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Friday, January 22, 2010
Should hikers allow their dogs off-leash?
That's the question being asked over at the Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine website. Since dogs are prohibited from most trails in national parks, the question actually pertains to trails in national forest areas.
Right now, by a 6 point margin, voters in this poll are indicating that they think dogs should be allowed to run off-leash while hiking.
One of the commentators on this poll did a great job of summing up the prevailing thoughts on this issue:
I guess it all depends on the dog. If he follows commands well and is not aggressive to other dogs / hikers, sure take him off the leash. However, there is always the person that thinks their dog is special, and should be able to do as they please. These are the ones that always cause trouble for the others. Just remember, not everyone in the woods loves "Fido" the way you do. Be respectful.
However, another person left this comment:
Many of you think that dogs are fine to be let off a leash if they are well behaved. The problem is that everyone thinks their dog is well behaved when in many cases they are not. So if the rule is your dog can be off a leash if it is well behaved then how is it enforced? Who decides if your dog is well behaved?
So what do you think? If you would like to vote and leave a comment, please click here.
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, hiking gear store, and more.
6 comments:
It's bad enough we have to worry about bears, now dogs? I love dogs, but once off leash and away from owners, dogs are completely unpredictible, especially if they surprise a hiker. Someone might even hurt a dog with bear spray. Dogs are like kids, they have to be controlled or they will misbehave!
- January 22, 2010 at 10:45 AM
Well,this was an uneducated comment for sure.So all dogs or kids won't behave and are unpredictible when not controlled (by leash)? Oh dear,this would be a sad day if that would be true. Realy,it's all in the training/education (kids).Dogs as kids will learn when taught,please acknowledge that fact.My previous,late dogs hiked off leash with me after years of training (and so did the kids,my,my..),no problem. The new,next generation,dogs that is, is still on leash but now with occasional off time.We are getting there,slowly but surely.In hope for everybody to get along,live and let live,to use your common sense and good judgement.That sorta' thing. Xandi
- January 24, 2010 at 5:39 PM
Good Grief...both of you guys are wrong...the Constitution applies to Human Beings, not dogs! I don't like dogs, don't want them sniffing at my crotch, licking my fingers, jumping on me, etc. If the regulations allow you to take your dog hiking, fine, but keep it on a short leash - and clean up your dog poop please.
- January 25, 2010 at 11:53 AM
- Danny Bernstein said...
A dog belongs on a leash and under the control of its master. Too many times, I've been confronted by a dog ahead of its owner, jumping on me and the owner yelling "he's friendly".
A strange dog jumping on me is not friendly.
- January 25, 2010 at 5:13 PM
In my opinion you can never blame an animal for an attack, the dog owner is always the one to blame. With that being said you should always have your dog on a leash or a belly wrap while hiking. Even if you know your dog is great and never have problems, they are still animals and can get away from your grasp just like children. I like to keep a belly wrap on my Retriever. You have more control and you don't get pulled around alot. Just make sure you bring some leg Gaiters because the chances of you getting dirty while hiking with your dog, are extremely high.
- August 18, 2010 at 1:15 PM
- matt said...
Dogs on leash please. Sure your dog is well trained, lovable and wouldn't hurt a fly, your dog is a canine gentleman. But can your dog pick up its own crap. I didn't think so. Will you always be able to see your dog crapping when it is off of a leash, again the answer is no. Can every owner be trusted to judge if their dog is a 'well-behaved' dog, most assuredly no. Can every hiker be trusted to not freak out at the sight of an unleasehed dog, again no. So for the safety of dogs and hikers please leash. Off leash time is what the dog park is for.
- November 3, 2010 at 7:21 PM


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Some people are addicted to love. Others are addicted to drugs. I'm addicted to Target. Seriously....
Saturday, April 24, 2010
New at Target: Sonia Kashuk Nail Polish
Sonia Kashuk has something new to add to her already successful makeup line at Target: a collection of nail colors. Just in time for sandal season, Kashuk has debuted 10 gorgeous, chip-resistant shades for nails and toes for just $3.99 each.
In addition to the punchy purple, sonic blues, and industrial silver (called "Smoke and Mirrors") shown here, the line also includes a top coat, a base coat, and bright reds and pinks, as well as an absolutely perfect neutral shade that's dubbed "In The Buff".
Posted by Target Addict at 6:06 AM
1 comment:
- Lucy in the Sky said...
I really want to try the silver color but according to Target.com, it's not available at my nearby Target yet.
- April 24, 2010 at 2:03 PM
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subset: commoncrawl


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Good Candle: New Scents for Spring/Summer
We have new scents in the store just in time for Spring/Summer! To add to our current Fall/Winter scents, we now have the addition of Lavender, Washboard, and Lemon Poppy. As always, these candles are made by hand in Brooklyn, NY and are made of soy wax. They burn for 50 hours — or more, as far as we can tell after burning them constantly in our store! They really are a favorite around here, so stop by and pick up a few.
All Good Candles $30.
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Roman starts 2nd grade on Thursday. 2nd grade!
I'm sure I should at some time get to a point where I stop putting exclamation points after my childrens' age or grade level. But today is not that time. I still don't understand how they grew up so quickly and how I suddenly find myself with a second grader.
This evening was the elementary's ice cream social. We strolled over to the school (very glad that we live right next door and didn't even have to think about trying to find parking among the overflowing parking lot and street sides.)
We got a little last minute paperwork done. Roman met his new teacher. She seems very nice. We are all a little excited about school starting (between the mourning of the end of summer. Seriously, not ready yet.)
Roman's school does something I haven't seen done before. Maybe it's normal here in the Midwest. The school is divided into Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Alpha is 1st and 2nd grade. Beta is 3rd and 4th grade. Gamma is 5th and 6th grade. Each section (Alpha, Beta, Gamma) is divided in half. Alpha 1, Alpha 2, Beta 1, etc, etc. Alpha 1, consisting of half the children in 1st grade and half the children in 2nd grade is taught by one teacher. (I'm sure that I've done a terrible job explaining. That is what happens when you find out your DVR chose tonight to have a tantrum, your two year old threw a cup of milk at you, and you are seriously withdrawing from caffeine.)
This way, the children have the same teacher for two years. It minimizes changes, allows teachers to know their students better and address individual educational needs better.
Everyone we've met tells us how wonderful the elementary school is. It's a big reason we bought the house we did. Now, it's time to see if it lives up to its reputation.
3 years ago


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Every year, it seems like I have a hard time wrapping up the month of gratitude on time. December comes too fast. This year, it seemed to come faster.
This year, the beginning of Advent came with the beginning of December — Advent calendars would have you think that's how it always is, but it's only about every seven years, and seems rarer than that.
I keep feeling like I should have been better prepared for Advent this year — should have had an advent wreath together, or an advent calendar, or something.
December's also a dark month here. Last week, I finally remembered to eat lunch because it was starting to get dusky — around 3:30. Twice.
We fill the month with twinkly lights and candles — for Advent, for Hanukkah, for solstice, for Kwanzaa, for St. Lucy's Day, for Christmas. Advent is time to get ready for Christmas. Solstice brings increasingly brighter days — eventually. The first Sunday of advent, I lit candles with old friends while I shared a meal, chased with hot chocolate and laughter. Tonight, the second Sunday of Advent, I am watching the creepy Finnish Santa movie Rare Exports followed by the amazing Elf, with Chinese food and peanut butter cookies, with people who I care about and who respect these gatherings as ritual.
But it is dark, dark, dark up here, sometimes in more ways than one, and it's really important to make a point of finding that light where we can, and sharing it whenever possible, I think.
A belated day 30 of our month of gratitude: I am thankful for literal and metaphoric light in the darkness, and for the people that shine both with me.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Got a light?
Posted by bzzzzgrrrl at 11:17 PM
1 comment:
- Kay said...
Hear hear.
- December 20, 2013 at 6:26 PM
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Protestors at D.C.'s Freedom Plaza Push Saving Planet at Littered SiteWhat, you don't think those save-the-planet warriors are going to pick up ... trash ... with their bare hands, do you? Let those evil corporations do it. Let someone else do it. They have bigger things to worry about. Like the trashing of the planet.
By Penny Starr, CNS News
(CNSNews.com) – Protestors at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., are promoting a wide range of causes, including saving the planet, even though their protest site is littered with trash and protest paraphernalia.
One sign, lying near a trashcan and a grassy area covered with sleeping bags, plastic bags, chairs, and other belongings, states, "We the People Say Planet Before Profits." [link]
The welfare state has done well in educating this bunch.


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a comedy about several first dates
a film by sujewa ekanayake
Every Wed & Fri of December (except 12/25 Fri)
7 PM (doors at 6, opening act at 6:30)
4 Malcolm X Boulevard
(Malcolm X & Broadway, Bed-Stuy,
nearest subway: Kosciuzko Street on the J line, map)
Brooklyn, New York 11221
Event contact: Sujewa Ekanayake, 240-354-3394, firstname.lastname@example.com
Website: http://datenumberone08.blogspot.com/
About Date Number One:
A writer,
A ninja,
A woman who is working on saving the world,
and a guy who works at a bookstore
searching for love in
A movie by Sujewa Ekanayake
Date Number One, a comedy about several first dates, is made up of 4 different stories: Story 1 - Start Over, about a writer who tries to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, Story 2 - Just Another Ninja Searching For Love, about a ninja who goes on a blind date (ninja is played by John Stabb Schroeder from the DC punk band G.I.), Story 3 - A Romantic Dinner For 3, about a woman attempting to add a third partner to a romantic relationship, and Story 4 - The Superdelicious French Lesson, about a first date where a character learns a little bit of French in an unusual way. The movie has been discovered to be: "Witty" (GreenCine Daily), "Funny" (The Chutry Experiment), and "Sexy, Sexy, Sexy" (Hollywood Is Talking).
Starring John Stabb Schroeder, Julia Stemper, Jennifer Blakemore, Shervin Boloorian, Dele Butler (formerly Dele Williams), Steve Lee, Kelly Ham AKA Kelly Ryan, Subodh Samudre, Jewel Greenberg
Not Rated * 90 Minutes * yummy
SCREENED AT: Goethe-Institut - Washington, DC (World Premiere, May 2006), Northwest Film Forum - Seattle (May 2006), Capital City Microcinema - Kensington, MD (June, October 2006 & March 2007), Sangha - Takoma Park, MD (July 2006), Pioneer Theater, New York City (August 2006), Warehouse Screening Room - Washington, DC (November 2006), The Armory - Kensinton, MD (July 2007), Jackie's - Silver Spring, MD (May 2008), Aeon Logic Art Gallery - Brooklyn, NY (February 2009).
"The film is about as charming as they come...presents a world in which cultures don't clash, they mesh. It's refreshing to see characters who all appear to have a natural optimism, as opposed to the typical indie-film predilection for bitterness and cruelty. "- Michael Tully, Rotterdam & SXSW film festivals selected filmmaker & indieWIRE blogger http://blogs.indiewire.com/tully/archives/010529.html
"I found the characters and the premise sexy, sexy, sexy."- Jerry Brewington, Hollywood Is Talking blog, on Story 3 of Date Number One http://hollywoodistalking.com/Blog/508/
"...witty...often inventive...and, even better, airy: characters are given time and space to spell out their views...views that never bear the artificial markings of a Hollywood screenwriter's compulsion to reduce them to sound-bites."- David Hudson, Editor, GreenCine Daily blog http://daily.greencine.com/archives/002353.html
"FIVE really entertaining, fully realized romantic interludes...a shamefully rare achievement"- Tom Kipp, Seattle audience member,former film reviewer for Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger http://diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com/2006/05/interview-with-seattle-audience-member.html
"Heartfelt...poignant...I loved it!"- Jon Moritsugu, award winning filmmaker
"...somehow, someway, in the end, the love of the characters, the positiveness of the film, and Sujewa's disregard for conventions wins you over. The act of making this film wins you over. There is only a positive through line in this film, and that is rare to see, especially when dealing with characters in their late to early thirties."- Amir Motlagh, director of the popular '04 Atom Films' short Still Lover & upcoming feature Whale
"Date Number One is quite funny...twentysomethings and occasional thirtysomethings looking for romance recall Richard Linklater's philosopher slackers and Jim Jarmusch's minimalist attention to conversation...also a subtle, thoughtful film...might be understood as the anti-Crash depiction of life in the city...depicts a comfortably multi-ethnic community...I'd happily recommend it."- Chuck Tryon, media professor & blogger,The Chutry Experiment blog http://chutry.wordherders.net/archives/005873.html
Date Number One website & blog:
Wild Diner Films: http://www.wilddiner.com/


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Sunday, August 30, 2009
I recently had a conversation with the ignorant women I work with about television sitcoms. I decided to impart to them a bit of knowledge from my vast personal stores.
I opened my mouth and spake unto them, saying, "Did you know that sitcoms are recorded in two different ways?"
They looked back at me as if I was speaking Chinese, a vacant look to which I've grown accustomed.
But for their sake I patiently continued by explaining that sitcoms were recorded on either film or videotape. With video tape, everything in the picture is in focus and has the look of live TV, like newscasts. Soaps are recorded in this format.
Film has a different look. In filmed sitcoms, the action is in focus and the background is not.
Videotaped sitcoms include The Cosby Show, All in the Family, Three's Company.
Filmed sitcoms include Mary Tyler Moore, Seinfeld, Mash.
Newhart (Vermont Inn Newhart) started out on video tape, but later switched to film.
You may be able to visualize scenes from these programs and note the distinct difference.
Skyepuppy's son probably knows all about this... He may know more than... even I.
Your assignment, should you decide to accept it, is to report back and demonstrate the ability discern the difference between video taped sitcoms, and those that are filmed...
And remember, I'm always here to help you enrich your life with Amazing Knowledge.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
One of Kennedy's close friends, former editor of Newsweek and New York Times Magazine Ed Klein, tells the Diane Rehm Show that Chappaquiddick jokes were high up on the list (of the jokes Kennedy enjoyed).
"I don't know if you know this or not, but one of his favorite topics of humor was indeed Chappaquiddick itself. And he would ask people, 'have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?' That is just the most amazing thing."
Yes, indeed. That is the most amazing thing.
I believe this is an amazing illustration of the irrational absurdity of the Kennedy mystique that has pervaded this country since the election of John in 1960. Not just the fact that senator Kennedy would feel free to ask about the jokes, but that his friend, Klein, feels free to reveal the fact and not suspect that America will be shocked and disgusted.
Friday, August 28, 2009
"Ted Kennedy unlike so many politicians of his day, he didn't dabble in the small stuff, the petty personal attacks -that was not him, and again that's why so many people are feeling so sad..."
--David Schuester MSNBC
"Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the government and the doors of the federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens."
--Teddy Kennedy, Judicial Hearings for Robert Bork 1987
Thursday, August 27, 2009
In the words of Obama Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, "You never want a good corpse to go to waste."
Shades of Paul Wellstone. It looks as if the Democrats are going to attempt to revive government-run health care by naming it after Ted Kennedy and adopting the battle cry, "Let's win one for Ted!"
But the "Dead Ted Health Care Plan" is still government-run health care, and I doubt the town hall protesters will be moved simply because it's named after the biggest reprobate and embarrassment in the history of American politics... Even if he was the brother of a former popular president.
I have a better idea. If you want to name a socialist program after Ted, why not create government-run car insurance? Try this on:
This is a far more appropriate and fitting monument to the hero of Chappaquiddick.
After a day of sailing and heavy drinking, Kennedy drove his black Oldsmobile sedan off a small wooden bridge into Poucho Pond, trapping (Mary Jo) Kopechne in seven feet of water.
The second-term senator waited nearly 10 hours to report the accident and offered virtually no explanation other than he "panicked."
But during those 10 hours this "panicked senator" managed to change into his Regatta-worthy duds and have several light-hearted yuck-it-up conversations with people on the island.
Even those who had faith in the senator worried about his ability to handle a crisis. Friends testified in an inquest that after the accident a confused and crying Kennedy, trying to blame the accident on others begged, "What am I going to do, what can I do?"
Americans were horrified when they learned that rescue workers found her body in the well of the back seat with her head held up, perhaps indicating that she had been alive for some time breathing in an air pocket.
Ironically, in 1988 at the Democrat National Convention, Ted gave his famous "Where was George" speech on the 19th anniversary of the night Mary Jo Kopechne was suffocating in an Oldsmobile foot well wondering, "Where is Teddy?"
Within five days of the accident, Kennedy's lawyers arranged for him to plead guilty to leaving the scene of the accident involving personal injury with a two-month suspended sentence and one-year probation.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) thinks that the health care reform bill should be named for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA): "In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American."
I love it when I'm right.
When I was 4 or 5 years old, I decided that "Ted" was the best name to have, and I couldn't understand why my parents hadn't named me "Ted." So for a while, I would answer to nothing but "Ted." If my family called me by my real name, I would ignore them.
My mother still sometimes calls me Ted.
OK. That's pretty much the nicest thing I can think of to post about Ted Kennedy. If you can't say something nice...
No, wait. Ted once said that he couldn't understand why the media was so critical of Dan Quayle. He said he had worked with Dan and he liked him.
OK. That's it.
Ted is more thoroughly explained Here: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=8212665
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
--James (Jesus' kid brother)
I read a comment recently on Facebook made by a woman from our church that I'd heard glowing spiritual things about. I followed the comment back to her profile page, and because she'd not activated security, I was able to nib in her personal stuff. Under her "favorite TV shows" she listed a couple programs that feature stories of your basic immorality, people sleeping with people... Well, you know how network television is... It celebrates immorality.
Anyway, it was sooooo disappointing.
It's funny how things haven't really changed since Old Testament times. When the Israelites worshiped other gods, it often involved sexual immorality. Some people performed the sex acts, and other people watched.
Evidently the woman from church likes to watch.
I don't think it's possible to be engaged in the popular culture and its entertainments, and not be polluted by the world. I've given up TV evenings, though I still watch the news and turn on "Nick at Nite" type stuff when I crawl into bed. In the evenings when I need to be entertained, I listen to my podcast sermons.
I'm sure I'm still not as good at being good as the woman from Church, but at least I recognize my desperate situation, and less and less of my sin is premeditated.
Next thing to give up... The Internet!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom."
Monday, August 24, 2009
Town Hall Meeting with U.S. Congressman Brian Baird
A patriot speaks out.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
A Rising Conservative Star: Florida's Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio is running against RINO Florida governor Charlie Crist for the U.S. Senate nomination. Rubio is expected to lose.
Crist supported Obama's stimulus package, and conservatives believe he will shake-out to be another Olympia Snow or Arlen Specter.
Rubio is a Reagan Republican.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration will raise its 10-year budget deficit projection to approximately $9 trillion from $7.108 trillion in a report next week, a senior administration official told Reuters on Friday.
At some point our bills come due. Unfortunately for people my age, it looks as if the day of reckoning will come just about the time we retire... Or the time we thought we would like to retire.
Anyone old enough to remember the 70's understands how cruel an inflationary period can be. People who played by the rules in the 50's and 60's, saved their money, creating a nest egg that seemed like so much, were made poor when their dollars suddenly bought so much less.
Washington will buy votes and level the playing field by printing money, and that will make my money worth less.
I spend my life working hard, giving the government about a third of my income so that lazy people can stay home and watch TV... And then when I retire I'm not significantly better off than the lazy people my hard work supported. That's Socialism's reward for the industrious.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Kelly Ayotte and Sarah Palin: Two of a Kind
Evidently the Democrats are as afraid of Kelly Ayotte as they are of Sarah Palin.
Ayotte is a rising Republican star. The popular Attorney General for the state of New Hampshire is a pro-life, pro-gun, anti gay marriage mother. She'll be running for the U.S. Senate.
He's Always Been Faithful - Sarah Groves
I'm not generally a fan of Sarah Groves, but I love this song and the arrangement.
South African Caster Semenya, 18, had to take a gender test after doubts were raised about her sex.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
"The rich are distracted by the crap they have and the poor are distracted by the crap they want."
--Grammy, from her comment below.
The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. Mt 13
Unfruitful... Meaning not saved.
I wonder if this verse describes many of the people in American churches. I haven't attended mine in a couple Sundays because I've been sick... But the last time I was there I heard a sermon about grace that made me want to spit up on my shoes. Somehow narrowly preaching about grace to a group of lukewarm, proud, distracted, rich people seems a little irresponsible.
I would have felt better if the preacher had ended his sermon this way: "Now remember that you are the rich of the world and you need to examine yourselves... You know about the camel and the eye of the needle thing, so - who more than you - needs to work out his salvation with fear and trembling?"
While we are not saved by "works", works are the only indication as to whether we are saved, or we are just the seed that fell among the thorns. If we are saved, works will spring up... And we would be unable to quench those works even if we tried. I believe your "personal fruits" are the easiest way to gauge all this. If you start your day with Bible reading and on-your-knees prayer... If you take joy in tithing... If your conversations with Christian friends take on an excitement when they center on the Lord... If you are turning off your television and searching for entertainment that honors God... If day to day and year to year, you love the world less and seek the Kingdom more, and seek it first... If you're putting in quality and quantity time with God... ... ... I suspect your feet are on the path.
But if you comfortably go a day without praying... If your Bible is dusty... If the entertainment you choose is questionable... If your giving is based upon what's left over after you've purchased what you want... If a conversation about Jesus makes you want to whisper... If your faith is something you only do in church on Sunday... ... ... ... ... ... Good luck with that Grace thing!
Anyway, I wish the preacher would have warned, challenged, and encouraged... But everyone was having such a good time...
My personal goal is to humbly put in the time... To tremble...To progress... And surely Grace will cover the rest.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
I'm sorry.
I checked out the information below on Snopes, and it's true.
Lou Pritchett is the author of this opinion and told TruthorFiction.com that he submitted this to the New York Times under the title of "Obama, You Scare Me" but they never published it. Pritchett did say that his article managed to make it to the world wide web where circulation went ballistic.
Pritchett is a former vice president of Procter & Gamble and wrote "Stop Paddling and Start Rocking the Boat" as well as numerous books and periodicals.
Dear President Obama:
You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me. You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.
You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support. You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.
You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll. You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.
You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others. You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.
You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America ' crowd and deliver this message abroad.
You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.
You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.
You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.
You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world. You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.
You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.
You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.
You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.
You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.
You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.
You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.
Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Gene Green, a Democrat Congressman from Texas posted this on his website:
Town hall meetings are one of my favorite ways to communicate with constituents. I have held hundreds during my years of service in Congress and always welcomed everyone to attend. Unfortunately, due to a coordinated effort to disrupt our town hall meetings, we will be restricting further attendance to residents of the 29th Congressional District and verifying residency by requiring photo identification.
According to Tom Blumer, Congressman Green isn't quite the stickler when it comes to photo identification prior to voting. He's against that.
Health Reform
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Friday, August 07, 2009
"We've always known that Democrats were anti-war, we've always known that we can't count on them on national defense, but we have finally seen on whom they will go to war... The American people who disagree with them."
-- Limbaugh
See below.
Obama's Union Thugs Attack at a Town Hall Meeting
White House to Democrats: "Punch back twice as hard." Town halls turned violent last night and yesterday afternoon in Tampa; and in St. Louis, where a black conservative was roughed up and had to be sent to the emergency room thanks to union thugs. Six were arrested at the Russ Carnahan town hall after the St. Louis meeting, and this is the one where the union thugs, the SEIU people, beat up a black conservative, 38 years old.
Here we go...
We Now Have A Total Gangster Government
I found this at Chuck's Chants. Thanks Chuck. This is political blackmail... In America!?
From the AARP Site:
Don't Let the Myths About Health Care Reform Scare You.
There are special interest groups trying to block progress on health care reform by using myths and scare tactics. Like the notion that health care reform would ration your care, hurt Medicare or be a government takeover. Actually, these are false statements.
All of the health care reform plans currently being debated in Congress would ensure that you and your doctor are the ones making decisions about your health. The majority of working Americans will continue to receive their health care through their employer. In addition, health care reform will strengthen Medicare by eliminating billions of dollars in waste while lowering prescription drug prices.
Throughout the debate on how to fix what's broken about our health care system, AARP pledges to help you cut through the noise and find the facts about what health care reform means for you and your family. When we see special interests using scare tactics, we'll make sure you're given the facts so you can make informed decisions about health care reform.
Wow. I guess AARP is in the tank for Obama, the Democrats, and Socialism.
Protect American Healthcare
This is the way you defeat it. Explain it to the old dudes and get them involved.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
This gives me a headache.
Henry Waxman's bill, HR 2749, would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate all of America's farms and the produce from our farms with a "Rube Goldberg" system of huge buffers, drained wetlands, bulldozed trees (to prevent the possibility of bird droppings) and fields lined with poison-filled tubes to kill rodents.
That's not all. Children under age five "will be prohibited from setting foot on farmland or tilled soil for fear of leaking diapers," according to an analysis of the proposed legislation by journalist Paul Williams. And if a crow should be so bold as to land in a cornfield, the whole crop would have to be destroyed, under the radical provisions of Waxman's bill.
The stated purpose of Waxman's bill is to rid farms of the food-borne, lethal bacteria, e. Coli.O157:H7, one of many strains of bacterium that cause food-borne illness.
Why all this trouble for legislation that no one – least of all America's farmers – actually needs? Call it the lure of the organic. The congressional district Waxman represents is populated by affluent and liberal constituents, who may never have seen a farm but who fervently preach the virtues of organic produce. Upscale grocery stores, their shelves loaded with imported delicacies and plenty of organic foods, abound in Waxman-land.
Indeed, the kinds of restrictions that Waxman has in mind for the country's farmers are already the norm in California. The San Francisco Chronicle article recently reported how crops and ponds are being destroyed in a quest for safety of foods. One Salinas Valley, California, farmer, Dick Peixoto, was quoted as saying: "I was driving by a field where a squirrel fed off the end of the field, and so 30 feet in we had to destroy the crop (and) one field where a deer just walked through, we had to take out 30 feet on each side of his tracks."
And California is bankrupt? How so?
Brilliant. This is all our faltering economy needs right now. "Cap and Tax Waxman" will not be satisfied until the wiping of our butts is federally regulated.
Where is my Ibuprofen?


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The last time I shifted houses was because I got married and the one cupboard I allotted to D was just not enough to keep the house looking sane. I had bought a chest of drawers to empty my stuff from that the one cupboard, but we still ended up having stuff lying around in the generously sized 1 BHK we were sharing.
So to a new 2BHK house it was. The first few weeks, my legs actually ached from all the extra space we had gained (Only Mumbai people can know what it means to go from 650 sq ft to 900 sq ft carpet area. Everyone else would probably laugh).
It has now been close to two years and a couple of months ago, I got the nagging feeling that we had two many things piled up on our second favourite clutter spot – the dining table. Freshly ironed clothes, handbags, a shoebox looking for a spot, newspapers and so on. This was partly on account of the fact that the folks were visiting and the first favourite clutter spot – the guest bedroom could suddenly not be used to stow junk away out of sight.
Yet it made me think if I really wanted to go back to the time when we had to pick our way through stuff scattered on the floor. And if we would have to find a bigger house in an expensive city.
That's when I decided that I was going to reduce our possessions by 25%.
The good thing about being a corporate slave is you can come up with percentages that are randomly chosen. It seemed like a good number though – not pushing us into the hermit zone with barely enough to get by and yet enough to create space and provide a sense of achievement.
The process began slowly about a month ago. Item number 1 on the agenda was to stop buying stuff till we got rid of some stuff. Quite commendable given my shopaholic tendencies.
In the meantime, I attacked the biggest culprit – clothes. Clothes are one of the toughest things to throw away. You know for sure that there are a few items in your wardrobe that predate you by a couple of crucial kilos. No matter how pessimistic you are about the economy, your job, your life and so on, the one thing you are optimistic about is going back to being your thinner self.
I convinced myself that if I threw out the old clothes then I could go shopping for new ones if I ever lost weight and that would be a good incentive to lose weight.
I began to look for a worthy charity till mom pointed out that charity begins at home and told me to just give everything to the bai. I had been doubtful if her daughter who is half my height would fit into my tops. It turned out that we share a shoulder size. Bai was quite teary eyed when she thanked me (surprising since I have regularly passed on sarees but she has never been quite so moved. Talk about motherly love).
Filled with a warm glow, I have gone back to culling out more clothes. Last evening was spent in trying out favourite t-shirts and tops that highlight my burgeoning paunch. Now another pile awaits the bai's daughter.
The next on my list are the electronics cupboard and the book shelf. The first one has built up through sheer neglect – headphones that no longer work, electronic phones that don't work either and so on. Books, on the other hand, have been survivors of failed culling attempts in the past. This time, I am planning to give them away to a library so atleast I know they have found a good home.
This set off a much needed round of decluttering at work. After clearing out several piles of important looking papers that largely comprised the company strategy for 2008, training materials from 2009 and so on, I have discovered enough space to move my mouse.
The biggest decluttering at work though, will have to be my mail box. I have mails from 2010 which I had been undecided about at that time and which stayed on. Now, I have mercilessly started deleting mails on which I have been clearly copied in as irrelevant-but-just-in-case person #5. I have started dealing with daily mails before the day-end. As for the exploding archive of old mails, I have been sorting through 30 or so in a day.
My ambition is to have only 10 mails in my inbox at any point. This seems like a tough order and going by my progress, an impossible task. Yet as Farhan Aktar says in ZNMD – 'Koshish karma hamara kartavya hai' (it was used in a cute way in the movie)
So if there is a New Year resolution for 2012, it is 'Declutter'. Now that I have got a headstart on it, I am hoping to see it through next year too.


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No foreign keyboard problems with Gate2Home
Gate2Home is a very useful online onscreen keyboard emulator that allows you to write in any language wherever you are in the world. This is particularly interesting for people who travel and use PCs in foreign countries' Internet cafe' or similar public places. Now with Gate2Home travellers who have problems in writing or searching the Internet in their own language can easily and immediately type any special character or symbol that cannot be found on a foreign keyboard.
This problem might seem trivial for those who always travel with their laptops, but for tourists and non professional travellers, who normally check their email once a day to stay in touch with their family at home, this is a valuable piece of software.
With Gate2Home you can type anything you want in your language clicking the on-screen keyboard, you can also carry out searches with Google and WikiPedia in your language and also obtain some quick translation. Once you get what you need you just copy and paste it.
Try it you might find it very useful, unless you remember any ASCII code by heart...
Bookmark this article:


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Actor Matt Damon grew up with Howard Zinn as his next-door neighbor. Damon is an ultra-leftist in his own right, and is planning to make a film out of Zinn's magnum opus, with a who's-who of Hollywood leftdom serving as readers. I have no doubt that if this film is made, it will be as popular in America's classrooms as An Inconvenient Truth is now.
For more about what a crock of steaming pile A People's History of the United States really is, do yourself a favor and read this Frontpagemag.com article by Dan Flynn, where he takes you into the mind of Howard Zinn, complete with his white guilt and hatred of the country that has purchased over a million copies of his book since its release in 1980.
Just some of many points that Flynn makes in his article include:
...Zinn sarcastically adds, "When we look at the American Revolution this way, it was a work of genius, and the Founding Fathers deserve the awed tribute they have received over the centuries. They created the most effective system of national control devised in modern times, and showed future generations of leaders the advantages of combining paternalism with command." Rather than the spark that lit the fire of freedom and self-government throughout much of the world, the American Founding is portrayed as a diabolically creative way to ensure oppression. If the Founders wanted a society they could direct, why didn't they put forth a dictatorship or a monarchy resembling most other governments at the time? Why go through the trouble of devising a constitution guaranteeing rights, mass political participation, jury trials, and checks on power? Zinn doesn't explain, contending that these freedoms and rights were merely a facade designed to prevent class revolution...If you want a real history of our country, buy the book I am currently reading: A Patriot's History of the United States. It pulls no punches, it mentions the bad things our country has done, but it also has no problem pointing out the good we have done in the world. In other words, it's fair and objective... imagine that.
More striking than Zinn's inaccuracies—intentional and otherwise—is what he leaves out. Washington's Farewell Address, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and Reagan's speech at the Brandenburg Gate all fail to merit a mention. Nowhere do we learn that Americans were first in flight, first to fly across the Atlantic, and first to walk on the moon. Alexander Graham Bell, Jonas Salk, and the Wright Brothers are entirely absent. Instead, the reader is treated to the exploits of Speckled Snake, Joan Baez, and the Berrigan brothers. While Zinn sees fit to mention that immigrants often went into professions like ditch-digging and prostitution, American success stories like those of Alexander Hamilton, John Jacob Astor, and Louis B. Mayer—to name but a few—are excluded. Valley Forge rates a single fleeting reference, while D-Day's Normandy invasion, Gettysburg, and other important military battles are left out. In their place, we get several pages on the My Lai massacre and colorful descriptions of U.S. bombs falling on hotels, air-raid shelters, and markets during the Gulf War of the early 1990s....
Good Day to You, Sir


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Luke 6:36- You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.
This was the scripture for the Praying Wife that was sent today. I will be completely honest. Some days I lack the compassion that my husband needs. I lack the compassion that my children need. Some days I am just so tired and so overwhelmed I just don't have the energy to do anything other than just survive. I know this isn't the way that the Lord wants me to be. I pray for energy, patience, compassion to my family, my friends, my children and to my husband. But how can I give compassion to someone who doesn't show it to me? I know I should be like Jesus and love everyone, but I am only human and sometimes its hard to overlook how hurt I feel towards someone to give them the love that they need. This is something that I do need to work on.
I am really looking forward to this bible study. I want to be the best wife possible. I want to be everything that my husband needs so that he wont feel the need to look elsewhere. I want to make my Father proud of the woman I am… the woman he created.
Lately I have felt so far away from God. I still pray. I still believe… I just don't feel the closeness like I used. I used to crave going to church on Sundays. I used to crave my morning time with God. And lately, I just have no motivation. I hate it. I am so worn out. I need to be reenergized but I don't know how exactly to do that. I want to shine with Jesus' love. I want people to look at me and think "wow, she is so in love with Jesus". I need to get back into doing the things I used to, the things that made me so happy.
Blessings N Love


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|Color imageRUNNER LBP5970
The Color imageRUNNER LBP5970 model operates at up to 31 pages per minute (letter) in monochrome and up to 30 ppm (letter) in brilliant color.
The imageRUNNER LBP desktop printers are equipped with standard duplexing to save paper costs, and employ Canon's RAPID fusing technology - to reduce energy consumption and eliminate long warm-up times. The imageRUNNER LBP devices are network-ready, and support Canon UFR II technology for improved printing productivity while maintaining consistent imageRUNNER print driver operability. Furthermore, each model incorporates familiar utilities like Remote User Interface (RUI) and imageWARE Enterprise Management Console, while including several security advancements to protect confidentiality.
- Powerful Processing Engine:
The Canon imageRUNNER LBP Series is powered by a system architecture that is similar to the current imageRUNNER line, and provides unparalleled speed, power and functionality. Fast processing of large and complex documents is further enhanced through expandable onboard memory. Whether the needs of users are basic or more demanding, the imageRUNNER LBP Series offers a scalable solution to all environments.
- Superb Image Quality:
The imageRUNNER LBP Series produces output of unparalleled quality, regardless of the document. Users can print remarkably sharp and impactful presentations, architectural renderings, engineering diagrams or general office documents at high speed. The Color imageRUNNER LBP5975 utilizes an innovative compact 4-in-1 laser beam unit that reaches true 1200 dpi output* in super fine mode for enhanced image clarity and gradients, or fine mode for precise output at 600 dpi.

*Printing at 1200-dpi on Color imageRUNNER LBP5975/LBP5970 models may result in reduced engine speed.
- Compact Finishing Capabilities:
A compact corner stapling feature is standard on the Color imageRUNNER LBP5975 device, making it convenient for users to produce multipage documents from the print driver. The finisher can staple up to 15 sheets of letter, Executive or ledger paper at a time in a variety of corner positions.**

**When the staple feature is used, print speed may be reduced. Refer to product specifications for available corner staple positions.
- Consistent imageRUNNER Print Driver Architecture:
The imageRUNNER LBP Series utilizes the same consistent printer driver that Canon developed for the imageRUNNER line. By standardizing the driver interface across the entire imageRUNNER series - from desktop to production devices - users need to only familiarize themselves with one universal set of print functions. Each intuitive tab in the printer driver provides graphical icons representing the device, as well as the page layout of the particular print job being submitted. Additionally, the Dynamic Configuration function of the printer driver always displays accurate information on the device's configuration options and installed paper to eliminate errors. The imageRUNNER printer driver is compatible with both Windows and Macintosh environments.
- Powerful UFR II Print Controller:
The Canon UFR II Print Controller is included in all three models in the Canon imageRUNNER LBP Series. This proprietary architecture has been consistently proven to deliver faster output than PCL or PS page description languages for complex documents that include images, graphics and text. The UFR II Controller achieves high-performance printing by automatically distributing data processing between the print driver on the user's desktop computer and the imageRUNNER LBP device. The intelligent architecture automatically determines the optimal balance of processing by analyzing the layout and graphic components of each page. This unique approach maintains exceptionally high print performance on office documents and PDF files. The print controller provides support for UFR II, PCL 5c (Color imageRUNNER LBP5975, LBP5970, LBP5960 and LBP5360), and PCL 5e/6 (imageRUNNER LBP3460).
- RAPID Fusing System:
The long wait for printed output is over since the Canon imageRUNNER Series requires no warm-up time from standby mode to produce documents fast. The power of the RAPID Fusing System is inside each model, which uses a special fixing film and ceramic heater unlike traditional roller-fixing devices. RAPID Fusing System provides exceptional image quality with zero warm-up time and reduces first print-out time, while requiring less heat and energy consumption.
- Next Generation Toners:
The Color imageRUNNER LBP5975 uses the new QF (Quick Fixing) Color Toner. This new oil-less toner has special properties that enable it to melt fast at low temperature and pressure to maintain fast output with Color RAPID Fusing System.
- 4-In-1 Laser Scanner:
The Color imageRUNNER LBP5975 requires less valuable desktop space, yet is able to produce larger format double-sided color documents with ease. The new 4-in-1 laser scanner in the Color imageRUNNER LBP5975 uses four individual lasers aimed at one polygon mirror from different angles to expose each beam to the drum. This remarkable design is responsible for the compact size of the device because it does not need a separate laser scanner for each image drum.
- Short Vertical Paper Path:
The Color imageRUNNER LBP5975 features a remarkably short vertical paper path, resulting in short first print-out times of 7.5 seconds (monochrome) and 9.0 seconds (color). The short path also contributes to the extremely compact size of the device.
- Front-Load Access:
All models in the Canon imageRUNNER LBP Series are remarkably compact and feature front-load access to consumables such as drum, toner, fuser and paper supply. This enables the devices to be conveniently placed either on top of or below a desk, in a corner, or in previously unusable space.
- Advanced Paper Handling:
The Canon imageRUNNER LBP Series features a standard auto-duplexing function that can save paper costs by printing double-sided documents with nonstop productivity. Using a trayless duplexing design, the imageRUNNER LBP Series assures high reliability of paper feeding in a very compact size. In addition, each model offers options that provide extra paper capacity for even longer continuous operation. Up to three optional 550-sheet cassettes can be installed on the Color imageRUNNER LBP5975.
- Simplified Maintenance:
The Canon imageRUNNER LBP Series has been designed to optimize productivity through the minimization of downtime. This is achieved through the front-load access to all customer replaceable components. When replacements are required, each toner cartridge and image drum can be replaced individually to improve operating cost effectiveness.
Main Unit Specs
|Model Name
|Color imageRUNNER LBP5970
|Printing Process
|Type: Desktop Color Laser Printer
Copying Method: Electrophoto method (Color RAPID Fusing System)
Developing System: Dry Dual Component Developing System
|31/30 ppm
|First Print Time
|Black and White: 7.5 Sec.
Color: 9.0 Sec.
Warm-Up Time: 0 Seconds from Standby, 30 Seconds or Less from Power On
|R4000 Series (400 MHz***)
MIPS64 Series (533 MHz***)
|Standard: 256MB RAM
Maximum: 768MB RAM*
Hard Disk Drive: Optional 30GB
|Page Description Language
|UFR II/PCL5c/6
Optional PDL Support: PostScript® 3™ Emulation (PS ROM 98B/98C)
Print Resolution
|Printer Driver
|UFR II: Windows® (Windows 2000/XP/Vista®/ Server 2003), Citrix MetaFrame/Macintosh® (OS 10.3.3 or later)/Novell Netware® v3.20/4.1/4.11/4.20/5.0/5.1/6.0/6.5 (IPX/SPX)
PCL5c/6: Windows (Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Server 2003), Citrix MetaFrame
PS3 Emulation: Windows (Windows98/Me/2000/XP/Server 2003), Citrix MetaFrame/Macintosh (OS 10.3.3 or later)
Halftone: 256 Gradations (Continuous-Tone)
|Network Interface Connections: 10/100Base-TX (RJ-45)
Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11)**
Other Interface: USB 2.0 Hi-Speed/USB Full-Speed (USB 1.1 Equivalent)
User Interface: LCD 16 Characters x 1 Line
11 LED Indicators, 9 Operation Keys


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Monday, March 28, 2005
Playtime at the park ...
We finally had good weather here today! It was sooooo nice so we took full advantage of it!
This morning we went and saw a local production of Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoats (and A is now walking around singing "It was red and yellow and black and pink and red and yellow and blue and pink and ... mom! What were all the colors?" LOL!!!
We also visited the local park and had a blast!
M standing on the track her sister ran a half mile on today!
Sliding down the pole!
Burning off energy!
Wait for me!
Posted by Brandie at 10:46 PM 2 comments:
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Happy Easter!
Coloring Easter eggs last night
Showing off their pretty eggs!
M running to find an egg!
Putting it in her bag!
A getting some help finding her eggs
Showing off her loot! LOL!
Posted by Brandie at 10:33 PM No comments:
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Happy Birthday Daddy!
Yesterday was daddy's birthday =)
We went to Joe's Crab Shack - daddy's choice!
He got twizzlers! LOL!
So at this place, they dont' just sing Happy Birthday to you, they do all sorts of crazy things. This is what daddy got to do:
Ride a pony around! I was laughing so hard! LOL!
Getting the cake ready!
A good DIY book from his mommy!
Posted by Brandie at 10:54 PM No comments:
Posted by Brandie at 10:53 PM No comments:
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Posted by Brandie at 11:45 PM 1 comment:
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Today we painted! The girls had a blast and are very proud of their paintings!! =)
A working hard on her rainbow picture
M working just as hard on hers!
And she painted more than just the paper! LOL!
Two fisted painting ;-)
Posted by Brandie at 9:19 PM No comments:
Thursday, March 10, 2005
First tooth lost!
Showing off her tooth!
There is a closer shot of the tooth!
Here is her smile .... it's tough to tell where the tooth came from, but if you look on the bottom going from the left to the right there is a gap, then a tooth, then another gap. The second gap is where the tooth came from. You can see the adult tooth is already growing in that spot (actually, I'm pretty sure that the adult tooth pushed the baby tooth out!)
Posted by Brandie at 1:44 PM 1 comment:
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Monday, January 19, 2009
From the Teacher's Desk
A sampling of musings from the mind of a suburban high school English teacher:
School administrators are using adjectives like "bloody," "gloomy," and "bleak" to describe the current financial state of affairs for the rest of this year and next. I am hopeful that Barack Obama will authorize federal legislation to help cities and towns deal with declines in state aid revenue. I find it a bit disconcerting that we can easily lend billions of taxpayer dollars to automakers and finance companies, yet are forced to pause and deliberate when it comes to ensuring all our country's students receive a solid education. Anyone who has ever worked inside a school can tell you, every dollar does make a difference.
Are there any teachers out there with writing centers at their schools? When I was a M.Ed. graduate student at Plymouth State University, I worked in the college's writing center. It was one of the most enjoyable jobs I've ever had. In order to get the hang of it, I underwent training in the non-directive approach to writing consultation. One of the most valuable things I learned was "silent and wait time." For the non-directive approach to be effective, the writing consultant must be patient and give the student time to ruminate on an idea or improvement. This was quite different than my days as a newspaper reporter, when editors would explain everything I did wrong and then fix it for me. I hope to eventually create a student-staffed writing center at my high school, as I've seen how they can be effective. I believe that if implemented with care, they can work at the secondary level. Please contact me if you have experience with high school writing centers.
Launching a high school newspaper advertising initiative in the middle of the year is difficult. For years my high school's newspaper was published in-house on an archaic printing press that only one teacher knew how to use. When he retired last year, so did the press and all that it produced. Left without a means to publish our newspaper, I was relegated to performing evening prayer rituals to Joseph Pulitzer in hopes of securing funding. My calls were eventually answered by my principal, who offered to give us enough money to publish five papers this year. My goal for next year (or perhaps even later this year) is to create an advertising department with a business manager responsible for generating enough ad sales to allow each issue to pay for itself.
We finally got around to hosting our Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest. The original date was a wash due to a snow day. As a result, interest waned, and only two students ended up reciting a poem. We do have a winner though, and she'll represent our school at the Massachusetts semi-final recitation contest this March.
Second quarter grades close this Friday. I should be in decent shape grading wise, as unlike years past, I made sure to not have a major essay due right before the close of the quarter. It took me five years to figure this out, but I am learning, albeit slowly.
I plan to add a new section to my blog called "student work." Recently two students did stellar jobs on their Outside Reading Book presentations. One created a movie trailer for Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," which he published to YouTube. I highly recommend checking it out, as it's professional quality. Another did answering machine messages for five characters from Stephanie Meyer's "Breaking Dawn." She captured the characters' essences to the T.
4 comments:
- Erika Muller said...
Mr. B-G,
This is great stuff! I came upon your blog while doing blog research for a Writing in the Disciplines of Education class at Colorado State University. I am inspired by the breadth of your blog. Any words of wisdom for an aspiring high school English teacher? How do you the future of the profession?
Erika Muller
Fort Collins, CO
- January 27, 2009
- Erika Muller said...
Mr. B-G,
Oops--my last question was how do you view the future of the profession? I forgot that word "view." I guess remembering how to form a sentence is a crucial ingredient to teaching English!
- January 27, 2009
- Mr. B-G said...
Hi Erika,
I'm glad you happened across my blog. It's been a fantastic outlet for me, allowing for a place to muse about my teaching, connect with other teachers, and publish my writing - even if I'm sometimes the only reader!
There's something about throwing one's writing out there for all to see that's invigorating and liberating.
As for words of wisdom? I'd say flexibility is probably # 1 on my list - or at least in the top three.
Be gentle on yourself. Be patient. Reward yourself for successes. Don't dwell on the negatives, but learn from them.
There are so many different ways to do this job well, and so many different approaches to take. My advice is to observe as many teachers as you can. Sit in on as many classes as possible. Shoot for a variety of teaching styles, a mix of grades, levels, courses.
This blog has allowed me to learn from a number of different teachers about how this job can be done. Even at my own school, within my own department, each of us has his or her own styles and preferences. It's hard to say one is better than the other. As long as students are engaged and learning, we are doing our jobs.
Also, remember to breathe!
As for the future of the profession, do you mean education or the teaching of English? Both questions have weighty answers I suppose, and probably deserve more thought than I can muster at the moment. I will need to ponder and get back to you.
Best of luck with your classes. Thanks again for visiting my blog.
- January 27, 2009
- Erika Muller said...
Mr. B-G,
Thanks for your words of encouragement! I look forward to observing as many teachers as I can. Luckily, I have some good friends who are already working in the field who I can observe. Hopefully they can provide me with some more contacts, too.
In my Teaching in the U.S. class which I am recently taking at CSU, we have discussed the importance of creating dialogue in our classrooms. Do you think that creating dialogue in the classroom is essential to the future of the English teaching profession? If so, how can such a process be used?
Thank you so much!
Erika Muller
- February 03, 2009


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Sunday, October 24, 2010
Yesterday was Art Attack. I had a bunch of my comics and other drawings for sale as well as some new collages, two of which are pictured below. I did these new ones on illustration board and laid down a spray paint ground before I started collaging on top. I also did blind contour portraits, one of which is posted here. I charged a dollar piece and they were quite a hit. Probably more so because I looked like a creeper staring the person in the eyes as I blindly drew them. Overall it was awesome and next time it happens make sure to be there.
Posted by Aaron Mitchell at 3:00 PM
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Who would have thought that a warm shower could save my sanity this week?
It's really been kind of a crappy week. Nothing seems to have gone right for me, which, looking back now, can be attributed to a nice little bout with depression.
Said depression this week was probably the worst I've ever had it. I think I actually frightened one of my coworkers. I won't go into how, because I don't want to scare anybody else.
Sorry, no details for you.
One of the things that went wrong this week was that starting last Sunday, I didn't have hot water. And my back had gone out. So every time I went to take a shower, my body would tense up, making my back even worse. I don't mind cold showers, but I would prefer to choose when I take one, and I wouldn't choose to take one every day.
And then on Friday, I had a couple rough calls at work, early on. Usually after a rough call, I'll take a couple seconds to recover and then I'm okay. Unfortunately, one of my supervisors, who also trained me, was walking by and asked if I was okay. Of course, as soon as someone asked, I wasn't okay anymore. So I had a nice little breakdown and I had to walk away from my desk for a few minutes to recover again.
Back to the cold showers: they had actually been affecting my mood a little after the third day of them. I had filed a service request over the internet and was told that someone would contact me. By Friday, I was feeling pretty ignored and unwanted, really. I had a management company in the last apartment I rented that ignored a service order until I moved out. So I figured I had another management company that didn't care.
During my last break on Friday, I managed to find the complex office's phone number and called just to see if they had received my request. They hadn't, but Amber, the office person, said that she would get someone on the job and mark it urgent. I thought, okay, I'll have hot water next week, at least I can have that to look forward to. Well, I got home, and I could tell someone had been there, so I turned on the water, and I had hot.
I immediately took a 20 minute, nice warm shower.
And my entire day improved by a lot.
So yes, a shower saved my sanity this week. I wouldn't go so far as to say it saved my life, but it saved my sanity.
So hey, sane Adam.
9 Happy Things in 2017
6 months ago


text: Although she's best known as silver-tongued killjoy Sue Sylvester, a scheming cheerleader coach with a propensity for track suits on Fox's "Glee," Jane Lynch's range as an actress runs wide and deep. Her roots with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Second City in Chicago set the stage for a series of scene-stealing parts in movies and television, beginning with her breakthrough film role as Christy Cummings, a butch dog trainer in Christopher Guest's "Best in Show." She has since starred in Guest's "A Mighty Wind" and "For Your Consideration," as well as "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Role Models" and "Julie & Julia," alongside Meryl Streep. Her smallscreen work includes "The West Wing," "Arrested Development," "The L Word" and "Two and a Half Men," in which she played Charlie Sheen's shrink. Over the summer she earned raves as Miss Hannigan in the Broadway musical "Annie." Variety spoke with the actress, who's receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Sept. 4, about typecasting, theater training and awards season madness.


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Sadly, I didn't attend London Fashion Week this time. And I also gave New York & Milan a miss as well . I just couldn't spare the time. You see, I was far too busy with my v own Fashion Week, what with my daily airing of outfits freshly thrifted from Bednobs & Broomsticks over the Summer Holidays as well as staging my yearly fashion event - the annual Market stall of all our fashion castoffs at the Rozelle Markets with my great friends, AJ & The Ex School Nurse.
But more on that shortly.
Bath time Fun.
Each day I scamper out of bed & into the bath which lately, in a desperate bid to detox or de-stress or de-something, I've been shoving handfuls of Epsom salts & baking soda & lavender oil into. I got the idea from a post I read on Facebook.
I can't say that I feel any different except the bath has a nastier than usual ring of grime around it. But maybe it's better for the bath to have the ring of grime rather than me.
Pathetic Attempts at Stress Reduction
In case you were wondering , I do do other things to detox/destress/desomething.
1. I listen to meditation beats every day from an app on my phone. You can't really imagine The Dalai Lama doing that, can you?
2. I box once a week. It's not really proper boxing or anything - I'm not wearing satin shorts or a mouthguard that keeps slipping out of my mouth. And I'm not in a boxing ring & there's no audience, except for the multitudes of dogs that hang around in the park where I'm doing it.
But it feels good. Jay, my personal trainer, looks at me & says, "Go on, hit me!" And then I imagine all the people who I'd like to hit in one big conga line that spans the entire park.
OMG, how could I have said that? I must be stressed...as if I'd have a conga line of people I'd like to bash senseless? If I was the Dalai Lama, the conga line would be full of people I wanted to hug. But I'm not the Dalai Lama.
3. Instead of coming home after a hard day & pouring myself a stiff scotch , I lie down for twenty minutes & listen to calming music. My current favourite is Snatum Kaur, an American Sikh with a breathtaking voice who sings Indian devotional songs with catchy titles like Song of the Heart. Or is it, The Universe? I can't remember. I even sometimes listen to Enya which I don't think many people would admit to. But it seems that I've unknowingly swallowed a truth serum & I'm suddenly telling you everything.
4. Practising Effective Sleep Hygiene. Don't you just love that term? For one wonderful moment, I thought that I may have made it up. But I just checked with Dr Google, (or should it be Pope Google? ) & realised that I didn't.
In case you were wondering, It just means going to bed at the same time every nite without fluffing around on social networking sites or watching an entire season of Breaking Bad in one go. Or doing some frantic last minute belly dancing.
God, I can't go on any more with this tedious list, I'm boring myself to death. But that's one of the things about being sixty. You can't go on acting like Auntie Mame forever, otherwise you end up looking like,quelle horreur, Brigitte Bardot. And I'm not quite ready for that yet.
Talking of bedtime, I must hop in & drift off while I listen to a few bars of soothing Snatum. Great music, but Snatum sounds like a name you'd give a pet rat. Or perhaps a hamster.
I'll have to post again tomorrow with a report of the stall.
In the meantime, I'll leave you with a snap of me at the end of a v long day. I'mmwearing a Costume National checked shirt & the usual sweat pantaloons.


text: OK, got the recommendations for my inlaws fried fish, now on to my husbands favorite. What are you favorite hot wings places? My husband really likes the heat, and I'm talking about habanero hot if possible. My taste is down a notch from him, at our favorite local places in NC, he always get the hottest they make and mine is the next one down. We both prefer a more buffalo/vinegar base sauce, but are open to the more tomato based ones. Will consider a really great flavor sauce even if the heat is not quite habanero level. We are staying on A1A in Ft Lauderdale beach, but are up for a drive in either direction for something good. Hope there are some options in the area.


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By Chip Register via Commodities Now
Is the U.S. shale industry at a tipping point? Oil prices fell to a six-week low last Friday after the International Energy Agency warned that the U.S. may soon run out of room to store all the oil being pumped out of shale plays across the country. As oil starts to back up, the worry is that prices could fall like a rock. But despite this grave warning, bullish oil traders are keeping their cool. They believe that the low prices will ultimately decimate the U.S. shale industry, removing a large chunk of supply from the market indefinitely, similar to what happened during the last major oil price crash 30 years ago.
But is the shale industry really that vulnerable? Growing production levels in the face of lower prices seems to defy the view that the industry is on the edge of collapse. While oil prices fell nearly 50% from their peak last year in June, production across the seven major shale plays increased by 18% to 5.1 million barrels between June 2014 and February 2015. One reason is that the industry is financially more sophisticated than in the past, giving it greater access to the credit markets. This has allowed producers to remain financially solvent through the downturn and continue pumping despite the weak prices. At the same time, advances in drilling technology and engineering know how has allowed producers to respond quicker to price changes, helping to create both a floor and a ceiling to the oil price.
There remains a great deal of controversy surrounding the reasons why oil prices fell off a cliff last summer. Richard Fisher, the head of the Dallas Federal Reserve, said at the Economic Club of New York last month that he believed the Saudis "engineered" the current oil crisis to drive shale producers out of business. Continental Resources Chairman and CEO, Harold Hamm, told Forbes last week he thought the Russians financed the anti-fracking movement in the United States and Europe in an attempt to wipe out shale producers to protect their market share.
But if there were a sinister Saudi or Russian plot to destroy the U.S. shale industry, it doesn't seem to be working, at least not yet. Only a handful of U.S. shale producers have gone bust since prices fell, like WBH Energy back in January, with the vast majority still operating. They have adapted quickly to the market by almost immediately slashing capital expenditures, negotiating cheaper service contracts and cutting staff. The name of the game has basically gone from "expand as fast as you can" to "liability management".
But if some were to get into trouble, the credit analysts at JP Morgan said there exists a "large and varied toolkit of liability management options," that could help weather the storm. These include second-lien financings, asset sales as well as debt-for-debt and debt-for-equity exchange offers. Given this, the analysts believe the true cumulative default rate, even under a sustained three-year $50 oil price (WTI) scenario, would be less than 30%.
To be sure, a decrease in capital spending doesn't necessarily lead to a commensurate decline in production. Indeed, the sharp drop in oil prices has also meant a sharp drop in production costs as operators now have the upper hand in contract negotiations with oil service firms. This has led to as much as a 20% to 30% reduction in oil service costs for many firms who continue to drill, according to a note published by Barclays North America oilfield services and equipment lead analyst, J. David Anderson.
Technology is also playing a role in keeping costs to a minimum. Michael Lynch, an analyst at Strategic Energy and Economic Research, believes that technological improvements, along with offsetting increases in production, are reducing fracking costs for shale producers by around 10% to 20% on an annual basis. Combine that with reduction in oil field service costs and you start see how the shale industry can hold on for quite a while with oil prices down in the dumps.
Demand for oil seems to be on the rise, with the IEA seeing what they call "tentative signs of a demand recovery." As such they now believe that world oil demand will average around 93.5 million barrels a day, which is up around 300,000 barrels a day from their previously bearish forecast. This should help reduce oil inventories, removing the current downward pressure on the oil price due to the storage crunch.
The oil price has always been tricky to forecast. Pretty much no one saw the collapse from its highs last summer and few, if any, will probably call the bottom this year with any certainty.
I continue to see this market stuck range-bound. In one corner you have the shale industry continuing to produce and supported financially by the credit markets. This will define our cap; but, in the other corner, we have slowly increasing global demand and the ever-present potential for political conflict. From there we establish our floor. Certainly in between there will be volatile days and weeks, but those looking for a capitulation or triple digit pricing in the next few years and fighting some pretty obstinate fundamentals.
Ends --
Source: Forbes, Chip Register, Sapient Global Markets via Commodites Now (EconMatters author archive here)The views and opinions expressed herein are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect those of EconMatters.
© EconMatters All Rights Reserved | Facebook | Twitter | Email Subscribe | Kindle


text:
Last Sunday at our house, the temperature was -4 and the snow was blowing. At times when we were driving, there was no visibility due to the blowing snow. The wind chill made the temperature feel like -25. Our final day of Christmas shopping was challenging. It felt like we lived at the North Pole.
Today, I was awakened to lightening and thunder. The rain was pounding on the window. I opened the slider and let the dogs out. It was warm outside. I could not believe it was over 50. I knew it was still December but did someone move my house???Next weather monitor went off and we were under a tornado watch.
Even though temperature was unusually high, I headed for the gym because of the pouring rain. Last year, I was part of Team Weight Loss at the gym. I pulled one of my workouts out of the books. I did get a new Polar HR monitor for Xmas and gave it a test run. I only did 35 minutes because I have decided to do my swim homework tomorrow. (3,000m timed swim).
Waddling in any kind of weather............


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Hi friends,
A place called 'saputara', its in india, full of trees and mountains, i try to create this scene with full of fog in Vue. post work is done in photoshop.hope you like it.
© Copyright by www.omkarmotion.com 2008-09
3d illustration, architectural rendering, vray rendering services, 3d modeling and lighting and vfx artists


text:
255 Kentlands Blvd
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
10am - 7pm
Th: 10am - 8pm
F: 10am - 7pm
S: 10am - 6pm
Su: 12pm - 5pm
GFR (Good Form Running) will help you run more efficiently, faster and injury free. With focus on proper mechanics, Good Form Running aims to helps runners of all ages and abilities achieve those goals.
GFR has 4 components to it which include: POSTURE, MIDFOOT, CADENCE and LEAN. Here is an overview of all 4 components and the first two demonstrated.
Common Running Form:
Slouching posture, heel striking, overstriding and bending from the waist lead to inefficient effort, excessive body shock, braking forces and many common injuries.
Good Form Running:
Tall body alignment, midfoot strike, high cadence and a forward lean ensure an easier run, increased efficiency and greatly reduce the chance of injury
Thank you to our friends at New Balance for designing Good Form Running


text:
The best way to predict the future is to invent it. - Alan Kay
The Math Future Group is an international network of researchers, educators, families, community leaders and technology enablers. We are collaborating on a variety of research and development projects and conversation threads about social media as it relates to mathematics and mathematics education.


text:
My futsal boots, or my futsal shoe is in a bad condition.
Since i've been scoring too much goals, the right-front part of my right right shoe is torn.
Unfortunately, there's no picture of that.
I love this shoe. It has been with me for around 3 years.
And it has helped me to score and also create
thousands of countless goals.
I just can't let her go, yet.
So, yesterday, i went to send her for a surgery.
A shoe surgery that is.
It badly needs a surgery.
Mr.cobbler, please be gentle with her
I sent it to the cobbler at PJ Section 14. Just beside the Maybank.
Since the process took about less than half an hour, so i opted to wait for my dearest shoe.
That's gotta hurt
I asked the cobbler to sew her whole body, to avoid future tears.
Since he's at it, i asked him to sew the whole pair, all round.
And it costs me just RM20.
Looks like the new Nike CTR 360, worn by Fabregas,
will have to wait then.
Why spend when you can save, right?
After the surgery
Now, my baby is back with me, all patched up.
And i'm off the injury list already.
Looks like i'm gonna SCORE tonight! (no pun intended)


text:
from w
It's good to see the women of Labasa collecting items to help the women of Western Viti Levu affected by the floods. It must be really awful to have their homes wrecked by the deluge of water and many things damaged or lost. Vina'a va'alevu to the kind donors, thinking of others.
from the Fiji Times today:
Friendly people of north help affected westerners
Serafina Silaitoga
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
A HIGH response has been received from the community of the friendly north for gifts to flood victims in the west. Headed by the Labasa women and youth flood appeal, the response has seen civil servants, companies and even housewives collect household items for the women whose lives were shattered by the devastating flood.
Group leader Arieta Moceica has labelled the response as positive.
"So many responses have been received and interest have come in from housewives who have started collecting household items for our sisters in the west," Ms Moceica said. "It is not easy for a housewife who does not earn money to buy things for herself because even if she receives money, she will think of her family first and won't buy anything for herself," she said. "So the items we are collecting are clothes, perfumes, cooking utensils, undergarments, buckets, mops, brooms, scrubbing brush and anything else that will help housewives rebuild their homes," she added.
Ms Moceica said most of the companies and civil servants had decided to have their own point of collection to make it easier for their employees. "Next week Friday, all the donated items will be brought to Civic Centre which is the main area of collection and we will then hand it over to the Labasa special administrator (Vijay Chand) and the Commissioner Northern (Lieutenant Colonel Ilai Moceica)."
She says they are thinking of their sisters who are in problem. "We are thinking of our sisters and youths who have been affected in the west and we hope the donations from everyone in Labasa will help make a difference as they rebuild their lives," Mrs Moceica said.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Sisters are doing it for others
Posted by Peceli and Wendy's Blog at 6:32 PM
Labels: after Fiji floods
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text:
'Never Let Me Go', directed by Mark Romanek and based on the 2005 novel by Kazuo Ishiguro is a story about three friends who grow up in an idyllic country school called Hailsham in the late seventies. They are amongst a group of fellow children who were raised for one single purpose - to reach adulthood and start donating their vital organs to people who need it, until they die, or as the story puts it, when they 'complete'.
It's not a science fiction dystopian story about a bad world. Calling it so would be naive as the parallels this story draws with real life and how children are raised in controlled environments make you wonder if Ishiguro was merely telling a story or rather showing us a reflection we generally turn away from. In the story, kids aren't told how normal kids live lives in the outside world, they aren't encouraged to dream and the only contact they have with 'naturals' is through teachers and caretakers. The only priority is to make sure they live absolutely healthy lives.
Kathy and Ruth are really good friends. Tommy is shy and weird. Kathy and Tommy strike a chord as she is the only one in school who does not tease him. Getting jealous of this closeness Ruth moves in and makes Tommy her boyfriend (ah, schooldays) before anything can happen between him and Kathy. The three grow up together and move to 'The Cottages', a place where they meet 'donors' from other schools in their late teens before they are all seen primed up for organ donation. Kathy, not being able to withstand the tag of being the third wheel, volunteers to be a 'carer', who travels across the country and looks after donors who are about to 'complete' after their third or fourth donation.
Cliche demands that movies cannot be as good as the book. This time, I think it's a tie. Romanek does justice to Ishiguro, although he does leave out some small moments from the book. I'm guessing he did so to make the story less dramatic. but he makes it up with the excellent casting of characters. Carey Mulligan (An Education) is beautiful as the humble and introvert narrator Kathy. It is, perhaps, one of her best roles. Keira Knightley (Bend It Like Beckham, Pirates of the Caribbean) as Ruth glides tirelessly between shades of a best friend who is a bitch at times and later, a person looking for redemption. Andrew Garfield (Boy A, The Social Network) as the hopeful and gentle Tommy, is showing more promise with every single role he has played so far. Boy A and Never Let Me Go should come out as a double Garfield package if he ever makes it to the A-List. It doesn't really matter - he's already a great actor.
The background score is really good as the music switches effortlessly from a green English countryside vibe to a tense hopeless moment in some operating table. A song, also called 'Never Let Me Go' is a track by fictional jazz singer Judy Bridgewater, in a cassette that Tommy gifts Kathy while at Hailsham. According to Ishiguro, this is sung by a mother to her baby daughter. The young Kathy would often play it in the empty dorm while holding her pillow tight. A part in the book and left out in the movie, shows a French art teacher addressed by the students as Madame, crying while she sees Kathy swaying gently with this song playing in the recorder. Kathy does not understand then why Madame wept. Years later when they meet again, Madame explains that in that moment she saw a girl about to leave the old life, that was the comfort Hailsham offered, and move on to a cruel world that would see her as a resource for a better life. This song according to Madame, was the girl's words to her old life, asking it not to let her go.
It's a good book to read. It's a great movie to watch. And yes, boys do cry.


text:
8:30 pm
Science Mission 101 This competitive reality-style program challenges two teams of high school students to unravel the scientific mystery of why only certain strains of the bacterium salmonella make people sick. The teams perform their scientific investigations aboard the University of Pittsburgh's Mobile Science Lab, a converted 18-wheeler.G
9:00 pm
Global Spirit (Expired) "The Spiritual Quest" In this episode of Global Spirit, writer and spiritual seeker Phil Cousineau hosts internationally renowned author and comparative religion scholar Karen Armstrong and Professor of Buddhist studies Dr. Robert Thuerman for a discussion of The Spiritual Quest as both a personal and religious phenomenon. Drawing on personal experiences and the guests' extensive knowledge of various religious traditions, this fascinating conversation in front of a live, New York audience, illuminates the individual and universal dimensions of the Spiritual Quest, asking questions that have intrigued humanity since the dawn of time. D
10:00 pm
NOVA "Hunting The Edge of Space - The Ever Expanding Universe" The conclusion investigates the universe's distant past - and its future. Modern telescopes add a mysterious new twist: The majority of the stuff of the universe is invisible, tied up in dark matter and dark energy. A new generation of telescopes embarks on a new mission, to seek out these mysterious dark forces. Part 2 of 2G
11:00 pm
Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's "The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's" is aimed at helping Americans better understand and cope with this fearsome disease. The centerpiece of the two-hour special is a 90-minute documentary -- a dramatic, compassionate, all-encompassing look at Alzheimer's that weaves together the history and biology of the disease, the intense real-world experiences of Alzheimer's patients and caregivers, and the race to find a cure. "The Forgetting" will reach out to all Americans concerned about Alzheimer's -- providing broader awareness and understanding of the disease and offering immediate, practical support to families and caregivers. D


text: Playmobil launches first pregnant figure Family news News & Gossip 0 Toy giant responds to children's requests Toy manufacturer Playmobil is launching a brand new character in its Figures Series 3 range this week, called 'Pregnant Woman'. The new figure, part of the mystery bag collectables range, is the first ever pregnant character and, according to the company, comes in response to requests from children all round the world, who send in hundreds of drawings and ideas every month of what they'd like to play with. Playmobil UK marketing director Jamie Dickinson said, "We know how much children love to create things they see around them in everyday life, so we're thrilled to introduce the very first pregnant Playmobil figure to this collection." The new figure is 7.5cm tall and appears to be in the early stages of pregnancy, perhaps so she doesn't topple over. The Figures series is the toy giant's biggest seller and each cost £1.99. Other characters in the range include an Ice Hockey Player, a Caribbean Drummer, a Bride and a Special Agent. Read more... Boris calls for compulsory daily sport for kids Food giants contribute to kids' lower cholesterol levels New app blocks unwanted baby pics on Facebook By Nicola Pearson 0 Comments Share Like this article? Showing of Uh-oh! You need to be logged in to do this... Sign In Sign Up Load more posts Write a comment


text:
kos Liakopoulos sprained his ankle and he is not able to play, so AENK is ready to acquire Kevin Anderson as his replacement.
Liakopoulos is expected to be out of action for the next month and Anderson- the former player of Ilisiakos- is Ilias Papatheodorou's "chosen one" to replace the Greek guard. The 27- year old American player, whose last team was Aliaga Petkim (Turkey), is coming tomorrow to Athens and he will sign an one-month contract.
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"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:
now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
1 Corinthians 13:12
With that in mind, let's take a look at the rapidly-developing events happening in the Middle East through the lens of what has been revealed in the Bible. It's all about Israel!
We know of two of the great wars Israel will face, one presented in great detail in Ezekiel 38, and another in Psalm 83. It looks like the latter will precede the former, for very good reasons.
1. The most well-known and long-discussed passage is in Ezekiel 38 where Iran and Russia, along with several north African Muslim nations will come down to destroy Israel. When these prophecies were given, keep in mind that the prophet used the names of the places as they were called then. Historians have been able to trace who they were at the time, and what those areas are called today. For example, "Persia" was the leading kingdom on earth in the times of some of the prophets. Today, the area which was then called Persia is present-day Iran. In like manor we can identify the other nations listed.
Some facts to notice about the Ezekiel 38 passage:
1. Russia and Iran will be leading the assault
2. Verse 8 shows us it will take place in the last days
3. It will be at a time when Israel is in a state of relative peace
4. In this passage you will not find Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, or Saudi Arabia, which are the present-day immediate neighbors of Israel.
This arouses some questions:
- How can it be when Israel is at a time of peace? She hasn't had peace since Israel has been re-established in 1948.
- And why are Israel's immediate neighbors not mentioned in this conflict?
The answer may lie in the war mentioned in Psalm 83. This passage DOES mention Israel's present-day immediate neighbors, and verse 12 even tells their motive, which is to take the land from Israel.
"Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession..."
So Israel will come to a semblance of peace, when God judges her immediate neighbors, the so-called Palestinians, "as fire burns wood." This will put Israel in a state of peace that she hasn't experienced since she has been regathered to her land.
Is what is happening in Egypt a precursor to the Psalm 83 war?
We can only watch and see, but from viewing the unrest not only in Egypt but in the other countries surrounding Israel, it's only too obvious that exactly that is being set up. In fact, the very words of the Psalm are only too familiar today:
"They have said, 'Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.'"
Those words have constantly been in our news reports on the happenings in the Middle East. How could the psalmist, and the prophet Isaiah have known so particularly, so exactly, the specific alliances and hatreds and motives that would take place "in the last days" from more than 2,700 years ago?
What has been revealed about Egypt in "the last days" which seems to be developing right now?
1. Egyptians will fight against Egyptians
2. They will come under the hand of a dictator, a "cruel master," and a "fierce king."
"I will set Egyptians against Egyptians; Everyone will fight against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor... And the Egyptians I will give into the hand of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them," Says the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
Isaiah 19:2-4
Civil unrest will be the cause of Egyptians warring against Egyptians. That is EXACTLY what we are witnessing right now.
We need to be watching this very, very closely. If the Muslim Brotherhood takes over in Egypt, then the very life of Israel is threatened, because the Muslim Brotherhood vehemently hates Israel.
But it's not just Egypt:
1. Israel's northern border in Lebanon is under the control of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group.
2. Israel's northeast border is Syria, the avowed and longtime enemy of Israel, and which along with Iran is the supporter of the terrorist groups threatening Israel.
3. Jordan sits as Israel's eastern neighbor and the uproar in the region is spreading into Jordan as well.
4. Israel's neighbor to the further northwest is Turkey, which until recently was an ally but has abandoned its ties with Israel and has embraced the radical Muslim nations.
5. Israel's southern border is under the control of the fierce Israel-hating Hamas terror group, and that area abuts Egypt.
6. Israel's western border is the Mediterranean Sea, which all of the above have vowed to push Israel into.
What more does God have to say concerning Egypt as she relates to Israel? Read Isaiah 19:17-22
1. Israel will be victorious over Egypt:
"And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it."
2. Even the Hebrew language will be spoken in Egypt.
"In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts..."
3.Egypt is one nation that will not be destroyed. She will be struck and then be converted.
"And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them."
Pray for Israel, and for God's people in the Middle East. Pray for the Muslim nations because even as these things are lining up for last-days events, God is doing a great work among the Muslims. Thousands upon thousands are coming to the Lord.
Listen to testimonies
Pray for the great harvest of souls before the door is closed and the events of the great Tribulation are unleashed upon a wicked and unbelieving world. Things are even at this moment lining up for the event of the last days to unfold. The door will soon be closed.