from: https://sobertostay.com/m-scott-peck-stages-of-spiritual-development

 Do you ever wonder if synchronicity is serendipitous?

Two vagrants seeking shelter in a decaying outhouse behind Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka Kansas recently discovered a parchment with a long lost segment of the New Testament. The passage was not complete, but scholars have translated the following section:
And it came to pass in those days that Jesus beheld his followers healing the sick and feeding the hungry, and so he departed into the desert to pray when several of the called accompanied him, whereupon he spake unto them saying, “Hast thou ears not to hear? Hast thou not been taught that the sick and the poor are with you always? Verily I say unto you that it will continue to be so until the day cometh that the downtrodden abandon their reliance upon your benevolence and adopt fiscally responsible covenants with their brethren. Hast thou not been taught that thou shalt reap what thou hast sown? Understandeth thou not the righteousness of labor? Wouldest thou deny thy brother such righteousness because of his infirmity? For I say unto you, lest thy brother adopt conservative principles and plant his own vineyard from which to pluck, he shall be cursed and despised by the righteous for all his days. And when the time of judgement of the blessed of the Lord shall come, he shall be cast out...

1 Republicans, 4:16- 23

"A writer’s life, like a reader’s, is fiction and fact; it’s almost-happened and half-remembered and once-dreamed. The smallest part of our being is history that somebody else can verify."

Richard Bach, on his web page, posted June 4, 2015

Enlightening the past

I wonder what it would be like to go back in time, meet Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison, and give them each one of those $.99 LED flashlights from Wal-Mart?

It was a conspiracy.

The tramps, badgeman, Abraham Zapruder, CIA, FBI, Secret Service, LBJ, J. Edgar, KGB, pro-Castro Cubans, anti-Castro Cubans, apathetic Cubans, a French hitman,the Mafia, Dallas Police Dept., Oliver Stone, the Hunt Brothers, Richard Nixon, the entire Bush family, the military-industrial complex, Marita Lorenz, Sam Giancana, Carlos Marcello, Santo Trafficante, Marilyn Monroe, Jim Garrison, Mark Lane, Vincent Bugliosi, Cyril Wecht, the Dulles Brothers, Robert Blakey, Robert Blake, OJ, Ted Bundy, the Unibomber, Walter Cronkite, Martin Luther King, John and Patsy Ramsey, and the Jews did it.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the DMZ....

It's a popular past-time to knock the United Nations, but consider this: if there had been no UN in the early 1950's, millions of little South Korean children would have grown up over the ensuing years speaking North Korean.

The game of life

Sometimes I like to go in Walmart, pick up a six pack of crackers or candy bars and eat one before I get to the checkout counter. For a few minutes there I feel like I'm ahead in the game of life.

Quotes from Mark Cuban found at http://elitedaily.com/life/motivation/quotes-from-billionaire-mark-cuban/727103/:

Mark Cuban is oddly inspiring, not only due to the amount of money he has been able to accumulate, or the fact that he owns the Dallas Mavericks, but also for his insight.

Each quote below encompasses how the man continues to brilliantly enhance his image and empire while also reminding us that hard work and determination do actually pay off.

1. “Work like there is someone working 24 hours a day to take it away from you.”

Life is temporary. Work is temporary. One day, you will be incredibly successful at whatever you choose to do with your life. While that day may be difficult to imagine right now, start fighting for your future.

You may not have a job, internship or college major about which you are crazy, but with everything you do, maintain the mindset that what you have could end or be taken away from you at any time. There will always be someone who is willing to work harder than you, so you should always give your best effort.

This mentality will keep you on your toes and will ultimately help you grow.

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2. “It’s not in the dreaming, it’s in the doing.”

Growing up, we are repeatedly told to dream big, to never stop dreaming and to believe in our dreams. However, we are not told enough that dreams are accomplished by taking action.

Dreams are merely thoughts; the doing is more powerful than the dreaming. The doing is what changes the world and impacts people in unforeseen ways.

Dream of being a physical therapist; apply to physical therapy school and go from there. Dream of being a politician; get involved in local campaigns and work your way up. Dream of being a writer; apply to Elite Daily and start writing.

We have more control over the “doing” than we give ourselves credit. If you spend all of your time dreaming, you will never grant yourself the opportunity to see what you are truly capable of accomplishing.

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3. “Doesn’t matter if the glass is half-empty or half-full. All that matters is that you are the one pouring the water.”

No matter how troublesome life can become, you are in control of your emotions, decisions and outlooks on situations. Try not to dwell on how empty or full your life, or the lives of others, might be. Believing that you have control over how much water is poured into the glass of life is a powerful skill.

How you react to not getting the perfect internship, a friend’s betrayal or a loved one’s death can make the glass seem pretty empty; however, you get to decide how much water is poured.

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4. “Wherever I see people doing something the way it’s always been done, the way it’s ‘supposed’ to be done, following the same old trends, well, that’s just a big red flag to me to go look somewhere else.”

Life can get repetitive, consistent and complacent. Falling into a life or workplace of complacency is dangerous. Seek opportunities and take risks that are out of your comfort zone. Work for a company that is constantly changing, growing and evolving.

Surround yourself with people who are bold and do not follow paths already created. Do not be afraid to look at opportunities in life that are different, offbeat or even a little weird.

We are trained to interpret “different” as a negative, when in reality, different jobs and opportunities often provide for the greatest potential for us to thrive as individuals. Life is too short for us to live in fear of being different. Be whom you want to be and don’t worry about the haters.

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5. “Every no gets me closer to a yes.”

The word “no” leads many of us to see it as a failure. “No” comes in different forms: the test you just failed, the interview that didn’t lead to a job and the person who tells you “you can’t.” We look at that “no” often enough to never go near it again.

“No” does not mean defeat, however. It is an opportunity to get closer to the “yes” for which you are searching. Do not let the “nos” of life impact your goals.

“Nos” are part of your story, and if you keep working hard, they will lead to many “yeses,” which often turn out to be better than the opportunities for which the “nos” would have provided.

"they don't catch fire usually."

This post is meant to be neither an argument for nor against the death penalty. It is merely an observation.

After reading about Arizona's 2 hour struggle to execute an inmate recently, I decided to do a google search on the question "why is it so hard to execute an inmate?" It seems to me that the particulars of killing another human being would be fairly easy. Life is fragile, right? Apparently not.

Anyway, I found the following post at http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5768643:

I've served as a witness to a few executions. Yes, really, some states do allow for citizen witnesses. Lethal injection is typically a very quick and efficient way to execute an inmate. Well, it was, until the pharmaceutical companies were pressured to stop providing their medicines if they were to be used for executions. Now states are having to scramble and experiment with whatever drugs they may be able to procure. I don't like this as they are going out on a limb to find mixtures that are lethal to the inmate while not being tortuous. Electrocution works effectively on inmates. It isn't as dramatic as portrayed in the movies. The inmate is hit with that voltage and BAM they are brain dead. They don't catch fire usually - just a bit of water vapor from the leg electrode...

Read more: http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5768643#ixzz39FiYpcvc

I thought the explanation of the difficulties with lethal injection were interesting, but then his explanation of electrocution really blew me away -- "they don't catch fire usually."

Digging Elvis

Michigan State Police are exhuming Elvis' grave at Graceland today in search of the remains of Jimmy Hoffa. They are acting on a tip that Elvis was recently sighted running the Teamsters' Union. 

Try until.....

Head Coach of the East Carolina University Pirates, Ruffin McNeill, speaking at Robeson Community College's commencement ceremony in May of 2011 said he was turned down for head coaching jobs 26 times before he successfully was named as one.  This is a great illustration of the power of persistence.

bros and hos

So as to not distract from the royal wedding tomorrow, charlie sheen has vowed to stay sober all day. As a gesture of his gratitude, Prince William has announced that on the first night of his honeymoon he will wear underwear with the word "Winning!" emblazoned across the front.

Going back to my Roots....

My Kenyan birth certificate

Who do these people think they are anyway?

Congress today tabled all discussions of budgets and wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, so they could so they could focus on pressing matters concerning charlie sheen, lindsay lohan, and snooki.

Damn white people...

Before our white brothers came to civilize us we had no jails. Therefore we had no criminals. You can’t have criminals without a jail. We had no locks or keys, and so we had no thieves. If a man was so poor that he had no horse, tipi or blanket, someone gave him these things. We were too uncivilized to set much value on personal belongings. We wanted to have things only in order to give them away. We had no money, and therefore a man’s worth couldn’t be measured by it. We had no written law, no attorney or politicians, therefore we couldn’t cheat. We were in a really bad way before the white man came, and I don’t know how we managed to get along without the basic things which, we are told, are absolutely necessary to make a civilized society.

       -- Lakota Sage Lame Deer (from John Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions)((Actually I copied this from Daniel Suelo's blog. Suelo is a guy who has lived in a cave in Utah for about 10 years and avoids using money.)

bang bang

I am not a cynic. I am a banged-up realist. -- paraphrased from Wally Lamb's "The Hour I First Believed."

I've been working in the education field long enough now that I think it's time to start my own school.  As a startup, our goals will be modest -- we're going to train people for careers in putting the little stickers on fruit in grocery store produce departments.  Low tuition and you can get your degree in as little as 3 weeks, if you  enroll full time and really apply yourself.  No excuses.  The ball is in your court...., or the apple is in your basket.  

Stephen King's advice to writers --- READ!!!

Observation

I like the feel of warm peanut butter between my toes....