Sunday Message that you'll prolly see on Monday- the technique

Sometimes we don't realize how much of our messes are on us.  This week, for example, was one long infested mess.  And when I got home Friday, I had in my mind and heart several reasons to just beat the hell from something that I was desperately trying to find a way to walk myself back from.  And I sure can't say I am healed from it yet.  However, Friday night I had forced it down enough to just let out a little of it on FB:

So I'll set aside all the other things I want to complain about and just do this one: I really think it sucks that in order for rich people with boats to have a nice two day weekend, I am not allowed to have a two day weekend, boat or otherwise. Really considering quitting my job and seeing if the Communist Revolutionary party has room for a disgruntled capitalist who only wants to sleep in...


But let me tell you a little something about myself.  When I got done with High School, my Dad was quietly determined that I would go to college and make something of myself.  He drove me through the Pell Grant crap, the Financial Aid crap, but it was only after I entered summer number two at IPFW (which should have been everyone's FIRST clue), that he asked what I wanted to do with my life.  Actually, he said, "You need to quit taking electives and figure out a major".  But I had no clue.  I had not been raised to look at the future; we won't get into the parenting dynamics here, but it boils down to everything I might have wanted to do with my life seemed rather impractical, so I did what I thought he wanted, chose a practical business major, and proceeded to get through by the skin of my teeth and do nothing with it.  So if I am not one of those rich people with boats, I really only have myself to blame.

At some point over the weekend, I heard a preacher say something that resounded with me.  As close as I can remember:  The Holy Spirit dwells within us, so we can stand up to any sin.  How much of the Holy Spirit do we have?  As much as we WANT.


Point being, if we aren't relying on the indwelling Spirit to fight our battles, it's because we don't WANT Him to.  And there you have me in a second nutshell.  This is my battle with me, a battle I have chosen to fight alone for far too long.  But the story isn't done here, either.


Because this morning I read this post by a friend using the moniker Galen Pearl.  Galen is involved in studying the Tao as well as a martial artist and her teacher was trying to explain the concept of  repelling an attack by sensing the attacker's energy and moving himself to the empty space around it:

 He demonstrated with a tall, heavy, muscular guy. Time and time again, the attack was deflected, and the attacker either fell backwards or fell past the teacher. The teacher didn’t seem to exert much effort or even move that much. A flip of the wrist, a slight turn of the hips was all it took to render his attacker harmless.


Galen said they were all baffled at how he so easily fended off the attack, and one fellow student asked him for his "technique".  To this he replied, "YOU are the technique."  Meaning, Galen said, "He remains empty and simply responds to what is presented to him."


This is a powerful philosophy.  And it can help all of us that struggle with the other problems I have been on about.  If I am my own enemy, my own handicap, then maybe I need to shift to where I am "not"- past my preconceptions, past my ingrained prejudices and habits, to where the Spirit waits for me to come.  To where the goal isn't a working machine, an intelligent workplace, a Saturday sleeping in.  To where the goal has been achieved, and I'm just here to make my way there.

Time Machine week 83

Our trip begins on July 29th, 1973, and this has to be the single most heartbreaking lead in we've ever had.  During the Formula One Dutch Grand Prix, racer Roger Williamson had a tire or suspension failure early on.  He hit the wall and flipped, going 300 feet upside down, but still very much alive.

Then the gas tank ruptured.  The car caught fire.  The corner he was at was attended by two track marshalls...

...but neither one was in ANY kind of safety gear, and they had just one fire extinguisher.  Roger's friend David Purley stopped his racer, called to the marshalls to help him lift the car (they would not), or use the extinguisher (too afraid of the flames, they did not).  Purley fired the extinguisher till it was empty, to no real effect.  He waved at drivers desperately for help (their excuse being they saw Purley and assumed the car was empty), but no one stopped.  Fans desperately tried to scale the barrier fence to help; security kept them back with dogs.

The fire engine waited for the racers who couldn't bother to stop to clear, then took their sweet time getting there.  They put out the fire, threw a cover over the racer's dead body, and towed it back to the garage, where the race officials had the team remove him without further assistance.  Kicker, the only transmission that made it to race control also thought Purley was the driver and said merely, "Accident, driver OK."  A man was on scene with a radio... but apparently nobody heard him.

Frankly, I'd rather lead in with politics.  Nobody gets killed there.

Yep, can totally see why Jackie Stewart thought this meant, "Oi, I'm okay"...

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Hopefully the rest of our trip down memory lane will be a little cheerier.  It's 1973 on Time Machine, and this week, the Panel gives us 9 #1 songs; the UK top ten gives us 2 from the American top ten; the would-be six degrees victim gives us a who's who of backup musicians; and three new debuts force their way past three songs I really didn't want to drop in the M10!  The Tardis has plenty of fire extinguishers, a roof over our heads, no gasoline, and no tires to blow out, so hop in!


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First, I have a game to play with our not-quite six degrees story.  You see, this famous act's second biggest hit (at the time) had a semi-who's who of musicians playing on it, and I wanted to have a little fun here.  I'm going to give you a very obscure hint at what this song is.  On the lp it came from, among the players were: one member of Derek and the Dominoes; two members of Toto; the dude who not only played the guitar lead on several Monkees' songs, notably Valerie, but also was the guitar solo on Boz Scaggs' Lowdown; one member of the Crusaders; and two members of the Byrds!  Oh, and one more duo- who if I tell you now would give it away.  In a bit, I'll tell you who THEY are, and I'll bet you'll be real close to guessing who the main act and the mystery song is!


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 And now that you are both depressed AND confused (welcome to my work day), here is this week's Panel:  WFAW Ft Atkinson KS; WMYQ Miami; WLS Chicago; WABC New York; CKLW Detroit; WRKO Boston; WXUS Lafayette IN; KHJ Los Angeles; WSAC Ft Knox, KY; KRPL Moscow ID (wonder if they had a tunnel...); WIXY Cleveland; and KKAM out of Pueblo, CO.  These worthies managed 27 different songs, including 9 #1 votes, which means five songs of the 9 didn't make the Panel Four.  Those would be The Carpenters with Yesterday Once More (the national runner up) in Kansas, Johnny Taylor's I Believe In You in Miami, Clint Holmes' Playground In My Mind  in New York, Foster Sylvers' Misdemeanor in Kentucky, and Maureen McGovern's The Morning After in Pueblo.  Short story on the bottom charter:  Coven's One Tin Soldier had just started its climb at #82.

And the Panel picks?

At #4 with the #1 of Boston and 13 points, the national #11, Wings with Live And Let Die.  Well, movie fans, that makes a Bond flick, The Poseidon Adventure, and Billy Jack so far this week!

At #3 and #2, we have a tie, with one each #1 and 23 points.  One of them is the national #4, Three Dog Night's Shambala, which was tops in Chicago.

The other is actually the national top dog, with the #1 from Lafayette, Jim Croce's Bad Bad Leroy Brown.

So we've seen the #1 nationally already... and the #2.  So is the Panel's pick #3? No.  Perhaps 5? 6? 7? 8?  No, those songs only gathered 14 points between them... and 9 is the 6D victim!  No, the number one for the Panel, with 4 #1s and ALSO 23 points, is actually at # 15 nationally!  And that is... to be revealed later.


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As I said, I have three debuts this week, and I believe you know where two of them are coming from if you read the vacation M10 post.  The first, at #10, is a third song from the Monkees' Good Times! lp.






Yep, this time I struck before they could make a video.  This track was written by Adam Schlesinger, who was the producer of the lp and- alt fans will recognize- the bassist for Fountains Of Wayne, who might be most famous for the tune Stacy's Mom, but struck highest with 1996's Radiation Vibe.

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So let's take a look at the allegedly famous people on our 6D song.  The drummer was Derek and the Dominoes' Jim Gordon;  the two Toto members, not surprisingly as they were everywhere, were David Paich and Jeff Porcaro;  Lonnie Shelton did the recognizable guitar riffs on Valleri and Lowdown; John Guerin toured with the Byrds for about six months, but never recorded; and the other Byrd was also a Crusader- sax man/bassist Wilton Felder.  So I really didn't help you much there.  But what if I told you that backing vocals were the soon-to-be England Dan and John Ford Coley?  Ah- HAH, right?


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Debut #2 is the Beach Boys-esque sound of The Explorers' Club, a Carolina band from their new lp Together, at #9:





I realize not everyone out there is a big Beach Boys fan.  But I am, and I guarantee that you'll be seeing this at the top soon.


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Next on Bobby's list of famous English composers is a fourth generation musician with the un-English sounding name of Gustav Holst.  And he has something very pertinent to say:

My philosophy exactly.  And with those words, it's time to

10- The band Blue Mink only ever grazed our charts once, 3 years before with a top-70 called Our World.  But in the UK, they were here with a song called Randy.

9- A song that was in OUR top ten, at #8 (and got 1 Panel point), Diana Ross's Touch Me In The Morning.

8- A song that was #15 in the US of A- back in 1966- Al Martino's Spanish Eyes.

7- The US runner up, the Carpenters' Yesterday Once More.

6- Now I like Suzi Quatro, but she never hit it big here.  And the really big ones she hit with in the UK don't grab me all that much.  But if you like screamo, you might like her tune 48 Crash.

5- David Bowie was in mid-chart with a song not released here- Life On Mars.

4- The Osmonds were at this spot with the song Going Home.  In the US they were going down, having fallen precipitously to #50 this week.

3- Mungo Jerry was next with a non charter here- Alright Alright Alright.  Not a surprise it didn't take here, but beats the crap out of #10.

2- An earlier TM featured a 1974 song by folk duo Peters and Lee.  They return this time with their first big hit (don't you love the paradoxes of Time Travel?), called Welcome Home.  This is the tune that I said " barely grazed the US charts" in that earlier post, peaking at #119.

And top of the pops?  Well, I accidentally left the second "p" out of "pops" the first time, and it was a Freudian slip, as the #1 song...

.. the distasteful Gary Glitter with I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am).  Boy, the gag I could add there...

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Debut #3 is our M10 #8, and the previous single from... the Pom Poms:





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Did you figure it out?  That's okay.  Dan Seals and his buddy John were helping out bro Jim Seals and his buddy Dash Crofts on the hit Diamond Girl, which was at #9 but got no Panel Love.

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And now, what's left of an M10 that is evenly split between songs on the chart 3 weeks or less (#'s 10-6) and those on the chart for 4 or more weeks....


#7 is the same as last week- Maren Morris's Drunk Girls Don't Cry.

#6, and a song that went for me from "I'll put it on the playlist because I like the band" to "Damn this song plays in my head a lot", Castlecomer's The Noise goes from 10 to 6.

Last week, two songs fell 2 spots; this week, they both go back up one.  The first of those is The Monkees' You Bring The Summer at #5.

The only song to fall this week and STILL stay on the charts...

...the Scott Brothers with last week's #1, Let The Night Shine In, dropping to #4.


Plume Of Feathers squeak up one more notch to #3 with First Date.

Which means Betty by the Pom Poms moves back up to the runner up spot in week #6.

And the number ones?  M10 says...

Agnes Obel with Familiar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the winner of the three-way tie at the top of the Panel this week is...

...the Stories and Brother Louie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Getting us back on schedule, we'll be hitting 1966 next week!  See you then!

How dry my tree...

I was just reading this interesting article on Voice Of America about France's dilemma with terrorism, called "How Much More Can France Take", and it brought up all the usual speculations in me on the subject:  How being kinder and gentler with these jerks only leads to people dying (and a big thanks to the activist judge who let one of the killers off easy because he believed him when he said he was going to stay home and raise a family); How much Allah has apparently allowed the honor and courage bar fall since he gave dictation to Mohammed (I'm sure the Prophet was THIS close to adding the part about "killing 80 year old priests and using nuns for human shields" when he assumed room temperature); you know, the normal things.  Like figuring out what a measured, Christian response to Daesh would be. (Of course my first thought would be reduce them all to crumbs and let God and Allah fight over the remnants, but of course that's not very nice of me.)

But as I thought about it, I think I figured out what is really going on here.  And I found it chilling, to say the least.  Christian followers will understand what I'm getting at pretty quick; for those who are not, a little backstory might be in order.


As a Christian, I know the day is coming- and perhaps swiftly- when the Anti-Christ stakes his claim to the world.  And the main game will be in Europe, as he becomes the head of a 10-nation confederation, after seemingly overthrowing three nations that didn't want to be a part of the group.  (Think "Brexit", maybe?)  The US seems to become less and less of a factor in things (which our current President is managing quite nicely), though I really think our hash being settled is described in detail in both Revelation 18 and Ezekiel 27.  And somewhere in the midst of his 7-year reign, he shucks off the "combined religion" that his ally (the "false prophet") uses to bring him to prominence and declares himself devine.  But now I'm ahead of the story.


Consider:  France, basicly one of the heart-chambers of Europe, is being pushed to the limits.  How many more attacks WILL it take before they do something- I'm not speculating what- that, at this point in time we would still scream in indignation at, but shortly will be more of a "why didn't we do this long ago?"  And when they do it, EVERYONE will start doing it.  Whether it will work or not, I don't know, and it doesn't matter if it does.

Because it is just to get us USED to the idea of doing something "in the name of security" that we can't quite accept just yet.  But we will... and the master manipulator will take good advantage of it.  All it will take then is a spate of little Westboro Baptist Church wannabes, claiming Christianity and preaching hate, to convince people to do to Christians as they have done to Muslims.

Get it?  This is all Satan's set up.  Get everyone good and mad, mad enough to do the unthinkable on a worldwide basis.  Do it often enough to get everyone good and numbed to doing it- and then turn it on the long-intended target.  We are living, if not in the end times, certainly in Satan's bullpen as he warms up his staff for the real endgame.  And the play HAS to be in Europe.  We may have problems with SOME Muslim extremists, but Europe has been packed full of "immigrants" for the last dozen years.  Yesterday I heard this on the radio :  There have been 51 DOCUMENTED terrorist attacks in the last WEEK.

I keep reminding myself it has taken THIS long to come THIS far, and certainly there have prolly been a LOT of times when people were convinced this just HAS to be the end.  It could be a long, long time coming. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then

“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
    and to the hills, “Cover us!”’[b]
31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Playing Newspage Go! volume 2

You know, maybe I SHOULD take up Bobby G's offer of a logo for this post.  There are just somedays you can get a lot of material from looking at the headlines themselves!  Shall we...?

STOP #1:  You really want to fight about this NOW?

You may have already marvelled at this story, but you cannot beat it for sheer stupidity.

The scene, a Chinese "safari-type" wildlife park, where you drive through, staying in your car to watch the neat animals.  Emphasis:  STAY IN CAR.  The woman you see in the picture had gotten into an argument with her hubby, who was driving.  She gets OUT of the car, marches around to the driver's door, flings it open to continue her tirade- and gets carried off by that tiger sneaking up behind her.  Bonus, Hubby and her Mom both exit the car to "save her"- mom gets killed, she gets badly mauled.  I don't know if this counts as a "win" for hubby, but I'm thinking if she survives, she'll be a bit less demonstrative when nagging.


STOP # 2:  I have to wonder what the voting requirements in Georgia are...

This is democrat Rep. Hank Johnson, who despite the dissimilarities is almost certainly a relative of former London mayor Boris Johnson.   Johnson, who staked his claim to "stupidest man in Congress" a few years back when he expressed fears that the island of Guam would CAPSIZE if the population grew, did two things that really ought to light up all you Bernie Sanders fans:  Not only did he attend an event for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, which is kind of the "He Man Woman Hater's Club" for anti-semites; but in his speech he described Israeli settlers in the Palestinian areas as "...almost like termites (who)  can get into a residence and eat before you know that you’ve been eaten up and you fall in on yourself..."

I have friends in the Peach State, and I have to ask you:  Really?  This is the best his district can do?  There has to be somebody, from some party, even a homeless guy like Ft Wayne's own Tommy Schrader, that is better than that.

Won the primary, Dem party asks everyone to not vote for him.

Bonus:  don't feel so bad about making a character judgment error on such a colossal scale, Georgia.  Someone (well, several someones) think enough of Johnson to put him on House Armed Services Committee.  And you all wanna complain about Trump and Hillary...


STOP # 3:  I wouldn't by that ticket from you with Monopoly money


Anyone who STILL thinks a trip to the upcoming Rio Olympics is a good vacation idea, gander this headline:


New Zealand Olympian: I was kidnapped in Rio by men in police uniforms

Yep, this is Kiwi Jiu-Jitsu athlete Jason Lee, who was whisked away by crooks dressed as cops (or possibly cops trying to finally get paid) to a pair of ATMs where he was forced to make large contributions to the local chapter of the Police Benevolent Association.  And his description of how he feels about Brazil now was too good not to share:

“I’m not sure what’s more depressing, the fact this stuff is happening to foreigners so close to the Olympic Games or the fact that Brazilians have to live in a society that enables this absolute bulls*** on a daily basis,” he wrote.

“I was threatened with arrest if I did not get in their private car and accompany them to two ATMs to withdraw a large sum of money for a bribe.

“This place is well and truly f***ked in every sense of the word imaginable.”


Couldn't have put it better myself.  Hope that IOC boss who got Brazil accepted for the honor is enjoying that Petrobras bribe money...  Oh, and that reminds me...

STOP #4:  Test my sample again!  I'm sure I took something...


Another breaking weekend story involved not only the Russian Olympic Team, which missed a total ban from Rio for doping by the skin of their teeth, but the IOC has been going back through samples of the LAST TWO summer games, and found LOTS of people who shouldn't have been allowed to compete, let alone win anything.  At least one medalist, a Bulgarian weightlifter, lost a silver from the 2008 games, with more announcements supposedly on the way.

Meanwhile back at Putin Pharmaceutical,  the Russian swim team lost several members due to past indiscretions, and the Russian Olympic Committee is busy trying to weed out anyone else with a bad test on their records.


And just to get one more good shot at the games in, I was looking to see who else had lost a medal this weekend, and found an article instead about how the Australian team won't be moving into their digs in the Olympic Village anytime soon.  Here's an excerpt of that article:

"...We did a stress test on Saturday, turned on the taps and flushed the toilets, and water came flooding down the walls."

STOP#5: Later, an in-depth report on the dangers of selfie-taking...

No, this one isn't a selfie story, just a tragic shoulda known better.  Macon, GA (what is up in Georgia this week?) News anchor, and soon to have been 25-year-old, Taylor Terrell was wading in a creek  at the TOP of Rainbow Falls when she slipped on an algae covered rock and went over.  Apparently she was "a good deal away" from the edge, but had went into deeper water, and-surprise- the current heading for the edge was going pretty fast.  The drop was 160 feet.  I don't know exactly what the spokesman considered "a good deal away", but this was a combo that one would think a news anchor, with experience in doing PSAs and other warnings, might have been a little smarter about.

Of course, last week we had two men die in California falling off a cliff searching for Pokemon, so I guess we've all checked common sense at the door.


STOP #6:  I'll show you, just watch me...


White Sox pitcher Chris Sale is getting a lot of press lately.  He is one of the top pitchers teams are looking to trade for before the deadline, and the Pale Hose had been asking a King's Ransom for him.  Which would tend to swell anyone's head, much less the already inflated noggin of Sale.  So when Saturday's turn to pitch came, he was a bit miffed because the team was going to wear throwback jerseys that night.  The White Sox have had many uniforms over the years that give good reason never to have a throwback night, and these were no exception.  Apparently, on a normal night, the pitcher gets to choose which unis the team wears (Another head scratchingly stupid rule), but tonight they were forces to wear the infamous collared tops, and Sale said absolutely not.  PR told him,"you have no choice", so he manufactured a choice by taking a pair of scissors and cutting up ALL the throwback jerseys.

Needless to say, Sale didn't pitch that night, and was informed he would be suspended by the team for five games.  Which means, he misses one game- the one Saturday- and returns for his next start.  If I were the White Sox, his jersey that night would be pink with lace embroidery around the collar and an attached pacifier.  But, that's just me.

Sunday Message- Why should I give money to THOSE people?

This vacation, due to unforeseen circumstances and atrociously hot weather, has left me a lot of time- more than I want- to enter Facebook and Twitter debates, as Friday's post surely proved.  One debate I didn't jump into was on a post a friend shared.  Sans names, here's that story:

One of our church elders advocates for his brother's mission work in India evangelizing to Muslims in the region.
When I was asked to help support the mission work I replied; "We didn't try to evangelize or do mission work for the Nazis during WWII... Why would I support missionary work to a group of people who are engaging in a radical political ideology which masquerades as a religion, so that they can infiltrate and destroy those of us in the west?"
I continued: "The Lord wants us to be good stewards with our money. To support missionaries who have spent many years in the field engaging in the Lord's work with only two saved souls to show for it... That seems to be a bad investment, in light of the fact that we have inner city youths and gang members in our own country, who would much more benefit through their missionary efforts."
Needless to say... I'm probably not very popular with that church elder.


Now, you might expect me to jump into that first paragraph, but no, that's this dude's choice.  Let me clip out what bothered me:

To support missionaries who have spent many years in the field engaging in the Lord's work with only two saved souls to show for it... That seems to be a bad investment, in light of the fact that we have inner city youths and gang members in our own country, who would much more benefit through their missionary efforts."


To me, this is WRONG, and on MANY levels.

First of all, since when is saving souls an investment that YOU personally have to see a return in?  You can say, well he's basing a money decision on money, but this is supposed to be a FAITH decision.

Second, a missionary goes through rigorous training just to GET to the point of being a missionary.  You don't get there unless you have had a call from God to do it.  If he, who is untrained for the missionary field, wants to serve the inner city youth, then perhaps HE should find his calling and GO SERVE them himself.  Being in country, he is just as qualified as anyone else to do so.  Don't bitch at someone for not doing a job.  Do it!

Third, Jesus taught in the Parable of the Sower that the sower isn't always going to hit fertile ground.  Did He then say, "The sloppy sower then went back with a rake and gathered the seed that fell in less fertile spots, and re-spread it?"  No.  The very term used for Sower means "to scatter".  Remember Paul saying, "I planted, Apollos watered, but Christ gave the increase"?  A missionary is a sower, and he is following the command of Christ to spread the gospel into all nations.  How dare you, o man, limit Christ's objective because of YOUR wallet?

Fourth, I'd love to know where he got his statistic of 2 souls in 25 years.  How does he know the ripple effects of a quarter century of preaching?  Oh, well he read it in the financial report.  But God judges the soul.

Fifth, Noah was allowed to preach for 100 years before the Flood, and he only reaped 7 other souls- and frankly Ham was questionable at best, especially if you read the Apocrypha.  So these missionaries averaged 13 1/2  years per"saved soul", and Noah managed 14 at best.  Did God ever say, "Noah, you are wasting my time?"  No, because the souls God WANTED saved were saved.  On His time.

And finally, I will jump back to his first paragraph.  Why support missionary work to people of such an ideology?

- Christ told us to spread the good new to ALL nations.  Even Ezekiel didn't get a guarantee of a listening audience, in fact, quite the opposite.  And if you remember from one of my Project IS posts, even the hardened jihadist can be saved if God so wills.

-The Nazis, much like the inner city kids, have ready access to churches and Bibles, and many churches fought/fight for the salvation of both; who do these people have?

-Do you really want these people to stay like that?  Wouldn't you RATHER they hear the good news and be saved?


I noticed one commenter on the post invoking the "pearls before swine" verse.  Guess what: that applies to those who HAVE HEARD and have rejected.  Missionaries go to make sure everyone HAS heard.  And trust me, a lot of these people have heard nothing but their programming from the many mouths of Satan.  Basically, the original poster is saying that he's going to only spend money where he sees a return.  The commenter is saying that only "fertile ground" people should have a chance.  But I say, you haven't exactly read Jesus' opinion on the subject, have you?

And one more thing:  Missionaries also take care of those who have heard and believe, ever think of that?  A while back, I gave to a fund for one specific Missionary, who is working on Bible translation in Papua New Guinea.  A few weeks later she came home to retool and refuel, and sent me a thank you message:

Dear Mr Martin,

Thank you so much for your generous gift! I'm on furlough right now, and my expenses are much higher in the US than in PNG.  Your gift allows me to do things like have a car and do training that will equip me for my role in PNG.

Getting God's Word to those who do not have it in their own language is a passion of mine.  You are a part of that vision through your giving.  Thank you!  Blessings, Crystal Davis.

"For God is not unjust.  He will not forget how you have worked for Him by caring for other believers, as you still do."  Hebrews 6:10


I didn't share that to toot my horn, or to brag about that another thing this vacation afforded me was the chance to send another gift her way.  I shared it so people who feel like that poster can see it's more than "2 souls in 25 years."  A LOT more.

Crystal can be found by searching her name on Wycliffe Bible Translators.

The rampant stupidity of being

I have spent a lot of time on this vacation dealing with stupidity.  Stupid maps, stupid road construction.  There was a lot of stupid about the RNC convention too.  We have our alleged leaders playing grade school tricks on each other, while we their minions compete to be just as stupid.  I have seen Donald Trump accused of being ready to exterminate the black race and vaporize all foreigners.  I have seen Hillary Clinton accused of wanting to abort every baby and confiscate every gun.

In the mean time, we have even stupider people who think their "God" given main goal in life is to kill others, starting with those farthest from agreeing with them and working their way to the right-handed man fighting the left handed man for whatever's left.  Of course, the latest example is the deal in Munich, where either a hairy skinhead or a patriotic Muslim shouted some combination of, "Allah Akbar!  F the Turks!" and killed a bunch of people whose main crime was wanting a Big Mac.  (Or groß Mac, if you like.)  And even in this welter of tragedy, stupidity raised its hoary head.

I made the mistake of pointing out that stupidity to somebody on Twitter who says the reason people are dying in Germany is that Syrians are failing to dodge US bombs over there.  In fact, this person's logic almost had me until they brought up that we "kill millions and support oppressive dictators."  Um, excuse me, are we not trying to help rebels trying to bring DOWN that oppressive dictator?  In fact, another gentleman pointed out that the Russians and Chinese were going out of their way to ASSIST that same dictator- and it's not like Russia is dodging "innocent civilians" either- but it is, we were told, all the west's fault and we should "read our history, it's common knowledge."


Frankly I am a little tired of people who get their information from just a few ideologically very similar sources telling me I don't know what I'm talking about.  Just sayin'.

Just moments ago, this end of the conversation occurred:

THEM: (Not giving out names) (directed at person I was debating) Don't reason with them, these people don't care, don't you see it? THEY ARE THE ENEMY

ME: I'm nobody's enemy.  Never lifted a gun to you.  Wish we could both raise kids in the sun. Problem?

THEM: (Edited for cleanliness) Chris, if you're wondering why Muslims don't give a f*** about your dead, that's why, f***face


Like I said, no names, but let's have a look at our furious friend's profile:

I'm a Front-end Web developer, UI/UX Designer, Interactive Designer,
IT Guy and SEO Expert.
Trying to make the web a better place.


Uh huh.  Odds on being an ISIS web hacker?  Anyway, it has gotten me more activity on Twitter than I've ever had- about 20 likes when I told the first person that I would be more than happy to step away from Syria and let them kill each other.  At a certain point, we have to say, why are we wasting time on these people?  Those of you that are so opposed to Trump's stance on refugees, tell me WHY would you want any of these people here?  You can give them all the kindness in the world, but unless we replace all American flags with Crescent and stars, and replace all churches and gay bars with mosques, the Muslims over there are not going to be happy, and they are NOT going to come here and live a peaceful life.

And that is NOT saying there are not peaceful Muslims, Muslims who are sick to death of terrorism.  People that realize that there is NO difference between the Muslim killer in Nice and the possibly German whackjob in Munich.  For example:

Atif Ali Shah ‏@atifshah  2h2 hours ago

There is no us & them in this war. It's humanity vs heartless barbarians. All extremist are same. #Munich

And:

Muhammad एस ‏@whoop_ee  2h2 hours ago

#munich They are killing linking the most beloved thing in my life,The Islam, with their animal desires .. I hope they burn in Hell.

And:

Shafqat Amanat Ali ‏@ShafqatAmanatA  2h2 hours ago

Just the fact that one human being can watch another die in cold blood brings shame to our species. #Munich

But still the BIG news is Obama made a joke in his statement on the attack, and Hillary is taking a walk instead of flying to Europe to "monitor the situation."   I reacted to several people making political hay on this as well.  For every right-winger thinking Hillary was not doing enough "monitoring" because she has the gall to be out exercising when it happened, you have left wingers saying that Trump inspires people like the "alleged skinhead" who allegedly did this.

And the sad thing?  EVERYONE is talking about how we should live in harmony.  Overcome the divisions and work together.  But you look in the mirror and tell me- do you want the change that comes with YOUR part in that overcoming?  Or just want it on YOUR terms?

I know I want it on MY terms.  And God help all of you if I get my hands on the Tesseract... BWA-HA-HA-HA!

And a bit of M10 music

As promised, on vacation the M10 goes on.  And this week, we kick off with the 100th song to hit the M10!

And that song belongs to Australia's Castlecomer, and their third hit on the M10 comes in at #10...





Castlecomer is one of 2 bands on this week's list that have yet to release an lp- the other is last week's band at the top, the Pom Poms.

Our #9 this week is a second debut, and we go back to 2004 for it.  Actually, I go back to the recent A to Z of li'l ol' me blog hop, and the favorite song of Guille Castillo of the Quiet Laughter blog.  It's from R.E.M.s lp Around The Sun, and it's a classic of theirs...





The song at #8 is prolly a bit tired of getting pushed about.  It debuted at #8, got shoved back to #9, and is back at eight...

...Two Door Cinema Club and the bizarre ad-fest Are We Ready? (Wreck).

This is a big week for country music, as there are two from the genre on the chart once again this week.  At #7, climbing three spots....

Maren Morris BS's her way up to the 7-slot with Drunk Girls Don't Cry.

You'll prolly notice this is a bad week for former #1s, as both Tangerine and case/lang/veirs drop off this week.  And it could be a rough one next week, as two songs by bands on this week's chart look to debut next week!  One of those bands....

...the Monkees, drop 2 to #6 with You Bring The Summer.

The top five has an oddity- three songs that start with the letter F!

The first of those, moving up three to #5...

...Basia Bulat's Fool.

The second F'er is a tune that has slowly been fighting its way into the upper reaches, pausing this week after an exhausting battle for #4....

...First Date by Plume Of Feathers!

Next up, by the other band looking at having a new song in next week's countdown...

...the Pom Poms drop to #3 with Betty.


At number two was a tune without an album- until this week...

...when Agnes Obel released her new lp called The Glass Citizen.  The lead single, Familiar, slides up a notch into the number two slot.


And, at number one...


When last we saw this act, they had another hit on the M10.  And the video was a masterpiece of heartwarming.  Home in the country, on the farm.  Holiday dinner, a soldier's coming home.  It celebrated the strength and courage of our servicemen, and the love and innocence of home.  A world we'd all be much better off in than the politics and hate, the debate over which lives matter. And imagine, from a pair of Canadians!

This time, however, they hit with a fun party song, a rowdy number that becomes the M10's first number one!  Moving up one notch into the top slot...

Johnathan and Drew Scott with Let The Night Shine In!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you enjoyed, see ya next week on Time Machine!

Vacation- Fast forward to toledo

When last we left off, we finished Sunday with a stop out at the kids' place...

Which involved "lazy man's cornhole"- sitting in a chair with a board in front of you, pitching them at the board in front of the other guy.  Of course, then KC proceeded to tack on "drink after every point" which prolly wasn't a great idea.

Later, we went for a walk around the pond across the road, which will be starring in "an addition coming soon".

Monday was pretty much douchingtoned with the Impala problem, which we will get to in a moment.  The only noteworthy activity was a trip to the bark park, at which Scrappy was a tad grumpy and got to leave early...

Here we meet Gypsy.

Gyspy wanted to run and play, and old boy didn't have running on the agenda, so his mom decided to leave- Gypsy ran to us for permission to stay.

Then another doggie came who WOULD run around, so Gypsy got to stay.  But this dog wanted to roughhouse Scrappy, and Boofus was being a butt.

So that doggie sadly walked off and Scrappy was chastised by us and we left.  Of course, his mood wasn't helped when Gypsy jumped off our bench and into the middle of his back, but I think the non-fixed-ness of the other dog was his main beef.

So that brings us to the car, where one problem (a shorted-out sensor) led to the discovery of a bigger problem (a tie-rod end going out, explaining the odd squeak I'd been hearing on turns), all of which led to a $500 bill (with needed oil change), which for some reason the CU has put a hold on (which I will have to ask them about tomorrow), which put a dent in my ability to overdraft today (which cast a slight pall on the activities you will now hear about).

And now, the trip to Toledo!

This was by far the quickest trip we'd ever made- until a confusing bunch of road construction caused a major mess-up.  Long story short, We had to cross the river twice (there and back) in order to complete our trip, at the same bridge.  What occurred, thanks to a collision of factor of which I wasn't exactly faultless, but certainly not the only one to blame (thank you construction, plus Google maps), was that we crossed the river FOUR times- and only one of those crossings was at the RIGHT place.  Even then, we got to our destination only a little later than we originally figured (which was amazing considering how much time we spent lodged in the Buttcrack of Toledo).

The bar at Tony's- not tonight, please!

The line- not near so bad as last year.

The only two remaining ACTUAL buns- signed by Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale

It was at the gift shop we first learned something was amiss with my account; but it didn't stop Grandpa from getting something for the NextGen Martin:

Next stop was Maumee Bay State Park, which was awesome for me.  I prolly quadrupled my lifetime amount of time in water to the horizon!

It was safe, if a tad green... and bathtub warm!

And yes, I soon divested shirt glasses, and hat.

Laurie is too sweet for the water- she had to stay out or she'd dissolve...

Then we went to there Nature center.  The building itself was closed- on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday?- but we took a tour of their boardwalk, which puts Ft Wayne's Eagle Marsh to shame, Bobby G!  And we no more started than...

A doe and three fawns- so friendly and unconcerned that we, another lady, and three little kids failed to scare them off.

There was a feeding station right against the building, just past the end of the boardwalk.  The fawns were happy playing at the pond's edge, but Mom got lunch.

At this point, she was BARELY ten feet from us.  Never even stomped at us!

The rest of the boardwalk was cool, too!

At the boardwalk exit, near the Lodge.  Rooms are up to $348... I guess I need a bigger lottery win than the $5 I got from the free ticket I got at the BTE concert!

As for the rental Cruze- I really liked the cruise control on it, changing the speed from the wheel.  I also found out we had Sirius XM- which meant I got to listen to a REAL alternative station on the way home.  No offense (nod nod, wink wink) to Ft Wayne's 99.5, but when you have a REAL rotation, you sound better. (99.5's rotation:  Out of 100 songs, 60 are 3 repeats of the oldest 20 out of the top twenty-five; 12 are former number ones; about 15 will be the Green Day catalogue; 10 will be the remainder of the top 25, with "new music" announced in front of each for the first 3 months; and the other three are the "wow, how did they manage to sneak THAT in?" songs.

So that's the story for the day... tomorrow, the return of the car, along with a trip to the Credit Union to see WTH is going on there.