Why witches float

So this is how they decided an innocent woman would sink and a witch would float. Hmm. They must be bad eggs!

How to Tell if You've Got a Bad Egg

How can I tell if an egg is bad without breaking it?

Most everything has changed in the world of cooking in the past 250 years, but not the method for determining if you've got a bad egg. There is a small air pocket in the large end of the egg. When the egg is fresh, the pocket is only about 1/8th of an inch deep and as large around as a dime. As the egg ages, however, it loses both moisture and carbon dioxide — shrinking — so that the size of the air space increases. And the size of the air space determines the buoyancy of the egg.

So if you submerge a very fresh egg in water, it will lie on the bottom. An egg that is a week or so old will lie on the bottom but bob slightly. An egg that is three weeks or so old will balance on its small end, with the large end reaching for the sky. And a bad egg will float.

According to Harold McGee, author of On Food & Cooking (Canada, UK), Hannah Glass gave this practical advice to cooks around 1750, and it's as valid today — a "way to know a good egg, is to put the egg into a pan of cold water; the fresher the egg, the sooner is will fall to the bottom; if rotten, it will swim at the top."

(from http://www.ochef.com/789.htm)

I must quit my addiction with news websites and the commentors

This poster on a news site had me falling off my chair. I'm not going to get into the goofy discussion on the birthers, I think they are whacked. I just think the post was funny.

What do Obama and God have in common? Neither has a birth certificate.

How do they differ? God does not think he's Obama.
Other differences between God and Obama, is that liberals love Obama.
God asks for only 10% of your money.
God gives you freedom to live your life as you choose.
God's plan to save us is actually written down for people to read.

Virtues. The classical ones. Temperance, fortitude, justice and prudence. Must discuss. I haven't hit my philosophy books in a while.

Same thing Continued

I think we are getting to the same ending but maybe from different tangents.

"I’m not sure I can make a separation between actions and nature though, because Jesus says that even to look at someone with hatred is equal to murder, which tells me that you can “sin” in your heart without even acting."

But would you not say that what is in your heart is a reflection of your conscience and not an overt action? The hatred is still an act of disobedience to the command to love one another. There may never be an outward action that might be considered a crime. I can still see them as separate.

And yes it is one of my pet peeves. If God moves someone to stop a particular thing like smoking, you should encourage them to be successful and not tempt them by doing that thing in front of them, or talking about doing it.

I do enjoy a good philosophical discussion.

Sin and Christianity

It has been a while, hasn't it? So anyway, Monica's FB comment started me off thinking about why I sometimes have such a difficult time with mainline churches. My ideas just don't seem to line up well with most and I spend too much time frustrated.

Here is what she posted:

Monica

is horrified by this quote: "It's all about managing your sinful desires. That's the whole point of the Christian life, is managing what you want to do based on what is appropriate." I much prefer this one, "The Christian life is far more than sin management. Behavior modification that's not empowered by God's heart-changing grace is self-righteous, as repugnant to God as the worst sins people gossip about."

We both agreed the first quote is a horrid representation of Christianity. The second part, to me, has a half truth buried in it. My main problem is I think my view of what "sin" is, is vastly different from what typically is thought. Truly, Christian life is more than sin management. But what is sin? First off, I don NOT believe in degrees of sin. Someone will disagree and say, "But surely a little white lie and murder are completely different things and one is much more serious that the other." True. But let me explain why I think this way. Sin by nature, separates us from God. I believe sin is a condition and not an action. Murder is an action based in our disobedience of God's command to not kill one another. Our disobedience is the actual sin. The action, murder, is a crime. Crimes can vary by seriousness based on effects to ourselves, society, and property. Murderers can be forgiven for their sins but will still have to pay for, and may never be forgiven by some, for their crimes. So sin, disobedience, is what you allow to stand between you and God's grace.

This is also why something can be a sin for one person and not another. For example, (and I am not picking on smokers, I just think smoking is a good example here. It is something not explicitly forbidden but is bad for us in general, especially in view of caring for the body as a temple. Consider how many Christians feel the need to guiltily hide their smoking habits because we have turned it into a "sin"), God may move one smoker to give up the habit and not another. This would make smoking a sin for one but not the other, not because of the smoking per se but because of the obedience. This is also where care has to be taken to not cause a brother to stumble, either. This is where the behavior modification comes in from the original quotes. I think the quote was correct in that behavior modification has to be led by God. But I don't think that all the behaviors they think are sin, are really sin. And the behavior changes that are directed by God will speak as a witness to others to draw them to God.

Did all of that make any sense?

ATTENTION! GO HERE!

Shameless plug:

See Matt's photography site

Long overdue

As I never posted as I said I would, here are a couple pictures to make up for it

Chillin wi' da G-rents










The floor









The custom rail

My words to live by

He that knows not,
and knows not that he knows not
is a fool.
Shun him

He that knows not,
and knows that he knows not
is a pupil.
Teach him.

He that knows,
and knows not that he knows
is asleep
Wake him.

He that knows,
and knows that he knows
is a teacher.
Follow him.

(Arabic proverb)

Nerd again

Oh, and I LOVE Fallout 3. There's nothing better for stress than blowing away super mutants or ghouls. Or even obnoxious humans.

Almost there!

The paperwork is all at the underwriter. Now, if any, is the time to pray. The business is almost ready to go. YAY!

Oh well

Garmin gone.

Linear thinking

On my recent, very short, trip to Atlanta, I decided to 'borrow' Jon's new GPS device. I've never really used one, except to play with his right before I gave it to him for Christmas. Shhhhhh.

Anyway, I wasn't going to be in Atlanta very long and I thought it might be nice to get where I needed to be with minimal side trips and delays.

Now, mind you, I'm pretty good with 3-D space, directions, etc. I can drive across the country without a map and feel pretty confident in my coordinates, especially if you let me see a map first. Therefore, I figured a GPS device ought to be a delightful addition to the driving experience. GAH!

I turned on the voice prompts so I would not have to look at the device while driving and therefore take my eyes off the road. Such things are, after all, a pet peeve of mine. After in-putting the address of my destination, a pleasant, Star Trekkian, feminine voice proceeded to guide me on my journey. "Drive 3.9 miles then stay right. Drive 0.8 miles then stay right. In 1.2 miles turn left. Turn left."

I have never taken more wrong turns on a trip.

Now, different people process tasks in different ways. Some are very linear and take things step by step, one instruction at a time. Others do not. I do not. I like to know multiple pieces of information at a time so I can choose how to proceed. And my brain just moves faster than that, too. It is frustrating to waste time waiting for the next instruction.

I have worked before for such linear style thinkers. Shoot, I'm married to one. Nothing is more frustrating than having someone explain how, in a single step by single step process how to do something, only to get to the end and find out that wasn't what you/they were trying to do/find/get/achieve. And because they are linear, they don't understand the need to know the goal first and all the steps, so that you can choose the best path to arrive there. (As a tech serve person in a laboratory, I get this from customers a LOT. They THINK they know what they want and don't tell you what you really need to know until it's too late.) Such is the GPS device.

After several wrong turns, I finally realized, "stay right" actually means "don't turn left". It does NOT mean to move to the right. Been to Atlanta? They have many divided highways. That little bit of knowledge made a big difference.

The device itself, when on voice, did not provide enough information on the full path of the trip for me to tell if I was cruising along correctly until it said the dreaded and oft heard, "recalculating". The little screen map was far too zoomed in for a big picture analysis and the text didn't say helpful things like, "Stay on I-75 until Rt. 400." Now that would have been more helpful than, "stay right". I should have just looked at a map before the trip and I would have been fine.

Linear thinkers thumbs up. Everyone else, caveat emptor.

Neato stuff.

This morning, Shannon introduced me to a new website that I am finding enormously entertaining and rich: Pravda.

Also the geek in me really loves this site though I don't expect anyone else to get quite the same thrill: Interactive

And Matt has been playing with his new studio style equipment and is doing pretty good. Take a peek.

Really, isn't this a bit out of proportion?

Michael Phelps is guilty. Of being young and wanting to have fun with his friends. And of choosing the wrong friends. Friends that take your compromising picture and sell it. Shame. And shame on the Brit tabloid that printed it and started it all with that ridiculous headline.

I admit it. I was a 'head in my teens, preferred it alcohol. I would love to see legalization. I haven't done any in more than 20 years and I can't because of the industry I work in. But it doesn't mean I wouldn't like to again. Shoot, I could maybe get in trouble and lose my job just because of this post. I wonder if I have friends like Michael's?

I have not seen real evidence that this stuff is addicting or leads to harder stuff. I have seen people addicted to prescription drugs, pain meds and even OTC meds. And to alcohol and nicotine and caffeine. So recent news suggests increases in cancer in pot smoking men. Can we say cirrhosis? And lung cancer and emphysema? And mouth and tongue cancers? People will forever do things that feel good to them even if there are later consequences. That cannot be the real reason we haven't moved on this yet because we don't care about the other products that have these effects. What is the stigma? What is keeping us from legalization? Fear that we can't regulate and tax it properly?

Aren't there more important things to wail about than Michael Phelps? Move on to Chris Brown for heaven's sake. Violence is much worse and how often associated with alcohol? How many times do you see a mean drunk versus a mean pothead? Maybe if he'd been smoking weed, he would have just laughed off the argument and said, "Pass the Doritos."

I'm BA-Ack!

It has certainly been a while since I have been here. Yep the floors got all done and I forgot to post. I'm used to them now so it doesn't feel special anymore. That's kind of sad.

So, I gave in and more or less left myspace for facebook. I find it a bit confusing to keep up with all the comments and activity since it has that usergroup feel. It works though and I get to keep in touch with people.

Business plans are moving slowly forward. I think once I get the initial financing wall broken through, things will really start to fly.

Funny how in this day when lots o people are losing jobs, I can't wait to get out of mine.


Why is 's so difficult a concept for people? It isn't just a younger generation phenomenon, people my age and older do it, too. I know I learned about it in grammer, so they most likely did as well. People! Plurals, when you have more than one of something, just get a plain ole s. Possessives, the thing that shows ownership, THAT's where you stick the apostrophe. I guess maybe it's the contractions throw everyone off those rules. You know, where you shorten "that is" into "that's". Damn pet peeves. I should stick this one in with irregardless. Oh wait, I already did.

Now that Dave is reading the Times Top 100 and blogging his reading, maybe I can get him to let me borrow the books. There are some there that I would also like to read.

YAY!

Maybe tomorrow I can post pictures of my completed new floor and railing. It should be done. YAY!

Today, I built a tower (Legos) and played choo choo train and watched the Pixar Shorts DVD. It was quite a productive day. I need more days like this one.