Responding to my Tag

Nikita over at Chessalee, who is probably the first person from another hemisphere to post on my blog, has tagged me. The tag works like this. You take the nearest book- which has to have at least 123 pages or more…and then you open your book on page 123 and count 6 [...]

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Sunday Snippets

I don’t have any topic that is worth its own blog post, so here are a few brief undeveloped thoughts:
1. I like to study to music. While preparing last year’s Sunday School classes on Proverbs, lots of different music worked. Alison Krauss & Union Station and Tim McGraw worked well, because country [...]

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Saudi Arabia Hates God, Love, and a Primary Color

While we are concerned with relatively trivial matters like the war in Iraq, the presidential elections, and the price of gasoline, the government of Saudi Arabia is concerned with a terrible foreign custom that threatens to corrupt their youth. This custom has its origin in a foreign religion and is a clear threat to [...]

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Ed Rendell for Veep???

Someone has suggested the idea that our Governor, “Fast Eddie” Rendell could receive the Vice Presidential nomination for the Democrats. That person must have been smoking pot (and inhaling), and not just in the 1960’s.
I admit, there is a certain appeal to the idea of having our governor as a Vice Presidential candidate. [...]

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Worse Than Waterboarding

I got this brilliant idea while teaching the lovely and talented Miss Anna to drive.
One day, when Osama Bin Laden is captured, some nice fellows from the CIA will want to have a long chat with him. Most likely he won’t be very talkative, and then the folks from the CIA will not be [...]

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A German Doctor’s Argument Against Prohibition

Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch was a German medical doctor and one of the finest chessplayers of the early 20th century.  In his book on the St. Petersburg 1914 International Chess Tournament, he mixes chess and medical commentary as follows.  In the game Gunsberg-Blackburne, commenting on white’s weak 17th move [if you click on the link you [...]

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A Shameless Plug for My Pastor

Pastor Leon Ben-Ezra, of Faith Reformed Church in Erie, PA,  is now putting his sermons online:
Reformed Sermons
This is exciting news, as his sermons are very good.  It is also a pleasant surprise that he has joined the blogosphere.
The sermons are in print as blog entries, and there is also a link on the blog to [...]

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The High Price of Coffee In Saudi Arabia

If you are a woman in Saudi Arabia, getting a cup of coffee at the local Starbucks can come at a high price:
 Religious Police in Saudi Arabia Arrest Mother for sitting with a man
A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three is seeking justice after she was thrown in jail by Saudi Arabia’s religious police [...]

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Feeling Drained

Giving blood is always a good thing to do (if you are over 110 pounds, healthy, live a healthy lifestyle, haven’t been to strange places or with strange men/women, and haven’t given blood in the last 8 weeks). 
If you are in Erie, now is a great time to give, because if you give at the Community [...]

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Books for February

Just today I finished reading The Hobbit to Christopher.  He really liked it, and even understood it pretty well.  Unfortunately, The Lord of the Rings is much more complex, and I will have to wait a few more years before beginning that for him.  (I am reading that to Susie.)
I am nearly done with Jesus [...]

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