. . .but for many reasons, I really like this commercial.
Fundamentals: Ethics v. Morality
“The ethical man knows it is not right to cheat on his wife; the moral man will not.”~Ducky Mallard
Parenthetically, I’d say remaining faithful to one’s wife is easier when one loves her and is convinced God has definitely joined one with one’s wife. Nearly four decades with my Wonder Woman has deepened my understanding of her beauty and irreplaceability.
The Joys of “Not Getting Lost”
Nah, this isn’t some think piece with the “directionally challenged”/”directionally gifted” as metaphors for anything. This is just about NSEW orienteering. 🙂
“Not getting lost” in America’s Third World County™ is more fun than not getting lost in Boston or Dallas or wherever. For the first ten years after we moved to America’s Third World County™,navigating the back roads was. . . interesting. No names apart from informal names that could (and did) change according to family or neighborhood tradition, or simply an individual’s idiosyncratic choice. The road “system” also reflects the fact that this is a geographically rugged area (Ozarks, and all the hills, valleys, streams, creeks and rivers that implies) that was settled (more or less) before the idea of section lines really took hold, so, while other rural areas in other parts of the country might give directions by section line, etc., not so here. NSEW and geographical features were the primary means of providing directions to places within the county that fell off the map of state roads.
The official county map was not a lot of help, either. Many roads didn’t even appear on the map of county-maintained roads and the roads that did had designations not acknowledged by those who lived on them. Rural postal routes were more useful as directions than the official county designations. Made my “hobby” of driving the back roads more fun.
Then, when the county began instituting a 911 system, roads started getting names (including the street in town that we had lived on for 10 years with no address), names that usually reflected longstanding tradition. Now, Gobbler’s Knob, Granny’s Branch and Pine Log Road (which Internet mapping services still often get laughably wrong, despite more than a decade having passed since it was formally named) are all easily found on a 911 map, though I know lifelong residents who have NO idea where they are located. Not their neighborhoods.
I’d like the gig of being The County Guide. *sigh* 😉
Just One More Reason to Deplore the “New Truckers’ Version”
I’ve seen a few citations of John 3:16, as mistranslated by the “New Truckers’ Version” (NIV), in the run-up to Xmas:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
I deplore the “New Truckers’ Version” (NIV) in part because of rather gross mistranslation like this. My only gripe with this is that “monogenes” does NOT mean “one and only son” but “only begotten son”. The two are rather profoundly different.
“One and only” is easily impeached by other scriptural passages, even without simply translating “monogenes” correctly. Adam is called a son of God; Israel is called sons of God, Jesus calls peacemakers sons of God; the resurrected, those who have faith in Christ, etc.: all “sons of God” according to scripture. Jesus is the only BEGOTTEN Son of God: unique, no other like Him.
Yes, I know more and more commonly illiterate folks nowadays might stumble on “begotten,” but that’s just another reason for Xians to be more literate, so we can explain things like the virgin birth, the miracle of the Incarnation.
Or heck, give ’em a dictionary.
Upgrade Denial
Mixed house: Windoze, Linux, Android, etc. “Upgrades” of Windoze boxes? *shrugs* Eventually, Win10. . . maybe (with some more being transitioned to a ‘nix OS). I’ll probably keep one computer at Win7(Pro) for aye, simply because it’s my current “Freecell zen” box with 7700 wins/0 losses. Yeh, yeh, I could copy the score over to another box (I think it’s just a registry key, IIRC) or even a VM, but the compy’s really only good for “Freecell zen” and light web browsing, anyway, so. . . Anywho. . . after the first few thousand games of Freecell even a slow learner like me starts to notice, semi-unconsciously, the same games coming up again and again. Makes it even easier to zone out and play mindlessly.
I had an earlier Windoze 2000(Pro) box with well over 10,000-to-0 racked up, but that became a Linux box, then morphed into a PC-BSD box, then finally got shuffled off into a corner.
Just Stuff
My “comfy chair” is gone (may it bless someone else, but hopefully not the Spanish Inquisition 😉 ), as is my Wonder Woman’s, and now we share two matching love seats–sometimes together, often one each, spreading out our various paraphernalia or, in my case, often simply sprawling in a semi-reclined position across the length of “my” love seat. Older cat has decided this is a Good Thing. When he wants, the backs of these love seats provide comfy cat beds, open areas provide good sprawling room and at other times–quite often, in fact–when my lap’s otherwise occupied (by Zarkon-II, a lappy that’s set up to be similar to my “desktop”), he’s still able to get in as tightly as he can be without being grafted onto my leg, tucked under lappy hangover from a lapdesk. (Sometimes it does seem as if he were testing me out for a “leg graft”.) Young Dog of the House (it would seem strange to type, “Old Puppy”. . . wouldn’t it?) doesn’t even stir him when he’s like that, even with copious licking around the face and neck. *heh*
BTW, Having a laptop and a desktop set up with very nearly the same apps, desktop(s)–I use multiple desktops on both of them, but only the main desktop on each is set up exactly the same on both–etc., works well mainly because I mirror/sync all the data generated by apps or saved from the web (videos, music, graphics, offline web pages/sites) in two other locations so that when I need the material, it’s readily available on either computer, whether both are booted or not (saving me the negligible–really trivial–step of remotely booting one or the other; saves time, more than anything else, while providing redundant backups of data).
Sometimes, Reality Actually Helps *heh*
Periodically, I look back at my life accomplishments and failures and find balance wanting. Of course, during this time of year, when I am under strong influence to “ac-cent-uate the positive,” really black moods fall prey to a couple of realities. The first, a constant that has regularly batted the screwballs of depression out of the park for the past 37 years, is that when Tuesday rolls around, I’ll have opportunity to celebrate (again) what I celebrate anyway, any day during any year that I stop to think: My Wonder Woman loves me enough to stay my wife (it’s not my fault, really! *heh*)
The second booster is that I have–quite by fortuitous chance, I assure you–had opportunity to be instrumental in keeping a couple of the members of my family alive, once with CPR (my Wonder Woman) and once, with Son&Heir, by extracting a penny he was choking on. Crawling babies, shag carpet, loose change: not a good mix. *shrugs*
I find recalling those events and then looking at my Wonder Woman’s face does much to remind me that God has greatly blessed me, far beyond my due. (Then there’s the whole, “Well, I haven’t awakened in hell where I have, by all rights, earned a place,” thingy. Grace: what a strange and wonderful thing, eh?)
Puppy Love
Lovely Daughter and Estimable Son-in-Law have us puppy and cat sitting this week. It’s in the low-mid 20s, so both their pup and Son&Heir’s pup are inside much of the time. Watching their ~5 month old Lab/Boxer mix playing with Son&Heir’s ~7 month old Lab/Border Collie mix just makes me tired. *heh* Finally. . . just too much. Sent them to their “rooms” to calm down. (With the olderpup outside, the lil girl calmed down quickly. He’s fine, with his much thicker black coat and the sunlight, for a while. At least he likes it. 😉
After two such separations, the puppies have finally gotten to the point where they can be calmer around each other. This after two whole days of romping. I had to “dog whisper” them a bit, even then, by sitting down with them and physically separating them, then performing “calming massage” (adapted from a equine massage technique–apparently such techniques can be universally adapted😉 ) with them both. Heck, now the cats (all three–our two and the visitor who HATES ALL DOGS. . . and most people) are calm and napping, our two behind me on the back of the loveseat I’m on now and the dog-hater on my Wonder Woman’s lap.
Peace in our time.
Live and Learn
One of the very few drawbacks to living in America’s Third World County™ has been our experiences with appliance repairmen. We’ve decided over the years that going outside the county is wise, when it comes to appliance repair, whether that’s fridges, washers, or HVAC, etc. Just really bad experiences with execrably poor service from “highly-recommended” locals. *shrugs* Others’ experiences might vary, but ours? Universally poor service from local companies.
So, when cold weather hit and we needed our (gas, forced air) furnace, what happened? Well, first I changed the filter, than tried the furnace out. Right. No air. The fan would not come on, and nor would the burners. Well, since the fan and the gas valve are inter-related, via the control interface, if the fan didn’t work, the burners would not.
So, did I call someone? Nope. Tested the fan with separate power. No joy. Motor out. Replace motor (preferred option)? Nope. The thing’s apparently forty years old (!) and I think I’d have to cut it loose from the fan. Nope. Not gonna.
So, bought new fan.
The mounting bracket on the new (larger, more powerful) fan is almost the right width. wrong configuration. So, cut the mounting bracket off the old fan housing and affixed it to the new one. Fits. Mount the fan, wire it and. . . no joy.
So, I confirmed the old fan was defunct, but now the transformer/switch assembly isn’t working either? Another $25. (Note: 15 years ago, a local ripoff “repairman” charged $95 for the part. . . in an off-brand. . . and still didn’t fix the issue until he checked what I told him to check elsewhere. . . on his THIRD TRIP. HIGHLY recommended by multiple sources. MHWA.) Wired the new control relay in and. . . FAN! But no furnace ignition. Pilot light working fine, but gas valve: no joy.
Hmmm. . . sit back. Check Internet to see if my wiring job was right (the wiring diagram from the control relay mfg. did NOT make sense according to the wiring diagram on the furnace’s service panel, so I had transferred wires one at a time from the old relay. Maybe that was the problem. *heh*) Well, yes and no. It seems a wire from the relay to to gas valve HAD BROKEN and dropped down during my rewiring. (Dark, old eyes–hence difficulty focusing–“headlight” focused in wrong place, etc. I just missed it dropping off the gas valve.) Found it later on the floor and wondered where it had come from.
The ONLY clue I got from my hunting on the Internet was a YouTube video where a guy pointed out, on a similar but not the same, SPDT relay where the gas valve wiring FROM the relay should be connected. Fortunately, he also called it by name, so I could locate the correct place to wire it in on my relay.
At last, joy. Warm last night. Almost too warm for me, frankly. 70°F is just too warm for indoor Autumn living. Heck, places near a register and away from the thermostat have gotten up to 73°-75°! Turned down a tad.
Note: what I learned? Oh, I already knew to do it, but I forgot to take pictures of the installation before I replaced the relay. *head-desk* Oh, well. Would have saved a headache, but all’s well, and all that.
P.S. #2: May also need a new thermostat. Cool temps today, furnace apparently came on a few times, though, and most of the house is at 75° even though the thermostat is set at 68°. It might not be a problem. Could just have been solar gain, since we are fairly well insulated and the house–overall–started out around 70°, with the previously noted “hot spots”.
Is It Just Me?
A quick Q for both of my readers: am I the only one to attach heat sinks to notebook power supplies to dissipate heat in an attempt to make them last longer?