Grover Cleveland, the first President Democratic after the Civil War was elected for his first term 1885-1889. He then left the White House for four years before being re-elected to serve 1893-1897. It was during his 2nd campaign that The Halprin scandal came to light. Ten years earlier he had fathered a child out of wedlock with the widow Maria Halprin, who had stated that a meal out, turned into an after encounter that was forced on her without her consent. She fell pregnant as a result. When the child was born, Cleveland had the child removed to an orphanage and Maria committed to an asylum. Maria was painted in a bad light for those who knew. But for the most part the public was kept in the dark and Grover Cleveland became the first President to serve non-consecutive terms.
I don’t know if I will continue this as a series. Nor did I write this to give the full information. It’s just a snipet. I’ve sited my sources if you wish to follow up.
It’s not that I don’t believe in global warming. I absolutely do. The numbers don’t lie. It’s just that I don’t believe in the machinations of the world’s governments that use global warming as a tool to further their agenda.
The moon orbits the Earth every 27.3 days.
The Earth orbits the Sun every 365, 6 hours and 9 minutes.
The Sun orbits the Milky Way Galaxy about every 230 million years. (A Galactic Year) The Sun has made approximately 20 trips. The Sun resides in a spiral arm of the Milky Way called Orion Spur.
The Milky Galaxy orbits a black whole dubbed Sagittarius A.
All of these factors affect the Sun which by turn affects Earth.
The Sun also has a Solar Cycle. It’s a cycle that occurs about every 11 years. We are in the 25th Solar Cycle since science began recording them in 1755. The peak of a Solar Cycle occurs when the Sun reaches the height of its activity which also affects the temperature of the Earth. And in 2024 we will reach Solar Maximum. As a result, we are very likely to have a pretty hot year.
So to suggest that mankind is responsible for all this global warming, simply isn’t true. We are a factor. And we should do things that help the planet instead of hurting it. But some of the things we do in the name of saving the planet have the opposite effect.
It turns out that the reusable plastic bags that we’ve been using to replace the banned plastic grocery bags, actually produce more plastic and more emissions damage to the atmosphere.
Raising fields to put up wind turbines actually changes the ecosystem of those places.
Not enough work and thought has been put into sustainable energy to make it truly sustainable and ready to replace fossil fuels. We should work toward those goals in smarter fashion. Whatever we do, or don’t do, should be more carefully considered.
It’s been over a year since I last blogged. But I wanted to do something for the occasion. So I rousted Annabelle from her nap sang her Happy Birthday, got her interested in a little play and the she returned to her nap. She gives me lots of joy. I hope I give her the same.
After I snapped the picture she decided to wake.
DaVinci, Einstein, Hawking, Newton. We can recognize them by a single name because their genius made them not only famous but infamous. They, each of them made/make their mark on the world. But their genius did not make them perfect. In fact, quite the opposite, they each had their own flaws, idiosyncrasies, obsessions. But they boldly followed pursuits down the lesser traveled road. They have given the world some amazing gifts. The Mona Lisa, the Theory of Relativity, the Event Horizon, and Gravity. They each had their own bit of genius.
I believe we all have our own bit of genius. Whether it’s the gift of helping someone realize their dream, or inventing something new and unique, or simply saying the right thing to the right person at the right time, or taking a photograph of just the right subject in just the right light, we all have talents that can help us realize, even if it’s only in moments, our own individual genius.
This post was inspired by a moment of genius, a photograph, and the photographer has graciously allowed me to share it. (To see more, go to Melissa Devoe Photography)
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the one all this genius came from, the one who made us, made us able to think, able to choose, able to wonder, able to be geniuses. YHWH
In light of the current history we are making, from scandals, to pepper spraying kneeling college students, to two nursing home employees water-boarding an 89 year old senior (which makes me livid), to crazy weather events, to wars every place, most of which appear to have been predicted in annals of the past, an escape is needed.
So to escape I have lately been delving a little more into one of my favorite subjects. Bible History. It was my first love even before Genealogy. Because of this fascination, I am cognizant of current events playing out in Biblical places. Our service men and women are serving in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). The four rivers Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates once flowed there, and The Garden of God once flourished. The Garden of God (as it’s referred to in Ezekiel 31:8-9) was not Eden itself but rather located in Eden (eastward of Eden). But because the whole of the Earth was obliterated by flood in the time of Noah we don’t truly know if any of the geography after the flood is actually the same. Were the current Tigris and Euphrates rivers so named from the memories of the Ark survivors and their descendants? Or were they guided back to the original locations by God? Though Pishon and Gihon are not known to still be flowing now, there are satellite photos that show there were rivers that drained into the Persian Gulf. And as time moves forward science often proves rather than disproves Biblical history. Did you escape with me for a little bit?
The morning sky had the brain waxing poetic. And though I am a fan of the iambic pentameter, I tend to lean more to the prosaic. Never the less I digress. The sky …
As I trekked to work the region was socked in with fog. The sun only recognizable by its luminescent glow was mostly obscured by clouds. Some of the clouds had broken from their lofty domain to descend to earth. They lightly touched down then whooshed by with their translucent skirt tails.
The sun, not to be out done, amped up it’s brightness and took on the appearance of a white orb.
The gray clouds remaining aloft rushed across the sky, to help their sisters by trying to blot out the sun.
But the sun fired up like the Glory of God we can’t hope to look at ’til that Great Day. The fog was gone.
Now, as far as I’m concerned, the jury is still out on global warming.
We wobbly spin in a circle on our axis while careening around the sun in an elliptical orbit every 364 and 1/4 days.
We cycle through seasons, yet, many find it hard to believe that it’s part of a bigger weather cycle. Some weather sources say that global warming is a definite. My favorite local weatherman says, “It’s complicated.”
And what about the other extremes. The extreme cold, earthquakes, volcanoes’ flooding hurricanes. How does that fall under the category “warming”.
In the last few years it has been discovered that not only did dinosaurs live in northern climes but thrived there. This makes me wonder if the ice age didn’t move in slower than originally believed.
There are definitely differences. The Canadian geese have come and stayed rather than returning north. The hotter, dryer, weather has seen an influx of the little gray lizards and less anoles. I’ve had Mexican clover growing in my yard instead of the usual four leaf variety.
All this climate change has been blamed on greenhouse gases, therefore us.
So maybe Earth has just decided she will fight back against the bullies we’ve become and take back the planet. And maybe she will do so with the timing of the Mayan calendar… Ah well, that’s another blog.
Anyone who knows me, knows I like my gadgets, that I like the latest gadgets. But I have never liked digital television. My dislike of digital TV may have begun with the fact that the government forced us to take it by doing away with analog TV. Now, I’m not old enough to remember no TV (some of my ancestors would say that’s a shame) but the first TVs that I watched were black and white. And until the advent of late night television, the national anthem would play and you’d get a noisy screen of snow until it came on air again in the morning. But from then until they took it away unless the power was out or the weather was really extreme, you had a TV signal. Even when cable became the rage, if you lost your signal, because someone accidentally cut the line, or bad weather, you could unplug the cable and, “Ah … TV!” Good old analog TV.
Now we have digital. Not only was this foisted upon us but we either had to get new TVs or new devices to make the signal “work” on our old TVs. And the signal is sketchy as best. I have a few channels that come in good, but not the stations I prefer to watch. What I usually get on my favorite stations, The Local Station and PBS and CBS (on NCIS night) is a pixelated mess. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve yelled, “Oh Come On!” at my TV or prayed to the television god to let the signal last to the end of my show.
And now the government wants to take away local TV. Now I was not privy to the law that was passed that surreptitiously robbed us of analog TV but I believe it was conspiratorial. And I believe they are doing it again. But if they incorporate local television into the realm of cable, broadband or satellite as your only option for local viewing, I may become like my ancestors and have NO TV.
In the past several month we’ve had strange occurrences among the elements. Unusually extreme heat, an earthquake in the east, Hurricane Irene, Hurricane Katia which hopefully remains on a sea going course, Hurricane Lee and two more named storms following up the rear are among the natural protagonists of our immediate future.
Though the earthquake presented some damage it was not on a large scale. The damage from the hurricanes due to wind and rain could have been so much worse. It’s the after flooding, the flash flooding, that has brought about the most devastation and it’s still continues to do so.
Right now we have a calm between storms. The temperature is somewhat cooler we’ve been gifted with some beautiful sunsets. But storms still churn in the deep and the tides ride high and dangerous. Two people lost their lives during the swells of Irene because Mother Nature’s power was underestimated. We can not afford to become complacent. We must remain vigilant. This doesn’t apply only to the brewing storms, but to life.
One of the joys of my 10 minute breaks each day is to check my email or Facebook in the hope of finding a brief query or note from friend or family. Something to make me smile for just a minute before I have to return to my desk of 8 hours where I must do only work. (Imagine that!). But I increasingly find more and more junk mail. Now, I’ve signed up to receive some from places I shop but the majority of it is unsolicited. I’ve won the lottery in several countries now, if only I’d fill out the form to collect the funds. Or I could receive $5000 a week for life if I’d sign up and win. I’ve been cautioned by the FBI not to take in any illegal funds (… as if!). I get emails fishing for phishing but I don’t think they’ve caught anything, yet. I get lots of email targeting a specific audience that I’m not in. It’s exasperating.
And then there’s junk mail. Thursday has become junk mail day. And if you notice legitimate billers have caught on to this because I rarely get anything but junk on Thursday. But I still keep checking, hoping for a nice stationary clad letter to cheer me.
It does no good to get yourself on a “do not mail list” because two years later it disintegrates like a Mission Impossible tape.
I wonder if someone actually gets paid to write that stuff. And on the mailed stuff … they have to pay postage. I’m sure there must be enough in postage to keep one job going.
But I realized we ARE keeping people employed. The tech support person we complain to about the spam. The trash pick up person who has to carry away the junk we put in the bin. The doctor we had to visit because we blew a gasket over how much junk mail and spam we were getting. Yep, we’re supporting the economy.
Cedar and Sage 
