My Car, My Castle?

I suppose back in the good old days, if I could buy a Model T, I could drive it.

Then the liberties began to be chipped away.

  • Licenses — We must have them in order to legally drive a motor vehicle.
  • Registration — Our motor vehicles must be registered with (and license plated by) the state.
  • Speed Limits — Do bicyclists and joggers have speed limits?
  • Fueling Up — In Oregon we’re not free to pump gasoline into our own vehicles.
  • Insurance — first, optional; then, liability mandatory.
  • Seat Belts — first, optional use; then, mandatory use
  • DEQ Tests — first, in metro areas; then, further and further out into the country
  • Fueling up II — As of July 1, topping off you fuel tank is illegal as well.
  • Cellphone Use — after the first of next year, I won’t be able to drive and talk on a hand-held device in Oregon. (That’s already the case in Washington and elsewhere.) I guess that will make it easier to shave, hold a cup of coffee, and drive.

I could give more examples, but I’ll ask some questions instead:

  1. When will we have to start wearing helmets?
  2. When will our passengers have to be quiet?
  3. When will single-person (ie, driver-only) vehicles be mandated?
  4. When will we not be allowed to listen to radios and other acoustic devices?

Oh well. I could just go back to walking.

I’ll just have to be careful to stay in my lane while crossing the street. 😯

Children and Parents

Here are three statements by John Coblentz:

In the confused values and hectic schedule of this day,
children need relationship with their parents more than ever.

The fundamental law of relationships:
We need to spend enjoyable time together.

We cannot build relationship with our children
without spending time with them.

Source: May/June 2009 Deeper Life Ministries Newsletter (reprinted from June 1999 Newsletter)

Pope: “Charity in Truth”

So he released his latest encyclical:

Pope Benedict on Tuesday called for a “world political authority” to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat.

The pope’s call for a re-think of the way the world economy is run came in new encyclical which touched on a number of social issues but whose main connecting thread was how the current crisis has affected both rich and poor nations.

[…]

The pope said every economic decision has a moral consequence and called for “forms of redistribution” of wealth overseen by governments to help those most affected by crises.

Benedict said “there is an urgent need of a true world political authority” whose task would be “to manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result.”

Such an authority would have to be “regulated by law” and “would need to be universally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice, and respect for rights.”

Global economic political authority? No, thanks!

But it’s coming anyway.

The Bible tells me so (as I recall).

What’s So Great About Cherries?

Well, they look pretty on our trees:

Branches in one of our cherry trees

More cherries in one of our trees

And they taste really good in our mouths. (I ate fresh home-grown ones with my coffee and tea this morning.)

But nutritionally and health-wise, what’s so great about them?

Here are three articles I found on the subject:

We had a good cherry crop. I’m thankful.

Oh, and what’s so great about cherries? Well, they “contain significant amounts of melatonin” and they have a “good combination of antioxidants.” Click the links above for the details.

(I wonder if Michael Jackson ate them at all. I imagine they could have done wonders for his mental and physical health issues. Maybe he had an orchard of them at Neverland, eh?)

Boggle 3

It’s time for the next game!

First, though, a reminder of how we play the game here at Ain’t Complicated:

  1. Minimum word length: five letters
  2. No plurals created by adding s
  3. Maximum words per player per day: five
  4. No time limit
  5. Only what you can see

Item 5 means do not use online sources to generate words. This rule applies only for the first two days of the game.

Our third game of Boggle

Remember, please: Five words per player per day.

Thanks!

Oh, this is one of the “rolls of the dice” Ruby and Andrew and I ended up playing last night played a few weeks ago.

Above all, love God!

since November 9, 2005