Good Morning!
On this day in 1752 Benjamin Franklin flew a kite for the first time to demonstrate that lightning was a form of electricity.
In 1794 Congress prohibited citizens from serving in any foreign armed forces.
In 1851 Harriet Beecher Stow published the first installment of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in “The National Era.”
In 1884 U.S. Civil War General William T. Sherman refused the Republican presidential nomination. He was quoted as saying, “I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected.”
In 1933 President Roosevelt signed the bill that took the U.S. off of the gold standard.
In 1967 The Six Day War between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan began.
And in 1981 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that five men in Los Angeles were suffering from the first recognized cases of what came to be known as AIDS.
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Quote of the Day
“Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion.”
Benjamin Franklin
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On this day in 1865 this song was presented for the first time. I couldn’t find the original, but I came pretty close. It’s really old, and pretty cool. 🙂
This one is old. Check out clean-cut Willie. 🙂
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Anyone have a QoD?
Wandering Views 
well for a few hours we are at least on the same day.
Oh, the Kodiak is a small plane and that is why it took three days flying over the ocean. Going home I have been known to make it in one very long day, since we cross the dateline
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Good morning! It looks like Benjamin Franklin asked a good question for today: “Who is rich?” His answer is certainly good: “He that rejoices in his portion.”
Who do you think of as being rich? The 2% or someone else? At one time doctors and lawyers were thought to be rich. Given all they have to go through these days I don’t think of them as rich. Some are wealthy, but rich has a little added something to it beyond just the financial.
Do you know someone you consider to be rich?
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I thought you could all use some good clean humor. This came from my stepmother:
HOLY HUMOR
During these serious and troubled times, people of all faiths should remember these four great religious truths:
1. Muslims do not recognize Jews as God’s Chosen People.
2. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
3. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian world.
4. Baptists do not recognize each other at the liquor store.
GOOD SAMARITAN
A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan.
She asked the class, “If you saw a person lying on the roadside, all wounded and
Bleeding, what would you do?”
A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, “I think I’d throw up.”
DID NOAH FISH?
A Sunday school teacher asked, “Johnny, do you think Noah did a lot of fishing when he was on the Ark ?”
“No,” replied Johnny. “How could he, with just two worms.
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD
A Sunday School teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the mostquoted passages in the Bible – Psalm 23. She gave the youngsters a month to learn the chapter. Little Rick was excited about the task – but he just couldn’t remember the Psalm. After much practice, he could barely get past the first line.
On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Ricky was so nervous. When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly, “The Lord is my Shepherd, and that’s all I need to know.
UNANSWERED PRAYER
The preacher’s 5 year-old daughter noticed that her father always paused and bowed his head for a moment before starting his sermon. One day, she asked him why.
“Well, Honey,” he began, proud that his daughter was so observant of his messages. “I’m asking the Lord to help me preach a good sermon.”
“How come He doesn’t answer it?” she asked.
BEING THANKFUL
A Rabbi said to a precocious six-year-old boy, “So your mother says your prayers for you each night? That’s very commendable. What does she say?”
The little boy replied, “Thank God he’s in bed!”
ALL MEN / ALL GIRLS
When my daughter, Kelli, said her bedtime prayers, she would bless every family member, every friend, and every animal (current and past). For several weeks, after we had finished the nightly prayer, Kelli would say, “And all girls.”
This soon became part of her nightly routine, to include this closing. My curiosity got the best of me and I asked her, “Kelli, why do you always add the part about all girls?”
Her response, “Because everybody always finish their prayers by saying ‘All Men’!
SAY A PRAYER
Little Johnny and his family were having Sunday dinner at his Grandmother’s house. Everyone was seated around the table as the food was being served. When Little Johnny received his plate, he started eating right away.
“Johnny! Please wait until we say our prayer.” said his mother.
“I don’t need to,” the boy replied.
“Of course, you do “his mother insisted. “We always say a prayer before eating at our house.”
“That’s at our house.” Johnny explained. “But this is Grandma’s house and she knows how to cook.
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I have a question for my baseball fans. A few months back my boss (a good man) was talking about my job. He wanted me to watch the movie Moneyball. It is all about using numbers in baseball and just getting on base. The player doesn’t have to hit a home run every time he just needs to get on base. He was using this to describe what I do. I get the player/agent on base and step by step they sell a property. There are some growing pains going on right now and the catch phrase is to not “explode or implode”. Last summer I saw a movie and it came on TV night before last. Clint Eastwood in Trouble With The Curve. He is an old school scout and the young hotshot is trying to use the computer forecasts to recriuit. Clint is going blind but he can hear the sound of the ball and bat connecting. He has a trouble relationship with his daugter but she goes out with him on his last scout. He sends her to watch the player’s hands and they “drift”. ..thus the trouble with the curve. It brings the human element back into the game. I know there is an analogy there and a way to explain to the Boss what I am trying to get across but I am not sure of how to put it into words. Do I just go into his office and hand him the movie and tell him I watched Moneyball, I am asking him to watch Trouble With the Curve?
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Kim, I still don’t understand your problem. ??
One of the bad things Roosevelt did was move us off the gold standard. The problem was, money was too tight. But, as the saying goes, “paper money always reverts to it’s intrinsic value.”
Americans flew with the RAF before we got into WW II.
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I always liked Willie’s singing. He has a “straight ahead” style without too much production. I hear he had a hassle with his producers about “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” because they said it was “under produced”. It was just right.
I think it was Kim who said you can’t have country without a steel. I say you can’t have country with drums.
Willie used to be a nice looking guy. He really messed up.
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At first, I thought the parade was in the US, but began to realize that it was in Britian.
How the mighty have fallen!
Are we next?
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Good morning. I don’t really think about how rich people are (or aren’t), I guess. It is what it is, and that’s about all I have to say about it. 😉
Have a good day, everybody!
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I have known several people I considered to be rich. None of them were wealthy on the Bill Gates or Mitt Romney level, but they were rich by my standards.
The first one was a guy I knew in college, he was my SS teacher. He owned a real estate agency. He took us guys out to the chain gang to witness. He was a big golfer. He got saved at the Billy Graham crusade in Columbia.
I knew another guy who owned a TV repair shop. The thing that made him rich was that he bought property at Seven Corners, at Falls Church, Va. after returning from WW II.
At one time, I considered anyone who owned his own home, with an indoor bath and central heat to be wealthy.
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I’m rich. 🙂 Not monetarily, but I have so much to be thankful for. God has given us a beautiful acreage where our holiday is being spent working around the yard, with just day trips out to nearby lakes for canoeing/fishing. We’re having more fun than when we had a destination holiday. I have two beautiful children who are both following the Lord (son is still heart broken – ran into ex-fiance at church and just about lost it right there), I have parents who pray for us daily, we have a God who loves us and died for us, we have a vehicle that runs and is reliable (although the front shocks need replacing during this holiday), my husband loves his job (although he needs to attend a funeral for a fellow officer, killed in the line of duty by a drunk driver, on Saturday), I get to go with him and see more of the country I’ve never travelled through, I guess I could just go on and on. I am truly wealthy.
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Kare,
We’ll be spending a week in the Poconos in a few weeks. Canoeing/fishing will be a daily occurrence. I have 7 lakes and a reservoir to choose from, all within a few miles of the lake we’re staying on. I’m excited. I can’t wait. 🙂
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And we’re all monetarily rich here in the U.S./North America compared to much of the world. It’s sobering when you read or see something that reminds you of how so many live compared to what are very high standards of living here, even among those in the lower strata of income.
I was up late doing some shifting of furniture around here as I’m having the phone people come over tomorrow. I’ve decided to break up with my cable company, they’re just charging me way too much anymore, the monthly bill (for what is very basic service, no extra bells, whistles or movie channels; just the standard TV package with internet & bare-bones land line) is climbing at an alarming rate.
So the new guys in town, AT&T, are offering much better deals for a two-year period so I’m going with them.
But the install takes a while, apparently (they’re coming tomorrow), and they’ll be needing to poke around all the outlets/phone jacks, etc.
It’s actually getting possible to ditch the TV service altogether with more and more shows/movies being streamed via the internet. Maybe that’ll be my next move.
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I had a friend from a wealthy family. She had also inherited some money from her grandparents. She was one of the humblest and funniest people I’ve ever known. I was always careful to pay my own way when we went places together and not to accept expensive gifts because I had seen people take advantage of her and didn’t want her to doubt my friendship.
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Donna!!!!! Warning!!!! Do NOT go with AT&T, They lie!
The $99 Bundle with Cable, cell, and internet ending up costing me over $200 a month!!!!
Call back and cancel.
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You still have TV service??? Let me guess, you read paper newspapers, too, don’t you?
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Even husband, the tv/movie addict, says he does not know where he found time for that.
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Hi Mumsee!! 🙂
And Kim,
They all do. Satellite too. 😦
And don’t even get me started on Verizon’s costs for phone, or their incompetent so-called tech support and internet service.
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We have gone tribal here. Since the tribe has a tower not far from here, a couple of miles, we are using their services for phone and internet. Good price, good reception, fast action, very pleased.
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We haven’t had cable since last year. Of course we do have internet and netflix. It’s much cheaper and no body misses the cable—especially the cable news. ;–)
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People who have cable are rich 🙂 And smart phones 🙂 🙂
For anyone who has seen the movie, Courageous, there is a scene in it when a wife tells her husband he is a rich man because he has a family who loves him, etc. It is one of the best scenes in the movie.
Seems to me that anyone who is destined for heaven is eternally rich.
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Cheryl,
I just realized that your brother in law died a few days ago. I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s a terrible ordeal for your sister and the children to have to go through, but I’m glad the eulogy was some comfort. You and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers.
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Kim, I will double check with them but have it in writing. A colleague also switched late last year (this is u-verse) and is thrilled. They’re making a huge push right now as the local cable bills have skyrocketed
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And the biz I’m in media) requires a certain amount of cultural connection.
And the paper reimburses us for most of our smart phone blls as we need the technology for videos, twitter, etc. at work.
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So stop picking on me. 🙂
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Ok, just talked to c-worker, he said they also had the written quote when they signed up in December and their bill reflects the same amount.
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All the companies give low ‘intro’ rates (usually for two years only) and then look out.
Our local cable provider has been pretty good but in the past couple years began hiking rates something awful. You could get them to scale it back some temporarily, but then it would go right back up again. I was done so will switch for the intro rate with the competitor and maybe drop the tv portion or just go elsewhere again when that’s over.
And I confess, I am somewhat ‘hooked’ on cackle news. Not proud of it, just sayin’ … 😦
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AJ – sounds like an awesome vacation – enjoy!
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Just watch them. My bill was a different amount every month and I was constantly arguing with them over the bill
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Please continue to pay for the Baby Boy Twins. They will be at Women’s and Chidren’s Hospital for about a month.
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I would never pick on you….
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mumsee, of course you wouldn’t. 😉 😉 So how does that reservation connection work?
Kim, this is one of those introductory things designed to pull in new customers so it’s set up as a locked-in 1-year contract with an additional year (same price) to renew.
After that, all bets are off.
But that makes them like all the other TV/Internet/phone line businesses around, whether cable or satellite or fios or dsl.
It’s all pretty much a racket — but there are ways to get around some of the higher costs if you’re willing to go through the hassle of changing providers every couple of years.
In my case, I’d definitely come to the end of the line(after 15 years) with the cable folks who started out good but recently began to charge an arm and a leg, increases almost monthly, with no relief (only more increases) in sight.
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I enjoyed the “Onward Christian Soldiers” video, AJ. Thanks for posting it. It brings back good childhood memories of sitting at the piano at my next-door grandparent’s house, accompanying as my grandmother sang it — her favorite hymn.
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That would be grandparents’ (apostrophe after the “s”), as both Grandpa and Grandma were living during my whole childhood.
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feeling very rich here in my small, 400 sq. feet or so, flat. I have in aide in my class who built a place where the roof was a water tank cut in half. Pretty small for a family with four children. I look at my place and know what a luxury it would be for them. Also, I am an international homeowner with a home here and in the states.
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It’s all in your perspective. So important for us to remember the sheer luxury we have compared to so many.
I did have a very, very rich uncle (by marriage, not a blood relative, he’s now deceased). He was a very savvy businessman who grew up on an Iowa farm and opened a very successful clothing shop in a tony part of LA; he also was apparently a wise investor. His partner of many years was a physician. Together they owned several homes (really nice houses in the states & canada, on lakes & hillsides overlooking the ocean).
I have to say that whenever I visited their home here that overlooked the Pacific, I was pretty much in awe.
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