O-Dark-Thirty

I signed up for The Bauman Letter, edited by Ted Bauman and read it for a few months. His father is a well-known member of The Sovereign Society and Ted contributed for years. I like Ted's writing style and read his letter for the nuggets of information I could glean. One month he recommended a company in Australia for holding my gold. If I had a hundred grand in gold, maybe I'd go that route. Then again, maybe I'd bury it in the back yard like the old Romans. I cancelled his newsletter after reading his October issue. Ted posted ten pages of glowing prose for the 1291 Group of the Americas . I was impressed by his report and thought this might be a company I could park my IRA with and not worry about it. (We've been burned by local investment advisors who lost large chunks of our investment and still took their overly fair share of fees, so we're hyper-cautious.) Ted especially praised Erika Nolan, the CEO of this prestigious firm. Ted forgot to menti...

The new Beluga This post is about the game Elite Dangerous, the successor to Elite, which was the best space game in the 1990's, imo. And the new update. A few things before I address the Passenger aspects. I'm not Elite in any category, though I'm a Tycoon in Trading, so I'm close. Exploring I'm a Ranger, but I don't know where that ranks.  In Combat - well, I need practice, and at least I'm no longer harmless.. In Close-Quarters-Combat (CQC) I need a lot of improvement. I have Sidewinders scattered throughout the galaxy, since I played before we could bookmark stations - and that's okay because bookmarks get messy pretty quickly. They should let me make bookmark folders - that would be cool. My favorite trick to earn credits was to take my Asp out to Sothis and Ceos and shuttle back and forth with half a dozen missions for 10-20K credits. When a good cargo mission showed up, I'd grab it and when I had 10-15 MILLION credits of missions b...

Things I learned in a cabin in the woods I like air conditioning. Eighty-seven degrees is still hot, even when your cabin is over water and under trees. I'm just not a pioneer. I like technology. When I signed up for the cabin, it clearly stated they had no television and no phone. Darling and I have cell phones, so that's no problem. Except it is. There's no service in this little cabin in the piney woods. I like my internet. I use it to watch television. Yeah, that goes with point #2. I'm not a big fan of walking around in nature. The cabins are immersed in nature. Alligators in the water, bugs in the room, sweat in my eyes. You get the idea. Nature is everywhere, and it isn't my friend. Much of it seems to want to eat me. A comfortable bed is rare. Darling and I have a nice house. Over the years we refined our living so that it is very comfortable. Basically, our home is more comfortable than any place we can rent. Food is a prob...

From a Christian perspective, that's the wrong question, but it is a good draw. Don't forget Jesus rose again. He wasn't raised from the dead - He rose Himself. That cannot be said about anyone else in history. But we're talking about the death of Jesus. Jesus, the Christ wasn't killed - He gave up His life. Even He said "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” (Matt 26:53-54) Did Judas kill Jesus? According to the Bible, Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin for thirty pieces of silver. In remorse, Judas threw the money back at them and hung himself. If instead he knelt at the feet of Jesus and asked for forgiveness, what do you think Jesus would have done? The Romans? The Romans certainly perfected the "art" of crucifixion. They wielded the implements of torture that b...

I've been reading. What a shock. There are five basic beliefs that you must share to be able to claim you are a true Christian. Miss one of these, and you miss the boat entirely. It's like making a cake. You can make a cake without eggs or sugar, and it might look like a cake, but it sure won't taste like one. You need all five. 1. Believe that the Bible is the inerrant and inspired word of God. 2. Believe in the virgin birth of Christ. 3. Believe in the deity of Christ. 4. Believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of all mankind. 5. Believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and will come again. "In the beginning, God..." - the first four words of the Bible. Choose to believe these four words and the rest follows.

As I read through my family's Catholic Bible (a daunting task considering the length of Ecclesiasticus!) I once again read Psalm 22. This time, however, it hit me hard. You'd think that over the years and with the number of times I have read Psalms, including Psalm 22, that the impact of the psalm would have already burned itself into my soul. The fire did not descend until the other day. I was supposed to write this last week; better late than never! The 22nd Psalm doesn't get as much press as the hugely popular Psalm 23, and is often overlooked, yet it was this psalm that Jesus referenced as he hung on the cross, dying for our transgressions.  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matt 27:46) When Jesus cries out, he references the first line of Psalm 22. The Psalms are more than poems, as most know. They are songs, and just as most of us know an en...

Someone once told me that in the Bible, when God states He hates something, then adds more to it, He really hates it. That's the case with Proverbs 6:16-19 (NASB). There are six things God hates, then He adds one to show he detests it. Let's dissect this one a bit. They are all sins against another person. God loves us all so much, that He hates to see us hurt each other, regardless of whether we agree with them or not in our life choices. There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes ,   <self-conceit and over-weening pride in ourselves and our accomplishments> a lying tongue , <Satan is the Father of lies and God is truth. Lying to others almost always stems from a desire to be better, in thought, word or deed, than someone else> And hands that shed innocent blood , <abortion instantly comes to mind, as well as murder (of course), but this would include physically hurting someone else> A h...