This morning I was afraid to slip on ice. This afternoon, I had to change to a lighter coat.
The one problem was the stretches of "open water" we had to cross...
Bunches of robins... BIG FAT robins. They didn't suffer this off season.
One intelligent thing I noted earlier (but didn't photograph due to hypothermia) was that the city only plowed enough of California Rd to let a bicycler or jogger down. Wonder what we can do to make that year-round?
Almost as many woodies out as robins and geese.
River's still a bit chunky...
This was actually 3 or 4 inches deep. The one crossing I actually got wet at.
The bluebird of happiness drops by again.
First ducks, getting busy early...
Yeah, it's a lot of white and gray, but a day like this just makes it more colorful.
A little bit different this week- some serious, some fun, some just to make you wonder how man has lived this long.
ITEM: A Dr. Susan Crockford came out a couple weeks back (so sue me!) with an article called 20 good reasons not to worry about Polar Bears, in which the global warming pseudoscientific "fact" that polar bears are being destroyed by global warming is shot to smithereens. Among the twenty reasons:
With a global population estimate almost certainly greater than 25,000, we can say for sure that there are more polar bears now than there were 40 years ago. The most recent status assessment for polar bears, published by Environment Canada in May 2014, shows only two subpopulations are ‘likely in decline’, down from four listed by the PBSG as declining in 2013 and seven in 2010. Baffin Bay earns its ‘likely decline’ status due to suspicions of overharvesting (so far not confirmed), not sea ice decline. The assessment of the Southern Beaufort bear population is also highly questionable. The reason Chukchi Sea polar bears did so well with an extended open-water season was because ringed seals, their primary prey, do most of their feeding in ice-free summer waters. More fat seals mean more fat seal pups the following spring for polar bears. A recent study found that in recent years, with extensive September sea-ice minimums, the summer feeding period for seals was extended and they became extra fat.25 This meant that some seals provided a more energy-rich food source for polar bears over the following fall and winter, an immediate benefit to the bears..
(IOW global warming can be GOOD for polar bears...)
Polar bears have been shown to move from areas with unsuitable ice to areas with better ice conditions, even over the short term. This is strong evidence of their ability to adapt to changing sea ice.
(IOW so much for all that "poor stranded polar bears" stuff.)
The dramatically low September sea ice of 2012 apparently had no effect on Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears, or at least we have heard nothing to indicate any adverse effects. One of the most recent genetic studies published emphasized that polar bears, as a species, survived more than one previous warm period when there was virtually no summer sea ice.
So, in her conclusion, Crocker finds the evidence indicating that polar bears are showing all the signs of a thriving, healthy species. And in my conclusion, the liberal scientific community are in need of another poster child population to "prove" their agenda driven science.
ITEM: You may have already heard this one, but still so very worth it:
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man in Lincoln, Nebraska, has been cited for possessing pot inside a container that had been slapped with a label reading: “Not Weed.” The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Lancaster County deputies stopped the man’s vehicle around 9 p.m. Saturday. Officers found the plastic sour cream container during a search of his car, and the driver acknowledged that the pot belonged to him. He was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and cited for having less than an ounce of marijuana.
"I don't know...I thought I was being funny." Jason Meier told the Smoking Gun. "Never thinking it would be confiscated."
Do we really want to re-visit those claims about MJ not causing short-term brain damage, Colorado and Washington?
ITEM: This one made me sick. BBC has done a documentary on a news-making gang rape in India a couple years back, in which the victim was beaten so badly she died. They had an interview with one of the sub-humans involved, who had this to say:
"When being raped, she shouldn't fight back," Singh said. "Then they'd have dropped her off after 'doing her.'" Singh said his death conviction would only spur more rapes and put more women at risk. "Now when they rape, they won't leave the girl like we did," Singh said. "They will kill her. Before, they would rape and say, 'Leave her, she won't tell anyone.' Now when they rape, especially the criminal types, they will just kill the girl." Singh defended his actions and those of the other men who gang raped Jyoti, saying the men "had a right" to teach women "a lesson." "A decent girl won't roam around at 9 o'clock at night," Singh reportedly told the BBC. "A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. Boy and girl are not equal. … Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes." While some on the defense team found fault with Singh's comments, his lawyer told BBC he agreed with his client's statements.
"If my daughter or sister engaged in pre-marital activities and disgraced herself… I would most certainly take this sort of sister or daughter to my farmhouse, and in front of my entire family, I would put petrol on her and set her alight," Singh's lawyer told the BBC crew.
The Indian government has banned the docu in their country, and BBC has a few choice comments on why:
"Does rape happen only in India? It's an attempt to malign India on a global platform. We must stop it," said a tweet which was shared almost 200 times. "The BBC is doing what western media does best - glorifying and making a celebrity out of a psycho rapist," remarked another user, while another tweet said, "Britishers have left India six decades ago, but their political legacy still rule this country?"
So, you see, it's really not a matter of making India face up to the nation of mongrels they have become, or shame their culture into looking at how even a lawyer can promote the immolation of women, it's about shame and politics and imperialism, and "we're no worse than anyone else." Well, let me explain something to you, India- if the only ones you compare yourselves to is IS, then you are dead right. If your comparison field is "human beings", well...
UPDATE: India's NDTV shut down programming for the hour slot the BBC show would have appeared in protest of the government's decision, running a still of the show's logo instead. Seems there ARE some in India with both humanity and courage.
ITEM: This one, from Xinhua, I just found amusing. See if you can see why...
BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- A Beijing court on Saturday sentenced popular singer Yin Xiangjie to a 7-month jail term with a fine of 2,000 yuan (about 333 U.S. dollars) for holding drugs. The 45-year-old male singer, once an anti-drug ambassador, was the latest celebrity involved in a drug offense in China since a nationwide crackdown started last year. According to court proceedings, police seized drugs including 13.93 grams of crystal meth and 1.02 grams of marijuana at Yin's home in Beijing's Chaoyang District in late December. Yin admitted to the charges at the open trial held at the Chaoyang District People's Court on Saturday, saying he felt "deep remorse." He said he obtained the drugs because he felt distressed and had trouble sleeping.
Far be it from me to criticize what others use to fall asleep, buuuuut...
ITEM: As you have no doubt heard, Russian investigators have already arrested two suspects and have at least partial names for three more in the Boris Nemtsov assassination. I found an interesting chunk in the RTV article (Russian TV news) about the motives:
Investigators are looking into five possible motives behind Nemtsov’s assassination. According to Vladimir Markin, spokesman for the Investigative Committee, the murder may have been a provocation to destabilize the political situation in Russia. It could also be linked to threats Nemtsov received over his stance on the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, or the current war in Ukraine. The politician’s business activities and a possible assault related to his personal life are also being looked into.
I reported earlier that the "business dealings" thing revolved around an attempt to paint Nemtsov as an arms dealer. I suspect, though, as they have apprehended individuals from the Northern Caucasus region, you'll find that the 10,000 person rally last Sunday scared them off the tar-and-feather-Nemtsov angle and they will push the de-stabilization/Charlie Hedbo line, as they can conveniently combine the two and garner good will from everybody.
ITEM: Found a neat article today about something called the Habitable Exoplanets Catalogue, a project of the observatory at the U of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. They are basically studying the exoplanets (IOW, not of our solar system) who fall in the not-too-hot, not-too-cold "Goldilocks zone" around their star.
One of the things I thought was neat was that they put up a map of where to "find them in the night sky. To make it simple, grab your star chart:
In the summer night sky, 13 of the 29 sit just north of a line between the summer triangle stars of Deneb and Vega;
2 sit right near the tail of Scorpio;
One for you southern hemisphereites sits roughly between the Southern Cross and Canopus;
Another down there sits somewhere in the dim field between the constellations Pavo, Indus, and Grus (AKA BFE Starlanes...);
A widespread group of five trail off to the south of Orion, all but two of them out of our "viewing area" up here;
And the last one circles Tau Ceti, a somewhat famous variable star that you can actually see on a clear, dark night, approximately dead south of the peak of the "V" in Pisces.
They also grade the planets' earth-likeness, on a scale of zero to one, with the closest being the .88 of little Kepler 438B. They range anywhere from 11.9 light years away for Tau Ceti (which means if I was a beam of light, I would get there just before retirement), to the 1740.8 ly away for Kepler 283C (Last on the top row, which would take somewhere in my great X 42 grandkid's lifetime).
ITEM: Finally, the prototypical MWN story:
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appellate court says a man cannot seek damages for burns he suffered while bowing his head in prayer over a sizzling steak fajita skillet at a restaurant. The ruling made public Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling that dismissed his lawsuit. The man claimed a waitress didn't warn him the dish was hot, but the lower court found the food posed an "open and obvious" danger. It happened in 2010 at an Applebee's in Burlington County. The man said he bowed his head, then heard a loud sizzle followed by a grease pop. He then felt a burning sensation in his left eye and on his face. The man said he panicked and knocked the food on his lap, causing more burns. The burns didn't cause scarring. In their decision, the appellate judges said Hiram Jimenez described the skillet as "real hot" and smoking and therefore the potential danger was self-evident.
I call BS anyway. They ALWAYS warn you the dish is hot. Next time, pray before the food arrives.
I realize I am wasting my time arguing with you, I know your kind. I see them in the "support Obama at all costs " crowd that think I only disagree with the President because he's black, or I get all my talking points from FoxNews. But two articles I have seen recently have weighed on my mind, and I would like to expose you for the petty little hypocrites you are.
In reverse chronological order, then I was greeted on that same FoxNews by the article "Ohio terrorist suspect wanted to shoot Obama in the head." Trying hard not to delve into the worth of that ambition, I read the story of one Christopher Lee Cornell who got stooled out before he could make it to Washington and see if Secret Service was paying attention this week. Some of the things he said stood out to me.
"They might say I'm a terrorist, but you know we see American troops as terrorists as well, coming to our land, stealing our resources and killing our people, raping our women."
So the little American Muslim boy has a problem with American troops "raping their women." Never mind that his Islamic State buddies feel it's their duty to Allah to rape non-believers regardless of age, and scarcely treat "their women" any better. Never mind that he can't prove these rapes actually happen (although in this world they probably do, though not on the industrial scale that IS practiced it in the Sindar mountains against the Yazidis.)
But you see, that's what you guys do- select made-up "facts" to believe to justify your penchant for mass rape and murder. Facts are irrelevant; the evidence of your ears and eyes mean nothing. The earlier of my two examples was an op-ed on a Kremlin-based news site Sputnik, by one of those left-wing nutjobs who calls himself a journalist, Pepe Escobar. In his article, "The real story on Iran, U.S., Russia, and China", we get treated to his explanation that Bibi Netanyahu's speech before Congress, which I finally listened to and found it to be an articulate, well thought out, and respectable way of saying, "Wake up, America!" was actually a warmongering harangue, meant to "mould the US Presidency and US foreign policy." As you can imagine, I found quite a bit of his propaganda piece amusing (such as referring to the current administration as the "Don't do anything stupid" administration, and the previous one as the "Cheney administration"), but the one thing in my current discussion that stood out was this:
Well, as illogical as the trademark paranoia exhibited by the usual basket of US neo-cons and extreme right-wingers. Compare it to how Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei regards nuclear power – with all its implications; this has also been on the record for ages for anyone to see.
That on the record part he was referring to? That would be a link to a You Tube video from the supreme meathead of Iran where he says, "Nuclear arms are sinful,", and claims the West just doesn't want a developed Iran.
If that's so, Pepe, why does Iran want just the stuff to create nuclear weapons so bad? Kind of like the whole "women are sinful, so cover them up and rape them at will" thing. They're sinful, so just give us the ability to make them, but we won't because it's sinful. Yeah, right.
And as for the "trademark paranoia" thing, whose supreme leader is it that has vowed- repeatedly- to destroy Israel. It's not paranoia if they ARE out to get you.
Now (brace yourselves), I'm not saying ALL of Pepe's article is BS, and I'm not saying that Muslims might not have a legit beef about the presence of our army. Pepe does manage to blunder into some really good points about "the New Great Game" being played with Iran; he makes some interesting geo-economic points; and even Rush Limbaugh the other day pointed out that the current administration's motives in the Middle East are less than noble (his theory was that Obama et al are trying to slide Iran into position to be Israel's nuclear counter-balance in the region).
BUUUUUUUUUUT......
When you inject stupidity disguised as facts into the equation, you end your credibility. To call, as Pepe does, Netanyahu's speech a "rant", accuse him of running foreign policy in America, lift up Ali Khameni as a peaceloving, benevolent statesman, and deride the US Government as a "House of Cards, sorry, US Congress" throughout your article... you take any good point away. When you defend a group proven to be religiously inclined to rape non-believers by accusing the other side of raping your women, you have chopped out your own feet.
Maybe, Pepe, the "real story in Israel' IS " the illegal occupation/apartheid imposed on Palestine ", I don't know. But if all you got is lies, half-truths, and a ton of conveniently forgotten baggage, I'm not believing it coming from YOU.
Today, we land at March 8th, 1964. A day made a bit amusing because of Cassius Clay's decision to join the Nation of Islam and get his name changed to Muhammad Ali. Now, I'm not chuckling at his choice of religion... just that all the stories about his conversion site Malcolm X as his inspiration to join the group, as he did thousands of others.
What's funny about that? Malcolm X announced his split form the Nation 2 days later.
No! Wait! I just GOT here!
Welcome to this week's Time Machine, the week that the Beatles came onto the chart with Twist And Shout, and so did Jan and Dean with Dead Man's Curve. Obviously, any week in early '64 is going to be a bit Beatle-centric. Thus not only will the 6 degrees have a lot of Beatles' stuff, but I will also give you the Beatles-free version of this week's chart! Plus, we have our second three-time shuffle ten member- and it sits at number one! So, hop in and come out swingin'!
Our groovy bunch of panelists this week are: WCOL Columbus OH; WIBG Philly; CFAC from the Great White North (specifically Calgary); WIRL Peoria; WJET Erie PA; KOPR Butte MT; old friends WKNR Detroit, WDRC Hartford, KQV Pittsburgh, KTKT Tuscon, and WLS Chicago; and KMEN San Bernardino. They collected 21 different songs this week in their top 5s, and had SCREEEEEECH only 3 number ones amongst 12 stations- including Terry Stafford's Suspicion (Detroit- the honor of being the only station that week to have a non-Beatle #1.) In fact, the number one song this week on the survey came in second in survey history with 7 #1s and 53 points- just missing Staying Alive's 55 point record! Since there was such a Beatle dominance, I thought I'd also give you the top four if you took all the Beatles' songs OFF the charts- a daunting task as 5 of the 21 tunes belonged to the Fab Four. Without the Liverpudlians, the chart WOULD have looked like this:
At #4-the Beach Boys with Fun Fun Fun;
At #3- Al Hirt's instrumental Java;
At #2- a special favorite of mine, Diane Renay's Navy Blue;
And at #1, the Four Seasons with Dawn (Go Away), which would have racked up 4 top votes.
But, since the Beatles DO exist, the chart actually looks like this:
At #4, the week's Cashbox #3- Dawn (Go Away);
At #3, the week's CB number four- The Beatles with Please Please Me.
At number 2. the week's CB #1- you-know-who with I Want To Hold Your Hand.
And at number one, the Beatles with... well, I'll tell you later.
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The unknown song was a real adventure, both because I really didn't care much for any of the candidates, and because if you were hoping for a crazy story on the order of the last two weeks, we'll all be disappointed. My first thought was the #3 song in Detroit- a band called the Wailers (or the Fabulous Wailers) with a Duane Eddy-ish instrumental called Tall Cool One- which I found out had previously been released in 1959, peaking at #36, and had been re-released, and would peak in '64 at #38.
My next attempt was the #3 song in Tuscon, a surf-instrumental by a band called the Pyramids, with the double-entendre title of Penetration. It's claim to fame was being the last charting surfer instrumental. Their claim to fame was their appearance in a movie called Bikini Beach, where they were the back up band for Little Stevie Wonder, as well as a performance on their own in which they started with Beatle-style wigs on, and ended up taking them off to reveal shaved heads.
Attempt number three was from a name from last week's 6 degrees, Jody Miller. She was at #4 in Tuscon (troublemakers!) with her first charting hit, He Walks Like A Man, which peaked at #66. All of which left me with the nephew of Bing Crosby, Chris Crosby. (one site that even had an interview with him said he was the "nephew and grandson" of Bing, which would be a pretty neat trick). He stopped at #55 with this one, which was the #4 (on the Beatle-less chart) in Calgary.
Apparently his career stalled when his concept of his career (folk singer) didn't mesh with the record company's (the next Bing).
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And now, the Great Nineties Countdown! This week, we are up to songs 15-11!
15- Lisa Loeb, Stay (I Missed You). Another of those songs that brings tears at the mere mention. A #1 hit in 1994.
...you said, "You caught me 'cause you want me and one day you'll let me go."
"you try to give away a keeper, or keep me 'cause you know you're just so scared to lose...
and you say, "stay...."
14- Counting Crows, Anna Begins. An unreleased track from August and Everything After (1993), and the first of FOUR hits by these guys the rest of the way.
It seems like I should say "as long as this is love..."
But it's not all that easy so maybe I should just
snap her up in a butterfly net-
Pin her down on a photograph album
I am not worried
I've done this sort of thing before
But then I start to think about the consequences
Because I don't get no sleep in a quiet room and...
The time when kindness falls like rain
It washes me away and Anna begins change my mind
13- Hole, Doll Parts. Courtney Love's band comes in with this #4 alternative (#58 pop) hit from 1994.
I want to be the girl with the most cake
He only loves those things because he loves to see them break
I fake it so real I am beyond fake
And someday you will ache like I ache
And someday you will ache like I ache
Someday you will ache like I ache...
12- REM, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight. It peaked at #24 alternative in 1993, an forever holds a place in my heart from the days that that bar across from Harvester Park was still The Coach Room...
The cat in the hat came back, wrecked a lot of havoc on the way
Always had a smile and a reason to pretend
But their world has flat backgrounds and little need to sleep but to dream
The sidewinder sleeps on his back...
11- Counting Crows, Einstein On The Beach. A demo never intended for release, it hit #1 alternative in 1994.
Einstein's down on the beach staring into the sand
Cause everything he believes in is shattered
What you fear in the night in the day comes to call anyway-ay
We all get burned as:
One more sun comes sliding down the sky
One more shadow leans against the wall
The world begins to disappear
The worst things come from inside here
And all the king's men reappear
For an eggman, on and off the wall
Who'll never be together again....
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Which brings us to a Beatle-esque 6 degrees that starts with... who else.
Two weeks from now, Can't Buy Me Love will debut on the hot 100 at #21. The b-side of this tune was called You Can't Do That. This song was covered by Harry Nilsson on his second lp, Pandemonium Side Show. He also covered another Beatles tune, She's Leaving Home, on it. The Beatles' original, from Sgt. Pepper, is the only Beatles' tune arranged by somebody OTHER than George Martin WITH their permission. George was out for the day, and Paul asked Mike Leander to do it. Leander made a bigger name for himself as the right hand man of former glam star and convicted pedophile Gary Glitter. One song that the pair created was the ironically titled Do You Want To Touch Me, a song which Joan Jett took to #20 in 1982. It was on her Blackhearts lp Bad Reputation, along with a cover of our victim of the week- a song which the artist recorded in German as (believe it or not) "Goodbye Tony" (which I thought would be a more appropriate Italian version, but...). That song was Lesley Gore's You Don't Own Me, which sat at #8 but got no panel votes...not even on the Beatle-less chart.
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And that brings us to the shuffle ten.
At #10, the lovely Natalie Merchant, with her #10 hit from 1995, Carnival.
Eddie Money gets his second trip into the shuffle ten with his one single from the flop album Where's The Party- which made it to 53 pop and 19 MSR- The Big Crash.
Kenny Rogers pushes into the ten solo for the first time (he was in once before with the First Edition) with a #1 country and #3 pop from 1981- I Don't Need You.
At number 7 is the best B-side (that didn't become an a-side) in history (for me)- Boz Scaggs with the original version of We're All Alone. From Silk Degrees, it was the b-side of the #11 Lido Shuffle in 1977.
Bill Haley and His Comets make it for the first time with their #7, Shake Rattle And Roll from 1954, coming in at #6.
The Fixx come in for the second time with the first song of theirs I knew- the chilling Stand Or Fall. In 1982 this song made 76 pop and 7 MSR, and #5 here.
Our #4 arrives from 1968, and it comes from the premier vocal group of the era- The Vogues. Turn Around, Look At Me peaked at #7.
REM, a fixture on this show lately with the Great 90s Countdown, nails their second trip into the shuffle ten with a song that I sing a lot at break time- the 1985 #22 MSR hit, Driver 8. "And the train conductor says, take a break, driver 8... driver 8, take a break, we've been on this trip too long...". They are the #3 this week.
At #2 is a tune I JUST put in the shuffle last week... despite it being 48 years old. The group, Syndicate Of Sound; the tune, Little Girl; the peak, #8 in 1966.
And, at #1......
Survey says...
... the Beatles and She Loves You (which was #2 nationally)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And, shuffle says...
The Guess Who with Bus Rider!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Guess Who were at #9 in week one with Do You Miss Me Darling, and again at #3 five weeks ago with Running Back To Saskatoon. This week, they become the second three time shuffle ten act with their 1970 b-side of the song that will play at my wake, Share The Land.
Laurie captured this heartwarming moment between Mommy and doggie.
Anyway, Peyton Manning agreed to take a $4 million pay cut to help the team with cap room. And far be it from me to stand up for a man still making $15 million next season, or approximately 790 times what I will, especially a man whom I have taken great pleasure in pilloring over the years. But I thought of something quite curious in all this.
Now, it would be easy to justify a pay cut based on what he did last year against what he did the year before. But the comparison really should be against the contract he had when Denver got him- in other words, is he still meeting the expectations they had when they signed him?
Last year, his completion percentage dropped 2.1%- not all that stiff; but it only dropped .1% from his last season as a Colt. Likewise, his passing yards, while plummeting a whopping 750 yards from last year, actually went up 27 yards from the last Colt season of 2010; his TD passes fell 16 from last year, but UP 6 from 2010; his interceptions went up 5 last year, but fell 2 from 2010; and his QB rating went down a huge 13.6 last year, but still 9.6 higher than 2010.
Now he had gotten a raise coming to the Broncos- he went from averaging $18.0 million to $19.2 million. And after a season that he exceeded most of his stats from that original year- he takes a pay cut. But say that winning is what counts. In Indy that last year, he went 10-6. In Denver, he's been 13-3, 13-3, and then "slumped" to 12-4 last year.
So in short, the only thing he's actually done to lose 22% of his pay from when he was first signed is, he got 3 years older. I think he should sue for age discrimination!
And I still got 11 years before I get to join AARP!
170 Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word. 171 My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes. 172 My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness. 173 Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts. 174 I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord; and thy law is my delight. 175 Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me. 176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.
The last stanza of Psalm 119 were an answer to a prayer tonight. A prayer that wondered how it is my Savior could have chosen me, knowing what a worm I'd be AFTER I was saved. Knowing it, and stamping paid in full on me anyway. Again, feeling like trash, again wondering why He would have given me the chances He has. On my wall is my life verse, 1 Samuel 7:12: 12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer,[b] saying, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.’
But instead of seeing all the stones of my life, I looked at all the failings, all the times I yelled at God for some imagined unfairness when I deserve far worse than the worst day I've ever known. And in response, I was led to Psalm 119, specifically verse 176.
Look at what it says. A sheep doesn't get lost like any other animal. The cat eventually comes straggling in; the dog tracks his master 1,000 miles after getting stuck on the back of the wrong truck. A sheep, when it gets lost, he's LOST. He failed to listen to the shepherd, followed his munching mouth, the greed of his flesh, and if he was twice as smart as he is, he'd be too dumb by half to find his way back.
He HAS to be found.
I used to think that this verse was contradictory. He sins, even though he remembers His commandments; and on the basis of that memory, he requests salvation. But he's a sheep- I'm a sheep. And sheep do what sheep do- they get lost. I get lost. And so I go into this long winded LordyouhavetohelpmeIknowImessedupandI'lldobetternexttimeandpleaseforgivemeforbeing suchastupididiotand... (wow, I didn't get the squiggly line of correction for THAT?)... and all God wants to hear from me is two words.
FIND ME.
And He always does. And Samuel parks another stone behind me.
Thank you, o Lord, for being beyond my understanding.
We hereby declare March 2nd Boofus Day, and to celebrate, Scrappy got to take a walk in some of the first halfway decent weather since Pete Carroll thought passing was a good idea! We started with a march to the trails...
Making friends with a lady Lab along the way. But that was just the beginning...
He honestly plowed a hole with his nose and peed in it at one point! Again, just the beginning..
IT'S BARK PARK TIME!
Talk about a suspicious line-up...
Scrappy ran and played harder than he was in a long time, especially with that dog to the right. She was half-Beagle, and they played u-hump-me, I-hump-u, dancing at each other, running about... Scrappy even got snuck up on, drawing a brief but loud ROW-ROW-ROW!
Speaking of beagles, one of the fun things I set aside for MWN was the latest list of the AKC most popular dogs, and the poor beagle slipped a notch this year to #5. They got passed by the Bulldog at #4. Labs remain #1, followed by the German Shepherd and Golden Retriever, and afterwards by Yorkies, Poodles, Boxers, French Bulldogs, and Rottweilers.
And, speaking of dogs, KC and I had 5 more of our hockey teams drop out of the season hunt. Not surprisingly, when the Polish playoffs started, KC's Katowice team went home. They collected a 2-46-0 record, getting beat by an average of around 9-2. Both our Belarussian squads, Lida and Brest, are out without benefit of postseason after combining for a 21-65-20 record. KC's KHL squad in Niznekamsk had a bit of a comeback in the end, but missed the playoffs with a 17-29-14 mark. And KC's Asia League entry, the Nippon Paper Cranes from Kushiro, Japan, just missed the postseason despite a 17-16-15 record.
Oh, speaking of KHL playoffs, my Lokomotiv team drew Dynamo Moscow- the Yankees of the KHL- for a second straight year. Last time, we upset them, and they were the #1 team. This year, they are just behind Red Army and St Petersburg, and after losing the first game, we have beat them twice- all three games were 2-1. (OOPS, Moscow won the opener 3-1, my bad.) In today's game, we missed a game winner on a penalty shot just after the OT started... but my boy Danil Apal'kov netted the game winner 10 1/2 minutes in to put us up two games to one.
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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