of people on Facebook that feel that they have to come up with something to say in their status every day. If they happen to be home sick from the urge seems to jump to hourly.

Frequently I will see a status update that says, "I got nothing" or something relatively equivalent. If a person has nothing to say I think I would figure it that out if they don't post a status.

I generally add people as my Facebook "friends" because I want a quick way to keep up with what has been happening in their life since I last saw them or spoke to them. Filling up my Facebook page with drivel doesn't help me. It just wastes my time sorting through nothing to get to something. The flip of this is that when they do post something meaningful I have to wade through other people's nothing to get to their something.

Some would say just stop using Facebook or remove those people that do this from my friend list. The problem is not that I don't want those people in my life and that I don't care about them. The problem is that it is like having a kid sit next to your and say "Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad." while you are trying to do something else. You can't finish what you are doing because of the extra chatter.

A similar problem is with sympathy bait posts. Post like, "Oh no" or "Not again" or "I'm so sad". These posts tell us nothing and just bait people to pity the poster. If you have something to say, say it. Don't bait me send you flowers when I have no clue what the problem is.

Also, don't post things like, "It is so sad when people..." and then jump down my throat when I don't realize that you were talking about something in your life and not just fretting about some condition of society unrelated to you personally. Again, if you have something to say, spit it out. Don't make me guess. Don't make me think that something horrible has happened when it has not. Don't make me read "nothing".

When Did Slander Become Acceptible

2010-01-25T10:07:00.000-05:00

Over the last few months I have seen the number of cut and paste Facebook statuses of "send this to all your friends" spam spike. Lately I have seen several of these come around, "DO NOT ACCEPT THESE 4 AS FRIENDS, _______, _______, ______ AND _______ THEY ARE HACKERS, TELL EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST BECAUSE IF SOMEBODY ADDSTHEM, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE HACKED TOO. COPY THIS TEXT TO YOURPROFILE... DO NOT BE LAZY, PLEASE POST TO YOUR WALL"

Several things make no sense about this:

Why would you give strangers access to your personal information? That is one reason people started using Facebook was become it was private and only people you choose can see your stuff.
If someone tells me that one of my neighbors is a pediphile with no substantiating evidence other than someone told me and told said to tell everyone I know,is it now okay for me to spread it around?
By labeling the person as a hacker can they really get into your computer by adding them as a friend on Facebook?

Violent Bathroom Tendencies

2009-03-23T16:54:00.003-04:00

As I have been in many bathrooms at work over the years I have noticed kind of a ridiculous trend. I often find that many, when, done at the urinal, slam the handle to flush rather than just pushing it normally. I also find that they kick the handle when using the sit down toilets. I understand using a foot, since bathrooms can be disgusting and others have bad bathroom habit and etiquette, which we can discuss later, but flushing with your foot and kicking the handle to flush it are two different things.

The President of the United States Using a Blackberry

2009-01-26T11:42:00.003-05:00

I'm hearing a lot of talk about the President of the United States using a Blackberry. Some are saying that there is a concern that Blackberry servers are in Canada. I agree that U.S. data on foreign servers might be a concern, but are we saying that we trust big corporations with presidential data? With outsourcing, couldn't a US server be in a foreign hosting location? Even if it is in the U.S., I don't trust corporate American to be responsible if they think they can get away with not being responsible and it gets them gain.

Political Mud Slinging

2008-10-26T13:37:00.005-04:00

I receive emails or see on websites almost daily negative things about both presidential candidates (John McCain and Barack Obama) being slung from supporters of the other. I rarely see links to unbiased websites or other sources to be able to research things about the candidates. I would be more impressed by a candidate that simply told the positive things about himself with facts to back it up, rather than given us negatives about the other candidate that are generally blown out of proportion.

Is there not enough good within themselves to win the election without dragging the other down and without stretching the truth or lying?

Is it Wrong to Say That It Is Wrong?

2008-08-24T19:08:00.007-04:00

I came across the name Orson Scott Card on the This Week in Tech (TWIT) podcast and in Twitter and Pownce posts. After the second thing that was of interest to me mentioned him I figured I would briefly take a look. I searched the archives of TWIT to see if I was remembering correctly that his science fiction work had been mentioned there. I seemed to recall that they were speaking of it in a positive light.

I should state up front that I have not read any of Orson Scott Card's work nor do I know much about him as a person. I was just struck by the language that was used as he and his work were discussed.

I was right Leo LaPorte had mentioned that he liked his work. I then saw a post by Leo following up since some of his listeners were upset that he liked his words. Leo defended by saying that he enjoyed his work, but did not agree with his politics. He refered to his views as homophobic.

I can follow that to some degree because I like some of Leo's work as well and don't agree with his politics. Especially the politics of labeling people as phobic.

I searched around a little further in different forums and found more talk of homophobia. A phobia being a fear. Does feeling that a practice is wrong means that a person is afraid of that practice or the people that practice it?

Are people that believe that it is wrong to kill animals for food scared of animals or of carnivors or omnivors? Since some people want to take God out of the role of law giver then who decides what is wrong and what is just fear?

This talk of being phobic is like a child calling someone chicken. I believe that taking potatoes out of a neighbors garden is wrong. What am I chicken? I believe that homosexuality is wrong. Chicken?

Can not a person express a belief without them being called names for holding that belief? It is as rediculous as the people that would ridule those that chose to be gay by calling them names or worse. Believing that a practice is wrong does not mean that you have to hate someone.

Some will argue that it is wrong when that expression of belief impacts others freedoms. Just like disallowing abortion impacts the freedom of a mother to not be burdoned by having to care for and raise a child. Or that allowing it also impacts the freedom of the child to live.

Sometimes we have to express that a practice is harmful to our society, even when it restricts what are allowed to do. We have laws against speeding because someone believes that it is a danger to society. Different states and localities have different speed lmits. Obivously those states with more restrictive speed limits are phobic.

Expletives on TV

2007-06-05T13:34:00.001-04:00

I'm seeing some chatter on Digg.com about a fuss being raised by expletives being used on TV. Just like the debate on violence on TV, that I commented on a few weeks ago, both sides seem to be focusing on kids not hearing this stuff. This is not just about kids. This is about broadcasters and performers that are using their medium irresponsibly. Filling the masses minds with vulgarity is unhealthy for our nation. For an example of this you can read the comments on Digg.com on this subject. The comments are generally the unintelligent onslaught of people with limited vocabularies looking for a venue to spew anger.

On the topic of kids and parents paying attention to what their kids watch. It is true that parents should be engaged with their kids. However the kids are home when parents are not. Kids have access to TV when parents are not in the room or in the house. Kids can stumble across this stuff while surfing the channels.

Besides children watching this kind of trash that is mingled with our entertainment I'm getting sick of having shows I otherwise enjoy being brought down to that level. Profanity is not necessary for me to know that a character is very angry. Profanity is not necessary to tell a funny joke. Why must the majority have to put up with such intrusions in our favorite programs from the minority that control the media?

Some are talking about free speech. We live in a free country, but with freedom comes responsibility. Being crude not responsible.

Should this be an issue for the courts or the governing agencies to get involved in I don't know. Those who don't want this stuff in our media need a bigger voice. It is not being heard over the behemoths that run the networks. Unfortunately the only course maybe to sacrifice our favorite programs and turn the tube off.

The World Is Your Ash Tray

2007-05-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

The main issues that impelled me to write this post has to do with dropping ash and cigarette butts anywhere one happens to be when driving. There are a few other behaviors that I think many people are oblivious to because it deals with smoking that otherwise would be considered inconsiderate and with some behaviors illegal if it was not related to smoking. I will mention a few of these as well.

Flicking cigarette butts out the car window.

I don't know why this always stuns me when I see it, but I just can't believe that people think this is acceptable.
At the stop light, piles of cigarette butts in the median. Littering is still illegal, right?
Driving down the road. Fire and gas tanks don't go well together. Always feels great to see a lit cigarette bounce out the window of the person in front of me and then see it bounce under my car.

Flicking ash out the window and onto the cars beside and behind.
Blowing smoke out the window that the person in the car behind gets to enjoy.
People having to walk through a gauntlet of smokers in order to get in and out of a building.

Everyone gets to breath, smell, and wear the smoke as they walk out the door.

Smoke gets trapped inside the entry way of buildings.

In this post I will not discuss that sitting somewhere smoking is really no different that sitting somewhere shooting heroine. I also will not discuss the "right" to smoke and that other's rights end where mine begin. The point I am trying to make in this post is the following.

I am not an ash tray. My vehicle is not an ash tray. The world in general is not an ash tray.

Violence in Entertainment Media

2007-05-22T07:11:00.000-04:00

I happened across a post on Digg about a debate on whether the FCC should put policies in place to attempt to curb the violence on TV. http://digg.com/television/Debate_Should_the_FCC_Curb_TV_Violence I'm not sure whether they should or shouldn't, but I did notice something about the discussion of this topic in the debate and by people who "debate" privately.

The debate seems to focus on protecting the children. That is a great goal, but I think it becomes using the children as a way to advance an agenda. What about protecting the adults. Of course, I am an adult, so I don't need as much protection as a child, but even adults are influenced and impacted by what they see and hear.

Also, I don't want fluff in the things I watch. Unfortunately I find a show I like and there ends up being fluff. By fluff I mean gratuitous sex and violence. At least one commenter on Digg talked about not needing to see Jack Bauer in 24 torture someone or be tortured to advance the story line. I have been thinking about this a lot and am considering not watching 24 next season for that very reason. I like the show, but that stuff is too much. Not because I am squeamish, but because I don't need to spend my time watching something like that week after week.

I have noticed a similar trend with Dead Zone. This last season seemed to add a lot more profanity.

Don't Buy Gas on May 15th - Are You Kidding Me?

2007-05-18T07:21:00.000-04:00

Spam irritates me anyway let, but some just really underscore what a thoughtless practice forwarded messages to everyone in your inbox or even encouraging other to do so can be. I admit I do find information that I pass on to groups of friends via email. I usually judiciously pick which friends the subject might be of interest to and only send to them, not my entire mailbox. Another practice I have begun is putting everyone I am sending to in the BCC field and not the TO field. I think this helps with keeping the email addresses of those I send to private from each other. Most mass mailings I get have not only the names and email addresses of the most recent people this was sent to on the TO line, but also those that it was sent to previous in the body of the email as history. Thus, giving all of their friends and families names and email addresses to complete strangers.

The spam that I am ranting about today is the Don't Buy Gas on May 15th email. This is a great example of people just quickly forwarded on a message without actually thinking about what they are sending. How about not driving on that day. That would actually cut down the amount of gas that is being purchased from the gas companies because it is not being used. Not buying gas on a certain day does not lessen the amount of gas that is purchased that week. One will buy the gas on the 14th or the 16th and still give the money to the gas companies.

Growing Up

2007-04-18T12:43:00.000-04:00

I have had a chance to ponder some things lately as I have seen news stories and TV shows that cover topics about violence in schools. I have also had to ponder other social problems. It seems that much of the times the problems partially stem from adults that haven't grown up. Adults that perhaps don't do the follies they did in their youth, but glory in them and would do them again if they had the chance. Adults that perhaps continue to do the follies of their youth (drinking, sleeping around). Adults that don't do the follies of their youth because their spouse or social group would frown on them, but still find them enticing. Adults that think that it is ok to do the follies of their youth because they are an adult now, but kids shouldn't do that.

I'm not articulating all of the scenarios well, but I think these attitudes are edging our moral standards to a point that extremes are now catastrophic and not just out of line or extreme. The rebellion we find from our youth comes from hypocrisy that they see in us. In the lack of boundaries until it is too late and too extreme to get a hold of.

When our kids see us pursuing our selfish motives because we can get away with it and are entitled to it they see no reason not to pursue their selfish desires. If those desires happen to be destroying those that have hurt them emotionally then violence can occur. If those desires are to be close to the opposite sex then pregnancy or disease or violence can occur.

Immigration Reform

2006-07-09T13:31:00.000-04:00

There is a lot of debate right now on the solution to the number of people coming across the border. There also seems to be a lot of contention between illegal immigrants and American citizens. This contention seems to be spreading into contention between Hispanics in general and other American citizens.

I believe that we do have problems with the large amount of Mexican immigration, especially illegal immigration. The problem I want to comment on today is our response, as American citizens, to it. There are many examples of things we could do to improve our response to Mexican immigration. I will focus on the language barrier.

"They need to learn English"
Let me start out by saying that I believe that if you move to a place where they predominantly speak a different language than you, then you should learn that language. This isn't happening as often or as quickly as it should. Programs or incentives or something for people to do this might help. I do not know. While we work to figure these things out, the problem still remains that there are a large number of people in this country that do not speak English.

We can complain that they don't speak English and we can continue to leave communication between us in an impassable condition or we can do something. If you frequently interact with people who are Hispanic, Korean, Indian, or whatever you could help your situation by learning their language.

America is one of the few countries in the world where the majority of the population isn't fluent in a second language.

My position that we should do what we can to fix the results of a bad situation does not mean that we stop attempting to find a way to eliminate the bad situation. One might look at one's inability to communicate in the language of those around as their problem, but learning other languages than your native language could also do a lot to coexist peacefully.

Better to Obey than to Sacrafice

2006-06-04T14:30:00.000-04:00

Today while I was reading 1 Sam 15 I noticed
22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

It was good timing since I had just watched the Da Vinci Code. One of the characters that went around murdering and such, but at night would pray and whip himself to either atone for his sins or to be close to Christ by experiencing what he did.

This movie also made me think about how everyone involved in the quest for the Holy Grail were unhappy. There was so much darkness and contention. Coming to Christ is about peace and light.

More Death

2006-04-20T12:08:00.000-04:00

I saw an interview with Elder Russle M. Nelson who is a retired surgeon and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The article was titled "Death is part of life, ex-surgeon says"

He talked of death being an important part of God's plan.

He talked about people relating to him that they could see him working on their bodies while they were dead before being brought back.

He talked about being "troubled by extraordinary efforts to prolong life "that are unreasonable,""

He touched on something that I commented previously about in my Death post. The article talked about that "Those who mourn fulfill God's command, he said, to love each other sufficiently that they shall weep for those who die.""

Elder Nelson states, "Is the veil thin (between life and death)? Absolutely. They are not far away from us."

Oil Prices Rant

2006-01-30T10:38:00.000-05:00

With Exxon posting record profits it has brought me back to a rant I have had for several years as I have seen several oil companies posting record profits.
Some would argue that we would cheer on a company in a different industry if they made profits like this, even if their product is more expensive. The problem is that we can't choose not to buy gas for the most part. They could charge us anything they wanted to. I pay for the gas not just for my car, but also for the gas of companies that I buy other products and services from, since they are forced to raise their prices when gas prices are up. Unfortunately I don't get to charge my employer a higher rate if gas goes up in price.
The auto companies are being slow to get alternate fuel vehicles to market. The gas-electric cars are such fluff. You are still using gas and not really using that much less of it.
Where is the competition? Where are my choices?
I guess Exxon has more than made back the cost of the clean up of its oil tanker. My guess is that even before gas prices took a spike they made back that cost in the first few weeks after the accident.

Forgiveness

2006-01-22T18:11:00.000-05:00

I have thought about the concept of forgiveness for a long time. I have seen people screaming that a person must be punished by the legal system for something they did to them or their family. I have heard them saddened because the punishment was not severe enough. It has made me think about how I would respond to something that was done against me or my family. I really want to be a forgiving person, but how would I act if it happened to me.

Do people really feel better when they have gotten revenge or is it never enough? Does it just leave them bitter inside?

Is the purpose of the legal system to exact revenge on criminals? Is it to only punish them? What good have we done if we just punish people? Do the people that were wronged really feel better after the person has the punishment enacted on them? Does their bitterness go away?

I have been reading about the woman who was hit by a frozen turkey while she was driving and forgave the kid that threw it at her. I then read as people questioned her motivation for forgiving him.

Obviously we can not just let people be unaccountable for their actions, but what good does it do to just punish them and think that is going to enough to make them change their ways? If you have a child do you just punish them without then following up and try to help them understand why what they did was wrong? Would a child that was just punished and had love removed from them grow to want to do better?

WHY?

2006-01-08T15:35:00.000-05:00

People always want to know WHY. Why did this happen to me? Why would God allow this?

It is for our good. It teaches us things (compassion, patience, and so on). If you were never sick would you appreciate being well? Would you know what warm was if there was not hot and cold? Would we be able to be compassionate if we had never had any trials of our own? What sort of people would we be if all of the adversity was taken from the Earth?

Death

2006-01-08T15:34:00.000-05:00

Why is death in our culture such intense sorrow? Is it because it is unexpected? Is it because it is a tradition to be that way? Is it because others around us are being that way? Is it because we don't actually understand death, even though many of us profess to believe in a better life after we die?

What is the difference between someone moving away and someone dieing?
Say my son gets a fantastic job. It pays great. It comes with a beautiful house and he is set for life. The problem is that he is moving somewhere that it will be a long time before I can afford to go visit him and for whatever reason he can’t get back here to me for some time either. Do I fall to my knees and say, “God why have you done this to our family?” I should ask God to share with me his plan for me and show me the good that can come from this experience.

Death is simply a vehicle to another place. A place that we can go someday too. Why do we miss someone so much more when they die than when they move away? In our day of easily transferred text, pictures, and even video does it make moving less painful. In a different age was moving more bitter like death?

I have felt the sting of death that is left with a survivor. I have thought of missing someone who has died grow up and do the things we all have done. I have thought of others that have died and will not see others grow up. Should I be that way? Is not God in control? Has he not designed this mortal existence to be for my good? Will I really have missed out on anything?

Grace vs Works

2006-01-04T06:51:00.000-05:00

Over the years I have had many conversations with people about being saved by faith. The conversations have tended to end up at "Are we save by grace or by works?" I don't think it is an either/or situation.
One is saved by grace by accepting Jesus Christ as our savior. We accept that grace doing what he has asked us to do. If we don't keep His commandments, then we don't accept Him.
Some might say that men aren't perfect so we can't keep His commandments. One of the things he has asked us to do is repent. If we do that on a daily basis we can get better at keeping the commandments. He knows our hearts.
In the comments I will include scripture references that talk about grace and works.
People tend to make faith synonymous with grace. Doesn't faith indicate action? When the scriptures talk about faith are they talking about grace? There is one that often gets sited about being saved by grace through faith. It talks about not being saved by works because people boast about their works, but that does not mean that faith does not include continual action. We cannot earn our way into Eternal Life, but we must continually strive (do our best) to do what he has asked (keep his commandments). What ever we fall short on his grace makes up the rest, but only if we are striving to keep the commandments.