I need to call and make sure Art made it in with that bad weather he had to drive in. Yes, it is good that an extension has been given to those preparing tax returns.
We keep having the craziest news. This morning an Amber alert kept going off on our phones. A car was hijacked that had a baby girl named Royalty in it. And I suppose everyone has heard of the news about the 21 y/o guy who killed people in three massage parlors? It’s such a horrific story which some want to fig the political agenda of a hate crime against Asians. The young guy said it was his way of dealing with sexual addiction by getting rid of temptation. He and his family are members of Crabapple Baptist so I am sure that will play into someone’s agenda along with the fact that he bought the gun the day before he got rid of temptation. All this happens this week when Biden and Harris are scheduled to visit.
It is horrifying that a church member could even consider such murderous deeds to deal with temptation, and it does raise questions about the nature of the teaching this murderer received in that church. As Paul told the Corinthians, when he warned them that their pride and refusal to address the open sin in their midst was causing the pagans to blaspheme, the right action on the part of Christians who hear of evil committed by those who also claim Christianity is to mourn (I Corinthians 5:2).
Moving on to better subjects, I really like the header. Where was it taken?
I did order a used copy of the More With Less cookbook. Thanks y’all for suggesting it. It has a lot of good recipes for a vegan type approach to food. I saw a recipe for peanut bread that looks interesting. I will modify it into peanut butter(paste) banana bread with maybe some chocolate chips. I think it could be a good snack for Art.
It is horrifying when anybody does such things. A person being a member does not make them a believer. But yes, churches ought to be doing things to root out evil in their midst. But many people are quite good at covering up their delusions and sins. They know how to talk the talk even if they don’t walk the walk.
Good morning, all. Happy to report that the kid that was walking on the tops of his feet has now begun using his feet properly. Sadly, his very large brother expired yesterday. We thought he was strengthening nicely but he did not make it through the night. We are now well on our way to getting the super mom to allow the abandoned one to eat from her.
I have a new camera!!! I haven’t even held it yet, let alone used it, since there is some protective equipment coming in a separate package from a different supplier, and one doesn’t want dust on the camera parts before attaching it. (Protective film for the screen and a UV filter for the lens.) It arrived from New Jersey about 24 hours after it was ordered; quite impressive.
It’s similar to the camera I have now, another Canon PowerShot, but a different model. This one has a shorter zoom (25x as opposed to 65x), but it has two features this one doesn’t have: a larger sensor and weather-proofing (which should also keep it from being damaged by sand–what killed my current camera). Because I’m spoiled by the long zoom of this lens, and Canon isn’t making my current camera anymore, I was really torn what other camera to get. I was deciding between either of two cameras with a 20 or 25x zoom and a one-inch sensor and a camera with an 83x zoom. The 83x zoom is great (especially since many of my photo opportunities are wildlife on the other side of a pond or lake), but the 83x zoom also has the smaller sensor of my current camera and it isn’t weather-sealed.
I finally asked my husband is it possible to get both cameras? After all, we had been talking about me upgrading to a DSLR (camera with separate lenses), and I had decided against that, and a decent DSLR with several lenses would cost considerably more than two bridge cameras. (To get the flexibility of the one bridge camera I was replacing in a DSLR would require at least three lenses: a macro lens, a wide-angle lens, and a telephoto lens.) He agreed that it was OK to get two cameras. I was initially going to start with the 83x camera and wait on the new PowerShot until April, but the other camera is backordered and so we ordered this one first.
Anyway, for birds in the tree above me, muskrats or squirrels a few yards away, and for wildflowers and insects, this new camera should be great–hopefully even better quality than the camera I’ve been using, since it has a sensor that is more than twice as large (letting in more light). I’m hoping it does better in low light, including indoor shots–that’s the one area where I don’t like my current camera, and the new one should do better. But when we go on a day trip to a lake or state park, and we’re seeing turtles in the middle of the water or herons on the far shore, or even a warbler high in a tall tree, that’s where the camera with the 83x zoom lens will get its workout. So it’s hard to know now which will get more use–I use the full zoom a lot on this one, because most animals don’t allow humans to get super close, and birds are so small already that one wants a zoom. But the higher quality paired with a 25x zoom on the new PowerShot will make that a very useful little camera, especially for butterflies and dragonflies and other creatures that allow me somewhat close.
Nightingale is planning on getting her resume updated and looking for a different job. But she also feels that she would be abandoning her patients. The care in this nursing home is not too good, and she can only count two nurses and two CNAs who take good care of the residents. Some CNAs don’t bother to properly clean up a person after changing their “briefs” (what they call the adult diapers) or brush their hair.
The kitchen has been making sub-standard food. One breakfast recently was one over-cooked hard-boiled egg (which were too hard to peel, as the egg was coming off with the shell) and a piece of untoasted bread. A recent dinner was over-cooked, dry pork chops with cheap, too-flexible disposable knives to try to cut them. The kitchen staff has also stopped supplying snacks and drinks that used to be available between meals.
Nightingale says that a few on staff have tried reminding the kitchen staff that these people are stuck there, and sometimes the only pleasure they could have would be their food. But it hasn’t made a difference. So incredibly sad that so many people just don’t care. 😦
A news briefing from my county law enforcement is linking the hijacking/kidnapping of 1 y/o Royalty to a 14 y/o boy. Crazy. Prayers for this to safely resolve.
I would make no assumption that the guy who did the killing was not taught properly. It does say something about the nature of sin. It starts small and enlarges it’s territory until you can do things you never dreamed you would. Years ago I read a book on the harm of soft porn. So many have bought into it not having any victims. Then there is all children are so exposed to today in a variety of ways. I was disappointed when television pundits couldn’t even just say that garbage on the recent awards show was just plain evil. Most just don’t have the guts to say something is evil anymore. (although I guess they do call evil what is good)
Kizzie, the kitchen staff have probably had their budget cut or been told to reduce expenses. Nursing homes are frequently milked as cash cows by investors, and cutting expenses is a way of increasing profits. In the first wave of COVID statistics showed that there were more COVID fatalities in for-profit nursing homes than in public owned nursing homes here. That was not surprising to those who had an familiarity with working in nursing homes. Cost cutting measures to increase profit always ended up reducing staff available to care for residents, as well as limiting resources to improve quality of life for residences, whether it is food or protective equipment, etc. One of the most infamous cases was a for profit nursing home in the province of Quebec, that charged residents $2000 a month, but had to be taken over by public health authorities when residents were found practically abandoned (just two careworkers for several floors) after an outbreak of COVID.
Morning! My dentist cemented my implanted tooth back in…if it happens again he will have to be more invasive and cut away some of my gum! 😳
Kizzie when I was a CNA I noticed many did not show much care for the patient on the Hospice floor. I was a volunteer CNA and not paid although I was licensed. There were times when the employed CNA refused to care for the patient due to the patient having shingles, MRSA. I would suit up and go in and take care of the patient…and I was blessed to do so. The only reason I went through the classes and took the state licensing test was due to the lack of care I witnessed with my elderly neighbor in rehab. I was appalled and I knew I needed to be one to care for these patients. I would speak with the CNA’s while volunteering and one gal I even suggested she find a new line of work….she complained, mocked patients and smelled horribly like cigarettes after her breaks. She liked me and listened as I gently made the suggestion. I hope she either found a new attitude or quit….
That whole thing of apathy or too busy to care (looking at my phone or flirting with my coworker) is why we do not want to put daughter into assisted living. But there are days….
Kizzie, mental illness might make someone temporarily lose their grip on reality and lash out violently at the nearest person. It doesn’t account for deliberately targeting several seperate locations. If this man were a Muslim, it would be labelled terrorism. While I believe the church is truly horrified at the actions the man took, I also know that there is a prevalent teaching on modesty among many conservative churches that sends the message that women are to blame when men are tempted by them. Such a teaching is not suggested anywhere in Scripture, and indeed has much more in common with traditional Islamic and Judaic teachings about women being the source of temptation. But it has insinuated itself deep into the minds of many conservative Christians. When Ravi Zacharias was revealed to have used massage spas as a way of concealing his sexual predation, many Christians immediately said this is why men should never be along with women who are not their wives, as if women were such a strong magnet of temptation that men couldn’t help themselves. That same reasoning was behind the Taliban rule that a woman couldn’t leave her home without being accompanied by a male blood relative, and an unaccompanied woman was treated as fair game for any kind of violence. So, I can see how that prevalent church teaching that women should behave modestly to avoid tempting men would play into the twisted reasoning of an angry and lustful man.
Kizzie (11:54), that was my thought too, especially considering his age (21) and how the typical onset of some conditions such as schizophrenia appear in young adulthood.
But yes, when I spotted he had a strong church affiliation I realized that will be wrapped into the scenario going forward. (I checked for the church website and FB page after I’d read the earlier reports and it’s been locked down to the public, wisely).
We also live in a culture now, no thanks to the Internet and widespread availability of porn, where young people and even children, who have a natural curiosity, are getting exposed to way too much. It is bound to have lasting emotional and mental impacts as they grow up and try to cope with normal dating or relationships with the opposite sex.
So while there may have been issues in the church’s teaching, we don’t know that — and I wouldn’t automatically go there for what happened in this instance. I strikes me more as either a mental illness issue or over-exposure to images young people should never have easy access to.
No, Mumsee, she didn’t. She didn’t speak to the underlying sin which drives lustful men to harass women. Women shouldn’t have to worry about walking in the dark and it should be outrageous that that man followed her home all those years ago. What kind of a world do we live in it that avoiding groping hands and ignoring wolf whistles is considered normal? Yes, I am aware it is due to the sin nature, but if we are supposed to be continually outraged by some sins, such as the killing of unborn children, why are we to treat other sins, such as unbridled lust, as being par for the course?
Yes, Roscuro, she did. In a perfect world….. but we are not there.
So, yes, we should be outraged by all of those things, but if there are things we can do to prevent them, it makes sense to do so. If we can offer a home to a woman and her baby so the woman does not kill the baby, we ought to do so. If we can walk in the light rather than the darkness (as God tells us because He also tells us of the evil that takes place in darkness) we ought to listen.
As I am sure you know, Mumsee, John was not speaking of physical darkness when he said we should walk in the light. Jesus often walked in physical darkness.
When I heard about the young man’s actions my thought was perhaps he was one who liked to play all those violent video games and that perhaps he had crossed over into some mental confusion about what was real or not. I knew it was only a guess, but I can see that some people get way too caught up in things like that.
It is a form of terrorism to all those who work in and run the establishments. I think he hated the businesses and wanted to put them out of business in the most immediate and effective way. He accomplished that goal. I imagine that it is a majority of men who run such establishments and get the lion’s share of profits. He was targeting them, too. This is my humble understanding of the matter. I suspect he was targeting something bigger than the individual ladies.
No, Roscuro, I do not. I do know he was speaking of spiritual darkness but do not know he was not speaking of physical darkness. Because, in life on this planet, a lot of the deeds of darkness take place in darkness. Not just John, by the way. Ephesians 5:12 appears to be alluding to both.
DJ, porn is a problem and has been continuously throughout history. There is no doubt it contributes toward degradation of women, but, serial killers operated long before the internet existed. The human mind that loves its depravity is entirely capable of thinking up every kind of perversion without needing outside input.
Janice I have been asking our Lord for protection and peace in your area. It would seem there has been much evil perpetrated there in recent days. This most recent tragedy would shine a light on the evils of the “industry” and the crazy mixed up thinking of the young man 😢
Lust doesn’t take place in darkness. It needs to be able to see its victim. I would feel safer walking down a completely dark road than one with the occasional streetlight, because a streetlight would be what identified me as a woman walking after dark.
In fact, when I walked alone, after dark, in the city, because that was the only way I could get home, on the loneliest section, through a deserted former industrial site, I deliberately walked in the shadows of the empty lot rather than in the light of the street lamps of the sidewalk. Not only could I then not be seen by drivers passing by, but I could also see better into the shadows the see if anyone was lurking.
Massage spas are not automatically synonymous with sex work. Massage therapy is a legitimate form of physiotherapy and can be done without even a thought of sexual innuendo. The fact that certain parts of the sex industry use the word massage as a cover does not make all massage spas the equivalent of brothels. The ages listed of the women who were killed were women in their 30s and 40s, not the typical age for workers in the sex industry. The women may well have been exploited by their employers – nail and hair salons as well as spa companies increasingly use cheap imported labour from Asia to avoid paying full salaries – but that is a different form of exploitation. Ravi Zacharias’ spas were employed real massage therapists but he decided to sexually abuse those real therapists. Licensed massage therapists have long reported that some customers come not to be helped with their pain, but to demand services that no one should be demanding as Ravi did.
This young man claims to have gone to those massage places for those other services in the past. One would then think that they perhaps offer those services which is exploitation of women and men. That did not warrant their deaths.
In other news, it’s a glorious pounding rainy day here. We need the moisture so much!
I’m finally catching up to life on my computer with so many emails, I think I’ll go eat lunch instead.
We’re signed up to go on a three-week ministry/tourism trip to Israel and Jordan at the end of August.
I had not logged into Orbitz in over a year until this morning when I checked flights. Quite a surprise, ALL of them allow you to change your flight for free.
Michelle, the travel health recommendations will probably require the COVID vaccine now, especially since in Israel, having the vaccine is a requirement for entry to certain places. Vaccine passports are a very old concept. I had to get an official Yellow fever vaccine passport, which is yellow coloured incidentally, to go to West Africa. I also had to get vaccinated for typhoid, which is an oral vaccine, which I thought was very clever – typhoid is in the salmonella family, so you catch it through eating or drinking contaminated substances, but the digestive tract is lined with lymph nodes, so taking the vaccine orally directly prepares those lymph nodes for the invader. They gave me a meningitis vaccine too, as that is a risk wherever you go.
Of course. I was just pointing out that those massage parlors do not appear to have been just massage parlors. He had visited them and was not able to take every thought captive. His church may, in fact, have been trying to help him. He was in rehab for his addiction. We don’t know, But we can pray for all those concerned: the murderer, the families, fellow employees, fellow church members, even the folk at rehab that wanted to help but couldn’t.
And we can know that this sort of thing has happened since Cain killed Abel and will continue to happen until He makes all things new. All we can do, besides plead with God, is offer short term assistance. One thing I have read frequently, (I think in Ecclesiastes) is that people will continue to do evil when consequences are delayed. When we see people continuing to be famous after some horrid deed, that does encourage others to think they too could get away with it.
Roscuro – (back to the nursing home) – It seems that if the budget were the problem, then someone would explain that to the nurses and staff who keep complaining.
But yes, I’m sure they don’t have much of a budget. Nightingale says there are cutbacks all over the nursing home, and that everything is purchased or done in the cheapest way possible. But the food could still be prepared in an edible, even enjoyable way.
Kizzie, reduced food budget would mean that when you accidentally overcook a meal, you have to serve it anyway, because the money for that meal has already been spent, and also that you can’t have a lot of extras just to put out for the taking.
Just back from touring one of the new homeless solutions, pallet homes — 75 of them being set up in a parking lot adjacent to one of our local LA community colleges. Project will be complete in mid-April and The Salvation Army will be the so-called “provider” (for all services) on the site. The 64-square-foot structures have two drop-down cots, windows, locking doors & heat and A/C. Showers and bathrooms will be communal buildings on the site.
And for me, it just feels so good to get OUT and about on in-person interviews again, despite the hassle of having to put on my ‘outdoor’ clothes. Thank you, vaccine developers and providers (and yes, former President Trump for putting the push on that).
here’s the preliminary World Magazine summation of the GA incident:
~ The man accused of killing eight people, mostly women of Asian descent, said the shooting was not racially motivated. Robert Aaron Long, 21, claimed to have a “sex addiction” and attacked the three Atlanta-area massage parlors as a source of temptation, police said. Officials on Wednesday charged Long with four counts of murder and one count of assault.
What was his connection to the women? It is unclear whether Long previously visited the specific locations or only similar businesses. He was planning to carry out a similar plot at “some type of porn industry” site in Florida, authorities said. The FBI is supporting Atlanta and Cherokee County’s investigation. Nico Staughan, 21, said he went to school with Long and described him as a “super Christian” who brought a Bible every day. The Washington Post reported Long was active in a Southern Baptist church youth group throughout his high school years. ~
Looks like the tornado passed us. A tornado hit High Point and Greensboro. But it passed east of us. I don’t know how much damage it has done in Greensboro. They say significant damage in High Point.
Heavy rain outside now. I don’t mind the rain.
Chuck works in High Point. He is home now.
The wind is up here. The popcorn I put out has already flown away, but the old bag of prunes I discarded by scattering in the yard, have seen no takers. I was hopeful that there would not be one greedy squirrel to learn a lesson. Appears they are smarter than that!
Yes, Chas, hold on to those cookies. The wind is fierce!
Art told me last night that the Federal extension is good, but when he checked the web to see the state status, some said they would match the Frderal due date, and others said they would not. He said the state of Georgia had a blank space for their decision. He said, “That’s typical for Georgia.” I could look it up but will wait for him to tell me tonight which way they decided.
This term of school is over and now we have a two week break and then the last term of the school year. Lots of changes here as covid begins to explode a bit. National schools are closed for four weeks. since we are a private school, we can continue. More mask mandates and travel is restricted. I stocked up a bit at the store. In remembrance of you all, I even bought a bit more toilet paper.
Wandering Views 
Good morning! We have pouring rain now just as Art left for work.
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Well Janice, at least Art gets an extra month to work. 🙂
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1372307347251593220
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Good morning again.
They keep saying that some nasty weather is headed our way. I hope not.
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I need to call and make sure Art made it in with that bad weather he had to drive in. Yes, it is good that an extension has been given to those preparing tax returns.
We keep having the craziest news. This morning an Amber alert kept going off on our phones. A car was hijacked that had a baby girl named Royalty in it. And I suppose everyone has heard of the news about the 21 y/o guy who killed people in three massage parlors? It’s such a horrific story which some want to fig the political agenda of a hate crime against Asians. The young guy said it was his way of dealing with sexual addiction by getting rid of temptation. He and his family are members of Crabapple Baptist so I am sure that will play into someone’s agenda along with the fact that he bought the gun the day before he got rid of temptation. All this happens this week when Biden and Harris are scheduled to visit.
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It is horrifying that a church member could even consider such murderous deeds to deal with temptation, and it does raise questions about the nature of the teaching this murderer received in that church. As Paul told the Corinthians, when he warned them that their pride and refusal to address the open sin in their midst was causing the pagans to blaspheme, the right action on the part of Christians who hear of evil committed by those who also claim Christianity is to mourn (I Corinthians 5:2).
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I have no words.
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Moving on to better subjects, I really like the header. Where was it taken?
I did order a used copy of the More With Less cookbook. Thanks y’all for suggesting it. It has a lot of good recipes for a vegan type approach to food. I saw a recipe for peanut bread that looks interesting. I will modify it into peanut butter(paste) banana bread with maybe some chocolate chips. I think it could be a good snack for Art.
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It is horrifying when anybody does such things. A person being a member does not make them a believer. But yes, churches ought to be doing things to root out evil in their midst. But many people are quite good at covering up their delusions and sins. They know how to talk the talk even if they don’t walk the walk.
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Good morning, all. Happy to report that the kid that was walking on the tops of his feet has now begun using his feet properly. Sadly, his very large brother expired yesterday. We thought he was strengthening nicely but he did not make it through the night. We are now well on our way to getting the super mom to allow the abandoned one to eat from her.
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I temporarily forgot that Mumsee does not refer to children as kids.
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It is also possible that the young man was even a believer, but also with some kind of mental illness or emotional disturbance.
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https://www.newsweek.com/church-robert-aaron-long-attended-removes-social-media-wake-atlanta-massage-parlor-shootings-1576893
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Very pretty egret shot!
I have a new camera!!! I haven’t even held it yet, let alone used it, since there is some protective equipment coming in a separate package from a different supplier, and one doesn’t want dust on the camera parts before attaching it. (Protective film for the screen and a UV filter for the lens.) It arrived from New Jersey about 24 hours after it was ordered; quite impressive.
It’s similar to the camera I have now, another Canon PowerShot, but a different model. This one has a shorter zoom (25x as opposed to 65x), but it has two features this one doesn’t have: a larger sensor and weather-proofing (which should also keep it from being damaged by sand–what killed my current camera). Because I’m spoiled by the long zoom of this lens, and Canon isn’t making my current camera anymore, I was really torn what other camera to get. I was deciding between either of two cameras with a 20 or 25x zoom and a one-inch sensor and a camera with an 83x zoom. The 83x zoom is great (especially since many of my photo opportunities are wildlife on the other side of a pond or lake), but the 83x zoom also has the smaller sensor of my current camera and it isn’t weather-sealed.
I finally asked my husband is it possible to get both cameras? After all, we had been talking about me upgrading to a DSLR (camera with separate lenses), and I had decided against that, and a decent DSLR with several lenses would cost considerably more than two bridge cameras. (To get the flexibility of the one bridge camera I was replacing in a DSLR would require at least three lenses: a macro lens, a wide-angle lens, and a telephoto lens.) He agreed that it was OK to get two cameras. I was initially going to start with the 83x camera and wait on the new PowerShot until April, but the other camera is backordered and so we ordered this one first.
Anyway, for birds in the tree above me, muskrats or squirrels a few yards away, and for wildflowers and insects, this new camera should be great–hopefully even better quality than the camera I’ve been using, since it has a sensor that is more than twice as large (letting in more light). I’m hoping it does better in low light, including indoor shots–that’s the one area where I don’t like my current camera, and the new one should do better. But when we go on a day trip to a lake or state park, and we’re seeing turtles in the middle of the water or herons on the far shore, or even a warbler high in a tall tree, that’s where the camera with the 83x zoom lens will get its workout. So it’s hard to know now which will get more use–I use the full zoom a lot on this one, because most animals don’t allow humans to get super close, and birds are so small already that one wants a zoom. But the higher quality paired with a 25x zoom on the new PowerShot will make that a very useful little camera, especially for butterflies and dragonflies and other creatures that allow me somewhat close.
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Nightingale is planning on getting her resume updated and looking for a different job. But she also feels that she would be abandoning her patients. The care in this nursing home is not too good, and she can only count two nurses and two CNAs who take good care of the residents. Some CNAs don’t bother to properly clean up a person after changing their “briefs” (what they call the adult diapers) or brush their hair.
The kitchen has been making sub-standard food. One breakfast recently was one over-cooked hard-boiled egg (which were too hard to peel, as the egg was coming off with the shell) and a piece of untoasted bread. A recent dinner was over-cooked, dry pork chops with cheap, too-flexible disposable knives to try to cut them. The kitchen staff has also stopped supplying snacks and drinks that used to be available between meals.
Nightingale says that a few on staff have tried reminding the kitchen staff that these people are stuck there, and sometimes the only pleasure they could have would be their food. But it hasn’t made a difference. So incredibly sad that so many people just don’t care. 😦
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A news briefing from my county law enforcement is linking the hijacking/kidnapping of 1 y/o Royalty to a 14 y/o boy. Crazy. Prayers for this to safely resolve.
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I would make no assumption that the guy who did the killing was not taught properly. It does say something about the nature of sin. It starts small and enlarges it’s territory until you can do things you never dreamed you would. Years ago I read a book on the harm of soft porn. So many have bought into it not having any victims. Then there is all children are so exposed to today in a variety of ways. I was disappointed when television pundits couldn’t even just say that garbage on the recent awards show was just plain evil. Most just don’t have the guts to say something is evil anymore. (although I guess they do call evil what is good)
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Yikes, Janice!
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Kizzie, the kitchen staff have probably had their budget cut or been told to reduce expenses. Nursing homes are frequently milked as cash cows by investors, and cutting expenses is a way of increasing profits. In the first wave of COVID statistics showed that there were more COVID fatalities in for-profit nursing homes than in public owned nursing homes here. That was not surprising to those who had an familiarity with working in nursing homes. Cost cutting measures to increase profit always ended up reducing staff available to care for residents, as well as limiting resources to improve quality of life for residences, whether it is food or protective equipment, etc. One of the most infamous cases was a for profit nursing home in the province of Quebec, that charged residents $2000 a month, but had to be taken over by public health authorities when residents were found practically abandoned (just two careworkers for several floors) after an outbreak of COVID.
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Morning! My dentist cemented my implanted tooth back in…if it happens again he will have to be more invasive and cut away some of my gum! 😳
Kizzie when I was a CNA I noticed many did not show much care for the patient on the Hospice floor. I was a volunteer CNA and not paid although I was licensed. There were times when the employed CNA refused to care for the patient due to the patient having shingles, MRSA. I would suit up and go in and take care of the patient…and I was blessed to do so. The only reason I went through the classes and took the state licensing test was due to the lack of care I witnessed with my elderly neighbor in rehab. I was appalled and I knew I needed to be one to care for these patients. I would speak with the CNA’s while volunteering and one gal I even suggested she find a new line of work….she complained, mocked patients and smelled horribly like cigarettes after her breaks. She liked me and listened as I gently made the suggestion. I hope she either found a new attitude or quit….
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That whole thing of apathy or too busy to care (looking at my phone or flirting with my coworker) is why we do not want to put daughter into assisted living. But there are days….
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Kizzie, mental illness might make someone temporarily lose their grip on reality and lash out violently at the nearest person. It doesn’t account for deliberately targeting several seperate locations. If this man were a Muslim, it would be labelled terrorism. While I believe the church is truly horrified at the actions the man took, I also know that there is a prevalent teaching on modesty among many conservative churches that sends the message that women are to blame when men are tempted by them. Such a teaching is not suggested anywhere in Scripture, and indeed has much more in common with traditional Islamic and Judaic teachings about women being the source of temptation. But it has insinuated itself deep into the minds of many conservative Christians. When Ravi Zacharias was revealed to have used massage spas as a way of concealing his sexual predation, many Christians immediately said this is why men should never be along with women who are not their wives, as if women were such a strong magnet of temptation that men couldn’t help themselves. That same reasoning was behind the Taliban rule that a woman couldn’t leave her home without being accompanied by a male blood relative, and an unaccompanied woman was treated as fair game for any kind of violence. So, I can see how that prevalent church teaching that women should behave modestly to avoid tempting men would play into the twisted reasoning of an angry and lustful man.
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https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/women-not-problem/
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Kizzie (11:54), that was my thought too, especially considering his age (21) and how the typical onset of some conditions such as schizophrenia appear in young adulthood.
But yes, when I spotted he had a strong church affiliation I realized that will be wrapped into the scenario going forward. (I checked for the church website and FB page after I’d read the earlier reports and it’s been locked down to the public, wisely).
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We also live in a culture now, no thanks to the Internet and widespread availability of porn, where young people and even children, who have a natural curiosity, are getting exposed to way too much. It is bound to have lasting emotional and mental impacts as they grow up and try to cope with normal dating or relationships with the opposite sex.
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So while there may have been issues in the church’s teaching, we don’t know that — and I wouldn’t automatically go there for what happened in this instance. I strikes me more as either a mental illness issue or over-exposure to images young people should never have easy access to.
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Janie B Cheaney addressed this in her piece on perpetual victimhood and said it well.
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No, Mumsee, she didn’t. She didn’t speak to the underlying sin which drives lustful men to harass women. Women shouldn’t have to worry about walking in the dark and it should be outrageous that that man followed her home all those years ago. What kind of a world do we live in it that avoiding groping hands and ignoring wolf whistles is considered normal? Yes, I am aware it is due to the sin nature, but if we are supposed to be continually outraged by some sins, such as the killing of unborn children, why are we to treat other sins, such as unbridled lust, as being par for the course?
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Yes, Roscuro, she did. In a perfect world….. but we are not there.
So, yes, we should be outraged by all of those things, but if there are things we can do to prevent them, it makes sense to do so. If we can offer a home to a woman and her baby so the woman does not kill the baby, we ought to do so. If we can walk in the light rather than the darkness (as God tells us because He also tells us of the evil that takes place in darkness) we ought to listen.
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As I am sure you know, Mumsee, John was not speaking of physical darkness when he said we should walk in the light. Jesus often walked in physical darkness.
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When I heard about the young man’s actions my thought was perhaps he was one who liked to play all those violent video games and that perhaps he had crossed over into some mental confusion about what was real or not. I knew it was only a guess, but I can see that some people get way too caught up in things like that.
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I imagine a lot of youth pastors are stressing out over this and wondering how to prevent the copy cat phenomenon.
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It is a form of terrorism to all those who work in and run the establishments. I think he hated the businesses and wanted to put them out of business in the most immediate and effective way. He accomplished that goal. I imagine that it is a majority of men who run such establishments and get the lion’s share of profits. He was targeting them, too. This is my humble understanding of the matter. I suspect he was targeting something bigger than the individual ladies.
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No, Roscuro, I do not. I do know he was speaking of spiritual darkness but do not know he was not speaking of physical darkness. Because, in life on this planet, a lot of the deeds of darkness take place in darkness. Not just John, by the way. Ephesians 5:12 appears to be alluding to both.
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DJ, porn is a problem and has been continuously throughout history. There is no doubt it contributes toward degradation of women, but, serial killers operated long before the internet existed. The human mind that loves its depravity is entirely capable of thinking up every kind of perversion without needing outside input.
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Janice I have been asking our Lord for protection and peace in your area. It would seem there has been much evil perpetrated there in recent days. This most recent tragedy would shine a light on the evils of the “industry” and the crazy mixed up thinking of the young man 😢
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Lust doesn’t take place in darkness. It needs to be able to see its victim. I would feel safer walking down a completely dark road than one with the occasional streetlight, because a streetlight would be what identified me as a woman walking after dark.
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In fact, when I walked alone, after dark, in the city, because that was the only way I could get home, on the loneliest section, through a deserted former industrial site, I deliberately walked in the shadows of the empty lot rather than in the light of the street lamps of the sidewalk. Not only could I then not be seen by drivers passing by, but I could also see better into the shadows the see if anyone was lurking.
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2:11 is also why I think they are trying to make it into a race crime. People do not want to acknowledge the sin that dwells in their own hearts.
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Janice,
In the cornfield near Green Pond is where I shot the pic. 2 or 3 miles from here, as the crow flies…. 🙂
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Massage spas are not automatically synonymous with sex work. Massage therapy is a legitimate form of physiotherapy and can be done without even a thought of sexual innuendo. The fact that certain parts of the sex industry use the word massage as a cover does not make all massage spas the equivalent of brothels. The ages listed of the women who were killed were women in their 30s and 40s, not the typical age for workers in the sex industry. The women may well have been exploited by their employers – nail and hair salons as well as spa companies increasingly use cheap imported labour from Asia to avoid paying full salaries – but that is a different form of exploitation. Ravi Zacharias’ spas were employed real massage therapists but he decided to sexually abuse those real therapists. Licensed massage therapists have long reported that some customers come not to be helped with their pain, but to demand services that no one should be demanding as Ravi did.
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This young man claims to have gone to those massage places for those other services in the past. One would then think that they perhaps offer those services which is exploitation of women and men. That did not warrant their deaths.
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In other news, it’s a glorious pounding rainy day here. We need the moisture so much!
I’m finally catching up to life on my computer with so many emails, I think I’ll go eat lunch instead.
We’re signed up to go on a three-week ministry/tourism trip to Israel and Jordan at the end of August.
I had not logged into Orbitz in over a year until this morning when I checked flights. Quite a surprise, ALL of them allow you to change your flight for free.
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Mumsee, or he just created the temptation in his own mind. Some people do.
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Michelle, the travel health recommendations will probably require the COVID vaccine now, especially since in Israel, having the vaccine is a requirement for entry to certain places. Vaccine passports are a very old concept. I had to get an official Yellow fever vaccine passport, which is yellow coloured incidentally, to go to West Africa. I also had to get vaccinated for typhoid, which is an oral vaccine, which I thought was very clever – typhoid is in the salmonella family, so you catch it through eating or drinking contaminated substances, but the digestive tract is lined with lymph nodes, so taking the vaccine orally directly prepares those lymph nodes for the invader. They gave me a meningitis vaccine too, as that is a risk wherever you go.
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Of course. I was just pointing out that those massage parlors do not appear to have been just massage parlors. He had visited them and was not able to take every thought captive. His church may, in fact, have been trying to help him. He was in rehab for his addiction. We don’t know, But we can pray for all those concerned: the murderer, the families, fellow employees, fellow church members, even the folk at rehab that wanted to help but couldn’t.
And we can know that this sort of thing has happened since Cain killed Abel and will continue to happen until He makes all things new. All we can do, besides plead with God, is offer short term assistance. One thing I have read frequently, (I think in Ecclesiastes) is that people will continue to do evil when consequences are delayed. When we see people continuing to be famous after some horrid deed, that does encourage others to think they too could get away with it.
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Mumsee, not sure the news stories have indicated he actually attended those particular places.
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Roscuro – (back to the nursing home) – It seems that if the budget were the problem, then someone would explain that to the nurses and staff who keep complaining.
But yes, I’m sure they don’t have much of a budget. Nightingale says there are cutbacks all over the nursing home, and that everything is purchased or done in the cheapest way possible. But the food could still be prepared in an edible, even enjoyable way.
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Kizzie, reduced food budget would mean that when you accidentally overcook a meal, you have to serve it anyway, because the money for that meal has already been spent, and also that you can’t have a lot of extras just to put out for the taking.
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Just back from touring one of the new homeless solutions, pallet homes — 75 of them being set up in a parking lot adjacent to one of our local LA community colleges. Project will be complete in mid-April and The Salvation Army will be the so-called “provider” (for all services) on the site. The 64-square-foot structures have two drop-down cots, windows, locking doors & heat and A/C. Showers and bathrooms will be communal buildings on the site.
And for me, it just feels so good to get OUT and about on in-person interviews again, despite the hassle of having to put on my ‘outdoor’ clothes. Thank you, vaccine developers and providers (and yes, former President Trump for putting the push on that).
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here’s the preliminary World Magazine summation of the GA incident:
~ The man accused of killing eight people, mostly women of Asian descent, said the shooting was not racially motivated. Robert Aaron Long, 21, claimed to have a “sex addiction” and attacked the three Atlanta-area massage parlors as a source of temptation, police said. Officials on Wednesday charged Long with four counts of murder and one count of assault.
What was his connection to the women? It is unclear whether Long previously visited the specific locations or only similar businesses. He was planning to carry out a similar plot at “some type of porn industry” site in Florida, authorities said. The FBI is supporting Atlanta and Cherokee County’s investigation. Nico Staughan, 21, said he went to school with Long and described him as a “super Christian” who brought a Bible every day. The Washington Post reported Long was active in a Southern Baptist church youth group throughout his high school years. ~
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That World summary also reports that one of the female victims was actually a customer, come to the spa on a date with her husband, who survived.
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Looks like the tornado passed us. A tornado hit High Point and Greensboro. But it passed east of us. I don’t know how much damage it has done in Greensboro. They say significant damage in High Point.
Heavy rain outside now. I don’t mind the rain.
Chuck works in High Point. He is home now.
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Hold on to those cookies
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The wind is up here. The popcorn I put out has already flown away, but the old bag of prunes I discarded by scattering in the yard, have seen no takers. I was hopeful that there would not be one greedy squirrel to learn a lesson. Appears they are smarter than that!
Yes, Chas, hold on to those cookies. The wind is fierce!
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Ooh, NCIS is coming to our port town later this month for 2 days of filming. We get the LA version here a lot, but the main show not quite as often.
But I guess it excites me ’cause I’m old — one of the young-teen characters on “This is Us” the other night stated that NCIS ‘Is for old people.” haha
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Glad you, and we, were bypassed by the tornadoes, Chas. Alabama sure gets hit hard by them almost each time.
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Art told me last night that the Federal extension is good, but when he checked the web to see the state status, some said they would match the Frderal due date, and others said they would not. He said the state of Georgia had a blank space for their decision. He said, “That’s typical for Georgia.” I could look it up but will wait for him to tell me tonight which way they decided.
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The baby, Royalty, has been reunited with her mother. This happened in my county but not near us.
https://www.ajc.com/news/breaking-1-year-old-kidnapped-during-vehicle-theft-in-dekalb-county/2SQAUF5ORRC2TNX3WYY3PRLMKQ/
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A good read, not long:
Beauty out of ashes
When trouble comes, God asks us to take Him at His word
https://world.wng.org/2021/03/beauty_out_of_ashes
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Good one, DJ.
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This term of school is over and now we have a two week break and then the last term of the school year. Lots of changes here as covid begins to explode a bit. National schools are closed for four weeks. since we are a private school, we can continue. More mask mandates and travel is restricted. I stocked up a bit at the store. In remembrance of you all, I even bought a bit more toilet paper.
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