Opus 2026-316: What Is in a Name?

I am constantly surprised when I come across places which I think should be secure from the woke crowd and see that they are penetrated even beyond what I thought were strong walls.  What I’m looking at now is a hymnal that as a general rule I think it’s a great tool for worship and learning music.  It has a good spread of hymns and contemporary type music.  It’s in large print.  It has the chords above the line which helps us guitar players.

So as I turned the page this morning and looked at the song that was the next on my playlist.  It said, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory”.

Maybe you don’t see the problem.  That is the first line of the song which is common for naming them.  I’ve seen this before, and it didn’t register.  But this morning, as I was looking towards the Fourth of July weekend, I said to myself, “Isn’t the title of this ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic?’”   I looked at the bottom of the page where it tells you the name of the tune, and the tune is called Battle Hymn.  So I went, and I got an old hymnal off the shelf and looked it up and, sure enough, the title in the older hymnal is ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”  The new one is more politically correct, and made less offensive to those who are triggered by any reference to turbulence in life by calling it, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory”.

The political correct crowd strikes again.  I’ve noticed this in the wording of hymns where they remove offensive words or change the words to fit the doctrine of the editors.  I don’t know that I’ve seen it this blatant in a title before.

Be on the alert.  Keep your memory engaged because there are people out there trying to slowly transform you’re thinking until it matches theirs.

Get ready to celebrate.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-301: Ode to Old: Time to Get with It

I am on the verge of giving in to one of the current fashion trends.  I am ready to stop shaving every day.

One reason I am reluctant to go that route is that a decline in personal hygiene is one of the marks of old age.  Often old people stop bathing and even flushing the toilet.  Water costs money, you know.

For this I can thank the young men of today.  They spend great effort making it look like they shaved two days ago.  I think it might take more time than actually doing the deed but for some reason it is considered stylish.  Why should I suffer when simply by ignoring it I can look cool?

Or will it just make me look older?

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-246: Sounds of Authority

My journey begins as we were studying Jeremiah.  We were in chapter 31 and came across this verse.

Jeremiah 31:9 (KJV) They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

The theme in this section seemed to be God gathering His scattered people from around the world.  It could easily refer to something in the end times.  The discussion went down a road full of assumptions and concrete traditions that did not necessarily help us understand what the Bible was telling us.

Somehow the phrase “walk by the rivers of waters” was lifted out and it was suggested that this referred to the captives in Babylon.  Since the theme was gathering in, that was a plausible explanation.  The a resounding voice quoted something.

Psalm 137:1 (KJV) By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

The voice was deep and sure.  It spoke with authority.  Everyone looked wise and nodded his head.  At that point I was good with the concept even though Babylon was not mentioned in that section of Jeremiah and the language seemed similar.  (Later research showed that the word in Psalms was totally different than the one in Jeremiah.).  I was okay with the statement at that point but the voice of authority had to add one little point that soured his punch with me.

The Voice declared two things with great power.  He said that David was speaking prophetically and reflecting the return predicted by Jeremiah.  Wow.  What an insight.  It was spoken like you could take it to the bank without a deposit slip.

I have this problem.  I like to read the actual quote in context.  I was not doubting the voice of authority.  I was just confirming in my own mind what I was hearing.  When I read it for myself it has more staying power.

Alas.  The Psalm did not say David had written it.  One of the traps we fall into is assuming that common knowledge is true.  If you polled the population, those who did not ask “What is Psalms?” Or “Who is David?” would assume that David wrote Psalms and Solomon wrote Proverbs.  I was in that camp for years, until I started reading and thinking for myself.  One thing that comes clear when you read Psalms with your brain engaged is that David did not write all the Psalms.  How do I know?  Because the Bible says so.  I know that there are many people who would argue with me because their pastor said David wrote them.  Don’t argue with me, read what the Bible says.

To further complicate the issue, there are many Psalms that don’t say who wrote them.  Now in my way of thinking if most of the chapters have what newspapers call a “by line” then when there is no attribution we don’t make an assumption based on our wish list of absolutes.  If he had said, “It doesn’t say, but I think David wrote this.  If David wrote it then he was speaking prophetically”  I could have nodded with the rest of them.  Instead he was making an absolute declaration which I am sure fit in with his chart of the end times.  That I reject.

My point is, don’t accept voices of authority just because they have a deep, resonating sound supported by rock hard certainty.  Read for yourself.  Think for yourself.  Listen to the Holy Spirit yourself, because He will speak to you.  For me it also takes another step and makes me skeptical of anything else The Voice has to say, but that is just me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-245: Moderate Is Not a Synonym for Reasonable

I picked up a discussion where Douglas Murray was reviewing the problems presented by Islam as it invades the west.  Generally he makes sense but he lost me when he uttered the popular canard saying that most Muslims are peaceful.  That is similar to saying that most Germans were peaceful in 1943 because they were not in the army.  It is like Christians who acknowledge that evil trash that comes from Disney but they still buy Disney products that they consider clean.  In so doing they subsidize the attempts that Disney makes at destroying the culture.

Moderation often means just not wanting to take a stand or make waves.  A moderate Muslim is like a moderate Democrat or a moderate Christian.  Moderate Democrats continue to vote for people who are pushing abortion, sex change operations, drap queens reading to children in libraries and just about any other vulgar activity.  Moderate Christians often endorse the same activities.

We need to stop being moderate.  Courteous, yes.  Polite, usually.  Willing to listen and engage in discussion, always.  That being said we need to be very clear about where we stand.  It is easy to let people think we agree with them by saying nothing.  Say something.  Make it the truth.  Stick to your guns. 

Your grandchildren will thank you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-131: Check Your Sources

There are so many sources of ultimate knowledge that I have a hard time sorting it all out.  My focus today is the diet gurus with a nod to the revised nutrition pyramid.

When I was in college my mother went on Weight Watchers and had ongoing success.  Since she did the cooking we all went on the program and I was doing very well with it until I was drafted into the Army and forced to eat military style.  Later I tried different programs and had temporary success.  Finally about 10 years ago I got serious about avoiding diabetes and lost what I needed.

I have always had a relatively healthy diet, or so I thought.  I like most vegetables and dislike fat.  I had my issues like an addition to salt but I am one of those people that salt does not attack.  I was aware of the nutrition pyramid but did not worry about it because I ate that way anyway.  Then they revised it by turning it upside down.

One of the lessons of my life is that I stop listening to the experts and the most recent “scientific research” which is usually paid for by the people being vindicated.  You know the pattern.  Coffee is bad for you then it cures cancer.  Eggs are bad until they aren’t.  

Several years ago my wife came across a book called The Weigh Down Diet.  Over the years I have read it three times and keep coming back to the Biblical basis for its principles.  One of the quotes jumped out at me on my recent reading.

God  “has put food down on earth for us to enjoy, and He did not accidentally leave the basic four food groups out of the Bible.” p. 71

I recommend the book as a source of principles.  The author tends to get touchy-feely a lot which I don’t buy into but the principles are sound.  Maybe your local library has a copy.

Shamblin, Gwen.  The Weigh Down Diet.  New York:  Doubleday, 1997.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-082: Embarrassment

My family just celebrated a birthday and it was a day that was enjoyed by all.  Today I got to thinking about my children.  They don’t want me bragging on them in public.  Okay.  Maybe I can’t broadcast all their attributes but I can share with you that they do not embarrass me.

That is a major thing in life, the absence of embarrassments.  I think of the people my age who love their children but are almost ashamed to be with them in public.  The other side of that is I don’t think they are embarrassed to be seen with me.

One of the reasons I am an introvert is my insecurities that would make me ashamed to go out in public.  Looking back, many of my insecurities were products of my imagination.  I guess the question is, “Which came first, being introverted or being insecure?”  Age has made me more content because I don’t care as much about what others think.

We should extend that confidence to the criticism that the woke culture wants to beat us down with.  I think I would be glad to be accused of “toxic masculinity” or being a “fundamentalist”. Just because someone thinks they are insulting you doesn’t mean that the comment is really negative.  When someone mocks me for my well done steak I just nod my head and take another bite.

I don’t know what embarasses you but it can’t be worse than going to Flemings and ordering your steak well done.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-582: Different Worlds

I was reading another post and the author threw in a comment about the “lockdown”.  She was writing from Colorado.  That reminded me of a video interview I had recently watched where they made a big deal about the “lockdown”.  They were meeting in Virginia.  I find myself wondering, “What lockdown”?  I live in Texas.

When people bring it up I remind myself I now live in Texas and we tend to react differently here.  The only issue I remember was the inconvenience of having to change my shopping routines in an effort to avoid mask mandates.  I was mostly successful.  I think our church may have shut down for a couple of weeks but I was traveling at the time and didn’t notice much on the road between San Antonio and Yorktown.  Truck stops in Arkansas are not known for their slavish obedience to the Federal government.  I avoid doctors as much as possible and had no brushes with hospitals during the key time.  I remember being extremely irritated but I never felt like I was being isolated from humanity because I am surrounded by rational people who ignored it all as much as possible.

I have friends in California so I understand there are parts to the country that are brain dead.  I still see people who are wearing masks in their car, even in Texas but they usually generate looks of sympathy.  We have a lady in our church who wears a mask on Sunday but it because she is on heavy chemo and her immune system is bonkers.  She would be doing it before Covid.  I personally think that much of the nation ignored the lockdown mandates unless forced to comply by frantic neighbors.  

I can sense the dark forces trying to get us into another panic.  If they go public I think we will see the same pattern except there will be even fewer who will comply.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-579: RIP

Recently, Dick Cheney went to his final reward.  I’m not wise enough to predict what that reward is.  What stood out to me was who was invited to the funeral and, even more so, who was not invited to the funeral.  If you want to get a look at the dividing line between those who want to make America great again and those who want to turn back clock to the rhino days, then just look at the invitation list to that event.

I haven’t gone over the list.  I assume there is one somewhere.  I know who I saw sitting in the first couple rows of the pictures, and I know who was very loudly proclaimed as not invited.  In case you were not paying attention that was Donald Trump.

The rhinos of the country want to go back to the days where the left is allowed to continually change the rules to fit what they want and employee law-fair and the media to intimidate anyone who has traditional values.  One of the great meme posters I’ve seen showed President Trump, looking at the camera, saying something to the effect that they are not really after him.  They are after us; it’s just that he’s in the way.  There’s some truth to that.  There’s a lot of truth to that.

Keep in mind that there are still many people in this world whose major moral position is “Orange Man bad.”  As they say in memes and such, they’d rather have no mean tweets that have stability, safety and recovery of the country. Maybe it would be a good thing if someday you were not invited to the funeral of a famous person.  It might be a compliment if you are banned from family holiday gatherings.

Keep up your values.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-547: Whom Do You Blame?

I’ve been listening to a Matt Fradd interview with David Wood?  It is three hours long but it might be worth your time.

In the conversation they were talking about Muslims who converted to Christianity and the question was asked what percentage of the Muslims who leave Islam when they find out the deceptions and false teachings move to atheism instead of Christianity?  Wood said it was a good question and he did not really have any statistics on it, but he knew that it was a good portion that did not embrace Christianity, that went on to reject all religion.  What got me interested was that their reason is the conviction if one religion lies to me, then all religious lie to me.  That’s my paraphrase.

What would happen in our world if we took that same attitude toward everything?  Now being one who doubts what climate change scientist tell us, I would be one who would simply ask if we can prove that the climate scientist are lying to us does that mean that we discount everything that all scientist say?  Some cynics would say yes.  Some skeptic you say yes.  Some open minded people might even say yes, but most of us would realize that that’s not really a fair analysis of the situation.

Move on to politics.  If we’re convinced that one politician is corrupt, does that mean that all politicians are corrupt?  As you can see this comes from the other side because most of us would tend to say yes.  But that’s not a fair comparison; not a fair way to look at things.

So we need to be looking into each situation ourselves instead of just taking other people’s words for it.  One reason I think that many people move to atheism instead of embracing Christianity is that the truth of Islam, or the false Islam, was right there in front of them.  All they had to do was read the Quran.  If they were really concerned, they could go into the Hadith.  The evidence was there, it was documented, and if they simply believe what somebody told them in the face of other people claiming it was not true, then whom does the blame lie on.

If you tell me that my favorite apples are on sale at the local grocery store and I go and order a big box of those apples, when I get the invoice and find out the actual price is not a bargain, but it’s full price, whom am I going to blame.  Am I going to blame you because they were on sale yesterday when you were there?   Am I going to blame you because you made the whole thing up?  Or am I going to be honest about it and say, “I should have looked at the price myself.”

Ultimately, the choices we make, and the direction we may go in life are based on our own personal decisions.  Yes, there are other influences and sometimes we’re forced into things we don’t want to do, but most of the time we have more to say about things that we want to admit.

So man up. Or maybe we should say person up. Above all grow up.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-404: Philosophical Foods

I just finished off a loaf of Ezekiel bread.  Someone had shared with me about how in Ezekiel 4:9 there is a recipe given for bread and a modern company had duplicated it and was now marketing it.  Interesting concept.  I read the label, check the ingredients,  bought one just out of interest.  It was a philosophical purchase, or maybe theological.  No one told me it was great tasting.  No one sat me down and looked at the nutritional balance.  It was just an interesting concept that came out of the Bible.

I wonder how much of our food is based on philosophy rather than taste or nutrition.  I have a German bread that I am now making my main stay.  I didn’t start eating it because of the nutrition, I started eating it because I remembered enjoying the heavy breads in Europe, 40 years ago.  I was rewarded because it was a good tasting, heavy bread and I enjoyed that.  After getting it, I checked the ingredients and nutrition and it came up with five stars.  No additives, no preservatives yet long shelf life, no wheat, no sugar.  In addition to that, it has a good amount of fiber and protein.  What is not to like?  But it was not a philosophical purchase.  The nutrition and ingredients were simply a by product of my purchase.

I keep hearing people tell me how non-iceberg lettuce is supposed to be good for you.  I watched a brief bit of a recipe video.  I turned it off and went on with my quest for the Holy Grail when he started harvesting kale from his garden to make a salad.  He almost got delirious talking about how good this would taste.  I’m sorry.  I have experienced kale.  Good taste is not something I would associate with it.  It is, though, philosophically on solid ground because it’s not what us peasants eat and enjoy in the sense of iceberg lettuce.  The same thing it’s found in the other obnoxious weeds that are harvested and called lettuce.

You can extend this into almost any area of your food chain.  Are you eating it because it tastes good and then evaluating the nutrition or are you simply looking for the numbers that your cultural gurus tell you are necessary?  There are certain things which mystify me.  I’m told to drink more water but drinking coffee doesn’t count.  Now I ask you, what is the main ingredient in a cup of coffee?  I would say water.  What is the difference between drinking a bottle of water and taking a tablet of caffeine and just drinking coffee?  I’m sure some scientist or doctor could tell me in detail all the differences. The question I would have would be, “Is this actual scientific data based on genuine research or is it philosophical nutrition?”

In a day and age where weather and science have joined the ranks of fake news, it’s often hard to know which way to go.  I intend to relax, enjoy what I’m eating, but not ignore the potential for issues.

Bon Appétit.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-362: The Guitar Fallacy

Somewhere in my copious bits of notepaper I have a list of games that people play.  It’s based on what I’ve experience with my family.  I have a new one to add if I can find the list.  I’m calling it The Guitar Fallacy.

This goes back to my days of working with young people.  This Fallacy bit me at church summer camp.  A young campter came up to me and asked me if I knew how to play a certain song on the guitar.  Not only did I not know how to play it, I don’t think I’d ever heard of it.  He got a look of total disgust on his face and said, “I thought you knew how to play guitar.”  Keep in mind that I was one of the ones leading the nightly singing with my guitar and playing numerous songs strictly from memory.  Because I didn’t know the one song he knew or wanted to know, I didn’t know how to play guitar.

I run into this on a regular basis now.  People will ask me, “Did you hear about…?”  And since I was not listening to their You Tube feed, I have no idea what they’re talking about.  Then they look at me as if I am totally out of contact with the world.  When I figure out what they’re talking about, I may have heard about it.  In fact, I may know more than they know, but I didn’t know about it with the vocabulary choices that they were using to express it.  Other times what they’re telling me I find out about later and it’s pretty much a bunch of nonsense.  I am the one who is ignorant because I do not know what they know.  I get this about weather forecast.  I get this about Politics.  And of course there is all the advice about our health.  It’s fairly common.

So don’t get too excited about experts who come to you and tell you some great insight, or a bit of knowledge that you’ve never heard of before.  There’s a good chance that they weren’t listening very closely when they heard it.  There’s a good chance that if they were listening closely, they didn’t understand what they were hearing.  And there’s a good chance that wherever they heard it, the Clickbait was lying to them.

Be leery of The Guitar Fallacy.  Just because you don’t know their song doesn’t mean you don’t know how to play the guitar.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-061: Old and Unimproved

Advertisers and people who make products like to find ways to get attention and increase sales.  I always get amused at lemon drops saying that they are a fat free food.  Or how about oatmeal being gluten-free.  These are part of the definitions of what those foods contain.  I don’t need a special advertising for it.

Another technique they like is to announce that something is “New and Improved”.  Now the newness and the improved aspect is always questionable.  I would venture to guess that sometimes if they put 11 ounces of cereal in a box that used to contain 12 ounces they could say that this is new and improved because you will gain less weight by eating it.  Deception is deception.  Naïve is naïve.  Gullible is gullible.

There are many things that I don’t need to hear “new and improved” about.  I have done my due diligence.  I am ready to accept the judgment of my decisions.  One of those things is oatmeal.  I’ve gone through a long process of arriving at how I like to have oatmeal in the morning.  I’ve tried instant, quick, old-fashioned, older-fashioned, and steal cut.  I have followed directions.  I have been a maverick.  I have come to the conclusion that old fashion, basic as it is, cooked for six minutes instead of five, and not stirred after the initial dumping of the oats produces what I want for breakfast.

It doesn’t mean I’m against trying something new if it comes along.  Just don’t try to advertise it as being biodegradable or organic or Vegan or any of the other nonsense.  Also, you need to put it in a smaller package that it doesn’t cost me the down payment on a house just to try it out.

As a senior citizen, I’m a big endorser of old and not improved.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-014: Worthless Opinions

It occurred to me as I was driving along admiring some of the cars around me that it really doesn’t matter what I think of those machines.  I will never buy a new one.  And when it comes to buying an old one I’m looking for what’s most economical and reliable.  Looks and style are of little importance to me.  So why should a car manufacturer care what I think?

Extend that to fashions.  Not only do I have no sense of style, very few trendy clothes are made in my size.  I like your hat.  Do they make it in 7 3/4?  Do they make those cool shoes in 17?  Wide?

My opinions are of little value to the marketers.  My family for some reason doesn’t get this.  Where do I want to eat?  At home.  Sandwiches make my day.

I will still feel free to express what I think.  That is the main reason to do a blog.  If it is important to me I can express it.  If it strikes a cord in your mind, well and good.  If not, then maybe next time.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-382: Headlines: Cute

Some headlines don’t even raise my eyebrows let alone ruffle my feathers.  The announcement that woke women are going to shave their heads, wear blue bracelets and refrain from sex and having children does not even register on my SHTF meter.  It might even include woke men.  I can’t tell from the photographs that are displayed unsolicited on my screen.  Does this mean that Joe Rogan will have to let his hair grow?

This dynamic statement will make no change in my life.  Even in my bachelor days I would not have been interested in the kind of women who would shave their head because someone in favor of aborting babies did not win an election.  I can say without qualification that I would never have hung around their watering holes be they sleazy bars or swanky parties.  I did my mate locating roving at prayer meetings and Sunday school.

I pledge to attempt to prevent my grandchildren from pointing and laughing if they ever see one of these creatures.  I will attempt it at least once but then I might start pointing and laughing also.

What a world we live in.  I salute their freedom to cut their hair any way they want and wear their choice in jewelry.  I don’t expect them to return the favor because being woke does not work that way.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-223: Ode to Old: Age Has Its Privileges

One of the reasons that older people are not so adventuresome and seeking out new thrills is because they’ve already been there and done that.

I always am a little perplexed when people tell me I need to try something new on the menu at a restaurant.  Now, if this is a weird exotic, ethnic restaurant, where I have never tried anything, and have no idea what it’s like, I am willing to experiment.  I am willing to explore.  That goes with the territory.  But when I am in a restaurant that I have been going to regularly for 20 years, you young whippersnappers need to understand that I’ve already tried everything on the menu that is even remotely interesting and I’ve decided on what I like.  There is a good chance I have taken the risk of their new offerings often enough to know they don’t have the touch of tasty creativity.  I don’t need to experiment anymore.

What brought this to mind was my oatmeal this morning.  I have tried instant oatmeal. Disgusting.  I have tried quick oatmeal.  Barely palatable.  I have tried steel cut oatmeal and found I’m not patient enough to wait for it and it doesn’t taste good enough to justify the time.  So I’ve settled on old fashion oatmeal.  According to the directions it takes five minutes and you’re to stir it occasionally.  I find after much experimentation that I will let it simmer for five minutes, but I won’t stir it.  That technique produces it just the way I want it.  If I were preparing a meal for the family I would not do it that way.  If I were making oatmeal for you, I would try to find out how you like it.  But most mornings I’m just making it for me and I have found that by not stirring and leaving it on for five minutes it has a chewy consistency that I really enjoy.  Same is true in many areas of life.

Know that age has its privileges.  One of them is that I don’t need to experiment on the newest type of sushi that has been offered at a local restaurant.  I can go out for sushi.  I’ve eaten whale sushi in Japan, where nobody spoke English and you had to point at what you wanted.  When the jury is out, you can keep trying things.  But when the jury is in and the verdict is declared there is no need to go back and try everything that somebody has used their creativity to put together.

Maybe it’s not that age has its privileges, it could just be that age has its wisdom.  We don’t have anybody to impress.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-101: Don’t ask, don’t tell

It seems the newest thing we can’t mention is whether you were vaccinated or not.  The question pops up in my mind every time I hear about someone dealing with cancer.  Our church has two moments in each week where people verbally share prayer requests:  Sunday School and Wednesday evening service.  It used to be mainly elderly falls and heart attacks.  Now it is usually cancer.  The evidence is purely anecdotal but I keep wondering.  

Some would say that at this point there is no reason to ask.  After all, there is nothing that can be done about it.  Part of me agrees.  The other part of me is concerned about sharing the truth with people so during the next pandemic just before the presidential election people will be better informed.

I guess that assumes people would listen.  Since so many people still get their news from the MSM it is doubtful that they would wake up no matter how strong the rose smell is.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-166: Headlines: They ARE Coming for Your Children

There are lonely heros out there that are speaking truth at the risk of their own lives and security.  One of them is presented at The Stream.  California State Senator Scott Wilk had some advice for parents as a result of AB 957, a bit of legislation that will declare parents guilty of child abuse if they don’t “affirm” their child’s confusion over their gender.

He advised parents to leave California.  We left years ago for less serious reasons but also because we could see the Marxist writing on the wall.

In case you are one of those people who think I am seeing a Communist in ever closet and under every bed let me share with you, in the words of Karl Marx, the attitude of The Communist Manifesto toward families.  And before you try to say it is a mistranslation, the Communist Party issued it in a number of languages, including English.  These are their exact words.

“Abolition of the family! Even the most radical flare up at this infamous proposal of the Communists.”  Kindle location 295-296.

“Do you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation of children by their parents? To this crime we plead guilty.”  Kindle location 300-301

It is time to leave before they set up check points on the major highways and make it impossible to rescue your children.  There is a reason I often call it The People’s Republik of Kalifornia.

Marx, Karl.  The Communist Manifesto, 1848, Project Gutenberg download

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-152: New Term: Gastrogressions

How about a restaurant built on the premise of avoiding gastronomical microagressions?  We would refuse to serve anything that caused anyone a sense of threat, tension or gas.

Let’s start with me.  I hate liver and onions.  It used to be that the simple smell of cooking liver would make me gag and want to vomit.  The first thing we would need to ban is liver.  Sticking with my family, my wife has issues that keep her from enjoying spicy food.  I cannot make chili at home because I might spill some cyan or chili powder and she would pay for it.  That rules out any food with exotic spices.

Nut allergies, shell fish allergies, soy allergies:  The list is endless.  If you have any questions about that then read the ingredient labels on just about anything you buy pre-packed.  From what I see on the warnings, about the only thing we are not allergic to are the chemical additives.  That may be because the chemical companies has big enough lobbying budgets to stay off the radar.  It might be that this new restaurant I am proposing could only offer additive soup and filler casseroles.  

A common sense solution would be to be careful and chose your table wisely.  I have not run into any misguided souls eating liver and onions in a restaurant in forty years.  When I was a young pastor I used to go to the dinner get togethers of the seniors and it seemed like the special was always liver and onions and they loved liver and onions.  I joked about it, tried to sit up wind and enjoyed the fellowship.  

The weakness in this is common sense.  People seem to be allergic to that also.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-036: Box Rebellion

I don’t want to think outside the box.  It is like wanting to play outside the airplane or lifeboat.

Think about the “boxes” that make life possible.  Every cell in your body has a cell membrane.  It is what keeps you from becoming a bag of goo.  While we are on that, you skin is a box that keeps you from bleeding to death, turning into a bit of human jerky or eaten by every bug that happens by.  The non-conductive covering for electrical wires keeps you alive to enjoy the electricity that passes down them.  That is a box.  

I may need to make the box bigger or change its shape but I need to stay inside.

The limits to my box are established by the Bible.  
    I can see through to the outside.  I have a good idea what is outside the box.
    I see insanity and evil.
    I can ponder it, but only from the inside.
    Clear thinking can only be done inside the box.

So, thanks, but no thanks.  I will stay inside the box and explore the wonders of the universe from there.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-152: A Losing Formula

I am happy to say that a shortage of baby formula will not, nor would not, effect my immediate family.  I understand that it has become the norm but understand that “baby formula” did not exist before the advent of women going to work to subsidize the dream of affluence.

To my knowledge my children never tasted any kind of baby formula.  As far as I know my grandchildren are the same.  Of course that meant that we bought used cars and often shopped in thrift stores but those were trade-off we were willing to accept.

I remember reading or hearing the theory that the American Indians were defeated the day they accepted their first steel knife.  They gave up their independence and eventually came to depend on modern technology that they could not duplicate.  Maybe we can say the same for the mothers of America, and the world.

I have not done a search but there might be some place on the web where they will tell you the ingredients for making you own baby formula.  I assume that most families depending on commercial substitutes are past the time where nursing is an option.

One of the tangents my mind takes is how modern Proregressives* are all for killing babies in the womb and this is just a back up plan.  No, I don’t actually think they are that clever.

homo unius libri