Category Archives: Uncategorized

Free E-Book from Tor

by

0

I just wanted to pass along a great free E-book that Tor.com is offering. In preparation for Brandon Sanderson’s third book in the Stormlight Archives series, Tor is giving away e-copies of The Way of Kings today and tomorrow.  I have been looking forward to reading this series but wanted to wait until he had more books written, but I couldn’t pass up a free copy.  I hope you won’t either.

The Best War Movies

by

0

I wanted to give you an update on my listing  of what I consider to be very good movies about war.  My original post is here War and Peace and other Rubbish, so I don’t have to rewrite.

The movie I want to add is The Railway Man starring Colin  Firth and Nicole Kidman.  The Railway Man is the true story of Eric Lomax, a British Military engineer captured in the fall of Singapore at the beginning of WWII.  The story deals with healing of the wounds that war causes for all who pursue it.  Lomax is taken to help build the infamous Thai-Burmese railroad of which the bridge over the river Kwai is part.  He and is fellow soldiers are terribly mistreated, but the worst is yet to come for Lomax.  When a radio he used to get information from the outside world is found, Eric is severely beaten and subject to repeated torture including waterboarding.

The trauma of his wartime life leaves him scarred and unable to return to a normal living until he meets his wife on a train trip.  The struggles Eric and Patti Lomax have trying to create a home lead Eric to a confrontation with the Japanese interpreter who was present through his torture sessions.  I don’t want to give away ending, but it is, in my earnest opinion, one of the most important truths to learn about war.  People let be done or do the most despicable things in the name of causes espoused by others.  Movies like this should be required as part of world history in every country.

Pillars of Heaven

by

0

Well, if you have been coming to this blog for a while, you will know that I am not an atheist.  Yes, I beleive in God, but that does not mean I hate atheists or Jews.  This life is tough and there are no clear answers.   Everyone has to find their own way.

What I don’t beleive in is organized religion.  As far as I see it, every one of todays religions has fallen from the path of God.  When you side with forces that are bent upon harming others or destroying nature, which God made for us, then you are against God.  Allowing Priests to corrupt minors to save face, fail.  Killing thousands in plane attacks, fail.  Promoting hate crimes against other races, fail (when you don’t denounce this, you show your true color).

I see more hate and evil being ignored or supported by so called Chritians than avowed atheists.   Attacking science because it makes people doubt your God is a sin.  You are saying God is too weak to defend himself and that only you know the truth, epic fail.  God does not make it easy to understand him.  He will challenge you all the way to the grave.  The only true way to live a Christian life is by example not by decree.  Quit telling everyone else how to live, that is God’s choice to make.  Placing men in power who treat women like property instead of the gift God gave them,you know what I think.  Blaming and punishing only women about abortion, not only hypocritical but sinful.  Abortion will not stop until you start punishing men as much as women.  If you truly love your daughters, you would demand this.

Stop spouting the words and start living the life.  This blog is full of attempts to see the world as it is, the science and the religion.  Attempts to look beyond the illusionary words to the truthful actions.  I very much want your support for my artwork but not by becomming something else.   This is who I am and it is part of my creative nature.  Please come with an open mind.

Coping

by

1

I have decided on two ways for me to cope with what America has become.  One, I am going to disengage myself as much as possible from this monstrosity of an economic system that truely feeds only the elite.  I am going to live as simple as possible and focus on getting debt free (one of the real causes of our misery).  Just remember, every dollar you spend on stuff you don’t really need, feeds their machine.  Just think of the effect on Trump’s presidency of a big drop in spending.  Yes, that could hurt people’s jobs but are they any more safe now.
Second, I plan to practice civil obedience.  If they are so big about the law, I figure they will be totally happy that I obey every speed limit, come to complete stops at stop signs, and always slow to a stop at yellow lights.  Lets make their lives as miserable as they made ours for the next 4 years.  Come 99%, rise up and follow the law.

National Anthem

by

2

Given the current state of our country on all levels, I vote that we change our national anthem to “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne.  The movie “Idiocracy” is coming true.  I used to wonder how the German’s could so easily given Hitler the power to do what he did, now I know.  They were as much to blame for the Holocaust.  What blood will be on our hands?

Health update

by

0

I believe I may have mentioned it before but I have been suffering from a health issue that my doctors have not been able to diagnose.  Chronic fatigue, especially in the legs, which is leading to foot pain and leg aches. I spend most of my day standing so this takes most of my energy leaving little when I get home.  I have been soldiering through but it is hard to keep up a good attitude.  A while back I took some time off to get tests done and rest. I applied for my FMLA benefits and have been fighting with the isurance company ever since. 

They initially denied my claim but I won an appeal that covered part of my leave.  Unfortunately, when all my tests came back negative, they denied the second half, which has put me in a world of hurt.  I have racked up a couple of thousand in medical debt and late fees and I am still searching for an answer.  I recently sent in another appeal for the second half of my FMLA but that will not cover everything and is not a sure thing.

Meanwhile, I am back to work and barely surviving.  I don’t get much done around the house because I just want to be off my legs.  Some days I have to take a sick day because I can’t face a day of standing.  

Part of my heartbreak comes from this.  The other part comes from the sadness I see so much of in the world.  Any of you who read this blog know how passionate I am about the problems I see.  Most I feel could be fixed if we would see them for what they really are or by understanding that all the little things we have not thought about can actually be hurting someone in a big way.   So, this burden weighs on me, bringing me further down when things are not going so well for myself.  

Personally, I have been doing all I can to lighten my financial load along with simplifying my life.  Hopefully some answer will come along and I will be able to have the energy to write and paint again, which is the biggest bummer of this all.  Thanks for listening.