Around the Town in Oakmont PA

Elections in Allegheny County tomorrow

2011-11-07T21:23:00.001-05:00

For those of you reading this that live in Allegheny County tomorrow is election day. I encourage all of you that are eligible to go to the polls and vote. If you do vote one of the more important decisions you will make tomorrow will be the election of a new chief executive. The two candidates Rich Fitzgerald and D. Raja have both minimized the issues at hand buy running very negative campaigns attacking each other personally. Something that I think has discouraged a lot of voters and may keep them away from the voting booth tomorrow. With the large disparity in party registration in Allegheny County I think the scales are already tipped in Fitzgerald's direction and if the election turnout is small as predicted that may determine the outcome of the race.

I plan to voting tomorrow and I will cast my vote for D. Raja. I am also encouraging my family and friends to do the same. While Rich Fitzgerald is a very likable person and seems to have an entrepreneurial spirit he has continued to be "part of the problem" when it comes to making essential changes in government that need to come about in order to change the direction of the city, county, state and ultimately the country. As much as I am disappointed with the type of campaign being conducted by both candidates, especially in the media, I feel that someone not submersed in the body politic at the county level who would view the county executive's position more as running a business than holding a political office would be best for the citizens of the county.

Please take the time to look over what the candidates are offering to attempt to do if elected to the office and choose the one you feel best suited for the job. My hope is that we will not wake up Wednesday morning open our news papers, turn on our radios and televisions or log into our favorite web sites only to find that we have a new county executive in office based enough members of special interest groups who knew only what they were told by their bosses and voted the party line.

We as citizens of Allegheny County have an important decision to make

2011-10-19T18:51:00.004-04:00

When Allegheny County government was restructured and the position of County Executive was created I thought it was a real move forward for our area and I was optimistic.

The first two candidates for the position were Cyril Wecht and James Roddy. My wife was quite upset when I went to the basement and made up a FOR SALE by OWNER sign and announced my intentions to place it in the front yard if Wecht won the election. To this day she doesn't know exactly how serious I was about moving out of the county had that been the case.

I think Jim Roddy got us off to a good start with the plans and policies that he implemented while in office. Given the voter registration in this county and the attitude of a large number of the people who live here I thought it was too much to hope for that we would elect a Republican to that office two times in a row. I was not wrong and Dan Onorato has occupied the office since Roddy's departure. I consider Onorato a moderate in the Democratic party and while not doing any serious damage I don't think he is the answer to get our economy going again and stop the hemorrhaging of our population leaving the county that has reduced our tax base to the point that we are in a self fulfilling downward spiral of growth.

So once again we are at a crossroads that will determine the direction of our economy, growth and standard of living. It is my opinion that what Allegheny County and thus Oakmont needs is a good business man running the county with strong entrepreneurial skills that will do what is best for the county not what is best for a given political party or what will get him or her reelected in the next election cycle. I think D. Raja is that man. While I like his opponent's attitude on some issues I think he is far to embedded in the political scene to do the things necessary to promote growth in our county.

This decision will be critical to all of the counties citizens and will have tremendous effect on their livelihood in the coming years. Sooner or latter we are going to dig our way out of the mess that the inside the beltway Washington DC crowd had placed us in and when that happens those that have followed a sound fiscal path are going to be in a position to grow, profit and raise our standard of living. This in turn will create a place where our children can prosper and give our grandchildren a better life. Please take a moment and visit the "Join Raja" web site and learn what his plan is to make Allegheny County a better place for families where good jobs are available and growth is possible.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and please educate yourself and become part of the process.

Join Raja

This says it better than I could with far fewer words.

2011-09-05T12:11:00.003-04:00

Please watch the video and then consider what it means. Really think about your children and your grand children. Thank you.

What is up with FiOS in Oakmont?

2011-07-13T21:53:00.002-04:00

If like me you are a heavy Internet user you undoubtedly already have broad band or high speed network access. I gave up on dial up a long time ago and never looked back. I seem to always be repeating the words of Maverick and Goose from the movie Top Gun though.

"I feel the need. The need for speed!"

So when Verizon started advertising FiOS their network that brings high speed to the "final mile" from the telephone companies central office to your home by way of a fiber optic cable I was excited at the prospect. Up until now that has been the bottle neck that has prohibited really high speed data to your computer. There is only so much you can squeeze out of a pair of copper wires especially when they were never engineered to carry data from the very beginning.

I got on Verizon's web site and said "Sign me up!". After entering my information I was informed that FiOS was not yet available in my area, but there is good news! I can get "high speed" Internet from Verizon in the form of DSL. I already know this because I have Verizon DSL installed at my home. So every time Verizon runs an add on television or radio for FiOS I call the number included in the add and say "Sign me up!". When I call I get the very same answer I got from the web site. So I ask them to tell me when FiOS will be available in my neighborhood? As far as I can get up the food chain with the call taker no one has any idea when I will be able to buy this service.

Now you would think that if you have something to sell and the buying public is clamoring for it you would do all you could to get the goods and or services out to them. Increasing your sales, income and profits. I thought that was what business was all about. I have watched as friends tell me that their community has FiOS available all around me. Aspinwall, Fox Chapel, Penn Hills, Monroeville all have the option to buy FiOS from Verizon and in some cases other third party vendors. So what seems to be the problem in Oakmont?

I recently discovered that I am apparently not the only one asking this question. If you navigate over to Oakmont's official web site you will find a message from the borough saying that they are not the reason that Oakmont residents can not get FiOS.

They say that Verizon has not yet provided them with a contract to provide this service to the community and that they, Verizon, will notify them when they are ready to do so. Now here is my question, does Oakmont have a contract with Verizon to provide telephone service? I seriously doubt it. I remember when Comcast cable came to Oakmont decades ago when the cable industry was in its infancy and there was much ado about who was going to provide television by cable in the town. At that time there were companies competing for contracts with many of the 131 individual municipalities that exist in Allegheny County. At that time I thought the the local government should have kept their noses out of it and let the cable companies bargain with the other utilities for access to their infrastructure in order to install their cables and run their business. That however is a subject for another rant.

I don't know if I mentioned it or not but I work for the information systems department of a fortune 500 company and have been tinkering with computers at home since the late 1970s. This is part of my frustration because I can see no technical reason that FiOS should not be available in our town. As I said before I have DSL which Verizon offers with different levels of speed with the higher data rates costing more money. When I subscribed to DSL I asked for the highest speed that they offer and was told that the highest rate was not available in my area but I could get the next level down. This got my knickers in a twist because once again I know that the main factor affecting how fast your DSL line can be is the distance between your home and the phone companies central office. It just so happens that from my house to the central office on Oakmont while I couldn't throw a rock and hit it, I could just about shoot an arrow from a good bow and hit their building. I'm that close. So again I see no technical reason that I should not be able to get the highest speed they offer in DSL service. It is all very frustrating to me as I am sure it is to others.

So what is to be done about this little dilemma? I have a two pronged approach. I am going to give Verizon one last chance to keep my business. I intend to call the business office and make a pest of myself until someone answers my question about when FiOS will be available in Oakmont. If no one can answer that question then they better be prepared to give me a reasonable explanation of why they can't answer it.

I also plan to attend next months Oakmont council meeting and ask about why the borough needs a contract with Verizon in order for them to provide a service that I am already getting in a slower form. The same copper wires that provide me with dial tone and voice service along with Internet access will be replaced by a cable with a thin piece of glass in the center of it that from the outside is indistinguishable from the current drop line that comes from the utility pole to my house. It just so happens that this new technology has so much signal bandwidth available that if I wanted it that piece of glass could also bring all of my television signals in also. I choose not to exercise that option because I get my television signals from Direct TV via a satellite.

The second prong of my approach is that if I can't get any satisfaction from Verizon I intend to vote with my wallet and dump them going to their competitor Comcast and get my Internet access from the cable company. While not as good as FiOS cable offers much higher data rates than DSL. The down side is that I have heard a great number of horror stories about resolving problems with Comcast even from the technical types that know their way around a computer and networking equipment. They also seem to always be looking for a way to squeeze the very last penny they can out of the customer base many times raising the ire of their customers in the process. The fact remains though that they are willing to sell me what I am looking to purchase at this time.

More tomorrow with a link to another story that may explain some of our frustration and the lack of availability of FiOS Min Oakmont.

My love of books branches out

2011-03-28T21:33:00.002-04:00

I have been resisting this for some time now but I finally signed up for an account with Audible and downloaded my first book in MP3 format. The reason that I haven't gotten on this bandwagon a long time ago is because of something called "Digital Rights Management". First I guess I should explain what Audible is for those not familiar.

This is a service that records someone, often times the author, to read books and storing the recordings in digital format that can be downloaded to your computer, smart phone or portable audio player. This enables you to listen to your favorite authors while commuting to work, walking or jogging or working out in the gym. This can be a great boost for those that find it hard to make time to sit and read a book.

Having said that I still prefer the "feel" of a book in my hands and despite the fact that I am a slow reader and it takes me much longer to get through a print edition of an author's work I will continue to buy real books. I also realize that technology marches on and I now have the Audible account and am considering a Kindle from Amazon for eBooks. However you do it I hope everyone will continue to cherish books and encourage friends and family to read and to lean from them.

Are we a Christian nation?

2011-01-28T03:18:00.004-05:00

One of the readers took um-bridge at one of my postings about the principals that our nation was founded on. Click here if you would like to read the original post. His comment included the phrase "America never was a christian nation and hopefully never will be."

Now I might be willing to argue points about the relationship of religion to our system of government which I happen to think was inspired by God as it was something never seen before in human history. If however you wish to believe or imply that this nation was not founded by Christin's and based on Christian principals I invite you to explore history a little closer than what you may have been taught in school or information espoused by today's media. Below is just one quick example of what I'm talking about. If you are willing to explore you will find many others.

You can start with this video produced by David Barton.

To carry a gun is civilized!

2011-01-04T02:55:00.002-05:00

This article was emailed to me by one of my ham radio friends. Wanting to check the source I Google'd the name credited for its creation. I found a blog entry that claims that the piece was plagiarized and the Marine credited is a mythical character.

I like to give credit for original work so I'm including a link back to the person that claims to be the original author. Regardless of who wrote it I have to say that I agree with it's content. The idea is by no means original but the expression of the idea is well done.

Follow this link if you wish to read a message from the original author.

----Ken

To carry a gun is civilized!
-----
THIS IS THE BEST WORDED PRO-GUN ARGUMENT THAT I HAVE EVER READ. Very good article, of course from a Marine!

As the Supreme Court hears arguments for and against the Chicago, IL, Gun Ban, I offer you another stellar example of a letter (written by a Marine), that places the proper perspective on what a gun means to a civilized society.
Interesting take and one you don't hear much... Read this eloquent and profound letter and pay close attention to the last paragraph of the letter.....

"The Gun Is Civilization"
By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)
Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.
The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat - it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed.

People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.

People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.
The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation... And that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

So the greatest civilization is one where all citizens are equally armed and can only be persuaded, never forced.

By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret.)

A very Happy New Year to all of my fellow citizens of Oakmont

2010-12-31T23:44:00.002-05:00

Let me take a moment to wish all of the readers of the blog a very Happy New Year!

I hope that God has blessed your family and friends in 2010 and that he continues to do so in 2011. Please pray for our country and our service men and women all over the world. In particular I ask that you pray for those and their families that are in harms way as they sever to protect us and our way of life.

I look forward to our community growing in the coming year and attracting many new people to our neighborhoods that we may call friends.

Happy 2011 everyone!

Where has the year gone?

2010-12-13T21:57:00.005-05:00

Wow, I just realized after making an entry in my rail fan blog that I haven't written anything here since Thanksgiving. I keep wanting to get down and take some snapshots of the new development at Edgewater while it is still in the construction stages. Perhaps I'll get my photos with the entire area under a blanket of clean white snow.

Oakmont looks very festive with the boulevard dressed up for the holidays. I unfortunately I haven't had a chance to spend much time admiring it or anything else outside for that matter. This has not been a stellar year for me health wise but with blessings from God and good doctors I am on the road to being my old self again.

Even though I have never been a fan of winter weather I look forward to this time of the year. The coming celebration of the birth of Christ brings people together in a way that doesn't seem to happen at any other time of the year. I hope all of you out there in the blogospher will also experience the joy of the season and keep its true meaning in your hearts.

So even though this year has gone by like a high speed train we have next year to look forward to and all that it will bring. Just some rambling thoughts from my keyboard before turning in for the evening.

Happy Thanksgiving !

2010-11-24T17:05:00.003-05:00

I want to wish everyone who reads the blog a very Happy Thanksgiving. It is my hope that you and your family will gather together and celebrate the holiday as it was intended by those who initiated it those many long years ago.

Let us all give thanks to God who has blessed not only us but this country over the years. Please take time to remember our men and women in military service many of whom will not have the opportunity to sit at a table with their loved ones this year.

Also please remember to extend a helping hand to those that have much less than you or I and are in need. Please keep the true spirit of Thanksgiving in your hearts and minds.

How do you feel about 9/11 nine years latter?

2010-09-11T18:52:00.004-04:00

I listen to a fair amount of talk radio much of it on KDKA for the local issues that I would like to learn more about. Just a short time ago I heard the current person on air asking if his listeners thought September 11th had made America better or worse.

His name is Dimitri Vassilaros and he is of a strong Libertarian bent. In his opinion September 11th has made the country much worse because of the rights that we have given up in the name of Home Land Security under laws like the Patriot Act. He disdains the fact that we have so many thousands of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. He asks who is to pay for all of them. He thinks that as long as the rest of the world leaves us alone that we should stop meddling in their affairs and let them run their countries as they see fit.

Now this is topic that has filled thousands of books and could fill thousands more and could be debated until the second coming and not be resolved to everyones satisfaction. So I will not attempt to do so in a single blog entry. I will however give my opinion on the question asked by Dimitri.

I tend to agree that we have lost some of our freedom since September 11th 2001 and I have to say that I'm not the least bit happy about it. I feel that with each thing we give up that we allow the terrorists to obtain their objectives just a little more. This doesn't make me happy either. I find that I can't completely agree with the "you leave us along and we will leave you alone" policy either.

You see I remember that day just as clearly as I do yesterday. I remember watching on Television as the second tower was struck feeling like I had been kicked in the gut. Thinking of the terror those people in the building must be experiencing and praying that they would somehow make it out safe. When I watched the first tower fall I wept and I prayed. When the second tower fell I did the same. I listened in horror as I learned that the Pentagon had been hit by a plane and that a plane had been brought down not from from Pittsburgh.

Like many others I wondered what was next. Was there more to come? Would other types of attacks begin? I had been calling friends and family both local and around the country. I look back on that day and am amazed that I was able to get through to all of them even a few thousands of miles away. It was the first time I had experienced something so surreal that affected my life directly. I had a small understanding of what it must have felt like to my parents generation when the word came that Pearl Harbor had been attacked.

So how do I feel about September 11th nine years latter? I can tell you that I spend the rest of that day hugging loved ones and thinking about the people in those planes, those towers and the Pentagon. I grieved for the victims and went to bed in despair.

The next day I watched the news coverage still hopping that there would be a number of stories of miraculous discoveries of people being pulled from the rubble. Perhaps entire sections of the building having pockets where groups of people had survived and were waiting for rescuers to open a path to get them food and water until they could be reached. I watched and I waited and those stories never came.

I watched live news feeds from Arab countries where people danced in the street cheering as the towers fell and chanting "Death to America". A small flame began to burn within me, one that soon turned into a raging fire of hate. Being a Christina I know that hate is bad and can indeed lead to the "dark side" of human beings. None the less I could not help having those feeling. I watched in the coming days and weeks and questioned why the government hadn't done something. I wanted them to strike back at those that had done this to us and I wanted them to strike hard. I latter saw the wisdom that we didn't allow ourselves to unleash holy terror on the world like a wounded animal.

So here we are on the ninth anniversary of September 11th and we pause mark it passing yet again. This year there is hope in the form of a new structure taking form at the site of the Trade Center Towers. What will be the tallest building in the United States is under construction. Much as I dislike large crowded cities I will make a point to visit it when it opens. For you see nine years had somewhat diminished the hate within me but that flame still burns. I would like to stand at the highest point I can get to in that building in defiance of those that attacked us.

I have felt great pangs of hurt at times as the attacks of September 11th have been used for political purposes which has been done by both dominant political parties. I would like to return to the feeling we had in the days following the attacks when we were all just "Americans".

As for the future, I would like to see my country return to it's Judeo Christina roots and follow more closely the documents upon which the county was founded. The Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. I would like us to continue to welcome people from all over the world to come and share in our wealth and our freedom. I expect them to assimilate into the American culture. Not forgetting where they came from or their heritage rather teaching their children of it and telling them that they came to this land because it offered a better life and that being here means that they now live under our laws which are what has made this such a wonder of freedom not seen before in the history of the world. That as Americans we are not African-Americans, Arab-Americans or Mexican-Americans but just Americans. We need to restore fiscal sanity and greatly reduce the size and influence of government on the citizens. Perhaps then we can devote the resources needed to protect the country from the likes of these groups that want to destroy us.

If we can do that we can and would be justified in sending a message to the rest of the world that we will not tolerate these attacks on our lives and our freedoms. That we will hunt down and kill those who perpetrate these acts against us no matter where they are or who protects them.

I think that right now we should be sending a message to countries like Iran and others who finance those poor and uneducated among them to kill themselves if necessary to take American and other western culture lives that we will hold them responsible. In particular I think we should make it abundantly clear to them that if we are attacked with a weapon of mass destruction be it nuclear, chemical or biological that we will unleash the full wrath of the United States Military on them removing their entire country and it's population from the earth if we have to. I feel we have that capability without having to use nuclear weapons.

With the above being made blatantly clear that they are facts not idle threats I think we should turn our resources to develop technology to free ourselves from being dependent on any of these countries for materials to sustain our economy. We can then use our wealth as a wedge by ignoring those that would enslave their people and deny them basic rights that we feel all human beings should have. That is how I feel that we should approach dealing with the likes of Iran.

So until we can achieve these goals let us bow our heads and pray to God that he will allow us to elect leaders that will keep us safe from those away from our shores that wish to do us harm. That we ask for his forgiveness for our own sins and that he will protect all of the brave men and women around the world that labor under the stress and danger of war keeping us safe tonight. And let us not forget the families of those that perished on that terrible day nine years ago asking that God will comfort them at their loss and bring us all together again as Americans.

Those New Year's resolutions

2010-08-06T03:44:00.004-04:00

Well one of my "New Year's resolutions" was to be more active on my blogs. Like so many others as the year wears on I find those resolute promises to ones self in January fading as the months progress. You can tell this by looking at the date of the last entry prior to this one. Even though I started three blogs over five years ago I still remain in awe of those that find the time to write on a daily basis. It is a busy world out there and as the adage speaks it's words of wisdom "Time waits for no man".

I find myself in the unenviable position of blogging from a hospital bed, a first for me, which is one of the reasons that I have time to put down a few words on the electronic page this day. Having taken a rather bad fall and doing more damage than I thought possible to one of my knees I am somewhat immobile and am taking comfort in my keyboard and mouse to pass away the hours.

Let me give you out there in the outside world a little hard earned advice. If you are going to damage a limb make it an arm rather than a leg. Although I suppose if I had one of my arms inoperable I would be complaining that I couldn't type on the keyboard and wining about that.

I'm going to keep this short as the hour is early and I am supposed to be resting. I am in fact resting in my own sort of way just being here tapping the keys. Perhaps I will find some additional time to set down some thoughts on a number of subjects that I want to voice an opinion on but have been unable till now to find the elusive "tuit" device that would allow me to do so.

God bless all of out there reading these words please stay safe and faithful to God, your family and your country.

A poem worth reading. Especially today.

2010-06-06T08:19:00.001-04:00

Today is June 6th a date that probably doesn't have any special meaning to most people today especially those under thirty. For you see we have degraded our learning system, our schools, to the point that we don't instill our history in our children anymore. Oh, I'm sure there are exceptions and the picture I paint is not as bleak as I sometimes think it is. The fact that we have so many brave men and women in our military services these days on a volunteer basis and the bravery and honor that they show representing our country with should give me more hope than I have.

What I do know is if I were to take a walk down to Allegheny River Boulevard and pick a number of teenagers out at random that a good number of them would give me a blank stare if I asked them why this particular date has significance. I'm sure that if I told a number of them that this date was made famous in 1944 that they might associate that era with World War II having some sense of what I was looking for just by what they have picked up through osmoses. I will even go so far as to say that if I gave them a hint and mentioned the word Normandy that it would only make the fuzz that resides between their ears swirl a littler faster.

I could be wrong. It might be that some of them will have seen "Saving Private Ryan" and for only that reason have a clue. I hope I'm wrong. I hope that the teenagers standing on corners, riding their bikes and skate board will have been told about the great sacrifice that was made by the men who never returned to families. Who never got to see their children grow into young adults and start a life of their own. They gave everything they had including their lives so that future generations could live in a better world. A world where they could lead a life better than the one of the preceding generation.

I hope that you who are reading this knew why this date was special the moment I mentioned it. I hope you are aware of the state of the world sixty six years ago today and how perilously close we came to living in an entirely different world that the one we know toady. I hope that you will pass that knowledge on to your children and their children. That you will make them understand the great debt we owe to those that came before us so that they might pass that along to future generations.

I was originally just going to paste this poem into an email and pass it along as I do with many things hence the subject line of this message. Because of the poem though I felt the need to prefix it with a few words about this day in history. As usual I let my thought pour out and my fingers get away from me going on much longer than I had anticipated. I thank you to indulging me by taking the time to read this and I hope that you will forgive my rambling on. God bless the United States of America.

A Poem Worth Reading

He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the VFW,
Telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.

And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew where of he spoke.

But we'll hear his tales no longer,
For ol' Bob has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.

He won't be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his passing,
'Tho a Soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Some jerk who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?

The politician's stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.

While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small..

It's so easy to forget them,
For it is so many times
That our Bobs and Jims and Johnnys,
Went to battle, but we know,

It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a Soldier--
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end.

He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:
"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A SOLDIER DIED TODAY.."

Todays Glenn Beck show on the Fox News Channel

2010-04-08T20:22:00.004-04:00

If you did not get to see Glenn Beck's television show on the Fox News Channel this evening and your provider airs it 24/7 the show will be repeated Friday August 9th at 02:00 AM Easter Time. If you can record it I suggest that you do so and share it with family and friends.

The theme of the show is "Rebuilding America" and asks the question what do we need to do that? The answer is that we need three building blocks and the first block, the foundation of the building, is faith. He talks with a guest about what the founders original intent was when signing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution giving examples of their respective views on God and religion in America. What you will hear is a large number of facts supported by original documents that used to be taught as history to our children. A history that has been purged from our history books and class rooms in schools. Well worth the time to watch and if possible share with family and friends. I get my television from Direct TV so your schedule may vary. I believe that our country is in very perilous times and that we need to educate ourselves about how America came about and what the people who gave their fortunes and in some cases their lives to bring it about its inception thought and did to make it so. If you are not a regularly watching Glenn Beck's show which airs on the Fox News Channel each evening at 05:00 PM Eastern time you should be. You will be entertained but more importantly you will lean a lot every day. You can learn more about Glenn Beck at the following sites.

The Fox News Channel

Glenn Beck

Look for yourself listen and learn. And may God bless America.

Looming problems that are coming to America

2010-03-14T15:00:00.002-04:00

For those of you that are paying attention, the current financial crisis in Greece bears a grim resemblance to scenes that may be coming to a street near you in America. If we don't soon realize that the current policies that we are following are leading us down the path of financial ruin you may see those scenes sooner rather than latter.

The only thing that is going to fix this problem is for "us" you and me the citizens working to insists that those that hold the purse strings at the local, state and federal level bring us back to some semblance of sanity with our money.

The government can't keep on promising government workers salaries for life, in the form of pensions, after twenty or thirty years of work and we are going to have to start planning for our retirement when we are young in some other method than simply paying social security tax and expecting that to supply our total retirement compensation. If that is what we want to do we are going to have a radical downward adjustment in how we plan to spend our retirement years.

Which ever path we choose to go we need to start thinking about it and having a real and open conversation about the choices and we need to do it now.

To see where we could be headed read the entire Market Watch article by following the link below.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- With all this talk of Greece going to Hades it's time to brush up on Greek mythology.

Read the entire article here.

To find out how to join a group of concerned citizens who will help you exert some influence with the "holders of the purse strings" please follow this link.

Pittsburgh TEA Party Members.

The Blind Side gets an Oscar

2010-03-11T20:14:00.000-05:00

I haven't watched the Oscar awards on television for several years now despite that fact that I have always been an avid movie fan. In recent years Hollywood has forgotten how to make good movies. I worked for a theater owner who used to tell me that if Hollywood made good movies people would come to the theater to see them. Long before "Field of Dreams" was produced Joe knew that "if you build it they will come".

I feel that Hollywood has lost touch with their audience especially when it comes to what is fit to put on the big screen. There have been some great movies come out of tinsel town in recent years and not all of them were rated G. We have however come a long way from the days when Clark Gable paid a hefty fine, actually the studio payed it for him, for saying the word "dam" at the end of "Gone With The Wind". It used to be that using a four letter word starting with F would get a film an R rating while now days it barley rates a PG-13. This despite in some cases it is used in every other sentence in the script.

I don't live in a fantasy world and I know those words are used everyday. I have even uttered a few of them myself on occasion. I do however try my best not to use them even when I'm angry and I really see no reason that they have to be incorporated in a part of our culture that is labeled "entertainment". It is just not necessary. Likewise it seems that whatever the cause celeb happens to be this year that Hollywood seems to have to make it the center piece of their efforts at Oscar time. Whatever the message is be it anti war, gay rights, perceived government corruption in foreign policy and the list goes on. Much like the crowd in Washington DC the makers of movies have come to believe that their little worlds in the inner circles of New York and Los Angeles are not only what real life is like but that it is the way the rest of the country views it.

I have been a big fan of movies since I was a teenager and have sat through some real stinkers when it comes to feature length films. I had never gotten up and walked out on a film though until I went to see "Natural Born Killers". I went to see it because it had an excellent cast and the "buzz" was that it was going to be an outstanding film. I had never in my life seen such a waist of time, talent and film in my life. This was in 1994 and I have to say that things have not improved a lot since then.

That is why I was surprised that "The Blind Side" got a nomination this year for best picture of the year even though it didn't win. It also brought a nomination for Sandra Bullock in the best actress category for which she did take home the statue. The reason I was surprised was that this film doesn't fit in with how I think Hollywood looks at our society. It also portrays religion in a favorable light something that is extremely rare these days. Linda and I went to see this movie several weeks ago and I wrote a review of it here on the blog. You can read it here THE BLIND SIDE if you like.

I'm not sure if the terrible economy has gotten the attention of those producing films to rethink their product or if the changing technology is making them think that if they don't amend their ways that they could find themselves in the position of the recording industry in a few years. What I do know is that movies like The Blind Side offer a glimmer of hope that they can produce movies that tell a story, entertain the public and while doing so and make them buckets full of money along the way.

I don't expect every movie to be one that you could take a ten year old too. There is a place for movies geared to an adult audience in the film industry. Even those however don't have to go out of their way to shock the senses of the audience to draw them into the theater. It is my sincere hope that the industry is waking up to this fact and will continue to make more movies like The Blind Side.

Proof positive that congress has lost all touch with reality

2010-03-09T20:09:00.005-05:00

Here is a quote from Nancy Pelosi the current Speaker of The House of Representatives regarding the current legislation before both the House and the Senate concerning health care.

“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy."

Since when do those in Washington DC have to pass bills in secret so we poor confused citizens don't have to be bothered with all that discussion on the merits of those bills? After all that might mean that we would have to analyze the pros and cons and actually think about which we believe are the better options of those available. Heaven forbid that we be left in a "fog" from all this effort piled on our feeble brains.

Washington DC and its "inside the beltway" mentality have gone so far off the path that it boggles the mind. In some cases they have given up any pretense of acknowledging the fact that they were elected by the people to represent their wishes in the operation of the government. They have decided that due to their years of understanding how the system works that they know what is best for us and in cases like Pelosi are actually getting annoyed that we won't go away and quit bothering them so they can do what they know is right.

If you feel as I do that these matters which are now bordering on madness need to be brought back into line you need too become involved in the process. The first thing you have to do is educate yourself. Start watching CBS, ABC and NBC for their news coverage. Then watch Fox News and spend some time listening to talk radio. Next you need to start reading. I know I'm asking a lot especially of the current generation but trust me you might even find out that you like it. Start off small. Read the founding documents of this country. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of The United States. Take you time and read them more than once. Now that you are warmed up go to the library or visit you favorite book store and get a copy of "A Patriot's History Of The United States" by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen. Allow me to put in a home town plug here and recommend Mystery Lovers Book Store on Allegheny River Boulevard. You may not find this volume on the shelf but the will get it for if you ask. Nice people to deal with and a friendly reader atmosphere.

Next question, are you registered to vote? If the answer is no please go and register to vote. I have been registered for so long that I'm not quite sure how the "motor voter law" passed in 1993 affects Pennsylvania. If you need help or more information contact the League of Women Voters for the Pittsburgh area. Once you are registered take a little time, it won't be as much as you think, to learn who the candidates are and what they say they will do if elected. If they are already in office ask your friends and neighbors what they think of them and look up what their voting record is.

So now you are going to tell me that all of this is way too much effort. That you don't have the time. In short it is more bother than it is worth. I hate to be cynical, but you may be right. I have been waiting for decades for real change to come to the Pittsburgh area at least in the form of having the political system return to being a two party entity. So far it hasn't happened. Still I keep voting and asking other to do the same.

Despite the winter we have just had I still like Pittsburgh and I love Oakmont. Taxes however are driving so many people out of the area that at some point we are not going to be able to keep our standard of living and the city and towns that we love are going to suffer. If we as citizens don't become involved we will have only ourselves to blame.

Daylight savings time coming to a clock near you.

2010-03-08T16:28:00.003-05:00

Daylight Savings Time 2010 and DST 2010 Breaking Updates.

March 14th is a big day. This is Daylight Savings Time 2010 and we set our clocks forward one hour, extending daylight in the evening hours, with the hopes of conserving energy.

Whether or not Daylight Saving Time actually saves energy or not is still up for debate. Back in the past, people didn’t rise until sunrise. Now, people have to get up on set schedules, and when it’s dark during morning hours, the use of synthetic light is still required because it is dark out. This could reduce net energy savings.

Arizona, Hawaii, parts of Indiana, Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, and American Samoa all stay on Standard Time all year round. This means that not everyone in the US is affected by the Daylight Savings Time Spring Forward.

In 2005 Energy Legislation was passed that extended Daylight Savings time with the hopes of conserving more energy. The changes in DST extension began to take place in 2007.

On March 14, before you go to bed make sure that your clocks are turned ahead. In November, you will be able to switch the time back to Standard Time.

Instead of dreading the loss of an hour, look forward to an extra hour of daylight in the evening hours to enjoy with your families.

Source:

National Geographic

Words of wisdom from our founders

2010-03-08T09:23:00.002-05:00

If only we had the ability to see our problems of today with the reason and clarity of those that gave us our founding documents and structure.

"It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It [the Constitution] was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect."

--Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on a National Bank, 1791

So far I have been involved in three

2010-03-06T14:15:00.002-05:00

I sometimes start writing a blog entry and get sidetracked to the point that it winds up in the "drafts" section of blogger patiently waiting for me to complete it. I have to admit that there are occasions when, by the time I return to the text I find that whatever spirit it was that brought me to the keyboard to express my thoughts has left me and I can't manage to gather them again and organize them into a coherent order that seemed so clear when I started typing. This dear reader is one of those cases, sort of. I started writing this the Sunday after the big snow storm last month. While I am able to pick up where I left off from the saved text, I know there were other points that I wanted too make at the time. Those I'm afraid have faded into oblivion. Yet another reminder that like so many of my friends and relatives I am not as young as I used to be and this is just one of God's ways of letting me know it.

So I find myself this afternoon finishing something that I started over a month ago. I should be outside enjoying the sun but I returned to work this past week and am finding it a bigger challenge than I though. My body is having a hard time adjusting and I am battling fatigue much more than I though I would be. I do manage to relax by beating on the keyboard though so I beg your indulgence as I once again ramble on.

This blog entry was originally started on February 7th 2010 at 1:12 PM in the afternoon.

Well they are saying that this weekends snow storm has been the third largest in the Pittsburgh. Exceeded only by the "blizzard of 1993" and the "Thanksgiving snow of 1950". Now I didn't directly experience the 1950 storm at least not that I remember. My mother was waiting to go to the hospital to find out if I would be male or female when it struck. I spent the first twenty some years listening to tales of the big storm and how deep the snow was that year. Also what all my Dad and Grandfather did to keep the roads clear from my house, which was the last block on a dead end street and seldom saw a snow plow or salt truck, in case it was necessary to make a fast trip to the hospital. Something that did in fact manifest its self resulting in my "being involved" without any first hand knowledge of the events of the day. That is a story that I'll tell another day.

I vividly remember the storm of 1993 watching the snow pile up by the minute and thinking that it would take me until spring to dig my car out of its parking spot. What a strange thing it was to see an entire city and its surrounding areas brought to a grinding halt. All normal day to day business just stopped. Oh, there were exceptions to be sure most of which involved medical and emergency services workers. For the most part though Pittsburgh was a ghost town, something rarely seen in these modern times. I remember as a boy when the Pennsylvania "blue laws" were in full force and I could ride my bicycle down through the business section of town in the afternoon or evening on a Sunday and see almost no on on the streets and very few vehicles traveling on them. It truly was a different time, one that I admit that I long for on occasion.

Now we come to the great snow of 2010. Since I have some current health problems that keep me indoors and off the highways most of the time my world is restricted to the intersection of Fifth Street and Maryland Avenue which is were I rode out the duration of the storm. I did follow the "outside world" talking to some fellow amateur radio operators as well as listening to radio, television and my public safety scanners. Often times they, the scanners, give me a much better picture of what is going on during storms such as this one than the local news media who in order to gain ratings will attempt to whip the general public into a frenzy that is a cross between the sky is falling and the end is nigh.

We were fortunate in that this event began on a Friday afternoon and really didn't get a full head of steam until after the evening rush hour when most people had made their way home and were off the highways. There were still plenty of those that really had no choice, or so they thought, to be out on the roads when the brunt of the storm hit the area that found themselves in situations that they had not planned for.

There were a number of people who became entrench on the Pennsylvania Turnpike that had to be rescued by snowmobile. I listened to fire departments respond to a house fire that involved two burn victims that they could not reach with the emergency vehicles so they sent someone to get a police officers four wheel drive pickup truck from the station and that got them to a position where they could bring the patient to the ambulance to transport to the hospital. All of this reminding me that situations like this one sometimes bring out the best in people. I heard a number of calls where a driver had become stuck and one or more good Samaritans had come to his or her aid and then just moved on.

Will this be the last "big snow" of 2010? Only time will answer that question. In my years on earth almost all of which were spent in Pittsburgh I have seen snow on Easter Sunday and beyond. We can only hope that this winter which appears to be on track to provide new entries in the record books will soon be one of those memories that we tend to reminisce about years after they take place with much fonder memories than they deserve. Stay warm if you can.

The Farmers Almanac

2010-03-01T23:23:00.006-05:00

This past weekend my lovely wife Linda brought me the Farmers Almanac opened to the page where where they predicted that we would have forty inches of snow in the month of February in 2010. The last time I looked at official totals I think we were up to forty eight inches for the month before it ended. Then she proceeded to show me where the same Farmers Almanac is predicting that we will have forty inches of snow in the month of March.

So, now as soon as I track down and kill that ground hog I have to start looking for the writers of the Farmers Almanac!

Just kidding. I for one will be very glad when spring once again returns to the south western Pennsylvania area, Pittsburgh and Oakmont in particular. Somehow I think I am not alone in these thoughts. Think spring, it really is coming.

Trying to locate a family

2010-02-20T12:38:00.002-05:00

As you probably know I am an Amateur Radio operator or "ham" if you prefer. In addition to talking with people on the radio I also communicate with a number of other hams and non hams on the Internet. We discuss a wide variety of things and every so often someone will come up with a non technical request for help as is the case here. I got an email from a fellow ham in Arkansas who while shopping flea markets bought an old Bible. Turns out the Bible belonged to a solder during World War I and my friend would like to contact the original owners and see if they would be interested in having it returned to the family. This is one of those places where the Internet shines for disseminating information. It allows me to reach far beyond my circle of family and friends to see if we can return this Bible to the family or possibly to the owner!

This is the information that I received so feel free to pass it along by word of mouth or any other way you see fit. The odds are slim that anyone here in Oakmont is going to know this name or anything about those involved, but you never know.

If is should happen that you know something please feel free to contact me and I will pass the information along to the individual who currently possesses the Bible. Thank you.

From a Yahoo discussion group:

I live in Arkansas call sign KF5CRY and while shopping I found a bible from a WW1 soldier. I'm trying to find a family member to see if they would like to have it back in the family. We have a way of reaching out to people so I'm asking for your help. Name in the Bible is Wilfred C. Reid Jr. Can you guys help?

SFC ROBERT STAATS

1/156 INF. BN 256 BCT

Ken & Linda @ the movies

2010-02-14T22:28:00.003-05:00

"The Blind Side"

My sweetheart and I went out to the movies today something that used to be a regular routine for us but that we haven't done for some time now. Today being Valentines day we decided that dinner and a movie were in order. Both turned out be be very enjoyable but I considered the movie to be outstanding part of the day.

The Blind Side staring Sandra Bullock is based on a true story and one that will touch your heart as you watch it develop. It is the story of Michael Oher who currently plays for the Baltimore Ravens, a position he obtained through the kindness of a well off family the mother of whom believes in living the Christian values that she professes to family and friends.

Michael comes from a broken home in the slums and a series of foster homes after he was taken away from his drug addicted mother. It is only because one of his foster fathers makes an effort to get him enrolled in a Christina school telling them that he would be a valuable asset to their athletic program that Michael finds himself on a path to a new life.

Through the school he meets Leigh Anne Tuohy with two children of her own that attend there. Latter she discovers him walking aimlessly on Thanksgiving eve looking for a warm place to stay the night. She takes him home and give him a place to sleep on their couch only to find him up and leaving the next morning before the rest of the family arises. She talks him into staying for Thanksgiving dinner which leads to a friendship that turns into Michael becoming part of the family.

The relationship that develops between the characters along the way is truly amazing both its depth and in what they learn from each other. I haven't seen a movie this good in quite some time. It is rated PG-13 for some violence and sexual innuendo in the dialog. I have to say that I have seen much worse on television and I would not hesitate to take children as young as ten or twelve to see this picture.

If I had a critical word about this film I think it would be that too much emphasis was placed on the fact that Micheal was a black boy taken in by a while family. This could just as easily have been a disadvantaged white boy whose biggest obstacle to overcome was abject poverty. I will grant you under the circumstances Michael being black was another hurdle that he had to overcome but the true focus of the story was one human being reaching out to help another in Christina love.

A somewhat humorous side note. Both Linda and I noticed that country music star Tim McGraw was listed in the credits and sang the main song at the end of the movie as the credits rolled. As his name appeared again in the ending credits Linda and I both wondered out loud where Tim was in the movie? I came to the conclusion that he must have had a bit part appearing in the one of the football game crowd scenes. Imagine my surprise when I got home and looked up the movie on the Internet Movie Database only to discover that Tim McGraw played Sean Tuohy the husband to Sandra Bullock's character. He was in almost every scene in the movie. I guess that I have never seen Tim McGraw without his beard and definitely have never seen him with out his signature black cowboy hat. I just couldn't get over it and neither could Linda.

If you get the chance I suggest that you go see The Blind Side and that you take a friend or your family to enjoy it with you. Highly recommended!

Keep a close eye on those monthly bills!

2010-02-01T11:10:00.003-05:00

Here is an interesting article about companies adding charges for "premium" services that customers never requested. In some cases the cost are small enough that the average consumer might not notice that a few dollars have been tacked onto their regular monthly bill. Of course all of the companies involved when questioned deny any so called "up selling" to increase profit margins but when you find a number of people who are experiencing the same thing you have to wonder.

"Ever since her divorce a few years ago, Sandye Linnetz has kept her finances on a tight leash. When interest rates fall, she asks her credit card company for a better deal. She fixes her own computer and cleans her own house.

So when a mysterious $9.99 monthly charge appeared on her bill a few weeks after she renewed her contract, Linnetz did a double-take. The charge came without a description, she said, just a confusing jumble of letters, and she wanted to know what it covered.

A Verizon agent told her it was for monthly phone insurance, Linnetz said, adding that she never signed up for it. "The customer service rep said, 'That's funny, they may have automatically put it on,'" said Linnetz, who had the charge canceled."

With economic times being what they are I'm sure that every business out there is working to squeeze every penny out of their operation that they can. Some may just be a little more zealous about doing it than others, thus you need to be vigilant about where your money goes.

Follow this link to read the entire story

There is hope for politicians, I saw it today

2010-01-23T15:37:00.006-05:00

I tend to be rather cynical when it comes to government and politicians. With the current state of affairs in the City of Pittsburgh and the nations capital I don't think you can blame me. One of the reasons that I watch C-Span is to see exactly what our representatives are saying when the cameras are on them as opposed to what they are actually doing when it comes time to cast votes and initiate laws and measures that affect the country and its citizens.

As I said I continue to be rather cynical. This is the reason that I stopped pulling the party leaver in the voting booth a long time ago and stopped looking to see if a person had an R or a D after their name. Before I go to vote I try to learns as much as I can about what each candidate has done in the past and what they say they are going to do in the future.

As I watch those who choose to enter the arena of public service I find many who do so for reasons that while they may be honorable at the outset soon find themselves drawn into the system that is modern day politics losing at minimum their principals and in the worst cases their souls. I don't think they are bad people but I do think they make bad choices.

Having said all of that I also see glimmers of hope and at times even shining stars. While watching C-Span this afternoon I saw the National Urban Fellows Conference and one of the key speakers was the Mayor of Newark New Jersey Cory Booker. As he began to speak I was dividing my time between the computer and the television and I quickly found myself removing my reading glasses and watching and listening to what he had to say. This young mayor from Newark has a no nonsense approach to governing and I believe that one day he will go far beyond the office of mayor. If you would like you listen to his keynote speech by follow this link to C-Span. I knowing everything there is to know about him there may be some things that I would not agree with him on policy wise but I'm willing to overlook that when I find someone who speaks his mind and and proves by his actions that he is indeed working to advance his community to the best of his abilities.

So I remind my fellow voters that good people are out there and that it is our job to look for them and see that they get the chance to hold office and lead our towns, cities, counties, states and country. If you would like to see more of what Cory Booker is doing check his web site.

Supreme Court Strikes Down Key Campaign-Finance Provision

2010-01-22T06:06:00.003-05:00

Well the voting went as I expected.

The five conservative judges:
Alito
Kennedy
Roberts
Scalia
Thomas
ruled for Citizens United.

The four liberal judges:
Breyer
Ginsburg
Sotomayor
Stevens
made up the minority voting for the Federal Election Commission.

All of this means that President Obama only needs one more appointment to swing the balance of power on the court and many of these types of decisions revert to five to four in the other direction. I don't see Justice Ginsburg remaining through Obama's entire first term let alone beyond 2012. Granted this would most likely be a neutral appointment unless the President were to nominate an individual with very far left views something that prior to last Tuesday's election was not out of the realm of possibility. Should one of the conservative justices retire or, God forbid, develop a serious health problem and the court could change dramatically.

So unless the Republicans can take back the House and the Senate in the mid term elections which could happen there could be some real long term effect from Obama's election as he will surely make at leas one more appointment to the court.

Retaking the majority in congress is not completely out of the question but certainly not a sure thing. The much bigger question will be if they, the Republicans, do regain power will they grow a back bone and learn to use it. Perhaps if the Tea Party movement can sustain its momentum holding representatives responsible to the citizens, combined with the bitter taste of the treatment received at the hands of the Democrats during Obama's first year in office the Republicans will manage to move in the direction that their constituents elected them to take when they sent them to Washington. Only time will answer this question.

The real answer of course is to elect representatives in Washington who will return to the Constitution as envisions by it's authors. The Supreme Court should interpret if laws passed by the congress do or do not fall within the restrictions set forth by the United States Constitution. When we return to the concepts of the documents by which the country was created many of these issues will be resolved. Until that time I continue to pray for the nation and it's leaders.

When did it become our problem?

2010-01-20T10:01:00.000-05:00

One of my pet peeves that has been festering like a boil is the issue of identity theft. Unless you have been on a desert island for some time now I sure you have heard of the problem. We are bombarded every day with commercials in print, on the Internet, radio and television adds for companies that will for a fee keep your identity safe or clean up the aftermath if it should be stolen.

Here is my question though, just when did it become my problem when some merchant accepts fraudulent information for a sale at his or her place of business? I don't care if it is my drivers license number used or my credit card number the fact of the matter is that if it is not me making the transaction it should not be my problem. Why does any business get to make sales and if the buyers information turns out to be stolen the business gets to put the ownis of the fraud on my door step?

When I was a young man and ventured out into the working world one of the first things I learned was that cashing a check could be a difficult task. You typically had to deal with a bank where you had an account and if you were lucky local merchants would accept or cash checks for you if you lived in town and were known to them. Some wanted you to have a check cashing card issued after your residence and employment had been verified. The reason for all these precautions? If that merchant accepted your check and latter found that it wasn't worth the paper that it was written on they were on the hook for the loss. To be sure there were legal recourses they could take to recoup their lost funds but in many cases these were more expensive especially if they did not bear fruit than simply taking the loss and putting your name on a black list never to have dealings with you again.

Then came the wonderful world of credit. Charge accounts at the local department stores. Then revolving charge accounts that allowed buyers to carry a balance forward to the next month and make payments on their purchases. Followed hot on the heals by the universally accepted credit cards like Visa and Master Card. Now it became practical to make purchases either in person or over the phone with only a number. Also as credit became more and more a part of the American life style agencies grew to act as clearing houses for information on individuals credit practices and history. If only we had known early on how much power these agencies would wield in the future I think the regulation of their operations might have developed in an entirely different manner.

Here is a bit of trivia for you. You probably know there are three major credit reporting agencies in the United States. Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. I don't really know anything about the first two but while reading a book I learned the origins of the third. The Union Tank Car Company made the bulk of the tanks cars used in the United States and I believe around the world. As a business move the acquired a county credit bureau and then continued to make other acquisitions either buying or establishing agreements with bureaus in major cities around the country. Thus was born Trans Union who along with the others we have all come to know and love.

Now we have the Internet out of which on line shopping has grown into a multi billion dollar business. Along with this growth has come an increased opportunity for fraud and crime the implementation of which is much easier for its perpetrators. Identity theft has become a world wide profit center for organized crime which is something that we should all be worried about.

So now we have come to a point in time when most people consider credit a necessity of life and an essential part of commerce in their day to day lives. This I don't have a problem with although I do feel that living on credit is not good for our country or the consumer. My problem is this upside down model that says if fraud is committed by someone who claims to be you that an assumption is made that you are guilty of that fraud until you prove otherwise.

Now my solution to this problem is quite simple. We change the rules and put the credit card on the same footing as the paper check. If a merchant accepts a credit card for payment and it turns out that the owner of the card is not the one that made the purchase they are on the hook for the loss. I do live in the real world and know that this would surly kill almost all Internet commerce instantly. At least if you are dealing with a merchant fact to face they can take precautions such as asking for photo identification when accepting a credit card for payment.

So what is to be done? The first thing we have to do is stand together as a group and and tell the credit industry, composed of both the credit card issuers and the credit reporting agencies, that we will no longer accept their current business practices or pay a third party to clean up the messes that they create while shielding us from the process. I feel confident that there are technological solutions to this problem that would allow secure business transactions and reduce identity theft to the level of an annoyance. The problem is that it would cost business time and money to implement these kinds of changes and they are not willing to take the necessary steps.

When the cell phone industry came on the scene all phones and the infrastructure that supported them used clear radio transmission that could be overheard with a consumer grade police scanner or even an old UHF television tuner. When the mass media started to point out to the public that their conversations were being listened in on and it started to hurt their sales their first move was to get law makers to make it illegal to listen in on cell phones. Now anyone with even a basic understanding of the laws of physics and how radio works knows this was just comfort food for the marketing people. When the subject again surfaced and it was show that just having a law that says someone can't do something means very little they came back for another round of laws that baned the sale of scanners that could receive cell phone signals. Needless to say it wasn't long before it became public knowledge that these radios could be easily modified to restore the deleted frequency ranges and that yes their customers still had a listening audience out there. At this point with the threat of a considerable loss of business they did what they should have done when the initial system was constructed. They moved from a clear analog FM signal to a digital system that could be encrypted. I am not going to tell you that cell phone conversations are completely private under this system because they are not. There are a number of people out there with the technical knowledge to listen in if they so desire. And this doesn't even take into account the government agencies with three and four letter names that are capable of listening to anything in the RF spectrum they want too. I can tell you though that at least 99.9% of the people who used to listen in on cell phones just to satisfy their salacious desires have been eliminated from the listening audience.

I think the credit industry is in the same position. They could fix this problem but they don't want to subtract from the bottom line by making the investment in time, software and equipment that would be required. I think they are also afraid that if this became a public debate or if the did implement new safety measures that it would cause the loss of some business because of a lack of education of the subject on the part of the consumers.

All I know is that I'm getting very tired of having to worry about other people creating an environment by they way they do business making their losses my problem. If you feel the same I suggest that you talk with your friends and relatives making the case to them and asking them to let their thoughts be known to both the credit card industry and the merchants that they support. If we the people start putting pressure on them collectively that we can bring about change.

What will Pittsburgh be noted for in 2060?

2010-01-19T07:11:00.001-05:00

I have been thinking a lot lately about the history of both Pittsburgh and the Western Pennsylvania area in general. You don't have to dig very deep to find any number of things that originated here and have changed the world over a period of time. Pittsburgh has had an almost unequaled effect on the nation from its beginning and latter on the entire world.

Here are a number of examples some very well known and other not so well know as originating in Pittsburgh.

First Heart, Liver, Kidney Transplant - December 3, 1989
The first simultaneous heart, liver and kidney transplant was done at Presbyterian-University Hospital.

The First Internet Emoticon - 1982
The Smiley :-) was the first Internet emoticon, created by Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist Scott Fahlman.

First Robotics Institute - 1979
The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University was established to conduct basic and applied research in robotics technologies relevant to industrial and societal tasks.

First Mr Yuk Sticker - 1971
Mr Yuk was created at the Poison Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh after research indicated that the skull and crossbones previously used to identify poisons had little meaning to children who equate the symbol with exciting things like pirates and adventure.

First Night World Series Game - 1971
Game 4 of the 1971 World Series was the first night game in World Series history, a series that Pittsburgh went on to win, 4 games to 3.

First Big Mac - 1967
Created by Jim Delligatti at his Uniontown McDonald's, the Big Mac debuted and was test marketed in three other Pittsburgh-area McDonald's restaurants in 1967. By 1968 it was a mainstay on McDonald's menus throughout the country.

First Pull-Tab on Cans - 1962
The pull-tab was developed by Alcoa and was first used by Iron City Brewery in 1962. For many years, pull-tabs were only used in this area.

First Retractable Dome - September 1961
Pittsburgh's Civic Arena boasts the world's first auditorium with a retractable roof.

First U.S. Public Television Station - April 1, 1954
WQED, operated by the Metropolitan Pittsburgh Educational Station, was the first community-sponsored educational television station in America.

First Polio Vaccine - March 26, 1953
The polio vaccine was developed by Dr. Jonas E. Salk, a 38-year-old University of Pittsburgh researcher and professor.

First All-Aluminum Building - ALCOA - August 1953
The first aluminum-faced skyscraper was the Alcoa Building, a 30-story, 410 foot structure with thin stamped aluminum panels forming the exterior walls.

First Zippo Lighter - 1932
George G. Blaisdell invented the Zippo lighter in 1932 in Bradford, Pennsylvania. The name Zippo was chosen by Blaisdell because he liked the sound of the word "zipper" - which was patented around the same time in nearby Meadville, PA.

First Bingo Game - early 1920's
Hugh J. Ward first came up with the concept of bingo in Pittsburgh and began running the game at carnivals in the early 1920s, taking it nationwide in 1924. He secured a copyright on the game and wrote a book of Bingo rules in 1933.

First U.S. Commercial Radio Station - November 2, 1920
Dr. Frank Conrad, assistant chief engineer of Westinghouse Electric, first constructed a transmitter and installed it in a garage near his home in Wilkinsburg in 1916. The station was licensed as 8XK. At 6 p.m. on Nov. 2, 1920, 8KX became KDKA Radio and began broadcasting at 100 watts from a make-shift shack atop one of the Westinghouse manufacturing buildings in East Pittsburgh.

Daylight Savings Time - March 18, 1919
A Pittsburgh city councilman during the first World War, Robert Garland devised the nation's first daylight savings plan, instituted in 1918.

The First Gas Station - December, 1913
In 1913 the first automobile service station, built by Gulf Refining Company, opened in Pittsburgh at Baum Boulevard and St. Clair Street in East Liberty. Designed by J. H. Giesey.

The First Baseball Stadium in the U.S. - 1909
In 1909 the first baseball stadium, Forbes Field, was built in Pittsburgh, followed soon by similar stadiums in Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, and New York.

First Motion Picture Theatre - 1905
The first theater in the world devoted to the exhibition of motion pictures was the "Nickelodeon," opened by Harry Davis on Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh.

First Banana Split - 1904
Invented by Dr. David Strickler, a pharmacist, at Strickler's Drug Store in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

The First World Series - 1903
The Boston Pilgrims defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates five games to three in baseball's first modern World Series in 1903

First Air Brake - 1869
The first practical air brake for railroads was invented by George Westinghouse in the 1860s and patented in 1869.

Long-Distance Electricity - 1885
Westinghouse Electric developed alternating current, allowing long-distance transmission of electricity for the first time.

First Ferris Wheel - 1892/1893
Invented by Pittsburgh native and civil engineer, George Washington Gale Ferris (1859-1896), the first Ferris Wheel was in operation at the World's Fair in Chicago. It was over 264 feet high and was capable of carrying more than 2,000 passengers at a time.

As you can see they range from the lowly of the banana split to the conquering of a deadly disease like polio. And there are many more that are not on this list. All of this from the minds of people some of whom were born here and others who were drawn to the Pittsburgh area because of its industry. Pittsburgh was truly an example of the American "melting pot" where faith and a strong work ethic all came together to produce a strong and productive culture.

At one time Pittsburgh was the third largest city in the country in terms of being the home of corporate headquarters. We were the largest steel producer in the world making more steel just in Pittsburgh during World War II than all of our enemies combined.

Then Pittsburgh fell on hard times. Starting with the collapse of the steel industry in the mid 1970's and continuing with a major loss of population to the south and south west as business left and people followed. Pittsburgh and surrounding Allegheny County have lost population to the point that the city had to be declared as a distressed area under state law in order to keep from filing bankruptcy. Despite optimistic predictions from local politicians and claims of budget balancing success by what could at best be called dubious means the city is still in danger of collapse from the legacy costs of employee pensions and existing union contracts. When someone finally has the back bone to stand up and tell the people and the city employees how the real world works it is not going to be pretty.

All of this leads me to wonder what Pittsburgh's place in history will be fifty years from now. Will my grand children be bragging to their kids about the innovative things that originated in their home town? Will Pittsburgh even be their home town or like so many others will they say yes I once lived in Pittsburgh?

All of these thing I ponder probably because I am one of those died in the wool Pittsburgh natives. I considered leaving during the lean times and I have never been a fan of Pittsburgh winters. I may yet in my latter years decide to find another abode in a warmer climate if not full time at least half the year. One of Pittsburgh shining qualities however is its people and for reasons I can't quite explain a lot of us born here call it home and despite all its disadvantages just can't seem to be separated from it. A lot will have to change in order to resolve some of the bigger problems of western Pennsylvania, beginning with the political culture, before Pittsburgh can rise to its one time place of prominence in the nation and the world.

The IV is plugged in and I've had my first fix

2010-01-18T06:39:00.001-05:00

Regular readers will know that I am not much of a television watcher. Most of my viewing consists of the Fox News channel and C-Span on the weekends. Having been off work for a while now with some health problems I have watched more television than usual but the three major networks don't have a hook set in me just yet.

There is one show however that I have been following since it first aired seven years ago on the Fox Network and that is 24. For those of you not familiar with the show it centers around a federal counter terrorists unit called CTU. The lead character is one of their field agents named Jack Bauer played by Kiefer Sutherland.

I really enjoy reading novels of the "techno thriller" genre such as those by Tom Clancy and Vince Flynn. The protagonist in 24 reminds me very much of Jack Ryan in Clancy's novels only with a darker edge to him. Jack Ryan is the epitome of the straight shooter. Always does the right thing and by the book. If he does stray over the line into a grey area it usually involves bypassing the bureaucracy bending or breaking their rules. Jack Bauer on the other hand has all of these qualities but if he thinks innocent lives are at stake he will do whatever is required to protect them inside or outside the confines of the law. One season knowing that there was a weapon of mass destruction on American soil Bauer tied a man with knowledge of its location to a chair and wired him to wall socket until he got the information he needed. He is also willing to accept the consequence's of those actions whatever that might be. In the end Jack Bauer always saves the day sometimes at great personal sacrifice to not only himself but his family.

One of the things that fascinates me about this show is that out in the real post 9-11 world it has sparked a public debate as to how we should deal with some of these issues portrayed in the plot of the show. Author and former CBS news reporter Bernard Goldberg while taking questions at a speech he gave at the National Press Club asked the audience where the most honest and frank discussion was going on about how to deal with terrorists and several people in the room answered "On the television show 24". Mr. Goldberg agreed completely and commented that he felt that journalists were not doing their job by presenting both sides of this issue and opening a national dialog on the subject.

I think all of this is quite ironic considering the mass media and communications available in America today. That however, is a conversation for another time. I still consider 24 what it was intended to be entertainment. I do know how to differentiate the difference between a television show and the real world. I feel much the same about the movies. So if your tastes in reading cross paths with mine you might want to consider checking the show out. I know I will be watching.

You are invited!

2010-01-11T21:31:00.008-05:00

I attended a meeting at my church this evening where we discussed strategic planning to improve our congregation and thus the work that we can do for the Lord.

I found myself on the communications committee since that seems to be where my talents are so here I am blogging about it.

Now one of the reasons that I'm blogging about it is that Redeemer has become a part of the Oakmont community through both the church and the school.

If you are in Oakmont or the surrounding area we would really like to have you as a member of our church family. So I am extending a personal invitation to you, one of the readers of my blog, to come and join us in worship and fellowship.

Here is a link to our church web site where you can learn more about our beliefs, directions to our house of worship and contact information if you would like to talk with someone or get additional information.

Redeemer Lutheran Church & School

Here is a VIDEO about our school.

God bless and we hope to see you soon!

What did you think of Brit Hume's statement?

2010-01-08T16:12:00.003-05:00

Being of a conservative bent I get my dose of television news from the Fox News Channel. I still occasionally get my news on dead trees but the bulk of it comes from the web and pod casts. I even occasionally still watch one of the three major broadcast networks news shows although not very often.

I was a little surprised when on the weekly Fox News Sunday program hosted by Chris Wallace Brit Hume made the comment that he though Tiger Woods should convert to Christianity which could offer him forgiveness if he repents from his sins and has faith in Jesus Christ. It is very unusual almost unheard of for on screen television talent to mention their religious beliefs let along mention the name of Jesus Christ. Yet this is just what Brit Hume did on Fox News Sunday and it drew both plaudits and criticism.

I also am an avid listener to Issues Etc radio show on the Internet. So I was not surprised when Pastor Todd Wilken brought the subject up on the show and ask his listening audience what they though of the remarks made by Mr. Hume. I think you will find the discussion that follows interesting. I am supplying a link so that you can listen to this portion of the show aired on January 5th of this year.

Brit Hume Suggests Tiger Woods Become a Christian

A little humor to start the new year

2010-01-01T23:47:00.002-05:00

One sure way to know that something in current events has been brought to the front burner is when the comics start taking up the mantra. With that in mind I invite you to listen to the latest ditty arrianged and performed by Ray Stevens.

WE THE PEOPLE
Click to play

I couldn't have said it better myself.

A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2009-12-31T04:43:00.002-05:00

I hope all who are reading this have had a very merry Christmas and that you have a healthy and happy New Year. I also hope that you keep the spirit of Christ Jesus with you into the new year remembering that at Christmas we celebrate his birth and that we keep his message of peace in our hearts at all times.

I hope that Oakmont grows and prospers in the coming year and that we as a town and a nation can put ourselves back on a path that will be beneficial to our fellow citizens and our children and grand children. God bless.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T21:00:00.002-05:00

My Christmas has been wonderful so far to day. I have all of my children and both grand children here for most of the afternoon and we all attended services at church this evening arriving home just about half an hour ago. The grand kids are playing a new game on the Wii and having a good time. God has blessed my family and life is good. I hope you all have a blessed Christmas and I hope that you keep all of our service men and women in your hearts and prayers. God bless them and their families.

We all knew it had to come

2009-12-19T21:18:00.004-05:00

Well we have been very lucky here in Oakmont and the Allegheny Valley for the last several years. We haven't had a winter like those I remember as a kid growing up for some time and it looks, depending on your point of view, that the luck has run out. The photo is of my lovely wife Linda out clearing the walks and digging out the car this morning. I have already had posting on Face Book scolding me for making her clear the walks and I hate to wimp out but my heart currently put show shoveling off limits to me. Maybe I'll buy her a snow blower for Christmas! :-)

I was born after the big snow of 1950 and all I heard about growing up was how much snow we got that winter and how long it lasted. According to my parents there was a flag pole in the base ball field across from our house where the borough dumped the snow that they plowed from the streets. According to family legend that year snow was piled up till only the ball at the top of the flag pole was visible. Further more, there was still a small pile of snow that had not yet melted at the base of the pole in late May.

Some folks call it an "old fashioned" winter and they love it. Me, I have never enjoyed winter not even as a child. I did like the thrill of sled riding on some of the steep hills that surrounded the area I grew up in. Unlike some kids I didn't have to travel out into the county to have a terrific down hill sledding experience. I only had to have someone posted to watch for traffic when I zoomed across an intersection and out on the ball field.

Even so, I never enjoyed being cold and wet. I had no desire to build snow men, snow caves or engage in snow ball fights. I did manage to get into a few snow ball battles on the way home from school a few times though.

I have always thought of snow as something that if you had to describe it to someone that you should have to take a book down from the shelf and show them a picture. Or if you were so inclined you could travel into higher elevations and "visit" it if you were struck with an overwhelming desire to do so.

This often makes me wonder why I have chosen to spend the bulk of my life in the Pittsburgh area. I suppose the love of family and the feeling of being "home" has been stronger than my distaste for standing ankle deep in slush while scraping ice off my car windows so that I could get to work. Don't let me dissuade you. Pittsburgh in general is a great place to live and Oakmont is about as ideal a small town as you could wish for. It looks like however from all of the predictions that have come from the local weather prognosticators that we are in for "typical" Pittsburgh winter this year and I guess I will just have to endure it with a smile.

I'm sorry............

2009-12-15T00:20:00.003-05:00

This isn't going to sound very "Christian" of me especially at this time of the year but I just have to rant. While getting back to health I have been working from home for a while now and I usually have the television on most of the time tuned to the Fox News Channel. One of the main stories that was reported on during the entire day was about the search for some climbers who were stuck somewhere up on Mt. Hood one of the loftier peaks in this great country.

One of their companions has already been discovered having lost his life for his endeavors to reach the summit of this mountain. I am deeply sorry for this man and his friends and family that he has died. If the same fate befalls his companions further up the mountain I will also say a prayer for their families and be saddened by their grief.

What gets me upset is that so many other people will now put their lives and limbs at risk in an effort to go up and save these guys who chose on their own to take on this very hazardous hobby. In my youth I have done some things for the thrill of it which in retrospective were not particularly intelligent and most of them I don't regret. However, when I did these things the only hide I was risking was my own.

I think the fact that we have organized units of rescue personal that are on stand by to go and retrieve these adventures that climb mountains or go deep into caves and suddenly find they are unable to extract themselves from the place that the have gotten into is not only ridiculous but immoral. I think they should add to the adrenalin rush when they start that journey knowing that if they find themselves stuck several thousand feet above the earth in a snow pack that they will either get back on their own or that conditions permitting someone will come in the spring and reclaim their bodies for popper burial.

Don't get me wrong. I have no problem what so ever pulling out all of the stops and doing anything necessary to rescue a lost child or elderly person. A family traveling a well known route that finds themselves stuck by a sudden snow storm or similar circumstances. These however are people who did not deliberately set out to put themselves in harms way. I even understand those that feel that they have to climb the mountain "because its there" and God bless them if they are able to do it. I just don't want to see other people die in the process and to a lesser extent I don't want to pay tax dollars to maintain crews and equipment some of which is very expensive to pull these folks back from the breach when needed.

Like I said not a very kind thought really any time of the year but it is just one of those things that push my buttons especially when it becomes a national news story. That is my 1.835 cents on the matter feel free to comment.

Where the heck have you been?

2009-12-13T10:59:00.002-05:00

I'm sure all of the readers of this blog, both of you, have been wondering where I disappeared to. I have been on somewhat of a hiatus for a number of reasons. My work schedule has been increasing exponentially for some time now and shows no sign of letting up.

I have had a number of health issues some minor and some serious that have thrown me off track and has taken some time to bounce back from. I am doing better right now than I have been for several months but still have some issues to face.

My point being that it is not that I haven't had anything to say, to the contrary I have some very strong opinions on things that have been happening in our town and our country. I have just had a great deal of difficulty getting myself to the keyboard to put my thoughts into writing. So I will try to post some things of interest here that I hope will give readers something to ponder as they go through their day.

God bless the family of Officer Crawshaw

2009-12-11T07:09:00.002-05:00

Tragedy has once again struck a Pittsburgh area police department a fact that I am sure all of you are aware of by now.

Office Mike Crawshaw of the Penn Hills Police Department will be laid to rest today as he is honored by his fellow police officers and emergency workers from all over the nation. At a time when we are normally looking forward to a joyous season with the advent of celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ his family, friends and fellow officers find themselves filled with grief at his loss.

The only words that I can write to offer comfort at this time is to say that I am assuming from news reports that Officer Crawshaw was a Christian and the only solace that we can take is knowing that his soul is now in God's hands.

I pray that God will also comfort his family and fellow officers as they morn the loss of their son and friend. I also hope that members of the Penn Hills community and the Pittsburgh area will give thought to the men and women that protect our cities and towns everyday. They are unsung heroes in the everyday world until such a tragedy strikes and the dangers they face and the sacrifices they make are brought to the cold light of day.

Please keep Officer Crawshaw's family and all of our emergency personal in your prayers.

Words of wisdom from Andrew Klavan

2009-06-02T17:54:00.003-04:00

Like many of you I am on several mailing list. Some of them are of a group nature and other are simply lists maintained by individuals so they can send a message to a number of contacts all at once from their address book. This link came from one of those messages from an individual and while the video that it takes you to is very short it is also in my opinion very profound. So, click on the link below and take a few minutes to listen to what the gentleman has to say. Like the Gettysburg Address it is a short speech but one that we should all hear.

Andrew Klavan On Cluture

What did President Obama really say about abortion?

2009-05-19T07:05:00.001-04:00

I tend to be very opinionated on some things in life and abortion is one of them. I freely admit that I have come full circle in my lifetime on this issue. For a very long time I held the position that abortion was morally wrong and that it is something that I would never permit in my family, but that it was also absolutely none of the governments business and should not be a matter to be decided by lawmakers or enforced one way or the other by law.

After a lot of study of the issue talking with friends and family and reading as much material as I can find I have come 180 degrees on my stance. I now firmly believe that from the moment of conception that baby, that child, is a human being just the same as you and I. I also firmly believe that there is no difference between someone taking a knife and plunging it into the chest of another person and a doctor performing an abortion. Lets not mince words, they both are acts of murder, the taking of a human life. In the case of abortion an innocent and defenceless life.

President Obama's recent speech at Notre Dame while noble sounding I found somewhat disingenuous. He speaks of finding a middle ground and of being tolerant of other peoples positions on the issue. Yet in the end I think actions speak louder than words and all actions in the matter are decidedly one sided.

I am not very good at expressing ideas in print so when I listened to this segment of a talk show that I enjoy I heard my own thoughts expressed much better than I could say them myself. If you have time please click on the link and think about the discussion that you hear. I think you will find it both interesting and informative.

Click to listen to Issues Etc on President Obama's speech.

Thoughts of mothers

2009-05-13T21:54:00.004-04:00

I'm sure you all get emails from friends, we all have mailing list that we send items to on a regular basis. Mostly jokes and humorous things but also some that have a more serious tone or a message that you want to pass on to others. A friend of mine sent me one of those messages in an email today probably because Mothers Day just passed, and it touched me enough that I wanted to share it with others. The fact that I lost my mother while she was still relatively young, not even sixty two yet, caused this one to pull at my heart strings just a little harder than most. Read on and you will see why. I can tell you that this message is one that we should all heed.

MOTHER

After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to
dinner and a movie.

She said, 'I love you, but I know this other woman loves you and I would
Love to spend some time with you.'

The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my Mother, who has
been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three children
had made it possible to visit her only occasionally.

That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.
'What's wrong, are you well,' she asked?

My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call or a
surprise invitation is a sign of bad news.

'I thought that it would be pleasant to spend some time with you,' I
responded 'just the two of us.' She thought about it for a moment, and then
said,'I would like that very much.'

That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit
nervous. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be
nervous about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on.

She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to
celebrate her last wedding anniversary. She smiled from a face that was as
radiant as an angel's.

'I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were
impressed,' she said, as she got into the car. 'They can't wait to hear
about our meeting.'

We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and
cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady.

After we sat down, I had to read the menu.

Her eyes could only read large print.. Half-way through the entrees, I
lifted my eyes and saw Mother sitting there staring at me.

A nostalgic smile was on her lips..

'It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small,' she
said. 'Then it's time that you relax and let me return the favor,' I responded.

During the dinner , we had an agreeable conversation nothing extraordinary
but catching up on recent events of each other's life. We talked so much
that we missed the movie. As we arrived at her house later, she said, 'I'll
go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you.' I agreed..

'How was your dinner date?' asked my wife when I got home. 'Very nice,
much more so than I could have imagined,' I answered.

A few days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack.

It happened so suddenly that I didn't have a chance to do anything for
her. Sometime later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant
receipt from the same place Mother and I had dined.

An attached note said: 'I paid this bill in advance. I wasn't sure that I
could be there; but, nevertheless, I paid for two plates - one for you and
the other for your wife. You will never know what that night meant for me.

'I love you, son'

At that moment, I understood the importance of saying in time: 'I love
YOU' and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve.

Nothing in life is more important than your family. Give them the time
they deserve, because these things cannot be put off till some 'other' time.

Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've
had a baby... somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, 'normal' is
history.

Somebody said you can't love the second child as much as you love the
first... somebody doesn't have two or more children.

Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and
delivery....somebody never watched her 'baby' get on the bus for the first
day of
kindergarten... or on a plane headed for military 'boot camp.'

Somebody said a Mother can stop worrying after her child gets married...
somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a
mother's heartstrings.

Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last
child leaves home.... somebody never had grandchildren..

Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell
her... somebody isn't a mother.

Pass this along to all the GREAT 'mothers' in your life and to everyone
who ever had a mother.

This isn't just about being a mother; it's about appreciating the people
in your lives while you have them..... no matter who that person is!

Watch your thoughts, they become words..
Watch your words, they become actions..
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your habits, they become character.
Watch your character, for it
becomes...your destiny.

Life is not waiting for the storm to pass its learning how to dance in the rain.

Here is an interesting story

2009-05-11T23:05:00.003-04:00

A friend sent me this story about the real pilots in the movie "Top Gun" and I thought I would share it with you. One of the lead pilots in the movie is piloting the space shuttle on its next mission to work on the Hubble Telescope. If you are interested you can read the story here.

TOP GUN GOES TO SPACE

Say "Hello........."

2009-05-01T01:09:00.005-04:00

In addition to having fun with computers and reading books I am an Amateur Radio Operator or as some call us a "ham" radio operator. It is a great hobby that has brought me hours of pleasure, introduced me to many new friends and helped me advance my work career by keeping me in touch with the latest technology. As the video below will show you anyone can get involved with the hobby and join in on the fun. If you think you might be interested after watching the video leave me a comment and I will help you get started.

Geometry, traffic lights and Hulton road

2009-04-30T16:15:00.000-04:00

Fundamental geometry tells us that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Despite this known fact if you live in Western Pennsylvania, especially at this time of the year, you know that the shortest distance between two points is under construction. If you don't believe that just get in your car and drive around for while.

While you are out driving, particularly if it is during the morning rush hour, and you happen to travel down Allegheny River Boulevard to Hulton road you may notice that traffic backs up quit a bit from the traffic signal at the intersection. Now considering the volume of traffic that traverses the Allegheny River from Oakmont to Harmarville each day this should come as no surprise.

When the property that was formerly an Exxon gas station was sold and turned into a Wall Greens pharmacy one of the requirements was that a traffic signal be placed where Allegheny River Boulevard and Allegheny Avenue intersect with Hulton Road. I was somewhat fearful of the effects of putting a traffic signal at these intersections thinking it would add to what was already a bottle neck in the traffic flow and make matters worse.

Much to my surprise a good deal of engineering work went into synchronizing both lights at the railroad crossing and the other signal at the Harmarville side of the bridge. I think overall it has made rush hour traffic flow at a better pace than before with one exception.

It is this exception that leads me to write this blog entry. Human nature being what it is there will always be some in a group that are impatient and will try to beat the system. Such is the case with the traffic signals on Hulton Road. It now seems that during morning rush hour people who can not wait on Hulton road for the normal traffic cycle are turning off at Wade Lane or Fifth Street and then proceeding down Woodland Avenue to Oakmont Avenue where when they reach the light at Hulton road they have the right of way making a right turn onto Hulton Road.

When enough people do this you can't get any vehicles that are north bound on the boulevard who have to make a left turn to get into the line of traffic approaching the bridge through the light on a normal cycle. Needless to say this causes much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the people waiting to make a left at the light, one of whom is my wife Linda who is riding in the passenger side of my vehicle. I try to keep my cool in congested traffic and not let it raise my blood pressure more than a point or two, Linda on the other hand has to vent when situations like this occur and guess who she vents at? That is another reason that I'm writing this in the blog.

So what is to be done about this? I plan on starting by calling the mayor and describing the problem and asking if there is anything that the borough can do to help. Hulton Road is a state highway and there may be limitations that the local municipality can place on traffic flow. It would be nice if there were no left turns permitted onto Wade Lane and Fifth Street from 07:00 to 09:00 AM Monday through Friday. Or better yet no left turn from Oakmont Avenue onto Hulton road for the same time duration. That would probably be a simpler alternative.

So if you live in town or have to travel Hulton Road during rush hour you might want to consider contacting "the powers that be" and expressing your interest in seeing that all that money spent on a study to determine traffic flow and signal timing isn't circumvented by a group of drivers taking a short cut to gain a minuet or two in their daily commute. If you do so please let me know.

As a side bar not directly related to this posting I haven't quite figured out which direction Allegheny River Boulevard takes on the compass. I have heard the local police department during radio communications refer to going east or west on Allegheny River Boulevard and the same for Allegheny Avenue. If you cross the river the Norfolk Southern Railroad refers to the trains moving on the single track that run parallel to the river as being either east bound or west bound. The first time I heard a locomotive tell dispatch that they were proceeding east on the single track past mile post 66.8 I wanted to jump in the car and rush down to see how the train was going to float across the river to go east!

All public safety agencies have always referred to Rt. 28, which also parallels the river and the railroad tracks, as either north or south bound. I think they do this just to try to confuse me. There, now I have vented and I feel better. Thank you for reading this far.

Words of wit and wisdom for the day

2009-04-27T10:19:00.001-04:00

"Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate,no despotism can enslave. At home, afriend, abroad, an introduction,in solitude a solace and in society anornament.It chastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives at once grace and government to genius. Without it, what is man? A splendid slave, a reasoning savage." - Joseph Addison

It is time to let your voice be heard

2009-04-21T09:37:00.003-04:00

I have been subscribed to a mailing list run by Bob Logue, former KDKA talk show host and community activist, and believe in what he and his STOP group are trying to accomplish.

I received the following email from the list this morning and feel that it should be disseminated as far and wide as possible. Please read the email below and act on it if possible. If you don't have time to write your representatives please call their offices and let them know you want REAL CHANGE in property taxes in Pennsylvania. Now it the time to let our voices be heard.

"To The General Public

Pennsylvania homeowners could be facing substantial increases in property taxes if the PA Supreme Court rules unconstitutional the base year property assessment system used by almost all counties in Pennsylvania. That ruling could come at any time, and may require counties to undertake annual or biannual reassessments of every property in every county.

In 2008 the PA House of Representatives voted 193-0 in favor of a constitutional amendment to permit abolishment of all property taxes on primary residences. The Senate Leadership killed a similar bill preventing progress on the fight to abolish all three property taxes (school, county and municipal) on primary residences.

To protect your home, you must be actively involved in urging the legislature to use the emergency provision of the PA Constitution to pass a constitutional amendment to permit primary residence property tax abolishment.

STOP\TREC a grassroots organization invites you to learn about their Primary Residence Protection plan at www.grandoldusa.com and www.spedunkie.com (hit on STOP page). Help educate your family and friends.

You can publicly demonstrate your support of property tax abolishment on primary residences by displaying bumper stickers that read STOP TAX ON HOMES. To purchase bumper stickers for a $1 donation (which includes postage) call (724) 354-2348. Or write to STOP\TREC c/o Charlotte Ishman, 121 Dead End Road, Shelocta, PA 15774. Order extra bumper stickers for your legislators, family and friends.

Bumper Stickers are removable and made in the USA. Copy of bumper sticker printed in red below.

John Czekanski

STOP Primary Residence Protection Plan

STOP TAX ON HOMES

CALL 724-354-2348

WWW.GRANDOLDUSA.COM"

Tax Day

2009-04-15T11:48:00.003-04:00

For those of you who haven't yet done so now it the time to get all of those forms filled out, all of the receipts gathered and sit down with the bottle of Tylenol and put this annual duty to bed for yet another year.

I am always amazed at the amount of whaling and gnashing of teeth on the week leading up to April 15th each year by the populous in general. After the date passes there are a select few that keep the fight alive for lower taxes but for the most part the outrage subsides and is soon forgotten.

It is for that reason that I do not have a bright outlook for the possibility of getting any real relief for my wallet from the tax man in the foreseeable future I'm sorry to say. Sorry because I feel that if this problem is not addressed that it will lead to the eventual fall of the United States of America as we know it today.

Sooner or latter we will reach that tipping point where one half of the nation is working to support the other half and the half that is doing the paying will get fed up and they rise up and do something about it. At this time there is no way to tell for sure what that something will be.

My first wish is that the reaction would be a huge turn out at the voting polls sending the message that we will no longer stand for unlimited government spending and waste. Past history tells me that unless in the wake of this economic down turn the ire of the public has finally awakened November will bring no changes to the governing body.

We currently have a government that is out of control in spending taxpayers money in order to finance programs that the federal government has no reason or requirement to be conducting. They have grown addicted to the power that is provided by the manipulation of the tax code in order to retain office and make social policy. I pray that I am wrong and that we have finally reached that tipping point where we no longer will simply allow this injustice to continue.

Difficult times for people of the Pittsburgh area

2009-04-07T19:15:00.001-04:00

The loss of the three police officers this past Saturday in the City of Pittsburgh has cast a pall of gloom over the entire area. The loss of any human life is tragic but we are all the more affected when that loss comes to a group that dedicates their lives to protecting and serving the public. The senseless way these young men were murdered has shocked us all and reminded that there truly is good and evil in the world that we live in.

At one time I was a member of the Oakmont Auxiliary Police who supplement the regular officers mostly for traffic control at fires and accident scenes. I became friends with a number of the officers on the force at that time and managed to get a small peek into their world from the outside looking in. While never having been a part of their community I can tell you that all of the reports you are hearing in the media about them being "family" and part of a "brotherhood" are truer than you might imagine. There is a common bond among them that outsiders usually can't perceive or understand. I can also tell you that officers from the surrounding areas are feeling the pain of the loss just as those in the city who worked with these men on a daily basis.

I did not know any of the slain officers personally, my best friend however has several relatives that are on the police force in Pittsburgh. One of them and her partner who had just gone off duty responded to the call and the two of them were on the scene moments after the three offices were shot. It is only by the grace of God and "street smarts" in the way they approached the scene that they were not the next to be gunned down.

At this point in time I can only offer prayers that God will comfort the family and friends of these three men. I can't begin to imagine the pain caused by their loss to their wives and children and extended families.

Despite a great internal struggle I will also pray for the man who perpetrated these heinous crimes. I heard a number of friends and family make comments that the shooter should be gunned down by any means possible and left to die.

I have to admit that watching and listening to these events unfold on Saturday I had the same impulses in my head while my heart told me that our Savior Jesus Christ would not approve of the sentiments going through my mind at the time.

So let us take time to mourn the fallen and pray for their loved ones and do what we can to see that our fellow men and women do not stray down that path of evil that leads them to bring so much sorrow to their fellow human beings.

Here is an worth while tidbit for you

2009-02-04T13:04:00.002-05:00

Here is something you will want to have and use! Do you still remember when the telephone company charged $1.50 to get a phone number from information? My compliments to Google! Just leave it up to Google to come up with something like this!!! Here's a number worth putting in your cell phone, or your home phone speed dial: 1-800-goog411. (1-800-466-4411)

This is an awesome service from Google, and it's free-- great when you are on the road. Don't waste your money on information calls and don't waste your time manually dialing the number.

I am driving along in my car and I need to call a Restaurant, Doctor, Appointment or whatever and I don't know the number. I hit the speed dial for information that I have programmed. The voice at the other end says, "City." I say, " **Garland** , **Texas** ." He says, "Business, Name or Type of Service." I say, Firewheel Golf Course." He says,"Connecting" and Firewheel answers the phone. How great is that?

This is nationwide and it is absolutely free!

Click on the link below and check out the free demo from google!

Googel 411

He's baaaaaaaaaaack.................................

2009-01-31T11:05:00.002-05:00

Well I just don't know what to tell you. I have abandon writing in my various blogs for months now just not feeling very creative. Not feeling much of anything to tell the truth but that is an entirely different story.

I do have some comments to make on the state of things along with my other rambling thought so I'm back at the keyboard.

Sitting at a table

2008-09-11T07:07:00.002-04:00

The hum of the cooling fans even though louder than I prefer had faded into the background like white noise that I had come to accept and ignore. I like a quite environment so why I chose to work around electronic equipment with noisy fans escapes me when I stop to think about it.

I'm sitting at the end of an eight foot table the kind with folding legs that you find you find in church basements and meeting halls. In front of me is my laptop computer and the rest of the table is filled with drawings, papers and other paraphernalia involved in keeping our telephone system in working order. I don't have a desk here in the telephone room as it is only one of a number of places that I spend my day and I may be here only a few minutes or several hours. Today I plan on being here at least half the day so I have settled in and am working at a project.

I do spend enough time down here in this room that I have a few personal items here like a large tank cup for water and a broadcast radio. This morning I have the radio on WPTT located at 1360 on the AM dial and I'm listening to my favorite talk show host Jerry Bowyer. Depending on how entrenched I get in the work on my laptop the radio may zone out and though I'm listening I catch only a word here and there. From years of listening to public safety radio (police scanners) I have developed the ability to not pay attention and yet catch a change in voice inflection or a keyword that brings my focus back to the radio. I heard Jerry say that the news division had reported that a small plane had crashed into the side of the World Trade Center in New York.

This immediately caught my attention and I turned up the volume on the radio and rebalanced my foreground/background attention level on the radio. I remember thinking that even a small plane like a Piper Cub hitting that building would be a catastrophe especially on a weekday morning. I didn't think it could do much damage to the building but surly would cause a great deal of damage on the ground below. I stopped for a moment and said a prayer for the pilot and anyone affected by this accident.

It wasn't long until the word came on the radio that indeed a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center and that it was a large passenger jet not a private aircraft. A knot formed in my stomach because I knew if this was a commercial air liner that it was no accident. At that point I had no idea how bad it actually was. I jumped from one radio station on the dial trying to gather all the information that I could and the more I heard only confirmed my worst suspicions.

I was in the telephone room alone in a far corner of the building and I decided to go out onto our shop floor to learn what others had heard. I found everyone standing in small groups around radios listening and the expression on their faces told me some of what they were thinking. I then went into the room that houses our maintenance crew and found that they had commandeered a television and were close enough to the outside of the building to get a signal. I don't know what channel was on but I got my first glimpse of the burning tower and seconds latter watched in horror as a second plane knifed through the adjoining tower. I thought to myself "My God! We are under attack".

I returned to the telephone room and started calling family and friends telling them to get to a place where they could see a television or hear a broadcast radio and pay close attention to what was going on around them. I had no idea where this day was headed but I knew it was a dangerous time even though there appeared to be no immanent threat in our area.

As time wore on I started to hear about some event happening near Greater Pittsburgh Airport involving the control tower. Then came word that buildings down town particularly the US Steel building were being evacuated. I decided then it was time to go. I called my manager who told me that our company president had advised that anyone who wanted to leave to be with their families should do so. I got to my car and went straight home and I remember having an eerie feeling as I exited on the street next to my home. It was very quite and there was no one out on any of the sidewalks. This feeling was quickly reinforced when I head what sounded like a screech over head and looked up to see a military fighter pass overhead at a relatively low level. I believe it was an F16.

The rest of that day was a combination of blurs and crystal sharp moments in time. Some I can't be sure about and other I could draw you a picture of. I remember praying, a lot, that day. It seems like just yesterday and now I understand why my parents got that look in their eyes when the would describe December 7th 1941 to me as a child. This even though the horror they endured was thousands of miles away not right in their own back yard.

There are few incidents in peoples lives that leave such an impression. The only other one in my lifetime was the day President Kennedy was assassinated. I can give you a complete description of where I was that day, who I was talking with and where I was when I head confirmation that the President had indeed died in that Dallas hospital.

So today I stop and remember seven years ago and I think about all that has changed in our lives since then. I bow my head and pray to God that he will watch over all of our military personal who continue to fight the war that was started that fate full day. I pray that he will continue to provide our nation with leaders who will make decisions that will keep the country safe from future attack. Most of all I pray that my grand children will grow up without a December 7th or September 11th to reflect on when they are my age. For these things I pray.

Father's Day 2008

2008-06-15T11:28:00.002-04:00

Several years ago I wrote a post here on the blog about Father's Day. You can click on the word "post" in blue if you would like to see it. Here we are at yet another celebration of Fathers and Father's Day. The third Sunday of the month has become a regular work day for me because of security updates that have to be tended to on the computers at work. So I went in this morning and got things started and found myself somewhat lucky today. The timing worked out that I could "take a break" in the afternoon and attend the car show mentioned in the previous post with two of my three sons. My other son Dan would have a little tougher time attending since he currently lives on the California Nevada border several thousand mile away. Still I am with him and he is with me in our thoughts.

I wish that my father and Linda's Dad could be there with us today but that is no longer possible. At least they can't be there physically. I know they will both be there with us in spirit. Fathers pass on their wisdom and their values to their children and that is their legacy to our country and our culture.

I worry about so many of the current generation that are growing up in a one parent family most of the time with the father being the missing component. I worry not only for these individuals but for our society as a whole. What values will those grow up with and what will they pass along to the next generation? These thing will affect you and I and our children and grand children in the years to come.

I don't want to wander to far down that path because today is a day to celebrate. I suggest that if your father is still with us that you spend the day with him if you can. And if for some reason you can't that you pick up the phone and make sure that you let him know how much you love him and that you truly appreciate what he has done for you over the course of your life. If you have children don't forget that even after they have grown and become adults that Dad is still and always be a source of "continuing education" for those that you have helped bring into the world.

Happy Father's Day!

Best Buy? Caveat Emptor!

2008-06-02T19:48:00.005-04:00

I have known my friend Jerry for a number of years now and he tends to very reasonable in his business dealings. So when I received his email today I could tell he was upset and even before reading the entire email I had a feeling that I would think he had good reason to be so when I was finished.

I also have purchased a number of electronic items over the years from the Best Buy chain and if I have had occasion to return something I don't really remember it. I do know that I have left the store on a number of occasions feeling that I knew far more about the products I had been looking at than the person trying to sell them to me.

Now this is nothing unusual. I grew up in a time when the number of stores that sold and serviced electronic equipment were much greater than today. Along with increased numbers these stores were staffed by men who you could bring a schematic or a wiring diagram and they could advise you on the best way to go about constructing your circuit. Typically they knew much more about what you were trying to do than you did. I often refer to these as the "good old days" of the hobby. But I digress.

Best Buy has done nothing illegal or even morally wrong that I can tell from Jerry's story. What they have done is something that as far as I'm concerned is at least a very poor business practice. I normally cast a very suspicious eye on the details of some of the chain stores that I deal with and I can assure you that I had no idea of Best Buy's return policy and probably would have felt about the same that Jerry did when he attempted to return his item. I will let you the reader be the judge. You read about Jerry's exerience and think about how you would have felt in the situation.

"BEST BUY, MY FOOT

Best Buy has some bad policies....

If you purchase something from, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, JC Penny, Sears etc., If you return the item with the receipt, they will give you your money back if you paid cash, or credit your account if paid by plastic.

Well, I purchased a GPS for my car, a Tom Tom XLS from 'Best Buy'. They have a policy that it must be returned within 14 days for a refund!
So after 4 days I returned it in the original box with all the items in
the box, with paper work and cords all wrapped in the plastic. Just as
I received it, including the receipt.

I explained to the lady at the return desk I did not like the way it
could not find store names. The lady at the refund desk said, there is a
15% restock fee, for items returned. I said no one told me that. I said
how much would that be.

She said it goes by the pr i ce of the item. It will be $45.00 Dollars for you. I said, all your going to do is walk over and place it back on the self! Then charge me $45.00 of my money for restocking!!

She said that's the store policy. I said if more people were aware of it they would not buy anything here! If I bought a $2000.00 computer or TV and returned it I would be charged $300.00 dollars restock fee!!

She said yes, 15%. I said OK, just give me my money minus the restock fee.

She said, since the item is over 200.00 dollars, she cant give me my money back!!!

Corporate has to and they will mail you a check in 7 to ten days.!! I said 'WHAT?!' It's my money!! I paid in cash ! I want to buy a different brand..Now I have to wait 7 to 10 days.

She said well, our policy is on the back of your receipt.

I said, do you read the front or back of your receipt? She said well no, only the front! I said so do I, I want to talk to the Manager!.

So the manager comes over, I explained everything to him, and he said, well, sir they should have told you about the policy when you got the item. I said, No one, has ever told me about the check refund or restock fee, whenever I bought items from computers to TVs from Best Buy.

The only thing they ever discussed was the worthless extended warranty program. He said Well, I can give you corporate phone number.

I called corporate. The guy said, well, I'm not supposed to do this but I can give you a 45.00 dollar gift card and you can use it at Best Buy.

I told him if I bought something and returned it, you would charge me a restock fee on the item and then send me a check for the remaining 3 dollars. You can keep your gift card, I'm never shopping in Best Buy ever again, and If I had been smart, I would have charged the whole thing on my credit card! Then I could have canceled the entire transaction.

I would have gotten all my money back including your stupid Fees! He didn't say a word!

I informed him that I was going to e-mail my friends and give them a heads up on this stores policy, as they don't tell you about all their little caveats.

So please pass this on. It may save your friends from having a bad experience of shopping at Best Buy. Check it out .."

Link to Best Buy's return policy

The gospel of Norquist

2008-05-19T05:50:00.006-04:00

While watching Book TV recently I found a new hero. One of the authors that had been recorded at a book signing was Grover G. Norquist. I have heard his name mentioned a number of times on C-SPAN, several conservative blogs and web sites but really had never learned anything about him. After hearing him speak about his new book "LEAVE US ALONE" I have become an admirer.

The full title of his book is "Leave Us Alone Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives" which I think just about says it all.

I have felt for a long time now that we are being treated to a game of "slight of hand" by both the media and most of the politicians in this country. Do we want to tax the rich? Which way should we go about paying for government run health care system? Lets be democratic and let the people decide which government bureaucracy should determine where and how our children are educated. Please watch my right hand closely as it legislates new agencies that we have no real control over as they continue grow in both size and power. I'd rather you not notice that my left hand is picking your pocket with the tax code while gradually taking away some of your fundamental rights under the constitution.

The biggest problem with this game is that "We the people" have gone to sleep and allowed it to proceed. We no longer pay any attention to matters of local, county, state or federal government. Only a small percentage of the qualified population even takes the time to vote and of those that do an even smaller subset of that group casts their vote on the basis of who represents their objectives and values for government policy.

A classic example of this is the fact that most citizens live under the false belief that we live in a democracy. If you read the documents that the founding fathers penned you will find that we are a representative republic. There is a major difference and most of todays students and their parents I might add don't understand the difference.

This brings me back to Mr. Norquist and his book. In it he lays out a plan that forms a coalition of groups that while not agreeing on every item on the laundry list all have at least one item that is their personal "tipping point" for deciding who to vote for. He divides the world up into two such coalitions, the "taking coalition" and the "leave us alone coalition". The taking coalition relies on an every increasing stream of tax revenues to satisify their needs. When that money stream fails to grow or is reduced the coalition members turn on each other as they try to maximize their piece of the pie. On the other hand the leave us alone coalition only wants to see their objective lower taxes, guns, education, privacy or whatever their push button issues is achieved and to be left alone. This might not sound like much but it could be a powerful factor for a number of people.

While I agree with most of the theory I do see some holes in it. I will discuss those in more depth after I have completed reading the book. At this time I'm only about two thirds of the way through it. I will say however that I'm enthusiastic about the book and its concepts. If you have the time I encourage you to stop at your local library or book store and pick it up and judge for yourself.

Mr. Norquist also heads an organization called Americans For Tax Reform whose guiding principal is under no circumstances will we tolerate any additional tax increases. I have provided a link to their site and I encourage you to visit the site and look at what they have to offer in the way of ideas. I think that if my children and grand children are going to have a future some of these ideas are going to have to be implemented.

Road trip!

2008-05-11T16:49:00.007-04:00

Linda and I just purchased the second new car in our lifetime. I have never been a fan of buying an item whose value decreases by several thousand dollars the moment you take possession of it. So I make a point to watch for a car that is a few years older that I can buy at a reasonable price. But when I found myself needing a new car I weakened and let Linda talk me into looking at new models. That combined with the fact that our son Dan works for Ford and could get us a very generous employee discount resulted in our buying a new Ford Fusion.

Well I am currently in Virginia Beach as part of Linda's Mother's Day present. She has been toying with embroidery sewing machines for a few years now but has never gotten really "into it" if you know what I mean.

Judy, our daughter in law Sue's mother, on the other hand is well versed in their use and turns out some beautiful work with hers. She just recently upgraded to a newer machine with more bells and whistles and mentioned this to Sue and said that the older model was up for sale. A phone conversation ensued first between Sue and LInda and then between Linda and Judy the result of which is a deal was struck sell Linda the now unused machine. So here we are on vacation to visit with Fred and Judy enjoy their company and the long weekend and pick up this sewing machine that Linda has been drooling over for more than a month now. Under Judy's watchful eye Linda is learning the basics of the machine over the weekend and getting some vital pointers that only come with experience.

Here is Linda's first effort with the machine. This is a shirt that she bought yesterday while we were out shopping and set up on the machine this afternoon. I think she is rather proud of her first effort. I think Linda is going to be very happy with her new hobby and I'm looking forward to having my amateur radio call sign (WA3FKG) embroidered on lots of things. I all ready have ideas for all sorts of neat custom one of a kind projects for the ham shack.

I have enjoyed Fred and Judy's company this weekend and will enjoy the drive home to Oakmont. I'm sure this is not going to be the last "road trip" for the summer unless of course fuel really does make it to five dollars a gallon. Then I will probably be blogging from home rather than on the road.

Humor?

2008-04-09T08:55:00.001-04:00

This was written as humor but to me it has a ring of truth to it. See if you agree.

Today's Press

A man is walking by the Berkley, California Zoo when he sees a little girl
leaning into the lion's cage. Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the cuff
of her jacket and tries to pull her inside to devour her right in front of
the little girl's screaming parents.

The man runs to the cage, hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful
punch. Whimpering from the pain, the lion jumps back letting go of the
girl, and the man brings her to her terrified parents, who thank him
endlessly.

A reporter has seen the whole scene, and addressing the man, says: "Sir,
this was the most gallant and brave thing I saw a man do in my whole
life."
"Why, it was nothing," said the man; "really, the lion was behind bars
and I knew God would protect me just as He did Daniel in the lions den long,
long ago. I just saw this little kid in danger and acted as I felt was
right."

"I noticed a bible in your pocket," said the journalist.

"Yes, I'm a Christian and was on my way to a bible study," the man
replied.

"Well, I'll make sure this won't go unnoticed. I'm a journalist, you
know, and tomorrow's paper will have this on the front page."

The journalist leaves. The following morning the man buys the paper to
see if it indeed brings news of his actions, and reads, on the first page:

"Right Wing Christian Fundamentalist Assaults African Immigrant and Steals
His lunch."

Take a peek at Rt. 28 construction

2008-04-03T09:36:00.002-04:00

This link will bring up camera pictures only of Rt28 near construction zone between Harmarvile & RIDC in real time.

For updates you will need to manually click on "Refresh" button on your web browser window. Just look at the time at the top of the picture and see if it changes after you click "Refresh". New pictures are available about every 45-60+ seconds.

Camera View of Rt 28 Construction

A bit of humor to start your day

2008-04-02T08:40:00.001-04:00

Well, Girl Potato and Boy Potato had eyes for each other, and finally they got married, and had a little girl sweet potato, which they called 'Yam.'

Of course, they wanted the best for Yam.

When it was time, they told her about the facts of life.

They warned her about going out
and getting half-baked, so she wouldn't get accidentally mashed, and get a bad name for herself like 'Hot Potato,' and end up with a bunch of Tater Tots

Yam said not to worry. No Spud would get her into the sack and make a rotten potato out of her!

But on the other hand, she wouldn't stay home and become a Couch Potato, either.

She would get plenty of exercise so as not to be skinny like her Shoestring cousins.

When she went off to Europe, Mr. and Mrs. Potato told Yam to watch out for the hard-boiled guys from Ireland

And the greasy guys from France called the French Fries. And when she went out west, to watch out for the Indians so she wouldn't get scalloped.

Yam said she would stay on the straight and narrow and wouldn't associate with those high class Yukon Golds, or the ones from the other side of the tracks who advertise their trade on all the trucks that say, 'Frito Lay.'

Mr. and Mrs. Potato sent Yam to Idaho P.U. (that's Potato University ), so that when she graduated, she'd really be in the Chips.

But, in spite of all they did for her, one day Yam came home and announced she was going to marry Tom Brokaw.

Tom Brokaw!

Mr. and Mrs. Potato were very upset.

They told Yam she couldn't possibly marry Tom Brokaw because he's just......

Are you ready for this?

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Are you sure?

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OK! Here it is!

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A COMMONTATER

Not yours to give...............

2008-03-15T09:06:00.002-04:00

This was sent to me by a friend who long ago left the Pittsburgh area because the taxes and the business climate made finding employment much easier in other parts of the United States. With todays short attention spans this is a rather long read but I think it is well worth the effort. I also happen to think that it applies just as much today as it did when it was written. See if you agree.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally published in "The Life of Colonel David Crockett," compiled by
Edward Sylvester Ellis (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1884).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Not Yours To Give"
Col. David Crockett
US Representative from Tennessee (1827-1831, 1832-1835)

One day in the House of Representatives a bill was taken up appropriating
money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several
beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The speaker was just about
to put the question when Crockett arose:

"Mr. Speaker--I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as
much sympathy for the suffering of the living, if there be, as any man in
this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy
for part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of
the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has not
the power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member on
this floor knows it.

We have the right as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as
we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to
appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been
made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker,
the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the
day of his death, and I ever heard that the government was in arrears to
him.

"Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot without the
grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We
have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as charity. Mr.
Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as
we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill,
but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of
Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."

He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and,
instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt,
it would, but for that speech, it received but few votes, and, of course,
was lost.

Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett
gave this explanation:

"Several years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol
with some members of Congress, when our attention was attracted by a great
light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large fire. We jumped into a
hack and drove over as fast as we could. In spite of all that could be done,
many houses were burned and many families made houseless, and besides, some
of them had lost all but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold,
and when I saw so many children suffering, I felt that something ought to be
done for them. The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000
for their relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as
soon as it could be done.

"The next summer, when it began to be time to think about election, I
concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my district. I had
no opposition there but, as the election was some time off, I did not know
what might turn up. When riding one day in a part of my district in which I
was more of a stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing and
coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came
up, I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but as I thought, rather
coldly.

"I began: 'Well friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called
candidates and---

"Yes I know you; you are Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before, and
voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out
electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine, I shall
not vote for you again."

"This was a sockdolger...I begged him tell me what was the matter.

"Well Colonel, it is hardly worthwhile to waste time or words upon it. I do
not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows
that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that
you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either
case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your pardon for
expressing it that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege of
the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of insulting
you or wounding you.'

"I intend by it only to say that your understanding of the constitution is
very different from mine; and I will say to you what but for my rudeness, I
should not have said, that I believe you to be honest.

But an understanding of the constitution different from mine I cannot
overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held
sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power
and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the honest he is.'

"'I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake. Though I
live in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from
Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My
papers say you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by
fire in Georgetown. Is that true?

"Well my friend; I may as well own up. You have got me there. But certainly
nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give the
insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve its suffering women and children,
particularly with a full and overflowing treasury, and I am sure, if you had
been there, you would have done just the same as I did.'

"It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In
the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than
enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing with the question.
The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most
dangerous power that can be entrusted to man, particularly under our system
of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country,
no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in
proportion to his means.

What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight
centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how
much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are contributing
to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off
than he.

If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of
discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as
$20,000. If you have the right to give at all; and as the Constitution
neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to
give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is
a charity and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily
perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and
favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. 'No,
Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity.'

"'Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but
they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose.
If twice as many houses had been burned in this country as in Georgetown,
neither you nor any other member of Congress would have Thought of
appropriating a dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty
members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by
contributing each one week's pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are
plenty of wealthy men around Washington who could have given $20,000 without
depriving themselves of even a luxury of life.'

"The congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true,
some of them spend not very creditably; and the people about Washington, no
doubt, applauded you for relieving them from necessity of giving what was
not yours to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by the
Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized
to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is
usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.'

"'So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider
a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for
when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the
Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people. I
have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better,
except as far as you are personally concerned, and you see that I cannot
vote for you.'

"I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have opposition, and this man
should go to talking and in that district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could
not answer him, and the fact is, I was so fully convinced that he was right,
I did not want to. But I must satisfy him, and I said to him:

"Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head when you said I had not
sense enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be guided by it,
and thought I had studied it fully. I have heard many speeches in Congress
about the powers of Congress, but what you have said here at your plow has
got more hard, sound sense in it than all the fine speeches I ever heard. If
I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I would have put my head into
the fire before I would have given that vote; and if you will forgive me and
vote for me again, if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I
may be shot.'

"He laughingly replied; 'Yes, Colonel, you have sworn to that once before,
but I will trust you again upon one condition. You are convinced that your
vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will do more good than beating you
for it. If, as you go around the district, you will tell people about this
vote, and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I will not only vote for you,
but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and perhaps, I may exert
some little influence in that way.'

"If I don't, said I, 'I wish I may be shot; and to convince you that I am in
earnest in what I say I will come back this way in a week or ten days, and
if you will get up a gathering of people, I will make a speech to them. Get
up a barbecue, and I will pay for it.'

"No, Colonel, we are not rich people in this section but we have plenty of
provisions to contribute for a barbecue, and some to spare for those who
have none. The push of crops will be over in a few days, and we can then
afford a day for a barbecue. 'This Thursday; I will see to getting it up on
Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will go together, and I
promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you.

"'Well I will be here. But one thing more before I say good-bye. I must know
your name."

"'My name is Bunce.'

"'Not Horatio Bunce?'

"'Yes

"'Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before, though you say you have seen me,
but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very proud that I
may hope to have you for my friend.'

"It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but
little with the public, but was widely known for his remarkable
intelligence, and for a heart brim-full and running over with kindness and
benevolence, which showed themselves not only in words but in acts. He was
the oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame had extended far
beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him,
before, I had heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very likely
I should have had opposition, and had been beaten. One thing is very
certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote.

"At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our conversation to
every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night with, and I found
that it gave the people an interest and confidence in me stronger than I had
ever seen manifested before.

"Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and, under
ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept him up until
midnight talking about the principles and affairs of government, and got
more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life before."

"I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him - no, that is
not the word - I reverence and love him more than any living man, and I go
to see him two or three times every year; and I will tell you, sir, if every
one who professes to be a Christian lived and acted and enjoyed it as he
does, the religion of Christ would take the world by storm.

"But to return to my story. The next morning we went to the barbecue and, to
my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a good many whom I had
not known before, and they and my friend introduced me around until I had
got pretty well acquainted - at least, they all knew me.

"In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They gathered up
around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by saying:

"Fellow-citizens - I present myself before you today feeling like a new man.
My eyes have lately been opened to truths which ignorance or prejudice or
both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I feel that I can today offer you
the ability to render you more valuable service than I have ever been able
to render before. I am here today more for the purpose of acknowledging my
error than to seek your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is due
to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter for
your consideration only."

"I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the appropriation and
then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying:

"And now, fellow-citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that the most
of the speech you have listened to with so much interest was simply a
repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me
of my error.

"It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the
credit for it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert and that he
will get up here and tell you so.'

"He came up to the stand and said:

"Fellow-citizens - it affords me great pleasure to comply with the request
of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly honest man,
and I am satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised
you today.'

"He went down, and there went up from that crowd such a shout for Davy
Crockett as his name never called forth before.'

"I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then and felt
some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that the
remembrance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the honest, hearty
shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the honors I have received
and all the reputation I have ever made, or ever shall make, as a member of
Congress.'

"Now, sir," concluded Crockett, "you know why I made that speech yesterday.
"There is one thing which I will call your attention, "you remember that I
proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men
- men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them, for a
dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of
those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude
which the country owed the deceased--a debt which could not be paid by
money--and the insignificance and worthlessness of money, particularly so
insignificant a sum as $20,000 when weighed against the honor of the nation.
Yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing
but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great
thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor,
integrity, and justice to obtain it."

***

Col. Crockett later died defending liberty in the Battle of the Alamo, in
the War for Texas Independence.

Tick tock

2008-03-08T15:44:00.002-05:00

Well it is that time of year again. Tonight before going to bed we "sprint ahead" and set our clocks back to Daylight Savings Time. This year of course the change come much earlier as the government is once again tinkering with the concept. In my opinion if they were going to make a change it should have been to standardize on one or the other and leave it along. As usual though they didn't bother to ask me. Now if you get up late to morrow you will have only yourself to blame.

For the more important to observe this semi annual ritual this is also a good time to check the batteries in those smoke detectors.

Lets hope this is a "Giant Eagle" snow storm

2008-03-07T17:09:00.004-05:00

If you are from the Pittsburgh area you know we have a long history blowing bad weather conditions, especially snow falls, way out of proportion. On top of that in the last several years all of the local television stations, one in particular, have decided that they will make even the possibility of snow falling a ratings event whipping the audience into a frenzy of impending doom.

Anytime there is the hint that we will receive more than two flakes of snow the weather prognosticators are on the air telling you that they will keep you up to date as severe weather moves in. Their counterparts on the anchor desk will speak with reporters in the field showing you that all of the Penn DOT trucks are loaded with salt and ready to hit the road. Then you will get the obligatory shot of lines in the supermarket buying milk and bread.

Meanwhile it has been years since we had a snowfall of enough significances to close down schools and make travel on the roads a real hazard that would keep you sequestered in your home for a day or more. And, it has been decades since we had what I consider a large snowfall. I'm not complaining mind you. I have never had a love for snow even as a kid I much preferred being warm and dry if at all possible. This is just one more way that I don't fit the mold of the typical Western Pennsylvania resident. I really like Pittsburgh but I think snow is something that you should have to take down a book and look at pictures if you wanted to describe it to someone. Lets hope this weekend is just another one of media hype. Every once in a while though I look over my shoulder wondering if this will be the time we wake up to "six inches of partly cloudy" out on the sidewalks. Since I'm in no shape to go out let alone shovel snow I will hope for the former rather than the latter.

Exchange of ideas

2008-03-01T15:04:00.006-05:00

I was watching C-Span this afternoon when a meeting this past Wednesday was aired on their "Road To The White House" series. The Black History Month Student Forum was televised from George Town University and Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee Chairman was the moderator.

I am on the opposite side of the political coin from Mr. Dean and find little to agree with him on government policy. He did surprise me though when asked about increasing funds for student volunteer activities and he proposed an alternate plan. He said that he would like to see young people receive a paid collage education in exchange for two years of work for some type of government program like the Peace Corp. I didn't agree completely with this idea but I like the principle of it. I would like to see a program that paid a substantial portion of a persons higher education in exchange for two years of work in their dedicated field. I would give preference to those that teach science and math or have other skills that would further the needs of our country. At one time we had a military draft which created a common bond among many of the male citizens of this country because it was a shared experience. As Newt Gingrich points out "You can't go to France and become a Parisian. You are either born there or you are not. But you can come to America and become an "American" because it is a learned culture." That is one of the things that makes our country unique.

I have mixed feeling on the elimination of the draft and lean more toward the side that it was a good thing that the government no longer presses it citizens into indentured servitude. I would not have a problem with asking young people to do public service in exchange for a helping hand with their education though. I feel that things given away for "free" hold less value for the receiver than things that are earned.

Another idea that he brought up that I thought was excellent was that young people should defer that collage education until they have had some life experience. I don't think it would hurt for high school graduates to spend some time working in the real world, perhaps doing some of that earned volunteer time, which would allow them to mature a little and get a better idea of the field of higher education that they would like to pursue. This of course assumes that we are going to do what is necessary to education system to ensure that graduating students have the skills needed to go on to collage. That is a topic for another discussion though.

My main thought here is that it would be to our great advantage if citizens once again got involved and demanded some results from the elected officials of our country. And that would include listening to ideas from both sides of the political spectrum. The only advantage to the current grid lock is that more bad policies and programs are not being fostered on us.

An interesting prospective on Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency

2008-02-28T11:59:00.000-05:00

I tend to look to the Wall Street Journal's on line edition for a lot of my news content. I find that "market driven" reporting tends to give me information that is much more reliable than other sources.

They also have an editorial side that despite criticism strikes me, to borrow a phrase from Fox News, fair and balanced. Dan Henninger's blog Wonder Land asks the question today of why Hillary Clinton finds herself in the political predicament that she does. I found the analysis to be thought provoking. Take a look for yourself and see what you think.

Hillary's Close Up
From the Wall Street Journal On Line edition February 28th 2008.

A bit of humor as we near the end of the week

2008-02-28T09:44:00.002-05:00

Some notable quotes.

"No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office." - Covert Bailey

"If you want to look young and thin, hang around old fat people." - Jim Eason

"A male gynecologist is like an auto mechanic who has never owned a car." - Carrie Snow

"A waist is a terrible thing to mind." - Ziggy (Tom Wilson)

"I got kicked out of ballet class because I pulled a groin muscle. It wasn't mine."- Rita Rudner

"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry."-
John Lennon (1940 - 1980)

"The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other." --Ronald Reagan

Learning to walk and chew gum at the same time

2008-02-24T22:16:00.004-05:00

Well it has been an eventful few days for me.

My brother in law spent twenty plus yeas working as a police officer and now has retired and gone to work full time engaged in his real passion working with wood. He makes some of the most beautiful items that I have seen in his garage shop and loves doing it.

You can see an example of his work here under construction. If you click on the picture you will get a larger version.

Now I have been really looking forward to getting these book shelves so that I can gather all of my books that I have stashed in various nooks and crannies around the house. So I arose early on Thursday setting my alarm clock for 06:00 AM. When the alarm went off Linda nudged me so I got out of bed to silence the beeping as her clock was set for a latter time.

Now Linda sleeps in on occasion because she keeps her alarm clock on her night stand and has a habit of pushing that "snooze" button once to often only to find on occasion that it is much latter than she thinks. My philosophy is if you have to get up to shut it off you are already up and hence will stay up. So as I jumped up and started around the bed at which point I some how tangled my feet either with themselves or covers hanging over the end of the bed, I never did figure out which. The end result was that I found myself laying on the floor in the wink of an eye. Now those of you that know me will understand that I have a lot to hit the floor with even if it is only a ground level fall. I was lucky in that my head only impacted carpet and not a bed rail or table. Needless to say this was not how I envisioned my day starting.

The net result was that I spent most of the day sitting at the keyboard not doing a heck of a lot because I had some abnormal aches and pains. Lucky for me not only did John and Kenny come to put the bookshelves in but John brought a neighbor to help not knowing that I was going to be home. I spend the day as an observer as far at the wood work was concerned.

Now by Saturday I had somewhat recovered from my self inflicted problems enough so that I was helping stock the new shelves and enjoying seeing all the books that I have accumulated lined up in neat rows. As part of the rearrangement of the living room to accommodate the new editions we were moving some pictures and various wall adornments around one of which, a ceramic eagle, had to be placed on a different wall. I decided I could do that and thinking our step stool was in the basement proceeded to mount a dining room chair to complete the task.

Linda rounded to corner just in time to see me fall from the chair and literally bounce on the floor. Now I can't tell you which bothered me more as I lay there on the floor in pain wondering what had just happened. I really can't say if it was the pain in my leg, back and side or Linda yelling at me for what I had just done. I thanked her for her concern for my well being and dusted off my pride and got up off the floor. Now I'm sitting here contemplating if I'm going to be able to walk to go to work in the morning. I have been taking Advil all day with very little relief. So the lesson here kiddies is use the proper tool for each job and try to be a little more careful. Oh, and for some of us not to try walking and chewing gum at the same time.

A really pleasant Sunday

2008-02-18T09:17:00.005-05:00

I actually wrote this post a few weeks ago and saved it as a "draft" in the blogging software. Guess I was enjoying the day so much that I didn't get around to posting it.

Sunday February 18th 2008

Well yesterday was a very pleasant Sunday. Linda and I picked up our grand daughter Autumn and went to Sunday school followed by church services. We then took Autumn out to lunch and she and Grand Ma engaged in one of their favorite pass times, shopping. Even though she has very short legs Autumn can wear most adults out on a "shop till you drop" expedition. On this day though I think Linda got the better of her. By the time they had reached Michael's Craft Store Autumn was ready to ride in the shopping cart instead of walking.

Pap on the other hand served as chauffeur and got to read the Sunday paper and take in a few more chapters of the latest book I'm reading. I never have been one for shopping myself.

There was time to sit and talk while having lunch making me aware of just how quickly our little princes is growing up. She is only three and I can't for the life of me figure out where the last three years have gone. I want to soak up every minute of her childhood as well as that of her sister. Then we returned her home to her parents where Andy demonstrated the camera he gave Katie for Valentines Day by taking a few snap shots which you can see two of here. I hope your day in Oakmont and around town was half as pleasant as mine was and that you experienced God's blessing as well.

While I long for a warmer climate and milder winters yesterday reminded me to remember what I have right here in my own back yard.

Obama's Wiretap Votes

2008-02-13T13:08:00.004-05:00

Here is an article from the Wall Street Journal Opinion page that I think bears reading and thinking about. While my policy remains "anybody but Hillary" this vote has given me real pause about Obama's qualifications.

February 13, 2008; Page A26

Now and then sanity prevails, even in Washington. So it did yesterday as the Senate passed a warrantless wiretap bill for overseas terrorists while killing most of the Lilliputian attempts to tie down our war fighters.

"We lost every single battle we had on this bill," conceded Chris Dodd, which ought to tell the Connecticut Senator something about the logic of what he was proposing. His own amendment -- to deny immunity from lawsuits to telecom companies that cooperated with the government after 9/11 -- didn't even get a third of the Senate. It lost 67-31, though notably among the 31 was possible Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama. (Hillary Clinton was absent, while John McCain voted in favor.)

Follow THIS LINK to read the complete story.

Real Change

2008-02-10T17:19:00.000-05:00

When I was in my first year of high school someone in my history class violated one of some set of rules. I don't remember who it was but the end result was to bring down the wrath of the teacher on the entire class which of course made this individual very popular. The net result was that we were all assigned the task of writing a report with a minimum of two pages to be turned in the next day with the subject left to our own design. This convinced me that the task was only punishment for the infraction of the rules since it could be about something totally unrelated to history, but I digress.

Now when I was in my teenage years I had already developed a yearning to read but I was not much for writing for a number of reasons. First I never mastered the English language and still haven't to this day. I fear given an junior high school level English test I would fail. I know I can't properly diagram a sentence and my syntax leaves much to be desired. Second I still have a problem with spelling although that thankfully has been resolved by the advent of the computer though it still aggravates me at times that I just can't seem to master this discipline. And last but definitely not least, my handwriting was and is atrocious. I think it is for this that reason that God allowed the desktop computer with word processors to be invented and develop to the extent that they have as another blessing for me and my kind. So in a rebellious move of sorts I wrote my report on why the study of history was a complete waist of time. If I remember correctly I think I got a passing grade for effort. All of this is somewhat ironic since one of the people I truly admire and look up to these days is a former history professor, Newt Gingrich.

I can't write about the book Real Change because my copy has not yet arrived. I have received notification from Amazon that it is on its way so I will be discussing it at some point in the future. I want you to know that I am not procrastinating. Every time Linda accuses me of this I have to point out to her that I am putting off procrastinating! It does however offer a partial explanation why my "unread stack" of books keeps growing at such a fantastic rate.

What I would like to present to you today is a video that deals with the book Real Change that will give you a flavor of the ideas that it expresses and the thoughtfulness of its writer. I honestly believe that if we don't take up a program like the one proposed by Mr. Gingrich or something very similar that we are going to find ourselves in a political and cultural position in the near future that none of us are going to be very happy with.

This is one of those situations where I look at and listen to the ideas put forth by Newt Gingrich and they seem to make such common sense to me that I stand completely baffled as to why we are not having as Newt calls it "A national conversation" on these topics. And further why the political party that I have supported for a number of years now seems unwilling or unable to bring them to the forefront of the American conscious for debate and possible implementation.

So my dear reader I ask that you take the time to view this video on the subject then think about it and discuss it with someone you know. A close friend or family member perhaps a coworker or member of your church. Perhaps if enough of us do this we can help start that conversation. I am also going to add some additional links on the sidebar of the blog on the subject.

Click here to watch FedEx vs. Government Bureaucracy

A short course in brain surgery

2008-02-08T06:44:00.000-05:00

I'm sure with all the media attention that the politics of health care have received over the past two years you are familiar with the debate. I'm sure that the so called "single payer" system has some merit, almost every argument has two sides each with their points.

I think this video and the web site that hosts it FREE MARKET CURE present a pretty good case for why the system that has been dubbed "Hillary care" would be a huge mistake for our country. Take a look and see what you think.

Photos from Linda's road trip

2008-02-08T05:59:00.000-05:00

Ground Hog Day 2008

Linda took a number of photos while visiting Gobblers Knob last Saturday, February 2nd, aka Ground Hog Day. Here for your enjoyment are a sampling of the visual images from that day as well as a few from my friend Henry with whom she made the trip. You can click on the image to see the entire group of photos. Enjoy!

Ken & Linda @ the movies

2008-02-07T22:31:00.000-05:00

The Bucket List

Every once in a while a movie comes along that impresses me to the point that I can't stop thinking about it. The Bucket List is one of those movies. I had seen the previews both in the theater and on television and wanted to see the movie just on that basis alone. I thought this is going to be mostly a comedy with a few sad moments based on the subject involved. It turned out to be so much more.

This movie tells a tail of two men both with cancer and both given less than a year to live. Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) is a wealthy business man, Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) is an auto mechanic of modest means. They find themselves in adjoining beds in a hospital room where over a period of time they develop a friendship.

All of this you can surmise from the previews that are running in the theaters and on television since the movie was released. What you can't see is the rich dialog between the two characters as their past lives are developed into a story that draws the audience in and makes them seem to be someone that you know or have known in your life.

Having dealt with cancer in my own family I can tell you that some of the hospital scenes were written by someone who has spent time with someone who has been there or experienced it themselves.

The journey that follows take Edward and Carter literally around the world. Along the way the friendship grows deeper and both men reveal their inner most thoughts to each other as they look back over their lives. They discuss things that they wouldn't change if they could and about missed opportunities in life that can never be regained. They talk about faith,God and the existence of an after life. Each explaining their feelings to the other. Their relationship becomes strained as the get to know each other better and each man wants to nudge the other in a direction that they feel the other should be going. They remain friends to the end which involves a little twist near the conclusion of the movie that I didn't see coming. Maybe I was just too absorbed to see it, I will have to ask other who have watched the movie and see if they did.

The casting for the picture is first rate. Other than Nicholson and Freeman I wasn't familiar with the other actors in the film but they were just as believable as the main characters and the entire ensemble fit like a glove. The writing was first rate as was the acting. I had to go back and check to be sure and found that indeed The Bucket List had not garnered a single Oscar nomination. Hollywood wonders why people don't turn out in large number at movie theaters as the once did and for me it has always been answered by the quality of the product. Perhaps one day they will figure that out.

This movie is rated R for profanity and language with adult content. I myself prefer the days when an actor got fined fifty dollars for saying "Frankly my dear, I don't give a dam" and there are some movies that I won't go see or recommend based on gratuitous use of foul language. This one does not fall into that category. If you go to see it I think you will enjoy yourself and come away just a little changed. If you do leave me a comment and let me know.

A bit of humor.........

2008-02-05T06:21:00.001-05:00

Why? Why? Why?

Why does the sun lighten our hair, but darken our skin?
Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?
Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery?"
Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?
Why is a boxing ring square?
Why is it called lipstick if you can still move your lips?
Why is it considered necessary to nail down the lid of a coffin?
Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?
Why is it that rain drops but snow falls?
Why is it that to stop Windows 95 or 98, you have to click on "Start?"
Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why is the word dictionary in the dictionary?
Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
You know that little indestructible black box that is used on planes, why can't they make the whole plane out of the same substance?
Can fat people go skinny-dipping?
Why do you need a driver's license to buy liquor when you can't drink and drive?

Ground Hog Day 2008

2008-02-04T06:30:00.000-05:00

Like many couples there are a number of aspects of our lives where Linda and I are on different sides of the proverbial coin. I have always been of the quiet type that much prefers an evening at home with a good book to a night on the town. Linda on the other hand is somewhat of a party animal. Just kidding, she does however like to have a much more active social life than the type that I lead.

In particular Linda likes events such as celebrations with big crowds. One of her life long dreams is to be in Times Square on New Years Eve. I on the other hand would consider being there an inhumane form of torture. Linda is the love of my life which I would gladly lay down for her but this is an adventure that she is going to have to find someone else with which to share.

Having said that my friend Henry goes every year to Gobbles Knob to take pictures and get in on the big celebration of Ground Hog Day. He called early in the week telling me to pack my sleeping bag and we could get there about 02:00 AM and party through the night until the big event at sunrise. My immediate answer was "NO WAY!" for which I was called a "kill joy" and a "party poop" a title which I shall gladly bear. When Linda overheard the phone conversation she remarked that she has always wanted to attend the Ground Hog Day celebration and I invited her to take my place on the trip.

Much to my surprise she accepted. Now part of this was based on the fact that two other friends of ours Lee and Betty were planning on making the trip with Henry so Linda would make it a foursome. Betty and Lee are both amateur radio operators like Henry and myself and they were going to stop at the Punxsutawney Air Port where the local ham club had set up a special events station to talk with other amateurs all over the world on Ground Hog Day. Linda while not licensed is very familiar with "hams" and their habits and procedures. So I knew she would be comfortable especially with Betty going.

Well the plan was to leave around 12:30 AM on Saturday morning and be one of the first ones at the site. The plan almost worked. Henry called me about midnight to tell me that the hill that Lee and Betty lived on was a solid sheet of ice and there was no way they would make the trip. I thought for sure at this point that Linda would abort the mission and stay home but she was determined to proceed. So I drove her out to meet Henry in Monroeville and the two of them were off.

I talked with Henry, on the road, and Lee at home until the wee smalls hours of the morning on ham radio and Henry was only about twenty miles from Punxsutawney when I signed off and went to bed. I had just gotten sound asleep when a friend of Linda's who also couldn't believe that she was headed for Gobblers Knob called to ask me it they had arrived safely. By this time the sun was up and I had expected Linda to call and let me know what Phil's prognostication had been but no word from the travelers. I tried a quick call on the radio to no avail so I said that we would just have to wait until we heard something from them.

Well the call came latter in the afternoon when they were well on their way home. Turns out there was no cell service at Gobblers Knob, at least not for T-Mobile users, so Linda had just turned her phone off. She said she had a great time and even though she basically stood in one spot for over four hours it had been a grand party.

I've heard some real horror stories in the past about the revelers at the Ground Hog Day celebration so I was glad to hear that the crowd had behaved themselves. It seems that the local officials declared that this was not going to be turned into the winter equivalent of spring break. From what I understand there are strictly enforced rules about no alcohol on the grounds.

As a matter of fact Linda told me that it has turned into quite a family affair. She spent the most of the night next to a lady from Hagerstown Maryland with her five year old son. The lady from Maryland had been on her way to her honeymoon when they passed the sign for Punxsutawney and had her husband stop and take he picture next to it. That was seven years ago and now she had brought her first born a son back to see the celebration. Her husband was home with their second child a baby girl.

As Henry had predicted with the event falling on a weekend they had a record crowd. Linda said that she had never seen so many people in one small place at one time. Literally packed in wall to wall people. She said they danced and sang song and bounced around large beach balls through the crowd. Evidently a great time was had by all.

Linda took a number of photos which I don't have loaded on my computer yet. Once I have them I will create a Google album and post a link so you can see the event as Linda did. The photo with the blog entry was shot by Henry who in his retirement has turned professional writer / photographer doing free lance work. Matter of fact he took some shots and is in the process for writing an article for one of the ham radio magazines.

Perhaps as I continue on my program to lose weight next year I will be in a more social mode and make the trip myself. Naw, I doubt it! For those into that scene though I wish them much enjoyment.

Impressive landing

2008-01-29T15:01:00.000-05:00

If you have ever flown in a single or twin engine plane, I have, I think you will find this video impressive. I used to fly into Binghamton New York for business and the first time I saw the runway that they landed a Bowing jet on my jaw dropped. Lets just say that when you got stopped at the end of the runway there wasn't much runway left to run on. So I really appreciated what this pilot is doing.

Landing at Courchevel Airport France

Have you tried Google yet?

2008-01-25T06:58:00.000-05:00

If you are reading this you are obviously using a computer and if you use a computer on a regular basis this sounds like an awfully silly question. Who doesn't use Google? I'm not talking about the search engine however. The little search engine that could has mushroomed into a multi billion dollar software business and not everyone has noticed.

First the good points.

The first thing that came along was Google Mail. Being involved in the computer business I acquired a Google mail address early in the game when you had to get and "invite" from someone to get an account. After having that account for several years now I have started to actively use it and it is rapidly becoming my primary email account / client of preference.

After using Google Mail for a while I started looking at other "Google applications" that I knew existed but hadn't paid much attention too much as I had ignored Google Mail for so long. Google now has the equivalent of an office suite like Microsoft Office available on line. It includes a word processor, a spread sheet, a calendar and a graphical presentation program. To get the calendar functions in Microsoft Office you have to be using their Outlook mail client for your email, oh and I almost forgot you have to pay Microsoft a boatload of money for the software. With Google if you want the calendar but choose some other email program it still works just fine.

So the next thing I did with my Google account was set up a Google Calendar. It gives me a central place to keep my dates and activities but best of all I can send an "invitation" to friends and family members to "share" my calendar. They set up their own Google calendar and then by simply checking a box they see my entries and events along with their own. It also has the ability to create an "event" and have it repeat on a regular basis like monthly meetings or anything that has a fixed schedule.

Then I moved on to Google Docs. I didn't really think I would find a lot of use for an on line word processor but that has turned out not too be the case. Once again I discovered that some of the things I "write down" on electronic paper have an advantage to being on line. First of all I no longer have to worry about "now where on this 160 gigabyte hard drive did I save that file?" or for that matter on which of my many computers did I save the file. Google documents also gives me the ability to save the same document in different formats. I'm writing this blog entry on a Linux based system and the office suite I use with my Linux machines is Open Office. Open Office also has the ability too read and write several different formats but it defaults to ODT which is the "open source" standard for files that is free for anyone to use as they please.

Microsoft's .DOC format on the other hand is proprietary and subject to change without notice as many people have found out when Microsoft releases a new updated version of Office only to find that they now can't open all of the documents that were created with the older version unless run through some type of conversion program or in some cases not at all which means printing them out in hard copy and retyping them again. This typically doesn't happen with a single version upgrade but many who have stuck with Microsoft Office for long periods of time have found themselves in that situation when finally moving up to the current revision of the application.

Finally as with my calendar I have the ability to share my documents with others. This is something that I didn't really feel that I would have a use for but I'm finding many advantages for sharing my work with family and friends. I'm going to write a similar blog entry for my amateur radio and Linux blog and point out how members of a club could share thoughts on projects and save the combined wisdom of all on a particular topic. Do you have a hobby or organization where it would help if everyone could share ideas on "paper" but you would like something a little more formal than email? One such hobby that comes to mind is genealogy, imagine being able to share what you have learned about your family history with the rest of the clan no matter if they are down the street or in another country. You may give family and friends the ability to simply read your works or to edit and update them. The possibilities as they say are limited only by your imagination.

Of course you also have the normal functions that you would expect from a word processor in terms of formatting text, search and replace and the ability to print your documents. There may be other things that I have not yet explored but I will continue to learn as I use them.

I have never been a heavy user of spread sheets. I started long ago with Louts 123 and then migrated to Microsoft Excel when the corporate world dictated it. At I was using them extensively at work on a project at one time in place of a database but in my normal day to day work I don't manipulate much data with them. Having said that, part of the Google applications include a spread sheet which they haven't, at least at this time, come up with a clever name for. Spread sheets let you enter data into an electronic ledger sheet consisting of rows and columns. Each place a row and column intersect is a cell into which you can place information. In addition to numbers you can put text in the cells to make the sheet more readable. The real power though comes from the fact that you can write a formula into a cell that will take the contents of other cells and perform math operations on them. I'm not going into great detail here as it would be far beyond the scope of a simple blog entry but let's just say that if you have the need to manipulate numbers this is your tool. It has many uses beyond simply being a fancy programmable calculator but you will have to do some reading to find all the potential.

Last but not least is a graphics presentation program. If you are familiar with Microsoft Power Point then I need say no more. If not I will tell you that it allows you to put information together in the form of text, graphics and photos arranged in frames called "slides" which can then be displayed either on a computer screen, on a big screen with a projector or printed on paper as hand outs for a presentation. As with other computer programs this one is just a tool and limited only by your abilities to work with it and your creativity putting it's functions to use.

Not really mentioned with the office suite is Google Photos. It is still under the Google umbrella and will work with the office programs as well as their blog publishing software that produced the entry you are reading now. Again it is free as long as you don't exceed a specified amount of disk space and if you do you can purchase additional space for a fee. It is a great way to share photos between family and friends and again with groups that you may belong too. In addition to sharing you have the option to order prints of your pictures something I haven't tried yet. I normally use Walmart or Wallgreens to get my digital photos printed just because it is convenient to pick up the prints at local locations.

Now the not so good.

Now that I sound like I'm a marketing person for Google let me tell you that all is not perfect in the world of Google applications. I would have to say that the biggest problem with all of the above is that it makes the "network" the computer. If you lose Internet connectivity you are essentially dead in the water. You have no access to your email or your files. For some of us that is not a problem that very often occurs.

I have digital subscriber line service (DSL) at home which means that my computer is connected to the Internet anytime it is turned on. At work I'm even better connected being hooked to the corporate network which in turn gives access to the Internet and the World Wide Web. If on the other hand you use a dial up connection for your Internet access this becomes an entirely different matter. This is yet another good reason to download and install the open source free office suite Open Office. The user interface is somewhat different than Microsoft Office but not enough that you couldn't pick it up in a very short period of time.

This can be somewhat offset by saving your documents, spread sheets and presentations on your local hard drive but that opens yet another can of worms in the form of making sure both sets of files stay in sync. In any case it is something you have to consider in your particular situation.

The next thing to consider is that Microsoft Office has become the de facto standard in the business world and while both Open Office and Google Documents can read and write those formats if you are a power user that wrings every last feature out of Office in your work you may find some things that don't translate. The only place where I have every had a real problem with this so far is where a document includes "macros" or small programs that are based on Microsoft's Visual BASIC language. The only people that I have ever transitioned from Microsoft Word to Open Office Writer that have had any complaints have been heavy duty users in legal offices. I have also heard complaints from heavy spread sheet users that write a lot of macros into their sheets. For the average user I have never seen any problems.

As for the presentation program I haven't used it enough to really render a valid opinion. I'm sure the Microsoft version, Power Point, comes with many more predefined templates which make doing something from scratch easier if you are a novice.

Another thing that you will find is that because Microsoft is the 800 pound gorilla in the computer desktop arena that when you go looking for after market support like books that you are going to have a far greater range of choice in books on Office 2007 than on Open Office. Likewise if you call friends or coworkers looking for help it is far more likely that they will be familiar with Microsoft products than free Open Source software like Open Office. I checked Amazon and there are a number of books on Open Office available to help you along if you need them. Much to my surprise I also searched for "Google apps" on Amazon and there are a number of manuals and books available for the on line suite. Based on that alone I guess I have fallen behind the times in the tech world.

So if you have stuck with me this far I'm sure you are asking what is the point of all this. I just want share the knowledge of what I lean with others. I know that I'm very appreciative when someone "turns me on" to some new widget that either make me more productive and makes life just a little more enjoyable. Many people have invested time and effort to produce Open Source software like Open Office and despite what a behemoth Google has become they are still a very friendly company that tries to do the right thing in the corporate sense. There are some who would refute that argument but that is for another posting at another time. So give it a whirl and see if it works for you and meets your needs.

The Top 10 List

2008-01-23T06:59:00.000-05:00

If you have access to email on the Internet you probably receive a number of items every week sent by friends and family of a humors nature like jokes and funny pictures. Sometime they are slide shows of breathtaking pictures or messages with a religious or inspirational theme. Many involve a list of "Top 10" items of one category or another. I have my own list that I forward things like this when I get them and deem them worth the bandwidth to pass them on. This blog entry did not come from one of those emails although I wish it had.

As many of you know every so often a story pops up in the media about a fight over the Ten Commandments. Nonbelievers in the one true God along with groups who either just don't care or feel the need to "pick a bone" with anyone who speaks of religion have tried to propagate the myth that the founding fathers of our country wanted separation of church and state. The problem is they have tried to mutate statements about "separation OF church and state" into "separation of church FROM state". This my friends is just not historically accurate.

In the past I have had very little use to some of the people who habitat the airwaves espousing their version of the Gospel to the masses. Many I feel distort God's word some for financial gain and others for their own personal uses. They are not all bad and I actually enjoy listening to some of them preach. One of my favorites is Dr. David Jeremiah and his "Turning Point Ministry".
I get a daily email from his web site and today's message was about the Ten Commandments.

The message included a verse from The McGuffey Reader. If you know what the McGuffey Reader is you are dating yourself take my word for it. And the next time someone tells you that you can't post or display the Ten Commandments tell them that you are displaying a piece of English literature and give them the following.

Above all else love God alone;
Bow down to neither wood nor stone.
God's name refuse to take in vain;
The Sabbath rest with care maintain.
Respect your parents all your days;
Hold sacred human life always.
Be loyal to your chosen mate;
Steal nothing, neither small nor great.
Report, with truth, your neighbor's deed;
And rid your mind of selfish greed.
—McGuffey Reader

Good words to live by I would say.

Memory Lane

2008-01-20T20:10:00.000-05:00

For some of you out there this will be a really nice trip down memory lane. For others it will be a reminder of where we went off on the wrong path. And for some it will be a combination of both. Which group do you fall into.

Follow this link to find out.

Take Me Back To The 60's

Enjoy.

I just heard the news

2008-01-18T06:46:00.000-05:00

Typically when I get up in the morning I take a few minutes to get myself awake never having been a "morning person" before I jump into the shower and get my day started. Most of the time I have the radio on listening to either WDSY, Linda's favorite or KQV an all news station which is my preference. This morning I happened to be the first up and hence switched the radio in the bathroom over to the AM side and listened to some news while getting ready for work.

As I was leaving the bed room headed for the radio room to check my email I head the announcer say that it had been reported that Bobby Fischer had passed away during the night. I have always had an interest in the game of chess as do most people who have computers as a hobby.

Back in the early days of micro computers they were more of an end to a means rather than the useful tool that they are today. If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me "But what are you going to do with it?" about my early computers I could have retired a long time ago.
I finally gave up trying to justify it for what it could do and just said that I enjoyed tinkering with them and was trying to learn as much as I could.

Now I was never much of a chess player even to this day. About the only players I could best in a game where those that had no clue as to how the game was played. That is why I will never become a great programmer, I am not "wired" with the logic that makes a good chess player. Be that as it may I was saddened to hear of Bobby Fischer's passing. I consider people like him to be of genius stature in line with the likes of Albert Einstein. If you click on Fischer's name in this post it will take you to the entry about him in Wikipedi where you can learn more about his life.

From the bookshelf...........

2008-01-15T11:37:00.000-05:00

Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting

Over the holidays I managed to digest a few books which to me is very relaxing and helps me to unwind. I have a rather large "to be read" stack which I didn't even make a dent in but that is a topic for another time.

I work with computers every day to make a living in addition to enjoying them as a hobby. I also have more than just a passing interest in politics trying to make sure that I cast an informed vote in every election in which I am eligible. With these two factors in mind I have followed a number of stories in the press and on the Internet about electronic voting since it's inception.

I had been a big proponent of electronic voting even before it had been implemented. My "geek side" looked at the subject and saw no reason why this fundamental process in American government should not be brought into the twentieth century. As I grew older and wiser however I started to see electronic voting through a different set of lenses. As I studied the subject I became aware of just how hard it would be to implement a system that would allow citizens to vote with what were in the end just computers without creating a system that could be manipulated for nefarious purposes.

When I heard about Avi D. Rubin's book on the subject I had to have it. I can't remember exactly how long it has been sitting in that "to be read" pile but I made sure it floated to the top over the holidays. Almost as soon as I started reading it I was at once fascinated and horrified. This book confirmed some of my worst suspicions about how fragile and open to subversion an electronic voting system could be.

Avi David Rubin is a professor of computer science at John Hopkins University and this book tells the story of how he became involved in a nation wide debate on the use and security of electronic voting machines in general and the DieBold system in particular. The book never explains, probably because it wasn't known, how the source code to the DieBold machines came to be posted on DieBold's corporate web site. It may have been a simple error on someones part or it may have been a disgruntled or worried employee intentionally wanting to expose the systems flaws. Whatever the reason once it was found and downloaded it spread across the Internet like wild fire, being brought to Rubin's attention by one of his colleagues.

Source code is human readable set of instructions that the computer follows to carry out its tasks written by programmers. If you have the source code for a system you can see exactly how the machine functions and what safeguards have been put in place to avoid tampering. What made the DieBold code so interesting was that Rubin shared it with his class and first year students who immediately pointed out glaring faults in the codes logic. It became a case study of how not to create a secure system for voting.

Knowing that his home state had committed to buy and use DieBold machines in upcoming primary and general elections Rubin brought his concerns to both local and state officials. Those of you old enough to remember, the reason that Ralph Nader name is in the public eye today is a book he wrote in 1965 exposing the auto industries efforts to cover up design flaws related to safety most notably on the Chevrolet Corvair. I think history will portray Rubin as the "Nader" of the electronic voting age. Much like General Motors tried to smear Nader DieBold mounted a campaign to ruin Rubin both personally and professionally. Like GM's efforts against Nader DieBold's efforts against Rubin failed. The strange thing to me at least is that the bulk of DieBold's business is building, selling and servicing automatic teller machines. (ATM's) To the best of my knowledge ATM's are well designed and secure. At least until someone hooks a tow chain around one and drives off with it! I might add that after Rubin's exposure of the systems flaws that DieBold spun off it's voting machine operations as a separate business now called Premier Election Solutions.

One of the reasons this book is so important is that Rubin has the rare quality to take a highly technical subject and put it in layman's terms that the average person can understand and do it without "talking down" to his reader. In addition he as taken this chain of events and presented it as a very readable story. So much so that is sounds like a plot to a thriller or a movie script at times.

If you have any interest in this subject at all you will find the book fascinating. If it is not something that piques you interest I suggest that you pick up the book and read it anyway because the subject can have such a profound effect on the country that you live in. In either case I think you will enjoy the story. I have put links in this posting to web sites where you can find additional information. Enjoy!

The Electronic Frontier Foundation

Brave New Ballot

Wikipedia on Aviel D. Rubin

Answers to last weeks quiz

2008-01-14T11:37:00.000-05:00

Last week I posted a quiz and said I would follow up latter with the answers so here they are.

Now if you haven't taken the quiz yet don't cheat! Follow this link POP QUIZ and see if you can get the answers on your own before you look at them here.

Answers To Quiz:

*
1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends . .
*Boxing

2. North American landmark constantly moving backward . *Niagara Falls* (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)

3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons .
.. *Asparagus and rhubarb*.

4. The fruit with its seeds
on the outside .. .
*Strawberry.
*

5. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? It grew inside the bottle.
*(The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and
are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.)
*

6. Three English words beginning with dw
*Dwarf, dwell and dwindle*.

7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar . .
*Period , comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.
*

8. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh
*Lettuce.
*
9.
Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with 'S'
*Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts.

PLEASE DO YOUR PART.....
Today is National Mental Health Day. You can do your part by remembering to send an e-mail to or write a blog post for at least one unstable person.

Well, my job's done!

From the music shelf

2008-01-14T06:37:00.000-05:00

While I'm not very musically inclined my Mother instilled a love of music in me from a very early age. The staple in my house was country and western, blue grass and with what we would now call folk music mixed with a good dose of rock and roll as it came of age. Even so I was never dissuaded from listening to any type of music that I liked including some classical. My Dad while not as enthusiastic about the subject as my mother introduced me at an early age to Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and others from the big bands of the 1940's.

So like many my age I grew up with sex, drugs and rock roll. Somehow though I managed to miss the sex and drugs. I guess God was just watching over me. I came of age listening to "The Mo Town" sound along with Elvis, the Beatles, the Stones and the rest of the British invasion. My Mother tolerated it while my Dad thought it was going to rot my brain as many parents do when their children start to adopt music that the don't quite understand. I found this to be true as my boys turned into teenagers.

All of this brings me to my purchase over the weekend of a new two CD set. Long Road Out Of Eden by the Eagles was released last month and I kept meaning to pick up a copy but never managed to remember when it was available, more on that latter.

Let me tell you that the Eagles still have the magic after all these years. Unlike some of the groups that have made a comeback to cash in on the nostalgia of the baby boomer's these guys still have the voices and the talent that fans have come to know and love. There are twenty tracks in this two CD set and while some wonder off the beaten path in style that we have become accustomed too most are pure Eagles. Glen Fry and Don Henley don't disappoint either writing or singing. If you go to their web site, click on the blue word Eagles in this posting to take you there you can hear samples from the album.

The Eagles are the first major main stream band that I know of that has told the recording industry to take a hike. Long Road Out Of Eden will be available for the first year only from the group's web site or through and exclusive deal with WalMart and Sam's Club. With the advent of digital music and the Internet the recording studios have decided to fight any change to their business model and in the process created a great deal of problems and inconvenience for the listening public. Through the Recording Industry Association of America they have employed heavy handed gestapo type tactics in an effort to make sure that if you think about a song in your head they find a way to add to their coffers while doing all they can to make sure that the artists that create the music never receive the full fruits of their labors. If you are an Eagles fan I encourage you to buy this album over the Internet or from Walmart if for no other reason than to send a message that the times are indeed changing.

Well I'll stop down off my soap box now and add that despite my rant my reason for recommending this album is because I really enjoyed the music. I hope you do also.

The Drink Tax Song

2008-01-12T10:46:00.000-05:00

As you know Allegheny County has passed yet another new tax on its citizens. While I don't indulge in beverages containing alcohol I hate having my wallet tapped again! Check out what one of the local residents did in response to this new tax.

The Drink Tax Song

I couldn't agree more!

Pop quiz

2008-01-11T08:48:00.000-05:00

A friend sent me these and they are pretty good. I got a few of them but a few escaped me. See how well you do. I will post the answers latter.

This is a quiz for people who know everything! I found out in a hurry that I didn't.

These are not trick questions.

They are straight questions with straight answers.

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the
participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for
several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every
year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?

4. What fruit has its seeds on
the outside?

5. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear
inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is
genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the
bottle?

6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters 'dw' and
they are all common words. Name two of them.

7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?

8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned,
processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with
the letter 'S.'

A tribute to our heros

2008-01-07T01:07:00.000-05:00

This was sent to me by my friend Henry who writes a blog, Our Boys Over There, for our troops where ever they may be as they watch over us so that we can be free.

If you are on dial up it may take a little while to load but trust me it is worth the wait. Watch and then bow your head and say a prayer for our men and women in uniform.

Heros

Click the link above.

Thanks for the memories

2008-01-06T00:52:00.001-05:00

Don't ask me what I'm doing up at almost one in the morning because I don't know. Still wound up from watching the playoff game I suppose. One could play "would have, could have, should have" all night long but the bottom line is that the Steelers were beaten by a better team tonight.

This brings me back to one of my great laments. I would have preferred that the home town team would have won this evening and I was on the edge of my seat rooting for them until the very end. When however the game was over, it was over. I left the television on to catch some local news since I had not had it on all day and the first fifteen minuted was ALL about the game. I'm sure that anyone still tuned into WPXI coming up on midnight was there because they had been watching the game. It never ceases to amaze me how this town lives and dies by the outcome of a Steelers game.

I like the Steelers and enjoy watching them play. Even more so when they win! I have to wonder though with all of the problems that the City of Pittsburgh and our region face why we can't get that many people that fired up about matters that really affect their lives. I guess I'm just not wired like a real true honest to gosh Pittsburgh Steelers fan.

So I want to say "thanks for the memories" boys and a season well played. I will be back to root for you next year. Perhaps if any of you happen to read this you can use your considerable influence with the people of this town and region to improve it during the off season. It would be a refreshing change.

New book worth a look

2008-01-05T22:09:00.000-05:00

I know that members of our congregation read my blog from time to time so I thought this message that I got from a mailing would be of interest. If you are one like myself that likes to read you may want to check out this book just for fun.

Greetings,

I've recently started reading a little book called "The Wit of Martin
Luther" by Eric W. Gritsch that looks at Luther's humor, something
that's overlooked in other studies. I'm about a third of the way into
it & have found it very enjoyable.

Mark

Here is a link to the book on Amazon.

The Wit of Martin Luther

And now things get interesting

2008-01-04T01:59:00.000-05:00

I realize that the Iowa Caucuses are only the first small step in a campaign that has been brewing for what seems like forever, but I think now the public is actually starting to pay attention. I will leave it to the political pundits to decipher the intricacies of what the wins of Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Sen. Barack Obama mean in the upcoming races for the White House. Not to mention the ramifications of a third place loss for Sen Hillary Clinton. If the stories of Hillary's temper are to be believed, and I do think many of the stories are true, I would not want to be around the woman this night.

I currently don't have a favorite in the race. What I'm really look for is a person with a combination of ideas and policies of the Republican candidates with the leadership qualities and charisma of a Barack Obama. Since no such candidate has been proffered by either party I'm waiting to make my choice until I know for sure where each stands on issues that are important to my country myself and my family.

I hope in the next few days to write about some of the books that I have been reading while on vacation one of which is of extreme importance in relation to the upcoming elections in the fall of this year. I realize that the first week of January is not yet completed but I hope that all of you will start thinking about the political races ahead this coming year so that you will not only be informed but that you will participate. Here are some places that you might want to visit in the blogosphere.

Crosswalk.com

Real Clear Politics

Hugh Hewitt

Jerry Bowyer

Power Line

Captain's Quarters

Getting a jump start on the new year

2008-01-02T10:21:00.000-05:00

I am told that one of the most popular New Years resolutions made at this time each year is to lose weight. I know I have uttered syllables to that effect myself on a number of occasions over the years, alas only to find that I am no better at keeping them than the rest of the population. I don't need to tell you about the ill effects of being over weight as they are well known by now much as are the dangers of smoking. Fortunately for me that is a habit that I never acquired otherwise there is a good chance that I would not be at the keyboard writing this now.

So this year I decided to get a jump start on the process with the help of my lovely wife Linda. Linda joined Weight Watchers about a year ago and has done exceedingly well with it. For folks like us it truly does take a change in life style and let me tell you that is not an easy change to make.

We have just passed though a time of the year when we Americans celebrate much about our heritage. Starting with Thanksgiving and on through Christmas many of our celebrations involve consuming large quantities of food with friends and relatives as we gather together and give thanks for the abundance that we have been blessed with.

Not too surprisingly a lot of us manage to gain more than a few pounds each year at this time only too find that those pounds gained so quickly come off every so slowly if at all. Then one day you discover that advancing in age makes the process all that more difficult. So this year I decided to get a jump start on my new year and joined with Linda's group just before Thanksgiving. So far I have managed to make it through Thanksgiving and Christmas and lose weight. Now when you are my size that is not a particularly great accomplishment but it is a head start on the new year. Perhaps after I lose some additional pounds I will get brave enough to post my progress here no the blog. If you are engaged in a similar endeavor I wish you well.

Ken & Linda @ the movies

2008-01-01T18:57:00.000-05:00

P.S. I Love You

Well Linda and I have started the new year off with a great day. We slept in, well I did I think Linda was up at the crack of dawn, and then watched the annual Rose Parade with a good cup of hot chocolate. We weren't quite sure what to do with the rest of the day and discussed various options including just vegging out on the couch and watching television.

We haven't been to the movies in months and despite the fact that the weather prognosticators were calling for snow and high winds we decided to take in a new movie. So we headed up to Pittsburgh Mills and the Galleria Theaters to see "P.S. I Love You".

The Internet Movie Database categorizes this film as romantic /comedy / drama but I feel it is a pure romance story. It is about a young couple that fall in love, get married and pursue their hopes and dreams together. Like most couples their life is far from perfect but as the husband points out in an early on in the movie that if his beloved was looking for perfection that she should have married into another species.

You don't get very far into the film until you realize that you have now jumped slightly ahead in time and that you are at a gathering to celebrate a wake for the husband. What remains of the movie tells their story in flash backs and how knowing that he was going to die how he planned to help her though the time of grief and to move on with her life. There are funny moments in the film especially in some of the flash back scenes and more than a few dramatic moments that I consider not written as well as they could have been but still good none the less.

The movie stars Hillary Swank probably best known for her Oscar winning role in "Million Dollar Baby", Kathy Bates and actress of great talent and Lia Kudrow who has transitioned well from the small screen to the large. Gerald Butler plays her husband and while I have never heard of him if his performance is any indication of his abilities I think you will be seeing more of him in the future. Jeffery Dean Morgan and Harry Connick Jr make up the other know names in the cast and turn in good performances. Regular watchers of the ABC television series "Grays Anatomy" will recognize Jeffery Dean Morgan as the character Denny who died affecting all of the shows other characters last season.

The movie is filmed on location in New York City and Ireland with the photography being excellent. I have thought for a long time that if I were going to visit anywhere outside of the United States that Ireland would be one of my first picks and this movie doesn't do anything to dissuade those thoughts. I won't tell you how the movie ends but I will tell you that it will warm your heart and make you appreciate the love of your life even more. If you are taking your wife or girlfriend to this picture I suggest that you keep some Kleenex handy to slip in her hand if needed.

On a scaler of one to ten I give "P. S. I Love You" six acorns. I would have rated it higher but I felt that the writing needed to be better and that Harry Connick Jr's talents were poorly used as a result of it. There is also a full length nude scene of the back of Jeffery Dean Morgan that really didn't need to be there to hold up the plot. At least that is the way I saw it, those of the other gender may disagree. You want to be in your seat when the lights go down as a good deal of the plot unfolds before the title and opening credits start to appear on the screen. Linda and I both agreed that this one was well worth the price of admission.

As another year draws to a close

2007-12-31T14:10:00.000-05:00

I hope this posting finds it's readers all in good health and a happy state of mind. I have been somewhat absent over the last few months finding so many other things to occupy my time that when a thought or item came to me that I wanted to "blog" about I never seemed to find one of those "tuit" devices. Better management of my time is something that I will probably make a "New Years resolution yet again.

As of now however, I'm on vacation and have been for several days, and am just now getting around to putting words on the electronic paper before me. First let me say that I hope you all have had as wonderful a Christmas holiday as I did. There was an impending project at work that looked like it would have me there through the holidays but at the last minuet it was rescheduled for after the first of the year. This gave me some time off to unwind and I have done just that. We are currently a one car family having loaned our second vehicle to our youngest offspring who had his car totaled in a collision a while back and is not yet in a position yet to buy a replacement. So Linda trundles off to work each day and I'm "stuck" at home listening to some great music, watching Book TV, reading books and tinkering with computers.

The very best part of Christmas though was being able to spend time with family and attend church to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. It has become almost a clich'e to say "remember the true meaning of Christmas" these days but I truly hope that this year you have found the real reason that we celebrate and depth of the gift that we were given so long ago.

So far I have managed to digest two of the books in my "to be read" pile that seems to grow every day. I'll have another posting a little latter about what I have been reading for those that are interested. What a great joy books can bring to a person life! I only hope that I can instill that love of reading in my grand children as they grow.

So as I remember old friends that I have lost this past year and new ones made I look forward to an even better 2008. I wish all of you the same.

Words of wit and wisdom

2007-12-18T23:35:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my friend Reed for these.

AGELESS WIT AND OBSERVATIONS

"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed,

if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."

-Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member of Congress....
But then I repeat myself.
-Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into

prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying

to lift himself up by the handle.

-Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul

can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man,

which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.

-G Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and

a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

-James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor

people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.

-Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

Giving money and power to government is like giving

whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

-P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody

endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.

-Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

Government's view of the economy could be summed

up in a few short phrases:

If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it.

And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

-Ronald Reagan (1986)

I don't make jokes I just watch the government and report the facts.

-Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, wait

until you see what it costs when it's free!
-P.J. O'Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money

as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.

-Voltaire (1764)

Just because you do not take an interest in politics

doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!

-Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.

-Mark Twain (1866 )

Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.

-Unknown

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy

appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.

-Ronald Reagan

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings.

The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.

-Winston Churchill

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist

is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.

-Mark Twain

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects

of folly is to fill the world with fools.

-Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress.

-Mark Twain

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.

-Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

A government big enough to give you everything you want,

is strong enough to take everything you have.

-Thomas Jefferson-

Our Boys Over There

2007-10-10T23:00:00.000-04:00

I have a good friend named Henry Hill, and no he is not the gangster of movie fame, that I have know for a good number of years who recently started a blog. Henry was a little slow to the party but has now come to be an avid supporter of the war on terrorism. Even more than the war Henry has become a supporter of the troops in field fighting that war.

After retiring Henry has taken up residence as a writer and photographer and returned to his native Pittsburgh. I'm not quite sure why I had to work so hard to get him to start a blog but once he saw my point he took the leap. I'm going to put a link to his blog in my links section and you are welcome to wander over and take a look for yourself.

Our Boys Over There

Words of wisdom

2007-07-07T00:35:00.000-04:00

I have been trying to catch up on my blog reading lately being only marginally successful. I used to read a number of political blogs every day along with technical and religious ones. I have been so busy with work that I haven't even kept up with the technical ones that I need for my job. I just have to learn to manage my time better. That however is my problem.

What I would like to share with my readers are some blog entries that I think are worth your time. Our church has the good fortune to have a pastor that is eloquent with both the spoken and written word. If you would like to verify my statement you are more than welcome to join us on Sunday mornings and hear one of his sermons in person. Follow this link for directions and more information. Redeemer Lutheran Church & School

If you would like to sample some of his writings here is a link to his blog. Engelines Please feel free to peruse the entire blog all of which is good reading but I recommend these two entries in particular to exercise your brain cells.

Losing at the religion game

Golf course or Battlefield - where are you?

Read them, think about them and if you would like to learn more join us on Sunday mornings. I want you to know that I am not “preaching” to you. That is not my job I do however enjoy learning and I find that people reading blogs and searching for information, particularly if they are searching for truth, will find wisdom in there words. One of the other things I enjoy is sharing the good things in life that I find with others. That is one of the reasons that I write this blog. Enjoy!

Loss of an old friend

2007-06-14T16:23:00.000-04:00

I listen to a number of Pod Casts during the day as I work and pound on the keyboard some for enjoyment and others to learn what is happing in the field that I work in. This morning I was listening to, actually watching this one is a video pod cast, Geek Brief TV and heard the host announce that Don Herbert had passed away yesterday. I suddenly felt as if I had lost a friend even though I had never met the him and I'm quite sure the man did not even know I existed.

For those of you in the younger set that might not know Don Herbert was known to at least two generations as Mr. Wizard. This is the name he took as the host of the program that he started in 1951 after selling the idea to network executives at NBC in their then new medium of television.

I already had an intuitive nature about things related to science when I found the show several years latter and immediately became a big fan. I have to say that this program along with some other influences led me down a path of science, electricity, electronics, radio and latter computers. There are some people who have a natural talent for teaching and of that group a smaller subset have the ability to interact with their students in a way that makes the material interesting in a way that draws the student in and makes learning fun. Don Herbert was one of those special people. He leaves behind a legacy of scientist and ordinary people who developed a love of learning from him.

You can learn more about Mr. Wizard at this web site.

Car Keys for A House Alarm

2007-03-27T14:16:00.000-04:00

Put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you hear a noise outsid
your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic
button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies.

This tip came from a neighborhood watch coordinator.

Next time you come home for the night and you start to put your keys away,think of this:

It's a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation.

Ken & Linda @ the movies

2007-03-21T15:53:00.000-04:00

The Ultimate Gift

Those of you who know me are aware of how much I enjoy movies. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I worked part time as a projectionist in a number of theaters in this area. Even then I would occasionally take a “bus mans holiday” and take Linda to the movies on my evenings off. I left the business after I discovered that you can only work sixteen hour days for so long until it starts to take its toll on you which is a story for another time.

Linda and I have been going to the movies at least a few times a month for years now but this last year and a half we seem to have gotten out of the habit. Weekends always seem to be busy and with our work schedules we often don't get home until late at which point neither of us wants to think about going back out for a movie in the evening. We say “wait for the DVD” and move on to other things.

This week a friend asked me to recommend a movie that she could take her grand son and the daughter of one of her friends to. I told her that I wasn't really up on what was currently playing on the local screens and only was familiar with what I had seen previews for on television. Most of those were not really suitable for younger children. She asked me what was playing at the Oaks in Oakmont and I said I had no idea but that I would check. The Oaks has a web site with a good deal of information on it so I went browsing to see what I could come up with.

I didn't find anything that fit what my friend was looking for but I did see a film that I had taken notice of when it was first released that sounded interesting. I had mentioned to Linda that I thought we should go see this one but like many others time passed and it disappeared replaced with newer offerings from Hollywood. So when it turned out to be one of the three films currently being show at the Oaks I decided that we would see it now rather than wait for the DVD. So Saturday afternoon we attended it's one daily showing at 05:15 PM and I am glad we did.

To say that we enjoyed this movie would be an understatement. Every once in a while I find a movie that just seems to lift up my spirits and this is one of those. If you have seen the previews or read that short description on line of the movie's plot you will probably be able to guess where this picture is going from the opening scene. Spoiled rich kid anticipates a lot of money from his grand fathers estate at his death only to find that there are some “strings” attached to his bequest. I'm sure you have heard the story before.

What makes this movie so enjoyable is a few plot twists and an excellent job of casting the characters. The grand father is played by James Garner and appears only in video clips to the rest of the cast. Garner is probably the most well known name in the movie in terms of being a “star” from Hollywood. I feel that the actors chosen for the other parts were equally good even though they might not be as well known as Garner. It also has some very well done photography work which makes it more enjoyable on the big screen. Those of you who follow the movies will recognize Abigail Breslin as one of this years Oscar nominees for Little Miss Sunshine. I did not see that movie I would however have given her the nod for the performance in this picture.

There was no nudity or language that I can remember that would keep you from taking the family to see this picture which is probably why it didn't get much notice from the press or hype from Hollywood. If however you want to take your family to the movies, be entertained and learn a few good life lessons in the process this one is for you. Some pictures make the transition from the big screen to the small one and this is one of them so if you don't catch it in the theaters watch for the release on DVD. I highly recommend this picture.

There is also a web site for the movie if you would like to learn more about it. The Ultimate Gift

Playing catch up

2007-03-19T15:59:00.000-04:00

Well here I am once again looking at my various blogs and wondering what I have been doing for the last few month that I haven't written a single word. Well I did get a few entries in the amateur radio blog but most of that was from ideas sparked by contributions from some of the readers. I'm back in that mode of wondering where people who blog every single day find the time.

Be that as it may, here I am once again pounding on the keyboard with a myriad of thoughts rattling around in my brain. I have to tell you about the birth of twins, how my grand babies are growing like weeds, what a mess traffic is going to be in Oakmont this summer when the US Open Golf Tournament descends on us and a few other things. So let me unwind and slow down a little and see if I can manage to make time for something other than work. Should be fun.

FIREARMS REFRESHER COURSE FOR 2007= A HAPPY NEW YEAR

2007-01-01T20:58:00.000-05:00

1. An armed man is a citizen An unarmed man is a subject.
2. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.
3. Colt: The original point and click interface.
4. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.
5. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?
6. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.
7. "Free" men do not ask permission to bear arms.
8. If you don't know your rights you don't have any.
9. Those who trade liberty for security have neither.
10. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights reserved.
11. What part of "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?
12. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
13. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
14. Guns only have two enemies: rust and politicians.
15. Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.
16. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.
17. 911 - government sponsored Dial-a-Prayer.
18. Assault is a behavior, not a device.
19. Criminals love gun control -- it makes their jobs safer.
20. If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson.
21. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.
22. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.
23. Enforce the "gun control laws" we ALREADY have, don't make more.
24. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.
25. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.
26. "A government of the people, by the people, for the people..."

" Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not."

Thomas Jefferson

Thought for the day.............

2006-12-26T17:31:00.000-05:00

I only wish I had the wisdom to think these thoughts, I have to admit however that the author of this quote is unknown.

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

Linda and I have had a very good Christmas and are looking forward to a very happy New Year. My only regret was that some of the health problems I had last year at this time tried to come back and bite me yet again. In the words of the sage Yogi Berra it was starting to feel like “deja vu all over again” and that had me worried. So Saturday I found myself in the doctors office at 08:30 in the morning for a breathing treatment and the beginning of a regime of drugs to try to get ahead of this before it really got me down. So far I'm happy to report it seems to be working. I had a few days off work so I managed to stay home and rest as the doctor suggested and I'm starting to perk up again. Only time will tell as I had a similar experience last year when I seemed to be bouncing back only to get the slats knocked out from under me a few weeks latter.

On top of all this fun both the family cars decided to die last Friday. Well really one had already been disabled by mechanical failure and I decided to hold off on getting it repaired for a while and use the other. On the way home from work last week the water pump let go in the that car which in turn broke the timing belt forcing me to have it towed to a garage. I then walked home lugging my laptop and not feeling very good about the day.

Fortunately I was looking forward to the coming weekend and celebrating Christmas which I knew was not about “things”. My spirits were up lifted by celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus. Knowing that because of that event I would be having a weekend with family and friends, even though I would keep my distance from some just in case I might pass on what ever malady had befallen me.

It did indeed turn out to be a wonderful weekend despite all. I did not make it to church services which I really missed. I did get to spend time with the family though and that made my weekend. The icing on the cake was that a friend who as moved away Pittsburgh was in town to visit his family and stopped by to say hello. Mark is furthering his education in preparation for the seminary and I have not seen him for some time now. So the fact that he was able to stop by for a visit was a real treat for me. Family and friends are the true presents of Christmas for me.

I hope those reading this had a holiday as enjoyable as mine with out the foibles that I encountered. I also hope that you are looking forward to a very Happy New Year. God bless.

Celebrating the true meaning of Christmas

2006-12-23T12:37:00.000-05:00

I hope that all of you out there in cyberspace reading this are having a great holiday season. Further I hope that you remember the true reason for the holiday that we call Christmas. We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

I know this is a time when we get together with friends and family and we exchange gifts take a break from our busy everyday world and relax and enjoy ourselves. My hope is that you will remember the reason that all of these blessings have come to us is though God the Father and that his greatest blessing was the gift of his only Son Jesus.

If you want to really renew your self and your spirit take time to attend a house of worship this weekend and experience the true meaning of the holiday.

If you don't have a church home and hesitate for that reason please feel free to join our family at Redeemer Lutheran Church here in Oakmont. There will be services at 10:45 AM and 07:30 PM on Christmas Eve. In addition we will hold services at 10:00 AM on Christmas Day. Located on the corner of 13^th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue we are easy to find and you will be warmly welcomed.

What ever you decide I hope you attend a church this weekend and that you have a safe and happy Christmas.

If you would like to get complete directions and learn more about our church family follow this link.

Redeemer Lutheran Church and School