Blog number 330 **** 28 October 2009
Yesterday the lovely Teresa and I were sitting in Barnes and Nobles and this Black lady with three adorable children came by and we started talking. At one point we got to talking about Halloween decorations at houses - she thought some of them rather gross. Then she mentioned that she knows a family that has a cat that is named after the Devil. I guess we looked blank because she said, "You know. The Devil's name. I don't want to say it. It starts with an el."
I was stumped, so I got to thinking. "The Devil's name is..Beelzebub...no, doesn't start with an el...Lucifer!"And just as I thought that, she says, "You know. It rhymes with useifer"
Ah, yes. I smile at her. But I don't say that obscene name.
People are so funny!
I hypothesize she was of the Pentecostal religion because those people have a thing about the Devil's power. I think they wish he didn't exist. But then why would we need God? I dunno.
I don't think she didn't want to say the devil's name for the same reason some religious people don't want to say God's name - out of a sense of awe, but more likely something like, "If I say his name, he might think I am calling him and come to me." I know some cultures don't like you making a fuss over their children in fear of attracting Satan's attention to the children.
If I get to know her better, I'm gonna ask, you betchum.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Row, row, row your boat
Blog number 329 **** 28 October 2009
I have several "triggers" to remind me that I am dreaming so that I can "wake-up" in my dreams; so I can dream a lucid dream, so I can know I am dreaming while I am dreaming.
If I dream I am naked in public places, if I see houses, cows, or any unusual thing floating in the sky, or if I find myself flying, those are supposed to be triggers to wake me up to the fact that I am in a dream.
Last night I dreamed that a large branch was floating in the sky, as if the wind was holding it up. I watched as if plummeted to the ground, barely missing a car, hitting the highway with a thunderous crash, bouncing across the road, raising a maelstrom of dust.
I also dreamed that same night that I was in a room and I started floating up to the ceiling in a circular pattern. I thought at first I might be dead, and then thought I might be dying, then I woke up. Two triggering dreams in the same sleep, neither of which worked.
What we normally call "being awake" is also a dream, but with different "laws." In this dream, I am trying to always be kind. I am also trying to never speak if I am angry, to always think of others as sacred beings. I guess you could call these rules, "triggers" for the "awake" dream.
Being in these states consciously, being awake to them, like being awake to one of my night dream triggers, would create a more aware and informative and enjoyable environment than if I slept unconscious through them. Today, two of these rules were broken. I was not kind and I spoke in anger. And I was totally unaware that I was supposed to be working to do neither. Just like I was totally unaware that I was dreaming triggers in my dreams last night.
Is there a connection between the failure of the triggers in the two "dreams" happening so close together? Is that concidence a trigger for a third type of dream? Inquiring minds want to know.
I have several "triggers" to remind me that I am dreaming so that I can "wake-up" in my dreams; so I can dream a lucid dream, so I can know I am dreaming while I am dreaming.
If I dream I am naked in public places, if I see houses, cows, or any unusual thing floating in the sky, or if I find myself flying, those are supposed to be triggers to wake me up to the fact that I am in a dream.
Last night I dreamed that a large branch was floating in the sky, as if the wind was holding it up. I watched as if plummeted to the ground, barely missing a car, hitting the highway with a thunderous crash, bouncing across the road, raising a maelstrom of dust.
I also dreamed that same night that I was in a room and I started floating up to the ceiling in a circular pattern. I thought at first I might be dead, and then thought I might be dying, then I woke up. Two triggering dreams in the same sleep, neither of which worked.
What we normally call "being awake" is also a dream, but with different "laws." In this dream, I am trying to always be kind. I am also trying to never speak if I am angry, to always think of others as sacred beings. I guess you could call these rules, "triggers" for the "awake" dream.
Being in these states consciously, being awake to them, like being awake to one of my night dream triggers, would create a more aware and informative and enjoyable environment than if I slept unconscious through them. Today, two of these rules were broken. I was not kind and I spoke in anger. And I was totally unaware that I was supposed to be working to do neither. Just like I was totally unaware that I was dreaming triggers in my dreams last night.
Is there a connection between the failure of the triggers in the two "dreams" happening so close together? Is that concidence a trigger for a third type of dream? Inquiring minds want to know.
Friday, September 4, 2009
CHICKIE BABY REVISITED
Blog number 327 **** 04 September 2009
In the Chick Publications book entitled, "The Warning," we are visited in the first panel with a car T-boning a police car. Not just ANY car gets T-boned in a Chick publication. It has to be a POLICE car.
The guy ran a stop sign.
In the next panel we have a little boy asking, "How did that happen, Grandpa?"
Grandpa asks his own question in response. "What do you think CAUSED the accident, Bobby?"
Bobby answers his own question. "That driver ignored the stop sign, didn't he?"
Maybe I'm being picky, but I don't think that CAUSED the accident. Lots of people ignore stop signs without having an accident. If there was a cause of that accident, I would say it was because somebody wasn't paying attention. Probably mostly the car that ran into the police car, but it seems that the cop was a little unaware too. Just a mite?
Anyhow, Grandpa takes this opportunity to give Bobby a lesson in believing in warning signs. He says, "When my father was a little kid, he almost died...because he didn't believe in warning signs." Grandpa then takes apiece of barbed wire from what looks like a dresser drawer and declares that it was this little piece of barbed wire that saved his life.
It seems like it would be kinda hard on any clothes kept in that dresser alongside that barbed wire. Barbed wire gets rusty after a few decades, so not only would Grandpa's clothes be torn, they'd have rust stains all over them. But maybe that drawer contains only trophies that saved Daddy's life? I can't believe it only contained that one piece of a barbed wire fence.
Now two things. First, evidently it was not the obeying of a warning sign that saved his life as the theme of the story might suggest. No, indeed. Turns out it was because his overalls got caught on a barbed wire fence and he couldn't get to the water in time to die with his three friends.
And second, what is it with that father's unborn-at-the-time's son doing with a piece of barbed wire from his daddy's childhood? Who cut the fence in order to have the trophy?. And is it the exact piece that the Daddy got caught on or would any part of that wire fence had been good enough? And was the needle from the hypo that vaccinated the father from getting smallpox and dying from that also saved somewhere in one of the drawers?
The next panel, after we get to see the foot-long length of barbed wire that Grandpa keeps in his dresser drawer, shows us some boys that come over from a neighboring farm. They say that "...someone found a new swimming hole." SOMEONE found a new swimming hole? Wonder who it was? Someone they knew? I hope so.
Bobby asks, "Where?"
One of the boys answers, "It's somewhere behind the old Simpson's place. We're on our way to find it."
Think about that. Three teenage farm boys, obviously entranced with swimming holes, never having heard of one on a neighboring farm.
So the lads go through a corn field, past a barbed wire fence with a "No trespassing" sign on it, through another barbed wire fence with two signs on it, one saying, "Stay Away," the other, "Danger!"
They finally come to the swimming hole, which is rather close to a windmill, which makes it a little more difficult for me to imagine how this swimming hole stayed lost for so many years. And oh, yeah. There's a sign in the water that says, "No Swimming."
So they jump in - all except Grandpa's Dad whom we know got caught on the barbed wire and was thus saved. The other boys died. They didn't drown, surprisingly. No, no. They got bit by snakes which were living in the water. Surprise, surprise.
Seems like Jack T. Chick's theme took a little side trip to look at the world's biggest ball of yarn. We now get five panels of a preacher talking at the funeral of the three boys, about Adam and Eve. We get to learn about the "the worst snake attack in history that took place about 6000 years ago." And, "the sad part was that those victims had also been warned of the terrifying consequences [of not heeding a warning]."
We get to learn about the dangers of ignoring warning signs while at the same time get a review lesson in how bad snakes are, all wrapped up in one Jack T. Chick story. Funny guy.
In the Chick Publications book entitled, "The Warning," we are visited in the first panel with a car T-boning a police car. Not just ANY car gets T-boned in a Chick publication. It has to be a POLICE car.
The guy ran a stop sign.
In the next panel we have a little boy asking, "How did that happen, Grandpa?"
Grandpa asks his own question in response. "What do you think CAUSED the accident, Bobby?"
Bobby answers his own question. "That driver ignored the stop sign, didn't he?"
Maybe I'm being picky, but I don't think that CAUSED the accident. Lots of people ignore stop signs without having an accident. If there was a cause of that accident, I would say it was because somebody wasn't paying attention. Probably mostly the car that ran into the police car, but it seems that the cop was a little unaware too. Just a mite?
Anyhow, Grandpa takes this opportunity to give Bobby a lesson in believing in warning signs. He says, "When my father was a little kid, he almost died...because he didn't believe in warning signs." Grandpa then takes apiece of barbed wire from what looks like a dresser drawer and declares that it was this little piece of barbed wire that saved his life.
It seems like it would be kinda hard on any clothes kept in that dresser alongside that barbed wire. Barbed wire gets rusty after a few decades, so not only would Grandpa's clothes be torn, they'd have rust stains all over them. But maybe that drawer contains only trophies that saved Daddy's life? I can't believe it only contained that one piece of a barbed wire fence.
Now two things. First, evidently it was not the obeying of a warning sign that saved his life as the theme of the story might suggest. No, indeed. Turns out it was because his overalls got caught on a barbed wire fence and he couldn't get to the water in time to die with his three friends.
And second, what is it with that father's unborn-at-the-time's son doing with a piece of barbed wire from his daddy's childhood? Who cut the fence in order to have the trophy?. And is it the exact piece that the Daddy got caught on or would any part of that wire fence had been good enough? And was the needle from the hypo that vaccinated the father from getting smallpox and dying from that also saved somewhere in one of the drawers?
The next panel, after we get to see the foot-long length of barbed wire that Grandpa keeps in his dresser drawer, shows us some boys that come over from a neighboring farm. They say that "...someone found a new swimming hole." SOMEONE found a new swimming hole? Wonder who it was? Someone they knew? I hope so.
Bobby asks, "Where?"
One of the boys answers, "It's somewhere behind the old Simpson's place. We're on our way to find it."
Think about that. Three teenage farm boys, obviously entranced with swimming holes, never having heard of one on a neighboring farm.
So the lads go through a corn field, past a barbed wire fence with a "No trespassing" sign on it, through another barbed wire fence with two signs on it, one saying, "Stay Away," the other, "Danger!"
They finally come to the swimming hole, which is rather close to a windmill, which makes it a little more difficult for me to imagine how this swimming hole stayed lost for so many years. And oh, yeah. There's a sign in the water that says, "No Swimming."
So they jump in - all except Grandpa's Dad whom we know got caught on the barbed wire and was thus saved. The other boys died. They didn't drown, surprisingly. No, no. They got bit by snakes which were living in the water. Surprise, surprise.
Seems like Jack T. Chick's theme took a little side trip to look at the world's biggest ball of yarn. We now get five panels of a preacher talking at the funeral of the three boys, about Adam and Eve. We get to learn about the "the worst snake attack in history that took place about 6000 years ago." And, "the sad part was that those victims had also been warned of the terrifying consequences [of not heeding a warning]."
We get to learn about the dangers of ignoring warning signs while at the same time get a review lesson in how bad snakes are, all wrapped up in one Jack T. Chick story. Funny guy.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
CHICKIE REDUX
Blog number 326 **** 15 August 2009
Blog number 325 visited the dinosaurs' disappearance in Chick Publications. I commented then on the weirdness of Chick's pulling facts out of the air. Today I ran into another one.
A character is telling the story of Thanksgiving because one of the children at a Thanksgiving dinner, asked, "Hey Uncle Mort...what is Thanksgiving? I've never heard of it," while another child says, "We can't say 'Thanksgiving' in our school."
So Uncle Mort tells the story of Thanksgiving. It seems the Pilgrims were starving at Plymouth Rock until "God let them find corn that had been buried by the Indians." By winter's end, half of the survivors were dead and the other half, sick. Just when all seemed lost, two Indians stepped out from the trees, one of whom spoke perfect English.
Now why did Chick add that last little tidbit? Does it add to the plot or does it kinda make the story a little less believable? Why say that? For what purpose?
I think what is happening in Chick's brain is that he accepts everything in the Bible as God's truth, and he believes that that is all that is important. Anything else he might say about ancient history, true or not, doesn't really matter. It's beside the point. "Just get the story told" kinda thing. That's why he can say humans killed all the dinosaurs for food and the first time an Indian is seen, he speaks perfect English.
I myself have been guilty of this type of reasoning. I sometimes do it when the listener seems to have missed the point and gotten stuck on some minor detail that doesn't matter. I'll just say whatever will shut them up. I think that is what Chick is doing.
Blog number 325 visited the dinosaurs' disappearance in Chick Publications. I commented then on the weirdness of Chick's pulling facts out of the air. Today I ran into another one.
A character is telling the story of Thanksgiving because one of the children at a Thanksgiving dinner, asked, "Hey Uncle Mort...what is Thanksgiving? I've never heard of it," while another child says, "We can't say 'Thanksgiving' in our school."
So Uncle Mort tells the story of Thanksgiving. It seems the Pilgrims were starving at Plymouth Rock until "God let them find corn that had been buried by the Indians." By winter's end, half of the survivors were dead and the other half, sick. Just when all seemed lost, two Indians stepped out from the trees, one of whom spoke perfect English.
Now why did Chick add that last little tidbit? Does it add to the plot or does it kinda make the story a little less believable? Why say that? For what purpose?
I think what is happening in Chick's brain is that he accepts everything in the Bible as God's truth, and he believes that that is all that is important. Anything else he might say about ancient history, true or not, doesn't really matter. It's beside the point. "Just get the story told" kinda thing. That's why he can say humans killed all the dinosaurs for food and the first time an Indian is seen, he speaks perfect English.
I myself have been guilty of this type of reasoning. I sometimes do it when the listener seems to have missed the point and gotten stuck on some minor detail that doesn't matter. I'll just say whatever will shut them up. I think that is what Chick is doing.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
CHICKIE, BABY!
Blog number 325 **** 11 August 2009
When we lived in Sacramento, I used to find Chick Publications religious tracts lying on bus stop benches, in restaurants, Sac State, all over. Stamped on these tracts was usually the name and address of "Bethany Temple," "First Pentecostal," or some other evangelical Christian church.
These tracts are about five inches by three inches, 16 pages in length. I had a collection of them that I brought from Sacramento, and having mentioned them to my son Kavi, he sent me some more that he had found. I don't believe I have ever seen them here in Arizona.
A couple of days ago I saw a documentary on these tracts. I found that there are only two known photos of Mr. Chick - one from a High School yearbook, the other when he enlisted in the army shortly thereafter. He was born in 1924.
Nobody has ever interviewed him.
Seeing this documentary, I got interested in looking at them again, but I couldn't find them. I had misplaced my set and I couldn't find them. My wife, believing I had a great interest in seeing them again, bought a set for around $20. She likes to please me with purchases.
These tracts, although obviously meant to be always serious and important, inadvertently are often humorous and kinda weird. The weirdness comes mostly from Mr. Chick's belief that what you do in life has nothing whatsoever to do with whether you wind up in Heaven or Hell. What does matter is if you have taken Jesus Christ as your personal savior by the time you die. In other words, you can lie, cheat, steal and murder, as long as you take Jesus as your savior. On the other hand, if you live as a saint and do not take Him as your savior, it's down to the burning depths for you immediately upon your earthly death.
One tract I had never seen before is entitled, "Congratulations." The congratulations refers to whomever has been fortunate enough to have bought an assortment of Chick Publications tracts.
This Congratulations edition tells you how to feel when you get berated for passing out these things.On the next to the last page the caption reads, "When you get past the fear of simply laying down tracts, try HANDING one to the box boy at the store." Then there's a drawing of a box boy holding one, with a smiling excited look on his face, saying, "Wow! THANKS!." Hah!
Showing how the Egyptians drowned Jewish boys to keep down the population, two men are shown tossing something into the water that goes, "splash" and a crocodile is watching going, "Mmmm. Yum, yum."
In this same edition, this boy wants his father to put lamb's blood over the doorway because all the firstborn are going to be killed unless they have this sign over the door. He hassles his unwilling father until the father asks him, "Why should you care anyway?"
The kid answers, "Papa, I'm the first born!"
Today I was reading one of Chick's tracts about what happened to the dinosaurs. He says humans hunted them for their meat. Then Chick portrays all dinosaurs going onto the ark two by two. Then he says scientists claim that the dinosaurs disappeared because of a comet hitting the earth but, Chick says, it didn't happen that way. No, what happened was that the flood killed trillions and trillions of plants, which left earth with a scarcity of oxygen, which made the dinosaurs run slower, so humans were able to hunt them down until they were extinct.
It is never explained why humans were not affected by the lack of oxygen.
What really amazes me is though, is why Chick would engage in such a grasping of straws to explain why the dinosaurs disappeared. Boggles my mind, it does.
When we lived in Sacramento, I used to find Chick Publications religious tracts lying on bus stop benches, in restaurants, Sac State, all over. Stamped on these tracts was usually the name and address of "Bethany Temple," "First Pentecostal," or some other evangelical Christian church.
These tracts are about five inches by three inches, 16 pages in length. I had a collection of them that I brought from Sacramento, and having mentioned them to my son Kavi, he sent me some more that he had found. I don't believe I have ever seen them here in Arizona.
A couple of days ago I saw a documentary on these tracts. I found that there are only two known photos of Mr. Chick - one from a High School yearbook, the other when he enlisted in the army shortly thereafter. He was born in 1924.
Nobody has ever interviewed him.
Seeing this documentary, I got interested in looking at them again, but I couldn't find them. I had misplaced my set and I couldn't find them. My wife, believing I had a great interest in seeing them again, bought a set for around $20. She likes to please me with purchases.
These tracts, although obviously meant to be always serious and important, inadvertently are often humorous and kinda weird. The weirdness comes mostly from Mr. Chick's belief that what you do in life has nothing whatsoever to do with whether you wind up in Heaven or Hell. What does matter is if you have taken Jesus Christ as your personal savior by the time you die. In other words, you can lie, cheat, steal and murder, as long as you take Jesus as your savior. On the other hand, if you live as a saint and do not take Him as your savior, it's down to the burning depths for you immediately upon your earthly death.
One tract I had never seen before is entitled, "Congratulations." The congratulations refers to whomever has been fortunate enough to have bought an assortment of Chick Publications tracts.
This Congratulations edition tells you how to feel when you get berated for passing out these things.On the next to the last page the caption reads, "When you get past the fear of simply laying down tracts, try HANDING one to the box boy at the store." Then there's a drawing of a box boy holding one, with a smiling excited look on his face, saying, "Wow! THANKS!." Hah!
Showing how the Egyptians drowned Jewish boys to keep down the population, two men are shown tossing something into the water that goes, "splash" and a crocodile is watching going, "Mmmm. Yum, yum."
In this same edition, this boy wants his father to put lamb's blood over the doorway because all the firstborn are going to be killed unless they have this sign over the door. He hassles his unwilling father until the father asks him, "Why should you care anyway?"
The kid answers, "Papa, I'm the first born!"
Today I was reading one of Chick's tracts about what happened to the dinosaurs. He says humans hunted them for their meat. Then Chick portrays all dinosaurs going onto the ark two by two. Then he says scientists claim that the dinosaurs disappeared because of a comet hitting the earth but, Chick says, it didn't happen that way. No, what happened was that the flood killed trillions and trillions of plants, which left earth with a scarcity of oxygen, which made the dinosaurs run slower, so humans were able to hunt them down until they were extinct.
It is never explained why humans were not affected by the lack of oxygen.
What really amazes me is though, is why Chick would engage in such a grasping of straws to explain why the dinosaurs disappeared. Boggles my mind, it does.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
HOLLYWOOD, BOLLYWOOD
Blog number 324 **** 09 August 2009
So I'm watching a movie on commercial television called, "Come Early Morning" starring Ashely Judd, a run-of-the-mill, predictable, "I've seen this plot before" type of movie, but entertaining nevertheless - probably because nothing else any good is on, and I see a scene where Ashley comes upon a pickup truck being loaded with a juke box carried out from the bar which she frequents.
She goes inside and asks what's going on with the jukebox, and the bartender tells her that the patrons want new country music, being tired of old country music and I'm thinking, "What is Hell's wrong with those Hollywood people?" They think juke boxes come with music and if you want different music you have to get a different box? Am I missing something? I don't think so.
But maybe.
Nah.
So I'm watching a movie on commercial television called, "Come Early Morning" starring Ashely Judd, a run-of-the-mill, predictable, "I've seen this plot before" type of movie, but entertaining nevertheless - probably because nothing else any good is on, and I see a scene where Ashley comes upon a pickup truck being loaded with a juke box carried out from the bar which she frequents.
She goes inside and asks what's going on with the jukebox, and the bartender tells her that the patrons want new country music, being tired of old country music and I'm thinking, "What is Hell's wrong with those Hollywood people?" They think juke boxes come with music and if you want different music you have to get a different box? Am I missing something? I don't think so.
But maybe.
Nah.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
I LOVE TELEVISION
Blog number 323 **** 06 August 2009
Some years back there used to be a commercial on the telly - selling furniture, I think. Anyhow, they had a refrain, "If you can find it cheaper anywhere else, buy it."
What reminded me of that old commercial was an incident on "Cops." The officer had this guy in his car - in handcuffs, and he told the perp, "You've been Mirandized, so you can say anything you want." Hah!
Some years back there used to be a commercial on the telly - selling furniture, I think. Anyhow, they had a refrain, "If you can find it cheaper anywhere else, buy it."
What reminded me of that old commercial was an incident on "Cops." The officer had this guy in his car - in handcuffs, and he told the perp, "You've been Mirandized, so you can say anything you want." Hah!
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