Author Archives: MzEllen

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I "maintained".  I did the exercise, I earned 28 AP points, I had FLEX points left over.

I'm quitting Weight Watchers (meetings).  It's not worth it to pay $40  a month for 1/2 a week (average).  Maybe after my endo appt, if we can figure out what is wrong chemically, I'll pick it up again...in the meantime, I'll do "WW" at home, on my own (with private support).

And maybe take a "zumba" class.
This is my weekly "steps" chart.  You can see that I got happy faces (only in the categories that I asked for them)  Below the fold is my weekly Weight Watchers chart (I earned 29 Activity Points and used 26.5 (so I earned 2.5 AP's that I didn't use).  I also had 9 of my 35 FLEX points left over.

...continue reading →

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This is weird...I don't know what this post will look like (the margin is in the middle of the page)

Anyway...Mitt Romney "had to" apologize for using the "racial" term "tar baby"  and now John Kerry has used it to describe tactics of John McCain.  So...racial term or not?

Only because we have made it so.

It started out not:

(per wiki)
Tar-Baby was a doll made of tar and turpentine, used to entrap Br'er Rabbit in the second of the Uncle Remus stories. The more that Br'er Rabbit fought the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he became. In contemporary usage, "tar baby" refers to any "sticky situation" that is only aggravated by additional contact. The only way to solve such a situation is by separation.[1]

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Just a collection of links concerning "alternative energy"

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Microbial (dang it, I closed the tab before catching the link)

The microbial energy solution for biofuels and solar power The Biodesign team, in their Nature Review Microbiology perspective article, outlines the prospects for bioenergy. They believe the future of microbial bioenergy is brightened by recent advancements in genome technologies and other molecular-biology techniques. One species of bacteria, the human gut bacterium E. coli, has become the workhorse of the multi-trillion dollar global biotech industry.

E. coli?

LiveFuels uses open ponds to grow algae that are indigenous to the local environment, hoping that this will avoid the invasion problem. Since algae need nutrients to grow, including nitrogen and phosphorous, the company plans to feed agricultural runoff water - polluted with nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers - into its ponds, combining energy production with water treatment.

Another company, Bionavitas, of Redmond, Washington, also grows native algae, but in deep, narrow canals, with a special optical system to bring light to the algae beneath the surface. It too hopes to harness nutrients from polluted wastewater; and because intense carbon dioxide inputs can speed growth, it envisages setting up sites next to a factory that could funnel smokestack emissions directly into its canals. Michael Weaver, the chief executive, said that Bionavitas aimed to use "the whole algae" to produce biodiesel, ethanol, nutriceuticals and products currently derived from petroleum.

Use "bad stuff" to grow "good stuff"...

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Shale Oil:

In the post immediately below, Senator John Cornyn talks about the need to get serious about solving our energy problems by developing our own domestic resources. One good example is shale oil, of which the U.S. has more than any other country. In fact, Rocky Mountain shale is believed to contain the equivalent of 2 trillion barrels of oil. Is that a lot? The entire world has used around 1 trillion barrels since oil was discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859.

Not exactly "alternative", except in the "it's an alternative to importing our oil" sort of way.  Lots of oil, hard to get and we need more refining capability.

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Picken's Wind Power...

Studies from around the world show that the Great Plains states are home to the greatest wind energy potential in the world — by far.

The Department of Energy reports that 20% of America's electricity can come from wind. North Dakota alone has the potential to provide power for more than a quarter of the country.

Okay...bit start up cost.  If we deal with that, what are the long term benefits?

Or, we could just hook the generators up to the chambers of congress...

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On a link from Picken's site:  A car that runs on natural gas (which we have quite a bit of).

But wait!  We don't have very many fuel stations for natural gas...but wait!  I heat my house with natural gas - and there are ways to add a fuel station right at my house.

There are drawbacks, of course...let's work them out.

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Starting with the appropriate links:

Sean Morey (comedian)

See it on YouTube.
The Man Song

Ladies and gentleman, The Man Song!

He's the man. He's the man.

I don't take no crap from anybody else...
but you
I wear the pants around here...
when I finish with your laundry

Cos I'm a guy you don't wanna fight...
when I say "jump", you say "yeah right"
Cos I'm the man of this house...
until you get home

He's the man. He's the man.

When I say goes around here...
right out the window
But I don't wanna hear a lot of whining...
so I'll shut up

The sooner you learn who's boss around here...
the sooner you can give me my orders, dear
Cos I'm head honcho around here...
but it's all in my head

He's the man. He's the man.

And I can have sex anytime...
that you want
Cos I'm a man who has needs...
but they're not that important

And don't expect any flowers from me...
cos if I'm not mistaken, you prefer jewelry
I'm the king of my castle...
when you're not around

He's the man. He's the man.

And I'll drink and watch sports...
whenever I wanna get in trouble
And I'll come home, when I'm good and ready...
to sleep on the couch

Cos a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do...
and I'm gonna do what you tell me to
Because I'm top dog around here...
but I've been neutered

He's the man. He's the man!

You the man!

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Godwin's Law:  "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."
MzEllen's Law: "As an internet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Islam or Muslims approaches one.”
Godwin wrote: “Although deliberately framed as if it were a law of nature or of mathematics, its purpose has always been rhetorical and pedagogical: I wanted folks who glibly compared someone else to Hitler or to Nazis to think a bit harder about the Holocaust,”Well, when a person compares [something] to Islam, I’d like them to think a bit harder about
  • female circumcision
  • honor killings
  • forced arranged marriages
  • beheadings for being raped.
  • being stoned to death for pre-marital intercourse.
  • being killed by your father for dating the wrong boy
  • being stabbed by your brother for going to a dance club

I want you to think a bit harder about those things.
Again, MzEllen’s Law (if it’s out there someplace else, let me know!)

“As an internet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Islam or Muslims approaches one.”

From Wiki:

The concept appears to have entered the public consciousness more broadly, as well. In 2005, the aphorism was the subject of a question in the British television quiz show University Challenge. By 2007, The Economist had declared that “a good rule in most discussions is that the first person to call the other a Nazi automatically loses the argument.” And in October 2007, the “Last Page” columnist in The Smithsonian stated that when an adversary uses an inappropriate Hitler or Nazi comparison, “you have only to say ‘Godwin’s Law’ and a trapdoor falls open, plunging your rival into a pool of hungry crocodiles.”

“As an internet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Islam or Muslims approaches one.”

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A letter from Thomas McElhinney to his son, my great-grandfather

July 30th, 1876

My dear son,

You have of late occupied much of my thoughts.  Of my sons you are my first born.  My pride, my strength and it is natural that I should desire your welfare and happiness.  Allow me then to talk plainly, yet kindly to you.  I would not irritate you, but I would help you to escape some of the ills of this world.  The old proverb sounds "Thyself to know, make use of every friend and every foe."  What your habits are I know not, but this I know that men are known by the company they keep.  I know also that habits once formed are hard to break.  If a person has formed the habit of smoking, drinking, gambling or indulging any (propensity) passion or desire unlawfully it is very hard to overcome this trouble or evil.  The person becomes the slave of his own passions, the worst slavery in the world because ruin is its terminus.  If you have any habits it is time for you to assert your manhood and say that you in every respect govern yourself.

One thing is sure "You must govern your passions or they will govern you."  The brute, the animal is governed by his desires.  Man should be governed by his reason found on the Laws of God as revealed in His Word and in the wisdom of the wise.

...continue reading →

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Gen 3:4-7a But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked(...)

(vv.22-24)Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—" therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (ESV)

I was in Starbucks yesterday before meeting an old friend for coffee.  At the table next to me were you young men - one of the still quite young, either in middle school or early high school.  The other one was a bit older, maybe college age.  They were reading Scripture and taking notes.  I asked them what they were studying and the older one looked at me, duh.  "the Bible."  Okay...yeah.  What part of the Bible?  They were reading through Genesis and Psalms.  Cool.

That side-note from yesterday over, I've noticed a couple of things from Genesis 3.

- Did sin enter the world through Eve?  She played a part, certainly.  But Scripture does NOT say, "the woman ate, her eyes were opened, she gave it to the man and his eyes were opened.  Either it was a total joint effort (the time involved not being defined) or...their eyes were NOT opened until after Adam ate because (a) Adam was the only one who was given the direct command by God and/or (b) Eve was deceived, but Adam rebelled.

Question:  if sin entered the world after Adam ate (and not after Eve ate), does that mean that Adam truly is the "federal head" of the human race, since when Eve ate it did not effect their "eyes being opened" until after Adam ate?
-  Were Adam and Eve punished for eating the fruit?  Yes.  What was the punishment?  Read the curse...pain in childbirth, subjugation to the husband...sweat of the brown, weeds (and I'm thinking mosquitoes) and so forth.

Was being sent from the garden of Eden part of the punishment?  A plain reading of the text says...no.  That surprised me.  My answer (before reading verse by verse) would have been, "of course."
Being driven from the garden of Eden was not part of the spoken "curse".  It was not part of the punishment, it was a preventative measure:  "lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever...the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden."

Question:  Why did God not make being driven out of the garden part of the spoken curse?  (from a philosophical standpoint and not reading into Scripture that which is not there)
- Were BOTH Adam and Even driven out, or just Adam?

I have heard egalitarians argue that it was only the man who was driven out of the garden and that the woman followed out of choice, since it is אדם who was driven out.

I have also heard egalitarians argue that we should have gender-neutral language in Scripture because אדם also means "human race".

If אדם means "human-kind" then it is certainly a proper reading to say that "human-kind" (אדם) were driven out of the garden...both of them.

If it was only the male-type-person (אדם) who was driven out of the garden, that argues against gender-neutral language anywhere else in the Old Testament were אדם is used, unless there is a gender-specific name to go along with it.

Question:  Which is it?  Does אדם mean the only male-type-person was driven out of the garden, or that or human-kind was driven out of the garden?