As If Thinking Matters

Internet Dangers For Kids

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:09:31 -0500

Even the most innocent children's Internet sites can be dangerous. Sharks are everywhere trying to prey on any victim they can. Leave nothing to chance if you are allowing your child access to the Internet.

BMW Manufacturing

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:07:55 -0500

Although this looks like science fiction, it is not. Such accomplishment is the result of thousands of people tapping their creative abilities and working hard. Every one of us can do the same in our limited sphere of influence. To not explore out potential is to miss a large part of what it is to be human.

Opposites Can Be True Too

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:06:32 -0500

It is usual and easy to assume that our particular view of reality is the truth, or the only logical way things can be. But as this video shows, opposites can sometimes be equally valid. As hammered away in the Living Life books, the only safeguard we have is an open mind. Otherwise the truth many pass us by.

Technical Juggling

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:00:25 -0500

This juggler has developed so much skill it appears he has extra hands and arms. When you develop your special skills, you too will appear to outsiders to have created magic. Challenge yourself. Reach out to be the special person you are capable of. All it then requires is time and dedication.

Monk Balances On Two Fingers

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:57:54 -0500

The Henan Province in China is home to the Shaolin Monastery. The beautiful monastery was built in 497 AD and is the birthplace of Zen Buddhism. Its monks are masters of Kung Fu. They spend half of each day training. Here you see only one of two people in the world who can do a two fingered hand stand. If, with dedication, a person can accomplish such a feat with two fingers, think of what you can do with ten...with your whole body and mind. What is stopping you from being the best you can be?

Miracle Coyote

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:39:04 -0500

Meet the wiliest of all coyotes: Hit by a car at 75mph, embedded in the fender,road for 600 miles - and SURVIVED!

When a brother and sister struck a coyote at 75mph they assumed they had killed the animal and drove on. They didn't realize this was the toughest creature ever to survive a hit-and-run. Eight hours, two fuel stops, and 600 miles later they found the wild animal embedded in their front fender - and very much alive.

Daniel and Tevyn East were driving at night along Interstate 80 near the Nevada-Utah border when they noticed a pack of coyotes near the roadside on October 12. When one of the animals ran in front of the car, the impact sounded fatal so the siblings thought there no point in stopping. 'Right off the bat, we knew it was bad,' Daniel explained. 'We thought the story was over.'

After the incident around 1am, they continued their 600 mile drive to North San Juan - even stopping for fuel at least twice. But it was only when they finally reached their destination at 9am did they take time to examine what damage they may have sustained. At first it looked as though it was going to be quite gruesome. '[Daniel] saw fur and the body inside the grill,' Tevyn East said. 'I was trying to keep some distance. Our assumption was it was part of the coyote - it didn't register it was the whole animal.' Daniel East got a broom to try and pry the remains out of the bumper and got the shock of his life. 'It flinched,' Tevyn East said. 'It was a huge surprise - he got a little freaked out.'
'We knew it was bad': Tevyn East, who was in the car when it hit the coyote, bends down to take a look at the fur poking through the fender

Fur Pete's sake: What Mr. East spotted as he bent down to inspect the damage to his car - the body of the coyote poking out through the radiator

Wily coyote: The animal's head can be seen as rescuers took apart the front fender to save it after it was struck by the car at 75mph

Miracle escape: As the animal struggled, wildlife protection officials put a loop around its neck to prevent it from further injuring itself. The front of the car is completely taken apart as the coyote begins to wriggle free

And voila! Tricky the toughest coyote ever rests in a cage after its ordeal - which it survived with just some scrapes to its paw

Snow Flakes

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:30:27 -0500

Snow flakes are both beautiful and wondrous. I discuss them in Solving The Big Questions As If Thinking Matters. Their complexity emerging from a "simple" water molecule gives us clues as to our origins. And no, it does not show that evolution could happen, but rather demonstrates an underlying intelligence underlying matter.

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The Decline of Dubai

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:23:53 -0500

The Dubai project was a government idea. It was built upon a dream disconnected from market forces. Now all those connected with this dream will face the brutality of reality. Dreaming is great, but not when it imposes hardship on others. Humans will advance only when they force themselves to live within reality and act now as if the future matters.

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Making Knives

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:15:47 -0500

This is a good study in what a person can do by exploring their creativity and then putting a lot of time and energy into it. Do you think he feels better about himself than someone who gets a government bailout?

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95-Year-Old Tells President To Shape Up Or Ship Out

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:13:01 -0500

This veteran is very alarmed by the direction of our country. He is not being political, he just does not want to see the free America he and his fellow soldiers fought and died for destroyed by a Marxist agenda.

This venerable and much honored WW II vet is well known in Hawaii for his seventy-plus years of service to patriotic organizations and causes all over the country. A humble man without a political bone in his body,he has never spoken out before about a government official, until now.

He dictated this letter to a friend, signed it and mailed it to the president.

Dear President Obama,

My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don't believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.

I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos'n Mate. Now I live in a "rest home" located on the western end of Pearl Harbor, allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.

One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.

So here goes.

I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do, but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.

I can't figure out what country you are the president of.
You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:
" We're no longer a Christian nation"
" America is arrogant" - (Your wife even
announced to the world,"America is mean-
spirited. " Please tell her to try preaching
that nonsense to 23 generations of our
war dead buried all over the globe who
died for no other reason than to free a
whole lot of strangers from tyranny and
hopelessness.)
I'd say shame on the both of you, but I don't think you like America, nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do, for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.

After 9/11 you said," America hasn't lived up to her ideals."

Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man, that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War? I hope you didn't mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around, because we stand for freedom.

I don't think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.

Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man.

Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don't, I'll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue. You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.

And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don't want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts, who was putting up a fight? You don't mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don't want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.

One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you're the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you're not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you're thinking of.

You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.

You're not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That's not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now.

And I sure as hell don't want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.

Sincerely,

Harold B. Estes