“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert.” –J. Robert Oppenheimer
Joe Biden never won. This is our Real President – 45, 46, 47.
AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
Our various sister sites, listed in the Blogroll in the sidebar
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
Joe Biden didn’t win.
And we will keep saying Joe Biden didn’t win until we get His Fraudulency out of our White House.
Wolfie’s Wheatie’s Word of the Week:
wallflower
noun, adjective
a color which is yellowish red
an attribute of being colored yellowish red
a light purple color marketed by Sherwin-Williams
a genus of flowering plants, Erysimum, in the family Brassicaceae (mustards)
a shy, unassuming person
Used in a sentence
Whether wallflower is yellow-to-red or purple seems to depend upon the circumstances.
Shown in a picture
Shown in a different picture
But wait! Some wallflowers show the other wallflower!
MUSIC!
Wallflowers. Just can’t get away from them!
But wait! There’s moar!
THE STUFF
So what do you think about going to Mars? I can tell you, the crowd at Trump’s inauguration was incredibly enthusiastic. I was cheering BIG TIME. But let’s look at it more critically – both sides of the question. We’ve learned from Trump – always cover the downside. Listen to the critics, and think about what they say.
We continue to mourn the untimely passing of our beloved compatriot DePat, known in real life as Susie Sampson, and also as author Patricia Holden.
Until we have a dedicated author for the Tuesday daily open thread, I will be posting “placeholders” like this one, which may or may not be spiced up with additional content.
Gudthots will take DePat’s old Thursday daily open thread.
Please notify me in advance if you would like to post anything in lieu of the Tuesday placeholder. We welcome all content – the topic doesn’t matter.
W
Some Thoughts on Art, Science & Religion
I’ve promised that I would talk about certain things dealing with science and religion, but in the process, I realized that I would likely need a “pre-talk” for reasons I’ll make clear.
I have also been engaged in activities in the art world, which made me realize that “my liberal friends” are in a very similar situation to us – and yet it’s almost unknown to people here. I want to talk bout that, too, because it might help people to see something analogous to our own problems afflicting somebody else.
SO – let me get to the point in a few paragraphs, if I can.
I want to start off by addressing my fellow believers in God.
I believe something very simple, which you likely agree with, but which may seem baffling to some.
I believe that it is more important to be right about the existence of God, than to be right about anything else, particularly the worldly truths of what we call “science”.
There are many reasons behind this, including numerous citations from both the Old and New Testaments, as well as a basic acceptance of the central message of Jesus Christ. As a follower of Christ, I not only believe the following as a consequence of accepting his authority on the topic – I find it “true in practice” as a biblically consistent part of His teachings.
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
Some might say to me “Who are you, to be accepting this for any reason BUT authority?” – To which I would reply “I’m a human who God made skeptical – so I test everything!”
Anyway, my immediate point is that I am going to be talking about things which might conflict with other people’s deeply held religious beliefs. If so, then I invite you to ignore me, and to ignore what I will have to say. I will not be offended. While some may believe that testing belief strengthens it, others do not, and I refuse to pick a side in that fight. I invite YOU to make a choice – hear me or ignore me.
Inside you is a child, and I don’t want that child to stumble.
OK? Good! Let’s move on.
One of the things that I have noticed with my “liberal art friends” (some of whom may be “liberal arts friends” as well) is that they have ALL LEFT TWITTER/X. They are all on BlueSky now. They have chosen a walled garden – a plantation – where they can censor each other off the platform as hard and unfairly as they want.
They are now fully in an echo chamber, and they can no longer hear us.
I am not actually sure what needs to be done next. X is much more peaceful, now that so many leftists have left.
The main thing which I have noticed among these BlueSky leftists, is the almost supernatural effect that the “trans narrative” has on them. It is a necessary virtue signal that MUST be adhered to by even the most open-minded and otherwise scientific BlueSky leftists.
This is where I begin to see a great truth. Almost everybody has “science” they don’t like and don’t believe, but which other people, often a majority, do believe.
In fact, it gets even finer. BIOLOGY bothers almost everybody. And even worse, there are people who come up with bad solutions to the “bother” – many people are then attracted to the bad solutions – and together they form what one could call “pseudoscience movements”.
It’s a mess – am I right?
Well, I will do my best.
Anyway, please stay tuned for more some interesting science. Which I invite you to ignore, or even suggest you ignore, if questioning your beliefs gets in the way of your salvation.
Joe Biden never won. This is our Real President – 45, 46, 47.
AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
OK, this is interesting – a mixture of Jefferson Airplane, epic music, and Matrix visuals.
Which led me to another…..
Which led me back to the original. Which seems very strange now.
THE STUFF
Why is AI being used to create fake stories about Elon Musk?
I find this sort of fake story to be much more annoying that AI country music.
OK – let’s wash that away with some reality – the study of “perfect” numbers! (I may have played this topic before, but whatever – let’s play it again!)
Six is a pretty cool number – but 28? And 496? And (2^82,589,933 – 1)?
We continue to mourn the untimely passing of our beloved compatriot DePat, known in real life as Susie Sampson, and also as author Patricia Holden.
Until we have a dedicated author for the Tuesday daily open thread, I will be posting “placeholders” like this one, which may or may not be spiced up with additional content.
Gudthots will take DePat’s old Thursday daily open thread.
Please notify me in advance if you would like to post anything in lieu of the Tuesday placeholder. We welcome all content – the topic doesn’t matter.
W
Get Smart – Buy a Globe!
When I was trying to get somebody to take DePat’s Tuesday open thread – meaning THIS thread – and there were no takers, I toyed with the idea of turning this open into a kind of comedy hour. The satire would be brutal – brutal enough that somebody would quickly decide to shut me up by volunteering to take the open. OR SO I HOPED!
I was going to call myself Flat Earth Wolf, and I planned to ferociously but facetiously advocate everything that most people here disagreed with, if not depise. Flat earth, no virus, deep state Trump, woke right – the worse, the better!
Yeah, at first it sounded kinda fun, but then I realized that it would just drive people away. And even I wouldn’t enjoy it.
SIGH.
Eventually, I just decided to use this open to post my own honest opinions about things. The beauty of that is, if somebody disagrees with me, they only have to volunteer to take the open to shut me up – but I don’t have to be funny or interesting, which is work.
I can just spout off and state my piece – and that is exactly what I’m going to do!
Now, as you have seen, I’ve spent a lot of time being “fair” to flat earth, by making sure people who want to post any side of any debate can do so here – and that is still happening. Most of the time, I’m encouraging people to post views that may oppose not only my own views, but everybody else’s, too.
But it’s time to be more….. how shall I say….. “complete” about things.
I try to be “nice” about a lot of “science” that “has issues”. I just try to smile and not pull out any deadly weapons of argumentation.
No serrated blades. No 100-round clips. No razor-studded baseball bats. Maybe a hanky. Yes. A perfumed hanky. Cough. Cough. Pardon me!
WELL – NOT TODAY, AND NOT RIGHT HERE, AND NOT RIGHT NOW.
¿Comprende?
Pardon me for just one moment. I’m gonna be tougher about science. Because we have to be tough. We are up against a very organized force.
The Yellow Berets, also known as Public Health Service trainees, were a group of physicians who participated in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Associate Training Program during the Vietnam War era. They were often derogatorily referred to as “Yellow Berets” by supporters of the war who viewed them as avoiding military service.
We are up against some really bad people, who are fully prepared to tell any lie for their purposes. So this opposing army – OUR army – can’t tolerate weak, wrong, and misled science in the forward combat positions. SURE – if you want to work on the base back in safe territory, you can believe all the bad and broken science you want. But if you want to get out in front, you have to subject your own biases to the relentless sharpening forces of TRUTH – and in particular EVIDENCE.
Some things are very certain out in the front lines. One of them is that this planet is a sphere, roughly.
NOW – like most other professional scientists, I haz science skilz in a lot of different areas, because most true scientists are like that. We don’t turn off the science when we walk out of school or job – and our opinions can be particularly relevant in looking at other people’s “expert” stuff, and asking terrible, sharp, venomous questions that the “experts” in those areas are hiding from, or pretending don’t exist.
Much “organization” in current, problematic, sick, “mainstream” science is done to insulate compromised insiders from pesky intelligent outsiders.
Decorum, you know. That’s it. Decorum.
Well, too bad.
BUT we have to hold ourselves to the same revolutionary standards.
Yadig? Of course! What’s good for vaccines, is good for “no virus”, “flat earth”, and many other things.
Globe Earth Wolf has a recommendation that will ultimately test your faith in God, by beating on it. He’s gonna BEAT your armor until it is HARDER, and the first beat-down is that you need to buy an actual globe and STUDY IT.
They’re CHEAP AS DIRT. Most are made in CHYYYNA. But you still have to buy one. I don’t care where it’s made. BUY A GLOBE. And if you already have one, pull it out of the closet, attic or basement.
Buy one at a garage sale, if you have to.
I recommend buying a globe that is at least 12 inches in diameter, and is mounted so that the tilt of Earth’s axis relative to the sun is clearly demonstrable.
Blue oceans which are highly differentiated in color from the land masses are very helpful. Political boundaries are somewhat immaterial, although they do help you LOCATE things more quickly and precisely, and if they are current, the globe can be used to increase your current geopolitical understanding. On the other hand, a vintage globe can be useful for more historical understanding. In either case, I recommend blue oceans, because some vintage globes hide this physically useful truth, by making everything somewhat off-white, sepia and tan, simply to look good on furniture, as opposed to BEATING ON YOUR BRAIN, which is my purpose.
What I am doing is actually a stupid trick from science – a silly secret among the “top men”. And top women, but let’s not get TOO bogged down in DEI.
You see, MODELS – simple physical models – are behind so much of the best science and so many of the best scientists. I have watched this throughout my entire life, and it’s hilarious. Good models are what won Watson and Crick the Nobel Dynamite & Bankster Prize for DNA, and Doudna and Charpentier the same for CRISPR-Cas9. Good models are how all the best work on C60/Buckyballs/Fullerenes was done.
Good models are how stereochemistry was explained in the late 19th century. Good models are – over and over – how organic chemistry and then biochemistry were worked out in the 19th and 20th centuries.
When I went to school with a bunch of scary smart people, I quickly realized that I could use my cheap plastic molecular model set, which I was ironically forced to buy, but wisely chose to actually use, to find all sorts of science which had apparently evaded older students and even our professors for years. Simple, stupid, cheap, plastic and aluminum, “straws and jacks” (not even balls and sticks) was all it took to figure out realities that would ALWAYS show up in chemical behavior, spectroscopy, and quantum mechanical calculations.
I would SHOW PEOPLE this stuff with models – and you could always tell the winners from the losers by how fast they would start using their own “required but never used” model set to figure things out – by how carefully (or stupidly and carelessly) they would cut their little bonds – by how carefully or carelessly they would grab the right “jack” to get the right angles at the atoms – by how strongly they would reason past the limitations of the cheap models – and by how quickly they would spend some of their hard-earned but very limited cash to buy a SECOND or THIRD model set, to make even bigger and better models possible.
I am doing the exact same thing here, to make you smarter – to make YOU a winner.
Because we can’t have too much winning if you aren’t on the same page as Trump, as well as the historical patriots who really did walk this SPHERICAL planet and built this great civilization – and GOD – who made this WORKING BALL on which WORKING LIFE not only EXISTS but THRIVES and then hopefully carries on His PRO-LIFE MISSION of creating and persisting a life-filled and God-loving universe, which is something GOD WANTS BECAUSE IT’S GOOD.
Just my opinion?
Yeah. But still – buy a globe. You will learn so much from it.
I recommend keeping your globe in some place you visit regularly. I stand in front of my globe generally 2-4 times a day, and I probably toy with it at least daily. When we’re having science discussions here, especially after one of Steve’s science posts, I may spend a half hour with that globe.
What am I looking at?
I am looking at seasons. I’m looking at angles of the sun. I’m looking at hours of daylight, twilight, and darkness. But that’s just the beginning.
Most importantly, I’m looking at thousands of tiny details and saying “OH, THAT MAKES SENSE”. Airplane flights. Jet lag. Shipping routes. Planetary distances. Phone conversations. Satellites. “4 AM”. Russia, CHYYYNA, Japan. Burma Shave. TAIWAN. Why Hawaii has always been filled with trouble and bullshit. Look at your globe and every little thing starts to make sense.
This is very critical. When you have a real, true, winning solution in science, like a spherical planet, it just makes all the little stuff WORK. All the thousands of minor details WORK for any scientist who looks at the model, and kicks the tires. This is why Newton is not “replaced” by Einstein – he’s just being helped out around the edges where things get weird.
The problem with “Flat Earth” (and other things I’ll talk about later) is that one big mistake made from an emotionally attractive bias to the past tries (and fails) to upset all the little yet critical stuff other people are doing or have done – meaning millions of honest, good-faith observations. THEN, the same people who break all the little yet critical stuff for everybody else, when confronted, just throw back some non-working, “causes even more trouble”, evasion of an answer, and pretend that they answered the problem, when they didn’t. And that is exactly why nobody takes them seriously, and most people ignore them.
In science, you have to make something that lets OTHER PEOPLE explain or predict stuff on their own, successfully, nearly every time, to actually have a product that sells AND GETS RE-SOLD. Newton did that. Chemistry did that. Electromagnetism did that. Relativity did that. Quantum mechanics did that. Particle physics did that.
When you look at the globe, try to predict how long automobile trips and plane flights take. Look at where islands are. Look at where history happened. Look at where mankind started, wandered, and settled. Look at climate. Look at weather. Look at temperatures. Look at where those temperatures are on the globe.
Right there, the semi-frozen pizza stumbles hard, but the globe, with two poles on one axis, just works like crazy. Everything is nicely – no – perfectly explained – and it’s explained all together at the same time, by a very simple model.
Your actual globe will make you a solid and strong glober. And scientist. And lover of truth.
And then you will become even stronger, because – believe it or not – you will become stronger in FAITH. You will start to see how God makes stuff WORK – and I mean REALLY WORK – simply, powerfully, independently – and that pattern is something you can predict will show up again, and again, and again.
God makes stuff that WORKS. And KEEPS WORKING.
But I’m getting ahead of things.
So buy that globe, or get the old one out, and let’s talk about it. Make that globe WORK for you. Let it help you see the TRUTH.
And as it brings you closer to TRUTH, it will bring you closer to GOD.
W
“Is there anything as great as a Trump rally?”
TOPSHOT – US President Donald Trump holds a Make America Great Again rally as he campaigns at Orlando Sanford International Airport in Sanford, Florida, October 12, 2020. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Joe Biden never won. This is our Real President – 45, 46, 47.
AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
Our various sister sites, listed in the Blogroll in the sidebar
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
Joe Biden didn’t win.
And we will keep saying Joe Biden didn’t win until we get His Fraudulency out of our White House.
Wolfie’s Wheatie’s Word of the Week:
yoni
noun
symbol representing female genitals
a stylized representation of a vulva worshiped as a symbol of a goddess, in particular the Hindu goddess Shakti.
the symbol under which Shakti, or the personification of the female power in nature, is worshiped
The female sexual organs, or a symbol of them, especially as an object of veneration within certain types of Hinduism, Buddhism, and other cultures
concept applicable to female vaginal treatments, exercises, massages, and other focuses
As I have said, I don’t back down on ANY word that comes next in my list of “needful words” that don’t get enough usage. HOWEVER…..
Used in a sentence
I’m not going to show all the things I’ve read regarding yoni. I encourage interested readers to explore on their own. And as for pictures…..
Used in a picture
No. Just no. And the good pictures include symbolic representation of the male counterpart, too. Yikes. Interesting, but…..
MUSIC!
LOL! OK – I am simply not going to promote “yoni” music – this is classified as “women’s health” in my world, and even the less “anatomically technical” music videos are likely to be a bit too pagan and new-age for this site.
On the other hand, being only a bit new-age and globalist (“world music”), Greek instrumental and electronic artist Yanni is somebody my father enjoyed during his sunset years, and Yanni’s music brings back good memories of my mother and father enjoying their retirement, so here you go. Twenty of Yanni’s greatest hits.
https://youtu.be/MKaDLtMkn5I
THE STUFF
Flying insects the size of a hawk or an eagle?
OK – this video is actually some interesting science wrapped in click-bait advertising and bad AI narration. The critters aren’t all THAT bad – although they seem pretty nasty by today’s standards.
Bottom line – kinda happy all these bugs got smaller.
Joe Biden never won. This is our Real President – 45, 46, 47.
AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
Our various sister sites, listed in the Blogroll in the sidebar
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
Joe Biden didn’t win.
And we will keep saying Joe Biden didn’t win until we get His Fraudulency out of our White House.
Wolfie’s Wheatie’s Word of the Week:
voile
noun
a soft, fine, sheer fabric
a light, plain-weave, sheer fabric of cotton, rayon, silk, or wool used especially for making dresses and curtains
a light, translucent cotton fabric used for making curtains and dresses
a light, semitransparent fabric
Used in a sentence
Like many lightweight fabrics, voile cloth is ideal for spring and summer outfits.
More about voile
The term comes from the French word meaning ‘veil’. When made of 100% cotton or cotton and linen blended together, it allows the air to pass through, providing comfort even on the most scorching day. Due to its fine texture, voile fabric can also be used to line garments.
What are the key features of high quality voile?
Plain, tight weave
Silky soft finish
Light drape
No stretch
Slightly transparent (lining is optional)
Crisp and sometimes wiry
Stiff but flexible
Voile fabric is versatile, which means it is great both for apparel and home décor. You’ll often find voile in craft projects such as pillowcases, cushions, doilies, doll’s dresses and more. This gauzy material is also one of the favourites when it comes to creating lightweight curtains. It filters the sunlight and floods any room with natural light.
Shown in a picture
Discussed in a video
MUSIC!
A search on “voile” brought back “Voilà” – so enjoy this song, even though you likely have seen this performance before.
THE STUFF
Dating methods.
The basics. Including limitations.
No, we’re not talking about Brylcream and hot cars – chocolates and roses – BMOC / “wingman” – websites, matchmakers, singles groups – or any of the other methods of “dating success”! Although YES, those do work!
We continue to mourn the untimely passing of our beloved compatriot DePat, known in real life as Susie Sampson, and also as author Patricia Holden.
Until we have a dedicated author for the Tuesday daily open thread, I will be posting “placeholders” like this one, which may or may not be spiced up with additional content.
Gudthots will take DePat’s old Thursday daily open thread.
Please notify me in advance if you would like to post anything in lieu of the Tuesday placeholder. We welcome all content – the topic doesn’t matter.
Concerning Forgiveness
Just a quick note regarding a sentiment that DePat mentioned in her open threads from time to time.
Let me cite the relevant portion of DePat’s Wednesday 3/27/2024 post for concreteness. I have made the MOST relevant portion…..
really big and really bold.
DePat…..
As always, prayers for the fight against that which seeks to enslave us are welcome.
Please include: President Donald Trump, the Q team, our soldiers in the field, special forces, tactical units, first responders and those working behind the scenes…and any and all people with family members in the hospital, COVID or not.
And…members of the QTree who no longer participate for one reason or another.
It is quite clear, as per Wolf’s message from July, that we are under spiritual attack. Building up a robust arsenal of prayer and discipline is a must in fighting the enemy and his minions.
In that spirit, the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel from Tuesday’s threads, and the Breastplate of St. Patrick, not to mention the Litany of Humility are favorites recommended by exorcists in spiritual warfare.
Wolf again…..
Thus, I wish to address not only “…members of the QTree who no longer participate for one reason or another.” but in fact all people who might read these words or hear them, including those who ARE here now, but even those who are NOT here now, but who might be talked to by people who ARE here and who DO read these words.
In other words, all of y’all, including “former” members.
Posting, commenting and reading here is not a “binary” thing. Yes, some of us are here every day, but others come and go, and that is OK.
In fact, if you find yourself in some kind of situation where you feel you are in conflict or a state of anger with somebody else, or with the site in general, then I encourage you to TAKE A WALK AND CHILL OUT, rather than swearing some angry oath to never show up here again.
DePat was always adamant that PRIDE is the greatest sin, and I think she was totally right about that. PRIDE will sneak up on you when you are JUSTIFIED and whisper appeals to truth and righteousness, which may have some real and momentary merit, but PRIDE will take you too far, and leave you standing over nothing but thin air – alone and trapped by your own error.
If you feel that you have to walk away from this site to regain control of your emotions, then I absolutely encourage you to do so, but never let that decision become its own justification – that you have to demonstrate the virtue of that decision by walking away from the “jury of your peers” forever.
PRIDE is not a virtue. FORGIVENESS is a command. LOVE is, too. And TIME makes this all possible.
Just think about it.
DePat never forgot the fundamentals, and I’m here to make sure she keeps bugging you about them!
Joe Biden never won. This is our Real President – 45, 46, 47.
AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
These gals still rock! More HEART – from less than a year ago.
THE STUFF
Many may find the following discussion of thyroid treatment boring, but endocrine pharmacology is still a bit of a mystery to science. I found this “laid-back” conversation between two health hippie MAHA types to be really enjoyable, as they go down many rabbit holes.
This lady is a pharmacist who worked as a case consultant figuring out why people were having medical conflicts and side-effects. Her insights into polypharmacy (people taking too many drugs) are quite interesting.
The guy is a veteran of every medical fad on earth – so what he has distilled his health approach down to is also fascinating. Enjoy!
So if you sat through all of that, and still have confidence in alternative medicine, then you are SOLID as an explorer of difficult terrain, and my hat is off to you!
This Rejoice & Praise God Sunday Open Thread, with full respect to those who worship God on the Sabbath, is a place to reaffirm our worship of our Creator, our Father, our King Eternal.
It’s also a place to read, post, and discuss news that is worth knowing and sharing. Please post links to any news stories that you use as sources or quote from.
In the QTree, we’re a friendly and civil lot. We encourage free speech and the open exchange and civil discussion of different ideas. Topics aren’t constrained, and sound logic is highly encouraged, all built on a solid foundation of truth and established facts.
We have a policy of mutual respect, shown by civility. Civility encourages discussions, promotes objectivity and rational thought in discourse, and camaraderie in the participants – characteristics we strive toward in our Q Tree community.
Please show respect and consideration for our fellow QTreepers. Before hitting the “post” button, please proofread your post and make sure your opinion addresses the issue only, and does not confront or denigrate the poster. Keep to the topic – avoid “you” and “your”. Here in The Q Tree, personal attacks, name-calling, ridicule, insults, baiting, and other conduct for which a penalty flag would be thrown are VERBOTEN.
In The Q Tree, we’re compatriots, sitting around the campfire, roasting hot dogs, making s’mores, and discussing, agreeing, and disagreeing about whatever interests us. This board will remain a home for those who seek respectful conversations.
God is in Control . . . and His Grace is Sufficient, so . . . Keep Looking Up
Hopefully, every Sunday, we can find something here that will build us up a little . . . give us a smile . . . and add some joy or peace, very much needed in all our lives.
“This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.” . . . “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
The Unexpected
Wolf here.
I have no idea where Carl is tonight, and I most certainly hope that nothing bad has happened to him or his loved ones, which might explain why he didn’t drop off a post today. Hopefully he just forgot to drop off his usual post here – perhaps “mis-remembering” that he already did so.
No matter what, pray for Carl! In fact, pray for Carl any time you think to do it, because it’s good to do so. We should always be praying for Carl.
Back to the issue at hand.
Normally I wait as long as needed for a new post to go up, before I worry about it, although technically our rule is that something needs to be up by NOON, or I’ll put up a placeholder.
HOWEVER, I sort of feel like giving Carl a break, AND like giving you a substitute sermon.
I regard myself as the sexton of this church – the groundskeeper – the handyman. But I’m also, by design, the one person allowed to tithe to the church, as a kind of security measure.
AND – in emergencies, the “executive assistant pastor”. So here goes. A VERY short sermon.
We have to be “ready for The Lord” at all times. If you’re a Christian, that means you need to be “ready for Jesus” – so to speak. We don’t know what might happen, but THE END can come like a thief in the night.
Some of us have gone on, slowly and with a lot of warning, like Patrick Henry Censored.
Others suddenly and without warning, like Deplorable Patriot.
Others without warning, but without word, and in some level of mystery, like Wheatietoo.
One of the real advantages of faith in God, is that we are OK with whatever happens. We’re ready. I know that I’m ready, because only a couple of years ago, I told my wife goodbye – fully ready to go to Jesus – only to be returned to this world in the next moments, as my bleeding stopped, and my vital signs reversed.
Being ready doesn’t mean being resigned to die, or giving up on life. It means being ready for whatever God wants for us – whether that is to go on here, or to go on somewhere else.
We have seen how President Trump was returned to us – a quarter inch from death. I fully believe that President Trump is right – God spared him with a purpose, and I pray that we align ourselves in support of God’s purpose for President Trump – to make America great in all the ways that a loving God would intend.
I believe that President Trump was READY. His readiness isn’t all that saved him – but he was ready to go to God – or to survive, and to carry on with God’s will for him.
So I ask all of you – take a few moments and strengthen your resolve to be ready, whatever happens. Trust in God – trust that He wants what is BEST for you – not necessarily what is easiest – but that He is compassionate and merciful, and – as Christ assures us, His yoke is easy and light!
We continue to mourn the untimely passing of our beloved compatriot DePat, known in real life as Susie Sampson, and also as author Patricia Holden.
Until we have a dedicated author for the Tuesday daily open thread, I will be posting “placeholders” like this one, which may or may not be spiced up with additional content.
Gudthots will take DePat’s old Thursday daily open thread.
Please notify me in advance if you would like to post anything in lieu of the Tuesday placeholder. We welcome all content – the topic doesn’t matter.
W
Addendum: Some Details
First of all, the boilerplate.
By reference, I call to incorporate the rules spoken of in any of Deplorable Patriot’s recent posts, such as her final one.
Looking forward to somebody picking up DePat’s Tuesday sword.
Addendum: An Open Letter In Praise of the American Air Travel Industry
This is just a quick message of THANKS to some people who are sadly undergoing a lot of scrutiny and criticism right now, and who surely could use an “attaboy” and some “kudos”.
You see, sometimes – including recently – I have had to deal with “foreign” airlines of various kinds.
Foreign airlines can actually be quite excellent. Some of them are charming. Some of them are extremely enjoyable to fly on. Some of them are very attentive, and can really help make a trip overseas quite memorable. There are several foreign airlines that I love for different reasons.
HOWEVER.
If you deal with foreign airlines long enough, you are bound to run into their dark and highly inefficient sides. They will sometimes do stuff that just boggles the mind.
In particular, their technology is usually just problematic. Or to be fully honest, it sucks. Big-time sucks.
websites will crash
websites will drop your session and forget you were ever there
representatives will put you on hold and lose your call
the company will forget to bill you
flights will simply disappear from itineraries
picking seats will cause itineraries to malfunction
calls to customer service will cause itineraries to vanish
confirmation numbers will vanish
the same data will have to be “saved” over and over again – and then gets lost anyway
I recently had to deal with an airline that was absolutely no problem the last two times, during the last several years – but THIS TIME – OMG – what an absolute disaster. Dozens of hours arranging things – lost. KAPOOF! Gone. Vanished. So call customer service. Get it all fixed. Everything done. Waiting for the bill. No bill.
And then it all just disappears again.
Just an absolute waste of my time.
SO – because I was short on time – I decided to try something different. I attempted to re-book the trip using an American airline company.
The experience was just overwhelmingly positive. I managed to get almost the entire itinerary of foreign flights that we had before – but this time, everything went perfectly, and we were done in minutes, not hours. No tech errors AT ALL. Billed immediately. All the minor things we needed – DONE.
The websites functioned perfectly. All the international bullshit – DONE.
After all the CRAP we had put up with, it was a PLEASURE dealing with American airline tech – which could sell us foreign flights better than the foreigners could sell them to us.
So I just want to say THANK YOU to the American air travel industry for restoring my faith in air travel. Y’all done good!
