Of late, blogger Thunder Tales has posted quite a few Leon Russell clips.
Here's one of Leon's best, performed immaculately by the incomparable Ray Charles (I've kinda fallen behind in my posting of songs by dead guys...).
I heard Russell's version before Ray's, and Karen Carpenter's before that.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
No App for Angry Old Men [or Women]
This week's installment from Keystone:
There's No App For Anger from Keystone Church on Vimeo.
While you can't see it in the video (the auditorium screens are, well, off-screen, Brandon starts the sermon by playing 'Angry Birds').
There's No App For Anger from Keystone Church on Vimeo.
While you can't see it in the video (the auditorium screens are, well, off-screen, Brandon starts the sermon by playing 'Angry Birds').
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Wanna trade?
How about we fire the 100 idiots and their staffs in D.C. , and replace them with the residents (if there are any) of this community?
I bet we'd be 100 times better off!
I bet we'd be 100 times better off!
Cultural Obsexxion?
Pastor Ed Young of Grapevine's Fellowship mega-church has followed up his advice to his congregation two or three years ago, where he suggested to his married congregants to practice boinking for seven days in a row, by staging a 24 hour 'John & Yoko' bed-in atop his church under the DFW air traffic flight path, to raise awareness of the importance of intimacy in marriages.
OK, I think it get that, kind of. But it does make me question whether it's about healing marriages or creating a bit of sensationalism in our already sex-obsessed culture. Pastor Young says that Church is the logical place to discuss sex, after the home, and I agree that it's surely a better place to hear God's plan for human intimacy than seeing it on TV, the movies, and the internet. I'm just not sure if God's trying to put it as much in the spotlight as Pastor Young is trying to do.
The pastor at my Church doesn't shy away from the subject, calling sexual intimacy between a man and a woman one of God's great gifts. But, so far, he hasn't challenged the congregation to a stamina-fest, passed out little blue pills, or made it the centerpiece of the message.
About three years ago, I signed up for one of those online dating services - never dated anyone from there (that I hadn't already met), and finally decided to turn off my profile. But, occasionally, I still get emails telling me I have new 'matches' that I should check out.
So, I logged onto the site, which displays thumbnails of the gals it thinks I would be compatible with. Some of the screen names lack images, but I notice one that has an image unlike the others - it's a tray of cupcakes with cherries on top of them. Of course I wonder "what's up with that?" and click on the link to find out.
The profile in question says the woman's 51 or 52 - no spring chick, but neither am I, so it's all good. The self-description is rather sparse, includes the typical caveat 'must not be looking for intimate encounter', and under Interests lists only 'ANR'.
ANR? Active noise reduction - is she a Dolby fan? Alaska NORAD Region - an Air Force vet?
No. I'll save you the Google search...it's apparently Adult Nursing Relationship - an alternate name for erotic lactation fetish. I guess that explains the Latte in her screen name, huh?
But, I was a bit confused, as back in my dating days, if one got so far as to, uh, you know, check out the nursing goods, one was probably as good as home to having an intimate encounter.
There's a whole world out there I know nothing about.
And, lastly (for this post anyway) on the subject of obsession, we hear that Steven Tyler has issued sort of an amicus statement in favor of curtailing the language and prurient content of broadcast TV.
As a libertarian/conservative, I generally favor minimal government intrusion into our daily lives. But, as Paul Harvey used to say "Self government won't work without self discipline." The producers of 'entertainment' on the left and right coasts seem to have little use for self discipline.
Many evenings I have the TV on, and hear a constant stream of (OK, I'm gonna sound like a prude here - get over it) trash from such programs as How I Met Your Mother, 2-1/2 Men, Whitney and others. Maybe I'm overly sensitive, since my daughter does not live with me, that I don't know if she's being exposed to this kind of fare.
The libs and Larry Flynt types will surely scream that they have a First Amendment right to fill our airwaves with as many of George Carlin's Seven Words (I've written elsewhere that as a high schooler, I could recite, spot-on, several Carlin and Pryor routines - ultimately, that wasn't much of an accomplishment) as they wish. I disagree - let them do as they wish on cable and dish, but as long as the airwaves are deemed 'public', then 'community standards' apply, and I'm part of the community.
Isn't it interesting that even Steven Tyler, who I think we can agree has more than a passing familiarity with Sex, Drugs, and Rock-n-Roll, says prime-time TV has crossed the line and needs to be dialed back?
OK, I think it get that, kind of. But it does make me question whether it's about healing marriages or creating a bit of sensationalism in our already sex-obsessed culture. Pastor Young says that Church is the logical place to discuss sex, after the home, and I agree that it's surely a better place to hear God's plan for human intimacy than seeing it on TV, the movies, and the internet. I'm just not sure if God's trying to put it as much in the spotlight as Pastor Young is trying to do.
The pastor at my Church doesn't shy away from the subject, calling sexual intimacy between a man and a woman one of God's great gifts. But, so far, he hasn't challenged the congregation to a stamina-fest, passed out little blue pills, or made it the centerpiece of the message.
About three years ago, I signed up for one of those online dating services - never dated anyone from there (that I hadn't already met), and finally decided to turn off my profile. But, occasionally, I still get emails telling me I have new 'matches' that I should check out.
So, I logged onto the site, which displays thumbnails of the gals it thinks I would be compatible with. Some of the screen names lack images, but I notice one that has an image unlike the others - it's a tray of cupcakes with cherries on top of them. Of course I wonder "what's up with that?" and click on the link to find out.
The profile in question says the woman's 51 or 52 - no spring chick, but neither am I, so it's all good. The self-description is rather sparse, includes the typical caveat 'must not be looking for intimate encounter', and under Interests lists only 'ANR'.
ANR? Active noise reduction - is she a Dolby fan? Alaska NORAD Region - an Air Force vet?
No. I'll save you the Google search...it's apparently Adult Nursing Relationship - an alternate name for erotic lactation fetish. I guess that explains the Latte in her screen name, huh?
But, I was a bit confused, as back in my dating days, if one got so far as to, uh, you know, check out the nursing goods, one was probably as good as home to having an intimate encounter.
There's a whole world out there I know nothing about.
And, lastly (for this post anyway) on the subject of obsession, we hear that Steven Tyler has issued sort of an amicus statement in favor of curtailing the language and prurient content of broadcast TV.
As a libertarian/conservative, I generally favor minimal government intrusion into our daily lives. But, as Paul Harvey used to say "Self government won't work without self discipline." The producers of 'entertainment' on the left and right coasts seem to have little use for self discipline.
Many evenings I have the TV on, and hear a constant stream of (OK, I'm gonna sound like a prude here - get over it) trash from such programs as How I Met Your Mother, 2-1/2 Men, Whitney and others. Maybe I'm overly sensitive, since my daughter does not live with me, that I don't know if she's being exposed to this kind of fare.
The libs and Larry Flynt types will surely scream that they have a First Amendment right to fill our airwaves with as many of George Carlin's Seven Words (I've written elsewhere that as a high schooler, I could recite, spot-on, several Carlin and Pryor routines - ultimately, that wasn't much of an accomplishment) as they wish. I disagree - let them do as they wish on cable and dish, but as long as the airwaves are deemed 'public', then 'community standards' apply, and I'm part of the community.
Isn't it interesting that even Steven Tyler, who I think we can agree has more than a passing familiarity with Sex, Drugs, and Rock-n-Roll, says prime-time TV has crossed the line and needs to be dialed back?
What's this?
Seen the other day near Boyd, looks like a stage from an Atlas 5 rocket, but made of steel.
Since 114 and 183 both ran through our town, we'd sometimes go out there via 114/380, and other times by 183 to 199 and 2210. Before I was a licensed driver, it was always a treat when Dad would let me drive from 380 south, or from 199 west, out to Tom's ranch. In the intervening 30-35 years, I've been out in that general area maybe 4-5 times. (To give you an idea how long it'd been - one of the last 'ranch' trips was an aerial visit in Dad's Sundowner, flying from Amon Carter/Greater Southwest Airport, before it closed to general aviation.)
I'm thinking it's maybe a pylon base for a wind turbine - any other guesses?
When I was a kid, our first-order Metromess suburban neighbors across the street had a 'ranch' near Jacksboro (that's Jackistan for RPM), northwest of Barton's Chapel (Hwy 4 & FM 2210). It wasn't so much a ranch, as a little under a half-section, where we'd spend many weekends a year riding horses, motorcycles, or deer hunting (I never got a deer on that property, but did run over a rattlesnake with my Suzuki).
Never been there, but I want to vacation in Wizard Wells sometime.
Since 114 and 183 both ran through our town, we'd sometimes go out there via 114/380, and other times by 183 to 199 and 2210. Before I was a licensed driver, it was always a treat when Dad would let me drive from 380 south, or from 199 west, out to Tom's ranch. In the intervening 30-35 years, I've been out in that general area maybe 4-5 times. (To give you an idea how long it'd been - one of the last 'ranch' trips was an aerial visit in Dad's Sundowner, flying from Amon Carter/Greater Southwest Airport, before it closed to general aviation.)
So, last week, I'm out in that area, and looking south from 380, notice a line of wind turbines. Checking the Bing.maps birdseye from home that evening, I found that some of the eastern towers are on our old friend's former property, at the southern edge of a ridge/plateau line that, if my Texas hydrology hypothesis is correct, divides the Brazos and Trinity river basins.
If you look close/enlarge, you can see the turbines on the horizon.
Is this what defense cutbacks entails?
Recently, military spending cutbacks were announced.
Not to worry, there are many ways to practice for global preparedness that are cheaper than outfitting F4-Phantom II jets as R/C models and blowing them out of the sky.
Here's what our friends in India are doing (scroll past the India Gate video to the motorcyle stunt vid).
Yeah, that ought to work well if we ever have to fight the 'Battle of the Circuses'.
You know, India and Pakistan both have the Bomb. If they had a big-time war with each other, we could move tech support back to Topeka. I just wanna make sure to save Ranjit and Chad first, though - they keep my cellphone working.
Oh, and Johnny-5, too:
Not to worry, there are many ways to practice for global preparedness that are cheaper than outfitting F4-Phantom II jets as R/C models and blowing them out of the sky.
Here's what our friends in India are doing (scroll past the India Gate video to the motorcyle stunt vid).
Yeah, that ought to work well if we ever have to fight the 'Battle of the Circuses'.
You know, India and Pakistan both have the Bomb. If they had a big-time war with each other, we could move tech support back to Topeka. I just wanna make sure to save Ranjit and Chad first, though - they keep my cellphone working.
Oh, and Johnny-5, too:
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