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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
kenville's LiveJournal:
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| Sunday, July 12th, 2009 | | 11:36 pm |
“The Riddle No Atheists Can Solve”
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. Yes, I clicked on a link that took me to a site claiming an indisputable proof for “intelligent design” — one that can’t be “solved” based on the argument
DNA is a Code + Codes require authors = Life was created consciously, not by natural process
It took my brain cells less than 0.2 seconds to solve the riddle and refute the argument as utterly fallacious. Maybe it’s because I’m not an atheist? Or is it because the argument is based in mal-formed semantics about the term “code” misunderstood as an a priori reality versus an applied concept with a definition more limited than its reality?
Honestly, I wont even waste typing the link to their website, and I curbed the urge to post on their forum, since I doubt it wouldn’t go over their heads and be the one accused of semantic manipulation. But if anyone wants to go the 0.2 seconds in the ring with me on this, I’ll gladly explain the error is as simple detail as possible. | | Monday, June 29th, 2009 | | 5:54 pm |
Email to the Dead
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. I didn’t write about this months ago when it happened, as I wanted everything to settle down and then had other matters to attend to among the living. Bob Kell, Jr., my friend (and accountant / networking associate) passed away earlier this year. (On an odd note, he was just putting together the taxes that my previous tax preparer lost, placing me at square one a second time … he was the IRS “bulldog” — the ace in my hand if they cracked down on me, and now … well … anyway …)
At his funeral, I got up and read an email I had sent to him, as I didn’t know how else to express myself. I wore my Roman collar for the first time, for reasons referred to in the message:
Subject: Goodbye for Now
Read the rest of this entry »
| | 5:40 pm |
Ever wonder where?
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. It never amazes me how deep the roots are of our personal values. But unlike those who would rather be totally self-deterministic in some false sense of empowerment for its own sake, I would rather embrace them as consistent personality strengths and weaknesses I can make the best of.
Why bring this up? I asked my Dad the other day what kind of advice Grandpa gave him over the years. There were two things that came to mind: “If you can’t do it right, don’t do it at all” and “Do the hardest part of anything first.”
It was amusing (but no surprise) that I recall attempting to instill these tidbits (the former in particular) in Christina. I don’t know if it took … time will tell. But I can see why I insist on doing things right, not just adequately. Sometimes I take it too far and need to be gentle with myself, but other times it means that when I can’t do something what I think is a truly good job, it’s still far better than the other guy would have done it.
And I can live with that. Thanks Dad. Thanks Grandpa. | | 1:46 pm |
Obama STILL Raising Money?
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. I continue to get emails from his campaign machine, usually begging for money (AFTER the election mind you) or selling bumper stickers and t-shirts. Whatever. Here’s my question, and I dare anyone in their staff to publicly answer it: When you send me constant messages such as “Will you donate whatever you can afford to support the campaign for real health care reform in 2009?”
WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO?
Read the rest of this entry » | | Friday, June 26th, 2009 | | 8:30 pm |
| | Saturday, June 20th, 2009 | | 10:10 am |
Eye of the Beholder
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. I just read an alumni newsletter article – or rather tried to read it in its entirety — about the new statue of Saint Marguerite D’Youville at my Alma Mater. It’s a long-winded litany of interpretive assumptions about the artist’s intentions linked to vague ideals, right down to the significance of how far apart the saint’s feet are in light of historical and metaphysical perspectives. Their wording suggests the were even guessing (not knowing) why there was a key lying on the ground embedded in the pedestal. They may have well been talking about a tree and why God made one branch longer than the other. Yeah, this article was all fun from an academic standpoint, an admittedly well-done exercise in written oratory, and apropos as filler for a newsletter.
But what of the statue in the real world that others passing by would see for themselves, unaided by such commentary?
Read the rest of this entry » | | Saturday, June 13th, 2009 | | 9:45 pm |
A pleasant, lazy day…
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. Finally went to Dunkirk and planted flowers on graves (a yearly ritual). Then we strolled at the pier shops, the beach, and cooked hot dogs on the grill. Just a perfect day, started by sleeping in a bit and organzing the keepsakes from my daughter’s high school life (she’s at Bonaroo right now). Life is good. | | Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 | | 8:04 pm |
Went to the hospital today …
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. I had a reaction to the citrate during apheresis (triple unit donation), causing calcium depletion — heart palpitations, high blood pressure, some dizziness, finger tingling, jaw tension, etc.. It didn’t subside right away, so they had an ambulance take me to Millard-Fillmore Gates. A few hours later, I was released as being fine. A little scary, though … just before I was done donating, my chest felt “fluttery” and the feeling came and increased quickly. After a couple Tums (calcium), it subsided just as fast, but I still felt a little too light-headed to drive.
I’ll be taking it easy a couple days, lots of fluids, the usual. I just don’t look forward to the bill. | | Thursday, June 4th, 2009 | | 8:54 pm |
Yet another death …
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. Ben Maryniak, author and historian, was given a service at his grave-site last weekend at Forest Lawn Cemetery (near President Fillmore’s plot). A small regiment of Union soldiers has a three-gun salute (louder than I expected), there were period musicians, “Taps” bugled, and women in hooped dresses. Even a re-enactor of Lincoln showed, as well as re-enactors from the Confederate side of things — he was the man behind the whole Civil War Round Table for the area.
He re-enacted as a Union chaplain (an actual person also buried at that cemetery), and co-authored two books on the subject. I’ve read the first one a while back and didn’t get to the second yet. But I always sensed he felt inside he should have been a “man of the cloth” and in his own way, I reckon he was.
Another man I wish I could have known better. Rest in Peace, friend. | | Sunday, May 31st, 2009 | | 12:05 am |
Star Trek: The Restart
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. No spoilers here, or any detailed review … just a recap of what it felt like. Picture the original series on ‘roids, with sharper edges and no warning labels — what Gene would have wanted if he had bigger space-balls and thought it was possible to pull it off. The movie started with tear-jerking heroism, and culminated in two hours worth of Roddenberry boners. Part of me felt plot-raped, and part of me liked the abuse: Alternate reality never hurt so good.
So, no, this isn’t our grandparent’s Star Trek. And if they boldly go farther in this movie’s course, it will never be the same again. | | Monday, May 25th, 2009 | | 1:14 pm |
| | Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 | | 2:41 pm |
Why is Obama still Fund-Raising?
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there.  I keep getting requests for financial support from Obama’s team — he was elected half a year ago! Is there any precedent for such a thing? Are they saving up for a “Clinton bailout”? Does the president have his own lobby? WTH???
| | Friday, May 15th, 2009 | | 11:32 am |
Too many eulogies.
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. I’m still not up to posting a eulogy for my friend Ronald Cools from the Nederlands, and never posted about my friend and accountant Bob Kell earlier this year, but I think I can do this one for our dear pet Hastings.
Hastings “Pudding” was the first cat that Merry and I got together, about 12 years ago (he was about 2 years old). To the other cats, he was “Uncle Hastings” and didn’t mind the biting back-rides of then-kitten Joey. He got along with everybody. He loved socks. He hunted them, sang about them, and if you left your drawers open, any lederhosen was fair game to be strewn about the living space. He was a yodeller, with a resulting rush for newspaper on our part to catch the hairball, often from eating his other vice – houseplants. And he was the best natured cat we have ever had.
He was diagnosed with hepatitic anemia, which is why he was so tired this last week or so, and his red blood cell count didn’t look too good. He wasn’t in any pain, but made his way to a cozy spot in Merry’s den closet, where we made sure he ate and drank apart from the other cats. he hadn’t had the energy to run down and join them for days and needed his own food on hand, especially since he had started to lose weight for months now, which we attributed to old age.
Upon a blanket, one paw on food dish, he looked his peaceful self, even upon death. Wrapped in a blanket, we delivered him to Pine Rest to be cremated.
I feel silly making such a big deal about this, but I loved him. I’m crying right now. My wife and I just came back from a “funeral breakfast” at Alton’s. Our household will never be the same. | | Sunday, April 19th, 2009 | | 12:38 pm |
I don’t like it when people lie. And I can catch them like fish.
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. This guy, Richard Dean Neff, at the Walden Superflea & Farmer’s Market was selling fudge pieces for 50 cents. But that’s not really why he was there. He was literally marketing a piece of paper — www.wethepeoplework.com — with the promise that if I made a $700+ investment (donation?), I would be granted access to his full business opportunity — www.zoommoneymaker.com. I can’t explain this more accurately because neither could he, though he wanted to talk all day about it.
Friendly guy, pleasant, down-to-earth. I liked his apparent economic philosophy and other views and we would have hit it off if we were in a bar, but this was a sell. The red flag was his need to prove credibility, and the way he did it. His said to Google his exact name (as above) and it yielded a basic verification of who he was. He invented some stuff. He lives in Springville. Okay.
The ‘Oh, I probably shouldn’t have given you that other card (Zoom), and don’t know why I did as I don’t give those away to most people ever, but …’ is a typical sales tactic I didn’t catch except in retrospect. No big deal, I guess.
But when he pulled out his personal letter of acceptance for “Cambridge Who’s Who” I said, unimpressed, “Yeah, there are thousands of those kinds of directories out there.” He made it sound as if this was a prestigious one (more like infamous), but here’s the end game on this:
When I pushed further and asked if it was associated with Cambridge University, he resounded with a clear, unambiguous “YES” … before quickly closing the binder before I could check the address at the bottom of the letterhead. Simple research today shows he paid (like anyone else could) to get put into a book no one would bother using except to feign credibility to themselves and others. It’s an ethically questionable company at best, and not associated with Cambridge.
Sure his website is nothing but a JPEG, his cards are VistaPrint, and he doesn’t know how to spell “copyright”. But point blank fact: HE LIED.
Sorry, Richard. You may or may not be a scam artist, and you may just be using messed-up sales techniques to get investors in your inventions, but you are not credible in my book. And MY book is far more credible than Cambridge Who’s Who. | | Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 | | 12:30 am |
| | Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 | | 1:18 pm |
Decide. Please. But THINK first.
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. {I wrote this on LinkedIn, in response to a discussion about Obama virtually firing the CEO of GM.}
We fat, capitalist Americans throw away more food than most communist and socialist countries can hope to eat. And we’ve been taught to apologize for this on one hand, and on the other contradict our prosperity by declaring every hiccup or snag in the most robust economy in history as a failure of free market principles.
Frankly, we need to stop being stupid. The debate was over far before the Berlin wall came down, yet perpetuated by people who still don’t know the Cold War is over, namely armchair professors and second generation hippies fighting a class war that NEVER existed here, except by slogans and meaningless sentiments that wont die, infecting us through the invasion of propaganda from 19th Century Europe (where it once actually applied).
And to think I was inspired to campaign for Obama in the primary! What was to be a consolation prize ended up where one of the greatest traitors of our time is still only two “suicides” or “accidents” away from the Presidency …
{On another blog …}
… We’re being one-two sucker-punched, thanks to one party being in control of two branches for so many years. It doesn’t matter that they were both one party, then the other. The Constitution was designed for intentional deadlock to protect us from out-of-control government intervention in our lives. The sad part is that the American People themselves are asking for salvation via Big Brother managing all our resources — and liberties — and either party is more than willing to make us happy and feeling safe. Like Paine, I prefer death.
| | Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 | | 4:20 am |
Trivial Postings?
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. I just did some baseboard priming where the fishtank will end up being. Funny really … I was thinking I had to go back to Home Depot to buy some painter’s tape, but after I started without it, I remembered I don’t need it — I’ve got some degree of kung-fu in house painting, after all. I don’t even need to wear painting clothes … though having them on is more forgiving if I need to wipe off something, and it makes my wife less nervous about ruining good clothes.
So why do I blog about such things and not others? I neglected a few relatively less “trivial” things, such as the death of a friend, but then again, I’m setting up a video eulogy for that.
Anyway, the last several days seem to have brought out a list of people — some of whom I hardly know — talking to me about deep spiritual questions. I’m learningthat there are many people like me out there who are … isolated, I suppose the term would be … with no one to really talk to about such things. More hints of my calling I hope to achieve coming up shortly.
And that’s something I should probably have blogged about already … | | Thursday, March 19th, 2009 | | 11:25 am |
Email: Down for the Count
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. Last weekend, my .pst file (Outlook) reached and exceeded the 2Gb limit — a limit I neither knew existed nor knew it was coming. I knew my saved email archive was huge, but didn’t realize I had to split it so badly.
Somehow, it preserved my schedule, and I recovered the address book through Thunderbird. But the email for the last couple years is (temporarily?) lost, including emails in my inbox that I rely on to get various projects done.
Read the rest of this entry » | | Friday, March 13th, 2009 | | 11:17 pm |
Face to Face
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. It’s been too long, but after a few years I got to see my Dad tonight. I can’t believe everyone in the world doesn’t have or at least want Skype. | | Saturday, February 28th, 2009 | | 1:50 pm |
I can get major wood now.
Originally published at KenVille.Net. Please leave any comments there. Merry bought me a car. Seriously. A 2006 Kia Sportage(which we like to rhyme with collage, not cottage) with power this and that, 4WD, and most importantly, a lot of cargo space. Now I need not put off lumber, insulation boards, or furniture purchases until borrowing someone else’s pickup or SUV.
We got a flyer for Transitowne in the mail Thursday, and I know Merry was itching to get me a car now that her payments on the Kia Rio are almost done. She pretty much dragged me out there when she got home and we just did it. The salesman who helped us was Tom Romano, who we found out was a major league baseball player — and an ex-Bison – who currently works as a gym teacher in Buffalo.
I can’t wait to take it to the farm and annual rally, where Christina will undoubtedly call dibs on it to use as a tent with a friend. This year I hope she has the sense not to leave the radio on all night …
Anyway, “Orinoco Blue” (what I call my 1999 Escort ZX2 Sport) has been faithful, but Mer really is worried it will start breaking down and cost us more than a car payment to keep it running. Maybe she’s right. I hope Christina can take it in a few months when she gets her license, but if not, she can have the Rio when Merry decides to get a new car for herself, possibly as early as next year.
I was informed the car was an early birthday present. I usually get her a magazine subscription or take her out to Olive Garden, so I’m not sure how to proceed … |
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