Sunday, July 31, 2016

like an abominable branch...

Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
21 Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
22 For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord.

Saturday, July 30, 2016

sedentary II...

One month later - 10 lbs gone - 15 lbs to go.  The secret?  A little more exercise and no more cookies for desert.  Magic.  BTW - got the pump to fire up today...only needed 10 more pulls on the starter cord to get the fresh gas flowing.  86,92,73,0,B

Friday, July 29, 2016

weird shower...


Double weird because it rained mid day and it came from the southeast.  Two of my creek tanks are low so I thought I would give the ol' gas pump a try.  Dumped out the old gas and put in some new but couldn't get it started.  I really need to get it ready for the next downpour since I got room for about 5,000 gallons of water that might come in handy someday.  Tally so far for the year is 4.54".  Total for last year was 11.67".  77,91,73, .17",B

Thursday, July 28, 2016

like and share















I have something I would "like" to "share"...I stopped voting because I got tired of choosing the lesser of two evils.  I'm afraid even that choice is gone now.  85,95,79,0,B

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Don't be a clickbaitor...

Just to be clear - if you click on what you think is news and the site has ads like these - BEWARE!  The amount of idiocy on Facebook is getting pretty overwhelming.  More and more I am seeing stories being shared that have little to do with what is really going on in the world - but just enough to make unsubstantiated rumors seem that much more plausible.  People just don't seem to get it.  Any number of sites today that FOOKERS (my term for people who use Facebook incorrectly) cling to are basically fake news - with just a hint of truth mixed with a lot of editorial opinion.  If you see a seemingly poignant headline that appears to come from something that resembles a news site but has ads like in the photo - you have been duped.  DO NOT share stories from clickbait websites.  You are NOT helping spread truth and you are NOT sharing "breaking news".  You are just making the owner of the website rich and making the public dumber than they already are.  Clickbait is a term describing web content that is aimed at generating online advertising revenue, especially at the expense of quality or accuracy, relying on sensational headlines (mostly political these days) and conspiracy theories to attract click-throughs and to encourage forwarding of the material over social media.  Clickbait headlines typically aim to exploit the "curiosity gap", providing just enough information to make the reader curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content (and ads like in the attached photo) - or just enough to pass in on without even researching it because they like they way it sounds.  When you do read the actual story, there is little substance to it and absolutely nothing that even comes close to verifying the "information".  If you get sucked in by a sensational headline to a site that has ads like these - you have just been clickbaited.  When you share these links, the collective IQ of the nation drops another notch. 87,96,75,0,B

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Two for the record books...

Yet another around the world record flight. SolarImpulse2 landed in Abu Dhabi yesterday afternoon. The plane left there March 9th. This was not one continuous flight. The plane made 12 stops over the past 5 months with total time in the air of about 600 hours and flying about 25,000 miles. It is powered solely by 17,000 solar panels set on its wings (which are wider than a Boeing 747’s) and fuselage. A 1,400 pound bank of lithium batteries provided power when the sun went down. The Solar Impulse project started in 2003 and also attained the record for the first solar powered plane to fly through the night and the first to fly between two continents.  But don't get too excited about flying solar anytime soon.  This "pilot project" can only carry one person and cost about $200 million over the past 13 years.  94,99,80,0,B

Monday, July 25, 2016

a busy night...


Apparently there was another jet buzzing the Bid Bend all night but I slept through it since my swamp cooler fan tends to drown out outside noise. My buddy Ronald heard it (but didn't see any lights) and sent me a message about it. Turns out it was a Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) - an airborne communications relay and gateway system. The plane is a USAF E-11A...a modified Bombardier Global Express 6000 that is a small jet that has incredible range. Last night's test flight originated near Orlando, Florida and ended at McAllen, Texas. The flight lasted almost 10 hours and he looped around the Big Bend at least 15 times from 10 PM until 4 AM.  99,102,82,0,B