Author Archives: bfrhodes99

Swimming

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Yup. That’s right. Moved to the wrong part of the country. Can’t even think about swimming in the Mississippi River. People have tried it. Not many have lived to tell about it. The closest decent lake is Sardis and it takes over an hour to get there.

I’m not all that great at it anyway. The neat part is, when I do swim, it’s a real workout. It takes 3 or 4 times the energy for me to go as far as others to travel the same distance.

My younger son had swimming lessons and he makes it look effortless. Now, I ask you. Can a person get any real exercise that way?

The best part about swimming for a workout, it’s usually real cool.

Daily writing prompt
What’s the most fun way to exercise?
View all responses

Just Use a Drill

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Are you tired of pulling on lawn mower chords to start them. I am. I solved my problem by going electric. Most folks don’t like that approach. I don’t know why. Mine works good and requires very little maintenance. For an old man, that’s kind of important.

I knew a man that had a little different approach. He took the cover off top of the mower, which exposed a large nut. When he needed to start the mower, he used a drill, that’s right, an electric hand drill.

I can’t say anything for the safety, but it worked for him. He had the adapter and a socket on the drill and the mower came to life every time for him. As soon as it did, he took the drill away and proceeded mowing.

As I think back over it, it makes me wonder, are we over engineering the self starting mower. Maybe all that is needed is a way to safely use a drill.

It sure would be handy for us 76-year-olds. We kinda get tired of pulling chords on those easy-to-start mowers, which are not so easy to start.

Can Our Society Afford Lawyers

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When we first moved into Desoto County, there was a nice pool in Southaven we went to regularly. It closed. The cost of insurance made it prohibitive to remain open.

There was a nice spring that was converted to a lake over near Olive Branch. They even shipped in some nice white sand. For some the spring water was a bit cold, but for us it couldn’t be beat on a hot summer day. It closed. The cost of insurance was to high.

I guess after a while they will need to close the lakes and streams. Those insurance bills, you know. Then too, there are those pools they have at hotels for their guests. They have to pay insurance companies too.

I have singled out but a small segment of a very wide industry. Trucking companies, railroads, airlines all must carry insurance. Retailers, doctors and even private motorists must carry insurance.

Every time someone makes a claim it cost the insurance company. When the claims become too high or to frequent, the insurance company must raise the rates, cancel customers or go out of business.

I hear ads every day, effectively saying, let’s go after the insurance companies. They have endless supplies of money. If that attitude continues, insurance companies will go bankrupt and businesses will have to shut down. Then, of course, we will have to give up driving. We won’t be able to buy insurance at any price.

Besides, auto manufacturers will go out of business. They won’t be able operate their factories, or ship their cars if they could build them.

The grocery stores would have to close down and the druggists will have to lock everything up. Retailers cannot operate without insurance. The first big lawsuit would take ever penny from them.

It does beg the question, can our nation afford the money hungry lawyers? Or maybe I should ask the question, how long can we afford them before our society collapses?

Useless Information

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I don’t even remember what I was watching but I heard a word I hadn’t heard in ages, nixie tubes. When I was in junior high and high school, it was a common term to me. Now, a person would have to search high and low to find a person who knows the word, let alone what it is.

Of course, I knew the word and I actually know, conceptually, how they work. However, they were all but well on the way to being replaced by the LED by 1980. Yet, had we not had Nixie tubes in the 50s and 60s, it would have made the computer revolution much more difficult.

I’m not going to tell you about it. It is useless information today. Yet, here I am, carrying this useless info around in my memory for no reason whatsoever. It isn’t lingering there by itself. You might find this odd, but I can build circuits using vacuum tubes, though it will do me no good. Easier, faster, cheaper and better circuits can be purchased.

So, here I am, wondering around with all this wonderful useless information in my mind taking up precious space.

It makes me wonder, would I be better off if I could rid my mind of the useless information and push more current more useful info into it. Guess that’s not up to me. Here I am, carrying around all this useless info. Then, when I want to use a very useful word, I search my mind without success, and I stand there at the counter, looking like an idiot, trying to order mashed potatoes.

Worse, when I want a tuna sandwich, I say turkey, and visa-versa. I will say one person’s name when I mean the other and know it immediately.

If you see the wrong word now and then in one of my posts, it’s likely not because I don’t know better. Sometimes, it just is my mind gets cross wired. If you think I’m bad when I write, it is far worse when I speak.

Just Words

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The dems call it hush money. In the beginning Republicans fought the improper terminology but had very little luck. Today, on Fox News Sunday, they called it hush money.

Wrong though it might be, the deception is about 80 to 90 percent, which proves Lincoln was right. You can fool some of the people all of the time. I am sure that Shannon Bream knows it’s not hush money. She is a smart woman. I am sure she knows the difference between hush money and a Non-disclosure agreement, a legal term involving a legal and binding contract.

Now, it brings to mind, just why did she say, “hush money?” Most professionals call the agreements NDAs. It’s short for Non-disclosure Agreements.

I’m not a fan of people who twist words to deceive countless millions. It is disobedience of the Commandment in whole sale. It is done in greed of power.

Bream should know better. she was a lawyer. She might have even arranged NDAs.

So why did she use hush money. Was it because she was told to. Maybe, in her heart, she considers it hush money. I don’t know and likely never will. Regardless, she just told me, and everyone, she is not above aiding the real criminals. Moreover, she has made it clear that she just might be voting Democrat this November.

It is just another reason I am losing faith in Fox News, as well as Bream.

I know they are just words. However, misused words, abused words can help the cause of wrong and hurt the cause of the right.

Why Is There Air?

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When I was a boy and people still knew how write humor, I saw a movie in which a college woman was going around the house asking why is there air, apparently something she picked up in college.

Her younger brother had the right idea. He said everyone knows what air is for, filling footballs and basketballs.

Okay, maybe he didn’t have it quite right but he was maybe a little more practical. Obviously, the Lord provided air for us, the animals and plants. Filling balls and incidentally tires seems a side benefit.

The characteristics of air is really very critical. Now, I am wondering just how that came about by accident, like the big bang theory would suggest.

When God created the earth He knew what He was doing. He made it before plants and animals, and man. Moreover, He made it with just the right mix of gases and the atmosphere had just the right thickness, just enough to provide the right air pressure for us.

We, as humans, survive on planet earth primarily because there is air. It also works out well that we can use it for planes too. Isn’t that nice. I guess that does sort of explain why there’s air.

We Call It Easter

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Many say we shouldn’t. Wasn’t Easter a pagan holiday? When I was a little boy, Easter was dying eggs and looking for boiled eggs not so well hidden. It was big chocolate Easter bunnies and little marshmallow eggs. And of course lifeless, colorful, plastic grass.

Of course, back then I didn’t know much about anything. To tell the truth, I don’t know much more now. I do know this. Had it not been for the eggs and the bunnies, I likely would have never have known about Jesus and I would likely have never known about salvation.

The Roman Empire was a huge brutal civilization. There was very little good about it. Yet, within about 300 years, the plan of salvation was known almost worldwide. The great news spread so fast that it virtually took over Rome.

I can’t say for sure, but it seems to me Christianity spread about as fast or faster than any religion. It likely would not have spread so rapidly in a land of many languages and separate nations. Just maybe God planned it that way. I can only guess.

I would much prefer the day be called reserection day, or maybe empty tomb day. Sorry, best I can think of at the moment.

Guess the main thing is, as long as Easter keeps filling churches, as long as people continue to learn the plan of salvation because of it, as long as people continue to accept Jesus as their savior, who am I to complain. If God chooses to use Easter, who am I to complain?

Besides, I do like chocolate Easter bunnies. It does help to remind me, the day we call Easter is the day Jesus had victory over death so that I will live, forever.

Before it Was Good Friday

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For those unaware, God likes to plan things.

Not being a professional historian, I don’t know the exact day but God does. The day we know as Good Friday, likely is on or very near the day Israel celebrates Passover. I think God planned it that way. You see, passover is a picture, a foretelling of the day Jesus would die. The lamb was an imperfect picture of of Jesus and the blood of the lamb was a symbol of the blood of Jesus. The blood of the lamb protected those who had the faith to put the blood on the door jambs between them and the wrath of God, in the symbol of the death angel.

Just as the innocent lamb had to be killed, Jesus had to be killed. Just as the lamb’s blood had to be shed for the passover, Jesus’ blood had to be shed for all men. As the scripture says, there is no remission of sin without the blood of Jesus. Not only did Jesus die for us but also shed His blood for us.

Some don’t like the Christian religion because of the blood. I hate the shedding of blood, even the lambs. But how much more precious is the blood of Jesus. And when He himself said it was necessary, He knew it was and is absolutely necessary for man’s salvation, like it or not. As the hymn says, there is power in the blood, specifically Jesus’ blood

It was planned, not for a week or a year but at the very creation. Among other things, it is a picture of God’s love for us, collectively and individually. However, it is more than a symbol. Without it, our death would be certain.

But also, it is more than something that had to be done. It is a demonstration of his love.

But God in His infinite power did something never done before. While some were raised from death, Jesus was alone with God at the time. Moreover, when Jesus came out of the grave, it was forevermore. If you had the ability to search every grave, you would not find Jesus there.

Some put little importance on His resurrection, but if He could not come back to life, then His promise for eternal life is empty. I really don’t think God would come up with an incomplete plan.

So it is, He died to pay for our sins. He rose again from the dead so we can. The third part, he left to us. We do not have to have to accept the salvation He paid for. It’s ridiculous to refuse it, but most do, strange as that might seem.

Good Friday is for us. What we call Easter is for us. Our salvation is completely and totally paid for. Yet some will try to arrange their own salvation by being good. There are some who will try to earn their own salvation. Some simply ignore it, not really realizing what they turn their back on.

One thing is certain. We all die. God has provided for us a way

to spend eternity with Him. If we don’t accept it, we will spend eternity without Him, which is far worse than death.

For those unaware, eternity is a long time.

A Thing to Remember While Watching TV

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As you sit and watch, it’s a wise thing to remember, their purposes in entertaining you is to gain access to your pocket book. This is true not only during the commercials but during the programs themselves.

Have you ever noticed how frequently alcoholic beverages are consumed around attractive woman and luxurious environments. Products such as breakfast cereal is always turned so you can see the brand. Cars are classy, highly polished, and really fast. Clothing is always well selected. You may not be able see brands but many will want things like it.

From one of the 007 movies, people sought the little “5 minute” breathing device. When asked about the device, the standard reply was that it lasted as long as you can hold your breath. It was their way of saying it was a length of pipe with a hole in the side of it. How disappointing. If such a thing could be made, they could have sold them by the millions. In this case, they weren’t even trying to sell it.

Of course, lifestyles are being sold, very successfully I might add. Unfortunately, quite successfully from time to time. I have to wonder how many see someone hitting it big in Vegas or at a race track. Then they go somewhere and lose every penny they have.

Those operating the tracks or casinos don’t mind the false impression the loser got from the TV program or movie. Truth be told, someone likely made the decision to put the segment in the program in exchange for a little change.

I do talk about this form of advertising a lot. I think it is good to remind folks that those characters on that screen aren’t real. Mostly they aren’t even realistic. However let’s not forget the direct approach.

Here lately, they have started using the direct approach. (make your bet on this team or that player. it’s fun. besides you can get rich quick) Remember, the ad is not to give away money. They are earnestly, very earnestly, trying to get you and me to give them money. May I remind one and all, without providing anything in return. Don’t know about you. They will get none of mine.

As it is said, the fool and his money are easily separated. Best to make sure you actually get get something real in exchange for your money.