Stormbringer's Thunder

First, an apology: Sorry for the confusion on the earlier publication. I was still working on this article under a similar title and had an argument with Blogger's software. It tried to print out the article. When I hit "cancel", it published the incomplete article in mid-sentence. That was annoying, and unfortunately went out into people's feeds. (You know that someone has not read the article when they "Like" something incomplete within seconds of its publication.) This was twelve days ago. This information should prove useful for a variety of people. There is information about the Kindle, but if you do not have one, keep reading. I put things in there for non-Kindle owners as well. Let me lay the foundation with my own situation, and you can substitute your own situation and needs. I need to spend a great deal of time learning things in Christian apologetics and Biblical creationism. So, my need for information gets me into science, theology — and In...

No, Nicky. I'm saying that you should go to The Organ Stop for pizza the next time you're in Mesa. The Wurlitzer organ is a classic — oh, company's here. Buon giorno. Stupid people get on my nerves. You too, huh? That's not surprising. But — what exactly are "stupid" people? We all know some people who do inexplicable things that a reasonable person would not say or do. "What did you do that for? That was stupid!" Some people seem to lack simple common sense. But quite often, it's not that cut and dried. Sometimes, there are reasons for what we consider "stupid" things. Uninformed. If someone did not know better, it is unfair to find fault with him. "I've never seen one of those before, and didn't know that it would do that. Sorry." Differences of opinion. You believe this is true, I believe that is true. Disagreement itself does not equal stupidity. Fatigue, stress, medications acting up, distraction...

Buon giorno. Today's lesson in time wasters focuses on the evil twins of anger and hate. When you think about it, they trade places and even overlap sometimes. I'm not going to say, "Don't do that!" because hate and anger happen and are not dismissed in a simplistic manner. But education and awareness can help alleviate the problems. So, get comfortable and become educated now. When you're angry, you tend to lose focus. Calm down, for crying out loud! Your enemies are more than happy for you to make a mistake and then take advantage of the situation. (So is Satan; he just loves it when you get crazy and curse out the bellhop or even get into a physical altercation, giving him more control over you.) For that matter, loss of self control is simply bad psychology because you'll keep giving in to it and have an increasingly shorter fuse. Have you ever hated anyone? I'll admit to it, but it's rare. No, I'm not talking about someone you...

Buon giorno. Today's lesson on time wasters is when people and things are unreliable. F'rinstance: Cell phone service should be there when you need it Internet service should be consistent Cable TV service should be available on demand Your auto's battery should start it up The can opener should open cans every time, or Fido and Fluffy will start to get cranky and demanding The airplane should stay together from takeoff through landing "Big deal, Uncle Bob! We know all that stuff." I'm glad you're paying attention. Now, how about people? You should be reliable on the job. If the boss considers you unreliable, don't expect that promotion, raise or even continued employment Your boss should pay you for your work Your friend should be reliable and willing to share your burdens You should keep your appointments and be on time A pathological liar hammered you again, and he should be honest Your doctor should diagnose your condition accurately ...

Buona sera. Since the last couple of articles were rather lengthy, I'm going to keep it short today. Here is a short (1 minute 12 seconds) audio from Charles Stanley. This was at the end of the podcast for October 2, 2010. It's about being a perfectionist, and how that is actually destructive. It's worth a listen:

And now for the exciting conclusion of yesterday's broadcast! Part 1 is here . Some things that lying is not: Mistakes.  I dislike it when people will say something like, "I spent three hours on that project. Oh, wait, I lied, it was two hours." No, the speaker simply made a mistake. Don't beat yourself up, mmmkay? Carelessness. Sometimes (especially in online forums and such) people will misquote. It happens. Accept correction graciously and move on. Misunderstanding. Sorry that you misunderstood me. I should either rewrite it or you should reread it. Creative embellishments. Nobody has "said it a million times", that's just hyperbole to make a point. Writers (and speakers) expect readers (and listeners) to have some degree of sense.  Jokes can be a form of creative embellishment, or they can be "free-standing". Some people need to get a sense of humor, capice? Disagreement. You think this , I believe that ; neither one is...

“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.” — Friedrich Nietzsche Buon giorno. Yours truly is a bit wired today, and ready to give you a couple of lessons on lying. Yes, two: First, some explanation on what lying really means (and doesn't mean), and second, why it's counterproductive. "Why do people lie, Uncle Bob?" Some are compulsive liars and cannot help themselves. It may be that the truth is unflattering to them, so they have to make themselves look better than they really are. Sometimes it's because they are selfish and greedy, so if lying is a means to an end, that's fine with them. Further, people who are consumed with hate will say anything to hurt the object of their ire. The intent to deceive is an integral part of lying. Lying has several aspects: The obvious, flat-out lie. "Did you come in a half an hour late to work?"..."No..." Also, there was a "sc...

"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull." — attributed to W.C. Fields Buona sera. Yes, I know that several of my "Time Wasters" articles are similar in nature because they deal with arguments, but discussion is a part of life. Especially on the Internet. And I wanted to warn people about the methods that some miscreants use to make discussion into a miserable chore instead of a potentially exciting exchange of ideas. Taking out of context. Context is king, especially in biblical discussions. But it is easy to take things out of context when discussing politics and other potentially volatile topics. Deliberately misunderstanding. This happens a great deal when talking with obstreperous Internet atheists (and atheists pretending to be agnostics). Ray Comfort has to deal with a great deal of that codswallop ("Ray Comfort, not only a racist and a pervert but homophobic too!", "'How foolish is it to ...

Neil's place of employment has been a source of articles for me on what is wrong with Big Corporate America. Mind you, I have nothing against big corporations or the rich, because poor people cannot provide jobs. I object to arrogance and stupidity in high places, however. The very rich and the very powerful tend to get arrogant and act stupidly. It's almost humorous, except that they hurt people and tell them that they are helping them. In this case, Neil's huge employer had a presentation for the employees. (You know, the "human capital" that gets used up and then discarded.) There was a list of the benefits that are given. In order to pad the list and make themselves into heroes, the bosses listed "benefits" that are required by law in the first place, and also benefits that are given by practically any sizable employer (such as having Christmas off). In other words, Neil wanted to ask (but did not dare), "So what are you doing that's diffe...

Look, I can't make them put a quality product in the dispensers. If they want to take the cheap way out, people will just use more. Then, the cheapskates will actually wind up paying more. Oh, hi. Glad you're here. I was discussing cheapness with Nicky. I'm not going to talk about that with you. At least, not today. But I am going to talk about wasting money and time. "Is this going to be a GTD thing, Cowboy Bob"? I think it qualifies, yes. Thinking back on my past lives and how much I have changed, I realized how much I felt that I had to accumulate. Years ago, it was difficult to get a decent audio recording from a television broadcast. Technology was different, and I was poor. I had to rig up something, splicing into the TV's speaker wires and using an input on the cassette deck. I just had to have the sermons by certain TV preachers, and built up a sizable collection. This ran into money for tapes, stick-on labels, cassette storage albums (they...

Buona sera . As you know, I've been examining minimalism. It turns out that there are several sites devoted to discussing the subject. Some writers have made statements that made me uncomfortable. I began to wonder, "Am I getting into something that looks good on the surface, but is a plank in a platform that I cannot sanction?" Not really. The philosophy of minimalism is disparate . One writer seemed to advocate something resembling communism, where everyone shares what they have, and nobody owns anything. Ummmm....yeah.Who regulates? Well, there is no overseer. Oh, I get it: anarchy. That may be your goal, Poindexter, but you're probably alone in that (people are selfish at heart, you see). Another advocates "social change through minimalism". That won't happen, Cupcake. You need some kind of uniform code and many like-minded people. A third writer on minimalism is a Christian. He finds that the philosophy fits in with Christian values. I have sta...

"Hey, Cowboy Bob,  why is your picture of the Tarrytown lighthouse in this post?" To make a point. Or not. Maybe to give you a moment of Zen. I've been hammering on several things lately, including personal productivity. For almost three years, I have had "GTD" (Getting Things Done), getting organized and so forth crop up every once in a while. I believe that to be productive, many people need to have a routine so that they can function more effectively. But sometimes, you just have to deviate from the routine. So something spontaneous so that life doesn't get boring. More importantly, so that you don't get boring. We can be productive, but also take time out to enjoy life. We have only so much time, and we can't let time get away from us, capice?

We get the frequent message that perseverance is the highest virtue. "Never give up! Persist until you achieve your goal!" I disagree. Sometimes, we do have to quit. And I'm not talking about smoking or boozing, either. Let me over-simplify an illustration. Lucy never played fair, and Charlie Brown never kicked the football. Any sane person would have said, "This situation never changes. I'm tired of playing the fool. Instead, I'll prop up my football and kick it. You can watch." But it depends on your investment. Let me quote from Dee Lauderdale regarding your Return On Investment: "When you’re about to buy something, try to determine it’s potential ROI for your life. The return isn’t always financial but try to determine if this item or service will add value to your life. Will this purchase make your life easier, more fulfilled, or less stressful? Will it give you long-term happiness? Then only buy stuff that has a high ROI....

Buona sera. I haven't been thundering here much lately, and now it's time to make up for it. Pay attention, willya? This is important, and I don't care what your political leanings are, we can sort that out later. I was sent a virus today. A virus will stop all of your uncluttering and productivity efforts right in their tracks. This one arrived at one of my throw-away accounts. That got my attention because I do not use that account for anything serious. My main indication that this was something to be on guard against was that Thunderbird 3 told me, "Hey, this looks like spam!" Click on the picture to see it enlarged ( better yet, use Firefox, right-click, open link in new tab ). Also, it had a Zipped file attachment (bottom left). Alarm bells are going off in my head. Now, I understand that most of my readers are careful, but some things are worth saying over and over anyway: Never open an attachment from a stranger! The attachment is the virus. That's wha...

Buona sera. This will be an odd lesson in personal productivity, I guarantee it. Yours truly took a while to "come down" after some "discussions" in a forum with some arrogant atheists. (It wasn't even a forum that is set up for religious debates; they kept interjecting their snide remarks in the other discussions.) Flames were shooting out of my eyes when I was done. Readers of this Weblog know that I have written up my problems with their "logic" and their antagonistic attitudes. You should also remember that I really do not care what someone believes as long as they do not attempt to destroy the faith of others. These people who try to destroy the faith of others are the same ones who cry, "Stop cramming your religion down my throat!" A Christian is offering their message of hope because they are motivated out of concern for where the other person is going to spend eternity. By the way, do you know what the atheist offers? To strip away...

Buona sera. Yours truly is a bit wound up about a different approach to posting. I believe that I will be posting more often, but with less text; I want to become more efficient with my thoughts and words. Sure, the occasional lengthy treatises and rants will appear, however. "I gotta be me", as the song goes. Things may change. After all, everything is a work in progress (to use another saying). But to use one of my own sayings around the office, "We'll see what happens". Unfortunately for people who want short messages, this is not going to be one of them. It's my usual length. But it's very good, keep reading, it'll take you about two or three minutes. To the right is an example of extreme clutter . Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy those are who already possess it. —Francois de La Rochefoucauld, French author & moralist (1613 - 1680) When Hal the Hacker gets on a project for me, he has all kinds of stu...

Edited content for clarity on Tuesday, November 24, 2009. Buon giorno. Yes, I think my title is funny. This past weekend was an emotional, mental and physical roller coaster. It was time to reformat my hard drive. Dump the scraps of leftover software and things I really do not need, reload it with stuff that I know is better and go at it with my increased knowledge. Reformatting has been a source of bad news for me for a long time, mainly from trying to get the computer to resemble what I had before. I have no problem helping someone else with it, but for me, I get anxiety attacks based on experiences with my first Windows computer (HP does this to people). It happened again. First, I could not get anything to show up on my monitor. After checking some things on Nicky's computer, I decided to reformat it again. Still nothing, just a flashing cursor in the upper left corner. I looked up some more "solutions" online and tried them. No dice. I connected with a Hewle...