
Wisdom??
Brutally Honest: Wisdom from the House of Eratosthenes...
This is a site to save info that I want to savor and to just dink around with.
"[a]ny man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains." (Well, maybe 35; certainly 70.) So do the math and you'll guess my politics."( I am over 70!)
(Click on any picture to enlarge and make clearer, TRY THAT ON THE PICTURE OF THE BACK OF MY HEAD TO SEE MY TATTOO!)
Question: In the past you’ve mentioned that world oil reserves are overstated by as much as 300 billion barrels.
Sadad: It’s very important to adhere to proper reserve definitions when we’re talking about oil. Oil is money in the bank. If you are very loose in terms of how you define it, you can go off and make assumptions that are unsustainable. The current numbers published—I call them “declared reserves”—are something like 1,200 billion barrels. On top of that there are another 150 billion of extra-heavy crudes and 150 billion Canadian type of bitumens. So that would lead you to believe that we have roughly 1,500 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. In fact, those are hardly proven. There is a lot of speculation. If we go back to the SEC type of definitions, that number drops way back, maybe down to 900 billion. I think it’s important to be precise about the definitions if not the actual estimates, because that’s the only way we can decide how much can be delivered on a timely basis. So yes, I think I would say 900 billion proven, perhaps 1,200 billion probable and potential. But that’s about the limit.
Tycho Brahe isn't as famous as Galileo or Copernicus, but in some circles he's considered the father of modern astronomy. He spent much of his life compiling the world's first truly accurate and complete set of astronomical tables -- all before the invention of the telescope. Brahe's assistant, Johannes Kepler, later used the tables to deduce the laws of planetary motion. In 1628 Kepler published the Rudolphine Tables, a list of remarkably accurate logarithmic astronomical tables based on Brahe's observations and Kepler's subsequent analysis.
In 1566 Brahe lost most of his nose in a duel, and wore a metal replacement the rest of his life.


October 9, 2009
I want you to tell you something big, plain and straight. Salvation is not a reward for the righteous. It is a gift for the guilty.
Many come to church and perhaps say, “You know, I need to change my way of living. I am going to change my lifestyle. I want to be right with God.” And so they begin to reform themselves.
I‘ve often wondered what a church full of Pharisees would be like. Number One, they would be the most faithful attendees. Number Two, all of them would tithe. Number Three, they would live outwardly clean, pure, moral lives. Number Four, they would be very busy doing church work. Sounds like a good church, doesn’t it?
Oh, did I forget to mention Number Five? They would all be going to hell. Why? Because they are ignorant of God’s righteous. They attempt to establish their own righteousness and have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
The worst form of badness is human goodness when human goodness becomes a substitute for the new birth.
A bear walks into a bar in Billings , Montana and sits down. He bangs on the bar with his paw and demands a beer.
The bartender approaches and says, ‘We don’t serve beer to bears in bars in Billings ‘
The bear, becoming angry, demands again that he be served a beer.
The bartender tells him again, more forcefully, ‘We don’t serve beer to belligerent bears in bars in Billings ..’
The bear, very angry now, says, ‘If you don’t serve me a beer, I’m going to eat that lady sitting at the end of the bar.’
The bartender says, ‘Sorry, we don’t serve beer to belligerent, bully bears in bars in Billings ‘
The bear goes to the end of the bar, and, as promised, eats the woman. He comes back to his seat and again demands a beer.
The bartender states, ‘Sorry, but we especially don’t serve beer to belligerent, bully bears in bars in Billings who are on drugs.’
The bear looks at him quizzically and says, ‘I’m not on drugs.’
(You’re gonna love me for this…)
The bartender says, “You are now. That was a barbitchyouate”
Bob Dylan nee Zimmerman :)
Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.
He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly.
To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one's command.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He's the neighborhood bully.
What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin', they say.
He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He's the neighborhood bully.
What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.
"An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself... A murderer is less to fear." --Marcus Tullius Cicero
Yeah, THAT Joe Wilson, the one who called Obama a liar. Even the republican “leadership” was shocked.
Kind of speaks volumes about republican “leaders”.
What about “decorum”? Who was talking about decorum a few years back when the story about the kiting of checks from the congressional post office? Or when Barney Frank’s weiner du jour was running a gay prostitution ring out of their joint (heh) apartment? Or when the besainted Teddy Kennedy and Chris Dodd made the waitress sandwich? To ascribe ANY amount of “decorum” to congress is akin to gift-wrapping a bag of dogshit.
Our Imperial Congress, both sides, regularly meets and acts like they’re playing games. They have quaint little rules and traditions that they wrap themselves in to differentiate themselves from us hoi polloi. And at the end of the day, they go away, having put forth changes that affect MY daily life.
By Victor Davis Hanson
September 19, 2009
Q: On four different trades over the last month, I was in ahead of the crowd and in great position, only to lose confidence, get out at a loss, and then watch the things go up. I am scared now to trade and I need to take steps to boost my confidence. Will you consider this and make suggestions? Thank you so much.
A: You need to first take a detailed look at your stop loss strategy. When I hear these things, typically (but not always) it is because stops are set to tight and/or you’re trading extremely volatile positions. I would take the last 50 trades you made and were stopped out at loss in order to determine whether the stop strategy you are using (like one based on average true range) was effective. In addition, if you’re not using a consistent stop strategy in this regard (i.e. you are getting stopping out when you “feel like it or when it “looks good”) you need to start incorporating one right now. Being consistent here is important and will help improve your consistency overall.
As for your level of confidence, remember there’s no room for perfection in trading. Mistakes will be made and you will get stopped and chopped on good positions routinely if you’re doing a good job of managing your risk. After evaluating your stop loss strategy, I’d also look closely into how you position size and whether you are using any “scale-in” techniques. Both are integral parts of the process here.
Finally, the best way to restore confidence is moving onto the next trade once you taken time to fully analyze what has happened with your stop outs and you have established confidence in the exit strategy you use even with the whipsaws that are likely to continue to occur. If your methods are sound, four bad trades shouldn’t rattle your confidence unless they’re the only four trades you’ve made and the exit strategy is faulty by design.
That just barely scratches the surface. In addition to Std. Oil of NJ (=ESSO, =Exxon), you had:
Std. Oil of NY (=SOCONY, +Vacuum = SOCONY Vacuum, =SOCONY Mobil, =Mobil)
Std Oil of Ohio (=SOHIO, merged with BP)
Std Oil of Indiana (=AMOCO, merged with BP)
Std Oil of Calif. (=SoCal, =Chevron)
Atlatic (+ Richfield = Atlantic Richfield, =ARCO)
Continental Oil Co (=CONOCO)
Ohio Oil Co (=Marathon)
South Penn Oil Co (=Pennzoil)
This is by no means a complete list, there were many other smaller units that were eventually absorbed by larger companies, mostly one of the above. For a more complete list, see The Wikipedia article.
Do you know what quiet time is? It is fellowship with a holy God. The reason that some people do not have a quiet time is that they feel uncomfortable. They don’t want to look God in the face because there is unconfessed, unrepented sin in their life.
What did Adam do after he sinned and God came walking in the Garden? Adam fled. Before that, Adam had quiet time alone with God, didn’t he? They conversed, they communed. It was paradise. But when Adam sinned, he did not want to look God in the face.
When Moses went into God’s presence, God said, “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.” God cannot be in the presence of sin because He is holy.
If you find a reluctancy to go into the presence of God, there may be unconfessed, unrepented sin in your life. Part of your quiet time is to get your heart clean and pure. Each of us needs to take ourselves by the nap of our necks and confess and repent before we come into God’s holy presence to fellowship. Psalm 66 verse 18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
The biggest problem we face today is the abject apathy of people that don't even know they are "We the People" -- Ted Nugent
I heard this statement today in an interview Glenn Beck and even though the Nuge said it as a throw away line in the course of conversation, I believe that it truly encapsulates what is wrong with our country today.
Our Forefathers founded this nation on a truly revolutionary idea; that the PEOPLE were to be the power in charge of our society. That idea has served us in good stead for over two hundred years, but things seem to be falling apart in the last twenty years or so, and Mr. Nugents statement explains it all.
A country founded on the idea that power flows from the governed to the governors can only succeed and flourish if the PEOPLE remain engaged and actively participate in that governance.
Somewhere down the line "We the People" seem to have been infected with the intellectually lazy idea that we can "let the government take of of it" and still remain a free society.
That attitude inevitably leads to tyranny, and at this juncture we have progressed at least (a) quarter half of the way to that foul state.
It is somewhat discouraging to realize that someone who describes himself as "just a guitar player" is one of the most astute voices for freedom in evidence today.
This country needs to awaken from its state of somnambulism , and SOON, or we will wake up in the near future to find we have put ourselves in the bonds of servitude to the State just because we were too damned lazy to do the work and maintain the vigilism necessary to maintain our individual freedom.
Break One:
Dish Network
Verizon Wireless
V-8 vegetable drink
Remax Realtors
One-Touch Ultra blood sugar tester
Vonage phone service
Aspercreme pain-relief lotion
Gold Bond foot cream
Break Two:
ChooseChase.com credit cards
Procedetv.com hair-growing method
Sharper Image Ionic Breeze air purifier
Break Three:
Oscar Mayer bologna (with the song!)
TIAA-CREF retirement planning
Infiniti-M class car
Break Four:
Verizon Wireless
Olay Definity (yes, I spelled it correctly) face cream
Subaru cars
Rozeram prescription sleep aid
V-8 vegetable drink
One-a-Day Women vitamins
Break Five:
Capitol One credit card
Genworth Financial
Mitsubishi Eclipse car
Priceline.com travel service
Cletis Clyde, here. Y'all knows me as a redneck and a hillbilly. People sometimes look down at us thinking us to be indignorant. Tarnation! They think we don't know much of nuffin'! Well, I might have to take my clod hoppers off to count all the kinfolk I got what ain't got past the seventh grade, but I sure enuff know all they is to knows about fancy medicine words.
Benign..........................What you be after you be eight.
Bacteria........................Back door to cafeteria.
Barium.........................What doctors do when patients die.
Cesarean Section..........A neighborhood in Rome.
Catscan........................Searching for Kitty.
Cauterize......................Made eye contact with her.
Colic............................A sheep dog.
Coma...........................A punctuation mark.
D&C............................Where Washington is.
Dilate...........................To live long.
Enema..........................Not a friend.
Fester...........................Quicker than someone else.
Fibula...........................A small lie.
G.I.Series....................World Series of military baseball.
Hangnail......................What you hang your coat on.
Impotent......................Distinguished, well known.
Labor Pain...................Getting hurt at work.
Medical Staff................A Doctor's cane.
Morbid........................A higher offer than I bid.
Nitrates.......................Cheaper than day rates.
Node...........................I knew it.
Outpatient...................A person who has fainted.
Pap Smear...................A fatherhood test.
Pelvis...........................Second cousin to Elvis.
Post Operative.............A letter carrier.
Recovery Room...........Place to do upholstery.
Rectum.......................Damn near killed him.
Secretion.....................Hiding something
Seizure........................Roman emperor.
Tablet.........................A small table.
Terminal Illness...........Getting sick at the airport.
Tumor..........................More than one.
Urine..........................Opposite of mine.
Varicose......................Near by/close by