If any of you are out of your food comas (mine is yet to come), hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Those who don't share this particular weekend to "be thankful as a nation", I am thankful for you as well! This week I am restraining my usual blathering, giving Elvis and the gang a week off, and just running out here the new M10. It opens with that promised 2nd hit for Criminal Hygiene in the countdown, and it comes in at #10...
Among our other songs this week...
...Saint Asonia slips from 5 to 9 in it's 6th week with Beast...
Jeff Lynne's ELO back up into that 8 slot with Time Of Our Life...
Criminal Hygiene's other tune, Incompletely, jumps 3 spots to #7...
John Schneider slips a pair to #6 with Stained Glass...
Emotional Oranges up 3 to #5 with West Coast Love...
...as are the Derevs to #4 with It's The Love...
Carroll holds at 3 with Fern....
Jeff Lynne's ELO for a second week at #2 with Down Came The Rain...
And at the top for a third week....
Brooke Annibale with the piano version of Collided!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And as a special treat- and a possible look at the M10's second ever Christmas themed song- here's Brooke again...
Today we enter Chapter 4, which you can easily see why I call this the "Get Wisdom, Get Understanding" chapter, as Solomon says it twice in the very early going. The thing that struck me about the wording was "Get". Solomon was offered many gifts by God, and chose this one. But his sons- particularly his successor Rehoboam, who had the opportunity and threw it out- would have to 'get' it on their own. They would have to work at it. WE have to work at it.
I noticed as I went on that Solomon gave Rehoboam some very specific instructions on how to get it- and why. One thing we can say about the problems of today-just like the problems Rehoboam brought on himself- is we look at these actions and say, "Why would they think that was a good idea?" And like so much else anymore, I found that answer right here in this chapter:
Pro 4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. Pro 4:19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.
You ever wonder why evil people seem stupid, why it is that the logic of the wicked is so easily turned back on itself? There you go.
But as I said, Solomon left some specific ways out for his not-listening son.
1- Pay attention, boy...
Pro 4:20 My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Pro 4:21 Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.
Pro 4:22 For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.
Solomon knew he hadn't set his son a good example; he spent the book we call Ecclesiastes trying to explain that he shouldn't follow it. Instead, he left him the entire book we call Proverbs to tell him what to do instead. Unfortunately, "Do as I say, not as I do" has never been real effective. However, we have the benefit of hindsight and foresight here.
2- Don't 'follow your nose...'
Pro 4:23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
The word 'keep' here translates as, 'guard, protect, maintain- make it obey'. I remember watching a video where an anti-Trump protester told a MAGA-hatted fellow, "Feelings are more important than facts, because they come from the heart, and bring you closer to the divine." To this, I counter with the Prophet Jeremiah:
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
3- "If you can't say anything nice, say nothing at all"
First, let me put up the verse:
Pro 4:24 Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.
Then, allow me to demonstrate the 'why':
Pro 6:12 A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech,
Pro 6:13 winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger,
Pro 6:14 with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord;
Pro 6:15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
So your speech is a symptom of the condition of your heart. Let's see what Rehoboam did with THAT:
1Ki 12:8 But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.
1Ki 12:9 And he said to them, "What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, 'Lighten the yoke that your father put on us'?"
1Ki 12:10 And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, "Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,' thus shall you say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs.
1Ki 12:11 And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'"
1Ki 12:12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, "Come to me again the third day."
1Ki 12:13 And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him,
1Ki 12:14 he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions."
Thus, he not only did not put the perverted speech of his buddies away, he USED it word for word- and cast the kingdom into destruction. Or, to put it another way, 'calamity came upon him suddenly'.
4- Watch where yer goin'...
Pro 4:25 Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.
Of course, this presumes you KNOW where you're going (which you can't if you follow the way of the wicked), and that means....
5- You need to have a plan...
Pro 4:26 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.
Now 'ponder' meant then what it does now; THINK about it. But it was more as well, for part of the definition is...
...properly to roll flat, that is, prepare (a road)....
...PREPARE A ROAD... and that, as we have seen in front of our complex this past year or so, involves knowing what needs to be set up beforehand as far as drainage and communications, digging down to solid foundation, taking into account the driveways that connect in, the yards that are affected, tree branches overhanging that must be removed, and other projects that require attention at the same time. Rehoboam never considered that his wicked path would have him stumbling over Jereboam.
Just as Solomon set it all before Rehoboam, God has set it all before us. Rehoboam ignored it... and what happened to him? This passage shows it as good as any...
1Ki 14:25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.
1Ki 14:26 He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made,
1Ki 14:27 and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house.
1Ki 14:28 And as often as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.
Two lessons to learn here. Both that he lost EVERYTHING, but he also thought and acted as if he hadn't! He had his soldiers march around with their replacement shields of bronze. Right now, gold is $1,533.25 an ounce- bronze is about 8.7 cents.
So tonight, I saw something I thought was an indicator of how dumb we are becoming. And I thought, "This sounds like a fun post!" And I typed, "You know the world is dumb when..." into Google to see what I might find.
First, I found an article citing studies that show that as of those born post 1975, our worldwide IQs have begun dropping- and fast. Some places (the article noted Norway), it dropped as much as 7 points. The article- and the base article it linked to suggested two reasons. One was, sadly enough, migration into higher IQ nations by lower IQ immigrants. Another was, as a blogger put it, "In other words, we have started building a more stupidity-inducing environment."
And as proof, I submit the "IQ test" offered in an ad on that link. I blew 15 minutes challenging myself, completed the test with only one question out of 20 that I threw my hands in the air and gave up, and when I clicked to see my results, I got, "For $8.99 you get..."
Next, I got, "5 habits of stupid people that smart people don't have," from The Independent. They included:
- Blaming others for your mistakes
- Always having to be right
- Reacting with anger/aggression
-Ignoring needs/feelings of others
-Thinking you're better than everyone else.
I will admit I have improved a lot on the first one; the second, I would have to change the definition from "a habit of stupid people" to "a genetic trait in Martins". I'm working on 3 and 4, but I have to say that that last one... well, it looks that way from the outside, but on the inside that same person might be seeing, "Trying to be better than at least SOMEone else."
There were a lot of other interesting articles as I rolled along, but they lacked in entertainment value. Then I hit one on Business Insider, "Signs you're smart-even if it doesn't feel like it." And the first one restored hope in myself:
You drink alcohol regularly
All right, things are looking up for me at last! And actually, three of the four remaining hit me between the eyes, as well:
-You learned to read early
-You're curious
-You're MESSY.
Now if I just worried more, I could be Einstein...
Another article proved disappointing- "Are You Dumb Enough To Be Successful?" The author's sarcastic version of being dumb was more like, "Are you willing to pull your head out of your butt when everyone else is inserting?" And it would have been funnier had he put it my way.
Somehow in the midst of this, I get an ad, "50 crazy sexy photos Ivanka Trump never wanted" (I assume we were supposed to believe that there is an implied "published" there, that they left off for lawsuit defense. Fighting the tide of this post, I did not click on it.
The Atlantic did an interesting (abbreviated by me for time) article that pointed out that, between employers increasingly seeking smarter employees, social media mavens honing their insultative chops on the wit-challenged, and the well to do checking dating profiles for SAT scores, that "The 2010s, in contrast (to the 50's), are a terrible time to not be brainy."
Doesn't seem to fit with the falling IQ scores, does it?
American Express had an article on "5 reasons stupid people make more money than you". Although they coupled each one with a "what you can do about it," I've decided to couple them with an example thereof instead.
1- Inherited money. (Ex. Hunter Biden)
2- Good genes. (I thought about using Kim Kardashian here, but you have to debate how much is genetic there.)
3- "A study suggests that men who are “below average on agreeableness earn roughly 18 percent more than men who are considered nice.” For women, the advantage is 5 percent. It seems that men who are rude are more successful negotiators and therefore earn more financial rewards." AE calls this "No more Mr Nice Guy". (Eventually, I'd have to have a Donald Trump reference...)
4- Brown nosing. (Gee, which example? 'How many of the world's 7.7 billion population know one of the world's 1.7 million CEOs?', or just, 'Name your nearest co-worker?') ****THAT WAS A JOKE. Set the pitchfork down and put the lighters away.*******
5- Plain ol' dumb luck. If that's true, there are an awful lot of blind hogs finding acorns out there.
My favorite so far I found on Quartz- "The five universal laws of human stupidity". Let them speak for themselves...
Law 1: Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation. (I think this is a bedrock principle.)
Law 2: The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person. (IOW, there can be one lurking under every pretty face, every three-piece suit, every name plate on a desk.)
Law 3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses. (Corollary- all the while figuring the whole world is basking in the glow.)
Law 4: Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
(And yet, you all keep coming back...)
And finally:
Law 5: A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.
And its corollary:
A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit.
This whole thing was formulated by Cal-Berkeley Prof Carlo Cipolla, and it is he who was quoted at the end of the article:
Declining societies have the same percentage of stupid people as successful ones. But they also have high percentages of helpless people and, Cipolla writes, “an alarming proliferation of the bandits with overtones of stupidity.” “Such change in the composition of the non-stupid population inevitably strengthens the destructive power of the [stupid] fraction and makes decline a certainty,” Cipolla concludes. “And the country goes to Hell.”
So, what was it that set me on this quest? Well, I was in the bathroom and noticed the tag on my underwear. It had instructions in English, Spanish, and French- including the initials to indicate their "medium" size:
So today I have something I wanted to look at. A Twitter friend is a strong anti-abortionist. She was more or less scolded by a gentleman (whose handle claimed the title of pastor, one of many things that will be neither here nor there as I set up the story), who made some good points, insofar as we as Christians aren't going to change minds with protest signs in front of clinics. I believe that to be true; if you do too, there are places like Pre-Born who fund ultrasound machines and local pregnancy counselling establishments you can donate to. And I don't know the extent of what this electronic acquaintance of mine goes to; perhaps this other gentleman does. But here, let me show you where I actually question his reasoning.
Our focus should be on what we were commanded to do. The great commission tells us to spread the Gospel. Paul is the best example of how we should act and respond as Christians tell me when did Paul EVER PROTEST ROME.
Whether he intended it or not, he has turned the debate into in what way and to what extent, if any, as Christians we are to stand up against the government when it has flawed policies. I have an answer to his un-question-marked question, but let me get there by degrees.
What are we commanded to do about government policy or figures in that government? I have to call the pastor on a technicality: JESUS is the best example. So what did He do?
Well, what about when he was told that John the Baptist had been imprisoned for calling out the immorality of Herod marrying his brother's wife? First of all, consider that right after hearing this news was when he declared His cousin "The greatest man born of woman". As such, John took an active stand against sin in high government; Jesus confirmed him in his judgment, even if He Himself didn't confront Herod. Or did he? In Luke 13, the following conversation took place:
31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’
Hardly a compliment, is it? Was it likely to get to Herod's ear? Um, well, if you could've found a Pharisee who could stand the sight of Herod. The Pharisees were the de facto religious rulers; this was their words, not Herod's, and by His wording Jesus defied them both.
What about the TWO times he chased salesmen from the Temple grounds? How was it that these men had been allowed to set up shop on holy ground? Because that same religious government was allowing it- because they were getting a juicy cut FROM it. Did He rely on a protest sign? No, He relied on a WHIP.
Tradition tells us Timothy died protesting a government sponsored parade of immorality. In fact, which Apostle or Disciple was martyred for something that WASN'T at some level a protest against a government?
"When did Paul ever protest Rome?" He was protesting Rome from the moment he said, "I appeal to Caesar!" By his coming there, he was relying on a law higher than Rome; while in prison he preached a Gospel that would rip out everything that WAS Rome; He never once stopped proclaiming a King higher than Caesar.
"Pastor", now it is your turn to do as you have been commanded. You lead a flock, presumably; you have to lead in general terms, unless you have a specific specialty (like worship, healing, visiting, etc). Those who aren't called to the ministry have ministries all their own; and many of them, since they are not leading a flock, are far more specific than yours. And it's just possible my Twitter buddy has a "turning over of tables" ministry. It may be that you thought you were telling James and John, "You do not know what type of spirit you are supposed to be." And you may be right... or you might be telling Elijah, "Instead of challenging these priests of Baal, why don't you just pray for them?" If you feel this strongly about it, get to know the person, and find out a bit more. One of you may NEED to know what you learn.
Well, this week I was pretty quiet... so let me make up for it in the pictures I had sitting in my camera. First, from the 10th...
This was the day I tried walking the disc golf course to see how big it was. Had a perfect shot of this deer in the middle of it, but my cheap camera batteries didn't like how cold it was and gave the camera sudden epilepsy. I did catch him in the brush, though.
Afterwards, the boys came over for a belated birthday party for Peanut that we missed in the hospital. No, Wiggles wasn't being a brat; Gammaw Laurie was not trying to strangle him.
Peanut became the proud owner of a trampoline, and we all had ice cream cake.
"Well, except for me..."
We skip ahead to a walk on the 18th wherein I saw something I hadn't seen in a few years, and never in broad daylight...
No, not the squirrel...
A skunk!
Then we come all the way up to this morning...
Frosty this morning- but no wind, so it was pretty pleasant...
Heron looking for a water spot that wasn't frozen
...and it ain't the Swamp
How about the river?
Yep, the river works!
Just to remind you you're in Ft Wayne... ducks sail past a shopping cart
In the woods, two squirrels playing. I did see a deer in the ravine, but he saw me first.
I got up to about 6 feet from this guy before he decided to move...
Today we are in November 22nd of 1972, and I didn't find a real big-breaking story to lead with, but...
-Today for the first time, an American B-52 was shot down over Viet-nam...
- Johnny Bench won his 2nd NL MVP in three years, after a 40 homer, 120 RBI season and a World Series loss to the Oakland A's that involved him getting walked every time he had a runner on base...
- the Pittsburgh Penguins set a record in a 10-4 win over the St Louis Blues by scoring the last five of those goals in 2 minutes and 9 seconds...
-...and the Australian Premier, Sir Robert Askin, accused the Labor Party of wanting to "flood the country with black people". Not very politically correct there, were we, Bob?
"I cannot imagine anyone acting that way here in the Northern Hemisphere..." Justin Trudeau
Yeah, well, everybody has a bone or two in their closet I guess- and I have a Time Machine full of 'em! This week, the Great Race between Tony Orlando and Peter Skellern (?), what Peter Cetera's little brother has to do with badly maintained planes, Isaac Hayes on the Panel pics, and a holiday schedule announcement... and what the good people in Jolly Ol' England were playing with this week!
Plus, 3 M10 debuts, the first of which we'd better get to right now!
So I have two songs off Criminal Hygiene's EP Again that I want to bring in- but only one spot! So I played them both for Laurie, and she picked this one to be the debut this week at #10...
Next week the other one will prolly join us as well. For a moment, I almost said, "Why not make it a 'double-A-side'?" Not really bending the rules horribly, since they're off the same disc- but just then, Michael Hiller sang, "It's far too late to cheat", and I went with Laurie's pick...
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Speaking of next week, it's Thanksgiving weekend, so the 600th music post under the Time Machine aegis will be a mere M10 update. No full TM, but maybe the week after- which will include the already completed "Song of November" list- we'll have an afterparty.
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Welcome in Mr Isaac Hayes, everybody!
All right, I saw all that blackface crap up there; just gimme mah award an' ah'll be outta here!
Award? No, on Time Machine, if your song won last week, you come in and read off the contestants for the next week...
Read a list? Lissen honkey... ah, hell, lemmee see the list... what kind a' whitey list is this? All these here songs, an' only 4 R&B songs...
Well, sir, it's like this: I don't put the R&B stations in the mix, because of mainly my own ignorance of the subject. When I was growing up, Fort Wayne had one R&B station, and it was on FM... and during the first month I actually had an FM radio, the station got changed to Classic Rock. So there's that. Plus, the site which posts the lists I use usually only have 2 to 4 R&B stations, not enough to make a difference...
An' what do you propose to DO about that?
Um... well, I'm giving everyone as equal a shot as I can here. Look, there's Michael Jackson...
That little boy singin' about a rat?
Hey now, we have Billy Paul... the Temps... Teddy Pendergrass...
Yeah? An' how many votes did THEY get...
I can't say without giving away...
HOW MANY?
Er... five...
Five votes... it's a LANDSLIDE!
For what it's worth... one of the features that I do is pick which one would have probably been my #1 that week- and Teddy and Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes would have had my favorite with If You Don't Know Me By Now...
Well, ain't you special.
And, I tell you what. I could put the R&B, Country, and other charts in the mix, if everybody wants me to. What say you? Let me know in the comments! In the meantime... Mr Hayes, would you like to do the list?
Boy, I got things to do out there. Way too much of this prejudice that no one ever notices.
True that. Or they notice, and laugh it off, hiding in their own crowd. Both sides, too.
I guess you ain't so bad after all. Good luck with this list thing.
Thanks, Isaac! Well, why don't we go ahead and cue up our next debut this week- coming in at #8, a band made up of two people who prefer to remain anonymous- a guy going by "Emo" and a girl known as "V"- together, they are Emotional Oranges...
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Okay, so here are your one-vote wonders...
Helen Reddy is at #8 with I Am Woman;
Gilbert O'Sullivan's Clair is at #19;
Albert Hammond at #22 with It Never Rains In Southern California;
one vote for the Delegates with Convention '72;
The Doobies at #17 with Listen To The Music;
Yes is at #54 with their song And You And I;
See? Isaac missed the Stylistics with I'm Stone In Love With You at #27;
Led Zep's Stairway To Heaven got an airplay vote...
Bread gets a vote from Laurenco Marques for Guitar Man, which dropped off here last month;
America at #20 with Ventura Highway;
and the previously discussed Mr Paul with Me And Mrs Jones at #32.
Two voters include the aforementioned rodent ode, Ben, at #45 and falling;
Chicago's Dialogue at #28;
Lobo's I'd Love You To Want Me at #3;
Papa Was A Rolling Stone at #6 for the Temptations;
and my week's favorite, If You Don't Know Me By Now at #7.
Now the rest of everyone I have to use to give you something to choose from, since the winner outpolled the other 3 22-12! Choose from:
Hot Buttered's Popcorn at- well, at #1 on, let's just say, several stations in Australia...
Johnny Nash's I Can See Clearly Now at #1...
The Spinners and I'll Be Around at #2...
and Seals and Crofts' Summer Breeze at #14.
One of the things I noticed on this week's Cashbox chart was two versions of the song right next to each other; and in fact, it was the second week of a long association. UK artist Peter Skellern wrote and recorded one of those mellow, crooner type songs called You're A Lady. While it was becoming a big hit there, Tony Orlando recorded it with Dawn here- and both versions must have been released at the same time! Here's how the race between them went, starting from their debuts one week ago:
Week 1- Dawn 96, PS 97
2- PS 90, Dawn 91
3- Dawn 84, PS 85
4-Dawn 78, PS 79
5-Dawn 75, PS 76
6- PS 71, Dawn 72
At this point, things turn bad for Tony and the ladies...'
7-PS 67, Dawn 71
8-PS 63, Dawn 70
9- PS 59, Dawn 68
And that was it, as both fell off the charts in week 10.
Finally debuting at #7 this week is the latest from the Derevolutions...
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So where do we get badly maintained planes and the little brother of Chicago's former lead singer? Well, let's start with a briefly existing country supergroup called Black Tie. Never heard of 'em? Me neither as a band- their lone charting country hit barely broke the top 60 in 1990. Individually, though, we lead off with Jimmy Griffin, best known as the second best songwriter in Bread, and a Grammy winner for the Carpenters' For All We Know. Mix in Billy Swan, who had the big hit perfect for the old skating rink days, I Can Help. Finally, throw in former Eagle, Poco...- well, about everything- Randy Meisner. Meisner's the connection to Tim Cetera, as the both briefly spent time in a band whose leader learned the hard way why not to buy a plane with a history of mechanical breakdowns. That's right, they both played for Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band at one time or another, and Garden Party at #4 without any Panel love is the 6D victim of the week.
Stat Pack time, and this week you've already got my #1; the big mover belongs to Eric Carmen's Raspberries with I Wanna Be With You, 20 spots from 79 to 59. Our debut of note is Procol Harum's Whiter Shade Of Pale at #98. The covers I noted- and at least one is an earlier recording of a later big hit- include Joe Simon doing Misty Blue (the later hit for Dorothy Moore), Wilson Pickett on Three Dog Night's Mama Told Me Not To Come; the tasty cover of the Platters Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Blue Haze, and the Crusaders doing Carole King's So Far Away.
And what are the English playing with this week? According to their #1 song, the must be playing with My Ding-A-Ling- well, Chuck Berry's, anyway.
Jeff Lynne's ELO had a mixed week- slipping to #9, down one, with Time Of Our Lives, while holding at #2 with Down Came The Rain.
The Japanese House said, Something Has To Change, and it did- she went from 5 to 6.
Saint Asonia slips a couple of spots to 5 with Beast, and John Schneider held at 4 with Stained Glass.
Carroll does the big leap from 9 to 3 with Fern...
And that leaves us with our two-week #1 song....
...Brooke Annibale's piano version of Collided!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And finally, the Panel rout...
With the fewest votes for a finalist not in the 50's, Summer Breeze gets 5.45%...
With the most only-Austraila votes in the Panel's history, and the first time for an Australian song in the finals, Popcorn gets 7.2%....
With no records to mention, just a measly 9.09%, I'll Be Around...
And thus the winner, with an even 40% of the vote...
...Johnny Nash and I Can See Clearly Now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember, next week is M10 update only- and in two weeks, the Songs of November, Johnny Nash, and maybe a little special hijinks....
Last week I tried to bungle my way through the first part of this chunk of Proverbs 3, bungling because I tried to do it in my own power. This time, lesson learned, and I am ready to tie things together. We saw that the blessings of Wisdom came in two flights of four, and we learned that these are blessings for the next life (the Peter rule: Keep your eyes on Jesus in the storm). We saw a PROFIT better than the purchase of silver, PRODUCE better than the digging of gold; a PRECIOUS VALUE like unto the Pearl of Great Price; and ALL of desire doesn't level with Her- She being Wisdom.
Now we move down to vv 16-18 and the other four blessings- and how they square with the other four. First, and where I jumped the track and slid into the ditch last time, is the promise of Length Of Days. And as we discovered, this is the promise of the next life. You notice that in Proverbs, death is the reward for the unbeliever- not hell. And we ALL die, don't we? But this death that keeps being threatened isn't exactly mortal death. I point you to Revelation 21:
Rev 21:8 But for the cowardly and unbelieving, and those having become foul, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all the lying ones, their part will be in the Lake burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
This isn't turn off the lights and sleep forever-death. And thus it is no wonder, when we look at our verses- which I forgot to repost, so here they are:
Pro 3:16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Pro 3:17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. Pro 3:18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.
- that we find Wisdom holding this promise of long life in Her RIGHT hand, which is the stronger/more important. Think again about the Pearl of Great Price parable. He sold all he had because the pearl was more PROFITABLE to him; and Jesus was telling us that this is what the Kingdom of God is like, that this long life-promise is of more profit to us than anything we hold on earth.
In that left hand are riches and honor- the PRODUCE of a life lived for Christ on earth.
And the PRECIOUS VALUE we gain by walking her path is a road to pleasantness.
Now I know the last two here I've sped through- they don't need a whole lot to look at. But the last pairing has one very important word that needs looked at- ALL.
v 15 ....and all the things you can desire are not to be compared with her.
v 17.... and all her paths are peace.
So according to Wisdom, there's nothing you can want on earth that are as valuable, profitable, productive, as Her Peace. 'Peace ' here is the familiar 'shalom', but did you ever wonder what all is CONTAINED in that word? It comes from a root word that has a lot of interesting facets to it. Included among them are:
-to be SAFE
-to be COMPLETED
-to be friendly (or being a friend of God)
-having made AMENDS (through Christ)
- give again, repay again- perhaps BORN AGAIN (my speculation there)
-to PERFECT
-to make PROSPEROUS
Are any of these among YOUR desires? Reminds me of Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner back when I was a wee lad...
"Ya cain't buy 'em... you can only get 'em in boxes of Breeze..."
Except what you 'cain't buy' isn't towels, and you get them in the Book of Proverbs and not a box of Breeze!
If you judge Christianity solely based on MOST social media, I can see where those who oppose it politically get their perception of it. So much 'debate' carries far from where Jesus stood in the way we treat each other; old grudges work in, misinterpretations, things you'd swear are in the Word and actually aren't. And because Christians are supposed to live the Christian life, any debate we get into- religious, political, whatever- gets judged on how close we come to "the standard" put before us, the standard by which, if we dare step a toe over, we magically become "hypocrites'.
Here is where I am expected to put up the "Not perfect, just forgiven" banner. That is not what I'm going to do, because there IS a standard, it ISN'T magic, and we can't keep bashing each other and hiding behind that.
What brought this up was an innocent comment on a Time Machine post, of all things- not because of the comment itself, but because it reminded of a previous situation involving the subject. I don't want to dredge up the whole thing, but because it was NOT handled at all correctly in the past, a lot of feelings got hurt. And I didn't want to handle it that way again. Invoking the "First Peter Rule", I went to the Lord first, and asked Him how He would have me handle it- if at all. And in my Proverbs chapter for the day, I hit this:
Pro 16:7 When a man's ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
In other words, I had to give an answer that kept the peace, but didn't deny the reason. And how is that accomplished? I noted that there were some clues throughout the rest of the chapter:
Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.
Righteous lips are the delight of a king, and he loves him who speaks what is right.
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.
The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious and adds persuasiveness to his lips.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
Arrogance, pride, and the idea of 'my way or the highway' have to get tossed overboard; thoughtfulness, persuasiveness, and righteousness have to be brought aboard. Not being perfected is no defense, if you aren't WORKING towards perfecting.
Hopefully, I accomplished that in my response. Hopefully, I will accomplish that in all further responses.
Today we go to November 15th, 1971- the Monday that THIS ad came out and changed the world:
This was the public release of the Intel 4004, the first cpu on a chip. It had the computing power of the first computer from 1946- which filled a room- on something the size of your pinky nail. Or, to contrast it the other way, (the breakthrough)allowed the 4004 to have no less than 2,300 transistors and a feature size of 10 micron. By comparison,(today) there are half a billion transistors in a Sandy Bridge chip, and each one is just 0.032 micron. -Extreme Tech blog. It was developed for use in a calculator being designed by a Japanese firm called Busicom. The results? Well, you can see how Intel thrived. Busicom went belly-up in 1974.
This week on TM, some permutation of the Partridge Family, a 6D on the fly, and one new debut by one old friend who hasn't kicked around the M10 since May of 2016! My calculation is, I have nothing in mind going in, so buckle up, it could get rough! Jo-Anne, be sure to use the head brace next to your seat...
Most of you are prolly familiar with the big hit Eye In The Sky by the Alan Parsons Project. One David Paton was bassist for the Project on that and many other songs, but do you know where ELSE you might know him? Well, he was a founding member of the UK band Pilot, which had big hits with January there and Magic here. Alan Parsons was the producer there as well, but do you know how HE started out? He was an assistant producer at Abbey Road Studios, where he worked on both the Beatles lp of the same name as well as Let It Be. Of course, a lot of his work was later obscured by Phil Spector's bringing of his "Wall of Sound" technique to the lp. One track on Let It Be was a 39-second song (their SECOND-shortest) that was based on a traditional Liverpudlian sailor's song about a returning seaman who got fleeced by a prostitute. The article says, "not to be confused with" our 6D victim, but that song got it's name from this one, not about a prostitute but about the singer's very first lover, an older woman whose name was NOT Maggie May. The song was, though, and Rod Stewart was at #4 with the song that got no Panel votes this week. Not bad for a LIVE 6D, huh?
Well, for a change, I got lucky, as Susan Dey was the only member of the Partridge Family cast to be able to make it today. Any other time, I'd have got stuck with Bonaduce... no offense, Susan.
None taken. As Shirley loved to point out, reunions really weren't my thing. Neither was Danny, for that matter...
So I'm sure my assistant has caught you up with what goes on here, so...
Well, actually, I'm a bit confused. So, you pull me from ONE year, to tell everybody about songs from the next year... I don't know that that makes any sense.
Hmm... you'll make a good lawyer someday!
Why wouldn't you bring me from the future to do the songs for the year before? At least then I'd know what they are...
Well, because then I would have to do about a thousand Panel races in advance and run the show completely backwards...
Son, you DO run this show completely backwards!
And there, direct from the Peanut Gallery, speaks the King of Rock and Roll!
So what year did you bring him in from?
Well, he's kind of what they call a 'nexus being', applicable to all years...
Elvis: Whatever. 1959, to be honest.... S: So, you could have brought me in from 1972.... E: Ask him about that li'l girl running around here that he was s'posed to bring in the adult lady instead...
Oh, come on, we've gotten little Mary McGregor taken care of already... haven't we?
Nardole: Sir, about that...
Uh, maybe we'd better just get to the list. 21 contestants from 74 stations...
Okay, so I get to start with the one-vote songs... We have the Dells and Love We Had, which peaked last month... you sure do play fast and loose with time, don't you...
Bellbottom: If I may I have a solution to this that will hopefully keep us out of litigation... here...
WHAT? I can't!
B: You MUST!
Oh, all right... bring her in...
Ladies and gentlemen, to help clear up any chronal inconsistancies, and really screw up the uncertainty drive, here's 1987 Susan Dey!
87 S: Nice to meet you!
Ah, may I introduce you to 1970 Susan?
87: I know her well... 70: Wow, I look great!
Could any of you do the countdown now?
87: Why don't you start things off, dear. You were doing the one-vote wonders... 70: Sure, Next was the Osmonds with Yo Yo, at # 5 on Cashbox... Then English band Middle Of The Road with a vote from the Netherlands for Soley Soley...
Longtime readers will remember them...
70: Then Santana and Everybody's Everything at #13... E: That one sounds appropriate to this show.... 70: Paul Anka's Do I Love You at #38... Cat Stevens and Peace Train at #7... Chicago with Questions #67 and 68 at #17... Al Green's Tired Of Being Alone at #18... Ten Years After with I'd Love To Change The World at #29... ...and the Free Movement with Found Someone Of My Own at #8. Er, Susan, would you like to do the other non-winners? 87: Of, course. You did great! Now, besides the four finalists, we had... ...with two votes- Les Crane's Desiderata at #27, Sly Stone's Family Affair at #23, and the song Mamy Blue, the version by South African act Charisma, getting votes from there and from Laurenco Marques. The US was currently charting this song by the Pop Tops at #68 and by James Darren at #77. The three vote songs include Bread with Baby I'm-A Want You at #9, the Chi-Lites with Have You Seen Her at #11, and the Grass Roots with Two Divided By Love at #12. Also, we have four votes for the first single by Olivia Newton-John, the Banks Of The Ohio, which peaked this week at #34 on Billboard, but never charted on Cashbox... did you know she actually was first choice for our part on The Partridge Family, but her agent made her turn it down? 70: Yes, I did. Did she get famous or something? 87: Or something. Who should do the final four? E: I got it, ma'am. I'm used to comin' to the rescue in these things. Choose from: Cher with Gypsies Tramps An' Thieves at #2... Li'l Michael Jackson with Got Ta Be There at #21... Isaac Hayes and the Theme From Shaft at #1... ...an' John Lennon- that whiney guy with the sissy bifocals- and Imagine at #3. HB: Sir, I really must protest they way he mentioned Mr Lennon!
Me too, I hate that song! Anyway, there's your choices, and now you all have until this song is done to clear out of here! (Except '70 Susan) The lone debut on the M10 this week is at #9... and they haven't been here since 2016 when they a) lived in Minnesota (they have since done two lps in Philadelphia), and b) hit #3 on the M10 with bad Water! Here is the band Carroll....
*************************************************
Wow, time sure does fly! We are down to the Stat Pack and the M10 and the reveals!
70: Oh, can I do the stat pack?
Really? After all that grief about time and stuff before?
70: Well, it's not every day a girl gets to meet her gorgeous future self- and Elvis! Please? (Tosses hair)
Well, um... sure, why not?
Okay, so the Big Mover was the Temptations with Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are), from 69 to 33 for 36 spots... Big debuts were Johnathan Edwards and Sunshine (Go Away) at #84... and Chris noted that a song he liked and 'burned to a CD', whatever that means, also debuted- Jefferson Airplane and Pretty As You Feel, at #76... The UK #1 was Coz I Luv You by Slade... The interesting covers list included New Birth with It's Impossible at 52, Joan Baez with Let It Be at #81, Sam and Dave with Don't Pull Your Love at #97, and the 5th Dimension with Never My Love at #14. Chris notes he did listen to the 5th Dimension, highly recommends, and It's Impossible, says, "Save it to run off mice". And Chris's favorite song this week, Lighthouse from Canada with One Fine Morning at #16. Yay, I did it!
That you did, and that leaves us the M10 and the reveal.
At #10, Quiet Hollers and Loup (Hide It Away) drops from 5 to 10...
"Quiet Hollers"? When do they come out?
When you turn 58...
Eww...
Jeff Lynne's ELO remain on the chart twice, with Time Of Our Lives at #8, up one, and Down Came The Rain at #2, up from 7.
Tame Impala moves up 1 spot to 7 with It Might Be Time.
A pair of former #1s drop this week: Silversun Pickups from 3 to 6 with Neon Wound, and last week's #1, The Japanese House and Something Has To Change to #5...
John Schneider and Stained Glass up a pair to #4...
Saint Asonia up one to #3 with Beast...
And new at the top this week...
...Brooke Annibale with the piano version of Collided!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She's pretty! Do you like her better than me?
I guess you'll have to wait on the Beauty Contest for that answer... and now, the Panel winner!
Michael Jackson got you 6.75%...
John Lennon gets you 8.1%...
Cher nets 18.91 %...
But the winner, with an almost even 27%....
...Isaac Hayes and the Theme From Shaft!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can I do the close?
Sigh... Sure...
Be here next week when Chris and Isaac Hayes go to 1972!
Good job. Thank you for all your help.
A lone man looking for means of expression in a tsunami of information. Seeking truth justice and the American way in the perspective of a Nixon conservative. And the Commissioner of the free world's smallest and best fantasy football league.
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