Stormbringer's Thunder

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  First, a bit of history. It has been two years (11 August 2023) since I had triple-bypass open-heart surgery. I finally got home on the nineteenth or so and was going to write about all the plastics involved in my hospital stay. ( None of the medical personnel referenced Darwin in my hearing.) My wife suddenly died 20 September and I had many things to deal with. Legal and emotional matters, post-operative brain fog coupled with grief fog... writing that article was not important, but I will do something with it now. Some of my medical plastics, image by Cowboy Bob Sorensen There are various kinds of plastics all over the place. I disremember what all is on the table with my eBook reader (in the red, black, and gray cover, and it has metal and plastic components), but the small water pitcher and cups are discernable. Mayhaps the tube trailing off the bottom of the picture was connected to me. I was taken off guard by the entire experience, and even though n...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  After getting acquainted with logic and critical thinking in general, some things practically shout, "Fallacious!" This is very important nowadays, as people "think" with their emotions and do not ask important questions. When confronted with a statement or claim that seems important, it is good to pull back on the reins and slow down. Examine it. A favorite of mine probably tricks gullible folks: This year will be the first time in 666 years that Halloween falls on a Friday the thirteenth. Woman watched by spirits while sleeping, made with AI at Bing That was the comedy. The creepy one up next is...truly bizarre. It was posted on X (formerly Twitter), informing readers that when we wake up between two and three AM without any reason, there is a 99% chance that something has been staring at you for a long time. The clincher is that this is "according to experts." People familiar with my work know that I am mighty fond of asking que...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  The other day, I was going through a storage cupboard to find things my late wife had purchased but never had a chance to use. A few were past the "use by" date, some from even before she passed away. A few canned goods were past due. I took a notion to check online about expiration dates; it seems I heard that there is a kind of grace period. Very much so! In fact, if people check for damage, rust, bad smells, and so forth, most canned foods will last indefinitely . Prepping pantry photo by Cowboy Bob Sorensen, modified with FotoSketcher "People have safely used canned stuff that is sometimes decades out of date, Cowboy Bob. Why do they even have expiration dates? I can think of a few reasons. One is they may be required by the government. Also, self-preservation in case something is damaged and the contamination is slow and a customer gets sick. Third, they are just trying to get people to throw something away and buy more, but I kind of doubt t...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  People require illustrations on posts and such, but there is a risk of copyright infringement. I cringe when I see bloggers and site owners using images that are not  free to use, as they are risking disciplinary action from their providers, or even lawsuits. Shoot your own pics, Sherman. Although I do not always have item-specific photos and illustrations when necessary (use  extreme caution , many can be found). Sometimes I use related images — occasionally with effects, especially my own pictures . Part of what I call "nature therapy" (seriously, get out in nature) is taking pictures. Esopus Lighthouse on left, barge on right, all on Hudson River (photo by Cowboy Bob Sorensen) This child is old enough to remember being selective when taking snapshots because we had to send them away for processing and pay for them. Even the crummy ones. It's so different now. We can use digital cameras and take dozens or hundreds at a setting, depending on stora...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  There are millions of professing Christians, many celebrate the bodily Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Today my wife is celebrating Easter with Jesus for the first time. I miss her, but my grief is tempered with the knowledge that I will see her again. Unbelievers and leftists taint and distort good things that were created. Biblical creationists are called "science deniers" because we reject fish-to-phlebotomist evolution, but those who believe that people can change genders really are  science deniers. Distorted woods, original image by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Study on it a bit. A person's DNA is in every cell, and to change genders would mean to change that in all those trillions of cells. Taking hormones, changing clothing choices, forcing others to use preferred pronouns, having surgery — those are superficial changes. March 31 has been called the Transgender Day of Visibility where people who deny what God created demand to be celebrated. No...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  In the formerly United States, today is the conclusion of Black History Month. Some things I want to say will rile a few folks. (Of course, those will be the ones who "think" with their emotions and are less concerned with actual thought.) This material came together for me in a big box store. Like many places, our shopping experience is allegedly enhanced by the music system. The store had several announcements about being proud to support black-owned businesses. They also exhorted people to buy items made by those businesses. Limestone near Rosendale, NY railroad trestle, Photo by Cowboy Bob Sorensen (modified with FotoSketcher The messages on that radio rubbed me the wrong way — they struck me as manipulative. Conservative talk show host Chris Plante refers to the "soft bigotry of low expectations." The messages sound like " white man's burden " because they need the help of white people in order to succeed. Blacks also nee...

At this time of year, misotheists and professing Christians of a liberal bent make their disbelief in the Bible known. Documentaries on television and articles in secular sources give actual Bible believers little or no credence. One does not need to even be a theist, let alone believe in biblical inerrancy, to be a professor of the New Testament. It is important for Christians to use critical thinking when dealing with alleged experets. In this case, one indicated that since two of the Gospels do not mention that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the silence is an implicit contradiction. Christmas Nativity Scene, Pixabay / Andreas Böhm They didn't mention Bethlehem? This child's first response was, "Huh. How about that?"  Calling the omission of the birthplace of Jesus a possible contradiction is a massive argument from silence, old son. In police investigations, the witnesses are separated to keep them from discussing the details with each other. That cuts down on influe...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Although nobody asked and I am under no obligation to explain myself, I will anyway. In several places, I have mentioned that I have a wife. (At Piltdown Superman when I'm writing in my cowboy character, I do not.) However, I never named or described her. The reason is quite simple: atheists and leftists. On more than one occasion, I have been physically threatened by them, especially angry misotheists. This only happened online, but some have stated they wanted to come over here — especially because I staunchly present creation science. Charlene at Niagara Falls in 2007 (?) EDIT: It occurred to me later that I left out a secondary factor. Years ago (and I am leaving off the sequence of events that led me to my reluctant conclusion), I could not have a Fakebook account under my real name. Apparently atheists in power there kept deleting my accounts, so I became someone else. She didn't call me by my real name when I was using that account. Although I la...

Here I am at Westchester Medical Center waiting for open heart surgery for a double or triple bypass in a couple of days. There was a strange sequence of events that got me here, I was originally expecting to have a short visit to the Urgent Care for a different problem. This is being written using an old cell phone, speech to text, and other technological wizardry. There is a small table on wheels just under 3 ft long for me to use. I did not notice before, it has a small drawer that is not very deep. I put some things in there that I wanted to be close to me. I needed something, went to look for it - and it was gone. Creepy hospital, Unsplash/ Andy Li Time to write off on a short but relevant side trail. The word gaslighting is overused nowadays, but it is still something real. When used correctly, the word involves psychological manipulation to make someone deny their perception of reality -  or even their own sanity. You can see that it is malicious, not just a mist...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen This article was inspired while I was writing an introduction to a post about wolverines . At first, it was going to be a part of the introduction, but it needed its own place. It is expanded from that intended introduction. Wolverines are known to mostly live in the far north, but a few live further south.  Captain Meriwether Lewis saw on in 1806 and referred to it as a "tyger cat," as it was unknown to white folks. Indeed, when the first specimen of a platypus was sent from 'Straya to England, the recipients thought it was a prank. Public domain image from the National Park Service, modified at FotoSketcher I am  doing a backward approach to cryptozoology , which is a search for animals that are hidden or extinct. I spent my first forty years in Michigan, which is called the Wolverine State even though it apparently never had a large number of them. Did they ever exist there? All we have are eyewitness accounts and the fact that there are others...

People think that scientists are dispassionate and aloof, but that is the opposite of reality. There are posts on this weblog and on Piltdown Superman  showing that the secular science industry is hell-bent on supporting leftist causes. (Again, there are scientists who just want to do their work and not bother with the cultural and political wars of their employers.) The organizations are getting way out of line. Instead of doing what they supposedly stand for, their campaigning is actually harmful to the public. Leftist elites love it, though. Democrats and other leftists utilize social(ist) media to supposedly combat misinformation (essentially, uninformed erroneous statements) and disinformation (goal-oriented falsehoods). Since leftist politicians and their bedfellows in the secular science industry are elitists, they  decide what is right or wrong. They also tamper with the meanings of dis- and mis information to include truths they don't like. Secular science is rooted ...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen The most effective way to keep your identity, finances, privacy, and so on safe online is to never go online. Easy enough... Unfortunately, since internet activity is ubiquitous and even expected, it is impractical to stay offline and live in this world. There are owlhoots looking to get information and money, and many are very skilled. Software developers are constantly updating against viruses, phishing, and other hacks — which is one reason to let your operating system, virus scanner, and other software update itself. Cybercrime warning, Pixabay / Gerd Altmann (geralt) Okay, we know that most folks cannot completely avoid going online to do certain minimal things. Sneaky people still find ways of causing people harm. Education is extremely important, and I reckon a good measure of suspicion is useful. Experience is helpful but getting that also has risks because people are exposed to sites that may be harmful. Suspicious Facebook Messenger message with link (...

Way back in 1066 AD, William the First took a notion to extend his power from Normandy and conquer England. People who have been invaded are not too fond of the idea. Bill knew this, and acted quickly to keep control, so he built a passel of strongholds. These castles could be built rather quickly with available wood. (Later, castles would be made of stone.) The wide area that was protected which was known as the bailey . The nearby hill, existing or manufactured, had the top leveled off for the greater stronghold, the motte . This is where the keep , often a tower, was built. Windsor Castle with motte and bailey, Flickr / Mike McBey ( CC BY 2.0 ) The basic idea of a motte and bailey was successful , since attackers would have to get through the outer defenses first, then they would have to fight the greater defenses going uphill. When the attack was thwarted or abandoned, the people would leave the motte and return to bailey life. This layout has been applied to a particularly deviou...

Those of us who have been riding the Apologetics Trail for some amount of time know that professing atheists (Rom. 1:18-23) on the internet are, for the most part, weak thinkers. While some may have a modicum of skill at philosophy, most make serious logical and philosophical errors. For example, demanding scientific proof that God exists is a category error , because God is not a material object. We also see ridiculous professing Christians used as examples to say that all religion is evil, which is a hasty generalization . (You can see more of the common informal logical fallacies that misotheists use on the logic lessons page .) Worse, though, is that atheists are forced to believe antiscience because of their worldview. Darwin antiscience, modified from a Pixnio image Examples of why molecules-to-misotheist evolution is unscientific are in many places, including Piltdown Superman  and this weblog. Evolution is foundational to their belief system. (Yeah, I know, they "lack bel...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Something flew under my radar that I would have missed except for a post from WHYOutreach . So anyway, while there are some folks who imagine occult symbolism and conspiracies everywhere they turn (such as the CERN collider causing the end of the world ), this imagery is blatantly obvious. People who know their Bibles and biblical history are aware of the demon known as Baal. How do you pronounce it? On Stargate SG-1  and other places, it's pronounced ball , like bouncy. Some say bail , like what you do when the boat is filling with water (I use this one). Others insert a gap, Ba'al, making it buh-ALL . However it is pronounced, it is a generic way of saying lord. Then it became a proper name. Since I can't find a legal image, here's the Palmyra Temple of Baal-Shamin, WikiComm / Dosseman  ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) So who was this sidewinder, anyhow? Basically a fertility deity for Canaan and Phoenicia — better yet, read " Who was Baal? " Differ...

Expressions resembling "Never let a crisis go to waste" have been attributed to Niccolo Machiavelli, Winston Churchill, and Rahm Emanuel. Nowadays it appears to be a motto, especially for leftists attempting to increase political power. I suspect that there is a second part: "If there is no worthwhile crisis, manufacture one or take an existing problem and magnify it." Leftists and their obedient sheeple have been finding and causing crises for years. For a while, global warming had been on the back burner (heh!), but it was brought back with a vengeance, even using brainwashed children to manipulate emotions in the public. Global Warming, Pixabay / Pete Linforth As we have seen, the secular science industry will saddle up and ride with any leftist saddle tramp that comes to DC town. They have a worldview based on atheistic naturalism, so they reject the Creator (and his promises to sustain the earth) out of hand. In addition, the secular science industry has shown ...

Addendum added 2 July 2022. We have seen many times in the past where the secular science industry has supported leftist causes, and now it is increasing. This is indeed unfortunate for the scientist who wants to do science stuff. Many of us can relate, having to earn a living trying to do what is best for the patient or customer. Indeed, if a prospective employer reads this and rejects me, their company is not worth my talent. Abortion is a sacred sacrament to leftists. Although fake science gave abortion a veneer of deniability with, "The fetus is not human yet, it is just going through past evolutionary stages", people know full well that the fetus is an unborn human baby. Fetus means  baby. They want to kill it anyway. In  Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization , the United State Supreme Court overturned the terrible legislation of Roe v. Wade  from 1973. Abortion has been an important aspect of the Democrat Party for many years, so they and other leftists are i...