|
Johne Donne said it with great candor in 1630-- and we are ever closer to losing sight of it.
When God gives a special commission he looks to have it strictly observed in every article; When he gave Saul a commission to destroy Amalec, He indented with him upon certain articles, and because he failed in one of the least, and that upon a fair pretense, it lost him the kingdom, which should have been his reward, if he had observed his commission. Thus stands the cause between God and us. We are entered into Covenant with Him for this work. We have taken out a commission. The Lord hath given us leave to draw our own articles. We have professed to enterprise these and those accounts, upon these and those ends. We have hereupon besought Him of favour and blessing. Now if the Lord shall please to hear us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath he ratified this covenant and sealed our Commission, and will expect a strict performance of the articles contained in it; but if we shall neglect the observation of these articles which are the ends we have propounded, and, dissembling with our God, shall fall to embrace this present world and prosecute our carnal intentions, seeking great things for ourselves and our posterity, the Lord will surely break out in wrath against us; be revenged of such a sinful people and make us knowe the price of the breach of such a covenant.
Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together, in this work, as one man. We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of other's necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each other; make other's conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as his own people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways. So that we shall see much more of his wisdom, power, goodness and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, "The Lord make it like that of New England." For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, and all professors for God's sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are a going.
I shall shut up this discourse with that exhortation of Moses, that faithful servant of the Lord, in his last farewell to Israel, Deut. 30. Beloved there is now set before us life and good, Death and evil, in that we are commanded this day to love the Lord our God, and to love one another, to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandements and his Ordinance and his laws, and the articles of our Covenant with Him, that we may live and be multiplied, and that the Lord our God may bless us in the land whither we go to possess it. But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, and worship and serve other Gods, our pleasure and profits, and serve them; it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it;
Therefore let us choose life that we, and our seed may live, by obeying His voice and cleaving to Him, for He is our life and our prosperity.
--
May God continue to bless America. |
|
.....Public Enemies was a disappointment. Wife is learning to drive. It's almost our anniversary, and I still have no idea what to get her.
Life continues apace. |
|
Iranian government security forces are actively searching out for bloggers in Iran, using timezone and location searches, in order to keep information from getting out.
If you're on Twitter, set your location to Tehran, and your timezone to GMT +3:30
The more you clutter up the web-searches of the Iranian security forces trying to squash popular unrest, the better for the people of Iran. |
|
Call your Dad.
He'll appreciate it.
|
| » Hrm..... |
|---|
...my wife has been usurped as the most common commenter on my journal, other than myself in response to comments.
( Who comments the most on this journal? )
Jun. 4th, 2009 @ 02:57 pm
|
| » Because I need a laugh today.... |
|---|
...
The Iams Diet - (AKA- Don't ask a retiree a dumb question)
The next time someone asks you a dumb question wouldn't you like to
respond like this?
Yesterday, I was at my local Wal-Mart buying a large bag of Iams Dog Food
for my loyal pet, Abby, the Wonder Dog and was in the checkout line when a
woman behind me asked if I had a dog.
What did she think I had, an elephant? So since I'm retired and have
little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was
starting the "Iams Diet" again. I added that I probably shouldn't, because
I ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I
awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my
orifices and IVs in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it
works is to load your pants pockets with Iams nuggets and simply eat one
or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so
it works well and I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here
that practically everyone in line was now enthralled with my story.)
Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food
poisoned me. I told her no, I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish
Setter's ass and a car hit us both.
I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was
laughing so hard. Wal-Mart won't let me shop there anymore.
Better watch what you ask retired people. They have all the time in the
world to think of crazy things to say.
Jun. 2nd, 2009 @ 02:15 pm
|
| » Leave it to family... |
|---|
...to find new ways to piss a person off.
Jun. 2nd, 2009 @ 12:32 am
|
| » Vacations..... |
|---|
....can be fun, but sometimes you just want 5 more minutes in bed.
See behind cut-
My little girl kept demanding we get up:
( Read more... )
My son took a later opportunity to zonk out again:
( Read more... )
Jun. 1st, 2009 @ 10:54 am
|
| » Finally! Repairs in sight! |
|---|
...after a bit of a headache, I should have the SUV in the shop today. Repairs probably won't start until Monday, but I can live with that.
Cost is much less than I anticipated, all things considered. Woohoo!
May. 28th, 2009 @ 11:59 am
|
| » Stuff and things.... |
|---|
...a couple of notes from a Thursday morning.
1) Estimates being processed. Whee.
2) We're going to be a Nielsen ratings home, or at least are well on our way to being one. No to reality TV junk, no to Oprah-itis, and no to the junk that's on TV.
3) I think I just saw the funniest interview in TV history. A 12 year old boy was being interviewed at the National Spelling Bee championships by Erin Andrews-- he stared at her chest the entire time, and couldn't remember his own name. He may have entered puberty on-air.
May. 28th, 2009 @ 10:59 am
|
| » Morning Lemming... |
|---|
( Read more... )
May. 27th, 2009 @ 08:22 am
|
| » Florida ate my Ford.... |
|---|
...and other misadventures and adventures of the weekend past, will all fall out of my brain in time.
Suffice it to say, we're all home safe. The kids are now with my sister and niece, headed for the grandparents for a few days ahead of our trip up their to celebrate the parent's 50th wedding anniversary.
1,000 miles? An assload of driving, with 2 small kids and a non-driving wife. Last 70 miles through a pea soup fog? Suck on top of suck. Mechanics and auto shops in Jacksonville that are either not open or aren't able to handle an impromptu repair? Suck further.
All things considered, life could be worse. The bit of the after-wedding affair that I did get to see, after being pulled from the swamp, was lovely. I have a quiet house, no foreseeable progress on the repair until tomorrow at best, a sleeping wife, and a magnum of unopened champagne. Spending the rest of the day drinking mimosas and taking a long, long hot bath is extremely tempting.
May. 26th, 2009 @ 12:26 pm
|
| » Today was a failure on every level. |
|---|
I'm not sure I even want it to be tomorrow.
May. 24th, 2009 @ 10:50 pm
|
| » Florida... |
|---|
.....whee. 14 hours isn't such a bad drive, but the foot cramping when we arrived during the morning rush hour sucked.
Nothing going on today that I know about.
May. 21st, 2009 @ 12:28 pm
|
| » East bound and down..... |
|---|
... loaded up and truckin', we're gonna do what they say can't be done.
We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there. I'm east bound, just watch ol' "Bandit" run.
Off to Florida.
May. 20th, 2009 @ 03:02 pm
|
| » Dad is a quality pillow.... |
|---|
...apparently.
May. 19th, 2009 @ 10:42 am
|
| » Grooveshark Widget: Single Song |
|---|
|
A classic
May. 19th, 2009 @ 05:39 am
|
| » BWUHAHAHA... |
|---|
....man, it must suck to be a Mets fan right now.
Ryan Church-- remember, you have to touch *all* the bases.
May. 19th, 2009 @ 12:35 am
|
| » Home from Little Rock.... |
|---|
...to a house filled with sleeping babies and a wife that obviously fares much better with them when they are cranky than I do.
The game was great fun, and it was most excellent to see people again. I just wish it was a bit closer to home.
May. 16th, 2009 @ 04:07 am
|
| » God is Great; Beer is Good; People are Crazy |
|---|
....A lot of good music lately, but this is a pretty good estimation of how the world is:
May. 14th, 2009 @ 11:18 pm
|
| » Kidlets.... |
|---|
( Read more... )
May. 14th, 2009 @ 07:09 pm
|
| » Long shot bets of the century.... |
|---|
....a filly to win the Derby; McGwire and Clemens being clean; Steven King writing another readable work of fiction.
Longest Shot-- but one that just came to pass:
The first time someone yelled at someone else to quit throwing things in the house, I was yelling at my wife.
May. 13th, 2009 @ 11:34 am
|
| » Little Rock peoples... |
|---|
....drop me a comment. I'd like to talk at some of you folks, and I have no idea who posts/reads to LJ anymore down that way.
May. 13th, 2009 @ 05:21 am
|
| » A classic song... |
|---|
May. 12th, 2009 @ 09:44 pm
|
| » Cam Thoughts... |
|---|
...ages and ages ago, the Camarilla was a lot of fun for me. I accepted certain inescapable eventualities; rules sets would always be a pain, officers would do as they pleased, and generally, I had a choice between liking the end product, or not liking it.
When the White-Wolf transition happened, a number of radical changes were implemented; RSTs and NSTs were no longer appointed from a list of applicants, but rather became the products of 'voting'. Likewise, the process of VONCing officers at the Regional and even Domain level became procedural entitlements of membership. At the time, I was wary enough to predict that it would diminish the overall quality of the Club, because there were few, if any, structural impediments to mob mentalities. Doing the right thing for the quality of the product would, I surmised, become secondary to doing that which least offends. After all, a single unpopular decision in the Old Cam would happen, and six months later, be largely forgotten (though harbored in the hearts of affected members), and an officer would still be begrudgingly empowered to do great things. Yes, the old system had a lack of turnover-- but that was an institutional strength.
My single biggest regret as a Cam officer, though, came when I was a DST of ARD02; I partook in the first (possibly the second, if my memory is failing me) vote-based removal of an RST in the Camarilla. I went with the masses, pitchfork in hand, because I was frustrated, and I had the opportunity to do something about it. I did a great disservice to Logan Boatfield, and to the Camarilla as a whole. I helped 'normalize' the disposable nature of experienced officers; I partook in the problem I anticipated. Yes, the RST was failing, but the powers that used to be were aware of things; its not like a RST had never been asked to step aside before, for the good of the club. Unfortunately, our collective 'democratic' actions contributed greatly to the 'Do as we want, or else' problem.
Eventually, I became a principle assistant to a Regional Coordinator, and handled disciplinary actions. I got a good peek into the nature of the 'democratization' process; I got a ringside seat to seeing domains tear themselves apart. I couldn't go 4 days without a new VONC to proctor crossing my desk. To say the least, it was disheartening. I watched, as the years passed, as the politics of maintaining an elected Cam office surpassed the politics of the games we played. I watched as national addenda became the purview of the gaming style of the moment, as sound rules became secondary to popular rules. I thought, that perhaps this would be enough. Folks might be satisfied with the ability to affect their local and regional officers more directly than they had in the past--- but as usual, hope was dashed by experience.
As all populations change, the old gave way to the new; Cam members came in who had no understanding that the 'democratization' of the Camarilla was anything other than the way things had always worked. They clamored for their voices to be heard at ever-greater levels. Advisory bodies were formed; members were given officers with the sole responsibility of becoming mouthpieces for discontent. Every decision of the handful of still-appointed officers became the subject of list-flaming, second guessing, and a culture of cynicism. Those officers who did try to effect dynamic changes were often shouted down by a small faction of vocal members. I grew to loathe the task of reading emails necessary to the function of an officer of the Club.
Eventually, I moved to a small affiliate that was far more reflective of the Old Cam, than the New Cam. I saw how the old system, however flawed, still worked. I became an ANST for a largely absentee NST; yes, people bitched. Yes, there were eminently valid complaints. Yes, there were even AGMs where people could vent about specific problems--- but the fad of the moment mentality was absent. I was, through the grace of a wise NST, able to manage a venue with the best interests of the game at heart. I also recognized when my own burnout was so significant to warrant stepping aside; admittedly, I could have stepped aside 6 months sooner, without discernibly harming the organization. Not having to, though, didn't impair the quality of the game irreparably.
In the spirit of hoping to help foster a sustainable rules environment, I helped undertake a massive custom rules project. The amount of sheer 'I have it because I have it, I always will have it, and I'll file complaints until you give up out of frustration' mentality that I saw was even more mind boggling than when I was an ARC. The inmates had taken over the asylum. The lack of backing from political offices and especially from beyond, was galling.
I strongly believe that the culture of entitlement fostered over the past 5 years in the Camarilla lays at the heart of many of our problems. Officers who had to go through the unpleasantness of popular uprising, even if they survived intact, became very jaded to member feedback. Those who were pitched out, often left the club, or simply ceased to function beyond a in their own back yard level. The few that did stick with things, focused on becoming unelected principle assistants to officers who were inherently political creatures.
It used to be that 50 officers controlled the Club, for better or for worse, but a veneer of civility did exist. Usually, they were semi-like minded. It's been replaced with about 150 loud voices, 50 pigeonholed officers, usually espousing a minimum of 50 different visions of the Way Things Aught To Be.
The culture of the Cam has become so poisoned, that officers can't even remain on mailing lists, without receiving threats. Is it any wonder that the people who hold such offices become disenchanted with what they do?
Make no mistake-- I'm not saying the Old Way was perfect. I am saying that it was better. Concepts like Institutional memory were assets, rather than liabilities. The OBN, as it were, may have sucked, but you could predict it, and have some hope for a stable framework.
Some of you may wonder why I haven't posted my thoughts about this on a list-- and the answer is the same as why officers are so loathe to be on lists. I have neither the time nor inclination to deal with flame wars.
The organization I joined was fun. Frustrating, certainly, but fun. Even when I was way outside, looking in on how things were managed, I was understanding that the folks who had jobs were largely there for reasons beyond my personal preferences, and were acting in the best interests of the game, even if I disagreed as to what those interests might be.
May. 12th, 2009 @ 04:37 am
|
| » Celebrity Apprentice... |
|---|
....yeah, I know it's a silly show to watch, but man... Trump utterly got that one wrong.
May. 10th, 2009 @ 09:58 pm
|
| » Star Trek.... |
|---|
.....I've been mulling the movie over since getting home, as I wasn't sure of what I thought about it. There were some great, even enjoyable moments....but it felt utterly wrong.
The stamp of JJ Ambrams was all over the movie and the franchise. I loathe his work, from Felicity to Lost (with a small exemption so far for Fringe) --- and it's unquestionably his movie.
I won't post any spoilers, save to say that I don't think anyone, even the fans of the Abrams incarnation are going to walk away entirely happy.
May. 8th, 2009 @ 12:54 am
|
| » One of the great voices of Country Music passed away the other day... |
|---|
....and I would be remiss if I didn't wish a fond fare-thee-well to Mr. Vern Gosdin.
Of his many memorable songs, I was always a fan of 'Chiseled in Stone', which won a CMA for Song of the Year in 1989-- a traditional country ballad that never rose about #6 on the charts, but took the CMA despite the overtaking of Nashville by new wave country.
Godspeed, Vern. I'm sure that in the Heavenly Honky Tonk jukebox, someone's dropped a quarter so that you can hear yourself being played in the ultimate dive.
May. 5th, 2009 @ 10:09 pm
|
| » Due to my sorry ass sleeping in and an uncooperative printer... |
|---|
...we're just heading out to KC now. Better get a move on.
May. 2nd, 2009 @ 07:54 am
|
| » Mothafrickers that need to die.... |
|---|
....everyone has a list, you know. People that you hope self-immolate, preferably in front of a TV camera, and in a high quality sound recording environment.
Today's addition to the list:
Cel phone spammers-- especially the 'This is your second warranty activation notice' people. Die a firey death of flaming burnination and genital itching.
May. 1st, 2009 @ 02:14 pm
|
| » My son pinched a girl's butt today at preschool... |
|---|
....and man, did she clobber him :)
Always nice when your son comes home looking like he got in a fight :D
Apr. 30th, 2009 @ 04:43 pm
|
| » Ouch.... |
|---|
Apr. 29th, 2009 @ 12:02 pm
|
| » True love is... |
|---|
.... a wife who will import Cajun Squirrel potato chips from halfway around the world.
Apr. 20th, 2009 @ 12:47 pm
|
| » Writer's Block: Looking Back |
|---|
Original post was July 7th, 2001; it blamed everything that would come in the journal thereafter on the person who gave me an LJ code.
Apr. 14th, 2009 @ 05:04 pm
|
| » NSWF--- Golf is an erotic sport.... |
|---|
....as proven at the Masters this weekend:
Apr. 13th, 2009 @ 04:13 pm
|
| » Newest addiction is...... |
|---|
...an internet auction site called Swoopo.com ; so far, I've bought 3 Blue Ray DVDs and a MLB Season Ticket redeemable code, for a total of $55 for the items and my bids. That's less than a third of the price of the Season Ticket code alone; the site is utterly legit, and makes a ton of money, even while selling things at huge discounts-- I've seen 42 inch 1080P TVs go for $25.
The site works on a slightly different logic than most auction sites on the internet; essentially, you pay for a number of bids (75 cents per bid), by buying a bid-block of 30, 50, 100, 300 bids.
Now, each time you bid on an item, it increases the top current bid by 15 cents, and you lose one of the bids. There are mechanisms to set automatic bidding up to a certain level (and the ability to set the maximum number of bids to be used to reach that number).
The auction site itself is pretty highly profitable, because of how the bidding process works.
Each time a bid happens, the 'timer' on the auction gets time added to it, to allow competitive bidders time to consider on whether or not they wish to continue a bidding war. This can extend a lot of auctions a long time.
Take the 42 inch TV; they sold it for $25.something. It was a $1400 TV-- but, because it was a special 'penny auction', they had over 2500 bids-- meaning they had over $1875 in bids that had to have been purchased by all the users who bid on the item, just to bid up the auction item to $25.00. Someone got a relatively cheap TV, they got a profit, and things worked out well.
My personal favorite are 'Nailbiter Auctions', which don't allow automated bidding; essentially, it's you and other live-bidders, playing a game of brinksmanship, whereby you have to convince them that they aren't going to win the auction, because you are willing to bid an item until you win. There are different methods and such that lend themselves to different auction types; it doesn't reward people who snipe to try to take an item at the last second, unlike Ebay, either, which I find is good.
Let me know if you want to give it a try-- recommendations for new users are good for free bids for me :)
Apr. 12th, 2009 @ 01:03 pm
|
| » The government shouldn't subsidize us buying a house.... |
|---|
...and saddle our kids with debt because of such things.
Apr. 8th, 2009 @ 11:31 am
|
| » Feels like springtime.... |
|---|
...sitting in our back yard enclosure, on newly built rocking/reclining lawn chairs, at our newly assembled table. The wireless signal is strong, the birds are chirping, and I suspect I will find out we have good radio reception out here, too.
A couple of hours of effort for some nice, quiet relaxation throughout the year.
Apr. 3rd, 2009 @ 06:54 pm
|
| » There shall be meat.....or as I call it, tasty animal murder.... |
|---|
...secured a new grill today during a driving snowstorm. Something about it just felt like the right time to be preparing to give a burnt offering.
There shall be animal murder. Tasty, tasty animal murder, soon.
Mar. 28th, 2009 @ 12:37 pm
|
| » Nice work by a British MEP.... |
|---|
...fantastic commentary on what's wrong with the Western world's approach to the current financial crisis.
Mar. 25th, 2009 @ 11:56 pm
|
| » BSG Thoughts... |
|---|
....a pretty good finale.
Details behind the cut.
( Read more... )
Mar. 22nd, 2009 @ 01:26 am
|
| » March Madness takes it's toll.... |
|---|
....on a guy. Exhibit 1: My son, after an intense day of basketball channel flipping:
Mar. 14th, 2009 @ 08:50 pm
|
| » Some days.... |
|---|
...are good, in spite of themselves.
Last night was probably the first time I've gotten to sleep at a reasonable hour in a month. Unfortunately, I had a 2am wake up call from the kids, and am now up to take care of them as they fuss through a very light remainder of the night sleep. On the bright side, I have some excellent bratwurst that I'm having for a very early breakfast, and the house is mostly quiet (save for the sound of the kids' breathing).
Today needs to be a good day, in spite of it's start. I really could use one.
Mar. 2nd, 2009 @ 03:42 am
|
| » Paul Harvey- RIP |
|---|
The late, great Paul Harvey has passed on this evening, after 76 years on the radio, having shared his folksy wit and wisdom with generations of Americans- 22 million of whom listened to him every week, even in his golden years.
Not many men have been, at different times, named Salesman of the Year, Commentator of the Year, Person of the Year, Father of the Year, and American of the Year. He has been elected to the National Association of Broadcasters Radio Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and appeared on the Gallup poll list of America's most admired men. In addition he has received 11 Freedom Foundation Awards as well as the Horatio Alger Award. In 2005, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' most prestigious civilian award, by President George W. Bush.
Paul's voice was always sure, always steady, and hearkened back to what people must have meant when discussing a golden age of radio. Today, God called back one of his favorites to go home.
Now Paul knows The Rest of the Story.
Feb. 28th, 2009 @ 07:03 pm
|
| » I know I'm back stateside... |
|---|
...because in the last 36 hours, I went from worrying about how my wife was going to handle an early spring heatwave after a visit on a balmy February day to a state park/fishery, to pondering shoveling the snow on my walkway.
I think there were -years- I lived in Ireland, where I never saw so much temperature variance.
Feb. 28th, 2009 @ 10:56 am
|
| » Irish Friends... |
|---|
...I have a mission I'd like to send one of you on, to retrieve something for me from a distillery.
Would gladly repay in goods, services, peanut butter M&Ms, or other good unavailable in Europe-- or just good old fashioned cash.
Let me know if you could help out!
Feb. 28th, 2009 @ 03:11 am
|
| » Recommended movies... |
|---|
....HBO may get the TV series wrong from time to time, but they still can make a pretty great stand alone movie.
Feb. 25th, 2009 @ 11:21 am
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
will_sample's journal
