A few thoughts over the last few days

Not particularly profound but I recently read that Newsweek was trumpeting the fact that Mother Theresa had doubts in her faith-journey.

My first thought was, "Huh?"

My second was, "Of course she did, we all do."

I guess there are those who will immediately proclaim, "See if someone as saintly and good as her had doubts then there must be something to atheism or at least agnosticism. After all if Mother Theresa wasn't sure of her salvation then who am I to be?"

I was always led to believe that the closer to God's face one came the more likely doubts of one's salvation one might have due to the absolutely clear line of demarcation between our sinful natures and God's complete perfection.
I confess that I have not read either the piece in Newsweek nor the book it was taken from but I would wager that she wasn't doubting her salvation only rather she was not sensing the presence of God in her daily life.

Over at Dawn Eden's blog "The Dawn Patrol" - http://www.dawneden.com/2007/08/open-thread-mothers-teresas-dark-night.html there is an interesting open discussion on this topic. In the comment stream, Dawn references the infamous Pascal's Wager -http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/pascals-wager.htm - which I have often thought of as a truly sublime bit of logic.
It is as close as I have ever come to seeing a "proof" of God's existence.

a few more photos

From yesterday's static displays That's Jim and Nate and Steve and Steve Jr. (Nate's the muscle-man). It was a testosterone laden day!

North American B-25J "Panchito"

OV-10A Mohawk observation plane from Vietnam

An extremely rare B-24 A - that's right an "A" model! Its like the 12th produced. If you go to the airshow web page it gives a really good bit of info about "Ole 927". http://indyairshow.com/participants/category/bombers/

Very cool. Its hard to imagine strapping into one of these birds to fly 6-8 hours and then get shot at by the Germans.

That's"Fat Albert" - the Blue Angels support plane during their intro routine where he takes off with a bunch of JATO's strapped on. They climb out at about a 50 Degree angle then level off at about 1000 feet, cruise the perimeter of the airport then do a combat landing approach which looks like they are landing on a ski jump ramp! Very impressive for such a large bird.

That my friends, is the sound of Freedom

To quote a pilot acquaintance of mine.

I give you the Mt. Comfort Air Show for 2007 highlights.

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OK its just a few photos and the BLUE ANGELS!!!

(sorry about how grainy they are. I shot them with a 5.1 MP camera so the mpegs are a bit compressed.)

And

Wonderful weather, nice displays and good friends, I got to talk to a few serving airmen and Marines. (remember children, always say "thank you for your service" to the members of our armed forces when you speak to them.)

All in all it was a good day.

I'm not usually a Bumper Thumper...BUT

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!

"Its not just a bike, ITS AN OLD TREK*!"

http://www.vintage-trek.com/index.htm

Well, I've been riding three to 4 days a week since I got my new bike.( http://the-tigers-eye.blogspot.com/2007/07/my-newest-toy.html)
Mostly on roads because I don't have a rack to transport it to the dirt trail areas nearby. I'm feeling like I am shaping up and I do know that I have lost a few pounds so something must be going right.

I found the linked page while looking for info on my old road bike (A TREK 412 - original owner am I) hanging in the garage (I'm hoping on updating it a bit soon so I can ride it more comfortably on the roads).

One thought about the difference between riding in the early 1980's and riding now. Back then you had to look out for rednecks in old Jimmy pickups who would either run you off the road or toss beer bottles at your helmet while riding in the country. Now you don't find too many beer drinking rednecks driving around but the soccer-moms in their SUV's and mini-vans talking on cell phones are just as deadly and far more silent.

"Update"
I just returned home from a Doctor's appointment and to my satisfaction this work is bearing fruit. My blood pressure is going down and more importantly SO IS MY WEIGHT!
10 lbs from last visit!
Next goal. 215 lbs by November 30 (Next visit)

In response to:

This: http://www.haloscan.com/comments/kingtiger/8679062480908908690/

James,

This is getting pointless.

You make gratituous statements such as "...your contempt for science?" when if you had thought about it for even a few seconds you would realize that I have to have a very serious appreciation and understanding of hard science. As a practicing registered architect in this state, I use applied sciences on a daily basis. I have the utmost respect for proven science.

What I have a contempt for is the current FAD of Human Induced Global Warming.

I know you have made it abundantly clear that you have bought into our esteemed former Vice President's proclaimations that we are the cause of all the world's environmental problems. You and I have gone round and round both on this blog and on Rob's as well. You are not going to convince me and frankly I don't care what you believe.

On this latest line of argument, I propose a truce.
Lets wait till the end of the season and see who is proven correct. If the Hurricane season for 2007 is worse that average I will gladly admit it. I will even go so far as to make a dedicated post where I proclaim that I was wrong.
However if I am proven correct and this season is no worse or heaven forbid it is actually less severe than average, I get to bask in my own silly glory for about a day or two. Perhaps you will even admit that I guessed as accurately as the supposed "Experts" did?

Just a thought.

As the political silly season is beginning to really sing, I'm wondering how long Hilary can keep up the act of appearing to be both a centrist New-Democrat and still pander to the Daily Kos crowd?

Update Time

OK we are now almost 40% into the '07 hurricane season and as of this evening our favorite site still is saying:

"There are no tropical cyclones at this time"

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Man, if I were Philip Klotzbach, I'd be getting worried about my credibility right about now. Approaching the 1/2 way mark and only 3 named systems, (the third was a short lived one named Chantal that stayed out to sea all of its short life) none of which were much more than a really good rainstorm. Why maybe I would even think I'd be revising my predictions.
Wait, what was that? What do I hear?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Atlantic_hurricane_season

"On August 3, 2007, Klotzbach's team lowered their season estimate to 15 named storms, with 8 becoming hurricanes and 4 becoming major hurricanes. They noted that conditions had become slightly less favorable for storms than they were earlier in the year. Sea surface temperature anomalies were cooler, and there were several incidences of Saharan Air Layer outbreaks. ENSO conditions were also noted to have been slightly cooler."

Ok, I admit I am being a bit snarky but I'm begining to get tired of the constant fever pitch of doom that the environmental alarm lobby is always pitching.

I'm just sayin...

Steppin away for a few days...

Not that I believe many will be holding their breath, but the missus and I are going to mosey up to Chi-town for a few days.
We should be home by Sunday.

See you then.

P.S. That pesky tropical depression up New England way just sorta petered out.

The NOAA page once again proclaims for the "Atlantic - Caribbean Sea - Gulf of Mexico":

"There are no tropical cyclones at this time."

Just thought you would like to know.

Update:

Well, we're back. Like a couple of 21st century Okies, we hauled our stuff back from IKEA in the Sorento (Code named "Candy")http://the-tigers-eye.blogspot.com/2006/09/announcement.html.
Haul:
One "Gustav" desk in black - http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50070104
One "Expedit" wall shelf - http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60071358
plus all sorts of interesting gadgets, sundries and items only purchasable at IKEA.
Those ingenious Swedes! - http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/rooms_ideas/democratic_design/CollectedPage.html

All in all it was a successful trip but we left as much there as we brought home. I'm guessing another trip is in the office come this fall.
Also supper Saturday night was at the Weber Grille restaurant -mmmmm... - http://www.webergrillrestaurant.com/index.html

Puppy vs Kitty

It almost makes me want to get a puppy again!