Nineteen people were feared dead and as many as 24 others wounded after an attack by a knife-wielding man at a facility for the disabled in Japan early on

I suppose the anti-knife lobby will want to enact ginsu knife laws to determine who can have access to knives. ,

From an article entitled "Relationship rules you should break"

"Think getting down too soon is a deal breaker? It might be time to think again, says Greer. "If you feel good about the person, are really attracted to them, and you feel safe with them, it's OK to go ahead and sleep with them," she says. "On the flip side, you can also wait until past the third date." In other words, wait until you're ready, whenever that may be. View our complete list of the best white dress looks from the red carpet."

   Honestly, having sex at all before marriage should be a hard and fast rule.  Anything else cheapens relationships and reduces the chances of fidelity during marriage.  Oh, don't believe in marriage?  Well, that should be an attitude you change.

It's a battle

For years I was able to control my diabetes with a proper diet but eventually I went on metformin.  A few years ago I went on insulin for 3 months but was able to come off it and go with just metformin again.  But after a year my doctor added glipizide to my regimen  but after a couple of years I had to go back on insulin.  The first time I used insulin I gained 33 pounds and never did lose any one it so when I had to go back on insulin again I was afraid of gaining weight.

  So far I've managed to lose 9 pounds (It's been a bout two months now).  Yesterday I suffered my first bout with low blood sugar and it felt horrible.  Last night I gave into my urge for an unhealthy snack (six wheat crackers, a spoonful of peanut butter and a spoonful of jelly).  Yea, it was a nasty tasting snack and my blood sugar reading was way to high as a result. 

  Eating so as to not spike ones blood sugar or let it drop too quickly and all the while controlling ones weight is extremely difficult, especially since taking insulin makes one feel hungry all the time.  I'm not talking about just wanting something to eat but "feeling like your stomach is sucked up against your backbone" hungry. 

Cringe worthy news

    Soon Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for President of the United States of America.  I haven't always voted Republican but I have never voted for a Democrat who was elected and this year I guarantee I won't be voting Democratic.  What I am most afraid of this year is that either Hilary Clinton or Donald Trump will be elected.  I suppose once the conventions are over and the candidates officially selected we can bill this election as the Lady versus the Tramp.   I suppose the only way out of this mess is the Rapture and if you don't believe in that you still have time to change your mind. 

Black lives Matter

Black Lives Matter.  Of course they do.  I know slavery existed.  I know it was wrong.  I know some people are not going to accept full integration of everyone into their world.  The most segregated institution in America is church, which should be the one place that all races could come together in love and understanding.  There is a problem.
  But how can we, as a people, come together when some use exclusionary terms for their organization?  Negro College Fund, Black Caucus, NAACP, Miss Black America, Black Lives Matter.  While claiming to want equability, these organizations have chosen names   that are exclusionary and are portraying an image or idea that is the opposite of what they claim to want.  We cannot bring unity by choosing to be divisive. 
  America+ isn't a melting pot.  When things are melted together that form a new substance that is a blend of all.  It seems as if blacks and whites come from two totally different worlds.   Blacks and whites have been educated together for 50 years now yet they don't even talk alike.  
  We are all people and our basic needs and wants are the same.  In any good negotiantion the two sides get together and agree on what they agree on and then limit their discussion to the areas they disagree one.  First of all, the two races have to agree that they are all Americans.  That will go a long way to solving the problems.

Dallas

     What happened in Dallas is tragic but all murders are tragic.  I understand why some white policemen are quicker to shoot a black suspect that a white one.  There is a lot of animosity and mistrust between the races.  When integration happened fifty years ago it was hoped by many that by going to school together blacks and whites would learn to respect each other, that eventually all neighborhoods would be mixed neighborhoods, and we would come to view each other as fellow Americans but it is obvious that the tension between the races is just as strong today as it was 50 years ago. 
  Back when CB radios were popular among motorists it became obvious that people don't know how to handle problems.  Disagreements quickly developed into arguments and name calling and the usual results were two angry people and unresolved problems.  Forty years later when people have differences of opinion on the internet many times it results in name calling and two angry people.  If we go into a discussion with the attitude that I'm right and the other person is wrong and it is my job to convince the other person of this fact then we are always going to have disagreements that decay into name calling and angry people. 
   Yea, there are lots of things I don't understand about black people.  I don't understand do-rags, and the cocky way of walking, and the slang they use or why many talk so loud.  I don't understand why s's are dropped off words that need them and added to words that don't.  And what is this doe that they keep opening and closing?  I am beginning to think it is a door but they never say so.  I'm sure there are lots of things that blacks don't understand about whites to. 
   When a person dresses different, walks different, talks different, and acts different, a person tends to be cautious around that person.  I don't care how white a person is, if that person has a face full of tattoos and wears punk clothes I'm going to be leery of them.  Same goes if they are big strong biker types, or little skinny goth creatures.  And what is with the saucers in the ear lope thing.  Gross me out. 
  All that being said, the nicest people I encounter  are young black males.    They are respectful and helpful and always a surprise but not because that are black men but because in todays day and age   rudeness is expected along with selfishness and one is always taken back by random acts of kindness and by that I don't mean paying for someone lunch as a person gets recognition for that but just common everyday courtesies that are not common anymore. 
    If a person presents themselves to the world as a descent, trust worthy individual then they will be accepted but it the impression they give is of a ghetto gansta or a piece of redneck white trailer trash then don't expect me to be anything but cautious around you. 
  As far as the police are concerned, they are jerks to everyone so don't feel privileged.  I've been handcuffed several times and even carted off to jail once and didn't even come close to breaking a law.  A sergeant with the High Point police stole $20.00 from me and a couple of Greensboro cops accused me of being a drug addict and refused to give me the assistance I needed and desired.  One has to remember that people get angry when stopped by the police so much of the interaction police have with people are with antagonistic people.  It's would make anyone leery of a person's intentions when all you receive from most folks is bad attitude. 
   I've been stopped several times when I should not have been but I always remain calm and cooperative.  The police appreciate it.  I keep my insurance and registration papers in a little folder that  is easy to get to without having to open a glove box or search for.  I stay still until the cops approaches, and I keep him informed if I have to reach for anything.  Even when I know the cop is wrong, I'm never show any emotion because I know I will have my day in court if it comes to that. 
  What I want you to take away from this article is that if you want to fit into my world then act like you fit into my world.  If you don't then don't be shocked or angry because I treat you different.  And most importantly,  if you are respectful, understanding, and cooperative with the police then all should go well and end well. 
  When you see things different from another, find the things you and they can agree on and listen as they explain to you the things that you disagree on.  Maybe you will learn to be accepting of their point of view, maybe, you will learn to understand there thought process better and maybe you will still be on opposite sides.  But if you treated them with respect maybe they will learn to be more understanding and tolerant of you.

What paet of customer service do you understand?

I had a great time at Cherokee this past weekend and I was tired when I got home.  A good tired, yes, but tired nonetheless.  I was glad my new security camera wasn't to be installed until Tuesday so I would have a day to get my head back into life.  I was looking forward to doing yard work too, as strange as that may seem but I do enjoy being outside.  Well, the rain took the yard work part out of my day as my grass will be high before I get a chance to cut it again.  Going to see my Mom each week and working out at the gym three days a week kind of eat away available time for yard maintenance.  I like doing it early when the day is cooler. 
  The other thing I had planned for the day was scheduled for 8 am.  We called them when they had not arrived by 9:30 and was told "Oh, we meant between 8 and 12".  Well, excuse me but if you meant between 8 and twelve you should have said that.   At 1:30 we called back as the serviceman had not arrived and were told they would be here soon.  A few minutes later I received a call saying they would be here between 3 and four.  At four thirty my wife called and explained to them that we no longer wanted the camera.  Then the company started telling my wife she didn't understand that service calls are done on a time range and not at a specific time. 
   
The company started offering her deals but she said no. The service man called and wanted to reschedule but she said no.  He offered to give her the security camera at no cost but she still said no.  He  tired to explain to her that she would receive a call 30 minutes before the service person was to arrive and she explained that didn't happen either. 

   If they could offer the equipment for free to cover their screw-up maybe they should have offered it for free to begin with.  Better yet, when they realized that they could not make the 8 to 12 window they had called and apologized and asked us if it would be convenient to reschedule for later in the day or for another day we would have been more understanding.  But no, they choose to keep us uninformed of what was going on thereby wasting our entire day awaiting their arrival.  I just don't think big companies know what customer service really means. 

Too little time.

I thought once I had finished the remodel of my Mom's house I would have more time to write and to study but it seems I have less.  I have two doctor's appointments tomorrow, one Wednesday.  Then I'm off to Hickory to visit Mom and then I'm taking a few days with the wife for our anniversary.  When I get back I'll have to do yard work, then empty cabinets and create empty space in preparation for the delivery of our new kitchen cabinets.  The day the cabinets arrived I have another doctor's appointment  and then it will be time to visit Mom again. 
  By the time I catch a break it will be time for the doctors to whack off my little finger and then after that operate on the other hand.  By that time it will be eye glass exam time so another out of town trip.  But when it is all said and done I may be able to type and to see what I'm typing.  And maybe I'll have some time to do said writing.   

You are compalinning about what?

Someone who regularly attends our church but isn't a member complained to the pastor that the Sunday School teacher invited her to attend Sunday School.  Say What?

Do you ever feel lke screaming?

  A friend of mine has some strange ideas when it comes to interpreting scripture, which is okay, but when a person begins any discussion with "you will never convince me" then he is right.  It is okay to feel strongly that your interpretation is the correct one.  For example there are those who believe that a person can lose their salvation,  I know husbands and wives can fall out of love and no one can tell me when a couple has crossed the line from love to disinterest or hate and the union broken.  That is why one should never take their spouse for granted.  Even if one does everything right in a marriage it can still fail because your actions don't necessarily dictate the response one desire from their partner.  I have read letters that state " I love my spouse and they do every thing right but....".
 We know when it comes to relationships we need to respond to our partner in the way they want to be responded to rather than by a set of rules.  And so it is with Christianity.  We are taught by scriptures that being a Christian is a relationship with Christ and not adherence to a set of rules, regulations, and laws.  My pastors favorite saying is "You must be born right and live right in order to die right."  That is like saying that you must toe the line or you could lose your salvation.  Just exactly what does one have to do to lose their salvation?  Our preacher and youth minister are fond of saying "if your salvation doesn't take you to church I doubt it will take you to heaven"  I am aware the bible says "not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together" but how many church services can one miss before their salvation is lost?  Is this what we should be teaching people? 
   There is a fellow in the church who claims that one can lose their salvation "and you can't convince me otherwise."   Personally I don't want to be in a relationship with anyone I can't depend on  nor do I want to be in a relationship with someone who lives contrary to what they profess to stand for.  One gentleman in the church believes when Jesus turned the water into wine he was providing alcohol to an all ready bunch of drunks.  Jesus is God and it is unfathomable that God would do things contrary to his nature.  It is made abundantly clear in the Old Testament that getting drunk is displeasing to God and an even greater displeasure is shown to the man who puts strong drink to his neighbors lips. 
  In spite of what God has claimed for 2,000 years he hates, in His first act as a man He violates His very principles.  The wedding was a religious ceremony and fermented wine was not allowed to be served.  Jewish custom did not provide for fermentation of the wine as we know it today. 
  I'm not going to run the biblical references for you but I will give you the scriptures. 
Numbers 13:23, Psalms 104:15, Nehemiah 10:37, Isaiah 16:10, Isaiah 65:8, Jeremiah 40!), and Habakkuk 2:15.     I think it should become clear that wine and grape juice can be the same thing as no juice of the grape is fermented wine while still in the grape. 

The truth about food safety

"One time on a 12-hour family road trip to North Carolina, my parents stopped at Bojangles for lunch. We walked in and saw that that the cashiers were handing out food (fried chicken and biscuits) without any gloves on. I thought it was absolutely disgusting and couldn't believe people were willingly accepting food from the hands of strangers. I sat in the restaurant and got back in the car for the remainder of the drive, refusing to eat anything from Bojangles. I think that was the worst experience — I was forced to smell fried food, but knew better than to eat any."


   Stupid girl.  Just because a worker is wearing gloves doesn't mean safe food handling procedures are in place nor does bald hands mean unsanitary.  Actually food handling gloves are for a customers benefit and has absolutely nothing to do with food borne illness.  Hands with gloves can go anywhere hands without gloves can go.  A worker can wear them when they go to the rest room, Lord knows how long a worker has worn a pair of gloves.  I've even seen cashiers with gloves on. 
  No, what is important is hand washing.  An employee can go to the rest room, take a dump, and come back to the service area and put on a pair of gloves while another washes their hands before putting on the gloves.  Which person do you want handing you food? 
  Not, gloves, hair nets and beard guards are for show, not for food safety.  

… Why This Man Proposed To His Girlfriend Completely Covered In Mud

Someone actually wrote this headline and the editors let it slip by.  I'm not sure who is covered in mud; the guy or the girlfriend.  I'm not going to read the article to find out either.

Tipping

  I like American Roadhouse Express because one doesn't have to leave a tip.  There are lots of things I don't understand about restaurants.  Why do they leave the guest check upside down?  What does tips mean?  I've heard it said TIPS stands for to insure prompt service but if that was true shouldn't the tip be given before the meal? 
  I'm a generous tipper but I base my tips on the quality of the service and not on the quality of the food.  What I don't like about tipping is the waitress in a popular diner where the meals are inexpensive and the business is brisk actually works much harder than a waitress or waiter in an upscale place but for much less.  Go to Golden Coral where it cost $10.00 for all you can eat and watch people tip.  The waitress is lucky to get a dollar out of most folks.  Go to Outback where it costs about $25.00 per person and she gets $5.00 per person.  The waitress at Golden Coral works much harder. 
   I don't think tipping should be based on the price of the food but the quality of the service.  It should be standardized across the board.  It just doesn't seem fair that a person can go into a restaurant and order a sausage and egg biscuit   and have his coffee refilled five times and leave his waitress a dollar tip (20% of his $5.00 total bill)  then later goes to a steakhouse for dinner where the wait person refills his drink once after drinking half a glass before his meal arrived and then offered a refill   after he finished eating and then drops a five dollar bill on the wait person (20 % of his $25.00 bill).  He got much better service at breakfast and based on how hard the wait staff worked the one at breakfast worked much harder.   

Tom Brokaw makes a controversial statement

Tom Brokaw makes a controversial statement during a commencement address when he stated that more guns means more terrorism.  While it is true that having a firearm empowers some people to act more quickly to settle a problem by using a weapon against another banning weapons will not prevent acts of terror any more than requiring drivers to have licenses and insurance will prevent traffic accidents.    

sick puppy

     I started on insulin yesterday after 3 months of extra high glucose readings.  The tip of my little finger has experienced some numbness of late and I'm afraid it is a consequence of dupredrens contracture.  In case you are unaware of what that is I'll fill you in.  It is a involuntary curving of the little and ring finger of the hand.  The little finger on my left hand has curved so much that the tip of the finger normally rests in my palm.  I can move it about half an inch.  I am experiencing some curvature in my right hand as well but it may never be a serious problem or it could curl rapidly.

   My concern is that the disease will cause an interruption in the blood flow to my finger so I'm exploring the possibility of amputation.  My father suffered from the same malady and because of his work it caused him problems so he had his amputated. 

  It seems some things that are minor inconveniences when we are young  can become serious problems when we get older.  I have done a good job of controlling my diabetes over the years but the older one gets the harder it is to stay healthy. 
     

Photo controversy highlights black women in Long Gray Line

16 black women just graduated from West Point and posed for a graduation picture in dress uniform, complete with swords, and with their fists raised in the air.  They just didn't understand why the picture would be controversial. 
   During my high school days the band would play a certain song every time the football team scored a touchdown but after integration the song wasn't allowed to be played anymore.  If your relatives fought in the War Between the States and you fly a flag or put up a statue, or belong to an organization that remembers the contributions of those brave soldiers that fought and died in the war, then you are labeled a racist.  You can name any organization after the color of your skin except if you are white and not draw the ire of the community.  One can tell blonde jokes all day long but for goodness sakes don't call anyone "nappy headed" or you will find yourself out of a job and in a lawsuit. 
  I don't know how many women graduated with these 16 in the photo but I am willing to bet there were more and probably some of them were not black women but they were excluded from the photo.  maybe there is no cause to believe the picture was politically motivated but if all the non-black women had taken such a picture then I'm willing to bet it would have been labeled racist and heads would have rolled. 
  There once was a blog entitled "big pieces of chicken" and the writer of that blog complained
that at events at the Greensboro coliseum white did not come over and sit in the same sections black people were sitting in and said it was because white people were racists.  I suggested he swallow his racist pride and go sit in the section s that white people were sitting in that way he could demonstrate his willingness to break the color barrier and show himself friendly.  Racism  works both ways and so does the solutions. 
  When I had a part-time job at a convenience  store, sometimes customers started pumping their gas without using a credit card or pre-paying for the gas.  When customers do that there is always the possibility of a drive-off.  One evening after the sun had gone down, business was extremely slow and it had been a while since I had a customer but about the same time two people pulled up to the gas pump.  One was pump 10 and started pumping   gas without prepaying or using a credit card.  Pump 10 is the pump most likely to have a drive-off as it is futherest from the store and harder to see a license tag.   The driver was also young, the age group most likely to leave without paying.  That particular customer was also female, pretty, and dressed in a bikini.  The other driver was pumping gas on pump six and was a middle aged black male who had used a credit card at the pump.  Pump 6 was in direct line of sight to pump 10. 
   I wasn't interested in him as he had pre-paid via credit card for his gas but the other driver was a different story.  Besides being attractive she was a potential risk and for that reason I watched her to insure she didn't drive off.  Of course, the man came into the store and started accusing me of being racist because I was watching him.  I asked him to look at pump 10 and then decide who I was watching.  He left but didn't apologize. 
  All I'm saying is that what one looks at as racist isn't always so but sometime what one doesn't see is.   

Another stupid article

MSN has an article titled "23 foods we have been eating wrong our entire lives".  I don't know about you but I just open my mouth, shovel something in, chew and swallow.  Anyone do it differently?

A different South

     This isn't the South that I grew up in.  I grew up in the rural South where it seemed everyone went to church, policemen were former neighborhood bullies or those that were to much of a drunk to keep driving their cabs, where blacks had their own neighborhood and place, where ruthless bank robbers could be hero's but  most citizens were so honest stores sold newspapers on the honor system.  There were lots of things to like about the old South and there were a lot of things to not like also. 
   For one thing, why good church going people who believed Jesus died on the cross for everyone still found it justifiable to exclude a good portion of society from dignity.  Even if the races remained separate everyone deserved to be treated with the same amount of respect.  The majority had no cause to hate the minority.  Even so, the redneck, outhouse owning, backward living barefoot half toothless character of cartoons were far from what the average Southerner was like.  That idea is as far from what a Southerner truly is as the idea that a Yankee is an educated, tolerate, highly advanced form of life that can drive in three feet of snow with nary a problem.  Being more subtly about ones vices doesn't make them more virtuous. 
   Honestly, I miss the old South.  Not the part about separate but equal because there was nothing equal or fair about that policy.  Today even with integration the equal part just doesn't seem to exist.  It's been a hundred and fifty years since there were legal slaves in the country.  I believe it is past time both races forget and forgive that part of our heritage.  The part of the South that I miss was the part were family's stayed together and gathered at Grandma's house on Sunday's after church for a chicken dinner and a soda in the back yard under the shade tree. 
  I miss the part where strangers said hello to each other and were often seen stopping to help one another.  I miss the part where a man's hand shake and his word meant something.  I suppose that part of the South has moved on too and now times have given away  to an era of selfishness where people want to act like they want to act and one has to force them to behave, where people do illegal and immoral things but the people who are hated are the ones who stand up for what is right. 

National Association of the Easily offended

  I go to the YMCA for an arthritis exercise class done in the heated pool.  Sometimes one of the men who used the pool or the gym will come into the locker room and parade around in full nakedness as if I would really enjoy looking at their nude and wrinkled body, which I do not.  I know that some exposure will happen when people get into a confined area in which they have to shower and change clothes but there is no reason to walk to ones locker which is on the bottom and bend over while totally naked when their is a person sitting on a bench   putting on his shoes. 
   I totally understand that such behavior is offensive and can be avoided.  But that is not the kind of offensive practices I am referring to.  I am talking about intellectual intrusion where my thoughts or ideas are deemed offensive to you yet you feel that your thoughts and ideas are enlightened and
should be accepted by me.    I'm sorry about that but I have already been down the road where I questioned my beliefs, studied the alternatives, and applied them to my life and am sure of the results.  It is your right to disagree with me but not to call me names and bring hurt to me in one or more ways because my belief system is different. 

My parents didn't teach me that.

The red headed controversial alderwoman from Randleman, NC posted a video of a Negro man
claiming that it was white people that decided to call him black but he didn't see color.  Yea right. 
First of all, the term "black" was first used by the Negro people but then they finally decided on being called African-American but recently have decided that they would just as soon be called black so do not blame white people for that one.  Back then white people had a name for them that is not politically correct today. 
  Secondly, my parents didn't teach me to call people names.  I didn't learn to call people japs, or spics, or wetbacks, or any other derogatory name.  They did teach me the song, "Red, yellow, black, or white they are precious in his sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world."  Do they get credit for that? 
  Thirdly, black people are just as prejudice as white people are.  White people just happen to be the majority and hold political and economic dominance  but if the situation had been reversed then we would be the oppressed ones. 
  I served in the military overseas and in areas that had never seen white or black people before a military base was put near where they lived or they happened to move to the area.  It certainly wasn't my parents that taught them negative things.  It seems many of them learned these things from observing the behavior of people. 
  I detest irreverent people but I like people that act descent.  I don't care what you look like or what color your are or where you are from.  I do care how you act.