Benjamin Franklin - 13 Virtues

I'm reading HW Brands book "The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin", and I found his listing of 13 Virtues really interesting. He made the list in an attempt to improve his character, and practice them each as time went by. Here they are:

1. Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation.

2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.

3. Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time.

4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.

5. Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself: i.e. Waste nothing.

6. Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. Justice: Wrong none, by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. Moderation: Avoid extremes. Forebear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes or habitation.

11. Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; Never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

12. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

13. Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

What a great world it could be if everyone tried to practice the 13 virtues!

The Blind Side

As my husband can tell you, I really, really do not like football. It's sooooo borrrinnggg.... Even when the Cowboys are playing in the Super Bowl, I try to watch, but after about 15 minutes I find myself wandering off to do something in the house. I just don't "get it". So, when we saw this movie "The Blind Side", I was pleasantly surprised. It was such a good movie, that afterwards we were talking about it and he said "The Ravens have a game coming up..." I actually wanted to watch it - just to see Michael Oher! My husband did say something about the Ravens being a "defensive team" or some such thing... What do I know? Now of course the proof is in the pudding. My husband is betting I'll last 10 minutes... He may be right, but we'll see. I know this, Michael Oher and his family are incredible people and the movie was terrific!

28th Ammendment?

Got this in an email today...
Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution:

"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States".

Sounds good to me!

GI Squirrel

This guy is tall!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Coconut Miracle

After reading "Going Rogue", I am now reading "The Coconut Miracle". I had no clue there were so many uses for such a simple and cheap product. It seems it helps with almost all aliments - too many to cover here. If you have any illness, dry skin, etc, check it out. It's worth the read.

Going Rogue

Sooo.... the first book I ordered on my new Kindle was Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue". What a great book - very interesting, and well written. I can now see why she scares the "left" so much. She actually gets things done. Most people who go into politics, and most people on the "left" are just plain lazy. The thought that they might actually have to work rather than pick their nose, drives them crazy. Look at BO vacationing over in Hawaii for weeks on end, even after several terrorist attacks. Lazy, lazy, lazy...

Kindle 2

I bought the Kindle 2 for Christmas and I really, really love it! I was thinking about the Nook also, from Barnes and Noble, but since they couldn't get it out until after Christmas, I didn't want to wait any longer. Also, since the Kindle has been out a lot longer, I figured all the bugs would have been worked out of it. It is totally awesome being able to order books for only $9.99 or less - many free. The keyboard is also really nice to add notes for quick future reference. When I'm done reading, I just "delete" the book and it stays up on the Amazon website, sort of like a book shelf. No more books stacking up all over the house! Yeah! I love technology!!!

Congressional Reform Act

I got this in an email today and think it would really be a terrific idea!

"Congressional Reform Act:

1. Term Limits: 12 years only -Two Six year Senate terms and six Two Year House terms

2. No Tenure / No Pension: A congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security: All funds in the Congressional retirement fund moves to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, Congress participates equally with the American people in the Social Security system.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan just as all Americans.

5. Congress will no longer be able to vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress looses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide in and by all laws they impose on the States and the American people.

8. All contracts with past and present congressmen are void effective 1/1/11. The American people did not make this contract with congressmen, congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work."

Clinical Trials

I was searching the net for information for a friend's illness and came across this government website which lists clinical trials: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ It's pretty interesting if you're curious about who's looking into which diseases.

Canadian Geese in Texas

Three years ago 2 white geese and 2 Canadian Geese came to Texas. One of the white geese had broken wings, so all 4 geese stayed in Texas through the hot Texas summer. I felt sorry for them, especially the Canadian Geese, because they should have flown north in the spring. Actually, I thought the white geese were probably the females and the black/gray geese were the males.


The next year they had 3 chicks. All the chicks grew up with the same black/gray markings of the Canadian Geese. Again, that summer they all stayed in Texas. This spring they had 7 chicks! They also grew up to become Canadian Geese. We now have a flock of 12 Canadian Geese and 2 white geese at our neighborhood lake. It wasn't until recently that I figured out that the white geese are just some sort of domestic breed. The Canadian Geese became friends with the domestic birds and won't leave them. I wonder if anyone has ever heard of such a strange thing. If you have, let me know.

Sparkling Water by SodaStream

We just bought this neat do-dad for carbonating water. It works really well and you can carbonate almost anything. I like making flavored sparkling water, but I suppose you could carbonate green tea or cranberry juice also. We've never really been huge soda fans, but it's actually kind of fun and cheaper than buying soda at the store!

Worx Cordless Blower

So, I bought the Worx Cordless Blower. Very nice! And, I found another use for it -> Blowing the cobwebs and dust from high and low places in the HOUSE:>D Just make sure you do this first, then vacuum, because it makes a real mess on the floor.

Worx Cordless Edger/Trimmer

This is the coolest edger/trimmer. No cords to fiddle with. I got one last week and it's amazing. I did the front and back yards - edging and trimming - and the battery is still not worn down. They say it lasts 20 minutes, but I'm sure I was out there longer than that! I got mine through Amazon - free shipping! Oh, you also get free spools for life (shipping on 6 spools = $6.00). This thing actually makes yard work kind of fun:>D

"Straw"

I'm not a baseball fan, but I always felt a little sorry for Darryl Strawberry. He kept getting arrested for drugs and such in the '90s, and they would show him on TV at the court hearings, but he always seemed so humble. He seemed like such a nice person. So, when his new book came out, I had to get it and I wasn't disappointed. It's written very well, and you can really hear his voice in it. He's on the good guys side now:>D Two thumbs up for the Staw Man!

"It's better to light one candle than curse the darkness" ~ Author Unknown...

Meet in between...

This is pretty cool, especially if you live in a big city like Dallas. If you drive from the east side of Dallas to the west side of Fort Worth, at 65 miles per hour, it takes about an hour. So this will really be handy when meeting my gal pals:

http://meetinbetween.us

Horsehead and Orion Nebulae

Horsehead and Orion Nebulae
Credit & Copyright: Dale J. Martin (Massapoag Pond Obs.)
Explanation: Adrift 1,500 light-years away in one of the night sky's most recognizable constellations, the glowing Orion Nebula and the dark Horsehead Nebula are contrasting cosmic vistas. They appear in opposite corners of this stunning mosaic taken with a digital camera attached to a small telescope. The magnificent emission region, the Orion Nebula (aka M42), lies at the upper right of the picture. Immediately to its left is a prominent bluish reflection nebula sometimes called the Running Man. The Horsehead nebula appears as a dark cloud, a small silhouette notched against the long red glow at the lower left. Alnitak is the easternmost star in Orion's belt and is seen as the brightest star to the left of the Horsehead. Below Alnitak is the Flame Nebula, with clouds of bright emission and dramatic dark dust lanes. Pervasive tendrils of glowing hydrogen gas are easily traced throughout the region in this deep field image of the same region.

IRS letter...

This is pretty funny. A guy named Ed Barnett, Wichita Falls, TX wrote the following letter to the IRS:

"Dear IRS,

I am sorry to inform you that I will not be able to pay taxes owed April 15, but all is not lost.

I have paid these taxes: accounts receivable tax, building permit tax, CDL tax, cigarette tax, corporate income tax, dog licence tax, federal income tax, unemployment tax, gasoline tax, hunting licence tax, fishing licence tax, waterfowl stamp tax, inheritance tax, inventory tax, liquor tax, luxury tax, medicare tax, city, school and county property tax (up 33 percent last 4 years), real estate tax, social security tax, road usage tax, toll road tax, state and city sales tax, recreational vehicle tax, state franchise tax, state unemployment tax, telephone federal excise tax, telephone federal state and local surcharge tax, telephone minimum usage surcharge tax, telephone state and local tax, utility tax, vehicle licence registration tax, capitol gains tax, lease severance tax, oil and gas assessment tax, Colorado property tax, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and New Mexico sales tax, and many more that I can't recall but I have run out of space and money.

When you do not receive my check April 15, just know that it is an honest mistake. Please treat me the same way you treated Congressmen Charles Rangle, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and ex-Congressman Tom Dashelle and, of course, your boss Timothy Geithner. No penalties and no interest.

P.S. I will make at least a partial payment as soon as I get my stimulus check.

Ed Barnett

Wichita Falls"