Charlie Wilson's War

I watched Charie Wilson's war tonight.  I am a big Tom Hanks fan and he did a great job a usual, all beit a very dry and boring film that occassionally caught my attention with the opportune to see some naked chick, the movie just didnt' go anywhere.

 

I understand that it was a story that must be told, in that people other than the president are typically the influence behind great things.  I also enjoyed that a very unreligious persona could have such a very strong influence in religous matters.

 

It amazes me that even today religious wars keep going on throughout the world, when are we going to get over the fact that our un meritied un tested beliefs are bullshit.

 

Donate Life California

Did you know that the pink sticker on your license WILL NOT ensure that you
become a donor.

Did you know that in Europe there is a 0 wait for organ donors, because
Europeans are automatically enrolled as a donor and you have to opt out if
you don't want it.

Did you know that 90% of Americans want some or all of their organs donated
but less than 10% have signed up properly to do it.

I, Timothy Ehrlich, have signed up with the Donate Life California Organ &
Tissue Donor Registry. Please join me in saving and enhancing the lives of
thousands of people in need of your help. It took me only a few minutes to
sign up -- minutes that could mean years of life for someone else.

To sign up or for more information, please visit
http://www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org.

A letter to Jerry Dale Ehrlich

This letter was written to my Uncle Jerry Dale Ehrlich who authored the book The Platonic Bible.

 

You can look up available copies on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Jerry%20Ehrlich&page=1

 

April 29th, 2008

 

I just finished your book last night.  I want to thank you for giving it to me...

 

About 9 years ago when I decided that the world was not flat, and that the stars were not painted each night by god's hand but a vast endless cosmos where anything is possible, my views changed forever.  No longer was I willing to accept on pure faith that the answer to all unknowns, or the dispute for known scientific facts was god.  I could not at that time believe in a god that would create so many different religions, religions that fought and killed over fundamental belief systems that had no proof or validity to them. 

 

It was then that I decided that there could be no god, the vastness of space itself answered the 'where we came from myth,' the unknowingness of infinity, the possibility that one planet in 10 to 100 could foster life.  We are here out of shear chance and chance governs our life, it governs our fortune, our health, and our very date of death.  Our only control is the very reaction to those circumstances, how one will excel at the knowledge of one's death and another will shrivel up and die.

 

Subconscious becomes our god, our opportunist, our governess.  Our willingness to believe that anything is possible and belief that we could succeed in that.  That belief comes not in some deity that has an unaltering plan for us but in ourselves to go beyond our limitations.  If I could believe in a god, plato's would make the most sense to me, but even in Plato's belief of god and the beginning of time he gave god the limitation of physical law.

 

I am going to start reading Charles Eucken's the Problem of Human Life (translated version) and was wondering if it made it into your collection of stored knowledge, if so I'd love to continue our discussion through that book.  I'll apologize in advance for the agonizingly slow pace of my reading.

What do you mean too much heal!

SA posted this www.sailinganarchy.com and stated this is too much heal.  Looks just about right to me:

 

 

However dragging that lazy line overboard like that is just poor form.

Gas Prices

As we are all looking at the possiblity of $4.00/gal gasoline I found this chart showing the annual rise in gas prices over the last 6 years. It's hard to believe we were only paying a little over one dollar just six years ago.


Meanwhile we seem to be slow to the gate in replacing gas with alternative fuels, energies, and light weight cars.

Edgar and I did the math the other day to see if it would justify us to trade in the Mercedes for a SMART car which gets about 43 miles per gallon. Here's a basic of how the math stacked up.

1983 Mercedes Diesel

Annual Driven Mileage Estimate: 26,000
Current MPG: 23
Average Cost per Gallon 4.20
Annual Payments 0
Cost of Operation 4,747.82

SMART CAR

Annual Driven Mileage Estimate: 26,000
Stated MPG 43
Estimated cost per gallon 3.90
Cost of Operation 5958.14

Of course this is simple math, I didn't take into account repairs on the 1983 Mercedes, or Increase in Insurance on the SMART Car. The reason for this is because although you can say that the new car would costless to maintain that is not always true. At 26,000 miles a year all cars are expensive to maintain and factory warranties would be burned up awfull quick. I think that since we only pay $200 a year liabilit on the Mercedes and would have to pay full coverage on the SMART car it would probably wash over a 5 year period, not to mention the new taxes and registration.

So either way, I guess gas isn't too expensive. It doesn't justify even the most drastic move of changing a paid in full vehicle.

What THE

This is Speedboat, look at the size of that rig.  Guy's got to be making up for something

 

Why Boat Ownership

Last year when I was firmly struck with the sailing bug again I went to the web to get a concensus on whether or not to "Own" a Boat or to "Charter."  The overwhelming response from the sailing community was to forget about boat ownership and simply charter.

 

Things like, less hassle, no maintenance, multiple ports, and expense were all within the answers given to me as reasons to charter.  Advice I might mention again that I asked for! 

 

Based on this great advice OF COURSE I went out and bought me a boat.

 

 

 

Here's Knotabus in the water for the first time.  And yes she leaked.

Hey Adam, Check out my boat

Boring

Sailing's Boring

 

Isn't it!!!!!

That's Honoree your Honor

I had a family tell me an interesting story when I asked them how in the world their father ended up with they name "Honor" as a first name.  They told me that when he was born they didn't file the Birth Certificate right away.  By the time they got around to actually filing with the county the little tike had proven himself a handful, his father had written down the name Honoray Bates in the family bible and when they transferred it at the county it came out 'Honor Ray Bates'. 

 

Although he remained honoree his whole life he decided not to fight the name game and kept the name Honor!

 

He passed away today at 71 years old after a long fight with cancer, his family said he was Honoree all the way to the end.  Farewell Honor, your family shows that you've left this world with dignity and honor, no pun intended (well maybe a little).

 

#1 Benefit of living in the Midwest

This is SEXY!

 

 

Luv Ya Betsy

 

www.croncast.com forever

 

#1 Benefit of living in the Midwest

This is SEXY!

 

 

Luv Ya Betsy

 

www.croncast.com forever