Reflections

Northern Lights, Alaska. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

The same process the creates the Northern Lights is also responsible for creating an odd assortment of sounds that earth “beams” out into space in the form of radio waves. The ionosphere prevents these sounds from reaching earth which is a good things, since they would drown out every radio station on the planet with a signal 10,000 times more powerful than the strongest military radio transmissions.

You can listen here at Space.com (you have to listen to one of those annoying mini-ads before the video plays).

It is rare but it is something for parents to be aware of. A person can drown up to 24 hours after ingesting a small amount of water in the lungs. Read more here.

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Cemetery, The Presidio, San Francisco, California. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

Memorial Day began unofficially in a variety of places as people felt the need to recognize those who gave their lives in the Civil War. Memorial Day was officially declared on May 5, 1868, when General John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic ordered a day of observance when all Union and Confederate Graves at Arlington National Cemetery would be decorated with flowers on May 30, 1868. One state after another adopted May 30 as a Memorial Day observance until all of the Northern states had adopted May 30 by 1890. Many Southern states had picked different days to honor the Confederate dead.

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“Last month a US court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you’re entering the country. They can take your computer and download its entire contents, or keep it for several days. Customs and Border Patrol has not published any rules regarding this practice, and I and others have written a letter to Congress urging it to investigate and regulate this practice.” The Guardian

Does this bother you? Does this sound like an invasion of your privacy? It does to me.

Suppose you have personal and/or business information (account numbers, business data, passwords, etc) in an encrypted folder (and if you have to have snesitive information on your laptop, it should be encrypted in case of theft). They can ask you to type in the password to unlock the folder. And if you refuse, you can be detained and they can keep your laptop for a while.

Whether or not you provide passwords, how do you feel about your data being downloaded and ending up heaven only knows where?

There are some things you can do to protect your data. Read the the article in the The Guardian.

“Take Back the Tap” is a campaign to get people re-invested in using tap water instead of buying bottle water.

There is a fuss over bottled water. It isn’t green. The environmental cost is high compared to tap water. It is expensive. It isn’t as clean as tap water.
You can read more here and here.

If you don’t buy bottled water, what do you carry your drinking water in? Some suggestions are in the Slate.com article.

Freedom from Want - Painting © Norman Rockwell

When I was growing up, we spent many a Thanksgiving and Christmas at grandpa’s house. Thanksgiving was a much anticipated and happy time. We would often leave Pueblo on Wednesday afternoon after dad got home from work. It was a long 7 hour drive to Haxtun in those pre-interstate highway days, so it would be really late by the time we arrived.

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Map of Countries Visited

I’m not a world traveler and my country list is short. USA, Canada, and Mexico in North America; Honduras and Belize in Central America; Haiti, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean; Germany in Europe; and French Polynesia in the South Pacific (that barely visible red dot). It was still fun creating this map. For some reason, all the empty gray seems to call me to places unexplored.

Map of States Visited

My parents loved to travel so we were in most of the western United States by the time I finished high school. My wife and children and I have continued the trend. There are still a few states left to visit.

You can create your own maps here (red on blue and gray), and here (colors on white), and here (burgundy on shades of gray).

I rarely forward video clips to my friends, or anything else for that matter. But this really touched me so I sent it to my friends in an email and I am posting it here.

Paul Potts, an unassuming (to say the least) mobile phone salesman, lacking in confidence, shows up for the June 9, 2007 episode of a British TV talent show with three judges (think American Idol and Simon Cowell). When he tells them he wants to sing opera, the judges are obviously thinking “oh no”. And then he sings . . . .

Turn up your audio.

Here’s the video.

More about Paul here.

Cemetery, The Presidio, San Francisco, California. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

Memorial Day began unofficially in a variety of places as people felt the need to recognize those who gave their lives in the Civil War. Memorial Day was officially declared on May 5, 1868, when General John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic ordered a day of observance when all Union and Confederate Graves at Arlington National Cemetery would be decorated with flowers on May 30, 1868. One state after another adopted May 30 as a Memorial Day observance until all of the Northern states had adopted May 30 by 1890. Many Southern states had picked different days to honor the Confederate dead.

After WWI, Memorial Day became a day of observance for American soldiers who died in all wars, not just the Civil War. In 1971, congress changed the date from May 30 to the last Monday in May as part of a three day weekend for federal employees. Most states follow the same day as the federal observance.

In 2000, congress declared a “National Moment of Remembrance” at 3 pm local time on Memorial Day when all Americans can remember “To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to Taps”.

If you are one of the American readers of this blog, take a moment on Memorial Day to remember those who gave “the last full measure of devotion”.

by Lee Iacocca

Excerpted from WHERE HAVE ALL THE LEADER’S GONE? by Lee Iacocca (highly respected business leader and former Chrysler CEO) with Catherine Whitney. Learn more about Lee Iacccca at Wikipedia.

Had Enough?

Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.”

Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

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The news article is at Beliefnet.

If you have a dog or cat, you should be aware of the recall of 42 brands of cat food and 53 brands of cat food. Go to the MENU FOODS site and click on PRODUCT INFORMATION for cats or dogs.

I spent several hours today in a computer nightmare.

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President Bush addresses the Nation, January 10, 2007

Over a long period of time I have been losing confidence in the present administration’s ability to help Iraq solve their current crisis.

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Santa and children. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.

Ahhh! Christmas!

I was strolling through a local mall when I found - to my great surprise - Santa! (I could tell who he was by the name on his belt.) He was visiting with two adorable children. They chatted and I took pictures. (The mother gave me permission to use this photo on my web site.)

to continue, use the page links to the right

The Best Part of the Surgical Waiting Room. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

The last time I was in this surgical waiting room, it was pretty much like any other waiting room. Chairs, end tables with magazines, TV set tuned to some boring daytime talk show, and the usual drink and snack machines.

Click “more” to continue

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Freedom from Want - Painting © Norman Rockwell

When I was growing up, we spent many a Thanksgiving and Christmas at grandpa’s house. Thanksgiving was a much anticipated and happy time. We would often leave Pueblo on Wednesday afternoon after dad got home from work. It was a long 7 hour drive to Haxtun in those pre-interstate highway days, so it would be really late by the time we arrived.

to continue, use the page links to the right

For the last few days it has been pretty peaceful. Up until election day the phone was ringing with ever increasing frequency. Current President George Bush left one message and former President Bill Clinton left two. Too bad I missed them, I had questions for both of them. The mail box is a lot more empty too. No more full color flyers that begin with “BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID” (an exact quote from one attack ad).

Click “more” to continue

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A recent study of life expectancy reveals big differences. Christopher Murray of the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed mortality data by county, race, gender, and income. Murray found “eight Americas”:

Click “more” to continue

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Photo by James Nachtwey for TIME magazine.

On this date, five years ago, we experienced a great national tragedy in the United States. Not only in the lives that were lost in the terrorist attacks, the families torn asunder, and the emergency responders who are suffering terrible health problems as a result of working at the scene - but also in the way we view ourselves and our world.

The photo essays linked below (in the September 9 post) are a reminder of what we all went through on that fateful day.

I’ve written a longer reflection at my ministry blog.