A Reprieve From The Boredom Of Normal - A Poem to Spring

I wonder.  Is there anyone still visiting this blog?  I have my doubts, since not even I have been here since last August, 2012.  Hard to believe I've been absent so long, negligent so long!  I have been remiss, to say the least.  I repent!

Much ado has passed since last I scribbled herein.
Two seasons have gone, now Spring's blooms begin.
O'er glen and dale my eyes follow,
Looking for the flight of the northbound swallow.

Harbingers of Spring are gleefully rushing,
Black squirrels in the Bur Oak, for nest, leaves crushing.
A white eye glances, Grackles are wincing,
My every move, word and motion fearfully convincing.

Then thoughts turn to fungi pushing through humus.
Morel-ian, epicurean, Chanterelle-ian, goodness.
An exodus made, gastronomical parade,
To spaces green, lush, and growing - a glade.

Buckets in hand, tramping along,
Whistling, foraging, singing a song,
I and companions to the woods do we take,
Out of the confines, to the edge of the Lake.

From vineyard and suburb, to forest we turn,
For a moment, perhaps an hour, creature comforts we spurn.
And all for the chance to gather for pleasure,
To eat to the full of Spring's pleasant treasures.

Copyright 2013 Frank J. McAvinchey

Simply Writing

The family is watching Psych.  I'm trying out an online writing program by the name of Writer.  Catchy isn't it?  Yeah, I agree, it's a boring name, but the program is another story altogether.  "Why?", you ask.  I'll tell you why.  This is a great program precisely because it does exactly one thing - provides a non-distractive environment conducive to writing.

It has a retro look to it - green on black, like the old DOS prompts on those archaic monitors from days gone by.  That is somewhat frightening when I think about it.  But, the idea is appealing in that there are fewer distractions, although having Psych playing to my right is quite distracting.

Having a notepad at your beck and call that is larger than a notepad is a good thing.  Not having a gazillion options is a good thing.  This thing is good for writing, period, and that's a good thing.

I also investigated an app by the name of Write Space.  Write Space is program in that it has a black background, but has light tan letters which I find to be pleasant as well.  Write Space is also a minimalist app, with very few options except typing/writing.  I believe Write Space will get the job done nicely.

A third program that I acquired is known as Ommwriter.  Think Zen Buddhist - omm.  This program is an actual program, in that it can be downloaded from it's own website, www.ommwriter.com, and installed on either a Mac, Windows machine, or as an app for ipad.

Unlike the other two apps above, Ommwriter has a few options more, though it is still rather simple when comparing it to a normal wordprocessor like Microsoft Word.  The most obvious feature of oomwriter is it's music.  "Music?", you ask.  Yes, music, sort of.  It makes you feel like you are approaching Nervana's outskirts.  Bells toll, synths play soothingly, and a stray piano or two get their ivory tickled.  Do I like it?  Maybe.  It's hard to say.  I did feel silly working away in that environment, but I have yet to try to produce a project via Ommwriter.  I suspect that if I'm left alone for a few hours, it may prove to be helpful.  Try it out for yourself. Ommwriter, like the other apps, is free.

Panchito

On Barter

For quite some time I've wanted to be involved in the barter economy. One of the barriers that I've noticed is that I'm unable to find one. Yep it's a fact, here in my town there does not seem to exist a barter economy. I am going to investigate the possibilities shortly. Looks like the dollar ain't doing so well, and its time to take many matters into our own hands... 

Quite a number of communities in the USA have their own "Bucks", currencies that represent a set number of hours of work done, or other ways of assigning value to the bills.  Does your area have something like that in place?  Mine doesn't, yet...


 What are your thoughts?

Ciao,

Panchito

In Defense of Parental Authority

Last night a man by the name of Tommy Jordan executed his daughter's laptop as punishment, or perhaps the beginning of punishment for his daughter's ill-advised Facebook post.  After listening to Mr. Jordan's rather thorough explanation of his daughter's antics, his own warnings to her for her misbehavior, and how he had just upgraded her programs and laptop the day before as a favor for the 15-year-old, I found myself firmly entrenched on his side of the situation.  Then, Mr. Jordan read a Facebook post that the young lady had written to himself and his wife, blasting them for her "slavery" at their hands...  Okay, enough of me telling the story, watch the video and make up your own mind.



Kudos to Dad!  Teach the girl about the results of her actions and words.

Ciao,

Panchito

Cool Icons

Here are some coll icons I created for MAC.

On Banter...

Ideological differences, media manipulation, and social agendas are working hard and being very successful at tearing this country apart.
One has to wonder whether outside forces are hard at work as well, behind the scenes, investing heavily to see that the above is carried out.  To think otherwise would be a very naive view point. 

Obviously, over the course of the history of the United States we have gone out of our way to try to topple governments all over the world, or at least to keep them unstable.  Think of Vietnam.  Cuba.  The Banana Republics of Central America.  We even marched into Mexico City, forcing the president to sign away half his country, which now includes New Mexico, Arizona, California and Nevada, Washington and Idaho, and possibly Montana.

America was supposed to be something more than this. I think it stopped being a Christian nation back in the fifties. I understand that we didn't want the communists to take over Vietnam or Korea or any other part of Asia but still... We left France in charge of Vietnam, or at least that was the plan anyway to keep France in charge of Vietnam. We may have been on the wrong side of that fight. Our dealings in Latin America have been shameful at best over the years. We supported United Brands, now Chiquita, for years as they controlled the economy and people of Central America. We've treated Latin Americans as if they were children, while doing our best to keep them under our thumb. Shame on the United States of America. Meanwhile President Eisenhauer spoke about supporting the little guy and not bullying the small countries, all the while doing exactly that behind the scenes. One thing that irks me is that all this time, since the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania, we've been promoting the oil industry, or even not permitting the development of other technologies that have been viable for years, and could take petroleum's place as the main source of energy. I have personally seen quite a number of different apparatuses, machines, and techniques that could pretty much eliminate the need for petroleum. We might still need petroleum for a lubricant for special situations, but mostly I think we could eliminate the burning of petroleum is a fuel. Greed is the thing. Generally speaking humans are greedy and look out for themselves first and foremost. There are exceptions, but generally we are greedy. I've been trying my entire adult life to eliminate that tendency from my own heart with limited success. As it is written, "The heart of man is deceitfully wicked." We suck, fairly often. "What's the solution?" you ask. My answer is, "Be a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth." "Be willing to bleed, to lay down your life, to make that happen." 


 Ciao, 


 Panchito

!

On The Making of Money

Sitting here in heavy concentration, as I am, dropping a few pounds after dinner, I find that I'm thinking of making money, and how, after all these years, I haven't progressed all that much in terms of salary.

I feel like now is the time, despite the fact that we're in a recession. So I'm pulling out the stops. I'm going forward promoting our business, and looking forward to a successful year ahead of us.

I've been watching the news a lot lately, in regards to the president's plans for, or failed plans for, or  attempted plans, for getting the economy running again. He's managed to crank up our debt to an astounding $14,000,000,000,000 or $15,000,000,000,000 now. Look at all those zeros!  It's insane to have even considered getting us that far into debt. To think what I could of done with 14,000,000,000,000 dollars makes me sick.

Last night, I listened to herman cain being interviewed and found that he was very articulate, quite able to stand up to the bullying he was receiving from the news room talking head named David. David, like virtually all newsroom employees, is a liberal.  Did David-the-talking-head ever say he was a liberal?  No!  But, he said everything that said he was a liberal without saying, "I'm a liberal."  David-the-liberal attempted, as do all the other talking heads of this era, to appear non-partisan - for several seconds.  As is nearly always the case now, with in just a few moments David began to show his true colors.  Red is the color I'm speaking of, as in communist or socialist.

The one thing that I was not completely on board with in regards to what herman cain said last night was that in some instances Herman would leave it up to the states as to whether they permitted abortions in the case of r*** or i*****.  I'm not keen on that point.  Otherwise I really like Mr. Cain, so far...

As I'm thinking about abortion, and I believe abortion is murder, I think about who made it legal, how they made it legal, and why they made it legal. The word communist comes to mind, as does socialist, and atheist.

Think about the numbers murdered by Communists in the last century.  We're talking about 6 to7 million by Socialist Nazis, around 100,000,000 killed by Stalinists and the Bolsheviks, as well as an enormous number by the Chinese communists.

To the atheist mind humans are just another animal, and as such have no intrinsic value beyond a relational affection. That's the idea I came away with after reading athiest propaganda.

Since men are not created in the image of any creator according to the atheists, it stands to reason that we should be able to use humans for various different projects. For instance, I own a fertilizer company and humans would come in very, very handy as raw materials for my fertilizers. And let's say I had a penchant  for steak - who's to say that I don't have the right to harvest some of that tasty stuff from human legs. I've eaten frog legs in the past, and they look surprisingly similar to human legs. Perhaps the human ones would be tasty as well. I think I should be allowed to experience that sort of thing. After all, we're just animals, right?

And since I feel that the liberal public, the liberal media, and the liberal politicians are generally useless, if not down right destructive to our country, we really should start with them.  I'm sure there are some tasty individuals out there worthy of a feast!

Now, obviously I don't really think this. The thought of eating people disgusts me, and it would never happen.  But, for the sake of argument, I had to bring this up.  Obviously, it's a ridiculous notion. Eating human steaks is wrong. It's a ridiculous notion just like the idea that humans are merely animals, is a ridiculous notion.

I heard Chuck Missler say today that he answers Atheists by asking them, "What is your backup plan?" That's a pretty good question.

So, those are my thoughts for the day.

If you find that this is a thought provoking conversation/article please feel free to comment. I would love to read what you have to say. I'd love to know what you have to say.

Herman Cain for president!

Ciao,

Panchito