The Freethinker

Freedom Of Inquiry

Just saw Ben Stein's new documentary/movie today, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed"... It's about the suppression of free speech in science. You should definitely see it!

Margaret Mary... Loving Memories

Margaret Mary Ostheimer LaMark

My maternal grandmother... 

December 20^th, 1921 – April 14^th, 2008 

Margaret Mary Ostheimer LaMark while peaceful in her home has gone to be with the Lord at 7:40 AM, Monday, April 14^th, 2008.  

Margaret was one of three daughters to Frank Xavier Ostheimer and Catheryn (Graber). She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 20^th, 1921. Her sisters Frances and Dorothy preceded her in death. 

Sears Roebuck Co. and Atlanta Southern Railroad employed her while she lived in Georgia during WW II, where she met her husband Charles Michael LaMark, while he was preparing for departure to the war in Europe. They were married September 29^th, 1943, at Ft. McPherson, GA, just before he left for Europe.  

She is survived by her children’s father, Charles Michael LaMark, her son Charles Joseph LaMark, her daughter Catherine Cecelia and her husband David Clair Nagle. Margaret has four grandchildren, Robert Francis LaMark, Dawn Renee Bettwy, Cassandra Cecelia Nagle and Annette Margaret Nagle; She also has four great grandchildren, Tristan, Nathan, Sierra and Mikayla. 

She was a member of Pleasant Valley Assembly of God. She was retired from the Altoona Hospital. 

She will be laid to rest at Prince of Peace Cemetery in Allport, near Barnesboro, PA.

In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice;

In the morning I will order my prayer to You

and eagerly watch.

Psalm 5:3

I'll Be Seeing You...

I'll be seeing you;
In all the old, familiar places;
That this heart of mine embraces;
All day through.

In that small cafe;
The park across the way;
The childrens carousel;
The chestnut tree;
The wishing well.

I'll be seeing you;
In every lovely, summers day;
And everything thats bright and gay;
I'll always think of you that way;
I'll find you in the morning sun;
And when the night is new;
I'll be looking at the moon;
But I'll be seeing you.

- - - - -

Dream A Little Dream of Me...

Stars shining bright above you;
Night breezes seem to whisper I love you
Birds singing in the sycamore tree.
Dream a little dream of me.

Say nighty-night and kiss me;
Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me.
While I'm alone, blue as can be,
Dream a little dream of me.

Stars fading but I linger on, dear---
Still craving your kiss.
I'm longing to linger till dawn, dear,
Just saying this...

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you---
Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you.
But in your dreams, whatever they be,
Dream a little dream of me.

Stars fading but I linger on, dear---
Still craving your kiss.
I'm longing to linger till dawn, dear,
Just saying this...

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you---
Sweet dreams that leave all worries far behind you.
But in your dreams, whatever they be,
Dream a little dream of me.

Beautiful Ohio

Lyrics by Ballard McDonald...

I sailed away;
Wandered afar;
Crossed the mighty restless sea;
Looked for where I ought to be.
Cities so grand, mountains above,
Led to this land I love.

Beautiful Ohio, where the golden grain
Dwarf the lovely flowers in the summer rain.
Cities rising high, silhouette the sky.
Freedom is supreme in this majestic land;
Mighty factories seem to hum in tune, so grand.
Beautiful Ohio, thy wonders are in view,
Land where my dreams all come true!

A Real Freethinker

In honor of the late Charlton Heston, I've decided to repost something he said in a speech, which I identified with, and I think it fit my blog pretty well.

"Don't let America's universities continue to serve as incubators for this rampant epidemic of new McCarthyism. That's what it is: New McCarthyism. But, what can you do? How can anyone prevail against such pervasive social subjugation?

Well, the answer's been here all along. I learned it 36 years ago, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., standing with Dr. Martin Luther King and two hundred thousand people.

You simply disobey. Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely. But when told how to think or what to say or how to behave, we don't. We disobey the social protocol that stifles and stigmatizes personal freedom." - Charlton Heston, 1999

In memory of Charlton Heston... 1923-2008.

And special thanks to mom for directing me to the full speech where I found this... :)

Don't come near me.

Photo for the 5th

I'm not sure what to say at the moment... But I felt like posting something, I just don't know what. I don't really have anything to say.

To be honest, I do have something on my mind, actually, but I want to find a scripture to back it up before I post whats on my mind right now. Art usually speaks more than a multitude of words, so I will just post a photo since I'm generally absent minded this evening.

"You're wasting electricity... But it's okay tonight!!"

Anyone else annoyed by "EARTH HOUR", which is taking place tonight?

You know what, if I were planning on staying home tonight, I would turn on every light in my HOUSE just to show that I don't support the politically motivated lie of global warming. But, sadly, I have a life that will be using energy this evening (Oh my gosh, that means I exist), and I'm not thinking about making the world a better place for the dirt, plants and the animals thrive, supposedly, while asthma sufferers suffocate because of 'eco-friendly inhalers'. (Great humanitarian stuff right there.)

Global warming is politically and economically motivated... Someone has money to make, someone has an ideology to push on the people. But guess what, we're not going to get any electric cars any time soon, my friends... Not until the oil industry converts to the religion of electric, and soon they'll be gouging us for our money there. Be honest with yourself, the oil companies do not care about global warming, or climate change.

Instead of picking on the millions of people who want to succeed and have a life and be as successful as the celebrities on TV that have always been pushed on us for decades (And even people who want to simply breath, ahem, like asthma sufferers), why don't the alarmists pick on the greedy oil companies who have pushed all the CO2 you could ever imagine, and have made billions of dollars off of 'contributing to global warming'? I'm surprised the activists haven't tried the oil companies for crimes against humanity! Ah well...

1Timothy 6:10  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

I know, I have to put in a little disclaimer... For some reason, people think if you don't support global warming, you don't support recycling and everything good of that nature. Don't pull a strawman! That is simply ignorant. Go check my Flickr, I am always taking photos of nature. Do you think I want those beautiful paintings arranged by God to fade? No. I want it to be preserved. But do I want people to preserve nature from the urging of a phony doomsday theory? No.

If celebrities weren't supporting this climate change garbage, you wouldn't be supporting it either, would you? If a celebrity jumped up on the podium and said, "I have asthma, they're taking away my inhaler because they think global warming is true, you need to help me!", you'd be jumping up and down saying it's not true, wouldn't you? But I will most likely bet you're smarter than that and know how to think for yourself, and will not give credibility to global warming just because of celebrities, right?

Do you want to know something else that deeply disturbs me? When people bring up, "You're right, it's not CO2, it's overpopulation!"

Well number one, if you're worried about overpopulation, China is way ahead of you, people. Thanks to communist rule, chinese couples are only allowed to have one child, and it's usually the male that is kept, and baby girls are actually aborted often. So first off, theres a huge male/female population deficit, and the population of China won't be rising at this rate, I can guarantee you that.

And how do you suggest we fix overpopulation if thats not enough for you? There's sterilization and birth control.

And when that's not enough, there's only one inevitable option left.

Genocide.

Gotta love the Green movement.

Well, sorry for the rant... It happens sometimes when you're Italian. Check out this video though, it's very informative. If you don't believe it, you'll at least know another side to the story. 

So, if you're going to be at home tonight and can afford to turn all your lights on for an hour at 8 PM (Without murdering your circuit breaker), try it, and if the neighbors ask what your problem is, tell them you don't believe in the propaganda of global warming. :D

I'm done now... And a stupid question. Can you really waste electricity? (All the dads say yes! Haha.)

So, whatever, draw your own conclusions about global warming. Those are simply mine. And always remember kids, "Al Gore didn't invent the internet, but he did make up global warming!" (Sigh, most of you aren't going to remember  when Al Gore claimed he invented the internet...) Did you also notice he came out of hibernation to promote global warming again after winter is over?

I Can't Sleep.. So lets talk about Fine Arts!

Hello... I'm supposed to be resting, but simply, I can't. I feel sickly, which, I have been anticipating this for a few weeks, I seem to get under the weather a lot easier the past two or three years in February and March. Oh well. The most annoying thing for me in resting is, I sit there and think too much! I owe you all an update anyway since I've been MIA far too much.

The past three months I've been bombarded with preparing for National Youth Ministries Assembly of God Fine Arts. (Yes, it's a really long title.) I entered with PVAG, and I participated in Large Vocal Ensemble, Digital Photography, Graphic Design, Female Vocal Solo and Piano Solo. :) In Large Vocal Ensemble we sang "In And Not Of" by Avalon, for FVS I sang "Closer To The Hear Of God" by Nicol Smith-Sponberg (She was in Selah), and I played Come and Sing Praises on the piano (Arr. by Bill Wolaver.)

I was quite nervous for sectionals, but I passed on to districts, and districts was easier. I'm going to Nationals in Charlotte with everything except for FVS! :( But just for the record, I was .77 away from going to Nationals with FVS, I was very close! (Yes, that was LESS than a point away!) Oh well, can't win everything, I guess.

I'm a picture-y type person, so I'll post a slideshow from sectionals and what I entered for graphic design and digital photography. There are videos on the way, too. I just have to get my converter box from Pinnacle to work!

 The slide show was really bogging down my page, so click here to check out the slideshow!

You can check my Flickr account if you want to see the images in a not-so-fast-as-in-not-moving mode. If the slideshow just gets stuck on a white screen, try restarting the page.

Okay, I'm done... For now.

Safford... March 2006 - March 2008

Sad to say, the Nagle household has suffered a tremendous loss. Safford the Beta fish has passed on to the great aquarium in heaven!

Our corpulent little friend will be missed... But he lived a good life! Although, will fighting Beta fish be truly happy in heaven if they are forbidden to fight? Hmmm....

The Colorful Margaret H.

Here is the progress of Margaret Herschel. I'm not completely happy with it yet. I'll try to finish this within the week or so.

Piano Performance Tips

I'm not an expert, but I've learned some things along the way these past few months that other aspiring pianists may benefit from. I've had a crazy few months that have really pushed me in piano performance, and I want to share what I have learned with others that may be struggling.

1. You will hear this alot. Know your music! Learn it well enough to even play a portion of it with your eyes closed, or be ambitious and play the entire peice in practice with your eyes closed (Ray Charles style).

2. Perform, perform, perform. Don't shrink away from the spotlight if you can somehow weasle your way out of a performance. Learn how to deal with the 'pressure' of having all eyes on you. It will be hard at first; the first six or seven performances where you must push yourself WILL be the hardest, if you are shy or nervous. Granted, you will feel like disgorging every once in a while and you will be so nervous  your fingers will tremble when applying pressure to those ivories, but it will pass, if you get over this early stage. You'll learn theres nothing to be afraid of, there is no danger upon that piano bench! You'll be increasingly comfortable the more times you are confronted with the stage.

3. Learn to concentrate. Have a family member or a friend make alot of noise and be distracting while you practice your peice, and you will learn how to concentrate. The main reason aspiring pianists blank out while they're in a middle of a performance is because their mind starts to wander. "I wonder what we'll be eating afterwards. I could go for some pizza. We should eat at iHop when we're done... Uh oh! What's next?!" And bam, before you know it, you're completely lost. Learn how to concentrate correctly. Do not overly concentrate. I know this is confusing, I am telling you to concentrate and then I am telling you not to concentrate, but when you overconcentrate, aiming for total perfection, mistakes abound. (I've learned from experience!) Music must be focused, but never forced. It has to come from your heart! Forcing a performance by concentrating TOO hard never produces the right results. If you don't understand what I'm saying, you will have to wait, someday you will understand this concept after performing enough.

4. Don't let bad performaces discourage you. We've all had it happen. You totally screwed up the climax... And guess what? You're not the first pianist to ever do this. If the piano is really your instrument, you'll pick up the peices, perhaps even cry a little, move on to preparing for the next performance and vow to do better. Don't let a sour recital have an effect on you for eternity in negative ways. Learn from your mistakes, identify why you performed badly (Bad pedal? Out of tune piano? Low lighting? Not knowing your music?), and try to keep that in mind for the next performance. If it was nerves that got you down, you will just have to keep playing and get over this. Failure does not lie in the fact that you did not play perfectly, failure would lie in the fact that you never even tried or shrinked away from the challenge.

The BIGGEST tip that I could ever give for those aspiring to play for God is, pray, pray, pray and praise, praise, praise! Let your performance be an offering to God every time to sit at that bench. Be it practice, performance or just plain playing around. If you're nervous about a recital or concert, pray! Yes, it's as simple as that.

Another thing that may really help some, know your limits. You don't need to play Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 to have people appreciate your performance. Understand your own ability. It is okay to aspire and set goals, but be realistic. If you've only been taking piano lessons for less than a year, a performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is not for you yet! Aspire, but know only your worst limitations.

I hope this helps someone! It's not scientific but it's something I wish some people would have told me when I was anxious about performing in front of people.

An Unnoticed Fashion Icon?

Be Glad You're Not Gladys

You most likely can recall the names of Mel Gibson, Jennifer Aniston, Jim Carrey and Britney Spears. But if you would ask someone about the name Gladys Smith, most Americans will look at you with a dumbfounded look on their face and then proceed to ask: “Who?”

The paragraph you just read suggested in-between the lines that you should know of Mary Pickford if you know the names of those celebrities mentioned before, and maybe the names of their children, their husbands or wives, or ex husbands or wives, and you may even possibly know of the breed of dog these celebrities prefer. (And if you know their shoe size, you need a hobby!)

Here is what you should know if you like to follow all things Hollywood. Gladys Smith was born in Canada, a decade before the turn of the century. The 20th century, that is. She was the daughter of a British immigrant father and an Irish catholic mother. Her British father was basically just a shadow and a name attached to hers, and actually cast an eerie shadow upon the rest of her life. Gladys Smith showed special talent, in acting, at the young age of seven, and her aptitude to this certain field continued to blossom.

...So, what does this have to do with anything?

She traveled the country with her family, into the United States. She tirelessly poured her entire heart and soul into acting, and her mother became her spokesperson and somewhat of a manager. She was also an actress herself, but certainly not as devoted as Gladys.

During the same time, motion pictures were fast catching the countries’ attention. The most popular version of the primitive cinema, as we know it today, was the ‘Nickelodeon’. Thousands of people flocked to ‘nickelodeons’ to see the new fangled motion pictures. And suddenly, these nickelodeons were sprouting up across the nation. They were simply a sensation. (And as an odd note, nickelodeons were increasingly popular in the summer due to the recent invention of air conditioning!)

...And you once again ask, ‘So?’

Gladys Smith was temporarily out of work after being involved in Broadway, but the magical and mysterious world of motion pictures was soon opened up to her. It was a goldmine for the radiant young actress, although it was not easy treasure in the beginning. She wasn’t even initially chosen for a role in a motion picture, but the director had noticed a certain talent within Gladys and then did keep her within his company to produce motion pictures. She found it much simpler to act in motion pictures than in stage plays.

The reason she found motion pictures easier was for this: Most early motion pictures were only fifteen minutes long and had small, easy to follow plots. As such, as many as twenty motion pictures could be filmed in a regular day. You could learn the script in minutes, act out the part and you would have a motion picture ready for the masses to devour. Gladys Smith would be apart of this cycle, tirelessly creating these new and profitable moving pictures (Movies).

Within weeks of appearing in these moving pictures, nickelodeon viewers noticed Gladys right away, much like the director had personally noticed her. Credits did not scream who was who like most movies trumpet now to even sell tickets. All the audiences were able to identify at the time was, that they truly identified with Gladys Smith.

...And you continue to ask, ‘So?’

Her audience appeal was quite evident. So evident, that, in fact, she began earning privileges due to the money she raked in and began to make more demands in to how much she actually controlled these motion pictures (Which was not a hard thing to do at the time, since they didn’t even roll credits at the end of movies, indicating how small their staff was).

Since plots in these motion pictures were easy to guess and easy to follow, since they were silent, not a lot of lines were needed and longer motion pictures were actually frowned upon. Businessmen of the day thought, “Really, who would sit an hour and a half to see a motion picture? No one has the patience, or the money, for that.”

...And yet another resounding, ‘So?’

Gladys Smith had an eye for innovation, and she was slightly rebellious. The actress did not enjoy portraying the average damsel in distress, so with her new found producing and writing talents, she modified scripts and portrayed characters as she saw fit. One of her ‘Out of Gladys’ roles was a young wife posing as a male soldier in the Revolutionary war.

As another innovation, she proposed the first eighty-minute feature film. This film helped propel her to stardom, as she played a trodden maiden in poverty, with a deep intricate plot that most directors thought would fail. It was actually a success, due to the fame of Gladys’s name, the story itself and the new complicated storyline that most moviegoers were not accustomed to, but loved.

You’re probably going to ask (Once again), ‘So?’

One man noticed Gladys’s popularity with the masses, and he began to market her image to magazines, commercial businesses and newspapers. She was used to endorse a variety of products, and they sold primarily because of her face adorning the packaging. America had never seen anything like this before!

She led a charmed life. She traveled the world, as America’s unofficial ambassador to the world. Millions adored her, for her sweet child-like looks and her talent on the silver screen. Many would trample her just to touch her hair, and at one point she had to be put in a cage that was in a cart to see the people. And although Gladys was adored, horrendously rich and talented, her charmed life and face was a stale façade, which hid her real life that many did not know about.

Her first marriage was to a drunk, named Owen Moore, who she had acted with on stage before. Ironically, her father had also been a drunk. There have been rumors that she was pregnant with his child, but either a miscarriage or an abortion rendered her barren. She grew weary of this man, and, despite the advice of those around her that suggested her popularity would plummet if she did this, she divorced him when a new attractive actor entered her life.

This new attractive suitor was Douglas Fairbanks. The two married soon after she divorced Owen, and the two didn’t suffer in regards to their popularity. Strangely enough, the public roared with support when they found out about the happy couple. But alas, their happiness did not last, Douglas traveled abroad too much, and was found to be having an affair then they divorced. She later remarried to Charles Rogers, but never seemed to recover from the loss of Douglas Fairbanks, as she often called Charles ‘Douglas’ by mistake.

Gladys adopted two children, but they claim that they never felt much love from her, and she was far too self absorbed to care for them although they held admiration for her. She suffered from alcoholism, like her father, her brother and sister, her mother and her very first husband. At the same time, she held many honors and had many awards presented to her, despite the fact she became a hermit and would only speak to few select people. While her husband was giving tours of their lavish home, Gladys stayed confined to her chambers, in a deep depression.

At the end of her life, Gladys Smith was not the feisty and sweet idealized All-American girl in the world’s imagination, an image which they had grown to love very much. She was an average human being. Many were shocked to see the state she was in within her elderly years. She was feeble and broken down as she accepted the Academy Honorary Award. She had her troubles, and sadly, like most of America, she didn’t know how to deal with these issues that permeated her life.

It was almost as if Gladys Smith, most actually only known by her stage name as Mary Pickford, had laid the blueprint for the out of control life almost all celebrities today endure. Not only did she carry out acting in the movie theaters, she was a thespian in the public eye. Her stage make up was not wiped off at the end of a film shoot, and her costumes were not hung on their appropriate rung when the day came to an end. Her risqué romance roles were not left to the confines of paper, and the drama continued to unfold off the set.

She, along with others, fabricated the American celebrity, as we know it today, and yet, most Americans do not know who she is, and if they do know of her, they most certainly don’t know her life was not as pleasant as her name. Mary Pickford was the first American celebrity. And yet, she will be forgotten, as she already has begun the process of receding into the back of the worlds’ mind.

But you should know the story of Mary Pickford. Why? So you are not fed the same line as all other young and naïve roaring Twenties guys and dolls were fed, that celebrities have it all together. As the old saying goes, you can’t have everything. Mary did have more than most Americans could have ever imagined. But she paid a dear price for it.

What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? - Matthew 16:26

From An Asthma Sufferer

Hey everyone... Here is an important e-mail that every asthma sufferer needs to tune in to read. I wrote this personally to everyone in my address book, it's my personal plea to help asthma sufferers (Myself included!)

Please sign this petition for every American asthma sufferer being effected by this ban!

Hi, to my family and friends... This isn't just some generic e-mail forward I got from someone. I AM writing this to you, my family and my friends... This IS a personal e-mail. This isn't a generic-who-really-cares forward. But please, send this information to your friends and to other people you know what have asthma. If you don't want to read my entire email, PLEASE sign the petition, e-mail/call your lawmakers about this, please, please, please. I'm asking you all as my family and friends. If you don't have time to read all this, I understand, if you just want to look at the petition, scroll down to the highlighted part, please.
 
I am completely and utterly sick of global warming... Do you want to know why, specifically? It's already beginning to infringe upon my LIFE. Maybe some of you others have noticed this or have actually gone through this, but  Environmentalists (and others) are taking effective, life-saving, fast acting inhalers OFF THE SHELVES because they supposedly 'contribute to global warming' from the CFCs in them.

I'm a seasonal/allergy asthma sufferer, meaning I only use my fast-acting inhaler once or twice a month (Most my friends and family already know this), or when the air becomes very moist at night, I don't need daily drugs or therapies to control my asthma. Two nights ago, my inhaler was empty but I didn't know this, but I needed it because as SOON as that sleet-ice-snow storm started to come through (Quick and harsh atmospheric changes affect my breathing), I was wheezing and coughing. It was like clockwork. As soon as the clouds came, I was having trouble breathing. Since my rescue inhaler was empty, we tried coffee for a quick fix... It didn't work, although it has before. We had to settle for tablets, and they helped... They were the only alternative after my mom found out inhalers were on 'backorder' and 'recalled' SINCE FEBRUARY.

Sorry about the unannounced hiatus...

Hey folks, sorry that I flew the coop and didn't tell anyone. I have been very very busy this year. It really has only felt like a week since I last updated my blog. (Well, sort of.)

Check out my new photography website!

http://www.amenphotography.net

:)