Monthly Archives: December 2017

Why do roses have thorns?

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Are thorns happy?

Friday, December 1, Bounce showed Steven Seagal’s Above the Law.

He always plays opposite some eye candy, a term I learned from a Doonesbury strip about Uncle Duke’s presidential campaign.  In Above the Law, it was Sharon Stone.  In On Deadly Ground, it was Joan Chen, a Chinese actress cast as a Native American, with no real function but to look nice and follow him around.

“Eye candy” isn’t a mere phrase.  I saw again that when I see a pretty woman, such as Stone in that scene, I get a sweet taste in my mouth.  This is a physiological reaction, and potentially raises lots of questions about how we respond to beauty — or ugliness.

Related:  For us.

I have much the same reaction whenever I see a rose.

Which recalls my interactions with that rose bush in the garden. Continue reading Why do roses have thorns? →

Let it go

Uncategorized

Pertinent issues (1) in the church garden, (2) and elsewhere, and (3) in a forthcoming post about different breeds of dogs, cats, and people.

Ends and Beginnings

T and B-Dogs“A trap had been set to stop a monkey from stealing fruit. The monkey reached into the trap to get a piece a fruit and got stuck. All it had to do was drop the fruit and it would be released, but the monkey wouldn’t let it go.”

I have a Rat Terrier mix, not the most beautiful little lady in the world but she makes-up for her homely looks by being very affectionate, needy and extremely energetic. As her breed name implies, the “Rat Terrier was originally bred for ratting and farm work, capable of hunting rodents and vermin above and below ground.” Now I don’t live on a farm and rats are non-existent in my little piece of suburbia, but squirrels and chipmunks that is another story.

I live in an older subdivision filled with old oaks and poplars. In my yard alone I have 12 stately oaks…

View original post 670 more words

Work

Get on your feet, Homelessness, OUR BEST POSTS, Poverty, , , , , , , , ,

(Originally posted 05/18/12 at Trojan Horse Productions. Reblogged  02/12/14.)

To get from Point A to Point B, you must move.

At this moment, as I write this, I am living in a pit.

I am homeless.

I face a choice: do I want to get out, or stay here?
Continue reading Work →

Jesus: born homeless

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At Christmas, Christians celebrate the event in which they say God became a human being.

Without this event, according to traditional Christianity, there would be no salvation, and no hope for you and me.

What is called “incarnational theology” tells us that Jesus’ power to save and competence to save both derive from the incarnation — God’s having become a human being.

By virtue of the incarnation, God obtained first-hand experience of everything we human beings have to deal with — all the trials and tribulations we go through from day to day.  In Jesus, God came face to face with physical suffering, pain, bitter cold and burning heat; hunger, anger, lust and love.   The Bible does not tell us all the details of Jesus’ life, but I am convinced he went through it all.  There is no circumstance you can come into, that he hasn’t faced.  Thus he can be present to you, no matter what your circumstances.

In the spiritual (emotional) world also, there is nowhere Jesus hasn’t been.  He can be present to you no matter where you “go” emotionally.

God is with you and for you at all times.

Believe it.

(Originally posted 12/25/13.)

Issues with upcoming posts II

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Part I:  Issues with upcoming posts

If I’ve learned anything in the past two years, it’s this:

(1)  The Way of Peace works, and my calling is to walk this way.  But it takes work that I’m not always willing to do.  Call it cross-bearing.
(2) A large portion of the poor will inevitably be poor forever.
(3) No one can prescribe another person’s dreams.
Continue reading Issues with upcoming posts II →

Polar bears aren’t teddy bears; etc.

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(Originally posted 02/10/14.)

Bookmarks:
To get bail, money talks
Polar bears aren’t all warm fuzzies.
Private planes are nice, but won’t make you happy
A Jewish view of charity

———— ♦ ————

To get bail, money talks

Bottom line: all across the country, tens of thousands of men and women are behind bars who are not guilty of any crime.

They’re there because they couldn’t post bail.
Continue reading Polar bears aren’t teddy bears; etc. →

False prophecy and cancer

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Friday, December 8, 2017

In doing research for a different post, I just now got a big surprise, from this Wikipedia article:

Type A and Type B personality theory

Many years ago, I recognized that individuals I regard as false prophets are unusually prone to die of cancer.  I could provide a long list, but just now there’s no need.  I developed a theory of an “irritable personality,” and supposed such a personality might rise from the same genetic bases as a tendency toward cancer.

From this article, it appears that I was right.  Although it doesn’t give any detailed description of what might constitute a cancer-prone personality,  it sets forth that, at least in some persons, the two are definitely linked.

Related:  False prophecy in the news

Final note:  Not all trolls are false prophets, but all false prophets are trolls.