by

Our Daily Thread 7-27-13

Good Morning!

Happy Saturday! 🙂

On this day in 1789 the first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, is established. It would later become the Dept. of State.

In 1919 the Chicago Race Riot erupts after a racial incident occurred on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and 537 injuries over a five-day period.

In 1921 researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar.

In 1940 the animated short A Wild Hare is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.

In 1974  the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment (for obstruction of justice) against President Richard Nixon.

And in 1987 RMS Titanic Inc. begins the first expedited salvage of wreckage of the RMS Titanic.

_________________________________________________________

Quote of the Day

“The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.”

George Bernard Shaw

_________________________________________________________

We’ll start with one of my favorite Bugs Bunny bits. 🙂

This song was released today in 1974.

And on this day in 1981 Stevie Nicks released her first solo album.

________________________________________________________

Who has a QoD for us today?

65 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 7-27-13”

  2. Bugs Bunnie I know. But who is this Stevie Nicks?
    I cudda been first, but I posted on R&R; then as I was coming over here, the Sweetist One In the World started bellowing to come to breakfast.
    🙂 She always fixes waffles on Saturday. With bacon. It’s good, but not good for me. So, I get it only on Saturday. The rest of the week I fix my own milk & cereal.
    She tries not to spoil me.
    It works. I’m the least spoiled husband in the world.

    Like

    Reply

  4. “Nyeah, what’s up, Doc?” Probably one of the best known lines in cartoons. If Mel Blanc hadn’t taken over as the voice of Bugs Bunny, would the cartoon have been as popular? I remember seeing one of the earliest pre-Mel ones, and I don’t think it was as good. The voice was too harsh IMHO.

    Like

    Reply

  5. Is IMHO in my humble opinion? good to see someone else on here Peter, Chas and I were getting tired of just talking to each other and it is getting late here. See you all tomorrow

    Like

    Reply

  7. Good Morning. Received news last night that my uncle died yesterday of a heart attack. He and his wife of 30+ years had no children. After her death he remarried, divorced and was about to remarry his second wife again. She is the one who found him, but since they were not married at the time she is not “next of kin”. It will probably be a mess for a day or so until someone figures out something. He and my Aunt V were extremely close. She was in Las Vegas and was due home last night anyway so everyone was waiting on her. I cannot imagine her devastation to be met with that news as soon as she landed.
    Of all my grandparent’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren…this uncle is the one I worry most about being in heaven. I know he was “raised right” but I have had adult conversations with him. The past two years he has come to my house for Christmas and Easter. I don’t KNOW that he will or won’t be in heaven but I have my doubts.
    This uncle is the reason I know so much about music from the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. He is the one who had the extensive 45 collection with everything from Ernie K. Doe to Mahalia Jackson to Three Dog Night. He and my dad taught me to dance. Dancing lessons always ended with this one:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9tmmgKfO-k

    Like

    Reply

  9. There is nothing like being a thousand miles from home and homesick and having that song come on the radio.
    Makes me wonder just who remembers that song by the other guy that this one talks about????

    Like

    Reply

  10. Poor Chas. Forced to eat bacon and waffles once a week. Can’t imagine such hardship. Bet you didn’t even have to do the dishes afterward. 😉

    Kim, so sorry to hear about your uncle. Those unexpected deaths are hard on family and friends. And I understand your unease about his eternal state, I’ve lost a number of relatives and friends for whom that’s the case. My former pastor used to say that we should focus on whatever evidence of faith (however small) there was and try to cling to that. (Not in the sense that we’ll have any real assurance, but in the sense that at least it leaves the question open — and gives us some tiny bit of hope even as we grieve). We just don’t know with so many people we lose.

    I’ve always been amazed to hear occasional interviews with these near-perfect “sound of music” type families on Christian radio shows like Focus on the Family, for example, in which everyone goes to church and are without-a-doubt saved. They’d talk in these interviews about the joy they had knowing they’d see ALL of their relatives in heaven some day, from their grandparents to their grandchildren and beyond. I used to think “wow, so what’s wrong with my family” that (spiritually) we’re such a mixed bag? In reality, I don’t think that kind of absolute, complete assurance is the norm for most of us in our run-of-the-mill, rag-tag circle of relatives & friends. 🙂

    And then that always renews that question that floats around in my mind from time to time about how we’ll experience seeing (and NOT seeing) loved ones in eternity. …

    In other more mundane news, the cat was brutal this morning, attacking me until I got up. She got me good on the knee. So, I dutifully get up and feed her. She takes barely a few bites and looks bored. Then she goes outside. And here I am up early on a Saturday morning. Grrrr.

    Dogs are so much more polite.

    Like

    Reply

  11. This little story for your information. You could be taken in by something like this.
    The story is longer than I’m telling; but this is all you need to know.

    A couple of days ago, I got a phone call. Started out, “Hi Grandpa! This is Brian.” (It sounded just like Brian, my granddaughter’s husband.) He was in Florida. He had to rush down because of a sick relative. (I knew Brian was from Florida, but not Orlando, where he claimed to be.) Brian was in trouble with the law and needed some money.
    (I played along with this for a few minutes, but I knew right away that it wasn’t my Brian because he has never called me “Grandpa”.)

    The point is: Be careful of such things. I told Becky (GD) about it and she said it has happened before with her mother’s mother. She didn’t fall for it either.

    Like

    Reply

  12. Chas, I have heard that story before locally. Mr. B (my own personal WWII Vet) got a call from his grandson asking that he send money via Western Union. I think he may have actually sent a hundred dollars but I am not sure.

    NO ONE in today’s age would call anyone with that kind of story and if they do, then there is a deeper issue and they have maxed out all of their credit cards, etc.

    Warn everyone you know not to fall for it.

    Like

    Reply

  13. How wonderful to have a Saturday morning cartoon for breakfast with bad guys fresh out of the oven (a bit overdone and crispier than Chas’ waffles and bacon).

    Like

    Reply

  14. Donna, my pastor’s family is like the one you mentioned and they are all musical and I have heard them referred to as”the Von Pitt Family Singers.” They are all so talented and sre good performers in dramas. I feel a bit intimidated by their superior skills. I think they are a good example of what a family could and should be but for those who are in less than perfect situatons I think some feelings get hurt. I know one divored woman who left the church partly because she did not find her needs addressed.

    I am on my smart phone. Please forgive typos.

    Like

    Reply

  15. I am happy, of course, that all in my psstor’s family are saved, They are good examples for all in the church. But for some people the contrast between an almost perfect family and their own flawed family is just too hard to witness week after week.

    Like

    Reply

  16. Good morning, everyone! I had a fabulous time with my sister in San Antonio. We spent much of the time just talking and sharing and supporting one another. It was so good to have some alone time with her–it all just went by too fast!

    I understand the angst one feels about imperfect families all too well. As you know, my mom is a raging alcoholic. As alcoholism is a progressive disease, it’s not surprising that my sister reported our mom is worse than she’s ever seen. Mother just got a report that her levels of B12 are extremely low, which causes many medical problems. She’s also inundated by yeast–she has it in her skin, ears, and other unmentionable places. She’s been dealing with the infections for about two months now, taking many anti-fungal medications as well as acidopholous and eating yogurt. Of course, she can’t cure it b/c there’s so much sugar in bourbon. It’s beyond frustrating and discouraging as she won’t admit to having a problem with alcohol. Sister’s husband is a surgeon and has said he doesn’t think her body can take much more abuse. It’s all very tragic. I am going home in a week to celebrate my dad’s 80th birthday and I’m not looking forward to it. I know this isn’t the prayer thread, but prayers are requested anyway…

    Like

    Reply

  17. My pastor wasn’t raised in a Christian home so I often appreciate his fairly broad perspective in that sense.

    To be in a family and surrounded by generations of believers without exception must be an amazing blessing — I, too, and happy and glad for those who have that experience.

    But hearing some of these shows as a new-ish Christian many years ago often gave me pause, I kept thinking “but they’re not talking about what to do if you have loved ones whom you probably won’t see in heaven.” Seems mostly they never even addressed such a situation — which is odd since I think it’s the circumstance most of us find ourselves in throughout our lives.

    Like

    Reply

  18. All of my family have professed Christ, except one atheist uncle and his family (he is dead–my mom took comfort in some things that happened at the end of his life, but they don’t sound “positive” enough as “signs” to overcome his hostility to the Gospel for seventy-plus years). Some in the next generation are making choices not consistent with being Christians, so I won’t say my whole family is Christian, but that everyone at least claims to be.

    But having everyone “Christian” hardly is all it takes to have a perfect family. My husband’s immediate family was more “Hollywood perfect” than my own, but there’s also more dysfunction in terms of sin-derived pain on his sid eof the family. (There’s no divorce, little sexual sin that I know of, no alcoholism or drug use, etc. on my side of the family.)

    We really hardly ever know other people’s private pains, or sometimes even private sins. The family that I know that had the most perfect life in every way had two out of three of their children go through divorce . . . and that’s a pain I can’t even imagine facing with one’s children (whether they are the guilty party or not). I’d rather lose people to death (as I have) than to divorce. I also know several women who’ve had multiple miscarriages (five or more), and that is often a very personal pain that few know about.

    Like

    Reply

  22. We once had a mouse in the house that ran inside a sock on the floor. Poor mouse did not have a chance at life after that mistake. Our household was less one mouse and a pair of my husband’s socks. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  24. I have been reading about NSA leaks and the issue of personal data mining in this month’s issue of Newsmax. I’m not so concerned about it myself because, as NC Senator Sam Ervin once said, “All my indiscretions are past the Limit of Accountability”. However, it is scary how much data “they”, that is not only government but “the cloud”, have on us. Everything. That is everything we have said, posted or where we’ve been can be and is stored somewhere. They call this “Big Data”. The ability to store and retrieve data is almost unlimited. I have a 1 GB thumb drive that cost less than $3.00. Ten years ago, it would have cost hundreds.
    Bottom line, everything, including this, goes into a database they call “the Cloud’ which has virtually unlimited storage and almost instant access.
    I’m taking a “Great Courses” lesson on cyber security. They say the same thing in greater detail.
    Bottom line. As someone said, “Don’t say anything on the phone, post pictures, or print on the internet anything you wouldn’t want your mother to see”. It can be retrieved years later. Ask my Weiner abut that.
    But some people won’t learn.

    Like

    Reply

  27. Re: my previous post. Another article in Newsmax tells about a former American soldier who fought for al-Qaida.
    “Authorities say Harroun fought for Jabber al-Nasara, an al-Qaida affiliate the State Department has deemed a terrorist organization. If convicted, he could get life in prison.
    The government has plenty of evidence against Harroun. He posted pictures and videos of his exploits, including the apparent destruction of a Syrian military helicopter, on the internet.”

    Like

    Reply

  28. “All my indiscretions are past the Limit of Accountability”.
    = “Statute of Limitations”. It is that I had my mind on the subject and not what I was saying.
    It doesn’t matter Everyone is gone somewhere. But soon Jo will awake on Sunday morning.
    🙂

    Like

    Reply

  30. Chas, My mother always taught me not to say or do anything I would wouldn’t want to read about on the front page of the local newspaper. I didn’t always follow that advice, but you make me think perhaps I should.

    Like

    Reply

  32. I feel better now Michelle. I skipped yoga yesterday and went to have lunch with my friend M. I guess now I will have to check out the Pilates schedule. I don’t need to run the risk of anything else going wrong. 😉

    Mr. P is worried about me becoming depressed and more than encourages me to go to the gym every day. ( this should read nags me, but all in good humor) Exercise will beat depression according to him. To me so will slovenliness, the beach, and a good book.

    Like

    Reply

  33. Chas, I got Against All Enemies at the library yesterday. Good thing that I can keep it as long as I like. I do have a complaint about Clancy though, his books need maps!

    Like

    Reply

  35. Kim, do not skip the Gym. It’s important to keep all the parts moving.

    Jo, I expect you’ll enjoy Against All Enemies. It deals with both terrorism and the drug trade at the same time. I had a bit of trouble remembering the Islamic and Mexican names.
    It has a couple of surprising twists.
    And, most of the time I read it across from my computer and resorted to Google maps. I know you don’t have that luxury. But the most important thing you need to remember comes up much later. Just remember that Juarez is across the river from El Paso and Mexicali is right next to Calexico. The other things are interesting, but not important.
    You probably know that CIA is in McClein, Va. Just across the river from DC.
    (An aside, when I read about Mexicali, I think of Gene Autry’s song, “Mexicali Rose”.)
    Co-written, but pure Clancy.

    Like

    Reply

  36. Thanks Chas. i will get out my atlas.
    Michelle, I saw you had books listed in the sidebar of your blog. So, I got a couple of Nevada Barr books. I haven’t read anything of hers before.

    Like

    Reply

  37. I’ve enjoyed Nevada Barr’s series on Anna Pigeon (?) the park ranger. Mostly because her job is close to home for me and I like exploring the US National Parks via story.

    Like

    Reply

  38. Emily just started doing a free online yoga program. It figures.

    Maybe the author mentions this, but I haven’t had time to read the article yet (but I’ll get to it). I had read elsewhere that only doing the yoga stretches & exercises alone, without the often-attendant meditation or such, is fine. “It isn’t yoga,” is how one man put it, if you only did the exercises without the other stuff.

    Like

    Reply

  42. When I was in my twenties I joined a yoga class at a gym where I had a membership. I enjoyed doing the postures and also the gentle nature of the movements. One time the teacher did not show and I was asked to teach the small class that once rather than everyone just going back home. So I guess I had some skill with it. But I did not keep up with it for long and never did the meditation part. I did it purely for exercise. Now as a Christian I can see the problem with it as the article indicates. I was concerned when I saw a neighborhood church offering. Yoga lessons to young children. That was after I became a Christian.

    Like

    Reply

  44. Thanks, Donna, for letting me know I have 150 shopping days before Christmas. I know you could not wait until Monday to let us know. I try not to shop on a Sunday. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  46. And 2400 can only be worse! Good thing God lets us start over at 0100.

    It’s a new Lord’s day! Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

    Like

    Reply

  47. Wow, Janice G had “bad guys fresh out of the oven” for breakfast yesterday.

    Chas, just for the record, the “cloud” isn’t a database. It is a concept, wherein a company or organization provides an application for one or more other companies or organizations. For example, we work with a learning management system (LMS) provider called SuccessFactors. They host the LMS for many companies and organizations (including several government agencies). Each organization’s application looks like it is unique to them and can be configured with their own logo’s, department organizations, courseware, newspages, etc. System security prohibits one client from seeing the data belonging to another client. However, the data is all stored on computers owned and managed by SuccessFactors. So it isn’t all “big brother” like some people make it out to be. If the gov’t wanted to get info on a company’s employees, they could get it from that one company but if they went to SF they would have access to data from more than one company. But there just isn’t one big database out there with everyones info in it.

    Like

    Reply

  48. Linda, the bad guys out of the oven is from the Bugs Bunny cartoon posted by AJ. You need to see it if you haven’t. Then you can have bad guys fresh out of the oven for breakfast or brunch, too!

    Like

    Reply

  49. Good Morning. It rained again last night. Of course it rained again yesterday too. I think I am going to have to learn to swim better.
    Still not sure what the plans are for my uncle. Just waiting to hear.

    Diner was on Turner Classic Movies last night.

    Like

    Reply

  52. Thanks Linda. (8:10)
    I haven’t heard of “The Cloud” before I read this article. It was mentioned briefly in the “Great Course” lecture; but I can’t find it.

    “One area of major potential impact: The emerging field of “cloud computing”. That technology allows documents and applications to be stored on distant computer servers and accessed over the internet, instead of being installed on a consumer’s home or office PC.

    The global marker for cloud computer services top $35 billion this year and has the potential to reach $125 billion by 2017 according to the market research firm Gartner.
    ……………

    “Some of the fear, uncertainty, and doubt around the use of public cloud computing has been that the government can monitor or even seize your data much easier” cloud expert and author David Linthleum, senior vice president at Cloud Technology Partners, tells Newsmax. “With the NSA spying controversy, they may have a point.”

    Newsmax August 2013, p. 12

    The major concern in the article is that Google, Facebook, et. al. collect and store our “Big Data”. As someone said, “If you aren’t the customer, you’re the product”.
    When you run for Mayor of New York, someone will find everything you have put out there, by whatever means.

    Like

    Reply

  53. Chas, you asked at the beginning of this thread who Stevie Nicks is. She sang in the band Fleetwood Mac in the ’70’s. That helps, right? 😉

    Their hit “Don’t Stop” was used as the “victory song” when Bill Clinton was elected president. (Not that that helps, either.) 🙂 But maybe you heard it.

    Like

    Reply

  54. I was in a lip sync contest back in the eighties, and did Stevie Nicks’ song “Stand Back”. I didn’t win, but the bar owner or someone associated with the place I performed called me soon after the performance to come back and perform the song again the next week. I did, and won that night. It made me wonder what the deal was with that — I didn’t think a person could try again. Anyway…I don’t remember what my prize was, but I think I won some money.

    Ah, the 80’s. Crazy times. 😉

    Like

    Reply

  58. One branch of my family was totally split because of yoga. We don’t participate because of the heartache that came from two young women wanting to get into very good shape–they ended up joining an Indian religion, changing their names and separating themselves from their family.

    One is now mentally unbalanced after all these years of being a part of an Indian religion that hears messages from men long dead (she believes she was wedded in a past life to one guru, and may still be married to him). She’s in good shape, though.

    The stretching and flexibility are something we all could use, of course. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  59. Sorry to hear about your cold, Peter. May I prescribe some fresh gingerroot tea sweetened with honey Finely mince about a Tablespoon of fresh gingerroot and bring to a boil in a small sauce pot or in microvave safe bowl. Sweeten to taste with honey. Add some lemon juice if you have any. Also, my colds can’t tolerate tofu. If you can tolerate it, you may want to chase the cold away with that. NJL use to recommend oil of oregano.

    Like

    Reply

  60. Michelle, that is a terrible thing to have happen to your relatives. I once had a roommate who was a Mier Baba follower. N Iot even sure if I got the spelling right on that. She and her boyfriend were into that. He was a theology major at Embry. She was studying to be a physical therapist. I am not sure what happened to them. There were three of us gals sharing the apartment. The other gal was not into weird religion and was probably an unsaved nominal Christian as I was. I hope the Mier Baba following couple came out of their delusiin.

    Like

    Reply

  62. Michelle, “she’s in good shape though.” 🙂

    Had a late lunch (Mexican) out with a friend and then we drove down to the beach just to watch the waves and people. It looked like fall out there, the water is dark and so is the sky — chilly, too.

    Then I played with Cowboy in the backyard for a while. I somehow scare Tess when I’m in the backyard, so she just timidly retreats into the house. Strange dog.

    Like

    Reply

  64. Ha. Yes, they’re both dogs.

    Tess is in the photo. 🙂

    But I love the notion that someone might read it as if one of them were, uh, people or kids or a husband or … ????!!

    😀

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Peter L Cancel reply