ivman's blague

Aren’t pundits interesting people? Well, they don’t always interest this person! I have heard some really whacky analysis from some pundits in my lifetime. First off, what is a pundit? According to dictionary.com… Pundit: 1. a learned person, expert, or authority. 2. a person who makes comments or judgments, esp. in an authoritative manner; critic or commentator. (I can’t tell from the two definitions if they are they are mutually exclusive or complementary - is a pundit an expert, or does he only make comments?) The word pundit comes from a Hindi (Sanskrit) word pandita: a man esteemed for his wisdom or learning; a title of respect.

I like the word pundit itself because it contains the word pun. Again I appeal to dictionary.com… Pun: 1. the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words. 2. the word or phrase used in this way.

As much as I like puns, though, I don’t always like what pundits say. They can draw some of the wildest conclusions from a set of facts or events, suggesting a different meaning, much like a punster does, only it doesn’t always bring laughter. Their conclusions sometimes leave me scratching my head or talking back to the radio or TV. (Just ask my wife….)

Here in the upstate of South Carolina we’ve broken some records this week for cold temperatures and are experiencing a bit of “Indian Winter” - a term I use based on the term “Indian Summer” to describe having a bit of winter in the middle of the fall, rather than a bit of summer in the middle of the fall. This has to drive the global warming crowd as crazy as having to postpone a global warming conference because of snow this past spring - read the story here.

I ran across a map recently from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency. It shows temperature trends from January through October of this year in the continental USA. Below is that map:

As I looked at it, I thought of the map I’d seen of the county by county election results in the 2008 presidential election. Below is that map:

Would I be going out on a limb as an amateur pundit to say that it appears that Obama voters may be causing global warming? I appeal to the collective wisdom of my readers to make their own comments about either or both of the maps. What conclusions do some of you pundits draw from what you see? Feel free to be as whacked out as professional pundits would be. Have you heard some punditry lately that you think is whacked out?

quotation…

“Claiming to be wise, they became fools.” Romans 1:22

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Rob

OK, who put a “stop payment” on my reality check?

Tags: global warming, India, points of view, puns

Now that the elections are past, we’re hearing reports on the news about the increase in gun sales. With rising economic problems we’re also hearing about more and more home invasions. The newscasters collectively scratch their heads and wonder why either of these is happening. I have some ideas about why … do you?

I’ve had a piece in my files for quite a while that seemed like a good thing to share at this time. It’s the story of a more subtle home invasion by a stranger and the impact on the family.

The Stranger

A few months before I was born, my dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me the word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it. But the stranger? He was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies. If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn’t seem to mind.

Sometimes Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to her room and read her books. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home … not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our long-time visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush.

my dad was a teetotaler who didn’t permit alcohol in the home, not even for cooking. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing. I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked… and NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first.

Still, if you were to walk into my parents’ den today you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name?

We just call him “TV” for short.

A close companion of his has moved in with us. We call her “Computer.”

How does your family handle TV and computer usage, especially those of you with children in the home? Our nest is empty, but we have always tried to be very careful what was allowed to be seen and heard on our TV.

quotation…

“If all the people who name Christ were living as they ought to, our country would be going in a different direction.” - Dr. Drew Conley

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Rob

Television enables you to be entertained in your home by people you wouldn’t have in your home. –David Frost

Tags: children, computers, points of view, society, time, TV

Have you ever gone through a corn maze? I don’t remember hearing much about them until the last couple of years … and this year especially. The Pumpkin Patch we went to several weeks ago while in Cincinnati for the weekend had a 7-acre corn maze that looks like the United States from an aerial view. Though the visitors could go through it that day, we didn’t since there were other activities that we thought we’d rather do.

I take it that farmers have begun to do corn mazes for some off-season tourist business in the fall. Our daughter Nora went to a huge corn maze here locally this past week with friends and said it was really fun and scary. I decided to see what I could learn about corn mazes (or “maize mazes”) online and was surprised to find all kinds of pictures and sites. If you’d like to learn more about corn mazes, you can go to http://www.cornfieldmaze.com or to http://www.brownielocks.com/cornmaze.html. You can even try to locate a corn maze near you by going to http://www.cornmazedir.com

Here’s a picture of a neat patriotic corn maze…

Yesterday a student sent me a picture of a corn maze tailor made for one group of visitors….

On this day after the elections here in the USA, I am thankful that the Lord does not have us going though life as if we were in a maze. He knows exactly what He’s doing, and He has most definitely not lost control as everything moves towards His ultimate prophesied end. I’ve had a song going through my head all day and was so pleased that we sang it in church this evening - not once, but twice! It’s a great reminder of the Biblical perspective on things. Here are the lyrics…

There Is a Higher Throne
Words and Music by Keith & Kristyn Getty
Copyright © 2003 Thankyou Music

There is a higher throne
Than all this world has known,
Where faithful ones from ev’ry tongue
Will one day come.
Before the Son we’ll stand,
Made faultless through the Lamb;
Believing hearts find promised grace -
Salvation comes.

REFRAIN
Hear heaven’s voices sing;
Their thund’rous anthem rings
Through em’rald courts and sapphire skies.
Their praises rise.
All glory, wisdom, pow’r,
Strength, thanks, and honor are
To God our King, who reigns on high
Forevermore.

And there we’ll find our home,
Our life before the throne;
We’ll honor Him in perfect song
Where we belong.
He’ll wipe each tear-stained eye
As thirst and hunger die.
The Lamb becomes our Shepherd King;
We’ll reign with Him.

REFRAIN
Hear heaven’s voices sing;
Their thund’rous anthem rings
Through em’rald courts and sapphire skies.
Their praises rise.
All glory, wisdom, pow’r,
Strength, thanks, and honor are
To God our King, who reigns on high
Forevermore.

You can read a great article for believers after the election by clicking here.

Yesterday I put out a new poll question in the sidebar about Daylight Savings time and you. There were also some good punchlines for the most recent blog post.

I hope that some of my readers have gone through a corn maze or maybe some have even constructed one. Please comment away about that or anything else in this post.

quotation…

“Problems in society are just a symptom of the core problem - man’s estrangement from God.” - Dr. Drew Conley

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Rob

Opportunities are not lost - they just go to someone else.

Tags: airheads, blondes, entertainment, points of view, politics, society

Just peeking out…. I normally post to my blog on Monday evenings and Thursday mornings, but I just noticed in my blog stats that yesterday’s blog post was my 250th. Wow, one-fourth of the way to 1,000 posts! I thought that that was worth a special post. A friend whom I considered the patron saint of the blog when I began my blog reminded me the other day that I told her at first that I didn’t think I would enjoy blogging and would have nothing to write about. It was one of those “never say never” moments. Thanks for your encouragement, Bet!

Another thing I’d like to share is a link to Radio France Internationale. One of their bureau chiefs, Anne Toulouse, came to BJU recently as part of a study she was doing for a report about the evangelical vote. I was asked if I was willing to be interviewed since it could be done in French. Anne was very kind and did not have any kind of axe to grind. Her “reportage” seems to be quite fair - mainly just reporting what she learned from the many people she interviewed. What a concept - a journalist who simply reports and doesn’t editorialize! I’ve read several good articles lately about the death of journalism. You can see them by clicking here and here. You can listen to report on RFI - le poids du vote évangélique - by clicking here.

Back to general lurkdom….

Tags: France, French, points of view, writing

This past Friday my wife Becka, our daughter Nora, and I headed north for Cincinnati, Ohio, after my last class ended. Our older daughter Megan, our son-in-law Jim, and our grandson Drew headed south for Cincinnati and arrived earlier in the evening than we did. We all thoroughly enjoyed our quiet weekend together. One of our activities on Saturday was to go to the Pumpkin Patch at Blooms and Berries Farm Market in Loveland, Ohio. We did not do all the activities available there since several members of our party were not feeling their best with colds. We did enjoy seeing all sorts of fall produce on display and for sale and a hayride which included a stop at their pumpkin patch. Here are a few pictures from our afternoon there.

On the way up to Cincinnati and back we saw a number of questionable drivers and interestingly loaded vehicles. Some people did not let having no truck keep them from hauling whatever it was they wanted to transport. This practice is known all over the world, though, as the following pictures readily testify to what people will do when they have no truck.

During our summers in Asia we saw similar scenes, to our amazement! I am very thankful for my little pickup truck which has come in very handy for hauling all sorts of things.

Even though I have a truck, there are some things with which I have “no truck.” Having no truck comes from the French verb “troquer” which means swap, trade, barter. So when someone says he “has no truck with something,” it means he refuses to have dealings with something. For instance, I have no truck with the Marxist ideal of “redistributing wealth.” I also have no truck with abortion.

On purpose, I try to steer clear of politics on this blog, since the answer to mankind’s problems is the Lord, not politicians. I have to say that I am not wildly enthusiastic about either of the two major candidates in the presidential race, so please do not misconstrue what I’m saying as tacit approval of either candidate. Once again this election year, I will have to plug my nose and vote for one person mainly as a vote against the other person. As much as a third party vote would make me feel good, I need to be able to sleep at night.

This past Friday two young pastors whose blogs I follow both did a blog post which I feel compelled to pass on to my readers in light of our elections in two short weeks. I would really like to urge you to check out these two posts, which I pass on without comment - one on a blog called Pensées and another on a blog called My Two Cents.

I would appreciate your comments on our weekend, the people with no truck, and the matters with which I have no truck. I’ve added a new poll question in the sidebar about your predictions concerning the outcome of the presidential election.

quotation…

“God’s plans will not fail to be accomplished.” - Dr. Drew Conley

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Rob

He who runs behind truck is exhausted. He who runs in front of truck is tired.

Tags: Cincinnati, drivers, French, points of view, politics, society