David wasn't an underdog

In the story of David and Goliath, it is commonly read as David is an underdog, a young boy that faces off against a giant of a man, clearly outmatched, but overcomes.

This is the wrong interpretation of this story.

In 1 Samuel 17, the setting is laid out. The Philistines and Isrealites are gathered on opposite mountains overlooking the valley of Elah. Neither really wants to go down to the valley, and whichever tries to take the other in the mountains is looking at a slaughter from dug in forces in a higher position.. It was much like Normandy.

So Goliath, champion of the Philistines, went down to the valley to challenge the Isrealite champion to single combat to decide the battle.

4 ¶ And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. - 1Sam17:4

10 And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.

A cubit is the measure of the tip of your middle finger, commonly the longest finger, to the tip of your elbow. Common measurement is about 17-1/2". A Span is the measurement from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger, when extended, or about 9".

So a little math, Goliath was ((6*17.5)+9)/12 = 9.5' tall. That's a big guy.

Saul asked around, but his soldiers were too afraid to face him. For forty days he asked, but no one would come forward.

David was there bringing his brothers lunch on the 40th day. David was a shepherd, not a soldier.

15 But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Beth-lehem.

16 And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.

17 And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren;

24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.

David heard Goliath issue his challenge, and he asked around to the soldiers, won't anybody go out and face him? And they told him, no. He'll kill us.

So David went to Saul and told him don't worry, I'll do it.

32 ¶ And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

Saul tried to give him armor, David wouldnt take it, he instead insisted that he be allowed to fight Goliath his own way.

David wasn't just a shepherd.. he was a skilled hunter (probably with a bit of boasting):

34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:

35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

37 David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.

He picked 5 stones from the ground.

40 And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.

Now, the stones of this mountain are not just the normal granite-quartz stones you might find in the back yard, or in the field. These stones are of a Salt mineral called Barium-Sulfate, which is desired for both it's white appearance and it's high density. For comparison, it is equivalent to the density of Titanium, about 280lb/ft³ or 4500kg/m³.

David had his sling in hand. Probably less likely than grabbing a bear and lion by the beard, he killed it with his sling, which was why he was confident he could use it to take out Goliath. The slinger was an important part of the military.

An advantage of the slinger over the armor-clad swordsman or spearman was his effectiveness from a distance. It is claimed that their range of effectiveness was up to 400 feet (c. 122 meters) with stones, and even farther with lead pellets. - Watchtower OL

Lead has a density of 708lb/ft³, so two-and-a-half times that of Barium-Sulfate, for comparison.

Even still, common riverstone, like what is normally thought of, and usually made up of granite, limestone, or flint, is significantly lighter.

Density of:

Granite: 168lb/ft³
Flint: 163.69 lb/ft³
Limestone: 169lb/ft³
Common stone: 157lb/ft³

citation: https://www.aqua-calc.com/page/density-table/

Goliath was a foot soldier. He wore bronze armor and caried a sword. Goliath was literally bringing a knife to a gunfight.

So David walked down there, was mocked by Goliath, David loaded his sling and BANG! right between the eyes, dropped Goliath, picked up the giant's sword, and cut off his head to deliver to Saul as a trophy, taking the armor for his own trophy.

David wasn't the underdog, he was a skilled marksman with a deadly weapon. He knew his skill, and he knew God was with him.

Goliath is often, like the giants from my previous post, alegorically seen as a challenge we need to overcome.

But instead of seeing ourselves as the underdog, try looking at it this way: You are more equiped to handle the challenges that come your way than you might at first realize.

Further study:
http://www.ancient-battles.com/warriors/ancient-slingers.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IQ15ymhR2M
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/calculating-sling-projectile-speed-from-video.561760/
https://christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-slingsforkids.html
https://www.amazon.com/David-Goliath-Underdogs-Misfits-Battling/dp/0316204374/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziGD7vQOwl8

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They're four, not disabled

Living the principle of my previous post about letting my kids run free, I have encouraged my girls, now that they're four, to walk around the corner to my sister-in-law's (call her Cassie) by themselves.

As stated before, my first daughter ran all over the neighborhood when she was that age. I've been walking these girls over to Cassie's daily for the last couple months, and after feeling confident that they know the way, (it is literally around the corner) I encouraged them to go by themselves:

I started with walking them just up to the corner, then waving and saying goodbye, giving hugs and kisses, and watching them walk the rest of the way by themselves.

I would walk them most of the way. I would race them to or from and let them win by a long margin.

I would hang back, talking to Cassie, and let them go all the way home.

I would have a meeting scheduled for when I normally walked them, and then just tell them, "I have a meeting, go on to Aunt Cassie's."

This filled both my wife and Aunt Cassie with untold levels of dread, but to me, this is one of the most empowering things I think I can do for my girls. 

This is how we win. This is how we keep our children from being snowflakes. We give them the tools to be successful, and we trust them. 

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Teaching in Church

Sunday School teacher is probably my favorite calling, especially when your class is engaging and talkative.

The best lessons I've ever participated in are those where the conversation flows naturally, instead of being a reading of the assigned chapters and verses, and then a discussion of, "what does that verse/scripture/chapter/etc., mean to you?"

In my lessons I tend to give an interesting, dramatic summary of the story, followed by the principle that was underlying in the story. One class we read two verses and had a great discussion about those two verses for the entire 45 minutes of class.

For example, today the lesson was on Numbers 11-14; 20-24, which discusses the Israelites wandering in the desert, whining and complaining like 4 year olds the entire time. They whined about how much food they were getting, what type of food it was, it's too hot, it's too cold, i want another sucker, טִרדָה is touching me!

In one chapter, Moses sends out 12 spies/scouts, one from each tribe, to spread out amongst the land before them and try to figure out which one was the "promised land" that God told them about. Go, gather intel, see who lives there, if they're a simple village or a military stronghold, and how fertile is the ground?

One group of scouts comes back with big juicy grapes, pomegranites, and figs, says the land is lush and fertile, but there are people living on the land. One man says, "We can take 'em." and the scouts say, "Nuh-uh.. They're giants. They'll kick the crap out of us."

While the story is simple and can be made more entertaining in my retelling of it, it is the least important part of the class.

The important part is, what is the meaning of the promised land? 

...the fruit? 

...the giants? 

How can we compare them to our day?

I ask these questions and let my class think about them. They then come to the conclusions and start raising their hands to answer:

• "The promised land is a goal, or something we want."
• "The fruit is the blessings that come from striving for our goals."
• "The giants are the challenges we face."

Yes. That is the most important part of these stories in the Old Testiment. Not to follow what Moses, or Aaron, or Caleb or whomever else is doing, but how can we apply these things to our day? 

The Israelites did not have faith in the Lord that He would fulfill His promises. They constantly murmured against Him. 

5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

6 And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 

7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

8 And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. (Num21:5-9)

The story, although interesting in it's own right, also has symbolism:

What are the fiery serpents sent amongst the people? 

What is the brass serpent placed upon the pole?

What does it mean to look upon it?

• Fiery serpents are afflictions.
• Brass serpent is Christ.
• Looking upon it is looking to the Lord in faith.

It is in this manner of teaching that my class has the most interaction/participation. They seem interested in the stories as how they can apply them, instead of just reading them in class. 

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Alma is my BFF

Of all the characters in the Book of Mormon, I identify with Alma the Younger most. 

Some people like Nephi, and it’s probably because he’s the one they have read about the most. Because I don’t know about you, but I’ve read the books of Nephi probably 500 or so times, but read the book of Ether about 10.

Nephi, to me, is a bit of a goody-goody. The son of a merchant, he never makes the bad choice, he knows who he is and what he’s supposed to do, and he has the line that we can all strive to be like: 

for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must bobey.  -- 2Ne33:15

And when you ask him, “Man, haven’t you ever done anything wrong?” He looks at you intently, a hint of green in his eye and says, “I get angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

Alma was a bit different. He had a father that was the high priest of the entire nation. His friends, the sons of the king. What they had was money, influence, and boredom. 

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t money and influence that made me connect to Alma.

Alma was a total screw up. He was…

“…a very wicked and an bidolatrous man. And he was a man of many words, and did speak much cflattery to the people; therefore he dled many of the people to do after the manner of his einiquities.

9 And he became a great hinderment to the prosperity of the church of God; astealing away the hearts of the people; causing much dissension among the people; giving a chance for the enemy of God to exercise his bpower over them.”2 until his father just couldn’t handle it anymore and called down a divine intervention to be the agent of change in his son’s life. 

11 And as I said unto you, as they were going about arebelling against God, behold, the bangel of the Lord cappeared unto them; and he descended as it were in a dcloud; and he spake as it were with a voice of thunder, which caused the earth to shake upon which they stood; --Mosiah 27

That flipped their whole world around. That voice of thunder that told them to knock it off. Unlike Nephi’s brothers that immediately started murmuring again after the angel left, Alma was rocked to his core. He fell down and had his “coming to Jesus” moment. For three days he was shut up from the world inside his own head, with an experience that changed him. 

But I was racked with aeternal btorment, for my soul was charrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins. - Alma 36:12

And when he awoke, when he had the strength to stand and speak, he told his story of what happened:

My soul hath been aredeemed from the gall of bitterness and bbonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was cracked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is dpained no more. - Mosiah 27:29

This story is told twice in the scriptures. The first time in Mosiah 27, basically as it happens, as we’re following the story. The second time in Alma 36 when he’s bearing his testimony and conversion story to his son, Helaman, to keep him from making the same mistakes Alma made in his youth.

And this is where I identify with Alma. Going from the idolatrous wicked youth to a God fearing Christian. Of course, my conversion wasn’t over two days, it took years, but I had my awakening. And it didn’t come from the sudden appearance of an angel, but a police officer.

I found myself sitting in a jail cell, my life crumbling around me. My family torn apart. I had made so many bad choices through my youth that when it all caught up to me, I, too, was “racked with eternal torment, my soul harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.”

I heard a story about a man with a mule. This man loved his mule, but he was having trouble because it wasn’t trained, and was headstrong and willful, would wander off while he was plowing his field. He needed the mule to be trained, but wanted it done with tender loving care. 

He found a trainer and called him up, the trainer agreed to train the mule with tender loving care, and so the man loaded up his mule and drove it to the trainer, who again assured him that he would care for the mule during the training.

As the man was driving away he glanced in his rear view mirror and saw the trainer – THWAP! – up the side of the mule’s head with a 2x4.

The man spun the truck around, raced back to the trainer.

“You said you train with tender loving care!”

“I do,” said the trainer, “But i have to get his attention first.”

That jail cell was my 2x4.

When I was sitting in that cell, my mother sent me my first quad, with a letter that said, “Something has to change.” That was the first time that I read the Book of Mormon, and I had my coming to Jesus moment. Alma’s story helped me through it. 

He gave me something that I could identify with that wasn’t the perfect goodness of Nephi. He gave me a mentor and role model that helped me see that no matter what kind of person we were, we can be better than that. 

In Mosiah, Alma gives us the brief overview of what happened. He identifies his sin, acknowledges it, and tells us that his conversion is complete and he’ll do the right thing now. And he goes on to be a great missionary and prophet.

And then he gets to my favorite verse:

O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the atrump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people! - Alma 29:1

In the chapters before it, the focus was not on Alma, it was on Ammon and his missionary success, and some wars. But in Alma 29 we are suddenly brought back to Alma, and he has this intense wish to be able to shake the world out of their iniquity, to show them how great God is, and how it feels to turn away from their sins, his sins, and be awash in the spirit. 

He wants so much to show them all the difference and let everyone feel what he feels, know it like he knows it. 

And then, in verse 3: 

But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.

For all his wishful thinking, his grand imaginations of world wide missionary success, converting all the people back to God and bring them all to Christ, Alma knows that he is a man. 

I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their adesire, whether it be unto death or unto life; -Alma 29:4

He knows that he can only do so much. That he should learn to be happy with the things that he has, the gifts the Lord has given him. Alma, for all his desire to heal the world of the wickedness that he helped sow, is a realist, and is content knowing that God’s will is going on across the world, whether he, Alma, is the trumpet or not.

The other thing I notice about this verse is that he uses the same word as he does in his testimony to Helaman. Harrow. 

For those of you not farmers, a harrow is a machine that comes after the plow, with spikes or discs that rip up the earth and break up the clods, smoothing it out to prepare for sowing.

When Alma describes his soul being harrowed up, he’s telling us something more than it was a bit troubling. He is telling us that his soul was ripped apart, the sins were broken up, and he was smoothed out and ready for God to sow the seed of righteousness into it.

And there after his wish to be an angel, he says, “I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God…” he’s saying that he should not try to fit God’s will into his desire, but match his desire to God’s will. 

Alma started life as a spoiled son that didn’t respect God or his father, and had his world turned upside down to become a man of humility that recognized his true importance is to his people and his children. 

I started life as a dumb kid that made a lot of bad choices and had a lot of pride until my world was turned upside down and I began to make the changes to be able to rebuild my life into something of worth, that I can be deserving of my wonderful wife and children.

And that’s why Alma is my BFF.

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VERY unlikely your child will be kidnapped by a stranger

While I was in the Marines I lived in base housing. My 4 year old daughter was very social, and would say, "I'm going to my friend's house," and she'd leave. I had no idea where her friends lived. But I knew they were children of Marines, so I had no reason to not trust them.

This mindset remained after we came home from the military. She had 1/2 day kindergarten when she was 5, turning 6, and her normal friends were put on the other shift. So one afternoon she was bored and said, "I'm going to go find a friend," and off she tottled to all the neighbor houses, knocking on doors and asking, "Do you have any kids?" And home she came with some neighbor girl, "This is my new friend."

"Oh yeah? What's her name?"

She looked at the girl for a second or two, then back at me, "Friend," and to her room they went to play with dolls.

She has grown up to be a strong, independent, outgoing young woman with two kids of her own, so far.

I have twin 2yo toddlers now, in my 3rd marriage, and I hope they have the same wonderful experiences with making friends.

In the age of media and constant connection, many people balk at the idea of our children being out of sight, or disconnected. We fear they will be taken, strangers are a constant danger. Child trafficking rings are sitting in white, windowless vans on every street corner just waiting for us to turn our backs.

But in fact, kidnappings by a non-family member are so astronomically low, this is not something we should be worrying about. (https://bit.ly/2Iiolxw) 205 out of 1400+ kids that were taken were by strangers. Out of 330 MILLION people in this country, your child has a higher chance of choking on random things they put in their mouth (https://dontchoke.ubc.ca/saving-lives/recent-statistics/).

The media tells us this so as to scare us. They tell us the world is dangerous to keep us untrusting. We must trust them for the truth, don't believe anyone else, don't listen to the lies from the other guy, we will keep you safe.

Just as they tell us that we will die from climate change (https://bit.ly/38khMoE), or gun violence (https://pewrsr.ch/2Tj5Pvh), neither of which is the case. In fact, looking at the statistics, while suicide is unfortunately high, especially in transgender kids and girls, murder is much lower than when my 5yo daughter was running around by herself in the early 90s. And the only places where this is higher are in cities that have the most strict gun laws, like New York and Chicago.

This mindset divides us. It keeps us from trusting people. My teenage step-daughter came to bother me in the garage and tell me that there was someone at the front door, instead of answering it herself. She's 16, practically an adult. But she had been told since she was little to never answer the door when she was alone. I suppose that's understandable when an 8 year old is alone and her single mom is working, but at 16 she should have no reason to fear a neighbor or salesperson.

Strangers aren't someone waiting to nab your kids. They are friends you haven't met yet. Get to know your neighbors. Invite them over for bbqs. Take them cookies and fudge at holidays. The only way to get past this social anxiety is to be involved in our communities, to stop giving in to the fear mongering, and to let our kids be free.

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A Coalition of States

I signed up with the Convention of States when I heard about it on the Ben Shapiro show. I have since lost interest in Ben Shapiro, with his hypocritical refusal to debate Nick Fuentes, with his 45 minute tirade about the man and his subsequent refusal to allow Fuentes a moment to respond. Have him on your show, Ben. Be the man you say you are.

Anyway, I have been receiving emails from them, but I rarely check my email. Today I clicked and saw a message:

Please join the Convention of States team at our letter-writing pizza party to inform your legislators of your support for COS.

They need to know NOW that you want your state to join the 15 other states that have passed the the Convention of States resolution to propose term limits, fiscal restraints, and limits on the size of the federal government.

Your handwritten letters of support to your legislators are vital for the success of your state's passage of the resolution in the 2020 legislative session and are the best way to have an impact on their vote. 

On Wednesday, January 29, the COS Team will host a letter-writing pizza party

Join us to socialize with other concerned citizens, enjoy some great pizza, and write letters to our local legislators.

Congress will never make the hard decisions to keep from bankrupting our children and grandchildren. It's our responsibility to take charge. NOW is the time!

We look forward to having you join the fun! We'll provide the pizza, paper, and pens. Stop by for a little while to say hello! 

For Liberty,
Janis

Her message is a good one, her hope is pure. She and her coalition really do wish for the betterment of the country. I wish it was going to be as easy as passing some laws, or standing up and demanding it happen. 

Several recent events have declared to me why term limits, fiscal responsibility, and limited federal government will not be enough. Tyrannical moguls like Michael Bloomberg and George Soros seek to reshape the world in their vision, under threat of force.

I would like to attend Janis's party (except it was yesterday), I would like to write my congressman and tell him to join up, to lead us boldly into the future with a vision of smaller federal government, but it won't be enough. 

Virginia has been an example of that. over 20,000 people stood on the steps of the statehouse in Richmond, armed to the teeth, and declared that they would not comply with Democrat gun policies. Virginia Democrats ignored them. Bloomberg plans to spend his money and do the same in at least 12 other states, to take away our guns and leave us defenseless against criminals and the Left. 

Here is my reply to Janis:

I don't believe this will be enough. 

Our country is divided. Our parties find no more common ground. The Right fights for its constitutional rights as the Left seeks to rob them of it. 

Illusions of grandeur have overtaken them, as evidenced by their haughty and elitist view of the rest of the country. 

The Left will not give up until we are destroyed in tyranny. CoS is an excellent first try, but where is the protections of the constitution we have now? Half of our Judicial branch are ideological leftists that push their agenda, while the other half tries to preserve our sacred documents. Virginia threatens to create criminals of their populace over second amendment rights. Where is the Judicial when the Constitution specifies, "SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED"? When even the Virginia constitution has stronger, more specific language that reinforces that amendment? And with Michael Bloomberg planning on 12 additional states to push his tyrannical disarmament policies into, we cannot afford to discuss this in committee.

Tell your leaders that we cannot depend on getting along with a party that views us as evil. Convince your leaders that there is no compromise. We have compromised too much already, and they demand more. From the ivory towers on the coast they rule with authoritarian integrity, backed by ideological money. 

No, this will not end well. We need to expand the Coalition of States to see that the only result that can bring peace and prosperity is a separation of the country. Draw the line. Red states and Blue states. And some of those Blue states will split as well, as the majority of Virginia is on the verge of becoming West Virginia, leaving Richmond a City-State, cut off from the rest of their ignored populace. 

This wonderful, amazing project, America, is under assault by Leftists that have read 1984 as a bible, and not a warning. They embrace the seven deadly sins and wallow in them. 

Peaceful separation or war. Have your coalition bring that before the country.

«§øùl¡ë»

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I walked on fire Saturday. It was amazing.

This weekend I went on a men only spiritual retreat with a friend. There were 32 of us there, the youngest, Emerus, was six, the oldest was probably in his 60s. We did sweat lodge, we Om’d, we sang, we beat drums and danced, we prayed, we meditated, and we walked on fire. Yes, even Emerus.

It was an amazing experience of empowerment, of losing myself in the focus of my Creator and walking across a path of burning coals, coming out on the other side changed, but not burned. In the moments before I took that walk, I watched six-year-old Emerus raise his hands high and set his feet on that path and come out victorious. It was inspiring. I wept. I sang a hymn & said a prayer and followed him across those burning coals. Victorious.

Since walking on fire I want to talk about a principle of health that can help us in our everyday lives, one that helped at Thanksgiving, and will help at Christmas. One that helped me walk on that path of fire and come out unscathed.

Stop, Challenge, Choose.

This principle can be used in two ways.

1. As a whole – When faced with a temptation, be it pastry, smoking, or what to do with your time, use it. 
• It’s Christmas, presents are unwrapped, family is visiting, turkey, pie, ham, mashed potatoes, pie, stuffing, pie, rolls, pie, cranberry sauce, pie… Before you take the second piece, Stop. Pay attention to how you feel. Pay attention to your body. Are you content with what you’ve had? Is your body satisfied? Yes, you may want another piece. But does that meet your goals?
• Challenge yourself. What if I put off having that cigarette for 30 more minutes? And when I get to the end of that 30 minutes, what if I put it off for another 30?
• Choose what is best for you. Choose what will make you feel better, not the quick path to the dark side that is six hours of video games when the leaves need to be raked up, the gutter needs to be rehung, and the trash needs taken out.  
2. Individually.  
1. Stop and take a moment for yourself. Find a quiet area, relax and get comfortable, and sit in a comfortable chair or position.
   Close your eyes, just breathe. Breathe in through your nose, hold it for a few seconds. Feel your body lift as it fills with life. Notice your chest expanding to take it all in. Notice the oxygen flooding into your body, your lungs. Notice it as you exhale, as your chest settles, as the air leaves through your mouth. Focus on your breathing. If your mind wanders, that’s fine. Just recognize the stray thought, dismiss it, and return to your breathing.
   Once you are connected in the moment, let your awareness open up to your surroundings. Notice the air conditioning, the thrum of local machinery, footsteps in the hall or on the stairs. Slowly open your eyes and take another breath, ending the exercise.
   Take a moment to consider how you are feeling. Hopefully better than what you did before, with that moment of break from stress.
2. Challenge yourself. While the fire burned that cord of wood, it was so intense we stood about 20 feet back and were still warmed by it. The coals from that fire were raked into a pathway that I was being challenged to walk across. Not to gain status, not to win an award, or prove to my friend that I could do it. It was a personal challenge that I had to undertake. It was for me, crossing that path of fire, that I can do the things that I set out to do, be it complete a project, get my degree, or maintain a healthy weight.
   One of the brothers in this group spoke of a time when his son was preparing to go away to college. He was fretting over the idea of leaving home, of facing the unknown. His father said to him, “Didn’t you walk on fire?” And that was it. The boy dropped all anxiety, because he knew he could do it. He was stronger than fire, he was stronger than life. Challenge yourself, and come out victorious.
3. Choose life. Choose health and the things that will get you there. Choose to make your health a priority. These things don’t come all at once, but by our daily choices. “By small and simple things are great things brought to pass,”(Alma 37:6). We choose daily. Hundreds, if not thousands, of choices. Each of those small choices builds up to who we are in the end. Choices of food, of how we react to our spouse and children, of how we handle the stresses of life, of what we’re going to do with our time. 

Stop and find your path. Challenge yourself to take the one that will enable you to grow and become who you have the potential of being. Choose that path and walk it daily. And if you slip up, if you fall off, challenge yourself to get up, to get back on the path, and choose to continue. Walk your fire and be victorious.

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Cartoons have changed a lot since i was a kid

When I was a kid, I watched a lot of cartoons. Transformers, GI Joe, He-Man & She-Ra, Thundercats. Those were my favorties.

They were adventure stories, full of cringe-worthy campy comedy, lots of explosions, powers, fast moving action, and no death. None. And if there was a death, it was impactful. Like, we all felt it. In fact, the only one I can actually think of is Optimus, during the Transformers: The Movie, and that was heart wrenching. 

Death never happened to the NPCs, like cobra soldiers in GI Joe. In fact, the Joes were decidedly terrible shots until the invention of B.A.T. soldiers, but they were robots, so it was okay. Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, when the Foot soldiers were robots, so it was okay for the turtles to destroy them. 

Today cartoons are much different. On advice from a friend, I began to watch Disney's Star Wars: Rebels. It is very different. People die all the time. Well, let me correct: Storm Troopers die all the time. All. The. Time.

I was very surprised. Cobra and Joe soldiers were amazingly adept at ejecting or leaping from their vehicles at the last possible second before their vehicle exploded, and that put them out of the fight. They apparently didn't carry side arms. The war was attrition of motorcade.

So far I've seen 3 episodes of Rebels, and there's probably 20+ Storm Troopers that die in each one.

Just an observation.

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MVC - Practicing Futility in Application Development

Ugh. So i'ts been 2 weeks that I've been reading like crazy all these tutorials that don't tell me what I really want to know, don't make it easy to understand, and aren't helpful. I've read through three different tutorials, and maybe it's just because I do it different and am resistant to change that I can't find what I want to do, and am stuck trying to figure out how to do it all the new way because that's the way they designed it.

What the hell are you talking about? You may be asking.

Web programming.

HTML was easy. C# with ASP was easy. Make a web form. Great, totally got that down.
But now, to do it better, I have to learn MVC. Model/View/Controller. Really, it's a lot of what I was doing in ASP, view on one page, codebehind on another. CodeBehind pulls data from a database and feeds it to the View.

But now there's another step, and another whole concept on how to do stuff, and very poor documentation on how to update your brain.

I have a simple way of doing things. My brother-in-law wrote a small function that pulls data from a database and saves it to a dataset. It works in windows apps, it works in CodeBehind on web pages. Works. Works great. And I want to continue to use it, because I can use SQL queries and stored procedures to pull the data I need.

But to my understanding (albeit only 2 weeks worth) of MVC, they want me to have a mapped database that I pull data from to my model. But when I try, it breaks all my stored procedures. Great. Then let me pull the data to a dataset. I can. Now map it to the model. No. Why? Don't know, no one can tell me.

Ugh.

Just had to get that out. Back to it. Due in 5 hours.

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Corruption in Politics

This started as a response to a post on facebook, but grew too long. I'm moving the post here where it will probably not get read lol.

Some French guy 150 years ago said, "If at 25 you are not a liberal you have no heart, and if at 35 you are not conservative you have no brain."

The issue today is that truth isn't just fact. Leftists (as opposed to normal liberals) that have aggressively taken over the Liberal side of the conversation see "My truth" instead of "the truth", because it is based on emotional reaction instead of facts.

Epstein's death is a clear case of corruption, powerful elites silencing the man who can air their dirty secrets, from Bill Clinton to Prince Andrew, and over 1000 others in his little black book, and Epstein's money and power are a clear case of corruption. The fact that his lolita island and lolita express airplane even exist is a testament to corruption. That powerful leaders in multiple countries have taken regular rides on his plane and to his island is further proof of corruption and the downfall of our society.

Political elites on both sides have lost the country. This is not just a right or left issue. Democrat leaders have spent the last three years trying to undo an elected president because they didn't win. 5 of the last 6 Republican presidents have been under threat of impeachment because of Democrats not liking the results of the election.

This is not to say that Republicans are free from corruption. The same issue that infects Democrats infect Republicans. Power corrupts. When Bill Clinton was under impeachment threat, Republicans said some very hard things as well to justify an impeachment over adultery.

Main conservatives see Liberals as uninformed. Leftists (again, as opposed to Liberals) see the Right as evil, and use authoritarian fascist tactics to beat all who oppose them into submission.

Power corrupts. Right now conservatives are being called out for their hypocrisy as they forego true conservative values and accept progressive policy, foreign influence, and larger government, just as much as Leftists are being called out for embracing socialism, over-taxation, and political violence.

The parties are trying to destroy each other, and those of us in the middle are exactly that, caught in the middle.

Movements like Blexit and Turning Point USA go to colleges and civic centers to speak to centrists and show them the crazy of the left, encouraging them to recognize the truth.

Yet TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk is under attack by America First true conservatives because of his liberal policies regarding immigration and shutting down free speech and debate.

On the left? Antifa, I think? and the Social Justice movement that do their best to infect everything around them and twist it for the sake of "Diversity" which really means no straight white people. They pretend to stand up for the rights of the minorities, but attack minorities who want to be free thinkers instead of joining the herd. Blexit founders Candice Owens and Brandon Tatum are perfect examples. Because they don't want to vote Democrat, they are smeared as white supremacists, and they're black. Youtuber Contrapoints (Natalie something), a conservative voice in the #WalkAway campaign, is also smeared for being homophobic and transphobic, but she's a transwoman. No logic, only "Follow me or be destroyed."

Hillary Clinton said it best: "You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for."

And that is going to be the way of it. Peaceful separation or war.

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Crypto Gambling

Ted was a guy I knew in the Marines that would go to Vegas every payday weekend (we were in 29 Palms, just a short couple hour drive away) and more often than not come home with thousands of dollars. He had the awesome crotch rocket motorcycle, a great truck, and his house was furnished with a lot better stuff than the old hand-me-downs I had. I asked him one day how he did it and he told me his system. I'm going to share it with you now.

Ted would take 200$ from his paycheck and play roulette. He would wait for the spinner to hit the same color four times, and put 100$ on the opposite color. Playing the colors is 2:1 odds, and he would double it. If he lost, he would put the other 100$ on the next one and double that, and then start over. Once he had an extra 200$ in his pocket, he would double the just-won 200$ until he was comfortable with a couple thousand, and come home. That wasn't bad at all, when we made about 1000$/month as PFCs.

Well, I have been waiting 25 years to try that system out. I haven't spent a lot of time in places that were comfortably close to casinos, so never until this summer when I went with some friends to Jackpot for Edgefest and got to play.

Well, I was not as comfortable throwing 100$ down on a single bet, but I would start around 25$, and after an evening of playing on the roulette table, I came home up 300$.

Since then I've figured out a more consistent way to play roulette. This system requires a higher start, because you need to be able to cover your loses. But I can show consistent upward growth with this system that does not require waiting for four blacks or reds. Just do every other. Do it low. Play it slow.

You walk to the table, ball last hit Red. Put 10 on Black, 1 each on Green. if you win, put 10 on Red, one each on Green. if you lose, put 20 on Black, 2 each on Green, etc.

Like I said, it takes a higher start, because in a couple losses 100 or 200$ will be gone. But with sufficient to cover your bets, like 1000$.

Remember: Always 10% on the greens.

No, your winnings won't go up as fast, but the number of times we got screwed by green 0 or 00 was maddening. Towards the end we figured out that if you put $10 on black and $1 on each green, your profit on black is 8$, but your profit on green is $24 (35 win -1 for the other green and -10 for the black).

Since dabbling in crypto I wanted to find a way to use some of it for some light gambling. First I tried the little games on the faucets, cointiply and FreeBitCoin, but while similar, they weren't what I was looking for. I tried to find an online casino, and stumbled on to BitStarz, but they gamble with BitCoin micro-satoshi, which is like a dollar a play. I didn't want to play at 1$ per play, because I'm not that rich (yet). I much prefer playing all day and not quite spending a penny.

Then I found LuckyFish. LuckyFish allows gambling of about 20 different crypto coins, and on many of the games a minimum bet of 1 satoshi (not the poker games). And if you have been collecting from some of the faucets I've mentioned in other posts, you have plenty of starting seed money. Not only that, but often times there are some more wealthy players or the game's bot, that will "Make it rain:"

I left it open on my desktop while I worked, playing during lunch, and came back to find generous players (mostly this person called BlueBalls) had padded my account with satoshi, or in some cases, multiple coins (Doge and HOT).

Note, also, that you can use BAT, which you can get by surfing and veiwing ads with the Brave browser, which doesn't track your surfing or collect your private information to sell to advertisers. (Built on Chromium, but better than Chrome)

The games use a system called provably fair, so they are not bent that you will never win.

Here's 20 rolls with Doge coin on roulette, showing a steady uptick in profit to total 75,000sat. Yes, there were losses, but as I said, doubling and repeating your bet will restore it... eventually. 

Watch out for zingers like this: 

8 reds... ugh.

The table is European style, so only one Green 0, and has a good track of your bets, as seen above. There can be up to 6 players per table, and there are a lot of tables (it shows four, but scroll and it'll keep going). I've never had to wait. 

There are other games at LuckyFish, but my experience is that roulette is my baby.

So if you enjoy a trip to the casino but don't want to throw your money to the mob, come play at LuckyFish. I haven't made a deposit yet and i have plenty of sat to throw around. All in fun.

Happy gaming!

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Hey, Microsoft! When did you move to Texas?

I don't know about you, but it annoys me that when Microsoft replaces a piece of software with a different piece of software, they make it BIGGER.

The two most recent examples I have are the snipping tool, and the switch from Skype to Teams.

That is each block minimized to their smallest window size. The New Snip & Sketch is twice as large. Then we look at Skype v. Teams.

that is the smallest the teams window will go. i don't know about skype, because it's no longer on my pc, but that skype window above is about right. pretty sure i can make it smaller. Anyway, there it is. almost twice as large. 

Hey, Microsoft. I love your stuff, but not everything has to be sized for a tablet.

Thanks,

Soulie

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