Starbucks Coffee Deception

Ever since the late 1990's, I have been drinking Vanilla Cappuccino from Starbucks since my brother purchased a cup for me at the hospital in Norfolk, VA when my father was hospitalized there for a few days.  I cannot remember what size it was, but since that experience I always get VENTI or large when I am ordering.

I don't purchase Starbucks Coffee very often because it cost more money than I would like to pay for a cup of coffee, especially when I can purchased an equally delicious cup of coffee at Panera Bread for less than half of what I pay Starbucks.

Recently for my Christmas and Birthday Presents, I have been receiving Starbucks Gift Cards so I have been purchasing more VENTI Vanilla Cappuccinos from Starbucks than normal...  and today, my wife went to the Mall in Knoxville to look around and to get out of the house a little, so I asked her that if she passed a Starbucks to get me a cup...   which she did.

The coffee was cold by the time she returned so I had to heat it up a little in the microwave after which I removed the top...   AND, not only did I notice that the foamed milk they put on top had liquified, I also noticed that my cup was only HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY depending upon your perspective.

HALF...  FRIGGIN...  FULL is a disgrace...  and deceptive to say the least when ordering a VENTI cup of coffee...

In reality, I got a small cup of coffee in a large cup...

Once my gift cards are empty...  NO MORE STARBUCKS FOR ME...

A Reason to Invest

from www.investopedia.com

What Is the Rule of 72? 

The Rule of 72 is a simple way to determine how long an investment will take to double given a fixed annual rate of interest. By dividing 72 by the annual rate of return, investors obtain a rough estimate of how many years it will take for the initial investment to duplicate itself.           Jun 20, 2019

from www.thebalance.com

If you're looking into investing in mutual funds, you'll want a sense of the average return before making any moves. In 2019, mutual funds in seven broad categories have averaged a return of roughly 13%, more than double the average annual return over the past 15 years.        Oct 21, 2019

SO WHAT DOES THE ABOVE INFOMATION TELL YOU?

Well...

the first thing we must do is divide 13 into 72.

the answer is 5.5 

In other words,

whatever money you have in a MUTUAL FUND will double in value every 51/2 years...

 

Is this important information to have access to?

Well...

let's run the numbers

Year 0               $5,000

Year 51/2          $10,000

Year 11             $20,000

Year 161/2       $40,000

Year 22            $80,000

Year 271/2       $160,000

Year 33            $320,000

Year 381/2       $640,000

Year 44            $1,280,000

So, if you put $5,000 into a Mutual Fund at the age of 25 and kept it in that Mutual Fund with no withdrawals for 44 years or age 69...  you will have over ONE MILLION DOLLARS...  This age is only 2 years over the government required FULL RETIREMENT AGE...

A General Rule of Thumb is that you will receive $400/month for every $100,000 invested...  so, you would have 12 - $100,000 invested or you would be receiving $4,800 each month and you would never be drawing down on the over ONE MILLION DOLLARS...

PRETTY COOL SHIT RIGHT?

Life Eternal

 If religious people believe in eternal life, then what is the real purpose of life here on earth from some 80-90 years?

The average life expectancy in the US is 78.87 years...  (2019 data)  However, on average people live longer in the UK 81.16 years.

So, if you are a religious person, then you can spend (ON AVERAGE) more time here on earth if you live in the UK than if you live in the US.

That should please religious people...  RIGHT?

If one had to ability to read every single book that was ever written and/or published regardless of language, then one would be able to easily surmise that the purpose of life here on earth is 

SURVIVAL,

and, if this is the case, then religious beliefs are only good for life eternal...

Life eternal makes more sense anyway after the concept of survival is fulfilled because it seems completely ILLOGICAL for mankind to live 80-100 years IF all that happens to them after they die is that they are simply put into the ground or cremated.

It is also highly unlikely that mankind is the only living race of people in our ENTIRE UNIVERSE...  especially since there are over billions of billions of solar systems in our UNIVERSE.  Unless I am mistaken, that's PRETTY DAMN LARGE.

And...  if you are a religious person then you will use your basic instinct of SURVIVAL to live as long as you can on earth so that you can DIE and live for all eternity in a location called HEAVEN...  As illogical as this sounds, it makes better sense than just dying.

FURTHER, in every single Global religion there is a GOD or some form of superior being around which their religion revolves...  this cannot be MERE COINCIDENCE...  the question is whether or not this is God or some form of ANCIENT ALIEN...

Defund The Police

One of the major reasons why I like driving in the State of TN is because there are LESS HIGHWAY PATROLMEN in TN than there are in the States of:  NC, VA, and MD in which I have driven and been awarded SPEEDING TICKETS being an out-of-state driver...

REASON:  MORE COPS IN THOSE STATES THEREFORE ODDS INCREASE...

And, while Highway Patrolmen are not City/County Police, they are still part of law enforcement and the more COPS you have, the LESS CRIME IS COMMMITTED...  it's just logical.

Defunding the police movements are currently underway in several cities in this country and if those police department are in fact defunded, then crime will increase...

WHY DO I SAY THIS?

Common sense is the answer...

Americans CANNOT REGULATE THEMSELVES to follow the LAW.

We can easily see this when it comes to voluntarily wearing face masks in public during the COVID-19 Pandemic...

Once local authorities made it mandatory, people when being observed followed the mandate but if there were no monitors around, their masks were removed...

Americans buy more illegal drugs than any other country in the world.  It is a FACT that people under the influence of drugs commit more crimes.

You are being silly and foolish if you cannot see this...

Americans need law enforcement otherwise they will not obey the laws...

Nasty Weather

I knew there was a reason why I HATE/DETEST winter and that is the COLD WEATHER returns...  and, while it may have only dropped 20 degrees, it is still friggin' cold to me.  This type of cold does not hit our part of the country until November and/December and typically it arrives after a gradual cool down of several weeks...  not over night as it has done today...

It is not my older body that dislikes the cold because I have not like the cold ever since I spent my high school years in Cairo, Egypt where the coldest temperatures are usually 10 degrees above what the temps are here today.  Ten degrees may not seem like much but it can easily be felt by me...  and, it reminds me of a scenario I used  when teaching variation associated with Statistical Process Control that went something like this...

When looking at and explaining variation it may not be easy to grasp without using some sort of visual model and in this case, I will be using temperature.  Now, let's suppose that the ideal temperature in a classroom according to the experts is 68 degrees.  If that temperature went up to 69 degrees or down to 67 degrees, it is doubtful that any of you would notice a 1 degree change in temperature...  but, if that temperature increased to 78 degrees or decreased to 58 degrees, I am confident that each and every one of you would not only notice but feel that drastic temperature change at some point-in-time if not immediately.

And just like the change in FONT SIZE, when using visuals it is easy to notice and/or detect VARIATION.

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. It has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity. His best known works include "Die Verwandlung" ("The Metamorphosis"), Der Process (The Trial), and Das Schloss (The Castle). The term Kafkaesque has entered the English language to describe situations like those found in his writing.

Kafka was born into a middle-class German-Jewish family in Prague, the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, today the capital of the Czech Republic. He trained as a lawyer and after completing his legal education was employed full-time by an insurance company, forcing him to relegate writing to his spare time. Over the course of his life, Kafka wrote hundreds of letters to family and close friends, including his father, with whom he had a strained and formal relationship. He became engaged to several women but never married. He died in 1924 at the age of 40 from tuberculosis.

The Metamorphosis which was first published in 1915. is one of Kafka's best-known works, The Metamorphosis tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa who wakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed into a huge insect and his subsequently struggling to adjust to this new condition. The novella has been widely discussed among literary critics, with differing interpretations being offered.

Not truly knowing what Kafka was trying to get across has bothered his critics for decades from thinking Kafka had a father complex, to thinking he was referring to the plight of the Jews, to being seen as an Existentialist and not just the absurdity of life but its pre-determined nature.

After Dark

It is 9:20 pm on the lower right hand corner of my YOGA Lenovo...  and, I am sitting outside in my screened-in back porch listening to the rain, sitting on a cushioned chair that we brought in from the outside deck when we purchased new deck furniture last year.  The rain has been consistently pouring down mildly forceful for the last twenty minutes when I first came out here to write a little before going to bed since I love listening to the rain...  therapeutic and relaxing as it rams itself into the ground or whatever objects with which it comes into contact.

Across the way (directly in front of me)  I see only darkness and six lights, three of which are street lamps and three of which are lights attached to a house.  I can tell this because of their brightness and proximity to the ground as I have perceived it to be in my mind.  The brighter lights have three to four rings around them and banners of faint light shoots out from both sides, top and bottom, giving me the impression of a cross.  And while the less bright lights have this same light configuration, it is not as bold.

Together, all six lights look like some kind of star constellation if they were only much higher in the the perceived sky... and all around everywhere else except inside my screened-in porch, there is complete and eerie darkness as the rain continues to fall and hit objects.  The temperature on the clock like thermometer reads just shy of eighty degrees but that must account for being somewhat inside and protected because I can feel the chilly air move through the screen like plant osmosis.

It is now 9:37 and I have had enough of my writing for this day...

What Does It Matter Anymore?

I gave my opinion to management and was fired for taking that kind of initiative

I divorced my first wife because the love was gone and my college age daughter never forgave me

I quit smoking, exercised, and ate health and with no key factors still had a serious heart attack

I am the only sibling in my family to be diagnosed with cancer

I am the only conservative liberal in my family

I am the only sibling to be unsuccessful

I am retired with no interests

Without my the TRUST FUND left to my sister and I, my retirement would not be spent on the back porch writing words that few will ever read, but I would be up and about working for someone because Social Security is not enough to pay the bills and I have very little savings.

With the TRUST FUND, I am able to pay all my expenses and save the rest to use in about 5 years when the TRUST FUND is financially depleted.

To make a long story short, I am a simple man of simple means who is living a reasonable life with his wife during our retirement.

I am bothered by the LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC party and I really should not be because at my age it really does not matter because:

• I don't need to work
• My health is covered by Medicare
• I have saved enough money to live to 95
• My taxes are relatively low
• My expenses are minimal
• My needs are few
• My remaining life is short

As I look at my life and review what I have done, what I have not done, and what I want/need/desire to do, there is no list at all for the latter two points as I have done everything that I want to do...  other than live a better life WHICH IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN...  and, if it did, what the hell can one enjoy at 73 years of age?

• SEX
• EATING at expensive restaurants
• SLEEPING in expensive hotel rooms
• FLYING first class
• CRUISING in luxury
• WEARING expensive clothes
• DRIVING expensive cars
• DRINKING expensive wines
• TRAVELING

YOU on the other hand, do have something to gain/lose depending upon which POLITICAL PARTY gain control of the Presidency and/or the Congress, but not the SUPREME COURT because it is set for 2-3 decades in the future.

Endgame of Silencing Conservatives

The government of the United States of America hangs in the balance of the fight between conservatives and liberals.

And, it is the government that regulates taxes, provides services to the people, and decides how the country will interpret the actions of foreign countries.

It DOES NOT REGULATE BUSINESS in that:

• the government cannot tell the business who to hire or fire
• the government cannot tell the business where its corporate office should be
• the government cannot tell the business how much of a dividend it can pay
• the government cannot tell the business what products it will sell or invent
• the government cannot tell business how much profit it can make

Only a few LIBERALS manage businesses like:

• Amazon
• Microsoft
• Apple
• Dell
• Twitter
• Oracle
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

The government does not control RELIGION or RELIGIOUS GROUPS

The government does not control the sell of illegal drugs in America

The government does not control Americans buying and using illegal drugs

The government does not control Hollywood or Las Vegas or Native American Casinos

The government cannot prevent someone from becoming a MILLIONAIRE/BILLIONAIRE

The government does not control the MUSIC INDUSTRY

The government cannot PREVENT Americans from smoking or drinking alcohol

The government cannot STOP the spread of Cancer and its related diseases

The government cannot continue to take money away from the wealthy

ALL BUSINESSES MUST BE OPERATED USING CONSERVATIVE BUSINESS PRACTICES EVEN IF THOSE OWNERS ARE LIBERAL IN THEIR BELIEFS...

The endgame of silencing conservatives is to become a socialistic state where the government owns everything, not just the schools, the military, law enforcement, public transportation, hospitals, but EVERYTHING...

AND, the government decides what you will get and what you will not get...

AND, any comments made AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT will be dealt with by sending the person to prison so that they can reflect on their negative behavior.

LIBERALS will gradually take away your freedoms and give them to the government to exercise on your behalf...

NO ONE WILL SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT...

MC Escher

Maurits Cornelis Escher (Photo right) 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972 was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for long somewhat neglected in the art world, even in his native Netherlands. He was 70 before a retrospective exhibition was held. In the twenty-first century, he became more widely appreciated, with exhibitions across the world.

His work features mathematical objects and operations including impossible objects, explorations of infinity, reflection, symmetry, perspective, truncated and stellated polyhedra, hyperbolic geometry, and tessellations. Although Escher believed he had no mathematical ability, he interacted with the mathematicians George Pólya, Roger Penrose, Harold Coxeter and crystallographer Friedrich Haag, and conducted his own research into tessellation.

Early in his career, he drew inspiration from nature, making studies of insects, landscapes, and plants such as lichens, all of which he used as details in his artworks. He traveled in Italy and Spain, sketching buildings, townscapes, architecture and the tilings of the Alhambra and the Mezquita of Cordoba, and became steadily more interested in their mathematical structure.

Escher's art became well known among scientists and mathematicians, and in popular culture, especially after it was featured by Martin Gardner in his April 1966 Mathematical Games column in Scientific American. Apart from being used in a variety of technical papers, his work has appeared on the covers of many books and albums. He was one of the major inspirations of Douglas Hofstadter's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1979 book Gödel, Escher, Bach.  SOURCE:  Wikipedia

Some of his illustrations below:

DEMOCRATS AND CHRISTIANITY

ACCORDING TO THE PEW RESEARCH CENTER...

Religious beliefs among Democrats:

• 69%        Buddhist
• 44%        Catholic
• 28%        Evangelical
• 61%        Hindu
• 80%        Black Protestants
• 18%        Jehovah's Witness
• 64%        Jewish
• 40%        Mainline Protestant
• 19%        Mormon
• 62%        Muslim
• 44%        Orthodox Christian
• 54%        Unaffiliated

TO REVIEW CHART FOR YOUSELF, CLICK HERE...

Why am I posting this data?

Because,

our new Supreme Court Justice Nominee, Amy Barrett, is a CATHOLIC with 7 children, 2 of which are adopted, 1 has Down Syndrome...

AND,

I am worried that our DEMOCRATIC SENATORS will treat her worse than they treated Bret Kavanaugh, if that is even possible...

YOU DECIDE FOR YOURSELF...  SEE BELOW...

Alex Seitz-Wald (NBC) on September 26, 2020 wrote:
WASHINGTON — Democrats quickly coalesced around opposition to President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Saturday, painting the nominee as a threat to policies that Democrats favor.

One Democratic senator — Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee — said he would not meet with Barrett, as is customary for members of the committee, in protest of Trump’s decision to rush ahead with the nomination so close to an election.

“I refuse to treat this process as legitimate and will not meet with Judge Barrett,” Blumenthal said in a statement.

Recent Supreme Court nominations have become increasingly partisan, and the decision by Republican leaders to press ahead with replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg only weeks before a presidential election is likely to make the process more contentious.


Meredith Deliso (ABC) on September 26, 2020 wrote:
Republican and Democratic leaders reacted largely along party lines to President Donald Trump's nomination on Saturday of a conservative federal judge to fill the seat left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Overwhelmingly, Republicans called Amy Coney Barrett a well-qualified candidate and pushed for a confirmation in the upcoming weeks. Democrats continued to criticize the timing, with some outright saying they wouldn't meet with the nominee...

Former Vice President Joe Biden, however, criticized Trump for moving ahead with the nomination so close to Election Day.

"The Senate should not act on this vacancy until after the American people select their next president and the next Congress," he said in a statement.

His running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said that the next president must select the next justice.

"With the next Supreme Court Justice set to determine the fate of protections for those with preexisting health conditions, and reproductive health options, I will continue to fight on behalf of the people and strongly oppose the president's nomination," Harris said in a statement.

Gregory Krieg (CNN) on September 26, 2020 wrote:
(CNN)Democrats on Saturday night launched their case against federal Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, saying support for her confirmation was equivalent to a vote to end the Affordable Care Act.

In a rush of statements following Barrett's Rose Garden introduction, top Democrats put the fate of the law -- and its popular protections for patients with pre-existing conditions -- front and center. They also made frequent reference to the coronavirus pandemic, and the chaos that could arise from stripping health insurance options from millions of Americans in its midst.

From the Democratic presidential ticket on down, criticism of Barrett repeatedly circled back to what has been a political winner for the party: health care -- and the backlash to Republican efforts to dismantle the ACA, former President Barack Obama's signature policy achievement.

"President Trump has been trying to throw out the Affordable Care Act for four years. Republicans have been trying to end it for a decade. Twice, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law as constitutional," Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Obama's vice president, said in a statement. "But even now, in the midst of a global health pandemic, the Trump Administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the entire law, including its protections for people with pre-existing conditions."

1960 Was The Year

John F. Kennedy defeated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon in 1960 to become the 35th President of the United States of America (1961-1963), the youngest man ever elected to the Presidency who was also a Catholic.  

In 1960, I was 13 years old and my staunch Democratic Parents demanded that my sister, brother, and I be present at dinner unless my father was away on a business trip.  The Kennedy win was a topic of conversation at dinner since my parents viewed him contemptuously and stated often that our President was going to be controlled by the Catholic Church which they also found distasteful but I never knew why or I cannot remember why they felt this way if they had, in fact, said something...  but, as far as Kennedy was concerned, I do remember because my mother forced me to read PROFILES IN COURAGE...  which was interesting because while she wanted me to know about courageous people she DID NOT WANT me to be courageous myself...  because of all the negative attention that would be directed towards her...  at least, that is what I believed.

At 72 years of age, I look back at 1960 and wonder why my DEMOCRATIC PARENTS who were very religious themselves did not support the Catholic Church, especially when the Catholic Church is referenced in the APOSTLES CREED which is the cornerstone of the United Methodist Church's beliefs and is chanted every Sunday in Church.

My parents raised all their children in the United Methodist Church.

Both my parents are dead now and I am somewhat of a composite of both their teachings and influences but I do not share their contempt for the Catholic Church, nor do I support the Democratic Party which has shifted too far to the left for me.  In fact, I don't believe that I ever really supported the Democratic Party since Kennedy's assassination.  Except for Jimmy Carter, I have never really been able to TRUST any of them, especially since they do not practice what they preached.

This is What Catholics Believe...

The chief teachings of the Catholic church are: 

1. God's objective existence
2. God's interest in individual human beings, who can enter into relations with God (through prayer)
3. the Trinity
4. the divinity of Jesus
5. the immortality of the soul of each human being, each one being accountable at death for his or her actions in life, with the award of heaven or hell 
6. the resurrection of the dead; the historicity of the Gospels;
7. the divine commission of the church
8. the Roman Catholic Church stresses that since the members, living and dead, share in each other's merits, the Virgin Mary and other saints and the dead in purgatory are never forgotten

To belong to the church one must accept as factually true the gospel of Jesus as handed down in tradition and as interpreted by the bishops in union with the pope. Fundamental in this divine tradition is the Bible , its text determined and disseminated by the church. Adherents must also accept the church as possessing the fullness of revelation, and the church, according to the Roman Catholic catechism, is the only Christian body that is one, holy, catholic [universal], and apostolic.

The doctrine of apostolic succession is one of the keystones of the Catholic faith; it holds that the pope (the vicar of Christ) and the bishops have in varying degrees the spiritual authority Jesus assigned to his apostles. The voice of the pope, either alone or in conjunction with his bishops in council, is regarded as infallible when speaking on matters of faith and morals taught in common with the bishops (see infallibility ). Many features of the traditional teaching (dogma) have been analyzed and restated, by the councils and by great theologians (see council, ecumenical ; creed ; Thomas Aquinas, Saint ; Trent, Council of ; Vatican Council, First ; Vatican Council, Second ).   SOURCE:  The Roman Catholic Church

Consider this...

 HOW HAS BLACK LIVES MATTER MADE BLACK LIVES BETTER?

Please list all that apply:

1.  

2.

3.

4.

5.

Can't think of anything... except maybe,

Defunding the police and

Killing white cops...

No GAY Gene in Our DNA

The largest study to date on the genetic basis of sexuality has revealed five spots on the human genome that are linked to same-sex sexual behavior — but none of the markers are reliable enough to predict someone’s sexuality.

The findings, which are published on 29 August in Science and based on the genomes of nearly 500,000 people, shore up the results of earlier, smaller studies and confirm the suspicions of many scientists: while sexual preferences have a genetic component, no single gene has a large effect on sexual behaviors.

“There is no ‘gay gene’,” says lead study author Andrea Ganna, a geneticist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Ganna and his colleagues also used the analysis to estimate that up to 25% of sexual behavior can be explained by genetics, with the rest influenced by environmental and cultural factors — a figure similar to the findings of smaller studies.

“This is a solid study,” says Melinda Mills, a sociologist at the University of Oxford, UK, who studies the genetic basis of reproductive behaviors.

But she cautions that the results may not be representative of the overall population — a limitation that the study authors acknowledge. The lion’s share of the genomes comes from the UK Biobank research program and the consumer-genetics company 23andMe, based in Mountain View, California. The people who contribute their genetic and health information to those databases are predominantly of European ancestry and are on the older side. UK Biobank participants were between 40 and 70 years old when their data were collected, and the median age for people in 23andMe’s database is 51.

The study authors also point out that they followed convention for genetic analyses by dropping from their study people whose biological sex and self-identified gender did not match. As a result, the work doesn’t include sexual and gender minorities (the LGBTQ community) such as transgender people and intersex people.  TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE...

Our FAITH is CORRECT but WRONG: Trinity Part I of III

Let's start our PILGRIMAGE with our Universe.

Our Solar System is in the Milky Way Galaxy.  Our Solar System is, according to NASA:  In the furthest reaches of the Solar System is the Oort Cloud; a theorized cloud of icy objects that could orbit the Sun to a distance of 100,000 astronomical units, or 1.87 light-years.  

The Milky Way is about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 km (about 100,000 light years or about 30 kpc) across. The Sun does not lie near the center of our Galaxy.  According to most scientists, it would take us about 37,200 years to go one light-year.

That's 372 centuries...

How many galaxies in the known universe?

ABOUT 200 billion galaxies...

AND...

God created it all...

at least according to our FAITH, GOD created it all.

BUT...  what faith is that?

• Christianity
• Islam
• Buddhism
• Judaism

According to the World Wide Web, there are some 4,300 religions of the world. This is according to Adherents, an independent, non-religiously affiliated organization that monitors the number and size of the world's religions.

Did God allow all those religions to be created?

If Christians believe that God allowed mankind to create Christianity because of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, then why isn't it possible for God to have allowed other religions to be created because of something or other?

Logically, it is entirely possible... and, to argue otherwise is completely illogical and is following the same illogic when people believe that mankind is the only race of people in God's CREATED UNIVERSE...

Why would our GOD create a universe SO LARGE and then only create MANKIND to live in one solar system of one galaxy out of an estimated 200 billion galaxies?

Do you see the illogical nature of believing otherwise?

Out of those 4,300 religions in the world today, there are only 12 Major Religions.

These 12 Major religions are:

1. Christianity
2. Islam
3. Hinduism
4. Buddhism
5. Sikhism
6. Taoism
7. Judaism
8. Confucianism
9. Bahá'í
10. Shinto
11. Jainism
12. Zoroastrianism

Now that we have established that there are 12 Major Religions in the world today, we can continue with Part II next Sunday.

Komic Korner Kartoons

 

Saturdays are Peaceful

                                          

Even though I am retired and cannot really tell one day from the next day, SATURDAYS are still special in that they remain, at least for me, peaceful...  that is to say that Saturdays reflect the end of a week's worth of labor and one can relax and simply enjoy the SLOW-PACED unfolding day...  and, while Sundays are another day off...  they are different because the next day we return to work whereas with Saturdays we still have another day off...

SATURDAYS for me are days of reflection, pondering what I cannot understand or will ever know, sitting on the porch witnessing the activities of my community neighbors (which is nothing done outside) and watching the animals, especially the rabbits and birds that enjoy safety and security on my property.

Spring, Summer, and Fall SATURDAYS are spent on the back screened-in porch contemplating the benefits and frustrations of still being alive in today's AMERICA...  an AMERICA that is divided along several lines of political ideologies and philosophies which has little to do with LIFE's PURPOSE...  at least as I see it.

Life is about LIFE which is about living and living is about appreciate and gratitude and that revolves around one's being given life (birth) and whether we wanted life or not is meaningless and irrelevant since life is what we have.

In other words, I did not REQUEST that I be given life via birth from my mother and yet, life is nonetheless what I have received; consequently, I am grateful for that life and appreciative for what that life has allowed me to SEE...  EXPERIENCE...  and DOUBT...

• We have not been designed (???) to live a long time.
• We have not been designed to live without food or oxygen.
• We have not been designed to want the same things.
• We have not been designed to think the same way.
• We have not been designed to serve each other.
• We have been designed to procreate.

WHY?

It seems inconceivable and illogical that human beings simply EVOLVED into what we are today and it seems inconceivable and illogical that we should only live 8 decades +/- and then we simply die and

it seems inconceivable and illogical that we have been given free will and choice during our lives but had no free will or choice with our births and deaths outside of suicides...  and yet, this is exactly what has taken place with our lives and with our living of those lives.

BUT, regardless of these inconsistencies, most of us do not appear to be appreciate of our own lives or the lives of our friends and neighbors and potential enemies and those we do not yet know or will never know...  and yet, WE ALL HAVE BEEN GIVEN LIFE.

• manufacturing of HATE also evolve inside of us over the years?
• Did the inability to show appreciation or gratitude evolve inside of us over the years?
• Did the desire to acquire wealth, position, and power evolve inside of us over the years?

SATURDAYS for me are days of reflection and pondering...  and, in so doing I am filled with an inner peace inside even though there is turmoil all around me.

Herschel Walker accuses Democrats of denouncing violence 'yet you don't really mean it'

       

Democratic political leaders have given token statements denouncing violence and rioting in cities across America, but have failed to take meaningful action, former NFL running back Herschel Walker told "The Story" Friday night.

"It's not [a] peaceful [protest] when they say you have got to disperse," Walker told host Jon Scott in response to reports of a third night of unrest in Louisville following a grand jury decision in the Breonna Taylor case. "It means you have got to go home, [but] they didn't go home. They moved to another place."

Walker, who won the 1982 Heisman Trophy as a junior at the University of Georgia and who addressed the Republican National Convention last month, added that "every governor should be punished who is going to let people be injured because there is not a peaceful protest when you have police officers that were shot earlier.

"We need law and order right now in the United States of America.  Walker added that all Americans, regardless of race, want to live in a peaceful and orderly society, and even though he doesn't like to "call out" political parties, Democrats need to "start doing their job."

"They say you can denounce violence and the riots," he said. "You can denounce it, but yet you really don't mean it. If you really mean it, you have to tell the people this is unlawful.  TO READ FULL STORY, CLICK HERE...

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