Category: life

Christmas pictures…

Ok, so I’ve listened to Amanda for years complain about the fact that as a photographer, she gets really good pictures of everyone else’s family; but we never have good pictures, because I won’t pay for a photographer to take our pictures (because Amanda is a photographer), and she can’t do a good job at all trying to run back and forth from the camera, or even using the remote to push the button – because she can’t see how everyone is lined up and posed.

In my brilliance (?); I suggested that Amanda call another local photographer that she knows to see if he would like to swap photo-sessions at the studio. Sure enough, he and his wife were just discussing the same dilemma, and they thought it was a great idea.

I think it worked out really well – although I didn’t get a chance to see their family photos – Amanda is a really good portrait photographer, so I’m confident that they were able to get some good pictures (as long as her backdrop was able to fit the whole family in to her Christmas backdrop which wasn’t intended for more then 4-5 people at most). And I’m pleased with our pictures – except camera’s rarely are able to capture my good looking side (I could use the ontological argument to prove that it does actually exist outside of my mind.. but what’s the point)…

Anyway, here are the pictures…

 

Gas prices – are they here to stay?

 

If you are anything like me – you have been at least happy that gas prices have gone down – however; I think there is something a bit more sinister that is going on behind the scenes.

When gas prices go up, there is usually some big announcement in the news as to why the gas prices have gone up (some war in some country, some bad weather in some state, some grandmother sneezed in some grocery store, who knows..)… however, it’s interesting how silent the media has been on the gas prices falling – why?

I think it’s because they don’t want to draw to much attention to the fact that gas prices are falling… because, people will think about it, and they’ll realize there is something fishy going on… in fact, I don’t think the price drop is going to last very long.

You see, the fat cats that own the major gas cartel’s realize that their billions of dollars in revenue is also based on the strength of the economy, and they know that the economy is driven by rampant consumerism… When people have to spend so much on “necessities” like gas – they don’t spend money on other areas in the market – the things we want but don’t need – which are really the underpinnings of the financial kingdom.

And so – the cartel has realized that if they continue to squeeze the pockets of consumers over the holiday season, it’s going to mean even worse things for the economy; however, if they lighten the shackles of oil for the holiday shopping season; people will quickly forget how overbearing their gas & heating bills were just a few weeks before, and they will flock to the stores and buy more and spend more (I know I have).

And so, after the holiday season; the cartel is going to find some new reason to bring the oil and gas prices right back up (someone’s kid spilled a glass of milk in a restaurant in Bangor, Maine?)! The question is; how many people will curtail their shopping enough to be able to rebound with the gas and oil prices when they do go back up?

I’m watching them, I know their game, but who else is, who else does…

 

 

Our new President

 

The new president elect of this country looks a bit sinister after he was elected – was there something lurking in the recesses of the shadows – or was he just caught at a bad time. One thing for sure is that things are going to change in this country – I can’t imagine they could get any worse – so perhaps our first African American President will have the opportunity to leave a great legacy! It’s too bad he had to be a democrat though! 😉

 

Before Election:

 

After election:

The sun over the mountains from my backyard…

 

This picture represents a lot of back-breaking hard labor as I’ve been working most of the summer to clear out just this single path. I will widen it in the following years, provided I’m still alive.

 

It provides spectacular views both in the morning and the evening!

 

Does man destroy the earth?

 

Some would argue that man and animal alike have the same impact on the earth; that man has caused no more destruction to the earth than animal.

 

How many lions do you know kill to put an animal as a trophy on their wall, how many monkeys do you know will strip out entire forests for their desire to use paper; how many elephants take so much more than they need from the earth that they have to start digging landfills and throwing out all of their unused and wasted products, how many ants do you know pour poisons into the air, how many giraffes have created atomic weapons?

 

I think the difference that most species do what they can do to survive; there is a balance there, they take what they need from the earth, they give back to the earth (take for example the bird that eats the grape and the flies over and defecates the grape seed on some other portion of the ground), or the lion that kills when it is hungry, and the jackals and vultures that clean up the scraps.

 

Humans strip and mine and rape the earth of all its natural beauties; I am a human, I am guilty. It’s a harsh view of some of the impacts of our existence, I don’t think it was always intended to be this way, I don’t think it will always be this way, but I think it’s the present reality.

 

I just read Ernest Hemmingway’s The Old Man and the Sea yesterday. Like the other Hemmingway books I’ve read, I loved his ability to disclose topics that are so close to the center of human existence. His main character has such a strong symbiotic relationship to the sea, to the wildlife, the nature, he kills because he has to, to survive, he does it reluctantly, he does it humbly.

 

I think there are some people that still live in the harmony of existence, like Santiago, like indigenous tribes that haven’t been ‘civilized’; but I think as a whole, humanity is destroying the natural balance of the earth.

 


 

The Proletarians and the Inner-Party

I’ve given up on the politics of this country – George Orwell was a visionary and a prophet. 

With all the hatred and discord that is being sown between Republicans and Democrats the average Proletarian doesn’t even realize that the choice for president has very little to do with how this country is run.  The President is really a talking head – sure, he or she is the ‘most powerful person in the world’, but those powers count for nothing when it’s not the President that makes decisions of policy or law – all the President can do is get in the way or speed up the results, and of course declare war. 

And yet, we spend 2 out of every four years fighting and bickering and arguing about who will be the best president; and each side is just full of propaganda and half truths.  I can’t believe a word any of them say – I’d vote for no one, but then who could I blame but myself?  

Politics were invented to keep the Proles always stirred up in a state of national pride; war is the method that the Inner-Party uses to do that.

Will things ever change?

The stork has finally showed up!

    

Ok, first part of this story is that I have been waiting for my chickens to lay eggs all summer…

Last Saturday I went out and found that my chickens had laid eggs! While I was surprised that the first eggs were so large, and heavy (I thought maybe they were frozen because they were in the outside chicken run instead of the inside coup) – I took it in stride and was extremely excited that I finally got eggs!

But what I came to find out is that my sadistic sister-in-law (with the help of my eager parents) came over while we were out of town the night before, picking up my broken car that had been fixed, and they placed hard-boiled eggs in my chicken coup. That explained the size & weight of the eggs… I sure would have been surprised when I went to crack them open for Sunday morning pancakes.

I’m not going to forget though; I’m not going to turn the other cheek – and when she least expects it I’m going to get her back, and get her back good…

In the mean time, I went out to the chicken coup this evening, and I have a message for her…

Hey Ellen… go suck on an Egg – in fact actually go suck two! I’ll gladly loan you slop covered eggs I took out of the coup tonight!

 

How has Astronomy impacted me?

 

Out of the many discoveries that have impacted both astronomy and my life, I will speak of two. The first of the two discoveries, being very recent in the annals of time, is the discovery of the expanding nature of the universe. The second discovery is simple and yet significant in the fact that the planet’s in our solar system circle around the sun in a consistent and measurable fashion.

The expanding nature of the universe was discovered back in 1913 by Vesto Melvin Slipher (Jastrow, 1992), although it is sometimes erroneously attributed to Edwin Hubble (Vesto Slipher, 2008). Since that initial discovery, scientists, philosophers and theologians have continued to wrestle with trying to understand the implications of this discovery.

One primary implication of the expanding universe has been referred to as the “Big Bang” theory. The Big Bang theory has fed into countless current understandings of the past, current and future state of the universe, thus providing great positive impacts to the world of astronomy and science itself.

Additionally, from a philosophical and theological perspective, this theory has continued to spur on interdisciplinary discussions within the sciences on answering the Primordial Existential Question “Why is there something, rather than nothing” (Sean, 2007).

The fact resting in the theory of the Big Bang that the observable universe had a beginning, has brought additional weight to philosophical and theological discussions that have been being discussed since the early history of Philosophy both by secular and religious philosophers: the idea that with a beginning, there must be some form of “Prime (or first) Mover” to set all things into motion.

The Scientific method is a means by which natural phenomena is observed, theories are put forth to explain the observations and tests are then performed to confirm or bring required modifications to the theories. While the discussions around the expanding universe still continue on, and there are many things yet to learn, what the Big Bang has brought to the table is the fact that there are some questions that can only be answered succinctly through the means of scientific observations and research, and there are other questions that will never be answerable through science, even with unlimited time and money (Jastrow, 1992).

In my earliest years, I thought science had the answer to everything, and in my middle years, I thought religion had the answer to everything, but now, I am coming to understand that a full picture of the questions of existence can only be grasped through the combined efforts of science and religion (Sir William Bragg, F.R.S. (1862-1942), 1962).

Next, coming closer to home to discuss the second discovery; I believe that the simple understandings gained from the planetary rotations have provided significant benefit to both astronomy and my personal life.

From an Astronomy perspective the observations completed by Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler and Galileo, lead to a series of laws (Kepler’s and Newtons) that can now be used to describe and predict observations of Astronomical proportions (including theories about galaxies and stars that are far out of our reach by billions of light years). These descriptions and observations continue to expound on our understanding of the multiverse in which we live.

From a personal perspective, I must say that eating food is quite a significant part of my daily routine (I must eat to live). The consistent movement of the earth around the sun helped us to develop a consistent measurement of time. With this consistent measurement of time farmers can known when to plant and when to harvest their crops so as to produce the necessary foods for me to consume! Thus, I eat, because the earth travels in a consistent manner around the sun, and we know that, because we have observed and tested it through the means of Astronomy.

 

References

Jastrow, R. (1992). God and the Astronomers. United States: Readers Library, Inc.

Sean. (2007, August 10). Why is there something, rather than nothing? Retrieved October 19, 2008, from Cosmic Variance: http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/08/30/why-is-there-something-rather-than-nothing/

Sir William Bragg, F.R.S. (1862-1942). (1962). Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London
, 17 (2), 169-182.

Vesto Slipher. (2008, October 10). Retrieved October 19, 2008, from WikiPedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesto_Slipher