You Are a Dragon

You are very charismatic and incredibly popular. People are drawn to your energy, but you are a very difficult person to get to know. You are very active - you are usually hard at work or play. You enjoy drama, and you enjoy anything unusual or eccentric.

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This truly is a random blog. Do not say that you aren't forewarned.

You're Totally Sarcastic

You sarcastic? Never! You're as sweet as a baby bunny. Seriously, though, you have a sharp tongue - and you aren't afraid to use it. And if people are too wimpy to deal with your attitutde, then too bad. So sad.

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I only just discovered Newsvine, so I cannot claim to have read even what is posted on the front page. But I did stumble across this very effective commentary on the failure of socialism. Very simple and very effective. I enjoyed it.

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I just wanted to link to this because it raises some worthwhile points that I think are being pushed under the rug.

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You Are An ISTP

The Mechanic You are calm and collected, even in the most difficult of situations. A person of action and self-direction, you love being independent. To outsiders you seem impulsive, surprising, and unpredictable. You are good at understanding how all things work, except for people. In love, you tend to be very easy going and flexible. The only thing you can't stand for is someone trying to change you or your life. At work, you can stay completely calm under pressure. You handle stress well. You would make an excellent pilot, forensic pathologist, or athlete. How you see yourself: Logical, flexible, and unconventional When other people don't get you, they see you as: Indecisive, flippant, and disrespctful

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And in honor of the occasion, I am linking to (and quoting) this story from Iraq.

Army Capt. Scott Southworth of Mauston, Wisconsin, originally met Ala'a duing his overseas deployment in Iraq. Ala'a has cereberal palsey and lived in an orphanage which Southworth's unit visited several times. Upon hearing that the boy would soon outgrow the orphananage and be sent to a government facility, Southworth determined to adopt the child, something much easier said than done. Complete details are in the above article, but I wanted to pull out this quote from Southworth explaining his reasonin.

After watching the movie, the Passion of the Christ, Southworth explained that he imagined meeting Ala'a and Christ in heaven, where Ala'a asked, "Baba [arabic for father], why didn't you come back and get me?"

Says Southworth, "Everything that I came up with as a response I felt ashamed. I wouldn't want to stand in the presence of Jesus and Ala'a and say those things to him."

A wonderful story. Wishing everyone the best of Christmases

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Each year, the Times Magazine chooses one person who has most had an effect on the world during that year. According to the magazine itself,

"TIME's Person of the Year is not and never has been an honor. It is not an endorsement. It is not a popularity contest. At its best, it is a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world—for better or for worse. It is ultimately about leadership—bold, earth-changing leadership"

That being said, the world at large generally treats the Person of the Year as a positive endorsement. You can bet that if Al Gore (one of this year's runners up) had been chosen, he would have treated it as an honor and an endorsement of his environmental crusade. The Times, however, would have one think little of the honor of the award, because they would better like to bestow it on such men as Mahmoud Armadinijahd, who won last year, or even on this year's awardee, namely the man who has best helped to turn a democracy back towards a dictatorship in Russia.

That's right, Vladmir Putin is this year's Person of the Year.

For those less informed on the current affairs of Russia, Putin finished his second presidential term and, constitutionally barred from seeking re-election, managed to have his hand-picked successor take on the role after him. Putin himself is serving as Prime Minister. Politically, Putin has stood against sanctioning Iran's nuculear weapons programs. Russia is the source of much of the radioactive material used by the iranians.

The Q&A session he had with the Times was was....well, there are many words to describe it, but it isn't that long. Check it out here and decide for yourself.

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I've been rather slow of late posting. Life has been crazy and hectic at best and this has fallen on my priorities list. I did just catch sight of this headline, and I thought I'd share the latest terrorist excuse:

 

'We were hunting Nessie'

In this case, Nessie refers to the Loch Ness Monster. The defense was offered up by terrorist Kader Ahmed, who is on trial in connection with the bombings of London subway trains two years ago. He argues that the trip he took with other members of the bombing group was just for fun, playing paintball and, well, see abve. Seems like a strange defense to me.

The full article is here 

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I just thought I would take the time to update this blog. In the past few weeks I've had a lot of school work which prevented me from taking the time to sit down and write a post. To be honest, I had another problem as well, I wasn't sure what I would be writing. I've come to the decision though that I will try to post shorter things in the hopes that I can do so more often.

That being said, I want to post something I found first posted on Power Line blog, which is my homepage. A survey by Gallup polls found that more Republicans (58%) report having "excellent mental health" than either Independents (43%) or Democracts (38%.) This trend persisted over various income levels and other demographics, such as church attendence, education and sex.  

I won't pretend to exreapollate from that, but I do find the information interesting. Is this the reason why Congress is always so negative?

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News from the Middle East is so often depressing. Pakistan is hovering on the brink of dictatorship, Iran is on the path to nuclear weapons with no one trying to stop them and what really was in that Syrian bunker that the Israelis bombed? It is hard to realize that in some places things are improving, violence is going down and this might all be worth it in the end.

 

Michael Yon, an independent imbedded reporter, who "does not receive funding or financial support from Fox News, or from any network, movie, book or television deals," has been stationed in Iraq since the war began. If you have the time, I would recommend taking the time to read his site. The stories that he witnesses humanize the conflict that often seems very far away.

 

Yesterday he posted this picture of a both Christains and Muslims together placing a cross on the roof of St John's Church in Baghdad.

 

 

It's a simple thing, and for certain it would never warrent mention on the nightly news, but small daily occurrances like this one are what will, in the end win this war. For now, all we can do is hope, pray and keep fighting the good fight.

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490 years ago today, Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to what was, in effect, his community bulletin board, the church door in Wittenburg. His ideas, which sparked the birth of Protestantism, can honestly be said to have touched many more fields than religion. Technology, education, shipping and anything which benefits from the Puritain work ethic is an indirect result of Luther's ideas. Protestant ideas of individualism and equality provided many of the principles which underlie the American Republic to this day. All this from the ideas of one lone German monk almost 500 years ago. Martin Luther stands as a credit to the power of ideas and the power of the truth.

 

(My Confirmation was last Sunday, Reformation Sunday. I was very excited to learn that it would be on the 490th anniversary.)

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I took atypicaly.net's "Which Lesser Harry Potter Character are You?" Quiz and discovered that:

You're so different from most humans that you're an entirely different species. Still, your beliefs are unusual even for beings of your sort - although concerned with the future and the stars, you're willing to defy standard practices for the common good.

(Your moment of glory came in Sorcerer's Stone, when you saved Harry Potter from Voldemort, then told him everything he needed to know to save the Stone.)

I seem to get the least common result no matter which one I take. (This holds true with different sets of characters, quiz writers and personality matching quizzes in general.)

 

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At this moment, (12:36PH CST/1:36 EST) one of the most dangerous and oppressive dictators in the world is speaking on the open platform given him by an American university. Oh how far we have fallen.

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All good things must eventually come to a close. Today marked the official end of summer with the commencement of classes at French Hill Academy homeschool. Matt had his first Pre-Algebra class at CHAT today, I had three study halls and drama. The study halls were productive, but rather uninteresting.

The weather was beautiful today. Sunny and with a nice breeze, though a little warm. I think it hit 94 this afternoon.  I spent a little of the afternoon reading outside and it was quite pleasant.

I empathized with this poem, which was assignmed reading this week in my AP Literature class.

The Sun Goes Down on Summer

I come to the water one last time as the sun goes down on summer.
It´s going; I can feel it slip away, and it leaves a cold, empty spot.
A hole in my warm memories of endless golden days
and dreams as ripe as watermelons.
I´d give the world to make the summer stay.

The water is calm around me.
It´s a warm, silent sea of thought dyed in the rich blues of night and
memory.
Why can´t things just stay the way they are?
Instead, the days rush headlong into change
and I feel like nothing´s ever going to be the same.

Soon school will start again. And all the things I thought I´d left behind
will come back, and it won´t be gentle water I´ll be swimming in---
It´ll be noise and people and schedules and passes and teachers telling
everyone what to do.
One more year of homework, tests and grades. Of daily popularity
contests and pressure-cooker competition and heaps of frustration.

The first day is the worst. Not knowing who your friends are, or
what´s changed since last year. Trying to pick it up where you left off.
I´ll look real hard for a last-year´s friend to get me from one
scrambled class to another, through halls crawling with people.

I wonder if I´ll fit in.

Football practice started last week. It started without me.
I had to make a choice and football lost.
Two years on the team and it struck me---who am I doing this for?
It´s just another thing people expect you to do, so you do it.
School is full of those kinds of things---things that sap your freedom,
and keep you from being yourself.
That´s what I want most, to be myself. But that´s hard.

Here´s what I dread most: when summer goes, I go with it.
I go back to school and I change as soon as I walk through those doors.
I have to be someone everyone will like---that´s a law of survival.

What would happen if I just stayed the real me?
would they turn me off? Label me "weird"?
Would I ever get another date?
It seems like so much to risk.
But growing is a risk. Change is a risk.

And who knows. I might discover something of myself in the coming
year.
I might get closer to the person I am---what a discovery that would be!

When the doors open on Monday morning, I´ll have a fresh start,
a fresh opportunity to find myself.
I want to be ready.

Steve Lawhead

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Erin will be reaching the Gulf Coast sometime tommorrow morning. Residents should expect high winds and rain.

Governor Rick Perry warns, "I urge all Texans to heed the warnings of their local leaders and take all possible precautions to stay out of dangerous situations..."

(I'm sure no one knew I was this dangerous....) And I guess that I'm not. But Tropical Storm Erin came into being sometime yesterday and apparently is.

Here is the photo from FoxNews:

So many weather phenomenons have odd names, it's strange to realize that there is a storm with my name.

 

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Today was the third day of the MSC fencing camp that I've been in this past week. It was also our first day of epée fencing. Monday and Tuesday were foil and Friday will be saber. I hadn't fenced epée in such a long time. I was certain that I was going to be slaughtered. (Figuratively of course.)

Well, I do have an interesting set of bruises on my right arm, but I won more than I did on our individual foil day. There were five other people in my pool, three of whom fence epée as their primary weapon, and the only times I lost were to two of those people. Also, our strip was able to fence electrically, which meant that scoring was greatly simplified.

Altogether, I won three bouts and lost two. This meant that I was tied for third in my pool with the other Erin. Interesting, is it not? I'm extremely tired, but suprisingly excited about epée tommorrow. I only wish that we got two days of saber fencing instead of only one.

I always forget how much I like fencing until I get to fence everyday like this. If only MSC wasn't so far away, I would be there so much more often. Well, I shall enjoy it whilst it lasts. With luck I can make it back fairly often this year.

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