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Our Daily Thread 10-14-14

Good Morning!

On this day in 1879 Thomas Edison signed an agreement with Jose D. Husbands for the sale of Edison telephones in Chile. 

In 1928 the first televised wedding took place in Des Plains, IL. James Fowlkes and Cora Dennison were married in a radio studio. 

In 1936 the first SSB (Social Security Board) office opened in Austin, TX.

In 1947, over Rogers Dry Lake in Southern California, pilot Chuck Yeager flew the Bell X-1 rocket plane and became the first person to break the sound barrier. 

And in 1954 C. B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments”, starring Charlton Heston, began filming in Egypt. The epic had a cast of 25,000 people. 

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Quote of the Day

“Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.”

William Penn

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 Today is Alexander von Zemlinsky’s birthday.

And it’s Justin Hayward’s too. From 60s70sVintageRock

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Anyone have a QoD?

62 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 10-14-14”

  1. Good morning, AJ. I saw the posts go up one by one — it’s been a while since I’ve seen that. I’m up early, vacuuming up water that’s coming in in two places in our house. Hubby got home last night from work a little before 11:00, and he told me he’d stay up and vacuum — it’s been needing it about every ten minutes in the one location we can do anything about it. I woke up at 4:00 a.m. and asked him if he wanted me to take over so he could go to bed. He said he’d stay up longer. I went back to sleep, then he woke me up at 5:30 and told me it was my turn. I am glad to take over for my hard-working hubby.

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  2. !!
    I was sitting here waiting for this thread to come up. But the rain slacked off and I decided to run out for the paper. So! When I come back, 6 Arrows has already snagged it.

    🙂

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  4. Good morning, Chas! I hope the rain slacks off pretty soon here, too. 😉 It’s been raining non-stop since around midday yesterday, though not as bad as it was at one point last night.

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  5. We’re not sure exactly where the problem is, Chas, but it tends to come in on the bottom step of our attached garage, and gets into the house if we don’t vacuum up the water every 10 minutes or so. And when it rains over a long period of time without quitting, like it has been yesterday/today, then it starts seeping into our laundry room on the other end of the house. We have a drain in the floor in that room, though, so we just move things out of the way and let the drain handle the water that comes in there.

    My husband has tried moving the dirt around on the back side of the house, so that it slopes away from the house and keeps the water out. That worked for a while at one point, I think it was a year or two ago, when we had a lot of heavy rains over a period of time, but it’s not holding anymore this year.

    We have a big hill behind our house, and just the general layout of our land and where the house was built, the positioning of the sewer system, etc., is not ideal in these sorts of situations.

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  6. So sorry to hear of your water troubles, 6Arrows.

    Good morning, Chas, Aj & 6Arrows! Good evening, Jo.

    I’ve been awake since 4:30. Have no idea why sleep is so elusive for me these days. Spent time in prayer and then did some Christmas shopping online.

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  7. Good morning, Ann. 🙂 The rain is not much more than a mist now, and it appears to have stopped coming in the house in the last 15, 20 minutes or so. Praise God!

    I hope you can get back on a better sleep schedule, Ann. I’ve had times, too, where, night after night, sleep gets disrupted for some reason that is not apparent. It catches up with a person after a while, and can get kind of discouraging (for me, anyway).

    I am thankful, though, that I usually fall asleep quite easily when I go to bed. It’s just I don’t always stay asleep as long as I wish. 😉

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  8. Great wood ducks! That photo could be in a guide book. I’ve never gotten anything anywhere near as sharp–the two times I’ve shot them, they’ve been way too far away. I’m hoping for another chance this fall with this camera.

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  9. Ann, I wasn’t on here much last week, but I saw your announcement that Becca is enjoying her new school. I’m glad things are working out well with that. 🙂

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  11. 6Arrows: Thanks for the remarks. She is truly enjoying her new school and has been much more compliant at home as well since she started a couple of weeks ago. It is a welcome change. Her teacher, while noting she is behind in math, thinks it’s more of a confidence problem than a true learning disability. Becca has a lot of anxiety around math and tests of any kind. Teacher stated she believes memorization of math facts will come as she gains more confidence in her abilities. I really like the teacher and the principal seems wonderful. I am so glad to have found this school!

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  12. Kim: thanks for the suggestion! I’m going to try it tonight. I can’t take melatonin (it gives me a headache) and don’t want to take prescription sleep med.’s, but the very early morning awakenings are beginning to take their toll.

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  13. Sounds great, Ann! The math will come. For three of my four children who have passed the age of 12, their math understanding didn’t come until around age 12 (only my oldest son understood and did well with math at an early age).

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  14. There’s a little inositol in my B-complex supplement — 10 mg. I only take one tablet a day, though, in the morning, so it may not be as effective as it might be if I took another one later in the day, too. The serving size is two tablets; I should consider taking that second tablet with supper.

    Speaking of supplements, how about this for a QoD: Do you take supplements regularly? Why or why not? If yes, which one(s) do you consider absolutely vital?

    (You see I’m incapable of asking just one question.) 😉

    My B-complex is an important one, and I also supplement with extra B-12 every other day, as the last time I had my B-12 levels checked, I was right about at the bottom of what is considered the normal range. I’ve had some trouble with issues that result from low B-12 levels, so a little bit of supplementation (but not so much that it gets out of balance with my levels of other B-vitamins) has been good for me.

    The most important supplement that I take, though, I think, is my liquid Cal/Mag/Zinc/D3. Especially the calcium and D3; calcium because I am very small-boned and more at risk for osteoporosis, and D3 because there isn’t as much natural Vitamin D available in our part of the country. Especially when it rains, and rains, and rains… 😉

    Other supplements I take once in a while, if I feel I need them for a time, but mostly I think it’s better to try to get most of one’s nutrients from food. I question the quality of the food supply these days, though, and I tend to feel better if I keep regular with my B vitamins and the liquid supplement, as opposed to trying to get all my nutrients from food, so those I do stay with.

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  15. I tried melatonin, too, Ann, but had trouble with nightmares while I was on them. Cutting back didn’t help; I had to stop the melatonin completely to end the nightmares.

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  17. From Agent Storm, a book I’m reading about a double agent, p. 72.

    “….Omar Bakri said the United States was massacring Muslims and it was the duty of all Muslims to fight back. He was fond of quoting from one verse in the Koran:
    The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and his Prophet and serve to make mischief in the land is only this: that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned.” (It says that, 5:37, I checked it out.)…
    “Omar Bakro also told us that in this war there was no distinction between civilians and non civilians, innocents and non innocents. The only real distinction was between Muslims and disbelievers and the life of disbelievers was worthless.”

    Bakri had a following in London.

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  18. Anyone have an comments on the news out of the Vatican yesterday?

    Jon Stewart a good commentary on the Democratic Party last night. I won’t post it because of the obscenities, but he showed some emails he keeps getting asking him to donate, meanwhile ISIS is smuggling Ebola across our southern border (using Putin as a mule).

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  20. Michelle, I wish you and Donna had at least half of the rain we’re getting now. I put my rain gauges away for the winter, but I’m sure we have several inches already. It’s really pouring.

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  24. Kim, I had to search through Drudge to find a reference to your 10:14.
    I don’t see how Catholics can even consider same sex marriage.
    To Catholics, marriage is a holy sacrament and is defined as between a man and a woman.
    That’s pretty solid. If they change that, the Church is open to every conceivable bit of apostasy.

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  25. Yep, we’re dry-dry-dry out here. 😦 😦 No rain anywhere in any forecast (although it’s still a little early for what should be our regular rainy season).

    My luck the roof will leak if it ever does rain again.

    What I’ve seen from the Vatican news has all been in the secular media which, according to one Catholic tweeter I follow, reflects their own more libertine spin on what was discussed/decided (and I understand this also now will be reviewed by the church for the next couple years and could go through numerous tweaks and changes or even overhauls).

    Our pastor in his sermon this past week, though, referred to an article he read about a prominent minister’s son who has left the faith (which somewhat connects to the discussions within various churches about issues such as same sex marriage).

    From our pastor’s printed notes: “HIs son described himself as an apostate, now defining himself as an ‘agnostic humanist.’ It was notable how he chronicled his road to apostasy. He said he ‘passed just about every stage of heresy’ on his way to apostasy.

    “His first step away from orthodoxy (his own term) was a rejection of the sovereignty of God — how could God allow evil things to happen when He is capable of stopping them. He must not truly be all powerful.

    “The next step was in college when two of his roommates came out regarding gender orientation. He admitted that he would ‘ignore certain Bible verses and underline others.’ …”

    So it always comes back to “Hath God really said?”

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  26. What I’ve read about the Catholic synod discussion isn’t that it affirms gay marriage (though it may be one step toward that position eventually, see my post above) — but that it seems to move toward more affirmation of celibate gays within the church fold, “celibate” being the operative word, of course.

    But again, I’ve not read many of the details.

    It has been cloudier and much cooler in SoCal as well, michelle — I’ve worn long sleeves every day so far this week.

    Fall!

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  28. The parrot story is getting more complicated. The owner is threatening to sue us (long story, let’s just say we’re not worried). And, in the meantime, the family who apparently had the bird in the interim (and is heartbroken now at his loss) has contacted us.

    And a German media outlet is asking for our help to contact the owner for a radio interview.

    But I also have to write an election story this week about one of our local congressional races.

    Can I just go back to bed?

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  29. Morning all….sunny and going to get up to 70 today…which is a good thing…the furnace wasn’t working this morning….husband will need to investigate what’s going on with that when he gets home from work…gas fireplace does come in handy on this chilly morning!
    Donna thanks for sharing insights from your pastor…a dear friend’s son has just announced he and his new bride are no longer Christians…they proclaim themselves to be atheist/humanists. They have even joined an “atheist society” and the “humanist society” at his ivy league college on the east coast. He said his doubt began by reading of genocide committed by “God’s hand” described in the Bible….he is appalled that a “loving God” can be so evil. This doubt and questioning was evidently presented to him by a political science professor at a military academy he attended. I have to wonder why he is so disturbed since he denies God’s very existence. Needless to say, we are in prayer for him and his bride.

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  30. I have a bunch more of the ducks. They swam right up to me. I also have some other great shots of the pair. They were on a log together first, so I have some of that too. 🙂

    I also got some O’s, some fuzzy swallows, and some hawk shots too, but those are from quite a distance.

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  32. Husband’s arm is a bit better. I still don’t have a good internet situation. I am at the library now.. Bosley made it through the storm this morning by herself. Sad that she is all alone while I stay at the hospital.

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  33. Donna, I’m afraid that the father of that pastor’s son has been imbibing heresy for a long time. I don’t think that has particularly helped anything. If you’re going to pick and choose from God’s Word, you might as well write your own book and be done with it.

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  34. Re: atheist/humanists- Can’t be both. They either worship humans or nothing at all. In which case they worship themselves, having placed themselves as their own god. So they are egotists.

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  36. Wow. BBC Radio, now, too. And the London Sunday Times. Sheesh. But I love talking to these people, they use words like “lovely” and “brilliant” like we use “OK” and “good luck.”

    cheryl, you’re correct — I’ve enjoyed some of his sermons in the past and saw him preach once when he was in our area. And our pastor apparently has met him and noted he “lovingly” disagreed with him on a number of points. He also mentioned that the son, according to the article, made a point of saying that the doctrinal aspects of Christianity were never what drew him to the faith — rather it was the idea of “changing the world,” “being part of a loving community,” etc.

    Our pastor noted that if Jesus himself — his life, death and resurrection, the gospel — isn’t our true treasure, then heading down those other roads and away from the faith is inevitable.

    (Which also brings up the point of whether a person ever had saving faith — in these cases, we’d say no.)

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  37. My caterpillar’s cocoon is growing nicely. 🙂

    I told him to “sleep tight” as I headed out the door today (he’s lodged himself on my outside stucco wall, just above the mail slot. It’s a sheltered porch, he should be safe there.

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  39. 😦 We’re under a tornado watch.
    We aren’t alone. Almost every county in NW Ga., Western NC & SC are under this watch.
    If it had been a real tornado warning, the tornado would have been on us because there must be about 90 seconds from the first claxon and beeping before the recorded announcement is made.
    We really don’t need all that noise. A single five second bleep would do it.

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  42. Interesting World interview with Elyse Fitzpatrick

    http://www.worldmag.com/2014/10/transparent_sinner?utm_content=bufferd5cbc&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#.VD1bfgR9DSA.facebook

    Asked what advice Christian women typically hear about being a godly woman:

    “You have to eat organic. You need to have as many babies as you possibly can. You must never have an epidural or take any kind of pain relief for that. You must never interrupt your husband or even pray in a room where there are men because that would mean you are usurping their authority. You need to read X number of chapters in the Bible every day. You have to be the Proverbs 31 woman your entire life.”

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  43. Donna, I don’t know where those “godly women” are, but I’ve never heard that foolishness. Sounds like maybe she’s setting up a straw man to give herself a platform from which to speak.

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  45. Veith’s take on the Catholic synod:

    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2014/10/catholic-family-synod-liberal-protestantism/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=geneveith_101414UTC031008_daily&utm_content=&spMailingID=47188780&spUserID=MTAyODc4MTUyNDI4S0&spJobID=541820150&spReportId=NTQxODIwMTUwS0

    “…. Without simply proclaiming Christ’s forgiveness–apparently, those outside the church’s blessing are not even allowed to confess their sins and receive absolution!–the document tries to establish a new ‘tone.’ My question: How is this any different from liberal Protestantism? …”

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  46. That was a very good article in World Donna….she is a no nonsense, get real type of “older Christian” lady. I have heard and seen disturbing messages set forth at women’s conferences…could be a big reason I avoid them like the plague. 😦

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  47. it probably speaks to legalism in general as well, and I have sensed some of those themes in some Christian circles (mostly younger, mostly family-driven, so I’ve not been exposed much to it, but realized those messages were out there, here and there). Fitzpatrick is a good author & speaker, bringing us back to the grace of the gospel. So often women (and men) can become burdened by the external “rules” that seem to gain popularity.

    Parrot story continues to intrigue — calls now from Fox News & Canadian Public radio (supposed to be on Fox News “Special Report” at 6:30 tonight).

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  50. Good article, Donna. There certainly are legalistic ideas floating around out there, and they can and do influence some Christian women. However, I have not heard anyone say anything like those specific words, though sometimes those thoughts might be implied.

    I’m of two minds on this, and by that I don’t mean to sound like I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth at the same time. Let me explain.

    On the one hand, there seem to be messages by some very vocal individuals that imply, “You should eat this, but not that; wear this style of clothing, but not that; do this, don’t do that, if you are a “good Christian.” For example, I recently read a comment on a blog post about feminine modesty. The blog is written by a good Christian friend of mine, who rightly pointed out that the Lord is concerned with our heart, and we do not make ourselves right with God by following “rules” of dress invented by man, that we’re in danger of adding to God’s word in the area of dress when we focus on externals without being concerned about the internals, the state of our heart when we make the choices we do.

    Anyway, a commenter on that post responded by saying that she and her husband have found that when they wear plain, old-fashioned clothes, and he has a certain pattern of facial hair, then people are much more likely to take a tract from them. Then she shared how he led a Mormon girl to Christ, with the clear implication that it was his appearance that drew her to want to hear more, and that wearing modern attire leads to in-your-face attitudes in those to whom we wish to witness. I came away with the feeling she was saying that if you’re serious about being a soul-winner for Christ, then you’d better wear the “right” clothes for the job.

    She also mentioned that they are being a tool by being “a peculiar people” (peculiar in the way they dress), which of course is an entirely wrong understanding of the 1 Peter passage.

    So that sort of talk makes me cringe, as if the things we do (that we think are wonderful) or don’t do (that we think we should avoid) make God smile down on us.

    But…having said that…

    this is the “on the other hand” part:

    I also cringed at the part of the interview where Fitzpatrick had said what Donna then quoted above at 3:18. (“You have to eat organic. You need to have as many babies as you possibly can…” Etc.)

    The reason I cringed is that there have been plenty of people who have wrongly claimed that women who have large families and who speak of the blessing of receiving children in God’s timing are somehow saying, “You need to have as many babies as you possibly can.” No! Neither I nor any of my friends have made that claim, yet we’re accused of being against all forms of birth control at all times for all reasons, that we look down on women with smaller families than our own…etc. etc. All sorts of nasty accusations are made that, because we’ve made certain choices that look a lot like the choices some legalistic people have made, then we must be legalistic ourselves. If you homeschool, like wearing skirts, have a bigger-than-average family and speak about how many years it’s been since you stopped using birth control or (gasp!) had a sterilization reversal, and you prefer reading the King James Bible, then you must have bought into all the legalism out there and you probably spend your days praying fervently for all the lost souls out there who wear pants and have their ESV open on the kitchen counter. 😛

    OK, rant over. 😉 But there’s a lot of misrepresentation out there about lifestyles different from our own, and it’s a warning to everyone (no matter our walk of life) that we can’t assume the motives of the heart based on a person’s lifestyle, which we don’t see in its totality, or on a person’s words, which may be taken out of context.

    /Stepping off my soapbox now. 😉

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  51. 6Arrows QoD: I take Vitamin C daily, as it helps reduce histamines. It does seem to make a difference. I occasionally take B12 in sublingual form, as B12 deficiency runs in the family. Other than that, I stay away from vitamin and mineral supplements because in North America, a balanced diet does provide what you need; it is possible to overdose on vitamins and minerals; and, like medications, supplements can interact with each other (which is why multivitamins don’t really work).

    Donna, enjoyed your link to the World interview. She hit the nail on the head. Her quote on the messages women here was true – that is the type of message ATI gave, that is the type of message Fundamentalist Baptist denominations have and I have also seen it in Catholic, Presbyterian, and Reformed circles. They vary somewhat according to methodology, but all of them overuse the idea of “train up a child in the way he should go…”, using the Proverb as a sort of mantra to prove that it is your responsibility to ensure your child is saved (or at least, your fault if your child isn’t saved).

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  52. And before I scare everyone away, no one *here* has made me feel accused in the way I talked about in my “rant” paragraph above. 🙂 You’re fine.

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  53. Good points about supplements, Roscuro. I don’t use a whole lot of them, as I’d rather spend money on food than supplements, but if I forget to take the ones I mentioned earlier (which I have been known to do), I eventually get a run-down feeling, and adding them back in in small doses does make a noticeable difference. And I don’t have any medications I take, so medication and supplement interactions are not a concern.

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  54. Very interesting thread today.

    I take calcium with D3 & minerals,, c, Glucosamine, an extra D3,, low dose aspirin, and sometimes Juice Plus, red and green.

    I am still learning this new Smartphone. I had to go back to T-Mobile to get Xtra help. My husband will get the replacement phone for mine that died, including the pink cover 🙂 . My new phone has a black cover, 🙂 . Live and learn. Get the cover that all in the family will like. The new phone is a tad bigger so they can sell new covers.

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  55. Well, I dominated this thread today — it looks like at least 1/4 of the posts are mine. I left a prayer request on the prayer thread for any who wish to pray.

    Wishing you all a good night tonight.

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  56. Oops, I just realized something — Janice’s post above mine wasn’t there when I started typing my 8:36. She started out with “Very interesting thread today.”, and mine started, “Well, I dominated this thread today…”

    Did that sound like I’m claiming the thread was very interesting because there were so many posts from me? Timing is everything. 😉

    Good night!

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  57. For the record, my Eastern phoebe came back tonight to the same spot. The lighting was better (earlier in the evening? fewer clouds?) and this time it didn’t pose with its back to me. I don’t think I got any wonderful shots, but I got some decent ones at least. I then went into the kitchen to see if by chance the hawk was back too (birds are sometimes such creatures of habit), but it wasn’t.

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  58. Praying with you sixarrows…
    Cheryl…we have two owls out back….they have been “talking” to each other for the past couple of days. We will see them fly, one at a time, low through the pines in the shadows of nightfall. Not certain what type of owl, but it is awesome to hear them. It couldn’t be mating season could it?

    Oh…and my amazing husband fixed the furnace….we have heat! 🙂

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  60. LOL! I’m glad I made one more check of the blog tonight. 😉 My throwing arm is not what it used to be, Donna — it’s hard these days to sling that water out of our shop vac, from the Midwest to California. 😀

    And thank you for your prayers, NancyJill. I sure appreciate them. 🙂

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  61. Nancy, I seriously doubt owls would be breeding this time of year. (Raptor young need to learn to hunt, and the approach of winter isn’t a good time. Many young raptors die their first winter as it is.) However, many birds mate for life, so my guess is it’s either a mated pair or a family group (siblings or parent and child).

    I don’t know much about owls (my only sightings were a few in Nashville), so I can only give you general info, not much specific to owls. Oh, I can say one thing about owls . . . if you know what tree they’re perching in, search below it for owl “pellets.” That is a ball of fur and bone they regurgitate. You can tell what they’ve been eating by taking the pellet apart, if you’re interested. It’s a common assignment for students, though I personally have never seen or handled one. Even if you don’t want to take the pellet apart, it might still be interesting to find some.

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  62. Did I mention that I have a caterpillar cocooning on my house? I’m getting very bonded to him.

    I used to hear an owl in our neighborhood on dog walks. And there was a white owl that used to perch high in one of the trees in the dog park in my former home town across years ago.

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