I’m Surprised. It’s Kind of Slick

Posted in A Little About me, Computer Upgrades, Growing Old, Passwords by

When I bought my Brother laser printer, I originally connected it direct via USB to my laptop. I knew it could be connected to my Wi-Fi, but didn’t consider it worth the bother. Then I bought my new computer, which I now use in the living room so I am with my wife more. That put it out of reach of the printer.

However, until just a day or so ago, I have still been organizing things on the new system. So, this morning, I decided to connect the printer via the Wi-Fi. It was easy, really easy. I was surprised at how easy it was. However, it was also time consuming. I had about 30 characters to feed into the printer for the password…using three buttons. Yep, it took a while. Yep, I would suggest that everyone use maybe 20 or 15 characters instead of what I used. By the way, no editing keys other than to clear the last character in the string. It did take me a while.

Okay. I got the password in and, behold, it worked the first time. I started my computer, and in a few seconds, I printed out the first document. I have never seen things work that slick before first time.

Just for grins, I went over to my little computer pad and brought up my outlook screen. I told it to print the selected e-mail and it did. That is amazing. I didn’t even set it up. It already knew how to do it.

Then I took a picture with my phone of my cat on the top of a step ladder. That’s right. I tried to print it. Guess what. It did it…first time. This thing is trying to spoil me.

Now. Just one more problem. I need to have something to take photos of. Hint. I do not make a good subject. Well, there was the photo I printed from the pad. It was a sunset that turned out well. I really like it a lot. Anyone want some photos of sunsets?

As Most I’m Told, Waiting

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I guess it is likely the biggest advantage of being a multi-millionaire. Can you imagine Elon Musk waiting in line for a hair cut. How many seconds do you suppose Bill Gates has to wait for anything? I probably spent more time waiting for stuff when I was in boot camp than all the Kennedys together in all their lives. I wonder if any of Rockefeller’s children ever had to wait for a school bus.

The other day, coming home from dinner, I waited on a road close to half an hour to get through one traffic light. That’s right, we have traffic jams in Desoto County, almost daily. It’s all those folks in Memphis coming down here, “forgetting” to signal a lane change as the force their way into another lane. Believe me. We have experienced them enough to know to expect them, especially on Goodman Road near I-55.

When I first moved down here, Goodman was 2 lanes, one each way. Now the bridge going over I-55 has 7 lanes and it’s still not enough. Hence, those of us who mush cross I-55 know what it means to wait.

I suppose those who go through drive-throughs know about waiting too. I wouldn’t know. I refuse to use them. Nonetheless, McDonald’s has taught me a thing or two about waiting. It used to be that when they saw me coming, they made me wait intentionally. They don’t do that anymore. I don’t go there. I go to places like Abbay’s where they have my hot food ready for me before I can get my drinks from the fountain.

I don’t waste much time waiting in gas stations anymore. I filled my gas powered car twice in six months since I got my electric car. As near as I can tell, I pay about the same for the electric. I can remember the lines in California in the 70’s when the Arabs decided to shut things down on us for a while. Gas went from thirty cents a gallon to eighty in a few weeks. That was when you could find it. Wasted a lot of time waiting in line for an open gas pump back then and I was not the only one.

Then, of course the really neat part about that, they post the sign “Out of Gas,” when I’m next in line. Then, of course, I had to find another line to wait in and hope and pray the gas lasts until I get my share of gas before I run out.

Somehow, I don’t think the millionaires had to wait for gas. I really don’t think they had to look for it either. If they did have to wait a time or two, the problem would have been fixed immediately, if not sooner.

The thing is, most of us from the time we start school learn how to wait in some way, shape or other. Well, most of us learn. When you get out on the road around here, you can quickly pick out those who have learned and those who haven’t.

Daily writing prompt
How do you waste the most time every day?
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Done All the Visiting I Want

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Well, maybe Israel. How-some-ever, I’ve been to Vietnam, Japan, Korea, and Australia. Australia is kind of nice, but I need not go back to any of them. I certainly don’t have any reason to go where they drive on the wrong side of the street. I did that in Osaka, Japan and it scared the daylights out of me. Moreover, not a fan of flying these days. If I can’t drive there in a reasonable time, I have no reason that important to be there. Certainly not until they start putting the priority back on safety rather than diversity.

Daily writing prompt
What countries do you want to visit?
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Blaise Pascal’s Wager

Posted in Christian values, Religion, Uncategorized by

Among other things, Pascal has lent his name to perhaps the best high level programming language ever. I have become pretty good at it, which is easy. It is so similar to English that it is easy to pick up in an afternoon.

Moreover, it is very modular. I can write a module for one program and use it with any other program it is useful for. It sort of means I don’t have to keep re-inventing the wheel every time I write a program. Another benefit is that the programs can be very easy to read and or modify. That becomes important when modifications need to be made 3 or 4 years later, after the guy who wrote it has moved out of the state.

If I had to say it lacked one thing, it is an interface to audio, especially text-to-speech and speech-to-text. That aspect of it did cause me a little frustration. It would have been nice to write programs that would be able respond to voice commands and or provide audio alerts.

I am sure there are such interfaces that are available for a price. Given I am living on Social Security, I figured I’d not have the asking price. Still, it would have been nice to make a spreadsheet that would not require a mouse or keyboard.

Actually, I started this post completely on a rabbit trail. I didn’t get off on one. What I wanted to write about is something called Pascal’s Wager.

First, a short word about Pascal. He was a mathematician and theologian who lived during the 1600s. Also, he was a pretty a confirmed Catholic, and pretty much believed that Catholicism was the one true way to God, which is one of the things he and I would have disagreed with, should we speak face-to-face.

Nonetheless, he did come up with an interesting concept, which is called Pascal’s Wager. Hopefully, at the least will cause the atheist to reconsider his position a little. It is a very long article and it is worth a person’s time to take a look at it. However, I will attempt to give you the short version with some of my own personal views.

Let’s consider the flip of a coin. When it comes down, it will either land on heads or tails. I have heard of cases where they come down on their edge but let’s ignore that. Before the coin is flipped, we have three choices, heads, tails or no choice at all. We have the option of not participating.

Let’s change the rules. You must participate. We have just taken that choice away from you. You must chose heads or tails. If you are right, you live forever. If you’re wrong you die, though maybe not immediately.

Such is the way it is in real life, with a few variations. The Christian has chosen the one way. By choice or by default, the atheist has chosen, no God. The choices are exclusive. At least one of the choices has to be wrong. If there is no God, the Christian is wrong. If there is a God, the atheist must be wrong.

So, it would appear we are looking at the proverbial coin toss, right. Wrong. According to Blaise Pascal, the Christian has the least to lose. He will have given up smoking drinking and wild women. He might even lose that fortune that he gave to that church. Then look at all the time and work he provided for the church. Nonetheless, it is finite. The losses are tolerable.

On the other hand, if the atheist is wrong, he will lose everything, throughout infinity. There would be no do overs, no Mulligans. Invariably, there would be pleas for a second chance but there would be none. The punishment for not accepting Jesus doesn’t last just a lifetime, but forever.

So, that is the thumb-nail sketch of Pascal’s wager, based loosely on the toss of a coin. I’m just trying to get you to think about it. We are talking eternity here, not just flip of a coin. As I’ve said many times. I cannot ever make the decision for anyone. All I can present is the truth. Everyone must make their own choice.

I’d like to add just one more little thing. Maybe Bill Cosby has fallen from the graces of most, but he did say something that is very likely true, though it is not exactly biblical. The Bible does say that when Jesus returns, every eye will see Him and every knee shall bow. (Philippians 2:10)

Bill Cosby said there ain’t no such thing as an atheist. On my copy of the routine, he repeated it 4 or 5 times, each time more emphatically. Then, finally he said, “The difference between the Christian and the so-called atheist is that the atheist will be the first ones on their knees when Jesus returns.”

I think maybe Mr. Cosby is right.

Going to Get a Raise

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I think evidence is pretty strong, I am going to get another raise again this year. My principal income is Social Security. The increases are based on increases in the cost of living.

Most everyone knows there has been plenty of that. The hitch, it costs more to live.

If There Were No God

Posted in Abuse of Power, Biden, Christian values, Religion by

It is an outlandish idea, but Voltaire said that if there were no God we would have to invent one. It makes me wonder if he had the lies that the FBI told when he said that. To be sure, religion right or wrong, to some degree has kept the human race from destroying itself.

However, it has done some damage too. I have already mentioned the Spanish Inquisition. There were the crusades and the attempts by Arabs to take over Europe. Oh, by the way, they still are. They also destroyed a couple of large buildings in NY, NY, not to mention the thousands of lives in the name of their ala.

Old Joe claims to be religious, a Catholic, but he was very responsible for deaths in Afghanistan and Ukraine. He would like us to forget all the death by abortion he encourages, though he claims Catholicism as his belief. Makes me wonder why the Pope has such a wonderful relationship with him.

Nonetheless, maybe all these pseudo-religions have done some good from time to time.

However, if a person makes up his own religious beliefs, it’s going to cause more harm than good. Certainly any religion that ignores the 10 Commandments won’t help. And by the way, as a nation we have virtually outlawed the 10 Commandments everywhere but The Supreme Court. I guess they will soon be removed there as well.

Then in the hearts of most Americans, there will be no God in this country. Or maybe most will simply invent their own to meet their own convenience.

People Intentionally Spreading the Wrong Info About God and Salvation.

Posted in Christian values, News media by

Try as I may, I cannot make a person accept Jesus as his savior. All I can do is present the truth and people seem determined to believe the lie they were told earlier. By the way, while I am on the subject, salvation is a gift. It is a lie that it can be earned. That’s right. It must be accepted or lost forever. No one, not even Moses or Abraham will be able to say they earned their spot in Heaven. No one told me as much, but it does seem a good way to keep pride out of God’s presence. No man, woman or child will be able to say to God that he is there because he earned it, or even partially earned any of it.

Yet, today, people are walking this earth proclaiming a person must be good to go to heaven, which is a lie from Hell. The fact is no one, but no one has, is, or will be good enough to be able to say to God he made it by being good.

Daily writing prompt
What are you passionate about?
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Gun Lessons

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I thought I would go off on a little different trail tonight. I am not a weapons expert. I was in the Marines and I did fire a number of different weapons. However, I know very little about other weapons but I am learning. The first weapon I bought was a nine mm by Smith & Wesson called an Easy. That was good because at my age, I can definitely benefit from easy.

A lot can be said about the gun. It is easy in many ways, including racking, that is pulling he slide back. Wanting the gun for self-defense that is important. I don’t like walking around with a fully locked and loaded gun unless I expect danger. By waiting to have my weapon fully ready, it does give me just one more chance to reconsider. Also, it is very easy to put 8 rounds each in the magazines. It takes me roughly 20 seconds. I suppose if I were pushing it, I could do better. The followers has levers, so to speak that allow me to push them down and I virtually drop the bullets in.

However, there is no way to access the hammer. It is internal. When I bought the weapon, I thought little of it but found my self wanting to access the hammer a number of times. It was a little frustrating and I had to come up with work-arounds.

Also, I was surprised how heavy it is. Being as I carried a .45 around on my hip for a few years, I didn’t think much of it until I bought this one. The gun itself is not that bad, but when you add 8 rounds of 9 mm ammo, it really pulls at my belt and I start having a fear of walking out of my trousers.

So… I bought a .380 SDS Faith. A .380 is about half the defense of a 9 mm, but I suspect it will get the job done. Besides, I quite likely will never need it for anything other than poking holes in targets. The nice thing about the new gun is that the hammer is external. I’m not going to go through all the advantages of that but it sure is nice.

On the negative side, it is much more difficult to break down and reassemble, with the emphasis on reassemble. It is a good idea to break down a new gun, clean and oil it before firing it. Not exactly sure why, but it’s what the manufacturers say. Needless to say, the fist thing I did with it when I got home was to break it down and clean it. I must say, that part went well.

When assembling it, I couldn’t get the slide back on right. Worse yet, I couldn’t get it back off.

When things like that happened in the marines, I took it to the armorer. He was good at that stuff, really good. Me. Not so much.

I guess for close to two hours I wrestled with that little thing. I started wishing I bought a .45. They have external hammers and other that they are big and heavy, they are really good weapons. Not only that, I can break them down and put them back together in my sleep.

Well, I was just about to give up. I pulled back on the slide and accidentally let it slip from my finger and thumb. Next thing I knew, I had the gun body in my left hand and the slide was about two feet off to my right.

Might I mention, this gun has a very strong spring. Fortunately, I had figured out how I messed up and I had the gun back together in less than a minute.

Now let me tell you something about my M-14. I used to fill the magazines by pushing the bullets through what was called a charger. It took a few seconds to load a magazine with 20 rounds. I wonder if anyone has ever experimented with something like that for a handgun. It is about all I can do to load these little .380s. The mags hold 13. I can only put five in them. I guess they have strong springs too.

Watch, No Prison Time For Hunter

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Remember, Hunter knows where all the skeletons are. He knows where all the bodies are buried. Behind the scenes, all the pressures are being applied. If it all fails, Old Joe will have to come through or Hunter will write a tell all book. When that happens, Old Joe will be but one of many to suffer.

How-some-ever, Hunter should pay the price. After all, it is the dems who have fought and are fighting for gun laws, such as the those that Hunter broke. Aren’t they trying to take guns away from drug users and mentally ill? Indeed, it is possible that Hunter might have used the gun while under the influence if he had kept it. It is the reason for the law.

If ANY LAW is not enforced, why have the law? if it is not enforced for Hunter, why for anyone? If Hunter is let off, others who are convicted will point the finger and ask, why do I go to prison and he got off Scott free? And they will have a point. They will be able to say he was not punished because of who he knows, especially should he be pardoned or sentence commuted.

One more thing. Hunter had a chance at making a deal and he didn’t. It sort of says, he still thinks he got away with it. He likely will. Old Joe said he did nothing wrong. Maybe its time he admit to Americans Hunter did do something wrong. Perhaps, now Old Joe will admit it to himself.

As an aside. Trump was convicted of a crime invented by the dems, by a dem prosecutor, with a highly biased dem judge, in a city of almost totally dems… and will likely be overturned. It might be overturned even before it reaches The Supreme Court.

Hunter, on the other hand was convicted of a well established law by political friendlies, that is to say, those in the jury likely were not republican. The only appeal likely will be to dear Ol Dad.

Let’s see if knowing the pres. will help him.